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siren-dragon · 3 years ago

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Do Androids Bleed Silver? (Ch.1) -- The Cat Returns fanfic

Hey everyone, I wrote another story and this time it isn’t a one-shot but a chaptered one. Yay! This is my first time doing a sci-fi story, so if it seems a little strange or odd, I apologize but I wanted to get something out before I go on vacation. Anyway, hope you all enjoy it! Also tagging @catsafarithewriter because they have been a wonderful support and inspiration.

Ao3 story link

Summary: Cyberpunk/Android AU

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‘Next stop; Shibuya Station. I repeat, next stop Shibuya Station.’ The automated voice sounded over the train intercom, ‘please wait until the train comes to a complete stop and stand away from the opening doors before disembarking.’

Looking down at the half-crumbled note in her hand, Haru took hold of her frayed but well-loved duffle bag and stood from her seat. “I guess this is my stop,” she muttered aloud before the exiting the train and out of the station.

In the year of 2207, the use of androids and cybernetics had advance to a level where their use was a common practice and the backbone of modern society; even in her much smaller hometown. But after entering Shibuya Crossing- Haru felt her backwater home was definitely not on the same level as Tokyo. The famed metropolis was well regarded as the forefront of robotics and cybernetics throughout the entire world but the invention of CREATIONS was the achievement that truly put the city into a category all of its own. Though technically possessing a robotics classification, many who’ve had the chance to see a CREATION regarded them as so life-like, it was almost as if their creator had conjured life itself….

And it was part of the reason why Haru wanted to study robotics in Tokyo; as the only robots that her hometown possessed were generic models of the Alpha and Beta-Classes. She wanted to see the daily technological wonders always taking place in Tokyo. But in truth, the real reason Haru wanted to go was because she loved to help others and repair problems. It was why she decided to study robotics and cybernetics in the first place- with the exception of her apparent talent in the field.

At first, many had viewed the cheery but ultimately clumsy brunette to be a bit of a hazard; and it wasn’t exactly a secret to Haru herself either. She could remember constantly stumbling on her impromptu runs to high school after having slept in- or when she once tripped cleaning the trash disposal unit in the classroom and ended up spilling the contents everywhere. But the moment she sat behind the small desk in her bedroom among the clutter of spare parts and tools, her once graceless movements sharpened and Haru would smile as she’d begin to skillfully repair whatever tech the residents of her hometown brought her. So, with the encouragement of Hiromi and Tsuge, she applied for various internships everywhere in Tokyo in the attempt to join someone’s Workshop team.

And it seemed that only one person was willing to give her a chance…

Walking further into the depths of Shibuya Haru gazed in amazement at the 3D holographic displays and looming skyscrapers that was a far cry from her small hometown. The streets were littered with people possessing a variety of enhancements the young woman had only seen before in adverts that managed to be broadcasted back home. Quickly shaking off her awe and hurryingly pulling out her note of directions once more, Haru began the walk away from the train station and towering skyscrapers while weaving her way through the small alleyways, the brunette teenager came to a halt once more on a rather isolated street. Glancing down once more at the paper in her hand, Haru glanced up at the sight before her with a bit of surprise.

“This… is the Bureau?” Haru spoke, looking at the old, neon green sign that flickered slightly with a smaller neon sign saying the Workshop was open beside an open doorway that was partially blocked by a dark noren curtain. Next to what was meant to be the entryway into the shop was a pair of roll-up garage doors- one of which was already lifted up to reveal the illuminated Workshop within. Tools ranging from chisels and wrenches of all sizes to a designated soldering station, making her maple-colored eyes glow with delight.

“If you don’t have any business Chicky, keep walking. This isn’t a museum.” A gruff voice sounded, causing her to jump slightly.

Standing up from beside what, to Haru’s surprise, was an AeroCycle on a hydraulic lift was probably the largest man the young woman had ever seen. He was tall and rather stout with ivory crew-cut hair and a dark stubble about his mouth and chin while dark brown eyes gave her an unimpressed stare as he crossed his arms; with the left being a robotic prosthesis baring a shade reminiscent of a dark coffee. As the man took in her short height, petite frame, and slightly disheveled ponytail; Haru only hoped he didn’t immediately send her back home based on looks alone- after all, she knew her appearance didn’t exactly scream ‘mechanic’.

“Well? Do you have business here or not Chicky?” He asked again, a hint of impatience coloring his tone.

“Sorry sir, my name is Haru Yoshioka… I’m the intern assistant you made the offer to.”

It was here a skeptical eyebrow lifted as his hands soon went to his hips. Haru mentally scrambled for a way to defend her skills should this man end up turning her away, but he only asked one question. “Can you cook?”

“…Yes?” Haru answered, still a little confused.

“Show me; head up there and make something then bring it over. We’ll talk after.” And with that said, the man returned to his work on the AeroCycle without another word.

Haru could only stare with a slightly dumbfounded expression before letting loose a soft sigh and followed his brief and general directions. Up a set of steel stairs lay a large viewing window, which oversaw the garage, and another door that lead into the living quarters that was surprisingly clean; if a bit cluttered. To the left lay a small kitchenette while the right had a simple living room and a corridor that led further into the flat. Turning to the kitchen and figuring not to keep the man who’d likely become her boss waiting, Haru was quick to fix a lunch from a hamburger steak with a fried egg on top and rice (it was either that or one of the instant ramen containers nestled in the pantry) and returned to see the stout man now talking to a customer while gesturing to the AeroCycle. “Next time learn to drive properly bird-brain.”

“And I told you before, lard-ball, it crashed during a chase!” The customer, who was dressed in a police officers’ uniform, snapped in response all the while glaring at the mechanic.

The mechanic merely grinned savagely, as if he was used to the explosive behavior from the officer. “While you were chasing what? A nearby bird.”

“As if you’re one to talk, you over-sized marshmallow. I’m surprised you can even climb the stairs to your flat without them snapping from the strain.”

“You say that again, you big chicken!”

“Umm… excuse me,” Haru spoke up, causing both men to swerve their heads to her immediately. “Is everything alright? I’ve got the lunch ready.”

“Thanks, Chicky, I’ll just take that off your hands.” The larger of the two men spoke, retrieving the succulent smelling meal with a gleam in his eyes, “and congratulations- you pass my test; welcome to The Bureau. The name’s Muta and this idiot here is Bird-Brain, a regular.”

“The name is Officer Toto Tsubame, nice to meet you and please, ignore this fatso.” Toto replied instead, bowing in greeting with a kind smile. “Are you new to the district? You are a bit young to be on your own…”

While Muta was large and hefty, Toto was his complete opposite with a slim frame and long, layered black locks tied into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck; reminding the brunette of a bird’s feathers. His skin was a tad darker than the larger mechanic and his clothes the standard dark navy-blue police uniform with the exception of knee-high shock absorption boots and a black carbon-fiber and titanium woven shirt that rested under the uniform with the cuffs rolled to his elbows. But what truly caught Haru’s attention was the unique dark-grey coloration of his eyes that she had only seen a few times before in holo-books or advertisements. “Oh wow, you have an optical upgrade on your eyes, I’ve never seen that before. That’s really cool…”

Here Toto gave a good-natured laugh, “you’re definitely new to Tokyo if this is your first time seeing something like that, but well spotted. My eyes have been altered with increased monocular vision and can see with UV and Infrared, alongside night vision. Plus, the color is a rather nice aesthetic as well- but that’s enough about me; what brings you here to the city Miss…”

“Haru. Haru Yoshioka, and it’s nice to meet you too.” She smiled, giving a bow of greeting in return. “I am here for an intern job at the Bureau. But, I’m not sure what cooking really has to do with robotics and engineering.”

Muta bit into the hamburger steak and sighed happily as he devoured the plate of food while Toto groaned at the mechanic’s table manners; or lack thereof. “I didn’t want some assistant who couldn’t take care of themselves, I’m not a babysitter. Besides, if you weren’t skilled enough to be here, I wouldn’t have offered you the job in the first place.”

“O-Oh, thank you.” Haru beamed, more than relieved that though he seemed to be rather rough and intimidating, Muta wasn’t that bad- arguing with Toto aside. “I promise I’ll do my best, and thank you for your help Moo-ta.” Haru quickly gasped, raising her hands to her mouth in horror as if attempting to prevent the words from being heard, but it was too late.

“What?! Did you just say Moo? Like I’m some kind of fat cow!”

“No, no, you’re just fat! Oh- um…”

Toto, meanwhile, had lost all pretense of professionalism and started laughing with tears of amusement threatening to spill from his eyes. “Bahahaha! Oh, you’re going to fit in here quite well with nicknames like that Haru. I’m definitely going to be using that one.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up bird-brain.” Muta grumbled, glaring at the still chuckling policeman, “and you Chicky- you got anything to say for yourself or to me, your boss?”

Haru gave a nervous smile, “I’m sorry Muta, it really did slip out. Would you accept an Insta-Pudding with my apology?”

The ivory-haired man stared down at her with an irritated look before sighing, “make it an Angel Cake from Osono’s bakery down the street, and we’re even.”

“Coming right up!” The young woman chimed before quickly making her way toward the aforementioned bakery.

Toto and Muta both watched her leave with the former giving a thoughtful hum, “Yoshioka huh? I don’t suppose she wouldn’t happen to be related to Hayata Yoshioka, would she?”

“His daughter apparently, if you’re that curious. And she’s only a few good years younger than you and me, idiot.” Muta answered, releasing the AeroCycle from the hydraulic lift while wiping the oil and grease from his hands. “I didn’t know he had a kid, and thought the name was just a coincidence till I saw the resume file Haru and her friends sent me. She was apparently fixing Alpha-class mechs at 11 years old.”

Toto gave an impressed whistle, “well, she’s certainly her father’s daughter if that’s the case.”

"I thought that too, but it was the fact that she has no personal cyber-enhancements that really sealed the deal." Muta added, that information causing the slim police officer to splutter in shock. "So I thought ‘why not?’ and decided to give her a shot; and it wasn’t like I was going to turn down the help- so here we are. But the fact that she can cook is a definite bonus.”

“Do you ever not think from your stomach?”

“Shut up, bird-brain!”

Toto sighed, “well, just try to keep an eye on her, alright? Not everything is exactly safe here, so if you ever need anything give me a call.”

“Thanks… you big chicken,” Muta answered before giving a devious grin and holding out his hand. “Now for the repairs, that’ll be 3,500 credits.”

“What?! That’s daylight robbery!”

“Is that so? And here I was giving you the ‘Friends and Family’ discount. But if you would rather pay full-price, who am I to deny you that.”

By the time Haru returned to the Workshop, she could hear Toto and Muta starting to argue once more and was glad she decided to buy two cakes in order to pacify both parties. Though slightly nervous about her new job, Haru couldn't help the feeling of joy at the upcoming work ahead of her.

#the cat returns #haru yoshioka #baron humbert von gikkingen #renaldo moon #toto (cat returns)#haru x baron #cyberpunk au #android au #there will be angst later #fanfiction #my writing #other characters and plot to appear later

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kickingitwithkirk · 4 years ago

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Rain pt:I

Summary: After Supernaturals end Jensen’s life turned upside down. A year later an unexpected movie offer gives his career a second chance but it comes with an unexpected surprises.

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x OFC! Lili

Word Count: 1918

Warnings: cursing, nervous Jensen, drinking, mentions of Holocaust, mention of divorce

A/N: This story has components from my favorite W. Somerset Maugham short Rain and Lace by Shirley Conran.

prologue

*no beta-all mistakes are mine

Jensen had been sitting in his manager's office for twenty minutes having arrived early. He wasn’t gonna chance missing this meeting and seriously wished he hadn’t drank that third cup of coffee ‘cause his leg was getting sore from the relentless bouncing between the caffeine and his nerves.

After making Jared swear not to say anything he gave him what he knew. Davis didn’t have a clue what the film was but Zimmer wanted to personally meet with him and the man didn't do face to face with anyone unless he had already decided about casting them.

Davis emphasized even if it's a small part, just being in a Zimmer film could, no, would reinvigorate his career, sending it in a whole new direction, he’d be seen as not just a sci-fi/horror genre actor but one whose name was bankable, maybe even capable of opening a movie.

Jensen jumped up when the office door opened as Davis walked in followed by an older, slightly built, elegantly dressed gentleman.

***

Eban Levi Zimmerman, who only went by Zimmer, was the decedent of two Holocaust refugee families, one from Austria, the other from Hungry. Both sets of his grandparents immigrated to Israel in the nineteen fifties, his mother and father were their middle children. They met and married in fifty-nine and he was born a year later.

He was their only child and dotted upon by all his family. From a young age he fell in love with the movies, his youth spent endlessly watching the greats of the silent era to the in fashion Cinema Italiano.

After graduating secondary school he was admitted into the NYC film school. Two years later he transferred to and graduated from USC film department.

He spent the next decade honing his craft as an assistant director for the likes of Spielberg, Scorsese, and Merchant before independently making his first film, a documentary on his family’s Holocaust experience.

It earned him an academy award nomination for best short documentary and soon studios were vying for him.

Zimmer’s directorial style had been compared to that of (One take Woody) W.S.van Dyke, bringing in his films on time and under budget.

His specialty was taking period pieces based on classic works and modernizing them with the gritty realism he learned under Scorsese. The studios learned years ago not to offer Zimmer big budget films with mindless, watered down scripts crafted for mass box office drawings only.

He was notorious for utilizing the difficult to pull off, long track shots, also learned under Scorsese. Many found this exasperating and exhausting to achieve.

A-list actors publicly pronounced they’d love the opportunity to be directed by him and some had been..but only once. He was always curtious but they learned the hard way he has absolutely no tolerance for a dialed in performance from his actors.

Behind the scenes they ended up cursing his name, becoming quickly disenchanted when they found that once in Zimmer’s domain, they would not be toadied or pampered, their whines catered to on his sets.

He also keeps an eye out for new talent, having cultivated his own small stable of actors utilizing them in most of his films as they had not only proved their mettle but earned his personal respect.

***

“Mr. Ackles, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Zimmer said sidestepping Davis and extending his hand, his grip stronger than he appeared surprising Jensen. “Sir, it’s a pleasure to meet you too.”

Zimmer softly humphs, waving a hand, “my father is sir, call me Zimmer,” he responds in a soft spoken accent more European than Israeli. “You’re taller than I thought, excellent. Of course, working alongside Mr. Padalecki would make most of us look short, I’m sure to appear as a midget next to him.”

Jensen chuckled, “Yeah, Jared has a lot of acreage. Please call me Jensen.”

“Won’t you have a seat…” Davis started and Zimmer gives him a do not interrupt me look.

“Jensen, would you please remove your hat and jacket.” He pulled off his ball cap and jacket as Zimmer walked slowly around him, sizing him up in an appreciable manner, “veuillez m’excuser,” and with his index finger poked at Jensen’s chest and abdomen.

“What the…” Jensen jerked in surprise as Zimmer smiled at him. “I’d appreciate it if you join me for lunch. I want to discuss the prospects of you joining my new project.” He turned walking out the office door without another word leaving the two men in shock.

“What’a you doing, waiting for an engraved invitation, move your ass!” Davis hissed at him.

Jensen grabbed his jacket and cap hurrying after Zimmer, suddenly feeling like a newbie chasing his big break instead of someone in the biz for over twenty years.

Zimmer was getting into his car as Jensen emerged from the building. Taking a deep breath to slow his heart rate and steady his nerves he climbed in the back of the limousine, sitting on the long seat on the other side of the limos bar. They drove in silence for a few minutes before pulling up to the Chateau Marmont.

Lunch turned out to be what in the fifties was termed a liquid lunch at the Bar Marmont. Zimmer orders a dirty martini with three olives and Jensen has a Chimay, figuring he better stick to something that wouldn’t muddle his brain today.

Zimmer takes a sip studying Jensen over the rim of the glass demonstrating his nervous tick with his tongue, slightly popping out between his lips licking at the bottom one but acting as if he’s not.

“You’re wondering why someone like me would contact you, am I not correct?”

Jensen fully licks his lips, “Honestly, yeah, I’m confused as hell. It’s not like we run in the same circles.”

“No, we certainly do not. I keep my eyes open for talent that has been, shall we say..overlooked, or in your case, underutilized. Casting picks up on your obvious qualities and misses the more subtle aspects.”

“Subtle aspects?”

