#to be clear he’s not a hero he’s actually a minion. a grunt

[heres-to-all-that-is-mine]

Various things of Gene, regular and hero au versions! Well. Mainly hero au

[s-creations]

✊🏽 prompt for protective bros please

✊🏽 Protecting (Woof, this turned out ANGSTY! Hope you enjoy!)

The first hit from the Sumo Bro rattled Mario’s head. His vision even blurred as he was knocked a few feet back. Landing hard on the ground and rolling to a stop. 

He frantically shook his head, trying to clear his mind faster as the ground shook below him. Already knowing it was the Sumor Bro winding up for round two. Mario had just gotten back to his feet, the minion only a few feet away, when a green blur suddenly appeared in front of Mario. 

Sumor Bro letting out a small noise of surprise when they hit Luigi first instead of their intended target. But that didn’t stop both brothers from flying. 

Mario immediately wrapped his arms around his brother before they hit the ground. Letting out a low grunt as he was sandwiched between a solid surface and his brother landing on him hard. But he didn’t give himself the grace to fully get his next breath in before he was focusing on Luigi.

“Lu! Lu, what were you thinking!” 

Letting out a pained huff of breath, Luigi looked up to his brother with a weak smile. His hand gripping onto his right arm. “N-Not much… Honestly, I thought I’d…stop them, I guess?”

“Can you get up?” Mario had just barely touched Luigi’s arm when his brother let out a cry of pain. “W-What, what is it?”

“I-I don’t know,” the younger brother forced out, eyes shut tight, “M-My arm…my arm h-hurts.”

The shock and fear Mario was feeling fell away when the ground started to shake away. Wide eyes raising up to the Sumo Bro that had stomped closer. Casting a taunting smirk to the red-dressed hero, whose hands were clenched into fists. 

When asked later, Mario would honestly say he wasn’t sure how he was able to actually stop the Sumo Bro in their tracks. 

The minion had charged once more. Only to be stopped the next second. Not only stopped but pushed back. Their eyes widen as their feet make grooves in the dry dirt the further they’re pushed further back. Beady eyes, wide with fear, darted down to the non-Power Up human. The same one they’d flung back so easily only a few moments ago was now easily holding his own. 

Mario’s face hardened into a look that shook the Sumo Bro to the core.

“Do. Not. Touch. My. Brother.” 

That was the only thing spoken to the minion before a punch landed on their face and they were sent flying. Tumbling a few feet and getting back up onto their feet as quickly as they could. Taking off the next second. 

Mario’s hands shook as he breathed heavily, taking a few moments to calm down. Once his hands were stable, he walked back over to Luigi. Thankful that his brother’s eyes were closed. Pulling out a red mushroom, Mario knelt down and helped lift his brother up. 

“Here, eat this. It won’t fully get you better, but enough until we get back to the castle.” 

Luigi didn’t put up a complaint as he ate the provided healing. His breathing became less labored and relaxed slightly. “T-Thanks…”

“Let’s get you up…” Mario was slow and careful as he got Luigi back onto his feet. Wrapping his brother’s good arm around his shoulder while Mario wrapped his own arm around Luigi. “We’re gonna move slow, okay? If something hurts, let me know.”

“O-Okay…”

“...Please don’t do that again.”

“Okay…”

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Secret Meetings

@cilil Here is the result of so many late-night discussions...Firebird, another ship you've injected into me with a long, scary needle haha

I hope this is to your liking <3

Characters: Eönwë x Gothmog

Words: 2 410

Warnings: tension, trauma, attempted masturbation, a handjob, and an abduction, NSFW

“This is a terrible idea,” Mairon hissed, eyeing the Balrog in front of him with evident dismay. “Why would you heed the call of that feathered fool?”

Rolling his eyes, Gothmog shrugged lopsidedly; he had come to inform his superiors of his appointment, not to ask for their permission. The perimeter was safe, and all the regular guards were at the ready—there was consequently no reason for him to stay in Angband when he was needed elsewhere.

“Let him have fun,” Melkor intervened, hanging off his throne in a contortion that was both exceedingly enticing and truly alarming to his lieutenant and lover. “It’s so boring here anyway.”

“He might have important information,” Gothmog grunted, trying to save face.

“You’re going to fuck the bird—you know it, we know it, everyone except Manwë knows it,” Thuri commented in a bored tone, making Gothmog jump. He had hitherto not noticed his colleague, hanging from the rafters, and—with her in the mix—he could but accept his defeat and slink out of the fortress in mortified silence.

In his heart of hearts, he was torn—he had never actually done the deed of which they all spoke so flippantly, but it seemed easier to just let them labour under that misconception than to explain what was really going on.

In truth, he had clandestinely met Eönwë—herald to Manwë, the Relentless—more than once, and he had always been struck by three things: firstly, the bird was mouth-wateringly appetising, secondly, he was incredibly skilled in warfare, and thirdly, Eönwë was suffering from an insidious, evidently crippling kind of trauma.

Even now, Gothmog could not fully comprehend what folly had moved him to offer his help initially—he surely had never expected Eönwë to take him up on the offer—but he had always known that he would heed the call if it ever was to come.

Of course, he also did agree that it was potentially reckless and definitely dangerous to meet an avowed foe without the support and reinforcement of at least a few of his minions.

Nevertheless, he didn’t want to spook Eönwë, and so he sallied forth bravely, once again failing to realise that he was being followed by the sneaky, lethally silent bat; Thuringwethil was often exasperated by his antics, but she was also a true friend and would never have allowed him to put himself in peril without back-up.

“Bird?” Gothmog called as soon as he reached their secret rendezvous spot, hidden between forbiddingly jagged rocks and dense, dark trees. “Are you there? What’s the matter? Did the pile of shit your Master calls a tower collapse?”

He sniggered at his own joke but was startled out of his merriment by the sudden appearance of Eönwë, looking absolutely wretched. His clothes hung limply off his muscular frame as if he had been doused in water before taking off, and his sensual, full mouth was downturned and tense.

“What happened? Are you all right?” A different kind of alarm made Gothmog’s scales tingle as he took in the picture of abject misery before him.

“You are an amoral demon, right?” Eönwë asked, his voice so absurdly hopeful that Gothmog was not sure how to answer. Despite the words being undeniably insulting, it was clear that Eönwë was hoping for a confirmation.

“One might say that,” Gothmog finally replied cautiously. “Why? Are you in need of amoral deeds?”

When the winged hero merely nodded, the fire spirit almost burst into flame out of sheer confusion and astonishment.

“I am in a…tough spot,” Eönwë muttered, looking at the ground beneath his feet as if bowed by unbearable shame. “The predicament has gone on for quite some time now, and I really don’t know what to do anymore.”

On account of the considerable size difference between them, Gothmog decided to sit down on the cool, rocky ground to be less threatening—he certainly did not want to give Eönwë the impression that he was judging or patronising him for whatever absurd confession he was about to let loose.

As a matter of fact, he had heard the most nonsensical and alarming things from the winged Maia before—from letting his Vala do unspeakably questionable things to him to being afraid that someone might steal his soul if he enjoyed a kiss too much—so the Lord of Balrogs was struck dumb by this new, entirely unexpected peak of naïve idiocy when it was finally put into words.

“I…can’t get it under control,” Eönwë murmured sorrowfully, pointing at his groin. “I just feel—strange the whole time, and I…am afraid that someone will notice and—”

The distended breeches—looking suspiciously soiled already—unambiguously told a tale of woe and discomfort which drew a clucking, empathetic sound from the tight throat of the Balrog; he was no stranger to the painful throes of unwanted and untimely arousal, and his heart went out to the disconsolate bird.

“Did you try to…you know…take care of it?” Gothmogh then asked sheepishly, mimicking vigorous masturbation.

“Yes, but I think I am not doing it right—it’s not working! Can I show you? Maybe you’ll have some pointers for me.”

The tremulous note of reluctant trust and utter despair in his voice made Gothmog suppress a guffaw of disbelief; instead, he nodded very seriously and leaned back on his elbows, schooling his face into a mien of benevolent neutrality.

He had never seen Eönwë entirely naked thus far, so the vicious, almost angry struggle of the herald with his own fine garments was another welcome but highly disconcerting surprise.

As soon as he had cast off his raiment, Eönwë proceeded to encircle his half-hard cock in a vice-like grip and tug at it brutally.

Jumping to his feet, Gothmog closed his own clawed fingers around the white-knuckled hand. “Slow down, bird. Do you want to tear it off?” he said, trying to make his voice sound playful and light.

“Maybe,” Eönwë groaned. “It has certainly caused me enough trouble to warrant such a drastic step.”

With a regretful, reprimanding shake of his impressively bulky head, Gothmog pried Eönwë’s cramped fingers off his by now fully erect cock and lifted them to his fiery maw.

“Look here, bird, you have a lovely body there. Truly, that is a truly admirable, charming form which perfectly complements your sweet nature,” he cooed, pressing little kisses on the trembling hand of his inveterate enemy. “You are so much closer to the other Valar—I’d recommend consulting Yavanna, Vána, or even Aiwendil about this. Maybe, it’s just your…well…season.”

Huge, blank eyes gazed into his pleadingly, and Gothmog felt his heart mellow.

“Now, I understand that this is not a nice state to be in—especially after everything you’ve told me about the expectations and rules of your home—but if you’d let me, I can try to help.”

“Yes,” Eönwë almost sobbed. “Yes, I thought that you might be able to assist me. You’re—you don’t care about these things, do you?”

It was an insult, an accusation, and a touchingly vulnerable plea all at once.

“Tell me what it is like,” Gothmog asked gently and accepted without protesting when Eönwë wrenched his hand free and turned around as if he was unable to bear being perceived during the stammering, halting explanation of absolutely natural and normal experiences of carnal lust.

“I just—I wake up and it is there, this need, this yearning, and I don’t understand. It’s like being expected to know the answer to a question that has never been put to me, and it annoys me. Throughout the day, I feel as if I am about to burst into flame—no offence to you—and yet I am so paralyzingly cold all the time. Something is missing, and I know I need it, I’ll die if I don’t find it, but I don’t even know where to start looking or what I am seeking.”

Humming in sympathy, Gothmog pondered these words for a long moment.

He had the overwhelming urge to speak to his masters for—while Melkor knew and understood needs and impulses better than anybody else—Mairon would know exactly how to proceed; he was a prodigy in the making and pursuing of plans.

Unfortunately, neither one of them was available, and so Gothmog simply followed his instincts.

“Let’s start with the easiest part,” he rumbled comfortingly and pulled Eönwë onto his lap and wrapped his solid, warming arms around that shivering frame. “Better?”

“Yes,” Eönwë admitted. “You are so hot—warm, I mean, but also—”

He hiccupped frenetically. “See? I am doing it again! I am bad—all my thoughts and actions are despicable!”

“Don’t worry, so am I,” Gothmog laughed and carded his sharp claws carefully through the dense, fluffy feathers covering Eönwë’s broad wings. The full-body shiver and suppressed moan this tiny caress provoked emboldened him, and he repeated his movement with a little more pressure. “Do you feel closer to that answer now?”

“Maybe a little?” Eönwë squeaked in a breathless voice as his head tilted backwards to come to rest against Gothmog’s smouldering, gem-covered shoulder with a muted thud. “I should not enjoy this—”

“But you do? Tell yourself that I am just one of the terrible, wicked defilers Manwë always warns you about,” the Balrog whispered, denying his own deeper, better nature in the name of bringing succour to one in need. “None of this is your fault!”

“Will you steal my soul if I let you kiss me?”

“Yes, but just a tiny bit. You know, we Balrogs love evilness so much that we will suck it out from others to have more of it,” Gothmog fibbed even as he snaked his hands around Eönwë’s torso to let his gleaming claws rake across the taut skin of his stomach all the way up to his woefully neglected, oversensitive nipples.

“You may then,” Eönwë moaned, arching into that first touch with self-forgotten eagerness and twisting his head—taking full advantage of his nature’s mobility—to welcome the searing, blinding kiss that was pressed upon his trembling lips.

“Let’s try this again,” Gothmog groaned, willing his own cock not to breach containment in some ludicrous way that would freak Eönwë out.

Then, taking that shivering white hand into his own, he guided it towards the gently swaying, abundantly leaking cock and wrapped Eönwë’s fingers around it loosely once more.

“This is not your enemy,” he hummed. “I am.”

“I don’t like this,” Eönwë cried, jerking his arm to pull back. “This is wrong—I don’t want to do this.”

Then, a mere moment later, he added pitifully, “Can’t you…do it?”

No, Gothmog had never penetrated Eönwë, and—by the way this meeting was going—he would not do so anytime soon either, but he obliged happily, replacing the reluctant hand of righteous justice with his despicable paw of depravity.

“Nice and slow,” he said as he started pumping carefully. “You are good; thus, you deserve to be treated well, even by yourself.”

For some reason, it was tremendously important to him to get that point across. Once he got back to Angband, he would scour the few resources they had at their disposal and maybe even throw himself at Thuri’s mercy for information, but, for now, he would simply try to quench the torturous fires roasting his little bird alive.

Small gurgling sounds of dismay and involuntary rapture escaped Eönwë despite his best efforts to withstand and defy the menacing wave of red mist burgeoning in his befuddled mind.

One hand stroking a shivering wing and the other curled carefully around Eönwë’s cock, Gothmog peppered tiny, nipping kisses—the only concession he made to his disavowed desire for the creature writhing in his lap—onto that gleaming, overstretched throat, thrumming with mounting tension.

“It’s all right, bird,” he promised. “I am exactly the kind of demon who’d take advantage of your rare moment of weakness.”

Ground to dust under the pressure building in his core, Eönwë whined softly. “No,” he then said in a rough pant. “No, you’re helping me. You’re being—hmmm—so good to me. This—it’s the answer.”

For the first time since this whole ordeal had started, he felt light enough to take flight without wearing himself out—his whole body felt tense and powerful, warmed to the core by the heat emanating from the Balrog’s embrace, and Eönwë’s confused, contradictory senses told him undeniably that he was finally safe.

With a resonating shout, he bore down on Gothmog’s groin with all his weight as he came undone, spraying hot seed across their entangled legs and the unforgiving, uncaring ground.

Of course, he knew nothing of the agony he had put the other through when he collapsed against a rock-hard chest and tucked his golden-haired head under an angular chin like a fledgling taking refuge from a storm.

“Well done, bird,” Gothmog crooned. “Are you feeling better? Do you think you can go home and sleep? If you ever need me again, I am just a message away.”

He smiled wistfully at the barren rock and the ominous trees—he was far from satisfied, but his heart was at ease.

“The hell you will,” another voice cut in. “The bird is in heat—everyone can smell that from a mile off.”

“Thuri,” Gothmog screeched, startled and distraught. Of all the citizens of Angband, she was the one he did not want to be caught by with his pants down.

Eönwë as well bristled and dazedly groped for his weapon which he had discarded rather carelessly at the beginning of this most healing of experiences.

“Relax, chicken,” Thuri laughed. “Winged solidarity here. Gotty, listen, you cannot send him back like that. It will get a lot worse before it gets better, and he’s been one miserable sentient drumstick since he arrived here despite your ‘help’.”

“What do you propose then?” Gothmog snarled—the outburst would have been much more threatening if he had been standing rather than cradling a boneless Eönwë on his burning lap.

“In the name of the Dark Forces of Angband,” Thuri declared, her eyes flickering with delight, “I officially take Eönwë, Maia of Manwë, hostage. Come, bird, Gotty will draw you a hot bath and get you some nice seeds. And then, I hope, he’ll fuck you silly, because whatever this pity play was, it was painful to watch!”

Thank you so much for reading <3

-> Masterlist for November

[maguro13-2]

Shattered Hero ~ Origins of the Ink Demon : Episode Maka Finale (5/11)

[Tails Doll Realm]

Seto : Ugh! Where am I? Am I in some kind of Saya no Uta sh*t? I better stay away from reading that disgusting Eldritch visual novel, cause eldritches are seriously gross and disturbing.

[Powerful Man From the Darkness - Kenji Yamamoto]

Seto : What the hell is place? Guess I'm not in some of kind of Saya no Uta sh*t, but what the hell did he take me too? Okay, this may have been a disturbing world, but I gotta find that doll first! (To me) And while you're at it, could you please change the music? That song sounded like it's from X-Men!

Me : (Sighs) Fine! (changes music)

[The Pandemonium - Tatsuyuki Maeda]

Seto : Alright, then here I go! Alright you stupid doll! Where can you be somewhere in this realm you dragged me? Just what the hell is this hellscape looking alike this? Is this Eldritch horror or am I seeing things that is totally disturbing and gross! Is this the path that leads me out of here? Not sure who's smart idea was it to make it Eldritch horror.

(monsters laughing sinisterly)

Seto : These must be the minions of that doll! Get out of my way!

Tails Doll Minion : Then find another way!

Seto : I don't know if I can get pass these guys!

Tails Doll Minion : Ha! You think that you can get to that ship to stop Demon Vibe's dream of galactic conquest, eh? I knew a Deathless girl would be the result of death's children that acclaims to be another of Shinigami's goons. What a little pussy!

Seto : Hmph! *DBZ SFX : SLASHING*

Tails Doll Minions : (deathly grunt)

Seto : You think that I'm Shinigami's or just Shinra's puppet. That Shinigami poser was that Dokeshi named Shotaro and you don't know what Shinra is! But I guaranteed to you all that I am Shinigami, a title that is worth mine and not that Kusakabe wannabe that brings the influence to that heroic crap of his! This is the reason that I dislike the Ohkuboverse and it's influence to thyself! (continues running while fighting off the enemies) This place is full of these stupid f**ks and there will be no sunshine for them! Brutal and grotesque, I am one vicious reaper that lurks into the day and night, and I got a clear sight!

(scene later cuts to Seto jumping on the floating platforms)

Seto : I can jump higher to get a cross on these floating things called "Platforms", but my life as a a deathless girl that will make me a girl to do some action over here! So much for being a dream girl! But got to find that doll first!

"later..."

Seto : Well, I made it all the way here, but this is the way leading to that doll! Here goes! (attempts to destroy the gate, but deflects) What!? It's only another...*QUACK!* Eldritch horror thing! Well, damn it! I'm supposed to know that my powers won't unlock it.

Saya : Looks like you're having problems with Eldritch horror stuff. Maybe that I, a girl from Eldritch horror, can give you an assistance!

Seto : Huh? Who the heck are you?

"MEET SAYA THE ELDRITCH"

"THE ELDRITCH GIRL THAT LOVES MEAT AND FUNIMORI! "

"A HEROINE FROM NITROPLUS'S SMASH HIT HORROR!"

"Warning : Saya is the humanoid form Eldritch Horror. Do not rape or f**k with an actual Eldritch horror that are truly happened in real life. You will die from Eldrtich horror."

Saya : Ever since I was born from the world of Eldritch Horror, I became so popular that humans would make the girl of Eldritch horror from all the way to Providence Rhode Island is where I got my story's inspiration from Lovercraft horror. I was the only girl that makes a human fall in love and gave birth to my only love child. But don't expect any mercy from the writer who made Fate and that Magical Girl show in the 2010s, or I'm giving humans the taste of their medicine. Now stand back and let me open this door with the powers of...[with Barnacle Boy's voice] "ELDRITCH POWER"!

(BOOM!)

Seto : Wow! That's some Cthulhu power! You sure you didn't get that from Cthulhu?

Saya : Well, it maybe intriguing that I'm the strongest Eldritch from Japan there is.

Seto : Now then, I wonder where he is...?

"later..."

[Can You Feel the Sunshine? - TJ Davis, Richard Jacques]

Seto : Oh great! This is weird. Where on earth would you be in a place that doesn't know where did he took place in? (realizing) We went back into 1997! This is Sonic R, a footing race setup by Dr. Robotnik who plotted the entire tournament that happened to this day.

Saya : So there are five racers in total, but there's only three robots, that makes it eight racers right?

Seto : Actually. There's only like ten of them. But not just three robots, four of them. There's Metal Sonic, a Eggrobo, a Metal Knuckles...Wait, when did this mad scientist build Metal Knuckles? And last but not least. The Tails Doll himself, a doll with a diamond attatch to his head and he bears a resemblance to Tails. It's a robot made by Dr. Ivo Robotnik that was tasked to the only mission that ever gets, racing. Tails Doll was the first robot doppelganger made by Dr. Robotnik himself that wanted to be a a mean looking robot to defeat it's original, Miles Tails Prower. One day after the end of the race, Tails Doll failed miserably and Robotnik called him a useless robot that was only tasked with one mission and immediately abandons him into the scrap. But in order to get his revenge, he set up a game of tag and chosen one of his victims, the victims that he chosen were his robot buddies, this is all where it all began on Resort Island.

Saya : Resort Island?

Seto : Indeed.

Tails Doll : This time! I get to be the first one to play tag and it's the four of you guys that I chosen!

Eggrobo : Oh, umm, you sure that you wanted to play tag with us? This is some kind of set up of for the three of us. Playing tag with us robots isn't exactly a good idea. Who's the last one that gets to be tag?

Tails Doll : It's easy for you to ask, the first one gets to be tag and the last standing shall be the victorious winner of tag!

Metal Sonic : You literally have no idea who's going tag the fifth one?

Tails Doll : Only to find out shortly.

Seto : Fifth one? Who is talking...(realizing) Oh no...(sees Sonic in his super state) The fifth one is Sonic in his super state!

Saya : His super state? What are we going to do?

Seto : Don't worry, We'll have to wait for the target and then I'll easily defeat him.

Saya : Gotcha.

[Start Fanfare - Richard Jacques]

Announcer : Ready...Set...GO!

[Can You Feel the Sunshine - Richard Jacques, TJ Davis]

Seto : Shoot! The tag race has just begun!

Eggrobo : (chuckles) This should be a piece of cake! I'm gonna be the first one to tag along with my gun and the no will--

Tails Doll : Tag! You're it!

Eggrobo : No fair! That wasn't supposed to happened! (gets pulled) WOAAAAAHHH!!! *SPLASH!*

Seto : Hey, that wasn't part of the flashback!

Metal Knuckles : Eggrobo! What happened to you? Eggy?

Tails Doll : Tag!

Metal Knuckles : Hey, isn't playing tag is a kids game and we were supposed to...Huh? (pulls out something that is a note saying "You're It!") Hahahaha! Very funny! *robotic beeping* OH SON OF A--! *KABOOOM!*

Metal Sonic : Hahahaha! I am the last one standing now! Oh great! I'm being tagged aren't I? (slaps himself, causing his eyes to spin) Oh well, time for me to go out of game!

Seto : [To Saya] Look! he's tagging his best buddies to bring up the curse and now he's going for the last, which the curse will officially happened!

Saya : What's gonna happen to the last one?

Super Sonic : Heh! Guess I'm the only one that is the last person there is to ever find! But what on earth would I ever get all that in action, you'll never catch me, I'm the fastest thing alive! In super speed!

Tails Doll : Bingo!

[Can You Feel the Sunshine (Acid Mix) - Richard Jacques]

Tails Doll : Finally! You are now...ALL MINE!!!

Super Sonic : What!? Hey! What's going on! This wasn't part of the deal!

Tails Doll : (laughs) With all four of them being chosen as the first of my victims, I can finally unleashed my revenge!

Saya : If he gets to the last one, we're done for! Time for us to get into action and give a good counterstrike! I was planning on doing that to be so cool!

Seto : Alright...(the two quickly runs out of the bush) Now's our chance to stop that doll!

Saya : Right!

Tails Doll : And now the curse shall be unleashed and you'll be dead as last!

Super Sonic : Oh man! I'm gonna be toast!

Saya : YAMEROOOOOOOO!!!

Tails Doll : What!?

Seto : Don't you even dare lay a finger on him!

Super Sonic : What's that? (in slo-motion) NOOOOOOOOO!!!

*DBZ SFX : Potara Fuse*

"So what's gonna happen if the doll has ever released the curse?"

"The whole world is gonna scare their socks off when the doll tagged more than four sacrifices and then the last one which will unleashed into the planet."

"Yeah, Feeling the sunshine hasn't been this much brighter than the darkest days that I ever faced with."

"Today's might be my luckiest day as Japan's Shinigami."

~ Act 30 : The Doll's Curse. ~

[ragingbookdragon]

A Shot In The Dark

Batfamily x Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 2.6K Warnings: Explicit Language, Mature Themes

Author's Note: I'm going to start the flow of Ghost-Maker fanfiction onto this site, watch me. Enjoy! -Thorne

**********************************************************************

The butler cleared his throat. “Master Bruce, Ghost Maker is here.” A grunt signaled his response. “I shall take my leave.”

“I forgot you still had the butler hanging around.”

Bruce didn’t look over from the screen as the vigilante stepped into his peripheral. “Are you here about Kolkata?”

“Spice has been entering the U.S. through the black market.” He looked over. “It’s in Gotham.”

“I know. I tracked a shipment in on one of Penguin’s cargo ships.” Bruce shot him a grin that practically bled, ‘I just one-upped you’. “The same one you tagged after me.” He knew Ghost-Maker wasn’t going to take the bait, easy as it was, but still, the way the man’s jaw set told Bruce just how ticked it made him.

