#villain and supervillain know EXACTLY what they're doing

[starry-night-author]

Hello hello to an amazing writer!

I had an idea and you don't have to do this *at all* but...June of Doom Day 11 snippet continuation, poly edition???

No worries if not, just heard that you like writing the poly snippets, and I like reading them, so..win-win? :)

Have a cupcake, you deserve it! 🧁

OH HELL YES

Ty for the cupcake!!! and the excuse to write more of this dynamic ever <33333

June of Doom Day #11 (Pt. 2)

(Part 1)

"Alright, so who's the good cop and who's the bad cop here?" Villain asked, leaning forward in their chair. "Of course, all cops are bad, but speaking in references here-"

"Enough," Superhero growled. "You're the one being interrogated, not the other way around."

Supervillain leaned over to stage-whisper in Villain's ear. "They're the bad cop."

"Enough!" Superhero shouted as both of the villains burst out laughing. "You will either cooperate or face worse consequences!"

"There's two bad cops?" Villain leaned back in their seat, lifting their untied feet from the ground to fold their legs up underneath them nonchalantly. "I don't know if that's how this is supposed to work-"

"We'll separate you two," Hero stood on the other side of Superhero, not intervening until now. This kind of argument had been going on for ten minutes already.

They didn't like interrogations, all the villains acted like this and it only ever served to make the heroes more frustrated. Despite having been kidnapped only earlier that day, Hero was already bored and annoyed.

"Oh go ahead and try," Supervillain kicked their feet up on the table between them and the heroes. "See what happens."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Superhero's eyes narrowed.

Villain snickered. "You'll see."

Fed up, Superhero slammed their fist on the table, making the whole thing shake. "Will both of you stop it?! We could've been done already if you'd just cooperate! We need information on where you got that car-"

"The car?" Villain asked. "What's that got to do with anything?"

It'd been ten minutes, and they'd finally gotten to hearing the actual interrogation questions. Hero held in a groan as they dropped their head in their hands.

"The model is one that's always been specifically used by a secret vigilante group throughout the state." Superhero explained. "They've been on the... morally darker side of things lately, and we need to find out what their alignment is. So we need information from you two about where you got it so we can track them down."

"The car." Villain stared at them. "You care about the car."

"Yes-"

"Not that we kidnapped Hero?"

"Well-"

"Or led you on a crazy high-speed chase throughout the whole city?" Supervillain chimed in.

"No-"

"You don't care about our scheme?" Villain's tone seemed rather hurt, they were very obviously pouting. "Just about the car we used?"

Supervillain mirrored their partner's pout.

Superhero dragged a hand down their face. "In the grand scheme of things your little escapades..." they trailed off, noticing how hurt the villains looked. "...Don't... matter." They exhaled the last word, as if it pained them to say it. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Villain sniffed, leaning sideways in their chair to rest their head on Supervillain's shoulder. Supervillain rested their head on top of their partner's. "We know our plans aren't always the most attention-grabbing."

"Or detrimental to society." Supervillain added.

"So where did you get the car?" Superhero cut in before one of them could start crying. They certainly looked upset enough to do so.

Villain sat back up and Supervillain shrugged. "Outside of a grocery store in the south edge of town." They lifted their feet from the table, putting them back on the ground. "It's a smaller area there, less crime, bigger false sense of security. Someone left the engine on when they ran in, we broke a window and stole it."

"You don't know who's it was?" Superhero asked. "You didn't see the owner?"

The villains shook their heads.

Hero sighed. Of course this lead went nowhere. Life at the agency had been so boring and repetitive lately- this vigilante case was finally something that had pulled Hero from their humdrum everyday routine.

And now they still had no idea where to start with it.

Well, the vigilante case and being kidnapped for a few hours, that was. That didn't happen every day.

Just as Hero was trying to figure out where else they could follow this case to, Villain leapt onto the table.

They'd been sitting with their feet crossed on their chair, and in a moment they'd pushed themself up into a squat before jumping to the plastic folding table between them. It wobbled, and despite their arms still being tied behind their back, Villain immediately found their balance.

Hero and Superhero started back from the table. "What are you- get down!" Superhero shouted. Hero was more used to Villain's antics, and they knew to back as far away as they could.

"If you insist," Villain shrugged.

As they leapt down their foot lashed out, connecting nicely with Superhero's skull. The crime-stopper was sent flying sideways, the other side of their head hitting the wall.

They slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Before Hero could react Villain lunged at them, and in an instant Hero found themself on their back, pinned to the ground by Villain's foot. The criminal's arms were still bound as they used their head to motion to Supervillain. "Get the door, they'll have seen that. They'll be in in three... two... one..."

Right on cue, the door flew open, narrowly missing Hero's head as it slammed against the wall. Supervillain threw themself at the other heroes, even with their hands tied behind their back they were clearly skilled enough to keep the other heroes at bay.

From the ground, Hero couldn't see much of the fight. All they could hear was thuds of impact and occasional yells, Villain's foot was too heavy on their chest, they couldn't shift it off.

Villain paid no attention to Hero, a wide grin on their face as they watched Supervillain. Their hair was wild from their earlier car chase, their eyes lit with a special kind of affection while they watched their partner. They cheered the Supervillain on, and despite their situation, Hero couldn't help but realize how sweet that was.

Eventually a pair of dark soulless shoes landed next to Hero's head. "That's all of them for now," Supervillain was out of breath. "There'll be more soon though. Wanna get out of here?"

Villain smirked. "I thought you'd never a-"

"Wait!" It took the hero a moment to realize they were the one who had shouted. The villains looked down at them, as if just remembering they were there. "Take me with you."

Villain bent down closer to them, pressing more weight on them and making the hero gasp. "...Why?"

The crime-stopper's voice was strained as their chest was constricted. "I-I'm tired of everything here. You kidnapping m-me was the most exciting thing tha-ats happened in the last six months. Please take me w-with you."

"You fight villains every day and you're bored?" Supervillain was intrigued.

Hero nodded.

"Poor thing, you really do need a thrill." Villain leaned closer, bent so their face was inches from Hero's. Hero couldn't keep the blush off their own face- if anyone asked the redness was from lack of oxygen. "We'll let you come with us if you can uncuff us."

Hero nodded again, now unable to form words.

"Deal!" Villain got off of them, and Hero gasped for air. "Now come on, we don't have time to waste! Get up get up get up-"

Hero was nudged to their feet before they could even catch their breath, and was only given an opportunity to do so after they'd pulled the keys to the cuffs out of their pocket and given it to the villains. The two undid their cuffs in mere seconds, and then Hero was whisked out of the room and off to their new life.

Villain ran on Hero's left side, Supervillain on their right. The two caught Hero looking as they ran together down the hall, and simultaneously threw them devilish smirks.

Hero quickly turned their gaze forward.

If anyone asked, the redness from was the exertion of running.

[the-modern-typewriter]

Can you write something about the protagonist being adopted by a family of heroes, but they just want to live a normal life, but the villain finds them? Please and thank you!

"So, you're the super new addition to the family."

Given everything that their new family had told them, the protagonist had been expecting it. Unfortunately, that didn't make it any less horrifying to hear the villain's voice behind them in the empty classroom.

The protagonist's shoulders tensed.

Someone would probably come running if they screamed for help. But what were most people going to do against the villain except die? Besides, the protagonist...

They turned, stomach twisting into a thorny knot, still clutching a paintbrush in hand. "I'm not going to fight you."

The villain raised their eyebrows at that, seeming amused. "Oh?"

The protagonist swallowed. "So if that's why you're here, piss off. With all due respect."

"Piss off with all due respect?"

"I have an art project to finish. It's 20% of my final grade."

The protagonist half expected them to saunter close, fearless and menacing, but the villain stayed where they were - leaned against the closed door in a long black coat and gloves. Everything about them was dark. A shadow come to life. Their smoky gaze roamed the painting over the protagonist's shoulder.

The protagonist was halfway through painting a seascape. Calm. Nice. Possibly twee, they knew that. The sort of thing that felt like it couldn't feasibly be in the same room as a supervillain like them.

"Yeah," the villain said. "If your teacher has beige walls and a puritan sense of right and wrong, they'll love it."

The protagonist's jaw clenched, but they didn't say anything.

The villain's attention fixed on them again, considering. "How is hero life?"

"I'm not a hero."

"No, you're a cataclysm waiting to happen. But I was being polite."

The protagonist flinched.

"That's why they took you in, right?" the villain asked, head tilting. "So they can keep an eye on you? Manage your powers?"

"They're helping me."

"Uhuh." The villain's eyes gleamed. "Do you think they love you? Like a proper little family?"

"I'm not joining you either," the protagonist said, after a winded beat. "So, again, with all due respect-"

"Piss off?"

"Please."

The villain smiled. "I'm not here to fight you. Or recruit you."

"Then why are you here?" The protagonist's voice quivered.

The villain shrugged, too light and careless for it to be true. "Curiosity. They said you wanted a normal life."

The protagonist could only imagine how that conversation had come up and gone down. They managed a small nod.

"You're not normal," the villain said.

The protagonist flinched again, despite themselves.

"Power like yours, destructive power, it wants to be used," the villain said. "Starts eating away at you if you don't channel it. Makes you ill."

The protagonist met the villain's eyes. Because, yeah, they'd noticed that.

"For what it's worth," the villain grimaced, like the very acknowledgement was disgusting. "I do think they're trying their best with you. I think they have good intentions. They always do. And better them, I suppose, then you being with someone who doesn't have any powers if things..." The villain twirled their fingers, and a smoky little mushroom cloud popped up from the tips.

"Yeah," the protagonist said, a little hoarse. That had been exactly their thinking.

"But it won't be enough. Their best won't be enough to contain you."

"We don't know that."

"I know that."

"This doesn't sound like curiosity."

The villain laughed, though it wasn't an entirely joyful sound. They straightened up off the door, finally taking that step closer.

"Curiosity in the sense that I'd like to meet the apocalypse. It's a one time experience. I'd kill you myself, but...you know. No guarantee that all that power inside you won't just go boom when you die. Better to adopt death incarnate, in this instance. Keep you safe. Love you enough that you don't want to end everything prematurely."

The protagonist felt bile, hot and acrid, rising in their throat.

"Piss off," they whispered. It definitely sounded more like please.

"You need to use your powers," the villain said, all laughter gone. "In small chunks. Micro doses. Otherwise you're going to be dead or blow us all up by the time you're thirty, and I would rather avoid that for as long as possible."

The villain reached into their pocket, pulling out an envelope. "A list," they continued. "Of the help you should be asking them for. They won't listen if it comes from me. But love isn't going to be enough, if you're serious about this."

The protagonist's brow furrowed. They hesitated; their family had told them not to take anything the villain offered. They took the envelope.

It struck them, after all, that the villain knew what it was to be a little bit monstrous. The villain hadn't chosen normalcy. But they knew, better than anyone else, didn't they?

The tension left the protagonist's shoulders. They sagged.

"Enjoy your normal life," the villain said, softly. "I hope you get it. And I hope, I truly hope, the rest of us will yet be lucky enough to survive you."

They bought the protagonist's art piece at the end of year presentation. The protagonist didn't know what to do with that information.

[atlaserine]

Just your average supervillain being a mother hen

It's been two weeks, two long weeks of Hero being locked in that cell. Isolated from the outside world, with only the sound of her own thoughts to keep her company. The room is cold and cramped, and there's not much to do except lie on the old bed and wait for the sound of the door opening to signal someone's arrival.

The door swings open, and Villain walks in. He's flanked by two guards, their expressions cold and aloof as usual. He steps inside, his eyes fixed on Hero's sleeping form on the bed.

Villain walks over to the bed, looking down at her silent form. He hated how Hero still looked pretty damn beautiful when she was asleep. The way her chest rises and falls with each breath, the way her hair is strewn messily over her face, and the way her lips are slightly parted, just begging to be kissed-

...

No, stop Villain thought, shaking his head slightly. He should hate her, should just...end her right here.

...

He didn't realize his own hand reaching out and running his fingers through her hair until he felt the soft strands in between his fingers, pushing the messy locks away from her face. He glances down at her, his expression a mixture of anger, curiosity and..a twisted kind of affection.

Villain glances back at the guards, who were watching from the doorway. He motions for them to leave and they comply, closing the door and leaving him alone with her.

Slowly, Villain sat down on the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. He knew he should be angry with her, she was a pain in the ass. And an annoying one at that..but he can't help but feel a pang of longing whenever he looks at her.