“Yes, you’ve honed your obvious talents quite well. A long time ago Fellini told me a good director will only see the surface, a great one will seek out the untapped potential.” He paused to take sip, “I will admit I’m not a fan of your previous show but a close friend of mine is. I have always wondered why my friend had watched for years, what made your show so special. They told me to watch the nonverbal relationship between the Winchester brothers, how a glance, posture, a twitch even, expresses more than written words. I then saw it.”

“It?”

“I watched an episode with the deadly sins, the one with gluttony I believe, who found Dean hollow, it was the end that caught my attention, something in your expression when you were begging for help, I knew I found my Mr. Davidson.”

“Mr. Davidson.”

“Do you only parrot the end of sentences Jensen?” Zimmer teased, “Over a decade ago a spec script was being shopped around. It was an updated version of the 1928 silent film based on W. Somerset Maugham's short story Miss Thompson, which was severely edited due to objectionable moral content...language and reference to Davidson’s title as Reverend borrowed from the stage version. It’s rather amusing the censors found those things immoral considering the lifestyles in pre-code Hollywood.

This script was brought to my attention by a studio optioning it at the time. I agreed to direct if we came to terms on the stars. They were very specific about who they wanted to star, both are excellent actors but I believed they didn’t fit the roles and suggested two other leads. Well, long story short, it fell through.” Zimmer paused again to savor his drink, “I later found out someone had purchased the script and all rights to it produce it at a later date.” He stops to nibble on an olive.

“Preproduction is currently underway, the rest of the cast has been signed and I’m planning to start rehearsals in a few weeks. The only component missing is Davidson.” Zimmer pulls a script from his inner coat pocket and sits it on the table.

“There are two things I need you to consider before agreeing: you’ll have to lose a minimum of fifteen pounds, twenty five preferably, I have a nutritionist you can consult with to safely do it in the time since actual filming doesn’t start until October.”

Jensen never had to do extensive exercising to stay in his current shape but knew losing that much weight wouldn’t be easy with his solid build, “And the second?”

Zimmer tapped his slender fingers on the script a few times before opening it, “I am trusting your discretion if you say no not to discuss the scene you read,” he slid it across the table. Jensen picked it up and scanned through the script, reading the dialogue.

He shook his head and reread through it again slowly, paying closer attention to the directors notes. “Are you seriously shooting this?”

“Yes, this is my completed shooting script for the film. You’ve done some directing, that’s the reason I showed it to you. I wanted you to know what this part fully entails.” He retrieved the script placing it back into his inner coat pocket before picking up his martini glass studying Jensen over the rim again. “And before you ask, yes, the actress playing Sadie knows about the scene and I’m well aware this part is like nothing you’ve never done before.”

“I’m sorry but I really don’t get it, why me? I’ve done mostly television, what makes you believe I can pull off this role?”

“Instinct.” Zimmer clasped his hands together on top of the table and leaned towards him, “I don’t waste my time on anyone or anything I don’t have faith in Jensen.”

Zimmer reaches for his glass again, “Like I’ve stated, I see more in your acting abilities than you’ve tapped yet. You’ll be working with some of the best in the business, co-stars who will push you to reach for that extra bit. Say yes and I can help shape you into an actor who gets the coveted rolls most only dream of.” He finishes the last of his martini.

“I’m going to say this now, I’m not missing Christmas with my kids, I’ve already promised them I would be there, it's the first since my divorce. I also have to be in Toronto in early February.”

“I’ve cut out a week of rehearsals to compensate for the producer who insisted shutting down production from December twenty-third to January third. We are scheduled to wrap filming by the twenty-ninth, so there’s no conflict with your other commitments.”

Jensen mentally calculates actual filming time will be less than thirteen weeks, a tight shoot compared to some filming schedules.

Zimmer stares him straight in the eye, “I’ll apologize now for the time constraint, a decision such as this that will affect your career needs time to consider but unfortunately, I need a definitive answer by tonight.

Zimmer stood up, “Now, the driver will take you back to your management's offices. I have a currier waiting with a contract for you to look over, I’m sure you’ll find the terms more than applicable.” He extended his hand and Jensen got up to shake it, “I’m looking forward to working with you Jensen Ackles.”

tbc

Tagging: SPN @donnaintx

Dean/Jensen: @flamencodiva

Rain @stoneyggirl

#jensen ackles #jensen ackles x ofc #jensen ackles fanfiction #jensen ackles au #slow burn #rpf fanfic #rpf

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yszarin · 4 years ago

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seen people on twitter talking about what got them through 2020, but twitter scary so I’m just gonna ramble about podcasts here. I’ve loved audio fiction since I was little, when my brother used to bring me big finish doctor who to listen to when I was sick, and they’ve really been great for me this year in terms of... want story but too tired to keep eyes open? podcast. need to do a mundane task but can’t stay on it? podcast. need something on before you sleep because if you leave your brain to its own devices it’ll eat itself? podcast. looking for queer rep? podcast. below the cut I’ve stuck 10 of my favourites of the shows I started listening to this year, and I promise they’re not all from Definitely Human.

Down - fiction, horror - a state of the art submarine with a less than state of the art crew descends into a newly-discovered Antarctic trench, “The Bottomless Pit” for the purposes of exploration and science! This goes about as well as you would expect. Episodes are super short and it’s entirely possible to listen to the whole thing in less than a day, although unfortunately it’s currently unfinished due to covid, so I guess it’s more that in less than a day you, too, could join me in unintentional hiatus hell. It is worth it.

Enthusigasm - nonfiction, talk - Rusty Quill patreon exclusive show in which Helen Gould talks to people about things they enjoy. It just has the loveliest energy, and is exactly what I’ve needed this year. They’ve done episodes on subjects including baking, the horror genre and trash tv, and every one of them has been a joy, even when it’s about stuff I’m not into personally. How RQ manages to consistently produce The Best Content I don’t know, but by god do they do it.

Everything is Alive - interview - Gemma Amor recommended this and she’s usually right about such things. It’s a series of interviews with inanimate objects, all of which are animate now and have things to say. I’m particularly fond of the gay subway seats and was emotionally distraught by the cuddly toy. Very good to listen to to fall asleep.

Marscorp - fiction, sci-fi comedy - Station Supervisor E. L. Hob is awoken from suspended animation on Mars and must do her best to restore the colony’s original purpose of terraforming the planet. If you teased Jonny Sims for naming his main character after himself and also playing him please get ready to forgive him for everything, as you meet Tom Dalling, David Knight, and Dave Price, played by Tom Dalling, David Knight, and David Price, and written by Tom Dalling, David Knight, and David Price. I’m furious.

Pax Fortuna! - actual play, adventure - a rotating group of characters leaves a horrified and occasionally maimed trail of NPCs behind them as they adventure in and around the prosperous island city of Fortuna. The shifting cast works really well, allowing for some PCs who are just objectively terribly people, while keeping the whole thing feeling really fun. Particular favourite PCs are Selwyn Bloodstorm, half-orc in search of gold accidentally ending up with friends, Alfonso Boyo, a necromancer but only in the most bureaucratic and horrifying way possible, and Almira Q Appleby, gnome inventor presenting such items as The Potato Peeler (may contain combat setting) to an unsuspecting public. The series comprises six interconnected smaller stories, each with multiple episodes, all of which are around 25-30 minutes long, which has been a particular joy for me, as someone who has difficulty with episode lengths of over an hour and is so often “I love AP podcasts. love to actually listen to one someday”. Pax Fortuna! is the caramelised nut bowl of actual plays, in that I found it very difficult to stop consuming it, now it’s all gone, and I’m sad. There are only two fics on AO3. Please listen to Pax Fortuna!.

Shadows at the Door - anthology, horror - A collection of quiet horror stories, mixing older tales, both classic and less well-known, and modern ones. The soundtrack is by Nico, one of the editors on TMA and Good Egg, and it turns out, also Skilled Egg at soundtracks. Each story is followed-up by a discussion of its themes, and some tangents. Also very nice to fall asleep to, lots of suggestions of new things to look for, and the stories themselves are well-dramatised.

The Monster Hunters - fiction, comedy - It took me a bit of time to settle into this - I have a tendency to bounce off comedy, apparently - but once I had I was very settled. Roy Steel and Lorrimer Chesterfield are there with fists and brains respectively to hunt monsters and be anything from vaguely to pointedly sexist because it’s the 60s/70s (it is intentional and ludicrous). If you’re familiar with John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme, you can listen out for Simon Kane as Sir Maxwell House. Some nice spooks, especially in the Christmas specials.

The Amelia Project - fiction, comedy - Need to disappear? The Amelia Project will help you fake your death and reappear in a new life. Each episode takes the form of an interview with a new client, in which they tell their story, and the circumstances of their death and next life will be decided. The creators had a stall at PodUK and gave me some Malteasers which it took me approximately 10 months to eat because I didn’t feel like I’d listened to enough of their show to deserve them. Fun fact! There are plenty of chocolate foodstuffs that will take this length of time in their stride and still be as new when you eat them, but Malteasers are not one of them. Luckily finishing off S2 of The Amelia Project has been its own reward, and I still have plenty to go!

The Infinite Bad - actual play, horror - a slowly-forming found family leaves a traumatised and usually dead trail of NPCs behind them despite their best efforts, as they are embroiled in a globe-spanning investigation of horror and mystery. Uses a modified version of the d20 modern system, set in the inter-war period, and, it should be noted, contains depictions of period-typical racism. Other CWs (this list is not exhaustive) include child death, pet death, gore, disease, misc death (so much misc death), so please be careful if you choose to listen. Also contains stairs, the inherent malevolence of citrus products, and things which are viscous.

These Flimsy Rituals - actual play, fantasy - I’m not very far into this one, due to episode lengths, but when I have the spell slots to do so I always enjoy listening to it. I’m in the first bit, which follows a group of people fleeing a living storm. They have some really lovely lyrical bits at the starts of the episodes that I could listen to for hours, I’ve found those of the characters that I’ve met very engaging, and I’m interested to see how it unfolds.

#duck listens to podcasts #I'm sure all of these are already on reclists #from people who are far cooler than I am #and are far better at telling you things are good #but #ALL OF THESE ARE GOOD #also pls rec me things #no thoughts only podcasts

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current-mcr-news · 4 years ago

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Behind the Scenes: The Umbrella Academy - Episode 1

BRANDON JENKINS: In 1953, a 25 year old director named Phil Tucker had $16,000 and just four days to make his first sci-fi film. The plot? A creature comes to Earth with a death ray and wipes out all of humanity, except for eight people who are immune to the creature’s weapons. He called the film Robot Monster.

Movie clip: With the swiftness of a deadly cosmic ray, the Earth is inundated by indestructible moon monsters. Their ghastly mission? Death for all humans.

B: The film was so low budget, Tucker couldn’t even afford to get alien costumes, so he had the monster in a gorilla suit with a TV for a head.

Movie clip: What astounding technical developments are being made to protect mankind?

B: The release was a disaster. It was widely panned. Its lasting legacy would’ve been that it was one of the worst movies of all time. But in the early 2000s, a kid from New Jersey with a knack for drawing comics saw a picture of the Robot Monster and it stuck with him.

Gerard Way: I’ve never even actually seen the film, but I saw pictures of this creature over the years, and they’ve got a TV set, kind of circular space looking head, and they have a gorilla body, and I was like, “I want a superhero that’s kind of inspired by this.”

B: The kid’s name was Gerard. He’d been writing comics since he was 15 and was on his way to making it as a professional comic book artist.

WAY: I went to art school and I was an illustration and cartooning major, so comics were kind of like my major, and I was like this perpetual intern. I interned at DC, I pitched a cartoon to Cartoon Network, and then I landed a job as a toy designer at this place called FunHaus in Hoboken. But that’s like right when the band took off.

B: That band, Gerard’s side hustle, would become massive alt-punk sensation, My Chemical Romance. Seemingly overnight, My Chemical Romance and Gerard were making some of the most popular music in the world, getting spins on terrestrial radio, dominating music video countdowns, they were even nominated for a Grammy. But while he traveled across the globe leading a rockstar life, Gerard kept up with his first love - drawing.

WAY: So I really missed comics and we were in Japan and we did a signing at a shop, and one of the fans gave me a little marker set and it was Copic markers. They were like the greatest markers that I’d ever used before, and so I started to create Luther.

B: Luther, a superhero with a gorilla body and space helmet who lives on the moon was the very first character Gerard drew in what would become his hit comic The Umbrella Academy. I’m Branden Jenkins and this is Behind the Scenes: The Umbrella Academy. This season, we’re going backstage and inside the making of season 2. The first season of the show, based on Gerard’s comic of the same name, launched in February of last year and quickly became one of the most beloved series on Netflix. Now it’s back for its second season with bigger effects, bigger characters, and bigger drama. We’re going to catch you up on everything that’s gone down in The Umbrella Academy universe so far, and we’ll spend the next five episodes breaking down how the team shot the multi-million dollar superhero production across two countries, and how in the midst of a global pandemic, they managed to finish it from inside their own homes. But first, we wanted to take a look back and dig into the roots of The Umbrella Academy. So today, I’m catching up with the creators of the comic and the guy tasked with making the TV series. We talk about how the graphic novel was adapted for your screens.

B: Alright, so if you haven’t watched season 1, go back and watch season 1 on Netflix. For those of you who just need a quick recap: At 12pm on October 1, 1989, a supernatural event occurred. Forty-three babies across the planet were born to mothers who were not pregnant just seconds before. The world was confused, intrigued, and one eccentric billionaire wanted to find the babies and adopt them. He ended up with seven. Each baby had a superpower, and what do you do when you’re a billionaire with a group of kids with superpowers? You train them to become a crime fighting family.

Reginald: I give you the inaugural class of The Umbrella Academy!

B: When Gerard Way started creating the members of the Academy, he started with the most fundamental material.

WAY: I created a list of all the things that interested me. It could be anything from ouija board, fortune teller, spaceman, gorilla body, just a list of stuff.

B: Then he drew from that list and started creating these characters. All in all, he would draw seven. The first, Luther, the half-man half-gorilla, was the team’s defective leader. He was also the child closest with their father.

Luther: Just at Dad’s favorite spot. Allison: Dad had a favorite spot? Luther: Yeah, you know, under the oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time, none of you ever did that?

B: Next, he created Klaus and Allison, the boy who talks to the dead and the girl who can make people bend to her will with just a few words.

WAY: Klaus, he has some pretty serious addiction and addiction is something that I dealt with in my life. He’s also a little bit spooky and supernatural, and my personality in My Chemical Romance was very similar to that.

Klaus: I can’t just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, “Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?” Luther: Since when? That’s your thing. Klaus: I’m not in the right frame of mind! Allison: You’re high? Klaus: Yeah yeah! I mean, how are you not listening to this nonsense?

WAY: He was kind of my version of Doctor Strange. I find Allison to be the one that is easiest to write and I put the most of myself into Allison.

B: Her superpower is that she can make you do pretty much anything she tells you with a few magic words.

Allison: I heard a rumor you want to be my friend. I heard a rumor that you like Bradley. I heard a rumor that you left me alone. I heard a rumor that you stop crying.

WAY: There’s a bit of a tragic nature that comes with her power.

B: Allison, out of all of her super powered siblings, is the only one grasping for a normal life - career, husband, children. In a way, she’s the most human. The fourth character Gerard created is Diego, a guy with an uncanny ability to throw knives. He’s also stubborn as hell.

WAY: I knew early on he was gonna be the one that was gonna be really difficult with the leader. I figured that.

Diego: You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One. Luther: I am warning you. Diego: After everything he did to you, he had to ship you a million miles away. Luther: Diego, stop talking! Diego: That’s how much he couldn’t stand the sight of you!

B: The fifth character, a kid who can travel through time and space, who simply goes by Five. Despite the other character growing up into adults, he has remained a teenager, sort of.

WAY: He was a time traveler who then got stuck in his young body when he traveled back in time because time travel is complicated.

Klaus: Where are you going? Five: To get a decent cup of coffee. Allison: Do you even know how to drive? Five: I know how to do everything.

WAY: So then came The Horror.

B: The Horror, aka Ben, aka the dead sibling who only Klaus can see.

WAY: I imagined this character that had all these monsters living under his skin that came from another dimension. And he was very tortured to me. It actually kind of hurts him and it’s scary to him.

Ben: Do I really have to do this? Klaus: Come on, Ben. There’s more guys in the vault. Ben: I didn’t sign up for this.

B: And then finally, Number Seven, Vanya, who seemingly has no powers besides playing the violin.

