#while he turns to hiring himself out as an interrogator/torturer

[whumpfish]

🧱 -anonymous 😂

This is so old, I'm so sorry!!

Thank you, as always! And sorry again for the late response, your bricks will be delivered and put to good use 😈

[allthelittlecreepycrawlies]

*Definitely* Horror Sangyao Ideas, Part One

(Under a cut for mentions of gore.)

Based on the manga "Pupa", the Nie brothers wind up cursed during the early days of the Sunshot Campaign.

Nie Mingjue now has almost complete injury regeneration (more on why that's actually a curse later), while Nie Huaisang's been inflicted with a cannibalistic hunger and the fangs, strength, and speed necessary to feed it.

Trying to keep his brother safe from the war and everyone else safe from his brother, Mingjue unwillingly locks Huaisang away, using his own severed and regrown limbs to feed him for as long as he can.

But war waits for no one, and it's while Mingjue is away on the battlefront that a squad of Wen soldiers attempts to kidnap Huaisang as a hostage, having no inkling of what he's become.

And he's been starving while his brother is gone.

Once freed, Huaisang tries to limit himself to eating only targets wearing the distinctive white-and-red-flame robes, but it's hard to control the hunger.

And it doesn't help that the cores he devours along with their owners are having… side effects on his mind and body.

When things go somewhat south near the end of the war and Nie Mingjue is captured, it turns out Meng Yao had kept his mouth shut about his regenerative ability (so that later he could use the "I didn't give away your secret" reasoning to ward off Mingjue's inevitable rage at the turncoat ruse).

And then during the interrogation session, when Nie Mingjue gets kicked down, his ribs break-

-and then immediately heal.

And both Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue have an inward "oh shit" as Wen Ruohan smiles in realization...

Wen Ruohan is enjoying the torture so much that instead of having Nie Mingjue taken to the Fire Palace, he sends Meng Yao away so he can continue taking Mingjue apart himself.

Realizing that if he doesn't do something to aid his former sect leader, he's as good as dead if Mingjue escapes on his own, Meng Yao decides to fall back to Plan B.

He's been keeping track of the brothers well enough that he knows where to find Huaisang.

Quickly changing out of his Wen robes so he won't be a target, he slips out of the palace.

(He almost gets eaten anyway before Huaisang recognizes him because the latter's mind has been so affected, but he'll deal. A few bloody bite marks are worth getting to see Huaisang streak across the throne room of the palace to bury his fangs in Wen Ruohan's throat before the man even realizes he's in danger.)

It's the first time Mingjue and Meng Yao have actually seen him tear into a victim, since he'd always preferred to hunt at night. The way he bites down on the golden core and it cracks open like a hard candy, spilling golden light that mingles with the blood already dripping from his face is horrifying(ly attractive).

By the time he's finished eating, Mingjue's injuries have healed and Meng Yao has signaled the Sunshot forces, but when both of them approach him, he pitches forward unconscious, the sheer amount of power he's just consumed leaving him comatose for weeks while his own core and meridians struggle to filter it.

But when he wakes up, he asks for tea and sweets for the first time in almost two years, and it turns out that absorbing all that energy has temporarily suppressed his half of the curse.

And with him no longer needing to eat...uh... "people food" nearly as often, Nie Mingjue's half might now be more beneficial than a problem, since the regeneration acts as a counterbalance to any damage he takes through his bond with Baxia.

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

Idea inspired by a Junji Ito short story. Modern-Day Nie Huaisang has a neurological condition that leaves him literally unable to make decisions on his own. If he’s not given directions, he never moves. 

So his Da-ge hires Meng Yao to be his companion/director, and the two of them become so tightly bonded that the only time they're ever apart is when Meng Yao goes home while Huaisang sleeps.

Nie Mingjue starts noticing that Meng Yao keeps showing up with bruises and his health is getting worse. He asks if looking after Huaisang is wearing him out, and he insists it's fine. 

His comment that Huaisang is a source of happiness because helping him lets Meng Yao pretend he has a better life worries Mingjue, so he hires a private detective to look into Meng Yao’s home life.

It turns out he has a neglectful, manipulative father who often puts him in dangerous situations, and a stepmother who frequently hurts him.

Before Nie Mingjue can do anything to stop the abuse, Meng Yao disappears.

Nie Mingjue knows he has to be dead, but he doesn’t have the first idea where someone as rich as Meng Yao’s father would put the body.

Nie Mingjue also worries what will happen to Nie Huaisang without him, but Huaisang insists Meng Yao never left him and is still giving him directions. Weird and a little creepy, but at least he’s still acting functionally, so Mingjue lets it slide.

Until Huaisang comes home one night covered in blood because Meng Yao's ghost (who really has been with him since being murdered) directed him to kill the abusive family.

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

Idea based on the manga "Can You Just Die, My Darling?"

Feat: Huaisang as the infected and 3-zun racing against the clock to cure him before he goes homicidally insane and starts getting creative about it..

 It has a 28 Days Later-style plague where the infected start hallucinating ways to murder the person they have the most romantic love for, with the hallucinations being more graphic/gruesome based on how deep/obsessive their love is.

It's basically a given that eventually their willpower will eventually break down and they'll try to act out those hallucinations for real (and take out anyone trying to stop them or even just in the way).

(This one could actually work for almost any ship in this fandom, but in case it isn’t obvious already, I really enjoy Monster!Sang.)

[once-was-muses]

@dcwnthercbbithcle | Misc. Asks

Hey Kirb!! You gave us some delicious glimpses of Herman and Phil's past prior to the fog earlier with your headcanons on who is missing them, and I was curious! Do you think you can give us some more headcanons about who the boys were before the fog, their interests, social circles, etc?

[ both of these bastards had limited social connections pre-Fog, but Herman more dramatically so than Philip. The latter had some (loose) friends, even a romantic relationship- if only ever just the one. ]

[ Herman, on the other hand, had none of these. Herman was taught- intentionally or not- that he will be detested by everyone that meets him eventually, even if some take longer than others; he has to squeeze all the attention and praise from them while still in their good graces, then turn around and force them to hate him on his terms. ]

[ Considering this, combined with his formidable size and ability to seemingly strip anyone with just his observations, he avoided at best for much of his adult life. His interests reflect this "unavoidable" (in his mind) isolation, spending his time and energy on solitary studies, developing hypotheses and conducting research. His only regular "company" were the prisoners he tortured and experimented on at Léry's, and- to a lesser extent, as they had the free will to avoid him- the operatives also stationed at the site. The most common conversations he had were the sessions of interrogation he had been "hired" to carry out, and the relay of whatever information he'd pried from whatever poor bastard found himself strapped down in his lab. ]

[ When the isolation born ennui became especially taxing- and he'd too recently received yet another reprimand for annoying and antagonizing the gunners to the point of violence- Herman would resort to chess. Against himself. It always ended in a stalemate. ]

[ And while Philip did have more positive connections before being taken, he didn't have many. As awful and tragic as it may be, Mr. Azimov was the first friend Philip made after coming to America, marking the beginning of that new chapter of his life in more ways than one. Besides the local strays that mulled about his apartment, whom he shared whatever spare food he had at a given time with, Azimov was the only constant companion in Philip's life. They would regularly play chess in Asimov's office after hours or during slow days, the Turk and fellow immigrant going out and getting a set after Philip told him about how he used to love playing it with his father. ]

[ That includes his then boyfriend, a musician and drifter that took advantage of Philip more than he was willing to admit. It was only ever little things- borrowing 20 dollars he inevitably forgot to pay back, taking his jeans or shirts without asking, crashing in his apartment for days at a time- but that's what a relationship is supposed to be, right? Philip had a roof over his head and steady income, Royce- his name was Royce Delaney- had neither of those things. It was the right thing to do. Even if it ticked Philip off now and again. But Royce introduced him to playing music, gave him a banjo (which he never received a straight answer on whether it was bought or stolen), taught him to play both it and the guitar. As hard as it was sometimes, it was still nice to have someone to come home to- when Royce was actually there, of course. ]

[ Besides music- delta blues especially, direct from where Royce at least claimed he was from- cars were Philip's other great passion. As much as he despised the awkward conversations and watching eyes that always accompanied, he was ecstatic when Mr. Azimov officially promoted him to mechanic- on top of maning the crusher, but if it meant he got to actually work with cars instead of just destroying them, he would manage. ]

[laiqualaurelote]

I would love a little something of either Pirate!Trent and Pirate!Ted or Club Owner!Ed and Excitable Coach!Stede.

Three weeks into his kidnapping, Captain Trent Crimm, formerly of HMS Independent, had to conclude that Ted Lasso really was the worst pirate who had ever sailed the seven seas. That he had still managed to kidnap Trent was beside the point.

“I mean, I know that raid didn’t go the way we planned it,” Ted was saying, “but all of this ain't about the booty to me, 'cause that ain't how we measure success, right?" 

“Damn it!” yelled the quartermaster, whom everyone called Beard and whose Christian name Trent had yet to figure out. “It is, Ted! It is about the booty!”

“He has a point, you know,” said Trent. 

“Thank you, random hostage whose feedback I did not ask for,” said Beard. He paused. “Why is the hostage up on deck, again?”

“I’m all for constructive criticism,” said Ted. “Trent here brings a perspective from the other side of the industry we don’t often get to hear, mainly ‘cause they’re trying to blow us to bits.”

“I can go back in the brig if you like, if this is awkward,” offered Trent.

“I mean, you really don’t have to,” said Ted.

“Um, no, he kind of fucking does,” barked Roy Kent, the bosun. “Because that’s what you do with hostages, you put them in the fucking brig or next thing you know, they’ve stuck you in the gut and nicked your dinghy and there’s you bleeding out on your own deck like an absolute knob.”

“I mean, we are miles from any shore, so it’s not like I would get very far in a dinghy,” Trent pointed out, “but, you know what, I’m just going to go lock myself in.”

It had all started because of the kidnapping of the Governor's wife. A whole swathe of the Navy had had to be sent out after her, including the Independent, which had in fact caught up with the Greyhound, and would probably have taken her too, if a Spanish frigate had not chosen that very moment to intervene. In the ensuing fracas, the Independent had been sunk and Trent left for dead, only to wake up days later to find himself under the scrutiny of the missing governor’s wife and the world’s worst pirate.

It turned out that Lady Mannion had hired some clodhopper out of Kansas to stage her kidnapping. Trent didn’t know anything about Kansas, beyond the fact that it was landlocked, which explained a lot about Ted. Trent wasn’t even sure how the Greyhound was still afloat. It probably had something to do with them having an actually decent navigator, one Nathan Shelley, whom Trent was fairly sure had been a cabin boy just last week. 

And so they sailed on, weaving across the Caribbean, conspicuously failing to take prizes along the way. The ship seemed to be funded by the considerable wealth the former Lady Mannion had absconded with, which was perhaps the real reason why the Governor had been so keen to retrieve her. (He had remarried rather quickly, to a young miss barely out one season in Nassau society.) The crew of the Greyhound did not seem inclined to murder or ransom Trent, who was mildly insulted at first, because surely he must be a hostage of some value. But all Ted did was invite him occasionally to his cabin for "chats". Trent expected interrogation or torture, but it really did seem like all Ted wanted to do was chat. On the last occasion, he had regaled a bewildered Trent with numerous fascinating facts about the migratory patterns of swifts. Trent had to admit it was the most relaxing time he had had in twenty years with the Navy, which, if he was being honest, had begun to wear on him somewhat.

Trent let himself back into the brig, which was nominally guarded by Dani Rojas. Most of the time, Trent sat around reading a book while Dani juggled knives and cheerfully sang shanties in Spanish outside. The knifework, Dani had blithely informed him when they met, was in aid of his quest to avenge the murder of his father by a six-fingered brigand, because “Revenge is life!”

“I think you’ll find, actually, that it’s the opposite,” Trent had observed.

This had given Dani pause. “You mean revenge is death?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Dani had mulled this over. “But until death happens, revenge is life!”

“Fine. Whatever floats your boat.”

Eventually Ted came down to see him. “Take a break, Dani.”

“I shall never break, capitán!”

“Right. Okay. Uh, go swab the deck or something.”

“Aye aye, capitán! You say it, I do it!”

Ted pulled up a chair outside. “First off, Trent, I’m real sorry that we’ve inconvenienced you like this.”

Trent reached for a bookmark. “This. This is why people keep saying you’re the worst pirate in the world, Ted. If all a pirate has done is inconvenience, then they’re severely underachieving.”

Ted brushed that off. “If it were up to me, we’d drop you off at the nearest port, no hard feelings.”

Trent sighed. “I’d probably get court-martialled if I went back at this point. The Navy isn't terribly forgiving, you know.”

“Darn,” said Ted, sincerely horrified. “It’s worse than I thought.”

“Never mind.” Trent flapped a hand wearily. “Just leave it.”

“But you must have a family to get back to.”

“I have a young daughter in England, who is doubtlessly profiting handsomely from my pension,” said Trent. He ignored the pang he always felt when speaking of Agatha, who must have nearly no memory of him given all the time he had spent away from her at sea. “It may in fact be in her best interests for the Royal Navy to continue to think of me as dead.” He glanced at Ted, who seemed deep in thought. “Do you have any children?”

“I got a son back in Kansas,” admitted Ted. “But I, ah. I left him to go to sea.”

“Ah,” said Trent.

“Anyway,” Ted went on, collecting himself, “I’m real glad, actually, to hear you’ll be sticking around for the next part of the plan.”

“What plan?” said Trent narrowly.

“Rebecca’s idea, really. You’ll be pleased to hear we’ll be leaving the raiding behind, since, like you've said, we ain't so great at it. Next, we’ll be taking Nassau.”

“Nassau,” repeated Trent. “The port run by her husband, the Royal Governor of the Bahamas, that Nassau.”

“Yep,” said Ted. “Rebecca sees it as, let’s just say, a Nassau-sary course of action.”

“You’re a fucking lunatic,” said Trent. “I absolutely hate it.”

Ted beamed. “No you don’t.”

“I do,” lied Trent. “But tell me more.”

(For the AU prompt game. Enormous thanks to @nandalorian for contributing Beard's first line. Also tagging @ted-lasso-au-gust in case it counts)

[mercurysstars]

All That Glitters Is Not Gold (part 6)

Summary: Y/n gets hired to be the avengers chief physician and also happens to be an ex assassin.

Word count: 2.1k

Warnings: swearing, the reader getting angry, violence. 

A/N: hope you’re having a better day than Y/n ;)

𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦

𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥

𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨?

_

Y/n's stomach grumbled as she made her way toward the kitchen. Between getting her room organized and training with Peter for 2 hours she didn't get a chance to eat and it was really catching up with her now. She groaned rubbing her face while she yanked the refrigerator door opened. After searching for several minutes she decided to give up and make a sandwich.

Y/n grabbed the bread and a plate out of a cupboard, she returned to the fridge and pulled out meat, cheese, lettuce, and just as she was about to grab a tomato her phone rang. Without checking the caller ID, Y/n answered, balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder. "Y/n Y/l/n speaking."

"Hey, doc it's Matt we've got kinda a situation here." Matt hesitated, Y/n could hear muffled yelling in the background.

"Okay? What's up?" She was confused it wasn't like him to call out of the blue and it was especially weird for him to not sound sure of himself, he was a lawyer, and lawyers always put on a confident front even if they weren't. Y/n began to cut the tomato into thin slices.

"So I kinda have one of his men tied to a chair in my living room." He blurted out quickly.

Well, that was unexpected "Are you sure it's one of his?" She asked cautiously.

"Yeah I checked, he has the branding. I normally would have just questioned him and texted you but the thing is he only speaks Latin."

She sighed, all Y/n wanted to do was eat 5 sandwiches, snuggle up in her comfortable bed and binge-watch the umbrella academy "Alright put him on the phone."

Y/n heard what sounded like the phone getting set down and the floorboard squeaking under Matt's weight. She heard a bit of wrestling and the sound of tape getting ripped off of something. She heard a quick shuffling and Matt picked the phone back up "Here he is."

"Sumus iens ut satus off facile. cur in New York." She questioned. Y/n started to make her sandwich again. We are going to start off easy. Why are you in New York?

"Im 'non adnuntiant vobis cacas." He hissed. This man was definitely one of his. Y/n rolled her eyes not in the mood for this. I'm not telling you shit.

"Iniuriam. Te volo experior quod iterum?" She purred. Wrong. You want to try that again?

At that moment Bucky decided to wander into the kitchen he heard someone speaking Latin and his curiosity got the better of him. He saw Y/n leaning against the counter talking to someone on the phone. Her eyes snapped up to meet his 'You want one' she mouthed to him nodding toward her sandwich. He shook his head and she shrugged.

The muffled talking through the phone caused an angry tick to Y/n's jaw "Pone super daredevil." She gritted out through clenched teeth. Put daredevil back on.

Y/n had to take a moment to collect herself before she threw something at the wall "Hey I'll be there in a bit." She hung up and when she turned back to Bucky her face softened.

He didn't know what to say, he's never seen someone 180 that quickly in his long life "Quite the conversation you had going on there." He tried to break the silence.

She chuckled nonchalantly "Oh yeah just some idiot that won't do what he was told."

"I didn't know you knew how to speak other languages." He quipped.

Oh Bucky you only know a part of me, I am a universe full of secrets she thinks. "I don't kiss and tell Sarge." She instead said.

Right after the words left her mouth Tony walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Sunshine I've got a meeting so I'm going to have to cancel for tonight."

Y/n's eyes lingered on Bucky for a few seconds then she turned to Tony "Convenient because I have some business in Hell's Kitchen to take care of."

Tony opened his mouth to press further until she added "Don't ask because you don't want to know."

Bucky ever the curious couldn't help himself or keep his mouth shut and blurted "What if I want to know."

Y/n raised an eyebrow at the super-soldier, amused "Would torturing a man until he confesses answer your question?"

She turned and walked out of the kitchen. Bucky's eyes went comically wide "She's joking right?"

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose at her recklessness and shook his head "Stay safe." He yelled back to Y/n.

_

Y/n let herself into Matt's apartment he have given her a key when he moved in. When Y/n was younger her father decided that she needed further training so he hired a blind war vet that specialized in martial arts. There she met Matt they clicked instantly him being only 2 years old, he taught them how to hear things others couldn't smell more things that you wouldn't believe was possible, how to heal faster, and even how to fight without seeing.

Y/n walked down the poorly lit hallway leading to his living room just wanting to get think over with. In the living room, the man had a cloth covering his eyes, hands were tied behind the chair behind his back and each leg was tied to the bottom of the chair. Matt was leaning against the counter already waiting for her arrival, he nodded toward her, acknowledging her presence.

Y/n sauntered over to the man, she lifted up the corner of his shirt and tisked "Mark of Cain, definitely one of his men."

The man began to thrash around hearing her voice, she pulled the eye cover off and smirked "Heu est dere." Hey there hun.

"Pedicabo ego vos bitch." He spat furiously.  fuck you bitch.

Y/n frowned at him "Bene quod suus 'non ut salutaret domina." That's no way to greet a lady.

She stood up and patted his cheek giving him a sickening smile that gave him the chill "Sit scriptor committitur. Cur ipse mittet vobis?" Let's start. Why did he send you?

"Irrumabo." He growled, the man jumped at her but the restraints didn't allow him to get far. Suck my dick.

Annoyance began to trickle down her spine and anger rushed through her body. "ego suadeant vos satus loquentes." She snapped in an angry tone. I suggest you start talking.

"Terrebis me non ex vobis, qui non vis tua boyfriend est vulputate." I'm not scared of you or that want to be superhero boyfriend of yours.

No longer being able to control her anger Y/n grabbed him by his hair and tilted his face up "Take a vultus, vultus diu, et bonum dicitur lets videre tua si adhuc durat." She fumed. Take a look, a good long look, and let's see if your statement still stands.

The man studied her face for several moments before recognition flickered through his eyes "Lamia." He breathed. Lilith.

"Nunc autem dic mihi, quid invenerunt in me pater meus!" She shouted her patience ran out long ago and she didn't hesitate to show it. Now tell me how he found me!

"Cur te et ipsum interrogate." The man taunted. Why don't you go and ask him.

The grip on his hair tightened and she lowered down eye level to him "Ego suadeant tu dicas, quod primus est I. cut off vos erant 'iens ut ne nimis" she pulled out her knife and nodded downward. I suggest you tell me because the first thing I cut off you're not going to like very much.

The man's eyes went wide and he attempted to squeeze his legs together. Fear settled into his stomach, he didn't know if she would keep her promise but he also didn't want to find out.

"Hoc tantum scio, aliquem cum Vindices compositis ei" He squeaked out. All I know is someone at the Avengers compound told him.

She didn't let her shook show, she kept her face cold and calculated even though her heart was beating a million miles per minute. "Si igitur deus, auxilium tu mihi mendacem." So help me God if you're lying.

"Im 'non ego promissionem." He exclaimed and Y/n believed him, she tended to have that effect on people. I'm not I promise.

"O Deus, hes 'iens ut interficias me." He muttered shaking his head. Oh god, he's going to kill me.

The man kept whispering to himself and Y/n grew tired and shoved a sock in his mouth. She stood back up and turned to Matt. "Dump him on 23rd street, my father will take care of him soon enough."

