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chrysanthemumpink · 4 years ago

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im thinking about xiaolin showdown and one of my major issues with it is the unexplored lore and backstory. Almost every thing is “1500 years ago” and none of the supporting characters were really...supported. But if I had my way this is how it could have been fixed:

In season 3, the monks were sent to train with Master Monk Guan but they find out that despite the calm demeanor he is quite strict. This was a one off episode ment to trick hannibal bean and call Rai “Bozo.”

This should have happened the same episode Chase was introduced. Because despite Guan and Chase’s relationship being part of the lore, the series never explored that. So to fix it, lets say that the monks meet Chase and Guan the same way they did in the series, especially that part when Chase lets the Monks go after losing to Guan. But once it becomes clear that Chase is a permanent threat, the monks leave Master Fung’s temple to train with Guan.

(While we are on the topic...Chase Young’s powers needs to be simplified. No more soup...because that literally has no impact on the story. Let’s just say he wanted to steal dojo because he wanted a more reliable way to search for shen gon wu. And when dojo didnt work out, he teamed up with Wuya by promising that he can help restore her body.)

This does a lot of things. The first thing it does is give the monks a change of scenery and gives them new challenges with Guan’s style of training. Imagine the monks becoming wudai warriors under Guan. It would have given Rai someone more difficult to learn under and I think Rai would learn a lot from Guan even if he resists. Omi would have had his ego depleted at least a tiny bit. Kimiko would have definitely appreciated Guan and I can see her being the only one adding to the temple with her use of tech. And I think Clay and Guan would realize that they are actually quite similar (calm kind guys with hidden strengths)

Another thing this would have done was open up the oppritunity for more dialogue with Guan about Grand Master Dashi AND Chase’s betrayal.

So Chase Young sees Guan, his nemesis, with his new team of monks and that’s what makes him decide to look for an apprentice. (Not some vague “chosen one” monologue) Chase spends a few episodes with Katnappe, Jack Spicer, and heck maybe even Omi. But none of it is long lived. Until he meets Jermaine.

Jermaine was Chase’s apprentice in season 2 but only for an episode. That should have been more perminent. And let’s say that he is as willing to stay on the Heylin side because Omi hurt his feelings and because Chase convinced him that true power really is on the Heylin side. Season 2 also had a his theme of xiaolin and heylin forces working together. So lets say that despite the animosity between Jermaine Omi and the rest of the monks, his kinship with them grew during all those “work together” episodes. But then it’s revealed that Chase wasn’t interested in any old wu, he was interested in the ying yo yo. And when it’s finally revealed, he uses it to steal Master Fung and Guan’s chi. This sets the series finale in motion and Wuya gets her permenant body. Jermaine sees true “evil” now and can no longer take it.

Jermaine then comes around and says that he wants to go back to his friends and rejoin the xiaolin side. But ironically, Chase was starting to enjoy being a teacher and kind of saw took this “betrayal” personal. And since he’s unable to cope with that, he turns Jermaine into one of his cats. Then the monks would have helped save him. So instead of Omi being the cat in that soccer battle during season 2’s finale, it would have been Jermaine.

And the wager should have been steep. It wouldn’t have been just for Jermaine’s freedom...it would have been power for power. If Chase won, he would get the monks elemental powers. If the monks won, Chase would forfeit his own powers.

Of course Chase looses, Jermaind is freed, and Chase no longer has the cat army or lizard thing.

So now Chase has lost Jermaine, the showdown, and his powers. At this point, his whole thing about “honor” would have went out the window and he would have tried attacking the monks again despite his loss. (Complete contrast to his first episode)

But then comes Monk Guan, chi restored, and he stops the second attack. Even though, in this version, it is obviously futile. But narratively this just sets up a visual foil for Chase and Guan’s rivalry. B/c everything Chase ever wanted, Guan already had.

Guan was a xiaolin master, Dashi liked Guan better (for reasons that could be explained next season!) and now (!) Guan has Jermaine.

The monks, including Jermaine, are promoted to Wudai Warrior

*End of Season 2*

*Start Season 3*

Jermaine needs an element

But to catch up, we find that Chase is indeed less powerful than he was before so he stays teamed up with Wuya but it isn’t working out. Chase isn’t completey defenseless, the only thing that has changed is his Cats and he is still a very competant worrior. But Wuya has her rock army and Chase just can’t compete with that as Wuya is a powerful witch. The two are at an even stand still.

Meanwhile the monks are growing powerful, Jermaine is there and is now part of the main cast. But good jack, remember him, let’s say that whole thing with his good half did happen. And good jack accidentally releases Hannibal Bean in the Ying Yang world.

And *somehow* Wuya has struck a deal with Hannibal Bean. Hannibal wants revenge against Chase Young who improsoned him in the first place. Let’s say he was the one who turned chase evil. Let’s say Chase was Hannibal’s “appeentice” but Chase betrayed him.

So Wuya betrays Chase for literally no reason other than for being evil and the fact that Chase did treat her like shit by not restoring her to her full power back in season two. Wuya and Hannibal lure Chase into the ying yang world and trap good him and good Jack in the Ying Yang world prison and leave.

Wuya and Hannibal immediately wreak havoc. You know how the world is in chaos and everything is on fire in season 2/3 finale. That happens immediately, first episode! Second at the least. And at first the monks don’t know why or what is going on. Guan doesnt know why Hannibal is back. But “Bad” Jack lets it slip that he gets visions from Good Jack and can communicate with his other half. (GASP)

So he knows what happens. Bad Jack doesn’t really want to get his good side back but Guan threatens him and Jack is forced to lead Guan and the monks to the prison seeking any answers.

Good Jack and Bad Jack’s connection are what lead them to the prison. The two are also reunited once everyone reaches the prison. But Chase just isn’t Chase anymore. He’s just very quiet and stoic. He’s very thin and pale. And he doesn’t even want to leave the prison. From his perspective, not only has Jermaine “betrayed” him, now Wuya has too. He has no powers and no home anyway so why even leave? Guan is like, “ok.”

But Jermaine feels really bad about this. And he yells at Monk Guan to do something. They can’t just leave him!

Guan pauses. Then walks up to Chase and is like “you’re the only one who has ever defeated Hannibal Bean. Come with us. We need your help.” Chase is like, “ I said I’m staying here. I’m not helping you.” And Guan says, “I wasn’t asking.”

The two fight and its pretty evenly matched until Guan says something personal, maybe about Dashi or maybe about losing his powers, and Chase gets distracted and Guan gains the upper hand. Chase is knocked out and Guan throw’s Chase’s non-responsive body over his shoulder. He looks pointedly at Jermaine as if to say, “isn’t this what you wanted?” But all he says out loud is a firm “let’s go.” It’s a pretty cruel victory.

The monks are in shock, so is Jack Spicer.

Pause.

Let’s talk about Jack. Let’s say that Jack has had his good side and bad side split for so long that his psyche can no longer fully merge. He’s not a complete Jack but a Good Jack and a Bad Jack with two distinct voices and personalities that are difficult for him to manage and control. So he has two pretty distinct voices and personalities inside his head. but more on that later.

Now the main arch of season 3 is that the monks have to make sense of the gray area between xiaolin and heylin/good and evil. They have to start working through what those things mean especially when they learn that Master Dashi did some pretty questionable things when it came to Guan and Chase. But more on that later. The monks are supposed to be warriors for “good” but now they have literally kidnapped Chase.

Chase is forced with the monks now but against his will. Guan has somehow magically bound him to the temple. Chase can’t leave the temple grounds and he always has two of Guan’s goons following him. Guan also punishes Chase for any behavior that he deemed “evil.” Maybe Guan locks him in a room or tower or something.

Eventually Chase says something about being held prisoner. Guan remarks that Chase has nowhere to go anyway and that he should be glad he is their prisoner.....unless he’d rather be Wuya and Hannibal’s prisoner. But Guan makes a deal with Chase. He is free to leave once Wuya and Hannibal are defeated and peace had vern restored. So the sooner Hannibal and Wuya are defeated, the sooner Chase can leave so it is in his best interest to help.

And it works, Chase is a suprisingly a good teacher of patience, meditation, balance, and spirituality. Maybe in a way that Guan wasn’t. He alao has a pretty solid plan to defeat Wuya and Hannibal and that plan is to slowly sew seeds of doubt in their relationship. Since Chase knows Wuya and Hannibal personally, he knows best how to do this effictively. With his help, the monks eventually win thier first xiaolin showdown, which, at this point, has been a long time.

But Guan, again, isn’t kind. There are comments about Chase’s loss, how Dashi fealt about him, etc, etc. And Chase, as a prisoner can’t do much about it. But Chase isnt perfect either. He is still quite the liar and a manipulator. He almost escapes by idk brainwashing and almost killing Clay. (Chase and Guan eventually have a heart to heart and make up, don’t worry!)

But back to the monks, who have now started taking sides! They are all starting to disagree with each other b/c again, we are in the grey area and everyone has a valid point. Jermaine and Kimiko think that they shouldnt be forcing Chase to help them or holding him prisoner. That makes them no better than the bad guys!

Clay and Raimundo think the ends justify the means, besides, why should they start being “nice” to Chase now. He wouldn’t do the same for them. There’s even an exchange when Jerimiah says, “how could you defend someone who calls you Bozo!” .. Rai responds, “how could you defend someone who turned you into a furry slave!” (idk make it funny but intense)

Omi does not know what to believe. So idk, he goes to visit Master Fung and finds that Jack Spicer had been staying there or atlerast visits often. Omi reunites with Jack and learns how je has embraced neutrality. (or something similar) Remeber good and bad Jack? The two can no longer fully merge and Jack has two distinct and independent consciousnesses inside of him. He has intense desires to be both good and bad and there is like a constant monologue between what feels like two people. Its like there is an angel and devil on Jack Spicer’s shoulder but these angels have some viscious arguments and Jack Spicer in turn has learned to the middle road and a chaotic neutral. This broaden perspective leads to him being the only character to reject dichotomies beteen good & evil. There is no xiaolin or heylin for Jack. This interests Omi who is very confused and conflicted. The two get closer until everything at Guan’s temple becomes too much for Omi and he moves out of the temple and in with Jack. No one really knows what good and evil is anymore. But Omi and Jack say screw it.

i have to end this because i need to go to bed

#xiaolin showdown #babe this show is 20 years old

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saiilorstars · 4 years ago

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Rise Up

Ch.8: Losing My Head

Previous Story: It Had To Be You || Current Masterlist

Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC

Chapter Summary: Belén discovers the recent string of robberies Datura and Poison Ivy have been doing. She spends a lot of time trying to figure out what the purpose of the robberies could be for, so much that it puts her out of sync with the rest of the team, including Barry.

Pronunciation of OC: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog @maaaaarveeeeel

[If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!]

Out in the reserved training area of STAR Labs, Cisco stood at a safe distance from Belén, holding a tablet in both hands. His fingers danced over the screen while his eyes flickered from it to the targets he'd set up for his friend to hit.

"Ready?" he called.

Belén nodded her head. "Bring it, Cisco."

With a small shrug, Cisco activated said targets. The three targets released several tendrils of vines that shot with rapidness to get her. Belén did her best to dodge them all and send back her own vines. However, being so focused on the vines she forgot the most important detail of fighting Datura.

She had more than one power.

One target shot electricity that blasted Belén a good amount back. Her body came to a stop eventually, but when she raised her head off the cement she looked close to screaming in frustration.

"Sorry!" called Cisco who quickly turned everything off.

"That's the fourth time!" Belén exclaimed, smacking a hand on the ground before she got up. "Clearly, I'm not getting this!"

Cisco sprinted towards her with the intention of calming her down. "Hey, we've been at this for a while now-"

"-two hours," Belén bitterly said. "And we've been doing this for a while now so why the hell am I not getting it? Datura's going to kick my ass - again - in 10 seconds flat if I keep this up."

"You can't expect to have this in a week, Bells," Cisco said softly. "You just need to keep training."

"But will it really be enough?" Belén folded her arms, eyes darting to the side. "I only fought Datura once and it was only because she decided to go that I'm still living, technically. What's going to happen the next time she comes?"

"You'll fight her with everything you've got," Cisco answered.

"But if this is all I've got then I might as well just let her stab me."

"Bells, you're just tired. You've been helping Barry and not sleeping like he and the rest of us asked you to-"

Belén raised a hand to stop him from talking. "The fact you all thought I would leave Barry while he's literally getting back on his feet is still hilarious to me," she said so deadly serious it was almost scary. "Though I should be more offended."

"I'm just saying, and I think I speak on behalf of the others, including Barry, it's okay to take some time for yourself," Cisco took a step back for good measure. No one had been brave enough to say it to Belén to her face.

Belén opened her mouth when they both heard their phones going off back at the table. Belén immediately assumed it had to do with Barry and his progress. "Can't do that," she told Cisco before darting for the table.

~ 0 ~

Barry knew that everyone around him was just trying to help him, but it really didn't make it better when they were all crowded around him like hawks as they watched him struggle to take a decent step. He held that in while Joe helped him take his first step down the cortex. But he felt like a goddamn child, and not even a self-sufficient one at that.

"All right, I got you," Joe reached for the cane given to Barry for support until he could walk on his own. Barry wearily let go of the cane and took a deep breath to begin his steps on his own.

He pushed his feet forwards and swallowed down a mild jab of pain he felt shooting up his legs. The third step was the last step he felt he could take. "Okay, I can't do it right now, all right?" he let himself fall on Thawne's old wheelchair with a big sigh.

"Hey guys," Belén walked in a moment afterwards. Cisco came right behind with a small greet. "How are we doing with the walk?" Belén came straight to Barry.

"We're making so much progress," Iris answered first and ignored the sour face Barry was making behind. "Right?" she looked to Caitlin for some backup.

"We are," Caitlin nodded, hoping to encourage Barry.

Of course, their words were cancelled out when Barry spoke up using full sarcasm to ridicule his own progress. "Yep, six whole steps. Someone get me a Bozo button."

"Hey, give yourself some credit. You just broke your back," Cisco thought he needed a reminder of the gravity of his situation.

"Yeah, a normal person would've been paralyzed the rest of his life," Belén reached for Barry's hand. "You're doing amazing."

Barry found that hard to believe. It had been days since he fought Zoom and while he was somewhat back on his feet he knew there were already some losses that he could never get over. Yet, no one was - ironically - mentioning anything from that part. "How long until I'm fully healed?" he asked from Caitlin.

Caitlin went behind the desk to pull his x-ray scans up on the screens of the walls. She thought if he saw his progress he would be less hard on himself. "The initial MRI I took a week ago showed a complete dislocation at the T12-L1 interspace of the thoracolumbar junction. But that's the MRI I took this morning. It's remarkable, but you're almost completely healed."

"I'm still having trouble breathing…"

"That's totally normal with a spinal injury. It should clear up soon."

Barry looked back at his suit sitting on display. Belén knew where his thoughts laid and gripped his hand in hers. "You'll be back in that suit in no time, just watch." Her words didn't seem to make an effect on him.

"What are we gonna do about Zoom?" he asked instead.

"No sign of him since Cisco nailed him with that tranq dart," Joe said rather happy about it.

"And I haven't vibed since then. Maybe Zoom's not coming back," Cisco's eyes drifted to the rest of the group. They all knew the chances of that happening were slim.

"I highly doubt that," Harry came into the cortex with his jacket on and gun in hand. "Which is why I'm gonna go do something about it."

"And what, pray tell, does that mean?" Belén wearily glanced at the man. Instead of helping them out with Barry's situation, Harry had decided to be reclusive and bitter.

"I need access to your breach room and your speed cannon," Harry declared, mildly surprising the others.

"Why is that?" asked Barry.

"Because, Barry, it's time to go home."

Joe shot Harry an incredulous look. "So, you show up on our Earth, you screw everything up, and now you want to go home? Sounds very familiar."

"Again, that wasn't me. I need to go take care of Zoom once and for all before anyone else gets killed."

"Exactly how do you plan on doing that?" Belén didn't want to be rude and remind him that he was only there in the first place because he hadn't figured a way out to stop Zoom in his own. She hoped she would be subtle.

"I'll think of something. Ramon, if you'll escort me to the speed cannon," Harry didn't wait for an answer and started out of the room. He had enough of this wallowing in grief stuff. Datura was waiting for him to deliver Belén's suit tracker and since he wasn't going to actually do it, he needed to get the hell out of Earth 1 before she returned. At least on Earth 2, she couldn't force him to continue sneaking around Earth 1 STAR Labs.

"No, no, you can't go through the breach!" Caitlin hurried to stop Harry, not that the man seemed any less inclined to slow down.

"Yeah, he can," Joe said, forcing Caitlin to pause and turn back. "Jay taught us how to send people."

"That's not what I mean," Caitlin warned them to be quiet for a moment and then looked up to Harry.

Cisco shot Caitlin a confused look. "What are you doing? If Harry wants to go...bye," he wiggled his fingers.

"Look, like it or not, Cisco, we need his help."

Joe was quick to disagree. "I'm not sure another plan from Wells is what we need."

"Yeah, I mean, the last bright idea he had nearly got Barry killed," Iris didn't think they needed a repeat of that.

"I know, but Jay's gone, and Dr. Wells knows Zoom better than anyone, so until Barry is back on his feet again, we need to keep Wells around in case Zoom returns."

"Caitlin, if he doesn't want to be here, then we're better off without him," Barry shrugged. "Let him go."

Belén dreaded to voice her opinion that she actually agreed with Caitlin. As much as they hated to admit it, Harry was the only one left who knew everything about Zoom and Datura, not to mention Harry was frikin brilliant. Caitlin, on the other hand, would not hide hers.

"I can't do that. Not yet," she shook her head and walked out.

Soon as she walked out, an alarm went off.

"Oh, snap, metahuman attack!" Cisco broke into a run for the desk. However, the alarm turned out to be nowhere near what they believed. "Nope, nope, my bad, that is just an alert for me," Cisco apologized with a meek smile.

"What?" Belén frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's just a reminder. I have a date in an hour, so…"

"Oh, with who?" Iris asked, still in the dark of Cisco's newest girl.

A great big smile broke across Cisco's face as he replied, "With the lovely Kendra Saunders, the barista at Jitters. Oh, she makes a mean latte. I think we're gonna go out for dinner and a movie, and then, I don't know-" he coughed and mumbled, "-maybe some breakfast."

"Wait, breakfast?" Barry played dumb, even putting on the best face of confusion that he could. "Why breakfast? I don't…"

Cisco's smile faded as he bought into the entire ruse. "Yeah...cause, you know, you go home…'' he would think he wouldn't need to explain this.

"Cisco…" Belén smiled a bit at the cluelessness of her friend. He was probably so smitten with Kendra he couldn't pick up on anything else right now.

"He's messing with you," Joe was close to laughing as well. Iris was being polite by looking away to laugh.

Cisco narrowed his eyes on Barry who was smiling rather cheekily. "Oh," Cisco frowned. "Not cool dude!"

"It's okay Cisco," Belén couldn't help but go in and defend him, at least this one time. "Barry probably did need an explanation because he wouldn't know anything about having 'breakfast' so…"

It seemed to help Cisco alright.

"Wha - Belén!" Barry gaped at her completely, his face already flushing red.

"Hm," Cisco strode out with a great, big smirk on his face.

"You had it coming," Belén turned to him with arms crossed. "Don't mess with poor Cisco like that right before his first date with a cute girl."

"Yeah, alright, but did you really have to go there? In front of...?" Barry made a not-so-subtle nod towards Iris and Joe, both of whom were still struggling not to laugh out loud.

Suddenly, a second alarm started blaring in the room, those remaining collectively rolled their eyes thinking it was another of Cisco's "date" reminders.

"Anyone know how to turn that feature off?" Iris decided to ask for future references.

Belén scoffed as she moved for the desk. "I don't think that'll be enough to stop him - oh my God it's not a date reminder it's an actual alarm!"

"Where?" Barry decided to move quicker than he was physically able to and suffered the consequences. His groan echoed in the room and before he could keel over, Joe caught him. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" Barry angrily waved a hand to shoo Joe away.

"Please don't do that again," Belén warned while she located their newest meta. "Not until Caitlin says you can at least."

"So, where's the meta and what's it doing?" Iris positioned herself beside Belén.

"It's a break-in at Mercury Labs," Belén said with a frown. "And that's a bit confusing because, no offence, but, most of our criminal metas are idiots."

"With the exception for a few," Barry's words carried a significant meaning. "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Belén left Iris at the computers. "But I'll let you know in a bit." She then looked at Iris. "Keep Nina on standby just in case."

Iris nodded. "On it."

Belén hurried towards her suit but stopped by Barry to kiss his cheek. "I'll be right back."

"Please be careful," he said, wishing he could be more useful to help her. The city had been solely relying on her for all their trouble and that was a load to carry, he would know. But, with his legs just barely able to sustain him he'd only get in the way.

~0~

The scene at Mercury Labs was a usual one when it was under fire. The first floor was a mess, furniture turned over and a couple shattered windows on the ground. What wasn't so usual were the two culprits standing at the center not doing anything.

Until they heard the steps they wanted. The Azalea had arrived.

The brunette first looked over her shoulder before making a motion for the ginger to go forwards. She then turned around completely to give full display of her smugness that shined even under her mask. "Do you honestly think you're ready for round 2?"

Belén raised her head in silence. She'd honestly been expecting this to just be a regular robbery, but that wasn't the case with Datura. It could never be.

"Belén?" she started to hear Iris' through the comm. in her ear. "It's her, isn't it? Datura?"

"Bells…" Barry's voice was full of concern.

"I'm fine," Belén said in an almost mumble.

Datura chuckled from her spot. "Let me guess, they're worried about you? Well, I mean, they should be."

"What do you want from this place?" Belén decided to go in a different alternative. She knew that if she listened to Datura's mocks it would only make her doubt herself even more.

"Things," answered Datura. "But I have to say I'm a little disappointed in how little advanced Mercury Labs is here."

"Sorry, next time I'll let them know we need better equipment for you to steal," Belén found herself being easily sarcastic.

"That's all I'm asking for," Datura went with it and even did a mock bow for show. However, just as she raised her head she struck a hand forwards, firing a deadly red energy that threw Belén backwards against the open entrance door. Datura's eyes flashed a golden yellow as she watched Belén pick herself up with wobbly legs. "You should always expect the unexpected," Datura's voice was overlapped with a second one, both terribly snappy.

Belén tried not to groan as she picked her head up from the ground, but that really did hurt. That bitch. And the fact Datura was smirking so smugly wasn't helping either. Belén planted a hand on the floor and let thin vines creep underground until they were directly underneath Datura's feet. Datura didn't feel the vines attack her ankles until they slammed her flat on the ground. Now it was Belén's turn to smirk. "You're right, you should always expect the unexpected," Belén got up and raised her hands to lift the glasses from the entrance door to start throwing at Datura.

Datura rolled to the side and shot Belén a glare. "The hero trying to cut me with glass? That's really unexpected."

