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fallingfavourites · 5 months ago

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WE ARE SO BACK!!! (and we are not gonna talk about the fact it's beenlike 5 months 😭)

it feels so good having them back 🤭 even though they are arguing... as usual...

-“Are you gonna give me a reason to believe you? C’mon, I mean… You act like you love me and then you ask if I ever manipulated you.”- AH (no other commentary needed)

HER TELLING FISK TO BE CAREFUL 🤭 JUST ONE CHANCE EX PLS

(sometimes I forget this is an xreader tbh 😭)

I just want ex and Karen to be besties so bad (without always fighting) bc when they are they are so unstoppable 🙏😭

-“She’s gonna get herself killed trying to save this guy.” Matt spoke with a certain bitterness. - this better not be some fucked up foreshadowing

guys im gonna cry... this isn't funny anymore... I am not laughing. I NEED THEM TO BE HAPPY PLEASE. GOD TAKE ALL THEIR SUFFERING MULTIPLY IT AND GIVE IT TO FISK 🙏, -“When I look at my life, and all of my crimes, you’re the only thing that I think I got right…”- CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT REFERENCE?????, kill me they are so rep coded, -“I want us to be okay, sweetheart.” He reached out and out a hand on your folded leg, thumb rubbing gentle lines.-

YESYES HAPPY TEARS GUYS WE ARE GETTING SOMEWHERE (so much shit is about to hit the fan), ex is so good with kids omg 😭😭 her and matt would be such good parents if they would have kids 🙏😭, BIG BALD MAN,

I couldn't help but make this when I read that 🙏😭 (also just realizedthey are doing the same facial expression😭😭),

MADANI MENTION 🗣🗣,I can't wait to see them interact, THE TENSION YES IM EATING THIS UP,

“Because at least I’m fighting for something. What do you fight for, hmm? What do you stand for?...” IF YOU STAND FOR NOTHING BURR WHAT DO YOU FIGHT FOR 🗣🗣, one single Hamilton mention and I can feel the obsession itching it's way back up, and when I say ex and dex are lowkey Hamilton and burr coded... what then...,

-"we just both have to lose"- is something I fear I'll never get over, had to google what solar plex was 🙏

ANYWAY AS ALWAYS 20/10 CHAPTER POOKS!! HOW MANY LETTERS IN EXODEVIL ?? I CRAVE AND YEARN FOR MORE SO IM GOING TO RUIN MY SLEEP SCHEDULE EVEN MORE 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

MAD AT GOD - MATT MURDOCK

Season Three - Lover of Mine

tags: @mayasaurus--rex @americaarse @dusstory @johnmurphys-sass @ironprincessstranger @astrobees @woowwwee // five // seven // masterlist

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Word Count: 9,732

Summary: The constant circles and playing different parts grows more and more dizzying as events continue to unfold. Alliances tested and lives endangered, Ex and The Man in the Mask take a stand against the new Daredevil.

“How? Y/N, calm down and talk to me. What happened?”

“I can’t calm down!” You snapped and he stepped in front of you, hands landing on either arm to stop you.

“You’re burning up.”

“Yeah, no shit.” You almost yelled. “This puts everything at risk!”

“Slow down, Y/N/N.” He said carefully. “Tell me what happened.”

“He cut my mask. I grabbed it and he saw me. He saw my face.”

“But he has no proof.” Matt offered calmly, though you knew your frazzled state was radiating and vibrating through him. He stood before you as solid as ever. “He can’t throw around an accusation like that without proof.”

“You can’t accuse him of being the knock-off Daredevil without proof either.” You deadpanned.

“I have proof.” He let go of one arm and held out Dex’s tape player.

“That doesn’t connect him to Fisk. And that doesn’t change the fact that he knows who I am. And- And Ray. Oh my god, Ray. We have to find him.”

“Don’t worry, okay? I’m gonna take care of it.” He promised.

“He’s gonna try to blackmail me. He’s- He’s gonna expect me to go along with it. He’s going-“

“So go along with it.” Matt nodded and your jaw went slack. “Your mask records, doesn’t it? You can get proof.”

“This is exactly what I wanted to avoid. I didn’t want to have to use this for a double agent. The whole point of her is to do things on my terms. Besides, in case you forgot-“ You thumped your fingers against his forehead. ”- I’m a federal agent. I can’t exactly walk around my office in a bulletproof body suit.”

“Nothing bad is gonna happen to you.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one in the middle of a shit show.”

“He won’t hurt you.”

“Stop acting like you know him! You don’t!”

“Why are you acting like you care about him? You didn’t want anything to do with me when you said I betrayed you back in that alley. But he chooses to work for Fisk and you don’t care?”

“He’s gonna see this as a betrayal.” You gestured wildly towards the apartment below you. “It makes me look like the untrustworthy one.”

“Since when do you care what others think of you?” He scoffed lightly.

“Matthew, you are not listening to me.” You spoke slowly, emphasizing each word. “That man will not hesitate if he gets a chance to kill me.”

“He won’t.” He shook his head firmly.

“Yeah, cause you’ll be there to protect me, right?” You mocked. “You can’t even come to the goddamn apartment. You expect me to believe that you’ll be around now?”

He sighed and nodded in resignation. “Are you gonna hold that against me forever?”

“Are you gonna give me a reason to believe you? C’mon, I mean… You act like you love me and then you ask if I ever manipulated you.”

Your implant pinging caught your attention so you stepped away from Matt to answer it.

“You need to find Ray.” You said over your shoulder as you put distance between you two.

“Yeah?” You said simply, hearing the shuffle of Matt’s boots as he left.

“Have you talked to Karen?” Foggy asked on the other end.

“Not since the questioning. Why?”

“I invited her to this thing and she said she’d come but she hasn’t shown up. I’m a little worried. Did you know she lost her job?”

“Ellison fired her?”

“Cause she wouldn’t give up his real name.”

“Shit.” You sighed, though you appreciated the loyalty. “Uh, yeah. I can track her phone, hang on.”

“You can do that?”

“Yeah, I’ve saved all of your numbers to a program that can locate your phones by SIM card. Back when we thought Matt was just a dumbass, I wanted to make sure he didn’t fall in down a manhole whenever he didn’t answer the phone.” You explained while you slid your finger across the mask. You held it in place with the other hand while you looked around the city. “Okay, I found her. Looks like she’s just driving around. I’ve gotta get back to work so I’ll text you if I get a hold of her.”

“Thanks, Y/N/N.”

“It’s what I do.” You shrugged and tapped the implant off.

You snuck off the roof and to your car, parked at the empty structure a few blocks over. You changed back into work clothes and headed to the Presidential. You got to the media room and took a seat at the monitors,

though your mind was still buzzing.

You wondered how long it would take until Dex opened his mouth. Would he tell Fisk and let the big man try to play you? Would he go after you the way he went after Jasper? Or would he sit in silence? Let you drive yourself mad with the possibility that he could out you at any second. That he could make you the fugitive instead of him. You didn’t like the leverage he had over you and you needed a way to take it away.

You needed to get the advantage. And what better way to do that than to put yourself in a position above him to boot him out.

When you finally managed to focus on work, you realized who Fisk was talking to.

“Hey.” You waved one of the other agents down without taking your eyes off the screen. “Who let her in?”

“Page?” The agent asked and you nodded. “His lawyers okay’d it. She said she’s writing a story about his mother. Who gives a shit?”

“Are you guys stupid?” You urged. “She worked at the firm that got him locked up. Why would you let her in?”

“Lawyers said it was fine.” One of them shrugged. “Besides, it’s not like we can go in with her.. We got the cameras on so she’ll be fine. Didn’t that firm shut down anyway?”

Either your colleagues were complete idiots or they were absolutely clueless.

You disguised the use of your implant as a scratch to your head, tuning into their conversation as you watched it unfold on the screens in front of you. You heard what she said as she leaned in close and your hand tightened into a fist. She was egging Fisk on by claiming to have killed Wesley. She wanted Fisk to put hands on her, but you knew that for Wesley, he’d kill her.

“Come with me.” You stood quickly and gestured to both agents. “Now!”

“What?” One of them asked, though he stood.

“Why?” The other said and followed suit. As you were stepping into the hall, you ran into Foggy.

“You’ve gotta get her out of there.” Foggy said and you nodded, hurrying past him. There was a hushed conversation between the men behind you but you ignored it.

You kicked the door open and raised your gun, pointing it at Fisk. You yelled for him to get back, to keep hands where you could see them and to get away from her. Your coworker escorted Karen out but you stayed to make sure Fisk didn’t try anything while you guided him to his room with a gun at his back.

“Did you know?” He asked tightly and you knew what he meant.

“I know she was lying.” You answered quietly. “And I know the truth. I’ve always known.”

“And you hid it from me?”

“I thought you would’ve been perceptive enough to put it together on your own. The burn on his chest… was an electrical burn. The bullets were just an extra.” You said with a small smile.

“You?” He turned with a sneer, taking a step closer.

“Careful.” You said confidently as you put your gun away, flaunting that you were untouchable at that moment as you lifted a finger in the general direction of one of the cameras. “You’re gonna need me if you wanna keep your newest toy. You didn’t need me to break him because you were already plotting to take everything from him. Imagine how he’ll react once he knows.”

His brows furrowed as you backed away.

“Maybe you’ve gone too far… I’d love to test that theory. This is gonna be fun.” You smiled and his eyes went wide for a moment when he realized.

You hopped down the steps and back out, finding your friends in the hall. The doors closed behind you and the agents posted tried to talk to you, to apologize and ask how you knew something was wrong, but you ignored them.

“Page.” You called and she rolled her eyes before looking at you. “Are you insane? I mean, honestly, have you lost it?”

“I had him.” She said angrily before turning to the elevator. “And you ruined it. You both ruined it.”

“Ruined it?” You laughed. “I just saved your ass. He would’ve killed you. Are you really that desperate?”

“At least it would’ve been on video.”

“Goddammit, Karen. Don’t turn into Matt on me.” Foggy said with a small stomp.

“Hey.” You reached foward and grabbed her arm to spin her so she would face you fully. “You really wanna try and get yourself killed? Because guess what, if you weren’t on his shit list before, you are now. I can’t protect everyone when you’re all running off in different directions like toddlers.”

“Then don’t.” She snapped. “And I didn’t want him to kill me.. Just to come after me.”

“Yeah, that’s so much better.” Foggy rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well I got the idea from you. Talking about getting Tower worked up. I thought I just had to get him to stop thinking, to react emotionally.”

“Last time he did that, he decapitated one of the Russian brothers with an SUV door.” You said simply. “You think he wouldn’t have done something like that to you?”

“It’s not a bad plan, except for the part where you have to hope the FBI comes in before he beats you to death.”

“Let’s be honest. If I wasn’t here, those ball scratchers wouldn’t have gotten in there in time. Half the people here don’t want to be here so they don’t give a shit.”

“Doesn’t matter now, does it?” She snapped and pushed into the elevator.

“Neither does you throwing that name around.” You said quickly.

“What?”

“He knows it was me. Probably won’t save you from retaliation but it can keep him on me a little longer.”

“Why would you-“ Foggy tried but the door shut before his sentence could finish.

Later that night, you were sitting in the media room at the closing hour of your shift. You were waiting for one of the others to come take over when you felt it, so saturated it almost knocked you out of your chair. It was a burst of rage, white hot and pulsing. You felt it seer through you, hotter than anything you felt from yourself or Matt. It was like it had been brewing for a long time, building and burning and festering until it broke its way out.

And it was coming from a few floors below. It was coming from Dex.

Your apparent betrayal broke him and you weren’t completely sure it was a good thing.

Meanwhile, back in his secluded underground part of the church, Matt was looking for something else to think of. All his mind kept coming back to, other than letting Dex get away, was her. He could understand why she didn’t want to believe her partner was working for Fisk. He believed that she did what she could to keep him away, but she was right. She couldn’t control everyone all the time so it wasn’t fair for Matt to throw that at her. And Fisk was smart. He had to have known Y/N was trying to keep Dex away from him. So he found ways to break him that not even Y/N could stop. Things Y/N probably didn’t

even know about, not until it was done.

He was listening to the tape with Maggie when his mind finally let her go, just for a minute.

“He didn’t have any parents. Spent a lot of time fighting. Angry.” He said simply, just stating what he had learned, when Maggie hummed in response. “Go ahead and say it.”

“I promised to keep my mouth shut.” She answered.

“But you wanna say it sounds familiar.”

“More ways than one.”

“I didn’t have anyone either but I’m nothing like him.” Matt shook his head. “The tapes make it sound like he was a killer at a young age.”

“That bit sounds familiar, too.” Maggie said to herself, but they both knew Matt would hear it.

Was that why Y/N protected him? She saw herself in him?

“Y/N’s nothing like this guy, okay?” He decided. “She actually cares about people and has a heart. The guy’s a psychopath… And I had a chance today. A shot to catch him off guard and I blew it.”

“You did what you thought was right. You kept your word to Agent Nadeem.”

“Yeah. And how many people are gonna die because of it? Not to mention that he knows about Y/N. Now she’s in the middle of it and either has to go along with this or go on the run. He could throw her under the bus, same way Fisk did to me, just to save his own ass. He doesn’t care about her.”

“Do you think Y/N can keep herself alive? Or does she need you to be her knight in shining armor all the time?”

“I just want her to be safe. After everything I’ve done, I owe her that.”

“I think you owe her more than that.”

He sighed heavily and nodded. He knew he couldn’t run from her questions forever. It wasn’t fair to leave her so deep in the dark. And it was killing him all the same.

“She’s gonna get herself killed trying to save this guy.” Matt spoke with a certain bitterness. Bitter towards Y/N’s sudden adherence to morals that he once claimed, towards her sudden belief that people could change.

It made him wonder what had changed so drastically in the time he was gone that she would stand so adamantly in a losing fight.

“You said this man is her partner at the FBI?” Maggie changed the subject.

Matt reluctantly nodded. He hated the idea that she would have to go back and be around him, to essentially be at his mercy. At the same time he knew if there was one person in Hell’s Kitchen that wasn’t helpless, it was Y/N.

“Then she knows his tendencies better than you do. She’s a very strong, very smart girl. I’m sure she’s endured worse so she can take care of herself until you two have a plan.”

“I don’t think she wants to do this with me anymore.”

“This?” She gestured to Matt. “Or this?” She tapped her chest where her heart was.

“Both.”

“Just give her time, Matthew. I’ve seen the way she looks at you, like you hung the stars. That’s not something that can be thrown away. You both will always be there for the other when they call.”

She left after that, allowing Matt to punch his pain away. He was angry. At himself, at Dex, at Fisk. He even wanted to be angry at Y/N, but all she had done was refuse to leave him. How could he be angry at that? As he worked on the punching bag he could hear Sister Maggie’s prayer in the church above. He was listening but also not, using it as a sort of background noise. It wasn’t until the end that it mattered.

“Our son is too much like you, Jack.”

Our son … Jack.

“Mom?” Matt muttered as he fell to his knees.

He was in complete disbelief but suddenly, it all made sense. That’s why she made sure he was okay. That’s why she made sure he had a place to stay. That’s why she refused to give up on him. He didn’t know what to do, what to think.

But he knew his heart was calling for Y/N, in a way only she would know. In a way that he wasn’t sure he deserved anymore.

You couldn’t call him. You doubted the man had a phone anymore. You had just gotten home when you felt that crushing feeling, that world shattering uncertainty. It made you dizzy when you walked through the door and you nearly fell to the floor.

You made it to your couch and you closed your eyes, allowing yourself to be absorbed by that heavy feeling. You pushed back, following that line back to Matt. You were hoping he wouldn’t ignore you. You were hoping he would understand, but with the intensity he was putting out, you didn’t know what would get through to him.

Come home, Matt. Let me help you.

Damn it all if you didn’t forget that you were angry when he really needed you.

You fell asleep on the couch waiting for a response. You waited for a change in feeling or to feel it growing closer. You waited to hear him calling your name or touch your shoulder. You waited for the door or some sign that he was there. You didn’t know how late it was when he finally showed up.

He sat beside you on the couch and gave your leg a gentle shake, but you still jumped up in a hurry. Unsure if it was Matt or Dex or someone else to kill you, your hands raised reflexively into fists while your eyes tried to adjust to the neon shining in. Matt chuckled and put his hands over yours, gently pushing them down and assuring you it was just him.

“Matt.” You sighed and relaxed next to him. “What happened?”

“Sister Maggie, she was upstairs praying.” He said carefully, but you could tell there was a waver in his voice, threatening to break. “She was asking my dad for guidance and said ‘our son’.”

“Talking about you?”

“Why else would she talk to him?”

“Took a while for you to get here… Where’d you go?”

“Father Lantom.”

“Was it any help?”

“No.”

“How can I help? Tell me what you need.”

“I don’t know.” He nearly whispered. “It was right there, the whole time. Y/N, everything could’ve been different.”

“Yeah, but then who knows if it would’ve been good or bad different.” You tried gently. You reached forward carefully to remove the familiar glasses and he didn’t stop you. Instead, he gave you a small smile and turned his head towards you. “Maybe we don’t meet. Maybe I end up with a different vigilante boyfriend. Maybe you end up as a priest, too. Who knows what would’ve changed?”

“I could’ve had my mom.” He spoke softly.

“I know.” You nodded and gently ran fingers through the sides of his hair. “Did I ever tell you about my dad?”

“I thought you didn’t know him.” He shifted his body towards you.

“I don’t, but I did meet him once, before I met you.” Your hand fell to his shoulder. “My aunt, Melina, would talk about them when I was a kid. I looked up their names when I got out, found some leads and kept tugging strings till I found him living in a small town in California. He had a new wife and a son… I remember when I left him, I kept thinking that I could’ve had a brother. I could’ve had siblings and a real family if he was willing to run just a little while longer.”

“What happened when you met him?”

“He said my mother was dead and so was her daughter, Alexa. He was talking about me.”

“Your name is Alexa?”

“To my parents, yes. Once I wasn’t theirs, that little girl did die and Y/N was born, which is fine. Alexa’s someone else completely as far as I care. Listen, my point is that I could’ve had a different life, too. But you can’t sit here and think about ‘what if’. What if I was never in the Red Room or if I never got out? What if I never came to Hell’s Kitchen? What if I never went to Columbia?”

“So you think I shouldn’t do anything?”

“I think you shouldn’t let it change too much now. I know you want to figure things out, but I’m sure she was just young and scared. People don’t always do the smartest thing when they’re scared.”

“You ever make a bad decision cause you were scared?”

“Leaving you the first time.” You confessed, though that event felt so far away given everything that had happened since. “I didn’t want to scare you and Foggy away with the truth so I left. I left you alone, Matt, and I never wanted to.”

“I left you too so I’d say we’re even.” He offered a small smile and you chuckled. “But I never wanna leave you again.”

“So don’t.” You offered, leaning your head against the back of the couch. “When I look at my life, and all of my crimes, you’re the only thing that I think I got right… I want you to stay, at least for tonight, but I won’t make you.”

“All my regrets, things that you can’t forget.. You still want me with all of those?”

“I can’t really give you away.” You shrugged slightly. “I already made that mistake a long time ago…”

“I want us to be okay, sweetheart.” He reached out and out a hand on your folded leg, thumb rubbing gentle lines.

“We can figure it out later. Right now, you’re in a crisis.”

He offered a weak smile as he nodded.

“I’m not saying to forgive Maggie, but I’d say hear her out, when you’re ready. Maybe she had her reasons.”

“What if she didn’t? What if she was just… ashamed?”

“Who would be ashamed of you?” Your fingers danced around on his shoulder, skimming across the crook of his neck. “You took off the crucifix? I liked it.”

“It was my mother’s.”

“Ah.” You nodded.

“I thought you hated me after what happened at Midland Circle”

“Yeah, I kinda did. But I also understand that it was your stupid way of protecting me because you loved me and I loved you, so that ended up beating out any other feeling. I haven’t forgiven you for it yet, though.”

“Clearly.” He gave a small chuckle. “Do you still?”

“Love you? Or hate you?”

“Both.”

“Yeah, to both. I’m still hurt by what you said to me. But I’m guessing you being here means you realized you can trust me?”

“Sweetheart, I always have.” His hand came to your cheek and you leaned into his touch, earning a smile from him. “I’m sorry I acted like I didn’t.”

“Maybe there’s still a chance to fix us when all this dies down.” You smiled softly, turning your head to place a kiss to his palm. “After that, you can fix things with Maggie. When you’re ready.”

“I love you.” He said softly.

“I love you, too.”

That night, wrapped in Matt’s arms, you had the first full night’s sleep since Midland Circle.

The next morning, you were getting ready for work when you got a message from Dex. It said that he was picking you up and you knew it wasn’t up for debate. You told Matt what was going on and he told you to be careful. He told you he wouldn’t be there when you got home, and he wasn’t sure where he’d be, but he would let you know somehow. Despite your protests, he promised it’d be for the best.

The ride with Dex was silent. There was a thick tension in the air and your skin was buzzing with anticipation. You kept thinking of scenarios where he would make a move on you, but in close quarters, it was an easy win for you. You could crash the car and run. You could use the backseat to get away. You could kick out the windows and tuck and roll. But there was no action, hardly any words. Instead, you pulled up to Ray’s as if everything was normal.

“Ray doesn’t know.” You said simply as you got out. “He doesn’t know about her and he doesn’t know that I know about you.”

“This’ll be fun then.” He smiled before grabbing your arm and practically pulling you to the front door.

