#the whole data fiasco

[plugnuts]

what a fucking year this week has been

[moonchild-in-blue]

Sorrows and Despair

(just found out one of my favourite ST fanartists has deactivated 😔 really wanted to get one of their pieces back on my queue for later and. well. gone)

[scoonsalicious]

Unwanted: Chapter 15, Undermined - Pt. 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, allusions to sexual situations, damning texts

Word Count: 2.5k

Previously On...: Bucky attempted to explain himself in an effort to regain your trust. You offered him an ultimatum: He cut off all contact with Jade Carthage and let you go through his messages with her on his phone.

A/N: Bucky decides to lay it all out on the line, showing Pocket all his texts with Jade.

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Please let me know if you’d like to be added!) @jmeelee @cazellen @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @blackhawkfanatic @buckybarnessimpp @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @pattiemac1@les-sel @dottirose @winterslove1917 @harperkenobi @ivet4 @casey1-2007 @mrsevans90 @steeph-aniie @bean-bean2000 @beanbagbitch @peachiestevie @wintrsoldrluvr @shadowzena43 @wolfgirl21

Tumblr will not let me directly tag the following: @marcswife21 @erelierraceala @jupiter-107 @doublejeon @hiqhkey @unaxv @brookeleclerc

There were hundreds of texts. Possibly thousands. You honestly had no idea he had been communicating with her this way so consistently. The first thing you did was check his deleted texts, but the folder was empty– though you doubted Bucky even knew how to delete texts, you couldn’t be positive he hadn’t picked it up somewhere. You made a mental note to yourself to hack into his phone’s data from your laptop later and check his phone records, and then hated yourself for having to resort to something so controlling. God, who was he turning you into?

The texts started innocently enough– questions about training schedules, protocols, general life in the Tower. All perfectly reasonable inquiries one would make to their new superior officer. But then came the requests– fixing her lights in her room, would he eat breakfast with her because she was so lonely? They began texting each other good morning and good night… every day.

She started calling him “sexy” and “handsome” as a way of greeting him. He never encouraged it, or reciprocated, but he never shut it down or told her it was inappropriate, either. 

Then, there was the evening after the Central Park fiasco.

Vix: It was really mean of you to make me walk all the way back to the Tower by myself, you know.

>> I know. I’m sorry. I just needed to talk to Pocket alone.

Vix: I could have been assaulted or kidnapped!

>> lol You’re a super soldier. You could wipe the floor with anyone who tried.

Vix: Aww, thanks Jamie <3

Vix: Did your girlfriend get over her temper tantrum?

>> She had a right to be upset. It was shit of me to forget about her like that.

Vix: What is she? A golden retriever?

>> lol

Vix: She was alone for, like, five minutes. She’ll survive. 

Vix: If you ask me, she was just looking for an excuse to be mad at you.

Vix: She obviously doesn’t trust you, which is so hypocritical.

>> What do you mean?

Vix: Come on, Jamie. You don’t really buy her whole bullshit story about her ‘friendship’ with Stark, do you?

Vix: I don’t care how rich he is. *No one* shells out that kind of money for someone’s education without expecting something in return. She obviously fucked him. 

>> She told me it wasn’t like that.

Vix: Don’t tell me you believe her! I know you’re not stupid.

>> Yeah, well of course I wondered.

“What the fuck, Bucky?” you asked, your voice rising as you stood up to face him. “Uh, which part?” he asked sheepishly.

“There’s more than one part that would have me asking ‘what the fuck’?” you asked, disgusted. Bucky just kind of shrugged his shoulders. “You seriously think I slept with Tony?!” “Oh, that!” Bucky looked relieved, and that concerned you, because if he was relieved that that was what you were upset about, what the hell else was in those texts? “I wondered about it when you first told me he paid for your school,” he said. ���Back before we were really friends. But you said that you didn’t, and I believe you. I’ve always believed you.”

“Well, your text to Carthage sure makes it sound like you don’t believe me,” you argued. “Like you’re still wondering.”

“That wasn’t my intention,” he said softly.

“Yeah, well, and I say this with all the lack of respect it deserves,” you snapped, “your intentions are shit.”

Bucky looked down at the floor, no longer meeting your gaze. “Fuck,” you said, “I don’t even know if I want to read the rest of these,” you told him. “If that was something ‘well intentioned’ but there’s still things you expect me to get upset about.”

“No,” said Bucky, looking back at you now, “please– I want you to read them. I don’t want to have any more secrets from you.”

You sighed and sat back down. “I’m not even going to touch on you laughing about her calling me a literal dog,” you said as you picked up the phone and started reading again.

There were several selfies from Jade to Bucky of her in various skimpy outfits, asking for his opinion. Completely inappropriate, in your opinion, but Bucky would just respond with the thumbs up emoji, or occasionally “nice,” or “pretty.” 

What really got to you, though, were the late night texts. You noticed some of the timestamps on Bucky’s end were from hours after you would have fallen asleep. The idea of him texting her in the middle of the night, in the dark, while lying next to your sleeping body repulsed you, and you had to suppress a shudder.

What was worse was the context of them– it wasn’t anything salacious or sexual, no– it was his vulnerability. His personal thoughts and feelings, memories of his past and descriptions of his nightmares that he refused to share with you, telling you they were too dark, or that he couldn’t remember them. Even now, you skimmed over what he had written without really reading them, knowing that he hadn’t wanted you to be privy to those parts of him. It broke your heart to see him being so open with her, so lacking in defenses, when you had literally been right there, yet he’d kept you at arm’s length, all without you knowing it.

Vix: What did you tell her about the sparring match?

>> The truth. It was just an intense practice session.

Vix: So you didn’t mention your hard-on, then? >> That was just a physical reaction. The adrenaline from the fight. It had nothing to do with you.

Vix: lol Keep telling yourself that, Jamie.

>> Vix. Vix: Relax, I’m just teasing xoxo

>> Yeah, I know.

Your hands were shaking. “I fucking knew it,” you seethed. 

“Knew what?” Bucky looked like a deer trapped in headlights. 

“That fucking sparring match,” you said through clenched teeth, your eyes beginning to water. “I fucking knew there was something sexual going on between you two, and you lied to my god damned face! And then, what? You fucked me with the erection she gave you? God, I knew you looked guilty. I could see it in your fucking eyes!”

“Okay, yes, but no!” Bucky said. “Yeah, I felt guilty because I got hard during the fight, and I was worried you saw it, but it really didn’t have anything to do with her! It’s… it’s a thing that happens to me, sometimes. Doesn’t matter who I’m fighting with. It’s, uh, happened when I’ve sparred with Steve– ” You shot him a look, skeptical. “I swear; you can ask him!” he continued. “It… look, I’m pretty sure it’s a hold out from the… things… Hydra did to me. When they were turning me into the Winter Soldier. The details are hazy, the memories aren’t all there, but… I have… flashes… how they used to, uh, stimulate me, to get me to do what they wanted me to do.”

You looked at him, waiting for more details, but he didn’t offer them. He obviously still didn’t trust you with those parts of himself, even now. “But, I swear to you– as soon as I saw that look on your face, it was gone. I felt awful, knowing what you would think if you’d noticed. That killed it, instantly. When we were together, later, that was all because of you. It was all for you.” He took in your expression. “You don’t believe me.”

“Seems to be a pretty convenient excuse, don’t you think?” you asked. You felt like a bitch, on the off chance he was telling you the truth, if his erection had been based on the conditioning of decades of sexual abuse on top of the physical and psychological trauma he had endured, but he’d eroded your trust so thoroughly, you couldn’t help but doubt.

“You think I’d lie to you about something Hydra did to me?” he asked you, hurt. “Something like that?” You could hear the unanswered question in his voice: Something horrible we’ve both been through?

You shrugged, knowing you were being cruel. “How should I know? I’m not the one you’ve been sharing your secrets with, so I don’t know what’s the truth and what’s another lie.”

Bucky grimaced, and you couldn’t help but feel guilty. You, of all people, knew how shameful discussing sexual abuse could make one feel, but you’d always been honest and open with him about what had happened to you, because you had trusted him. It was hurtful to know he’d been through something similar and hadn’t afforded you the same trust in return, even though you knew you had no right to demand it of him. But he had given it so freely to her.

You went back to the texts, hoping you had read the worst, but dreading there was still more to come.

He told her about your fights. That was difficult to read, knowing that he had made her privy to the lowest points in your private relationship, and how she must have been eating it up. >> I just don’t know what more she wants from me. 

>> What more she expects me to do.

>> One minute she’s furious with me, and the next minute, she’s saying she doesn’t care.

Vix: She’s messing with you. Fucking with your emotions to show she can control you.

Vix: Why do you keep putting up with this?

>> I don’t know. Sometimes I

Vix: ???

>> Nevermind.

Vix: What, Jamie? You can tell me anything. I’m here for you.

>> Sometimes I just wish she was maybe a little more like you. More understanding.

You stared down at the screen, unable to move.

“Pocket?” Bucky asked, noticing you hadn’t scrolled in a few minutes.

“You don’t know why you keep putting up with me?” you asked him, voice barely above a whisper. “You wish I was more like her?” 

“I was upset,” he said, crouching down in front of you. “That was the night before she went to Malaysia, after I left our room, but before I got her to go to Gino’s. When I could tell you were pulling away, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t really mean it; it was just venting because you had me so confused.”

You stared off into the middle distance as Bucky tried to make eye contact with you, unable to look at him. “I feel like there’s this whole entire side of you you’ve been hiding from me,” you said, speaking to and through him simultaneously. “I don’t know this version of you, at all. And I don’t think I want to.”

“Doll,” Bucky grasped your hands, desperation entering his voice, but you didn’t have the energy to pull away. “Those texts aren’t me. You know me. You know my heart.”

You met his eyes then, the look you gave him full of loss, betrayal, and heartache. “I don’t think I do.”

Bucky’s face cracked; you’d never seen him look so defeated. He took the phone from you and scrolled to the very bottom of the text thread, to the most recent exchange the two had had, from the night of her ‘panic attack.’ Wordlessly, he handed the phone back to you.

Vix: Please, Jamie. I could treat you so much better than she can.

>> I told you, Vix. I’m not going to leave her. I love her.

Vix: But all you do is fight. I can hear you from my room, you know. I know you’re not happy.

>> We fight because of *you*. Please don’t make this difficult. I don’t want to ask Steve to reassign you for training.

Vix: Please don’t do that! I just want to be with you. I could make you so happy.

>> *She* makes me happy. She’s all I want. I’m sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it’s how I feel. I’m never gonna love anyone the way I love Pocket. That’s just the way it is.

Vix: You can’t deny there’s something between us!

Vix: I know you feel it!

Vix: We could keep it a secret. She doesn’t need to know.

Vix: You could have both of us.

>> Stop. I don’t want you. And to be honest, I’m disgusted you’d even suggest I cheat on the love of my life.

Vix: You don’t mean that!

>> I do. You need to accept it.

His last message was followed by a barrage of texts from Jade, begging him to respond to her, but he hadn’t. You supposed, in a way, that should make you feel better, but you were so emotionally exhausted, you couldn’t feel much of anything. All you knew was that you should have never read those messages.

“This… this is a lot to process,” you finally said, looking at Bucky. “I don’t really know what to do here.”

Bucky frantically tapped at his phone screen. “Block her number,” he said. “If cuttin’ her out’s what it’s going to take for me to start rebuilding your trust, then I’ll gladly do it. Pozhaluysta, Pocket.” Please, Pocket.

Mechanically, you went through the motions of blocking Jade’s number from Bucky’s phone. “I… don’t know if this is going to be enough, Bucky,” you told him, handing it back. “Those things I read just now… They’re honestly making me question everything. Our entire history.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said, putting his forehead to yours. “If this is just step one, then it’s step one. I’ll take however many steps you ask me to until I make this right.”

“You’ve gotta be one hundred percent on this, Buck,” you said. “Because if you’re not, if I find out that you couldn’t keep this promise to me, there’s no coming back. You’ll be the one who’s so iced out, it’ll make Siberia feel downright tropical.”

Bucky grinned slightly. “I’m positive, sweets,” he said, putting a hand on top of yours. “You’re all I want, and I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you if I have to.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. It wasn’t that you didn’t trust him. It was just that, well, you didn’t fucking trust him. “FRIDAY?” you called.

“Yes, Ms. (Y/L/N)?”