"Shut the hell up!" Belén had no interest in playing Datura's game. Yes, she was mad at hell because Datura knew exactly how to press her buttons. The mere presence of the woman reminded Belén how she'd lost so easily against the Earth 2 metahuman. So yeah, maybe she was trying to play the game like Datura was.

Datura briefly smirked before charging for Belén. Her eyes glowed a piercing white before firing lasers from them.

"Belén?" called Barry through the comms, but of course all he and Iris heard were the crashes and groans from the two women. "We're calling Nina-"

"-no!" Belén managed to say while avoiding one of Datura's lasers from cutting through her leg. "I can - OW!"

Datura had caught her thigh and that hurt. Belén looked down at the opened wound and scowled at the culprit. Datura smirked and tossed a sphere of white energy between her hands. "You can't beat me."

It was just four words, four words, and they had that added that much more anger to what Belén was already feeling. Frustrated, Belén ran towards Datura with all powers ready to go. The spheres of energy dissipated from Datura's hands in time for the woman to combat Belén. The two went at it and as much as Belén hated to admit, Datura seemed to either be on the same level as her or was better than her.

"Belén!" Barry called, or shouted, in vain. He tried rigging up the security feed to see exactly what was going on. "Iris, hit that one!" he frantically pointed to the keyboard at the edge of the desk. Iris scrambled to do the task and seemed to do it on time.

Datura was catching Belén's hands each time the latter attempted to strike. Datura smirked as she got to see a close up on Belén's frustration. The ombre-blonde was close to snapping or crying out of pure frustration. And yet, it was no surprise for Datura. She knew this would happen and she would enjoy every minute of it.

"Datura, let's go!"

Well, almost every minute of it. Datura pushed Belén away from her and threw Poison Ivy an irritated look. "Seriously? Now!?"

Poison Ivy held a couple devices in her hands and she merely raised them to remind Datura why they'd come to Mercury Labs in the first place. "Let's go! Now!"

Datura groaned. "Fine! Until next time, Azalea."

Belén glared at Datura. Her entire body ached and she was frankly out of breath. Even as she raised her hand to attempt at stopping them, her powers didn't release as they usually did. Datura and Poison Ivy made another clean escape.

~ 0 ~

"Well this is really great," Cisco sarcastically went on with gestures going between Belén and Barry, "Not only is our speedster down, but our Azalea is too."

If it was possible to kill with a look, Belén would have murdered Cisco in that moment. She sat on the edge of the medical bed while they waited for Caitlin to stitch up an open wound on her neck. She'd already stitched up the wound on Belén's thigh. Yup, there were multiple stitches this time.

"I'm not down, Cisco," Belén said in what sounded more like a warning for Cisco to stop with that.

"Belén, could you stop..." Caitlin trailed off and nodded down to Belén's hands. The latter realized she was gripping the edges and adding on pressure to her neck.

"Sorry," Belén mumbled as she let go. She put her hands - which had some red spots on her knuckles - on her lap and kept quiet while the others went on.

"What was Datura looking for at Mercury Labs?" Iris asked her father since the CCPD had already visited the scene.

"They took some prototypes of a few devices," Joe answered, "But the odd part was they were all being used to alleviate sleep and dreams. Some new market McGee was trying to get at."

"Sleep and dreams?" Barry repeated, frowning, as were the others. "What does she want to do with that?"

"Give us wicked nightmares, I bet," Cisco said with widened eyes, already terrified at the thought. "Because she isn't already giving it to us in real life."

"She's not going to win for long," Belén scooted off the bed once Caitlin was finished. "I'm going to get her."

"You need to take it easy," Caitlin told her in that doctor-ly tone that left no room for arguments. "You have multiple bruises - I just stitched up two decently wide, open wounds - and look at your hands? You're lucky you don't have a concussion."

"I get it, she kicked my ass," Belén snapped, though not specifically at Caitlin. She was just upset in general. "Again."

Caitlin sighed. "That's not what I meant to say-"

"-I know," Belén moved to leave.

"Belén, where are you going?" called Barry, wishing he could catch up with her but he was lucky if he could spring two steps without falling on his face. Perhaps that was the reason she stopped and turned back.

"To train, where else?" she, again, snapped. "You saw what she did to me!"

"Yeah, but you heard Caitlin-"

"-and you heard the part where Datura won again, right?"

"We don't know where they are anyways," Cisco chimed in to take some of the tension away. "Even if you train right now, it won't make much of a difference. And, hello, you need to rest!"

Belén cringed with frustration. "I'M NOT -" but she stopped midway with her hands in the air. Slowly, she brought them down and un-clenched them. "If I keep letting Datura get away, she'll just keep hurting people and stealing things. I have to do something." She dared them all with a look to say she was wrong. When no one said anything, she tilted her head as an indication of 'I thought so' and left the room.

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on her," Barry rubbed his face, probably just as frustrated as Belén was. "I'd do it, but..." he made a languid gesture at his legs. He really felt so useless and it just kept getting worse and worse.

~ 0 ~

When Belén went to pick up her nephew from preschool, she was surprised to find her mother already in custody of Axel by the front gate of the school. Not wanting to cause a scene, especially in front of Axel, Belén came up to the two with a polite smile across her face.

"Mom, you're here...what a surprise," she said in mildly strained tone.

"Auntie Belén!" Axel excitedly hugged her, completely missing the flinch his aunt did.

"What's happened to you?" Veronica didn't miss anything. She was appalled to see her daughter's hands red and the clear stitches across Belén's neck made nothing better. "Are you okay!?"

"I thought we agreed I would pick Axel up today," Belén attempted to go down the road of ignorance. She didn't want her mother hassling her for answers.

"Calm down, I only came to find you," Veronica raised her hands to show she'd come in a peaceful stance. "But that was before I saw...you. Belén, honey, you have to tell me what happened to you. Did someone hit you? Was it Ba-"

"Mom, for the love of God, don't finish that sentence," Belén wearily pleaded.

Veronica pursed her lips together. She had to agree silently that Barry didn't look like the abusive type. But that still left the question of who was hurting her daughter. The bubbling rage she felt under her skin got no better with Belén's evasiveness. "Belén, I am begging you to tell me what is going on. Please. I know we have our differences but...honey, someone is hurting you. They're causing you physical pain and I want them brought in."

Belén felt her shoulders shake. Crying was not an option. No sir. "I can't, Mom. Was there a reason you came here?"

"Why can't you just be honest with me?" Veronica asked in a hurt manner.

"Because I can't. And it's not because I'm mad with you, it's just that I really can't. It's better this way." And yet somehow, Belén wasn't entirely sure that was truth anymore. Would it be better to keep her mother away from all this metahuman stuff?

Veronica shook her head. "It's things like these that don't make me stop my investigation, Belén. Because you can deny it all you want but we both know there is something going on that you're not telling me." Veronica allowed her words to sink in Belén's mind before adding on. "And I know that Joe and Barry are involved in this, so don't think this is over. I do love you, you know, and I just want to know what's going on in your life. So if you won't tell me, I'm just going to keep looking until I get the answers I need."

"Auntie Belén," Axel tugged on Belén's purse once Veronica had gone. "Why do you and grandma fight a lot?"

Belén should've known that by now Axel would catch on to the fact neither she nor his grandmother were getting along so well. She took Axel by the hand and started walking in the opposite direction where she parked her car.

"Um...your grandma and I...are just...having little problems. But you don't have to worry, sweetie."

"Okay," Axel shrugged it off like any four year old would. "Are we going to STAR Labs today? I wanna throw things into the holes!"

"Dammit Cisco," Belén mumbled under her breath.

"Can we!? Can we!?" Axel grew more excited by the minute.

"No more throwing things into holes, first of all," Belén clarified. "And right now isn't a good time to go."

"Why not?" Axel stopped his hops and frowned.

"Because, well…" Belén thought of the simplest way to put it, "...Barry is a little bit...sick, and…"

Axel gasped and covered his mouth. "Oh no! Are you going to be sick too?"

Belén chuckled at his thoughts. "No, Axel, I'm not. It's not contagious, I promise. So, what do you want to do today? We don't have to be back at grandma's until eight."

Axel grinned slowly as he got an idea.

~0~

"It's been a while since you visited, Belén," Dr. Baeva offered the young woman a kind smile. By the looks of Belén's appearance, she could use one.

"Lot's happened," Belén made a weak gesture at herself, not that she wasn't aware Dr. Baeva hadn't taken her appearance in. "I've been a bit busy dealing with our city's newest metas."

"Oh yes," nodded Dr. Baeva. "I've seen them on the television. How's our Flash doing?"

Belén's face wasn't a readable one. "Physically, he's getting better. Mentally...well, that's another thing. But I'm sure you know that."

Dr. Baeva nodded again. "And how are you, Belén?"

Belén automatically heaved a heavy sigh. "Not well. Long story short, I keep getting my ass handed to me by Datura, featuring Poison Ivy on occasion. And then to top it off, my mom and I are still not getting along. And it's not even because of our mother-daughter relationship it's because of all this secret meta stuff I'm dealing with." She took in another deep breath after her long ramble. "So, no, I'm not doing well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Dr. Baeva said. "Would you like to expand on those things? I think taking it piece by piece would be a good idea to prioritize between the bigger problems and the small ones."

At this point, Belén was ready to try anything. "I mean, the Datura problem is a really big one. She can travel between worlds at her beck and call and...Dr. Baeva, she's a siphoner. She has countless powers at her fingertips and she can alternate between them."

"She sounds incredibly strong," Dr. Baeva agreed based on the facts presented. "But I have reason to believe so is the Azalea."

But at that comment, Belén scoffed loudly. "See this?" she pointed at her exposed neck stitches. "She did that. And I have another one on my thigh. I have multiple bruises on my body and look at my hands!" she turned her hands over and over.

"Belén, I'm going to ask that you take a deep breath," Dr. Baeva calmly requested. "Your rambles can turn into anxiety."

Belén took several breaths until she felt confident enough to speak at a normal pace that didn't involve so many hand gestures. "Datura...is a big problem," she began again. "I've fought her several times now and she keeps beating me. If I don't come up with something soon, she's going to kill me. So, yeah, I'm prioritizing her as a huge problem, actually."

"The good thing is, Belén, that you don't work alone. Your team members can offer new ideas and perspectives that you haven't thought of."

"I know, but...I can't help feel like it's all on me, you know? Datura is coming for me, so I should be able to handle it. I should be able to handle her on my own."

"I have to ask if that's the same for the Flash? Is Zoom something he needs to take care of on his own?"

"Well, of course not, but..." Belén paused and watched Dr. Baeva smile at her, "Okay, I get what you mean by that. Maybe Datura isn't my problem, but...I'm the one who has to fight her."

"Yes, but everything you do to fight her is not solely dependent on you. Your team is there to advice you. Don't forget that."

Belén nodded slowly. "Okay. Still a huge problem, though."

"And what about your mother?"

Belén pursed her lips together while she thought of all the disagreements she had with her mother so far. "It started out with Axel's custody. I gave it to her and we were doing fine until she met my boyfriend. She didn't like him because he broke up with me and all, but once she got over that...she started to notice all these secrets of mine."

"The metahuman side of you, you mean?"

"Yeah. She's suspecting and I have to give her that I would do the same in her place. But telling my mom that I'm the Azalea...that seems like a bad idea."

"Can I ask why?"

"Because it would put her in danger," Belén said automatically. "I've seen what this life can do. I don't think my mom is cut out for that."

"She's not, or you aren't ready for her to join you at STAR Labs?" asked Dr. Baeva with a knowing smile on her face. "It's completely normal. You have been estranged from your mother for a good part of your life. Letting her into the deep part of your life is not something that comes easily."

"I can't be sure," Belén answered honestly. "And therefore, I can't say if it's a big problem or not. I love my Mom, however weird relationship we have, I do...but I don't know what to do on this one."

~ 0 ~

Barry could say that he could at least now attempt to run on a treadmill. With the passing of the days, he had more endurance and definitely more strength to keep himself from falling. The only problem now was that every time he tried to push himself more on the treadmill, he would start remembering his last encounter with Zoom. Once he heard the crack of his spine he felt it was over again.

"You done for the day?"

Barry stopped drinking water and put the lid over his bottle. He turned back and saw Belén standing at the doorway, holding two bags of Big Belly Burger.

"Peace offering?" she put on her best smile, hoping it was enough to at least get into the room.

Barry smiled at her. "You know that's like a snack for me, right?" He ate way more than 2 bags and she knew it.

"I forgot my credit card at home," she shrugged and came in. "That or Axel hid it from me 2 days ago. I'm sure it'll pop up somewhere around here."

"Is he with your Mom, tonight?"

Belén nodded her head. "Yup. I think one afternoon in STAR Labs is more than enough for him, don't you think?"

Barry chuckled. Having Axel around was definitely a mood lifter. Cisco sure seemed to love the kid being around. "You should see what he drew for me." He moved towards the table against the wall and picked up a piece of paper.

"Oh my God," Belén laughed at Axel's scribbles that did have a shape of a person.

"It's supposed to be me, the Flash, running," Barry pointed at the red blob representing himself. It warmed his heart when Axel gave it to him, especially when it came with the four year old's "You're still a hero" comment.

"He drew that with me in the afternoon when I brought him here," Belén remembered it as one of the dozens of pictures she and Axel did together. "I just wasn't sure which ones I threw away and which ones I didn't."

"I love it," Barry put the paper down on the table. "At least someone still sees me as a hero."

"Not true," Belén levelled him with a look. "I do too. And everyone else here too."

"Yeah but the city's another thing..."

"And I think they're way more afraid of Zoom so trust me, they really want you back." Belén handed him the bags of food. "And I'm sorry for not being there to remind you of this."

"You don't need to apologize, Bells," Barry put the bags on the table in order to take Belén's hands. "I know you've been dealing with other things too and I'm sorry I haven't been able to help you."

"I think we've both been a little bit out of sync, huh?" Belén offered one weak smile for their troubles. Barry had to agree. It wasn't that they were angry with each other, but it was the same frustration each felt that kept them apart for a while. In a sense, they were mad at the world.

The two took a seat on the edge of the treadmill, forgetting dinner while they talked.

"Datura has kicked my ass twice, and she's made it seem like she didn't break a sweat," Belén lowered her gaze to the floor.

"Believe me, that's not what Iris and I saw," Barry had to disagree there. "You guys were following each other's moves."

"But that's the thing," Belén raised her head to sigh, "It's like no matter what I pulled, what I strategy I used, Datura knew it. It's like she expected each of my moves. I couldn't best her."

"And she couldn't best you at times," Barry once again added.

"But I didn't know what moves she would use. I got lucky. And it kills me that she knows she can one-up me each time."

"I know," Barry nodded. "Zoom knows that about me too. He practically destroyed me. He showed everyone in Central City what he could do, and that I'm powerless to stop him," Barry shook his head. "They gave me a key to this city! I'm supposed to be their hero. I'm supposed to be the guy that can protect them from something as evil as that, and I failed in front of all of them." And that was the image that tan over and over in his head. Because, of course the news had spread throughout the city that the Flash practically was nothing. "When they think of the Flash, all they see now is someone not strong enough to protect them."

"Not true," Belén could say honestly. "I think they see someone who will fight for them. But I get what you mean. Our self esteems aren't very high at the moment, but maybe that's what they want." She knew Datura was playing a mind game with her. It was clear in her smugness and her taunts. She knew she was the better fighter, but perhaps that wasn't always going to be the same. Of course if Belén continued to think Datura was better, she would be better and thus give Datura the clear shot to win.

"Guys!? Hello!?" Cisco's urgent voice blared from the speakers. "Guys! We have a problem!"

Belén and Barry looked at each other with the same curiousness. They needed to get back to the cortex and see what else had gone wrong with their group. Once they arrived, Cisco told them (in a quick ramble of panic) that Caitlin had punched him in the face and walked out like nothing. It only took him a couple minutes to realize she must have been mind controlled, and the only one with those types of powers was...

"I can't believe we have to deal with that gorilla again," Belén scowled.

Cisco looked up from the computers where he was currently conducting multiple searches for Grodd's possible whereabouts. "There's nothing on Caitlin or Grodd."

"Okay, so...are there any ideas on why Grodd would come back from the dead just to take Cait?" Barry tried to think on his own but he couldn't find a good reason for the sudden return of Grodd.

"I don't know," Cisco replied. "It doesn't make any sense. She was always so nice to him."

"Yeah but remember what Joe said," Barry said, reminding them that the CCPD had already found several leads on the return of the gorilla from the previous days. "Grodd mind-controlled two lab technicians to steal chemicals that enhance intelligence. He wants her for something."

"He wants to make something," Belén shrugged, finding it the most logical reason. "Caitlin is pretty good at that."

"Well, looks like he left his bachelor pad in the sewers," Cisco gave up on searching through the sewer cameras.

"Right, but it's not like Grodd can just waltz through downtown in the middle of the day without anybody noticing," Belén gestured with a hand. "Someone had to see him at some point...right?" her eyes flickered from Cisco to Barry for some confirmation she was on the right track.

"Right," Cisco snapped his fingers at her, making her beam, "And if there's been sightings, then we might be able to approximate his location."

"We can get the CCPD's help with that," Barry thought of. "I'll call Joe."

"Good," Cisco nodded. "We gotta get her back."

But unfortunately, their night would not bring them any successful results. Caitlin wasn't anywhere in the city streets, and it didn't appear like she would be coming out any time soon.

The next day, Barry had woken himself up to begin another session of running. If Caitlin was at the hands of Grodd, he needed to get back in the field. He felt that if he wasn't at least trying to get a little better at running then he was wasting time. But then when he was running, like he was at the moment on the treadmill, he would get the images of his failed fight against Zoom and suddenly everything became senseless to him. What was the point to keep fighting if he knew he would lose?

Barry reached to the side and turned off the treadmill. He'd gotten to that 'it's senseless' part again.

"Keep that chin down, slugger," he heard a familiar voice behind.

Barry turned around to find Henry coming into the room. "Dad!" he came rushing off the treadmill to hug his father, not realizing till that moment how much he needed his father.

After getting up to speed, as much as was possible anyways, Henry took a good study of his son's records from the accident. As he pulled several exams on the screens, he was easily able to conclude there was really no problem anymore - physically. He didn't have to be a genius to know where the problem was coming from. Behind him, Barry sat on a stool watching the records he himself had gone over countless times.

"No spinal cord edema. I don't see any subacute hemorrhaging. Bone fused beautifully. You're all good, Barry," Henry finally said and turned sideways to see his son who was looking more or less displeased. "I'd give you some physical therapy, but you don't need it."

Barry acknowledged the words but didn't want to keep talking about it. "I'm really glad you're here, Dad."

Henry smiled. "Me too. You know, I tried to call, but you can't a cell in Granite Peak National Park, so…"

"Granite Peak... what are you... You went camping by yourself?" Barry was truly surprised seeing as his father hadn't been one to camp.

"Yeah, yeah, I got a tent. I went fishing every day. I have had my fill of largemouth bass for a while," Henry chuckled. "Sometimes you just have to slow down to get back to where you want to be."

"Yeah. Look, Dad…" Barry began but really didn't have the right words to explain himself. Luckily for him, someone came into the room. He was relieved to see that it was Belén, whom he'd hadn't seen since yesterday despite her promise to be back from wherever she had to go.

Belén was surprised to find Barry with his father and immediately felt like she'd interrupted. "Oh, I'm so sorry…" she grabbed her purse from the desk after a second of putting it down. "I thought...there was...no one, but - I'll just find Cisco!"

"Bells!" Barry went after her (as best as possible on his slow pace) while Henry called 'it's fine!' to her. Belén was stopped by Barry just by the threshold. "Hey, it's fine, really," Barry took her by the hand and led her back inside the room.

"I'm sorry," Belén sheepishly told Henry once they were face to face. "I-I didn't know you were going to be in the city."

"Iris called me in and explained the situation to me," Henry explained. "I couldn't just ignore it."

Belén's eyebrows raised together, suddenly remembering that she had meant to help Iris come up with a decent solution to Barry's problem. How could she forget that? "I'm happy she did that," Belén smiled lightly, truly meaning those words. She was only upset that she'd not helped like she was meant to. Where was her head lately?

Cisco came in hollering something about finding Caitlin. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before," he said as he fiercely got into the computers. "It's so King Kong!"

"Cisco, no offence, but what the hell are you talking about?" Belén came up beside him, dreary looking.

"I'm ignoring that because we don't have the time," Cisco responded calmly and gave a 'yahoo!' when he pulled up three different belltowers in the city. "Grodd has to be in one of these bell towers. The only reason we couldn't find him on any cameras underneath the city before was because he upgraded from a bachelor pad to a penthouse, like a baller."

"Okay, so we know where he is," Barry slowly joined him and Belén. "We still don't know how to get her."

A wide smile spread across Cisco's face, signaling that the second part of the plan had already been thought of. "We got a plan for you."

"That smile means it's something stupid or just...plain wrong," and for that, Belén took one step away from Cisco.

"What's the plan?" Barry asked.

Cisco did not answer as Wells came into the room, dressed as the Reverse Flash. "We use me."

Barry did not attempt to control himself and sped Wells out of the cortex and right against a wall.

"No, Barry! That's Harry!" Cisco went after the two. Belén and Henry did the same, but both were just as confused as Barry. "That's the other Wells! Barry. Let him go!"

It took a moment for Barry to grasp the concept of the idea. He awkwardly let go of Harry and took a step back, hand in his hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"You're still here," Belén blinked at Harry. "I thought you were going home."

Harry kept silent because he didn't really have a response for that. One moment he was sure of what he needed to do - which was to leave - and then the next Caitlin comes in with words that made him doubt where his place was.

"We found another suit in the Time Vault," Cisco moved beside Harry.

"Bit sinister, don't you think?" Belén could not stop staring at Harry and think about Eobard. It gave her shivers.

"I thought he was dead," came Henry's input which reminded everyone that he was not up to speed with the situation.

"He's dead," Barry made sure to clarify. "This is... this is Harrison Wells from Earth-2."

Henry was still just lost. "Earth-2?"

"Whole other story that includes multiple universes," Belén briefly explained.

"If we can get Harry to convince Grodd that he's Wells, that he's his father, maybe we can convince him to let Caitlin go," Cisco finally just shared the entire plan.

"I'm not gonna be able to help if anything goes wrong," Barry needed Harry to understand that. They needed to get Caitlin back but everyone needed to be on the same page of the risks.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take," Harry nodded.

"If worst comes to worst, I'll go," Belén volunteered, earning herself a very dreadful look from Barry. She met his gaze with a small smile. "I'm not going to hide when people need my help."

"We won't need you," it was Harry who had spoken up this time. Belén threw him an incredulous glance, probably confounded with his risky choice. Harry just thought that maybe if she didn't use her suit, he might be able to extract the suit tracker and make another one identical to it without use. Let's see Datura do her plan with that.

~ 0 ~

However odd and risky their plan was...it worked. And that came as a shock because of the aforementioned details. Grodd had been subdued and would be relocated somewhere to be determined.