Dex greeted Seema and gave you two a proper introduction. You let him do most of the talking, only offering a polite smile and an answer when necessary. Seema didn’t seem to notice, and you were thankful for that.

“And that makes it curve?” The boy’s voice interrupted your thoughts.

“Like crazy.” Dex smiled.

“It’s the circle change that gets ‘em though.” You cut in, kneeling to his height and stealing his attention away from Dex. You ignored your partner’s glare and focused on the boy. “A curve is great, don’t get me wrong. But a good hitter can see it coming. The real fun is when you can speed them up with the fast ball and then sneak the change up. If you want a strikeout pitch, the circle change is what you need.”

“Can you show me?” He asked excitedly.

“Yeah, it’s super easy. The ball sits here.” You moved the back to rest at the back of his palm. “These two fingers make a circle like this.” You slid his thumb and forefinger to make a circle on the side of the ball. “And these fingers just kinda spread out.” You fanned his other three fingers. “And then you just throw it normally.”

“So… Wait, how does it slow down?”

“When it rolls off your fingers, the backspin makes it look like it’s coming faster than it is.”

“Ooh.” He laughed and looked at his fingers on the ball.

Ray came down and gave his son - Sami - a reason to leave the room. When he made eye contact with you, you gave a shrug and nodded to Dex to show it was his idea. Ray brought you and Dex outside to keep his family

out of it.

“What are you doing here, Dex? Your issue is with me, not my family.” Ray asked tightly.

“My issue is definitely with you.” Dex agreed. “That stunt with the lawyer, Ray? That was cold. You convinced me that you had my back.” He turned towards you. “You both did.”

“I did until you chose Fisk.” You admitted. “I tried to help you but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Well Fisk wants you two alive.”

“Lucky me.” You mumbled.

“What does he want from me? Or her?” Ray nodded to you.

“Your little friends. The ones you brought into my home.” He took a step closer to Ray and your hand shot out to his chest, pushing him back with a warning glare.

“I don’t know who he is, or where he is. I know even less about the girl.”

“Nah, you know.” Dex countered. “But it can wait. You’re bleeding, Ray.”

“Cause you shot him, jackass.” You mumbled, making Dex chuckle.

“I’ll cover with Seema while you change. Let’s go. We’re all spending the day together.”

“Why'd he bring you?” Ray asked when Dex went back inside. “What does he know?”

“Too much.” You admitted. “That I know Exodus. I know Daredevil. I know what happened at his apartment, what really happened at the Bulletin.”

“How?”

“Как ты думаешь, с кем ты разговариваешь?” You asked with a small shrug before following Dex in and leaving Ray in confusion. (Who do you think you’re talking to?)

You didn’t stay at Ray’s much longer. Seema gave you a plate to take with you and you thanked her. Sami thanked you again for the change-up and you offered to show him a knuckleball next time. Ray rushed you guys out of the house and when you got to the bureau, Dex told Ray to call Matt. You tapped your implant and listened in on their call while you waited with Dex. Though if anyone asked what was actually said, you wouldn’t be able to tell them.

“How long do you think you can keep it a secret?” He asked simply, turning to face you.

“Longer than you did. I didn’t need to see any of it to know what you were. One look told me everything I needed to know. Wanna know how?” You tilted your head back to face him. His brows raised and he offered you an amused smile. “Because you’re weak. Your old therapist was wrong about you. Your internal compass is broken, Dex. And no one can save you. You’ll follow anyone that uses the right words.”

He grabbed you by your face and pushed you against the wall behind you, making you laugh.

“Get your hand off me or I scream. Remember, not every agent in the room works for him.” You warned and you watched his eyes dart between yours and try to figure out if you were joking. “Go ahead… Try me.”

He pushed off you when Hattley came in for an announcement. You pulled off the wall and moved to stand with Ray, hearing your SAC declare Dex reinstated. You were hidden behind him so rolled your eyes and feigned a gag. But when he stepped aside to thank you and Ray specifically, you put your hands behind your back and offered a proud smile.

“Someday I’ll pay you guys back for everything you did.” He said, though you heard the threat in his words.

“We’re partners.” You said with fake sincerity and reached for his hand, which he hesitantly gave you. “You’d do the same for me.”

After a few moments of congratulations and praise for Dex, the three of you were taken to a conference room where a handful of agents sat around the table. You scoffed in disbelief as Dex headed to sit at the head, Hattley at his side. You stood at the other end, leaning

onto flattened palms against the table.

“Fisk has something on all of you?” Ray asked in disbelief.

“It’s better we don’t talk about it.” One of the other agents in the room said. He may be stuck under Fisk’s thumb, but it didn’t seem like he wanted to be. “And in here, we don’t even say his name.”

“That’s one of the rules, Ray.” Dex explained. “We only refer to him by his codename… Kingpin.”

You had to drop your eyes to hide your quiet laugh.

“Something funny, Y/L/N?” Hattley asked and you picked your head up with your smile still present.

“This whole thing, actually.” You shrugged and pushed yourself off to stand tall. “An office of dedicated federal agents falls victim to a big bald guy who doesn’t even do his own dirty work half the time? Y’know when Fisk was around the first time, people only would call him ‘their employer’ and it was embarrassing then too. I’m sorry but… it’s all a little pathetic.”

“You’re here too, Y/N. So what does that say about you?”

“Oh man.” You exaggerated a sigh. “I should’ve talked

to Madani about transferring to Homeland. At least then I could’ve had a partner who stood for something-“ You made eye contact with Dex. “-instead of kneeling to a little bit of pressure.”

“Real cocky when you’re the one with the most to lose, Y/L/N.” Dex said with a smooth smirk.

“At least I know who I am. Can you say the same?”

“Anyways.” Hattley cut in firmly. “Another round-up today. We hit them fast and hard. Kingpin wants this one to make a point.”

You felt grimy by the time the assignment was done. You hung back for most of it, hardly even raising your gun. Instead, you just kept the people around the marks calm. Even at the public groundbreaking for something seemingly religious, you ensured no one made a scene. Later that day, you sat with Dex in the media room.

“You seem tense. What’s eating at you?” Dex asked with a sly smile.

“Thinkin’ about how I’m gonna put a bullet in you.” You said calmly. “Y’know what an old friend told me? You don’t hear the ones that get you.”

“Pretty confident.” He nodded with that same smile, one that made you want to slam his face down on the desk. “But I remember the last time we went at it. I put in a knife in you. How’s that healing, by the way?” He snuck his hand to the joint of your leg and gave your leg a slight squeeze.

Your body jumped at the unwanted contact and you reached for his hand quickly. You gripped tightly, feeling the long bones of his hand shift slightly, and moved his hand forcefully.

“And how many times did I knock you on your ass? All it takes is two seconds where Ole Red isn’t looking.” You leaned in closer so you could speak quietly, hands folded beneath the table. “You keep this up, Dex, and you’ll be the one who pays a price. Not me.”

The day shift went on relatively quickly but then you two were called for an additional night shift. Ray left with Hattley to get Fisk while you and Dex finished up upstairs. You saw a message from Foggy as you headed to the car and saw that Fisk had his hooks in his family. The deli had embellished a loan application from Red Lion Bank, and someone was threatening to pull it. It was now a growing priority for you to get your hands on Felix Manning. You had seen the man in the hotel a few times but never with enough clearance to get to him.

You drove with Ray in the front while Fisk and Dex rode in the back. You followed Dex’s directions, intentionally slamming the brakes harder than necessary. When you parked, Ray called Matt.

“If you can hear me…” You spoke quietly, putting a hand over your mouth so the men in the back wouldn’t see. “Fisk is using all of us, just be careful.”

Fisk sent Ray out while he kept you and Dex in the car.

“What do you need us to do?” Dex asked and your other hand gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“Exodus.” Fisk said calmly and your eyes darted to the rear view mirror. “Where is your suit?”

He didn’t need to know that you were wearing your suit beneath your work clothes. You wore a sweater over it instead of a button up with simple black pants that were easy to ditch, along with your usual jacket. Your Bites, and mask were all tucked between the material of your suit and the top, blending with the extra fabric of your loose sweater. Your shoes were your usual vigilante boots. So really, the only thing you were missing were your staffs, and that was only because the pack would’ve been too bulky to hide. You had returned all of your equipment to the closet back home, knowing it’d be too risky to just leave in your trunk now that you were caught in the middle of everything.

“Parti. Et vous le serez aussi, assez tôt.” You said tightly. (Gone. And you will be too, soon enough.)

Dex reached around and locked his arm around your throat. He yanked back and forced you against the headrest, increasing the pressure on your windpipe. You coughed roughly and reached down, finding the side lever for the back of the seat. You pulled up on it and threw your weight back, hearing the thud when it slammed into Dex.

“Enough.” Fisk announced, but you jammed an elbow against Dex’s jaw to prove a point before shifting in your seat to face Fisk.

“Allow me to clarify something. I do not work for you. I’ve stood my ground before and I’m not afraid to do it again.” You said firmly, knowing the anger sparked in your eyes. “Daredevil and I will finish this, the real Daredevil. No one can save you.”

He turned towards Dex with a smirk before facing you again.

“Y’know…” You turned towards Dex with an innocently curious expression. “I haven’t seen Julie around since your little chat at the cafe. How is she?”

His brows furrowed as you tugged that concern closer to the surface. His eyes went big when he either remembered or realized something so you gave Fisk a smirk before heading inside to meet with Ray.

“The Feds want something.” The woman you took from the groundbreaking said and looked around your small group of agents.

“Not the Feds.” You sighed and drew head turns just as Fisk walked in.

You had to bite your tongue to keep your comments to yourself. You watched as Fisk tried to barter FBI protection for twenty percent. The woman was interested, and truthfully, she interested you. Calm and comfortable in her power, but willing to work with others. If you weren’t so inclined to stay on the right-ish side of the law, maybe you would’ve been like her.

What really kept your attention was the man you only heard addressed as Mr. Starr. The old man was set in his ways, refusing to budge. He refused to kneel to Fisk’s pressure and while you commended him for his conviction, you knew what was coming.

Dex’s baton came flying in before you could react and the man slumped forward against the table in a puddle

of his own blood. Dex came to stand at Fisk’s side and you moved to the other side of the now dead body, picking up the club. You flipped it in your hands, earning uncertain looks from the other crime bosses. You tapped the other end against your empty palm before stealing a move from Dex, throwing it against the table so it’d bounce. The bounce led one end to jam into Dex’s chest, making him stagger back a few steps and you smiled.

You may not be able to take him on in broad daylight, not with the handful of agents in Fisk’s pocket. But that didn’t mean you couldn’t take smaller jabs at him. After the deals were said and done, when Matt didn’t show, Dex moved across the table and stood close to you.

“If you tipped him.” He said lowly, attempting to threaten you.

You calmly titled your head back to meet his burning glare with a small shrug. “When would I have done that? You’ve been watching me the whole time.”

His jaw clenched as he stared you down, growing uncertain as you refused to falter. Your chin lifted slightly in a soft challenge as Fisk called him back.

“What a good lap dog.” You mocked softly as he followed Fisk without question.

You only followed when Ray nudged you. You ignored the lingering looks from the various criminals at the table as you left, but you couldn’t ignore their fear. It spiked when you threw the baton at Dex and it was clear that while they did fear Dex, you terrified them. And not because you were Exodus. They couldn’t know that. What scared them about you was the way you carried yourself. Your total confidence in challenging Fisk and his faux Daredevil. It left them to wonder what you could do on your own.

You realized that part of you missed the fear your presence used to cause, but the reality was that you didn’t need to be a looming force. Fear was fun when it was only you. Respect was better when others were at stake.

The car ride was quiet, but the tension was building quickly. It soon felt like your suit was suffocating you, like the high collar was digging into your throat even though you didn’t have it zipped all the way. The collar was folded under your sweater, but that didn’t mean your skin wasn’t stained with the ghost of the material. You called your jitters to your hand, creating a small collection of bouncing wisps in your palm. The silver streaks danced around and weaved through your fingers, shaking and ricocheting off your skin as you flicked them away and called them back like a yo-yo.

But when the announcement sounded in your implant, the string snapped and the wisps instantly disappeared.

Karen Page is located at the Clinton Church. Keep all NYPD units clear until otherwise advised. Copy.

You spun in your seat with wide eyes, a panic settling deep in your stomach when the SUV stopped and he sent Ray out.

Would Matt get there in time? Would you? How would you get away? Would Matt even know what was happening? Even if you were still upset, you knew you needed his help. You didn’t even know if he had heard you earlier. If he came up and saw you there, would he think you sided with Fisk out of spite?

While Fisk and Dex talked about what they needed to do next, you took a glance around the street. There was no one around, so you running out of a blacked out SUV wouldn’t raise any questions.

“He was murdered!” Fisk shouted and slammed a fist against the door,

“And I’d do it again.” You said firmly, drawing an angry glare from him and a quizzical one from Dex. “He deserved it for threatening people I cared about. When I walked out of that warehouse, his blood splattered on my suit, I damn near celebrated.”

“When I sent you to the Bulletin, it was to discredit Daredevil and his partner-“ He gestured to you before turning to face Dex again. “-and the reporter that helped make them into heroes. At the time, I didn’t know that she had assisted in his murder.”

“If there’s something you want me to do, just ask.” Dex added smoothly.

“I want you to kill Karen Page.”

Your former friend made a point to meet your eyes. “Consider it done.”

“Good luck.” You scoffed before reaching across the gap and slamming Dex’s head against the window.

You hurried out the door after that but you felt a hand on your arm. You turned to see Dex and he yanked you back, pushing you towards the other SUV. You pulled free and threw a roundhouse against his jaw that threw him into the nearest wall. He got up quickly and threw a right hook against your jaw before grabbing the back of your neck. His fingers pressed into the sides of your neck and he slammed your head against the window of the SUV. You felt the skin at your hairline split so you stuck a foot against the car and kicked off, pushing you both backwards so Dex would hit his back on a nearby dumpster.

You took the chance to climb to your feet and took off sprinting down the streets until you got to the church. You got inside just as mass was starting so you snuck up the stairs that led to the balcony. You stripped out of your work clothes and tucked them under one of the pews before fixing the final details of your suit.

You listened to Father Lantom’s speech, thanking everyone for coming to mass. You tapped your mask and looked between the priest and the doors as the tension buzzed through your body. You felt electrified by the looming threat but the gentle, honest words from Father Lantom seemed to serve as a buffer to break some

of that buzzing. If you could count on nothing from the ideas of religion or from any church, you could always count on Father Lantom to be genuine with whoever he was talking to. You smiled softly towards the altar where Father Lantom was, and he had offered you the same sentiment, when a voice cut through everything.

“Karen Page!” Dex called out as he entered the church, dragging the club against the side of the pews as he stepped further inside. “Where is… Karen Page?”

You hopped over the railing and landed behind him. By the time your feet hit the ground, he had already beat on three patrons. You shot a wire at his throat and once it wrapped, you yanked hard to pull him back a few feet. He yanked the wire off and turned on you, both clubs in hand before Karen announced herself.

You felt your heart drop to your feet when he smirked, turning to face her. She was quick to put herself in front of the people and you felt helpless, for only a moment.

“Hello, Karen. It’s nice to see you again.” Dex said simply.

You took that chance to get in front of him, hands quick to reach behind and find your knives. You brandished them quickly and Dex tilted his head slightly.

“You don’t have to listen to him.” You tried, pushing out a subtle desperation.

It would be the last chance. Standing against Dex, against your partner, you couldn’t protect him and defend against him at the same time. So in that church, with all the lives that hid behind you on the line, you forced Dex to make a choice.

You. Or the man who only saw Dex as a weapon.

“Pick your side.” You warned. “You won’t get another chance to change your mind.”

He gave you a wicked smile and you knew that the man you knew before was gone. His mind had snapped and he was now a fractured, broken version of the person you once called a partner. His lack of empathy had never been so clear, like a vacuum that sucked in and destroyed any sense of emotion around him. It began to drag on you as well, but Matt made it just in time.

He landed contact with Dex from behind so you turned and gathered the people who had attended mass. You pushed Karen to join the crowd while Matt handled the fight. You shoved the knife away and reached into a different pocket for your communications case, you shoved it into her hands and turned in time to see Dex standing before you. Your eyes darted to the side and all you could see behind the small altar of candles were Matt’s feet.

You turned back to Dex just time to see the knife coming. Instantly, you moved to the side to put yourself in front of the people but two hands came to your arms and threw you to the side. You looked back and saw the knife buried in Father Lantom’s chest.

“No.” You said quickly, eyes brimming with sudden tears. “No!”

Matt ran back into the fight screaming, the anger radiating off him. Lantom spoke quietly to Matt as he laid in Karen’s arms, her own hands trembling around the knife. You reached for the case you gave her, opening it and pulling one of the ear pieces. Shakily, she put it in her ear and gave you a quick nod. You tapped your scar before finding Matt. When he floored Dex, you practically ran across the short distance.

You clipped the microphone to the collar of his shirt, throwing a hard sidekick when Dex tried to get to his feet.

“Karen? Can you hear me?” You spoke quietly.

“Yeah… I can get everyone out.” She answered, her voice echoing around your skull. “But you guys have to get him away from the nave.”

You offered a sharp nod and focused back on Dex. You ran towards him and slammed your knee into his chest. He rolled through the impact and kicked himself down one of the aisles. From there, he began throwing small candles at the two of you. The wax splattered across your face as they shattered against your arms after you raised them, causing you to wince slightly as you turned your head. Keeping one arm up, you stuck your Bite between the small gap at the bend of your arm and fired. The electricity landed at the base of his throat and his movements became tight convulsions.

You took advantage and moved closer, slamming a kick to the back of his knee. When he fell to a kneel, you used the opposite foot you kicked and threw a roundhouse to the side of his head that forced him to the floor. You turned to find Matt, seeing Karen moving people on the other side instead. You heard movement from behind you and turned to see Dex standing with a piece of marble in hand.

When he pulled back to throw it, Matt came and drew his attention away. You let out a small sigh and glanced back at Karen, hearing her talking to one of the patrons about getting out.

“Make sure they stay low to the ground.” You instructed as you watched Dex and Matt exchange blows. “Keep out of his line of sight and move fast.”

When the boys came back into the main area of the church, you jumped back into the fight. Matt threw Dex into a pew so you moved to the side and grabbed hold of the edge as Dex kicked out at Matt’s chest. You threw your legs forward to slam into his chest and flip him over. Your feet landed on the seat so you crouched on the wood and waved the group of churchgoers forward after you noticed they had paused to watch the fight.

The small crowd was huddled low as they crept across the floor. You made a small noise to yourself when you thought they weren’t going fast enough but the sound was cut short when Dex yanked you down by your arm, a hand gripping aggressively around your wrist. You yelped slightly when you landed on your shoulder and Dex stood over you, rolling you to your back with his foot before he pressed it at the base of your shoulder as he searched the group. You craned your neck as you tried to force Dex off and you saw Karen running down the center aisle.

“Don’t.” You tried as his arm pulled back and he forced you back to the floor. The force of his foot combined with the way your arm was twisted was enough to pop the bone out of its socket and you couldn’t keep the sound of pain from happening.

Luckily, Matt knocked Dex off balance just in time to send his throw off course. Using your other hand, you jabbed two knuckles into a pressure point at the back of Dex’s leg and he fell against the pew. With Matt’s help, you wiggled out from underneath his weight and got to your feet.

“How are we gonna beat him?” Matt asked through heavy breaths.

Your mind raced and the only things that kept repeating were three things you learned from Melina. She taught you those things not to help as a Widow, but to protect you.

What I’m going to teach you isn’t for anyone but yourself. Remember these rules and no one can beat you, little Y/N.

Looking around, you realized you already used one.

“A man can’t stand, he can’t fight.” You spoke quietly, reaching out to find Matt’s hands. You guided them up to your shoulder and he moved closer, allowing you to close a fist around the material of his shirt. His fingers traced the joint before his palms found their positions and he pressed hard, a sharp exclamation falling from your lips as you felt the bone fit back into place. You bit your lip as you let out a small whimper while you heard Melina’s voice repeating those same words. With a. deep breath, you took a step away and collected yourself.

“If we can keep him off balance, we-“

Your sentence was cut short by a heavy fist at your jaw. You staggered back against the main row of pews and once your back hit the wood, you were bombarded with more hits. Your arms came up quickly, batting away his hits but every fist seemed to come heavier and heavier.

“Hey! I’m the one you want, right?” Karen yelled from the door, stealing his attention.

You took advantage of his hesitation and slammed both fists against his chest. He staggered away and coughed heavily, giving you space to stand tall and wipe the blood off your nose.

“A man can’t breathe, he can’t fight.” You spoke to yourself and turned to Karen. You were tackled to the ground and his foot pressed down on the center of your chest.

You squirmed beneath him and Dex leaned his weight against you and you could feel the cartilage in your chest cracking. He snapped a rosary and pulled back to throw the beads. You lifted a wrist and shot a wire towards Karen’s ankle. It wrapped around your target and you yanked back to pull Karen to the floor just in time.

You popped the wire off and felt the weight disappear from your chest after Matt knocked him off. You took deep, gasping breaths while you looked back as you got to your feet and saw Karen was gone. You tapped your mask and saw her heading up the stairs to the top deck. You checked over your shoulder and saw Matt locked in with Dex. You thought of joining in but you chose to follow Karen up the steps instead. You found her crouched in the darkest corner and she covered her

mouth with her hand when she saw you.