He reaches out and touches her cheek gently. "I should hate you, love. I should hate every inch of you. But no matter how hard I try, I just can't bring myself to do it". Though, his eyes widen in surprise as he registers the heat of her skin, pulling his hand back. Villain then presses the back of his hand against her forehead, feeling the fever that's coursing through her body like wildfire.

Villain mentally cursed at himself, "Damn it Hero, you're burning up" , his voice filled with a mix of worry and anger. Villain couldnt ignore the concern that's starting to build up within him. Hero might have ruined half of his plan, been nothing but a torn to his side but he'd be dammed if he was going to let her die of a fever.

He stood up, hurrying out of the cell and barking orders at the guards. "Get a medic in here, now"

The guards nod, rushing off to do as they're ordered. While Villain waits for the medic to arrive, he paces back and forth, his mind racing with worry and anger. Silently praying that she'll be alright.. No, she will be alright. He won't have the city's best hero die in his cell from a fucking cold.

After what felt like eternity (which was only five minutes) , the medic arrives. Villain scoffs "Took you long enough", his tone cold and firm. The medic just rolled his eyes and immediately begins to assess the sleeping Hero's condition. He takes her temperature, checks her pulse, and inspects her for any visible signs of injury or illness.

"She's got a high fever, sir. It seems like she's come down with a serious infection of some kind. Do you know if she's eaten anything unusual lately? Or if she's come in contact with any toxic substances?" The medic asks.

"I...I'm not sure" Villain spoke, a bit quieter from before.

"..She's been locked up in that cell for weeks now, and I haven't exactly been the one taking care of her." Villain admits with a sigh, his tone tinged with guilt.

The medic raised his brows, "Well, that would explain it. Being locked up in a small, cramped cell like this without proper sanitation or medical care, it's no wonder she's come down with an infection."

Villain clenches his fists, his expression turning dark at the medic's words. He was mad..at..himself. He should have known better, he should have taken better care of Hero, even if she was his prisoner.

"She needs proper treatment, sir. Antibiotics, fluids, and a comfortable place to rest. She won't get better if she remains here." The medic spoke again which made Villain sighs the second time, more frustrated from the last knowing Medic was right.

"Very well." Villain finally says grudgingly, he turned towards some of his henchmen. "Get her out of this cell and to the infirmary. Treat her properly." He looks down at Heros unconscious form again, furrowing his brows. He didn't want to care, he didn't want to show any kind of weakness. But seeing her like this, weak and vulnerable, it was tough for him to keep up the cold and uncaring facade he usually wore.

The medic nods and starts to arrange for Hero to be moved to the infirmary with the other henchmen. Once Hero is moved to the infirmary, the medic quickly gets to work. He administers antibiotics via IV, sets up a saline drip to rehydrate her, and even hooks her up to a monitor to keep a close eye on her vital signs.

Finally, Hero is settled in a soft bed with a comfortable pillow and warm blankets. The medic turns to Villain, who has been watching the whole time from a corner of the room. "She should start feeling better soon, sir. The antibiotics will take care of the infection and the fluids will help with hydration. Just give it some time and she should be fine." He smiled.

Villain only nodded, his expression still tight and controlled. He steps closer to the bed, looking down at Hero's unconscious form. Noticing the way her hair is spread out on the pillow, the paleness of her face, the soft rise and fall of her chest as she breaths.

Villain was sure his body was acting on its own again as he reached out and hesitantly places his hand over hers. It was an unconscious gesture, one he didn't even realize he was doing. He stands there for a moment, feeling the warmth of her skin and the steady beat of her pulse beneath his fingertips. It was a physical reminder that Hero was still alive, still here, despite everything that had happened between them.

Villain notices the weak pulse and frowns, concerned. "Medic, her pulse is weak. Is that normal?". Medic looks over Hero's vitals on the monitor and nods, "Yes, it's normal. She's been sick for a long time, sir. Her body is weak and she's lost a lot of weight. It's expected for her pulse to be weak at this point." Villain nods, still looking at Hero's unconscious form with a furrowed brow. It was unnerving to see her like this, so still and fragile. Unlike the bravado and the winning smile she always gave him to get under his skin. Her godawful jokes and her...careless laughter. He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt and regret. Despite everything, he still cared for her, more than he wanted to admit.

The medic noticed Villain's stark change of demeanor. He raised his brows before speaking "I'll check on her regularly to make sure she's improving. Besides...you look like a mother hen worrying too much for a fever" He teased.

Villain groans before glaring at Medic. "You're lucky I need you right now, or else I woudve cut your head off and hang it in my office for saying that" He let's go off Hero's hand before walking to the door, he stopped. Turning slightly back at Medic, his eyes dark with the promise of a threat "if I see you slacking off, I won't hesitate to do good with my words" He spoke, before stepping out.

[defectivehero]

hiii! could you continue the hero x parent supervillain fic? i really wanna know what happens!

sincerely me

yes, i absolutely can...! sincerely me ;3

part one

warnings: family issues, abandonment, mentions of foster care; typical blood/injury

When the supervillain asserted that they'd be a better parent from now on, the hero was suspicious. Their sudden renewed presence in the hero's life felt like a trap and, months later, it still does. The hero has seen the supervillain out and about, and, while their parent hasn't inhibited their work, they've certainly made things... more interesting.

On the plus side, the hero is somewhat untouchable to a majority of the city's villains. Anyone smart enough to recognize the supervillain's power gives them a wide berth.

On the other hand, the hero feels a bit patronized. Many of their opponents' attacks are both nonfatal and, more frighteningly, nearly harmless. Suddenly, enemies that would never have hesitated to kick them to the curb are practically allowing them to win. It's frustrating and confusing as hell. The hero doesn't know what to do with this sudden shift in behavior. Honestly, it gives them a bit of guilt—they've become the villain in the situation, fighting with unrestrained power while their enemy scrambles to obey some sort of unspoken ethical system.

They're not foolish enough to think this sudden change in their enemies' behavior is a coincidence. No, this is the supervillain's doing. And they're not sure how to feel about it. The hero is capable enough to fight on their own, so they don't exactly like the thought of their parent attempting to fight their battles for them.

It's ironic, the hero thinks, when their parent's plan backfires. After all, not everyone is so keen to obey them. It doesn't matter if the supervillain is the most powerful and dangerous person in the city: there are enemies foolish and cutthroat enough to fight them anyway.

It's especially ironic when the hero responds to the sighting of an incapacitated person, only to find their supervillain parent collapsed in an alleyway. They immediately freeze at the mouth of the alley, contemplating whether they should stop to help or keep walking. That is never a choice heroes can make: they're always duty-bound to save people, regardless of who they are (or what they've done).

The hero sighs and breaks the distance between the two of them, crouching down in front of their parent. A foreign feeling of protectiveness briefly surges through their chest, before it is quelled by their doubt and suspicion. This could be a trap, designed to ensnare them by preying on their good nature.

But it's not a trap, the hero is soon forced to realize The blood coating the pavement beneath them; the supervillain's crumpled form; the pitch-black night... All of it is painfully real. And this time, it's the hero who has to swoop in to the rescue.

They frown down at their parent, studying the lines of their face and finding an unfortunate resemblance to themself. The hero can see how others make the connection between the two of them so easily: they have the same eyes, same sharp jaws and shaggy hair. Something burns in the back of their throat. "I'm not doing this for you," the hero feels the need to clarify. They bend down and place a hand under the supervillain's head.

They don't expect the supervillain to open their eyes, much less to respond. "I would expect nothing less," the supervillain chokes out through gritted teeth. The hero blinks at them in disbelief, something scarily similar to concern tugging at their chest at the supervillain's dazed state. There's a foreign feeling reverberating through their rib cage.

"I could just leave you here," the hero whispers, their voice breaking. Their eyes are stinging with unshed tears. "No one would know." Their grip momentarily tightens. Their hands are shaking. The hero bends their head down to hide the torn expression they're sure they're wearing on their face.

"You would know," the supervillain murmurs, blinking slowly. Somehow, the hero knows the supervillain isn't speaking out of their own self-interest. The statement is more of an acknowledgment of their relationship. The hero's parent turns their head to the side and lets out a garbled sound, coughing crimson splatters into their hand and onto the grimy pavement.

The hero takes a slow, deep breath. They bite the inside of their cheek hard enough to draw blood. The coppery taste in their mouth anchors them to the present moment. They've stalled for too long; their parent's state is precarious and they need to be treated.

The hero scoops the supervillain up into their arms. It takes a little effort at first, but they manage to find a suitable position for walking. Their parent immediately stiffens and tries to escape their grip with an uncharacteristic panic.

"No, no," they choke out. "No hospital."

"No hospital," the hero acquiesces. They hadn't planned on going to the hospital—it's out of the question for villains like their parent. Even the hero themself has to avoid the hospital sometimes, albeit for different reasons.

The supervillain relaxes slightly. They look rather out of it, and they're not putting up a fight anymore. The hero remains silent as they continue walking, ducking through dark alleyways to avoid being seen.

"This is not... where I saw us spending time together," the supervillain chokes out, blood trickling from their lip. "A bowling alley, an arcade..." They trail off, nostalgia in their voice.

The hero's brows furrow. They haven't been to a bowling alley since their thirteenth birthday—one that their parent was certainly absent for. They've never liked arcades, either: they're too loud and bright. Their jaw clenches. The supervillain has never truly known them, regardless of what they may claim. Blood is all that connects them.

"I think this is supposed to go the other way around," the supervillain remarks helpfully, evidently referring to the hero carrying them. The hero is starting to get annoyed with their commentary.

"Stop saying things like that," they admonish them, continuing along their way. "It's creepy." They look around the corner warily, before proceeding. Truthfully, they're not quite sure where they're going—but they'll have to figure it out soon.

"I don't know how to be a parent."

The hero stops in their tracks, the unexpected confession provoking several unwanted feelings within them. Just how long have they waited to hear the supervillain say that? How long have they waited for an apology that never came? How long has the hero spent, waiting for their own hero to swoop in and save them from their foster home?

They're not sure how long they stand there, staring off into the distance at nothing in particular.

"Where are we going?" The supervillain whispers uncertainly. The remark promptly snaps the hero out of their thoughts, forcing them to focus on the matter at hand. The hero takes a slow breath.

"What's your address?" They demand firmly.

The supervillain has the audacity to look surprised at their command. They must be deluded, if they think the hero is willing to give them their personal address. The supervillain mutters their address and the hero very nearly sighs in relief when they realize how close it is. They had just been following their gut instinct—and, somehow, it led them in the right direction.

Ten minutes later, the hero is standing in front of a locked door. Their arms are burning from the exertion of carrying an adult in their arms. Their parent notices and quickly tries to reach out to the screen at the side of the door, which evidently reads their fingerprint. Their hand doesn't quite make it, leaving the hero to awkwardly adjust them in their arms and use their free hand to press their parent's finger to the reader. The door finally swings open and the hero quickly helps the supervillain down to the couch.

"You have a nice home," the hero says helplessly, struggling to get rid of the tension in the atmosphere that sends goosebumps rising along their skin. They cross their arms over their chest, feeling extraordinarily out of place.

"It could've been ours," the supervillain murmurs. The hero tears their eyes away from them, sickened at their parent's cruelty. The hero wasn't the one to leave. The hero wasn't the one to disappear.

"You weren't there," the hero reminds them bluntly. The supervillain blinks and almost jolts out of their reverie. "And you won't be." They say. The hero isn't sure what the expression on their face is, but it must be suitably distressed, because the supervillain is reaching out to place a weak hand on their forearm.

"I will be." Their parent assures them.

The hero shakes their head silently, a tear crawling from their eye and carving a path down their cheek. Their parent's temple is sweat-soaked and they're growing to look a bit sickly. The hero stares down at them for several minutes, before getting to their feet and finally grabbing their phone from their pocket to call a healer. This particular healer doesn't care who they're healing, as long as they can pay. And judging from the supervillain's lavish home, they can more than afford it.

The healer responds within a few moments and they promise to get there within fifteen minutes. The call ends and the hero's job is done. They've done more than enough at this point. It is their time to leave. They don't belong between these walls; they don't belong in the intimate, personal life their parent has created for themself.

But... the hero can't get themself to move. They're anchored to their parent's side, helplessness clenching their fists and tightening their shoulders. Somehow, they stand there long enough to give the healer ample time to arrive. The door swings open for the healer—indicating they've visited this residence before—and the hero feels their body moving before they can think things through. They're stalking through the unfamiliar house silently, heading into a bedroom with an en suite bathroom and closing the door with a silent click.

The hero can just barely hear the healer beginning their work, talking quietly to themself as they work. The healer thinks themself to be completely alone in the supervillain's residence.

