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awfully-sadistic · 5 years ago

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Week 2: Oct 8th

The Adventures of Dot and Dodger A series of linear prompt one-shots.

Yesterday, I gave myself a time frame in which to complete my chapter. I didn’t make it but I got close. And technically, yesterday’s chapter wasn’t complete so here’s part two.

The relief on Stephen’s face was short-lived. He welcomed the reprieve but it usually wasn’t good when Nick Fury put in an appearance on just any conversation. Perhaps he wanted to convey the gravity of the situation and despite Stephen being able to do it himself, he didn’t want to be scrutinized under Dot’s heavy gaze any longer. Reminiscent of a mother’s gaze, Stephen felt censure, disappointment. He realized early in on the conversation that he was finding it difficult in being able to turn his head to catch her gaze and had started to avoid it. A curious feeling the Doctor would be discovering later, he was sure, but what he wasn’t sure was why the effect was so profound. Did it have to do with her empathetic abilities? Was she broadcasting her own that even he was susceptible? Further, did she know that she could manipulate feelings or influence them? He found it hard to believe someone as compassionate as Dot would be abusing her abilities out of malice. He had concluded that she must have been doing it subconsciously. Whatever the reason, it was like a heavy weight had been lifted onto his shoulders when Fury made his presence known.

It was bad enough Stephen felt like he was backing this trio into a corner, he simply couldn’t deceive them anymore. The underhanded, roundabout way Dot, Dodger, and Armand had been dragged into this situation have been S.H.I.E.L.D.’s tactics; they were paranoid for a reason and apparently Fury had every reason to believe everything could and would be compromised given the chance. Everything they executed had a reason whether or not Stephen agreed with it; from Stephen being their first client to this dinky little task of retrieving a Cursed Item. Tests of mettle, of resolve, to see if these two (now three) really wanted to make a difference in their world.

He may have taken it upon himself to become the acting guardian for this earth and that responsibility doubled as soon as it became apparent that pulling these two worlds apart could be the end of both, but that didn’t mean leaving its inhabitants in the dark even if they often didn’t know what was good for them. In addition to this, it was challenging finding the right representatives in a world so “primitive” compared to theirs; compared to Earth-616, this planet’s history was incredibly new, still reeling from the effects of a war hundreds of years ago. Stephen was not as naïve to know this was their planet, too. These three should also decide which direction it should take as with the rest of its inhabitants. Something Nick would be explaining for them and once in a while, this great Sorcerer Supreme would step back to allow another power as commanding as he to take the spotlight and dish out the heavy hits. Stephen would input his two cents as needed but for the most part would lend his support to the conversation.

As expected, Dot and Dodger had their attention on the new addition to their conversation. A tall, commanding character who seemed to wear nothing but black and a trench coat donned an eyepatch that completed the ensemble. In fact, he looked like villain instead of a superhero. Due to his description alone, Dot had an inkling on who this figure was but she didn’t want to assume. Even the Agency’s intel on S.H.I.E.L.D. was murky at best and she had a good idea why. It was a miracle the Agency even had knowledge that S.H.I.E.L.D. existed. But then again, she had no idea how dated the material had been. She was beginning to see that there was little she knew about 616 the more she learned about it. She didn’t feel too bad though; apparently she hardly knew the affairs of 6969, too. She would soon learn though that this was not through any fault of hers.

“What do you mean there’s another reason you focused on us?” Dodger asked, a complete word-for-word phrasing parroted back to the mysterious agent.

“I said what I said, don’t make me start repeating myself, son.” Fury snapped. He sounded like he had little time for nonsense and his reply startled Dodger enough that it made him jerk his head back, deliberating a slow blink and then another as a look of disbelief crossed his features.

“I thought that was a pretty reasonable question to ask,” Dodger challenged. “you come in out of nowhere and lay this cryptic message on our laps like we’re supposed to know what to do with it from there.”

“You’re beginning to sound like Clint.” Fury pointed out, walking further into the room. He pulled up a chair from a nearby desk and sat down. “And that’s not a compliment.” Fury didn’t allow Dodger any room to reply, even if he had wanted to, because he took control of the conversation as soon as he had settled. “The affairs between Humans and Supernaturals, as you people are fond of classifying the entire thing, has had trickling effects leaking into Earth-616 for some time now. Now, we already went through this shit many times in the past but our version of Supernaturals are called Mutants. We ain’t talkin’ about Bigfoot or Nessy, but to compare, they’re like humans who evolved due to a genetic trait. These humans mutate and develop superhero powers as soon as they hit puberty. Instead of Humans vs. Supernaturals as it is here, it became humans vs. mutants when we come from. We’ve come from many situations where we’ve been in your shoes before and sometimes, even superheros get involved. We ain’t perfect but it certainly ain’t helping that we seem to be repeating history if Earth-6969 doesn’t clean up its act soon.

The Human vs. Supernatural debate sparked a whole renewed interest for those on my planet with a bone to pick and we got some key player sore losers over here. We’re beginning to see that shit like this doesn’t die easily even if we’ve turned over every rock and squashed the opposition and it’s becoming even clearer now that innocent people will get thrown into the mix, even if they have nothing to do with being a mutant. Just exhibiting powers alone is enough to earn people’s scorn.”

“Why does it matter so much to those on your planet about the affairs of our people?” Dot asked. Her mouth was turned down in a frown, her eyebrows pinched in the middle with worry. Hearing about the differences between the biases on the two planets didn’t seem all that different to her when put into perspective like this. But it confused her as to why people from 616 are using 6969’s turmoil as a reason to act out their own hatred.

“They just need any reason,” Fury stated, settling his one good eye on Dot. A chocolate hue that matched the ebony shade of his skin. “any reason at all to get their means to an end.”

“Those people sound like villains.” Dot said, meeting Fury’s gaze. “What kind of people are we talking about? People is too broad of a word. Are they villains?”

“As much as politicians can be,” Fury cracked, sounding sarcastic rather than funny. “Unfortunately, these are people in seats of power. People with pull and money that can make things happen.”

“As much as a corrupt government as ours then,” Dodger mused.

“Pretty much. Except that we’re seeing that your government is being heavily swayed by these people in power to crack down on the Supernatural affairs of this world. I believe you started to see the fruits of a certain mayor who elected a certain new Chief in the Agency’s seat?”

“Well, we knew Aldric was a plant and the mayor has some questionable motives he wants to set in motion for the Supernaturals. We didn’t think it’d go anywhere…” Dot said, sounding thoughtful. Maybe a little fearful, too. “Now I’m thinking I should probably take another look at some of his policies he wanted to set into action.”

“But… he’s just one person, right?” Armand asked, turning his head towards Dot and Dodger. “What harm could one mayor do that others will not try to put a stop to?”

“The mayor can actually do a lot even if he’s not blatantly committing criminal acts. I think this works like in 616, too.” Dodger began, turning to cast an inquisitive glance at Fury and Stephen. “The mayor of a city is responsible for implementing legislation passed by a council. They have substantial pull on what occurs in a city and have vetoing powers and the ability to hire or fire staff, such as our old Chief. Our Ashbourne is a big city. A major hub that the Agency mainly works out of; kind of like their Washington, D.C. except our Washington is a wooded land area that has no significant events attached to it because our history is different. Aside from running the city, our mayor does have a lot of influence when it comes to convincing our senators to act upon something that could find its way to Congress and before you realize it, could be passed into law.”

“That’s if he’s smart enough to make the prospect bills he’s proposing look harmless enough to fool everyone into thinking he’s doing it for the good of the State.” Dot added. “A lot of bills get passed into laws that have specifically worded phrases that can mean different things. It’s tricky and underhanded.”

“Even our laws has carefully worded clauses like that,” Fury pointed out. “politics is a dirty game. You have to be smart to play it and even smarter to pull bullshit out of your hat and feed it to everyone to convince them that this is a good idea. So yeah, I’d say some politicians make great villains.”

“We’ve established that governments on both sides can be corrupt,” Stephen interrupted, “but I don’t believe we’ve delved into the scale of how corrupt.”

Fury made a noise of agreement. “To be blunt, we suspect that some 616 politicians are also occupying seats in 6969. We can’t tell for sure who belongs on which planet if people start migrating over but that is something we try to prevent simply for the balance. Sure, we can allow people to start moving back and forth, the earths are two gigantic ass places. Who would not be tempted to? And for the most part, we share a lot of similarities but that also means our resources are not the same. If we allow people to start zapping back and forth between planets, things can get messy. You guys are familiar with the Dovir technology debacle a few years ago?”

Dot and Dodger nodded but Armand shook his head. Fury explained.

“Because Aliens tried taking over your world, you’ve sustained the most damage out of this Great War a long ass time ago. A lot of people were killed and your world was nearly annihilated. But that means all of their technology is located here. Even with a few pieces scattered from 616, that is nothing compared to the landmine you guys are sitting on. It’s also made great strides in terms of advancement for your planet, but eventually, people on 616 got too greedy and wanted some of that too especially after seeing what it could do to bolster our own tech thanks to a certain asshole in his tower, experimenting with this shit. Though I’ll be the first to admit, S.H.I.E.L.D. has benefitted from Dovir technology since the settlement. But that ain’t good enough for some other people.

If you guys have Dovir technology, what other hidden gems do you have that you might not be aware of? That’s just one whispering throughout the ears of many men in seats of power. You can see where I’m going with this, right?”

Armand nodded as did Dot but it was Dodger who answered, “You want to prevent people from easily traveling across realms in order to profit from either planet. In order to do that, you need a power that puts a check into place that holds the governments back from going too far.”

Fury looked impressed or as much as one could with a stoic expression and an eyepatch. “Exactly. But in this case, we just need someone to rival the Agency at the moment. This organization is almost like the counterpart of S.H.I.E.L.D. as in it has a lot more pull than you realize and it’s essentially the only thing in power with the authorization to do something about the Supernaturals. Unlike S.H.I.E.L.D., its brand spanking new and eager to please. However, unlike the Agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot move into 6969 territory without looking like the planet is going under an occupation.

That would be where you guys come in.”

“But, we’re just a couple of people who wanted to start our own business…” Dot argued. “we don’t know about saving the world or espionage, I barely knew the affairs of this planet and that’s because you just told me.”

“Then we’ll teach you. And we’ll continue to guide you.” Stephen offered.

“We don’t even have a full staff. It’s just the three of us.”

Fury leveled his stare on Dot, “And I was just a guy that got shot and spent my ass recovering in a bed, with only two of my best people working with me at the time.”

“Are you insinuating that Dot is going to get shot?” Dodger asked.

“I’m saying you can do it with just three people and you can hire more along the way. Everything has been set into motion for you guys. All you have to do is step up to the plate.”

Dot and Dodger exchanged glances; meaningful, pensive, thoughtful. Dot sighed, running a hand through her curly hair, scratching her scalp before letting it fall to her side. “I think we need more time. At least, to process this information. Frankly, I don’t think you’re giving us much of a choice to say no, but… can we at least have the time to process this?”

It was Stephen and Fury’s turn to exchange glances. It was Stephen who nodded and looked at the trio on the couch, “Of course.”

But Fury didn’t seem finished. He stood up like he was but he was still talking, “Don’t take too long. You’re the only ones who have shown the promise and initiative to undertake this first step to really get things off the ground. It’s a lot, but are you willing to sit by and let this all happen? You branched away from the Agency for a reason, Dot.” he was trained on her now and she was surprised by the sudden finger-pointing. “You wanted to make a difference. I know a whole hell of a lot of people on 616 who would have been in your shoes and would have made the same choice. But the difference between my planet and yours is that you were the only one, first among your kind here, that did. And that’s saying a lot already.”

Dot stood silent as she watched Doctor Strange and Fury leave their office space. Whatever intimidating aura they had, they took with them leaving the room bereft in their wake. It was an odd feeling, knowing that so much fell on her shoulders already without saying she agreed.

“I know I’m going to,” Dot said absently, still staring at the door leading out to the waiting area. “I’m going to agree and say I want to help. I want to make the difference I set out to achieve. But, I’m …kind of scared.”

“We’re not heroes.”

“I know. We’re not but…” Dot paused to face Dodger, her face an unreadable expression that Dodger had a hard time placing. It was why he was taken by surprise by her next statement, “I want to be.”

Tuesday, October 8th was a dreary day. It seemed the sun was hidden behind cloudy weather but couldn’t decide whether it wanted to rain despite the sun never making an appearance. Dot thought idly how great this weather was for telling spooky stories but couldn’t decide which was spookier—the stories or the fact that their planet seemed to be heading down a path that’d lead them to another civil war among themselves.

It didn’t take long for a ray of sunshine to make an appearance. Armand was cleaning his receptionist area when a woman came in, taking a seat in the open area of the waiting room. Armand paused in his cleaning, eyes growing wide as he looked around to see if anyone had been witnessing what he was seeing. A client, right? This was a client, wasn’t it? Armand threw his dust rag over his shoulder and tried to discreetly sit in his seat as if he’d been like that all along.

He picked up a clipboard that had nothing on it, pretending to write something down while sneaking a glance at the woman whose eyes were searching the television screen. She sat primly and proper, back straight that after noticing it, Armand tried to mimic. She was dressed smartly, like an office lady. She wore a two-piece blazer and a pencil skirt the color of dark charcoal. Her legs were incredibly long and well-toned ending on black wedges with an inch-long heel. She held something in her hand, fingers long and dexterous with a French-tip manicure. Her hair was styled in a short bob, the color of honey-blonde. Her head swiveled to catch Armand’s gaze, locking him in place with eyes that seemed as gray as the weather outside. He looked like a deer in headlights, caught that he had been staring.

“W-Welcome to Dot and Dodger, Supernatural Investigations.” He welcomed, trying to cover up that he had been a curious onlooker, trying to imagine himself in the same outfit. “Can I help you?” he asked, eyes flicking on the screen as D.A.D. fed him a script to read from. D.A.D. flashed the thumbs up emoji before the screen went blank.

The woman stood up from her seat and walked over. Her heels made an impressive clack, clack, clack sound and Armand had to hold himself back from peering over the counter to watch them. She slid the piece of paper she was holding onto the top of the counter. She had what could be considered a triangle shaped face with high cheekbones and thickly, arch-shaped brows. A smokey appearance, almost. She had a stern looking face when she wasn’t smiling, but she smiled here. “I’d like to apply for a job if you have any openings.”

Armand’s mouth opened and he gaped, eyes darting back to his computer screen. There was a stick figure on screen who shrugged before it flashed “CALL DOT OR DODGER OVER” as a suggestion. That was immediately what he had done.

Dot didn’t know what to expect when Armand rounded the corner looking really flustered and stuttering about the lady in the waiting room. But she understood completely when she entered the room and saw for herself. She always expected to tower over women in the streets but this was a surprise; their visitor was almost two heads taller than Dot. That was good because the heels had been giving her extra height. The woman then held out her hand, indicating that she was, “Evi Senft. I’m wondering if there’s an opening here. I’d like to apply for a job. I brought my résumé.”

Dot gaped, first sticking her hand in Evi’s (from which she had a very impressive handshake) and then taking the résumé from her to gloss over. Dot was tempted to hire her on the spot despite not knowing what she was applying for. It was a good thing Dodger had shown up. Standing behind her, he startled Dot by asking, “What’s your experience in this field of work?”

“It should all be there in the résumé.”

Dodger’s gaze didn’t waver, “But I’m asking you.”

Evi smiled, not phased by his heavy stare or the semi-challenging way he phrased his statement. She focused on Dot, though, as she spoke. “I’m an accountant. I don’t want to assume but I take it you don’t have anybody to handle the financial aspects of your business? I can do the taxes and take care of the budget if you were looking for anyone to take care of simple stuff like that. I can also do complex tasks if you’d prefer, anything to help run your business efficiently in terms of number crunching.”

“Taxes and budgeting is simple to you?” Dot said with amazement. “I just always have Dodger do my tax related things. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“Yes, indeed.” Dodger looked down at the top of Dot’s head who was still focused on Evi. Then he turned his gaze onto the woman in question. “If I’m already doing the taxes and budgeting for the company, what else could you offer that I’m not doing already?”

Dot nudged Dodger in the ribs since he was right there. “Don’t be rude. She’s qualified to do math stuff like this.”

“There’s no downside to hiring me,” Evi stated. Now she seemed to be challenging Dodger. “I have no doubt you could continue doing the budgeting and taxes for your company but how much more efficient would it be to leave that to me so you could focus on subjects that would need your attention with one less thing on your plate?”

“She has a point,” Dot pointed out, turning around to give Dodger a grin. “That’d leave you to a lot more free time if you just let someone else worry about the expenses every once in a while. Free time you can dedicate to the cases we get in the future.”

“I would be more than glad to accommodate including you into anything I record, sort, or discover as your assistant. I’ve had plenty of experience dealing with government agency records processing data. If anything, I’d be more of a benefit than a hindrance.”

Dodger had gently pulled the résumé from Dot’s grasp to studying it for himself. With Dot backing Evi already, he had a feeling he knew where the decision rested. But he still wanted to make sure for himself in case anything stuck out in the résumé that Evi might have been able to say in this particular line of questioning. But so far, everything he saw was a impressive and he had no reason to turn her down. He gave the résumé to Dot.

“You might be too overqualified to work here.” he gave in.

“But I do want to work here,” Evi pointed out. “if you were honestly considering me.”

“Of course we are!” Dot interrupted, giving Evi her best grin. “Don’t listen to Dodger, he’s just territorial when it comes to his stuff. But this will be a good fit, you’d make a great addition to the company!”

Evi looked relieved, her stern features relaxing. “Does that mean I’m hired?”

“Absolutely!” Dot said, handing the résumé back. She usually praised herself for her judgement in people and Evi was giving off no warning signs, no red flags, or bad feelings that there was something off about her. It probably didn’t help that Dot was attracted to her and that may have clouded her judgement just a teeeeeny tiny bit, but she was more excited over the prospect of hiring an employee! “Uh, we’ll have you start tomorrow, if that’s okay.”

“That’s perfectly fine. I honestly hadn’t considered I’d be interviewed on the spot but I’m glad it turned out this way.”

“There’s still the manner of sitting down with you on an official capacity and sorting out payrate and the like,” Dodger pointed out, bringing Dot back to the business aspect of hiring people. “of course, afterwards, I’ll go over with you our budget and tax returns. Anything else related to our business in terms of account management.”

Dot perked up, “Oh! Oh! I’ll work to clearing out one of these rooms and you can have your own office!”

Evi looked to be a bit overwhelmed, “My own office? I’m just starting out, is that okay?”

Armand smiled, seated in his receptionist area. “This is my office and I started a few days ago.”

Dot laughed, coming around to Armand’s space just so she could hug him around the neck. It always prided her that he seemed so proud in his responsibility and he was doing such a great job being the best little receptionist he could. “That’s absolutely right. This is completely Armand’s office.”

Evi watched the two, her features softening a smidgen. It seemed to comfort the thought of obtaining her own office on her first day—starting tomorrow—and the conversation was soon eased into another topic.

“How did you hear we were hiring, anyway?” Dodger asked as the thought struck him. “We haven’t put any ads in the paper yet. Or made any other circulation in the job fair industry.”

“I was referred here,” Evi admitted. “somebody at the Agency sent me this way.”

Dot spoke too soon. A red flag went up as soon as Evi finished her statement.

“Someone… at the Agency sent you to work for us?”

“I had applied at the Agency and was denied,” she added.

This came as a startle to both Dot and Dodger. Dot was the one who asked, “Who on earth would deny these specs?” she indicated the résumé she assumed was impressive enough to win over Dodger.

Evi laughed, “For much the same reason Mr. Mac Alister gave me. I was too overqualified.”

Dodger said, “…I guess that makes sense. That’s not quite unusual to hear. Sometimes people have to dumb down their applications in order to get a job but… I thought the Agency accepts basically anybody that shows promise.”

“Well, the Agency has its rejects too.” Dot stated with contempt. Evi and Dodger glanced over, surprised at the tone in her voice. She sounded personally betrayed. Dodger looked sympathetic as Dot continued, “It’s not unusual at all. We should just put it out there that we’ll be willing to welcome the Agency’s rejects.”

“I’ve never considered myself a reject before,” Evi started. “but it doesn’t sound like too bad a position to be if this is where I end up.”

Dot smiled, genuinely.

By the time Evi left, Dot had a lot more to think about. Before she had a chance to touch down on it, though, Fury walked into their office. Sans Stephen, this time.

“I hope you’ve come to terms with what we’ve asked of you. I’d hate to have made the trip all the way down here for nothing.”

Dot turned around from the fridge as Fury filled the breakroom’s door. She took in a deep breath, calming her heart before saying, “I really hope you’re not talking to me in that tone, Mr. Nicholas Fury.”

Fury surprised her by chuckling, taking a seat across from her as she sat down with her lunch. “I’ll admit you’re the only one who can seem to match me in a stern enough tone to make me think over my own. But I’m seriously asking you. Have you?”

“Would you have really given us the choice if we wanted to opt out?” Dot countered. Her meal sat untouched and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to be able to eat until this conversation was over.

“No. But you’re not going to, are you?”

Dot sighed; a deep breath in and a long breath out. “I just wanted to be a quiet little nobody who occasionally broke into people’s homes and did some detective work.”

“You can still do those things.” Fury stated which caused Dot to look up at him with an expression filled with sarcasm. “We’re not asking you to become this huge movement. You can still do your private eye thing but you’re working with us. Think of it like, scratching my back and I’ll scratch yours. We’re each other’s eyes and ears on our respective planets, a partnership.”

“But your organization is attached to your government; how does that weed out the corruption if we’re doing as you’re swaying us to do? We’re more or less okayed by the government to be our own business but we don’t really work for them but on a lesser scale. I mean, …right?”

Fury saying nothing didn’t reassure her. Dot tried another angle, “…I thought you said this was a partnership.”

It was Fury’s turn to sigh. “We’re still working things out. The people I answer to don’t know I’m setting this kind of thing up. And the government you’re sanctioned with, the government you know, don’t know you’re doing anything either.”

“I can see the logic in that, I think, but what happens if this blows up in our faces.”

“It can’t.”

“But it could.”

“It just can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because we can’t fail.”

Dot was beginning to see what sort of person Nick Fury was as she stared at him from across the table. He was so adamant on this idea, he was almost desperate. She was beginning to feel like the reluctant hero trope.

“Alright. We can agree to being a part of this… whatever you’re calling this—”

“The Avengers Initiative.”

Dot’s eyes widened, “Didn’t you already do that on your planet?”

Fury shrugged, “It’s like a side B.”

“This isn’t a cassette tape.”

“I’ll work on the name,” Fury said, dismissing the issue. It was clearly something he was still working on and unknown to Dot, he just said the first thing that popped in his mind. He continued, “Anyway, on the basis that you’d agree—”

“Even though we had no choice—”

“On the basis that you’d do what I said ‘cause I said it, I’m going to give you your first mission.” He ignored the look Dot was giving him, for his own good or otherwise was to be determined, to reach into his trench coat and slide a file across the table at her. “I can’t always meet up with you like this so some missions are going to be handed down by Doctor Strange with that handy two-way dimensional teleport thing you guys got goin’ on in one of your rooms around here.”

Dot eyed the file but she didn’t touch it. Not yet. She still had attitude on her face from Fury’s previous retort, “If we’re going to be partners, I hope you can expect the same level of sass I’m going to be giving you right back, Mr. Bossypants.”

A grin spread across Fury’s face, clearly enjoying the banter. “Now I’m going to have to take some time to think this over.”

