#they're called Hero and Villain because I didn't feel like coming up with names

[windfighter]

Architectural Assault

Prompt: Manhandling

-----

Hero gripped the back of Villain’s neck, forced them to the ground. Villain’s body ached, bruised and battered from the fight. Their knees hit the ground, sent a shockwave through their body, and they grunted. Hero leered behind them, their grip strong against Villain’s neck. Super-strenght. An A-grade hero sent to take care of a low-grade Villain together with a team fresh out of Hero-school. Villain tried to pull free, but their own superstrenght paled in comparisation.

”You broke my arm”, Villain said.

Hero prided themself on never hurting anyone, but their grip around Villain’s neck got tighter. Heroes never hurt people who mattered.

”You should have surrendered”, Hero answered.

One of the other heroes pulled Villain’s arms behind their back, handcuffed them together. Villain felt the broken bone shift and grind inside their arm and bit down a scream. They wouldn’t give Hero the satisfaction. Hero let go of Villain, took a step back.

”You have the right to remain silent”, they said. ”Everything you say can and will be used against you.”

Villain rolled their eyes. They knew the deal already, had already been through the system. Sleeping anywhere except inside an apartment was illegal and Villain’s first time breaking the law was at 13. It had been many more since then. They tilted their head, didn’t even try to look innocent.

”What’s my crime then, oh great server of justice?” Villain sneered.

”You were scaring the civilians.”

”Last I checked someone being scared of you isn’t grounds for arrest.”

Hero leaned in, grinned. Their teeth white and straight and perfect and everything Villain wasn’t.

”Terrorism is”, Hero answered. ”Disturbance of the peace.”

Hero straightened their back again, gestured at the benches around the area. Villain’s eyes narrowed. They had pulled the armrests splitting every single bench throught the middle away, carelessly thrown them into the closest trashcan.

”Destruction of city property.”

”People can use them again”, Villain answered. ”Rest if they need to.”

The break in Villain’s arm was pounding and the only reason they didn’t pass out was because Hero’s stare and Hero’s grin and Villain’s sole wish of wanting to punch that smirk off them. Hero crossed their arms over their chest. This wasn’t an argument in their mind. Sirens were coming closer, the police rushing in to drag Villain away, lock them up in a place where desired people wouldn’t need to see them.

”Have you heard the phrase ’hostile architecture’?” Villain asked.

They kept their back straight despite still being on their knees. Hero pressed their lips together, stared at Villain, but didn’t answer. The police car stopped nearby.

”Who are you protecting?” Villain continued. ”The people in need or the status quo? The suits or the ones who suffer?”

Police officers grabbed Villain, pulled them to their feet. They winced as the broken arm shifted again. That would never heal correct. Villain hoped it wouldn’t stop them from helping the beaten and the damned, the one the heroes had forgotten. They sent another glare at Hero.

”They only care about you as long as you fall in line.”

Hero stepped out of the way and the police officers pushed Villain forwards, into the back of the car. Villain watched as the police talked to the heroes, probably praised them for their quick work.

The police returned, sat down without talking to Villain. Why would they need to? Hero had already read them their rights, there was already proof of Villain’s crimes. The car sprung to life, and Villain was forced from the scene of the crime.

-----

Hero pulled one of the broken armrests out of the trashcan, straightened the bent metal and put it back on the bench. Villain’s stunt would be expensive for the city to fix. Money that would be taken from the tax-payers, people who were already struggling.

They gestured for their team to head out and left the area. The laws were there for a reason and Hero wouldn’t let Villain’s words get to them.

[numberoneredriotfan]

Rodydeku headcanons part 1 :)

I'm going insane over these two hggggg-

(this screenshot from the movie makes me cackle everytime-)

• Rody fell first, no questions asked. Deku fell a bit later when he actually had the time to consider his feelings when he WASN'T fighting villains and dealing with vestiges every three seconds.

• Before they parted after the humarise crisis, they exchanged numbers so they could still talk. And, I kid you not, as soon as Deku got home he called Rody immediately. Rody played it cool like-- "damn, miss me already hero??" As if he hadn't been staring at Deku's contact for the past ten minutes wanting to call him but not wanting to seem like he missed him or anything (he really, really missed him).

• From then on, they pretty much call each other every other night when they're free, giving each other general updates (or just to hear each other's voice) (Rody's like kicking his feet and twirling his hair during these calls-)

• Rody's contact for Deku is "mass murderer (heart emoji)" the heart emoji was added a little later on when Rody worked up the balls. Deku's contact name for Rody isn't anything special, just his name with a little ":)" on the side.

• Rody's crush is soooo bad. He definitely keeps up with anything hero-related on the news just so he can talk about it with Deku during their next call.

• I think Rody's voice helps Deku relax a lot, even if he doesn't realize why (keep this in mind, it'll come into play later).

• Rody thinks about the time when Deku spiderman-ed him around Otheon. A lot.

• Deku told everyone is class 1-A about Rody, more than he talked about the actual humarise crisis.

• During Rody's visit to Japan (in the spin off "team up missions" manga), I like to think he started developing a bit of an inferiority complex to Deku's friends.

• Like, who was he to Deku compared to all these friends that had been through so much together?? Compared to them, he was literally just some guy he saved the world with once.

• It didn't help hearing all the stories about Deku solving villain crisis after villain crisis with said friends.

• Of course Deku didn't think that way, and considered Rody a friend just like he considered everyone in class A a friend (with something a little extra there but he hasn't realized that yet).

• Deku once sent a picture of him and Eri during a little playdate to Rody the backflip his heart did when he learned that Deku was good with kids-

• Also, seeing Deku get along and be sweet with his siblings almost killed him.

• Sometimes, Pino will steal Rody's phone and send a random cluster of emojis with ninety percent of them being hearts. Deku was a little confused when this first happened, but after Rody (frantically) explained it was Pino, whenever it happens Deku just goes "hi pino!"

• Deku grows to be able to read Rody pretty well, even when he hides Pino from him. Although, having a friend with a built-in lie detector is pretty convenient.

• "Have you been missing me at all??" "Pssh, nah, you cause way too much trouble for me-" *distressed chirping in the background* "PINO." "I miss you too Rody :)"

• Rody pokes fun at Deku for the mass murderer incident all the damn time. "I don't know man, do I really wanna hang out with a mass murderer??" "Oh no, please don't hurt me mister mass murderer."

• Deku going on hero rants and Rody going on plane rants and both of them listening to each other with full attention :( <3

• Okay let's get into the more angsty stuff.

• After the war, and after all the villains escaped tarturus, and planes stopped getting to Japan and stuff, Rody was kinda worried (he was VERY worried).

• He was at work when all the commotion was on the news, and he completely froze when they mentioned UA high school. As soon as he got home, he tried to call Deku to make sure he was okay, but he got no answer. Because by then, Deku had already left UA high.

• Deku didn't want Rody to worry about him, so he pretty much ignored all his calls (feeling incredibly guilty as he did so) (also for the sake of it let's pretend he still had his phone).

• Rody tried so many times to call him, wanting to pull his hair out every time he was sent to voicemail. He was losing sleep just worrying about him, and Rody's siblings noticed. They tried a lot to try and get Rody to cheer up, which he did appreciate despite still being worried.

• He wasn't picking up his phone, and leaving a text just wasn't enough. So, eventually, he decided to leave a bunch of voice messages, as some way to make himself feel better.

• They started off with him trying not to sound too worried:

• "Hey, Deku! It's been a little while since I've heard from you. I know you're probably busy with everything happening in Japan right now. Call me back when you get the chance."

"The past few weeks at work have been exhausting. People are acting like the world's gonna end, but I'm sure things'll be alright. That's why we have heroes like you, right?"

"I was able to take Roro and Lala out yesterday, I sent you the pictures. Did you know Roro grew a whole inch?? Soon he's gonna be as tall as me!"

• Until they eventually grew more and more concerned and desperate:

• "Hey, I saw the news this morning. Japan is in really bad shape right now. Is everyone in UA alright??"

"You are getting these, right? If you have, please at least send me a message saying something. Roro and Lala have been worried, you know."

"Deku, I know things have probably been rough for you over there. For you and everyone else. I know I don't know you as well as your friends at UA, and I know that in the end I can't understand what's happening over there. But whatever you're dealing with right now, I'm willing to listen. So...please. If you're getting these- if you're even alive- just let me know. I'm worried, okay...?"

• At some point, Rody gave up on trying, only hoping that somehow Deku was okay, and that maybe he just wasn't getting his messages.

• But Deku was. And he listened to every single one, resisting to the urge to send him something, or call him. But he told himself it'd cause Rody more trouble if he responded, so instead, he just listened to each voicemail over and over, finding comfort in Rody's voice (he also looked at pictures of him with his friends for comfort as well but this isn't about them/j).

• After class A dragged Deku back to UA by the ear, once he was finally able to rest, he couldn't help but think about Rody and finally responding to him, but he wasn't sure what he would say, and he had a bunch of other things to worry about at the moment, so it slipped his mind.

• But eventually, as Rody was laying in bed thinking about Deku (as he had been doing for the past few weeks), he decided to try calling him again cause god damn it why not. He wasn't expecting a response, but at least he could say he tried.

• And to his surprise, Deku answered.

• At first, Rody just kinda sat there in shock, trying to process the sound of Deku's voice. And finally, weeks worth of emotions came spilling out and he just started ugly sobbing while yelling at him and questioning where he's been. Deku tried to calm him down a little, which only made Rody even more upset because how DARE you tell him to calm after you up and disappear for weeks without any sort of communication!!

• Knowing Rody's anger was justified, Deku told him he'd explain everything. And he did.

• He spent the next hour explaining everything that had happened to Rody. From the very beginning. How he was originally quirkless, how he got one for all, one for all's vestiges, the league of villains, All for one, Shigaraki. He explained everything, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders as he did so. Rody, though confused and confounded, listened intently.

• Once he was finished, Deku apologized profoundly for not telling Rody any of this, and how he just didn't want him to be put in danger. That's when Rody realized just how big the burden Deku had been carrying all this time, all by himself, truly was.

• "You've already put me in danger once before, hero." Rody said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood. Deku let out an weak, involuntary laugh. "You didn't have to hide this from me...you listened to all voice messages right? I meant it when I said I was willing to listen. You really don't have to carry that all by yourself..."

• Deku really couldn't help but sob once again at the support he got from one of his dear friends. And hearing Deku cry, Rody said he was a crybaby while also starting to cry as well.

• Just like that one time, both of them started to laugh together while still crying.

I love them so much :(

[allwormdiet]

Sentinel 9.1

Weld's lucky he's endearing, bc oh my god the ways he manages to step in it this arc

Bro, the city has been kaiju'd to hell, everyone who could use the airports to get out has gotten out, no money is gonna be made any time soon so business isn't happening, and nobody is dumb enough to come to Brockton Bay for pleasure right now. No shit the airport is empty. I'm more surprised that you're surprised by that.

Hey Piggot, sorry your job has gotten like a million times more stressful, hope you're hanging in there

Is robbing part of an airport profitable? That doesn't sound right but I don't know enough about airports or robbery to dispute it.

Also it's interesting to see economics and class inequality come up again, especially in the context of disaster response and response to disasters. The gap between rich and poor only gets wider in times of crisis, and the gap was already pretty fucking wide.

So, finally the PRT power classifications get laid out, having been introduced in Interlude 6 and mentioned again in 8.7. And it's mentioned explicitly as something that was used to sort out villains before eventually getting applied to heroes as well. Presumably an effort to know how to respond in case a hero goes off the rails, or maybe just trying to find more justifications to use the system. Dunno. Don't think it matters a ton in the grand scheme of things, trying to shove every power into a neat labeled box seems unproductive after a certain point.

Also yeah "Brute" is a bit of an unfortunate choice, with the additional yikes factor that they were specifically using it to describe villains at first. Like oh, don't worry about dishing out the punishment, it's a Brute after all.

I think Armsmaster would sooner chew off his other arm than retire, so there's definitely a story there

Also yeah Flechette locked in, as expected

This is the only real thing I can ding Piggot's standing for, I don't think it's hard to tell that a friendly rivalry would mean nothing in this context, so the fact that she's coming down on it for even existing feels like an overreaction. Then again, she's trying to bail out a battleship with a bucket, being humorless is hardly the worst offense in a time like this

"They weren't strictly homeless because they were squatting in abandoned commercial and industrial buildings" is certainly a perspective. When they talk about the intentions of Leviathan, it almost makes me wonder if the Docks were targeted to exacerbate things, get more people pissed and hurting and desperate. Between this, being able to target cities based off of social instability and potential media coverage, and possibly trying to eat or free Noelle, that's a lot of different factors possibly urging this attack and its behavior during said attack, and it might just be all of them at once. That's fucking freaky.

Also I think there was a mild slip-up here, calling Moist a Shifter instead of, I'm assuming, a Changer.

Shaper instead of Changer again

Interesting that Hookwolf is the head of the second Empire successor group, wonder if Krieg just didn't have the drive for leadership or got killed after the Endbringer stuff (thus not showing up on the memorial). Also mildly surprised that he's got the biggest number of parahumans.

The fact that the Pure have been rejected "for the time being" raises my hackles though, I've gotta be real. If the Protectorate/PRT actually stoop low enough to cooperate with fucking Nazis I'm gonna start feeling a lot less charitable

So three Masters is Skitter, Bitch, and Regent. I would guess that Skitter is the one they're concerned about, knowing Shadow Stalker's face, and that the other two would be who they consider possible sociopaths.

"Faultline's Crew" is a terrible name honestly. Coil and Faultline both just suck at naming teams...

Also 12 is the highest number we see here, which I guess means Labyrinth is on paper the most busted cape in the city. Good for her.

That's gotta fucking suck, never having a moment away from prying eyes whenever you're in public. How much of this is Weld being a champ and how much of this is Weld being resigned to this being his life?

That. Is rough.

So, that's something interesting. There's an interesting dichotomy between how parahumans can utterly wipe the floor against regular human combatants, even facing 25-to-1 odds with no purely defensive abilities (Grue's darkness can't stop a lucky hit) and coming out of it totally clean, and now there's this concern. We know that the early independent heroes got their shit rocked, Vikare got killed by a blow to the head during a sports riot of all things, so is there an upper limit on how many humans a parahuman can face at once? Does it hinge on how many parahumans are working together to face the threat, like could Grue only take on ten guys on his own if Skitter and Gregor and Spitfire hadn't been there to watch his back?

I'm probably overthinking this, but Piggot apparently considers it worth worrying about, so I won't dismiss the topic out of hand. Parahumans seem to end up above, below, or otherwise apart from the rest of humanity, and that separation could prove troublesome.

Gotta be strange to have your boss act like your dad, but needs must when you don't even remember who you are.

Also yeah fingers crossed Piggot holds to principles here, she doesn't seem the type but I've been disappointed before

Jesus Christ that's a really long-term plan. They've been at this since what, the late 80s?

Also interesting that the terminology uses is stated in-universe to be dated

So what's the "core" Protectorate team in this context? Is that at or above the standing that Armsmaster had before he derailed his own career? Are we talking Triumvirate level, or is there a middle ground I'm not aware of?

