#shield hero fans should join

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

There’s a Variety article I read today that summarizes how I felt about “Deadpool and Wolverine”. It’s a movie that was made by a genuine Marvel fan, from the fanservice to the disses.

The fanservice in this movie feels like it’s targeting the fans that are really into Marvel. Of course, you have yellow suit Wolverine. But there are references that casual fans probably wouldn’t understand, like Channing Tatum playing Gambit, the Wolverine crucifix, and Henry Cavill Wolverine.

The disses in the movie feel like they also came from a Marvel fan. When Wade says stuff like, “You joined at a low point” and “You’ll be playing this role till you’re 90”, those are the kind of jabs that the fanbase would make. Think of it like this. A hater would probably say something along the lines of superhero movies are the death of cinema, or that we should be watching A24 over anything Marvel related. You know, surface level criticisms. A fan would make digs that they could only do if they’ve been following the universe for a long period of time.

For example, I’m a fan, and I know I’ve made jokes in the past about the whitewashing in Doctor Strange. Or that Agents of SHIELD is better than anything in the main movies. Or that the Netflix Marvel shows were so poorly organized that they failed to properly build up to the Defenders miniseries. Or that the people behind the Fox X-Men movies don’t know how to make a good story without Wolverine. Those are critiques, but I could only make those critiques if I’m a genuine fan who consumes this material.

That’s why I like how Variety described Deadpool as if he was a Marvel fanboy. Because he is! He spends a great deal of the movie fanboying over Captain America and Thor, he views the Avengers as the gold standard of what it means to be a hero, he jokes at the expense of Fox and Disney, and he winks at the audience when he knows that the next scene is something that the Marvel fanbase would truly love. Again, the movie is a love letter to Marvel and the Marvel fanbase and it shows.

[howlingday]

hey, remember my accidental villain jaune au? the one where he was a shonen anime villain and pyrrha was the hero but jaune had no idea what was going on actually? I'm curious what a scene of that would look like written by you. would you mind giving us a taste?

Hm... I guess I can give it a shot. Show you how I'd make this series if I thought of it.

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

"So, uh, what's your name?"

"My name?" He chuckled. "What is a name when the deed is more worth remembering?" Jaune had practiced this line time and time again. His weeks in drama club, acting classes, and practicing in front of the mirror made certain his performance was perfect. Maybe if this girl was really impressed, she'd want to hang out with him more.

"Uh, yeah, I guess?" She giggled. "So you want to be remembered as Vomit Boy for the rest of the school-year?"

ABORT! ABORT! ABORT! THE MISSION HAS FAILED! NEW MISSION OBJECTIVE: DON'T CRY IN FRONT OF THE COOL GIRL!

"Ah... No..." Jaune felt his body go rigid. His face must've been beet-red from this embarrassment. "Uh, my name is Jaune. Jaune Arc." He lifted his shaking fingers and shifted them into shaking finger-guns. "Sh-Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. The- The ladies l-love it~!"

She snorted. "Do they really?"

"Uh... They do. Or, they will..." Jaune could just die.

"Well, I'm Ruby. Ruby Rose." She raised her fingers into less shaky finger-guns. "And I'm also a Shadow Masque fan~!"

"Oh, that's good..."

"What were you trying to accomplish by doing that, anyways?"

"I was... trying to look in front of you."

"Aw... You don't have to do that." Ruby put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't?" Jaune replied, hope brewing in his eyes.

"You already threw up on my sister's shoe. There's no coming back from that." Jaune slumped forward, exhausted. As he did, a thin slab of metal wobbled from his side. "Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?" Jaune looked up, noticing Ruby eyeing his weapon. "Oh! This is my sword." He clicked it open, extending the sides into a kite shield. "Oh, and uh, shield, too."

"Wow..." Ruby gazed in awe. "It's so retro!"

"Yeah, I borrowed it from my-" Jaune blinked. "Ret- Retro?"

"Yeah, you don't see a lot of classic weapons these days."

"W-Well, it's not that retro!" Jaune clicked his shield, compacting it into a sheath. "See?! It's easier to carry now!"

"But wouldn't it still be just as heavy?"

"Y... Yeah..." She giggled. "Well, what makes your weapon so state-of-the-art?"

"Well, I wouldn't call her state-of-the-art, but..." Ruby whipped out her weapon, as Jaune watched helplessly as it mecha-shifted into a massive scythe almost twice his size! "...Crescent Rose gets the job done~."

Jaune fell to his knees. He was going to throw up. He was going to throw up right here, in front of this younger student with the cooler weapon than he could have ever dreamed of. He could honestly cry if not for one thing he still had on his side... IMPROV!

He chuckled. "An impressive class of weapon, Miss Rose~." She blushed. "I look forward to seeing her in action." He leaned in close. "And yourself, too~."

"Oh, stop~!" She squirmed at the compliment. There was an announcement on the PA system. She shook her thoughts clear. "Uh, we should probably make our way to the auditorium, right?"

"Yeah, we should." Jaune dropped the act, regaining his composure. "Uh, lead the way!"

"I thought you were leading the way?" Ruby asked. The two stared at one another before they both slumped with a sigh. "Let's find a map."

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

"Why, hello there, my dears~."

"Huh?"

"Hello~!"

"I couldn't help but overhear you two talking about forming a team." Jaune smiled a devilish smile. "May I perhaps join you in this endeavor?"

"The only endeavor is listening to you talk." The young woman in white muttered under her breath.

"Well, I think I'd rather just let fate decide who's on what team." The young woman in bronze answered.

"You mean the same fate that brought me to you?" He gave a bow, his hand crossing over her chest as he dipped low, not looking up once. "Jaune Arc, future huntsman."

"My, aren't you confident?"

"Too confident." Weiss huffed. "Jaune, is it?"

"It is." He looked up, offering his hand to her, palm up. "And you are~?"

"Annoyed, actually." She said with flared nostrils. "But if you must know my name, it's Weiss Schnee." She gestured to her friend. "And do you know her name?"

"No, but I would like to~." The unknown girl giggled at his words, while Weiss only got angrier.

"Oh, stop~!"

"Yes, please, stop! This is Pyrrha Nikos!"

"A pleasure, Miss Nikos."

"Please, call me Pyrrha!"

"I'm sorry, I don't think you heard me." Weiss retracted. "This is THE Pyrrha Nikos!"

"The one and only, of course." Jaune kept laying on the charm, making her blush. It quickly stopped when Weiss grabbed his nose and tugged it down. "OW!"

"Pyrrha Nikos! Regional Champion of Mistral! Top graduate of Sanctum! THAT Pyrrha Nikos!"

Jaune stepped back, rubbing his nose. "Uh... Sorry. None of that rings a bell. Should I know you?"

"Have you been living under a rock?!" Weiss nearly screeched. "She's on the face of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!" Jaune gasped, and Weiss let out a sigh of exasperation. "Finally..."

"Oh, that was you! I thought you looked familiar!" Jaune lifted his chest-plate to reveal the bunny hoodie beneath. "I ate, like, fifty boxes to get this thing!"

"Oh, I... bet they were scrumptious..."

"Not really." Jaune admitted, bringing his armor down. "They tasted like cardboard to be honest."

"Yeah, they did..." Pyrrha reminisced on less happy days.

"Well, Pyrrha," Jaune offered his hand to her, "I'd be more than happy to see a woman of your skill on my team."

"How about a demonstration?" Weiss asked, looking to Weiss. She nodded to Jaune, and the celebrity sighed.

"I'm really sorry about this." Pyrrha said as she stood up.

"Sorry about WHOA!" Jaune was now pinned to the wall of the locker-room, held aloft by Pyrrha's spear. She reached up and yanked it out, apologizing as she passed.

"So, this is Dork Masque, huh?" A girl asked as she passed by, Ruby close behind.

"Don't be mean, Yang!" She looked back to Jaune. "Uh, see you later, Jaune."

He sighed. "Yeah... See ya."

He stood up and brushed himself off. Reaching behind him, he felt the hole in the hood of his one victory in life. He took a deep breath and shuffled to the exit as he sighed. Hopefully there won't be worse understanding like this. Thinking back on it, though, this dark persona he'd fashioned from Dark Masque seemed to be working. Maybe he could play around with it for just a little bit longer. He'd have to come up with a cooler name, though. Something like...

DARK ARC

...except, y'know, less lame.

[hainethehero]

A JOSS WHEDON HATER FOREVER- a think piece on how Avengers 1 set up Steve Rogers to be the MCU's punching bag for the rest of the franchise

(We all know Joss Whedon is an absolute garbage person. He's done many horrible things including being a racist, sexist moron who should be behind literal bars.) This is a commentary on his absolute shit writing for Avengers 1.

This one particular scene and the one following it is purely poor writing & direction for the character of Steve Rogers.👇

After Coulson dies, Fury addresses Steve and Tony and tosses Coulson's bloodied Captain America cards at Steve. He says something like "guess you never found the time to sign them" which is just horribly cruel and though not OOC for Fury, is not something he'd say lightly. We later realize here👇

...that he's secretly trying to put together the team. This is where he makes his big "there was an idea" speech and mentions that "Stark knows this." Because yeah, Tony was made aware of this in Iron Man 1 when Coulson visited and told Pepper. In contrast, Steve had no idea about the Avengers Initiative.

In fact, the dude was just pulled from the Valkyrie in the ice!! In the beginning scene of Avengers 1, we see him at the gym with the punching bag having LITERAL WAR FLASHBACKS about Bucky and Peggy and the Howlies! He's not stable and yet Fury confronts him and ropes him into the mission to get the Tesseract. Steve says, "you should've left it where you found it." And I can't help but think that maybe Steve means himself as well because dude just lost EVERYONE & EVERYTHING he literally knew and cared about.

Anyway, back to the point, Steve knows nothing about the Initiative but is suddenly made to feel guilty about Coulson's death in some kind of roundabout way of "convincing him to join the team" in honor of Coulson.

And then, to make matters WORSE, in the next scene they make HIM comfort Tony 👇

They make him say, "im sorry" (like it was his fault???!) and "he was just doing his job" and "is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" LIKE WTAF???

*INSERTS JACOB ELORDI MEME FROM EUPHORIA SAYING WHAT THE FUCKKKKK?!*

First of all, Steve barely knows these people! Second, he was fond of Coulson and I'm sure they would've been close friends. But did they have to GUILT-TRIP Steve into joining the team? Like, that's just dumb and proves that they don't actually give a fuck about his character!

AND TALK ABOUT MEAN! Fury at least knew about Steve losing Bucky on that train. He KNOWS Steve's first words when he woke up from sleep was "I had a date" reflecting the tragedy of the man out of time. To just rip him out of sleep and thrust him into a mission and later making him feel guilty about Coulson was just pure cruelty, making SHIELD no better than HYDRA. They all saw Steve as a pawn, another mindless soldier to carry out their missions and I hate JW for that.

Steve's character was not accurately portrayed nor was his trauma properly dealt with and so this is why today, we see alot of MCU "fans" calling Steve the worst avenger, lame, boring and basically a crutch to Tony's genius. (I'm a huge Tony Stark fan, don't @ me). It just felt that the mcu wanted to make Tony the ultimate hero- which is fine, Nothing's wrong with that- but they did it at the expense of Steve's character and trauma.

Sadly, this narrative continues all the way down to Endgame and for that I will always hate JW & the mcu's portrayal of Steve Rogers.

[ravenking1771]

Arcane Season 2 Disconnect

Recently I have trying to reconcile my feeling about the new season of Arcane and I keep coming back to a problem, the enormous gulf between Jinx in season 1 and 2 and the horrific nature of her actions. One thing I have continually seen regarding Jinx is the excuses people make for her citing her traumatic history, probable mental illness etc. Unfortunately such excuses are overblown in my opinion. Jinx has been out of control for years leading up to and during Season 1 Arcane. In what I presume is an redemption arc as seen with her new relationship with Vi in Season 2 Act 2 feels forced and unrealistic especially with Vi. Fundamentally the new season ignores Jinx multiple crimes, abuses and manipulation to create a character utterly disconnected from Season 1. Her trauma and mental illness does not giver the writers an out and said writers disgraceful treatment of Vi in act 2. Vi has saved Jinx's (violent murderous paranoid delusional) life multiple times, once in Season 1, and again in Season 2 and risked her life multiple times to bring Jinx or Powder out of the darkness. Jinx paid her back by trying to kill her, her friend/lover Caitlin, seemingly killing Echo, and plunging the city into chaos, war and death. In short Vi is about as close to a pure hero as one can get. Jinx owes Vi everything including her life and her "Redemptive Arc". She never gives up on Jinx in Season 1, saves her life multiple times (Vi is attacked assaulted and threatened by Jinx multiple times)

My problem is Vi continued trust in her sister, the central theme of Acts 2 and 3 of Season 1 was that Jinx was a wilful reckless murderer lashing out of the world. In short Jinx is not someone you help but someone you stop before they kill again. Vi is told again and again Powder is dead by Echo, Caitlin, and finally, Jinx herself. That is how Season 1 ended with Jinx murdering the Piltover Council as they voted to release Zaun and make peace. And then in Season 2 they give Jinx a kid to humanize her and make her just an eccentric maniac who is on the run from the law for, DOZENS of murders and MULTIPLE acts of terrorism. This is not character inconsistency this is if fan-fic writter made up a completely different version of Jinx for hte show. It is beyond disconnected where is Jinx's paranoia delusions and auditory and visual hallucinations did those magically get better after shooting Silco? And when Caitlin and Vi treat Jinx like the mortal threat she has declared herself to be Jinx lames Vi for pursuing her for trying to bring her to some kind of justice for all of the lives she has snuffed out. When Isha climbed on Jinx to shield her from a well deserved bullet I did not think how this humanized Jinx or showed her as something worth saving but rather how Powder latched onto Silco, how a naive and traumatized child will cling to anything that will the void within them including a killer.

In act 2 I got to see the writers gut Vi's character in order to elevate Jinx's contradictory and rushed redemption. Vi's abandonment of the Under-city is bullshit, I do not expect her to be doing "fine" but rather then some anonymous pit fighting circuit Vi should have joined the Firelights. She knows where they are and I think seek them out as the last connect to her former life. Considering how Echo goes missing in Epiosde 3 I think it would have been interesting for Vi to take a leadership role, something she was seemingly born for in Season 1. Instead once again we see Jinx become a hero figure after terrorizing the Undercity for years as Silco's laughing killer. Finally Vi's acceptance of Jinx back into her life was eye-rolling stupid. Vi clearly believes Jinx is delusional violent and manipulative, she should never have trusted hell Jinx should be forced to earn Vi's trust back. Vi's seeming trust of Jinx in Act 2 is unbelievable trite bullshit and is a disgraceful low for an otherwise excellent TV series.