Dot shook her head good-naturedly as she watched Fury stand up. He walked to the breakroom’s door and barely got around the corner when Dot heard, “What the—what god-awful demon possessed you to wear that?”

Dot was curious, pushing her food away to stand and peer around the corner. She had to laugh out loud—Armand was dressed in an office lady outfit, much like Evi had been wearing earlier. He must have raided her closet and that’s what he had been doing this entire time. She could see that while nothing was wrong with his outfit, Armand had tried to do his make-up like Evi’s—except he didn’t know how to apply make-up on his face. It was caked on in a thick layer with dark rings around his eyes and dark blush that hollowed out his cheeks. To top it off, he had very angry looking eyebrows and apparently startled Fury on his way out.

“What?” Armand asked, looking around. “Don’t I look chic?”

#{{ original drabbles: spooktober 2019

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justgotham · 6 years ago

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The final season of Gotham is going to be a wild ride, based on what has been seen so far. With the city of Gotham cut off from the outside world and villains reigning supreme, it sounds practically impossible for any kind of happy ending. Don't count out Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie), Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz), and their allies just yet, though.

While we do know some of the massive things happening in the final season--like the arrival of Batman in the series finale--there are still plenty of mysteries we're dying for answers to. How will Bane be introduced? What happens to Selina (Camren Bicondova) after being paralyzed? And the question that plagues every season: How is Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor) going to somehow survive this time?

Thankfully, during a visit to the Brooklyn sets of the Fox series, GameSpot had the chance to speak with the cast about what to expect from the final season. With Gotham returning on January 3 for the first of its final 12 episodes, there's plenty you're going to want to know before Season 5 kicks off, whether it's what's happening with Jeremiah (Cameron Monaghan) or how Lee (Morena Baccarin) will be different after Hugo Strange (BD Wong) brought her back to life.

No Man's Land is a scary place

In the Season 4 finale of Gotham, Jeremiah blew up the bridges that connect the city to the outside world. Now, when Season 5 picks up three months after the explosions, Gotham is a very different place. Criminals are in control as the city has been divided among various gangs. Meanwhile, there's one small piece of land that Jim Gordon and what's left of the GCPD has managed to maintain.

"The gangs are fighting each other and Gordon is literally and figuratively on an island," McKenzie said. "He's sort of on an island within an island of the little territory the GCP controls, surrounded by all these hostile forces."

Penguin is reigning supreme... for now

With the gangs at war, there's one man sitting pretty at the beginning of the season. Penguin has set himself up as a very important person in Gotham City. "All the major resources in a way have to fall through him," Taylor explained. "Like most war profiteers, he also controls all the ammunition. If anyone is going to rise up to try and take over, essentially they have to go through Penguin to have the means to do so. He's in a very good place when we start off."

And his relationship with Gordon is more dangerous than ever

The dynamic between Penguin and Gordon has been one of the craziest in all of Gotham. They're never exactly friends, but they shuffle back and forth between being in an uneasy alliance and a flat-out bloody feud quite often. Now, with the city devolving into utter chaos, viewers are going to see a new type of relationship between the two, as they may be the only things that can keep each other alive.

"We really go more in the direction of 'I hate you, I need you,' you know what I mean?" Taylor explains. "This happens between a lot of the characters. Because they're all competing for control and they all have their own territories, they were all vying for more and more of this limited resource, which is just what the city [is now]. You see these relationships where it's like it is an alliance, but at the same time the second someone slips or turns their back, that's when the knife goes in. It's this razor edge of trust that Penguin and Gordon are walking. We'll see who wins."

Get ready for Bruce's final steps toward becoming Batman

We already know Batman will appear in the final episode of the series, which flashes forward 10 years. However, this last season will see Bruce Wayne take those final steps toward becoming the Caped Crusader fans have been waiting for, especially when it comes to his work with Gordon and the GCPD.

"Bruce is essentially a part of the GCPD. He is working very intimately with Gordon, and Bullock, and Lucius, and Alfred and all the good guys are together having to do that," Mazouz said. This is a far cry from the days of Gordon chastising Bruce for putting himself into dangerous situations. With so little left in Gotham, he's run out of options that aren't Bruce Wayne.

Let's talk about Bane

When it was announced Shane West would be coming to Gotham to play the iconic villain Bane, there was still quite a bit of mystery about him. We know the character's name is Eduardo Dorrance and he is a friend of Gordon's who comes to Gotham to help restore order in the city. Clearly, there's a plan he has yet to clue Jim in on, though, given he'll be revealed as a major villain in the final season.

According to McKenzie, it won't take long for Eduardo to go full-on Bane. "I think when his character appears, because of their shared history and because of where Jim is--in a bad spot in Gotham--his friend's appearance is very welcome," the actor teased. "It's a way of helping him out of his current predicament. But their history is complicated, and as much as they saw hard times together, the level of trust you reveal through action that the story is not quite as simple as they served together [in the military] and they are best buddies. It's a little more complicated than that, in a good way, and I think it reveals itself rather quickly to be something a little more sinister and a little more complicated."

What's the deal with Jeremiah?

Gotham's flirtation with the Joker has been going on since Season 1. When Cameron Monaghan first appeared as Jerome, a murderous child of the circus, viewers thought he'd surely become the Clown Prince of Crime. From there, the character went through several evolutions--and some serious disfigurement--on the path to becoming Batman's greatest foe--though he never took on the name. Ultimately, he died at the hands of his twin brother Jeremiah.

Now, in Season 5, Jeremiah is this show's take on Joker and Monaghan can't wait for viewers to see how that plays out. "I liked playing Jerome a lot, but Jerome was extremely just chaotic and destructive in a way that was... It was representative of the anarchic side of the Joker, but I don't think it necessarily captured a lot of the obsession and his meticulousness," the actor told GameSpot. "There's a level of genius to this guy. I think that that's what's fun about exploring this."

Selina is down but not out

In the Season 4 finale, Selina was shot by Jeremiah for no other reason than Bruce cared about her. While she didn't die, she was left paralyzed by season's end. That's a strange turn for the character that is to become Catwoman, but showrunner John Stephens made it clear that Selina's story is far from over and will include some help from an old friend.

"We kinda know she's not gonna be paralyzed forever," he said. "So, the question is, what is the journey to becoming unparalyzed, and how does that journey end up changing her? Because obviously the Selina we've seen so far is not necessarily the same Selina we've seen within the comic books, you know? So the journey of becoming unparalyzed, which kind of vectors through [Poison] Ivy, changes her in a way that pushes her even further towards who she ends up being later on."

Hugo Strange has made some alterations to Lee after her near-death experience

Selina wasn't the only one left in a precarious position at the end of Season 4. Riddler (Cory Michael Smith) and Lee seemingly killed each other. That's definitely not the case, though.

And for Lee, when viewers see her again, she's going to be quite a bit different, thanks to Hugo Strange. "She's definitely changed," Baccarin said. "He's been definitely messing with her. But in a weird way, what has happened also brings the old Lee back a little bit. There's like a crazy switch that's gone back and forth, I think that's as best as I can say it, and then it gets better."

Of course, in Gotham better normally means much worse. With that in mind, it should be interesting to see what happens to that character moving forward.

#Oswald Cobblepot #Robin Lord Taylor #Jeremiah Valeska #Cameron Monaghan #Jim Gordon #James Gordon #Ben McKenzie #Leslie Thompkins #Morena Baccarin #Bruce Wayne #David Mazouz #Camren Bicondova #Selina Kyle

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sithlordintraining · 6 years ago

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She’s No Angel (FINALE)

A/N: Haha it’s finally over (three years too late) hope this lived up to the “hype”. I’m very much glad this is over. IT’S THE END OF AN ERA!

She’s No Angel Masterlist

So don’t you close your eyes...

Rey was furious as she paced back and forth. “NO, I WILL NOT LET YOU DO THAT!” She yelled and Kylo stared indifferently at the Jedi. Rey continued to persuade him not to go through with his idea, but Kylo didn’t care. “No, that is my child and I caused this, I will make it right.” He said but she scoffed. “NO!” She yelled. “YOU CANNOT BRING HER HERE!” Rey felt herself grow hot with tears. You were the enemy, you were evil, you would drag him back down. “She’s evil, a-and that thing inside her is evil too, I felt!” Rey explained. “Something that young and unexposed shouldn’t be so corrupt and dark an-” “STOP IT!” Kylo barked. Rey stood frozen from the force. There was a knock on the door and it was the only thing that made him unfreeze her. Opening it, stood Leia’s assistant. “The General is ready for you.” The two nodded and Kylo brushed past her to follow. Rey was the one doing all the talking in the meeting, but all eyes couldn’t help but be on Kylo. Not only could they physically see him going through it but they could also feel it. “Ben,” Luke called out to his nephew and he looked at him and then his mother. “She’s pregnant,” He said. “With my child.” With crossed arms, he moved from his spot in the dark corner. “Snoke is going to use them and I don’t want to let that happen. I can’t let that happen if it wasn’t for me none of this would’ve happened.” He spat. “I know none of you will support my decision, but I’m going to help her. I’m going to save her.” Nothing was said as they all just looked at each other. “No,” Leia said. “We don’t support you saving a war criminal. But we will help you rescue your family.” Luke, Rey, and Kylo were quite shocked at her full support. But as she said, she was only helping because whether anyone liked it or not, this was now Kylo’s family. It was Kylo who took the lead on this mission and enlisted the Jedi for help. He also trained them to be able to block the probes of Snoke and the Knights. Leia and Luke supported him, while Rey struggled. She could not help him with training the Jedi, she felt that this was his problem that he wanted to solve. He shouldn’t have been doing this anyway. So what Y/N was having his child. The force that she had felt in that room had Rey completely terrified; she didn’t know if it was the child or the woman, but Kylo did not need that in his life. It seemed no matter how hard she tried to explain that it wouldn’t get through to him. It had to just be guilt. That was the only explanation. Rey just didn’t understand why he felt this way. But it didn’t matter, Kylo knew what he did an how much danger he had put her in. Everyone was boarding the ship as Kylo stood by the ramp. Rey walked up behind him and he turned to see her. “You’re coming?” He asked. She nodded before speaking, “I don’t think you should be this, but I can’t let you do it alone.” Rey said and he appreciated it. Stepping up he let her aboard the ship.

Another sleepless night had evaded you. Lucky was gone, Hux and Phasma were in rehab, and the Knights had been on a mission. So Snoke had you all to himself. He worked you even harder; he seemed to take out all his aggression on you and forcing you to use your emotions to fuel you. But you were tired, hurt, and sad. Your mother saw this but you begged for her to keep her distance. You could not afford to lose her too. You laid on the bad with teary eyes focusing on the large window on the ship. The baby squirmed as he usually did when he was in some type of distress. You began to get up but was stopped by the force and your scream was muffled by a large hand. From the dark appeared Kylo. Your brows furrowed as he sat on the bed beside you. “Don’t scream. It’s just me, I’m not going to hurt you.” Kylo spoke. Y/N nodded as he removed his hand. “W-What are you doing here?” Your voice quivered in fear and it hurt him as he also felt the baby’s force change too. “I’m here to save you, I’m going to take you from here, help you escape from Snoke.” You couldn’t help but be interested in this, but pushed out this thought in fear. “I-I can’t, he’ll find us. He’ll k-kill my mom, he’d kill me, h-he’d kill our baby.” You whispered. The word ‘our’ made his heart thump; after everything, you hadn’t disowned him. “No,” he shook his head. “I won’t let that happen. He won’t get to you.” But you couldn’t believe him, it was Snoke after all! “There’s only one way to stop him. Kylo, you can’t, I can’t.” Y/N shook her head. He could feel worry and panic start to rise within you. He tried to get you to calm down and he accidentally put his hand on your belly. He wasn’t expecting the surge of connection between him and his child. His brown eyes stared down in shock. You rested your hand on his. He looked up to see your teary eyes. “He’s so strong.” You said and he gulped. Power like this under Snoke at such a young age would be dangerous. “It’ll be ok.” Kylo said. He took on her restless and gaunt appearance. This was not how you were supposed to be. “You need to sleep, you haven’t been sleeping. Sleep.” Kylo coaxed you to lie down back on the bed. With the force, he put her to sleep. Peering down at the sight, he hesitated to lay beside her until his eyes fell to her nightstand. There beside Lucky’s charred dog tag was a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Matt’s gold-rimmed glasses; his gold-rimmed glasses.

You awoke with a sharp pain in your head. Blinking the blurriness away, you tried to remember what happened last night, but all you could think about was Kylo. Was it a dream? You asked yourself as you looked around to see that you were alone in your room. Another sharp pain hit you on the base of your brain, you knew that all to well. It was Snoke beckoning you to the throne room. Quickly getting dressed, you made your way to the throne room with your entourage of Knights. She stopped right before the door as the baby began to move, hide. This wasn’t good, something was about to happen and she didn’t know if she was prepared for it. The doors slid open as she entered and immediately closed shutting her Knights out. You gasped because Snoke always allowed them in, what was so different about now? As you turned to look at the Supreme Leader and of course, right before him stood Kylo. You could feel your stomach drop as the events you thought you dreamed last night became true. Beady blue eyes stared you down beckoning you to come forward. Slowly, you did trying to keep your breathing at bay. But you were scared, fearful of what he would do to you, to Kylo, to your baby. Snoke hummed. “The last time you two were in the same room, you didn’t want to work together. Oh, how the tables have turned.” He placed his chin on his fist looking between Kylo and Y/N. Suddenly you gasped as your hands clawed at your neck.

Kylo’s movement came out as a jerk as Snoke caught him in a hold. “You want to save her?” He asked. “You want to save her now after everything you’ve done to her?” Of course, Kylo did, this was all his fault anyway. Kylo jerked again but had no choice but to listen to Snoke mocking him and the sound of Y/N’s shortness of breath and tears. But was worst of all was he could feel her and the baby’s panic, although she tried to keep calm. But all the memories of Snoke’s abusiveness that she had fall victim during her pregnancy was being projected into Kylo’s mind. Images of you being starved worked relentlessly, manhandled, pushed to the brink of exhaustion every time. And he knew after this, if he didn’t succeed, it would only mean death for you and corruption for his son. Kylo let out a guttural scream as he squirmed trying to break free of Snoke’s hold. Snoke chuckled as he emitted lighting from his fingers sending Kylo to the back of the room. “And you,” He turned to Y/N. “After everything I’ve given you and allowed you, this is how you repay me?” Snoke said. “He wanted nothing more than your demise and now that you’re not getting what you want, you run back to him. I’ve protected you, gave you guidance, let your precious trooper live and your mother when they spoke ill of me.” You began to cry harder as you pleaded with him. Pain pulsed throughout your body as you began to float before the Supreme Leader. Kylo secretly watched from the back. His plan was failing, you were going to die and he couldn’t let that happen. Snoke had taken his lightsaber; it was perched on the arm of the throne staring, mocking him.

Unbeknownst to Snoke, the saber began to turn toward him. Y/N’s teary eyes pleaded with Snoke, staring deep into his eyes. It was her that saw the evil look wash to confusion. The top half of his body began to slide off as a horse screamed escaped her from the sight of Snoke and her falling. But before she came crashing, Kylo safely planted her to the ground. All the Praetorian guards turned to them just as the doors slid open to reveal the Knights with Luke and Rey. “Get her out of here, we’ll handle this,” Luke yelled as all eight of them charged towards the guards. You tried to scramble to your feet as fast as possible but damn, pregnancy gets in the way of a lot of things. So Kylo rushed over helping you up. “BEN!” Rey called out. The pair turned to see Rey throwing the lightsaber over to him. He caught it and was soon helping Y/N towards the hangar. They were crossing the bridge when all of a sudden, Y/N stopped. Kylo tugged but she would not move. He turned to see her frozen expression. “What?” Kylo asked. And you shook your head. “I-I can’t do this.” You said. He wanted to ask a question but you continued speaking. “I can’t leave my mother, o-or Hux, and Phasma, I-I won’t tell them what happened but I c-can’t go with you.” Kylo shook his head. “Y/N listen, you have to come with me. They don’t care about you the way I care. They just care about controlling the galaxy.” Kylo looked you dead in your teary eyes. “And you don’t?” You asked and it caught him off guard. “Is that not what you want? Isn’t that what this is all about? This is why there is a war because two sides want the same thing?” You asked. “The First Order will kill anyone in their way, Snoke almost killed you because you were in the way! What makes you think it won’t happen again?” He snapped. “It won’t.” Y/N said flatly. “Y/N, I’m not going to stand here and argue with you.” Kylo grabbed your hand only to feel a type grip surround him as your nails dug into his skin. “Because Snoke is dead. He doesn’t control anything anymore, I do.” Kylo was confused before he felt pain throughout his body. “You think I’m going to with you after everything that you’ve done to me. You’re only doing this because of your new reformed ‘Ben Solo’ complex.” Y/N said. “All you and your family have ever done was cause war and hurt to others and innocent people because of your problems. That ends now.” Kylo opened his mouth but no words came out, he felt weak like all his energy was being drained. “Do you know why I put myself through that training with Snoke, it’s because I knew you would be after my son. I knew once you found out you wouldn’t be able to stay away and I knew your little Resistance pals would want me dead too.” A smile appeared on your face that was a striking contrast to the tears in your eyes. “He taught me how to drain energy. I’ve been doing it to him for some time that’s why it was so easy for you to kill him. I just need someone else to get him out the way.” Kylo’s looked up at her with furrowed brows as he dropped to his knees. It was all a setup. “You want to know why? Because you both wanted him, you both wanted the power, the control to get what YOU wanted!” Y/N felt the surge through her body as she smiled down at him. “I will no longer let the people of MY galaxy fall into the hands of your family.” A soft expression took over your features as you drained the last bit of his energy. “And to think, I’m the last person you thought would turn on you after everything.” Through hazy vision, he saw you, glowing with such energy and power, it was blinding. Ironic how you gained control of the dark side yet appeared nothing but light as your skin held a golden glow against the white dress you were wearing. The last thing Kylo saw before he closed his eyes was you in the most beautiful form he'd ever seen. “Angel,” Was the last words that slipped past his lips before his body went careening over the bridge into the dark abyss.

Months had passed, the Resistance had fallen. The death of the Solo-Skywalker clan, Rey, and other Resistance members and Jedi represented the end of an era. The end of the war. It was now time for a rebirth, someone to save the galaxy from falling into the likes of them again and it was you. Appearing in the effervescent glow that seemed to always cover you since that day. You already had a large following prior to your ascension to Supreme Leader, but now that you were, the whole galaxy seemed to bow at your feet willingly. Phasma hadn’t survived, but Hux did, cursed to be more machine than man, and your mother, those two always by your side as they watched you sway disheartened crowds to your favor. “Long Live Emperor Angel!” Was shouted from every planet, written on every credit. There was something about you that caused the whole world to submit to you. It might’ve been your beauty, your intelligence, your graceful authority, or caring nature. But it was your history, as you spoke for the first time, while you were still pregnant, about how the war and Resistance had taken everything from you. Your family, friends, the love of your life, and even tried to take yours; it was something every innocent civilian could relate too. You talked about your hardship on not being able to live the life you wanted, the life everyone deserved because of the war. Cursed to be an abused pawn by the Solo-Skywalkers, which became disgusted as everyone blamed them for the years of war. But, then you spoke of a new, of a blessing, the Universe blessed you miraculously with a child, and you too would help the people of the galaxy get a blessing as well. You feared every day approaching the due date that the Universe would curse for killing his father, but it was out of protection. He was yours to love and protect, to make sure he would never have to fall into fate's cruel hands. He was born in the now yours, palace in Fallania, on a full moon. He was so beautiful as you peered down at his sleeping figure swaddled in a cream blanket. Now, at three years old, he comes running up to you with the widest smile on his face: “Mommy!” You pick him up and plop him on his bed. As you look over his features, you can’t help but thank the universe. He looks nothing like him. He only has his ears, which are easily covered up by his (y/h/c) curls as blue eyes shine up at you with a few dusting of freckles. “Romulus, what story would you like mommy to tell you?” Y/N ask smiling at him. “A new one!” He smiles and you can’t help but to, too. You ponder over a moment before finding the perfect one: “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S FOLKS!!

It's been real y'all, hope this lived up to the "hype" that surrounds SNA (which also might be years too late). Thanks for all the support and hope you enjoyed this crazy series. Be sure to check out my others that won't cause you to rip your hair out and then glue it back on. Also, the new one that will be posted next month is:

The Trials of Sharing (Modern HS Au/Poly/NSFW) - Reader and Matt are clearly in love with each other and after being best friends for years they finally date. Everything is fine until Matt tells her of the deal that he has with his other older twin brothers, Ben and Kylo. Willing to prove her devotion to Matt, she endures this weird family activity. (ON AO3)

#She's No Angel #matt #Matt the radar technician #matt the technician #matt the radar technician x reader #matt the radar technician fanfic #matt the radar technician imagine #Kylo #kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren fanfiction #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren one shot #kylo fic

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caitsbooks · 6 years ago

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Caitsbooks’s Top 10 Most Anticipated April 2019 Releases

This year is absolutely flying by. I can't believe it's April already! This month has some of my most anticipated releases of the year, with a good mix of debut novels, series starters, and continuations! My wallet may hate me this month, but I'll be very happy once all these books come out.

Blog || Goodreads || Bookstagram || Twitter || Reviews

April Releases

Note: These are in order of release date

April 2nd

10. Wicked Saints (Something Dark and Holy #1) by Emily A. Duncan This book is probably my most anticipated debut novel, if not one of my most anticipated books overall for 2019. Wicked Saints has gotten a lot of hype, and after reading the ARC, I can say it deserves all of it. This book broke me, in the best possible way, and I don't think I'll ever be over it. Read my review here for more of my ranting.

"A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself. A prince in danger must decide who to trust. A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war. In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light."

9. Defy Me (Shatter Me #5) by Tahereh Mafi The Shatter Me series has been one of my favorites since I first read it as a trilogy back in 2015. While I was nervous at first about the series being continued, I am now 100% on board and so excited for the next installment! The Kenji novella, Shadow Me, really got my hyped for this book!

(Spoilers below for the Shatter Me series, books 1 - 4) "Juliette’s short tenure as the supreme commander of North America has been an utter disaster. When the children of the other world leaders show up on her doorstep, she wants nothing more than to turn to Warner for support and guidance. But he shatters her heart when he reveals that he’s been keeping secrets about her family and her identity from her—secrets that change everything. Juliette is devastated, and the darkness that’s always dwelled within her threatens to consume her. An explosive encounter with unexpected visitors might be enough to push her over the edge."

8. Defy the Fates (Constellation #3) by Claudia Gray

I cannot express how excited I am for this book. I loved the first two novels, and I've been dying to find out how it all ends! If you're looking for a new sci-fi series, definitely pick this one up!!

(spoilers below for Defy the Stars and Defy the Worlds)

“Hunted and desperate. Abel only has one mission left that matters: save the life of Noemi Vidal. To do that, he not only has to escape the Genesis authorities, he also must face the one person in the galaxy who still has the means to destroy him. Burton Mansfield's consciousness lives on, desperate for a home, and Abel's own body is his last bargaining chip. Alone in the universe. Brought back from the brink of death, Noemi Vidal finds Abel has not only saved her life, but he's made her into something else, something more. Not quite mech, yet not quite human any longer, Noemi must find her place in a universe where she is utterly unique, all while trying to create a world where anyone--even a mech--can be free. The final battle between Earth and the colony planets is here, and there's no lengths to which Earth won't go to preserve its domination over all humanity. But together, the universe's most advanced mech and its first human-mech hybrid might have the power to change the galaxy for good.”

