#spider-man is op as hell

[dumbassalex]

I always remind myself that 16 year old Peter flung Flash Thompson across the ring during their boxing match even tho Pete used the weakest punch he could so he just flung his wrist to simulate a punch. The first anual had him stated to be strenght-wise only under Hulk, Thor and Thing. We've seen him outrun cars. If we were honest to his actual powers, Spidey would be like a blur knocking crooks out while shit-talking them.

Also depending on how you interpret his spidey sense (i go off the "spiders have hair that can pick up vibrations" and that he feels tingling/vibrations on where an attack is aiming at and the feeling gets stronger with the attack coming closer) he can move on auto-pilot thanks to it getting him out of harms way

things that annoy me about fanon portrayal of peter parker #1265

inability to properly portray his superpowers and also skills. guys. guys. why is he getting knocked around by like. 5 run of the mill crooks. guys. why did he break his arm falling a grand total of two stories. guys. how is he actually getting beat up getting hit by sir normal ass man. guys. why is he seriously out of commission for over a week.

just say the only powers you remember are wall crawling and spider sense and go

[op-sys-chaos]

@stealingyourbones mentioned in a post I just saw that Booster Gold could be used in a DPxDC fic related to Clockwork bc they’re both invoked in time travel stuff and omg yES I have ideas now

Feel free to use any/all of these, just tag me!

1. Booster Gold being in the present is good for the timeline, but he wants to go back to the future. Clockwork sends Danny to sabotage the time machine. Shenanigans ensue. The JL thinks Danny’s a villain until a massive attack happens, Booster Gold is very much crucial to saving the day, and afterwards Danny shows up with a perfectly intact time machine (he fixed all the damages he caused while they were fighting the villain) and goes “ok now you can go home! :)” and the JL is so confused. Dealer’s choice if they get an explanation and maybe even ask Phantom to join the JL or if Danny just vanishes, never to be seen again

2. Booster Gold wants to change something in the timeline. Clockwork needs it to stay the same. Danny and BG go back and forth trapping each other in various situations (maybe it’s comedic what they end up trapped in) until one of them gives up

3. BG and Danny actually know each other in the future. Knowing how OP Danny is and knowing he’s an active hero rn, BG keeps trying to get the JL to recruit Phantom. The JL keeps refusing (“that’s a KID Booster we can’t put a kid in the JL”) until like Vortex or someone shows up and wreaks havoc and the JL is floundering and barley hanging in there and Danny shows up and beats him in like two seconds flat. The JL just kinda goes “ok, maybe Booster had a point”

4. BG, being a time cop, and Danny, being Clockwork’s personal equivalent of a time cop, keep running into each other in various situations (usually bc Clockwork sends Danny to help BG whenever he’s in over his head). But they keep meeting out of order, not even realizing that Danny’s from the time BG ends up staying in until they run into each other on a normal, non-time related mission. Spider-man meme pointing at each other, “what are YOU doing here???”, “is there some time-related issue on top of this?”, JL confused why Booster and a random overpowered teen they just met today seem to know each other. (Their meeting in their normal time is after all the meeting out of order shenanigans. After that point, they stay together for time missions that Clockwork sends Danny to join BG on; he makes sure they meet in the right order this time.)

5. Booster and Clockwork hate each other. Danny is a big fan of BG. Shenanigans ensue

6. Danny and BG hate each other. Clockwork needs them to get along for the sake of the timeline. He keeps sending Danny to BG’s time cop missions. Will they ever make up?

7. Danny and BG are the same age and start dating. Clockwork sends them on fancy fun time travel dates

8. BG keeps running into this random kid in various places in the time stream. He only ever tells BG that “Clockwork sent me” and BG is getting more and more determined to find whoever Clockwork is and kick his ass for putting this poor precious kid in harm’s way. Hell, BG might just end up adopting this poor kid himself if that’s what it takes to save him… which is exactly what Clockwork wants

9. BG is incredibly surprised when his time mentor, Clockwork, reaches out and asks him to adopt a kid, Danny

10. BG and Clockwork are dating. Clockwork asks BG if he’s okay with adopting Danny

I can come up with more if y’all want! Please tag me if you use these I wanna see what you create :)

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on the poster and score?

Let's dive in!

First off the poster? Magnificent. Easily the best DC one since The Batman. Evokes Alex Ross, the original Donner film posters, and Star Trek all in one.

"Look up" is easily the best Superman tagline since "You'll believe a man can fly"

Moving on to theme, at first I wasn't happy. Really, we're using Williams theme again? Sure it's iconic but so is Elfman's Batman and Spider-Man themes. Chasing nostalgia has no appeal for me, but y'know what? I'm warming up to it, mainly because Gunn put his own spin on it. The open hymn take on the opening notes is beautiful and I do love using electric guitars in lieu of the traditional orchestra

Murphy better have only brought back the main Superman theme though, I want new music for everything else. Especially Lex, he deserves his own killer theme

Now the main event: the trailer. Short version is I like it! It feels like it's taking the best from Donner and Snyder while doing it's own thing. In fact what the "feel" of it reminds me most of is the Raimi Spider-Man films which are still my favorite superhero movies

Superman bleeding and bruised is what I specifically mean. What I loved about the Raimi Spidey films is how Spidey was always torn up, bloodied, and bruised by the end. It showed that he went through hell, and made you root for him. I think a lot of complaints about Cavill in MoS would have been mitigated if he hadn't looked totally untouched after destroying Metropolis fighting Zod. Here seeing Superman all beaten up does a lot to make you empathize with him, it makes him feel scrappy instead of OP

Something else that feels reminiscent of Raimi's films is the love for the civilian cast specifically in the focus on the Daily Planet crew. Everyone other than Lois was window dressing in the DCEU but I've got high hopes for this incarnation

Funnily enough there's still plenty of "Snyder" here. Lots of somber shots of Corenswet looking glum, the public cursing him while the oppressed cry out for a savior, in fact I don't think he smiles ONCE, but y'know why people aren't complaining? There's color for one. There's a touch of whimsy and fantastical with Krypto, the kaiju, and the Superman robot. This feels like a world not mired in misery, a world that's not as carefree as the one Reeve lived in, but not nihilistic like Cavill's. In fact you know what? This feels like the movie the third MoS trailer teased but didn't deliver.

Corenswet is the first actor since Reeve where I buy that people don't recognize his Clark and Superman are the same guy, they "look" different

Superman saving people! Shouldn't be something you praise but after the last guy we need to

Lex looks unhinged and I love it. I think Hoult's going to be a generational Lex Luthor

Mr. Terrific looks badass but I don't care about the rest of them to be honest. Guy looks like a total dweeb and I'm amused Gunn chose to be comic accurate with him seemingly

Ok so the orb and the kaiju are different entities. Orb is potentially Solaris? I'm fine with a different design and origin for him (his origin especially was never getting adapted as it was in the comics) but I hope he has more agency than merely being a grunt for Lex given that's Ultraman's apparent role

Pa is totally going to die and I bet that scene with him and Clark is Clark realizing Pa doesn't have much time

Yeah Gunn moved that Middle Eastern country to Eastern Europe to reduce the controversy, still think that could backfire even with a location change everyone can tell what it's a stand in for

Fortress is very reminiscent of Donner. I was hoping for the All-Star mountain but I can't complain since the Robots being there means it should be more than barren hallways inside

Left me feeling excited as hell. It didn't erase all my doubts and concerns, but it left me with faith that this will finally be the first Superman movie since Donner to truly capture who the character is in all his essence, especially given:

Anonymous asked: Did you see that amongst other things, Gunn gave his take on real self Vs mask

Gunn is going the third route to the "who's real?" question by saying neither are who Superman is in his entirety. Great, I'm a fan of the modern approach which acknowledges that both are masks to an extent, and the "real" Clark is only shown to those who know his secret. Everything I'm seeing makes me believe this is going to be a Superman whom the audience can root for, empathize with, and witness that Superman is a character with just as much complexity as Batman and Spider-Man. Perhaps I'll be mistaken but right now I feel the most optimistic I've ever been about Superman's future.

[teecupangel]

Just had an idea that developed XD: How OP could we make Desmond without giving him godlike powers thanks to the Grand Temple device?

My suggestion? Give him Spidermans powers. Climbing walls, spider sense, super senses, healing factor etc. You could also add stuff that Spiderman wouldn't use, due to his "No killing" rule, like powerful venom and fangs and those arm pincers that Spiderman apperantly had in the comics for a while.

He would be the perfect Assassin. XD

We could also easily set it up too. Maybe Hydra or Oscorp are looking to make a super soldier/recreate Spiderman and this random man shows up without any ID? Perfect test subject! It would also be hard to escape as they would account for super powers with the security, so Desmond ends up rescued by the Avengers+Spiderman.

Just an idea i had and i'm curious to how you would make him OP. ^^

So I’ve been reading a lot of manwha for years now and it definitely shaped my answer to how we can make Desmond OP.

Information.

Whether this means what Desmond would know about what’s going to happen because this is a time travel/regression/transmigration setup or if this is a case of the Apple giving him the information he needs, Desmond could use that information to his advantage, both to amass large amount of money or to do what he wants to do.

If we combine my idea of an OP power and your idea of giving him OP Spiderman power, the next step is obvious.

Desmond is a comic book nerd who got isekai (or transmigrated) into a Spiderman world.

The problem is… which Spiderman world is this???

Should he be looking for Peter Parker?

How was he so sure that this world’s Spiderman is Peter Parker?

Oh god, what if it’s those Spiderman movies instead???

Should he look for anyone that looks like Tobey Macguire?

Hell, it could have been the new one with Andrew Garfield.

There was too many of them to count!

And it is during his ‘hunt’ for Spiderman (because at the very least, he believes Spiderman might listen to him) that he gets abducted by Hydra/Oscorp/whichever evil corporation you wanna use.

His blood was meant to be used to test for variations of the super soldier serum but Desmond isn’t a damsel in distress and he tries to escape.

During the escape, he gets into an accident (whether he gets bit by one of the plot spiders or maybe he’s nicked somewhere and the Spiderman serum prototype gets into an open wound) during his escape and starts to exhibit the same powers of Spiderman.

And that is the least of his worries because he is an Assassin through and through so he did what any Assassin would do when they’re abducted by an obviously evil corporation.

Kill everyone in the facility while finding out names of other targets to take them out in the future.

And…

Well…

Massacring an entire facility isn’t really a good resume for the superheroes in this world.

.

Desmond thinks the new Spiderman movie is Amazing Spiderman starring Andrew Garfield because that would be the latest Spiderman he’d watch (2012)

Up to you which Superman/Marvel story he did end up with. It might be fun to keep it vague, keep Desmond guessing lollol.

[miimo96]

Thoughts on My Adventures with Superman S2 episode 7

This was really the Best thing to happen to Waller, She already hates Superman as it is and has been trying to find a reason for Exterminatie him all season, So to have with Kara show up and Destroy the city last week, this was literally the perfect opportunity for her to label Superman and his kind as threats, and get to finally carry out her plan; but by initiating this H.D.C. program thing She isn't really making herself look all that good either, having giant mechanized robots Patrol the city and labeling it as "Protection" Isn't actually protection, and is giving off more of a Fear rather than Safety vibe, also are we Not going to talk about how she literally "silenced" that guy for trying to Expose her, like she really wants people to believe that Superman is a problem and is willing to go through Disturbung lengths to keep it that way, She really is effing crazy no matter what adaptation she's in

Alight Jimmy olsen is Officily the Best character in this series, not only did he literally just waste his entire Bank account in order to Save his best friend, without hesitation mind you, but he also was able to completely talk lois out of trying to Kill kara, which in my opinion would have ended horribly for her, also the fact that lois was even able to think like that, felt like she was sounding more like her Father; Also *Gasps* what's this, Livewire and Heatwave are a THING!? ^w^

I find it so funny that after traveling the multiverse and nearly almost dying to another version of themselves, they just act like nothing happen and casually decide to have brunch in the park with Jimmy afterwards like what do you think Jimmy's reaction was to that, probably something along the lines of "wow, must've been some hell of a Honeymoon huh" 😅

Livewire: "if something goes wrong, we switch to plan B" Lois: "And what's plan B?"