“Please alert me any and every time Sergeant Barnes and Ms. Carthage have an interaction in the Tower going forward. I request audio and video footage be sent to me immediately should they cross paths.”

“Yes, Ms. (Y/L/N). For clarification, do you want alerts for physical, audio, or digital interactions to be sent to you?”

“All of it, FRIDAY,” you said, watching Bucky very carefully for any sign of discomfort or uneasiness over your course of action, but you saw none. “And do not allow an override without my express verbal consent and company password.”

The AI agreed and promised to alert you if any such interaction occurred.

“That was very thorough,” Bucky said, sounding somewhat petulant. “You really had to cover all the bases, didn’t you?”

“Well, I had to have someone I trust keeping an eye out on things,” you said pointedly. Bucky flinched, the expression on his face faltering.

“I am going to make this right, doll. I swear to you.”

“I’m tired of you telling me, Buck,” you said, really needing to drive your point home. “It's your last chance to actually grow up and start showing me.” 

<- Previous Chapter / Next Part ->

[sunsetcougar]

How does everyone at the hotel and of course Carmilla respond to the reveal that Vaggie is a Carmine when that data dump is sent down? Did Vaggie have an idea or was it a surprise to her as well?

Add in if you want how everyone (including our beloved chaggie) responded when Vaggie and Charlie were first allowed to return to the hotel after the whole fiasco.

Another long post! The plot bunnies keep multiplying and asks only encourage them.

The hotel residents are mostly surprised, even Vaggie had no idea that she was related to the Carmines. Charlie is nervous but also excited at the prospect of getting to meet Vaggie’s family. Angel is a little jealous that Vaggie is most likely going to get her family back, but he doesn’t show it. Husk is happy for her, from what he knows Carmilla is a good mom. Sir Pentious wants to know if this means he can buy Carmine products again. Niffty is Niffty.

The only one displeased about it is Alastor since he knows this will mean another overlord butting into the hotel and his territory, and he won’t be able to do anything about it. Charlie’s authority far outweighs his and she’d do anything for Vaggie.

As for Carmilla herself she opened the letter Vaggie sent her pretty soon after she got it since she’s not one for letting things sit. At first she didn’t believe it, this wouldn’t be the first time someone who learned of her missing third daughter tried to impersonate her to get close to the Carmines, but the more she reads the more legitimate it looks. The photocopies of the records match up with what Vaggie wrote, there’s no holes in her story. Plus the records have a couple portrait shots of Vaggie, one from when she was first kidnapped and one from a few weeks before she was abandoned, and she does look so much like the portrait Carmilla has of her daughter.

Carmilla doesn’t tell Clara and Odette of this at first, not wanting to get their hopes up only to be crushed. She spends a day pouring over every detail she was given before finally deciding it’s worth the risk and calling the number on the letter to set up a meeting.

As for the second half of your ask, Vaggie charged through the portal as soon as it was opened and nearly barreled into Angel, Charlie close behind. Vaggie didn’t stick around in the lobby for more than a few seconds, instead bolting up the stairs to her and Charlie’s room to go hide, once again with Charlie close behind.

That left the hotel residents staring after them, processing their sudden return. They’d begun truly thinking that Chaggie had been murdered in Heaven, but they were very obviously alive if more scared than any of them had ever seen them before. They want to follow and check on them, but also want to give them space. They opt to go with the latter option, knowing they have each other and probably just need time and privacy to work through whatever emotions they’re dealing with before they’re okay to talk to other people.

All except for Alastor who opts to follow Chaggie in his shadows, and finds them in their room, the door left open enough for him to peek in. Vaggie had dropped to her knees and was beginning to break down, everything she’d been suppressing over her time in Heaven bubbling up now that she’s safe. She noticed him out of the corner of her eye and faster than he’s ever seen her move she grabbed her spear and threw it, piercing the door and his shoulder.

They didn’t see Alastor for a few days after that. He melted into his shadows and just didn’t return. Which turned out to be for the better since his antagonistic nature wouldn’t have helped.

Husk ends up making both Charlie and Vaggie pretty strong drinks when they finally come downstairs, Angel makes the pasta dish he knows they both love, and Sir Pentious and Niffty get their door fixed and everything cleaned up. They can all tell that neither of them want to talk about what happened.

[radioactive-metal]

CASINOOOOOO FICCCCCCCCCC (pt.1)

ITS HEREEEEEEEEEE

good morning and merry Christmas my fellow obsessed fans of this lovely wee series we have here, I grant to youse, as a Christmas present, the first Half (or so) of the casino fic. It’s got insanity, it’s got scheming, and it’s got a buggerton of innuendo. What more could you want?

so anyways, wherever you are in the world, with family or friends or perhaps by yourself, have a merry Christmas, Ido’nai, Hanukkah, Sanguinalia, or whatever you choose to celebrate. That’s enough rambling in my part. Enjoy gang.

Authors notes: in this the AU emerald city fiasco happens before semperternity. And the Zero is waiting somewhere else. So the squad is flush with cash but still without direction. This will be fun.

Tyler:

“What do you mean it’s missing a piece?” Cat looked about ready to murder someone, most likely Aurora. I laid a hand on her shoulder, very much ready to stop her acting on her fury.

“I can feel it. It’s broken. Look at the eye on this compared to the drawing.” Aurora pointed at the trigger sitting on top of the console to the picture of the sigil she had unconsciously scrawled. She was right. It was missing the gem in its eye.

Finian leant back against the bridge bulkhead, exo whining as he did so “good news gang! I have a cousin who just so happens to deal in missing parts of random artifacts from an ancient race of aliens.”

“Really?” The question slipped out before I could stop it. Finian looked at me like at me like I had just asked why we couldn’t open a window in the longbow, “No golden boy. Did the GIA give you concussion or am I losing my touch?”

“I would bet that ty lost more braincells from my punch then you ever had numbnuts.” Cat ground out. Finian raised his eyebrows “Nice one dirtgirl, I’ll have to add that to my collection.” 

Zila sat, sucking on a lick of hair for a moment, tapping furiously at her uniglass. “I have found the missing piece. Its location was detailed in the data left in the safe deposit box.”

Every person on the bridge whirled around to look at her. “Unfortunately, it is in the vault of La Casio Royale, in Neomonoco. However, currently, the Time to the Line race is on in the system, so it will be slightly easier to sneak in.”

I drummed my fingers on the armrest of my chair. “I feel like there’s something missing here”

Finian rubbed his temples, “yeah golden boy, there is. If you thought biatchiis security was bad, the Vaults de la Royale makes his look like a play pretend cash register.”

Scarlett:

On one hand, I had always wanted to see the time to the line race, preferably from a luxury yacht, waited on by a small army of very handsome men all named christoff. But in the other: we now had to pull off a heist that made that whole business on semperternity look like taking candy from a baby. The entire vault was open to vacuum, with electrified walls, laser sensors, shelves that weighed each lockbox sensitive to .00003 grams.

But on the other other hand: I got to put on my best outfit and lie, gamble, and drink my way through la Casio Royale, the best establishment in the galaxy for the sins of greed and gluttony.

Needless to say, I had my work cut out for me getting my squad mates up to par.

Once we had landed our (heavily disguised) longbow, we made our way to an incredibly expensive apartment complex. Zila had a set of keys and guided us to a door labeled 312. We stepped in and were all floored by the opulence. Oak paneling lined the walls. Onyx tiling led the way to the central living area, with a colossal window and balcony overlooking the ocean of the planet. The legion clearly hadn’t skimped out when building this place. I still couldn’t wrap my head around how they had laid all of this out. The box, the camouflage unit on the longbow, this apartment. It was as if they knew what was going to happen before it did.

There were 6 doors leading off the main corridor. Each one was inscribed with a different sigil. One had seven lines, the next had a stylized double A, after that was two hoops. Then on the other side of the hall was another four, with a beetle, a handbag, a gold bar, and a phoenix.

I took a wild guess, and opened the door with a handbag on it. Inside I found a lavishly decorated room, all velvet carpet and silk sheets. The largest bed I had ever seen sat in the middle, and directly across from the door to the room was a massive ornate closet. I gently stepped over to it, and found it was full to the brim with an incredible selection of clothes. Worksuits hung next to ball gowns, and everything in between.

There was two doors, I opened the first one and found a bathroom filled with enough marble to have depleted a small quarry. High end toiletries were arraigned next to glass sinks. I then check the other door, and found myself in a small corridor, with another door on the other end. I closed the door behind me and opened the next one.

I found myself transported to trask. A low ceiling studded with stalactites. Gently glowing blue vines grew on the walls, and floating in the center, quite possibly the best part of the room, was one Finian De Karen De Seel.

Aurora:

I opened the door with the old logo of Ad Astra, and I found myself in my childhood bedroom. It was the exact same. From the crappy old wooden bedframe to the books laid about the place. On the bedside table was a note.

Aurora:

We are so sorry that this is what you have to do. You should have been welcomed into this new time, not forced to run. 

Please consider this to be some very small apology,

Aurora Legion command

Admiral Adams and Greater Clan Battle Leader De Stoy

Below the message a small chip was taped. I plugged it into Magellan and saw it was a video. I pressed play and saw Callie, though much older, mid thirties at least, carrying a toddler. “Look the the camera kiddo! Say hello to your auntie Auri! Can you say hello little Jie?”

The toddler seem more focused on its mother bracelets.

“Hi Auri. I know you won’t ever see this, but I like to keep you updated. Even though you’re gone. This is Jie-lin. She’s 2 years old now. I hope you’re safe wherever you are. I love you”

I couldn’t keep it together. I broke down. These past few days coupled with this just broke me. I started bawling. Ugly, broken sobs that scratched at my throat as they came up.

I stared at that final frame of Callie. So grown up, so much older than me. I wondered what had happened. To mom, to dad, to the family after I left. Did mom go back to school? Did Callie ever go and see Hong Kong like she always wanted? What happened to dad?

I was stirred from my thoughts by one of the doors to my room creaking open. What would have once led to the kitchen now opened up into a plain grey corridor, currently occupied by the galaxies greatest Legolas lookalike.

We locked eyes for a moment. I saw that wall behind his eyes crumble for just a moment. I saw concern, but it could have well been pity.

“What…” my voice, scratchy and raw, caught in my throat “what do you want?”

Those damned purple eyes flicked away from me. And over the rest of the room, almost drinking it in. He stepped past the doorway, closing the door behind him without a south, and dropped noiselessly into a position with his legs crossed under him.

“Strong and silent then. Ok Legolas.” I mumbled, reaching around for something to throw at him. I grabbed my pillow, and acting on instinct from something I’d done a million times before, chucked it. He caught it out of mid air without a flinch. He raised a single, immaculate silver eyebrow at me.

“Stop doing that you son of a biscuit!”

“Stop what?”

“Being so irritating and rude and annoying and cute - er.. uh…”

Both his eyebrows jumped up to his forehead and I saw the faintest glimmer of what could be hope in his eyes. 

Tyler:

Everyone else filtered off to their rooms, leaving one door unopened. As I opened the door I found a nice,  it not ostentatious bedroom. Nicer than my room at the academy, but not what I would have expected from such a fancy apartment. Honestly I preferred it. I was never truly at home in fancy places, even when my dad traveled for the senate and took me and scar with me. It was always too much.

There were three other doors than the one I had just entered. The first was open to a bathroom, the second was a glass balcony door, that had a stunning view of the ocean.

The third door was closed, and had no obvious labels or indications of its purpose. I stepped over to it, and opened it only to find myself with scarcely four centimetres away from Cat. She looked up at me, and for just a moment I was there again, on shore leave, scotch in our veins and together. I staggered backwards, overwhelmed by that closeness with her. My ace, my closest friend, my confidante.

“Come now Ty, I’m not that scary”

“No-no god no of course not Cat no. You just…. Scared me.”

“Heh. And I never broke any academy regs. You’re fooling nobody Tyler.”

She lifted a hand, and with it a bottle of Terran scotch.

“We’ve made enough bad decisions in the past few days to fill a lifetime. What’s one more?”

And honestly? I couldn’t argue with that.

“So do you want to shout at me first or can we skip to the fun part?”

The now setting sun glowed a gorgeous golden orange through the light, catching in her dark hair and lighting up her face, now covered in a smile.

“Are you having a laugh? Nah. You’re going to sit your ass in the seat over there, and we are going to talk this out while I partake in this fine bottle of scotch that was left in my room. After that? We’ll see.”