I also really really want to know what the meme was involving Weld, that's such a specific thing to have happen

I'm shocked that this would be considered frivolous. That's the kind of opportunity you'd normally seize with both hands, the idea of waving it off seems bizarre. Do they need the Wards too much to fight homicidal supervillains and disarm megaton bombs to let them *checks notes* get more kinds of training in? That feels shortsighted.

Then again a lot of things in Brockton Bay seem shortsighted. The greatest threat against Coil's grand scheme is his own impulsiveness (although easy money says that Taylor will become his biggest problem down the line), the Empire for some reason bothered with petty street crime and protection rackets while being run by, really cannot overstate this, the CEO of a pharmaceutical corporation that was doing well enough to have an entire skyscraper, and Lung put in like 1% of the effort he could've given to running the city. Maybe nobody is coming up with five-year plans because nobody is confident they'll live another five years, or maybe it's something in the water supply.

This is funny but it's so fucking rude, oh my God

Oh Weld, Weld no, do not think about Shadow Stalker like that, she'd corrode your dick off your body with her personality.

Oh, Weld. You have put your foot in your mouth already.

This story takes a pretty dim view of humanity, honestly. Poisoning an entire apartment block with chlorine gas just so you can loot it and take over feels extreme; I'm not gonna say it could or would never happen, unfortunately people are just as capable of evil as they are of good and there's not really a limit to how far either of those things can go, but for me at least it's somewhat curious that we don't hear more about any altruists in the city outside of the Protectorate; there would have to be good Samaritans somewhere in the mix, and not even most of them would've already been stabbed or beaten to death by opportunists.

Maybe that's just the perspective the Wards are giving us, but call me crazy, I don't think Taylor is going to be any more optimistic about how things are going.

Also, Clockblocker is jumping down Weld's throat here, but he's not strictly wrong. He's coming into this fresh-faced, having not dealt with any of the aftermath of Leviathan. The strain being put on these kids is intense, not least with the losses that the Protectorate suffered and the teammates they're still grieving. Fifteen hour patrols, Jesus Christ.

Bro got owned by a thirteen-year-old.

How did he not get briefed on the dead Wards? How did he not already look them up for himself? Someone, I think multiple someones, dropped the ball there. I'm also surprised that Weld even asked the question instead of just drawing his own conclusions or looking into it when nobody could catch him being a fool.

Current Thoughts

I do not envy Weld for the situation he's being thrown into. Whatever happens in Boston is clearly a different kind of ballgame from what they're doing here in Brockton Bay, and he has not been read into it yet.

I don't envy any of the Wards, this might be the most thankless position anyone in the city might be stuck with, and none of them are even old enough to buy cigarettes or vote, but they have to fend off looters and wade through waters tainted with death and ruin for hours at a time.

How many rights do you sign away taking this job, getting your ass put on the line like this when not even the military takes kids this young into combat? I think Skitter was right, this whole arrangement blows chunks

[thewickedbohemian]

Thoughts on the Brilliant Minds fall finale

so she isn't dead and we're just picking right up with no Wolf monologue

there's the expected guilt

good to know it doesn't look like the guys are competing over Ericka (though I have a bad feeling one might find out about the other)

love that the sports music started playing

another ethical dilemma similar to Roman's

don't jeopardize the patients, dudes

is this the first time we saw Carol's house (don't correct me if I'm wrong I could just be misremembering)

there goes a her-centric flashback and there goes my theory about it being some neuroweirdness of Wolf's

and the truth will out to both of them

people who say they're fine are never fine

glad Wolf and Nichols aren't turning this into a fight

and Allison's sounding a little like a horror villain

another Carol flashback (that I feel like was biting from Black-ish, black doctor new mother with postpartum depression) and wtf did she do

common theme of normal-or-not and I totally get where Wolf's coming from

sports music keeps playing and Van makes a play

I really hope that was the predicted in-danger and nothing's gonna happen to any of our heroes

better now and it feels like Wolf's trying to help them both get better

I've talked about Wolf/Dana parallels but this episode is kinda hammering home the Carol/Jacob ones I've heard others talk about in conjunction with both needing to realize they're pushing themselves too hard

Carol's anxiety kinda giving me anxiety

first kinda-fight but I don't think it's what Nichols thinks it is, maybe it's just my neuroweird projecting but I think Wolf and his too-much-empathy-for-his-social-skills didn't want Ezra to get the surgery because he wouldn't want it

of course Dana wins quietly in the background

but Jacob and Van appear to playing a very different game

Ezra helping Wolf realize maybe he was a little too dogmatic

and as in the episode with Van's diagnosis Dana hears everything

okay please don't tell me the entire triangle just blew up please tell me that's just fall finale drama

called it on the BPD shit

it feels like everyone's situations are paralleling each other again

hammering the theme home are we

are we going to see more of Allison (and that necklace is cute af)

Carol standing up for herself

Wolf and Nichols proving to be almost as Sherlock-Watson-coded as House and Wilson (if you took the name out that line about if I didn't see you as my equal I wouldn't bother arguing with you that could be used in gifsets or w/e for so many pairings and then have people argue over it being appropriative/not being usable for straight pairings because it came from a gay one)

okay there's the danger we were warned and worried about and I'm having to reassure my might-be-a-HSP ass that she's too core to not be okay (just like on East New York (may its memory be for a blessing) when Officer Bentley got shot in the fall finale) and maybe that just means Jacob and Van have to settle their differences or no one has a chance but I'm wondering how the hell this ties into neuro (I swear, if they make Ericka somehow gain some condition to not make her the "token normal one" next to Van's synesthesia, Dana's anxious-avoidant and Jacob's CTE and don't handle it well...)

[solitaryearthperson]

I'm Not A Hero

Summary: A mistake on a mission makes you question whether you're a hero and Bruce helps you.

(The reader is gender neutral and uses they/them pronouns. The ethnicity/race is preferably a person of color.)

The sounds of bombs going off and multiple people screaming out was hard to get out of my head, but I tried my hardest to do so. People yelling, crying, and praying in multiple languages was too much for my ears to take. People scattered across everywhere, some on the ground, some in dirt, some in crumbling buildings, bleeding from injuries too severe to heal from was too much for my eyes. I kept seeing them over and over. Even though it had been weeks, almost a month, I couldn't get it out of my head.

"Kid, it's okay. Don't listen to them." Tony patted me on the shoulder and told me this the day after, when it was all over the news.

Every news channel had the same headline: Avengers saves the day, but causes more lives lost. And every one of them had a video of me, the camera zooming in on my figure. They would all pause right at the time my powers went loose and the headlines would change to "Did the Avengers recruit a villain?"

"(Y/N), don't think about it. The news is making it worse than it really is." Natasha told me this when she visited my room the next day, finding me wrapped up in my blanket and watching the news play the video over and over, staring at the image of me on the screen causing so much damage.

"The death toll is in the hundreds now, while the number of injured has reached the thousands," the news caster said.

"Most of those people were already injured or dying before we even got there, (Y/N)," Clint told me, after Natasha left, disappointed that her consoling me didn't help. "You saved a lot of lives. So many people are walking around, breathing, and living because of you."

It didn't matter if that was true or not, it didn't matter that there were people who weren't injured, people who survived and could get back to their regular lives. To me, none of it mattered if the cost of this victory was hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people dying or getting hurt.

I thought I had myself under control. I thought I could handle it. This mission wasn't my first, but it was the first that so many people had died because of me being reckless and overconfident, forgetting the strength of my powers.

"Come to the party, (Y/N)," Steve urged me, with Natasha and Clint beside him. "It'll be fun and we'll see people who are honored and glad that you rescued them."

The party they're referring to is some party/award ceremony being thrown by half the government and half Tony Stark for rescuing so many people. We'll receive awards, and be honored as absolute heroes of the country. I had informed them a few days before that I didn't want to go and instead I would rather stay in my room binge-watch TV, but they insisted, to the point that Nat threatened to kidnap me from my room and force me to attend.

~

"(Y/N)!"

"(Y/N)!"

"(Y/N)!"

Flashes of cameras and reporters calling my name was quite an overwhelming thing that I haven't gotten used to since being on the team. The others told me that it takes time, but if it ever gets too much, it's alright to duck out when I get a chance, and right now, that's exactly how I was feeling.

So many people yelling my name asking what designer I was wearing, what diet I was on, how often did I train, and other questions were still strange to me.

"(Y/N), can you show us some of your powers?"

The question caught me off guard, but I tried to not let it show and responded with a polite smile and said, "Um, maybe some other time. I will give you a great show then." I was fine until I heard the next question.

"Is it because of your last mission?"

The question made me freeze, and I looked around to find if any of the others were around to help me, but suddenly I couldn't find any of them near me. It was like they had suddenly disappeared.

"What do you have to say about the death toll now reaching 1,000?"

"What?" I asked, feeling my heart beat speed up. I hadn't heard about the deaths getting that high.

"Sources say that you have no control over your powers. Is that true?"

"I-I,...um," I didn't know what to say, my tongue suddenly felt numb and I could feel all the hair on my body stand up.

"Why did the Avengers recruit you if you don't have control over yourself?"

"How can the public trust you?"

I wanted to tell them that it was an accident, that it was one slip-up that will never happen again, but I couldn't make myself do it.

"(Y/N)!"

I recognized the voice but I didn't bother looking to see where and who it came from. Before I could hear another question, I quickly walked away from the reporters and left the room. I didn't know where I was going, only that I needed to get as far away from the party as possible.

Before I knew it, I was opening the door of a nearby hallway closet and ran inside, slamming it shut behind me. Not hearing any footsteps behind me, I took a deep breath and stood against the wall, trying to calm my mind and forget the questions, but it was too hard. How did I not know the death toll rose that high? How could I lose control like that? Why did I lose control? Will it happen again?

I could feel my heart beating hard inside me, like it wanted to escape my body, and I could hear it loud in my ears like drums. Why did I come here? I shouldn't have come here! I don't need to be here! I'm not a hero!

I can't breathe! I tried to catch my breath, tried to breathe deeply again, but for some reason I couldn't. The questions from before were now screaming in my head and the images of my blurry figure on the news kept flashing through my mind. I shouldn't be here! I'm not a hero!

"(Y/N)," I heard a voice suddenly say my name through all the noise. I hadn't even realized that I had closed my eyes and I opened them to see Bruce standing before me, closing the closet door, and looking at me with a look of concern on his face.

"Bruce," I asked, trying to breathe, but still failing. "What're you doing here?"

"I saw you rush out and followed you. Are you okay?" He stepped toward me and grabbed me by my shoulders, squeezing them comfortingly.

"I can't breathe," I told him, feeling tears that I had been holding in for the longest begin to run down my face. "I can't be here."

"Hey everything's okay," he tried to tell me.

"I can't go out there! I can't answer any questions! I shouldn't be here after what I did!"

"(Y/N)," his voice was more stern and when I looked into his eyes, I saw nothing but kindness. "Do what I say. Okay?"

I quickly nodded my head.

"Count with me. 1...2...3... Inhale...4...5...6 exhale."

I nodded my head again and looked at him while doing it. "1...2...3," I looked at him before inhaling, seeing him nod, then continued, "4...5...6," then I exhaled slowly.

"Good. Do it again."

We continued to do this for a couple more minutes. He was patient and counted along with me, then inhaled and exhaled with me too. Each time we did it, I began to breathe easier, and my heart beat began to slow down, but the questions and memories of the mission and the video on the news kept running through my mind over and over again. When he finally saw my breathing become normal, that's when he chose to ask the question that I was dreading to hear him ask.

"Why are you in here?"

"I couldn't take being out there anymore. I had to get away."

"Why? What did they ask you?"

Another question I was dreading to hear, but I tried to suck up as much courage and answer him honestly. "They asked about my powers, and what happened on the mission, and," I could hear my voice begin to tremble, but I ignored it and continued speaking, "They told me about the deaths...that it's in the thousands now."

A look of recognition came over his face and he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me into a hug that I was not expecting, but greatfully accepted. Bruce was more shy than everyone else and kept his distance from the others, so this absolutely surprised me.

"I know how you feel, (Y/N)."

"You do?"

"Yeah," he replied with a little laugh. "The hulk had done some damage in the past. For good and bad."

Oh yeah. I had forgotten about the things the hulk has done. So many people are fans of the Avengers now, including Bruce, that I briefly forgot about the damage to New York.

"What do you mean 'you shouldn't be here', (Y/N)?"

Pulling away, I sniffed, and quickly wiped away the tears from my face before answering him, "The others wanted me to come, but I don't think I should be here. I don't feel like a hero. I feel like a-"

"Monster," he finished for me, making me smile a little. "The others don't have powers like ours. We make a small mistake, it can have big consequences."

"How do you deal with it? The death. Destruction. I don't feel like a hero anymore. I feel like a fraud."

"No matter how much that voice in your head tells you differently, you're a hero. You can't save everyone, all the time. There's gonna be lots of victories, but some sadness as well. Try to find ways to distract yourself. "

"How?"

He sighed loudly before replying, "Meditation, yoga, reading, maybe sports. Try to find a hobby that you know will quickly distract you and make you not think for a while."

As Bruce spoke, I couldn't help but be really moved and quite sad. I've never really interacted with him outside of the usual mission, and sometimes forgot he was there. This whole time I never thought about how he has gone through the same thing as I have and more. Realizing this also made me feel a little sympathy as well as I realize that not only has he gone through this before, but he's also had to cope with everything I'm feeling before, only he had to cope by himself.

"So do you wanna try going back out there or stay here a little longer?"

Just the thought of going back out there and knowing that there's a possibility that I'll have to answer anymore questions made me feel sick, so I quickly shook my head.

"I wanna stay here." He nodded his head in understanding and before he could turn, I asked, "Could you stay and keep me company? You don't have to if you don't wanna."

"Sure," he said, then took out his phone and moved to sit on the floor. He looked up at me and patted the spot next to him. "You wanna watch some Netflix till the party's over?"

I smiled and happily sat down next to him, ready to watch whatever just as long as I didn't go back out there.

"What do you think of 'The Witcher'?"

"My favorite," I told him, scooting closer to look down at the phone.

Who knew that me and Dr. Banner had so much in common with each other?!

[fantasyinvader]

I was thinking some more and I've come to a conclusion.Dimitri and Claude aren't meant to be good guys without Byleth, but this couldn't really come across due to cultural differences. The big thing is that they aren't benevolent.

Dimitri is seeking to avenge the fallen, will even leave part of his country in the hands of the Empire in order to make a death march towards Edelgard, making it clear that he will use those who are following them. He may slay Imperials who occupy his lands, but he's not rallying the people in resistence. He's just killing people and those around him are just blindly following him. At Gronder, he's willing to kill Alliance soldiers just because they're between him and Edelgard.

Claude, meanwhile, has earned the name Tabletop Demon (in the Japanese) over his attempts to use the Alliance's politics to keep it together. In Snow, he has the Church retake the bridge and suffer heavy casualties so he can then launch a sneak attack on Edelgard. He didn't help the Church out of the goodness of his heart, nor is he standing up to what Edelgard is doing despite being anti-Empire, which in turn undermines his ideals. At Gronder, he says the Alliance will crush anyone who isn't an ally to them because it's a struggle to target the "right" one. But at the same time, when Dimitri tells Claude to move Claude refuses to budge and when Byleth fights Claude he questions why they are fighting if the Empire is the Byleth's enemy yet Claude can be the one to attack the Kingdom forces first.