PLAN B: *CHAOS*🤣🤣🤣

I totally love the Take on Livewire for this series, while people Normally compare her to be Basically like Superman's version of Electro, she really feels me more like his version of Shocker in my opinion, for example instead of her using her powers to Simply cause chaos and Destroy superman, she instead uses them to Rob banks and take on odd jobs for people, kinda like how shocker does in both the Spiderman series and games, not mention her feelings towards super heroes is more align with Shocker view of Spiderman, where as Electro is unstable and Just Wants to Kill Spider man, Livewire is completely the opposite when it comes to facing Superman, and would prefer avoiding him in general, similar to how shocker is about spider man, while They don't necessarily HATE their Hero, they just find them really Annoying to deal with, she isn't a Super Villain in this Show, just more of a Petty thief, also her motivation is completely 1 to 1 with Shockers, with both of their main goal being to simply gain wealth and live a comfortable life; Also can we all agree that her powers in this show are really Freaking cool, Not only can she generate and summon lighting at will, but she can also create a force field, turn herself into freaking electricity, and give herself the ability to effing Fly, like she's seriously OP, and she chooses to rob banks

Ok Is it me or is lois completely dense because WHAAAT!? What'd you mean you were afraid that he would leave you, I mean sure I get that you have abandonment issues considering the relationship between you and your father, but c'mon the guy has literaly been right by your side since Episode 1 and was afraid that YOU would leave HIM instead when you found out who he was, Saying that the reason you broke up with him was because you got scared and thought he wasn't gonna Love you back is Freaking understatement because if you don't call him literally complimenting you every chance he gets Day in day out, treating you the way he does and how he was even ready to Stand up to your dad when he was treating you like a little kid again Love, then idk what is to you, *sigh* but I'm glad she realized her mistake is ready to get back with him after this is done

Also ladies and gentlemen we have our New Power couple, and They're so cute Omg!! >_<

Ok I'm officially dub this Ship as "WaveWire" fight me

I really don't enjoy the rivalry between Lex and Slade, like I get that he's still young and therefore isn't the Slade we all know from the comics, but c'mon he shouldn't really come off as more of like a dick in this Series, like I hate how smug he is and how he is always trying to please waller every chance he gets, like you're telling me that that this the Guy who took defeated the Teen titans, was the main Villain for ARROW, and was truly a force to be reckoned with!? Like this Isn't Deathstroke he should be more badass instead of always trying play the rules, he needs to be more Cool and shouldn't really care about Waller at all, he shouldn't feel like some lap dog who is desperate for attention, I see what they're doing by having Luthor slowly being his replacement, but in my opinion it's just Not how I usually View this character, as much as i love to give this series praise, Slade is the only thing I really don't like about it

JIMMY x KARA!!! ^_^ I hope we get to see these 2 together by the end of this season, Now that Jimmy is in the mix I feel like we'll be more or less seeing the relationship unfold between Jimmy and Kara Next episode, maybe even get to see an Argument between lois and Kara

Apart of me kinda wonders if These shots are ment to represent the viewers seeing the perspective of Kara from Jimmy and lois, with the last episode being from Jimmy's perspective, seeing a girl who is misunderstood and mistreated by her father, Someone who is just looking for their place in the world, unaware that they're being manipulated by a Machine Who just want's to use her as a weapon, while in this episode we get to see her from the perspective of lois, Seeing the person who kidnapped her boyfriend and tried to conquer the planet, I hope this really is the case because if so that's freaking Genius, I can't wait to see what they have in store for us Next episode (also I'm sorry but without the Cape, Kara's suit just looks boring to me, the cape really brang it together balancing out All the black with the red)

[fanaticsnail]

Yandere Doffy anon here with more stuff!

First, ouch to that dialogue you wrote when Doflamingo tells Reader he killed Rosinante without really telling her. That wine drinking while sobbing GIF is accurate. My heart broke when Reader called Corazon her brother-in-law. 🥹🥹😭😭 Gosh, Corazon would be the best brother-in-law.

Regarding the three ways it could go for Reader's behaviour, I mean... All of them are great. All of them can be their own fics. I think since Reader is a princess she may be a bit naive as in the 1st possibility you wrote down, I really like that one. 🥹 I think it can then become Reader slowly becoming aware of all the shit he does but hell... you're stuck with him, it's till death do you part. Anyway 1st option is nice and 3rd is great and 2nd is great, you know what, just write fics for them all, I'll read them all! 😂

All of them are great.

I think for the Yandere Doffy fic, Reader & Rosi as besties, he loves her and she loves him but not with any budding romantic feelings. They have this deep bond of "we are taking care of the most chaotic crazy man alive" type of thing if it makes sense? Rosi & Reader love each other on a deep non-romantic level, they take care of each other etc etc.

You always have a water bottle somewhere to pour on Corazon when he sets his coat on fire. You remind him to let his tea cool off so he doesn't burn his tongue. When you get ill, Corazon is by your bedside when Doflamingo isn't.

Honestly, you and Rosi act more like siblings than Rosi & Doffy 😂

Okay, now back to Lami meeting Cora, bcs I can't get it out of my head. Law saving Lami, them both making it out, and Law trying to find work at Spider Miles and giving all his food to his little sister (reminds you of someone? It's Little Doffy) and eating bread (which he hates) just so his sister can be healthy. Of course, the work doesn't pay well, and Law gets desparate. We can change his meeting with Donquixote Pirates that he tries to sneak into the base to steal treasure & food (it's go big or go home for Law, he will stop at nothing for his little sister) and Doflamingo catches him and is about to torture him (yikes) but both you and Lami arrive and cue the reunion and you recognising them both and THAT'S how they join the Donquixote Pirates. We can just make it so Lami's disease is, since she is no longer exposed to Flevance's air, not advancing so quickly and she makes it for the next 3 years. And then Cora takes them away. And just... Lami and Cora are the enthusiastic, positive ones, they're playing around, Cora dances with Lami on a festival he takes Lami and Law to, Lami always sits on his coat on his shoulder, she loves Cora-san's coat so much. She thinks Cora-san's power is the coolest thing, too. Law is smiling a bit more with Lami around, hoping at least his sister makes it. If not him, at least his sister. Now imagine both Law & Lami in that treasure chest, gosh, no, nooo 😭😭

Also, Lami would totally braid Doflamingo's hair while he dozes in an armchair. He wonders why everyone is snickering at him and why you're giggling and it takes a while before he goes to the mirror and sees he has multiple ponytails in his hair. Extra cuteness if Baby 5 helped Lami, too. Anyway, I also think Lami would join Cora in shoving the Op-Op Fruit into Law's mouth. Law would want Lami to take it but Lami goes girlboss and holds her brother down so Cora can feed him the Op-Op Fruit while Law struggles and kicks. Just normal sibling thing to do. Also, she'd bite Vergo. Or kick him where the sun doesn't shine.

Aaand now I want to write a full fic of Cora's journey with Law & Lami. Dammit. 😭 I do think Doffy will be softer with Lami than with Law? Who knows. I like to think Doffy is a girl dad deep down in his heart (points to Baby 5). Good thing Law & Lami left cus no way would she have a boyfriend. Questionable if Law scares away a lot of her suitors when they're adults, too 😂 Lami, my baby, she deserved better 😭

And to break your heart...

"Hey, Law, Lami!"

The two children turned to Cora-san, and gawked at the man's big, goofy smile.

"I love you!"

Brb, gonna go cry. 😭

Sending love to you, Snail. Sorry for the angst. I just love Lami ❤️

I have no idea how long this has been in my ask box, but this is just the best angst to go to sleep with. I am crying, you're crying, we're all crying.

Yandere Doffy Anon, you spoil me.

[glambots]

Heyo! I noticed requests were open, so I'll give them a go!

Can I get some HCS for DJMM, Roxy, and Chica with a reader who LOVES Halloween? Like, they're coming to work dressed up, with a bag of candy, and a HUGE FRICKING SMILE on their face. It's Spooky Month‼️‼️, ya know? (Pls follow up if you need more clarification, ty!)

Happy SPOOKY MONTH (please ignore that this was sent October of last year I am So Sorry OTL OTL OTL)!!!

🍕Glamrock Chica + "SPOOKY MONTH" HCs:🍕

🎃Chica loves Halloween too! Well, she loves most holidays. They give her the chance to go all out with decorating! She is super stoked to help you with anything you want--putting up decorations, helping you choose a costume, doing your makeup, making treats--especially that last part. Pumpkin is one of her favorite flavors!

🎃Just make sure to keep an eye on your candy stash, because the second it leaves your line of sight, she's going to be digging through it. She just can't help it! Halloween candy is the best kind of candy! (Along with Valentine's candy, Easter candy, Christmas candy...and most other kinds of candy, really.)

🎃Her favorite part is probably the trick-or-treaters, though. The kids always dress up in the cutest costumes, and she gets to hand out candy when they come by to take a picture with her! She'll take one with you too, if you want. And you get your own little bag of candy, handmade and decorated by Chica, herself!

🐺Roxanne Wolf + "SPOOKY MONTH" HCs:🐺

🎃There's really one thing that Roxanne likes about Halloween, and it's the costumes! She usually starts planning her costumes about a month in advance, and tends to cycle through at least 3-5 top picks before she finally settles on her Favorite. And even then, she keeps going back to try out new looks up until the day of.

🎃Roxy's not that big on the candy aspect, she's more here for the Aesthetics. She is NOT here for the horror. You can keep your fake blood and gooey, gory prosthetics a million miles away from her, and god forbid you get any of it her hair, because she will raise hell about it. (Less hell if it's an accident or a kid's fault, But Still.)

🎃She gets really choked up when she sees kids who've dressed up like her. And if you did it, she might explode from sheer happiness. Or maybe she'll just wait to cry happy tears in her green room after the PizzaPlex closes. Whichever happens first. You better not make her mess up her make-up...!

🎧DJ Music Man + "SPOOKY MONTH" HCs:🎧

🎃You wouldn't expect it, but the DJ actually loves Halloween. It's one of the few days he can actually be scary--on purpose. (Which isn't really that hard, considering what he looks like, and how big he is, and all that.) He's not as excited as you might be, but he's still happy to see you happy.

🎃Plus, he can help put up the decorations, easy-peasy! Cobwebs and garlands everywhere! Plus, the dance-floor gets decked out to look like a giant spider-web. He even gets to wear a special pair of pumpkin-shaped sunglasses! He can't get a full costume, because of his size, but he still gets to dress-up in little ways.

🎃His favorite part--aside from manning the booth during the obligatory Halloween parties--would probably be the Photo Ops/Trick-or-Treating events. It's one of the few times the kids actually want to be up close-and-personal with him. Plus, he gets to have the Mini-DJs help him hand out candy bags to the visitors--and, of course, you get one too!