By the time she had finished shouting at me, the sun was gone. In its stead was twin moons, visibly moving across the sky. We were sitting out on the balcony. She had a glass with a triple shot of scotch, I had some mineral water.

“Ya know Ty? I honestly considered the GIA’s offer on semperternity.”

“Is that the booze talking or you?”

“Are you having a laugh? I’m as sober as a funeral. This stuff” she shook the glass “is about as weak as nuns piss.”

“I figured. On both counts I mean. At risk of sounding uncomfortably cliche, I had faith that even though you wanted the offer, you would still back me.”

“God I hate when you read me like a book.”

“What can I say? I know you too well.”

A glint in her eyes made me realize what I had just done.

“Oh really now Ty? Are you sure? Cause I think there might be a few things you don’t know.”

And with that, I was dragged back through the door and onto the bed.

Cat Brannock 1, Tyler Jones 0

Zila:

There was a large amount of data stored on several storage wafers in my room. Each one contained briefings, plans, and other such information. Most was time locked to future dates, but I located one unlocked folder. Within was two subfolders, labeled ‘Orders’ and ‘Blue Prints’

The orders folder contain a briefing document with a security clearance I did not recognize. It was inaccessible, presumably corrupted, as it was date locked several hundred years in the past, and yet could not be opened.

The Blue prints folder was much more fruitful. Within was pages upon pages of plans, analysis, and photos of the vault we had to crack into. 

Along with data was a note, one of several I had found so far. This one read “trust the hawk”. I piled it with the other notes, some had been helpful, pointing me to guide my team mates in the correct direction. Others were much more cryptic, many mentioning hawks, crystals, and the ancient myth of Ouroboros. 

More to consider.

I wonder if it is wrong to manipulate my teammates.

I am still not feeling nothing

Finian

I spent most of the evening after Scarlett left fixing up my exosuit. The fact the legion splurged for terrestrial anti grav made feel warm and fuzzy inside. Or maybe that was talking to Scar. Who knows?

After an extremely long and deep sleep in zero G, I woke at would be 8:30 station time. Later than normal but not ridiculously so. With a sigh and some grumbling I donned my exo once again and turned off the Zero G. All of those pains and aches I thought had gone? They came right back. Turns out there’s only so much one nights sleep can do.

I opened the door and wandered out to the common area of the apartment, to find Zila sitting at the counter, obsessing over some file in her uniglass, and Kal out on the balcony doing some sort of meditation.

“Third awake isn’t bad… where’s our high and mighty squad leader?”

“Sleeping with legionnaire Brannock.”

I did a double take at that “asleep? Or…. The other thing?”

Zila didn’t respond.

“Maker… really? My goodness he’s actually human? I thought they assembled him at the overachiever factory.”

“There is no such factory.”

“Don’t change Zila. I need someone to tell me these things”

With that I wandered over to the refrigerator to see what we had. I found it stocked better than I could have hoped. It even had my favorite kind of breakfast burrito.

“Wow, they really did think of everything.”

Zila made a small noise, then hurriedly typed something on her uni.

At that, as if on cue, Scarlett walked round the corner. Far from her usual put-togetherness, she looked bedraggled, hair frizzy and makeup smeared. Even then though, as she caught my eye and winked, I felt like my stomach was full of butterflies.

“Morning Zila”

No response, Zila being a conversationalist ad always.

“And good morning fin”

The gentle smile, the way she said my name… it felt like someone had released another crate of butterflies in my stomach (why do they keep dumping them there? Do I look like a bug enclosure?)

“M-Morning Scar”

She walked over, brushed my hand (for just a little too long to be accidental) to hit a button on the coffee maker. I personally couldn’t stand the stuff, but Scarlett seemed to guzzle it like air.

“Any plans for the day?”

“You know, the usual, being the most handsome member of the squad.”

“The usual indeed. You can multitask while doing that I presume? I have a shopping list and need a spare set of hands getting it all. We can get lunch and such. I know a guy here.”

There was quite a few things to unpack there. First was her agreeing with me? The most handsome? Maker that let off a third… flock? Collection? Swarm? Of butterflies. The second… was she was asking me to go out with her. To go shopping and get lunch. Me. ME. The only reason she would pick me for that is if-

Great maker in the heavens. Scarlett Jones was asking me out on a date.

Tyler

The sunlight streaming through my window gently brought me back from the sandman. I stirred and moved my arm to my eye, only for it to hit something warm, and vaguely soft and-

Oh yeah. Last night. The memories flashed though my head like a dying star. I cracked an eye open, and saw her there, next to me, still dead to the world.

Her hair was mussed, what little makeup she had smudged around. I shifted under the covers and gasped from the pain. Looks like I might have voided the warranty on the old fun factory.

The noise woke her up. With a grumble and yawn, she opened her eyes. Her voice was soft and scratchy, but no surprises there. Thank the maker the walls are thick.

“Morning Ty. What’s the big idea with all the noise?”

“The boys…. Poor fellas seem to have taken a beating”

“Wonder who could have done such a thing?”

With that, she shifted closer to me and closed

her eyes again.

Should I have done this? Probably no.

Was it a bad choice? Most likely.

Do I regret it? Let’s see.

I looked over at the clock at the side of the bed, 6:50.  Later then I would normally wake up. I should probably get up.

However: this bed was comfy, and most importantly, there was a woman I loved next to me, and that was too much of a problem for the little bit of me that wanted to get up could overcome, and so I drifted back off to dream land, listening to Cats breath.

Kal:

I awoke at 5 AM ship time. My father had instilled this into me with his fists. I always woke at 5 now, no matter when or where I slept. I still have the scars, the last reminders of the wounds he inflicted, and the care my mother gave me. The universe truly was cruel. Making me the son of that wretched being, and taking my mother from me because of his fit of rage.

I went out to the balcony, to meditate as my mother showed me. It helped clear my head, and to tamp down the enemy within. I cleared my mind and reached out. My powers were weak, insignificant compared to all but the weakest of waywalkers, and yet i could still feel my comrades, ever so faintly. Tyler’s golden light, lighting him up like a beacon in the dark. Scarlett, glowing ruby red, casting a warm and welcoming glow around her. And Aurora. By all the souls of Syldra, Aurora.

She was like a star. Glowing with the purest white light, too strong to even look at. All I could see was her outline, and that void blue core of her being. 

I was no stranger to being pulled in two different directions. The teachings of my father versus those of my mother. The enemy within versus me. But this one was different. One could fill the galaxy with words and it would not come close. If all the blood vessels were laid out to end to end, and each cell had the word love engraved on it, it would not equal one billionth of a second of the pull. It was nearly impossible to resist, myriad works of art had been created about it over the millennia. None came close to describing it. I opened my eyes from my meditation, and looked out over the glistening sea, utterly stunning by all accounts. It was bland and boring compared to Aurora. And yet, I was denied such a thing. I could not. Alas, she was human. I don’t know if she could even reciprocate these feelings.

That was until yesterday. Like a man clutching to a cliff edge, I hung on to those words. Was there hope? Did she mean those words? Those feelings flying off her like a star going supernova? 

I did not have many of my mother gifts, but even I could feel the emotions of one as powerful as her.

And she felt something for me.

The smallest ember of emotion, which may catch.

And so hope remained.

And so despite everything, I had reason to smile.

Scarlett

I was 3/4ths of the way through my coffee when Tyler trudged in. Not walked, not marched, trudged. I have seen him do such a thing exactly twice in my entire life. The day after dad died, and the morning he got back from shore leave after graduation. Given that no one we know died, and the incredibly visible and large hickey on his neck… I’d say that my brother was engaging in…. Fraternization. 

I’m impressed honestly. I had a bet with myself that he wouldn’t last through the 2nd night on the longbow, now it’s been a whole week! Impressive.

As Tyler rounds the corner, I notice his odd gait, swinging his leg out and forward, rather than straight ahead in proper marching style. 

Fraternization indeed.

He stops at the counter, grabs one of the stools, and gingerly sits down. We lock eyes for just a moment and have an instant of perfect, non verbal twin to twin communication.

‘Really?’

‘Not a word’

The silence was broke by a sharp sniff through is nose, a long sigh and him shifting. 

“Right then. Anything of note to report?”

“Negative sir” came Finians reply

“Nope” 

“I have something sir” Zila had stopped tapping on her uniglass

“Well? The suspense is killing me legionnaire Madran, what is it?”

“Testy this more I see sir” Finian said, seeing if he couldn’t get a rise of his commander

“I have located blueprints and relevant construction information for the vault. I send them in a data package over our squad communications link, along with my personal analysis on viable points of entry.”

“Didn’t get much sleep then I take it Legionaire?”

“No more than you sir”

I choked on my coffee. Finian did a spit take and Tyler looked utterly bewildered.

“First: what I was or wasn’t doing last night is between me and the maker. Second: did you just make a joke?”

“No. I stated a fact. I got 4 hours and thirty two minutes of sleep last night, while by my estimation you got between four and three quarters and five hours of sleep.”

Finians pale skin was now flushed a pale shade of pink from him trying to hold in his laughter, meanwhile I was laughing around the coffee stuck in my throat and Tyler looked even more bewildered. The kind of bewildered that makes a deer in headlights look like a professor of psychology.

“I-uh- Well anyways, if you could pull up the data on the table hologram so we can prepare a briefing legionnaire.”

“Yes sir”

Aurora

I woke up with puffy eyes and a throat that felt like it has seen the wrong side of an industrial sandblaster. Turns out: crying yourself to sleep is awful. I can’t believe Hollywood lied to me. It’s almost like it’s full of paid actors.

I had to peel myself from my bed, I sign I had slept far deeper than normal. I opened the closet, and found that it was stocked with clothes exactly to my size and liking. I picked out a nice outfit and walked to what I could only assume was the kitchen, where I heard the gentle murmur of voices. I rounded to find everyone else in the squad all chatting amounts themselves, with coffee and, of all people, Cat, manning, as my mother would call it, the cooker. Tyler looked up, and gave me a kind smile.

“Well then, that’s everyone. I’ll start the briefing now if no one has any objections.” He paused “Ok good.” He tapped a button in the centre of the table. It lit up revealing blueprints, for what looked like a very over the top bank vault.

“This, ladies and gentlemen, is our target. The most fortified, secure, and impenetrable bank vault ever designed. Within, is contained the last part of the trigger, a 32 karat chunk of Eshvaren crystal.”

Scar leaned forward. “So an easy jaunt into a bank vault to steal a gem. What’s the problem?”

“Finian?”

The Beretreskan nodded

“If you remember Biattchis office, with the security system that would wake a carreer criminal screaming? This one would make them hand themselves in to the police and collapse into a jibbering, insane mess. Laser sensors and hair wire triggers, weighted boxes and hard vacuum. Silent penetration is nearly impossible”

Kal spoke up “so how do we intended to get in quietly?”

Finian giggled like a kid on Christmas morning. “Kal…. Who said anything about quiet?”

Tyler tapped the button on the table again.

“We will be organized into 3 groups of two, with Zila running support here.” He gestured at a point on the holographic map, indicating the apartment “Legionnaires De Seel and Jones task is to create a distraction. I don’t care if it’s a riot, a brawl, anything. We just need all eyes away from the vault. Legionnaire Gilwraith and Aurora will be our backup in case we have unwanted guests. Finally, me and legionnaire Brannock will be infiltrating the facility, opening the vault, and retrieving the target. Any questions?”

“How do we intends to breach the vault?”

Tyler’s eyes glimmered. “Are you familiar with shaped charges?”

[End of part 1. Teehee]

[azure-tiamat]

Hi people, so I'm back in the brainrot fandom known as Transformers Prime (Tfp). .. I'm also up for crossovers.

As such I present to you: Jackson 'Jack' Darby as Lance McClain, Blue Paladin of Voltron AU.

After the Autobots returned to Cybertron, Jack tries to retain that sense of Space and adventure, yearning to meet them again. Agent Walter gets him into the Garrison, requiring a fake ID if he doesn't want them to realise he's a special case - which he doesn't want. Though he wonders how Iverson would react to knowing his background when 'the only reason he was admitted into fighter jet was because the best pilot in their class had a disciplinary issue and flunked out'. Yes, he's got the line down pat, the man says it often enough.