WAY: I was at this cafe in Manhattan when I was living in Brooklyn, and it was called The Sidewalk Cafe I believe, and on the wall they had a white violin just as decoration. And I remember looking at that and thinking to myself, “That would be a cool superhero.” And Vanya was always kind of designed to be a character who wasn’t special, that was going to transform into that.

Vanya: Look, if I was special I would’ve been in The Umbrella Academy. I’m so sorry you got stuck with the ordinary one.

B: These seven adopted siblings forced together by supernatural events formed The Umbrella Academy. Both the original comic and season 1 of the show start at the funeral for the Academy’s patriarch, the eccentric Sir Reginald Hargreeves. We learn that while the siblings ventured away from home as teenagers, after years of fighting and a toxic upbringing, they’ve returned home, back together for the first time in years, and all their dysfunctions and old conflicts come bubbling to the surface.

Diego: He was a bad person and a worse father. The world’s better off without him. Allison: Diego! Diego: My name is Number Two.

B: When he started writing the comic, Gerard was focused on his own strained relationships. He saw his band as his own dysfunctional family at the time.

WAY: When you’re a baby band, you’re in this van and it’s like a submarine but it’s smaller. It’s like a closet that you're all living in and sometimes you’re going on seventeen hour drives, and you have very strong personalities. This dynamic starts to develop between all of the members and you really do kind of become a dysfunctional family. Like, there’s times where I felt like I was the mom.

GABRIEL BA: They know each other’s weaknesses.

B: Turns out, family dynamics was a theme with everyone who joined the Umbrella team, including the illustrator and Umbrella’s co-creator, a Brazilian artist named Gabriel Ba.

BA: And sometimes they say it to hurt the other intentionally and they do that a lot in Umbrella because they’re all angry at each other all the time. And even though I have a great relationship with my brother, I have that. We have a younger sister as well, so she’s very opinionated and she’s strong. I wouldn’t say we fight a lot, but sometimes we- I just know how to hurt her if I want to say something.

B: Family is present in Gabriel’s life more than for most people. He works every day with his twin brother, fellow comic book artist, Fabio Moon. But his work made him an unconventional choice for Umbrella.

BA: In the mid 90s, we moved away from superheroes. We, my brother and I, we figured the type of story that we liked to tell and wanted to tell was more real life, day by day life relationship, this kind of stuff.

B: Gabriel grew up in Brazil and now lives in Sao Paulo. His brother had been making experimental comics for well over a decade.

BA: But The Umbrella Academy was a superhero book with this day by day life relationship drama, and that was really interesting for me.

B: What excited Gerard about Gabriel was his style. His characters weren’t macho. They didn’t have big ripped muscles. They’re the kind of comics you could imagine being drawn in the margins of a notebook. There's nothing stereotypically super about them.

BA: It was not a straightforward American superhero artstyle. It was a mix of European and more fluid, but also could handle action and crazy stuff. And also, I can’t deny The Umbrella Academy was my first paid job in the U.S.

B: Wow.

BA: For the first ten years of our career, my brother and I were making comics for free. Just for ourselves, just getting [?], if there were any. So when I got the invitation to get involved with The Umbrella Academy it was this whole package of factors.

WAY: Gabriel climbing on board was a huge thing for us because he’s such a fantastic artist. He brought these characters to life. The interesting thing about Gabriel, he didn’t have to make Umbrella Academy. He was doing really well on his own and making really experimental artistic comics, but he liked the idea so much that he said, “I’m gonna do superheroes.”

BA: The superhero aspect of The Umbrella Academy is really just a layer in the story. I like the development of these characters, their struggles, their relationships, there’s romance, there’s deception.

Vanya: You are unbelievable, you’re trying to dig up dirt on a guy I like? Who does that? Allison: Look, I’ve had my fair share of stalkers and creeps, I don’t trust him! Vanya: You mean you don’t trust me.

BA: And it had the fun explosions and action scenes. So that’s the good mix.

B: The first book of the comic is called Apocalypse Suite. After their father’s death, The Umbrella Academy gets a warning from their time traveling brother that the world is going to end in 10 days. They don’t know how, they just know that it will. And now, back together for the first time, they’ve got to figure out how to save the planet and learn how to look past their differences. Which sounds dope, right? But when it first published back in 2007, it wasn’t immediately clear that people would dig it.

WAY: So one of the things I was dealing with when Umbrella Academy came out was a lot of people in the press before the comic came out saying things like, “Here’s a musician and he’s writing a comic.” They didn’t really know my background, they didn’t know that I’d written at 15, they didn’t know I went to art school. All they knew was that I was the singer in this rock band that a lot of teenagers liked. So, all I really wanted was a fair shake. I didn’t write The Umbrella Academy to become a TV show or a film. I wrote it to be an amazing comic. But we knew that first issue, and we knew it was good, and we knew that if you didn't get it by the first seven pages you just weren’t gonna like it, and I was totally fine with that. But then it came out and then the response started to happen and then reviewers loved it and people loved it.

B: The comic went on to win an Eisner award, which is like the Oscar of comics, and pretty quickly, Gerard gets an offer to turn the comic into a full length movie.

WAY: I got swept up in the Hollywood thing.

B: But it doesn’t pan out.

WAY: That’s actually one of the reasons why there was such a big gap between comics, is because I was really, you know, I was trying- at the end of the day, I was trying to be helpful. If this was gonna be a movie version of what Gabriel and I had made, I wanted it to be great so I put in a lot of time and it kept me away from the comics.

B: But then Netflix hits you up and is interested in making this into a series.

WAY: Right.

B: I guess I'm curious, as someone who just initially wanted to make just a really good comic, what about turning that project into a television show was interesting?

WAY: Straight up, I want to make a great comic and that’s all I’m really interested in. If I can write great comics, you’ll have great material to make TV shows. So let me focus on that.

B: In other words, Gerard wanted to focus on the comics and let someone else adapt it.

WAY: And that’s when Steve came in and he changed things and he ran with it.

STEVE BLACKMAN: I’m Steve Blackman, I’m the showrunner and I’m executive producer.

B: Steve is a master at adapting books, comics, and film into television. Before The Umbrella Academy, he’d worked on shows like Fargo, Legion, and Altered Carbon, all of which originated from other sources. So he knew coming in that adaptation can be tricky work.

BLACKMAN: At first, I think Gerard and Gabriel, who co-did this with him, were very protective of the work like parents of their baby. And I think I had to prove to them initially that I would love and protect this child that they had worked on for so many years, so here I am, an outsider coming in and they were very nice to me, but I could see there was like, “Is this guy gonna totally screw up our baby here?”

B: Is it something that you can come to the table with Gerard and be like, “Hey, here’s my arsenal of adaptations, this is why it will work.”

BLACKMAN: Yeah, I worked on the show Fargo for three years. Fargo was obviously based on the Joel and Ethan Coen movie from 1996. I don’t think Gerard had ever seen my shows, I don’t think he watches a lot of television, so for him, it didn’t matter what I’d done before. It’s just what I was gonna do in the here and now on this show. I wasn’t intimidated by the challenge but I really did sort of have a sense of I know which direction I’m going.

B: What was your first initial reaction? Were you sort of like, “Oh, maybe I’ve never done anything like this, or this does feel familiar to other work that I’ve done.” Or, “I can do this, this is right up my alley.”

BLACKMAN: Well, what I liked about it from the beginning was what I saw in the subject matter and I saw a dysfunctional family. But right away, I was very inspired by Wes Anderson’s work. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of those movies that really was always something I truly loved. So, I saw that in this show.

Five: An entire square block, 42 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but not a single drop of coffee. Vanya: Dad hated caffeine. Klaus: Well he hated children too and he had plenty of us.

BLACKMAN: It was a family show, it was a very relatable dysfunctional family show that I wanted to tell.

WAY: Steve’s a great collaborator. Steve Blackman, the showrunner, he had a vision. I respected him and his vision. I realized it was gonna be different from the comic, and I let him run with it because he cared deeply about it.

BLACKMAN: My first conversation with Gerard over the phone, I said to him, I told him one of the words was subversive, we wanted to subvert the expectation of what a superhero show could be because there were many other shows, either on the air or coming down the pipe to be next, and we wanted this to stand out. And that was sort of the first hurdle with me, was to say to Gerard that I could do that and I could definitely make this thing feel special. And right away he said, “Okay, yeah. You get it.”

B: You’ve adapted something like Fargo which is a unique adaptation, right? You’re adapting from a different medium, like a feature film. Does that change the way you understand adaptation?

BLACKMAN: At a story point of view, no, I don’t think they’re that different. I think adapting a story, whether it's a graphic novel or the source material comes from a movie, a book, there’s a lot of care into doing it that the tricky thing is, I need to put my creative spin on it. I had Gerard and Gabriel, who lived with this for ten years, and then I have to come in and say, “Look, I’m going to honor you. At the same time, what is the Steve Blackman part of the show? How can I add my spin to it?”

B: For fans of the comic who’ve seen season 1 of the show, you’ll recognize some of that Steve Blackman spin. For example, the group who governs the laws of time in the comics, the Temps Aeternalis, in the TV show they become the Commission, an entire bureaucratic system running and adjusting linear time. Steve made some other changes too.

WAY: One of the things that I thought was an ingenious idea was making Ben a ghost that Klaus could communicate with. I was most impressed by that change.

Ben: You know what the worst part of being dead is? You’re stuck. Nowhere to go, nowhere to change, that’s the real torture if you gotta know. Watching your brother take for granted everything you lost, and pissing it all away.

B: Perhaps the biggest change from the comic to the show is the diversity of the characters. Diverse in race, diverse in region, diverse in sexual orientation, these characters on screen look a lot more like what the world actually looks like.

WAY: It’s built into it. They’re all from different places, they’re all from different countries, so I think that’s really the biggest improvement on the source material, is how diverse it is.

B: Steve felt the pressure of both fan expectations, and Gerard and Gabriel’s trust in him.

BLACKMAN: There’s nothing worse than having pre-existing source material and having the fans dislike it. You want to make the fans feel honored and respected, at the same time I felt it was incredibly important that Gerard and Gabriel walked out of this thinking, “He did a good job.” If they hated it, I would’ve been crushed. If the fans hated it, I think I’d also be crushed. I knew I couldn’t make everybody happy, but I wasn’t doing a page for page translation. My adaptation wasn’t gonna be that.

B: The adaption worked. Season 1 was a massive success. In the finale of the first season, the Academy thinks they’ve managed to stop the end of the world from happening, but unintentionally, they’ve actually just initiated it. The moon has been destroyed and its remnants are now heading directly for Earth.

Five: We might as well accept our fate because in less than a minute we’re gonna be vaporized. Diego: What’s your idea then? Five: We use my ability to time travel, but this time I’ll take you with me. Luther: You can do that?

B: The family, latching onto their time traveling brother Five, manage to escape the chaos. But we’re left to wonder where and when they’ll turn up, and that’s where season 2 begins.

Five: We brought the end of the world back here with us. Klaus: Oh my god, again?

BLACKMAN: It’s a pretty crazy journey this year and I think people will be hooked. I hope they binge the hell out of it and love every second of it.

B: Coming up in this season of Behind the Scenes, we’ll be taking you on that crazy journey with the people who make it happen.

“We hired meteorologists, we knew that snow was gonna come, but we had planned it. We went away for a day, we came back, and there was four feet of snow on the ground.”

“It’s 60s Dallas. Okay, so that’s a very different story for Allison. We have to talk about this somehow. Her experience is just different from her siblings.”

EMMY LAMPMAN: And a lot of people would come up to me and apologize for doing their job and I was like, “Please stop apologizing.”

“That was a wishlist fight scene that Steve had always wanted to do.”

“So we actually had our guys throwing plates up in the air and taking photos of them to try to get these UFO imageries.”

“You know, we have a new point in our resume: Can produce and deliver a show during a pandemic.”

B: Behind the Scenes of The Umbrella Academy is a Netflix and Pineapple Street Studios Production. I’m your host, Brandon Jenkins. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. It really does help other people find it. Thank you all for listening.

#behind the scenes of the umbrella academy #episode 1 #gerard way #gabriel ba #steve blackman #full transcription

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kinetic-elaboration · 4 years ago

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February 10: 2x06 The Doomsday Machine

Took a nap after work and really discombobulated myself. Then got a bit of a second wind watching Star Trek.

I believe I have seen this episode before but I had no memory of it going in and no memory of seeing it before even now that I’ve finished, so, who knows?

Where’s Uhura? Hopefully on shore leave somewhere having fun!

I feel like this other Communications officer walked over to the Captain’s chair hoping Kirk would acknowledge her lol. Then when he doesn’t, she doesn’t really know what to do with herself.

Some of the shots in this opening are really weird: the angle of Kirk and Spock at Spock’s station; the camera suddenly randomly dropping right before Kirk starts walking down the step.

DECKER?? Rev. Spice Boy’s father perhaps?

Hmm so the Constellation is another Constitution class like the Enterprise and the Intrepid. I always get a kick out of seeing other space ships of that same shape for some reason.

Mr. Spock in command.

Poor ship! In an aesthetically pleasing disarray, completely abandoned.

Kirk is a very good detective. “They didn’t leave any random mess, so they must have left on purpose.”

Spock in the chair!

Found Decker!

I know he has to be a Commodore to outrank Kirk later but... why is a Commodore in space? Or in other words, why isn’t the Constellation captained by a Captain?

Does Jim know everyone in Starfleet? He’s just that guy, isn’t he? He has a lot of acquaintances and he’s very friendly and easily charming so he just kind of collects people (especially Starfleet people since it is his WHOLE adult life) but he doesn’t have that many close friends or lasting romantic relationships; he’s hard to get really, properly close to.

Well that’s the mystery of the crew solved :( That’s like tragically sad.

I like when Kirk is smart and understands star ships.

Decker is not being very helpful here in actually explaining what the Threat is! Still, that’s a very classic horror trope: an evil so terrible that it is beyond description. (Alternately, he could have just said “giant windsock dipped in cement,” which is what it was.)

Robot weapon!! Giant ancient alien robot weapon just floating around space, following its orders mindlessly because it is just a machine, a tool set loose by people no longer around to control or restrain it... I love that. That’s so cool and scary and weird all at once.

A space legend!! The Doomsday machine... The most terrible of all weapons, never meant to be used... it destroyed its makers and continues to destroy still...

Really into the visual of towing a ship through space.

We must deactivate the robot!

Now Kirk will repair the ship.

The Commodore is recovering, I see... at least nominally.

“Logically our primary duty is to save Captain Kirk.”

Spock is getting outranked!! Awkward lol. Not a good idea to try to outmaneuver Spock in any way, rank or no. He is Savage and he WILL bring up your dead crew. He is Pissed. The subtlety.

McCoy is soo the audience in this scene. “So are you.. Sir.” That patented rocking motion. Trying to get over, under, around, or through the regulations to do what’s right.

Is the Commodore chewing on one of the floppy disks? That seems pretty weird to me. You can’t EAT them.

Mmm, Kirk working on the ship; sexy. Yet again he must fly the whole constitution class ship BY HIMSELF.

The thing is that Spice Boy Sr. IS unfit for command; anyone who saw him 10 minutes earlier on the Constellation would know that.

I love that not!Uhura doesn’t even try to tell the Commodore the status report; she talks to Spock because she knows who the real boss is here.

Spock, always on the lookout for how to use regulations to get himself back in the chair. Also foreshadowing the suicide.

Now Kirk will distract the evil robot to save Spock!!

Got that ship doing with only Scotty’s help, working all the controls, flying the whole damn thing himself like the bamf he is. Gotta zig zag around to tempt and confuse the robot.

“Scotty you’ve earned your pay for the week.” They get paid lol? In what?

Now the robot machine is eating.

Love Spock’s little, subtle eyebrow raise when he hears Kirk’s name.

This scene is gold lol. Kirk’s not going to let Decker speak for Spock. “Where’s Spock? Give me Mr. Spock. What happened to Spock?” Like good news is that it wasn’t Spock being reckless with the ship but bad news is where is he??

Another regulations show down. “You can file a formal complaint but for now.. out of the chair. Or I shall snap my fingers and have security escort you out.”

Vulcans bluff all the time lmao.

Ah ha, now to get him officially declared unfit.

And now for the required hand to hand combat scene. This ep really does have everything.

The shuttlecraft is escaping!

I love that when Sulu announces that the shuttlecraft doors are opening, Spock’s just like “Well...close them. Duh.”

RIP Decker... The inevitable end of that character.

Spock wants Kirk back on the Enterprise immediately.

I know Kirk is slightly annoyed when Spock corrects his math but like...you know he also finds it sexy.