[yes-i-am-happyaspie]

hi there! im wondering if you have any fics recs for an au where peter doesnt get blipped? or also any OP/insanely strong peter fics you enjoy? i’m fairly new to reading spiderman fics and would love any recs! thanks!! 💖

Hi!! Sorry it took so long to respond. It's been a busy couple of weeks!! But I totally have a few BAMF Peter Parker fics in my bookmarks! And one very good fic where neither Tony nor Peter blipped.

���� to fear and to fly by idyllic_dae Rated T

“You’ll come to learn that there’s only one thing worse than having nothing.” Trying to hold onto his fight, Peter shoots back, “Yeah? And what’s that?” “To have nothing, after being able to believe you could have everything.”

The streets are dirty, crowded, and the jagged bumps in the asphalt are hardly comfortable to sleep on. They’re home, though.

Peter is just about finished with New York City. It’s gotten impossibly harder to find even a scrap of food, and what little belongings he does have are unlikely to keep him alive through the winter. And the memories. God, the painful memories here.

So he saves up. Makes a plan to get out of there.

Then, somehow, he accidentally saves Tony fucking Stark from a gang of eight mercenaries, and the majestic plan disintegrates into ash.

The worst part about it, he knows, isn’t even that he met Tony. It’s that Tony met him.

^^ This one is incomplete still but it is SO VERY GOOD.

🕸 Trojan Teenager by Sara (ctrsara) @ctrsara Rated T

Tony, Peter, Happy, and Daren make a trip to California during Peter's Spring Break, both to get some business done at SI-Malibu, and to look into another hotspot for the human trafficking ring they've been trying to break down. As it often does when self-sacrificial Spider-kids are involved, things go a little off the rails.

^^ This one is part of a series but can be read alone. However, I highly recommend the whole series! It's crazy creative and super well-written.

🕸 turn back the clock (and I'll try again in the morning) by madasthesea @madasthesea Rated T

Peter gets stuck in a time loop. In it, he lives through some of his worst nightmares, only to wake up that morning and have no one remember. He needs Tony to help him get through.

And if that isn't bad enough, his identity is revealed over and over, every day.

^^ This fic has me on the edge of my seat every time I read it, I swear

🕸 The Worst Field Trip by mak5258 Rated G

Peter's kidnapping (Before You Go, chapter 40) from other POVs.

^^ This is part of a much larger series but can be read alone. It's sooo good! If you're looking for a longer read, it's parent fic, Before You Go , is also great.

🕸Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spider by Bergen Rated T

“Tony fucking Stark,” Clint says, and he points at the black smoke. “Did you blow up that base, you piece of shit?” “Absolutely not. I almost got blown up with it.” Clint is not alone. A few yards behind him, a scrawny figure halts and squints at Tony from underneath a frayed baseball cap. Sunken eyes. Dressed in a black undershirt and cargo pants. Can’t be older than eighteen. “What are you doing here?” Clint jerks his head at the boy behind him. “SHIELD mission. Extracting a hostage.” Tony glances back at the teenager, whose face has now morphed into something entirely impassive. “He seems thrilled about his rescue.” — Tony is roped into a mission to transport a teenager to safety. But when things go south, it soon becomes more and more puzzling who the teenager is and what ‘safety’ means for him.

^^ Oh my goodness. This one has a super strong stoic Peter, who also manages to (eventually) be so super soft. I love everything by the writer, honestly.

🕸 Peter Protection Protocol by JAWorley Rated T

"The hell?" Knife guy breathes. He looks at Tony, and then back at the suit. Ned can hear the wheels spinning in his mind. If I have Iron Man, then who is in the suit?

There’s silence for a second, then another. Everyone waits with baited breath until Peter’s tinny voice comes out of the suit. “Give me back my Tony.”

OR

Peter’s class barely makes it in the door to Stark Industries for their field trip when they find themselves in a hostage situation. Peter and Ned know exactly what they have to do to save Mr. Stark from the bad guys. A short fic that’s supposed to be fun and easy to read. Not crack, just fun. Minor angst near the end.

^^ This author has SO MANY super fun and amazing fics, but this one definitely fits the BAMF Peter Parker bill.

Insane Mistakes Everybody Makes by Fluencca Rated T

The Avengers' kids are kidnapped for leverage and ransom. Tony tries to find them, while Peter--who somehow is part of this mess--tries to keep the kids safe.

^^ Love this one so much. It has all the amazing BAMF Peter.

🕸 Survivor's Guide to The Galaxy by fanfic1892 Rated T

Space rock crunched under Peter’s armor-clad feet and he dropped his hand from his eyes, turning to Tony. "Mister Stark," he said softly. "What do we do now?”

The question was entirely reasonable, Tony supposed, but being the one expected to answer it was like an infinity gauntlet punch to the gut. (Now there was a unit of measurement he could submit to the CGPM.)

Or: In a billion-to-one cosmic fluke, Tony and Peter both survive the snap and are left alone on Titan with an alien spaceship and no plan in sight. Peter’s presence brings Tony to make a tough call: diverting their course away from Earth in search of food and fuel. With the galaxy in shambles and no clear route home, the two survivors must carve out a path of their own somewhere in the great infinity.

^^ This is one of my favorite fics of all time.

As usual, I could go on for days with fics I love and would love to share with others. But we'll stop here for now. lol. And look! I didn't even self-promote this time! Thank you so much for asking. Don't forget to leave kudos and comments!!

[anonymous-dentist]

The thing about superhero au parrot duo is that. Okay.

So Bobby was taken away from them by the FoH, and they both know that he’s okay. They’ll always be able to recognize their son, and they know he’s kicking ass. But also? He���s their son, and he’s a child, and he shouldn’t be a superhero!! Roier doesn’t even want to be a superhero, and he’s Spider-Man!!

So they both have come up with different ways to try and make sure Bobby is safe:

Roier wants to destroy the Federation. He’s never liked them, anyway. He just wants his son back, and he’s fine if he gets in a bit of trouble over it because he knows he’s OP as hell. He’s more than happy rescuing the other kids in the program, too, because, again, children should not be superheroes

Jaiden, though? She finally gave in and joined the FoH as the hero Blue Bird in hopes that doing so would allow her access to Bobby again. But she’s too low-rank for that and she’s kinda sort been slowly manipulated by Cucurucho and the other :)s to more or less just be on their side

They both know each other’s secret identities, it’s just a matter of when Jaiden’s loyalty to Roier runs out. She says she’ll never turn him in, but, lately, he’s starting to wonder if she’s telling the truth…

[soul-dwelling]

Man imagine if in MHA, the business course had a student with an OP quirk, and during the sports festival he said "yeah, I dont care for heroics, but winning this shit will look good for my CV when I'm a CEO of a corupt company" - perfect opportunity to explore the dychothomy between super powers and heroism - hell the charachter could then develop and realise that using his powers for less selfish reasons is better

And then just finish it with a double subversion, him not becoming a "super hero", but using his quirk in a unique but really necessary way, like idunno, give them heat control, to use for clean energy to solve both polution and lack of it or something, while using his business skils to manage corporate and goverment redtape and beauracry

Like even if one dislikes my example, its just a placeholder to express that, we really missed out for a social satire as quirks as a metaphor - cause everything had to be reduced to supercops...

This submission has given me ideas about how much better, with hindsight, My Hero Academia could have done more worldbuilding on how Business and Support Courses work, and give far more compelling stories and character progression to Mei Hatsume and Re-Destro. 

I’ll get to the Re-Destro stuff below, as I have a lot to say. But I want to address something you wrote first: 

And then just finish it with a double subversion, him not becoming a "super hero", but using his quirk in a unique but really necessary way, like idunno, give them heat control, to use for clean energy to solve both polution and lack of it or something, while using his business skils to manage corporate and goverment redtape and beauracry

I really wish we had shown more of the UA students using their skills for something other than superpowers. The final arc even had that opportunity: I know people are pissed Denki and others didn’t get some big flashy superhero fight, but the manga did a good job of showing that Denki, Momo, and others are also valuable for what they can do to alleviate resource problems we have in our real world, as well as the threat that persists that maybe we then are just dependent on the resources instead of letting go of them. 

Think about Book 1 of The Legend of Korra: Mako can generate electricity, but that makes him a raw resource of power, hence keeping him in a lower economic class where it’s not just his labor as a raw product to trade for cash but his literal superpower and the way his body creates it is now separated from him and made into a product, like selling your blood and plasma. 

There are so many opportunities to give this idealistic image you show of Pro Heroes figuring out that maybe they are more useful to create clean energy, and the dark side that maybe this perpetuates the same problems Pro Hero society has had for so long--but Horikoshi never tried to take this approach. 

And yes, it would help navigate gray areas: “Maybe big business does do some good things,” “Maybe corporations can be used for good.”

Stan Lee helped co-create Iron Man in order to take the worst kind of person in that time period--a corporate leader creating weapons that were perpetuating a damn foolish war that never should have been started--to see whether the creative team could make a character that even young anti-war activists would sympathize with, cheer on, and see progress into a better person.

Horikoshi keeps doing this: there are so many cliches and notable moments in comic book history, and he just doesn’t tap into them to say something new. I am so not going to cheer on libertarian bullshit, but you can’t talk about comics if you’re not going to talk about Iron Man, the Question, Spider-Man, and Blue Beetle as objectivist Ayn Rand / Steve Ditko dream projects and how later creators have perpetuated, celebrated, agreed with, ironized, criticized, satirized, or condemned those characters and the politics they hold. 

Okay, now onto my rambling. This is going to be another long response, so let’s again put up some headings to outline the answer better. 

Let Mei Hatsume flirt with villainy

Your submission has big Mei Hatsume energy--and it’s not as if I haven’t toyed with the idea about whether Mei would become a villain, or an inadvertent one. 

Granted, that idea seems a little too close to what they did with Entrapta in the She-Ra reboot--but if it worked there, it’d work here. 

I’m kind of surprised the manga never said, “Oh, by the way, after the Pro Heroes failed to stop Shigaraki and ended up letting the PLF get stronger, some of Mei’s inventions got stolen by Villains and that’s why the Cider House Gang was able to get their hands on those Support Items.” 

It felt like a missed opportunity to show how Mei’s work could be corrupted, it’d give her something more to do to the story, maybe give her an arc, maybe show other dimensions to her, how Power Loader or someone else gets her confidence back, reassures her it’s not her fault--and it’d pay off that potential villainy that she showed (but which we are definitely not actualizing here because she is a good person) way back in the Sports Festival by using Tenya as her glorified mannequin to show off her inventions, the kind of behavior you describe in your submission.

Make Re-Destro a UA alumnus and donor

Let’s go back to how you started this submission, about how the Business Course could end up giving rise to a potential corporate villain: yeah, it’s another missed opportunity.

I am going to go in another direction, to suggest, what if that potential corporate villain just flat-out did become a corporate villain.

If we are really going to have this many problems with this story, where everything has to be connected when really they should not have been (maybe Shigaraki should not have been Nana’s grandchild; maybe Geten should not be related to the Todorokis), why not just say: 

“Screw it, Re-Destro went to UA in the Business Course”?

Horikoshi weirdly avoids taking the path of certain comic book cliches that could have been deconstructed or at least fun references: what is Lex Luthor if not the corrupt businessman who also happened to have gotten his start because he grew up with Clark Kent in Smallville? (Granted, I am mixing together the original origin story, Smallville, and John Byrne’s reboot…Sidebar: Fuck John Byrne, what a bigoted sack of shit.) 

