#without a mannequin or anybody to fit it on

[sassmill]

Oh Janet Arnold we’re really in it now

[deezligmanuts2]

Hii can I request headcanons with MTMTE Rodimus, Drift & Ratchet with an artist human reader? Romantic btw tysmm:))

ARTIST READER HCS!!! (EYAH—)

Rodimus

●Hits you with the "Paint me like one of your French girls😏"

●If you draw him he hangs it on the wall of his office.

●+5 Rodimus stars

●Gets jealous when you draw other bots..

●"BABY I'M RIGHT HERE!! Isn't my sexy frame worthy of a portrait??" he says this with his back arched in berth.

●Won't pressure you to draw him tho (he will SOMETIMES but he doesn't mean it he swears)

●Takes little peeks into your sketchbooks without you noticing :3

●Throw away an art piece?

●"Rodimus why is my unfinished sketch glued onto the wall?"

●"It's perfect. Just like my babyy :33"

●LOVES MODELLING FOR YOU!!

●He buys you all the art supplies he can find during alien planet pitstops :3

●Unintentionally calls you a drawer

Drift

●Watches you when you work and often comments on the piece

●"You think blue would be more fitting for the background?"

●"Oh yeah!"

●When you ask to draw him he's still as a statue, mech is a rock.

●Will not move when you're drawing him, the ship could be burning for all he cares, HE IS NOT MOVIN DAWG🙏

●Swords shined and everything👌

●Will let you use his crystals as references if you're drawing a scene.

●Gets you those mini pose-able mannequins for pose references (will not hesitate to be said mannequin if necessary.)

●Lays his chin on your head if you're in his lap while drawing :)

●Keeps drawings you gave to him in a frame at his desk or on his wall <3

●Swats off anybody pressuring you to draw!!

●Will by all means necessary get you out of your art blocks.

●Also unintentionally calls you a drawer.

Ratchet

●Okay.jpeg

●Will scold you about your posture when you're drawing

●Keeps all the drawings you made him in his subspace

●NEVER IN THE MEDBAY

●Not that he's embarrassed of it but because he knows that some bots will poke at you to draw them.

●He no no like dat.

●Overall, he's pretty chill abt it.

●Lets you draw him while he works

●Has to tell off his patients when they move to pose for the drawing lmao-

●Everyone who's visited the medbay knows you.

●Some get hurt intentionally just to get a sketch of themselves

●He has now temporarily banned you from drawing in the medbay.

●Will correct anyone who calls you a drawer.

[hekateinhell]

Lestat pov ddg and knifeplay pt 2 please!!! <3

Anything for you! 🥹

Here's what I have for knifeplay pt 2 (this is pt 1):

Never, in all his years, has Armand ever seen another immortal in such a delirious state of ecstasy that was not induced through the swoon as Lestat is now.

He listens, taking great care to maintain a separation of his senses. Drags his finger over the concave beneath Lestat’s eye—the same one that had been taken from him and then restored—gathering up the fluid there and licking it off his fingertip. Permitting himself a single suck to ensure no residue was left behind. 

Of course Lestat’s tears would taste as sweet as the rest of him.

Fascinating as ever to bear witness to emotions and sensations taking form in the minds of others, especially one Armand loved and valued such as him.

The echo of their willing victim’s shallow breaths swirl in the air to meld with the wet sounds of Louis slicing into Lestat’s immaculate flesh with the loving precision that a butcher bestows on his most prized cut of meat fit for a royal feast. Lestat’s thoughts had become less pronounced until they lost shape entirely, falling apart some time ago like a poorly constructed dress on a mannequin, tattered scraps held together by nothing but rusted pins and hope. Distorted without word or sound, mindless flashes of color and static, the useless dreams of a beast who does not realize it can dream. His grey eyes fixed open, glassy but bright, tinted with a reddish film reminiscent of something violently killed until enough tears have amassed that they spill over, permitting the cleansing cycle to start anew.

“You do so well, Lestat, so beautiful,” Armand murmurs praise into his ear, caressing the spot where his hairline meets his temple, the blood sweat staining the white-blond baby hairs. It is for Louis’s benefit that he speaks at all, seeing as Lestat is well past hearing either of them through any means.

For now Armand is content to speculate and facilitate, dipping his hands in and out of each wound to coat his fingers a warm and sticky crimson, the liquid seeping underneath his nails, greedy and wretched as a gluttonous child left unattended in a candy shop.

----

I hope to have it finished sometime this summer! ♥️ I'll slide Lestat POV DDG under the cut!

Lestat’s sophomore year—she’s had more than enough first days of school at this point—and yet somehow the anxiety in her stomach never goes away. She’s already anticipating the frustration, the tears, the begging Nicki to help with her papers because flunking a class would mean losing her scholarship to the theater program.

And Nicki has being so irritable with her lately, “Just go to the fucking tutoring center yourself, Lestat! Even you aren’t that dumb” she would snap, storming away, leaving Lestat staring numbly at the screen, unable to translate the thoughts in her head into words on the page in a way that made sense to her or anybody.

I’m not dumb...

“Lestat!” Eleni yells, waving as she bounds up the short steps outside of the liberal arts building. “What’s wrong with you?” She’s still catching her breath, god knows Eleni’s never been anywhere on time a day in her life.

“Nothing,” Lestat lies, shaking her head and taking one last hit of her vape, tilting her head back to blow a strawberry-scent cloud into the air.

Eleni narrows her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything. She’s met Nicki. She knows. That’s the shame of it, isn't it? Everyone knows.

And how had this happened? Was there truly nothing to spare the daughter the fate of the mother? How could Lestat not see it coming when she’d grown up knowing the warning signs before she even knew her ABCs and 123s?

“Come on,” Eleni puts her hand on Lestat’s arm like she’s guiding a lost child—her touch that careful, her tone that gentle.

Nicki aside, Eleni was her closest friend. Truth be told, Lestat didn’t have many friends. More acquaintances than she could care to remember, much less name.

Try as she might, she had never really stopped being the gangly little girl curled up in the corner with a book she couldn’t read, staring at the pictures until she saw spots dancing and her vision blurred, pretending she hadn’t even wanted to play with the other kids anyway. Who wanted to be friends with the kid with ratty hair and torn up clothes, eight-years-old and still unable to read because none of the adults in her life gave a fuck? Nobody wants you… Why should we?

Except Eleni had. Nicki had.

----

And that's as far as I got before I realized the story needed to go back to Armand's pov! Not that I wasn't happy with it or anything, but it was just starting to tell an entirely different story than the one that I wanted to!

[anneimaginesundertale]

20. You walk out of a dressing room asking if the outfit suits you, but it’s not your friend waiting outside the room like you thought.

Bonus: You blindly intend to think your head against their shoulder with an exaggerated moan of, “I hate shopping.”

While we both know who my pick is if you think of any else you’d rather write this for, go for it!

Changing this a little bit because I don’t know how you’d mix up your friend for Mettaton, but I could see mixing him up with a mannequin…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I hate shopping,” you grumbled. Leaving the disappointing clothing behind, you walked out of the dressing room. You went to sit down on the bench, intending to wallow in misery for a minute before you went back into the mall proper. There was a mannequin sitting on the bench. It looked like that robot, Mettaton. Well, it wasn’t going to stop you from sitting. You flopped down on the bench and laid your head on the mannequin’s shoulder. It was almost like having someone there to comfort you.

One robotic arm moved to pat you on the back. “There there, darling,” a slightly metallic voice said. “It’s all right.”

You jumped about a foot in the air. “What?!”

The robot laughed a tinny laugh. “I’m sorry to surprise you,” he said. “I thought everyone knew me. I am the very famous and fabulous Mettaton. I’m a star.”

“I thought you were a mannequin…” you squeaked. “You were sitting so still…”

“Charging, darling,” he said, reaching down to lift a rainbow colored cable that connected him to a wall socket. “My power goes down so fast in this form.” He looked you up and down. “Why do you hate shopping? Did you not find anything you liked out there?”

You shook your head. “Nobody makes stuff that fits me and looks good at the same time.”

Mettaton flashed you a grin. “Oh darling,” he said, “it is your lucky lucky day! I’m here to discuss selling my Mettaton TM clothing line here at this store. It’s guaranteed to fit anybody and make them look beautiful! Do you want to be my newest model?” Without waiting for an answer, he opened a panel in his chest and pulled out…a clothing rack. A full clothing rack filled with all kinds of beautiful clothes. You wanted to say no, that being a model wasn’t for you, but everything was so pretty…

“It’ll really fit anybody?” you asked. “How?”

“Magic is a wonderful thing, darling,” Mettaton said. “Now, pick your favorite thing off that rack and go try it on. I’m going to make you feel gorgeous!”

[astaroth1357]

Hello I really love your writing. I’m glad that you decided to open requests for a bit. I have a personal headcanon that the boys are a lot nicer to MC then they are to everyone else. Could you do a headcanon of the boys being out with MC and they are talking with MC happily. Then a lesser demon sees them with MC and says that the seven brothers have gone weak and they aren’t scared of them anymore. Thank you again!!! 😖 (Also the way you write Levi is great)

Aww thank you!! Levi's kind of my favorite character (if that hasn't become painfully obvious) so I try to write him well, you know? This one was a little hard for me to write because I just have a hard time imagining Asmo and Beel as something intimidating to the masses, but I tried my best! I hope you like it!

Lesser Demons Think the Brothers have "Gone Soft…"

Lucifer

If anybody had something to lose by acting sweet on a lowly human, it was Lucifer. His entire image was built on the back of power and intimidation, so really who didn't see this coming?

He knew there were whispers… Mostly in the RAD hallways. Students would see him with the MC and gossip amongst themselves… 

"Did you see them together again in the courtyard?"

"How did some random human even score a pact with him??"

"And I used to seriously look up to him, too…"

He'd always silence their chitchat with a well placed glare, but this was a symptom of something more… troubling. A decay of his social image if you will.

Perhaps it speaks to how well and truly enamored he was with the MC that this proud creature didn't just dump them the second he started looking bad, but still… a part of him really couldn't stand for this...

So maybe it was a blessing in disguise when he finally got an excuse to establish his superiority yet again!

He and the MC were walking the halls of RAD after school hours and they had just made an amusing joke at the expense of of his brothers. Unfortunately, Lucifer collided into a lesser demon student while he was laughing…

On most occasions, he would have expected someone of such station to pay him deference then offer an apology - they had just ran into Lucifer after all - but the student just scoffed at him!

Lesser Demon: "Oi! Watch where you're going, Lucifer! Or were you too busy sucking up to that human to notice?"

This… was maybe not the best response to have (if the "Oh shit" look on the MC's face was any indication) but for as annoyed as Lucifer was, he was also somewhat delighted.

Finally, he had the perfect messenger for just how cruel he could still be!

Lucifer: "MC, feel free to go home without me for now and tell my brothers to save my dinner for later…" *starts pulling out his favorite rope with a cold, but pleased, smile on his face* "I have a feeling I'll be home late tonight..."

The MC left him and his unfortunate victim to their fate and Lucifer later came home in the night with his uniform in a bad need of cleaning...

A new body decorated the RAD entrance hall the next morning - swinging from the ceiling and making an awful mess on the floor - but still alive enough give a very important message to the rest of the students:

"Lucifer hasn't changed a bit…"

Mammon

So, not even lesser demons see Mammon as some kind of high-ranking badass… 

Just to be clear, he is, but it’s hard for him to come off that way when he's begging for his next Grimm... Then enter MC into the picture and he somehow lost even MORE cred.

"There goes poor Mammon… Did you hear he got tricked into a pact?"

"Just look at him nipping at the human's heels! How pathetic is that??"

"Well that's Mammon for you… What a shit excuse for a demon."

Like Lucifer, Mammon wasn’t immune to the whispers, but unlike his brother he was able to push them mostly out of his mind. People look down on him? Yeah, what else is new?

To be honest, he didn’t really feel the need to prove anything to a bunch of lesser demon losers… But insulting his MC takes things a step too far.

He and the MC were out at the Devil's Coast, "enjoying" some of the haunted house attractions and generally having a good time…ish. 

Any time they managed to make it out of one, the MC would have to peel Mammon off their back and hold him to assure him they were back to safety (a process he seemed to like enough to repeat the horror that precedes it).

It was during one of these calm down sessions that the two were accosted by a couple of snickering lesser demons, clearly looking for a fight…

Lesser Demon 1: "Hey look! There's the 'Great' Mammon and his little master!"

Lesser Demon 2: "Guess the master fits the demon… Of course someone like Mammon couldn't even score a pact with Solomon and gets stuck with the weakling!"

Lesser Demon 1: "Well how's the babysitting going, Mams? I bet you can't wait for them to kill over, can ya?"

Lesser Demon 2: "Careful! With his luck, they'll probably get eaten by the end of next week! Haha!!"

Now… an important thing to know about Mammon is that you can fling all the mud and stones you'd like at him… but never at his MC. That's just asking for a bruising...

Mammon: *smiling like usual, but his eyes are practically burning with rage...* "Yo, MC… I'm gettin' a little hungry. Can ya go find us a snack over there? I'll meet ya in a bit…"

MC: "Mammon, are you-?"

Mammon: "Don’t worry 'bout me, babe." *takes his glasses off and flashes a fanged grin* "This is'a piece of cake."

And indeed, it wasn't difficult at all. No matter how fast those demons ran, they could never out speed Mammon and he was looking to give more than a warning…

The MC didn't know what he did while they were waiting in line, but they heard the sounds of pleading go silent before Mammon turned back up with a nice bruise on his cheek. Oh, how they fretted and dotted on him…

Meanwhile, the haunted houses just earned themselves a couple new mannequins!… when rigor sets in anyway.

Leviathan 

Levi has a… mixed reputation in the Devildom to start with. People who only know him for his titles usually expect him to be some kind of sea-hardened badass. Those who meet him are… well let's say less than impressed.

This isn't anything new to Levi. It does take a blow to his confidence sometimes but even still most people aren't dumb enough to say something to his face… most people.

Unfortunately, "most people" have been getting bolder after seeing him with MC - because Demon Lord forbid Leviathan actually look happy for a change…

He and the MC were out and about for once. There was a raffle for exclusive merch at Anidaemon and he brought them along to boost his chances. They were grinning and chatting about anime but well…

The human couldn’t hear this, but he could - sensitive demon ears and all that. There were a couple guys who were tailing him… heckling him just loud enough that he was CERTAIN they knew he could hear them...

Lesser Demon 1: "Is that seriously Leviathan hanging out with a human? Isn’t he an Admiral??"

Lesser Demon 2: "Ha! The whole family's turned into simps, are you that surprised?"

Lesser Demon 1: "Wonder what the human's giving them that's got them all brainwashed…"

Lesser Demon 2: "Well... I've got an idea." 😏

If there were ever a reason for bile to fill his throat, it was now. He might be a shut-in, but those guys were the real creeps…

To be honest, Levi isn't one for public confrontation. Even with how gross and disrespectful those demons were being, he would have let it slide if they had just left it at that… but no…

He and the MC were browsing the ani-music racks in the store when those idiots popped up again. They hovered a while until they MC suddenly left his side to go find a store clerk.

When he saw the other demons move their direction, he naturally put himself between them and the would-be harassers. It was a little telling that despite his ticked off expression, the demons just laughed in his face!

Lesser Demon 2: "Hey look, the puppy's come out to protect its owner! How cute!"

Lesser Demon 1: "I can't believe you're that predictable, Levi… Do you really think we'd be scared of you?"

Well. That settled it.

When the MC came back, they found that Levi had moved from the music racks to the merch tables near the bathrooms. They didn't think anything of it… but...

One body was paralyzed by his venom and stuffed head first in a toilet while the other getting strangled by his tail just underneath the tablecloth… Meanwhile, Levi was cheerfully rambling about the raffle like nothing was happening at all.

Maybe they should have been a little more scared of the shut-in...

Satan

This may actually be a case where the rumors have a point… The MC has made Satan "soft."

Well, if "soft" means actually in control of himself, anyway. 

Satan would probably call their effect on him both a blessing and a curse. Though he loved finally having a handle on his inner rage, it flew in the face of a lot of his public image… and people were starting to notice….

"Do you think there's something off about Satan…?"

"I saw the human step on his toes earlier and he didn't even flinch…! The old Satan would have torn them apart!!"

"He's gotten way too nice all of sudden… Wrath shouldn't be nice."

Was it a little frustrating? Certainly. Especially for someone as image conscious as him. But for as calm as he was now, Satan wasn’t any less cruel and he'd be more than happy to remind others of that fact….

His chance came when he and the MC were together having just left the local art gallery. The two were exchanging a healthy dialogue about a curious sculpture they saw on display when a latte suddenly went soaring through the air and ended up all over Satan's sweater… The culprit was plain to see, being the only other demon on the road that night.

Whether the act was intentional or not, the correct course of action would have been to apologize immediately and beg for mercy forgiveness… but all the demon did was laugh in his face…

Maybe he thought that since Satan had mellowed out and his human was right beside him that he'd be lenient… Oh no. Not gonna happen.

Satan's fist slammed into the guy's mouth with the force of a jetliner and knocked him over two benches before his back bent over a lamppost… To say it was a KO move would be an understatement.

He probably could have done a whole lot worse to the guy while he was down, but you know… the MC being there and "self-control" and what not…

The demon survived (barely) and only had to spend a few months in the hospital, if anything he got off light.

Not a soul would gloss over Satan's temper again and really he preferred it that way.

Asmodeus 

Well, to be fair not a lot of people thought that Asmo was tough to start with… but that's also his intention.

"Scary" is the opposite of "cute" and he prefers to be "cute" at all times! 😊

Buuut that doesn’t mean this scorpion is without a stinger. He CAN be quite brutal when he wants to be, you just have to push him that far and trashing his looks is a good way to start.

Asmo was out with the MC getting his hair done for the week at his favorite salon. They weren't the only people there that day, obviously. There were other customers - one being a lesser demon classmate of theirs - though neither he nor the MC thought much of him at the time...

Well… It was supposed to be a prank. Probably something the guy intended to use for social media clout. While the staff was too busy to notice, he snuck by and replaced Asmo's preferred conditioner with pink hair dye…

Asmo. Was. Furious. And honestly, the dude could have gotten away with it if he hadn't been laughing and recording the whole thing!

When Asmo's ire naturally fell onto him, he hardly looked fazed!

Lesser Demon: "Ah, please! You won't do shit to me with the human still around! You don't want to look any uglier to them do ya?"

Asmo: *freezes, but still furiously eyeing every sharp instrument within arm’s reach* "MC? Darling?"

MC: "Got it..."

Perhaps the prankster should have kept his mouth shut, because suddenly the MC needed to take a looong bathroom break…

They didn't come back out until they heard the sounds of screeching and broken glass finally die down and then they stepped back into a warzone… Broken mirrors and items seemingly flung everywhere in a fit of rage! The guy (and his phone) now nowhere to be seen…

The salon comped Asmo for the botched hair job and touch up… and then billed Lucifer for the property damage (which he got an earful about later). On the bright side though, Asmo actually looks pretty great with pink hair! Silver-linings. 🙂

Beelzebub 

… The concept of Beel "going soft" is almost an oxymoron. He IS soft, but his personality was never what made him intimidating to start with.

Behind all his kindness, Beel packs more firepower than at least 4 for his siblings combined and most people remember that fact. Hell, the guy looks like he could lift a semi and he probably would if he ever tried. 

However, that doesn’t save him from being underestimated completely... Especially when an upstart or two thinks he's too nice to actually start a fight...

He and the MC were coming back from the grocery store with the usual armfuls of sacks when the MC accidentally walked into a lesser demon on the street. Since their arms were full, several items spilled out from the bags and onto the ground…

The MC was quick to apologize to the demon and try to get down to clean the mess, but the asshole just kept walking… and Beel really didn't like that.

Beel: "Hey! Aren't you going to say, 'Sorry?'"

The lesser demon hardly looked over his shoulder to respond.

Lesser Demon: "Why should I? That's your human. Take care of them yourself."

Well it didn't take long for some of Beel's bags to hit the floor so he could lift the demon up by the back of the neck properly. When he turned the guy to face him, he made sure to bring his face reeaal close so he could hear him growl...

Beel: "Apologize. Or I'll eat you."

And like that, the asshole's mood went from "Do it yourself," to "Yessir Mr. Beelzebub, sir!" right quick!

The MC didn't have to carry a single bag another step and Beel got to keep his free hand so he could link it with theirs!... all while Beel kept mushing their new pack-mule forward like a sled dog back to the House. Thanks, Beel! 😊

Belphegor 

Kind of similar to Asmo, Belphie prefers to come off as unassuming on most days. But don't let his, "I'm a harmless sleepy boy" shtick fool you. He will cut a bitch if he's so motivated...

Thankfully for the world, he's generally not motivated. But that can be changed under the right circumstances...

Belphie and the MC were on yet another date to the botanical gardens. It's a peaceful place, though the MC can never go alone because of the frankly concerning amount of flesh-eating plants… Pretty, but also deadly, you know?

The two of them were walking to another rest spot when Belphie heard whispering from a demon behind them, seemingly on his phone…

Lesser Demon: “Yeah, I can see them right now…”

Lesser Demon: “I know right? It's so lame that these guys are in charge of us… They can't even say no to a dumb human!”

Lesser Demon: “What do you mean keep my voice down? Dude, it's fine! This is Belphegor we're talking about, the hell is he going to do if he hears me?”

… Huh.

The answer to the man's question was a simple one. Flash into his demon form for just a moment and whip out his tail... It only took a quick swipe to make him trip and fall right into the foliage. The man-eating… carnivorous… hungry… foliage….

Belphie was back to normal by the time the jerk let out his first scream and the MC almost stopped to see what had happened.

MC: "What the-oh my God!! Should we help-??”

Belphie: *puts his hands on their shoulders to keep them moving, not even glancing back* “Someone else will take care of it. Let's see the roses.”

Even when the desperate cries for help became distant, it took all Belphie had to stifle a smile…

Sometimes, you've got to love irony. 🤷‍♀️😏

[officialscaramouche]

hear me out,, part 4 😳😳😳😳😳😳

THE LONG AWAITED PART FOUR TO THE “did you at least think about me,” PROMPT YAY

pairing: Scaramouche x gn!reader

tw: jealousy

wc: 979

an: THANK U FOR BEING SO PATIENT. Anyways I hurt myself with this, and with the part the comes after lol

prev next

The week went by roughly. You called in to work for a couple of days and your manager easily understood. Surprisingly, you hadn’t seen Scaramouche since then and you hoped he had decided to just leave, but all of that hope was ruined when Signora knocked on your door.

“I saw him around earlier today,” she confirmed, running her hands through your hair as you laid in her lap. “I don’t know what he’s up to, but I know he’s not on an assignment.”

“I wish Tartaglia was here. He’s like Scaramouche repellant.”

“What about me? Am I trash?!” The two of you shared some light laughter for a moment before she continued. “Well Tartaglia should be back soon.”

You jumped up to look Signora in the eyes. “So early! Why? Is he okay?”

“If you act like that I’m gonna think you like him.”

“W-Well! Why’s he coming home early?!”

Signora chuckles and stretches out. “Apparently he met someone who’s willing to help him do his work.”

“Can people do that?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t say no.” Signora peeped at you in her lap, a cute little pout on your face. “Apparently, she was a cute little traveler too.”

You pouted more, your lips pursed out and your brows furrowed. “Cuter than me?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never met her.”

Signora didn’t stay long. She wanted to check up on you before anything. Sure, Scaramouche being there really upset you. But it definitely didn’t bother you as much as it did knowing that Tartaglia met a “cute little traveler.” But why? Was it because he was the one that was always there? Was it because he had never called you cute? Was it because he had never shown an interest in anybody? You shake your head to rid yourself of the thoughts. What he thought of who wasn’t important. All that mattered was that you were going to see him again. But then again, you suppose that baking him his favorite Snezhnayan cake was a little much as a welcome home gift.

He didn’t think so though. As soon as he came home, he stopped by your place. He wore a significantly less amount of blood, sweat, and grime than he normally did. Still a little stinky from being out in the sun but presentable, you guess.

“So what then?” He asked, grabbing his glass and taking a sip.

“Nothing.” You shrug. “I haven’t seen him or heard from him since.”

“He didn’t follow you?” You shook your head no. “No Fatui agents? No letters? Really, nothing?” You shook your head some more. “Well, maybe he’s given up. He’s always been the type to quit when things get tough.”

Tartaglia was right. Scaramouche didn’t like conflict (surprisingly). He loved people that did as they were told, and people who said no were often thrown out of the squad. Anyone with any hint of defiance was either to be discarded or avoided. He rarely ever got upset arguing, because he’d rather not argue. In fact, him at the restaurant was the most emotion you’d seen from him ever. But for some reason it didn’t fit the bill this time. Why would he still be here without an assignment if he had truly given up? “Maybe…” was all you said, sighing and looking away.

“You look disappointed,” he picked up his plate and licked the icing clean. “Maybe you like the attention?”

You blush at the eye contact, his plate clean with white icing around his lips. “No way! I want him to leave.”

“Me too! He ruins our vibe, even if he’s not in the same room.”

You laugh at his playfulness, a little bashful. And as much as you were enjoying this, the question plagued your mind. Who was this traveler and why is it appropriate to help Tartaglia— a Fatui harbinger. You had to ask. “Um,” you start, crossing your legs and grabbing the edges of your seat. “Signora told me that you got help from…a ‘cute traveler’ and that’s why you came home early, right?”

“Yeah!” He said, wiping his face with the napkin there. “It’s a really sweet deal that she’s willing to do my dirty work, you know?”