Caitlin, who'd remained completely unharmed, tended to Harry who hadn't had the same luck. She worked to wrap a gauze on the side of Harry's stomach in one of the side rooms.

"Thank you for rescuing me by the way," Caitlin said to him, thinking he had it very well deserved. Despite having problems amongst the team, at least they could say Harry was truly on their side.

"Well, we're a team, right?" Harry gave a tiny smile through his sore limbs.

"I'm impressed," Cisco came into the room, along with the rest.

"I think we all are," Belén corrected, patting him on the arm as she walked in.

"Yeah, well, we need to do something about Grodd," Joe got them moving along to the problem.

"Like what?" Caitlin asked.

"Like get rid of him for good."

Caitlin finished her work in time to freeze in her spot. "You want to kill him?" she blinked, clearly surprised.

"Considering how many people he's killed, yeah."

Caitlin looked at the rest for some help. "This isn't Grodd's fault. He's only like this because Wells made him this way."

Barry could understand that her affection for the animal may have been a contributing factor for her opposition, so he tried being as kind as possible to make her see the issue. "Yes, but, Cait, he kidnapped you and you could have died."

"You didn't see what I saw. Grodd's getting smarter. He's lonely and sad," Caitlin argued softly. "He wants more apes like him."

"What are you saying? He wants kids?" Cisco made a face stricken with horror. "Cause I'm pretty sure one telepathic Grape Ape is more than enough for this city."

"I can see where you're coming from, Cait, but...you can't make more smart gorillas," Belén said, but then paused to think, "...can you?"

"No," Joe said sharply, hoping that no one got on that idea.

"I know somewhere we could send him," Harry suddenly said, getting up from the bed. "When the singularity exploded and I discovered the breach in S.T.A.R. Labs, I ran similar tests and discovered the same thing, 51 additional breaches." He made a beeline for the desks in the cortex and started up one of the computers. "The difference being the breaches in Central City are scattered all throughout the city whereas counterparts in my world most definitely are not."

"And you know where they lead?" asked Barry.

"Well, I was in the process of figuring all that out when Dr. Snow so gallantly convinced me to stay, but if I am correct, this breach-" Harry pulled one specific breech profile up on screen for them to see, "-is gonna get Grodd as close to home as he's ever likely to get."

"Okay, even if you're right, how do we bait Grodd to go through it?" Joe knew that the police were definitely out of this mission.

"My son'll do it," Henry answered, startling everyone but no one more than Barry. "Won't you, Flash?"

Barry's eyes widened and for the first couple of minutes he said nothing.

Belén cleared her throat quietly. "We could always, also, call in Nina. I figure she'd probably be more useful than me."

Barry swallowed and shook his head. "No. Grodd is going to have to face me now. It's about time."

~ 0 ~

It didn't take much to bring Harry's plan to life. In a couple of hours, they were ready to go to bring Grodd into the new world.

"Cisco's at the spot," Iris reported from the desk and looked up Barry who was, after many days, finally back in his Flash suit. "You ready?"

"Caitlin, just be careful," Belén said for the third time to the brunette. She felt it was too early for Caitlin to get back in the field, and so close to Grodd. "And Barry, please, please, be careful too."

Barry gave a small nod. "I will be back in one piece, you'll see."

"You better," Belén meant to be warning but her concern didn't allow for that.

"I will," Barry promised, slightly amused, and moved to Caitlin. "Ready to go, then?"

"Yeah," Caitlin spared her friends another look then let Barry take her away.

Belén then hurried to the desk where Iris was. When Joe and Henry rejoined them, Barry had already begun the game of chase with Grodd.

"How's it going?" Joe asked the two women, peering between them to get a look at the computers.

"Caitlin's safe and Barry is currently running away from Grodd," Belén replied.

"So Barry's gonna lure Grodd in front of the breach?" Henry asked just to be sure he understood the plan of the group.

"Yep, and once he gets him to the right spot, Cisco's gonna blast him into Earth-2 with his…" Iris failed to come up with the right word to describe Cisco's device.

"Thingamajig," her father finished for her, and the four had a small laugh.

"I think he said it was a speed canon," Belén tilted her head in thought. "He hates when we don't remember the names of his devices."

"Well, things have gotten a lot more complicated since I got out of prison," Henry remarked, giving a shake of his head.

"Mm-hmm. Man, you have no idea," Joe agreed with a hum.

They waited a couple of more minutes then switched to the street footage where they could see the breach Grodd was meant to go into. Grodd soon caught up with Barry and immediately inflicted his telepathic powers on the speedster. He effortlessly threw Barry across the street.

"Oh, my God!" Iris gasped, everyone beside her doing the same.

"I should have gone," Belén told herself repeatedly.

Henry took the comm. Microphone between her and Iris. "Get up, Barry. Now!"

They could see Barry was indeed doing his best to get back on his feet. However, it was a loss when Grodd put one of his heavy foot over Barry.

"You need to let him go, Grodd!" Caitlin's voice managed to draw the gorilla's attention for a moment. She was standing in a precise location - a spray-painted white circle.

"Flash is my enemy. Now you, too," Grodd declared, but Caitlin didn't falter.

"No. He was trying to save me from you. We didn't understand what you wanted, but now we do. I can give you what you want. I can give you a home. You just have to trust me."

Grodd lifted his foot off Barry and started coming at Caitlin. As soon as he was within the circle, Cisco activated the breech and Barry sped Caitlin out of the circle. Grodd was somewhat trapped by the breeches' force but there wasn't enough strength to snatch him entirely.

"Guys, what's going on with that full power switch?" Belén called to Cisco and Harry. "Two smart guys didn't think to invent that?"

"Uh, I'll have you know it is at full power," came Cisco's indignant response.

Henry took the microphone again. "Barry, you can't let Grodd get free. Conquer your fears, son. Believe in yourself."

"Did I mention I'm like really glad you're here?" Belén looked up at the man. Henry smiled back at the woman.

Barry had performed his famous sonic punch which was enough to push Grodd into the breech and leave him trapped on Earth 2 for the time being.

~ 0 ~

After everything, the Reverse Flash's suit remained intact and literally standing on its own inside the cortex.

"That is just creepy," Belén said from the main desk, preferring to be far away from said yellow suit. "Make it go away." At the same moment she spoke, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Silently, she took it out to see a text.

"Before we do anything, maybe we can see how to get it back in the ring first," Barry dropped the old ring of their Wells into Cisco's palm. It would be a very useful thing to learn that trick. "Might be nice to have something like that instead of carrying around a bag all the time."

"I can help you with that," Harry raised a finger and immediately got all the looks from the group. "What? I know a thing or two about micro-technology."

Cisco shook his head. "Yeah, you know a thing or two about a lot of things."

Henry moved up the man in question, looking truly grateful. "Well, as long as what he knows keeps my son and these good people safe, the more you know, the better. Pleasure to meet you, Harrison. Again."

Harry shook hands with him. "Dr. Allen."

"Good to see you," Henry then said to Caitlin and Cisco.

"Let's go," Barry motioned to his father to lead the way out. On his way, he stopped by Belén to see if she was ready as well.

"Hm?" Belén quickly lowered her phone, an action that Barry didn't miss.

"You said you would come to lunch," Barry reminded, eyeing her phone suspiciously. "Are you okay?"

Belén nodded her head and put her phone away. Her mother was really a relentless woman. "Yes, of course. Lunch, then?" she pointed and started walking as well.

~ 0 ~

After making sure her phone was completely off, Belén allowed herself to enjoy a nice lunch in the West residence along with Barry and his father. She even became more upbeat when Iris got sly and whipped out old albums of young Barry Allen throughout his years.

Henry had himself a good laugh after picking up a picture of a pre-teen Barry with some sort of experiment behind him. "Oh, this one is definitely a keeper!"

"Oh my God, what is that?" Belén tried making out said experiment and fully failed.

"Oh, yeah," Joe laughed as the memory came back to him. "He could've done your standard vinegar and baking soda volcano, but no, Barry wanted to do a molecular structure of chocolate and nougat."

"What the hell is that?" Belén shot Barry a weird look.

"My favorite candy bar, that's what," Barry responded. "Make a mental note of that, okay?"

But Belén only made a face that had Iris laughing. "How you manage to keep me I have no idea," Belén promptly said then reached for another album nearby. Iris needed to laugh louder. "Honestly, who does this stuff?"

"Why, a true science nerd," Henry added on, making both women laugh. "Like father, like son, I suppose."

"You mean it's heritable?" Iris nudged Belén on the side. "I feel for your kids."

While the idea had both Belén and Barry sporting blush faces, Belén still had courage for a loud scoff. "My kids will be adorable."

"What - hey!" came Barry's fully offended input.

"They are," Belén gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Because they're my kids."

Barry thought about it for a second and started to smile. "Yeah, if they're yours then they would be."

Belén smiled and passed another page of the album before suddenly gasping. "Oh! Do you know what you haven't seen yet?" she looked at Henry. "Your son is actually really good at karaoke singing!"

It took less than a second for Barry to become terrified.

Henry laughed at the idea. "Is he now?"

"Yes! Oh my God, I have the video if you want to see it!" Belén started reaching for her purse when Barry lunged for said purse and stuffed it behind his back.

"Dad, I think it's time to go," he then said promptly.

"Yeah," Henry agreed through his second laugh. "Joe, can I have…?" he raised the picture he'd kept of Barry's middle school experiment.

"Yeah," Joe of course agreed.

"Thanks," Henry got up and began to say his goodbyes. "Iris, thank you so much for reaching out to me. I am so glad you did."

Belén's upbeatness temporarily faded as she remembered how it had been Iris who'd done the right thing and call Henry in. Belén blamed herself for not being more attentive, but she would never hold it against Iris.

"Me, too," Iris smiled.

"Joe, there are no words, man. Thanks," Henry gave a hug to Joe right after Iris. "And Belén, really nice seeing you again."

"You should come by more often," Belén moved up and gave him a hug. "Then I could show you the video," she whispered.

"Belén!" Barry exclaimed.

"In secret," Belén added and sent a smirk towards her boyfriend.

"Bells," Barry handed Belén her purse back, now serious, "Mind if I stop by your place tonight after I catch up with some of my work?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Belén agreed though wondered if it was really for the best. There were so many things going on with her she doubted if she would be able to keep it all in for another night.

"Great, I'll see you later, then," Barry gave her a chaste kiss on the lips and got going with his father.

"I have to go too," Belén slung her purse over her arm and helped stock the albums on the coffee table. "Need to have a talk with a mom."

"Still having problems, then?" Iris asked, and with a sigh Belén gave a nod.

"I have to figure something out or else she's going to keep sticking her nose in things and figure out secrets. Which reminds me," Belén turned to Joe, "she keeps looking into cases that you and Barry have had a handle on."

"By those I assume you mean metahuman cases?"

"Yeah. She's convinced there's something fishy about them. She's gone as far as getting Patty involved."

"Is that why she's so jumpy?" Joe chuckled.

"Working for Veronica Green does that to you," Belén shook her head.

"She can look into the cases all she wants but she's not going to find anything wrong with that. I promise," Joe raised a hand.

"I've no doubt about that, but thank you for telling me," Belén gave a warm smile to the two and took her leave.

~ 0 ~

As Barry had promised, he stopped by Belén's apartment later that night. She was already dressed in her pajamas, in case she fell asleep somewhere that wasn't her bed.

"You look extra tired," Barry had to remark once he got a good look at her.

"I feel like it," she shrugged and let herself drop onto the couch. "So many things..."

"I know," Barry took a seat next to her. "Joe told me about your Mom? Is she really that suspicious about our meta cases?"

"That and pretty much everything else," Belén sighed and brought a hand to rub her forehead. "My head's spinning and it's not leaving room for anything else. That's why it had to be Iris who thought to bring in your father. I was too busy and forgetful that Iris needed to fulfill my duties of your girlfriend."

Had it been any other moment, Barry would have laughed at that logic. Seeing Belén was truly upset thinking she somehow messed up, he knew he needed to deal with this delicately. "You can't always ignore your issues and your necessities."

Belén nodded her head to show she was understanding his points, but her face scrunched up with clear guilt. "But I love you, and I always want to be the one that helps you."

"I know that - believe me, I know know," Barry cupped her face. "But you should never have to feel like your things come after mine. Talk to me. Tell me what's going on in your life and let me me try to help you like you want to help me."

"She's my mom, I should be able to handle her," Belén shook her head and pushed Barry's hands off her face. "But it's difficult when she doesn't understand you. She wants to know things about me that I can't share."

"You know, if it's about...the Azalea...you can can tell her," Barry wanted to make sure that Belén didn't feel like she needed to hide all about STAR labs from her mother. He knew well how that made people feel, as well as how it ended when the person figured things out. "You can tell her about you, about STAR Labs, about me, anything."

"Thank you," Belén said first then sighed. "But I'm not sure I can. I'm just not sure how she'd take it."

"Okay, but in the meantime, what do you want to do? She's not going to stop asking questions…"

"I know…" Belén trailed off, hoping to come up with a solution to all her problems right there and then. "But I don't know," she croaked her last words before her emotions caught up with her. "I don't know anything except that I feel like I'm drowning."

"It's okay," Barry had pulled her into a hug. "We'll figure it out, I promise." Belén nodded but kept her head buried in his chest. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and kissed her hair. "Let's get you some sleep tonight and then...we'll start working on it." He knew that a full rest would definitely help bring up Belén's spirits.

It was a start.

~ 0 ~

Datura brought to life one of the small devices she'd taken from Mercury Labs. It sparkled white that could blind one if used properly. But, this time, Datura wasn't looking to kill. That wasn't the purpose her newest idea.

"You should have seen it," Poison Ivy sat at the edge of a rusty table. "They went up against one of those sentient gorillas."

Datura rolled her eyes. "They have those here too? Annoying. How'd Belén do?"

"Don't know. She didn't fight," Poison Ivy smirked when Datura stopped working to look back. "Yeah, she wasn't there."

"Hmm, maybe my game is working faster than I thought," Datura smiled to herself. "I can play some good mind games and she probably already knows it. Though the poor idiot probably doesn't even understand why I can play these games so easily with her."

"If she has half a brain then she must already suspect," Poison Ivy's remark didn't affect Datura in the least.

"Please, she'd never guess," Datura took in a deep breath and pulled her hair behind her shoulders. She took off her mask and chucked it to the side. "Now come help me finish this damn thing already. I want it done as soon as possible."

#ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #the flash #barry allen #barry allen imagines #fd: the flash #the flash imagines #barry allen fics #the flash fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #oc: the azalea #fic: rise up

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ahatintimestorybook · 4 years ago

Text

The Hunt for the Queen

Hello everyone! Good evening/morning/afternoon. Hope you didn’t forget this AU! Because I almost did!

I was kind of focused on my newest AU, A Royal Problem that I forgot to work on the next story for Obligated Ghost AU. Well, now it's here!!

I got some news to share. I just got a job, and currently in training so stories may be delayed for a while, but I’ll try and update when I can.

Also thank my great friend @readerdragon for being my beta reader for this story.

Enjoy!!!

Six years have passed since Lucas Princeston has made a deal with a ghost called the Snatcher. During those six years, Lucas and Snatcher still had their downs but slowly were bonding to be a team, despite Snatcher’s personality. The only thing that made Lucas guilty during those years were all the people he killed thanks to Snatcher taking over his body. Sure, these people were bad but shouldn’t the justice system handle them, rather than a group of people being possessed by ghosts?

However, despite having a ghost on to him for the rest of his life he was able to graduate and go to law school which was the only good thing in his life. Snatcher was proud of his partner studying law like he did.

There were times Lucas wished he had his normal life back. A life where no ghost would yell “Good Morning.” in his ear. A life where he can watch the news over the latest crime in Subcon and not worry about it, but now has to worry about it because his ghost needs to steal a soul and the crimes he has to see are the ones he and Snatcher committed.

Now at 23 years old, Lucas just got home from another long day at law school. He then collapsed on the couch and turned the TV on to see what movie was playing. There was no need to listen to the news today, he just wanted a peaceful relaxing day.

Hopefully he has one.

Just five minutes in during the movie, Lucas heard some clattering from the kitchen and smirked knowing who it was. “I know it's you Snatcher. You can stop with the sneak attack now.” Lucas called out.

In a puff of smoke, Snatcher appeared glaring as he floated over to his partner. “Could you please stop running my plans to surprise you?” He asked, glaring at the young man.

Lucas chuckled. “We’ve been living together for six years, I know all of your jokes by now,” He replied, giving a laugh.

Snatcher gave a small smile seeing his partner seeing him loosening up a bit. Took him six years to get Lucas laughing and knowing about his tricks. “Well, you look like you're in a good mood.” Snatcher noted.

“Heh.” Lucas chuckled. “It was a normal day, just my usual going to law school, then work, and now I’m home relaxing and enjoying my day.” He explained.

“Well that is great news!” Snatcher replied, “However, I got even bigger news for you.” Lucas looked up at his ghostly partner raising an eyebrow over what Snatcher had to tell him. “Since we’ve been together for a few years, I have a big, big favor to ask of you.”

Lucas sighed and turned off the TV. “Who do I have to kill this time?” He asked, knowing that when Snatcher asked for a favor it had to do with soul collecting.

Snatcher chuckled. “Oh someone special.” He replied, his voice getting low and giving a sinister smile.

Lucas gulped, sinking down on the couch. “I don’t like where this is going.” He commented.

“Oh don’t worry, it's not too bad.” Snatcher reminded him, but with the tone of his voice Lucas knew that Snatcher was planning something bad. “You're finally going to hunt for the dangerous soul snatching spirit; The Queen.” He revealed glaring at the young man.

Lucas blinked and scoffed. “The Queen? That’s it?” He asked.

Snatcher chuckled as well. “Don’t make me laugh Lucas, you're not hunting the ghost, but her human.” He continued. Lucas stopped laughing, wondering where Snatcher was going with this.

“Her what?” Lucas asked, wanting Snatcher to repeat what he said.

“Her human.” He repeated. “You see, the Queen and I...don’t get along, we’ve been fighting since, well, we died and became soul snatchers! Snatcher explained. “So every year, she kills one of my bonded humans and in reply I kill one of her’s.”

Lucas cut his ghost partner off. “Wait. Wait. Wait. You're telling me, I have to kill an innocent human that a ghost you hate has bonded with?!” He questioned.

“Correct!” Snatcher answered giving Lucas a thumbs up.

“I killed a bunch of criminals for six years, just so I can kill an innocent human being?!”

“Well, no. That’s just part of the job.” Snatcher told Lucas. “It's just now, I sensed the Queen’s presence in this town, and you, my friend have to kill her partner, and the many other partners after this one.” He added.

Lucas was in shock, he now had to kill an innocent human just to stop a ghost. “I’m not doing this! What if I get caught?!” He asked, shouting at Snatcher.

“Relax.” Snatcher reassured him. “You won’t get caught, I’ll make sure of it.” Snatcher then paused remembering something. “Though my last partner did get the death penalty after kill The Queen’s former partner. My ghost buddies were right, the Electric chair is shocking!”

This realization didn’t help Lucas at all, it scared him further knowing that jail time was one of the downfalls of being with Snatcher.

“But, you’ll be fine. I learned from my mistake.” Snatcher reassured him.

“How will I be fine after telling me that?!” Lucas asked, shouting at the ghost. Snatcher said nothing, and just gave the young man a pat on the back, hoping that would comfort Lucas.

The following morning, Lucas was walking around town with Snatcher. No one could see the ghost, which was good, but Lucas hoped no one saw him so they could be a witness to the crime he was about to commit. “So where is the Queen?” Lucas whispered.

Snatcher looked around the small crowd of people hoping to find the Queen’s partner. He thought coming this early in the morning would be easier as there wouldn’t be too many witnesses. The ghost squinted his eyes as he saw a blur and smiled. “Found them!”

“Where?” Lucas asked. Snatcher pointed to where he saw the person ran off too. Lucas walked, instead of running to avoid suspicion and followed the blur Snatcher saw. He then paused seeing a young woman and two guys talking to her.

The girl felt uncomfortable, rubbing her arm and looking down at the guys. Lucas walked slowly, but he couldn’t hear what the guys were saying to the girl, though seeing the girl uncomfortable, the guys were saying not too nice things to her.

Lucas glared, pulling the knife out of his pocket. “Get ready Snatcher.” He whispered. Snatcher modded in reply, ready to transform when needed. Lucas had to stealth to not get noticed by the guys, or even the girl. One of these three had the spirit Snatcher told him to hunt, and he was waiting for a sign that the Queen was near. Soon Lucas saw one of the guys tried to pull on the young girl’s arm, and she tried to pull away.

“Hey!” Lucas shouted. The guys turned towards Lucas, and decided to run off. Lucas ran towards the girl and growled at the men harassing her. “What pecking jerks.” He growled. Lucas then remembered the girl and turned to face her. “Are you okay?”

The girl nodded and looked up at Lucas. “I’m fine.” She replied. The girl paused, blushing a bit when she looked up at Lucas’s eyes. Lucas blushed looking at the girl’s icy blue eyes. “Um...thanks for saving me.”

Lucas chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. “Hey any guy that’s not an idiot like those bozos would do the same thing.” He replied. The girl chuckled, which made Lucas’s heart flutter.

“I’m Vanessa Snow.” Vanessa said, introducing herself.

Lucas smiled hearing the girl’s name. “That’s a lovely name for a girl like you.” Lucas commented. Vanessa’s face turned red as she giggled at the comment. “I’m Lucas Princeton.”

“Nice to meet you Lucas.” Vanessa replied. The two stood there blushing and nervous on what to say to each other next.

“You wanna get breakfast or something?” Lucas asked, breaking the awkward silence.

“S-sure.” Vanessa replied. Lucas took her hand and the two walked towards a cafe to get some breakfast. Inside, the two ordered their food and continued to talk.

Snatcher was outside looking through the window watching his human partner on his date with Vanessa. He narrowed his eyes at the couple, mostly at Vanessa as he sensed something from the young girl. Something cold and sinister. Snatcher glared at the girl and waited for Lucas to get done on his mini date with her so he can warn him about Vanessa.

That is if he had the time too.

After breakfast, Lucas and Vanessa took a walk as they talked a bit about themselves. Lucas found out Vanessa came from a rich family, and Vanessa was impressed over the fact Lucas is studying to become a lawyer. The two started to feel comfortable around each other, and talking more than earlier when they were nervous around each other.

Snatcher followed close behind the blooming couple keeping an eye on Vanessa. He felt a dark aura surrounding the girl, and it was familiar to him too now that Vanessa and Lucas were outside. The ghost then looked up and saw a black shadow on the other side of the park. He gasped recognizing the black shadow, the black crown, and glowing red eyes. Snatcher glared recognizing these features; The Queen.

“You.” Snatcher growled. The Queen chuckled before disappearing from the Snatcher. “I knew it.” He knew that Vanessa was not to be trusted.

After an entire morning together Lucas dropped Vanessa home at her place. “I had a great time.” She said.

“I’m glad.” Lucas replied.

“No, seriously. I never had a good time like this before.” Vanessa explained.