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 20 - 616

one day in New York by UltravioletLightwaves

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 7,921 Tags: Flirting, Missions, Smut

Summary: Where else can you fight a giant insect in the afternoon, attend a fancy charity event in the early evening, and spend the rest of the night learning some surprising things about your coworkers?

Reasons why I love it: There is so much to love in this fic. The action is amazing, the team dynamics are super fun, and of course, the Stony flirting is fantastic. I adore Ultraviolet's writing style, it's so engaging and really makes the characters feel like real people. Plus, the smut is incredible. I love this fic so much, and I hope you'll go and check it out for yourself!

Quiet Time by saraid

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 3,943 Tags: PDA, Bad Ex Sharon, Relationship-Affirming Sex

Summary: They were just stealing a bit of quiet time.

Reasons why I love it: I actually like Sharon as a character in canon, but I'm also a big fan of her being a sort of evil ex of Steve's, so this fic is right up my alley. I love how Steve doesn't hesitate to stand by Tony and deals with the problem straight away. Definitely check this one out, it's great!

Ambigram by magicasen

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 10,265 Tags: Time Travel, Action, De-Serumed Steve

Summary: Steve's lost the serum. Steve's not an Avenger anymore. Steve's supposed to be past these types of missions, even if he'll never say no to punching Hydra goons in the face. But if the Avengers need him, Steve will answer their call. But then an unexpected visitor from the past joins the fray. Steve's past self has lots of things to say: about the future, the team, and Steve's relationship with Tony.

Reasons why I love it: I'm always a fan of multiverse shenanigans, and this one is no exception. Steve kind of breaks my heart with his insecurities about his place on the team, but the ending is so hopeful that it makes up for all of it. I love this one, and I hope you go and check it out for yourself!

In the Morning, I'll Be New by WhenasInSilks

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 5,055 Tags: Friends with Benefits, Light Dom/Sub, Hickmanvengers

Summary: “Please?” Tony’s voice is low and hoarse. It drags against Steve like the head of a match; a single puff of oxygen could turn that friction into flame. This is what it’s like, being with Tony. So many years spent wondering and here is the answer. It’s like being one breath away from burning.

Reasons why I love it: God, all the emotions packed into this are so good. The smut is incredible, and Steve's feelings for Tony are as beautiful as they are heartbreaking. Especially once you get to the end and that last sentence just punches you in the gut. I love this fic so much, and I bet you will too, so go and read it!

Everybody Got Naked and We Got Cap Back Day by Letterblade

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 5,085 Tags: Fix-It, Skrulls, Angsty Schmoop

Summary: The aftermath of the Civil War. Captain America is dead and buried, his country and her heroes torn and staggering. Iron Man, his friends lost or fallen, has been handed the wreckage of SHIELD. And, as the world slowly recovers, the secret council known as the Illuminati meets one last time, called together by the corpse of a shapeshifting alien Skrull, only to find that one of their own, too, has been replaced. In fear of an invisible invasion, two of the remaining council go investigating, and find a few ships out by Jupiter that don't at all belong...

Reasons why I love it: I want the title to be a national holiday from now on. I love how this fic turns canon on its head and brings Steve back into the story in a way that allows him and Tony to have a big, emotional reunion (and more). It's fantastic, and you should definitely read it!

[siremasterlawrence]

The Hypno-Tech’s Spell Part 1

Part 1

The passionate and very surreal power of Hypno-techno Wizard using his magic wand of his to cause a storm of unknown and true legendary power.Captain America and Bucky Barnes stares up and down the pathway of the upper way chambers of the building and overlooks the entire scene.

Something is off though as he takes a nose dive from the roof top descending into a craze of the crowd shouting at the top of their lungs.He tucks his feet into a cannon ball form to the ground with a superhero landing into a backflip and he tumbles down the road then lands happily.

He removes his shield as the fiery level of a storm brewing in the fog begins to spiral into the air the thunder crackles and lightening is striking. The flags shield is harshly thrown hard into the nearest wall hitting it ricocheting back and forth as Captain America lands catches it.

The man walks up to him without even half of a second like thought with the wave of his wand he points at him the flow of a cloud of smoke. The air flows around like a vent covering up the surrounding area, Captain America is a legendary hero with his shield he looks to attack.

The smoke lifts spinning into a curling ball like position it enters his nose leaving him hazed, intoxicating, and he falls backwards to the ground. His eyes roll back into the socket pure white as the pupils become clear before his eye lashes flip up and the lids close immediately following through.

The smirk pummels Captain Americas brain encircling him the cloudy smoke completely consumes him as his body lays limp and helpless. Captain wakes up in the middle of the haze of his mind he is at lost unaware of what is going around fans he is unsure of how he gets out.

Meanwhile! Outside of his mind the younger man knelt next to him placing his hand onto Steve’s face rubbing it slowly Steve’s mouth spread. A smile spreading fully with his tongue is red wagging from his mount spittle trickling all that is onto his chin and he can’t find any moment to fight back.

The man’s hand traces down to his lower patch of the pants playing with his cock without entering his pants Steve moans, swoons, and his cock grow stiff. Erstwhile! Inside of his head the man stood tall above Steve’s kneel position cupping his chin the fog grows eradicating his nerves as he surrenders.

“Captain…Captain…Captain America “

“Who is this? Are you that Tech Wizard”

“Does it matter? You are mine”

“Hell no! I am in charge”

“Is that what you think? You are so cocky”

“I am in awe of the nerve of you”

“Ever the boyscout”

“You seem to have issue with that “

“Oh Captain! You are so weak now”

“Uuuuhhhh! No…dare you “

“You can’t even think straight”

“Blastard”

“Mwahahahahaha “

“You really are the star spangled man”

“Get off of me”

“Why should I do as you ask?”

“You are evil”

“I am everything and everyone “

“I can see that “

“Yes Master”

“It feels so good to embrace it”

“I love you Steve “

“I love you too Master”

“How can I please you ?”

“Rise to your feet”

“Kiss me “

“I mean like this is be end all”

“Wrap your arms on my waist”

“Yank me forward “

“Work for it “

“Oh Master”

“My God”

“I crave you “

“Hey Buck! Are you looking for me?”

“Steve is that you?”

“Of course “

“Who is this?”

“My Master”

“You will join us”

“Fuck no”

“Wake up Steve!”

“You have one choice Buck”

“Excuse me!”

“No other options”

“I am your lord and master”

“Accept me!”

“Be his Bucky”

“He is your Master”

“Nnnnooooo!”

“Will do this the hard way “

“You want to fight Steve.”

“Pin him down “

“Yes Master”

“Let me go”

“Steve”

“Watch my wand”

“Release….”

“Hahaha”

“Zip it”

“Good boi!”

“Steve”

“Yes Master”

“Remove his clothes “

“With pleasure”

“Mmmmmm”

“Fuck Sire”

“This body is firm”

“Buck you are adjusting to my reality “

“Yyyyyeeeessss!”

“You love me”

“You crave me”

“You serve me”

“You are my soldier “

“My protector “

“My everything”

“Yes Master”

“Kneel and swear your allegiance’s”

“I give you my mind body and heart and soul “

“I live for you “

“Accept my service “

“Excellent! Follow me to the map and let me show you my plan. The Winter Soldier activated for me to serve me and complete the mission.”

Part 2

Steve Rogers is on the hunt tightly wound up in a jet flying above Gotham City provided by himself as he stoled it from Tony Starks airbase. He slips the door to the side packing his jet pack on before taking a leap off of the jets bow and descending down head first as he does a somersault.

He lands with a perfect ten onto the roof in a super hero fashion because he wants to truly impress me with his moves but all I care about is the mission He rolls to the glass ceiling smashing all of the glass as it shatters on the glass doing a super landing into Wayne Tech’s roof top tier lab.

The laboratory is spectacularly clean, shiny and everything I could expect from the video feed I implanted in his mask but I am alerted to sound erupting as he opens the door. He throws his shield head on hitting on the wall it takes a dive smashing a shadowy like figure on the head as he goes down into the wall.

It is Doctor Langstrom the Man Bat clearly he is cured of the curse but now he works for me triggering the alarm as I can see a figure fly throw the sky. The Batman descends from the sky with his cape flying in the air and with one punch he hits him knocking him to the floor he sets my trap.

The whirlwind of drama is unleashing onto him the walls begin to break with steel like trap doors dropping down to the floor of the room. Batman is now entrapped forever to my will as Steve and Bucky step into the light of it all.

The room is bold glowing with bright white lights covering the space blocking and he is totally blinded by his own fall to submission at my feet. He follow them stopping in the center of the room my power is felt here and throughout because simply my power is inescapable.

Erstwhile! In the building across the street Nightwing, Red Hood and Robin watch as they are ready to attack them head on right before they can move a loud tick goes off once more and the ticking stops as the building blows up in a sea of fire they are stunned The Batman is dead they rage with anger.

Walking through the fire all three of us look so amazing blazing a trail as they use the batarangs to fly away in the sky landing on to the grounds of the city they come face to face with me ready to fight but their extreme and dangerous weapons are a go to beat the will our of me.

I giggle a bit holding hand outward telling them to stop holding them in place my magic device is now in control of all three of them my wand pops in my hand with my two soldiers attacking them the battlis brutal but it needs to be finished with the operation running on through the very early morning.

“Excuse me!”

“How on earth did you get here?”

“Not for you too worry about it”

“Look at me and face me”

“You are my property “

“Address me as Master Lawrence “

“Yes Master Lawrence “

“Will you serve me willingly?”

“A touch of my wand to your temple and you will submit.”

“I am at your mercy “

“Your God”

“Completely command me”

“Subdue your friends “

“Lovely”

“Before you do”

“Yes Master”

“Kiss me”

“Wrap your hands on me”

“Good boi”

“My god”

“I love you “

“Red Hood”

“Robin”

“Catch”

“Mwahahahahaha “

“Woah”

“Aaaahhhh”

The end

[up-risingrp]

Subplots

AVENGERS + ADJACENT

— Battle of New York was the first domino to fall and also the first mission of the Avengers. Already they were crumbling from the moment they began after being rounded up by Nick Fury. Couple that with Tony Stark’s incessant need to find a way to protect the Earth from the terrors outside the solar system with Ultron, the Avengers are fraying at the seams. There’s a clear divide between them, those for Registration and those vehemently against. Steve Rogers stands in the middle, a man with a code and a mission to save as many people as he can. For now, it’s through being on the MAC, but it’s quickly becoming clear that Congress doesn’t want to see reason. The tensions between those that are in approval of registration and those against is starting to wear thin and it might see the split of Earth’s first major hero team.

Tony Stark

Steve Rogers

Clint Barton

Natasha Romanoff

Bruce Banner

Sam Wilson

James Rhodes

Wanda Maximoff (adoptable NPC)

Vision

Scott Lang

Hope van Dyne

X-MEN/BROTHERHOOD

— Charles Xavier, one of the leaders of the MAC, has made it clear that he isn’t going to fight against the Registration laws. As the founder and creator of the X-men and Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, he leads the charge in following the Registration. He has graciously offered all students and members of the X-men to be one of the first to join the list of powered humans. This of course sets off a chain reaction amongst the mutant kind. Those that are for Registration, stay with Charles and the X-men, assuming the best while those that are heavily against the idea of being monitored leave their home behind and join the Brotherhood on Genosha. Scott Summers has left the X-men behind, moving to Genosha to create his own team of fighters hellbent on protecting the lives of the innocent mutant children out there and working on keeping them from the Registration list. Then of course there is the Hellfire Club, the mysterious mutant exclusive group whose intentions are their best kept secret. Only Emma Frost has made her way outside the shroud of mystery in order to sit on the MAC, but really it’s just to keep her feelers out in the world for mutant gain. Tensions are high amongst mutant kind, battle lines are drawn, and the powder keg is about to be lit.

Movers & Shakers:

Charles Xavier (adoptable NPC)

Jean Grey

Scott Summers

Hank McCoy

Erik Lehnsherr (adoptable NPC)

Emma Frost (adoptable NPC)

Amara Acquilla

Warren Worthington III

Logan Howlett

Raven Darkhölme

Suggested Characters:

Bobby Drake

Ororo Munroe

Kitty Pryde

Simon Lasker

Lorna Dane

STARK INDUSTRIES/DODC 

— The moment the Battle of New York happened, SHIELD ceased to exist. The Department of Damage Control rose in its place. These good men and women of the DODC work tirelessly to make the world safer for those humans who just want to live in peace and harmony. There will be no more shady missions in the background, no priority given to the powered heroes. Only cleaning up the mess that they created in the first place. Except Tony Stark wasn’t exactly all for it. While for Registration after the disaster of Ultron, he knew that having freedom to create outside of the government’s control is imperative. Which is why he and Stark Industries began to poach the former members of SHIELD. While Stark wasn’t a big fan of SHIELD in the first place, at least they did some good. He plans on doing the same. The only problem is the DODC doesn’t necessarily enjoy Stark Industries scalping their best people. SI might just be facing some legal battles with some physical force in the future especially with those former SHIELD agents who have gone to SI without finishing out their government contracts

Movers & Shakers:

Pepper Potts

Happy Hogan

Jemma Simmons

Leopold Fitz

Al Mackenzie

Daisy Johnson

Phil Coulson

Maria Hill

Melinda May

John Walker

Suggested Characters: 

Monica Rambeau

Jennifer Walters

AIM/HYDRA

— Justin Hammer and Aldrich Killian. Two names that should be enshrined in the hall of the greats, but they’ve only become shadowed by Tony Stark. They plan on changing that. Hammer Industries and AIM have teamed up together to work on weapons that target those rogue metahumans who refuse to comply with the government’s wishes. It doesn’t hurt that both of them have grudges against the Avengers, Tony Stark in particular. Sure, their work might be controversial, but they have the government funding and the law enforcement that tend to look the other way when it comes to shady deals. Doesn’t hurt that HYDRA may or may not be slinking its tentacles into the mix too. Illegal experimentation has become rampant behind the scenes, but HYDRA doesn’t have to worry. They have more than a few politicians on their side to keep them from being discovered and what information they learn, they’re giving over to AIM for future weaponry. The illegal, cruel, circle of life if you will. 

