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dreamwritesimagines · 3 years

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Burn The Witch 17 - Bad Habit [Bucky Barnes x Reader]

A.N: Thank you so much for your wonderful support and feedback my loves ! ❤ Here’s the next chapter, I hope you like it as well and please let me know what you think! ❤ Thank you! ❤❤❤

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Warnings: Enemies to lovers, fake dating, mentions of blood, sex, violence, death, manipulation, language, guns, knives.

Summary: Everyone needs help sometimes.

Series Masterlist

It wasn’t that there weren’t any spies who didn’t lie to their superiors.

There just weren’t any spies who lied to their superiors and lived to tell the tale, especially on high stakes missions like these.

You tried to convince yourself that the General would never find out, but that wasn’t the only reason why you were freaking out. Putting false information on your report was bad, yes, but the worst part was that you were beginning to find it harder and harder to report whatever information you found out about your fake boyfriend.

For some reason, you had a feeling it wouldn’t just stop at one lie.

Your eyes opened as you snapped out of your sleep all of a sudden and you took a look at the window, but it was still dark outside. That wasn’t the problem, the problem was that you had gone to sleep with Bucky by your side but now you were in an empty bed.

“Bucky?” you whispered into the darkness and sat up in the bed. After kicking off the covers, you made your way to the living room but as soon as you got there, he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at you.

“Hey,” you whispered, “Are you okay? Are the bandages too tight?”

He pressed a hand over his side to check the bandage, then shook his head.

“No, no…” he said, “Did I wake you up?”

“Nope,” you said, “Is the bed too uncomfortable?”

“The opposite.”

You tilted your head “The bed is too…comfortable?”

He let out a small bitter chuckle and ran a hand over his face as you stepped into the room, then sat down on the floor as well.

“I’m not really used to…” he waved a hand to motion around you, “It’s not familiar to be comfortable.”

Ah.

Of course. You should’ve seen it coming, he was a soldier and coming back home was always so hard for soldiers, especially in Bucky’s situation.

You had so many nightmares after bad missions, you had no idea how you would sleep if you had anything close to what he had been through.

“Do you want to talk about it?” you asked and he shook his head again.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I was hoping this wouldn’t happen.”

“Don’t be,” you murmured, “Do you want to be alone?”

“No,” he paused for a moment, “Please stay.”

Your heart skipped a beat and you pushed your hair behind you ear, taking a look at the pillow and the throw on the couch, then grabbed them and put them on the floor.

“Y/N, you’re not sleeping on the floor.”

You rushed to the bedroom to grab your pillows and the blanket off the bed, then went back to the living room.

“What are you doing?”

“It’ll be fun,” you said, putting the pillows and blanket on the floor. “Like we’re outside, only not with…annoying bugs.”

“You’re not serious.”

You plopped down the floor and gave him a bright smile. “I am!”

“Darling….” He started but shook his head with a sigh as you lay on your side, pulling the blanket over your shoulders.

“I’m very stubborn, you’re wasting your time if you’re trying to change my mind,” you informed him and he shot you a small smile, then lay down as well. You entwined your fingers with his, then looked up at the ceiling.

“My virtue is so screwed,” you pointed out, making him huff out a laughter.

“Oh absolutely.”

“I mean, there goes my hopes of…” you trailed off, “White picket fence house and puffy skirts and homemade pies.”

“What, you don’t want them with me?” he asked and your heart skipped a beat, then you stole a look at him.

“Can you even imagine that?”

“Yes I can.”

“I think I picture a movie,” you said, “There’s this….big yard, and white picket fences and we painted the house white but the door is red. And there’s a dog and— feel free to stop me anytime, Bucky.”

“Don’t,” he smiled as if picturing what you were describing made him happy, “Just keep going.”

“We have a rescue dog,” you said, “We got him from a shelter and named him… um, we named him something funny.”

“Is it a big dog?”

“Yeah and you take him on a run every night. Mornings with me, nights with you.”

“That’s a good schedule.”

“He likes me better.”

“Ouch,” his smile widened, “I don’t blame him.”

You hummed, “And you have a mustache I think.”

He shot you a look, “If you say a Clark Gable mustache…”

“I’m just putting it out there—”

“Nope. Not gonna happen.”

“Fine,” you let out a laugh, “And we have an apple tree in the garden. Wait no— we have an apple tree and a peach tree.”

“How big is the garden?”

“Not so big,” you said, “Like in those movies.”

He paused for a moment and you stole a look at him.

“You wanted a big garden?”

“Well,” he said, “We need a big garden for the treehouse.”

“We have a treehouse?”

“Depends,” he said slowly, as if he was intimidated, “Kids love treehouses.”

Your heart skipped a beat at the thought of having kids with him, for the hundredth time the image of a happier future where you weren’t a spy flashing in front of your eyes. You tried to stop the smile pulling at your lips.

“Yeah,” you said, “I think our kids would love them too.”

You could see the ghost of a smile on his face as he rubbed his thumb over your hand.

“Yeah?”

“Mm hm,” you yawned, “And in summer we would put a bouncy house thing in the garden and we would put a hammock between the peach tree and the apple tree and we would relax there while the kids are wreaking havoc in the bouncy house.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Yeah,” you murmured, sleep luring you as you closed your eyes, taking in his scent, “Sounds like a good plan.”

***

You really didn’t have time to second guess yourself today. Yes you had lied to the General and spent the whole night with Bucky imagining an impossible future but now, you had to keep your head in the game.

You would figure out what you would do. Eventually.

This was a mission. You had to start acting like it.

“I don’t think I like this one,” you called out from the dressing room and in a second, the door opened to reveal Chloe who raised her brows.

“Wow.”

You tilted your head and stepped outside to look at yourself better. The gold body chain wrapped around the lingerie gleamed under the shop’s bright lights and you fixed the suspenders, clicking your tongue.

“Nah. I don’t think so.”

“Wow,” she said again, “I hate you so much, why do you look so hot in lingerie?”

“Chloe, every woman looks hot in lingerie,” you said as you walked back to the dressing room to try the next lingerie set. It was a red lace bodysuit and after a moment of struggle, you got into it, and opened the door again.

“Not this one either.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to sleep with him!” Chloe squealed, “Are you excited?”

You cleared your throat, “It’s just a mission.”

“Yeah but you want to sleep with him?”

“The dude is hot.”

“Y/N.”

“What?” you fixed your hair and frowned at your reflection, “Nope. I don’t like this. It’s too….meh.”

“I doubt Barnes would say meh if he saw you in this,” she said, “He’d probably pass out. You look like you’re about to grab your whip or something. Oh— Y/N, you should like tie him up or something! If we’re not going full on vintage, show him the modern fun times!”

You shot her a look, “Something tells me he doesn’t like to be tied up Chloe.”

“Why not?”

“Uh, because HYDRA scumbags tied him up a lot and he still has nightmares about it?”

“Ah,” she said, “I forgot about that. Hey, maybe he could tie you up!”

“I’ll tell you the same thing I said to Julian when he suggested I called him sir in bed,” you stated, “No thank you, I don’t do that sub thing.”

“Now I kind of wish we specified your cover’s kinks,” she heaved a sigh, “It’d make things so much easier.”

“My cover likes to be in control.”

“No, real you likes to be in control,” she corrected you, “Nothing about your cover says control.”

“Chloe—“ you started but stopped talking when the shop assistant approached you.

“Do you find it to your liking?”

“Um, not exactly,” you said, “I mean I like the color but overall—“

“Do you have bridal sets?” Chloe cut you off and your eyes widened.

“Easy there.”

“Like maybe soft pastel tones…. The whole thing though, garter belt and stockings and everything.”

“Of course!” she said, “We have some new arrivals, let me bring them here.”

“Chloe!” you whispered as the shop assistant walked away, “What the fuck?”

“Think about the dresses we picked for your cover,” she said, “Soft pastels. It makes sense that your cover would pick those shades in lingerie too.”

“Bridal? Really?”

“I mean, Barnes will want to propose you right there when he sees you in them so…” she grinned at you while you narrowed your eyes at her, “Come on! I’m very curious about how he is in bed.”

You tilted your head, “Is there anything you’d like to tell me?” you asked, “Because love triangles are so early 2000s.”

“Hilarious,” she deadpanned, “And no. My type is more—relaxed. Less serious.”

You scoffed and leaned back on the wall, crossing your arms, “You could just say Keith.”

She shifted her weight, biting on her lip. “I mean…” she trailed off, “He still doesn’t make a move though.”

“Why don’t you make a move?”

“I could never!” she gasped, “Nope. Ever. Besides, I thought you were against me dating spies.”

“I am,” you admitted, “But it’s your love life. If you want to date a guy who has an extremely dangerous job and worry about whether or not he will come back to you alive….”

“You’re very romantic, Y/N,” she said as the assistant came closer, holding the set. Even you had to admit, it looked very sexy and beautiful at the same time, with soft pastel lace adorning the fabric, and you took a look at the basque, then walked inside.

“Besides, you’re the one to talk.” Chloe called out as you got into the lingerie, then ran your fingers over the garter belt.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Your boyfriend does dangerous stuff too.”

“Fake boyfriend,” you corrected her, fixing the basque, and as soon as your reflection caught your eye, you raised your brows.

“Okay, maybe you had a point,” you admitted and opened the door, and Chloe grinned at you.

“See,” she said, “This is what I was talking about.”

You smirked at her and leaned on your hip, still looking in the mirror.

“Fine, I like this one.”

“Told you,” she sang and you crossed your arms.

“What dangerous stuff has he been doing lately?”

“He was texting with Wilson about some HYDRA person,” Chloe said, “Apparently they want to go after him. Tonight.”

“What HYDRA person?”

“No clue. And we can’t send a team because then it’ll be obvious— Y/N, I know that look,” she shook her head fervently, “No.”

You tried to look as innocent as possible, “I didn’t say anything.”

“You want to go after the same HYDRA person as them, but you have specific orders and we still haven’t got the okay from the top of the chain of command to go after that scum.”

“Chloe.”

“No. I’m not going to give you the address.”

“Well if Barnes ends up dead, I won’t have a mission will I?”

“He’s going to be fine, he fights better than you.”

You gasped, “How dare you?”

“He fights better than everyone in the division!” she insisted, “He can take care of himself.”

You pouted, “Fine,” you said, “I guess I won’t give Keith the idea of taking you out on a date then.”

She paused for a moment, “That’s bribery.”

“Uh huh.”

“You have no shame, do you?”

You motioned at the lingerie set you were in, “Does it look like it?”

She rubbed at her eye and let out a small whine.

“If my dad asks—“

“He’s not going to know.”

“Do you promise to behave?”

“I always behave,” you stated, making her snort.

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Please?” you asked, “I promise I’ll be safe. I’ll just make sure he’s alive, that’s it. I won’t get involved in anything.”

“You promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

Chloe pursed her lips. “For your information, I think picnics are romantic.”

“Dully noted,” you said, “Trust me, he will take you on a picnic. So, do we have a deal?”

She rolled her eyes, then nodded, making you let out a laugh and walk back to the changing room.

“I want candles on that picnic too!”

“Send me the list of your demands,” you called out, “I’ll make sure they’re all covered.”

***

In all honesty, Chloe was terrible at saying no to people, especially the people she loved.

You fixed your ski mask as you took a look at the text Bucky had sent you after you asked him what he was doing;

Nothing much, going home soon. You?

“Liar liar….” You sang as you typed your reply.

Soup Kitchen was so tiring, I think I’ll go to bed early tonight.

Fine. Maybe he wasn’t the only liar in this relationship.

You took a look at the building’s window through your binoculars, then lowered them to check your phone when it vibrated.

Good idea. Sweet dreams darling.

You tried to ignore the smile on your lips but as soon as you heard gunshots coming from the building, your head shot up.

“Shit,” you murmured and tried to see what was happening, but it was impossible. Whoever they were, they were definitely staying away from windows.

“Not gonna get involved,” you muttered, “Not gonna get involved, it’s stupid and puts the mission in danger. I’ll stay right here, he can take care of himself.”

For about five seconds, it worked.

“I’m being stupid,” you mumbled to yourself as you grabbed the gear around your waist, then checked whether it would actually carry you, “I’m being so fucking stupid, I haven’t even slept with the dude yet….”

You went over to the edge of the rooftop, then took a deep breath, grabbed the cables and jumped to crash through the window of the building the gunshots were coming from. You pulled your gun to shoot the person who looked like he was about to shoot Bucky, sending him to the ground and Bucky pushed the guy he was fighting with through the wall, then turned around to point the gun at you but as soon as he did, he frowned.

“….Shrike?”

“Hi handsome.” You unbuckled the rope from the harness, sending it up to the rooftop again as he lowered his gun. “Need a hand?”

Chapter 18

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine

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vln-vibes · 4 years

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Unwanted, Unreliable, Unstoppable (2)

Holy shit this did better than expected.

Summary: When one of their own gets harmed by the one who should have protected them most, how will the Team take it? Not lying down thats for sure!

Tags: @abrx2002 @bigpicklebananatree @jardimazul @lozzybowe

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When Dick Grayson became Bruce Wayne’s ward that fateful night he hadn’t known what to expect.

Of course he had heard of the Waynes while on his travels with Haly’s Circus, they were probably part of the Top Ten Richest families in the world if he had to guess. Though no one really knew much about the lone Wayne, Bruce, other than the fact that he was an airheaded philanthropist party-goer. Everyone would pretty much be surprised if he hadn’t just wasted away his family’s money by the time he was in his mid 20s.

He never thought that his new guardian would be doing things like this.

“So….You fight crime dressed as a bat?” Dick found himself asking as he looked around the “Batcave”, as he’d been mentally calling it when Batman started talking about hideouts.

“Something like that”

Dick hadn’t thought much of the training Bruce made him undergo when he said he agreed to take him along to defeat Tony Zucco. He thought it as just regular training like he had done before, granted it was a lot of how to redirect knives back to the enemies, avoiding gunshots, dismantling or disarming guns, sticking to the shadows and how to throw proper kicks and punches.

Was it strange that he had not heard of Batman when people actively talked about heroes like Superman or Red Tornado or Wonder Woman, well no. After all Bruce said he did more detective work, stuck to Gotham and was ‘just’ human.

He hadn’t thought much of it, he needed something to get his frustrations out.

When they took down all of the goons and had Zucco tied up Robin didn’t know how to feel.

“Do what you want with him” Batman had told him, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Let it all out; your fear, anger, sadness, let it all out on the man who caused this”

Dick never thought of himself as a bad person even as he began to beat Zucco bloody with his armored fists.

Death would have been too painless for a man like him.

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“Ugh just look at her” Alya grumbled.

In front of them was Kagami talking to a rather attractive teen with rich tanned skin and piercing emerald eyes. Neither she nor any of her friends had any idea who he was and she only got close enough to hear the tail end of their conversation.

“... Exhibition match is going to be the most enjoyable challenge since first dueling with Adrien” she said in her normal stoic voice. The boy seemed to not notice or care as he just nodded along with her.

“Yes, my brother has insisted he come and watch as well. I reckon your mother will also want to?”

“Oh Alya, I just don’t think Kagami is good for Adrien” Lila cried out, snapping Alya from her stewing anger, the girl instinctively hugging her friend in comfort.

“Ever since she’s joined our school, he’s done nothing short of physically lashing out on his father. He even said that if we don’t stop bothering his Kagami that he’ll make me pay!”

“That𑁋That guy is gonna see what it means to mess with my BFF!”

“O-Oh but don’t blame Adrien… after all it was Kagami who started this nonsensical feud within the class as well”

Alya never saw the smirk grow on Lila’s face as everything was going to plan.

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“You shall not make fools of the Tsurugi. We Are Perfection”

Kagami elected to stay quiet as her mother continued to monologue, as though Kagami hadn’t heard the same conversation play out ever since she could remember.

During the sessions she had with Dr. Quinzel, Harley Quinn the psychologist had told her she preferred to go by outside of the office, she had come to realize that what her mother was doing to her was not alright. Her mother continued to enforce her ideals onto Kagami, as though she were trying to live vicariously through her. Kagami couldn’t fathom why; her mother was trained by her grandfather, a kendo Hachi-Dan, all her life and was already a world renowned and record holding fencer… So what did she want out of her? Why was it so important for Kagami to be seen as superior to all others?

“Show him no mercy, that he is nothing against a Tsurugi '' her mother finished much to Kagami’s relief.

“Mother, you are aware this is merely a friendly exhibition match, correct?”

Smack

Oh, Kagami had forgotten who she was talking to; she was not in Gotham, hanging out with her friends or training with the Bats or even talking to Dr.Quinzel or Dr.Isley.

She was in Paris where her mother and Hawkmoth were; Where both her civilian and hero self had unrealistic expectations for her.

The current sting on her leg reminded her of that fact.

“Watch your tongue you insolent child. Now go before you prove to disappoint me further”

“Yes, mother” Kagami gritted out, trying the breathing exercise Luka had taught her as she walked up to the field of play, a mat having been laid out to indicate all the boundaries.

“Are you ready, dragon girl?” Damian questioned, walking back from where Richard, Dick he had insisted, stood alongside her friends. She was too distracted to realize he had an alarmed and analytical look towards her and her mother.

“Only if you are, Chīsai tori-chan”

The two made their way to their positions, M.D'Argencourt waiting for them in the middle before starting the match.

"En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

Kagami had been using her anger to lash out on Damian, some may call it unfair but she looked to think it was a good use of her pent up energy.

“Point to Miss Tsurugi”

“Oh I thought you were better than that?” she smirked underneath her mask. She couldn’t see his expression but she just assumed he rolled his eyes or scowled.

“You merely caught me off guard”

Kagami felt herself smile as she heard her friends cheer for her, Damian shaking his head before going back to their original position.

She was not expecting the events of the day from that moment, she hadn’t realized and would not want to hear her birthgiver’s explanation after that day.

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“Unbelievable!” Robin cried out in frustration, next to him Speedy looked like he was ready to punch anybody who’d stand too close to him.

“Sorry, uh Robin” the ginger speedster looked flustered.

“It’s just too dangerous for people like you to be involved with us” the new ‘hero’, Miss Martian, they recalled, said apologetically. “Your physiology is too susceptible to injury, it isn’t like our own”

“You think we want to be part of your stupid daycare club” Speedy laughed harshly, “We just saved your sorry asses because we were around, because you’re on our turf”

“And you still want to call us fragile and weak? You’re just as underwhelming as they said you’d be” Robin snapped, frustrated at the continued degradement from Metas and the Justice League.

He remembered when he first met Speedy and the League, Batman having been sent a request to help with some world ending thing; definitely above their pay rate but Batman also didn’t trust them to get it done so they agreed.

He remembers working his ass off to make sure these people made it out alive, live to see another day, and help defeat the big bad. Then the comments came rolling;

“Isn’t he too young? Why did we have to call in the human? Is the Bat insane? It's bad enough that we got the man involved, now we have to deal with his kid too? We could handle it without them. Now we have to play babysitter for the humans”

He understood why the Batman didn’t even stand working with the League after that.

“We-We were here by League orders!” Miss Martian cried in outrage.

“Orders to spy on us” Speedy sarcastically remarked as the ‘Young Justice’ flinched “You lot really think you were that slick?”

“Whatever the hell it is they were supposed to do is over” Robin nearly growled out, batarangs at hand, “They’re officially persona non grata”

“You can’t just do whatever you please” Wondergirl began “The League just wishes to know if your mentors are up to any… questionable activity”

“Shitty excuse for shitty behavior” Speedy responded, clearly getting on the nerves of the Young Justice.

“Just let us do our job and we’ll be on our way” Cyborg tried placating though the duo was not impressed.

“Or we can just kick your asses and send you crying back to your bosses” Speedy took out his quiver and pointed straight at them, the group divided between offended and surprised.

“We do not need to result in such behavior, we mean no harm” Starfire tried getting in the middle, only to be pushed back by Kid Flash and Miss Martian. Aqualad seemingly about to do the same but realising it was a fruitless endeavor and just got in a fighting stance.

“You don’t even believe that princess” Robin felt his eyes rolling, the Young Justice tense considering Starfire being princess of another planet was supposed to be a secret.

“You- You shouldn’t know that! See, this only proves what Superman feared! That the Batman has gone rogue!” Miss Martian said in a near panic.

“What do you mean by go rogue; We’re not even part of the League!” Dick was getting real tired of these pretentious metas already. From the corner of his eyes he could see two shadows waiting for their signals and staying in position.

Dick didn’t think of himself as a bad person but this Young Justice really had all of this coming.

“Young Justice, action!”

And really he was sure he could come up with better names than them.

At the end Dick and Roy kept their word, the Young Justice scattered all around them in various states of consciousness on a Central City rooftop. Kid Flash groaned as he looked at their ‘fragile’ assailants, only to see two new figures with them, a blonde girl with an arrow pointed at Miss Martian, and a shorter boy wearing Robin’s costume that just electrocuted Wonder Girl with glorified knuckle busters.

“Oh and Wally,” the speedsters heart began to beat faster as he looked at the cold smile on Robin, ex-Robin?, now wearing a black and blue bodysuit….when did he change? “Tell Superman I’ll be using the name Nightwing from now on”

Nightwing did not think he was a bad person as he, the new Arsenal, Tigress and the new Robin dumped the unconscious bodies of the Young Justice back into their ship, sending it on autopilot after typing in the ‘secret coordinates’ for Mount Justice.

The Justice League would understand loud and clear that they would no longer be expecting help from the Bats or Arrows at a moment's notice or preferably ever from now on.

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“Umm are you Mmd. Tsurugi?” Tomoe Tsurugi turned, indicating her attention was caught by the young lady next to her. She sounded vaguely familiar but they said it was easier to recognize someone by their face than by their voice; she wouldn’t know.

“Who are you to ask?” she responded curtly, wanting to refocus on the match her prodigy and some American boy were engaging in. From what M.D'Argencourt had told her, his name was Damian, a prospective transfer student from America, who wished to check out the school’s fencing team. D’Argencourt had insisted that the boy was one of the best he’d seen, on par with her own prodigy. How could some average boy be on par with her own prodigy of the Tsurugi name?

It simply would not do.

Thus they had arranged this exhibition match, to show just how leagues above the Tsurugi were from this common boy.

“ My name is Lila Rossi, a classmate of your daughter and model, I work for Gabriel Agreste” the girl’s self-praising was not missed by Tomoe but she had ignored it for now, it would be best to quickly get to the point lest she miss a second of the match.

"En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

“I’ve heard of you from M. Agreste. What is your business with me?” Tomoe was getting quickly irritated, as her own prodigy had taken longer this round; the rapid movements of the sabres, swishing in the air and clashing into one another, both opponent’s feet moving across the mat in quick and small intervals.

“ I know I’m not supposed to say things without letting M. Agreste know first but,” she starts to tear up, at least Tomoe could hear that from the hiccuping of her voice. “Your daughter has been influencing Adrien to rebel against his father”.

Her prodigy did what?

“I overheard them talking about how the two planned to help each rebel against M. Agreste and you. She said she’d throw the match in order to disgrace you”

Tomoe had trained Kagami better than that! There was no way the insolent child would be so foolish as to𑁋

“ Point to Mister Damian”

She began to metaphorically see red as they called for the final round of their little exhibition match. Kagami was made to perfection; this should have already been a settled deal instead of dragging out for almost five minutes now. Kagami better not disappoint her in the final match lest she have to discipline the girl.

“ I know this is an inopportune time to inform you of this but I fear of what else she’ll do and what she’ll make Adrien do if she keeps this up… With such influential families it would be dishonorable to let this continue further”

Tomoe was so deep in her head that she missed the rapid footsteps running across the mat or the sound of liquid falling on it.

"Final round. En garde! Prêts? Allez!"

The match had lasted just as long as the last, almost using up the full three minutes. She could hear the two make their way onto Kagami’s side of the mat when Tomoe realized that she was disgracing the Tsurugi name on purpose.

The child slipped backwards, she could already hear the announcement before D’Argencourt could.

“Point to Mister Damian. Match goes to Damian”

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“Again”

Dick took out his escrima sticks once, panting and sweating profusely but did as his instructor told. He felt himself repeat the same movements over and over again, he was going solely by muscle memory at this point.

“Alright Grayson, you’re done for the day” Dick resisted the urge to sigh in relief as he gave a slight bow and took a drink from his water bottle.

“So how have the kids been Slade?” he asked nonchalantly, knowing if it were any other person they’d be dead for even bringing up Slade Wilson’s children.

“Joseph is doing as well as always, focusing on the fine arts and being a good kid. Rose just enrolled in the same private school as him so they’re looking out for each other” the mercenary said with a huff, one Dick saw through.

“Why, I’d say you sound like a proud father!”

“As if you and Bats don’t talk about the birds like that”

Dick knew he had him there.

When he was 9 years old, a year after debuting as Robin and being adopted, he met Bruce’s ‘girlfriend’, if they could call whatever game those two were playing an actual relationship. He did not like Talia al Ghul, even less who her father was but he kept his opinion to himself, he wanted Bruce to be happy. Then it turned out she was pregnant.

Talia had decided to stow away from Ra’s, definitely not defecting from him anytime soon but she also knew that the man held too many secrets; few which she was able to discover. She was already aware that Ra’s had contingency plans if the Lazarus Pits stopped working on him, he was planning on possessing the body of someone of his blood. She knew the child would be the perfect vessel in his eyes.

So she lied to Ra’s, stating that she was going on a deep cover mission for the League, dismantling or infiltrating some country from the inside instead of just killing their way in. Instead she hired Slade as a bodyguard and to help maintain her cover while she stayed at Wayne Manor. He had to admit that it was the softest he’d seen her.

Then when he was 12, they found Jason Todd. Well more like they caught him trying to steal the wheels from the Batmobile in the middle of the night at Crime Alley. The kid had spunk and a not great life living in Crime Alley’s streets so they took him in as their own. At the same time Dick was outgrowing Robin and didn’t think the mantle should gather dust as they waited for Damian to grow up; Jason was the perfect candidate.

That same year Batgirl came out of nowhere, a new shadow that hunted down corrupt cops specifically. Dick hadn’t really been all too surprised when it turned out to be his friend and classmate, because he was bored and decided skipping two grades would be a good idea, Barbara Gordon. That or the fact that they immediately took her in and gave her real training.

