#super power au

[neoduelverse]

Hello 12 other people in the Pantheon fandom!

I’m pretty sure all of you, like me, are sad because of the lack of fan works in this fandom. So I decided to make a gift for us. Presenting “Physical Gods” my Pantheon super power AU! Updates are probably going to be inconsistent, but I hope you’ll end up liking this enough to forgive that.

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

"That's the silly part - people don't like it when you know you're dangerous. They much prefer when you're as shocked as the rest of them when you display power. You have to be innocently lethal, accidentally a threat. Competency scares them. Isn’t that funny? After all, people who know they're dangerous and how to wield their power are far safer to be in the company of than those who are only dangerous accidentally."

[pinesolaris]

Chapter One for my Super Power DSMP AU is out now! It's my first official work for the DSMP Fandom and the first time in years I've written fanfiction again!

I'll appreciate any kudos or comments left for the story! Or reblogs/retweets on my social media!

[jongupscrookedteeth]

EXO, D.O -

werewolf super power moodboard

Please note that I created the collage but the photos are not mine credit to original owners.

[geminiamethyst]

Running. Chapter 41: Talks of Geniuses

Chapter 1: click HERE

Chapter 40: click HERE

Chapter 42: click HERE

Minor spoilers for Taka’s backstory.

Also there’s a little bit of me projecting into Taka because I am one of these people that does HC as him being autistic. Mostly because there have been some aspects of his personality that helps to support this. Also I was diagnosed as being on the spectrum myself fairly recently, but that’s not important. If you guys aren’t a fan of this HC, I understand. It’s just something that I’ve been meaning to experiment with for a while now.

Taka felt calm. Or at least, felt like he should be calm.

The forest was peaceful.

Growing up in a city his whole life, he had been used to the sights, sounds and smells. However, despite those being very familiar to him, he hated it. It always felt overstimulating to him. Just the sound of most sirens such as fire alarms in school or even a certain number of party poppers going off at once was enough to feel like a bomb was going off in his ears. He didn’t mind most crowds, but only when it was voluntary. If he got forced into a crowd, it sometimes got too much for him. There was the rare occasion when he was younger that it sent him into a panic. Sometimes smells didn’t help. Depending on where he was or what the smell was, would be quite overpowering to him sometimes. He got used to the city life, but that didn’t mean that he had to like it.

But the forest was the complete opposite of the concrete jungle. It was quiet, and calming. No noisy traffic. No ear piercing sirens. No feeling like people were shouting down his ears. Just quiet and the calming sound of birds and the river that wasn’t too far away. Just simple sounds like the rushing of water was more than enough to be soothing. Sights weren’t overwhelming either. Just nature and simple shades of green and brown. Nothing that wasn’t too bright and flashy or rushing by too quickly. There wasn’t that many people either for him to be confused and lost in a crowd. Even the smells were comforting and the air was so clean. Taka can’t remember a time where he had felt like the air was this fresh.

And here he was now. Ready to talk to someone that he believed that he can come to trust now. Maybe even call him a friend?

One step at a time.

“You asked me about my nightmare once. Well, more like demanded.” Taka stated as he sat back down.

“Oh! That! Don’t worry about it.” Mondo exclaimed as he remembered t what happened in the Den the day that Kaito and Maki argued.

“No, I…I want to talk about it…” Taka argued gently. Mondo looked completely stunned upon hearing that. H wasn’t expecting Taka to be this serious about it all. “Only if you want to listen.”

It was strange. Despite how calming the forest was, Taka was still anxious about speaking. It was like there was this mental block that prevented a single word from being said. His brain was overthinking everything about what he wanted to say, which made him more anxious. Taka was scared to tell any of the others about this because of the lack of distrust and hostility that he had experienced before. Hopefully, Mondo will have trusted him enough to see past all that he was going to be told.

Just deep breathes. Focus on the calmness of nature and try to use that to stay calm.

Mondo was still surprised but nodded his head encouragingly. That was the invitation that Taka needed. And in all honesty, it boosted his confidence a little bit.

“Have you heard of Toranosuke Ishimaru? He was a former prime minister.” Taka asked cautiously.

“Not really into politics. Fucks with my head.” Mondo scoffed, shaking his head dismissively. He then stopped as the name was processed through his head and he looked surprised. “Wait! “Ishimaru”? Is he a relative or something?”

“He was my grandfather.” Taka stated, almost emotionless. He felt like he was reading off of a script for a news report. He hadn’t even started his story and already he felt emotionally drained.

“You serious?! That’s amazing!” Mondo exclaimed, not noticing the look on Taka’s face. That name would always be a stain on the Ishimaru family. A man that Taka had once respected and now hated. He always found it hard to talk about, since no one had ever wanted to have anything to do with him in the past.

“He served in foreign affairs as the chief minister. Then he climbed up to the position as prime minister.” Taka continued, just having this need to get this over with. He was worried about the negative fallout that he knew would come. “He’s a person that deserved to be called a genius. He did everything perfectly without any effort to his work. Yes, he was a genius. But he was lazy, even sloppy. And he was blind to all of the world’s frustration and anger. It sparked political corruption and he fell to ruin soon after that. Upon the failure of his business, he fell on hard times. Before everything that happened in regards to the Facility, my family was still in his debt. Probably would still be if it weren’t for my father going missing or me still being “dead” according to the police.

“Don’t you understand? An intelligent but lazy person? I was never like that! And I never will be! I truly believed that I could never be a genius. Always gave my studies 110% or even higher. I never took a break, even if my father tried to force me to take one. I didn’t even wear anything other than my school uniform, even during the holidays. I never ever wanted to be associated as a lazy genius. I was so determined to change everything that I didn’t care about anything other than my father and making sure that we didn’t have to worry about debt collectors ever again!”

All those words just came flooding out. Taka didn’t even know what he was saying or how those words came out in the first place. There had never been a time where he had spoken so honestly to anyone. To be talking Mondo of all people, after all the tension that they had in the past, it seemed good. Better than good. It was like all the weight that he had been burdened with for so long was gone.

“That’s why I hate the word “genius” and…” Taka finally said, sounding almost relieved. It was like he had bottled all of that up for too long and was scared to open up. Finally pouring all that out seemed to have made him more relaxed and peaceful after sharing his story. “And that nightmare was all that I had faced before the Facility and White. How I never had any friends, how my father always struggled with the debt while putting food on the table, the bullying, the other problems I had at school, and just always being alone. Before the Facility, I wanted nothing more than to change this country with all the effort that I had. But now…now I don’t know what to do with my life…”

Taka bit back bitter tears as he remembered that day at the police station, at how he was treated so poorly by the Chief of Police. How he was actually treated as a dead person that had risen from the grave and was so disrespected. At how his father’s disappearance was just swept under the rug as if nothing was wrong. At how his whole family name was just…gone. And how all the countless hours and almost sleepless nights of studying and staying ahead of his studies was just wasted. How everything as just ripped away from him. All those years and efforts were just wasted. And now Taka actually felt like he didn’t have a purpose. What was he going to do now?

“Shit. You had a lotta hardships too.” Mondo suddenly said. Taka looked up and was met with quite a surprise. Mondo Owada, the toughest guy that he had ever known, was looking down at the ground with clear tear streaks going down his face.

“Are you…are you crying for my sake?” Taka exclaimed, not sure about how he should feel about this. Mondo didn’t seem to notice. His face went a bit pink with embarrassment as he wiped away the tears.