Movers & Shakers:

Aldrich Killian

Justin Hammer

Alexander Pierce

Ophelia Sarkissian (adoptable NPC)

Bucky Barnes (admin NPC)

Suggested Characters: 

Brock Rumlow

Helmut Zemo

GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA

— Everyone knows that the media only show what they’re paid to show, what stories matter to the people with the deep pockets. Before the registration laws went into effect, there were rumors that the media was being bought, but it wasn’t until the laws happened that it was clear just who was paying the big bucks. Nowadays you can’t turn on a news channel without some TV spot about a rogue mutant or dangerous metahuman destroying property or endangering lives. The civilians of the world are only being fed what the politicians want them to see and that happens to be the downfall of metahumans. If only there were some media personalities out there that planned on fighting back against the blatant discrimination. 

Movers & Shakers:

Christine Everhart (WNIN)

John Jonah Jameson (Daily Bugle)

Trish Walker (Trish Talk)

Valentina de Fontaine (CIA and HYDRA)

Everett Ross (CIA)

Mitchell Ellison (New York Bulletin)

Suggested Characters: 

Ben Urich (New York Bulletin)

STREET

— Wilson Fisk considers himself the savior of Hells Kitchen. A rich benefactor in public, but a crime boss behind closed doors and no one dares speak up about it. For years he’s doled out offers of money and favors with the unspoken agreement that those favors will be called in one day. Now that Registration laws have gone into effect, he has generously offered a safe haven for those unregistered or fugitive metahumans on the run, using their abilities for his own gain. The only problem is now that he’s expanded his empire, it also means more eyes are on him and what others found fishy, they now find evidence of his meddling. Matt Murdock has been watching Fisk for years, buying his time, but now that Fisk’s seedy deals are starting to come to light, he’s starting to bring more of the other vigilantes to fight alongside the Daredevil. But you know what they say about deep pockets…

Movers & Shakers:

Matt Murdock

Jessica Jones

Luke Cage

Danny Rand

Frank Castle

Billy Russo

Maya Lopez

Wilson Fisk

Suggested Characters:

Foggy Nelson

Karen Page

Elektra

Vanessa Fisk (possibly still Vanessa Marianna, up to the player)

Claire Temple

Colleen Wing

Marc Spector

Layla El-Faouly

Yelena Belova

James Wesley

Nobu Yoshioka

Kazi Kazimierczak

Brett Mahoney (NYPD)

Blake Tower (SDNY DA)

Anatoly Ranskahov (Russian Mafia)

Samantha Reyes (SDNY DA)

[avengersrewatch]

E8: Some Assembly Required

I think you should skip to this one after "The Breakout." Maybe you can watch the episode about Captain America, but boy I wouldn't watch the others.

This episode starts with the Avengers capturing Mandrill. I noted in my last post that Mandrill is gross so this is why I love the Avengers. Mandrill surrenders when he sees the Hulk. Thor says he "shames all monkeys with his cowardice." Nah he shames monkeys with his existence, but I appreciate you making fun of him, Thor. I want to kick him when he's down too.

Meanwhile, on the docks, a black-clad figure comes ashore. Who could it be? Oh gosh I can't stand the suspense. Anyway, the shot of Black Panther (spoilers!) crawling down the chain in the moonlight is cool.

Everyone except Pepper and the Hulk are late to the first Avengers meeting at the Avengers Mansion. I like when Jan lands on Thor's element and just... stays there for the rest of the scene.

Jan is very excited about the Avengers and she seems to be the only one. I think that is why I like this iteration of Jan. She wants to help people. She leaves her "penthouse" apartment to stay at the Mansion (like that's a downgrade? I'm not sure). She's not a reluctant, jaded hero. She's like, "this is so cool. I want to save everyone and kick ass!" It reminds me a bit of Kamala Khan's energy, but she's not a fan. You know? Not everything has to be dark and terrible and angsty.

Speaking of angsty, the Enchantress is manipulating Hulk by pretending to be Banner in his head. Telling him not to trust the Avengers. So Hulk quits. I guess this is a bit similar to Wanda manipulating the Hulk in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel loves to make the Avengers fight each other for dumb reasons. Thor tries to bring him back, it gets messy.

We get our first "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE" from Tony, which is cool. Less cool is it is to go fight Hulk who should be part of the assembly?

JARVIS figures out there's a strange "energy" around the Hulk and Thor guesses he's been enchanted. Like, could you maybe do these scans before you start hitting each other and damaging property, next time?

Hulk only stops fighting the Avengers when Janet is squished. Because everyone loves Janet, she's just so cute. (And also she and Hulk had that moment in "The Breakout" where she helped him.)

Then there is an obligatory fight with Enchantress and Skurge (Skurge appeared in Thor Ragnarok where he serves Hela, not Enchantress like he usually does, but we never did get the Enchantress, unless you could Sylvie "enchanting" things in Loki which I don't).

Real Banner talks to Hulk--and I should say here they are not only separate entities, they can talk to one another--so it's a bit like Moon Knight and how Steven can talk to Marc. Except it's just in their head and everyone else is like "who's that big green man talking to?" (Strong arguments have been made by people more knowledgeable about the comics that Bruce Banner also has dissociative identity disorder, but that is not really how it is played in the MCU.)

Anyway, Hulk returns to save the other Avengers from Enchantress and Skurge.

(There is a joke that is similar to one in The Avengers where Thor hits Iron Man with lightning and it recharges his power. Since I'm noting similarities.)

Even though Thor offers a bit of an apology, and Jan is sweet, Hulk decides to quit the Avengers. He probably needs some "me" time.

But don't worry because we're about to get a new Avenger on the roster-- and it's not the one in the Black Kitty costume who is seen watching all of this. (I totally understand why T'Challa is skeptical about joining the Avengers at this point. It was their first real day together and they had a knock-down fight. He's going to a take a few more episodes before he decides they are worth befriending. He's like, "I'm gonna wait and see if these white people get their act together. Or maybe I will go to the X-Men.")

Spoilers: It's the one with a shield encased in ice. (Interestingly, a shot like this was cut from The Incredible Hulk where he went to a similar frozen place and Cap's shield was going to be visible.)

Rating: Eh, if you're interested.

[small-spark-of-light]

a painting of @shieldherostuffs Fairy!Naofumi au i made for discord!!!!

im proud of the wings

[justjensenanddean]

Jensen Ackles knew Amazon's “The Boys” was a wild and crazy superhero show before he signed on, and the buff actor’s onscreen entrance – mostly in the buff – threw him in the deep end on his first day.

Ackles’ character, Soldier Boy, emerges from a large metal capsule after several decades in storage and “in true ‘Boys’ fashion, they don't keep their superheroes contained with clothing on. Why would they do that?” Ackles says. “So I stepped out in front of my brand new cast and crew with nothing between me and them but a sock.”

After 15 seasons of “Supernatural,” Ackles goes from battling demons to wielding a star-spangled shield in the third go-round of “The Boys” (first three episodes streaming Friday, then weekly ). His Soldier Boy is a macho 1980s-style superhero in the vein of Captain America – although not nearly as nice a guy – and a hugely popular American celebrity who's long been thought dead. Now he's sought by Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and Hughie Campbell (Jack Quaid) in their efforts to take down psychopathic super man Homelander (Antony Starr).

Question: Your “Boys” introduction was sans clothing, but what was it like filming a superhero orgy scene where you’re in your spiffy suit surrounded by a bunch of naked extras?

Jensen Ackles: I’m not necessarily a modest person, by any means, but I do remember walking onto the set,  and let's just say that I felt the need to stare at the ceiling more than I've ever felt in my life. Avoid eye contact, just don't look down and you might get through this day.

Q: Was that an interesting exercise going from Dean Winchester to Soldier Boy?

Ackles: Dean was the unlikely hero in flannel that you would walk by a million times on the street and never know. He was fighting the good fight in the shadows, whereas Soldier Boy, he pretends to fight the good fight in the spotlight. Much like Homelander, this is a guy who believes his own hype and battles with his insecurities and internal demons, and doesn't do it very well. We're dealing with a lot of toxic masculinity,  and Soldier Boy definitely gets to embody that.

Q: Why is that an important issue to discuss now?

Ackles: We teach girls all the time (that) it's OK to be tough and it's OK to stand up for yourself, and you can do everything a boy can do. But it is not the same on the flip side. Princess dresses are not for boys, painting your nails is not for boys, playing with dolls is not for boys. The discouragement just because of what has been handed down generation after generation is something that we should peel the layers back and understand maybe on a deeper level where's that coming from, and why are we still holding on to that as a society.

Q: You're joining Reba McEntire as new series regulars on "Big Sky." Is there a duet in your future?

Ackles: (Laughs) If Reba McEntire wants to make me sing with her, I'm a big enough country fan to do everything I can to not let her down. She's an icon, she's legendary, she's country music royalty.

Q: What tune would you pick to sing?

Ackles: Oh, man. I would just do anything I could to get her to sing “Fancy.”

Q: What is it about “Supernatural” that keeps you coming back?

Ackles: It's a world that's always interested me. There's obviously been several attempts at a spinoff for the show, because I do think that there is a strong desire to continue to expand this universe. Any time you've got a fan base and even a cast of characters like this that have really put so much time and effort into building this world, you want to see other parts of it – at least I do. Look, I wasn't ready for “Supernatural” to die. I just needed a break. (Laughs) I wasn't ready for it to necessarily be done done. I just needed to go stick my toes in the sand for a minute.

Q: Do you have big Father's Day plans now that you're back home in Austin?

Ackles: No, my Father's Day plans are pretty much whatever (my family is) going to do for me. I'm on board with that. I'm not the planner in my family. My wife is the commander in chief, and she lets us know where this ship goes. I just wait for my marching orders.

Q: So, you’re a Soldier Boy through and through?

Ackles: That's it, my friend.

USA Today

[m4tthewmurd0ck]

Congratulations on 200! For your ‘200 Followers Celebrarion’ can I request 3 from the MCU list for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker?

thank you so much! ahh that was my favorite prompt from the mcu list hahaha i’m so happy it’s the first request! love my babies kate and yelena! also i did a little more than the prompt, had to include the scene because it’s one of my favorites. click *HERE* to check out my writing celebration and send in a request!

𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐘 ~ (𝚃𝚘𝚖 𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍) 𝙿𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝚡 (𝙵𝚎𝚖) 𝙰𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛! 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

word count: 5.8k

a/n: DON’T LOOK AT THE TAGS, CONTAINS SPOILERS hehe. this takes place after nwh. obviously an au, so any differences you note from the films and disney+ shows are on purpose just for the sake of easier writing for this story :) just to name a few: tony is alive, steve didn’t go back to be with peggy but he did step down and give the shield to sam, who accepted it + no john walker storyline, i also couldn’t kill my baby nat, and yelena is in the picture too. there are a few other differences which will be obvious once you read but i won’t give too much away. enjoy!

Your task was simple. Find out who Spider-Man is, so that you can bring him to the compound. There were understandably a lot of questions. The biggest one being how can someone fight alongside the Avengers, be part of the Avengers, and then turn around and do… all of this? You were just as shocked as anyone, considering that Spider-Man had been your partner on missions ever since he joined the team.

But now that you thought about it, it was a little odd. How had you worked alongside whoever was under that suit for so long and you’d never seen their face? Of course, you didn’t remember any of it. Not only did you at one point know the boy under the mask, but for the past year up until Strange made everyone forget, you and Peter had been more than just friends / partners.

Now, all you remembered was your time working with Spider-Man. And all you ever heard about him now was that he was the reason that Mysterio was dead, and that not only was he not a hero, but he should be considered an enemy. It seemed a little dramatic, but given that you were a former Black Widow, you figured you didn’t have much room to talk.

There were guesses going around within the team about who Spider-Man might actually be. Little did you all know, that you were all way off.

Bucky had guessed that he was a former assassin like the 2 of you. And while you both had gotten a second chance, maybe he didn’t have anyone to show him that he didn’t have to resort to his old ways, so he went back to what he knew. You were then quick to point out that it would then mean that you all failed him, because it wasn’t that long ago that Spider-Man was part of the team.

Thor briefly considered that it might be Loki behind it all. After all, as he loved to remind everyone, he once transformed himself into a snake and when Thor picked the snake up, Loki transformed back into himself and stabbed his brother. But that seemed to be a big stretch. Ever since you had known the trickster, he’d never done anything as big as this. Thor then countered, saying that Spider-Man and Loki had never been in the same room at the same time. But you reminded Thor how far his brother had come. And you spoke to Loki, who was not-so-secretly terrified that everyone would think it was him. He gave you his word that it wasn’t, and you believed him. Especially after hearing him say how he would’ve chosen a much better name and suit.

Other guesses ranged from Yelena thinking he was just a wannabe Avenger who didn’t plan ahead and ended up killing someone he didn’t mean to, Sam thought maybe he was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list and this disguise was a way for him to get away with more crimes, and you’d all just missed the signs, and Tony was mostly with Yelena, saying maybe he was just a super fan who took things too far trying to prove himself. You and the others preferred not to guess. There didn’t seem to be a point.

Then one day, Sam pulled you aside and asked if you’d be up for a solo mission. You were the youngest one on the team, and at first questioned if he was talking to the right Avenger. But, he was the captain, and you’d always had faith that he knew what he was doing, so you said yes. And then he told you exactly what the mission was.

“But why me? How am I supposed to find this person when we don’t even know where he lives anymore?”

“If he ends up being some young kid, we’ll all go to jail if Bucky is the one who’s basically stalking him. Nat already said don’t send her because she’d have some things to say to whoever that is, and by things to say I assume she means she’d kick his ass, so that leaves you and Yelena as the best choices. My little assassin spies!” He ruffled your hair, knowing how much you hated that. “Really though, before I even considered who / how to go about this, she approached me and asked that it not be her because she isn’t ready for solo stuff yet. You’re the best option anyway, you know how to move quietly, and your powers would be the most useful in this situation.”

(((because i’m unoriginal as fuck when it comes to thinking of powers, let’s just say you’re basically a younger wanda + the energy glows whatever color you want it to lol)))

“Okay,” you sighed, finally caving in. “But where do I even start?”

“Well he’s obviously not working with us anymore so that’s out, and he doesn’t patrol like he used to, but there have been sightings of him around at night in Queen’s so maybe start there. We can put you up in a temporary safe house, it’s actually a unit in an apartment building. Maybe do your sleuthing stuff, follow him if you can, and see if he’ll voluntarily come in and talk to us?”

It was just 24 hours later that Happy dropped you off in front of your new temporary home. You didn’t want to draw too much attention to yourself, so you convinced Sam to let you just go in alone from the beginning. It wouldn’t do any good if Captain America was seen escorting you to your new apartment. All you had was a large suitcase and a box. They were filled with clothes, plus ‘any spy shit you might need’ as Sam had put it. It wasn’t much, but you had done that on purpose. Either you’d work out who Spider-Man was within a few days, or you’d return to the compound and figure out a backup plan.

