#sorry if y'all dont wanna be tagged! i figured id actually tag people for once since i rarely participate cause Anxiety™️

[josephslittledeputy]

WIP Whenever!

Been tagged in a few WIP Wednesdays that I missed, so thank you @socially-awkward-skeleton @direwombat @inafieldofdaisies @jillvalentinesday @marivenah @simplegenius042 @g0dspeeed for keeping me in the loop!

Tagging @clicheantagonist @henbased @nonfunctioning-queer @purplehairsecretlair @adelaidedrubman and anyone else who feels like it! (Or don’t, totally up to you)

First up is part one of Willa’s dark au, They Watch From The Pews

Another day gone by, another hostage saved, another person she’s helped that weren’t her people.

She'd been stuck in Fall’s End for nearly a week now, recovering from her concussion, helping out when needed, rescuing anyone who needed rescuing. Most everyone she’d rescued had made their way to Fall’s End, some even decided to form a group: The Resistance. Or at least that’s what they started calling themselves. It wasn’t very creative, but it didn’t need to be when it was getting the job done, which was to push back against the cult. So far, it’d been working relatively well and every day their numbers grew in strength. What she couldn’t stomach, though, was the fact that everyone looked to her like a de facto leader.

She was no leader.

What normally would elate someone else only made her infuriated. What right did they have to delegate such a role to her? Every day it was something new: Deputy, take out this group of peggies and rescue these hostages! Deputy, the cult stole all our gas, bring us some tanker trucks! Deputy, someone from the cult defected, you need to save them! Deputy, pick up a big rig you’ve never driven in your life because it was my dads! Never once did anyone ever ask about her needs. For days she'd been waiting for news, from anyone, and yet all they had to tell her was more shit that needed to be done! For all she knew, her people were dead already and here she was, playing a glorified errand runner for people who couldn't give two shits about her! Not unless she could do something for them first. The rage that had nestled in her chest before—a hot ember kept ignited by every slight she’d suffered—grew, and grew, until it was nearly consuming her.

Then, during one of the long, long days she’d been sitting in Fall’s End, she’d snapped.

“I don’t give a damn, Jerome! I’m goin' whether you 'er any a'yer little Resistance like it 'er not. And tell Mary May not to close my goddamn tab!”

They’d recently gotten word from the cult defector that Hudson was being kept in John’s bunker. Their only problem was that he kept the only key to the place tied around his neck and rarely ever left. When he did leave, it was with a whole entourage of peggies, keeping him more secure than the president themselves. It wasn’t that she couldn’t take them all down—especially with the help of the Resistance—but they had machine guns and grenade launchers, all things she very much lacked. So, her only course of action was to draw his ire, get herself kidnapped, and figure things out from there. If she played her cards right, she could get into the bunker and get Hudson out. Jerome and Mary May, however? Well, they weren't keen on the idea. What would happen if they lost their biggest asset against the cult? It led to an argument that carried over into the next morning, until finally, she threw her arms up and told them where the sun don't shine.

Fast Forward to when Willa rescues Hudson

“I know your sin. It drives you. Every thought, every action.” He lets out a breath. “Your sin is Wrath.” On the final word, he places his hand to his chest with a small laugh. “So I’ll indulge you: Become Wrath. Let it fill your body and consume your soul. Because in the end, you’ll still be empty. And I’ll be waiting right here.” John gives her a pitying look before throwing a glance behind him, at Hudson. “We both will.”

“No, John. I’m taking Hudson and we’re leaving or so help me I will cave your goddamn fuckin’ head in!” Swinging at him—something he evidently hadn’t expected—she smashes the pipe against his shoulder, ignoring his cry of pain. Dropping the pipe, she lunges for him, sending them both toppling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Her fist launches forward, sending his head snapping to the side in a daze when it connects. “That’s for drowning me, you bastard.” Standing to her feet, she quickly rushes over to Hudson, who was struggling and yelling. “I gotcha.” Gently peeling the tap off, she quickly begins working on her ropes, ignoring the groaning John on the floor, who was recovering from her assault quicker than she'd expected.