_

Y/n blew on her hot cocoa watching the mini marshmallows swirling around, sure it the middle of September but it was her comfort drink. She tried to go over everyone she knew in the compound. How could she be so dumb? How could she let her guard down? She was trained better than this. It didn't matter now what she did or didn't do, but Y/n knew she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Y/n could hear the elevator ding from her office and she was confused. All the Avengers were either busy with training or on a mission. She set down her mug on her desk.  A blonde head of hair peaked its head in. "Dr. Y/l/n?"

"Teresa how can I help you?" She questioned. Y/n was confused as to why she was up here Teresa shouldn't even be able to get past the 5th floor.

Teresa stepped closer with her hands behind her back "I got a paper cut stapling some papers together and I came up here for a bandaid."

Teresa was looking everywhere but at her. Y/n could tell she was lying but about what? Then it clicked, how he found out where she was, the weird look she gave her, what Sam said about her sudden move down to the front desk, but then the question struck again. Why was she up- she was up here to kill her.

Teresa lunged at Y/n with the knife she had hidden in her hands behind her back. Y/n went to block but she wasn't quick enough and Teresa cut a long strip down her arm and she hissed, it hurt more than she remembered. Teresa went to slash her again but Y/n grabbed her wrist and twisted causing her to drop the knife.

Y/ n grabbed her mug and smashed it over her head, Teresa staggered backward falling into a bookshelf. Teresa cocked her gun and began to fire, Y/n leaped over the table to take cover behind her desk. Her gun was on the other side of the office strapped underneath a chair. Bullets blew past her body, she shielded her head with her arms, the gun clicked signaling it was out of bullets.

She rolled from under her desk onto her feet. This time Y/n rushed toward Teresa, she threw 2 punches which Teresa both blocked, but the 3rd one Y/n got a hit to her cheek. Teresa attempted to throw a kick but failed, she went down and swept her legs. Y/n fell backward, she rolled onto her hands and shoulder, she pushed up causing her to land right side up, Y/n's movements were a bit slower and staggered due to the blood loss.

Teresa went to hit her but then Y/n grabbed her arm and the back of her neck and smashed Teresa's face into a mirror. With a bloody face, Teresa peeled herself off the wall Y/n collapsed feeling lightheaded. Teresa stood over with her knife ready in hand, she brought her hand up into the air, but Y/n grabbed the from under her chair and shot her right between the eyes. Teresa collapsed backward and the knife slide across the floor.

"FRIDAY Initiate the red button protocol." She coughed out.

"Alerting Avengers now."

Y/n grabbed her arm and hissed, she shouldn't have collapsed this soon, even if it was a cut this big, and the sting was worst too, but then she put it together Teresa would have had a better chance to kill her if she laced the knife with something.

She heard Bucky calling out her name "In here." She chocked out. Bucky rounded the corner to her office and ran in, there were papers scattered everywhere, the desks and chairs knocked over, glass broken. He crouched beside Y/n she was fighting consciousness.

"No Y/n don't you fall asleep on me." He demanded putting her head in his lap.

"It'll be okay Buck." She patted his cheek in a comforting manner.

"No, no, no, hold on they will be here in 30 seconds" He pleaded. That was the last thing Y/n heard before everything went dark.

Part 7

[abybweisse]

Hello, I hope you're fine, I have a question I've been thinking about for a while, is Vincent a strong fighter like Francis? Because In alexis flashback Vincent managed to avoid Dietrich hitt with ease, as i think that the former phantomhive's servants had no combat experience and Tanaka would not be able to deal with the assassins alone because of his age, so the idea that came to my mind is that Vincent was a fighter and strong enough to take down the assassins who were after him.

I also saw this ask, probably by the same anon?

Let me break up these questions/observations to address each one.

Is Vincent a strong fighter like Francis?

I don’t think he’s as physically strong as someone like Diedrich (in his prime, at least, though Dee’s still stronger and more agile than he looks), but his physical strength might be on par with his sister’s. Maybe. She canonically takes more after their father, Cedric, and if that’s Undertaker, then she is a major force to be reckoned with! 😆 Chances are, she might not be physically stronger, but she might be faster, more agile, have more endurance, and even possess more natural talent than him when it comes to fighting.

Because in Alexis’ flashback, Vincent managed to avoid Diedrich’s hit with ease.

That’s not strength so much as speed and agility. He could be physically weak(ish) but possess the speed and agility of a cat.

I think that the former Phantomhive’s servants had no combat experience.

I have to partly disagree, because I think Vincent also knew to keep around at least a few people with fighting skills. Not just Tanaka. The House Steward, which was Tanaka even back then, doesn’t normally travel with his master, though it seems that Tanaka did occasionally travel with him. That would normally be the head butler, the carriage driver, and the footmen. So, I would hope that those people had at least some training and fighting skills. The majority of his staff probably didn’t have such experience. I’m thinking Vincent was prepared for conflicts away from the estate but wasn’t particularly expecting attacks at home/on his estate. So, only a few select servants would be trained/prepared for it.

And, even with their training, they couldn’t fend off these attackers. I think that says more about the attackers than it does about the servants at the time. I strongly believe that at least one attacker isn’t human.

Tanaka would not be able to deal with the attackers alone because of his age.

He’s aged another four years since then, and he’s recovered from serious stabbing wounds. Also, he does mention something about getting older. However, in the murders arc, he proves he’s still got a lot of strength, speed, and agility. He proves this again in the forests of Bavaria.

I agree that there’s no way he could take on all those attackers alone… and he didn’t. While he’s talking to our earl about getting him to safety, there’s a sound of swords coming from around the corner. So, someone else was still fighting before Tanaka was stabbed in the back. But they still couldn’t succeed in thwarting their attack. Again, I think this says more about the attackers than Vincent’s ability to hire skilled fighters.

I theorize that Lord Polaris might actually be one of Vincent’s previous butlers, turned into an advanced Bizarre Doll… which would help explain the high level of his loyalty to real Ciel. And why he’s so upset about losing his previous master and so determined to not let it happen again…. If that’s the case, then Vincent had at least one other skilled and trained fighter on his household staff.

Vincent was a fighter and strong enough to take down the assassins who were after him.

I would say not, or at least not by himself. He says he’s experienced with knives and specializes in hogtying. But that suggests to me he’s good at interrogation/torture techniques, not necessarily a strong fighter. He might typically go to work on people once someone else has apprehended them for him.

Also, like I mentioned above, he might not have been too prepared for assassins coming to the manor because that wasn’t a typical thing he had to deal with. We think about people constantly trying to take out the Earl or Countess of Phantomhive, but that’s really just a thing about our earl’s unique situation. Because this kid managed to survive that cult, return to the manor, and claim the earldom that was intended to be destroyed on December 14, 1885. The estate had been relinquished to the crown right after the attack, and I’m sure quite a few individuals weren’t too happy that the watchdog post had been refilled and the earldom had been restored to that same family name.

As of ch179/180, we now know that some of the people attacking our earl don’t even know he’s a child. Otherwise, why would they ask the local wine and liquor seller what the earl of the estate prefers to drink?

Another major difference between that attack December 14, 1885 and attacks at the manor since then: Vincent’s attackers were probably invited into the manor for the birthday party. He might have known who some of them were but didn’t expect them to turn on him. Or they were allowed in under the assumption that they were delivering presents or something else intended for the party that day. If Vincent and Tanaka don’t recognize them, they might have been sent as “delivery service” by the person who ordered the attack.

And this goes back to that scene at the booze seller’s establishment. Because the people attacking in ch179/180 might have been considering a similar approach: show up to the manor with gifts for the current earl. If they can get in to deliver goods/gifts, the household’s defenses might be weakened. They couldn’t think of something else to present to the earl, so they chose to sneak their way in. At least that’s what I’m thinking. Again, why else would they ask what booze the earl drinks?

Anyway, so I don’t think Vincent was necessarily all that physically strong, but he was probably pretty fast and agile. Quick reflexes. I don’t know if he could fight as well as his sister, but it looks like he avoided squaring off against her, and I can’t blame him! 😆 He might not have dealt with many assassins coming after him (until that day), and he should have had more than one person in his employ to deal with any typical attack. Tanaka is skilled and surprisingly fit for his age and for having been so injured that day. But those attackers — one of them, in particular — was too much stronger, faster, and more agile… than Vincent, Tanaka, or anyone else in his employ at the time. And whoever set the fire afterwards knew exactly what they were doing to destroy Vincent’s body. No body and no cinematic records means no chance of making a Bizarre Doll of him, you know. 👀

[darylandbethfanforever9]

Devil’s Backbone

Devil’s Backbone

Chapter 7 

Story Rating: Explicit, 18+

Warnings: Smut, violence, past flashbacks of sexual assault, and descriptions of torture. Racial hate, and forced abortion. Not Tony Stark friendly.

Relationships: Bucky/OC, Steve/Natasha, Billy/Wanda/Grant, past Clint/Laura, and Sam/Sharon. Eventual Clint/Yelena, and rank/Karen.

Summary: In the aftermath of the Blip, Bucky struggled to find his place among the world and the Avengers. However, when he is sent on a mission to Madripoor to investigate a young woman, he starts to realize that maybe his past isn’t too far behind him. Co-Written with WalkingPotterGirl14.

Natasha wanted things to go back to how they were with Steve before the Accords and before her miscarriage. There was a part of her that felt like she was betraying Alexei, Melina, and Yelena by loving Steve, but the other side wanted to retire from the spy life. Wanted to retire from everything. She was tired of the jobs, of keeping secrets from the people she considered family. She didn't even hate Bucky or resent him anymore, unlike Alexei, Yelena, and Melina. She just wanted Steve and the rest of this to go away. She wanted life to feel remotely normal again. She didn't want to lie anymore to any of them. Everyone had been lied too so much. She was only added onto the drama. Natasha ran herself a bath, pouring in her jasmine scented bubble bath, mixing it with the water. She sighed tiredly, trying to settle into the water, when she felt her phone vibrate. As she looked at it, she saw it was a text message from Melina. 'I need to talk to you, Alexei and Yelena tomorrow in Zagreb, Croatia urgently. It's about her!' The text message said cryptically. Natasha felt a sense of dread wash over her at the text. 'I'll need to make an excuse to Steve, Tony, and the others first,' she texted quickly. Melina replied four minutes later. 'We are your family, Natalia, not them!' Melina had messaged back furiously. Natasha closed her in frustration, breaking down in tears at her dilemma.

"Whoever hired that team to assassinate the mystery girl really wants her dead. Tell Barnes and Carter to get a blood sample from her so we can test it for DNA. Maybe she's in the international database," Fury recommended sternly. Everyone nodded but Tony shook his head. "We need to send someone else to watch over Barnes, Fury. I personally believe that he's compromised. His judgement is skewed because he's convinced that this girl might be the dead girl from the files. Who knows what he might have done with her if she was in the Red Room," Tony insisted harshly, causing most of the people to look at him in disapproval. "We can't send Belova or Romanoff? They've been sent on a mission in Zagreb, Croatia to track down a few remaining Flag Smashers. Who else can we send?" Grant asked quietly, his face bruised from his fight with a Flag Smasher during a mission in London, Great Britain. "Send in Steve. He's become really good at working undercover and Bucky trusts him," Sam suggested diplomatically. It couldn't be him, seeing as the Smiling Tiger was in Madripoor. Ross had an expression of disdain, while Tony was cold but grudgingly agreed to the arrangement. "Try not to mess up, Capsicle," Tony said coldly, before walking out of the conference room. Steve sighs a bit before nodding. "I can do that. I'm sure Bucky hasn't gotten super far. I could help him out together."

Morgan Stark was determined to make her daddy happy. He'd been sad ever since Captain America's best friend, Bucky Barnes, had been pardoned by the government and found not guilty at his trial. Her dad had gone into a rage, shouting that Barnes was a monster and anyone on Steve's side was to blame for Thanos winning. So she was going to somehow make him smile again. She was going to build an AI, like he did. She already had a name picked out for him as well. Her dad had explained to her that he had created Ultron to protect the world. Maybe she could do that again, and somehow bring him back to make not only her daddy happy but the world happy. All she knew was that she was tired of hearing him fighting all the time with the Avengers and she wanted to somehow change that. Maybe a new Ultron could do that? She had found his memory core not that long ago. Maybe if she followed his blueprints from years ago…she could, do it? She didn't want any more arguing or yelling…all she wanted was for this to end. So that was that. She was going to do it. One way or another. Daddy had a lab always near him. It would be the perfect time to do it. Maybe they could finally figure out how to end all the fighting. Maybe she'll be the cause of it. Daddy would be happy. They would see they were wrong about him. Somehow.

When Steve had arrived in Madripoor, it looked the same as it always had from before, with bright lights and big neon signs drawing in anyone from a mile away. However, his eyes were more focused on trying to get to Bucky's place. He had talked with Sharon about where to go and she had directed him willingly, leading him towards midtown where a lot of the higher ups in the crime world lived. It was also where the mystery woman lived, apparently. Hopefully they would be able to get through to this quickly. He had knocked on the door, and for a moment there was silence. He had been expecting that, considering Bucky was most certainly not expecting anyone to come by and greet him. But he slowly opened the door, and when he saw it was Steve his eyes widened.

"Where the hell did you come from?" He asks as he lets him in, giving him an embrace. When Steve stepped back, he closes the door behind him, turning to Bucky. "Lot has happened at the base while you were gone," Steve states with a raised brow. "I'm not longer in charge of the Avengers. Ross gave it to Tony." Bucky's brow raises. "You're serious?" "He did. They were upset about our choice in operation of sending you here." Bucky lets out a long sigh, going to sit on the couch at that. "We defended you the best we could, but at the end of the day, they had the last call. Sam suggested I come over here to fill out their needs." Bucky's brow raises once more. "Which are?" "Keep an eye on you." Bucky feels himself groan before standing. "How the hell am I ever going to be an Avenger in their eyes?" He asks, his voice rising a bit in anger. "Everything I do now, even after all the amends and everything I've done, it'll never work…all I want is to prove myself. I know I'm a piece of shit but…I'm fucking trying." "I know you are, Buck," Steve says gently, letting his hands rest on the man's shoulders. "I know you are. And trust me, we all see it. There are some that are just stuck in their ways that I don't believe are going to change soon. Those are the ones that, when they do inevitably open their eyes, they'll see the most change in you." Bucky snorts a bit. "That one of your little political speeches?" he asks. "No," Steve answers, shaking his head. "Trust me, I highly doubt I'm going to be doing much more than you are here. If anything, while I know how to stay undercover, if I get recognized here, it's game over." He gestures to you. "At least with you, not a lot of people know your face. Even this girl doesn't." He glances over at Bucky's hands and notices there seemed to be dried blood on it. "Speaking of that…" Bucky glances down at his hand and feels his cheeks turn red. "It's not on me, I swear – Maria wanted to interrogate the men that came, and she ended up killing them. Turns out they were sent by a woman named Melina Vostokoff. She wants to end the woman for some reason." "Well, we knew about the attack but your…hands?" Bucky sighs a bit. "I went over to help her a couple of days ago after she was attacked. Try and get more info on her. I guess I just didn't clean off all the blood afterwards." He looks up at Steve and shakes his head. "She is a mystery woman…definitely likes to keep her identity a secret." Steve nods before going to sit down next to him. "I want to ask you a question, and just respond the best you can." Bucky nods. "Are you sure that you don't know her from back then?" Bucky sighs, swallowing a bit. "I…feel like I do." He glances back at Steve. "If you saw the way she moves, and what she had – I mean, she's like a carbon copy of Nat but she's ruthless. She even had some of the same weapons. She had to be trained in Red Room…but I can't recall her for the life of me. That's why I'm trying so hard to figure out if she's truly Ana or not. Maria seems like a reasonable name but…don't know." Steve nods quietly. "Didn't you and Nat have a thing back when you were there?" Bucky quietly nods. He didn't like to think about it often. There was so much pain involved in everything there. "Do you think you might have known this girl like that?" "I genuinely can't remember," Bucky answers honestly, glancing at him. "At this point, all I'm looking for is for some way to figure out if she's truly who she says she is. Maybe after I can search more." Steve sighs but nods. "We got a lot of work ahead of us, then."

Natasha had waited patiently, her arms crossed against her chest with Yelena. It seemed it would take hours for Melina and Alexei to arrive, but when they did, it felt like ages. "You two are worse on time than I am, and that's say something," Yelena mutters. "Quiet, you two," Melina states, looking between them. "We have a serious problem, and I believe you two know what it is."

Natasha and Yelena exchange an uneasy glance, as they look at Alexei who thankfully didn't know what was going on. If he found out Melina had been lying to him for all these years then things would get bloody. "Why did you call me here, Melina?" Alexei asked suspiciously. He hadn't aged well, and it was clearly showing. Despite having the Super-Soldier, it was a far weaker version than the one Bucky and Steve had running through their veins. The woman ignored him as she drank from her glass of red wine, her eyes cold and emotionless. Sometimes Natasha wondered if the woman did genuinely care about her and Yelena, like Alexei did, or if she was just using them. "I believe that despite our best efforts to purge the Red Room, it still exists. Over in Madripoor, a young woman killed the Power Broker, before taking over the city. She's killed several people who tried to break the new rules she implemented as some shot way of a moral code. I refused to acknowledge the bitch, and I tried to kill her…but she defeated me," she said sourly, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "What did you do, Melina?" Natasha asked warningly, praying that the woman hadn't compromised Bucky. If she had, then Steve would go ballistic and raise hell if Bucky were hurt. Not to mention the others. Her surrogate mother regarded her with a cold expression that would have terrified anyone else. But she wasn't frightened of her anymore, not after seeing what she was afraid of. "I hired a death squadron to kill the little whore. She won't survive against them," Melina said confidently, causing Natasha to stare at the woman in shock, before her gaze breaks. Fuck. She had enough and was about to leave, when Melina grabbed her right wrist in a tight grip. "Remember where your true loyalties are, Natasha. I don't want you to end up like her…who chose HIM over us," Melina said meaningfully, her grip tight. Natasha nodded coldly, ripping her arm away and started walking back to her car, refusing to be intimidated. 'What have I done, god?' She thought bitterly, climbing into her car, and turning on the heating.

Ana had cleaned up her apartment after she disposed of the bodies. She had dumped Diego's body in Low Town, knowing that someone would post it on the internet. The other three remaining bodies had been dealt with. She hated the Red Room and what they had done to her. but at the very least the teachers knew how to teach all of them in how to dispose of a corpse after killing the individual. She used a luminal torch to see if any bloodstains remained, relieved when she didn't see any. Despite being near people, she desperately wanted a few furry companions. She needed something to keep her company, other than the people she would meet. She wasn't naïve. Ana knew that they would be targets but she wouldn't let anyone hurt them. She was going to ask X-Con Security Consultants if they would be willing to install security at her house. She decided to take a shower and rest up for the night. She wasn't taking any chances now, considering that Melina had tried to kill her twice now. The older woman still thought she was the same, useless, naive, and helpless little girl all those years ago. She sighed heavily as she trudged upstairs, taking off her bloody, filthy clothes and threw them on the floor. There was no salvaging them. She'd burn the clothes tomorrow. She stepped into the en suite bathroom, turning on the hot water, as she looked at herself in the full body mirror. Scars decorated her body, mainly on her chest, her right arm and some were on her back, and left leg.

Bullet wounds, knife wounds and there was a faded scar on her stomach. She touched it hesitantly, feeling a strange sense of heartache and loss for no apparent reason.

Bucky had gone into the Brass Monkey club, taking Steve with him as they saw Sharon was there. She gestured for them to join her, as they went to a table at the back, where they wouldn't be disturbed. "So, I did some asking around and apparently the woman calling herself Maria Kapitonova is using another woman's name. This is the real Maria Kapitonova. And she's been dead for the last six years, Bucky and Steve." Sharon explained grimly, showing them a photo of a young woman with red hair, brown eyes, and a scar on her throat. Bucky had known that the woman was using a false identity, but this just proved it. Deep down, he knew that she closely resembled Anastasia. Maybe they were related? "So, she's using the identity of a dead woman whose been dead for the last six years. What else have you got, Sharon?" Steve asked intrigued. They were finally getting a fresh lead. "Yeah, I was hoping you'd ask me that question. I did some digging, and Fury emailed me these files that he and Hill found at an abandoned HYDRA base in Voronezh, Voronezh Oblast. Turns out, HYDRA and the Red Room were both working closely together on a project," she said meaningfully. "Something we should talk about elsewhere." Bucky and Steve got her point and left with her to go to her house, leaving behind the bar. Once they arrived, Sharon continued from where she left off, and handed them copies of the files, closing the door behind her. "The Red Room and HYDRA discovered that the girls at the Red Room who had the Super-Soldier serum were far more able to carry a child of the Winter Soldiers. There are lists of names who were chosen for the program. The project began in the 1990′s, and a lot of the pregnancies resulted in the women dying from complications due to the babies developing quicker than a normal baby," Sharon explained gravely as Bucky read the file. He recognized a few of the names, but felt his blood run cold when his eyes drifted to two familiar names. 'Red Guardian and Black Widow - viable pregnancy. Scans confirm that Vostokoff is carrying twin daughters. No complications detected so far into the pregnancy. Vostokoff has confirmed that she has suffered no cramping, or any sign of miscarriage.' "Holy shit, Steve. What if Alexei and Melina were the parents of Anastasia and her twin sister?" He asked quietly. Steve's expression was of grimness and concern. "That's more than likely, but Natasha never mentioned that Alexei and Melina had kids," Steve said hesitantly. Bucky knew the man didn't want to think Natasha had lied to him again. "There's more. On the second page, according to Dr Lyudmila Kudrin, only three women survived carrying the pregnancies to full term. Vostokoff ended up giving birth on June 18, 1995. It says here that she delivered two twin girls," Sharon said wearily, causing Bucky to frown. Bucky read more of the file, feeling his stomach roll in disgust, seeing that the project had been a partial success. They had put the project on hold in order to try and create more of the Super-Soldier Serum. He felt a cold sensation run down his spine, as he thought of Ana then. Maybe she was Alexei and Melina's daughter…possibly.

