#sprint intervals

[babylawyerruns]

Went for this intervals/ HIIT run in the dark - fast intervals so I was supposed to walk in between so the mile times don’t really make sense- it was like 60 degrees out and I had two headlamp/ flashlights lmao

[ancientroyalblood]

How to Develop Explosive Lower Body Power: Sprints and Plyometrics

Incorporating sprints and plyometric exercises into your workout routine can be a game-changer for developing explosive lower body power. Designed to build fast-twitch muscle fibers and enhance strength, these exercises are particularly beneficial for athletes, fitness enthusiasts, or anyone looking to improve speed, agility, and power. This workout guide combines sprints and plyos for an…

[suzieb-fit]

Hmm, just when I was starting to think I'd finally "cracked it" with the mucus solution. Yesterday was a really settled day. Still there throughout the day, but at a low level and no major flare ups.

Then this morning? Yep. Boom.... Back as bad as ever.

Ugh. Maybe that's how the detox works? Gradually eases with the occasional bad flare up, but less and less frequently til they die off altogether. Or am I just being delusional, lol?

Anyway, I'm weight training this morning. Upper body.

Woke up pretty tired, so started a little later.

Breakfast outside on a very dull, drizzly Monday morning before anything else.

I am all about fueling my body properly.

No more fasting. This is more technically "time restricted eating". Finishing eating sfter an early dinner, giving my digestive system a good break before breakfast.

I might occasionally go longer, but I night also occasionally go no longer than 12hrs.

My current training focus needs good quality feeding.

I took my usual half an hour walk straight after.

Upper body strength today. I hit those weights pretty hard.

Ended with a tuck jump sprint interval. Wow, total game changer!

Lunch was chicken salad with grapes and fake cheese. Coconut based. Actually pretty nice.

I decided to do something different for my afternoon fitness bout. Got on the rowing machine. Actually hate rowing, lol. Just feels like I'm on there for weeks! I put my earphones in and listened to a podcast. Made it slightly more tolerable.

Fresh fruit, walnuts, mixed seeds, ground coconut and a splash of olive oil after that.

Time to chill, now.

Today was a double chicken day. Had some for dinner too! Had that with avocado and veggies. Fresh ginger, herbs and spices.

I decided on an extra snack. Grapes and macadamia nuts.

Training hard and heavy has sent my "refeed" brain into overdrive!

And I might even make a second serving of my breakfast recipe tonight. Add some frozen blueberries.

That will add upto a whole lot of food, but meh, I can definitely add a few pounds without any worries. I'm lower than my normal maintenance goal right now.

Breakfast will be later tomorrow, so I'll also still get at least that 12hr digestive rest. No commitment either way. I'll just see how I feel later.

I feel fantastic at the moment. Yes, this morning's bad flare up knocked me sideways, but it was only maybe a couple of hours out of an otherwise excellent day!

[fellhellion]

how have I sunk 70 hours into reload and not encountered the reaper yet

[disabled-dean]

Biting and killing Jackles silly little Hollywood Actor Man personal trainer and his silly little Hollywood Actor Man dietiction and his silly little Hollywood Actor Man dermatologist- MY Dean Winchester has laugh lines and a thick stomach and quads and tris for days

[plethodontidae]

wish they would invent a running that wouldn’t make you poop

[squidaped-oyt]

Time to play another game of ‘What In God’s Name Are The Neighbours Doing’ I guess!

[elicathebunny]

HEALTH SHOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST! PRIORITISING HEALTH BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE TO LOOK GOOD + FEEL GOOD.

People always leave out the basics when it comes to trying to improve their looks. Prioritising health is so important before going in and tempering with your body. Your base is what you work with and you can definitely level up with what you've got naturally.

DIET

Your diet also depends on what your goals are. Someone who wants to build muscle will obviously eat differently from someone who just eats relatively healthy. So identify what your goals are and work your meals around that.

Here are some videos to give you a better insight: HOW I LOSE FAT AND KEEP IT OFF MEANS, WORKOUTS + EVERYTHING ELSE PROTEIN EXPLAINED, STRENGTH, MUSCLES, FAT LOSS & ENDURANCE HOW METABOLISM WORKS

Diet not only makes you feel better from the inside, but it also reflects on your outside. Your skin is a huge display of how you eat.

When you consume junk food, it can show up on your skin as breakouts or dullness. Your skin is one massive organ which soaks up everything put onto it and reflects everything you put inside your body. Fix the problem from the inside before getting confused about why your skincare routine isn't working.

FITNESS

Again, your fitness will differentiate from your goals. So work out your goals and make a plan around that. There are so many forms of fitness, some more intense than others and with different results. Working out in general is good for you, our bodies are meant to move. So even if you don't have a goal, staying active is always recommended.

HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT WORKOUT PLAN

THE BEST WAY TO GAIN MUSCLE, SCIENCE EXPLAINED SIMPLY

Low-intensity workouts:

Yoga: Focuses on flexibility, strength, and relaxation through various poses and breathing techniques.

Pilates: A low-impact exercise method that strengthens muscles, improves flexibility, and enhances posture.

Walking: Simple yet effective, walking is a great way to improve cardiovascular health and boost mood without high impact.

Swimming: Provides a full-body workout with minimal stress on joints, making it ideal for people with joint issues or injuries.

High-intensity workouts:

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training): Alternates between short bursts of intense exercise and brief recovery periods to maximize calorie burn and improve cardiovascular fitness.

CrossFit: Combines elements of weightlifting, interval training, gymnastics, and other exercises to build strength, endurance, and overall fitness.

Sprinting: Short, explosive bursts of running at maximum effort, often performed in intervals for cardiovascular conditioning and leg muscle strength.

Circuit Training: Involves moving through a series of exercises targeting different muscle groups with minimal rest in between, combining strength training and cardiovascular exercise.

These are just a few examples, but there are plenty of other workout styles out there to explore depending on your preferences and fitness goals. Walking every day is just a simple way to stay toned.

SLEEP

Sleeping is important for rest and recovery after workouts and energy-consuming activities. Sleep is needed for the brain to function, mood regulation and performance + productivity. Lack of sleep deprives you of all of these things, so getting your beauty sleep is absolutely needed.

School-age children (6-13 years): 9-11 hours per day.

Teenagers (14-17 years): 8-10 hours per day.

Young adults (18-25 years): 7-9 hours per day.

Adults (26-64 years): 7-9 hours per day.