...Meanwhile, the hero surveys the room they now find themself in, thoroughly confused and angry at their own actions. Why didn't they leave when they had the chance? Why did they stay? The supervillain abandoned them for more than a decade, yet the hero can't leave them for a single moment? How many times was the hero left to slowly decay over cracked pavement?

They move to the bathroom connected to the bedroom, finding themself standing in front of a grandiose mirror. Their parent stares back at them, shaking their head as if admonishing them for their remorse and guilt..

The hero wrenches their gaze away and buries their head in their hands, sinking to the floor and pressing their hands to the plush carpet. Their breaths are far too quick and short, leaving their chest burning and saliva slipping from their lips as they try in vain to keep their composure.

Their supervillain is being stitched back together in the next room, leaving the hero to fall apart in this one.

©2024, @defectivehero | @defectivevillain, All Rights Reserved. Reblogs are greatly appreciated—just don't steal or share outside of Tumblr, please.

_____________________

me reading this ask, pretending like I know what happens next: ah... yes... the story I definitely planned for... 😅

ohihohohoh I love how this turned out, though. mwhahahhaha

_____

thanks for reading! <3

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[a-whisper-in-the-forest]

Vengeance

Part 1 (Disgraced apple pie)

Part 6 (Rules)

Tw: violence, blood, death, mind control

Hero ducks away behind a corner, dodging the bullets that were following them. They had been fighting the villains for over an hour now. They had been woken up by a blaring alarm coming from one of their most highly secured weapon storages. Hero had immediately jumped out of their bed and into their suit, bumping into many of their colleagues that live in the agency apartment complex. The team had a plan when they first burst in to put a stop to the villains infiltrating the storage, but that plan quickly disintegrated when three heroes were hit right in their weak spot.

Hero felt guilt washing over them. They had been the one to give those files with those weaknesses to the Villains. How could they be so stupid? They never realised that their weaknesses were also on those files…Shit!

Other Hero sprints to their wall and hides next to Hero. “They're everywhere…” Other Hero breathes heavily. Hero dares to look behind the corner, only to see Other Villain throwing a fireball at them. In a panic, they duck away as quickly as possible.

“Do you know which villains are here?” Hero asks, pressing their back to the wall. “From what I know, it's Assassin near storage unit B, their Sidekick at Hallway 5 and Other Villain, well…here…” Other Hero answers while putting new bullets in their gun. “Obviously…” Hero sighs. It's going to be a tough fight. “Any sign of Villain or Supervillain?”

“No, only a load of henchmen everywhere. They're easy to take out but they could still warn the others.” Hero nods. While they were indeed easy to fight, they are quick with their radios.

“We have to get to Unit A and put that extra lock on the door.” Other Hero agrees, “Exactly. I will try to take out Other Villain here, you try to slip past them,” they say while waving their gun.

Other Hero sneaks forward and takes aim right when Other Villain isn't looking. BANG. Other Villain reaches for their upper leg and their hand is painted red. They can feel the pain ripping through their body, reaching the very tips of their fingers. Other Hero watches as they fall to the ground, paralysed. “Put a coat of paralyser on there to be sure,” Other Hero remarks. “Nice,” Hero answers, making their way towards the hallways. Unit A was through hallway 2, 4 and 8 and was pretty straightforward. Left, left and left.

After hiding for a few henchmen and the Sidekick that had wandered through the hallway, Hero reached Unit A. They pull the extra lock out of their pocket, prepare it to activate and place it over the door handle. Now they only have to press the button…

“Ah, ah, ah ~” a voice sounds from behind them. Hero whips around to see Supervillain standing tall in their suit. Hero has never seen them in real life and they wished they never had. That stare alone sends shivers down their spine.

Right behind Supervillain stands another figure. Relatively tall, face half hidden by their mask covering their nose and mouth but leaving their eyes visible and a signature black suit. “Villain!” Hero exclaims, they take a step forward. Villain on the other hand doesn't move a muscle. They just stare. No, not staring, it's more zoning out. A white glace covers their eyes. “Villain, are you okay?” What's wrong with them? Supervillain laughs. It's a cruel laugh. “Oh, honey. They are perfectly fine. Their mind is just on a little vacation, so I'm helping them do the job.”

“Villain, hey, it’s me…” Hero waves their hand in front of Villain's face. Nothing. “Don't bother, that's not going to work,” Supervillain smiles. Hero completely ignores them and keeps focusing on Villain. “Hey…” Hero says softly. Still nothing.

Supervillain sighs. “Alright, my patience is gone. Villain?” Without warning Villain steps forward, shadows curling around Hero’s neck and lifting them in the air. Hero’s oxygen is cut of. They struggle and fight, kicking Villain who still doesn't move. “Please, stop,” they mutter. Their head feels light and their vision starts to blur. Then, a crack and devastating pain shoots through their body. The shadows fall away and Hero drops to the ground. They cradle their broken arm as they feel their consciousness eb away.

When Hero wakes up, the first thing they notice is a throbbing pain in their arm and head. As their vision returns they can see the door to unit A wide open. “Shit…” Hero groans. With a lot of effort, they manage to stand up.

As they try to reorientate, they hear a scream down hallway 6. Without thinking twice Hero runs to the sound.

They barge into a room, panting heavily. As their eyes adjust to the light they feel their stomach turn.

Bodies upon bodies are spread across the room. Teared open from the inside they lay on the floor. There's blood everywhere. On the wall, floor, even the ceiling. In the middle of it all stands Villain.

Hero slowly walks towards them. They can see the shadows whirling around the criminal as if they were standing in the middle of a storm. Hero places a hand on Villain's shoulder and turns them around. “Villain?” Hero whispers.

White eyes stare back. Nothing behind them. Just a white cloud. Hero can't hold it anymore. They start to cry silently as they put their head on Villain's shoulder.

This is why they were so scared. They had tried to warn Hero, but they didn't listen. What did Supervillain do to them? Was Villain gone? Did they lose them forever?

When Hero looked up they hoped to see something in Villain’s eyes. Sadness, anger, regret, something. Yet, a white cloud stared back. “I'm so sorry,” Hero whispers. “I didn't know. I should've done something.”

Villain doesn't answer. They just stare. “Please, do something,” Hero begs. “You can't be gone. You can't…”

Nothing.

Villain finally moves. Only, they start to move away towards the door. “No, Villain, stay here…” Hero mutters between sobs. They slowly drop to their knees. Villain doesn't listen and keeps walking.

Hero breaks down in the middle of the room, surrounded by dead colleagues. They should've realised, should've done something. But they didn’t. They didn't and now Villain might be lost.

No. No, it wasn't their fault. It was Supervillain. They were the ones that did this to them and they were going to pay for it. Their tears dried while forming a plan in their head. The tears are replaced with a deep sense of hatred and vengeance. Supervillain is dead, no matter what the Agency's rules say.

When Other Hero finally finds Hero, they have to be sedated after Hero nearly kills someone in blind rage.

Next part

Hi! A dark one, I know but hopefully a good part to folliw up the last one. Anyway hope you enjoyed!

As always, my requests are open if you want to ask for a snippet or something else!

Taglist: @amiafly2 @jumpywhumpywriter @smol-warrior-1258 @demetercabingreen-thumb (I can untag you if you want , just let me know :))

[tayfabe75]

Matty Healy: Cancelled on purpose?

"I'd rather be a pretend supervillain than some pretend hero." (x)

Matty Healy. If you're familiar with the name, chances are good you've already got an opinion about him. Probably a strong one, if I had to guess! Since opinions about Matty Healy tend to come in just two shades: black and white - revered and reviled. On the one hand, you've got people sleeping in tents on sidewalks, sometimes in sketchy cities and inclement weather, just for the chance to see him up close; on the other hand, you have chronically online Twitter users praying for his early demise, using AI art to bring their most depraved wishes to life. So, what's going on, exactly?

"The only fear I have is provoking ambivalence in people. I'd rather people be angry at me than be bored." (x)

And get angry they did! Matty's 2023 cancellation even earned him Pitchfork's "Villain of the Year" title! But...

Did he plan for it to happen all along?

On October 14th, 2022, Matty appears on Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg. She confronts him about his plan to go on a podcast and pleads, "please don't", to which Matty replies:

"It's probably good advice."

A couple of months later in December 2022, Zane Lowe reveals that Matty meticulously planned their entire interview, lovingly describing him as a "TROLL!" Likewise, when questioned about their ambitious 'At Their Very Best' tour, Matty says that though the tour "feels loose", it's actually "very, very tight" and "very, very well-rehearsed".

Fast-forward to February 2nd, 2023: Matty makes an appearance on Q with Tom Power, where he describes his interest in the flimsy nature of interviews, saying:

"I could fuck my career, I could be a different person, I could do a Chinese accent, I could do anything!"

About a week later, on February 9th, 2023, Matty appeared on the Adam Friedland Show podcast. For context, this podcast is classified as "black comedy, blue humor, surreal humor, anti-humor, and political satire". It is associated with the "Dirtbag left", which is described as "a style of left-wing politics that eschews civility to convey a left-wing populist and anti-capitalist message using vulgarity". In other words, they're trolls. Just like Matty.

Now, to make things easier for anyone reading who wants the full context, I clipped Matty's three "unforgivable offenses" from the dreaded podcast: here is the "ghetto gaggers" moment, the "Ice Spice" moment, and the "accents" moment. I hope you can tell the difference between British and American accents…

Adam and Nick would go on to clarify that they didn't actually know which website Matty was watching. Likewise, very recently, the woman who walked in on Matty clarified that he was not even watching ghetto gaggers:

When asked about the podcast and whether he baited his fans on purpose, Matty said:

"A little bit. But it doesn't actually matter. Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, 'What's wrong, darling?' and they go, 'It's just this thing with Matty Healy.' That doesn't happen."

Yet, it does! Shortly after the podcast, Matty's fans expressed their distaste for his appearance on The Adam Friedland Show. Part of that might be because it was amplified by this tweet from Yungblud:

Interestingly, a few months prior to his tweet, Yungblud went on record stating his admiration for Matty Healy in November 2022. And after Matty's very "unserious" video response wherein he mocks Yungblud, but Dom would later go on to admit that he found the whole thing funny and that he still likes the guy.

Conveniently, Ice Spice also happened to go on record with her admiration for The 1975 shortly before the dreaded podcast, in January 2023!:

"I listen to alternative music. I feel like a lot of people wouldn't expect that. Yeah, shout out Coldplay, The 1975. Obsessed with them."

This, of course, made the joke about her sting that much more a month later… Now, if Matty simply promoted Ice Spice by praising her on his social media accounts, she might have gotten a small boost in streams, that's true. But think about that pretend villain quote again… by taking the fall for a barely offensive joke that he didn't even say, himself… Matty practically turned Ice Spice into a household name.

And before you go assuming Taylor collaborated with Ice Spice purely as damage control… well, there was a rumor about the collab almost a full month before it dropped, on April 27th. And here's what Ice Spice had to say about it:

"That was mostly through management. I was talking about how I was watching Taylor's documentary 'cause I just wanted to really take notes as an artist and stuff like that. Just like how the lifestyle is for such a big artist like her. My manager heard me talking about that and had like reached out to her team and then they had a song for me and everything just played out real good."

Ice Spice's clarification often gets ignored in favor of the more dramatic version of events. The same way Matty's apology addressing the situation from last April gets ignored by so-called journalists who are rewarded for their biases via clickbait titles.

Ice Spice also clarified that Matty apologized to her personally several times:

"I saw him at the Jean Paul Gaultier party a couple days ago, and he was like, 'Hey, you OK?' and I'm like, 'Of course.' He apologized to me a bunch of times. We're good."

Speaking of podcasts… on April 8th, The 1975 released an episode of 'A Theatrical Performance of an Intimate Moment' (filmed in March) where Matty appears to be rehearsing lines for an upcoming and seemingly "candid" interview with Caveh Zahedi:

On April 15th, Matty revealed that he inspired the rat from Flushed Away. Now, Matty probably didn't actually inspire the character of Roddy St. James (although he really was close to one of the film's writers, Ian La Frenais, who was his mother's godfather), but... with this joke, he had just cemented his own "vermin" moniker that would continue to be used to insult him to this very day (sound familiar? 🐍)

What was it Taylor said? Ah, that's right:

"If you make the joke first and you make the joke better, then it's not as funny when other people call you a name."

