#titanium riot

[kervl-klear]

🦊 for Seoltang

🦊 - Would people be rooting for or wishing death for your OC online because of the war?

…………………………………………………

Noeu is looking at Seoltang who is making Coffee. As Seoltang’s Aide, he has something to report but for now….Why is Seoltang suddenly decided to make over 20 cup of coffees in the span of 50 minutes in the middle of a war???

Noeu tightly hug Seoltang, then kneel down in front of him.

Noeu: “Sir, I can have surgeon colonel verify for you that it’s impossible to die from coffee overdose. Do rethink your decision and stay with me”

Seoltang: “Aide what- That’s not what I’m trying to-“

Noeu: “I know people say weird things about you ever since you forgot to zip your pants on national television but you have to brave through it”

Seoltang’s smile crooked a bit, he almost managed to forget about that event. He makes a square shape hand signal with his thumbs and his index fingers then draw a smile on the air with his left index finger, this had Noeu immediately stood up in response.

Seoltang: “Thank you for your kind concern but I would prefer if you addressed your report to me first”

Noeu is still worry but decided to go along.

Noeu: “Very well sir, my report today concern the minute of Area 21 meeting with the intelligence bareau”

Noeu tapped on his laptop to deactivated the power saving mode, showing a presentation slide.

Noeu: “Since you have no social media account, which is a very wise choice considering your work practice. Everyone will definitely wait to celebrate your death. Regardless, allow me to fill you in”

Noeu: “This morning the other generals received an overwhelming amount of online death threats due to the fake leak of North Capital’s documents relating to the recently emerged war between nation A and nation B”

Noeu changed the slide.

Noeu: “The publisher of these fake documents claimed that Northland had been stealing ship from nation A to pirated the cargo ships from nation B, oddly alighted with a statement from one of nation A navy who claim to be a survivor from the piracy before he’s found death in his residence”

Noeu: “The online account that published these fake documents had completely vanished, we concluded that these documents are very specific kind only 3 stars generals and up would knows how to utilized as it is a document designed specifically to be submitted through enclaves in Northland-Bay Hill CENTRIX but none of these documents are found in our or Bay Hill’s system”

Noeu: “Nation B is one of our important imports and exports business partners for many type of essential goods when it’s come to waterway shipments. Our main export is aircraft part which we produce by importing titanium alloyed from nation B. So the defense forces, specifically North Capital are blamed by the civilian for the current Northland’s economic failure”

Noeu: “The other generals had sent their troops to gather more information from the war-side which should rendered the actual instigator motionless for the time being but it does not change the fact that both nation are wary of us and will not cooperate with any troops let alone allow any Northland soldiers on their land”

Noeu: “Clearly this is an attempt to stir riot by an espionage agent who are already deep inside the defense service of our country. The intelligence bureau also report that the results from OSINT and DIGINT alluded to the same directions and so they seek insight from you concerning-”

Noeu stop once he heard a clicked sound, Seoltang is taking photo of the 25 cup of coffees he made.

Noeu: “Sir, are you listening?”

Seoltang: “My apologies Aide, I have to get my profile up in timely fashion so I can put this in the resume I will use to apply for a job at Starducks. I have a good reason to personally investigate there”

Noeu went quiet for moments.

Seoltang is the designer of Northland espionage network and CENTRIX shared between Northland and the other nations, of course his lead is ahead of every other generals when it’s come to intelligence and information. Starducks must have something to do with the-

Seoltang: “You see Aide, last time I attended the conference at North capital. The executives asked me the numeric difference between the IBU of the coffee served in the meeting room and each type of coffee served in Starducks. But I don’t even know what IBU stand for so they tickled me with duck feathers as a warning. They said if I don’t have everything figured next time they will tickle me with heated needles and filmed the entire process”

What in the horizon are they doing at North Capital?? Do they have that much free time??? Noeu thought to himself, now he feels bad for the civilians knowing how their taxes are spent.

Suddenly, Seoltang phone’s buzzed.

Seoltang: “Perfect, I just got a like from an online coffee reviewer”

Noeu: “Hold on sir….you HAVE a social media account? Your existence is supposed to be SECRET! There’s a file about your identity in the B3 here in THIS BASE!“

Seoltang’s ears goes down a little after being scolded.

Seoltang: “I have multiple accounts depending on the industry but I’ve never disclosed anything about myself-”

Noeu: “You literally just published a photo taken inside a highly classified remotely detached facility!!”

Noeu took the phone from Seoltang and started reading some of his posts. It appeared that he did do some activities that supported the hate toward the North Capital officers, a very odd move especially for an account that is supposed to be for things like applying a job.

Then it all clicked.

Noeu: “Wait-did you conjured these online hate because you are bitter that the other generals tickled you with duck feathers over a stupid coffee question?”

Seoltang let out a soft laugh.

Seoltang: “Not quite, I personally don’t care about taking petty revenge on these generals but I care about your safety”

Seoltang: “Conflict can be use in many way from weakening people for threat migration to separating the human resources into group for more manageable organizational systems but surely you are a lot more well versed in this topic than me”

Seoltang approached Noeu and adjust Noeu’s hat.

Seoltang: “Since instigating conflicts is your specialty not mine, right Aide? May be you should rest more, it was careless of you to leave a survivor”

Noeu’s eyes twitched, now finally pieced together what had actually been going on. It’s the reason Seoltang didn’t attend the meeting between Area 21 and the intelligence bureau.

Seoltang: “You’re welcome Noeu”

In response Noeu laugh out loud.

…………………………………………………

Thank you for tuning into my frequency. CVL1, RWY CLR. 🛫✨

[megaverserpg]

Groupes - Idéologie politique

Depuis l'explosion du laboratoire d'Elysium, les îles de Neferis et d'Elysium ont été plongées dans un climat de tension et de conflit. À Neferis, la répression s'est intensifiée et la lutte pour le pouvoir est omniprésente, tandis qu'à Elysium, un fragile équilibre tente de se maintenir entre différentes factions cherchant à imposer leur vision de l'avenir.

Chromium Rods

SORCIER·E·S EXTRÉMISTES ‧₊˚ La communauté magique a dû fuir les chasses aux sorcières, les traques, les bûchers (Elysium) ou est soumise au joug des moldus (Neferis). Ces sorcier·e·s sont donc pour le fait de gérer scrupuleusement les contaminé·e·s et les tracé·e·s, quels que soient les moyens employés. Iels craignent que l'existence de la brèche soit révélée aux moldu·e·s de l'un ou l'autre des mondes et sont donc prêt·e·s à tout pour la leur cacher.

MOLDU·E·S EXTRÉMISTES ‧₊˚ Qu'iels aient entièrement accepté leur don ou se considèrent comme des menaces ou anomalies, iels estiment que la traque des contaminé·e·s est le meilleur moyen de préserver les deux mondes, quitte à en souffrir.

Copper Shades

SORCIER·E·S SCEPTIQUES ‧₊˚ Incertain·e·s quant aux décisions des leaders sorcier·e·s, les sceptiques doutent de tout. Le secret est-il bénéfique ou non ? Les contaminés sont-iels une menace ou une force ? La marque est-elle judicieuse ou un acte barbare ? Les débats peuvent s'étirer des heures durant et les nuances varier des un·e·s aux autres.

MOLDU·E·S SCEPTIQUES ‧₊˚ Réticent·e·s mais forcé·e·s, ces moldu·e·s ont accepté la marque à contre-cœur, ne voyant pas d'autre option. Cependant iels subissent avec une difficulté croissante les ingérences des traceur·se·s. Nombre d'entre elleux peinent à se faire à leur nouvelle condition et à leur don, qui bouleverse totalement leur quotidien.

Iridium Sparks

SORCIER·E·S PROGRESSISTES ‧₊˚ Iels voient d'un œil bienveillant l'arrivée des moldu·e·s contaminé·e·s et souhaitent leur intégration au sein de la communauté sorcière. Iels voient les différences comme une force plutôt qu'une menace et considèrent la catastrophe comme un essor inattendu de la magie.

MOLDU·E·S PROGRESSISTES ‧₊˚ Ces moldu·e·s sont aptes à accepter leur nouvelle condition. Iels souhaitent être considéré·e·s comme les égal·aux des sorcier·e·s et sont prêt·e·s à faire des concessions, comme le fait d'accepter la marque, afin d'obtenir leur confiance.

Titanium Riots

SORCIER·E·S EXTRÉMISTES ‧₊˚ Leur opposition aux leaders sorcier·e·s est leur unique point commun : toustes sont prêt·e·s à se rebeller activement contre eux, mais leurs motifs divergent. Iels peuvent autant vouloir l'unification des mondes sorciers et moldu·e·s qu'espérer voir s'inverser la balance des forces. Iels commencent depuis peu à se réunir en secret et transmettent des invitations sous le manteau, se montrant particulièrement discret·e·s. La difficulté réside dans le fait de trouver un accord sur les moyens d'action et les objectifs envisagés.

MOLDU·E·S EXTRÉMISTES ‧₊˚ Opposé·e·s aux mesures prises à l'encontre des contaminé·e·s, iels se sentent traité·e·s comme du bétail, mais ont été (ou seront) forcé·e·s d'accepter la marque une fois débusqué·e·s par les traceurs. Certain·e·s détestent la magie, d'autres en ont peur.

[i-love-you-all]

If other agents had a passive ability...

I feel like Jett should not be the only one with a passive ability. And if Riot can program Cassiopeia to be unable to buy boots, and give Jett the ability to avoid fall damage, other agents should have something too. Here are my suggestions:

Astra: Should be able to dodge a flash completely if she’s in her astral form. I don’t wanna leave the astral form and realize I was flashed.

Breach: If a bullet from a pistol, shotgun, or SMG hits his arms, it should do like, 25% less damage. There’s no flesh there, plus, they’re titanium plated and titanium can be used for some bulletproof properties I think?

Brimstone: I always assumed that he had something in his boots to help with impact since he is older. Even running can wear on joints and he’s been putting a lot of wear and tear on them considering his past careers. He should take like 5hp less from fall damage as a result.

Chamber: Should get 100 more credits on a loss. Man just goes to the bank and pulls out more this time :p

Cypher: If I wanted to meme, I’d say camera gun... but really I think he should be able to gain credits for every person tagged by an ability. Maybe just 50 creds for every tag. But he sells information right? He could get some nice biomarkers/false identities off them. or straight up pickpocket them when they step into his traps.

Fade: Should not have the paranoia effect from Omen last as long on her.

Harbor: Should not make any sound when walking on watery surfaces (split sewer, Pearl sewer, etc)

KAY/O: The knife should do like 5hp damage if it hits a person. It’s literally a knife???

Killjoy: Should be able to steal other people’s tech and help reduce the CD timer on her destroyed turret.