“The only way to stop it from getting in is to head over and stop it.”

Bruce shook his head, tapping at the screen. “Interpol can shut down the operations in India. I just want it stopped in Gotham.”

Ghost-Maker sighed. “Why do you always have to take the easy way out of things? What’s stopping you from going?”

“Tim’s got a presentation at Wayne Enterprises tomorrow, Cass has a dance recital, and Damian has a debate team championship.” He glanced at him. “I promised I wouldn’t miss them.”

“You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?” he asked and the other nodded.

“Like clockwork.” He pointed to a drawer. “Hand me the instrument from the bottom drawer.

Ghost-Maker bent over and pulled open the drawer; a small carved flute rested inside, and he picked it up, examining the instrument. It was made of carved onyx, slashes of tiger-eye and jade up the sides; holes were drilled into it in a fashion telling him it would produce music if he blew into the piece at the top.

He handed it over. “Why do you have a flute in your drawer? And why do you need it?”

Bruce didn’t respond, merely bringing the instrument to his lips; he blew softly, an almost mournful sounding tone. Setting the piece down, he waited, and to Ghost-Maker’s surprise—which didn’t happen often—a cloud of black smoke began to swirl beside them. Faster and faster, it spun until it suddenly dispersed and in its wake was a woman—a rather bare woman…in a rather exposed position, her arms stretched out above her head, and one of her legs up in the air like it had been resting on someone’s shoulder and the other leg like it had been around their hip.

She let her legs fall, almost gracefully, and she heaved an incredibly annoyed sigh. “One of these days, Bruce Wayne, I will refuse your summons.”

“Well, it wasn’t today,” he quipped, spinning in his chair to look at her. “Were you in the middle of something?” his tone denoted that he knew she was, he was just being a sarcastic ass about it.

“I was.” She griped, then let her head loll back on the floor. “In the middle of silky sheets with all those fine bedfellows and now here I am on a cold, hard cave floor with no one to drive me into sexual-oblivion.” She stuck one perfectly nailed hand in the air. “Ahem.”

Bruce rose from his seat and took her hand, pulling her up and into his arms. “However, can I make it up to you, (Y/N)?”

Cocking an elegant eyebrow, she murmured, “You do not have enough resources to make up the good time you just pulled me out of.” Pushing out of his arms, she bypassed Ghost-Maker like he wasn’t standing there stunned out of his mind about what just happened.

“Is my wine still down here?” she asked, already bending down to rummage through the drawer. “Hmm, I see I answered my own question,” (Y/N) remarked, pulling out a bottle of wine so old, vintage didn’t seem to describe it. Popping the top, she took a sip and snapped her fingers, a silky black robe instantly clothing her naked body.

Leaning on the desk, she crossed one of her smooth legs over the other, idly swishing her foot. “So, why do you need me?”

Bruce nodded at the screen. “Do you know about the spice shipments in Gotham?”

(Y/N) hummed. “The shipments of spice that Penguin’s buying from black market deals that are originating out of Kolkata? Those spice shipments?” she shrugged. “I might know something. Why?”

“We’re trying to stop Penguin from getting it into Gotham.” Ghost-Maker interrupted before Bruce could say anything and she gazed at him.

“And you are?”

“Ghost-Maker.”

“Hmm.” She said, though she sounded disinterested. “Come here.”

“Why?” he questioned, though he obeyed and before he could even react, she reached up and touched his jaw. In a flash he saw every memory of his life in his mind, and she pulled away, tone curious.

“Oh? So, you are the one Bruce thinks about. The hedonistic anti-hero that copes with his psychopathy by challenging himself to fix the world.” A smirk tugged her lips. “Interesting.” Her eyes found Bruce’s. “Why is your ex-boyfriend in Gotham? I thought you did not want him anywhere near here? From both of your memories, you are both antagonistic to the idea of working in each other’s locations.”

“You just read my memories?” Ghost-Maker inquired, reaching up to touch his face. “How?”

“Telepathy, amongst many other dark things that would make even a person like you quake in fear.” (Y/N) glanced at Bruce again. “Answer the question.”

“He’s not my ex-boyfriend.”

“Wrong question and even more wrong answer.” She shot him a knowing look, one he matched with a firm look of his own and she waved a hand. “Fine, I will relent for now. What do you need to know about Penguin’s shipments?”

Bruce hit another button on the computer and a picture of a manila file came up. “It’s locked in his personal office surrounded by turrets and armed thugs.”

(Y/N)’s lips pulled pathetically, and she whimpered pitifully, “Aw, can the two of you not get into the office with your powers combined? So sad.” She raised a hand and touched the tips of her pointer and thumb to one another, then she lifted it to her mouth. She blew a single, sharp ear-splitting whistle and both Bruce and Ghost-Maker heard ringing in their ears as a dark smoke began to pool from the edge of the cave, the type that sent shivers up someone’s spine.

A low growl sounded from the smoke and out of the vapor stepped a dark hound, black as midnight, with glowing red eyes and rows of razor-sharp teeth. (Y/N) clicked her tongue and it bounded to her. She reached down and caressed its head, speaking in a language that neither Bruce nor Ghost-Maker understood.

She stood back up and pointed to the screen, uttering one more word, cold and firm. “Hunt.”

The hound barked but it still sounded like a growl, and it turned, sprinting towards the wall; it collided with it in a hail of smoke, and (Y/N) looked at Bruce. “Cù-sìth will get what we require.”

“I haven’t seen your hell-hound in a long while, (Y/N).” Bruce noted and she scowled.

“Death hounds. Cù-sìth and Garmr are death hounds.”

“And where is Garmr now?”

She frowned, looking away from him. “He is…recovering from a sustained injury.”

“Can I do anything to help?”

(Y/N) sighed and shook her head. “I appreciate your sympathy and trying but injuries that death hounds receive can only be healed by darker magic.” Her fingers swirled with her sorcery.

“Is that why you’ve been in hiding for a few months now?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “I have devoted most of my time to healing his injuries.”

Bruce took her hand, gently but firmly. “(Y/N), is there anything you need from me?”

She met his gaze, holding it for a moment before sighing again. “Do you think you could find nightshade and belladonna extract for me?”

“Absolutely,” he nodded, then he nudged her in the ribs with a grin. “You’re not planning on poisoning anyone, are you?”

(Y/N) chuckled. “Maybe just a bit. You know, not enough to kill them but just enough to drop them out of a city government meeting where an especially important vote is being decided.” She winked. “Care to wonder who it is?”

Bruce grunted, pulling from her. “I already know who it is.” He took a seat at the computer, and she leaned against the desk, her thigh brushing the arm rest. “You’re not allowed to poison people.”

She let out a humored breath through her nose and reached out, gently carding her fingers through his short dark hair. “Joy-killer.” (Y/N) took a moment to gaze at him, then she shifted, tracing the dark circles under his eyes. “When is the last time you rested?”

“A few hours ago.”

Frowning, she corrected, “I meant when was the last time you actually had a restful sleep?” he opened his mouth, but she was quicker. “You are not getting younger, Bruce.”

“I’m fine.” He grunted and she rolled her eyes.

“You are so stubborn.” (Y/N) glanced at Ghost-Maker. “Do you get decent sleep?”

“Of course,” he retorted. “Only Bruce thinks sleep is for the weak.”

“It is.”

(Y/N) looked back at Bruce. “That’s because you are a stubborn ass.”

Before he could respond, a growling caught their attention and they all turned to the entrance of the cave, seeing Cù-sìth coming towards them, the manila folder in his teeth. She plucked it from his mouth and flipped it open, scanning the contents; when Bruce reached for it, she jerked it away and clicked her tongue.

“Oh no. Only those who have maintained a correct sleep schedule are allowed to read this.”

Bruce glared at her. “Give me the file.”

“No.”

He started rising from his seat. “Give. Me. The. File. (Y/N).”

“I think you are forgetting that I am not one of your little minions, Bruce.” (Y/N) snapped her fingers and he sunk back into his seat, compelled by her magic. “You do not tell me what to do. Ever.” She looked at Ghost-Maker. “Come with me to the docks and we will take care of this.” Then she met Bruce’s gaze again. “When I snap my fingers again you will go up to your room and sleep for a few hours.”

“(Y/N),” he warned. “No killing.”

“I will do as I wish,” she offered nonchalantly, handing Ghost-Maker the file. “You know I have never adhered to your rules.”

Bruce’s glare darkened. “I know.”

“You know as well as I that you get rude when you are tired. Sleep now. Let us take care of this.” (Y/N) held out her hand. “K, take my hand.”

“How do you—”

She ignored the vigilante’s shocked question, taking his hand and the world twisted and turned around them until the smoke cleared and they were outside the gates of the dock. “You will want to take your mask off.”

“I’m not taking my mask off,” he retorted, and she shrugged.

“Then you will be sick in your mask.”

He stared at her, then he spun around, undoing the clasps of his mask, barely getting it off his face before he was vomiting into the grass.

(Y/N) merely watched. “I told you. Magical teleportation always wreaks havoc on the stomach the first time.”

“What—what are you?” he asked, then went back to puking.

When he went down on one knee, she leaned over and steadied him. “Older than what your mind can comprehend.” (Y/N) reached down and placed a hand on his forehead, then he stopped retching and coughed a few times. “There. Your digestive system should relax now.”

He didn’t necessarily shove her away, but it was obvious he didn’t want her seeing him because he pulled from her touch and wiped his mouth, quickly pulling his mask back on. “Don’t ever do that again.” He warned and she snorted.

“What? Heal you or teleport you right to the location of your target?”

With his mask back on he glared at her, light blue slits glowing brightly. “Call me K.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, you and Bruce are so much alike.” (Y/N) hauled him to his feet by his sword scabbards and let him go, starting towards the opening of the gate. “This will be a rather enjoyable night.”

“You need adequate protection.” He said. “You’re going to get killed without anything on.”

(Y/N) tossed a smirk over her shoulder. “My, my, Ghost, are you worried about me?”

“I don’t feel empathy,” Ghost-Maker said, hurrying to walk beside her.

“That is not completely true. At least through the memories I have seen.” (Y/N) looked over at him. “You are empathetic to Bruce. It is not like my empathy to him, but on some level, you do care.” She smiled. “Nothing is completely void of some form of empathy.”

She looked over at the dock, scrutinizing the cargo ship. “There are armed guards along the pier. A frontal assault will get us caught…no airstrikes…” she hummed, then brought a hand to her chest. “I have an idea.

“Care to share?” he asked, looking over at her, and to his surprise, she transformed before his eyes, taking on the shape of one of the thugs on the ship. “Huh. That’s impressive.”

“Thank you.” She said, though her voice was much deeper, like a mans and she stood up. “I will infiltrate the ship from the front. I trust you can go through the back?”

He pulled out his swords and (Y/N) swore she could practically see the smile growing on his lips as he said, “Absolutely.”

“Then be swift.”

***

A few hours later they appeared in the cave, and she sighed, gazing at the man collapsed at the desk. “I forgot how easily he deflected magic. Even mine.” Shrugging, she left the file beside him, leaning down to press a kiss to his temple. “At least he is sleeping though.”

Pulling away, she looked at Ghost-Maker. “You did well this evening. Your training is almost superior to Bruce’s.”

“It is superior to Bruce’s.” he griped and she tsked at him.

“Well, from what I have seen in your memories, I am afraid you have not much proven superiority to him. Equality, yes, but not superiority.” (Y/N) hummed and smiled at him. “I hope you and I can do missions together again, Ghost. It was rather enjoyable to have a talking partner. Bruce does not like to talk unless he has to.”

As she started walking towards the stairs, he followed her. “Can I ask you something?”

“You may.”

“Where do you live?”

(Y/N) eyed him. “Why do you wish to know?”

“Your meditation techniques appear similar to mine.” He smiled at her. “I was thinking you and I could meditate sometime.”

She paused and looked him over, a hand on her hip. “You want to sleep with me? Really?”

“You already told me what I am. A hedonistic crime-fighter.”

“Technically I said antihero, but I digress.” (Y/N) stepped up to him, staring into the glowing blue slits. “But I saw your abilities…they could be…intriguing.”

“I can show you now, if you’d like?” Ghost-Maker tipped his head to the entrance of the study. “There’s enough rooms for us to disappear into.”

(Y/N) chuckled and shook her head, walking ahead of him. “Bruce would not be happy about that.” She reached the top step and turned back, grinning at him. “But worry not, Ghost. When I am ready to see you, I will find you.”

“I look forward to it.”

[bisexualsforprompto]

An Unrefusable Promise

A/N I got like a mega case of inspiration, I don’t even know how to explain it.

She was promised a better life and a loving home.

How could she refuse?

She still remembered the first time she met him.

It was storming in Paris, Marinette could hardly see a thing. Even with her powers as Ladybug, she couldn’t manage to get the upper hand in the fight with the rain being so violent. She was fighting Muyara, and winning, until her heard a deafening snap. She and Muyara had both stopped immediately.

Marinette ran over across the rooftop to where Chat Noir had been facing off against Hawkmoth, she recognized the snap, it was the snapping of bones...specifically the neck. The noise was so sickening that Marinette almost knew what had happened. Hands shaking she ran over to her partner, who was laying lifeless on the ground, in the form of Adrien Agreste.

Hawkmoth stood there, bewildered, tears about to start invading his eyes.

“Adrien...no...Ladybug, please believe me I didn’t mean to-“

Marinette didn’t hear the rest of his plea.

She saw red.

And she lunged.

She vaguely registered Muyara grabbing her arms and pulling her back from Hawkmoth. She had spun around and punched Muyara in the face, off of the building.

Another snap.

Marinette snapped out of her stupor.

“NATHALIE!” Hawkmoth cried.

No...she didn’t. Marinette choked violently as she looked at Muyara, a pool of blood surrounding her from the drop off the thirty story building. No. Ladybug didn’t kill.

Ladybug didn’t kill.

Ladybug didn’t kill.

Ladybug didn’t-

BANG

The unmistakable sound of a gunshot.

Marinette turned around in horror to see Hawkmoth fall over, a bullet wound graced his forehead.

Marinette’s hands were still shaking as she saw the man behind Hawkmoth, the one who had pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger.

He was dressed in black on one side and orange on the other. Marinette could see that he had other weapons besides his gun. She visibly tensed when she saw a sword peaking out of his utility belt.

His gun was still smoking.

Would she be his next victim?

He placed the gun down and walked over to Marinette, approaching her carefully.

She was trembling, but paralyzed, like a deer in headlights.

“I’m not gonna hurt you kid.” He said calmly, holding his hands up. “Are you okay?”

Marinette shrunk in on herself and shook her head.

“Come here kid, lemme help you.”

Marinette wavered and took a step back, hyper aware of how close to the edge of the building she was.

She felt herself start to panic.

“Hey hey.” Shushed the stranger, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to help you. I know you. I know you Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette’s eyes widened at the use of her real name. “H-how?”

“I know many things Ladybug,” he said gently, “I know how your classmates have turned their back on you. I know that your parents don’t believe you. I know the only one you could trust,” he motioned to Chat Noir’s corpse, “is dead. And I know, I’m the only one who can help.”

“W-who are you?” Marinette stuttered.

“My name is Slade Wilson, I’m a good guy. I can give you everything you want. A better life and a loving home, don’t you want that?” Marinette didn’t need to answer. “I just need your help, is that okay Marinette?”

She nodded, and in turn, unknowingly signed her soul to the devil.

~~•~~•~~•~~•~~

“Do you really need another one? You already have me.” Asked an irritated blonde girl in a short costume.

Marientte eyed her warily, her costume was brown and orange, with a tacky belt on her waist. She had a bridge of freckles across her nose, not unlike Marinette’s, and her hair was in a short, unflattering pixie cut. She wore a mask, however her eye holes were cut out like Marinette’s, her eyes were blue.

“Now Terra, play nice.” Slade said mockingly, “Marinette can help us against the Titans.”

“Fine, but don’t try anything funny with my man, bug. Or we’ll see how you get squashed.” Terra said, clenching her fists, before leaving the room.

Marinette was taken aback, the girl couldn’t have been much older than her, was she really with Slade?

“Is she...Are you two together?” Marinette squeaked uncomfortably.

“No.” Slade chuckled, “She wants us to be, but it’s not going to happen.”

Marinette relaxed a little. Slade was kind to her, he didn’t seem like the kind of man to take advantage of a girl like that, she rationalized.

“Come on, lemme show you your mission.” Slade said ushering her into a new room.

There was a boy, encased in rock. He had spiky midnight hair, a domino mask with green surrounding it on his face, and he was a beautiful shade of tan. He was wearing a dark green, red, black and dark yellow bordering on gold costume. There was a small R on the corner of his costume.

“Slade, brought another minion in to torture me?” Grunted the young boy. He had to be her age.

“Ladybug, this is Robin. He’s not a good person, he’s working for someone who hurts a lot of good people. I need you to watch him, for the greater good.” Slade said, placing a hand on her shoulder before leaving her and Robin alone.

Marinette’s hands shook as she sat on a nearby stone. Robin narrowed his eyes at her.

She cleared her throat and began to speak in broken English, “I-is it true? H-have you- do you hurt people?”

The boy’s face softened, not by a lot, but by a little.

“Listen to me, whatever he’s promised you, it’s a lie. Do you hear me? You have to free me before it’s too late.”

“W-what?” Marinette said, feeling panic rise in her.

“What did he say to you?” Robin asked, furrowing his eye brows.

“H-he- I-...Everyone hates me back in Paris. M-my parents don’t trust me, and my classmates t-they tried...even the only one I could trust...he’s gone now. Mr. Wilson, he offered...he told me he could help. And he said the only way for me to be free was to come with him...here.” Marinette said, everything spilling out.

“Listen to me- Ladybug right?” Marinette nodded, “He can’t help you. But we can. I’m from a group called the Teen Titans.”

The Teen Titans, Marinette had heard of them, they were heroes.

“We can take you in. We can help you. Slade can’t, no matter what he says. Slade’s a murderer and a villain, you don’t want to align yourself with him.”

Marinette shook.

Murderer.

That’s what she was.

She was a villain too.

She saw flashes of Muyara again, flashes of Chat again, flashes of Hawkmoth again.

What if she stopped it?

But she couldn’t...she didn’t…

‘All that’s necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.’

Marinette gulped.

She could’ve done something, anything. Stopped their deaths.

“I-I can’t. I’m as bad as him.” She said dodging his gaze.

“Ladybug listen, I’m...I’m a murderer...I’ve killed people before. When I got older though, I was given a chance to redeem myself and I took it. I see the look in your eyes and I know it too...You chose the path of vengeance not justice. But you can get help for yourself. You don’t have to live with these demons in fear forever. Get me out of this stone.” Robin said, struggling against the rock.

Ladybug picked up her yo-yo hesitantly.

“Can I be forgiven?” She choked.

“You can.��

“Can I forgive myself?”

“I...don’t know.”

His answer wasn’t reassuring, in fact it was the opposite.

So Marinette knew her decision.

She broke the rock.

~~•~~•~~•~~•~~

In the end Slade sort of did keep his promise.

Marinette stared fondly at the picture of her with the rest of the Titans.

He promised her a better life and a loving home.

Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, Nightwing, Robin, Blue Beetle, and her in the middle, all standing in front of Titans Tower with smiles, even Damian!

And she got just that.

~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~

A happy ending? In my fic? It’s more likely than you think... Oh don’t worry...angst apocalypse April is coming up 😈

Taglist:

@northernbluetongue

@queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm

@luciferge

@legendaryneckjudgestudent

@interobanginyourmom

@beaversuenightly

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry

@mochinek0

@shamefullove

@emjrabbitwolf

@actual-disaster-human

@littleredrobinhoodlum

@elijahcoser

@daminett4life

@18-fandoms-unite-08

@kawaiigiantjudgefish

@corabeth11

[theshamelessmanatee]

Another sterek future fic. This time featuring idiots in love being dramatic af, a big bad of the week, and some blood.

"Derek-" Stiles begins in a small voice "You are not healing- WHY the fuck you are not healing?" 

Derek would like to know that, too. 

Fuck. Everything hurts. 

The pain is not intense per se, at least not in that way that feels like his body is drowning in it and there’s nothing else left. No, this pain surrounds Derek's body like a blanket, makes everything feel distant, diluted. Reality is slowing down and more intense.

Fuck. This is bad.

Stiles.

His senses are overwelmed by Stiles. Stiles, who’s touching him, frantically; his scent sour in worry, his heartbeat thundering in Derek's ears. There's a hunted look in his eyes and Derek clings to it like a lifeline. Can't look away, it’s the only thing that's preventing him from going under. He is so scared to let go. 

He feels the urge to tell Stiles how much he likes his eyes, big and warm. Wonders why he’d never told him before, in all the years they have known each other.

He’d also want to tell him that it's gonna be fine, but he knows he's not going to heal, not this time. He knows the wounds are too deep, the venom is too strong and he doesn't know how to trigger the healing - if the healing can still be triggered somehow.

Derek feels so, so tired.

I am dying. Fuck.

He can't say that. He can see it in Stiles's eyes, now sharply focused on his wounds, that he knows that too.

"G-go. Please, St-"

"Don't you fucking dare, Derek! I allow myself to panic for three freaking seconds and you come up with this bullshit? Shut the fuck up and let me save you."

Stiles tears his plaid shirt apart and wraps it tightly around Derek's leg and torso, trying to slow down the bleeding.

Oh Stiles, always so sharp and smart and so fucking matter-of-factly even in a crisis.

Then Stiles stills and looks away. He is expanding his wards to get some informations, because Derek feels the magic in the air, caressing him like a balm. He had always liked Stiles's spark, it had always felt right to Derek, like home and happy and safe. Again, he wonders why he’d never told him before.

Stiles turns his attention back to Derek, a mad look in his eyes. "Ok cool. My runes say the rouge bastard is still searching for us on the upper floor so we have an advantage. Scott is too far away and stuck with the minions, fuck, fuck, fuck!" Stiles looks down at Derek. "Now... I am healing you and you are not going to fight it because my magic mojo is running low...gotcha?"

Stiles is lying.

You are trembling, you don't have enough magic to heal me he wants to say but he knows it’s useless. He asks instead "Why are you lying to me?"

Stiles averts his eyes. A fucking brilliant spark and can't lie for shit.

"You are not gonna like it..." he begins in a small voice.

"Stiles-"

"Look, there's no time and I’m gonna do it anyway... S-so, please, don't fight it back"

"Fight what?"

"The healing! I won't have enough magic to mantain the barrier outside for the others and heal you if you resist it!". 

He is still lying.

"Tell me."

"There's no time." You have no time left, heavely implied.

Derek scowls at that.

"Fine! I am gonna collapse on you! Probably...Ok, maybe for sure."

Half a truth. Stiles is not exactly lying, but he's not telling him everything. Are the others in danger? He is really dying and Stiles is lying about his condition?

Derek would like to argue, to tell him to go and save himself before the monster finds them; wants to say a lot of things that would make Stiles mad. He wants to tell him how much he loves him, has loved him for years now, because fuck he does, but he is dizzy and his tongue heavy. He grabs Stiles' arm instead, hoping to convey at least a fraction of his feelings.

"Don't make me see you die if I can help it, please, Derek. Not again." Stiles’ voice is a broken whisper now, makes Derek ache. "Derek, do you trust me?"

"Yes." Derek answers, not even missing a beat. "But I'll take you with me when you collapse, ok? No leaving you behind."

Stiles beams "See you in a minute, then." and winks.

And in the next moment Derek feels so...full. There’s no other word to describe the rush of energy running through his body. 

It happens in seconds, and feels like breathing for the very first time.

Stiles’ magic spreads from the hand he’s placed on Derek’s chest through all his blood vessels; flows through every veins, reaches every capillars of his body -mending, cleaning, healing them along the way-, and then travels back towards Derek’s heart. 

With the next heartbeat the magic’s pushed through every cell of his body, regenerating him at his very core. When it looses speed, Derek hears Stiles’ heartbeat alongside his own, thundering in his ears.

Derek’s mind is focused - too much focused, too much full- to the point he can feel Stiles’ magic like it’s a palpable thing. 

He reaches for it, curious and giddy, caressing it with his new lifeforce. He senses them mixing together -not pushing it back, he promised - and it’s overwelming, intoxicating, like they are blending their souls. Derek would run away to get rid of the excessive energy, and at the same time he’d cry for the intensity of the connection.

It’s so strange. It feel so different from the other times Stiles has healed him.

It’s like he’s reborn. Kinda... whole again.

Maybe it’s the adrenaline rush - because this time he had been really close to die-, maybe this is what Stiles was lying about.

Then Stiles collapses, but Derek’s there, breaking his fall. He hugs him tightly, huffing in his ear “You fucking overachiever”. 

The beast roars somewhere close and the walls shakes by the sheer force of it. Derek grabs Stiles then, securing the boy’s arms and legs around his shoulders and waist and starts running. 