“Don’t tell the kids. Gotta hold a reputation.” Mondo muttered, making sure that his face was clear of the evidence.

“I won’t.” Taka vowed with a smile. “Though, I’m glad to see this side of you. You’re kinda sweet.”

“Don’t tell me you just fucking said that!” Mondo growled, his face going a bit more red.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Taka spoke up seriously. They kept a straight face, just listening to nature around them. After a few seconds, both of them couldn’t hold back their laughter. It was booming and scared some of the small creatures. Their laughter echoed so much that the whole of Japan must have heard them.

“I was kinda wrong about ya! Ya ain’t half bad, Ishimaru!” Mondo grinned, slapping Taka’s back lightly.

“You can call me Taka if you want to Mondo.” Taka chuckled, but then he stopped as his words caught up with him. “Sorry, didn’t know if you’re okay with me calling you Mondo.”

“It’s cool, Taka.” Mondo continued to grin, wrapping an arm around Taka’s shoulders. That’s it. Time to make another promise. “And once this is all over, I’ll help ya find your old man.”

“What?” Taka responded. It was like the worded had stopped for a moment. He couldn’t believe his ears at all.

“Hey! I owe ya big time for helping me!” Mondo smiled widely. He really meant it too. He felt like this promise was a good way to make good on paying the other Limitless back. While they still have Orochi to deal with right now, that didn’t mean that he can’t help with the search once all this drama was over. “Helping you find your dad, seems like a good idea right? I’ll get in touch with my gang and they can help out too!”

“Why would you do this? And for me no less?” Taka asked hesitantly. He still can’t believe it. He only just started feeling like he started to make a friend for the first time in his life. So to hear all of this was just more than surprising to him. He almost felt like he was dreaming.

“Cause we might have had some scrapes, but we’re friends now, got it?!” Mondo continued to grin. He stopped when he finally had a look at Taka’s face. The guy was leaking tears from his eyes like they were a pair of fountains. Mondo let go of Taka, not sure what he should do at this moment. He felt awkward in all honesty. “Why are you crying now?!”

“Sorry, it just took me by surprise.” Taka smiled through the tears. He wiped away at his face, which was barely enough to stop the tears from c9ming. Mondo smiled in relief at that. He knew that Taka can get emotional, but he didn’t realise that he would be that emotional. Taka kept on smiling as he finally got a grip on himself and stopped crying. “Thank you, Kyoudai!”

“Kyoudai huh? I like that!” Mondo grinned, before trying to give Taka a noogie. Taka let out a playful yelp as he tried (and failed) to avoid the action. The two continued to laugh. It was loud, but Taka wasn’t put off by it. This was voluntary noise and he was kinda used to the volume that Mondo can reach. He honestly hadn’t felt like this before. Was this what it’s like to hang out with friends? He wanted to Kaito and Maki friends, but wasn’t sure if it was right to label them as such unless they were okay with it. They seemed to consider him a friend, so maybe it’s okay anyway? But Mondo pretty much made friends with him pretty fast, so it did feel like he had a real friend at last. It felt great.

“You two are FINALLY getting along!” Kaito’s voice suddenly shouted. Mondo looked over his shoulder to see that the teens had gone looking for him and Taka. Kaito continued smiling as he approached the two. “We could hear you both laughing.”

“Just men bonding over here kid!” Mondo grinned, standing up whilst pulling Taka up with him.

“I can see that! Just be careful there with Taka!” Kaito sheepishly grinned before pointing at Taka, who was still in a headlock. Taka seemed to be struggling a little under Mondo’s grip and wanted to pull away for a breather.

“Opps! Sorry!” Mondo spoke quickly, relenting his hold on the other Limitless.

“It’s okay, Kyoudai!” Taka smiled in relief. Kaito was glad that he didn’t have to worry about prying the two apart in case something happened that could’ve destroyed the peace. He suddenly felt like shrinking back when Mondo suddenly turned to him enthusiastically.

“And got you to thank for this kid!” The biker smiled before proceeding to put Kaito in a form of a headlock as well.

“Hey! What are you talking about?!” Kaito exclaimed, not quite sure how he had found himself in this kind of position.

“You made sure that we didn’t end up killing each other and shit!” Mondo grinned proudly.

“I can’t take all the credit! Maki Roll helped too you know!” Kaito tried to share the credit so he could get out of the headlock.

“Still thanking ya anyway!” Mondo smiled, giving Kaito noogie, just like he did with Taka.

“Hey! You better not thank Maki like this!” Kaito shouted, unable to avoid Mondo’s actions. He tried his best, but he couldn’t pull away strongly enough.

“When this is all over, man’s night out!” Mondo declared, seeming to ignore Kaito’s words.

“Leave me out of this! I can’t go drinking! I’m underage!” Kaito shouted, trying to move out from Mondo’s grip (A/N the legal age for drinking in Japan is 20, I checked).

“So what?” Mondo continued to grin. Maki hadn’t said anything the entire time. She just watched the whole exchange take place. She can’t help but feel slightly jealous or how she felt like she was being pushed aside. She had gotten too used to it being just her and Kaito for the year, and she had gotten used to Mondo and Taka being around by now. But this felt different and quite unfair, almost reminding her of how she was isolated back in the Facility. No. It’s not like that. This is different, this is Kaito just talking to friends that were guys. And she was the only girl in the group. It’s probably normal to feel like this in a group dynamic such as this.

“I need more female friends in this group.” She muttered, rubbing the temples of her head. In all honesty, she felt like she had the right to say that. Now that the guys are being buddy buddy like this all of a sudden, she felt like she was being singled out. Is it normal to feel like that in group like this?

“What was that, Maki Roll?” Kaito asked, still trying to pull himself away from Mondo.

“Nothing.” Maki said bluntly, carefully approaching the three.

“With that said, can you let me go now, Mondo?” Kaito requested, still trying to push Mondo’s arm off of him. He was straining a little as the biker’s grip was subconsciously tightening. “Your grip is getting a bit too much.”

“My bad!” Mondo immediately realised his mistake and was quick to release Kaito. Taka was trying to suppress his laughter the entire time. Seeing how all the playing was quickly gone, he decided to change tactics. He had a feeling that there was something important going on.

“Anyway, what’s going on you two?” He quickly asked.

“Some good news. Didn’t know up until now but we have a map.” Kaito grinned, half in relief and half with excitement.

“You’re kidding’?!” Mondo exclaimed, looking like he was going to get excited again. Maki smiled smugly as she showed the two the map that she had found. “Guess that tech chick and robo boy came through for us again.”

“Taka? You okay?” Kaito suddenly asked. He noticed that Taka had gone silent very suddenly and was eyeing at something suspiciously. The others followed his gaze. He was looking at a bush that was a few ft away from them. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then there was some kind of shine in the sun. There was something in there that they felt like shouldn’t be there. There was also something that felt beyond dreadful. It was almost like ice was being poured down their backs.

“What’s that?” Mondo was the first to speak up about it. No one could give him an answer. Taka swallowed any dread that he was feeling and started to take cautious steps forward. “Oi! Be careful!”

As Taka stepped closer, he could smell something. Something that shouldn’t be in the forest. Something that disrupted the peaceful atmosphere that he had felt up until now. He didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t pleasant and made him feel uncomfortable. However, he needed to know what it was there. It could be nothing, but he had to make sure. The others stood still, bracing themselves for anything. They watched as the branches were moved aside.