HYGIENE

Upkeeping good hygiene is always needed anyway. Making sure you are clean (smelling good is a plus). Make sure you always wash your hands and take daily showers to remove any dirt on your body (clean those feet and your back well, don't forget them!). Taking care of your oral health must not be forgotten. Oil pulling and brushing your tongue for a healthy mouth. Make sure your hair is also getting the attention to keep it as healthy as you possibly can make it (this also depends on diet). Doing the extra things like spending time on your nails (making sure there isn't that stuff underneath them), making them pretty.

BODY CARE ROUTINE | FOR SMOOTH & GLOWING SKIN, TREATING KERATOSIS PILARIS, SHOWER ROUTINE

ENVIRONMENT

Having a stress-free environment is obviously the best to thrive in. But clearly not even being lucky enough to live like that constantly. So make sure you have that space to be on your own and have some alone time to really recharge. Keeping your space clean for a clear mind. Surround yourself with like-minded people and really set boundaries for those who prey on your mental clarity (energy vampires). Spending time in nature is one of the best ways to detach, rest time should not equal spending time on your devices. Let go and truly let yourself decompress. Mental health will improve how you carry yourself.

EMBODY YOUR POTENTIAL.

[halcyone-of-the-sea]

Queue me sprinting to the inbox when I got the notice that your inbox was open! First off, congrats on 5k! Ok now business: can I request something along the lines of Ghost realizing he’s become attached his partner (maybe the reader is the same rank or a sniper or something where they’ve known each other a while) but it’s a situation where it’s a harsh realization. Like it was the one time they didn’t go on a mission together and the reader got hurt real bad (like Ghost only found out because he happened to be on the tarmac when the reader’s body was being carried out of a helicopter by medics) and that’s how he realizes he loves the reader. Because it hits him like a ton of bricks that he might loose them and just breaks down but it ends with him being by the reader’s side and confessing in his own way when they wake up

—Blood Like Obsidian

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 5k Drabble Masterlist ࿐ྂ

╰┈➤ ❝ [Simon can only fight against so many nurses as they shove him back from your operation room.] ❞

He doesn’t recall how he felt the moment he spotted your body being dragged out of that Helo, arm limp over the shoulder of one of the men in your unit. He doesn’t even remember what Soap was talking to him about on the tarmac. 

Because at that instance, the entire world seemed to stop in one horrible moment of mute panic and brown, wide eyes. 

Simon watched for a moment in shock, seeing your limp form as the soldier carrying you screamed out for a medic, moving as fast as he could in the direction of the on-base hospital; jostling you. Soap finally looks over.

“Holy hell,” the Scot breathes, head pulling back. 

Simon’s already sprinting. 

“Give her to me,” he growls to the soldier, who looks up at him in shock as he appears like an apparition. 

“S-sir, I—”

“Fucking hand her over!” Simon orders, eye flashing, his accent already making the aggressive voice even more so as he spits from behind his mask. 

The man immediately presents your unconscious form, blood so saturated into your gear that the black looks like obsidian; shiny like that natural glass formed after lava cools. There’s a damn hole in your chest. 

Taking you up easily, your dead weight makes his chest tighten, a sharp inhale sounding off from Simon before he grits his teeth and holds you tighter.

The Lieutenant grunts and takes off, feet slamming into the ground. He glances down at you in rapid intervals, gazing at your expressionless face for long seconds before it snaps back up to the road ahead—it’s no more than a few seconds before Simon slams his shoulder into a door. 

The barrier hits the far wall and nurses all look up in momentary fear.

“Help her!” He sounds desperate, and his hands dig into you harshly. If you’d been awake, you’d be telling him to let go before you developed marks. The nurses are still paused at the sudden appearance of the monster-ish man in black and gray. Simon barks like a dog, stepping closer. “Fuckin’ hell, are you bastards bloody deaf?!”

The others dash forward and tell him to place you on one of the rolling beds, and he does so without another word; heart so violently beating in his chest that he’s panting, breath loud in his own head.

The nurses are calling to one another, yelling to grab an available doctor and get you into surgery, beginning to wheel you away. Simon jogs along, eyes not leaving your face but ever silent with his hands clenched.

He hadn’t given much thought to how he felt about you—nothing was ever going to come of it. Years of missions and companionship with you. You, the ever-present bit of light that had stayed longer than all others. 

You, the only woman he would ever love.

The realization makes Simon’s legs nearly lock from under him, stumbling for a moment as one nurse peels back your vest and takes a pair of scissors to cut away the fabric over the mess of torn flesh and spitting veins.

You leave droplets of blood behind you, trailing off the limp hand that points to the floor from over the edge of the bed. 

Simon grabs at it and brings the hand to your chest, and he notices his own fingers shaking as he desperately moves his eyes up and down your body. He can’t even look at the wound—large, deadly. You jerk around with every movement as if you're already dead.

The Lieutenant feels his eyes burn with stark betrayal but barely pays attention.

As they’re pushing you into a pair of double doors, Simon remembers he was supposed to be with you during this mission, but had been reassigned last minute. The thought is so sudden he nearly forgets to ask where they’re bringing you. But the man recovers quickly.

“Oi!” He shouts, arms pushing him back from the door. Half of the nurses are telling him he needs to leave. He growls and jerks away from them, eyes flashing dangerously but always darting back to the door as it sways back and forth. 

But he knows why he’s out here—and the Lieutenant certainly doesn’t know how to operate on someone no matter how much he did.

He steps back and the rest of the nurses disappear back into your room. 

Simon puts a hand on the back of his head, gripping tightly at the fabric of his covering as he fears his teeth might break from how hard he’s clenching his jaw—grinding them across one another like a cheese grater. 

He loved you. Oh, God, he loved you. 

And he wasn’t there.

Turning away from the door, Simon paces the hallways until Soap re-joins him, any attempt the Sergeant makes at conversation is immediately slashed down ruthlessly. Simon’s shoulders widen; eyes grow more dead the longer you’re gone from his sight. 

It’s five hours until there’s any word, and when there is, the Lieutenant is alone again—his leg jumping along the floor and his hands held in a single fist under his nose; elbows on knees.

When he’s able to see you—stable but the future still uncertain, he sleeps there. 

Simon sleeps on the floor beside your hospital bed for two days straight, and the nurses are too afraid to tell him he can’t do that. So they don’t tell him at all. 

On day three, the man has only left the room to go to the bathroom; no food, no showers, or new clothes. He’d gone through worse, what was hunger? What was the small uncomfortableness in his chest? Nothing. It was nothing. 

During the day he watches your face, standing or sitting doesn’t matter. The nurses come and go, the doctor too, and he lets them work silently. Simon doesn’t speak to them.

But he does speak to you. 

And on day four, he plays with your fingers with a single hand, taking the flesh and watching it move. Feeling your pulse. 