I know we have far too many of these characters having been alumni of UA: All Might (how did no one recognize All Might and Toshinori Yagi were the same person if he was in the UA Sports Festival?), Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Midnight, Oboro, Present Mic, Aizawa. 

But we never showed a Business Course graduate. Why not let it be Re-Destro? 

It was so boring that All For One was scouting UA like a raccoon digging through his own personal dumpster in order to try to steal Aizawa’s Quirk and settle for Oboro’s corpse. And I hated how All For One just happened to have numerous moles, not just Aoyama but also all those other no-names in the final arc. All For One’s power (his literal superpowers, not just his political power) is so massive that it stretches believability, mostly because he has been set up as a villain so powerful that you can’t think of any way to defeat him--which is why the ending fails to actually give a satisfying way of stopping his physical might. He is a symbol of fascism, and defeating fascism, while requiring a ton of force, also depends on beating a bad idea with a much better idea--and it is difficult to boil down that fight of ideas to just two super-powered individuals punching each other. 

All For One is not the person who would be able to infiltrate UA, and he is not a great option for storytelling and symbolism purposes to have him be the one to infiltrate UA. 

But Re-Destro would be. 

It’d make sense that Re-Destro would use UA to scout for new talent for the MLA. It’d be sadly realistic: corrupt corporate mogul funding schools to get the kind of lackeys and resources he needs for future conquest. It would fit with comic book cliches. It would finally let us do some worldbuilding as to how the Business Course, and likely also the Support Course, works, see more of the teachers, maybe some of them are with the MLA inside of UA, and maybe some of the teachers and students actually hate Re-Destro, whether because they know he’s corrupt, or they have an inkling, or (speaking as someone who has learned and taught in the university system) you just know the corporate funders are aiming those resources towards helping their business and could not care about improving education in languages, ethics, civics, and critical thinking skills. 

As you said, “the character could then develop and realize that using his powers for less selfish reasons is better”: what if Re-Destro is that motivation for certain characters to realize that altruism would be better? A student gets brought into Re-Destro's orbit, doesn't know about the MLA yet, but works alongside him and slowly realizes something is wrong. Maybe this character learns about the MLA and helps inform Hawks; maybe this character never learns about the MLA but manages to extricate themselves away just in time, giving the audience a sigh of relief, and they instead get recruited for another business (to show "not all businesses are bad") or a Pro Hero agency (have Centipeder and Bubble Girl recruit them, give them something to do after Nighteye's death).

Or, what if it is a character we already know? What if Ochaco went to work for Re-Destro? What if Re-Destro’s fixation on wealth and advancement made Ochaco temper her desire for money, no matter how good her intentions are? Or, what if Re-Destro's vibe unsettles one of our more wealthy students like Shoto, Tenya, and Momo, and it shows us "not all rich people are bad"? I know this risks saying, “Don’t eat the rich, some of them are good people,” but it would keep asking the question Stain offered, when is there too much fame and wealth being given to glorified super-cops? 

And this change to the story would serve Re-Destro better given how little presence he had after his defeat, and how empty he was as an antagonist once he just gives up to Shigaraki, and how little foreshadowing or build-up we had for him.

Re-Destro is to My Hero Academia what Fukuchi is to Bungo Stray Dogs: if this person is such a puppet master, then he should have been present in the background since Chapter 1--show us Detnerat products since Chapter 1, just as Bungo Stray Dogs should have shown movie posters, books, and military recruitment ads with Fukuchi since Chapter 1. Or, if Re-Destro and Fukuchi were such late additions to their stories, the anime adaptation should have fixed that. Granted, they didn’t have the same amount of time between first appearance of the character in the manga and first produced episode of the anime, but think how well this worked in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: “Here’s Father, yes we are introducing him early so that the Sins, the Ling stuff, the Alkahestry stuff, and the Xerxes stuff does not come off as such an ass-pull especially for those only familiar with the first anime, not the manga.” 

I know this is very “me”: “Oh, you just want the story to be like this because you’re familiar with school politics!” Um, yeah? This manga has “academia” in the title--I’m a lifelong superhero fan, I enjoy poring over comics for how their stories and paneling are structured, but this series started so well because it took such well-worn genres, the superhero story and the school life manga story, and combined them to get something new, then fumbled the project by not getting back to the school stuff and using the superhero stuff to pull apart the school life story cliches and respond to the ongoing problems in education. I want a story that flat-out makes the donor to the big school into a bad guy--I want us to interrogate how much harm is done to education when the quality of the education depends on a handful of donors. 

Make Re-Destro the arch enemy of Nezu

And this would also go a long way to give Nezu his own arch enemy. The story waits a long time before revealing, in trivia or in the text, that Nezu is rich and funds UA mostly on his own. Cool--but let’s show that Nezu still needs help from others, and maybe he is that big brain to know to keep his enemies closer, where he’s playing chess against Re-Destro, who is so ignorant that he thinks he’s the one pulling the fast one on, if we allow him to say this line, “some highfalutin lab rat.”

It’d be even funnier with the MLA having its rat symbol that it’s Nezu, so animalistic, being the one to screw over Re-Destro.

Think of how this would improve upon what, say, DuckTales 2017 tried to do and didn’t pull off as well: Scrooge is now a businessman in the 21st century, corporations no longer typically run on the whims of just one owner, there can be shareholders and managers and accountants like Bentley and his brothers getting in the way.

Same idea here: Nezu may be in charge of UA, but even he has to answer to the donors and, ahem, “customers”--if he screws up, he risks losing money. And when UA has villains robbing their paperwork, attacking students at USJ, attacking a student at the mall, and kidnapping and injuring more students, of course Re-Destro now can use this as a power play against Nezu. Come on, what is the point of having Re-Destro’s partner in crime be a politician like Trumpet if we’re going to chicken out and not get political about this story? 

[miramis248]

My Au - Updating, Introducing OC'S and plot divergence

Heh

Hey, how ya'll doing? It's been a while... My work schedule is unforgiving at the moment 🙃

So, i've been working on my Au for the past few weeks whenever I had the opportunity. It is inspired by multiple fanfictions that I've read, and here's how it's going so far:

Jake Sully

When Jake arrived, he was taken aback by how things were being run at Hells gate, lower Ranked workers were being overworked and underpaid, he also heard through the grape vine that many were being threatened and blackmailed into silence by superiors and SEC-OPS about shandy stuff that had been happening, such as the deviation of funds from the mining safety regulation programs towards more poaching equipment, weapons and bigger equipment for intensive mining, as well as lining the pockets of superior assets to the company, he was less than pleased, but what strengthen his resolve was watching how the scientists were being treated by Selfridge, he hates the guy, especially after the accident...

When Jake was in the Avatar for the first time, he had a "seizure", at least that's what the science guys told him, and his human body went into a comatose, almost dead like state, while his mind was stuck in the Avatar, most likely permanently...Selfridge immediately goes into self-preservation mode and tries to make excuses, half-assed apologies, and then just straight-up blames Jake

"You read the contract. You knew the risks. This is all on you."

Now Jake reeeeeeeally wants to screw this guy over, and hopefully find a way to help the other workers and scientists along the way as well, so he starts hatching a plan, he talks to Grace and promises her he'll help them "get out" if they want to, he's leaving, but that doesn't mean he'll leave them high and dry, Grace and the other scientists are apprehensive of the idea, but decide to give Jake a set of Comns for safety and updates on how well his plan will work out.

He stays for around 3 months, getting a feel for his new body, working out, preparing himself...a few days before leaving, Trudy came to him with a serious request. She overhead him speaking to Max and Grace and needed help for a friend. She promised to keep his escape plans a secret.

Trudy took him to a room, there he finds Paz Socorro, an exhauted looking woman, who begs for him to help her, she has an health condition that only seems to be getting worse and she has another problem, Spider...

Spider is born a hybrid, the first human baby on pandora, born with a kuro and faded stripes along his body, covered in light freckles with the cutest little nose and pointy ears, Jake is as shocked as he is smitten by the little guy...how that happened...Paz saw the fruit growing outside, and her cravings got the best of her, they supposedly weren't dangerous for humans... Paz tells him that she might not survive because the human resources and insurance assholes that work for Selfridge keep making excuses as not to help pay for the surgery or having it at all on base, Paz has a heart condition discovered during her pregnancy, without proper help she will get sicker and most likely die, but they rather take their chances and send her back to earth even though she could also die in cryo and Spider would be left parentless, she's also worried about her son, selfridge knows about Spiders "condition" and she scared of what might happen to him.

She begs Jake to take her son, he can breath pandoran air, so he'll be fine, Jake is a bit worried about this decision but Paz tells him this might be the only way to keep her baby safe, he can't say no to that little face,so he accepts and is surprised when Paz pull out official papers

(Paz "His father is a dangerous man, he refused to sign the birth certificate, but I need to be sure he can't get him through any loopholes"

Jake "You're...adoption papers!? Paz, are you sure? Isn't it better to make me like a babysitter guardian guy or whatever? I mean we just met, and you asking me to take your kid, you dont know me!..."

Paz "No, this needs to be ironclad, I need this to be official. He will never get his hands on my baby boy, and I KNOW enough Sully, I know you offered others help to get out, so here i am accepting on the behalf of my son"

Jake "Ok!...ok, just...Jesus..."

Paz "i might not see either of you again...with the way things are going for me..."

Jake "I will take care of him...i promise you this, this kid is gonna be the happiest little guy"

Paz "You better you dumbass, or my spirit will haunt your blue ass")

(SPIDER DESERVES ALL THE LOVE, HE IS BABY)

And so, with the help of Truddy, Jake steals a bunch of supplies, including weapons and ammo, Grace helps cover up for him during their trip to look for samples. From there, with little Spider hidden in his backpack, he slowly shys away into the forest where he starts their new journey...

Still working out how he'll end up stumbling into Omatikaya territory...

So far, I've also been working on some of my Human OC'S that will be relevant to the AU, like the Viperwolf Hunters, we now also have

Maya Aguillar

Maya is an Avatar Driver, she worked in the labs, delved into Bioengineering, making prosthetics for both human nd na'vi alike, along with other medical devices built with Unobtainium, her search was defunded however because Harding's poaching was more profitable and she didn't exactly have the power to protest this decision, with her research on hold, she was then given the job of outside maintenance on her base(she only met Harding and Mercer once when she arrived, she she was tranfered to a lab a bit far out from the main base), Maya was sick and tired of all the excuses for not being able to fund her research, the mistreatment by higher ups and just the overall work conditions, when news of Jake Sullys escape and disappearance got out, aswell as learning that many others started leaving too, including some old friends, she made a risky decision and bounced, she had knowledge of a long abandoned mobile link inside a mountains wall far way, she took a jeep, hid her avatar in it and waited for nightfall, then she was gone... But that just the beginning because what she didn't realise is that the mobile link is very close to the Aranahe Clan, who didn't take long to notice their new neighbour...

(Had the time to doodle her)

John Maverick

Basically, it's a cowboy that came to Pandora, and now drives an Avatar.