“Of course!” You agreed shyly. “But is that…allowed?”

“I mean,” he thought, looking up at the ceiling. “Probably not. But why not!”

He wasn’t answering your question, so you decided to be direct. Swinging your feet anxiously, you take another deep breath. Archons, why were you so nervous! “Signora said she was cute…is that true?”

Tartaglia grinned, clapping his hands in excitement. “Oh yeah! I love blonde chicks. And she had a fiery personality. She was so little too, it was so cute.”

You went quiet then, the crumbs on the floor suddenly so much more interesting. “That’s good,” you fake a smile. “Let’s hope she can put up with your garbage personality too.”

With Tartaglia’s attention elsewhere, and Scaramouche seemingly having lost interest, you wandered the streets in hope for some stimulation. Maybe some food? Or a Scaramouche looking at clothes? The kite lady should still be out so maybe a kite? Wait.

You nearly trip over your feet at the sight of him. He turns around when your head hits the ground with a thump and he runs over, calling out to you and scooping you up. “[Y/N]! Are you okay?!”

You rub your head and groan, thinking of something to blame. But the roads were smooth and you were just clumsy so you had none. “I’m fine,” you spit with a grimace. “What are you still doing here anyway?” You sit up and push his hands off of you, rubbing your elbows and looking away.

“I was…” he looks back at the shop he stood in front of, eyeing the mannequin on display in the window. “Thinking of buying you something, actually.”

[truglori]

Homebody (Ch.5)

Summary: Amiyah is the younger sister of local drug dealer (Durkio). Shy and reserved she keeps to herself and stays out the way. But lately she began to find interest in his right hand man/ best friend (Erik Stevens). Wanting to get him to notice her she discovers that he already had her wrapped around his finger without even trying! There was only a few problems that kept her away from her fantasies , her brother that controlled almost every single breath she took and would kill anyone who looked at her that way and lastly Eriks girlfriend, Alexis , who they called the queen of the hood according to her lavish lifestyle as well as being with the next newest top boy in the making. While Alexis was his girl to the streets all Amiyah wanted to do was be his Homebody...

Pairing: Erik Stevens x Thick OC

Warning: Language, Robbery, Smoking

The smoke from the three burnt out blunts fogged the car. Erik’s head hung low as he tried to focus on the topic of discussion. Looking to his right he watched as Durk sparked a lighter to light up the fourth one and started a new rotation. Taking it from his hand Erik put the blunt to his lips and pulled. He had to admit that he was feeling high but yet nowhere near done with the session.

It was a Monday morning. Almost ten am to be exact. They were parked in Erik’s car in front of Frank’s Auto Garage. To a normal person it look like a regular place of business but it wasn’t. Durk used the shop to clean his money so he wouldn’t have anything tracing back to him. Erik glanced up and watched two corner boys walk out with a backpack each before getting into their vehicle and driving off.

“Aye man I appreciate you for coming through with this assignment. Once I get this nigga Shawn out the way I could finally do some business with the new connect.” Durk spoke before inhaling the blunt.

Nodding his head Erik slouched in his seat.

“I told you it’s nothing. Just don’t forget I’ma need one person to come with me. Someone who can watch my back.”

After going into almost two years without doing a job Erik felt a little rusty. He wanted to be certain that he could bring someone with him who could look out. Someone who he could trust that had to be skilled enough to keep up. The last thing Erik wanted was for this to go wrong and he end up in prison or even worst, dead.

If it was any other person coming to him to offer him work Erik would decline them with a quickness. This wasn’t something that he wanted to be a part of anymore. He had aspirations to become a better man. And with that, that means he had to give up the lifestyle to live a better one. But it was Durk. The man who had the opportunity to gun him down right in front of the trap house when they first met five years ago spared him. Gave him a second chance.

Erik witness Durk do way worst to people who didn’t do nearly as half as much compared to what Erik was going to commit that night. So he felt in a way obligated to come through for his best friend. There was no other option. He owe him his life.

“No doubt. Actually I got this one associate that’s in debt with me. Told him I could use his help whenever I needed him to pay me off. Heard he a shooter that don’t miss. Anybody who have your back I think it’ll be him.” Durk grinned confidently.

Erik nodded his head absorbing the information. Trusting his brother with whatever choice he went with he continue to ask him where the drop would be.

“Okay so what about this nigga Shawn. You got an address.”

Durk pulled out his burner. Going to a text message he clicked on it and passed the phone over to Erik.

He read over it. 4523 Lanely Rd. Pulling up his notes icon Erik typed in the address and saved the information. He gave the burner back to Durk. Realizing the area that it was in Erik shook his head. Nice suburban area where it was mostly Caucasian which amount to one thing. Nosy ass neighbors. It was a risk but he would just have to deal with it.

Hearing Durk sighed he studied him. His hands was rested over his eyes as he was leaned back in the chair. His boy looked stressed.

“You good?” A genuine tone came out.

“I think my sister fucking around with someone but I just don’t know who yet.”

Erik’s eyebrows lifted up. Glancing up to the ceiling as he listened carefully.

“I just really hope it’s not one of these fuck niggas. I might need yo ass for another job after this. We could rob this nigga together.”

The two chuckled.

‘Damn I can’t rob myself.’

Erik thought to himself before engaging back in the conversation.

“What makes you think she fucking with someone?” Erik curiously wanted to know. It would give him an advantage on what he should not be doing.

“Well the other night I walk in the livingroom and there she was sitting there with her titties all out, make up done like she was getting ready for a dick appointment or sum shit.” Durk replied in a stressful tone.

Daydreaming at the ceiling, Erik’s memory jogged back to her outfit from that night. He could still see the way her cleavage appeared in front of him as she sat across from him in the diner. The soft flesh looking at him. He had to control himself multiple times that night from staring at them so much. But he couldn’t with the way they would bounce a little every time she laughed.

Speaking of her smile. Erik adored that about her the most. He love how her lips curled up showing off those pretty white teeth. The way her lipgloss color made her lips appear more fuller than what they already were. The same lips that drove him crazy from the softness. If he could sit in the booth kissing her all night he would have. That was enough to satisfy him. Erik sucked in his bottom lip as if he could still feel hers on his. She just had to let him get a taste.

‘Why she let me do that?’

Erik berated himself with that question as he shook his head about his lack of self control. He felt guilty. He was the nigga who his best friend was worried about hurting his sister. Right now he was feeling like a pussy. It was like he didn’t have the balls to speak up and tell him the truth. He was feeling Amiyah.

“Why you don’t like her dating anyway? I get you trying to protect her but I mean she is 21, you can’t stop her from living bro.” Erik wanted to sound reasonable but without suspicion.

“I know she got a life to live but the fact that mine is tied up with hers don’t help.”

“What you mean?”

Durk paused glancing at his phone. “ I mean besides you I can’t trust none of these niggas man. What if whoever she talk to know that she my little sister? No telling what they’ll do to her just to get to me.”

Erik listened understanding his perspective.

“I done did some foul shit out here that I’m not proud of, you know this. This why I am what I am because if I don’t get them first then I know for damn sure they’ll try to get me. I’m just worry about Amiyah getting caught in between.”

To Erik it seem like Durk just wanted was best for his sister. To him family came first. It was important to him. He valued it and would do anything to protect the ones he love. Erik comprehend this.

“You worried she won’t be able to know who and who not to trust?”

“Every-fucking-day. That’s why I don’t want her going anywhere besides home and work. I just want the best for her.”

“You should that’s your sister. Just trust her. She not gon let you down.”

Durk looked at Erik, who gave him a sincere look. If there was anybody else he could trust with his life aside from Amiyah it was his friend. His brother. Erik.

____________________________

Amiyah leaned against the register as she wrote down her completed work assignment. Blowing the air out of her mouth she let the pen fall from her fingers and on to the counter. She was exhausted and ready to clock out and lay in her bed. Her mind began to wonder about the events that transpired over the weekend.

The last time she spoke to Erik was after he dropped her off. He sent a text asking if she made it in safely and that was it. Nothing else since then. His on and off again of inconsistency irritated her. She wanted him to be all about her just as much as she was for him. Of course under the circumstances they had to be cautious but he didn’t have to go another two days without hitting her up.

Checking the time on her Apple Watch she had an hour left before she was up and out of the boutique. She started cleaning certain areas and rehanging the merchandise back onto the racks to make time go by faster. Hearing the sound of the bell ring brought her back to reality.

“Welcome to Bella Ella’s.” She greeted them without looking up and only focusing on her task out of habit.

“Thank you. Hey girl!”

Peering in the direction of the voice she saw Alexis. She was going through the dress section. Amiyah sighed inwardly before walking over to her.

“Hi welcome back. Can I help you look for anything?” She faked a smile.

“Yes actually, I’m looking for something the same as last time just not too revealing this time. I want to tease him. You know?” Alexis sent her a smirk as she walked in front of one of the mannequins observing the clothes.

Hesitant but curious Amiyah asked her. “For another date?”

“Uh you can say something like that. It’s a surprise.” Alexis eyed her up and down.

“Well we have this ruched bodycon dress. It’s an off the shoulder long sleeve lace type of look. I think it’ll fit you. Check it out.” She handed her the dress.

Alexis put the dress up to her frame. Looking in the mirror she smiled at the choice of clothing. Shaking her head she grinned pointing her finger at Amiyah.

“See girl you get me. It’s crazy. Almost like we like the exact same thing.”

“You can say that again.” Amiyah whispered under her breath.

“Huh?”

“Oh I was just talking to myself. If you’re ready I can ring you out.”

They walked to the counter. Amiyah logged in and scanned the dress. Folding it up and putting it a bag she heard Alexis speak.

“Girl how do you do it?”

“Do what?” Amiyah answered confused.

“Work a nine to five. I mean don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just that I personally wouldn’t do it.” She smiled.

“ I like working honestly. I get to meet new people. I have fun here sometimes. This is where I met my best friend and I get to get away from home.” Amiyah shrugged her shoulders as she spoke truthfully.

Alexis nodded slowly. “Right. So are you seeing anyone? Anybody caught your attention?”

Laughing lightly Amiyah shook her head. “No. I met this one guy and gave him my number but nothing popped off yet.” She was talking about Cane.

“Hm if that don’t work out you should let me hook you up. I know a few niggas that’ll blow ya back out and then pay ya bills after.” Alexis grabbed her bag and started to walk away.

Before she could stop herself the question came out faster than she expected. “Is that what you do?”

She stopped midway before turning back around. Her face was contorted. Sizing Amiyah up as she stepped in front of the counter.

“Bitch I do whatever the fuck I have to do to get what I want. Even if it mean that I have to fuck around here and there. It keeps my bills paid and my nails from getting dirty. Maybe I could teach you a thing or two.” She gave her one last look before she strutted out the shop.

Amiyah rolled her eyes. Taking a ‘How to get a man’ class from Alexis was the last thing on her list. Girls like her and Amiyah don’t mix too well. She just couldn’t understand how you could trade in time spent on a fake relationship just to get what you want with true happiness.

Her shift was finally coming to an end. Amiyah sent her brother a text fifteen minutes early just so he would be on time to pick her up. Looking towards the entrance her coworker Kacy was coming in to relieve her.

“Hey Kace, it was pretty much a slow day so there’s not any go-backs that you have to do. I would just try to act like you’re cleaning up. Look busy because you know Rhonda be watching the cameras.”

They both laughed.

“I know. She think she slick but go ahead and get out of here. Enjoy the rest of the day. See ya Amiyah.”

Waving goodbye Amiyah exited the boutique. There she spotted her brother waiting outside in his all blacked out Audi A4. She strolled in his direction and got in.

“Wow it’s been forever since you’ve been here on time.” She teased fastening her seatbelt.

Durk kissed his teeth as he pulled off driving to their home. “How was work?”

“Boring I do the same thing everyday.”

“So quit.” He took a quick glance at her.

She sighed irritated. “I’m not quitting my job Durk.”

“You the one who said it’s boring. Just quit.” He laughed.

Amiyah rolled her eyes. “Why? So you can keep your eyes on me 24/7. You always trying to babysit me, damn.” She snapped at him. The mood changed instantly.

Durkio’s jaw clenched as he turned looking at her with his eyes blinking rapidly.

“Babysit you? Where the fuck you get me trying to babysit you from telling you to quit-“

“I know that’s what your intentions are! Not that you care about me not liking my job but because you just want me to have to depend on you and ask you for everything!” Amiyah’s voice kept getting higher with every word.

“Miyah you already depend on me. That two thousand dollar bed that you sleeping on I brought that. Your whole bedroom set, I brought it. The apartment that you living in comfortablely without worry about having to pay one muthafuckin bill, is because of ME!”

Durkio’s hand gripped the steering wheel tightly as he parked in front of their building. He could feel his breathing began to spike as he felt himself get more agitated and angry. Getting out of the car he headed towards the entrance to avoid going any further with her.

Amiyah jumped out and followed closely behind going inside. The elevator ride going to their floor was quiet and tensed. Amiyah tried her best to not argue with her brother but she had more to get off her chest that she didn’t want to go unheard.

“You know you’re a fuckin control freak.” She slammed her purse and jacket on the couch one they made it threw the door.

Durk paused his steps from going into his room.

“How? Tell me what I do Amiyah.” He walked leaning against the counter with his hand folded over the other waiting for her to talk.

“Durk stop playing dumb. Everything that I do you have to be a part of somehow. Like the time I couldn’t take the job offer from the mall because it was ‘too far’. Or how whenever I want to hangout with Kelley you think I’m going to fuck some man-“

“That’s because you are! I know Saturday night you ain’t go out with no fucking Kelley dress the way you were. I’m not fucking stupid Amiyah.”

Amiyah got in his face. “Why would I go fuck someone and I’m still a virgin Derrick. I’m not dumb. I’m not just sleeping with any and everyone.”

Her eyes burned with tears threatening to fall.

Durk used his forearm to move her out of his space. It triggered him whenever someone would walk up to him with disrespect. He knew he would never put his hands on his sister but he didn’t want to feel the urge like he would so he gave her a light push.

“Miyah back the fuck up.” His jaws were tensed and his nostrils became flared out.

“So you can speak your mind but I can’t? I’m not your girl Durk so stop putting rules and regulations on me like I am. I wish our parents were still here so I wouldn’t have to be in this shit hole of a place you call home.”

Amiyah’s blood was boiling. She spoke without thinking. She let her emotions get to the best of her before she could calm down to try and talk to her brother like the young adults they were. But it was too late. She’d gone too far.

Durk shook his head before releasing a dark chuckle.

“You an ungrateful ass bitch, you know that?” His voice spoke lowly but loud enough for her to hear.

Amiyah looked at him in disbelief as the tears came down her face.

“I had to put my life on hold to take care of you. I put myself at risk everyday just to make sure you’re taken care of. So that you won’t have to go out there doing anything you didn’t want to do just to put food in your mouth and clothes on your back. And this how you show some fuckin appreciation?”

He looked at her confused.

“Durk I do appreciate-“

“Get the fuck out my crib.” His voice spoke coldly.

“What?” She unfolded her arms before she walked towards him.

“You heard what I said. By the time I get back you better be gone. Good luck supporting yourself with that weak ass job.”

With that being the last thing spoken to her he brushed past her shoulder and left. Amiyah waited in the same spot hoping that her brother would come back and just tell her to forget this whole argument. But he didn’t.The tears that she thought she had control of were now cascading down her face nonstop.

“What the fuck did I just do!” She scolded herself as her hands covered her face.

She walked to her room. Pushing her door opened her eyes scouted around the room taking in all of her belongings. Where would she go? What could she take? How much could she take without having a vehicle of her own?

Walking over to her bed she sat in silence. She had to think. She had to find away to get her out of the mess that she put herself in. Picking up her phone she dialed the number of the only person she could run to without judgment.

“Hey, Kelley.”

_______________________________________

Erik rolled up to Frank’s Auto Garage. It was time for him to go on the mission. His attire was all black to make himself easily invisible in the shadows. Getting out and walking to his trunk he popped it opened and lifted his secret compartment befor grabbing a duffel bag.

Closing the trunk behind he locked it using his key fob and walked to the front door. He banged four times doing the code knock before he was invited in. One of Durks look out men opened the door.

“Oh shit, what’s good E. You working tonight?”

Giving a silent head nod of approval Erik dapped him up.

“Ok. Well boss is in management. I don’t know what’s going on but he definitely not in the mood. Tread lightly man.”

Taking note Erik walked to the room where Durk was. When he reached it he saw him sitting at his desk talking to someone that he never seen before. Erik tapped lightly on the door making his presence known.

Durk eyes shifted up. “Erik what’s good? Why you knocking? You my brother, you know you ain’t gotta do that.”

“Didn’t wanna interrupt. What’s good? How you doing?” Erik gave him dap with a hug. When they pulled apart he looked in his eyes trying to find an answer. Durk was hiding something.

“Yeah I’m straight. But I want you to meet the person who gon be going with you tonight.” He replied quickly before walking back to his desk.

The guy that sat there quietly got up from his seat. From Erik’s view he didn’t look too much younger than him. He seen his attire matched his as he seen that the young dude already had some leather gloves and a ski mask rested on his head.

Erik gave him a fist pump. “What’s up, I’m Erik.”

“Cane. Nice to meet you bro.”

Durk watched the two interact before interrupting.

“Alright it’s almost 3am. Just got word that nigga Shawn was at the club,which should be closing now. If y’all make it to the address before him-“

“That’ll give us time to find an area to stakeout and then bum-rush him. Catch him off guard.” Cane spoke.

Durk turned to look at Erik before smirking giving him a ‘I told you’ look.

“Exactly. Listen just make sure y’all get the M and dip.” He was referring to the million dollars stashed away.

“I know how this go. Just make sure this nigga straight before we go out there. You know what you doing lil nigga?” Erik questioned Cane.

He kissed his lips. “Look man this ain’t my first rodeo and if I didn’t know what I was doing I’m sure ya boy wouldn’t be calling me.”

“Whoa nigga you owe me a solid. Don’t act like I need you.” Durk stepped in to check him.

Cane waved the two off.

“Aight I trust ya judgment Durk but if shit hit the ceiling, you bailing me out nigga.”

Durk laughed. “Nigga get fuck and go get my money.”

They dapped one last time and Erik left with Cane trailing behind him. He went up to a shelf that had multiple sets of keys sitting on it. Erik grabbed one before walking to the back. There were five different cars out there. He hit the unlock button on the key fob that led him to a dark burgundy Toyota. It was the getaway car for the night. Erik never used his own when he had to do jobs.

He opened the back door and place the duffel bag in the bag. It had two Beretta M9’s, an Ak-47, as well as a roll of duck tape and rope in case the situation went left. Erik got in the driver side. He heard Cane slipping in the passenger seat as he place the address in. It would take them 37 minutes to get there.

Glancing at the clock it was now 2:24 am which gave them plenty of time to find a place for a hideout. Entering the highway Erik and Cane rode in a comfortable silence. Cane every now and then giving Erik a quick glance over before turning his head.

Some time had past when they noticed that they were arriving in the neighborhood of the house where Shawn stayed. The houses were a few yards away from each other but Erik knew that they would still be able to hear the sound of a gun if one went off.

“If you park on this side that bush will be a blind spot. That nigga won’t be able to see us when he pull up.” Cane pointed to the area.

Erik shook his head in agreement. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Pulling into the spot Erik parked the vehicle and shut it off. The light from one of the houses landscape slightly shined in the car to make it possible for them to see each other as they waited.

“So you the infamous Erik I heard about. Ya name got some clout to it with all them licks you did when you was coming up.” Cane broke the silence.

Ignoring his comment Erik reached in the back unzipping the duffel and taking out one of the Berettas. He began to load the clip.

“I never thought I see the day where I would be doing a job with you. Heard you was one hard ass nigga”

Chuckling Erik stopped to face Cane. “What you want an autograph or something. Damn nigga you sound like a fan.”

Cane smacked his lips and then laughed.“Aight you got it. But nah I’m just showing respect to an OG.”

“I don’t look that much older than you.”

“Still one of the OG’s.” Cane showed him respect.

“I appreciate the courtesy. I heard some good things about you as well.” Erik was referring to his previous conversation with Durk.

Cane shrugged. “I do a lil sumn.”

Reaching in the back Erik pulled out the Ak-47 and handed it to him.

“So then you should be able to handle this then.” He was testing him.

“What! This is personally my favorite. This thing could make any nigga dance.”

Erik laughed watching the thrill of excitement in Canes eyes. He reminded him of himself when he was first getting started. Ready and down for everything.

The headlights of a Cadillac SUV caught their attention. It was Shawn pulling up. They watched as he hopped out the driver side.

“Heard this nigga keep one on him. You think he gon try and pull it.” Cane took the safety off of the AK. He was talking about his piece.

“I don’t give a fuck what that nigga got. He better not flinch.” Erik pulled the mask over his face. He watched Shawn walk to his passenger side and opened the door.

“Oh shit! This nigga got a bitch with him.” Cane blurted out.

“Plans don’t change. It is what it is.” Erik spoke truthfully. He had to get the job done.

Cane nodded his head and pulled his mask down. They watch Shawn walk to the front door with the girl following close by. Three minutes later the couple went inside the house.

Erik and Cane exited the vehicle making their way onto the front lawn. Staying away from the security lights they crept on the side. There was a side door that they found that lead right into the kitchen. Peaking through the crack of the blinds Erik spotted the two in livingroom sitting on the couch facing the opposite way.

“Let me pick this lock.” Cane bent down to eye level with it. It took him nothing but a minute to get it open.

Quietly Erik turned the knob and entered. Both him and Cane slowly tipped toe to the livingroom putting a gun to both of their heads. Erik had Shawn and Cane had the girl.

“If you want you and your girl to make it to see another day I suggest you to comply with my instructions and not try anything stupid.” Erik threatened as he cocked the gun.

Shawn froze in his seat as the girl next to him started to scream. Cane hopped over the couch and snatched her up by the arm.

“Bitch shut the fuck up before I put a bullet in yo head. You know what get against the wall and stare at that muthafucka.” He pushed her towards the wall.

“Y’all niggas know who I am?” Shawn finally spoke up.

“Yeah nigga. Why else you think we here? We just want the money. It’s simple.” Erik negotiated with him. He pulled him off the couch by his shirt.

“I don’t know what you talkin-“ He was interrupted by Cane hitting him in the mouth with the butt of his gun.

“Nigga quit fuckin playing with us. Run that shit.”

Erik shook his head but smirked. This was one reckless ass dude and he liked it.

The girl screamed again. Erik could hear the terror in her voice. It sounded like she was going to cry.

“You got five minutes to give us that money or you and ya bitch die. Which one is it? Yo life or some dead presidents”

Cane started to run the show and Erik let him as he sat back and watched.

“Aight nigga. It’s in the fucking safe.” Shawn spit the blood out of his mouth.

“Lead the way then bitch.” Cane pushed him and followed him to the back.

Erik was left alone with the girl who was facing the wall. From behind she had a bad ass body. Gazing over her wardrobe she was Burberry down and her fire red locks fell down her back. He kept glancing back and forth between the dark hallway and her back before Erik finally heard a few words slip out of her lips.

“Please don’t hurt me.” She pleaded.

The moment her voice reached his ears his face scrunched up. Walking up to her he turned her around to face him. Backing up he put his gun down shaking his head with disbelief.

The bitch that Shawn had with him was Alexis.

____________________________

Please excuse any mistakes! I will edit this chapter soon!

Tag-list (If you’re not on it let me know and I’ll add you if you want to be added)

@supersizemeplz @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @hearteyes-for-killmonger @curls-and-crosses @killmonger-dolan @killmongerkink @migosis @raysunshine78 @alookintohersoul @popcorn803 @just-juicee @mllover260 @kimmyblckswan2 @koriiii @tchallasbabymama @toniilaney @marvelmaree @mia-faith @adreamsublime @queen-b1 @mcdesij @vintage-pvssy @viewsfromrose @ceeverse @smuttywriter @harleycativy @callmemckenzieee @theblulife @bvssmob @everything-is-awesomesauce @xoxomyaah @19jammmy @tchallas-ikumkani-wam @suburbanblackhoe @allhailqueennel @admirehermind @mymeira12universe-blog @bellanay

[ilovebeingcalledawhore]

JEALOUS | MARK LEE

Content: Suggestive Themes, Cheating, Arranged Marriage

Summary: You didn’t expect that kissing a random man in the bar would give you more butterflies than your ‘fiancé’ ever has.

Jeno x Reader | Mark x Reader

DRABBLE

He was a wandering, rich and handsome lad. Even in his neat black suit, high-end leather shoes, and designer watch, he didn’t fit into the crowd of grey-haired, smoking elders in the casino. I fiddled with the gold band on my ring finger, my eyes lingering on his built figure.

I’m getting married to him and I despised the very thought of it.

She bounced towards him, parading her bits casually then wrapping her arms around his neck. “Disgusting” I uttered, watching from a distance. He’s the classic rich-kid that doesn’t give a fuck about anybody else but himself.

He smoothly wrapped his arms around her bare waist then landing a kiss on her red painted lips--and she was the classic moral-lacking, money desperate bitch in every casino.

Seconds later, the girl walked away with a happy grin on her face. Oh look! She’s walking into the personal rooms at the back, he’s getting laid, isn’t he? I snorted. He then walked towards me, untightening his tie on the way.

He’s probably here to say goodbye.

He sat beside me and finished the margarita on the table that I didn’t bother to touch. “Didn’t know, you didn’t have standards” I started with an amused look on my face, pertaining to the girl he just kissed. “Mind your own business” he uttered as he placed the empty glass down the table.