And then Taka let out a scream.

[triskel-samulet]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @mumucow I worked too hard trying to find the right portion of this fic to share.

“The night the particle accelerator exploded, you were struck by lightning,” Hen said gently, “The dark matter from the explosion mixed with the storm- we were able to track it to you, so we took over your care. That was nine months ago.”

“Nine months? I’ve been in a coma for nine months?” Buck looked over his body for signs of atrophy, but he was just as toned as always.

“Lightning gave me an ass?” He asked as he noticed his formerly flat ass was now a toned bubble butt. He had tried a variety of workouts over the years to try and get his ass to look even remotely like this. And somehow all it took was a coma.

Yes. This is a 911 The Flash fusion fic.

[alienzil]

Nanny Danny

“That is a whole ass baby,” was the only thought running through Lex Luthor’s head when the scientist proudly showed him the tube containing Project KR. It was not remotely the sort of thing he would normally think and most definitely not what he had expected to be thinking the first time he saw the clone.

He’d been pleased when he’d read the reports indicating the success of KR after years of failures. Lex had poured millions of dollars and literally his own blood into ensuring a clone of the alien could be made, one that would be under his total control instead of the unknown aspirations of Superman.  He’d wanted to see the fruits of his labors personally but this…

It. No, not an it. He scrunched his tiny face and smacked his lips and…did he smirk? Was that HIS SMIRK on that baby’s face?! No. No. Babies this small didn’t smile or smirk. They passed gas and their sleep deprived and addled parents mistook it for an intelligent response. He’d heard enough inane conversations in the Lexcorp office about the various progeny of his employees to pick up on that but still. This child had Kryptonian DNA, not to mention his own contribution. Surely, he was far more advanced than the dribbling potato shaped lump of an infant whose pictures he’d been forced to smile and nod over when Mark from accounting had rudely shoved them in his face at the last quarterly budget meeting. Yes, that was definitely a smirk. His, that was his smirk.

“So as you can see its growth is well within expected parameters and we’re planning to start phase one of accelerating the maturation process tomorrow once the testing is do-”

“Take him out.”

“Sir? The testing can all be accomplished while it remains in the tube. There’s no need to-”

“I said, take him out. The project is cancelled.”

“What?! Mr. Luthor you can’t!”

“I think you’ll find I can. Now get me my son.”

*****

Two years later

“Call them again”

“Sir, I’ve called them seven times. They won’t answer.”

“Then call another agency!”

“There isn’t another agency, Sir”

Lex glared at his assistant who stared back at him impassively. Mercy stood by the door staring off into the distance and pretending she didn’t notice him being bested by his own secretary.

He stopped himself from shouting again and took a deep breath before asking, “Then what, exactly, do you propose I do Mrs. Anderson? Adjust my entire schedule around naptimes? Find a toddler size lab coat and safety goggles and bring my son with me to tour the new clean energy project on Thursday? Perhaps buy a tiny business suit while I’m at it for the next board meeting?”

“I’m not suggesting anything of the sort, Mr. Luthor. I’m telling you that no childcare agency in Metropolis will return my calls anymore. Most won’t even answer.  You’ve gone through 27 nannies in the last 3 months. You need someone better suited to your son’s…special needs.”

Lex snorted. “Special needs might be a bit of understatement. He can lift a car over his head and his favorite word right now is No.”

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Thank you for…clarifying the situation, Marjorie. If there’s nothing else, you can leave.”

His secretary didn’t move. She looked at him like she was waiting for something and now that he was paying attention, he saw she was holding a file.  “Did you have a suggestion?”

Looking pleased with herself she responded, “Actually, yes, I did.”

“Well?”

She set the file on his desk and flipped it open. He looked down at the first page and raised an eyebrow, “What am I looking at here?”

“This,” she responded pulling out the top set of papers and spreading them out, “is the employee file and background check for Daniel J. Fenton, an intern that started in our engineering department about 4 months ago. He has one sibling, two parents and several close friends he regularly meets with. His current supervisor has nothing but good things to say about him and reports he gets along well with all his coworkers.”

She set out the next set of papers, neatly arranging them on the desk to be easily seen. “These are newspaper articles and screenshots of social media posts regarding a small town vigilante locally known as Phantom. The same small town, Mr. Fenton is from coincidentally. Also coincidentally, Phantom made his first appearance only a few weeks after Mr. Fenton was involved in a minor accident in his parent’s home laboratory when he was 14, the medical records for the incident are included.”

“Hmm,” Lex said observing several photos of Phantom and a younger Fenton arranged in order of similar poses and facial expressions and printed out side by side.

“Finally,” she said handing him the last set of papers directly, “this would be a report from the lab Mr. Fenton works in from an incident that happened yesterday. A test with a new protype went wrong and started a fire. Everyone evacuated per protocol when the alarms went off but one of the other interns was working on a programming issue off to the side of the lab while wearing headphones and didn’t hear the alarm or notice the fire. Mr. Fenton noticed his absence and returned to the lab to get him out.” She stopped talking and let him look at the last several pages in the file, a series of photographs of the lab.

“Is this ice?”

“Yes, it is. It’s several inches thick and covers half of the lab. It completely put out the fire leaving minimal damage.”

“This machine was moved?”

“It was. It was very close to the flames and would have required replacement if exposed to extreme heat or cold. That particular piece of equipment also weighs several thousand pounds and was bolted to the floor.”

Lex read through everything in detail then clasped his hands under his chin and stared at the photo of Daniel Fenton for several moments before turning back to his waiting secretary.

“Have HR send Mr. Fenton up. I’d like to offer him a promotion.”

[andtheny]

Chapters: 4/4 Fandom: Wednesday (TV 2022), Adult Wednesday Addams (Web Series) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Wednesday Addams & Enid Sinclair, Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair Characters: Enid Sinclair, Wednesday Addams Additional Tags: Unrequited Love, Pining, Adult Wednesday Addams, Time Travel, Inspired by The Time Traveler's Wife, but make it sapphic, Murder Mystery, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Drabble, Triple Drabble, inspired by multiverse of madness, inspired by spiderverse, Yearning, Sapphic Summary:

Enid Sinclair meets Adult Wednesday Addams.

They decide to solve a murder together.

Typical first date, you know?

[ecto-stone]

DannyMay-Day 2- WISH.

[littlecrittereli]

WK Elemental AU

(because I don't have enough AUs already...) Let me introduce you to something thats been rolling around in my brain for a little while now... The Elemental AU!

Heavily inspired by Avatar the Last Airbender, the elemental AU takes place in a universe where some people are born with the ability to control a specific element. The main difference is instead of the 4 western elements of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air- it's the 5 Chinese elements of Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, and Metal. (Just bc it fit the crew better! and gives me some more room to world-build)

The basic plot remains close to Wild Kratts canon. They travel the world, saving animals from the villains (Who are also elementals!) except instead of relying on technology, or their creature powers, they use their elemental gifts.

I am planning on writing about this soon since Decoded is coming to an end in only a few weeks. But I figured I would go ahead and introduce it now since I've finished all of their refs!

[feeshu09]

NOOOOOOO BABY YQY 😭😭😭 HE LOOKS LIKE A KITTEN LEFT IN THE RAIN WHILE DROWING IN HIS OWN TEARS 😭😭😭😭😭

SHEN YUAN YOU HAVE A SECOND OLDER BROTHER THAT NEEDS ADOPTING

While bebi yqy is all sad, somewhere out there...