When the rest of the team had heard back later on what Sharon had discovered regarding the mystery woman, that had sent them on a trip to try and figure out who exactly her family was. Having Sharon reveal that there was actually a twin sister to the girl was an amazing lead. So, one of the Avengers took it into her own hands once she heard that – namely, Wanda. She knew what it was like to lose a twin, and if the young woman that they were looking after really did lose one, there was most likely a hole there that would never be filled. The least she could do is find out if they were right.

After that, they had searched all over the internet, from typical shit to the dark web, trying to see if they could find some sort of league to get them in the right direction. And soon, it wasn't long before they discovered something. The last name Liukin was associated with a Russian cemetery. Instantly, Wanda had assembled the team to fly to where it was, Fury agreeing to it nonetheless considering that it was for a mission. Thankfully the quinjet was quick enough to get them there a little faster than the normal airtime. Even so, arriving had Wanda shaking to see if this was real. They had showed up to the cemetery, stepping in and searching for her name. And it wasn't long before they did find it. Wanda had stood in front of it for a moment, feeling Clint let a hand rest against her shoulder. 'Angelina Aleksandrovna Liukin.' This was it. This was the twin. They were right. They had looked all over to see if there was even a possibility of another Liukin, but funnily, there were none under the names they were looking for. It was mainly strong Russian names that had been attached to it. "I can't believe it," she whispers, looking down at the grave, kneeling down. "There's a lot more to this woman than we realize…she was buried so deep." Clint sighs softly before nodding. "Sometimes that's the case with these things, but…this is good in a way." Wanda looks up to him. "Now that we know for sure that she exists, we have a DNA match-up. She is most likely in the International Data Base if she was dead. We were able to find her originally. If we can somehow get a blood sample from Maria, we can see if she's really Ana or not." Wanda stands, pulling her jacket around her tightly. It was still freezing cold here. "Don't you think that's a bit…sketchy? I mean both Steve and Bucky are there. I don't know how they're going to just get a blood sample off of her." "I'm sure they can figure it out," Clint assures. "We have two of the best super-soldiers in the world. They're not that dumb." "They're also not that smart," Wanda mutters. "True," Clint chuckles before helping her stand. "Come on, let's take some pictures and get this to Fury."

As had been expected, they had gotten the proof to Fury as quickly as possible of the life of Angelina. And as they had expected, Fury had requested to Bucky not that long after to somehow get a blood sample from the mystery woman. To which both Bucky and Steve had sat down for hours, trying to figure out the best way to do so. Because who can just…do that? Eventually, though, they had settled on something that might spurt up one. "How about you just take her out on a date?" Bucky's brow raises in response. "You're serious?" "Yeah, why not? I mean, there's a high probability that you'll most likely get attacked because she has so many bounty's out for her right now. It's the best option you have that's legal in our eyes." He shrugs a bit. "Or you can just attack her mysteriously." "No," Bucky instantly states. His quick response surprised Steve a bit. "I mean, I…I don't want to hurt her more than she's already been hurt. You can tell from a mile away that she has gone through some shit." "Okay…don't worry, we won't do that," Steve reassures him, rubbing his back. "But we still need to get that sample, one way or another…I believe you'll be able to do it" Bucky sighs a bit before glancing up at him. "I haven't been on a date since the 1940′s." Steve snickers. "I think you'll be fine."

After their conversation, it wasn't long before Bucky had asked Maria to come with him on a date, something he had surprisingly been quite nervous to do. Again, it had been so long since he had done something like this, but he knew that it was needed for what they were planning on doing. And she had agreed after a little bit, deciding that they would head out to a smaller restaurant in Madripoor, one that wouldn't attract so much attention. When he had come to pick her up at her apartment, he had waited downstairs for her to come. When she arrived, he felt his mouth drop slightly. You know, it was getting really damn hard to do this mission when the subject was so goddamn gorgeous.

[shiekah-marine-embassy]

How Did We Get Here?

A summary of an upcoming tale about my character Anderson, inspired by my own recent struggles.

Anderson spends several days comatose. Wakes up in an unfamiliar place, bound tightly to chair. Is unable to speak. Minutes later, attacker walks in. Attacker commentates on how Anderson was found on the coastline (attacker’s territory) in Yiga Attire. This was received as a threat and Anderson is now subject to imprisonment, torture for information, and Master Kohga will be contacted for ransom arrangements.

Anderson displays elevated levels of distress, which continually continues to increase as the attacker gets closer to establishing contact. The operation is temporarily forfeited when his screaming and begging is so loud that the gag may as well not have been there. Attacker displays frustration and confusion at Anderson’s distress, which is extreme even given the situation he is in.

Attacker removes the gag, and Anderson takes some time to compose himself before explaining that he was actually on the run from the Yiga, after a demon god accused him of treason and sabotage, turning his former lover, several of his friends, and the clan leaders against him. In the ensuing fight he managed to slaughter his ex-lover, incapacitate the right-hand man, severely wound the leader and demon god, and just as quickly made an escape.

He expresses fear and concern that if the leaders were to be made aware of his whereabouts, they would most definitely want him back for the sole purpose of subjecting him to what he describes as a “fate worse than death”, and that traitors and killers like him are not killed, but instead brutally and slowly tormented for the rest of their lives. Anderson undergoes extreme emotional distress and remorse upon recalling the events and is no longer able to compose himself to form words.

Attacker is skeptical, and comments on how the story sounds quite unbelievable. However, despite their skepticism, attacker agrees to not contact Master Kohga right away, and instead will bring the matter up with their boss. As collateral, though, it will be necessary that he is kept heavily restrained until it can be proven that he is not here on a sabotage mission. Several interrogations will follow for the next few days, sedatives will be administered as necessary, and any noncompliance will be met with unrelenting punishment.

Anderson reluctantly agrees, deciding that a few days of hell would be better than a lifetime and maybe more of unbearable agony. The attacker acknowledges, re-gags him twice over, blindfolds the man, and plugs his ears. They then shut off the light to the cell and secure the door, leaving to presumably report this new development to the boss. Anderson then experiences a full mental breakdown, crying and thrashing against his restraints until he passes out.

An approximate 16 hours pass before someone enters the cell, and removes the captive’s earplugs- but leaves all other forms of restraints in. This person is presumed to be the boss- and their footsteps can be heard pacing the cell as they begin to mark on the preposterousness of the captive’s story. Anderson cannot shake hearing a certain familiarity in the boss’s voice, but nonetheless is terrified of what is to come of the situation.

Very shortly after, boss slowly removes the blindfold. Is revealed to be the Captain Sonii of the Shiekah Marine Embassy, and she remarks on how this wouldn’t be the first time that the Yiga try to break in by pretending a part of the clan was betrayed by the others. However, she does admit that there is a certain sadness, fear, and fury in his eyes that she has not seen before.

Captain Sonii continues on by saying that she does know what there is a demon god that stands by the Yiga, and that Anderson must have done something drastic to anger the entity so much- to which the captive responds by squeezing his eyes shut and turning his head away. It seems that the Shiekah Captain is able to infer the source of his distress.

She goes on to remark that, if her intuition is correct, she could draw the fact that Anderson was falsely accused of treason, to which the captive replies with surprise and looks back at her. Captain Sonii chuckled and begins to explain that the whole reason the Shiekah Marine Embassy was founded was to give those who have been framed, misinterpreted, and accused a second chance. And she herself was one of those victims and built this army so no one would have to suffer the way she did, having no one to fall back on.

She concludes that, if there are no rescue attempts by any Yiga within the next three months, she will offer him a high-ranking position on the crew. However, until then, he is not to be left unrestrained, and under constant remote surveillance. Other stipulations follow, along with warning him that in the meanwhile he will be interrogated regarding both the Yiga Clan, and the events that conspired up until his capture.

She appears to snicker to herself, before producing a small knife, and explains how misinformation and fabrication are not tolerated. She begins to draw the knife very slowly up his throat, merely slitting the skin open and deliberately avoiding airways and major arteries, all the while making delicate yet terrifying threats about the consequences if he truly is lying and plans on sabotaging them.

He withholds his pain and terror- yet still in agreement with himself that as bad as things were now, they at least have an ending in sight. The captain notes his resilience, and reminds him of the stipulations one more time, before dismissing herself. Anderson seems relieved that she is gone, and several nightmares within the following few days about what would happen should he be captured by the Yiga confirm his confidence that this is the better option.

Over the following few months, his restrictions are gradually loosened, from a few weeks of full body restraints to a few weeks of wrist and ankle shackles and the allowance of basic entertainment, to simple handcuffs and special requests of food, to complete freedom to move about his cell and partake in recreations under supervision.

After a period of a little over three months, he is called in to be formally interviewed by the boss. He explains that his specialties lie in the operation of, hijacking, and repair of hardware is his specialty, along with an innate knowledge of robotics and machinery. He goes on to admit that he is the owner of a divine beast and use that divine beast in any missions they may need it for.

Under the agreement that she is allowed to connect the divine beast to the Embassy’s centralized army database, to which Anderson shows no opposition to, she hires him and as promised is given the title of leader of the tech division, more specifically the hardware sector, while he will be working aside another leader, August Staghorn, who oversees the software sector. He is given his own room and is now allotted all the freedoms and benefits of a level 3 crew member.

August and Anderson were initially very hesitant about one another, Anderson being intimidated by the software leader’s large stature and reluctance to speak, and August being intimidated by the hardware leader’s very apparent stoicism and distrust. However, as time goes on, they learn more about one another- Anderson learns that August is mute and communicates completely nonverbally (although he can hear and comprehend things perfectly fine), and August learns that Anderson suffers from a small case of Autism Spectrum Disorder and sometimes has trouble handling himself.

Both, in secret, study for months on end about the other’s problems; Anderson teaches himself to both use and interpret sign language, and August teaches himself how to effectively communicate with, comfort, and understand people with neurological disorders. They gradually become more compatible with one another, but neither seem to really notice any large change until they are put on a collaborative project together.

The two and their teams are instructed to begin work on a new semi-terrestrial divine beast construct. The ease at which they have communicating with one another seems to surprise them both, as each admits that they spent a long time studying how to communicate with the other more effectively. Upon realizing, both are overwhelmed with a feeling of rejoice and instantly embrace, getting emotional over one another.

August then goes onto admit that he had admired Anderson ever since he joined the tech division and heard about what happened to him beforehand. August expresses his empathy and admits that while his stature may be big, he considers himself to be rather meek. He reveals a bit more about himself, and states that the reason he was hired here was due to five or six years back, he was subject to a series of tests against his consent and ultimately had his vocal cords completely dissolved which led to him not being able to speak, and complications eating.

Due to these complications and receiving no compensation for the damage done, and the perpetrators never caught, he ended up losing the job he had and not being able to pay rent. He couldn’t find any new jobs either due to any hirer’s lack of understanding of his condition and refusing to change their policies. Ultimately he came down to Lurelin where he intended to spend what he presumed were his last days, alone.

However, at that time, the Shiekah Marine Embassy was surveying the area and they pulled August aside for questioning about his apparent loitering around the area. When he could not answer the soldier, he was asked to attend an interview with an interpreter and the boss, where he explained his story. The captain immediately could tell he had exceptional potential that others couldn’t see, and he was offered a position.

The two go on to discuss how the captain is quite the powerful woman; she clearly went through a lot of effort to found this army and is quite ruthless- but at the same time seems to have an innate understanding and compassion for those who have been wronged, just hidden behind a cold, yet ambitious exterior. Anderson admitted that he wasn’t so sure about her first, but soon came to realize that regardless of how tough she is, what was most important to him was her understanding.

August commentates that he knows about Anderson’s distrust of having a significant other and expressing affection and did not know how long it would take him to heal from that traumatic event. Regardless he confesses that he has feelings for Anderson, however, to the other’s surprise, reciprocates those same feelings, stating that he was truly taken back by how much August put into being able to communicate and understand him better, something that no one in the past had done before.

August humbly dismisses it as nothing more than something he was passionate about and should not be praised so highly for. Anderson intervenes, however, by mentioning that he knows that the two of them would not have studied each other’s issues without their knowledge if they were not meant for this. August cannot supply an argument against this, and thus, their relationship is made official.

 And so, life continues on, there are ups and downs, but one thing is certain- there’s definitely room for a whole series here.

[tomeandflickcorner]

Falcon and Winter Soldier Episode 3- My Thoughts

Can’t believe we’re already halfway through this show!

As was set up in the last episode, Bucky decides to head to a prison in Germany, where Zemo is being held for the crimes he committed during Civil War. Again, while I did understand why he was doing this, considering Zemo was the only real lead they had in determining how the Flag Smashers got their hands on the Super Serum, I still didn’t really like the idea.  Because this was the guy who framed Bucky for the murder of King T���Chaka and then forced Bucky to undergo even more trauma by activating his Winter Solder programing.  And my dislike for Zemo increased even more when the first thing he did upon seeing Bucky outside his cell was recite the Winter Soldier Activation Words.  Ugh, this guy is such a scumbag!  I am so confused why some people seem to be talking about how funny Zemo was in this episode.  I just don’t get it!

Anyway, I guess Zemo said he’d only assist Bucky and Sam in solving the mystery if Bucky helped him escape from prison.  And Bucky, out of desperation, agrees to this?  Yeah, I was with Sam on this one, as he only finds out about this plan after the fact and understandably freaks out when he sees Zemo waltzing up disguised as a security guard.  Because while the jail break sequence was interesting, I still don’t trust Zemo in the slightest.  But I guess it’s too late now.  So the three of them travel to this island called Madripoor, which I guess is like a haven for criminal masterminds, so they can infiltrate some nightclub in order to talk to a woman named Selby.  Because Selby can apparently give them the information they need.  And Zemo can arrange all of this because he turns out to be super rich. Yeah, okay.

From here on in, the episode is pretty much a spy film.  Because Sam has to go into the Madripoor nightclub mascaraing as some other guy called Smiling Tiger.  (Side note, I hope that snake that got sliced open to make that drink was already dead.)  The trio eventually get an audience with this Selby person, but my skin is crawling over the way they did it.  Because Zemo has Bucky pretend to be the brainwashed Winter Soldier again as an intimidation technique. And then offers to gift him to Selby, as if Bucky was simply a piece of property.  And while Bucky does a passible job of pretending he’s still the Winter Soldier, it must have been torture for him to pretend to be Hydra’s brainwashed assassin again.  Especially since we all know how guilty he feels for all of that.  They even bring up his book filled with the names of people he’d wronged.  Which turns out to be the exact same book Steve was using to keep track of everything he needed to adjust to being in a different time after being thawed from the ice.  Which just hits you with even more feels.  Still, I’m glad that at least Sam seems to be recognizing that, as he frequently takes the time to check on how Bucky’s holding up.  It’s nice that the writers haven’t completly forgotten that Sam used to be a therapist himself.  (Hey, maybe Sam can become Bucky’s new therapist instead of that crummy government-issued one.  Or is it a violation of the code of ethics to offer therapy to someone you know personally?)

Unfortunately, just as Selby gives them the information they came for- that the mysterious Power Broker hired former Hydra scientist Dr. Nagel to recreated the Super Serum- their cover is blown because Sam got an ill-timed call from his sister, Sarah.  (Seriously, Sam!  You didn’t think to put your phone on mute?  That’s the first rule of going undercover!)  Out of nowhere, Selby is shot dead by an unseen assassin, and Bucky, Sam and Zemo have to make a run for it, particularly after a bounty is placed on their heads for Selby’s death.  Still, they’re rescued by a surprise appearance of Sharon Carter.  Who has been living there since the events of Civil War.  Strangely enough, nobody remembered to help get her a government issued pardon.  Which doesn’t make a lot of sense.  But that revelation does lead to Sam feeling even more disillusioned.  First it was him learning how Isaiah got the short end of the stick, and now this.  Sam now is thinking maybe the Shield should simply be destroyed because of how much trouble its caused.  Though I don’t think it’s possible to destroy the Shield.  Wasn’t the Shield made of Vibranium or something equally as indestructible?  Still, this might be a good thing.  Because Sam is seeing how many people ended up getting tossed aside and overlooked.  Which could be what inspires him to take back the mantle of Captain America, in order to help give a voice to those people.

Anyway, with Sharon’s help, Bucky, Sam and Zemo find Dr. Nagal’s lab, which is hidden in a shipyard somewhere.  Upon interrogating Dr. Nagal, we learn that, after Hydra was eliminated, Dr. Nagal was hired by the CIA to continue his work in recreating the Super Serum.  But then, Dr. Nagal got dusted in the Snap.  When he came back, he picked up where he left off and managed to create 20 vials of Super Serum.  Admittedly, I might be getting some of the details here wrong, but this episode had a lot of exposition to go through. But the important thing is that those vials got stolen by Karli.  Which means there might be a whole mess of Super Soldiers out there right now.  But before Dr. Nagal could reveal anything further, Zemo shoots him dead out of the blue.  Why, I’m not entirely sure, but this is Zemo.  Like I mentioned before, I don’t trust him in the slightest.  And I wouldn’t be shocked if he ends up backstabbing Sam and Bucky in some way before the show is over.  In any event, after Dr. Nagal gets killed off, there’s a sudden action sequence, with Sharon, Sam and Bucky trying to fend off a bunch of armed goons.  Wasn’t very clear if they were with the people who had currently hired Dr. Nagal after the Reverse Snap or if they were bounty hunters looking for Selby’s killer.  Eventually, Zemo manages to obtain a getaway car, and he drives off with Sam and Bucky.  Sharon, on the other hand, chooses to stay behind, with Sam promising her that he’ll make sure she gets a full pardon for her actions in Civil War once they get back to the US.  But after they drive off, Sharon meets up with some other unnamed woman.  So I have no idea what Sharon is up to right now.  Did she have anything to do with Selby’s death?  Is she in league with this mysterious Power Broker? It’s not clear at the moment. Either way, I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of her.

The episode ends with Bucky, Sam and Zemo trying to figure out the next step.  But Bucky steps away when he spots a few black beads affixed to the side of a building.  He clearly recognizes these black beads as Kimoyo beads, because he calls out to someone once he’s alone.  And seems unsurprised when a member of the Dora Milaje appears in front of him, stating that she’s there for Zemo.  Apparently, that’s Ayo, Okoye’s second-in-command.  So we’re getting the Wakandans involved now!  That’ll be fun.  Particularly since it’s doubtful they forgot that Zemo was responsible for the death of King T’Chaka.  I’m wondering if we’ll get a cameo of Shuri.  Or, on a more sobering note, get a hint about what the MCU will do in regards to T’Challa.  In any event, I’m excited to see the Wakandans.

Meanwhile, we got John Walker going around, further cementing how unlikable he is.  Because he ends up storming into some office building somewhere because the Flag Smashers were seen operating out of there.  Or something to that effect.  The main issue is they weren’t even in America at this point.  Are the Accords still in effect?  I don’t even know! But even if they aren’t, the fact that John Walker is pretty much throwing his weight around like this only further proves he’s not worthy to call himself Captain America.  (Just saying, Steve would never shove some guy against a wall and demand respect just because of who he is.)  Oh, and it gets better.  When he gets word that Bucky and Sam might have been responsible for Zemo escaping from jail, his attitude seems to have sinister undertones of ‘if I can prove those two are criminals, the methods I used to get that proof doesn’t matter.’  Oh, where do I begin?  That kind of attitude is extremely problematic, as it’s teetering dangerously close to ‘I can ignore people’s rights whenever it suits my needs’ territory.  And it’s particularly uncomfortable when you remember people were clearly recording Bucky’s earlier actions on Madripoor on their phones, when he had to beat up this guy to sell his Winter Soldier act.  Needless to say, I’m really scared for Bucky and Sam right now.

Then there’s the stuff with the Flag Smashers.  I guess there was this organization called the Global Repatriation Council (GRC for short) that was set up after the people who got dusted returned with the Reverse Snap, which was designed to help those un-dusted people adjust to the new world and get back on their feet.  But this is where things get a little sketchy.  I think the implication is that they’re not distributing the supplies fairly, or that this organization is favoring the un-dusted people while ignoring the needs of the people who remained after the Snap?  Because after who I think was supposed to be Karli’s mother dies from an illness(?), Karli leads the Flag Smashers in breaking into a GRC storage facility in Lithuania and making off with the supplies they were storing there.  And then she blows up the building.  With people still inside.  Because her attitude seems to be this will be the only way to get the government’s attention or something along those lines.  Yeah, this is where Karli started to lose my support.  Because while I think I can understand what their motivation is, considering it seems to be implied that world governments are not being fair and equal in regards of helping everyone adjust to the Reverse Snap, once you start killing people, that’s where you make it easy for your enemies to villainize you in the eyes of the general public. At this point, I don’t know how I feel about Karli.