Lucas smiled. “Well, I’m glad I made today better for you.”

Vanessa giggled. “Could we...um…” Vanessa blushed nervously looking down at her shoes.

Lucas knew the answer and decided to answer for her. “Do this again? Sure.” Lucas then grabbed his phone and handed it to Vanessa. “Just give me your number and give me a call. I’m available after law school at 5:30 and off Saturday and Sunday.” He explained.

Vanessa took the phone from Lucas and typed down her name and phone number, before giving it back to Lucas. Then Vanessa took out her phone and Lucas did the same. “So, I’ll text you later tonight?” Vanessa asked.

Lucas chuckled. “Text or call me anytime, except at law school.” He answered.

“Got it!” Vanessa replied. The two smiled, and stood there awkwardly again. “Well. See ya Lucas.” Vanessa spoke up before entering her manor.

“See you Vanessa.” Lucas replied. Before Vanessa went in she gave Lucas a kiss on the cheek then went inside. Lucas blinked standing there for a few moments before he smiled like an idiot.

Lucas smiled like an idiot even on his way home from Vanessa’s place. When he made it inside his house, he collapsed on his bed sighing happily in love with Vanessa. Snatcher came by and floated right in front of Lucas’s face. “Lucas, you alright?” Snatcher asked.

“I am.” Lucas replied, still dazed due to being love struck.

Snatcher sighed and shook his head. “Lucas, there’s something about your girl we need to talk about.” He said.

Lucas got up and faced his obligated ghost partner. “What is it?” He asked.

“You seemed to forget why we were out today.” Snatcher hinted, crossing his arms.

Lucas thought for a second and then remembered the plan; To hunt for the Queen’s human partner. :Oh right.” Lucas chuckled nervously. “Whoops.” He said, giving a sheepish smile.

Snatcher sighed, shaking his head. “You know I’d be upset at this point. I’d be flaring up with blue flames and yelling at you, but today is not that day.” He explained. Lucas sighed in relief as Snatcher didn’t snap at him, but was confused what the soul stealing ghost had from him in store. “I found the Queen, but you're not going to like it. She might be partners with Vanessa.”

Lucas’s eyes widened and his heart sank hearing those words. “Are you serious right now? Or are you joking just because I was out all morning with a beautiful girl?” Lucas asked.

Snatcher glared and went up to Lucas’s face. “Does this face say I’m joking?” He answered back.

Lucas glared back at the ghost. “I don’t believe you.” He said back.

“Lucas listen to me! You're in danger!” Snatcher warned.

“Snatcher calm down! I saw no signs Vanessa wanted to harm me.”

“But, I saw the Queen, she was there watching you two,” Lucas looked at Snatcher, a serious look was on his face. “She’s her partner, I can feel it.”

Lucas crossed his arms. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Snatcher nodded. “I’m positive.” He answered, floating close to Lucas. Snatcher’s hands were together.

Lucas went quiet and thought about it for a bit. He didn’t notice anything weird about Vanessa, nor any signs she wanted to kill her. Heck, he didn’t see the Queen or Snatcher warning him Vanessa was the Queen’s owner. Lucas got out of his thoughts when he heard a message on his phone. He grabbed it and saw Vanessa sent him a message.

“Could we meet up for breakfast again?”

Lucas smiled, but before he could text his response he looked at Snatcher shaking his head in disappointment. Though one more date couldn’t hurt them, right? Lucas smiled and quickly responded to Vanessa’s text:

“Yes.”

For the next couple of months, Lucas and Vanessa had been going out together. The two spent time together going out to eat, watching movies, and even took her to a carnival where they spent the time playing carnival games and having Vanessa try some carnival food. It was an experience for the young girl, but it made her happy which Lucas wanted to do for her.

However, during Lucas and Vanessa’s date Snatcher had to keep his eyes on them. During their dates, Snatcher saw no signs of the Queen anywhere, but her presence was still around especially when Vanessa was alone. The soul stealing ghost guessed the Queen was hiding herself, or maybe he was wrong and the Queen belonged to another person keeping their eye on the couple. Though that didn’t eliminate Vanessa as a suspect.

Speaking of the Queen, due to Lucas’s dates he forgot about hunting for her, and paused most of his soul stealing hunts with Snatcher, which made the ghost upset since love was on Lucas’s brain then helping his obligated ghost pal with soul stealing.

Lucas was smiling as he walked at the park with a bouquet of flowers in his hands. Snatcher was floating right beside him still worried about him and Vanessa being together. “So, what are you and the princess doing today?” Snatcher asked.

“I’m taking Vanessa out for a walk, but I decided to give her these flowers as a gift.” Lucas replied, as he smelled the flowers.

Snatcher rolled his eyes seeing Lucas was still love struck. The ghost saw the two were walking far from the park and were walking in a wooded area. “Where did she say where she wanted to meet up?”

“Oh there is this private place at the park, that’s quiet and romantic.” Lucas explained. Snatcher gulped knowing something wasn’t quite right about this. The two then saw Vanessa sitting on the bench not looking up at Lucas. The latter smiled and went over to his girl and held out the flowers in front of her. “Vanessa! I’m here!” He beamed. Lucas was confused and saw his girlfriend didn’t look up at him. “V-Van? Are you okay?”

Snatcher then saw a black shadow behind Vanessa and he recognized that shadow. “L-Lucas, watch out!” The ghost shouted.

“What?” Lucas asked.

“Well. Well. Well.” Lucas turned and saw the Queen, the ghost Snatcher had wanted him to hunt months ago. Lucas stepped back seeing the ghost behind Vanessa. “So you are Lucas.” The Queen observed looking at the young boy.

Lucas gulped, but there was no way he was showing fear. “You must be the Queen.” Lucas replied.

The Queen chuckled. “Oh young child, you know me so well.” She acknowledged. The Queen floated towards Vanessa, and put her claws on her shoulders. “Now my princess, remember what I told you.”

Vanessa pushed the Queen away. “I already told you, I’m not hurting him!” She yelled back. The Queen growled as her eyes glowed red. She put her hands on Vanessa’s shoulders and pulled her close to her.

“Listen here Vanessa! We made a deal!” She growled. Vanessa closed her eyes and whimpered. “When you signed part of your soul to me. You have to do what I say. Capiche!”

“B-but I’m not hurting Lucas!” Vanessa shouted. “You made me kill innocent people, you made me kill crooks, but no way, as long as I’m alive I’m not hurting Lucas! I love him!” Vanessa gasped, before covering her mouth.

Lucas took a step back, dropping the bouquet of flowers on the ground. Even Snatcher was shocked, seeing the owner of the Queen going against her orders. Something Snatcher had never seen before.

“I see, so that’s how it's going to be.” The Queen said. Then out of nowhere the Queen pushed Vanessa to a tree, which made her drop her Poltergem. She chuckled as she picked up the gem and put it close to Vanessa’s chest.

“N-no! I-I won’t do it!” Vanessa choked out, struggling to break free of her ghost’s grasp. The Queen glared and soon the Poltergem glowed as the Queen forced Vanessa to transform with her. Lucas and Snatcher were in shock as they watched Vanessa forced to transform.

“Vanessa!” Lucas shouted.

In her transformed state, Vanessa’s hair was let loose from her ponytail, and wore a black veil on her head, a black cloak over her green dress, and black gloves, and finally the Poltergem turned from a bright red to cyan, which was Vanessa’s soul color. When ‘Vanessa’ looked up her eyes were no longer blue, but a bright red like the Queen’s eyes.

Lucas gulped and tried to walk up to her, but Snatcher held him back. “Don’t get close!” He warned. It was good Snatcher warned him, since ‘Vanessa’ tried to claw at him.

“Vanessa! Don’t let her control you! Try to fight her!” Lucas shouted at her. ‘Vanessa’ didn’t listen and just laughed as she tried to swipe and claw the young man. “Vanessa! Listen to me! It's me, Lucas!” but ‘Vanessa’ didn’t listen, The Queen had her in her control.

“Lucas, you have to fight her!” Snatcher commanded.

“No. I’m not going to-Gah!” Lucas shouted as ‘Vanessa’ tried to scratch him again. Lucas kept missing all the attacks ‘Vanessa’ tried to swipe at him again. ‘Vanessa’ swiped at Lucas one more time, and got a scratched in the face.

Lucas slowly brought his hand up to his face and touched where ‘Vanessa’ scratched him. He looked at his hand and saw blood. Lucas shivered in fear, Vanessa would never hurt him, but the Queen could.

Snatcher growled and went up in front of Lucas. “Lucas!” He growled. “Come on, let’s do this!”

Lucas sighed. “Alright.” He had no other choice; as long as the Queen had control on Vanessa, she'd just keep on attacking him till he was as good as dead. Lucas grabbed his Poltergem, determined to fight and save Vanessa. “Ready, Snatch!” He yelled.

Snatcher chuckled, rubbing his hands. “Oh ho I’m so ready for this!” He laughed. Soon Snatcher went into his Poltergem and Lucas was able to transform.

Lucas’s hair got longer, and turned purple, gained a long purple jacket and his eyes turned a bright golden color. His hands then gained dark blue flames, and the Poltergem turned from purple to red, Lucas’s soul color.

“Well, well, well my Queen,” Snatcher spoke through Lucas’s body. “Seems we meet again.” He said as the flames on his hands grew.

The Queen, in control of Vanessa’s body chuckled. “Seems we have, Snatcher, but this time I got the upper hand.” Soon Vanessa’s hands started to glow blue ready to attack. “Just letting you know, this will be your partner's last day on this Earth.”

Snatcher chuckled as the flames on Lucas’s hands glowed brighter. “We’ll see about that.”

Meanwhile, two kids, a brother and a sister. The brother wore an orange jacket and the sister wore a purple and white T-shirt walking around the woods not knowing they were walking across a major fight that’s about to happen. “So, why are we here, Timmy?” The sister asked her older brother who was right in front of her.

The older boy, Timmy spoke up, “I heard a lot of weird stuff happened here, a few months ago and I want to check out.” He explained. The girl rolled her eyes and kept following her brother. As they did, the girl paused as she heard something in the distance.

Quickly, she ran off in search of the noise. “H-Hailey, come back.” Timmy shouted, turning to see his sister running off.

Hailey kept on running and stopped to see Snatcher and Queen, still possessing their bonded human’s body launching fire and ice at one another. Hailey was amazed at the attacks, especially the fire coming from Lucas/Snatcher.

“Hailey!” Timmy shouted, catching up to his little sister. “Why did you run off like that?” He asked. Hailey pointed to the fight, and soon Timmy saw the fight going on. Quickly, he grabbed his cellphone and clicked record on the camera phone.

The Queen fell to the ground as Snatcher loomed over her. “Looks like I won, this time.” Snatcher laughed. He slowly walked over to Vanessa’s body ready to burn it to the ground. “Any final words before your partner burns before me?” He asked.

The Queen smirked, knowing she did have one final word for her enemy and his human partner. “You know, if you kill this girl, he’d never forgive you.”

Snatcher stopped and soon the flames went down. He was confused over what the Queen said. “What do you mean?” He asked. The Queen didn’t reply and just chuckled. Snatcher was getting irritated about this. “I’m serious!” He shouted as the flames returned to his hands. “Tell me now before I decide to burn this girl!”

The Queen didn’t reply and just looked up at Snatcher. Her gaze on the ghost possessing his human. “Do it then.” The Queen replied.

With that, Snatcher was ready to kill Vanessa, but something was stopping him from doing so. He looked down at the Poltergem on his jacket and saw it was glowing in and out. Snatcher knew what that meant.

Lucas was trying to stop Snatcher from killing Vanessa. He couldn’t hear Lucas, but could feel his emotions. Despite taking over Lucas’s body, the Poltergem will make Snatcher not do what he was attended to do.

Snatcher growled hating when this happens with his partners. “Luke, I know you love her, but this is what I need to do. What we need to do.” He told him. Soon, Snatcher realized he couldn’t release any of the flames on his hands. “C-come on! Lucas! Let me do this!”

The Queen chuckled and soon tackled Snatcher to the ground. Snatcher growled and tried to fight the Queen, but no avail. “Say goodbye to your friend, Snatcher.” The Queen growled raising her hand up to strike Lucas.

Snatcher closed his eyes waiting for the hit to rip Lucas from him, but heard a confused “huh?” Coming from the Queen.

Snatcher turned to see another young man with glowing blue hair, wearing a red button up outfit and had red strings coming out of his hands. The soul snatcher realized this was another obligated ghost owner, and was using his ghost to save him.

The Queen growled seeing the other man stopping her. “How dare you!” She growled. Now that she was distracted, Snatcher was able to kick Vanessa’s legs, knocking her back. He got back up and quickly and went towards the other man.

“Thanks.” Snatcher said.

However, the man glared at him and Snatcher was able to see his eyes were red like Vanessa’s when possessed by the Queen. However, his left eye had a diamond in the iris.

“I’ll handle the Queen from here. You better get going.” The man, or basically his ghost told him.

Snatcher glared. “H-hey I was battling her first!” He shouted back. Since Snatcher and the new ghost we’re arguing the Queen was able to make her escape. The two men turned to see Vanessa running away.

“She’s getting away!” The man shouted. He then ran after her, with Snatcher following behind. The man glared, and used his strings to grab Snatcher and threw him across the field. “Stay out of this! This is my fight!” He growled before running off.

Snatcher slowly got up and soon Lucas took back control. Despite not being part of the fight spiritually he was still tired as tears fell from his eyes. “Vanessa.” He cried. “Oh Vanessa.” Lucas collapsed and cried on the ground.

Timmy and Hailey were in shock, as the boy put down his phone and shut off the video. Timmy looked at the recorded video in front of him.

“Timmy, what was that?” Hailey asked.

“Hail, I think we just witnessed a possession.” Timmy answered.

#ahit au #A Hat in Time AU #Contractual Obligated Ghost AU #ahit the prince #Snatcher #Queen Vanessa #ahit Timmy #Hat Kid #Moonjumper

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fortunatelylori · 5 years ago

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People are not what they seem – Thoughts on episode 7

This episode was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were moments I loved but overall it left me more than a little frustrated.

Sparks joy

Arthur Parker

Arthur has always sparked joy for me. His pineapple takedown was one of the most iconic moments of this show and he does not disappoint in episode 7. A lot of people were surprised to see him make the salient points to both Sidney and Georgiana. But I would argue that’s because they haven’t paid attention to Mr. Heywood’s warning back in episode 1.

People are not what they seem in Sanditon and you shouldn’t let what other characters think about one person or another influence your opinion of them. Arthur might be a hypochondriac but, by and large, he has been considerably less trouble to anyone than the likes of Georgiana or Tom. He has also always been, in his own way, incredibly wise and brave. He asked Georgiana to dance when everyone was staring at her in a state of shock and he taught Lady Denham a lesson when even Sidney remained silent.

So it’s no small wonder that the task of reminding Sidney that Eliza Champion might not be the most trustworthy person in the world falls onto him.

It could hardly fall onto Tom … Listen I’ve tried my best to be as understanding with Tom Parker as I could be, making excuses for him left and right. But no more! In this episode alone, he tries to pass off his passive aggressive bullshit onto Mary when she rightly makes him see that hanging around Lady Denham’s drawing room like a carrion crow makes him no better than the likes of Edward Denham. He fallows that up by trying to push his younger brother into a quickie wedding to a woman that abandoned him in favor of a richer husband and sent him on a self-destructive path that almost killed him. What a bozo!!!

At the very least, as his older brother, it was up to Tom to advise Sidney to be a little careful in restarting his relationship with Eliza. But no, that task falls unto Arthur because Tom can’t be trusted with anything more challenging than miniature house building.

Esther and Lord Babington

Speaking of people not being what they seem, these two are by far the biggest surprises Sanditon has to offer. Esther started off as a combination of Mary Crawford and Caroline Bingley and she’s turned into freaking Ingrid Bergman in Gaslight over here!

Don’t ever let anyone tell you Sanditon is just a shallow bodice ripper because the way it went about effortlessly depicting a woman struggling through an emotionally abusive relationship with a narcissist is masterful! And her setting herself free of Edward in this episode was glorious!

As was Lord Babington proving to be a better Darcy than Darcy himself. His deep empathy for her, his complete rejection of Edward’s bitter gossip mongering and his unconditional support was truly moving. Bless him and his orange handkerchief!

PS: Give this man a first name, Davies! He’s earned it!

The Heraclitus of it all

Again, I firmly believe that the people who are dismissing this show as just a spot of shallow entertainment, aren’t really paying attention because the whole scene of Charlotte’s assumed humiliation is so carefully and masterfully built it’s delightful to watch

Charlotte takes Sidney’s “I’m certain Charlotte would prefer to be reading Heraclitus” line as an insult that depicts her a country bumpkin who is not fit for the fashionable London crowd.

But should she? We already know that Sidney reads Heraclituss himself. They were just bonding over that on their little boat ride. And look where his line comes into play:

Eliza: There must be a boy in your village that’s caught your eye.

Lady Susan: Why should Charlotte be limited to her village?

Eliza: I always think it helps to share a common background, that’s all. Miss Heywood is hardly likely to find a kindred spirit in this company.

Lady Susan: Why not?

Eliza: I just imagine she must find our London talk unspeakably tedious. Wouldn’t you agree, Sidney?

Sidney: I have no doubt Charlotte would rather be sat somewhere, quietly reading Heraclitus.

What Sidney is actually saying is that there is someone there who is a kindred spirit to Charlotte: HIM! He isn’t insulting her or laughing at her. He’s making a call back to their London ball scene where they both felt out of place but found solace in each other. What he’s telling her is that he doesn’t belong amongst Eliza’s crowd either.

This kind of subtle, clever writing is actually a lot rarer than you might think and, for me, drives to the core of why Andrew Davies is such a fantastic writer. He not only understands how to present a period drama to a modern audience in a way that is fresh and interesting but also how to create these moments of brilliant writing complexity almost effortlessly.

Georgiana Lambe

Georgiana, the character, isn’t really sparking joy for me as she’s behaving like an utter brat but the writing for her character is. She’s been terribly hurt for the first time in her life so she’s lashing out anyway she can. Also this line is brilliant:

Sidney: I am all too aware that I have fallen short as your guardian. But please believe that I am sincere in my desire to make amends.

Georgiana: Men like you cannot change.

Why is that brilliant? Well because Georgiana is engaging in one of the oldest and most popular forms of toxic anger: transference. What she’s really saying is that Otis will never change enough for them to be together. But Otis isn’t there, Sidney is so he gets to be the punching bag du jour.

The reason why depicting her grief in this way is so compelling is because it’s so natural to her story. She was already feeling like an outcast in England, not loved or wanted by anyone. Otis let her concentrate all of her self-worth entirely on him (one of the worst things he did and not the only one but that’s a subject for another meta) and then failed to live up to his inherent promises. Georgiana feels that no one cares for her and so she pushes the people who are trying to help her away so she can have her very own self-fulfilling prophecy.

And while her interaction with Sidney might be somewhat understandable considering his cold attitude towards her in the beginning and also the fact that whether or not Georgiana likes it, he’s the closest she has to an actual parental figure, her attitude towards Arthur absolutely is not.

Her insults, thankfully, fall on deaf ears because Arthur knows he is a precious lily of the field and we are all very happy he’s here!

Does not spark joy

Sidney and Eliza

From what I see in the tags, no one is really all that fond of Eliza … I wonder why … lol …

But protectiveness over my ship isn’t really why this storyline didn’t spark joy for me. It’s actually because it failed to live up to its potential. The writers chose to make Sidney and Eliza’s reunion all about how that affects Charlotte and dedicated very little time to the Sidney/Eliza dynamic.

And it started so well too. I had high hopes when Sidney said this:

Sidney: A man cannot step into the same river twice.

What Sidney is talking about in very poetic terms if what in my country we call “reheated soup”. That’s what Eliza is … a chance to reheat the soup. Except that the saying goes: reheated soup never tastes the same which is absolutely true when it comes to relationships. Tempting as it might be to rekindle something, it very rarely works out because the reasons why you broke up in the first place will eventually rear their ugly heads again. Which they do in their case as well, when Eliza needlessly attacks Charlotte, proving herself petty and superficial.

But because we never stay with Sidney enough to figure out what his attraction to her might have been once upon a time, because we don’t get to see how reuniting with her is stirring not only his feelings of long lost longing but also of the trauma she caused and because we don’t even get to watch their last conversation together, it all fails to make the impact that it could have made. Which is a shame …

IMDB has Ruth Kearney listed for episode 8 as well and a part of me hopes Eliza will be back next week and we can have a bit of a do over.

Lady Susan

I know everyone likes her and the actress is delightful. However as much as I might enjoy her in isolation, within the context of the story she remains a poorly introduced character who is only on screen to push Charlotte and Sidney together (we never find out why she’s so invested in this) and to act as a deus ex machine for the regatta.

The “half agony, half hope” that is …

Charlotte

I really hate to do this because I love her but most of my frustration this episode came down to Charlotte.

Her behavior was confusing, dissatisfying and at times quite thoughtlessly cruel. Most of that was directed at poor James Stringer.

As you know, I am a Charlotte/Sidney shipper so I don’t have a problem with Charlotte not returning James’ affection. In fact I’ve made the point in the past that the whole Tem Stringer vs. Team Sidney promotion was silly because it was clear there was no rivalry there.

However, Charlotte behaves very poorly to him in this episode. It’s the second time now (the first was in episode 4) where she’s used James as a stand-in for Sidney. Every time she’s talking to this boy, her mind is miles away and she ends up missing all the signs that she’s stringing him along (no pun intended but the clue is in the name, I suppose).

What Charlotte really wants is for Sidney to give her the same undivided adoring validation Stringer gives her and because he isn’t, she ends up engaging with James in a way that is less than ideal. That’s not so say she necessarily realizes she’s doing this but her thoughtlessness is starting to be frustrating.

Which brings me to … her behavior towards Sidney. The way unrequited love seems to work for Charlotte is that it makes her less than generous and she looks for any opportunity to cut Sidney loose, so to speak.

She doesn’t attempt to put up a fight for him at any level, despite this being the girl that fights for everything that matters to her. And it all comes crushing down during the conversation with Eliza, when she takes the smallest opportunity to completely shut him out.

It’s also kind of hypocritical of her to still be angry at this comment at the end of the episode, when she did far worse. I mean if you want to talk about someone being someone else’s “source of amusement” look no further than:

Charlotte (imitating Sidney): You see, Georgiana, this is exactly why I locked you away in Mrs. Griffths’ dungeon. To keep you out of mischief, while I, Sidney Parker, gallivant around London with my high society, dandy friends.

So while deciding that Sidney was an ass to her is tempting, I’d like to point out that, as I’ve shown earlier, there is nothing mean spirited or negative in his comment at all. So is it fair to say that Sidney hurt her when the most obvious explanation is that Charlotte is insecure? She has been since the moment she met Sidney and Eliza instinctively preyed on that insecurity. And Charlotte not only let’s Eliza hurt her but she also transfers her insecurity firmly onto Sidney’s shoulders, instead of owning it or resolving it.