“Oh God.” She whispered, likely horrified by the blood you were covered in.

“You okay?” You asked quietly and all she could do was nod.

You heard footsteps coming so you used your mask to see it was Dex. Instantly, you wondered where Matt was but you didn’t have time to figure it out. You stepped out and pulled a knife from the back of your belt. You made a grand gesture as you moved closer to Dex.

“Is this what you wanted?” You asked simply. “You killed an innocent man.”

“You know what I want.” He answered flatly. “Why do you keep getting in my way?”

“Because at least I’m fighting for something. What do you fight for, hmm? What do you stand for? You’re a joke. You’re pathetic. You’re nothing. When Fisk is done with you, he’ll throw you away. You’re not special to him. The only thing you’ve done is destroy what that suit used to stand for around here. You can’t compare to Daredevil.”

Dex simply growled as he charged you. You braced yourself just as his shoulder slammed into your stomach. He lifted you off the ground and slammed your back into the marble pillar in the center of the deck. You coughed roughly and flipped the knife so you could swipe it across his back. You dropped the blade and locked your fingers behind his neck. Tucking your knees against his chest, you threw yourself to the ground so when you landed, your knees slammed against him. You rolled you two so you could be on top and you kept a grip on his suit front, slamming down hit after hit and watching his head bounce off the ground.

You pulled your arm back and armed your Bite, seeing the bright red glow shine in your peripherals. You were angling the shot when his forehead slammed up into your nose and knocked your teeth together. You fell to the side and Dex pushed you the rest of the way off. A pair of hands came under your arms and hauled you up. You looked quickly and saw it was Matt.

Together, you two took your stances across from Dex. The man across from you let out an annoyed sigh and moved at you two again. He shoved you towards the railing and you teetered over it. Your hands were tightly holding the top as your upper body tilted over and your feet lifted from the ground. You had to let one hand go for a second to hook the wire from your belt around the posts.

Once that was secure, you turned to your back and pushed yourself to be seated on the wood. You focused in on the scene in front of you and found Matt on the floor and Dex with a small, familiar blade in his hand. Your blade. You were quick to shoot the other end of your wire around his neck.

When the material whipped around, you yanked him back so he stood flush against you.

“You won’t win.” He choked out as you replaced the wire with your arm around his neck.

“I don’t have to.” You said into his ear, the other hand pressing the Bite against his throat. “We just both have to lose.”

You fired the weapon and locked your ankles together around his waist. He yelled in pain before you threw yourself backwards, launching you both over the edge. Your own body slammed against the heavy wood posts as your wire held you in place, dangling you over the drop like a piñata. In any other circumstance, the display probably would’ve made you laugh.

You pulled yourself back over the railing and undid the clasp at your belt. You motioned to Karen to check on Matt while you took heavy breaths and collapsed to your knees, pressing gently on your loose sternum to figure out the extent of the cracks. She hurried over, hesitating by your side. You waved her off before hauling yourself up to peer over the edge.

As soon as your chest leaned over, all of the air was sucked out of you as the sharp object pierced your solar plex. You were breathless as your hands hovered over the penetration and Dex was gone. You looked down with shaky breaths and you saw the familiar handle sticking out.

He threw your own knife at you. Again.

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thelibraryofthacey · 2 years ago

Photo

https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/er2hlBhQrMI6

[Tumblr pls stahp with the post editor changes where’s my link button? Why is the undo button so squirrely?? Why didn’t you bring over my formating when I pasted the text from my google docs??? Did you change the font????]

[I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to keep to a regular upload schedule for the summer. I... may have signed up for too many classes. So, I’m just gonna upload things when I got the juice. Anyway enjoy these goofy dudes, I love them.]

Marionette Soldier (CR 4)

Medium Construct, unaligned

Space 5 ft. Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. if wielding pikes)

Initiative +2

HP 44 (8d10)

AC 17 (splint armor)

Proficiency Bonus +3

Str 14 (+2) Dex 15 (+2) Con 10 (+0) Int 2 (-4) Wis 10 (+0) Cha 4 (-3)

Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, poisoned

Damage Immunities poison, psychic

Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Passive Perception 10

Languages understands one language chosen by its creator but cannot speak

Speed 30 ft.

- - - - - -

Actions

Multiattack: The marionette soldier makes four shortsword attacks.

Shortsword +5 melee weapon attack, reach 5 ft., 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage

Berserk: The marionette soldier must use this action at the start of its turn if it has less than half of its hit points remaining, and cannot use it otherwise. Once the marionette uses this action, it can’t do so again until it is repaired to full hit points.

The marionette moves 5 ft. towards a random hostile creature within 10 ft. without provoking attacks of opportunity, then makes four shortsword attacks with disadvantage against random creatures within its reach. It does this twice more, then falls prone and ends its turn.

- - - - - -

Variant: Marionette Archer

Marionette archers wield a pair of shortbows and have an AC of 15. Their actions are replaced with the following.

Multiattack: The marionette archer makes four shortbow attacks.

Shortbow +5 ranged weapon attack, range 80/320 ft., 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage

Berserk: The marionette archer must use this action at the start of its turn if it has less than half of its hit points remaining, and cannot use it otherwise. Once the marionette uses this action, it can’t do so again until it is repaired to full hit points.

The marionette fires wildly, making twelve shortbow attacks at disadvantage against random hostile creatures within its short range. After making these attacks, it falls prone and ends its turn.

- - - - - -

Variant: Marionette Lancer

Marionette lancers wield a pair of pikes. Their actions are replaced with the following.

Multiattack: The marionette lancer makes three pike attacks.

Pike +5 melee weapon attack, reach 10 ft., 6 (1d8+2) piercing damage

Berserk: The marionette lancer must use this action at the start of its turn if it has less than half of its hit points remaining, and cannot use it otherwise. Once the marionette uses this action, it can’t do so again until it is repaired to full hit points.

The marionette moves 5 ft. towards a random hostile creature within 15 ft. without provoking attacks of opportunity, then makes three pike attacks with disadvantage against random creatures within its reach. It does this twice more, then falls prone and ends its turn.

- - - - - -

Tactics

The marionette soldiers aren’t really smart enough to employ tactics on their own, and will just run towards things and hit them. They could be found in the company of an artificer or a wizard though, and they might issue commands for them to fight more effectively. Once they reveal their Berserk action, though, they become a bit of a tactical puzzle for your players. How to get them low and away from anyone they could mess up with their frenzy? Of course, finishing them off before their turn comes up again works too. For the archer, cover also works. By the wording of the archer’s Berserk, it fires at creatures within range, even if they’re behind cover. Not invisible ones, though. Be reasonable.

- - - - - -

Lore

These four-armed wooden dolls are typically made by less skilled artificers. They don’t have much in the way of intelligence, and are made with cheap materials, making them suitable for mass production by apprentice golemsmiths. As a result, they are typically not given decent quality equipment either. It is not uncommon for marionette soldiers to become separated from their masters, and without instruction they are aggressive towards all who cross their paths.

#oh AND it broke xKit's tag groups feature or whatever its called #dnd #dnd5e #d&d #d&d 5e #d&d 5e homebrew #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and dragons 5th edition #d&d homebrew #monster #construct #CR 4 #elden ring #thelibraryofthacey

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rowansparrow · 3 years ago

Text

Juke Box Hero: A Rose Story

This is SO STUPID LMAO But I hope you guys like it anyway. I’m back on my bullshit and I am here to provide you with a little story based off THIS POST. Anon, thank you for your service, because this was very, very fun.

This snippet takes place during Chapter Seven of BAON, during the flashback when Reader is meeting Rex for the first time and Rose and Co. are stuck cleaning up the barracks. You don’t necessarily have to have read it for this to make sense, but the right context might be neat.

Also, for timeline purposes/in BAON, Tup and Dogma technically never met Rose, as they weren’t part of the 501st before he died, but I’m including them in this because I make the rules and I wanted to.

Also Denal’s here because I think he’s a funky dude and deserves more content.

The clones deserve to dance and have fun and who’s gonna write them doing that if it ain’t me?

Rating: Mature-ish? There are some dirty jokes and swearing but mostly it’s Just fun shenanigans with Rose and Bros.

(Also I spent a TON of time picking everyone’s songs so pls tell me what you think of my selections lmao).

I’m tagging everyone from the BAON tag list in case you’re interested. Enjoy!

In retrospect, perhaps Rose should have put a stop to the loth cat situation – or as Hardcase called it, Operation: P.U.S.S.Y. He claimed it was an abbreviation for “Petting Unusually Sweet Strays, Yeah!”

“You have to call it something else.” Rose had said at the time, staring at the loth cat cradled protectively in Hardcase’s arms.

“But you’re not saying no?” Hardcase prompted eagerly, already bouncing lightly on his heels.

“Just…” Rose pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just… clean up after it? And if it breaks anything, it’s on you, and for the love of Force, don’t get caught.”

Now, as the Lieutenant surveyed the disarray that had befallen the barracks, and the company of very disgruntled subordinates, he was reconsidering his earlier leniency.

“I feel as the acting SIC, you’re the one who should be taking the flak for this, not the entire company.” Jesse grumbled, glaring at Lieutenant Rose over his shoulder as he scrubbed at the floor of the barracks.

“Don’t look at me. I’m not the one who brought a pregnant loth-cat into the barracks in the first place.” Rose replied, straightening up for a moment where he’d been hunched over, his back cracking as he moved.

“Well, you didn’t fight me very hard on it!” Hardcase protested. “And I didn’t know Beans was pregnant at the time! I didn’t even know she was a girl!”

His explanation only earned him several slugs to the arm from nearby vode.

“And just because I’m second-in-command does not make me exempt from the Captain’s wrath.” Rose added. “You didn’t get the dressing-down, you just have to carry out the punishment with me.”

“Hang on, I thought we agreed the cat’s name was going to be Road Rash?” Coric asked.

“That’s unladylike.” Said Denal. “And rude. She can’t help her scars.”

“And Beans is ladylike?” Jesse raised an eyebrow.

“She likes it! And her kits looked like beans when they came out too!”

Rose shook his head fondly at his men as they bickered. At least they weren’t complaining anymore.

In truth, he was surprised the situation had been managed as long as it had been. They’d lasted almost a full three weeks without anyone figuring out they were hiding a cat in the barracks. Of course, the kittens made it much harder, and they could only hide them in overturned helmets during inspections for so many days before the helmets started to mewl.

And once Beans threw a tantrum over not having her kits with her, it was game over. She’d knocked over an entire can of armor paint in her wrath, and blue pawprints and large paint puddles coated the durasteel of the barracks, and a few of the bunks had claw and bite marks in the fabric.

“It’ll take us an hour, maybe more, to clean this whole mess up.” Fives complained, looking around the barracks forlornly. He had a nasty scratch just under his eye from finally snatching Beans up in her rampage. “Kriff. I was excited to go out tonight.”

“Not to mention after we finish here the Captain said we had to go take over latrine and canteen detail from other battalions.”

“Then I guess you better get scrubbing.” Kix said absently, thumbing through medical requisition forms on his datapad and sitting cross-legged on one of the few bunks that didn’t have blue paw prints streaked across it.

“Why aren’t you helping? You’re part of the company too.” Echo said. “Fives and I are ARC troopers, if anyone here should be exempt from company-wide punishments, it’s us.”

“I’m not helping because I didn’t participate.” Kix replied, not looking up from his ‘pad.

“The kark you didn’t, you delivered the kits!” Fives snapped.

“Well, Captain Rex didn’t catch me, so.”

“That’s because you went and hid in the medbay and didn’t warn the rest of us he was coming.” Tup muttered under his breath.

“Not true. I sent Jesse a comm.” Kix said, finally looking up only to shrug and return to his work. “Which he didn’t check, and that’s not my fault.”

“It doesn’t matter who was involved and who wasn’t involved.” Dogma piped up. “Clearly, because if it did, I wouldn’t be here either.”

“We know.” Said Jesse and Fives in unison.

Rose sighed, his eyes drifting forlornly to his bunk. He spotted his footlocker sticking halfway out from underneath the durasteel, and he lit up. He opened it quickly, pulling out a beat-up radio he’d gotten at a market stall during one of his first deployments. He’d had to trade a droid popper and half his rations for it – Rex had not been pleased about it when he found out – but it was worth the two-day latrine rotation he’d gotten as punishment.

He’d already downloaded several songs off the HoloNet, along with a few channel recordings of past BoloBall games. Even if he knew who won them, it was still something to listen to on long stints on cruisers.

“What’cha doing, Lieutenant?” Tup asked, peeking around the corner as Rose straightened back up, fumbling with the little radio for a moment and propping it up on one of the bunks so the music could fill the whole room.

“No. NO! No.” Jesse jabbed a finger at the Lieutenant as he saw him set up the radio. “No. Absolutely not. I have had enough of your osik-brained, Force-forsaken, whack-ass music to last me a lifetime.”

Kix chuckled, rolling his eyes at the other trooper. “You listen exclusively to electronic dance music. Even when we aren’t at 79s. You have no room to talk.”

“This is better than that.” Rose promised, dialing up the volume. “This is the kind of stuff you’d find on the jukebox at Dex’s Diner.” He grinned. Dex was personal friends with General Kenobi, and was one of the few Coruscant establishments that was friendly to clones, as long as they behaved themselves. Rose had gone there with his brothers a handful of times, and even Anakin had dragged his Padawan Ahsoka, Rose, and Rex along once.

“You have a radio?” Dogma frowned. “Isn’t that contraband, sir?”

“Relax, it’s an old prewar-era radio, it’s not hurting anything.” Fives drawled, knocking Dogma lightly on the shoulder. “What’re you gonna play, sir?”

“Let’s see…” Rose filtered through his downloads, and grinned wider, pressing play.

Immediately, soft music rang through the barracks, and Jesse smacked his head against the bunk, groaning loudly.

“I’m begging you, Lieutenant.” Jesse said. “I’m begging.”

Rose was already swaying his hips, bending over to grab Jesse by the chin.

“On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air.” Rose serenaded him.

Jesse swatted Rose’s hand away, and Rose turned, swinging around on the side of the bunk and pointing to Fives this time. “Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light. My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night.”

Fives grinned, joining in even as he stumbled slightly over the words.

“There she stood in the doorway. I heard the mission bell and I was thinking to myself, this could be Heaven or this could be Hell.”

Kix was drumming his fingers on his datapad, nodding along and singing under his breath.

“Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way. There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say…”

“This is too slow.” Echo griped, rising to his feet and stepping over Dogma, who was still stubbornly scrubbing away at the barrack floors and refusing to engage even as the rest of the clones began quietly singing along with the chorus.

The ARC Trooper fiddled with the dial for a moment, scrolling through Rose’s music and selecting another song, already grinning as the chanting started through the speakers and eventually rippled through the ranks of the 501st.

“STOP.” Jesse barked, trying to kick Fives as the other ARC trooper hopped to his feet, stomping his feet and chanting along. “STOP, I HATE THIS ONE!”

Rose and Hardcase were chanting too, and Coric had started clapping his hands on an overturned bucket, a few shinies clapping their hands together as Echo shook his ass, kama swaying as he climbed up onto a nearby table. He scooped up a mop, pulling the handle to his mouth.

“I can’t stop this feeling, deep inside of me.” He pointed to Kix, grinding against the handle. “Girl, you just don’t realize what you do to me.”

Kix gave him the finger, and Echo pointed to Fives, who was still chanting with the others but was now holding up his helmet, recording the whole thing. Echo amped up his performance.

“When you hold me in your arms so tight, you let me know everything’s alright. I’m hooked on a feeling!”

Tup whooped from where he’d moved to sit on one of the bunks. Dogma shot him a nasty look, which he ignored in favor of watching Echo strut on the table.

“I’m high on believing that you’re in love with me. Lips as sweet as candy, its taste is on my mind. Girl you got me thirsty for another cup of wine.”

“Wait, wait, wait, I have a good one.” Fives shoved his helmet at Hardcase, letting him take over recording as he scrambled to the radio, quickly turning the dial once again and elbowing Echo off the table as fast, loud, angry guitars shredded through the barracks.

Jesse seemed to perk up just slightly, and any of the 501st troopers who were still trying to actually clean – save for Dogma – had abandoned their supplies and had elected to dance instead, crowding the table and forming a makeshift mosh pit.

Fives was nothing if not a showman, and when he snatched the mop from Echo, he performed.

“When I get high, I get high on speed. Top fuel funny car’s a drug for me, my heart! My heart! Kickstart my heart!”

He stomped his foot hard on the table, flipping his head back and running one hand messily through his hair.

“Always got the cops coming after me, custom-built bike doing 103, my heart! My heart! Kickstart my heart!”

Rose laughed, watching as Fives looked at the helmet Hardcase was hoisting up over the crowd, singing into the camera and rolling his shoulders back.

“Ooh, are ya ready, girls? Ooh, are you ready now? Woah, yeah! Kickstart my heart, baby give it a start. Woah, yeah! Baby! Kickstart my heart, hope it never stops. Woah, yeah, baby yeah!”

The clones joined him for the chorus, and then Fives dropped to his knees like he’d seen rockers do on the HoloNet, high fiving the nearest vode. Dogma was still stubbornly trying to clean up the barracks, but had moved on to one of the far corners, only giving the rest of his battalion the occasional side-eye.

“Skydive naked from an aeroplane, or a lady with a body from outer space, my heart. My heart! Kickstart my heart.” He wiggled his hips as he straightened back up, biting his lip through a grin and dropping his hand to his hips and shaking his fist obscenely, as though he was jerking himself off.

“Say I got trouble, trouble in my eyes, I’m just looking for another good time, my heart. My heart! Kickstart my heart!”

Before Fives could do something else profane – or possibly attempt to crowd-surf and give Rose a handful of incident reports to fill out, the music suddenly shifted, and all heads turned to the radio.

Kix was smirking. He’d divested himself of the top half of his armor, instead electing to shimmy his way up onto the table in just the upper half of his blacks and lower armor plates. Fives exited, rejoining the crowd as Kix leveled a sultry look at the camera for just a moment before turning his back on the crowd.

“Clean shirt, new shoes, and I don’t know where I am goin’ to. Silk suit, black tie, I don’t need a reason why.”

He spun quickly, switching his grip on the mop handle as though he was holding a woman in his arms, dipping it low towards the crowd as he sang.

“They come a runnin’ just as fast as they can, ‘cos every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man.”

Fives and Echo were howling with laughter, and Hardcase wolf-whistled loud enough that Rose’s ears rang. Even Jesse had finally joined in, nodding his head along to the music and trying to bite back a grin. Tup had left the crowd to instead attempt to pull Dogma in, and Denal had rounded up a few newer members and was trying to push them closer to the front.

Kix unzipped the top half of his blacks, doing a slow strip-tease in time with the music.

“Gold watch, diamond ring, I ain’t missin’, not a single thing. And cufflinks, stickpin, when I step out I’mma do you in.” Kix shrugged out of his blacks and rolled his hips along the mop handle, dropping his ass low and slowly dragging himself back up, grinding against the handle.

“They come a runnin’ just as fast as they can, ‘cos every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man.”

Fives actually pretended to faint, falling backwards into Echo, who was laughing so hard that he fell over with him.

“ALRIGHT!” Dogma shouted over the music, elbowing his way through the crowd with Tup following anxiously behind him. Dogma firmly stopped the music, hands on his hips as he turned to face the rest of his brothers, who’d begun to boo.

“We have orders,” Dogma reminded them. “This is a punishment, not a party. When we finish here, we’re supposed to clean the shower block, and then we’re supposed to report to the mess hall and take over the canteen cleanup shifts.”

“We know the orders, Dogma.” Rose said, putting a hand on the younger trooper’s shoulder. “There’s no harm in having fun while you work.”

“I’m the only one still working.” Dogma grumbled.

“Alright, alright, we’ll turn it low for now, and we’ll finish up in here, then we can bring the radio with us when we move to the refreshers and canteen. Fair?” He asked, turning to the rest of the men. There were a few muttered responses, and Rose raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, I couldn’t quite make that out.” He said. “We are cleaning this mess up, correct gentlemen?”

“Sir yes sir!” They all answered quickly, hurrying back to work.

Rose chuckled, shifting the music to something a little calmer, the gentle piano wafting through the barracks as they continued to clean up.

Denal’s head perked up as soon as he heard the piano start, and while he didn’t climb up onto the table like his brothers had, he smiled to himself, turning back towards the spot he was scrubbing and singing to the durasteel floor.

“I'm sailing away. Set an open course for the Virgin Sea.”

Echo hummed, closing his eyes and rocking back on his heels for a moment, listening to his older vod croon.

“'Cause I've got to be free. Free to face the life that's ahead of me.” Denal continued, his voice soft but steady. “On board I'm the captain, so climb aboard. We'll search for tomorrow on every shore and I'll try, oh Lord I'll try… to carry on.”

Somebody whistled, a few scattered claps ringing through the barracks. Coric picked up where Denal left off.

“I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory. Some happy some sad.” He sang. “I think of childhood friends, and the dreams we had.”

Tup glanced to Dogma, who was practically seething as he scrubbed at the same spot on the floor that he’d been working on for the past several minutes. “You like this song, don’t you, Dogma?”

“No I don’t. Shut up.”

“Join in. They won’t mind.” Tup encouraged.

“No.”

“We live happily forever, so the story goes. But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold.” Sang Coric. “But we'll try best that we can to carry on!”