“You’re funny,” I said as I stood up and walked away from the table, purposely waving my hips at him. Pissing him off will and always be my favorite thing and you know what? I wanna do it right now. I eyed the guy sitting on the bar stools, quietly sipping his drink.

I glided towards him, making sure Jeno was still watching. “Hey” I whispered as I made myself comfortable beside him. He looked at me dead in the eye, as if I was disturbing his alone time, which I definitely was.

“What if I told you I want to kiss you right now?” I uttered and he, without any hesitation said, “no” I was shocked. I didn’t know that he would say that, well...maybe I did, but I was so drawn into the thought of making Jeno jealous that I didn’t care.

The man in the bar stool studied my face carefully like a sensor. “You don’t look like you belong to cheap bars like this, what are you doing here?” He asked, noticing the designer clothing I displayed like a mannequin. “Things happen” I spoke as I stood up, getting myself together, realizing that I should just leave.

I walked, just a few steps away from the bartender’s stand when I felt a cold hand wrap around my wrist. My body voluntarily turned and just like that, his alcohol tasting lips were on mine. He finally pulled away and I stood there, trying to process what just happened.

“What if I told you I know you’re trying to make that guy jealous?” I halted, the fire seemingly rushing faster through my veins.

I kissed him again.

The sweat slowly jogging down my back, the pleasurable pull on my hair and his bent thighs locking me in place. While he comfortably sat on the bar stool, caressing my body like he’s touched it before. I ran my hands down his chest, the piercing gaze of my fiance burning my dress.

Who knew that getting into an arranged marriage would add more drama into my life, cause I certainly thought that we’d end up falling in love with each other anyway. After the long teeth clashing, lip locking, tongue fighting and hair pulling, we finally let go, just a centimetre away.

“What’s your name?” I uttered, my lips brushing up against his. He smirked and licked his lip slowly. “Mark...Mark Lee”

[evoxyr]

Hi! sorry if this is a bother but is there a specific tutorial you followed to learn how to create your own meshes? because every single one i found or someone else linked isn't exactly a tutorial for beginners and requires you to basically already know what your doing.

“how did you make your hairs from scratch? did you follow a tutorial? what was your process? I want to try but I don’t know where to start”

hello friends! :) tbh there was no one specific tutorial… honestly, i spent a lot of time frankenmeshing to get familiar with the processes and blender but never actually released much

but unfortunately, i definitely don’t recommend starting to create meshes from scratch as a beginner because i know i tried and it did NOT end well alkfjsdalkf

diving into blender without knowing what you’re doing is VERY frustrating, i know from experience LMAO so i’m listing tutorials/resources under the cut from beginner to from-scratch meshing that i know are helpful, have been helpful to my friends, or that i realized after messing around to learn something would’ve helped me a TON 

there’s some i’m missing i can’t find for the life of me rn so i’ll add to this later on too! also feel free to send me any tutorials you feel helped you :)

items with an *asterisk are ones i’ve personally used or wish i would’ve had when i started

beginner

i’d recommend starting with frankenmeshing clothing first! and then move onto frankenmeshing hair :) so clothes and beginner tutorials will be in this section, and hair tutorials will be in the next!

*blender guru’s blender beginner tutoriali didn’t use this tutorial in particular (thought i would have definitely saved me a lot of time) but blender guru on youtube has really good videos on blender for complete beginners! here is his full playlist of tutorials for 2.7! you probably only need the first one or two just to get your bearings in the program as you won’t really need to use much of materials or lighting for making sims cc

@teanmoon‘s blender cheat sheetpretty self-explanatory!

basic mesh shortening tutoriala good first project to do in blender imo

@deetron-sims‘ frankenmesh tutorialdespite not fully using this, i referred to it a few times when i’d get stuck lolit also contains stuff for normal maps and shadows! i don’t create LODs this way usually, i normally decimate a little bit for each LOD that isn’t LOD 0 (unless LOD 1 looks like trash, in which case i will import my LOD 0 onto there)

*edge split tutorialmarch 18, 2020: here is my version with updated pictures!okay so the pics are broken, but it’s pretty self-explanatory! if you ever get a weird shadow at the ends of your clothing after removing doubles, you need to do this!! i always remove doubles and do this :) i could attempt to redo the tutorial with pictures on tumblr if requested!

*@theslyd‘s multiple mesh tutorial aka making things bgc as wellnot for hair! (cut layers for hairs are for hat compatibility!) but definitely helpful for clothes… had to figure this out for myself so knowing this ahead of time would’ve been really really good

*@deetron-sims‘ specular tutorialthis is a meshing list but i needed to include this because it is a massive pet peeve of mine LMAO i know some people just import blank speculars and specular masks, which works, BUT if the item underneath (ie. tights or if you’re using a shiny mannequin) has any sort of specular or shine at all, then it will show through! you need to create a specular mask based off the alpha of your texture and then import in the blank specular itself if you want no shine to come through! i don’t create my speculars the way this tutorial does, but it works all the same :)

*texture location templatei would definitely recommend getting comfy with uv_0 mapping as a beginner! it just moves around textures really so you wouldn’t mess up morphs/weights :) the template also helps you understand why some cc conflicts with each other! because they’re placed in the same area, the game reads both textures for both items together

intermediate

various hair frankenmesh tutorials@okruee‘s video tutorial@simandy‘s written/picture tutorial (part 1 and part 2)another video tutorial (was told by @inkyblick, “i literally followed that // and i’m a dumbass with blender // but if I could do the thing, so can they”)

*@blogsimplesimmer​’s hat chop tutoriali would recommend using @pralinesims‘ daydreamin hat set to do hat chops! they’re smaller which makes sure most hats fit! typically when i do hat chops, i use about 5-6 hats per chop in blender to make sure everything fits right…

what i usually use…horizontal chops: praline’s low (with extra fluffy hairs, you may have trouble with the low one, which is fine if you must omit because it’s rare you get a cap that low anyway) and regular caps, base game newsboy cap, get to work CapSurgical, discover university grad cap and bike helmet (i make sure the straps at the back of the head don’t clip out of the hair!)slanted chops: praline’s backwards and lifted caps, base game BaseballBackwards, base game CapPuffy, base game KnittedKuffi, ugly seasons CapKnitBrim

making sure that my hairs work with all of those hats, i haven’t run into a problem with any particular hat yet in game!

hair meshing tipswatch @aharris00britney‘s speed meshes! (or anybody else really, sometimes you can pick up some stuff and learn new tricks!)

quick uv_1 tutorialhaven’t used this myself but it looks rly helpful

also *@teanmoon‘s uv_1 and weight guides really help you understand what those things are for!!

advanced

*joint list for sims 4 skeletonsi use this for when i’m weighting my hairs! i don’t weight transfer at all because i can never get weight transfers to work right for me

*@tsminhsims​‘ easy weight assignment for hair (1 / 2 / 3)i use this to weight my hairs :) i’ve made adjustments since as now i understand what affects where now but it’s a good starting point!

ALSO! i would recommend doing uv_1s and weights from scratch for practice on ea hairs before going in and doing on a from-scratch mesh so that you can know how to do it (since you could get frustraed by spending all that work on a mesh and not being able to get in game)

*blender tutorial - hair with curvesthis is the technique i use for my hairs, albeit adapted a little for myself after getting the hang of it! also you only really need to watch the first 10 minutes of the video as the rest is about lighting/texturing which we don’t need for sims 4

*@tekri​’s tutorial on meshing from scratch in mayai’ll be honest, i really really tried this… buut i cannot work in maya at all LMAO the blender parts of this could be helpful for you though! there’s vertex painting, weights, uv_1, and hat chops! :)

the reason i suggested getting comfy with uv_0 mapping is because i haven’t exactly used a uv_0 tutorial myself, but rather understood how it worked and just went from there :) it’s kinda tedious but honestly the simplest part of the whole hair making process imo

other tutorial masterlists

@ridgeport’s cc making tutorial list@simlaughlove‘s tutorial page@tekri​’s guide lists4s forum tutorial list

[lillaxtrigger]

Faded Land: Chapter 21

The rays of the crescent moon glisten straight down into the calming oak woods, their light dancing as the leaves flap in the gentle breeze. Along side the oak leaves, the torn fabric of a Maple leaved flag waves out in the passing wind; its face pierced by the tree’s splintering branches. The metal legs planted along the sides of the ripped flag begin to slip from its red and white nylon, eventually plummeting down towards the forest grounds right below. Falling from above the glimmering tree tops, the pair of steel legs descend right toward the scientist that lies unconscious on the rough forest floor; the two of them landing right on her back being enough to jolt the young woman awake. Once arising from the dead leaf littered grounds, the first thing that the young scientist does is take in her immediate surroundings; towering clusters of oak standing tall wherever her gaze drifted.

Reviewing what had transpired before she fell comatose, the scientist remembers the bellowing winds gliding her out towards the east; straight towards a city of floating buildings set out along the horizon. A pretty obvious fact that all this isn’t anywhere near a city, much less any sort of civilization to speak of. Did the wind happen to shift direction in mid flight? Still, even a small set back such as this could be seen as a rather fortunate occurrence; knowing full well that the Canadian military are probably feverishly glazing through the county for any sign of their wanted perp. Might just be a wise idea to camp out for a bit while waiting for that scorching heat wave to fully blow over. Its not like neither K-labs or Arthur are really going anywhere anytime soon, why the hell not?

With plans of camping out in the woods fresh on the brain, Clara’s stomachs growling protests remind the scientist to have a little bite before setting off; taking a quick peek in her bag to see what she could snack on. Her appetizing gaze swiftly shifts into an upset glare when finding her back pack lacking even a single can left to speak off. The hell? There was like 8 to 10 can’s in here from that convenient store back in New Hamilton. What happened to it-…Oh...Oh yeah, right. Wound up having to use it all to escape from some rich dickwads slave dungeon. Dammit, where the hell else is a girl supposed to get food out in the middle of the woods; this scientist isn’t exactly trained in the hunt of wild forest game. And with the hour of the wolf at hand, it probably won’t be long before this woman is sought after as food herself. The thoughts of searching for a bite to eat without being hunted as one in mind, the young lady pulls from her pack her trusty compass as she proceeds further within the darkened depths of the oak forest; making certain her path is clearly set towards the east.

In her little nature hike through the midnight woods, the paranoid stress begins to weigh on her as her ears catch the constant noises of the dark forest; listening to the sounds of brushing bushes, echoing howls; hooting owls, and the foreboding breeze. All of it keeping the scientist on the edge of her nerves. Even if tonight fails to yeild any sort of food to speak of, finding somewhere to lay low and hide until day breaks seems to be of bigger concern as of now. Gotta be some place to duck down for the night, a nearby cave, an abandoned shack; someplace to hide until the wolves cease to hunt for flesh.

Clara’s little trek through the woods leads her towards a light that glows from between the tree’s, the luminescence setting itself apart from the lunar glow on the color alone. Reaching the forest edge, the scientist comes to find herself stumbles out into a sizable clearing that stretches for quarter of a mile; beholding a lone shack of curved steel sitting right in the middle of the calming field. The very site of the shack alone is enough to give the young lady some relief, ecstatic to find shelter from the harsh Canadian wilderness so soon; the hope of grabbing something to fill her protesting tummy swirling in her head as she races towards the front. What she fails to catch right behind the twisted building be the scorched targets and mannequins that lay spread across the field; the very back housing a Canadian Flag that waves in the galling breeze.

Once approaching the front doorway of the armor plated abode, Clara finds it best to simply take the time to knock; wondering who might be all the way out here in the woods. When attempting to pound on the face of the doorway, the scientist’s hand phases straight through the seemingly solid door; left even more surprised to find this place left completely unlocked. Knowing the doorway left intangible, the young woman takes a little peek of what may lie inside this humble metal shack; shifting head first through to see who or what could be awaiting inside.

On the other side of the intangible doorway, Clara discover the dozens of furnishings and appliances awaiting within; housing all sorts of standard commodities one would expect out of any modern age home, including a fridge, oven, kitchen table, chairs, couch, coffee table, something that resembles a TV, restorative chamber, all the basic and so much more that lays bare for the smiling scientist to behold as she fully enters. A private abode out in the middle of the woods. Pretty cozy place to go to get away from everything. Whether if you’re wanting to escape from the stresses of the dreadful daily grind, or if you’re wanting to hide from the cops looking to put a hole through your chest. Its practically the perfect spot to unwind and chill. The very first thing on the young woman's list is to bolt straight to the fridge, zooming past the couch and kitchen table; swinging open the door for anything she could munch down upon on this late night. Glancing within the chilling ice box, Clara’s anticipating smile swiftly deflates when finding very little held within;  her eyes repeatedly scanning through the inside to see nothing but a couple bottles of water, some condiments, an open beer can, and half a stick of butter. Ain’t even a single thing in this box here worth chowing down on. The smell of the inside being more unappetizing than the selection.

Her disappointment starts to turn around when discovering a clear tupperware tray held snug along the very corner of the fridge; the inside holding a delectable serving of cooked ham and mashed potato’s. The classic leftover combo. Pulling the tray right out from the depths of the baron fridge, Clara notices a name scribbled in black on the lid of the container; the food apparently being preserved for somebody named “Nathan”. It’d be a little bit of a dick move to snatch somebody’s leftovers outta the blue like this, especially when their away. But hey, already crossing way past that line by just barging in anyway; no point in looking back now. Knowing full well she’s past the point of no return, the young woman pops open the tupperware lid to behold the ham and potato’s in all their precooked glory; the combining scent of the combo being more than enough to make her mouth melt. She can’t even be bothered to even heat the spread up before she starts to chow down; just grabbing a fork out from the silverware drawer and shoveling it all down her throat like some savage beast; some pieces of mashed potato’s threatening to escape before being lapped up by her voracious tongue. Even when proving to be a tad cold than she’d prefer, the savory juices of the ham mixed with the rough texture of the potato’s are more than a welcomed taste to the young scientist.

While continuing to munch through the found leftovers, the curious young woman decides to fancy a little glance around the rest of the shack; see what other sort of furnishings this little armored cottage is fitted with. The first odd detail Clara tends to notice would be how a lot of the stuff around here seemed to be rather relatively clean; not obsessively spotless thought. Still can see a small layer of dust topped onto the surface of the counters and tables. It all kinda gives the impression that the people that own this place stop by every now and again, kinda like a sort of vacation home; the meal left in the fridge is certainly evidence of that. And they might be a little pissed to find somebody having broken into their little villa and ate their stuff. Still, the dust around might suggest that they may have recently hit the road, saying about two or three days ago; all without even taking this little platter of leftovers with them. Shame. Still, ain’t gonna look a gift horse in the biting teeth. Doubt anybodies gonna come back while someone who happens to come by stays over for a night. Way better then having to rough it out in the woods and risk being woken up by a wayward wolf who hungers for flesh.

As the scientist finish up her little stolen meal, something laying hidden among the living room couch and recliners catches her eye; spotting what looked to be an odd looking pad with wires and a metal frame nestled right in corner of the living room. The swirling design of the popping cyan mat seemed rather out of place compared to the rest of the furniture; the chairs and couch aside it being of a rather darker design. The wires and metal parts protruding out from the wool make that obvious enough, but with how its stashed in the corner like this makes it difficult to tell what exactly its used for. Teleporter? Garbage disposal? Rejuvenator? Eh, not really too sure what it could be. Best to not mess with it for now and just get some sleep while there’s still moonlight.

Finishing the last of the pilfered potato’s and ham, the young scientist tosses the tupperware tray right into the sink; her eyes drifting over to the hall left on the side of the living room, wondering if one of the rooms left to the side has a bed to speak off. Searching for a place to lay down and sleep the night away, Clara strolls down the curving dark hallway while pondering what could lie within the open rooms set along the side. Her curious gaze soon turns into relieved delight when peeking within one of the rooms, discovering an entire living quarters housing a dozen beds attached to the wall; the site of so many beds causing her to ruminate on what sort of vacation home needs so many of them. Despite all of them being structurally the exact same, each one of them sports unique sheeting and blankets; some made from wool while others looked to be from silk. And that’s not even going over the various patterns and designs each of them holds. Though how they look matters little to the young scientist at the moment, but rather how comforting any of them are; waltzing inside and glazing through the comforting sheets. Not being much of a fan of rough, itching wool brushing against her skin, Clara strolls straight through towards the beds donned with silk; brushing her fingers against one of their soft, smooth surface with delight. Finally climbing within one of the beds, the young lady sinks right into the mattress; her body being enveloped by the plush blanket’s texture as soon as she lays upon it. Almost right at she feels the beds warming embrace, her consciousness starts to slip from her grasp; realizing in what seconds of waking moments she has left how truly tired she really was. Clara can’t even climb into the wall hanging bed all the way before on the cusp of passing out, closing her eyes as she partakes in the comforting rest she could finally take.

The tired scientist is only able to enjoy a few hours of sweet sleep before being jolted awake, nearly tumbling right out of bed when hearing loud crackling coming from outside the bedroom; Clara grasping the steel frame of the bed before she could fall off. After saving herself from taking a rather disastrous spill, the scientist leaps right out from the comfort of her bed and quietly sneaks over to the open bedroom doorway. Glancing out into the curving hallway, a bright cyan light draws the young woman’s attention over towards the living room; soon to witness the source of the powerful glow coming from the very corner in between the couch and recliner. The formless light soon starts to take shape before the scientists very eyes, with four limbs and a head beginning to protruding out from the glowing mass; eventually forming together into a humanoid figure. Once the illuminating light all forms into a single person, the glow surrounding them finally starts to dim down; the peeking scientist’s eyes adjusting to the dimming light as she starts to make out who may be behind the glow. When the last of the light finally fades, Clara beholds a lone person clad in hard iron armor stepping right out from the corner; every hair of hers standing on end when recognizing the armor as the same set those donned by the nations military. While keeping her alarmed gaze locked to the soldier that had just warped right in, the scientist ducks further into the bedroom while her site remains on the armored newcomer; soon to witness the soldier grasp hold of their helm and lift the piece of protective gear off. Free from underneath the armor plated helmet, the hiding young woman is taken aback to discover nothing more than a simple man within the suit; the black haired gent taking in an eased breath after unmasking himself. Guess that whole internal theory on them being nothing but robots is flung right out the window.

Once the lone soldiers strips himself of the rest of his iron plated armor, the man leaves the pieces lying on the floor as he wanders over towards the fridge; stretching his arms out before pulling open the fridge door. Glancing within the ice box, his eyes starts to frantically shift through the inside as he sticks his head further in; shoving aside the few water bottles and beer cans as if searching for something that isn’t there. “What?” Taking his head out from the fridge, the armorless soldiers site drifts through the kitchen counter and right into the sink; a seething rage boiling within him as he discovers the tupperware container that had been in there to hold not even a single scrap left. “God Dammit! Those asshole’s fucking serious here!? I labeled it and everything!” Letting out a seething growl, the man opens up the higher part of the fridge and quickly pulls out from its depths small box with a picture of lasagna on the front; unpacking the meal as he waltzes over to the oven. “Last damn straw here, that’s what it is...You don’t eat another man’s left overs dammit!” Opening the oven, the soldier unwraps the lasagna platter and plonks it right in the middle of the grate; closing the oven with a furious slam and venturing over towards the curved hallway. Witnessing the newcomer cruising through the hallway, the scientist retreat further within the bedroom; concealing herself within the darkness of the corner while the man stroll right past in a grumbling fury. “Hate this outpost. Filled with nothing but dicks.” Seeing the man not even glance a single eye her way, the young woman slowly steps out from the darkened corner of the bedroom and takes a small glimpse out in the direction that he had took; watching as the grump enters through the intangible doorway at the very end of the hall.

When the echo of a running shower starts to reach her ears, Clara steps out into the hall and back towards the living room; knowing full well to have only several moments to herself before the newcomer finishes up. In this time, the curious scientist steps over the armor parts lying on the floor and get another look at the pad that the unexpected soldier had entered from. Her gaze locked to the cyan carpet like pad, the scientist can’t help but approach further as she raises her leg over the couch and inches the end of her toe closer and closer to its polyester surface; her shadow looming over the swirling pattern as she nears. The young woman braces herself as she lightly tapping her toe onto the surface of the transporting pad, expecting the room she resides to glow alight. Alas, she fails to draw forth any sort of reaction from the colorful carpet of wires and metal; not even a single glint from the surface. Despite drawing forth not a single reaction from the pad, the scientist is still left wondering how the soldier emerged from the light; her eyes then shifting over to the pieces of armor left thoughtlessly scattered along the living room floor. Picking one of the gauntlets right off the ground, Clara fancies a look at the inside to see what it bares within; left surprised to find hints of wires and circuitry shielded behind a thin sheet of glass. A peek within the breastplate reveals the same as well, a host of complex mechanisms and circuits all layered between the armor and a sheet of glass. Seems this iron shell tends to be constructed more of tech than plating. Such complex circuitry, truly a marvel to behold. K-labs didn’t skip any expense making this as state of the art as possible.

Realizing this, Clara starts to swipe every single piece of armor right off the living room floor and slips on piece after piece; easily sliding herself in the assortment of bulky metal plating one at a time. Once gathering every piece of the discarded plating, the scientist stands fully decked in the high tech military grade armored battle suit; feeling the imposing weight the entire piece lends her... Its uh...it gives a little too much weight to be honest. Pretty hard to move actually. A testament to this new found fact be how the young woman can barely even walk as she attempts to inch over to the kitchen counter top; the pieces of metal clanging as she attempts to move.

Its in her struggle that she starts to feel the armor that envelopes her starting to grow lighter at every moment; gazing to the gauntlet she wears to discover it shrinking alongside the rest of the suit. The heavy iron that first burdened her entire body soon weighs significantly less then when she first donned it all; soon able to lift her arms higher than an inch from her waistline. Its even sooner that the whole suit starts to feel virtually weightless to the lightweight scientist; feeling the protective shell fit snugly through her entire body, adjusted from every inch to match her core, body, and muscular structure. It was as if the suit of armor had been custom tailored for her and her alone. Once the entire suit was finished fitting itself to her size, Clara takes the moment to admire the shell enveloping her entire body; the dark gray metal surface upset by a single white line that streaks across her chest and stomach. Doesn’t look half bad when coming together like this. Still, the clock is ticking. Who knows how long the armors original owner will take in the shower.

This fact in mind, the scientist starts strolling over towards the warp pad while there’s still time left; her metal boot stopping mere inches from the swirling mat as a wayward thought brushes against her mind. Might have to have more time to get as much distance as possible from this shack. If the armors original armor finds out that is suit got ganked from right under him, then he won’t just be steaming from coming out of a hot shower. Need a way to keep him in there for a little while longer, maybe take the time to really scrub down those privates. As her eyes drift over to the furniture making up the living room, an idea starts to form in her head as a devious smile cracks under her newfound helm.

When finally finishing his steaming shower, the soldier steps out of the tub and onto a large grate in the middle of the floor; a warm gale bellowing out from the other side dries off every single bit of the mans body as he slowly turns about. The artificial winds die down once they blow away every drip of water from his skin, the freshly cleaned trooper lets out a relaxed breath; soon venturing over to the bathroom doorway and pressing a couple of buttons on the side. As soon as the buttons are pressed, the door flashes a glint of blue for just a single moment; the man then phasing right through the doorway like thin air. Before he could fully penetrate through the intangible doorway, the soldier feels something keeping him from leaving the bathroom; feeling as if he had just ran into a wall all the same. “Th-the hell?” Slamming his hand against another button on the side, the soldier causes the entire doorway to disappear all together; unveiling an entire blockade made from furniture and appliances all piled up against the bathroom doorway. “Who- who the fuck-!” When faced with the barricade made from his own outposts furnishings, the soldier starts to pound against them in his raging fury; attempting to break down the blockade as he yells out numerous curses such as: “Fucking pissed drenched bastards! I’m gonna fuckin break this shit down and beat you down like the bitches you are! 10 years of this bullshit and I’m not standing for it anymore!” While hearing the pissed off trooper continue to echo out curses from across the curved hallway, the scientist that snatched his armor finally steps on the warp pad, glancing back towards the hall as she vanishes in a flurry of sparkling lights.

As the young armored woman is whisked out from the lone steel plated outpost, she finds herself being flown through a bright tunnel of glimmering light; the glow surrounding her forcing her through the shimmering tunnel. The mix of blinding light aren’t the only thing that begin to put stress on her; Clara feeling every inch of her being pulled apart as the glow surrounding her starts to envelope through her armored body, oddly feeling not a single bit of pain despite witnessing her very molecular structure come apart.

Just when her little ride through the light starts to wear on her, the scientist feels herself starting to reassemble once more while the glow around her starts to dim; returning to reality as she stumbles onto the floor of wherever she wound up. Even after her dizzying ride had come to an end, the young woman struggles to keep herself from barfing in her newly donned helmet; swallowing whatever partially digested ham and potato’s that climbed up from her stomach. Taking a moment to catch her breath, the armored scientist arises from the tiled floor to see where exactly she warped to; sucking her breath back in when discovering herself within a room filled with people in lab coats manning consoles and machines. The very site of all the people that surround her cause Clara’s hairs to stand on end; none of them able to witness her panic underneath the helmet as she has little idea of where that warp pad whisked her away to, or who the people that surround her are. “Hey!” Hearing this instantly snaps the scared scientist out of her paralyzing panic, glancing over to the direction she heard the call to find one of the people in lab coats calling for her with: “You. Get off the platform. We got more people to warp in.” Giving only a single nod as confirmation, Clara climbs down the ramp leading to the pad she warped in from and faux casually waltz’s over towards the exit; waving to the other scientists as she passes by to keep up the act. Right before she makes her leave, the young woman can’t help but get another glance back to the machine she had teleport to this mysterious location; witnessing herself what the processes looks like as another soldier is warped in.