“Jim, you’ll be killed.” / “Don’t worry bb I don’t intend to die.” Is that not the dialogue?

Now Scotty has to solve literally everything himself.

The tension!!

“Gentlemen, beam me aboard.” That tone, though. That’s such a Kirk tone, like he’s got to be the Cool Boss even and especially in moments of high stakes. That subtle humor Shatner brought to him.

I knew they’re going to save him and I also knew they’d do it at the laaaast possible moment but I was still really scared.

Spock is so in love. The way he looks at Kirk at his return and welcomes him aboard... Such relief.

And then some classic end of episode dialogue: Spock thoughtfully points out the larger implications of their adventure--that they might have only destroyed one of many planet killers still out there--while Kirk, all relaxed and happy now that the current problem has been solved, and still riding the high of his recent adventure, just makes a funny, minimizing remark. “I found one quite sufficient.” Little flirty smile for no reason.

And so the space legend lives on...

I loved this episode. It really had everything: great sci fi concept; K/S content; Starfleet regulations; a fist fight; aliens; a connection to the current events of its time (with the comparison to the H bomb, asking people to think about the long range/unintended consequences of our extreme weaponry); Kirk being heroic and good at his job; a tense finale.

I feel like this episode seems on its face to show the Kirk and Spock dichotomy that STID and the other AOS movies were trying to depict but like... AOS didn't get it. Like yes Spock quotes all the regulations and ultimately listens to Decker's regulation citing, and Kirk's like "yeah whatever screw those regulations,” but Spock is obviously making strategic decisions and he's always on the lookout for how to use the regs to his advantage--it's not just obeying for the sake of obeying. And Kirk isn't just cavalierly not caring about the rules--he's in an emergency situation and he reads it for what it is, a test of will, where regulations are being weaponized. And he weaponizes them, too: he knows Spock is his direct subordinate and not only will obey him but NEEDS to, per those same regulations.

All 3 of them, including McCoy, know both the regulations and their own morality; they're not that different, but they have different levels of power and different abilities with regard to how they use regulations and how they can interact with other people of other ranks. They ALL want to do what’s right and they will ALL either use or discard regulations as they see fit, to the best of their ability.

AOS just flattened it, in STID in particular: Spock likes rules and doesn't care about anything else and Kirk hates rules and never listens to them.

Of course Kirk in TOS is a decade older and has a lot more experience. Episodes like this make me think about how that experience is one of the huge differences between TOS and AOS Kirk (STXI and STID in particular). You can't fake 15 years of Starfleet experience. you just can't. Could AOS Kirk get down on the ground and fix the Constellation himself and fly it by himself? Probably not.

I get why the AOS verse ran itself into that corner, and in fact it doesn’t matter in STXI, where the narrative is a contained, emergency situation, and Kirk’s command is a field promotion for a discrete and limited purpose, but I do think the movies struggled with that conundrum later. No one has the time to grow and mature in a normal way. How do you build them up over time when you skipped over that development period they logically should have had, both as professionals and as people?

I appreciate STID in theory for trying to address that issue, I just think it did it badly. Like its Kirk narrative was supposed to be about "earning the chair" but it didn't keep Kirk IC while doing that, nor did it address the real problem: he's not just A Rebel, but he is verrrry inexperienced. (I know you could make arguments about his AOS background changing his personality blah blah blah I’ve seen STID recently and in my opinion it just doesn’t feel right.)

Then STB tried to skip over the issue by just pushing the narrative forward to mid-5YM. Well they’re magically experienced now! And that was even worse. So, what can you do?

Anyway that was a big AOS tangent lol.

Next ep is Catspaw. A little late for Halloween but always great nonetheless!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #2021: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

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unicornery · 5 years ago

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For my own amusement, I started tracking how the songs from the Billboard Hot 100 from this week in 1974 have been used in movie soundtracks. Feature Films only people! As you read, you will see the “gimmes” that made me think of the idea, but I’m putting this behind a cut because there ended up being so many which had a soundtrack match. As a reminder, you can follow along as I do the Hot 100 each week corresponding to which classic AT40 and VJ Big 40 get played on SiriusXM ‘70s on 7 and ‘80s on 8 respectively with my ever-changing Spotify playlist.

100. “Beyond the Blue Horizon” - Lou Christie. This one is a cheat because when I looked it up on Spotify it showed up on the Rain Man soundtrack. The only song I could have told you off the top of my head was in Rain Main is the Belle Stars’ version of “Iko Iko.” Rain Man marked the first soundtrack appearance for Christie’s version.

98. “The Air That I Breathe” - The Hollies. Very memorable appearance in The Virgin Suicides, which had the score done by, wait for it, French electronica duo Air. The song would go on to be heard in other movies.

90. “Billy Don’t Be a Hero” - Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. The Paper Lace version appears in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Both acts topped the charts with the song on opposite sides of the pond: Paper Lace in the UK and Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods in the US. [Update: the BD&H version may be in "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday"]

87. “Hollywood Swinging” - Kool & the Gang. This oft-sampled track first appeared in a feature film in the 2005 Get Shorty sequel Be Cool.

84. “La Grange” - ZZ Top. Armageddon first, followed by others.

68. “Band on the Run” - Paul McCartney and Wings. I didn’t search for this at first because I didn’t think there would be anything, but then Jet was on the chart at #27, so I did a twofer search on imdb. Jet has not been in any films (save “One Hand Clapping, a rockumentary on Paul, which I don’t count for purposes of this discussion) but “Band on the Run” appears in The Killing Fields, in a shocking scene that contrasts the light tone of the pop song with the horrors of the Khmer Rouge’s executions of Cambodian citizens.

66. “For the Love of Money” - The O’Jays. Has been used many times, according to IMDb the first feature film use was the Richard Pryor roman a clef (if I’m using that right, I only know it from Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man) Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling.

59. “Rock Around the Clock” - Bill Haley and his Comets. Notably used in Blackboard Jungle, the song is on this 1974 chart for its appearance in American Graffiti.

55. “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” - Rick Derringer. First one that comes to mind is Dazed and Confused bc I had that soundtrack, but it has been in others.

49. “Love’s Theme” - the Love Unlimited Orchestra. The swirling strings of this song indicate that someone is indeed falling in love. That’s my way of saying, if you think you haven’t heard this, you have. Imdb has it in Mean Girls, among others.

47. “The Way We Were” - Barbra Streisand. The titular song of the 1973 film The Way We Were, starring Barbra and Robert Redford. A little long, but worth a watch bc Barbra is amazing in it. At the 1974 Academy Awards, Marvin Hamslich won Best Original Song honors for this tune, and was awarded Best Original Dramatic Score for his other musical work on the film. I always think of Lisa Loopner’s big crush on him.

44. “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” - Stevie Wonder. First feature film usage was the 1998 Eddie Murphy flop Holy Man, which surprised me as it’s such a good song, you’d think it would have been in something earlier. Notable given Eddie’s impression of Stevie Wonder he performed on SNL!

42. “Rock On” - David Essex. Michael Damian’s cover (or remix as described by Patton Oswalt) was recorded for the 1989 2 Coreys classic Dream a Little Dream, and per imdb, David Essex’s original appears in the alternate-history comedy Dick, from 1999.

37. “Oh Very Young” - Cat Stevens/Yusef Islam. Surprisingly, this sweet song appears in the gross-out bowling comedy Kingpin.

36. “Jungle Boogie” - Kool & the Gang. This song may have been used in the most films and tv shows of any I’ve researched so far, but its first appearance was in Pulp Fiction.

34. “The Payback - Part 1” - James Brown. First feature film appearance was in 1995′s Dead Presidents. A different James Brown track appears on the soundtrack for racist-ass Melly Gibson’s Payback from 1999.

33. “Help Me” - Joni Mitchell. Another why’d-it-take-ya-so-long shocker, this mellow tune first appeared in the 2018 sci-fi movie Kin, narrowly beating Welcome to Marwen from 2019.

31. “The Entertainer” - Marvin Hamlisch. The title theme from the Redford/Newman team-up The Sting. Hamlisch won a record-tying third Academy Award in 1974 for Best Original Score for The Sting. It seems at this time Best Original Score and Best Original Dramatic Score were separate categories. Hamlisch would win Grammys for both this and “The Way We Were,” eventually becoming an EGOT winner in 1995.

30. “Eres Tú” - Mocedades. This Spanish Eurovision entry notably appears in the buddy comedy Tommy Boy when Chris Farley and David Spade’s characters sing along with the radio.

28. “Midnight at the Oasis” - Maria Muldaur. Catherine O’Hara and Fred Willard perform their own rendition in the Christopher Guest film Waiting for Guffman. That should be all you need, but imdb has the first film appearance for the song as 1995′s Falcon and the Snowman.

24. “Let it Ride” - Bachman-Turner Overdrive. This lesser-known but not less great BTO jam has appeared in a handful of films, the first being Ash Wednesday, starring Elijah Wood and directed by Edward Burns and not Garry Marshall. Note: it does not seem to be in the Richard Dreyfuss gambling movie Let It Ride, a classic VHS cover of my youth.

18. “Mockingbird” - James Taylor and Carly Simon. Memorably performed by Harry and Lloyd in the dog van in Dumb and Dumber, later joined by a Latinx family on guitar and vocals. Before that, Beverly D’Angelo and Chevy Chase’s characters also sang it on their road trip in National Lampoon’s Vacation. I couldn’t find an instance where James and Carly’s version played in a movie but I am sayin’ there’s a chance. That it could be someday.

16. “Tubular Bells” - Mike Oldfield. This instrumental is best known for being the theme to The Exorcist, but I was surprised to learn from the Wiki entry that it was not written for the film. Tubular Bells or something that’s meant to sound like it has been in a ton of other things, generally uncredited. Of note: Mike Oldfield would go on to do the score for The Killing Fields.

14. “Seasons in the Sun” - Terry Jacks. Now here is the type of song that ‘70s haters point to as an example of the whiny wuss rock that they feel over-dominated the era. It’s not one of my favorites but I appreciate it for how weird it is. I suppose being translated into English from a French/Belgian poem will do that to ya. Before I did my search, I imagined I would find it in a Farrelly Brothers movie or two, possibly the Anchorman sequel. However, the only feature film match I found was the 2002 indie flick Cherish, a movie I have never seen despite being confronted by the cover many times at rental places over the years. Before today, when I watched the trailer, I would have told you it starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and was about “a band trying to make it.” It turns out I am thinking of the 1999 film The Suburbans. Anyway Cherish seems aggressively indie and very of-its-time in a way that makes me want to watch it.

13. “Dancing Machine” - The Jackson 5. The song appears in the Blaxploitation spoof I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, as well as the movie of Starsky & Hutch.

11. “Lookin’ For A Love” - Bobby Womack. This was in the movie of The Ladies Man starring Tim Meadows as his SNL character Leon Phelps. I almost skipped this one but I’m glad I didn’t because Tim Meadows rules.

8. “The Loco-Motion” - Grand Funk Railroad (the single and album it was on are credited to Grand Funk). We have our second song from the Kirsten Dunst/Michelle Williams movie Dick. Since that was satirizing Nixon and Watergate, well done to the filmmakers for including these 1974 hits! It appeared in one earlier film, My Girl 2.

5. “Come and Get Your Love” - Redbone. Known to modern listeners for appearing in Guardians of the Galaxy. [Sidebar: if you can find a way to listen to the With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus episode T.G.I.G.O.T.G.OST (Thank God It’s the Guardians of the Galaxy Original Soundtrack) with Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport, do it!] The song first appeared in Dance Me Outside, a Canadian film about First Nations youth, which is a cool parallel with Redbone being composed of Native American musicians. “Come and Get Your Love” is also in Dick!

4. “Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me” - Gladys Knight & the Pips. Another SNL feature pops up on our list, 1994′s It’s Pat: The Movie.

3. “Hooked on a Feeling” - Blue Swede. ALSO known to modern listeners as being from the GOTG, but possibly only in the trailer? I’m fuzzy. The song ALSO also appears in Dick, and its first feature film appearance was Reservoir Dogs.

2. “Bennie and the Jets” - Elton John. You know it, you love it, you cackle at the gag in Mystery Team. IMDb has this song down as first appearing in the low budget feature Aloha, Bobby and Rose, from 1975. It is ALSO in My Girl 2, with proper credit for Sir Elton.

1. “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” - MFSB featuring The Three Degrees. IMDb says this appeared in the Al Pacino film Carlito’s Way, and I have no reason to doubt them because it means we are done! Thanks for readin’ and rockin’ along.

#AT40 #1970s music #movie soundtrack #Billboard hot 100

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thejeksburyguy · 5 years ago

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I'm in love with your Hyde, could you tell me more about him? I loved him in that drawing!

The bastard has a fan already?? I'm Shook

(This might be a bit long, I apologize-)

So, the Hyde lad:

Emotional trauma is his middle name. In the original novella Hyde is all of Jekyll's repressed desires, and I thought, "Hey, why not also make Hyde his repressed trauma too??"

He and Jekyll aren't really seperate but also are?? Like, they treat each other as two seperate people and always say things like 'I can feel Hyde clawing to get out' and 'Jekyll won't stop my fun this time', but they can't interact like other J&H adaptations, notably The Glass Scientists by @arythusa and @thatsmyhyde 's delightful slimy boi and chunky grandpa (go check both of them out their stuff is really great). They're the same person. Kinda somewhere in between the original novella (where Hyde is just a disguise) and more modern adaptations (where Jekyll and Hyde have screaming matches at 3 am).

This version of Hyde belongs to a comic I'm trying to force myself to take seriously and actually finish, Against God's Will, which has a bunch of different gothic lit and sci-fi characters as the main group. Hyde works as the suspicious spy type character who nobody in the group actually trusts. In fact, a main goal of the group is helping Jekyll find a cure to get rid of Hyde once and for all.

Hyde can't bring himself to ever face the people who were important in his/Jekyll's life. If he so much as hears somone say 'Lawyer', 'Hastie', 'Old friend', etc., he will immediately grow aggressive and lash out, both verbally and physically. He actually craves comfort and close friendships but has never been given that on account of his uncanny valley appearance and generally crude and aggressive nature.

Hyde is actually pretty weak. He was made for running and hiding, not brawling, and suffers from poor health on account of his being artificially created, including a heart condition, a weak immune system, and a weak digestive system. Most things will get him sick to his stomach.

Hyde is the definition of those feral cats that get slowly won over by kindness but refuse to show it. The fact that he's in the same room as you is totally unintentional and has nothing to do with the fact he's fond of you, shUT UP—

Gets flustered really easily. Like, give him one (1) moment of positive attention and he will blush and actually wiggle with happiness.

Hyde likes soft things.

Hyde likes cute things like puppies, kittens, birds, etc.

For some weird reason no one can explain, the one thing Hyde can eat without getting sick is raw seafood. A majority of his diet is just slabs of raw fish and in case you're wondering, yes, he does fish like a cat and just pounce and swat at fish in running water.

Under his chin is his weak spot. Scritch under there and he will be putty in your hands.

Picking him up under the arms renders him completely immobile and he just goes limp. You know how when you pick up a cat, they just stick their arms straight out and let the rest of themself dangle? Yeah, that's Hyde.

He's nocturnal, sunlight genuinely hurts his eyes. This is possibly a side effect of only ever being let out at night during the first chunk of his life.

His eyes do the cat thing: angry = slitted pupils, curious = BIG pupils.

He can purr but it sounds really fucking creepy, like that video where they tried to replicate what a T-Rex would actually sound like.

As mentioned in the drawing, he gets physically ill at the sight of people being affectionate. It reminds him of everything he never had and has been promised he never will have.

He's extremely touch-starved and if you pat his head he will break down crying.

Reacts badly to being accused/yelled at (this ties into how his interaction with Sir Danvers Carew went down, and the subsequent manhunt for him).

If you're his friend, he'll be loyal to you for life. If you're his enemy, you will at some point lose at least a finger.

T e e f s.

Ya know that Mao Mao character from that cute cartoon, and how he does the shark-mouth thing when excited? Hyde does that only with more uncanny valley horror.

And last but not least,

His one wish in life is to be told 'I forgive you' by Lanyon and Utterson.

#hyde #agw hyde #sorry for rambling #i'm glad you like my bastard tho #hope this is sufficient

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atomicstardust · 6 years ago

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Behind The Trigger (Part 1)

Right, so this thing was supposed to be a short 500 word ficlet for @itsallavengers since they’re having a rough time. Then it kept going, I got near the end, and then finished up with that cliffhanger and a part two planned. I hope you like it! The first thing I saw from you was you spite-writing WinterIron against that one anon, and then I saw you liked the assumed death trope so....this came from that. <3 ~~~

Tony was the flashy target.