He was 15, nearing 16, when Tim Drake literally barged into their lives.

He was a scrawny 9 year old that had apparently been stalking them while they went around Gotham beating up very dangerous people and had found out their identities by seeing him perform a quadruple somersault. Seriously what the fuck had been the only thing in his mind at the moment.

It turned out that Tim had come to them in need of protection as he found out his parents were involved with the Court of Owls, something Bruce had tried to uncover but even he was beginning to believe was a myth, with his parents soon scheduling for him to be tested as a potential Talon. They were fully willing to sell their son’s soul for their cause and not caring that he would lose his humanity in the process. It wasn’t hard to open a case against the Drakes as concerned citizens for child neglect and embezzlement that may or may not have been discovered while they raided their place in the night and took anything they owned pertaining to the Court of Owls the week before the police began their investigations.

Which led to now.

Joker had decided to attack the new Robin, his perverted mind finding it unfair that he wasn’t told of the new change. Not only had he been surprised by the fact that Jason survived but he also got his ass handed back to him by Batman and Nightwing when they found out. Jason was borderline dying and the closest place they could go was, unfortunately, Infinity Island; aka al Ghul palace.

Ra’s was fortunately not on the island however David Cain was not informed of the fact that the Bats and Talia al Ghul had a strange alliance, sicking his living weapon aka his daughter out on them. She had stopped when she saw how close to death Jason was, freezing as though she could physically see his string of life snapping, and when David was readying to retaliate against her, he found himself knocked out by Talia. A few hours later the Batjet was sent back and the Batplane returned with Alfred, Barbara, Tim and Damian inside.

Once Jason was well enough, a day or two hopefully, they’d be leaving the island with a new sister in tow.

Dick would stop at nothing to keep his family safe.

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“Oh my god, Kagami”

Marinette had been hanging out with Damian, Dick, Marc and Alix in her room when her skylight window opened. Now this itself was a common occurrence after she and Adrien revealed their identities and when she began to give Miraculous full time.

However, the sight in front of her was one she had never expected to see before.

“I hope I’m not interrupting”

Kagami had dropped the transformation the moment she opened the window, Longg floating besides her in concern.

Her normally impeccable fair skin was littered with bruises of various shades, the most notable being a dark purple one on her cheek close to her eye. There were others she noticed on her hand and few popping up from underneath her ripped leggings.

Marinette was snapped out of her stupor as Kagami stumbled down the window, her bookbag and two carry-on bags on her back.

“What happened?” Marc asked, right beside Kagami as Marinette took the other side, helping the Japanese girl with her bags and sat her on Marinette’s chaste.

“... My mother was not happy with my performance today” the girl winced as she sat down “She seems to have gotten it in her head that I sabotaged the match and have disgraced the family name”

“Kagami,” she looked up to see Richard, Dick, with his deep sapphire eyes full of concern and unrelenting fury. “Do you feel safe at home?”

Had she been asked a year ago she would have said that she did or that it was irrelevant and did not matter. She has since learned that ignoring the blaring issue and suffering in silence would do no good for anyone.

“No, I do not”

“Do you want to open a case against your mother?”

“... I do”

“That’s all I needed to hear”

While Marinette went to get her parents, scrambling up an explanation for how Kagami got to her house, not that her parents would ask once they saw her friend, Damian took photos of Kagami as evidence for a domestic abuse case.

They all took notice of her missing ring and the patch on her blazer.

Dick Grayson was not going to let this go.

But he knew that the woman did not deserve his time as Nightwing for this. No. She would just twist it with her reputation; they needed to destroy that to truly break her.

He may not have jurisdiction in Paris but he was still an officer and vigilante dammit! Not to mention he had a billionaire dad notorious for adopting kids left and right.

“Hey dad, y’know how it's my birthday in like ten months; how would you feel about giving me another sibling or two?"

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“Who are you?” In the middle of their stakeout for a potential safehouse in Happy Harbor, Nightwing and Robin turned to see an eerily familiar looking teen floating next to them, arms crossed but not looking ready to make a move. Yet.

“The better question is who are you” Nightwing quipped “I know Boy Scout did the Devil’s Tango but his kid definitely shouldn’t be as old as you are”

“Oh my god, shut up Nightwing” Robin groaned, Tim wondering what his odds would have been if he had just run away from home instead of going to the Bats.

“... I’m Superboy” the teen looked at the two curiously, he had heard hushed whispers of the Batman and his sidekicks, Nightwing and Robin. He also knew that for some reason the name Nightwing had caused discomfort and righteous anger to Superman.

“Superboy, huh.” Nightwing questioned as Robin began typing on his wrist computer “So you’re the secret member of Young Justice”

“How do you know that?” he hovered defensively, confused at Nightwing’s hand wave.

“Chill Superboy. I’m sure you’re all aware of the not so secret dislike between us and the League” his smirk told him there was more there… not that he’d know. None of the adults really talked to him other than Black Canary, and she was only a temporary member at that; she had mentioned to Superboy how she usually works alongside the Arrows of Central City and was part of The Birds of Prey.

“Especially after I stole the name from Superman”

“Stole from Superman?” Superboy was never aware of the fact that Nightwing was a name Superman ever used, it wasn’t part of the data fed to him through Cadmus or even personal studies he did in the Mount Justice library.

“Hasn’t big blue told you about his heritage?” Robin asked, an air of nonchalance and judgement around his statement.

“... No. Superman would rather ignore the fact I even exist” Superboy hadn’t meant to sound so pretentious but he couldn’t help it! It was getting on his nerves, how everyone just saw him as nothing more than a mini-Superman or a clone or even a weapon the enemy made… He wanted to be more than all that.

“Do you have a name?” Nightwing asked, his cheerful demeanor gone and replaced with a serious and protective one.

“I am Superboy”

“Noㅡ I mean a name for the teen underneath the ‘S’. Not a codename” Nightwing asked gently “People don’t call me Nightwing when I’m not wearing the mask”

“... I’ve only been called Superboy, even in Cadmus”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me for fucks sake” he heard Robin’s angry huff, he couldn’t exactly turn off his super senses.

“Well that’s dehumanizing” Nightwing was suddenly all smiles again, gently pulling Superboy down and sitting on a city bench, oddly there was no one near their general vicinity.

“How about I give you a Kryptonian history lesson, straight from the Fortress of Solitude’s archives! The story of Nightwing and Flamebird”

That was how Superboy became friends with the “dangerous enemy” and got a real first idea of what it meant to be Kryptonian.

That was also the night he gained the name Conner.

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When Kagami didn’t show up to school the next day no one thought much of it, at least no one that wasn’t Lila Rossi and Alya Cesaire.

People began to grow curious when Marinette and Chloe were also gone or the fact that Marc and Alix had huge eye bags under their eyes. Depending on who asked they’d say that it was something personal or none of their business.

People began to get concerned when Sabrina’s dad, officer Raincomprix, asked to speak to M. Bustier, Adrien, Marc and Alix.

When the class began to pester Sabrina for answers she gave them a lost look and said “I can’t tell you anything, I’m not even supposed to know about the case but dad asked for some information… I think it's best we back off”

Of course that didn’t stop Lila or Alya from gloating over their victory, hoping that Kagami had been pulled from school or even sent back to Japan.

They never realized how much their act of revenge had impacted the Japanese girl or her group of friends.

Bruce Wayne would arrive that same day and head straight for the Dupain-Cheng household along with his daughter Cass and sons Tim and Jason.

“I didn’t think we’d have to start this whole process until after December but being early never hurt” Tim tried to joke, helping lift the somber mood just a bit.

After Tom and Sabine offered them refreshments before having to head downstairs to the bakery, the group began to think of logical backstories before Officer Raincomprix was due to arrive.

“... So you can just say after that poor excuse of a birth giver did what she did to you” Jason made sure to keep his cool, he knew these kids didn’t need a fucking Akuma right now “ You already had bags prepared and managed to leave when she went to sleep and went to your friend’s house. You knew you’d be safe there and that they’d be able to take you to the hospital to get your injuries looked at”

“I think that’ll work” Tim nodded along, invested in his laptop as he looked through Parisian surveillance for any other instances of public domestic abuse or even covering Kagami’s tracks as Ryuuko from last night, not that he blamed her for trying to leave as soon as possible.

“I know I said I’d help you with Gabriel but, “ Bruce began before Marinette shook her head.

“Right now Kagami’s case is more urgent… besides this may be beneficial with our case against Gabriel for associating with Tomoe and praising her form of parenting. Maybe we can even get them both in one go”

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Amidst the laundry list of paperwork and things to get done there were two important things happening;

First was the announcement of the Flying Grayson’s Foundation, a scholarship for international students to travel and study at Gotham Academy and any other high ranking schools around the country; they were looking for children who were either of lower income who could take advantage of the once in a lifetime opportunity or students who displayed great talents and could use the enriching environment these schools had to offer.

In other words it was a cover up to get the Miraculous Team away from Paris and in Gotham.

Should Bruce really be using his fortune to do these sort of things? He was rich with money to spare, if he used it to help teens that were left to their own devices by most of the adults in their lives then who was to say what he could or could not do with his money.

The second was the Hawkmoth investigation finally going guns ablazing.

Bruce and Marinette had both decided to let their teams handle tracking Hawkmoth for now as they strategized on ways to get Adrien away from Gabriel and secretly Nathaniel away from his parents.

With the later they had more luck by the name of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

Within the months they had spent together the duo had gotten attached to the teens and were protective even as they ‘attacked the city’ to keep their criminal cover. When hearing about Nathaniel's situation the two had begun to think of ways to get him away from it, having had similar experiences growing up, along with Bruce.

They hadn’t realized there was a much simpler solution that wasn’t killing/arresting the Kutzbergs or kidnapping Nathaniel.

“You know you can just Matilda this and just give the adoption papers to them, right?” Duke said from the couch one day. “From what Nat says its likely they won’t give a shit or even protest”

It had worked.

Nathaniel was now officially Nathaniel Isley-Quinzel.

Barbara had worked with Tim and Max to perfect the laters algorithm for tracking down the Hawkmoth (along with some upgrades on Markov and maybe creating other sentient A.Is they hoped wouldn’t cause the apocalypse in the far future). Thankfully Tomoe Tsurugi had proven a valuable pawn as they managed to track down the one mile radius from where the Akuma could have come from when she was arrested for child abuse, physical abuse and child neglect.

Luckily, Tomoe had tried to attack Kagami when she heard her ex-prodigy and former daughter on her way to the police car. Dick had intervened, giving her a nerve punch and rendering her unconscious. Of course he brought up that it was for self-defense and could easily be proven by the cop cameras, though it was still seen as overkill.

That Akuma was quickly captured by Ladybug, who had already seen it coming, as she and the new Bee, Abeille, were watching the arrest from a nearby rooftop.

Money made things work much more faster in terms of the adoption process. It helped that he already had four adopted sons, an adopted daughter and biological son as proof of his competence as a parent. They’d laugh at him being a ‘great parent’ but he was a tired man who was secretly trying to change the world for better by dressing up as a Bat furry at night and was trying to be good for them and also had six legal and two technical children, so really they’d take what they could get.

Gabriel Agreste and Natalie Sancoer were doing their best to cover any violations of child labor laws, even going so far as to try to ground and pull Adrien out of school again.

Of course when Bruce and his three oldest sons showed up they had all the evidence they needed for a major scandal to break and ruin the Gabriel brand. They did make a very nice offer at a not so nice expense;

Give guardianship to/let Bruce adopt Adrien and the press would never have to find out.

Gabriel had nearly yelled at the man to leave his home the instant he subtly suggested it, even going so far as to call the “Gorilla”, which not only did not work but also gave the Wayne’s an even harder dislike of the man.

As it turns out as soon as Adrien told Gorilla, damn it he would find out the man’s name one day! About the plan against his father the man gave Adrien a flashdrive to use as part of the evidence.

“It's up to you Mister Agreste” Tim said in his CEO voice, cold and with business only in mind.

“You could just listen to our offer and just renounce any custody you have of Adrien and give it to us” Dick practically sang through his eyes but still held a hard look.

“Or you could face the backlash of not only exploiting, but also keeping him captive in his own home and overworking your son all for the name of your brand… Not to mention your questionable business practices or bias towards an underaged model” Jason added as nonchalantly and non threateningly as he could. It did not work, which was the whole point. “Losing your reputation and your son anyway”

Gabriel knew he was in over his head but was no fool.

Adrien packed up his things the next day, beginning his process of shipping his belongings off to Gotham. Coincidentally, Gorilla had given his letter of resignation and had gotten a job as the main caretaker of one Alise Anciel-Pennyworth.

Gabriel swore he’d get his revenge against Bruce Wayne one way or another.

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Conner did not know what to do.

He knew he did the right thing in distancing himself from his team, he didn’t know them well enough to consider them friends. But it still hurt to be alone…

Superman had been nothing but a pain in his ass with his Boy Scout routine and higher than thou personality.

Ugh just thinking about it made him want to shoot him with his heat vision. He had no idea how Superboy, because yeah the kid asked him and how could he say no to him?, could be related to that man. It must have been the Lois Lane of the kid.

Conner didn’t know who to turn for, there was no way he’d go to any of his biological donors, so he'd just spent the past few days flying endlessly.

He had stopped by Star City to see how Black Canary was, and for a quick session, but as much as she and Green Arrow offered he didn’t want to overstay his welcome. Not to mention he had a feeling he needed to go somewhere else.

The only other person who had given him the light of day was….

“Are you Superboy?” Conner looked up, which he didn’t do that often now that he thought about it, and saw a male figure standing on a lightpost, his features hidden by the Gotham night.

“Not anymore, who the hell are you?” the guy hoped down, with the light he was able to see the blonde hair and leather catsuit… did Catwoman get an apprentice?

“Well you should know the big bad Bat doesn't like metas. Any reason you’re here or should I escort you out right meow?”

“... I’m going to ignore the pun for now. I’m looking for Nightwing”

Conner noticed the twitch of the leather ear against the honey blonde hair and began to wonder if the guy was either trustworthy or meta. Just as Conner was about to fly away the guy tapped his ear, he recognized Nightwing’s voice before the guy nodded and ended the transmission.

“Well looks like Nightwing is vouching for you” he sat down on the park bench where Conner hadn’t realized he had spaced out for most of the afternoon. “He says to stay put, he’s kinda busy right now but shouldn’t take too long. Anyways I’m Chat Noir, Parisian superhero”

“Never heard of you before but it's nice to meet you” Conner shook his hand even though Chat Noir scowled, dropping the whole playful demeanor.

“No surprise there. You know we spent years asking for the Justice League’s help and they didn’t do shit, they didn’t even open our messages” the half Kryptonian experiment thought that he must have been mistaken.

Sure the Justice League had Superman and was full of a bunch of enhanced beings/meta-humans who would rather have brawns than brains according to his #2 Sperm Donor and refused to allow ‘regular’ humans or even only slightly enhanced on their team even though they knew how to kick ass but they weren’t terrible enough to not answer distress signals, right?

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Nightwing and Batman told my team”

“And you trust their words, just like that?”

“Don’t you?” Chat Noir seemed to stare him down before Conner sighed, hand raking through his naturally curly hair.

“Yeah, I do. Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t trust him. Never met the other Bats and Birds though”

“Trust me, it’ll be chaotic in a fun way” Chat Noir grinned, a knowing twinkle in his eye. “So, why are you looking for Nightwing? Sorry if its invasive but well, you know what they say about cats”

“Curiosity killed the cat?” Conner questioned, the shit eating grin on Chat Noir’s face grew, like the cat who caught the canary.

“But satisfaction brought it back!”

“It’s kind of a long story, I doubt you’ll want to know the knitty gritty” Conner showed his gloved hands into his leather jacket, sighing.

“I’m all ears”

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“So you’re telling me that you were genetically engineered to replace and destroy Superman by using his stolen DNA and the one of his arch enemy Lex Luthor while also being planted with trigger words to make sure Luthor had a way to control you. Superman never even liked you even when he thought you were just a clone of him even though his own kid was pretty chill with you and he met you after the whole Daddy #2 reveal. Which also he used the triggers to make you attack your teammates, the Young Justice, so even though you got the triggers removed you quit and decided to take a break from the hero biz but you don’t really have anyone to trust so your best bet was Nightwing, who you’ve talked to every now and then since he likes messing with Superman and taught you about Kryptonian culture”

“Well yeah basically”

“Holy shit you need to see Dr. Quinzel or something”

“What about you leather boy? What are you even doing in Gotham?” Conner asked with a smirk, feeling comfortable with the feline boy after letting out his whole life story to him.

“Well do we want to start from when my mom died or when I was chosen to be a superhero at thirteen or when the whole city of Paris just expected my partner and I to be able to defeat the full on grown man terrorizing the city all on our own with no help whatsoever?”

“Daddy issues?”

“Pot calling kettle”

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“Ugh I can’t believe Ladybug didn’t show up to the fire yesterday” Alya ranted to her classmates, the ones that were still worth talking to that is.

“Dude you do realize that the fire department was there and had everything handled, right?” Nino looked at her skeptically, the two had broken up a few months or so ago now but they still treated each other with decency. At least most of the time.

“Think of all the lives they risked by not showing up!” Lila cried out “How could they leave Paris at their most vulnerable state?”

“I- I’m sure they were busy” Rose squeaked out, trying her best to console her friend. She still held some hope for the heroes of Paris after all!

“Yeah it's not like the firemen were doing their job or anything” Alix rolled her eyes at the group.

“Sabrina!” the ginger girl tensed at her name, turning to see the very much in danger of being akumatized again reporter “Didn’t your dad and the police department have to deal with those bank robbers last week without help of Paris’ heroes?”

“We-Well yes but my dad does that 𑁋”

“They’re just being so selfish! Think of all the people who risk their lives everyday with no magic bulletproof suit. They think they’re above Paris’ everyday problems and only show up when we can’t handle it”

“Surely you aren’t such a fool, Cesaire” Max stated cooly as he typed away on his laptop “Or do you not remember how everything used to function before their arrival”

“Listen here you little nerd!”

“N-No Alya… I know I shouldn’t say this but the truth is… Ladybug is over Paris” Lila began to tear up, hiding her face within her hands as she started to choke up “She and I had a fight a few weeks back; she said she’s tired of dealing with all of Paris’ problems even when I begged her to reconsider! I- I think she’s planning on abandoning us altogether… and we all know we’re doomed without Ladybug there to keep her sidekicks in check”

The room was full of looks of shock and surprise, including that of Miss Bustier who was sitting at her desk. Suddenly that grieving silence was interrupted by laughs coming from the back, Adrien trying to reign in his laughter.

“Oh god,that’s probably the only lie you told that’s partly true Rossi '' the blonde sunshine child had gotten more cynical the longer he spent time in public school. There were rumors he threatened his father with a lawsuit through a third party about child labor laws, something Alya tried researching and asking him about. Apparently Adrien was officially out of the fashion industry.

“She really is a lost cause” Alix had not so subtly whispered to Kim, who nodded along.

“What would you lot know! Besides anyone whose friends with the Ice Queen, Tsurugi is𑁋”

“Actually, Alya” Marinette interrupted “As class vice-president you should be aware that Kagami had her name legally changed. She now goes by Kagami𑁋”

“Oh dear, did you get disowned Kagami?” Lila framed it as an innocent concern but those who knew the real her recognized the mocking tone.

“I owe you no explanations, Rossi” the girl responded back, going back to ignoring the class with Marinette. They still remembered the day she came back to school, most of the class, not including a select few assholes they decided not to name, had looked at her in worry as she branded various bandages and some healing bruises; she had all but ignored them and continued on her regular routine.

Meanwhile that night Bruce Thomas Wayne made a press conference at Wayne Enterprises’ building, with his two oldest Richard John “Dick” Grayson-Wayne and Jason Peter Todd-Wayne.

“Mister Wayne are you really saying you’ve adopted another child?” Lois Lane stood up as the microphone was given to her “What warranted the newest member of the Wayne Clan? Is it a sensitive matter like that of your daughter Cassandra or perhaps like that of Damian’s?”

Bruce made sure to give a flustered look, especially since her husband, one Clark Kent, otherwise known as Kal-El or Superman, was with her.

“Why I must say, those are excellent questions Miss Lane” he started off with a smile “ However, to answer your questions they’ve been a family acquaintance and then friend for some time. It’s not my story to tell but their home life was not the healthiest, it got to the point where my family offered to help them get out of that situation. They were admittedly reluctant to do so but… I suppose a line had been crossed and they asked for our assistance”

The members of the press seemed to deflate at the confession, all drawing up their conclusions to what his words meant and what the newest member had experienced in their life.

“Yes, Ms. Grant?” Dick asked, pointing for them to hand over the microphone for Cat Grant.

“Will we be meeting the newest member of your family anytime soon?”

“They will be properly introduced to the public during the Wayne Gala next month in Paris, they’re still attending school elsewhere but they’ll be transferring to Gotham Academy and properly moving into the estate this upcoming semester”

They were sure the new Wayne would be making headlines when the time arrived.

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“You’re serious” Conner asked in awe, “You’d really do that?”

“Oh kitty,” Selina began to brush her fingers across Conner’s curly locks as she held the hurt boy closer to her.

After arriving in Gotham and getting to talk with Nightwing, who when learning about the situation the teen was in had recruited the help of the Gotham Sirens to host the boy as the Wayne’s had a lot of eyes on them after the announcement of an adopted child; Conner didn’t need the attention right now.

The Sirens had agreed after learning about everything the boy had gone through, Harley agreeing that he needed stability and offered sessions or even having Dinah come visit, while Ivy made sure their place was secure enough to withstand an attack and kept vigilant in case the boy scout decided to come looking for Conner, even if they doubted he’d’ try. Selina tried to get the boy to open up, sharing her own childhood backstory and how she became Catwoman.

That’s when Selina realized that Conner had no family name, he’d even only gone as Superboy until fairly recently. No one bothered to give him a name.

So she offered her own.

“Of course I am. In fact any one of the people in this apartment and even the Bats would offer their name if you asked”

Conner knows that Jon called him an “honorary Kent” on the basis of being his dad’s clone and a Krytonian but Conner never felt like he had earned the name. Clark certainly never offered.

“Conner Kent, they said I should feel free to use that name” Conner sighed “But I don’t think it’s right”

“Well whatever name you choose it’ll be yours. Though I suggest making up your mind soon, Oracle is working on making you some legal documents so you can finally have a ‘normal life’ if that’s what you want”

“What even is normal?” the duo looked behind to see Nathaniel, graphite smudges on his face. The red headed boy was staying over with Harley and Ivy as his new moms and they were working on some more “family bonding time”. If all went well he’d be transferring to Gotham Academy for the new school year.

If Selina remembered correctly his boyfriend and Alfred’s great-nephew would also be moving to Gotham while Alfred’s sister would be placed in a senior center or given a caretaker.

“What happened to you?” Conner muffled a laugh as he took a look at Nathaniel’s state.

“Deadlines” the boy in question said, chugging what they thought was hot coffee, Trixx sleeping on his head, almost camouflaging in the red. “I’m about to go in a 12+ coma, night”

“But its 2 pm?” Conner asked amused, Nathaniel walking out of the room with a wave of his hands before peeking back inside with a smirk.

“By the way, Chat Noir has a thing for black hair and blue eyes”

Selina was amused by the flush Conner was quick to gain and decided that she’d tease him about it another day.

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“Chloe, Nino hey!” Adrien waved at his friends as they made their way around the enormous amount of rich/influential people that were attending the first ever Flying Graysons Scholarship celebration in Paris. All of Dupont Francois was allowed to attend, though Lila insisted it was thanks to her connections, because of the amount of students that would be receiving their awards/scholarships that night.

The whole Miraculous team was clad in images to their hero persona via Miraculous by MDC line that Marinette had been working on ever since she quit being class president almost a year ago. They were her most popular designs on her website, even internationally which they had found odd.

Nino was wearing an Anselm inspired bomber jacket along with a standard white button up and black jeans. Chloe was wearing something a bit more formal with a two piece dress with a black top and honey gold pencil skirt with little bees stitched at the hems and some high heels, her hair was let down for once with a pearl hairclip keeping her bangs up.

“I’m guessing you got here with the rest of your not yet adopted family?” Chloe asked while the boy grinned. Adrien had decided that the first thing he would do as a not yet Wayne was to wear other designer clothes that were not from the Gabriel design, and what better clothes than those of his platonic soulmate. Marinette may have gone over the top but he loved her for it; deep emerald dress pants and tie, the tie having subtle cat paws travelling from the top to the bottom where a cat was stitched, a black button up with the same shade of green as the pants on the underside, showing up as he had rolled his sleeves, standard black vans and her iconic bowler hat.

“Well yeah but I also got a date” Adrien smirked at their surprised and offended looks

“And you didn’t tell me!” they both said outraged.

“Guess the cat’s out of the bag now, babe?” the two turned to see Conner, whom they met a handful of times since he tended to hang out alot with the Sirens; he was a cool and overall good guy who just had shitty adults in his life according to Nathaniel, who’d see him when visiting his moms.

“Well at least you have good taste” Chloe gave Conner a one over; he was for once not wearing the same leather jacket he wore as not-Superboy, though he wore a ruby button up with rolled sleeves, a black vest and black jeans making the outfit more of a business casual sort of vibe though his brown combat boots definitely it lean more on casual.

“Thank you, your highness” the Kryptonian bowed much to their amusement “Though I don’t think I got a bad catch either”

“Damn I don’t think we had any betting pools for that” Kim laughed as he walked along with Max. Kim was wearing mocha dress shorts and a beige dress shirt, a mocha bow tie and gray suspenders with little monkeys tied the whole thing together. Max had a more average short sleeved white button up and khakis combination though with the addition of a coffee bowtie and deep coffee formal jacket with small silver horseshoes on the collar it definitely spiced up the look.

“By my calculations you guys were the most unpredictable pairing though it doesn’t surprise me that you got together before LadyRobin”

“LadyRobin? I thought we were going with Daminette or Maridami?” Nino asked amused

“Whatever their name is, those two are taking forever to make a move! For kwami’s sake RedScales/LukaTim already got together months ago” Chloe huffed in annoyance causing the group to laugh in good nature.