Neon: Should do splash damage on her ult if she’s hitting a metal surface instead. Metal being a conductor and all.

Omen: Should move like 5% faster in shadowy parts of a map. (A main on Breeze for example.)

Phoenix: Should take less damage from Brimstone mollies.

Raze: Should take like 10% less damage from friendly fire abilities. Since the original reason why she didn’t take damage from her blast packs but her teammates did was because she was radiant in the sense she was tougher. So...

Reyna: She should heal more depending on the height of the target. So Breach would give way more than say, Neon.

Sage: Should heal more if a teammate gave her a commendation in the preround time. Preprogrammed ones, not the ones that can be spammed by ppl.

Skye: Should be able to track the jellies through walls. Like how you can see outlines with Fade haunts, Skye should be able to see her jellies through walls instead of having to track it on the map. Probably not a passive tho, huh?

Sova: I think he should be blinded more by KAY/Os knife I think. But less by other blinds. Or, has a highlight feature for incoming projectiles so you get earlier warning.

Viper: Should have an actual timer on her abilities. But actually, should take slightly less decay dmg from her double. A gas mask is a gasmask. She’s still more prepared than her other teammates...

Yoru: Should be able to close his eyes on his own blind, aka less self flashes (glares at 90% of the yorus i’ve played with)

[ultimatemixbitch]

//Revamped blog playlist below

BotanicSage - 16BIT Magic [Bruno Mars vs Sonic the Hedgehog 2]

pluffaduff - Ain't Nothing Like A Funky Meme [Mega Mashup]

DJs From Mars - Axel F's Dangerous Resistance [Harold Faltermeyer vs David Guetta vs Knife Party]

pluffaduff - Baby I'm Back IV: The Fourth Awakens [Mega Mashup]

pluffaduff - Baby I'm Back V [Mega Mashup]

DJs From Mars - Back To Wonderwall [AC/DC vs Oasis vs Skrillex vs Knife Party]

DJ Cummerbund - BasketFlies [Green Day vs Owl City vs Coolio]

oneboredjeu - Bone Eastwood [Childish Gambino vs Gorillaz]

Triple-Q - Call Me, Beep Me (If You Wanna Reap Me) [Christina Millian vs Calliope Mori]

Benny Benassi - Cinema (Skrillex Remix)

Tones And I - Dance Monkey

FreeStyleGames - deadmau5 Megamix [deadmau5 vs Kaskade vs Lady Gaga]

Dean Gray (Party Ben & Team9) - Doctor Who On Holiday [Green Day vs The Timelords]

MANSHN - Don't Fear The Reaper

Foster The People - Don't Stop (TheFatRat Remix)

Captain Jack - Dream a Dream

Lammirai - Elementary school gym class: the mashup [Barenaked Ladies vs Los del Rio]

SiIvaGunner - How To Play (Melee) - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate [High Quality Rip]

pluffaduff - Humans in Paris [Daft Punk vs Jay-Z & Kanye West]

OneRepublic- I Lived (Arty Remix)

Bill McClintock - If You Wanna Breathe My Sulfur [Slipknot vs Spice Girls]

Studio Killers - Jenny (The Living Tombstone's Remix)

Reol - LUVORATORRRRY!

Triple-Q - Love Shack Trigger [The B-52's vs Casey Edwards]

Galactic Hole - MAXIMUM MASHUP MEGAMIX [Mega Mashup]

Skrillex & Damian Marley - Make It Bun Dem (Alex S Remix)

NilsOfficial - Never Gonna Wake You Up [Avicii vs Rick Astley vs Chumbawamba]

Avicii - The Nights

DJ Cummerbund - Old Staind Road [Staind vs Lil Nas X & Billy Ray Cyrus]

pluffaduff - One [Mega Mashup]

pluffaduff & KryptoDigital - One More Time (Project Discovery Remix)

Triple-Q - Party Rock Apple!! [Alstroemeria Records vs LMFAO]

Nero - Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix)

Cryptrik - Riot Police [Hollywood Undead vs Knife Party]

pluffaduff - Rivers of Jordan [Justice vs Buckethead]

The Prodigy - Shut Em Up [The Prodigy vs Public Enemy]

dannyrom288 - Sofi Needs A Bad Apple!! [deadmau5 & SOFI vs Alstroemeria Records]

Andromulus - Somebody's Watching Thriller [Michael Jackson vs Rockwell]

Wax Audio - Stayin' Alive In The Wall [The Bee Gees vs Pink Floyd]

Daniel Ingram - Stop The Bats! (The Living Tombstone's Remix)

Triple-Q - Super High School Level Bad Guy [Danganronpa vs Billie Eilish]

The Roc Is Cookin' - Super Mario's Gettin' Money [Super Mario Bros vs 2pac]

Cryptrik - Teenage Levels [My Chemical Romance vs Avicii]

SiIvaGunner - Titanium - Helltaker [High Quality Rip]

pluffaduff - Turn Down For Crabs [Noisestorm vs DJ Snake]

pluffaduff - U Got That (Supreme Edition) [Halogen vs Riton & Kah-Lo vs Dirty Rush & Gregor Es vs Martin Garrix vs Timmy Trumpet]

Diplo, French Montana & Lil Pump - Welcome to the Party (ft. Zhavia Ward)

Avicii - Without You

DJs From Mars - Work Hard Like Teen Animals [Alice Deejay vs Nirvana vs Martin Garrix]

oneboredjeu - X Gon' Give It To Ya Maybe [Carly Rae Jepsen vs DMX]

[it-seemo]

More Mega Man/TF2 headcanons - Proto Man edition

Because fuck it, we ball.

Continuing from this spur-of-the-moment thing, let’s take a look at Mega Man’s estranged older brother, Proto Man.

The first contrast between the two comes with how much they participate in the initial RED vs. BLU conflict. Mega does not participate at all, under any circumstances. There’s the obvious inability to harm humans, of course, but it wasn’t until after posting that first headcanon that I was reminded of the Emerald-Spears, an anti-robot extremist group in the Archie comics. There’s a scene where one of their members opens fire on Mega Man, and he’s suddenly within his rights to fight back in order to protect himself.

That’s just another reason why Mega Man wouldn’t get involved in the RED vs. BLU conflict - if that survival instinct goes off, and if it goes wrong, who knows what could happen?

Proto Man, meanwhile, not only has no such reservations, but also the iconic, great big fuck-off nigh-unbreakable shield. If he’s attacked, he can cover his ass without needing to return fire. As such, he’s able to be a slightly more active participant in the conflict. It’s still the small things, though - the non-combative stuff. Helping an Engineer move that gear up and upgrading the teleporters at spawn, mostly.

“But wait! Proto Man’s the loner guy! Why is he so much more helpful here than his brother?” Well, first of all, Proto Man almost never goes out of his way to seek out interactions. More often than not, it’s either someone else already being wherever he’s going, or someone coming to where he already is. He only actively goes looking for people when it’s something urgent.

Now, let’s dive into his interactions with the different classes, starting with the Engineer.

Much like with Mega Man, Engineer sees Proto Man more as a human than as a machine, and his whole “gentle genius” thing also reminds Proto of Dr. Light. And actually, the resemblance between Engie and Light is even stronger to Proto, because both create engines of war despite coming off as men of peace. But there’s one very crucial thing that ironically gives Proto Man more respect towards Engie than even his own father - Engie doesn’t insist on repairing Proto’s flawed energy core.

When Engie finds out that Proto Man has a potentially fatal flaw in the device that literally keeps him alive, he obviously offers to take a look at it and, if possible, to repair it. When Proto Man refuses (whether or not he explains why is kinda 50/50), Engie lets the issue drop and doesn’t bring it up ever again. This is a level of respect that Proto has literally never been given before, so helping Engie with his buildings is his way of thanking him. Plus the idea of Proto Man using a Wrench is just very appealing to me. Oh my god, could Mega and Proto be upgraded via Wrench?

Let’s go in the same order as last time, because why not. Next up is Spy. His attitude towards Proto Man is largely the same as his attitude towards Mega Man, in that he’s much more interested in energy consumption and the extremely compact yet diverse arsenal. He also takes interest in Proto Man’s shield, and after bringing Sniper into the room, they test to see how well it holds up against a backstab compared to the Razorback. Big surprise, the nigh-indestructible ceramic titanium riot shield is stronger than a chunk of wood. Spy also finds Proto Man to be a much more enjoyable presence than Mega Man on account of Proto just being fairly quiet, and I can very easily picture the two of them talking for hours on end about god knows what in Spy’s smoking lounge.

Spy’s methods of disappearing are also of massive interest to Proto Man, who even manages to replicate the Invis Watch’s cloaking tech. Spy guides Proto Man through using it, and it vastly helps with Proto’s already-regular shenanigans of just... showing up out of nowhere and then disappearing.

Soldier and Demo have pretty much the same attitude here, too, with both of them teaching Proto Man how to blast jump, but Demo takes things a step further. He also takes interest in Proto Man’s shield and, after much trials and tribulations, teaches Proto Man not only the ways of the shield charge, but also the ways of the physics-defying trimp. Not only does he have that, but an entire new world of movement possibilities are opened up when Demo introduces the Loose Cannon, and starts teaching Proto how to augment shield-charges and trimping with explosive jumps. They still have their three-way blast jump races (four-way if Mega Man is also present), but some days, Demo and Proto have their own races with trimps and Loose Cannon jumps.

Medic. Oh man, poor Medic. He’s usually one of the most excited when it comes to new recruits, too, since it usually means fresh, blank-canvas bodies to perform invasive, exploratory surgeries on. But this is two in a row where the new recruits are robots, and can’t get those kinds of surgeries. That being said, he does appreciate the presence of a more mature individual - especially one who doesn’t go off-the-walls ballistic over how revolutionary the Medi Gun and UberCharge technology is. And hey, even if he can’t surgically implant baboon uteruses into the newcomers, he is glad that a lot of the pressure from being the only designated healer is lifted off his shoulders, especially when Mann vs. Machine kicks off.

Proto Man’s first meeting with Heavy goes something like this; they just stare at each other for a while, sizing each other up, both trying to intimidate the other. And then Heavy just chuckles, claps Proto Man on the shoulder, and says something like “Is good to have more muscle on team.” Proto just sees Heavy as not much more than the big, strong, silent type on account of his broken English... until he learns that Heavy has a PhD in Russian literature. Now, he’s more fascinated by just how much intelligence Heavy seems to be hiding behind the “big guy” act.

In regards to Scout, he’s probably the most turned off by Proto Man’s presence - even more than Medic. Something about the “silent, humorless loner” thing, there’s too many of these guys around here. Proto Man is also not the biggest fan of how childish and immature Scout acts. He would also be impressed by Scout’s double-jumping ability, if Bass couldn’t do that already. I’m not doing one of these for Bass, entirely because I’m just not the fondest of him. Call me petty.