He was the one who spun through the air, who taunted the villains, who always got hit but got back up.

Bucky was his shadow.

The steady hand behind the scope, the one who made impossible shots, the one who was never seen.

When you thought target you thought Tony. No one could ever find Bucky, so he wasn’t a target.

Usually.

---

Tuesdays were cursed days.

True, his parents died on a Monday, but he’d been informed on Tuesday. He’d met Ty on a Tuesday, he’d found out about Sunset on Tuesday. He’d woken up in Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Tuesdays were cursed, and that was just the way the universe worked.

Bucky died on a Tuesday.

---

Tony wasn’t there, was on a business meeting in Beijing.

He should have been there.

“Sir,” JARVIS said through his phone, interrupting a meeting. JARVIS never interrupted something like this unless it was life or death. (Later, he’d think back on the irony of that thought.) “There has been an emergency.”

“Go,” Pepper said with a deep frown. “I’ll cover.”

“I would appreciate if you could come along Miss Potts.” JARVIS said cautiously and they both froze and looked at each other. Tony stood, apologizing to the group in Cantonese and explaining there was a personal emergency within the family. Thankfully, they seemed to pick up on the grave tones and agreed.

JARVIS only directed them to the plane, where the crew was speeding to get it ready before schedule. The door sealed shut, ensuring that no one could listen in.

“Spill.” Tony demanded, sitting down with Pepper beside him.

“It’s Master Barnes,” JARVIS said quietly. Sympathetically. “He is…” A pause. JARVIS never paused. “Dead.”

He could barely feel Peppers fingers winding through his, squeezing tightly. Her voice was strangely muffled, even when she was sitting right beside him. The suit was there, folded awkwardly in front of him, controlled by JARVIS.

“Sir, can you tell me what 76 times 8263 is?” JARVIS said, his voice steady.

“627,988.” Tony said, stuttering over the numbers.

“That number divided by 8?” JARVIS continued.

What was the number again?

“627, 988 divided by 8.” JARVIS prompted.

“78498 point 5.” Tony said, feeling the numbers slot into place. Numbers were good, the numbers never lied. He blinked and looked up.

He didn’t bother with denial. JARVIS never lied either.

“Who?” Tony said.

“They’re all dead.” JARVIS said first.

Not good enough.

~~~

“Tones,” Rhodey said. He was waiting, of course he was. He didn’t look at him with pity, like he was afraid Tony would shatter.

Or snap.

He just reached out, JARVIS already pulling the armour off him without a command and Tony would scold him, but Rhodey was there, dragging him into a hug. Every time, he’s fourteen again, Rhodey’s arms always solid and unshaking as he hugs. Tony reached up, tangled his fingers in Rhodey’s polo shirt, because Rhodey’s fashion sense was Like That.

“What happened.” A demand, not a request.

“We don’t know.” Rhodey said, and Tony would draw back but Rhodey wouldn’t let him go. “But they knew he was coming. The entire base was a trap.” A pause. “He’s not coming back.”

~~~

He stared down at the whiskey, swirling it around in the glass.

“You’re not here to stop me.” Tony said, watching the condensation. He stared at it until his eyes blurred and he fell asleep out of sheer tiredness.

It was a sick type of routine, pouring out a glass, but unable to take it, unable to forget because even if he was dead Bucky’s memory didn’t deserve this.

The bots were the only ones allowed in the workshop at first. DUM-E took away the glass every time, and U followed him with the broom for when he inevitably smashed it. Butterfingers tried to clumsily draw a card to cheer him up, and JARVIS always kept piano music playing in the background.

~~~

Rhodey showed up with shitty sci-fi movies, Happy brought apple juice and shot glasses, and Pepper gave everyone her ridiculously amazing hand massages.

~~~

Tony kept working, and didn’t talk as much.

He wore sunglasses everywhere.

~~~

Tuesday was also the day he learned Bucky wasn’t dead after all.

~~~

He was staring at another glass of whiskey. He was not drunk, but he wasn’t working and his mind was loud.

“Sir,” JARVIS said, interrupting him, “Master Barnes is not dead.”

A beat of silence, a rush of hope that Tony ruthlessly quashed.

“Suit.” he rasped. JARVIS would never lie to him, so Tony skipped past denial straight into relief. “Get me Mark 40. How? I thought they were all dead.”

“There was a tunnel, built into an old sewer system. They blew that up too when they fled, so even when we excavated the whole place, it looked like more rubble.” JARVIS said, wrapping the Mark 40 around him. It wasn’t his most powerful armour, but he could move fast. And hit hard. If he thought about it too hard, Iron Man just helped Tony take the power of something like the Jericho Missile, and compact it into something shorter than his forearm.

“The people involved?” Tony said, performing a quick check of the weapons. He wasn’t as loaded as War Machine, but what he did have...hurt.

And hurt them he would.

By the time he’d finished suiting up, his relief had turned into anger.

“I have a location,” JARVIS said, “Colonel Rhodes is calling, shall I con-”

“Block.” Tony ordered. He couldn’t talk to Rhodey. Rhodey would make him wait, to delay him until Rhodey caught up. “Time to test out the new feature.”

The Shotgun armour was built to go up to speeds of Mach 5, but he hadn’t fully tested it yet. JARVIS’ pointed silence was horribly judgmental, but Tony stared at the little red dot on the map in the corner and said nothing.

He was going to get his boyfriend back, and blow everyone there into smithereens. No tunnel was going to save them from that.

JARVIS’ disapproving silence grew as he blocked all the calls and messages, the world hurtling past at 1700m/s. The base came into view, sitting in the middle of Siberia. Considering JARVIS didn’t have an inkling of its existence until however he’d gotten coordinates 20 minutes ago, they wanted to keep Bucky hidden.

They would burn for that.

“Engage retroreflectors.” he murmured. The armours surface shimmered and then the armour vanished from sight. Harley’s suggestion for a ‘stealth suit’ was the only way he’d get into that facility without being found out and he was never so thankful for that.

“Sir, Colonel Rhodes is asking for you to wait.” JARVIS said neutrally.

“I can’t.” Tony said, letting himself freefall into a steep dive. “They could be doing anything to him.”

“Sergeant Barnes would want you to be safe.” JARVIS said. “If you get injured trying to get to him, it would hurt him.”

“Where’s the faith J,” Tony said, blinking away tears. He was so close. “I’m not going to get hurt, you’ve got my back.”

“As always.” JARVIS said, part statement, part promise. He brought up the scans for Tony without further comment, highlighting the best route inside.

JARVIS was the best.

Tony inched in through a propped open door, the only sound the faint whirring from the machinery.

There was no one in the hallway, the base was practically ancient since there was no technology he could hack. His unease grew as he kept going through the back of the base. They were all gathered nearer to the front, facing the only spot the Quinjet could land, but there had to be someone right?

“One heat signature found.” JARVIS said quietly, placing it on the map. “The rooms beyond are lined, I cannot figure out if there is anyone inside. The imaging around shows that they are cooler than most, however.”

“Cold enough to house a cyrotube?” Tony asked rhetorically. He flew down the hallway the other side, just in case of a trap, but there was no one there. He flicked off the retroreflectors, and then kicked the door in full force.

There was a man standing there, holding a bloody scalpel like he was auditioning for a horror movie. Tony didn’t give him a chance to speak, flying straight into him and wrapping the metal fingers of the armour around his throat.

“Tell me where he is.” Tony said. He didn’t ask, he demanded. “Now.”

“You could do whatever you want.” he gasped, scrabbling at the arms of the armour. “I’m never going to tell you.”

Truth. There was nothing but triumph and confidence in his gaze. He could give him to Natasha, she’d eventually get it out of him, she always did.

But he didn’t have time.

Soon enough someone would see the broken door, and since this level was deeper, he’d have to fight his way through all of them solo to get Bucky out.

Tony twisted his head, breaking the spine with brute force and letting the body drop to the floor.

“JARVIS, remaining rooms.” he ordered, spinning and heading for the first one. The lock melted open but there was simply a room with medical equipment.

Some of the blood was fresh.

JARVIS kept scanning, pulling up all the readings as Tony started systematically clearing the other rooms.

The last one, with a red marking on it, revealed Bucky lying strapped to some sort of table.

His breath caught, knees nearly buckling in relief.

He hadn’t let himself hope until now, hadn’t dared to believe.

“Come on sweet cheeks, let me see those pretty blue eyes.” Tony said shooting forward and ripping him free of the straps.

“Sergeant. 32557…” Bucky’s eyes cracked open slightly, staring at Tony blearily. “Tony?”

“Yeah, yeah it’s me.” Tony said, swallowing hard at the lump in his throat. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“You’re not real.” Bucky said, eyes sliding closed again and making no move to get up. “You’re not real, you’re not real, you’renotreal.”

“I’m real,” Tony said, glancing quickly at the scans. No one around, and the others had arrived and were engaging with the other hostiles. He pulled the armour away, grasping Bucky’s hands, metal and flesh. He pressed Bucky’s metal fingers onto the reactor. “Feel the vibrations? It’s me.”

“I know.” Bucky said, letting Tony press his fingers to the reactor as Tony breathed a sigh of relief.

Then his fingers abruptly tightened on the reactor, gripping the casing tightly.

Tony lurched away in panic, the armour starting to close around him, but Bucky’s fingers around his upper arm didn’t let him go far.

With a light click the reactor separated from his chest.

Tony collapsed.

This suit still ran on his arc reactor energy, not its own.

And now it had nothing.

The reactor dangled from Bucky’s fingers. He leaned down, and Tony saw the real reason he hadn’t opened his eyes the entire time.

There was nothing left of his boyfriend in those eyes.