I think with this in mind, Gronder is a case where none of the lords are meant to be a hero. Edelgard will crush anyone who opposes her. Dimitri those who stand in his way, Claude anyone not an ally. It's only afterwards, thanks to the support of Byleth and the Church, does Dimitri and Claude start to move towards being a hero. Dimitri lets go of his misguided beliefs after Rodrigue dies, Claude gets an example of hatred destroying someone. With Byleth not there, the three countries all exhaust their strength thanks to the flaws of each leader.

But Claude doesn't do anything too villainous otherwise, even reforms in Moon, and it's hard not to see Dimitri in a better light in the face of the oppression Edelgard brings. They don't look like the bad guys when compared to her, and I think that might be where some of the issues of the translation came from. Rather than trying to get across that they weren't heroes before Gronder, they instead tried to make Edelgard appear more heroic at the cost of Byleth and the Church faction, the real good guys of the game.

And since I'm on the subject, comparing Houses to Three Kingdoms, I can't help but feel that the Church faction is meant to address the flaws of each of the Three Kingdoms that led to their downfalls. In the book, Kong Ming calls out those who serve Cao Cao. Despite his talk of meritocracy and handing out positions, those officials look away from the man's immoral nature. In Houses, the Imperial students (alongside Hanneman and Manuela) reject Edelgard when recruited because of the immoral acts performed for her benefit during White Clouds. Part of the reason Shu falls is that it's officers were blindly loyal to their leader even when he was an idiot or lost sight of his duties while seeking revenge. Recruited Lions don't blindly follow Dimitri to their deaths, never mind turning themselves into Crest Beasts. Meanwhile, Wu putting emphasis on lineage ends with a tyrant on the throne after the likes of Sun Ce, whose hatred towards Taoism leads to his death, and the ambitious Sun Quan, who wanted Wu to be an independent nation rather than bowing to the Emperor. Recruited Deer don't follow a leader just because of his lineage putting him in charge of the country, nor do they have reason to let hatred towards the Church stop them from fighting Edelgard or support his ambition. It still makes them being recruited to other Houses a good thing when that leader undergoes development, but it still treats joining Edelgard as a bad thing because she doesn't stop being immoral.

[theerurishipper]

What Marinette did at the end of season 5 is dangerous lesson to internalize to young children because if people are dissecting and going deeply in depth with s5 episodes like Derision and the final two parter episode and mind you these are adults or at least pass the age intended for this show demographic how are young kids living similar lives to adrian or chloe going to be affected? Kids brats or not react differently the whole good victim mentality narrative in this show is disgusting when it comes to the topic of akumas and how it relates to mental health. Like if there is a chloe or adrien child watching this show I feel horrible for them because what hope or closure do they really get from this show what lesson imparted in this show is actually being taught in goodwill like did the producers or whoever behind it not see how bad the messaging with their abuse apologist is how are parents not complaining or at the very least concerned?

I was whirl-winded by the finale in of itself and what I got was Marinette essentially following through with the villains plan and keeping it from her love interest while simultaneously gaslighting about his father decisions and making the parent abuser a hero and his victim Adrien in awe.

If adults are trying to rationalize or do whatever they can to scrap whatever integrity left in Marinette character decisions making theories to salvage the wreckage done in the finale two-parter how are children or middle-schoolers rationalizing this because I deeply sincerely hope they don't ever internalize anything from this show the message they impart especially in one of the episodes revolving from Chloe Father especially and the leak episodes they eventually had to scrap because of the backlash is so damn bad.

Like forget the potential what if or canons or annoyance the fandom didn't get their wants with this show because ultimately the show is for kids not them what lesson do we learn here?

I am actually worried. This is a magical girl cartoon aren't the lesson they're supposed to invoke about to teach love and their is hope to change like Digimon for instance they had a character named Ken and Daiki encouraging him and his belief in the mc made him changed so much into a better person. But no, instead Marinette being like Chloe can never change there is no hope from her mouth makes me want to wrangle the writers and people behind it I hope they aren't parents because wtf? Who behind the decisions there for children to consume this sort of trash messaging in forgiving abuse apologist like Gabe.

She's supposed to be a role model but no instead Astruc uses her as a tool to spout whatever grievances he has with the fandom onto the show and characters inside it especially Chloe. I really don't recommend a show like MLB to anyone honestly unless they are aware of this show dumb messaging and people buying into it.

Exactly. It's so obvious that Marinette just ended up becoming a mouthpiece for the writers to spout their own opinions towards the end, like having her go on numerous anti-Chloe tirades. And I'm not saying that Chloe doesn't deserve to be called out, but it's done so unnaturally, and it feels like the writers are just desperate to get us to hate her without acknowledging any of the character depth they gave her.

And I'm not a Chloe stan or anything, and I do think that it's okay to show that sometimes, people can't change and that victims of abuse can become abusers themselves. But we didn't get that. We got the show telling us, in no uncertain terms, that Chloe is bad because she's evil inside and not because of abuse that we see on screen, and that her father who enabled her and taught her how to be this way is a victim and is more redeemable than her. The fuck is this???

And it just gets worse, because Chloe is evil inside and irredeemable and deserves more abuse as her comeuppance, but the magical terrorist/child abuser gets off scott-free? Gabriel Agreste gets what he wanted and dies happy and content while leaving behind a favorable legacy? What the fuck?

So yeah. I feel bad for the abused children who are watching this show, who are being told that their abuse doesn't matter, that they are just being overly sensitive/are evil inside, and only deserve more abuse. What a wonderfully horrible message.

Thank you for your ask!

[retracing-my-steps-again]

Spider-Man: Expiation Ch. 2 Notes

My author and story notes on Ch. 2 of my spidey-deku fic (fic linked below)

Spoilers for Ch. 2 below

Author Notes:

I swear this whole fic is not just explaining and backstory. It's just the set up/origin chapters that have so much of it. There's plenty of action and dialogue to come, my friends.

I have a whole additional thing I want to say about the quirkless allegory but might just make that a separate post? I'll still link it to the fic I just think I have too much to say about that to put it here.

I feel like every single time I've gone on social media for MHA I see takes I disagree with, usually involving Izuku and Katsuki. They're surprisingly massively misunderstood characters. At least, that seems to be the case to me. I don't spend a whole lot of time online anymore though, so maybe that's changed. I hope to do the canon characters justice in this, even though it's both canon divergent and a fanfic (obviously).

I hope people are able to trust this fic a bit on character development. Since this isn't the same as the canon, I can't develop anyone in the same way but I do my best to do it accurately and with respect to canon. I also add in lots of parallels which showed up surprisingly often as I was writing all this. Hopefully that will keep people on board if they feel I'm not doing a good job? They'll be like well this is nothing like Izuku... oh wait here's a parallel I guess he's sort of like Izuku. Idk haha

Also, I wrote out an additional scene for this chapter that was literally just the beginning of the manga from Izuku's POV. Specifically, the beginning parts where he's in class the day of the sludge villain attack. All his classmates want to be heroes, Katsuki wants to go to UA and is pissed Izuku wants to as well, and then the whole exploding Izuku's notebook and Katsuki being like perhaps a hard reset via a swan dive? I didn't include it because I was worried it would be too boring to simply repeat a whole scene from the canon. I don't really do that anywhere else in the fic, I just considered it here because it's one of the few scenes from the manga that occurs before the canon divergence of this fic. I feel like it's a good starting point for Izuku and Katsuki's characters as well, and it would help emphasize how bad their relationship was at the beginning.

I still might go back and add it in. Mainly because even though it's in the manga, it feels like people seem to misunderstand that whole scene more than most. People are welcome to their bad takes, but I just wanted to establish a baseline for this fic, which is best done with my own interpretation of Izuku's thoughts during that scene. Idk I can't decide what to do about it. I feel like not including it and including it could both cause problems in different ways so idk we'll see

Also, no hate to the nickname "Kacchan" but I have to write it so many goddamn times in this fic and it sort of drove me insane. Actually, for the entire first draft I wrote Katsuki instead of Kacchan (unless Izuku was speaking to him of course) because I didn't want to type "Kacchan" that many times. However, it is technically Izuku's pov so I knew I needed to toughen up and just write Kacchan. I love the nickname in the context of the story and I think it's important for the sake of showing how Izuku views/wants Katsuki as a close friend throughout the years despite their issues. That being said... idk man. I'm gonna get hate for this for sure. Kacchan is Izuku's name for him and no one else uses that name in canon so even though it's his pov I'm like bro why tf am I calling him Kacchan? I don't know him like that. Blech idk how to say it but anyways I fixed it by now I just had to rant about it somewhere

Story Notes:

Funnily enough, out of every chapter I've written for this fic, this is one of the ones that makes me the most nervous for how I've written Katsuki's and Izuku's characters.

The difficulty with this fic is they've had this massive traumatic event right at the start. In this, the Izuku who is injured is all but exactly the same as the Izuku at the very start of the manga. He's had none of the development he gets from meeting and training with All Might. He's gained none of the confidence that he gets from training with his idol and getting a quirk and getting into UA (which might not seem like much at first glance ? but it actually seems to do a lot for him). In canon, Katsuki's character development mainly begins when he gets to UA, which he also has not yet done in this fic by this point.

So while I don't think I've written them incorrectly necessarily, they did feel somewhat OOC sometimes when writing because there's not really a canon reference at this point in time in any capacity. It's completely unique in a lot of ways. I could probably write a whole essay on why, but I won't bore with the details. I don't think they're actually OOC to the best of my ability, but I worry they come across that way. Largely because they probably seem really different from canon. So I worry that I'm starting off the fic and them acting strange might put people off. Hopefully, people stick it out and can see where I'm coming from both during the chapter and as time goes on. Also I tried to drive home how extreme the situation is, so hopefully people can at least give any uncharacteristic actions the benefit of the doubt for now.

I did a lot of revisions for the "apology" at the end. Again, there's no close reference in canon for something like this so I got stressed about it lol. Katsuki's apology in canon comes after a lot of development and is driven by very different motivations and understandings than this Katsuki. My references are my understanding of his character and comparisons to irl life experiences both for myself and others I know so idk I tried my best.

I've been writing this fic for a really long time so sometimes I forget how dark and dismal the very beginning is. Izuku has a rough time, and there's the beginnings of his mental struggles in this. I'll talk about it some more when I post about the quirkless allegory.

Honestly, as much as these first two chapters are a lot of explaining, they are pretty important setup for everything else. Because this fic is already so goddamn long I try not to include anything unless it has a specific purpose for the story

I had more thoughts but my laptop is trying to end itself so perhaps I will add more later if I remember to :)

[tiredassmage]

what type of villain are you?

your honor, i do love a good uquiz diagnosing the diseases and problems of my fictional characters and also i might be slightly procrastinating a final paper. saw this one from @sasslett and simply could not resist :3 quiz link! for those who'd like.

swtor edition first!

tyr deckard - then let me be evil

You never wanted to hurt anyone, but the world never gave you a choice. You did the best you could with what you had, but every innocent mistake you made was held against you when it counted, every crossroads led you down the wrong path no matter which way you went. No matter what you did, the odds were stacked against you. It wasn't fair, and you are sick and tired of being told what a monster you are for things out of your control. Well, fine. They want a monster? YOU'LL GIVE THEM A MONSTER!

alucren ellery - the betrayer

You like to do things up close and personal. As personal as you can get. You are an excellent actor, and you do adore putting on a smile knowing your worst enemy, the one you hate the most, doesn't suspect a thing when they tell you their deepest secrets. Your only motivation is revenge, and revenge you shall get. Perhaps you loved them once, long ago, but any fondness for your target you once felt has long since warped and twisted into perverse obsession, laced with malice and venom and seething hatred. Good or evil does not matter to you. All that matters is they get what they deserve.

leo ashold - the coward

You didn't have another choice, honest! Have these people SEEN what the heroes are up against? It'd end you in an instant, whether that be a lovecraftian abomination with a hold on your soul, a rampaging monster that's destroying more than a hurricane and an earthquake could in one fell swoop, a shadow organization that has tabs on everyone you love and will end them in an instant, or just a particularly grumpy boss that might yell at you if you don't fall in with his excessively tyrannical methods, you can't go risking your neck for the poor saps that think they can stop it. No way, you're staying on the bad guy side, where it's SAFE.

rhyst delavast - for the greater good

Perhaps you do not believe what you are doing can truly be classified as evil. Perhaps some people will be hurt from the immediate consequences of your actions, but what the masses fail to see is the immense good that will come of your plans. Maybe you act in the name of science, or for your people who have fallen on great tragedy. Maybe you see cracks in a failing system and want to uproot it through chaotic, destructive means to avoid greater tragedy down the line. Maybe you're just in with a bad crowd, but you can't leave them, no matter how unsavory their intentions, because they're your only ticket to your ultimate goals. No matter what, your goals are noble, and you take no joy in wreaking havoc or hurting those in your way, but the evils you partake in are necessary. If you need to play the bad guy to ensure a better future, then you are willing to play that part.

savosta - no moral compass

You are cold, analytical, and you strive to be as objective as a person of flesh and blood can be. Either don't understand the concepts of good and evil, or you understand it perfectly and think it's a load of bull. Some may call you selfish, some may call you unfeeling, but you're just doing what you believe will yield the best results, plain and simple. Why bother with petty ideals of right or wrong when you can do what will actively help those you give a fuck about? Your goals may be selfish or noble or anything in between, but you will not let anyone make you feel like garbage for going after them. You couldn't care less about what people brand you as. You just care about getting shit done by any means necessary.

[sonicblueartist]

Operation Crimson

Part 1, Part 2

Masterlist

❝𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞; 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.❞

A/N

Sorry guys this chapter might be long and boring but I swear these chapters are necessary to introduce the series and the events. (And I had to split this chapter because it become so long) I will try to add reader be more involved in other episodes and I promise there will be more action scenes. GET READY FOR THE CONCERT SCENE BECAUSE IT WILL BE A LEGEND!!! FINALLY, OUR HEROES WILL GET A GLANCE AT OUR VILLAIN.

HAVE FUN!

Sitting within a worn down booth, Kiera Lee took a dramatic drag of her half dulled cigarette watching as the reflection of passing cars flash along the twenty four hour coffee shops windows, along with the small rustling of poodles outside. Given the odd hour of that very evening, one would say her current position could be considered rather oddly suspicious, but given that she hadn't been alone, her situation was that much more conflicting to the naked eye. That is if anyone were watching to begin with. Seated before her, was a torn looking man named Mert, someone who had been seated before her for quite some time, and was still rather transfixed with the matter at hand, lost within his own head as he continued to be stuck in thought.

"This is no small matter..." Mert muttered. Kiera Lee sat up on her seat and replied in a strangely energetic way according to the time they were currently in.

"Come on, this will be a real success! Think about it. In the evenings with the most television viewing, investigative journalism, unsolved or questionable crimes..."

Mert's attention was more on wanting to sleep in his warm bed than on the subject. Kiera continued excitedly:

"The studio guests will be the witnesses, the people involved, and the parties' lawyers. And Vec..."

"Vec?"