He thought the alien war had ended with the Autobots and Deceptions; apparently he was mistaken. Where before it was cybertronic life forms fighting over resources (mostly), there was a civil war that dragged out against what was effectively furrys, the Galra were even older than the feud back on earth and far beyond the level of 'war' as he's known it to exist... Depends if they have a deity of destruction capable of terra-forming a planet and appearing as earth titans. They got the mystery aspect already, with Voltron and quintessence.

He could've hoped for a better team though. Keith sometimes reminded him of Miko, but at least she was more annoying than stabbing on contact. Shirt had his work and trauma cut out for him, at least that's something he knows how to handle from watching Arcee, Ratchet and Optimus. He honestly can't handle Allura though -- was royalty like this? He'd been a child -teen- soldier, but the rest of them had been cadets with no prior exposure and now they're all with shallow support systems to fall back on (nevermind the whole Holt-fiasco Pidge has going on.)

....

It just so happens that Allura found Cybertron and decided to propose an alliance. Lance debated wether he should tell them the Galra and Lions (why were they both feline?) weren't the only visitors earth had and decides it's high-time he tells them he's friends with them, but he ends up getting shot down for 'bad/ inappropriate jokes'. He raises his hands in the air, acquiescing to their dismissive reaction since he's far more eager to meet Arcee, Bee, Bulkhead, Ratchet and more than to correct their opinion.

Lance goes to meet them in classic clothes, without his armor, since he 'doesn't want to come off as aggressive' unlike the rest who, come what he may hint at, still follow Altea's thousands of years old data on their races society - slaves, war, etc. Something he knows best will not be received well. At all. He's also partially expecting Allura or one of the others, bets on Pidge, to go on about their Hierarchy system and slavery - which, he gets it, honestly, knowing her own situation, but that'll rather serve to sever any prospective alliance than 'revolutionize their society'. So it's gonna be bad, as the Cybertronians have technology surpassing even the Galras on kriffing space bridges. Shame too, as it would stop the overreliance on Allura to input coordinates and their allies could use it as well to offer assistance in a snap.

So when they enter Cybertrons gravitational pull Lance is the only one not up-to-snuff, dressed in his old clothes who were newly synthesized by the Castle's repair systems. Arcee is bound to get a visual alert on the similarities, at least. If she's not too busy to meet him. Ratchet should be there though, he'd received the transmission. But he hopes to see the femme again. He'd missed her and their rides around Nevada a lot. He'd been her charge, she'd seen most of his wardrobe in the span of -give or take- 5 years and thus bound to recognize him from any angle. She was there, probably as backup or guard and, as while Voltron's heads were talking politics -thank Primus Wheeljack's not here for that- they were subtly scanned for weapons and threats. He kept an eye on her, which her optics picked up on and when she turned to Lance she stared. For a good few doboshes neither blinked, before a hopeful expression grew on her face. Thank Primus she recognized him! Actually, so did Bumblebee and Bulkhead who, while not as quick to notice as Arcee, did have a memory file pop up at the sound of his voice: It was a done deal when he told Pidge off and Keith to stop running off, the same way he'd do with Miko when she (again) ran straight into blaster fire or portals.

If only she could see him now, she'd see the irony of it.

Ratchet was surprised at the foreign contact before he was pleased, an offer for an alliance to stop a tyranny would be the distraction some of them needed and a fresh start for Cybertrons dark past. Then he was slightly concerned as they came to meet them with weapons, stating they themselves are armed. Also, what are humans doing here?? What is the Altean expecting of them, not lose an arm? Be legendary warriors like Optimus?? Hah! They were friendly compared to other species in their galaxy, having disengaged the automatic target system for their blasters!! When the princess came into the picture, proudly stating that they were aware of the risks and willing to fight to the death for their cause he was so fragging pissed at her he wished he had a larger exhaust pipe to blow off steam.

"By the Allspark- have you no shame in sending a species not even into adulthood to fight your war at the front lines!?"

"Jack, I thought you were more responsible than that." Arcee starts. Ratchet momentarily lags, blinking his optics at the human clad in a dark blue turtleneck and pants. He barely looks like he's aged.. oh, don't tell him Miko is hiding somewhere too.

"I am. You're looking at the one and only multi-talented sniper of Voltron." He looked at Bumblebee whilst his old guardian was still looking pissed but at least she was joining Ratchet on grilling Allura instead of his morals. The femme had always been his inspiration for angry power-walks and she proved that, stomping so close he worried she'd step on her before letting all of Cybertrons hear her rage.

Wisely, from.experience, he opts out of listening to that and focuses on the scout "...Yeah, it really helped that you taught us some of your tricks as a scout way back then. Didn't think I'd need it after we... thank Primus for that, really."

The yellow cameron let out a string of beeps, not using his radio. Perhaps for old time's sake, he's feeling nostalgic too, seeing them again. The high chirps and deep rumble takes him longer to translate than Raf would, but he also knows how the other thinks, so he makes a pretty educated guess.

"Raf and Miko are fine, last I video chatted with them - a year or so ago. Raf was graduating from some fancy science school in Arizona, aiming to get into State Security, maybe Satellite Scanners legally." The Autobot was listening intently, so he can safely assume he hit the hammer in the head. Actually, looking at the scout reminded him: "He also remade his own yellow car; it's got AI and spy cams. He really misses you buddy. He managed to keep the feed from the base saved on his laptop. We watched them like, every month after you were gone. Miko actually made a mixtape out of the funniest moments - kinda like a video documentary."

He looks at the Wrecker that's been keeping watch on the other paladins, Keith in particular was receiving Knockouts -the red sports car, medic and ex-decepticons- attention. "Miko is working her way up the music industry, though as a Voice actor right now. She's getting pretty popular and working on getting support for solo albums. And, cause we know Miko, she's also doing parkour. It reminds her of our adventures.

We missed you all pretty bad."

A digit picked him up and Hunk yelled out for him, fearful as Keith drew his sword and tried hacking it at his capturers pede. It was Ratchet, who took a pause in denoting Allura's self-esteem from Royal know-it-better to galactic fuck-up her father would cast from his presence. He also gave Keith the 'this is clearly not working, are you dumb' look. Also a memorable sight from Earth.

A part of him felt avenged, and comforted in knowing Ratchet was the one coming to their defense when it had been just him still fighting for their peace. This war wasn't theirs, they belonged home, the Holts deserved to be recovered, yes, but war would be a couple dozen steps away still if it hadn't been for Allura (and Blue, but she didn't have many options on isolated Earth to glean help from. Allura did, a rebellion existed - the Blade of Marmora and the Freedom Fighters).

[cephalog0d]

Yeah I'm not done yet.

The thing I keep coming back to is that as much as I'm down to nit-pick things like how characters are written and plot details (and boy are there a whole infestation of nits to pick), what it boils down to is that the basic premise here shouldn't even be happening.

I get they're doing a Thing with Bruce and the after effects of Failsafe and Zur and Insomnia so sure I guess it makes sense to have him acting totally unreasonably. I'm not saying it's a plotline I'm thrilled with, but whatever. This is about everyone else.

You have half a dozen people routinely patrolling in Gotham, who've been doing it for years, who know the city and how it works, who have at least two people who are particularly inclined towards collecting and parsing data for patterns for crime fighting purposes, and none of you noticed anything amiss until Selina called and was like "Hey did you notice my neat new plan I've been doing?"

To that point, in a room full of literal canonical geniuses not a single person has thought to ask any of a dozen very practical questions that occurred to me, a non-genius reader, roughly 10 seconds after reading what The Plan was. Things like, oh, I don't know

How is this going to be a sustainable long-term effort?

For example, what happens when Gotham's wealthiest realize what you're doing and dramatically beef up their security (with tech or with actual people), making it much harder and more dangerous?

Like iirc you, Selina, have definitely had some real dicey situations as a result of your profession, and you're a lot more experienced than these people.

(Hey speaking of which isn't there a whole secret society of Gotham's wealthiest and most powerful who have access to nearly unkillable assassins? Who keeps coming back even though they keep being taken down? You think any of these people might belong to that?)

What happens when the rich folks get pissed and sic the heavily militarized GCPD on you? Don't act like they won't, I'm sure someone's squirreled away stuff from that whole Fear State fiasco.

For that matter, what happens when the costumed villainry figure out who swiped all their henchpeople and decide to object to it, presumably violently?

How many people are we talking here anyway that you're training? How many ultra-wealthy people live in Gotham? How many easily stealable things do they have sitting around to take? (As opposed to, like, other non-liquid fake assets like stocks)

How are you fencing all this anyway? Isn't that a great way to get caught? Or is everyone just stealing cash? (Or did nobody think about the part between "got the valuable thing" and "have usable money from it"?)

How on god's green earth did you ever assume this was going to end in anything other than violence?

Like of course one of your guys got killed. It doesn't matter that you told them no violence, even if they fully buy into that it only takes one panicked reaction when someone's home who shouldn't be, on either side, and there you go.

Look I get what they're trying to do. It's supposed to be a big moral quandary about whether it's right to allow some crime if it decreases other crime, the struggle between Batman being unreasonably violent and unwilling to listen and this new plan of Selina's. First of all that's a weird debate to have when everyone having it is technically a criminal to some degree. And second of all, it doesn't matter, this isn't about the morality, this is about how this plan is fucking dumb and was destined to fall apart even if Batman was still asleep and the fact that any of you are buying it just means there's a gas leak in Gotham somewhere.

[cheswirls]

here's another bc i like how it started <3

-

undercover op where ace sees Sabo behind the counter and immediately moves to play along

Sabo working as a barista in a fancy upscale cafe that businessmen in the area flock to in droves. He has register duty for the week and the screen system has already been wired so each card that's swiped gets the data pulled and saved to an external drive. When Ace walks through the front door Sabo does his best to smile through his teeth. 

“Is cash okay?”

“Sorry, sir, all we take is card.”

“Ah, no problem. Got one saved to my phone.”

“I’m afraid it has to be a physical card.”

“That so? Let me see what i have here. Will a gift card do?”

“We are not accepting gift cards at the current time.”

“Just my luck. Oh!” Ace smiles wide and pulls a silver card from his wallet. “Good thing i have a prepaid credit card on me! There you go.”

Sabo takes it with more force than necessary and swipes it through the system without looking. “Very good, sir. Anything else for the day?”

“Well, actually-”

Sabo's eyes fall open and his pupils are narrowed to slits. “That was rhetorical,” he hisses between his teeth, leaning just slightly closer to Ace so he can't be overheard. “Take a seat, Ace,” he says, saying the name Ace had given him to write on the order with such disdain but disguising it with a well-intentioned smile.

Ace is having none of it, planting a palm heavy on the counter between them as a warning to keep Sabo close. “Don't be like that, sweetheart. I was only curious as to when a certain barista would be off for the night.”

Sabo sniffs and pointedly leans back, looking at his nails and perfectly playing the part of pretending to halt a customer's advances. “Shop closes at six,” he mumbles.

“So seven?” ace tries. “Or six-thirty?”

“Closer to seven,” he mutters, then turns to accept Ace's ready-made drink and slams it onto the counter so he just barely avoids crushing Ace's hand. “There you are!” he announces, overly fake and plastic smile perfectly intact. “Enjoy.”

Ace takes the card he now suspects has no balance remaining and his too-expensive coffee and chooses to be petty and take a seat at the back of the cafe instead of leaving outright. This spot gives him the perfect view of Sabo, which he knows has the other seething, but hey. It's been some time since they've seen each other. The least he can do is enjoy it before it's all over.

--

“I had no idea you were seeing someone, sabby! You’re so cute together, too! Hehe~”

Sabo grits his teeth behind closed lips and works hard to not snap the after-rush checklist clipboard between his suddenly-taut fingers. “Cute is not a word i want to be associated with, especially not in this setting. And no, i’m not seeing anyone.” He turns sharp on his heel and points a finger threateningly at his teen coworker. “Unless any other thirty-something in a suit asks after me, and then you say i am not single. Understood?”

Aisa laughs behind a poised hand and turns her eyes to very blatantly look in ace’s direction. “No? Well if he’s not taken, maybe i’ll try my chances.”

Sabo holds back most of his strength when he brings the clipboard down over her head. She still whines and brings both arms up to shield herself, the little drama queen. “Don’t, he’s too old for you. If i let you flirt with men while on the clock, your father would have my head.”

Aisa sticks out her tongue, but the act of defiance is tamed by the shudder that runs through her frame. “Yeah, yeah. You always gotta ruin my fun.”