“Hail HYDRA.”

~~~

Tuesday was the day he wished Bucky was dead.

#winteriron #tony stark #bucky barnes #tw:assumed character death #gee #stars writes #gift fics

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aj-the-satyr · 5 years ago

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All the Questions......

So Tag games...... Used to do ‘em a lot then kinda fell off writing for a while and then it got quiet. Well now I got tagged in 3 of those 11/11/11 things. You know the ones answer 11 questions, ask 11 more to the 11 people you tag. Well I’m not going to tag anyone other than the 3 people asking @writersblockandapotoftea @carrotgirl-1 and @rosewinterborn and say thankyou for doing so. So here goes..... the goat tries to get through all 33 questions.

1) Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

Hmm.... I suppose that I have a habit of making the names of both things and characters have deeper meanings. Like Grigory Zmeya, his last name means snake and he is a snake shifter type person. So stuff like that.

2) If you could ask one successful author three questions about their writing, writing process or books what would they be?

Not sure about this. I’ve read interviews with many authors where they have dispensed their advice and advice is not a one size fits all thing but I would lie to ask more personal things like favorite characters, Least favorite scene to write and most surprising side character. Stuff like that.

3) Do you have a library membership?

Nope.

4) Ebooks, yay or nay?

Used them and they are fine but I am the old school like to have the physical book in my hands kinda goat.

5) What feeling do you want your readers to get from what you write?

Wow, deep question. Enjoyment? Other than that I’d like them to have feelings for different characters, to pick favorites, to hate some and love some. I suppose I’d like my characters to be memorable but I will settle for the “That was Good” feeling after reading, even if nothing gets carried with them.

6) What time of day are you most productive?

Considering how many times I’ve written my snippets after 10pm and into the wee hours of the morning, I’d say then.

7) What is your writing Kryptonite?

Myself really. There are times I just get conflicted about my writing and rather than just let it flow and let the characters lead I will find myself deleting things and starting over many times. I’m trying to do that less but it’s hard sometimes to just let go and see what happens at the keyboard.

8) Which scenes are your favorite to write?

Huh....... I’m a dialogue heavy writer trying to get more description into my scenes so I favor just talking but am trying to change that a little.

9) What comes first in your development/outlining process plot or characters?

Well considering I don’t outline anymore (Used to waaaaay back) It would have to be characters. Make the characters and pop them in a setting. Plot will happen, hopefully.

10) What is your favorite novel to film/TV adaptadion?

Comic books count right? I love the Constantine TV show. Shame it got cancelled, love the fact they brought the character back for Legends of Tomorrow and the fact he might be getting his own show again is awesome. Love Constantine.

11) Do you think yourself as more of an artist or entertainer?

Neither really. Not something I’ve ever thought about, since you are asking me to think about it...... entertainer??

Right onto the second set of questions gonna add a read more break here to avoid taking up huge chunks of Tumblr real estate and for those people that don’t really care what this old goat has to say

12) Play fuck, marry, kill with Gandalf, Aragon and Arwen.

Er........ Kill Gandalf.... no wait he’ll come back for revenge..... Kill Aragon..... man that would be hard to do..... Kill Arwen then? But I wanted to marry her.......... Man...... Kill Aragon with Gandalf’s help, fuck Gandalf as payment and then go off to marry Arwen. Problem solved.

13) If you had to set fire to a famous building, which one would you set alight?

The Vatican?

14) If you could bring someone back from the dead who would it be?

It would be Sandra, a friend I made for a brief time on the internet who I RP’d with and had a good rapport with. She died of cancer at 20 I think, it’s hard to think about. I do always remember that I talked to her through her brother in her final days and managed to make her smile, something her brother told me she hadn’t done for weeks. Crying typing this. Yeah. Fuck yeah I’d bring her back and let her live her life. Fuck Cancer.

15) Which fictional Universe would you go into?

Star Trek. No need for money, could sit at a cafe and write all day. Great.

16) Where would you go if the world ended?

Hell. Oh wait that’s not what you were asking. Er...... nowhere. No point if it’s all gone is there? I’d stay here and still be a loner. Wow..... fun goat answers.

17) What’s you alignment?

Chaotic Neutral.

18) Lovecraft or Shelly?

Er....... as much as I love Cosmic Horror Mary Shelly was one of the most badass goths there has been. Plus the whole creating the sci-fi genre as a fuck you to Lord Byron. She is amazing and doesn’t get enough respect.

19) What’s the weirdest food you have eaten?

Sea Urchin or deep fried shrimp heads not sure which I think was weirder.

20) How do you want to die?

Die? I’m immortal. Or is that immoral? One of those.

21) Who is your least favorite character to write?

Probably The Professor since he’s a homophobic bigot who killed his own son’s boyfriend (Though he claims that was merely an accidental oversight of his grander plan) since he is not a very nice character at all. Makes my skin crawl.

22) What’s your favourite fairy tale?

Can’t say that I really have one. None of them resonate anymore, neither the grimdark originals or the fluffed up modern takes. I do however enjoy the book Dragon’s Bait by VIvian Vande Velde which is about a 15yr old girl who is put out as a sacrifice to a Dragon and ends up allying with the dragon and seeking revenge.

One more set. Almost there with the goat interrogation.

23) When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Probably in University where I started writing a little something called “Space Gerbils” and was sending it out via email to about a dozen internet friends. They were hooked, I thought it was garbage but voila! The spark ignited. Heavily got into tabletop RPGs at the same time so that probably helped my desire for storytelling.

24) What book/Book series have you always meant to read but have not yet?

The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. I have a boxed set of them all but I just haven’t cracked the cover yet.

25) Who’s you favourite writer?

Published? Either Sir Terry Pratchett or Eoin Colfer. But a special shoutout goes to @yuutfa for Caster. They are a wonderful storyteller and got many an emotion from me while I was reading an early draft.

26) What was your favourite book as a child?

It is one that sits on my shelf this very moment. It is called “Science Fantasy Stories” and is a collection of short stories that I read many times over as a child, back when I would consume a book a day almost.

27) Favorite music to work to?

Soundcloud generally has my back but it does sometimes throw up the odd track that makes me question if its algorithm has developed some sort of twisted intelligence Black Mirror style.

28) Hogwarts House?

Ah..... this question. I’ve read the books, saw a couple of the movies (Did not like the movies) and enjoyed every step of the way. I bought my first Harry Potter books when they were selling the first 3 as a set so I jumped in to see what the fuss was about. Never once have I thought about what House I would be in. Never. So Imma gonna say Slytherin.

29) Hobbies?

Writing?? Generally I play vidja games. Current faves being Monster Hunter World (PC), Endless Legend (PC) and Crash team racing nitro fueled (PS4) and I also daydream scenes with my characters in them. Trying to get back into reading regularly again.

30) Where do you draw Inspiration from?

Everywhere I guess. From random conversations to ideas had after playing games, watching TV or reading books. Sometimes I’m not sure where the inspiration comes from but I am just trying to let myself go at those moments, run with it. Who cares if The Simpsons already did it? Truly new ideas aren’t new anyway. (Except maybe for theoretical physics, that shit is bananas) I mean one of my characters basically declared themselves to be a God (At least in my head) after I read an article on Retrocausality. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Use it!

31) What do you consider your aesthetic to be?

Look I can barely spell that word you want me to have one as well?

32) Favorite mythology?

Favorite mythology of AJ the Satyr................

33) What do you think influences your work the most?

My co author?? But seriously working things out with them has been very helpful but also there’s this little writing discord that I’m part of that is really welcoming and a great source of inspiration and ideas. But all in all I think Neil Gaiman influences me the most when he answered a question about how he does it. He told the person asking that you just write everything down that happens in the first draft and then when you go back and rewrite you make it look like you knew what you were doing all along.

Right. One Goat, 33 Questions. And I won! Not tagging anyone else but I want this to get me going on these tag games. I can’t just hide in the dark corners of Tumblr anymore. I must face the light! Has @notanotherhour done this yet??

#Tag game I guess #Not tagging anyone else in this nightmare #Writeblr #About Me #I answered the questions #Yay writing!

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man-creates-dinosaurs · 6 years ago

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SPOOKY PALEONTOLOGY: THE (OC)CULT OF NESSIE One reason I haven’t been blogging as much here is that I’ve been busy with various academic projects including two book chapters, submissions for conference presentations, serving as a member of the steering committee for this year’s Religion and Monsters panel at the AAR, getting the long awaited second installment of Scholars Talking Toku up, and preparing to start applying for PhD programs at the end of the year.

One of the books I recently contributed to is tentatively titled “Paranormal and Popular-Culture” and should be coming out from Routledge early next year. The volume was conceived and edited by Darryl Caterine and John W. Morehead. My contribution was a chapter on the intersection of cryptozoology and science-fiction in which I endeavored to show that the central aims and obsessions of cryptozoology (i.e. the discovery of monstrous creatures alive in the world today) can be found to have originated in the realm of fantastic fiction.

My original draft for this chapter was over 11,000-words and had to be drastically reduced at the behest of the publisher (actually the entire book had to be shortened apparently). So I decided I could make use of some of that research here on my blog and just in time for Halloween. In this case I want to talk about lake monsters. Spooky lake monsters. Specifically the Loch Ness Monster.

Though reports of a monster living in Loch Ness don’t begin until 1933 the idea of such a creature dwelling somewhere within the British Isles can be found in The Lair of the White Worm; a horror novel by Dracula author Bram Stoker originally published in 1911 by Rider and Son of London with interior color illustrations by Tarot Card artist Pamela Colman Smith. In 1925 an abridged version of the novel was issued, losing more than 100 pages and 12 chapters.

Set in Derbyshire, England The Lair of the White Worm concerns Australian transplant Adam Salton who has traveled to meet his great-uncle, Richard Salton, as Adam is destined to become the heir of the family estate. As Adam quickly learns, however, high strangeness of various kinds is at work in the surrounding countryside including the death of livestock, mysterious black snakes slithering about, a child with vampire-like bite marks on her neck, hostile pigeons, and the mysterious Arabella March who lives nearby in a house located in Diana’s Grove; an area known to have once been the center of pagan religious rites.

Eager to get to the bottom of these various mysteries, Richard introduces Adam to his friend Sir Nathaniel de Salis; who fulfills the Van Helsing role in this novel of occult scholar. In Chapter 5, “The White Worm,” Sir Nathaniel fills Adam in on the various legends concerning Diana’s Grove including that it is the lair of a monstrous albino serpent or dragon; what the Anglo-Saxon’s called a ‘wyrm,’ hence the novel’s title. When Adam displays some skepticism about such tales Sir Nathaniel informs him that…

“A glance at a geological map will show that whatever truth there may have been of the actuality of such monsters in the early geologic periods, at least there was plenty of possibility. In England there were originally vast plains where the plentiful supply of water could gather. The streams were deep and slow, and there were holes of abysmal depth, where any kind and size of antediluvian monster could find a habitat. In places, which now we can see from our windows, were mud-holes a hundred or more feet deep. Who can tell us when the age of the monsters which flourished in slime came to an end? There must have been places and conditions which made for greater longevity, greater size, greater strength than was usual. Such over-lappings may have come down even to our earlier centuries.” (p. 187 in Penguin Classic’s Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Tales, 2007)

Here we see that Sir Nathaniel is something of a proto-cryptozoologist and like his 20th-Century contemporaries advances the idea that the menacing white worm, like Nessie, is a prehistoric holdover who has somehow managed to survive for millions of years in the supposedly “abysmal depths” of the United Kingdom’s many lakes and lochs. Of course, the novel ends with the revelation that the worm is real and dwells in a pit beneath Arabella March’s home in Diana’s Grove where March worships and feeds the beast who in turn appears to endow her with evil supernatural powers. Ultimately, Adam is able to dispatch the monster via the handy combination of dynamite and a well-placed lightning bolt.

In 1988, English filmmaker Ken Russell (1927-2011) filmed a theatrical adaptation of The Lair of the White Worm. Russell’s version actually puts more emphasis on the story’s latent paleontological elements. Rather than being set in the early 20th-Centrury the story is moved up to the present day (i.e. 1980s) and Adam Salton is recast as Angus Flint (Peter Capaldi; the Twelfth Doctor); a Scottish archaeologist excavating the site of a Roman era Christian convent in Derbyshire. Among the ruins Flint discovers what appears to be the skull of a dinosaur! The locals connect the skull to the legend of the d'Ampton wyrm, said to have been slain in Stonerich Cavern by John d'Ampton, the ancestor of current Lord of the Manor, James d'Ampton (Hugh Grant of Four Weddings and a Funeral [94] and Bridget Jones’s Diary [2001]). Flint attends a party at d’Ampton Manor where he meets James and the audience is treated to a rocking rendition of the legend of the d’Ampton wyrm (based on the real-life legend of the Lambton Worm).

Stonerich Cavern is connected to the home of the enigmatic Lady Sylvia Marsh (Amanda Donohoe) who steals the skull from Flint and also abducts his girlfriend Eve. While a symbiotic relationship between Marsh and the White Worm is only hinted at in Stoker’s novel, it is explicit in Russell’s film with Marsh assuming the form of a silver-skinned serpentine vampire who’s appearance I would have to guess was inspired by the look of a similar monster seen in Hammer’s The Reptile (1966, dir. John Gilling). It is soon revealed that Marsh is the immortal priestess of an ancient pre-Christian snake god named Dionin whose next sacrifice is going to be Eve. In order to rescue his girlfriend and expunge the evil from the countryside Flint enlists the aid of James and the two mount an assault on Marsh and Dionin.

For most cryptozoology enthusiasts, Nessie is believed to be an extant plesiosaur which somehow survived the K–Pg extinction event some 66-million-years ago. As a result the idea of Nessie being related to anything like the subject of Stoker’s The Lair of the White Worm – with its occult evil, secret cults, human sacrifice and vampires – may seem strange indeed. However at least one noted Nessie research drew just such a circle of connections around the Loch Ness Monster. That man was Fredrick William Holiday (1921–1979).

Like most Nessie researchers, Holiday started out proposing that Nessie was a prehistoric survivor. Not a plesiosaur but rather a Tully Monster (Tullimonstrum gregarium); a genus of soft-bodied bilaterian that lived during Late Carboniferous period some 323.2 million-years-ago to 298.9 million-years-ago and whose fossil remains were discovered in Illinois in the late 1960s. The exact nature of the Tully Monster is actually a source of great paleontological controversy which you can learn about here. Like all cryptozoologists expounding prehistoric survivor paradigm theories Holiday was at a loss to explain how the warm water Tully Monster had survived hundreds of millions of years in a cold lake on the other side of the world. He also had the not insignificant problem that the fossils of Tully Monster indicated that its maximum size was about 14-inches, pretty puny for the Loch Ness Monster. Nevertheless, Holiday put forth his Tully Monster theory in his 1968 book The Great Orm of Loch Ness; “orm” being another variation on “wyrm.”

However, as Holiday continued to research the Loch Ness Monster he began noticing strange things happening to him. This included his camera always malfunctioning whenever he tried to take a shot of Nessie, glimpses of mysterious orbs of light, apparent UFO sightings and experiences of missing time. As a result by the early 1970s Holiday ceased promoting the idea that Nessie was a Tully Monster and started claiming that it was a supernatural entity that was both the basis of ancient dragon legends and somehow connected to UFOs; hence the title of his second book: The Dragon and the Disc (1973). This trend in Holiday’s research continued and by the late 70s Holiday was apparently wrapped up in all kinds of occult phenomena and evidently claiming that Nessie was the object of reverence of a secret dragon cult practicing human sacrifice hidden in the surrounding Inverness environs. All this prompted Holiday’s final book The Goblin Universe (published in 1986, after his death) which was co-authored with sci-fi writer Colin Wilson; author of The Space Vampires (1976), which was later turned into the film Lifeforce (1986) directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist) and scripted by Dan O’Bannon (Alien). You want a crazy Halloween double-feature? Watch Russell’s The Lair of the White Worm and Hooper’s Lifeforce back-to-back.

#loch ness monster #nessie #cryptozoology #cryptid #bram stoker #vampire #the lair of the white worm #ken russell #ted holiday #lampton worm #peter capaldi #hugh grant #lake monster #colin wilson

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michaelmyersmalewife · 5 years ago

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LEVIATHAN | 10. A Light in the Dark | MASTERLIST

words: 6k+

A/N: nothing to say other that there’s a lot of little nuggets here !!

you can also support this fic on wattpad & ao3

As they departed from the Argo, Jodie and the rest of the team were met with both military and government officials alike. Admiral Stenz was at the forefront of the welcoming party, and he didn't look too happy.

"Colonel," Admiral Stenz said to Foster. "I'd like a moment with you and your men."

Foster's eyes flickered to the floor with resentment before nodding to the rest of G-Team. As they followed the admiral out of the hangar, Stenz regarded the rest of them. "I'll see you momentarily."

"What's the deal with that?" Mark said as soon as they were a distance away. "I thought they were with Monarch."

"Yes and no," Coleman answered. "They're sort of on a loan. Until now, we've never really had to test the chain of command."

Jodie's mind flashed back to Emma's speech back in Isla de Mara. Would G-Team really be willing to carry out the government's impending command to kill all titans? Despite everything, she hoped not.

Back in Castle Bravo's situation room, scenes straight out of a sci-fi movie played out on the monitors that hung on one of the room's walls. What had once been cities were now smoking ruins, each filled with military units combating nearly a dozen different titans to no avail. Everyone was aghast - especially Mark - but Jodie found herself feeling numb-er than ever. She knew that every one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people were suffering and dying at the hands of the titans, but she couldn't find the energy within her to allow herself to grieve. She felt that if she did, she'd lose her mind. But that didn't mean she would let it continue to rage on.

But then the meeting began, Stenz walking to the front of the room.

"Moscow, London, Washington D.C. All under attack. On every continent, the titans are triggering earthquakes, wildfires, tsunamis, and disasters we don't even have names for yet."

As he spoke, more images appeared. Ghidorah's storm was now a whole system of hurricanes, from super-cells to immense squalls sweeping through inland areas, spawning thunderstorms and tornadoes by the hundreds. With every passing minute, severe flash floods were already washing away cities and the people within them.

And Ghidorah wasn't the only one causing chaos, Rodan was out there too. Feedback from planes and bases showed volcanoes erupting as he flew past them, and satellite data presented a string of eruptions that coincided with his flight path, sending tons of volcanic ash and gases into the atmosphere. He also seemed to be following Ghidorah's same path, like they were working in tandem instead of ripping each other to shreds. Jodie could only watch in horror. It was almost like they were trying to tear the earth apart, stripping its ecosystems down to the bone and starting anew.