Stepping right through the warp station exit, Clara comes to behold the grand hall awaiting on the other side; the wide lobby floor filled with wondering soldiers suited in armor like the scientists own, all of them sporting different colored streaks across their breast plates. Even with all of the passing troops causing every hair under her helm to stand on end, the scientist none the less maintains from pissing herself among all the heat; proceeding towards the rest of the hallway and through the crowd of soldiers in search for an exit out from wherever she wound up. As she continues to cautiously roam through the soldier filled facility, the young woman finds some of the troops with their iron plated helms off; catching snippets of their casual conversation as she passes by. “And then he ran on to the field and smashed his face straight into the pole. Swear that Matty was never the same after that.” “My mom used to make this wonderful recipe for spicy breaded chicken. Every time I took I bite, I felt my mouth just ignite and I’d run to the sink and stick my head under the faucet.” “Yep. I told you buddeh. I snagged myself one of the best PC’s on the current market. Took a while to save up for, but it was all worth it to see that puppy under my TV.” “My daughters doing pretty well in school right now. She got A’s and B’s in all of her courses. Wish I wasn’t so busy so I could see her in practice every once and a while.”

While brushing past the countless chattering troops, Clara keeps her eyes peels for any sign of a nearby exit; soon to literally find one hanging right overhead pointing out towards the right. Her faux casual walk then turns into a brisk pace as she follows the direction of the exit sign, making a swift beeline aside every soldiers she passes by as she finally begins to make out the doorway leading out. The smile under her helm starts to grows as she sprints closer and closer to the way out; able to make out the moonlight right outside the clear doorway. Her anticipating grin shatters in a single instant when hearing a voice from behind that makes her stop right in her tracks; demanding that she: “Stop right there!”

Upon this unexpected call, the frightened scientist slowly turns away from the exit and back towards the rest of the lobby to discover a soldier with a blue streak glaring at her; the trooper wondering: “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Caught on the spot and asked such a question, the armored young woman fails to come up with any sort of excuse in that moment; simply muttering aloud as she trembles from the soldiers presence. “You’re a new recruit, ain’t ya?” the soldier questions, pointing to the white line streaked across Clara’s front chest plate.” “I...am?...And you are?” “You colorblind or something? I’m your commanding officer for Christ sake.” the trooper reinforces as he slaps the blue streak across his armor. “You...are?” “Yes. Now get your sorry ass over to the training hall at once!” the blue soldier brashly demands while pointing over towards the other side of the lobby. “Y-yes sir.” the disguised scientist complies as she starts to march towards the other side of the hall; glancing back towards the exit as she runs back down.

Galloping through the trooper filled grand hall, it starts to dawn on the scientist what sort of lions den she had been whisked away to; the realization causing a horrid dread to run down her very spine as she runs forth. She wound up appearing within a Canadian military base. The entire Canadian military force tirelessly searching the country for her and she winds up smack right in the middle of their goddamn HQ! What kind of cursed Murphy’s law bullshit is this!? Kay Clara, j-just relax. None of these guys know who’s really behind this set of armor yet. They just think that some regular fresh meats running around on day one. As long as this helmet stays on, than it’ll probably be a while before anybody becomes the wiser. That should be plenty of time to figure a way out of this hell hole; just gonna have to play along for now and take the moment when it comes.

Once making her way to the other side of the hallway, the armored scientist waltz straight through the doorway she was instructed to go through; meeting with a bright luminescence on the other side. Once her eyes adjust to the near heavenly glow, Clara discovers what sort of equipment, tools, and courses lie within the training hall; the field long hall housing all sorts of training soldiers in various sorts of exercises and workouts from the ground to up above on hovering platforms. Each of the troops in training could be seen honing their skills with what was available to them, endulging in practice with holographic sparing partners and swordfighters, shooting futuristic firearms at moving holo targets, wailing on hovering heavy bags, and all sorts of tools for the trade. And that’s not even going into detail on the kind of obstacle courses they got set up around here, having the kinds of courses that loop in, go inward and outward, shift gravity; the kinds of crazy physics that are being implemented for them blowing the scientists mind.

Just as the scientist was appreciating the sort of scientific endeavor that had went into designing this entire hall, the harsh sound of a digital whistle pierces her ears from behind; reactivity putting her hands on the sides of her helmet in hopes of blocking out the unexpected noise. Once the sudden whistle is silent, Clara glances back for whoever blew it right in her ears; finding standing proudly behind her a hulking behemoth of a woman whose shadow blankets the scientist entire body. The streak across her armor baring as bright red as blood, and her face being oddly familiar to the young woman. “Just what the hell are you standing around here for, fresh meat?” “Me? I-” “You better get your sad flat excuse for a breastplate on that obstacle course before I start kicking it there.” the giant woman threatens, pointing over to one of the courses presented. “Ye-Ye-Yes ma’am!” the scientist immediately complies with, rushing to the start of the path that the blood red woman orders her to go.

Stepping up to the very beginning of the track, the first obstacle that the armored scientist is forced to face is a false rock wall that towers in front of her; Clara clutching one of the stones at the very bottom and feeling the artificially cut rock. Grasping these stones does she start the tall grueling climb up towards the actual start of the course, a task which she finds rather difficult to accomplish at first; barely able to get a good grip on any of the stones she clutches in her ascent. Scaling further up the false rock wall, the young woman winds up grabbing the next protruding rock the wrong way and causing her grip to slip; soon on the verge of plummeting down towards the very bottom. Before she could crash into the ground, the young scientist grabs hold of another stone on the wall and stops herself from falling any further down; her entire body swinging from the sudden stop as she takes back her grip on the wall. While keeping herself steady onto the wall, she can’t help but hear the woman with the red streak berate the armored young woman with: “Come on, ya slab of freshly cut sirloin! This wall’s just the first step here! If you can’t get up to the top of a damn wall, then what hope do you got of ever being a soldier?” Even when being constantly scolded by the bulking woman in red, Clara nonetheless continues to climb further up the wall; feeling the overwhelming pressure to keep moving by her higher up’s so called “Words of encouragement”.

Its soon enough that the scientist finally makes it to the very top of the rock wall, pulling herself atop the welcomed flat ground and taking the moment to give herself bit of a reprise; her little break shattered instantly when hearing the woman in red shout at her on: “Did I say you could take a nap in the middle of training, you sorry excuse for a soldier!? You better get your ass moving out through the rest of the course pronto, young lady; else I’ll be coming up there and stripping you of that armor myself!” This particular threat proves be more than encouraging for Clara to rise on her own two feet and take off down the rest of the track; feeling the ire of the red soldier’s glare as she races towards the next part of the course.

Putting the towering rock wall behind her, the first obstacle that the scientist dashes towards be a thin, zig zagging pathway lined with wide gaping holes that lead down to the cushion layered bottom; sprinting ever faster as she approaches the first real part of her course. While maintaining her overall running speed across the course, Clara leaps over every gap and hole that stands in her way; skipping onto the thin crooked paths from line after line as she starts to close in on the end of the first piece of the course. Just when she jumps right over to the final stretch, the bottom of her steel boot slips on the very edge of the ledge; the scientist reaching her hands out while threatening to plummet down to the bottom. Just before she could fall right off the course all together, an unexpected hand casts itself down and catches her own moments after she could slip any further down; the young lady glancing up to discover an unmasked soldier with brunet hair pulling her back up. Lifted back onto the course by her sudden savior, Clara stands on her own two feet while the guy that pulled her back asks: “You good?” “Yeah. I-I think so.” “Good. Now keep moving.” the man advises while sprinting further down the track. “Hey! Wait a sec!” Clara pleads while chasing after.

Racing further down the obstacle course, the scientist soon catches up to the man who rescued her from taking a tumble right off; running aside the guy and continuing their conversation with: “Hey uh, thanks for the save back there. Pretty sure I would’ve gotten an earful if it weren’t for you.” “Don’t mention it. All part of being a Canadian soldier; teamwork is the key to succeed. A staple for every trooper young and old. The names Orwan, pretty nice to find a fellow newbie around here.” “Uh, yeah, yeah. Just came here around this morning and got myself a little lost. A little embarrassed, really.” the scientist feverishly makes up. “Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ve been here for about a month now. You’ll be on you feet here before you know it. But don’t thank me yet. We’re nowhere near out from this sweltering volcano. Look.” the scientist’s newfound comrade warns, pointing over to the next step in their little run.

Gazing ahead, Clara comes to discover an assortment of straight pathways set along all sorts of almost insane angles; side ways, crossways, upside down, right side up, and whatever else way they could go in the form of a partially constructed tunnel. “Are they nuts!? We can’t get through all that! There’s nothing for us to climb on.” Clara exclaims. “We don’t gotta climb. Watch this.” her fellow newbie states while sprinting further ahead. Coming to the very end of the pathway both of them walk on, Orwan flips right up to the nearest edge set along the side; the scientist amazed to witness the young man land right on the side of the ledge on his own two feet. When it comes for Clara to take a leap at it, the armored scientist bounds across the open air and towards the very same road that her fellow soldier had taken; feeling her entire weight shift towards the path she aims towards the closer she gets, forcefully landing right on her face. As she pulls herself up from the sideways walkway, her ears catch the nearby sound of chuckling coming from up head; gazing over to find the upside down soldier who helped her laughing his ass off. “Good job. You actually made the first jump. Come on.” Witnessing the young man scout further ahead, Clara gets herself up from her less than graceful leap and continues further through the open gravitational course ahead; coming close to the end of the road she runs on and readies to take another leap ahead.

Following in the same footsteps that her new friend had taken, the scientist springs forth towards the upside down pathway ahead; her center of gravity flipping in but an instant as she starts to rise up to the road in her site. Just like how she had done before, the young woman’s landing proves to be anything but elegant; slamming right onto her backside onto the course way. When pulling herself back off the solid upside down course road, Clara gazes ahead to try and find how far her fellow soldier had went compared to her; failing to find even a single sign of the man’s brunette hair. God, that guy is probably way ahead of all this by now. He said he’s been here for about a month, he might have done this whole course a dozen times over already. Need to catch up to him and fast.

Thinking this, the armored scientist starts to pick up the pace and lunges out to the rest of the course ahead; leaping and rolling between the flipped roads set along the sides, at the top, and back on the bottom. As she continues through the course, the young woman starts getting used to the constant shifts in gravity; the vomit educing dizziness that had once mildly plagued her now more of a siding feeling then anything else the further she goes. After tumbling right along a sideways path, Clara stands back on her own two feet once more and witnesses an armored soldier dangling from one of the upside down road; hearing the grunts of a familiar voice while catching snippets of brunette flowing upwards. Could that be…

Left hanging upon an upside down path, Orwan could feel his feet being pulled away from the side as he clutches on for however long he could; his grip beginning to slip away from him while attempting to pull himself back up. Despite the new soldiers efforts to hold on, his gauntlet eventually slip from upside down road and starts to feel himself being flung aside by the course’s fickle gravitational pull; a lone arm catching his own before he could be tossed any further. With what arm strength she could spare, the scientist pulls her fellow newbie right back down to solid ground; both of them stumbling onto the floor as Clara heaves the man back onto the course. While lying on the upside down path, both soldiers take the moment to each catch their breaths; Clara being the first of them to stand as she claims that: “Now...we’re even.” “Suppose we are. But we’re nowhere near done. Still got a few more jumps left to go.” Orwan returns with as he rises alongside the scientist.

From the upside down walkway, both of the armored soldiers sprint off down the rest of the course; the two of them hopping over from one road to the next; the scientist starting to take less rough landings the further she races with her new comrade. In their sprinting dash through the tunnel of constantly changing gravity do the two start to see the end of the tunnel ahead; finding the path beyond being a relieving straight shot down. The two of them take a couple more leaps and bounds across several walkways ahead before finally reaching the end of the dizzying gravity tunnel; the duo leaping out from both sides and landing right on their feet, with Clara stumbling for a moment before getting her balance back.

Once the two rookies finally make it out of the open tunnel of winding and shifting gravity, both of them continue down the rest of the course in more a brisk walk then a frantic hurry; a relieved sigh escaping from the scientist as she further states how: “That was a bit of a chore. Nearly lost my lunch with how many times I felt my stomach churn back there.” “Yep, the body kinda has to get used to all that before it stops feeling so bad. The first time I went through all that; I wound up barfing on some guy.” “No.” “Yeah, really. The vomit went off to the side and flew right into the side of the man’s head. He was a captian too, so the scolding I took was insanely loud. Got a whole week of clean up duty cause of all that.” “Well, you couldn’t help all that, right. It ain’t like you did it on purpose.” “Yeah, but the guy was kind of a dick, so I didn’t feel that bad. Honestly got called a hero for that.”

While they continue to quickly stroll down the obstacle course, the young woman’s ears catch the screams of an all too familiar voice echoing below; peeking out to the bottom to discover the woman with the red streak berating a couple of trainee's with: “You too were an embarrassment out there! The hell was with either of you that you could make a 10 foot gap?” “We’re sorry, okay. We just had a bit of a rough night last night. See Edd wanted to-” “I don’t give a shit what any of you were doing last night! Get you’re asses back up there or I’ll give you two something to really whine about!” “Y-Yes ma’am!” Upon their higher ups demands, do the pair of soldiers race out towards the start of the course that Clara and Orwan tread through, frantically climbing over the false rock wall in their panic.

“Man, what a high strung bitch.” the scientist casually comments. “Whoa, wait! Her?” her fellow rookie question. “Yeah. The hell crawled up her ass to make her that grouchy.” “That ain’t really that half of it you know. General Vira’s just wanting to bring out the best in people, even if her methods are kinda strict.” “General...Vira?” “Hol up. You seriously saying that you ain’t got a clue who Jannet Vira is?” “Am I...supposed to?” “Good god, you really are new meat. Practically freshly slid out the womb we’re talkin here. Vira’s a living legend among Canada’s known war hero’s, the accomplishments she had gone and done throughout the great North American war have went down in world history. From single handedly changing the tides of seemingly unwinnable battles to saving countless lives on both sides of the war. When all of our bombs were on the verge of dropping, she help herd entire crowds of a U.S city that she had been stationed at away from the landing site and into their bunkers; saving all of them from a horrible nuclear grave. Even after more than earning her long awaited retirement, she’s still stuck around to help break in new recruits on their first day’s. That ain’t even mentioning all the time’s she’s offered to assist in transporting canned rations all across the broken U.S states. Old age might’ve made her pretty cranky; but deep down under all that muscle, Vira’s got one hell of a heart of gold.” Having been given this small historical lesson on one of Canada’s legendary soldiers, Clara’s gaze drifts to the woman in red herself; finding her proudly standing tall as she watches the other recruits train throughout the entire hall.

Before long, the scientist and her newfound comrade at last finish the rest of the training halls obstacle course; her and Orwan left kneeling in exhaustion from their trails as they attempt to catch what breath had escaped them. “Didn’t think...I’d make it through all of that.” Clara claims while she pants. “You mean for you first time?” Orwan questions. “Ever.” Its in their moment of reprise does a large shadow quickly envelope the two of them, both of the them gazing upward to discover the soldier of legend herself staring them down; Vira asking them in a faux gentle voice: “Did that little course back there wear you two out?” “I think-” Orwan attempts to respond with. Before he can however, the General then instantly switches back to her default harsh tone as she continues with: “You two better learn how to not be, cause that little stroll the two of you had was just the beginners track.” “You’re kidding. That was the beginners course!?” Clara blurts. “Sure was. If either of you are planning on becoming real soldiers, then your armored asses gotta go through every course that this facility offers before we get down to real business. If ya can’t do that much, then you can expect a life of an official no better than a damn local cop ahead of you.” “Right...General...” Orwan responds with, using what little energy he could spare to salute her. Upon the young mans saluting, the giant of a woman turns her back on the two; waltzing away as she advises them with: “Now both of you get a bite to eat. You’ll need all the strength you can get for what I’m planning to make you go through.”

With a tiring sigh leaving her lips, Clara starts to pull herself off the training hall floor as her fellow soldier does the same; hearing the young man thank her with: “I can’t thank you enough for all the assists.” “Yeah, likewise.” “By the by, didn’t get the chance to ask a name.” “My name?” “Yeah, you obviously got one right?” “uh, pffth yeah...Just call me...Call me...Call me Lara.” “Lara uh? Sweet little name. Nice to meet ya.” her fellow rookie greets while reaching his hand to her. “...Likewise.” the scientist returns with as she reaches for his hand, both of them shaking on it.

After exiting through the doors leading to the state of the art training hall, Clara once more tries her luck in leaving the lions den while nobody suspects a thing, falsely casually strolling through the nearly baron halls for the few people wandering. Ain’t that much of a shock to find it all almost empty like this; with lunch hour going on, practically all the soldiers are rushing into the cafeteria as we speak. Making it the perfect moment to make her escape.

Soon enough does the scientist returns to the facility’s lobby and finds the exit at the very end; her brisk walk breaking into a racing sprint as she dashes through the hall. Just mere inches away from the glass doorway, a lone voice coming from behind stops the young woman right in her tracks; the familiar tone commanding her to: “Stop right there!” Caught completely stiff by the gruff tone, Clara takes a glance back to see who might be ordering her to halt; already having a good idea from the voice alone.

As she expected, the scientist discovers the soldiers with the red streak herself to be towering at her back; Vira asking her on the spot: “Where do you think you’re going?” “Oh, you know. Just going out for a bite. Probably hit up the place up the road.” “Really...If that’s all you want...” Its then that the legendary soldier presents her open palm to the small newbie, telling her to: “You need to leave the armor behind.” “What!? But I’m not even going that far. Just to a restaurant and back. Why can’t I wear my armor while I’m out?” “Because, fresh meat, you can’t wear that suit outside of this facility and its official business. Its a sign of loyalty and commitment to our country.” From this explanation does the young woman then witness a couple of soldiers donned in suits with light salmon and yellow casually stroll out through the exit; Clara pointing this out with: “And what about them, huh?” “Those two are of higher ranks. They’ve more than proven their gusto and earned the right to represent our country’s military out in public. And from the sorry display you’ve given me so far, I can’t even begin to say the same thing about you. So unless you don’t think you’re too good to savor any of our fine base’s good old fashioned food, I suggest you strip on the spot.” Faced with the general’s leering intimidation and the risk of being found out right in front of the head of the lions den herself; the armored scientist marches away from the exit and past the hulking giant as she claims with a mildly upset tone that: “To the cafeteria it is then. Wouldn’t wanna tarnish the military’s good name.” “That’s what I thought.”

With her little attempt to take the exit being nothing but a bust, the armored scientist ponders what other exits that this place may hold; thinking of exploring through the facility a bit more while lunch was still on. From wondering of where to find a way out does she soon hear her stomach let out a loud grumble in protest; echoing under the layer of protective armor. … Ah, why the hell not? It’s not like this scientist is gonna be heading anywhere anytime soon. Might as well pop in the cafeteria and see what they got to snack on. Thinking this does Clara head further down the facility’s curving hallways, her nose following the inviting scent of freshly prepared food.

With the mouth watering smell of various sorts of meals leading her through the facility’s twisted and curving hallways, the armored scientist eventually comes to a pair of twin doors housing small windows near the top; the young woman standing on her tip toes and glancing in to see what she could grab a bite of. From the other side of the door, Clara beheld countless armored soldiers enjoying a myriad of different meals that sat upon the trays they carried; witnessing them dine on Salisbury stake, spicy breaded chicken, topping filled pizza, fruit salads and cocktails, dressed hamburgers and hot dogs, and none of that comes close to the variety that was on display. The entire smorgasbord before her was enough to make the young woman’s mouth water under her helm. In appreciating of this wide selection does she accidentally fall straight through the intangible doorway, tumbling right down onto the cafeteria floor; the scientist partially rising from the tile work to find nearly everyone in the cafeteria staring at her. An embarrassed giggle escaping from her helmet, Clara swiftly jumps back on her two feet and makes her way across the dinning hall towards the line on the other side; catching snippets of laughter and snickering from those she passes by.

Once finally making it to the far end of the line, the scientist glances across the rest of it to gauge how long her wait time might be; the line she stands in seemingly 20 yards in length. Despite being plagued by her rising hunger, the dauntingly long line does very little to discourage the scientist from waiting for her meal; patiently holding out through the hunger pains while trudging through the line ahead. This bitch went for days on end without a bite to eat in the harsh wasteland of the U.S.A; you think that some long ass line is gonna get her to leave?

Fighting through the constant hunger pains, Clara waits out the long line leading into the serving kitchen; her stomach growling out in protest seemingly every minute. But the young woman’s patients at long last starts paying off when inching closer to the entrance of the kitchen; grinning as she’s able to make out the chefs roaming through the kitchen and serving stock food to the hungering soldiers that so patiently wait. Though her eager smile doesn’t last long however, deflating when discovering their being only scarce portions of food left out; a few pieces of pizza, two hot dogs, a burger, and a sorry excuse for a pile of mac and cheese left. As Clara snatches up a plastic tray from the stack of them at the beginning of the serving line, she witnesses the few sparse of food that were left start to disappear before her eyes; helpless to only watch in heartbreak as the burgers and hot dogs are snatched away, the strands of spaghetti and meatballs swept up, even finding the salad and fruit starting to look low. By the time the young lady gets to the serving tubs, nothing of what the scientist had hungered for was left to her; failing to find even a measly crumb or lettuce leaf within the empty tray’s. Once one of the chefs come to realize there stock have ran out, she looks to the armored scientist and mentions that: “Ooh, what poor timing. Seems we ran out of everything already. That’s alright though. We always got an alternative just for occasions like this.” Upon claiming this, the chef whips out a ladle filled with bubbling oats and pours all of it straight onto the young scientist’s tray; some of it splattering along the face of her helmet.

Waltzing right out of the serving kitchens exit with a full tray of oats, Clara glazes through the cafeteria in search of somewhere to at least attempt to swallow her food down in peace; noticing a couple of the soldiers in the background snickering at her. Its in her little look around that she hear a familiar voice while feeling pat her backside with: “Hey there.” The unexpected touch causes the young woman to suddenly jump in surprise, her springing hop causing a little bit of her oats to splatter on the cafeteria ground; the armored brunette man moving in front of her to reassure that: “Relax there, Lara. It’s just me.” “Orwan?...How did you know it was me?” “Pretty easy.” From claiming this does the fellow rookie tap his finger to the white line streaked across her armor that matches his own; Orwan explaining: “You and me are practically the only ones in this whole base with white ranks. Everyone else’s gotten up to cyan by now. We whites outta stick together you know.” Upon the young man’s poor choice of words, the armored scientist can’t help but let out an iffy groan; to which her fellow rookie swiftly corrects himself with: “Yeah, wrong way to say it. But you get my point.”

Following up this little miscommunication, Orwan takes a little look at the sorry excuse of a platter bubbling upon her tray; a quick hiss coming from between his teeth before stating how: “Guess you got stiffed from all the good stuff, didn’t ya?” Glancing down to the horrid spread left upon her tray, the armored scientist can’t help but simply answer with: “Yeah...” “Shame. Got here a little sooner and you might’ve gotten set with some of the good stuff. Like what I did.” Presenting what his tray holds, Orwan shows his fellow rookie the steaming plate of spaghetti and meatballs paired well with a glistening slice of garlic bread; the spread being enough to make Clara nearly quiver, only to ask him: “You didn’t scare me out of the blue just to show off you’re platter, did you?” “Oh no no no no no. I was just wanting to ask ya if you wanted to sit with me and some of my friends.” “Ah! No thanks. I’m fine sitting with myself.” “Aw, come on.  You’re not gonna get far around here with that attitude. Tell ya what, come sit with me and I might convince my friends to share some of their spoils with ya.” “Really?” “Yeah. Whaddya say?” “Ahh...alright.”

Taking the fellow rookies more than tempting offer, the armored scientist is swiftly sat down upon a table holding two other soldiers upon their implanted seats; one of which be a rather skinny blonde gent with a green streak and a bulking tan woman with a pink one that Clara sits next to. Orwan first greets the scientist to the man in green with: “This gent here is Alphard, one of the greatest snipers in the making. I saw him nail a passing hawk right between the eyes from a half a mile away once.” “Pleasure to meet ya.” the man in green greets with. He then goes on to introduce the woman with the pink streak with: “And the giant sitting next to you is named Ronda. She’s one of our strongest soldiers here. The woman is seriously built like a monster.” “More of a tank if we’re all being modest.”

Its then that the skinnier gent discovers the newcomers tray to hold nothing but a mess of splattered oats, the man in green mentions how: “Oof. See you got stuck with oats there. You sure you can even stomach that?” “It’s fine. I can take it down.” “How about you have a slice of my pizza instead. It honestly tastes way better then that crap.” the gent offers, picking up a piece of pizza and holding it before the young woman. “Ah, tha-that’s fine. I don’t wanna leave you with nothing to eat.” “It’s alright, already chowed down on two. Beside, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught late with oats. You don’t wanna even taste those.” Hearing this does the scientist finally take the green soldiers offer and snatches the piece of pizza from his grasp; simply continuing to stare at the piece’s greasy pepperoni’s under her helmet.