He’s following Scott's distant heartbeat to find their escape route, when he notices that Stiles’ is slowing down. And then, it just stops. There’s no time to panic, so he runs faster. 

Fuck. Don’t you dare, Stiles. Not you.

Scott howls in the distance, a mournful, broken beckon that echoes Derek's  dread.

After seconds that feel like ages, Stiles’ heart starts beating again, his pulse faint but growing steadier.

Thank god.

“You cheated” Stiles whispers when he wakes up, trying to sound annoyed and ending up fond, his smile buried in the back of Derek’s neck. 

“I helped you helping me” Derek smiles, keeps running towards Scott’s location.

“Always my hero”, Stiles snorts “-and I cant believe you didn't listen! Like always!” 

“...Hey-” Derek  begins “- thanks. I am sorry for making you go last time”.

I am sorry you had to see me dying and asking you to let me go.

It had been years since the night Derek has evolved. but Stiles adressed it earlier, and Derek feels the need to apologise. 

He remembers asking Stiles to let him go, to go save Scott because he had been sure he would have died in the next five minutes and didn't want Stiles to be there. He couldn't say goodbye to Stiles. If Stiles had stayed, Derek wouldn’t have been able to let go without breaking down. 

Derek had never thought about how much his request had hurt Stiles. Sure, everything ended up fine, but it hasn't been fair. It had been selfish asking him to go. Turns out that Derek had always been a little selfish when it comes to Stiles. 

So many years has passed, and Stiles never mentioned it before. Not in all the conversations and apologies Stiles, Scott, and Derek had shared with each others in all the years after the first Monroe's mess, when they had decided to be a pack for the very first time, the three of them being inseparable from that moment on.

There are so many things he wants to say to explain why he’d acted like that, but he can’t find the right words for it; how to explain it without confessing his love to Stiles, and he can’t ruin their relationship.

Stiles hugs him tighter, instead of replying. He knows. He always gets him, had always been.

"Now hold me tighter, big guy. I don't want to brain myself as I save the day with a super cool magic trick." Stiles wiggles his fingers in front of Derek’s face for emphasis.

Derek snorts but obliges.

-----

The rest of the thing is anticlimatic, really. They grab Scott in their flee as Stiles manages to hold the barrier until the last moment and does something complicated with his hands in the air, finishing the spell the others had set up when they were inside, all according to plan.

The monster comes out roaring, Chris and the rest of the pack waiting for it in the clearing outside the old abandoned building. Now that the spell has weakened it enough, it literally takes minutes to put it down.

Derek leaves Stiles in Scott's hands and runs towards the others to help.

-----

When Derek finally comes back to Scott and Stiles, the two are in the middle of a vicious argument. Them being them, their fighting actually involves a lot of exagerrated expressions, too many grunts, some affronted whines, and absolutely no words involved.

From the outside is a thing of marvel, because everyone can see they are having a proper conversation with each other, deciphering noises like they are complete sentences, masters of their own special language. Derek had always been a little jealous of their bond, the little scottandstiles unit he will never be part of. Sure, after years of witnessing it, he can interpret a little of their grunts and sounds, but only like a stranger recognising a word he knows in a language isn’t very fluent in. And Derek knows a lot of languages, so this is especially annoying.

He is still walking towards them when Scott breaks the silence in a furious cry. "Fuck Stiles, what were you thinking?!"

Stiles is outraged "I couldn’t let him die!"

Scott huffs, frustrated, "No! Obviously not! But you could’ve died!" he is panting now, strugglying to control himself. Scott's hands are shaking but before Stiles can retort, Scott looks him in the eyes and shouts in a broken sob, "Do you know how it felt through our bond? I couldn't do anything and I felt it, Stiles! Obviously I am grateful you did everything you could to save Derek, but you are too reckless and you can’t just go risking your life like this every fucking moment! You weren’t the only one losing someone you love, i was losing two of them! You are my brother, Stiles, and I..." 

Scott is trembling now, his shoulders slounched down "...I felt like I was losing Derek and then I was losing you too! And I was there, alone...and fucking helpless!". 

In a whisper he adds " I felt it, Stiles, you were gone...please, fuck please, don't make me lose you, too. What would have I done if-" Scott can't finish the sentence, he buries his face in his hands and starts sobbing. 

In a heartbeat, Stiles is hugging Scott fiercely, the two of them tightening the embrace more and more, grabbing whatever part of the other is closer, swaying like children, erupting in a litany of broken sobs and whispered apologies.

Derek’s conflicted. He doesn't want to interrupt their little moment but need to know what happened: why Scott is so mad, what they were fighting for. He suspects is because of him, about what happened in the building. There’s no way Stiles had just healed him. 

Still hugging like their lives depend on it, (and maybe they do), Scott and Stiles notice Derek approaching. Stiles lifst his face from the crook of Scott’s neck, looks at Derek, and with a sad smile, whispers “It was worth it, Scotty.”

“I know. Don’t do that to me ever again, though” Scott whispers back, in his usual fond tone despite he’s still trembling in Stiles’ arms.

Stiles’ words make Derek blush. God, he loves him so much.

“What happened?” Derek asks as Scott and Stiles dissolve their embrace, and turn towards him.

Scott points at Stiles with his thumb, says in a stern voice “This idiot took ten minutes off of his life to save you. You were dying.”

Stiles groans, affronted like Scott has just inflicted him a brutal low blow, Scott rolls his eyes. Derek is speechless, too mad to even formulate a thought. 

“What?” it’s all he manages to say.

“Look-” Stiles deflects ��-giving the kind of life we are leading, you probably spared me ten minutes of agonizing pain..”

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Derek roars. He can’t believe how stupid that was. How stupid, selfless, Stiles is. What has he done?

“You were dying for real, Derek. What I was supposed to do?”

Scott whines like a wounded animal. Derek is utterly shocked. He ends up asking “Why?”

Now Stiles looks angry, “Why? Why, asks the asshole?!” he looks at Scott, with a shocked face that says can you believe it? “Because I had to see you die in front of me and I respected your fucking selfish wish of letting you go one time, and I promised myself it wouldn’t happen ever again, giving the chance! And then- then you lived , and not only that, you didn’t even have the decency to say goodbye to me before you run away like a bat from hell! L-like seeing you die, and letting you go hadn’t meant a damn fucking thing to me!!” Stiles is mad now, his eyes full of unshed tears. 

“And I would do it again, and again, and again! A million times over or whatever it takes if it means saving you!” 

Now Stiles moves in front of Derek and points a finger accusingly on his chest. 

“Are you mad? I don’t fucking care if you are! A-and I don't care if you won’t talk to me again or can’t forgive me! I will happily live the rest of my life with you never speaking to me again, knowing you are safe and alive, than having to bury you! Because you, having you safe and sound is worth every. Fucking. Second. Of my life!” Stiles is panting now, raw and flushed, furious. He’d never looked more beautiful to Derek. 

“I’d been ready to die with you that night in the pool when we barely tolerated each other and now, now, you seriously think now, I’d leave you for dead? Now that I l-” Stiles stops mid rant, on the verge of start crying.

That’s the moment Derek realises: Stiles loves him, too.

Stiles loves him, too.

“You love me” he says without thinking, dumbfounded.

“Thanks for noticing, dumbass!” Scott grunts.

“What he said!” Stiles turns towards Scott. “Scotty boy, thanks for being the broest bro in existence, but... could you give us a little privacy?”

Scott rolls his eyes, but his scent is happy. ”Ppft. Like I wanna see you two making out. Also, that was the angriest love confession ever.” He reaches for Derek and hugs him tightly “I am so glad he saved you, I was so afraid to lose you”. Derek squeezes him back and nuzzles his alpha’s head, scent marking him. Scott smiles and with a last pat on Derek’s shoulder leaves the two of them alone.

“I love you too.” Derek says in a rush, and it feels a damnation and a relief. He can’t even process the fact that this is real. Stiles loves him back for real. They love each other.

Stiles rubs the back of his head, flushed but happy. “Oh, thank fuck. It’d be an embarassing ride home otherwise.”

Derek huffs and cradles Stiles’ face in his hands, caressing his cheeks with his thumbs, still shocked he gets to do it from now on.

“Please tell me you are gonna kiss me, the waiting is killing me.” Stiles huffs, the scent of his nervous anticipation in the air around them.

Derek scowls. Stiles smirks “Too soon?”  

Derek snorts, but looks at every detail of Stiles’s face before coming closer. He stills just a mere inch from Stiles’ lips, and whispers. “Don’t do something that stupid ever again.”

Stiles licks his lips, then looks Derek in the eyes, feels brave enough to admit. “I can’t promise that because I’d die for you.”

“I want you to live, though.” 

“Perfect, me too! Let’s just live happily ever after, then.” 

Stiles grabs Derek’s shirt in his fists and kiss him. Derek feels Stiles’ smile against his lips. It’s perfect. 

[crewhonk]

Of The Line (7)

REBLOG THIS CHAPTER TO STAY ON THE TAG LIST!!!!

Summary: The team take to Sokovia, and everything begins to unravel for YN

Warnings: fluff, everything that comes with fights, minor character death, YN and Steve make plans for a future they may never have, Gio and YN are badass, Pietro is a darling flirt

Words: 3K (she lied like a liar)

Songs: Seven Nation Army-- white stripes, Survivor (2we remix), what’s up danger-- blackway, m.A.A.d city-- Kendrick Lamar

AN: PLEASE, PLEASE COMMENT AND LIKE AND REBLOG OUR WORK! We’re getting a little discouraged due to the recent lack of notes on this series!

Till The End Masterlist / Of The Line Masterlist

________________________________________

The water dripped from the ceiling onto the stone floors of the basement, and YN’s skin erupted with goosebumps at the chill of the dungeon. Her, Giovanna and Bruce were walking down the stairs looking for Natasha desperately— the plan was simple. Help her dad find Natasha, make sure they got to safety and then return to the mainland to help the team fight Ultron. 

“Natasha!” YN shouted into the empty room. Giovanna mimicked her call and it was only when her dad called for Nat that she responded.

“Guys?” She called out and they all sprinted towards the sound. Natasha was locked into an actual cell, bars and all, and YN and Giovanna rushed to them, clutching them in their hands and helping Natasha to her feet. She seemed tired but overall relatively healthy. 

“You okay?” Giovanna almost sobbed, reaching through a gap in the bars and pulling her closer. YN did so too, needing her other best friend close after all the worry of her being kidnapped. 

“Yeah, I’m okay.” She whispered, voice raspy.

“The team's in the city, it's about to light up,” YN informed her and Natasha clenched her jaw, rolled her shoulders and nodded. “Civilians are being evacuated as we speak and Dad’s gonna take you out of here to safety.”

“Job's not finished.” 

“You guys could help with the evacuation, but dad can't be in a fight near civilians. And you've done plenty. Your fight is over.” YN reassured and Natasha dropped her head in relief. 

“I’m so tired. Did you find a key anywhere?”

“Yeah, I did.” Bruce piped up and YN and Giovanna squealed and ran when he held up a gun the size of his torso. He blasted the lock away and YN bumped his shoulder. 

“I knew you were just as crazy as I was.”

“Where do you think you got it from?”

____________________

The sky was falling. Literally, rocks were falling on them and dust was in their eyes and YN needed an inhaler because she just couldn’t breathe. Giovanna had summoned her suit and was protecting the other three as well as she could, but it didn’t stop a few rocks from striking any of them in the head or shoulder. 

“We gotta move.” She grunted as a rather large slab of cement broke over her shoulders. 

YN turned to her dad whose eyes were darting around anxiously. “You’re not gonna turn green?” She asked. She could feel her own skin start filling with gamma ad=nd the muscles in her body begin to grow— she didn’t know how he did it. They came upon a cavern int their search for a flight of stairs, and they ran put to the edge of a hole to see if there was any way out. 

“I've got a compelling reason not to lose my cool.” He looked down at his baby girl and she smiled fondly. 

"I adore you.” She whispered, cupping his cheek and ignoring the way her heart was beating in her throat. “But I need the other guy.”

And with that, she shoved her own father over the edge and turned her eyes away from the hole, not needing to see her fathers body hit the ground. That didn’t, however, brace her for the sound of him landing and then a dull, confused roar echoing in their ears. 

There was the sound of two dustbin lid-sized feet hitting the ground and YN turned to see The Big Guy grinning down at her. She smiled despite herself— whenever Big Guy decided to show his face to her, he was almost as threatening to her as a golden retriever was. 

“Hey, bud.” She forced a smile on her face and he smiled back, not realizing that YN’s was very much fake. 

“Let’s go be heroes.” She said, taking Giovanna’s free hand (the other was already holding on to Natasha) and blasted off through the glass ceiling. 

______________

Natasha was dropped off as soon as they hit the flying city— not having much will or practice to be hanging from Giovanna as she flew one hundred kilometres an hour through the air. Giovanna took YN to one of the back streets— a place of the town that seemed to be mostly populated by the robot minions, and dropped YN on the ground. 

“Do we know how to shut them down?” YN asked, pulled a gun from her thigh holster and shooting an incoming droid in the neck, blowing it apart. “Like that, I guess.” She hummed. 

“Steve said we had to take out all of them so He didn’t get away,” Giovanna grunted as she blasted through ten more robots.

“He does realise only like, three of us can fly, right?” YN jumped off of a wrecked car and onto the back of a flying robot, tearing its head off with her bare hands. She crashed back to the ground and held her bleeding fingers to her chest. 

“Yeah, but he also realizes we’re too stubborn to let that stop us.” Giovanna replied, motioning for her to turn her comm systems to the main channel. YN did and was immediately greeted with a grunt from Steve. Giovanna laughed loudly at the expression on YN’s face. 

“Happy you could join the party.” Steve gasped. There was the sound of crunching metal and then him huffing out another breath of air. 

“You really do have skewed versions of what a party is, don’t you?” Natasha replied. 

“Awe, family reunion! This is cute.” YN cooed playfully, reloading her pistol and firing three more times. There was a crash of a door and an arrow barely skimmed the tip of YN’s nose and plunged into the eye socket of a robot crawling its way towards her. Her head whipped around to see Clint join them from a building to their left. 

“Watch where you’re pointing that thing, will you?” YN shouted, heart racing fast in her chest. Clint shrugged and knocked another arrow. 

“I never miss, you know that.” He smiled.

“You did that one time—“ Giovanna teased above them, landing on a car a few feet away and firing at a hoard of droids. 

“Yeah it was one time, and I was blackout drunk. Can we not bring that up? Nat okay?”

“Natasha is stubborn and more of a fighter than any of us will ever be,” YN replied, half sarcastic. 

“She’s still fighting isn’t she?”

“Yeah.” Just as she spoke, thirty more droids flew down on them, firing their blasters and Giovanna covered YN’s body just in time to shield her from a small incoming missile. They were both thrown back against an already partially crushed car, and YN swore she could feel her ribs crack at the impact. 

“Christ.” YN gasped once the air filled her lungs again. She shrunk down as Giovanna soared up once more, and when she went to grab more ammunition, her hand clasped on her empty belt. 

“Uh— guys, I’m out already,” YN said into her comms to no avail— the team was already overwhelmed themselves. “Okay, fine, I’ll do this myself.” She whined and pulled her Widow batons from her thighs and turned them on— the thrum of electricity making the hair on her arms stand on end. 

“Well,” Giovanna grunted as she was thrown hard into the ground, creating a 5 foot 3 crater around her body. “I’m officially overwhelmed.”

Just as YN was about to attack one of the droids with a fancy stick, one of the building doors crashed open and they were surrounded by an odd red mist. It wrapped around their limbs gently, protecting them as it also tore the robots limb from limb— arms and legs and torsos flying every which way. 

YN turned to see Wanda storm out, her eyes glowing red and a determined snarl on her face. She manipulated the red mist easily, and YN was filled with an immediate sense of relief as she stood and watched the forty-some robots die in front of their eyes. 

“Have I ever told you that it’s great to meet you?” YN asked as she walked closer. The girl, instead of smirking and saying something that would probably come out of her brother's mouth, frowned and stood in front of her sheepishly. 

“I am sorry I got into your head like that. That was not fair play.” And YN’s heart swelled at her words. She threw her arm around the teenage girl's shoulder and gave her a comforting one-armed hug. 

“It’s all good. There’s no room for fair play when you feel like your life is in danger.” YN smiled softly and Wanda held her chin higher than she was. 

“Sorry to interrupt the sap fest,” Giovanna sighed as she stumbled over to the pair. “But this isn’t a movie, we don’t have time to have ‘feeling talks’ right now. Let’s go play dirty, yeah?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Clint joined them, then— pressing one finger to his ear and calling the team. “All clear on the East side of the city.”

“We are not clear!” Steve sounded like he was in pain, and there was a grunt from him. YN looked frantically to Giovanna who seemed to understand and reached out her hand, ready to take off to drop YN off to help Steve. “We are very not clear!”

“On our way, Cap.” YN rushed and gripped Giovanna’s arm just in time for her to be scooped up into someone’s arms. She looked up and saw Pietro smiling down at her, his silver hair haloed by the hot sun above him and a twinkle in his eyes that suggested they were not in any sort of battle at all. 

“Climb on, Monkey.” He said to Wanda and she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Let’s go save your Captain.” And then he sped off. 

____________________

She was dropped off on the opposite end of the city too quickly, and Pietro let her down slowly, making sure she got her footing right before letting her go. YN smiled briefly at him before running and sliding on her knees to stick her head in a bush and throw up at the G’s they had seemed to pull in his haste to move quickly. 

“We are never doing that again— wait, have you gotten shot already?” YN panted as she looked disbelievingly at Pietro's bleeding arm. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet, using the torn piece fo fabric to wipe the corners of YN’s mouth. 

“You will get used to it.” He winked, and he looked down at his shoulder— the wound no more than a mere scratch now. “And it didn’t hurt that much. Not as much as your punch.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Maximoff.” YN smiled and scoped the edge of the city for Steve and Natasha. 

“I have a few places in mind.” He murmured before running off and leaving YN a breathless, red mess in the middle of the street. Wanda walked up beside her and nudged her. 

“I have never seen someone give Piet a run for his money in the flirting department. They always turn bright red and blubber words until he loses interest.” She smiled and watched the blue blur that was her brother run back and forth across the plaza in front of them. YN could only huff out a self-satisfied breath and begin jogging to the nearest crashing commotion. 

________________

“Captain! Steve!” YN coughed through the dust where her tracker said he was. He could hear cries of pain and worried voices of the locals muttering not far and she yelped when he came hurtling out of the smoke— not seeing her and not stopping quite in time. He caught her forearms as she was sent spiralling backwards and pulled her to him, making sure she was free of wounds before letting her go. He let out a surprised huff when she curled her arms around his neck and buried her face in the spot behind his ear. 

“I’m happy you’re alive.” She whispered before pulling back. He was grateful his face was so dirty that she was unable to see his blush on his face. God, she made him feel like he was fourteen again trying to even get close to making eye contact with Marriette O’Connell in ninth grade. 

“I’m happy you’re alive, too.” He replied, seemingly awestruck. Instead of saying just how happy he was to see her, there was a scream from the distance and he pulled away, speaking once more into his comms. 

“Guys, we’re leading the civilians to the town hall. Try to meet us there.” She took Wanda’s hand and pulled her along after Steve who was stumbling through the debris of fallen buildings. 

Giovanna, Natasha and Clint were there already, and Natasha raised her eyebrows at the sight of Wanda wearing her favourite red jacket. 

“That’s my jacket.” She commented and Wanda shifted nervously. 

“She’s with us,” Steve replied.

“Still doesn’t explain the jacket.”

“There are still civilians hiding in the buildings.” Wanda was not looking at any of them, but at the buildings around them, her eyes glowing that familiar red. 

“The airs getting thin,” YN panted, leaning against one of the pillars holding the building up. “If we go much higher, we’re going to start dropping like flies.”

“Okay,” Steve said, anxiety in his voice at YN’s expression of discomfort. He looked at Wanda. “Get them here, Barton, cover her six.”

“And what do we do?” Giovanna asked. 

“We fight robots.” He replied, and YN nodded breathlessly as Natasha handed her a few magazines of ammunition. 

“Thank you.” She whispered and steeled herself before pushing off the pillar, stumbling a little and catching herself. 

“Fight robots?” Pietro appeared seemingly out of thin air, handing Steve a disconnected metal arm and walking over to YN. He looked her up and down as if looking for any injury since she left him and nodded once he found she was just slightly breathless from the altitude. 

“Take it easy, Sweet Girl.” He hummed and brushed her cheek gently with the backs of his fingers. Her eyelids fluttered slightly and she straightened up to her full height. 

“No promises.” She replied, forcing a charming smile on her face. He mirrored it and patted her shoulder twice. 

“That is my girl.” He swaggered back to Steve whose jaw was clenched and whose eyes were filled with nothing but loathing. “We fight robots today, yeah?” He asked before jetting off once more. Steve bristled in his wake and without sparing YN a single glance, took off into the battle once more. 

_______________________

The battle went about the same— fists through metal breastplates and broken knuckles and tired grunts. YN, Natasha and Steve all held down the east side of the town hall without too much struggle and when there was a slight reprieve from the crashing of vibranium, YN and Natasha leaned against a car, trying their best to catch their breath. 

The altitude was taking its toll on the girls, and they were dizzy and short of breath to the point that fighting for more than thirty seconds rendered them almost useless. 

Natasha was joined shortly by Steve who looked out over the tops of the clouds and sighed. “The next wave's gonna hit any minute. What have you got, Stark?”

“Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.” Tony sounded anxious— this was nothing more than a plan to abandon their work, and if Tony of all people was planning on cutting something like this short than there may have been no other solution. YN walked over to Steve and Natasha took his other side, joining him. 

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan,” Steve replied, voice short. YN put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed, making him look at her. Immediately, the tension left his shoulders when he saw her wide, sad eyes. 

“This is the solution, Stevie. We both know this rock isn’t going to come down pretty— the less damage Tony can do, the better.” She murmured and he shook his head stubbornly, making YN roll her eyes. 

“Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock—“ Natasha started but Steve cut her off with a hard glare. 

“Not 'til everyone's safe.”

Natasha could have snarled out of frustration. “Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there!” She half-shouted, and YN peeked around Steve’s shoulder, nodding her head and telling Natasha that it was time for her to give the pair some alone time. Natasha glowered at Steve before turning and stomping away.

“I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it.” He said to YN, voice softer and lacking the Captain gusto. YN sighed, and threw all caution to the wind, taking off her glove and shucking off his own before wrapping her hand around his, intertwining their fingers and making his breath stutter in his chest. 

“She didn’t say we should leave it, Steve.” She whispered loud enough for him to hear over the wind. He blinked, and a flash of fear crossed his face. 

“No, YN. I can’t— you’re so young you have such a life to live.” He said, turning to her. She smiled sadly and shook her head. Her free hand reached up to wipe away some blood dripping from a gash on his cheekbone. 

Without looking away from him, she smiled and her eyes filled with tears, they flickered down to his lips once before going back to his crystal blue ones. “There are worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?” She sighed and despite his heartbreaking in his chest, he felt his stomach flip. 

“There’s so much you have to see.” His voice cracked and she let a few tears trail their paths through the dirt on her face. 

“Tell me about them.” 

“The Alps.” He replied immediately. “Not the Swiss ones, the French ones. In the summer. It gets so hot there but the breeze coming off the mountains is the most refreshing thing. I’d show you everywhere me and Bucky went and I would tell you stories about the things we did. You would have liked Bucky— you both have the exact same temperament and nerdiness about you.” He tried to crack a smile but it just came off as a painful grimace. 

She choked out a half-laugh and stepped closer. “I think I would like to take you to Peru. The mountains there are gorgeous and we could have lunch at Machu Picchu. Take a picnic or something and feed the Alpacas even though you’re really not supposed to. Dad took me there when I was ten— we saved a lot of lives there.”

He hummed and his free hand cupped the side of her neck, tracing over the line of her jaw and hovering over a bruise swelling there. 

“You picked a place, and I picked a place. Where’s one place you haven’t been to, yet?” He whispered. 

“I haven’t been to Athens, yet. Gio went last year alone because I that pneumonia.” She said, and he chuckled. 

“You’re like a baby when you’re sick. But yeah, I haven’t been to Athens. Maybe we can make our own memories and stories.”

“I would like that,” YN whispered, more tears falling from her eyes. He ducked his head and just as his nose was about to touch her own, there was crackling over their comm system ad a deep voice echoed in their ears. 

“How about I give you the chance to actually do those things and keep it out of everyone's head?” Nick Fury’s voice echoed and Steve jumped away just in time to watch as the largest airbase they had ever seen fly into sight. 

“Fury, you son of a bitch.” Steve cursed, half annoyed that his moment with YN was interrupted but relieved neither of them was going to die. Pietro popped up beside the two of them and Steve made to take a side step further away from YN, remembering how much she had been flirting with the boy only half an hour before. 

“Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Fury joked and YN could have cried at the right of flying lifeboats coming to land on the edge of the city. 

“This is SHIELD?” Pietro wondered in awe. 