It keeps him sane, most of the time: getting to put a brat in her place. He hadn’t planned on being stuck in shifts with the owner’s own daughter, but his luck had always been down in the dirt. Adding him suddenly showing up out of nowhere was just the cherry on top of this whole fiasco. At least he only had a week left. If he could–

Sabo raises a brow at aisa’s enthusiastic waving and looks over his shoulder to see her target.

Of course it’s ace, at the door with his empty to-go cup, waving one-handedly in sabo’s direction.

Sabo crosses his arms in response, wanting no part in this. He turns back to snap at aisa only to find she’d stopped on her own, now content with leering at him from up on high. 

“Ohhh, i get it now,” she insists, making her voice extra bubbly for the added edge. “He’s your ex, isn’t he?”

The clipboard snaps in two before he can register the pressure he’d applied to it. Aisa frowns and grows quiet when she sees. She jumps off the counter and mutters an apology before hurrying into the back room.

Sabo can’t even blame her. He can’t even get mad. She’d been right, after all.

[mformarsala]

ok long-ish post with my thoughts on how tbb might end

Kinda of a fixed point we have is that Hemlock's research should be successful to a certain degree and lay foundation for cloning Palpatine.

My understanding is that Omega's blood function as a medium, substrate that allows to clone force sensitives while maintaining M-count. So you need Omega's blood and someone force sensitive.

Therefore, either Omega stays at the Tantiss (and tbb all die) or she stays just long enough for them to get enough blood (and than gets rescued by tbb)

While tbb casually kills a lot of characters it does not feel in the tone of the series to go the first glum route (and it does not really fit into overall plot).

I think there will be another time skip where they get enough data of Omega before she is rescued and it will serve to explain why after s3 the empire is no longer after Omega or tbb.

Plus partial success would explain why remnants of the empire are after Grogu in the Mandalorian. Say tbb rescues the force sensitive children and Omega, than the empire has enough of Omega's blood but needs more force sensitive children for experiments. And Hemlock is demoted because of the fiasco and it creates the delay till the Mandalorian in the program.

In s1e2 Cut says "You wanna know how to dissapear? Put being a soldier behind you and make a new life for yourself." so it seems likely to me that the ending of tbb is going to be akin the ending of the Mandalorian and they'll settle as farmers somewhere out of the way.

Maybe with the force sensitive kids, maybe they'll offload them onto someone "who can train them".

Emerie is probably going to defect and stay with the kids.

I hope clones imprisoned on Tantiss will be rescued by tbb. Omega keeps bringing it up for a reason, right?

Comandos... Tbb does not seem to be too focused on forcefully removing chips/programming so they'll probably be reassigned to other projects (in assumption that Tantiss closes at the end of tbb) or disposed off screen.

As I'm writing this I'm realizing that i see tbb ending either with a small farm just for tbb and Omega or a big farm for tbb and all the kids accumulated on the way. My money on the small farm though.

There is a possibility I suppose that Omega IS force sensitive and she goes with the other fs kids and tbb goes to live somewhere else.. But like the only thing that suggests that ending is that one line from Ventress. And I think the whole obsession with Omega's blood works differently. It's not confirmed high M-count, it's confirmed high M-count replication.

With how little Echo was in this season it does seem likely that the rumors are true and there will be another animated series. The story of Emerie, comandos, and freed clones might continue there.

Big question of course is the identity of CX-2.

Narratively I think the only option that makes sense is Tech. Plus observations I have seen online regarding speech patterns and fighting moves do seem convincing. However, I do have some reservations here. CX-2 is almost.. too good to be Tech? Absolutely no shade to Tech but he was always part of a team and not a sole operative and focused on technical aspects and his weapon of choice were pistols rather than a rifle. Idk if time skip was enough to retrain him.

CX-2's distorted voice is different from CX's distorted voice. On one hand Tech's voice is different from reg's so it's a point for team Tech. On the other CX's voice sounds nothing like clone's and it was a bit of a reveal in s2 that the operative was a clone so maybe it's neither here nor there.

The second obvious option that comes to mind is Cody. Rampart knows about CX program; a clone that expresses doubts regarding empire is send to a secret reconditioning program and if anyone asks "he went AWOL". I mean it sounds plausible. Plus Cody is usually depicted wielding DC-15 either carbine or rifle so it's perhaps an easier switch to the CX's rifle. Though this season noone is mentioning Cody so it does seem far fetched. Unless face reveal is like the final frame of s3 and is used to pivot into the new series.

[seventeenlovesthree]

so, apparently there's plenty of death symbolism/metaphors surrounding, are you interested in elaborating that? including "indirect" death like spiritual death, character assassination or death of identity, somethjng along those lines?

- death symbolism surrounding Taichi, sorry, somehow I pressed ask , sorry for my blunder

It's fine, no worries, I already assumed that it was referring to Taichi! If you think about it, several characters in Digimon Adventure have been dealing with the subject of "death" one way or another, most in direct association with someone (human or Digimon) close to them.

Now, if we look at our favourite main character, riddled with traumatic childhood experiences and questionable coping mechanisms, there are a bunch of instances where he had to deal with the potential of death happening in front of him or CAUSING death himself - either to others or himself -, so it should not be surprising that, at some point, he may have dissociated himself (mostly subconsciously, I'd say) from being a Chosen Child. Whiiiich may or may not have led to Kizuna's events, but yeah, it's count the instances first, shall we. TW: death, mental health.

The whole Hikarigaoka incident: While Hikari was scared too, she was still much younger than him and couldn't grasp the implications of what was happening there, while Taichi did EVERYTHING in his power to protect her and himself from not getting crushed by the two Kaijus in front of them.

Him almost causing Hikari to die due to his (still existing) sense of childlike innocence: Yes, she was sick, but he thought she was already on the way to recovery and only took her to play football to cheer her up. That's where he first had to face that good intentions don't always lead to positive outcomes...

The SkullGreymon fiasco: Again, he intended to do good for the sake of the group, but overlooked the bigger picture and became reckless, thus causing his partner to evolve into a literal symbol of death and decay in the process. Something that may have happened to the ENTIRE group if the Digimon hadn't run out of energy...

The electrical fence and its aftermath: This one has several follow-up points, but I still think it's suitable to summarize them all here - first of all, there is him being confronted with the idea of actually dying by getting electrocuted after he was 100% convinced that nothing they did mattered, since they were "just data in a computer". Once again, he was being reckless and careless - not only did it lead to almost killing himself, but in extension, also dooming Sora, whom he failed to save. Overcoming his cowardice, finding his own sense of courage eventually led to victory - but also led to him disappearing and roughly 50% of the remaining group ended up thinking that he had actually died in the process. Meanwhile, he was back in the real world and had to choose between saving only himself, or everyone else as well... And we all know how the answer to this turned out to be.

Him almost causing Hikari to die AGAIN: Of course there have been several instances of death before and after they re-entered the Digital World again, leading to the eventual "fallout" between Taichi and Yamato in regards to how they should deal with the immediate danger at hand... But the most devastating instance here was Taichi reliving his early childhood trauma, fearing that, by taking Hikari with them, he made the same mistakes again, acting thoughtlessly, not considering the circumstances... He has been acting self-sacrificial for the sake of the group before, but it's this arc that shows that he is actually ready to die if he can at least manage to save everyone else in the process (hence why he ended up fighting with Koushirou as well, because Taichi forbade him from taking on any pain himself and Koushirou was having none of it).

Let's not forget that, during the events of Our War Game - and all the follow-up movies, especially Diablomon Strikes Back -, he was also under immense pressure: To save the entirety of Tokyo from getting blown up by a missile and every other side-effect that Diablomon may have caused in traffic or elsewhere... And once again, his own hotheadedness may almost have caused his partner to get killed, to the sense of guilt plays a huge role in here as well...

02 portrays Taichi as matured, it showed that, while he still occasionally needs to get reminded of it, he KNEW that he has to make uncomfortable decisions sometimes; of course he almost despaired when his partner was being captured and corrupted, but he also realized that he may have had to sacrifice him for the greater good; he needed to remind Hikari that the new kids never had to deal with the same kind of death exposure before, but warned her - with quite a grim, but serious expression - that they would have to face it eventually. He grew aware of their duty throughout all this time, through all these experiences, and it's not pretty, but at this point, he was still ready to act.

Tri picks that point of the story back up again by mirroring Meiko's fate with his own - at least to some degree. Once more, they had to face the possibility of having to kill a beloved partner Digimon and at this point, Taichi was questioning whether or not recklessly sacrificing infrastructure and lives for the sake of fighting was the "right way" to deal with everything. It may have felt a bit like recycled conflict at this point, but it's been several years by now, and Taichi is, overall, contemplating his life choices, contemplating his diplomatic future, the status quo AND his "duty" as Chosen Child.

It's through the course of Tri that he: Watched parts of the city get destroyed ONCE AGAIN, almost died through the course of several fights and an earthquake-like blow, had to witness his teacher - whom he greatly looked up to - sacrifice himself, covered in wounds and blood, to save him AND their missing friends... And all that after Daigo told him that they lied to protect them and that he should move on and create a better future... Thus, Taichi decided to go for the kill again. Again, he didn't like it, again, he got reminded by Hikari of all people how terrible it all is, but he knew that he had to.

Kizuna chose a similar premise to Meiko's once again - first of all, if we look at everything above, is it really surprising that Taichi probably developed some fatigue? We all know, see, can tell how much he loves Agumon - hence why he did end up horrified by the prospect of losing him. And as I pointed out before, he did use the fighting for the sake of having a purpose, because... Who else was he if he couldn't "lead" anyone anymore?

And since the rest of his young adult life was pretty directionless... Can you really blame him for it? The amount of nightmares, the tiredness, the PTSD the previous experiences may have caused in him could never be treated by a "normal" therapist - who could ever relate to all of these things that sound incredibly supernatural and like nothing an adolescent should have shouldered all by himself? Heck, he isn't even able to talk to his friends about it at all (even if stageplay!Agumon told him to!), just swallowing it all by himself, dealing with the thought spiraling in his head on his own.

Hearing Menoa tell him that she lost her partner, making it all sound like a huge punishment for making the wrong choices... It may have rang several alarm bells in Taichi. How often must he have dreaded making the wrong choices? How much guilt must he have felt for the sake of Hikari, Meiko, Daigo, everyone he temporarily let down by hesitating or acting out in the wrong moment, let it be Yamato, Sora, Koushirou, Daisuke... Now there's this young woman who asked him to figure out a way to fix a problem she couldn't herself, a problem that may separate him from his soulmate forever and for what? Because he grew unsure of himself, because he faltered, because looking at all his friends, who found their paths, had become painful and tiring. Because, even after coming to temporary answers, he didn't know who he was and who he wanted to be anymore.

He had to choose to fight so many times, he sacrificed himself as much as he could. Then there was the prospect of fighting Menoa with two possible outcomes: losing would lead to his own death (or "loss of self" since he would have his consciousness be trapped forever in a neverending dream of his childhood), winning would lead to the death of his partner anyway... It must have been dreadful.

When it comes to the different kinds of "deaths" you mentioned, I will try to summarize this quite shortly, even though they're definitely interesting angles.

I believe that a "death of identity" is basically what I have outlined above - while it mainly focused on Taichi's (decline of) mental health, which may also have resulted in a tendency to isolate himself, Taichi's journey is basically some kind of Lion King analogy, where he starts as your typical head-through-wall protagonist, but has to deal with the aftermath of cowardice and the consequences of his choices - and does so by running away from the pain FIRST. From himself and his responsibilities. He also could have chosen to let Menoa win and let his consciousness be turned back into that of a carefree child... But he chose not to let that happen.

Because deep down inside, there IS his path. There are his values, his persistence, his belief system. He's been on the brink of a breakdown, but it's all there. Hence why I really, really, REALLY want to WATCH him getting to his "Simba strikes back" phase at some point, since we only ever saw it implied by the end of each, Tri, the stageplay and Kizuna. We KNOW he will push back, but we have yet to see in what way, if he ever got therapy and how he's actually doing - mentally, physically, spiritually.

Speaking of which, "spiritual death" is a bit harder for me to grasp in his context, but considering how his sense of guilt and fear of cowardice have led him to (temporarily) turn away more and more from his true self, his natural sense of courage and more positive, outgoing attitude... It all leads me back to him having lost his sense of self. I will never forget the feeling of how my stomach dropped during the "depressed adult" scenes in Kizuna. Again, I want to give this movie props for depicting adulthood like that, but it really hurt and felt way too relatable.