The Lieutenant grunts. 

“Should’ve been there,” he hisses to himself harshly. “Should ‘ave never let you bloody go alone, yeah? Been by my side for ages.” Simon scoffs, glaring at the bedsheets. “My fuckin’ fault you’re ‘ere. No one can watch your back better, should’ve known that.” He misses the small twitch in your hand, too self-absorbed with his faults. 

Simon was never one for airing his grievances; the man was a master at suffering in the quiet nights. But this was a special case.

Your finger twitches again. 

“...Shouldn’t say stuff like that,” your words slur, and Simon’s head snaps up; heart lurching. He goes silent. 

Your eyes are only half-open, body heavy. You’ll be going back to sleep in mere moments, but you’d been awake long enough to understand what was going on. Simon watches, but his hand slips into yours. Grasping tightly. 

An unknown weight is taken from him at the twitch of a smirk on your lips.

“Care about you too, Big Guy.” 

He won’t tell you he loves you—he’s not that kind of person. He won’t explain the panic or the fear. Terror, really. 

But he’ll slip off his mask and let you see him, his thumb running the length of your knuckles. He’ll sigh and those browns will give way to the rare expressions he shows so few. 

He’ll let his head bend down to rest on your thigh as you fall back to sleep. Simon’s hand still holding yours.

You know.

TAGS:

@luuvbuzz, @emerald-valkyrie, @anna-banana27, @blueoorchid, @cryingnotcrying, @writeforfandoms, @homicidal-slvt, @jade-jax, @frazie99, @elmoees, @littlemisstrouble, @alpineswinter, @phoenixhalliwell, @idocarealot, @lavalleon, @facelessmemories, @h-leigh, @20forty9, @glitter-anon-asks, @emily-who-killed-a-man, @neelehksttr, @aeneanc, @escapefromrealitysm, @i-d-1-0-t, @pparcxysm, @hawkscanendme, @caramlizedtomatos, @waves-against-a-cliff, @sanfransolomitatm, @maelstrom007, @jemandderkeinenusernamenfindet, @pheobees, @glitterypirateduck, @uselsshuman, @fan-of-encouragement, @halfmoth-halfman, @ghostlythunderbird, @I-inkage, @pukbadger, @kopatych11, @0nceinabluem00n, @cocrorapop, @knightofsexyness, @abnormalgeil, @smallseastone, @jacegons, @330bpm-whiplash, @simon-rileys-housewife, @4-atsu, @tiredmetalenthusiast

[haikyu-mp4]

First kisses

word count; 761 – f!reader

Goshiki would always ask the rest of the team to have lunch together, all starry-eyed in contrast with the way he tried to look chill. So when he stopped asking, Semi definitely noticed.

The setter looked around with a keen eye after picking up his tray, leaning around the corners to try and find the younger volleyball player.

He spotted him over by the windows, at the end of a table sitting opposite of you.

The two of you were laughing and talking, leaning towards each other with eagerness at whatever topic you were discussing.

Goshiki’s ankles were locked together under his chair and you were quietly tapping your feet. The innocent infatuation was so obvious it made Semi smile softly.

“Did Goshiki get a girlfriend?” he asked the other third-years as he sat down.

“Mom of the group and you haven’t noticed Goshiki gushing about his new girlfriend?” Tendo asked, cackling loudly and making others turn with dirty looks.

Semi rolled his eyes. “Washijo made me train with Shirabu this week,” he argued.

“Well, our dear youngest starting player has gotten himself an adorable little girlfriend.”

Goshiki followed you to your club after school, holding your hand with a spring in his step while you walked and then hugging you before leaving. The second he rounded the corner out of your sight, he took off in a sprint towards the gym. He barely made it on time, blending in with the others just as Washijo blew the whistle, telling everyone to gather around.

They walked onto the court in teams of three, and Semi patted Goshiki hard on the shoulder. “Kiki, congrats on getting a girlfriend!”

Goshiki’s cheeks heated up and he nodded proudly. “Thank you. She’s so cute, I think I love her.”

Semi whistled and Taichi scoffed at what he heard. “Have you kissed?” he teased, watching as Goshiki’s pride broke down in two seconds.

“K-kissed?”

After your clubs finished, Goshiki waited for you outside, taking your hand so you could walk together towards the dorms. As you got to where the girls and boys were split to each half of the building, you slowed to a stop.

He turned to you and took in a sharp breath, hand feeling clammy in yours but still holding on.

You smiled at him with that sweet smile he liked so much, and he almost forgot what he was going to say, smiling back at you instead with a soft laugh. “How was club?”

“Really good! I think this will get me a huge boost for college admissions,” you answered, then told him about your latest project while he listened. However, his eyes drifted slightly downwards now and then.

“That’s great, I hope I can see it when you’re done,” he said. There was a slight pause as he stepped a little closer, blinking nervously.

“Tsutomu?” you whispered.

“Can we kiss?”

You took a sharp breath, trying to contain your smile to seem a little cool about it and suddenly worrying immensely about your breath. “Yes.”

He leaned closer in intervals, a little at a time, the other hand resting on your waist because he wasn’t sure where else to put it. You put your free hand on his shoulder, slowly trailing up to the nape of his neck as his puckered lips finally met yours.

They were slightly dry, you thought, but the butterflies that took over your stomach didn’t let you dwindle much on that fact. It was just a small kiss, but you were both giggling with happy smiles as you pulled away.

“Goodnight then,” he giggled, leaning in to once again peck your lips before turning around and walking to his dorm.

“Goodnight, Tsuto!”

Come morning, the team had early practice before classes started and Goshiki skipped out of the locker room. Semi raised an eyebrow, Tendo smirked knowingly, and Ushijima spoke up about it. “You seem happy.”

“It’s nothing,” he shrugged, sitting down to do some stretches before they began.

Semi tsk-ed and leaned on his shoulders, forcing him into a bigger stretch. “Come on, you can tell us.”

Goshiki winced and controlled his breathing as his muscles warmed up. “We… kissed.”

And while the second-years watched in disgust, all the third-years exploded into whoops and cheers while the first-year flushed at the attention.

“Whatever guys, it’s not that big of a deal,” he said, acting coy, but it was obvious to everyone that this was a big deal for him.

Now he needs to figure out the best time to tell you he loves you.

masterlist

[cash-111]

Stress Relief

Pairing: Theodore Nott x reader

Content: comfort, fluff, bestfriend!Theo, friends to lovers, gender and house of the reader are not mentioned

Synopsis: reader is stressed by all of the school work they have and Theo won’t stand there an watch them deteriorate.