The reason why this is in the half agony, half hope category is because I’m not sure if the above is the writers’ intention or if I’m trying to make this more interesting than it actually is. If their intention is to paint Charlotte as completely right about everything, while Sidney is the fool who needs to repent and Stringer is the guy who got ahead of himself, I’m going to be pretty disappointed.

For the moment, we’ll have to wait and see, I guess.

#sanditon #sanditon 2019 #my meta #charlotte heywood #sidney parker #young stringer #arthur paker #georgiana lambe #eliza champion #charlotte x sidney #sidney x charlotte

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hermannsthumb · 5 years ago

Note

If your'e still taking prompts the one from the halloween list: "we’re secret friends with benefits and you accidentally wore my shirt to to the party so you’re pretending you came as me and it turns out your impression of me is on point and you know me better than you know myself are you sure you’re not in love with me??" seems like such a good newmann one. love your writing :)

from list of halloween prompts here

this one is literally so fucking good for them. god. GOD. theres like the tiniest bit alluded to not sfw in the beginning (after the making out) but after that its fair game

--------------------------

“Ngh,” Newt says. “Keep doing that.”

“Hmm?” Hermann says. He drags his mouth up from Newt’s collarbone, eyes dark, pupils wide, mouth curled into a lazy smile. Almost coquettish.

Newt blinks down at him blearily. And with a little poorly-concealed irritation. “I said keep doing that,” he says. “Not stop doing that.” He gives Hermann’s head a nudge. A tiny gentle one. He’s eager, he can’t help it; Hermann always gets him all eager and hot and bothered. He doesn’t think he’ll mind. “C’mon, baby, c’mon--”

It’s a mistake. Hermann minds: his demeanor changes in an instant, like Newt flipped a light switch that was clearly labeled with a do not touch! in masking tape and Sharpie. (Shit, Newt thinks.) “Don’t,” Hermann snaps, and swats at Newt. “You know I can’t stand it when you pull--”

“I’m not pulling your hair!” Newt says. He drops his hand away and holds it high above his own head just to make his point. “I swear. I was just trying--”

Hermann rolls off of him and onto his back, huffing, arms folding across his bare chest. Lacking any better ideas, Newt follows him. “Aw, Hermann,” he says, “don’t be like that.” He presses kisses to Hermann’s jaw, his chin, the corner of his mouth. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to--”

“Unhand me at once,” Hermann mumbles. Newt kisses his cheeks, his mouth. Hermann kisses back. His hand slides up to cup the back of Newt’s neck. “Wretched little man,” he continues to mumble. “Ah.”

“There we go, Hermann,” Newt says, grinning against his lips, and adds, sarcastically (because it always makes Hermann laugh), with a little nip of teeth, “There’s my Hermy-wermy.”

Hermann makes a face. “You know I can’t stand that either.”

“Really?” Newt murmurs. He tiptoes his hand down Hermann’s chest, down to the waistband of his ugly slacks, the open zipper; his grin spreads wider. “Because I think,” he starts to tug Hermann’s slacks down, “your hermy-wermy would say otherw--”

There’s a knock at the door.

Mood ruined, and all of Newt’s hard work getting Hermann game to go again ruined, too, Newt slides his hand back to safe territory and lets out a colorful stream of profanity. Hermann wrinkles his nose beneath him. Whatever, he curses just as much as Newt. “Fuck,” Newt finishes. “Who the hell is that?”

Hermann pushes him off and sits up with a grunt. “We’ve probably got a damned laboratory meeting we forgot about,” he says, “because someone couldn’t keep it in his Hot Topic skinny jeans long enough to wait until we clocked out for the night.”

“They’re not from Hot Topic,” Newt says. He pauses. “How do you even know what Hot Topic is, anyway?”

“I’ve seen the label on them,” Hermann says. There’s another knock. Hermann sighs, and makes to slip out of bed. “If you won’t get it, Newton, I will.”

Newt drags him back down quickly. “What are you doing?” he hisses. “Get back here! You are not answering my door looking like--” He plucks at the elastic of Hermann’s tighty-whiteys peeking out, pokes at the hickey purpling on his neck. “--this. Or at all, actually, how suspicious would that look? This is my bedroom.”

“We’re colleagues,” Hermann says with a sniff. “It’s perfectly natural for us to--er--consort. Outside of work. For all they know we’re talking about work.”

“In our underwear?” Newt says, and points out, “It’s not really natural for colleagues to screw each other as much as we do.”

Hermann flushes. “No one would be able to tell--”

To be completely honest, Newt really, really doesn’t care whether or not people know he and Hermann are--uh--rivals with benefits, but Hermann is always so weird about privacy, and Newt supposes it’s a little bit of a cliche to sleep with a co-worker, so he takes one for the team. “Jesus, Hermann, I’ll get the door,” he says. He swings his legs to the floor and does his jeans back up, then grabs the first shirt he can find and pulls that on too. “Just sit there and look pretty.”

Newt learns two things in the course of squeezing his head out the door and talking to a mildly intoxicated LOCCENT worker: one, that the guy was sent by Tendo to remind them about the super awesome spectacular Halloween party going on down the hallway right his second, and two, that Newt and Hermann were invited to this Halloween party, apparently agreed enthusiastically to coming to it a week ago, and if Newt doesn’t find Hermann and show up with him in ten minutes, Tendo is totally never speaking to them or inviting them to another awesome party ever again. Newt learns a third thing once he and Hermann toss on the rest of their clothing, smooth out their hair a little, and hurry down the hallway to where the party is being held within those allotted ten minutes: he’s accidentally put on Hermann’s shirt. A fourth: Hermann’s accidentally put on his.

Before Hermann can waltz in through the door and raise questions (because his buttons are straining obviously under his low-cut button-up sweatervest, kaiju blood stains a spot just under the lapel, and Newt’s swimming in Hermann’s sleeves and has got a fucking pocket protector in), Newt drags him off to the side and shoves him against a deserted wall to explain their predicament.

“We have to change,” Hermann declares immediately. “We can’t be seen--”

“No, look,” Newt says. He’s quickly formulating a plan. They won’t be able to swap pants, obviously, but-- “Take off your blazer and sweater.”

Hermann frowns. He tucks his blazer tighter around himself. “No,” he says.

“Take them off, jackass!” Newt orders, ripping his own tie off from around his head and starting to kick off his boots. “And your shoes. Look, it’s a Halloween party, right? People dress up for Halloween parties. Let’s just say we’re going as each other, everyone will get a huge kick out of it, no one finds out we’re, you know.” He adjusts his left index finger and thumb into a small circle, and pokes his right index finger through it a few times with bonus sound effects. “Rendezvousing. Platonically. Your public image is saved.”

“No,” Hermann repeats, though he flushes. “I am not wearing your disgusting boots.”

Patience running very, very thin, Newt corners him closer against the wall. Not very successfully: Hermann does, after all, have several inches on him. Newt has to glare up at him. “So help me God, Hermann,” he says through gritted teeth, “if you don’t give me your blazer right now, you can find some other horny bozo to--”

“Fine!” Hermann says quickly. He yanks the skinny tie from Newt’s hands. “If you spill anything on--”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

After a hurried exchange of accessories which leaves Newt looking like an exceptionally short and baggy Hermann, and Hermann like Newt if he wore contacts and enjoyed attacking his hair with scissors, they waltz into the party together. Newt’s actually pretty pleased with how their costumes turned out, all things considered--Hermann even consented to having Newt draw shitty approximations of his tattoos on Hermann’s arms with a marker they found in Hermann’s pocket.

Everyone at the party gets a total kick out of it, too, which is the best part--especially when Newt decides to toss in some quality Hermann Impressions.

“Newton,” he grumbles, poshly, hands on his hips, "quiet down right this instant.” That gets a few laughs. “You know I can’t stand it when you have fun.”

More laughs; Hermann, nursing a drink, looks only the vaguest bit amused. “Very funny,” he says. “My turn, now.” He shrinks in on himself in a way that makes him look just a bit shorter, and clears his throat: the voice that comes out next is so high-pitched, so scratchy, so fast, so--uncomfortably Newt that Newt nearly drops his own drink in shock. Especially once Hermann tosses in equally uncomfortably Newt hand gestures. “I’m going to do something ill-advised and dangerous to prove I’m right and give Hermann a stroke,” he declares. “Don’t you just love kaiju? They’re so cool.”

“I’ve never said I loved kaiju,” Newt says, but he’s grinning.

“They’re so cool,” Hermann repeats. “Do you like my tattoos? You know I have a Doctor Who one on my--?”

“Dude!” Newt hisses. He was eighteen, okay? Anyway, that’s not the kind of private, personal information that Hermann should be sharing if he wants to even remotely pretend they don’t get up to hijinks in the lab after hours.

“Dude!” Hermann echoes, perfectly.

The little crowd of their co-workers laugh. (Louder laughs than any of Newt’s impressions got.) Newt laughs, too, despite his embarrassment. And despite something beyond embarrassment, something he can’t quite put his finger on--it’s making his heart race, his palms sweat. Hermann sure must, well, know him to get him down like that, obvious comical exaggeration aside. (Or maybe it’s just because Newt talks a lot.)

“Ha, ha,” Newt says. “Okay, you win.”

“Thanks, dude,” Hermann squeaks in his Newt-voice. He winks.

Newt corners him at the snack table crammed into the far back of the room later, while Hermann is--innocently--scooping some bat-shaped pretzels onto a plate with a large plastic spoon. Newt makes his presence known by stealing a handful and swallowing down half of them. “Gotta say, dude,” he teases, “I’m a good look on you.”

“Of course you’d think that, you narcissist,” Hermann says, but he’s smiling. He swipes a few pretzels back. “Get your own. The bowl is right there.”

Newt steals another from Hermann’s plate. “It’s a crying shame you didn’t borrow my jeans, too,” he says. “I bet you could rock ‘em.”

“Mm, I highly doubt that.”

“You absolutely could,” Newt says. He glances around to make sure no one’s looking, and quickly darts his hand out to pinch Hermann’s ass. Hermann drops the spoon back into the pretzel bowl in surprise. “Though I guess there’s not much to fill them out--”

“You’re a wretched little man,” Hermann says, for the second time that day. The guy really needs some new insults.

“Your voice was really fucking good, by the way,” Newt says, casually, as they lurk in a different corner (lit up with a blacklight) a few minutes later. He’s finally gotten his own plate of food, though he keeps stealing from Hermann’s anyway. “Your Newt voice, I mean. And the--” He waves his hands around. “Do you practice it a lot?”

This pulls a snort from Hermann. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“How’s it so good, then?” Newt pushes, and Hermann shifts, clearly uncomfortable.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he says. “I suppose I just--pay attention to you.”

Newt cracks a grin, and bumps his elbow against Hermann’s side. “I would kinda hope so.”

“Not like--” Hermann sighs; Newt shuts up fast. (Hermann’s moments of emotional candidness are very, very rare: the most he’s ever done after a fun romp in the sack, beyond leaving immediately, is pat Newt’s hand and say thank you, Newton.) “What I mean to say is that I am...fond of you. Fonder than I am of anyone else. And I watch you, occasionally, because I am fond of you, and notice small things about you--your speech patterns, how you carry yourself...”

That’s, well--it’s certainly candid, and unexpected, and good, of course, to know that Hermann like-likes him, but it’s also a little-- “That’s kinda creepy, Hermann,” Newt says. “You watch me?”

“That’s not--” Hermann stammers, and it turns into a quiet groan. “Oh, I’ve fouled this up. Newton--”

Newt saves him by stretching up on his tiptoes and planting a firm kiss on his mouth. Completely chaste. Devoid of any dirty intentions, like all of their previous kisses have been, like what they’re used to. Just a simple little kiss. It takes Hermann aback: Newt can feel him freeze up before he returns it tentatively.

It’s over in seconds. Newt pulls back and pats Hermann’s cheek. “I know what you mean,” he says. “I feel exactly the same way.” Then his grin returns. “I mean, I don’t watch you like a creep or anything--”

“Shut up,” Hermann says, pink-faced and very pleased.

#newmann #maria's fanfiction tag #Anonymous

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lovemesomerafael · 5 years ago

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It’s Complicated Chapter 5: A Bloody Mess

Source: @fortheloveofbarba

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Read it on AO3

Frankie knelt where she was, next to the blood-soaked man with her hands up, thick drops of blood making trails of gore down her forearms.

“Please… he had a pulse.” Her eyes were wild and her voice was a shriek of desperation. “It was weak, but I’ve lost it now. I need to continue CPR-“

“Step away from him, Doctor. Do it now.” Dodds was using his commanding, authoritative voice, and Frankie was too dazed not to obey, even as she gasped with panic and resistance. She took two steps to the side of the body, not wanting to get any closer to Dodds or Benson, with their weapons drawn and aimed directly at her.

When Rojas had cleared the body, Benson stepped to it, leaned down and felt for a carotid pulse. Nothing. But the guy was still warm.

“Please, Olivia! Let me at least try!” Rojas was starting to lose it. Fat tears were trailing down her cheeks from eyes huge with terror.

“He’s gone,” Benson said. “He’s lost too much blood.”

At that moment, a team of paramedics burst into the room and pushed the cops and Rojas aside to work on the victim. Dodds took Frankie by the forearm and led her to the side of the room, giving them space to work.

“Who is that guy?” Dodds asked, glaring down at Frankie in full cop mode as he holstered his weapon.

“That’s… That’s Alan Canady.”

Dodds and Benson shared a look. If anything, this was worse than it had at first appeared. In that moment, it got even worse. The paramedics pronounced the man dead and covered him with a sheet.

“No! He had a pulse! I did CPR! Try! Please, you can’t just give up!” Dodds had to hold Frankie by the shoulders as she tried to lunge over to the victim.

“Lady, that knife’s in his heart. I’d bet my house on it. He’s dead,” one of the paramedics said with no attempt at kindness even though he had no idea who the man had been to this woman.

Frankie issued a wordless wail of despair.

Olivia put herself between Frankie and the body. “Tell us what happened.”

“I didn’t do this!” She shouted.

“Talk to me. Tell me what happened,” Olivia said sternly, leaning into Frankie’s face.

“They… They… They let me go back to my office today. The tweaker kid – his name is Juwon – he was waiting for me there when I went outside at lunch. I wasn’t even going to go anywhere, I just wanted to be outside for a minute! There was an FBI agent right there in the lobby, I don’t know why he didn’t see…”

“What happened?” Dodds asked, gently but firmly pulling her back to the facts.

“He stepped up to me and he said, ‘Alan knows about Barba. If you don’t want what happened to your car to happen to Barba, meet him at this hotel.’ And he gave me this room number.”

“So you just came over here? There was an FBI agent a few feet away and you didn’t ask for help?”

“He said Alan would kill Barba if I told the FBI or the cops!”

“All right, all right,” Liv said. “Then what happened?”

“I came here. I didn’t even go back up to my office. I had my wallet because I was going to get some coffee from the cart in the lobby, so I just hopped a bus and came here. And when I got here, Alan was standing there, holding a knife. He did this. He stabbed himself! Now I know what he was doing with his fingers…” She looked away, as if remembering.

“What are you talking about?” Dodds asked.

“He did this weird thing with his fingers. At the time, I thought it looked like he was counting his ribs. That must’ve been exactly what he was doing! He meant to kill himself. He meant to stab himself in the heart!” Frankie turned back to the body and began to cry in earnest. “Oh, my God! That’s what he meant! He’s …”

“OK, look at me,” Olivia said, putting a hand on Frankie’s shoulder and turning her to face Olivia. “So you get to this room, and then what? You knock? What?”

“No. The door was open. He was just… standing there. Right where he is now. And he did that thing with his fingers, and he said ‘I get it now. But if I can’t have you, I’m taking you with me.’ And then he… just…” she mimed setting a knife against her chest, taking a deep breath, and pushing it in.

“He stabbed himself,” Olivia asked, looking into her eyes.

“Yes! He put the knife right where he wanted it to go, and he just… pushed it in. Hard.” Frankie put her bloody hands to her face as she continued to cry.

Neither Dodds nor Benson had any idea what to make of this. Could a person actually do that?

“OK, Frankie… let’s keep going. What happened next? What did you do?”

“He… he fell over, just like you see him. I ran to him, I was screaming, I don’t know. I grabbed the knife, but I knew if I pulled it out, he’d bleed worse than if I left it in. So I felt for a pulse, and it was weak. I didn’t have my phone, I’d left it at the office, so I just screamed for help. Then I lost his pulse, and I moved to do CPR, but the knife moved, so I had to hold it while I did compressions with one hand… And then you came in. Oh, God! I didn’t do this! Please…”

Benson and Dodds eventually took Frankie to another room in the hotel while the CSU team began to process the scene. They asked her again and again what had happened, but got no more details. A CSU tech took an endless series of photographs of Frankie while Dodds and Benson questioned her.

An hour into the investigation, as Frankie sat on a small, uncomfortable chair, still encrusted with drying blood and still near-hysterical, a tall, severe-looking man in a suit entered the room. Dodds and Benson shared a look, and Dodds went to talk to the man.

“Who is that? What’s happening?” Frankie panted.

“That’s ADA Stone.”

“No. Oh, please, no. Olivia, I didn’t do this! Alan did it! I tried to help him!”

“I know, Frankie. I hear you. Stone’s good, but he’s fair. Let’s just take this one step at a time.”

“Shit, Liv. I can’t… If the ADA is here, I need to stop talking to you.”

Olivia nodded, looking into Frankie’s eyes. “Yeah, Doc. You probably do.”

Frankie dissolved completely into tears.

“Listen,” Olivia whispered to her, looking over her shoulder at Stone to make sure he was engrossed in his conversation with Dodds. “I’m gonna call Barba. I’ll ask him to get you the best possible lawyer. OK?”

Frankie could only nod as she choked on her sobs.

It took very little time for ADA Stone to instruct Dodds to arrest Frankie. Colleagues or not, Dodds couldn’t argue with the man’s reasoning. He tried to be as kind as he could as he cuffed her and explained her rights. She continued to cry and look terrified, but she was beginning to get the glassy-eyed look suspects got when it began to sink in that this was all really happening. The only good thing was that she was smart enough not to say anything more about what had happened beyond repeating, “I didn’t do this.” Those were the only four words she said to Peter Stone as she was led past him to the squad car.

**************

Frankie was finally allowed to change clothes and shower once they got her to the M.E.’s office and examined. Not particularly out of kindness, but because her blood-soaked clothes were now evidence. She couldn’t have cared less what she looked like, which was good, because she looked pretty much the way she felt, but at least she was no longer covered in Alan Canady’s blood. The awful, cheap grey OCME sweats were thin and baggy, and the stains on the yellowed T-shirt they gave her to wear underneath were something Frankie was simply not going to acknowledge. Things were bad enough. The only thing she allowed herself to think about the rough, white cotton socks and plastic shower shoes was that they were exactly like the ones she’d seen on ‘Orange Is The New Black’.

From there, Dodds took her to the station house, where she was finally uncuffed and made to sit in the wrong chair in one of SVU’s interrogation rooms. She was met there by a strikingly good-looking woman with beautifully-streaked hair and a suit so lovely Frankie noticed it even in her current circumstances.

“Dr. Rojas? I’m Nikki Staines. I’m your attorney.” She put her hand protectively on Frankie’s shoulder and turned to Dodds and Benson. “Out. Both of you. And turn off the camera and the speakers.”

Dodds and Benson did as she asked.

Frankie looked up at her attorney with huge eyes brimming with tears. “I didn’t kill him. He killed himself.”

“That’s what I hear,” Staines said, laying her briefcase on the table and sitting across from Frankie. “We’ll get to all of that. Right now, I want to know how you are. Are you hurt? Do you need anything?”

Frankie shook her head. “I’m OK. I’m… Is Barba…”

“He knows where you are. But you’re not going to be able to see him for a while. He shouldn’t even have gotten involved enough to call me. I want coffee. You want some?”

“Yes, please,” Frankie answered in a small voice.

Staines didn’t allow the SVU detectives or the ADA into the interrogation room for the next two hours. She took her time, learning all she could about her new client and what had happened. She gave no indication of this, of course, but she hoped the cops would find some helpful evidence. Dr. Rojas’s story was pretty flimsy.

And yet, Nikki believed her completely. First and foremost, Nikki made it a point to believe all of her clients. But she had also been attacked herself recently, and had learned firsthand the twisted, fucked-up shit men could do to women in order to control them. Not only was she convinced that her client was telling the truth, and that Alan Canady got exactly what he deserved, but she was also pissed. That was good. Nikki Staines was more than a match for Peter Stone. Pissed off Nikki Staines was his worst nightmare.

“All right, Frankie, let me tell you what’s gonna happen.”

“In a minute, I’m going to let those bozos in here, and we’re going to tell them you’re not talking. You’re already under arrest, so I’m afraid that means you’re going to have to be arraigned, and that’s not going to happen until tomorrow.”

“I have to stay in jail? Overnight? In the Tombs?”

“I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do about that. But you’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll ask some guard friends of mine to look out for you. And tomorrow, we’ll ask for bail.”

“I’ll get bail, won’t I? I won’t have to stay in jail?”

“If I have anything to say about it, yes. You’ll get bail. It’ll probably be high, and you’ll have to surrender your passport-“

“I don’t care. Anything. Just get me out of jail!”

“OK, OK. I’ll do everything I can. And I’ll talk to Stone, see if I can get him to agree to something.”

“Will he?”

“I don’t know. He can be a hardass. But I’ll be my most charming.”

Frankie appreciated Nikki’s warmth and whatever she was doing to try to convey confidence. Frankie was not confident. She was more frightened than she had ever been in her life. At the moment Alan had pushed the knife into his chest, all she could think of was saving the life of an injured man. She’d gone instantly into doctor mode. She realized now that was exactly what Alan had been counting on, and she’d fallen, so easily, so willingly, directly into his trap. She’d touched the knife. Hell, she’d grabbed the knife. And she’d been found by the police, kneeling over his body, his blood dripping from her hands and soaked through all her clothes into her underwear. She could think of no single shred of physical evidence that supported her story or called into question the idea that she’d killed him.

She hadn’t killed Alan, but it looked very much as though he had killed her. New York didn’t have the death penalty, but if Alan had put her in prison for first-degree murder, he’d have taken her life just the same. It would just be a longer, more painful wait to die.

Frankie didn’t say a word as ADA Stone strode into the interrogation room, followed by Lieutenant Benson and Sergeant Dodds. Nikki explained that Frankie had said all she was going to, and wouldn’t be answering any questions. Stone looked unsurprised and grim.

“We’re charging her with Murder One. If we’re done here, we’ll get her booked into the Tombs and I’ll see you in Arraignment Court tomorrow,” he said without expression.

“Listen, Peter, she’s a colleague. She’s an FBI Agent, and she’s an NYPD Consultant. Not to mention that she works closely with your office. She didn’t kill your vic. He killed himself. How about we talk about bail?”

Stone scoffed slightly. “Ms. Staines, I hear you, but this woman is the definition of a flight risk. I can’t agree to bail.”