And I guess in this sense, we can also talk about "character assassination", because... As you may have noticed, I have linked quite a few analysis posts in this answer, because I have been trying to analyze and understand Taichi for MONTHS now. And sometimes, I feel like I may be trying too hard - who knows me also knows that, while Taichi is one of my favourite characters, I also have my fair share of problems with the AMOUNT of Taichi suffer p*rn in the OG timeline (and I still maintain they only made Taichi as generic as he was in the reboot to avoid these allegations). Some may argue that it's all over the top and that they keep recycling the same conflict (for him and in general) over and over again for the sake of even HAVING a plot to revolve around (which also wouldn't contradict the epilogue too much and actually leading towards it eventually).

For me, it has been interesting to look at all of this in context, as heartbreaking as it is sometimes. Mental health is a serious issue and watching a character like Taichi experiencing at least some form of implied depression after everything he went through tells you that everyone can get affected by this. Even if your experiences won't involve several instances of near-death-situations, even if you are resilient and have a lot of social, mental and physical resources to deal with set-backs or intense, difficult situations... It may still happen. And it's important to show that there are ways to deal with it as well as you can. That there is hope, even if things are not 100% alright.

[brisksunrise]

Dipper knew that something would go wrong when Mabel decided they should revisit Hoo-Ha Owl’s Pizzamatronic Jamboree just a few short days after the whole Giffany fiasco. However, of the things that would do so, discovering that Giffany was living in a Fight Fighters cabinet was not one of them.

Upon recognizing Dipper, Giffany managed to reach out of the screen of the cabinet with a pair of glitched hands and grabbed onto him. Luckily, Mabel managed to unplug the game, but before Giffany fully disappeared back into the machine, the leftover data and code seeped into Dipper with an intense jolt.

At first, things seemed to be okay, but right away Dipper would notice that he had turned kinda pixely, as well as his own hair and eye color shifting to resemble that of Giffany’s.

It wouldn’t be long before Dipper started to experience more and more changes. He had become more excitable and seemingly girlish in several of his actions. Mabel would seemingly be right in stating that he had basically become like some kind of ‘shoujo heroine’.

To compound onto this, Dipper would discover that he had developed video game themed powers, and even a variety of stats that could manifest themselves in the way of visual text boxes. It was concerning just how much he felt strange compulsions to look and dress cute.

However, at the same time, there was a lot of curiosity about all of the things he could do now, as well as to what more he could do. All of this needed research... and written down.

If only Mabel would stop calling him ‘Gipper’

[wesleycrushers]

Hey, I need the lore on the Wil Wheaton national TV fiasco. I'm intrigued.

I apologize for letting this sit in my inbox for a hot minute, being an adult with responsibilities and stuff is stupid 😒 (especially when you have an uncontrolled chronic illness on top of it, but anywho)

my time has finally come

okay I lied just a little because it wasn't technically Wil Wheaton that made fun of me, but you'll get what I mean in a moment

So about ten(ish) years ago, Wil had a short lived series on Syfy called the Wil Wheaton Project and for those unfamiliar, he would basically discuss the geek news of the week (like, I know Gotham was airing at the same time, so he would often talk about the latest episode) and there were sketches and guest stars and things of that nature.

But, let me give you some context on me ten years ago, so I can really paint the picture of how batshit this was for me. So, I would've been around 19, maybe 20, at that time, and I had just watched Next Gen for the first time and instantly fell in love (it was actually the first star trek series I had seen, and it's what got me into it). But, not only did I love the show and characters as a whole, I was OBSESSED with Wesley in particular (and Data, but that's not relevant to this story), and at that point in my life I was so much worse than I am now in the sense that, when I was fixated on a certain character, I was FIXATED. Which made me want to look up what Wil was doing in the present day. (it certainly didn't help that i developed a brief little crush on adult Wil). Like, I bought and read his book, I watched and rewatched every movie of his I could get my hands on (Toy Soldiers and Stand By Me in particular were practically playing on a loop), I would rewatch the Wesley episodes like. It was bad lol

So, when I found out he was going to have a new show on Syfy, ofc I was super thrilled and my ass was SEATED from day one when it first premiered. I would faithfully watch it every single week while live tweeting. But, obviously the only episode I ever missed live ended up being the one where I was mentioned lmao I can't remember exactly why I couldn't watch it right away, it's been ten years lol But, I think I was just out or something so I had my DVR set. Normally I would've just watched it the second I got home, but my Mom really enjoyed it as well so I promised I would save it until the next night so we could watch together. As soon as I said good night to her, I logged onto twitter and. all these random people were tweeting me and retweeting a couple of my tweets and I was like "????" I used twitter a lot back then, but I still like. my following was very modest, and I was only involved in one (1) fandom on there, so things like that did not happen to me. And what's worse, the first few people that tweeted at me didn't really explain why?

BUT THEN. I got to one that I still remember it to this day both because it's when I was sort of clued in to what had happened and also because the tweet itself was kinda funny to me. It said something like "just watched the wil wheaton project and immediately had to run to twitter to see if you're real, I'm so glad you are. Have a good evening!" and that's when the adrenaline kicked in. I saw a few more tweets mention the Wil Wheaton Project so at this point I'm literally shaking lmao and I ran into my Mom's room to show her and to freak out a little so she's like "alright, let's go watch it"

And we're watching it, and everything's normal, Wil's just talking about the nerdy stuff that happened that week and I'm just getting more confused as to what I had to do with this BUT THEN

(as a sidenote, they obviously showed my twitter username, but I'd rather not repeat it here because I started it when I was a very young teenager and I no longer have access to it and I'm sure there's stuff on there from past me that would get me doxxed and killed on the "we piss on the poor" no nuance website)

Anyway, he had this segment with Skeletor where Skeletor would read mean tweets, and since this was the season 1 finale (which, unfortunately, also turned out to be the series finale), Skeletor was reading tweets disparaging the Wil Wheaton Project. AND THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN, MY TWEET POPS UP ON THE SCREEN BEHIND WIL AS HE SAYS SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF, "I happen to know a lot of people like watching the show. For example, [REDACTED] said, 'My Tuesday isn't complete without a new episode of the #WilWProject :)'"

and that's about where I burst into (very excited!) tears lmao my mom had to lovingly shush me because she was trying to hear what was being said but I was too busy crying

So, then Skeletor made comment about how I must be a woman of sophistication before he pulled up another one of my tweets that read, "I love sitting on countertops and I don't know why" and then he said one or two more things making fun of me and my love of sitting on countertops and that was about it lol

But the thing is, those two tweets were not back to back. I was a young millennial on social media, I was posting every damn thought that popped into my head lmao and idk when they started planning out the next week's show and writing the jokes, but there's about a 50% chance that either Wil himself or someone on his team saw some of tweets where I talked about how adorable I thought Wesley was in his uniform 🤦🏻‍♀️ (I like to imagine my absolute nightmare scenario where Wil and maybe a few writers are all sitting around some table and my tweets are just projected onto a screen in the front of the room or something. I don't want to be corrected if that's not what happened, I'd rather just live with that image forever 😂)

Anyway, I can't remember exactly how long it was after that happened, but I believe it was at least a few days, Wil posted on his website that unfortunately, the show had been canceled. Except he titled that particular post with "if you like sitting on countertops..." which was so bittersweet for me. Like, I was obviously super bummed his show hadn't made it but it was so exciting that I wasn't just a blip on his radar, like I was still a part of the running gag! And, as I said, it's been a decade since this happened but I still think of it at least once a year on the anniversary, if not more often, because it was legit one of the top 5 moments of my life lol

I've always hoped that I would get to go to a convention or something and meet him so I could be like "I'm the countertop girl!" but sadly, especially with COVID, that hasn't happened yet. Perhaps someday :)

[prahelika]

love your recruitment headcanons!! do you have any for benji/will/jane?

benji i can see like wrong place, wrong time getting caught hacking into something big (or not an accident at all?)

but those two i'm not sure...

Thank you so much! This is a lovely question.

I'm inclined to agree with you on Benji. Sometime after graduating from Oxford, he acquired a low-level job as a white-hat hacker, maybe? Got bored, hacked into something important (MI6??), got caught, got offered a clean break.

Brandt... Hmm.

What do we know about Brandt? He's by the book. Has a tendency to ignore impulses in favour of the rulebook, but can be convinced to step outside the box if the situation demands it. He's an analyst, the Chief analyst. Looking at the timeline, it couldn't have been more than 3-4 years between the Julia fiasco and his rise to Chief Analyst. So, he must have had prior experience. I think a case could be made that he has parallels to Benji, as in, he was a low-level analyst in the IMF before deciding to undergo field training one day.

But that doesn't answer how the IMF got its claws into him in the first place, does it? Here's how I think it went down. He was a security analyst for a high-profile tech company. Some discrepancy in the expenditure sheets led him to conclude that there was something fishy going on behind the scenes. He contacted the authorities immediately, from where the case was handed over to the FBI. He was ordered to become an informant, and collect data without raising anyone's suspicions. Unfortunately for him, he jumped the gun and confronted/confided in one of the higher-ups who then pinned the whole thing on him. In comes the IMF and sweeps him away, and William Brandt develops an aversion to disobeying orders.

We know even less about Jane than we do about Brandt. It's tempting to just say she was a conwoman or assassin or thief, and leave it at that. But that's no fun. So out come the tinfoil hats.

We know that Jane is a good fighter, but not great at seduction missions. (Side note: Ethan backseat driving Jane's flirting with Anil Kapoor is a scene that lives rent free in my head. Be Venus, Ethan? Seriously?) However, she's experienced enough that they gave her command of the mission to retrieve the nuclear launch codes.

I think, as far as Jane is concerned, a simple explanation is key. She might have been involved with the army, as, say, military police. That would explain her skills in combat and her mission planning chops, while still leaving relative inexperience in matters of honeytrapping. Unfortunately, police codes of conduct and personal codes of honour don't always intersect. She might have tampered with evidence to let a morally innocent suspect walk away, which would then attract the attention of other unsavoury people. One thing leads to another, and then, she finds herself thrown in a cell, accused of being an accomplice to a criminal - upon which the IMF swoops in and saves the day.

That's all I have for the moment, and tbh these sound like a bit of a reach. But headcanons are fun so.

[thestalwartheart]

Asking them about their family for 00q, pretty please! 🙏🥰

Thanks for the prompt, Alex! This is admittedly a bit of a twist on it, but you and I both enjoy a bit of ambiguity, so I thought I'd be forgiven for it!

You can read it below or on AO3.

Enjoy! 💖

It’s only Bond, Q tells himself. He’s just a man, for goodness sake. This whole situation is proof of that.

Q clears his throat and gestures for Tanner to give them some space in the lab, then wishes fervently for the ground to swallow him whole. He grips the edge of his desk. Perhaps, in the next three seconds, he’ll think of a way to give Bond some mind-reading powers so they can avoid a conversation. Hardly worth the risk, normally, but on this occasion…

“Before you go, 007, I’m er—”

“Spit it out, Q.”

“Right. Yes. I’m going to need you to change the password for your company-assigned laptop.”

Bond narrows his eyes. “Aren’t you a bit overqualified to be delivering messages usually sent by automated prompts?”

“And here I thought I still had too many spots to be qualified.” Bond gives him a look and Q remembers why jokes are a terrible idea in times like this. “You’re right, I am usually. But given the security fiasco with Denbigh and the merger, I’ve been doing some manual audits. Your password passes most requirements, but it’s—”

“—easy to guess,” finishes Bond. His hand twitches. Whether it’s out of annoyance or the desire for a strong drink, Q doesn’t know. He sympathises with the latter thought—he could certainly use a scotch or two himself.

“Yes. It’s linked to your file, and therefore a security risk. This isn’t something a computer would normally pick up, especially with the state of our backend systems. I’m sorry, Bond.”

Bond’s face remains unreadable, but he nods and promises to sort it out as soon as he gets back to his desk.

For a moment, Q is pleasantly distracted by the thought of James Bond sitting at a desk in an open-plan office, a human like the rest of them and just as subject to the indignities of hierarchy. Q wonders if he drinks coffee out of that awful, too-small company mug everyone’s got, or whether he’s put a few government-issued pens in it instead. Neither, probably. Bond has taste. Q would put money on him favouring better coffee and pens.