7. The Princess and the Fangirl (Once Upon a Con #2) by Ashley Poston

This is the new companion novel to Geekerella. The first book was absolutely amazing, and I can't wait to see where Ashley Poston goes with this one!

"Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: save her favorite character, Princess Amara, from being killed off from her favorite franchise, Starfield. The problem is, Jessica Stone—the actress who plays Princess Amara—wants nothing more than to leave the intense scrutiny of the fandom behind. If this year's ExcelsiCon isn't her last, she'll consider her career derailed. When a case of mistaken identity throws look-a-likes Imogen and Jess together, they quickly become enemies. But when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, and all signs point to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. That's easier said than done when the girls step into each other's shoes and discover new romantic possibilities, as well as the other side of intense fandom. As these "princesses" race to find the script-leaker, they must rescue themselves from their own expectations, and redefine what it means to live happily ever after. "

6. The Devouring Gray (The Devouring Gray #1) by Christine Lynn Herman

This book is one of my most anticipated debut novels of the year. People have been comparing it to The Raven Cycle, one of my all-time favorite series, so obviously I need to devour it. (Yes, I know that was a bad pun)

"On the edge of town a beast haunts the woods, trapped in the Gray, its bonds loosening… Uprooted from the city, Violet Saunders doesn’t have much hope of fitting in at her new school in Four Paths, a town almost buried in the woodlands of rural New York. The fact that she’s descended from one of the town’s founders doesn’t help much, either—her new neighbors treat her with distant respect, and something very like fear. When she meets Justin, May, Isaac, and Harper, all children of founder families, and sees the otherworldly destruction they can wreak, she starts to wonder if the townsfolk are right to be afraid. When bodies start to appear in the woods, the locals become downright hostile. Can the teenagers solve the mystery of Four Paths, and their own part in it, before another calamity strikes?"

5. You'd Be Mine by Erin Hahn

I was lucky enough to read an ARC of this back in January, and it blew me away. It was so much more than I expected. This is definitely not a book to miss!

"Annie Mathers is America’s sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her Gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things. But unfortunately for Clay, if he can’t convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That’s what happens when your bad boy image turns into bad boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents’ tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay’s label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen. Swayed by Clay’s undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can’t help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there’s one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it’s a high-profile relationship. She had a front row seat to her parents’ volatile marriage and isn’t interested in repeating history. If only she could convince her heart that Clay, with his painful past and head over heels inducing tenor, isn’t worth the risk. "

April 9th

4. Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

This book has been called a YA Game of Thrones, filled with political intrigue and mystery. This is another book that has gotten a bit of hype, and I'm looking forward to seeing if it lives up to it.

"Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, dreaming of an unremarkable life. But when her beloved father is found dead, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of a surprisingly unstable kingdom. What’s more, Hesina believes that her father was murdered—and that the killer is someone close to her. Hesina’s court is packed full of dissemblers and deceivers eager to use the king’s death for political gain, each as plausibly guilty as the next. Her advisers would like her to blame the neighboring kingdom of Kendi’a, whose ruler has been mustering for war. Determined to find her father’s actual killer, Hesina does something desperate: she enlists the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death, since magic was outlawed centuries ago. Using the information provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of Yan at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?"

3. The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses #1) by Cassandra Clare and Wesley Chu

I think everyone can agree that Magnus and Alec are some of the best characters in The Shadowhunter Chronicles. Needless to say, I'm so excited that they're getting their own series!!! I've been waiting for this for too long.

"All Magnus Bane wanted was a vacation—a lavish trip across Europe with Alec Lightwood, the Shadowhunter who against all odds is finally his boyfriend. But as soon as the pair settles in Paris, an old friend arrives with news about a demon-worshipping cult called the Crimson Hand that is bent on causing chaos around the world. A cult that was apparently founded by Magnus himself. Years ago. As a joke. Now Magnus and Alec must race across Europe to track down the Crimson Hand and its elusive new leader before the cult can cause any more damage. As if it wasn’t bad enough that their romantic getaway has been sidetracked, demons are now dogging their every step, and it is becoming harder to tell friend from foe. As their quest for answers becomes increasingly dire, Magnus and Alec will have to trust each other more than ever—even if it means revealing the secrets they’ve both been keeping."

April 16th

2. Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Last year, I finally started reading Jenn Bennett's books, and fell in love with them. I went on a binge of all of her YA contemporaries, and I'm dying for more. At this point, it doesn't even matter to me what it's actually about. If it's written by Jenn Bennett, I'll read it.

"Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Raised in isolation and homeschooled by strict grandparents, she’s cultivated a whimsical fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. But her solitary world expands when she takes a job the summer before college, working the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel. In her new job, Birdie hopes to blossom from introverted dreamer to brave pioneer, and gregarious Daniel Aoki volunteers to be her guide. The hotel’s charismatic young van driver shares the same nocturnal shift and patronizes the waterfront Moonlight Diner where she waits for the early morning ferry after work. Daniel also shares her appetite for intrigue, and he’s stumbled upon a real-life mystery: a famous reclusive writer—never before seen in public—might be secretly meeting someone at the hotel. To uncover the writer’s puzzling identity, Birdie must come out of her shell…discovering that most confounding mystery of all may be her growing feelings for the elusive riddle that is Daniel."

April 23rd

1. The Tiger at Midnight (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1) by Swati Teerdhala

I am living for all the new fantasy novels coming out, and especially #ownvoices ones! This synopsis has me so intrigued and I can't wait to dive in.

"Esha is a legend, but no one knows. It’s only in the shadows that she moonlights as the Viper, the rebels’ highly skilled assassin. She’s devoted her life to avenging what she lost in the royal coup, and now she’s been tasked with her most important mission to date: taking down the ruthless General Hotha. Kunal has been a soldier since childhood, training morning and night to uphold the power of King Vardaan. His uncle, the general, has ensured that Kunal never strays from the path—even as a part of Kunal longs to join the outside world, which has been growing only more volatile. Then Esha’s and Kunal’s paths cross—and an unimaginable chain of events unfolds. Both the Viper and the soldier think they’re calling the shots, but they’re not the only players moving the pieces. As the bonds that hold their land in order break down and the sins of the past meet the promise of a new future, both rebel and soldier must make unforgivable choices."

What is your most anticipated release this April?

Related: - My March Favorites + April TBR - My Top 10 March Releases + TBR

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theamazingsallyhogan · 7 years ago

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ROY MOORE MASTERPOST

I post this not expecting many to read it all. Skim and decide if you think this information should spread.

On December 12 2017, voters in Alabama will pick their Senate representative.

The Democratic candidate is Doug Jones, the prosecutor that brought to justice two KKK members responsible for a 1963 bombing that killed four black girls.

His Republican opponent, Roy Moore, is expected to win. In the Senate he would make laws for the whole country.

Who is Roy Moore? This is going to be long, but skip to any portion and tell me it’s not important. Try it.

1947- Born.

1969 - Graduated from the Military Academy at West Point. Deployed to Vietnam. In his command position, Moore was seen as both reckless and excessively strict, even demanding troops salute him on the battlefield (he had been trained not to do that since it makes it easier for enemy to identify a command target). In his autobiography Moore stated that he believed his own men hated him so much they intended to kill him if given the chance.

1977 - Moore graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law. Former staff and students recall him as an unusually inept and argumentative student, who had difficulty formulating arguments based on existing law. One teacher said “If Moore's analysis of a case was tantamount to thinking 1 + 1 = 3, and his classmates reasoned otherwise, there was no backing down by Moore ... Moore never won one argument, and the debates got ugly and personal.” He became an Assistant District Attorney in Alabama.

1977 - Moore allegedly sexually harassed 18-year-old Gena Richardson.

1978-1979 - Moore allegedly sexually assaulted Beverly Young Nelson, a 15/16 year old girl.

1979 - Moore allegedly sexually assaulted Leigh Corfman, a 14 year old girl. He was 32.

1970s-1980s - According to former mall-workers, Moore was ultimately banned from a shopping mall because he harassed teen girls there. Phyllis Smith claimed that Moore had such a bad reputation that staff would draw straws to decide who would see him in his official capacity whenever a customer’s check bounced. Wendy Miller, who worked as a “Santa’s helper” at the mall when she was 14-16, claims that Moore tried to get her to go out with him.

1985 - Moore married.

1991 - Moore allegedly sexually harassed Tina Johnson.

[Nine women have made claims against Moore, including of sexual assault and sexual harassment. The youngest was 14 at the time.]

1992 - When a County Circuit Judge died, Moore was given the vacant position by the governor. Moore hung a wooden copy of the Ten Commandments behind his bench, and opened proceedings by asking everyone in court to pray with him. At least once he had a clergyman lead the Jury in prayer. He informed USA Today that no Muslim or Buddhist would pray in his court because “they do not acknowledge the God of the Holy Bible upon which this country is established.”

1995 - Moore was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued that the prayers and Moore’s Ten Commandments display amounted to a public official using his position to force his faith on others. The case was eventually thrown out on a technicality.

1995 - Moore addressed the “Council of Conservative Citizens,” a White Supremacist group (the Nation’s largest) that Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof cited as an influence.

1996 - Alabama’s governor explicitly banned same sex marriage.

1996 - In a divorce case, Moore ruled that a woman should lose all custody of her children to their father and should be barred from ever seeing them again without court supervision, because she’d had a gay affair.

1997 - Moore claimed that teaching evolution results in increased crime like drive-by shootings. “They’re acting like animals because we’ve taught them they come from animals."

1999 - The American Family Association (a hate group that, among other things, claimed that the Nazis were actually homosexuals... yes really) encouraged Moore to run for the Alabama State Supreme Court. Moore's campaign emphasized religion, claiming that reduced influence of Christianity on society “corresponded directly with school violence, homosexuality, and crime.”

2001 - Moore became Alabama’s Chief Justice, and installed a monument within the state judicial building. A granite block weighing over 5000 pounds, it was covered with quotes from the Declaration of Independence and the Founding Fathers, and on top - the clear centerpiece - were two large carved tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Which he copyrighted.

2001 - The ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and others sued to have the monument removed since putting it in a government building indicated a clear government endorsement of a specific religion. Moore stated that yes, he really was endorsing Christianity, saying that it was the one true religion, and that the entire country was founded upon that religion. He was pretty up-front on this.

2002 - Chief Justice Moore’s duties included managing justice system funds. When he didn’t get the funding he wanted no cuts were made until the courts went broke. He suspended all civil & jury trials until given new funding. Alabama had the highest paid judges in the US. He’s bad at budgeting, basically.

2002 - Moore ruled that a lesbian mother and her partner shouldn’t be given custody of her three children. The children’s father had admitted to slapping them and bugging their phones to record conversations with their mother. Moore cited Biblical law, including the stories of Sodom and Gommorah. Moore called homosexuality “an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it” “an inherent evil” and “abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature."

He specifically stated that homosexuals should lose custody of their children, and argued for the most extreme punishments for homosexual parents. “The state carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution. It must use that power to prevent the subversion of children toward this lifestyle, to not encourage a criminal lifestyle.”

2002 - The monument case went to Federal Court. Moore lost. The monument was declared unconstitutional.

2003 - He was ordered to remove the unconstitutional monument. He refused. He was removed from office for failing to comply with a Federal Court order.

2004 - Moore created the “Constitution Restoration Act”. If it became law, it would make it legal for government officials to use their position to explicitly endorse Christianity and say that God is the source of all American law, liberty, and government. The Act would also make it illegal for the Supreme Court or any Federal Court to hear cases about government officials using their position to show favoritism to Christianity over other religions.

2003 - Moore and his wife founded the "Foundation for Moral Law," an organization devoted to Christian Right court cases. In 2005 it accepted a contribution from a Neo-Nazi Holocaust denying group. Multiple irregularities were found in its finances. Moore at one point lied by saying that he had no salary from the organization, when in fact he had collected more than a million dollars, far more than the organization had declared on its taxes. His 2011 salary of $453,000 for 20 hours a week meant 83 cents of every dollar given to the group went to him.

And it employs his wife and at least two of its kids. And there’s major overlap between the "charity" work and his political activities. And it hasn’t filed correct tax forms for 2015 or 2016. And it hosted an event with a speaker from the League of the South, a hate group that wants to bring back the Confederacy.

2004 - Alabama considered passing an Amendment to repeal the portions of the state constitution that mandated racial segregation in schools and imposed a poll tax for the right to vote. Moore opposed the Amendment and it was not passed - the state constitution still mandates segregation and a poll tax.

2005 - Moore said that homosexuality should be illegal.

2006 - Moore said homosexuals should not be allowed have government jobs, specifically stating his disgust about openly-gay ambassadors.

2006 - Moore supported death sentences for minors.

2006 - In response to the election of Keith Ellison - the first Muslim elected to Congress - Moore wrote an article titled “Muslim Ellison Should Not Sit in Congress.” In addition to arguing that Muslims should not be allowed to be elected officials in America, Moore compared swearing someone into office on the Koran to be like swearing someone in using Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

2007 - Moore argued that only the “higher law” of God had allowed for prosecuting Nazi war criminals.

2007 - Moore said there is no right to a painless death penalty (regular exonerations indicate that many death row inmates are wrongly convicted).

2007 - Moore objected to “hate crime” legislature, especially when extended for gay individuals.

2007 - Moore opposed preschool, saying preschool students were “much more likely to learn a liberal social and political philosophy,” and said sending kids to preschool was molding children’s minds like something done by Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.

2008 - Moore was a leading voice for the “birther” conspiracy, saying he didn’t believe Obama was a U.S. citizen and demanding investigation into Obama’s place of birth.

2009 and 2010 - Moore’s “Foundation for Moral Law” hosted “Secession Day Commemorations,” featuring individuals tied to hate groups, organized by Patricia Godwin, whose racist acts include regularly celebrating the KKK’s founder’s birthday.

2010 - Moore spoke in favor of “nullification,” which would allow State governments to ignore the Federal government (favored by those that want to ignore Federal Civil Rights Laws). Moore stated that unless more is done to increase states’ rights people will find themselves “totally disarmed, under UN Guard that's stationed at every house.”

2011 - Moore wrote a chapter of a “Law textbook" published by the evangelical Christian "Vision Forum," a group known for extreme sexism (especially a belief that society should be a “Patriarchy”). The book was critical of giving women the right to vote, and in one chapter (not by Moore) claimed the Bible prohibits female leaders and says voters have a moral obligation to never vote for women. Moore worked for Vision Forum (including giving speeches to “men only” gatherings) and praised the organization (which collapsed in 2014 when its founder was accused of sexual harassment).

2011 - Said he wanted to get rid of all Amendments after the 10th. Slavery was abolished with the 13th Amendment.

2012 - The people of Alabama elected Moore to be Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Again.

2012 - Moore stated that the government is “the enemy of the people” because it promotes “tolerance and diversity” which he feels is evil. He also said that the legalization of gay marriage is proof the government is against "the people". “Should we praise diversity? We’re one nation under God, that’s not diverse.“

2012 - Moore said that President Obama favors “the Muslim faith, and there is a reason for this.“

2012 - Moore stated that health insurance minimum requirements to cover family planning violate the first amendment.

2012 - Moore stated that evolution is incompatible with the Constitution.

2012 - Moore said that secular laws in America are leading to Sharia and allowing other religions to practice their faiths, stating “our religious freedom comes from God, and if it doesn’t come from God people have to realize we will lose it and that is happening in our country today with Sharia law and the allowance of religious practices for other groups but not Christians.” He later added “Christians are being persecuted while people of a religion foreign to our country are doing what they want.”

2014 - Moore and other Alabama Supreme Court justices argued that women who have abortions should be jailed, along with women whose behavior endangers their pregnancies.

2014 - Moore’s Chief of Staff made a major push to end reproductive rights in America, outlying a plan to define zygotes as persons as a way to indirectly defeat Roe vs. Wade (elements of this plan are found in the Republican tax legislature of 2017).

2014 - Moore sent letters to the governors of all 50 states, asking them to pass a federal ban on gay marriage.

2014 - James Ware was convicted of rape, leaving his victim bound and gagged. Moore argued that DNA evidence was not strong evidence and that Ware should have been allowed to question every lab tech involved in the DNA tests that linked him to the crime, not just the lead scientist. During Moore's 2013-2016 tenure he ruled on 16 sex crime cases, siding with the offender in 13 cases (including 10 times when the court majority disagreed with him).

2014 - Moore stated that he believes the only religion protected under the first amendment is Christianity. “Buddha didn't create us. Mohamed didn't create us. It's the God of the Holy Scriptures.”

2014 - When a school official was convicted of raping two 15 year old girls, Moore dissented from other judges by saying the rapist should have been allowed to defend himself by bringing the girls’ bisexuality into the case. Moore felt that it would have helped the defense argue that the girls were biased and colluding to frame the accused. Under special guidelines the man was given less than the 10-year minimum sentence he would have normally received.

2014 - When a gay man died, Moore’s “Foundation For Moral Law” fought to keep the man’s husband from inheriting anything.

2014 - Moore expressed disgust that a city council allowed a gay pride parade, and once allowed a Wiccan to open a meeting with prayer.

2015 - Moore’s Foundation used out-of-context video clips to promote the conspiracy that Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim.

2015 - Moore indicated he believes anti-gay hate crimes are just faked by gay individuals.

2015 - Moore supported the “Institute on the Constitution,” a group that teaches that the Constitution requires that public officeholders believe in God, that “the promotion of evolution is an act of disloyalty to America,” that “there is no such thing as a civil right”, and that legislative bodies lose all “validity” if they pass marriage equality laws. Moore appeared in a video praising their work. The Institute donated to Moore.

2015 - Moore appeared at least 5 times on a show with a pastor that said homosexuality was a crime that the government should be punish by execution. Moore was directly asked if he felt that homosexuality should be punished by death. He declined to state what punishment he thought was appropriate.

2015 - Moore argued that legalizing gay marriage would pave the way for letting the government take children from their parents.

2015 - Moore said Christians would be “persecuted” due to gay marriage.

2015 - Moore asked for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg to be impeached for her support of gay marriage.

2015 - Moore supported calls for a Federal ban on all Muslim immigrants.

2016 - When a school police officer was convicted of having sex with a student, Moore argued that since the man was not technically a school employee, he may have been wrongly prosecuted.

2016 - The United States Supreme Court ruled that gay individuals have a fundamental right to marriage, and laws prohibiting gay marriage are unconstitutional. Moore stated that the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage was “worse” than the Supreme Court’s 19th Century decision to allow racial segregation. In direct defiance of the United States Supreme Court, Moore ordered all Alabama Judges to continue enforcing the state’s ban on gay marriage and to refuse to give gay couples marriage licenses. Moore stated that “divine law” outranked the U.S. Supreme Court. Numerous charges were made against Moore, who was suspended. When he lost his appeal he resigned from his Alabama Supreme Court office... and announced he was running for Senate.

2016 - Moore repeated his belief that Obama was secretly not a U.S. citizen.

2017 - Moore keeps statues of Confederate leaders by his desk.

July 2017 - Moore supported the idea of a border wall and said that people that grew up in the United States after being brought when they were children (”Dreamers”) should be deported.

August 2017 - Moore said the Constitution was written to “foster Christianity.”

August 2017 - Moore said that September 11 happened because Americans had “moved away from God” by doing things like not criminalizing homosexuality.

August 2017 - Moore falsely claimed that there are places in Northern States where people are forced to live under Sharia law.

August 2017 - Moore stated that the U.S. has “asked for” shootings and killings (such as the Sandy Hook massacre of 28 people including 20 children) by “moving away from God” (not being Christian enough), particularly by legalizing gay marriage.

August 2017 - Moore admired Vladimir Putin’s treatment of homosexuals.

September 2017 - Moore promised to repeal The Affordable Care Act (”Obamacare”).

September 2017 - Moore's campaign page boasted of an endorsement from Matt Trewhella, a Neo-Confederate that claims it's morally justifiable to murder abortion providers, and an endorsement from Neo-Confederate Michael Peroutka, who claims all laws not supported by the Bible are illegal.

September 2017 - Moore said he would use military force to end illegal immigration.

September 2017 - Moore said he was against transgender people being in the military and supported anti-transgender “Bathroom Bills”.

September 2017 - Moore stated that the last time America was “Great” was during slavery. “I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.”

September 2017 - Moore won the Republican Primary in Alabama.

October 2017 - Moore falsely claimed that “taking a knee” during the National Anthem is against the law.

November 2017 - Moore refused to debate his Democratic opponent Doug Jones. Though pressed that this seemed cowardly, he stated that he would not talk to Jones due to Jones’ "very liberal stance on transgenderism and transgenderism in the military and in bathrooms." He added that transgender people “don’t have rights.”

November 2017 - Moore stated "they started [to] create new rights in 1965, and today we've got a problem" in reference to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting.

November 2017 - nine women made sexual misconduct and sexual assault allegations against Moore. The youngest was 14 at the time of the assault, another began interacting with Moore when she was 14.

December 2017 - A handwriting expert confirmed that a signature in a yearbook of one of his accusers belongs to Moore, contradicting his claim that he never knew her. The accuser said that she’d added a note listing the date and place, explaining why that part was in different handwriting, a clarification widely and falsely reported as an admission of forging Moore’s signature.

December 2017 - Donald Trump endorsed Moore and The Republican National Convention (RNC) funded his campaign, meaning that the RNC has essentially said they're okay with endorsing all of the above. Congressional Republicans have not called on the RNC to stop this support, so think of Moore as the running mate for every Republican seeking office in 2018.

#Roy Moore #politics #LGBT #LGBTQ #gay rights #theocracy #alabama #sorry this is so long but I don't think there's anything here that isn't important #Every time I thought I'd hit rock bottom I found more #long post #my research #bigotry #the arch-bigot #scroll to a random part and see if you're horrified

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bloodycalligraphy · 7 years ago

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multi-purpose-tool-guy replied to your post:

im just gonna.... scoot in here and uh..... enable you..... scoot scoot....

OK hear me out. Here’s some TLJ-based Kylux mpreg thoughts.

I think Snoke always knew Kylo was the knock-off brand of what he really wants. That Kylo is broken by the fact that he FEELS SO MUCH and he lets his feelings drag him around even though he clearly wishes he wasn’t like this. He was probably always like this.

And Hux? Hux is useful but Hux lacks the sort of power that Kylo has by birth and breeding. Also he’s an absolutely sucking void of a human being with bile where other people have blood. He’s easy enough to control, but mostly exactly as you would a dog — reward it when it’s good and make sure it knows you could beat it if it’s not. Watch the teeth. Don’t take your eyes off it.

They’ll be steps to power, but are they really going to be heirs to his vision? Or are they the tools he’ll use until he can get better, shinier, less buggy and broken ones?

I’d like to thank the Rlos who want Rey to “continue the Skywalker line” because that sure sounds like the exact sort of shit you could feed Kyle Ron to make him do some Fucking Weird Shit and well, General, just lie back and think about the Empire. Kyle has probably never seen junk that wasn’t his own and the one Knight that he kissed once got sent out by Snoke to some planet acid-spitting worms and came back with their lips melted shut by scar tissue. And frankly I’m not sure anyone has ever in his life taught Hux that sex is about anything other than Power and Pain.

Anyway, Kyle over here’s like literally twice as wide as Armie, so obviously he’s got the space in that refrigerator-size torso for whatever demonspawn comes out of this.

Throw in some Force garbage about how if Kylo doesn’t spend a certain amount of time around Hux regularly he feels like he’s gonna puke his kidneys out because this INCREDIBLY FORCE SENSITIVE fetus would like to vibe with whatever weird vibes Hux gives off. Actually they’re probably very chill. Since he’s only got one (1) emotion: Hatred. And he’s got a boss and a PAIN IN THE ASS who can read his mind, I’m sure the inside of his brain is WMD blueprints and elevator music most of the time.