[24hrsoda]

My fav lil tidbit about my batfam Clark AU is that Bruce probably sees articles titled “Superman: A God Amongst Men?” and he just laughs.

Clark eats cheap pizza slices for 90% of his meals and is about to be dropped from two of his college courses for never showing up.

Clark asks if he can come study in the BatCave because “It’s quieter and I can focus better.” And not even an hour he’s upstairs and is playing video games with Jason.

Bruce has watched Clark get on his knees and beg Alfred to please please please make him a batch of cookies because he’s been craving them all week.

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

National Heat Awareness Day & National Meditation Day & National Smile Day & What You Think Upon Grows Day

Person A is able to create electricity from their thoughts - specifically, through overthinking things. Ever since they were a child, their parents encouraged this so as to use Person A’s ability to keep the energy bill low by just using Person A as a source. Person A is now burnt out and struggling to use their ability, which they put all their worth in. Person B is their therapist who they get sent to by people who want to use their ability and are upset Person A’s power is starting to run dry.

[kizzer55555]

Super Dead Soulmates

In this universe, any injury or scar you sustain appears on your soulmate. However, for as long as he could remember, Danny never gained an injury that wasn’t his own. When he was very young, his parents would always say that he was just a late bloomer and perhaps his soulmate was a few years younger than he was and thus, just wasn’t born yet. As Danny grew older, they got more absorbed in their work and just seemed to forget about the whole ordeal. Danny never asked them about it again, afraid they might think a ghost had ‘cursed’ him or something. It was hard enough to hide the lack of additional scars at school. Luckily, most people don’t get injured very often so it was easy enough to play off some of his injuries as that from a soulmate. The only ones who knew the truth were his sister and his best friends. Danny was just convinced that he didn’t have a soulmate and had accepted that fact, even if it hurt. Then the accident happened and for once, he was thankful his soulmate wouldn’t have to feel his pain. And even more so when he started to fight the other ghosts daily. Danny was content to live like this, but with more ghost fights, his injuries started piling up. Danny excused them saying that they were from his soulmate. It didn’t completely get rid of the scrutiny but most people bought it. Afterall, how else would puny Fenton get those kinds of bruises? So for a while, that excuse worked…until someone realized that Danny and Phantom’s injuries linked up (I vote Wes). Now normally, the natural conclusion would be that Danny and Phantom were the same person. But due to the fact that one of them was dead and the other clearly alive, everyone gained a new theory…that Phantom was Danny’s soulmate. It would explain the recent injuries as Phantom was often seen fighting other ghosts. And to be honest, this was the perfect cover. It’s not like Danny had an actual soulmate who might show up and this added another layer of protection against people thinking he and Phantom were the same person. So Danny remained silent and let the rumors grow. Sure people now thought he and Phantom were dating but that was fiiiiiinnnneee. (But BOY was that an awkward conversation with his parents). 

And then Kon was born.

As a clone, all he knew from the outside was implanted into his mind. He knew the color of the sky, the sound of music, academic equations and a lot of common knowledge such as soulmates. He knew that injuries were shared between a bonded pair and that everyone had a soulmate. But he was different. He wasn't born a baby and grew up alongside another person. He wasn’t even real according to some people. Yet one day, he noticed bruises lining his arms, he was confused. He should have had impenetrable skin like Superman. As far as he could remember, his skin had never been pierced before. And it’s not like he fought a godlike being that day. He shouldn’t have any injuries. Kon decided to ignore them but the injuries kept showing up. It got so bad that his team started to notice and sat him down asking if everything was alright with his powers or if he was exposed to kryptonite somehow. So, very confused, Kon had explained that the injuries just kept showing up. It was only after his team gave him a curious look and explained the concepts of soulmates did everything click with him. Sure, Kon knew about soulmates but surely that couldn't be what this was! He was a clone! He shouldn’t have a soulmate. It was impossible! But after a few more days of observation and a bit of testing, everyone determined that this was, in fact, a soulmate bond. 

To say Kon was ecstatic was an understatement. Actually, it was a mix of excitement, nervousness, worry, and joy all rolled into one. He was elated at the idea that he had someone meant for him. Someone who would accept all of him. Kon had looked at the others and there had always been a slight jealousy when he saw a paper cut bloom on their fingers or see them rub a bruised knee fondly. 

But more than anything. He was happy because this was proof that he was real. Afterall, a soulmate wouldn’t match with him unless his soul was equal to theirs. His body almost melted with relief at that realization. A weight off his shoulders he never fully grasped was still there. 

Of course there was the worry of why exactly his soulmate had so many injuries. For a hero, it was obvious they would get injured (although they tried to have as much protective padding as possible to limit that possibility. But some injuries still got through.) Yet the amount of injuries Kon’s soulmate sustained were far more than that (because Danny lacked proper padding  and didn’t think he had to worry about a soulmate. Most injuries looked worse than they were anyways due to his fast healing). And on the contrary, Kon’s skin was perfectly clear. With his kryptonian biology, even if he got hurt, it never left a mark. So all the injuries and bruises sustained on him were purely from his soulmate. And there was enough for two people. On the bright side, it helped with his cover, on the downside, Kon started to worry about his soulmate. (Meanwhile, Danny didn’t notice a difference. Sure, sometimes he would feel a temporary ache or sharp pain but no mark was left so he just assumed the pain was sore muscles from a previous battle or that one of his rogues were hitting harder than he thought.) 

As for Kon, he and his team used every resource at their disposal to try and track down Kon’s soulmate. They did this for every member of the team as hero soulmates were in more danger than most but they paid special attention to Kon’s soulmate due to the rapid accumulation of injuries. 

Kon would fantasize on what his soulmate would be like. Would they be tall? Short? They would probably be able to fight. Boy or girl? It doesn't really matter. Kon knew opposite gender soulmates were more common but he wouldn’t mind a guy either. His days were filled with dreams of a mystery person. Someone he could hold in his arms and protect. Who would comfort him after patrols and who he could introduce to his friends. 

After a while, Tim finally found a lead. Some doctor records of a boy in a small town called Amity. Apparently he was prescribed pain medicine to help with ‘soulmate injuries’. The lost of injuries were extensive and after looking at some pictures, they realized that his scars and Kon’s scars lined up. A perfect match. So it wasn’t long before they made a quick road trip to Amity. 

This place was already on the Justice League radar. It was a town that appears to have a permanent portal to the afterlife and was attacked often. (Which might explain why Kon’s soulmate was so injured). The Justice League had not interfered yet because the town had a local hero as well. Someone who seemed good at his job and who Tim was even thinking of recruiting. So this was a good opportunity to hit two birds with one stone. Afterall, not much was known about this mysterious Phantom other than he dedicated his afterlife to protecting this one town. Once they got to Amity they would probably need to check in with Phantom before anything. And despite his impatience with finding the person who might be his soulmate, even Kon was excited to meet this hero. Apparently Phantom had vast experience but also a major power set. He might gain another flying buddy or someone he could wrestle with without worrying about his strength. Afterall, Phantom also supposedly had super strength and even if he didn’t, it’s not like you can kill a ghost. Yet no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t find him. It was only by coincidence that they stumbled upon Danny instead and his group of friends. 