“You uh, you know that you’re supposed to take you’re helmet off when you eat, right? How else are you gonna cram it down you’re throat.” “Oh phhft, of course. It’s just that I...I just…” “Somebody a little shy, sunshine?” Ronda questions while leaning into the scientist; feeling the bulking woman’s body causing her to blush under her facade. “Why not just disable you’re face plate if you’re that gunshy?” “Well, I uh-” “Its the button along the side of your helmet. Here’ lemme just...” Orwan points out while pressing the side of the scientists head. “No, wait I-” Despite the young woman’s panicking denial, her fellow rookie swiftly presses the side of her helm and causes the plate keeping her face hidden to dissolve in sparkling lights; nervous sweat running down her forehead as she sits exposed to the trio. “Whoa...You got a pair of pretty blue eyes on you.” Alphard compliments. “Yeah, smiles pretty good too.” Ronda adds. “I don’t get why you were so shy.” Orwan wonders. Finding none of them even recognizing who she really is, the scientist starts to silently relax among the trio knowing her little facade was still working; Clara glancing over to Orwan and says: “Thanks for showing me how to undo my face plate.” “Ain’t nothing, you can press it again to put it back up. Watch.” the rookie claims while Clara readies to take a bite  of pizza; the young man pressing the button on the side of her helm and causing the face plate to rematerialize. The very moment that the front of the scientist helmet is reassemble, she thrusts the tip of the pizza towards her mouth; the face plate covering her maw just before she could take a bite. With the front of her helm smeared in a mixture of cheese, sauce, and grease, Clara slolwy turns her head over to the rookie who’d messed with her helm a little too soon; Orwan letting out a little giggle while Alphard looks to be on the cusp of bursting out laughing.

Once the lunch period had come to an end, everyone was sent back to the training hall to continue their drills and exercises; Clara forced to resume her training within the sparring arena as she pitted against a towering foe. The scientist baton trembles in her grip as she faces the lumbering man before her, caught off guard as he is the first of the two to suddenly charge forth; ready to swing his hammer like baton right down upon the young woman. Before the hammer is swung down, Clara clumsily rolls out of the weapons descent as she barely dodges its quaking impact; feeling the entire arena shake from the man’s pound. As she attempts to pull herself back on her own two feet, she suddenly feels her foe’s foot plant itself straight onto her side; the blow sending her sliding to the rings edge. Even though her armor had absorbed most of the kick’s impact, Clara still feels her body shake as she quick pulls herself off the floor; getting back on her feet just in time to witness her gigantic opponent take another swing at her. Attempting to block the oncoming assault with her baton, the armored scientist is knocked aside by the intense blow; keeping her balance while backing away towards the other open edge of the ring. Maintaining her footing from the hammers strike, the armored scientist stands to witness the giant she face ready to kick her right out of the ring; Clara taking the opportunity to sidestep out from his kick and lunge straight for his head. Despite getting in a clean swing to her foe’s head, it doesn’t make the giant flinch for a moment as he simply shrugs the blow off; soon grasping hold of the scientist arm and throwing her straight onto the arena floor and right onto her back.

Before the little sparing match could continue any further, a familiar voice calls out to the bigger of the two; telling him that: “That’ll do, Montral.” Glancing to the side, Clara witnesses Ronda hopping right into the ring and approach the slightly smaller man; putting her hand on his shoulder while continuing advising him to: “Why don’t you take some time to wash up. I’ll take it from here.” Following the woman in pinks words, the hulking gent hops out of the ring and out towards the exit; leaving Ronda to give out a helping hand to the laying rookie. Taking her newfound friends hand, the scientist is easily pulled right off the floor and back on her own two feet; hearing Ronda offer her: “How bout you and me go a round for a change?” “Are you serious!? You’re built like a beast! There ain’t a chance in hell I can knock you out of the ring.” “Relax. It ain’t gonna be a serious match. Will just take things slow, that fine with ya?” “Um...alright.”

Having been assured this, the armored scientist readies to face the hulking woman with the pink streak as she lumbers over to the other side of the ring; tightly clutching the baton in her hand as Ronda first starts to inform her with: “Let me start of by giving ya a couple of pointers on tackling somebody who’s bigger than you. First off, tackling them head on is a hell of a bad idea, that’s a quick microwavable recipe for getting your skinny ass kicked inward. Instead what I’d do with you’re scrawny build is slip right under them, get right behind them and gank them in the back. Should be pretty easy to follow up with whatever you want from there. Let’s see you put that into practice, shall we.” “Wait, what?”

Before Clara could question any further, her towering sparring partner suddenly charges forth; giving the scientist little time to put what she had been informed through her head. With almost no time to plan, Clara simply does what her opponent had instructed and slips her thin figure right between the giants legs; swiftly turning back and taking the chance to wack her foe right in the back. Though the hit itself does almost nothing against the pink streak behemoth of a woman, Ronda nonetheless turns back and compliments her with: “That’s it. Nice rollout. Though the spot you chose to go for could be said other wise. See, just hitting them anywhere ain’t gonna work out that well when they’re beefed up like a steroid induced bull in the middle of a blood red field. Someone as scrawny as you would be better of taking advantage of more, how you say...vulnerable spots.” “And those spots would be…?” “Eh, it all depends from person to person. Just take a look at them and notice their quirks in the way they move; should give you a good idea. Though if there ain’t any time for that, I’d suggest going for the more common choices like the shins, sides of the stomach, back of the neck; those sweet spot.” “And that’ll make em go down?” “Usually. Even so, some people might catch on to what you’re doing and make double sure to cover their ends. If they’re that smart, I suggest outsmarting them, maybe wait for an opening to catch them off guard and attack.” “I think I get what you’re saying.” “Good, cause you’re gonna be practicing to put it into action. Think you’re up for that?” “I guess.”

The scientist saying this, both her and her hulking opponent start their little sparing match by encircling the ring they stand upon; the two staring eachother down as each of them await to make the first move. Breaking off from the stand off, Clara is the first of the two to lunge towards her foe; aiming for the strategy she employed last time and squeeze under her legs. Just when she was nearing her foes underside, the armored scientist witnesses the giant clutch her legs together to foil her plot; claiming: “That ain’t gonna work this time!” This denial does little to discourage the rushing young woman, as Clara then suddenly hops to her foes left and swings to her stomachs side; surprised to find her baton caught moments before it could make impact. “Not bad.” In saying such does Ronda then toss her lightweight opponent aside, the scientist stumbling through the ring until stopping just at the very edge of the ring; the young woman glancing back to the drop beyond the edge as she hears her foe further instruct: “But small tricks like that ain’t gonna be enough in a real fight. You’re foe will be as much on edge as you are; ready to move in and counter whatever you throw at them when you least expect it.” More than ready to prove her point, the hulking woman then lunges forth right out of the blue with a rushing hop; raising both of her fists high in the air as she descends down towards the small scientist. Witnessing her hulking foe dropping down, Clara rolls out of the way just in time to narrowly evade Ronda’s crashing hammer; the impact causing the entire ring to violently tremble. “Whoa! Whoa! I thought you said you’d be gentle!” “I am being gentle.” Hearing her opponent say this, Clara glances to the point of the arena where Ronda had hammered her fists down into; sweating nervously as she lifts them up to reveal the dent she had made on the surface.

Rising from where she had landed, the hulking woman in pink immediately charges straight after her scrawnier foe; Clara racing around the ring as she sprints away from the pursuing behemoth. As she races away from the giant, the scientist takes a look back to see where she could find even a single opening; her eyes locking to the bulking woman’s side as the gears in her head start to turn. Its in the spur of the moment that Clara suddenly does a complete 180 and springs out towards the rushing giant; the unexpected turnaround catching Ronda off guard and giving her little time to react as the small scientist slips right between her legs. Once having gotten behind the giant, Clara jumps up and swing her baton high to the back of her towering foes neck; aiming right to the very center of her spine. Her attempt to strike seem to be thwarted when her hulking catch catches her swing, only inches away from the back of her neck; though Ronda fails to see the smile underneath her opponents helm. While the scientist’s foe shows to be distracted holding her baton, Clara uses her leverage to deliver a swift kick to the giants side; the flinching pain causing Ronda to let go of her foe’s weapon. Landing back down to the ground, the scientist then kicks one of her towering foes legs right off the floor; the combination of these two attacks being more than enough to send the giant toppling over. While Ronda lays clutching her side, a small hiss escapes from the giants teeth as she gazes to the young woman who knocked her over; small smile than forming between her cheeks as she corrects on how: “Pretty nice feint there. That’s more like it.” This little compliment brings a smile to the scientist face; knowing how she managed to get a foe far bigger than her down onto the ground.

Moving on from the sparring ring, the scientist is shoved right off to the holographic shooting gallery on the other side of the training hall; where she was unceremoniously bestowed a military grade futuristic rifle with a pointed tip as the barrel. Stationed at one of the gallery’s shooting booths, Clara takes a glance at the other soldiers practicing their aim; watching as some of them hit near the bullseye with while others hit the outer ring of the holographic target. The holographic target glowing a bright light for where the bullets wound up. Its in watching these examples does she then attempt to do the same, attempting to aim the point of the rifle out towards the target. Her sparse experience with guns seemed to be more of a hindrance than she had first thought, the scientist finding it rather difficult to get a proper grip on the futuristic firearms; the young woman awkwardly grasping the rifle as the attempts to aim the tip towards the target. When thinking that her aim was lined up to the holographic target before her, Clara squeezes the trigger and lets a glint of light fire right out from the tip of the pointed barrel; the knock back of the firearms throwing the lightweight scientist right onto the ground with a violent thud. Recovering from the hard push back, Clara starts to pull herself off the floor and glance over to the gallery to see where her shot wound up; failing to find even a single point of her holo target glowing. Set beyond the shooting range however, the scientist discovers her wayward shoot to have struck a passerby in the back of their head; the back of their helm smoking as the soldier quakes in his boots.

A frustrated sigh escaping from her mouth, its in the next moment that she witness the holo target next to hers being shot right in the dead center multiple times; each shot causing the target to glow further until being as bright as a light bulb. Glancing to whoever was stationed at the booths next to hers, Clara discovers the incredible marksman to be none other than the other soldiers that Orwan had introduced her to; Alphard, who lowers his rifle with a proud smirk. Having witness the impressive display of marksmanship, all that the scientist could utter from it all was: “How?” “Well, when you’ve been trained to be a gunman for over ten years in the military, you tend to develop nearly perfect aim. I could tell you tons of stories about all the heads that my hands have sniped over the decade. Though I don’t think I could say the same about your aim.” “Agh, I know. My aim is just rancid garbage right now. I haven’t really had much practice in firing any sort of gun. Really, I can only think of one time that I actually held a pistol; and I didn’t even fire it. Just tried to use it to try and get a deal at bar that almost when horribly wrong.” “Well, you don’t need me to tell you that much. The way you try and hold one to your rifle is a dead giveaway already.” the gunman discloses, a fact which leaves the young woman rather embarrassed.

The elite marksman then moves over to Clara’s shooting booth, warping his arms around her rifle as he offers to: “Let me show how to properly wield one of these light based bastards.” Grasping the armored scientist’s futuristic firearms, the soldier with the green streak reposition her rifle to lean against Clara’s front shoulder; moving her arms to have one hold the barrel while the other is kept on the trigger. While keeping the young woman’s arms steady, he instructs the scientist to: “Just keep both of your arms held stiff like this while holding your rifle; that way, it won’t fly out of your arms when you pull the trigger.” Following up this little piece of advice, the marksman than tilts the young ladies head straight where the gun is aimed; further informing how: “Keep one eye lined on those two little bumps over the barrel. Use them to aim where you want your shot to land. Think you can do that?” “Uh. I guess.” “Great. Now lets see you put all that to the test.” the marksman requests while letting go of the scientist and backing away; leaving the young woman to aim for the target on her own.

While keeping both her arms steady like her comrade had instructed, Clara uses a single eye to line up the bumps on the barrel between the center of the holographic target; finally squeezing the trigger after getting a stable aim to the target. The light firing out at the end of the pointed barrel, Clara once more feels the intense recoil of the gun sends her backwards; the knock back causing her to stumble away from her little booth and over towards the pool behind the gallery. Just moments before the scientist could take an ill advised dive into the pit of water with her full suit of armor on, she feels somebody stop her from taking a dip right in the nick of time; glancing over to discover Alphard grasping her arm and pulling her right back to solid, balanced ground. After hauling the scientist back on her own two boots, the green streak armored marksman asks: “You alright there?” “Yeah, think so. Ya know, for an energy based weapon, I didn’t expect the recoil on this to be pretty...forceful.” “Eh, no one ever does.” “Yeah...Probably didn’t hit anywhere close to the target.” “I don’t know about that.” “Did...did I seriously hit a bullseye!?” “Why don’t you have a look and see.” As the green marksman suggested her to do, Clara strolls back towards her booth to take a look at the target she had shot at; her hopeful smile deflating into a disappointed frown when finding her to have only hit the very edge of the target. “Oh...” the young woman moans. Waltzing right by her side, Alphard places her hand on his shoulder and comforting her with: “Eh, buck up there, young lassy. At least you actually hit the target on you’re second try. You’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

“Any tips to get better?” “A couple. One good mental tip that helps me aim better is to envision whatever you’re shooting to be whoever you despise the most in your life; picturing their head splattering into bloody chunks when you pull the trigger. Anybody you can think of who wronged you in the past, like your shitty boss, or your overly strict dad, your cheating slut of an ex, or maybe even that one punk in the park that snatched your wedding ring and ruined your one chance of happiness with the girl you love...” Hearing such a horridly dark sentiment spooks the scientist quite a fair bit; inching away from the marksman as she claims: “That uh...might be a tad too dark for me...” “Ah well. Point is to make something up that help you aim better. Half of aiming is a mentality after all.” “Uh...thanks for the advice.” the young woman faintly thanks with while turning back towards the target.

Clara’s time within the training hall eventually burns the rest of the day straight away, the armored scientist letting out a loud yawn as she exits the hall alongside a flood of her fellow soldiers; her tiring eyes widening when finally witnessing the darkened nightly fields through one of the window. Holy hell, its already night!? How long did they keep us in their to practice!? Practically can see the crescent moon rising out from the horizon. You know what, doesn’t matter. Actually kind of a lucky break that the suns going down. With everyone hitting the sack; they’ll barely be anybody awake to notice anyone slipping out their doors. Though maybe not out the front door. They’d be pretty stupid not to at least put a camera out in the entrance. Nah, probably go a lot better to search around for a back exit. Thinking all of this does the scientist blend in with the rest of the soldiers that flow through the facility halls, soon finding herself marching into one of the hallways stretching out from the sides of the lobby.

While searching through the twisting halls for any sort of unguarded exit, Clara could witness the soldiers walk beside her go through and climb up to various doorways that seem to be dorms complete with beds the slide into the walls; some of them turning in by themselves while others are turned in with their friends and lovers. The site of these countless people turning in with one another warms the young woman heart a bit, thinking how it must be nice to be able sleep beside the comrades that you so care about; that sort of fraternal friendship being something that she never thought of throughout her journey. Sure, she’s had people help her out along the way, but only one companion she had shared the ride for a brief moment. Must be nice having friends you can count on and have your back. The sad thing is that even if there were friends willing to help complete this grueling journey, that treasuring kinship all wouldn’t matter in the end.

In the middle of pondering all of this does a familiar voice cut through her thoughts, echoing out from behind and calling to her with: “Hey, Lara!” Taking a glance back to the hallway behind her, the armored scientist witnesses Orwan racing in her direction with a smile; stopping right by her side and asking her: “Whatcha doing through here.” “Uh...I was trying to find my dorm. There’s so many of them here that I kinda got a little lost.” “I hear ya there. This place is just so damn massive with tons of twist and turns. Almost seems like a whole mile long. It took me so long to find where my dorm was the first week I spent here, I seriously had to sleep on the hallway floor for those first several nights; the hallway rug ain’t as comfy as it looks. What room number were you given?” “Ah! Ya know. I’ve been wandering around for so long trying to find my way through this place, that I can’t really remember.” “Well that sucks. How bout you bunk with me and my roomies for the night? Sure as hell beats a rough night sleepin on the floor.” “Ah, no thanks. I think might try and go through these halls a couple more times. See if I just run into it.” “Aw come on. You’d be wandering around all night doing that. And you don’t wanna report for early morning routine plum tired in front of Vira; she’ll eat you alive.” “Nnnalright, fine.” “Bitchen! Can’t wait to show you around.” the young man eagerly exclaims while dragging the scientist through the dorm halls.

Lead further through the dorm hallways, the eager rookie takes his newfound comrade up a flight of spiraling steps decorated with 3D artwork; rushing through the stairwell until reaching the third floor. From there, the two of them head straight through a twisted hall decorated with dozens of doors spread along the floor, the walls, even the very ceiling they walk under holding doorways leading into dorms. In their waltz through the dizzying hall do the two of them suddenly stop right in front of a doorway left on the wayside; the duo heading right through as Orwan greets with: “Hey guys, guess who I found wandering the hall?” Phasing beyond the doorway, the first thing that Clara notices within be the two soldiers that had helped her with her little training session; Ronda and Alphard sitting right on a pair of hanging beds, stripped of their armor. “Ey, its the scrawny little scraper. Of all the people to drag in our room.” the bulking woman says. “Well, ain’t this a pleasant surprise. Hope Orwan wasn’t too rough bringing you all the way here. He can be a rather excited little scamp.” Alphard greets with. “Wait, so all of you are bunkmates too?” the scientist question. “Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t we be? I told ya about how much the military prioritizes chemisty. The same people you sleep with are the same people you eat out.” “Orwan, remember our little talk about phrasing?” the marksman reminds.

The scientists fellow rookie then ventures over to the other side of the dorm and punches the wall, causing another bed to pop right on out; complete with pillow and blanket. “Why don’t ya take that armor off and sleep a couple winks?” “N-no thanks. I think I might just sleep with it on.” “Seriously? Ain’t no way in hell you’re gonna get any sleep wearing that to bed. The only time I did, I wound up with a sore in my neck that lasted for weeks.” Ronda warns. “She might have the right idea, Rondy. Never know when a late night emergency call will blare off.” the marksman defends with. “Late night calls?” the young scientist wonders of. “Sometimes in the middle of the night, this base receive distress calls from some cities around the county; jolting everyone in the base wide awake and dragging a certain number of us out into action.” “Even the newbies?” “Especially the newbies. Department want the fresh meat to tag along to see what the higher ups can do, like me and skinny here.” Ronda explains. “You two are better ranked?” the scientist questioned. “They sure are. I told you about the streaks on our armor meaning were newbies, right?” “So which of you are higher?” “Well you see, the complex sort of color hue system that the government dictates that-” the marksmen attempts to explain. “Its me. I’m the higher of the two. Got a motto for it too, the redder, the better” Ronda bluntly informs. “Mmph. That’s putting it in a rather basic sense. I suggest we get some sleep while we still can; either from the morning bell or a late night emergency, we’ll be in a rude awakening either way.” Alphard suggests as he climbs right into bed. Upon getting in, the skinny marksman and the buff woman’s beds sink right back into the wall; Orwan ready to do the same before he claims to the scientist that: “You should probably do the same. Better to be early to rest than late to rise.”

After seeing her fellow rookie’s bed retreat into the wall, the scientist is left to climb into the bed that was laid out for her; curiously gazing along the side to discover all sorts of buttons along the frame. Once climbing right into the comforting mattress, Clara feels her armored backside sink into the plush bedding; glazing onto the console to see which buttons retract the bed back into the wall. While one of them spreads the sheets over her body, another proves to be quite a relaxing backwarmer; the heat feeling toasty underneath the scientist armored back plate. Pressing one more button finally causes the entire bed to retreat back into the wall, the young woman’s helm slamming against the wall as she pulled right on in; leaving her to drift off to slumber in semi comforting darkness. Despite donning such hard armor stuck within such a tight space, Clara enjoys what few hours of sleep she could manage to garter in her reprise; her breaths echoing within the chamber she resides in.

While relaxing within the confined darkness, her enjoyed rest comes to a sudden end when an alarm blares out through the entire facility; the unexpected siren jolts the scientist awake and slam her head right on the roof of her little bed capsule. The alarm continuing to sound off, the rest of the scientist’s roommates all eject from the wall beds and leap right out for action; hastily gathering their pieces of armor and putting them together. Just as the trio partially don their armor, they soon come to witness their other roomie finally eject herself out from the sliding bed and fling herself straight into the wall; the young scientist pulling herself off the floor as she shouts over the alarm: “What’s happening!?” “What do you think is, shortstop? Its our emergency call to duty. This whole floor’s been ordered to get dressed and report to the front lobby, ASAP.” the hulking woman claims. “Well, guess my little call was right on the mark as always. The newbie aimed to be ready out of bed and hit dead in the center. She can practically go on ahead without us.” the skinny marksman states. “Uh, yeah, I could. Problem is I don’t know the way to the front.” the scientist admits. “It’s alright, I’ll show ya the way.” her fellow rookie offers as she finishes donning his suit. Racing right in her direction, Orwan grasps Clara hand as he tugs her out of the quarters and down the hall; Ronda warning the eager fresh meat to: “Don’t be too rough with her, Little O!”

While the two rookies race through the twisting dorm hallway, both race alongside an entire crowd of other soldiers responding to the call just like them; some fully dressed while others were in the midst of getting dressed. The pair of fresh meats keep hold of one another in their efforts not to be trampled by the rushing stream of Canadian soldiers that pour on through their sides; neither of them able to hold on for long as the scientist grip breaks off from her comrades as she’s swept further through the chaos. “Orwan!” “Just go with the flow, Lara. I’ll be fine, go without me.” Like her fellow newbie had suggested, the scientist ceases to fight against the current of armored soldiers and instead does her best to match their frantic pace; racing alongside them as they take every corner and race down the spiraling steps ahead. Her struggling tumble through the river of steel starts to ease up as she comes out from the stairwell and into the familiar set of halls; starting to make out the opening ahead of them.

Coming right on through the end of the hall, the horrible log flume ride of rubbing steel and echoing boot stomps finally comes to a screeching halt; the young scientist starts to regain her footing among the other murmuring soldiers to soon discover herself back in the base’s front lobby. The constant merging voices echoing through the giant hall all begin to simmer down when the lights dim to their very darkest; a single bright spotlight suddenly illuminating before the entire battalion. A small floating piece of metal breaks off from the ceiling underneath the spotlight; all of them able to make out a figure standing atop the descending platform, soon witnessing the person to be none other than the legendary soldier in red herself. The platform she stands proudly on stop right in the middle of the lobby hall air, the general greeting them all in her own bombastic way with: “Evening, ladies and gent. Glad to see all of you fresh and up for this little trip of ours.”

While the general continues to echo her booming voice through the entire front lobby full of soldiers, Clara glances back to discover the soldiers behind her shift around as three of her comrades join her side; the hulking giant of the trio greeting with: “Glad to finally make it. Old skinny here wound up getting his hand stuck in his boot and made me pull it off him.” “Well, maybe I wouldn’t have gotten stuck if you hadn’t shoved me into it.” Alphard counters with. “The point is that we’re finally here. We didn’t miss anything, did we?” Orwan question. “Nope. Made it just in time.” the scientist confirms.

Listening back in on the general’s speech; all four of them hear Vira continue to inform the entire lobby that: “Now, I know this little call of ours will be some of your first missions; for others it being something they’ve done a thousand times before. That’s why I’m counting on all you fine pieces of well cooked sirloin steak to help the new meat go along in this call to action; cause the job we’ve been called out for ain’t just any average Monday. The summery of the details are that a city around the county has had their power grid secretly infiltrated by a yet unknown insurgency; seemingly assigned to go undercover and slowly replace the staff within via secret abductions over the past 9 month. Reports claims that they were attempting to slowly replace staff so that they could learn the layout of the factory, figure out the best place to destroy the foundation and make its collapse look like an accident. One way or another, their little scheme wound up getting noticed and had them go into a complete panic; overriding security and storming the main power station with armed guns to hold hostages within. The mission tonight for all of you is to storm the power station, terminate these scoundrels and rescue any hostages they have in custody. Well be landing out along the edge of town so that the enemy won’t see us coming until its too late, then were...”

While everyone was busy listening in on this briefing of a small terrorist group causing chaos with a power plant somewhere, the scientist figures it to be a good opportunity to sneak her way outta this lions den while people still proved none the wiser; glancing to her trio of newfound friends and lying how: “Hey, uh. I gotta piss, Be right back.” “Kay.” “Don’t take too long. We might be leaving any second.” Orwan advises. As she leaves behind the trio she had become acquainted with, the scientist swims through the gathered crowd of men, women, and all those in between slip by and look for another way out; swimming straight to the hallway she had been swept in from.

While the scientist continues to trudge through the crowd does a rather large hologram suddenly appear before the entire platoon of soldiers; the light luring the young woman’s gaze back to the front to find it projecting a mapped section of Southeastern Canada as Vira continues with: “This whole shit show’s been going on within the coastal city of Mississauga, one job some of you will be assigned with is to keep the town on lock down while the rest of us snuff out these bastards.” Glazing through the map with her own eyes, Clara catches a rather interesting detail that lays bare to her; that literally neighboring the city they plan to go stands the scientist’s own planned destination, New Toronto. Not even anywhere close to knowing where in the entire country she is right now, this little trip could be what she needs to close the distance between her and K-labs; and in turn to find Arthur. Just need to find the moment to escape while the fray is flaring up. Kind of a dick move to just ditch the military and the people she met within right in the middle of service, but hey. This whole country wants this scientist practically dead anyway, it’s not like reputation is any sort priority anymore.

Such a devious plan cooking in her head, the armored scientist delves right back into the crowd; swimming back in the direction she came from to meet up with the trio once more and greet with “Hey guy. I’m back” “Whoa! That was rather fast!” Alphard mentions. “Yeah, you sure you even went?” Orwan wonders. “Not really, it was more of a false alarm.”

From their little talk do all them hear the general continue to address the whole lot of them and finish up with: “Now we’ll all be moving out in around 15 minutes or so, so I’d suggest all of you do whatever you can to get prepped; cause this whole mess might take us all night to clean up. Now get out there, people. Dismissed!” Upon the legendary soldiers debriefing, the entire battalion of gathered soldiers salute their general; every single one of them shouting: “Ooh ha!”