“Conner?”

The group took quick notice of Conner's sudden stiffness, looking up to see a besticaled man with an overbearing aura, as though his mere presence could overpower you. They had assumed that it was because of his large figure. Until Bruce made his way towards them.

“Clark Kent, right? With the Daily Planet?”

That got reactions from the teens; they were well aware of who the man before them was.

“Right you are sir. It's an honor to meet you in person mister Wayne” Clark laughed politely in a very obviously superficial way.

“I’d hardly call this the first time, after all I know the Daily Planet has a tendency to send you and Miss Lane when covering cases in Gotham” Bruce smiles before looking at the group of teens, as though he had just noticed them, “Ah! I see you’ve met some of the recipients of our Flying Graysons Scholarship”

“Oh, really?” Clark gave a skeptical look as he looked at the teens who were subtly moving Conner away from the center of attention.

“Yes; We have Kim Le Chien as a training olympian swimmer and overall athlete, Nino Lahiffe who’s been getting recognition on short films he’s created for school along with some original soundtracks he’s made and Max Kante and his talent for coding and robotics”

“And what of the others?” the reporter pestered on, though they knew he just wanted to know what Conner was doing there with them,

“ Well, Adrien Graham de Venily is a family friend, while Chloe Bourgeois is daughter of the mayor and of the fashion mogul Style Queen” he gestured to the two blondes gave cold smiles at the besticaled man “Both they and Conner Kyle here” he patted Conner’s shoulder, the teen relaxing at a familiar touch before glaring at Clark, “The adopted son of a family friend, will be transferring along with the award recipients considering they’re all friends to Gotham Academy; I rather think its touching how deep their friendship runs”

“Conner… Kyle?”

“Yes. It's my legal name on my birth certificate, Mr.Kent. Do you have a problem with that?” Conner puffed up his chest towards his genetic donor.

“... None at all Mr.Kyle” Clark had then been quickly swept up in a conversation that was truly about nothing that Bruce had distracted him with, allowing the group to leave towards the balcony for some much needed privacy.

“Are you alright, Kon?” Adrien looked up at his boyfriend in concern before the boy sighed with a tired smile.

“I will be”

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“I can’t believe Adrien blew me off like this!” Lila cried out on her ride to the Wayne Gala. She didn’t care for the stupid scholarship, her mother’s job could easily send them to wherever the hell they wanted anyway. Alya seemed to believe that she had a chance of getting the award and scoring an interview with the Wayne’s newest member. If Lila had her way then she was sure she would get one of those rich idiots eating out of the palm of her hand by the end of the night. Especially if they were as much of a playboy as Brucie Wayne was.

“Lila you need to realise that Adrien isn’t worth it” Alya soothed “He’s done so much shit to you, he doesn’t deserve your time. I bet you can totally score a better man at the gala than anyone Adrien could hope to be”

“Tha-Thanks Alya, I don’t know where I’d be without my bestie”

The two girls met up with the rest of their school during the reception, though a few noticeable people were not with the group.

“Thank you, everyone for coming today to support this wonderful new foundation” Richard’s voice echoed as he made his way on stage, the audience applauding as he reached the table with all the awards.

“I remember before meeting Bruce I’d travel around the world along with the circus with my parents; we used to perform gravity defying tricks as the Flying Graysons. We’d see the different places of the world but I noticed the differences in the culture and state of living. So now I’d like to honor their memory with the help of dad by giving different gifted and talented kids around the world a chance to flourish and further polish their talents”

Alya was already streaming on the Fox Tea as the crowd clapped. Lila wasn’t impressed though; he may look like money but he was just a circus monkey after all. Though his body certainly looked like a million dollars.

“And to help give out these awards I’d like to invite my family, including my new little sister; Kagami Wayne!”

Lila would feel her nails stab into her palms as the Waynes came out from behind the curtains, a familiar Asian girl with them.

She hated the fact that her dress was as gorgeous as it was.

Kagami hadn’t wanted to go over the top but according to her brothers and sisters she needed to stand on her own lest the media try to brush her off or even try to start shit with Bruce neglecting them. Marinette had worked long and hard on the dress she wore, swearing it was her magnus opus of the Miraculous by MDC summer formal line. A raspberry red thigh high figure hugging dress with a silk skirt and golden embroidery with a dragon wrapping up to her waist. It had been months since Kagami began to rebel against her birthgiver and had grown her hair out enough to curl it and clip it to the side of her hair with a golden hair ornament Bruce had gifted her when the papers went through, pairing nicely with the golden heels, belt and choker she wore.

The rapid flashes of light nearly blinded Lila but somehow none of the Wayne’s seemed affected by them as they just stood and posed for the paparazzi.

“Now we’d like to present the Flying Graysons Scholarship to the following people from Francois Dupont; Marc Anciel, Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Nathaniel Isley-Quinzel, Max Kante, Alix Kubdel, Nino Lahiffe, and Kim Le Chien”

If it weren’t for the fact that she spotted Gabriel earlier in person and could currently see him glaring at the Waynes, Lila would have been counting on Akuma to appear.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“Oh my kwami, please tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing” Marinette stated as she rolled her suitcases behind her, her friends in similar states as they saw the building before them. It was now the end of August by the time they officially moved into their new dorm… or rather new apartment building in which they were the only residents besides Mrs.Anciel-Pennyworth and “Gorilla”. Adrien had sworn all of them to not tell him his former bodyguards real name because he was a big boy who’d investigate it himself.

“Holy shit this man literally just flexed at us” Conner said in awe, lowering his sunglasses to get a better look at the place, it seemed like Bruce had thought ahead and coated certain rooms in lead paint, enough to keep Boy Scout from snooping but to be safe for his friends to not face health issues.

“Okay he’s clearly showing favorites now unless he did the same for the other winners” Alix looked unimpressed.

“Though he certainly did a 180 of this place” Max nodded, as it turned out those months ago this had once been the building where the now extinct gang was keeping their “merch”. Since then they knew Wayne Enterprises had bought it out but they hadn’t realized that Bruce would refurbish it and make it into their new living place.

“Seriously, Mr.Wayne you didn’t have to spend𑁋” Nathaniel began, looking as the man came out with his own kids to help with the move and to get Kagami, Marc and Adrien settled.

“Don’t worry about it. It was like spending money at the dollar store for him” Jason ruffled his hair before picking up some boxes and taking them inside.

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were trying to buy us out” Luka said as they finished up the tour of the glorified dorm/ mansion.

The building had what they called six visible floors;

The rooftop had an indoor pool and was fully furnished to hold campfires or even barbecues if they wanted as well as a collapsable roof.

The sixth floor is where the music studio and labs were. Both were soundproof, reinforced and had monitors linked up to Big Sister aka Hecate ( the artificial intelligence Barbara had worked on to reassure Bruce that the kids wouldn’t die in their dorm. She was no replacement for Alfred however Guillaume ‘Gorilla’ Durand promised to do his best in taking care of the children’s well-being and that of Alise.) who would warn them if their activities were reaching dangerous levels.

The fifth floor was called the Artist Alley. Half of it was occupied by Marinette and Chloe as they developed Lady Luck (trademark pending) by MDC while Marc and Nathaniel occupied the other half with their studio to develop their series “The Adventures of Illustrator and Reverser”. They thought it was good but both had realised that they wanted to try making a more mature, probably teen targeted, series; (Teen) Titans was their current working title.

The third and second was what they called the residential floors, the right side holding the girls’ dorm while the left had the boys’.The second floor also had rooms they would use for guests though each room also had a pull out couch just in case. Each dorm had a private bathroom with a full bathtub, sink and toilet, full sized room, closet, and computer desk with a comfortable amount of space to rearrange or add their own items. Each floor had their own entertainment system, kitchen and dining room that helped separate the rooms. On the third floor was Marinette, Kagami, Chloe and Alix on one side while Adrien, Luka, Nino and Conner were on the other. The second floor had Alise and Gorilla on the right while Max, Kim, Nathaniel and Marc lived on the left.

The first floor was the entrance, the first part looking like your standard lobby though it still had a mailbox for all its residents for the mailmen to drop off their letters and packages, fully equipped with a detector just in case anything passed any screening before. People could only make it to the elevator if they were accompanied by one of the residents or were identified as welcomed/ not persona non grata by Hecate. The other side of the first floor was the game room; different game systems, DDR system, pool table, darts boards, foosball table, and chess/checkers table were scattered around the remaining space of the room.

The basement was a fully dedicated gym. It had about every machine one would find at a regular gym along with a basketball court and a place for practicing gymnastics though there were nets and safety mats installed along any area where they could have accidents on them.

The first secret floor was where their special gym was, the floor hidden by thick lead underneath the basement. There they had equipment that they could use to train their extraordinary abilities. Any equipment in it was super strength resistant for Conner to blow off some steam without fearing he’d ruin it for his friends. Training dummies were also in their own section for them to train without having to go to the Batcave. There was a place to meditate and find quiet amongst the chaotic building, soundproof but monitored by Hecate. The room was also made to withstand any natural disaster, including a disaster caused by Superman or a rampaging Joker.

Beneath the building was also an underground tunnel, it was connected to the Batcave and could be used to escape in case of an emergency or for a direct route from the cave without having to go out on the surface. There was also another one that was connected to a safehouse where they would meet in case shit really hit the fan. It was big enough for them to use their hidden motorcycles, leave traps for any followers or to run; whichever they had the liberty to do .

“Brucie didn’t pay for everything” Dick laughed

“Yes, Jagged insisted he help with at least the music and art floors” Damian informed them in a monotone voice, though he did try stealing glances from Marinette.

“Plus Lex Luthor may or may not be missing some hidden money that may or may not have been used for all the gym equipment and the labs. Y’know evil guy pocket change” Tim laughed as Luka just snuggled to his little evil genius of a boyfriend.

“Well if he was buying us out I’d say it’s working”

🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫🔴⚫

“He’s conspiring against us”

“How?”

“He’s making his own team of teenagers”

“So you’re saying that Wayne is the Batman? And that he’s making his own teen superhero team?” Flash, Barry Allen, found himself questioning their leader during yet another Justice League meeting at the Hall of Justice.

“Well there have been more vigilante reports in Gotham” Wonder Woman, Diana, added on, looking through the newest blurry photos that the internet was able to scavenge up. Like the other photos they were all blurry and covered them by shadows.

“And Sup— Conner was amongst the children that transferred into Gotham Academy “ he admitted reluctantly, their screens showing the list of all Flying Graysons Foundation Scholarship before narrowing them by those who would be staying in Gotham.

“Conner? But I thought—“ Martian Manhunter asked from his seat.

“All these papers look legal enough,” Barry said as he took a closer look at the copies of the birth certificate and school records for one Conner Kyle.

“We can’t even say these are fake or forged because he never had one to begin with” Diana further admonished though Kal brushed over it.

“And you suspect that the other scholarship students are in on it?” Aquaman, King Orin or Arthur Curry, asked skeptically. The children who had won the scholarship seemed about as average as normal children could go other than the fact that they had different specialities or talents, awards already to their names in recognition and that they attended the same school as the newest Wayne, Kagami.

“Well there’s no evidence that points towards that” Hawkwoman, Shayera Hol, admonished “These are merely children; accusing them of such things is most dishonorable if we have no evidence against them”

“We are well aware of the animosity between the League and the Batman” Red Tornado informed in his normal monotone voice.

“And we know you and Conner had a hard falling out after… All that happened those months back” Starfire, Koriand’r the alien princess of Tamarand and supervisor of the Young Justice, stated as diplomatically as she could.

“Are you sure you aren't blowing this out of proportions? This could just be Superboy moving on with his life. Perhaps he found someone to adopt him as their own” when certain people failed to was the silent addition most could hear out of Diana’s voice.

Barry Allen knew they had a reason to fear these rumors.

If the limited, and he meant the bare minimum, information Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, had told him of the secret alliance of heroes who weren’t part of the Justice League was anything to go by.

He just hoped that they hadn’t done anything to anger these new blood.

AO3 Ko-Fi

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marvels-writings · 4 years

Note

I love this blog :) this is a weird idea for a Carol x reader fic, but I wanted to submit it anyway. A reincarnation au where Carol and r: very close before she's back on Earth in 1995. For Carol, r is the one that got away-she died before they could be together. after the snap reunion, Carol meets Avenger!r- r looks dif/acts dif, but both seem to know each other/ r knows things about Carol somehow etc/both feel that the other is extremely important to them=confusing to everyone. Angst/fluff?

(not mine)

Series Masterlist

Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) Masterlist

Differences (1)

A/N: This has been in my inbox forever, still don’t have much inspiration but here you go

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(Flashback)

You thought you felt your heart stop when you heard Lawson’s plane got shot down. You and Carol instantly took one of the fighter jets and flew to her last location the fastest you could.

“Lawson, are you okay?” You shouted, jumping out of the cockpit and running to where Lawson was slumped over in the pilot's seat.

Lawson had blue blood flowing from her forehead, she wasn’t breathing. There was a burn mark on her chest, she was dead. Carol followed after you, she was halfway to you when she saw someone approaching.

“We don’t want to hurt you.” A voice stated, you looked up to see a strange man in a laser tag suit with golden eyes walking towards you, gun pulled out of his holster, trying your hardest to stop trembling.

“Really? The dead body kind of gave me the wrong impression.” You shouted back, lifting your gun to eye level, backing away from him slowly until you reached where Carol was standing, gun aimed at the man.

Neither of you had any idea what was going on, your superior officer had been shot by someone wearing a rubber bodysuit, the same man was probably going to threaten one of you. Today really couldn’t get much worse.

“Just give us the core, and we’ll be on our way.” He reasoned you frowned. The core was supposed to be for a light-speed engine, Lawson wouldn’t want it in the hands of someone who had just murdered her.

“You mean that core?” Carol asked, gesturing to the core with her gun, he nodded, slowly pulling his gun out of his holster.

You glanced at Carol, to anyone else she would’ve seemed uncaring but brave, but you saw she was terrified. You were about to pull the trigger on the core when you heard a gunshot, something hit you on your side, burning you as you collapsed onto the ground.

“Y/n!” Carol shouted, moving to catch you as you fell, she went on her knees, one hand holding her gun still with her other hand supporting your head, trying to keep you awake, you gave her the best smile you could, the light slowly leaving your eyes as you did so.

“Give us the core and-” He began, Carol barely cared as she shot the core with her gun, the explosion blowing her back, power pulsing through her as she fell backward, the rocks knocking her unconscious.

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Carol woke up gasping in her bedroom, she sat up instantly, shirt sweaty and heartbeat erratic. The image of you dying ran in her head as she tried to steady her breathing. She knew who you were, but she hadn’t seen you in years, not since you died the day the Kree took her.

She got off the bed, breathing calmer now as she made her way to the kitchen to find it was already almost 9 am. The memories of last week rushed into her head, the fighting with Thanos, Tony snapping and almost dying, Natasha was still gone. Everything was just getting started, Steve said he was going to find recruits to help. Carol groaned, burying her head in her hands at the thought of needing to train recruits.

“Danvers, we have a recruit,” Steve stated, walking in with a clipboard in his hands.

Somehow, he was already dressed for the day, wearing a tight workout t-shirt and Levi jeans, his brown leather jacket on the counter. Carol still wore grey sweatpants and a white tank top. He handed her the clipboard, Carol’s eyes widened a little when she saw your name on the top. You were the person from her dream, but you were dead.

“You know her?” Steve asked when he saw her rapidly flipping through the pages to find out more about you.

“I thought I did,” Carol muttered, running a hand through her short hair. “I knew her before the crash, I thought she died then.”

“Carol, she’s only 27,” Steve stated, Carol looked up at him and frowned, you were almost 6 years younger to her, it didn’t make any sense.

You had died, yet here you were, you looked different, your skin tone was a little darker, you were a little taller, more muscular, but your eyes still looked the same from her dreams.

“Recruit is here,” Bruce stated, walking into the kitchen with you behind him.

You wore a fav/color t-shirt with some patterns, black jeans, black vans with your hair tied up in a high ponytail, a few strands falling out. You looked different from how Carol remembered you, you walked with more confidence than before. You frowned when you noticed Carol staring.

“I’m y/n y/l/n.” You introduced, extending your hand to Steve who shook it, he nudged Carol to do the same after he introduced himself.

“I’m Carol Danvers.” She introduced, shaking your hand.

Something about her seemed familiar, you couldn’t quite place it, but you felt drawn to talk to her.

“You hungry?” Bruce asked, gesturing to the kitchen which had just been stocked.

“There’s some leftover pasta if you want,” Carol stated, getting herself from coffee.

“How did you know I liked pasta?” You asked curiously, watching her make coffee with a small frown.

“Lucky guess.” She muttered, a memory of you making pasta in her head before she turned back around to see you handing her a carton of cream while telling Bruce and Steve that you’d already eaten.

Carol frowned as she glanced down at the carton of cream, most people assumed she liked her coffee black, but it was the opposite. Half of her coffee was cream, she didn’t understand how you knew that neither did you.

“How did you know I needed cream?” Carol asked, taking the cream and dunking a decent amount in her coffee before handing it back to you.

You shrugged, as confused as the people around you.

“Lucky guess.” You joked, waving to Carol as Steve led you to your room.

You were more confused than when you had walked into the compound doors, you had no idea how you knew Carol so well.

“So why is she here?” Carol asked Bruce once you’d left, he leaned against the counter a little, frowning a little.

“She was a spy for SHIELD who disappeared during the snap, she was supposed to join the Avengers after she somehow got shapeshifting abilities. Steve managed to find files for recruits, she seemed better than the others.” Bruce explained.

Carol frowned, sipping her coffee while she stared outside at the tour Steve was giving you. You were different, the woman Carol remembered was not as confident, you seemed so sure of yourself now, everything had changed, but it was still you.

| Part 2 |

Tag List: @capcarolsdanver, @versdan, @lesbian-girls-wayhaught, @lovebotlarson, @dhengkt, @5aftermidnight, @hstoria, @natasha-danvers, @veryfunnyal, @xxxtwilightaxelxxx , @ophelias-heart , @never-didbefore , @justarandomhumanhere, @the-most-unicorn-of-them-all , @thatssocamryn , @lesbian-x-blackwidow , @marvelbbyx , @wlw-imaginesss let me know if you’d like to be in any of my tag lists!

A/N: This is a new series, probably 3-4 parts, thoughts?

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smoljamswrites · 5 years

Text

all is fair in love & war | bts x reader | chapter 3

pairing: bts x female reader

genre: mafia!au, series fic, angst, fluff, (eventual) smut

warnings for this chapter: bitchy girls? degradation, mention of Syndicate killing reader’s parents, abuse, slight mention of Y/N talking about killing herself (only mentioned once in passing), stalker elements, swearing,

a/n: hey, please let me know what you think in the comments! All feedback is appreciated! Just a reminder, that I am not condoning any abusive or stalking relationships in my writing. If you are sensitive to the warnings above, please do not read this fic. Thank you.

the fic playlist is here, thanks for your support! x

Over the past 24 hours you have completely worn yourself out. Practice. Practice. Practice. You have one day until your first performance and you couldn’t be more nervous. After selecting the song on the stereo, you move to stand in the middle of the podium, your hips swinging with fake confidence as you walked. Coming to the black chair in the centre, you sit sideways, bringing your legs off the floor in one smooth motion. Hooking your legs over the back of the chair, you swing yourself around so that you are now upside down. Running your hands over your body, you look at the wall straight ahead. Moving away from the chair, you make your way over to the pole. Wrapping your legs cautiously around the pole, you do a couple of turns on it before bringing yourself down to your knees. You open your legs wide before turning to grind down, so you were now on your tummy. Butt first, you slowly bring your body up off the floor.

There’s a knock on the door before you can continue further with your routine. The door creeps open, and you’re met with big beautiful eyes and high cheek bones. “Hey! Hope you don’t mind me checking in. My name’s Kira, and I work here too” the girl smiles. The door opens further, allowing you to see her properly. Dressed in a plain sports bra, and some black shorts, her silky brown hair falling to rest at her hips, she enters the room and comes up to you. “So, what’s your name, new girl?”

Something unsettling rested within you as she called you that. You had thought she was going to be sweet. Someone nice to talk to. Finally, someone you can call ‘friend’. But the weird glint in her eyes warned you otherwise. But still, you answered her politely, not wanting to make any more enemies around here, “My names Y/N, it’s nice to meet you Kira”.

Kira’s eyes moved to look you up and down and then drifted over to the podium. “Oh, I heard your practicing for your first performance. It’ll be tough out there, especially because you aren’t really a dancer are you? I can tell because you don’t have the correct physique yet. But don’t worry! You’ll be a professional like me in no time! If you ever want any guidance from me, just give me a shout, I’m sure I can fit you in somewhere.” Snobbiness oozed in her voice, and you could tell this girl had Syndicate blood. The way she looked down on you, and put herself superior, made your blood boil. That’s what the monsters who had killed your parents always done to you – belittle you. And you’re not going to lie, it works. You are petrified of them. Who wouldn’t be!? But that doesn’t mean that you don’t hate them, that they don’t get you seething. You hate that they have you trapped in their little world. God, the things you’d do to be able to be free. Free of their torture and torment. You’ve had enough! This whole liberty idea, of ‘allowing’ you to work, is beginning to piss you off. Having to work for your life? Sometimes, you wish you’d rather be dead. If you were ever handed an opportunity to leave this place, this gang, this hell, then you’d take it. 100%. You’ve always dreamt of this magical opportunity, that some knight in shining armour is going to come and save you, but it never has arrived. Instead you’re stuck here with them, with her right now, wishing you were somebody else.

“Okay, thanks for the offer!” you force out a smile, although it doesn’t reach your eyes.

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

The day has finally come, and you’re currently perched on a black box backstage. A few of the other girls are getting ready for their performances too and are engaging in conversation. Kira is there, along with two other girls – Sunny and Grace. Kira’s long brown hair tied up in a high ponytail, her figure on display as her outfit hardly left anything to the imagination. Her face is made-up; Smokey eye makeup, coupled with a nude brown lip and false lashes. A sparkly choker completed her look.

Sunny had a different style to the rest of the girls. Her hair is left down, resting just below her chest. Her makeup is much more neutral, but she definitely draws attention to herself with her collection of tattoos. Art adorned her arms and neck, a small sentence written in a foreign language is placed above one of her breasts. Piercings decorate her lip and eyebrow, and leave a trail up her left ear, glistening when the light hits them. Out of all the girls you have met, it is Sunny that screams intimidation. Her black lace two piece matches her black hair and the glare that she sends you, makes you look away immediately.

Grace seems much brighter than the other two that you have met, but maybe that’s due to her obviously bleached hair. You can see her darker roots starting to come back through the top, but this really suits her. Her outfit is a lime green colour. Grace sits on the floor on her phone, a cigarette resting between her lips.

Just then, a Syndicate member comes through the curtain looking for you. His eyes land on yours immediately, “these packages have come for you” he throws them in your direction and walks away, leaving you to fetch the package that lays near your feet. The other girls don’t bat an eyelid at his behaviour; they know who you are, and they make it clear that they are your superiors, despite their own status in the group being quite low anyway.

You crouch down onto the floor and grab the first parcel. It feels soft in your hands. Pulling at the plastic, you tear it open, a mass of lacey fabric coming into view. Taking it out of the packaging, you see that you have a pastel pink lace bodysuit, accompanied by a garter-type belt to go over the top. Taking the outfit and the second parcel, you go to get ready in a booth, aware that you only have about 15 minutes until your show. The garter belt has two strips that hug your thighs and the bodysuit is kind of low cut, showing off your collar bones. Compared to the other girls, you look quite bare, as your body isn’t decorated with ink, or with glitter like Grace’s. Looking in the mirror, you scrunch your face to the side, quickly applying and blending your makeup. You decide quite early on that you don’t need to have a really bold makeup look today, being as you’re pushed for time. That’s why you settle for winged eyeliner, subtle eyeshadow and a nude peachy tone for your lips. You add a bit of contour onto your collar bones, hoping to make them stand out. Opening the second box, you take out a pair of chunky, lace up boots and put them on. Deep breath Y/N. Everything is going to be fine.

You exit through the curtain, passing the other dancers on your way, and wait at the edge of the stage. You peek your head around and see an array of people whispering amongst themselves and waiting for your performance to start. Shit! Here goes nothing. The music begins to play through the speakers, all whispers come to a halt. As the intro plays you walk onto the stage, beginning to feel yourself getting lost in the music. It’s just you and the practice room, you’ve got this! Nobody else is here. Placing yourself sideways onto the chair, the first verse brings your routine to life.

You make it look like it’s magic

'cause I see nobody, nobody but you, you, you

I'm never confused, hey, hey

I'm so used to being used

Your legs have swung around to hook over the chair, just like you practiced, everything is going perfectly. The upper part of your body is hanging off the edge, all eyes drawn to watch your every move. The spotlight makes your collar bones glisten, your neutral look making you look angelic and feigns innocence.

So I love when you call unexpected

'cause I hate when the moment's expected

You’re now wrapped around the pole, turning to the beat. There’s something so delicate about the way your body moves. It’s like you were one with the song, completely in sync. You come back down and look straight ahead, coming down onto your knees.

So I'ma care for you, you, you

I'ma care for you, you, you, you, yeah

Legs are spread, your own hands coming down to marvel your body. You were mesmerizing! Your body turns to the side, sinking down onto the cold floor, ass high in the air as you do so. You lift the lower half of your body up quickly, and then you bring it back down, and you repeat. It matches the beat of the song really well, but also your pounding heart.

After a couple more minutes, your routine wraps up. As soon as the music finishes, you quickly leave the stage, not wanting to look anybody in the eye once the spotlight gets dimmed down. As you rush backstage, ready to get changed back into some more comfortable clothes, you’re stopped by Yunseo.

“Y/N! That was brilliant sweetheart! Who knew a sweet, little girly like you could get every man in there going, huh?” his sweaty palms caress your shoulders, and you’re struggling to hold back the urge to shudder. His words are vulgar and coarse, eyes looking you up and down like he wanted to demolish you. “I always knew you were a performer, the way you act all shy with the boys at home is all a front really, isn’t it?” You couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. You do not ‘act shy’, it’s called being frightened for your life! How dare he! What he is insinuating was uncalled for, and completely untrue. You were fuming at this point, rage bubbling up inside of you. He hit a nerve alright, and you had snapped.