Or maybe Ghidorah just hated everything that much, that the malice she had seen in his eyes extended to the planet that kept him trapped for eons. And the needless destruction was just a process, a goal for him to meet. He truly felt like a god, an angry god ready to smite anything and everything that opposed him. She wanted to believe that that was the case, to give it meaning somehow. But what scared her the most was the possibility that Ghidorah was causing all of this simply because he was bored.

Whatever his reasons, Ghidorah had undoubtedly tried this before and was able to be stopped. And if Chen was right, humans had been a part of his defeat.

"As before, we've been trying to lure the creatures with nuclear materials." Stenz went on. "But they're not taking the bait this time. Their behavior has become random. Erratic. And with our forces spread desperately thin - and these things roaming the globe unimpeded - we're running out of options. And time."

"Not random." Mark muttered.

The admiral noticed, turning his steely gaze toward him.

"Something to add?"

"Their behavior - it's not random or erratic." Mark said as he pointed to a map across the room. It detailed the movements of the various titans since their release.

"If I may," he said, walking toward the map. "As amazing as this sounds, they're moving like a pack. They're hunting. And like all packs from wolves to killer whales they all respond directly to an alpha. Grid..Gheedar -"

"Ghidorah?" Jodie said.

"Yeah. Him." he said. "And with Godzilla gone, he's the one calling the shots. They're acting like an extension of him. If we stop him, we stop them all."

Stenz only stared at him. Jodie could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"Is there another creature that might stand a chance against him?" Foster asked.

"No," Serizawa answered. "Ghidorah and Godzilla's rivalry was ancient, unique."

"We believe it was their last battle that trapped Ghidorah in the ice, ages ago." Graham interjected.

"So you're telling me we just killed our best shot at beating this thing?" Jodie said.

"Outside of a miracle, yes." Chen said, sounding a little somber.

She was right, though. It was more than clear that the military didn't stand a chance against him, and that was including the Oxygen Destroyer. And since Godzilla's passing, none of the other titans had even attempted to stand up to the three-headed monstrosity. And that included Rodan, who seemed to be acting like his right-hand despite nearly being beaten to ashes by him not too long ago.

Jodie looked around at all the hopeless expressions that engulfed everyone present. It was suffocating. Suddenly, Mark left the room.

"Where are you going?" Jodie asked.

"To look for a miracle."

She sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.

_____

"If you even think about -"

The Regulator shushed her, carefully walking closer to them as they were backed against the control panel.

"Listen, I'm not.." her brows furrowed in frustration. It was an odd sight to see. "You're safe with me."

Elena scoffed. "Safe? You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"I know how ridiculous it sounds - and I can't quite believe it myself - but we're currently headed towards the city you call Boston. And if you wish to remain unharmed, you'll listen to me."

She was silent for a moment, considering the situation before speaking up. "I'm giving you five minutes to explain yourself before I call that monster of yours over."

The Regulator smiled. "That may have fooled my superior but you can drop the act, Elena."

She stiffened, crossing her arms. "Fine, just..you better give me a good reason."

With a quiet sigh, the Regulator stepped past Elena and toward the control panel. After a quick swipe, the same intercom turned on, a voice in the middle of conversation filling the room. It was Emma's.

"- idn't hit the reset, we hit the detonator."

"Madison is a child." the Controller's voice cut in. "This is what you were fighting for, remember? You came to us."

"You're avoiding the question -"

"Listen."

Emma's voice continued. "No, I won't. And I didn't. It was dumb luck that you managed to even pick up the ORCA's signal." she said. "And I thought we were fighting to restore the natural order, that you had come here to help the planet. So excuse me for seriously starting to think otherwise."

There was a short bout of silence before Emma started again. "Humans and titans coexisting in balance - that was the goal. But with Godzilla gone, Monster Zero isn't restoring anything - he's destroying it. This isn't coexistence, it's extinction."

Madison sucked in a sharp breath as she turned away from the control panel. Elena had suspected that death was inevitable in whatever plot she had been thrown in. Death was something natural, a fact of nature. Something she was all too familiar with. And sometimes there was a little more of it than usual but life found a way. She found a way.

But at the rate things were going, Ghidorah wouldn't leave anything left to grow back. It was worse than any mass extinction the world had witnessed, worse than the damage humanity itself had been steadily causing. Looking at the nearly endless destruction, Ghidorah and the titans under his control had done as much damage as humanity had in the last century in the span of a day.

"But not for us." the Controller said.

"Excuse me?"

"I've seen human nature firsthand, we've observed your kind for centuries. It doesn't change. It just gets worse." he said as calmly as one would in a conversation about the weather. "But you've already opened Pandora's box, and there's no closing it now."

Elena bristled at that comment. It was almost too accurate. But she thought back to that old myth, how the one thing that remained in the box was something small, but something powerful. Hope. Almost as if Emma had heard her thoughts, she responded.

"Maybe there is." she mused.

"Oh, don't be stupid. You broadcast that toy of yours again and you'll ruin your own plan."

"No, it'll ruin yours."

Emma's voice became slightly more distant, as though she was leaving the room.

"This was never about taking back your property, wasn't it. You wanted this to happen."

"And what do you expect to do about it, hm?" Elena could practically hear the smugness in his voice. "Tell Monarch? I'm sure your friends will be very happy to hear from you again."

"This isn't the world I wanted, the one you promised."

"You once said that the world always belonged to them, so maybe it's time you gave it back."

"No. Not like this."

The sound of her footsteps was interrupted by the sound of the Controller's gun whirring to life. Madison leaped for the panel. "Mom -!" Elena held her back.

"The things I've seen..humanity is a disease, and the fewer of them there are the better. I suppose I should thank you, doctor. You've made our job much easier."

After a beat, the Controller spoke to another person in the room. "Enforcer?"

"Sir?"

"If Dr. Russell goes anywhere near the ORCA, throw her daughter out of the airlock."

The Regulator shut off the feed. She looked stricken with fear, but was quickly trying to calm herself down.

Madison, however, felt nauseous. The relief she had felt at her mother possibly coming to her senses had been ripped from her mind at the Controller's comment. She knew that if not for her ability, she would've been disposed of a long time ago. And she suspected that her mother knew that too. Despite the countless lives sacrificed for the 'greater good', Madison knew that that line was drawn when it came to her family.

"Was all that necessary?" Elena asked, trying to process the conversation they had just eavesdropped.

"I'm afraid it was." the Regulator replied. "You see, I too wish to atone."

Touching the screen, she pulled up an image of a planet. It definitely wasn't Earth, in fact it didn't look like any planet within the solar system.

"My kind has been working alongside the creature you call Monster Zero for ages, bound in a sort of pact. On my world he's known as the Golden Demise - King Ghidorah. In exchange for keeping our own planet safe from his reach, we lead him to planets bearing life, allowing him to shape it to his liking."

"Jesus.."

"But this world...it's been uncharacteristically resistant. Almost to the point we were just about ready to move on to the next target. But my superior, after seeing your planet's natural defense system, he wants to use it for his own gain. And he can be...persistent."

Persistent was an understatement.

"For years I'd never thought I'd see the day where there'd be a chance to break free of this cycle - until now."

"But, Godzilla.." Madison said before finding a frog in her throat.

The Regulator nodded. Elena sighed, frustrated.

"I know you wish to stop him, but I'm afraid now there may not be another way." the Regulator said, pulling up a map on the screen. Madison and Elena looked at it for a minute before the girl spoke up.

"Hey, we're not that far from Boston."

"...That is correct."

She opened her mouth only to close it, face twisting in thought. "But the ORCA's under that creep's watch."

"What are you thinking?" Elena asked.

"The titans talk to each other like whales, right? If we can get the ORCA, we can broadcast it from Fenway. It's not too far from where we're at now." Madison said, looking at the beeping dot that moved across the map.

"I'm not sure about this." Elena thought out loud. "That thing's done nothing but piss them off."

"Exactly. It could distract him long enough to break off the attacks. Maybe give Monarch some time to figure something out."

"Our scanners indicate the city is nearing the end of its evacuation. In an hour or so, it should be safe." the Regulator chimed in. "But we are running out of time. Soon, we will land and settle in one of Monarch's bunkers. But before then, there's still time to exit the ship before we're trapped underground. There, it'll only be harder to escape."

It was a long shot, one that could get them all killed. And with the Regulator, that chance only increased. But there just wasn't the time to think. They could turn the tables, but only if they acted quick enough. Elena's hands tightened into fists.

"We've got one shot at this." Turning to the Regulator, Elena looked desperate. "I'm trusting you. Okay?"

The Regulator nodded.

_____

On Castle Bravo's deck, the fuming clouds above pelted everything with rain. Ghidorah's storm had nearly doubled in size, bigger than any storm system ever recorded. They weren't sure how long he could keep it up, but it didn't seem to be letting up any time soon. If he blanketed the earth - or even a quarter of it - for weeks, months, it could send the planet into what was essentially a nuclear winter. Plants would die, followed by practically everything else. And that was if there was anything that survived the floods.

Jodie wanted to cry. They had murdered the only thing that might have stopped him. Of course, if Monarch hadn't kept Monster Zero alive in the first place none of this would've happened. But they couldn't have known, could they? Even then, it wasn't easy to kill a titan. Any attempt to euthanize Ghidorah could very well have ended in him waking up. Maybe, despite anything they could've done, Ghidorah was inevitable.

And none of that even mattered anymore. Jodie still found herself standing out there in rain, feeling as hopeless as ever.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she called over the deluge.

Mark kept walking.

"So you're just gonna walk away? What about the ORCA? You haven't even -"

"I can't just sit down there, kid. I gotta do something." he said, boarding an Osprey. Jodie rolled her eyes.

"Like what?"

"Like go find my daughter."

"How? Where are you gonna go, there's no -"

"She's the only thing I got left, Jodie." he said, yelling over the thunder. "I wasn't there for her, I'm not gonna let it happen again."

They both hung there for a moment, the two of them enduring the curtains of stinging rain. She had felt something strike her in the heart. She hadn't been there for Gill, and she wished with all her power that she could take that experience away from her. She found herself nodding at him.

"Good luck." she said, genuine understanding gleaming in her eyes.

Mark nodded back, hauling the two duffle bags in his hand on board the Osprey.

"And sorry about punching you in the face!" she shouted just before he closed the doors behind him.

He chuckled at that, shaking his head. "I was asking for that, wasn't I?" he shouted back.

And with that he disappeared. She was understanding, sure, but even if he managed to get airborne where could he go? It was anyone's guess as to where Emma and Madison actually were, and she doubted he knew the locations of any of Monarch's shelters. And even then, there were dozens of titans to keep an eye out for. It'd take a miracle for anyone to survive out there based on a couple of hunches.

But suddenly, unbelievably, the rain slackened.

The wind had dropped to nothing but a loud whistle, the smell of the first rays of sunlight hitting the damp earth after a summer shower filling the air. Petrichor. Jodie paused. They were out at sea, far from the mainland - how in the hell is that even possible, she thought. And then there was a sound. No - a song.

Looking up at the sky, brilliant rays of light filtered through the dark clouds. They were warm, comforting. And the song, almost like a whale call but somehow far more beautiful, descended from the steadily emerging sun. Mark stepped out of the Osprey as everyone else on the deck stopped in their tracks to witness the strange sight. Jodie shielded her eyes as the sun became brighter - closer?

Her eyes widened.

With an operatic cry, the clouds parted. Mothra, descending from the heavens as if she were an angel, hovered above the base. In spite of all that was happening, this didn't feel like an attack. She was just revealing herself, like she wanted them to know something. Jodie flashed back to the larva in the Yunnan footage, how different the titan had felt just a short time ago. In fact, calling her a titan felt like a disservice, as it didn't quite capture the ethereal presence Jodie was seeing before her eyes. She certainly didn't look like your stereotypical angel, all carapace and pointed limbs. But she felt like one, like an answer to a prayer. A miracle.

And as if to drive that fact home, Mothra's shorter forelimbs found purchase on the rim of the base, bending low as if she were bowing. But she wasn't. Squinting through the light, she could barely make out two humanoid figures climbing off of the giant moth's back. Wait.

The figures ran toward her, and she nearly felt herself want to faint as Gill rapidly approached her. She all but collapsed in her embrace as soon as she felt her arms around her.

"Gill?!"

Looking above her shoulder, a familiar face walked toward them - Dr. Ling.

"Gill, what are you - wh..?"

She was interrupted by the sound of Mothra's wings flapping, sending herself into the air once more as she hovered not too far away from the base. With each flap of her wings, the light shone brightly off of its gossamer surface. Ghidorah's storm seemed to continue receding, as if it could not stand Mothra's light.

That was new. Even with Godzilla gone, Ghidorah didn't seem to have as much control as they thought. In that moment, something clicked within her mind. Those cave paintings Chen had shown them, they had all depicted the same thing. Godzilla and humans, fighting side by side with her.

For the first time in a while, Jodie felt hope.

She cupped Gill's cheeks, trying her best not to burst into tears.

"What are you - how are you here?"

She nodded to Mothra. "She knows how to help."

____

Jodie, Gill, Mark, and Ling were soaked by the time they reached the base's control room. But they found that everyone else's attention was glued to the display outside.

"Beautiful.." Serizawa murmured to himself.

Mothra was, in more ways than one, a light in the dark. Thinking back to all of his talk about balance, Jodie could see how anyone would deify a being such as her. But she was still the only one fighting against Ghidorah's influence. With all the other titans still under his control, what chances would she have against them?

"Mothra, queen of the monsters." Chen whispered, pride and reverence evident in her voice. She reached for her sister's hand as they both stared out the window.

Jodie's eyes flickered over to them. She knew that their family's involvement with Monarch dated back generations, but after all of this, she suspected that maybe the twins knew more about the titan than they let on.

"Are you recording this, Stanton?" Mark asked.

"I record everything, man." he said. "Everything."

Turning up the sound on the bioacoustics monitor, the room was filled with what sounded like a whale call mixed with crickets or cicadas. But somehow more musical than that. It sounded desperate, yearning.

"It's like a song." Jodie mused.

"You have no idea." Gill said under her breath, a small grin appearing on her face.

"Could she be trying to communicate with..?" Graham whispered to Serizawa.

"There's more," Stanton said, looking at his screen. "It's just outside our hearing range."

"I'll bet there's only one thing that can understand this." Mark commented.

"Gojira.." Serizawa said.

Typing away at his keyboard, Stanton pulled up a faint but visible reading. "Yeah, I got it," he confirmed. "I'm picking up a reply. Bringing it up."

Another sound joined Mothra's chorus, a familiar rumble, a pained moan.

"He's still alive." Jodie said in disbelieving relief.

Serizawa sucked in a breath, Graham letting out a breathless laugh as she shook his shoulder. Others, however, were not so reverent.

"So her and Godzilla, they like.." Barnes gestured to the goddess outside. "They got a thing going on?"

"Symbiotic relationships between different species aren't all that uncommon." Graham said.

"I think it's kinda cute." Gill commented.

"It's been this way since the beginning," Chen said. "A Titanus Gojira and a Titanus Mosura, working together to keep the balance."

"They are bound together by a sense of duty, and sometimes even compassion." Ling finished with a wistful smile.

"Still weird, if you ask me." Barnes muttered.

"Can you track him?" Serizawa asked Stanton.

As much as she'd rather debate the giant lizard's relationship status, there was no time to waste. The world was spiraling into chaos, and if there was a chance of stopping it, they'd have to act fast.

"No, signal's too weak."

"But she can." Chen said, still gazing out the window with her sister. She placed a hand against the glass.

"You wanted a miracle," Jodie said, glancing toward Mark. "I think we just got one."

"She knows where he is, but she can't get to him on her own." Ling said, hand closing around the space over her heart.

Thinking for a moment, Mark stepped toward Stenz. "How many nukes do you have?"

"Why?" Serizawa asked.

"I think I know how we can help him."

For the first time in a while, Serizawa smiled. Realizing what he was implying, Stenz turned to Colonel Foster.

"Contact Captain Brody."

_____

The plan had come together quickly.

Stenz' fleet was fueled, provisioned, and ready for anything Ghidorah could throw at them. Or as ready as they could possibly be. Ships, aircraft carriers, jets, and at least a dozen subs were all following Mothra's lead. She was their best shot - their only shot - at finding Godzilla.

It was odd, seeing Monarch and the government finally working together. But none of that would matter without Godzilla. Everything rested on a hacked-together plan and a good feeling.

Jodie studied the thermal map Foster pulled up, tracing Ghidorah's path as he tore his way through the east coast. It was the biggest storm in recent history, but that wasn't what made it creepy. Somewhere in the eye of the storm, she could barely make out a blob of electromagnetic and radioactive energy. Ghidorah.

"This Category six hurricane over D.C. is where Ghidorah is nesting," Foster briefed. "Working with all four branches of the military, this will be a joint operation to lure it away from the mainland so that we can continue the evacuations long enough for our submersible team to complete their mission."

"Uh, what do those nerds think they're gonna do down there with a bunch of nukes?" Griffin asked.

"Didn't you hear?" Barnes said. "They wanna bring Godzilla back from the dead."

Coleman, Foster, and Ling were staying with the Argo, keeping an eye on Mothra and coordinating the action against Ghidorah. Just outside, the titan had stopped in her tracks, hovering above a specific area of the ocean. As she flapped her wings, light still gleaming from her body like a beacon, dust-like particles spilled into the ocean. As they sunk to the bottom, it almost seemed like she was giving them a trail to follow. Looks like they arrived at their destination.

Sam looked scared out of his mind, and Jodie could practically feel his anxiety shooting through the roof. She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"See you soon, man." she said, pulling him in for a quick hug.

"Just don't be gone long, okay?"

She nodded, giving him a half-assured smile.

Jodie, Gill, Serizawa, Graham, Chen, Mark and Stanton walked through the docking bay to the sub.

"This plan," Stanton spoke nervously. "It's what you call a long shot, right?"

"No," Serizawa said, as serious as ever. "It's our only shot."

"Alright," he said, pulling a flask from his pocket. "Cool."

She had been in subs before, the depths of the ocean were no problem for her. Hell, she spent most of her time within Castle Bravo's walls, and that was more than enough to acclimate even the most thalassophobic of folks. But this felt different from all the other expeditions she had tagged along with. There was a sliver a dread that was slowly but surely creeping its way into her mind. She did her best to shake off the feeling. At the very least, it was reassuring that she had Gill with her.

As the hatches closed, engines coming to life, she already found herself feeling more than a little anxious. And they weren't even underwater yet. She grabbed Gill's hand.

In her whole life, she never would've thought they'd come all this way. To think that she was helping to revive Godzilla - that he was even real to begin with - was still hard to wrap her mind around. And that wasn't even scratching the surface.