Blazing through the Canadian night skies be a few massive military grade jets, cutting through the air like a gliding hawk as their engines echo loudly across the sky; the signature maple leaf painted across both of the planes side. Sitting within of one of these jets, Clara keeps herself calm among her cramped fellow soldiers; wielding a rifle in one hand and an army knife in the other. Aside from the occasional passing turbulence, the scientist find it rather difficult to sit comfortably along the wall of the hatch; constantly adjusting her backpack in hopes of finding a more relaxing position. “It still vex’s me why you insisted on bringing that backpack with you. It looks close to tearing at this point.” she hears the marksman across the cabin question. “The general said to get prepped with whatever we need, right? Got everything I need right in here.” “I’m just telling you not to overburden yourself. The last thing you need to be in this line of work.” “Oh, you mean like you with your dozens of gun.” the scientist jestingly rebuttals, pointing to the different sorts of firearms attached to the marksman’s armor. “I am a dedicated sniper! I need these firearms for all sorts of situations! Its very-” Just as Alphard was on the cusp of ranting further, he starts to hear slight snickers escaping from under the new meats helmet; calming the marksman’s offended demeanor. “Oh, you nearly had me going there.” “Atta girl, Lara!” they hear Ronda shout from the other side of the hatch.

From their friendly little exchange do all of them soon feel the plane begin to delve down, the scientist gazing out through the window along her side to behold them lowering down to a whole city lined with glass tubes that deliver raw glowing power out to the lands beyond; the buildings making up the entire town taking the shape of massive batteries and power generators. An entire city that generates and sends precious energy through the entire land. Truly a marvel work for the scientist to behold with her own eyes. “Holy shit.” she utter. “Holy shit indeed. Mississauga isn’t called the country’s power station for nothing, the entire city alone constantly provides wasteless, eco friendly energy to the entire country and some to even beyond. It’s kind of hard to imagine how lots of people out there would love to see this living monument of human progress go up in flames.” Hearing such a surprising statement from the marksman, the scientist’s awing smile shatters right then and there; turning away from the window and questioning the marksman: “But why? Why would anybody want this whole place of modern ingenuity destroyed?” “Control...political enemies, corrupt companies, other country terrorists; all those sorts of bastards dwelling in the scummy corners of the world. All of them want it burned to the ground for all the same reason, they hate how it loses them power over people. And the countless times that this pour city’s been the target for so many terrorists is proof enough of that. And that’s when we come in. When it all proves to be too much for the local mounties to handle, that’s when they call upon us: the countries defenders. Hm hm hm...We might as well be the actual police for how often that happens.”

Along the very edge of the powerful energy generating city, the two military planes gently land right on solid ground; the bottom of the cabins opening to let the battalion of armored soldiers march right on out. Among these bands of soldiers, Clara does her best to mimic the marching movements of the people around her to try and not stand out; stomping her boots as much as she could while exiting the plane. Once the entire squad marches right out of the pair of military planes, all of them witness the general present herself to the entire battalion; telling them all how: “Now that we’ve finally touched down on solid ground, we can finally get down and dirty into the real shit here. Here’s how its all going down then, ladies and gents; We’ll all be splitting off into groups of two. Half of ya are going with me through the city to patrol around the limits, making sure these sons of bitches don’t got any way out of town. The other half are being deployed out to the power station to take them head on, terminate these bastards and rescue any surviving hostages they find.” After elaborating on all of this, the legendary soldier digs through the lined pocket of her red streak armor and pulls out a small button no bigger than her index finger. As soon as Vira presses this little button, the some of the soldiers standing before her begin to illuminate a brilliant light from the surface of their steel shells; including the scientist’s very own set of armor. “Those of you with the glowing suits are being getting in the vans to the powerplant and fighting against the goons behind this little crisis, the rest of you are coming with me to surround the city limits and aid any citizens that need assistance. Do I make myself clear, people?” “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” the entire platoon responds. “Good, now all of you mov-”

Just before the general could send the lot of steel soldiers on their marry way, a resounding boom is set off along the base of the tower behind the army; the explosion crippling the buildings support and threatening to topple down upon the whole squad. While the entire squad scrambles out from the tumbling towers growing shadow, a giant blur of red streaks through the whole panicking battalion; knocking over several soldiers as it rushes out towards the bottom of the crumbling building. Halting at the very base of the tumbling tower, Vira tightly grasps the buildings heavy stone and keeps the entire place from dropping down onto her battalion with her bare hands; demanding under her grunts for the watching squad to: “Don’t just stand there, you goons! Move out!” Upon their general’s orders, the entire squad starts to scramble through the streets while Vira continues to hold the building up; Clara jumping right in to a floating van with the trio awaiting inside while being driven further downtown.

Cruising right above glass roadways of shielded circuitry and around the glowing power tubes lining the buildings, Clara takes a glance out to the steel streets from within the hovering military vehicle to discover a myriad of passing people gazing upon the passing van. While some proved to be frightened by the very vans presence, other could be seen cheering them on as the military vehicle drives by; the rest simply choosing to ignoring them altogether while simply going about their day. What grabs her attention the most be the few people in rags laying upon the glass streets, with signs that have been burnt and torn begging any passerby’s to spar them some cash.

Turning away from the site of the street goers, the scientist comes to notice Orwan on the other side of the van taking in the futuristic urban view as well; hearing a melancholy sigh escaping from his lips. “What are you so fixed on, Orwan?” she can’t help but ask him. “Oh, just seeing how the neighborhood’s been since I left. I can still see so many nooks and crannies that my friends and I used to hang around when we were kids.” “You used to live here?” “Oh yeah. Been all over this city by now. My parents have been constantly moving to every corner of Mississauga ever since I was a little baba boi… I’ve met some of the best people in my entire life all in this city here, and it just sucks to see them all live in fear with each attack; all the time, a different shit show going on every month. It’s why I finally left. It’s why I joined the army, so that I can keep the people that I’ve come to know and love safe from all this; so they never again have to live with all that stress in the back of their heads.” Listening to her fellow rookie admit to such ambitions causes the armored scientist to shed a few tears under her helm. Its then that the buff woman in pink steps out from the crowded van and claims: “Amen to all that. Got me a family back up north waiting for me to come home.” “Yeah...I miss my mom. Wonder how she’s doing?” the green marksman wonders aloud.

Soon enough does their little drive through the city of flowing power lead them straight to a massive building rivaling the size of a football stadium, dozens of tubes swirling through the curving walls out flowing illuminating electricity every millisecond to the rest of the city. As soon as the hovering van gently comes to a halt, the backdoors burst right open to unleash the soldiers cramped within; all of them pouring out into the street in single file line. After all of them have marched right on out into the parking lot, the military van’s front door is kicked wide open by a huge boot; a man with a magenta streak marching out form within and presenting himself to the battalion. “Ladies, gents. We’re here today to stop a menace from crippling our country’s power supply; pulling the plug as some of you asshats would cheekily call it. We’ve receive more information that somewhere within this very building that a mercenary group have been hired by an as of yet unknown party, working to tear down this plant while holding its employee’s hostage.” As the magenta commander walks aside the mast line of armored soldiers, he continues with: “Now, I’m sure that all of you have heard of the story beyond the Canadian border of the power plant in Buffalo being destroyed by a ruthless American terrorist cell, ruthless in assassinating even their fellow Americans. Some of you may have even heard of one of them crossing over into our very borders.” While the commander continues to stroll through the line of soldiers, he remains unaware to the very person he talks about standing right beside him; the inside of Clara’s helmet steaming with sweat. “However, I refuse to let this very plant befall the same fate. We will do everything in our power to keep this generator standing. One half of this whole crew will block off the streets, keeping anybody from entering or leaving; the rest of you will storm the building and gun down any mercs that you come across. That is an order.” From their commanders demands do one half of the whole battalion races out to the streets leading away from the power plant, each of them lining up in position through every glass road leading out to the rest of the city.

The rest of them rush straight towards the front doorway, with numerous soldiers attempting to bust right through the blockade made from knocked over furniture on the other side; their ramming only able to shake off merely a couple pieces. In that moment of struggle does the buff woman in pink steps forward, the other soldiers stepping back as she offers to: “Let me take a crack at it guys.” Its in saying this does the higher ranked woman in pink start to back away from the door, only giving herself several meters of space before charging straight towards the doorway; ramming her shoulder through the barricade like a runaway train. The wooden and metal remains of the furniture that once blocked the way in now scattered on the floor, the rest of the squad move in while Clara, Orwan, and Alphard all stick by Ronda’s side as they proceed in; the scientist complimenting with: “Damn. I’ve never seen anybody break down a door that fast before. Especially with just one shoulder bash.” “That’s our Ronda for ya. A master of brute force and blunt action, if nothing else.” Alphard cheekily claims. “Watch it string bean. Those guns of yours don’t got a chance in hell against my armored hide.” “Guys, come on! Lets move!” Orwan demand as he head further down into the plants hallway, couple of soldiers along with the other three soon to follow after.

Wandering further through the powerplants hallways, the only source of light that guides the small squad be the illuminating power that flows through the glass tubes lining the halls; the luminescence reflecting upon all of their suits of armor. Among her little newfound crew, Clara witnesses a couple of soldiers scout around the corner ahead; soon to hear a wall quaking explosion from the other side partnered alongside the soldiers screams of pain. As soon as the trembling shortly ceases, all four of them race over to the corner to see what the source of the big bang was; discovering first hand the chunky and splattered remains of their fellow soldiers scattered along the floor. While the harrowing site leaves the scientist rather shocked, the marksman takes a closer inspection of the corpses before them; sweeping aside some of the bloody chunks to discover a piece of marked steel. Gauging a closer look at the marks themselves, Alphard then states that it’s: “Just as I thought. Level 4 cloaked plasma mines. Explode on contact.” “Just what are these assholes doing with explosives like that?” Ronda questions. “More importantly, how are we going to get around them all?” the scientist wonders. “I got this!” Orwan exclaims while pulling out a holographic tablet from the depths of his pack. Facing the back of the tablet towards the hallway ahead of them, an intense light shines out from the camera on the back and glows upon the entire floor; the luminescence unveils a whole mess of glowing spots set along the tile. “Nice save there, newbie.” Ronda compliments. “Pretty easy to uncover these mines when they’re pack with plasma. All we gotta do now is waltz through this whole mess and we’ll be in the clear.” Upon discovering the whole mess of mines that littered the hallway, Orwan leads the rest of the living soldiers around the countless plasma explosives and bloody body parts; Clara and the others doing the best the could to tip toe around the lit bombs at their feet. During their careful sneak across the bomb filled hallway, Clara fails to keep her balance while inching away from the mines beside her feet; soon threatening to fall right into an entire batch of bombs back first.

Just moments before any part of her armor could come in contact with the deadly plasma bombs, a large hand grasps the young woman’s own; the scientist glancing upwards to discover her savior to be the giant with the pink streak herself. Before Clara could even come to thank the hulking woman for saving her sorry hide, the giant tosses the little woman high into the hallway air above; the armored lady landing right between Ronda’s soldiers as she further tip toes on through the countless bombs. “Thanks a bunch, Ronda.” “Think nothing off it; just be more careful going forward there, little muffin.”

After the entire squad makes it through the whole cluster of planted plasma bombs, the oddly lit halls all of them walk down remain ever quiet; with only the hum of power passing through the tubes along their side to fill the silence. Breaking up this constant humming echoing around them, the scientist takes the brief moment of peace to ask all around her on: “So, how many missions have all of you been on anyway?” “I’ve been on a few by now, but never anything this tense. Its about time I got myself in some real action.” “I have, but not really as close as you may think. Usually I’m tasked with being the team sniper; back the front lining team up from afar and pick off targets while the crew moves in and attacks.” “Guess that kinda work really suits you, don’t it. Relaxing in you’re little lookout while the real soldiers take the enemy head on. This shit’s just a regular Monday for me, really. I could go on with countless stories on how I’ve rushed out into the chaotic battle front with nothing but my bare hands; just tearing off every head in site. Really gets the old adrenaline pumpin, I’ll tell ya what.” Hearing the giant recount such horrid feats in such a flippantly causal manner, Clara can’t help but feel a tad anxious near the woman in pink.

Their moment of peaceful silence comes to a shattering end when coming to the next corner ahead of them; a lone bullet of pure light brushes past the scientist face the moment they turn. Left scared stiff from the unexpected bullet, Ronda grasps the scientist and tosses her back as she warns the rest of them to: “Take cover!” From the very moment the giant exclaims this to her whole team, her and the others dash right behind the pieces of large glass tubes and operating equipment scattered along the hallway; the shards of light that hit the reinforced glass ricocheting into the walls. Perched along the very front of the action, Orwan takes a peek out behind cover to survey the rowdy bunch shooting down at them; discovering those firing the flurry of light to be several goons in slightly dirt ridden clothes firing their light rifles down the corridor. Accompanying them all be a rather massive gent wielding what looked to be a massive behemoth of a revolving gun that peppers out a constant storm of light bullets from its muzzle; the rookie in the front glancing back to her other teammates to warn them that: “We got a big one with a Leviathan minigun!” “Got it! Green streak, get into position!” the hulking woman in pink orders their sniper. Upon his superiors orders, Alphard retreats to the very back of the hall while dodging enemy fire; leaping around the corner and taking cover from the storm of light shards. Once coming right behind the corner, the scientist spreads his arms and legs out as far as he could; the knees and elbows of his armor protruding out small, but incredibly sharp spikes. As soon as all of these spikes come bursting out from the caps of his armor, the marksman jams them straight through the factory steel wall; piercing through the hard iron as he starts to climb towards the top of the hall.

While the marksman beside her starts to gradually ascend to the very top of the hallway, Clara takes a pondering glance back to the hall that she and the others had come down from; realizing there be very little to notice her absence in the midst of this chaos. It might be possible to make a clean getaway from midst the pack of lions she had strangely befriended, none of them still the wiser who she really is; all of them would probably remember this little soldier as nothing more than another body in the pile of corpses made in this mission. Just need a way to sneak past all the soldiers patrolling around the building and its all nothing but a home run from there; an opportunity that is all the more tempting to take given the current situation. When the young woman readies to take the moment to flee from this whole mess behind her, the sound of struggling echoes out from above her; the scientist glancing up to find the marksmen being shot at by a couple of goons on his way up and keep him from continuing his climb. Watching Alphard struggle to gain a good position against the squad of goons makes the scientist hold off in fleeing the scene.

In his continuing ascent to the top of the hallway, the marksman finds himself being shot at by a couple of the light rifle wielding goons; a couple of these shots knocking his arms off the wall and nearly causing him to plunder back down. Piercing the pikes on his elbows back into the steel, Alphard informs the rest of his team down below that: “I’m being focused on! I can’t climb up!” Listening to their sniper claim such, the buff woman with the pink streak stares out to the rest of the enemy squad continuing to fire down upon them, starting to see their own brute with the mini gun beginning to slowly move up. “Dammit. Can’t get an opening to move in.” Just when the pressure from the gang of goons was beginning to mount them all, a sudden shot from behind the lines fires out to the crowd; the wayward bullet of light striking one of the rifleman down. The rest of the armored squadron gazes back up to expect their sniper having finally gotten into position; but are surprised to see him still climbing to the top. Setting their sites below the scaling sniper, they discover the out of the blue bullet to come from the newest of the rising rookies; the scientist aiming the smoking barrel of her rifle towards another of the crooks. As soon as Clara squeezes the trigger, the recoil of her own gun stumbles the scientist back while the piece of light she shot out streaks right past her teammates and straight into the chest of another approaching foe; the blast blowing a hole straight into the poor bastards torso.

With some of the mounting pressure picked off from the hanging sniper, Alphard finally makes it to the very top of the hallway; taking out his trusty sniper rifle and aiming the scope around the outer corner to the rest of the gang of hired thugs. One by one does the elite marksman start to pick off the crooks heads from his perched sniping shot; each of their heads splattering in a shower of brain matter and skull with each bullet fired. Seeing the hallway floor and glass tubes stained with their friends blood, the crew of goons start to retreat back towards the other end of the hallway; Alphard able to take a couple more goons heads before the rest take cover behind the corners. When the rest of the goons still left alive take cover from the sniper perched above, the giant among them peeks the face of his mini gun around the corner and starts to rev up; Alphard withdrawing from his rifle and quickly warning his teammates below that: “I can’t get a shot in!” “My time to shine!” the hulking woman in pink states while jumping out from the cover of one of the sizable glass tubes. Out from the pouch hanging on her back, Ronda pulls out a small sheet of metal and presses the button along the pack of the sleet. Upon this single press of the button does the seemingly tiny sheet of iron swiftly expands into a massively mighty shield donned with the proud maple leaf of Canada. The mini gun that faces the soldiers finally finishes revving up and unloads a glowing storm of light shards down the hall; not a single one of the shots able to pierce through Ronda’s impenetrable defense. Guarding herself and her whole team from the flurry of let hal lights, the muscular woman in pink charges forth towards the other end of the hallway; the troopers still alive behind her moving in along side their higher. The proud soldier in pink soon cuts straight through to their foe’s front lines, her hulking arms snatching the revving mini gun right out of her enemy’s hands; the gun’s owner watching in horror as his only weapon is broken in half by the soldiers bare hands. Seeing his only way of fight back snapped like a twig, the frightened gent weeps in sorrow from the hulking woman before her; his efforts to escape swiftly thwarted when Ronda grasps the mans leg and trips him onto the ground. Pinning the crook down on the ground with her boot, the giant woman just starts to wail on the guy with her gauntlet fists; bits of blood staining the floor as she continues beating on him.

While the giant soldier continues pummeling the poor bastard down, a goon she had failed to notice at the other end of the hall aims her pistol at the back of the hulking woman’s head; ready to squeeze the trigger at any second. Upon the sound of the light firing out, Ronda ceases wailing on the bastard below her and turns back to discover Orwan standing right at her back; the rookie pointing the smoking tip of his rifle at one of the goons that now holds a fresh new hole through her chest. When the lass falls to the floor with a loud clang, the giant woman in pink pats the rookie on the head and compliments his quick save with: “Nice job there, little O. So focused on the ass with the mini gun, I didn’t even see her. Thanks for the save.” “Hey, its the least I could do after all the pointers and practice you gave me.” “He he. Looks like it all payed off for both you and me.” the giant claims while the guy below her feet struggles to even lift even an arm; before the soldier in pink stamps out whatever resistance he has left.

Having prevailed against the horde of invading crooks and mercs, the rest of the squad approaches their superior at the moment; with one of the questioning: “Alright Ronda. What’s next?” Thinking to herself for just a moment, the hulking woman quickly answers the soldier with: “We split up. Cover more ground. You guys go one way while the crew and I go the other. That clear?” “Ma’am, yes ma’am!” the squad salutes with. From the pink soldiers orders, half off the squadron starts marching their way down one part of the hall; Clara walking off in their direction before hearing Orwan ask her: “Where you think you’re going?” “She ordered us to split up, didn’t she?” “And you ain’t coming with us?” Alphard asks her. “You want me to come with?” “Course we do. Ain’t a party unless its just the four of us.” Charmed by the trio’s kind words, the armored scientist turns back to them all and declares that: “Alright, if you guys want me that badly. Guess I can’t say no.” Upon Clara’s agreement, all three of them let out a quiet cheer as she and them start their trek down the glowing hallway; their armor lightly clanging against one another as they walk side by side.

During the fours tour through the running power station, their anticipation starts to boil as the halls ahead all remains silent; with only the ambient glass pipes and sound of their own footsteps giving any sort of company. For at any moment, their foe could pounce upon them from the darkest corners in front or behind them; ready to end their lives at a moments notice.

When coming to a window up ahead, all of them start to slow down upon the its bright glint as it reflects the power passing through the glass pipes; the four of them hugging the wall as they slowly inch to its side. The first out of them to near the window, Orwan takes a little peek through the glass to see what may be lying inside; discovering a couple of people held bound by rope waiting inside a small room. “See anything?” the marksman whispers. “Yeah. Think we might have hostages on our hands.” “Oh god, what do we do?” the scientist wonders. “Not sure, they might have someone watching them. We need a plan.” the other rookie mentions. “I’d say we barge in by surprise and catch them before they got a chance to do anything.” the hulking woman declares. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Clara doubts. “Ain’t like we got much option. From the looks of it, that little room doesn’t got enough space to work with. If we try and take them head on, it could be disastrous” the marksman admits. “Right. We go under the door, then we all barge in at once with our guns.” the buff soldier reviews.

Going with their higher up’s brash little plan, Orwan, Clara, and Alphard all crawl along the bottom of the window; their small figures making it rather easy to stay above the glass. Its when it come to be the woman in pink’s turn to crawl along, Ronda ducks along her legs as far as she could; squeezing her back down in her attempt to get down underneath the window. Her little squeeze down on her knee’s doesn’t really go as plan; a good chunk of her back still over the glass’s border. In seeing the buff woman still on her knees does a little idea spark in the scientist’s head, whispering her to: “Get on you’re stomach.” “What? Why?” “We’ll slide you under the window.” “Hell, no. I ain’t doing that shit.” “You got any better ideas?” Really not able to think of anything better, the high ranking soldier puts her arms and legs straight onto the floor as she simply lies in waiting as Clara inches under the window and grasping both of her hands; the scientist soon being seen dragging the hulking behemoth of a woman across the power plant tile. While Orwan simply stares in confusion, Alphard keeps himself from the cusp of bursting out laughing as he pulls out his holo phone. Once the buff woman makes it fully across the bottom border of the window, all of them rise from the tiled floor and ready themselves to barge in through the doorway; Ronda snatching Alphard’s phone away from him and crushing it with one hand.

Soon enough does the giant woman punch the solid door straight off its doorway; the rest of the armed soldier pointing the tipped barrel of her guns down the rest of the semi lit room as Alphard orders all inside to: “Everyone freeze! Hands in the air!” “Oh, I don’t think so.” someone within denies. The four are shocked to discover among the several tide up workers stands a single crook with a simple pistol; the goon holding the pointed tip of the small futuristic gun right onto the temple of one of the hostages. “Ya’ll best not move a single muscle; else this whole break room is gonna be painted in these people’s brains.” “Just try it, you bastard! See what happens!” Though the giants tone is more then threatening enough, nobody makes a single move under the tense standoff; both parties failing to budge a single inch as each of them keep their fingers on their triggers.

Remaining hidden behind the front line trio, Clara peeks out from between her fellow soldiers to the bastard holding the workers hostage; her eyes trailing over to the side to find some equipment and tubes, giving the scientist a freshly baked idea. While the thug proves none the wiser to her very presence, the young lady scoots out from behind the rest of the squad and squeezes behind some of the towering equipment sat along the side; slowly pacing herself so that her armor doesn’t scrape loud enough to make a sounds. As the armored scientist continues to slowly inch closer to the crooks side, Orwan takes the standoff to question the goon: “Why are you people doing this? This plant provides constantly fed power to billions and billions of people from Canada to the most of the world. What could possibly be worth destroying all that!?” “Aw, but what’s the fun in just straight up telling you. Seems more entertaining to watch all of you constantly guess wrong. Seems any of us aren’t going anywhere anytime soon anyway.” “Don’t give us that crap. We all know you’re simply using these poor people to stall us so that your buddies have have time to do their job and make their escape.” Alphard claims. “Like any of that shit is gonna work out for you guys. We got the whole plant surrounded from top to bottom.” Ronda harshly criticizes. From the giants remark, the goon can’t help but let out a small chuckle before questioning them if: “You think we didn’t plan for all this to happen? My pals and I got every inch of this place figured out; ya’ll won’t even know how we got away til it’s too late.”

Along the very corner of his eye, Orwan starts to notice his fellow rookie inching along behind the break rooms furnishings and equipment, squeezing herself to their foes side with the bastard having next to no clue she’s even there. In hopes of further distracting the armed crook from his stealthy comrade, he repeats his question to him with: “Why?...Just what could you a possibly hoping to get through all of this?” “Well it ain’t any of these poor saps, I can tell ya that much.” the thug denies as he further pushes the tip of the gun against one of the hostages temple. “You’re a Canadian citizen, aren’t you? What could possibly be worth crippling your own nation to such a horrifying extent?” the marksmen then asks. “What else you might think, soldier boy? You know how many companies out there would dream of seeing this whole place go up in smoke? It’d practically be a capitalists orgy dream after that.”

Hearing the hostage holding thug admit all this, Orwan’s hands ball themselves into trembling fists; a harsh growl escaping from his gritting teeth as he furiously expresses how: “It’s all the same with you people, isn’t it? Just amoral slaves to whatever dollar commands you to do, not even giving a single damn about who you have to cheat, rob, or even kill. No matter what ever happens, all of you just obediently follow whoever holds the top bill; caring little for who happen to be burdened or distraught with your uncaring actions. It’s why I came into the military in the first place, to stop uncaring monsters like you!” “Aw, c’mon kid; we ain’t all that bad. I know a couple people in my little gang are just desperate people in tight spots. Families, homelessness, depression. Maybe if you army assholes weren't so gun ho on getting in the action and help the common man out every now and again, we’d have less problems in our little world; would we?” Listening to the goons explanation for how these people were driven to such criminal acts causes the sneaking scientist to stop for a moment, his words reminding her of the sorts of people she had come across in her little journey. It might not be that hard to sympathize with them after seeing what goes on across the wall… A thought that Clara keeps while slowly continues sliding along the pieces of pipe and equipment; hearing her hulking alley then ask the crook: “So then what might be you’re excuse?” “Me? Eh, ya got me. Only in this for the paycheck.”