After spending half an hour unpacking the few decor items you brought, you weren’t sure what to do. Spider-Man only ever went out at night, and it was now 4pm so you still had hours to go until the sun went down.

Time went by agonizingly slow. You flicked through every single channel on TV, and couldn’t find any interesting shows or films to watch. Then, just to pass more time, you forced yourself to take a nap. That ends up being interrupted when Bucky calls you half an hour after you fall asleep, to settle an argument about who you’d save first if the compound was on fire, him or Sam.

“…in this scenario why can’t you both get yourselves out?”

“Because… just answer the question! If the building was on fire and you only had time to knock on one of our doors and help one of us escape, it would be me, right? The former Winter Soldier who helped you through a tough time when you first joined the team because I could relate to you more than anyone else? Me, your old pal Bucky, right?”

You could hear Sam in the background “shared trauma is NOT allowed in this discussion!”

“The hell it isn’t! Your suit can also make you fly! I can’t. Doll, seriously, you’d save me right?”

“I— how did this even come up? You know what, you two just use your best guess who I would save. I have to go find Spider-Man now goodbye!” You laughed as you hung up, hearing them both shout at each other that they know you’d pick them.

Eventually, the sun sets and you change into the suit that Tony had made for you just for this. Your normal one was white, and he made you a different one, similar to what you wore to train, that was black since you’d be going out at night.

(((suit by earthsangxl on pinterest)))

Once you slipped out of your window and were up on the roof, you realized that you really had no idea where to begin. Sure, there were Spider-Man sightings at night, but were they every night? And the land that was considered Queen’s was technically over 100 miles, so you also had no idea if you were even in the right area.

For the first half an hour, you stood on the roof and looked around, tried to listen for… you had no idea what. Then you decided that standing around was only going to get you so far, so you began to make your way across the rooftops, pausing every couple of minutes to look down at the people below.

That first night was a complete fail. Not only did you not find Spider-Man, but you hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him. You did manage, however, to stop 2 attempted robberies. And you could already read the headlines about how the Avengers were now sending out their younger members to take care of smaller crimes.

You immediately considered calling Sam and telling him you needed a better way to do this, maybe you could come back and just hack into the street cameras and see if you’d spot him that way. But you knew that he chose you for a reason, so you decided to tough it out. 3 nights, that was how long you gave yourself. Night 1 was a fail, but you’d do this 2 more times and if at the end of night 3 you still hadn’t made any progress, you’d call and ask the team for help.

Night 2 was interesting, but ultimately also failed. You ventured a lot further this time, and ended up in Hell’s Kitchen since it wasn’t that far from Queen’s. You saw Daredevil on the roof of a building across the street from where you were, and whispered-yelled “hey Matt!” knowing damn well he could hear you. He froze, then chuckled before giving you a little wave. You figured out his secret a long time ago, and he often confided in you if he needed someone to listen.

Just 20 minutes later, you found yourself lounging around on Matt’s couch, while he made you both coffee using some new fancy machine that Foggy had gifted him for his birthday. “Why are you all the way in Hell’s Kitchen, this late at night?”

You were an only child, and while the Avengers were definitely your family now, it still made you happy when Matt went into protective big-brother mode.

“I wasn’t fighting off any bad guys, I promise. Well not that many anyway. Though if I happen to come across more— I’m getting off topic, I’m looking for someone. You’ll probably lie even if you do know who he is but do you know Spider-Man?”

He shook his head, “no. And doesn’t he usually stick to Queens?”

“Yeah but I’ve been looking for him for hours and I got bored, you can only jump or swing across so many rooftops before you feel like you’re going crazy. I don’t know how I’m supposed to find this guy. He obviously doesn’t want to be found, which makes it that much harder.”

“But why are you by yourself?”

“Because I think a few alarms might go off in peoples heads if they noticed all of the Avengers trying to sneak around at night. Besides, I can defend myself.”

Matt sighed, knowing you were right, but that didn’t stop him from worrying. “At least let me know next time you’ll be out by yourself, alright?”

“Well I’ll be out every night until I find this guy.”

“What’s the Avenger’s big interest with him again?”

“He used to be one of us,” you sighed, “and I worked closely with him for years. If I do find him, I’m not saying I’ll let the others know right away. I just… I want to know why. I have these memories, but they don’t make sense.”

An hour later, you were back at your apartment. Matt had insisted on going with you to make sure you got home safe, and you agreed because you knew even if you said you’d be fine, he’d do that creepy thing where he followed from a somewhat decent distance and then he’d just lurk in the shadows anyway.

Day 3, AKA your final day before you called Sam and asked for help, you were bored out of your mind. You did whatever you could to occupy yourself all day, but that only got you so far. You even went out in normal clothes and a baseball cap and just walked around aimlessly. But you weren’t even sure what you expected to find. It’s not like you’d look up and see Spider-Man waving his arms, telling you to come talk to him.

At 2pm, you realized that you had yet to eat lunch, so you wandered in search of somewhere to get food.

Delmar’s, you tilted your head as you stood across the street. Why was that so familiar to you? You tried to think, and then remembered that you’d gone a couple of times, not long after you started being partnered with Spider-Man. Could this place be a clue?

A little bell above the door announced your arrival, and a few seconds later you were greeted by a kind man. “There she is! I was wondering when you’d come back.”

A little fragment of an old memory came back to you. You did know this man. Mr. Delmar, he owned the place and just the 2nd time you went, he had already remembered your order. But who were you here with? You didn’t know anyone in Queen’s.

“Sorry it’s been so long, I haven’t had much time to myself.”

“You want the usual?”

You nodded, ashamed to admit that you didn’t remember what your usual actually was. “That’d be great, thanks.”

Mr. Delmar refused your money, but you snuck $20 into the tip jar when he wasn’t looking. He insisted that it was on the house, he loved the Avengers and it was an honor that you were eating his sandwiches.

“Ah there he is! My other regular!”

You turned around and saw a brown hair brown eyed boy who looked to be about your age. When he saw you, he froze for a couple of seconds. Then he quickly recovered and stepped up to the counter to order. You didn’t think anything of it. Some people tended to freak out whenever they were around you or anyone else on the team.

“Number five with pickles, smashed down real flat?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Weird, it didn’t seem to be a common thing to order your sandwiches that way, so what are the odds this stranger had the exact same order as you? The menu was pretty limited at Delmar’s though, so you once again brushed it off.

“Peter, meet my other best customer. She hasn’t come around in a while, but now she might give you a run for your money!”

You and Mr. Delmar were completely unaware of the fact that Peter already knew you, and that he was the one that introduced you to this place. It killed him to have to smile and nod and act like he was meeting you for the first time.

“I-it’s nice to meet you. I’m Peter,” he stuck his hand out, cringing at how awkward you must think he is. But you smiled and shook his hand, and he hated the fact that your touch still felt so familiar to him, while he was nobody to you.

You introduced yourself again, then felt your phone buzzing in your back pocket. “Well I should get going. It was nice meeting you Peter, and bye Mr. Delmar. I promise I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna hold you to that!”

You couldn’t shake the weird feeling you got all the way back to your apartment. Why the hell was Peter so familiar to you?

That feeling hadn’t gone away by the time it was dark out, but you forced all thoughts of him out of your mind as you suited up and made your way to the roof again. You looked down at the other buildings and people just going about their lives, and just hoped that tonight worked. You’d find Spider-Man, and you’d be able to talk to him.

No. Fucking. Way.

Your eyes widened as you glanced down and saw… Spider-Man? Climb out of one of the windows below you. He lived in your apartment?! You immediately ducked, not wanting to risk being seen. Now that you knew where he lived, perhaps it was better to wait until he came back from patrolling or whatever he did. You saw what unit it was, now maybe you could just go knock on his door and then you’d right away know the man behind the mask.

After a minute, you slowly looked over the edge again, and saw Spider-Man already a few buildings away. Luckily he was heading in the opposite direction, so he didn’t see you. Once he was out of sight, you made your way back to your apartment. What the hell were you supposed to do now? You had no idea how long he patrolled for. Would he be back in an hour? 2? Would he be out until the sun came up? You supposed there was only one way to guarantee that you’d know exactly when he came home, without risking him leaving again before you had the chance to knock.

Using the lock picking skills that Nat taught you (and that Yelena helped you perfect), you soon found yourself inside Spider-Man’s apartment.

Whoever he was, you already felt bad for him. The apartment was so… bare. While you didn’t go poking around in drawers or cabinets, you looked at whatever was already out, and that wasn’t much. No photographs, no art on the walls, no furniture other than a small table in the kitchen / dining room, and was a studio apartment so if you looked just last the kitchen, you could see his ‘bedroom’ too. But even that held no clues to his identity.

As much as you wanted to look around for other clues, you forced yourself to sit on the only chair at the table. But after only a few minutes, you got up and paced back and forth.

What would you say when Spider-Man climbed back through the window? What if he just freaked out and called 9-1-1? How would you even explain how you found him without sounding like a stalker? Although, I did break into his apartment, you think to yourself. The time for feeling worried about breaking any laws has long passed.

After another 10 minutes of wandering around the tiny apartment, you began to feel hungry.

Shit. You’d forgotten to eat in your excitement to get over here. You could run back to your apartment and quickly have something, but then you risk him coming back and possibly leaving before you return.

You turn your head a little to the left, and your eyes light up when you see a familiar blue and yellow box sticking out of one of the cabinets.

Hmm, haven’t had Kraft Macaroni & Cheese since I was a kid.

As you scooped some of the macaroni into a bowl once you’d finished, it occurred to you that this was a little rude. But you were hungry and determined to talk to Spider-Man tonight, so those thoughts left your mind fairly quickly.

Just as you’d taken your second bite, you heard the window slide up. You instantly stood up and placed your mask back on. Bucky had insisted that you take it and wear it. You pointed out that you never fought with one and the whole world knew what you looked like, but he insisted anyway.

Spider-Man jumped through his window, then turned around to slide it closed. How the hell has he not seen you yet?? You decide you should make your presence known before he finally realizes there’s someone else in the room.

“Hi, I know you don’t know me but I just want to—”

“Ah!” Without thinking, Peter grabbed the closest object within reach and threw it at you. Luckily, it was just a small lamp. Unfortunately, it was a lot heavier than it looked.

When it hit you on the forehead, you fell. Enhanced healing caused you to just jump back up, not worried because you knew whatever injury you sustained would be completely gone by morning.

“Okay… ouch.”

Peter turned on the lights and once again froze, recognizing you instantly. “OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY!” He took a few steps towards you, but stopped when he noticed you taking just as many steps back.

“Are you always this apologetic when people break into your apartment?”

Oh, right. He had to pretend he didn’t know you. But the Avengers were pretty famous, so at least he could pretend to know of you. “N-no. No. I just… ohmygodyourheadisbleeding—”

“I’m fine,” you reassured him, using the back of your hand to wipe away some of the blood. “I’ll heal fast, trust me. Now can we talk? I’m guessing by your reaction that you know who I am?”

He nodded, mumbling your superhero name.

“Well, you must be hungry from… being Spider-Man, right? Mac and cheese?” You motioned to the stove, where Peter only just noticed the pot on top.

“I— you made food in my kitchen??”

“Well I was starving and I had no idea how long you were going to be, you took forever! So I just made myself some food. I promise I’ll come back and bring you a box to replace the one I used. Are you honestly telling me you’re not hungry right now? It’s really tasty.” You walked over to the drawers in the kitchen and began to open and shut them, looking for the cutlery drawer.

“Yeah I know what boxed mac and cheese tastes like, y— my old girlfriend used to make it for us all the time okay I know… I know it’s delicious.”

“Forks, forks…” You paused, having finally found the drawer. You picked up the one object in your hand and turned around, “no… you have ONE fork?!”

Peter scoffed, crossing his arms. He was really having to put on a show that he didn’t know who you were. Truth is, he knew this was exactly how you’d react even if you did remember him and this was just your first time at his new apartment. “I— I’m one person.”

“That’s so weird. What’s your name?”

“What?”

You slid the mask off of your face. “Come on. I know where you live. You know who I am, I think you can trust me with your name.”

“I… Peter… Parker,” he sighed, knowing you were right. As he removed his mask, he knew that even if he didn’t tell you, you’d be able to figure it out since you were able to find out where he lived. You didn’t even seem phased that the name he just uttered and the person behind the mask was the same one from Delmar’s not too long ago.

“Peter, this is not cutlery. This is not cutlery.” Now you felt even more bad for the guy. If he only owns a single fork, he must not have people over.

Okay, think, Peter thought to himself. He had to act like he thought you were just a crazy Avenger who broke into his house because you somehow figured out he was Spider-Man. “I am not just gonna sit and have dinner with you after you tried to kill me and then just broke into my house.”

Now it was your turn to scoff. “I did not try to kill you! A, I’m an Avenger and that probably wouldn’t look good on my resume if I killed our friendly although not-so-friendly according to the news Spider-Man. B, I didn’t break anything to get into your apartment so did I really break in? Your lock is very easy to pick, you’re lucky I’m the first one that tried. And C… you’re literally Spider-Man so maybe stop being so defensive, please? I really am just here to talk.”

I didn’t think it was possible for my heart to literally shatter into pieces, but yup, it’s happening, Peter thought. When he first joined the team, being that you were the same age, Tony sent you to talk to him. And when he opened the door to May’s apartment and saw you standing there, he must’ve been thinking the worst because you hadn’t ever seen him so terrified. “I really am just here to talk,” you’d reassured him then. How different those same words sounded now.

“O—okay.”

You went to the kitchen sink and washed your bowl and fork. You decided to take matters into your own hands, where the food was involved, so you scooped the remainder of the mac and cheese into another bowl and got a fork. On a whim, you then opened Peter’s fridge and bent down, an ‘aha!’ let out as you found a bottle of sriracha. You squirted some of the red sauce into the bowl, then handed it over to Peter.

He was a little in shock. You remembered that he like sriracha with his mac and cheese. How was this possible? He decided not to question you, instead mumbling a soft “thank you”.

“What happened? With Mysterio?”

“Haven’t you watched the news?” Even as he spoke, when Peter looked at you, he was amazed that despite the fact that he was still essentially a stranger to you, he could tell you genuinely cared and wanted to hear his side of the story. “I just mean… people seem to already know what happened.”

“I want to hear it from you. And I know you don’t know me, well like personally outside of the fact that I’m an Avenger and we used to work together on missions, and this is the first time I’ve seen your face, but you can trust me. I’ve done my fair share of bad things too.”

This caught his attention. You very rarely (and completely understandably) talked about your time as a Black Widow. In fact, he knew that Bucky and Nat were the only ones that you were comfortable enough to really confide in. You’d confessed one night that you didn’t want to talk about it with him too much because you were worried it would scare him away.