Almost a week later, on April 21st, Matty would go on a four-minute speech on stage in Auckland, New Zealand, "finally" providing an apology and an explanation for the whole podcast debacle:

"It's not because I'm annoyed that me joking got misconstrued, it's because I don't want Ice Spice to think I'm a dick. I love you, Ice Spice. I'm so sorry. But I don't want to be… I don't want anything to get misconstrued to be mean. I just want to say, 'Hello. This is a bit embarrassing. I'm sorry if I get it wrong. We all get it wrong'. You know? Like, I just have to do it in public and then apologize to Ice Spice, and my life's just a bit weird. But I am genuinely sorry if I've upset her because I fucking love her."

Ignoring this pre-existing apology, on May 17th, Taylor's fans (allegedly) penned the "SpeakUpNow campaign", urging Taylor to dump Matty. On May 30th, Brad Troemel published the "Taylor Swift Fan Union", a series of satirical infographics targeting Taylor's most entitled fans.

Taylor and Matty were reported to have broken up on June 5th, just one month after Taylor had the nerve to date someone of her own volition, without first seeking fan permission!

And things were about to get even worse for Matty, as his labelmate Rina Sawayama would go on to call him out at Glastonbury in June:

"I wrote this next song because I was sick and tired of micro-aggressions. So, tonight, this song goes out to a white man who watches Ghetto Gaggers and mocks Asian people on a podcast. He also owns my masters. I've had enough."

Yet… Matty resigned from his position at Dirty Hit at the beginning of April, which, at the very least, should call the ownership of Rina's masters into question. Speaking of Rina, she's historically a friend of Matty's! Here she is photographed with Matty's dog Mayhem in 2020. And when Matty took over The Face podcast, they asked some of The 1975's friends to cover their songs… Rina was selected and chose 'Love It If We Made It'.

Speaking of Matty's friends… Bleachers were hand-picked to perform at The 1975's Finsbury Park show on July 2nd, where Matty would label Jack his best friend. Yet, just one month later, Matty would be allegedly "disinvited" from Jack's wedding.

In August 2023, Bleachers would go on to join The 1975's Dirty Hit label (alongside Rina). That same month, an episode of The Ion Pack podcast featuring Matty was published, revealing that Brad Troemel "lit a fire" underneath him "massively". Yep! The guy from earlier who created the "Taylor Swift Fan Union". And, though the podcast was published in August, it was filmed all the way back in November 2022…

Brad would go on to help co-write The 1975's 'Still At Their Very Best' Tour, which would launch in September 2023 (yep, the same month as Matty and Taylor's new relationships!):

During the SATVB tour, on February 13, 2024, Matty would describe what he does on stage as "simulating a breakdown", and, as was always intended, Matty's fans largely fell into the trap he laid… (or, at least, I personally saw a lot of speculation regarding Matty's possible drug relapse and mental health issues all over Reddit and Twitter, based solely on his on-stage performance - well, that and gossip blinds, I'm sure).

But... Matty called it a year earlier, in February 2023, when he said:

"I like these lines of like, blurring between what people consider is real. Because with the internet now, there's also a forum. So, there's a lot of conversation right now about like, whether I'm back on drugs, or whether the show is real."

Remember that pesky podcast that started all this mess? The Adam Friedland Podcast? Well, it's co-created and produced by Nick Mullen. Check out this file Matty shared on December 28th, 2023:

It's a little blurry, so let me actually type it out:

UNTITLED MH PILOT "Canceled" Written by Nick Mullen

Some interesting things started happening at The 1975's shows this February. Matty began playing the clip from Q with Tom Power during Consumption (the one about how he could fuck his career and do a Chinese accent if he wanted). And, in the midst of a seemingly earnest speech, Matty breaks the fourth wall, encouraging his fans to be skeptical of things they see on screens - even seemingly sincere moments...

I'll close this out by reminding anyone who happens to have read this far that Matty grew up watching tabloids profit off of made-up lies about his parents, and the media might have destroyed his relationship with the woman of his dreams (we'll see!) Basically, if anyone has the means and motive to troll the media, it's Matty Healy.

[hopeswriting]

Top KHR fanfics

hi nonny, thank you for the ask!

okay so i obviously haven't read all the khr fics out there, so this will be by no means an exhaustive list. but from the ones i've read? *crack knuckles* let's go through my bookmarks in no particular order!

also adding this after i finished answering the ask, but this just ended up being a list of arco fics and/or tsuna fics (+ the 10th gen and/or reborn). but like. are we surprised zfsdfdsf.

on ao3:

flip a coin [head for villain, tail for hero] by petroltogo

Superhero/Supervillain AU: All Sawada Tsunayoshi wants to do is help people. Considering his occupation as a Vongola Inc. superhero, you'd think that wouldn't be much of a problem. You'd be wrong. [Of course 'people' isn't supposed to include wanted supervillains. But it's hardly Tsuna's fault that the training manual doesn't specify that, is it.] Along the way, he learns to help himself.

this series is just so, so good! all the works in it are simply *chef's kiss*. the worldbuilding is amazing, the characters so in character and complex and with so many layers and depth to them. also it's obviously planned down to the last detail, so it's incredibly fun to follow along and try to piece the puzzle along with the various characters' pov.

The Boy in the Ice by eloquentelegance

A mysterious pillar of ice drops out of the sky and fuses with the grounds of Yuuei. It's not the strangest thing to happen, especially for this school. But the boy, frozen within, is strange - yes, very strange indeed.

haven't read chapter 2 yet, but i have no doubt it won't disappoint whenever i'll be able to get to it. as for chapter 1? a fucking masterpiece. it's a khr x bnha crossover, and i don't usually read crossover, but boy, am i glad this is one of the few i gave a chance to haha.

Yugen by Little_Miss_Bunny

In one world, Tsuna sacrificed his life to save the Arcobaleno. As soon as he drew his last breath, he opened his eyes again to see beaten students cowering in front of him and a bloody hammer in his hand.

it's been a while since i've reread this one, but i still have the reaction of "oh, this one was so, so good!!" whenever i come across it lol, so yeah. what i do remember is i absolutely love the depiction of hibari in this one as well as his dynamic with tsuna. also little miss bunny is one of my favorite khr writers, they're so good at crafting the different aus they come up with and making them feel real while still keeping the characters in character, i love it.

Target Acquired: Wicked Jester by poorasdirt

Colonnello has always been a military man. He understood what led to him being cursed. He understood why the others had been cursed. Or, well, why most of the others had been cursed. Skull's motivations had always been a mystery to him. Now that the curse had been lifted, Colonnello could finally sit back and try to puzzle it out. If only it were that easy. Or Colonnello's instincts were telling him something wasn't right and curiosity only kills cats.

i know for a fact i've already recc this one before, and i'm doing it again because it's just that good. <3 it's another one heavy on worldbuilding, which is funny because usually worldbuilding isn't exactly my thing, but how can i say no to them when they're all so well written like this. anyway it's a skull-centric fic through nello's pov, so of course i was all for it zfsegfdsds.

Starstruck by Little_Miss_Bunny

All Tsuna wanted was his siblings to be happy. So, he didn't see a problem attending a fan signing for one of the hottest bands to date, even if he had no clue who they were. He did start seeing a problem when more idols started appearing in his life. It got even worse when they just wouldn't leave him alone.

i love this one so, soo much! this is my favorite work of theirs. it's currently at 153k words tho, so not too sure how to summarize it lol, but just trust me on this one! it's more on the lighthearted one compared to their other works, tho still touch on serious stuff and do it well, but i'd still consider it a comfort (and funny) fic.

Scorching Ember by Little_Miss_Bunny

When the revered Sky Priestess suddenly passes away, everyone mourns. However, the world is soon engulfed by darkness, giving rise to creatures that seemed to only exist in folktales. With the gods mysteriously absent, there is no one to keep everything from descending into ruins—until a hunter finds a curious object in a barren creek.

another one from little miss bunny that i love so much!! maybe or maybe not because nello is the first arco to appear, so there's certainly no shortage of nello & tsuna interactions. more seriously tho zrfsdfds, this is another one where the worldbuilding has obviously been given a lot of care, and the characters are written so well, tsuna first of all, and it's just super fun to read.

Forever Family, Forever Vongola by AnimationNut

They're a group of insane, energetic, destructive and hyper people. But they also love each other, whether some are willing to admit it or not. Family sticks together, through thick, thin, and crazy.

the ultimate platonic/familial khr fic! with how many chapters it already has (57 for 195k words), you're bound to find more than one you'll love. some are connected, most are not. some are lighthearted fluff, some more on the heavy, serious side of things. but all chapters are written so well, and at their cores it's all about how much these guys love each other.

The Hottest of Flames can Melt the Strongest of Chains by Luki (KelpieCodyne)

I'm not a liar, but I close my eyes a lot by Seito

another incredible series that is just so, soo good! it's about tsuna not wanting to become vongola decimo and doing what he can so it won't happen. no happy endings yet, but the series isn't marked complete yet either, so we'll see.

It started with bang. A bullet casing falling to the ground; the clatter echoing off the walls. It started with Tsuna putting a bullet through the head of his enemy, unflinchingly. Blood spattered, flying, rolling down Tsuna's cheek. Brown eyes burn with orange fire, yet so, so, so cold. In another world, Reborn would have smiled. In this world, Reborn flinched.

i haven't reread this one in a long while, so i honestly... don't quite remember how it goes zqdsfds, but i still remember it was an amazing read all the same!! i mean, the summary alone is so good? also this writer is one of the best in the fandom imo, so yeah.

ozymandias was a punkass bitch (but he had the right idea) by Seito

“You want Vongola? You can have it,” Tsuna says serenely.

loved this one too! badass tsuna is always a treat, and i always love to see it.

last to fade by Trilies

Mammon's last breath is of rain and gunpowder. Before they make their choice, they consider lives lost and the options they have. There's not a lot. Set during the Millefiore timeline.

a look at what mammon's last moment could have been like. super well-written.

Striking Once by istilllikekhr

A peek into the universe where Nana Sawada was given the Lightning Mare Ring.

this one has an unsual pairing (byakuran & nana), but you'll be missing out if you don't give it a chance because of it. i also didn't have a clue what to expect when i first clicked on it, but when i tell you it did not disappoint. and the ending? oughhh. please give this a chance!

Sunny Skies Ahead by Ourliazo

Reborn is not yet the world's greatest hitman, not quite a proper Sky, and definitely doesn't want these ridiculous Guardians that he keeps running into.

sky arco reborn who does not want to be the sky arco? it's just as chaotic and funny as you might think zqefdddsf. the interactions in this are absolute gold, and it's just such a fun ride to see all the bonding happen despite reborn's best efforts lmao. also ourliazo is another one of my favorite khr writers. the way they write the arco and tsuna (and every other khr characters tbh)? absolute peak. and then you add their humor, and i will simply never be tired of their writing.

Sincerely, Scattered Shards by You_Light_The_Sky

Tsuna’s the foolish type to give a bit of his heart to anyone he meets. No one ever wanted his ugly heart shards until he met his Guardians. No one ever treasured his heart shards until them either. Hints of All27 and R27.

heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once. i actually had forgotten i had this one in my bookmarks, as well as the fic as a whole tbh 😅, but it all instantly came back to me like a punch in the gut. there's so much love in this one guys. the kind that hurts and the kind that heals and the kind that makes it all worth it in the end.

Forgotten Memories of a Broken Soldier by Maintenant

The Arcobaleno arrive at their collective house after their yearly meeting turned mission. Skull had been left there to cook them a warm meal for their return, seeing as he is useless in a mission, but it is not Skull they find when they return. Rather, it is, but it is not. For this Skull has cold eyes and harsher threats, and he doesn't know the rest of the Arcobaleno. Perhaps more importantly, the Arcobaleno find, is that they don't know Skull.

i love this one for the ending and the build up to it. it's a wip, but the first chapter can be read as a one shot (imo) so it works well. it's a skull is harry potter fic, and like i already said i don't usually read crossover fics, but this is another one i'm glad i gave a chance to.

Never Will Forget by Squoxie

Tell the ones, the ones I loved I never will forget

a song fic about skull surviving the rest of the arco. the summary alone always pulls at my heartstrings whenever i read it.

Beginnings And Middles But No Ends In Sight by Ourliazo

A compilation of the various chaotic missions that the Arcobaleno take on pre-curse - as well as the many dumb things they throw themselves into even without being paid for it. [Fon tries to trap a cockroach with a tissue, but it runs up his sleeve. Reborn watches as Fon flips his shit, rips off his sleeve, and punches the cockroach to death. Reborn is still laughing by the time Fon comes back from disposing of the corpse and washing his hands. "Thank you," Fon says pointedly, rather upset by the entire experience. Reborn is crying.]

this is the daily life arc - arco version fic as i like to call it. an absolute fucking ride as you can imagine. love it to fucking bits.

don't look at the child underneath the floorboards by Kosaji

Happiness is based on a just discrimination of what is necessary, what is neither necessary nor destructive, and what is destructive. - The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Ursula K. Le Guin In which truths are realized and a choice is made.

the one where tsuna is freed from vongola thanks to his guardians. love it a lot.