Your brows knit together as you look up ready to face this appalling man, “Um- actually I’m not shy thank you! It’s the fact that I don’t want anyone of Syndicate’s filthy fucking hands touching me. You make me sick. All of you make me-“

-SLAP-

The hit was loud, and the contact stung your face. You were sure that was going to leave a mark! He’s hit you before, god they all have, but having Yunseo slap you in public made the anger set in more. Your cheek felt warm and tingly from the hit, but that didn’t stop you from maintaining eye contact with the monster in front of you.

“Listen here you little bitch, I don’t want to hear another word from you tonight! Do you understand me? I don’t know who the fuck you think you are! I’ll tell you what’s going to happen now, okay? Someone has requested a private dance from you, and usually I’d have to decline being as it’s your first week and safety and all that bullshit. But I don’t give a shit now. So, you’re gonna go through there and entertain that man like the little fucking whore that you are! Got it?” his hand had come up to clutch your chin. His eyes glaring into yours, as he spat his bitter words into existence. He pushed your head towards the direction of the door. “Oh and Y/N?” you turned around, tears beginning to brim in your eyes, “just letting you know we don’t have any cameras, and if you scream, no one will come running.” His tone had changed into a calmer one, a malevolent smirk on his face, but his words made you more frightful than the last. He shoves you into the room and slams the door behind you.

Sitting on the black couch, a man peers up to look at you. He looks quite shocked to see you, but then you hear voices in the hall. You hear them clearly. Great! So he fucking heard everything! You walk over to the man, but then slow down once you get a better look at his face. He’s the one who was sat at the bar earlier this week!

“Hi, I’m going to have to apologise in advance, I have nothing prepared and so…yeah. I’m sorry.” Your voice comes out more timid than you had wanted it to, than you expected it to, but you don’t miss the way that the man’s face softens at your apology.

“Hey, no, please don’t apologise! Come here” his voice is soft, and although the request for you to come closer should have sounded unusual, you found yourself moving to sit next to him, seeking comfort. His hand moves to cup your cheek, and you tremble slightly at the action, thinking the worst, “what happened here?”. His thumb gently caresses your inflamed cheek and you can see the sincerity in his eyes as he asks you.

You remain quiet and evidently nervous as you manage to build up the courage to confide in him. Taking a deep breath, you lean into the stranger’s touch, “h-he hit me” you simply stutter. The handsome man hums in response, features beginning to tense after your comment. It is obvious that he cares, but you don’t know why. “Who hit you Y/N?” although he is seemingly a little infuriated with the situation, the tone in which he uses to address you is still soft. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to be in trouble. You’ve done nothing wrong, princess. But it’ll help you if you talk about it, and I’m here for you. I don’t want to see you upset like this. You’re too beautiful to be sad. I want to see your eyes gleaming with happiness, not shining with tears.” At this point, you have somehow managed to be propping yourself up on this man, him soothing you, large hand running up and down your spine as tears flood down your face.

“It’s the man who owns this place. He said something t-that I didn’t like, and it made me angry so I raised my voice at him a-and he slapped me,” you sobbed into his chest. Never before have you had the opportunity to confide in someone, you’ve always felt alone. But in this moment, you feel cared for, you feel safe, you feel seen. Albeit by a stranger, but this stranger must have a heart of gold. He could have easily had taken advantage of you, but he didn’t do that. He didn’t want to.

“He shouldn’t have hit you. My mother always told me that a real man would never hit a lady, and if he did then he isn’t a man, he’s a mouse. And as for the things he said, I heard it. And you were right to stick up for yourself, princess. You don’t deserve any of this. But it’s going to get better, I promise!” You snuggled closer to his chest and looked up at him, smiling. You thought it was weird that you felt safe in his arms, and yet you didn’t even know his name.

“What’s your name?” your voice gets muffled into his shirt, but he still hears you and smiles sympathetically. “My name’s Seokjin, but you can call me Jin.” He replies, hand resting just above your hip. You nod in response whilst letting out a yawn and begin to sit up. His hand moves to tuck your hair behind your ear, “You’re tired, huh? Why don’t you ask somebody to take you home so you can get some rest?”

“Okay,” you whisper, “will I see you again Jin?” you ponder, wishing that he could take you to his house, instead of having to go back to the hell that you call home. He nods insistently, “of course! I’ll come back here regularly so you know that you aren’t alone, yeah?” both of you rise from the couch, but Jin turns to face you. He leans down, gently placing his hands on your petite shoulders and kisses your forehead. It’s ever so soft that it barely feels like his lips have grazed your skin, but your body shivers in delight all the same. You both part to exit the room and bid your goodbyes. Then you’re off in search for somebody to take you home.

Walking through backstage, you find your belongings screwed up in a plastic bag, definitely not where you had left them but at least they hadn’t gone missing. You get changed back into a much more comfortable attire, wiping off all of your makeup, and leave the booth once more. Sunny and Kira are in the next room you walk into and you are surprised when they start talking to you.

“Hey Y/N” Kira chirps, turning to look at you, “we’re gonna go outside for a smoke, you wanna come?”

You nod, maybe a little to eagerly, as you think that maybe fresh air would do you some good after this whirlwind of a day. Following them outside, the cold air of the night briefly brings you out of your sleepy state. Grace is already out here, sat on the grimy sidewalk without a care. All 3 of you walk towards her, Sunny and Kira in front while you walk behind. This unnerving feeling comes over you, as you get the sensation that you are being watched. You can’t seem to shake it, but it feels like someone has their eye on you, and it is watching your every move. The back of your neck feels tingly as a result, but you try to forget it as you reach Grace.

“Oh my God!” she exclaims in disgust, staring right at you. Kira and Sunny turn around to look at you as well, as Grace continues, “Looks like some guy got carried away with you during your private dance, huh? Look at your face! He hit you? Didn’t think new girl would be into that ladies!” The other girls join in, mocking the blemish on your face, and you don’t know what to say to make it stop. So you just sit down on the floor, and play with the weeds that are pushing through the concrete squares of the pavement. You try your best to block out their words, but some of them stick in your mind, repeating like a mantra.

‘Slut. Kinky bitch. I thought the syndicate pet was going to be shy clearly NOT! Whore. Disgusting bitch. Did you enjoy it slag? What was you doing anyway giving somebody a private dance on your first week? Desperate much?’

After a while, they all get up to go inside, and you know you have to follow suit. But just as you stand up to follow them, you hear something from the opposite side of the road. You turn to squint into the darkness, trying to make out what was lurking in the shadows. Something is over there, right? A bright flash of light grabs your attention, coupled with a faint shutter type sound… did somebody just take a photo of you? You freeze in place, completely still, as you feel the blood drain from your face.

“Hey new girl, are you coming or not?” Sunny is holding the door open for you, looking extremely pissed off with you. You let out a shaky breath, before stepping through the open door and back into the confinements of the club. I definitely need to go back home. All 4 of you are greeted by two Syndicate members as you enter backstage again. Going up to one of them, Seojun, you feel the eyes of the other girls on you, “When can I go home? I’m a little exhausted”, you smile, asking nicely. Seojun turns his head to look at you, “Not yet, you’re gonna have to wait. We’re, um, busy with something at the moment-“

“I’ll take her!” both you and Seojun turn your heads to the assertive voice, and your eyes meet with Sunny. Great! you muse.

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

The walk back to the Sin Syndicate’s mansion was one of irritability and interrogation. Sunny would not stop making sly comments about you, but you couldn’t do anything about it. You were already in enough trouble with Yunseo already, and you didn’t really want to make it worse for yourself.

“So I guess the Syndicate pet is a certified hoe now, yeah? After that private dance of yours, it’d be spiteful to refuse you of that title. Welcome to the club, hunny! We’ll take care of you!” Lies. Lies and insults, that’s all the shit that came out of her mouth. God, how badly you wanted to shut it for her. Just take deep breaths. “Your performance was okay too, for your first time at least. You’ll get better though, don’t worry!” at this point, you’re 90% sure that she’s just trying to provoke you. To test your limits.

“Right, I wanna pop into this off-licence, so come on!” she grabs your wrist forcefully and drags you in the direction of the store.

“Can’t I just stay out here? Please?” you hate yourself for sounding like you’re begging, but you really want to be alone, even if its for 5 minutes. She laughs in your face at your request and you already know what she’s thinking. “I’m not going to go anywhere, I promise! Why would I? Do you think I’m dumb? I wouldn’t even know where to run to, and besides I get everything provided for me at home. I just need a breather, that’s all, I swear!”

She lets go of your wrist and walks alone towards the shop door, “You better be telling the truth, pet! Or I’ll personally track you down and kill you, understand?” she doesn’t even face in your direction as she speaks to you. But you know she’s true in her threat. She pushes the door open, the bell above the door signals the arrival of a new customer, and then it shuts swiftly behind her.

Propping your exhausted and aching body against the filthy wall of the shop, you take a deep breath. At least today is over and done with, and you can finally go home and go to bed. You roll your head to the side and admire the night view. It’s so weird being outside at night like this, being completely alone with the world. The big dark blanket of the sky is adorned by sparkling silvers, begging to capture your attention. It’s so peaceful, and you feel so safe. You can hear cars and sirens in the distance, the slight breeze in the air occupying most of the sound. You look straight ahead, and you notice something rather peculiar. A car. Albeit there is nothing strange about a car normally, but it’s because you had seen this exact car before. A dark grey body shining in the moonlight. And that’s when you make eye contact with him.

You storm over to the car and forcefully tap on the window. Big wide eyes are staring back at you, and you can feel the urge of his to drive away, but no, you want answers! You pull on the handle to his side of the car and you can feel the fury and confusion beginning to build up inside you. “Care to explain why you are straight up stalking me!?” you spit, subconsciously allowing yourself to take out everything you were feeling from that day on him.

“Y/N no- I can explain I promise! This isn’t what it looks like!” the man is beginning to panic. The last thing he wants is to lose contact with you. This isn’t how this was supposed to go.

“Explain to me then, Jungkook! First you get me free drinks, then you get my number, and now you follow me around in your car! What the fuck!? Was it you taking photographs of me?!” You are now raising your voice at him in this street, probably waking up the residents nearby, but you’re too pissed to care. You’re outraged!

“No- It’s complicated I swear! It’s a long story and I don’t think we have time-“

“You know what!? Just forget it, you creep!” and with that you slam the door to the car and begin to make your way back over to the store. You’re red with anger. But as you look up, you can feel all the colour drain from your face. Sunny is standing in front of you, eyes wandering from you to the car. “Y/N?” her face seems cold; emotion is not evident. A detached and distant tone takes hold of her voice. You’re beginning to think your heart cannot beat any faster.

thump thump thump thump thump

But the next words that fall from her mouth make your stress and panic set in more, “Who’s the guy in the car, Y/N?”

next chapter update: Sunday 9th February 2020 9pm gmt

tagging: @dearlydreadful @honeydewseoks @whimsicalwoodlands @toddsgirl27 @wendyiiwl @asifetch7 @barbyisafangirl @miraculyfe @btsxdoll @laluzdirectioner @slutkoo @bubbletae7 @h5naaa @smollmonajinsa @vivpurple7 @purplelady85 @vi-hoshi

let me know if you want to be tagged in future chapters!

Thank you so much for reading!

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lokvadnod · 5 years

Text

Okay so I fucked around and came up with Engineer x f!reader headcanons, here we go:

• So picture it: You get taken in by the engineers. One of them saw something in you that made you more tolerable than most humans, and he couldn’t just leave you stranded in that escape pod in dead space.

• He was initially going to drop you off on the first inhabited planet he could find but your kindness, intelligence, moral compass, and interesting way of thinking kept making him prolong it. Eventually, he just decides to keep you as long as you want to stay.

• That’s not to say that he’s sweet though, bc he’s not, at least not at first. He’s in denial about his budding crush on you and he’s trying really hard not to fall for an inferior human. He’s just... curious, that’s it (he’s lying to himself big time lmao).

• don’t let his tough, cold façade turn you off of him though, just be sweet and crack as many jokes as you can and you’ll eventually break through.

• He can’t fit into some small part of the ship to do repairs because he’s a fucking tank? He begrudgingly asks for your help. “Oh so the little human isn’t so inferior now, huh?” You give him a sly look from halfway underneath the low control panel. He shoots you a death stare from where he’s standing. “Just finish repairing those wires, human.” He says in that impossibly deep voice. You snicker and get back to it but not before you catch a small smirk on his lips out of the corner of your eye.

• Slowly starts being nicer to you, and starts looking at you for longer than is strictly necessary. He decides that you are very beautiful, not even just “for a human” but in general. You’re beautiful.

• When his buddies take jabs at you for being human, he puts them in their place. You’re different. He’d never tell that to your face though. He just takes up for you behind your back.

• In fact, he doesn’t outright let you know how he feels for a good while. Not until he can’t stand it anymore. When he does finally let it out, you see a side of him you’ve never seen.

• “I find you captivating. Truly and wholly good, beyond that which I’ve seen in any other human.” Dude has a way with words. He’s unexpectedly slick but in like a Shakespeare type way. “You are beauty unmatched, and I would be honored if you would allow me to court you.”

• yup, I hc that courting is definitely a thing for the Engineers because why not? They be like that

• Being courted by an Engineer is beyond anything you’d experience with another human. You will never want for anything. You are 110% spoiled. You also get the best gifts ever because your boyfriend is literally a member of the most advanced species in the galaxy (possibly the universe?)

• He treats you like a QUEEN bc that’s how he was raised. You will experience a level of love and respect you never thought possible.

• Y’all never argue. He can get snarky and cold but he is very good at not getting worked up and seeing your side of things. He appreciates it very much if you do the same.

• The first time he tells you he loves you is magical. He takes you to some beautiful planet that no other human has ever even laid eyes on and he spills his heart out to you. It will make you cry, I guarantee it.

Nsfw below because I’m a sucker for big sexy humanoids:

• Okay so my hc for the engineers is that they’re literally the type to wait for sex until marriage. Take it or leave it. If you can get the guy to bed you before you tie the knot, good for you, but that will be HARD. The waiting just increases the tension though, so eventually you’ll be testing each other’s limits like teenagers, always going just far enough to feel both wrong and right at the same time.

• When you do finally get at each other, he’s dominant af because of his slight superiority complex and his size

• Despite being dominant, he’s very vanilla at first. If you want something more, you’ll have to open him up to it. And believe me, he’ll eat that shit up because all he’s ever known is being prim and proper and advanced, and he would be so into getting a taste of the more raunchy side of things.

• The kind of dom that takes care of you and pampers you. After he gets used to the less “clean” side of things, he’s also the kind of dom to punish you if you misbehave during the act (it all just depends on his mood and stress level)

• VERY good at foreplay. He’s huge, he has to be.

• would never hurt you but he likes to show off his strength. You’ll be manhandled into positions you didn’t even know were possible.

• Likes to see you ride him, but he’s still in control. His hands will be on your hips pulling you down onto him at a pace that he chooses.

• seems to have a thing for your hair? He likes to pull on it, play with it, run his big ass hands through it, etc.

• Isn’t rough with you but isn’t exactly not rough either? He’s at least double your size and 1000 times stronger than you so his “gentle” isn’t exactly your standard of gentle but it’s not as bruising as it could be. The best way to describe it is strong and steady.

• The engineers have the best, most effective methods of birth control in the galaxy so ofc he’s gonna cum inside you if you are down with it. You will not get pregnant until you wish to be, if you ever do wish to be. Also, there’s no need to worry about STDs because engineers are too advanced for those too so *finger guns* ((side note: I do totally hc that engineers and humans can have viable offspring bc canon says they made humans with their genes. I don’t think it would be too hard for a human to get knocked up by an engineer, the most it may probably take is a little tinkering from the Engineer doctors or whatever. Like I said, whatever you want, your engineer will provide, even if what you want is a little baby with him))

• Leave some marks on this dude in places that will be covered up by his bodysuit thing (?) the next day and he’ll love it. It’s like evidence of some taboo secret you two share, even though it’s not taboo because you’re married. He’s just never heard of a sex life like the two of you share, so primitive and passionate, and it turns him on to have reminders of it on his skin, just underneath his clothes. He’s also really prideful about it, what other Mala’kak has a spouse like his? The new swagger in his step is almost comical but still so hot at the same time.

#engineer x reader #engineer headcanons #alien vs predator universe #aliens

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anubislover · 5 years

Text

Welcome to the Heart Pirates, Nami-ya Chapter 8: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Crap crap crap! Nami thought, looking between the two Devil Fruit users. Her night really couldn’t have been going worse. She was disarmed, caught up in the sticky, painful grasp of a perverted old man with way too many arms, one of which was still worming its way inside the deep V of her bodysuit. Then, even if she could somehow escape the tightly wound tentacles, Black Cage Hina herself stood between her and the exit. The woman might not have been a powerhouse, but her abilities were like something out of a Marines’ wet dream, specifically designed to capture wayward pirates like Nami.

Escape couldn’t have looked more unlikely and at this point she was really hoping Law was ok so he could get his ass back inside and rescue her.

“Ah, Hina-chan, perfect timing!” Harpin laughed. Two of his unoccupied arms pointed at Nami, who was trying her best not to show how much the razor-edged suckers digging into her skin had started to hurt. “I caught this pirate lurking around my study. She must be in on the village’s rebellion; I recognize her necklace as one created by my worthless former jeweler. They must have hired her as an assassin. Arrest her at once, my dear!”

The pink-haired Marine jutted out her hip, expression stern and unimpressed. “I’ll gladly put a Straw Hat behind bars, you’ll be going to jail too.”

Black, watery eyes widened. “What?”

Cool as iron in winter, Hina pulled out a cigarette, taking the time to light it before answering, “Didn’t I tell you that my superiors decided my attendance at your party was more important than attending to my duties? That’s because they wanted me to gather evidence that you’ve been selling government secrets and destroy whatever blackmail you have on them; we’re in tumultuous times, and the last thing they need is you churning even more chaos for your own gain.”

“Ah, a honey-trap. Of course,” he chuckled, giving her beautiful, athletic body an open leer. “Not a bad plan, given my fondness for you, but shouldn’t you have been a little nicer to me if you wanted to get your hands on some evidence? Avoiding me all night isn’t a very good seduction technique.”

Hina looked disgusted at the very thought. “I’d rather cut my own face off than allow you to touch me. No, our plan was far more palatable; Smoker had snuck away earlier to mess with the pipes connected to the spa above the ballroom. We were hoping the water damage to the ceiling would catch your attention for a while so we could investigate.”

“And instead, the village’s rebellion, led by Cat Thief Nami, puts all that careful planning to waste,” he said, giving the captive woman a shake for emphasis. Much as the action hurt, Nami was silently grateful, as it dislodged the tentacle still in her cleavage.

A pink eyebrow raised in disbelief. “You really think the villagers are the ones bombing your mansion? How stupid.”

“Stupid? How dare you! It doesn’t matter whether those peasants were in on it or not; it’s the narrative I’ll spin to the papers when they report on tonight’s events. Once word’s gotten out that they sided with pirates over their beloved master, no one will blame me for finally eliminating those slums. I’ve been wanting that eyesore removed for ages, but they simply refuse to leave.”

The Marine captain scowled at his confession. “Then I suppose when I take you in, I can add ‘slander’ and ‘corruption’ to your list of crimes.”

“How are you planning on arresting me, Hina-chan?” he asked with an incredulous laugh. “By force? My rank was comparable to a Vice-Admiral!”

Grey smoke streamed from her cigarette as she replied, “But your strength wasn’t. Powerful as the Ika Ika no Mi is, you rarely ventured onto the battlefield, instead getting fat and lazy behind a desk. And now that you’re past whatever prime you had, I’d say you’re a little closer to my level.” She smirked, cracking her knuckles. “Hina will enjoy this.”

“You should have stayed downstairs with the guests, Hina-chan,” Harpin sneered. “I’d hate to hurt such a pretty face.”

Glancing at Nami, who’d wisely chosen to remain quiet throughout the conversation, Hina frowned in consideration and—surprisingly—a hint of sympathy. “You’re going to jail, Cat Thief, but if you promise to sit tight, I’ll get you out of your sticky situation first. No woman deserves to be manhandled by a creepy squid.”

All things considered, that was probably be the best deal a pirate could get from her, so Nami nodded enthusiastically.

Running forward, Hina extended her arm, clotheslining the two tentacles encasing her wrists. Nami stared in awe as the Marine’s arm went right through them, leaving behind a black shackle locked around each clammy limb. Spinning on her heel, she next kicked her leg through the two binding the pirate’s thighs. The way the rubbery grey flesh immediately began to pucker and swell indicated that the bands were painfully tight, and Nami soon felt their grasp weaken.

“Fuck!” Harpin yelped, though any further curses were cut off as Hina’s fist slammed into his face. The blow knocked him stumbling back, and after another right hook he had no choice but to release his hold on Nami, the shackles on four of his limbs too constricting and the Marine before him too skilled to engage while restraining a thief.

Falling onto her ass with an “oof!” Nami immediately inspected her thighs and wrists, wincing at the angry marks left behind. Perfectly round, thumbprint-sized red rings littered her skin where the suckers had taken hold, the incisions from the chitin little deeper than a papercut but just as painful. A few had even drawn blood, though to be honest, Beatrix’s nails had sunk deeper.

The suckers are designed to capture and restrain, not rend and tear, Nami concluded. Those tentacles are no joke, though. If he’d been trying, he could have pulled me apart like a paper doll!

With a heavy kick to the chest, Hina sent her former superior crashing into his desk, papers and trinkets flying everywhere. Glancing down at the thief, she raised a challenging eyebrow. “I’m not going to waste my time and energy restraining you, but if you try to run, I won’t hesitate.”

“Fine. Wouldn’t want to miss your beatdown of that pervert, anyway,” she ground out, gingerly prodding at her disfigured legs. If she were lucky, Hina would eventually be too distracted with her fight to notice her sneaking off, but she wouldn’t play her hand until the time was right.

Pleased with the compliance, the Marine darted across the room to continue her cathartic thrashing of the ex-head of Navy intelligence, each punch, kick, and slap making her smile wider as she threw him into suits of armor, furniture, and anything else that was in the way.

Meanwhile, Nami took the opportunity to crawl towards her Clima-Tact, hugging the batons to her chest like an old friend. A glimmer from across the room caught her eye as Harpin was knocked into a lamp, and the embossed titles of the black ledgers winked at her as they lay on the floor. After all this trouble, Law would be pissed if she left without them. Quite frankly, now Nami was feeling pretty determined to get them, too. She wanted to read up some more on Jinbei, and that diagram on the Pacifistas could be useful if they ever ran into Kuma again; maybe it even had some information on how his powers worked, and she could use that to track down the others!

On top of that, Hina was right; the world was already in chaos, and people like Harpin shouldn’t be gaining from it.

While the Navy captain was busy repeatedly grinding the heel of her shoe down onto his crotch, Nami took the opportunity to dash across the room, skidding to a halt by the knight’s armor and gathering up the black leather books.

A crash caught her attention, and Nami’s head whipped to the left to watch Hina dodge a fallen chandelier. Haprin’s floppy lips smirked around his beak, hand pressed against a hidden switch on the wall.

Crap, Nami thought. I forgot there were other traps. She froze as Hina tossed her a glare, the thief’s new position not escaping her notice. Double crap!

The Marine didn’t have any time to do anything about the wayward pirate, though, as Harpin decided to go on the attack, using his multiple arms to fling books, debris, and scattered pieces of armor at the women. Nami awkwardly dodged the projectiles, ducking behind the safe. A thought suddenly hit her, and she peeked out from around the corner of her impromptu shield to observe the Golden Octopus.

Despite the beating Hina had given him, he didn’t look all that much worse for wear. No bruises or welts marred his ashen skin, no bones seemed to be broken, and he even seemed to be walking normally despite the testicular trauma Hina must have inflicted. On top of that, the shackles still locked around his tentacles didn’t seem to be slowing him down, either.

Having had more than enough, Hina shouted “Awase Baori!” as iron bars extended from her arms, spanning across the room. The cage smashed into Harpin’s rubbery body, squishing and distorting it as the bars wrapped around him. Maliciously, she raised the bars and the ensnared man as high into the air as she could before slamming him down onto the floor. As he glared at her, she smirked around her cigarette. “Give up. Everything that passes through my body is locked tight.”

The feeling of victory shattered as his scowl morphed into a smug smile around his beak. “Silly Hina-chan,” he sneered, and as if deflating a balloon, his body became thinner and more flexible, squeezing out from between the bars. Even the shackles Hina’d wrapped around his arms fell away, clattering to the floor. Quickly, eight rubbery limbs lashed out, the two powerful clubs slamming into her stomach like bludgeons. “You can’t cage a squid!”

“Gah!” she coughed, the air pushed from her lungs. Six more arms lashed out, striking her across her face, torso, legs, and ass, jerking her about with each surprisingly powerful blow.

Damn it, didn’t Hina even stun him? Nami thought incredulously, doing her best to stay behind the safe and out of sight.

Inflicting more harsh and humiliating lashes against his former subordinate, he cackled. “I’ll admit, your powers are quite the bane of normal men, but they’re useless against me. A giant squid’s body is malleable enough to withstand deep sea pressure, yet powerful enough to fight a sperm whale! It also makes physical blows practically useless. And while squid might not be quite as notorious escape artists as octopi, this flexible body makes your cage and shackles little more than temporary inconveniences. But escape isn’t my plan.”

Before both women’s eyes, Harpin began to transform again, this time growing larger and larger, his whole body becoming that of an enormous squid that took up nearly a third of the room. Each arm was now at least ten feet long and over a foot thick, with the clubbed feeding tentacles extending to nearly fifteen feet. Black, watery eyes swelled to the size of beach balls, and the disturbing beak grew to the point where it could easily crush a melon in its jaws.

Oh, right, Nami thought, cold terror freezing her lungs. Zoan-type Devil Fruit users can fully transform into their animal.