“You can. C’mon, Peter, at least think about it. Ask for all the bail you want. A million. Two million. She’ll surrender her passport-“

“That’s my point, exactly. She has access to unlimited funds, she’s bilingual and has all kinds of contacts in Mexico. No bail. I’m sorry, Nikki.”

Stone turned around and left the room. Frankie thought he might be the coldest, most terrifying man she’d ever seen. She was more afraid of him than she’d been of Alan. Alan, at least, had had emotions.

************

It took everything Rafael Barba had not to attend Francisca Rojas’s arraignment the next morning. He wanted more than anything to be able to support her with a look, a small smile, anything. But he couldn’t. First of all, he had already contacted defense counsel on her behalf which, if his office learned he’d done it, would get him a reprimand, at the very least. Second, he was a material witness. As much as he hated the idea, he was the only one who knew certain things about this case. He was already in a terrible position with Stone, who hadn’t been happy to learn that a fellow Senior ADA was sleeping with an expert witness who was now Stone’s murder suspect. Barba didn’t give a fuck about Stone, but he did care about his law license. In order not to jeopardize that, he had to be unstintingly, scrupulously honest with Stone about everything he knew about Francisca Rojas. And he had been.

Stone now knew about the conversation Frankie and Rafael had where she’d asked him what the FBI and SVU would need to get a subpoena for Canady’s DNA. It was entirely possible that she’d gone to Canady’s hotel room to get the additional evidence Rafael had told her they would need. It had begun to look more probable with the discovery that the knife that had killed Alan Canady had come from the kitchen of Barba’s apartment. Where Rojas was staying.

Nikki Staines was eloquent, reasonable, and eminently logical as she argued that Frankie’s entire career had been spent in law enforcement, and that she had never had so much as a parking ticket. Frankie stood, shaking in the dress Nikki had chosen for her to wear to her arraignment, praying fervently never to have to set foot back in jail. It took Peter Stone about two minutes to crush that hope and get Frankie remanded to Riker’s Island to await trial. All Frankie could do was stand, mutely shaking, too stunned and terrified even to cry.

Nikki comforted Frankie as best she could, but wasn’t entirely surprised by the judge’s decision.

*******************

Nikki could instruct Frankie not to answer questions, but she couldn’t stop Stone or the SVU detectives from asking them. She sat next to Frankie, who looked pale and sick and heartbreakingly scared, around a dented metal table bolted to the floor in one of the interrogation rooms at Riker’s. Frankie’s orange jumpsuit was about two sizes too big, which contributed to her look of lost confusion.

“Dr. Rojas, the FBI agent in the lobby of Federal Plaza didn’t see you there on the day of the murder. Did you see him? Acknowledge him?” Stone asked.

Nikki nodded permission to answer. “I saw him,” Frankie said. “I didn’t acknowledge him.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t think I was supposed to. He was supposed to be inconspicuous, so if Alan or the tweaker kid –“

“The tweaker kid – Juwon Jefferson?”

“Yeah. If they showed up, he’d see them but they wouldn’t see him.”

“Anybody else see you in the lobby? Did you speak to anyone?”

“No.”

“You said you took the bus to the hotel in Chelsea. Did you use a MetroCard?”

“No, I just paid cash.”

“Talk to anyone on the bus?”

“No. It was a short ride.”

Nikki interrupted. “Where’s the bus video? Why don’t we have that yet?”

Stone sighed. “Camera on the bus was inoperative. Did you talk to anyone at the hotel?”

“No. I knew the room number, I just went up. I didn’t want Alan to hurt Barba, and I hoped I could talk to him.”

“About what?”

“About… everything! I hoped I could talk him into, I don’t know… leaving me alone. Leaving Barba alone…”

“What made you think you’d be successful this time, after…”

“Peter, that’s enough. You want facts that’ll lead to evidence showing my client didn’t kill the guy, fine. But we’re not interested in your opinion of her choices.” Nikki gave Stone a mildly reproving look.

“Did anyone see you after you went through the hotel lobby? Anyone see you on the stairs, or in the hallway, or in Canady’s room?”

“No. No one but Alan. And it happened exactly like I said.”

Peter Stone had had a lot of pretty women look at him with those pleading eyes. He was immune to it. Besides which, he didn’t believe a word out of this one’s mouth.

“And you have absolutely no proof of that, is that right? Nothing to show that the victim stabbed himself which, I have to tell you, is a pretty fantastic allegation.”

“OK,” Nikki said, scooting her chair out. “We’re done.”

“Frankie, please,” Dodds said, putting a hand on her arm. “We need your help. If there is anything, anything you can think of…”

“Find the tweaker kid,” she said, putting her hand on top of his. “Please, Mike. I know you don’t believe me, but I’m telling the truth. Find the tweaker kid and make him tell you what he did. Maybe Alan told him what he was planning-“

“Sergeant, that’s enough,” Stone said icily, pushing his chair back under the metal table and signaling to the guard to unlock the bars. “We do not work for the suspect.”

Dodds shot him a look, but squeezed Frankie’s arm. “We’ll keep looking,” he said kindly.

As soon as Stone and the SVU detectives had gone, Frankie looked up at the guard, expecting to be led back to her cell. “Porter’s here, too,” Nikki said. “He wanted to see you alone. He’s on our side.”

A tear slid from Frankie’s eye. She sniffed, trying not to begin crying again. She felt so wrung out as it was, she didn’t think she had another crying jag in her. Her head pounded and she felt weak and rubbery. She had neither eaten nor slept since her arrest.

Porter looked like a White Knight as he came down the barred wall of the interrogation room and into the room itself. He went to Frankie and hugged her until the guard cleared his throat and shook his head. “You know the rules, Agent Porter.”

Porter sat down across from Frankie and took her hands. “I’m so sorry, Frankie. This is all my fault. I should have been able to get Canady.”

“It’s not your fault, Dean. It’s Alan. This is all Alan. He planned this… I did exactly what he wanted me to do. He said he was taking me with him, and he has.”

“No. No. I do not accept that. And neither do you. Now, listen to me, Doctor. I am going to find the tweaker kid and I’m going to make this right. I will not rest until I do that. Do you hear me?”

“I hear you. Thanks, Dean. I don’t know if it’ll do any good, even if you do find him.”

“Keep the faith, you understand?”

“He’s right, Frankie,” Nikki said, putting a hand on her shoulder in a way Frankie really needed.

“I’ll try,” she said, in a small voice. Porter wanted to stab Canady himself for reducing his confident friend to this.

Porter grinned lopsidedly. “Barba says hello.”

Frankie didn’t smile. Instead, she put her face in her hands. “Oh, I’ve screwed his life up so bad. Is he in trouble? Is he OK?”

Nikki raised an eyebrow. She knew Barba’s reputation, and hadn’t been surprised when Frankie told her she was another of his conquests. She couldn’t really blame Frankie. Nikki had been tempted herself; Barba was hot AF, but she made it a rule not to date opposing counsel. Still, there was something that sounded like real emotion in Frankie’s voice. Poor kid. She had enough trouble. Nikki hoped Barba wouldn’t break her heart on top of everything else.

“He’s fine, Frankie.” Porter answered. “He’s cooperating with Stone, but he’s been clear he knows you’re innocent. He’s just worried about you.”

“Tell him I’m sorry.”

“Let’s just worry about you, OK? Barba’s fine. And you have nothing to be sorry for.”

“OK,” she sighed.

“There’s one more thing. What’s this I hear about you refusing to let your family come?”

“NO.” Frankie said, more firmly than she’d said anything thus far. “I don’t want them to see me like this. I mean it. Please.”

“Frankie, you deserve their love and support.”

“Look, I don’t think I’m doing this to punish myself. I just… I can’t stand the idea of my family seeing me in this-“ she pulled at the baggy orange jumpsuit. “Here,” she weakly waved a hand at their surroundings.

“I had a feeling you’d stick to that,” he said. “But they’re persistent. I see where you get your stubbornness.”

Frankie’s mouth twitched.

“So I made a deal.”

She scowled at him.

“Rafe is coming. Only Rafe. He’s on a plane right now. That was the best deal I could make for both sides, and it’s happening, so deal with it.”

Frankie slumped in her chair and nodded in defeat. It would be good to see her oldest brother. She thought she could handle the humiliation of Rafe seeing her in prison, accused of murder, as long as her father didn’t. She was grateful her mother wasn’t alive to see this.

***************

Barba laid in bed, hands behind his head, staring at the windows in the building across the street. He was sick to his stomach over what had happened to Francisca. He would never call a woman with a name that beautiful “Frankie.” He wasn’t sure it was accurate to say that he missed her, after three nights together, but that’s what it felt like. He could smell her on his pillows. He could hear her voice laughing at him. What the hell had happened to his life? One minute, he was getting a new colleague he couldn’t stand, the next he was basically dragging her into his home, and into his bed. It had taken him no time at all to become thoroughly preoccupied with her. It wasn’t love. Of course it wasn’t. But it was… a sensation he hadn’t had in a very long time.

And now this. This woman he had met a month before, and barely knew, was in prison for stabbing her ex-boyfriend in the heart with a knife. His knife. He wished with all his heart he’d never met her. Well, that was a lie. He wished with about half his heart he’d never met her. With the other half, he wished she was here with him now, safe and warm in his arms. He knew that was nothing but hormones, of course. Wasn’t it? Then why couldn’t he get her voice out of his head, and why did it bother him so damn much that right this moment, she was probably terrified and crying, and lonelier than he was?

#law & order svu #law & order: special victims unit #rafael barba #raul esparza #peter stone #olivia benson #mike dodds #law & order SVU Agent Dean Porter #Law & Order Nikki Staines

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simonjadis · 5 years ago

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No one’s experiences are universal, and there are a multitude of ways of telling queer stories , , ,

Personally, during high school, I experienced little to no homophobia (except from my dad). I “subtly” hooked up with a guy in the middle of an afterschool club when I was 15. I wore a dress with my Halloween costume my senior year. These were in 2003 and 2004 respectively (I’m 1000 years old), when noted war criminal George W Bush was making opposition to my rights as a human being a central platform of his reelection campaign (the rest was just name-dropping 9/11 every other word in his speeches to imply that opposition to him was unpatriotic). There were same-sex couples at school dances. One of our swim team’s top athletes was gay (he incidentally was killed a few years ago after heroically pushing people out of the way of a vehicle of armed people fleeing a shooting that they had committed).

(X)

But I went to a high school that was queer-friendly as well as racially and religiously diverce. My experience was neither universal nor typical of the time. Only when I went to college and met people who had experienced horrible bullying. I’ve met peole who had been kicked out of their homes or attacked by classmates or targeted for ridicule by teachers. In some cases, they experienced anti-queer bullying even without coming out, or even without being conscious that they were queer (denial is a hell of thing, and I’ve been there).

Their experiences are not universal, either. ALL of those experiences were real. It would therefore be realistic to give a fictional character any of those experiences.

But ...

I think that, first of all, there’s a difference between having, say, a bi main character and telling bi stories. Is your story about someone awakening and freeing an ancient lich to face a new threat that the current world cannot stop, and also that someone is bi and might have one or more datemates of any gender? great!

that’s not the same as telling, say, someone’s personal journey that is inherently about their bisexuality as they navigate life as a queer person in our world with the unique struggles and pitfalls that they might face

what I mean is that I, a white person, have many characters of color, but I would never try to tell the story of what it means to be a person of color. I simply do not feel that it is my place to write narratives about the transatlantic slave trade or jim crow or even more positive stories of what it means to be black. but telling a story about a black vampire or a latine with who lives in a floating crystal mountain or anything else is inclusion, rather than speaking over someone who could tell those stories more authentically

(also there’s a general pattern in hollywood of “black movies” so often being about slavery or jim crow, which is extremely limiting and while it’s out of my lane to lay out exactly why that sucks, plenty of actors and storytellers of color have already explained it; I wanted to list that example as something that I wouldn’t cover but I don’t want to conflate unique racial challenges with unique challenges of sexuality and gender, but I will remind everyone that a person can face both and so much more and still be a deeply realistic character)

there are also worldbuilding questions -- is there transphobia in a fantasy setting dominated by centaurs? is there homophobia on a space station in 2243? are there ace exclusionists in an undersea kingdom? I hope not, but maybe your story needs those. that’s a deeply personal choice on the part of any writer, and readers will have opinions in both directions

let’s say that you’re writing a story in an Earth-like setting and you want to include a realistic dose of homophobia. maybe even at a dramatic moment

think about how it might serve the story, or characterization. but also think about how your readers are going to feel

one suggestion is to remember that not all stories featuring homophobia have unhappy endings, as one bigoted bozo learned a couple of years ago

not everyone who is a target for bigotry has to come out of the situation worse for wear. seeing stories of marginalized people surviving and thriving can be so good.

I also want to note that sometimes a vicious (or especially over-the-top) bigoted attack in books can feel cheap or even deliberately emotional manipulative. there’s a difference between a queer 14-year-old writing fanfic about a character with whom they identify facing their struggles and being comforted by a romantic interest and an adult writing the exact same scenario . . . if that makes sense

as exhausting as it can be for marginalized communities to see their oppressors seemingly “follow” them into any piece of representation in media that they receive, sometimes that can lead to really powerful, cathartic moments, like this moment when a gay actor’s character tells a nazi exactly what he thinks of him

it’s true and he should say it

But again, whether your character, in our world or another, faces oppression for being queer has to make sense within the setting. it can be very realistic for a person in a homophobic world to avoid direct bigoted bullying entirely if they’re in the right environment within that world

I don’t normally say this, but ... Age-Appropriate Wolf did that well, with multiple adults at the school and among parents being queer-friendly

that show did most things wrong and got worse over time but I do give them points for making a high school without pervasive homophobia because it’s what they want to see in the world

It’s always up to the storyteller, and the audience will have opinions no matter what.

#anon #ask #anon ask #writing #representation

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dukeofriven · 5 years ago

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‘The AfD declares autistic climate activist to be “mentally challenged” and firms-up its campaign platform around the idea of publicly ridiculing a teenager.’ Throw their pathetic fear of a teen back in their faces. Mock them at every opportunity. Smear their faces in their own shit until they can’t breathe without opening their mouths to swallow it. Remind them always that they are small and weak and frightened by a 15 year old - jeer them, giggle in their presence them, howl with laughter every time they try and pass their crayon scrawl as policy. Make their every waking second a taunting Mean Girls hell in which they can never be free of the knowledge that everyone knows they’re nothing but a pathetic joke. And every time they try and draw strength from that, to try and don the mantle of the oppressed underdog, punch them in the nose and remind them that their bodies are as fragile as their egos and their ideas. Push them down again and again and again. Whisper in their ear that their Nazis forebears used to get treated like this - until one day they found the courage to stand up for themselves and their beliefs and fight. And then they lost. And then we killed them. And then we displayed their bloated corpses for all the world to jeer. And then we destroyed everything they had built and they were powerless to stop us because these failed, pathetic losers put their faith in beliefs that were wrong. Demonstrably false. Literally untrue. The Reich to last a thousand years never grew old enough to get a driver’s license. The Nazis who were humiliated in the Beer Hall Putsch vowed that from that day forward no one would ever treat them like that again. But we did. Because they’re losers who fail. These are people whose ideology gives them cover for advocating some of the most heinous acts this earth has ever seen. The alt-right, whether they openly identify as Nazis or not, are Nazis, and are in accord with the exact same belief system that advocated for genocide, racial supremacy, patriarchy, antiquated conservatism, and other such debunked delusions even if they distance themselves from the Nazi label. When someone’s ideology gives them cover for being a piece of shit like that then you should oblige and treat them as such. Drag them into the nearest restroom and give them a couple swirlies -shit belongs in the toilet, after all. Alright. Despite my bellicose rhetoric above I am a pacifist at heart - violence ultimately begets more violence. So don’t let them drown. Don’t break any bones. Don’t go pulling off fingers the way you might the wings of a tiny, helpless, pathetic, utterly incapable-of-fighting-back mosquito before carelessly squashing it with the tip of the nail on your pinkie finger. Even though you could. Easily. It would not be hard.

But there’s a difference between perpetuating a cycle of violence by starting a blood feud or spending decades abusing someone emotionally and physically and dragging someone who said “you’re a weak effeminate pansy degenerate who wouldn't exist in our pure society and its not hate speech to want a country for white straight men and women with shared moral values” into a park bathroom and demonstrating certain inaccuracies of that argument by clamming their heads into the urinal and forcing them to eat a urinal cake. It’s not the most intellectually robust rebuttal, but you could rephrase “you’re a weak effeminate pansy degenerate who wouldn't exist in our pure society” as “you’re a stinky doo doo head who sucks and when I grow up I’m gonna be strong enough to throw you into space.” They’re functionally identical in terms of tone, content, self-aggrandizement, and mental acuity. There is no intellectually appropriate response to that kind of infantile argument - these are not intelligent people. I don’t mean ‘lacking in formal education.’ I mean they’re stupid. ‘Burn the blankets to warm the bed’ stupid. Leibowitzian ‘Proud To Be A Cretin’ stupid. ‘Smart Men Stay Ignorant; Leaning’s For Libs’ stupid. Their positions should not be treated as intellectually valid out of a misguided belief that a good intellectual should be open-minded to every idea every time it’s proposed. Sure, absolute-free-speech defenders always willing to normalize Nazi “discourse”, I’ll concede that the world-is-flat guy might have had a right to explain what his beliefs were. In 5000 BC, When nobody had heard them before and we didn’t know what he was going to say. Eight thousand years later, though, indulging his ancestor who’s just going to repeat the same points that were wrong eight millennia ago is lunacy.

A good intellectual knowns when something isn’t worth their time and acts accordingly. Sometimes this means not letting someone fill the air with hate speech out of slavish obligation to letter of freedom of expression instead of its spirit (when someone is granted the freedom to debate the idea that everyone who disagrees with them should be purged, you only harm freedom, not celebrate it.) Sometimes this means force-feeding an advocate of genocide a tasty lunchtime treat of urine and quaternary ammonium compounds while cheerfully wondering aloud what might happen if there’s still unswallowed cake in their mouth and you need to resolve certain biological necessities.

The first mistake we ever made with the alt-right was to leave the whoopee cushion at home, when we should have attended their every rally with an armful and play them constantly every time they tried to speak. “There’s nothing wrong with saying I’m pr-THPPTPHTPHPHHPH proud to be THPPTPHTPHPHHPH be white and to stand up for THPPTPHTPHPHHPH the achieveTHPPTPHTPHPHHPHments of the whitTHPPTPHTPHPHHPH of the whTHPPTPHTPHPHHPH white THPPTPHTPHPHHPH white raTPHRRURURURPHH-P-P-P- whiP-P-P-P whP-P-P whiteP-P-P-P WHITE RACTRRHPRPRP-P-P ... ... ... *cough* ... ... WHITE POWFFFFWWWPWPPRPRPRPRPRPRSQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAKTRRRHHPPPP-PPP-RPPP-PPP-P-P-P-PLIPPPP-THRP plip! We should attend their rallies and events with boxes of red noses, rainbow wigs, and buckets of greasepaint and throw ourselves upon them until we’ve forced them into wearing their true colours. Remember: every SS officer who looked so forbidding in their tailored uniform stank of their own disgusting sweat because all that blackened leather couldn’t breathe and every SS trooper standing in that imposing formation was broiling in their own filth. Nothing but bozos in fetish gear. The vaunted Wehrmacht had their uniforms rot off their bodies in the snows of Stalingrad as they had to strip the dead for scraps and rags, freezing to death, starving to death, because Hitler - the great genius who personally involved himself with the running of his forces almost to a tactical level - he didn’t think they needed to be resupplied. The Nazis lost. The Nazis lost so badly their monuments were ground into dust, their leaders bodies destroyed or abandoned in the mud, the dreams of Germania proven nothing but a dusty model in a museum devoted to cursing the Nazi’s memory. Nothing but a shrine to hubris and grossly over-estimating your own abilities. The legacy of the Nazis is humiliation, shame, and utter fucking failure. Neo-Nazis, this ‘new’ alt-right whose philosophies are all old, have as their heroes men who did nothing but fail, who achieved nothing but to have their life’s work expunged, debased, destroyed, and condemned by the world not just in their time but for generations after. Not misunderstood geniuses but understood buffoons. Never, ever, let them forget this - and never, ever let them try to turn it into a virtue. No ‘we shall rise again’ narratives. No abyss-to-transformation in some bullshit Cambellian hero’s journey. Their past was not a defeat to inspire them to future victory. They are not the underprivileged hurdle jumper who against all odds and obstacles wins gold at the Olympics, they’re the guy on your track team who once pushed so hard on a door marked pull that he fell through the glass and had to get ten stitches, the guy who got so drunk at an out-of-town meet that he shat his bed at the hotel and tried to hide the dirty sheets in his bags and stunk-up the bus ride home until Coach found out and chewed him out in front of the entire team for being the biggest fucking tool in the whole wide world. Not the guy who was a loner in high school but who found like-minded friends in college, started a cool band where they sang about their sucky pasts, and wound-up a rich and famous with legions of adoring fans. Nah, they’re the guy who was a loner in high school, and in college, and in the job at the napkin distribution company, the guy who retired without a party, spent weeks at a time with no one to talk to, and ultimately died alone - not because he was socially awkward or shy or struggled to communicate, but because he was really unpleasant to be around and even those virtuous folk who try and make sure that nobody is lonely gave up on him because he was such a nasty, loathsome, turd of a human being whose only impact on the world was that he improved it by leaving it. That’s the past of the Nazis. That, too, is their future. Never let them forget this. Their past should embarrass them. Mortify them. There’s is the ideology of pathetic losers. When you march against them, raise high above your heads images of Nazi Germany - not rigid columns of well-armed soldiers or shining tanks rolling off the lines, but the images of their ineptitude. The shuffling columns of defeated, broken men. Their burnt tanks, their downed planes, their sunken ships, their pulverized cities, and all the equipment abandoned in panicked withdrawals or through sheer bureaucratic incompetence. Show images of Jews defiant, the simple act of their still drawing breath spit in the eye of those who thought to see them erased. Humiliate the Nazis again and again and again. They. Failed. The Jews endured, survived, flourished - won. The conquered nations of Europe rebuilt their cultural wonders and their ruined homes and brought back their stolen treasures. They won. The disposed Roma preserved their ways of life despite the will of an entire conquering empire set against them. They won too. The queer communities persecuted for their ‘deviancy’ not only survived they reshaped the post-war world into a place that could no longer sideline them in history. Another victory. The Nazis lost. The Nazi’s failed so completely that they lost not only the territory they had tried to gain but their own nation lay shattered at their feet - politically, socially, economically, spiritually. The Great and Powerful Nazi Party so failed its own people that Germany was sundered into West Germany, East Germany, and Eastern Prussia, promptly swallowed whole by the Societs - the trauma from that lingers generations on. The Nazis not only failed to achieve any of their goals - they failed in the promise made by any such ideology: in joining us we will protect you. They did not just fail to make Germany greater, they literally destroyed it, and left it in pieces. So when you march against the alt-right, these neo-Nazis, Hoist photos of the bloated corpses of the hanged at Nuremberg - their swollen faces distorted in death. Chant the cry “Morons, Not Martyrs!” Remind every alt-right shit-eating soul that they were nothing, are nothing, will always be nothing but failures, losers, and followers of stupid, incompetent, incapable fools. They were, are, shall always, can only ever be wrong. “These are your role models? This is your dream? Failures! Failures! Failures!” “Be A Nazi To Lose It All” Do not, for a single solitary second, treat their ideas as grown-up. Do not, for a moment, give them the cover of adulthood, maturity, or sober discourse. Do not, for one second of time, treat them with respect so long as they seek to hold power over you, to be feared by you, to be thought of as an enemy and not something foul but forgettable to be scrapped off your shoe. Never give them an inch of fear to feed their starving egos. The man who said that rocks were soft as butter and as edible as custard would be given no weight as a person of substantive ideas - Nazis deserve the same derision. And do not allow them a moment of privacy to brood on the indignities you heap upon them, to be like a teen sulking in their bedroom crafting fantasies about how one day they’ll be proven right and everyone will be sorry. Drag them out into the light again and again and again, give them no moment of peace, allow no instant of time to pass when you are not holding images of their ideology’s worthlessness and failure above their heads. No hiding. No sulking. No second to plot or brood or dream. Stake them to the earth, keep them forever in the light, and pummel them with pie until even they can not deny that they are nothing but clowns worthy only of mockery, ridicule, and endless savage laughter.