Veterinary, big and small port animals, Pandoran Fauna and Flora enthusiast/expert, he was on animal care in a projet to study Pandoran animals, had to restrain himself from finding and strangling both Harding and Mercer after seeing the conditions in which the animals were being kept...he found a way to leave, as a human first, then busting open the gates on the back of an angstik he named Bluebell (like the cow he raised back home has a kid, his best friend), middle fingers up for the cameras with more than 15 heads of Catle and three funny and charismatic Pa'li that love to nip his ears... this man disapears, he finds a place(thank god thes people just abandon mobile links everywhere) where he can safely use the link unit, now he roams the plains with his herd of animals, he keeps them happy and safe, totally decked out in Cowboy fashion, hat and all (I imagine this man looping a rope on one of the bulls because they panic or something, throws himself on top of them rodeo style, lets them tire out and then just spends time sitting there calming this huge creature down with pats on their back and treats till the convince them to join the herd again) he's living his best life...in Zeswa lands...guess he thought the kites where just pretty decorations...(still working on drawing him)

That's it for now, but I'm still working in these OC'S, I'll don't more indept backgrounds for them later on.

There's also my concept of humans adapting to Pandora with Eywa's help. Basically, the Great Mother is loving and mischievous, and she'll use her children to guide these humans who long for a new life, for example, my take on humans being able to breath and eat and LIVE on Pandora will be because she'll use her Atokirina, or maybe animals to guide humans to flowers, moss or fungi, that when exposed to without a mask, changes their biology. Maybe they fall and break their mask and breath in spores or polen, maybe the animal suddenly pulls the mask from their face(A human guided by this nice, cute Syaksyuk getting their mask ripped of and face shoved into a flower) and then boom, they breath and eat from Pandora with no trouble!

Eywa will take to making humans See and learn, but also learn from them and adapt, so that everyone is happy 😊

There, that my Au so far, see ya'll later!

[szagaloree]

His wife….

Chapter 2

Contains: angst/sadness/mentions of death

We were half way up the vines, with Quaritch still lost, “we’ll get them later, let’s get these ikrans,” I said, “shiit don’t gotta tell me twice,” raven smirks, once we reach the top we looked around “why we’re really high up,” Allen said, “their over there but the thing is you must choose one and it will choose you but it will try to kill you,” spider explains, “how wonderful,” I said peak and see all these different ikran’s just chilling till they spotted me but didn’t try to attack. One particular black ikran turns it body hissing at me, I hiss back, it preyed around about ready to pounce, I dodge to the right leaped on to its back, “come on Gwen!” Raven shouts, “you gotta make the bond!” Spider shouted.

I grunted trying to hold its head down, it’s screeched and begins to fly “oh shit!” I quickly grabbed the que and made the bond but the ikran took off, “fuck!” I yelled, “fucking fly straight!” I yelled and it did just that, my eyes snap wide, “yes-YESSS!” I cheered, “where is she?” Allen looks over trying to find me, “fucking hell” Raven nervously says but they all jumped when I rose up with my ikran’s “LETS FUCKING GOOO!” I yelled “ayyyyeee look at you!” Ellice smirks, “y’all better come on before take off without y’all,” I chuckle. Once they all got their ikran’s I press my comm button “almost forgot we still gotta get them,” I roll my eyes as I landed spider can get on.

“Where are they?” Ellice asks.

“Dipshit squad where y’all at?” Raven asks. “Oh just trying to figure where the hell y’all went?!” Lyle raged, “Ohhh don’t start crying like a baby head to the hallelujah mountains unless ya scared,” I said, “whatever,” we all laughed as we flew around, “this is so much fun! God to really be one of them,” Raven said “I know right I don’t know what the hell the rda is fucking thinking,” I said. we spotted Quaritch and his squad climbing up the vines “wait is that them?” Lyle asks, “let’s gooooo!” I shouted flying above them “good luck, you’re gonna need it,” I smirked Quaritch just smirks shaking his head. Once we met up again they got their ikran’s too, “come on spider, let’s go,” I said, he climbs on and I take off.

���So… what your life like before you came here?” Spider asks, “ehh I would say boring, there’s nothing back on earth, it’s dead,” I said “dead? What do you mean?” He asks, quaritch walks along the halls till he reaches her room, he ends up peaking looking inside, “earth is dead because of us, we destroyed it with all these wars, inflation, racism, colonization, the animals extinct, no trees, no plants no nothing, just bricks, oils, and just death, it’s not like Pandora,” I sighed, “why did they never took care of it?” He asks “because the rda and the fucking government is selfish, I was out there fighting an old man gawdamn battles none of the presidents, leaders or anybody like them never got their ass up on the front line, it’s always us, they trained us to be cold hearted killing machines, trained to only follow orders and not break them, they… if I was givin an order to kill a child I would have to execute the order, don’t ask just do, that’s darkest part about that it can fuck you up mentally but I woken up and realized I fucked become a navy seals black operative,” I said, spider frowns, “I was a black op and those are the big dawgs not like a marine, they deal with the big shit,and… I kinda liked I was the boss, get to tell orders and be the badass I wanted to be but not everything is greener on the other side,” I sighed.

“Are you..still like that?” Spider asks fiddling with his fingers “hell no, once I found I was pregnant with you it changed me hella a lot more then I was already changing, that life ain’t safe for a child to be in, war and stuff no, I did not want this for you, but I couldn’t do anything else because I died giving birth to you,” I said “I’m sorry,” he says with his head down, “why are you apologizing?” I ask “it’s my fault you died,” he said I nudge his chin to make him look up at me, “it wasn’t your fault, I gave you life, that’s all that matters..but in return I’ve became reborn into a new life that’s actually amazing being an avatar is cool you can’t do the stuff they do in this body, riding and ikran seeing the beauty of pandora it was everything,” I smiled, he smiles a little.

“Get some sleep,” I said he sighed laying down, “tomorrow we’ll ride the ikran’s how’s that?” He nods “get some sleep,” I stood up and turn the light off, but I felt someone was next to me so nearly punched him in the face but he blocked my swing “woah there, calm down,” Quaritch says, “what the fuck are you doing here?” I question “I need to talk to you,” he said “for what?” I raise a brow glaring at him, he huffed looking around “just come,” he said walking somewhere, I follow him to a secluded area.

“Is that your son?” He asks.

“You’ve been easedropping?!” I snarled “I wasn’t trying to, but the way you were talking says a lot and I noticed how he was so able to easily trust you and be around you, I’d say that’s a mother and son bond,” he said, “it’s none of your business,” I said “it ain’t I was just curious, that’s all I was asking, I can see why you’re so protective of him but you know the reason why we’re brought back in the first place,” he says, “I know why I’m here, I’m here to live not die again! I’m not a fucking puppet! I’m not finna go around and just follow stupid orders because what will they do in the end huh?! They will turn pandora into the same way they did earth! And you think that’s okay, because you are damn puppet,” he grabs my jaw snarling “I’m not a puppet, I would say I’m a man from hell,” he said.

“You’re nothing else but that, nothing else but somebody’s bitch,” I jerk from him.

“Oh so you’re like him huh? You’re like sully who turned his back on his own kin!” He grabbed my arm i wince from his grip, “all kin ain’t good kin and I see why he switched sides!” I glared at him “leave her alone!” Spider said, we looked back to see spider glaring at Quaritch, “aww, me and your.. mom were just having a talk,” he said with a cocky tone, I punched him in the face, he yells holding his nose. “Go back in the room spider I’m fine,” I huff, “stay away from him!” I warned and walked away.

Two days later me and my squad chilled in our resting room not doing much, spider hasn’t come in the room yet and I was now getting worried, “I be right back,” I said “alright” they said, I look around for him, he wasn’t in his room and not the bay. “Fuck” I mumble running out I stopped when I see Quaritch talking to spider, they weren’t doing much but Quaritch showed him his fingers and how he has five hands trying to explain to them how their avatars are created, it seems spider was not in any danger nor did he feel uncomfortable around like he was three days ago but he seems a bit curious now.

I huff as I watched them carefully, “so, have you ever thought about a different life if you were able to choose to do something else?” Spider asks him “well.. not really this is all I know, it’s what I do,” he answers “but Jake was in the same place as you but he was able to change be good,” he tilts his head, Quaritch knew he didn’t have a good answer for that because he knows what he is and always been doing is wrong he just doesn’t want to face it. “ it’s not that easy as it looks kid,” he nudged his head. He ends up looking at me and smirked “well mama bear is here,” he said, “come” I said spider pouts but follows, I stare at Quaritch before leaving. “So what all did y’all talk about?” I ask, “nothing just his past, and how they were able to make you guy’s avatars,” he said shrugging.

To be continued…

Comment if you want to be in the tag list📝✨

Tag list|@Perseny

[jeanniebug623]

🕸️🕷️ Weaving the Web 🕷️🕸️

Chapter 9: Filling In the Blanks

Quaritch waited outside the interview room while Nash McCosker gave his statement regarding the incident in the cafeteria.  Miles had not only smashed his face against a metal table which left the man with a broken nose, but he’d landed three more solid punches before the colonel tore the boy off.  According to the medical report, each additional blow left him with a facial fracture to the right cheekbone, orbital fracture, and a dislocated jaw.  To put it bluntly: McCosker was a fucking mess to look at because Miles seriously fucked him up.

Quaritch couldn’t even be proud of how well Spider could fight.  He could have killed the man.  Just what the hell was Miles thinking?!  With the help of some heavy painkillers and a bit of force, McCosker’s jaw was reset but he was a swollen, discolored, bloody mess.

”Thank you for your time, Mr. McCosker.” 

The security officer ending her interview and exiting the room brought the colonel back to the present.  She nodded in acknowledgment that Quaritch could now go in and have his own interview with McCosker.  Taking a long breath from his mask, the recom ducked under the low entryway and mentally reminded himself to let the man tell his side of the story first.  It’s not that Quaritch didn’t trust Spider, or Miles for that matter, but he would get more information if he was sympathetic to the victim.

”Mr. McCosker.” Quaritch said, appraising the man sitting at the table with butterfly stitches holding a gash together under his right black eye and heavy duty sutures holding his upper lip together.  He was holding an ice pack over most of his face but managed to make eye contact with Quaritch and nod.

”Yea, that’s me.” McCosker said gruffly.  Quaritch couldn’t blame him.  If he’d taken hits like that, he’d take a shot of morphine with a shot of whiskey and call it a night.  McCosker stared at Quaritch, narrowing his good eye slightly.  He looked like he was trying to remember why the recombinant looked familiar and finally asked, “Do I know you, sir?  I didn’t realize there were new avatar pilots…”

Avatars?  No.  Recombinants?  Well, that was a need to know and if Nash McCosker had a history of switching sides, the last thing he’d have is the clearance for knowledge of the Sec-Ops first recom unit.

”There aren’t.” Quaritch said, only eliciting more confusion from the man, but quickly changed the subject, “How you holdin’ up?  That was a hell of a beating you took.”

Despite the discoloration of his bruised face, McCosker’s face turned red.  Quaritch couldn’t tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.  Based on the clenched fists and furrowing brow, the colonel went with the latter.

”For what it’s worth, you ain’t the first person that kid’s put in the hospital.” Quaritch remarked.  Spider had gotten in some brawls when he was first captured but it was more justified.  It would have been strange if he didn’t try to fight back given his upbringing.  Maybe this Nash guy could fill in some of the blanks…

”That fucking kid…” McCosker growled, “I didn’t even know he was here.”

”I doubt prisoner records show up in your work.” Quaritch said smoothly, crossing his arms as he continued the small talk.  It was no surprise that the man knew Spider.  All the humans that stayed behind all lived at Hell’s Gate so it was likely they’d crossed paths at some point.  But from that remark, Quaritch figured the man knew more about Spider than just that he was a baby left behind.