Seeing the way he looked at you as you spoke, you told him more. Not all the details, but the basics of how you came to be enrolled in the Black Widow program, how you were freed by Nat and Yelena, and how you still partially blamed yourself for the things that you were forced to do. “I know— Bucky says it’s not my fault, it’s not any of our fault, but I still can’t help but think it is, you know? And I just want to do good now, I want to help people. So when I saw you on the news, I thought there had to be more to the story. I may not know you, Peter, but I know Spider-Man. He was only ever good the entire time I knew him. So if you want to tell me what happened, I’ll listen.”

“How did you know I liked sriracha on my mac and cheese?”

You were silent, not expecting him to ask that of all questions. “I… huh?”

“After you put it in the bowl. You put some sriracha before giving it to me. Why?” He was trying to gauge just how much you remembered. You seemed to have some memories, just unaware that they were with him.

“I— I don’t know. I just did it. Sorry,” you leaned against the counter, now puzzled about why you did that too.

“If I tell you everything, you’ll think I’m crazy.”

You laughed, trying to make him feel more comfortable, “Peter I share a floor on the Avengers compound with a former Winter Soldier who’s over one hundred years old. And I can do this,” you raised your left hand, causing the energy to glow around it and Peter’s bowl to lift just a few inches off of the table. Once the bowl was set back down, you shrugged. “Nothing seems crazy to me anymore.”

He closed his eyes, wondering what he should do. But then he looked back at you, and you were looking at him the same way you always did, before you forgot who he was. With the same sense of kindness, and care, and he knew that he could trust you.

So… he told you everything. You both moved to the couch to be a little more comfortable, and Peter spent the next hour telling you every single thing, giving you the long-story-short version of events from the moment he was bit by the spider, to right now sitting here with you. You sat back, not doubting him for a second. It all sounded so crazy that it had to be true. He didn’t want to scare you off with how much he knew, but he told you little facts and stories that there’s no way he could’ve known unless you’d told him. And you wouldn’t have told him unless you knew him.

“And we… we were together?” You looked at him, and noticed him quickly wiping away a few tears.

“Yeah, we were.”

You scooted closer, suddenly feeling like you needed to be near him. When you gently put a hand on his face, he leans in to your touch, sighing as he closes his eyes. He missed you more than anything in the world. “I wish I could remember all of it. I’m sorry I don’t.”

“No, it’s my fault. I— I was the one who asked Dr. Strange to make everyone forget. And I thought yeah it might take awhile, but I’d come find you and make everything alright again. But life got complicated and I thought after all of this stuff with Mysterio, you wouldn’t want to know me anymore.”

“But I do know you Peter,” you smiled, reaching up to run your hands through his hair. “My mind may not remember you as a person, but I have these memories and I don’t think I could explain it other than the fact that my heart somehow remembers, as cheesy as that sounds. Like you said, little things like remembering your hot sauce on your mac and cheese, and even at Delmar’s I couldn’t put my finger on it but you felt so familiar. I swore I knew you even though to me I hadn’t seen you before.”

You were both silent for a moment. When you slowly removed your hand, Peter took it in his, now desperately craving your touch after having felt it again. “I just, I didn’t know what to do. And I still don’t. The world won’t believe me as quick as you did sweetheart.”

“Stephen.”

“Huh?”

“We need to talk to Stephen. He helped make everyone forget, and I’m not saying he should help make everyone remember after you told me what happened, but he’ll know what to do. And even if he doesn’t believe you at first, I’ll be right there. There has to be something we can do, the whole world can’t just keep on hating you for something that you didn’t even do.”

For the first time since losing May and everyone forgetting who he was, Peter was filled with hope. You may not remember him 100%, but you were now on his side and you believed everything he told you. Maybe things really could be fixed, at least on some level.

You both sat and talked for a little while longer, mostly you asking Peter questions about your relationship, and occasionally him asking you about how you’ve been doing since forgetting him. Then you came up with a rough plan, that wasn’t really a plan. You’d go to visit Stephen, and Peter would go to but he’d wait outside while you talked and explained as best you could. Although you didn’t work closely together, Stephen knew what you could do and he trusted you enough that you hoped he’d believe you.

“Maybe we should wait until it’s not, you know, pitch black outside,” you walked over to the window and glanced up at the moon. In both of your excitement at now having a plan, you were ready to rush out of the door right then and there. “I can come back first thing in the morning and then we can—”

“Will you stay, please?” Peter was terrified that if you left and went to bed, you’d somehow forget who he was by the time morning came around.

You nodded, standing up and finally stretching your arms. “I’m just gonna go take a shower and change, I’ll come back as soon as I’m done okay?” You put a hand over Peter’s reassuringly, and were a little surprised when he pulled you in for a hug, squeezing you tight. But after being in his arms for only a second, you wrapped your arms around him too. And this was another moment your body confirmed he was telling the truth. He felt like home.

“I’m gonna shower and change too, get out of this suit. I’ll leave my door unlocked incase you’re done before I am. You can just come in.”

After you went your separate ways, you took the fastest shower possible and changed into sweatpants and a plain shirt. When you made your way back to Peter’s apartment, you knocked before opening the door. You heard the shower still going from the bathroom, so you wandered around the apartment again, this time feeling a lot more comfortable.

On the other side of the couch, was a box that you hadn’t noticed before. It just one of those small brown boxes that had all 4 sides folded to keep it shut. Unable to contain your curiosity, you opened the box. And nothing in the world could’ve prepared you for the photograph you were looking at.

You didn’t know but it was taken the day Stephen made everyone forget. And it wasn’t you, or Peter, or MJ, or Ned, or anyone that took the photo. It was Karen, a photo taken by Peter’s suit, so it was from his point of view. When Peter was looking through all that Karen had captured on his old laptop one night, he stumbled upon the photo. And he knew it was stupid, but he printed a copy, wanting to remember them even if they’d forget him too.

Your hands shook just a little as you brought the photo closer to your face, wondering how all of this was connected.

“Hey I heard you come in, sorry I took so long—” Peter froze when he saw what photo you were holding. “Oh, t-that’s just—”

You cut him off, and just as nothing could’ve prepared you for the photo, nothing could’ve prepared Peter for what you said next.

“The one on the right, I know him.”

(((you’re referring to Andrew’s Peter)))

a;sdlkfjasg;hv.a,fights;gjsdf this was so fun to write!

[redrobin-detective]

Ben 10 lore that exists in my heart regardless of canon

- Ben’s personality in his mid-late teens is a mix of his Alien Force and Omniverse self. On the surface, he’s very cheerful and kind even if he is a bit of arrogant showoff. He makes jokes and plays around and acts as if he isn’t bothered by the things in his life. Those who know him best understand a good portion of his outward confidence and cockiness is just a facade to cover up his insecurities and to project the ideal, effortless hero. While sometimes seen as immature, most beings know Ben 10 means business as he takes his unofficial job and people’s safety very seriously. He’s clever, adaptable, charismatic and empathetic which makes him a formidable opponent and a loyal friend. Doesn’t open up easily but if you get to him, he become so dearly attached. 

- Drinks smoothies so much for several reasons. Comfort food go brrr, reminds him of the good easy times with him Gwen and Kev. It’s also a light but generally nutritous food to give him energy for heroing. Anything too heavy and he’ll be puking (both from physical and emotional stress). Though he jokes about his mom’s health foods, his are a crazy concoction of add in proteins and vitamins/minerals bc he knows he’ll out and out collapse without it. (Still has on occasion bc boy still doesn’t eat right/enough)

- While Fame is exciting for him at first he soon begins to detest it. Not the fans, no, he can’t bring himself to hate the people who look up to him. But he hates the constant attention, that he can’t walk outside without being mobbed. the only place he feels safe is his hometown where most people are so used to him and his weirdness that they don’t react much anymore. Takes to wearing a cape and face shield when going out anywhere so he can actually get things done without being recognized and mobbed.

- Part of the reason Bellwood isn’t concerned with Ben is partially because ben’s been weird and alien for as long as they can remember but also many don’t realize how famous/powerful he is. Yeah that’s just Ben Tennyson over there, sometimes he turns into funny creatures- wait what do you MEAN he’s the savior of the universe?? He cried over a spilled smoothie the other day.

- Does mostly online schooling by the time he’s 15. At first he tries to do half day things to maintain something of a normal life but it quickly becomes overwhelming and dangerous him/the school. Finishes his GED early but the Plumbers and Azmuth make him take additional college level and alien courses to prepare him for his future role. Ben gripes but really does love learning all these things, especially on his terms (ADHD and stress + the public school system do not always go hand in hand). He’s a quick learner when he deems the information important and is made accessible to his learning needs.

- Ben definitely has ADHD speaking of which, it was nearly uncontrollable as a child bc his free-spirited parents didn’t believe in medicating. Ben convinced them he needed it and after some trial and error, found meds that worked. As he became more involved in heroics/growing up he had to change his medicine regimen (resulting in him being a bit more off the rails in OV) and needed antidepressants and therapy to manage it better. As an adult he has a whole litany of coping mechanisms (good and bad yes) and regularly checks in with his therapist and doctors to keep things under control. 

- Has a complicated relationship with his necrofriggian children. Considers himself their mother and worries after them. They too feel a connection to their parent despite this being unusual for their species. A few visit (some more than others) while they grow while others maintain distance. Ben never breathes a word of them to the media for fear of them being targeted. Still he keeps an eye on them and ensures all 14 mature to adulthood (another rarity for the species). Checks in every now and again with the ones who don’t want to see him and those that do. Two join the Plumbers and Ben is both proud and worried. His youngest becomes partners with Rook Ben.

- Just in general loves kids, they’re his favorite fans and while he’ll grumble at pushy adult fans he always smiles and kneels down for the little ones. Not so secretly wanted to have children of his own but knew it was a risk overall and used a lot of that energy with mentoring and teaching. Eventually had Kenny later in life (late 30s-40s) and was over the moon, becoming such a loving and doing parent or as much as he could be with his hectic schedule. 

- Omnitrix can’t come off, never has at any point since it first latched onto Ben’s arm. Azmuth tried and failed to get the device off, doesn’t let Ben know for many years as he feared the consequences. The watch loves and protects Ben even beyond it’s programming making him much more durable to damage and releasing energy charges when he’s threatened. Not even removing Ben’s arm would separate them. They’re stuck for life.

- Ben does have Anodite heritage but the Omnitrix actively suppresses it and uses the built up energy to power the transformations which is why ben is mostly unaffected by what should cause a massive energy drain on him. Theoretically if Ben learned to harness and safely use his Mana at an early age like Gwen he would have been fine but letting it build up without safe outlet meant activation would have killed him. Omnitrix Ben, however, went his whole life not knowing of his latent abilities and how the watch saved his life.

- Ben’s eyes get more green and glowy as time passes from the Omnitrix. At first they think its a trick of the light but by the time he’s an adult his eyes are pretty much glow in the dark. His veins light up too after long stretches of using the Omnitrix. Its vaguely unsettling to people who aren’t used to Ben.

- Max and the Earth Plumbers work so, so hard to keep teen Ben on Earth when half the universe is blowing up their comm lines asking for The Ben 10 to help with whatever problem of the day. Ben himself doesn’t quite understand when he’s younger the prestige and expectations on his shoulders. Max throws up a million and one roadblocks so Ben can live as normal a life as possible while he still can. Still, while doing that he Still overloads Ben with expectations and responsibilities on earth and beyond. He becomes a soldier again with Ben as their greatest weapon. He never forgave himself of losing sight of his grandson underneath the hero esp after Ben’s breakdown. 

- Rook partnership with Ben ends not long after Omniverse with his promotion to Magister. Ben tries to play it cool but the thought of another loved one/teammate leaving his tears him apart. Max revealing that Ben most likely wouldn’t get a new Plumber assigned partner since he’s almost an adult and won’t need it and Rook accidentally missing their last smoothie run due to a scheduling mishap causes Ben to snap and have the nervous breakdown that had been building for almost a decade. He completely loses it for a little while and needs to take an extended leave of absence from school and heroics that lasts about a year. Spends time recovering both on Earth and Galvan Prime, does some diplomatic training, learns about aliens, actually confronts the stress and loneliness of his life. He comes out the other side stronger but still fragile and exhausted.

- Ben’s above mentioned breakdown brings him closer to all his friends who didn’t quite realize the extent of Ben’s burden. Rook had been under the impression Ben didn’t like him all that much so the knowledge that his departure was the final straw for friend/hero’s collapse was shocking. Ben and Azmuth also become closer, the Galvan becoming fiercely protective of the boy seeing as his Earth family didn’t do well to keep him safe. It takes years for him to get over his anger at Max for putting so much on his grandchild. Ben makes more friends, in and out of the hero business, finally gets a therapist and gets some of his burdens eased a bit. It’s not a sure fire fix and Ben has several smaller breakdowns the rest of his life but its something.

- Azmuth was straight up suicidal before he met Ben for the first time. Ben gave him back hope for the universe and his ability to create items for peace not weapons. The boy infuriates him, frightens him, frustrates him but Azmuth cannot deny in his heart of hearts that he loves Ben dearly. He’s very upset at Ben’s breakdown and doesn’t know how to handle the worst of the initail outbursts. Azmuth talks Ben down from a suicide attempt. He reaches out to Ben that he Too felt overwhelmed by pressure, thought himself only good for war. Ben’s arrival in his life saved him and now he will do the same for Ben. It’s the first positive step forward in Ben’s recovery.

- For no other reason than I like it, Azmuth primarily refers to Ben as Benjamin (mostly to annoy the kid but he likes the way it sounds too) and Ben in softer, more serious moments. 

- Professor Paradox continues to flit in and out of Ben’s life. He says its because Ben is the most equipped to handle universal peril (true) but he’s also just very fond of the boy. Ben, existing in so many forms and having such importance also exists a beat outside of normal reality which Paradox identifies with. Ben is naturally attuned to time related problems because of this (instantly IDing Spanner as from the future before being told later deducing him to be his unborn son). Plus Ben named him, way back when. He’s just drawn to Ben.

- Adult Ben, while being seen as an impressively skilled fighter and champion, really has his strength as a universal diplomat of sorts. Based out of Earth, he helps mediate and defuse conflicts, advocate against tyranny and overall preserve peace and balance. He’s not perfect, he makes mistakes and sometimes is forced to become violent (and yes kill) but overall is regarded as a peacekeeper, something younger ben simply couldn’t understand. 