#climate change #germany #afd #alternative für deutschland (afd)#greenpeace #environment #nazis #alt-right #greta thunberg #neo-nazis #Hitler #Mean Girls #fart sounds #eat shit and die #long post #autism #tw anti-autism

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sunlitroom · 7 years ago

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Gotham s4, e20 - That Old Corpse

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham:

Lee and Ed very likely defiled a gameshow wheel. Lee wants to make sure her people are safe! Jim's looking for Ed Nygma. Lee wants to catch the real criminals who are making money off the backs of the poor. I'd ask how she thinks Mario's med school fees were paid, but that would be mean. Oswald doesn't like being locked in a vault. Lee got arrested. Jeremiah vs Jerome, who’s more than a man - he's an idea. Don't open sinister presents. Burn it down, brother

As always, long post will be long. There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot might appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

A cold and grey-looking graveyard. A breeze blows a flier with Jerome's face on it, which comes to rest against a headstone – Jerome’s headstone – which bears the legend: Second Time’s the Charm!

Brothers and sisters!

There’s an obnoxious guy leading proceedings - one of Jerome’s cultish followers, and some equally obnoxious but apparently less ambitious acolytes milling. Jerome’s followers are wildly annoying – which is possibly why he was always so happy to use them as cannon fodder.

They begin their usual spiel – but are interrupted by a motorbike. The rider alights – and we see that they are dressed as a jester.

The leader tries to throw his weight around, saying that this affair is invitation only. Yep – that’s really true to Jerome’s legacy of chaos. RSVP. What a tool this guy is.

The jester shrugs and the bells tinkle. There’s some laughter – but obnoxious man tells them that they’re welcome to stay, but won't be leaving. He throws a knife, which the jester deflects, before sounding a klaxon and playing a message from Jerome through a megaphone.

Why so sad, bozos? You think they could get rid of me so easily? Well – they did.

However, he tells them not to dwell on negatives – but throw one last party. First thing on the list – dig up his body.

The jester watches as the acolytes do as they’re told.

At GCPD - Jim looks somber, peering through the glass panel at the top of the door to the interview where Lee waits at a table.

Harvey asks what he’s going to do – and implied that Jim could just let her go. Jim refuses. Harvey says that she only robbed a dirty bank - people get away with a lot worse. Jim replies that doesn’t make it right. Harvey’s tone is more urgent when he reminds Jim that

We got away with worse – both of us

Jim loses his temper and snarls at Harvey that he doesn't need that crap thrown in his face right now. Yeah – Jim. Nasty old consequences. Such a drag.

He then tells Harvey to get out – which he does.

Jim enters the room. Lee barely glances at him

So you finally nabbed me, copper

That was a very Ed-esque remark. Jim asks her what the hell she’s doing. Lee remarks that she doesn’t suppose that anyone expected their story to end here. Jim asks if it is ending – and she asks him what’s left. She doesn’t sound resigned, in the sense that she wishes things were different – more just….done.

Jim says he wants to help. If she gives up Ed and returns the money, then she can get supervised probation. Lee refuses to give Ed up.

Jim is struggling to keep hold of his temper. He says he knows her, and this is just her way of helping people – he understands that, the appeal of being Robin Hood.

Lee says he wishes could he could help like she does - without the straitjacket of the law. Jim yells the law lost meaning because people like Lee abandoned it

Lee tells him to send her to Blackgate

Jim yells that he doesn’t want to – and that he wants to let her go, but he can’t.

Lee says that if he lets her go, then he could let himself go. Jim goes into a misty reverie about the things he wishes he could change – things he’s done. Lee says Jim? in a concerned tone – which was basically her plotline for two whole seasons

Jim is interrupted by Harvey – telling him something has come up, and leaves.

The something turns out to be a present from Jerome – a video. Harvey asks if Jerome is definitely dead – to which Lucius gives a hearty yes.

They play the tape. It’s apparently Jerome’s last will and testament. He plays up to the camera a bit

I hope I gave as good as I got, and left ample carnage in my wake

He has one last request – a wake at GCPD. He tells them not to worry about planning, he sent invitations.

Jerome laughs on the screen. Harvey says he doesn't like the sound of that – and we hear a mob approaching. Jim, Lucius and Harvey put the station on lockdown, as Jerome’s followers try to surge up the stairs.

Ed holds court in the Narrows. He’s also wearing boots that look almost exactly like the ones I got from TopShop.

Five or so Narrows’ residents are there. They want Lee freed – since she’s helped them out so much. Ed tells them tersely that no-one cares about the fate of Lee Thompkins more than he does – which is why he’s not just letting them bumble in. He has no intention of leaving her in the sweaty palms of Jim Gordon – that overgrown boy scout.

If it were up to him, he continues, Jim would be off the field – but Lee prefers non-lethal methods. So – he will create a team, and extract her with surgical precison.

He gives one follower the specific task of assisting Jim – should he get into trouble. They’ll carry out their plan, and then get back to counting the huge pile of money we see on the table. Breaking Lee out will be a piece of cake.

GCPD. Jim is phoning Alfred to ask where Bruce is. Alfred tells him that Bruce is meeting with Jeremiah to discuss the energy generators. Jim says Jerome's followers are rioting – and Alfred immediately begins preparing lots of guns. He says that Bruce is maybe safest in the maze – but he’ll head there anyway.

We hear a thumping noise in the background. It’s a battering ram. Jim hangs up on Alfred, and tells Harvey to open up the armoury.

Jerome’s lead follower continues to aggravate.

Jim tells Harvey not to direct everything at them. Dead or alive – Jerome likes to use distractions. This is just a diversion from another target. Jim aims to play him at his own game. Harvey is reluctant to run – but Jim tells him to let them take the station, tire themselves out – then they’ll surrpund the station and take them out.

It's so nice when Jim gets to think. Also I got very distracted by his eyelashes in this scene, which are very blond and pretty.

Harvey asks if he has a plan. Jim says he has, but it’s sketchy.

Bruce and Jeremiah are at Jeremiah’s maze home. Bruce is praising Jeremiah’s invention. He promptly gives a demonstration – using it to power the maze off-grid. Jeremiah looks to Bruce for approval, which he gives – excited about the possibilities.

He also says he wants Wayne Enterprises to move forward as quickly as possible with this- but Jeremiah suddenly seems nervous. He says it needs to be secret, and that it’s the ones closest to you that you have to keep your eye on - he knows better than anyone.

Arkham sent Jeremiah Jerome’s personal effects, whih apparently included his diary, which he’s now showing Bruce. It contains his fantasies and goals – his whole twisted vision. There’s lots of gory sketches.

Bruce looks at Jeremiah with concern

Maybe you shouldn't spend so much time reading it

Apparently Jerome’s favourite plan was torturing and murdering Jim, Bruce, and Jeremiah. Bruce puts a hand on the page to stop Jeremiah’s increasingly manic babbling. He tells Jeremiah his brother his dead, and he needs to leave his bunker and join the world.

Jeremiah mutters that he has difficulty believing Jerome is dead. Meantime, Bruce’s phone rings – Alfred, warning him about Jerome’s followers. Bruce tries to keep a casual face and non-committal answers – and tells Jeremiah that the call was just about lunch plans.

Jeremiah eyes him oddly – vaguely hurt incredulity.

That was a lie - you're lying to me, Bruce

Bruce immediately owns up and apologises – telling Jeremiah what’s really going on. Jeremiah is instantly fearful – saying that Jerome isn’t dead after all, and is coming after him.

This is taking forever – so - in short - Alfred is attacked at Wayne Manor. It sounds bad.

Jeremiah is pacing, as Bruce tries to calm him. He says he’s not like himself, not thinking clearly. Jeremiah confesses the truth about the gas. Bruce back a way a little, but stops. Jeremiah says he keeps seeing Jerome clawing his way out of the grave, coming for him and Bruce. He knows it’s not real, but it feels real – and he can’t control himself.

Bruce asks what if he could show him Jerome dead and buried. Jeremiah asks how – and Bruce suggests going to his grave. This has all gone a bit Wuthering Heights. Bruce tells him Jeremiah took away his greatest strength – his mind. Reality will free him of the trap.

Jeremiah says that if he thinks that would work, then he'll try

You're a good friend, Bruce.

At GCPD – the battering ram is still being deployed on the door. Jim tries to usher Lee out of the station, but she pulls away from him.

She wants to know what he was trying to tell him before. She alse tells him to come to the Narrows – and make a real difference. I’m enjoying Lee way more this season – but this just sounds pretty infantile. What will Jim do there, exactly? How is it better than what he does at GPPD? Does Lee just believe in vigilante justice now? Bank robbing is OK? Lee’s vision for the city is as unworkable and chaotic as Jerome’s.

Before he can get her out, the door is broken down – and the acolytes pour in. He hands Lee to Alvarez, gets up on a table and yells to hold fire. Looking round, though, he puts his plan in action – and yells that there’s too many of them: they need to fall back.

Lee looks round, but is shoved into a wall, and knocked out.

Jim heads to the locker room – followed by some of the acolytes. I have quite a big crush on Jim on this episode. Is it because he got to be thoughtful and clever? Is it because his blue suit brings out his colouring? His eyelashes? Who knows.

One goon who approaches Jim says he’ll carve him up. Harvey and Harper appear in the doorway behind them – and ask if they like to dance, tasing them. Jim grins.

In the kitchen at Wayne Manor, we see a pool of blood on the floor, and Alfred’s phone ringing out.

Back with Bruce and Jeremiah at the graveyard. Jeremiah asks if there’s something wrong, but Bruce says that Alfred would have headed to the office and waited for them there.

Jeremiah is jumpy. We hear crows and spooky whistling wind sounds. I like crow noise. It makes me feel calm. There’s also thunder in the distance. This graveyard is pretty heavy on the atmospheric ambient sound.

As we near Jerome’s gravestone – we see that the grave is empty. Bruce says the followers must have dug him up – but Jeremiah panics and runs, with Bruce following.

Oswald is eating dinner and watching cartoons. Butch snatches his food away, and Oswald asks how long these petty aggressions will continue. Butch says they’re not petty. Oswald asks if he’s supposed to starve while he guesses.

Butch says that Oswald said that if he joined him – they’d be back on top. Instead, they were grubbing around for Jerome and played by Nygma. He adds that Oswald also said that if he joined him, he’d find a cure. Oswald admits that - through no fault of his own - advancement has not run apace

Butch says they’re squatting and robbing liquor stores while everyone else is carving up Sofia’s turf. Oswald somewhat unconvincingly says they’re waiting until more obvious players show their hand

Butch grabs Oswald and says he will crush his windpipe if he doesn’t get what he wants. Oswald wriggles, looking fearful – but then his attention is caught by the TV, and he tells Butch to shush – he senses an opportunity. It’s the news about Jerome’s followers laying siege to GCPD.

Oswald laughs and points. Butch doesn’t understand his excitement, but Oswald tells him that confusion is an opportunity for the clear headed. Someone is showing their cards, and he’s going to take a peek.

(An aside - with potential spoilers, so be warned.......

One of the suggested options for a big betrayal in the finale is that Oswald will get hold of Hugo Strange, but will want Butch to be turned back into Grundy. I'm kind of.... not feeling this pushes Oswald into the irredeemable category they warn us about every season.

First of all - it sort of overestimates how much I care about Butch. Secondly - we saw how Oswald approached Butch initially. He wanted a return to the old days. He referred to Butch as his second-in-command. He was, for Oswald, friendly - not half as peremptory as we've seen him with other colleagues.

In return, Butch threatened him and choked him. He's continued to threaten him. Oswald's not the architect of his troubles - that would Ed - back when he stitched Butch up in s3; Barbara - when she shot him, and Tabitha - who rejected him. On top of that - he's somehow managed to shift complete responsibility for his cure onto Oswald. Mate - if you despise him that much, then don't work with him at all. Go solve your own problems. Bluntly, I kind of feel he's made his own bed here. If he had been reasonable from the outset, I don't honestly think Oswald would have chosen this path: he'd just have been relieved to have an ally. But - still traumatised after the physical abuse and torment that he endured in Arkham, I can understand how Oswald's response to more threats and violence might be to neutralise the threat completely.)

Outside GCPD, we can see that Ed's assistant watches Jim from a distance. Harvey and Jim have the leader guy in the boot of Harvey’s car – and are interrogating him with the help of a taser. Jim tells Harvey to ease off since the press are there – and lowers the boot a little to hide what they’re doing, while telling the guy to spill or he’ll stop worrying about his safety.

The guy caves and says they’re too late anyway – Jeremiah and Bruce will already be dead. Jim runs off to the bunker, while Harvey keeps tasing away.

Ed approaches with his band of Narrows’ residents. One looks up at him

Trouble, Mr Riddler?

Ed nods, as he realises prisoners have already been removed. He spots a nearby van – and thinks this might be easier than planned.

He flings the doors open. A random prisoner is overjoyed

It’s the Riddler! We're saved!

Ed scowls – and asks how they got out. The man tells him that it was through the old service door. Ed promptly closes the van door – and comments that they’ll have to improvise.

We need to find a costume shop!

The van door opens again – this time revealing Oswald and Butch.

It’s the Penguin! We’re saved!

Oswald makes the best ‘no’ face ever at the man – and simply points to the leader, who Harvey presumably deposited there after he got tired of tasing him.

Butch lifts him, and they leave.

A fed-up looking prisoner turns to the optimistic prisoner.

You ever get tired being wrong?

At GCPD – Lee takes in the chaos, and then slips away elsewhere in the station.

Bruce has followed Jeremiah into a crypt. He tells him they need to leave – and they’re not safe here. Jeremiah tells him Jerome is alive, and asks him how can trust him if he won’t believe him. Bruce tells him that he’s his friend. Jeremiah replies that he wants him to be his friend, and that he doesn’t know what it was like – living underground for all those years, and then Bruce came along, offering him everything he ever dreamed of.

Bruce and Jeremiah have a brief, heartfelt conversation about how Bruce believes in him, and how they could achieve great things together.

Bruce says, though, that they have to get out of the cemetery. Jeremiah seems confused by this, then paranoid. He shoots at Bruce’s feet, as it slowly becomes apparent he thinks Bruce is actually Jerome – wearing a mask. He orders Bruce to turn around and – grabbing him – accuses him of killing his friend Bruce, and tells him he’ll put him in the grave.

Chaos at GCPD. Ed has managed to sneak inside, dressed in a clown outfit. He makes his way to the Medical Examiner’s room – which is a little nod to Ed and Lee’s shared background at GCPD.

However – Lee has been lurking behind the door in case of intruders, and promptly wallops him over the back of the head with something heavy. On realising it’s Ed she’s knocked out – she exclaims, and bends down to check on him.

Jim is in the maze - looking for Bruce and Jeremiah. In the central office, he looks at the generator, and looks over the plans. In the background – a monitor flicks on. Jim approaches it warily.

At the graveyard, Jeremiah is walking Bruce to Jerome’s grave. Bruce tries to reason with him – but they stop short when they see Jerome’s corpse propped against the grave.

On-screen, we see Jerome – who bids Jim howdy. He says he’s still dead – this is just some posthumous fun. He knew Jim would see through his shenanigans, and wanted him here all along. We hear a sound – and see that the jester has a gun to Jim’s head. Jerome laughs.

At the graveyard – Bruce still tried to reason with Jeremiah, telling him that someone is tormenting him. Jeremiah, however, seems to have completely snapped. He says he’s a man of science. He takes out a switchblade – and says that he can provide evidence, slashing towards Bruce.

Back with Jim. Jerome tells him not to mind Ecco. She’s just there to make sure he doesn’t talk during the movie – he needs to pay attention so the plot makes sense.

Suddenly, Jerome is grabbed by a pair of hands belonging to someone off-camera. He begins comedy choking. Jim takes advantage of this – and begins to fight Ecco.

Cut to Jeremiah fighting Bruce, yelling about peeling off this grotesque facade

Cuts between all the fights. Jim unmasks Ecco. Jerome is still being choked on screen. We pan to the other screen – and see that the choking hands belong to….Jerome. He turns to the camera and comments that suicide takes it out of a guy – as he begins to peel his scarring away.

At the graveyard, where Bruce and Jeremiah are fighting. Bruce pleads with him, as some acolytes haul him off, that he can’t let Jerome win.

Jeremiah straightens up – suddenly calm

Jerome beat me? That'll be the day

The follower beside Jeremiah calls out long live Jerome

There’s scattered laughing that doesn’t last long, since Jeremiah shoots that follower in the head. He remains icily calm throughout.

Jerome victorious? Are you serious? He's dead. Haven’t you been paying attention?

He removes glasses to wipe the blood spatter from his face, as he does – his normal complexion wipes off, revealing chalk white skin below.

We cut back to the screen with Jim – who watches as ‘Jerome’ wipes his face clean.

The graveyard – where Jeremiah kicks Jerome into the open grave

I'm the one who's victorious.

Back to Jim, staring at the screen

Jerome is dead. Long live me

We see the scarring was only makeup – and it’s actually Jeremiah. This is exactly how white I Iooked when I tried Paula’s Choice physical sunscreen. Do not recommend.

At the graveyard, Bruce is led away. Jeremiah says that the insanity gas failed. There were cosmetic effects, but Jerome may as well have sprayed him with water.

Madness is feeble compared with greatness

He says that he is the face of true sanity. He read the compendium of Jerome's obsessions and goals, and will outdo him. He wanted to turn Gotham into a madhouse - but to truly build, you must first tear down.

Back with Jim. On-screen Jeremiah apologises for the inconvenience. He comments that his generator can store phenomenal energy, but will overload.

The graveyard. Bruce tells Jeremiah the gas worked – why else would he be entertaining Jerome’s plans? Jeremiah points to the book, and tells Bruce that Jerome wanted to slather him in honey and have him eaten alive by corpse beetles. That’s… kinda pervy, Jerome. Unimpressed – Jeremiah remarks that is mad. If he wanted to kill him, he’d just do it. Shoot him in the head - simply and sanely

Bruce tries to interrupt him, but Jeremiah sails on. He says he doesn’t want to kill Bruce.

The followers grumble. He asks if they’re going to listen, or behave like children. He turns back to Bruce.

I want to show how much we've changed things. I couldn't have done it without your help. He smiles.

Back to Jim. The generator hums ominously.

That sound you're hearing - that is a very bad sound. It makes you something of a guinea pig, Jim.

The graveyard. Jeremiah tell Bruce he’s indebted to him. The generators work even better as bombs

Back to Jim – who hits the emergency button under Jeremiah’s desk and runs out into the corridor.

Outside GCPD - Harvey says it’s time to take their house back. However, before they can do anything – there’s a huge explosion in the distance.

Back to the graveyard, where the explosion is also visible. Bruce stares at Jeremiah

One down. Jim Gordon is dead

Bruce screams no, and struggles. It’s nice to get the reminder of Bruce as the boy whose first instinct around Jim was usually to try to hug him.

Yes, Bruce - sorry - progress requires sacrifice

Bruce says he’ll stop him. Jeremiah replies that he really hopes he won’t try. He’d hate to kill him and can honestly say that Bruce is his very best friend.

He punctuates this remark with a backhand that knocks Bruce unconscious, right into the grave beside Jerome.

Oswald and Butch, and the annoying Jerome cult leader. Oswald tells him that he wants to know with a minimum of fuss what he and his cohort are really up to.

The leader isn’t the brightest spark in the fire – and just mouths the usual rhetoric.

I’ll never betray the memory of Jerome!

Oswald rolls his eyes. He doesn’t expect him to betray the memory of that old corpse. He wants to know who he’s currently following. Oswald – with Oswald’s knack for sensing a shift in power – has figured out that there’s something different about this latest behaviour, but hasn’t realised that the followers themselves are unaware of this.

The follower offers another long live Jerome!

Oswald throws his hands up, irritated, and sits down.

Butch chips in – asking if he’s staring at him. He says that sometimes he catches a glimpse of himself and it scares him too. You’re just pale, Butch. Jeremiah is managing to work it.

He then gets threatening – saying it makes him angry. And the longer he’s like this – the angrier he gets. He adds that the follower is preventing him from finding the cure – and that makes him very angry.

A bored Oswald asks him if his plan is to gain his sympathy by reciting his tale of woe. Butch says no – he just wanted to make him pee his pants in terror. He then suggests sticking chicken bones up his nose until he squawks, which he proceeds to do.

Here comes the wishbone train!

Oswald does his little train mime again, from back in season one.

Woowoo!

The medical examiner’s room. An unconscious Ed has his head resting on Lee’s lap – I think.

The smartest man in Gotham and you let heart do the thinking

She slaps his face to bring him round.

Ow!

Were you awake this whole time?

He was apparently – and is beaming at Lee calling him the smartest man in Gotham. He sits up, and they both kneel on the floor, facing each other.

She tells him that there better things to aspire to. Smiling, he says he does aspire to them, very much.

She tells him to be himself – the guy who can let go of the past and change: she likes that guy.

He smiles at her. She asks if he has a clown costume for her. He says that while he’d be into that – he’d brought her a gasmask, since the cavalry will be coming very soon.

The dregs of the party at GCPD is dispersed when they throw in some tear gas. Good show.

Ed and Lee head out through some kind of side door, hiding under a staircase as cops file in. They’re standing very close. Lee is eyeing Ed like he’s edible – and then grabs him, hauling him in for a kiss, which he reciprocates. They break apart. We get a slightly ominous tone of music as Ed tells her not just to wrap him round her finger. It’s gone, though, as she smiles at him and tells him

Come on – let’s run

Harvey hits a random passing acolyte for taking a leak on his desk, and offers a beer to Harper. He says the chaos reminds him of his first apartment at Crown Point – where he still lives. Lucius approaches, and tells them where the explosion took place – the bunker, where Jim was headed.