Quick as a whip, one arm wrapped itself around the dazed Hina, the powerful limb pinning down her arms while sharp suckers latched into the skin. The long silk gown allowed her legs some protection, but only from the chitin; the tentacle itself twined about her entire body until she was completely trapped, squeezing so tightly Nami could hear some of the Marine’s bones pop.

“You should have just been a good girl and agreed to be my secretary instead of hiding behind Sengoku,” he said, voice even more distorted now that his mouth was mainly beak. He dragged her close so he could glare at her through one massive, soggy eye. “I would have treated you nicely—given you more than you deserve. All you had to do was look pretty, spread your legs, and know your place!”

Hina bit down on her cries of pain as Harpin gave her another squeeze, laughing at her attempts to remain defiant. “Pity you had to play so hard to get, Hina-chan. At least Smoker won’t have to mourn you long; he’ll join you in Hell once I’ve finished ripping him to pieces!”

“Fuck…you,” she gasped out, glaring down at the hideous creature even as her bones creaked in his powerful grasp.

Looking on, Nami knew Hina was outmatched, and there was little that the Straw Hat navigator could do to help her. It was better to take the chance to run and live, maybe even find Smoker and tell him to help his friend, as unlikely as it would be that he’d get to her in time. Besides, if she didn’t get out now, she’d be next, and if Hina did manage to beat him, all she could count on a one-way trip to Impel Down.

But that pink hair, cigarette, and determination was just far too familiar, and Nami always had a soft spot for female Marines. Plus, she did owe her for the earlier rescue.

“Thunder Ball!” she shouted, launching a barrage of small electric bolts at the giant squid. She knew it wouldn’t do as much damage as a concentrated lightning strike, but it was just enough to distract him, keeping Hina from getting crushed.

Harpin let out what Nami assumed were yelps of pain before he turned his full attention on her. Grey skin sizzled slightly where the shocks had hit—his skin was rubbery, but it wasn’t rubber. Unlike Luffy, Harpin clearly still took damage from electricity. Nami didn’t have time to gloat, though, as one of the clubbed tentacles raised itself high before swinging down, slamming into the floor right in front of the safe, missing the thief as she dodged just in time.

The force of the blow, combined with the time Nami had been standing on the pressure tile, activated the trapped suit of armor, releasing the halberd from the knight’s grasp to fall onto the massive limb. The sharp blade didn’t quite slice all the way through the slimy club, but it did open a deep gash, blue blood gushing out.

“You bitch!” the giant squid cried, pulling the wounded arm back to inspect the cut, shocked that one of his own traps had been used against him.

Cat-like smile stretched across her face, Nami replied, “Oh, that’s nothing. Didn’t I say there would be thunderstorms tonight? Well, it’s not over yet!”

“Are you seriously—” Harpin began, only to be interrupted by a low rumble from above.

As he looked up, a bolt of lightning came down from the forgotten cloud, striking through the center of the arm constricting Hina as it connected to the Clima-Tact. “Thunder Lance Tempo!”

Once more the foul scent of sizzling sea creature filled her nose, and the concentrated electrical blast was just enough to cripple the limb holding Hina, the blackened flesh smoking and oozing blood in places. A horrific scream of agony rang out from the creature, the closest equivalent she could think of being nails on chalkboard. The limb wasn’t severed like Nami’d hoped, but while it still gripped the captive Marine, her face was much more relaxed, the crushing pressure significantly lessened as it flopped on the floor.

However, the Cat Thief now had a new problem; Harpin was hurt, furious, and his enormous, hateful eyes were fixated squarely on her.

Before she could hide herself or cast another lightning strike she was scooped up by a different tentacle, its grip ten times stronger than before, the serrated suckers the size of peach stones and digging deeper into her skin. She didn’t have Hina’s restraint, screaming as he maliciously began crushing her chest, bit by bit squeezing the life out of her.

“You worthless, stupid, wicked twat!” he snarled, bringing her so close Nami could see her pained, terrified reflection in his watery eye. “I’ll make you pay for that! You should have run while you had the chance! Now who’s going to save you, pirate whore?!”

The answer came in the form of Law and Smoker crashing through the windows, the Marine’s thick smoke clouds wrapped around the surgeon’s waist while their weapons locked in a stalemate. Trapped in the smoke were two large barrels of gunpowder. Shattered glass from the windows floated through the air, forcing Smoker to shield his eyes, giving Law an opening to punch him in the jaw, causing him to fling the pirate and the barrels deeper into the room.

Switching his body and the tumbling barrels with debris, Law smirked up at his opponent, patting one of the bombs as it settled next to him. “Gonna have to try harder than that to get these away from me, White Chase-ya.”

“I’m gonna tear your fucking head off, Trafalgar!” Smoker countered still wiping away the glass. His suit was shredded and smoldering faintly in some places while his jitte had a few scorch marks on it. Law must have taken the bombs meant for the third distraction to use against the Marine. Nami had been so caught up dealing with the Baron she hadn’t even noticed they’d never gone off.

Panting lightly, the Heart Captain brandished his cane sword, preparing to strike, only to pause as he took in the state of the room. He’d lost his mask and coat at some point and his lip was bleeding, but at least he was in one piece. More importantly, once he saw what kind of situation Nami had gotten herself into, he used his powers to switch her with one of the barrels.

She barely had time to regain her footing before he ordered, “Nami-ya, a spark to light the fuse, please.”

“Screw the fuse,” she gasped, gulping down air. Her Thunder Lance Tempo crashed through the wooden barrel, quickly setting off the explosive powder, making Harpin bellow as the tentacle was reduced to nothing more than a stump, enormous body flailing backwards to avoid the flames and shrapnel from damaging his face.

At the sound, Law finally gave the creature attached to the tentacle a good look, color draining from his face at the massive sea monster. “Well shit,” he said as he pushed her behind him, ready to fend off further tentacle strikes. “He’s actually a Devil Fruit user.”

“You owe me so much money for this!” Nami practically sobbed in relief, clutching the back of his vest.

“I’ll pay you when we don’t have a fucking squid monster trying to kill us.”

“And who the hell are you?” Harpin snapped, furious that his prey had been snatched from his sticky grasp once again.

“No one,” Law answered coolly, expanding his Room and slashing at the tentacle whipping towards them. It fell to the ground, wiggling and twitching, and Nami sent another blast of lightning at it for good measure.

“The fuck is Trafalgar Law doing with Cat Thief Nami?” Smoker growled to Hina as he slammed his jitte into the tentacle restraining her, the Seastone tip forcing it to go limp as Harpin howled in pain. Once he’d managed to clear the glass from his eyes, he too had decided aiding his companion was a higher priority than taking out his opponent.

“Are you surprised?” she asked dryly as she peeled the suckers from her skin, wincing at the rings left behind. “Perhaps saving Straw Hats is his new hobby.”

“Well, put them in a cage so we can focus on kicking Harpin’s ass!” he snapped as a shadow fell across him.

“Thunder Lance Tempo!” he heard the female pirate cry out, and he whipped around, ready to defend himself, when he was blinded by a lightning bolt flashing right in front of his face.

When the blotchy spots cleared from his vision, Smoker looked down to find a sizzling lump of squid flesh at his feet, the rest of the tentacle gingerly dragging the mangled tip away.

Hina gave Nami a grateful smile, and an unspoken understanding passed between them. “I only have so much energy and would rather let a few pirates gain a one-day head start if it means taking down a man who’s been leaking government secrets.”

Smoker’s eyes widened in comprehension, then narrowed in annoyance. “Are you shittin’ me?!”

Rather than hear out their argument, Nami urgently tugged Law’s vest. “I think the Navy’s got this covered. They don’t need us getting in their way.”

The way the line of his mouth hardened indicated he wasn’t thrilled with the idea, however, when he noticed the three hardcover ledgers she’d scooped off the floor, he nodded in acceptance. Grabbing her free arm, he turned towards the door, but Harpin was already two steps ahead of them, a massive tentacle batting the safe off its pressure-sensitive tile as easily as a cat would tip over a glass of water. Iron grates shot down over the entrance and windows, cutting off their escape routes.

Before Law could use his Room to bypass the gate, another tentacle whipped forward, smashing into his spine and knocking him into a wall, dragging Nami along with him. It was only sheer instinct that allowed him to turn midair and shield the smaller pirate from the hard impact, but as she reoriented herself, she immediately began to panic.

“Law!” Nami shouted, frantically checking to make sure he was breathing. “Oh, God, please tell me you’re alright!”

“Fuck,” he hissed, cracking an eye open as his teeth grit against the pain.

At least he’s alive, she thought, heart thundering in her chest. “Can you move? Is anything broken?”

Despite the obvious distress he was in, he gave a weak smirk. “And here I thought I was the doctor.”

Behind them, Nami could hear Smoker shout “White Blow!” a sickening, squishy sound filling her ears as the blast made impact with Harpin’s rubbery head. Glancing over her shoulder, she found the Marine standing in front of her, thick white smoke billowing from his arms, the dense clouds wrapping around the flailing tentacles like manacles. “Hina, if we live through this, you’re buying me dinner! All you can eat seafood!”

“Fine, but I’ll skip the calamari,” Hina coughed, slamming her Kimono Sleeve into the open wound of the pinned-down club, smirking slightly when the Baron let out a pained scream. The halberd’s gash hadn’t been deep, but even a creature resilient to physical strikes wouldn’t like a metal pole shoved inside a cut.

Unfortunately, their moment of victory didn’t last long, as Harpin had another trick up his sleeve; flexing his stomach, a spray of inky mist filled the room, blinding the quartet of humans, distracting both Smoker and Hina enough that Harpin was able to wiggle his way out of their traps.

“Hahaha! What are you going to do now?” the giant squid gloated, grunts of pain sounding from the pair of Marines. The floor shook as something repeatedly slammed into it, tiles cracking followed by more groans. “You can’t see me, but you’re all easy enough to find; squid are designed to hunt in virtual darkness!”

“Not much of an advantage when you take up half the room, you freaky bastard,” Law wheezed.

Though she couldn’t see her companion, she could feel him gingerly trying pull himself into a sitting position beneath her. Ok, if he’s snarking, he should be ok, she assured herself as she blindly got to her feet. Muscle memory and familiarity allowed her to assemble her batons properly, and following Harpin’s maniacal laughter, Nami tossed her Clima-Tact in what she hoped was the right direction. “Cyclone Tempo!”

His angry shouts told her she’d hit her mark, and with the ink cleared from the air, she was able to blink away the black film that formed over her eyes. Vision cleared, she was startled to find both Smoker and Hina in his grasp, the serrated rings in his suckers puncturing their skin, the muscular tentacles squeezing them like a pair of toothpaste tubes. Smoker looked far worse for wear, and she understood why as the squid bashed him against the floor like a child trying to break a toy soldier during a tantrum.

Seeing the lone thief before him, Harpin laughed again, taking a break from abusing his former subordinate. “Seems it’s my lucky night; all my problems will be solved in one fell swoop! I can frame Trafalgar Law for Smoker and Hina-chan’s murders and for those little information leaks—the World Government will be happy to pin the blame on him over one of their own, especially if it means I won’t release some rather scandalous information to Big News Morgans. Those charges against me will be dropped in no time!” he cried joyously, a third arm plucking Law from the rubble behind Nami, giving all three of his victims a harsh squeeze. “Add in the arrest of all those pathetic fishermen and their families for ‘aiding’ the Heart Pirates, and I’ll finally have my beautiful island all to myself! No more low-class trash or eyesore shanties—just beautiful women and fancy parties!”

His enormous eyes zeroed in on his final opponent. “That just leaves you, Nami-chan. Since I’m in such a good mood, I’ll give you a choice; be handed over to the Navy with your boyfriend or stay as my pretty plaything. After the trouble you’ve caused me, I can’t promise I’ll be gentle, but I can assure you, it’ll be better than what they’ll have in store for you at Impel Down.”

As Law, Smoker, and Hina cried out in pain from the crushing pressure of Harpin’s grip, Nami ran through her options. The choices he’d offered weren’t even worth considering. She couldn’t run; even if she weren’t trapped, she couldn’t just leave Law and the two Marines to their fates, nor risk Harpin framing the innocent villagers for an attack they weren’t involved in. Bargaining was pointless as the Baron held all the cards. Nami considered pleading for mercy, but she was positive that it would do nothing but stoke the squid’s massive ego and possibly sign herself up for an even worse fate—if Harpin was willing to blackmail his own companions, who was to say he wouldn’t force her to commit any number of depraved acts for the sake of her companions’ lives?

Spying the remaining two barrels of gunpowder, she came to a decision. With a shout of “Cyclone Tempo!” she launched them at him, pleased when he instinctively knocked them aside with his last pair of uninjured tentacles. She had no intention of setting them off; there was too much of a chance that the others would get caught in the explosion.

They did, however, distract Harpin enough to let her dash the twenty feet she needed to reach the entrance.

“Did you forget about the gate, stupid girl?” he called mockingly as he realized where she’d run.

Instead of answering verbally, Nami smirked as she stomped her foot down on one of the tiles in the third row, praying that the mechanisms hadn’t been damaged during the battle.

The result was better than she could have hoped; a Seastone net the size of the room itself plummeted from the ceiling, smashing into the huge, hideous creature, narrowly missing Nami as she sprang back and squeezed her small body against the grate, taking advantage of the narrow shelter provided by the threshold. Loud groans from the four Devil Fruit users rang out, all their strengths sapped but the thick tentacles around the three humans loosening, their rubbery bulk also providing ample protection against the force of the heavy net.

“Cat Thief, I’m not sure if I hate you more or less than your captain right now,” Smoker wheezed. His forehead was bleeding, his nose looked broken, and his beefy body would probably be one big bruise in the morning, but he was still alive.

“Be grateful,” Nami panted, walking out into the room to collect the black ledgers. “Luffy would have punched him through the floor; I at least left the room intact.”

Either the Gods of Dramatic Irony decided such a statement couldn’t be left alone or Luffy had died and his ghost was haunting her, but beneath her feet, thin fissures began to form.

“Smoker,” Hina asked softly, “you memorized the blueprints of the mansion. What’s below us?”

Briefly, Law and Smoker shared a guilty glance. “The art gallery. Which Trafalgar and I might have briefly…tussled in.”

“Tussled?”

“I may have bashed his head into a potentially load-bearing pillar or two.”

“And I may have cut a few more,” Law added weakly.

As the cracks grew wider, Hina sighed. “And of course, below that is the spa, which has surely sustained massive water damage by now due to Smoker breaking the pipes.”

There was no way to deny it—from the battles to the bombs to the sabotage, the structural integrity of the room had been compromised. Comical tears streamed down Nami’s face as she collapsed to her knees. “We’re all gonna die.”

Trapped as they all were, there was no choice but to watch the cracks grow larger and larger before the floor finally broke apart like a jigsaw puzzle. Harpin’s much heavier bulk mixed with the force of gravity caused him to smash through the floors of two more ceilings, finally crashing into the first floor. His squishy body did provide ample cushioning for the Cat Thief, though, as she bounced off his elastic head, landing hard but safely on the floor.

When the smoke cleared, Nami realized that they’d landed at the far end of the ballroom. Most of the guests had chosen to use the room as a shelter instead of evacuating and possibly facing what they believed to be an angry mob of villagers, but Reginald had managed to herd them all into the corner closest to the entrance where it was safest, and conveniently away from the spot Harpin’s hulking form had landed.

Luck was once again briefly on the pirates’ side as the fall had also managed to dislodge Law from both the tentacle and the net, freeing him. Tired, dirty, but not as badly injured as assumed, he unsteadily got to his feet, grinning slightly when Nami immediately rushed to his side, juggling the books under her arm, ready to catch him if he fell.

“Are you ok?”

“Better than I was under the Seastone net,” he assured. “That was quick thinking back there. I’m just sorry you had to face him alone.”

“Is the crew ok?”

“Shachi’s team has some pretty bad injuries, but Penguin’s was able to evacuate them while I took on White Chase.”

She let out a sigh of relief. Of course he hadn’t abandoned her; the others had just been in more immediate danger. He wouldn’t have even left her in the first place if he hadn’t known they needed his help. And once he saw she was in trouble, he’d immediately saved her and was even apologizing for the fact that he hadn’t been there sooner.

He wasn’t Luffy, but she was grateful her temporary captain had her back.

Grey eyes shifted towards the small red circles that littered Nami’s skin, and she could see him taking stock of her various minor injuries. His glare intensified as it landed on the smaller rings wrapped around her upper thighs, his highly intelligent brain easily deducing what she’d gone through while he’d been off fighting Smoker. “Since we’re back in the ballroom, I guess I get to play the part of ‘jealous boyfriend’ again,” he said lowly, dark tone sending a shiver down her spine.

“What?”

Pulling out of her grasp, he nodded to the books under her arm. “Hold onto those while I thank the Baron for his hospitality; I’ve got just enough strength for two more big techniques.”

Bad as their own states were, their host was far worse off, the Seastone net still twisted around his bulbous head, pinning him to the floor as Hina and Smoker lay barely conscious in his limp tentacles. His beachball-sized eyes glared at the two pirates that had ruined his plans before bulging further as his guests began screaming in horror.

“Dear god, what is that thing?!” a woman cried, pointing at their host.

“What kind of monster has Harpin been keeping?”

“Gerald, must you show that form in public?” Beatrix shouted, appalled.

“Miss Bellemere, is that you?” Reginald called out. He must have recognized her mask, or at least Law standing next to her. His eyes widened as he took in her infamous tattoo and mikan hair. “Gracious, you’re a pirate?”

Somehow, despite the giant squid that had crashed through the ceiling, it was the word “pirate” that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

“Pirates are leading the villagers’ rebellion!”

“No, they must have murdered the townspeople and are now here for us!”

“Where are those Marines?”

“They’re trapped under the net with that monster!”

“Don’t worry; I’ll take care of this!” Kujakumaru shouted, grabbing Law’s fallen cane sword and lunging at Nami.

Exhausted though she was, she still had the strength to sidestep the untrained fop, tripping him before smacking him over the head with her Clima-Tact.

“Nice one,” Law chuckled as he staggered over to Harpin’s pinned form, a sadistic grin on his face as he stared down at the trapped former Intelligence Officer. “Weaklings like him are lucky to be left alive.”

“Law?” Nami murmured in concern, hovering slightly.

Glancing over his shoulder at her, Law’s eyes were filled with wicked excitement and pride. “I said I had the energy for two more techniques, didn’t I? Well, I’ve been looking for a decent subject to test this first one on. So good of Harpin to donate his body to science.”

Before Nami could reason with him to use his powers to get them out of there, a small blade of green, crackling energy formed in his hand. Without even a moment of hesitation, he stabbed it into Harpin’s big, watery eye.

“Gamma Knife!”

A violent tremor rocked the giant squid’s rubbery body as Harpin let out a truly inhuman shriek of agony, blue blood exploding from his beak before going completely still, the spark of life visibly fading in his eyes.

When Law started to sway, Nami grabbed him around the waist, looping his arm over her shoulder and letting him lean on her for support. “What was that?” she asked, voice somewhere between horror and awe.

Panting, he replied, “An attack I’ve been working on. Completely destroys the body from the inside. Figured it was the best way to finish that creep, since external damage wasn’t doing the job.”

Inside, she was torn. Harpin had been a monster, a lecherous creep, an asshole, and a very real danger to the world, Navy and Pirates alike, with the information he had. Even with Smoker and Hina’s testimonies and the ledgers as proof, his extensive connections with the World Government and Underworld meant there was no guarantee that, if left alive, he’d really pay for his crimes.

But in her entire time sailing with Luffy, she’d never seen her captain kill anyone. Not Arlong, Enel, or Crocodile. He left them a broken, bloody mess, dreams destroyed and helpless as the Navy sent them off to prison, but alive. The Straw Hat captain was a reckless fool and a pirate, but he wasn’t a murderer.

Law had just killed a man like it was nothing.

A little part of her wondered if he’d always been planning on taking Baron Harpin Gerald’s life, or if seeing the painful and suggestive marks on her skin had sealed his fate.

Conflicted as her feelings were, Nami didn’t allow her hold to loosen as Law slumped a little harder against her. She could feel his body tremble, his breath coming out in short, staggering pants, his heart pounding beneath her hand.

It seemed her unflinching support was appreciated, as Law gave a tired wink as he activated his Room, spreading it so widely she had to look out the window to see the faint blue edge at the far side of the island.

“What’s he doing?”

“Oh my God, he’s the Surgeon of Death!”

“We’re all going to die!”

Taking a deep breath, Law ignored the crowd’s panicked cries, softly murmuring, “Scan. Shambles.”

In a blink, the duo was whisked from the ballroom to the other side of the island, the Polar Tang waiting in the cove, the rest of the Heart Pirates immediately rushing forward to check on their captain. Law waved off their concerned questions, but Nami shrieked as she was dragged down to the sandy ground as he collapsed to his knees in exhaustion. Now she understood why he’d been against using his powers until necessary; doing all that on such a large scale, plus his fights with Smoker and Harpin, was draining.

Her concern only distracted her for so long, though. As she looked around, she realized they were surrounded by solid gold statues, jewelry, the buffet, the ledgers, and blessedly, her dress, leather wallets spilling out of the hidden pockets. Gleeful that not only were they alive but that he’d kept his promise, her grip around him shifted into a grateful hug, her lips unconsciously brushing against his cheek in thanks.

Law opened one exhausted eye. “Everyone start loading up the loot.” The last syllable barely left his lips before his eyes rolled back and he completely passed out in Nami’s arms, head lolling until it was squished against the Cat Thief’s chest.

“Captain!” the crew cried out.

Terrified that she might be holding a corpse, Nami pressed her fingers to his neck, heaving a massive sigh of relief when she felt a steady pulse. “He’s alive,” she assured the hovering pirates, attempting to shift the dead weight of their captain so he didn’t smother himself in her cleavage.

“Holy crap, Nami, you both look like shit!” Ikkaku said as she kneeled down to help, too concerned to even tease her about the fact that she hadn’t even hit Law for using her breasts as a pillow.

“It’s been a long night,” she sighed as they finally managed to maneuver him so he was lying flat on the ground. As if annoyed at the loss of his comfortable headrest, his brow furrowed briefly, but after a moment smoothed out as he fully succumbed to his exhaustion.

There was still work to be done, though, and Nami accepted her roommate’s proffered hand, letting her pull her to her feet. With a quick glance around, she raised an eyebrow. “Hey, there’s no way we can eat everything from the buffet before it goes bad. Load up what you can, but before we go, do you think you can help me get some of these leftovers to the town?”

“The Marines will be swarming the place within an hour.”

“Harpin’s call for backup was already denied and Smoker and Hina were barely conscious when we left. Even if they did wake up, they’re going to have their hands full up at the mansion. I don’t think we have to worry for a while yet.” Despite her stinging cuts, sore muscles, and flagging energy, Nami gave a cat-like grin. “In the meantime, the food’ll make an excellent bribe to convince the townsfolk not to tell them about these caves.”

Shaking her head in amusement, Ikkaku simply replied, “Whatever you say, Nami.”

XXX

Several hours later Nami staggered into her quarters, only pausing to check that all three black-bound ledgers were still on her desk before letting out a sigh of relief and collapsing into the vanity’s plush chair. The work had been non-stop; they’d been short-staffed in terms of loading up the treasure into the cargo hold. Even Nami had been roped into partaking in physical labor, barely even given enough time to drop off her dress and the ledgers and change into more sensible footwear before she’d been put to work.

It couldn’t be helped. The majority of Shachi’s group was recovering in the infirmary, the second mate’s wounds the worst with a broken arm and three cracked ribs. Bepo had seen him try to take on Smoker by himself to protect the others, and according to the bear, he’d be far worse off if Law hadn’t arrived in time to save him.

Speaking of, while Law could have moved all the food and treasure in an instant, it was universally agreed that they weren’t going to wait around for him to regain consciousness just so he could overuse his powers again. Penguin had even insisted on carrying him to his quarters before heading to infirmary to act as interim doctor, the First Mate piggybacking the taller man awkwardly, but refusing any help. It had been kind of sweet, watching him take such a big-brother role, and it confirmed in her mind that the crew cared for each other just as much as the Straw Hats did.

At least her own injuries hadn’t been too debilitating, and once they’d gotten everything they could into the ship Ikkaku had roped Bepo, Jean-Bart, and Clione into helping transport the remaining food into the town. Late as the evening was, the villagers had been absolutely in shock as they stumbled out of their shacks, staring at the massive feast that had been laid out before them. Several had even rubbed their eyes in disbelief, clearly thinking it was some kind of dream. Once they realized what was actually happening, though, the whole town had let out a cheer, and Nami had been blessed with a hug from the little girl from earlier, the child recognizing the thief’s jewelry and mischievous smile.

Nami was a bit sad to have to leave, as the townsfolk had asked the pirates to stay and celebrate the Baron’s downfall, but the navigator wasn’t going to squander that one-day head-start Hina had promised and had immediately ordered Jean-Bart to get them out into the open sea. Once Tokken Island was nothing more than a speck in the distance, she’d handed the reigns over to Bepo; he’d shyly informed her that Law had discussed an escape route and destination before the mission had even started.

Now she was back in her room, finally able to take a moment to herself. Ikkaku would be gone at least a few more hours; she’d insisted on monitoring the engine, making sure the additional weight of the treasure wouldn’t put too much strain on the ship. She’d given the hickey on Nami’s neck a meaningful look, though, and the navigator hadn’t even bothered trying to play it off as one of Harpin’s suction marks. Looking at it in the mirror, she knew that was the right call; only an idiot would assume the plum-colored blemish was in any way related to the bright red rings.

“Pervy jerk,” she grumbled, tearing her eyes from the hickey to focus on wiping off her makeup. “Maybe Ikkaku has a cute scarf I could borrow.”

A brief knock interrupted her musings, so she called out “Come in!” assuming it was Bepo asking for her input on their heading. To her surprise, it was Law who sidled through the door. He was once more in his normal hoodie and spotted jeans, colored contacts gone, dark circles proudly visible under his eyes. The black hair dye was still in, but it would likely be fully washed out and back to its original midnight blue in no more than a week.

“Here for your hat?” Nami asked, indicating the black-spotted accessory on the bed. She’d noticed it when she’d dropped off her things and had planned on returning it in the morning. Even she wasn’t mean enough to disturb an exhausted swordsman just to get his hat out of her room.