”We’d heard about someone getting captured…” McCosker said, “…we figured it was a Na’vi.”

”Would that have been better?  Given how much help you offered the RDA a year ago.  You’re practically a damn hero for humanity.” Quaritch praised, putting up a good act.  Nash McCosker’s loyalty was low on his list to trust, given he’d switched sides twice already.

”I’m no hero.  I was looking out for my family…and Jake was…” he started then let his sentence trail off.  He readjusted the ice pack with a slight hiss of pain.

”You were loyal to Jake Sully.” Quaritch said, his ears pinning back.

”Yea…back when Jake was loyal to us too.” McCosker said with a growl.

”Guess that’s fair…Sully switched sides and doomed a lot of good people.  He’s got a decent following.  Includin’ the kid who tried to turn your face to ground meat.  That must be why…” Quaritch said, baiting the man to keep venting in whatever way would get more information about Spider out of this.

”That little bastard is the reason Jake and his family got away!” McCosker snarled, immediately regretting it when shouting required him to open his mouth more to do it.

Quaritch’s tail flipped angrily and he set his jaw.  He’d heard plenty of people make comments like that about Spider since being captured but it hit him differently to hear how visceral it was coming from Nash McCosker.  The soldiers who’d guarded and escorted him around made comments about him being ‘wild’, ‘out of control’, or ‘savage’.  But those remarks came after a scuffle.  McCosker’s rage was old.

”The RDA lost the Sullys due to a, what…?  Fifteen-year-old at the time?” Quaritch said, remaining calm but wanting to smack the guy himself.  He knew what it looked like to have a deep rooted anger in one’s eyes; he’d seen it every time he saw his reflection after Sully’s betrayal.

”We’d managed to catch a few of Jake’s kids.  He would’ve surrendered and none of the shit that followed would’ve happened.  But Miles busted them out and the Sullys got away because of it.” McCosker said, remembering the night like it was yesterday.

Quaritch frowned but noted that McCosker had called him ‘Miles’.  Of course Spider had done something like that…the colonel had seen how he acted when they were all caught in the forest and how defensive he was of the Sully kids.  Especially the older girl.

“Not surprised he turned out so wild.” McCosker grumbled, “Sure as fuck never listened growing up.”

There it was.  Confirmation that McCosker knew Spider on a more personal level.  It was time to pull that stitch loose.

”You used to look after the boy?” Quaritch asked, the keycard and tooth burning a hole in his pocket.

”Yea…” he answered nonchalantly then continued, “We took him in.  That kid was a terror.  Older he got, the less he listened.  My wife and I tried to raise him to be a good kid but he’d just run off whenever we tried to enforce any rules.”

”And you’d let him?” Quaritch asked, slipping his hand in his pocket and catching the contents in his palm.

”It got tougher when we had kids of our own,” the man admitted, “Someone else should’ve taken him.  It was a mistake.  Miles was a mistake to begin with…”

Quaritch couldn’t stop the growl that escaped his teeth, not going unnoticed by McCosker.  The man suddenly got a nervous look on his face recognizing what an angry Na’vi, or recom in this case, looks like.  Quaritch slipped his hand out of his pocket and put his hand flat on the table, slowly sliding the keycard and broken tooth over to him.

“His parents made a mistake, but SPIDER is not the mistake.” Quaritch growled. “Let me take a good guess on how it all went down.  You took in the little tike because you didn’t have any kids yet.  Just being a Good Samaritan, right?  You sure seem like a family man but that boy was never part of your family, was he?”

”Who the hell do you think you are?” McCosker asked, getting to his feet but still being towered over by the colonel. “We put a roof over his head, food in his stomach, did everything we could to raise him as one of our own.”

“Did you?” Quaritch said, feeling his anger rising, “Your sons are model citizens, aren’t they?  Good students, helpful in the community.  Real poster child quality for the recolonization efforts.  AND they were born on Pandora.  Just like Spider.  Except Spider isn’t like them…it’s almost like you stopped caring as soon as you had your own.”

McCosker froze when Quaritch mentioned his sons.  The room turned silent as the colonel took back his hand and the battered man could see his ID keycard and tooth on the table.

”Spider didn’t attack you because you betrayed Sully…he already got you back for that by freeing those halfbreeds.” Quaritch said, eerily calm, “He bashed your face in for somethin’ else so what’d you do to him?  He said you threw out his teeth.  Did you knock them out when he gave you a hard time?”

”His goddamn baby teeth, I never hit him in the face!” McCosker huffed out but regretted the latter half of his statement at the narrowed gold ears and wrinkles on recom’s nose from the start of a growl.

”But you did hit him…” Quaritch said, his quiet tone not matching his facial cues.

McCosker was flustered but still tried to defend himself and said, ”We didn’t abuse him!  Put him in his room, maybe spanked him once or twice.  Nothing we did worked and it’s clear he’s still a lost cause as he was back then.  Too wild and dangerous!  It’d be best for everyone if you just had him put down-…”

The sound of the metal table crashing into the wall drew the attention of security minding their own business out in the hall.  When they peeked into the interview room, they were too shocked by the sight of Quaritch having pulled the table right off its bolts to get at McCosker.  The man was terrified, back against the wall with the recom’s massive hand across his collarbone.  

Quaritch had a fraction of a second of sense to push this sad excuse for a human being against the wall by his chest and not his throat.  He was growling low in his throat and wanted to finish the job his boy had started in the cafeteria.  There was much more to Miles attacking McCosker the way he had than an ass whooping or being sent to his room.

”Colonel Quaritch?” one of the guards had the courage to say, “What’s the issue, sir?”

Despite the bruises, all the color in McCosker’s face drained.  The ten-foot-tall blue version of the old head of Sec-Ops suddenly looked VERY familiar.  Quaritch slowly took his hand back and stood back up straight.

”Not at all.” Quaritch answered, “Isn’t that right, Mr. McCosker?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Several excruciatingly long hours later, Quaritch received an alert from the staff in solitary that Spider was awake.  He’d spent the time decompressing in his apartment and absorbing all the information he’d learned from Nash McCosker.  His annoyance that Spider was the reason Sully got away a year ago was easily overlooked now knowing how hard the boy’s childhood had been.  But despite it all, Spider was still a great kid…

He was down in the solitary confinement cell with Spider as fast as possible, borderline jogging through some of the long corridors to get from the living quarters to the prison block.  Quaritch stared at the boy, tucked into one of the corners as small as he could make himself.  When he was sedated, they’d changed him out of his native attire into a hospital gown and boxers.  What really completed the ensemble was the straight jacket.

It made Quaritch sick to see this poor boy snared like a maniac…

”Hey, tiger.” Quaritch said with a sigh.  The boy looked up and the colonel felt even worse seeing the tear tracks on his cheeks and terrified expression.  He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit really hit the fan…everythin’ will be ok.  But, goddamn it, kid…we gotta do better.  Alright?”

Spider bit his lip and sniffled, nodding his head quickly.

”Good.  Let’s get you something to eat.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Not wanting to risk triggering Miles again, Quaritch had some breakfast delivered to his apartment instead of going to the cafeteria.  Spider hadn’t said a word since leaving solitary.  He hovered very close to Quaritch as he led him back to the apartment and sat on the oversized couch with his legs hugged tight to his chest in complete silence.

”Eat up, kid.” Quaritch said flatly, putting the plate of scrambled eggs and bacon on the cushion next to him.  He sighed for the umpteenth time since coming back to the apartment as he sat on the other side of the couch, rubbing his eyes against the tension headache relentlessly pounding in his skull.

Spider looked up from where he hid his face in his knees but didn’t move to eat yet.  His eyes looked glassy like he was on the verge of tears again.  After a few minutes of silence, the recom looked at him with a disgruntled look.  It made Spider flinch.

”Eat.” Quaritch said more firmly this time.  The boy nodded and ate quickly.  The colonel watched him finish everything on his plate like his life depended on it.  He cleared his throat to get Spider’s attention and said, “I’m not mad at you, Spider.  I know you’re all mixed up right now and…didn’t mean to hurt anyone.  That McCosker is a prick…”

Spider stared at Quaritch wide-eyed then looked at his bandaged hand.  His eyebrows pinched together and he bit his lip as it trembled.  He sniffled again.

”Kid, I’m not good with whatever this is.” Quaritch said annoyedly and waved his hand to reference Spider’s emotional response.  “You gotta talk to me.  Or if you just…need time to yourself, you can go to your room.”

Tears started to slowly fall but Spider nodded and got off the couch.  He walked over to the two open doors with almost identical bedrooms and paused.  Quaritch watched him, concern brewing over the boy’s strange behavior.  He leaned his arms on his knees and observed him carefully.

Spider was standing in front of the bedroom doors, his fingers fidgeting with the hem of the hospital gown.  He seemed unsure of himself.  Lost.  Scared, even.

”Left door, Spider.” Quaritch said, realizing the boy didn’t seem to know.

Spider looked back at him, gripping the shirt tighter.  Quaritch raised an eyebrow but waited this time for the boy to speak.

”Um…” Spider finally started in a quiet, uncertain voice, “…uh, are we friends?”

”Uh…” Quaritch’s ears went back and eventually he nodded and responded, “Yea, I like to think so.  Why?”

”I-It’s just…only my friends call me Spider.” the boy started with a shrug.  His voice was quiet and meek, completely unlike anything Quaritch had ever heard from him. “Grown ups usually call me Miles.”

[srgntjamesbuckybarnes]

Buck & Doe (13)

Summary: Natasha attempts to take down Dreykov, who is mind controlling Black Widows. In her quest she recruits Y/N, a former Black Widow turned science experiment. Bucky and Natasha share a history in the Red Room but his life might be intertwined with more than one Widow. The closer they get to taking down Dreykov, the more secrets come to light.

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Angry Bucky

Word Count: 4.2k

A/N: Not Beta’d

Series Masterlist

Previous Chapter

Chapter 13

When Rebecca demanded they travel as normal people Bucky hadn’t expected to be trapped in a Volkswagen Beetle for hours on end only to end up at a seedy motel. The sleek blue car left little room between the two super-soldiers; their shoulders battled for what little space remained the entire ride. Y/N and Natasha took to the back of the vehicle equally cramped in the much narrower space. The confinement had everyone on edge. So much for calling it a vacation.

A knock on the driver’s widow had Steve rolling the window down, grateful for someone else to converse with.

Rebecca gave everyone a small wave. “The kids are passed out. I’m going to go in and get us a couple of rooms while Harold unpacks the car. Care to join me?”

Steve nodded, killing the engine before tossing Bucky the keys. “Unload her will ya.” The blonde barely waited for a response before he was scrambling out of the car stretching his legs.

With a two-finger salute Bucky followed suit, sliding the passenger seat forward to allow Y/N and Natasha to exit. They didn’t have much, but they needed to appear normal, at least in front of the kids. Having the public spot them also wasn’t ideal in the event that HYDRA got word of it. Slipping past the open door, Bucky dove forward grasping two heavy duffels off of the back floor.

“Need a hand, James?”

Bucky jumped at the sudden loud voice directly behind him. A silent curse on his tongue as his head connected with the top of the car. With a growl Bucky whipped around dropping both backs on the concrete, the clash of metal loud in the air. “What’s your problem?”

Harold raised his palms in surrender. “I was only trying to help.”

“Yeah, well don’t.” Bucky spat, reaching up to rub the sore spot on his head.

“Barnes.” Natasha snapped.