"Excuse me, that's what I call him, actually the person I'm talking about is Vector, a former senior official of the police. An almost legendary character in his times, he has solved extremely complex cases. He is like Sherlock Holmes. Such a character that television will never miss it, they will praise him from the first night! He will examine the evidence, reveal issues that remain obscure and need to be addressed in more depth... I seem to see him questioning the people involved already..."

"Questioning? In the studio?"

"That's right, those who watch the show at home should feel like they're participating in a real investigation on air. The audience will rise above the clouds and our man will have enough success to put even the most veteran TV presenters in trouble."

"And naturally you'll be the host..."

Mert didn't want to talk business at that hour.

"Isn't that obvious? Listen to me, a program that will not even cost a lot, a few cents to be handed only to the studio guests, and a good reward to those who will make statements that have not appeared in the press before..."

"It doesn't matter if it's a good idea or a bad one." Mert said with a sneering smile.

"Certainly!" Kiera replied, emphasizing each word to indicate her anger towards how careless he is, continuing:

"Your interests are different anyway... But going back to the cost issue, they can easily be enticed by first-class travel or vacation.."

Mert finally tilted his head and straightened his posture to discuss the matter more properly.

"Hm, it's not a very original idea, there have been similar programs like this before."

"You've used the right word: Similar! Who have been presenting those programs have always been huge women who are afraid of harming those who conduct research and state officials, who do not touch the water and soap... We will be more aggressive, we will not hesitate to step on anyone's tail and... And the audience will be on our side. After all, the similar programs you mentioned eventually reached very good viewership numbers."

"Well, you know I'm not the one to decide on new releases."

"But since the program will run parallel to the news bulletins you are managing, your opinion on the subject will definitely be taken into account. Talk to Katy..."

Mert put on a tired smile.

"That's the price of tonight, isn't it? Defend your project to the general manager."

"Telling him about my project. Support me."

"I'll see him tomorrow morning..."

Mert looked at his watch with a yawn and added. "Correction, this morning... God! It's almost morning and I haven't slept at all."

Kiera got up from her seat and threw her bag over her shoulder.

Mert shook his head and spoke with a laugh: "You're officially trying to raise your status. You're repulsive..."

There was not the slightest hint of reproach in his voice.

"Aren't we all a little bit like that in this profession in our own way?"

"Okay. I'll talk to Katy about your project and try to convince her."

Kiera headed for the door, "See you soon then."

Mert mumbled something under his breath as he also got up, approaching the cashier to pay for their drinks, "Can't believe you leave the bill on me..." By the time he said that, Kiera was already on her way out, stucking her head out the door, addressing him.

"You talk to Katy. And do me a favor and learn to be a gentleman."

A moment later, she was behind the wheel of her car.

🍀

Kiera liked to drive in the evening, it made her feel powerful, she felt like the ruler of the city. She had been driving on many times, not knowing where she was going, letting her feelings drag her along.

Her phone unexpectedly started ringing.

The caller was Neri on the night watch from the editorial division of the channel.

"Kiera? I thought the secretary was going to show up..."

"Is something important?"

"No, I don't think so, but it will never be known... Maybe something interesting could come out of it. There is a murder. A man was killed in his own home."

"Is that all you know?"

"I was thinking of sending someone to the scene to get information, then I thought tomorrow morning you'd look into it and decide if it should be a special story or just a simple piece of news."

Kiera was not sleepy, nor did she want to go home.

"I'll go, give me the address," she said.

She arrived at the scene in no time. It was a building similar to many other structures found in areas close to the city center. The swirling blue lamps of police cars parked outside the entrance door cast large, strange shadows on the building's surface. A small group of people stood in front of the door to the large building where entry was barred by two policemen, and Kiera saw a print colleague among them.

She parked her car in front of the curb, but did not get out, sitting at the wheel waiting for someone to come, hoping she could get some useful information, after all, she had plenty of time before her for the day's news.

After a few minutes, her patience was rewarded more than expected. A police officer emerged from the building and hurried towards the duty vehicle. Their eyes met for a moment. The man leaned over the car window and spoke briefly to his colleague in the driver's seat. Then he checked around to make sure no one was following him and, making a quick nod to Kiera Lee, hurriedly headed down the side street.

Kiera waited for the man to turn the corner and disappear before starting the engine. Then she drove slowly in the opposite direction and turned from a secluded place into the street where the policeman had just disappeared. When she caught up with the man, she pulled up to the pavement and the officer quickly got into the car. Without any introduction, he began to speak:

"A victim, James Logan, aged twenty-seven, lived alone in an apartment on the fifth floor of the building. He was killed with a blade, like some sort of knife, with an unbelievable number of blows... A brutal murder indeed."

"Interesting, do we have a new monster in town?"

"Maybe. Let's get away from here. I don't want them to see us together."

"James Logan..." Kiera Lee started the car and made a quick U-turn. "The name is not familiar."

"He's not from the celebrity world, if that's what you want to know. He's officially registered as a civil servant," he said, adding with a grin. "It's only natural that he didn't become famous unless he's in a secret relationship with a politician or a famous artist."

"Was he a handsome guy?"

"I guess?"

"Can you go upstairs and have me take a look?"

"Don't even think about it, Espio dropped by the scene right away to keep things under control, I don't think he's going to like your visit."

"Espio? Is that such an important event?"

The man shrugged indifferently.

Kiera continued to speak:

"Even so, it doesn't sound like front-page news to me: A man murdered in his own home in this godforsaken city isn't of much public interest..."

"It's your opinion, but one thing I'm sure will change your mind by tomorrow night."

"Is it about the murderer? Do you know who they are? Did you catch them?"

An evil smile spread across the man's face.

"First we need to clear something up, my dear sweet journalist..."

"I know what you're going to say, but I can assure you..."

The man didn't let her finish.

"Last month I provided you with a lot of good information, you paid me a dime for a carload of nice words in return. Well, I don't care about those nice words, I'm more interested in money. If the information is important and I'm risking my head to pass it on to you, it should be paid properly."

"I know what's going on, and believe me, I was very angry because of this, I even punched my desk. Problem solved, no such thing anymore. If the information you give is valuable, I guarantee you will get a lot in return."

The man seemed to think for a moment.

"I want to believe you, but this time it better not be a problem, otherwise you'll have to get the news from someone else from now on."

"Calm down, okay, I said you'll get your money. Now talk."

"What I'm talking about is..."

🍀

Professor Hamilton stroked his white beard and settled more comfortably into the Forensic Institute's executive chair. For more than fifteen years he had been in this position, and he had passed through countless cadavers on the autopsy table: famous, never known, people who had enjoyed their lives to the fullest, or who had always had to suffer. And death did not excite him any longer, except in curious cases, and something different was happening less and less every day. The James Logan case was no different, for Hamilton it was very commonplace and would be forgotten in a few days. However, while talking to Commissar Espio, he concentrated on the subject for a moment with all his attention.

"Is it finished?" Espio asked.

"Death was definitely between twenty-one forty-five and twenty-two-fifteen last night. Cause of death: Lesions caused by multiple blows to the chest and abdomen with a sharp, steel blade. These are punctures and cuts, eighteen in total. the first six blows, all of which hit the chest. During the twelve blows that followed, the victim was already dead. The lesions in the internal organs are as follows, in order of importance: rupture of the pericardial sac and left ventricle..."

"Forget these details, Professor,"

Espio interrupted, sighing. "I'll read them in the report anyway."

"As you wish. The weapon that caused all the lesions was no doubt, let's see what finding it was... Yes, the D finding, the envelope opener found dipped in the victim's body after the murder. God, when you call it an envelope opener like that, you laugh because it's as thin as a real knife and a sharp, deadly weapon itself. The interesting thing, which didn't really surprise me when I saw where they stuck the blade in, was that the envelope opener was inserted into his body just a short while after he died."

"Can you be a little more specific?"

"The post-mortem biological findings do not give chronometric accuracy, so what I can say is that it was ten or thirty minutes after death." After a short pause, Hamilton continued his speech. "There's one more thing: the victim suffered another blow while alive, apart from cuts, a large, bruised tear in the right occipital region of the scalp caused by a blunt object... A thick, glassy object with a string of fragments left on the tissues from the impact of the crush."

"It was a bottle of cognac... Could a more than normal hit cause the victim to lose consciousness?"

"This is possible."

Espio was silent for a while.

"Professor, have you got any idea what the mechanics of the crime might be?"

"I think a conclusion can be made when considering the angles of the wounds on the chest and abdomen."

"Go on, Professor."

"The victim's back was turned to the murderer, maybe he was running away from them. He fell unconscious with the blow to the head with the cognac bottle. So the murderer jumped on him and stabbed him repeatedly with the envelope opener. At first he aimed at his chest with great force, but later..."

Espio interrupted the man:

"Wait, how can you be so sure that the victim is unconscious on the ground?"

"Because he didn't defend himself, his hands didn't have any scars to show otherwise, and besides, no skin, hair, fiber, or anything else from the killer was found on his fingernails... Nothing. As a result, he did not resist, he was either unconscious or half-conscious when he received the fatal blows."

"Or maybe he was paralyzed with fear..."

"Hmm, I don't think so, a person who receives fatal blows will not be paralyzed by fear. Usually, with an almost automatic reflex, the hands are in front of the face trying to shield them. But tell me, please, is it that important to know if the victim is conscious?"

"I don't know, probably not. Please continue, Professor..."

"Well, the victim is on the ground, the killer stabs him in the chest six times with successive blows. From the seventh blow, now there is a dead body in front of them, they stab him eleven more times, targeting his stomach. They drag the body a few meters to the middle of the room, the traces of blood on the floor are clearly visible. And now for the final act..."

"Envelope opener..."

"That's right, it's an act of utter humiliation and contempt. With great care, or even sensitivity, if the word isn't quite appropriate, maybe to make sure it's found, or just for sadistic pleasure, he inserts an envelope opener into the man's body and pushes it all the way down, and leaves it there as we found it."

For a few seconds no one spoke.

Espio was the first to speak, his voice strained:

"Did you find any traces of being beaten before?"

"No."

"Did he drink alcohol?"

"We took measurements, it was within normal limits, he didn't drink."

"Any drug or substance?"

"I can say no, I didn't find any traces. But we'll have to wait for the test results to say for sure."

"Did he have any disease?"

"A young and healthy man, in excellent physical condition."

"Has he eaten dinner?"

"He had a very light meal at about eight o'clock: salad and corn... Maybe he was on a diet."

Hamilton glanced at his watch and his daily chores in his diary.

"If nothing else, Mr. Espio..."

"No, I think that's enough for now."

"I will send you the full lab report as soon as possible."

"If something new catches your eye..."

"I'll let you know right away, Mr. Espio, keep up the good work."

Professor Hamilton finished speaking and immediately began to forget James Logan.

After Espio closed the call, he gets out of his office and comes face to face with Tails.

He wasn't surprised to see him as he was the one to invite him here but his face...

A genuine worry leaked in his words, "Jeez Tails, you look like a car struck you."

Tails scoffed, "Thanks. I didn't sleep three nights straight. Or four days. Seeing it is already..." he glanced at his watch, "...9:25 Am..." He added quickly, "Don't take it personally." He rubbed his eyes, "Anyway, let's get this over with, so I can rest a little."

Espio nodded understanding, "Follow me. Want some coffee?"

Tails sighed, "Do I look like I have a choice?"

As they walked in an empty office to talk, Tails was given his coffee by an intern.

"Thank you." He sipped the bitter coffee, grimacing his face with the harsh taste, leaving to get seated in the semi dark room.

She smiled at him.

Espio called out to her, "Thank you for helping us Light, you can leave."

She hesitated and nodded. Leaving them in the room by themselves.

Espio walked around the room, his fingers on the large white table. He rubs his dust covered fingers on his already stained jacket. After this his first priority is to clean this room. He started with clearing his throat, "You only want information about the victim?"

Tails glanced at Espio's face. His eye landed on his scar over his left cheek only for a second. He looked down on his dark reflection over the coffee, the lights were off and there was very little sunlight coming in through the curtains. This gave Tails the impression that it was still night, "Along with that, as always, general details pertinent to the procedure."

"The victim is a twenty-seven-year-old man. His name is James Logan. He lives alone. He was killed in his own home at about twenty-two last night. The body was found about two hours after the murder, and we were on the scene within minutes."

"What about the murder weapon?"

"An envelope opener, one of the household items. After he was knocked unconscious, he was stabbed multiple times in the stomach and chest with it."

Tails hummed, "He is unconscious? How?"

"With a blow to the head, the killer hit his head with a cognac bottle."

Tails sighed nodding, "What do we know about the victim?"

"A lot of things. The deceased was single, had a couple of girlfriends in recent years, and he was one of the best employees of a large company. His friends and co-workers said he was a serious and level-headed man. They stated that he lived a quiet and non-exaggerated life.

Tails glanced at him, "So what was it about last night?"

"Someone broke into his house, no sign of theft, probably opened the door to the killer himself."

"Let's stop here," Tails said, taking a sip from his cup and continuing. "I don't want to know anything else about the dynamics for now. Any other details on the victim?"

Victim: That was the term he had to force himself to use, not James Logan, not man or anything else... He should have called him a victim to avoid personalizing him and isolate himself from the situation.

"Let's see... his medical file says he's very healthy... He has casual interests and a few activities he continues: He attends a gym and signed up for a Latin American dance class a few weeks ago. He has no financial problems; when his family died, their apartment and a big amount of money saved is up to him. That's all for now..."

🍀

"Kiera! I'm so glad you can make it!" Amy cheerifully opens the door for her.

"Of course how could I miss an invite from a famous singer like you?" She walks in closing the door behind her.

Amy nearly jumped on her heels, "Come follow me. I have some good news for you." She didn't need to lead her in her big house, Kiera was already familiar from a few visits before, for some important information, but this time her visit was for a different reason and Amy being the polite person she is, doing it herself instead of her servants. The one thing Kiera didn't understand, just lay down girl, jeez, you have goddamn servants, let them do their jobs!

Her eyes caught the sight of her bodyguard. Weirdly enough there are a lot of security cameras inside and outside of her house but there is only one guard protecting the whole house -and Amy- and that is a robot.

"It better be. I ditched my work to come see you, girl." Shard and Kiera's eyes met. They both had a weird bond. Shard is oddly cheerful and mysterious for a bodyguard and Kiera has a fierce and untrustworthy attitude towards him. But he still seems to believe in her. Shard welcomed her with a nod.

They seated themself in her living room as Amy started to talk, "You know I'm going on a whole world tour soon, right?"

Kiera nods, "Of course. Everyone is talking about that."

Amy slightly blushes, "Well, Since I won't be singing here for a long time after I leave, I decided to give a concert here for the last time this week." Shard approaches with some teas in hand. They both picked it up. Amy thanked him and continued, "And I wanted to give you the first tickets. You can invite as many friends as you can, it's all free for you and your friends. You can take advantage of everything that will happen at the concert as you wish."

Kiera sips her tea with a side smile, "And? For what cost? What's your benefit?"

Amy gently smiles and shrugs, "I only want you to announce it in the news too, that's all. I want everyone to know so they can all enjoy it. I'm sure this will bring you a lot of viewers."