Length: short

A/N: I could write a sequel with smut if anyone were interested

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

5th year had been hard, with O.W.L.s and all, but 6th? Bloody hell, you couldn’t catch a break.

It wasn’t until it was too late to change, that you realized you had overestimated your will to study and make everything fit into your schedule.

With Quidditch practice, advanced standard subjects (and don’t let the “standard” fool you, there was nothing ‘standard’ about advanced potions and transfiguration), care of magical creatures, runes, bloody arithmancy… curse your stupid self for voluntarily picking up magic math on meth.

You had considered begging your teachers to let you drop a subject once or twice, but you were no quitter, and your stubborn, pride-ridden heart would never allow that.

So now you were scrambling to get work done and sprinting between classes, earning yourself a few scoldings from the faculty.

You were so preoccupied with staying afloat study-wise, that the previous time you usually dedicated to your friends had now been turned in power-naps and more, incessant, work.

Most of your friends decided to give you time, but your best friend, Theo, just ‘could not give you up’. So, he decided to work around the problem and hang out with you anyway even with all your protests.

“Theo would you just please get out?!”

You exasperated eventually, after he would keep trying to strike up conversation or annoy you to get you to stop ignoring him.

“And where would the fun be in that, love”

He’d reply nonchalantly every time.

This time you had had enough, though, and set yourself to do something you may or may not regret the next day.

“I AM DONE WITH YOU. I do not want to play around, I do not want to hear your insufferable jokes, or look at your stupid face. Your ‘fun’ is the LEAST of my concerns. I need to get work done. GET OUT.”

You shouted, getting impossibly close to his face and poking a finger into his chest, in an effort to be as intimidating as possible.

Theodore stared down at you, unmoving and calm. A more serious expression on his face. When suddenly, he pulled you into a hug.

You tried to protest but he shushed you quickly.

“You’ve been going through a lot these weeks, haven’t you?” His voice was soft, caring. It caught you off guard so off guard that you remained silent, mouth opening and closing at intervals.

“I know everything’s been weighing on you. I just want you to take it easy every once in a while” he sighed, his hand caressing through your hair. “And I just want you to know that you don’t have to keep up with everyone’s expectations. I’m proud of you, always.”

Tears started to prick at your eyes at his words. You hadn’t realized how much the stress of everything had been affecting you. You melted into him and buried you head into his chest.

“I don’t deserve you” you sobbed “I’m sorry for how mean I’ve been to you these past few weeks.”

“It’s okay, don’t apologize, love.” He kept you close to himself until you started to even out your breath again, holding you with such a firm tenderness, you almost forgot about your worries.

“Fuck, I just wish there was a way to let off steam and get away from all that bullshit…” you mumbled against him.

Theo cringed lightly at your words, his muscles unconsciously tensing.

“What?” You loosened the hug to look up at him once more. “Do you know a way?”

“Uhm”

He avoided your eye contact, a hint of pink displaying on his cheeks.

“There might be a way…”

[leonw4nter]

hi! so i was wondering if you could do hcs for re2r leon who is dating a nurse? also i wanted to say that i love your writing!! it’s literally some of my favorite on this app 💗 thank you!

RE2R!Leon Headcanons on dating a nurse…

RE2R!Leon x GN!reader

You two had met when officer Rayman had to send him to the ER for stitches on his side after a physical encounter with a car thief on crack. You had been at the ER just passing time, occasionally attending to other patients if they needed any help.

You had already thought that the young officer was already attractive, but you didn’t pay his face much attention and rushed to help him with the cut on his side, as blood seeped through his white inner shirt and into his navy blue uniform. He was already used to being shirtless with a bunch of other officers in the locker rooms of the RPD but somehow, he felt flustered being topless in front of you.

“Gosh, your body is just goals,” you comment as you finish up the last of his stitches. Warmth floods his head, sending his brain swimming in all sorts of happiness-eliciting chemicals. “It’s so good, actually. What’s your workout routine?”

“Oh it’s– um…–” he stammered. Pistol squats, weighted squats, glute extensions, weighted calf raises, thirty-second sprints, leg swings, cat camel, crab reaches, and some kicking. It would’ve been easy for him to share his gym regimen and tell you its intervals but with you looking up at him with doe eyes, all words melted into goo before they could leave his throat. “Oh– it’s just, you know– squats, calf raises, some running. That stuff… I think– I mean, yeah! Just these um… exercises, yeah. Right.”

He wanted to kick himself and never come back to that ER again but you didn’t seem to notice his awkward stammering (or did really well that it looked like you didn’t notice it).

You gave your number to him in case he had any questions or needed help with tending to the stitches just below his ribs and since Marvin had given him 2 days off to recuperate, he took the time to call you and asked if he could send you some donuts during one of your lunch breaks soon.

“I was wondering if– if you’ll be okay with me dropping some donuts off at your work during your break. It’s just my small token of thanks,” he said. He wished that he prepared a script ahead and practiced a handful more times, unconfident with the trembling in his voice and the small voice crack he hoped the phone didn’t pick up.

“Oh! Of course! That’d be great! Leave it at the front desk, to a certain Nurse Joyce and I’ll pick it up,” you gleefully say.

“That’d be awesome. So uh… see you soon, I guess?”

“See me soon? Are you implying that there’s going to be more than one occasion where we’re going to see each other–”

“Goodnight, nurse!”

He didn’t mean to sound rude or come off as a sourpuss but your words coming back to him when he thought it would stay only in the form of thoughts in his mind scared him, he just had to hang up.

After several dates and 5 months spent together as friends, Leon bashfully asked if you would want him as a boyfriend because he felt ready to be your boyfriend if you were ready for the commitment. His poor hands were gripping the bouquet too tightly, wrinkling the plastic wrapping around his large hands. His eyes looked comically round and almost puppy-like, especially with his dilated pupils. You nodded and said yes to him, gently taking the flowers and giving him a big hug. Before you went inside your door when he sent you home, you pressed a kiss to his cheek and blew him a kiss before going inside. Poor Leon stood frozen in front of your steps, pleasantly shocked as a wide grin made its way into his baby face. You stayed behind the door for a bit, listening to him. You swear you heard a giddy laugh and a silent “Yes!” from the other side.

Watching medical shows became a regular thing between you two. You pointed out some of the medical inaccuracies and explained what should actually be happening as Leon looked at you with hearts in his eyes. It was also vice versa: you watching a cop show with him and him breaking down the mechanics of how investigations are done while you nod and hum in agreement while silently swooning over the increasing animation of his hands as he went over the laws and breaches in ethics.

“Whew, that was so smart of you.” You say as you scooch closer to him and lean against his shoulder. This confused Leon at first.