The music picked up, and Jesse shot Rose a look.

“This is a deceptively fast song.” He said.

“It sneaks up on ya.” Rose chuckled.

The barracks devolved into chaos once again, the clones all screaming along to the lyrics, even the ones who didn’t know the words picked it up quickly, encouraged by their brothers.

Despite the distractions, they finally finished cleaning the barracks, and Rose plucked the radio from where he’d stashed it, leading the way down the hallway towards the refreshers. The 501st were especially rowdy in the quiet halls – most of the barracks were empty, the clones who weren’t being punished for loth-cat related shenanigans were taking advantage of the shore leave.

When they opened the door to the shower block, they encountered a few members of the 212th already in there, cleaning up.

“Pack it in, lads.” Rose announced. “We’re taking over for you.”

“What? Why?” Boil asked, leaning on a mop and raising an eyebrow. “Did you get in trouble?”

“Yes.” Hardcase replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“All of you?” Waxer poked his head out from inside one of the refresher stalls, Crys and Wooley pausing from where they were wiping down countertops.

“Yeah, it’s Hardcase’s fault. As usual.” Jesse said, strolling over to Boil and plucking the mop from his hands. “We’re supposed to take over your shifts.”

“Good, I was hoping to get to 79’s tonight before last call. I hear they’ve got purple spotchka.” Boil said excitedly, glancing at Waxer over his shoulder.

“We can help you finish.” Waxer said, immediately raining on his brother’s parade. “There isn’t much left to do anyway.”

“You sure?” Rose asked. “It’s technically a punishment -.”

“Nah, it’s fine, there really isn’t much left, aside from the toilets.” He grinned. “But you boys can handle those.”

“Fair enough.” Rose chuckled, nodding over his shoulder to his men. Fives, Echo, Jesse, and Hardcase were in a heated four-way battle of rock, flimsi, cutters in order to determine who had to clean the toilets first.

“What’s that?” One trooper Rose didn’t recognize asked, pointing to his hand.

“It’s a radio!” Rose said cheerfully. “I’m err… technically not supposed to have it. But we’ve been listening to music while we worked.” He set it up on the countertop. “Do you have a favorite song…?”

“Spitter.” The 212th trooper supplied helpfully.

“Spitter.” Rose repeated, chuckling to himself and wondering how the hell he’d earned that name. “Do you have a favorite song?”

“I don’t know the name of it.” The trooper admitted shyly. “But – but it’s the one they play on the hits channel all the time. I hear it playing in the admiral’s quarters on the Negotiator all the time.”

“I know that one!” Waxer said excitedly, nodding to Rose. “It’s the one Commander Cody likes. You were playing it in the hangar a few weeks ago when our flight detail overlapped.”

“I remember.” Rose smiled, and turned the song on.

Immediately, every head, including Dogma’s, perked up at the familiar tune. Fives clapped his hands together, getting them started.

“When I wake up, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who wakes up next to you.”

The younger trooper, Spitter, lit up and followed it up.

“When I go out, yeah I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who goes along with you.”

Waxer elbowed Boil, trying to get him to join in, but the other trooper shook his head and crossed his arms, rolling his eyes even as Waxer sang.

“If I get drunk, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you.”

Their voices carried through the refresher’s tiled walls, and Jesse picked up where Waxer left off.

“And if I haver, yeah I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who’s havering to you.”

When the chorus rolled around, everyone joined in, their voices bouncing off the walls around them.

“But I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles to fall down at your door.”

“When I’m working,” Kix began, offering a hand to Wooley and giving him a playful spin. “Yes I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who’s working hard for you.”

“And when the money comes in for the work I do, I’ll pass almost every penny on to you.” Wooley laughed, shoving Kix away with a grin.

“When I come home,” Tup piped up quickly, before someone else could. “Oh, I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who comes back home to you.”

“And if I grow old,” Crys smirked, shaking his shoulders at Fives, who punched him playfully in the arms and joined in, singing the line in unison. “Well, I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who’s growing old with you.”

The chorus returned, and they sang with even more feeling than before, dancing and tossing their heads back, shouting along to the words and nearly drowning out the music itself as they sang.

As the final verse approached, Waxer sidled up next to Boil, giving him a hopeful look. His brother sighed, scrubbing a hand bitterly over his face and reluctantly joined in.

“When I’m lonely, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who’s lonely without you.” He sang.

“And when I’m dreaming,” Echo called. “Well I know I’m gonna dream, I’m gonna dream about the time when I’m with you.”

“And when I go out, well I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who goes along with you.” Fives followed.

“And when I come home, yes I know I’m gonna be, I’m gonna be the man who comes back home with you.” Denal said.

Tup took a deep breath, preparing to finish off the verse, but he was cut off.

“I’m gonna be the man who’s coming home,” Dogma’s voice was shaky as all eyes turned to him, and he finished in a squeak. “With you.”

The room erupted in cheers, Fives catching Dogma under his arm and giving him a noogie as the chorus rang out once again, everyone shouting along to the lyrics together.

When the song ended, and the cleanup was done, the 212th parted ways with the 501st, the brothers patting one another on the back and jeering affectionately at one another now that the song and dance was done.

“If you finish with everything before final call, catch up with us at 79’s.” Boil called over his shoulder. “We can give the vode there a run for their money with our rendition of that song.”

“Count on it.” Rose chuckled, giving the other company a little salute before leading his men on towards the canteen.

The canteen, blessedly, was empty, and most of it was already clean. All they really had to do was wipe everything down, mop, and then make sure the kitchen was well-prepped for the next day.

“I didn’t know you had it in ya, Dogma.” Echo said affectionately, knocking his younger vod playfully in the shoulder as they walked.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Dogma muttered, his ears burning as he pushed into the canteen, grabbing the cleaning supplies from the nearby supply closet.

“Who’s turn was it for a solo?” Fives asked, watching as Rose started to set up the radio above one of the food windows so it could project into the entire cafeteria.

“I think Dogma should go.” Kix grinned. “Now that we know he’s got some pipes.”

“Absolutely not.” Dogma said immediately, not looking up from where he was wiping down tables.

“I can go first?” Tup offered, raising his hand sheepishly. Dogma shot him another stern look, but Tup was already wandering over to the radio, moving the dial and tentatively pressing play.

Upbeat music filled the canteen, and the other troopers cheered as Fives ushered Tup over to the nearest table, boosting him up on top of it and then thrusting a mop into his hands. Hardcase was already fumbling with the helmet again, trying to get a recording as Tup tapped his foot along with the beat, nodding his head as he found his rhythm.

“I get up in the evening, and I ain’t got nothing to say. I come home in the morning, I go to bed feeling the same way.”

Fives was leading other troopers in pounding the surrounding tables in time with the drumbeats while Echo was leading another group to clap in time.

“I ain’t nothing but tired! Man, I’m just tired and bored with myself.” Tup flashed the camera a grin, reaching up and pulling his hair tie out, shaking his wild curls loose around his head. “Hey there baby, I could use just a little help.”

Jesse whistled, and Dogma had stopped cleaning and was watching his brother, the slightest smile pulling at his lips.

“You can’t start a fire, can’t start a fire without a spark. This gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”

Tup shook his hair out of his eyes, tossing his head back and jerking his hips.

“Messages keep getting clearer, radio’s on and I’m moving ‘round my place. I check my look in the mirror, wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face!”

He swayed his hips again, and Hardcase shoved the camera at Kix instead so he could join in the clapping.

“Man, I ain’t getting nowhere, I’m just living in a dump like this. There’s something happening somewhere, baby I just know that there is.”

He hopped off the table, instead taking Dogma’s hand and dragging him towards the makeshift stage.

“You can’t start a fire, you can’t start a fire without a spark. This gun’s for hire, even if we’re just dancing in the dark.”

He pushed the mop into Dogma’s hands instead, beaming at him as he scurried off the table, sprinting over to the radio and quickly changing the song.

Immediately, slow guitar started but quickly escalated into heavy drums and fast riffs. Dogma’s cheeks turned a darker shade, and he looked frantically to Tup, trying to climb back down off the stage.

“No, no, come on!” Fives shouted, trying to body block Dogma from getting down. “Come on, you got this!”

The lyrics began, and Dogma sang along, his mouth barely moving, voice almost imperceptible.

“Another head hangs lowly, child is slowly taken… and the violence caused such silence, who are we mistaken?”

“Come on!” Tup called to him. “You LOVE this song! Let ‘em hear it!”

Dogma grit his teeth, his voice gaining strength. “But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my family, in your head, in your head they are fighting.”

He stomped his foot on the table, practically snarling out the words. “With their tanks, and their bombs, and their bombs, and their guns, in your head, in your head they are crying.”

He threw his head back, and for not the first time that night, the radio was drowned out by cheers.

“In your head! In your head! Zombie, Zombie, Zombie. What’s in your head? In your head? Zombie, Zombie, Zombie!”

Dogma climbed off the table quickly, his ears and cheeks burning but a small smile was on his face, even as he was smothered by Hardcase, Fives, Tup, and Echo swarming him with hugs and rubbing his head affectionately.

Jesse climbed up onto the table next, picking up the discarded mop and clearing his throat.

“I would just like to dedicate this song to the gorgeous woman I picked up at 79s last week.” He drawled, nodding once to Kix, who was hovering knowingly by the radio. He nodded once to the helmet, which was now stationed on a nearby table, still recording. “Darling, you had the best pair of tits I have ever seen in my entire life, and you had the mouth of an angel and the coochie of a devil.”

Fives whistled, and Coric snickered. Rose rolled his eyes.

“So, babygirl, this one is for you.”

Kix turned on the radio, and Jesse grinned.

“Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame. Darling, you give love a bad name.”

Guitar rang out through the mess hall, and Jesse bit his lip, rolling his hips as he leaned slightly off the edge of the table.

“An angel’s smile is what you sell, you promised me heaven then put me through hell. Chains of love got a hold on me, when passion’s a prison, you can’t break free.”

He dropped into a crouch, singing directly into the camera.

“Whoa, you’re a loaded gun, whoa, there’s nowhere to run, no one can save me, the damage is done!”

He jumped to his feet, the table shaking under him as he landed.

“Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame. You give love a bad name. I play my part and you play your game, you give love a bad name!” He turned his back on the crowd, dropping low again and slowly rising, shaking his ass. “Yeah you give love…”

He looked over his shoulder, tossing the camera a wink. “…a bad name.”

The music changed abruptly, and for a moment Jesse looked pissed. “What the hell, ‘Case?”

But his expression shifted as Hardcase rushed to the table, pushing his brother out of the way and taking the mop from him. The crowd cheered all over again as Jesse climbed down, brothers slapping him on the shoulders as Hardcase’s song started up.

“We finish strong, right vode?” He asked cheekily.

“We still have to finish cleaning!” Dogma called back.

Hardcase only smirked in response, and sang quickly to keep up with the lightning fast lyrics.

“Backstroking lover always hiding ‘neath the cover, can I talk to you, my daddy say. He said, you ain’t seen nothing ‘til you’re down on a muff and then you’re sure to be a-changin’ your ways.”

He cupped his codpiece, bucking his hips forward into his own hand.

“I met a cheerleader, was a real young bleeder, all the times I can reminisce. ‘Cos the best things of lovin’ with her sister and her cousin only started with a little kiss, like this!”

He swung his arms wide, shaking his ass in time with the music and stuck his tongue out, having the time of his life.

“See-saw swingin’ with the boys in the school and your feet flyin’ up in the air. Singin’ hey diddle diddle with your kitty in the middle of the swing like you didn’t care.”

He walked backwards along the table, rolling his shoulders back as he moved.

“So I took a big chance at the high school dance with a missy who was ready to play. Wasn’t me she was foolin’ ‘cos she knew what she was doin’, and I know love is here to stay when she told me to walk this way!”

The rest of the 501st joined in with him, repeating the chorus of “Walk this way! Walk this way! Walk this way!” over and over again, Hardcase taking over again as the next verse began.

“School girl sweetie was the sassy kinda classy, little skirt’s climbing way up her knees. There was three young ladies in the school gym locker when I noticed they was lookin’ at me.”

He ran his hands along his thigh, mimicking raising a skirt.

“I was a high school loser, never made it with a lady ‘til the boys told me something I missed. Then my next-door neighbor with a daughter had a favor so I gave her just a little kiss, like this!”

“Do you think he has any idea what he’s singing about?” Kix asked Rose, leaning back against the counter and chuckling.

He watched as Hardcase went back to grabbing his own crotch, dry-humping the air and hummed.

“I’d say most likely.”

“See-saw swingin’ with the boys in the school and your feet flyin’ up in the air. Singin’ hey diddle diddle with your kitty in the middle of the swing like you didn’t care.”

Hardcase grinned, and to both Kix and Rose’s utter chagrin, Hardcase actually did dive off the makeshift stage and attempt to crowd surf.

“I’m not patching you up!” Kix shouted over the roar of the music. Rose chuckled, turning the volume nod down as the rest of the 501st shouted in protest.

“Alright, that’s enough for now.” The Lieutenant said, taking control once more. “We can listen to it quietly in the background, but we really do need to wrap up cleaning.”

“Why? Got a date tonight?” Jesse asked with a raised eyebrow. Rose punched him lightly in the arm, and they got back to work once again.

They worked in relative silence, the occasional voice humming or singing along to the music, but they remained productive right up until one of the final songs Rose had downloaded cut through the speaker. The piano wasn’t as rich-sounding as it was through a regular speaker, but even through the tinny cadence of the beat-up radio, every single trooper in the canteen bolted upright, eyebrows raised. Rose smiled knowingly, and turned up the volume once again.

Fives beamed, sitting down on top of one of the tables and laying back, one leg bent and the other stretched flat, a hand behind his head as he sang up at the ceiling.

“Just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world. She took the midnight train going anywhere.”

Jesse leaned back against the wall on the other side of the canteen, closing his eyes as he joined in.

“Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit. He took the midnight train going anywhere.”

Echo kept mopping, but was grinning as he picked up the next line. “A singer in a smoky room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume.”

Kix grinned. “For a smile, they can share the night, it goes on, and on, and on, and on.”

The rest of the 501st joined in together, their voices carrying in perfect harmony.

“Strangers, waiting. Up and down the boulevard, their shadows searching in the night. Streetlight people, living just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in the -.”

“Night!” Hardcase shouted, straining every muscle in his chest and neck as he struggled to reach the high note.

Tup picked up the next verse, climbing onto one of the tables and dragging Dogma up with him once again.

“Working hard to get my fill, everybody wants the thrill. Paying anything to roll the dice just one more time.”

Dogma smiled, nodding his head along to the music. “Some will win, some will lose.”

Tup threw his arm around his brother, and the two of them sang together. “Some were born to sing the blues!”

Rose’s voice carried from over by the radio. “Oh the movie never ends, it goes on and on, and on and on!”

“Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard, their shadows searching in the night. Streetlight people, living just to find emotion, hiding somewhere in the -.”

“NIGHT!” This time, it was Dogma, of all people, who rang out with the high note, and the explosion of shouts and cheers was deafening. They were screaming along to the lyrics, dancing and jumping and shouting and swaying in time with the song.

“Don’t stop believin’! Hold on to that feeling. Streetlight people! Don’t stop believin’, hold on-”

“WHAT IS GOING ON IN HERE?!”

The booming voice was so powerful, it could be heard even over the shouts of all the clones. Echo was closest to the radio, and quickly shut it off as the song and dance stopped immediately, every clone scrambling to stand at attention.

The Jedi that filled the doorway was massive, an imposing shadow in the entrance to the canteen. He zeroed in on Tup and Dogma, who had been standing closest to the entrance, and stormed towards them.

“Who is your commanding officer?!”

“Me, sir.”

The Besalisk Jedi turned, spinning on Rose immediately. He stalked over to the Lieutenant, jabbing a meaty finger into his chest, hard enough to send him stumbling backwards.

“What is the meaning of this?” He snarled.

“Sir, we were assigned cleaning detail.” He explained. “We were just finishing up.”

The Jedi bared his teeth. “Doesn’t look like much cleaning was taking place to me.”

He surveyed the rest of the troopers, but turned his head back to Rose.

“What is your designation?”

“CT-7673.” Rose recited immediately, keeping his back ramrod straight at attention, even though the Jedi was deep in his personal space. He knew this man. General Krell had quite the reputation through the GAR, and Rose had no clue what he was doing outside of the Jedi Temple this late at night.

“Who is your commanding officer?”

“Captain Rex, sir.”

“Not a clone! Is there a malfunction in your design?!” The Jedi bellowed. A few feet behind him, Hardcase flinched at the sudden loud sound, but Rose held still. “Your general, CT-7673! Who is your Commanding Officer!?”

“General Skywalker, sir.” Rose said instead. The canteen was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.

He turned his head, noticing the little radio on the table and picked it up, the device small in his massive hands, raising an eyebrow at Rose. “Contraband, disturbance of the peace, behavior unbecoming of an officer, insubordination.” He hissed. “That’s plenty of grounds for a court martial, Lieutenant.”

“Sir.” Fives spoke up, taking a step towards them. “Proper chain of command designates General Skywalker as the one to hand down a court martial order, sir.”

He narrowed his eyes, his voice dripping with contempt. “With all due respect, sir, you do not command this battalion, and cannot order a court martial on the Lieutenant.”

“Fives.” Rose snapped, whipping his head around to face Fives. “Stand down. Now.”

The ARC Trooper shrank back, his hands curled into fists at his sides, and the General turned back to Rose.

“Be that as it may,” he began icily. “You can rest assured this breach of conduct will not go unreported.”

“Yes sir.” Rose replied stiffly.

General Krell pulled back at last, surveying the battalion. “I want this canteen spotless, and not a word out of you in the meantime!” He ordered. “And I don’t think you’ll be needing this anymore.”

With one quick motion, he smashed the radio in his hands. Rose heard a soft, hurt sound somewhere behind him, but ignored it. He didn’t look away from the General.

“Dismissed.” Krell growled, turning and stalking towards the doors. “And as for you,” He turned, jabbing one large finger at Fives. “I’ll be mentioning you in my report as well. Pray our paths do not cross again, clone.”

And with those words, he left the canteen.

Rose relaxed, but only minimally so. The silence hung heavy over the 501st, and everyone quietly shuffled back to work.

Rose gripped the mop handle tightly as he worked, his knuckles turning white. His chest burned, a tight, constricting feeling wrapped around his insides. It was a feeling he’d never felt before – anger, sadness, humiliation, resignation – all rolled into one hateful ball, coiled in his gut.

“Finished with the kitchen, sir.” Came Tup’s small voice. He’d put his hair back up, the tight bun back to regulation standards. Dogma was standing stiff beside him, still not entirely relaxed yet. “And the um – the canteen area’s just about wrapped up as well.”

“Very good.” Rose said with a small nod. “I’ll report back to Captain Rex, let him know we’ve finished for the night.”

“Sorry about your radio, sir.” Hardcase murmured, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s alright, ‘Case.” Rose smiled, but his eyes were sad. “It was – it was old, anyway. Just a silly thing.”

Fives bristled, his jaw setting as he tossed the bucket he’d been holding back into the supply closet with far more force than necessary.

“We aren’t supposed to leave base for the rest of the night, right?” Denal asked, arms folded across his chest as they finished the last of the cleanup. “Guess we could play Sabacc or something back in the barracks?”

There were a few murmured agreements, and the 501st shuffled back towards the barracks. Rose was still thinking about the General, and had a bitter taste in his mouth. They hadn’t been doing anything wrong, really.

Was it such a crime to enjoy oneself? To simply exist?

Fives and Echo fell into step on either side of Rose, the ARC Troopers bracketing their Lieutenant. “I bet Echo and I could rebuild the radio.” Fives offered. “Might take a little bit, but even if we can’t, Kix is real good at bartering stuff down in the markets. Remember when he got us those HoloDisc movies for just a tube of bacta?”

“We could find another radio for you?” Echo suggested hopefully. “Or maybe,” he lowered his voice slightly. “Maybe Y/N could find you one?”

“Let it go.” Rose said, picking up the pace and pulling away from the ARC Troopers. They reentered the now far tidier barracks, and Rose gravitated back to his footlocker, starting to close it up and push it back under his bed. The metal clacked slightly against the edge of the bunk, and he paused, the tinny sound echoing in his ears.

He knocked the footlocker against the bunk again, listening to the little noise again.

Kark it. He was more than just a mindless flesh-droid. He was a person. A human being. And he liked music.

And he wasn’t about to let anybody take that away from him.

“I never got to do a song.” He announced, straightening up and putting his hands on his hips.

“You can’t be serious, sir.” Dogma said, shaking his head at him. “Haven’t we gotten in enough trouble?”

“I’m sure the General’s slithered back to the Temple by now, where he belongs.” Jesse replied, turning back to the Lieutenant. “We don’t have a radio anymore, sir.”

“We don’t need one.” Rose said, pulling his footlocker back out and propping up one leg on it. He tapped his foot against the metal, the rhythm settling, nodding his head along. He took a deep breath.

“Standing in the rain, with his head hung low. Couldn't get a ticket, it was a sold out show.”

Fives recognized the song, and started tapping his foot along, drumming his hands on an overturned weapons crate.

“Heard the roar of the crowd, he could picture the scene. Put his ear to the wall, then like a distant scream.” Rose climbed up onto the table. “He heard one guitar!”

Jesse slammed a bucket from earlier down against the supports of a bunk, the loud clang mimicking the strum of a guitar.