“You came… I-I thought…” Hudson sobs, taking in deep breaths that weren’t restricted by the tape over her mouth.

“Of course I did.” She moves to the front of her and crouches down, working on getting the restraints off her feet next. “I know it took me a while, I had to… Well, I was preoccupied.” She looks up at Hudson, gently wiping away the fresh tears that’d fallen. “But I never stopped looking. Now let’s get the hell outta here, huh?”

“You’ll never get out of here, Deputy.” John coughs, standing and shaking his head with a bruise beginning to form around his eye.

“Like hell we will.” She growls, grabbing Hudson’s hand and pulling her toward the door. Yanking on the handle, she slips out the small crack of the door and closes it behind her, sealing John in the room by himself.

Next is my beloved Valerie Morgan, from my Clash of Worlds AU

The wind rushes through her hair, the motorcycles engine purrs beneath her, and the neon lights turn into blurs overhead.

God, she hates to admit how much she missed Night City, but it truly feels like coming home, even if it’s not actually her city. It won’t be long until it is. Until all the little ants are trembling beneath her feet, eager to get out of her way or to throw their lot in with her in hopes of being spared. It’s a thought that tugs a wicked smile onto her face, pulling at the freshly healed scars marring the left side of her face, a courteous reminder from a name she no longer cares to remember.

She wouldn’t want to ruin such a good mood, after all.

She’s buzzing with an energy that could transcend time, if she let it. She feels unstoppable, like there’s nothing that can stand in her way. Nothing, except the asshole in front of her that causes her to roll to a stop. Her teeth grind together with a ferocity that nearly shatters the pearly whites inside her mouth, but she settles for a simple honk of the horn instead. And by simple, she naturally means laying on the horn until the person in front of her has the audacity to look behind them.

“Fuck you! Go around!”

Her eye twitches and her nostrils flare. “Fuck… me?”

“Yeah, you heard me!”

She looks around to check her surroundings before pointing at herself, repeating, “Me?”

“Yes! YOU!”

She puts the kickstand on the bike down and turns off the purring engine, giving the man one last chance “Are you sure you mean me?” She questions with a tilt of her head.

“Who the fuck else could I mean? You’re the only fuck nut honkin’ their horn for a minute straight! Can’t you see I’m talkin’ here?” He jabs a thumb to his right, where another person stands by the passenger door.

She gets off the bike and walks up to him with a skip in her step, stopping right next to his door. Flashing a slightly manic smile, she bends at the waist and leans her arms against the open window. “What I want to know is who stops in the middle of the road?”

“You some type of gonk or somethin’? I said I'm talkin'!”

She stops, stares for a few uncomfortable seconds, then starts to laugh. The driver begins to laugh as well, and pretty soon, everyone’s laughing together, like they’re all in on the same joke. What joke that is, they’re still not sure, but the whole situation was beginning to seem downright silly.

It really was just utterly absurd! How could she not have noticed this man was talking to someone? How dare she have the gall to bring attention to that fact? How dare she think that she was above him? That she didn’t know she could just go around him this whole time! It was all just so. Damn. Laughable. She reaches in the window, grabs ahold of his shirt, and yanks him out. With a strength nobody could know she possessed, she tosses him over his car and onto the sidewalk, barely missing the idiot standing by the passenger door.

“Y-you’re fuckin’ whack lady!” They shout before taking off at a full sprint, glancing back to see if she was coming after them.

Before they can look back a second time, she’s right in front of them. “I’m whack? You’re the one who’s running!” Lashing out, she aims for their knees, sending them falling to the ground like a rag doll. “But not for long!” She taunts in a singsong voice, leaving them to tend to their shattered knees. “Now where was I? Oh right!” With a cheery smile, she turns and heads back toward the driver stumbling to his feet, ignoring the pained cries and pleas for help behind her.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’d be more worried about how you’re eating tonight.” The wicked gleam in her eye and smile that matches is the last thing the man sees.