Harold’s eyes dropped landing on the two black duffle bags between the men. He knew the sound of guns clanging together. In his line of work, Harold had been familiar with the sound of a few guns knocking together; this was more than a few.

He narrowed his eyes as he met Bucky’s cold glare. “That’s quite the arsenal you got there. Plan on using that?”

An animalistic noise escaped the super-soldier. He didn’t have to ask Harold what he meant. The unwavering eye contact was enough to know he saw Bucky as a threat. Harold knew Bucky’s former self had murdered people, but he was no longer the Winter Soldier. He didn’t deserve the implications.

“Only if HYDRA fires first.” Natasha intervened, drawing Harold’s eyes on her. “Thank you for the offer but we got it from here.”

After a long stare off Harold nodded retreating to his car. Natasha was unfazed by the large man. It wasn’t the first time she encountered men like him. He was sizing them up. His job was to protect Rebecca and the kids. He didn’t trust them and no matter how close Steve, Y/N, and Bucky were to Rebecca, Natasha wasn’t fully convinced she trusted Rebecca and Harold either.

“What the hell was that Barnes?” Natasha crossed her arms over her chest.

Bucky loured at the Widow. “Don’t pretend this is about Harold. If you have something to say, then say it.” Ever since the conversion about the Wolf Spider ops Natasha has kept her distance. It was only a matter of time before the topic came up.

Natasha shook her head. “This is about Harold.”

“He came after me.” Bucky insisted.

The red head pressed her lips together. “He was just doing his job. He’s cautious like the rest of us. It’s his job to protect Rebecca and the kids from HYDRA and we're heading right into the lion’s den.”

“No one forced her to help us.”

Natasha’s lip quirked. “Exactly Barnes. No one forced him to tag along either, so play nice. At least until the mission is over.”

Bucky inhaled, rolling his eyes. “For someone so cautious and experienced he should know not to sneak up on someone.”

A bell chimed signaling Rebecca and Steve’s exit from the office cutting their conversation short. Rebecca waved a white envelope filled with key cards in the air as all of the adults gathered around. Steve could sense the tension between the group, Y/N huddling beside him away from the others only solidifying his assumption.

“We have four rooms.” Rebecca announced flipping through the keys.

Bucky bit the inside of his cheek praying he wouldn’t be sharing a room with Harold. He would lose his mind if he had to be trapped in a room with him. He would rather get back in the Volkswagen for another few hours than spend them with Harold.

Rebecca opened her mouth but was silenced by Steve. They hadn’t discussed who would share a room, but Steve wasn’t blind to the looks everyone was sharing. “Rebecca and Natasha.” Steve tested earning a slight nod from the Widow. He knew she didn’t trust Rebecca yet and would feel better keeping an eye on her. “Jane and Jaime.” Y/N’s shoulders visibly relaxed beside Steve, so he continued. “Harold and Beck.” Bucky practically leaped for joy. Not only did he not have to share a room with Harold, Harold also wouldn’t get to share a room with his sister or teammates. “Bucky and I will take the end.”

Harold nodded, opening his palm awaiting his key. “I’ll wake the kids.” Rebecca nodded, passing the keys to their respectful owners.

“Are you okay?” 

“Hmm?” Y/N hummed lost in thought as she spread her hands along the mattress. The springs threatened to stab her palms even through the quilt. It wasn’t the most comfortable bed, but a bed was a bed.

“You seem distracted.” Jaime observed, plopping herself on her identical bed, the quilt just as flashy as the gold and maroon wallpaper. The rug was a shade of crimson. Everything was practically red.

Y/n sent the teen a tight-lipped smile. “Just taking everything in.” Mimicking the young girl, Y/N plopped on the bed facing Jaime. “I’ve never had a sleepover when I was a kid, this should be fun.”

Jaime’s eyes widened. “Never?”

Y/N shook her head. “I didn’t exactly have the time or friends.”

Jaime nodded. “What about your parents?” She asked brushing a stand of dark hair behind her ear.

With a shrug Y/N collapsed on the bed. She knew she had parents somewhere out there, but she doesn’t remember them. She wondered if they were alive, if she had siblings, or if they missed her but it doesn’t matter. “I didn’t know them.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Jaime whispered.

Y/N frowned, pushing herself up. “What about Rebecca?”

Jaime smiled. “She’s great. Tells us about the family a lot so in a way I feel like I know my parents.”

The corners of Y/N’s lips twisted up. She knew Rebecca was an amazing storyteller. Rebecca’s stories had gotten Y/N though some tough times, so she was elated to hear someone else had a similar experience.

“What about Harold?” Y/N questioned, wondering the young girl’s thoughts on the man Bucky couldn’t seem to stand.

“He’s great too. Picks us up after school and comes to all of the extracurriculars. A bit overprotective but he means well. Guess he’s the closest thing to a father.”

Beck’s fingers couldn’t move fast enough over the keyboard of his phone. While he shared an eerily similar face to the Winter Soldier, he was still attractive. Before they left to find the entrance to the Wolf Spider ops, Beck had landed a date with a cute girl in his grade.

“How long is this trip going to be?” Beck huffed from his spot on the bed.

“Hot date?” Harold joked.

If only he knew. “I’m trying to make plans.”

Harold rolled his eyes, as he stood in front of the tv flipping through the channels. “Why don’t you get off the phone and spend some time with your family.” It was more of a demand than a suggestion.

Beck scoffed. “Aunt Becca seems pretty busy with her friends, and I’ll just end up fighting with Jaime.”

Harold nodded, settling on the news. He made his way toward his mattress beside Beck, a frown etched in on his lips. “What about Bucky?” He had to resist rolling his eyes at the man’s instance of being called James by only him.

Beck shrugged. “What about him?” It’s not like the guy had been in his life the whole time. He just randomly popped up one day and now Beck was expected to call him uncle.

With a raised eyebrow, Harold explained. “What do you think about him?”

The phone Beck had been preoccupied with suddenly went dark from lack of attention. Sure, Becca seemed to think Bucky was good enough to open her home to him, but he was also her brother. Then again, he was the Winter Soldier. Everyone knew what he was capable of, what he had done. He didn’t hate the guy; he just didn’t know him so that’s what he went with. “I don’t know.”

Steve watched Bucky as he paced around the room, his movements aggressive. He didn’t want to pry but he couldn’t fix the situation if everyone else knew the issue but him.

The captain cleared his throat, arms crossed as his eyes followed his best friend. Bucky’s hands paused inside his duffle bag, stands of deep brown locks falling in his line of eyesight but still managing to meet Steve’s blue eyes from across the room.

“What happened out there?”

Bucky snapped his head back towards the duffle bag on the bed before him. More hair falling to cover his expression. The last thing he wanted was to lash out on another person. Steve didn’t deserve it and he knew he could tell his best friend anything, but he knew if spoke up, Steve would go up to bat for him every time. It’s who Steve was, even before the serum; he was a fighter.

“‘M fine.”

 More digging. More aggression. Bucky could see Steve step around the other side of his bed out of the corner of his eye. The closer Steve got the more frantic Bucky’s movements became. “God, where is it?” Bucky snapped, dumping his bag on the bed.

Steve searched the sea of clothes on the quilt, then his friend’s face for any answers. Stopping between the two beds Steve ran a hand through his blonde hair. “You know I value your opinion, Buck. If something’s not right, you need to tell me.”

Bucky froze.

With one hand on his hip and the other holding his forehead Steve sighed. “Which Bucky am I talking to?”

“Fuck you.” Bucky gritted.

The hand on Steve’s forehead dropped to his other waist. “This isn’t you, Buck. You’re hostile. I’ve only seen you this truculent when it involves the Soldier and your past.”

“I’m not him.” Bucky whispered.

Steve stepped closer feeling Bucky flinch beneath the hand on his shoulder. “Then help me understand why you’re riled up. Help me, help you.”

Bucky shrugged Steve’s hand off. He didn’t want to have to keep relying on Steve to save him. Ignoring Steve, a bright light lit up from beneath the pile of clothes. The brunette snatched the phone up, relieved he found the phone he’d been searching for.

Steve recognized his friend wasn’t going to open up, so he changed his tactic. A grin graced his face at the image staring back at him from the brunette’s phone. “Nice background.”

Bucky clutched the phone to his chest as he sat on the edge of the bed facing Steve so he couldn’t see his screen. His hair covered the light blush dusting his cheeks. Steve sat on his own bed facing Bucky. His palms rested on his knees.

“She didn’t have any pictures, so I took one.”

Steve nodded. “And you made it your background.”

Bucky bit the inside of his cheek. He knew what Steve was insinuating but he denied it. “She doesn’t have a phone. Meant a lot to her so figured she could at least see it whenever without needing me to get in the phone.”

Steve held up his hand. “No need to explain.” That was the Bucky Steve knew. He noticed Bucky’s muscles went lax. No matter how strong Bucky was, he was also delicate. “Regardless, I’m happy for you.”

Bucky said nothing.

“You care for her, Buck. Anyone can see that, even if it’s not romantic. Whatever it is that’s been going on with you today scared her.”

Blue orbs met Steve’s and he knew he had him. Bucky fought for people the same as Steve. The brunette had stepped into every fight he found Steve in before the serum. The blonde knew if the brunette wouldn’t get help for himself, he would for others because Steve was the same way.

“When I came out of the office she clung to my side. I could feel the tension between the rest of you. I know the ride here was less than desirable, but this isn’t you. If you won’t help me, help you, then at least help her.” Steve pleaded.

Silence. Bucky made no move to speak. The only sign that he was still with Steve was the twitch in his right hand while his left tightened around the phone.

“I didn’t mean to scare her.” Bucky began. “The car ride already made me miserable. Then Harold pissed me off. Nat’s been giving me the cold shoulder since she found out I knew about the Wolf Spider ops and then she took his side.”

CRASH.

Natasha sat up in her bed. Her eyes struggled to see her surroundings in the dark room.

“Did you hear that?” Rebecca whispered.

Natasha pressed a finger to her lip while her other hand snaked down the side of her bed to grab the gun beneath the mattress.

Rebecca gasped. “Natasha watch-”

Natasha was swiftly on her feet and across the room, gun pointed directly at the intruder a foot in front of her. She wasn’t quick enough. Using the fact that Natasha just woke up, the figure was able to pull Natasha’s gun from her grasp; however, not without receiving a foot to the chest. The intruder clutched the front of the red head’s shirt, spinning her underneath her arm before slamming her face into the wall. Then pulling her back by the back of her collar into the wall behind her.

Natasha was able to grab the dark figure by the throat and push her against the cabinet in the small kitchen space. A yelp escaped the figure as the Widow shoved her on the counter. “Stay down.” Natasha demanded she heard a screech and was smashed over the head by a glass plate. 

Rebecca watched in horror as Natasha and the intruder danced with knives and wondered if the others were safe. It was obvious to Rebecca that both fighters excelled far past anything she could do so joining Natasha was not an option. Did she have time to call someone? Perhaps a text, so the intruder wouldn’t know. Was anyone up, would anyone answer?

Moments later the door slammed open, the light switch was flipped blinding Rebecca and the two currently strangling each other with a curtain.

“Yelena?” Bucky stalked towards the two pulling the curtain from their grasps.

Natasha froze as her eyes adjusted. Sure, enough panting on the floor beside her was her baby sister. She fought to scramble to her feet, letting out a coughing fit as Bucky seized Yelena’s bicep and drug her to the wooden dining chair. The white curtain weaving between her arms and the back of the chair as she continued to pant.