“Good,” says Q with a thin smile. “Good, thank you. You’re free to go, then.”

While he tries not to choke on the awkwardness in the room, Q turns toward a half-finished surveillance device on his workstation.

“Q?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.” At the look Q gives him, he elaborates. “I can’t imagine everyone else who failed your security audit got the personal attention of the Quartermaster.”

That’s true. All the other agents and analysts who failed it got emails written by one of his graduate techs. Q tries not to linger on the thought that he’d probably have gone out of his way to talk to Bond anyway. Thinking about it for too long would mean interrogating why, and he’s fine with living in ignorance on that particular subject.

“Let’s call it luck of the draw.”

His discretion is awarded with a rare smile. He carries it with him until two days later, when he does a follow-up check of the admin systems. It reveals a clean sheet of secure passwords.

Q leaves dealing with Bond’s for last. He knows the man has more sense than to make the same mistake twice, so Q could leave unchecked. It’s not as if it matters whether he knows the password or not; he has full remote access to everything on Bond’s laptop anyway.

But he’d be naive to believe most passwords didn’t reveal some secrets about the person whose data they hide.

Q isn't sure he's ready for more of Bond's secrets.

No favouritism, he reminds himself. You’ve checked everyone else’s. God knows Bond already gets handed enough exceptions around here.

With that rebuke to himself in mind, he clicks the button to reveal the new password.

He taps his pen on the desk twice, then laughs. There is no mention of Delacroix, nor any other baggage-laden names in Bond’s file.

Instead, translated into an agent's approximation of leetspeak, blinks the word Temeraire.

[chopper-base]

Dead Among the Living

Summary: Fives knew he had a target on his back. The Chancellor himself wanted the ARC dead. With the help of his brothers, he faked his death and went into hiding. Though the news of a resurrected Domino may have him coming into the light-

Warnings: mentions of death, past trauma, Canon typical violence/Canon violence, cursing

This was originally for day 2 of @tbb-appreciation-week but I procrastinate and apparently can't get my shit together-

Prompts: Echo, No order 66 AU, Touching foreheads, "This wasn't supposed to happen"

Chapter 1

19BBY

Officially, I'm dead. Any document you find on my death will tell you I "lost it" and Commander Fox took me out to save lives.

Unofficially, we planned for this. When I found out about the Chancellor, I confronted Fox. I didn't think he'd believe me, but he did. We both knew the only way I was getting out of this fiasco alive was if everyone else in the galaxy believed me to be dead. So that's what we did. As of this moment, a total of 6 people know I'm still alive. Unfortunately, that number probably isn't going to change-

"Fives! Stop talking to yourself and get up here!"

Fives sighed, turned off the holo recorder and stuffed it in one of his belt pouches.

"Fives!"

"I'm coming! I'm not deaf!" Fives stood up from the consol he had been seated at, moving up towards the cockpit. The moment he stepped in, a ration was pelted at him, hitting him square in the face. "Gah-! Cross!"

The sniper sent him an amused smirk, his arms crossed innocuously over his chest. He didn't say a word as Fives bent down to pick up the ration bar, unwrapping it and taking a bite. Fives kept their eyes stubbornly locked the whole time, glaring blunt daggers that they both knew meant nothing more than annoyance.

Across the cockpit, Hunter cleared his throat loudly, calling everyone's attention. "Fives, Crosshair, enough. We've got another mission and it's gonna be complicated."

Fives took another bite of the ration bar as Crosshair shrugged. "When is it not?"

Hunter cut him a look of slight annoyance. "It's complicated because we are going to be working beside the 501st." The Sergeant turned his gaze back to the ARC. "Specifically under General Skywalker and Captain Rex."

Fives ran his hand down his face. "Yeah, that makes things complicated…" he looked back up at Hunter, "Rex will recognize me in an instant. As will half the 501st."

Hunter nodded in agreement. "Which is why I'm a bit confused as to why Commander Cody specifically asked for us on this mission."

The ARC gawked at Hunter, bewildered. "Cody?! Why the hell would he put us with the 501st when he knows I'm with you lot?!" Fives pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. "He's specifically been keeping us away from anyone that would recognize me for months!"

Hunter crossed his arms, his shoulders falling in a light shrug. "You might have to stay in your bucket the whole mission. The Commander said he'd explain more when we land on Anaxes."

Fives looked past Hunter to watch the swirling lights of hyperspace. "Cody's gotta have a reason, right?" He met Hunter's gaze. "A really good reason. He knows how important it is to keep me hidden. He wouldn't jeopardize the entire war just for some mission."

Tech spun the pilot's chair around to look Fives in the eye. "You are correct. You remaining 'dead' is imperative to us finding a way to shut down the behavioral modification chips in the rest of the GAR."

Fives motioned to Tech but kept his gaze on Hunter. "Which is why I shouldn't be going anywhere near the 501st. What could possibly be important enough to risk this?!"

Hunter grabbed a datapad off the copilot's seat, handing it to the ARC. "All we know is it's a data retrieval mission in the middle of Separatist controlled space."

Skimming the information on the datapad, Fives glanced back up at Hunter. "We've run this kind of mission several times solo. Why do we suddenly need jedi backup?"

Hunter shrugged, unable to find an answer for the ARC. Fives handed the datapad back before turning to leave, finding himself unceremoniously crashing into the seat of the tail gun moments later. Fives let his head rest against the back of the chair, his eyes falling closed as he sucked in a lungful of the recycled air in the small ship. The soothing hum of the engine had the ARC slipping in and out of consciousness, letting the time fly by as the swirling blue of hyperspace lulled him further into a dreamless sleep.

---

Something grabbed Fives' shoulder. Jarring awake with a start, Fives whipped his head around in search of a threat, only to be met with a pair of mismatched eyes and a familiarly warm smile. The tension melted from Fives' shoulders like ice.

"Sarge told me to wake ya and letchu know we are about to land," he explained before promptly turning and walking back towards the front of the ship. Fives let his head fall back against the headrest, taking a shaky breath before getting down from the gunner's nest to follow Wrecker. Through the cockpit view port, Fives watched as Tech piloted the Marauder down towards the planet, landing strip gradually coming into view. He could tell by their speed that Tech was about to do one of his 'fancy' landings as Fives had taken to calling it.

Hunter patted Fives' shoulder to get his attention. "Crosshair's agreed to leave his bucket on for the duration of the mission to keep some of the heat off you, but it's probably best you don't talk too much."

Fives glanced over at the sniper where he was leaning against the wall. Crosshair nodded to him, a small smile crooking his lips. He smiled back as Crosshair spat out the toothpick between his teeth, pulling his bucket over his head. He turned back to Hunter, giving him a nod before walking back to his bunk to grab his own helmet. He felt the ship lurch and turn quickly, causing him to crash into his bunk with a string of curses. Fives would be shocked if there wasn’t at least one decapitated trooper when they touched down. The landing gear touched down with a rumble Fives could feel in his chest, and only when he felt the ship’s weight settle did he know it was safe to stand up without risk of getting knocked back on his shebs. Fives promptly snatched up his blasters and shoved them into their holsters before rushing to the cockpit. The rest of the batch had donned their helmets, doing a final double-check of their gear to make sure everything was as it should be. Hunter strode up to throw open the ramp and the rest of the batch filed out after him.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Wrecker boomed.

Fives had to fight to keep his breathing steady when he noticed the three other troopers standing with Cody. The last time he’d seen Rex was when he’d watched the light leave his eyes and felt his body run cold in his arms. Now, he was standing before his Captain, alive and well and unable to say a word to ease the grief he knew he had caused. Beside Rex stood Jesse and Kix, both wearing looks of confusion as they surveyed the batch. Jesse now probably wore ARC armor, but he still had the republic cog painted brightly on the front of his helmet. Fives recalled the day he had returned with that same cog tattooed on his head. Fives had given him shit for it for weeks and Kix had been no different. Kix had grown his hair out to a regulation cut which surprised Fives. He always had those designs shaved into his head and Fives had helped him re-shave it on several occasions. His tattoo peeked out from under his hairline , hiding the rest of the phrase behind his tight curls.

As they approached the group, Hunter removed his helmet, holding it firmly against his side and extending his other arm out to Cody. Meeting him halfway, Cody grasped Hunter’s hand in a firm, professional shake.Tech followed suit, easing his helmet off and surveying the three 501st troopers before them.

"Sergeant. Good to see you again," Cody said, letting his hand fall back to his side.

Hunter offered a smile, nodding. "You too, sir."

Cody turned to the other three troopers, motioning to the Sergeant. "This is Hunter."

Rex nodded, looking Hunter over. Jesse and Kix were still visibly confused. Fives tamped down on the snicker that threatened to spill past his lips. He knew the batch didn't look like any clones they had seen before. Wrecker was an absolute mountain of a man and even though both Tech and Crosshair looked more like the average clone than Wrecker, still stood four inches taller than average.

"Sorry we’re late, Commander," Hunter apologized "We had just finished putting down an insurrection on Yalbec Prime when your comm came in. Had a few unforeseen… complications."

Wrecker’s booming laughter echoed across the landing platform, causing other troopers walking past to stare at the group. "Ever fought a male Yalbec?" he challenged, looking between the three regs.

Jesse shrugged uncomfortably. "Um… No. Can’t say that I have."

Wrecker cackled , swiftly pulling out his large vibroknife. "You’re lucky! Only way to kill ‘em is with one of these!"

Hunter chuckled, shaking his head. "That’s right. Wrecker here cut off the queen’s stinger while she was still alive."

Wrecker slid the knife back in its sheath, the confident, borderline cocky smile never leaving his face.

Hunter looked back at Wrecker with a challenging glint in his eyes . "That's why all those Yalbec males tried to eat us."

"Ah, technically,” Tech cut in swiftly, “they were trying to mate with us. And, for your information, the stinger of a Yalbec Queen is a delicacy on some planets."

Cody smiled and motioned to Tech. "They call him Tech." he explained shortly.

Hunter nodded, turning to the regs. "Yeah, he can fill your head with useless info for hours." He motioned to the sniper behind him. "Crosshair, on the other hand, is not much of a conversationalist, but when you have to hit a precise target from ten klicks, Crosshair’s your man." He turned his gaze back to Cody, his helmet shifting in his hands. "So, Commander, what kind of suicide mission do you have for us this time?"

Cody motioned to the parked gunship on the other side of the platform. "Let’s get going. We’ll brief you on the way."

The group followed Cody across the landing strip, loading into the LAAT. The batch stayed on one side as the 501st piled into the other. The ship took off quickly, the doors sliding closed once they were already in the air.

Jesse was watching the batch closely, his eyes falling on Crosshair who's helmet hid any expression from view. "What are you looking at?" he accused, glaring at the sniper.

Sniper shrugged with an amused huff that was barely heard over the engines. "We don't usually work with regs." Fives could hear the smirk that had wormed its way onto the sniper's face.

Jesse only glared harder. "Regs?!" he hissed , taking a menacing step towards the sniper.

Hunter quickly stepped between Crosshair and Jesse. "He’s talking about regular clones,” he clarified, calm and placating “But don’t take it personal."

Cody set his hand on Jesse's pauldron, the ARC looking back at the commander. "We’re all on the same team, so cut the attitude and listen up,” he instructed, stern and no-nonsense “Here’s the mission: Our target is this Cyber Center." Cody pulled out a holo projector, a map of the Cyber Center illuminating the ship in cool blue light. "It’s the brains of the entire Separatist campaign here on Anaxes."

"I could demolish that with one hand. Yeah!" Wrecker bragged, grinning wildly as he, pumped his fists in the air.

Though it was clear that Cody found Wrecker's excitement amusing, he cut him off. "This isn’t a demo job, Wrecker. It’s strictly a retrieval operation."

Fives watched as Wrecker deflated a bit with that news but the big guy was still clearly smiling. It was then Fives noticed Rex was staring at him. Specifically, his eyes seemed to be glued to his shoulder armor which Fives realized had the same Rishi eel painted that his old helmet did. Fives mentally facepalmed at his own stupidity. He had kept the design as a reminder of who he used to be, not thinking about the fact that it was his identifying mark within the 501st. Though it was evident Rex was staring at it, he never said a word.

Fives reached for one of the handles above his head as the LAAT shook, causing almost every clone to lose their footing.

"We're going down!" Wrecker yelled, his laughter barely heard.