“Huh? Why– what’d I do?” He anxiously asked, worried he did something wrong even though that didn’t seem to be the case.

“You really got into the nitty gritty of it and went into hypothetical scenarios with different outcomes of the situation. You know, I heard that you graduated at the top of your police academy.”

He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“Uh, yeah… I did but it’s nothing, really. You’re really smart too, you know.”

Before you, Leon used to simply wash his cuts with water and anti-bacterial soap and not place a bandage over it. Now, he’s immediately asking you for band-aids whenever he has one. Sometimes, the band-aids look ridiculous: bright yellow band-aids with rubber ducks, Disney princesses, cartoons, or cute animal doodles but he doesn’t mind, it’s like a small piece of you that he carries into work, a small reminder of you keeping his wound guarded.

Leon’s now a regular at the hospital, you a regular at the police station. At the hospital, the older nurses and doctors like to grill him about you and how he’s treating you. Back at the police station, the officers like to share stories about all the times Leon embarrassed himself by accident or when he started out as a rookie. They loved to bring up how fast Leon managed to solve the puzzles they set up for him when he had his first day on the job, recommending challenging puzzle kits as a gift for him. What both your coworkers had in common was scrunching their nose and feigning dislike for your mild displays of affection like hugging and kisses to the cheek.

If Leon needed to request for a leave due to medical reasons, he considered himself lucky that you were qualified to be able to write up a medical certificate to present once he got back.

“Officer, I don’t think I can accept this.”

“Why not? It’s written by a medical professional, a licensed one too.”

“We don’t accept certificates coming from–”

“Someone we’re legally associated with? Yes. That includes parents, siblings, and spouses but they’re not my spouse. Well, not yet at least, so I think I’m free to go. Nothing in the handbook indicates that I can’t have my unmarried partner make my certificate.”

“... consider yourself lucky, officer. Fine, I’ll take it.”

He does consider himself lucky– more than lucky, in fact.

One time, he got curious and decided to ask to see the needles you use on patients. On a particularly silly mood that day, you decided to exaggerate a little bit. You took the needle meant for an epidural, a needle around 6 inches, and explained that this went into the spine. He had gone pale, the rosiness and pinkish tint of his face vanishing as you demonstrated how it would be used. You showed him the needles used for intramuscular injections and he adjusts the collar of his clothes, a little queasy at the thought of these scary devices being used on a near-daily basis.

There are some days where you’d come home completely silent and drained, feeling blue from the events that had gone down in the hospital. If Leon got home first, he’d be welcoming you with a beaming grin and open arms but once he spots the puffiness of your face indicative of crying, he pulls you in for a hug and immediately asks what’s wrong before listening to you and offering words of comfort or the solace of his presence with you.

Back then, he simply relied on fruits and the occasional vegetable for his vitamins but after dating you, you decided to slip some vitamins after meals into his diet. He particularly likes the gummy vitamins though you remember to remind him to take them out of the car so they won’t melt and turn into one cluster.

NOTE - Thank you so so much to the anon who sent this, I hope you liked it <3 I've been having writer's block for a bit so it took a long time to complete a request like this but I'm glad that I managed to get this done for you :) I didn't format this post like how I usually format it (w the dividers and text gradients) bc there's a major weather disturbance from where I live and it's affecting the signal and connection speed of the internet so I'll probably make this look pretty once the storm passes us. School starts again in like... a week so requests getting done will prolly take some time so I'll do my best to post everything before everything goes tits up in terms of academics. Anyway, that's it and thank you for reading my fics!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <33333 UUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

[worldwright]

cecil is for sure the borderline-obnoxious hypersocial friend that singlehandedly keeps everyone conversing and meeting up regularly and always responds to messages within 30 seconds. even in email. but also ALL his socials. comment on a 3-month-old facebook photo? he's thanking you and complimenting your scarf in under a minute. you did not post a photo of your scarf anywhere. his status is "online" 24/7 except for sporadic 3-8 minute intervals usually coinciding with powerful gusts of wind. you think he mentioned having a bluesky account before the site was created, but you're not entirely sure about that one. he promptly answers tumblr asks with word counts that would imply he was typing at approximately 260 words per minute. you get snapchat and discord notifications from him simultaneously. he organizes coffee gatherings, bowling leagues, huddling events, barbecues, and hours-long all-out sprints through the sand wastes that sometimes overlap, and yet he's at all of them. he managed to chat with every attendee of the party, even those who couldn't make it. generally just the friend who you love dearly but sometimes makes you jealous with their overwhelming social competency.

[suzieb-fit]

Back to life as usual after spending yesterday with my boys and the paternal family of my youngest at his great grandfather's funeral. They are like family to all of us.

So, that is the first of the three things I'm grateful for today -

1. Feeling right at home with the family of my past marriage, even though it's been around a decade since we were no longer "family".

2. Because of an early training session, it was either a dark walk or no walk at all this morning. Very quiet, very peaceful and I was grateful for that.

3. Taking the opportunity to just let loose, have fun and act like a big kid, trying to climb a tree!

And yes, it's been VERY windy today!

I've had a good, active day.

That dark walk early this morning, then the fun but windy hour's walk after lunch (leftover soup - I added ham).

And two workouts.

I'm feeling very positive right now. Life is good.

[twopoppies]

Gina, have you seen the article about Hs workout routine for LOT? I mean, we all saw the results… but I find it almost even more impressive to learn how its been done! His dedication and work ethic is so inspiring and surely part of why I adore him so much 🫠🫶

Holy hell. No wonder he’s in such great shape. Just a note that Thibo David was his old trainer with Live On Tour. I assume Brad Gould was his new trainer for Love on Tour. But I doubt his regimen was any less insane.

[…]

If you include the one-mile run and bodyweight challenge, this is the hardest warm-up I’ve ever done, but, given the intensity required for the next two elements I’m promoting them to workout status.

[…]

David says Harry Styles can run a mile in an impressive 5min 13sec—a standard some of the professional athletes David coaches can’t match—but I was urged to run my own race.

[…]

This was far closer to my wheelhouse as a CrossFit fan. I chose to tackle it in alternating sets of 10, transitioning quickly between exercises to finish within the eight-minute limit. But even commando rolling from push-up to sit-up then springing into the squats left me little time to spare.

[…]

I took 7min 39sec, and, somewhat unexpectedly, given I can barbell squat more than 300lb, it was my quads that blew up the most. Whether this was the result of the one-mile run before it or heavy front squats the day before, I couldn’t say, but my thighs were on fire by the final rep.