Hidden between a couple pieces of equipment and the break room fridge, the sneaking scientist starts to slowly peak the barrel of her rifle out between the cracks and aims the very tip towards the unsuspecting crook; picturing his head as the holographic target from the shooting range. Its in keeping this image in her head does she finally pull the rifles trigger; a bullet of light expelling from the tip as the recoil slams the butt of the gun right on the front of her helmet. The knock back of her rifle proves to be strong enough to throw off the scientist’s aim by just a little bit, causing the shard of glowing light to speed straight into the crooks left shoulder; though the miscreant staggers from the unexpected shot nonetheless. In that fleeting moment does her fellow rookie opt to take the opportunity at hand and quickly takes aim with his own rifle, firing a swift shot of glowing light straight through the goons eye; the force of the shot knocking the thugs body onto the ground in a shower of crimson.

As soon as the criminal’s body hits the break room floor, eased breaths escapes from both the soldiers and the hostages as the tension is finally broken; Ronda letting out a deep chuckle as Alphard compliments both the rookies with: “Nice work you two. Managed to get the kill without risking any of the hostages. Even I was hesitant to pull the trigger until you two did something.” “Atta girl, Lara got behind enemy lines and flanked like a real soldier.” the giant adds. “Yeah, really appreciate the save back there. Think we can further enjoy the work you put in by getting us the hell outta here.” one of the hostages requests.

As the rest of her squad starts to untie the plant workers from there binds; the behemoth of a woman take a quick peek out through the broken down doorway; glazing through both ends of the hall for anyone that could aid them in escorting these fine people. In her swift look around the halls, the higher up manages to spot a couple of her fellow soldiers racing along the intersection; Ronda grabbing their attention with: “Oye! You two! We got some people here. Come up and escort them out for us.” “Aye, aye.” “Yes Ma’am.” Turning back inside the break room, the woman with the pink streak gazes over to the untied hostages and claims that: “Don’t worry people. Got me a couple of guys here that’ll escort you outta this building safely.” “Are you people sure you can get the other’s out in time?” another of the workers worries. “Believe us when we say that all of you will make it out of here alive. Trust us. We’re the nations best defense.” the marksmen promises them all.

After the two soldiers start to escort the hostages out towards the exit, the scientist and the trio she accompanies continue deeper down the halls of the power plant; the power flowing through the glass tubes beginning to seem more intense in color. While the other three continue to valiantly march down the hall, Clara walks along their very backside with her head staring down towards the tiled floor; her mind still fixated on the crooks critical words of them all. Finally pulling her head up off the floor, the curious young woman bates the trio’s attention with: “Hey guys.” “Something bugging ya, Lara?” Orwan questions in concern. “Is all that stuff that guy said true. Are the people we’re fighting against just desperate to stay afloat?” “Hm...I’m ain’t gonna doubt that some of them probably are. Hell, they’d probably do a lot worse if they’re lives got any shittier.” “Then why don’t we help them out of their ruts instead of just shooting first and ask questions later?” “Pretty simple there. We’re a military unit, we ain’t no charity. It ain’t a pretty picture, but its one we gotta paint. Desperate or not, it ain’t no excuse to hurt good working people.” Ronda blatantly puts out. “But...It can’t be set in stone like that. Surely there has to be another way to help them all.” “Sounds like you’d be better off at K-labs then working as a military dog.” Alphard comments. “Really?” “Course, that sort of attitude is like the very blood that flows through them. Working themselves tirelessly for the human endeavor.” the marksman adds. “All the lab rats over there are constantly researching on new ways to help the rest of the world and make people’s lives better. Even after the great U.S. war, none of them stop for a single moment in the name of mankind.” Orwan explains. “But hasn’t it been years since the war? Why is it taking them so long to help the people we’re fighting out?” the scientist question. “Cause research and development takes time and money. Money that they take from companies to make all sorts of unique products that can help them sail further down that road; even taking offers from the nations military just to keep their doors open. Practically the only thing they’ve developed that wasn’t for a company was those rejuvenation chambers. Even then, they had to lay those off to be sold.” the giant woman claims. “Until they do find a way to solve those kinds of problems. We just gotta trust that the people over at the lab’s will hope to one day they’ll have some sort of scientific break through or something.” Alphard finishes with. “But this really all we can do?” the scientist wonders. To their fellow comrades question, none of the trio could give any sort of answers to her, simply glaring to one another beyond the visors of their helms.

Their little life reflecting stroll comes to an abrupt end when the trio make an unexpected halt right in the middle of the hallway; the scientist bumping right upon her fellow soldiers backs and nearly falling to the floor. After catching herself from tumbling down onto the tile, Clara glances to their sides while asking them all: “What’s the matter? Why’d we stop?” When her little question baits not a single response out from any of the three, the armored scientist strolls over to their side while continuing with: “Come guys, I’m serious. What’s gotten in...to...you?” Her words start to trail off when sharing in what her comrades were staring upon; all four of them gazing to a giant hole blown out onto the side of the hallway: the other side of the hole holding nothing but a stairwell that leads into darkness. “What uh...what happened here?” she attempts to question. No no no no no no no no no no no no no.” her fellow rookie nervously repeats while races out to the blown open hole. “Orwan, what’s the matter with you.” Alphard concerns while him and the others come to the rookie’s side. “This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.” the fresh meat continues to sputter in his panic. Before the rookie could further rant to himself, the woman with the pink streak grabs him by the shoulders; shaking him around as she demands him to: “Speak, damn you!”

As soon as the giant ceases shaking the young man, they hear him suddenly state that: “I know how they’re gonna tear down the plant.” “Really? How?” the scientist wonders. “Are they planning to shut down the cores mechanisms?” Alphard guesses on. “Worse. They’re gonna topple the whole place down.” While Ronda’s starts to set the young man back down onto the floor, the other rookie further guesses on his statement with: “You mean all at once? How?” “Their aiming for the support beams downstairs! If we don’t get to them in time, then this whole place will come falling down! It’ll be a disaster! Come on!” “Hold on a moment! Since when did anybody lend you command of this little squad here? You forget who might be the higher rank here? It ain’t like you know you’re way around this place.” Ronda doubts. “Oh, is that what you think? I practically spent almost a quarter of my teenage years working in this very power plant to make money for my family; I know every single part of this plant like the back of my hand. And I can damn well tell you right now that if you don’t let me lead the way, were all gonna wind up in a crashing pile of crumbling stone and broken glass. So you could tell me to get back in line and have us just wonder around waiting for all of us to die, or you could stop waffling around like a bunch of slack jawed moron and have someone who knows there way around this place take the helm. Your choice ma’am.” Both the scientist and marksmen grow utterly silent upon the rookie’s defiance against the higher ranking soldier; the hulking giant of a woman herself staring down to Orwan before her gaze rises while a hearty guffaw escapes from underneath her helm. Once the giants laughter starts to die down, Ronda glares right down to the smaller rookie before her and mentions how: “That’s the kind of backbone I like seeing outta newbies. You lead the way, solider.” With the higher ranking officer relinquishing command to the rookie, Orwan leads the others through the blown in hole and down the steps; the streaks on their armor letting out a faint glow as all of them descend into the darkness.

Their climb down the spiraling stairwell soon has them reach the very bottom of the power plant’s basement; the grate they step on letting out the brilliant glow from the running power pipes underneath; piercing through the sub levels pitch black darkness. When faced with the basements stretching corridors, Clara can’t help but lament on its sheer size with: “Jesus! This looks so long and confusing. How exactly do you know where you’re going here?” “I spent quiet a good chunk of my working hours down in this sweat inducing pit of humming power, had to come down here almost every week to do maintenance on the piping and structure so things wouldn’t spiral to absolute hell.” “Speaking of which. How can you be so sure that these bastards are aiming for the support beams? The core would likely be a better choice.” the scientist questions. “It’d be the obvious choice, sure. It’s why they didn’t take it.” Ronda then answers. “What do you mean?” Clara further asks. “The briefing Vira gave said that these guys were slowly replacing the staff here before they got busted in hopes of mapping out the place. I’m betting with how secretive they were trying to be, going for the support beams would’ve been their best bet.” the giant continues to explain. With a quick snap of his fingers, the rookie leading the pack turns to Ronda and claims that she’s: “Right on the mark there. If even one of this plants support beams start to come crashing down, it would only be a matter of time before the entire place fell with it.” “If that might be the case, then it would maybe wise to split up to cover more ground; get to multiple beams and stop these destructive goons from there.” the marksman suggests to them. “Afraid that really ain’t you’re best bet there, Alphard. This whole sub basement is like a literal death maze, with tons and tons of twist and turns just littering the corridors. Once when I got lost down here for about half a week, I had to eat my clothes just to keep from dying of hunger. You know how stupidly easy it is to choke on a knot of a work shirt?” Among the awkward silence that the rookie’s unorthodox question, all that the giant woman among them could answer with was: “Uh...yeah...” “Right. So I guess we’re sticking together for this.” the scientist states. “Correct, my fellow rookie. The kind of navigating bullshit around here won’t be a lot with me by your side. Just follow my footstep and you’ll all be fine.” On the rookies suggestion do all of them follow his lead through the power plants sub level basement; Orwan navigating them through the confusing and twisted corridors of rough steel and concrete; the power flowing through the pipes reflecting of the surface of their armor.

Its in their little trip through the plants illuminating tunnels does the rookie eventually lead them straight to a regular hatch door of raw iron, the rough texture of the doorway making it seem rather archaic. “My goodness, an actual door. Surely a rare site these days.” Alphard comments. “Yep, should tell you pretty much how old this plant is. Practically stood for years on end, even before I was born. Beyond their harsh steel stands the towering pillars that hold this whole place together.” Grabbing hold of the hatches valve, the scrawny rookie struggles to turn the door open as he continues with: “And so, these hatches were designed...to keep the foundation of this entire plant secure...from those that would do it...harm!” Despite attempting to turn the wheel with as much strength as he could possibly muster, the valve budges not a single inch for the rookie; Orwan tumbles right onto the floor in his last pull against the stubborn steel. While the soldier starts to catch his breath, the rookie arises from the steel grate under his feet as he politely asks out: “Hey, Ronda...You mind helping me out with-” Before the young lad could even finish asking his request, the hulking woman throws a mighty swing straight through the valve door; knocking the hard iron right off its hinges. “Thank you...”

Beyond the iron frame where the valve door stood; the four soldiers all rush right inside and find themselves within massively wide chamber; the first thing their eyes catch being a thick, tall tower of steel and concrete that towers high above, none of them able to see the very top of the pillar among the shadows above. Holy hell on earth! How far down did we go?” the scientist wonders aloud “Oh my god! This ain’t good!” she then hears Alphard curse. Glancing in the rest of the gangs direction, Clara looks their way to find them all staring at the very base of the pillar; joining their side to find them staring upon a pink box the size of a medium sized package attached to the surface. The only notable parts that stand out to them other then the LED clock counting down from 4 minutes be a magnified atom encased in glass. “What’s the big deal. Just looks like any old bomb to me. Doubt it would even put a dent in with how much concrete and steel this towering bad boy is made of.” “Orwan. I don’t think you understand the magnitude of what we’re dealing with here. This isn’t any sort of ordinary bomb. This common birthday surprise toy is attached to a degradation accelerator.” Both the hulking woman nor the rookie reacts even a little bit to the marksman’s realization, the giant out of them all wondering with: “What.” “It means that it doesn’t matter how well structure this support beam is. Once that counter reaches zero; the energy from that atom is going to cause the entire thing to age at an astounding rate. Its entire atomic structure will quickly decay and collapse under its own weight.” the armored scientist among them points out. “Exactly.”

“Then what the hell we going staring at it like some fireworks show gone horribly wrong!? Lets rip this thing off!” the hulking giant suggest as she starts to reach for the box. Moment before her gauntlets could even reach for a single piece of its plastic, the scientist suddenly jumps right in her way; Clara pleading to her to: “Don’t do it! This kind of technology is very sensitive and unstable. One wrong move could cause a catastrophic temporal anomaly.” “Then what the hell are we supposed to do? There ain’t nearly enough time to get the bomb squad down here.” the marksman wonder. “You seem to know a good chunk about this stuff Lara. Think you disable it?” Orwan then asks. “I...” Turning back to the plastic box itself for a closer look, the young scientist notices the casing of the box to be rather familiar to her; soon asking the trio if: “Are the clocks on these boxes standard issue?” “Sure are, I just got one from my aunt’s birthday about a month ago, had the same LED counter and everything.” the other rookie confirms. “Then I might be able to work with this. I just need a knife.” Upon this request does her fellow rookie then pull out a standard issue knife from the side of his upper leg plate, tossing the dagger across the chamber and right into his partners hands; the scientist thanking him with: “Nice Orwan. Now I just need to...”

As soon as the dagger lands in the palm of her gauntlet, the young lady thrusts its sharp tip right into the boxes face; prying the surface open to expose the wiring of the box hog wired into the degradation accelerator, the insides of which bares all too familiar to the scientist. Knew it. This circuitry connecting the box to this atom is the exact kind that Arthur had worked on before this whole mess happened. This is his design to a tee…But why is it in something like this? The way its wired into this little box makes it seem like it was just stitched onto it. These guys just might’ve ripped off parts from some of the appliances he made and attempted to connect it to them to make a makeshift bomb. Guess for a couple of crooks, they did an okay job; still see a couple of mistakes to exploit. Just cut this wire… Unhook this from the coupling...rewire the clock of this mechanism…

Watching the scientist tinker with the insides from behind, their face plates open up to air out their nervously sweating foreheads; Alphard breaking from the group to approach as he tries to suggest that: “Maybe we should just leave it alone, we can still get out in time before this whole place comes to a-” Before the marksman could even reach for the young woman shoulder, another hand suddenly grasp his own; Alphard gazing back to discover his higher ranking partner to be holding onto him while shaking her head. This proves to be incentive enough to grow quiet and leave Clara to continue messing with the circuitry; the scientist weaving through wires and chips while the LED clock starts to pass the 30 second mark. After a couple more tense moments, Clara finally unhooks one last wire from within and soon turns back towards her fellow comrades to claim that she’s: “All done.” From the scientist statement do the trio gaze upon the LED counter along the face, witnessing the clock continue to drop down from 10 seconds. “But...its still counting down...” Orwan nervously points out. “Yep. Just wait.” Like their friend advises, the trio watch the LED clock tick further down, each second passing with their limbs trembling more and more. Once the clock strikes zero, the three prepare for the worse, awaiting for the pillar before them to begin rotting before their eyes. To their surprise however, their ears catch not the sound of decaying stone and steel, but rather a delightful little birthday tune echoing through the chamber; all of them glancing back to the box just in time to witness it blow out some string and confetti.

As soon as the first bits of confetti start fluttering onto the ground, the trio of soldiers all eagerly gather around the scientist and lift her up high, their cheers ringing through the sub level tunnels. “Nice going!” Orwan cheers. “Atta girl there, rookie.” Ronda add. “Honestly quiet a surprise.” Alphard admits. “Yeah, kind of a shock for me too. Almost thought those adjustments would backfire. Thankfully, I knew how to reroute the power away from the detonator and loop it back into itself.” the scientist explains as she’s slowly put back down. “See, its this shit here that makes me think your wasting your talent working as a military dog. You got one hell of a mind in that pretty face of yours.” the hulking giant points out. “I’m sure that K-Labs would be more than happy to accept somebody like you.” Alphard adds. “You guys really think so?” “Of course. The way you worked on disabling the bomb and keeping it from destroying one of this plants pillars was just amazing to watch.” “Well, yeah. I guess watching all of it from the outside can look almost like nothing, but its still like an intense race on the- Did you just say one of the pillars?” Clara then question. “Yeah, plant here has about three of them down here. I’m just glad we found the one they planted the bomb on.” As a delightful giggle escapes from the young man, all three of his fellow soldiers glare upon him with a calm, disbelieving eyes; Orwan’s laughter dying down before he questions them all: “There was just one bomb, wasn’t there?” As if to tempt the very universe itself, all of them soon feel a powerful quake pass through the entire basement; Clara nearly losing her footing from the sudden tremors.

Far deeper within the power plants sub level, beyond basements other valve doors stood a once imposing column of stone and steel cracking apart at the very seems; the source of its rapid decay coming from a bright pink box with an enlarged atom planted at its very base. Its in this decaying process that the towering pillar starts to collapse under its own incredible weight, the entire chamber it resides in starting to be filled with pieces of the crumbling column.

As the plants twisted basement halls crumble around them, the four soldier sprint through the corridors as they starts to collapse at the seems; the glass pipes holding power beneath the grate they run on beginning crack and let sparks of power leak out. While dodging the sparks that leak beneath their feet, the scientist among them wonders: “Where are we even gonna run to!? The whole city will practically be a crater when this whole place comes down!” “Yeah, don’t worry about that. The core’s got an emergency steel shell that’ll protected from being damaged. It’ll get through all of this just fine.” the other rookie points out. In saying this statement in confidence is his attention then baited to the back of the fleeting group; coming to witness the pipes full of power behind them suddenly burst one by one; causing an entire wave of searing luminescence to pursue the four. “I don’t know if I can say the same about any of us though! Keep moving!” With the wave of burning glow biting at their tails, the armored squad continue to sprint through the underground tunnels as the cracks forming along the wall start to spread further; the scientist feeling the back of her suit begin to heat up as the pursuing light edges closer and closer.

While racing away from the wave of light, Orwan leads the pack up, through, and around the plant basements twisting tunnels as they’re on the verge of collapse; the young rookie soon able to make out the stairs that they had descended from. “I see the stairs! Come on!” While three of them start their climb up towards the top of the steps, the giant among them stays at the base of the steps; facing the oncoming wave of untamed power. “Ronda, what are you doing!?” the scientist frantically questions. “You guys go ahead. I got this.” Ronda answers with while pulling out her mighty shield as the wave of light nears. With a button press on the back, the hulking woman expands the small sheet of metal in her hands into a massively defensive blockade; her shield grows just in time to keep the intense wave of illuminating power at bay. As the giant in pink holds off the surging power beneath them, the three stop to glance down to their humongous comrade just she gazes up and orders them to: “Go! Now!” “But-” Clara utters out before Alphard grasps her side and pulls her up. “Come on!”

During their dash up the trembling spiral step, Clara takes a glance down towards the base of the stairwell; still able to witness the bright glimmers of loose power shinning through the darkness. “You guys think she’s gonna be alright?” the scientist questions the boys. “You kidding? This is Ronda we’re talking about. I once saw her stop a runaway bus with just her bare hands.” Orwan mentions. “Yes. There’s a reason she’s achieved such a high rank among the pack. I’m certain she’ll be fine.” Alphard adds to ease her woe’s. Despite her friends reassurance, the scientist can’t help but return her gaze down towards the base of the stairs; the glimmer of the pushing light growing smaller as they continue their climb up towards the surface.

In the trio’s climb up the steps do all of them eventually start to near the hole to the 1st floor, where the faint light of the hallway pierces through the pitch black stairwell; the three soldiers hasting up the steps while the surface of their armor reflects the approaching glow. Leaping right through the blasted in doorway, the three of them flop their bodies right onto the hallway floor; the clangs of their metal armor overlapping the crumbling noise around them. “Finally out from the claustrophobic nightmare. Now just to find the exit.” Alphard sighs. “Shouldn’t we wait for Ronda?” the scientist suggest to them.

Just when the young woman proposes this, all three of them then feel another trembling quake pass on through; all of them keeping their footing stable as the floor shakes beneath them. As the halls that surround them continue to tremble, their attention is soon drawn back to the hole they had just jumped out from; a growing glow beginning to shine out from the stair well all of them climbed up. The brilliant light grows ever more intense with each passing moment, its luminosity reaching that of a spotlight before a the wave of untamed power finally erupts from the depths of the plants basement like an active volcano; all of them soon witnessing a hulking figure expelled out alongside the flowing electricity. When the smoldering figure crashes right onto the floor, the three of them swiftly gather around the body as the smoke engulfing it starts to dissolve at the seems; revealing the person underneath to be the hulking woman with the pink streak herself. “Ronda!” Clara exclaims. “See, told you she’d be fine. Bitch is built like a beast.” Alphard insists. “Who the hell you callin a bitch?” the giant utters out in response. “We’re just glad to see you alright.” Orwan cuts in with. “Yeah...same thing can’t be said about my shield though.” the buff lass professes while getting back on her feet; showing her shield to have been reduced to nothing but a smoldering slab of metal; the cracks decorating the face having it seem on the verge of crumbling to pieces. “Shame to go out like this too. Old boy’s helped me defend so much.” “It’s alright there, bud. We can get ya another one when we get outta here.” the young rookie affirms. Assuring this to his hulking comrade do all of them feel another tremor shaking the very halls around them; the quake this time strong enough to cause huge chunks of the ceiling to start to collapse. “You mean if we get outta here! Run!” the scientist shouts. Upon the young woman’s screaming doubt do all four of them continue their escape out from within the crumbling power plant; sprinting along the hallway as they collapse at the seems.

In their desperate hurry through the corridors of the collapsing power plant, none of the four witness the roof above them beginning to crumble above them; a sizable chunk of the ceiling plummeting down to the soldiers below. While the three of them run right underneath the descending slabs growing shadow, Clara on the other hand fails to race past in time; taking in the full brunt of the unexpected piece of stone roof. When feeling the crashing impact quake right behind them, the three soldiers turn back to their comrade to discover her crushed under the stone; Orwan exclaiming out in horror: “Lara!” “I got it!” the giant among them claims as she approaches the broken off piece of ceiling. With nothing but her bare hands, the buff woman lifts the heavy piece of rock right off the small scientist body; hastily tossing the chunk of stone off her fellow soldier’s backside. As the other two then approach, all of them take a gander to the young woman lying on the ground; all of them panicked to discover her armored plating to have wound up being bent inward. “Oh...Oh god. This ain’t good.” Alphard utters. “There ain’t no way any of us can carry her out like this. The dents in her armor could cause her to bleed.” the hulking giant claims. “Hang on. I know how to strip it off.” the rookie states as he kneels down to the girl below his feet.

Orwan starts to glide his hand along the scientist back plate, sticking his fingers straight into a couple of small holes planted along the back of the armor for just a few moments; the rookie pressing down on the buttons long enough for the individual pieces to glow pale white. As soon as the glowing lines finally dim, the sound of escaping compressed air briefing eclipses the crumbling halls around them; the pieces of armor that had once cocooned her whole body detaching from one another and exposing slivers of her body. Almost immediately after the pieces detach does Orwan begin to pull the bent pieces of armor right off of Clara’s body; finding only a couple of minor bleeding scratches and bruises as he takes apart her steel plating. As more and more of the unconscious scientist’s disguise is striped off, both the marksman and the giants eyes shrink under their helms as they start to see more pieces of her; dissolving their face plates to show their increasing shock. Both soon come to an explosive realization when the rookie finally unmasks the young woman before them; letting loose the scientist long hair slink down towards the ground.

Having fully undressed the scientist armor off, Orwan lifts the unconscious woman off the ground by his shoulders and turns to both of his fellow soldiers; suggesting to them that: “Right, now that we got all that off. Lets get outta here before this whole place comes...down on our...heads?” Right then and there does the rookie then finally notices the shocked astonishment on both of his friends faces; both of their pair of eyes glued to the woman held in his arms. “Um...Guys...Something up? I don’t think we got time to stand around.” “Orwan…Do you know who you’re currently carrying in your arms?” Alphard questions him. “What, are you guys kidding me? Its one of our own? This ain’t funny guys, come on!” “You’re right on that. This sure ain’t a funny fucking joke. But that sure as hell ain’t one of our own.” the hulking higher up claims, her shocked stare slowly beginning to bitter into furious rage. While held within the rookie’s arms, the slumping scientist starts to regain her consciousness; her hearing returning as she catches the marksman claiming that: “How the hell can you not recognize who you’re holding!? It was all over the neural network about a week ago!” Upon hearing him claim this, Clara starts looking down to the rest of her body as she starts to awaken; her hair beginning to stand on end as she discovers the armor that once masked her appearance gone, fully exposing her clothing to the rest of the crew. Her horrifying dread finally grasps her when she hears Ronda reveal her true identity as: “Don’t you get it yet, god dammit!? That’s the same woman who aided the terrorist attack on the power plant back in buffalo; the same one that crossed into one very borders!” “...W-W-what!” the rookie utters out.

Slipping out from Orwans arms, the exposed scientist starts to slowly back away from the trio who see her for who she really is, the rookie gazing upon her in disbelief while the other glare with scorn. “And to think you had the audacity to wear one of our uniform; hiding right from under us while we gave you our camaraderie. The thought of it just sickens me!” the giant angrily laments, the marksman beside her aiming the pointed barrel of his rifle right in between the scientist’s eyes. Despite freshly discovering all of this, Orwan stands to block his own comrades aim; demanding that all of them: “Hold on a second!” “Orwan, move...That is an order!” Ronda harshly demand. “You can’t, she can’t possibly be the terrorist you guys are talking about!” “Her description was all over the neural network. Confirmed by the mounties of Mississauga. Face, skin color, hair, everything...It’s undoubtedly her. All those people that worked over at the plant that we provided for the crippled city...All left in blood soaked ruins because of her and her little gang of self righteous bastards.” Alphard reinforces. “But she had our backs the entire time she’s been with us. She help us save all those people held at gunpoint.” Orwan attempts to counter with. “Do you honestly think that makes up for the countless others that she helped murder!?” the hulking giant barks up. From his higher ups questioning response, the rookie could think of little left to attempt and defend his accused comrade with; left at an utter silence from Ronda’s answer. Standing right behind the rookie himself, Clara’s entire body refuses to cease trembling as she starts to back away from the three that once called her a fellow comrade; the marksman out of them keeping his aim towards the scientist. As she slowly backs away from them all, the rookie’s face plate dissolves to unveil the concerning glare laying behind it; Orwan begging to her with: “Lara...Please…Just turn yourself in.”