[psychovigilantewrites]

Chapter 10 - Crunch

Pairing: Jason Todd/Reader 

Genre: Smut/Action

Word Count: 4, 926 ( i know, shorter than my usual chapters, but this has a lot of plot progression i promise) 

Masterlist 

Ao3 

TW: violence

“What the- what the actual-”

Dick’s voice almost scared you, breaking your concentration. You jolted up, your eyes immediately meeting his blue ones.

“Dick!” you exclaimed, rising up from your study table, “Didn’t Alfred ever teach you to knock?”

You crossed the floor from your desk to him, standing at your opened door. You threw yourself into his warm arms, feeling him squeeze you tightly.

“Alfred also taught me how to pick locks,” he chuckled, giving you a peck on the top of your head.

“What are you doing here?” you took a step back and crossed your arms.

“Nevermind that- what are you doing with all this?” he gestured to your floor.

Papers were strewn all over your room. From case files to articles to your notes. Dick bent down and opened a beige file.

“Wait- this is the series of Pyg’s murders in ‘07!” he gasped. He threw the file back on the floor only to pick up another. “And this is the murder of Sarah Gordon, when Joker kidnapped all those babies. Just what have you been doing?”

“Research,” you shrugged, “I’m sure you’re familiar.”

“That file on Pyg not only had the autopsy report, but also the pictures,” he pointed out.

“So?”

“So?” his eyes widen, “So, why are you obsessing over violent crimes?”

“A lunatic just kidnapped me a couple weeks ago, Dick, maybe this is my coping mechanism,” you defended yourself.

Dick pursed his lips, his expression changing.

“I don’t want your pity, Dick,” you told him, “I’m fine.”

“I know you are,” he smiled sadly, “Which is why I don’t think this is your coping mechanism.”

He walked to your bed and sat down, his handsome face catching the light of the setting sun outside your window, casting a shadow that made his usually bright and charming look turn into a more mysterious and dark character.

You smirked and joined him on the bed, sitting next to him.

You never could lie to him. Which was why this time it was going to be hard.

“Red Hood, he’s…” you struggled to put together the words, “Confusing.”

“Confusing?”

“Yeah,” you sighed, collapsing onto the bed on your back, “He’s got something against Bruce. Or Batman. Either one of them, he knows our identities, Dick.”

“It’s normal to be scared, or worried,” he offered you, “Knowing our identities make us vulnerable to him at all times, not only when we’re in uniform.”

“It does scare me a little,” you admitted, staring at the ceiling that both Alfred and Dick helped you repaint, “But mostly, I’m just frustrated. Why did he kidnap me if he was just going to toy with me and then let me go? Everything is just so unclear, and Bruce isn’t telling me the whole truth. That’s why I’m trying to figure it all out myself. I need to understand him- and in order to do that, I need to understand people like him.”

“Hence the..” Dick waved at your mess.

It wasn't a lie, but a half truth. That's what made it possible for you to deceive Dick or Bruce. You learned that by trial and error.

You did start to research to understand people like Red Hood better, but after a while, you suddenly became fascinated. The detail these people put into their torture, their time and effort. You were amazed at how passionate they were. Long gone was the girl who couldn't sleep because she saw decapitated heads on spikes.

But Dick didn't need to know that.

“Yeah,” you nodded at your ceiling. “Wait a minute.”

You shot up.

“Do you know who Red Hood is? Did Bruce tell you?” you interrogated Dick.

“He won’t tell me either,” Dick huffed, “It’s always been like that with him. No matter how hard I try to get closer to him, sometimes it feels like he’s getting further away.”

“I can relate to that,” you rolled your eyes.

“But I have a feeling that he will tell you eventually,” Dick put an arm around you, “It seems too important not to.”

You let out a snort. If it was important, he should have told you right after you got kidnapped.

“And,” Dick continued, suddenly giving you a noogie, causing you to squeal and push him away, “I heard from Alfred that you’re not talking to Bruce. May I ask why?”

“So that’s why you’re here,” you narrowed your eyes at him.

“I came to check up on you,” he told you sternly, “I’m sorry I couldn’t come here right after, but my little sister did just get kidnapped.”

“I told you, I’m fine,” you whined.

“Then you’re fine enough to tell me why you haven’t been talking to Bruce,” Dick probed, “I won’t judge. I’ve had my fair share of cold shoulders and fights with him too. I know first hand how frustrating he can be. So come on, tell.”

You let out a long and tired sigh.

“We fought,” you started, “It was when I got back from the hospital. He wouldn’t tell me who Red Hood was. And he- he called me ‘Jason’.”

You saw Dick close his eyes and squeezed his temples.

“Jesus,” he whispered, “What did he say exactly?”

“‘Back down, Jason’,” you repeated Bruce’s words solemnly.

“Now that’s something I haven’t heard in years,” Dick chuckled humorlessly.

You couldn’t stand to see the expression Dick had then, because he looked as if he was remembering a fond memory, reminiscing to a time when you weren’t around. His eyes suddenly aged, as if the sadness affected him physically.

You turned away, biting your lip. You tried hard to reel in the tears of jealousy and exclusion that burned your eyes. You focused your gaze to outside your window. It was around midday on a Saturday.

“Has Bruce made any attempts to reconcile?” Dick asked.

You took a deep breath before you answered, making sure your voice wouldn’t break.

“Yeah, but I’m still mad at him,” you pouted.

“And you have every right to be,” Dick acknowledged, “But Bruce, well, you know Bruce. He keeps these things to himself, but obviously he’s still hurting.”

You felt a wave of guilt crash over you.

He lost his son, and there you were being selfishly stubborn.

You didn’t reply, and suddenly an awkward silence filled the room.

“I’m seeing someone,” you changed the subject.

“You are?” you saw Dick’s eyebrows rise so high, they almost disappeared into his dark wavy hair.

“Yeah,” you blushed, “It’s still very new, and we’re not official yet or anything. But we’re definitely testing the waters.”

“That’s great,” Dick smiled widely at you, “Who is he? Tell me the deets. Spill the tea.”

You giggled at Dick’s ironic use of slang.

“I met him in the library a while back,” you spilled, “We exchanged numbers. Started texting, meeting up from time to time. He’s really cute.”

“I bet he is,” Dick wiggled his eyebrows.

“What’s with that face?” you laughed, “He is! He’s slightly older, and he’s got this sexy bad boy look, you know?”

“I thought you liked the nerdy types?” Dick responded.

“I never had a type, you ass!” you tried to poke him in the ribs, which he avoided skillfully.

“You’re right. I thought you were completely uninterested in boys,” he wondered out loud, “Is he nice, at least?”

“Yeah he is,” you smiled to yourself, “He didn’t know I was Wayne until 2 weeks ago. Before that, we were mainly texting. Now we’re meeting up more. I feel like I can be myself with him. I don’t know, there’s just something about him that makes me trust him.”

You noticed Dick frown at that.

“I’m not going to tell him anything!” you quickly added, “I’m not stupid. I know I shouldn’t trust someone I just met. It’s not about the confidential stuff. It’s the little things like how I feel, and my problems, and just- stuff, you know?”

“I get it,” Dick nodded understandingly, “You don’t know what it is about the person, but you feel like the two of you just click, am I right?”

“Exactly,” you smiled, “Been with anyone like that before?”

“One or two,” he shrugged, “People like that- whom you just click with- they’re hard to come by. You should see where this leads. Who knows, maybe he’s one of those that would stick around, huh?”

“The only problem is this big fat secret,” you complained, “It gets tiring sometimes. Lying, that is. About the injuries, about activities. I mean, how do you start a relationship based on lies?”

“That’s why you have to make sure they’re worth the effort,” he said simply, “You’re a smart girl, and way mature beyond your age. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

“Thanks, Dick,” you gave him a side hug.

“Since you haven’t been talking to Bruce for the last two weeks, does this mean you haven’t been on patrol?”

“Of course I have!” you clarified, “I go out with him, and interact when I have to. But I keep my words concise and I don’t ask questions.”

“Sounds all too familiar,” he chuckled.

“How long are you staying?” you looked at him with hopeful eyes. You loved it when Dick was around. He was the affectionate older brother you never knew you wanted, who spoiled you with snacks and dessert.

“I was just dropping by,” he gave an apologetic look, “I’m a liaison for Bludhaven PD, with Gotham City PD, since they know Bruce is on good terms with Gordon.”

“On a Saturday? Which case is it?”

“That arson case,” he explained, “The third that got away, he was causing problems up in Bludhaven a few months prior to that. Gordon asked for some files, and… A detective who’s familiar with the case.”

“You made detective?!” you squealed, “Congratulations! Not many people make detective in their middle-almost-late twenties.”

You tackled him into a bear hug.

“Thanks,” he laughed out loud, “Apparently this guy, Jerome Miller, he's always hired to do stuff like that.”

Jerome Miller. The one that got away. You clenched your jaw at the mention of his name, willing your blood to not boil.

“Burn buildings?” you scoffed, hiding your true feelings from your older brother, “Why would people hire other people to burn buildings?”

“Buildings like the library, you know how their fire system works. It's like the bank. Once a fire starts, the system suck up all the oxygen,” he explained, “It's not easy to burn down buildings like those. So people hire professionals.”

“You're saying someone else hired him to burn the library down?” you frowned, “But why?”

“That's what GCPD is trying to figure out. Could be one of those location disputes. Higher ups are probably involved. It wouldn't be the first time in this goddamn city,” he shrugged.

You remained silent.

Of course, politics. Corruption had this bad habit of snaking into people's lives and ruining things.

“Promise you I’ll catch the guy, okay?” Dick offered, “I know how much that library meant to you.”

“Thanks, Dick,” you gave him a small smile, his promise comforting you. Your bond with your older brother could never be explained with just words. He gave you a sense of protection that went just beyond the physical sense that you felt with Bruce. With Bruce, you knew you could rely on him. But Dick was the one you told your secrets to. And he could make you feel better with just a simple promise such as the one he gave.

“No problem, kid,” he grinned, “I should get going, though. Gordon said he’d be free after lunch.”

“I’ll walk you out,” you hopped off the bed.

*** “Uh, Bruce?” you awkwardly stood behind him as he was sitting down in front of the Batcomputer- all geared up as Robin.

He spun around, looking at you questioningly. He was geared up as well, besides the cowl. You could see the dark circles under his eyes, the crows feet that were starting to be visible. He looked tired.

“Alfred told me you hadn’t eaten much all day, so, uh, I made you something light to have before we head out later,” you hesitantly set down a plate of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the desk.

You almost missed the way the corners of his mouth turned upwards.

After talking to Dick earlier that day, you felt guilty for continuously being mad at Bruce. This was your way of reconciling to him.

“Thank you,” he nodded, reaching for one.

“So,” you cleared your throat, “What are we up to tonight?”

“Patrol as usual,” he elaborated, “Red Hood has been busy. With Black Mask gone, he’s technically the only one in power as of now. Even Penguin has been laying low because of him. GCPD reports a fifteen percent surge in weapons and drug trafficking along with gang related crime the past three months, but strangely a thirty-two percent drop in petty crime, murder, sexual assault.”

“Thirty-two percent is a lot,” you frowned.

“Indeed,” Bruce agreed, “In fact, it’s the lowest since Batman first appeared.”

“Which is a very long time ago,” you nodded.

“Even the Ibenescus’ have been keeping it down. Though I have reason to believe that they still are not submitting to Red Hood,” he added.

“Why?”

“The Ibenescus’ built an empire through human trafficking, and they date back all the way to the eighteenth century. The Moehler family does not nearly come as close to a crime legacy the way the Ibenescus do. The Ibenescus’ have more pride to lose more than anything. They wouldn’t surrender so easily and completely stop all their operations,” he summarised.

“I see,” you absorbed everything, “Okay, well. Patrol it is.”

You honestly expected a quiet, boring night. The past few weeks had just been stopping drug exchanges, interrogating drug dealers, and one or two car chases involving a vehicle suspected to contain smuggled weapons.

But that night, the GCPD comms were active.

Thanks to Dick’s information on his habits, GCPD had been patrolling specific locations where Jerome Miller would most likely loiter in, and at 11pm that night, a cruiser identified him buying a couple of Slim Jims in a 7-Eleven at Upper East Side on Verne Avenue, and tried to arrest him. He made a run for it, and now there were three police cars circling the area. Wherever Miller was, he was trapped.

Both you and Batman were now patrolling the area, in hopes of finding him. Batman interacted with you as usual, and you tried to do the same.

But at the mention of Jerome Miller, you felt your heart beat louder in your chest. You were extra vigilant that night, your senses somehow even more heightened as you strained your night-vision to look at every little crook and cranny in every little smelly alley that he could be hiding. You went as far to check inside dumpsters.

And at a quarter past midnight, you finally laid your eyes on him from the edge of a roof.

He was a sweaty, panting mess. His straw hair stuck to his forehead, his eyes wild with panic and he jumped at every small sound. He was hiding in a cardboard box, covered partially with a dirty towel. It probably belonged to one of the homeless, who was nowhere to be seen.

“Batman,” you communicated through your earpiece, “I’ve got eyes on him. Between ten and twelfth Verne Avenue. I’m going to incapacitate him.”

“Wait for me,” Batman ordered.

You wanted to argue back so bad, but you didn’t want to mess up your relationship with him again, especially since you were on good terms.

“Hurry then,” you said.

“I’ll be there in 1.”

You lurked on the rooftop, your eyes now entirely focused on him.

You revelled in the fact that he looked like he was about to shit his pants. He deserved it. For fucking with your library.

You swallowed. Your vision was tunneling. All you saw was him.

Your heartbeat was drumming in your ears.

He deserved it.

Fuck it, you thought. You grappled down and landed right in front of him.

He let out a small yelp, and his eyes immediately went wide when he saw who it was.

“I was paid, he made me do it,” he started pleading.

Funny how they all start to plead when they saw either you or Batman. Funny how they didn’t think of the repercussions before they did the crime.

You took a step closer.

“Please, don’t take me in,” he begged, “I have a family. They need me.”

The man’s words never registered to you. All you could hear were blubbering sobs. You bent down and gripped his shirt, forcing him up on his feet.

But before you could reel anything in, before you could even think- for the first time in your life, you acted first without thinking of the repercussions.

That was when the white hot rage blinded you.

You could taste the blood in your mouth as you threw him violently to the floor like a ragdoll with all your might, your blood boiling hot as you heard the sweet crunch of the man’s skull break as you landed blows after bloody blows to his face.

You took his head in both your hands, lifted it from the ground and then smashed it back into the the tar floor.

Your eyes couldn't focus on anything else. The world seemed to melt with around you into a blur. The only thing that existed was your revenge.

A pressure on your shoulder snapped you out of your trance. Suddenly you felt a lurch, and you were flung across the alley, your back hitting the metal dumpster with a loud bang. Your eyes focused again to see Batman hovering over the bloody mess of a man now a metre away from you.

The bloody mess you made.

You felt the bile rise in your throat. Your knuckles were aching, your head pounding. You now felt the effects of your assault on him as the adrenaline and rage wore off slowly.

And you were horrified.

You scrambled to your feet and started to walk towards the two of them.

“Stay. Back,” Batman growled at you.

You stopped right in your tracks. Batman was checking for a pulse.

The man's face was unrecognisable. You had disfigured him so much that he looked like a heap of meat and skin and blood.

“I- I- I didn't mean to,” you whispered, holding down the puke.

“Call an ambulance,” he ordered.

You froze on the spot, still looking at your victim. You saw his chest rise and fall, but somehow it was wrong. Only one chest was inflating. You heard his laboured, weak breathing. You saw his arms and legs twitching.

“NOW!”

His raised voice made you jump, and you immediately took out your phone and dialled 911. Once you ended the call, you took another step closer.

“Leave. I’ll deal with this,” his cold voice demanded.

“Batman,” you whispered again, trying as hard as you could to not break down.

“I said leave,” he snapped.

You ran out into the drizzling rain and rode your bike home without another word.

***

It was your third time showering that night.

You had scrubbed your skin so raw that it was red and felt tingly.

Especially your face. You couldn’t stand to look at yourself in the mirror. Because when you got back, you saw the blood splatters. On your mask, on your cheeks, across your nose, all from the man you beat half to death with your own fists.

You puked the minute you reached the toilet, hurling away the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches you ate earlier.

But what you tasted on your tongue was the familiar metallic tang of iron, and bitter guilt.

You had completely disregarded everything the man had said to you, and you just attacked him. Why? Simply because you were angry.

Simply because you felt like it.

Simply because you could.

There’s no shame in spilling blood for the greater good , your mother’s voice popped in your head.

You hadn’t heard from her in a while, and her unwelcome presence shocked you.

You would have justified Red Hood’s actions with that logic, but even Red Hood’s cruelty were driven with a slightly righteous, albeit delusional, motivation.

But yours were purely personal rage.

That’s when you realised your actions were even worse than Red Hood’s.

You sobbed yourself to sleep that night, ignoring the countless knocks on your doors by both Alfred and Bruce, and the 32 missed calls from Dick.

***

“...last night, the vigilante Batman is now a suspect for violent assault against known arson Jerome Miller, who himself is a suspect for Gotham University Public Library’s unfortunate demise…”

Jason’s ear perked, and he stopped right in his tracks.

He ignored the scowl he got from the man behind him who almost walked into him and turned to the window display of televisions, all of different sizes, showing him a blonde woman at a desk, with blue background.

“...Jerome Miller was brought straight to the emergency department, and reports tell that he is currently in a comatose state. Has Gotham’s vigilante finally decided to show his true colors of violence? Or do you think that Jerome Miller had it coming? Stay tuned, on GNN.”

Jason frowned.

The Batman Jason knew wouldn’t have landed Jerome Miller in the hospital. Batman never cared for personal grudges. No, he was too disciplined to let his feelings get in the way of his work.

Jason knew that all too well.

He sensed that Batman was just covering for Robin, for you.

He smirked to himself, not caring if the people in the streets thought he was crazy. He looked up at the gloomy sky- despite it being noon- and thought about you.

You were probably getting in a whole lot of fucking trouble with Bruce right that instant. You must have lost control last night when you saw Miller, and boy did that make Jason’s day.

He was right about you after all. He knew you were hiding something dark inside you. He knew that you were almost just like him. All you needed was a little nudge in the right direction.

Were you crying all night? That was probably why you hadn’t replied to his text message yet.

His mind conjured the image of you from those weeks ago, crying at the park. Red eyes, red nose, sniffling away.

He frowned at the memory. He wanted to comfort you. Even now, his chest suddenly ached at the thought of you being in anguish and drowning in guilt.

What was fucking wrong with him?

He pushed away the fucked up mess he felt was brewing inside of him. He ignored how conflicted he felt.

He focused instead on his curiosity. You landed Jerome Miller in a coma. No doubt Miller would have been begging and sputtering about his wife and kid- yet you must have ignored everything. He needed to know what you did to him.

He stuffed his hands back in the front pockets of his hoodie, and then hunched over, looking down as he turned around and walked the opposite way of where he was going, and straight towards the hospital Miller was admitted in.

“I’m his nephew,” Jason told the two police officers stationed outside Miller’s room. He had peeked in. Miller’s face was covered in bandages. He had a ventilator attached, and one of his legs was in a cast, elevated.

“I don’t need to see him or anything, considering he’s, well, unconscious,” Jason scratched the back of his head innocently, “But Anna, my aunt- his wife, just wants to know his condition.”

“Then why don’t she come see him herself?” the shorter one huffed.

“A-are you kidding me?” Jason tried to look offended, “She has stage four cancer! She’s on chemo, she can’t move around much. Come on, officer. What does the medical report say? His family deserves to know.”

“How do I know you’re not just some reporter, huh?” the same man demanded.

“No offence, officer, but do I look like a reporter to you?” Jason smirked.

“Hey, Charles,” the other officer whispered to his partner, “I think he’s legit. BPD did mention about his wife in the case file.”

“Anyone could have gotten that information!” he argued back.

“Remember what that pretty boy detective said? Miller was very protective of his family. That kinda info don’t just get spread out like that.”

Officer Charles narrowed his eyes at Jason. And then- “Fine. You tell him, Graham, you’re better at the science stuff than I am.

Officer Graham looked at Jason apologetically. He was about ten years younger than his partner.

“The doctor said he’s got fractures on his cheekbone, his jaw is dislocated, missing teeth, nose is shattered, his orbital bone’s all messed up, one punctured lung, one broken tibia, and Grade 3 diffuse axonal injury- that’s what the doctor said,” Officer Graham’s lip tightened, “Doctor said his chances aren’t looking so good. I know he’s a criminal, but his family aren’t. I’m sorry.”

Wow, you really did a number on him.

“Thank you, officers,” Jason said with a long and sad sigh, “Aunt Anna- it’ll kill her. I don’t know how I’m supposed to tell her. They’ve obviously had disagreements, and she doesn’t support his actions, but she doesn’t have anyone else.”

“I’m truly sorry,” Graham offered again.

Jason nodded and turned to leave, secretly happy with his ability to act. He got so used to acting when he was with you, that it came naturally to him now.

But most of all, he left the hospital with an intense feeling of pride. Even if you were beating yourself up over it, it didn’t change how he felt.

He was just so fucking proud of you.

***

“You didn’t have to take the blame,” you croaked.