Sniper is a bit more interested in Proto Man than he is with Mega Man, but not by much. His own loner act combined with Proto’s leads to the least amount of interaction with a teammate that Sniper has ever had. When they do have rare interactions, though, they do get along pretty well - certainly much more than Sniper does with Mega Man.

Pyro is a bit of an enigma, and it can honestly go either way. There’s a level of intrigue with just what Pyro really is behind the mask, as of course there is with literally everyone else, but there’s also the much more present irritation with Pyro’s more childish acts - probably because it’s just very jarring for someone so destructive, to the point where even after seeing every aspect of Pyro, Proto is still completely unsure of what to actually make of them.

I’m gonna do one more of these Mega Man/TF2 crossovers, specifically with two old, balding men with robot armies. Then I’m probably done unless I can think of any more crackhead crossovers to write essays about.

[pastelgrungewrecker]

And Orpheus Turned || Sg Ish

God, save us everyone Will we burn inside the fires of a thousand suns? For the sins of our hand The sins of our tongue The sins of our fathers The sins of our young, no!

They survived the first wave. But tides are unpredictable during storms- and now was the most dire of storms to date.

The clouds swirled above them, giving glimpses and touches of the stars and Cyclonus felt something settle in his chest- washing blood from his arms and looking out to the back where the embers of an old bonfire glimmered from a safe distance away from the homestead they’d made into a base of operations.

He looked away, worrying his lip with his fangs- and missed the flickers of shadows that made the embers vanish and reappear; like ghost giving warning, like the flash of seraphim before deadly and sudden judgement.

Aid smiled tiredly, Stardust sniffling but calmer now as she hugged her little brother tight. She was still scared- so scared; but he could see her slowly relaxing as she rocked with Pulsar and he cooed in his toddler speak.

...Belle began to cry. The paradox sniper shushed her gently as he passed her to the modified medic’s arms but still she cried- almost scared, almost threatened, her little eyes wide and bright and glancing fitfully.

In the barn, where the elder children of the family sat in adrenaline-drop fueled silence; the paradox Mimosa sat bolt upright and screamed.

“RUN, WE NEED TO RUN PLEASE RUN-”, as she scrambled up and fell, crawling for her prosthetics.

Lock looked up, hearing commotion from the barn and jogging to catch up with his version of Percy.

“Babe, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know, she’s panicking. This isn’t like her, maybe it’s the. The smell? But I don’t smell a thing.”

“Smell? What smell?”

“Of the corpses, Lock.”, said Percy, suddenly worried, “You. You all DID burn the spec ops dead, right?”

“...No, just tossed ‘em in the compost pit.”

“ALERT, EVERYONE UP AND AT ‘EM WE NEED TO LOCK THE KIDS DOWN AGAIN!”, shouted Percy, suddenly wild-eyed.

But it was already too late.

Flechette fire began yet again; snarls and shrieks sounded and Lock stood tall even as his skin was torn in filet-lines, “WHAT THE HELL-”

And Jazz’s mad cackle rang out. He stood, wild and wayward and leaking both life and death as thick tar-like mycelium crawled over his face and riot gear. He cocked a weapon, something heavy and cruel as he stood ramrod straight amongst the chaos of the other assumed-corpses discharged their weapons as well, over and over.

The elder children ran out, battleready and wide eyed and this universe’s Perceptor screamed for them to hide. Both Whirl’s gave in to violence, charging into the fray as flechettes and bullets flew in equal measure.

Stormy covered his face with his titanium arm, diving behind Ironhide’s ancient truck for a reprieve before he peered around it when he heard Jazz laugh. He scrambled back into view just in time to lock eyes with his sniper-in-law; and both looked to where Jazz aimed.

Time moved in slow motion.

Aid bundled the children to himself, against his stomach, when he saw Jazz aim- the gunfire was loud.

Time moved slow- and in a sick irony.... in a circle.

Perceptor screamed, Percy choked on a cry. 

Ratchet, this universe’s Ratchet... howled.

“MULLEIN, MULLEIN NO!”

The plasmabullet tore forward, merciless and vicious just like the bullet from all those years ago- back on a Decepticon battleship when a science supervisor wroked as briskly as he spoke to shut down a security field.

Aid jerked forward, feeling fire and then nothing but wet and heat as he stumbled. 

Stardust stared in silent horror up at her father before licking her lips on instinct and gagging immediately, retching at the red her tongue had swiped from the splatter on her young face. It leaked down in place of tears and Aid stumbled back a step, blue eyes suddenly blank.

He turned his head, seeing Stormy’s golden eyes wide and bright and wondered....

‘Why is... Why is everything. So... so quiet?’

He fell hard to the dust, lungs seizing as his heart went wild and he coughed another red spray straight up as paradox soldiers swarmed the edges of his vision and gunfire continued but muffled.

He heard Stardust sob softly, “B-Baba, baba HELP!” and he reached a shaking hand out as he saw her dragged off and heard the thrum of Stormy’s prosthetic fire and miss in a shaky shot. Pulsar screeched his fear as they were dragged off into the night.

The world was going dim- and then his own Baba’s face was in his foggy vision.

Aid. Began to cry.

“I-ghhurk- hhhh. Hurt- Ba-baba hel’ me I. ‘m hurt an’ hngk.”

“Sssshshshshs, baby, shush firebug it’s okay Baba is here it’s okay.”, stammered Perceptor, his still-healing stitches from his own previous wound pulling and beginning to leak as he tore off his shirt and haphazardly piled it over the much larger exit wound, “It’s okay baby boy, breath for me, breathe for me, breath for your baba now, good boy, you’re doing so good- RATCHET, RATCHET HURRY HE’S BLEEDING OUT-”

The dawn came as Aid sprawled in his own blood and gore on the ground- as his Papa and his Baba and their doubles worked frantically to keep him alive. Doubt hung heavy on hearts as both of the Kikis joined in as well as Aid’s own double.

As the paradox First Aid whispered, “Here, we are no doubt a match and I have good veins, use me.”

The dawn came slow as a family came together to stabilize him the best they could until they could get him into the main house- where a sickly pale matriarch moved them all aside and rasped, “Cori, both of ya. Go get my kit from the bathroom, and a leather rod from the shelf. We need to work fast. We don’t have much time.”

With no access to machines, they fell back to old faithfuls- antiques using antiques to keep the new alive and steady; covered in familial blood and feeling tears mix with it- it burned like acid, trails of crimson aqua regia carving grief and fear down their faces as Aid choked and strained and bit harder on the leather-wrapped wood dowel between his teeth.

Perceptor stood on the porch, smeared in his son’s blood with keyloidal scars agitated by the chilled morning air and smoking a blood flecked cygarette. His double stood next to him for a moment, chewing a lip before sighing.

“...The shed’s empty. No one will hear you there. Just... Just don’t give in to our old urges, precious. We can’t afford another medical emergency.”

An exhale of smoke. A cold glance. 

Bootsteps over dewy grass.

Percy watched him go before retreating into the house, the affectionate mask dropping like a lead balloon into a colder and crueler expression he once thought he’d never wear again. The Whirl he knew looked up to him, and squinted.

“...You told your double to go the shed Stormy is hiding in, didn’t you.”

“I did.”

“You KNOW what could happen!”, hissed the ex-assassin, “Is now REALLY the time for your fucking MINDGAMES-”

“Mindgames, precious?!”, snapped the vampiric sniper, “I’m not playing GAMES. I am making sure every weapon we have at our disposal is primed and ready. I know EXACTLY what we need to even have a god damned CHANCE at saving those children and THE REST OF US.”

“He’s SCARED just let him be scared-”

“He’s not scared of the enemy, Whirl, and we both know it.”, said Percy flatly, “The only thing Brainstorm- Stormy, has ever been scared of is himself. We all are. We all have something inside of us capable of the kind of brutality God looks away from but right now the powers that be already turned their backs so we might as well pick up the fucking pitchforks and let the horns show.”

Percy narrowed his eyes, his smile malicious, “What are you willing to do, Whirlybird- to keep the happiness you’ve found? Because unnless the answer is kill without mercy or question those children will die and we all know it. Am I understood.”

The bodyguard turned husband wanted to disagree- he wanted to plead the case of Maybe but he swallowed the sentimental words and nearly gagged on how much sugar coated the sentiments... and nodded.

“...Will. Will he try to kill Stormy?”

“No. He won’t. But he’s the one who can wake up the Warmaster- something I can’t even do anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m weak, Whirl. You were right all those years ago- I’m a weak and hopeless romantic of a fool when it comes to Stormy. And right now... Right now he needs someone who can still challenge him. Someone to break through.”

Back at the shed, the door creaked opened, then closed. Perceptor slipped in and put his back to the door as it shut, sliding down into a squat as smoke dribbled away from him in serpent’s coils and Stormy looked up- grief and terror scrawled on his face.

“Is. Is he...d-”

“No. He won’t die.”, said Perceptor, “I hope.”

“Y-You hope, what do you mean you HOPE-”

“I mean I HOPE AND PRAY WHAT NEARLY KILLED ME DOESN’T KILL MY FUCKING SON.”

Stormy recoiled form the snarl of rage as Perceptor’s good eye locked on him like a caged beast. The sniper got to his feet, cygarette clenched between his teeth for a moment before it was plucked out and he exhaled smoke and for a moment he looked more like a dragon than the modified medic ever had.

Yet so painfully mortal.

“WHERE. WERE. YOU.”

“I. I-I-I-I-”

“WHERE WERE YOU, HUH?!”, snarled the sniper, “ALL THESE YEARS NOW YOU’VE BRAGGED ABOUT A KILLCOUNT AND ABILITY AND ALL YOU MANAGED TO DO WAS NEARLY FRY CYCLONUS AND SCATTER US BEFORE WE COULD KNOCK JAZZ OUT OF THE RUNNING?! THAT WAS IT?!”

“HOW FUCKING DARE YOU, WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU ACCUSING ME OF HERE-”

“I’M ACCUSING YOUR MOUTH OF WRITING CHECKS YOUR ASS CAN’T CASH, LOUDMOUTH!”