“Just blew him away. He saw stars in his eyes, and the very next day, bought a beat up six string in a secondhand store. Didn’t know how to play it, but he knew for sure, that one guitar!”

Another clang, this time from Kix repeating Jesse’s motion, and Echo, Denal, Coric and Fives were all drumming on overturned buckets and crates.

“Felt good in his hands! Didn’t take long to understand, just one guitar, slung way down low, was a one way ticket, only one way to go.”

Tup and Hardcase had picked up a brush – typically used for scrubbing their blasters and armor down – and were knocking it against the durasteel wall. Dogma had rounded up the others, a look of sheer determination on his face as they clamored around the bunks and tables, smacking their fists in rhythm with anything they could get their hands on.

“So he started rockin', ain't never gonna stop. Gotta keep on rockin', someday gonna make it to the top!”

Rose stomped his feet, and the rest of the 501st joined him for the chorus.

“And be a juke box hero, got stars in his eyes. He's a juke box hero!”

“He took one guitar,” Rose sang, while the rest of the battalion echoed “juke box hero, stars in his eyes” around him. “Juke box hero, he’ll come alive tonight.”

The singing quieted down, listening for a moment to see if anyone was coming, and Rose grinned, starting again and pitching his voice low.

“In a town without a name, in a heavy downpour, thought he passed his own shadow, by the backstage door.”

The clones took position, preparing to resume their makeshift instruments as Rose picked up in volume.

“Like a trip through the past, to that day in the rain. And that one guitar, made his whole life change! Now he needs to keep on rockin', he just can't stop! Gotta keep on rockin', that boy has got to stay on top!”

Once again, shouts rang out as his brothers joined him for the chorus, their voices louder and more determined than ever, refusing to be silenced.

“And be a juke box hero, got stars in his eyes. He's a juke box hero, got stars in his eyes. Yeah, juke box hero, stars in his eyes. With that one guitar, he'll come alive, come alive tonight.”

As they finished the song, Rose panted softly, glancing down at his commlink again. He decided he was going to go off base after all. He wanted to see you, and nobody, not his Captain’s orders, and definitely not some karking General like Krell, was going to stop him.

“Dismissed.” He said curtly, and took off out the door without another word.

SONGS USED (because they’re all bangers and you should listen to them):

The 501st (introduction): Hotel California Echo: Hooked on a Feeling Fives: Kickstart My Heart Kix: Sharp Dressed Man Jesse: You Give Love a Bad Name Coric and Denal: Come Sail Away Dogma: Zombie Tup: Dancing in the Dark Hardcase: Walk This Way The 212th and 501st: I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) The 501st (Canteen finale): Don’t Stop Believin’ Rose and the 501st: Juke Box Hero

TAG LIST (Aka everyone on the tag list for BAON): @fat-zygerrian @ladydiomede @pro-fangirls-unsocial-life @threevie @cheesemachine44 @bubblyacey @fivedicksinatrenchcoat @loverofclones @starwarsgarbage @hockeyjedi13 @crazygirlwithasword @dar-manda-rjct @gotomarvelgal @baba-fett @whore4rex @bubblegumcat229 @generalcannoli @hellothere501stlover @in-the-crosshairs @vaderthepotater @for-the-love-of-clones @babyhowzer @imrealatedtothe501st @chewychewyque @bobafettuccini @baba-fett-writes @chromia7567 @coffeeandtodd @thedomesticatednerd @kirinpl @djarrex @a-c-lee @embarrassedauthornerd @kaorikoizumi @the-girl-of-rain-and-shadows @sammi9498 @theroguesully @salaminus

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uncleshits · 3 years ago

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I WLD LIKE TO HEAR ABT UR MUSICIAN NURSEY PLS

OH BOY ANON WOULD I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(first off tho I gotta give MASSIVE props to my beloved AU co-creator @dexnursey who actually had the og idea for this AU and is the real mastermind)

(also this au is my BABY and I’d love to talk about it all day, especially the meanings behind each of the songs if anyone would want to hear about it!! (Butterflies alone has its own essay waiting, trust me))

so basic premise is that Nursey’s senior year he takes a music composition and songwriting class as a way to explore creatively with his poetry and also to just get back into music (lots of rich parents make their kids learn at least the basics of a lot of instruments growing up so he actually has some pretty solid musical skill! (in my head he plays piano, guitar and both forms of bass)).

Dex and him have had an on-again-off-again friends-with-benefits situation since Junior year, so inevitably Nursey is Nursey and gets Feelings! Yikes! and writes a few love songs. BUT unfortunately they never actually established if their FWB relationship was exclusive, and towards the end of senior year Dex hooks up with a guy at a kegster, as a way to try to get over his OWN feeling for Nursey. (and texts Nursey about it at 3:07am).

Nursey (feeling especially betrayed because he was about to give Dex the song “Pancakes for Dinner” as a way to reveal his feelings) breaks off the FWB in a pretty nasty fight, and after graduation him and Dex lose touch completely.

he moves to NYC and continues writing songs (now more sad ballads about being heartbroken and lonely and losing soulmates) and a few months after graduation he releases….

“chill.”, an EP full of sad songs with good lyrics with themes of heartbreak and loneliness, but less polished instrumentals and recording, it has a very “made at home” vibe, but it's good enough that it picks up steam and he actually gains a pretty sizable following in the indie music scene! he’s pretty secretive about the inspiration for his songs, but it's pretty obvious to anyone who’s listened to even one of the songs that he fell pretty hard out of love :(( he also doesn’t share his music with anyone but Chowder and Lardo (who he commissioned to make the art for the cover). he swears them both to secrecy, and releases it all under the name “d.m.n.” to avoid Dex finding out about his music and heartbreak. he abandons all of the love songs he wrote before him and Dex ‘broke up’ and none of them make it onto the EP.

but in the year that follows he works through a lot of his own feelings, and he finishes kinda ‘mourning’ his relationship and friendship with Dex. he writes more songs during this time, and eventually digs up some of his old songs from senior year and reworks them until they end up on his new album...

“freckled” has more themes of missed opportunities and almost mourning, but it also has his love songs for Dex, full of wistfulness, longing and overall excitement and giddiness at being in love.

lyrically, it’s just as good as “chill.”, but the instrumentals are all a lot stronger, with full bands or even orchestras for most of the songs. he records and mixes some of the songs from senior year completely on his own, though, which he says in interviews is to “preserve the unpracticed artist” that he was when he wrote them. (one night, drunk, he tells Chowder that it’s actually because he didn’t want the band to see him cry while he made them).

there's no one real ending, as this is where the AU splits off, with some versions having Dex stumble onto Nursey’s live-stream where he plays the songs and talks about his “unrequited love from college”, some versions where Dex’s sister unknowingly drags him to one of Nursey’s concerts, and so on and so on.

my personal favorite is one where Dex is a fan of d.m.n. (not knowing it’s actually Nursey) because so many of the songs just resonate with him. he ends up going to one of his concerts in NYC and once Nursey comes on stage he gets hit with “holy shit these are all Nursey’s holy shit Nursey was in love with someone holy shit holy shit holy shit” and again it splits into several different endings after that (all of which I’d be DELIGHTED to talk about)

(There’s also eventually a third album I’d love to make if anyone would be interested 👀👀👀)

seriously tho i barely even scratched the surface of this au but its just..... So Good and i could think about it all day

#omgcp #nurseydex #nursey #musician Nursey au #mine #seriously this is my BABY i love this au so much #there's so many other songs you could add #one of my favorites isnt on spotify but deserves recognition so bad I might have to make it its own post #komodo by samsa also isnt on spotify this is homophobic let me INCLUDE IT #please someone ask more about this I wanna infodump all day #AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH #going through me and charlie's old DMs :)))#this au is just so much I really barely scratched the surface #WAIT I ACTUALLY JUST GOT TO THE BUTTERFLIES MESSAGES I'M GONNA CRY #ok its almost 4 am rn i'm gonna schedule it for the Day #asked #answered #anonymous

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ecoamerica · 29 days ago

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Apply or nominate: https://ecoamerica.org/american-climate-leadership-awards-2025/

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saltandlimes · 4 years ago

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Ashe Fire Emblem pls

ASHE. ARCHER BOY ASHE. Such a sweet boy, such a good knight.

Favorite thing about them: His devotion to his siblings (both Christophe and his brother and sister). He cares so deeply about them, and is so determined to make the world a better place for them. I love how he is willing to acknowledge that Christophe made mistakes, but is still devoted to him, and cherishes his memories of him.

Least favorite thing about them: He has a tendency to let those who he views as having higher status walk all over him. It’s completely understandable, given his background, but it makes me sad for him. While he eventually gets much better about it, it’s the only thing I can think of that bothers me about him.

Favorite line: “I think I know what I need to protect now. It's been staring me in the face all this time. I don't know why I couldn't see it. I'm Lonato's son. His pride and his wishes are my inheritance. Those are what I should protect.” [From his B support with Gilbert. I love how Gilbert tells Ashe that Lonato was wrong to forget about his duty towards Ashe, and Ashe acknowledges that and still wants to honor Lonato.]

BrOTP: Ingrid. They just have so much fun together. They really understand one another, especially after Ingrid realizes that Ashe isn’t as naive as she first thought. Their relationship is also really low pressure, because Ingrid doesn’t feel like she’s going to get married off to Ashe (not that it wouldn’t be an advantageous match, it would, given that Ashe is going to end up with Gaspard territory. But it never really seems like Count Galatea would consider it.) Ashe doesn’t feel pressured to put on a show of proper behavior around her, because he views her as another future knight. It’s just a really good friendship.

OTP: Dedue. I really love their relationship and how they enjoy each other’s company so much. They really understand one another, and I love how Ashe acknowledges he can’t understand Dedue’s experience of racism, but he will fight it with all his heart. I also like him and Byleth together, particularly in AM or VW. I almost S-supported him at one point. He is an idealist in a way that Byleth can really benefit from.

NoTP: I don’t really have one. I’m not really into him and Dimitri, but I don’t hate it. Generally, I think Ashe gets along with everyone really well, and would be a good partner for almost anyone.

Random headcanon: He gives his children the Gaspard name, even though he never takes it himself. They are, after all, the heirs to Gaspard territory. Of course, the moment he steps down in favor of his daughter, she immediately changes her name to Ubert, and from then on, Gaspard lands are ruled by the Uberts. In later times, stories proliferate about the common-born knight whose honorable nature, devotion to his people, and virtue made him beloved by his people. The Knight of the Silver Bow becomes something of a folk hero, and as the founder of the Ubert line, is remembered in song and tale.

Unpopular opinion: I only have them about him as a unit, rather than as a character. He’s actually a really good archer unit. He was a major help in the final battles in my AM maddening run, especially in the final one. Yeah, his strength growths suck, but his dex growths totally make up for it, as do his combat arts.

Song I associate with them: Garmarna’s version of Herr Mannelig or Dole Teifi/Lliw’r Heulwen in Cynefin’s version. I generally feel like Welsh folk music is really fitting for Ashe

[Send me a character and I’ll tell you my opinions]

#ashe ubert #ashe fire emblem #ashe duran #fe3h #ask meme #ask game #lolace

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angelz-dust · 4 years ago

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masters of none (jason todd x reader)

summary: welcome to my jason x celebrity fic, based on this headcanon. pls enjoy.

word count: 5.2k

warnings: gun mention. food mention.

part 2

626 bedford avenue

baby let's have a conversation and god forbid we have a connection

...

"are you sure? i don't wanna leave your here alone," dex had said to you as he put his jacket on. the two of you were in the studio when he got a sudden invite to a party.

"i'll be fine. i just wanna finish this track tonight. or attempt to, i guess," you explained, spinning in your chair to face him. you watched as he used his wooden military brush to fix his waves. "everyone else is going so you should go."

"you should also go," he chuckled, shaking his head before sighing and pocketing the brush. "at least let me take you home now."

"i have to finish this, dex. seriously. just go," you told him, turning back around to face the monitor.

"fine, but i'm coming back when it's over and i'm taking you home. i don't care if you're not done or passed out on the couch," he told you firmly, grabbing his keys off the coffee table. "are you hungry? i can get you something to eat."

"i already ate."

you did not, but you weren't hungry. you were too invested in working to be hungry. you'd eat later when he picked you up.

"alright. make sure the doors are locked when i leave. you know where the gun is, right?" he asked and you lifted your arm up, giving him a thumbs up. you had your headphones back on and were about to focus on that again. he rolled his eyes before leaving, making sure the doors were locked himself.

your work in progress played loudly in your ears as you stared at the meticulously placed loops on the monitor. you didn't like hearing your own voice but you loved the rush of putting together the puzzle that was a song, so you let it go. you worked for hours, unmoving from your spot until you felt a familiar tingle make place in your temples. a hunger headache was coming on and staring at the monitor, probably without blinking, wasn't helping.

it was midnight and dex probably wouldn't get back until 2 or 3. you weren't sure if you'd last that long. there were snacks in the mini fridge that could tide you over but it wouldn't be satisfying. you stood up, your legs feeling like jelly from not being used for so long. your ass had gone numb, too.

you wobbled your way to the fridge of wonders, resting on it to balance yourself as you opened it. you were looking for the yogurt you had stashed in there but...

"fucking jordy," you breathed out, recalling how he had eaten it that morning before you both left for your video with gotham insider.

...

"hey, i'm jordy rivas."

"and i'm y/n l/n."

"we're here with gotham insider and we'll be answering your burning questions."

you had a bucket filled with slips of paper in your lap as you waited for the cue to start picking. you took in your surroundings, not being able to see much with the bright lights illuminating you from above and keep everyone else in the dark. sometimes you couldn't tell if you were on set or on an operating table. jordy, your group mate, noticed that you two had plenty of questions to answer as he peered into the bucket.

how you got here was still a blur. your rise to stardom alongside your friends felt so sudden, it was hard to believe. you didn't expect to have such a large following at this point, or ever. and you never thought you'd have a band of brothers and sisters who loved music as much as you did. it was like a dream come true. not only did you have them but you were able to expand your horizons musically. you were just a below average producer before but now you produced music of all genres at such a high caliber. hell, you even sang a little now.

being a celebrity was overwhelming at times, but you loved interacting with fans or the family, as you affectionately called them. you'd take a simple q&a or fan meet over an award show or social event any day.

"alright, go ahead and start," a staff member said from behind the camera and you stuck your hand in at the same time as jordy, both pulling out a slip.

"how did you guys come up with the name cloud 9?" jordy read from his slip.

"stockholm syndrome," you said simply, getting a little laugh from jordy and some staff before he spoke up to explain.

"we were unofficially going by seven heavens before y/n and dex came along. we had just dropped music under our own names before but we couldn't really do that if we were going to do a group album so we needed a name."

"we were just producing a song each for the album," you spoke up to clarify. "i decided to call our studio session 'on cloud nine' since it fit with the theme of the group and there were nine of us working together."

"then we realized y/n and dex were geniuses and we asked them to produce the whole album," jordy chimed in with a smile. "they had already put so much work into it, so we asked them to join the label and we dropped the album as cloud 9."

best decision i ever made, you thought to yourself, a smile playing on your lips. on cloud nine took ages to produce but the results were worth it. for you, it was more than the money and the charts. creating music was a labor of love and an extension of yourself. you helped create a piece of art that you loved and allowed others to love too. it was the greatest feeling in the world.

"next question is... how do you guys decide who collaborates on what and when you do it?" you read, shrugging your shoulders softly. "we just do it on a whim. covers, singles, eps, full albums, it doesn't matter. we still operate as a group but sometimes we wanna do our own separate projects. we're in charge of ourselves so we do what we want."

the rest of the questions were pretty tame, mostly asking about your music and your label mates. occasionally they got more personal, asking about your interests and families. you both answered with enthusiasm, joking around a little and keeping certain things private when you felt necessary or when you were contractually obligated to. can't go around spilling secrets about upcoming music and other projects.

you and jordy were actually working on an album but it hadn't been announced yet. that was why you two came together, as a way of hinting at it and getting ready for promotions to come. the album was nothing like what you both normally did in a lot of different ways. the sound, the aesthetic, all of it. it was an ambitious project and you were looking forward to seeing how it would be perceived.

you were just about done with the q&a, pulling out the last question from the bucket that jordy had then ceremoniously punted out of frame.

"who is your favorite vigilante? i don't know actually. i've never thought about it," you softly clicked your tongue with a pensive look.

"i like signal," jordy answered as you thought it over. "i saw him kick ass up close one time and he has a cool costume."

"i like nightwing's costume! uniform? whatever," you said with a confused shake of the head, not really sure what to call it. "the blue bird is cool. i personally enjoy the color blue, so he gets points for that. it's a sexy shade of blue."

that last part elicited some laughter from jordy. "is that some roundabout way of you saying nightwing turns you on?"

"it's a direct way of me saying i like the color blue," you corrected him. "but yeah, he looks like he'd be hot. it has no bearing on how i feel about the blue, though. two separate feelings."

"who else is there? you got batman and robin. red robin. uh..." jordy trailed off, trying to think.

"batgirl," you supplied, getting a nod from him. "orphan? right? and uh..."

"red hood!" jordy said with a smile. "that dude is cool as hell. i like his jacket."

"doesn't he shoot people?" the staff laughed again at your delivery of the question. clearly you were on a roll today.

"he doesn't have a hood, though," you realized, looking perplexed. "why is he red hood if he doesn't have a hood? why doesn't he just call himself... red helmet?"

"because that's fucking stupid," jordy said through his laugher, shoulder bouncing. that would have to be censored in post.

"he's fucking stupid."

that too.

the staff watched as the two of you managed to go off on this tangent that had nothing to do with the original question. one of the interns looked to the camera man, who looked equally intrigued and confused at where the conversation had gone. "do we... stop them? we're going over on time."

the camera man shrugged and the manager shook her head. "god, no. do not stop them. this is gold."

"he doesn't need a hood, y/n. it's just a name. nightwing doesn't have wings," he reminded you and you rolled your eyes, a subtle pout on your lips.

"yeah but the bird does. it's still on brand. just like batman. and robin. and red robin. and signal. and batgirl," you listed matter of factly.

"what about orphan? is she an orphan?" jordy asked you with attitude.

"probably, bitch. why else would she call herself that?" you said, the both of you riled up now, hence all the sudden cursing. you two kept it (mostly) clean up until this point. "red hood is the only one off brand."

"why are you being a hater right now?" jordy asked with lopsided grimace and you rolled your eyes. "you completely derailed the conversation."

"oh, i'm sorry. i didn't realize you were on his payroll."

"red hood doesn't need payola. he's cool by himself."

"why are you dick sucking red hood?"

"don't ever say that shit again," jordy said immediately, almost cutting you off at the end of your question.

he crossed his arms, looking annoyed as you looked into the camera with a blank expression. you were trying to fight it, but a tight lipped smile appeared on your face, making you look down and scratch the tip your nose lightly with your nail. then your ear. then back down to the side of your neck. your body shook with silent laughter when you glanced at him.

"i'm sorry," you said convincingly after having collected yourself in record time, just barely getting cut off by jordy again.

"no you're not."

"no i'm not," you shook your head, your facade dropping as quickly as it was put on. "you still haven't answered the-"

"i hope red hood shoots you," he told you seriously, giving you a blank look. your jaw dropped, a surprised noise that almost sounded like laughter came out of your mouth as you looked back at the camera. you knew that he was just playing around but it didn't change the fact that it outrageously juvenile.

it was silent. you and jordy knew this was just friendly bickering but the staff weren't too sure. you rubbed the inside of your cheek with your tongue, slowly dragging it over your teeth as you contemplated his words.

red hood wouldn't actually shoot you. right? he's a bit more morally gray from what you've heard about him but he wouldn't just shoot somebody for making a joke, would he? that seemed kind of ridiculous. overkill, if you will.

your eyes darted between jordy and the camera. back at him. then the camera. jordy again. your head jerked a little in his direction before fully turning to look at him.

"do you think he'd actually shoot me?" you asked quietly, looking at him with a smile on your face as your expressions quickly mirrored each other.

"i would," he told you and you laughed, looking at the camera again.

"mr. red hood, if you're watching his, m-my bad bro," you stuttered through yours and jordy's laughter. "i was just talking shit. please don't shoot me. i-if you don't i'll uh... i'll be your bard!"

"what the fuck?" jordy cried out, hiding his face in his hands as he laughed harder.

"i will write and sing about your adventures and conquests," you pleaded with the man who definitely wasn't going to see. you made a heart by lifting your arms up and having your fingers meet at the top of your head. it was really a waste of time in hindsight but you had to cover your bases just in case he did see it. getting shot was not on your bucket list. "please don't shoot me. seriously. i didn't meant it."

"that's all the questions we had," jordy's voice was pitchy from all the laughing. "i'm jordy."

"and i'm y/n," you smiled, doing a little dance as you stayed in your heart position before waving with jordy. "byeeee!"