“I like to say that I train very smart, but you also have to be very stupid sometimes, you know? Do this type of workout in the most stupid way; go hard at the task at hand, like when you throw a ball for a dog and it goes super crazy.

“This is a very good workout for that. Very good at building everything that needs to be added after the aerobic base; aggressiveness, speed, that go-hard mentality.”

[…]

Things did become particularly spicy during round three and four though, as my body began to tire with the sustained effort.

My posterior chain (the muscles running along the back side of the body) took a battering from the kettlebell swings and sandbag-over-shoulders, my already-fried legs felt heavy during the box jumps, and my shoulders grew tired from two minutes of straight clean and presses—it was a serious test of muscular endurance.

[…] I also did 12 total rounds—I wanted the full Styles experience, after all—but I’d live to regret this. The hill I chose grew progressively steeper as I worked my way up it, and by the eighth round I felt like death. My sprints turned to slogs, and the time it took me to complete the distance I established in the first interval grew longer.

[…] The prior running and box jumps didn’t help either, but I got it done eventually in less than 30 minutes.

[…]

This was a relaxing way to wrap up a far from relaxing morning of training, and gave me a second to catch my breath after a monumental effort which lasted a little over two hours.

I swapped his day of training for one of my usual CrossFit sessions and had a lot of fun doing it. Every part of my body felt like it had been put through the ringer thanks to the muscle-burning circuit and lung-taxing running elements. I was also very, very hungry.

Another thing that impressed me was Styles’ evident fitness levels and work ethic; how he has the energy to perform for two hours during a stadium tour is no longer a mystery.

Another thing I liked about my chat with David was his openness and honesty. I often see articles online saying celebrities do a few Pilates classes or HIIT workouts each week to stay in unbelievable shape, and he was keen to dispel this myth.

“Collaborating with Harry Styles was an absolute delight; his commitment is unparalleled,” says David.

“But it’s important to note that this level of training isn’t suitable for everyone. Harry was inherently fit, but achieving the level of fitness needed for this session still required time, work and effort. Rushing into such high-volume workouts can pose risks.”

David also stressed that sessions of this intensity weren’t done every day, and the nature of his workouts will often “depend on the day and the state of the athlete”.

“It’s crucial to emphasize the significance of proper periodization,” says David. “Not every day constituted an intense session. In fact, we strategically incorporated recovery sessions which often involved a light run combined with core exercises and mobility work. Every workout was thoughtfully placed within the overall training plan.”

Read, full article here

x

[reachartwork]

Weekend Vacation

Charlie's lungs burned as she sprinted down the endless concrete corridor, her breath coming in ragged gasps as her heavy combat boots pounded against the hard, unforgiving surface with each desperate stride. The dull gunmetal gray walls stretched out before her, featureless and unbroken save for the occasional heavy security door set at seemingly random intervals. Each looked identical to the one before it, stamped with an inscrutable string of letters and numbers, the only landmarks in this monotonous stretch of hallway.

An occasional perfectly square window - a gap, really, not filled in with glass or anything translucent besides atmosphere - showed the beautiful surroundings to this vein in the Chicago Tower. Hundreds and hundreds of vertical meters of nothing, the omnipresent black fog-of-war in these higher levels preventing sight of even the nearest walls. They were hanging in a catwalk.

Behind her, the staccato rapport of assault rifle fire echoed off the close confines, punctuated by panicked shouts and the occasional pained scream as her pursuers drew ever closer. Charlie risked a glance over her shoulder, catching a fleeting glimpse of dark figures clad in matte black tactical armor as they rounded the corner behind her, their movements preternaturally fluid and precise. Not human - or at least not baseline. Corporate security, maybe, or some new breed of DARPA nightmare. It didn't matter. All that mattered was putting as much distance between herself and them as possible.

Her hand drifted to the polymer grip of the strange, asymmetrical pistol holstered at her hip - a "Needler", Jay had called it when he'd first shown it to her. Looted from some hidden cache deep in the bowels of the Miami Tower a few months back, when they'd been hired on for a deep delve by some corp looking to snatch up artifacts ahead of the feds. It fired razor-sharp ceramic flechettes, propelled by linear induction to hypersonic velocities. Designed to punch through body armor and shred soft tissue. Only a few mags left though - and as much as it pained her to admit it, even mag-dumping the sleek little monster likely wouldn't do more than slow these bastards down.

No, what she needed was to find a way off this level. Get to a place she could hunker down, catch her breath, and wait for her team to circle back around. Speaking of which… Her free hand fumbled at the side of her matte black ballistic helmet, fingers finding the chunky rubber PTT button. "Jay, Mouse - sitrep. Got heavies on my six, could use a hand here."

A burst of gunfire sounded from somewhere behind her - and entirely too close for comfort - the rounds pinging off the concrete far too near her head for her liking. She ducked instinctively, shoulders hunching as she put on an extra burst of speed. "Like real fuckin' soon, guys."

Mouse's nasally tenor crackled over the comm channel, nearly drowned out by a wash of static. "Workin' on it, fearless leader. Had to double back to the checkpoint to snag the long guns. But I think we can cut 'em off if we-" His voice dissolved into a garbled electronic screech, the signal breaking up into indecipherable fragments.

"Mouse? Mouse!" Charlie shouted into her mic, panic rising in her throat. No response. Goddamnit. The levels this high up played merry hell with comm signals on the best of days. Something to do with the artifact radiation, or so the nerd brigade claimed. All Charlie knew is that it meant her team was out there in the Wind somewhere, coming for her. She just had to stay alive long enough for them to reach her.

POST TO r/TowerRunners241391 SubLink: ANALYSIS OF NEW TOWER THREATS StrikeVector42 1.4k points 2 days ago So it seems the Tower Authority has stepped up their game again. I had a run-in with these new security drones (at least I think they're drones) on my last deep delve and let me tell you, they are NO joke. Fast, heavily armored, and equipped with what looked like high-end mil-spec hardware. Managed to drop one with a few mags from my M56A1 and got a closer look before I had to bail. Def not human - no blood, and I could see servos and hydraulics through some of the holes I punched in its armor. Almost like someone kitbashed a Northrup dog-brain into an Ares HOPLITE chassis. Bad news for solos and underequipped teams. Might be time to start packing some heavier ordnance for Tower runs. Thoughts? >ArrowheadActual 671 points 1 day ago Damn, that's some high-end shit. You'd think they'd have better things to spend the budget on than harassing underpaid runners. Although I guess artifact retrieval is big biz for the feds, especially after that Miami fiasco. As for heavier ordnance, I'd say yeah, probably a good call. I've been telling my crew we need to invest in some anti-material rifles or maybe one of those Militech plasma lances. Expensive as hell, but you can't really put a price on not getting vented by some roided-out murder bot. >>TacoTaster 287 points 22 hours ago Oh sure, because a buncha small-time runners can def afford bleeding-edge Militech hardware. Why don't you throw in one of those Mitsubishi drop pods while you're at it, really round out the kit. Nah, the smart play here is avoidance. Stick to the edges, don't get greedy, and be ready to bail at the first sign of trouble. I've been soloing the Austin and Philly Towers for years now and never had a problem I couldn't sprint away from. Although I will say the new sensor suite I picked up last month has been a game-changer for detecting patrols. Maybe see if you can scrounge up one of those before dropping rent money on a plasma lance.