Steve assed the damage in the room. There was no way the damage would go unnoticed. Their cover would be blown the minute they told the office. Apart from the shock on Rebecca’s face she was okay. Natasha sported a few cuts and red marks that would definitely turn into bruises: her sister sporting matching injuries.

When Bucky was done securing the knot he stalked around the front of the chair. “What are you doing here?”

A cocky smirk from Yelena turned Bucky’s face sour. “The Winter Soldier.”

He wanted to correct her, but she would only use the information to toy with him, so instead he remained silent.

Natasha sat on the floor wiping blood from her nose with her sleeve. “He’s not the Winter Soldier anymore.”

Yelena pursed her lips. “And I assume you are no longer a Widow, yet you use the name to save the world. The same name you used to kill people with.” Yelena chuckled. “Same person. You just use the skills differently.”

“Enough!” Steve barked. His arms fixed across his chest taking on an intimidating persona. Unfortunately, Yelena doesn’t scare easily.

Her eyes lit up at the sight behind Steve in the doorway. “Ah, Jane Doe. Now it is one big reunion.”

Bucky whipped around confirming with his own eyes Y/N was standing in the doorway. Harold behind her.

“Yelena? What are you doing here?” Y/N stepped around Steve. “I heard commotion from next door but-” She trailed off examining the room. Holes in the wall, curtains on the floor, glass everywhere, and a bloody Natasha and Yelena.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Yelena brushed off the lingering eyes.

“Yelena.” Natasha growled. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?”

A copper taste filled her mouth causing her to spit on the floor. The blood mixed with the crimson carpet creating a slightly darker spot.

“Fine.” Her thick Russian accent took over. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don't know?” Natasha hissed.

“I mean, one minute I’m fighting you and the next I’m fighting for my life.” Rolling her head, she groaned. “Did you have to hit me that hard?”

Natasha’s eyes widened. “You attacked me.”

“Dreykov has been brainwashing Widows. I think the fight set me straight.”

Everyone in the room went rigid. If Yelena was here Dreykov must know where they’re at.

“Who else knows you're here?” Steve was the first to ask.

Yelena shook her head, licking her lips. “No one. I was sent out with no location. I found you all on my own.” She beamed proud of herself. “I don’t report until after the mission.”

“And if you don’t report?”

Turning towards Rebecca Natasha whispered. “They’re killed.”

“Can you untie me? This is quite uncomfortable.”

Bucky dismissed the question with his own. “How many other Widows are out there looking for us?”

“Including the ones in this room?” The blonde Widow toyed with them eyeing Natasha and Y/N. “None that I know of.”

Y/N let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She had just gotten free; she didn’t want to be controlled anymore.

“Let her go.”

“What?” Rebecca’s eyes widened in fear. “She attacked us.”

Natasha stood up on shaky legs. “She attacked me.” Her eyes narrowed at Rebecca. “She’s not being controlled anymore.”

“What if she goes back to Dreykov. Then this is all for nothing. I have kids in the next room. I can’t risk that.”

Scanning Yelena, Natasha shook her head. “She won’t report.”

“How can you be so sure?” Harold asked.

Bucky understood. There was nothing better worth fighting for once you’re in control of your own mind again than your freedom. Without a response Bucky was behind Yelena untying the knots.

“Because, she's my sister.” Natasha offered rather than an actual response.

Yelena hummed, rubbing her wrists.

“Stay the night?” Natasha asked. She hadn’t seen her sister in years. They probably wouldn’t see each other again. She wanted to make the most of the small window they’ve been given. “We can go out.”

Pretending to think about it, Yelena nodded. “As long as drinks are on you.”

“Rebecca, you can stay with me and Jaime.” Y/N offered.

Rebecca could only nod.

A soft tapping roused Bucky from his sleep. Well, he hadn’t actually been sleeping. More like laying with his eyes closed. His feet slapped the rug, but the carpet absorbed any sound. The tapping continued outside of the room unaware of any life inside the room. Bucky plucked the wooden door wide open catching the person on the other end off guard. Y/N.

“What are you doing out here this late?”

Goosebumps littered her skin from the cool breeze. The t-shirt doing a poor job at protecting her skin from the air. Bucky himself had only been in a pair of boxers when he answered the door. Steve hadn’t returned since Natasha and Yelena left. Bucky was alone.

“Can I come in?”

Bucky pushed the door open further allowing her to enter the room. Her eyes took in the room, the layout identical to her own room and Natasha’s. The only thing difference was the blankets and pillow on the floor next to the bed. The soft click of the door drew her attention back to the super-soldier.

“You’re sleeping on the floor?”

He shrugged. “‘S more comfortable.”

Y/N nodded glancing back at the messy blankets. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

Bucky shook his head walking further into the room. “What are you doing up?”

A sigh escaped Y/N lips while she clenched and unclenched her hands. “I’m tingly.”

Bucky raised his eyebrows pushing his long hair out of his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“It's been a while. She wants to come out. I need to shift but I can’t in my room with Jaime. Steve is well,” She spun around the room searching for him. “Not here. Natasha is with Yelena, and I can’t go to Harold with Beck in the room. Rebecca doesn’t want them to know anything.”

Bucky frowned at the idea that she would even consider going to Harold. He may be in on the mission, but he doesn’t know her.

“I just need a place to shift and for someone to watch her for a bit. It’s going to be another long car ride tomorrow so now is my only time.”

Bucky was already digging though his duffle bag and sliding on a pair of sweatpants, a Henley, socks, and a single glove. Y/N felt guilty forcing the man to dress in his own room and watch a kid.

“I’m so sorry to do this to you.”

Bucky waved her off, securing the glove in place. “I missed her anyway and beats staying up alone. Go ahead.”

He braced himself for the inevitable, the moment she saw him again.

“‘Key!”

Bucky grunted as the little girl tackled him but remained in place.

“Hey babydoll.”

“Rogers!”

Steve turned outside of the motel finding his fiery red headed friend bouncing towards him.

“We need to talk.”

Steve held out a hand, a gesture for her to lead the way. He followed her to the side of the motel, watching as she leaned against the wall.

“I don't trust Rebecca.” Natasha whispered. “Yelena doesn’t remember much before the fight, but she found us pretty quick. She didn’t move a muscle when Yelena broke in the room.”

Steve frowned. “Not everyone is a fighter, Nat. She texted Bucky.”

The Widow shook her head. “I’m telling you something is off.”

Steve hung his head. “We should talk to Bucky.”

Natasha shook her head. “He’s too close. He’ll just deny it and get upset.”

She was right. Bucky had been hostile enough the whole day without the added stress.

“Then we keep it to ourselves and keep our eyes open and our ears to the ground.”

Natasha nodded. “Agreed. Come on, it’s late. I’ll walk you to your room.”

Steve grinned following the red head back around the corner. “You can stay with me and Buck.” Opening the door, he whispered in case Bucky was asleep. “Rebecca is with Jaime and Jane.”

“No, she’s not.” Natasha smirked.

Sitting on the floor in front of a small table Y/N and Bucky were doing a puzzle. Excited to see the other Y/N, Steve was about to push the door open further but a hand on his chest stopped him.

“Don’t. This is the calmest he’s been all day.”

“But-”

“Look at his hands.” Natasha insisted. Bucky’s right gloved hand held Y/N’s left while his left worked with her right to put the puzzle together. “He’s building something with his left hand. She has him creating instead of destroying. Don’t you dare go in there and ruin that.”

A sad smile crept along Steve’s lips. “She’s been doing it all along.” Natasha quirked an eyebrow. “The crayons. She was breaking them on purpose and crossing the room to get him to fix them when I was right there.”

Natasha pulled the door shut gently as to not alert the pair inside. “She’s always been intuitive. That little girl probably knows more about each of us than we know about each other.” With a hand on Steve’s shoulder, she guided him towards the office. “Come on, we’ll get another room.”

Next Chapter

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[jeremy-ken-anderson]

Fluff

As I watch assorted "trash" isekai and recognize patterns, I find that unlike some viewers who had a reserve of patience for the tropes that has run out and are now pissed as hell at every new isekai release...I have been getting more forgiving in my view of the genre on the whole.

I feel like three major themes are appearing:

The power fantasy

The relaxation fantasy

The relationship fantasy

And while some aspects of each of these have an ugly underbelly there's also a very relatable desire toward all of these things, particularly in this harsh and fucked-up world we live in these days.

We live in a world where we're constantly told we're powerless. Of course we like to imagine a situation where the character meant to represent us has all the power.

We live in a world where we're told we have to overachieve or nobody is going to give a shit about us. Of course we find it appealing to imagine someone who lives in a fantasy world where, even if there's some distant threat of The Demon King or whatever there's also a lot of time to take it easy and - due to the OP nature of the protagonist - still be in high regard. They can relax, and relaxing doesn't cost them social capital.

We live in a world where we feel disconnected from the people around us, and where relationships are hard to form and take a lot of work. Of course we like the idea of a found family that gets along and goes on all these adventures together.

And sure, those dark underbellies I mentioned are present. The expression of power in a lot of these shows reads kind of psychotic, in particular with the "this is a real world that's reminiscent of your favorite videogame" and the character acting like because it's "reminiscent" of a videogame killing people isn't a problem even though they're established as being real people. The expression of relaxation when they're OP and prioritizing their vacation over stopping murders reads very "Spider-man not stopping the mugger" but then there are never consequences in-story because relaxation fantasy is the point of the show. And most of the "found family" is a "family" of beautiful young women to fawn over the male protagonist. I find it interesting that part of the fantasy is often child-rearing - a bunch of these have part of the "harem" include a much younger character who calls the protag "onii-san" or "papa" but in spite of the other trashiness of the show these haven't been sexualized in any of the isekai I've seen. This makes it feel like part of the fantasy is "being master of the house," and that includes having kids that you're looking after. I find that trope oddly wholesome for something that's getting tacked onto the harem trope.

But I get where these isekai are coming from, and why people like them, and why they persist. I was griping about Beast Tamer just yesterday but it's also got some really good stuff to say about being a supportive person and not being a huge dick in relationships and it is right out front that it says this stuff. As I've seen reviewers get to say now and then, "It's not even subtext; It's just text." And there's something refreshing and healthy about a story being explicit about positive relationship messaging.

[cabinet-man-colors]

(ID. 9 images, all of art made by OP. they are arranged in a 3 by 3 grid.

The top left image is a pencil drawing of an OC named Raide, smiling with her eyes closed. The top middle image is a drawing of an OC named Calen. he is standing with his arms spread slightly and one leg up. The top right image is of an OC named Glowstick. he is a slugcat, and is holding glowing spears above his head. the text says "Glowstick! (the chemist)"

The middle left image is a drawing of 4 sonic OC's hanging out in a bedroom. the middle image is half photo half drawing, showing the artist, Ravio. his face is split in half with half of it painted over and the other half left as is. the middle right image is a drawing of a sonic OC named moss.

The bottom left image is a drawing of Link from legend of zelda, tears of the kingdom. he is holding the master sword up as the only source of light. the bottom middle image is a digital painting of Legend from Mina's Linkverse web comic. the bottom right image is a drawing of Peter Parker and Miles Morales from the Insomniac Games spider-man games. End ID.)

these are all from toward the end of the year, mainly because im the most proud of them lol. i went through 4 art programs this year- krita to clipstudio, and rebelle 5 to rebelle 7. hell yeah. dunno what else to say, so happy new year i guess :D