So they chill. They don’t... like each other? But maybe they realize that they’ve made some misjudgments and now they’re actually even better prepared to murder each other.

Hux starts researching weapons that a lightsaber can’t block. Force-resistant materials. He starts packing a couple extra energy blades on his body at all times. He buys a slug-shooting rifle and starts carrying it damn near everywhere.

Kylo is still gonna be killing his dad and getting gut-shot by a wookie and finding the true power of hatred after THE ANGRIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD hands him his own ass on a platter, obviously. You could stuff a whole watermelon in that boy and it would not slow him down. But it’s fucking with his head. Are his priorities... right? What does it all mean? Existential crisis with a side of his body literally doesn’t belong to him and he didn’t choose this at any point and WHY IS HE DOING ANY OF THIS AT ALL

Things explode. Things still very, very much explode.

And that’s going to be rather important, really, because Hux knows he can rebuild a planet-sized weapon and he can buy a new warship and he can train a hundred thousand more child soldiers. Every life except his own is replaceable and it always, always has been.

And Kylo is thinking obsessively about family, about his parents, about his childhood, about his life and where it has lead him, about right and wrong, light and dark.

But all things must come to an end? And the boy sith who would be supreme leader doesn’t have enough time to telepathically tell Rey NOT to swing by really not a good time right now.

Kylo gets his guts excavated by unfeeling, uncaring medical robots because this is a hideous dystopia of reproductive rights or something. Hux is there because, well, he’s a little bit of a sadist everyone knows that. That’s the only possible reason he could be there, isn’t it?

Haha no. He’s gonna make eye contact with that blue-eyed, screaming creature and all the crazy in that heavily hair-gelled head is gonna skew in exactly the expected ways. Because, well, he can BUILD another weapon. He can BUILD another army. But he can’t BUILD a fucking baby. Or well, he could, but it wouldn’t be this exact baby, now would it? And honestly, honestly? Why would he build any other? This one is PERFECT. He made that and it’s his and he would rather drown in his own blood than let anyone hurt it.

(See? He’s not his father after all. He cannot even understand his father in this moment. He has always known himself to be weak and sought to protect himself. Now here is the weakest imaginable version of himself and he feels that same urge. It’s his and he will protect it or he will die. That has always been the only two options.)

And Kylo wakes up with his internal organs rearranged and stapled back together to see a fucking armed sociopath holding HIS CHILD and nearly kills Hux right then and there except if he died then he would definitely drop the baby and if Kylo sits up too fast his spleen is gonna pop out probably.

They don’t even have to talk about things or lie to each other because they have spent a stupid amount of time with one another and they know. The fear in Hux now is the same fear that is swallowing Kylo up like a howling cyclone.

So they go to Snoke and it seems very much like Hux will betray Kylo like the untrustworthy dog that he is and Kylo will stay the loyal and steady servant of the darkness, but Kylo is a nest of serpents held together by medical tape. And all of Hux’s research? Well, if you want to blow the most powerful Force user you’ve ever met’s head off his ugly shoulders? You might need a real firearm and some Force-resistant bullets.

Cue a very different fight against the Praetorian Guard. Rey shows up twenty minutes late with Starbucks to a room full of corpses and fire and Kylo “Ben Solo” Ren trying to hold his torso together while Armitage “General Hugs” Hux looks increasingly red-faced and distressed at a very small and screaming baby.

No lightsabers explode.

No one’s around to sign the paperwork on DJ’s deal so he fucks off on the first ship he can break into while Phasma’s calls keep going directly to Hux’s voicemail.

The Resistance makes it to Crait safely and Holdo does not explode anything and Rose does not have to contemplate kicking 500,000 stormtroopers to death with her own two feet. (I mean she doesn’t, but she still DOES.)

Phasma’s call goes through.

“Hey I’ve got two big Resistance morons and a soccer ball.”

“Cool. We killed the Supreme Leader and also it’s a girl.”

“Congratulations, sir. Does she have a name?”

“Not yet, I was a little busy.”

Rey watches Kylo get increasingly pale. “Are you okay?”

“Not really,” he says.

Hux remembers that someone helped MAKE this baby and she’s probably fond of him or something. Maybe Hux is fond of him. He’s not sure yet exactly. But he would probably shoot the scavanger girl if she hurt him. Of course, he would probably shoot her anyway, y’know? Just because.

Chewbacca is sort of waiting for Rey to come back.

He does not expect her to come back in the company of the First Order’s three most powerful leaders and also Rose, Finn and a VERY ANGRY BB-8.

Also there’s a baby? It’s a very cute baby. She’s got Ben’s nose already.

“What’s her name?” he asks.

“Haven’t decided,” Kylo Ren says at the same time Rey says, “I don’t know.”

They glare at each other. Chewie does not smack Kylo upside the back of his head simple because it looks right now as though a stiff wind would knock him over just as well. Also, well, he wouldn’t have helped Rey with this COMPLETELY INSANE PLAN if he didn’t think Ben Solo could still come home.

He can’t. Really. This is not Ben Solo going to his mother. This is Kylo Ren going to General Organa with three and a half hostages and a burning desire to get some war criminals off the hook.

(Maybe DJ does a nice thing and leaves something explosive behind when he goes. Or he gives the whole First Order a computer virus or something. They’d deserve it.)

Anyway, Hux probably is still set on handing his daughter the whole known universe and does something incredibly stupid like pull a gun on Leia and gets every blaster in the room pointed at him while he’s holding the infant Skywalker scion. Kylo forcibly (haha) disarms everyone in the room and gently sets Hux on his damn fool ass and not so gently shuts his jaw so tight he can barely breathe. But he can still breathe.

This still unnamed baby is going to be a princess in a world where everyone won’t be trying to kill her all the time, isn’t that good enough for you? (It isn’t, actually, but Hux can make world domination a back-up plan for at least the next two hours.)

Phasma refuses to take off her helmet. Or talk to anyone.

Rey is going to loudly insist that they’re not that bad — and they have a baby! They can’t be bad? At least the baby is probably not bad!

Leia is going to call Kylo “Ben” and so everyone else is going to follow suit as he bleeds internally and hates them all. He would still stab his uncle if he saw him.

(MAYBE HE DOES HAHA.)

Does Phasma particularly care if her life’s work is sacrificed on the altar of peace? Uh, as long as she still has her LIFE, not particularly.

Empires, warships, armies can be rebuilt. The universe is always going to be there to conquer. Right? And "princess” doesn’t seem like such a bad title, really, when it’s his baby girl.

Kylo is still an angry, bitter sack of vipers. Hux now has two emotions and they’re both terrifying and involve firearms. Not saying they “fall in love,” but they do practice kissing and trade insults that are maybe affectionate? Hux kills more than one person who tries to get at Kylo with his bare hands and a energy blade. They try extremely hard to be good parents.

Phasma takes her immunity and fucking RETIRES to make LOTS OF MONEY doing what she’s GOOD AT which is fighting and not dying.

Anyway they name the baby Padme. She has a COMPLETELY HIDEOUS temper and blue eyes like her great-grandfather.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#this is a bad post #cw mpreg #cw gore?#cw violence #this is not a fic this is me being me

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shaudswrites · 7 years ago

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Heads

Stephanie fought not to cringe at every turn as she made her way through one of the most twisted, dark places she'd ever had the displeasure of visiting, and she'd visited a lot of twisted, dark places. The heavy footsteps of the guards behind her were the only things that drowned out the creepy sounds and she was left feeling oddly empty when the steel door shut behind her and she had to traverse the rest of the corridor alone.

Stupid bat training that left her footsteps so light. She clutched the paper bag just hard enough that she didn't squish the contents into so much mush in her shaky hands. The door she was nearing was both forever away and getting closer way too quickly for her liking, and she considered stomping her feet on purpose just so she wouldn't have to deal with the quiet when the grey slab of metal was right in front of her.

With a deep breath, she tried to pull up her Batgirl mentality. It was just like interrogating any other criminal, being in Arkham didn't make any difference, it wasn't like he was Joker-level crazy or anything. Still, better to be polite. She raised one hand, and before she lost the little confidence she'd pulled together she knocked.

She jumped when the sound reverberated through the corridor much more loudly than she'd though it would. There was some rustling from the other doors; bloodshot eyes pressed up to the little barred window cut into the door followed a particularly loud BASH from one nearer to her.

Stephanie chuckled nervously and waved at the inmate as she pressed her back against the door she'd knocked on. Someone else's amused snort was heard from inside. She pushed down the minor irritation at letting the place get to her before she'd even gotten into the damned room.

Barbara had said it was a bad idea, that she had nothing to prove, but they'd both known it wasn't true.

'Right, going in.'

She held the bag in front of her like a shield and pushed the door open.

Jason Todd, the Red Hood, slouched in his rickety metal chair like it was the most comfortable seat in the world. "First the old man, and now Robin 4.0, guess the grave's just not what it used to be, am I right?"

Stephanie took a second to wonder just what the hell she was doing there before she strode over and took the seat opposite him, nothing but the sturdy table between her and a killer with a grudge against anyone wearing a bat.

The bag crinkled when she set it on the table, his eyes barely flickered to it before settling on her, a creepy smile playing on his lips. Stephanie tried to channel her inner Barbara, but failed spectacularly when after a few minutes her fingers began drumming on the rusty metal. She'd been so focused on not chickening out of her visit she hadn't planned any conversation starters for when she actually got there. Everyone said Jason loved to talk? Why was he being so still?

The current Batgirl looked between him and the paper bag before awkwardly pushing it right to the edge of his side of the table. "So…"

"What, you put a head in there?" He cocked his head. "Cause even if it is mine, you can't exactly add to a life sentence."

"No, Penny-one said you liked chili-dogs." Stephanie blurted out, a little queasy at the idea of lugging around head in a paper bag. "Why would you think I brought you a head!?"

His shackles clinked when he poked the bag, toppling it on its side. "Was as good a guess as any." He shrugged. "Putting heads in bags is what the Gotham street dealers know me for."

"Okay, gross." She waved her hands as if shooing his words away. "Can we save the blood and guts story for another time?"

"Made three of them blow chunks." Great, now he was being chatty. "Made up for the two hours work on its own."

"You know, saying things like that is why you didn't pass your mental evaluation. You could be…"

"I'm not crazy." He didn't quite slam his hands on the table, but having them in sight was unnerving enough. Those were the hands that had killed literally hundreds and all that stood between them and her was a table and some handcuffs.

"Suuure you're not." She drawled and tried to be subtle about sliding her seat a few more inches away from him.

He growled and clicked his jaw before speaking again. "Just tell me what you want so I can get back to sleep."

"Rude." Stephanie rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to set this thing up?"

"I'm flattered, now. What. Do. You. Want, Blondie?" He'd balled his hands into fists now, and she knew she should have been more afraid, but she was emboldened by the mere fact that he hadn't tried to attack her yet. Not that she was kidding herself with the tried part.

"No really, it was a nightmare. It took forever to convince them I really was even Batgirl, you know one of them thought I was Harley Freaking Quinn for like an hour? Then Oracle tells me that nutcase actually pretended to be Batgirl once? And don't even get me started on the work it took getting them to let me bring in the food –which you'd better eat- when they got the idea it was components for Smilex and you were the Joker's apprentice or something." She had to cut her rant short to take a deep breath.

"You done?" He looked supremely bored as he looked at a point somewhere behind her.

"No, I am not done. Calling yourself Red Hood? Just why, you'd think it would occur to someone smart enough to take over the Gotham underground that naming yourself after that freak would give you some problems down the line." She huffed.

"Making it easy for teenage girls to visit me wasn't a factor, no." He folded his arms, the motion almost distracting her from what he said next. "It was supposed to be ironic."

"Dude, it would be like calling myself Black Mask and running around with a power-drill, it's dumb." She shot back.

The silence stretched on just long enough to be uncomfortable again before he spoke and she took the time to study the dark circles under his eyes. "No, that would be like calling myself Joker and running around with crowbars and bombs."

"You do kinda blow things up a lot." She mimicked his posture. "Hey, aren't you a teenager too?" She cocked her head with a frown.

He snorted. "No." His eyes shifted off to the side.

"Oh my god, you are!" She jumped to her feet and pointed one of her fingers within grabbing distance before she really registered what she was doing. "Just imagine the reaction it'd get if anyone found out that Red Hood, scourge of Gotham's underworld, isn't even twenty yet. They'd flip the fuck out."

"You kiss your mother with that mouth? 'Cause I can send it to her in a box" As if he wasn't angry enough before, he was steaming now. If she'd felt like pushing her luck more, Stephanie would have called his expression a pout, but she really wanted to leave Arkham alive, so she didn't let that thought linger.

"Please, it's nothing compared to the audio logs I've heard of you." She chuckled and settled back into her seat. "What were we talking about again?"

"You leaving." He growled.

"Nope, pretty sure it was me getting here." She held up one finger. "So anyway, I thought I was going to have to ask for help from Batman…" here Jason scoffed, "… but for someone that cold he can be a little over-protective, and I couldn't exactly ask Oracle, because, like no one knows she exists and the most she could do was schedule a 'legitimate' visit, and by then the chili-dogs would have been cold, and it would have been a tiny bit suspicious if a blond girl with a paper bag came in right after blond Batgirl with a paper bag left…"

"That was too many ands," Jason cut in.

"So I just told them I was your sister and that you'd be real mad if they didn't let me in." She spread out her arms and grinned. Jason's folded arms were twitching in a way that told her he was fighting to keep them that way. "Also, one of them, Schools or whatever, was kind of handsy and I said you were going to get him for it so…"

"You really have no idea what you've done, do you?" He clasped his hands in front of him tightly enough that his knuckles cracked.

"Came for a nice visit and brought you some non-prison food?" Her smile slipped just a little under the intensity of his glare. She lifted the paper bag upright. "Are you going to eat it?"

"No." He wasted no time in replying. "If you don't have anything important to tell me, then leave." He didn't turn away from her, but he might as well have.

"You really are an ass, you know." She sighed and stood up. "But, er thanks for not killing me the second I walked in the door." He scoffed and she took one last look at him as he slumped a little further into the uncomfortable chair before she left.

The heavy metal door was between them and let out a breathy sigh. That was it, mission failed, whatever that mission had been in the first place. She paused on her way to the other end of the corridor. Had she really failed?

Walking in she'd fully expected a fight, those cuffs couldn't have held him. Heck, even a strait jacket couldn't have held someone half as skilled as any robin was expected to be, and Jason did have training on top of that. That was something at least.

By the time she'd left the asylum, Stephanie had come to the conclusion that she'd made the same mistake this time as she had when she'd enacted the War Games, lack of information. She didn't know how to talk to Jason because she didn't know anything about him.

She'd have something to tell him the next time she showed up, because next time she'd know more than his favorite food.

Stephanie Brown was a detective too, and it was time she proved that she could put those skills to use.

#stephanie brown #jason todd #aekham asylum #fanfiction #stephanie and jason #tell me a story

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thebibliomancer · 7 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #134: The Times That Bind!

April, 1975

Another amazing title.

And another cover image that is a DAMN ODIOUS LIE but I understand why at this point. We’re at a mini-arc of revelations which require flashbacks to properly contextualize the way Englehart wants. So its either have the Avengers bust through a wall and attack the Mad Thinker, definitely changing history in a flashback they weren’t even party to, or have a cover where the Avengers stand around and spectate stuff.

You could get meta with that though. Having the cover being the Avengers holding a comic and looking at its cover. Or maybe a throwback to older covers? With the provocative teasing of three different things that happens in the issue, perhaps with bubble with out of context images?

Look, the takeaway is that unfortunately, Thor does not smash the Mad Thinker at this time. But he definitely does it at some point so read every comic ever published for your weirdly specific fix.

Anyway, Team Thor Even Though This Is Mantis’ Origin Reveal continues to travel through time. Thor, Mantis, Iron Man, and Hawkeye. And an alien disguised as a stick.

Because this is a fairly dense story (but not the densest, oh my no, just wait until Avengers Forever), we are treated to a recap from Thor covering Kang War II, Immortus sending them on a journey through time to learn Mantis’ origin, and the advent of the Kree being the biggest dicks in space.

And the adventure continues.

The surprise attack from a Kree armada jolted the Skrulls out of mostly beneficial imperialism into the more asshole kind of imperialism. And over a thousand thousand worlds they battle the Kree, never with a clear-cut victor.

Which apparently leads both empires to grow stronger and prosper because as we all know, an endless war that saps resources and manpower is nothing but good for the economy. Although I guess when you have a thousand thousand worlds of resources to steal, it works out better.

Anyway, in the Kree year 476 (476 years after first contact), the blue Kree have apparently arisen and become the dominant power. Just go with it.

And from their position of power, they look down with contempt at any who oppose them. Especially the pacifist Kree.

Remember them? From the Star-Stalker story? They decried the power-hungry nature of the Kree and were not popular with their neighbors?

The Kree pacifists were driven underground by their militaristic brothers. And as is common to such victims of persecution, they developed martial arts to defend themselves with.

Because guns are hard to get and go against your pacifistic principles anyway.

But unlike some other persecuted, the Kree pacifists also decided to develop their minds in the decades that passed while they lived in the slums of the Kree Capital City (Kreeopolis? Moragton? Blue Area of Hala?).

And then one day, they were shocked when something insistently tried to telepathically contact them.

The pacifists felt compelled to come to a certain building in an abandoned section of the city. They worried that it was a ruse but couldn’t ignore the call.

And when they entered the abandoned structure they found... a broccoli garden! some surviving Cotati!

The Cotati explained that they are plants, duh, so don’t die in the same way that animal life does. Although fairly close enough.

When the Kree managed to kill every Cotati on Hala in one night with spears, the dying Cotati dropped their seed pods.

Some animals do a similar thing, actually, but because the Cotati were plants those seed pods were able to take root and grow into a new generation of Cotati.

While the Kree reverse-engineered the Skrullian ship, the new Cotati grew unnoticed and when they were old enough, they plucked themselves from the ground and moved toward more complete concealment.

They’ve been hiding ever since. And having determined that Locomotion Was a Mistake, they’ve evolved more toward immobility in exchange for even greater psychic powers.

And they always knew that some Kree would reject their culture’s militarism and move towards more peaceful truths. So when those pacifists arose and trained their minds, the Cotati reached out to them to propose an alliance.

The Cotati needed care they couldn’t provide for themselves because they could not move (suddenly locomotion doesn’t seem like such a sucker move, huh?) and in exchange, they would teach the pacifists their more advanced knowledge of the mind.

It was a great alliance. Kree and tree, together at last.

But the comic is tired of tree people for the time being. Time to check in on Vision.

You may remember that he was taken back in time to see the creation of the robot Human Torch.

And there he learned two possible causes for his claustrophobia episodes. But time has skipped ahead a little and now we are in 1949.

In between the Torch’s creation and 1949, he had gained a sidekick named Toro who also could set himself on fire. In 1949, they were at the height of their fighting crime with fire.

So criminals got desperate and obtained Solution X-R from Russia which doused the Torch and shirtless Toro and paralyzed them to boot. And then they buried the Torch in the Nevada desert, solving the problem forever.

Except not because they inadvertently buried him in a nuclear bomb testing range and a nuclear bomb test in 1953 freed him and cured his flame (as seen in Young Men #24 by probably no one reading this parenthetical).

But after only two more years of crime fightery, he had to bid Toro goodbye. Because even though that nuclear bomb freed him he also absorbed so much radiation that he was going to lose control of his fire and burn out.

So he went back to the Nevada desert where he Nova exploded.

And thus, Human Torch was dead forever.

But time for more space tree intrigue.

It has now been a century, during which the Kree pacifists developed their sentiment into a philosophy. A philosophy despised and ridiculed by their society. But a philosophy still feared apparently.

Oh, and they have become priests so get to live in a temple rather than a tenement. Didn’t figure the Kree to have freedom of religion...

And in their temple, a secret second cellar in which the Cotati were hidden.

But as I said, despite being despised and ridiculed, the pacifist priests were also apparently feared because a captain of the security and some soldiers attack the temple in plainclothes saying that they COMPLETELY NORMAL CITIZENS had enough rabble rousing from the priests.

The priests fight back with their pacifist martial arts and even though the COMPLETELY NORMAL CITIZENS have guns, the priests manage to survive the battle.

But at a cost. The Supreme Intelligence, the giant gross tentacle brain gestalt intelligence of all the mightiest minds of the Kree empire, decides to take this chance to exile them. While the priests were only defending themselves, its hard to prove who hit first when everyone hates you.

The priests bid the Cotati farewell. The Kree power structure is still unaware of their existence and the priests set up an irrigation system that will maintain the Cotati even without legged people around to care for them.

But the Cotati promise that they will find a way to aid the priests to pay the priests back for all the ways they helped the Cotati over the century or so.

So the priests get dumped on a barren prison planet. Taunted by the soldiers that dropped them off, they are in despair over what some immobile plants half a galaxy away can do for them.

Can you guess what?

If you guessed “summon a space dragon” then you, like Mantis, guessed correctly.

The Cotati subtly influenced the Star-Stalker’s mind to land on the prison planet.

This may seem like an odd form of helping but the Cotati are confident in their friends’ cleverness to find an answer, an answer that only they will have.

They were prepared to leak the answer to the pacifists if necessary but thought it better for them to find their own way. “No man wishes to feel himself a puppet, even in the hands of friends. Men may worship gods -- but they fear them as well.”

And realizing that their prison lacks vegetation, minerals, sunlight and heat, they deduce that the Star-Stalker is weak to heat.

AND BY PUNCHING THE GROUND IN UNISON (holy shit) they create a massive fissure that spews out molten lava.

Forcing the Star-Stalker to flee the planet. We all know that part. It eventually landed on Earth and was exploded by the Vision.

Meanwhile? (again, the Avengers are outside the timestream and/or in the past. Words are difficult), Moondragon’s spaceship lands on the roof of Avengers Mansion.

You may recall that she briefly visited the mansion during the Thanos War. Or you may not. The takeaway is that she’s familiar with the layout and also took the liberty of learning to turn off the alarm system psychically last time she visited because Moondragon is a bad guest.

She also notices the Celestial Madonna Star and realizes that she was right to follow the hunch to go visit the Avengers. And also apparently the star is not visible from space, only from ground level.

Celestial Madonnahood is weird.

Moondragon invites herself in because knocking is for other people and finds Jarvis. She tells the butler that she’s here in Captain Marvel’s stead to answer the radio summons that the Avengers have been broadcasting, although she admits to being vague about why she’s doing so.

Jarvis tries to contact the Avengers in Vietnam but gets no answer. Because they are all on an amazing time adventure.

He also admits that there’s been too much unexplained nonsense around the Avengers lately and wishes that Scarlet Witch would leave her room and help.

And you know that thing where someone is behind you right when you’re talking about them behind their back? Kind of an irony thing? You’re talking about them behind their back but secretly they are behind your back?

Yeah, Wanda just walked into the room as Jarvis said that.

And, uh. She is behaving oddly.

Moondragon recognizes that Wanda’s personality has changed from the time she briefly met her. She asks Wanda to come with her to Vietnam to search for the Avengers friends but Wanda says she only has one friend, Agatha Harkness, and she won’t leave her side until she learns all there is to know about the science of witchcraft.

So Moondragon decides to casually invade Wanda’s mind and see what’s going on in there. Because Moondragon.

Somehow, Wanda detects the mind-burst, dodges the mental energy, and strikes back using witchery to hit Moondragon with wood floor tiles and the window curtains.