Plopping the fuzzy accessory onto his head, Law stood behind the back of her chair, pulling something from his jeans pocket. “Among other things.”

The cool touch of gold made goosebumps rise across her collarbone, and she gasped as she recognized Beatrix’s extravagant, heart-shaped diamond necklace as it settled against her throat.

“Is this—?”

“Let it never be said Dr. Goodheart doesn’t spoil his woman,” he chuckled in her ear as he secured the delicate clasp behind her neck. “Consider it my payment for being my date tonight. I estimate that yellow diamond alone is worth at least ten times the forty-five million belli I accrued for three hours of your company. You can count the other thirty diamonds as reparations for dealing with such a shit host.”

Unbidden, a tiny smile came to her lips. She was good at reading between the lines, and this was definitely Law’s way of begging forgiveness for the absolute shitshow she’d endured because he’d left. To be honest, it wasn’t necessary. After hearing about the state Shachi was in, she couldn’t bring herself to blame him—if that had been Usopp or Sanji or Robin, she’d have done the same.

Not that she was going to let him know that. He might take the necklace back.

“Hmmm, I guess it’s acceptable,” she replied coyly, admiring herself in the mirror. The diamonds sparkled elegantly in the light, the pale yellow heart resting precisely in the divot of her collarbone. “Though with all the chaos, I’m impressed even thought to grab it when we left.”

Behind her, Law’s wide grin was devious and self-satisfied. “Oh, no, I grabbed it when I set the curtain on fire. Even if I came away with nothing else, I was making damn sure I got this after that crazy bitch had the gall to insult you.”

Oddly flattered that he’d put in the effort to get her such a luxurious gift and revenge on the woman who’d dared to call her “cheap,” Nami gave him a soft, genuine smile. She wouldn’t even sell it, since he was being so sweet. “Thank you. It’s gorgeous.”

“You carry it better than she does, anyway,” he replied, thumb idly rubbing little circles on her shoulders. “I think you should wear it to the next party.”

Without the gloves, his hands were deliciously warm against her skin and it was oddly nice to see the tattoos on his fingers again. Like the bags under his eyes, they were such a familiar part of him that she’d unconsciously begun to miss. “Hard pass. Tonight was a clusterfuck, and I think I’ll stick to hitting bars. At least there I can beat the crap out of the horny assholes dumb enough to grope me.”

“Fair.” Carefully turning her chair around, he pulled a small first-aid kit out of his hoodie pocket. From the little white box he removed some gauze, antiseptic, and medical tape. Pouring a bit of the clear alcohol onto a small square of white cotton, he gently dabbed at the scabbed-over cuts on her clavicle. “I promised I’d clean these up when we got back to the ship, and I wanted to get a better look at those suction marks. Did you even bother getting these checked over earlier?” he scolded.

Red crept across her face as she realized she’d completely forgotten about her own injuries. “Shachi’s team needed the medical attention way more than me; I figured I could wait until they were out of the woods.” She winced as the sting of alcohol irritated Beatrix’s claw marks but knew better than to complain.

“Of course. It had nothing to do with you being distracted by piles of treasure.” After carefully taping a wide gauze bandage over the cuts, he turned his attention to the sucker marks. His frown darkened as he got a better look at the rings across her thighs. “In the interest of doing my job as your doctor, I have to ask; were all the injuries you received from Harpin external, or should I scan you for internal trauma?”

Her eyes widened and the blood drained from her cheeks as she registered what he was suggesting. “No I…I’m fine. He didn’t…I mean, he groped me and I’m sure if Hina hadn’t arrived—”

Law held up his hand, halting her uncomfortable stammering. “Again, I’m truly sorry you had to deal with him on your own. I knew he was a creep and a pervert, but I swear I thought he was a normal human—someone you could hold off on your own if necessary.”

“It’s ok,” she assured, anxiously rubbing her arms. She really didn’t want to dwell on what Harpin could have done to her if Hina hadn’t shown up. Given the Marine’s willingness to release her from his lecherous grasp, Nami wondered if she’d been in that position herself, or at least seen comrades treated similarly. After all, he had at least a hundred reported accusations of sexual harassment against him. The Navy really needed to stop giving such monsters seats of power. “I guess I should be flattered that you had faith in me to take out a former Marine officer.”

“I promise to never make that mistake again. Once things have settled down, we’re beginning combat training. Your weather attacks are impressive, but they won’t work in every situation,” he said seriously as he turned his focus to her wrists. Taking a silver tube out of his hoodie’s pocket, he squirted a small amount of thick, grey cream into his palm before massaging it into the thumbprint-sized rings. Cool and slightly minty, Nami could immediately feel it begin to soothe her sore muscles and stinging marks.

“I’m pretty sure the odds are good that we’ll never run into another squid-guy,” she joked weakly.

“True, and I suppose he could have been so much worse.”

“How?”

“Did you know several species of squid are cannibals?”

Stomach churning in disgust, her mind frantically fought against the images that tried to wrestle their way into the forefront of her mind. “Ew ew ew! Oh god, how do you even know that?”

The corner of his mouth quirked upwards in amusement as he worked the cream into the larger circles on her upper arms. “When you spend a lot of time in a submarine, one of the main ways to pass the time is studying the habits of underwater creatures. Clione’s even started writing a book about some of the things we’ve seen.”

“Ugh! Remind me to never read it!”

Squeezing another dollop of cream into his palm, he chuckled. “I make no such promise as his research has been extremely beneficial. Right now, he’s studying a skin and blood sample from one of my own sucker marks to be safe, but he assures me that giant squid aren’t venomous. I am ordering you to report any dizziness, shortness of breath, swelling, or other unusual symptoms, though.”

“Fine,” she sighed as he let go of her arms to crouch between her legs. She jerked violently as his long fingers wrapped around her calf, leg kicking out while her heart hammered against her chest with instinctual panic. With the cream coating his skin, the sensation was far too similar to the texture of Harpin’s tentacles slithering across her flesh. Law must have drawn a similar conclusion, as he mumbled an apology, holding his hands up to show he meant no harm.

Nami immediately felt guilty and mentally berated herself. Sure, Law could be forward, but she knew he was no threat compared to Harpin. Yes, he flirted and stared, but if the disgust he showed towards the mere possibility that she’d been sexually assaulted was anything to go by, he wasn’t that kind of threat. She had no reason to be afraid of him.

Taking a few calming breaths, she met his eyes, nodding down at her leg. “It’s fine. Go ahead, doctor.”

As if she were a skittish doe, he slowly and cautiously placed his hand on her shin, pleased when she remained completely still, even though he could still feel the tension in her muscles. Slow and gentle, he focused on massaging it into her left calf with both hands, keeping his hands where she could see them.

“So,” he began, glancing up at her from his place on the floor, “where are you taking me for dinner?”

“What are you talking about?” she asked, eyes locked on the way his fingers splayed out and he rubbed careful, broad circles over each contusion. It seemed he was doing everything he could to make his hands feel as different from the invasive tentacles as possible.

“The dinner you owe me for losing the bet.”

“Fucking excuse you?” she snapped, sitting up straight in her chair so she could properly glare down at him.

A dark eyebrow raised in challenge, though only amusement danced in his amber eyes. “You only got seven wallets before escaping the ballroom. That means you’re paying for our victory dinner.”

“Um, no, I grabbed six more as I ran out,” she huffed, crossing her arms.

“Did you really?”

“Yes!”

“Too bad you can’t prove it.”

“My word’s enough!”

“It’s absolutely adorable that you think I’d trust your word when money’s on the line.”

Furious though she was, she knew he had a point and she really couldn’t prove that she which wallets were stolen when, so she switched tactics. “That reminds me; you owe me an extra fifty million belli for your shitty intel, and no, the necklace doesn’t count towards that.”

“Do you accept gold bars?”

She blinked, surprised. “Um, sure.”

A narrow shoulder lifted in a relaxed shrug “Then you’ll get your payment after I get that ugly-ass squid statue melted down on Knox Island.”

“You grabbed that?” She’d noticed a few gold statues being loaded up, but in the excitement of all that treasure, she hadn’t really registered that it was the one from Harpin’s office.

“I decided I deserved a bonus for everything I’ve put up with tonight, though I grabbed just about everything of value I could. Even if we couldn’t fit it all in the cargo hold, stealing and scattering Harpin’s possessions throughout the island will make it harder for the authorities to figure out what we actually took until after we’ve sold it.”

“Good thinking.”

His smug grin made it clear he knew exactly how clever he was. A more liberal dollop of cream filled his palm, and without even asking he began massaging it into her right thigh. It only then registered that throughout their argument, he’d finished treating both her calves without her even noticing, if the cool tingle dancing across her skin was anything to go by. He’d easily managed to distract her from his actions, and she must have unconsciously gotten used to the feeling of his hands on her legs, as she barely twitched when his calloused palms touched her.

Unfortunately, she now had a different problem—he was intimately close, hands thoroughly rubbing the cream into the sensitive flesh of her thighs, and hot blood immediately rushed to her cheeks as she took in the picture the handsome captain made kneeling between her spread legs.

“What is that stuff, anyway?” she asked, trying to keep herself distracted, though this time for very different reasons.

“It’s a special salve I developed. It soothes the pain, plus speeds up the healing process. I’ve found it’s damn good on welts, bruises, contusions, and other unseemly blemishes.”

“How do you make it?”

“It’s plant-based, actually. I found a unique type of aloe on a jungle island, among several other interesting medicinal plants. That’s actually why I’m so invested in your greenhouse idea; I’d like to plant some of the seeds so I can replenish my stores once they run low.”

He may be a pirate, but he definitely takes his medical duties seriously, she thought with a hint of fondness.

Nami noticed then that, despite how suggestive his position was and how risqué the area he was massaging the thick cream into might have been, his actions were cold and clinical. He was in full-on doctor mode, all his focus on treating a patient.

It also didn’t escape her attention that, once more, he didn’t seem to be moved by the amount of skin on display. She was still in her skimpy bodysuit, and considering how many times she’d caught Uni, Clione, and others staring at her and sporting nosebleeds, she knew she looked sexy as hell, even with the sucker marks. She knew he wasn’t as easily impressed by women as the others, but did he find the marks that repulsive? Maybe the others just hadn’t been able to properly see them in the moonlight, or they’d been too fixated on her chest to notice.

Except Law also didn’t seem to be flirting with her as much as she’d expected. Hadn’t even teased her about the kiss, or even seemed aware that he’d passed out on her boobs earlier. Was he too focused to bother? Too tired? Or was he just not interested now that she was practically naked?

Deciding to test the waters as he switched to her other thigh, she quipped, “I don’t suppose that stuff works on hickeys, does it?”

“Oh, there’s not a chance in Hell this stuff’s going anywhere near your neck,” he said, glancing up at her with a tired but devilish smile. “I worked hard on that mark, and you’re going to wear it with pride.”

Ok, that was more like the Law she’d gotten used to, annoying as he was. “No, I’m going to slather it with concealer until it goes away on its own.”

His hands stilled their motions as his voice dropped an octave. “If I think you’ve put even a speck of makeup on that hickey, Nami-ya, I may have to leave something a little more…obvious.”

She swallowed hard, red tinging her cheeks. She wasn’t quite she what he had in mind, but she knew better than to ask when he started to get that hungry glint in his eyes. After all, if the hickey was payback for her sunburn prank, his punishment for covering it up was probably the kind of kinky shit Robin had told her about after a few too many glasses of wine on girls’ night.

Forcing away those kinds of thoughts, she huffed, “Fine, I’ll leave it alone. You’re just lucky I’m in a good mood from all the treasure we got.”

Salve thoroughly worked into her skin, Law finally stood. “Things might not have gone exactly as I planned, but in the end, I’d call tonight a success.” He strolled over to her desk, picking up the black ledger marked “Intel,” casually thumbing through it with a pleased grin. “Especially since we got what we came for. More, even.” He tsked sarcastically, grin stretching wider as he took in the various reports and formulas. “Look at all this classified information. The Navy should really send us a thank-you card for taking this away from an unscrupulous bastard like Harpin. I mean, who knows what kind of chaos could be stirred up if it got leaked to the Underworld?”

The sharp, maniacal gleam in his eyes sent tremors down Nami’s spine. “It…definitely could cause problems.”

“Absolutely. Imagine how people would react if they saw what Vegapunk and his subordinates got up to? Why, there’s a whole chapter here on the experiments performed on Punk Hazard—looks like a scientist named Caesar created a chemical weapon that nearly destroyed the whole island. And look,” he chuckled, turning the book to show Nami a complicated chemical formula, “there’s even a recipe.”

It suddenly dawned on Nami that as dangerous as such intel was with Harpin, Law might not be much better. He wasn’t like Luffy, who was too good-natured and direct to even consider using such backhanded means against the Navy. Nor was he like Arlong, who would have been too stupid to understand the scientific intel and instead focused on selling the blackmail. Robin and Franky were smart enough to understand and potentially use it, but they had the morals not to, especially if their captain was against it.

Law was intelligent, ambitious, connected, and unscrupulous. It was clear he had some sort of plan for what was in those books, and Nami wasn’t sure she liked it. These weren’t just military codes or dossiers on shichibukai.

This was the kind of stuff that could start an arms race.

White teeth sank into her lower lip. “Considering how dangerous that information is, then, I think we should get rid of those ledgers.”

“Excuse me?”

“Look, Hina may have only been specifically ordered to retrieve his blackmail materials, but Harpin was already being investigated for leaking classified intel to the Underworld—if the Navy thinks we took more than just gold, they’ll send every Fleet Admiral after us with extreme prejudice. We’re better off dumping them at a Marine base so they won’t consider us a threat.”

“Are you seriously saying you want me to give them back?” Gold eyes flashed with anger, and after hours of staring at the more muted grey, Nami found them all the more intense. She jumped when he slammed the book down onto the desk. “I did not fight a giant squid and nearly get my crew killed for nothing!”

“Wha—it wasn’t nothing! We got all that treasure—”

So quick she could have sworn he used his powers, Law was back in front of her. Long, tattooed fingers harshly grasped the back of the chair, trapping her in her seat. “I’ve told you before; I don’t give a shit about money. The information in those books is more valuable to me than everything in that mansion combined,” he sneered.

Brown eyes widened at his change of tone as she shrank back, immediately on-guard as his threatening aura surrounded her. “Look, Law, I know it’s been a rough night, but you have to listen to me; we can’t let that intel out into the world. I hate the World Government just like any other pirate, but if the Underworld gets hold of those blueprints and formulas, they’re not going to just be used on Marines—innocent civilians will be caught in the crossfire. There will be massacres across the Grand Line, wars could start—”

Leaning in so close their noses nearly touched, his glaring irises filled her vision. “Innocent civilians also get slaughtered to cover up the World Government’s crimes. I’ve seen genocide carried out because of greedy bastards who would rather kill thousands than admit they’d poisoned an entire city. That’s just the way it is, Nami-ya; the weak don’t get to decide how they die.”

Manicured nails dug into the armrests. For a moment she considered backing down, but all she could imagine was all the inevitable death that would come if she allowed that intel to find its way into the wrong hands. Swallowing hard, she replied, “You…sound like you speak from experience. Are you saying that if someone could have stopped that massacre, you would have told them not to?”

“It might never have happened in the first place if the truth that Amber Lead wasn’t contagious hadn’t been covered up!”

She gasped. She’d heard about Amber Lead and the tragedy of Flevance, but was he saying there was more to it than the world had been told? It wouldn’t surprise her, but…

Wait, he’d said he’d published papers on the effects of lead poisoning in children, she thought with dawning understanding. Had he discovered some government conspiracy, some sanctioned cover-up that had led to the genocide of the White City during his research? Was that why he wanted to out their secrets? Why he became a pirate instead of a doctor?

“There’s a difference between releasing information about a disease and selling weapons, though,” she said quietly, desperately hoping her uncombative tone would calm him down. “If those ledgers have methods for curing a disease, by all means, spread the word, but you know as well as I do that the formula to a weaponized gas in the wrong hands will bring nothing but disaster. And if innocent lives aren’t enough to convince you, think of your crew; aside from the Navy coming after you, how do you know whoever you sell that formula to wouldn’t immediately use it to take you out? After all, you could easily play both sides and sell them out for double the profit. A smart man would see Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates as their biggest threat and act accordingly.”

The grip on the chair behind her audibly tightened, and Nami was reminded that this wasn’t Luffy, or Usopp, or even Zoro she was dealing with; Law was a pirate known for his sadism and didn’t have her nakama’s qualms against killing. For a brief, terrifying moment, she feared he might shift his hands to crush her throat, but after a few slow, calming breaths, he dropped his arms and backed away.

His tone was significantly lighter as he stated, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding—I’m not looking to sell any of the intel in those books. Especially not the weapons research. It’s fascinating and will make for great bedtime reading, but at most it’s a passing curiosity. Something to entertain me on sleepless nights.”

“Then why go through all the trouble to get those ledgers?” she asked nervously.

“Because they have information I need to achieve my dream.”

“Information that’s worth the Navy and Underworld coming after you?”

The trademark smug smirk returned to his lips. “Concerned for my safety? I really must be growing on you.”

Pale hands fisted on her knees as she glared up at him. “After tonight, people are going to realize I’m sailing with the Heart Pirates; that means for the next year, your enemies are my enemies.”

“True, and we’re both smart enough to know that it’s better to avoid trouble.” As if sensing her need for more space, he backed up until he was leaning against her desk. “If you’re worried about Black Cage, I’m happy to compromise—we’ll take a photo of you burning the Personal ledger and send it to the nearest Navy base. That’s the one I’m the least interested in, and it should lower our threat level in their eyes.”

It wasn’t a bad plan. Blackmail and personal information on the Admirals was generally easier to sell and distribute than scientific research, as even a dummy could recognize their value. If the Marines saw they’d destroyed that, they’d likely assume they’d done the same with the rest so long as the secrets never got out. “What about the rest of it?”

“Like I said, I’m not looking to release anything dangerous, but I see no reason not to study it myself in case we ever encounter those weapons. If I can understand how a poisonous gas works, it’s easier to develop a cure, and that’s something I could certainly bid off to interested parties in the Underworld, or maybe the Revolutionaries would be willing to make me an offer.”

After the way he’d been acting, he was sounding a little too reasonable, instantly raising alarms in her mind. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“After everything we’ve been through tonight, you still doubt me?”

“Yes.”

He frowned briefly but didn’t seem surprised. Then again, he’d just lashed out at her over a misunderstanding—he’d be an idiot to assume she’d blindly trust his word. “I appreciate your honesty, at least. I suppose I’ll just have to find a way to prove myself.” Picking up the ledgers, he playfully tipped his hat. “Of course, I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t trust leaving these with you. You might do something stupidly noble like destroy them before I can get what I need.”

“And what exactly is it you need?” she pressed.

As he opened the door, he grinned over his shoulder. “Now I’m not sure you’ve earned that information, Nami-ya, but you have time to change my mind. If you manage to show me I can trust you by the time we reach the Isles of Grimm, I’d be happy to discuss it over dinner. I’ll even concede the bet as a show of good faith.”

Much as she wanted to argue, the navigator knew better than to risk sailing back into a storm. Law had proven that night that he was loyal to those he worked with and wasn’t completely without honor. On the other hand, he was still willing to do whatever it took to get what he wanted, and anyone who got in his way would suffer his wrath. He had his own morals and plans—ones that might not coincide with hers.

Most importantly, he had the book on the shichibukai. It was clear he wouldn’t let her near the ledgers if he thought she might use the opportunity to double-cross him. If she had any hope of getting the information she sought on Jinbei and Kuma, she’d have to play nice and not rock the boat until she had her opening.

“Fine. But you’re going to have to work a little harder at earning my trust too, Trafalgar. I mean it when I say I don’t want any of those weapons specs finding their way to the Black Market.”

“A reasonable enough request. Now get some sleep, Nami-ya. If those marks haven’t faded in the next twenty-four hours, come to the infirmary for more salve.”

On that doctorly order he closed the door, leaving a concerned and confused navigator to stew over the night’s events.

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nagisasstunningpersonality · 5 years

Text

Day two - red/blue

Please read day one first! Otherwise this will seem a little odd lol

Nagisa actually showed up at his apartment, he was seven minutes early on the dot. Which was fine, because Karma was already ready. His fake costume wasn’t the most complicated thing in the world, but it didn’t need to be. He was passable, cape and everything. All they needed to do then was actually sneak in, come across some criminals, and wait it out.

“I still think it’s a bad idea,” he said, orange outfit clashing with the tone of his hair.

“It’s just a normal hotel,” Karma said, gathering the rest of his things. “Just act like we’re on holiday. There’s a bar on the upper floor, that’s where it’s going to go down.”

He didn’t actually complain after that, as the two of them took off. A part of Karma wondered if Nagisa just really wanted the excitement in his life, deep down. As much as they tended to get dragged into crazy things as reporters, it wasn’t an every day occurrence. Like sneaking in the city’s fancy new hotel, a skyscraper that blended in with the rest of the buildings surrounding it.

When they were outside, he could still feel Nagisa’s apprehension

“What now?” Nagisa asked.

Karma eyed the reception desk. “We sneak in. If someone stops us… we’re going to a convention tomorrow.”

They were dressed the part, anyway. Thankfully, they had a good combined amount of experience when it came to dangerous stealth missions. Honestly, he enjoyed that part more than the satisfaction that came with actually getting a story. Because, he and Nagisa were a good team, always had been, and the thrill that came with it was a little addictive. They balanced each other, where Nagisa was cool calculated blue and Karma was fiery red.

Nobody actually did stop them, and they made their way to the stairwell pretty smoothly. They both knew better than to take the elevator from the ground floor, which naturally had the highest amount of people. A couple of floors up, they could brave it, soon travelling up to the bar. It was packed by guests, but probably a great place for some subtle dealings.

“Okay,” Karma said, “now we wait.”

“I thought you wanted to stop criminals.”

“Not at all,” he eyed them up. “We wait for our hero to do it, then we approach… maybe we were late or something.”

Nagisa sunk down the wall. “They’re hardly violent. How do you know it’ll even get his attention?”

“I noticed a pattern,” Karma admitted. “He’s got to be intercepting some kind of information. Some of these mysterious arrests, he must be targeting criminals on the watch list before they actually have the chance to complete the crime.”

“And if he doesn’t want to talk to you?”

“Then at least we’ve proven he exists.”

Nagisa didn’t seem so sure. “Do you mind if I go to the bathroom?”

After such a long time working together, Karma was more than familiar with Nagisa’s weak bladder. Some of the times it struck seemed to be so inconvenient that fate itself was screwing with him. Karma wouldn’t have any other partner, though, even if they had better habits like that. It was fine, anyway, he didn’t need Nagisa beside him right at that moment.

“Sure, I’ll keep watch.”

For a few seconds, everything went completely fine. Nobody moved significantly, and Karma was able to keep a close eye on the people he’d identified as criminals. All he needed now was for the hero to show up. Before anything like that happened, though, he was distracted by a pretty large bang. And Karma couldn’t help his human reflexes to flinch and turn towards it, taking his eyes away from what he was supposed to be watching, before he even realised

The criminals had been completely apprehended. Karma wasn’t sure what he was seeing at first, it was so fast, but they were definitely tied up, looking just as confused as him. The next thing he knew, security were rushing in, capturing the men to presumably take them into custody. There was only one way- the hero was here. And, by the looks of things, he somehow knew Karma was watching him. But how?

“What happened?” Nagisa said when he returned, sounding weirdly unbothered.

Karma didn’t even know what to say. Yes, he’d known his plan was bound to be a bit of a long shot, and yes, he hadn’t actually been trying to catch the criminals himself. But, that bang… He felt like he was being toyed with and he really didn’t like that. They’d come this far, anyway. Karma wasn’t about to just give up after that minor blip.

“Come on,” Karma said, “we’re going to the roof.”

“Why?”

But he’d already started to move. “Maybe that’s how he exited.”

Of course, there was nobody on the roof. Nothing but the hum of the city from down below. But that wasn’t necessarily what Karma wanted, anyway. He stripped off the cape, leaving him dressed a little more normal, before stepping further out onto the roof. This was the closest Karma had come, and he felt it internally- there was no way he was turning back. So, he kept going, walking right over to the edge of the building before he turned.

“What are you doing?!” Nagisa yelled, almost like he was going to follow after him.

Karma stepped backwards again, until there was no more roof left. “We know he’s in the building somewhere. Well then, heroes are meant to save people, right?”

“Y-you-“

“Just get a good picture,” he said, before letting himself fall.

Nagisa screamed his name, but he didn’t hear it so well. Falling… It was a feeling like no else. His heart dropped right through his gut with the rush of the weightlessness. Somehow he found himself laughing as a blur of lights and buildings passed him by. It was even a little peaceful, in a sick way. He didn’t even know how long he was falling for, everything just slowed down.

Until the motion stopped. For a moment, Karma wondered if he’d hit the concrete, and he was too dead to even feel the pain from it. But no, he blinked, coming back to his senses. He was being carried, warm arms supporting him in what he recognised was the bridal style. As much as he tried to scramble away automatically, that grip was firm, and then he looked up.

Never, in Karma’s twenty something years of life, had he felt more like a teenage girl than in that moment. But the man, the hero, looking down at him was so attractive it took Karma’s breath away. Or maybe it was the fall that had done that. The fall… Karma looked down, only to realise they were flying, hovering a considerable amount of feet off the ground.

The hero didn’t put him down there, though, and instead took off, and then they were flying properly. Karma didn’t even know what to think of it, heart beating so fast with the adrenaline that he was sure it was going to fall straight out of his chest. At the very least he could pride himself on not screaming, as they shot through the city he’d called home for the last few years of his life at lightning pace.

Finally, he seemed to find a place that was out of the way enough to put him down, on top of what seemed to be a regular block of apartments. Of course Karma had so much to say, things he couldn’t possibly try and voice when they were flying. But where to even start? He’d planned and planned for this moment, but not being carried through the air. The hero set him down, though, and Karma’s legs shook so bad he could barely hold himself upright.

“Be more careful next time,” he said, like he was about to just zoom off again.