Kiera leans on her seat thinking, "hmm....Okay, alright, fine. It would be a nice distraction from all these... uh... When exactly is it going to happen you said?"

Amy perks up, "This Sunday, Shard will meet you there. I'll send the address and everything, don't worry. And sorry that it's so early. I didn't have any choice." Shard smirked cooly, waving towards her.

Kiera smiles, good, it's only two days later, "Don't sweat it. It's a deal."

Amy grins, "It will be great!" She mutters to herself, "Now all that remains is to convince Sonic and Espio. I hope Tails can manage."

Amy shakes her head and turns to her, "So...? If you don't mind me asking, how many friends do you think of bringing?"

Kiera smirks, "I have a few people in mind. And I think we better start preparing for this special day with them~"

🍀

Something wasn't normal, Tails was struggling to understand.

First of all, Espio wanted to meet him not in his own room, but in one of the meeting rooms: an oval table, six or seven chairs, a television. They were alone, however, and it was clear that no one else was expected. Then what was that sly expression that never faded as the forensic pathologist explained Hamilton's report?

In the end, Tails decided that Espio knew something he didn't realize and didn't want to tell him about this detail before he got his opinion, but why was he meeting him in the boardroom?

Leaning back on the chair, trying to relax, Espio said: "Yeah, what do you think?"

Tails did not answer immediately. He had a pretty clear idea of what was going on in James Logan's apartment, and what the forensic pathologist had to say backed it up. But he wanted to find the best way to present his thesis. Espio had no intention of pushing research to one side. He also knew that Espio wouldn't listen to him blindly, but Tails wanted to show that his thesis was the most plausible of normal behavior patterns and the only conclusion from crime scene investigation.

"You know something, don't you?" He asked.

"Hah hah, Tails." Espio laughed, raising his hands to his sides. "The rules are very clear. All you need to know right now is the crime scene, the forensic pathology report and information about the victim before you make your own thesis on the case. Then we can talk about the rest later."

"Fine, fine."

Tails took a deep breath before choosing his words carefully and speaking slowly. He ignored the anguish that was surfacing inside him as events flashed before his eyes.

"The victim was found in the middle of the hall: on his back, his shirt and shorts torn, his hands clasped on his stomach; The crime tool was left stuck to his body. The house is quite orderly, with no sign of a fight that may have lasted more than a few seconds."

Tails paused and brought his hands to his eyes. He could not see anything around him; he was in the apartment opposite the corpse of the man who was staring at him blankly. Espio's voice came from far away:

"Continue."

"How can we form an idea? According to the autopsy results, fatal blows were in the chest. I agree with Hamilton's dynamics; the victim was first knocked unconscious and then finished on the ground. The number of blows is much more than the purpose of killing, which indicates that the killer was ecstatic. Just minutes after his death, the victim was carried to the middle of the hall. Inserting the envelope opener into the body was the final act." He stared at his hands, hardly glaring, his voice light as if he was reading it all from a book.

"How can you be so sure that there was a certain amount of time between the fatal blow and that hideous final move?"

Tails didn't answer right away, his voice cold and soulless as he spoke:

"As a result of the autopsy, the envelope opener was pushed inwards after being inserted very carefully into the victim. In order to behave in this way, the murderer must have come out of his state of insanity at the time of the murder. And to get out of that mood, I assure you, a few seconds is not enough."

Again there was silence.

Tails spoke again:

"In fact, we can talk about two stages: We can define the first as aggressive or it would be more correct to say compulsive, which is the stage where the murder takes place; In the second stage, which is called characteristic, the killer plays the last scene we find. The first phase probably lasts no more than a minute, the killer compulsively,. i.e. in a state of frenzy: they attack the victim and can't stop hitting him even after the victim is dead, blood splatters all over the place and probably continues until they can. In the second stage, this frenzy passes, the killer is very calm. They use all the time they need to prepare the body when it will be found... They drag him to the middle of the hall, the stage, puts his hands on his chest and inserts the envelope opener into his body."

"You mean to tell me we're dealing with typical sexual sadism, the first act of a serial killer?"

"No, I didn't say that. It's true that it looks that way at first glance, but from my point of view there are a lot of inconsistencies."

After Tails said that, he paused to put his thoughts in order.

Espio waits calmly for him to speak, giving him time to put his thoughts in order.

"Let's start with the following, but let's not forget that we can't talk about the existence of a serial killer with a single crime committed: Our victim is not a suitable candidate for a typical sadistic murder. In such murders, people who lead irregular and disapproving lives, are in mixed environments, and go to socially not very elite places, where often chance encounters take place, are the targets. So to sum it up in one sentence, they're the opposite type of Logan's lifestyle."

Tails paused, calling the victim by his name, that should never happen again, never.

"I agree, but that doesn't mean anything... Anything can always happen, no matter how impossible it may seem."

"Yes, of course, that's just statistics and doesn't prove anything, but what I want to underline is how unlikely this man is to have been the victim of a sadistic murder."

"But we still don't know much about him, maybe he was living a double life."

Tails spoke in an icy voice:

"I know him much better than you think. I've seen his house."

Espio wanted to answer, but when he saw Tails' gaze, he gave up. "Well, okay, not a standard victim for serial killers... What else?"

"There are two other inconsistencies that confuse me: one in the compulsive stage and the other in the characteristic stage. Let's start with the last one, can you tell me how the killer positioned the victim's body?"

"Come on, Tails, let's not deal with riddles, here we have the photo."

"Look carefully at the hands. They are joined on the chest, just as they are done before a body is buried. 'Rest in peace...' That's what the hands tied on the chest mean... It's not uncommon. Serial killers who get hit have a strong sense of inadequacy towards the opposite sex, are often at a very low social level, and that can be added to by exclusion; if they have a job, they are not in a high-responsibility status or are not rewarded for their hard work..."

"Are we always going to move forward with statistics and theory?"

"Statistics, of course... Theory emerges from data from analysis and emerges secondarily. Let me finish my reasoning: This kind of psychological typology in crime is actually revenge for the murderer, giving them satisfaction and power that they could never find. During the murder, there is a complex set of behaviors: compulsive behavior is only part of the work, there is also a preparatory stage in which the plans and fantasies about the victim are fictionalized, and the characteristic stage, which emerges as a ritual immediately after the murder, where the murderer sends a message to the people who will find the victim. It almost always underlines the contempt of the victim's body and demonstrates their ability to manage: the clothes are torn, the face destroyed... In some rare cases, after it's all over, the murderer fixes and dresses the corpse to excuse their actions and show a kind of remorse, and sometimes clean the blood and cover it up to hide."

After a pause, Tails continued, "Now let's go back to our situation and see how the murderer treated the victim. Let me ask you this: The joined hands on the chest don't fit the whole picture for the characteristic phase, do they?"

"Yes, the envelope opener too..."

"Not only that, they carried the body to the center of the hall, the stage, to shout their presence. Then the eyes, look into the victim's eyes..."

"Explain."

"That has nothing to do with the 'rest in peace' message, as are the clothes that were left torn on the corpse. In short, it all seems like contempt and revenge. Then why are the hands crossed like that on the chest? No, no, There's something I don't understand."

"They may have done it as a final act, an unexpected and sudden scrap of pity before they left."

"No, I don't think so, no... But there is another discrepancy at the characteristic stage. I'm sure that caught your attention as well. It's about the crime weapon..."

"Envelope opener."

"It was one of the household items, so our hypothetical serial killer didn't bring their crime tool with them, the crime tool on which they would perform their gruesome ritual." Tails continued after a pause. "So they didn't come prepared to kill."

There was silence again.

"It may be thought that for some unforeseen reason they were enraged and thrown into a sudden fit of rage and acted without a pre-planned plan, but then we can't really talk about a serial killer."

"In short, you don't think we're dealing with the first work of a serial killer."

"No, I don't believe it. The behavior of the victim and the murderer is not appropriate for this type of crime."

"So where do you attribute this event?"

"We started from the end: Because of the envelope opener, how the corpse was left... But we forget one thing: we deal with the last scene and the dynamics of the crime right after the murder without thinking about what happened. Try to evaluate it that way."

"The murderer got in without any coercion, the most probable thing is that Logan opened the door for her himself. The murder took place far from the entrance, the victim was knocked unconscious by a bottle of cognac..."

"Okay, that's my thesis, but I'm highlighting, it's just a thesis: The victim knows the murderer well enough to take them home late at night, the two of them talk a little, they probably argue and fight... Then everything turns out differently than expected and the killer goes to the man with the first thing she can get her hands on, with a bottle. At that moment, the man is frightened and trying to escape from this madness. What the murderer fell into is truly insane. She sees the envelope opener and takes it, at that moment all she want is to kill, to destroy that life, that's all she wants at that moment.. And so, blow after blow comes one after another..."

Tails' features tensed, and a few quiet moments passed before he spoke again.

"Now it's all over, and only now, realizing what she did, the murderer begins to think. Maybe she cursed herself for the two lives they had destroyed in an outburst of anger in the first moments, the life of James Logan and her own destroyed... She thought she would be caught: she knew the victim, she had a reason that would soon emerge, she had no alternative but to spend her future in prison. Unless she is able to divert the investigation... Unless she can convince that it's actually something else, that she doesn't know the victim's killer. Then what could be more appropriate than making it look like a serial killer? That's how she prepared the scene we see, just like she followed the steps of the murderer in a crime novel or movie. But at that moment she had a very strong sense of remorse, and she unwittingly showed it by clasping the victim's hands on his chest."

"Then you think this is how the crime was committed..."

Tails suddenly interrupted him:

"Tell me, Espio, in which of the crimes where the victim and the murderer know each other, do we foresee a frenzy that will end with such violence and that the murderer suddenly feels remorse towards the victim?"

"Love Murders..."

"Good, my inference is that the overall picture overlaps with a natural love murder. So the murderer should be sought among current or ex-lovers and possible new suitors."

Espio nodded silently with his eyes down on his desk, and when he looked up, Tails saw that sly light in his eyes again.

"Did you see the news this morning?"

"No, I didn't have time."

He pushed the daily newspaper on the table toward Tails.

"Check the city news."

; NIGHT ELECTRICITY FAILURE ;

About two-thirds of the city was without electricity for more than two hours, due to a malfunction in the complex system of the main electricity transformer at around twenty-two tonight. The eastern and southern districts remained in darkness. All of a sudden, the televisions were turned off, the elevators were locked, the refrigerators and freezers stopped, just as the traffic lights and warning signs on the roads went out. The inconvenience of the people of the city-

Tails looked at Espio with questioning eyes without reading the rest of the story. "Is there a power outage in the neighborhood where the victim's home is located?" He asked. Espio nodded and added:

"For those two hours, a woman was trapped in the elevator. To be more specific, the person staying in the elevator is Logan's current girlfriend."

Tails huffed. Like a novel, he thought. He was about to ask a question before he paused as Espio's phone started to ring, he grumbled and closed the call.

"As for the reason why I made you explain first is that I wanted to know what thoughts you had without being influenced. Here's the short story: We got the report of Logan's murder around midnight. The caller was Chloe Marshall, the victim's girlfriend. She went there to visit the victim but was stuck in the elevator because of the power outage. Two hours later, when the electricity came back, she finally went to her boyfriend's house, but got no answer from inside. After a few seconds, she realized that the door was open and went inside and encountered Logan's lifeless body. She went down the elevator again and started waiting for us at the entrance of the apartment."

"Hmm..."

"There are some parts of this story that are not clear. No one in the apartment noticed that someone was left in the elevator and did not hear the calls for help that Chloe stated. We did a rehearsal inside the elevator cabin with all the doors of the houses closed; we also noticed that the television, radio and stereos would not work due to the power outage. Considering that, you can definitely hear someone staying in the elevator from the nearby apartments." Espio paused for a few seconds, as if to underline what he was trying to imply. "Coming to Logan. He opened the apartment door because his lover had rang the bell downstairs. So he knew that she was going up the elevator, and at that moment the electricity went out. There can only be one explanation for him not rushing to his lover's aid..."

"He was killed at that very moment."

"And that matches the exact time of murder given by the pathologist, but..."

"But then it will be assumed that the crime, or at least the next scene, was made during the blackout, in the dark."

"Well done, that's right! Newspapers might call it murder by candlelight." Espio brought the newspaper, which still had the city news on, closer to him and continued his speech, pointing to the news:

"According to the autopsy results, Logan's death may have occurred a few minutes before the power outage."

After a moment of musing, Tails asked, "Any traces of blood found in the elevator cabin?"

"Of course, as much as Chloe's clothes. She said she got it on while trying to sober him up."

Tails seemed to have given up on asking further questions, getting up and heading for the only large window in the room. There were few parked cars in the courtyard, it was a cloudless day, and the sun, already raised, radiated warmth through the glass but not enough to heat it. Continuing to look outside, he spoke:

"I see, I think you have very few questions about what happened in that apartment."

Espio took a deep breath and began to describe his plot:

"Chloe went to see her lover, they started fighting almost immediately, maybe the man was intent on leaving her, maybe there was another girl involved in... The woman was lost, the man realized the danger and tried to escape this moment of madness, but Chloe followed him and hit him on the head with a bottle, a second later she was on top of him. The envelope opener was somewhere near her, she picked it up and... It all happened in a few seconds. Like you said, it probably took a few minutes before Chloe realized what she had done. The realization that she had destroyed her and Logan's life came crashing down on her, all in a flash of rage. No, that wasn't true, she couldn't let that happen. How could she get out of this? She knew that she would be the first to be suspected, she had to mislead the investigation, and she needed to buy time to devise an escape plan in case things got worse. No one knew she was going to Logan that night, and she hadn't met anyone in the apartment on her way up... And now comes the riskiest part: She had to leave the apartment without being seen by anyone, with Logan's blood still warm on her clothes. The best course of action in these situations is to wait until late at night, but what if someone comes to visit the man or a friend calls and gets alarmed when he can't find anyone at home? Besides, she wanted to leave as soon as possible so as not to see the man's body. Fear was her only companion at that moment. She decided to take the risk, after all, there wouldn't be many people on the street at that hour. Deciding that it was more risky to go down the stairs, she took the elevator and while she was in the cabin, there was a power cut... This must be what they call destiny! Now she was in the dark and in all her agony shut in the elevator cabin, the electricity wouldn't come back on for several minutes after a slow succession, and with every passing minute, the odds were that someone would come and find her there raising, maybe it would be the police, and she still had the victim's blood on her. The whole time seemed like an eternity to her, sometimes she was afraid of going crazy, sometimes she thought that someone finding her was her salvation and that she desired it. Two whole hours passed before the electricity came back on, and the cabin suddenly lit up. It took Chloe a few seconds to get used to the light, and when she looked at her watch and saw that two hours had passed she couldn't believe it, she felt as if she had come from another distant and dreary dimension. She tried to keep her mind open, she had to think, and quickly... What was she going to do now? Should she have followed the initial plan and gone down? But what if there is someone at the entrance to the apartment? The power outage that lasted for such a long time was not an ordinary event, there could be enthusiasts coming down from the neighbors to prevent malicious people and protect their shops... It was also natural that after staying in the elevator for a long time, it left traces that would reveal herself. She needed to be there and find something to justify the blood on her. Maybe being locked in the elevator would help her with that. She made up her mind: she pressed the button that would take her to Logan's floor. Maybe she hesitated a bit before leaving the cabin, maybe the floor was swarming with police... But no one was there! There was only silence and the hum of the neon lights. She entered the apartment, Logan's body as cold as the floor, everything was the way as she had left it. After making a few movements as if trying to sober him up, she called the police and asked for help, speaking in an uneasy tone. There was nothing she could do but go downstairs and wait for the cops. Now she had a justification for everything: being there two hours after the crime was committed, traces of blood on her clothes and in the elevator..."