The chatter of automatic weapons fire was growing louder now, echoing through the labyrinthine corridors in a dizzying cacophony that made it impossible to pinpoint its source. They were getting closer. Sweat beaded on Charlie's brow, running into her eyes and blurring her vision as she blinked it away. She could feel her legs starting to tremble with exhaustion, her lungs searing with each ragged breath. She couldn't keep this pace up much longer.

There! Up ahead, set into the endless expanse of cold gray concrete - a door, its matte black surface adorned with the same inscrutable alphanumeric markings as all the others. But unlike the sealed and reinforced security checkpoints she'd been sprinting past, this one looked… different. Older, maybe. And slightly ajar, a slim wedge of impenetrable darkness visible in the gap. Charlie didn't hesitate, throwing herself forward with a final burst of desperate speed and shouldering her way through into the unknown.

((SYNAPNET VC-CHANNEL TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT, SOUTH-CENTRAL GRID 1707-A)) 27634: -that's why I'm telling you there's something seriously wrong here! 09611: All I'm hearing are baseless allegations from someone who doesn't understand the tech. Do you even know how the artifacts work? How CARPA interfaces on a synaptic level with human neural architecture? The risks are minimal and the benefits far outweigh- 27634: The risks? People are DYING, you idiot! Keeling over with seizures or breaking through their regocycles speaking nonsense about the new gods. I saw it myself on my last core delve of the New York Tower. Something's in there… something that reacts to the artifacts. And the feds know it. [USER #09611 - AUTH ACCEPTED - KEYS UPDATED. PERMISSIONS NOMINAL.] 00244: >KEY ACCEPTED. UPLINK SUCCESSFUL.< 09611: What the- How did you get on this frequ- [SIGNAL LOST. CHANNEL REVOKED. HAVE A NICE DAY.]

The room beyond was dark, lit only by the pulsing crimson glow of emergency lighting strips set into the junctures of walls and floor. It was big, far larger than any of the storage rooms or armories Charlie and her crew had raided in the past. More of a cavern, really, its distant walls lost in shadow. The air hung thick and heavy, the cloying stench of ozone and scorched metal assaulting her nostrils.

Towering banks of computer equipment dominated the room's center - server stacks, their matte black chassis roughly the size and shape of refrigerators, all interconnected by dense nests of bundled fiber-optic cabling that pulsed and flickered with streams of data. A command console of some kind was set before them, a horseshoe arc of display screens and input devices that looked like something straight out of a big-budget sci-fi sim.

Charlie approached it warily, senses straining for any hint of movement in the shadows. Nothing. Just the hum of fans and the muted clicking of environmental systems cycling on standby mode. She slid into the console's wraparound crash couch, fingers playing across the nearest display. It blinked to life at her touch, pale green text crawling across the screen. Some kind of debug interface, dense with jargon she couldn't even begin to parse.

"C'mon you bucket of bolts, give me something I can use here…" A few swipes and taps brought up what looked like a master systems display, a wireframe representation of the Chicago Tower with their current position blinking at its summit. And off to one side, tucked away behind layers of sub-menus and flickering holo-glyphs - a communications suite. Her heart leapt. If she could just patch a signal through, boost it enough to punch past the interference-

POST TO r/TowerRunners420692 SubLink: I THINK I FOUND SOMETHING HUGE IceBreakYoself 2.9k points 12 hours ago Guys, this is big. Like, really fucking big. You know that covert data center everyone's been whispering about? The black box site squirreled away somewhere in the upper levels of the Chicago Tower, where all the REALLY juicy experimental tech is supposed to be locked down? I think I just stumbled across it. I'm not gonna say too much (opsec and all that) but it looks like some kind of quantum computing rig hooked into a TITAN-class simulspace, all off-the-books DoE hardware that probably doesn't officially exist. And I found references in the system logs to something called JANUS - no idea what it is but it seems to be the core around which this whole setup is built. I managed to pull a partial schematic before I had to bail (sec was def onto me) but I'll see if I can piece together any more details from my download. TripleTeaTime 1.2k points 5 hours ago Holy shit, for real? I've heard rumors about some hush hush fed project in the upper levels but always assumed it was just undie banter. If you actually found evidence of it… Dude, you'd better be careful. That's the kind of thing certain three letter agencies wouldn't think twice about disappearing you over.

Charlie cursed under her breath as her fingers danced across the terminal's input keys, each command met with a mocking buzz of denial from the system. Unauthorized access, insufficient privileges, blah blah fucking blah. Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Nothing ever was, in this business.

Her musing was interrupted by a sudden flurry of movement in her peripheral vision, a dark figure detaching itself from the shadows with liquid grace. No, two- no, three of them, their forms shimmering and indistinct even to her goggles. The sound of their footfalls was swallowed by the room's oppressive hush, muted to a whisper despite the hard composite of the floor plates. Definitely not human. Humanoid, but too many elbows. Guns made for hands with different amounts of joints.

Charlie was moving before the conscious thought had even fully formed, her rifle snapping up to her shoulder as she rolled out of her chair and behind the meager cover of the server stacks. The muzzle flash of her own weapon was blinding in the near-dark as she opened up on full auto, a shredding fusia cyclic rate of fire that chewed divots and craters into the far wall.

She caught a glimpse of dark, lithe forms scattering at her fusillade, splitting up to flank her with impossible speed and agility. Their return fire was immediate and precise, superheated slivers of razored tungsten slicing through the the air around her head like invisible guillotine blades. Charlie ducked back behind the dubious shelter of the servers, breath coming in sharp huffs as she fumbled to slap a fresh mag into her rifle's receiver.

Her hands were shaking, adrenaline turning her movements clumsy and uncoordinated. She could hear the soft, padding footfalls of the cybernetic monstrosities closing in on either side, the muted whine of servos and hydraulics underlying each step. Sweat ran into her goggles. This was bad. This was really goddamn bad.