- Gwen gets her degree and primarily does work with advocacy and teaching about magic/alien culture. While she and Ben are still close, there’s a bit of a frustrated divide in that she isn’t helping him share the burden of the universe. Gwen never wanted to be a hero and has enough worth to not shackle herself to a job that’ll burn her out. Ben loves heroing but gives too much of himself away trying to fix everything. They get into screaming arguments that it wouldn’t be so bad out there if she just helped him but she refuses to budge and says he shouldn’t make himself do so much. They always make up and thy still are each other’s closest relationships.

- Ben marries Kai in a political move, Kai is Asexual and Ben Aromantic. They didn’t love each other but they got on well enough and Ben was really feeling the stress of carrying the hero burden so Kai also being involved made him feel like he wasn’t alone. Both were also so tired of the universe constantly asking about their love life and said ‘fuck it we’re married leave us alone’. Gwen was always mad about it feeling Ben deserved better but the two of them were happy with it. They had separate rooms, mostly separate lives but they became strong friends and supports with their strictly platonic marriage. They had Ken via Invitro in an incubator and were loving if extremely busy parents. 

- Also from the moment he appeared, Ben knew that Spanner was his future son, Kenny. He played ignorant and then was kind of deliberately teasing him in future encounters. He knew the rules of time and didn’t want to disrupt things further even if he was angry and worried as heck about why Ken felt the need to time travel. When future Ben catches up in the timeline, Kenny gets SUCH a lecture. 

- Ben isn’t quite immortal but he’s also not entirely human anymore either. The Omnitrix not only keeps him safe from most harm but it lightens the effect of aging. Ben 10 is active many, many years when most humans would have been forced to retire. He’s not sure how long the watch will keep him alive and it terrifies him. Gwen too is functionally immortal however she ages like a normal human, then when her natural death came, shed her skin and became a fulltime Anodite. So in the end, it was her and Ben together wondering which of them will die first. Gwen has trouble retaining her humanity as pure energy and swears she’ll let herself fizzle out when Ben goes. When that’ll be however...

[wrenhyperfixates]

Milkshakes

Pairing: Loki x reader Summary: Overwhelmed when Loki saves you, you respond to his kindness with fear. Determined to apologize, you seek Loki out to thank him with a couple of milkshakes and some fries. Warnings: a tad angsty but much fluff A/N: This is actually one of my favorite fics I’ve ever written. Hope you all enjoy :)

Permanent Tag List: @lucywrites02 @frostedgiant @lunarmoon8 @twhiddlestonsstuff @lokistan @lowkeyorlokificrecs @gaitwae @whatafuckingdumbass @castiels-majestic-wings @kozkaboi @cozy-the-overlord @birdgirl90 @myraiswack @mythicalgarlicknot @what-a-flammable-heart​ @marvelouslovely​

Disclaimer: Picture not mine

Of course it had to be during your lunch break that a supervillain attacked the city. Of course today you decided to go out to eat instead of packing something. And, of course you had to be walking by the building right as it crumbled. You started praying to any god that there may be to save you from being crushed. Though, you hadn’t actually expected one to save you.

In the moments before you would have been flattened, Loki put an arm around your waist, pulling you close to him. Raising his free hand, a glimmering green force field appeared around you. The falling matter bounced off of it and landed around you, the shield offering strong protection. Of course you were thankful to be rescued, but did have to be Loki? You knew he was supposedly reformed, but so many news outlets still ran stories about how he was dangerous. A ticking time bomb. You’d never quite formed an opinion on him, and it was causing great conflict in you now. On the one hand, he looked very intimidating from this close, what with his impressive stature and horned helmet and all. But on the other, he was saving you from the actual super villain destroying the city. Perhaps if there wasn’t so much going on, you could think more clearly. Alas, your thoughts were a messy, confused jumble, leaving you fearful of the super-powered god in front of you.

“Are you alright?” he asked in his deep, smooth accent as the shield shimmered away into nothing. The god brought his arm to shield your eyes from the small pieces of debris still falling, the other one still around your waist in a protective manner. “Are you injured at all?

“I, um, uh, I- I,” you stammered, backing up. “Mhm. All good. Uhhh, thanks.”

You were certain you must be the most awkward person in history, but instead of making fun of you, Loki just looked sad. Even with the hurt behind his eyes, his arms shot out to catch you when you stumbled over the wreckage. He guided you away from the obstacles to a place where you could walk unhindered. He moved back from you as soon as he’d finished escorting you.

“You are welcome,” he finally responded. “I am sorry for frightening you. You should get somewhere safe.”

Without waiting for a reply, he left to rejoin the battle. You started retreating from the scene, steering as clear of any large structures as you could, cursing yourself the whole time. Loki had saved you, and you’d been afraid of him. What kind of nonsense was that? And you were certain he got that kind of reaction all the time, based on the way he’d looked at you and realized your bumbling actions were a result of fear. Fear of him after he’d so carefully and gently saved you.

You felt stupid and petty as you joined a throng of people being guided away from the scene. After nearly two years of working to protect the city, Loki should have gotten more praise and love than he did. You realized it now, only moments too late. Someone should tell him he was appreciated, a hero. And if no one else was going to do it, you resolved to do it yourself.

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

The meeting was dreadfully boring, but someone had to go. Seeing as all the other Avengers were busy, that someone was Loki. Besides, Stark had told him it would be good for his image to head up the restoration of the city this time round. The committee and resources were all a part of Stark Industries, of course, so Loki felt there should be some employee to take care of it instead of him. But whatever, he’d been roped into it now, and he figured that there was some merit to what Tony has said about his reputation.

Luckily, with a week having passed since the battle, great headway had been made with the repairs, and the meeting was much shorter than expected. Itching to get outside, Loki headed to the main doors.

“You don’t understand,” Loki heard someone say to the receptionist as he approached the front desk. “He saved me the other day. I have to thank him. Please?”

Loki just rolled his eyes as he pushed through the turnstile. He couldn’t even begin to count how many fans had tried this tactic to meet their favorite Avengers. Granted, no one had ever tried to see him, but he was coming to terms with it. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder which of his colleagues you were trying to get through to see. Perhaps Steve, or maybe even Thor. Loki was so lost in thought it barely even registered when the voice switched from pleading with the receptionist to calling after him.  

He turned and stopped, recognizing the person jogging after him as you, who he remembered from the battle. “May I help you?” he asked in the most pleasant tone he could manage.

“Yeah. Uh, hi. I don’t know if you remember, but you saved me the other day,” you explained sheepishly. “You know, during the attack.”

“Yes, I recall.”

“Oh! Good. I just wanted to say thank you for that. For saving me, I mean. And the city.”

“I see,” the god replied, suspiciously raising an eyebrow. “Well then, you are welcome. Really, I was just doing my job, though.”

“Well, I still appreciate it.” There was a lapse in the conversation, as neither of you were really sure what to say next. “Can we go somewhere? Like for coffee or something. Can I buy you a coffee?”

Oddly enough, that made Loki distrust the situation even more. Ok, maybe you were actually a super nice person who had a guilty conscience for making him feel bad, and maybe that prompted you to come thank him properly. But that you wanted to buy him something, presumably to show your newfound appreciation? Absolutely preposterous. The only people who ever did something remotely as kind as that were his fellow Avengers, and not even all of them or particularly often. Any of the other people who openly supported him didn’t show appreciation, per se. It was more that they felt he’d done enough to redeem himself at this point, which wasn’t exactly the most thrilling phrasing either. But here you were, awkwardly shuffling your feet and asking to buy him coffee. Loki supposed he shouldn’t pass such an opportunity up. And yet, he probably was going to.

“No thank you,” he finally replied, shaking himself from the shocked, catatonic state he’d fallen into. “I do not much like coffee.”

As he walked away, he thought that would be the end of it. That perhaps you’d only been talking to him in the hopes he’d invite you to see the other Avengers, too. That maybe you’d go back to trying to wheedle your way inside at the front desk. Much to his surprise, you came hurrying after him.

“Wait,” you called. “Ok, so scratch the coffee. How about ice cream or tea or a milkshake or something? Anything really, you name it.”

Now that you were outside, he observed you again while he thought, as if hoping the sunlight would reveal your true intentions. He couldn’t find anything malicious in your expression, just some sort of anxiety. Loki must have taken too long in coming to a decision, because you started rambling.

“I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to pressure you into it or anything, but I wanted to do something nice to say thank you and-” you cut off and bit your lip. “Is this stupid? It sounds stupid. It’s probably stupid. I’ll go now. Again, I’m really sorry to have bothered you.”

“One moment,” he said before you could make your retreat. “You said anything I want, correct?” You eagerly nodded as Loki got an idea. “Alright then. I would like a five course meal at the nicest restaurant in London, please and thank you.”

“I, um. I know I said anything but, uh...” You noticed his serious expression had turned into a sly grin. “You’re joking, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am. My apologies, but I simply could not resist,” he chuckled.

You began to laugh, too. Not in a way that made him think it was out of courtesy or pity, but an honest to goodness laugh. Briefly, he thought it one of the most beautiful sounds he’d ever heard, before quickly shaking the idea from his mind. It was ridiculous; he hardly even knew you. But you seemed pretty adamant on showing your gratitude. Plus, you’d apologized to him, which was more than he could say for most of the people in his life.

“You know, I would usually say tea, but a milkshake actually sounds quite lovely right now,” he told you once you’d calmed down. “That is, if the offer is still open.”

“Of course it is!” you happily told him, the smile on your face growing. Not to mention you seemed much more at ease. “I actually know a great diner that’s just a short walk from here, if that works for you.”

“By all means, lead the way.”

It took approximately ten minutes to get to the restaurant. After properly introducing yourselves, you kept up a light dialogue. It wasn’t uncomfortable, exactly; just hesitant, as if both of you were afraid of saying the wrong things and shattering the blissful moment. Loki still couldn’t bring himself to fully trust you. Such a feeling just wasn’t in his nature, especially not when it came to someone he just met and had a considerably rocky start with. Even so, he found himself enjoying your company.

Arriving at the diner, Loki held the door open for you as you walked in. Luckily, you didn’t have to wait for a seat, the classic red stools at the bar free at this time of the afternoon. Loki swiveled the seat back and forth ever so slightly, and found himself chuckling when he caught you doing the same thing. You offered him a shy smile as a waitress handed the both of you a menu.

The God of Mischief had only ever had the pleasure of drinking a milkshake once before, a vanilla one when the team had convinced him to try it on one of their outings. He’d thoroughly enjoyed it and planned on playing it safe by ordering the same thing now. When you asked what he was getting, though, you were having none of that. After nearly five minutes of rousing debate, you’d finally talked him up to chocolate. Part of him was having so much fun with the discussion and how animated you became about the topic that he almost didn’t want to concede. But the waitress came back to take your orders, and he didn’t want to make her leave and come back again.

“Oh, and some French fries too please,” you added after ordering your favorite milkshake.

Loki shot you a perplexed look. “French fries?” he asked after the waitress moved away.

“Yeah. Please tell me you’ve heard of them before.”

“I have. I have even eaten them a few times before, believe it or not,” he answered as you turned to face him, leaning on the counter. “But are you certain they go with a milkshake?”

Your jaw dropped open. “Of course they do. Listen, Loki, you haven’t lived until you’ve dipped French fries in a milkshake. You’ll love it, I promise.”

You continued to help him expand his knowledge of Midgardian cuisine as you waited for your order to come. Once it arrived, you dipped a fry in your shake, just as you had said, trying to convince him just how delicious it truly was. The trickster skeptically picked one up and mimicked your actions, plunging it into the frothy liquid. The second it hit his tongue, his face lit up in pure delight.

“See, I told you,” you laughed.

“Indeed you did,” he said back, the corners of his eyes crinkling from how wide his smile was.

An hour and another order of fries later, the two of you finished your snack. Loki was in a better mood than he’d been all month. Honestly, he was a little sad when the bill came.

“Are you certain you do not want me to pay?” he checked as you fished out a twenty from your wallet to cover the low-cost meal. “Or we could split it, at least.”

“Loki, it’s fine,” you giggled. “This is me thanking you, remember? And, honestly, it’s me apologizing, too. I was just startled the other day and there was a lot going on. I hadn’t ever really thought about what I’d do if I met an Avenger, least of all if it happened while they were saving my life. I was overwhelmed; I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about yourself or anything.” Without really thinking about it, your hand moved to rest on top of his. It was a surprise to Loki, but a welcome one. “Because—and I can say this with absolute certainty—you’re amazing, Loki. You do so much for the city. I hope you know how appreciated you are, at least by me.”

His other large hand came to cover yours. “Thank you, darling.” He didn’t mean to say the pet name, but it just slipped out. “I cannot express how much that means to me.”

Somewhere in his heart, he wanted to tell you everything, make you privy to all his inner turmoil. But that was buried underneath years of pain and rejection, too heavy to move for someone he didn’t know all too well, no matter how connected he felt to you in this moment. So he let the urge pass over him, hoping his thanks would be sufficient enough in expressing how he felt.

“You’re welcome, Loki,” you told him, squeezing his hand. Then you stood up. “So, I guess I’ll be letting you get on with your day then. This was really nice, though. Thanks for agreeing to it.”

“You’re welcome and thank you,” he replied. “It really was.”

After waving goodbye to each other, you exited and Loki stayed where he was, picking at the last few nubs of fries left in the basket. He didn’t know exactly why he didn’t leave, too. Just that something was missing.

“Ah, young love,” the elderly waitress who had been serving you all day said to Loki as she came to collect the empty dishes. “Magical, isn’t it?”

“Love?” Loki choked out. “I am afraid you are quite mistaken. It was not even a date. I hardly even know them. I will probably never even see them again.”

“And you’re just gonna let them walk out?” she tsked. “It’s a right shame, sonny. Let me tell you, you don’t just let something like that walk out on ya.”

He looked at the door for a second in melancholic contemplation before bolting out after you. He shouted his thanks to the waitress as he pushed open the glass door, exiting out into the harsh sunlight. As his eyes adjusted, they scanned for your form before it walked out of his life forever. Spotting you, he jogged in your direction and called your name. Funny, he thought, how just earlier that day the roles had been reversed.

“Loki?” you asked, stopped on the sidewalk as he caught up to you. “Are you ok? Did something happen?”

“Actually, the problem is what did not happen.” He kicked a rock with his shoe, as suddenly the ground became very interesting to him. His insides were a nervous mess. Clearing his throat, he gathered his courage to continue. “See, I do not have any way of contacting you again. And it had been my sincere hope that you would want to do this again, let me take you out somewhere.”

“That sounds amazing,” you agreed, jotting down your number on an old receipt you’d found in your wallet. Smirking, you parroted back his words from earlier. “How about you take me for a five course meal in London?”