After Espio had completed the plot, he silently waited for Tails to turn to him and give him a reply. Tails' lips curved upwards as he stared at his reflection. He turned to him, letting Espio see his straight face.

"Yeah, what do you think now?"

"Reasonable," said Tails, and continued. "I'd say it's very possible indeed."

"It fits perfectly with your implications."

"Oh yes, my deductions... You've already done yours, what did you need my opinion on for? You were sure not to narrow the scope of the investigation."

Espio opened his arms wide.

"We still don't have conclusive evidence, and it won't be easy to find them with this story that Chloe has created. In short, it's a familiar story, we know what it is, but we only have clues to reach it. If she doesn't confess, it will be an accidental case, in which trial the opinion of a qualified person like yours will be important."

"Do you think she'll confess?"

"It's going to be difficult and I can't keep her in custody for long, it won't be long before lawyers join the dance and that's when we have to forget the confession. We pushed her all night last night, and this morning I attempted to question her myself."

Espio pulled a remote control from one of the drawers and pointed it at the TV.

"This is the recording we made, let me introduce you to Miss Chloe Marshall."

The video started to flow. Footage taken from below with a hidden camera showed a woman sitting at a desk, the image quality was pretty good. The woman was about twenty-five and wore a police overalls; her clothes must have been sent to forensics, thought Tails. Behind the traces of fatigue, it was obvious that she was a well-groomed woman who cared about her appearance.

Tails unconsciously leaned forward slightly with a serious look. Espio had seen him in this position many times, as if every muscle in his body was trying to keep his front head afloat.

Chloe sat silently with her dim eyes staring into space.

"She's still alone in these moments, and now I'm going in," Espio stated.

A shadow passed in front of the camera for a moment, then Tails heard Espio's gentle voice questioning her.

Tails sighed, already guessing what happened, "She didn't confess."

Espio raised a brow, "Do you want to talk to her too?"

Tails shook his head confidently, "As an expert, I said this murder was caused by love... So who did we find at the murder scene? The victim's lover, who is waiting for us with her clothes stained with blood, tells us the story that most haunts us in such cases, namely the lie that she arrived at the scene after the murder was committed. Also, no one knows that she will meet the victim, she takes a taxi to the scene and gets off in a very far place. Something opposite to what everyone would do. She doesn't drive there like a normal person does and park under his house. She didn't want anyone to see her, that's obvious."

"Okay, okay, that's enough." Espio interrupted Tails, it was no use discussing anymore.

Tails shrugged, "You're investigating, I'm a criminal behavior adviser, and my job is done."

"Good for you" Espio sighed heavily and put on a forced smile. "You know very well how much I value your opinion." Having said this, he stood up and turned around to his desk, "If we both don't have any doubts. Then I am dropping this case."

🍀

"Welcome to Kat's cafe. How can I help you?" You sighed as the next customer started to stare at the board in deep thoughts.

Your permanent smile falters a little bit. You are already bored out of your mind. Thank god that your working hours will end in a few hours, before someone else takes your place.

Your perk up as the customer finally decided on what he wants.

"I think I want--" his words abruptly stopped by a shout.

That belongs to none other than Kiera, of course. Is she serious?! What is she doing here?! Randomly barging into the place in the middle of the day?! Why can't she be like a sane normal person for once?

She sprint toward your way, slamming her hands on the counter, "Y/n!! When does your shift end?"

"uh... In about three more hours?-"

"Great! Let's go!"

She grabs your arm and immediately leaves the building, tugging you along as you shout and protest, while all the customers are left staring behind them.

You frantically squirm around her hold, asking what the hell she's doing.

As you finally free your arm from her iron grip, you start questioning her for real, "What are you on about? What's going on???"

As you see Kiera grin ear to ear you start to feel regret asking that.

She explains casually, "We are going on a hunt for pretty outfits~"

"Huh? For what?" You were really confused.

"I bought some concert tickets for you my friend~ I'm bringing you along. So, hurry up! If we need to look our best we need to start picking clothes now!" And she continues dragging you.

"Wait, wait, wait!" You shouted for her but she doesn't seem to hear it.

She continues to drag you towards her car, "Get in I'm stealing you."

You huffed, "No, you can't. And you can't just come and drag me out of my work! What if they fire me?!"

She rolled her eyes, "Forget about that job already. It's useless. You already have a proper job, and should I add? One that pays really well. Why work in this junk place?"

"Because, that job feels like a vacation for my sanity! It makes me feel like I'm a normal person like everyone else for once! Look, I'm not complaining. I love my job! I'm happy being a psychiatrist but it's sometimes getting to a degree that mentally tires me from dealing with people that have big issues. I need my own vacation. Which I can't have because they need me all the time. So, this is the best option I have!"

Kiera surrendered, "Alright alright! I hate it when you dump it all on me. Don't worry about them firing you. We can always find someplace else. Now, let's finish this." She cracks her knuckles and gets inside her car.

You groaned, "Can't believe I'm following you again..." you sighed and got yourself comfortable in the next seat. Crossing your arms, "Hopefully this can be the end of your reckless attitudes."

Kiera pushes her sunglasses over her eyes and smirks starting the engine of her sports car, "Can't promise~" She stepped on the gas full speed.

You yelped holding to your safety belt for dear life.

🍀

Tails gently grabbed EsPio's arm before he couLd leave the room, "I want to talk to you about something elsE."

Espio pAused and glanced at him, "I'm liStening."

"You seeE... I've proven my sturdiness and ability by helping you to solve these kinds of cases for a while now."

"Your point?"

Tails paused but took a sharp breath, "I don't just want to stay as a consultant on criminal behavior, I want to help you more deeply and closely."

Espio looked confused, "But I thought you didn't wanted to dive too deep into these anymore–"

Sonic barged in the room.

"Oi! Es! Dude! Howzit goin'?"

Espio stared at him.

Tails pinched the bridge of his nose, "-Along with him too... sorry"

Espio glanced at Tails as he rubbed his face, exhausted.

Without letting anyone speak Sonic let himself comfortable in a chair.

Espio wasn't amused at all, "I'm not leaving this case to you... ever. Period."

"Aww, come on, Es! We're friends!"

"That doesn't mean I'm going to let you have it just like that!"

"Hey, remember the times we fought alongside Eggman? I'm the hero of Mobius! I saved everyone countless times! I can do this myself also!... and with Tails' help. We can be an unstoppable team solving mysteries and finding murderers!!! Just imagine! We can even predict when it can happen and with my speed and Tails' brain we can stop anyone getting murdered further!"

"Stop dreaming. That does not prove anything. You can't just promise something about that! Yes, you are good in combat and such but Eggman era... was in the past. And in this job... we do not allow any reckless actions."

"That's nonsense! Now you're judging me for the mistakes I've done when I was a kid! I'm not 15 anymore. Besides I always ended up fixing everything didn't I? I am your best option. I am fast. I can help. And I will not sit and wait for more murders to happen." Sonic protest.

Espio grumbled towards Tails, "I should have understood from the beginning of this topic that he had a hand in this. You're more than content to handle such things from afar."

Tails only shrugged in answer. As Sonic nudges his side to remind him to help him out. Tails quickly straightened his position with an uncomfortable face.

Tails quickly apologized, "Ah, sorry..." He cleared his throat, trying to get himself together for the talk.

"I think you should let us talk to Vector about this, Espio. He would agree with us."

"Really? That's all you're going to say, Tails? I thought you're gonna back me up with a smarter idea!"

Espio interrupted, "It doesn't matter if Vector agrees. I'm talking about rules that are universally involved."

Tails muttered, "I tHought Vector had unquestionable rules?"

Tails nErvously sipped his cold coffee under Sonic's intense glare.

Espio sighed heaviLy, "If you guys' argument is finished I need many important things to attend to."

Sonic called after him, "Wait!!! EsPio listen! Please. Look, the death toll is increasing day by day. I'm aware of that too, and I swear I'm not meant to be a slacker or a joke. All I want to do is save lives, help. Like we used to... I can't just sit at home and listen to the rising death toll I've hear every minute on news. I can't do it anymore. I can't just sit at home when I can help, okay? Give me a chance. Please. At least think about it... You're my only option."

Espio halted. He took a deep breath and turned to Sonic about to give a comment until someone burst into the room panting. Their focus turned to her.

Espio grumbled to himself, "Does anyone know how to knock these days?"

Light mutters out a 'sorry' nervously, "I just received a call from someone, talking about finding another victim!"

Tails muttered, "That puts the lid on it..."

─────

A total of 8721 words

┌───── •✧✧• ─────┐

-FUN FACT-

Tails doesn't like coffee

└───── •✧✧• ─────┘

[yanderefairyangel]

It also ignores the fact that well..the bandits are burning down villages and killing people. Like the plight of one's suffering is not an excuse for the crimes that they commit and while it's never too late to do the right thing and atone, it's not a pass to commit crimes. And like you mentioned, there's no evidence suggesting that the bandits in Firene or in any of the continents in Engage for that matter are doing the things they're doing because they're poor and starving; Engage doesn't want to well..engage with that cause that's not the focus (and it doesn't need to be).

Ugh, this feels like a continuation of that stupid "woobifying the villain" trend where their argument is "the villains suffered, so therefore their actions are justified and how dare the heroes try to stop them and uphold the status quo."

You are perfectly right anon. Céline could have still tried to arrest them, but let's not act as if her decision didn't had some justifications. She isn't doing it out of pure pleasure either, she simply want to protect her people.

Also that's going to be a little long but

When it comes to explaining why a crime is born you need to fufill a lot of conditions : when do people enter this crime ? at childhood or adulthood ? Is it linked to economic problem ? if so which one ? and why ?

I already talked about it but even if you, a player used to FE never diving onto why there is banditry in some part of the world, I simply don't think the idea that it is a result of economic hardship or a flawed system makes sense with what is presented of Firene

It's is canonically introduced as a pacifist country, the wealthiest of the 4 kingdom and holding philantrophic value as well as having a pastoral style of life. The Kingdom if Abundance is it called.

I received quite ago an anon ask that made the clever remark that if all the character originating from Firene had name derivated from fashion brands, was to show the wealth of Firene and when you look at the design for the Firenese they are all wearing outfits that look incredibly lavish and very designed, even in contrast of the other Royals. What's more in the jpn version, all of the member of the Firenese cast safe Alfred, Jean and sort of Boucheron speaks a very polite and fancy japanese, Etie even sounds a bit snobbish. And all of them are rich : Alfred and Céline, obviously as Royals, Etie being the daughter of a marquis, same for Chloé, Boucheron is the son of a count and while Louis holds from more common origins and that his father had to work harder to provide for the family, his polite speech and is outfit for Somniel and his personality in general seems to infer he was still from quite a wealthy family and it adds up with how he hails from a town that is famous for the grapes it produces. Mauvier too hails from a wealthy family and Jean, a commoner, is the son of a doctor and wants to be one. And he can freaking read and afford fridging glasses ! While it's likely thanks to his dad, his dad HAD to go through studies to be a doctor and even in medieval setting those were very pricey. So that's telling a lot of how the common people of Firene beneficiate from quite the wealthy style of life and if you compare the commoner outfit to the noble one avalaible in the Somniel, they aren't that different and those commoner outfits stands out a lot compared to the Brodian and Solmic one. From that we can deduce that the peasants in Firene are quite wealthy.

And it makes sense since Firene is mainly operating in interior from an economic point of view. It relies a lot on agriculture and since Firene is a land of abundance and fertility, they have a lot of land to cultivate. With most of the trade between farmer and merchants being operated in the inside, it creates more wealth for them since the concurance is so little and mainly between Firenese rather then with an exterior country for a less pricey product. This explain why there is so many farmer, peasants and merchants in Firene and you can expect the people to be quite wealthy, even among commoners.

This description doesn't fit one of a country who suffers from banditry because of poverty. Because poverty can be one of the main reason for the practice of banditry, but usually those are country that rely on agriculture and have a crisis in such domain like China or Russia at some points. Firene is described as an ever propesperous land, where even in autumn they can benefit from the recolts. The only season where it could be harder would be winter but seeing how the climate in Firene operates since they can cultivate oranges and grapes, fruits mainly developped into Mediteran region irl, and how Alfred and Céline describes it, I doubt they ever had to face a disastrous winter.

If you wanted to make that arguments for Brodia or Elusia, I could believe it since it has been established that those two had financial problem because of the war. Saphir is 35 and saw her villager ravaged as a child and all the character who had suffered from poverty are younger then her : Yunaka, a Brodia, was abandonned by her parents (in the manga, she was literaly sold), Griss (and in XenElyos Gregory) was sold to Sombron's cult when Marni was abandonned by her mother there too and they are both from Elusia. And the reason was because for the three of them, their parents were too poor to deal with them, having several other children to take care off in Marni's mother case, but in Yunaka and Griss, they were only children. From Alcryst's introduction in chapter 7, we also learn that there is thief there too.

For Firene it is much harder due to how the land is described in canon. It simply doesn't add up.

As for the bandits, seeing how the mainly operates around the Firene and Brodian border, it is likely because it is the less defended part of all Firene since there is no one to guard the border. But they clearly don't originate from there. Teronda is said to have taken over the village since he killed all the villagers and Mitan invaded the ruins because there was nobody there to make it her lair. However, it's no indicator they come from Firene. Their name don't evocate any fashion brand I know off, when even Jean's parent are named after it (Sean/Sean John and Anje from Maison Anje). Their name seems to be after a hotel brand and a confection brand ? But they don't have name that have any French signification, and their palette doesn't look very Firene either, with Mitan being closer but having colors much less bright. As for the highwaymen, in the JPN version their nationality isn't mentioned, it is likely that the localization added that were from Firene because they are said to attack shipment comming from Jean's village.

But again, even if they were from Firene, that begs the question of where exactly ? Because for them to move out this far, this clearly mean they had the means since someone really poor can't afford to leave their place. Or in that case they hail from a region where agriculture is less present and performant, so near the Firene border since there is more mountains and therefore is an environement less welcoming for agriculture, but it is invalidated by the presence of a village that they robbed off. The villager had some valuables, meaning they were still wealthy, and in the ruins that the bandits invaded there is a territory where agriculture can be grown there so... yeah, I don't buy it any seconds.

And the fact that they were able to set out a squad to kill an entire village.. people that are really poor don't have the means. They are also too numerous to fit that profile seeing how again, actual bandits operating because of their stomach being empty have less means, targets smaller targets and operates in a much less number.