Pain exploded along her ribs as a burst tore through the server chassis to her left, shredding kevlar and skin alike. Charlie bit back a scream, clutching at her side as warm wetness spilled through her fingers. It wasn't that bad. She'd had worse, right? Except she could already feel the numbness spreading out from the wound, a cold heaviness seeping through her torso. Fuck. Poison? Neurotoxin?

Her vision swam as she struggled to bring her weapon to bear on the flash of movement to her right, finger tightening on the trigger on pure instinct. Her burst went wide, sparks showering down from the ceiling as the rounds tore into cables and conduits. Not enough. Not nearly enough. As the adrenaline began to fade, the pain of her wound reasserted itself with a vengeance, a sickening throb that made her head spin.

One of them was on her then, close enough that she could feel the heat of its mechanisms as it loomed out of the darkness. A vise-like hand clamped down on her wrist, crushing armor and bone with equal ease. Her rifle fell from suddenly limp fingers, clattering to the deck. This was it, then. This was how she died - alone and forgotten, just one more runner who'd pushed her luck too far, four kilometers too high. She should've stayed on the lower floors, where it was safe. The kiddie pool.

She waited for the killing blow, senses hyperattuned to each agonizing instant as if by stretching it out she could postpone the inevitable. But it never came. Instead, there was a shuddering impact, a warbling shriek of tortured metal, and the iron grip on her arm fell away. She collapsed, toppling bonelessly to the hard metal decking.

Somewhere above her, the chatter of automatic fire filled the air, punctuated by warbling shrieks and the crunch of rending metal. Familiar voices shouted in staccato urgency, barking terse commands that her pain-addled mind struggled to parse into words. A bellow of triumph was cut short by the wet thud of tearing flesh, followed by a scream of anguish.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. The room fell crushingly silent but for the low groans of the wounded and the occasional sputter of a dying servo. Ungentle hands seized Charlie by the shoulders, rolling her over onto her back. The lancing agony of the movement brought tears to her eyes, her vision clearing enough to resolve the soot-streaked faces of her team hovering over her.

Jay's broad, battered features split into a fierce grin as he saw her eyes focus on him, teeth startlingly white against his dark skin. He'd lost his helmet somewhere in the chaos, and an ugly gash over his left eyebrow wept crimson down his cheek. "Shit, boss," he rumbled. "We leave you alone for five minutes and look what happens."

Mouse offered a strained chuckle at that, though the ashen set of his features belied his humor. His left arm hung limp and bloodied at his side, the polymer of his armor sleeve split open from wrist to elbow. His other hand clutched a bulky plastek case to his chest, the seams of its lid pulsing with the telltale argent glow. "Yeah, well, I think Charlie's little solo operation paid off." He offered a pained grimace, hefting his burden. "Snagged more than just this while I was poking around. Got some data drives that should fetch a fine price with the right buyer."

A wet, wracking cough burst from Charlie's lips as she tried to sit up, each spasm setting her chest aflame with agony. She gritted her teeth, forcing out words between panting breaths. "Great. Happy for you. Dunno if you noticed, but I'm kinda bleeding out here."

"Shit, yeah, hang on." Jay produced a palm-sized black disc from a pouch at his belt, snapping it open to reveal the coiled tubing and gleaming needle of an autosuture. He pressed it against the ruin of her side and depressed the trigger stud, a sharp coldness spreading out from the impact as the device hissed and spat. Charlie stifled a yelp, jaw clenching against the urge to scream as it knitted up her perforated flesh in fast-forward.

"There we go, good as new. Sorta." Jay tossed the expended device aside, surveying his handiwork. "Need a top up?" He tilted his head toward the bulky shape of the drug injector riding his other hip, while his free hand wrapped around a purifier, slamming it into the exposed skin on Charlie's side.

Charlie made a face, shaking her head, nostrils twitching at the sharp but otherwise pleasant pinprick of the purifier's needle. "Nah, I'm good for now." She'd seen what that stuff did to people firsthand - made them feel invincible, sure, but also made them sloppy. Stupid. She needed her wits about her if they were going to get out of this. She couldn't afford the luxury of chemical courage.

She forced herself to her feet with Jay's help, muscles protesting every inch of the way. Mouse shot her a worried look, which she waved off with as much nonchalance as she could muster. "I'll be fine," she said, biting off each word. "Sitrep. How many of those things did you scrap?"

"Three, as far as I could tell," Mouse piped up. "But I think there were more. Looked like they were coming out of some kind of… I dunno, maintenance alcove? Over on the far wall." He jerked his chin in the direction of the back of the room, now lost in shadow.

Charlie blew out a breath, nodding. "Okay. Okay, we can't stay here then. Sooner or later more are gonna come to investigate, and I don't fancy our chances in a stand up fight." A glance up at the silent banks of servers surrounding them. "Did you pull a backup of the files?"

"Sure did." Mouse tapped a gloved finger against the plastek of the case still clutched tight to his chest. "Everything I could grab before they spiked the connection. Dunno if it'll be enough to reconstruct the whole dataset, but it's a damn sight more than we had when we walked in."

Charlie set her jaw. "It'll have to be enough. C'mon, we're burning moonlight." She cast about for her discarded weapon, stooping to retrieve it with a grimace of pain. The barrel was warped and pitted from the heat of her wild full-auto burst, but the action seemed to still cycle smoothly enough. It'd do, for now. She thumbed the release for the side panel, a final once-over by touch assuring her that nothing vital had been damaged. Good enough for government work.

They moved out at a cautious pace, Charlie on point with Mouse and Jay watching the flanks. The room's layout seemed to shift and distort as they picked their way through the carnage of shattered machinery and twisted cybernetic limbs, shadows bleeding together into a disorienting haze. Or maybe that was just the blood loss talking.

They reached the far wall without incident, the hulking forms of the alcoves looming out of the murk. As Mouse has said, they looked like they'd been designed to house the security machines - heavily reinforced, with thick power and data conduits snaking into each. A quick peek inside revealed them to be empty, the soft amber stand-by lights winking at them mockingly.

"They must've been activated remotely when the system detected an intrusion," Mouse mused, half to himself. "Some kind of rapid-response unit. Probably high-value priority targets for the Towers."

"Yeah? Well they can fuck right off," Charlie spat. "I've got high-value priorities of my own, and none of them involve getting diced by the Tower's pet murder-bots." She shouldered past him, stepping over the tangled ruin of what had probably been an access panel once upon a time. The corridor beyond was as featureless as the one that had led them here - just more matte gray bulkheads and sullen crimson emergency lighting.

Time to get moving. They only had another 20 minutes before the Tower reset, and Charlie wasn't looking forward to becoming a red stain pressed between two concrete blocks.