Your eyes were stinging, and your nose hurt every time you breathed. You were sitting down at the dining table, across from Bruce. You had expected him to yell at you like before, to do something when you came in and took your seat.

But he did something much worse.

He looked at you with pity and concern.

You looked at him through swollen eyelids.

“Why aren’t you yelling at me?” you whispered, “Aren’t you angry?”

“I’m furious,” he calmly stated.

“Then, why-” your voice cracked.

“Because it wouldn’t make a difference now,” he sighed.

“I’m a monster. I understand if you tell me to quit,” you said, “I can’t believe- I just- I’m exactly like them.”

“Then what does that make me?” you saw Bruce giving you an odd expression.

He was smiling sadly.

“What?” you asked, confused, until you realised what he was talking about, “No, Bruce. That was different.”

“I killed your parents,” he said as a matter of fact, “So what does that make me?”

“You didn’t kill them, Bruce,” you argued, “You were under the influence of- of whatever it is they gassed you with.”

“It was supposed to be fear toxin,” he reminded you, “They were experimenting with Scarecrow’s toxin when I broke in.”

“Yeah, see?” you tried to prove your point, “So it’s not your fault.”

“I wouldn’t have displayed the wrath I did- which led to your parents being pushed off the balcony- if I were emotionally stable,” he said, “They fell because of me. Because I wasn’t myself.”

“No one blames you,” you told him, “I don’t blame you. You had the right to be unstable, Bruce, your son died three months before that. I can’t believe you still think this way.”

“Yet, they still died on my watch, because of my aggravation,” he pointed out, “But if I were to quit every time I did something because I was unstable, well. We wouldn’t be here.”

“Stop being nice to me, Bruce,” tears welled your eyes, “It makes me feel even worse than if you got mad at me.”

“Good,” he smiled at you kindly.

So that was his punishment. To be understanding.

“I’ve got bad genetics,” you argued, “There’s been a lot of research on it and it shows that there is a gene to be passed down.”

“The psychopath gene?” Bruce smirked, “You’re not a psychopath. Your parents were. You feel remorse. Psychopaths don’t.”

“But, even if it’s not pure psychopathy, there must be some other traits, right?” you rationalized.

An attraction to violence, for example.

Bruce just gave you a long and tired sigh.

“Even if you were to have this so-called psychopath gene,” Bruce continued, “It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. Everyone has some form of good in them. Even your parents. In their own twisted way, they thought that all those experiments would bring a great contribution to the scientific community- and to humanity as a whole. Regardless of their true motivations, they comforted themselves in that delusion. Not all psychopaths are criminals, remember?”

You remained silent, mulling over his words.

“You think people, no matter how bad they are, can be saved?” you finally asked.

“It’s one of the reasons why I don’t kill,” he said, “People change. It’s just a matter of the help they get.”

“Even Joker?” you scoffed.

“Even Joker,” he nodded, “Though, I’ve stopped myself from killing him mainly due to selfish reasons. But I do believe that there is a way to cure him. We just haven’t found it yet.”

[apprentice-lex]

Thank you for the ask! Reactions under the cut. Warnings for implied torture, descriptions of violence, injury and death, and possessive behavior. Otherwise SFW.

Valerius:

at first he is shocked, terrified for you, though he tries - and fails - not to show it. When the news of your disappearance first comes, the glass he was holding slips from his fingers, shattering. He doesn't notice the blood on his fingers - you being kidnapped is all he can think about. He spares no expense in hiring the best investigators, guards and mercenaries, whoever can help resolve this and bring you back unscathed. At the end, he angrily sends them away, and sets to unraveling the mystery himself. He'll trust no one else with your safety. He can barely read the note, with how much his hands shake when he's holding it. You, the one person who truly understands him, gone. He cannot bear that thought. Meals and sleeping are out of the question until you've been found. He'll also blame himself - perhaps if he hadn't made so many enemies, if he hadn't been so ruthless in his pursuit of power, you'd still be by his side. Finally, when he pieced together all the clues, it won't be guards he sends after you. No, he'll take up the best blade he owns, and face your kidnapper himself. Despite the comfortable court life that doesn't call for him to use his skills often, he's still quite a good fighter. The expression of rage on the Consul's face is something even you  - the one who knows him best - haven't seen before. The fight will end with you asking him to turn your would-be kidnapper in to the guards, instead of murdering them himself, then and there, for daring to touch the one thing Valerius treasures above all - you.

Valdemar:

at first, they don't seem to react to the news. They calmly - and immediately - pause whatever experiment they were working on, then gather their tools and various surgical implements, carefully checking how sharp each blade is. They make sure to have their gloves and apron - there's bound to be a lot of blood. Then, they walk out the door, and they aren't seen for quite some time. That night horrifying screams echo through the streets. Whatever lead they can pursue, whoever they can interrogate - they do, and soon they're facing your would-be kidnapper. There is a smirk on Valdemar’s lips, but it doesn't reach their eyes. No, their eyes are colder than you've ever seen them; how foolish the mortal insect that thought to harm you. That insect would soon learn the error of their ways. Valdemar speaks only once, however - asking you to look away. They need no tools for what they're about to do. They show their true form and true abilities very rarely, and this is one of those occasions. In mere moments, there is nothing left of your kidnapper, and you're safe in Valdemar's arms.

Volta:

Oh. Oh. It takes a moment for it to register. You're gone. For a moment the Procurator expects you to walk into the room and tell her it was a joke, a trick. You can't be gone. No one else would want to spend time with her, no one else would care about her the way you do. Then, it sinks in that you've been taken. She's frozen in place, trembling. Taken? Who would do such a thing? For someone to hate her, she can understand that. But to hate you, the most perfect creature (in her opinion) in existence, someone so kind and understanding? She could never understand that. Finally, reality sinks in. Volta is alone. Alone. She doesn't realize she's crying at first, the warmth of the tears flowing down her face doesn't register. When it finally does, she's panicking. Rushing from room to room, sending for everyone she can - the Countess, the Praetor, the Consul and the Pontifex and the Quaestor. She pleads with everyone and anyone to help, help find you, help save you. She is inconsolable, so much that almost everyone she calls on agrees to help. Vulgora first among them, threatening to crush whoever upset the tiny Procurator. So, when the clues are gathered, the note studied, and the location of you and your kidnapper is finally revealed, everyone is surprised that Volta rushes there first. For the first time since she's heard you were missing, she is completely fearless, rushing to confront your kidnapper and demand an explanation. When they gloat and threaten you, the Procurator feels something she hadn't in a while - rage. Balling her hands into fists, she screams and screams at the villain, not even paying attention how her human disguise is slipping piece by piece. When the others finally arrive, there's no one there but Volta and you, and she's clinging to you tightly, promising she'll never leave your side again. The kidnapper is gone, and only you truly know how unwise it is to anger a creature so starved.

Vlastomil:

They're what? They're what?! The Praetor almost stops breathing, the teapot in his hands and the teacup utterly forgotten, scalding tea overflowing and flooding the table as he stares at the messenger in abject horror. Kidnapped? Certainly not, he'd have heard something if anyone was planning some appalling thing like that, he would have had them thrown into the dungeons or executed long before they managed to actually do anything of the sort. It takes the Praetor a moment to accept the fact that what he's hearing is true. Setting the teapot on the table none too gently and not caring for the shattered porcelain, the Praetor immediately sets to work. Human agents are well and good - but this is a delicate matter and he needs someone he can trust completely; all of his prized pets are set loose, with very specific instructions from the Praetor. He doesn't even care that he's seen in broad daylight, talking to worms. Finding you is much more important than keeping his true identity and abilities secret. After his pets are set loose, he talks to his informants, calls in every favor he's owed - and he's owed quite a number of them. Anything to find you and return you to him unharmed. The city-wide search bears fruit. Soon, Vlastomil marches into the room where you're held with guards and soldiers flanking him - a following befitting the Praetor of Vesuvia. Your kidnapper is dragged away in chains, but not before Vlastomil personally promises them the shortest possible trial and the harshest possible punishment. In truth, he plans to feed the villain to his worms - alive. Once reunited with you, he frets over you and absolutely refuses to leave your side for weeks, worried that someone might try to harm you again. He insists you sleep at his estate and he triples the number of guards. Should anyone even think of harming you again, he promises - his silvery eyes flashing with cold determination -  he'll handle things immediately and personally; without his human disguise, secrecy be damned. You're far more important.

Vulgora:

Oh no you don't. The messenger who brought the news to them doesn't even manage to finish, Vulgora is already marching towards the door, their fists clenched and their face set in a snarl of undiluted rage. How DARE whatever INSIGNIFICANT INSECT that kidnapped you lay a finger on something Vulgora holds dear? They'll make sure the kidnapper suffers, they'll make sure every bone in that villain's body is crushed. Their own guards are shoved out of the way. Vulgora doesn't even notice the swarm of beetles in their wake, leaving nothing but death and barren earth wherever they pass. They march straight to your home, barely noticing the broken glass and furniture as they grab the note and crumple it in their gauntleted hand. As the paper crumples, so will that kidnapper's skull. Vulgora doesn't even pause as they march through the city, interrogating potential witnesses and threatening (and causing) serious harm to whoever doesn't have a satisfactory answer the moment they ask a question. You're theirs, they're protecting you, and whoever dared take you will regret that decision bitterly. Vulgora's violent interrogation techniques prove very successful, and soon they're breaking the door of whatever place the kidnapper is holding you. The kidnapper opens their mouth to gloat and threaten, but Vulgora doesn't do so much as pause - they charge in, the metal of their gauntlets connecting with flesh over and over again, until whatever remains of your kidnapper certainly does not draw breath any longer. Only then will they approach you, sweeping you into a hug - you have to remind them that you need to breathe - and checking for injuries. They do so almost obsessively, and you need to tell them several times that you're okay, and they got to you in time. You could have almost sworn their rage cooled into something akin to fear. So, there is something Vulgora fears, after all - losing you.

[sepublic]

Order of Mata Nui

           A paramilitary organization shrouded in secrecy, the Order of Mata Nui was created as a way of fighting back against the Powers That Be in a manner that is discreet and untraceable. The brutality of their enemies and the harsh realities that Xians have to face have conditioned the Order to be similarly ruthless; Many saw the downfall of the Volunteer Militia as being contributed to the heroes’ ‘softness’ and blatant publicity. In contrast, the Order of Mata Nui operates entirely from the shadows, taking great pains to keep their existence a total secret. Even to the Barraki, their potential presence was considered, but never outright confirmed; And in their fight to liberate Xia, the Order has committed many acts of espionage, extortion, blackmailing, assassination, torture, etc.

           The Order of Mata Nui was founded by their ancient leader Helryx, as far back as the War of Six Kingdoms; Back then, Helryx was but a small, young, and fragile human girl who could do little to fight back against the bloodshed that her home regularly witnessed. Determined to make a difference at any cost, Helryx vowed to not let the deaths of others be in vain; She too would kill, but she promised to let her murders accomplish something in the end.

           Since then, the secretive Order of Mata Nui has operated from the shadows, recruiting members from any corner of Xia. They have tracked the progress of Xia’s industrial revolution, working to undermine the Powers That Be as much as possible, to varying success; It is unknown how terrible the situation on Xia would be had they never existed.

           The Order of Mata Nui worked to assassinate dictators and tyrants, and influence public opinion against such groups. In the Artidax District, many of them are employed as hackers, working to undermine the propaganda of Turaga Dume and leak the secrets of the Xian aristocracy to the public; The truth must be known. When the Nynrah Incident occurred, many Order agents worked quietly to facilitate evacuations and contain threat, while just as many also found potential servants and recruits amongst the mutated Vorox.

           Unlike conventional ‘heroes’, the Order is willing to perform unethical acts, in the name of the greater good. Helryx has seen what noble intentions and actions have done; But for now, it is best to keep noble intentions, while trading in heroic actions for more underhanded and even downright despicable means. In the past, the Order have experimented on others without consent, killed, robbed banks to fund their own activities, etc. Many of Xia’s Lekara were experimented upon them without consent to become ideal, underwater assassins. In order to maintain important secrets, the Order has even killed many innocents in the past; All in the name of the greater good.

           Because secrecy and anonymity is their key to survival, all Order members have access to masks, cloaks, and other means of disguise. They are trained in the arts of stealth, interrogation, code-breaking, etc., and communicate with one another almost entirely in encrypted messages, usually delivered manually; Wireless communications can be intercepted and are thus a liability, with the individual known as Nidhiki having accessed a few Order of Mata Nui messages himself.

           And while quick to strike and utterly ruthless, the Order of Mata Nui also recognizes that its numbers and strength is small and few compared to that of the Powers That Be; If they feel the risk is too high, members will not go on a mission to avoid being compromised and found out. Agents that are a liability and at risk of revealing the truth –whether they want to or not- will sometimes be killed by their comrades to keep them silent. Mysteriously-funded projects are supported through proxies, many of whom know little of what they are doing, and are just as quickly assassinated to keep quiet. Many mysterious deaths have been attributed to organizations such as the Dark Hunters; But in reality, it is the Order of Mata Nui. If at risk of being caught, agents have access to suicide pills, and some even have Viruses that will completely devour their body and leave nothing behind; Although these vials are helpful in assassination, at least one is always kept on an agent’s person in case it needs to be turned on themselves.

           Weakness cannot be allowed within the Order, and it is often beaten out of one another in hellish training grounds, the majority located in their hidden base of Daxia. Skills are regularly tested and honed between missions. Code-breakers work day and night to decode encrypted transmissions that pass through Artidax, hoping to decipher the secrets of the Powers That Be and anticipate their move. Official agents have access to personal ‘tokens’ that bear the insignia of the Order, to prove membership; If in danger of being caught, such tokens are to be completely destroyed.

           Due to the secrecy of the organization, many members do not know the identities of one another, and most refer to one another entirely through codenames, their faces entirely hidden. It is not out of the question for two Order members to argue about which mission they should take, before later on passing one another in public life without recognizing each other. These painstaking measures are all for the sake of ensuring that if one agent is compromised, the entire organization will not follow; Only Helryx knows everything about the Order of Mata Nui… allegedly.

           Information and data is stored almost entirely in coded print, to prevent hacking. The locations of data are mixed amongst various high-ranking members, who have miniature-explosives surgically injected into their skulls, designed to detonate at will in case they are in danger of being interrogated.

           The Order of Mata Nui has agents in just about every sector of society, and even a few nobles and their servants serve as faithful members. The Order also operates through countless servants, many of who know nothing about the true order of their commands; Some are just paid and told to keep quiet as they work on their jobs in secrecy. The Order of Mata Nui has even hired Dark Hunters in the past to do their own dirty work, with the mercenaries unknowingly contributing to projects designed to hinder The Shadowed One.

           All agents within the Order of Mata Nui have their minds telepathically shielded to prevent; These mental shields keep them immune to mind-reading, brainwashing, and attacks on the mind. As a result, they are entirely immune to Night Wraiths, and their ability to infiltrate the dreams of others. The exact nature of how Order members accomplish this a closely-guarded secret. Ideally, the mental shielding of Order agents keeps them from having their minds read, against their will; But in case all else fails, the aforementioned suicide pills and explosives are worth considering. Some risks just can’t be taken, especially since the Order doesn’t know everything about the enemy- And to them, knowledge is the true power.

           Members of the Order don’t just exist on Xia, either; Prior to the merging of worlds, there were a select few on Okoto as well. It was through these agents that Helryx knew of the happenings of that mythical island, and for a while, Okoto’s existence remained another closely-guarded secret amongst the upper echelons of the Order of Mata Nui. When they knew of Okoto and how they discovered it is also another mystery.

           Decades after the Great Cataclysm, Helryx sent trusted agents Axonn and Brutaka to Okoto, to find the Mask of Control; She hoped to use it against the Powers That Be. Arriving on the mythical land, Axonn and Brutaka succeeded in locating the Mask of Control, but to their dismay a portion of Makuta’s soul was infesting it. When Makuta’s role in the deaths of several Okotans to create the Mask of Life had been revealed, a mad scrambled by the Mask Hoarder to don his forbidden mask resulted in the Mask of Control being knocked from his face, siphoning a portion of his soul in the process.

           Axonn and Brutaka realized that whoever would don the Mask of Control would be subject to the influence of Makuta, who would then be able to locate his lost mask and use it through the proxy of his soul fragment and whatever puppet he had seized. With no way of purging Makuta’s influence without the Mask Hoarder noticing the Mask of Control’s presence, Helryx gave the order to contain the Mask of Control within the Labryinth of Infinity; It was a liability and could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

           For centuries, Axonn and Brutaka guarded the Labyrinth of Infinity, with only the two of them knowing how to access the specific path leading to the Mask of Control’s chamber. As per Helryx’s orders, they remained a secret to all on the island, choosing not to intervene lest they attract the Brotherhood of Makuta’s attention.

At some point, an Order Agent was compromised, captured by the rogue Morbuzakh and interrogated; When they ingested a suicide pill, Morbuzakh countered this with a rapidly-synthesized antidote. Despite the Order agent’s training and mental shielding, Morbuzakh eventually succeeded in pulling vital information out of them, before killing his unfortunate prisoner- Helryx never learned the fate of this agent and was deeply troubled over what information may have been compromised during this disappearance.

           Eventually, miners in the Voymari District unearthed a massive, hill-sized block of bohrok, one that was later melted down in the Great Furnace to reveal the lost Mask of Light. Realizing this was a dangerous weapon that could not fall into the wrong hands, Helryx had Order agents infiltrate the facility that the Mask of Light was kept in. The Order of Mata Nui succeeded in retrieving the Mask of Light, defeating UP-VK 8596 (later known as Seeker). The Mask of Light was contained within a specialized module to let it be safely handled; Physical contact with the Mask could burn and blind a person, if not outright incinerating them.

           With the help of Order agent Botar, the Mask of Light was transported from the island of Xia, taken to Okoto. Axonn and Brutaka took custody of the Mask of Light, and were ordered to prioritize protecting it over the Mask of Control; Helryx compared the Mask of Light to a Xian Heart that was set to go off at any moment.

           Like the Mask of Control, the Mask of Light was contained within the Labyrinth of Infinity, with additional security measures added to ensure that nobody could find it; Maze-like symbols and cubes would be needed to act as keys, which would unlock the 777 Stairs leading down to a series of chambers. In such chambers, various guardians placed by the Order of Mata Nui would act as obstacles to the Mask of Light. To top it all off, the path to the Mask of Light was even MORE complex and difficult to navigate, than the one leading to the Mask of Control.

           (When Brutaka went rogue and betrayed the Order, he made sure not to tell Makuta of the Mask of Light; He could allow the Makuta to take the Mask of Control, but letting the Brotherhood have access to Nuva would be a step too far for him.)

           During the Okotan Expedition to Xia, the Order of Mata Nui kept track of the Toa, Protectors, and their allies. While Kopaka fumbled his way through Artidax, a few agents anonymously contacted the Toa of Ice, using him to help fight back against Dume’s tyranny and authority. To the surprise of many, Kopaka didn’t die in any of his tasks. Later, Kopaka’s ‘anonymous allies’ helped him and a few others pull off a heist in the Archives, retrieving the Fragment of Earth in the process.

           Since Xia’s relocation to Okoto, many Xians have begun to rise up against their former masters. Seeing the paradise of Okoto and its society, which is able to function without the strict class-hierarchies of Xia, has been the final straw for many; They know now that the order set by the Powers That Be is a lie and a sham, and one too many incidents have piled on, ranging from the disappearance of Kratakal, to the Powers That Be prioritizing the securing of wealth over protecting citizens from the quakes when Xia flew.

           Now, an open Xian rebellion, the likes of which history has never seen, has begun to arise. And with the Okotan Alliance right next door, Helryx has seen a once-in-several-lifetimes opportunity; A chance to finally turn the tides against the Powers That Be. And with the Okotans needing help against the Barraki, and the participation of the Brotherhood of Makuta and the rise of Kraltarak…

           The time has come. The Order of Mata Nui has emerged from the shadows, revealing its existence as a paramilitary organization of spies and assassins. They have aligned themselves with the Xian rebellion, its leaders showing some suspicion; But beggars can’t be choosers. In turn, the Barraki are incensed and seek to utterly eradicate the Order, angered that so many Xians would dare defy them for so long, and eager to kill now that the closest thing to a face –their masks- have been seen.

           The Okotan Alliance is skeptical- There are some who want no part in assisting any Xians. But many, including the Toa, Protectors, and Ekimu, recognize that they need all the help they can against the Barraki… Besides, the Order of Mata Nui helped Kopaka after all. Even if the Order has blood on its hands, it’s better than nothing; And if both groups weren’t to collaborate, they wouldn’t be as effective, which would lead to a longer conflict and thus more atrocities committed for ‘necessity’.

          While the Order’s new allies are skeptical about their unethical acts and will even contend them, one cannot deny the greater threat at large. Thus, their allies in the Okotan Alliance and Xian Rebellion will turn a blind eye, for the most part, as they work together; The help of inside-agents within these organizations has made the Order of Mata Nui’s alliance with them easier. And as the Order of Mata Nui’s more heinous crimes are revealed, Dume has taken towards highlighting such atrocities to the Xian populace as ‘proof’ of the chaotic lawlessness of the rebellion.