“Wait!” Karma shouted. “I’ll throw myself off again!”

The hero turned, and Karma could see him a little more clearly. Half his face was covered by a mask that extended down into a bodysuit. It was hard to tell exactly what it was supposed to be, though Karma could see it was made up of scales. The green colour complimented the blue of his wide eyes and tied back hair, which was practically shining under the light of the moon.

“There might not always be someone there to save you,” he said deeply, as though he was straining his voice.

Karma found it in him to smile. “I guess it was my lucky day. I’m Akabane Karma, reporter for Kunugigaoka Daily.”

He turned again. “I’m not interested in any interviews.”

“You saved me-“ Karma said, stepping towards him like a man possessed. “Half the city’s police forces probably saw you do it, based on the guards running into that bar. It’ll come out now, whether you like it or not. Around the city, I can bet a dozen reporters are writing horrifically inaccurate stories as we speak. Trust me when I say I’m one of the good ones.”

Hesitating, he turned over his shoulder. “I just want to help people when they need it the most.”

Karma forced himself to be completely alert, knowing he’d have to remember every part of this conversation. “All the rumours and conspiracies recently, would you take responsibility for them?”

“…Yes.”

He swallowed. “What are your actual powers?”

The hero blinked, as though he hadn’t been expecting such a trivial question. “Maybe I shouldn’t give everything away.”

“In case of super villains?” Karma smirked. “Flying… Superior speed and strength?”

“I can also hear it,” he admitted, “when someone needs saving.”

Karma thought of something. “How come you’ve been so shy about it, when you’ve already helped so many people?”

“I’m not doing it for fame,” he turned away again. “I have these abilities… And I want to use them for good. That’s all I want.”

“You should show yourself to them,” Karma looked out over the city. “People are kind of hopeless these days, they could use a hero.”

A soft smile came over his face. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

It almost hurt him to say something so selfless, but he somehow felt he had to. “I don’t have to write this story, if it matters so much to you.”

“But then you threw yourself from a building for nothing,” there was that smile again. “I mean it though, don’t do it again.”

“One more thing,” Karma realised. “Do you have a name?”

His shoulders stiffened for a moment. “You can call me… Python?”

Karma supposed that made sense, given the details of his costume. He really didn’t seem really sure about it though, not in the slightest. But then again, if he was trying to stay out of the spotlight, he wouldn’t have necessarily thought about that kind of thing. He couldn’t help but think that it suited him, though. Interesting.

“Wait, wait,” he realised. “…Is there any way you can take me back to the building I… jumped off. My partner’s probably waiting for me. In fact, he’s definitely freaking out right now. You might have seen him- about as tall as a middle schooler, too cute for his own good?”

Somehow he looked scandalised. “Cute?”

Karma sighed. “You’re a super hero. Listening to people’s love life problems isn’t part of the job description.”

A flush came over the exposed side of his cheek. “I-if you like someone, you should probably ask them out.”

Yeah, like that was going to happen. “Alright.”

“L-let’s get you back now.”

#karmagisaweek2019 #karmagisa #assassination classroom #ass class

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bdfanfic · 6 years

Text

On His Mane’s Secret Service - Chapter 15

Sometime later, she opened her eyes. She finally understood what the Hist were trying to explain. It was a mushroom. She didn’t know it’s name - plants were definitely not something she had ever paid much attention to, let alone mushrooms - but now it was the most important thing she could think of. She would need wheat too, but flour would do and there would be plenty of that in the kitchen. She ran from the room without saying anything to the sisters, who were still underwater anyway. She ran out of the palace without a thought to the guards who watched her run past in her frankly scandalous bodysuit, or the stares of the strangers as she left the palace grounds. She almost didn’t recognize Dar when he shouted at her as she left the palace grounds. There would be no mushrooms there. “Raj!!!” he screamed. “Dar! I… Please, I need your help. I need to find something. It’s a mushroom. A very specific mushroom... “ Dar’Amon shifted gears quickly, fortunately. Ra’Jirra had to endure only a few seconds of impassioned kissing before he recovered his wits. “Describe it,” he said once he’d verified she was alright. She did so, as best she could. “Sounds like blisterwort. Not really my field, but I did have a little training in alchemy. It usually can be found at the southern dark side of old rotted wooden buildings around here.” Within a few minutes, they found some, and Ra’Jirra was happy to realize it was just what she had pictured. However, Dar’Amon wasn’t allowed back into the palace. In fact, she was lucky to have been recognized herself without her Raba, but the guard confessed he had seen her rush out, and the sight of her in her current state was not something easily forgotten. She looked down at herself for a moment - clad only in the skintight bodysuit and still wet from the Royal Bath, she must have looked a sight. But she still had no time. The Histess may be dying and she could help. She ran back into the palace and to the large kitchen, where she muscled some cooks and helpers aside and found a mortar and pestle. She ground the blisterwort into a pulp and grabbed some flour as well and mixed it in, along with a good bit of water to make a thin syrup. The syrup was turning red as she watched, but she had no time. She rushed back to the Mane’s bath, hearing voices from the front of the palace, but she didn’t stop to look. Instead, she found the three Argonians still submerged. One of the sisters rose as she entered the bath and she hastily explained what she held. In a moment, they had pulled the Histess out of the water and opened her mouth unceremoniously before pouring the red syrup down her throat. “What’ on earth is going on in here?” she heard from behind her, as she turned to see the Mane, Deviline and two guards enter. “Ra’Jirra?!” the Mane said, finally recognizing her. She strode from the bath, apologizing as rapidly as she could, when finally her bodysuit gave out. The snap from between her legs was unmistakable and the bodysuit’s tight grip across her body was suddenly loosened. Her fur stood on-end in embarrassment as she realized she was standing half naked in front of the two most powerful Khajiits on Nirn. Ceremonial nudity in a Raba was one thing, but this was quite another in the Khajiit system of propriety. In mid-sentence, trying to cover herself with the mortar and failing miserably, her composure shattered and she sank to the floor in tears, hiding her face in shame. Devline grabbed a throw from a nearby couch and draped it over her her, lifting her easily and carrying her to the couch where he sat with her, assuring her. The Mane sat on the other side. “Don’t be silly, Ra’Jirra,” he was saying. “You’ve nothing to be ashamed of.” “He’s right, Raj,” Devline assured her, and she looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears still. “We’re just happy to see you’re alive! As for seeing the rest of you too… well, it’s no big deal.” “Well,” the Mane responded with a grin, “maybe not for you…” A sound came from the bath as three reptilian heads rose from the water. The two sisters helped their stricken sibling to her feet. Suddenly all thoughts of embarrassment were banished as Ra’Jirra left the couch and back into the pool to hug the Histess. “Ra’Jirra, give her some room to breath!” one of the sisters said, but with an accompanying laugh. “Oh, no. You stay right here with me, Ra’Jirra. The Khajiitmother lives, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to turn away that embrace!” said Quill-Weave. “Glad to see you getting better,” the Mane said, rising from the couch. “But if Isdra catches me in here with all this female flesh, she’s going to get jealous. Excuse me please, I’ve got to go take a cold shower.” He left with the guards, but Ra’Jirra had to chuckle at the obvious evidence that he wasn’t overstating his reaction, as she helped Quill-Weave out of the bath. -------- Ra’Jirra sent word to Dar’Amon not to wait for her that night, but that she would meet him for the wedding the next day at high noon in the chapel. She stayed instead in a bedroom with the Histess and her sisters all afternoon and evening as the Argonian recovered. Shortly after the sun had set, the Mane and Isdra entered. “You’re looking better,” the Mane said, taking a seat beside the bed with the Prime Concubine beside him. Ra’Jirra sat on the bed beside her Argonian friend while her sisters lay beside the Histess. “I’m still a little woozy,” Quill-Weave admitted, “but nothing that Ra’Jirra’s potion won’t cure in time. I suppose we will leave in the morning, if we can impose a bit longer.” “Stay as long as you like,” Isdra said, and Ra’Jirra thought it was quite sincere. “You are always welcome in the Palace, Histess. But we’ve come to talk to both you and Ra’Jirra.” “Oh? About what?” The Mane took over the conversation, rising and beginning to pace the floor. “We’ve been thinking about you, Ra’Jirra. You and your unique ability with the Hist that is. Though it’s unprecedented, you clearly cannot remain as a royal concubine. I’m afraid I must remove that royal title from you, through no fault of your own. But I think in the end you will understand that it simply isn’t an appropriate place for you.” Ra’Jirra was not heartbroken as the Mane seemed to think she should be, but it would be rude to show just how not-heartbroken she was, so she kept quiet and just nodded. “However, it’s more than that. Devline pointed out that the Dominion will soon find out you are still alive, if they haven’t already. They will know that this alliance of theirs is doomed so long as you are alive - and with you the promise of a future with the Argonians and the Hist - truly a future Elsewhere.” “That’s probably so,” Quill-Weave agreed, placing a hand on Ra’Jirra’s shoulder. Isdra picked up from the Mane, “To be blunt, Ra’Jirra, you’re going to be at the top of the Dominion’s hit list for some time to come. Even here at the heart of Elsweyr, we’re not sure we can protect you - especially not as long as you’re as high-profile as you have been.” “So, what do you propose?” Ra’Jirra asked, turning back to the Mane. “The logical solution, it seems to us,” Isdra started before the Mane finished for her. “Ambassador to Argonia, Raj. Even if it won’t be for thousands of years, it sounds like we and the Argonians are going to be taking a long trip together someday. I think it’s time we begin to bond with our reptilian neighbors a little better.” “Ambassador? What do you have in mind?” “Honestly, I’d like to see more tourism between our two countries,” the Mane replied. “I’d like us to get to know the Argonians better, and the same for them. We’re always going to be very different, but I think we should begin allying ourselves with them. Together the tailed races of Tamriel can be a pretty powerful force.” “Yes!,” Quill-Weave agreed cheerfully from her bed. “You are a wise Khajiit, Mane. While I am only a speaker for the Hist, I will talk to those on our high councils to see if perhaps we might do the same. It may be that the little embassy you built here in Torval might become occupied on a more permanent basis.” “And who would be my contact back here?” Ra’Jirra asked, warming to the idea. The Mane opened the door and Em stepped into the room. “Welcome back, Ra’Jirra,” he said, and she jumped off the bed and hugged her ex-boss. “Em! Am I to go back to the HMSS?!” He pulled her away gently. “Not exactly, Raj. You are the Khajiitmother, after all, from what I hear. You will report to me. However, I won’t be your superior - you will be the Ambassador to Argonia. Though the rank is new, it is a higher rank than my own, I’ll just be your contact back here in Elsweyr. The Mane will be your direct superior.” “Well, all this is awfully big news, but I certainly accept! Dar’s gonna be shocked, but I think he’ll be happy. Em, can he be assigned to Argonia with me?” “Of course. I’ve already made the arrangements. After your honeymoon of course.” “Oh! I’d forgotten about that.” “I spoke with Dar about it already, Raj. You’ll be travelling incognito. You shouldn’t have any problem from the Dominion. And when you return, you’ll be off to Argonia.”

#argonian #khajiit #the elder scrolls #fanfiction #spy #crossover #prequel adventure #rajirra

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khicken121 · 6 years

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Persephone (original work)

Oh? Something original?? What a surprise!

WARNING: Heavy violence and mild gore towards the end! ----- Years of revolution held the promise of peace for the planet. For some, it fulfilled that. For the rest, well, their only choices were hiding, death or risk biased punishment by the Persephone.

The Powerful didn’t always control the earth like they do now. In fact, it was only half a century ago that they were on the brink of extinction. Forests were almost completely gone, there was no soil to properly raise crops with, nor was the atmosphere becoming any cleaner. What began as a peaceful movement to restore the environment also gave birth to a small group of radicals, who later called themselves the Persephone. In their minds, the only superior race were themselves and people like them. They call these kinds of people the Powerful. They should be revered as the equivalent to the god most of the people worshipped.

The Persephone slowly drew more and more people to their cause. The fear that drove them to hide their magic dissolved with time and courage. Persephone got what they wanted, but at the great cost of flooding the land and oceans with red.

Billions of guilty people lost their lives during the Era of Cleansing. Every Powerless was responsible for sickening the planet. All of them took her beauty for granted, and they had to be punished for it. Over the course of thirty years, they perished. The food supply for the Powerless was sabotaged by the Powerful, for it was their duty to seek out and destroy the source of Her sickness. Cities of destruction, which they called their home, were overtaken by breathtaking yet dangerous foliage. The buildings crumbled, leaving many without protection from the elements. Many continued to perish, for they didn’t learn to live off the land fast enough. With so few Powerless left, the Earth finally had a chance to breathe. With the assistance of the Powerful, not only was She restored, She was also rejuvenated. Factories stopped intoxicating the air, for there was no one to operate them. Trees weren’t cut down with the intent to produce mundane items like paper money. The virus of humanity that plagued the Earth had died out..

Like every virus, little pockets of it adapted and still exist to this day. Like the elusive masses of slime they were, they were deadly and damn hard to kill. If a Powerful is unlucky enough to encounter one, they better be prepared or they’d never be seen or heard from again.

If the slime was ever caught, they were to be turned in to the authorities to be dealt with permanently.

However, the ‘slime’ had their own interpretation:

For the self-proclaimed Humane, the uprising of Persephone marked the beginning of the genocide. They took everything they could carry and fled into safe havens they carved out of abandoned military bases. Many were left with the clothes on their backs, forced to relearn to live off the land and ration the medicines they had.

Needless to say, survivors with chronic illnesses didn’t last long.

There were few advantages they had in this harsh, beautiful world. One was their ability to hide. No one dared to leave the safe points unless they were greater than a 20 foot radius of any organism from the plant kingdom or if the wind was extra powerful that day. It was the only chance they had at staying interconnected with other safe points without the risk of being tracked. The other advantage was the weapons they held. They could kill anyone in an instant. Everyone who left the safe point was required to be equipped with one. If they were to come into contact with anyone not bearing the crest that deemed them as a Powerless among other Powerless, they were to be killed on sight.

There was no other way of keeping their locations safe.

Not that they exactly regretted having to do this. The same thing happened to them decades ago at a much worse level. So why not return the favor?

-----

No Powerless ever came close to a Powerful unless it was imperative to get near them in the path of a goal that kept the Powerless surviving under the radar of Persephone. Should a Powerless be discovered among the Powerful, no one exactly knew what happened to them, for no one ever returned to tell the tale, though those who evaded capture had nasty rumors to share. This was what Callie feared most as her child came into the world exactly fifty weeks before the beginning of the 22nd century.

-----

The young woman upon the bed clutched her infant daughter to her chest in a fruitless effort to protect her from the outside world. The harsh, merciless world. The baby would not be allowed to survive in the current circumstances. Nature didn’t flow in her presence, and her lack of power would be recognized instantly. The world had never seen any Powerful give life to a Powerless. If word got out, the child wouldn’t even be given a chance to survive. Her only chance of thriving was far, far away from here. It tore Callie’s heart in two just thinking about it.

Her husband sat next to her, his large hands enclosing his wife’s smaller ones. The presence of the two Powerfuls in the room caused the thick moss along the walls to dance as if the wind was guiding it in all directions, despite the fact that not even a breeze could be felt. Their gazes were transfixed upon their newborn daughter. The medicine in her body caused her words to slur and her movements to sway unnaturally, but the fast metabolism of the Powerful race was quickly rectifying her weariness.

“Is she really...” he asked, knowing full well what the answer was, yet still unable to finish the question.

“It’s exactly as we feared,” Callie sobbed. “She can’t stay here, Keith. She has to go to them. It’s the only way to ensure her safety-”

“I refuse to separate our family!”

“There’s no other way!” she partly spoke through tears. “She has to go to them. They’ll take her in.”

“No one even knows where they are,” he tried to argue, but his wife was stubborn in her words.

“Then they’ll have to find you,” more tears spilled onto her cheeks. “I hate this just as much as you, but there’s no other option. She’ll find her way back to us… she has to, right?”

They glanced at the matching black marks on their inner wrists. The ornate design completely unique to the three of them. A Powerful was given one at birth, then a different one once they committed themselves to a partner. Being irremovable, both knew that one day, they'd find their daughter again.

-----

Keith ran as far north as he could, up and beyond the Canadian border. His chances would have been the same in any direction he went, keeping his daughter close to him so his presence would loom over her lack of magic. He ran beyond the border and into the frosted night. The thick woods of the mountains were motionless in the windless altitude. He had no way of knowing whether he was getting closer or farther. All he had to rely on now was luck.

When hunger invaded his stomach, he willed a nearby bush to prematurely ripen several small blueberries. What he didn’t consume, he crushed into liquid and fed to her. Hopefully that would keep their stomachs satisfied for the next few hours.

The soft cracking of twigs and dried leaves on the forest floor diverted his attention to surrounding people clad in bodysuits that perfectly camouflaged with the branches of the trees. Each of them had mud covering their faces to conceal their identities. Not one didn’t possess weapons that were illegalized nearly four decades ago. The rumors stated they could fire hundreds of rounds in a single minute.

Keith tightened his clutch on his daughter, who was sound asleep at the moment. His free hand which was covered in juices from the crushed blueberries was outstretched, but he showed no additional display of magic beyond the flow of long grass at his feet which swayed in all directions on the windless night. The weapons were aimed at Keith’s center. He half expected them to kill him on the spot, but he still stood in place. Alive, breathing and in one piece.

“You’re bold to come to our territory, Sephy, and with an infant no less,” the leader spoke with a voice muffled by the mask they wore. The suit all the soldiers donned made it near impossible to decipher which were male and which were female. “Lower your arm, and my men will lower theirs.”

Keith did so, and in turn, the weapons pointed towards the earth.

“I mean none of you harm,” he attempted to appear and sound stoic, but the fear crawling into his voice betrayed him. “My daughter can’t survive with me and my wife. She’s a… she’s-”

“Powerless,” the leader finished. “And you want us to take her in, don’t you?”

“...Yes,” Keith brought himself to say, fighting back his own tears and still failing to swallow his hesitation.

“Prove it, then. Give her to me, and take twenty paces in that direction,” the leader ordered as they pointed behind Keith. He did as instructed, and the grass stilled under the Powerless.

“Thank you for telling us the truth, Sephy. You have our word she’ll be safe.” With the wave of their arm, the soldiers began retreating into the deepest part of the woods.

“Wait!” Keith shouted, “can I at least tell her goodbye?”

The leader turned around and began walking toward Keith with the swaddled baby in hand. He ran up to them and placed a kiss to the infant’s tiny forehead as water droplets began falling from the sky, decorating the white blankets with small gray dots.

“Goodbye, Janus.”

The moment he uttered her name, she was pulled from his hold and a deafening ring filled the air. His body hit the ground, staining the luscious green foliage with red liquid. The leader saluted to the sniper hidden in the branches, silently commanding him to return to his post.

“Welcome to the family, Janus.” Medea thought to herself as she headed back to camp, where the rest of her people were waiting for her. -----

Hope you enjoyed! It’s my first original work on Tumblr.

#Story is mine #Persephone #no reposting!#reblog only #there's more to it but I hate it

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lcpcsblxde-a · 6 years

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August 27th, 0530 hours, 2552

The late start hadn’t been all that unusual.

It was awfully quiet on Colonel Holland’s end of things - for awhile, the team fretted over if their superior had been in New Alexandria during the Covenant’s siege of the city, but no, he was fine. He’d contacted them after they’d made it back to their base of operations yesterday evening, telling them to get some rest while they still could, and that the UNSC would likely need them within the next few days.

And they’d done...exactly that.

Since they’d already stripped out of their armour, all they’d needed to do was change into fatigues before just... going to bed. Or playing cards, as was the case of Jun and Emile. Artemis had played a couple of rounds, before growing too weary, and heading off to the section of barracks in which she, Kat, and Carter had been sleeping.

Well... had been. It was so strange, for the redhead to wander into the small room, and to find that only one of the four beds there was occupied. No doubt when Emile and Jun eventually returned to their bunks, they would find it just that little bit emptier, since Jorge, who was bunked with them, was also gone.

So many gaps in the team, and Artemis wasn’t sure how many of them still left would make it off the planet alive when the time came to that.

No, the most unusual thing about the day when she finally woke up, was the fact that it was so quiet on Carter’s side of the room. Due to the size of the barracks section, and the fact that it was divided into two rooms with four bunks each, it was rather easy to hear your bunkmates’ smallest noises - or even the noises of those bunked in the room next door.

The Lieutenant finished lacing up her combat boots - after all, Spartans on duty always slept in their fatigues, if not their armour, or their bodysuits - and rose from her bunk to stretch in the aisle between the beds.

She wasn’t exactly quiet, and so if the Commander had been sleeping, she would have woken him up. But no, there was no indication as to his state of awareness.

...Something felt off.

She stepped to his side of the room, and tapped on his shoulder, accompanied by a soft inquiry of, “Carter?”

There was a shuffling of blankets, as the Spartan shifted around to face her, and she almost took a step back in stunned shock, when she saw his expression. His eyes were reddened, dulled by exhaustion, with dark rings underneath. There were tear stains streaked down his cheeks, and his eyes were still wet. Overall he looked completely and utterly miserable - worse than he’d been yesterday, when he’d broken down over Kat.

Artemis couldn’t blame him.

The Lieutenant Commander hadn’t just been his right-hand Spartan; she’d been his best friend, by his side ever since he’d picked her for the first incarnation of Noble Team. Now she was gone, and that had undoubtedly left a gap in the Commander’s life that none could fill.

“...You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” she queried.

Carter shook his head mutely, and it looked like he was trying his damnedest not to start crying all over again.

“What happened?” The Lieutenant wanted to sit on the bed beside him, but there was no room, and thus she had to settle for resting a gentle hand on his shoulder instead. It was all she could do, unless he stood up, but that was unlikely at this point in time.

“I...” He ducked his head, and swallowed heavily. “I just... miss Kat.” His voice was hollow, and raw, and tinged with grief. “And it just...it really hurts. It’s my birthday today, and it’s the first one I’ve had while part of Noble Team without Kat. I don’t know what to do, or how to feel, and I just...”

Oh.

Her heart went out to him.

“Carter, I’m so sorry,” she murmured softly, and she genuinely meant it. Normally, it would have been a kind of placating line, something meant kind of pathetically to help another feel better, but - she understood how he felt, in a way. She’d only just gotten Kat back, only to have her sister ripped from life so cruelly right in front of her eyes.

“I just...out of all the team members I’ve lost over the years, I never thought it’d be her, y’know? And not like that. Spartans don’t just die like that. We go out with a sacrifice, not....get cut down cruelly while we’re trying to get to safety.” the Commander admitted quietly, with a shake of his head.

They do. We get hurt just like regular Marines do - just a lot less often.

Artemis didn’t say that out loud, however; it wouldn’t have been right to do so, at this point in time. Instead, she frowned, and gave his shoulder a squeeze; a silent I’m here.

There was a choked sob, and then Carter was half in, half out of the bed, hugging her and pressing his face into her shoulder, and crying his eyes out.

At first, the lone wolf was so startled that she didn’t know what to do. The grief wasn’t entirely unexpected, given the situation, but then again.... the way they’d interacted with one another since Kat had been killed was.... different. He was a lot more honest with her than he’d ever been, and certainly a lot more touchy-feely than she’d ever thought possible from him.

However, she pushed the bewilderment aside, and instead wrapped her arms around him in a somewhat awkward embrace, one hand gently stroking the back of his skull. No words were offered. She wasn’t sure what to say at this point in time anyway, and sometimes, comfort was better offered in physical form.

Artemis just hoped that Carter would be okay.

#♥family #►ᴍᴇᴍᴏʀɪᴇs #&about #;;out of armour #✺ ✻⁑≪ ᵃⁿᵈ ºʰ. ʰ'ˢ ᵉʸᵉˢ ᵃʳᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵃʳˢ ᵗʰᵉᵐˢᵉˡᵛᵉˢ ≫⁑✺ ✻

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ununniliad · 7 years

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Smash Comics! Featuring Corporation-Smasher #1

Everything in the call center was gray. The walls were gray. The cubicles were gray. The carpet was gray. And the people, soaking in the gray, and speaking gray words into gray phones, were slowly turning gray.

A man in a gray suit with gray slacks and a gray tie sat, waiting, staring into the monitor. He heard a beep. He spoke. Someone yelled at him. He heard a click. He waited.

There was a hissing, somewhere close by. It was nothing. It was getting colder, darker in here. It was nothing. He could feel his consciousness ebbing, his identity eroding into a featureless gray sheet. It was nothing.

KRAKK! The wall next to him sundered and a figure leapt thru the hole - a black woman in her forties, resplendent in a red bodysuit with a gold belt and a gold hooded cloak. She had a great golden hammer in her hand, and an image of a hammer on her chest.

"Inanimous, Gray Demon of Apathy!" she shouted with a voice like a bell. "Corporation-Smasher is here to end your reign of control!"

His body jerked, muscles working by themselves to push him up out of his chair. He could feel a dull hate filling his head and his body. He lurched forward towards her, grunting, moving without conscious intent. All around him, other gray workers, faces fading, shambled towards the shining hero.

Corporation-Smasher leapt over the heads of the possessed shamblers, landing atop the supervisor's desk. "It's not revealing itself... I've got to threaten its hold!"

She spun her hammer in the air. Its shine seemed to diffuse, turning to a golden glow, a heat shimmer of golden sunlight that spoke of bright summer days when the sun glistened off the playground slide. And she swung this image down, and it passed thru the man's head and into his mind, and it hit the sheet of gray, and smashed it to dust.

His emotions burst out, lovehategriefworryexcitementboredomlove, rushing like a river that carried his identity back to the shores of awareness. He fell on his butt.

The hammer swung, a sunbeam looping thru the air, smashing thru the hearts of the controlled, breaking apart the oppression that had dug into their hearts and leaving them dazed but free. And sure enough, a roar of resentment rung thru the air, the rage of one denied the power they are convinced they are entitled to.

Corporation-Smasher held her hammer in the air and shouted, "Inanimous, I command you by the contract you have chained these people with! Reveal the form of your rule!"