Those Last Few Memories by Ourliazo

In one future, the Arcobaleno band together and try to fight off the Anti Tri-ni-set radiation.

the way my heart squeezes whenever i think of this fic. so heartbreaking and so well written. and the ending? oughhh. you just have to read this one!

on ff.net:

Rage Vs Hope By: ariathal2410

The order was to kill anything that moved, the city was too far gone to hope for survivors. But if there was one thing Colonnello didn't sign up for, it was killing kids. (28 Weeks Later AU, eventually merges into a semi-au) eventual all27?

zombies au that is both nello and tsuna centric! alternate between both their povs too. there's other canonical characters as well as ocs, but they're written well and enjoyable to read about too.

How to Survive the Fae By: MikeLamp

As the trees around them collapse, Tsuna's eyes don't stray from the human trembling before him, "So tell me," he hisses, eyes glowing, "where is your King now?" She whimpers instead of answering. In a world where the fae haunt the overgrown forests and angels control the cities with an iron fist, Tsuna doesn't want to just survive anymore.

another fantasy au that still manages to keep the characters true to themselves and is super well written. it's arco27 (seems to be anyway), with skull and who is likely fon in the last chapter being the only arco who appeared so far. and the skull & tsuna interactions in this? *chef's kiss* i love them.

Just Another Tuesday By: ariathal2410

Tsuna doesn't know why all this supernatural shit started happening in his life, but he'd really like it to stop now please. Mild Arco27

this is one of my favorite khr comfort fics. funny and fluffy with just the right amount of protectiveness and possessiveness from the arco (as well as flirtiness tbh lol).

come get me By: MakeItVoid

Reborn waits a little impatiently for someone to come get him. He doesn't know what to do now. The fire is creeping closer. (Reborn doesn't want to die like this.)

this is imo one of the best written reborn i've ever read about. maybe even the best one? either way i just love so, so much the way he's written in this fic, i couldn't not have added it to this list.

Gokudera Hayato By: rynoa29

It hurts more than you think it would, but your face can't help but to beam with pride.

a look at gokudera and his dynamic with the key people around him throughout his life. a lovely and well written exploration of his character.

and that was the last fic of the list! by which i mean there's actually more haha, but these are the cream of the crop among my favorite khr fics.

[hottakehoulihan]

I hate Sophia, and of course. …but if the story--exactly as canon--was repeated from Sophia's point of view but was only the time on the street and in uniform? Maybe as a Batman-aesthetic comic? Shit, we'd be rooting for our gritty no-nonsense badass gal unbridled popcorn-munching enthusiasm for volumes.

And then we're noticing her swapping in the lethal bolts for some people (again) and we're like "Wait, hold up. …why go lethal on THIS guy? He's not E88, and he hasn't done anything that bad that we know."

But what the heck. She'll have her reasons. He's probably a (gasp) marijuana joint needle dealer. Whatever. Back to the popcorn. That scene passes and the guy gets away with some wounds

(Maybe he's a future romantic partner? A sort of man-candy Catwoman? to her Dark Knight?)

and then a few more where we can cheer our film noir protag, because we trust that her judgements in who she's brutalizing or killing are just antihero Punisher behavior.

Get 'em! Yeah! Break the wifebeater's arm! Snap that kidnapper's knee! Leave the maimed nazi to be torn apart by the fighting dog!

(Gee, she's still going to school? I'd like to see that. But no; only time in uniform is being shown)

(Ye-GADS I wish the fucking PRT would get off her case. We don't see any of it except the parts where she's in uniform, but they're a bunch of milksops. She should hand in her badge and go solo. She doesn't need them and they're weak. ...though some are cute.)

(I wonder if she could become friends with Dorothy? Or something?)

Oh, that muscly black supervillain she put a broadhead into the leg of and that she tried to hit in the guts--he's back! And then we find out no she considers this guy "her nemesis" and that's why she's going full lethal. …and we're still trying to stay on her side.

Absolutely a setup for some situation where they eventually have to lean on each other and become frenemies and maybe she leans on his sweaty chest as he carries her out of harm's way because although they're not on "the same side" they've started to matter to each other.

...or maybe that's not in the cards she really seems to want this guy dead.

So maybe she knows something we don't yet. Usually that's the case; her thought bubbles don't say that much beyond gritty DC monologue. Maybe he put someone in a fridge?

And back to the good stuff. Some namby-pamby folk trying to hobble her while she's kicking ass (you need the "normies" around to show contrast, and to make it clear how COOL she is! They're like...like that one boring blond chick (Marilyn?) in the old Munsters TV show; they freak out and it gives a background to show the true badass in sharp relief.

(Not actually what Marilyn Munster was but we're spitballing here we're being friends right now cut me some slack)

And then we find out she's trying to cold-bloodedly body someone who saw her face. …but this villain used biological warfare on people and once held hostages. So maybe it's okay? Probably.

Hell, this villain looks creepier than that skull-faced black guy.

(Maybe the three of them will find a situationship? : 3 <3 )

…and then...only then does the backstory start to get revealed…and we realize with horror that our badass antihero was an asshole the whole time.

Still, maybe they'll be redeemed. It's not looking good; they're died up and the new villain (damn I hate when some new villain gets introduced out of nowhere and they're like the biggest badass of ALL and we are only just hearing about them. It shoulda been that Lung guy or something) is monologuing and

I don't know how she's gonna get out of this one.

.. .-- .- -. - .. .-- .- -. - .. .-- .- -. - .. .-- .- -. - .. .-- .- -. - .. .-- .- -. -

I think it could be great.

I think it would be a very different out-of-context experience. And I do think some events/things/stories/fragments benefit from being removed from contest

(I posted a poem fragment about loving ones cat because I think it could apply to an actual lover too and the ambiguity makes it better)

If this was the first bit though?

It'd also be a bit of a painful trap for the reader.

An accidental "ow, I stepped on a broken green bottle someone put on the floor" kinda unpleasantness for some.

Maybe even a bit of a "haha fuck you" from the artist.

But hey, the ride. Very Rorschach.

It sounds so good. I have *feelings* for it.

Don't you? Don't you want more of this and wish we had more time riding along with "The Stalking Shadow"?

[pigeonwhumps]

Kidnapping

Kidnapped masterlist

Taglist: @extrabitterbrain @wolfeyedwitch @fuckcapitalismasshole @ghost-whump @whump-tr0pes

@rainbowsandwhumperflies @whumpinggrounds @actress4him @painful-pooch @i-eat-worlds

@a-funeral-romance @rainydaywhump

AI-less Whumptober alt 8: kidnapping

(I am absolutely not writing these in order lol, I needed to fit them into the story. Also this one is mostly background I think)

Phoenix discovers that Brynn has gone missing.

2k

CWs: hero whump, panic, uncontrolled transformation, assumed kidnapping, past abuse and whump, nightmare, asshole managers

“Phoenix.”

Phoenix looks around in their dream, very confused. That voice, coming from the roof of the shed, there shouldn’t be anyone there.

“Phoenix!”

Phoenix jolts upright with a gasp. It takes them a moment, but then they see the string of coloured lightbulbs, the light-up sign, the glow-in-the dark stars on the ceiling, feel the weighted blanket wrapped snugly around them. They're not in the shed. They're not in the shed.

“Phoenix! Get down here, we need to speak to you!”

Phoenix flinches, and then– oh. It's Wildfire. They throw a hoodie on and hurry downstairs.

The cell block is cold tonight, but they hover around the entrance anyway, red lantern shining off the brickwork. Wildfire looks agitated in it, tracking Phoenix urgently.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sovereign has escaped.”

Phoenix staggers back a few steps. Sovereign. Escaped. No.

“When? How? Brynn– I–”

“Three days ago. The guards were discussing it. I thought you should know.”

“Right. I, um, thank you, I– I should–”

“Go!”

And Phoenix bolts. Straight back up to their flat, flying into their room and ignoring any commotion, dialling the number because if Sovereign's out that means he'll be coming for them, he'll be coming for Brynn because she double-crossed him and nobody lives to tell that tale.

Brynn's phone goes straight to voicemail. Fuck, fuck fuck fuck no.

Gemma. They can try Gemma.

She picks up after a few rings.

“Hello?”

Her voice is groggy and Phoenix immediately feels guilty.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to, um, wake you up, but do you, um, is Brynn there? And can I, um, can I speak to her?”

“Phoenix?”

“Yes, sir?”

“It is you then. She left yesterday, to surprise you by coming back early. Did she not arrive?”

Phoenix's heart skips a beat. No. No. This can't be happening. They can't lose her.

“No. No, um, no, she didn't. And Sovereign's escaped and–”

“Sovereign's escaped?” Gemma sounds alarmed, and far more awake now. “When?”

“Three, um, three days ago. And they didn't tell us and Brynn–”

“I understand. They didn't say anything to us either. I'll keep my eyes peeled for Brynn, but your contacts will probably be more useful.”

Phoenix nods, then remembers Gemma's on the phone. “Right. Thanks. You, um, thank you.”

“Call me if there's any updates.”

“I, um, I will.”

They say their goodbyes and Phoenix dashes out and up the fire escape, heading for the roof. Because Gemma's right, their contacts are more useful.

They're just not sure exactly how to reach him.

It's crossed their mind before that he might have the place bugged. They've never been sure how to feel about it, but right now, they cross their fingers and pray to everything they no longer believe in that he does.

“Electrocus!”

They scream their call to the cloudless sky, a desperate plea for the only person who might be able to help. Because Brynn is missing, and Sovereign's out, and the only person who might have a clue where they are is another villain.

They watch the skyline, fists clenched. Come on, come on, please let him be spying.

They watch.

And watch.

He’s not coming. He’s not coming.

They look down, blinking hard. He didn't hear. He doesn't care. He's not coming.

There's a soft thump behind them.

Phoenix spins around, heart leaping to their throat. “Electrocus?”

And there the supervillain stands, arms crossed, weight shifted to one side. Silhouetted against the streetlights.

“Firebird. Who do I need to kill?”

Phoenix flinches slightly at the strong voice. They still haven't quite worked out whether he'd do that for them.

“Sovereign's out. I think he, um, he's kidnapped Green Raptor. Have you, um, have you heard anything?”

“No. But there have been… rustlings. Among the villain community.”

Phoenix swallows hard. They don't know what these rustlings could be, but if Electrocus hasn't heard anything… how are they supposed to find her?

Electrocus steps forward and squeezes their shoulder. “I'll keep my eyes and ears open. We might hear something.”

“Thank you,” they choke out. Not the answer they were looking for but… maybe. Maybe there's still time. Maybe Sovereign will do something stupidly obvious.

Yeah, that last isn't likely.

He steps back, nods, and they turn their back for him to disappear. They don't know how he arrives on or departs from HAL’s rooftop and out of respect for them both it's a secret that's kept.

Phoenix wipes their eyes as they descend the metal stairs and enter back through the broken door (thankfully, it hasn't locked automatically for as long as they've known it). They just want to curl up and cry, but they can't. They can't. If Sovereign has Brynn, their team is probably next, and they need to tell someone. The door slams shut behind them and they stand there, uncertain, all their brain on Brynn, Brynn, Brynn.

“Phoenix? Come in, Phoenix, what's wrong?”

Phoenix blinks. Warm, steadying hands on their forearms. Santhiya's face in front of theirs, brow pinched in concern.

They try to shape the words, to convey, somehow, the depth of what's happened.

“Brynn. Sovereign.”

_

“...and you didn't think to tel us that the supervillain who we helped capture, who Brynn defected from, has escaped? You didn't even think to tell Brynn?”

Phoenix huddles under the blanket against the sofa and watches as Kai paces, phone to his ear, looking increasingly frustrated.