“This is what SHIELD's supposed to be.” YN and Steve echoed, in equal amazement. 

“This is not so bad.”

"Let's load 'em up.”

______________________

Evacuating the city was easy enough— the citizens all wanted to get the hell out so it was only a matter of dividing the people into groups of 200 and then making sure nobody was trampled. They were all called tot he cathedral in the centre of the city soon after, and fighting the robots all together in order to protect the drill was epic in its own mind, despite neither Tony, YN or Giovanna had time or breath to make witty, sarcastic comments as they worked with the rest of the team to deplete Ultron’s bodies. 

Then, Giovanna, Vision, Thor, and Tony all put their full blast onto Ultron before Bruce had punted him no less than a mile away. 

“We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.” Steve gasped as he watched anyone who could fly take off after the robots. YN nodded. 

“I’ll stay with you, then.” She said and he looked at her. His expression was one of annoyance, protectiveness and amusement. 

“You will get your ass onto one of those lifeboats or else—“

“Or else what?”

“Just to it, Banner,” Steve commanded and YN rolled her eyes, turning and going to walk away before facing him once more. She pulled him into a hug, and kissed the side of his neck adoringly, and he flushed red and buried his face into the side of her head. 

“Come back safe, Steve,” YN whispered into his ear and he allowed the shiver he would have repressed under any other circumstance to shake his spine. 

“I will always come back to you, YN.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

_____________________

“Dad!” YN shouted as she hopped out of the back of the racer Clint and Natasha had found. He was in a park, tearing the slide in two when she found him, and he looked at her and growled, throwing the plastic the ground and stepping on it so it lay flat against the gravel.  

She put his extra clothes on a bench she passed and walked over to her dad, hands out. He looked at her, and Big Guy seemed to recognize her. He stepped forward and YN smiled encouragingly. 

“You did amazing things, today Dad. You were a hero. How about you shrink down for a bit and when we get home I’ll make some cheesecake? We can eat the whole thing in the lab if you want.” YN started talking and she could see the green fling from Hulks skin. 

“And you can even wear your cartoon T-Shirts and I won’t even tease you about it? Maybe I can wear one and we can match, okay?” YN continued, and just as she held out her hand to wrap around one of his fingers, there was the sound of gunfire, a splitting pain at the spot just above her kidney and then black.

______________________

YN woke up the sound of steady beeping— slow, but steady. The room she was in was filled with sunlight— she could see it through her closed eyelids, and someone was playing the most recent Tame Impala album. There was the smell of flowers, floating around, but the scent wasn’t strong enough to cover up the equally strong scent of cleaner and antiseptic. 

She grunted and lolled her head to the side to find a freshly showered, tired-looking Giovanna. 

“You look like shit.” YN’s voice was raspy and Giovanna’s head shot up so fast YN was surprised she didn’t sway in her seat. 

“You’re alive!” She whisper-shouted, voice thick with emotion. Giovanna immediately stood from her pouty chair she was sitting in by the open window and motioned for YN to move over so she could sit by her hips, facing her. There was a hint of dread in her face, and YN’s monitor picked up. 

“What happened.” YN deadpanned and Giovanna dropped her gaze nervously. “Who died?”

“YN I’m so sorry—“ Giovanna whispered, and YN’s heart monitor beeped louder. She tried to push herself onto her elbows, but she had been out so long her muscles were weak with exhaustion.

“Who. Died.”

“Pietro. He died saving Clint and this kid.” Giovanna’s voice was barely audible but YN heard it as if the girl had screamed the words. 

“No. No, no, no, no, no— he can’t— he couldn’t. No.” YN found herself finding it harder and harder to breathe, and it looked like Giovanna was biting her tongue to stop more bad news from spilling out. 

“I’m so sorry, YN— Dios mío.” She whispered as she pressed an oxygen mask to YN’s face. She waited thirty seconds before pulling it away.

“Something else happened.” YN gasped, pressing the oxygen to her face again, and Giovanna started crying. She leaned over YN’s body and pressed her face to her chest.

“YN, please— I don’t—“ Giovanna whimpered and YN lay frozen, making no move to comfort her like she would have normally— the dread in her body seemed to paralyze her bones. 

“What, Gio?”

“Your dad— he’s. He’s missing. There hasn’t been any contact with him for a week. We had to keep you sedated so your gunshots and ribs would heal faster, but we couldn’t— YN no, you can’t get up—“

“I need to find him. Only I can find him. He must be— he has to be so scared and only I can find him and calm him down.” YN rushed, pulling censors off of her chest and arms and tearing out IV’s.

“YN no, he’s gone. There’s no trace of him on the planet.” Giovanna rushed around and pushed YN back, making her weakened body tumble back onto the bed. 

“Dad’s gone?” YN whimpered, and Giovanna’s heart broke as how small her best friend looked. Instead of replying, Giovanna pulled YN to her and let the girl cry big, heaving sobs into her stomach for hours. Only until YN’s voice disappeared and she swayed in her seat was Giovanna able to push her back to the bed and pull the blankets around her chin. 

“I’m so sorry, Bubs.”

______________________

It was another two weeks later YN was released on all basis— her wound had healed perfectly, and while it still shattered her that both Pietro and her father had disappeared from her life, YN continued to repress the fears that her dream had surfaced. Giovanna wouldn’t leave her. Steve wouldn’t leave her. She could place the rest of her bets on them— she had lost the bet on her father, but two-thirds were still pretty good odds, right?

Outside of the compound, Steve and Tony were walking. 

“I will miss you, Tony.” Steve clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder and Tony nodded, looking out to the window where YN and Giovanna had their arms wrapped around the other, watching from YN’s physical therapy session. Tony wouldn’t be gone long, and the girls would be able to visit him anytime they wished— it was Steve and Natasha he wouldn’t be seeing for a while— they both had work to do. 

"Yeah? Well, it's time for me to tap out. Maybe I should take a page out of Barton's book and build Pepper and Giovanna a farm, hope nobody blows it up.” Tony turned back to Steve and smiled wistfully. Steve raised his eyebrows.

“The simple life,” Steve commented, and Tony huffed a laugh. 

“You'll get there one day,” Tony replied, jutting his chin in the direction of the compound. Steve followed the motion and his eyes set on YN who had yet to let the sadness in her eyes leave since she woke up. 

“I don't know, family, stability. The guy who wanted all that went in the ice seventy-five years ago. I think someone else came out.” Steve sighed, turning away from the woman of his dreams and back to Tony who rolled his eyes and scoffed. 

“I see the way you look at my niece, Rogers.” Tony’s voice was hard. “It’s okay to not want all that domestic life with nobody else but one person.”

Steve was quiet and he dared a brief glance put to YN and Giovanna who were starting to turn back into the gym— YN using crutches and Giovanna hovering closely. 

“She’s good. She’s too good for someone like me— I’ve done things that would make her horrified to even know me.” He sighed. “She’s so young, too— and I don’t want her to have to settle early enough for what I want in life.”

Tony rubbed his eyes but remained patient. 

“Rogers, you are the best man I’ve ever met besides myself. And she truly doesn’t want anyone else but the man who is too stubborn to admit that you are both perfect for each other. Fuck the rules, Steve. Be a little selfish.”

Steve chuckled despite the irritation growing in his chest. “There are rules for a reason, Tony. Maybe it’s just best for everyone if they’re followed.” 

Tony began to climb into his car, and he poked his head out to lower his glasses and glared at Steve. “Everyone but the two people who it doesn’t, right?”

“I’ll keep in touch, Tony.”

“Take care of my girls, Rogers! Or you’ll have me to answer to!” Tony yelled as he pressed his foot to the gas pedal, and Steve only shook his head and watched Tony drive off until he turned the bend and disappeared from sight.

____________________

Taglist (must reblog at least three chapters, send an ask to be added): buckybarneshairpullingkink / staringmoony / through-the-crevices / highladyofasgard / @i-am-always-famished / @filia-sapientiae / @somekryptonitewriting / @fashionlive15 / @godlymissbalor / @fanfictionjunkie1112 / @nerdy-bookworm-1998 / @songforhema / @army-crawl-andersen / @buckybarneshairpullingkink / @shynara51 / @deathofmissjackson / @a–1–1–3 / @liffydaze / @shymarvelfannanni / @freakpotterfan / @callie-bear15 / @sunflower-borhap-boys / @criedwolfwritings/ @vxidnik / @captainomad / @lazinessisalliknow / jjlevin / @gwlaxygirl / liaswhorable / @notyourtypicalrose / @madlymadzzz

[magewriter]

Magic Mayhem

I own nothing. This is for the Secret Kalex Santa 2019. I had Silverwriter01.

Silverwriter01 didn’t give me much to go on in terms of prompts, so I took the ‘whatever you want to write’, ‘kids’, and ‘other worlds’ and ran with it.

XXXXXXXXXX

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Kara grunted as the ape-like creature (she didn’t think it was alien, but it certainly wasn’t normal for earth) tossed her away again.

Someone laughed. “Get her my pet! We shall teach this little upstart!”

Grabbing onto the creature, Kara threw it out of the plaza and towards an abandoned building. She knew it was set for demolition thanks to Lena. It took a few tosses as it kept getting up and heading back towards L-Corp.

“Supergirl, what’s happening?” Alex’s voice came over the coms.

“Giant ape-thing and its owner,” Kara replied, grunting as she pushed off the side of the building and slammed into the being attacking her.

They tumbled to the floor, the creature grunting this time as all the air in its chest rushed out. Kara untangled herself and floated above, waiting for it to get back up.

“I guess we need to up the difficulty.”

Kara spun to face the person who had spoken. They wore a long cloak, hood up to cover their features. In their gloved hands they held a book, open to a page that glowed as they spoke words Kara didn’t understand.

There was shifting behind her and she spun to look at the creature. It had been large before, but it was now three times its original size. Its fist rose up and smashed Kara to the side.

“Think…I’m…going…to need…a…little…back-up.” Kara said, getting back into the fight. She could not throw the creature, there was no longer enough room. It had gone from being roughly the size of a large gorilla to a small King Kong. Any bigger and it would be the movie monster.

“Little! That seems a fitting way to be rid of your presence!” The person laughed, flickering through their book. “Yes, we’ll see how much help you’ll be to this city when you’re a babe in arms!”

“I don’t think so!” Alex popped through a broken window, barrel rolling into the robed individual.

“You can join her!” Alex found herself tossed away, colliding with the chest of the ape-thing still trying to smash her girlfriend to pieces. “Barlow, grab them both!”

Barlow grasped both women in his hands, holding them in place as his master stood back up.

“Good boy, listening to mummy so well.” The woman pulled her hood down to reveal achingly beautiful features. Pale gray eyes beneath dark bangs looked them over, her smirk pulling her lips apart to reveal pointed fangs. “So fierce,” she chuckled at the snarl on Alex’s face.

She grabbed Alex’s face in her hands, her book floating beside her. “So protective, but not always.” Alex tried to wrench her head away, ducking away from the woman’s eyes. She failed, the woman’s fingers tightening. “Oh yes, this will work out oh so nicely.”

The woman turned her attention to Kara, releasing her hold on Alex. She approached grapping a fistful of the blonde’s hair to make Kara look at her.

“I had been warned that you would be a thorn in my side. Both of you, and your little friend hiding in her tower.” She hummed, taking in the battered appearance of the Kryptonian. “Personally, killing you both now would make my plans so much simpler.”

“Then do it and save us from your nattering,” Alex said, trying to get enough room to get one of her thin knives from its hidden sheath.

Barlow growled at her movements, squeezing tighter on the both of them. He wondered, somewhere in his dim little mind, who would pop first. Would the not-human have not-red blood? Would they scream before they turned into pulp? Would Mummy allow him to eat them?

He was being a good boy and good boys always got treats.

“Oh don’t fret Barlow,” she patted his fist. “We can’t kill you just yet I’m afraid. That’s always a mistake. Kill one hero and more just pop up.” She shook her head. “No, you both are going to serve as a grand distraction. Then I’ll kill you and all your little cohorts.”

Kara glowered, feeling the heat behind her eyes. It was hard to concentrate when she was being squeezed to death. How was the creature so strong?

“Drop them in the circle Barlow, I don’t want my boy to get caught in this.” She patted him again.

Barlow lumbered over to a relatively clear patch of ground. Looking at it, the two realized just how easy they had been led into a trap. The woman outright laughed at them now as they were unceremoniously deposited into the circle.

Kara tried to get up and rush out of the circle. She was bounced back, twisting just in time to avoid landing on Alex. For her part, Alex wrapped an arm around Kara, keeping her in place.

“We’ll get out of this,” she whispered. “Do you think you can hit her book?”

“I can try,” Kara mumbled back. Her heat vision wasn’t solid, so it probably wouldn’t bounce off the containment field.

“Do it on my count,” Alex felt behind her, relaxing when she felt the solid forms on the intact grenades. She pulled one, prepping it.

The woman held the book before it, balanced on air as she began to chant. Kara recognized a few words as Gaelic, having heard them from Lena. At least, they sounded Gaelic. Maybe Welsh…or possibly the two languages mixed together.

The air began to feel heavy. Kara shook her head, suddenly dizzy.

“Kara!” Why did Alex sound so young? “Kara, do it now!”

Do what…oh! Right! Heat vision the book!

Kara aimed at the book that was higher than before. She still hit it, sending it flying from its perch as it began to smoke. The woman screamed and Barlow roared. Kara went to the ground as Alex landed on top of her, covering her ears.

She still heard the stun grenade go off with a loud pop. She twisted, covering Alex as debris began to fall around them. Her hearing was shot for the moment, but everything else worked just fine.

Except…she was suddenly smaller than Alex? Kara looked down, eyes widening to see a face that belonged in pictures and not on her girlfriend. Not anymore.

“Alex?” She whispered once things had stopped shaking.

“Kara?” Alex’s voice broke in confusion. She moved a hand to tug on a lock of Kara’s hair. Hair that was distinctly darker than her normal blonde.

“Oh Rao…what did she do to us?” Her own voice sounded funny to her ears.

Alex opened her mouth to respond, but closed it again as her mind struggled to accept what her eyes were seeing. This wasn’t possible. It wasn’t.

“Agent Danvers! Supergirl! Report!”

The voice came over the com unit still in their ears. Kara yelped and ripped hers out, crushing it in her haste. Alex was a little gentler with hers, but not by much. The two stared at each other, eyes wide as they took in their current appearances.

“Alex?”

Alex quickly dragged the blonde into her arms. “It’s okay. We’re going to be okay. Just concentrate on me, okay? Just listen to my heart.”

Kara’s lips trembled. Everything was so loud. Everything was always loud, but normally she could filter it out.

Normally she wasn’t twelve years old.

A roar alerted them that Barlow was still a threat.

Alex wrapped herself around Kara. “Fly us out of here Supergirl.”

“Get the little bugs!” Barlow roared and tried to do as ordered.

Kara, in full flight mode, dodged his wide swiping. Alex scrambled to get onto her back, freeing Kara’s arms.

In a trick they had perfected over the years, Alex tucked herself as close as physically possible as Kara took flight. Fleeing was the only thought on either of their minds. This was not a battle they could currently win.

XXXXXXXXX

“Oh my God,” Lena startled when two children landed on her balcony. Taking in the too large clothes and the suit she had helped design, she knew who they were. “Get in here. What happened? Are you hurt?”

“No idea,” Alex replied, “but we need the quiet room.”

Lena nodded. “Jess, postpone the meeting until Sam can get here to take care of it.”

“Yes Ms. Luthor,” Jess didn’t blink an eye at the child versions of Supergirl and Agent Danvers. She doubted this would be the strangest thing to ever occur.

Lena helped Alex get up and carry Kara inside a small room directly off her office. She had designed it to mimic a sensory deprivation tank to help people (mainly children) destress and calm down from over stimulation. It worked wonders for adults as well, especially ones who had increased senses.

Despite her claustrophobia, Kara used it far more often than Lena ever did.

“What happened?” Lena asked quietly. She made note to have Jess go out and get some child appropriate clothing.

“I’m not sure,” Alex described what had happened. Kara said nothing, just curled up in Alex’s lap with an ear pressed into the other girl’s chest. “I don’t think she completed what she was trying to do. She…” Alex was not proud of how she had treated Kara when the girl had first arrived. “She made a comment about me not always being as protective as I am now.”

“She meant to take us back to a point where we would no longer be a threat, minds included.” Kara spoke. She stretched out, sitting up. “She mentioned me being a ‘babe in arms’.”

Lena frowned. “So what went wrong?”

“Kara torched the book mid…do I really have to call it a spell?” Alex frowned. All the things they had come up against, magic had never been one of them. Tech that looked like magic, yes, but not actual magic. She wasn’t certain where fifth dimensional beings fit into that.

“She had her minion drop you into a circle and started casting, I think until further evidence is gathered we might as well.” Lena hid her smile.

“She made Barlow bigger, and she had it prepared.” Kara frowned before her eyes widened. “We aren’t her only targets! She’s after you too.” Her lips began to tremble as tears filled her eyes. “And we led her right to you.”

“Kara, it’s fine.” Lena assured her. “She has to get a new spell book first.”

Alex snorted. “Her ape minion is no joke, and Kara’s right. She can change his size. It was tossing us around as if we were nothing.” She rubbed her ribs.

“Are you hurt?” Kara checked her. “Alex! Three of your ribs are cracked!”

“It’s fine,” Alex grunted.

Kara frowned at her. “It’s not fine! You’re hurt!”

A knock on the door stopped any further arguments. Lena stood and checked the data pad, opening the door when it only revealed Jess to be on the other side.

“Yes?”

“Ms. Arias is here, and I brought these.” She held out a first aid kit and a bag containing children’s clothing.

“Thank you.” Lena took the items. “Has there been anything?”

“No, the creature formerly rampaging the streets has vanished. The building on tenth that was set for demolition is currently a pile of rubble.”

“It was still standing when we left,” Alex called out.

“Have the contractor in charge of the demolition do an assessment of the area before further work is done.” At this point, it was a steady business. Kara at least did try to keep building destroying fights in those locations where demolition was scheduled.

“Of course.” Jess glanced past her boss. “I already ordered lunch. It should be here within the next twenty minutes.”

“Thank you Jess,” Lena watched her PA return to her desk. She pitied whoever tried to get past the woman. She turned back to her childized friends. “Alright, Alex we should get those ribs wrapped.”

Alex grumbled, but allowed it to happen. Kara’s fierce glare was a good motivator.

It was a relief to ditch their oversized clothing. Kara giggled at the Disney© Princess shirt, tugging it on carefully. She skipped the skirt and went for the lighter pair of jeans. Jess had stuck to plain socks, but Kara didn’t care. She held out the clothes she had chosen for Alex.

“Really?” Alex took the clothes and got dressed. The jeans were fine, basically a child-sized version of her normal wear. The shirt on the other hand… “I’m never going to live this down.” She tugged the Gryffindor t-shirt on.

Kara snickered. “You act as if you don’t have that exact shirt already.”

Alex scowled at her. “Not the point Kara.” She typically didn’t wear her more geek themed clothing outside of their apartment. She had a reputation to maintain. “Shirts aside, how are we going to fix this?”

“We need to see if we can find the book, and then…” Kara paused, going through the long list of people she either know or knew of who might be able to help. Maybe J’onn would know someone? “We should call J’onn.”

Lena watched them for a moment. “I’ll contact Director J’onzz. Where are your earpieces?”

Kara winched. “I crushed mine taking it out after,” she waved her hand between her and Alex.

“Mine is somewhere in the rubble,” Alex said with a shrug. She frowned at the pile of things that she and Kara had managed to retain. “Along with the rest of my stuff.”

Lena chose not to comment on that.

XXXXXXXX

Calling J’onn caused another host of problems. With Supergirl having apparently disappeared, Superman had been called in. Now with both his surrogate daughters turned into actual children, he had made the call to bring in Eliza to see if the medical field could reverse what magic had done.

Alex and Kara found themselves being fought over. Superman was all for locking them away somewhere until they could be returned to their proper states. J’onn argued that having them remain in the DEO was best, both to ensure their safety and for them to be close by for when they figured out how to change them back. Eliza argued for them to stay with her, not inside a government building for who knew how long.

“Or we can just stay on our own,” Alex grumbled. She was physically fourteen, but otherwise her typical twenty-eight year old self. Kara, as near as they could tell, was physically twelve. They had already tested to see if she had all her powers (she did) and her mental capabilities (she was twenty-six, not twelve thank you very much).

“It’s not like we haven’t been doing that for years already,” Kara grumbled. Besides that, their shared best friend had been threatened. If they were hidden away, who would protect Lena?

Lena, for her part, was sitting with her arms crossed and glaring at the other adults. Almost absently, she texted back and forth with Jess. If these three were going to continue squabbling, then she was going to do something about it. Honestly, even if the pair had been mind-wiped to match their current physical state it wasn’t as if they would be any less stubborn.

Considering that aside from being allowed in because she had had them, she was being ignored now, Lena was not impressed. She knew Clark disliked her (the feeling was mostly mutual). Eliza was hit-or-miss for the most part, depending on the topic. J’onn might not completely trust her, but he did respect her.

Frowning, Alex made the decision. Nodding to Kara, her girlfriend floated over to get Lena’s attention. The pair nodded to the door to indicate they were leaving. Lena nodded, waving them off. A quick text to Jess, and her phone was ringing ten minutes later.

“Yes, I’ll be there momentarily. Have my driver outside in five.” She ended the call. “I am needed at L-Corp. Please let me know of any way I can help.”

She left, heels clicking against the floor as she made her way outside. True to form, her car was waiting for her. Inside, the pair sat waiting for her.

“Honestly,” Lena sighed. “Rupert, any word from the search teams?”

“Yes ma’am,” the man driving the car responded. “They found the circle that was described and the research team is already running it through every database they can think of. Parts of a book were found, but from what was reported it is badly burned and in no language anyone recognized.”

“Of course not,” Alex huffed. “That would make this too easy.”

“I thought it sounded like Welsh or Gaelic when she was speaking, but not,” Kara added. “Almost like Pig Latin maybe, all mashed up together?”

Lena wrinkled her nose at the thought. She spoke both languages fluently (mostly because it pissed Lilian off to hear it) and the thought of mashing them together caused her head to hurt. Considering Kara’s face, she had the same thought.

“So where do we begin looking?” Lena gave it maybe an hour before a search party was sent out. She wanted them established in a safe house before then.

“I want to scan the warehouse myself,” Kara stated. She had her powers back under control. She was determined not to be overwhelmed like that again. “There has to be a reason she chose that specific one.”

“Do we know anyone who knows anything about magic?” Alex questioned. She couldn’t think of anyone, but then Kara’s network was fairly large and spread out over at least two Earths.

“Maybe?” Kara’s forehead crinkled. “I’ll need to call Barry to get in contact with Oliver.”

“Ma’am, if I may?” Rupert got their attention.

“Go ahead,” Lena sat forward. She knew and understood science just as Alex and Kara did. Magic was something they all left in the realm of fiction.

“Perhaps looking into fiction would be a good place to begin? I don’t play myself, but my sister is deeply into RPGs and such, most of them fantasy related.” He looked a little sheepish at the suggestion.

“It makes sense,” Alex said after a moment. “Most tech would look like magic to those who didn’t know what it was. And it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve dealt with an interdimensional being.”

Kara groaned at the reminder. “I hope not. He was difficult enough to deal with.”

“It’s an idea worth pursuing,” Lena acknowledged. At this point, anything helped. “We have a starting place for the morning. Tonight, we’re going to ensure we have a workable plan for what is going on.”

“I think Kara should still be Supergirl.” Alex spoke quickly. The other two stared at her in astonished disbelief. “Hear me out, okay?” Honestly, this idea scared the shit out of her. “When Kara first got here, she had to hide and pretend she couldn’t help when she actually could. Why should she have to do it again?”

“I agree,” Lena said slowly, “with modified coms, you can still be her backup.”

“Does this mean I have to wear a skirt again?” Kara pouted. She liked the pants on her new suit!

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lena waved her concerns aside. “This gives us a chance to field test the new suit we’ve been working on.”

Alex perked up. “The nano-suit?”

“Yes, but after we’ve done a full work-up on both of you.” Lena was not happy in the least that there had been more arguing over what to do with them than how to fix them.

They continued to talk, working out a game plan by the time they arrived back at L-Corp. The lab work didn’t take very long, not when Alex could help with the aid of a footstool.

“Everything’s…normal.” Alex looked at the results with a frown. She had pulled up copies of previous check-ups on the computer to compare. “Aside from our minds, physically we’re healthy teenagers.”

“There aren’t any traces of odd radiation, either on you or your previous clothing.” Lena didn’t like this. There had to be something.

“I wonder if the AI would know anything?” Kara mused out loud. She had done what she could to help, but now it was up to her favorite humans.

“Was something similar to this likely to happen on Krypton?” Alex asked. Her girlfriend’s biology was strange enough as it was.

“No,” Kara said after a time. “That would be an entirely different species, and we’re still the same people.”

The two humans paused, gaping at their alien for a second before looking at each other. Deciding that they weren’t going to delve into that topic, they moved on.