Stormy got to his feet, fists curled and creaking with the force of it, “I AM PERFECTLY FUCKING CAPABLE YOU MUSTY OLD BASTARD HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO PREDICT ANYTHING LIKE THIS-”

“DID I ASK WHY YOU DIDN’T PREDICT IT? NO, YOU STUPID BITCH! I ASKED WHERE THE FUCK IS ALL THAT SKILL YOU FUCKING BRAG ABOUT! WHERE IS IT, BECAUSE I HAVE YET TO FUCKING SEE IT!”, snarled Perceptor, rearing up like an angry bull and burning holes into Stormy’s circuitry with his gaze, “YOU’VE SAT THERE ACTING LIKE THE END-ALL-BE-ALL AND THEN WHEN WE NEEDED YOU, WHEN HE NEEDED YOU; WHEN THE CHILDREN FUCKING NEEDED YOU YOU WERE COWERING BEHIND A GODDAMN TRUCK LIKE A SNIVELLING CUNT!”

Stormy stammered, he choked, he bit his lip until it bled and then his fists were against his temples and he felt something breaking and wondered if it was his teeth or his heart.

“I-I-I-I-”

“SPIT IT THE FUCK OUT, STORM!”

“I WAS SCARED, I’M FUCKING SCARED OKAY! I’M FUCKING TERRIFIED OF THIS!”

Perceptor exhaled smoke again, dropping the remains of the cygarette and grinding it out with his boot, “Of what, guns? Death? Battle?”

“N-No I. I’m.”

“Yourself?”

Silence.

Perceptor stared at him, letting the silence build like pressure until Stormy’s chest began to shudder and heave and mellow brass eyes opened wide yet again- he wondered if the MTO realized he’d closed them. And Perceptor stared at him levelly.

“Why.”

“I- Wh- Do you UNDERSTAND what I have fucking DONE?! I’ve committed atrocities no one can fucking VERBALIZE! My brutality was considered legendary, there were entire CASE STUDIES made about me-”

“Join the fucking. Club.”

Stormy’s thoughts screeched to a halt. Perceptor stared at him, tilted his head. Scoffed in annoyance, of all things before tapping the starburst over his chest.

“I died and brought my fucking self back. Self-rebuilding is nothing new in this family dimwit. You think just because you long distance erased civilians you’re some kind of scary boogeyman? Congratulations, you ended lives without watching it fade.”

Stormy’s mouth opened and closed- and he swallowed at the wicked smile suddenly on Perceptor’s face- wicked and remorseful all in one.

“Our Whirl is the source of some of the most brutal killings on record- we used to place bets on how much bio-material would be left when he was done with his targets. Cyclonus? He’s still finishing his rounds of reg-caplets to recover.”

“Recover? F-From what-”

“Years of forced cannibalism does terrible things to body.”

Stormy swore he stopped breathing.

“My Ratchet has stopped as many hearts as he restarted. I’ve watched him a few times. The oath only applies when there’s no immediate risk of danger. And Drift, of course... well. I’m sure you can guess, you’ve seen his cars. Met his brother.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“You aren’t special, here Stormy. You’re story is no different than the rest of us.”

“B-Big words from a fucking SNIPER- your kills were almost as long distance as MINE-”

“Interrogator.”

“Wh-”

“I was also an interrogator, Stormy. I took great pride in how quickly I could gather information- and as part of the Wreckers... well. We were called in to tie up loose ends, not leave them. You can do quite a bit of damage with a few pins and a few old machine shop batteries. So what are you afraid of.”

“Myself, I told you-”

“Liar. Bad liar, at that. You aren’t afraid of yourself, that’s a half truth you’re using to dodge my question and if you think for a fucking moment I won’t break every bone in the face my son thinks is so damn pretty then let me assure you; I’d enjoy it.”

“I. What if I can’t come back again.”

A whisper. A confession. Perceptor stood, calm and cold as Stormy once again had hands at his head but now fingers curled in his hair and gripped tight as though he would tear it out like ancient mourners at distant funerals.

“What if I don’t come back, what if I like it too much again what if that monster takes hold FOREVER and-”

“And if you keep stuffing him in a closet, your children- my grandchildren, will die.”

Again, the silence is thick and heavy like deep sea pressure and finally, something cracks. Like old glass and new bones something cracks and Stormy snarls as he runs at Perceptor.

“YOU DON’T FUCKING KNOW WHAT YOU’RE ASKING ME TO DO-”

His hands reach for Perceptor’s throat- and the haymaker that slams into Stormy’s stomach winds him immediately and sends him crumpling and gagging to the dusty floor. He glares upwards, at the scars and sneer on his sniper-in-law’s face.

“I am asking you to do the same fucking thing I have to do, Stormy.”, he said, flat and cold and stoic, “I am holding you to your promise, remember.”

“My- My what-”

“You promised me you’d keep First Aid safe. When you took your vows with my son you promised you would. You promised, with those fucking vows I watched you take for him that you would protect him and his with everything in you.”

Stormy felt tears prickling the edges of his eyes again, hot and angry now instead of scared; felt his heavy fang like teeth grinding together.

“And now here you are, hiding away in a shed and wibbling about being scared like the rest of us aren’t fucking terrified too? Whinging and cringing like a cat sprayed with a water bottle while the enemy holds your children? The enemy who blasted a whole through the man you say is the love of your life?”

It’s a white hot kernel at the base of his skull, shivering and burning like a hot lead pellet on a shop floor.

“Sitting here in a pile like some kind of damsel in distress. Pathetic.”

Perceptor kneeled down, grabbing Stormy’s hair in his fist and yanking up to make the paradox Kimian meet his icy eye.

“Some Warmaster you are- letting old enemies victimize you without even fighting BACK this time.”

Something snapped. Perceptor smiled and release Stormy as a prosthetic arm flexed.

“Shut up.”

“Prove me wrong, and I will Brainstorm of Dead Kimia. Stand up and stop letting them kick you around, and I’ll take back every word and apologize on my knees.”

“I’ll make you EAT the words you fucking said here, sniper.”

“Not with a shot like the one from earlier you won’t. I’m going back to house to keep watch over my son. Let me know if you’ve got the bearings to fight back or if you’ve decided to just. Happily be their victim again, like when you were new back your universe.”

And with that, Perceptor got to his feet, his smile smug and something unreadable as he turned back around and dug in a pocket for a beaten up cygarette pack.

The smell of burning and menthol was thick, and Stormy hissed at it as the door opened... and shut.

He sat back on his haunches, once again burying his fingers in his hair and hating how Perceptor’s words echoed in his skull- round and round they chased each other, backing vocals in the tune of his daughter screaming for help as his son cried in terror- as goggled specops dragged them both away and Aid gurgled from the hole through his ribcage like a crater-

Like when he saw the bodies drop all those years ago, like when he ran the last time and look what happened.

‘This time it can be different- it WILL be different!’, bellowed the anger deep within his chest, ‘THIS TIME WE CAN FIGHT BACK, THIS TIME WE CAN TEAR THEM TO SHREDS AND LEAVE THEM AS BROKEN AS THEY WANTED US TO BE!’

His chest felt cold. His heartbeat felt mechanical and he screwed his eyes shut tight as his circuitry flickered and his prosthetic arm creaked from sudden tensing and strain and his breathing began to race.

Some part of him knew- this was a break. Something within him was splitting apart like molten metal or scrap hull plating or incinerator waste or-

‘Or stars. Or black holes. Stardust and Pulsars and the unmaking of the universe to bring it all back in a big....’

“Bang.”

He finished his thought with his voice- his rasped voice, wicked and vicious and cold like he was once before, like he had to be now- his rage tempered with grief, his hate tempered with love. His violence edged with affection and care and he slowly straightened- his gold and brass eyes underlit with crimson as his internal systems slowly regulated. He breathed deep- deep enough for reinforced and once rebuilt ribs to creak from the intake and exhaled slowly.

He opened the door.

Both Perceptors stood there- equally calm, equally cruel.

Percy, his familiar Percy, smiled without it reaching his good eye- and held out something dark. Something dark, and smooth, and lined with gold.

“Welcome back, Warmaster. I figured you’d need this precious- for your comeback tour.”

“We have a lot to get handled.”, said Stormy- a voice like frostbite. Perceptor watched, pleased but mournful all at once as Stormy have the old coat he once wore a quick flourish- letting it settle so familiarly over his frame and using his living hand to flick the fasteners over his chest tightly closed.

That same hand ran through wild curls, disturbing them from their domesticity and letting them frame his face like a stormcloud as he took his brisk and militant steps into the night, towards the barn- where both Ironhide’s hunched around a lantern and passed a cigar back and forth.

Stormy whistled sharply, “Ironhide. Quickdraw. On your feet. I need every iota of force we have in this hellhole in front of me NOW.”

“An’ what makes you think I’ll li-”

The high-pitched whine of Stormy’s prosthetic preparing to fire a plasmablast cut the sentence off; as the Warmaster glared his intent without words until he recieved a “Yessir” and a salute.

Quickdraw- his Quickdraw, with the replaced golden circuitry and steel-framed glasses, looked at him in awe. Stormy smiled wryly.

“All those years you wished to be shoulder to shoulder with the Warmaster of Kimia; well. Let’s see whatcha got, kid.”

The smile the boy gave was wild and crooked, and Stormy’s was a near perfect match.

Percy looked to Perceptor.

“You didn’t kill him.”

“No need to. I know the fear he has intimately. So do you.”

“I do.”

“...But you, even now, only want to hold him in wool and silk gloves.”

“...Yes. I don’t wish for any worst case scenario, but.... The thought crossed my mind.”

“...I know. Thank you. For not inviting bad luck.”

Percy laughed weakly, “I’m a vile and cruel bitch on a good day, double-dear; but I’d never desire death for the ones I love. Give me SOME credit.”

Perceptor snorted, offering the cygarette, “I need to sit shift with Aid. Want the last half?”

“Mm- gladly; mine are somewhere in the kitchen mess still.”

Perceptor faded into the house, and Percy turned to stare into the night as the barn lit up in wild flickering like fire, like a forge-

Stormy’s shadow stretched from the wide doorway out over the grass, like the foreshadowing of a rising titan.

Like the cowl of a renewed and vengeful Grim Reaper.

[dialhforhorrorpodcast]

M3GAN Review

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So back in November of 2022, a trailer for a movie went completely viral on twitter and a new horror icon was born. Or more like a new LGBTQ+ queen emerged from the fire. The trailer itself wasn’t what got everyone talking. It was one part in particular. One part where our new slasher decides to stop and dance before going after one of her victims. You can call it the Dance Seen ‘Round the World. 

The movie was greenlit for a sequel before it was even released. There was a marketing ploy where women dressed as this new slasher, went places, and did the now iconic dance. SNL did a skit about the sequel where our new queen was partying in a gay bar who openly supported the chaos she brings. There’s even been whispers that we’ll see our dancing queen in her own house at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios. But aside from the totally out of place dance sequence, does this movie and its new slasher actually deliver?