“You thought– why would she do that? How would she do that, she betrayed him! He'd kill her! Just because you can't conceive that someone might have a change of heart– yes. Yes, she's disappeared.” Huh. Phoenix didn't know Kai could grow claws when not in wolf form. “Fuck you. Fuck you, if that's your assumption! She's a member of my team, she's a good person and has made amends, she's been a hero for years now and your takeaway is that maybe she’s joined Sovereign again just because she was once his sidekick? That she can't have changed her mind despite how she helped arrest him? Fuck you.” He pants. “Yes, sir, I apologise, but– I– yes. No, we're not just going to leave them! And–” Kai listens, and then growls, wolf-like. “No. No, if we need to go after them, when we do it, it won't be for an arrest, or questioning, because we don't operate on assumptions of guilt. She helped us arrest Sovereign, what more do you need? For her to not have been adopted and abused by him in the first place, since she was a small child? God. We're not arresting her.” Another, longer pause, in which Kai twitches violently, his nose seeming to start lengthening. “We're rescuing her. I won't leave a member of my team to be arrested over bullshit. You can always order us not to go, or put us on probation, but we can resign, sir, and I know that Phoenix Costello and Santhiya Choudhary, for two, are willing to if you keep trying to stop us from doing our jobs. Everyone is worth rescuing, they're worth second and third chances, and I'm not going to let you stop us rescuing Brynn.” His ears, changing shape and colour, twitch. “Yes. Thank you, sir. You'll inform us of any developments? Thank you.”

Kai drops the phone and growls.

“Management didn't tell Brynn because they thought she might see how powerful Sovereign is and decide to join him.”

“What? But that's, um, that's not– she wouldn't! And, um, and any of us could do that. Just because she used to be a villain?”

Kai nods. Phoenix pulls the blanket tighter around themself, hiding what they're sure must be messed up patterns on their arms by now. If anyone knew how close they'd been to joining Electrocus that one time… and not even because he was a villain, just because he cared. They'd deserve their punishment but even so, they don't want management ever finding out.

“Gemma had lots of shouting matches with management over me,” says Morfydd, dumping cinnamon into the hot chocolate pan and stirring. “They didn't like that I came from Razor originally.”

“Assholes,” grumbles Lian, setting the mugs down with more force than necessary. “As if you'd have been more loyal to someone who did experiments on you and tried to shoot you.”

More and more, Phoenix wonders why they don't just leave. Just get up and walk out of here. But they can't – people are relying on them. There's no point in them if they're not going to be a hero.

They hum in agreement. They hate this. And Kai is– Kai is–

Santhiya kisses them on the forehead. “What's on your mind?”

They nod at Kai, whose claws have definitely lengthened. “Wolf.”

“Oh yeah. He did that when your secondment got increased too. Er, Kai? Claws?”

Kai looks down at his hands with visible surprise. Clearly his senses haven't started changing yet then. Are physical changes first?

“Oh.” With what looks like enormous effort, the claws shrink back into his hands, and his nose and ears go back to normal. He blushes. “Sorry.”

Santhiya glances at Phoenix, squeezing them tight. “It's fine. We need to talk about Brynn, and not losing anyone else.”

Kai nods, pacing. Lian and Morfydd bring over hot chocolate, sitting down together. Phoenix curls their hands around their mug, taking a gulp. It's scalding. Good.

But Morfydd’s hot chocolate is definitely not something to punish themself with, so they try to just nurse it for a while. It feels nice.

“We need to pair up,” says Kai decisively, “like we’ve done before. One pair and one three now, I guess. We each have a specific person to look out for. And if we have to leave the flat we don’t do it alone.”

“We should, um, call Aaron too,” adds Phoenix quietly. “They're, um, part of the team and Sovereign probably, um, probably knows.”

He's very dear to Brynn. Phoenix knows he was the first person she trusted here, and if Sovereign finds out just how important he is to her…

Kai nods. “Good idea. You'll do that?” Phoenix nods, already pulling out their phone. “One more thing. The trackers, from the time with The Chosen Ones. Do you still have yours, Phoenix?”

Phoenix shudders, blinking hard to banish the memories. “No, sir. It um, I was, um, it got lost.”

They worry Kai will want to know more but he just nods again. “Right. We’ll figure something out. Everyone else, put yours on. I know Sovereign is likely to remove them straight away but… just in case.”

Just in case. Just in case Sovereign infiltrates, or blows up a wall, and kidnaps one of them.

Of course, being in pairs won’t help if both of them are kidnapped. Would that be better or worse?

Lian stands abruptly. “I'm going to cook. If I sit here doing nothing I'll go mad. I can't help being angry at Brynn but she wouldn't betray us again. That's a stupid excuse management are using because they don't like that she used to be a villain. And I can't just sit here while they try to do what they would've done to Morfydd if it hadn't been for Gemma. They take ex-villains because it looks good but they can't deal with fucking nuance. So I'm going to cook.”

“They’d’ve liked me to disappear,” explains Morfydd quietly. “I wasn't a hero or a civilian, so.”

Phoenix shivers. They're close enough to villains that if anyone found out…

If Gemma helped Morfydd, maybe there’s something they could do to help people more. Before they get to medbay. Maybe Aaron will know. Or Gemma, but they… she’s still a bit of an unknown.

Not now, though. Later. After Brynn is back home safe.

They clutch Santhiya tightly, watching as Morfydd disappears into the kitchen and Kai sinks down to the ground, running his hands over his face. They don't want to lose anyone else.

Please don't let them lose anyone else.

[surplus-of-sarcasm]

100 Follower Special!

Thank you sooooo much for 100 followers! 🥰🥰 (technically 101 now, but semantics, semantics) I know that's a relatively small number, but I've been here for about 3 months, and I'm still happy anyway. Love you guys so much! 🩵🩵

TW: minor violence, bruises mention

Villain knows this. They've spent the past few weeks studying every detail of Hero's base meticulously. This was why Supervillain had chosen them for this mission. Because they didn't get distracted easily and they kept their full focus on their task.

Sneaking inside admittedly wasn't easy. Villain had spent hours racking their brain for answers as they typed away on their keyboard, trying to hack into the system. And after many sleepless nights and one too many large mugs of coffee, they'd finally gotten through Hero's security.

The positions of every door, every hidden door's placement, every secret passageway, and even where all the cameras were (they'd managed to disable them) were all etched into their memory.

They almost glide around with such ease, they might as well have owned the place. But their outwardly calm and collected demeanour was a somewhat fragile façade. Hero may have kept up a friendly persona and thrown quite a bit of banter their way, but they were dangerous in their own right, with deadly control over their power. The scattered bruises lining the villain's body are a testament to that.

They weren't sure they'd like to imagine what Hero would do if they caught them sneaking around in their own house.

But they're Villain, for God's sake. They'd fought and won against people much worse than Hero. Yet they'd never been even half this nervous.

Steeling themselves, they take a deep breath as they try to push all the negative thoughts out of their head. They place their ear to the door, listening for any noises, and the action brings a comfortable sense of familiarity to them from the number of times they'd done it. Hearing no sound, their hands work as swift as machinery, taking the lockpick out of their suit's pocket and working on the lock.

They finally manage to get it open, the door leading into their nemesis's living room. What kind of psychopath locks their living room's door? But the criminal didn't find that a surprise. Carefully lifting the dark green plush rug off the floor, they manage to loosen the fake floorboard underneath, leading to the trapdoor. Another detail they'd discovered spying on Hero through their computer.

Lifting the door, Villain wills the air in the room to return the floorboard and the carpet back to their place as the door shuts. They smirk to themselves at how smoothly their power works as they carefully make their way down the long staircase.

When they finally reach the end of the staircase, they are almost giddy with excitement. One that you could never read off their somber face. The same rush of blood and adrenaline pulsing through them as their first heist.

Walking carefully around Hero's base and resisting the temptation to explore the sleek, well-equipped place, they quickly find exactly what they were here for. The flash drive in the shiny glass case, more precious to Villain than any treasure. It may have looked so easy to get a hold of, but simplicity was impossible with Hero. There was a sick, twisted puzzle only a psychopath or a bitter STEM major could dream up that they had to solve first.

Their heartbeat quickly grows erratic, and their hands shake as they go through the bloody puzzle. Their eyes light up with glee as the glass case unlocks, and they reach inside, fingers almost closing around their prize.

Almost.

"Well done," a silky voice croons. It sounds proud rather than annoyed.

The crime-fighter stands there, leaning against the wall, arms folded over their chest with an amused glint in their eyes. They were dressed in a dark, satin robe thrown carelessly over their figure and tied at the waist, not even bothering with a mask. They regard Villain the same way one regards a child who'd been caught sneaking yet another cookie.

They chuckle lightly. "Ya know, if you wanted an invitation, you could've just asked. I believe I gave you my number last time we fought, hm?"

"Hilarious," they counter, whipping around and making a run for it, flash drive in hand. They try to send a blast of air towards their enemy, except there was barely any air in this damned basement. So all their attempts served was to send a pathetic, little breeze towards Hero.

As though they needed any further humiliation.

It barely takes a moment for the crime-stopper to confiscate the flash drive, twisting the villain's arm somewhat painfully and shoving them into the wall, and they toss the drive back into the case. It locks automatically.

Villain does not appreciate their current position at all. Pinned against the wall, a horribly overused cliché, leaving them mortified, if the look on their face is any indication. Said face is now flushed a bold red, their normally sharp tongue now rendered useless.

Worst of all is Hero's smug, lopsided smirk and the way that they look at Villain in general, with their prying eyes, their gaze sparkling with curiosity. It made them feel like a specimen being examined.

"Shh, it's no use struggling, darling," Hero purrs somewhat soothingly. And their words hold truth because Hero's super strength doesn't falter, and Villain's squirming serves little to no purpose but to embarrass them, and apparently entertain their nemesis.

"W-what are you going to do to me?" they all but squeak.

The crime-fighter laughs, and they feel their heartbeat quicken to impossible degrees, not just out of fear, but out of something far more dangerous. . .

"Relax, I won't hurt you. I'd hate to mess up the oh-so-beautiful artwork, hm?" they murmur

Heat spreads through Villain's body like wildfire. Their words catch in their throat, and their breathing becomes shallower. They'd kept it all professional when responding to Hero's flirtations, being dedicated to their job meant adhering to the concept that they were strictly enemies. But then why are they an incoherent mess of emotions right now?

Hero's honey-sweet tone, the blinding grin flashed on perfect white teeth against dark tan skin, and the flowery scent of their fragrance don't sit well with the criminal. But nothing compares to the way they fix their gaze on Villain, as though they were someone to be admired, someone alluring, more than just a weapon. And, it's not like their life had been devoid of romance, but no one had ever looked at them with the same awe-filled fiery passion like Hero did.

"What do you want?" they breathe out. An honest question.

"Right now at least, I want to invite you to have breakfast here with me, it bring pretty early in the morning. It'll be fun, sweetheart," They run the fingers of their free hand along their nemesis's jaw, a feather-light caress.

Whatever the hell Villain was feeling had just intensified to impossible degrees. They are intoxicated with the almost magnetic charm that made it difficult impossible to think straight. And they didn't want it to end.

"Fine," they answer, trying to keep the shakiness out of their words, which come out at a higher pitch than they intend. Damn you, Hero.

Their enemy's whole face lights up, and they flash them a huge grin. Not one of their seductive, lopsided smirks. But a big smile full of utter joy.

That's adorable. Am I growing soft?

"Sure, but I just have one more request."

"Enlighten me."

They trace the shape of their mask in the air. Well, if they're going to have breakfast with this hero, in an outright romantic setting, then the usage of the mask didn't seem to make much sense.

Hero lifts their arm off, and Villain had half a mind to run off and get a hold of the drive. But one look into those gorgeous sea-green eyes, and all their plans were swiftly discarded and shredded to smithereens.

They peel the mask off, heartbeat now erratic.

"Y-you're absolutely breathtaking in every sense of the word, Villain," Hero coos, snaking an arm around Villain's waist and pulling them close against their side.

"You're not so bad yourself, hotshot," they laugh, pleased to finally have anything on the hero.

This was foolish, risky, and it broke every single goddamn rule in Villain's book. But never in their life had something ever felt so right.

Tagging for this one specifically: @thelocalnemesis @deckofaces @onlywhump @justalittlecorrupted (u usually ask me to tag u on my stuff, I hope this isn't too presumptuous, Corrupted!) @featheryvee

Also, some of y'all r alr on the taglist, so you'll just be tagged there.

✨️Le Taglist: @larinzz @syberianjade @lateuplight @altu-whump @enbious-prince @astr0-mj @thelazywitchphotographer @addictedsandwhichaki @justalittlecorrupted @quaggasus @dodo-docs @vernilliom @sirrsnakesssss

Wanna be on the taglist? This will take you there!

[thewritingautisticat]

OC questionnaire tag

Thanks @willtheweaver for the tag!

I've done a lot of things with Caldren, so I think I'll switch it up this time and interview my gal Phoenix, the title character from my superhero novel.

Are you named after anyone?

Not a person. I'm named after the phoenix, duh. A bird that rises in flames from the ashes of defeat.