And then she and Agatha walk off, Agatha saying that Wanda has nearly reached the goals she set for her.

So. Uh. Agatha Harkness, I thought you were cool. What have you been doing to Wanda behind closed doors?

She’s talking in weird speech bubbles and being mean to Jarvis. Oh and she attacked Moondragon but invading minds is hecka rude so. Lets call that even.

And now back to Vision Quest, no that’s not actually the title although I bet its the title to something involving Vision.

When last we joined him, the Human Torch exploded. And now its 1966.

The Human Torch (robot version) has been explode dead for eleven years. But then, the Mad Thinker finds his robot corpse, using math.

Mad Thinker: “The one I seek would have known he was dying. I can can calculate at what point he would know it... the lengths of his surprise, anger, sadness, resignation, planning, and leavetaking... his speed of flight, his desire to cause no harm! He will be... here!”

One day I want the Mad Thinker to be wrong not because of the human or Hercules factor. Just wrong about some variable. Just have his math slightly off. It would be funny to me and only me.

Anyway, Mad Thinker takes the Human Torch to his lab and discovers the secret of ANDROID RESURRECTION and he android resurrects the Human Torch.

And then events from Fantastic Four #4 happen.

Human Torch fights Human Torch. The Fantastic Four arrive to break up the fight. Quasimodo the living computer that just wants some legs kills the Human Torch (Golden Age variant). The Mad Thinker escapes. And Vision poetically soliloquizes over the whole thing.

And I have to address something so dumb that it actually got soft retconned in Avengers Forever (which I just read and retcons so many things).

So, the android Human Torch sacrificed himself to save the Fantastic Four from a sneak attack by Quasimodo. And then this happens.

Reed Richards: “Men may call him an android -- but he proved to be as human as any --!”

Ben Grimm: “Hey, Reed -- are we just gonna leave ‘im here? Shouldn’t he get a burial or somethin’, like a bona-fid-ee hero?”

Reed Richards: “‘Dust to dust’ doesn’t apply to him, old friend. He was born in a lab, so this is a more fitting final resting place.”

Fucks sake Reed.

‘This android was as human as any human WELP just gonna leave him here.’ Just goes right from acknowledging his humanity to leaving him like garbage because a robot doesn’t need a burial.

As I alluded, it was later retconned that Reed was influenced to leave the Human Torch’s corpse there but its equally valid that Reed is just that kind of callous asshole sometimes often.

And then later, Ultron-5 OH YEAHS into the chamber with a KRUMP! But more on that will have to wait for next issue.

Phew. Covering two big complicated origins at once takes a lot of panel space.

Okay. Back to space intrigue.

So the priests begged an audience with the Supreme Intelligence, now knowing of the Star-Stalker’s presence in the quadrant and his weakness.

The Supreme Intelligence thinks they’re making shit up. He’s a giant tentacled brain surrounded by kirby krackle. His knowledge is not inconsiderable!

Clearly, this is just a ruse so the Supreme Intelligence will have the priests brought back to Hala. Well, nuts to that.

Except the priests never asked to be brought back to Hala. Instead, they ask that they be allowed to spread through the inhabited worlds of the Kree galaxy to protect them. Two to every inhabited world. Like the Kree sentries but less explodey.

Upside: the Kree wouldn’t have to keep having supplies brought to prison planet.

The Supreme Intelligence is convinced. With one caveat. Four of the priests will remain on Hala just in case this obviously fake Star-Stalker thing turns out to be legit.

But what the priests didn’t mention is that a major side benefit of this plan is that they are able to sneak the Cotati off of Hala and spread them through all the worlds of the Kree galaxy.

And over time, the mutualism between the two only grows. The Cotati cannot psychically commune with any but the Kree. And have to rely on the priests to be able to move and deal with a chaotic universe with full effectiveness. While the priests rely on the Cotati’s more full understanding of that chaotic universe.

And the priests don’t tell other meat races about the Cotati and the Cotati never communicate with other plants. Which. Sure. Okay.

I’m sure the Flora Colossus from Planet X were real broken up about it.

Anyway. Yeah. Obviously, one of the planets that priests settled with their secret tree friends was Earth. And specifically what would be known as Vietnam, Earth.

Hawkeye idly wonders if the Priests of Pama were the ones that started the martial arts scene on Earth entirely but the Space-Phantom-disguised-as-a-stick dismisses that question as irrelevant to Mantis’ origin.

And its for the best that question was not answered, especially answered in the affirmative because holy shit saying aliens are responsible for things tends to be not great.

Because its usually stuff that non-white cultures accomplished like the pyramids. Which has a very patronizing tone to it. ‘Well those primitive cultures obviously couldn’t make this cool thing so obviously aliens.’

I expect that anywhere a sapient race has limbs of some sort, they’ll eventually develop better ways to hit people with those limbs. And perhaps, perhaps, the Priests of Pama learned from our Earth way of hitting things with limbs.

We shall never know because this was one Space Phantom too smart to wade into that mess.

Anyway, the flashback continues with priests Son-Dar and Teress deciding on a spot to build their temple and planting the Cotati in what will be the Eternal Garden.

“By the great Pama!” Mantis exclaims. Thats the very same garden where they buried Swordsman. That garden still exists!

Bingo.

Also, KZAP.

Because Team Thor Even Though Its Mantis’ Origin Reveal has been transported back to the present, back to the Temple of Pama. Back to the Eternal Garden where the Swordsman was buried.

And there they find Libra and the ghostly Swordsman. Who promises that now that Mantis has learned the history of the Kree, it is time for her to learn the final explanation. For today marks THE COMING OF THE CELESTIAL MADONNA.

Neat.

Also, we learn more stuff about Vision’s origin next time too.

Phew. I love space intrigue involving trees and dragons and giant tentacle brains as much as anyone... OR PERHAPS MORE. But I think maybe telling two complicated origins back to back was maybe too much. I’ll talk about it later but this whole chunk of the Celestial Madonna story is in full exposition mode.

#Avengers #Kree #Cotati #Mantis #the Vision #Priests of Pama #Star Stalker #Essential Avengers #Essential marvel liveblogging #at some point this is definitely probably going to all start making sense #Celestial Madonna Saga

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citizentruth-blog · 6 years ago

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(StopTheDrugWar) It's been a year we couldn't wait to put behind us, but as 2018 comes to an end, we can look back on some advances on the international drug policy front, as well as continued brutal and regressive responses from some quarters. Here are 10 of the global drug policy stories that shaped the year, for better or worse:

Iranian drug executions have come to a screeching halt in one of the good news stories of 2018. (handsoffcain.info)

1. Drug Death Penalty Reforms Cause Massive Drop in Executions

Early this year, it became official: Iran had reformed its death penalty statutes to radically reduce the number of people facing execution for drug offenses, and it had done so retroactively, saving the lives of thousands already on death row. By mid-year, it was clear that the move was having an impact, as human rights observers reported a 99% reduction in drug executions, with only one person being executed for drugs as of June, compared to more than a hundred during the same period in 2017.

2. Canada Becomes the First G8 Country to Legalize Marijuana

Justin Trudeau pledged that he was elected prime minister, his government would legalize marijuana. It didn't happen as fast as he would have liked, but the Liberals' legalization bill passed parliament in June and went into effect on October 17. So far, the sky has not fallen.

3. Medical Marijuana Earns Growing Acceptance

The year began with Thailand announcing a plan to allow medical marijuana and ended with Thailand approving it and becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so. But in the meantime, Israeli pharmacies began selling medical marijuana in April, Zimbabwe legalized it in May, and Portugal and Luxembourg followed suit in June. In November, Great Britain joined the club, and Greece issued its first medical marijuana production licenses. Late in the year, in South Korea, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the country's drug laws that will pave the way for the use of medical marijuana by prescription, and New Zealand also approved it in December Not a bad year for medical marijuana.

Canadian Senate

4. The Philippines Drug War Continues, But Pressures Mount…

The bloody drug war of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte continued apace in 2018, with a death toll now put at 12, 000 (20,000 by some estimates), but Duterte has come under increasing pressure both domestically and internationally. In February, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watchaimed broadsides at the Philippines even as the International Criminal Court began "preliminary examinations" of whether there is sufficient evidence to bring a case before the court. In March, activists called out drug war human rights abuses at the embassy in Washington, DC. By July, an unbowed Duterte was vowing to continue a "relentless and chilling" drug war even as national human rights groups said he was using it as a cover for assassinating political opponents. In September, he unleashed an attack on a second drug war critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes, after last year imprisoning critic Senator Leila de Lima on trumped up drug charges. She is still imprisoned.

5.. ...and the Rot Spreads in the Region

Following the lead of the Philippines, other countries in the region have also embraced drug war thuggery and human rights abuses. In May, the Bangladeshi opposition warned of a wave of police killings of drug suspects, and within weeks, more than a hundred were killed and 20,000 arrested, even as evidence emerged that the crackdown was being used to hide political assassinations. The situation was fraught enough that the UN human rights head and even the US State Department expressed concern. Drug war killings were also reported in Indonesia, although there were mixed signals about moves toward reforms there, and Sri Lanka vowed to begin hanging drug dealers. Paradoxically though, a Malaysian court's imposition of a death sentence on a man for providing cannabis oil to patients now appears to have resulted in a moratorium on the death sentence and could end the death penalty in its entirety in the county.

6. The US President Aligns Himself With Global Drug War Authoritarians

President Donald Trump was a baleful presence on the global drug policy stage this past year, sympathizing with drug war authoritarians such as Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, as well as drug death penalty countries such as China and Singapore. He said early in the year he wants to execute all drug dealersand admires the Singapore approach (mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking), a statement that moved more than 150 organizations to condemn his call. At year's end, he was singing a similar tune with a ghoulish call for more Chinese drug executions. In between, he went to the United Nations to try to gin up a reinvigorated global drug war.

coca leaves drying by highway

7. South Africa Legalizes Marijuana

In a case brought by three marijuana users, the country's Constitutional Court ruled that the private possession, cultivation, and consumption of marijuana is legal. "It will not be a criminal offense for an adult person to use or be in possession of cannabis in private for his or her personal consumption," Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo wrote in his ruling. It will, however, remain illegal to use cannabis in public and to sell and supply it. The ruling did not set allowable quantities, with the court saying parliament had two years to come up with a new law that reflected the ruling.

8. Glimmers of Hope in Mexico

then-President Felipe Calderon unleashed the latest chapter of the country's drug wars, bringing violence to levels not seen before in the country, Mexico is showing signs it is ready for change. The death toll from prohibition-related violence is higher than ever, and that is impelling a psh for change, most notably with the election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is very open to finding exits from the drug war, whether it's legalized opium production in Guerrero, granting amnesty for non-violent drug trafficking offenders, or legalizing marijuana. And speaking of legalizing marijuana, the Mexican Supreme Court in November struck down the ban on marijuana possession, cultivation, and use. Now, Lopez Obrador's governing MORENA Party has filed a bill to legalize marijuana sales. Tackling the violence, may be a bit more difficult.

9. Colombia Sees a Record Coca Crop as US Cocaine Deaths Rise

Efforts to reduce coca cultivation and cocaine production in the country after the peace agreement with the FARC rebels have not gone well, and that's causing rising worry in Washington. In June, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that 2017 production was at an all-time high, prompting expressions of concern from the drug czar's office and support from President Trump for new rightist Colombian President Ivan Duque's "head-on fight against drug trafficking." That could include a renewed resort to aerial fumigation, even drones, as well as forced eradication of coca crops, leading to renewed conflict in cultivation zones. Meanwhile, cocaine is now the third leading cause of drug overdose deaths, trailing only fentanyl and heroin.

Vienna International Centre, home to the UN drug agencies

10. Historic UN Cannabis Review Hits Last-Minute Procedural Delay

In June and again in November, the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) of the World Health Organization (WHO) met to consider the evidence on cannabis (marijuana) and its placement in the UN drug scheduling system, which determines whether or what level of control the UN drug conventions mandate that countries maintain for the substance. The conventions specify that substances should receive such an evaluation before being scheduled, but that never happened for marijuana. Observers believe the process should lead to marijuana being moved to a less restrictive schedule than it is in currently -- if the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) votes to adopt such a recommendation from ECDD. That didn't happen when, earlier this month, WHO voted to delay release of ECDD's recommendations until January, for unexplained reasons. That may mean they get taken up at the main annual CND meeting in Vienna in March, rather than December's intersessional. The delay seems unusual, and probably political, but its intent is unclear. The next few months may tell. In the meanwhile, ECDD says that CBD shouldn't be scheduled at all. But that didn't stop the US FDA from saying that treaties require it be scheduled, even though they also think it shouldn't be. Read the full article

#drugwar #drugs #marijuana #marijuanalegalization #medicalmarijuana #stopthedrugwar #warondrugs

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pxiao · 8 years ago

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It’s my turn Chapter 2

It’s been four months since Zarc was revived and three since he reappeared in Standard. Standing guard against the revived Supreme King Dragon, Yuzu with Serena, Rin and Ruri stand as Ray with the stronger Lancers helping them. This time, It’s Her Turn!

Previous chapters: 1

concept thought up by @skittymon originally.

At 7:00 am, Yusho watched with a smile on his face as his students gathered for breakfast in You Show’s slightly dated cafeteria. He looked in shock when he saw a girl with long purple hair and pink eyes had arrived for breakfast. Ruri quickly noticed his stare, happily walked up to him and bowed.

“Good Morning Mr. Sakaki. It’s good to see you again.” Ruri happily said.

Yusho got over his shock and quickly replied, “It’s nice to see you again, Ruri I hope you’ve remembered what I taught you in Heartland. If not, I’m be happy to teach it to you again.”

“I remembered. It helped keep me going during those times.” Ruri said as her smile turned slightly sour at the memories.

Yusho noticing her sad smile, quickly asked as he walked alongside her, “So why are did you come for breakfast instead of Yuzu?”

“She had a bad dream and didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. So we’re letting her sleep and I’m in charge of the body right now.” Ruri replied as she was getting some scrambled eggs.

“That’s nice of you” Yusho complimented.

“It’s all that I can do to make up for erasing her memories.” Ruri bitterly replied which caused Rin and Serena to grimace.

Seeing her response, Yusho scratched his head, following her as she gathered some food from the buffet.

“You’re curious about something aren’t you?” Ruri asked as she noticed how silent he was.

“No, no” Yusho denied.

“It’s fine to ask, you were my teacher for a year or so and we’re fellow Lancers. So go ahead.” Ruri said with a small smile as she put her tray of food down on a table.

“You don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to…. But how do you and Rin find the strength to fight Zarc?” Yusho asked, causing Ruri to fall silent. “You, Rin and Serena erased Yuzu’s memory so she could fight Zarc? So why did you and Rin decide to keep your memories?” Serena looked on with a slightly bitter expression.

Ruri kept silent for a minute before replying in a small voice, “Because Yuzu, unlike me and Rin, can’t fight Zarc if she has her memories. She’ll never give up the hope that she can save Yuya, Yuto and Yugo. And as much as I hope that she’s right ….. I don’t know how much of my hope is real. Do I truly believe that I can save Yuto or am I just deluding myself because I want him back?” which caused Yusho, Rin and Serena to frown.

Yusho looked in shocked at Ruri and tried to comfort her but only silence came.

“I can’t let all of reality be destroyed because I refused to acknowledge reality. I just … just can’t” Ruri finished as tears started to trail from her eyes.

“I’m sorry for asking such insensitive question” Yusho sincerely apologized as he frowned.

“No I was the one who decided to answer.” Ruri stated as she started to frown. “After crying so much, I’m not really in the mood to eat. I’ll let Rin take over, she always enjoys eating.” Ruri said as she transformed into a girl with green medium length hair and amber eyes.

“Don’t say it like I’m a glutton!” Rin complained, starling Yusho.

Both Rin and Yusho had trouble looking at each other due to the awkward atmosphere earlier. After a few minutes of silence, Rin sat down and took a bit of the food that Ruri had gotten. “This is delicious. Who made it?” Rin said, hoping to lighten up the atmosphere.

Yusho smiled a bit said, “I did”

“Really?” Rin followed up.

“Well, as much as I would like to claim all the credit. My wife did help me.” He continued.

“Well that’s nice” Rin said which caused Yusho to show a sad smile.

Having seen Yusho’s reaction, Rin arched an eyebrow. Yusho sighed and then explained, ”I just feel I’m a burden. Because I couldn’t stop Zarc from reviving, Yoko decided to join the Lancers and we had to uproot our lives to the Fusion Dimension, even then she spends most of her time helping me. If I had just protected Yuya like I should have, we would be continuing our lives instead of forcing all this danger on her.”

Rin then turned away from Yusho and then asked, “Mr. Sakaki, you went missing for three years right?”

Yusho felt a pang of guilt as she brought up his past actions, “That’s right”

“I’m not blaming, you did it to protect innocent people. But when someone that you used to spend every day with is ripped from your life, you ….. You realize how much the small things you used to do with them like eating together, talking about your dreams together or even just dueling together were so precious and that you would give up anything to do it again. I think that Mrs. Sakaki helps you because she’s just happy that you’re with her again.” Rin stated which caused Yusho to go speechless. “So I don’t think you should worry if that you’re a burden to her. I think you should just smile, to show that you really do enjoy your time together. That’s how I feel at the very least.” Rin finished with a small smile which caused Yusho and Ruri to smile while Serena looked at all three of them and felt a bit jealous.

Yusho then patted her head and said, “You’re very wise despite being so young.”

“Well someone had to be or otherwise Yu… some idiot would never survive” Rin replied which caused Serena to feel another pang of jealousy.

“Thank you for the advice” Yusho happily thanked with a big smile, causing Rin to blush a bit.

Hoping to change the topic again, she asked, “Where are the other Lancers?”

“We finished checking the files that Zarc looked over. Most of them were about himself and Ray. But a good number were about prisons for major criminals in this dimension.”

“prisons? What would he want with prisons?” Rin asked.

“We have no clue. But he seemed to focus on two prisons in particular that held high class criminals. Yoko and Mr. Tokumatsu went to one of them while Sora and Asuka went to the other one.” Yusho added.

“And we’re still in You Show for ….?” Rin asked.

“We’re not sure which one he might attack. So it was better thought that you and I wait at You Show and then travel to the prison being attacked instead risking the both of us being stuck at the wrong one.”

“Should you have let us sleep in then?” Rin asked.

“We have no idea when or even if Zarc will attack today. We’re already pushing this harsh duty on your four, I think we should let you rest and eat your full.” Yusho said with a smile that made Rin, Ruri and Serena smile too.

Sora and Asuka stood as they grimaced at the prison in front of them. Asuka looked at the square, gray prison and felt her energy being drained. She remembered that the building in front of them was originally used for people that rejected the war effort, leaders that thought the Academia was insane, teachers that refused to let their students become soldiers and parents that refused to send their students to the Academia were all locked up. Ironically after Zarc torn them apart, the Academia staff were now being held in the very same prison. Asuka wondered how an entire dimension had effectively lost their collective minds, listening to a mad man. She started clenching her teeth as she bitterly thought she had no right to mock others when she had also believed in the Professor’s insane ramblings.

“So this is where all the Academia is being kept?” Sora asked, shaking Asuka’s from her thoughts.

“Huh? Oh no. Just the staff. The most of the students are being kept in a psychological treatment physicality. But some of the more deranged students are kept here.” Asuka answered.

“So this is where I would have been if Yuya and Yuzu didn’t show me the truth. And how do I repay them? Watch on the sidelines as they try to kill each other” Sora bitterly added as he clenched his teeth and hands.

Asuka frowned as she tried to cheer her friend, “It’s possible that we can still save Yuya. I mean Reiji is trying to revive Ray and her En cards. He even decided to focus on it instead of his other projects when he realized that Yuzu still remembers Yuya.”

Before Sora could say anything. A purple beam of light exploded from the center of the prison shocking Sora and Asuka. They climbed the fence with three jumps as they called Yusho and Yoko. They then jumped to the top of the prison and raced to the hole in the prison’s ceiling. As they reached the center, they saw bright little squares in front of them. Their stomachs dropped as they realized that someone had already transported away, causing them to up their speeds. When they were five meters away from the hole, a boy wearing a cape and long jacket jumped onto the ceiling causing both Sora and Asuka to start their duel disks.

“ZARC!” Sora roared as he drew five cards as Asuka did the same. Zarc turned to face them and smiled.

Sora then yelled, “I activate Polymerization and fuse Fluffal Bear and Edge Imp Scissors to fusion summon Frightful Scissor Bear”

Asuka then continued, “I activate Machine Angel Ritual. I tribute two Cyber Tutubons in my hand to Ritual Summon Level 10 Cyber Angel Vrash!

Zarc just smiled as he drew five cards and then yelled as dramatically as possible, “And I ACTIVATE THE STRONGEST CARD IN MY DECK!!!!!!!!”

Sora and Asuka braced themselves for Zarc to summon some horrible abomination.

“violet flash” Zarc finished as blandly and calm as possible while looking a bit bored, causing Sora and Asuka to nearly trip in shock to Zarc’s enjoyment.

“Magician’s Right Hand’s effect activates! When I control a Spellcaster monster I can negate a spell card’s activation so I negate violet flash!” Yusho yelled as he flew in standing on his ace, Performapal Sky Magician’s rings with Yuzu standing on another ring.

“Yusho” Zarc said with venom in his voice as his face twisted into a snarl. Yusho grinned in response as Yuzu jumped onto the ceiling next to Sora. “So you decided to join this little get together.” Zarc added.

“Of course. It’s an honor to meet the Supreme King Dragon that desired to destroy reality only to fail twice.” Yusho said as he gave a small bow which only angered Zarc further.

“Ray too. Just great” Zarc added with even more venom.

“Don’t forget about us!” a voice roared behind Zarc. Zarc and the person who followed him turned their head to see a motorcycle holding a blonde woman wearing a white knee length coat and a man wearing a yukata. The motorcycle stopped behind them as Chojiro jumped off.

Zarc looked around and realized that he was completely surrounded. He sighed and then said, “Hey just jump up. It’s better that we don’t get separated.” As Zarc finished someone still in the prison jumped up, causing Rin, Ruri and Serena to look in shock as they saw his face.

“Oh my, look who it is. My cute little test subject.” The balding man said with sneer as he looked straight at Yuzu.

“Test subject?” Yuzu asked with as she started to feel disgusted.

“Doktor!” Sora said with venom in his voice.

“The Doktor?” Asuka and Yusho both asked.

“Good to see that others realize genius when they see it. Yes, I am the greatest mind of the Academia. At your service.” The Doktor said with a voice filled with arrogance.

“What do you want with him, Zarc?” Yoko yelled. She heard at how the Doktor put parasites inside Yuzu’s head and felt herself shiver from disgust and rage at the mere thought of it.

“Well I really messed up.” Zarc calmly said, placing his hand on his forehead as he ignored Yoko’s question.

“Good!” Sora snarked with an arrogance filed grin.

“I guess this is my fault. I should have expected you guys would have prevented interdimensional transport inside the prison but I mean who would expect the Lancers would be. Would be. What’s the word?” Zarc started to fumble around as the Lancers stared at him. “Oh I remember, competent especially after I tore you all to pieces without really trying.” Zarc said as he clapped his hands with a sadistic smile which caused the Lancers to clench their teeth.

“Times change Zarc. Want to test it then?” Chojiro threatened.

“Sure!” Zarc said with a sadistic smile. Just as the Lancers started to make their move, black smoke expelled from Zarc’s body. Soon the smoke filled the area, blinding the Lancers. After a few minutes of darkness, the smoke started to thin but the Lancers soon wished they had stayed blind as they saw the smoke started to form a ten story black dragon with blue eyes.