Fives grabbed the handle with a death grip as the ship hit what he assumed was the canyon wall. The bone chilling scrape of durasteel against rock filled the small ship as it slid down the canyon wall. Fives was thrown as they finally hit the ground, landing on top Crosshair who was quick to start manhandling him off. A large hand grabbed his arm, pulling him from the wreckage, dropping him on his shebs on the side of the ship next to Jesse. Wrecker continued to help the rest out of the ship while Fives jumped down onto the sand, offering Jesse a hand which he ignored.

"We always get shot down when we travel with regs." He complained.

"Cody!" Kix yelled turning towards the others. "Help!" He turned back, looking down into the ship. "He's trapped! We have to do something!"

Rex stepped forward towards the ship. "I'll get him."

Hunter moved in front of the Captain, pushing him back. "Woahwoahwoah!" He said quickly. "Easy Captain." He looked over Rex's shoulder. "Wrecker! Get him out." He continued to push Rex back away from the ship, the Captain putting up a small fight but let himself be moved.

"Get back!" Wrecker ordered, rolling his shoulders with a grin.

Kix stared at Wrecker in disbelief. "This is ridiculous! He's going to need help to get Cody out of there!"

Beside him, Crosshair chuckled, motioning to Wrecker with his head. "He's gonna get the gunship out of there, not Cody."

Wrecker slid his helmet on, grabbing the side of the gunship. Kix watched in awe as Wrecker lifted the ship, pushing over and away from the Commander underneath. He grabbed Cody, slinging him over his shoulder and walking back towards the group. "Boom." As if on cue, the gunship exploded in a rain of fire and metal causing Kix to flinch next to him.

Kix ran forward as Wrecker placed Cody on the ground, the Commander groaning in pain. "He has internal damage. I can cut the pain, but he needs help fast."

"We all need help."

Fives looked to Crosshair who was seemingly looking over his shoulder. He turned, spotting battalions of battle droids steadily marching towards them. "Oh fun." Fives said with a shrug.

"That blast gave away our position." Crosshair pointed out, turning towards his Sergeant.

Hunter chuckled, pointing to the obliterated gunship. "I thought getting shot down gave away our position."

"Everyone, find cover. We’ll hold this position and let them come to us." Rex ordered, pointing towards the gunship.

Hunter shook his head. "I don’t think so, Captain. That’s not our style. We prefer going to them." Turned back to the batch. "Bad Batch, Plan 82: Shockwave!" He yelled, pulling his helmet over his head. "Let’s get to work."

Tag list! (Let me know if you'd like to be added!)(I forgot I had a tag list😅)

@rain-on-kamino @idoubleswearimawriter @staycalmandhugaclone @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius @kalykat

I may be missing people so just let me know pls!!!

[veinsfullofstars]

⭐ Welcome! ⭐

Henlo. Hope you’re doing well. Thanks for poppin’ by. I’m Veins, an art goblin on the internet with abnormal levels of anxiety and chronic video game brainrot, and this is my introduction post. Any updates or news on my end will be added here as well. I hope you’ll be patient with me and enjoy your visit!

(Last updated 01/10/25)

---

Who are you?

A sad pile of meat barely surviving on a very lucky rock in space, just like everyone else... but you can called me Veins. Ivan or Yves is fine, too. Nice to meet you!

Wait, didn't you already have an account here? With the same username?

I did. I, uh, panic-deleted it in response to the data-scraping fiasco and regretted it almost immediately. As a result, you might see reblogs from the deactivated account still floating around. There is, unfortunately, nothing I can do about those unless the blogs that shared them take them down themselves (and, hey, if you happen to be one of those folks seeing this, I'd super appreciate it if you'd maybe remove the old reblog and replace it with the new one from here if you can). It's my mistake for overreacting, and now I just have to live with it. Sorry for any confusion.

What are your preferred pronouns/gender?

Thanks for asking! I’m non-binary, and I use they/them pronouns.

How old are you?

Ancient (in my 30s).

What is your avatar supposed to be?

A goblin. Very smol, very nervous, very puntable.

What are you using this blog for?

Art, mostly. I draw digitally and rarely make stuff with yarn. I've also been writing since I could hold a pencil (though I don’t have much finished, so art will be the main focus for now). Also, expect a lot of reblogs, shitposts, and/or silence between posts - I am a simple hobbyist and neurodivergent as hell in a very exhausting world. I’ll do my best, but - again - I hope you’ll be patient with me if things go quiet from time to time.

What are your interests?

I love stories. I love characters. I love folks who can weave whole worlds with nothing but words on a page or color on a canvas. I grew up on fantasy novels, short horror stories, and late ‘90s/early ’00s animation. Later on, I learned to appreciate slice-of-life and slow-burn romance (especially the queer kinds). Mythology and folklore also slaps, and I wonder sometimes if I should’ve majored in psychology instead of lib arts. My playlists are nothing but video game OSTs with a little heavy metal and j-rock sprinkled in for flavor. I sold my soul to Nintendo years ago, but sometimes I find indie darlings to fall in love with for a time. Dogs are adorable little menaces, and I love them all with my whole chest. Cats are okay, and I am allergic to them. (Does that answer the question? I think I lost track towards the end there…)

Any current hyperfixations?

Tons, but the biggest ones at the moment are Kirby, Hollow Knight, and Paper Mario. More nebulous interests include (in no particular order) Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, Rain World, Stardew Valley, most Soulsborne titles, Hades, Darkest Dungeon, The Legend of Zelda, Undertale/Deltarune, OFF, The Binding of Isaac, Ace Attorney, Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, The Magnus Archives, Sonic the Hedgehog, and countless more. When I say “multifandom,” I mean it, homie.

Do you have any other social media?

Just this and an AO3 account. So, if you see my name anywhere but these two places, it’s probably not me. For now, Tumblr will be the best place to keep up-to-date with my stuff. If anything changes, I’ll let y’all know here.

Do you have a list of tags you use on your posts?

I tag things obsessively, but I’ll try to sort out the most relevant/unique ones I use here:

#veins art - for any art I’ve made (chrono link | masterposts: 2018-2024)

#veins fanart - for art I’ve made featuring characters from other IPs

#veins ocs - for art I’ve made featuring my original characters/stories

#veins sketches - for any of my unrendered doodles/sketch dumps

#veins old art - for reposts of older art I made before moving to Tumblr (Note: these posts are here for archival purposes and may not reflect my current style/interests.)

#veins writes - for any written works I’ve made

#veins ships - for any posts (reblogs included) featuring romantic pairings; I will also try to include specific pairings as “#(blank) x (blank)” and/or any ship names

#veins rambles - for random thoughts/text posts

#veins answers - for any of my responses to Asks sent in (chrono link)

#veins in dream land - for any rambles/headcanons about the Kirby series specifically

#veins reblogs - for anything I reblog, obviously

#childhood friends au - for art from my Kirby AU where Dedede and Meta Knight first met as kids (masterpost | chrono link)

#kintsugi au - for art from my Kirby AU centered around the Mirror World, the Wave 2 gang, and the Darkroach ship - warning: may contain angst and suggestive content (masterpost | chrono link)

#kirbtober 2023 - for my Kirbtober 2023 art (chrono link)

#kirbtober 2024 - for my Kirbtober 2024 art (chrono link)

#mtddweek2024 - for my MetaDede Week 2024 art (chrono link)

I’ll update this with new tags if/when they pop up. Anything else will have generic tags to fit the context of the post. I also mark trigger warnings with tags like “#(blank) tw” if necessary.

What do you use to make your art?

For digital art, I use Clip Studio Paint and a Wacom Intuos Pro S drawing tablet. I don’t draw traditionally as much anymore, but, when I do, it’s usually just quick sketches with pencil and paper. For writing, I use TextEdit or whatever generic rich text editing software I can find. For crafting, I use yarn and plastic canvas.

What brushes do you use?

For sketching and linework, I use a slightly modified version of the Wick Pencil from the 8 Particle Pencil catalog made by saturns_day. For flats and rendering, I use the default CSP hard round brush, airbrush, and G-pen. For effects and extras (clouds, textures, sparkles, etc.), I use default effects brushes or whatever I can find from the CSP Asset Shop.

Can I share your work through reblogs? And are tags okay?

Of course! Reblogs are always encouraged. I’m also fine with tags as well (though I ask that you not mark anything as a ship unless I’ve marked it as such on the original post - look for the tag #veins ships if you’re ever unsure).

Can I repost/use your work for my own personal/commercial use?

Absolutely not. While I'm always in support of creators inspiring each other with our works and endeavors, that does not mean anyone should engage in art theft (intentional or otherwise). Under no circumstances may you repost, reupload, reproduce, copy, trace, modify, sell, use, tokenize, scrape/integrate into A*I, and/or otherwise claim as your own any of my art/written works. Never assume a piece of art shared online in yours for the taking - that is someone else’s hard work and passion, and you need to respect that.

Can I dub one of your comics?

As flattering as that would be, I worry about lack of credit or my work being stolen for others’ content, so I sadly have to say no.

Why is there a big watermark on your art?

People are just kinda garbage sometimes, so I make sure to sign and WM anything original I post. I know it’s not exactly fun to look at (maybe even distracting or bad for engagement), but I’d rather be safe than sorry, so we'll both have to just deal with it.

Do you have an askbox? Can we send in questions/comments/etc.?

Yes, the ask box is currently open, and I'm more than happy to receive any questions, comments, etc. you guys might have (even if it makes me a bit nervous, haha)! I just ask that you read the rules first before you submit anything.

Do you take requests/commissions/suggestions/collabs/etc.?

Sadly, I do not take art requests or suggestions unless I put out a specific call for them. I'm not really in a position to take commissions either. Collabs I'm on the fence about - maybe with mutuals or folks I know personally, though no guarantees (chronic social anxiety is a real bench sometimes).

Is this an inclusive space?

Of course! This queer little goblin accepts everyone under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, along with folks of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, disabilities, and colors. That said, there will be absolutely no tolerance for (inhale) racism, sexism, transphobia, queerphobia, xenophobia, misogyny/misandry, bigotry of any kind, ableism, p***philia, inc*st, selfc*st, z**philia, RPF, trolling behavior, self-promotion, the promotion of N*FTs or A*I art, or any otherwise harmful, toxic, or hurtful rhetoric. Anyone seen behaving as such will be blocked, reported, and forgotten. I do not feed trolls - I let them starve. :)

Is this an all-ages space?

No. While I probably won’t be posting/sharing anything too lewd or graphic, I’m not opposed to things like swearing, angst, the occasional gout of blood, fluff bordering on suggestive, and discussions of mature subject matter (all of which I will make sure to tag with content warnings as necessary). Obviously, I can’t police everyone who wanders into this blog (especially since some people omit or lie about their ages online), so the best I can do is ask for good faith on your part. If you are under 18, interact at your own risk. The last thing I want is to make anyone - myself included - uncomfortable because there are kids in an adult-allocated space. Again, I hope you understand.

What is your stance on shipping?

The vernacular around pro- or anti-shipping confuses the hell out of me, so I’ll just try to explain my personal philosophy on it: I have ships I like, ones I’m indifferent to, and ones I won’t touch with a ten-foot pole. I only reblog (and tag) ship-related content I’m in support of, even if it’s not one of my personal favorites. Most importantly, I don’t bother others about their personal preferences. Anything I don’t like or don’t support, I simply do not engage with. Or, if it makes me too uncomfortable, I block outright. The same should apply to your experience as well - if you ever see ship stuff here that you don’t like, feel free to block the tags (look for specific pairings, ship names, and/or my personal tag #veins ships) or even the blog entirely. You are not obligated to like the things I like or engage with media you don’t enjoy. Respect for each other and curation of your personal online space is always key. Additionally, I 100% will not ship minors, blood relations (including adopted family), self x self, anything relating to b*stiality, or anything relating to RPF.

Are you okay?

No, not even a little bit... but fuck it, we keep going.

Why do you put a comma before the “and” in a sequence of three or more words?

You can take my Oxford comma away from me when I’m cold, dead, and rotting in the dirt.

Is there anything else?

Nah, I think we’re good for now. Thanks for taking the time to read all this. Hope it wasn’t too rambly or weird - just trying to cover all my bases. I hope you all have a lovely timezone out there, wherever you are. Be sure to wash your hands, wear your mask, and stay hydrated. Remember to be strong, be safe, and, for the love of dog, be kind. Peace!

-Veins (originally posted 08/07/23, reposted 02/29/24, updated as of 01/10/25)