When was the last time you cried?

I don't cry. Crying is for the weak and powerless, and I am not either of those things. When something hurts me, I fight back, not cry about it.

Do you have kids?

No. I do have a... younger brother, sort of. I raised him pretty much all by myself, so I guess you could say he's like my kid. But I don't actually have any.

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Heh. Yeah, whenever I can.

What is the first thing you notice about people?

How strong they are, what their build is. Whether I could take them in a fight. Whether they'll run or try to be a hero and attack me.

What���s your eye color?

The color of fire and coals burning the flesh of those who've hurt me.

(Her eyes are brown)

Any special talents?

I have gloves that can create and control fire. They're pretty hard to use. I can also fight really well. It's what I was trained for my whole life.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings aren't real, and who needs scary movies when your whole life is a nightmare? *Bitter laugh.* Ash can't handle the scary stuff, so we generally watch kid stuff, when we're allowed to watch movies at all.

Where were you born?

Dunno. My... I don't know what to call him, the jerk who raised me, he found me as a toddler. Somewhere around here, I guess. Who cares?

Do you have any pets?

No. The last thing I need is something else to feed and take care of.

How tall are you?

I don't know exactly, but a little shorter than average. Somewhere around five feet tall? Don't let that fool you though. I'm still really powerful.

What was your favorite subject in school?

(Sarcastically) What's school? *Laughs* We mostly just had fighting training and stuff like that. I did like to read about old wars and stuff when I could get ahold of books. And I really loved art. Looking at it and making it. Not that I was allowed to make art, but sometimes you just gotta graffiti a wall even if you'll get beaten for it.

What is your dream job?

Taking vengeance on my enemies, defeating the superheroes, and finally having the chance to live the life I deserve. Huh? Yeah, I know supervillain isn't an actual job, but who cares? Besides, I'm not the villain here anyway.

Tagging: @tildeathiwillwrite @late-to-the-fandom @ryns-ramblings @sparkles-rule-4eva and open tag!

[sio-writes]

Movie Night

I challenged myself to write a short blurb in under 1k words, and we capped in at 998 (hell yeah!)

I've been inspired by my writing buddies in the fantasci discord server, so have a bit of a Hero/Villain interaction. It's a bit out of my usual wheelhouse but I think I did the concept some justice! There's some mild swearing but that's all c:

The steam from the shower nearly chokes the small apartment, but Hero wouldn’t turn down the temperature if their life depended on it. It’s the easiest way to release the tension in their joints, ease the tightness of their muscles after beating back Supervillain for the third time this week. It was a victory hard-won, and Hero was still finding bruises and scrapes that they hadn't felt during the heat of battle.

The shower also acts as a ritual of sorts, one that started out of necessity - saving a city was a hard job, and then as Hero got better at that job, the ritual just kind of stuck.

Scrubbed and dry with fresh bandages over the worst of the injuries, Hero knocks back several ibuprofen and changes into pajamas. The fight took everything out of them, and they want nothing more than to relax for the rest of the evening.

Which of course invites a knock on their door, and Hero knows exactly who it is. They barely have a chance to unlock the door before Villain pushes past them and into the apartment. They pace the small living room as Hero closes and locks the door, then turns an accusing finger in Hero's direction. "I can't believe you!"

"You saw the fight, huh?" Hero asks, leaning on one shoulder against the wall. "I assume you have notes?"

Villain's eyes widen, indignant. "You bet your ass I do! Never fight Supervillain alone, your own words! And what do I see on TV first thing in the morning? You! Being flattened into the fucking Metrix high-rise!"

Hero cringes, hating that Villain is right. "It's not like I planned it. I did call for help, but by the time everyone else got there, Supervillain was long gone." They shrug, and the movement pulls at a nasty gash over their back that makes them wince. They kick off the wall to step around Villain, and then flop dramatically onto the couch, ignoring Villain's increasingly indignant stare. Standing takes effort, plus it hurts, so if Villain wants to yell at them more, they'll have to do it from down here.

"Don't you care that they might--"

"Wanna watch a movie?" Hero interrupts, reaching for the remote.

Villain sputters for a second, but this song and dance is nothing new for either of them. One gets hurt, the other gets upset, they brush it off and continue on. So after a long-suffering stare, an arm movement like they're a bird taking flight, and a hefty sigh, Villain drapes themself over Hero's couch as Hero fiddles with the channels.

“Anything but the news,” Villain says.

Hero flips to a channel playing a movie— they haven't seen a proper movie in months— and Villain grunts their approval.

Normally, Hero enjoys war movies, but those pain pills kick in fast, and before the opening credits are over, Hero’s already struggling to pay attention. It's an older movie, made in the 70's, something about the Cold War, and there's so much talking and so little action that Hero is fighting to stay awake, until Villain starts on a tirade.

"It's just like the government, eh? Fuckin' politicians, they just waltz all over--"

Hero groans, thumping Villains leg with their fist. "Knock it off. I heard nothing but this all damn day."

Villain scoffs, cutting off their rant but still broadcasting their frustration. They turn their attention back to the movie, and in sympathy, Hero pats their knee where it's draped over their own legs. "Things'll get better, you know they will."

Villain scrunches their face in displeasure, sinking into the couch as they cross their arms over their chest. "Not fast enough. People are dying."

Hero sighs through their nose, fond yet exasperated. This argument never seems to stale, no matter how often it comes up. They never reach an agreement, only until they run out of talking points and one gives up. Currently Hero is in the lead at 43-42.

At a commercial break, Villain reaches out to gently brush their knuckles over a large purple bruise on Hero's ankle. “This looks bad.”

Hero hums, noncommittal. Supervillain had actually broken that ankle, but with Hero's accelerated healing factor, it was back in place before they got home, and the bruise will be long gone before the weekend's over. “I mean, you saw the fight.”

“You should be more careful around Supervillain,” they say, serious. “They don’t have a conscience like I do.”

Hero scoffs, smiling. “Didn't you gut-punch me last week?”

“I was aiming for the senator," they mumble, looking down. They look back to Hero, eyes still hardened. "They’ll kill you given the chance.” Villain’s expression brokers no argument, and Hero holds their gaze for a moment. Hero’s easy smile fades, taking in the concern of Villain’s expression.

“Don’t worry about me,” Hero mumbles. “It’s part of the job.”

“An avoidable part.”

Hero rolls their eyes. "I can't just quit, and I--" Hero squints at the screen. “What the fuck is that?"

It's not a distraction this time, Hero genuinely can't make heads or tails of why this plane is sitting on its ass-end and taking off like the space shuttle.

Villain sighs, turning their head back towards the TV, and then they perk up. "Oh, that's a Lockheed XFV-1," Villain says easily before tossing back popcorn into their mouth. Hero didn't remember making popcorn, and couldn't recall Villain making any - they must've made it when Hero dozed off.

"It was made for vertical take-off and landing," Villain continues. "Like a helicopter, but shaped like a plane. Oh! That one's a Lavochkin-LA, super big during the Cold War."

Hero squints at them. "Are you a history nerd?"

Villain flushes. "Kind of? I'm not as keyed-in as some people." They snort, and their smile is lopsided. "Don't tell anyone, it'll ruin my street cred."

Hero recognizes an olive branch when they see one, and they smile easily. "I won't tell anyone. Hand me some popcorn."

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Agitation 3.3 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

“No,” Brian intoned, “Such a bad idea.”

Awww, but isn't that a villain rite of passage?

(Yes, yes, I've read like 17 versions of the fic scenes where they point out it's a bad idea, all probably derived from this chapter)

“Come on,” Lisa wheedled, “It’s a rite of passage for dastardly criminals like us.”

Lisa. You're the Undersiders. Right now, you guys are anything but 'cool' and dastardly is reserved for 'cool' villains.

“Robbing a bank is moronic.  We’ve been over this,”  Brian closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, “You know what the average haul is for hitting a bank?” Lisa paused, “Twenty thou?” “Exactly.  It’s not millions like you see people getting away with in the movies.  Banks don’t keep a lot of loose cash on hand, so we’d be pulling in less than we would for most other jobs

Okay, yes, Banks don't keep a lot of loose cash, but really? Only twenty thousand? That's a lot of armored trucks going in and out every day then or something.

“We won because we picked our battles.  We wouldn’t have that option if we were cooped up in the bank and waiting for them to come to us, letting them decide how and where the fight happened.”

Brian, you're talking to Rachel, who I believe is the physical embodiment of this tumblr post:

I’d almost forgotten I was a part of the discussion.  The last thing I wanted was to rob a bank.  Hostages could get hurt.  The fact that it would potentially put me on the front page of the paper wasn’t a high point, either, if I ever wanted to drop the supervillain ruse and become a hero in good standing.  I ventured, “I think Brian makes a good case.  It seems reckless.”

Come on Taylor! You know you wanna just cut loose! :P :rofl: (Jk)

“Figure that’s happening in the middle of the school day, and they won’t all be able to slip away to stop a robbery without drawing attention.  People know the Wards are attending Arcadia, they just don’t know who they are.  So everyone’s constantly watching for that.  Since they can’t have all six or seven of the same kids disappear from class every time the Wards go off to foil a crime without giving away the show, chances are good that we’d go up against a couple of their strongest members, or one of the strongest with a group of the ones with less amazing powers.  We can beat them.”

And if a certain overstressed healer hadn't been there to make a withdrawal, this probably would have been fine.

That, and he really wants us to do a job at that particular time.”

I believe that screams 'BAIT!' and 'YOU ARE A DISTRACTION!'

“They have ride-alongs or aerial cover from various members of the Wards and the Protectorate, so we’d be caught in a fight with another cape from minute one.  Same problems that Brian’s talking about, as far as getting caught up in a fight, difficulty accessing the money before shit goes down, yadda yadda.  Anyways, the Brockton Bay Central has cars coming in twice a week, and leaving four times a week.  We hit on a Thursday just after noon, and it should be the best day and time for the sheer size of the take.  Only way we’re getting away with less than thirty thousand is if we fuck up.  With what the boss is offering, that’s ninety thou.”

Not a bad chunk of change for a lunchbreak sized job.

Brian sighed, long and loud, “Well, you got me, I guess.  It sounds good.”

If Brian isn't physically facepalming when he says this, he has to be mentally. Just... such 'fiiiiiiiiiine! (exasperated)' energy.

Arguing against the bank robbery at this point would hurt my undercover operation more than it helped anyone.  With that in mind, I began offering suggestions that – I hoped – would minimize the possibility of disaster.  The way I saw it, if I helped things go smoothly, it would help my scheme to get info on the Undersiders and their boss.  It would minimize the chance that someone would panic or be reckless and get a civilian hurt.  I think I would feel worse if that happened than I would about going to jail.

Fair, on the civilian front. I have no idea how many civilians Taylor hurts, but it's probably low. Also, the rationalizations continue apace!

The discussion went on for a while.  At one point, Lisa got her laptop, and we debated entrance and exit strategies while she sketched out a map of the bank layout.  It was uncanny, seeing her power at work.  She copied a satellite image of the bank from a web search into a paint program, then drew over it with thick bold lines to show how the rooms were laid out.  With another search and a single picture of the bank manager standing in front of his desk, she was able to mark out where the manager’s desk was.  That wouldn’t have been too amazing, but without pausing, she then went on to mark where the tellers were, as well as the vaults, the vault doors and the enclosed room that held the safe deposit boxes.  She noted where the fuse box and air conditioning vents were, but we decided we wouldn’t mess with either of those.

It's amazing what you can find on the internet... and with a power that lets you do what Sherlock Holmes pretends to.

Of the four of us, I got the impression he had the least to contribute, at least strategically, and that he knew it.  I wasn’t sure if he just didn’t have a very tactical mindset or if he just didn’t care that much about the planning stage of things.

Despite the fact that he is (according to fanfic, not sure if this is canon) a sociopath, and at the very least, fucked up thanks to being one of Heartbreaker's Kids, Alec may be the most normal of the Undersiders.

And boy is that weird to say.

“Sure,” he said, “So let’s go down the list.  Team leader: Aegis.  You’d think he has the standard Alexandria package, flight, super strength, invincibility, but that isn’t exactly right.  He does fly, but the other two powers work differently than you’d expect.  See, he isn’t invincible… he just doesn’t have any weak points.  His entire biology is filled with so many redundancies and reinforcements that you just can’t put him down.  Throw sand in his eyes and he can still see by sensing the light on his skin.  Cut his throat and it doesn’t bleed any more than the back of his hand would.  The guy’s had an arm cut off and it was attached and working fine the next day.  Stab him through the heart and another organ takes over the necessary functions.”