If you haven’t figured it out from that description, the movie I’m talking about today is the movie about everyone’s newest favorite killer doll, M3GAN. M3GAN absolutely took off before the movie even hit theaters because of a short scene of her dancing (which was filmed as a joke, but left in because clearly, they know what fans wanna see). It dragged all different types of people to the theater to see it when it came out in January of 2023 and has received praise from critics and audiences alike. Directed by Gerald Johnstone and starring Allison Williams of Girls and Get Out fame and Violet McGraw from the Haunting of Hill House, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon and M3GAN’s sick moves made her a… gay icon? I don’t know. I feel like we’re grasping at straws here sometimes!

However, I feel like it’s a movie that’s been vastly overhyped. It’s not necessarily a bad movie. It’s a predictable slasher film retelling a story we’ve heard before. It does well in its serious moments, has some chuckles, but overall, it depends on who you watch it with. On its own, it’s a subpar horror flick with nothing new to add to the genre, but watching it with the right people can take this generic horror flick and elevate it to absolute riot. Which I guess could be said about any film, but I feel this more so with M3GAN. It’s built to be watched with friends - preferably enthusiastic gay ones who’ll offer color commentary to all of M3GAN’s antics. That’s not me trying to be rude or anything. I don’t think that they knew when making the film that us gays would latch on to it like we did with the… Babadook for some reason. Again, why? But it definitely feels like something they knew would inevitably happen.

But I don’t wanna get too ahead of myself. So, what I’m gonna do is break this blog down into two parts. Part one will be me summarizing the movie itself and part two will be me discussing why I think this movie is overrated. If you haven’t seen this film yet, it’s on Peacock now and there’s an unrated cut which I will be discussing as well. Go ahead and watch the movie, then come back and read!

Without further ado, let’s boot M3GAN up and see what she’s all about!

Part 1: I Am Titanium!

Before I go into the summary, I’d like to state that the unrated cut of this film is utterly pointless. There are no new scenes added and even the gore that they did have to me didn’t seem to warrant the title of “unrated” as it’s typical gore you’d see in any standard R-rated horror flick. At most, they added a lot more F-bombs. That was pretty much it. I was expecting something much gnarlier for it to be considered something they couldn’t release as it was to theaters. To me, the unrated cut is definitely a marketing ploy to get more seasoned horror fans to watch the movie in case they might’ve sat this one out. Not worth the watch really unless you absolutely need to see a child get their ear ripped off.

Anyways, this movie starts out with a commercial. No seriously. It opens with a commercial for a toy called the Purrrfect Petz with a z. Basically a riff off the Furby monstrosities that existed in the 90s and early 2010s. You can talk to them and they talk back, feed them and they… poop. It’s just very obviously supposed to be a callback to that era in time. From there it cuts to a family of three driving in heavy snow. The daughter - McGraw’s Cady - is playing with her Purrrfect Pet on her iPad while the parents argue about her having too much screentime. The mother even makes a comment about what the point of the toy is if you have to use an iPad to play with it. They’re arguing so much that the father starts to veer off the road. They decide to stop and wait out the worst of the snow before finding a place to pull over and wait for a snowplow to come through. Just as the father asks when that will be, a snowplow appears in front of them and rams right into the car before cutting to a title screen.

We then head to the toy company, Funki, to meet Williams’ character, Gemma, as she and her colleagues are trying to come up with a new prototype of the Petz toy to present to their boss. One of the colleagues comes in with a box revealing that it’s skin for the new toy they’re working on. They put the skin on the toy and start running tests on it when their boss, David, comes in asking them where the new prototype is. Gemma decides to show him how far she’s gotten with the toy they just put skin on, but when she does, the toy malfunctions with its head exploding. David reiterates that he wants the Petz project done by Friday or they’ll be in a lot of trouble. Shortly after that, Gemma receives a call. It turns out that the woman in the opening sequence was Gemma’s sister and she and her husband died in the snowplow accident. However, Cady survived. Gemma is granted custody of her niece and takes Cady home.

Gemma is clearly shown to not be mother material. She doesn’t have a dedicated space for a child and tells Cady, as she’s attempting to play with her collectables, that they’re not toys. After getting her settled in, Cady asks Gemma to read her a story to which Gemma mentions that she doesn’t have any children’s books, but downloads one on her phone for her. The passage of time is not very clear between this scene and the next one. We know it’s been a few weeks since Cady’s hospital stay and her coming to live with Gemma, but when the therapist comes to see her, it’s not clear how much time has passed. 

I have a few issues with the therapist in this movie. First off, when she comes to the house, she doesn’t introduce herself. She just assumes Gemma should know who she is. Without the context of whether or not Gemma has seen her, it doesn’t make Gemma look incompetent. If someone knocked on my door and just said, “Hi!” and expected me to know exactly who they are without introduction, I’d probably react the same exact way. The therapist doesn’t say, “Hi, I’m Lydia. I’m here for the home visit.” Nothing. Just stands there staring at her with a judgmental smile because she didn’t immediately know who she is. I think if there was a scene of Gemma either meeting her before this or seeing a picture of her and not recognizing her, it would make the audience think, “wow. Gemma is already showing her incompetence as a guardian!”

The second issue is she seems SO judgmental. I know her point is to gauge whether or not Cady will thrive in this new environment, but from the moment she walks in, she’s treating Gemma like she has no idea how to deal with kids. She makes a remark about them watching TV and still being in their pajamas. Like the kid JUST lost both her parents! If she doesn’t wanna get dressed, then she shouldn’t have to! Besides, she’s literally sitting at home. Why does she need to be all dressed up? I work from home and my idea of dressing up is leggings and a t-shirt which can also be used to sleep in! Then when Cady tells her she doesn’t have any toys there, she shoots Gemma a look like she’s the worst human ever. Again - this whole situation JUST happened. Let the kid get settled in. Let Gemma mourn her sister and adapt to her situation. I don’t know how these situations work in real life, but this is just very unrealistic and as a viewer, you can tell that this is just unnecessary forced conflict. But the part that really sucks is that Gemma’s never really IN danger of losing Cady. Of course we see the therapist pop up here and there and there’s talk of her potentially losing Cady to her in-laws, but like… there’s no weight to any of this. I feel like they could’ve either shown Gemma giving less of a shit about Cady which would’ve justified the therapist’s disdain towards her or they could’ve made the therapist just see she’s trying her best and be a lot less judgmental towards her. Gemma’s grieving, too, and just as equally thrown into a situation she was nowhere near equipped for. Cut her some damn slack!

Anyways, so after the therapist leaves, Gemma has to get some work done so she leaves Cady to her own devices. Later, Cady comes to show her a drawing she did of a toy design in an effort to help inspire her aunt. They have a bonding moment and Gemma ends up showing her a robot she made named Bruce. Keep him in the back of your mind because he’ll be important later on! Bruce is controlled by a human with gloves and he can basically behave like a human. Gemma explains how he works and Cady says that if she had a toy like Bruce, she would never need another toy again. This gets Gemma thinking and from there she builds our girl. Our queen - M3GAN which stands for Model 3 Generative Android.

When she pitches M3GAN to David, he about shits his pants with delight, realizing M3GAN is the most advanced toy ever made. She’s a humanoid computer, even capable of recognizing a child’s emotional state and comforting them. She takes care of everything that typically other humans - like parents - should. A revelation that Gemma’s colleague, Tess, has when she asks when parents would spend time with their kids. She also underhandedly calls M3GAN a way for Gemma to get out of truly bonding with Cady. Gemma defends herself by saying that Cady needs to spend as much time as she can with M3GAN in preparation for the presentation.

We then get to see M3GAN’s first act of violence. Gemma has a neighbor named Celia who has a very aggressive dog named Dewey. Dewey is always getting over to Gemma’s yard and pooping on her driveway, but of course, Celia doesn’t think it’s her fault or that she should have to take care of any of it. Later, when M3GAN goes to retrieve a toy just by the fence, Dewey bites her arm, dragging her into Celia’s yard. Then he bites her neck and head. When Cady goes to help M3GAN, Dewey then bites her in the arm. That sets a target on the dog’s back and M3GAN decides to off Ol’ Yeller. We don’t actually see the dog die or ever see a body so if you’re a person who can’t stand to see animals harmed, this one may be ok for you since it’s just implied, but of course, always approach with caution. 

This leads M3GAN to start questioning life and death - even asking Gemma how Cady’s parents died before looking it up herself. She questions her own mortality and starts to figure out she basically can’t “die” in the traditional sense of the word. Her main directive is to protect Cady and she plans to do that by any means possible.

Of course, when the presentation rolls around, M3GAN ends up wowing the executives. Mainly because Cady has a very real breakdown about losing her parents and M3GAN not only shows them that she can store anything that Cady tells her in her system, but that she actually can comfort and cheer up a child. They’re ready to invest in M3GAN by any means necessary. But through this demonstration, Gemma sees just how broken Cady is over the loss of her parents. She decides it’s time for Cady to get out into the real world and meet some actual children. So, she enrolls her into this school where the kids learn outside in the woods. Side note: why? That’s just dangerous. I’m all for alternative schools and different learning methods, but there’s all sorts of dangerous animals in the woods! Why would you ever have a school where children are put out there like that?

Cady says she’ll only go to school if she can bring M3GAN with her, showing just how attached she’s gotten to her. Gemma argues with her about it on the day of, but the teacher ends up convincing Gemma to stay with M3GAN so that Cady will feel more comfortable. Cady ends up getting paired up with the school bully, Brandon, and of course he decides to bully her which wakes up M3GAN and causes Brandon to take her and run off to a deeper part of the woods. He tries to get M3GAN to play with him, but she won’t since she only answers to Cady. As he goes to destroy the toy, M3GAN springs to life, grabbing his ear and giving him a lecture about how bad boys grow up to be bad men. She then rips off his ear and depending on which version you watch, you either get an extremely close up shot of this or not. 

At this point, Brandon realizes she’s dangerous. She tells him, “this is the part where you run” and he doesn’t hesitate to take off through the woods. M3GAN follows him on all fours which seems like the least efficient way to get around even for a supercharged toy - until he ends up falling down the side of a hill and rolling into the middle of the road. In an instant, Brandon is hit by a car and killed. 

The very next day, the neighbor, Celia, has called the police believing that Gemma had something to do with her dog, Dewey’s disappearance. Gemma asserts that she had nothing to do with it, but Celia outwardly accuses M3GAN. Gemma reassures the police that M3GAN is a toy and couldn’t do any harm. Later that night, M3GAN decides to show Celia just how dangerous she is when she breaks into her shed and douses the woman in pesticides. I actually think the original version of this scene is better than the unrated one. In the unrated one, you do see a bit of her face peeling off before it hard cuts to the next day. In the original version, it cuts away from her being pressure washed with pesticides and shows blood slowly creeping on the floor. It’s that show - don’t tell mentality that makes the original scene a bit creepier to watch because you can only imagine the damage it’s doing to her face.