The first time Kon saw Danny, it was like coming home. He wanted to do nothing more than rush to his soulmate and hug him and vow to always keep him safe. He wanted to prove that he would be the best soulmate ever and he wanted to know everything there was to know about him. He was practically vibrating where he stood in his civilian disguise and it was only his friends that held him back from flying over and surprising the poor boy.

But before he could do anything, a ghost attacked. Kon barely had enough time to grab his friends and dodge when some kind of glowing creature crashed into a building. And while normally he would immediately find somewhere to change, Kon’s first instinct was to check on his soulmate, only to see the two people he assumed to be the boy’s friends but no sign of Danny. Frantically looking around, he didn’t notice the glowing creature behind him (was that a dragon?) but before it could reach him, another glowing figure intercepted the attack. They looked almost ethereal with white hair softly floating in the air and a suit that hugged his muscled form tightly. The figure turned around and gave a sheepish smile towards Kon. “You ok?”

And it felt like for the second time that day, Kon was rendered breathless. 

Someone was protecting him.

Someone was protecting him?

Yet it felt…nice. Warm.

Before Kon could gather his thoughts though the battle picked up in earnest. He and his team found cover and changed into their suits. When they came to help, the person Kon assumed to be Phantom looked surprised at their sudden appearance but it wasn’t long before he and everyone else started working together. Unfortunately, actually fighting the ghost seemed to be impossible. Whenever they got close, their hits just passed right through so Phantom quickly regulated them on defense and citizen protection duty. Occasionally getting a hit in when the creature was tangible. Watching Phantom fight was something. Kon could understand why he was elected to join their team. He had this sort of grace and power that couldn’t be explained in words but was clearly from the experience of many battles.

Despite not being able to do much, fighting with Phantom was fun. They seemed to be completely in sync and it wasn’t long before Kon started to enjoy his loud commentary and puns as the two ghosts fought.

However, one particularly hard hit made it so that the dragon’s claws grazed his chest. Leaving three shallow gashes, but Phantom took the close proximity that attack gave him and sucked the creature into…a soup thermos?

But Kon wasn’t focused on that. He was wholly focused on the stinging pain suddenly coming from his chest, underneath his untouched uniform that clearly had not been hit. Kon didn’t know how to process what was happening. Everything suddenly became louder and he vaguely tried to move but it was like his mind became mush as he tried to process what that meant. He managed to get away for a bit and undid his shit, looking down to see three shallow scratches along his chest. Scratches that perfectly mirrored Phantom. In the corner of his eye, Kon saw a head of black hair and witnessed as Danny reunited with his two friends he had been separated from in the chaos. And as Danny twisted to hug them, his shirt flipped up enough to see another identical 3 scratches along the boy's stomach. Perfectly mirroring Phantoms. 

It was only later that Kon and his team did some more research on the town and it’s ghosts and learned the unofficial secret that Phantom and Danny were dating. That Phantom had Likely come back from the afterlife to protect the town his soulmate lived in. On the bright side, at least now he could confirm Danny really was his soulmate. And he knew where all those injuries were coming from.

Kon had found his soulmate.

Correction, he found his soumates

And they were already bonded to each other.

…

….so where did that leave him?

There are now two options. 

1: Kon decided that he just needs to woo both his soulmates and starts doing so both as Superboy and as Conner. Danny is very confused who these people are (because as far as he knows, he doesn’t have a soulmate, and since Kon doesn’t visibly show injury, there is no sign (unless Danny somehow injures himself in a place that is visible but he’s been trying to avoid that to make everyone worry less.)). Kon goes all out. He gets flowers, chocolates, writes poetry (whether good or not doesn’t matter) starts wooing Phantom in hero form, showing off his strength and skill whenever possible. (And unfortunately, also his dork side when he isn’t paying attention while flying) Asking to hang out, insist on paying for everything. Danny sees this tall Hunk who is paying attention to him and he doesn’t know what to do. And there are TWO OF THEM! (Also, in this version it might be funny if people suspect Danny and Phantom are dating but don’t know for sure and since they are never around each other, people might assume they just don’t know. So Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are all for Danny possibly starting a relationship with Kon along with Kon’s team who are cheering them on and trying to help the poor clone boy who has no experience with romance. Meanwhile literally everyone else in the town who likes Phantom is trying to run interference and get Danny and their hero together. 

2: The angst option. Kon decides that the fact that he has two soulmates who are together is likely a result of him being a clone. It’s not that he had someone waiting for him (how could he think someone was waiting their whole life just for him? How stupid was he?!) Kon had just hijacked a different bond. So he tries to stay away. Unfortunately, Tim had talked with Phantom while Kon was out of it so now they have started to team up. This makes avoiding him very difficult as he keeps running into Phantom. Moreover, he runs into Danny because they need him for the ghost hunting equipment. And slowly but surely, Kon falls in love with ‘both’ his soulmates but doesn’t want to get ‘between’ them. And Danny wants to know why one of his new teammates is avoiding him.

[mutable-manifestation]

Ghost Chirps AU Part 5

Part 1 & 2

Part 3

Part 4

***

While “Jason” (i.e. Alfred with an empty jet that Jason will meet up with later in order to “arrive” in Amity) hops a private jet, Red Hood is busy searching the Fenton home from top to bottom.

The local police move slowly, and by the time they arrive Jack and Maddie Fenton are both tied up and disarmed in their living room under heavy guard.

They hadn’t been restrained immediately, Batman talking him into giving them a chance to implicate themselves first.

Hood let him take the lead, but he didn’t even get a chance to ask a question, being cut off at the first indication he might want to talk about their “work.” Less than 60 seconds in, and the pair had outright confessed to violating the meta protection acts - and in tedious detail.

The questioning didn’t suffer any from them being tied up.

Far from the mulish silence or crocodile-tear laden denial of most criminals, they instead doubled down, insisting that nothing they had done was illegal, then jumping to the assumption that they were “possessed” - and boy had it been a nasty surprise when the whole house came alive trying to attack them with a quick verbal command.

Well, trying to attack Hood. And only him, for some reason.

One laser also freed the Fentons, who turned out to have even more weapons built into their suits. 

Somehow. 

Despite them being skintight.

That had been a pain, but Red Robin was able to hack the system using one of the couples’ own devices while Hood dodged - and kept the stray fire away from the others - leaving everyone else to recapture the pair. A blessedly simple task once they found out the lasers would splash harmlessly off of their armor (save for a gross film of green goop left wherever they grazed).

They take turns knocking each unconscious to change them in order to properly disarm them - Batman and Nightwing taking Jack first, followed by Orphan and Spoiler dealing with Maddie. 

The only non-weapon laden clothing they own turns out to be pajamas. 

This is around when the police show up, looking hesitant.

They, too, cite the “Anti-Ecto Acts.”

Oracle had debriefed them on the supposed Acts and “Ghost Investigation Ward” on their short drive over. Both were utterly bogus - the Acts had never even been proposed, let alone been approved as law, and the so-called “GIW” had no ties to the government.

The Fentons had been furious and denied the information intensely when told, but the cops mostly just looked relieved.

Apparently there’d been a lot of property damage by the GIW and Fentons both that had supposedly been dismissed under the Acts as “necessary in the pursuit of ecto-scum.”

For the Fentons, half of this damage was in the form of broken fire hydrants, cracked sidewalks, and totaled cars - they’d never been good drivers, before, the cops disclosed, but they’d become even more negligent since the ghosts began appearing, to the point they had to have a news segment warning when they would be on the road.