*Me, shaking the powers* WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BE NORMAL?!?!?!

“I don’t need to hold back?” Bitch asked, her eyebrow quirked. “For once, no.  Go nuts.  Just, you know, don’t kill him. 

Very important that you added that extra detail there, Brian :P

“The upside is that whoever he touches is also untouchable.  Can’t be hurt, can’t be moved.  Period.  He uses that defensively, and he can do stuff like throw paper or cloth in the air and freeze it in time, making an unbreakable shield.  You don’t want to run into something that’s frozen.  A car that drove into the side of a piece of paper that Clockblocker had touched would be cut in two before it budged the paper.”

Everyone, get ready for our favorite game here at @got-into-worm-by-mistake!

*Wheel of Fortune Audience Voice*

POWERS!

ARE!

BULLSHIT!

(I say this a lot. I'll say it more. Because I absolutely love how nothing about any power in Worm can be 'normal' powers. Genuinely. Favorite part of the story that isn't my poor little meow meow babygirl Amy)

“Wherever our powers come from, they also came with some limitations.  For most of us, there’s a restriction about using our powers on living things.  The reach of powers generally stops at the outside of a person or animal’s body.  There’s exceptions for the people with powers that only work on living things, like you, Alec and Rachel.  But the long and short of it is that the Manton effect is why most telekinetics can’t just reach into your chest and crush your heart.  Most people who can create forcefields can’t create one through the middle of your body and cut you in two.”

I feel like maybe Taylor would have researched this more/better?

“I said most,” Lisa said, “Why these restrictions exist is a question nearly as big as where we got our powers in the first place.  The capes that can get around the Manton effect are among the strongest of us.”

And maybe, bitch, that's why you don't help tilt the girl who is teetering on the edge of becoming an S-Class threat over said edge?

(I am entitled to be irrational about some things.)

“That just leaves Shadow Stalker.  Bloodthirsty bitch,” Brian scowled.

AYYYY! Sophia! You horrid little bitch!

(Do we find out before Taylor does that Sophia is Shadow Stalker?)

“She was a solo hero,” Tattletale said, “Vigilante of the night, until she went too far and nearly killed someone, nailing him to a wall with one of her crossbows.  The local heroes were called in, she got arrested, and made some sort of deal.  Now she’s a probationary member of the Wards, with the condition that she uses tranquilizer bolts and nonlethal ammo for her crossbow.”

Furthers the whole "heroes kinda suck, be a villain" messaging from Interlude 2, really.

“I am,” I admitted, “as well as third thoughts, fourth thoughts, and so on.  But I’m not going to let that stop me.  I’m coming with.”

Valid af though.

“So unless there’s anything else, I think we just planned a bank robbery before noon,” Lisa said with a grin.  I looked at the digital clock displayed under the TV.  Sure enough, it was half past eleven.

Either Lisa is having too much fun with this, or the other Undersiders are having too little fun with it.

[musi-creatively]

Just a Breakup 2

Part 1

"What do you mean I can't be here?" Villain demanded.

They'd darted into a familiar, and currently crowded, bar. Hopefully Hero wouldn't find them in the chaos anytime soon... but only if they didn't get kicked out.

Bartender sighed and sat down the glass he was wiping. "You don't got cash, and even if you did you don't have your i.d.! We ain't running a charity here!"

"I used to be a regular! Preston can vouch for me."

Bartender's eyes rolled, "Preston don't own the place anymore. He sold it and cut ties!"

"What?" Then Villain remembered, "Oh! Wait. Right. He wanted to go clean after he and his husband adopted that kid."

They'd been at the wedding. Preston had friends from all sides. There were some tensions, but thankfully no fights... Though that might've been because Hero and Sidekick were playing interference all night. It was the first time they'd seen Hero out of uniform.

"Exactly!" Bartender huffed, "So now we gotta follow the new boss' rules."

Villain snapped back to the present, "Who's the new boss?"

"That would be me."

Villain didn't even have to turn to know the voice.

Supervillain took a seat at the bar with his drink. "Breathe, Moonlight."

Villain hadn't realized they were holding their breath.

"What can I do for you, boss?" Bartender asked.

Supervillain smiled, "How about we start with getting my friend here a drink. Do you still prefer light and fruity?"

"Um, yes. That's fine." Friend. Villain felt a bit of pain at the label he'd given.

Bartender nodded and got to work.

Supervillain turned to Villain. "So! What's got you back in this part of town?"

"That's complicated." They admitted.

He sipped his drink. "Oh? Just tired complicated, or on the run complicated?"

Villain flinched. "I am tired, but... On the run complicated."

"Really? I heard you've been hanging off a Sunbeam. Why couldn't you go to them?"

Sunbeams. Supervillain's term for heroes. Blindingly bright and equally as likely to burn you.

Villain had been in the sun too long.

"Ah- they're the reason I'm on the run." They sighed, "I don't really want to talk about it here."

Supervillain nodded. "What about your home?"

"Compromised. They know the escape maze."

"I see."

Bartender slid Villain their drink.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it."

And then Bartender was gone, waved over by a customer farther down.

"I didn't know you bought this place." They changed the subject.

"Yes, that was rather obvious." He laughed.

Oh how they'd missed his laugh.

"Can I ask why?"

"You just did." He leaned onto his elbows. "But, sure. There were a lot of reasons. I was planning to come back anyway, Preston wanted it to be someone he could trust, I already had most of the connections he was cutting... It made the transition smoother for everyone involved."

Villain nodded.

"Do you have somewhere to go after this, Moonlight?" He asked.

"What?!" They jumped a little in their seat.

"You said your house is compromised, right?"

Oh. Right.

"Right! Yeah. That." Villain took a long sip of their drink as the embarrassed panic was replaced with real panic.

They didn't. Hero knew all of their safe houses. It was information shared in case of emergencies, but now they regretted it. And without their wallet....

"I could get you a hotel room for the time being?" He offered. "Or you could stay with me. Whichever is more comfortable for you."

That was both the best and worst thing they could do.

"I don't want to drag you into this more than you are already!"

His eyebrows raised, "And how am I 'already' involved?"

"That's-"

"Complicated?"

They breathed out. "Yeah."

"Would you follow me somewhere if it wasn't outside of this building?"

"Yes." They said faster than intended.

"Then follow me."

@holygoddessofvictory @laffy-taffy-creations @creweemmaeec11

[animation-is-my-jam]

Favorite villain from wordgirl and why is it tobey? Jk jk EXCLUDING tobey who is ur favorite villain?

Aksjsksjsj, OKAY, FIRST OF ALL--despite what it seems, Tobey isn't my number one favorite villain. There is no need to choose someone who isn't him since he wasn't a contender in the first place/lhlh

SO. Who is my favorite villain? ....Hmm, I think I remember choosing my top 6 or 10. But I haven't exactly said who is my favorite.

I guess for me to pick one, I'll just list out my favs first.

(The original Five all go here, aka:)

- Butcher

-Chuck

-Granny May

-Two-Brains

-Tobey

(The other ladies)

-Lady Redundant Woman

-Miss Question

-Maria (Electricity Monster)

(Miscellaneous)

-Amazing Rope Guy

- Nocan

- The Learnerer

...Okay, know I'm actually stuck in choosing a favorite one. Because out of all that I listed, there isn't one where I prefer a character over the other, or if I catch an episode, and there isn't the one villain I get more excited for. I suppose that's maybe bc I'm not super villain focused when it comes to Wordgirl content, but I still love their characters and do more with them outside of the context of the show, so...hmm...

The original Five. That's a done deal because c'mon, they're the more nostalgic and more episode gifted compared to the others. I love Butcher. Chuck is a mood even if he gets on my nerves some episodes, but on others, he's cute. Tobey...is Tobey. I'm a granny May defender, so of course. And despite how much I have Two-brains fatigue, he's so interesting, and I like him still today.

The ladies...NO NEED TO SAY. I LOVE MY SCHEMING GIRLS. THEY ARE THE MOMENT THEY ARE EVERYTHING. They deserve everything

wtf ARE THEY NOT!! MORE HIGHER!! THAN BUTCHER AND CHUCK IN THAT STUPID GAY PYRAMID--(*feed gets cut*)

Woah, heh...uh yeah....um...I love them. (If you're wondering where Eileen or Victoria are....Well, Elieen is not exactly a favorite, let's say that, and I thought about it. I don't think Victoria counts a villain. She's an antagonist, but I'm talking supervillains here.)

As for miscellaneous, they're my silly guys. I love them and write about their characters when they're old guys. Blhg and Invisibill unfortunately couldn't make it. 😔

OKAY OKAY so who is my favorite?.....

....EEGHHHHHHHH UMMMM....LETS JUST MAKE IT A TIE WITH ALL OF THEM.. EXCEPT TOBEY LMAO.

(Okay, for real, I guess the real answer is like a tie between Butcher, Two-brains, Lady Redundant Woman, Miss Question, Granny May, Maria, and Chuck)

THANK YOU FOR THE ASK!! (　＾∀＾)

[needlesandnilbogs]

⭐ for the ask game! Gimme some director's commentary on your favorite of your fics!

You get mini-rant about superhero au because it's on my mind again and I'm taking a metaphorical axe to the long term plans for it right now (and lowkey wishing I'd thought about it more before I posted it last year) (read more bc I'm ramble-y tonight lol)

I should have cut the entire first bit of this and rewritten the second bit. third arc in that story is great and the prologue is great but the first and second arcs need to be better

For once, I'm not thinking about this in terms of lore changes --- I've had. Uh. A lot of the thoughts pretty clearly in mind since near the beginning (the backstory of hero mensah and her villain partners, the secret identity of actually-evil-villain Corporate, all the other backstories, exact power ideas and limitations) and don't need to edit that much for consistency --- but about the actual execution, especially the way they all handle balancing superheroics and secret identities.

I like the prologue, except for I think that Mensah probably would have had slightly more charitable words for Tano from the start (if not for Amena). Prologue can stay.

However. If I hadn't published it already (and I'm honestly just going to leave it rn bc I don't mind it, but I can still feel annoyed about it not being what I actually want), I would cut the first proper arc entirely, not because I'm not proud of it, but because it kind of duplicates the second arc, and not in a good way; it's a disconnected bunch of them interacting as secret identities and being Weird about it, and it leads into the next arc pretty much exactly. If I were rewriting this I'd probably keep it as the aftermath of a Corporate attack, but cut most of it down to a short description of the heroes working together, then the after-battle bits (adding a moment with the heroes deciding they're at the point they really need to get Corporate's identity for an arrest warrant, maybe making it actually clear that Gurathin is Pin-Lee's cousin and not some random person hanging around, and for sure clarifying something about what's going on with ratthi and Bharadwaj), then put the parts where they're investigating each other as part of the next arc.

The second arc also needs a bunch of things changed, but it's actually half-decent as a single storyline, if you actually start halfway through the previous arc. However:

I like thinking about how Mensah's council staff would respond to her being kidnapped approximately every other week and I should have said more about that (she plans about two days a month with nothing serious scheduled, so she can reschedule meetings she misses onto those days if needed; the council staff has a standing script for if someone needs her while she's busy being kidnapped; there's an actual emergency line that one of the most trusted staffers has that can get to her comm so she can respond if she's busy being kidnapped but they seriously need her)

I should have made it clearer that Mensah was absolutely complicit in the kidnapping bit and that she wasn't actually mad at Tano or Farai, just annoyed not to be told in advance (consensual kidnapping), but Ratthi was not consensually kidnapped, he was treated well but he was, also, actually literally kidnapped by supervillains and would probably have been freaking out more.

Also, a thing I'd do over would be to start with Mensah and her partners idly chatting about this plan over dinner a few days earlier, as part of the bit where everyone's investigating everyone else, so Mensah knows what's going on and why, just not when, exactly, her partners plan on pulling this one off.

Also also, Mensah probably needs to actually have a talk with her partners on screen about identities after everything, but other than that I don't actually mind the part where they reveal themselves to each other, and honestly I think it's okay that she doesn't tell anyone about her partners until later (might put it such that that reveal happens directly after that arc, but I like the moment where mensah tells pin-lee later and I'd move that to fit, and I don't mind mensah telling overse bc Overse notices the distress and wants to offer comfort). I think they'd need to talk and she'd need their permission to tell anyone (outside the team psychic lol) but they all should find out sooner than they actually do (in what I've actually written they will know by the next fic in the series for sure tho)

Anyways the third arc in there is great and I like it a lot. actual mystery with actual clues in there and arada doing mad science. 10/10 no notes.