The police come back again the next day to inform Gemma of Celia’s passing and question her on what happened. Gemma is now fully suspect of M3GAN and tries to look through her system files to find videos of her whereabouts during the time of both Brandon and Celia’s murders. What do you know? M3GAN wiped the files from her memory. Gemma gets caught red handed by M3GAN and deactivates her, wrapping her in plastic before taking her away from the house. This is when Cady basically has a  meltdown. She starts to act out, screaming, crying, cussing at Gemma. Gemma takes her for a meeting with the therapist only for Cady to pull scissors and threaten Lydia with them. 

When Gemma steps in to calm her down, Cady slaps her across the face before realizing she’s gone too far. She apologizes to Gemma stating that she needs M3GAN. She tells her when she’s with M3GAN, this is the only time she doesn’t feel the grief and pain. Gemma tells her she should and actually gives her a good lesson on grief, explaining that she lost so much at such a young age and it’s normal to feel the way that she’s feeling. She also relates to her by saying she misses Cady’s parents, too. After all, even though we don’t know the full scope of the relationship between Gemma and her sister, she obviously trusted Gemma enough to leave Cady to her and Gemma does seem to be feeling the loss as well. I’ll talk in the next segment more about how I feel M3GAN was also a way for Gemma to cope with her grief in this situation, but for now, let’s continue. The movie is almost done!

Gemma opts to skip the presentation and take Cady home for the night, realizing that her mental wellbeing is far more important than some doll. But she left M3GAN in the lab with her colleagues who are working on trying to find out what’s wrong with her. M3GAN hacks into Tess’ phone to call Gemma and find out where she and Cady went while mimicking Tess’ voice. She then springs to life and attacks her colleagues, setting the lab on fire before moving on to where the presentation is. It’s here we get the now iconic scene that everyone knows and loves.

David is trying to reach Gemma on the phone, angry that not only is she not there for the presentation, but neither is M3GAN. As he rounds the corner, he spots M3GAN at the end of the hall and… she starts dancing. It’s such an utterly bizarre scene and even after seeing the millions of memes of it, it still is hilarious in the context of the movie. I mean, the killer starts dancing. What…? Why? She then rips off the blade to one of those paper cutters and goes after David. He runs to the elevator where his assistant, Cole, is heading up. He begs Cole to hold the door, but given that he’s been such a shitty boss and verbally abused Cole on more than one occasion, Cole starts to close the doors. David manages to push through them just as M3GAN catches up to him and stabs him through the chest. In the unrated version, Cole is sprayed with David’s blood, but in the original one, you just see him fall to the ground. After that, M3GAN basically tells Cole she’ll frame him for David’s murder, but then she kills Cole and depending on which version you watch, you either get a very bloody sequence of her slitting Cole’s throat or she puts the blade in his hand and pushes it forward into his throat. The elevator finally gets to the floor where the presentation is taking place and M3GAN manages to escape before the onlookers spot the dead bodies in there. She then takes a car to go back to Gemma and Cady’s house.

Gemma puts Cady to sleep and then talks to Elsie (which is like the Amazon Echo) to get her to turn on the lights in the hallway. When that doesn’t work, she walks back into the living room to hear M3GAN playing the song Toy Soldiers on the piano. M3GAN talks about how Gemma never wanted a kid in the first place and how things have been so much easier for Gemma since she came along. They begin to fight, taking it through the house until Cady goes to see what’s happening.

M3GAN tries to convince Cady that they should kill Gemma and just live the two of them and at first, it seems like Cady might give in to that request, but then she tells M3GAN about another member of their family. That member is Bruce! Cady brings Bruce out and brawls with M3GAN robot-to-robot before using Bruce to rip M3GAN in half and toss the pieces across the room. It seems at that moment that M3GAN is really defeated, but of course that would be too easy.

M3GAN’s upper torso comes back and grabs Cady by the throat, prompting Gemma to attack M3GAN and try to pull her brain apart by ripping the skin and mechanics out. M3GAN gets the upper hand and begins to choke Gemma out. Then Cady pulls out a screwdriver and jams it into M3GAN’s mainframe, killing her once and for all. The police along with Gemma’s colleagues arrive to make sure they’re alright, but as the movie draws to a close, we see that Elsie - the equivalent of the Amazon Echo - has suddenly sprung to life and turns its little robot eye to look at the camera. Hinting at a sequel we already know is coming.

Part 2: Dancing Queen

So here’s the thing about M3GAN. It’s meant to be goofy. There’s a hint of humor laced throughout the entire film and that’s even prevalent in the trailer as well. It was never meant to be taken seriously and is just what they call a popcorn flick. Something you turn your brain off and watch with the intention to just get a good solid laugh out of it. That being said, M3GAN herself is definitely creepy. From the very uncanny way her face moves to her childlike and robotic voice that only thinly hides the fact that she’s a computer and knows everything. We can laugh at her dance moves all we want, but if I woke up in the middle of the night and saw her in my living room - even without the movie’s existence - I would find her utterly terrifying. There’s no denying M3GAN is a horror icon for a new generation. Sure, she’s basically just Chucky, but to me she’s scarier than Chucky because she has the intelligence to match her sadism. 

I’d done a review on the remake of Child’s Play a few years ago and one thing I said is there’s something scary about the idea of the tech we’re so accustomed to and reliant on coming to life and fighting back. The Child’s Play remake had a lot of pushback for changing many elements to the iconic story and diehard fans of that franchise were not receptive to its existence despite it being a solid film overall. M3GAN is basically the Child’s Play remake, but it gets away with being that because it doesn’t involve Chucky. It tells a cautionary tale about our gadgets becoming so advanced that they begin to outrank us. We become mere specks of dust in the wake of their greatness.

There’s another tale to be told here as well and that’s a tale of grief. Cady is a literal child - only in elementary school - when she loses both of her parents in one fell swoop. She also loses her stability. She goes from her home to her aunt’s home basically overnight. She’s scared, alone, and she doesn’t know how to convey any of those emotions because they’re big emotions for a child to feel. Gemma - on the flip side - is a workaholic who is so focused on advancing technology in the toy world that she doesn’t seem to have time for much else. Then she’s suddenly thrust into this guardian role that she feels she has to take. Partially because it was her sister’s wish, but also because she does seem to love and care about her niece. While the movie focuses mainly on the fact that Cady is a child going through immense trauma, it also dabbles in the fact that Gemma is also experiencing a huge amount of trauma herself. 

M3GAN is a trauma response for Gemma. Gemma has no idea how to be a parent. She has no idea how to help a child process such a huge feeling such as the grief of losing her parents and normalcy. Especially because Gemma has no idea how to process her own grief at losing her sister and her lack of preparation for a situation like this to happen. She builds M3GAN as a companion for Cady, but M3GAN ends up being a bandaid over a bullet hole. Cady only talks to M3GAN about her feelings because she doesn’t feel like the adults around her understand the pain she’s in. M3GAN plays with Cady and gives her a sense of normalcy she otherwise wouldn’t have and when M3GAN is forcibly taken away from her by Gemma, she lashes out and becomes incredibly violent. Mainly because she has no idea how to feel the pain she’s in. She doesn’t want to feel it. She wants M3GAN back to distract her from the reality that her parents are gone forever. As for Gemma, Gemma uses M3GAN as a way to do the things she feels she’s incapable of doing. She lets M3GAN do the parenting while she focuses on her work and how to drop M3GAN into every American home she can. But when she realizes throughout the film that Cady is bonded more to M3GAN than to her, she tries to step in and create boundaries for Cady with M3GAN. She starts to realize that having a robotic child basically parent your kid for you is a negative thing. On top of that, she knows in her heart that M3GAN is too advanced, learning at a rapid rate about humanity and following her directive at any cost to protect Cady from harm. Even if that means harming Gemma herself so Cady and her can live and play in peace. When you really think about Gemma and Cady’s relationships with M3GAN, it makes the movie sadder and a bit creepier. These are two people thrown into a terrible situation after losing their family who use technology to cover up the pain and deal with the changes thrown at them.

That being said, this movie doesn’t linger on the actual pain and grief for too long. Despite its 1 hour and 41 minute run time, you don’t ever feel like Gemma is in danger of losing Cady because of her incompetence as a guardian nor do you ever really feel Cady’s pain of her loss deeply. There are glimpses of it, but nothing serious. Because this movie is not to be taken seriously. It’s a movie about a killer doll that comes to life and offs people. And sings Sia for some reason. And dances, let's not forget the dancing.

Overall, M3GAN isn’t a bad movie. It’s just… not as good as everyone made it out to be. It’s fun, it’s got its funny parts, the dance is great, and M3GAN herself is very creepy. I watched this movie back to back - once for the theatrical cut and again for the unrated one - and overall, it’s a movie that needs to be watched with the right people. People who are going to make it fun. Otherwise, it’s just a typical slasher film with minimal gore in BOTH versions (which isn’t like a bad thing or anything. Just still annoyed about the unrated version basically being nothing special) and a slasher who may just be this generation’s Chucky. M3GAN is definitely not going anywhere and I’m OK with that. She’s cool, she’s creepy, and honestly she’s got some sick ass dance moves. I hope whatever they do with the sequel, we get another scene of her dancing as she kills people. Make that her signature going forward. So, for that, I am going to award M3GAN 3 out of 5 skulls. If you’re looking for something fun to watch with friends for the night, this is one I highly recommend!

Thanks for reading! Check out my socials for more podcast episodes I’ve done in the links below!

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[luuurien]

xaev - berdlycore chapter 2

(Mashup, EDM, Hyperflip)

A landmark for mashcore and modern EDM, the second installment of Xavier Maxwell's berdlycore series is even weirder, denser and funnier than its predecessor. With its unorthodox sampling and wide breadth of styles to pick and choose from, berdlycore chapter 2's whirlwind of everything from future bass to electro-house to Jersey club makes for an impossibly fun listen.