          Alas, the average Xian is used to the same, and worse, from the Powers That Be; At this point, most aren’t even fazed. And the difference between the Order of Mata Nui and the upper-class is that one genuinely wants to make a change for the better, and will actually work and die for it…

          Makuta himself is also wary of the Order of Mata Nui; He is curious to how Helryx has lived for so long, and now knows how they have hindered him in subtle ways in the past. The knowledge of their past secrecy has made him somewhat paranoid of infiltrators amongst his ranks, and as he combs his Brotherhood for traitors and spies, he also seeks to unlock the truth behind the Order’s mental shielding.

          Intriguingly, many of the Order of Mata Nui’s higher-ranked agents have unusual abilities… Ones that cannot quite be explained by science. Many agents have subjected themselves to various experiments to become more powerful, but these unique members seem to have inexplicable powers, some related to the realm of Space. How the Order of Mata Nui’s agents can unlock such abilities are unknown, and Makuta hopes to potentially infiltrate the organization himself one day. For now, his Night Wraiths prove useless at accessing the minds of members that he’s managed to capture.

          The Order of Mata Nui knows the risks it is taking. Each agent chose their life of secrecy, with some completing disappearing from society and being reborn under a new face, mask, and name. All agents have accepted their burden; Only the most trustworthy are allowed into the organization. Motives vary, but generally speaking, all members have been hurt and scarred by Xia in some way, shape, or form; Or they’ve seen others been hurt and cannot stand by such injustice. So although many of their past actions are indeed terrible, one has to note that the Order performs them beneath dire, desperate circumstances; And should the war end in victory for Okoto and the rebellion, perhaps finally the Order of Mata Nui can lay down its arms. Some agents are not averse to accepting the consequences of their actions and punishment, if it means that Xia can finally be liberated…

          The Order of Mata Nui has many members, in addition to the elusive Helryx;

          Axonn is a powerful, burly knight wielding a gigantic battle-axe, who can compel others to tell the truth. Once a conquerer, he helped Helryx establish the Order of Mata Nui. He helped to guard the Masks of Control and Light, and while faithful he has been criticized for being too much of a bleeding heart, compromising his own secrecy to help others; He once risked being noticed by Fenrakk when he rescued a young Takua from the Skull Spiders in the past. As the Xian-Okotan War rises, Axonn has been temporarily transferred from his duty of protecting the Mask of Light, to helping in the fight against the Barraki and Brotherhood.

          Brutaka is a rogue member, a former friend and close comrade of Axonn. Disillusioned by the centuries of brutality with no end in sight, he has seen the Order of Mata Nui commit atrocities that have barely made a difference. Seeking to do things under HIS command now, Brutaka has joined the battlefield as his own contendable player; He has assisted the Brotherhood of Makuta, and is allied with them once more alongside the Barraki. Using his knowledge on the Mask of Light, he is also helping a group of rogue Dark Hunters, led by Zaktan, into finding the hiding place of Nuva. Brutaka’s true goals are unknown.

          Botar is a towering giant of a creature, feared by even Axonn and Brutaka. He has a massive, fanged maw and a horrifying visage. One of the Order’s most powerful agents, Botar has incredibly powerful abilities of teleportation, able to warp across entire miles with objects and passengers in tow. While faithful to the Order of Mata Nui and usually serious, he can occasionally have his own dark sense of humor.

          Hydraxon is a senior-ranking Order agent. Once a prison warden, he realized the corruption of Xia and has since reformed, discarding his old name and identity in favor of the mask and codename he now bears. Hydraxon is responsible for training many of the Order’s new recruits, and is armed with a variety of blades, daggers, and boomerangs, a few of which can explode on impact. A master of the martial arts, he is a mentor to many and frequently assisted by his pet Energy Hound, Spinax; A creature capable of taking in the ‘scent’ of a target’s soul and tracking it across the distance between both islands of Xia and Okoto, back when they were separated.

          Trinuma is an Order agent with an uncanny ability to talk others into doing exactly as she desires. It is unknown if this is some sort of hidden power, or merely the result of genuine charisma; Either way, she is a skilled negotiator who has helped in securing useful deals for the Order of Mata Nui. She has recruited a few members into organization herself, and convinced a few of the Order’s prisoners and enemies into performing missions for them.

          Tobduk is a towering Vorox. Once a meek, dainty housewife, she was one of the first victims to be transformed by the Nynrah Incident, after being captured by rogue Visorak spiders and mutated into the being she is today. Horrifically traumatized by the incident, she was recovered by the Order of Mata Nui and inducted into the organization. Feeling a disconnect between her past life and current identity, the new agent renamed herself Tobduk and rapidly rose through the ranks as a feared, ruthless assassin. Tobduk is responsible for many of the Order’s most heinous acts and has innocent blood on her hands. She bears a personal vendetta against the Visorak and the Nynrah Ghosts. As a result of her mutations, Tobduk is an agile, powerful titan who can enter a berserker state. She wields poisoned daggers and machetes, as well as a staff shaped like a Doom Viper’s head, which can shoot forth white-hot beams of energy.

          Johmak is an obsidian, crystalline being, able to shatter into countless tiny crystals. These crystals can form into a floating cloud, or be used to tear apart and penetrate enemies. Johmak’s ability and unusual nature allow her to recover from just about any form of physical damage, and she is practically immune to it as a result. As a cloud of crystals, Johmak can enter tight spaces and is a skilled saboteur. Armed with a shield formed from her own essence, Johmak is a strong-willed agent who believes in ideals of freedom and resistance.

          Krakua is a grey-armored warrior with a powerful control over Sound, able to manipulate it to silence others, amplify noises, mimic voices, etc. Krakua has used their Sound abilities to a devastating effect, able to access frequencies that shatter almost any material, and cause internal rupturing of organs to enemies. For these abilities, Krakua is an ideal assassin, infiltrator, spy, torturer, and warrior. They are armed with a ‘tuning fork’ blade consisting of two long, silver prongs with which to better attune and amplify Krakua’s power over Sound.

          Jerbraz is a charming agent and spy for the Order of Mata Nui. A botched experiment resulted in him being rendered permanently invisible. He wields a Twilight Blade that can turn practically invisible alongside him, or blind opponents. He is a skilled assassin and infiltrator, and has been frequently teamed up alongside Krakua to watch enemies completely undetected, sometimes right next to them. Most intriguingly of all, the failed experiment has caused Jerbraz to have a presence in both the Light and Dark Worlds; If one were to warp between either realm, they would find Jerbraz still there, existing across the veil between worlds. For this reason, he is an ideal enemy against Night Wraiths, and is able to see into the Para-Realm; Allowing the Order to keep track of the Kraahl as well.

          Mazeka is a skilled decoder, encrypter, and hacker amongst the Order of Mata Nui. Once a skilled programmer, a massacre for the secrets of the company worked for led them down a long chain of events that resulted in their status as an Order agent. Now, they regularly work to intercept transmissions in Artidax, decode messages, encrypt Order communications, etc. They made anonymous contact with Kopaka during his arrival on Xia, helping guide the Toa of Ice in resisting Dume; Mazeka has long been stationed in the fight against the dictator’s propaganda and control of information.

           Scowe is a winged member of the Order, skilled in quiet transport across the skies. She has functioned often as a manual messenger, transporting physical letters containing encrypted data within to other agents in the dead of night. An incredibly stealthy flier, Scowe has managed to evade the sights of guards and cameras through her unusual ability to automatically ‘see’ through the eyes of everyone in her proximity. The owners of these eyes are completely unaware as Scowe is able to map out blind spots, navigating a completely unnoticed flight path through them.

           Deralte is a hulking, four-armed warrior armed with horns and a multi-bladed axe. He has the unique ability to ‘ignore distance’; When he swings his axe, the effects of that axe cutting into something will travel through the empty air between him and whatever is closest, immediately cleaving that object. Thus, he can swing his weapon, and in real-time, whatever is in front of him -within the distance of about a mile- will be sliced as if Deralte was right there. This applies to any of his actions; A hi-five will be immediately felt across a field as he reaches to meet it, for example. Because of Deralte���s unique ability to ignore the distance between him and a target, he is an ideal if unconventional ‘sniper’. Although his power only applies to his body and the axe he wields, Deralte has still managed to kill many unwitting targets, who die believing they were attacked by an invisible assailant that had somehow gotten close. The only way to avoid his attacks is either to get out of the way, or place something –or someone- in front of oneself.

           Boggon is a Vorox with well over a dozen, serpentine heads, with which he can survey the area all around him; Or attack with his fangs, while wielding a weapon in his hands. Operating within the Nynrah District, Boggon acts as a spy for the Order of Mata Nui, reporting the goings-on amongst the various Vorox clans, while researching into the potential existence of whereabouts of the mythical Keetongu.

[fae-fucker]

Zenith: Chapter 52-55

Chapter 52

Valen interrogates Andi about his father’s decision to make her his rescuer, and instead of going “take that up with your dad because I don’t know his reasons for doing this,” Andi tries to be all apologetic about all the Kalee stuff and saying how she’s changed and Valen’s like nu-uh!

“It was a mistake,” Andi said again. “If I could take it back—”

Valen gritted his teeth. “Murder isn’t a mistake.”

Have I finally gone off the deep end or is this fucking funny?

“If I recall, you were the one who allowed your little sister and her friend to sneak out for a joyride on your father’s brand-new transport,” Andi replied. Her words were soft and casual, but her eyes were on fire.

“Spectre,” Valen said. “Spectre first, and always. You failed her as that.”

“Again,” Andi said, “it was a mistake. I’ve had to live with the cost of it.”

“Kalee didn’t!” Valen screamed. “She didn’t get to live, Androma!”

It’s honestly impressive that whenever I go into a chapter that’s relatively short and think it’s gonna be fine and I’ll just skim over it, Shinsay proves me wrong by including more bullshit that I just have to talk about. But hey, part of the reason I have this blog is so that people know what not to do and examining why certain things just don’t work, with the added bonus of having the context for it.

It’s also impressive how two women somehow keep making the wrong choice for the same one book, over and over and over. Every narrative choice in this book is wrong.

So, what’s wrong with this particular bit? Remember when Dex and Andi were having their stupid argument and Dex, right after trying to apologize for what he did and explain himself, turned around and started blaming Androma for it instead? Here it’s even more jarring, because Andi genuinely believes she was to blame for Kalee’s death and genuinely wants to atone (or she claims to want that, at least). So when she, out of nowhere, starts trying to defend herself and shift the blame onto Valen? That shit don’t make no sense, y’all.

I think this is a result of the book having too many pointless POVs. We’re in Valen’s right now, so obviously he needs emotional triggers to react to and start monologuing over. He needs to be provoked and damn logic and character consistency, he’s gonna get provoked! Andi’s words make no sense and will not be examined closer once we’re back in her POV, she just said this OOC shit for the sake of drama, yet given everyone’s awful characterization, even small things like these serve only to undermine the characters and their motivations even further.

Shinsay don’t understand that sometimes, no arguments is far more impactful than a dramatic verbal battle of cheap witticisms. Instead of this, Andi could’ve just sat there, quietly, letting Valen dunk on her because she feels she deserves it. Hell, this entire conversation could’ve been saved if only Andi’s blame-shifting line had been given to someone else! I didn’t even read it as her saying it at first and had to double-check and that’s when it fell apart to me.

God, I could go on like this forever. Feel free to send me asks if you want me to elaborate on dialogue and characterization, I guess? Let’s just move on.

The others try to figure out how Valen was taken and what happened when he was, asking him if he knows anything about Queen Nor, at which point Rage Unlocks Within Him, and he gets up and leaves.

I also want to mention that Valen talks about “things being tense after Kalee was gone,” but Kalee’s been dead for four years, while Valen was taken two years ago. Sooo uh ... huh? He makes it sound like it was two months after and not two years. He could’ve said things “changed” after her death and it would’ve sounded better. Idk just a preference I guess.

Also ... I just realized Valen’s been missing and tortured for two years. How he still talks normally is ... pretty bonkers, to say the least.

Chapter 53

Andi goes out to find Valen but finds Lon instead, his blue tiddies out.

Lon leads Andi to where Valen is, all while dropping hints that Lira has something to say to Andi and that Andi shouldn’t try to influence her decision. To her credit, Andi says she won’t, and that she loves Lira as her sister.

Andi and Valen sit around in nature for a bit and talk about Valen’s art. I don’t hate it?

“When I was locked up, I almost forgot what colors looked like,” [Valen] said, lazily brushing the stick back and forth against the mud. “Did you know that black is more than just a single shade?”

Anish Kapoor would like to know your location.

Valen says he can’t forgive Andi for what she did, but he can also not forgive himself for being part of those choices(????). Andi speculates that her accusation earlier must’ve struck him deep, but that’s all we get on that, no explanation as to why she accused him at all.

“In Lunamere, I had nothing to keep me company but my pain and my thoughts. I had lots of time to think about that night, and everything leading up to it. Time to realize that we were raised in a society where perfection is the only option. But that doesn’t mean it’s always possible. We all made bad choices that night, not just you. She got on that transport herself. And I chose to stay behind.”

Andi wanted to speak, but she feared it would shatter this strange, heart-wrenching moment they had somehow found themselves in.

Thanks for telling me it’s heart-wrenching, lest my idiot self got lost in all this emotion and forgot to realize what was happening.

Christ, even when Shinsay have a decent dramatic and emotional moment going, they just can’t keep their grubby little hands to themselves, huh? I know it’s your book but can you shut the fuck up for a moment and just let the prose stand on its own?

God, if only there had been an editor.

Both Andi and Valen admit they wish they’d died with Kalee and in any other more competent book this would’ve been quite touching.

“Without Kalee...” Andi began, finally voicing the realization she’d come to terms with these past few days. “Without Kalee, there wouldn’t have been a sentence for me to run from. And without that running, I never would have found Dex. And without him...”

“You wouldn’t be the Bloody Baroness,” Valen finished for her. “My father would not have hired you.”

It was a vicious cycle, one that Andi wished she could have undone before it had ever started. But it was her story. Her life.

Her life is a series of reactions to things outside of her control? Love that for a protagonist.

Listen, I know it’s supposed to be sad and stuff, but even Andi’s backstory reinforces her reactionary personality and the way the plot is driven by things completely outside of her control. It’s hard to feel invested in a character when they never make choices and instead only react to whatever happens to them.

Anyway, Valen and Andi seem to have gotten over their differences and go to the festival together. That was easy. I guess it’s to throw us off the scent and make it more surprising when he suddenly turns out to be evil? I’m honestly not sure. It’s pretty bad either way, but I don’t have to tell you that.

Chapter 54

We’re with Lira again and she’s staring off into the distance thinking about the festival. Lon appears again, tiddies still out, but now his muscles and “sculpted” chest feels kind of weird to comment on since we’re in Lira’s head? Whatever, maybe Adhirans are weird like that.

Lon says some cutesy shit about how technically Lira is this planet’s princess but she doesn’t reply or even think about how that would make him the prince? He just says he’s her brother and has to guard her. Maybe Adhirans also don’t let men have political power because that’s what Shinsay think feminism is.

Anyway, they join the other girls and head to the festival while Lira mopes about her decision and how she can’t have two families. Except you can. But whatever. Logic isn’t dramatic enough, I suppose.

“It’s time to let loose,” Breck said. “Lir, you look like you’ve just puked up a pound of Moon Chew.”

“Lira doesn’t puke,” Gilly said.

“That’s ridiculous. Everyone pukes,” Breck added.

“I’ve never seen her do it. And I spy on her, like, all the time.” 

Lon chuckled beside Lira. “I see it,” he whispered. “What draws you to this crew.”

I don’t.

Also they’re in the same close space it seems, so I have no idea how they 1) don’t bother to ask Lira what’s going on and 2) don’t notice Lon being all whispery and shit. Convenient!

Gonna gloss over the spying bit as well, I see. Hey, they do have those eye implants that you don’t need consent to activate. Maybe Gilly’s been using it to perv on the rest of the crew.

Lira decides ... not to decide, and just fuckin party down for tonight. I guess in this universe it means she’s gonna get blackout wasted, because That’s What Adults Do. I should also mention that she decides not to decide and then never has to decide anyway because the plot intervenes and the choice is made for her. Love that for a character.

*sigh*

Chapter 55

We’re in Dex’s POV and we get some decent descriptions of how cool the festival is with more incidental aliens and traditions. Dex spots the crew and thinks about how they’re his crew now and realizes he’s bonded with them. I’m glad this is spelled out because I would not have noticed it myself, and frankly I both do and don’t mean it this time.

They’ve only been together for a couple of days, tops. I guess extreme situations make people bond faster but I really feel like we’re jumping the shark here. At the same time I can tell that Dex clearly fits into the crew pretty well, and this just feels forced and redundant. All in all, this comment is just unnecessary. Let the characters evolve and grow closer naturally, Shinsay. You don’t need to convince us they’re a crew, you can just show us and we’ll believe it!

Dex spots Valen and Andi and of course we get a horny description of how cool and sexy Andi is and how impressed Dex is that she and Valen are already friends. Then he decides to get drunk and eat some meat.

Frankly? Relatable. Chapter? Pointless.

[kattipatang]

Idk what I’m doing lol... but life’s a mess

Back in the day I wrote out my entire life story and it gave me a lot of clarity and resolve. Nearly a decade later, I am going to do the same in hopes that I find some self-healing. Perhaps I can also validate my feelings so I don’t feel like I am entirely crazy for feeling the way I feel. FYI for those who know me, please note that (to my knowledge) I have removed my pictures and mentions of my name from this blog and do not wish to be identified at this moment. I would appreciate it if you could respect that.

I’m going to start all the way back in 2010. I came out as gay while I was in high school. I was met with a wave of support and love from students and faculty, except for a select few homophobes. However, if I thought they were bad, things were about to get much worse.

In early July 2010, I was awakened by my mother at 3am in the morning. This was very unusual, and the look on her face was one of pain and grief. She led me into a secluded room of the house where my uncle (her brother) sat waiting, my phone placed on the counter in front of him. My mom and father and gotten divorced after an abusive marriage, and we had moved in with my uncle and his family when I was 11 years old. Therefore, my uncle was a father figure for me.

I was made to sit down in between them, and the interrogation began. They had gone through my phone and found texts I sent to my friends, talking about my sexuality, and they claimed that they had also found out through the grapevine. I was yelled at by my uncle. He asked perverse and inappropriate questions about my sexuality, with dramatic monologues about how I am bringing shame to our immaculate family name that would put some of Bollywood’s most melodramatic moments to shame. All this occurred while my mother sat and silently weeped. Two hours of emotional and verbal abuse later I was sent back to bed.

The next morning, my uncle took my mom and disappeared for hours. Turns out they had gone to the doctor to discuss my situation, and a wave of relief washed over me. “Thank God,” I thought, “at least this person will see reason.”

I was wrong.

My uncle and mother came back hours later and took me with them to the car. My uncle leading, me behind him, and my mother closing in on me behind me. This would be the formation that would take place if we ever stepped out from here on out. For the next week, I had no cell phone, no access to the landline, no computer, no internet, all my friends were gone away for the summer - I was completely isolated.

Anyway, they drove me to the doctor’s office in the late afternoon, which I found odd because the office would have been closed by now. Sure enough, when we arrived at the clinic, there was a “Closed” sign on the door. However, my uncle opened it and lead me inside, with my mother following after me.

I was taken straight through the empty clinic - even the receptionist had gone home, so there was no record of my visit - and I was led into the doctor’s office, where he sat waiting for me. I walked in alone and the door was shut behind me.

What followed was a series of pseudo-scientific explanations as to how I’m mentally ill, disturbed and perverted. “This is a sickness,” he said. “God didn’t intend you to be this way.”

He added that this was probably because I don’t maintain a relationship with my father and was raised by a single mother, and I just need to “learn to be a man.” “And if you like anal sex, you know you can do that with a woman too you know?”

I was dejected. Destraught. Absolutely destroyed on the inside. A person I thought to be a voice of reason, was spewing the same judgemental ignorant rhetoric my uncle was. The irony makes me laugh though nine years later, because this year his wife discovered that he had been sleeping with a patient for the past several years. What a morally strong man…

The rest of the week is a bit of a blur. I disassociated myself for most of it. However the gist of it was my uncle interrogated me to see who I had sex with, my mother became suicidal, and my uncle became homicidal.

At one point he made explicit threats to my life, and I had to do an internal inventory. I can’t afford to run away and live on my own, I don’t want my mom to die, and I don’t want to get killed. So, I bit the bullet and basically faked a “recovery” to keep the peace. I had had enough of the emotional and mental abuse and manipulation from my uncle and just wanted some reprise.

I have a cousin I am extremely close with who I am out to. He lives out of province, and he was and is the biggest ally I have in my life. When he found out what was happening to me, he called my uncle. My uncle said something that concerned him, so he told me to fly out and stay with him for the duration of the summer until it was time for me to go back to school.

I did so and it was an amazing time. However, during that trip I also learned of how twisted my uncle’s brain truly was. He had told my cousin multiple ways in which he wanted to “deal with the mess” including murder, forced re-allocation and isolation, and he even wanted to hire a female sex worker to come rape me.

That stunned me, and I have never had a proper relationship with my uncle since.

Years went by, and it appeared as though the situation had been swept under the rug. My plan was to save up enough to one day pack my bags and leave, never to look back again. My mother and uncle were super close and he could have easily taken care of her in my absence.