“It was just a thought,” Kara gently pushed off the wall she had been floating against. “Perhaps there would have been some archived knowledge about either the creature or the language used.”

“We can try it tomorrow,” Alex yawned.

Kara frowned at them. “Yes, after we’ve all gotten some sleep.” She looked between them. “Where are we sleeping?” By now their apartment would be staked out by at least Eliza.

“Come with me,” Lena smirked at them. Being a highly prepared multi-billionaire paid off in times like this.

“We’re adopting her,” Alex decreed, taking in the bunker Lena had led them to. “You’re a Danvers now,” she informed Lena.

“She’s been a Danvers for ages Alex,” Kara said, looking down from her perch with a grin. “Earth just hasn’t caught up yet.”

Lena laughed at them. She managed to pull Alex away from the small lab she had in the room, pushing her towards the bathroom. “Kara, please come down from there. That’s not meant to be a perch.”

“It is now,” she sing-songed, coming down. “Are you staying with us?”

“Probably for the best,” Lena had no doubt that Superman would have it out for her for ‘kidnapping’ his ‘venerable’ cousin. She also wanted to be on hand just in case they woke up completely as children. She would be able to call Eliza then.

XXXXXX

Morning might have dawned brightly, but not quietly.

The pounding alarms were not a pleasant way to wake up.

Alex had really hoped the day before had been a really detailed dream.

The dark blonde hair covering her face when she woke up and the much smaller presence of her alien curled into her killed that hope. As did the whimpering coming from Kara before someone shut the alarms off.

“We’ve got company,” Lena’s voice echoed over the intercom. “Bloody hell, that is an ugly ape.”

Shaking off her disorientation, Kara sat up with a grim look of determination on her face. Exchanging a look, they separated.

Alex went to find Lena in the command center of the bunker. Idly, she thought they needed to come up with a better name for the place.

“He looks even worse on screen,” she commented, sliding into the second chair. She fumbled a little with the com system, fingers no longer used to the habit of putting it on.

“I don’t want to get close to him then,” Lena tapped a few keys. “That had to hurt.” The ape had just slammed his fist into Superman, sending the man flying off screen.

Alex snickered. “Kara dodged that move yesterday.”

“Where is Kara?” Lena looked up, expecting to see the younger version of her friend.

“Dressed and ready to go!” Kara zoomed in, giddy in her new suit. Her cape fluttered out behind her, a little to long for her current height but hopefully not something they would need to fix. “Perfect fit!” She spun around showing it off. “Good to go?”

“Here,” Lena held out the adjust com unit. “It’s set, and be careful.”

Kara nodded. “If she’s there, I’ll try to get her spell book intact.”

“Not calling it a spell book,” Alex muttered. Kara darted forward and kissed her cheek. Lena laughed at the blush rising on her face.

She darted in, slamming into Barlow with as much force as she could muster. It sent him flying forward, toppling a sign with Lord’s face on it. She smirked, ignoring the snickering coming over the coms.

“Pick on someone your own size!” She taunted him. She needed to locate the magic user.

Barlow roared, getting up and turning his focus onto the girl he had been searching for. Mommy had promised he could break her and eat her pieces. He just had to catch her first.

“Get her my boy!” Barlow glowed, growing larger than he had the day before.

“Too slow!” Kara taunted, dodging fists and teeth as he attempted to use both. She used her heat vision, searing a line across his back and drawing him further away from the city center.

In a blink, he disappeared. Kara froze, trying to find him. She grunted when one of his now massive fists slammed into her side and sent her careening into the street.

“That’s…not…” she twisted and launched herself back into the sky to avoid the next strike. It was true invisibility, not camouflage. There was no shifting to the surrounding area for it to be the latter.

“My boy has several talents, does he not?” The woman from before was floating nearby. “I wonder, are you as fire resistant as the stories claim?”

Kara found herself dodging fireballs. Actual, legitimate fireballs the woman was tossing from her hand.

Growling, Kara blew her freeze breath towards her attacker. The woman couldn’t throw things if she was too busy dodging.

Barlow grabbed the trailing edge of her cape, yanking her down and back into battle with him. They were now tag-teaming her.

“Oh my fucking god,” Alex came over the com unit.

“Kara, that’s a demon,” Lena’s voice came across next.

“No holds barred,” Alex commanded. “Destroy it Supergirl.”

“Got it!” Kara grunted. She dropped her cape, feeling the nano-bots in her new suit adjust to its loss and stabilize her in the air.

She picked up a chunk of debris and threw it at the witch (she honestly didn’t care what the proper word was at the moment). Turning her attention to Barlow, she went full throttle. He wasn’t as heavy as Fort Rozz, but he moved a lot more.

Throwing him into his ‘mommy’ was a lot of fun. Once she was out of the battle, Kara turned her fury onto him.

Barlow never stood a chance. Even enlarged, he was outmatched by the Kryptonian. He tried to use his skills to escape, but Kara halted each attempt. Finally, winded from yet another chest strike, he fell to Kara’s heat-vision.

In a flash of heat and acrid smoke, he disintegrated into ash.

Kara landed, panting. She was drained, but not to the point of a solar flare.

“No! My boy!” The woman stood, disheveled and her face marred by stray bits of stone. “I will end you, irritating child! You, and your blighted friends. This world will be mine.”

Kara huffed. “What did we ever do to you?”

“Heroes are all the same, no matter the world.” The woman snarled. “Interfering busybodies, ruining a sorcereress’ life’s work simply because it’s outside the realm of what they consider to be right.” She approached Kara, book raised and glowing like before. “I am going to erase you from existence.”

A shot rang out, sending the woman stumbling back as red blossomed across her shoulder. Kara used the distraction to surge forward and snatched the book from her.

Hand clasped to her shoulder, the woman laughed. “You think that will help you? Only a sorcereress of my caliber can use what is in that book girl! Return it before you hurt yourself.”

“I could destroy it again,” Kara held the book up, “just like I did yesterday.”

The woman growled, power beginning to swirl around her. “This time, I won’t fail.” He hand reared back, a spear of glowing light within it.

Another shot rang out, the power fading as the woman collapsed. Kara spun, both surprised and not to see Alex with a pistol still aimed at the now dead sorcereress.

“This is why I never babysat,” Lena grumbled. “Both of you get back here with that book. And Alex, we’re discussing how you got into that cabinet.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex switched the safety on before holstering the gun. “Nice job Supergirl.” She caught Kara as the girl launched herself at her.

“Stupid,” Kara muttered, “you were supposed to stay inside.”

“And miss all the fun?”

The sound of a throat clearing behind them got their attention. J’onn stood there. He did not look pleased. Superman landed beside him, a dark look leveled at Alex.

Kara’s first instinct was to get them out of there as quickly as possible. She went with it.

She always had been faster than Kal-El.

XXXXXX

Lena was rolling with laughter when they returned to the bunker. Jess and Rupert, who had brought the information that had turned the tide of the fight, were giving their own laughter the freedom to come out.

Alex snickered when she caught sight of the screen. She hadn’t known Clark could look that flustered.

He had just gotten beaten by a twelve year old.

Which honestly just made it funnier.

J’onn didn’t look much better, but once they were back to normal they would make it up to him. He would understand, Alex was certain of it. If not, she’d just let Kara pout at him.

“Alright, let’s see the book.” Lena held out her hand.

Kara handed it over. “Do you think she was right, that we’ll need her or someone like her to undo this?”

“Possibly,” Lena acknowledged, “but let’s attempt it ourselves first.”

“So…how did you find out it was a demon?” Kara asked.

“A D&D manual,” Jess handed over the book. “It might not be entirely accurate, but it certainly looks like what you fought.”

Kara read it over, grimacing at the picture. Aside from the size, it could very easily be Barlow pictured in the book. Alex scowled at it.

That was all they needed. Someone able to bring fantasy game characters to life.

She was going to need a bigger gun.

“This is…” Lena pushed the book away from her. “I think I liked magic better when it was fictional.”

“So it actually is magic?” Alex asked. Who did they know that could help with that?

“I don’t know what else to call it,” Lena admitted begrudgingly.

“I could call my sister, she might know something,” Rupert suggested. At least this was better than having to reassure his family that he had survived another attempt on his boss’s life.

“Might as well,” Kara agreed. If that didn’t work, there was always her earlier suggestion to call in some of her friends.

In the end, it was a sheer point of luck that Rupert’s sister happened to play with an actual sorcereress who was willing to come to National City to help out. Why an actual user of magic chose to play fantasy RPGs they decided not to question.

“A month,” Alex stretched and shook out her limbs. “A fucking month of being a teenager again.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “We’re back to normal now, and language.”

Alex scowled at her. “No, and I still had to do paperwork! How is that fair?”

“Hey, I still did my job!” Kara defended. True, unlike Alex she had been unable to actually go into CatCo but that was what e-mail was for! Bonus was that Snapper couldn’t yell at her.

“I couldn’t even go into the lab!” Alex continued to complain. “And Mom was here the entire time! She made me sleep on the couch!”

Kara snorted. “Only for the first few days, and then she gave up.”

“Only because you sleep floated to the couch to cuddle with me!”

“I didn’t sleep float!” Kara defended, blushing.

Alex blinked at her. “You…how?”

“We’re adults,” Kara defended, “and we’re dating. Honestly,” she crossed her arms with a huff, “she was acting as if we didn’t regularly share a bed when we were actually teenagers.”

“We weren’t dating then,” Alex pointed out, “different perspective.”

Kara snorted. “Just because she refused to acknowledge our betrothal means absolutely nothing.” She thought on it. “I need to make you a proper bracelet.”

“Betrothal?” Alex was confused now. “Kara, what are you talking about?”

Kara ignored her, turning to head towards where the AI was kept. She needed to look up the correct designs. She had left it long enough.

“Kara, wait a minute! Kara! How long have we been engaged? Kara!”

Alex chased after her.

­­­­­­­­­­ I hope you enjoy this Silverwriter01! Happy Holidays!

[thetygre]

30 Day Monster Challenge 2 - Day #19: Favorite Minions/Henchmen

1.      Minions (Overlord [Video Game])

There is only one creature we call ‘Minion’ in this house, and it is the Minions from Overlord. (The game, not the anime.) The Minions are the perfect… well, minions. They’re design is mostly goofy, but there’s also something kind of horrible to them; they’re like somebody threw an imp, a spider monkey, and a goblin in a sack and didn’t open it up again until the screaming stopped. Those buggy yellow eyes, the hunched backs, the crooked tails, the shrill voices; this is what pops into my head when I think of what an evil minion is supposed to be like. They are utterly and totally devout to their master; they have one purpose in life, and that is to serve you. They think absolutely nothing of throwing themselves into a forge just to upgrade your weapons or taking on a monster just because you tell them to.

Watching them swarm over a cyclops like a nest of army ants is always fun, but that hivemind mentality shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of individual. The Minions are kind of precursors to the uruks from Shadow of Mordor; the longer they live and the more fights they survive, the more unique they become. They’re given names and titles, and they start gathering weapons and armor. It’s never made clear what exactly the Minions are in Overlord, but the implication isn’t that an Overlord chooses them; they choose the Overlord. Without the Minions, and Overlord is just some spooky adventurer in a suit of armor. The Minions make the man, and the fact that you need them as much as they need you is a pretty interesting power dynamic.

2.      X-49 (Samurai Jack)

Just… do I really have to say anything? It was one of the best episodes in Samurai Jack, one of the best animated series of all time. And the music and the writing and the cinematography and oh god it’s all coming back at once

3.      Igor (Young Frankenstein)

There never was an Igor in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; he’s a fabricated character at least partially concocted from Edgar Allan Poe’s Hop-Frog that somehow wormed himself into horror mythology. And honestly, thank goodness for that or we wouldn’t have had Marty Feldman’s fantastic performance for Young Frankenstein. Feldman looks like he was born for the role; his exophthalmos was a problem he dealt with his entire life, but Igor is just one example of how he incorporated his condition into his comedy personas. Igor is a good comedic counterpart to Gene Wilder’s Frankenstein in a classic double-act kind of way. Where Wilder’s Frankenstein is driven to escape his destiny or conform to it, Feldman’s Igor is committed to his role from the beginning, with no real perspective on it in the grand scheme of things. Igor undercuts Frankenstein’s deliberate melodrama to remind the audience that it’s all a joke.

4.      Kobolds (Dungeons and Dragons)

Kobolds are one of the greatest success stories in tabletop roleplaying monsters. Kobolds have been in Dungeons and Dragons since the beginning, but they spent 1st and 2nd edition as basically another kind of goblin. Outside a few rare exceptions, kobolds were just an adventurer’s in-between step as they transitioned from clearing out rats in cellars to goblins in caves. For 3rd edition, the designers felt they needed to give kobolds something; a hook, a feature, a raison d’etre. So the design team though, “What if the littlest monsters had dreams about being the biggest? What if kobolds thought they were dragons?” The rest is history; kobolds became dragon minions, cultists who firmly believe that they are descended from the great wyrms they worship. Inside ever little kobold beats the heart of a mighty dragon, and their pluck and determination pushes them to reach for heights most humanoid races never even dream of. Kobolds are not only great examples of how to make a monster interesting from a game design perspective, but also of how endearing characters can be when you give them goals.

5.      Pleiades (Overlord [Anime])

It always bothers me when evil overlords leave their castle staff of their minions list. A great villain should have their power displayed in everything around them, from their captains to their cooks. That’s why Ainz Ooal Gown’s Pleiades are so great; the castle maids for an evil fortress, each on is an individual fighter with her own superpowers. Following organization rules, each of the maids is also a monster; werewolves, shapeshifting oozes, a sentient swarm of insects, etc. And that’s the kind of creativity and attention to detail I love to see in an evil overlord’s forces. Look at where there isn’t a superpowered minion, and say, “No, this will not do. More evil.”

6.      Hunchbacks (Castlevania)

I remember that my mind was blown when I finally realized the ‘fleamen’ from Castlevania were supposed to be hunchbacked Igors. While I was kind of disappointed that bizarre insect men hybrids, I am still happy that Castlevania didn’t neglect a favorite horror trope. Castlevania actually has a pretty unique staff; undead maids, zombie butchers, a plague doctor groundskeeper, and skeleton butlers. But it wasn’t until the Lords of Shadow games that the hunchbacks started being explored. One of the good things about Lords of Shadow was the implication that Castlevania itself is alive; the castle has always existed, and can’t even really be fully pulled through to our world. When the castle needs repairs, though, someone to repair it and expand it, it summons the hunchbacks out of nowhere. The hunchbacks are tied to the castle; they’re like cells in its body. They might know more about Castlevania itself than even Dracula, but they aren’t letting on. Their only job is to serve their master, whoever or whatever it might be.

7.      Maleficent’s Goblins (Sleeping Beauty)

Maleficent’s goblins are little bundles of medieval monstrosity with enough character to be charming. They’re like the Minions, where I honestly can’t imagine them existing without a master. It wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out they were just demons conjured up by Maleficent from her firepit. The odds and ends of medieval armor and weaponry on top of their gargoyle aesthetic makes me think of very early Tolkien, like the first covers for The Hobbit and Return of the King. These little guys were the forerunners to orcs, uruk-hai, parademons, and every other evil monster army. Sometimes I still wish we could go back to minions like these.

8.      Lurch (Addams Family)

The quintessential creepy butler. I feel like Lurch parallels Marty Feldman’s Igor in some pretty interesting ways. They’re both essentially half a joke, part of a comedy routine that requires someone else to land the punchline. The difference is that while Igor undermined Frankenstein to lighten the mood, Luch is deadly serious to contrast the Addams’ playfulness. Lurch wasn’t just a straight-man; he was a brick wall that you could throw anything off of. To be honest, I always kind of wondered what exactly Lurch was; I never really thought of him as human. My favorite theories are either that he was a flesh golem (since he was clearly based off Karloff’s Frankenstein), a homunculus grown for the family and passed down through generations, or just some really tall guy in a suit.

9.      Dwergi (Van Helsing)

The Dwergi in Van Helsing have an unnecessarily cool design for what amounts to being Dracula’s grunts. The goggles, spines, and full leather outfits make me think of aliens or something that would be working for Clive Barker’s Cenobites. I can’t help but think of the ‘jawas’ that were through the gate in Phantasm. But I think that I love the Dwergi most as concepts for evil dwarves; ‘dwergi’ most likely derives from ‘dvergar’, a German word for dwarf. There are even evil dwarves in Dungeons and Dragons named duergar and derro. And that connections opens up so many possibilities for me. Imagine a dwarven sub-race mutated to be classical Igor characters, or adventurers encountering derro dressed all in mad scientist gear underground. The Dwergi have hidden depths when you know where to look.

10.   Stormtroopers (Star Wars)

Out of the standard henchmen armies, Stormtroopers are still my favorite. Stormtroopers are up there with Red Shirts in terms of incompetence and mortality rates. Every now and then some random Stormtrooper manages to stand out and look like a badass, but even they usually have a lifespan of however long until the heroes arrive. I’ve heard some people argue that the humanizing elements of Stormtroopers, the way they talk about their day or are just trying to do a job, makes the very Nazi-coded Empire too sympathetic. But I would argue the opposite; the human aspects of the Stormtroopers make it clear how actually farcical the whole Empire is. The Stormtroopers aren’t some elite kill-force, they’re bumbling idiots. Whatever brutal efficiency they’re ascribed usually happens off-screen, and it quickly gets drowned out by the chorus of Wilhelm screams heard while trooper after trooper dies ridiculously. The Stormtroopers make it clear how fascism doesn’t raise the individual up but uses them as a disposable resource. The Stormtroopers as human characters make the Empire look inept, not empowered.

[skylanders-after-the-end]

Awakened

Smolderdash was speechless. She was on the floor and stared at Sprocket, who was only smiling as if she’s never been gone from the Academy. The Fire Skylander just witnessed the evil clone of the engineer go up in smoke. Gearshift and Knight Light, who arrived at the scene moments ago, were just as confused until Sprocket told them Golden Queen’s wicked plan. The Skylanders hurried back to the main hall in the Academy to tell everyone about the new information, but when they opened the door they were greeted by dozens of saddened faces.

“What’s going on?” Smolderdash asked while noticing Tuff Luck crying in a corner with Head Rush who was trying to comfort her.

Spyro looked over to the four Skylanders from the middle of the room. The leader was as depressed as everyone else and he knew that he had to deliver the tragic news, even with a heavy heart. He took a deep breath and finally revealed the reason for the looming sadness. “Wallop has passed away a few minutes ago.”

“No…” Smolderdash put her hand over her mouth and was beside herself.

“He’s… dead?” Sprocket didn’t know that Wallop survived Snap Shot’s attack in the first place, so hearing that he could’ve survived made it even more painful.

Knight Light didn’t say a word and exited the room, followed by Gearshift who could no longer feel sad, but knew right away when someone else was.

Spyro sighed and continued his job with a downcast mood. “All we can do now is hope to find the Doom Raiders and-”

“I know where they are!” Sprocket pushed her grief aside to finally tell everyone the truth.

“We’ve been searching for every castle, but there’s no sign of them.” Spyro was running out of options and began to lose hope. “Maybe-”

“Forget everything you heard, it was false.” Some Skylanders gave the engineer a curious look and wondered what this was about. “The Sprocket you all saw was a clone created by the Golden Queen to sabotage us.”

Everyone was shocked to hear that, and the sadness started to fade away. “Is that true?” Spyro looked at Smolderdash to receive confirmation.

“Yes. She tried to attack me, but the real Sprocket arrived and got rid of her right on time.” Smolderdash smiled and looked at her friend who returned the kind expression. She was glad to finally have the Tech Skylander back.

“And you escaped the Doom Raiders? You know where they are?” Spyro showered the goldling with questions and was eager to hear the answer.

“I stole one of their ships and found the way back. We can gather some Skylanders and head to the island, I know the way.” Sprocket sounded determined and wanted to put an end to the Doom Raider’s attempt to defeat the Skylanders.

“Then let’s not waste another second!” Spyro looked around himself and saw the rest of the Skylanders grabbing their weapons, ready to fight their enemies. “We will get our fastest ships and set course to the distant island. Let’s go Skylanders!”

On the yet to be found island, the Golden Queen and her subjects already prepared themselves for the arrival of the Skylanders.

“Your majesty, what should we do once the Skylanders find us?” Chef Pepper Jack asked with a worried tone in his voice. The queen reversed the effect her powers had on the vegetable during her furious outburst, so that she has the best chance to win. “There’s far more of them than there is of us.”

“Do you think the entire Academy will arrive to face us?” Golden Queen snickered and had no worries regarding the heroes. “Our minions are spread around the entire island. Even if some of them manage to get this far, they will be weakened and an easy match for us.”

Dreamcatcher was hesitant, but she felt the need to point out an important detail. “But the Skylanders have beat us before.”

“Well they won’t this time!” Golden Queen turned around with a bright glow to underline her anger. “And you better make sure that they don’t stand a chance.”

“Y- yes, my queen.” The floating head obeyed right away and continued the preparations for the upcoming battle.

“This time the Skylanders will not win.” The goldling headed back into her golden tent with a smile. “They have no idea what kind of power they’re messing with.”

While many Skylanders readied themselves for the long journey ahead, Stealth Elf noticed Star Strike all alone in a small area at the Academy. The elf figured that she was going to meet with Enigma and try to open the door once more, but she wanted to talk to her ever since their last visit to the mysterious realm.

“Hey Star Strike!” The Life Skylander approached the alien and received a brief look in return. “Are you meeting up with Enigma?”

“No, he’s waiting for me at the path of doors.” Star Strike looked away for a second before continuing. “I’m just… not sure if I want to go.”

Stealth Elf was riddled about the Skylander’s response and wanted to find out what this was all about. “Is everything alright Star? You wanted to tell me something back when we were all together there, what is it?”

Star Strike sighed and finally overcame herself to tell the elf what has been on her mind. “When you helped Enigma to open the door, we were closer than ever before, and I feel like it will actually work this time.” She paused for a moment. “And that’s what I’m worried about. I’m worried that we will manage to open the door to my home.”

Stealth Elf didn’t understand Star Strike’s argument. “But don’t you want to go back home?”

“Of course I do!” Star Strike immediately denied the assassin’s assumption. “And that’s the problem… I want to stay there.”

Stealth Elf had to process that for a moment. “You mean you want to leave Skylands?”

“I don’t want to leave… but I want to go home.” Star Strike felt terrible for telling one of her allies that, but she didn’t want to go without saying anything either. “I was ripped out of my life without even getting to say goodbye. Everyone probably thinks I’m dead!” Star Strike remembered her old home and her friends and family that she left behind. “I love being a Skylander and I love all of you… but I never asked to be here.”

Stealth Elf was surprised to hear all of that from the usually secretive being and had no idea how Star Strike truly felt until now. “I understand.”

The Magic Skylander looked at the elf. “You do?”

“Yes.” Stealth Elf took a deep breath and decided to share some of her hidden feelings as well. “I know what it’s like to be in a world where you’re all alone and where everyone is a stranger. I found my family here, but yours is out there, and you shouldn’t feel bad for wanting to go back.”

Star Strike didn’t say anything and after a short thought she leaned in to hug Stealth Elf. “Thank you.” The Magic Skylander looked her in the eyes and even though they couldn’t see it, both of them smiled.

Stealth Elf heard the engines of the airships starting and quickly excused herself to join the others. Before she could leave, Star Strike called out to her one last time. “Stealth Elf!” The elf turned around and patiently waited for the intergalactic being to talk further. “If you found your family, would you go to live with them?”

Stealth Elf didn’t expect such a question and she hasn’t thought about her parents in a while either. All she knew was that they abandoned her in a forest where she was raised by a ninja master to become who she is today. After some more thinking, the Skylander knew her answer. “The Skylanders are my family.” Stealth Elf turned around and hopped onto the last airship, joining Spyro and some other Skylanders on their journey to find the Doom Raiders.

The airships with dozens of Skylanders on top of them have been travelling for hours. Sprocket navigated them through the endless blue skies and did her best to fly the shortest route straight to the Doom Raiders. Knight Light, Smolderdash and Gearshift all tagged along after their experience with the sinister clone of the engineer and they wanted to make the villains pay for the loss of Wallop. Stealth Elf also joined them after her possibly final talk with Star Strike. Spyro and Cynder haven’t talked much after Cynder’s breakdown some days ago, but the dragoness was willing to help when needed. While Sprocket tried to remember the right way with the help of Gearshift, Spyro noticed the Undead Skylander sitting at the edge of the ship and glaring at the clouds. He became worried and thought that her tormenter might have returned.

“Hey Cynder, are you alright?” The Magic Skylander sat down next to his friends and followed the pattern of clouds she was looking at.

“I just don’t get it.” The purple scaled dragon sounded irritated. “Why did they kidnap Sprocket in the first place? They should’ve known that she would escape.”

Spyro thought about that for a second and did find it strange as well. “I guess they just needed someone for that clone.” He also figured that Sprocket was supposed to lure them to the island in case they found it and that the Doom Raiders could’ve used that to hunt each Skylander down.