☆☆☆☆☆

An unfathomable amount of ideas are stuffed into berdlycore chapter 2's slim 30 minute runtime, but that overwhelming energy is all part of the fun. A direct descendant of the Dariacore mashup style with its comedic sampling and mishmash of genres, you know exactly what you're in for from the start - blisteringly fast tempos, stabby EDM synths, compressed and overblown drum programming, all the strangely fitting video game and TV show samples - but Maxwell's music is informed more by 2010s complextro and hardcore EDM than the bubblegum future bass and Jersey club Dariacore most often focused on. In turn, the berdlycore series is much harsher on the ears but quadruple the fun of just about any other release in its vein I've heard in the past few years, unafraid to indulge in EDM's bombastic and aggressive sides and delivering an unparalleled listening experience because of it. Not only is berdlycore chapter 2 intricately woven, chock-full of playful and plainly funny samples, and a nonstop train of club chaos, but it's entirely unlike anything else you can find in the digicore/hyperflip space. It's a pipe bomb filled with ecstasy, packaged in the aesthetics of Undertale and Deltarune: there's no doubting berdlycore chapter 2 is one strange beast of an album, but it's a beast nonetheless. With longer track lengths and two more songs compared to its predecessor, chapter 2 develops on the berdlycore format in both overt and subtle ways, just enough to make it stand out as a new entry in the series while keeping Maxwell's signature absurdity and dense production. Right from the start, mashups aren't real... samples the first half of the first verse of Childish Gambino's Bonfire before a rapid shift into clanging dubstep and a Jersey club detour complete with the squeaky bed sample from Trillville's Some Cut, an abrupt cutoff of everything then filled in with IShowSpeed's famous "I like fifteen year old girls!" clip to lead into another instrumental build off of a pitched-up Titanium chorus; the kicker being that everything I just went through happens in the track's first minute. It'd be next to impossible to go through every detail and beat switch Maxwell throws into here, but any Gen-Z'er listening to chapter 2 will pick up on nearly all of them: the chipper "OK!" sound from Wii Play's Find Mii, the item box and race finishing sounds from Mario Kart Wii; The Living Tombstone's Five Nights at Freddy's and PinkPantheress' signature "Hey!". It's a lot to take in at once, but the point of chapter 2 isn't to pore over every sample and production choice for hours on end - it's to have a good time with the music, and there's not a moment when the radiant glow of Maxwell's music dims. The rest of chapter 2 bursts open every dopamine reserve in a different way, always at the will of Maxwell's brickwalled production and unorthodox song structures but never so ear-piercing and intense that the quality of the music begins to dip. As odd as it may seem, there's a genuine magic to how they did surgery on a bird constantly shifts between oil-slicked dubstep and fast-paced Jersey club, or the full embrace of festival-oriented EDM on it's always a good time for complextro that ends up one of the album's best tracks, Maxwell unafraid to indulge in the saccharine side of EDM and bring their own hardcore twist to it, and even when things start to get extra weird with ok google what the bird doin's glitchy breakdowns and virtual riot pizza's trap-oriented intro, it's all in the name of giving chapter 2 more variance and definition than its predecessor. It's the same deliriously kinetic club music Maxwell broke ground with on chapter 2's predecessor, but with an assortment of new ambitions and the extra space to let them roam freely, from leroy snares will soon replace NFTs and its choppy amen breaks to none of it matters if we're all gonna fall's dewy piano sample - whether or not all of chapter 2 at once is a bit too much of a sugar rush for you, there's no denying how impeccably Maxwell executes it all. Even if it may not be built with longevity and subtlety in mind, I can't help but love every moment of chapter 2's hyperflip insanity. As vivacious and knowingly off-the-wall as berdlycore chapter 2 is, there's simply so much to love about it that all the little complaints you could make - it doesn't stray far from Maxwell's signature style, there's not a whole lot of variance in volume and intensity despite the new instrumental additions, the album's jokey bits are so ultra-specific to zoomer humor that it's hard to get in on the joke if you're not as deeply entrenched as I am in goofy internet jokes - don't matter a bit when the music is just this good. Most EDM doesn't come close to being as fun as it's always a good time for complextro, nor is it so elaborately designed and thrilling all the way through. If it feels like chapter 2 could be a final destination of sorts for modern EDM and hyperflip, it's because Maxwell isn't far off from reaching that point: everything from 90s hardcore EDM to bubblegum bass to glittery future bass is here in one way or another, chapter 2 only able to exist with the decades of innovation in electronica over the past few decades and benefiting immensely from all the different options it offers Maxwell. Nothing else, even in the hyperflip scene, even comes close to how bright and exuberant chapter 2 is, and that alone is a massive feat. For all its idiosyncrasies, taking berdlycore chapter 2 as it is and not expecting anything but a giant heap of lively EDM bangers reveals it to be some of the most bewildering fun any album this year offers - what's not to love?

[skullyheart]

God bless you.

I need to get off twitter before I x off a Hitler

Before I add a red dot to the chest or headshot a Hitler

Fuck it, let's drink

Beat

I light one up and contemplate my achievements

Put them on a scale and balance things, I need amends

Me, I'm in need, friend, it's been a while since I really--

Lost it, like no thoughts served my competence

The news make us digest a gas mask just in case of riots

Violence snowballs violence, Trump almost had the back of his eye shot

Like, they shot Kennedy too, what's the point of going Jamie Lannister

When in exchange, I'd get more violence jamming my hand to get stuck

In the empty pockets of another man, it's done, I'm a body to add to count

The bad kid loves breaking shit, but they steer it to dracos and counts

And to think that Dracula wouldn't bother leeching-- He wouldn't? He'd bite

And soak his sleeves in the blood of streets that we insist to unite

Record my depo in video for it to be seen, all eyes on the screen

That I'm not the one to shoot the man, it all falls between

Wrong or right, ain't it? It's a matter of knowing when it

Unfolds to drawing curtains for a show that costs a sin, pen it:

You're putting up a fake persona, one man army, unbreakable ego

Mistakes, they're shown feeble, twist a bone and it'll sprinkle

Just so we can also point our guns to our brothers in arms

And go dogs, reservoir... But nah, not moi, I'd rather set this off in arts

Sorry if I ain't your perfect role model, but since I resonate lotto

I guess it's my responsibility to speak for the ones out in autos

Don't crash and don't go too fast, that's not how I'd pronto

Mark that as my motto, that's not how I pronto, I've no one to front to

Just like a gun, I've no one to taunt, I don't bling them for fun

But if I'm to quote a dead rapper without all the games

I'd prefer to write another sixteen lines naming the dons

It's mutual respect in silence if I point at torches with names

Not to burn them, but oh well, they laugh with Ks in Brazil

Some carry As to that, so it's a flip-a-coin duel up their hills

Mean that in double, pros and cons, entendre's for real

Kids in kevlar, armored trucks, the way's up, but down, feel?

I'm sick for the time being, awake past 3 in the night

Smoking by my lamp's yellow light, in my sheets with no wife

No boy or girl that was made from whom my dad made

Or in the sense of embraced, so I'll adopt a campaign to aid

Cancelable bars? Something in the lines of going Angelina and Brad

Like, join in, I made me this bread, grab a knife for the cheese

Like in the movie Redemption, I'll raise a roof if must be

I'll raise a church, must I preach, and if must, until I'm deceased

Not uniquely Christ, but like a hard drive from 4 Your Eyez Only

My life'd revolve around a cause, it'd be caused by causes in need of eyes on them

Don't put my name or rhymes on it, but let it sink, no Titanic

If I'm to be titanium, I'll be til my cranium copes with every damn bit

[tlaquetzqui]

Hmm. Given a composite-metal foam is 30% the density of the parent material but with comparable mechanical properties, you could get Ti6Al4V alloy (the titanium armor sometimes used on tanks and combat aircraft) with a density of only 1.33 g/cc. Kevlar is 1.44, just under 10% more.

That presumably means you can replace all the polypropylene plates in riot armor with titanium alloy and it only increase the weight by not quite half. Except apparently the preferred thickness for titanium plate vs. bullets, e.g. the thinner parts of the “titanium bathtub” in the A10 Thunderbolt II, is 13 millimeters—half an inch—which doubles the mass since riot gear plates are normally a quarter inch thick (they’re for thrown rocks, knives, etc., not bullets or fragments). And while it’s twice the weight of something like the Interceptor body armor used for most of the War on Terror (if you include the SAPI plate-inserts), or more, that was much less coverage, and future militaries would have exosuit assistance to help move it.

So yeah guess I’m not gonna bother with multiple degrees of armoring, for my setting’s human military. The standard issue can be plenty tough. (Think whether the exosuit is soft or rigid will vary, with the limbs being rigid and the torso soft.)

Edit: No never mind between the actuators and the suit itself, we’re talking a suit weight of 53 kilos, which is an entire fucking woman. Guess that’ll be the heavy one.

[maiosx]

The Wave Industries Pipeline

Masterclass Living Estates with Restaurants or event hostess on top powered by Doordash AI, Ticketmaster alternatives and Apple’s LiDAR sensors for flying and self-driving vehicles, 2-7 years to go.

Nodoom / a social networking platform designed to focus on life - 5-10 years to go

Titanium iPads, MacBooks with FaceID mmorpg api’s powered by M3 with Ray Tracing - 1-3 years to go

Apple Vision Pro and Pixar AR object formats- Completed Project - 5.5 Years to make. Time to complete 45 + years

iPhone 15 Pro in Titanium - Completed Project - Announced in 2013, 10 Years to make.

GTAVI - Rockstar Games - 1-3 years to go.

Apple’s Project Titan - unknown time frame. 2-7 years.

GTAO - Completed Project - 10-15 years to make.

maiOSX Snow Leopard- Completed Project - 4 years to make.

macOSX Sonoma - Completed Project - 10 years to make.

Generated GDP - 40 Trillion USD

Wars and Events during timeframe - Russia vs Ukraine, Covid, Riots, Unionizing.

Predicted Events - Homicides, Aerial deaths and canabilization of airlines. .5 trillion gdp growth year over year, apple -.3 trillion yoy until FaceID mmorpg api/project titan

[benchjust]

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[andragoras-in-vanity]

well my hair colour didnt turn out so im just going to go kill myself now

[ragingbookdragon]

Do You Believe In Life After Love? PT. 1

Arkham Knight!Jason Todd x Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 2.4 Warnings: Angst, Mentions of Violence and Death

Author's Note: I have edited this story so it's nicer. Love me for this, please because I fought the cringe for y'all. Enjoy! -Thorne

Gotham looked bleak in the wake of the militia’s arrival. Even the thugs that were rioting in the street seemed to avoid the armored tanks and patrols as they passed, and GCPD had withdrawn most of their officers to stay at the precinct. He’d never claim he couldn’t do it on his own. He had to keep going. He had to save Gotham. He had to—

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to ask for help once in a while.” He didn’t have to look over his shoulder to know who was speaking. She walked up beside him, leaning on the ledge he was perched on.

He didn’t look at her when he spoke, his eyes still trained on the city before him. “You should still be resting. Your ribs aren’t fully healed yet.”

She chuckled and turned, looking out at the spotlights shining. “They’re healed enough.” She side-eyed him. “Besides, this is becoming a lot more than you can handle.”

He shook his head. “It’s fine. I can handle thi—” He looked down when he felt a hand curl around his wrist, then he looked back up, seeing the solemn stare in her gaze.