“Oh, so you have turned my own jokes against me. How very clever of you,” he laughed. “What if we just went to see a movie, instead?”

“Perfect,” you nodded. “Just text me a time and place, and I’ll see you then.”

“I look forward to it. As soon as I buy the tickets, I shall let you know.”

“Sounds awesome! It’s a date.”

As you parted ways, for real this time, it registered in Loki’s mind what you’d said. He hadn’t particularly been thinking about his phrasing or in what way he was asking you to hang out. But apparently you’d taken it as an invitation for a date. As Loki arrived back at the Tower and flopped onto his bed, already dreaming of your laugh, he found he was quite happy that you had.

[itsclydebitches]

I’ve been seeing an uptick in “anti-RWDE” posts lately  — which is a phenomenon I’d like to comment on at a later date  — but for now one of them (quite unintentionally) made me realize something about the finale that I haven’t seen others discuss yet. 

So RWBYJNOR saves everyone, right? Let’s just put aside the animation for a moment  — which didn’t show any army members making it out  — as well as the forgotten side characters  — Maria, Pietro, Qrow’s group isn’t forgotten, but still left behind  — and take things on good faith here. We’ll read the finale through the thematic intention: RWBYJNOR saved “everyone” in the Kingdom of Atlas in Volume 8, deliberately contrasting them with Ironwood who was willing to sacrifice a chunk of the Kingdom in Volume 7. Forget all the messiness and just accept that regardless of the consequences  — like a destroyed Kingdom and a “dead” team  — the heroes are heroic because they didn’t give into a “lesser evil” thinking and managed to save everyone. 

Now, how was that possible? 

Let’s go back to the beginning of the seventh episode of Volume 8, “War.” Salem’s grimm have just burrowed through Atlas’ defenses and taken them out. The shields are gone. She flies Monstra into the fields and releases an army of darkness that immediately heads for the city. What’s the very first thing Ironwood does? 

Soldier: Yes, sir?

Ironwood: I am evacuating all citizens to the subway. Prepare Manta Squad Omega, and dispatch to every part of Atlas.

Soldier: But sir-

Ironwood: Now!

He evacuates the people, with “the people” meaning all the Atlesians and however many Mantle folk got to the city prior to Salem’s arrival. When this episode aired I mentioned being confused as to why the soldier was so hesitant. Why wouldn’t you want the people to get to safety when a grimm army is heading their way? Fans against Ironwood took the soldier’s side, claiming that Mountain Glenn proved that any underground evacuation is a death sentence and thus he obviously doesn’t really care about the peoples’ safety. Fans in support of/neutral towards Ironwood pointed out that this is a pretty big leap, no one is coming up with a better idea for what he should do instead, and that within these circumstances it reads like the soldiers is illogically against this idea simply because everyone is against Ironwood now. The show wants characters criticizing his decisions and making him out to look like a crazed dictator... even during moments when it doesn’t make any sense to be upset with him. Shooting the councilman yes, trying to keep the people safe no. Basically, this small exchange was a mess, but the rest of the volume proved that this was a sound call. The subway never collapsed and no grimm ever made it to that enclosed space to pick the civilians off like fish in an underground barrel. 

So, why didn’t that happen? Well, one answer is because Oscar and Ozpin destroyed the whale. But how did they have time to do that? Without the people dying while they were being tortured, talking to Hazel, escaping with Emerald, fighting Salem, etc.? A lot happened between Salem starting her attack and Oscar ending it, so why wasn’t 2/3rds of the Kingdom’s population decimated during that time? 

Because Ironwood sent his army out to keep the grimm occupied. 

Outside of Ironwood’s cartoon villain actions  — random murders and bomb threats  — which get the most attention due to how deliberately, over-the-top horrific they are, these are the two actions that get the most negative attention from both the story and the fanbase. The soldier seems horrified by the order to evacuate. Marrow is devastated that young adults are fighting in this battle. The fandom is disgusted by both aspects of Ironwood’s character: giving orders that, as general, he expects to be obeyed and having an army that follows those orders. Putting side that cartoon villainy, this is what supposedly makes Ironwood the antagonist here. These are the qualities that have existed since Volume 2, resulting in a “he was always a bad guy” interpretation. These are the qualities that have resulted in anyone who likes his character being labeled as a “bootlicker.” We know these qualities make the fandom hate him because otherwise, more people would be confused as to why a presumably heroic character randomly shot Oscar. Orders, armies, and general military associations are at the heart of Ironwood’s presumed villainy. 

So let’s remove them. 

Ironwood has no evil army. Ironwood gives no evil orders. Power and control lies solely in the hands of our non-military heroes. Everything is better! 

...well, no. Because we saw in Volume 8 precisely the choices our heroes made when the attack started: half of them focused on saving a single individual (Oscar) and the other half kept to the sidelines. At no point did our RWB group act after sending the message and prior to securing the Staff. AKA, during the attack of Salem’s army. We got a very explicit moment in which Ruby looked out the window at the battle going on and turned away from it, continuing to discuss ethics instead of joining the fight. The people of Atlas (which, again, includes many Mantle citizens) had no one but Ironwood and his army because a third of the group was trying to rescue Oscar (they never even had a plan to blow up Monstra — that was also Ironwood), a third of the group was up in Amity, and a third was sitting in the mansion. They did nothing to help the people of Atlas being attacked by grimm. 

Thus, if you remove Ironwood’s actions, everything goes to hell. There is no longer an order to evacuate to the subway. Maybe some people go there anyway. Most probably don’t. They run in a panic wherever they can. Hide wherever they can. Go back home for some semblance of safety. 

There’s no longer an army. Either it doesn’t exist because we’ve determined it’s simplistically bad despite RWBY’s grimm-specific context, or Ironwood likewise never gives the order to protect Atlas’ border. Salem’s army moves unimpeded through the city, killing countless people as it goes. How do we know? Because they’re civilians who can’t defend themselves and there’s literally no one else to help. Remember: Ironwood is not giving orders, there is no army, RWB is in the mansion, YJOR is in the whale, Penny is out of commission, the Happy Huntresses are in Mantle. Those in Atlas are entirely alone. In time, Oscar destroys the whale, but by then it’s too late. There’s no concrete way to theorize how many have died, but it’s inevitably a lot. Everyone else is scatted across the city, trying to survive. 

So this scene 

no longer exists. 

When the group gets the Staff and creates portals for “everyone” to escape through, Mantle is ready to go. They’ve gotten everyone into the crater and can funnel them straight to Vacuo. Atlas, however, is in chaos. When Jaune enters the subway there’s only a few people there, many of which may be wounded or dying. He’s right back where he started, in Mantle at the beginning of Volume 8: needing to go door-to-door to find where people have hidden themselves, trying to convince them all to follow him (remember Oscar commenting to Ozpin about how difficult that was?). Except now, he and Nora are the only ones trying to get people to safey, the city is filled with far more grimm, a significant amount of time has passed for people to be killed or injured (making evacuating them even harder, both due to injuries and an unwillingness to leave hurt/dead/missing loved ones behind), he’s trying to convince these panicking people to go through magic portals, not just walk to a crater, and he’s aware that there’s a very short time limit for this task. 

Jaune returns in a panic of his own, explaining how difficult it will be to get that 2/3rds of the Kingdom to Vacuo. How many are already dead. Barricaded. Missing. Closeup on Ruby looking horrified, but then she rallies. They can do it. Atlas is falling, but residual dust gives them just enough time to find, calm, and evacuate those people. They’re heroes after all. Beating the odds is what they do. 

Then Cinder attacks. 

Suddenly, the group can’t evacuate people because they’re trying to keep themselves safe from her. Maybe Cinder gets the powers because Jaune was off looking for civilians, leaving Penny without a mercy kill. Maybe Nora dies because she’s still trying to help people on the city that plows into the one below. Regardless of how details might change, they’re not getting a spread out, decimated population through those portals before Cinder changes the wish and makes them disappear.  

In this version, the story starts with Ironwood wanting to sacrifice 1/3rd of the population to save 2/3rds and the future of the war. It ends with 2/3rds of the population dying instead. 

This is what I mean when I say the majority of the fandom wants to view a very complex situation through a ridiculously simple lens. The fandom wants to denounce every bit of RWBY’s fictionalized military, the context issues of that aside. The story wants to paint RWBYJNOR as the only heroes, in part because they succeeded in saving everyone (“everyone”) in the Kingdom when Ironwood gave up. 

But they only managed to save everyone because of Ironwood. Because he kept fighting for his people to the bitter end. This is why, though his horrific actions obviously exist in the story, they make no sense (he’ll threaten to kill his people so he can... save his people?) and mess up what little is working in the finale. The story wants us to celebrate the group for evacuating Mantle and Atlas, but the Atlas evacuation would not have happened if not for Ironwood’s actions  — the actions that are ignored in favor of having Winter blame him for everything and then killing him off. The rescue of “everyone” was very much a joint effort. RWBYJNOR’s win is not actually a contrast to Ironwood’s intended sacrifice, for the simple reason that their win depended entirely on Ironwood’s actions. 

If we’re going to celebrate the group getting everyone to safety, we should probably also celebrate the guy who got them all to an easy evacuation point and ensured they weren’t eaten before then. Does that mean Ironwood never did anything wrong? Of course not. As established, the story went out of its way to make him into a villain. Rather, it means that other parts of the story failed to maintain that black and white view, complicating the heroism of RWBYJNOR in the process. If we want Ironwood to be incapable of heroic action, always the bad guy, nothing good to say about him whatsoever... then we likewise need to accept that the group is rather unheroic in many regards too. That, on their own, they would have failed to save everyone, just as Ironwood’s plan failed to save everyone at the end of Volume 7. Because they chose their friend over a kingdom. Because they sat around in a mansion. Because by the time they took action again and tried to escape, without Ironwood’s help they would have lost a larger majority than they originally insisted be saved. 

[sanguineness-wings]

Why are you running?

(read on ao3)

Pairing: Hawks x gn!Reader

Rating: SFW

Warnings: bird traits/instincts

hawks/raptors have this instinct to chase and attack if you turn your back on them, so what if you accidentally trigger it 👀

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

The sun was dipping low on the horizon, sending amber rays of light between the tightly packed skyscrapers. You shield your eyes from the light as you step out of the convenience store, your groceries in hand. After you take a moment for your eyes to adjust, you note a small crowd gathering just up the sidewalk from you. And from the center of it sprouts a large pair of crimson wings.

It’s a dead giveaway, those wings were plastered everywhere across the city, on billboards, on buses. There’s no escaping Hawks’ image.

As you watch on, the man himself suddenly hovers above his adoring fans, stretching out his impressive wing span leisurely. Leaving you with a perfect view of his wind tossed hair kissed with dying sunlight and a lopsided smile on his lips.

It makes your heart clench as you look on with awe. He’s so effortlessly beautiful it hurts to look at him. It’s also incredibly intimidating. How can those fans just talk to him like it’s nothing. You couldn’t even imagine.

Your staring must have caught his attention as suddenly his gaze turns and locks onto yours. You feel your stomach lurch, frozen with embarrassment. Hawks has the audacity to offer you a softer smile, making your cheeks heat up instantly.

Your brain screams at you to leave now. Your shyness urging you flee the unexpected attention. So you sharply turn your back to the crowd, and the gorgeous Pro Hero, and hurriedly make your escape.

Without consciously knowing why, you take a final glance over your shoulder. Even with Hawks’ signature visor over is eyes, you can see his pupils dilate, nearly completely blown black before constricting to tiny pin pricks in a split second. His smile has fallen from his face, leaving behind a cold blankness. A shiver runs through you and a cold sweat breaks out under your collar.

Your brain unhelpfully supplies, “Haha, I’m in danger!” Adrenaline courses through your veins and you run. A full sprint down the sidewalk in panic. It’s a ridiculous response in hindsight, but you’ve never seen such an inhuman look on Hawks’ face.

You barely make it a few feet before you feel a gust of wind behind you and suddenly your vision is nothing but red. Massive wings envelope you entirely as powerful arms lock around your waist, almost bruising in their strength. You’re dragged to your knees as the body behind you curls over your spine. You feel the prickle of stubble against your neck and jaw, hot puffs of breath against your skin. You’re utterly trapped.

All logical thoughts are thrown out the window with your heart thundering against your ribs. You don’t dare move a muscle.

An indiscernible amount of time passes before you hear a huffed laugh next to your ear, making you shudder.

“Well, isn’t this embarrassing, damn. I’m really sorry about all this. Are you alright?” Hawks says in a tight voice as he slowly releases you from his grip.

You’re shaking as you awkwardly stumble to your feet, Hawks aiding with a gentle, gloved hand on your elbow. When you finally get the courage to glance at his face, your heart does a somersault in your chest. A light blush dusts the bridge of his nose and the apples of his cheeks. He has a hand behind his head sheepishly, using the other to steady you on your jelly-like legs.

“I haven’t done something like that since I was a teenager in training,” he admits, bashfulness coloring his voice.

“…and what was that exactly?” You finally find your voice, wincing inwardly at how shaken it sounds.

“Oh you know, like…bird stuff? Well, hawk stuff? Like predator instinct?” Hawks shifts from foot to foot, looking anywhere but you.

“Like...you thought I was prey?”

“No! No, it’s not like that. Well, I mean kind of. But not really? It’s hard to explain. You turned your back and I just…couldn’t help myself. I’m really sorry. Did I hurt you at all?” Seeing this level of uncomfortableness on Hawks was so jarring from how he normally carries himself in the public eye. It was like all of his confidence was parred away. 

“I’m okay, really. Just gave me a fright, that’s all.” You’re really trying your best to sound casual, adding a weak laugh to hopefully defuse the tension.

He humors you, offering a half-hearted smile as he stoops down to gather up your groceries that you didn’t notice had spilled across the sidewalk.

"Well, if you’re sure you’re okay, I should be off. A hero’s job never stops.”

And with that he’s gone, taking off into the sky. You stand there dumbly on the sidewalk in shock for a few beats.

You then hear murmuring, whispering, and the click of photos being captured. Horrified, you realize Hawks’ fans were watching everything and recorded every second of it. You curse under your breath as you start rushing home, ignoring the growing crowd behind you. If Hawks wasn’t going to eat you alive, the internet certainly was.

---

Get it together, Hawks. What the hell was that?

The winged hero cursed at himself with gritted teeth and a furrowed brow as he shot across the sky. He shouldn’t have done that. He was trained not to do that. The Commission pushed him hard to ignore the animalistic pull to hunt and another traits they deemed unsightly or dangerous. And he had gotten good at suppressing those instincts. He passed all of their tests and drills after years of intense training. He never had a slip up since starting his Pro career.