“He can still transform into Supreme King Dragon Zarc?” Sora nearly yelled as he saw the huge dragon Zarc transformed into.

“Yep! Hope you enjoy, flying!” Zarc yelled as he flapped his large wings causing hurricane level winds. The Lancers tried to brace themselves against the winds but soon found themselves flung into the sky.

The six Lancers looked to each other as they saw they were at least a few kilometers in the air. Yusho and Asuka made eye contact and nodded as they still held onto their monsters. They then passed each other as they went to rescue their friends.

“Yoko!” Yusho yelled as he and Sky Magician raced to grab his wife. Yoko quickly regained her senses and grabbed onto one of the rings that her husband’s ace held.

“Grab on!” Asuka yelled she flew on her Cyber Angel Vrash near Sora and Chojiro. They quickly grabbed onto Vrash’s arms and hanged there as Asuka helped them up.

Yuzu prepared her duel disk as she saw that Yusho was flying to rescue her as well, but she realized he would take too long and prepared to draw before she heard Serena talk.

“Yuzu let me take control! My Cat Dancer is easier to summon!” Serena begged. Yuzu nodded her head and her body changed into a blue haired girl with a huge yellow bow in her hair and green eyes. Serena then turned on her duel disk that as she drew five cards and yelled, “I activate Polymerization. I fuse Lunalight Blue Cat and Lunalight Purple Butterfly to Fusion Summon Level 7 Lunalight Cat Dancer!” As Serena yelled, a purple woman wearing a mask with cat-like features appeared and quickly caught her master in a princess carry, slowly floating down to the ground. But soon Cat Dancer twisted her face in pain. “Cat Dancer!” Serena worried as she saw her ace in pain and saw a disgusting but familiar bug on the back of her monster.

“I activate the spell Incubation! This destroys the monster my Parasite Fusioner is attached to and allows me to summon two more Parasite Fusioners from deck, graveyard or hand!” The Doktor yelled with a sadistic look on his face.

“AHHH!” Cat Dancer yelled as she exploded into yellow light, dropping Serena. Serena quickly positioned herself to land without injury. Once she made contact with the ground, she started to roll forward, causing her to face the Doktor once she stood up without any injury.

“My, my. That was a beautiful landing, almost cat-like.” The Doktor mocked, causing Serena to clench her teeth.

Above Serena and the Doctor, Zarc prepared a beam of energy from his mouth and fired on the buildings below him, only for a pink bear with a scissor in the center of its body to block the blast at the price of being destroyed.

“We’re not letting you kill anymore!” Chojiro yelled.

“Why to save lives? Or because you don’t want Egao Fetish junior to be a murderer?” Zarc mocked.

“Both!” Asuke roared.

“I activate Fusion Recovery and bring back Edge Imp Scissors and Polymerization. Then I activate Toy Vendor. I discard Edge Imp Frightfuloid to activate its effect. I draw a card and if the card is a Fluffal monster, I can special summon it, otherwise I have to discord it. I draw and it’s Fluffal Sheep. I then fuse Sheep with Scissors to summon Frightful Chain Sheep! Then I activate Frightful Fusion that removes Sheep, Bear and Frigthfuloid to Fusion Summon Frightful Mad Chimera! (Attack: 2800, Defense: 2000)” Sora commanded.

“Wow that was a mouthful” Zarc snarked.

“Shut it!” Sora yelled as he jumped onto one of the heads of his monster.

“My turn! I activate Ultimate Koi Koi. I discard my hard and then draw five times. For each card Flower Cardian I draw, I can special summon and make them level two. Koi Koi Koi Koi Koi! I draw.” Chojiro said before he drew five times. “Good to see that Enjoy Chojiro hasn’t lost his stuff.” He smiled at his luck. “All five of my draws were Flower Cardians and now I tuned them to Synchro Summon Level 10! Flower Cardian LightFlare (Attack: 5000, Defense: 0)” Chojiro yelled as he summoned his strongest monster and jumped from Vrains to LightFlare’s shoulder.

“Not to be left behind, I activate Roar of the Nightlife. I can now summon any Road Raven from my hand without any tributes. I now summon Road Raven Red Queen(Attack: 2000 Defense: 2000)” Yoko yelled as her ace entered the world.

“I will give you Lancers’ praise. You’re the only IDIOTS that consistently keep racing towards your deaths.” Zarc mocked.

“We won’t give up! Not till we get Yuya, Yuto and Yugo back!” Yusho countered.

“What nothing for Yuri? Oh well, then try to catch me then!” Zarc yelled as he started to fly away.

“Get back here!” Asuka roared as the five Lancers chased him.

“Hopefully the Doktor uses this time to escape and not act like an idiot.” Zarc thought as he led the Lancers away.

The Doktor looked in glee as the Lancers flew out of sight. “Hahahhaha. This is perfect! Zarc understands my genius and gave me time to recollect my test subject!” The Doktor giggled, causing Serena to grow goosebumps.

“Oh. Then TRY IT!” Serena dared as she got her duel disk ready.

Yuzu looked in shock as she saw how angry Serena was. She then noticed that Ruri was also uncharacteristically angry while Rin looked on in cold fury. She started to shiver as she realized what she had to do.

“Serena, switch with me!” Yuzu commanded as she continued to shiver.

“No! After what he did to us. I don’t want you to face this monster” Serena refused.

“And facing him when you’re this angry is the better idea?” Yuzu countered.

“She has a point.” Rin conceded through gritted teeth.

“But, BUT!” Serena nearly roared.

“We can’t let you face this pervert” Ruri also refused as her face showed disgust.

“Are you three sure, you can duel calmly?” Yuzu argued which shut up Ruri and Serena. “I’m touched that you want to protect me but if we lose to this freak because you couldn’t think straight, how safe will any of us be? We still need to catch up to Zarc!”

“Tch. Fine.” Serena gave up and transformed into a pink haired girl with blue eyes which shocked the Doktor.

“So you can change into different people just like Zarc!” The Doktor nearly exploded into joy which disgusted Serena, Ruri, Rin and Yuzu. “Wait hahhahhha. You changed into the only girl that I didn’t get to use. What does that mean you can change into the purple and green haired girls too!!” the Doktor mused with a disgusting smile.

“Use?” Yuzu thought as nausea flooded her senses.

“Oh come on talk. I mean this is the last chance you get to freely control your body again” the Doktor replied with a smile on his face which made Yuzu want to punch him.

“Are you going to keep talking or are we going to duel?” Yuzu threatened as started shaking. She wasn’t sure if it was fear, rage, disgust or a horrid mix of all three.

“True, stalling would mean those Lancers will come back.” The Doktor stated as he also readied his duel disk.

“Crossover!” Yuzu’s duel disk yelled as platforms formed.

“Duel!” Yuzu and Doktor roared as the Action Cards fell.

“Well I already have cards on my field, so I set one card and end my turn.” The Doktor said.

“It’s my turn then! Draw!” Yuzu yelled as she drew. Yuzu checked the field and saw that the Doktor had three of those parasites on his field. As she saw those horrible monsters, she could feel something disgustingly familiar about those bugs. She forced those feelings down, refusing to let the first memories she regained be of those bugs. She resolved that since she didn’t really know how his deck worked, she would create an iron defense first.

“I activate 1st Movement Solo! This allows me to special summon a level 4 or lower Melodious monster from my hand or deck if I control no monsters. I special summon Aria the Melodious Diva in defense mode (Attack: 1600 Defense: 1200) from my deck. I then special summon Canon the Melodious Diva (Attack: 1400 Defense: 2000) as I control a Melodious monster. I then activate Transmodify and send Canon to the graveyard to special summon Elegy the Melodious Diva in attack mode (Attack: 2000 Defense: 1200).” Yuzu yelled.

“So all that effort to summon two monsters whose attack are at best 2000” The Doktor mocked.

“Keep mocking, but due to Aria’s special effect, if she was special summoned none of my Melodious monsters can be targeted by card effects or destroyed by battle! And with Elegy’s special effect none of my Melodius monsters can be destroyed by card effects. And with an added bonus all my Fairy type monsters gain 300 attack because she was special summoned. Elegy(attack 2300) Aria(attack 1900) And I end my turn.” Yuzu said with a smile.

“hahahahaha. It’s cute that you think you stop me!” The Doktor mocked as he drew his card causing Yuzu feel her heart race from rage. “hahaha. I activate my trap! Parasite infestation!” As the Doktor yelled the parasites started to jump onto Yuzu’s monsters.

“What? But Aria’s special effect makes sure that my monsters can’t be targeted by special effects!” Yuzu asked.

“Parasite Infestation’s effect states that as long as I control at least the same number of parasites on my side of the field, I negate all your monsters effects and take control of them with the equal number of parasites as equip cards!” Doktor yelled

“Don’t panic!” Ruri yelled.

“Grab an action card!” Rin aided.

At Rin’s words, Yuzu started to jump on the platforms in front of her.

“I activate Polymerization and fuse the parasite attached Aria, Elegy and my last remaining Parasite Fusioner to Fusion summon Parasite Empress! (Attack: 3000 Defense: 0). I activate her special effect, when special summoned, I revive all Parasite Fusioners in my graveyard and attach them to her and her attack raises by 300 for each parasite attached. I revived all three so her attack is 3900. Direct attack.” He laughed as purple bile from the bug’s mouth shot as a highly pressured stream aimed for Yuzu’s back

“Behind you!” Serena warned as Yuzu jumped to the top platform and grabbed the card hanging at the edge.

“I activate Evasion! The attack is negated!” Yuzu yelled as she felt nostalgic. That feeling quickly went away when she saw the Doktor smile.

“I can negate activate spells or traps when Parasite Empress attacks!” The Doktor smiled as Yuzu’s duel disk showed a red X on her action card.

Yuzu put her arms in front of her body and closed her eyes to protect herself.

“Yuzu!” Serena, Ruri and Rin yelled as the bile hit Yuzu.

Yuzu felt the bile push her at least a few feet back as she slid across the concrete ceiling. Serena, Ruri and Rin floated over Yuzu as they called her name in worry as she laid flat on the ceiling. Yuzu opened her eyes and saw her three counterparts but couldn’t hear them. She tried to get up but could feel her strength leaving her as she struggled. She could feel her vision start to fade as the concrete grey floor morphed into a white crystal floor instead. She wondered if she had a concussion from the attack and was having a visual hallucination, but soon even the hallucination started to fade to black. As she was surrounded by darkness she heard something.

“Yuzu!” a desperate voice called, shocking her. As Yuzu regained her senses, the voice continued to call her name over and over and each time she heard the worried but kind voice, she could feel more of her strength coming back. After a few moments, she started to get up to see the environment around her was a white gem filled area. She realized that she was still hallucinating but at the same time everything felt so familiar. She turned her head to see the owner of the voice that awoke her, the voice that made her feel happy, safe and for some reason sad. Her eyes widened as she saw a blinding light covered the boy’s face. But for some reason a name started to come to her, a name of someone precious to her.

”Yu—“ She started before she heard something.

“Yuzu!” Serena, Ruri and Rin screamed which caused Yuzu to open her eyes as she realized she was lying on the dark grey ceiling of the prison in the Fusion Dimension. She picked herself off the ground as she felt stronger for some reason. She knew that it was likely the voice she heard was just an auditory hallucination but even still she could feel the voice still giving her strength, causing her to smile.

“Yuzu are you ok?” Serena worriedly asked.

“I’m fine, Serena” Yuzu said in a soft voice as she assured her friend.

“If you don’t think you can’t keep on dueling, one of us can take over” Ruri suggested.

“It’s ok. I have to finish what I started.” Yuzu rejected her offer, feeling oddly more confident.

“Don’t push yourself” Rin advised.

“Thanks everyone.” Yuzu thanked with a warm smile.

“If you had just lost consciousness, I would have won. Stop trying to delay the inevitable.” The Doktor stated.

“Maybe I should have lost consciousness then I wouldn’t have to listen to this cliché line. If you’re such a genius, think up something original to say” Yuzu attacked.

“Big words for the girl with only 100 life points left when I still have 4000. I set one card and end my turn.” The Doktor gloated.

Yuzu grimaced as she noticed that her arms and legs were red, but luckily they weren’t bleeding. She realized that she couldn’t go looking for action cards but with Parasite Empress’ effect they weren’t very useful anyway.

“It’s my turn draw!” Yuzu yelled as she did a small motion to draw her card, she smiled when she had drew the card that she needed. “I activate Valhalla, Hall of the Fallen from my hand. Valhalla’s effect activates, if I don’t have a monster on my field, I can special summon a Fairy-Type monster from my hand. I special summon Symphony the Melodious Diva(level 4 Attack: 1500 Defense: 1400). And I activate her effect, when she has been special summoned, I can special summon another Symphony from my deck but I can only use this effect once per turn! I special summon her in defense!” Yuzu said as she looked to Ruri. “Ready?” She smirked.

“Let’s show this monster what Ray is made of!” Ruri responded which Yuzu smiled in response to.

“I overlay my two level four Symphonies” Yuzu said as she pushed forward with her left arm causing her signature bracelet with two pink gems on the opposite side to flail around.

“Plentiful birds sing your melodies to defy winter’s cold grasp!” Ruri yelled.

“Let your voices combine into a song that can never be silenced!” Yuzu continued.

“Xyz Summon Rank 4, Bloom Passeri the Melodious Choir! (Attack: 2000 Defense: 1000)” Yuzu and Ruri said in unison as another bracelet with feather styled metal surrounded a yellow gem formed on Yuzu’s left arm.

As Yuzu and Ruri yelled, a yellow colored woman came out from the overlay network with white bird wings that extruded from her back as two golden orbs circled around her causing the Doktor to look in shock.

“You summoned a Xyz monster?!!!” The Doktor nearly yelled.

“Did you think I couldn’t?” Yuzu taunted.

“Yes. Unless, you did fuse with your Xyz Counterpart!!!!” The Doktor yelled in excitement. “Just think of the possibilities!!!”

Yuzu looked in disgust and felt rage starting to build in her heart.

“I activate Bloom Passeri’s effect. By sending an overlay unit to the graveyard, I can negate the effect of one my opponent’s monsters and turn its attack to zero till the end of the turn. I choose Parasite Empress. Vibration Disruption!” Yuzu yelled as her monster’s song covered the monstrous bug.

“My Empress!” The Doktor yelled.

“Blood Passeri attack and destroy that eyesore! Melody Destruction!” Yuzu and Ruri yelled.

“Not so fast! I activate my continuous trap card. Parasite guard! By sending one of my Parasite Fusioners to the graveyard, I can negate the destruction of one of my monsters this turn. I choose the Empress! Too BAD! You three will always be in the palm of my genius!’ The Doktor mocked.

“You still take 2000 points of damage” Yuzu countered with a smile.

As one of the parasites on the Empress’ body disappeared into light, the razor sharp winds hit Empress, knocking the Doktor off his feet as his life points dropped to 2000.

“I then set a card face down and end our turn. At this point your Empress regains her attack and effect.” Yuzu responded.

The Doktor struggled to pick himself up and then yelled, “My turn!” as he drew his card and his face again twisted into a smile. “I activate Mystical Space Typhoon and destroy your face down. And then Empress destroy her monster and the rest of her life points” he yelled.

Yuzu covered her face as the wind from his card destroyed her face down card. As Empress fired bile at Bloom Passeri, the monster’s wings covered her body and then suddenly the wing opened up, repelling the bile back on Empress’ face causing the Doktor’s smile to crumble as Yuzu’s showed a big smile on hers.

“When the card you destroyed, Grave Defense, is sent to the graveyard when on field, I can remove from play that card and one of my monsters in my graveyard and then choose one monster you control. The targeted monster loses Attack Points of the monster removed. I removed Elegy who had 2000 attack. So Empress’ attack drops from 3600 to 1600!” Yuzu explained as the Doktor’s face started to panic.

He clenched his teeth and yelled, “Parasite Guard’s effect activates again! I send another parasite to the graveyard and protect my Empress” As he said this, another parasite disappeared into light, dropping Empress’s attack from 1600 to 1300. He strained as Bloom Passeri’s counterattack dropped his life points to 1300. He then yelled with annoyance in his voice, “Empress’ effect. When a Parasite Fusioner is sent to the graveyard, I can choose one monster on the field and destroy it. I choose that annoying Bloom Passeri.”

After saying that Empress jumped back to life and fired more bile at Bloom Passeri. Once the bile hit Passeri, it exploded then dissolved into light.

“Bloom Passeri” Yuzu yelled as she braced from the explosion while the yellow gem bracelet disappeared as she felt her jaw clench.

“I then set one card face down and end my turn.” The Doktor yelled, obviously annoyed.

“It’s our turn!” Yuzu yelled as she drew and then smiled when she saw the card she drew. “I activate Valhall’s effect again as I don’t have any monsters on my field. I summon the tuner monster, Requiem the Melodious Diva(Level 3, Attack: 1000 Defense: 400). Because I special summoned her, I activate her effect. I can special summon a level four or lower Melodious monster from my graveyard. I choose the level four Symphony the Melodious Diva. And because I special summoned her, I can special summon another Symphony in from my deck in defense mode.” Yuzu said as she looked to Rin.

“What are you waiting for? A round of applause?” Rin joked as Yuzu felt her jaw start to relax.

“I tune my level four Symphony with my level three Requiem!” Yuzu yelled as she raised her left arm in the sky.

“Mighty winds circle the world as the sky’s cries become a song!” Rin cried.

“The world chills for those that dare harm it as the song roars!” Yuzu continued.

“Synchro Summon Level 7 Bloom Boreas the Melodious Choir(Attack: 2500 Defense: 1900)” Yuzu and Rin roared together as a bracelet with a green gem that had wind decoration surround the gem appear on Yuzu’s left arm.

As Yuzu and Rin yelled a green color woman appeared with metallic legs and arms.

“Synchro too. So you did fuse with all your counterparts like he did.” The Doktor calmly said.

“He?” Yuzu wondered as her counterparts looked uncomfortable.

Yuzu then refocused on her duel and focused the face down card on the Doktor’s field. Due to his Parasite Guard trap, Empress would survive one more turn and even if she got rid of the last of the parasites, it would just destroy her Bloom Boreas. While she would enjoy not having to see anymore parasites. That face down card was too dangerous to ignore especially with her low life points

Yuzu clench her teeth and said, “I set one card face down and end our turn.” Which caused Ruri and Rin to nod their heads in agreement.

The Doktor started to smile again which caused all of Ray to frown. “Look likes no matter how big you talk, you still fear my genius!!!” The Doktor again taunted as he drew causing Yuzu to nearly explode in rage. “Empress attack Bloom Boreas!”

As the Doktor yelled Empress fired a stream of bile as it neared Bloom Boreas Yuzu and Rin yelled, “Bloom Boreas’s effect activates once during either player’s battle phrase, I can remove a monster from my graveyard and add its attack to one of my monster attack. I remove one of my Symphony’s and add her attack to Bloom Boreas raising her 2500 attack to 4000.”

The Doktor only smiled in response, “Reveal face down card! Spirit Barrier! Now as long as I have a monster I take no battle damage. And you know what happens next�� After he said this, Bloom Boreas blocked the stream of bile and then raced towards Empress as a sonic boom started to form in front of it. The Empress screamed in pain as Boreas passed through it. “Parasite Guard’s effect, I sent my last parasite to protect my Empress. Empress’s effect now activates, I destroy Bloom Boreas!” He said as his face started twist into insane laughter. “See while you might have tricked me, you can’t outsmart my genius. Accept the honor that I want you four as my test subjects. I set one more card face down.” Doktor laughed as Yuzu’s monster exploded and the bracelet with the green gem disappeared again.

Yuzu could feel her teeth grind together as she not heard the Doktor’s laughter but continued to see that damn parasite. But just as she was about to draw she again heard a voice that shocked her, her own voice.

“Smile, -----“ her voice rang, causing Yuzu to widen her eyes. “You Show Duel School’s a Duel School for cheerfulness and entertainment right? Don’t forget to smile.”

As Yuzu heard her voice, she realized she was recalling one of her memories. “Smile” the same voice that called for her in the gem filled area said. “Guess you’re right. Cheerful and entertaining is my motto after all.” The voiced said in a calm and soft voice that soothed the rage in her heart.

“Yuzu, you there?” Serena asked bring Yuzu back to the duel as she saw Serena, Ruri and Rin worryingly at her.

“Yeah …. Just I finally regained some of my memories.” Yuzu answered which caused all three to look in shock. “I just realized I was being a bit of a hypocrite earlier but I’m fine now.” She said with a smile which only confused the three of them as she placed her right pointer and middle fingers on top of her deck. “Because the fun is just getting started!” Yuzu smiled, shocking her counterparts even more.

“I activate Choir Switch out! I discard a Melodious monster in my hand and I can special summon another Melodious monster in my deck as long as the level is lower than the monster I discard. I discard Bloom Mozarta the Melodious Maesrta a level 8 monster to special summon the level 4 Soprano the Melodious Songstress. I activate her special effect, I can fusion summon with using any monsters that I control. I fuse Soprano and my remaining Symphony.” Yuzu said as she looked to Serena.

Serena shook off her shock and said, ”Lets get rid of that eyesore shall we?” to which Yuzu happily nodded her head.

“Beasts hiding in the moon’s light, roar as you claim your domain!” Serena started.

“Let these roars mix to create music which strikes fear in the hearts of evil!” Yuzu continued.

“Fusion summon Level 9 Bloom Liger the Melodious Choir (Attack: 3000 Defense: 2600)” Yuzu and Serena yelled together. Yuzu then intertwined her fingers as her hands clapped together as a bracelet with a huge blue gem appeared on her left arm.

As Yuzu and Serena ordered, a red colored woman appeared with fangs as she held two short swords as she wore armor.

“Bloom Liger’s special effect! When she’s fusion summoned, I choose one card from my deck and add it to my hand. Now Bloom Liger’s second effect activates, she gains attack points for each monster card in my graveyard times 100. There are 6, so Bloom Liger’s attack rises to 3600 attack.” Yuzu yelled as she readied her attack.

“Go Bloom Liger destroy that bug with Resounding Roar!” as Yuzu and Serena commanded their monster, Bloom Liger gave a mighty roar that hit Parasite Empress finally destroying the monster. “Now Liger’s final effect activates! After I’ve destroyed one of your monsters in battle, I can destroy all your spell and trap cards!” Yuzu commanded as her monster glowed a bright green.

“I activate my face down card. Spell protection. I can choose one card and it can’t be destroyed by card effects this turn. I choose Spirit Barrier!” The Doktor yelled as a protective bubble appeared around Spirit Barrier.

“And now I’ll show my genius!” The Doktor yelled. “I activate Parasite Guard’s second effect. By removing this card from my graveyard. I can special summon a Fusion Monster that lists Parasite Fusioner as fusion material and then destroy one of your monsters!” The Doktor yelled as Bloom Liger exploded pushing Yuzu off her feet as the bracelet with a blue gem disappeared. “Also due to Parasite Empress’ effect I attach my three Parasite Fusioners in the graveyard to her again. Her attack rises to 3900 once more. After all that using all three summoning methods, in the end we’re back to where we started again!!! And it’s all my turn next” The Doktor giggled.

“I end our turn then.” Yuzu said with a smile as she got up which caused the Doktor to giggle more.

“You finally realize the honor of being my test subject!!!!” The Doktor yelled as he drew his card. “Empress end this duel, it’s time to continue my work!”