That plan, however, was put on halt when the elders in the family decided that my mother should finally have a house of her own, a dream she had always had but never experienced. However, that would not be possible if I didn’t step up and help pay a portion of the mortgage. In actuality, I was given no choice either, so I put a stone on my heart and sacrificed my personal freedom so I could give my mother the comfort she deserves.

During the construction of the house though, everything went to shit. One day at the job site, a construction worker made fun of my more gentle mannerisms and began to make homophobic jokes. My uncle overheard and that was just the fodder he needed to begin making my life a living hell all over again.

From early 2016 until today, my uncle has been emotionally and mentally abusing me and anyone who will stick up for me. My mother would defend me, and he began to emotionally and mentally abuse her too.

I am stuck in the shittiest circumstance. My uncle and mother are waiting with bated breath to see what I do next.

My mother wants me to get married to a woman, something I will never do. My uncle WANTS me to flat out come out so he can further torture me verbally and/or physically, and make a spectacle out of my mother for having the audacity to speak up against his abusive tendencies.

And I honestly don’t know what the fuck I should do. On one hand, I refuse to marry a woman to please society. On the other hand, when I come out, my mother will want to have nothing to do with me, and with me gone, my uncle (and my aunt has joined the squad now) will have free reign to torture and harrass my mother. On top of that my mom won’t be able to make payments for the house, the house will be foreclosed, and my mom and sister will be forced to live on the streets, or move back in with my abusive uncle.

Just this past week while I was out of the house, my uncle came over to taunt my mother, because he knows he's emotionally vulnerable and won’t stick up for herself. He came over and told her that she’s basically unwanted and uncared for. That the people around her are going to treat her like a laughing stock. That no one is society will talk to her or say anything good about her because her son is a fag who will ruin the family izzat.

Izzat is something he is HELLBENT about. Back in the day when my mom was about to start college, he cornered her before she was about to leave the house and said “No one knows you for who you are, they know you as my sister. So if you fuck around with any guys whatsoever, I’m going to slit your throat and kill myself.” *slow clap for the amazing pep talk*

I am fucking exhausted. For the past nine years I have been surviving, not living. I go day in day out afraid for my life, afraid for what the future holds for my mother and sister. I’m afraid that something may happen to me, and no one will know and he will continue to live his life showing himself to be this perfect human who can never do any wrong.

However, I refuse to let that happen. Even if it’s the last thing I do, one day I am going to expose him and his truth to the world. He taunted my mother saying no one will care for her? Everyone is going to remember my mother for the beautiful soul that she is. It’s HIM that is going to be shunned by society for being the manipulative abusive psychopath that he is.

Everything is going to be made public one day. Crystal clear. Bright as day. I will make an example out of him, that if you around manipulating and abusing people for your little-man-syndrome/false pride, this is how you will be publicly disgraced and humiliated.

Until then, I need to go seek therapy, heal myself, and get ready to fight for not just my life, but for the sake of my mother and my sister. I had finally gotten to a point where I was actually excited to wake up in the morning. But now I’m back in that mental hole where when as soon as I wake up a wave of dread sweeps over me and I wish I hadn’t woken up. I would be lying if I said I have a will to live. However, I also refuse to do anything that would put my mother at risk for more abuse.

The thing that frustrates me the most is that while all this happened, NOTHING changed in my life. My struggle remained the same. As people zoom by me in life, getting amazing opportunities, running businesses, finding amazing life partners, just living their best life, I’m standing here like my legs are stuck in a block of cement. Feeling like I’m broken, lost, unworthy, unlovable, undesirable, and a failure.

Until I can do something, I could really use all the prayers I could get.

[calleo-bricriu]

Guess what I’m still reading? Still reading out of spite but, still reading?

That awful book.

Right, let's get back to the worst book I've ever read and, to note, I am including every single malicious, aggressive, definitely is trying to kill you it's not your imagination Dark Arts book I have ever handled in my entire life, just so we're clear about how bad this story is.

Chapter 5 opens with Leigh, the clear projection of the doctor-author himself, waking up in a room he doesn't recognise and not thinking anything about that is weird, instead writing it off as to it being his "inherent love for the sea" guiding him there.

He then talks for most of the rest of the page about how he has no idea how long he's been there and maybe it was his 'second personality' that was in control which is the first mention we see of that ever having been an issue from him--unless that's just his way of saying, "Must've gone on a bender again."

Tries for awhile to figure out what day it is, apparently gives up, and decides to re-focus on winning...something...from his sister and that doing that would save his son who, as far as we know (as he's only been briefly mentioned), is perfectly fine and not in need of any sort of saving.

Several paragraphs of rambling about how sane and calm he is to the point that he’s sort of proven he’s neither.

Buys a newspaper, finds out he's been blackout drunk for ten solid days, finds out from some random guy on the hotel porch that he bought a yacht.

At this point, I'll remind you that previous chapters indicate he hasn't held a steady job in over a year (mostly due to being drunk and crying to the barman that he's such a misunderstood genius), is always weeks behind on bills, and hasn't paid rent in a few months but somehow dredged up money to buy a yacht while on a bender.

Isn't bothered by this, doesn't think it's indicative of a drinking problem and also it's not his fault because the yacht seller should have known he was drunk and not sold it to him or something.

This is, like, four entire pages in to chapter five and I'm already so tired.

The Department of Magical Law Enforcement could read this book aloud in interrogations but even the Ministry might consider it torture.

Oh, Leigh’s problem isn't drinking, by the way; it's "psychic epilepsy" so it's definitely not his fault.

That's--not actually a real thing.

Anyway.

Dozen or so pages of him internally trying to figure out how the hell to get out of this, "I bought a yacht with money I have no idea how I got and possibly got by doing something very illegal" situation.

His wife is also apparently not bothered by this behaviour either, she's just happy to see him; I'd be the opposite because this has been shown to be a pattern of behaviour on his part but, well, she buys the "psychic epilepsy" excuse because she's terrified of being seen as a nag.

Nag him, good lord, do something that isn't completely enabling him to be this way.

Now the narrative is going on and on and on about "unreasonable women" who would pretty reasonably be upset if their husband couldn't hold a job, wouldn't even try to get one, wouldn't let her get one, couldn't pay the bills, and routinely did things like tell her he'd be home in a few hours then go on a 3-10 day bender and show back up without a word.

That's a reasonable set of behaviours to be at least a little annoyed about.

Leads into how it's hereditary, this psychic epilepsy thing, so absolutely not his fault.

He's a regularly paid published author now, by the way, and has been for some time despite this being the first time it's ever been mentioned in any capacity. The only two other careers we've seen from this guy are something to do with working in a laboratory in Germany and working at a hospital as a doctor before being almost immediately fired for a combination of the constant drinking and possibly just being sort of insufferable to be around at work.

Some guy named Rob walks in. No introductions apart from that, we're all just meant to know who the hell Rob is despite this being his first appearance.

Some guy named Charlie/Dr. Bell is also just randomly mentioned and is also in...the house sleeping. People think he's lazy but he's really just conservative, whatever that means.

Find out Mizpra was engaged to some guy named Moore who dumped her to go to Yale, which is evidently why she turned into a "masculine" bitch. Sure, why not?

Philosophy attempts again from Leigh the Misunderstood Genius (who definitely does not have a drinking problem and knows more than you about everything): "Love, Charlie, is  like medical treatment; if it is free, given lavishly and procured without sacrifice, it is thrown aside at pleasure, and the giver ridiculed and derided. Haud expertus loquor."

Okay, first of all, that's not what love OR medical treatment is like. Not even--remotely, especially medical treatment.

Second, stop trying to sound smart with the Latin; all you said was "not experience" there, Mr. Genius who is definitely not a direct projection of the quack doctor of an author.

Leigh used to pay stenographers to go to class for him and take notes so he could go and give theatrical performances to "insane patients". Lovely guy.

Just to remind you, we’re meant to be sympathising with Leigh in this story, not wanting to strangle him every time he opens his mouth to bore everyone for ten pages.

Leigh refuses a drink while they're all at dinner which is one of the few good choices he's made in 81 pages and a little over a year in terms of the story's time line but then ruins it all for answering a joke about it being because he's married with PAGES AND PAGES of him trying to be a fucking philosopher again and just boring the bollocks off of everyone both in the book and reading it. How the hell does this guy know what delirium tremens are yet still thinks his entire problem is caused by psychic epilepsy and not alcoholism?

Charlie asks about money for some reason, probably trying to change the topic and get this moron to stop pretending he knows what he's talking about in any capacity.

That triggers three pages of him doing the same thing, only about money this time. At least in this case, it's mentioned that Leigh "got carried away" so there's a glimmer of self awareness. Probably the only one we'll ever see.

They agree to play golf tomorrow and Leigh and Obera just--get up and leave, despite dinner having not even been delivered to the table yet. Nobody seems to notice.

Chapter 5 is now over.

Chapter 6 time skips an entire year and starts with Mrs. Newcomber and Mizpra sitting outside and it's mentioned it's been a year since Leigh tried to see her so--about a year passed between chapters five and six.

Mother dearest is described as a "pliant tool" that Mizpra somehow convinced to go to Colorado Springs to open up a school, and that's where we are now.

Colorado.

Mizpra gets to pick the ladies who get to go to the school and just seems to do so on a whim, which has made her and it wildly unpopular; fair reaction, no explanation given as to why she acts like that just that she did it "without giving any satisfactory reason."

Colorado has lots of "clever physicians" (but not enough, probably because Leigh isn't there. Yet.) but Colorado is populated by people who just hate doctors. Despite that, they keep moving there.

Then, it skips to Mizpra reading mail and one letter, "announced the  marriage of the plastic Zora to an untutored, scheming Yankee lawyer."

Okay.

First question: Who the HELL is Zora?

Second question: This isn't really a question, I'm just reasonably certain that lawyers, even lawyers in 1901, had to have some level of formal schooling. Then again, so did doctors and here we are with this guy who apparently just slept through every single year of med school he went to.

Someone named Marcia wrote as well and Mizpra doesn't like her either because she "insisted on standing for her rights" and was married to an "unknown quantity." No idea who Marcia is or how she knows Mizpra, it's not been explained yet but has been introduced in a way we’re supposed to know already.

Dr. Bell we finally fucking find out was a friend of her father's and that's why he knows both her and Leigh.

Could have explained that back in chapter five when the character was introduced but, hey, I'm no doctor, what do I know about constructing a coherent story?

Dr. Bell wrote to yell at Mizpra about her being mean to Leigh and his son. Not to Obera, to whom she has been directly mean multiple times so far, just to Leigh and his still unnamed son. The kid's like two years old now and we still haven't been told his name he's that irrelevant to the plot.

Somehow this trips her to decide she needs to just completely ruin Leigh's life because he's an obstacle to her 'designs and ambition' but it's never been explained what those are. It also doesn't explain what she's planning to do just that "she must place him in such a position as to make him helpless in his struggle for his rights. With these thoughts, horrible, fiendish, partly laid schemes arose".

They are never explained.

Maybe she's going to open another school that's just for boys and purposely and repeatedly deny his 2 year old son entrance, I have no idea at this point.

While she's distracted coming up with vague plans, her mother interrupts and says what amounts to, "I'm blind but even I can see you're an old maid."

Harsh.

Her response is to go on about how disgusting marriage is and "what poor, weak, helpless creatures women are! Such a degrading, vile, humiliating acceptance of the loss of personal freedom."

...okay. I guess that's one way of telling your mum to fuck off and that it's not that you CAN'T get married it's that you don't WANT to.

She calls some woman named Jane in to ask her if she...washed the horse yet.

The reply is "yes, mum" which is evidently how Jane pronounces ma'am. She tells Mizpra that she'd be better off hiring a man because mares respond better to men which is not at all how horses work.

Then, we have this exchange:

"No, Jane; what a man can do a woman can do better."

"You do be joking, Miss. How about the babies?"

"There are two many of them now. You should be a woman, Jane."

I was following Mizpra there up until the, "You should be a woman, Jane" bit when Jane has already been described as a woman several times in two paragraphs.

Jane tells her she is a woman and wants to get married and start a family some day, which makes Mizpra angry and somehow the author seems like this is a good time to mention her muscular frame because--that's not a thing women are allowed to have, and to emphasise that Mizpra is not a ‘good woman’, we just occasionally remind everyone how masculine she is.

I know we're meant to dislike Mizpra but, at this point, she's the most sympathetic character here, having to put up with all this nonsense and having the only reasons we're told she's 'bad' is because she has all these masculine traits (from previous chapters, broad shoulders, a deep voice, a square jaw, an 'unwomanly' figure, narrow hips, the author stopped just short of saying, "Yeah, she's basically a man in a dress that tells everyone she's my sister.")

This is page 88 of 403.

Anyway, Mizpra storms off because Jane's, "I want to get married some day" got her that mad, sits down at her desk, and starts reading which is also framed as a bad thing because Good Women don't use their brains for that, what's the matter with you?

Starts talking to herself about how her mom called her an old maid which, I mean, if she's single, not married, and implied to be over 40 that's--sort of what old maid meant. She says, to nobody in particular because she’s the only one in the room, "Well, I think I can show my sisters that I can throw off that appellation and still rule man!"

Now she needs a secretary and a lawyer to always be with her 24/7 and we finally find out that Zora and Marcia are her sisters.

That could have been mentioned much earlier in the story.

What is up with the naming conventions in this family anyway? Every other sibling gets a normal name and the others get names like Zora and Mizpra?

So, what we know now is that Mizpra:

A) Thinks her sister Zora is dumb as hell.

B) Thinks Marcia is whoring around and the way it's written comes off as envious not, "How shameful!" Nothing is stopping you from doing it too, Mizpra.

C) Thinks Leigh is a "clever fool" with a "spewing brat" and a "little, weak, dependent" all of which are entirely fair.

She goes off to arrange visiting Leigh, hoping the trip back East screws with their mother's health enough that she'll gain full power of attorney which is part of whatever evil devious plot she's got going.

Gets up to go to the mirror and get dressed, laments that she "had lost all youthful appearance of womanhood, though still young in years" gets mad at her reflection and throws everything on the vanity at the mirror then goes with, "No, I'll use my intellect, my power over him, not the feminine baubles of Eve."

Over who? Your brother? Please tell me you weren’t considering trying to be sexy for your brother.

She is then described as "short of hair and short of sex" on account simply because her hair is short. Again, the whole, "Hey, hey, have there been enough clues given to tell you that she's just straight up ugly like a man in a dress??" thing.

Even with the, "Hopefully this trip basically almost kills my mother so I can take all of her stuff and cut my brother out of the will" thing she's still the most sympathetic character so far.

Mrs. Newcomber's only real skill aside from being blind and insulting one of her daughters is droning on and on and on about the religious of ancient Egypt.

Then it goes into something that's--nice, actually, though probably wasn't considered a good thing at the time--about how more women should focus on getting an education so they're not stuck being a housewife if that's not what they want to do but, since it's 1901 that's not a thing and it wraps up with how they only think that because "neither knew they the emotions dormant in a woman's breast."

Which are, apparently, to be an uneducated housewife and mother because that’s what the men like.

We’ll just forget the fact that Mrs. Newcomber was married and has had at least four children that have made it to adulthood. That’s not important now. The important thing is she’s being an icky teacher and learning things now. How fucking unladylike.

Mizpra then goes outside, says hello to someone,  like that's it, "Hello, Burke!" and it's framed as a "clumsy attempt at coquetry". What? She--she literally just said hello to someone she knew! That's not how flirting works.

Burke, who is a pale, sickly young man, had evidently told her however long ago the other day was that he loved her and he thought she was mad at him about that.

She tells him she's not mad and explains she was in Denver and his response is to ask her why she's playing with him, she says she's not, he tells her she's being cruel (somehow? maybe because she keeps calling him a silly boy, which is, frankly, rude as hell), and we find out that Burke--as if the name and physical description weren't enough to indicate this--is kind of a social outcast because he's awkward and weird and more than a little bit dim.

But, he overheard some gossip about her and now she's literally shaking him down to make him tell her. Basically, The Men Folk don't like her ideas about women having an education, the public hates it too, and if it were the Middle Ages they'd just burn her at the stake.

Again, Mizpra comes off as the most sympathetic character in the story so far.

Oh, and she apparently doesn't like corsets and made some doctor's daughter, who is a student at her school, remove it at the front of the classroom then kept her standing there while showing all of the other girls the creases a corset puts into the skin which is admittedly entirely inappropriate for a dress code violation.

That's not the problem though, the problem is that Mizpra’s hands were "so cold and rough" that she fainted, and the implied manly hands and fainting are the part everyone is upset about.

Her reasoning for it was that the doctor's daughter, "is suffering from the feminine folly of imitating the male sex in all animal life on the globe--that is, the garnishing of the body to attract the opposite sex."

Again, not how that works; in most species, it's the male that gets all flashy and showy to attract a much drabber female's attention. I do sometimes listen to Lazarus ( @pocketsfullofspiders )  when he's talking about his work.

At the end of all that Burke...asks Mizpra to marry him at specifically 8pm that evening? What?

Okay.

Her response is to ask him if he knows how to use a typewriter. I actually kind of like her at this point, apart from the whole half undressing a teenager in front of the entire class thing.

Anyway, she agrees, because he knows how to use a typewriter so I think she just hired him as her secretary and he agreed to it because I guess his payment is getting to marry her at 8 that evening.

She leaves to go do the getting a marriage license thing and just talks to herself the whole way about how gross Burke is and, ew, he kissed her chin because she didn't get out of the way fast enough, what a fucking creep.

That's going to be a great marriage.

She chose her dressmaker based on the fact that that particular dressmaker's shop offers free cocktails to customers. Fair enough if you're getting fitted for a wedding dress to get married to someone you can't stand.

The reverend that's going to marry them is someone she's got under her thumb; she basically paid to clean up his reputation because he'd ruined it due to just sort of being a drunk, kind of like her brother. Takes him outside and first says she needs to ruin her brother's life.

With alcohol. "[...] and any other scheme you can concoct."

Leigh's weaknesses are, of course, alcohol and evidently women.

She'll pay him a salary to do this and also essentially said if he spends i ton gambling she'll track him down and break every bone in his body.

I'm still not really disliking her.

She then calls him a wind bag and a hypocrite, which he takes as a set of compliments.

He's also mad she's getting married but corrects himself and says it's a miracle; she tells him it's to Burke Wood, and gets, "He can't live six months; and married he won't live six weeks."

HAHAHA! Wives are terrible, am I right?

Her response to that is he definitely will because she's going to take good care of him and 'treat him humanely' which I feel like is the bare minimum required for a marriage, treating someone humanely.

His take on that is, "She is a eunuch in heart and mind! She possesses the soul of a sewer."

And Mizpra becomes an even more sympathetic character.

Some family she knows passed by in a carriage didn't see her so didn't wave to her and now she's also spitefully planning to ruin their lives over being blanked. Settle down, Mizpra.

Goes home, tells mom she thinks they should go see Leigh, mom rightfully points out that Mizpra has spent like two entire years repeatedly explaining why they shouldn't ever do that for any reason and that turns into a debate that the mother eventually loses and is convinced to sign over power of attorney to Mizpra.

She then explains she's getting married that evening then going to Denver the next day and her mother's only concerns about this are of her not--"taking care of Burke on your wedding night". Good priorities.

For some reason she goes off on how she has a fucking job and isn't getting married to turn herself into "a mere setting hen, a female destitute of all ideas save one--that of breeding" which is somehow shocking to her mother.

Mizpra isn't even going to tell Burke she's headed to Denver tomorrow morning until after they're married so he can't back out.

This honestly sounds like a lot of Pureblood marriages now.

Later on we find out that Burke has inexplicably been asking Mizpra to marry him for "some time" now so he's really bad at taking the hint.

So, those two are married now and he has no problems with her going to Denver on business and I'm not sure why the last half of the chapter was spent making it seem like that would be a Big Issue when his response was, more or less, "That's cool, I know how work is."

That's the end of chapter six and this is just so stupidly exhausting that I'm not even going to try to start chapter seven tonight.

Up to page 103 of 403 though!

[starspatter]

Heroes and Thieves, Ch. 11

Title: Heroes and Thieves Fandom/Universe: BTAS, pre/post-RotJ flashback

Summary: A story about second chances, healing, and having hope.

Rating: PG-13, for references to character death, child psychological torture and trauma.

Genre: Romance/Family/Friendship/Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 4,380 Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Also on ff.net and AO3.

There was a time when I was alone Nowhere to go and no place to call home My only friend was the man in the moon And even sometimes he would go away, too

-Ruth B, "Lost Boy"

————————–

Before.

“Batman, wait!”

Robin was too late; Batman had already charged ahead by ruthlessly breaking down the door to the house with the sole of his boot.  A low-key villain calling himself “Cluemaster” (whom Robin had incidentally never heard much of until now compared to the likes of Riddler or Joker, having supposedly gone “straight” for a couple years – at least according to Batman) had led them on a lengthy chase, and they ended up pursuing him all the way out to a small neighborhood in the suburbs.  As they infiltrated the dwelling, Robin hastily checked around to make sure no homeowners were present who could be caught in the fray – or worse, taken as collateral.

Fortunately the room was empty, aside from their glaringly orange-clad target in the middle of it, reaching for one of the plasti-glass pellets attached to the front of his costume. Batman had already anticipated the move though and launched forward faster than the other, lurching a blurred glove into his opponent’s throat, which caused him to drop the canister as his body was slammed hard against the wall.