“But they didn’t do anything.” Cynder was restless and wanted to know what the Golden Queen was really up to. “They just disappeared and now we’re going to stop them. Doesn’t it seem pointless?”

“We don’t know what they’ve prepared for us.” Spyro was usually an optimist, but he knew that they shouldn’t underestimate the villains. “There might not be as many Doom Raiders, but they have all of their minions by their side and they’re powerful, especially the queen.”

Cynder grunted and continued to look at the vast spread of clouds. “I don’t know, something just doesn’t feel right.”

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of cannon fire nearby. The dragons quickly dived into the air and witnessed an assault on one of the Skylanders’ ships.

“We have to help them!” Spyro was loud and clear and didn’t hesitate to attack the enemies’ ship and defend his allies. He was able to defeat some foes and lower the rate they fired the cannonballs at, but as soon as he thought he was done, another ship appeared. The Skylanders’ aircraft couldn’t take any more hits and was forced to land on the first island nearby. Before he could check for the Skylanders, an entire fleet of airships appeared out of nowhere and attacked the Skylanders.

“What are we supposed to do?” A distressed Knight Light joined the battle in the skies and was overwhelmed by the situation.

Spyro and his winged allies had to watch as one ship after the other landed on nearby islands and the Skylanders inside swiftly got out of them. The only airship left was the one steered by Sprocket. The leader glared at the damaged ships to make sure there were no injured allies before landing back on the main ship alongside Cynder and Knight Light.

“We have to get out of here!” The purple dragon exclaimed so that Sprocket could hear him.

“What!?” Cynder was shocked to hear that. “We can’t leave everyone behind!”

“We have to make the enemies follow us, so they stop shooting at the others!” Spyro knew that the plan was insane and could end with all of them crashing into certain death, but it was the only way to protect their friends. “They don’t have a reason to attack ships that are unable to fly when there’s still one left in the sky.”

Everyone was silent, and they weren’t sure about the idea, until Spitfire dashed from an island with a damaged aircraft onto the ship, much to everyone’s surprise.

“Full steam ahead! We have to get the enemies away from the others!” The leader of the Superchargers had the same plan as Spyro, which lead to Sprocket doing exactly that and flying further away from their allies.

As expected, the enemies followed the last flying ship and did everything they could to shoot it down. The vehicle took some hits before they came across an area filled with multiple smaller islands.

“If we want to survive, I suggest we navigate through those islands.” Gearshift quickly calculated their chances in that scenario and decided that it would be for the best if they tried to crash the enemies into the islands.

“There’s no way we will make it through that alive!” Knight Light wasn’t fond of the idea and even less of dying. “I’ll go and take the enemies out personally!”

“Wait!” Smolderdash grabbed the angel’s arm before he could fly off. “I’m coming with you.” She had a confident smile and was ready to burn up the enemies’ ships.

“Gearshift is right, we have to go through those islands.” Sprocket agreed with the robot and steered the ship towards the floating chunks of earth. “It’s a shortcut anyway.”

“This won’t end well.” Stealth Elf doubted their chances of survival and prepared herself for a possible crash.

After Sprocket entered the field of islands, with the enemies closely behind her, Knight Light, Smolderdash and Spitfire decided to take the battleships on by themselves. Blades were clashing, flames ignited, and cannonballs shot, everyone fought courageously to prevent the villains from succeeding. Smolderdash used her whip and solar orbs to blast enemies off their ships and destroy the cannons which kept on firing at them. Knight Light faced the bigger minions which wielded enormous swords and axes. The Trap Master used his advantage in the air and light powers to defeat them and force them to retreat. Meanwhile Spitfire dashed from one ship to another and made sure that no foe would be able to activate a cannon anymore. All the vile creatures could see was a blue blur before getting knocked down.

During that, Sprocket did her best to maneuver around the several islands without hitting anything. She scrapped a few edges here and there, but with the help of Gearshift’s quick navigating she was able to get through it without crashing. Spyro and Cynder were on top of the cockpit and shot the last remaining ship with fireballs and spectral lightning. After they were finally able to destroy it, a giant drow leaped out of the smoke and jumped onto the deck. He carried an enormous longsword that was almost as big as himself and menacingly stared at the only Skylander currently on deck. Stealth Elf faced the enemy eye-to-eye as she pulled out her daggers and got ready to fight the green toned creature.

The drow began the battle by dashing towards the elf who quickly jumped out of the way before pouncing onto his back and slashing him with her blades. He grabbed the assassin with ease and tossed her against a wall of the ship. Before he could strike her, Cynder soared into the enemy’s direction while spitting out a powerful blast of lightning at his face. The enemy stumbled backwards before Spyro shot multiple balls of fire at him as well. The foe was being bombarded by the lightning bolts and fire breath of the dragons while also dealing with Stealth Elf’s quick slashes and kicks. It seemed like the Skylanders had won until the enemy bundled all of his strength to swing his gigantic sword at the heroes. He was able to hit Cynder’s wing which caused her to crash onto the ship and shout in pain.

“Cynder!” Spyro was furious and charged at the enemy with full speed but was unable to hit him as he evaded the attack and the dragon charged through the floor instead. Stealth Elf was the last one standing. The villain grabbed his blade with both hands and smashed the elf, which turned out to be a decoy. The enemy quickly analyzed the situation and used the handle of his weapon to ram the real Stealth Elf who had just appeared behind him. Cynder was helplessly on the cold steel floor and could barely move. Blood poured from her injured wing and the Skylander hissed in pain. She saw the huge enemy slowly approach her and tried to get away, but the drow caught up to her before she could do so. Before he could deliver the finishing blow, Gearshift tossed her Traptanium gear and slashed the enemy’s chest. The foe inhaled heavily before dropping off the ship and falling into the depths of Skylands. Stealth Elf and Spyro soon recovered as well and hurried to Cynder.

“Cynder! What did he do to you?” Spyro sounded angry and scared at the same time and tears started to form in his eyes after seeing the critical condition his friend was in. Half of her wing was almost entirely cut off from her body and the dragon was in great pain.

“You should use the medical supplies from the storage.” Gearshift told the leader and his friends in a cold robotic voice. Stealth Elf went to get the supplies they brought along and treated Cynder’s injury immediately. Sprocket has left the dangerous area specked with floating rocks and headed straight to the island the Doom Raiders were on, which was just a few minutes away.

“We’re almost there, guys!” Sprocket exclaimed before Smolderdash, Knight Light and Spitfire got back onto the ship as well and saw the injured Cynder.

“What happened!?” Smolderdash was in a state of shock and felt terrible for the undead dragoness.

“We were attacked by some giant monster, she took a heavy hit.” Stealth Elf explained while wrapping a bandage around the cleansed wing.

“She can’t face the Doom Raiders like that.” Spyro almost lost one of his closest friends and didn’t dare to risk her life. “Cynder is staying on-”

“No!” Cynder yelled while trying to get back on her feet and succeeding after a few painful seconds. “I will fight alongside you!”

“No way! You’re going to get killed!” Spyro looked at the bandage which was now soaked in a dark red color. “You have to stay here and rest!”

“I came along on this mission because I want to put an end to this mess!” Cynder was aware of her dangerous state, but the dragon didn’t want to back down. “I can still use my lightning breath and shadow dash, you have to let me help you Spyro.”

Spyro looked around himself, almost as if he wanted to ask the others for advice, but they all looked as clueless as him. “But you-”

“I’m done letting others fight my battles!” Cynder finally admitted something that’s been bothering her ever since she became a Skylander. “I was never strong enough to stand up to Malefor. I couldn’t even break free from his control on my own! I at least want to help defeating the Doom Raiders once and for all.” Cynder looked at Spyro with hopeful and hurt eyes. She knew how hard this was for him, but she also didn’t want to sit around while the others fought the villains. “Let me show you that I can be a hero.”

Spyro released a deep sigh before finally letting loose. “Fine. But I will stay with you and make sure no one gets too close.”

Cynder smiled and hugged Spyro. Up until this point, she would only hug the dragon when she was lost and needed comfort, but for the first time it was out of gratitude. “Thank you, Spyro.”

“We’re here!” Sprocket shouted, and the others turned around to get a look at the enormous island ahead of them. The tall trees threw long shadows over the entire ship and it was hard to see far into the deep forest. “They’re in the heart of the forest, but we should be careful from the moment we set foot on the island.” Sprocket landed on an empty spot and turned the engines off before the eight Skylanders left the ship and stood next to each other.

“Are you sure we can face them on our own?” Spitfire asked his fellow leader Spyro with an uncertain sound in his voice.

Spyro actually wasn’t sure either, but there was no backing off now. “They sent all their minions out beforehand, it’s only the seven of them.”

“Eight.” Stealth Elf reminded the dragon that Snap Shot was also present, and they would have to face him as well.

“Right.” They looked at the forest for a few more moments before Spyro took a step forward. “Let’s go Skylanders!”

The group of heroes passed countless trees and traveled for a long time. Even though Sprocket recently wandered the woods herself, even she couldn’t find the exact way back. They always held their weapons ready, in case the Doom Raiders found them first, and constantly looked around themselves. Finally, Smolderdash noticed a dim blue light in the distance.

“Hey guys!” She shouted as quietly as possible so that none of the enemies would hear them. “Do you see that?”

As the others looked into the same direction, the light grew bigger and brighter. Suddenly, a swarm of blue fireflies stormed through them before ascending into the night sky.

“The fireflies…” Sprocket gazed after them with a thoughtful tone in her voice.

“Have you seen them before?” Stealth Elf questioned her ally.

“Yes.” Sprocket pushed her goggles down onto her eyes and clenched her wrench tightly. “We’re close.”

“Oh no.” A distressed voice behind the group could be heard. The team turned around to see Dreamcatcher levitating in the dark and staring at the Skylanders. “The Skylanders are here!”

The Air villain floated away and back into the camp, where she alerted the rest of the Doom Raiders, including Snap Shot and Wolfgang who just emerged from the other side of the forest.

“How many?” The Golden Queen grabbed her royal staff and stood in front of the head angrily.

“I don’t know, like, six?” Dreamcatcher only caught a glimpse of them and had no time to count. To their surprise, eight Skylanders soon arrived at the camp in a fighting stance.

“It’s over Golden Queen!” Spyro stood in front of his teammates and boldly confronted the wicked leader. “Give up or we will have to force you.”

The queen laughed. She didn’t take the rather small group of Skylanders serious in the slightest. “The eight of you think you can take on all of us?” The rest of the Doom Raiders also gathered behind the goldling and tried to look as intimidating as possible.

“It’s an even match!” Knight Light exclaimed heroically while swinging his scimitar.

“That doesn’t change the fact that we will win.” The Golden Queen smiled, she was certain that the heroes stood no chance. “Doom Raiders, attack!”

“Let’s end this once and for all!” Spyro shouted and charged into battle alongside his companions.

Loud clashing noises could be heard throughout the entire forest. The Skylanders fought fearlessly, but unlike the Doom Raiders, they already wasted a lot of their energy on the previous fights. In the background, Snap Shot and Wolfgang disappeared inside of the forest again, unseen by any of the combatants.

“Come on Snap, this is our chance to be free!” Wolfgang was eager to join the Doom Raiders and fight the Skylanders off, so that they could continue their life outside of the Academy.

“No!” Snap Shot grabbed the wolf’s hand before he could storm into battle. “We’re going to lose, the Skylanders always win.” As much as it hurt the former leader of the Trap Masters to exclude himself from the Skylanders, he knew that they would treat him as an enemy.

“Then what should we do?” Wolfgang looked at the clueless reptile and soon realized that he still didn’t know what side he was on. The musician couldn’t fight, but he also didn’t want to go back to prison. Finally, he came up with another option. “Let’s run away.”

“What?” Snap Shot looked up and into the werewolf’s eyes. “We can’t just leave them.”

“Of course we can!” Wolfgang was clearly sick of both the Skylanders and Doom Raiders and didn’t want to follow anyone’s orders anymore. “We don’t belong to either of them, we can live without any orders if we go now!”

Snap Shot saw how desperate, yet hopeful Wolfgang was. His former enemy has cut off all ties, but Snap Shot wasn’t ready for that yet. “I’m sorry Wolfgang, but I can’t just leave it all behind.” The crocodile sighed. “Not after everything I’ve done.”

Filled with regret, the blue creature exited the forest and walked onto the campsite which turned into a battlefield. Knight Light and Stealth Elf soon took notice of the Water elemental and headed towards him. Before any of them could say a word, Wolfgang jumped in between the blade-wielding Skylanders and the unarmed reptile.

“If you want him, you’ll have to take us both!” The wolf didn’t have any weapon either. All he could do was present his deadly claws and clenched teeth to scare the Skylanders.

“Fine then.” Knight Light didn’t hesitate to charge at Wolfgang and get into a heated fight with him, leaving Snap Shot behind in surprise.

“How can you even show your face after what you’ve done?” Stealth Elf hissed at the former Trap Master.

Snap Shot only responded by stretching both of his hands up into the air. “I’m not going to fight you.” He accepted his fate and allowed Stealth Elf to tie a rope around his arms to keep him from doing anything to escape.

Wolfgang was so caught up into the fight, that he didn’t realize Snap Shot’s capitulation until it was too late. “No.” While the villain was distracted, Knight Light saw an opportunity to push him to the ground and keep him there with force. He soon got tied up as well and dragged next to Snap Shot, where the rebelling Skylander and Doom Raider had to watch the chaos unfold.

Meanwhile, Smolderdash was confronted by Chompy Mage and Dr. Krankcase at the same time. The humanoid tried her best to dodge their goo shots and chompies, but she could tell that they would soon overpower her. She reminded herself of all the times she helped her allies ever since the Doom Raiders escaped. She was able to overcome the feeling of uselessness and feel like a true hero. She collected all her strength and energy and used it to enter her eclipse mode. A fiery blast surrounded the Skylander and knocked the two villains away. When they looked back up, they witnessed Smolderdash glowing with a deep orange aura and wielding two whips instead of one. The Fire Skylander used that to quickly strike the Doom Raiders down and triumph once more.

Cynder was busy shooting lightning bolts at the swift Dreamcatcher, who was able to avoid every single one of her attacks. Because of her injured wing, Cynder was unable to move a lot or fly, but she did her best to fight the sinister creature. In a moment of vulnerability, Dreamcatcher speeded towards Cynder attempting to head bash her before Spyro used his mighty horns to knock her away from his friends. He smiled at Cynder and ensured her that he has her back. The dragons teamed up and soon defeated Dreamcatcher as well.

While Spitfire used his fire claws and tornadoes to help Gearshift with the Gulper and Chef Pepper Jack, Sprocket and Golden Queen faced each other further off the center of the camp.

“So, you managed to escape and call your little friends.” The two goldlings walked in a circular manner while never losing sight of each other. “And I had such big plans for you.”

“Your plans never worked out, and they won’t this time either!” Sprocket attempted to toss a mine at the queen who easily blocked it by shooting out a golden scarab.

“I never understood how someone like you could join those pesky Skylanders.” Golden Queen quenched her red jewel eyes and looked at Sprocket.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sprocket didn’t understand the statement, but she always kept her fierce attitude and didn’t back off from the leader of the Doom Raiders.

“Unfortunately, there is something that we both have in common.” Golden Queen sounded revolted before her next sentence. “We’re both goldlings.”

Sprocket didn’t even think of that until now and understood what the queen meant. “So you can’t be better than me.” She smirked in an attempt to insult the queen’s ego directly.

“No, I am better than you. We’re not the same.” Golden Queen quickly denied and explained the difference between them. “Unlike you, I am aware of my value. I know that I belong to one of the rarest species in Skylands.” She sounded proud, but she knew that that alone wouldn’t impress the fellow goldling. “And besides that, I have been blessed with powers that no other creature possesses, not even you.” The queen shot a golden ray out of her hand and struck Sprocket with it, who was unable to react to the sudden attack. To both of their surprise, Sprocket didn’t turn into a statue and could move freely. Golden Queen’s powers didn’t work on her.

“You’re wrong.” She looked at the bewildered villain who couldn’t believe that the engineer resisted her attack. “I might not have your powers, but you can’t use them on me either!”

Sprocket used the state of shock Golden Queen was in to assault her. They fought against each other and dealt some hits, but without the queen’s special power, Sprocket had a big advantage. Finally, she was able to hit the villain’s hand and knock her staff out of it. Golden Queen stumbled backwards and before she could perform another attack, Sprocket built two turrets next to her that would shoot the queen at any sign of movement.

“It’s over, Golden Queen.” Sprocket still held her wrench with suspense so that she could hit the tall woman, but they both knew that the Tech Skylander won.

“It’s far from over.” Golden Queen used her powers to telepathically place her staff back in her hand. “You might have won this battle, but you have no idea what forces you are messing with.” She smiled sinisterly and looked at the engineer with a gloomy look before heading back to the rest of the standing Doom Raiders.

Sprocket was about to run after her before noticing something shimmering on the ground. She looked down and recognized a mint green jewel from one of Golden Queen’s extended nails. She picked it up and looked at it curiously before safely putting it into one of her pockets and joining the fight once more.

Spyro and the rest of the Skylanders have almost defeated the remaining Doom Raiders. However, Golden Queen was able to prevent their victory by setting the captured villains free. It was once again an even fight and the Skylanders started to become more and more exhausted.

“We have to take them all out at once!” Knight Light just sliced an incoming golden sawblade and started to lose hope. “They’re too powerful!”

“We don’t have any traps here! There’s no way to take them all out at once!” Smolderdash was still in her eclipse form which slowly faded away.

After some more fighting, the Doom Raiders were able to knock all the Skylanders down, leaving them all on the ground.

The enemies chuckled while looking upon the helpless heroes. “Looks like we’ve won after all.” Golden Queen was gleaming after her triumph and was about to finish the Skylanders with one final attack.

Spyro collected all of his remaining strength to stand in front of his allies and shield them from the vicious queen. “I won’t let you win.” The leader couldn’t watch his loyal teammates and friends get killed, so he decided to take the fall for them. “Take me, leave them alone.”

“Spyro, no.” Stealth Elf didn’t agree on his decision. She didn’t want to see him sacrifice himself for them. “We can still win this.”

“No Stealth, you can.” He looked back at his childhood friend with a smile before facing the villains again. “I am the leader of the Skylanders and it is my duty to protect my allies and make sure that we’re victorious.” A sparkling purple light appeared around Spyro and started to circle his body, erasing the smiles on the Doom Raider’s faces. “It is my duty to stop you in order for my allies to survive, even if it’s my demise.” The sparkles started to circle faster and glowed even brighter. “It is my duty to stand up against injustice and make sure that no villain ever succeeds at their wicked plans.” Golden Queen alongside the rest of the Doom Raiders started to move backwards after Spyro floated up into the air while being engulfed by the magical light. “It is my duty, as a Skylander!”

In the next moment, Spyro ignited in a bright light before gliding up into the sky with newfound power and an upgraded look. His horns grew massively, and his body was covered with signs that appeared like ancient runes. Everyone stared at the transformed dragon in awe and no one was sure what happened, but the Skylanders knew that it was their key to victory. Spyro then dived back down on the island and started bombarding the villains with powerful fireballs, which exploded as soon as they met the ground. When he used his dash attack, Spyro’s horns became enormous and he gained even more speed, allowing him to take down several villains at once. The villains tried to flee but the Magic Skylander was able to force them all to gather at the center of the island. For his final attack, the dragon charged his fire breath up and shot it directly at the Doom Raiders. It was a flurry of magic rather than fire, which caught the villains one after the other and teleported them from the island right into the cells of Cloudcracker Prison. Golden Queen was the final one to get hit by the new ability. The goldling stood there without moving an inch and was easily swallowed by the magic which teleported her into a cell as well.

After every villain was behind bars once again, Spyro landed back on the island before another bright light engulfed him and transformed him back into his regular self. Everyone got back on their feet and cherished their leader.

“What in Skylands was that!?” Cynder was overjoyed and jumped up in excitement, regardless of her broken wing.

“I don’t know.” Spyro smiled with his friends but was more confused than happy. “I guess I unleashed some inner power I didn’t know of.”

“Well whatever it was, it got rid of the Doom Raiders.” They looked at the empty camp and the few remainders of the tents that the villains built up. Only the Golden Queen’s solid golden tent got through the fight without a single scratch.

“We should go back and make sure that our allies are not injured and return to the Academy safely.” Gearshift reminded the team of the stranded Skylanders and that they still had to pick them up on their way home.

“You’re right. Let’s not waste anymore time!” Upon those words, Spyro rushed back into the forest followed by the others to find the way back to their ship.

Cynder was the last one to run after the leader, but before she could enter the dark woods, the dragoness heard something behind her. She stopped and turned her head around to observe the camp once more. At first, she thought that a Doom Raider was able to escape, but she soon got a far more eerie feeling.

“Cynder, are you coming?” Sprocket noticed that the dragon stopped and shouted after her, so they wouldn’t leave her behind.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there!” Cynder took one last look at the empty camp before following Sprocket to the ship.

They headed back to the several islands where the rest of the Skylanders had to crash land. Sprocket and Gearshift were able to fix a few ships, but most of the team members had to get on the few remaining ships that were able to fly. They arrived back at the Academy where they were greeted by applause and cherish. The villains were all locked up and they successfully fulfilled their mission.

While everyone at the Academy was celebrating the return of peace and harmony, Star Strike and Enigma were once again in front of the door they’ve been trying to open for the past months.

“Are you sure it will work this time?” Enigma became pessimistic after their countless failed attempts and understood if Star Strike wanted to stop.

“I have a good feeling today.” The cloaked alien thought about her talk with Stealth Elf all day long and whether she should leave the Skylands or not.

Enigma took a deep breath and held his staff with both hands. The Trap Master spoke the usual spell and focused on the door. It started to open up again, letting a ray of light shine through. Enigma soon started to struggle again, but the door was nowhere close to fully opening. Star Strike noticed that her friend would have to give up any second, until she finally decided to grab the staff as well and support him. With their combined powers, the door moved much faster and before Enigma fell to the ground, the entrance slammed wide open.

While Enigma was on the ground gasping for air, Star Strike gazed at the radiant entrance without blinking an eye. The light was too bright for her to recognize anything, but it started to fade and the mysterious being was eager to finally see her old home again. Her excitement turned into horror, after the bright light turned darker and darker before a spirit dashed out of it. Star Strike was thrown back and landed on the ground next to Enigma while the dark purple creature bolted through the area. The Magic Skylanders couldn’t make out who or what it was, but they feared that they might have unleashed something bad. The doors to Star Strike’s home slammed shut again and the mysterious spirit speeded out of the realm.

Star Strike got back up and slammed her fists against the closed door. “No! Please open again, please!” She desperately cried out to the door as if it could hear her bidding and tears started to form in her light blue eyes.

“Star Strike we have to leave.” Enigma said very hectically as he tried to pull his companion away from the door.

“No, we have to open it again!” The Skylander refused to give up. “I want to go back home!”

“Star Strike the realm is collapsing!” He pointed at the endless path of doors which was shattering into pieces and fading into the dark blue sky. The cracks got closer to the Skylanders witch each passing moment and they would fall into an endless void if they didn’t hurry out of the realm instantly. The Magic Skylanders quickly dashed back to the air balloon Enigma arrived in. They were only a few steps away, but the floor underneath them started to crumble. The several doors fell and disappeared without the path, until there wasn’t a single one left. Enigma stepped onto the few remaining pieces of the magical floor and jumped into the air balloon, while Star Strike was able to use her intergalactic powers to hover in mid-air and get into the vehicle as well before falling down. The dark purple mist which surrounded the area disappeared and they were back in the regular blue skies of Skylands. They took a few seconds to recover from the frightening experience before flying back to the Academy.

After the Skylanders were done celebrating the latest defeat of the Doom Raiders, Spyro and Stealth Elf visited the prison to make sure that every villain was locked up and unable to cause trouble. The foes sat in their cells with frustrated and angered expressions. When they passed Snap Shot’s area, all they could see was the reptile’s spiky back while the former Trap Master stared at the grey wall without showing his face. They finally reached the cell of the Golden Queen, in front of which Knight Light stood with a suspicious look on his face.

“Is everything alright?” Stealth Elf asked while looking at the queen who was standing straight up without moving in the slightest.

“I’m not sure. I’ve observed her for a while now and she hasn’t moved at all.” The Trap Master tilted his head and wondered what the matter with her was. “It’s as if she’s… frozen.”

Spyro’s eyes widened and the dragon knew immediately what was going on. “That’s because she is!” He unleashed a mighty flame from his throat which engulfed the queen until she started to melt. The Skylanders watched in horror until the villainess was nothing more than a puddle of liquid gold. “It’s a statue!”

“This can’t be happening.” Stealth Elf looked around the facility to see some curious villains peeking through the bars. “She’s still out there!”

“Then we have to find her!” Knight Light was ready to act right away and find the lost leader of the Doom Raiders.

Spyro was frustrated. After he almost risked his life and thought that they defeated all of the Doom Raiders, the most powerful and dangerous one escaped and is probably already plotting her next move. “I’ll announce the news right away. You two ask the others if they saw anything when we left the island.”