...

you weren't entirely sure how long you had been standing there with the door open, letting all the cold air out of the fridge. you assumed it was too long since your nipples felt hard as rocks now, which only added a layer to how uncomfortable you felt. your stomach was touching your back at this point and that headache wasn't going anywhere. and now your nipples felt like they were going to fall off. you were pretty sure exhaustion was going to start claiming on you, too.

killing yourself seemed to be the only option and what you were thinking of doing was practically suicide. you wanted to go walk to the corner store that had the yogurt. your craving was too strong. you needed it and waiting for dex was not an option. there was nothing of substance in the fridge anyway. just drinks and snacks that weren't yours to eat.

a normal person could probably do it and not die. but you were in gotham and you were convinced that the moment you opened the door killer croc or one of the penguin's goons would be waiting for you.

taking the gun would be the smart thing to do but you didn't feel comfortable walking around with it. the feeling of cold steel against your skin was unsettling and the chance of it going off on you was even scarier. yes, you would have the safety on, but that wasn't enough to ease your mind. it felt like walking around with a bomb strapped to your chest. you didn't even wanna think about it dropping it or something while you were in the store. you were sure the ock wouldn't like that.

you grabbed your keys, slipping the wristband on. you had a little card holder and pepper spray hanging off the key ring. you also had a small switchblade for all your stabbing needs. you hadn't used it for murderous intent yet and you wanted to keep it that way.

i'll have red hood put me out of my misery, you thought morbidly to yourself. maybe jordy wishing death on you this morning was a blessing in disguise because you were progressively feeling more like shit with each passing moment.

you braced yourself for the crisp nighttime air and the dangers lurking around every corner before opening the door. it was dark, as expected. you had your hands stuffed in the pockets of your sweatpants. your right hand rested right on top of your phone carefully stashed away in the black polyester pocket.

your sense of direction was, to put it lightly, dog shit, and the pitch blackness of night wasn't helping. you had your airpods in with the gps telling you where to go. if it had a mind of its own, it would probably be judging you for needing to locate a building that was 5 minutes away. nevertheless, hearing the robo voice in your ears was oddly comforting.

the walk there wasn't that bad once you got to the area with all the traffic, illuminated with fluorescent lighting from the surrounding stores. it was the first time you felt comfortable under blinding white light.

you walked into the store quietly, beelining for the cold food section. you grabbed hot fries and sour skittles on your way over for dex, wanting to soften the blow for when you told him you left the studio by yourself. you spotted the salted caramel flavor through the condensation on the glass and you could already taste the creamy treat on your tongue. you smiled to yourself, grabbing the handle to the door when you heard the automatic door to the store open, accompanied by a chime.

"hey, man, what's going on?" you heard the voice of the cashier from behind you. you grabbed your yogurt and turned around, freezing in place when you saw who had entered.

red hood!

you could hear jordy's enthusiastic voice from this morning bounce around in your head like a pinball. the man you had been talking shit about earlier was right in front of you. jesus christ, was he there for you? how did he even find you? the video hadn't even dropped yet!

he must have felt your intense gaze burning a hole in the side of his head because he turned to face you. thankfully, you slid to the side, hiding behind the chips. he knew you were there and that you had been staring at him, even though he didn't catch you in the act. you attempting to hide yourself behind the buy two, get one free mini chip bags was slightly suspicious, but to be fair, he did just walk into a public place as red hood, so he let it go. turning back to salim, the cashier, he grabbed the bag of m&m's he had slid him.

he always paid for the things he picked out when he came to the store, but salim always gave him m&m's for free. red hood kept his store and community safe, so in salim's eyes, giving him candy that only cost a dollar anyway was nothing.

you started grabbing some other snacks, slowly weaving through the aisles as to not cause alarm to the huge man standing not to far from you. you knew he was big but fuck. he was built like a freight train. probably hit like one, too.

"anyone give you trouble tonight?" you heard a voice, his voice. it was distorted behind that mask... helmet... thing. it sounded robotic. was he actually a robot? like cyborg or something?

"nah, it's been quiet tonight," salim shook his head as the vigilante grabbed a little bag of cookies from the shelf behind him, setting it on the counter before asking for a carton of cigarettes. "i heard that jewelry store on bedford ave got hit though."

bedford avenue? your studio was on bedford avenue, tucked away from the main street. the store wasn't too far from it, either. you must have been so wrapped up in working that you didn't hear the commotion because it was definitely close enough for you to hear it.

"just came from there," the vigilante informed him, his robotic voice being both intriguing and off putting to you. he walked back over with the warm cup of liquid in his gloved hand, setting it on the counter next to the cookies.

must have just missed it then, you thought to yourself, if he just came from over there. lucky me.

"you alright, honey?" salim called out to you with familiar affection. he always treated everyone who came to his store with respect and like family. he was always very sweet to you and he felt a sense of pride knowing that he had both celebrities and vigilantes frequenting his store.

"don't tell me you're trying to rob me," he added on at the end, getting the attention of red hood. he wasn't sure if salim was being serious or not. it would confirm his suspicions about your weird behavior from earlier. it would be kind of ballsy to try something while he was standing there, though.

"uh... yeah. this is a stick up. give me everything you got," you said lamely, standing on your toes to peek at him over the shelf.

salim's rich laughter filled the store and he shook his head. "just checking," he said before redirecting his attention to red hood, who loosened up when he realized it was just banter between friends.

you realized the longer you spent in the store, the later it would get. you waddled your way over to the counter with your snacks in your arms a comfortable distance away from red hood, who set cash on the counter. he looked over at you again, making you shrink under his gaze. he was essentially faceless, which was a little unsettling, to say the least. he turned away, grabbing his things and moving out of your way.

you put all of your snacks on the counter, trying to ignore the man's presence. he wasn't doing anything but being intimidating.

"you here by yourself, honey?" concern laced salim's words as he rung up your snacks. "it's a little late, isn't it?"

"oh, uh, yeah," you nodded, pulling your card out to pay. "everyone else is at a party in maywood."

as red hood was walking out, his brow furrowed when he heard what you were talking about. maywood was where all the big social events took place. he had been out there a few times with bruce. not anyone could go to a party out there so...

"ah, one of those celebrity parties you all go to, huh?" salim grinned, giving you your bag of goodies. he still felt unsure about you being by yourself, though. "hey, red! you should walk her back home."

he was almost out the door when he heard salim call out to him. he turned, looking at the both of you. you felt awkward looking at him and you quickly shook your head.

"no, no, it's fine. the studio isn't far," you told him and salim firmly shook his head in protest.

"it's late. you shouldn't have even walked here to begin with," he scolded you a little. it was just out of concern, of course. "she's a big time celebrity, you know."

you frowned at salim's description of you. not being able to read red hood's expressions to gauge how he felt about this whole thing was frustrating, too. he was probably glaring daggers at you.

"i can take you," the robotic voice said. normally he wouldn't be escorting civilians around but he was done for the night and if you really weren't that far, it wouldn't kill him to walk you back to wherever you were headed. he was in a good mood, even if it didn't appear that way.

"see? let the man take you back," salim pushed and you complied, giving him a little nod. "you two stay safe out there! i don't need my favorite customers getting hurt."

you waved goodbye to salim, turning to see that red hood had already started walking off. you quickly shuffled your way out to follow behind him.

"where are we going?" he asked, not even giving you a glance as you both stood on the sidewalk.

"bedford," you said quietly and he turned to face you, his look of disbelief hidden under the mask. why the hell would you leave? you had to have left while the heist was still going on. no wonder salim asked him to take you home. clearly you had a death wish.

"lead the way," he said to you, trailing behind you as you listened to the gps tell you where to go. you hoped he didn't have supersonic hearing or something, because needing to use the gps was still kind of embarrassing.

you two walked in silence, the sound of your plastic bags and the ambient city noises being the only sounds ringing in your ears. you felt a little safer having red hood as your temporary bodyguard but you'd rather risk dying to avoid the awkward silence.

"so big time celebrity," red hood spoke up, startling you a little. you almost thought it was the gps talking to you. "what do you do?"

he knew you were feeling awkward and probably afraid walking with him. he wasn't trying to scare you, though. he figured talking to you would ease the tension a little.

"oh, uh... music," you said simply.

what a dry response. were you expecting him to carry the whole conversation? because he wasn't.

"why are you out here and not in maywood?" he asked, carrying the conversation anyway.

"the studio is here so i'm here."

"so you're working?"

"yeah."

you were not fun to talk to. he wasn't going to hold it against you though. he himself probably didn't come off as a guy who wanted to talk.

"do you shoot just anyone?" you asked suddenly.

well that was one hell of an icebreaker. did he just shoot anyone? where the hell did that come from? were you that afraid of him?

"no," he said, hoping you couldn't hear his smile in his words. it was such an odd question to ask. "why? you think i'm gonna shoot you or something?"

"are you?" you asked panicked, whipping around to face him.

he put his hands up in mock surrender, letting out a laugh this time. "relax. you haven't given me a reason to want to shoot you. or have you?"

"i hope not," you said honestly, turning back around to continue walking.

"i'm not going to shoot some innocent girl, let alone a famous one. it's a bad look," he explained to you, hoping the humor behind his voice would make you relax a little.

"why don't you wear a hood?" your line of questioning continued. "you're red hood but you don't wear a hood."

"why do you keep asking ridiculous questions?" he asked rhetorically before answering your question anyway. "a hood doesn't protect the face."

well, that made sense, actually. it looked like that helmet thing he wore was made of metal or something. much better protection than cotton. it was still off brand but you could respect it.

"what the hell are you wearing?" the man had exclaimed suddenly, making you furrow your brows and look back at him. his gaze was down at your feet. "how did i not notice those before?"

"clearly that stupid helmet obstructs your vision," you pouted, looking down at the cute bunnies that sat on the strip of your pink slides. "they're my slides."

"they're hideous," he told you seriously and you scoffed.

what an asshole. how dare he insult your babies like that? they were minding their fucking business, chilling on your feet. they didn't asked to be attacked like this.

"you're hideous," you retorted childishly. "my bunnies are cute, thank you very much."

"how am i hideous? you can't even see me," he reminded you, tapping on his helmet.

"your outfit is hideous. you look like... i don't know. ugly. your face is probably ugly, too," you huffed, crossing your arms.

you wished you could go back in time and not apologize for insulting him earlier. he deserved it.

"you wound me," he said sarcastically, placing a hand over his heart. "how will i recover?"

"give me your gun and let's find out," you said, holding out your hand jokingly before getting it swatted away by his.

okay, fine. he wasn't that bad. you were actually kind of enjoying the conversation and so was he.

"arrived," you heard in your ears, looking up and seeing the studio right before your eyes.

you had been so wrapped up in bantering with him that you forgot what you were doing in the first place: going back to the studio. you almost felt disappointed that you were about to go your separate ways. you had just gotten comfortable.

"this is the place," you said, gesturing up to the building. "thank you for walking me here."

"try to keep your late night excursions to a minimum."

and with that, he used his grappling hook and disappeared into the shadows of the night. creepy. kinda cool but mostly creepy.

you walked around back to the side door, letting yourself back into the studio and locking up immediately afterwards. another successful snack run. now all you had to do was wait for dex to get back.

...

it had been about two weeks since your encounter with the vigilante. jason had long forgotten about it. he had been at the manor, lingering around after a meeting in the cave with bruce and his brothers. he didn't like sticking around once business was taken care of but alfred offered to make him chili dogs. it was a calculated move to get him to stick around and it worked.

tim was lounging on the arm chair while dick and damian were both seated on the couch. jason stood off to the side, directing his attention to the television that sat above the fireplace. tim had been watching youtube videos all day and stumbled across a gotham insider q&a that had a clickbait-y title about vigilantes. naturally, he was intrigued and wanted to watch it with the rest of them.

"what am i looking at?" he asked, taking a bite of his chili dog.

"something hilarious. i've been waiting to show you guys all day," tim explained, grabbing the remote.

"i hope this isn't something juvenile, drake," damian chimed, resting his body against the arm of the couch.

"or gross," dick co-signed with a grimace. "we just ate."

"just shut up and watch," he sighed, unpausing the video.

jason felt a little tingle in the back of his mind at your face was on the screen. you looked familiar. he silently watched as you and jordy discussed your feelings about vigilantes. dick snorted when he heard your comment about nightwing. tim began to snicker in anticipating for the main event: the red hood argument.

as jason watched, everything made sense. you were that weird girl he walked home. that was why you asked him those stupid questions. he was a little annoyed at you calling him stupid and off brand but he had to admit the segment was funny. especially the part at the end where you were begging him not to shoot you. you seemed so much more relaxed and naturally funny than you did when he was with you that night. it almost gave him whiplash.

"you should shoot her. for good measure," damian told jason once the clip ended, making the older boy roll his eyes.

"nah. i can't shoot my bard," he smiled, making dick smile too. he had expected jason to be all grumpy about getting talked about but he seemed to be taking it fairly well. tim was kinda disappointed that jason didn't seem more bothered by it. he wanted to tease him a little.

"i think red hood payola is probably the funniest thing i've heard in awhile," dick said, laughing along with tim. even damian cracked a little smile.

jason walked back to the kitchen, recalling that night he ran into you now that he had seen the video, finally understanding why you were acting so strange.

his bard, huh? cute...

#jason todd x reader #red hood x reader #dc x reader #jason todd #dick grayson #tim drake #damian wayne #batfam

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dindooku · 4 years ago

Text

chapter 6

faith

rating: E (swearing, violence) angst and SMUT!!! pls b mindful but enjoy the show, things will b heating up from here; dindooku xoxo

Without realising, you let the force guide you through the hallways of the ship. An unfamiliar resonance vibrated in the air and you couldn’t stop yourself from following it. After a minute of trying to collect you emotions, the tap eventually burst and you silently stifled cries into your right arm sleeve as you paced the silent balls of the starship.

After what felt like only moments, but was actually a good half hour, you found yourself stood outside of an unfamiliar door. The resonance from before that you had been unconsciously following was now deafening and you didn’t realise you were knocking on the door until it slid open, revealing a familiar face.

“Amy, why are you—”Anakin rasps, the initial grievance at being woken at this hour all but forgotten when he sees the state you’re in.

“Who hurt you.” he grits out, baring a few sharp teeth at his sudden anger.

You don’t reply however, in fact, you don’t even know why you’re here. But the moment Anakin pulls you in and wraps you in your arms you know you’d somehow done the right thing; letting all of your emotions physically spill out into his chest as the sobs wrecked your chest. “Amy tell me who hurt you,” He demanded, stroking the top of your head with one hand while the other was wrapped around your shoulders. You noticed his complacency in his actions and how Anakin seemed considerably more comfortable with, well...comforting. He’d done this before, and a small curiosity peaked, you knew you’d question him later - but now wasn’t the time.

“I—I can’t t…tell yo…you,” You managed between strangled breaths. And that was the bitter reality of your situation. There was no one you could turn to.The one person you’d come to trust had all but stabbed your feelings and thrown you out into the dark. You weren’t close to Anakin, but with the way he was being so protective; how he was actually un-shy to show his concern - understanding that emotion was not a poisonous trait but actually a bittersweet gift you had to learn to master was endearing.

“Why?” He questioned, pulling you away from his chest and searching your eyes for an answer. The familiar twinge of something knocking at your consciousness took your attention, but not for long as Anakin only confirmed your suspicions. “Oh, Obi-Wan,”

Anakin had read your mind.

The blatant invasion of privacy had initially angered you, but you supposed it was easier and less painful that he read your mind and understood what had happened instead of prying for answers you weren’t sure you could give.

“Please, don’t, he…he made a mistake, it’s my fault” you blurt out. You were angry, beyond pissed off, but you really did not want the drama. Obi-Wan didn’t care for you the way you did for him and starting an argument wasn’t going to change that.

“Yes. Indeed, he has made a mistake. Stay put” Anakin commanded as he tried to let you go, but you wouldn’t have it.

“Please, please don’t go, I don’t want to be by myself, I have no where to go, no one. Please, can I just kip on your couch or something? I want to pretend this never happened. Please, Anakin.” You practically begged, fresh tears falling down your cheeks.

Anakin hesitated for a second but saw how wound up you were so decided he’d stay. He didn’t say anything and instead opted to pull you into another hug, silently shhh’ing you as you both slowly lolled back and forth to a silent beat. Anakin decided he would tell Padme about this, she’d understand - maybe somehow she’d know the words you needed to hear and offer better advice than he could give. That would allow him to deal with Obi-Wan at least. But that was for another time - he could feel how tired you were and you needed to sleep this off. He slowly pulled you out of your embrace and led you to the sofa, quickly grabbing a throw blanket and a couple cushions to make sure you were as comfortable as you could be. It wasn’t long until you were out like a light, the drain from your whirlwind of emotions had sunk you into a heavy sleep.

______

Anakin stayed true to his word and stayed with you until the next day.

He left early in the morning to go to the mess hall and collect a packed breakfast, lunch and dinner for you. He highly doubted you’d want to be up and around the ship today after last night, the chance of running into Obi-Wan wasn’t one you wanted to take.

When you awoke in the morning you instantly went about trying to apologise for your state of person and the way you spoke to him, but Anakin brushed it off saying he would be stressed himself considering what you’d been through - he even praised you for managing to keep a cool lid until then. You both chuckled at this and soon things were comfortable, or as comfortable as they could be at least.

He could see the concern rolling off you but couldn’t stay with you all day, he had Jedi business to attend to, as well as a severe talking with Obi-Wan at the top of his list. So instead, he hatched the plan for you and his Padawan to meet.

_____

Anakin had left an hour or so ago now. He’d given you your own data pad to browse through, using a form of what you could only describe as their own type of internet. You had access to everything on this, and you soon educated yourself on the underpinnings of Coruscant, the Jedi and recent political galactic history. If you were to serve in the Army here, you’d need to know what you were fighting for. You did search for Earth, but as expected - there was nothing. Disheartened, you delved into the sweet fruit Anakin had brought back to you, glancing at your watch in the process. Time had flown by as it was now approaching 2.34PM, or it was at least by your personal body clock.

Over the course of the day you’d begun to listen to yourself more. You’d managed to hone in on this other presence within you, and within no time you found yourself able to use this new 6th sense to your advantage. You could sense when people would walk past the door before they actually did, and you were able to listen in on conversations which would normally be too far away to understand - yet you were able to hear them as clear as day. After a little research you found this to be the same Force that Obi-Wan had spoken about. Your curiosity got the better of you and you decided to see if you could use this sense in a physical form.

You placed the data pad down on the sofa as you sat cross legged into a relaxed but controlled meditative pose - one you were comfortable in and allowed you to focus. Your eyes fell upon the fresh fruit you had taken a bite out of. You thought back to the time with Obi-Wan at Dex’s and how he made the speeder move in the air - wanting to imitate the same movements on this piece of fruit before you. You centred yourself and controlled your breathing, and the process came naturally to you. You felt a familiar rush through your body, but this time it was controlled.

This power wasn’t fuelled by rage or anger or hurt, but it was calm, controlled and collected.

The fruit rose.

You didn’t hide the quiet squeal of delight that tingled your throat.

You were doing this.

Suddenly something brought you out of your concentration - a presence. You slowly dropped the fruit back to the coffee table. This presence was stronger than the others, and soon it stood still outside your door. You knew they wanted to come in and were about to knock, so you invited them in before they had to chance.

“Come in,” you say, picking up the data pad to act as if nothing had happened.

The door slid open and a familiar face walked in. It was the same creature that had spoken to Kenobi when you were in the Dojo’s back on Coruscant.

“Hey,” They greet you sweetly, placing weight on one side of their hip and resting a hand there. They were a creature you’d never seen before. They had orange skin and odd blue and white tendrils that flowed elegantly from their head. They seemed to have a female frame similar to yours, although you didn’t like to assume. You were hesitant to acknowledge them at first, but after reaching out through the Force you knew she was good. Her aura was calm, and the lights that surrounded her were bright and pure. “I’m Anakin’s Padawan, and you’re Amy, right?” Ashoka finished.

“Yes, Amy, Amy Croft,” you introduce yourself, placing the data pad down on the sofa and moving to stand. You’re interrupted in your movements by Ashoka making her way over to the sofa and sitting down next you you, crossing her legs like yours were and reaching out a hand. You sit back down onto the sofa and copy her, falling into your previous position but turned, your knees parallel to one another.

“Ashoka Tano,” she replied as the two of you shook hands.

“Is this a custom on Earth?” Ashoka asks, smiling innocently as you both moved your arms away and you picked up the fruit from the coffee table.

“What, shaking hands?” You ask back, taking another bite from the fruit you had no idea the name of.

“Yes,” Ashoka says, punctually. She didn’t seem condescending or rude like most would, just curious. And you supposed you were both in the same boat - curious.

“Yeah, it’s a formal greeting,” You say casually between bites. You feel at ease around her and she slumps back into the arm of the sofa. Ashoka looks down for a moment and fiddles with her hands before turning her attention back to you.

“Have you figured out how to use the Force yet?” She asks plainly. You’re dumbfounded at her brashness, but you like it. You wanted people to talk to you, not around you in fear that you’re fragile. You were still angry that Obi-Wan had hidden this from you. After researching the Force you now understood the conversation you’d listened in on in the hallways of the Jedi temple. Yes, Anakin had said he didn’t trust you, and you told yourself you would talk to him about that - but you supposed after the way he’d treated you and forgiven you so easily, you figured you’d just let it slide. However Obi-Wan would not get off as lightly, he was yet to prove himself - and by his absence throughout the day; not even bothering the check up on you, you knew your suspicions were true.

You bring yourself back to the moment with a little chuckle under your breath before you reply. You could answer with words and be honest, but you thought you’d let your next actions speak for themselves.