The lack of fatalities thus far had been nothing short of a miracle, they claimed.

“Of course there haven’t been any fatalities!” Mrs Fenton defends. “Our work is to protect people from those things, not make more! Officers, listen to reason-” Hood snorts disdainfully -”The Red Hood is clearly a ghost! All our systems targeted him the moment they came online - and they only target ecto-entities. He’s clearly taken these heroes under his sway - why else would they be working with a murderer!? You have to do something before he starts up his killing here in Amity!”

The officers look at him a bit hesitantly, but Batman is unmoved and gives the cover story Hood had outlined back in the alley.

Any concerns the locals have are quickly assuaged.

But for the whole explanation, Jason is trying not to shake even as he falls apart in place.

Their little website called them ghost-hunters, making it pretty clear what “ecto-entities” meant. 

Their system supposedly only targets ecto-entities.

The system had only targeted him.

The system only targets ghosts.

Jason had died.

A lot of his family members had died, too, granted. 

But Jason was the only one who seemed to come back wrong - anger sticking in his throat and never quite fading, an inclination towards violence even when he wasn’t angry well beyond what he’d ever felt before, and a sea of other emotions (that he would never acknowledge aloud) and triggers for those emotions that he always struggled to make heads or tails of.

He doesn’t have the meta gene. He knows that. He knew that.

He just assumed that the test missed it, because he knows he doesn’t know magic - the All Blades being the only exception - and he couldn’t think of another explanation at the time.

But he came back wrong.

And as he stands there, he wonders if he came back at all, mind on Solomon Grundy.

Wonders if he isn’t just some ghost, wandering around possessing his own corpse.

He jolts, as the thought strikes him: what about Danny?

If he’s a ghost and chirping is a ghost thing then what about his KID!?

Absently, he notes that Bruce has started interrogating the cops on what they meant by “ghost attacks.” 

He ignores the discussion, hustling for the door in the kitchen down to the lab.

He slams and locks the door behind him - in Red Robin’s face - as he descends, making a b-line for the computer he’d seen when the Fentons had dragged them all down there to start bragging about their crimes.

The only thing Oracle could get out of the whole building was things that were openly available online; direct connections were impossible.

Opening up the screen, he gets to cracking.

Going for the surface level files first, it turns out he doesn’t even need so much as a password to find what he wants.

One of the video game sub-files has an unrelated file in it: ghost notes.

There are plenty of other notes, of course, but he’d only been skimming to start, looking for anything hidden.

The Fenton parents were too open to bother, of course, with plenty of more obvious files strewn haphazardly across the home screen, but it’s always better to check. That there is a hidden file means it was likely made by either Danny or Jazz.

And it’s a treasure trove.

Sub-files for rogues, allies, conditional allies, and “halfas” were what greeted him.

The last being the only term he didn’t recognize, he clicked.

6 files: Clones, Danny, Dani, Dan, Vlad, and Red Hood.

He clicks his own file.

What greets him is a picture of himself 4 days ago, looking just to the left of the lens in an alley that he distinctly remembers searching for the kid in.

Just below is text.

~~~

??? Name: Red Hood

Species: probably a halfa

Status: Nnnneutral? I think? I know, I know, heads in bags. But Valerie tries to kill me all the time! And we’re allies sometimes! Hood- uh- looked for me? Okay I guess I can’t really judge this yet but please read the first met section before you judge please you guys?

First met: Aug 17, 2005, was in Gotham to bother Batman, stopped to think a bit on some fire escape - decide on the first prank yknow - but then my ghost sense went off. It felt like a halfa so I thought “oh cool, must be Dani” so I chirped, but then Red Hood - who was chasing some guy down an alley at the time - froze and looked around. I dropped visibility and chirped again and yeah, he definitely heard it. Humans can’t so he’s definitely a halfa - no glow so he can’t be a full ghost and it felt nothing like an overshadowing. 

Ended up following Hood around the rest of week - forgot to prank Batman, damn - and playing hide-and-seek with the chirps. It was really funny. But he very obviously doesn’t know he’s a halfa. But the guy is, like, scary levels of smart, so I’m sure he’ll figure it out on his own now that the chirp thing made it clear that something is up. Hopefully.

I figure I can go back in winter break - he should have it figured out and let his emotions process enough by then to at least hear me out when I explain the AEA and GIW and everything, then it won’t matter so much if he can, like, track me by voice or something if I talk since we’ll have MAD by then.

Despite his reputation, the people living in his haunt seem to love the guy. I can see why. On top of the whole smart he’s actually really nice to people he’s not shooting in the knees (which only even happened one time in the week I was there? It was actually pretty relaxing - most quiet week I’ve had since the portal opened THANK YOU TUCKER for hacking the portal hatch to be inoperable for a week). 

Where was I? Oh yeah, he’s actually surprisingly nice to people? So like, I think he’ll probably hear me out if I go back and be polite? I hope. Hate to leave the guy in the dark and him end up on the GIWs dissection table for “lots and lots of painful experiments.”

Not that those guys could even catch the Box Ghost. But uh, Hood doesn’t seem to have powers either? Or if he does he doesn’t know about them I don’t think - he only used the chirp the whole time I was their - not even to cheat with moving around.

Seriously. That guy's acrobatics could make Freakshow’s contortionist green - er, red??? - with envy. Actually wait, aren’t contortionists and acrobats different things?

SAM NOTE: help^?

Powers: 

?

~~~

Jason leans back, breathing deeply.

“Not a full ghost,” “not 'overshadowed'” - a term that sounds likke some kind of cousin to possesision - “definitely a halfa,” “humans can’t hear chirps.”

Halfa. 

Half. 

Ghost. 

Half Ghost.

It should sound absurd - you can’t be half alive and half dead.

But Jason has seen the Lazarus pits, has met Solomon Grundy, has met aliens and bullshit magic and can pull magical swords out of his own damn chest.

Half alive. Half dead.

Hopefully not just a fancy way to say possessing his own corpse.

He doesn’t have time to deal with every file - he’ll “confiscate” one of their USBs with a copy of everything for himself before leaving the rest to Batman & co, of course, minus the halfa files (a small part of him wants to shove his condition in Bruce’s face and demand he kill the clown again even though he knows it’s a futile hope, but the rest - the same part that snapped and denied and refused to say he was a meta less that a day ago now - cannot stomach the thought of even more rejection. Of a Bruce that believes he’s a monster. Of a Bruce that mourns him even while he’s right there. Or at least, more than he already does.) - but while the files copy he take the time to look at Danny’s.