A corridor at Wayne Enterprises. Jeremiah approaches. A guard asks if he’s alone or with Bruce. Jeremiah replies that he’s not alone – and we see Ecco is with him. He’s in full Joker-style garb now. They quickly kill the guards and steal a clearance card.

Entering the room – we see lots of his generators.

Look at these – the gifts of true friendship

He tells Ecco they’ll load them on trucks – and give the city a new face.

General Observations

The big tour de force here is the foundation that’s built for what will be one of the most abiding and strangest relationships of Bruce’s life – his interactions with the soon-to-be Joker.

I do think the set-up is effective. It’s poignant in that they’re two people who could have been friends, could have meant a lot to each other. Bruce wants friendship and connection. Jeremiah is quiet, and clever, and his upbringing has been as odd as Bruce’s in many ways.

For his part – much as he was to Jerome – Bruce is a proxy brother to Jeremiah (Gotham does love its proxy families). Just as Bruce did for Jerome what Jeremiah didn’t do – came back to rescue him from his abusive uncle – he gives Jeremiah the companionship and support he needs.

Now that Jeremiah is what Jerome made him – Bruce remains paramount in his mindset, although the relationship is now forever twisted. We know Bruce felt guilty about Jerome’s destructiveness, and equally unable to leave him to his abusive uncle. It’s likely that the glimpse of might-have-been he’s had with Jeremiah will mean he’s equally unable to give up on him - both his sense of responsibility for the devastation he wants to cause, and the faint hope that he can be cured and redeemed.

It's irritating that an episode that has some amazing moments - the simultaneous fight scene, for example, and this set-up for Bruce and the Joker's weird relationship, and an amazing performance by CM - also contains some examples of one of Gotham's old problems: the seeming forgetfulness of what's happened in previous episodes, which leads to inconsistencies and messy loose ends. So, for example….

Jim flies off the handle at the notion that Harvey is referencing Pyg when he mentions that things that both of them have got away with in the past. However, not only are there many other things Harvey might have been referring to - but both Jim and Harvey seemed fairly settled and stoic on the Pyg issue. Jim's sudden flash of temper seemed out of place - like some of the development in recent episodes hadn't happened.

Both Jim and Harvey seemingly have a case of amnesia regarding Lee's attempted murder of Sofia Falcone. She's not just misguidedly trying to do good in the Narrows. She shot someone in the head. Have they written that off? Covered it up? Forgotten about it? I have no idea - because it's just not touched on at all here. I know Lee outright confessed it to Jim just last week - has he forgotten about it since then? Has he just decided not to chase this up?

Why is Oswald squatting in Sofia's mansion? Is he still officially on the run? Is this the continuation of Jim's decision not to re-arrest him? If he's hidden Martin away somewhere - how will he clear his name? Is he hiding because Falcone loyalists are likely staking out his home? If Sofia's turf is being carved up - why was her home left uninhabited? Is it being carved up because she orchestrated the murder of her father's old capos - leaving herself without allies? On that note - Victor isn't doing anything about this disrespect?

Why is Lee's curiosity suddenly piqued by Jim's almost confession? She found out, episodes ago, that Jim must have had dealings with Sofia. She knew he must have been up to his neck in dodgy dealings, but didn't care about that beyond being willing to sell him out to save her own people. Why is she now behaving like Jim having a guilty secret might be news, or of interest? It wasn't before.

The best part of this week was the stuff with Jeremiah and Bruce - because it was consistent to what we know of their personalities. Bruce wants to help people - on a small and a grand scale. He wants to share Jeremiah's invention because it can do good, but he also wants to help Jeremiah himself. He also likes him, and wants to be friends. Jeremiah (even after whatever the gas did) wants Bruce's admiration and friendship. His actions - although now hopelessly poisoned - are all tangled up in that. What they do here is rooted in their characterisation - and so it works. As for everyone else......

Thoughts?

#gotham commentary #that old corpse #gotham s4e20

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star-trekkin-across-theuniverse · 7 years ago

Note

Congrats on 1600 followers!!!! Can I please request a drabble of watching Pride and Prejudice (the bbc version) with Bucky? Thank you much!!!

“Fitzwilliam Darcy,” you announced over dinner with the Avengers. Okay, the entire sentence was surreal when you thought about it. You’d been hired as a contractor because of your expertise in lightweight impact resistant fabrics, and once Tony Stark had you on his payroll as a contractor, he started the process of seducing you onto the team as a regular employee. It hadn’t taken long after he made his first salary offer for you to jump at the idea. Benefits, vacation, a 401k to die for. And access to the famed Stark Industries labs.

Tony swore you’d already paid for yourself after you invented a new ultra-lightweight fabric that not only was bulletproof but was crush resistant, meaning the wearer couldn’t be squished like a bug under a falling building, which seemed an alarmingly common risk for the heroes you worked for.

Dinner was a celebration of that achievement. The whole team was together to celebrate the fabric, which had passed every test you’d been able to throw at it with ease. Clint’s regular arrows had bounced off it, his exploding arrows had stained it black in places, but the responsive dummy in the suit had no noted injuries. Natasha couldn’t stab it, Steve couldn’t damage it with the shield, Tony was unable to blast it into space with his repulsors. The hammer freaking bounced off it with a funny clanging noise, Wanda tried to use her brain to crush it with no success, and Vision used that freaky beam that came out of his forehead to try to fry it. It made a cool sizzling noise, but otherwise hadn’t been affected. Finally, Steve persuaded Bucky to accept the challenge of attacking the fabric. Even his powerful metal hand had been unable to rend, tear or otherwise damage it. It was impervious to everything.

And so, dinner and celebrating. The conversation turned to movies, as it always seemed to. There were just so many great films that both Steve and Bucky had missed, that there was always something new to suggest. You’d never had much to add to the conversation. You preferred books to movies, and every time you thought of a movie to suggest, the guys had already seen it. Steve had embarrassed you by sitting you down to watch Star Wars when you admitted you’d never seen it as a kid.

Tonight, however, the conversation had turned from movies to great movie heroes, and you felt you actually could contribute to that conversation. Which lead back to you announcing the name of your favourite male lead of all time.

“Fitzwilliam Darcy?” Clint asked, looking confused.

“You don’t mean that insufferable ass from Pride and -” Tony started.

“Rich, clever, single, women constantly chasing after him?” You interrupted with a quirked eyebrow. “I sure do. You guys have a lot in common, Tony, you might learn something from the imperious Mr. Darcy.”

“Imperious? And yet he’s your favourite?” Steve asked.

“He develops a lot through the book,” you excused quickly.

“We are talking about movies, Y/N!” Clint protested.

“Oh, but there’s a number of Pride and Prejudice movies,” Natasha interjected. “I think I like the BBC miniseries the best. Y/N?”

“Absolutely,” you agreed. “The lake scene?”

“Right?” Natasha winked. Bucky perked up where he was sitting.

“Do you have the DVDs?” He asked, looking at you.

“Sure do,” you nodded.

“So when are we watching it?” He countered.

“Name the date, Bucky,” you smiled.

“Tomorrow?” He suggested.

“Sure,” you nodded.

“Great. It’s a date,” he concluded, picking up his plate and clearing it away. As he often did, once he’d cleaned up after himself, he disappeared back into his suite. Steve met your eyes across the table.

“Be gentle, Y/N. I think this might be the first date he’s had in well over seventy years,” he winked. You crumpled up your napkin and threw it at him.

XXX

You settled onto the couch and handed the bowl of popcorn to Bucky as you turned the movie on.

“You’re sure this is good?” He asked.

“It’s brilliant. Shush and watch,” you replied. “This is long, by the way. If you need a break or want to order a pizza, we can take an intermission.”

It was hilarious watching a movie with Bucky, you quickly learned. He was a movie grumbler, taking in the story and making scathing comments about the characters.

“Is this before or after they started making vibrating machines for women with hysteria? Because that woman needs a few hysterical paroxysms to make her relax,” he muttered when Mrs. Bennet got wildly excited about Mr. Bingley.

“That Lydia is what we used to call a good-time girl,” he commented when he saw her assessing the soldiers. “They weren’t the kind of girl you took home to your ma though, you know?”

“You really like this Darcy guy, doll? He’s a bit of an insufferable ass.”

“That fucking Wickham is a slimy bastard. I hope Lizzie figured that out before he gets his hands all up in her knickers!”

When you paused the movie to order in a pizza, you thought Bucky would want to stop watching completely, but he was keen to finish up. You brought a couple beers in with the pizza and plopped back down on the couch before turning the movie back on. You could feel Bucky getting more tense beside you as the movie progressed, and the next time Darcy appeared on the screen, he nearly came off the couch.

“Inferiority of her birth? That dame is ten times the person that asshole is! Why she oughta -”

“Bucky, shh, watch!” You laughed. He settled back into the cushions and crossed his arms.

When Lydia ran off with Wickham, he snorted, “Told you the two of them were no good. Now they’re no good together. And I bet this ruins everyone else’s prospects, right?”

“Jesus, what’s that Darcy ass doing in the middle of all this family drama?” He looked genuinely perplexed when Mr. Darcy helped settle Lydia and Wickham, looking at you, then back at the screen in confusion.

“Just watch,” you sighed with a smile. You loved seeing how into the movie he’d gotten. It was almost more fun watching him than the movie. It was the most animated you’d ever seen him, and the longest time you’d spent with him.

The movie finally ended, and you dashed away a few stray tears, much to Bucky’s amusement.

“That? That guy is your romantic ideal?” He asked, incredulous. “Doll, that guy is all talk and no action. He’s all blah blah my principles, blah blah your reproof, dearest darling Elizabeth, let me not touch you, not even hold your hand, but instead give you smouldering looks and then later tonight I’ll head home and shag the maid because you’re a lady.”

“Mr. Darcy does not shag the maid, Bucky,” you protested.

“Really? Who then? He certainly wasn’t swimming in that pond just for Lizzie to see. He didn’t know she was there. So who was he trying to impress with his wet poofy shirt? Oh, maybe the butler, you’re right,” Bucky scoffed, his Brooklyn accent coming across a little thicker in his annoyance. You bit your lip in amusement and waited for him to finish his rant.

“Tell me how you really feel, Buck,” you laughed as he wound down.

“How I really feel? Y/N, if you think that bozo is romance personified, you need a little Brooklyn in your life,” he smirked. You raised an eyebrow in question.

“Oh?”

“Sweetheart, you’re beautiful, and you’re smart. I might not have ten thousand a year, whatever that means, but I’d also never treat you like dirt. And any man that would just because he had more money than you isn’t worth your time,” he explained, leaning a little closer. He reached up and cupped your cheek in his hand, running his thumb across your lower lip before tipping his head and pressing his mouth against yours. “Dearest, darling Y/N.”

You couldn’t help it. You swooned.

11/16

#1600 follower celebration #so this got longer than planned #i have a lot of feelings about P&P okay?#castiels-ass-butt-1967

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sebeth · 7 years ago

Text

Legion of Super-Heroes #7

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

The issue opens with an unhappy Vyrkos: “Contain them within the dungeon…do not engage. Contain them within the dungeon. Do not engage. Do Not Engage! What kind of a hold do these worms have on Mordru? Why do the ex-Legionnaires merit such special treatment? They threatened the Lord Emperor – they’ve been beaten – they’re helpless. Why are they being spared? The very least he could do is allow me to feed on one of them!”

Vyrkos’ ranting is interrupted by the arrival of Laurel Gand.

An excited Vyrkos states “So, then…perhaps I will enjoy the thrill of battle today! After all, Mordru gave no order pertaining to her! She’s attacking. I must defend the palace. It is my duty to take on the Daxamite woman…to do battle with the great Laurel Gand.”

Lauren discovers a now mouthless Rond Vidar. Vyrkos ambushes Laurel before she can free Rond. A wall-breaking rumble begins.

We switch to a dinner between Mordru and a freaked-out Rokk: “Dinner. My God, he’s feeding me dinner! God, I’m having dinner with Mordru! I should be dead. Instead he cleans me, shaves me, perfumes me. What the hell is his game? Good God, he could kill me with a flick of his finger. Why the hell hasn’t he? There must be something he wants from us. He’s just toying with us before the end, isn’t he? Like a child plucking the legs off a dying insect…Come on, Rokk – play the hand. Carefully. Diplomatically. Play the game. He can’t know I’m thrashing about in the dark. If he does, it’s over – it’s all over. Don’t flinch. Keep fishing – fishing among the piranha. I’ve got something on my side – got to figure out what it is, play it at exactly the right time.”

The Mordru Dinner is Cosmic Boy’s defining moment. A de-powered Rokk goes one-on-one with one of the Legion’s three most powerful foes. In a battle of wits, no less. The Mordru Dinner is where we are shown why Reep felt a de-powered Rokk was essential to the re-formation of the Legion.

The Legion had a variety of leaders but never a strategist like Batman, Captain America, or Cyclops. Brainiac 5 would have come closest but most of his solutions were science-oriented. I can’t see Brainy having the patience to play mind games with Mordru. Reep’s another choice for team strategist but he seemed to be content in the detective role. The only other Legionnaires I see as possibilities for the Mordru dinner would be Saturn Girl, Dream Girl, or Projectra.

One of the best features of the “Five Years Later” run is character development. Many characters were fleshed out and expanded on. Rokk is a great example.

Before “5YL”:

1) Athlete from poor planet

2) Legion founder and occasional leader

3) Romance with Night Girl

4) History Buff

5) Odd costume choices (Grell era)

6) Slaps Ayla

7) Terror bombing kills mother and injures father and brother

“5YL”:

1) Reep considers Rokk to be the backbone of the Legion

2) PTSD, physical injuries, and loss of powers from the Braal-Imsk War

3) Guilt over Pol’s death.

4) Married to Night Girl, soon to be father

5) Desperately wants to properly provide for Lydda and his unborn child

6) Previously unseen strategic skills

All this in only seven issues. The “backbone of the Legion” and strategic skills would carry over into the re-boot, three-boot, and retro-boot.

Reep, Jo, and Kono regain consciousness and they don’t appreciate their attire.

Reep: “What the nass kind of outfit is this?!”

Jo: “What the grief? What’s that racket? Why are we dressed in these goofy?” Kono: “Somebody is going to die! I swear! Somebody is going to die!” And if one of you bozos so much as thinks about laughing…”

Jo: “Hey, zip it, Kono. We’re not all here! Where’s Rokk? Where’s Wolf?”

I wonder if Jo realizes his slip of the tongue. Brin has been “Furball” up until this point. For whatever reason, Brin doesn’t want the rest of the Legionnaires aware of his condition. I’m surprised Reep didn’t notice but he may have been too frazzled with the Mordru situation to catch the slip.

Kono searches for Brin and finds him in a stable: “Buncha jackasses! Treating Wolf like an animal! Whatever they doped us up with, they gave to him in spades. Guess they didn’t want him tearing up their luxury accommodations.”

Kono’s clearly in on Brin’s true identity.

The Laurel-Vyrkos brawl crashes into Reep and Jo’s room.

Vyrkos warns the Legionnaires: “Stay out of this Legionnaires! This is between me and her!”

Reep responds: “Buddy, when you fight one of us, you fight all of us.”

Yeah, there’s no way Jo would stay out of that fight.

Kono ends the fight by collapsing the roof on Vyrkos.

Vyrkos’ in a snit over the interrupted fight: “I knew they were going to get involved. Damnation! I just knew it! My one chance to feed off a Daxamite! My one chance to drink the precious blood of a dying race…to feel its unparalleled power rushing through my veins! Mordru’s insane coddling of these children! The humiliation I must endure at their hands! And to lose the Daxamite’s blood when I was so close! Those little insects! Those damnable little insects! By the Dark Prince – they’ll pay. Yesss. They can defend each other…but they can’t defend somebody they don’t know is under attack. And the Emperor gave no order protecting the Green Lantern!”

Mysa ruminates: “This is all because of me. I know they came for me. That’s why they’re here. That’s why they endured that horrible pain – because of me. And he’ll kill them…or worse…probably worse…like he’s done to me. Gods, the torment in Mordru’s soul, the rage, he tries to control it…he wants to but we fail him. Our weaknesses unleash the demon in him. We imagined we could tame the demon. I dared to hope for an idyllic life as first wife to an emperor. And nothing – nothing tortures me like the memory of that hope. Damn him! I was a Legionnaire! A Legionnaire! Has he taken that from me, too? Yes. If I let Mordru kill them, he’s taken that from me, too. I have no choice. I have to do this…no matter what he’s done to me…or what he’ll do to me.”

Mysa’s exhibiting clear signs of battered woman syndrome – blaming herself for the actions of her abuser. She’s clearly been beaten down – the White Witch would never have let Rond suffer without intervening. I don’t believe Mordru has ever tried to control his rage or demons – he’s perfectly content being an all-powerful dictator. It took a magical whammy for Mordru to act like a decent person – that should’ve been the first clue for Mysa – and the rest of the sorcerers – that it wouldn’t end well.

Rokk and Mordru continue their game of mental chess.

Rokk questions Mordru: “And as for the Green Lantern…while it’s true he attacked you, perhaps his actions should be judged in an impartial court…Well, sir, for a great leader, it’s not enough to simply not abuse your power. You must avoid the appearance of such an abuse. Meaning…if the rest of the free world saw you serving as judge, jury, and executioner of your acknowledged enemies, you could find yourself facing…well…In other words, you have to watch your actions, sir, or you will provide every ex-Legionnaire and every free world with reason to rise up against you. Can you afford to provoke an all-out attack now, sir? Are you ready for that?”

Nice all-in-one manipulation, threat, and bluff.

Mysa attempts to help Rond: “Rond? Yes, Rond. Good. If nothing else, at least I can help him…the one I’ve betrayed more than all the others…if half the rumors I’ve heard about his punishments are true…it’s as bad as I knew it would be…and all this time…I just waited.”

“It’ll be okay, Rond…I can help you. Just please forgive me for not doing this sooner. I wanted to, Rond, I really did – but I just couldn’t.”

Vyrkos interrupts Mysa: “No! This one does not get spared!”

Half the issue is Vyrkos being unable to finish his meals.

The rest of the Legionnaires are trying to find an exit.

Kono: “You know, with all the super-peepers in this crowd, you’d think we could find a damn exit. If nothing else, you’d think we could just follow the holes in the wall!”

The Legionnaires stumble onto Vyrkos, Mysa, and Rond.

Vyrkos taunts the Legionnaires: “You assume this is the White Witch but you’re wrong! Mordru has crushed the White Witch…left nothing behind but this simpering shell! One more step…and I take her throat out! Eh-eh-eh, look at her, Legionnaires…look at her…beaten, disgraced…not even willing to defend herself! She is no longer one of you!”

A humiliated Mysa thinks to herself: “Please…not in front of them…spare me that…Not in front of them!”

Mysa’s eyes flash red and Vyrkos disintegrates in a flash of light.

Rokk continues his bluff with Mordru: “And you know that we can’t back down. We have to have what we came for. Yes, this is difficult for you, sir, but you can’t afford to give the Legionnaires, or the universe, a collection of martyrs right now. An understanding between us is possible, sir. We can avoid that final battle, a fight neither of us is ready for…a fight neither of us can win...No, sir, you’re nowhere near full power. You’ve got the Khunds to deal with, a planet to control. And there’s always Glorith…You can’t afford to go to war now.”

Mordru capitulates: “If I release my beloved Mysa to you, if I free the Green Lantern, will you leave peacefully?”

Mordru studies Rokk: “An enigma. A worthy opponent – one who’s remained true to everything I compromised to achieve my power. A combination that can’t exist. And yet, there he is.”

Rokk’s manipulation of Mordru is truly impressive. The United Planets are in no position to threaten Mordru – they are battling the dual threats of the Khunds and the Dominators. The Legion? What Legion? All active members are on Tharn. The former Legionnaires wouldn’t be of much use – let’s do a quick round-up:

Sun Boy – Spokesman for the Dominator-led Earth.

Polar Boy, Invisible Kid II, the Legion of Subs – Either arrested or fugitives on Earth.

Night Girl – Very, very pregnant.

Mon-El & Shadow Lass – on the very edge of known space

Element Lad – isolated on Trom

Blok – murdered

Brainiac 5 – in his lab

Wildfire, Dawnstar – missing in action, fate unknown

Matter-Eater Lad – Senator on Bismoll

Star Boy – sports coach

Dream Girl & Sensor Girl – leaders of their respective planets

Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Shrinking Violet – on Winath, Saturn Girl is also pregnant

Colossal Boy – Science Police

Duo Damsel & Bouncing Boy – United Planets Military

Pregnancy eliminates Night Girl and Saturn Girl. Let’s assume Sun Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, Dream Girl, Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Duo Damsel, and Bouncing Boy can’t participate due to the planets/organizations they represent. Polar Boy, the Subs, and Invisible Kid are prisoners/fugitives. Element Lad is in seclusion and no one knows the location of Mon-El and Shadow Lass. That leaves us with Star Boy, Brainiac 5, Lighting Lad, Lightning Lass, and Shrinking Violet. Not a bad team but Rokk’s team had Jo, Kono, and Laurel Gand and they were spanked.

Rokk not only didn’t have a winning hand but he had no hand! And he still manipulated Mordu into surrendering!

Trom: Jan informs Celeste, Bounty, and Devlin they are heading to Winath.

Celeste: “You know, Jan, Earthgov didn’t hire us to pay our respects to Blok, they hired us to find his killer.”

Jan: “Winath is as logical a place as any to start looking. That’s where he sent the body, isn’t it? But that’s not the point…a hero, a friend, has died. Allow me to show him the proper respect.”

Mordru contemplates his encounter with the Legion: “So they fought me to a draw. They get the Lantern and I get precious time. A fair trade, I suppose. But this business of compromising…I must confess, that Rokk Krinn lad was a revelation! How can one be so powerless, and yet be the most powerful of them all? Ah, if only my minions possessed that kind of courage and character. Almost makes me regret my little farewell gift…heh-heh…You old stinker! Yes, that’s what you are, all right! Stranding them on Grocz – days from civilization, even for the Daxamite!”

One of Mordru’s minions informs him that the Dark Priestess says Vrykos can be saved.

Mordru thinks to himself: “Hmmm…The memories of this day – they will not fade quickly…especially of Rokk Krinn. His youthful bravado, his bold parting words…”

Watch out, Rokk – you may have replaced Mysa as Mordru’s favorite Legionnaire!

The J586 Research Station at Yucatan VII: Scientists are tracking a unique form of energy. It’s left Earth, headed for Trom, and now changed course to Winath.

#Legion of Super-Heroes #5 Years later #Cosmic Boy #Rokk Krinn #Mordru #Vyrkos #White Witch #Mysa Nal #Ultra Boy #Jo Nah #Chameleon Boy #Reep Daggle #Kono #Rond Vidar #Laurel Gand #Element Lad #Jan Arrah

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