As Yuzu heard his order she started jumping for action cards, shocking the Doktor. As the Doktor looked in shock, she continued to jump around the platforms the field magic created as her limbs started t ached from Parasite Empress earlier direct attack. She felt like her joints were breaking as red hot pain seared her senses. She ignored it and kept moving towards her target. As she continued to search, the image of a boy whose face she couldn’t remember appeared in her mind. While she couldn’t remember the details, she could remember how he continually faced pain and torment but kept a smile on his face. She could see how every day hurt him but he never gave up. As the silhouette of that boy was burned in her mind she only thought, “he suffered for years but kept going. He was beaten, mocked and even tortured so I can’t give up because of a little pain. I can’t give up, not now or ever.” As the image of that boy continued to give her strength, she finally found an action card and saw it was the exact one she was looking for. She then slide the card in her duel disk and yelled, “Evasion! I negate the attack!”

“Idiot, did you forget? I can negate spells or traps when Empress attacks. I negate your action card!” The Doktor screamed as his face twisted into a sadistic smile as he hoped to see the despair on her face. To his shock, Yuzu’s face instead showed a smile filed with hope.

“I activate Score the Melodious Diva’s special effect by discard her, I can banish two spell cards with the same name and that becomes her effect. So I banish my two Evasions and I negate your attack!” Yuzu countered which shocked the Doktor.

Yuzu then landed and saw her counterparts smiling at her and the Doktor running his hands through his thinning hair.

“Why, WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!!!” Why won’t you give up?!” The Doktor yelled.

Yuzu smiled as she let Ruri take control. “I don’t expect you to understand but we’re face much worse odds than to let the likes of a fool who can’t spend more than five minutes without stroking his ego break our will.” Ruri angrily replied before letting Rin take control.

“In the end, your greatest achievement is adding to Real Solid Vision that the Professor perfected. And your genius is using our skills and strength to beat our friends and family. In this duel, Yuzu was always ahead of you despite the difference of 3900 life points at the start.” Rin added before she let Serena take control.

“No matter what you do, no matter what you say, we can’t lose to a middle aged coward who uses teenage girls do his dirty work. You say you’re a genius but you’re just a sad old man with a bug obsession.” Serena finished before returning control to Yuzu.

“Shut UP. SHUT UP. You will realize my genius. EVERYONE WILL.” The Doktor yelled.

“End your turn! You have no cards to play. It’s time to end this.” Yuzu commanded.

“It doesn’t matter, you can’t win. You only have one card in your hand and one facedown card. I’ll win my next turn, I end my turn.” The Doktor arrogantly said.

Yuzu smiled and said, “Don’t underestimate us”

“It’s our turn!” Yuzu, Serena, Ruri and Rin yelled together as Yuzu drew.

“I activate the spell card, Melodious Calling. I can choose two Melodious Pendulum monsters from my deck and add them to my hand as long as they have different names. I choose my Do the Melodious Diva and Ti the Melodious Diva. And I set my Scale one Do and my scale 10 Ti in my Pendulum scales.”

“Even so how can you beat my 3900 Attack Parasite Empress?” The Doktor laughed.

“With this. I activate my facedown card Pendulum rebirth! By halving my life points I can Pendulum summon Pendulum Monsters in my graveyard as long as its level is in between my scales. I revive Bloom Mozarta the Melodious Maesrta (Level 8 Attack 2800 Defense: 2200).” Yuzu commanded as her life points dropped to 50 as the pink gems on her bracelet sparkled.

“Bloom Mozarta’s special effect activates, when she’s been special summoned I can special summon a level 6 or lower Melodious monster from my graveyard. I special summon Aria (Attack: 1600 Defense: 1200).”

“What can those two weaklings do compared to my Masterpiece?” The Doktor yelled.

Yuzu only smiled in response which caused the Doktor to worry despite his arrogance. “I activate Bloom Passeri’s second effect. I removed this card in my graveyard from play and then I can choose one Melodious monster in my graveyard and give it’s effect to one monster on my field till the end of the turn. I choose Bloom Boreas and give it to my Bloom Mozarta and activate Mozarta’s new effect, I remove Canon and add her 1400 attack to my Mozarta’s 2800 attack to a full 4200 attack.” Yuzu calmly stated which caused the Doktor to sweat.

“IMPOSSIBLE. HOW COULD YOU. HOW WAS IT. WHO ARE YOU!!!!” The Doktor yelled with every fiber of his being as he realized that Aria had enough attack points to end the duel.

“We’re Ray.” Yuzu answered.

“Battle, Mozarta destroy Empress once and for all. Final Encore!!!!” Yuzu ordered as Mozarta took in a huge breathe and sang but no sound came out. But to the Doktor’s horror, he saw his Empress start to crumble causing him to whimper.

“Finally Aria take out the rest of his life points!” All of Ray ordered. Aria then gave a huge scream as an invisible stream of air hit the old man, knocking him out as his life points dropped to 0.

“Yes!” All of Ray cheered before Yuzu let her exhaustion and pain take over and let gravity work its magic as she sat on the ground.

“You did it, Yuzu” Serena congratulated with a big smile on her face.

Yuzu shaked her head and stated, “We did it. I only won because the four of us combined our powers. I got my pendulum cards with Bloom Liger’s effect. And then I used Bloom Passeri’s effect to use Bloom Boreas’ effect to finally destroy that bug. It was because of all of our power that we won.”

Serena, Ruri and Rin smiled in response before Rin asked, “Hey Yuzu about that phrase you said?”

“Phrase?” Yuzu wondered.

“The fun is just getting started. Where did you hear that?” Ruri asked worried.

Yuzu just smiled and said, “I have no idea. I just feel like someone I knew said it a lot.”

“Yuzu how much of your memories did you regain?” Serena asked trying to not let her worries show.

“Not much sadly. Just some scattered memories of You Show.” Yuzu said which caused the three of them to relax a bit. “But I do remember this boy though.” Yuzu added which scared the three of them. “I can’t remember his face or even his name. But just thinking of him, I just feel safe and happy” Yuzu said as she touched her chest which caused the three of them to look miserable. “I think he was a You Show student in Standard but the only students excluding myself are Tatsuya, Ayu, Futoshi and Sora and in my memory I saw all of them at his side as he dueled someone. But in the two months after You Show was destroyed, I didn’t see him at all.” Yuzu pondered.

The three of them started to panic but before any of them could say anything they could hear a cheerful voice yell, “Yuzu!!!” All four turned and saw four huge monsters in the sky as the Lancers came flying back. After the Lancers reached where Yuzu was sitting, Yoko jumped off Sky Magician and gave Yuzu a bit hug which Yuzu gave a small smile in response too.

“Yuzu are you ok? We didn’t realize we left you with that. Till after Zarc disappeared.” Yoko said as she pointed to the knocked out Doktor.

“Disappeared?” Yuzu asked while still being hugged by Yoko.

“Yeah after fighting with us for half an hour, he transformed back into his human self. As we looked in confusion, he escaped.” Asuka said as she punched her open hand.

“Instead of Phantom King, we should rename coward king for all the times he’s been running away. I’m sure Sawatari and Crow would enjoy that.” Sora said as he licked one of his trademark lollipops.

“I would ask how did you do but I think that tells us everything we need to know.” Yusho smiled as he looked to the Doktor’s knocked out form.

“Good job, Missy! As I expected from the girl that beat me.” Chojiro said as pride filled his voice.

“So all Zarc did try to take that out?” Yuzu said once Yoko finally stopped hugging her.

“No. When me and Sora arrived someone already had escaped.” Asuka corrected.

“What?” Serena asked.

“Do we know who it was?” Yusho asked.

“We can always find out.” Asuka answered.

“So that means Zarc did free someone from the Academia.” Chojiro said as the Lancers started to grimace in response to his words.

Yuzu decided to ask the question in her mind hoping to change the mood.

“Ah Mrs. Sakaki, Sora can I ask a question?”

“No problem.” Sora instantly asked

“You really don’t have to ask.” Yoko happily answered.

“In the You Show in Standard, the original. What happened to a student that liked to say ‘The Fun is just getting started.’?” Yuzu asked.

Once Yuzu asked the question, everything went silent as Yusho, Yoko, Chojiro and Sora started to frown while Asuka looked away.

“What?” Yuzu asked seeing how her question depressed them.

“He ….. he was a student that really enjoyed the Entertainment philosophy of You Show” Sora quietly said.

“So what happened to him then?” Yuzu asked as she could feel their anguish.

“He … he” Yoko started.

“he quit.” Sora forced himself to say.

“Quit? But I remember that he would never give up” Yuzu thought. But as Yuzu looked at everyone’s faces, she realized that something was wrong. If that boy was just a student, why would Mr. Tokumatsu, who had never been to You Show, look in anguish. Yuzu realized that her questions were causing everyone pain, but for some reason she couldn’t stop. Somewhere deep inside of her heart, she knew that she was close to that boy and that knowledge spurned her to keep asking.

“What was his name?” As Yuzu asked this question, Yusho and Yoko looked at each other in pain

“Yugi. He always liked games so his parents named him that.” Yusho said in a big laugh that sounded like he really wanted to cry.

Realized that they were never going to tell her about that boy, Yuzu decided to drop it for now. But even so she wondered what about the boy was so special that the Lancers would lie to her about it. And why did she dream about his voice last night?

Zarc again dragged his feet inside his base in agony as everything hurt. “Me damn Lancers. You’d think if someone turned into a freaking dragon, you stay away from him. But no they had to keep on chasing me for half an hour” He whined as he sat down on the softest chair in the base.

“Rough day?” A voice asked.

“Yep. Hey I know that Barrett got away but did the Doktor come here?” Zarc asked.

“Only Barrett.” The voice responded which caused Zarc to facepalm.

“I gave him half an hour and what did that idiot do?! Oh me, he dueled Ray didn’t he?” Zarc pondered.

“But I thought we were going to combine his parasites with my androids to create an invincible army? What are we going to do now that you messed up?!” the Voice yelled.

Zarc turned his head as he glared at the owner of the voice, “I did say that weren’t partners. But at the same time.” Zarc then turned into Yuri, causing the owner of the voice to flinch. “That doesn’t mean you’re my superior or even equal, Roger.”

Roger snarled at being disrespected, “But a major part of the plan included the Doktor’s technology.”

“We just continue on without him.” Zarc calmly said.

“How?” Roger asked which caused Zarc to smile.

“Well, I think I had enough of only letting the Lancers know of my return. So let show the dimensions that I’m back with a bang!” Zarc said with a smile.

“How?” Roget asked looking puzzled.

“With the murder of Jack Atlas.” Zarc said with a smile.

#this took a while #the duel writing was hell #manga AU #It's my turn #skittymon #hopefully this is good #also I edited chapter 1 a bit #added one more line for Reiji

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occupyscifi · 7 years ago

Text

The Distracter in chief

The day the UN criminal court accused three fossil fuel companies of crimes against humanity for causing irreversible global warming the President of the United States was caught on camera pissing on a tramp in Times Square.

“lots of haters and losers posting fake content” tweeted the president later that day “but I’m above that lying fake news liberal media. So sad to lie to boost their sagging ratings”

His argument was let down by two things, the first that he had tweeted from downtown New York, mere streets from where the incident took place. The other being that the figure in the video had turned to the camera and said “I’m the President of the fucking USA and I endorse this message”.

“video faked” the President later tweeted “beautiful what computers can do. Losers in Hollywood can’t take me because I’m too real”

However not everyone was talking about the president’s innovative new solution for the problem of homelessness.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence?” Said Butterfield Jones, lead guerrilla reporter for the undercover paramilitary wing of CNN “I mean the very day that the UN brings its case against ExxonMobil, the Koch brothers and Rosneft for climate genocide. The same fossil fuel companies our president has been championing since he took office, and the same climate change that he’s denied since day one. Doesn’t it strike you as odd on this of all days he decides to take a leak on a homeless guy?”

“err, no” said her editor, arching an impressively thick eyebrow. Unibrows were in this season, along with moustaches for women, though the editor preferred the whispy look of one drawn on in mascara. The two journalists were sitting in a downtown branch of Mcvegans, chosen not because of its right on politics – the name change had come about since a combination of antibiotic resistant diseases and spiralling meat prices had made it impossible to make a profit from animal burgers – but because of its ultra secure WIFI. The editor pointed to a wall where a news feed had been projected, a hashcloud of tweets and mood colours showing the President’s incredulous expression surrounded by his favourite adjectives, ones that frequently had little or no connection to real words, or reality itself “you really think the commander in chief deliberately leaked that footage?” Jones winced slightly at the pun, she had spent too many years sub editing to not have pun based PTSD “that seems pretty unlikely, because it’s something that would sink pretty much every politician if a video of them pissing on a tramp got out…”

“but not this president” countered Jones, tapping at a foldout keyboard in thick primary colours. Since the great cyber paedo scare three years earlier the safest encryption to be found on any device was always on kids networked toys. The fallout from the scandal which had engulfed Mattel and Hasbro had brought in the sort of digital protection that Apple and other Silicon Valley privacy crusaders could only dream of. That terrorists and rogue reporters like Jones had instantly bought up the new ultra safe devices had gone largely unnoticed. That today’s terrorists largely communicated via networked Furbies had been revealed by numerous news outlet but had largely been assumed as simply fake news “he’s being pulling shit like this since day one. look” said Jones, linking the editor’s digital glasses into what she herself was seeing. Two timelines scrolling side by side. One showed a chronological line of the president’s, gaffes, accidental wars, support for fascistic ideas, pointless crusades against imaginary ills and character assassinations against everyone up to and including God himself. The other showed a ticker tape of seemingly unrelated bad news events and political scandals. The admission several years earlier by ExxonMobil that they had spent millions climate change proofing their organisations while denying that climate change even happened. The selling off of all US national parks to a consortium of Russian oligarchs. The announcement that most of the American Midwest had a lower quality of life than most of east Africa. The time that the Chinese had bailed out the US’s national debt in return for total control of the south China sea. The toxic spill that had rendered much of Louisiana inhabitable.

"I don’t remember that happening” said the editor, looking at the date “but, wait, was that was that the day the president gave that nazi salute on live TV?”

"yup” said Jones, bringing up the footage on her Mattel “Which he dismissed as being a high five gone wrong. So you missed the fact that the US now has more internal refugees than Syria. But the fact was that the President’s tiny hands heil was just another piece of nazi trolling, which I believe he does pretty much every day. The only difference this time was that a live TV camera happened to be on him at the time. Which I cannot believe was just a coincidence, what with his handlers now being pretty much experts in the art of not letting the man walk around with his dick hanging out of his pants – you know, after that time he actually did get caught with his dick out. I think someone is leaking these things deliberately, and I think they are doing it to distract us from the worse things that are happening”

“I don’t think the president’s that smart” said the editor “and I don’t really see what can be worse than a president who tried to start a war with every country he doesn’t like and publicly suggests that the far right aren’t really bad guys after all. I mean, I genuinely can’t think of anything horrible, mean or stupid he hasn’t already”

“Exactly” said Jones “he fucks up so often and does such stupid outrageous stuff that always dominates the news cycle. His people just have to time their announcements for when the president drops a shit bomb. No one has the time to be outraged by two things at once. Like no one can be upset about the EPA being shut down or Murdoch being put in charge of the FCC the same week that the President tries to make Steve Bannon a supreme court judge. Fact was the Judge Bannon storm never came to anything. Like everything the president does. Nothing actually happens. Sure he keeps threatening war, like he keeps threatening to build that wall with Mexico. It never actually happens. Its all just clickbait for angry liberals”

"Oh come on" said the editor "You expect me to believe every time the president gets caught doing horrible shit its really done to cover all the really, really horrible shit that goes down? You sound like a conspiracy nut" the editor tapped at her own toy keyboard, the Mattel logo subtly changed to spell the words 'My Hell'. "Look, here they are. A bunch of the Presidents own Nazi Douche bros. Let me read you the highlights" she gained sickly. Dealing with the many openly Nazi online supported of the president was an occupational hazard. The fact that in real life both jones and the editor could have taken out the basement dwelling Third Reichers with one hand tied behind their back didn't matter. The mini blackshirts lived online in an age where everything going was networked. The doxx and the leak had replaced the jackboot and the castor oil in the armoury of fascism. That they were also openly supported by the president and, and indeed had their own federally funded ‘Department of Patriotism and Correct Reporting’ also helped.

"The Femininazi liberals have struck again, their fake news making headlines in the failing Jew York times. Is it a coincidence that George Soros and the Washington Post editorial team were seen at the same function on Saturday? Where they selling out the proud American race? What other conclusion could we come to? So sad that they can't see that they'll be the first in the gas chambers, because that how we deal with traitors to the white race"

"Get to the point" said Jones weary. She knew that most of these screeds were written automatically by a software bot that reacted to real time world events with a set of stock phrases. Both Isis and Fox News used the same, meaning they could claim responsibility for every single terror incident in the world – or denounce muslims - even if they were entirely fictional.

"studies show that there is a correlation between Liberal mothers and boys becoming gay. Coincidence? This cannot be allowed to continue. The little snowflakes need to realise that a real man can stand up for himself' then it's just the usual bunch of rape threats. What I'm saying is you’re paranoid girl. There is now way our bloated POTUS has the smarts to manufacture a crisis every time one of his billionaire plutocrat buddies causes an even bigger one. Besides, I think the media and people in general are smart enough to know when they're being played. We’re pretty savvy these days"

"You sure about that?" said Jones, gesturing at the other dinners in the Mcvegan restaurant. As most didn't have the kiddie encryption of the two journalists everything going they were looking at was easily available to the snooping software that both women had on their digital glasses.

"Look at them" said Jones " Those who aren't streaming AR HBO porn are writing angry tweets against our C in C"

"Good for them" said the editor "The first sign of a healthy democracy is an engaged citizenry. Our job as journalists is first the fight against apathy. Because the true enemy of our way of life is not the jackboot or the swastika but the indifference of our..."

"Spare me" said Jones, who had heard that speech too many times during her internship with numerous liberal crusading organisations "have you noticed what they are actually tweeting about?" She pointed around the room "that guy there is memeing some Dawson’s Creek pics with Pres piss references. That girl with the Amish beard is writing a protest musical about the president"

"Sounds good" said the editor "art and politics are..."

"About the president only. His seismic xenophobia, his comically small hands and his incredibly thin skin. Any mention of how we lost the trade war with China? Or how Russia now owns eastern Europe? Or that Roe versus Wade got suspended last week by the Supreme court? You know, the week that Trump organised his second crusade against imaginary electoral fraud by the alt left – whoever the fuck they are meant to be" Jones clenched her fists "no, course not. Because people like to be outraged by what someone says, rather than what they actually do. Because we aren’t just being gaslighted anymore, we’re being distracted by shiny things that make us angry while someone walks away with America. So instead of a woman’s right to choose we’ve got a musical number about how the President got confused about North and South Korea and sent a bunch of weapons to the last communist state on earth"

"That was a major news event..."

"Sending a couple of cruise missiles to a country so poor they can't eat and so isolated that their literacy rate is under fifty percent doesn't really change much" said Jones "and besides, I don't know if it actually happened. Pentagon said it didn’t. Most experts can’t find any evidence that it did. There was just an anonymous leak to Buzzfeed"

"Who believes the pentagon these days?" said the editor "they were covering their asses. Besides it's just the sort of stupid shit the president does, ever since he punched that disabled woman at his second term inauguration"

"Exactly" said Jones "With this guy in charge people will believe literally anything because of who he is. I don't believe we're the first people to realise this. I think some important people are using the president to bury their bad news. He’s a distraction, a big old orange wizard of Oz. The real guy’s in charge are behind the curtain” she tapped the table in irritation “And I don't think he even knows about it"

"Sounds like a great story sweetie" said the editor patronisingly " but how are you ever going to get proof? I mean sure, tweet it but there's so much shit flying around I doubt anyone would notice. I don't know how you’re going to get anyone to listen"

"Simple" said Jones "I'm going to talk to the man himself. He’s so thin skinned and insecure he’d believe it straight away if I told him that people were trying to ruin his reputation on purpose. If there’s anything he takes seriously its himself"

“umm, how are you going to do that?” said the editor “he doesn’t do interviews. Not since that time he had to admit that he didn’t actually know who Winston Churchill was, and that he thought Thomas Jefferson wrote White Rabbit”

“Oh, that’s easy” said Jones “too easy, in fact”

It was depressingly simple to get access to the president. Not as a journalist of course, any found within three hundred metres of the president would be arrested as a traitor and sent straight to Guantanamo bay. But the president always found time for his fans, especially if they were sycophantic, female and could be ordered to anonymous hotels as easily as calling an uber.

Jones knew the presidents’ predilections, as did everyone after the leaked tape where he had explained in depth the kind of girl he enjoyed cheating on his wife with. And while going undercover as a whore was not easy it was something Jones had done several times before, not least because it was always the easiest way to secure an interview with a politician. Admittedly it did mean having to blackmail them, but since when had journalism not become a form of guerrilla war? After all since they had been designated the opposition party it made sense to use any means necessary.

Jones had then managed to hack the shortlist of the presidents preferred women, which had been secured by a machine inexplicably still running windows XP. Jones had raised an eyebrow, you would have thought after the nuclear codes had been stolen after being stored on a similar machine that the president would have learned his lesson. Now Jones had an inkling as to why, you never knew when you might need to leak a video of the President getting a girl to dress as the House Minority leader while fellating him.

However when Jones finally confronted the President, dressed this time as a Fox news anchor who’d once had the temerity to challenge him, the response she got was not what she had expected.

“Mr President” she had said from her knees, the all too familiar presidential dong hanging inches from her nose “I have some serious news for you”

“hey, not cool. Not part of the script” said the president, looking anxiously around. His security were stationed outside, the POTUS would have had them in the room with him but they had pointed out that went beyond their contracts and threatened to get their union involved.

“I have reason to believe the stream of leaks, allegations and intelligence reports embarrassing you are being used as part of an orchestrated campaign to hide a wider and more destructive agenda”

“no shit” said the president “the libtard media have got it in for me. Always. Not news. It’s not. Now come on, call me the best president ever. I wanna hear it. The best President…”

“not by them, Mr President” said Jones, pulling out a tablet and projecting on the wall her findings. The two timeline bulged with cross referenced facts and incontrovertible proof “I believe a cabal of special interests are using these…incidents to their own advantage. To bury their own bad news and their evil actions at your expense”

“uh huh” said the president, looking at the wall, his flaccid member still hanging from his ten thousand dollar suit. He put one hand on his hip and the other he used to point a stubby finger at the display. The two timelines that matched almost perfectly, for every gaffe and pointless vanity crusade there was a war or corruption scandal whose impact dwarfed whatever stupidity the President had been involved in “you got it all here. Everything. That’s so….”

“look, I know it’s not proof” said Jones quickly, pulling off the curly blonde wig and getting to her feet “but it’s pretty consistent. I mean right back to your first term every time there was something big that people should be discussing then someone releases some dirt on you – usually something ludicrous that gets debunked”

“Fake news. All fake news” said the president with a shrug, his eyes on the timelines “that’s neat. Real neat software you got there”

“you don’t seem concerned” said Jones, her face wrinkling “I mean, they’re ruining your reputation out there. To hide their own shit and corruption” jones looked at the President grinning inanely as he looked at the spike in online traffic after he had got the secret service to waterboard a schoolboy who had insulted him on Twitter “in fact” said jones “I’d say you don’t even look surprised. Did you know about this?”

“know about it?” said the President “oh, I didn’t just know about it. I arranged it. I made the fricking deal. Deal of the century. Every time they wanna use my name to hide a little scandal of theirs I make sure they pay. Pay big. I mean, I gotta make a buck, right? They don’t pay me much as President. I’m a businessman. A businessman. You know what that means right?”