Then, the sub began to move, nosing toward Mothra, who almost seemed to be beckoning them toward the space she hovered over. It was a hunch, but Jodie found that she trusted the titan. Something about her was just different from the others. Gill seemed to have the same thought in mind, and she'd trust her judgement more than anyone else in that room. Serizawa being the only exception.

Suddenly, the video feed from the Argo snapped on the sub's main screen.

"We'll be out of range while you're down there." Foster told them. "But a squadron will stay behind to keep an eye out for you."

"We appreciate it." Serizawa said.

"And Mark," Coleman said. "We'll keep listening out for Emma and Madison. Good luck."

"Thanks," he said. "We'll need it."

Ling shot them a thumbs up before returning to her post.

Finally, they dove, her ears popping from the sudden change in pressure.

Everyone around her was in motion. The sub's commander was busy plotting a course with Serizawa. Stanton and Graham were mapping Godzilla's vitals, trying to get just a sliver of an idea as to where the lizard was resting. Gill and Chen were looking over historical documents and folkloric artifacts. Mark was analyzing Godzilla's bioacoustics, comparing them to Mothra's, trying to decode the ORCA.

For once, Jodie felt like the odd one out, but for once that was okay. It seemed like forever since she was allowed to just do nothing. To just sit in comfortable silence, finally letting herself process the events from the past two days - soon to be three.

An hour had passed, and everything was quiet, the only sound coming from the water outside and the beeping of the sub's countless instruments.

Jodie was roused from her nap as she heard something clink on the desk in front of her. It was Mark, back from the mess hall and holding two cups of coffee. Handing one to Graham, he offered the other to her. Sitting up from her previous position on Gill's shoulder, Jodie happily took it.

Across the room, Serizawa was messing around with his pocket watch again. He looked nervous, or maybe thoughtful? Probably both, as the man wasn't exactly known for being able to relax.

"What time is it?" Mark asked.

A barely noticeable nostalgic smile drew across Serizawa's face. "Time to get a new watch."

Jodie observed the exchange, sipping her coffee.

"Andrew's favorite joke." Serizawa said, staring off at nothing in particular.

"You could never take that thing out without him asking.." Mark's voice trailed off. Suddenly he took a deep, shaky breath. "If you told me five years ago that I'd be trying to save the thing that took my son, that it'd be the only way to save the family I have left..."

"Sometimes," Serizawa said, considering the words in his mind. "The only way to heal our wounds is to make peace with the demons who created them."

"You really believe that?"

"Don't you?" Serizawa replied, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his shirt. "Isn't that why you're here?"

Mark looked like he was at a loss for words.

"There are some things beyond our control, Mark." Serizawa continued. "The laws of nature are cruel, unfair. But they can also be beautiful. We cannot control these things or run from them. We must accept them and learn from them - because these moments of crisis are also potential moments of faith. A time when we either come together or fall apart. And nature always has a way of balancing itself. The only question is..what part will we play?"

Jodie, Gill and Graham sat in stunned silence. Even Mark looked a little floored. Serizawa was known for his wise quips, laconic though they were, but this was by far the longest she had ever heard.

"I'll drink to that." Jodie said, taking a long swig of her coffee.

She nearly found herself choking just a second later as the sub lurched violently, rocking like they were stuck in a whirlpool. Ear-splitting alarms blared throughout the sub. It couldn't be Ghidorah, could it? Jodie ran the names of all the other possible aquatic titans that could've been set loose. Leviathan? Ebirah? Titanosaurus? Surely they would've seen them in the tracking data, right?

But they weren't being rammed by a sea monster, or eaten. Since the initial bump it almost felt like they were spinning, twisting in some powerful current.

"Bowman, status of the ship?" the commander said.

"Some sort of vortex." he replied. "It's dragging us down."

Everyone clung for dear life as the hull of the ship groaned, metal straining against the pressure. Spiraling further downward into ever deeper water, Jodie felt ready to pass out.

"Still descending." Bowman said, counting down toward the sea floor. "Four hundred feet. One hundred. Fifty."

"Brace for impact!" the commander shouted.

_____

The bridge of the ship was nearly empty as all personnel was preparing to land.

They weren't even doing a whole lot of guarding or patrolling, and with the Regulator guiding them down the hall, nothing about it seemed out of place. But that didn't stop Madison's heart from hammering in her chest. She gripped her backpack.

Despite hearing that comforting voice not too long ago, Godzilla's vacancy had left her feeling different. Like a part of her was missing.

Worry not, young Speaker. He is old but he is strong, and you are smart. Just keep moving forward, the voice said. Madison could do nothing more than trust it.

Stopping in front of what looked like a supplies closet, the Regulator punched in a code. Inside were scores of rations and what she assumed were medical supplies, albeit strange-looking. And in the back of the space were rows of the small handguns everyone carried around. The Regulator loaded her backpack with the supplies.

In spite of their advantages, they had to work fast. Once the Controller realized they weren't anywhere on the ship, things would definitely heat up. And she didn't want to be around for that.

As they quick-walked toward the control room, the Regulator stopped them. The halls were clear, but if anyone saw them enter the room - with her backpack no less - it would raise more than a couple eyebrows.

"Wait here." the Regulator said in a low whisper, entering the room.

Suddenly, Elena pulled Madison to the side, flattening themselves against the corner of the wall. The Controller and one of his men came out, walking down the opposite side of the corridor. The Regulator stuck her head out of the room, waving them inside.

In the center of the room was the ORCA. Madison was worried they might've hid it someplace, maybe even destroyed it, but that didn't seem to be the Controller's style. She was starting to think he enjoyed mocking them like this, that he thought making her mother able to look at her creation but never being able to touch it was funny. A triumphant smirk grew on her face as she stepped forward to unplug the ORCA from its place. But she suddenly froze, feeling eyes on the back of her head.

The faint scuff of shoes and a shadow casting itself over them made her turn around. She had hoped it was her mother, but instead came face to face with one of the Controller's men looming over them. She had seen him around before, and she didn't know his designation but in her mind she had been referring to him as "The Mountain" due to his size. Madison gulped.

He wasn't given the chance to so much as take a breath before the Regulator's hand flew to her side, drawing her gun and shooting him square in the chest. It seemed to stun him, as he jerked on the floor like a fish before settling with a thud. A satisfied, mildly amused grin appeared on the Regulator's face.

As the Regulator grabbed the same pair of headsets from Antarctica, Elena grabbed the ORCA, tucking it under one arm as they moved on to the next phase of their plan. Walking a short ways out into the hall, the Regulator bent to the ground, fingers searching the fine seams in the floor before lifting up a thin panel. Gesturing for them to hop inside, Madison jumped in first, and then Elena. The Regulator climbed in afterward, shifting the panel back to its place. She and Elena followed her lead.

It was stuffy, and Madison could already feel herself start to sweat through her jacket, but she continued walking through the narrow, cramped space. Every now and then they would stop, hearing footsteps above them, and after a beat, they continued walking. The only light in the tunnel came from the dull glow of the pipes around them, running with a noxious yellow, odorless substance she hoped wouldn't kill her. She wasn't sure how long it would take to get to their destination, but it almost felt like they were spiraling downward. She felt a bit like Orpheus, but Madison didn't look back, knowing that if she really wanted to turn the tables, it was do or die.

We're gonna be fine, she reassured herself. By the time they figure it out we'll be out and away.

Every now and then they would pass in front of a grate, filtering light from above. They'd pause before then, the Regulator peeking through the slits and gesturing for them to scurry past when all was clear. Madison wasn't sure where they had ended up when she stopped them, peering up.

Next to the grate was someone sitting down at what looked like a table. Did these people even have a mess hall? If so, the room seemed to resemble one. Seeing that whoever the person was wasn't paying attention, she waved them through. But looking up, Madison caught a glimpse of the person there. It was her mother. Her breath caught in her throat, momentarily paralyzed.

She was just sitting there, and it looked like the events of the past day were finally catching up with her. She knew her mother could push her feelings pretty far down, so far that it was hard to gauge whether or not she could feel anything at all. But she couldn't erase them, and now they were finally coming back up like a geyser.

She knew her mother wasn't a bad person. She had definitely made some bad choices, some of which Madison thought she might never forgive, but it all came from a good place.

"Madison, come on." Elena whispered, impatient.

"Sorry." she muttered.

But as she turned away from the grate, something on her backpack snagged on one of the wires in the already crowded tunnel.

"Shit," she hissed, trying to get it unstuck as quietly as she could.

Elena helped her, the Regulator stopping in her tracks.

"What are you doing?" she murmured.

With every rattle of the pipes, Madison felt her stomach lurch with anxiety, hoping that the sound wouldn't carry to the floor above. At last, she wrenched the backpack free from the wires, sighing quietly.

"Madison?"

She jumped, swallowing a yelp. Blocking the view from the grate was her mother, staring down at all three of them with a quizzical gaze.

"I-I can -" she muttered, suddenly stopping to grab the Regulator's arm as she heard the whirring of her stun gun. "I can explain."

"What do you think you're doing?" she whispered harshly, seeing the ORCA in Elena's arms.

Madison breathed for a moment, her mind scrambled but finally finding a response. "Closing Pandora's box."

She said nothing. Gently nudging her to the side, Elena stepped forward. "Emma, you can still help stop Ghidorah..undo your mistakes."

Emma thought for a moment, eyes flickering to the side. She let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm not going."

"Mom -"

"Maddie, if I leave they'll find us. Just..Just let me buy you some time."

Madison felt tears appearing in the corners of her eyes. "I'll be fine." Emma continued. "Once we're in the bunker, I'll come find you."

After a moment, Madison replied. "Fenway Park. Stay safe, okay?"

Emma smiled sadly. "I think I should be the one saying that to you."

Her gaze lingered on her mother for another heartbeat before moving on, continuing on their path for just a little while longer. With each second, Madison expected to hear some sort of alarm or shouting from above. Surely the person the Regulator had stunned had recovered by now, or someone had found him. Either way, their time was as limited as ever.

Finally, the Regulator stopped, popping open a panel in the floor above them and looking around. Eventually, she climbed out, helping her and Elena out of the tunnel.

They were in the hangar, the banged up Osprey from Antarctica sitting in its center. They weren't planning on taking that, were they?

The Regulator approached a series of panels in the wall, accompanied by five separate tubes that connected to circular spaces on the floor. She punched in a code on three of the tubes, motioning for Elena and Madison to each step into one.

"Uh, that won't drop us in midair, right?" she spoke, hanging onto her backpack a little tighter.

"Well, yes, but not in the way you're thinking."

The Regulator stepped inside, shutting the tube's sliding door behind her. "Just press this button," she pointed to the one in the top right corner of the keypad. "And try not to breathe. I'll meet you on the ground."

Closing her eyes, she was engulfed in a thousand beams of light, her particles seeming to disintegrate before them. When the light disappeared, the Regulator was gone altogether. It was like something straight out of Star Trek. Shrugging, Elena stepped in. Madison was nervous, but she was trying her best to hide it. As she walked into the chute, she could feel her heart crowding up into her throat. And when the door closed, her lungs felt like they were growing smaller and smaller. Out of the corner of her eye, Elena was already gone. Pressing the button, she closed her eyes.

Madison couldn't quite explain how she felt.

It didn't burn, but it had happened so fast she couldn't really register what happened. When she opened her eyes, there were no tubes or wires or sterile-white walls. She was surrounded by trees and underbrush. Looking next to her, also slightly disoriented, was Elena and the Regulator, looking off into the distance. They seemed to be in a patch of woods, but as she followed the Regulator's gaze she saw swarms of aircraft flitting above a familiar skyline.

Boston. Home.

Without hesitation, the three began their trek. Madison hefted the backpack further up her shoulders as Elena hauled the ORCA.

It was going to be a long walk.

#godzilla #godzilla king of the monsters #king of the monsters #kotm #godzilla fanfic #leviathanfic

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themutantunderground · 6 years ago

Text

Let Your Heart Be Light Ch. 10

John is home on leave from the Marines and Clarice is home on winter break from grad school. While they used to date in high school, Clarice and John haven't been together in a long time... But it's Christmas time, and it seems like everything and everyone in their small, holiday-obsessed hometown is trying to get them back together. Modern Thunderblink AU!

AO3

“Can I use the axe?”

John responded to James’ question with an incredulous laugh, not even bothering to turn around to ask him if he had lost his mind. Maybe if they were off on their own and James wasn’t surrounded by his friends, John would consider letting him use the axe. But this seemed like a prime moment for James to show off, and there was also the waiver that John had signed that said no one in his party besides him would use the axe.

The group was making their way through the rows of Christmas trees, meandering through the smaller trees as they headed for the larger ones on the next hill. There were families and couples and groups scattered throughout the farm, and arguments and laughter popped up from random places. They were getting far enough from the entrance that there were less people now. Overhead, the flat grey clouds threatened to open up into a steady snow shower at any time.

“What about me?” Riley asked, tugging on John’s free hand. She looked up at him with a winning smile. “I’m more responsible.”

“You’d tip over if I let you hold it,” he said, squeezing her hand.

She grinned. “No way, I’m strong.”

“Right. Just a reminder, you can hardly open a water bottle for yourself,” James said, earning him a frown from Riley.

“What would you even do with the axe, James?” Romeo asked. A dark-haired young man, he was walking between Bobby and James, bundled up in a puffy black coat.

“I doubt he’d actually cut down a tree,” Ali said.

Bobby grinned mischievously. “There’s so much we could do. Limitless potential.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Ali said, “The last time you said something had limitless potential, three windows got broken at school and the fire department showed up.”

“It was fun, you gotta admit,” James said.

Bobby nodded. “Definitely worth a couple days of suspension.”

“And that’s exactly why John’s the only one who gets to use the axe,” Marcos announced, his tone firm and final.

“If John’s the only one who gets to hold the axe, I think he should have to do something extra,” Clarice said. She and Norah were walking toward the front of the group, looking for the perfect Christmas tree for their foster parents’ house. Part of John wished Clarice would hang back toward him so they could talk more. They still had a lot of catching up to do.

“Ah,” John said, “And what would that be, exactly?”

“I don’t know yet,” Clarice said before turning around to address the others. “Any suggestions?”

“I don’t think this should be up for a group discussion,” John said, or at least tried to. It was hard to be heard over the ideas that seemed to explode from everyone.

“He should sing a song every time he swings it, maybe?” Norah said tentatively.

“He has to be shirtless!”

“He has to cut down the tree blindfolded.”

“He has to cut the tree down in five strokes or someone else takes over. I nominate me.”

“No, no, I think I’ve got this,” Lorna said, holding up her hands. “Before he cuts down the tree, he has to go, ‘Heeere’s Johnny!’”

“And make a psychotic face,” Marcos added.

“I don’t get it,” Riley said as half of the group started laughing.

“You’re too young for that movie,” John said. He rolled his eyes. He didn’t even like The Shining all that much. Horror movies weren’t his favorites (he preferred action movies and sci-fi), but they had watched a bunch of them back in high school. Clarice always had been a movie connoisseur, and she had liked holding impromptu movie nights at her house where everyone stayed up until four in the morning and slept over until the afternoon. “Here’s an idea. I should get to hold the axe based on the fact I signed for it, and I’m the one who will get in trouble if anything goes wrong.”

“Scared of a lawsuit?” Clarice teased.

“More like scared James will chop his own leg off,” Marcos said.

Lorna snorted. “Or someone else’s leg.”

“Why does everyone think I can’t work an axe?” James demanded, “It’s not like it’s hard.”

“All right, all right,” John said, shaking his head, “Let’s all just focus on finding these Christmas trees.”

“Yes, sir!” Bobby said, snapping a salute at John. He grabbed Romeo and James by the arms and yanked them toward the left. “To the trees!”

Alison followed after them, and John wondered if they would all get lost out there or cause him to lose the damage deposit he had put down when he signed for the axe. There wasn’t that much for them to destroy on the Christmas tree farm…right? Who was he kidding, they would find something. James had a skill for that sort of thing, and Bobby had always been good at dragging his brother into chaotic situations where things got shattered. At least a couple of James’ previous bone breaks were the result of Bobby Drake’s schemes.

The remaining group wandered through the trees, looking for some choices that weren’t enormous. Still, the allure of looking at the biggest trees became too much, and they found themselves in the rows of trees that furnished houses that had fifty foot high vaulted ceilings.

“There’s no way this one fits in a house,” Lorna said, craning her head back to look up at a twenty-footer.

“You could cut a branch off this thing and it could be a whole tree,” Clarice said.

The top of the tree seemed to brush the snow-laden sky. It was hard to imagine it in an actual house. Riley and Norah were playing in the massive fluffy branches, disappearing halfway into the needles before coming back out again.

“Can we get this one?” Riley said, partially buried in the tree. “It’s so big!”

“How about we get one that isn’t almost as big as the house,” John said, “I think Aunt Evelyn might like that better.”

“Aww…fine…” Riley reluctantly stepped out of the tree and wandered over to Marcos, grabbing both of his hands. “Marcos, can you get this tree?”

Marcos snorted and scooped her up. “Sure. I’ll get this, and that pony you asked me for, and a diamond necklace, and those long-haired guinea pigs, and I’ll set aside a college fund for medical school.”

“Really?”

“No way,” Marcos said, laughing as she frowned at him. “But I think we can let you help pick out our much smaller tree, okay?”

“Did you already put out your memnorah?” Riley asked.

“Hanukkah’s already over,” Lorna said with a small smile, “And it’s a menorah.”

“Oh, right,” Riley said. “I forgot.” She looped her arms around Marcos’ neck. “How big is your tree going to be?”

“Only about five feet,” Marcos said, “So we’ll get ours from up at the front.”

“Charlie Brown tree, huh?” Clarice said.

“A little bigger than that, but not too much,” Marcos said, “We’re saving all our money so we only go broke for a few years once the baby’s here.”

John followed along behind the others as the discussion turned to the baby and renovations at Lorna and Marcos’ house. Lorna dropped back and walked alongside him.

“I want to name the baby Kickass Danger Dane-Diaz, but Marcos keeps saying no,” Lorna said, smirking.

“You’re giving birth, so I feel like you get final say,” John replied.

“That’s what I said. We could call her Kadie.”

John laughed. “So it really is a girl.”

“Did you think I was lying?” she said, lifting an eyebrow at him. During the last video chat he had had with Marcos and Lorna, they had told him the baby was a girl. But then Lorna had said she was having an alien parasite and the conversation had devolved from there into an argument about the Alien movies and which one was the worst. Everyone had very different opinions.

“What do you really want to name her?” John asked.

“I don’t know yet,” she said, “We’ve thrown around some names. Like John Jr.”

“That’s a really solid name, it gets my vote,” John said.

“I thought you’d like that one.”

#thunderblink #strat writes

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