The image has two people, Danny Fenton on one side and a version of the kid in a black hazmat suit with white hair, tanned skin, and painfully familiar green eyes. And floating.

~~~

Human Name: Danny Fenton

Ghost Name: Danny Phantom

Species: Halfa (half-human, half ghost)

~~~

It’s the section after that that makes Jason’s breath catch in his throat.

~~~

Death: The Portal Accident

So like, there was no audio (thank GOD I do not want to hear myself screaming) so. Details: When the portal didn’t work when they plugged it in mom and dad left for fudge, Jazz went to try and talk them into a more realistic career choice than ghosts. Sam and Tucker came over and Sam dared me to climb in and check it out - it was broken anyway so no harm. Except it wasn’t broken, just that my parents put the on button inside. Which I caught myself on when I tripped on a wire.

Anyway, electrocution! 

(T - Danny for the love of god be more serious, the cheerful tone is creepy)

(D - Hey! I’m the one who died! Shouldn’t I at least get to write my own epitaph)

(S - …Danny this is not an epitaph. You don’t even HAVE a grave)

(D - wow way to rub it in Sam)

(T - yeah Sam)

(S - ugh! Whatever, just stop with the chatting in official files)

(T - “official”)

(S - Tucker.)

(T - shutting up now)

Electrocution! I got zapped to death, but the ectoplasm from the portal was also opening up on top of me and a lot got bonded to me I guess (S - probably because of the electricity with how you ended up with some of Vortex' powers for a little while) at the same time said electricity was reviving me? - probably getting my heart beating again or something, I was a little busy screaming to pay attention (T - yeah okay we're going to Nasty Burger after this. And playing Doomed) - not that it would’ve mattered without the ghostification preventing me from melting me all the way to death.

Status: Me!

Powers:

Chirps! (ghost echolocation of some kind! humans can't hear em - halfas can, of course, in either form)

Form Change (really Sam? This barely counts)

Human form

Ghost form (no need to breathe)

Flight (last clock speed 210mph) (T - and climbing. Dang dude)

Invisibility (S - don’t forget shareable.) (Shareable. sigh)

Intangibility (Shareable)

Ecto Rays (eyes & hands) (T - and butt) (D - dude! I’m deleting that. Tucker why can't I delete it. TUCKER) (T - bow down in awe of my ksill) (S - ksill) (D - ksill) (T - yeah okay it’s permanent now) (D - aw man!)

Ghost Sense (S - why do we never test your range?) (D - no need? They always make themselves obvious or are being sneaky specifically to annoy me so *shrug*) (S - I still think we should test it)

Power Absorption (that time with Vortex’s weather powers)

Cryokinesis (Wayyyyy to much ice. NOT testing max output on that) (T - yeah frozen city was enough, let’s not cause an ice age. Tech needs some cool but too much is still bad and I just upgraded Patricia)

Ghostly Wail (cone of destruction, very exhausting - always at max output. Not to be used)

GHOST FORM ONLY (but really just never)

Cartoon Body (D - what???) (S - Freakshow literally turned you into a puddle and you just turned back and were fine. I don’t know what else to call that) (D - okay fair. but:)

GHOST FORM ONLY

Physical Enhancement (better strength, speed, stamina, durability, reflexes, balance, etc much better than human) (T - why does this look like dnd knockoff stats haha)

GHOST FORM ONLY (S - obviously mr last place in PE)

Resistances (pretty solid on the overshadowing, avoided being taken in by Ember until targeted, didn’t get turned to stone during the Medusa thing) (S - which was pure luck! Be careful!)

Ecto Electricity (ghost stinger, but I really don’t think this counts Sam. I mean I just. Make my ecto zappy. But it’s still just ecto) (S - so is your ICE and you don’t just call that "just cold ecto") (D - fine, but it feels overly specific) (S - maybe writing it all down will make you stop. Forgetting. POWERS!) (D - come on Sam that was a lucky hit! I was distracted! And it turned out fine!) (S - Fenton…) (D - oop okay doing fire now)

Ecto Fire (made Dash’s shoes melty that one time by make the ecto hot) (T - really needs more testing)

Tech possession (chasing Technus into computers, not very tested)

Ghost form only, i guess?

Overshadowing (control people, copy their voice, invade dreams - the control one erases the person’s memory so they don’t know they were overshadowed just lost time. I hate Walker. SO much) (T - rip Danny’s reputation, you’ll be missed)

Probably ghost form only

Duplication (T - That’s optimistic) (D - I’M WORKING ON IT OKAY!?) (S - pretty sure it just falls under cartoon body until you can actually separate) (D - :( betrayal)

Probably ghost form only

More? (D - ugh I hope not) (T - hey don’t say that, maybe you’ll get a power to make the JL give a crap about Amity) (D - honestly I’m getting pretty close to letting Boxy loose in Gotham) (S - Danny, don’t stoop to their level!) (D - it's only box ghost!) (T - I mean he has a point)

~~~

Jason changes his mind, seeing the commentary, and deletes the entire hidden file from the computer as soon as his copy is made. He can go over everything and bring any important info to Bruce separately, the bat’s can just chew on the parents’ files for now.

Once the original files are thoroughly and irretrievably removed he pockets his shiny new USB, makes a second one with all the official files, and heads back up and out - carelessly brushing past a thoroughly irate Red Robin with a pair of firemen and broken jaws of life. And not a scratch on the door; impressive - just in time to get Oracle’s text that he’s got 2 hours and 16 minutes to be at the location on his HUD so he can “arrive” to Amity.

And a fresh set of civilian clothes will be waiting in the plane, Alfred as reliable as ever.

“Files,” he says, tossing the safe USB to Batman and interrupting his interrogation of the police officer.

He catches it effortlessly of course, but the officer stops paying attention to him to jolt at Hood’s reappearance - even outside of Gotham his reputation is fierce.

“I sent a copy to myself. I’ll review them and give you an overview, but other than that consider this the end of my involvement in this little shitshow,” he says, continuing smoothly to the door. “I’m heading back to Gotham.”

Now, he has a little over two hours before Jason Todd needs to arrive in Amity Park. He only needs to lay hands on a laptop that he can isolate from Babs’ influence and he should be able to review the Halfa files in full before he "lands" - after he figures out just why the kid has a grudge against the JL.

[geminiamethyst]

Running. Chapter 45: Haunted

Chapter 1: click HERE

Chapter 44: click HERE

Chapter 46

Okay. I’m back with this story. Sorry it took a while XD

No one knew exactly how to feel after that fight. Could that even be called a fight? It seemed more like manslaughter or an execution with how it had ended.

No matter how you looked at it, it was still brutal to process. What was left of the saw mill was abandoned once again. No one cared that it was still covered in ice. They just took the body of the man with them, wrapping him up in one of their sleeping bags, and left. They travelled as far as they could go with how fast the sun was setting. They stopped at a good enough place for a break and it felt like reality had sunk back in again. Kaito was sitting down to give his leg a break. He didn’t know why it was playing up again but he can have a look later on. Maki had sat Taka down after picking up two thick, strong sticks that ran the length of Taka’s forearm. Maki had taken out the left over bandages and was ready to set to painful and impromptu medical attention. Mondo had remained silent and went off somewhere. He seemed to be affected by this the most. In all the time that he had gotten to know him, Kaito had never seen him so quiet. It took about a minute to realise that the biker had taken the body and a small shovel that he had with him. It didn’t take a genius to work out what Mondo was doing. And no one had thought to stop him.

While everything was going on, Kaito had started to think. He couldn't get those words out of his head. “Get…girl…shi…North….” was what the man had said before he drew his last breath. He didn't have enough strength to say a full sentence, but Kaito could piece together just enough. “Get” and “girl”. The man probably tried to say “Get the girl…” first. Girl? Was he talking about Maki? Quite possibly considering how she was the only girl in the group. Not to mention, the man probably knew how much danger she was in with Orochi and past the mind control, wanted nothing more than to help to protect her too. And he also said “North” at the end. They were heading north anyway. So did this man know about the camp too? But how could he? He had been in the Underground for who knows how long. Unless he came from there? And what was “shi” supposed to mean? This is so confusing.