“Dad. You almost died at the ACE plant,” she interjected with a shake of her head. “We’ve got this ‘Arkham Knight’ teaming up with Scarecrow, and you’ve got Tim locked in the theater synthesizing a cure.” She squeezed his wrist lightly.

“Ican handle the smaller things, while you handle the militia and Scarecrow.”

He stared at his daughter for a moment, wanting to argue, but he knew it was pointless. Finally, he nodded, pulling away and pushing a few buttons on his wrist screen. “I need someone to help Dick with Penguin, and I need to handle the Man-Bat flying around.”

She nodded as she glanced at her screen, taking in the information he’d sent. “Do you know where it came from?”

“The DNA matches that of Doctor Kirk Langstrom,” he said. “He owns a lab on Bleake Island. Here’s the coordinates.”

Humming, she slid a wave-marker into the cowl’s visor to give her direction before stepping up on the ledge. “I’ll go to the lab, then help out Dick.” He stared at her as she turned to face him, her feet nearing the edge. “Be careful, dad…I don’t want to lose you.” She didn’t give him time to respond, falling backwards over the ledge.

A few seconds later, she was gliding through the sky; a faint smile came to his lips as he watched her, then he turned, heading in the direction of the other island.

***

When she finally found the lab, she was alarmed to see what had happened. Her eyes focused on the screen, replaying the last moments of the experiment, then she put a finger to her ear. “Dad? Can you hear me?”

A few moments later, his voice came over the line. “What happened at the lab?”

She grimaced as she looked at the body of Francine Langstrom. “Apparently Langstrom was trying to find a cure to his deafness by mixing in vampire bat DNA with his. Something went horribly wrong, and he mutated into the giant bat thingy flying around Gotham.” She paused, her voice mournful. “His wife’s dead.”

There was a slight pause from her father then he murmured, “Can you get to a computer to synthesize a cure?”

She glanced around, trying to find a working computer amongst the shattered screens. When she found one, she moved to it, typing away at it.

After a few moments, she pulled the cure out and put it into the injector she carried. “Alright. I’ve got the cure. Do you know where he is?”

“He’s on Bleake now. Find him in the skies.”

She nodded, moving to the door. “Will do.”

***

When she arrived back in the city, she climbed up the clocktower and waited. Once she saw him darting across the sky in a hulking mass of gray flesh and black talons, she acted, kicking off the ledge to glide across the sky until she was above him; she dove, tackling him to the ground and injecting him, but he fought her, viciously slicing at her with his claws until she rolled away. He screeched at her and flew off.

She grunted as she clambered to her feet, dusting off the dirt they’d rolled in and a voice came over the comm. “Did you find him?”

A huff escaped her, and she explained, “I did…but he wrestled with me and took off the second I injected him.” She looked down at the injector, still holding the remaining cure. “We’re gonna have to go another round.”

“Watch the skies then. In the meantime, go find Dick. He’s somewhere on Miagani.”

She took a moment to catch her breath before pulling out her grapple and aiming it towards the roof of an adjacent building. “Alright. Will do.”

The crinkle of her father’s communicator faded out and she pulled the trigger, letting her body go weightless as she shot up towards the ledge. Holstering the grapple gun, she climbed over the ledge and paused, glancing down at her screen as she stood on the roof. A few moments had passed, and she looked at the city, seeing the chaos that had enveloped it within the few hours that had gone by. Riots littered the boulevards and the militia had begun putting mines in the roads as they started barricading the avenues and main streets. Something akin to hopelessness rose in her chest, but she shoved it down, reminding herself that with her, Dick, Tim, and her dad, they could save Gotham. It was just going to take some more time.

“Are you thinking about how Batman let the city go to hell?”

She couldn’t fight the gasp that escaped her as she spun around, taking in the image of the Arkham Knight before her. His stance was nonthreatening, in fact it was almost curious, but she stood on her guard anyway, her voice and eyes cold.

“There’s only two people to blame for this city going to hell. Scarecrow…” She pointed at him, her voice frosty. “And you.” He gave her no reaction, other than taking a step towards her, heavy metaled boot making a thump against the concrete roof.

Reaching down, she pulled the Ka-Bar from her thigh and warned, “I’d be careful how close you come, pal. I’m one person you don’t wanna tango with.”

He stopped and stared at her. “Look around you, Batgirl. This is what Gotham City truly is. Chaotic and beyond saving.”

She tipped her head back, her tone becoming challenging. “Is that what you’ve been conditioned to believe? Or did Scarecrow just feed you something to change your mind.”

That seemed to irritate him because he snapped harshly, “You have no idea what I’ve been conditioned to believe.”

“I know you’ve got a petty grudge against Batman, and you believe that inciting chaos amongst people is the best way to deal with it.”

His anger seemed to cool as his voice turned to ice, and she almost shivered at how the temperature seemed to chill around them a few degrees. “My grudge with Batman is more than petty.” He pointed at her, the holographs on his mask shifting with every word. “He deserves to die.”

She flipped the knife into the air and caught it, raising it defensively as she reached out with the other out and beckoned him. “You want Batman?” she challenged. “Then you come through me.”

The Arkham Knight didn’t move until she jerked forward, stabbing out with the knife. He dodged her easily enough, sliding beside her and she twisted, following him with a well-rounded kick aimed for his torso. Instead of evading, he grabbed her foot and yanked her. Hard. Her breath caught in her throat as she was hauled forward and cursing inwardly, she brought the knife down, hoping to catch him as she fell. His gauntleted hand shot out and caught hers, and when she reached out with the other, he caught it too. Not wasting any time, he kicked her feet out from beneath her and dropped them to the ground, putting all his weight onto her hips to stop her from moving as he slammed her hands beside her head against the rooftop.

Her eyes widened in shock at how quickly everything had happened. No one had ever been able to take her down that fast, and the reality that she might meet her end caught up with her. She began to squirm, trying to rise up enough to catch him with a shoulder but with her wrists in his grip it wasn’t likely, and with all his weight on her legs, she couldn’t kick out or try to flip him off.

“Stop moving,” he suddenly commanded, but it didn’t sound as harsh as his earlier words.

She glared at him and spat, “You wanna kill me, go ahead. But he’s still gonna take you down.”

There was a pause, then he shifted her hands until he held them both in one hand, and he reached towards her face. She reacted like anyone would subdued by an enemy, emitting a warning in her throat as she tried to avoid the oncoming touch. When his hand came into contact with her cheek, she flinched at the chill of the titanium, but his touch was…kind and gentle.

“I’m not going to kill you, (Y/N),” he promised softly. “The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt you.”

She stilled at the mention of her name, shock etching across her features. His fingers brushed her cheek once more, this time a loving caress, his thumb brushing over her lips.

“How…how do you know my name?” (Y/N) questioned and his hand halted, then he reached up and pressed a button below his jaw.

She watched the mask rise and when his face came into view, she felt her heart stop and she blinked, breathing, “…Jason?”

At the mention of his name and the recognition, he let go of her hands and reached down, removing the gloves from his hands. He reached back down to cup her cheeks, thumbs stroking over her cheekbones then to her eyebrows, like he was trying to remember how her skin felt underneath his calloused hands.

She could see the long-withheld emotions fighting inside him as choked, “God, I’ve wanted to see you for so long.” His hands felt warm against her face, and she reached up to touch him, but stopped as she saw the “J” burned onto his face. He must’ve realized she was staring at it, because he pulled one of his hands away and covered it, muttering, “The Joker…he did it.”

Whatever reaction he was expecting, anger, fury, disgust, it wasn’t the one she gave him, as she let out a sob and jerked forward, wrapping her arms around his neck. His entire body went rigid, then slowly, his arms wound around her waist, pulling her to him until there was no space between them, and even then, he tried to pull her closer, squeezing with all his strength. She began to shake in his arms, and he quietly shushed her.

After a few moments, she pulled back and took off her cowl, staring at him with red-rimmed eyes; she swallowed thickly before murmuring, “…We thought you were dead, Jason.”

His expression turned dark as he muttered, “Joker kept me locked in the asylum all that time.”

(Y/N) had no idea what to say. What could she? She figured she could apologize for not looking in the asylum. Or that she failed him. Instead, she said nothing and took his face in her hands, pressing her forehead to his. He shut his eyes and a shuddering breath left him as he gently grasped her forearms, trying to ground himself. Some time had passed before he pulled away and helped her to her feet. (Y/N) stared into the eyes of her lover and readied herself for what she was about to say.

She took a deep breath and bent over, picking up the knife to put it back in its sheath. “I…I can’t even begin to imagine what happened to you, Jason,” she said as she gazed at him. “And I’m sorry it did…I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to find you.”

Grasping the cowl, she pulled it back on then clenched her jaw and said, “You can go this time…but if I see you again…I will stop you.”

His eyes widened in shock for a split second, then they narrowed, and he tipped his head up, questioning, “So, this is how it’s going to be?”

She nodded despite the grief welling in her chest. “This is how it has to be.” (Y/N) explained as she turned away from him. “You’re trying to kill my dad and destroy Gotham…I can’t let you do that.”

“You don’t care that he left me to die?”

She spun back around, her voice wrought with disbelief and resentment of the accusation. “That’s not what happened, and you know it!” she condemned. “You turned you comm and tracker off then went off on your own! We searched everywhere for you! None of us let you die!” She reached out and curled her fingers in the straps at his side. “We saw you die Jason! I watched my father fall into the deepest pit of depression I’ve ever witnessed!”

She let him go, her hands falling limply to her sides. “Don’t you dare say that he didn’t care that you died…it haunts him.” (Y/N)’s eyes met his and she lamented, “It haunts me.” He said nothing, and she shook her head, turning back around. “I don’t know what you expected from me. To help you destroy Gotham? To kill my father and everything he stands for?”

She paused, then admitted, “I love you, Jason. More than anything…but you’re dead wrong if you think I’d be on your side with this.”

The sound of mechanized armor echoed in her ears and his sarcastic laugh turned robotic as he ridiculed, “Guess there is life after love, huh?”

(Y/N) gave him no response, and a moment later, she was standing alone on the rooftop. A feeling of overwhelming numbness seeping out from her heart to her limbs as her lungs began to tighten.

“Yes…I guess there is.”

[schibborasso]

guitar tunings: F# F# G G A A (Schizophrenia, Tom Violence, White Kross) D D D D A A (Schizophrenia, Catholic Block) G G D D G G (Teen Age Riot) A C C G G# C (Silver Rocket) C C E B G D (The Sprawl, Cross The Breeze) F# F# F# F# E B (Catholic Block, Kool Thing, Death Valley ’69, Shadow Of A Doubt) E G D G E D (Dirty Boots, Titanium Expose, Tunic) C G D G C D (Rain On Tin, Plastic Sun, The Empty Page)