And even if they had began a carrier because they were poor, by the time we fight them, it's obvious they amassed quite enough of the money to try to live another life rather then keeping this buissness they are involved in. But they didn't. They clearly can't have been kids that had been poor if they are from Firene and if they started out recently, their description invalidates this seeing how they have been operating for a while and are described as "willing to do any evil deed for the sake of treasure" or as "systematically stealing people". And seeing how Mitan steals mainly valuable, she isn't poor or starving, her target are too precise for that. (note it's their JPN descr, and in the case of Mitan, it implies she isn't targeting only merchants)

And again, seeing how the Royals are willing to spend any money possible to help their people since they hold philanthropic values, I don't see why they wouldn't try to help out their less favored citizens. After all, Alfred is willing to dig well himself for them. Céline to protect them had the gouvernement heighens the funds for the merchants and peasants trading the tea leaves that they spend time growing and even state in the jpn version she doubled the number of escorts. They did everything to rebuilt Florra port and to help the survivors heal and rebuilt the home that were ravaged by the Elusian army. They even went personally to help a little commoner, to collect the good that were stolen from their people and blames themselves for not having being arrived sooner to save that village of chapter 6. They would absolutely provide for their people if they were in need.

Another evidence of this is the plague and how they helped their citizens in thos time and speaking of which, I think the Plague is literaly the only ground someone could have to argue that Firene had economic hardship as a side effect of the plague, but you can't blame the Royals for it when even the King of Firene was struck by it and that at that time, they though Alfred caught it too. And seeing how Louis's father had to double up the work after losing his wife, it might be an indicator of it.

But again, as you pointed out too, the game never tried to infer that Firene had economic hardship, it does the exact opposite. But since the army is less present and that the country is so wealthy, it would obviously end up having some people choosing to be bandits to exploit others but with such an economic system, it's banditry that is hurting the economy ! It's perturbating trade, raving village and thus agricultural field and cultures, etc. They aren't poor or anything, they ARE what is causing economic hardship to Firene if any there is !!!

But as your rightfully point out, whatever is the reason that motivated them, it doesn't change the fact they choose to prioritize their own needs at the cost of the suffering of other and turned it into a literal buissness and commiting crime against humanity by sacking village, robbing of innocent people of their rightful belonging and commiting massing killing is not jusitifyable and makes me really doubt the claim they are simply trying to put the two together. Whether Céline was being harsh or not, they deemed others, villagers maybe even poorer and working hard to gain their life, to be lesser then then them and went on to rob them and kill them. And reminder that this is a SOFTCORE version of what actual bandits might commit as a crime, look for Berserk to get an idea closer to reality. But again, Céline herself still admitted to not completely liked that idea, but I really don't see how she is in the wrong here for punishing people who terrorized her citizens, killed them and steals them.

It got a bit long here, sorry I just brainstormed a lot and realized how it simply doesn't add up.

"Ugh, this feels like a continuation of that stupid "woobifying the villain" trend where their argument is "the villains suffered, so therefore their actions are justified and how dare the heroes try to stop them and uphold the status quo.""

Yes, I think that trend is VERY much a problem. Do you imagine if I tried to justify idk Rafal by saying "yes he destroyed an entire world and commiting 1 000 of attrocities but he was sud uwu" ? ugh, make me sick and it would go against his character since the whole point of his character is that he did it, acknowledges it and refuse to have someone take the blame for it, and goes into a whole redemption arc. Remove his crime and you lost 99% of what makes his character so savory !

But frankly, I think it's because of this trend that people can look at Zephia or Sombron and think the game is trying to redeem them or make them human or sympathetic for literaly giving an explanation as to what the heck they motivation are.

Besides that's like saying that it's fine to do evil when you are oppressed when as someone who holds that as a dear principle, you are responsible for your actions not matter what and can't blame any one but yourself for the choice you did. Which is also one of Engage's message : that no matter how you are born, you can still be a good person and that you should held responsability for your action and be ready to change to obtain forgivness. So, the whole defending the minro boss bandits in Engage thing is literaly going against the message of the game.

[pseudo-hero]

So I Just Read Superman Issue #8...

(I think it came out right after my predictions post for it. I'm hoping, because otherwise, that was just clueless of me.)

OH. MY. GOODNESS. SO MANY THOUGHTS.

Did this issue seem like a short one to anybody else?

2. I thought about the first interaction shown in the above image here between Clark and Lex since Lex got shanked. It's just so cute to me (even though Lex doesn't have a right to be that cute). Especially considering how we just saw him last issue, literally rushing to try to get to Superman so he could help him. Like, I think he's just being pouty and difficult here so Clark will feel compelled to apologize (probably because it reassures Lex that Clark does care—even if no one else does—and that he didn't willingly leave Lex on his own die). No one else in-universe understands because they're not Clark or Lex.

3. Conner: "Sorry for what? It's not like Lex didn't have it--"

I wanted to believe that Kon (who is called by his Earth name this entire issue for some reason, despite being in hero mode not civilian mode) was about to say "have it under control" but that's just too nice for Lex, right? Of course he was probably actually going to say "have it coming".

Conner: "Hope you know you're not worth all this, Lex."

Ouch, another jab from he and Clark's unclaimed son. Why not just tell him you wish he was dead, while you're at it? (I know, I know. Almost happened not too long ago.) Also, Mercy's name makes for a good joke a lot of the time.

(Side Note: I'm glad he called him Lex, at least. [Meanwhile, Clark's back to calling him Luthor. I wonder what triggers it. Maybe it's when he knows a bad deed is connected to Lex?] And this is, I believe, the first time in years since he and Lex have even spoken! Over a decade if you don't count the Nu52 version of Kon-El as being the real deal. Also, do Lex and Clark still have some paternal feelings left for Konner like they more or less did at times in past comics from the 2000's - 2010's? Doesn't seem like it in this run—but I'm still taking what I can get!)

4. He sprints in for the catch...aaand...he's caught her!

Oop, he lost her.

(Side Note: Umm... Nice glove, Lena? Not a bad fashion statement/reference to spontaneously appear out of nowhere. Really screams "Daughter of Lex Luthor".)

So yeeep. Everyone (except Clark) in Lex's birth, created and by-proxy families despise him. Even his daughter (who I guess was told about all the things he's done, including to her) now seems disgusted by him. I get it's him and all and that many of his past actions have been horribly despicable and unforgivable (and spoken of or hinted at in this issue and acknowledged by him, too) but DAMN. The guy just finished healing from an attempt on his life. AND his mother came to visit! Guy can't catch a break or breath (which means anyone in close proximity to him won't be able to, either). Still, he's stronger than me.

5. Luthor: "I did it because Sammy killed his father. He KILLED Sebastian Stryker."

Superman: "Then you should have had him arrested! Not kept him in some dungeon to rot! (emphasis mine)"

Luthor: "[]...He's a monster."

HAHAHAHA. SUPERMAN AND LEX LUTHOR ARE SUCH HYPOCRITES HERE!!!!!!! WITH EACH OTHER AND IN THEIR VIEWS OF OTHER PEOPLE!!!!!!!

Seriously! How many times has Lex been found to have killed his father or even both parents? Even if the excuse is that there's been a change in continuity, it still comes across as unintentionally hypocritical to those out of the loop! Hopefully they'll explain what happened to "this version" of Lex's father (if they haven't already) to help clear things up. As for The Superman himself? Uhhhh, Phantom Zone villains?? (There's even an on-going miniseries involving Clark and Lex right now that has the Phantom Zone in it, fwiw!!) This is at least the second time now in this run, that Clark has been blatantly hypocritical; and on the same subject. Here he even mentions and excuses himself for using the PZ:

So it's okay for Clark to permanently lock up his species' criminals in a distant, cut-off-from-society place with little to no stimulation, but humans can't do the same with theirs?? (Or is it just because it's Luthor?) Also hilarious how in this recent issue, they were so far in the game, yet Clark still wouldn't so much as admit that Lex may have been justified in thinking this was his only way to stop Sam/my! Or somewhat acknowledge that the situation they're in is largely happening now because Clark WOULDN'T LISTEN TO LEX AND RELEASED SAM.

However:

He seems to have finally conceded to obeying Luthor's advice here. But...was it worth it in this case, considering how this issue ends? Is Lex just destined to be harmful to all no matter how hard he tries to be beneficial, or is it just the current situation that he's put himself in making it seem that way?

6. Yes!! They reconfirmed that Conner is "a bit of [Lex] and a bit of [Clark]". It was said very "quickly" and in an almost clinical manner, but this still did the trick for me! All three of them seem to have already been aware of this, too.

Yep, and Superboy's powers are indeed based on Sam's but he DOES NOT (as far as I can tell, based on the wording) get any of his DNA from him.

7. Another reference to Lex's Smallville past from Superman Lore.

Why is the watch separating their sections in-panel and why is this perfect? (It looks so beautiful here, too. Almost as much as during its debut.)

Now I understand why Clark was concerned here. I assumed earlier that it was a case of hindsight being 20/20 and him not realizing yet that Lex was right to make that his weakness (not sure how that's possible if Sam is only a human, but oh well). But it was actually Clark thinking about the risks involved, for him and/or others that have the weakness.

8. The different types of art in this issue were overall on point! However, this style (above image) was...interesting. Not bad, just interesting. That large MOUTH of his.

9. (Wish I knew how to shrink images. This one should be wayyyyy smaller, imo.)

Yes, yes, yeeesssssss. SUPERMAN. SAVE ME. He knows Clark will (and does)!!

10. YEEEAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! That's our Superman!! Risking his life for those he technically risked the lives of to begin with!! (I forgive him and give him a pass here. His heart was in the right place and he doesn't usually screw up like that anyway.)

11. *whispers* The use of/dependence on kryptonite in 2023 is kinda lame. Arguably always was. However, it really helped push the story forward here, so I see nothing wrong with its presence. Plus:

It often adds to the DRAMA.

Seriously though, this upsets me greatly. I know he'll be fine but the damage looks severe. 🥺

12. So, Lex was down. Now Clark is. (Kon and Kenan were too, before Clark. If you count the events of Action Comics.) Looks like it's becoming a pattern. Like the LL's and K's in either families'/teams' names.

Anyway! As usual lately, I can't wait for next issue!!

[the-sidekick-club]

Mender needs a Hug

Written by:

@heroes-villains-side-blog★​​@tratieisdabest★@just-a-space-rabbit​​  

TW:Bullying, Child Labor Mention, Potential Violence, Defending Bad People

❘〣❘〣❘ ✿ ❘〣❘〣❘

Mender was on one of her solo patrols, and everything was fairly normal. She'd stopped a couple of smaller villains and some villain sidekicks, and now it was pretty quiet. That was, until some random civilian came up to her. 

At first, she thought they were a villain, and she narrowed her eyes at them, but they raised their hands and started a weird speech before she could speak. It almost felt practiced. 

"Hey, I'm just a civilian," they began. "My name is Conner, and I'd just like to talk for a second." 

Mender wasn't easily fooled. She didn't believe that was his real name. And just because they said they were a civilian didn't mean they actually were one. 

But it was agency policy to give people the benefit of the doubt and ever since she was little, she had a sort of natural ability that gave her a way to almost feel people's auras, probably linked to her healing powers. So she could usually tell if people had powers if she was super close to them, though she did have to focus to do so. 

And she was definitely focusing as this "civilian" was super suspicious. 

But, she didn't feel any sort of powers from him. So, after a long silence, she replied. "Listen Conner, while I'd love to talk, I'm on patrol, so I can't really do that right now." And she didn't particularly want to talk to Conner at all anyway. 

But Conner continued, "Oh, come on, Mender. It'll only take a minute of your time." 

Now, normally Mender would've just politely told Conner that she couldn't and that if they needed to file a report to do so at the police station, but she could just tell he would find a way to talk to her another time. 

So, she relented. "Alright, fine. Do you need something? Want to file a report of a crime? Interview me?" She really hoped it wasn't the last one. 

"None of the above, Mender. Just wanted to say something." 

She gestured to him to continue, choosing to lean against a wall in the alleyway they were in. It felt like she'd probably be here for more than just a minute. 

"Why do you work with Lady Alexandria? Like, you seem pretty cool, and she's all dumb and stuff."

Mender looked at him with confusion before replying, "Lady Alexandria is an incredibly intelligent person, and I am always honored to work with her. I know lots of people think of me as the brain and her as the brawn, but she is plenty smart on her own, and while I don't have super strength, I'm definitely stronger than average.” 

But Conner just rolled his eyes, making Mender angrier. “If you don't believe me, just look at the child sidekick cases! She started that when she was barely out of uni, and managed to get some of the agency's board of 'Elders', as they're called, on her side! She built a case against one of the most powerful entities in the world and won, forever changing how superheroes operate everywhere! 

"It takes a very brave and intelligent person to do that, especially when she was at risk of losing her job, which I know she loves dearly." 

Mender was getting a bit upset, but surely this would be the end of it. Almost every civilian in Nizorro had heard of what Alexandria did and supported her, so this should shut Conner down. 

Conner was not shut down. "Oh great, you're one of those 'don't let children fight crime' people." He clenched his fists. "They consented! And they have powers! They should be used to save the lives of the rest of us! Agency money is being spent to fund that new abomination of a school, when most of those people won't even end up using their powers to help us. Or worse, they'll use them for evil! Lady Alexandria is an idiot who put people in danger with her court case, and is still allowed to work at the agency? It's ridiculous!" 

Mender was sent reeling. Obviously, she knew some people thought like that, but to hear it from this random person who didn't even know what they were talking about was just insane. They'd said so many wrong things it was ridiculous, and also angering. "How dare you say those things about Lady Alexandria! People's powers are not yours, or anyone else's to wield! And they were children! Who in their right mind would just let them go into battle, whether they said they were fine with it or not?!" She pushed off the wall and looked towards Conner with fire in her eyes. 

"Ah ah ah, Mender, let's calm down a bit. Remember, you're a hero. And what kind of hero would attack an innocent civilian, just because they were a bit rude? I don't even have powers, and you're going after li'l ol' me?" Conner smirked, like he wanted her to come punch him.

Mender froze. 

She wasn't sure what she had been planning, she just wanted him to pay. Those were innocent children he was insulting, her friend he was insulting, and he seemed so smug too. Maybe she was going to punch him, but she would've stopped herself, she was sure. 

But then he continued. 

"Oh come on, you know you want to. Just one little punch-" and he was pinned to the wall. But not by Mender, but —

“— Kim?” she yelled out in surprise as Conner tried to wiggle out of the tight grip Kim had on their collar. 

“Not so brave now, are we?” Kim said, glaring at him.

Immediately, Conner's eyes widened. 

"You're right, Conner,” Kim said in a mocking tone. “She is a hero, and she can't punch you…" their gaze darkened. "Good thing I'm not a hero then." They raised their other fist, causing Connor to scream, but Kim tossed them on the ground instead, unharmed from the fake punch. 

“Go on, Conner, run. Before I decide I'm not bluffing." 

Conner got up on his feet and ran away, as there were two supers here now, and one of them was more than willing to beat him up. 

Mender turned to Kim, but she immediately broke down, dropping to the alleyway's floor. “Thank you so much! If I hadn't been able to stop myself I could've hurt him! And he probably would've deserved it, but just… why would he say that? Just for a dare? Literal children were martyred, and he tries to say it was good?! Did he actually mean it? I just can't—" 

"Hey, calm down, Mender." Kim moved to sit down beside her. "You didn't do anything wrong. He went for exactly what would get a rise out of you. Honestly, I think you should've been allowed to hit him." 