The strange voice howled and grunted, trying to resist the call; but in the air, the gray drew together, became a great stone slab, with heavy graven words at the top reading 'EMPLOYEE CODE OF CONDUCT'. Corporation-Smasher shook her hammer and shouted, "And by the power you stole for your own - let it rise up against you, and reveal the seat of your rule!"

The voice groaned in defiance; groaned in loss; groaned in defeat. Words glowed, red-hot on the slab; 'business formal'... 'no sneakers'... 'skirt of appropriate length'... and finally, burning balefully, 'DRESS CODE'.

"There!" Corporation-Smasher raised her hammer. "For the lives of the people, and the power to live them!" She brought her hammer down in a thundering blow, the stone cracking across its surface. The voice howled, and shrieked, and faded, and was lost, and was gone.

The gray drained from the room, and sunlight shone through the blinds. The slab was gone, and the people were awake, alert. The man pulled himself up, remembered his name - Gabriel - leaned on the supervisor's desk, and said, hoarsely, "Thank you."

Corporation-Smasher smiled. "Thank you," she said. "It was your light I was borrowing." She leapt off the desk and looked around. "Who here holds highest rank?"

Another man - yes, he was the floor manager, Gabriel remembered - stumbled forward. Corporation-Smasher put her hand on his shoulder. "Tell your superiors that there can be no dress code here. That their rules are falling. That they must change sooner rather than later, or the ground will shift under them and they will sink and be lost." She opened her other hand. In it was a small golden hammer. "They will not believe it. But give them this, and perhaps they shall begin to understand."

A woman in the crowd - Marsha? Or Marcia, maybe? thought Gabriel - shouted, "Hey! Can you make it so I don't need this terrible job to support my family?"

"Not alone!" Corporation-Smasher hefted her hammer in the air. "The weight of this hammer is the weight of our will to change the world! We've all got to smash away in solidarity! Increase the minimum wage! Enact universal basic income! Replace a structure whose goal is endless accumulation of money and power with one designed to create and distribute the things that people actually need-- or just want!" She gestured out the window. "This world doesn't belong to corporations - it belongs to people! It belongs to you! And don't let anyone, any leaders, any heroes, any gods, any masters, tell you otherwise!"

Gabriel's heart, his hope, rose up, and he cheered. So did everyone around him. Corporation-Smasher threw them a little salute and leapt out the hole in the wall.

Outside, the sun sparkled off the river. The world was blue and yellow and green and red and beige and indigo and yes, gray. Gabriel knew that the world was only a little better than it had been an hour ago. But if it got a little better every hour, every day, then one day...

For more Legion of Net.Heroes, check out rec.arts.comics.creative! Here’s my Patreon! Thanks for reading!

#Original Fiction #Superheroes #Adventure #Urban Fantasy #Social Justice #Legion of Net.Heroes #LNH20 #Smash Comics!

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zwishy-gift-registry-wishli-blog · 5 years

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Top 8 Baby Gifts for Every Occasion

Babies are a little bit of heaven sent down to earth. Their mere imagination fills one with a fuzzy feeling. Those tiny toes and pudgy fingers make you alive. Be it your very own or your sister’s, every child deserves to be showered with gifts just for existing and for filling our lives with happiness. Besides clothing and baby care products there’s a lot more to baby gifts and those ideas have been assembled down here for you.

List of Unique Baby Gifts

MY IMPRESSION STUDIO DIY SUPERIOR COLOR

One wish that every parent harbors is that their adorable baby never grows up. Those tiny pudgy fingers and toes are so adorable. This Impression Studio DIY is by far one of the best baby gifts. Unlike photos and videos, it captures shapes in three-dimension. Now you can feel and live the memories of your newborn even after he grows up. It captures wrinkles, folds, lines of nails of the baby’s feet and hands, thus making itself one of the perfect baby gift ideas.

JOHNSON’S BABY CARE COLLECTION

There’s no better gift for a baby than the gift of care. Skin so soft so delicate for your baby shall be your utmost priority. Johnson’s – being the best for the baby, is one of the most loving baby gifts. Help the new mother enjoy her journey of nurturing the delicate soul with this exclusive collection of baby care products – baby oil, baby shampoo, baby powder, baby cream, a specially designed baby comb and 100% organic cotton t-shirt. With this, you are gifting comfort to the tiny tot.

BABY GIFT SET

When the gift packaging is this cute the insides are bound to be cuter. This Baby gift set will effectively share your love and express your good wishes for the newborn. Everyday clothing and clothing for special occasions, everything is inside this cute basket. Bodysuit, a pair of booties, 3 washcloths, 1 rattle, 1 long pant, 1 bib, and mittens. The fabric is 100% comfort cotton. The cozy feeling will lull the little one into great naps.

4 in 1 BABY CARRIER

Carrying your little one in your arms calls for great care. This Baby Carrier is your Messiah. It gives plenty of protection and warmth for your baby. Can be adjusted to various positions. Its inner airflow system ensures maximum air circulation and ventilation, reducing perspiration. Now you can liberally involve in other tasks whilst safely hugging your baby to your heart. Also, the whole view ot the world will keep him amazed and occupied.

MEE MEE WATERCOOL SILICON TEETHER

Is he transitioning his gummy grin into a gleaming teeth smile? There’s nothing you can do to make teeth appear. But what you can do is provide comfort to your child with this water cool teether made of soft reliable silicone. It provides a soft chewy surface for your child to bite on and alleviates his pain during teeth eruption phase. Yes, it is nontoxic and conforms to international safety standards.

FIRSTCRY SCHOOL KITS

Make your kid’s first day at the school super exciting and forward-looking. Get this School kit whose theme ranges from favourite Disney princesses to favourite Superheroes and Cartoons. Let fun and learning go hand in hand. Hefty and attractive with varieties inside- a school bag, a pencil pouch, a tiffin box, water bottle, crayon sets. Now he would want to go to school even on Sundays!

TENT HOUSE

Whether a girl or a boy, every kid loves role-playing. Add up to their imagination with this creative tent house. Made up of plastic material, easily foldable, accommodates two to five children. Bound to make them thrilled with owning a house! Makes for cool safe indoor playing – hours of peace guaranteed!

SUPERBIA ENGLISH LEARNER LAPTOP TOY

A child’s brain is like a clay. It shapes the way you mold it. This character and word recognition, numbers and shapes recognition laptop toy introduce your child to QWERTY keypad. Develops the child’s brain by exposing his little mind to various new things. Help your kid be the smartest of all with this exciting toy. Its Auto-off mechanism helps save battery.

With these gifts above, you shall never run out of idea

#Birthday Gifts For Her #Birthday Gifts For Her Amazon #Birthday Gifts For Her Ideas #Birthday Gifts For Her India

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psychicmedium14 · 7 years

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It’s everywhere I turn—on the news, on my social-media feed, and in my daily conversations. It’s in the questions that keep me up at night, tossing and turning in an ocean of paranoid what-ifs. It’s in the words and labels we use when we’re sizing up ideas and people who might be a little different from us, who take us to that uncomfortable place just outside of our comfort zone. It’s also that nagging voice that continues to convince us that, as individuals and communities and nations, we are always going to be separate from one another. It’s that insidious belief that we are powerless to change any of this, so we may as well lock our doors, our minds, and our hearts. I’m talking about fear. We live in a fear-based culture. It’s in our daily lives. It’s in our political sphere. Hell, it may as well be in our drinking water. And we’re constantly making the choice to drink it. Fear is a trickster, so it’s not always easy to recognize. It’s really good at camouflaging itself: as information, power, discernment, superiority, righteousness, or the voice of reason. In order for us to truly recognize fear, to see it for what it is, we have to get incredibly honest with ourselves. And often, we need to be taken out of our usual environment to really grasp the hold that fear has over us. We don’t have to let fear-based thoughts determine our destiny. I'm not saying that in the developed world, we have simply made up all these complications, nor am I suggesting that tragic devastation doesn’t occur in other parts of the world. Obviously, it does. However, our tendency to fixate on apocalyptic horror and to sweat the small stuff can make everything feel overwhelming and impossible to take any action around, when it absolutely does not have to be this way. Fear is really good at camouflaging itself as information, power, discernment, superiority, righteousness, or the voice of reason. Philosophers, politicians, and world travelers have all marveled at the fact that people who seem to have very little by Western standards have an indomitable capacity to be happy in ways that most of us cannot even fathom. Why is this? Fear is the thing that makes us feel like we aren't enough. We tend to project our basic internal fear onto the world in various ways. And, at the same time, fear is shoved onto us by our culture from a very early age. Played out on a larger stage, this dance between the fear we carry both within and without can look like everything from nasty internet trolls who cut into our deepest insecurities to self-help gurus who capitalize on our inherent sense of inadequacy. It can take the form of marketing folks who tell us that we need to keep buying stuff in order to feel and be better and politicians who convince us that the world is on fire. When our sense of self is so fragile, everything around us can be perceived as a potential threat. And I’m talking about every single thing. But, let’s face it, this perception is our own doing. Few of us understand that we are largely responsible for the "threats" that seem to surround us on all sides. Instead, we are shocked by media monstrosities and we point our fingers in blame and anger—at everyone but ourselves. When we succumb over and over again to fear-based narratives, when we keep perpetuating the story that some unspeakable evil is out to get us, we actually contribute to creating a climate of fear. When we are spoon-fed fear and trauma from infancy, other possibilities don’t seem to be within our grasp. But they are! It is totally within our power to step outside the matrix of fear. It begins with simple awareness. Even when we don’t think fear has a hold on us, it seeps into the way we perceive the world around us. I know so many people who wear their battle scars with pride. But what if we honored ourselves in a different way? Now, I absolutely understand the value of diving into our stories and experiences to discover who we are and to gain valuable insight, as well as strength. There is great power in acknowledging struggles that we have overcome and in celebrating our personal healing. However, what if we also acknowledged the ways that fear has affected the way we look at these experiences? To me, fear is the thing that makes our most awful and painful moments stand out. When we define ourselves primarily on the basis of our wounds—even when we are recognizing the gifts we received as a result of those experiences—we are limiting ourselves. Often, we are acting from our unconscious fear of the same thing happening again. Many times we are still blaming the people and circumstances that led to our suffering. We are reliving the trauma in some way. We are continuing to get caught up in our own victimhood and giving credence to that big, bad monster of fear. Most importantly, let’s remember that we are truly worth so much more than our wounds and self-imposed labels. Focus on the here and now. When we decide to peel ourselves from the bodysuit of fear that has strangled our possibilities, we make the powerful choice to see our reality for what it is—not for the stories that others have told us or the things we decided to believe about life at some distant point in the past. We start building the muscle to discern what is true and what is not, based on attention to the here and now—and a willingness to be with it, no matter what is happening. When fear arises, we automatically believe the stories it tells us are true. Our reptilian brain—hard-wired by hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to detect danger—still picks up the warning signals that we send it when we’re afraid, whether we are in imminent danger or not. But fear makes no sense unless we are responding to imminent danger. It serves no purpose. Now, many of us think that chronic worrying—about our kids, the environment, and the state of the world—means that we care. And some of us even subconsciously believe that if we do it enough, our world will change and our fear will dissipate. But buying into the climate of fear and adding fuel to its fire shouldn’t be mistaken for an effective way of "dealing: with it. It paralyzes our ability to take mindful action. It contributes to the very thing that robs us of true joy and the capacity to be present. We can choose a different way. We can consciously apply our awareness, our knowledge, and our power of choice—in the moment when we can actually experience our power: now. Choose to let go of fear. We all have the power to rise beyond our learned helplessness. All it takes is the realization that we are fully accountable for our experience of life. We may not choose all the circumstances, but we can certainly choose how we react. We are constantly defining our reality by virtue of past experiences and everything other people, especially authority figures, have told us. So, with this realization, we have the choice to take a good, long look at our fear and to decide whether or not it serves us. This doesn’t require putting on rose-colored glasses or denying that we are scared. It just means that we don’t have to let fear-based thoughts determine our destiny. Our fear doesn’t make us more powerful. It doesn’t make us more well-informed or more capable of instigating change. You can choose to be the kind of person who focuses on the latest act of random violence and laments how terrible things are. Or you can choose not to fall prey to fear-based information that keeps people stuck in a fight-or-flight response. You can take it a step further and choose to direct your energy into more meaningful pursuits that help make you, your community, and the world a better place. I don’t care if you’re a certified hypochondriac.You are not your fear. Repeat after me: "I am not my fear." Fear is not some absolute truth that you have to build your life around; it is merely the lens through which you have chosen to see your reality. And you have the choice to try on a different lens, to let your perception shift and your quality of life increase. You, too, can experience the same unadulterated joy that my friends in the Andes, who helped move me from severe panic into a state of serenity simply by modeling it to me, already know is well within our reach. Fear takes so much out of us. Who could we be, what could we experience if we learned to let go of needless fear? What undreamed-of possibilities could we create in our lives? What seemingly insurmountable obstacles could we overcome? If we freed up our energy so that we could express our deepest core truths, what kind of beautiful world could we create together?

#self improvement #fear #life lessons

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aeon-wolf · 7 years

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Betrayal - Chapter 14

Now that Lena has joined her father and the Titans against the Gods, her loyalties made clear. Her betrayal of all she once held dear haunts her every day. But she made her choice and as the war between the Gods and Titans draws near, Lena’s allegiances will be put to the test. Does she help bring about the end of the reign of the Gods? Or will her love for Kara Danvers and the friendships she made along the way be enough to stop the daughter of Hyperion.

A PJO inspired Supercorp series. Part Two: Betrayal.

Read it here on AO3

Lena, with Roulette’s help, limped into the Titan’s base, the demititan still clutching her wounded side. The blood flow had slowed but still dripped out of the open wound. Lena clenched her teeth in pain. Whatever Alex had done to that dagger had been rather impressive Lena had to begrudgingly admit.

“We need to get you to the infirmary.” Roulette said, starting to guide Lena in that direction. But she protested.

“No, just take me to my room. I can patch myself up.” Lena said. Roulette stopped and gave her friend a disapproving look.

“You really should get that checked out. We don’t know what Danvers did to it. It would be cursed or poisoned or something.” Roulette tried to reason with her commander. But Lena shook her head.

“I’d know if she did. It was just a strong enough metal to pierce my bodysuit. I just need to patch up the stab wound and I’ll be fine.” She insisted. Roulette rolled her eyes.

“You say as you’re relying on me to even stand up straight Lena. Seriously, you need to get it looked at.” She argued. Both women stared off at each other, both with strong personalities and a stubborn streak to match. Before long, Lena was the one who caved. After all, she was relying on Roulette to help her walk and deep down, Lena knew her friend was right. It was unlikely that Alex did anything to the dagger, but it was better to be safe than sorry. And her father was eventually going to hear about what happened. She might as well face the music sooner rather than later.

“Fine.” Lena finally relented. Roulette had a glint of triumph in her eye before steering Lena towards the infirmary.

“So, still really can’t stick a dagger in Kara, can you?” Roulette asked innocently. Lena grimaced.

“No. And I’m going to pay the price for it too.” She said, almost bitterly.

“I have to admit, I think Kara cares about you just as much as you care about her though.” Roulette mused. “She held back her sister just to let us go.” Roulette pointed out. Lena chuckled.

“Kara and I have a complicated relationship. And it’s probably always going to be that way. I told you once that I never wanted Kara to join us. She’s too good for that. But you know as well as I do that I could never join them. The Gods will kill me, or worse, as soon as they get their hands on me. So no matter what, we’re at an impasse.” Lena said. Roulette nodded.

“Tough luck Luthor. I can’t say I envy you.” Roulette commented. Lena just sighed. The two reached the infirmary, Roulette opening the door with her free hand and leading Lena over to one of the beds.

“Connor, we need assistance over here.” She called out to one of the children of Apollo that had switched sides. The halfblood came over with a first aid kit in his hands.

“What happened?” He asked, looking Lena over.

“Got stabbed,” Lena grunted, moving her hand from the stab wound to show the blood that covered her gauntlet and was still slowly dripping from the wound. Connor nodded.

“Can I get you to take the armor off? So I can get a closer look.” Lena nodded.

“Someone is going to have to help me out of my boots first though.” She said. Roulette nodded, bending down to unstrap Lena’s boots and pulling them off. Then, Lena took her hand and pressed it against the sun mark on her belt, her armor retracting until she was left in a bra and shorts that she wore under the bodysuit.

“Can you move your arm, lift it up a bit?” He asked, hoping to get a better look at Lena’s injury. The demititan tried to lift her arm, but she couldn’t move it much. Luckily, it was enough that Connor could get a decent look at her. He appraised the area for a few minutes, gently touching the spot, careful not to irritate the injury.

“It doesn’t look infected or poisoned. It is rather deep though. I’m probably going to have to tie it up and put a bandage over it. With your Titan blood, it should heal faster than Roulette or I could, but you're still probably going to be out for a week or two. To be honest, with a stab wound this deep, it probably could have killed anyone else. But your superior healing allowed the wound to heal fast enough so that you didn’t die from blood loss.” He said bluntly. Lena nodded curtly.

“Do whatever you have to.” She said, Connor, nodded, opening the first aid kit and grabbing a needle and thread.

“It a little… human, I suppose but it's the best we have.” Connor explained as Lena eyed the needle. She just shrugged.

“It’s to be expected.” She said, her jaw clenched as Connor poked the needle through her skin, beginning to sew her wound shut.

“So it’ll be a couple of weeks before she’s ready to go again?” Roulette asked. Connor glanced over at her.

“Most likely. I can’t really predict exactly because she heals differently than most. I guess it’s theoretically possible for her to be ready to pick up a sword tomorrow, but it’s unlikely. My best guess is a couple of weeks.” He said. Roulette nodded.

“Hear that? Gotta relax for a couple of weeks. Think you can do that?” She teased. Lena just rolled her eyes.

“I probably could, but will my father let me is the real question. He’s never cared about my injuries before. And I’ve had my fair share of pretty nasty ones. Though this is probably the first stab wound like this I’ve had before.” Lena said she said wincing as Connor tied off the wound, cutting the excess. He grabbed a large wrap bandage.

“Can you lift your arms as much as you can for me?” He asked and Lena complied. He began wrapping the bandage around her stomach and abs area, covering up the wound. “There. Just change the bandage regularly, I’m sure you know how to take care of injuries like that. Come back and see me if there are any problems.” He said. Lena nodded.

“Sure thing Doc.” She said as another body joined them in the infirmary.

“Lena, the counsel wishes to see you.” The new halfblood said. Lena flinched slightly but nodded.

“I’ll head there immediately.” She said, her emotions shielded from view.

“Lena… are you sure…” Roulette started before Lena cut her off.

“I don’t have a choice. Are you going to help me or not?” She asked, pressing her hand against her belt again, her armor covering her body again. The demititan grimaced a bit as it covered her wound, but the bandage protected it from opening up again. Roulette sighed but nodded, bending down to help Lena into her boots again.

“Just you know… be careful?” She said. “I need someone who can beat me in a fight and you’re the only one that can fit that description.” She said absentmindedly. Lena chuckled but nodded as Roulette helped her up.

“We can’t have you steamrolling over all the other halfbloods all the time after all. Bad for morale.” Lena joked as the two headed towards the council chamber.

II.

The two monsters guarding the door stood at attention as Lena, supported by Roulette, approached. They opened the doors for her as she limped into the room to be met by the full council. She noted Hyperion and Kronos’ disapproval almost immediately as they zeroed in on her being supported by someone else. “Roulette, you’re dismissed. This is a private matter.” Hyperion said coldly. She hesitated, not wanting to essentially drop Lena, but the commander waved her friend off.

Roulette gently let go of Lena who flinched in pain as she was forced to support her full weight but managed to stand, though favoring her uninjured side. Roulette gave Lena a wary look before leaving her friend. Lena managed to limp over to the table and stand before Kronos and the others.

“I don’t think I need to tell you of my disappointment with the state you’ve returned to us in Lena,” Kronos said dangerously. Lena wanted to shy away from the cruel tone of voice but knew she couldn’t show weakness. She, instead, shook her head slowly.

“Of course not my Lord.” She said, not making eye contact with him, instead, her gaze cast downward.

“We sent you out to destroy the halfbloods and capture the school and instead you return, wounded and without anything to show for it.” He said coolly. “Care to explain?” He asked. “And chose your story very carefully Lena.”

“I... “ Lena started. She knew bringing Kara into the conversation would be disastrous for the both of them, though she also knew lying about it would be a bad choice for her. She was not stupid enough to believe that the Titans wouldn’t know if she lied. But on the other hand, it’s not like they could kill her. And against her better judgment, she decided to do what she thought was necessary. “I was confronted by a strong halfblood. One that could almost match my powers, though skill is questionable. But he managed to take me by surprise.” Lena fibbed. Not a total lie exactly, but far from the actual truth.

Kronos looked Lena over once. Then twice. A glimmer of malice flashed through his eyes. “See to it that this does not happen again, Lena. I’ve been extremely patient and lenient with you over the last few weeks. I do not tolerate failure. You know this. If you disappoint me again, we may have to… revisit your place with us. And I assure you, you will not enjoy any of your alternatives.” He said coolly, though not without a threatening tone to his voice. Lena gulped but nodded.

“Of course. I understand. I won’t let you down again sir.” She said, her heart beating rapidly. She glanced at her father whose flaming eyes appraised her, an obvious disappointed look in his eyes.

“This has set our plans back, but I suppose has further weakened Demos to be certain to fall on our next assault. I will give you one last chance to prove yourself, Lena.” Kronos said to his niece. “If we find out that you cannot do what has to be done, you will wish you had never thought of crossing us.” He said dangerously. Lena nodded quickly, wincing slightly in pain. “Take care of your injury and you will report back to active leadership the minute you are able to pick up your sword without dropping it.” He said. “You’re dismissed.”

Lena nodded, pushing herself out of her seat, though not without difficulty and a whole lot of pain. She winced with every step but managed to walk out of the council room and down the hallway to her bedroom.

III.

Lena collapsed onto her bed, her side crying out in pain from overexerting herself. But she needed to get her armor off, so she did her best to unstrap her boots, bringing her leg up on a side table next to her bed and slipping it off after a few minutes. And repeating the process with the other leg before she could finally press her hand against her belt and listen to her armor retracting.

Finally free of the restrictive suit, she flopped onto her bed, facing the ceiling as her side throbbed in pain. At least Connor had managed to stop the bleeding and bandage it up so she wasn’t at risk for infection. She hoped that she would be able to heal sooner rather than later. And her previous experiences with injuries suggested that she did heal faster than a normal human, even a normal halfblood. Though she had never sustained an injury quite like this one.

During her training, Hyperion would always be sure to not physically cripple her with his punishment. At least not in a way that would be restrictive. She still had small scars from cuts and burns that she had suffered throughout the years. Apart from the sun mark that she had permanently burned into her wrist, her back was littered with the remnants of her training sessions.

There was a firm knock on her door and Lena groaned to herself, knowing exactly who it was. “Come in.” She said, sitting up in her bed, wincing a bit. As expected, Hyperion opened the door. However what was not expected was him stalking over to her and grabbing her by the shoulder, shoving her against the wall her bed was pushed up against. Her side flared up with pain again, though Lena didn’t cry out. She had been taught better than that.

“Your feelings for Kara are getting in the way and this needs to end Lena.” He said, fire almost pouring from his eyes. Lena wasn’t scared of very many things, though she would admit that Hyperion was one of the few things that she was. Especially when he was angry.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lena struggled out, the pain affecting her ability to speak eloquently.

“Don’t insult me, Lena,” Hyperion said, roughly shoving Lena back into the wall. “We are not stupid. You��ve been weighing your leverage of how much we need you for our plans to succeed for too long. Kronos allowed this one last time but you are testing all of our patience.” He said, implying that they knew exactly what had gone on at Demos. “You cannot keep protecting the chosen of the Gods.”

“I’m not…” Lena protested but Hyperion cut her off.

“I know you’re protecting that daughter of Zeus, Kara Danvers. Despite my warnings, you still decide to disobey me and believe me, if you weren’t injured right now, you would be in for many long days of training Lena. But you need to make your choice once and for all. It’s either us or them. Kara Danvers has chosen her side by becoming the champion of the Gods. I had thought you had made your choice by being our champion, but your continued defiance is testing that loyalty, Lena. And it needs to stop.” Hyperion said angrily. Lena looked up at her father, fear apparent in her eyes as his fiery eyes met hers.

“I’m loyal to the Titans. You know I am.” Lena tried. Hyperion gripped Lena’s shoulder tighter.

“Do I Lena? I’m not so sure anymore. We gave you a home. A family that hasn’t lied to you. A place to belong. Somewhere where you don’t have to be afraid of death and all you’ve seemed to do with it is throw it away. For what? Some halfblood who doesn’t even care about what happens to you. All Kara Danvers wants is for us to fail. And if we fail, you know as well as I do that you will go down with us.” Hyperion threatened. Lena tensed slightly, though she knew he was partially right. If the Titans lost, she would be finished.

“I... “ Lena said, pausing.

“You have one last chance to prove your loyalty, Lena. I’ve shielded you from my brother as much as I can and if you fail us again, I’ll take care of you myself.” He said, his eyes flaring. Lena shuddered at the thought as Hyperion let go of her, her body slumping down on her bed, her side still in pain from the roughness of her father. He picked his helmet up from the desk he had set it on. “Do not disappoint again Lena.” He warned, leaving her and shutting the door behind him.

So I'm thinking my writer's block is in part because the show is on hiatus actually. Which is kind of annoying, but I'm trying here!

Lena centered chapter, the next one will be as well. Probably the healing process. Maybe some more Roulette/Lena friendship building. Probably Hyperion will show up again. Who knows. I don't yet. One thing I do want to make clear though, that I think I've made clear already but will be important later, is that Lena is genuinely afraid of Hyperion. He's much stronger than she is since he's full Titan. At least power wise. She's got more freedom to act than he does. But when it comes to raw strength, he's obviously way higher than she is. She might put up a tough act around him sometimes, but she is legitimately scared of him. You can allow your imagination to roam in regards to what he's actually done to her, but it hasn't been pleasant.

Anyway, dunno when I'll update again. I want to say within a week, but also don't want to promise that if it just doesn't happen.

#supercorp #lena luthor #kara danvers #fanfiction #story #update #betrayal #pjo inspired #chapter 14

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