“but your reputation” said Jones, jabbing a finger at the projection “doesn’t that bother you? I mean, you aren’t famous for taking the high road when it comes to how people see you”

“No. you see, the thing is. okay” the president held up his right hand, thumb and forefinger pressed together “one thing, half that shit is made up. It’s made up. Total bullshit. Liberals hate me, they want to believe anything and everything bad against me. Why not make them hate me even more? Gets me off to see how much they hate me. I love it. And the people that support me, they don’t believe it. In fact the more shit gets thrown at me the less they believe. Its scandal fatigue. Scandal fatigue. People get tired of hearing the same thing. I mean, sure, the first time they said I fucked hookers there was outrage. Total outage. Now, no one cares. Besides you gotta remember what really matters. Me. And they keep talking about me. No one cares about what all the whores say. I’m still the big guy on the evening news”

“but you do fuck hookers!” cried Jones “and everyone knows it. But that doesn’t make it right. You’re meant to be president. That carries with it a certain standard. You think it doesn’t disgust people that you do this?”

“hey, I told everyone on the campaign trail that I could shoot a person in Times Square and not lose votes. Everyone knew what they were buying then, right? So why not monetise that? The lying Liberal media was so obsessed with trashing me they couldn’t see the obvious. I played them. I’m the master player. They think they’re so clever. That they can win with their facts. Good businessman knows his enemies weakness. A good entertainer know what people wants. I’m an entertainer. I gave them what they wanted. They wanted to hate me so I gave them something to hate. Not my fault that they missed the real story. And they should thank me. If it wasn’t for me no one would read the New York Times or the Washington Post”

“so you arranged it all?” said Jones, somehow surprised that the president still had the capacity to disgust her “you deliberately leaked scandals just to get bribe money from your big business friends?” Jones clenched her fists and thought of the tiny hidden camera hidden in the skin of her forehead just under the hairline “you have any idea what will happen when I tell people this?”

“it’ll hide whatever I want to it to hide” said the President, grinning at his tumescent member “cause I’d be real careful when you leak it. I so much as get word this hits the headlines and I’m gonna deny it. Like always. And you’ll come back, calling me a liar. Like always. And I’ll trash you on twitter. Like always. And by the time the dust clears no one will remember that this was the same day I released my tax returns or I reveal what my family really owns in Russia – and lemme tell you it’s huge. Huge. I been doing this since before even my first day in office. And the media falls for it. Every time. Everyone does”

“but…” began jones, trying to think of a way to release the compromising footage that meant it couldn’t be used by the president to cover an even bigger scandal. Of a way to release the data that he couldn’t use to cause a social media spat that got people angry without actually having anything new to be angry about or doing anything to change things for the better. She could feel her eyes fill with tears and her hands clench uselessly.

“that’s right sweetheart” said the president, using his free hand to bring himself to climax “keep that expression. The one where you’re real disgusted and defeated at the same time. Love it”

“And he just turned around and walked out the hotel room?” said the editor. She was ubering in her spare time and had picked up the still shaking Jones from the hotel. A short ride around the city was turning into a very long one and only the editor’s infinite knowledge of hacks and workarounds kept that information from appearing on the vast tracking network of Uber “you didn’t try to nail him to anything else? Or, you know, nail him?”

“no” said Jones “I mean what could I do? It was obvious when he told me. We’ve been played by him. We thought he was the big evil bastard….”

“which he is”

“but he’s just the public face. The target. He’s nothing but a live action internet troll. He’s all words. It’s the people behind him that are the problem” she sighed deeply “but how the fuck do we bring them to light? Every time we try to get people’s attention then the president blasts in calling Zika victims a bunch of whining bitches, or the 911 widows a bunch of hotties. He’s totally outclassed us”

“and you say he’s been doing this since the beginning?”

“since his first day on the job. Everything he’s done as president has been to distract us from the real problems. The crusade against the voter fraud that never happened. The fucking wall with Mexico that they didn’t pay for but that we bought from them anyway because it was cheaper. Its like the accusation he likes watching whores pissing. It’s all been to stop us seeing the truth. And it’s just got bigger and bigger. It used just to be stupid shit he’d say, then it was stupid shit he’d do and now its fucking hookers practically in public and pissing on the homeless. Who knows where it goes next?”

“yeah” said the editor, looking distracted as she sped past a stranded Hummer 7, its front axle having snapped trying to go up on a kerb. Since the Russians had taken over Europe and China had taken over Asia the only cars on offer were American gas guzzlers with atrocious safety records “yeah, he is getting worse. Like he’s deliberately trying to troll the American people…” her voice trailed off for a moment “hey, have you checked the retweet figures of his bullshit?” she said “can we get figures as to how many people are talking about him?”

“I guess” said Jones “we can cross twitter data with hashclouds relating to the president. Find the keywords mentioning the President and we get a rough idea of how many people are talking about him”

“do it” said the editor “and see whether the numbers are going up or down”

“umm, I think that’s pretty obvious” said Jones “it’s getting worse, like everything. All people ever do is talk about the President and how shit he is”

“check it anyway. You might be surprised. I have a feeling, you know. not as many people talk about him as they used to. The law of diminishing returns and all that. After a while most people become numb, they become bored. I mean sure, we know a lot of people who get outraged, but this is New York and we hang out with people who live to be offended. I wanna know if America at large still gives a fuck about its shitty Commander in Chief”

“hmm” said jones, not really believing her editor. However she punched up the numbers for the last five years. Looked at them. Checked them again and rubbed her eyes “what the fuck? But I thought…” she asked “how did you know?”

“laws of supply and demand” said the editor “you gotta remember I’ve a masters in celebonomics from Yale. One of the first laws of celebonomics is that the more you expose yourself to the world the more you will need to keep exposing to maintain public interest – and by public interest I mean people actually giving a shit what you do, not whether they like you. Celebrities haven’t needed to be liked since the rise of reality TV. So you need to keep upping the exposure to keep yourself in the public eye, but it’s not physically possible to do that indefinitely. So what happens is you pass a critical point – the Kardashian point they call it – where media saturation is so great that you can be everywhere but no one will care any more. Your ubiquity is so total that people will literally cease to notice you. With the Kardashians they were so overexposed that it didn’t matter how many family members they roped in or much cosmetic surgery they had, or even that time Kim and Kourtney had that knife fight. People just stopped caring, and now they can’t even get arrested in LA” she shrugged “I did my thesis on the Kardashians. That’s where Trump is now. He hasn’t got any more capacity to shock, so people are getting bored and switching off. Give it another few years and they won’t give a fuck about him. He’ll be reduced to giving handjobs to his fans. Like Kanye west did”

“great” said Jones “but we don’t have a few years. In fact if you’re correct then he’s going to clock that people aren’t giving a fuck about him. Then he’ll do something really fucking crazy. Is there anything we can do to speed up the process?”

“there is” said the editor “but I don’t think you’re going to like it”

“what?”

“well, we’re gonna need that footage you shot. For starters. Then we’re going give the President what he wants more than anything else. More than money, more than power”

“what’s that?”

“Our undivided attention”

Six weeks later

The day the UN convicted two US oil companies for genocide the president got a call in his motorcade down the Washington Mall while an aide next to him astrotrufed his twitter ratings.

“Donald” said the Koch brother on the other end. The president could never remember which was which and it hardly mattered so long as one of them picked up the cheque. They were the major backers along with a cabal of silicon valley Caesars and Russian oligarchs that were funding him to hide their criminal activities with his own “you wanna explain why I see my face on the morning news?”

“impossible David” said the president, looking at an aide who nodded that He’d got the right one “impossible. Listen I heard about your little difficulty. So I tweeted a whole bunch of racist shit last night at 3 in the morning and then deleted it so I looked drunk. They’ll be so busy arguing about it they won’t notice what happened in New York…”

“so do you want to explain why the highest trending hashtag is kochbrothersfraud? And why I’m not only now facing federal charges relating to the little, um, difficulty at the UN but a PR meltdown? i thought Liberals didn’t have time to give a fuck about global warming because they were too busy getting pissed off at you”

“listen you don’t need to worry about the Feds. Not at all” said the President “My boys are out there explaining that this UN is all just fake news and the Chinese trying to take our jobs…”

“no, you don’t get it” said Koch “I don’t care about the Feds. We own them, because we own you. I care about the fact that we’re paying you roughly six percent of our annual profit to get your face on the news and currently you’re rated lower than the new series of the pornstar version of the Apprentice”

“hey, now that isn’t true. I’ll tell you. I’m a ratings winner. I’m number one famous. More famous than ever. I’ve been the focus of more news these last weeks than anyone else. A real spike in news traffic” he looked at his aides who nodded and showed tablets with figures all designed to soothe the president’s fragile ego. They had long realised that the president didn’t care whether people were loving or hating him so long as they were talking about him. According to all their estimates more people were talking about him than ever “I had a proper hitjob from some bitch at CNN underground. Then a whole twitter war with….”

“Mr President, I know you’re a fucking idiot so I’m going to explain this simply” said Koch over the phone “you’ve been played. All those news reports, those twitter wars. Someone has been Kardashioning you”

“what?” said the president “what have those losers got to do with this? No one’s cared about them in years. They used to be everywhere. Then people got bored. Old news”

“exactly” sad Koch “people are bored of you, Mr President. They’re bored of your little tricks. They aren’t outraged anymore. They don’t care about the dancing clown who says racist things and grabs ass. That’s bad for us. You need to fix this. Get people interested in you and yours so I don’t have them getting interested in me and mine”

“I could get Ivanka to do the Playboy centrefold from the west wing again. She’s had some work done. Real knock out…”

“it’s been done. No one cares about your daughter’s new tits” said Koch “find something new. Or else we find ourselves a new clown. You got it?”

With that the fossil fuel billionaire was gone and the president was left facing his aides. They waited for the inevitable explosion of self justification and round cursing of someone who had the audacity to oppose the Donald.

“okay” said the president, instead looking icily calm “its D-day. Those fake news CNN bitches think they can take me down. Well I got news for them. I’m gonna leak the biggie. The one that will get everyone talking. Get the liberals creaming their pants with rage and the deplorables creaming with joy”

“your tax returns?” said one female aide “are we sure they’re ready?”

“no, of course not” said Trump “no one’s ready for that” he pointed at another aide from his extended family “you…whatever your fucking name is. Leak the hotel footage from that reporter. Unedited. I wanna make sure they all get the money shot. i wanna see me coming in glorious HD. Then release a tweet that I’m going to have her locked up in Gitmo. Then issue a denial that it ever came from me. Then one doubling down on the first one” he looked out the window at the grey winter of Washington “this’ll get me back on top. This one can’t be stopped” he looked at the aide anxiously after a few seconds “is it ready?”

“footage leaked” said the aide, tapping at a tablet “sending a copy to the news outlets that do what we say- wikileaks and Fox news. Sending the denials now”

“beautiful” said the president as the limo moved through the cold streets “beautiful” he looked at the view, then the inside of the limo “any retweets yet?”

“negative Mr President”

“any news outlets leading on it?”

“umm, fox and friends are talking about it. Or they mentioned it. They didn’t seem interested. They moved on pretty quick to the Koch thing. Apparently there’s a lot of refugees down in Lousiana who can get compensation….”

The aide was silenced by a look.

“fake news” said the president “losers. No ratings. What are my retweets?”

“in the hundreds of thousands” said one aide cagily, his too honest face turning a bright shade of red.

“real tweets, or astroturfed by Russian bots?” asked the President huskily

“umm…” said the aide

“fucking losers” said the president. Five minutes passed in silence. Then ten “and now?” he growled. The aides looked at each other

“well, it might take some time, you know to….” Began one

“no. that doesn’t happen” the president shouted “I’m the fucking president. I don’t get ignored. I’m the star. The ratings winner. The star” he looked crazily about him. Then his eyes narrowed “you know, I said once I could shoot people in Times Square” the aides looked at each other

“sir, I don’t think that…”

“Thinking too small. Yeah I know” said the president “go big or go home. Well people it’s time to go big” he looked at an aide whose wrist was manacled to a briefcase “too big to be ignored”

“I can’t believe this is working” said Jones, looking at the ticker tape of news around Times Square. The burning heat of information, images and advertising bathed them and there was not a single mention of the President “we played him at his own game and won”

“told you” said the editor, toasting her with a nice Starbucks Methalatte “isn’t anyone who can stay famous once they hit the Kardashian point. It’s like the H-bomb of celebrity killers. you can’t fuck with the laws of nature. Celebonomics is a bitch, and the President was the biggest celeb around” Her words were drowned out by the sound of sirens suddenly blatting and the screens above them whiting out due to information overload “what the fuck is that?” she screamed

“well, you know you mentioned H-bombs…” began Jones, looking in her smart glasses with horror as missile silos across the nation started opening up “seems like maybe the President found a way to stay in the story after all”

#impeachtrump #climate change #maga

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eddycurrents · 6 years ago

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For the week of 22 April 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #9, like many issues before it, does its damnedest to break your mind. Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen continue to deliver one of the best horror stories every month that just seems to get stranger and more complex with each subsequent chapter. This issue yanks the rug out from under us.

| Published by AfterShock

Action Comics #1010 raises a million and one more questions as to what’s actually going on with Leviathan and whether some things are supposed to be clues or if Brian Michael Bendis is just changing continuity. Maybe a little of both. Stellar art from Steve Epting and Brad Anderson who continue to deliver a solid mood and atmosphere for this espionage-heavy story.

| Published by DC Comics

Amazing Spider-Man #20 changes the game a bit as Black Ant reveals more of what Kraven has planned. Wonderful art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, and Erick Arciniega.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #2 has some incredible artwork from Butch Guice as this action-packed thriller continues. Some interesting twists that ultimately are going to be crushing when they come to light.

| Published by IDW

Ascender #1 is pretty damn great. Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen, and Steve Wands kick-off this follow-up to Descender with what feels like a complete counterpoint to its hard science fiction. This delves deep into a universe taken over by magic and vampires, with technology either gone or kept under strict control. Even the art has shifted tone, from the dark inkiness from before to a greater reliance on white spaces here, to give it a different visual aesthetic.

| Published by Image

Avengers #18 is a single issue story, tying in to The War of the Realms, spotlighting Coulson’s new Squadron Supreme of America (it’s unclear as to whether these are new versions or existing ones being manipulated, but there’s shadowy shenanigans), from Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Justin Ponsor, and Cory Petit. Marvel’s Justice League analogue just got their Max Lord.

| Published by Marvel

Bad Luck Chuck #2 sees Chuck recount some of her cases and a bit of how her “powers” work, while forces around her conspire to bring her down. Nice character building from Lela Gwenn with some great artwork from Matthew Dow Smith and Kelly Fitzpatrick.

| Published by Dark Horse

Batgirl #34 begins “Terrible”, the three-part finale to Mairghread Scott, Paul Pelletier, Norm Rapmund, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design’s run on the title. Some nice detective work here as the Terrible Trio hatch a new plan.

| Published by DC Comics

Black Panther #11 builds off of last issue’s shock turn and the direct involvement of Bast as we get some answers about the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda and some of the machinations that are unfolding. The art from Kev Walker, Marc Deering, and Java Tartaglia continues to be a highlight.

| Published by Marvel

Coda #11 gears up for next issue’s finale as Murk unveils another stage in her plan and Hum does something incredibly stupid. This has been one of my favourite series over the past year and the build to the conclusion is wonderful. Absolutely phenomenal work from Si Spurrier, Matías Bergara, Michael Doig, and Jim Campbell.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Criminal #4 tells a haunting single issue story of a very messed up day in the life of Ricky Lawless. I love the mosaic that Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Jacob Phillips are crafting out of these different time periods, building something larger out of an already sprawling world.

| Published by Image

Dark Red #2 takes an interesting turn as Chip is given a pitch to become the face of a new American heartland vampire nation. Interesting to see how racism also extends through to vampires. Very entertaining stuff from Tim Seeley, Corin Howell, Mark Englert, and Marshall Dillon.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #1002 continues “Medieval” with some really great art from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn. There’s a weight and gravity to the art that elevate the story nicely. Also, it’s interesting to see an antagonist who thinks that he’s a hero above Batman, especially as he goes about trying to recruit Damian. It should be interesting to see who Arkham Knight is under the mask.

| Published by DC Comics

Dial H for Hero #2 is probably even better than the first issue, and the first issue was one of the most fun debuts I’ve read in a while. Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe capture a zany energy amidst the real, emotional drama that the kids are experiencing and it leads to some highly entertaining storytelling. Also, the art is phenomenal. Quinones is really stretching his artistic muscles, throwing in incredible different styles as the heroes emerge. This issue gives us pastiches of Dragonball Z and Gundam Wing and the transformation is amazing, the entire creative team perfectly capturing the style.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Doctor Strange #13 continues to force Galactus into the world of magic, delving further into some familiar faces from Strange’s past, in the second part of “Herald Supreme” from Mark Waid, Barry Kitson, Scott Koblish, Scott Hanna, Brian Reber, and Cory Petit.

| Published by Marvel

Fearscape #5 concludes what has been a highly ambitious, inventive series from Ryan O’Sullivan, Andrea Mutti, Vladimir Popov, and Andworld Design. Sadly, Henry Henry doesn’t get punched in the dick, repeatedly, but there are some tragic twists that change the landscape.

| Published by Vault

The Forgotten Queen #3 delivers more of Vexana’s history, revealing she’s responsible for Dracula in the Valiant universe, along with a few other twists. I’m really liking Amilcar Pinna and Ulises Arreola’s art here. The odd angles adding something unique to the feel of the story.

| Published by Valiant

Invisible Kingdom #2 sees G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano continue to build a richly developed, intriguing world essentially founded upon a bedrock of an Amazon analogue, both in support of and opposition to. Gorgeous artwork from Ward.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Justice League Dark #10 outlines the Lords of Order’s plans for the multiverse and magic and why they’re initiating an assault on all of the magic wielders. James Tynion IV is doing some rather impressive world-building and story seeding all throughout his work, but it really comes to a head in this series. Also, the art from Alvaro Martínez Bueno, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson continues to be impeccable.

| Published by DC Comics

KINO #15 begins a new arc, tackling some messy current events throughout Europe in a rather interesting fashion. Alex Paknadel, Diego Galindo, Valentina Pinto, and Jim Campbell did some amazing things reinterpreting KINO in the last arc, delivering an intriguing thriller, and that doesn’t seem to be letting up any with this new arc. The politics and the manipulation are at an all time high and this is something you really don’t want to miss.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

The Lollipop Kids #5 is the final battle between the kids and Morgan Le Fay and her army of monsters for all the lollipops. This has been an imaginative series from Adam Glass, Aidan Glass, Diego Yapur, DC Alonso, and Sal Cipriano with consistently some of the most beautiful art in comics. There’s a hint of what’s to come and I hope we see more of this story in the future.

| Published by AfterShock

Punk Mambo #1 is another great debut of a limited series for Valiant spotlighting one of their less used, but highly interesting characters from Cullen Bunn, Adam Gorham, José Villarrubia, and Dave Sharpe. The set up for supernatural intrigue delving into Voodoo belief is very entertaining, with some impressive artwork from Gorham and Villarrubia.

| Published by Valiant

Queen of Bad Dreams #1 is another highly imaginative, impressive debut for Vault. This time spotlighting a world where dreams can jump from the mind of the dreamer into the real world. Danny Lore, Jordi Pérez, Dearbhla Kelly, and Kim McLean offer up some interesting, fleshed-out characters in Daher and Viv, that elevate this from just a unique take on a police procedural to greater interpersonal drama. Also, a mystery that’s going to hook you immediately.

| Published by Vault

Spawn #296 features some absolutely stunning artwork from Jason Shawn Alexander, FCO Plascencia, and Greg Menzie for this first part of “History of Spawn” as the march to the 300th issue gets closer and the stakes get raised as the powers that loom through Spawn’s life gather to try to put an end to him.

| Published by Image

Star Trek: Year Five #1 to me feels like it has perfectly captured the spirit of the original series, delving deep into Star Trek lore and pulling forth a captivating story that showcases a lot of what made the television show great. Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Stephen Thompson, Charlie Kirchoff, and Neil Uyetake are off to a great start.

| Published by IDW

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #1, like Tie Fighter from last week, is a tie-in to some of the new stuff in the broader Star Wars universe with some new characters and locations. In this case it ties in to the new attraction opening at the Disney theme parks. This first issue introduces us to the seedy underbelly of the world shortly before The Force Awakens, from Ethan Sacks, Will Sliney, Dono Sánchez-Almara, Protobunker, and Travis Lanham, weaving in an entertaining flashback with the familiar faces of Han Solo and Chewbacca.

| Published by Marvel

Stone Star #2 is as impressive as the debut issue, developing a couple more complex characters and spinning forth a political situation that makes the arena world of the Stone Star itself a bit more suspect. Jim Zub, Max Dunbar, Espen Grundetjern, and Marshall Dillon are telling a tale here that really shouldn’t be missed.

| Published by Swords & Sassery

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93 is part one of “City at War” from Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz, Dave Wachter, Ronda Pattison, and Shawn Lee. It’s mostly a gathering storm as the forces prepare for the oncoming onslaught, with an absolutely harrowing spark to kick off the conflict.

| Published by IDW

Thanos #1 begins a new mini from Tini Howard, Ariel Olivetti, Antonio Fabela, and Joe Caramagna that offers up a look at the formative years of Thanos raising Gamora, along with other bits of early history. This first issue paints a rather intriguing picture of Thanos as a deranged serial killer, building his own Winchester House out of his space station, which certainly is a different take.

| Published by Marvel

Wizard Beach #5 brings an end to this fun series from Shaun Simon, Conor Nolan, George Schall, Chad Lewis, Meg Casey, and Mike Fiorentino. It’s wonderful to see Hex learn and grow these past couple of issues and we get an interesting resolution to the nefarious schemes that were popping up on the beach.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Other Highlights: Black Widow #4, Books of Magic #7, Delver #3, Dick Tracy Forever #1, Elvira: The Shape of Elvira #2, Fantastic Four #9, Fight Club 3 #4, Firefly #5, The Flash #69, Freedom Fighters #5, Ghost Tree #1, Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Special: Extreme, GI Joe: Sierra Muerte #3, Goddess Mode #5, Hardcore #5, Invader Zim #42, Ironheart #5, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1, Little Girls, Mae #12, Marvel Comics Presents #4, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #38, Princeless Book 8: Princesses #1, Punks Not Dead: London Calling #3, The Realm #13, Redneck #19, The Replacer, Rick & Morty #49, Runaways #20, Sex - Volume 6: World Hunger, Sharkey: Bounty Hunter #3, The Silencer #16, Star Trek Waypoint Special 2019, Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #31, Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #3, Superb #19, Superior Spider-Man #5, Turok #3, Venom #13, The Warning #6, The Wicked + The Divine #43, Wonder Woman #69

Recommended Collections: Aliens: Dead Orbit, Backstagers - Volume 3, Black Order: Warmasters of Thanos, Despicable Deadpool, Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive, Exorsisters - Volume 1, Fissure - Volume 1, Full Bleed - Volume 3, Jessica Jones: Purple Daughter, KINO - Volume 3: The Man in the Iron Mask, Livewire - Volume 1: Fugitive, Marvel Action: Avengers - Book 1, Marvel Knights, Scarlet - Volume 1, Shuri - Volume 1: The Search for Black Panther, Supergirl - Volume 1: The Killers of Krypton, Unstoppable Wasp: Fix Everything, Venom - Volume 2, The Warning - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy likes lemon cranberry muffins.

#This Week in Comics

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