“You’re under arrest for multiple counts of grand larceny, Cluemaster.  Or should I say, Arthur Brown?”

With his other hand, he grasped at the bandana covering the lower half of the man’s face, which had already come loose from the force of impact.  He jerked the rest of the kerchief off to expose a snarl under the guise, the owner evidently infuriated by the idea his identity had been so easily discovered.

“Now, where’s the money you stole?”

Arthur sneered.

“Why don’t I give you a clue to its whereabouts, and you can figure it out yourself, since you’re so smart?”

Batman growled as he grabbed his foe’s collar, lifting high into the air, letting free-dangling feet flail frantically.

“I don’t have time for these games.  Either you tell me voluntarily, or I’ll make you confess.”

Robin was getting anxious by the aggressiveness in Batman’s tone; making threats of violence wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but he’d been out of sorts all night, acting excessively and extremely hostile, leaping into enemy territory with heedless disregard to danger – to himself or those around him.  Sans his usual sangfroid.  He was starting to sound like that time Scarecrow dosed him with a gas that took away all his fear, resulting in Batman almost taking a henchman’s life.  It had taken all of Robin’s strength to haul him back up after Batman cut the line…

The current captive seemed to be getting panicky too, as he quickly changed his attitude, appealing to sympathy instead.

“Listen, I’ve got a wife and kid.  They’re asleep upstairs.  I just needed the cash to help support them.  We’re in a bit of a financial jam, y’see…”

Robin’s conscience wavered, recalling the time they had to prevent a penniless man from holding up a drugstore in order to obtain medicine for his daughter, who was simply sick with a high fever.  Of course this was theft on a much greater scale, but he still couldn’t help having some lingering empathy – especially based on his own past experiences dealing with poverty.

“That's one of the hardest things about this job, Robin.  Sometimes we have to stop someone from doing the wrong thing for the right reason.”

“…Daddy?”

As if on cue, all three revolved towards the top of the staircase, where a young girl with golden curls – probably about his age – was standing in bare feet and violet nightgown, beholding the scene before her with baffled eyes, big and blue and broad.

“Darling, why don’t you go back to bed?”  Arthur choked out, his own eyes bulging as cheeks turned indigo as well.  “You’re just having a bad dream.”

“Arthur?  What’s going on here?  I heard a loud noise…”

Robin swallowed as a woman emerged from behind the adolescent, gripping the girl’s shoulders as she drew her daughter in protectively, eyeing the pair of home intruders with fear and suspicion.  The situation was steadily turning from bad to worse.  He hurriedly bounded up the steps, trying to block at least the shorter one’s view with his arms and cape, acting as both shield and shroud.

“Both of you should stay back…”

Batman’s prey put on a pleading, pathetic look.

“Now now, you wouldn’t hit a guy in front of his family, would you?”

While his quivering lips pouted, his pupils seemed to flash triumphant.  Robin felt a sick chill in his stomach.  Had he set this up just to take advantage of innocent citizens – and his provider status for them – as an alibi?

Whatever the reason, Batman wasn’t falling for it.  While he slowly lowered his fist, he continued to glower viciously at his victim.

“I’m still taking you in. The police will be here soon, they can interrogate you.  And if you don’t admit to them, well…”  He leaned in close, crescent slivers narrowing.  Intimidating.  “They’ll just have to call me.”

With that, he twisted his prisoner around, pressing head harshly against partition again as he slapped a pair of handcuffs on.  Robin sensed the two frightened females peering over his shoulders, crying and clinging to each other as sirens started to wail outside, and the junior one almost looked like she was about to join them.   He thought about reaching out to try and comfort her, but a cold bark from Batman halted him.

“Let’s go, Robin.”

“But Batman-”

“Now.”

He was already halfway out the side exit when he said this, and, after a moment’s hesitation, Robin bit his lip and vaulted over the railing to race after him, cloak whisking out of sight just as officers began filing in.  As they headed back towards the Batmobile parked in the shadows close by, Robin hissed his irritation.

“You know, there were a million other ways you could’ve handled that.”

“I did what was necessary in order to get him to talk.  The police should have an easier time of it now.”

“Yeah, but did you have to do it while his wife and child were watching?  This is exactly the reason Nightwing left you, remember?”

Batman blatantly ignored the bold declaration of disapproval as his pager began to beep: a message from Batgirl, requesting backup.

“Armed robbery in progress, escalated to a hostage situation over on the north side.  We’re needed.”

“Did you even hear what I just said?”

Batman brusquely cut him off.

“We’ll discuss this later, at home.  Now get in the car.”

Robin grumbled, but grudgingly obeyed.

They never did discuss it though.  Concurring collectively, both Batman and Batgirl determined there were too many hired guns in the building, deeming it far too “risky” to bring Robin – the “kid” – along. …Plus it was a school night.  So Batman swung swiftly by the manor on the way, dropping Robin – Tim – off unceremoniously at the front gate despite loud and adamant protests, where Alfred was waiting to pick him up and march him straight on inside to get changed and ready for dinner.

“And ‘don’t forget to do your homework’,’” Tim mimicked Bruce’s reprimanding voice with a querulous whine as the vehicle sped off, leaving him in the dust.  “God, he still treats me like such a child.”

The butler patted his charge’s back consolingly, ushering within.

“Come along, Master Timothy. There are cookies and cocoa waiting for you inside – after you finish with your studies, that is.  We wouldn’t want to spoil your appetite, now would we?”

Tim shot an exasperated expression at the patronizing statement, but acquiesced.  Upon entering, he immediately tore off the mask and tossed it on the table in frustrated anger, flopping sullenly onto the couch without even bothering to remove the rest of the suit.  Alfred tutted, but made no remark as he disappeared into the kitchen, promising food would be served shortly.

As Tim gazed at the fireplace, he stewed over Batman’s earlier reckless – not to mention downright rude – behavior.  How could he even be so cruel and insensitive?  It wasn’t just the bossing around that bugged him, but he was genuinely rather troubled by Bruce’s mental state.  …Truth be told, he had a guess as to the cause for callousness.  He’d noticed a common trend in increasing indiscretion (and intractability) after their latest visit to Arkham, when they stopped by Two-Face’s cell following another escape – and subsequent suicide attempt.  Ever since he’d developed a third personality who judged himself guilty and sentenced to death for his sins, his condition had been gradually worsening.  It was to the point he – and his coin – had to be kept under constant watch and isolated lockdown.

Tim was never really sure how to feel about Two-Face (in the same way his chest was always confused and ached a little whenever he faced Clayface).  The man murdered his father; Tim supposed he should hate him for that. In addition, he’d even once mercilessly electrocuted Nightwing with a wire taser, forcing the senior superhero’s heart to completely stop.  …Had he not promptly administered CPR and literally brought his brother back from the brink of death, he might have lost another family member that day.

But, according to Dick, Bruce and Harvey had been good friends once – which explained why his guardian always bore a grieved semblance whenever they went up against Dent.  …Tim tried to imagine what it must be like, to watch one’s once close companion fight a losing battle against himself.  Clearly it was taking a capricious toll on the old man’s emotional and psychological well-being as well, making him far more mercurial and volatile – prone to violent vagaries.

Yet, even Tim recognized that didn’t excuse him taking it out on others, especially when it interfered with their work.  (Frankly that didn’t seem to be the only thing distracting recently either, given Batman and Batgirl had been ditching him more and more often as of late, citing his “immaturity” as pretense.  …But he didn’t really want to think about that right now.)  He was concerned about that girl as well.  Screw Batman, he should’ve stayed to try and talk to her.  At least give her some reassurance after witnessing such a harrowing event.

Making up his mind, he snatched his domino from the counter and was out the door (cautiously evading the security cameras he knew were watching overhead) just as Alfred came to call him for dinner.  Upon finding the parlor empty, and after exhausting all other options of where the lad might have gone to within the mansion (including underground area), the caretaker finally murmured in alarm.

“…Oh dear.”

…

It took Robin longer to get back by grapple alone, but eventually he made it to his destination. Descending on the rooftop from a nearby tree, he tiptoed towards a single annexed dormer window which jutted prominently from the tiles.  Testing the lucarne’s latch, it luckily wasn’t locked and slid open with relative ease. Silently slipping in, he was greeted almost instantly by an unpredicted punch to the face.

As he was thrown flat onto the bed, survival instinct triggered to roll over and try to fight back, but his own fists arrested when he saw his assailant was the same girl from before, glaring at him with mistrust.

“Who are you?!  Some kind of creepazoid stalker?”

“Whoa, whoa!  It’s me, Robin.  You know, from before?”

She stared at him, realization dawning.

“Oh.  …Sorry.  I didn’t know it was you.”

The way she said it, she still didn’t seem very impressed.

“…I’d hate to be someone you were expecting,” Robin muttered, rubbing at his sore jaw.

She folded her arms firmly.

“So?  What the heck are you doing here?  Again?”

“I- I just wanted to check and see if you were okay, after… all that.”

An eyebrow raised.

“And you thought coming in through the window was the best way to go about it?”

“…In hindsight that might not have been the best plan,” he acknowledged, repentant.  “Sorry.  Being with him tends to rub off on you.  I apologize if he scared you earlier.  He’s really not a bad guy.”

She exhaled, letting her limbs down.

“No, my father is, right? …It’s okay.  I know who and what my dad is.  He deserves to go to jail.”

Robin cocked in confusion at this unanticipated acceptance.

“But… He’s still your dad.”

“Yeah, and I hate him.” Her knuckles clenched, tightening. “He just wanted to use Mom and me to get away with his crimes.  We’re basically just tools, a means to an end for him.  He’s a total class-A jerk.”

Robin blinked, unsure how to respond to that.  He certainly hadn’t been prepared for this outcome.  An uncomfortable hush filled the chamber, which he idly noted details of as he glanced around nervously.  He’d never actually been in a girl’s room before, so he wasn’t sure what to expect.  He supposed the piles of stuffed animals and boy band posters were probably typical, though he was surprised to see some large prints of Superman lining the walls, and a bulletin board covered with newspaper clippings of Batman and Robin – mostly his predecessor – busting the Cluemaster’s previous petty heists.  She apparently wasn’t kidding when she said she had it in for her father.  (…The image felt almost eerily familiar, reminding of the days when he kept a similar chronicle in a corner of his own pops’ apartment, much to the old man’s displeasure.)

“…You’ve got weird taste for a girl,” he mused aloud.

“And you’ve got weird fashion sense for a boy,” she retorted, nose wrinkling.

“Hey, I didn’t design the suit,” he huffed defensively.

“And who did?  Your mom?”

Robin winced a bit, but bit his tongue.  “…Would you believe me if I said Batman?”

She sniffed.  “I mean seriously, what’s with that getup anyway? It’s so bright, it makes you look like a clown.”

Fed up with her criticism, he started to skulk back towards the outlet again.

“Look, I didn’t come here just to be insulted.”

A hand reached out to clasp his wrist, and he rotated to see her regarding him sincerely.

“Sorry, I was just joking. …You don’t have to leave.”

He gulped, blushing a little at the light touch.  The last time a girl held his hand like this for so long, she’d followed with a…

“Um, okay.”  He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, growing tense as she inclined forward and grinned – before passing him by to hop onto the sill instead, sticking out her tongue at him.

“Ladies first.”

He whirled around in shock as she stepped out over the ledge.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?  That’s dangerous, get back here.”

“Relax, I do this all the time.  Besides, you jump around rooftops every night, don’t you?”

He impulsively climbed after her, keeping a careful eye on her footing, hovering close behind in case she fell.  But, true to her word, she did seem to have practiced this pattern many times before, effortlessly picking her way over the slates to the top, where she plopped down and petted the spot next to her.  Indicating invitation.  Tentatively, he took it and traced her wondering sightline to the stars above.

“…You know, I used to dream I’d see the Batman someday.  Drifting across the moon, dark against the night sky…”  She hugged her knees to her breast.  “This is the first time I’ve actually seen him in person.  For a second, I almost thought he was a monster.”

Robin remained quiet as she continued.

“But, my dad’s the real monster.  I know he’s hurt a lot of people – myself and Mom included.  He doesn’t care about us at all.”

“How come she doesn’t just divorce him?”

“She can’t afford a lawyer to kick him out.  He still owns the mortgage on the house.”

She smiled bitterly, drawing circles on the shingles.

“As a kid, I used to think about running away.  Getting on a plane and going somewhere far, far away from here.  Someplace exotic, where no one knows who I am or where I come from – like Africa.  …But, I could never do that to my Mom.  She’d be lonely if I left.  Even though she has some… ‘difficulties’, I still love her.”

She looked at Robin, who was still listening attentively.  Patiently.

“Sorry,” she mumbled in a slightly sheepish manner.  “I’m just making you sit through my random rambling.  I don’t usually get a chance to talk to anyone about this, let alone someone my age.  Having a lame, insane supercriminal for a dad isn’t exactly something I can tell all my friends at school.”

“It’s all right.  I wish there was more I could do to help…”

He replied, feeling as utterly useless – hopeless – as when he came across a bunch of homeless youths in his hunt for Annie after they’d gotten separated, the ragtag group of street rats sleeping together on a filthy mattress in an abandoned shelter; huddled under each other for warmth, sharing but one thin, dingy blanket between them.  (…The kind of neglected kid he could’ve easily ended up as had he not happened to be so lucky, to be “chosen” – caught before he slipped through the cracks into faded obscurity and was overlooked – forgotten – by society.)  There were some things punches and kicks just couldn’t fix.

“You’ve already done more than enough, thanks.  I’m grateful to you both for putting a stop to him.  …Even if it’s probably only temporary.”

“There has to be something that can be done though.”

“Really, you don’t have to go out of your way or anything.  Besides, why do you care so much anyway?”

He shrugged, surveying the distance.  “Maybe it’s because you kinda remind me of someone.”

She scanned his wistful countenance, scrutinizing closely.

“…Was she cute?”

“What- no.  I mean yes.  I mean, uh-” Robin stammered, flushing red as he was abruptly taken aback by the unexpected inquiry.  She giggled in snorting amusement at his oh-so-obvious reaction.

“Relax, Boy Wonder, I’m just teasing you.”

He coughed, regaining composure.

“To be honest, that’s not the only reason.  My dad wasn’t much of a prize either.  …Although he can’t compete with yours.”

“Ehhh?”  She gaped at him in astonished awe.  “But he’s so cool!”

“Huh?”  He puzzled for a beat, then it clicked what she was talking about.  “Oh, you think that Batman’s- no, he’s not my real dad.  I’m not even sure I would even go so far as to call him much of a ‘father figure’ actually.  He’s more like a… mentor?”

It was her turn to listen as he ruminated, reflecting.

“He saved me though. Took me in when I had no place else to go.  Gave me a second chance.  I’ve… done things I’m not exactly proud of either.  If he hadn’t found me, I’d likely be dead or in jail myself right now.”

Sensing a buzzing interruption from his waist – a warning summons from the butler no doubt – he consulted the timestamp in the corner of the display, and cringed upon calculating how much interval had elapsed in his absence.

“…Speaking of which, I should probably get back soon.  Batman’s gonna kill me once he finds out I’m gone without letting anyone know.”

Her forehead creased with contriteness.

“You didn’t have to go that far for me…”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. It’s the least I could do.”

She looked reluctant to end the conversation though.  He wondered if he was the first person she’d ever been this open to about her feelings. …After some thought, he fished around in a pocket and pulled out another spare backup communicator.

“Listen, don’t tell anyone about this; Batman doesn’t like me lending out tech.  But if you ever need anything, you can get in touch with me on this.  I’ll come as soon as I can.  …Only if it’s an emergency though.  He’ll really give me an earful if he finds out I’m using our gadgets for personal stuff.”

She looked down at the device in trepidation.

“Is it really okay for me to have this?”

“Yeah.  It’s no problem, don’t worry.  I know how to keep a secret.  And I’ll definitely stop by again sometime, so we can hang out some more if you want.  Whaddya say?”

Her eyes lit up, and- without warning, she flung her arms around him in an appreciative hug (that very nearly knocked him off balance).

“…Thanks, Robin.”

His hue embarrassed again, but he gently reciprocated the gesture.

“Hey, what are heroes for?”

After an awkwardly long minute, she propelled back from the embrace with a self-conscious laugh.  Once the rapid beating in both their ribs had calmed down (and she’d surreptitiously wiped some tears from her face), she afforded him a somewhat odd look.

“…What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just… Calling you ‘Robin’ feels kinda weird.  It’s like a girl’s name.”

“Hey, it can be a boy’s name too,” he sulked in indignation.  “Besides, at least it is a name.”

She shook her head, concentrating intently on him as she contemplated.  After a bit, she brightened with sudden brilliance.

“I know!  I’ll call you ‘Peter’ – since you came in through the window.  …And ‘cuz of the tights.”

Robin blanched as she pointed playfully at his leggings.

“…I think I’d rather be called ‘Robin’.”

“Nope,” she cheerfully announced.  “You’re ‘Peter’ to me now.”

Robin sighed, but didn’t object further to the nickname.  It wasn’t like he could tell her his real title.

“Fine.  ‘Peter’ it is then.  …Does that make you ‘Wendy’?”

She smirked with a wink.

“If you want me to be.”

He blinked, clearing his throat as he stood up, almost stumbling over his heels as he backed up in haste.

“Right.  Well then.  Wendy.  …Guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.  See ya.”

“…’Kay, bye.”

“’Kay, bye.”

He waved as he fired his grapple into the branches and swung away, and she merrily returned the motion. Elated, Robin’s spirit soared over heightening city structures back to the estate, performing as many flips and tricks as he could on the way.  …Although come to think of it, he had failed to ask for her actual name.  …Oh, well. There was always next time.

Rather than directly approach the porch or cave entrance, Robin thought about endeavoring to sneak back in through the second-story opening to his own bedroom, so he could pretend he’d been there all along.  …Unfortunately, as soon as he’d made it inside and detached his façade, he bumped straight into a severely stern-looking Bruce towering over him.

“Where the devil have you been?  We’ve been trying to contact you for the past hour.  Barbara’s out there searching all over for you right now.  Meanwhile I’ve had to help Alfred double-check every secret room and passage in the manor.  Do you know how long that takes?”

Tim merely shrugged.

“I went out for a stroll. Is that a crime?”

“In this house, it is. Do I need to start putting a tracer on your utility belt again?”

“No, sir,” he squeaked meekly.

Bruce heaved a grunt.

“Just hurry up and go get changed, young man.  Your dinner’s cold already.  Alfred made soup.  Make sure you apologize to him too, he’s been worried sick.”

“Yeah yeah, I hear ya, old man.”

“And did you finish your homework?”

Tim flinched.  He knew there was something else he’d forgotten.

“You had better get to it if you want to come patrolling with us tomorrow night.”

“I will.”

Before he vanished into the privacy of his enormous closet (which, in his own private opinion, was way too overly spacious – though no one would certainly hear him complain), Tim paused, calling softly back over his shoulder.

“Bruce.”

“What?”

“Thanks… for caring.”

…

About a month later, a couple men dressed in black arrived at the Brown residence, carrying grim, serious auras and stiff briefcases containing various important-looking official documents.  An obstinate Stephanie insisted on sitting down alongside her mother on the sofa as they discreetly disclosed the news she never once conceived she’d get to hear like this:

Her dad was dead.

Apparently he’d cut a deal while in prison, and became a part of something clandestinely known by a select few outside those in power as a “Suicide Squad”.  He’d perished while on a covert mission for the government, and – according to these strange men’s confidential report – he’d died a “heroic sacrifice”.

Stephanie didn’t know how to react.  What to feel. …How she was supposed to feel.

As she sat in her room, trying to write in her diary but coming up blank, her observation shifted to the window still left ajar each evening, through which a mild breeze blew. Opening her desk drawer, she retrieved the hidden miniature handset from the far back, tucked neatly behind all sorts of stationery.  She had avoided using it up to now, afraid of coming off as an annoyance.  …But she hadn’t seen Robin at all since then.  No one had.  Based on what she’d gathered from growing gossip, he’d been fully MIA over the course of the past few weeks, and rumors were starting to spread.  It was like his existence had been entirely erased, simply evaporated off the surface of the earth.  …She was worried about him too.

She pushed the button, hands shaking in mounting apprehension as she elevated to her ear.

There was a long, low hum of crackling static, before someone (presumably) picked up at last.

“…”

“Hello?”

“…Who is this?  How did you get access to this comm line?”

“I’m… a friend of Pet- Robin’s.  Is… he there?”

An extensive gap stretched.

“There is no more Robin.”

The pronouncement was deep. Disturbing.  Definite.

“Do not contact here again.”

With a final click, the other end hung up.

She tried, repeatedly – desperately – to dial back – but the machine seemed to have been remotely disconnected.  Slumping forward in defeat as she let go the last potential link – lifeline – she buried her face in her sleeves, and burst into sobs.

At length, she dried her sniffles and rose, dragging her feet to the wide frame.  Casting one last look of longing out at the pitch gloom, she shut the pane.  …Shutting out pain, and all the brief memories associated with it.

…

She never saw Robin again.

————————–

He sprinkled me in pixie dust and told me to believe Believe in him and believe in me Together we will fly away in a cloud of green To your beautiful destiny As we soared above the town that never loved me I realized I finally had a family