Stealth Elf and Knight Light nodded before they all left the building and headed back to the Academy to announce the bad news and start another mission; the hunt for the Golden Queen.

Deep down in the dark depths of Skylands, Hex floated over the cold ground of the underworld. After Roller Brawl, Cynder and Hex herself fought Mesmeralda until she disappeared, the witch started to look everywhere for the twisted puppeteer. She has been in the underworld for a while now and her surroundings brought up old memories. They resembled the place she entered when she was on her way to fight the dragon king Malefor hundreds of years ago. Suddenly the Skylander felt a dark presence near her. The witch stopped and carefully looked around herself, but she couldn’t see anything suspicious. When she was about to continue her journey, a giant shadow appeared on the ground in front of her. It grew larger and larger and the Undead Skylander noticed that the shape resembled a head with two giant horns on each side and one larger spike at the top. The sorceress then recognized the shadow and a cold shiver ran down her spine. She turned around and gasped after facing an enemy she thought was long gone.

[vomiting-out-words]

Twilight Princess [Maybe to Be Continued?]

Session One - May 29th, 2018

Ordon Village, The Twilight, Faron Woods(Twilight), Forest Temple, Kakariko Village(Twilight), Death Mountain, Goron Mines, Lanayru Province (Twilight)

Information Trash -

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is the thirteenth installment of the Zelda series. The game was originally going to be released on the GameCube in 2005 but ended up getting released the following year with the release of the Nintendo Wii in 2006; only the be released on the GameCube a month later. Ten years later; it was released in a high-definition version on the Nintendo Wii U, with the GameCube control style. Nearly nine million copies of the game were sold before Breath of the Wild had taken the title of best-selling title in a series in April 2018.

Session One - Session Two - Session Three - Session Four

Let’s Get Down to The Dirty -

Ever since the Christmas of 2010; when the Limited Edition Red Wii came out with Super Mario Bros., we also got it Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Since then; every year I seemed to spend a couple of days playing the game over again, and to see how long it takes for me to get through it. So, I am back at it again this year, and and I finally agree that I shall write a review for it because it seems like a good one to do the first review with. Not to mention it was the first Zelda game that I actually played from start to finish by myself.

So, I started the game up, since I was babysitting my younger sister who had injured herself over the weekend and couldn’t really go to school. It’s been awhile playing on the Wii because I’ve been playing like Stardew Valley and other things on the PS4 and computer so it was really weird to be swinging my arms around, but it was a good workout.

Twilight Princess takes place hundreds of years after Ocarina of Time; within an alternate timeline from The Wind Waker, which leads the game to be in the Child Timeline. But I am not even going to get into the Zelda timeline because that is a can of crap that I don’t want to even get into right now, but maybe later. You; the player, plays as the recurring protagonist; Link. A young Hylian male who is once again trying to save Hyrule from the threat of the mirror realm; the Twilight Realm. A very original idea, Nintendo, but it seems like you pretty much reused it for Link Between Worlds.

Like pretty much every other Zelda game; Link lives in a small village, with some very average life; and somehow knows how to wield a sword; among many other things; with or without and explanation on how he learned such things. Thank god it’s kind of assumed on how he learned it in this game. Ordon Village is as far south as you can get in Hyrule, and far enough away from Hyrule Castle that Link has never really been exposed to a whole lot of Hyrule. Not to mention he’s like the other able person to protect the village from dangers while working his day job as a rancher on a goat farm passed the mayor’s house. So, as the player; you get like 10-20 minutes into the game doing really boring shit; like herding goats, having to make children happy by spending your own money, then going off to save said children because apparently they don’t listen, but when do children ever do, before having to try and get your horse back from Link’s love interest; while during that scene of getting Epona back, that’s where all the shit goes wrong.  Literally; they pretty much put in a love interest for Link in every game, and the love interest is barely apart of the story and is never mentioned ever again. So, Nintendo is really trying for romance, but they are putting so much pointless crap that doesn’t need to be there. Which isn’t the shit that blows up in their face. 

So, Bulblins come brushing into Ordon Spring; knocking out both Ilia and Link, and somehow getting only four children of the village; Beth, Talo, Malo, and Colin. Though how Beth, Talo, and Malo got taken is literally unknown to the player considering it was only Link, Ilia, and Colin at the Ordon Spring with Epona. Anyways, Link gets dragged through a dark wall that splits the Ordon Province from the Faron Province; being brought into the Realm of Twilight, which should have made him into a spirit that literally has no idea what is going on, but surprise, surprise, the Triforce of Courage influences Link by transforming him into a “beast” wolf. Now, Ordon is perfectly fine thanks to the Ordon Province Light Spirit; Ordona. How that Light Spirit is stronger than all the others is beyond me even.

Skip to Link waking up chained up in a prison. He’s more surprised then freaked out about what has happened to him; which makes this boy pretty laid back, more so than most people, which is very odd because anyone in Link’s situation would be having a clear heart attack or something. A few moments pass and here comes an imp-like chick; Minda. Who literally taunts Link until finally setting him free, only to really make him her minion. With Midna’s instructions; he takes her to someone to explain to him what in the world is going on. While the player already knows where Link is, and who he is going to meet; until right before he gets to meet the person; Midna tells him that they’re at Hyrule Castle. Literally pulling something out of a Disney Guide, Link breaks into a tower and goes into a room at the top to meet no other than Zelda. While Nintendo spent so much time building up this very scene, it was very anticlimactic all around. Link and Midna ditch Hyrule Castle as soon as the cutscene is done and with Minda’s little ability, they are taken to Ordon Province, right at the Ordon Spring where Link finally gets to talk to Ordona; telling him what he needs to do now.

Midna instructs Link that they need a sword and shield first before they head off to the Faron Province; meaning Link heads back to Ordon Village; due to the fact that the player knows that there’s, in fact, a sword and shield there. While doing some sneaking around to get these things; Link finds out that the children have been kidnapped as well; along with Colin’s father; Rusl, being injured while going to look for the children. Pretty much getting the things, Link heads to the border of the Ordon Province and Faron Province and goes through the wall once again to be brought back to the Realm of Twilight, only to pretty much to almost get his head chopped off by Midna; who has no clue how to wield and sword and shield or at least the shield bit. Link should have died much earlier than this by now, but he’s the hero of course; and he can’t die because he’s got the Triforce of Courage, that he had no clue about until Zelda told him.

The player pretty much heads straight for the Faron Spring, where you see a cloud of glowing dust over the water before meeting the Light Spirit; Faron, who asks Link to go find the Tears of Light to restore the Spirit from this state. These Tears of Light are being held by- I am literally just going to call them fireflies, but just deadlier and huge assholes. Once that is finished, Link is brought back to Faron Spring and changed back into a human; but in the Green Tunic of the Hero; the typical Link uniform. Faron points you in the direction of where you need to find what you are looking for, which Link has no clue since Midna literally doesn’t give out that information just yet about what they are looking for.

Welcome to your first dungeon; the famous Forest Temple. Which is pretty much the actual tutorial of the game. Since before; that was all really grunt work, and nothing was really other than just running around doing tasks, which is the game has a lot of if you’re willing to spend like a day in enjoy area getting everything. Something that I never do when I play this every year. Pretty much, the entire task of this dungeon is to collect monkey’s, that the game makes you think are assholes; but Talo is just an animal racist. The dungeon holds two mini-boss’ and one main boss; all of which are super easy, seeing as this is the tutorial. The item that you get from this dungeon is from the first mini-boss which is the King of the Monkey’s, you see him when you first get to the temple, he smacks his ass at you. The Gale Boomerang is something that you do use pretty much throughout the entire game; and of course, plays a huge part of the dungeon. The second mini-boss is right before the boss key, and is a pushover compared to the battle before it; thanks to the Gale Boomerang. Finally, you go to the boss.

Diababa is some weird looking creature that is in poison water. The thing is just terrible. With the Gale Boomerang and help from the Monkey King, you beat the boss with the legendary three hits rule and that entire dungeon takes about fifteen minutes tops; maybe twenty if it’s your first time through it. You get your heart piece along with a Fused Shadows, a piece of it, considering it’s been broken up into four pieces, Midna has one of them on her head. You learn a little bit more of it; that with they hold an ancient power that could help them fight Zant; the King of Twilight that started this entire mess. But they are across Hyrule and they need to find them.

With Faron Woods done and dealt with, it is time to head to the Eldin, after Faron tells Link that he’ll find the people that he is looking for. So, with that, they head off and entire the Realm of Twilight once again. On their way, Link finds a broke wooden sword; his old wooden sword that he had given to Talo. Sniffing it gives Link the scent of the children leading them to Kakariko Village, where Link meets the Light Spirit; Eldin, who also needs Link to gather it’s lost Tears of Light. While on the hunt; Link comes across spirits and finds that it’s the children, but no Ilia. Who is not mentioned, literally, you seriously don’t hear anything about Ilia for a while, or does anyone make mention of her.

While the rest of the children are scared, the only person who really is calm is Colin; who tells the others that Link is coming to save them, he knows it. Link is obviously touched by this, because he’s right there listening, and it kind of motivates the player to continue of this task just because of the sake for Colin. Collect the light, and once back as Link, the children see him and come running, all so happy to see them. Renado; the shaman of the village, who has been taking care of the children with his daughter; Luda, fills Link in on what has been happening. The Gorons’ had a sudden change in behavior and that Death Mountain seems very different. Link attempts to head up to check it out, but gets knocked back down, when returning to the village, Link runs into Renado; who tells him that the mayor of Ordon Village; Bo, has challenged the Gorons’ before and won, earning their respect. But right before Link starts to head back to Ordon Village, Epona comes rushing down the road from the other way and Link is finally back together with his horse, making the trip back to Ordon much easier and quicker.

Link learns how to sumo fight, which is pretty cool to bring Japanese culture into the game, but it is a Japanese game, but that’s beside the point. Once after defeating the mayor during the second round, he deems you right to fight, while giving you a little gift of the Iron Boots, to keep Link on his feet. Return to Death Mountain and start the climb to the top. While there, the mountain is erupting like crazy, making it pretty hard to dodge falling rocks and keep from getting knocked down by Gorons’. Finally to the top, Link ends up getting challenged by Elder Gor Coron. Once through that fight, then you learn of what is going on. The Gorons’ have been keeping watch over the Fused Shadows piece for generations now, and with the mountain acting up, they went to investigate, which lead to the Goron Tribe Patriarch; Darbus to be cursed and go on a rampage, so they locked him up deep in the mines.

Now with access to the Goron Mines; the player heads down to the second dungeon of the entire game. Which is literally just fire and lava everywhere. How Gorons’ mine from this, is literally a mystery because there are millions of safety concerns that they don’t seem to be bothered about at all. With this boss key, you have to go and find the other Goron Elders that are all holding a piece of the key. Along the way, you use the Iron Boots, and obtain the Bow and Arrows with a mini-boss fight with this huge Goron that is protecting the item is of the previous hero. With both, the player spends the rest of the dungeon with those items collecting the key pieces from Gor Amoto, Gor Ebizo, and Gor Liggs. Finally with the key put back together you go down to fight Darbus, who has been transformed into the Twilit Igniter Fyrus. This boss has to be one of the easiest out of the entire game, considering it’s just making him fall and go whack his head. The Forest Temple boss was easy as well, just more time-consuming.

With that out of the way, pick up Bombs first before heading to the Lanayru Province. Trying to get to the spring is a bit of hassle considering the player has to jump off a bridge because there is a time limit before Link is burned alive thanks to asshole enemies. Jumping down towards Lake Hylia and realizing that there is practically no water, but thankfully landing into the water that is left is a god sent. Link kind of wanders around until finally figuring out how to get to the spring and start on collecting to Tears of Light for Lanayru. While this takes you to Castle Town because Link finds Ilia’s leg pouch and followed the scent back to a bar, where she is seen worrying over a Zora boy.

Quick backstory on this boy; he’s actually the Zora Prince, who was coming to the castle to tell Zelda about what has happened in Zora’s Domain since they were attacked by evil people as well. You meet this Prince’s mother after you help Eldin; telling you that her son is out there and if Link could please find him seeing as she was publicly killed in front of all the Zora’s.

Now, after that little moment, Link heads up to Zora’s Domain, where it is freezing for some reason. Going further up, and still not seeing at Zora’s, they reach the throne room where they look down to see that all the Zora’s are trapped in ice. Midna warps something from Death Mountain that had fallen on your way up there to deal with the Fused Shadows. Freeing the Zora’s just in time too, because they probably would have died. Noticing that there is a mark missing, before it magically pops up on the map back at the lake, getting back down there quickly thanks to the fast current of water after defrosting the Domain. Que boss music; literally to close off this segment of the game; you fight this huge, gross bug and finally finish collecting Tears of Light, that you never have to do again for the rest of the game.

Link learns about the Fused Shadows from Lanayru, stuff that Midna would never tell him due to mainly being ashamed of her past, of her tribe, but she doesn’t really mention it until much later in the game, but she does hint at it a little bit after each time finishing a dungeon.

With that done, Link has to head back to Kakariko Village to go sell his bombs to get water bombs or the player can figure out how to get more bomb bags, though personally you only really need two since, in the entire game, you really only need regular bombs and water bombs. Then return to Castle Town to reunite with Ilia… Who has no clue who you are and is very worried about the Zora boy; which brings Link to escort Telma; the bar owner, Ilia and the Zora Prince. This had to be one of the worst things to do besides collecting all the Tears of Light. I was more than glad that it was only once that I had to do this because you had to focus on some many things to do that it was overwhelming and you want to throw your controls at the tv. After that mess was dealt with, you get the Zora Armor as thanks.

With this, Link can finally head to the Lakebed Temple and get the final Fused Shadows.

But this was where I decided to end the first session considering was I just relaxed with just having those parts behind considering I knew that I was about to be in store for a lot more hurt when I picked the game back up again the next day, which doesn’t help with jerky controls, but then again, the batteries were dying in the Wii remote, so that was partly at fault.

[cryptid-jack]

Once a Hero - Prologue pt 2

Title: Once a Hero Rating: T+ Genres: Action/Mystery/Romance/Comedy

Summary: In a world where super villains constantly fought for control of city-states under the protection of a world government, an alliance of heroes rose up to combat them for the sake of peace and justice. No one could have predicted that this alliance and their sworn enemies would be compelled to join forces to fight an alien invasion that threatened to wipe humanity from the face of the Earth.

They won the day, but not without suffering a tremendous loss on both sides

Ten years later, a super villain with a complicated history in heroics uncovers a conspiracy that flips the narrative of their very world on its head. To get to the source of it all, he finds help in the form of a Hero with a strange past of his own, and the key in the form of a little girl with big dreams.

AN: Thanks so much to those of you that commented/reblogged part one! Hope you enjoy this part too, and then let me know what your favorite part was! I just love hearing that from you guys <3

(< Back to Prologue pt 1)

March, 2003

(Prologue pt 2)

“This town is a shithole,” Keir declared as he pushed his way in through the front door and dropped a heavy looking duffel bag on the floor with a loud thump.

Layla turned and looked at him from where she sat curled up on the beat up sofa in front of the tv. Both her eyebrows shot up at this declaration, and she was quiet for a moment as she watched him kick the door shut behind him. The woman didn’t have to be a psychic to know he was bothered by something. The thunderous expression on his face was more than enough to tell her that.

It had been months since they’d escaped the Academy, and their travels had landed them in a large coastal city far from where they had begun. It had seemed like the promised land at first, full of people, life, and light... reality had sunk in pretty quick, though, when they both realized just how hard it was to blend in with society when society didn’t recognize that you even existed. Birth certificates, civilian identification numbers, driver’s licenses... neither of them had any of those things, making it nigh impossible to find legitimate work.

In the abstract, they had both known about these things, of course, but there was a difference between knowing something and actually applying it to the everyday sort of civilian life they both longed for.

Still, Keir hadn’t let legalities stop him from keeping them both fed and housed now that they were finally free.

“So, what did you get today?” Layla asked in an attempt to divert his attention from his general dissatisfaction with the city they lived in, turning in place so she could look over the sofa back without craning her neck.

Keir grunted, knowing full well what she was doing, but indulged her all the same. He shucked his coat, then crouched down next to the duffel he’d dropped on the floor and began pulling out stacks of money.

“Hmm, I’d say about three-thousand in cash,” he estimated, “Two AK-47s,” here he hauled out two semi-automatic rifles and placed them carefully on the floor behind him. “Five nine mils,” these too were laid out on the floor. “And about one and a half kilos of cocaine.”

Two bags of white powder were held up for her inspection for a moment before the man stood and took them into the bathroom. Layla watched him go, then got up and walked around to the now empty duffel bag. She took a few stacks of cash and put it into the small safe that they kept in their bedroom closet to be used for necessities, and the rest she put in a plastic grocery bag by the door.

When it had become apparent that neither of them would be able to get legal jobs there in the city, Keir had initially worked under the table jobs that would pay without asking too many questions. It had mostly been heavy labor on the docks and some bouncer work. After that he’d had a few offers from local gang leaders, but the man had pointedly refused. It had smacked far too much of the work he had once done for the Academy.

The city they had settled into was large, making it easy to disappear off the radar of any Blackridge remnants that might be trying to track them down. Unfortunately, it also had high crime rates, particularly in the neighborhood they had moved into. Their apartment complex was what one might call ‘shady’ if someone were inclined to being kind. One couldn’t be choosey when one didn’t have any sort of legal identification or credit record, though.

When they had first moved in, they’d been grateful just to have a roof over their heads at long last. The rest of the building’s tenants definitely left something to be desired, though. They hadn’t been there two days before someone had broken in with the intent to rob them. Unfortunately for the man waving a pistol in Keir’s face, Keir knew a great deal more about how to use it and quickly took it off him.

Word spread quickly after that. The couple on floor five, apartment C, were not to be messed with. Rumors abounded. Keir was an ex-marine in one, a former Israeli freedom fighter in another. Last week Layla had caught whispers that he was the son of a South American drug lord who’d run away from a life of extravagant wealth to marry his lover from a rival gang.

Honestly, Layla could see where people might buy into any of those rumors. Keir had the sort of dark good looks that would let him blend into any number of places in the world. He had rich, golden-brown skin, a strong nose, and full lips. His eyes were a shade of brown so dark as to appear black in all but direct light, set under heavy, expressive brows. His hair was a deep shade of mahogany with a slight curl to it, which had been news to both of them since Keir had never been allowed to wear his hair longer than a strict buzzcut for his entire life up to that point.

Layla loved his curls.

Keir’s notoriety as a man of many terrifying skills, combined with Layla’s ability to know things that she should not, had gradually resulted in many of the less savoury types clearing out of the building. The landlady might have thrown them out if not for the sudden influx of poor, but reliable and non-violent families seeking sanctuary from the rough neighborhood around them.

In fact, for a gradually expanding area around the apartment, the gangs, drug dealers, and D-Class supervillains were clearing out. Once Keir realized that he had a reputation he could capitalize on, he stopped working under the table manual labor jobs and started robbing drug dealers, making it unprofitable to work in the growing area that the man patrolled.

Together they had decided to only keep what money they needed to live a decent life, and then turned the rest over to the local police in unmarked plastic bag when no one was looking. The drugs they dumped down the toilet, though Layla was becoming increasingly concerned about what that might do to the water supply since doing some research online. The guns were mostly turned over to the police as well, though Keir kept any that happened to strike his fancy.

The toilet flushed in the other room and Keir reappeared a moment later with two empty bags, which he discarded in the trash. He seemed calmer now as he sat down on the floor and began sorting through the weapons he’d confiscated. The man pulled out clips of ammunition, then checked sights and trigger mechanisms with the deft movements of a professional.

Layla sat down next to him to eject and sort rounds of ammunition from the discarded clips. “So, what happened?” she asked

Keir continued working in silence for a moment, racking the bolt on one of the AKs a little harder than was strictly necessary, jettisoning the round therein halfway across the room. She could feel his annoyance boiling just under the surface of his mind, but she kept out, letting him tell her under his own power, as was only polite. Besides, as a low level telepath himself, Keir could always tell when she was in his head. He didn’t mind it usually. They’d both become quite accustomed to it after their initial meeting, after all, but with telepathy no longer being their only point of contact, Layla had pulled back to allow him his privacy.

Sometimes, though, like now, she missed just knowing what was bothering him. It was difficult to wait for answers when you were used to simply plucking them out of someone’s head.

“Some asshole C-Class supervillain and his minions tried to rob me today,” he answered eventually with an expressive snort that spoke volumes for how he felt on the matter.

“You didn’t hurt anyone, did you?” Layla asked as her initial amusement at the thought faded.

A vaguely guilty expression crossed Keir’s face and she shot him a sharp look. “I only broke a few arms!” he said defensively. When she continued looking at him, though, he reluctantly admitted “Alright, alright; I shot a guy in the leg too.” Her frown made him immediately say, “He shot at me first, though! Almost hit some kid just walking by...”

Layla sighed, but nodded, relieved that hadn’t relapsed into old habits. “Was the kid alright?”

“Yeah,” Keir answered, a dark look flitting across his dark features “But if it hadn’t been me there...” he said, words trailing off. He didn’t need to finish the sentence, Layla knew what he meant. If it had been someone who didn’t happen to be telekinetic, a mother might have been without her child tonight.

“Layla, lets get out of here,” Keir said out of the blue as he turned and fixed her with an intense look.

Confused, the woman blinked and asked “Where do you want to go? Are you hungry?”

“No,” the man replied with a huff, “I mean let’s go. Let’s get out of this shithole of a town and go somewhere new, somewhere little kids don’t get gunned down in the fuckin’ street.”

Eyes wide, Layla stared at him for a moment as he waited for her answer.

When she hesitated, he pushed on. “I found a guy that can get us papers. Birth certificates, I.D. numbers... everything,” Keir said and grabbed her pale, slender hand with his dark, calloused one. “We could go legit, Layla. I’d get a job and work to support us. You could go to school like I know you want to-” the woman looked at him in surprise, and he just flashed her a grin. “All that time in my head... it went both ways, you know.”

Layla flushed in embarrassment, but smiled as he pulled her in against his chest. At eighteen, it was unlikely Keir would grow the three inches needed to match her own six foot, but seated there on the floor, they were nose to nose.

“Keir,” she murmured, feeling overwhelmed with love for the man before her in the face of his offer. She knew he felt it too, and when she dropped her head against his shoulder, he turned and pressed a kiss into her hair.

“We could do it, Layla. I’d do whatever it took...”

Tears sprang to the woman’s eyes and she turned her head so she could wipe them away on her shirtsleeve. In doing so, she caught sight of the tv again.

“Sounds like a dream come true,” she murmured against the fabric of his shirt. The cotton of it was soft against her skin and smelled vaguely of sweat, gunpowder, and Keir.

“We’ll go first thing tomorrow, then,” he said, and she could practically hear him making plans already. “It won’t take long to pack, we can leave most of this stuff-”

“It sounds like a dream come true, but we can’t go, Keir,” Layla said and straightened so she could look him in the eye. He appeared startled, then his brow furrowed in confusion. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the woman took his hand and got to her feet, tugging him after her.

Keir followed reluctantly as she lead them both around to the front of the sofa and sat again. He didn’t seem inclined to do so, but she tugged on his hand again, and he complied. On a less dangerous man, the expression he wore might have been called a pout.

“We can’t leave now, Keir. Haven’t you seen the difference we’ve made since coming here?” she asked him gently as she brushed her fingertips along his stubbled jaw, coaxing him to look at her. “When we got here it was nothing but drugs and violence choking the life out of this neighborhood. Now there’s families in this complex, Keir. We made that possible. If we left now, what would happen to everyone here?”

“I don’t know everyone here,” the man replied skeptically. “And I sure as hell didn’t do any of this for them. I did it for you, Layla,” he insisted. “Besides, getting a few small time super villains off the streets is hardly going to fix what’s wrong with this damn city. It’s all just a vicious cycle that-”

“I know, but it’s a start,” Layla said emphatically. “You’re right, we can’t fix the system by going out and-and, oh I don’t know, punching people in the face,” a snort of amusement escaped the man next to her in spite of himself, and she smiled a little at her own fumbling before continuing. “But there are good people here; I’ve met them. If we could give them a chance to thrive without the threat of violence constantly hanging over their heads, then maybe they could go on to fix this city. They could make it someplace worth living.”

They watched one another for a long moment, but a minute twitch of Keir’s lips and Layla knew she’d won. She smiled at him and he groaned in disgust as he flopped back into the cushions of the sofa.

“God, you are insufferable when you go all ‘light of humanity’ on me,” he said with an expressive sigh and roll of his eyes.

She giggled, then flopped down as well, curling up against his side and wiggling into the cushions until he relented and looped his arm around her shoulders. “I know,” Layla said, allowing just a little smugness to color her tone. “You put up a valiant effort, though. I’ll give you that.”