You finish the fruit with one final bite and instead of getting up to place it in the bin, you use the Force to fling it through the room instead. Much to Ashoka’s awe, she couldn’t deny the question that was how you’d managed to master your control of the Force so quickly. Usually it took years to be able to manipulate objects with the control you had just shown. Anakin had given her a brief run down before she came to see you, and she was sure he didn’t mention anything about you actually being able to use the Force, just that you had this odd presence and strong but unconscious connection. He was obviously wrong, they all seemed to be wrong. Although that didn’t surprise her, she knew the council could be twisted in their ways and she figured it was their own fault for being so blind to your capabilities. She would do what she did best and just observe and report back to Anakin and Obi-Wan.

You laugh at Ashoka’s shocked face and that breaks the ice, and you both spend the rest of the day sharing stories and Ashoka teaching you tid-bits about the Jedi Order, the Republic and the Separatists. Ashoka went on to explain they’d previously battled on Yerbanna, and the scene she described seemed to be intense. Nonetheless, separatist forces had found ground on the planet again so the Jedi were sent to restore the peace one again.

Hours had droned by and soon you were accompanied by Anakin again. He said he’d managed to find you a room of your own. You said goodbye to Ashoka and followed Anakin to your quarters. You were thankful they weren’t near Obi-Wan’s, and Anakin had managed to get you some that where quiet, secluded and out of the way. You didn’t need to tell him you needed your own space and time alone, and before he left for the evening he said he’d borrowed a droid to accompany you and retrieve your meals each day so you wouldn’t have to face anyone if you didn’t want to. He insisted that you could keep the droid with you at all times. He figured you needed the company and K9 would be the perfect fit for you. He had personally programmed it and explained how you can change certain parameters with the data pad he’d given you. It all seemed simple enough and you were excited to meet your droid the next day. Soon after Anakin had left, you hunkered down and got some well deserved sleep.

______

A few days had passed now and you knew you’d be approaching Yerbanna soon. You’d made good progress with your Force abilities, and much to K9’s dismay you’d managed to hold him in the air without faltering whilst you made yourself busy with a morning fitness routine you’d conjured. As each day passed you found it easier and easier to manipulate the Force around you. However, you kept your abilities to yourself, not wanting Anakin or anyone really to stop your learning or tell you what you were doing was wrong.

Whilst browsing the data pad you came across lightsaber forms and the various techniques. You scrolled through each of their meanings and found yourself most drawn to the centric of Soresu. You considered yourself a resilient person - the tests of time you had travelled through during your time on Earth and within this new life of yours certainly stood to prove that. You accessed the online Jedi archives (Anakin had given you his private password so you could do as much research as you wanted), and you soon found yourself browsing scholar articles explaining moves and forms. You drew out a plan and started from the beginning. There were some things you knew you wouldn’t be able to do, and some acrobatics seemed plain impossible - so you stuck to what you could do. Over the week you spent secluded in your cabin, away from everyone else; the troubles and terrifying new universe you found yourself in - you found comfort in the new presence within you…and of course, K9.

_____

By the fifth day you found yourself at peace with your relationship with Obi-Wan. You had come to respect his decision, despite his cruel ways of dealing with it. You had to forgive and let go so you yourself could move on. You recounted the words you had used to soothe Obi-Wan before:

Let go of the feelings that plague you so that new ones can heal you.

After researching Jedi meditation you managed to eventually crack the ice and release your feelings of hurt into the Force, and found that afterwards, your ability to focus and tune yourself into your environment came a lot quicker.

Now you understood why Obi-Wan was conflicted.

Now you could see both sides of the coin.

You didn’t resent him anymore, you sought peace.

You hoped that he had too.

_____

You had counted seven days in total. Your arrival at Yerbanna was imminent.

You were at peace with Obi-Wan now, and your situation at whole really. You’d had time to reflect and plan your next steps. You wanted to explore, to learn about the new galaxy you found yourself in. The limitless possibilities, the new gift you had found yourself able to control.

You could still feel Obi-Wan's presence, but now only occasionally. You had learnt to build barriers and control your emotions, and most importantly you’d learnt how to not be so loud.

____

You told Anakin to come in before he knocked (like you did every morning), greeting him with a smile and waving from under the blanket you cuddled up under every morning - cup of tea in one hand and data pad in the other.

“We’re here, we’ve got to be on the bridge in 15, I’ll walk you down if you like?” Anakin offered, and you obliged without arguing. You didn’t need him to tell you where it was; even though you hadn’t left your room. Over the week you had taken a moment to study the ships internals incase of an emergency…and you were just curious, too. You disappeared to your bedroom and put on your freshly washed army uniform.

You sported a black ribbed, racer-back tank top underneath a light green full sleeved tunic top. It was tight fitting but breathable, as well as extremely flexible. For trousers, you put on your light brown, loose fitting combat pants. They had numerous pockets for instruments and equipment - housing a compass, penknife and other useful tid-bits. Next you laced up your leather boots. You then loaded up each thigh holster with both of your G19’s, fastening a combat knife into the secondary holster next to your gun on your right thigh.

Earlier in the week, Anakin had asked politely if you wouldn’t mind him converting your guns. He made sure to say that he appreciated that they were yours, but he also made it clear that straight metal would not be sufficient against battle droids. So, reluctantly, you handed them over. He had brought them back the next day, and you wouldn’t have guessed anything was different. Anakin had done his best to keep the initial integrity of the guns, so now instead of shooting bullets, they shot plasma. You were overjoyed to say the least - pleased that he hadn’t completely wrecked your possessions. You thanked him by sharing a precious piece of dried Mango you’d been saving for a special occasion. Anakin loved it.

You quickly pulled on your tactical gloves before you finally got round to putting your bulletproof vest on, then slinging your M14EBR over your shoulder. You filled each of the chest pockets with equipment you’d need for your mission as well as the annotated schematics of the compound you’d printed earlier in the week. You fastened your hair into a ponytail, not bothering to clip back the loose strands of fringe that framed your face.

This was it.

Time to prove yourself.

You strolled back out of your room, fully armed and in your battle mindset.

“Lets fuck some shit up” you smirk to Anakin whilst absentmindedly twirling the karambit combat knife in your hand as you strolled out your room.

______

Each battalion debriefs in the bridge before your squad of six deploy. You didn’t chance a look at Obi-Wan, not wanting him to break your concentration. You had to focus on the mission - this was paramount.

You loaded up into the ship you’d be taking to the surface. You were nervous to be flying but you supposed it wasn’t anything you’d not done before - jumping out of planes was almost a normal entry for you back on Earth. You’d suggested to Anakin earlier in the week that your team used wing suits to infiltrate without detection. He’d agreed with you but unfortunately Obi-Wan had objected, saying the risk of being detected by the canons without defences was too much. You had to accept his refusal, meditating on it in the evening to centre yourself and release your frustrations.

If he was going to be cruel and wind you up, you would be the bigger person and just let it be.

The landing went without hitch, and your group was soon tracking through the dark of night on a planet you’d never been to before. The intel had provided a secluded area on the planets surface, away form the city. Apparently separatists where using the remote location to build a droid army without detection, and Republic scanners had picked up significant heat traces and increased traffic to the previously considered uninhabitable area of Yerbanna. Scouts had only confirmed their suspicions, which brought everything back to you - the newcomer from Earth who was infiltrating a Separatists base through underground vents.

You led the team through the manhole you’d highlighted previously on the schematics you’d printed out, and after the predicted half hour of scurrying left and right you found yourself at your destination.

“Right, we are directly underneath the compounds server room. If I am correct, the main current should come from this direction,” you point to the right of you, just past the shoulders of the six men you were leading, “but before we blow the charges I need to plant the bug.” You finished as you fished into the front pocket and brought out a file stick.

You had asked Anakin for a universal server port and electronic soldering kit earlier in the week after going over the intel and schematics. He asked why and you just told him you wanted to tinker with K9. What he didn’t know was that you’d managed to reform your USB stick, which just so happened to contain a kill code that you could download data from servers with whilst simultaneously planting a virus which would infect any other networks they were connected to - and if your suspicions were correct, this server room was interlinked with all of the separatist technology within this planet and any nearby. This meant that all the computer processing systems would be rendered useless once you pressed the button - boom.

No power. No fighting.

Or at least that’s what you hoped.

You hadn’t briefed Anakin and Obi-Wan about this - hoping to use the element of surprise to your advantage. If your plan was successful, they’d be left twiddling their thumbs, and if not, then - well, you’d have someone to watch your back.

You glanced at your watch. Right on time.

“Right boys, let’s get this show on the road” you said as you twirled a finger in a circle next to your head before opening the upper hatch.

You slowly peered your head into the room, using the Force to feel for any lifeforms or autonomous presence. The room was empty, only filled by the typical hum of servers. You pull yourself up and waved for the others to follow, signalling for them to take up their defensive positions and plant the charges in the room before you made your way over to the PC. You asked one of the soldiers to accompany you so they could translate any language you might not understand. You’d asked K9 to download a file that would translate your English into Galactic basic and vice-versa so that you could read the code that would show up on the controller you would use to manipulate and control the USB with. You made your way over with the soldier and pointed to the main computer.

“Where’s the info port for this thing?” You asked them. They pointed to the side of the PC and you placed your USB into the slot. You pulled out your controller so that you could start the process of hacking and infesting the framework.

“What is that?” The soldier asked, taking their helmet off so they could get a decent look.

“What’s your name, soldier?” You deflect, not taking your eyes off your controller screen. You were typing through the settings and trying to decipher the code so you could find a decent hidden spot to embed the virus.

“F06633” They replied.

You thought for a second, trying to conjure up a nickname.

“Well, F06633, I’m gonna call you Foxy, is that ok with you?”

“Yes sir”

“Please, call me Amy, foxy” you both grinned. You lowered your voice as you answered his earlier question, “This isn’t something I discussed with General Kenobi or Skywalker. So keep it close to yourself. I’m uploading a virus into the frameware which will disable all forms of communication as well as function of Separatist technology on Yerbanna,” you say, pausing for a moment as you find the embed site you had been looking for. This break in the code was perfect and would be hidden well.

“Was this your idea?” Foxy asks, peering around at his brothers to make sure all was well.

“Yes Fox, and not only am I going to disable all of their servers, but I’m also going to steal all of their data too,” you grin, teeth glinting in the low light of the room.

“Genius,” foxy chuckled deeply. You knew you’d made a friend here.

A minute had gone by and you had nearly finished the download. The upload was almost instant, however there was so much useful data, it was taking longer than you’d anticipated download it all onto your portable SSD.

83% …84%….85%…

“Sir, droids approaching” a soldier from the door whispered.

89%…90%…91%…

“Just a few more seconds, okay?” You whisper back, one hand hovering over the enter key and the other ready to grab the USB.

“Sir, they’re right outside” another informs you, trying their best to keep their voices down.

“93%…94%…95%…”

The reflection of the LED light for the doorways panel flicks from red to green. You can’t afford to lose this. You don’t even think before you swing an arm out behind you, halting the door in its tracks, using the Force to stop it from opening.

Foxy looks at you shocked, ‘You didn’t look like a Jedi’ he thought.

“I am no Jedi, foxy” you whisper, having heard his loud thoughts break through your concentration.

99%…100% - download complete

Your controller flashes green. You focus your mind and hold the door in place, sweat trickling down your forehead against the strain. You hit the enter key and upload the virus as you remove your USB stick. Instantly the server room falls into darkness and the strain against the door falls. So do the two droids outside the door; you’d crushed them in your panic.

You let out a pained breath, clutching at your heart as you turn to face Foxy. The both of you laugh in disbelief that it’d actually worked.

“Thank fuck for that,” you chuckle, placing a hand on his shoulder, closing your eyes and dropping your head in relief.

Your celebrations are short lived though as the sound of more droids can be heard scurrying down the hallway.

“Of course I jinxed it” you mutter under your breathe.

“What do you mean, Jinxed it?” Foxy muttered, slightly agitated at how you were just sat there and not moving - you needed to get out of here, and quick.

“I can only guess that some of the droids run on their own system, not relying on the server for code. Some will be taken out, like defences and canon’s, but the droids will remain. We have to follow the original plan - signal to the 212th and 501st to begin their assault.” You say to Foxy as you stand up and address the other soldiers in the room. You point to each soldier, asking for their names. Foxy interrupts his Com with Anakin and Obi-Wan.

“Wha—Amy now isn’t the time for thi—,”

“Foxy, just tell Obi-Wan and Anakin to be ready,” You assert. He doesn’t address you but still does as instructed. They all spoke quickly but in turn.

“E9468”

“V3538”

“O2639”

“D9390”

“T8363”

You thought for a moment but then had an idea, knowing exactly what you were to call them. You pointed to each soldier as you said their name.

“Echo, Victor, Oscar, Delta, Tango,” you said before turning to face Foxy, “and Foxy,” You smiled, turning back to face your new squad. You clapped your hands and rubbed them together briefly before pulling your modified G19’s into each hand. You strode towards the door and used the Force to push it open, sliding it across the hinges, “Let’s show them how it's done, eh boys?” You grin before stepping into the hallway and letting hellfire rain upon those who stood in your way.

“You heard her, let’s go!” Foxy shouted as they all filtered out of the room.

_____

Your body was on autopilot. If you closed your eyes you could remember a few missions similar to this. It almost felt like you were reliving past experiences - however this one was richer. You had the Force guiding you this time. You didn’t even need to look at the schematics, instead just following the feeling you’d come to trust, letting it guide you through the hallways. Every now and then you would have to duck and cover, but only momentarily. With each passing second, your use of the Force grew stronger and stronger. You were drawing in the energy around you and punishing those that stood in your way.

It was addicting.

You had gotten excited and crushed a few droids when your squad were particularly overloaded.

Now you were all pinned. You knew you could wait for Anakin or Kenobi’s squads to reach you, but you wanted this. You knew you could do this by yourself if you really wanted to, so you gave in. You pulled at the Force around you and let it vibrate through your consciousness, blending with your emotions and exerting its physical power over those you wished it to. You stepped out from the cover of the corner and threw your right hand out, halting the group of around 12 droids in their tracks, the red flurries of blaster bolts halted in the air.

You stared them down, grinning at the power you now held. With a flick of your wrist the bolts shot backwards, instantly downing the small squadron of metal in front of you. It felt glorious.

You turned back and waved for your group to follow, and before long you found yourself in the large warehouse that the 212th and 501st were currently working to siege.

Upon entering you were immediately shot at. You ducked and took evasive action, rolling behind the cover of a downed ship to the right of you. You signalled for your team to disperse and help with the other battalions.

“FOXY! Go help Skywalker and Kenobi, now! I have this!” You shout.

“Yes sir!” Foxy would’ve normally argued - he’d seen the amount of droids in front of you, but with the way you’d performed he had no doubt you would hold your own. Foxy waved the the group and they ran in the opposite direction to the aid of the other two groups.

You tucked down behind the cover, taking a second to breathe and concentrate. You briefly closed your eyes, feeling in the Force.

24 droids.

Easy.

You took another deep breath before you pulled from the Force like you had before. Jumping up, you ran towards the group of droids. They instantly opened fire but you blocked their attacks by pulling a large shard of metal in front of your body as a makeshift shield. You advanced again, pulling out one of your G19’s and downing a few of the droids.

23, 22, 21, 20…

You ducked to the right again, this time hiding behind the landing gear of a ship. You had to pull off something pretty spectacular here.

You pulled everything you could from the Force. And just like out of a movie, time seemed to slow as you moved from the cover of the ship, blaster bolts flying past you. You could predict each one though, you knew every move before it would happen. Breathing in, you forced your right arm out, palm open and fingers spread in front of the droids. And like before, you felt the addicting vibration of the power surging through you - you had them all in the palm of your hand. A tickling crackle of lightening danced between your fingers. And like that, you snapped. Violent tendrils of Force lightening lurched from your fingertips towards the droids, frying their processing systems, but you weren’t done yet. Your left hand rose too, but instead of using the violent electric pulse that coursed your veins, you tapped into the overbearing thrum that reverberated around your soul and clutched each of the droids forms within your grasp.You clenched your left fist tightly, crushing them.

The blaster bolts stopped and you stood admiring your handiwork.

“I could get used to this,” you mumble. Your appreciation is cut short by an unfamiliar voice.

“I haven’t seen you before, Jedi” comes a mechanical voice. You turn around to face the creature before you. It was tall and at least two metres high. It’s body consisted of metal, and they were hunched over at an uncomfortable angle, their cape falling over one of their shoulders. They had long, spindly arms and a mismatched torso of scrap metal. But when you met their eyes, you froze.

Molten gold stared back at you.

“And I can’t say I’ve met you?” You reply back, trying to win this battle of wits you’re now engaged in. You don’t get a chance to question them however, as Kenobi decides to join the fun.

“Grievous” He booms. You hadn’t noticed him approach behind you from the other side of the hanger. Everyone was creeping up on you now - you needed to focus again.

“Kenobi” Grievous coughs out, saying Kenobi’s name with extra gravel.

“Oh so you two know each other?” You turn sideways so you could see both of them, pointing a thumb on each hand toward their faces, “Is this something I need to leave you two alone with or…” You joke, finding the awkward triangle you are now in quite comedic. Neither of them say anything and instead just glare at you, so you decide to carry on with your little game for as long as you could, “Oh…I see… awkward breakup — they can be hard. Hey, don’t take it to heart Grievous, Kenobi always plays with his food,” you pathetically sympathise with Grievous, lacing your scripture with the deepest sarcasm you can fathom. Obi-Wan cuts you a knowing smirk but you don’t catch it, your sole focus on Grievous.

“Enough games Jedi, she’ll make a fine addition to my collection, Kenobi” Grievous confers between his guttural coughs. You give him a dirty look before turning to Kenobi, giving him a look and saying to him across the Force ‘can you believe this guy?’

Obi-Wan tenses for a second, realising that the voice in his head was you, and that you were now grinning over your shoulder with a look in your eye that only spelled trouble.

‘Don't’ Obi-Wan replied

‘Why not?’ You send back through the Force

‘He’s more powerful than you realise’ He warns.

‘Darling please, leave it to the professionals’ you grin back.

Before Obi-Wan can protest, you’re throwing your hand out and swiping it to the right, sending Grievous flying. Obi-Wan is in shock, he can’t move. He just stands and watches as you all but fling Grievous across the warehouse like a rag doll.

You race after Grievous, not bothering to wait for Kenobi to catch up. Sure, you could rely on your Force powers to pull your through this, and you expected a fight.

However you didn’t expect the jankey looking terminator to just ditch you and flee onto a ship. “Coward” you screamed as Greivous flew away, and you growled at yourself for being so complacent in your tactics. But you knew you could deal with him another time, you’d gotten what you came here for, and you hoped that Obi-Wan and Anakin would like the little surprise you had in store.

Soon the battle was won and you could finally breathe. You rejoined your group and asked them how they were, a few injuries here and there but they are all minor. You all loaded up onto the ship for a debrief on the main vessel.

_____

You’d signalled for K9 to meet you in the war room via the wrist communicator Anakin had given you as you followed behind Rex and Cody. The walk was short and you soon found yourself stood at stood in the centre of the room, leaning against the table as the holo-projection blurred to life. It showed all of the statistics of the mission, such as casualties, area covered and time taken by each squad to complete each objective. Once everyone had filled the room, the discussion began.

After 20 minutes or so, K9 made his way into the room. You stepped away from the table to greet him, giving him a pat on the head as you knelt down, petting him like you would a dog back on Earth. You remove the USB stick from your chest pocket and plug it into his mainframe, typing a few things into the keypad so that he could display the downloaded intel. You’d not had a chance to look at it yet, but when you did, your jaw dropped open in disbelief.

“Hey, Amy, why did it take you so long to get in, we were in the dark for a good couple minutes longer than we anticipated, what happened in there?” Anakin asked from the table, not noticing you had moved away to work on K9. They all turned to look at you, Obi-Wan included.

You were still working your way through your discovery and didn’t have time to look up, so you addressed him whilst crouching next to K9, “I was doing something,” you reply, not having enough mental space to give a proper answer.

“What do you mean, something,” Obi-Wan said, he was curious to say the least.

“Well, General Kenobi, if the Jedi weren’t so strict in their ways I can bet you’d want to kiss me,” you chuckle, removing the USB chip from K9 and running over to the table, instantly plugging the USB in. Anakin scoffs and Obi-Wan all but gasps, Rex and Cody following suit on their shock. But their shock soon turned from you to the holo-projector, which now showcased all of the droid construction warehouses that the Separatists owned, as well as other locations of interest. Everyones eyes were fixed on the intel in front of you, everyones except Obi-Wan’s. You took this brief moment of privacy to look at him, to really look at him.

You’d avoided him for the last week, and you had to admit he looked rough. It was like he’d aged ten years, the stress physically boring into his skin in the form of lines, and his eyes had lost their deep cerulean colour you had come so quickly to love. It saddened you, to know that you’d had this effect on him. You wished you hadn’t hurt him in this way, but you had be selfish and do what you needed to do, for your own sake. Things had moved too fast and you weren’t stable. It wouldn’t be fair to expect Obi-Wan to be able to deal with you, and it was unfair of him to expect you to be ok straight away. But now you’d had time to reflect, time to forgive him and let those feelings go. And that look was all it took to calm him. The soft smile you had gifted him even though he knew he didn’t deserve it. He took it as a blessing, a wholehearted one; it wasn’t pitiful, it was just as warm and whole as he’d remembered it to be.

‘Im sorry’ Obi-Wan sent though the force.

‘I know’ you replied, softly.