His mind was racing as he tried to pin point what made him react like that. Did he let his guard down? Got too comfortable in the moment?

He thought of the way you trembled in his arms, immobilized with fear. The thundering of your panicked heart and the quiver of your voice. A shiver crept down his spine, making his hair and feathers stand on end. He liked it. The thrill of it all lighting up parts of his brain long neglected. 

A frustrated growl escaped his lips, lost to the roar of the wind around him. He really shouldn’t be entertaining those thoughts, even for a moment. He felt gross. 

He dug his phone from his pocket, sending a text to his PR manager. The least he could do was give them a heads up. Though pictures and videos of the whole incident were probably already circulating. His PR team had their work cut out for them, it was a seriously bad look for the hero. 

Almost immediately after he sent the text his phone buzzed angrily with replies from his team and an incoming call from the Commission. His heart sank to the pit of his stomach. It was going to be a long night.

---

The days following were a nightmarish blur of embarrassment and anxiety. Your brief brush with Hawks was plastered across every social media platform. You couldn’t escape all of the memes and GIFs. You wanted nothing more than to blink from existence.

Most people thought the whole thing was funny, even wishing it was them tackled to the sidewalk by Hawks. Your coworkers teased you mercilessly, constantly asking if you at least got his number afterwards. 

There weren’t many, but a few comments filled you with anger. They were using this to fuel for their hatred towards those with heteromorphic quirks. They claimed that this proved they were dangerous, nothing more than animals. Which, of course, was ridiculous. 

But you did your best to keep your head down and ignore the notifications on your phone. You kept reassuring yourself that this would all blow over soon. And sure enough by the end of the week the internet was distracted by “leaked” selfies of Hawks in grey sweatpants, posing in front of a bathroom mirror.

---

Hawks had just started an early morning patrol as he glided and weaved through the streets. He’d been taking on extra hours lately, finding it easier to distract himself on the job rather than staring at his bedroom ceiling. Who needed sleep anyway. If he stopped, all he could think about was you. The fear on your face. Your frantic pulse against his skin. Guilt gnawed away at him. He didn’t want to scare you, what type of hero would he be if he did. 

Instead of dwelling on the thoughts eating at him, he focused on the streets below him. It was relatively quiet, only a scattering of people going about their lives. He swooped lower, maneuvering between lamp posts just for his own entertainment. He pulled up short abruptly, nearly smacking into one of them.

His heart lurched in his chest, recognizing you immediately as you made your way down the street. He had a little mental battle with himself. Half of him wanted to talk to you, just reassure himself that you were truly okay after all this madness. The other have was telling him to leave you alone, that he’d only made it worse.

After hovering awkwardly for a few moments he made his decision. He made a show of circling ahead of you before landing, trying not to startle you. 

---

Having Hawks appear in front of you was the very last thing you expected on your walk to work. You had convinced yourself that you’d never see him again and that, even if your paths crossed, he wouldn’t want to be seen with you.

Yet here he was, with a charming smile on his face and feathers gleaming in the sun. 

You approach him cautiously, pulling out your earbuds. “Um, hi?” you start apprehensively, not sure what the hero could possibly want from you.

As you catch up to him he starts walking beside you, joining you on your commute. His wing stretches out behind you and curls around your side. Smart, you think. Even if the two of you catch someone’s eye, you were largely blocked from view.

It’s comfortably warm beneath his wing, with your shoulders brushing against each other as you walk. Your heart speeds up a little, being this close to him is a little overwhelming. Especially with the memory of him being pressed over you still fresh in your mind.

“So, I wanted to start over, if that’s alright with you. I don’t think I gave you the best first impression,” Hawks explains, his eyes fixed ahead.

“Definitely a memorable one,” you quip lightheartedly. You were more mortified by all of the unwanted attention. You knew deep down you were never in any real danger. 

Hawks snorts, making you glance at him. You watch him roll his eyes. “Not my best moment. I’m really sorry I scared you so badly. I swear I’m not going to hurt you, or anyone.”

It makes you pause as you stare at the side of his face. “I know you wouldn’t. And you didn’t even leave a mark. We can just say it was a...weird, unexpected hug. Leave it at that.”

Hawks’ gaze catches yours for a brief moment before looking away quickly, a serious look sliding onto his features. “You know that’s not what it was.”

“I know but...I’m not going to judge you for your bird stuff, or whatever it is. You’re still human. Even with the wings. We all have weird, awkward tendencies. I’m a mess of them too, and I don’t even have a Quirk. You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.

“So don’t beat yourself up too much,” you say, gaining a bit of confidence the more you speak. “You’re not a monster.”

Silence stretches between the two of you, both lost in thought. You surprise yourself when you are the first to break it. 

“Besides, I thought we were starting over. I’m y/n,” you begin, nudging his shoulder with your own as you offer him a warm smile.

“I’m Hawks, but you already knew that. Say, why don’t I treat you to some coffee. There’s this great little cafe not far from here. They have these pastries that are to die for. Trust me, you’ll love it!” The hero chatters away, with you still safely tucked away under his wing.

[hyperfixation-stations]

I know that we’ve moved past this discourse but in my re-watch of Phases 1- 3 for Falcon and Winter Soldier I have a lot of thoughts on Age of Ultron and Civil War. In case you can’t tell by the large large portion of anti-Tony posts I reblogged over the past few days, I really dislike Tony Stark (which is it’s own post that I will get into at a later date) and a lot of it comes from his actions in the Age of Ultron and Civil War movies (for all my Glee fans who follow me who are unfamiliar this man is the Rachel Berry/Lea Michele of Marvel). I am full prepared to get hate for this as this is going to be disproving everyone’s favorite arms dealer that they like woobify for absolutely no reason. Also warning this is kind of a lengthy read

One of the first things we learn about Tony, in the first Iron Man movies is that he owns Stark industries which is known as a weapons manufacture for the US government. And while in the first movie he is confronted with the repercussions of this business, he only cares when its at the expense of American/his own life. So he decides to end his contract and he takes on the Iron Man mantle, which is a great starting arc for him (which shits the best the next three movies because he doesn’t actually learn anything). In Age of Ultron that is the first time he is experiencing the wrath of a country ravaged by his weapons. In Iron Man when he gets captured, he is traveling with Americans and on American military base and when he is captured it is by an fringe group that wants weapons, so even though he recognizes the his weapons have bad results, he still has no idea the impact it has on civilians who live in those countries. Enter Sokovia. 

The Sokovians all hate Tony Stark and the rest of the avengers from what we can see. This is a country who has been victim of bombings by the United States air force for years, and as a result are living in a war torn society with limited resources and massive amounts of damage. The two most notable characters that we meet from Sokovia are Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, two teens who as children watched their parents and apartment building get blown up by a Stark bomb, which also trapped them. When we meet them in AOU we learn that they are working for Hydra and harbor deep intense hatred towards Tony Stark and they want to him to suffer like he has cause their suffering. Now before we move on lets clarify some misconceptions, the Maximoff’s believe they are joining SHIELD and not Hydra, this was at the time when SHIELD was massively inundated with people working for Hydra and as a result these kids were mislead into joining an organization they thought would protect their country. Note number 2, when Wanda and Pietro watch their parents get blown up Stark is still making bombs so the “Tony stopped building bombs” defense doesn’t really work here as it takes prior to the events of Iron Man 1.

So let’s talk about the Maximoff’s and Tony, a lot of Tony stans out there think that Wanda and Pietro were entirely unjustified in their hatred of Stark and believe that they(mainly Wanda) should be more at fault for the events surrounding Ultron, but there are several issues with that. One being that Pietro and Wanda are radicalized teens who believed they were joining an organization to help their country and have spent years orphaned and surviving on their own. Even though Tony didn’t directly bomb the country, he still made the bombs that they watched kill their parents, and the one that they saw laying in front of them trapping them in the rubble for days. This hatred for Tony, the Avengers, and the US, isn’t coming from no-where. These teens are victims of a larger issue that the US has that Tony helped foster, and sure while it might be slightly misplaced because Tony didn’t bomb them, if you saw that the man whose name was on a bomb that killed your parents, being treated like a hero in another, you’d be pretty pissed off (not to mention Tony misplaces he’s anger on Bucky when Hydra brainwashed him, more on that later). The second issue is that Tony and Bruce have started working on Ultron prior to the events of the movie, the only thing that comes out of the movie is the actual creation of the being with the scepter, so the creation of Ultron has nothing to do with Pietro or Wanda, all of that falls on Tony. Now I’m not saying the twins don’t do anything bad in the movie, they do, Wanda going into the Avengers minds is bad, working with Ultron is bad. However this is not a black and white situation and they believe that they are doing what is best for them and their country and the second they realize that Ultron is in fact the bad guy, they immediately switch sides to help out the Avengers. If the twins were truly bad people, they would have continued working with Ultron where they were promised a safe haven and a perfect life, something neither of them have experienced, but they don’t they not only help the Avengers but both of them are willing to sacrifice themselves as a result. Pietro does actually die trying to save Clint and Wanda almost dies before Vision comes and saves her. These teens are not not bad people with an ulterior motive, but trying to right a situation where they have been wronged.

So then we move onto Civil War, where things continue to get worse in regards to my feelings surrounding Tony. Before we jump into that we are going to address the issue of Wanda apologizing to Tony, the only thing Wanda would have to apologize to Tony for would be the mind invasion thing, that’s about it. Tony on the other hand has several instances where he should be apologizing to Wanda at a minimum and honestly he should probably apologize for his involvement about 95% of the time. Not to mention why harp on Wanda for not apologizing when we have no proof that she didn’t, I mean she’s living at the Avengers complex and Tony honestly seems to be the only one who has an issue with her so...

Now we are moving onto the much bigger issue, the accords. Tony only starts to believe in some kind of oversight when a woman confronts him about Sokovia and how her son died there and then Tony starts to recognize that “hmm maybe we should have someone keeping an eye on us”, not in the first three Iron Man movies when he cost people lives, or in the battle of NY, or hell even in Age of Ultron as he watched a country fall, the dude felt nothing. Now what’s worse in my opinion is that, it takes an American born citizen dying for Tony to even care. If Tony genuinely cared about what happened over there we would have seen it much sooner because he is living with someone who has lost three members of her family to decisions he made. But Tony doesn’t care because Wanda is not an American citizen. Not to mention rather then recognize his part in Ultron’s attack (as the primary created of their device) he pushes all their responsibilities to the Avengers as a whole which significantly eases his burden. 

He gives the Avengers three days notice before the Accords need to be signed and that's a huge issue, anytime you are signing a legal document, particularly from the government, you want to check that thing and make sure you are not being taken advantage of in some kind of way. Tony knows this as a business man who worked with the government for years. It also makes sense that a lot of the Avengers would take issue with the accords. Tony is a rich white billionaire who is least impacted by what the accords want to implement, because his powers come from the suit he is subject to less harsh oversight then most of the others, so it’s no wonder why he thinks its a good idea. This is why he struggles when people try to explain to him otherwise, Tony has a rich billion are who has never had to work a day in his life is not going to understand the concerns of some one like Steve or Wanda or subjected to much more strict and harsh conditions. Not to mention, he has access to the best lawyers in the country and it is stated by Maria Hill in Marvel canon that no one in the government could touch Tony even if they wanted to because he holds that much power. 

The interesting thing that comes out of this is how so many people hate Team Cap, team Cap never once said that they did not want their to be oversight and repercussions for their actions, they however wanted things to be fixed so that people were not signing their rights away and having them violated. Team Cap didn’t think that they should be able to run around doing whatever they want, they just want more clear terms. You do also realize that Peter is like Wanda and Steve and would have also been sent to the Raft or something like that because he is an enhanced individual. And it makes sense that Team Cap thinks this way because several of them are held to more strict standards as they have enhancements and the others have seen first hand the bad things that the government can do. And the funny thing is Team Cap gets proven right several times throughout the movie, we see when many of them are being held in the raft in inhumane conditions and are having their rights violated, we see this when several members switch sides or at a minimum end up recognizing that things were worse then they realized. The only person who starts pro accords and stays that way is Stark because he continues to be the only one not affected by them. Not to mention we see him continue to break them several times throughout the movie. 

The other major issue with Tony in this movie is the way he treats Bucky and Steve. Now Steve and Tony have never liked each other and Tony has belittled Steve and his trauma from pretty much the first movie, now Bucky is a new character and we learn that he is responsible for the death of Tony’s parents as we was being used as a sleeper agent for Hydra who brainwashed him and turned him into a super soldier. Tony has every right to not handle learning that shit about his parents, but attempted murder and not being able to recognize external forces is a much larger issue. Tony Stans this is a personal call out for you, if you think that Tony is completely justified in trying to kill Bucky and Steve because Steve didn’t tell him about Bucky and Bucky was brainwashed, then that means the Maximoff’s and their anger towards Tony is justified equally, keep that energy the same babes. 

These two movies show the biggest issue surrounding Tony which is his inability to take responsibility for his own actions. Tony has so so many flaws that get highlighted constantly that we just kind of glaze over because the fandom is in love with him for whatever reason. But one of his worst is that he doesn’t recognize when he is wrong and as a result of this, his fans put the blame on others unfairly as a result. In Ultron Tony takes absolutely no accountability for the inception and creation of Ultron so his stans don’t either and put it on Wanda who had nothing to do with it, they completely mischaracterize everyone on Team Cap in Civil War because Tony talks about them being the bad guys (also his reaction in the Raft is disgusting), so they truly believe that Team Cap are the bad guys (like seriously y’all do you know how hard it is to find a good team cap fic, like if someone could please point me in the direction of some that would be great). In doing so they also grossly mischaracterize Tony, Tony would never be a kind-hearted sit down and talk things out and baby Peter, outside of the fact that he hates kids. We are shown several times that he shows absolutely no empathy towards them, I mean he belittles Peter constantly and calls Harlan a pussy in Iron Man 3. Not to mention this man is a billionaire who also used to work for the government and is so out of touch with reality that he would never be understanding about issues that a lot of the team has. In fact the way that Tony stans characterize Tony, is much more inline with how Steve would act. I’m not saying don’t like problematic characters, I love me a good morally gray problematic character, however the woobifying of Tony and gross mischaracterizations of literally any character that disagrees with him is in fact toxic and a huge issue of stan culture. Not to mention some of y’all are like really mean to people who are anti-Tony, like aggressively so.   

Anyway those are my thoughts on Civil War and Age of Ultron, if you see a post come out very soon about the parallels between Tony and Wanda, but how Wanda is in fact the better person/character, don’t be surprised. I’m currently hype fixating on Marvel and I have decided to make this everyone’s issue, if you follow me for other things I’m sorry.