There was a silence before Kim continued. 

"Are you okay?" They asked gently, because by now Mender had scooted so close to them that it looked like there was only one person in the dark alley. 

"I just… I hate that he did that. There's nothing I could do to stop him, and that just sucks, ya know?" Mender said, though her voice was slightly muffled since she was pressed into Kim's side, which Kim had shown they were okay with by putting an arm around her. 

Kim paused. 

There wasn't much they could do for their friend. There was no talk that could make everything better, they couldn't go back in time and stop stupid Conner, and they couldn't magically erase Mender's emotions (not that that would even be a good solution). 

So they slowly stood up, bringing Mender up with them, and gently asked, "Do you want a hug?" 

Mender looked up at them in slight surprise. 

Normally she was the one to offer a hug and comfort, but Kim was so kindly turning the tables. She did not even answer, just grabbed onto Kim like a lifeline. The two stood still for a little while, before Mender let go again. 

“Thank you.”

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

[gentlemanjester]

NEW BOOK RANT: The Dwarves by Markus Heitz

So, I've made a rant about the Cirque du Freak movie. I've made a rant about the Last Dragon Chronicles by John d'Lacey. Now it's time to move away from the kids/teen genre and into something more adult.

For those who don't know, The Dwarves by Markus Heitz is apparently one of the most popular German fantasy series, translated into English. Since Dwarves are my favourite fantasy race, I had to pick it up. I tried to read it once, and didn't get far before moving onto something else. Then a few years back, I gave it another try and got through the first three books in the series: : The Dwarves, War of the Dwarves, and Revenge of the Dwarves. The books follow our protagonist, Tungdil, who's a foundling Dwarf as he battles orcs, Alfar (evil elves), and dark magic to save the realm of Girdlegard.

The first book introduces Tungdil as a plucky underdog; he was raised by one of the several Magus who defend Girdlegard, and is sent off on a journey by that Magus where he meets up with Boindil and Boendal, warrior twins (a lot of the Dwarven names do have accented characters, but I can't be bothered doing the key combos to put them all in), who tell him that he's been chosen as a candidate to become the Dwarven High King. Tungdil says "sure, but lemme do my errand first." So they do that, and return to find Tungdil's home wiped out by orcs and everyone killed. At the same time, an evil Magus has killed the others and become an evil wizard who's trying to bring darkness from outside Girdlegard.

Now, here's our first problem with the pacing of this book. Up until now, the chapters have been mainly Tungdil, interspersed with other perspectives: the Magi and the Dwarven council in the Secondling Kingdom. Tungdil learns that the person leading the Alfar and the Orcs is called Nod'onn, quite interesting. Maybe 2 chapters later, the Magus called Nudin (HMMMMMM) kills the other Magi and announces himself as Nod'onn. Not a lot of time to build suspense, there. On top of that, just a few chapters later, Tungdil and the twins leave his old home to find themselves surrounded by Orcs and Nod'onn, and they're saved by... Andokai. One of the Magi who was apparently killed but survived. There's no real buildup to her reveal, which makes it underwhelming.

Naturally, the protagonists prevail, and along the way, Tungdil finds love in the form of Balyndis, a Firstling. It's a happy ending, good prevails over evil. It's an okay book, the characters are great, but the book just took so many different directions. Tungdil has three different quests he goes on, one after the other, and as I mentioned, the pacing is really weird. You get big timeskips concerning travel; journeys which take weeks pass in a page or so, which is understandable but it stills feels very much like just a compilation of events.

So, the second book starts out with, basically, Tungdil and Balyndis breaking up because her clan don't want her marrying a Thirdling (oh yeah, turns out Tungdil is a Thirdling, a clan of Dwarves who hate and kill other Dwarves but he didn't know that at all). So she marries this dude who's elected the king of the new Fifthlings, and Tungdil goes away on a new quest with Boindil and Boendal, which takes him to the Free Cities; underground cities of Dwarves who don't belong to any one clan and live freely. Here, just a few pages removed from his ex-girlfriend, Tungdil falls in love with a new girl and marries her within a few chapters of meeting her. Of course, it turns out she's actually a Thirdling spy and betrays the heroes; she was also married to a Thirdling, but she's remorseful because she actually loved Tungdil? I think. To be fair, though, this reveal comes much later in the book, so we've got a lot more suspense there, especially with the identity of the spy split between her and another Freeling.

So the villain of this book is the Thirdling clan, who're doing their nefarious things to sow discord among the humans, Elves, and Dwarves who have since formed an alliance following the defeat of Nod'onn. I think it's in the Firstling Kingdom where the battle with the Thirdlings occurs... and then there's also another force coming to attack Girdlegard, called Avatars. Beings of light who purify everything in a cleansing fire. So again, we've got one quest, turning into another, turning into another. Also, Tungdil has lost his magic axe, Keenfire.

There's also the plot of Andokai (the surviving Magus) basically blackmailing the half-Alfar friend of Tungdil (Narmora) into being her apprentice by almost killing her husband, so she responds by engineering her death, and then Narmora dies in the climax because a crystal powered up by a super-pure Elf blows up and destroys all evil in Girdlegard (Alfar and Orcs, mainly).

The book ends with Balyndis and Tungdil getting back together and living happily ever after.

Okay, I'm not gonna bother writing the synopsis for the third book because it's late and I need to sleep, but I'll give you the highlights of why I dislike it.

So, 5 years have passed. Tungdil's a fat alcoholic now, still regarded as a hero and when he shows up, he's a shadow of his former self. He's sent off to do something I can't remember and Boindil joins him (Boendal died at the end of the last book, by the way). We learn that Tungdil's super depressed because he and Balyndis had a son, but that son drowned when a bridge collapsed, and he has survivor's guilt. But I kid you not, the very same chapter we learn this (which is like the 6th chapter of the book), Boindil says "get happy or I'll knock you over the ledge of this cliff" and Tungdil says "yeah I'm not suicidal anymore, also gonna stop drinking, and be better to my wife."

An extremely disappointing turn of events. It would've been fascinating to see Tungdil work through his demons during the book and get over his guilt, but... no. I think his son is mentioned three more times in the whole book.

The second main thing I dislike takes about three quarters of the way through the book and really took away any sympathy or relation I had with Tungdil. Because he basically falls in love with this foreign Dwarf from outside Girdlegard, despite being married and working so hard to get this marriage, and this bastard breaks up with his wife by sending her a FUCKING LETTER. His excuse? "Oh, I have an adventurous soul."

You fucking twat.

He was so depressed in the second book when he couldn't marry Balyndis, in fact he even had a little voice in his head telling him to kill the guy she'd ended up marrying, this is such a damned stupid decision and the only consolation is that Tungdil is presumed dead at the end (definitely not dead, but I'm not reading the others so yay).

The third thing I didn't like was that at the end, the maguffin can only be repaired by a "pure Magus." With Tungdil's old Magus adopted father now revived from being a statue, everyone assumes he'll be the one to do it but, gasp! He's been corrupted by the dark magic that corrupted Nudin in book 1! So who can save us? Well... it's a new Dwarf who was introduced in this book. A dwarf. All the lore up until now has been that Dwarves can't use magic, they don't like magic. And in this entire book, this Dwarf showed no sign of having anything to do with magic. No hints, no suggestions, absolutely nothing, and now all of a sudden "oh, you can use magic, go ahead and win the day for us." It is such a cop-out and makes no sense at all. Frustrating, to say the least.

And the last thing I hate about this book, I absolutely despise... is that it sets up some absolutely awesome thigns for the next book! A Dwarven Civil War! A gigantic dragon has shown up in Girdlegard! I would LOVE to read about those, but this book was just the nail in the coffin for my appreciation of this series.

The best way I can describe these books is that they're big events split up by nothingness, and those big events only last a page or two at the most. It was such a disappointing series to read. The protagonist becomes a dickhead by the end, even though it was meant to be his redemption in the third book. The characters are actually really good, but Heitz barely gives any suspense to their twists or returns. The world is actually awesome: the Dwarven clans, the human kingdoms, and then we learn about a bunch of other creatures from outside Girdlegard, such as the Acronta. So much potential, but it's just... disappointing in so many ways.

Small aside, the first book has a video game based on it (available on Steam, The Dwarves, and it's honestly a super faithful adaptation, and the character model for Djerun is freaking awesome).

Anyways, if you're thinking about this series, I'd say read only the first one. Anything further than that will be a disappontment.

[stardust-in-my-mind-blog]

mindshift progress report

So, whenever I embody "I'm going to fight god and everyone else I don't give a fuck" mode, things tends to shift in the overhead baggage departments. When I roll survival and decide to choose fight... well, it takes a lot out of me. I much prefer running away or fawning. Still learning how to get out of freeze. Also, I don't think I mentioned that the old man that I yelled at for threatening and scaring the shit out of me was wearing a literal JESUS SPORTS JERSEY. I made limited eye contact, of course, but staring at a sparkling gold embroidered "Jesus" while I was giving him a scolding for learning how to regulate his own damn emotions was a little off putting. Kind of glad Jesus is known more for wine than thunderbolts. Yesterday I was feeling kind of awful. Things aren't moving at the speed of light like I want them to, especially in terms of my regressed skillsets, and I just... felt the usual hopelessness I tend to get when I'm actually making an effort and things don't fall perfectly into place. Naming my blessings is kind of boring because I'm already a diehard optimist, so a progress report to make me feel better should get me started in the right direction today. Little boost of confidence. Singing/Hobby ---> Getting better and better and I'm more comfortable with it and have made friends and joined a little community and actually LOOK FORWARD to socializing as long as no one really pays attention to me for to long. check

Dancing/Cardio ---> using my mirror neurons in a fun way to embody actual songs instead of singing them in the dark with my eyes closed in the shower is helping me loosen up a bit for performances I think. Also, it's so fun to imagine myself dancing in those little worlds as those fun characters. check

Karaoke/job? ---> Since administrative tasks are difficult for me because my executive function regressed and I'm terrified of another burnout... this one has been tricky. I was hoping my confidence from other spheres would move this along, but I'm still... struggling. Ugh. Luckily, in true me fashion, I already put out a feeler out at the karaoke business that runs at the bar I sing at. I've watched the three women that operate it closely, and I can envision myself doing that job. It's less interactive with the public than waitressing would be. The two women that work there hug me when I come to the bar so I think that means we are friends (even though I don't know their names). The owner of the business has taken time to come talk to me a few times, praised my singing, and made a really strong pitch for an apartment she is renting out in full detail. So she must think I'm okay too. I asked if they needed people last week, but since the woman I was talking to and I are both autistic... the conversation spiraled into something else and I didn't get a direct answer. I likely didn't ask the right question. But I did have the right intention. I'll build on that tonight. Plus, since it's a local business, there will be less forms and applications and absolute bullshit my poor executive function will not touch without sending me into fight or flight. So, as usual, trying to find a work around for my current limitations. check

Kids/awesome ---> Since I will now have two dethroned kings, I should come up with a name for them to keep them straight. Maybe calling them by their horoscope signs for now will keep things neutral. Also, no one can say I didn't try to make it work with earth. Taurus had a work trip, so I've had the kids full time this week. It has been more work and stressful, and because of that I've had to let go of my perfectionism a bit. Today when we were running late for school we decided today was our villain era and played anti-hero songs to laugh about our nervousness. It's all working out even if I'm fucking things up. That's nice. They're also able to be really honest with me in their struggle with the awkward dynamics of playing house with Virgo and not being able to help myself when he's shitty and I have a deep need to be shittier. They've also commented that when he and I start sniping at each other that it must be like how we feel when they fight. They aren't wrong. I'm glad we all get to experience the pleasure. check

So, unlike yesterday, where I was convinced I was a wreck of a human making a disaster of my life... things aren't so bad and I am making progress and the world is ok. Yay.

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Pandora was right, taking baths out in the wilderness was great! He could see the stars and point out the constellations as he scrubbed himself and practiced his singing where no one could hear him. This did not stop him from wearing swim trunks, so hess a litte paranoid. Sue him.

Pandora had been very clear about going deep into the wilderness where no one could hear him sing, because if they heard the siren song of a halfa and fled they would be haunted by it forever or until he himself tracked them down and sang a song strong enough to free them.

Ancients she knew him so well.

He had been minding his own business playing in the water with his multitude of floating duck candles, a purchase he begged Sam for when he was drugged out of his mind after a very devastating injury, and practicing one of the songs Pandora put on the "study list" called The Fairy King. If he didn't know any better he would think she was making fun of him.

He scrubbed his arm with a washcloth as he sung watching as the ducks floated around in the little super hero costumes Tucker had 3d printed for them. "Huh. It almost looks like they're dancing."

A light bulb went off in his head. He began practicing with his telekinesis as he sang, making the ducks dance together in little twists and twirls. He doesn't think he's ever had this much fun in a bath before honestly.

----

Red Robin and Nightwing were sneaking through the foliage looking for a supervillians secret base when they heard it. The sound of a full symphony playing live off in the distance. They nodded at eachother before heading in the direction the sound was coming from. They were almost on top of it when they heard the singing begin,

"When the house is still i can hear his song, beckoning me out into the ga-ar-den" the boys froze, this didn't sound anything like thier villain, they turned back to the noise edging closer, "his lullaby- promises sweet- escaaape"

Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw once they parted the underbrush, a glowing white haired teenager was standing in chest deep water, haloed by the moon behind, offering them an ethereal scene "He says, 'come my drifting flower i will hold you tight. Listen to the chime of stars and moo-oonlight-'"

The teen lifted up a floating ducky that was dressed like Red Robin in one hand and placed the other of his chest as he continued singing, "take my hand-and feel here- my heaart"

Red Robin turned beat red and Nightwing moved to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder only to have a twig snap underneath his boot. The guy whirled around and locked eyes with Nightwing for only a moment before screaming and falling backwards into the water. Bubbles rose to the surface of the pond only for a few seconds before they vanished all together.

It felt like a spell was broken and the two vigilantes just stood there for a second before nightwing jumped in to save a possibly drowning teen. No matter how hard he searched he couldn't find any proof that the guy was ever even there, save for the duck candles (?) that Red Robin had already finished collecting from around the pond.

RR didn't seem surprised that the guy had vanished and was examining the ducks. More specifically the bottoms. Dick went to see what was going on only for his younger brother to show him the bottom of the Nightwing duck.

There, in messy handwriting, was the ducks name: Duckwing

Dick laughed and started going through the ducks names, Quack-Hood, Bat-Bill, Red-Drake (which was kinda concerning and brought up the question of whether or not this guy knew any of thier identities) and funniest of all, a Robin one with a little plastic katana simply named Stabby.

----

Danny hid his face in his pillow after accidentally teleporting home. This was awful.

He waited until the heat in his face disappeared before taking a few deep breaths and thinking about how he was going to handle this. He obviously needed to track down the two Gotham vigilantes (what were they doing out there?) and break the spell on them before they become obsessed with him.

Then he remembered his ducks, "Aw man. What are the chances they didn't take my ducks?" Teleporting back to the pond after a full hour of being away showed a dark and duckless pond, much to his disappointment.

Now he added "recue the ducks" to his mental checklist.

Unbeknownst to him the vigilantes weren't the only ones to hear his song...