“Shut up,” he grumbled without venom as they let the soft, blue light of the television lull them into a peaceful quiet. The newscast Layla had been watching was repeating now. Something about a travesty averted thanks to members of the Heroes Association.

“We could do it, Keir. We could be just like them,” Layla said as the camera zoomed in on a woman in a brightly colored costume.

“I will burn this city to the ground before I wear spandex.”

Layla chuckled.

(Prologue pt 3 coming soon)

(( Buy me a ko-fi?))

[red-5]

Big, Blonde Idiot

*Request*

Anon asked:

‘Hey 👋🏼, can I have a request for Thor where he has crush on the reader and is always trying to impress her with his strength but one day he embarrasses himself in front of her and team’

Pairings: Thor x Reader

A/N: Thank you for the request! My first Thor fic! So, I had to go a little AU for this fluffy little number, so for all you canon sticklers I apologize ahead of time. I hope this is what you were looking for Anon!

She grunted as she shimmied through the open door of the compound, various sharp edges and hard surfaces banging against her already bruised hip bones as the plastic bags that lined her forearms swung with her movements. The feeling in her fingertips had long since faded into the buzz of pins and needles, and finally into nothing as she lost sensation all together.

It was worth it.

She would not, would not, go back for a second trip. She hadn’t ever since she left home for college, and she wasn’t about to start now. Valedictorian of her graduating class at M.I.T, executive technical assistant to Tony Stark himself, and operations manager to Earth’s mightiest heroes, she could handle a few grocery bags.

The sticky splash of the mayonnaise Sam just had to have splattered across her shins as the plastic jug tore through the thin plastic and hit the ground with a wet thunk.

Maybe, she could handle a few grocery bags.

She paused, closed her eyes, and drew in several deep, cleansing breaths.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y? Could you please alert custodial their assistance is required in the ground level main corridor?” She ground out, wondering for the millionth time why Tony had thought to hire their very own janitorial staff, but she was still carting the groceries.

Two Master’s degrees for this.

“Certainly, miss,” the A.I’s pleasant voice sounded through the speakers as she adjusted her grip and lumbered into the elevator.

She heaved a sigh as the doors slid shut with a hiss, the miniscule upwards motion sparking a second wave that built deep in her chest and spread across her numb extremities.

So close.

The puttering sounds of simulated gunfire accompanied by Sam and Bucky’s heated arguing greeted her when the doors opened again, and the second wave quickly turned to fury.

“One of you had better get off your lazy asses and help me!” She hissed, heat blooming across her face as she stumbled forward.

The booming voice that called her name in response had her cheeks turning red for an entirely different reason. She was just happy he had come back safely. She would get this excited every time any one of them came back in one piece, no matter who it was. The thrill that ran up her spine at a colleague’s safe return to the compound was normal.

“Alas, it is that sweet siren song that plays at my heartstrings and pulls me under its intoxicating spell!”

Yup. Totally normal.

A clear set of sky blue eyes dancing with mirth rounded the corner, the tanned, chiseled arms of their owner spread open wide in greeting. He was wearing those jeans again. The ones that hugged his hips and made her eyes drift to inappropriate places when his back was turned. The purple Henley he wore set off the brightness in his eyes and stretched deliciously across his chest and biceps.

Down girl.

“A radiant gift to Midgard such as yourself needn’t trouble with petty labors such as this,” he declared, taking an armful of the treacherous, skin-mangling plastic sacks in one of each of his hands.

She breathed in relief as she flexed her fingers, a rose flush returning to the paled skin.

“Thank you, Thor,” she gushed dramatically and loud enough to carry over the childish bickering that had erupted in the other room.

“But it is an honor!” If at all possible, his beaming smile widened as he tightened his grip and turned to kneel with his back to her. “Would the lady care for a lift?”

Who was she to refuse the privilege of being carried by a literal God when he offered so graciously?

She wrapped her arms around his neck with a laugh, hopping up to fit her knees around his hipbones. He peered back at her through the corner of his eye once she had settled in place.

“Steady?”

She tilted her head just enough to look at him through the stray wisps of blonde hair that had escaped his ponytail.

“As a rock.”

With a flourished wag of his eyebrows he stood in one fluid motion, making butterflies erupt in her stomach and an involuntary squeal to leave her throat. He strode confidently back through the common room, making his way to the kitchen and voicing his disappointment to the pair that lay sprawled across the couch.

“Your black hearts should be heavy with shame, lazing about, wreaking mindless destruction upon false enemies whilst the maiden fair toils,” he thundered as she gloated from her vantage point, clutching his shoulders to keep from slipping.

They didn’t so much as spare a passing glance as they marched by, eyes still locked heatedly on the television as they clutched their controllers. The blonde behemoth of a man scoffed beneath her, shaking his head in disappointment she was certain was genuine as he effortlessly heaved the bags on the counter. She had expected him to crouch and allow her to climb off, but she didn’t argue when he began to sift through the contents and place them in their rightful place. Or rather, where he thought they should go. She stifled a giggle at the thought of Steve cluelessly wandering around the kitchen in search of the peanut butter Thor shoved carelessly into a cabinet filled with cooking utensils as she voiced a rousing, off-key rendition of ‘Big, Blonde, and Beautiful’ in display of her gratitude.

“There she is, there she is,” Tony sang as he sauntered in, face buried in his tablet as his fingers danced at a dizzying pace across the surface. “Hey superstar, dismount the deity, we’re gonna go get the simulator fired up.”

She cracked an eyebrow as excitement and disappointment washed through her simultaneously. She had been calibrating the damn thing for months, and the idea of playing with her new toy made her feel like a kid on Christmas. But the idea of letting go of the blushing Adonis that didn’t quite have a firm grip on what the word perishable meant made her chest tighten ever so slightly.

“I still haven’t worked out all the bugs- “

He waved a dismissive hand at her, the signature Stark confidence rolling off him in waves.

“Cross that bridge when we get to it, we’ve been chasing our tails for weeks on the aggression modifier. I’m accelerating the timeline. We’re moving into the alpha testing phase today. We’ll run some tests on the code after we have a control group to compare it to and go from there.”

“You’re the boss,” she quipped, tapping Thor’s shoulder in signal and sliding from her perch when he crouched down. In a moment of bravery, she spun back to peck him on the cheek before he straightened. “And you’re the best.”

The pink that dusted his cheeks at her musical performance deepened as his face split wide in a sheepish grin.

“Only for the fairest maiden in all of Midgard.”

It was her turn to blush violently, ducking her head against Tony’s prying eyes that peeked from over top of his tablet and pushing passed Sam and Bucky as they finally moved from the couch to wander into the kitchen.

“No mayo?!” Sam wailed, digging through the remains of the spoils that littered the counter.

She whirled back to face him, pride swelling deep inside her as he visibly shrunk away.

“If you want your precious mayo you can scrape it off the floor downstairs. Why don’t you worry about changing out of your PJ’s and getting ready to actually train? If you’re not dressed and in the sim in 30 minutes I swear I’ll pluck and gut you myself, and we’ll fry you up and have you for dinner!”

She didn’t wait for him to recover enough to respond, turning on her heel and striding back to the elevator. Tony shot them an exaggerated glare before turning to follow.

“Yeah, Wilson,” Bucky preened with a grin, clucking softly as Sam’s eyes flared with anger.

“Man, shut the hell up.”

“Is that better?”

Bucky’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he flexed his elbow.

“It pulls a bit right… here,” he halted his extension when he felt the agitating tug of resistance from his ‘new and improved’ vibranium arm. They were still getting used to each other, and he seemed to have a standing appointment with Stark Industries’ resident ‘whiz kid’ at least once a week to recalibrate the intricate gears and wires that were having some trouble keeping up with the Winter Soldier.

“Ah, I see it. Hold tight.”

“Whatever you say, doll.” He shot her a playful wink as she adjusted her position, laughing softly at her equally playful glare.

She squinted through the large microscope, adjusting the light above her before plucking a delicate steel screwdriver from her pouch. Probing through the maze of wires until she found the offending screw, it was a swift manner of slotting the tip in place and securing it tightly. A touch of solder, and ta-dah!

“Try it now.”

A slow grin spread across his face as he smoothly extended and retracted the joint without issue.

“You’re the best, you know that right?”

Lifting an eyebrow at him, she slipped the maintenance cover on the back of his arm back into place perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary.

“Wouldn’t kill you to show it every now and then. I have mayonnaise in my favorite socks.”

“Aw come on, doll, I was three kills behind- “

“Yeah I don’t care.” She waved her hand to stop the meaningless words that tumbled from his mouth. “If I can beat you, it’s not a wonder Sam can. Next grocery day, it’s you and bird brain.”

He pinched his lips together at the pointed look she gave him, finally caving with a nod and a roll of his eyes.

“Deal.”

Damn right, deal.

“Good. Off you go, my minion of destruction!”

He cracked a fresh grin at her wide smile and gleeful laughter, standing from his stool to trudge out of the control room.

What she didn’t see was the giant, blonde man child brooding in the corner, white knuckling Mjolnir’s handle as he burned holes in Bucky’s forehead.

“Alright kids, let’s have some fun,” Tony said into his headset beside her, his voice echoing through the open room.

She stood, adjusting her own headset over her ears before picking up the prototype hand-held control unit. It whirred to life under her fingers, quickly running through the pre-boot diagnostic tests and soon the 3-D rendering of the robot enemies she was about to unleash on her dearest friends came to life.

“Data link enabled.”

A dizzying series of code erupted across the screen that Tony sat directly in front of.

“Got it. Thanks peanut. How are the troops?”

“Ready, boss.”

“Alrighy then I’ve gotten the green light from mission control, lets launch this sucker into space. Cap’n, if you will.”

Steve gave a curt nod toward the booth as he took his position in the center of the room.

“Alright, team. Strike positions. Those two have been cooking this up for months so be ready for anything.”

Tony’s sinister laugh did nothing to ease their minds as they took up their own positions to form a circle for maximum coverage.

He caught her eye across the control panel, a sly, toothy grin spreading across his face.

“Hit ‘em.”

She mirrored his grin, finger finding its way to the switch it had itched to flip and engaging it with a flourish. The room exploded into motion as the small hatches built into the walls popped open, dozens of slender, metallic hostiles rushing the small group from all sides.

Bucky wasted no time, lunging forward to grasp the face of his nearest assailant by the face and flinging it across the room with his metal arm.

“Easy on those gears, Barnes! There’s no battlefield mechanic today!” she called playfully, laughing as his snarky retort was cut short as he was promptly knocked to the ground.

Tony’s attack pattern analysis software was working beautifully.

“What’s the matter, Brother Barnes? Cat got your tongue?” Thor taunted through majestic swings of his mighty hammer, guffawing at the dark look the smaller man shot in his direction.

“Oh, is that laughter I hear?” Tony crooned over the sounds of the scuffle. “Having fun, are we? Number two, turn up the heat.”

Her eyebrows shot to her hairline.

“Big Betty?” she asked incredulously.

His eyes widened maniacally.

“Oh yeah.”

She heaved a breath, apprehension quickly giving away to giddy excitement as she swiped the picture before her away and squealed with joy at the one that took its place.

“Oh, she’s a thing of beauty. Let’s show her off.”

She almost felt guilty at the looks of utter dread that filled the room as the entire back wall dropped away, the robotic quadruped behemoth behind it roaring to life.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Sam groaned as he took to the air. “Y’all been watching too much Transformers, is this what you two do at 3 in the morning?”

Tony simply cackled in response.

“Buck, Nat, Sam, crowd control. Wanda, if that thing has a weak spot, find it, Thor, Vis, and I will keep it busy!” Steve cried, springing into action with his shield held high.

She watched the group before her scramble around like ants in a rainstorm, grinning like mad and thrilled to be a part of the action for once. The red light that illuminated in the top left corner of her hand-held unit brought her back down to Earth.

“Hey boss… “she began, fingers tapping across the screen as she tried to isolate the error.

“Yeah, I see it, it’s the damn connection.”

“Yup,” she affirmed. “I’m on it.”

She quickly turned to exit the booth, halting on the landing just outside the door and safely within the safe boundaries of the wireless signal that should keep her safe from her own creations in the event of a malfunction. Connection error alerts flickered across her screen as the link fought to reestablish itself.

She told him the bugs weren’t worked out yet.

“It’s not working,” she strained, panic rising in her voice.

“Shut it down,” Tony ordered firmly, the mirth gone from his eyes as he watched as the fight playing out before him escalated. “Shut it down, now.”

“I can’t!” Her finger repeatedly jabbed the big red emergency all stop button, yet nothing happened.

“Tony!” Steve called as the monstrosity halted in its pursuit, the series of complicated coding identifying the weakest threat in the room.

Oh, shit.

“Tony!”

“Kid?!”

“Big red button!” was all she could get out as the mass of metallic fury thundered in her direction, fingers still frantically trying to regain control. She wasn’t in any immediate danger, with any luck the signal emitters would keep it at bay until one of them could find the manual shut down.

If it didn’t kill them first.

This was such a stupid idea.

“I gotcha, dollface,” Bucky shouted, breaking off from his attack as his eye caught their salvation on the side of the back-right leg.

Amidst the commotion, no one noticed the brewing storm until the streak of white-hot lightning shot across the room, igniting the beast, and splintering off to drown the room in a howl of twisting, warping metal, shattering glass, and a blinding flash of light.

It took several moments for her sight to return, colors and shapes swimming across her vision until her eyes regained the ability to focus.

Her jaw dropped at the sight before her.

The room. Was. Destroyed.

Possibly beyond repair.

They would probably have to raze the building to the ground and start again if only to fix the mess the lightening storm had made of the electrical grid. Thankfully Tony had the foresight to build the simulation room separate from the main compound.

The army of robots littered the room in smoking, twitching piles of twisted metal. The windows that lined the room had shattered, along with the panels to the control room, littering the floor with shimmering shards of glass. Black scorch marks painted the walls and pillars, peeling away the paint and chipping holes into the concrete.

But none of this is what caused the mournful wail to rise from the eccentric billionaire.

“Betty!”

Where the creature had been seconds earlier was now a black hole burned deep into the earth, straight down into the foundation where it now lay in splintered pieces of molten metal.

Her hand flew to her mouth to stifle the giggles that built in her chest. Despite nights of sleep she had sacrificed to building that ridiculous thing, between the absolute annihilation and the lost puppy look on the responsible God’s face, the situation had quickly become too much.

Tony tore from the control room, booted feet crunching on shards of glass as he angrily stomped down the steps. He gaped openly at his pride and joy before turning to the cowering figure that blushed furiously from across the room.

“What. Have. You. Done.” He ground out, eyes blazing, nostrils flaring.

Thor shifted uncomfortably, wincing as the final lightbulb shattered above him, eyes darting to each shocked face in the room as he realized the extent of his heated destruction. Nat simply cocked a well-manicured eyebrow.

“Overkill much?”

Tony had banished Thor to the common room and gone down into his workshop to sulk like the diva he was, claiming the next time he spotted the Asgardian near one of his creations he would banish him from Earth all together. Not that he had the authority, but the sentiment remained.

She had done her best to talk her erratic boss down from the ledge, and left him with a glass of scotch and a tool box before sending a message that was partly a warning to Pepper and going off in search of an oversized, wounded ego that was in need of some TLC. The evening was crisp and cool, the wind biting at her cheeks as she disembarked the elevator and strode out onto the roof.

The table and chairs that sat on top of the building had acted as a sanctuary to each of them at one point in time, either for quiet contemplation or late-night talks with a team mate to relieve stress. And so, it was no surprise when she spotted a halo of blonde facing away from her, still ducked in embarrassment at his over-the-top display of strength.

Funny, a few years ago, he would have razed the sim to the ground a not even batted an eye.

“Hey there, big guy,” she called as she sauntered over, slipping into the seat next to him and giving him an encouraging smile. “That was… impressive.”

He grimaced, sighing as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“Is Brother Tony angry?” he asked in a voice that seemed so small for his hulking frame.

“A little,” she laughed.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, dropping his chin to his chest.

“You’re sorry?” His eyes shot to hers questioningly as she released an incredulous huff. “I said we weren’t ready. You just gave me the biggest ‘I told you so’ of all time, I should be thanking you.”

He chuckled appreciatively, dropping his gaze to his lap. She watched him for a moment, hating how quickly the familiar warm mirth dissipated from his eyes.

“I, uh… You were… in danger… “

Her hand reached forward to wind around his bicep as she leaned her head against his shoulder with a hum.

“Thank you, you big, blonde idiot.”

He laughed in earnest, pressing his cheek against the crown of her head.

“You needn’t thank me. I will protect you from dangers both real and spurious from now until I draw my final breath.”

Warmth buzzed beneath her skin at his heartfelt declaration, and she nuzzled into his shoulder gently before pulling away to fix him with a bright smile.

“I know.”

She released his arm to grasp his chin gently, leaning forward to press her lips firmly against his scruff-covered cheek. Her heart swelled as the spark returned behind his eyes.

“Well,” she sighed as she released his face, sliding her hand down the planes of muscle that decorated his arm to grasp his hand with a squeeze. “I left Tony with an open decanter of Scotch, and Pepper isn’t supposed to be back from the city for another hour. I think we’ve had enough carnage for one day.”

He smiled sheepishly, curling his fingers around hers. The warmth that penetrated the chill that had settled across her fingers almost had her purring. She lingered for a moment before standing, giving his hand a final squeeze and turning away from him. The grip that tightened around her fingers had her whirling back around.

“I’ve been told,” he began hesitantly, eyes looking anywhere but her face, “that there is a certain… establishment… of food and merriment… where one would take someone… special… were they so inclined… “

She raised an interested eyebrow.

“Yes?” She prompted after a moment of silence.

He heaved a breath before continuing.

“I would… If you wouldn’t be opposed I would like to… With you… “

As enjoyable as it was to watch him squirm, she decided to take pity on him. Even the mighty pale in the face of the dreaded first date.

“I would love to.”

His face flooded with relief as his eyes snapped back to hers.

“You would?”

She nodded in lieu of the teasing she would have unleashed had he not had his fill already.

“Friday.” She begun her backwards trek towards the elevator door, their arms stretching forward simultaneously until the final moment when their fingertips finally slipped away from each other. “8:00.”

He nodded, the blazing smile returning to his face causing his nose to scrunch and the corners of his eyes to crinkle.

“Friday,” he parroted. “8:00”

She nodded, eyes flickering across his handsome face one last time before turning away to march back to her responsibilities. A thought struck her after her first few steps, and she looked over her shoulder to call back to him.

“And Thor? Maybe leave the hammer at home?”

@angelaiswriting I wasn’t sure if you were serious or not so I’m just gonna tag you in all my stuff till you tell me to stop. ^_^

[theaanimates]

Project Concept

We had been brainstorming for a while before this concept was suggested. It quickly became apparent that it resonated with the majority of the group, however, some were still hesitant so we made sure to take the time to present our individual pitches for the idea and then vote on which version we preferred. When we settled on this as the main idea the core of the concept was this: 

A minion in a fantasy RPG is tired of being killed and wants to become stronger, we follow him on his journey for self improvement and finally, fighting the Hero.

The story will pull heavily from RPG tropes and other video game cliches. Using a video game as the framework is to give the viewer a point of reference for the story, the minon’s desire to break out of the system becomes very clear when put inside the rigid code of a video game. We want to utilize the full spectrum of emotion, but from a humorous perspective. The story should feel light hearted and funny, but we will still have scenes with fights and drama.

In terms of style we knew we wanted to keep our original idea of mixed media, so we will be using live action footage to set the scene with the person playing the game, we also want to use 2D for some of the FX animations and title screen animations. We also want to incorporate the animation patterns from actual video games and look at how they would adapt in to an animation. Since this is a comedy/parody of video games, we want to look at many different ways of using video game trademarks and fitting them into an animation. Especially looking at the contrasts between a “realistically” animated character and a video game animated character. I will be showcasing a lot of examples of different animations that I am taking inspiration from.

The current script, written by Magdalena, looks like this:

FADE IN: (live-action footage, int. day) A gamer walks into the room and sits down on the couch.

CUT TO: They turn the console on, and the TV flicks to life.

PAN OUT: The TV screen becomes populated with floating islands representing the levels, clouds that float out of the screen and go into the room. As the camera moves to one side, we can see some of the world in the TV.

CUT TO: (EXT. DAY) Aerial view of the world, the camera moves down and we see a village and a forest.

CUT TO: Three scenes within the world, of a peaceful meadow setting, houses in a village, a dark forest.

CUT TO: On the edge of the forest there is a path leading to the village. Our Hero character walks through the scene and the camera sticks to him, following him from the back as if it were a regular 3rd person POV.(His movements are quite limited, he moves as if along a grid, he can either walk or full-on sprint.)

He walks along the path when three minions block it (All of the ones aren’t the main minion are badly animated, he is fully animated with fluid motions that clearly set him apart.)He draws his blade and strikes them down.

CUT TO: The three minions fall to the ground. The angle changes to one where we see them on the ground close-up, and we see the Hero’s legs as he walks away. One of the minions starts grunting and then gets up, wounded but not dead. We pan to a shot of him, waist-up as he gets up painfully. We can hear orc-like grunts but we see through subtitles that what he says is “How did I get here? I was not put in this world just to be struck down so easily. By God, I shall become the toughest main boss this game has ever seen.”

Immediately CUT TO: Montage of short scenes that show him training-

(EXT DAY) Minion running in the dark forest in makeshift “workout” gear on top of his armour/drapes. (In the background, through the trees we can see the Hero easily slaying more minions with a flick of his sword)

Minion lifting a barrel of wine up and down, running away when a villager sees him and thinks he is getting ready to see it. (In the background, the Hero is leaning against a tree, talking to a blushing onion salesman).

(EXT NIGHT) Minion killing another, slightly bigger minion and getting coins as a reward as his enemy dissipates after he beats him. Minion is freaked out by the sight, but reaches out and takes the floating coin.

CUT TO: (EXT DAY) Dramatic, tense shot of the Minion. CUT TO: What the minion is looking at: the hero, talking to a well-dressed dame.

CUT TO: Minion angrily storms over, is for a moment confused by the hero’s subtitle box, but then just walks around it and immediately strikes the hero. We see the hero’s health bar - his health has not at all diminished. The Minion starts hitting him but barely does any damage, wears himself out as the hero is in idle animation, not even noticing him.

The hero stretches and accidentally hits the minion, flicking him across the scene - the camera follows it.

CUT TO: The minion is on the floor, his head swimming, his health greatly diminished.

CUT TO: (EXT NIGHT) The Minion is sitting in the same place the Hero kicked him to. He is grunting to himself, (subtitled) “No matter how hard I train, he will always have that the upper hand, and with that incredible sword -“… The Minion’s face lights up and he realises something.

CUT TO: Minion in front of a blacksmith’s workshop.CUT TO: Int. of the workshop, minion browses the shop and is left disappointed with the choice of weapons. He sees the “now taking apprentices!” sign behind the counter and points to it, grunting. The camera pans to the blacksmith who rubs his index finger and thumb together in a way indicating it will cost him money. (- if we want we can go for the cheeky 9250 pounds joke).

CUT TO: The minion rummages through his pocket, finds some coins he’d gotten from killing others.

CUT TO: He slams the money on the counter.  

CUT TO: Minion slaving away at an anvil, we see night and day changing behind him on the window, the blacksmith walking around him. CUT TO: (EXT DAY) The Hero walks through the dark, desolate forest and comes to a clearing where the trees bend over it and hinder the sky, making everything dark.

A huge monster stumbles out of the trees toward the hero. The Hero draws his blade and gets into a fighting stance.

CUT TO: side-view, the monster falls flat on it’s face, the minion is on it’s back hanging on by the blade. The minion pulls out the blade and suddenly he is lifted up into the air slightly as his armour starts changing, he levels up and starts resembling something akin to a final boss, though not quite as formidable as the beast he’d just slain.

CUT TO: The hero is just standing there, in his usual animation, as his code doesn’t allow him to react to anything the NPC is doing.

CUT TO: The hero leaps forward and starts to strike the Minion but the Minion easily blocks it, and then strikes the hero in turn. He does this several more times, killing him easily. The Minion is a little surprised at himself for his strength but he guesses that this comes with being the Main Boss, and is soon smug. He kills the hero several times. Soon after that, however, as the hero keeps respawning and going through the motions again and again the Minion gets worn out and bored, as does the player get really good at controlling the Hero and beating the main boss.

CUT TO: The minion lets his guard down on, making the Hero have an advantage over him. The Hero cuts and hits him several times.

CUT TO: The minion falls to the ground.

CUT TO: The minion’s point of view, where as his vision fades he sees the text appear: //Do you want to start a new game?//

CUT TO: The minion’s face, panicking as we see the text in front of his face and the player choosing: YES. (potential bonus scene) He respawns back to the beginning - is very tired of the path he took last time, this time decides to become an onion salesman and live a peaceful life as a good NPC. So we follow him as he walks into the market in the village, scaring most of the village folk until he gets to one lady who doesn’t mind the look of him and dismissively gives him a job to do.

[letsgeneralbelieverstudentf-blog]

I Stored Drake's Living In The NBA All

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