“This really is remarkable, Amy, how did you get this?” Anakin asks, bringing his intense gaze onto you. You turned away from Obi-Wan, smiling back at Anakin.

“Well, you know that upload hardware and soldering kit I asked for earlier this week?” You said, smirking inwardly at your secret plan.

“Yes, I thought that was for K9?” He replied, stepping back and pulling the traditional Skywalker pose, leaning on one hip and crossing his arms.

“It was, partly,” you chuckled, “I hardwired the connector port to my USB so that it can connect to your data ports, then used K9 to translate my keyboard into galactic basic, vice versa. This allowed me to type code, and read your code too. I used the kill switch virus I’d designed back on Earth and embedded it into their servers, whilst simultaneously downloading all of their data onto the hard-drive. Thats why when you landed, the electric went out and you had no canon fire, and no shields.” You admitted, turning to K9 who was now at your side and giving him a slight pat on the head. No one said anything for a hot minute, and you began to think you’d done something wrong. You began to curl in on yourself, but Obi-Wan noticed your switch and said what everyone was thinking.

“That was truly marvellous, my dear. Well done,” He praised, his attention now back on the precious intel you’d managed to procure.

“Like I said, leave it to the professionals,” you mumble, shrugging your shoulders. It was no biggie, you’d done the same thing hundreds of times. You turned to the rest of the room, “I think I’m going to go clean up, if that’s ok with you all?” You asked, turning sideways to gesture you leaving.

Everyone nodded except for Obi-Wan. You turned to him, expecting an answer. You both locked eyes and exchanged silent words.

‘I want to talk to you’ Obi-Wan said.

‘I know. Come to mine after ok?’ You reply.

Obi-Wan nods in agreement, so you take your leave, K9 close at your heels.

______

You showered for longer than necessary, but the effects of the day were finally setting in. You’d used the Force more than you ever had today, and you supposed you had over-exerted yourself because every muscle screamed with a deep ache that couldn’t be fixed by stretching or painkillers. This was something you’d have to sleep off - you’d have to refrain from using the Force so heavily for a while. You supposed you had a weeks travel back, and having the comfort of your room should allow you the detox you needed.

You stepped out of the shower, wrapping your body in one towel, your hair in another. You padded out and into your bedroom, changing into one of the large oversized tunics Obi-Wan had packed for you and some pants, then slipping on the cloak he’d packed, wrapping it around you like a wearable blanket. You could feel Obi-Wan’s restless presence heading to your quarters, so you stuck the kettle on and set out two mugs of tea, each with a teabag from your special tin - you’d not touched them in the hopes that you could maybe share the last two with Obi-Wan. You set out a few biscuits each and a sachet of milk, calling out to Obi-Wan to come in, just in time - like you’d predicted.

The door slid open and he walked in. He was puzzled for a moment, you weren’t in the front room. He then heard the familiar sound of water being poured and made his way over to the kitchen.

‘Sit’ you say through the Force to Obi-Wan

He complies, taking one of the filled mugs into his hand. He looks down at it to see what tea you’ve used and is pleasantly surprised to see one of your teabags in there, then his gaze flicks over the milk and biscuits set out…for him. He can’t help the toothy grin that pulls at his face.

‘Thank you’ Obi-Wan praises through the Force.

‘No problem, I saved them for you’ you admit.

“That’s very kind of you,” he says out loud as he removes the Teabag and places it on the napkin you’ve placed on the table before opening the milk sachet and pouring it into the cup, swirling the liquid using the Force instead of a spoon. You do the same before removing the Teabags from the table and placing them in the bin. You come back to an ecstatic Obi-Wan who is trying his best to hide his giddy pleasure of dunking biscuits into tea. Your heart warms at the sight of his childish excitement - an act so common on Earth yet new to this fully grown adult man. You begin running through things to say in your head but you don’t want to ruin this moment. You wished you could picture it somehow; have a permanent physical reminder that this did happen and that you could be happy. That this moment wouldn’t yet again be soured by the painful conversation you are yet to have. Sensing your thoughts, Obi-Wan makes the first move.

“I’m sorry.” Obi-Wan starts. He swirls the cup of tea in front of him nervously, hoping that you wouldn’t chastise him too hard. He had already had it in the ear from Anakin, he didn’t want to hear it from you too.

“I know” you reply, soft and velvety. You take a sip of your tea, trying to calm your nerves. You’d been preparing for this moment all week and yet all you could manage was I know. He was going to need more than that.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Obi-Wan said, placing the mug to his lips and taking a long gulp. You could see the slight tremor in his hands.

“I know” you repeated. You’d known he didn’t mean to hurt you, he was only doing what he thought was right, what the Jedi order wanted him to do. You couldn’t blame him for following the code he had lived his life by.

“I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought that if I denied my feelings and cut you off they would go away, but they haven’t, they’ve only gotten worse.” Obi-Wan admits.

“I know” you say again, taking another sip of tea. You just needed to hear what he had to say, he already knew your feelings - it was his turn to spill.

“Can you stop saying I know! I know you know, you know far much more than when I last saw you…which was too long ago. I…I apologise for—,” Obi-Wan starts, but you quickly interrupt him, not wanting him to run off with his words and make excuses.

"For not coming to see me? It’s ok, I understand.” You say. And you did, he was hurt and just like you, he needed the space to figure things out. You had both been through a world of emotions since your arrival. Space, ironically, was what you needed.

“You—you’re not angry?” Obi-Wan is astounded.

“No, Obi-Wan. I understand why you pushed me away, and really, I’m thankful that you did.” You admit.

“Thankful?” Obi-Wan says dumbfounded. He places the empty mug down on the counter in disbelief, this was completely and utterly not how he expected this conversation to go.

“Yes, it allowed me space to sort through my head and come to terms with what had happened. How I ended up here and what I should do, it also allowed me time to accept that you didn’t feel the same way I felt about you, and that is ok.” You encourage, not holding back and being as honest as you could be. You didn’t want to lie anymore, to hide and pray that he didn’t know how you felt. You’d made it rather clear how you felt, and he’d made it clear he didn’t feel the same, and that’s ok.

Silence engulfed the room. You didn’t need or even want to say anything - totally at peace with what had happened. If you from a year ago could see you now, they’d ask where they had taken the real you, because you know for a fact you have never been so level headed, never been so balanced before. Your time alone with the Force has moulded you into a new, improved version of yourself; a version of you that you are comfortable in, a version of you you have always wanted to be.

“Do you still have those feelings for me?” Obi-Wan practically whispers, cutting through the silence. You didn’t really know how to answer that question. You did have feelings for him, yes, but you also knew that he didn’t return his, or at least that’s what you had initially thought. It comes to you as to exactly why Obi-Wan is now in your quarters, asking you this question. Maybe he has changed his mind, maybe he does—

“Do you?” You return his question with one of your own. If he felt the same way you did, or still do, he needs to be honest and tell you.

Obi-Wan ducks his head, staring into nothing other than the stark white countertop you were both sat at in the kitchen. Silence fills the room again and despite your best efforts you’re becoming a little restless now, the anticipation at what he is to say is eating you from the inside. But you have to give him this, to give him this space. It would be cruel to force or rush him when he is being more open to you than he ever has.

“I made a mistake,” Obi-Wan murmurs. You chuckle at his admission, you’re not surprised by his answer. The sick part of you told you he didn’t feel the same way, and his repeated admission in the fact that having feelings for you was wrong stung. But you hid it well this time, trying to cover your hurt with sarcasm.

“You already told me that,” you look up to him, rolling your eyes as you say it.

“No, no — I mean I made a mistake by pushing you away,” Obi-Wan says seriously. He meets your eyes for a moment and then looks back at whatever he was intently staring at before.

“What do you mean?” You blurt out in response. Your heart is now lodged in your throat, you can feel each beat of anxiety ripple through your couscousness. This conversation is a fucking rollercoaster and you just wished he’d get to the point now.

“I should’ve listened to what the Force was telling me. Before, I followed the code to a T, and I thought I was doing the right thing by obeying the Jedi and refusing that these feelings were meant to be felt, but now, being away from you, feeling so disconnected…I’ve never felt so empty in my life. When you left, I felt like a part of me left with you.” Obi-Wan admits. He grips the cup harshly, and you catch the painful twist his face has pulled at his feelings now being open to the air. He closes his eyes in an attempt to dissociate himself from the reality he finds himself in. You can’t have this, no, he was hurt, and you needed to fix it.

To fix him.

“Oh Obi” you whisper and immediately get up off of your seat. You dart around the corner of the table, coming to a stop and turning him so that you can stand in-between his thighs. His head is dipped, his shoulders tense. You slowly run both hands up his thighs, your presence strong enough to distract him from his thoughts but light enough to soothe; up his torso until your palms are resting on either side of his face. You slowly pull his head up until his deep, cerulean blues meet your own. All you see is a lost, defeated man at battle with his own emotions. How had the Force, the anonymous being he had devoted his life to, his entire being revolving around its will; how had it punished him in such a way? Forced this precious soul to fight battles he could never win, to see atrocities no man should ever have to witness? It was cruel, how he had to face these things, these terrible, terrible things, and yet he was still forced to face them alone. The comfort that is so essential for healing, all but banned and twisted into a farce that all things good for you, things you can take comfort in and distract yourself from, all but lead to this Dark Side the Jedi Code so vehemently represses. And you wonder if this repression of basic function is what causes this split of morality that is so silently feared among Jedi.

Things can only balance if there are two sides to the coin.

There is no fortune without poverty.

There is no anger without peace.

There is no dark without light.

You cannot have one without the other, and it hurt you when you realised that the Jedi, the peacekeepers of the galaxy, the mighty beings that were to represent all that is good, were expected to fight others battle’s without feeling. To be a vessel not only to the Force, but to their own emotions.

To be at peace is to feel. And to feel is to be at peace.

You watch him, still, trying to tell him without words that feeling something of substance is not a crime, and that it will not disrupt the facade of equilibrium he has been convinced is real.

You decided the only way for him to see, is for him to feel.

You let down your barriers, and the floodgates are open. Obi-Wan gasps at the realisation that not only had you been hiding from him so well, but also at the intense emotion, passion and admiration he felt cascading from your signature. It was blinding, yet it wasn’t foreign. He felt these things too, and he caved at the realisation that he wasn’t alone, that he didn’t have to fight this battle by himself, not anymore.

And at this realisation, you caught it. The momentary glint - the spark of midnight blue shooting across his iris’s that signified his understanding, his hope that things didn’t have to be this way. You gaze over his face as the lines of stress slowly ebb away and the serenity you had so closely cherished returns to his blessed features. You grinned, eyes glinting at the new, mortal man that sat before you.

Now you understood the fairytales and mythology of civilisations before you. They spoke of moments like this. Moments where something so foreign and untouchable, so incredibly powerful and methodical still had their flaws, their Achilles heel.

Obi-Wan’s was you, and you, his.

But in each-others weaknesses, you basked in the strength it gifted you. You had no weakness with him, and him with you. You supported one another like day and night, blinding opposites but useless without one another. You needed him to cool your thoughts and your violent emotions, and he needed you to fuel the flame that the tests of war and tragedy tried so hard to extinguish.

Things moved like clockwork now. You met halfway, sealing your admiration with your lips. The sensation was wild, but soothing - like stepping into an open field of grass; lost, yet comfortable, at peace. Your grip on him slowly evolves into something more desperate, wanting him to stay and never leave, to become stuck in this moment. Your hands work their way into his hair and tussle with the longer strands, anchoring yourself to him. This triggers something in Obi-Wan, and the instant you tug at him, he turns feral.

His unbridled passion cannot be held back anymore.

He pushes his hands underneath your thighs, gripping them tightly as he lifts you up to straddle him as he stands up. You squeal at the sudden movement but Obi-Wan kisses you harder, devouring you and distracting you from what was going on around you. He caries you to your bedroom, hands boring into the underside of your thighs in desperation.

He throws you onto the bed and you all but laugh at the sudden switch. The polite mannered Master was no more, this was a different being entirely. But he doesn’t join you like you’d expect, and you watch on confused as his searing gaze scours your body. The long tunic you had put on after showering has ridden up, and now your black laced panties are his to admire.

Obi-Wan paused at the head of the bed, admiring the form before him. This, this what what he wanted. What he needed; you.

You quickly remove the cloak you’d been using as a makeshift blanket, tossing it on the floor. This brings Obi-Wan out of his trance and he practically throws himself at you, eliciting a sweet giggle from your lips. You lock lips again and you feel the energy roaring through you now, the anticipation crackling like lighting at your fingertips.

He slides his calloused, war torn hands underneath the tunic, snaking them closer and closer to your breasts, causing you to arch into his touch in response. You groan, eyes closing in newfound pleasure when his right hand playfully tweaks with your right breast, whilst his other hand smoothes back down your tunic and begins to tug at the hem. You get the silent hint and briefly sit up, giving him space to practically rip the oversized garment off of you in one sweep. You both clash back together with further force, and you deepen your arousal by sliding you tongue over his bottom lip before taking a playful nip.

Obi-Wan’s hands grow restless but you battle for control, using his distracted state to remove his clothing. You both scramble with one another in a blur of lust and before you have time to really acknowledge the situation you find yourself in you're both naked, your hot bodies entwined with one another, moving in unison.

Obi-Wan groans into your neck once more as his erection presses into the inside of your thigh, a growing reminder of his incessant need for you. You twist your head up and push his shoulders, bringing his gaze to you.

“Are you sure, Obi?” You ask through the Force.

“More than anything, sweetheart,” Obi-Wan replies.

You smile at the new pet name and continue kissing as you both grind up against one another, taking your time to explore one another’s body. You take phantom touches to his cock, trying to hide your anxiety at how this was physically going to work. You meant it before when you said the gods had been shining the day he was born. It had been a very, very long time since you had done anything, and considering the Jedi code, you knew that Obi-Wan hadn’t much, if any experience too. You blush at the through that this was his first time, but you're rudely interrupted.

“The Jedi forbid attachments, that doesn’t mean we have to be celibate” Obi-Wan communicated through your bond. You instantly blush at his admission but Obi-Wan chuckles, taking the moment to still and admire your wanton state. Before you can apologise, Obi-Wan is slowly crawling down your body towards your cunt, and once at his intended destination, his hot breathe tickles you. You squirm at his teasing but continue to play into this little game he intends on playing.

“You were reckless today” Obi-Wan teases through the Force.

“You’re a fine one to talk, Master Kenobi” You smirk back.

He growls at your use of formality, that familiar heat you recognise now to be lust burning in his eye. He runs his hands up the inside of your thighs, gripping tightly, taking small bites every few inches. With each bite closer to your now soaked cunt, he bites harder, kissing the sure to bruise teeth marks after each one. This causes a wild moan to bubble in your chest at his incessant teasing.

“Stop teasing” you plead through the bond.

“Pardon?” Obi-Wan replies, mirth all but covering his face.

“Stop teasing, please” you beg.

“Please, who?” Obi-Wan growls into the inside of your thigh, just next the the juncture that joins to your pussy.

You look at him angrily for a second, he is hovering just over your cunt, his gaze locked onto yours and the most gut wrenched mischievous smile tugging at his eyes.

“Please, Master” you finally plead, desperation taking over your patience. You need him to touch you, you can’t hold out anymore. Obi-Wan doesn’t say anything but rewards you by placing a soft kiss on your folds before licking a stripe a lot your cunt, then immediately sucking on your clit, one hand moving up your body to flatten you to the bed as you arch your back out of pleasure, whilst the other begins teasing at your soaking entrance.

You groan loudly in response, your pleasure practically dripping from the lustful song he is ripping from your lips… but he stops, shaking his head slowly.

“Hush now, Darling, don’t want to wake the neighbours” Obi-Wan reprimands through the bond.

You growl at him, staring deadly daggers into those too-pretty-for-their-own-good cerulean blues, but he only smiles and continues his previous movements, teasing with his tongue and fingers in a devilishly sadistic way. He knows he is winding you up and testing your patience, and you should’ve guessed Obi-Wan, of all people, would find a way to teach you a lesson in the patience of a Jedi during a moment like this - ‘he really knew how to pick his moments’ you internally hissed to yourself. His grin grows wider but doesn’t let on that he heard you as he slowly edges two fingers in, instantly finding the magic spot within that you find so very hard to find. Fuck you haven’t felt this good in, well…ever - and the fucker had barely even started. How did he have this effect on you? He knew your body better than you, pressing all the right buttons like he’d memorised their gratifying reactions - but you daren’t complain, oh no; you were going to revel in this moment for as long as you could.

He slowly builds you to the edge, and you have to throw your arm over your mouth to stifle the screams, biting bruises into your own flesh in an effort to prolong the inevitable peak he’s holding you at. You would normally flip out at someone who denied you like this, but you were a masochist for no other than Obi-Wan. You’d do anything for this man right now, and somehow - he knew it, and in a very un-Jedi like way, he was taking full on advantage of your submission to him. But he takes pity, not on you but himself - he can’t hold back the need to give you pleasure, to give you what he so truly wants you to feel, to feel because of him, for him. So he makes you cum, hard.

You are euphoric.

This was more intense than anything you could describe. Your body screamed with a painful pleasure that all but ripped through you, searing but instantly soothing your being with electrifying pulses of luxury. You send your pleasure through the bond you share in the Force and Obi-Wan growls, removing himself from you as his last thread of restraint is all but scorched by your own thrill. He crawls over you and rests above you, just admiring your state for himself. He did this to you. Obi-Wan - he had somehow managed to tame the violent beast that had practically landed before him.

He can’t wait any longer. Seeing you’re still in your euphoric state, he checks in with you, just to make sure that you’re okay.

“Can I” he asks through the Force.

You nod impatiently at him. Yes you were practically high as a kite right now but you were all but screaming for him to fuck you. Obi-Wan gets the hint and slowly edges in, beginning a slow and tantalising pace. He wanted to enjoy this feeling, enjoy being with you. You open up to the Force, reaching across the tether you’ve both rebuilt in your intimacy. You don’t expect him to freeze. He instantly throws his shields up and tenses, his breathing against your neck erratic, panicked.

“Trust me Obi, please” you comfort him through the Force.

“I—I…” He stammers, the physical pleasure he was feeling right now blurring the words he wanted to say.

“Its ok, let me in, I won’t hurt you” you whisper to him, trying your best to comfort him, to show him you mean no harm - you only want to share your pleasure with his, and for him to share his passion with you.

“I don’t want to hurt you” He admits, closing his eyes in an effort to quell the fear that was bubbling in his chest. He hadn’t ever opened up his mind to anyone else. He knew he could control what we wanted you to see, but the risk of you seeing the things he has seen, the fear that you would see what he has gone through and turn to despise him, to hate him, it was a risk he didn’t know if he was prepared to take. Not now, not after he had finally gotten you, not now he was so close to being yours, and you his.

"You could never hurt me Obi, even if you tried. I’ll always be here, for you.” You reassure. You spoke nothing but the truth. You wouldn’t leave him. The last week had been agony - yes you had found peace but that was only a paperweight, a folded page on a chapter you would have to revisit because the pull of the heartache would be too much to leave bare, without conclusion. And Obi-Wan sees this, your complete trust, your honesty and compassion. Your faith, in him.

He lets down his barriers and the lights between you instantly bind. The light was powerful and despite it not being physical you still closed your eyes and squinted away as if it were; the red and blue hues of each of your auras swirling and mixing, testing one another’s presence in their own.

You both indulge in the feeling, and Obi-Wan continues moving into you. You had tried to prepare yourself for how much of a stretch it was going to be, but you had severely underestimated how full he was going to make you feel. With every push of his hips he hit the blinding spot inside you, gradually building the pace until you’re both on the precipice of euphoria. You can feel him resisting, trying to savour the moment as if it will be the last.

“Let go, Obi-Wan” you reassure though the Force.

��Let go with me” He returns, moaning a feral cry when you answer his question with a wild bite to his neck.

You both let go and orgasms rock the both of you. It is purely incredible, a feeling you’ve never felt before. Obi-Wan grunts and you practically scream, not able to hold back the physical intensity of your lustful frenzy. You absentmindedly reach out into the Force to feel his pleasure, but the sight before you catches your breath, holding it tight in your lungs. All you can see is the familiar dream that has plagued you this last week. Dancing in the distance are the beautiful shades of a sunset on a distant shore, your searing red and Obi-Wan's familiar ocean blue meeting in the middle, caressing one another until eventually the sky and sea are a jaded shade of purple, like a sunset on a distant planet of times before. The colours combined from above and below - finally admitting peace with one another as day turns into night, becoming one, forever intertwined.

As you come back to the land of the living you realise you’re both slumped in a heap on the bed, soaked in sweat.

You laugh, and instantly Obi-Wan worries that he’s done something wrong. He turns his head so that it is resting anxiously on your bare chest, his eyes searching yours for his mistake. This causes you to laugh even more.

“What’s so funny?” He mumbles, his anxiety soon turning to frustration at your teasing of him.

“Nothing,” you manage in between giggles, but the stern look he tries to give you only sets you off and Obi-Wan looks more disgruntled at the secret joke you’re hiding from him. You shake your head in a playful way and stroke his hair to reassure him before slowly getting up off the bed.

“Im going to need another shower now,” You snicker to him as you walk towards the fresher. You don’t hear him move so you stop in the doorway, turning your head over your shoulder as you address him, “Care to join?”

“Always, sweetheart.” Obi-Wan replies through the Force as he scrambles like a kid on Christmas after you into the fresher. You didn’t need to ask twice.

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