“I suggest that you bite down on this. Hard.” Maki advised, holding the towel up to Taka's face. He hesitated a little, but knowing about what's coming next, he did as he was told. Kaito was snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed what was happening between the two. Maki waited until Taka gave her a nod, showing that he was ready. She glanced down at his arm, clearly seeing where the bone was snapped. She focused hard and there was a loud crunch in the air. Taka screamed as he could feel the bones in his arm being forced back into place. His voice was muffled by the towel clenched between his teeth, the only thing keeping him from accidentally biting his tongue. Kaito flinched as he heard the bones move and winced as Taka screamed. Taka breathed heavily when Maki started to make a splint. Maki didn't seem fazed. Using her powers, she pressed the sticks in place on Taka's arm and wrapped everything up in the bandages that they still had. Continuing to use her powers, Maki also kept the arm at an angle as a long strip of bandages held the arm in place, tying at the back of Taka's neck. A makeshift cast and sling. Small but effective for now. Hopefully maybe there will be someone at the camp that can do a better job.

“Kaito, I hate to ask but could you check on Mondo?” Taka asked after having taken out the towel from his mouth. He glanced in the direction from where Mondo had disappeared to. “He’s been at it for a while.”

Kaito followed his gaze before glancing down at his watch. He suppressed a flinch as he saw a small crack in the glass, but it was still working just fine. He didn’t realise how long Mondo had been gone for.

“Sure. I was just thinking that actually.” Kaito smiled a little before he walked over to where Mondo was most likely. It took about two minutes but he found the biker. Mondo was kneeling down by a mound of earth that was piled up. He was slouched over and looked like he was taking a small break from his self appointed job. He was also rubbing his hands, trying to soothe the blisters that he’s probably got while he was digging. The shovel was laying beside him. The corpse of the man was still wrapped up in the sleeping bag.

“Hey.” Kaito gently spoke, being just as slow in approaching the biker. He didn’t know what Mondo’s current thought process was, but he didn’t want to accidentally spook him.

“Dug as best I could. Guy deserves a proper burial.” Mondo responded, his tone making him sound like an monotone answering machine. Kaito found himself biting his lip as he tried to not look at the wrapped up body. Mondo wasn’t wrong, but what else they could do? This was the only way that they can try to be respectful to the unknown man. He didn’t even give a name and it wasn’t like they could contact any of his relatives, they don’t have the means to. This was the next best thing. Still not ideal though.

“How’s Taka?” Mondo suddenly asked, standing up and dusting his hands off.

“Maki Roll is patching up his arm. He’ll be okay.” Kaito said, trying suppress a shudder as he remembered the sound of Taka’s arm being forced back into the right position. “How you holding up?”

“Don’t wanna talk about it, kid.” Mondo sighed, his head bowed down so that he couldn’t make eye contact. Kaito felt like, something cut inside him when he saw this. Mondo had never been like this before. He honestly didn’t know what to do or how to approach the situation. It was new territory to him. He knew that Mondo felt immense guilt for what had happened. He needs to let the biker know that it wasn’t his fault. It was Orochi’s for trapping a Limitless in that snake form for who knows how long.

“It wasn’t your fault. None of us knew.” Kaito tried to start off, not sure if he should approach the biker or not.

“Still used my powers to kill him. That ain’t gonna change.” Mondo sighed heavily, looking down at his hands. He then glared at them, as if he wished that his powers had never existed at all. He really was beating himself up over this badly.

“All the same, Orochi knew.” Kaito tried again to reason. He then felt bitter as he suddenly remembered how they found Tanken’s body and how Maki theorised that the other members of the Council had met the same fate. “A part of me wonders if he intended to kill him after all of this was over.”

“I really hope that ain’t the fucking case, kid.” Mondo muttered, looking back into the pit that he had dug. He sighed a little before approaching the body. He then glanced up at Kaito. “Mind giving me a hand?”

Kaito tried not to shudder. He knew what Mondo wanted to do. He started to walk over when the body suddenly lifted itself into the air. Kaito almost screamed as his fear of ghosts was the first thing that came to mind. Then he whipped around and spotted Maki with Taka standing behind her. Her gaze was focused on the body as Mondo and Kaito took a few steps back from it. It was delicately placed in the pit and the pile of earth was just as carefully placed on top of it. All four Limitless stood by the make shift grave, silence taking over the forest. They didn’t know the man, but someone must have. And they’ll probably never know what had happened to him. Despite all that, each Limitless still felt grief for him and were wishing him well in the next life. It felt like it was something that they had to do.

“What did he say to you?” Maki suddenly asked, the silence finally breaking. She was looking up at Kaito, her eyes caught between focused and misty. Kaito felt uncomfortable as the other two looked to him as well. He was still trying to figure out those words, but he might as well share what he knows.

“He said thank you for freeing him.” He spoke, his voice breaking a little. He cleared his throat, trying to keep himself steady. “But there was something else.”

“What’s that?” Taka asked, becoming more concerned with this information.

“He said-“ Kaito started, but Maki suddenly cut him off.

“Do you hear that?” She hissed, her voice low and sharp. Silence overcame the group. Or so it seemed. Maki’s ears were sharper than the others. Something that she’s partly thankful for back when she was trained as an assassin. She could hear fast feet and the rustling of leaves. She could even hear some growling. The guys didn’t until it was too late. There was a flash of fur as the group was suddenly surrounded by wolves. They were forced to stand back to back as the pack closed in on them in a small circle. They growled aggressively as their eyes were pinpointed right on each Limitless.

“Down! Sit!” Mondo yelled as a wolf took a lunge towards him. He lit his hand up as a warning, causing the aggressive animal to back away. It worked for now, but most likely not for long. Maki was about to push the wolves away when something else suddenly came to her ears. This time it sounded louder, and larger. It was almost like a bull charging. The earth shook a little when something suddenly landed a couple of metres away from the group. No, someone. A large figure that was on all fours. They seemed to be a man at first glance. The group watched as the wolves suddenly turned their attention to this figure. They growled and snapped at him, but the man growled back. One even tried to lunge at him, but he pushed it back. It yelped a little, but didn’t seem injured, more like in shock. The man continued to growl as if he were talking to them. The wolves suddenly stopped growling and slowly turned away. They were barking as they ran off into the forest, disappearing into the dense greenery.

The man huffed a little as he stood up straight at last. He turned around to face the group, just as Mondo extinguished the flame circling his fist. The man before them was incredibly tall and muscular. He wore pants that were torn a little, but didn’t have shoes. His shirt looked like he was literally growing out of it and it was ready to burst off of him. He wore a pair of glasses that were impressively well taking care of. His hair was dark green and was long and tangled as if he had never brushed it before in his life.

“Gonta!” Kaito exclaimed as he recognised the giant. Gonta squinted a little. Did he need new glasses? His face then lit up like a Christmas tree as he recognised two of the four Limitless.

“Kaito! Maki! Gonta so happy to you again!” He cried out, sweeping the said Limitless into a tight hug.

“Too tight, Gonta! Too tight!” Kaito wheezed as he felt all the air being pushed out of him. Maki seemed to be in a similar position.

“Sorry!” Gonta shouted, carefully letting the young couple go. He quickly looked over them to see if they were injured by him accidentally. Thankfully nothing was too serious. Then Gonta suddenly became confused as his mind processed what had just happened. “What you doing here?”