Just before a single one of them could take the moment of harsh tension to act, the crumbling ceiling above them finally begins to give way under its own weight; the chunks of stone and glass plummeting down towards the entire four. Moments before the entire mess of debris could crash upon them all, Clara proves apart from them all to reliably lunge away from the falling mix of rock and glass; the crashing descent coating the hall in a thin cloud of dust. Once the dust of the rubble starts to spread thin, the scientist finds the pieces of ceiling and piping all being stacked up high; barricading the direction she and the others were heading down. Seeing not a single sign of her former comrade anywhere in site, the young woman starts to race the other way in her frantic search for another exit before the whole place comes down; paralyzing in place when hearing the rookies voice from under the rubble weakly call out to her: “Lara...”

Turning her horrified gaze back towards the mountain of crumbled stone and broken glass, Clara comes to witness Orwans arm sliding out from underneath the rubble; hearing the rookie continue to weakly plead to her: “Please...Help...” Along side the young man’s heartbreaking cries for help, the young woman could also hear both the marksman and the giant echo out from under the rock and glass; Alphard and Ronda cursing out with: “Dammit...not like this...” “Can’t...fucking...move...” Tears begin to roll down her cheeks as she further hear the trio’s desperate pleads and frustrations, left at a proverbial fork in the road upon what should be done in this fleeting moment.

They need help. But they could kill me. They welcomed me. But they know who I am. They’re good people. But they’ll turn me in. They’re doing to die. But if they get out, I might die. They had my back. But they aimed their guns at me. I don’t want them to die. But if you go back in time and undo all this, they won’t even exist.

It doesn’t matter.

None of it really did...

Right then and there is the scientist mind finally set on what should be done, turning her back away from the buried trio and start her sprint through the hall while the plant still stood. Helpless but to watch as his and his friends possible hope of rescue abandons them all, the buried rookies eyes welling with sorrowing tears as his groans of pain grow utterly silent.

Back outside the crumbling power plant, the rest of the soldiers finish escorting nearly all of the workers out as the facility was on the verge of crumbling to nothing but rock; the buildings surrounding them flickering in the night as more of the plant falls apart. Not long after they escape do they bare witness to the massive plant finally give way under its own imposing weight; the pieces that crash upon the ground creating clouds of dust that shroud throughout the entire block. Hidden within the veil of broken concrete and glass; the escaping scientist races past the dozens and dozens of soldiers lost within the shroud; racing down the block as the eventual blackouts begin to roll on through. Despite being hidden with the encroaching shadows, the mournful tears that roll down her face glisten within the crescent moonlight as she races further into the midnight city’s concealing darkness.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you so much for reading. I figured that in the home stretch, I wanted to write something that put emphasis on how logically pointless any sort of actions Clara would do if she succeeded in going back in time and preventing the war; and have that logical thinking part of her self conflict with her emotional and moral aspect. Figured the best way to do that is to make a couple of lovable characters that she befriends find out who she really is and have her leave them to die so she could continue her mission. The next chapter will be in the home stretch from here, just a few more Chapters until the end. Hope you guys stick around for the finale I got planned.

[antoine-roquentin]

The Vietnam War had a further pernicious effect: it helped make possible the paramilitary expression of racist sentiment. In the first half of the 20th century the American far right had conducted a campaign of violence against blacks and others, especially in the South. But while they could rely on the support of large sections of society for their cause, their main aim was to instil fear rather than to try to realise fantasies of extermination or separatism. The capacity for more directed violence among white power groups that became evident in the 1980s would not have been possible without their Vietnam training and access to weapons stolen from military bases. Faced with an economic recession exacerbated by the war’s vast expenditures, many veterans believed they would never find ordinary employment, which led some to gravitate toward the fringes of American society both left and right.

John Rambo, for his part, did both. In First Blood (1982), Sylvester Stallone’s character is a ‘half-German, half-Indian’ veteran, traumatised by the war, who arrives in a small town to pay his respects to a black comrade killed by exposure to Agent Orange. Mistaken for a hippie grafter, he is hounded by the local police and struggles to find work: ‘There [in Vietnam] I flew helicopters, drove tanks, had equipment worth millions. Here I can’t even work parking!’ But in Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo turns right, fighting the Vietnam War all over again single-handed. ‘Sir,’ he asks, ‘do we get to win this time?’

‘Bring the war home’: what began as an anti-war slogan on the American left was appropriated by the extreme right as a proclamation of intent. Louis Beam – one of the major strategists of the paramilitary right and a central figure in Belew’s book – was a decorated veteran who had logged more than a thousand hours as a door-gunner on Huey choppers. Back home he promptly joined the Louisiana chapter of the KKK, beginning a career that seamlessly combined white power fanaticism with anti-communism. In 1977, Beam received a grant from the state of Texas to build a simulated Vietnamese rice paddy in swampland near Houston: here, he trained recruits as young as 13 to kill an imaginary enemy. Four years later a promising opportunity presented itself. A number of South Vietnamese refugees had been resettled on the other side of Galveston Bay, and local shrimp farmers didn’t want the competition. Beam seized on these fears and gave a speech to a crowd of 250 white farmers. Shortly afterwards a group of them set out and burned two Vietnamese boats, torched crosses on their lawns, and patrolled the bay on a ship equipped with a small cannon and a mannequin hanging from a noose. The campaign of intimidation was ended by the Southern Poverty Law Centre, which won a court order to disband Beam’s group and close his training camps.

Crucially, as Belew shows, most American paramilitary groups in the years after Vietnam considered themselves vigilantes. They were taking up the fight themselves because they believed the state was too cowardly or too paralysed to defend itself against Judeo-communist usurpers: the liberal establishment was infiltrated, or naive, or merely weak, unable to contend with a communist agenda that sought to destroy white nativist values and identity. In this conspiracy, blacks often featured as unwitting pawns, but that did not spare them from being targeted. In 1979, nine vehicles carrying Klansmen and neo-Nazis – most of them veterans – drove to the site of a march in Greensboro, North Carolina, where members of the Communist Workers’ Party were protesting against the Klan’s attempt to sabotage their organising of black textile workers. Five of the protesters were killed in a shoot-out; 12 were wounded. The trial that followed resulted in acquittals for all of the accused, including the local police informants who had guided the assailants to the march.

Then, in 1980, Ronald Reagan arrived. Here was a president who quoted Rambo, referred to the Vietnam War as ‘the noble cause’ and told veterans that they had been ‘denied permission to win’. Reagan not only made it clear that he intended to open new fronts in the Cold War, he even appeared to some on the far right to be paying tribute to their tactics. In 1981 a motley group of a dozen mercenaries in Louisiana – Klansmen, neo-Nazis, arms smugglers – were caught by the FBI hatching a hare-brained scheme to topple the government of the Caribbean island of Dominica and restore a puppet dictator through whom they would launder funds to the KKK and prepare a staging ground to conquer Grenada. The press mocked their failure as ‘the Bayou of Pigs’ (the plan to collaborate with a splinter group of local Rastafarians to take down what was already a right-wing government strained credulity). But as Belew notes, the US invaded Grenada two years later and justified its coup with language remarkably similar to that of the Dominican plotters, who, like Reagan, referred to the island as a ‘Soviet-Cuban colony’.

The paramilitary right had a tense but ultimately productive relationship with Reagan. In 1979 the anti-communist Georgia congressman Larry McDonald established the Western Goals Foundation, a privately funded version of the House Un-American Activities Committee, which had been wound up four years earlier. Like HUAC, McDonald’s database stored files on thousands of Americans deemed ‘subversives’, especially those who – it was imagined – might be agitating on behalf of communist movements in Central America. The information the foundation gathered was shared with the FBI and other state agencies, along with the recommendation that the government outsource the work of counter-insurgency to the very same private security firms that were helping to fund the foundation. The increased privatisation of US state violence under the Reagan administration fitted neatly with the president’s more general anti-statist rhetoric.

Kyle Burke provides a guide to this dark underground territory of the Cold War. Just as the civil rights movement spanned the globe, so too did the reaction against it. In some regions it was the reaction that proved more enduring. Burke devotes space to the largely neglected World Anti-Communist League, founded in Taiwan in 1966. The league was remarkable for its fusion of Eastern and Western anti-communist funding and expertise. The US branch was organised by a gay ex-socialist from Brooklyn, Marvin Liebman, who had converted to anti-communism after reading Elinor Lipper’s Gulag memoir. Having recruited the US congressman Donald Judd and the Catholic priest Daniel Lyons, Liebman travelled to Taipei and helped draft the league’s agenda; at the league’s 1974 conference William F. Buckley gave the keynote address. And then there was John Singlaub, a retired general and another of the league’s main organisers, who thought the US government had fumbled the urban counter-insurgency against the Black Panthers and other radical groups, and that lessons should be learned from the admirable ruthlessness with which Latin American and East Asian authoritarians had crushed their leftist opponents.

In its early years the league stirred with impossible ambitions, such as winning back China for the Kuomintang. By the early 1970s, however, it had narrowed its focus. League affiliates in Chile and Argentina were considered to have helped score major successes – including Pinochet’s coup and the Dirty War. But as Burke shows, the league and its offshoots’ activities gradually became too radical for most of its American members: too many of those involved, such as the Ukrainian nationalist Yaroslav Stetsko, openly flaunted their fascist pedigrees, while groups such as Tecos in Mexico, which had once been recruited by the Nazis to fight on the US-Mexico border, waged an open campaign of terror against Castro-inspired rebels that included bombings, assassinations and kidnappings, all barely countered by the Mexican security forces.

One of the league’s main purposes was to serve as a headhunting and staffing agency for anti-communist operations. Liebman and Singlaub – whom Reagan commended for giving him ‘more material for my speeches than anybody else’ – became middlemen for right-wing networks that channelled millions of dollars from respectable sources (the beer magnate Joseph Coors was a major donor) to anti-communist causes and counter-insurgency operations around the world. Their largesse was spread wide. Liebman founded the Friends of Rhodesian Independence, which led tours for US government officials and professors, while Singlaub helped fund arms shipments to groups like the Contras in Nicaragua. Special interests sometimes clashed. In Angola, Chevron managed to forge an oil exploration agreement with the communist MPLA guerrillas, just as Singlaub and others – including a young consultant called Paul Manafort – successfully lobbied to get the Reagan administration to back their client, Jonas Savimbi. That the US government would hinder American companies from operating in South Africa, an anti-communist ally, but allow them to work with a communist regime in Angola outraged Singlaub and his colleagues. They soon called for a boycott of Chevron and encouraged Savimbi to attack the company’s Angolan properties.

In Rhodesia, the interests of American white power internationalism and American anti-communism dramatically converged. In 1965, Ian Smith’s white supremacist regime unilaterally declared Rhodesian independence from Britain, emboldened by support from across the US political establishment, from Dean Acheson to Bob Dole. When Reagan, as a presidential candidate, began flirting with the idea of backing white Rhodesians against Robert Mugabe’s growing insurgency, several hundred American mercenaries were already fighting there. Congressional attempts to establish the exact number – let alone stop them – made little progress. Not-so-covert action in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) continued even after Mugabe came to power in 1980. As late as 1999, three Americans from a right-wing church in Indiana were arrested at Harare airport while apparently engaged in a plot to assassinate Mugabe. (His paranoia wasn’t always unjustified.)

One lingering puzzle in the history of the paramilitary American right is why, in the early 1980s, a small but significant part of the movement began to rebel against the US state itself. During Reagan’s first term a few thousand members of the KKK and various ersatz militias started down a path that would eventually lead to serious clashes with federal authorities. In 1984, the white nationalist Robert Jay Mathews founded Brüder Schweigen, also known as The Order, a group that sought to bring down the US government. After robbing a series of banks to secure funds for the cause, Mathews was killed in a shoot-out with federal agents on Whidbey Island in Washington State, though his co-conspirators were acquitted of sedition by an all-white jury. Even if we grant Belew’s point that members of the American right had periodically risen up against the US government, Reagan’s election was in part an expression – and a vindication – of an explicitly anti-government creed. So why did elements of the paramilitary right turn against the government during his first term?

Part of the answer seems to be that Reagan was simply too little, too late. The most extreme wing of the radical right was already strongly critical of some of his appointments, especially of ‘internationalists’ such as George H.W. Bush, James Baker and Caspar Weinberger. Weinberger was one of the few figures in the administration to show concern about white extremism. Reagan only made matters worse by allying himself with Jewish neoconservatives, who his far-right critics believed controlled the ‘Zionist Occupation Government’. The spectre of the ZOG had emerged in mid-1970s American neo-Nazi literature, which updated the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for a new generation. It was a case of badly dashed expectations: Reagan was surrounding himself with neoconservatives who purported to share the paramilitaries’ anti-communist passion while secretly they were scheming to divert American power to their own cabalistic hyper-capitalism. By elevating the identity-erasing power of the purely rational marketplace they were really instituting a form of communism under a different name.

So from the vantage point of white power, the Reagan ‘revolution’ was anything but. ‘We spent fifty years trying to elect a conservative and what have we got?’ Robert Weems, a former KKK chaplain, asked at a rally of paramilitaries in 1984. The Reagan administration, Weems declared, doesn’t ‘take on the international bankers and the Federal Reserve; they think that’s part of our glorious capitalist heritage … They don’t take on the Zionists at all because they are the Chosen and our Number One ally in the Middle East … [and they won’t] take any stand for the white race and its preservation either.’ The extremism of Weems’s anti-capitalism marks the point where antisemitic white power and the wider anti-communist movement parted ways on questions of principle. But this should not lead us to dismiss the wide areas of common cause between white power fellow-travellers – whom Belew estimates at around 450,000 Americans – and today’s most prominent inheritors of the anti-communist tradition: free-market internationalists, or ‘globalists’, as their enemies call them. The current US president’s appeal to white nativists – the manna raining daily from Twitter – is in this sense hardly contradicted by the fact that he surrounds himself with veterans of Wall Street.

How, then, could white nationalism further its aims in the post-Vietnam era? One possible avenue was through the democratic system. In 1984, the racialist lobbyist Willis Carto founded the Populist Party, which bundled together ideas of racial purity, anti-Jewish conspiracy thinking and concerns about the money supply – in particular any kind of inflationary monetary policy that might benefit the wrong kind of poor people. The party appeared on ballot papers in 14 states, yet Carto’s efforts amounted to little more than a publicity vehicle for figures such as the Klansman David Duke and Green Beret vigilante Bo Gritz. In a bout of white power infighting, the neo-Nazi factions of the white power movement hounded Carto as a swindler of right-wing funds, and a ‘swarthy’ man of questionable racial make-up.

The second seriously considered option was what became known as the Northwest Territorial Imperative, the aim being to consolidate the white race in the already very white Pacific Northwest, where an ‘Aryan homeland’ would be established. The ‘imperative’ appears today merely like an extreme form of gerrymandering. After years of infighting and lost lawsuits, its latter-day incarnation is the Northwest Front, which operates an innocuous-looking website that displays real-estate advice for white patriots and sells the Front’s tricolour flags: ‘The sky is the blue, and the land is the green. The white is for the people in between.’​2

There was, however, a third option for white power activists, originating with Louis Beam and William Pierce, a.k.a. Andrew Macdonald, the movement’s bard. Together they concocted the most influential and enduring of the white power projects. In Essays of a Klansman, published in 1983, Beam advocated an all-out race war. The civil rights battles, he argued, had already been lost. But the best response was not to make a bid for a return to segregation: that was far too moderate an ambition. What was called for instead was white national liberation of the entire US mainland. The real culprit was ‘communist-inspired racial mixing’ and the real enemies were the ‘white racial traitors’ who had allowed it to happen. Beam wanted to redirect the energies of white power against those elements of the federal government which he believed had betrayed its original constitutional mandate to protect the white race.

Beam’s most inspired innovation was his blueprint for ‘leaderless resistance’, a model of guerrilla warfare, borrowed from communist and anti-colonial partisans, in which small cells operate in concert but without knowing the leaders of the other cells, removing any chance of their informing on one another. The move away from bands of local vigilante groups to anonymous, spread-out terror cells marked a major shift in the white power movement – reflecting an understanding that it was no longer operating merely in local contexts. Beam himself, Belew stresses, was an early and ardent adopter of the internet, making use of codeword-accessible message boards, pen pal programs and online advertising to spread the word of white power.

If Beam was known as the ‘general’ of the white power movement, Pierce – who had taught physics at Oregon State – was the ‘strategist’. In 1978 he published The Turner Diaries, a novel that went on to sell half a million copies. The book purports to be the diary of a bygone racist revolutionary who helped to overthrow the US government; the civil war begins when Congress passes the ‘Cohen Act’, banning the use of all firearms. But a small patriotic ‘organisation’ eventually prevails against this tyranny. Blacks in the South are bombed into oblivion with nuclear weapons, the Jews experience another Holocaust and women become a servant class. The US dollar is abolished, the calendar is set back to zero and the federal government goes down in flames when a biplane with a sixty-kiloton warhead flies into the Pentagon.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 presented more favourable conditions for Beam and Pierce’s fantasies to be put into action. Their views were now echoed in mainstream culture. Pat Robertson’s bestselling The New World Order (1991) claimed to unveil a vast Jewish-capitalist conspiracy, while Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein’s pseudoscience blockbuster, The Bell Curve (1994), laboured to justify America’s racial hierarchy. In 1989, Beam had already put the question to his brethren: ‘Now that the threat of communist takeover in the United States is non-existent, who will be the enemy we all agree to hate?’ Highly publicised stand-offs in the 1990s seemed to confirm that his faction had been right to double down on the federal government as their enemy.​3 At Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992, the Vietnam veteran Randy Weaver and his family exchanged fire with federal forces; Weaver’s wife and son were killed in paradigmatic displays of white martyrdom. During the Waco siege of 1993, federal agents stormed the compound of the Branch Davidian religious sect and 76 people were killed. Despite the sect’s lack of connection to the white power movement, the siege became a rallying cause for paramilitary groups that feared state overreach.

One television viewer galvanised by the Waco raid was Timothy McVeigh, then 24 years old. A Gulf War veteran who had seen sustained combat and been exposed in training to the same cyanocarbon tear gas used by ATF agents at Waco, McVeigh was an ideal candidate for Beam’s ‘leaderless resistance’. In 1995, after he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City – until 9/11 the deadliest terrorist attack in US history – he was tried as a ‘lone wolf’ killer, despite his connections with wider paramilitary networks, such as the Michigan Militia and the ‘Viper’ militia of Arizona, and his stash of white power literature (he was a steady consumer of right-wing ‘zines’). In his case, the tactics of leaderless resistance paid off. Instead of hunting down the co-conspirators and publicising the networks, information and material that McVeigh had relied on, the media in general presented him as an isolated psychopath.

But McVeigh should interest us perhaps more for the person he became in prison. By the time of his execution, in 2001, he had begun to sound like a contributor to Counterpunch. Here he was, cogently, in 1998:

If Saddam is such a demon, and people are calling for war crimes charges and trials against him and his nation, why do we not hear the same cry for blood directed at those responsible for even greater amounts of ‘mass destruction’ – like those responsible and involved in dropping bombs on [Iraqi] cities. The truth is, the US has set the standard when it comes to the stockpiling and use of weapons of mass destruction.

The connections between American violence abroad and American violence at home seemed self-evident to McVeigh, but for the majority of Americans even to hint at such connections remains taboo.

Donald Trump has been the most significant beneficiary of the hypocrisy of American foreign policy as described by McVeigh. Before the last presidential election, no other candidate, Bernie Sanders included, was so savage in his reckoning of America’s recent foreign ventures. ‘A complete waste,’ he called the country’s longest war. ‘Our troops are being killed by the Afghanis we train and we waste billions there.’ Nor has any other president in recent memory capitalised more on the humiliation of those who fight in, or traditionally support, America’s wars. Winning for the president pertains to more than trade. Whatever the ultimate fortunes of the combined forces of American reaction, the ‘leaderless resistance’ is likely to continue. It has rarely been clearer that those who cheer on American interventions abroad should be prepared for more ferocious nativist terror at home.

[ladyanatui]

Ultimate Daiken Playlist, Pt. 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

This is the abridged version of my Spotify playlist for all things Daiken, mostly in order from the start of 02 to...eventually. Even so, this is still a pretty damn long list. My original aim was for 30 songs, but...uh, yeah, I surpassed that pretty quickly. It’s around 75 now. Yikes. So I split it up.

I have problems with self-control. Especially when it comes to my babies.

Part 1 specifically covers from the start of 02 to just after the defeat of the Digimon Kaiser.

TRIGGER WARNING: This post discusses depression, suicide, emotional abuse, and PTSD quite a lot. Take care of yourself, folks!

Spotify Playlist

Click the song titles for YouTube links (apparently you can’t have more than five videos in a post), and otherwise, enjoy me rambling about Daiken...as I am wont to do.

One final note: Within the lyrics, I’ve emphasized meaningful words, such as night/nightmare, dark/darkness, miracle(s), kind/kindness, courage/bravery, friend/friendship, sun/star/light, fire/burn/ignite, angel(s), and words related to water/drowning.

“I’m Just a Kid” by Simple Plan

I think I got a lot of friends But I don't hear from them What's another night all alone When you're spending every day on your own

I envision this as Daisuke’s life before becoming one of the Chosen, before meeting Ken. It’s pretty well established that Taichi and Hikari are the only legitimate friends he has during that time, aside from (possibly) his soccer teammates, but he’s not close with any of them. And worse, his home life is obviously not great: His parents ignore him, and his sister irritates him just to irritate him. That may seem like a normal brother/sister relationship, but a 17-year-old slapping her 11-year-old isn’t normal or healthy.

The truth is, Daisuke has no legitimate example of healthy family interactions, and in some ways, his home life is as emotionally abusive as Ken’s was. His parents insult him (his father calls him his “stupid son” when Ken first visits) and ignore him (Daisuke repeatedly says his parents wouldn’t notice if he didn’t come home and lies to them to avoid spending time at home), so he has no idea how to respond to compliments.

This also means that he latches on to the people he cares about, much the same way Jun latches on to attractive boys. He idolizes Taichi (calling him senpai when speaking with him directly), and he constantly seeks attention from Hikari. Since we don’t know what Daisuke and Hikari’s relationship was like before Takeru shows up, it’s all speculation, but Daisuke was probably way less aggressive and possessive of her before someone came to try to take his one friend away.

So Daisuke has no idea how to show affection (whether familial, platonic, or romantic) in a normal, healthy way. He’s never had a close friend (or any real friends probably), and he’s never been close with any of his family. He’s actually lived an incredibly lonely life.

“Dark Blue” by Jack’s Mannequin

This flood This flood is slowly rising up Swallowing the ground Beneath my feet Tell me how anybody thinks Under this condition So I'll swim, I'll swim As the water rises up Sun is sinking down

Similarly, this functions as Ken’s theme song for events prior to the start of 02. There are a lot of references to water--“flood,” “swim,” and I believe there’s talk about drowning as well--which is very fitting because of the Dark World (Ocean), but also because Ken obviously suffers from depression and the idea of drowning is one of the most used and most accurate descriptions of what chronic depression feels like (trust me, I know!).

But my favorite part of this is the last two lines from the quote. Let’s be real, the sun is a huge symbol when it comes to our goggle boys--they are bright, cheerful, energetic, and so fucking bright they could rival the sun itself. When Ken is so incredibly surrounded by darkness, Daisuke is the sun. There are so many things that support this, but most importantly:

The Crest of Courage is shaped like the sun. It doesn’t get more overt than that.

When V-mon evolves to Magnamon, it’s described as: “It was a miraculous evolution. As beautiful as the rising sun shining brightly on the world.”

Daisuke is the sun. Ken is the world. And Ken needs his sun to help him out of the darkness.

“Send Me an Angel” by Highly Suspect

Open fire on my burning heart I've never been lucky in love My defenses are down A kiss or a frown I can't survive on my own

Send me an angel Send me an angel Right now, right now

Before they met, before 02 actually starts, both Ken and Daisuke are effectively alone. Yeah, they’re surrounded by people (Daisuke more than Ken), but never of them have any real friends or close relationships.

This song is something I see Daisuke feeling in his more introspective moments (rare, I know), as what he needs more than anything is true love and companionship. When I say love here, I don’t necessarily mean romantic. While, yes, Daisuke has poor luck in romance (Hikari, hello!), he has poor luck with platonic love as well.

And I’m all for anything that references Ken as being an angel. Obviously, Ken would never agree to that sentiment, but a lot of the time, it feels like that’s how Daisuke views him. To Daisuke, [post-Kaiser] Ken is this amazing, beautiful, even verging perfect person, and you can see he feels that way just from the way he looks at Ken.

I also chose this song because it’s a small reference to something I drew not too long ago, which itself is based on a Lilo & Stitch meme.

“Duality” by Set It Off

I can't quite contain or explain my evil ways Or explain why I'm not sane All I can say is this is your warning

It's a cloak or disguise unleashed, gonna get it off No, I'll never get away Cause if I try to stray It only holds me closer No, I'll never get away I'll have it any way

Okay, this is very obviously a Kaiser song. But it’s also a Ken song. The whole thing about this song is that Ken is trapped as the Kaiser and doesn’t have full control over himself. And can he actually explain why he does the crazy evil shit he does? His explanation is that he thought the Digital World was a video game, but that’s obviously not the full picture. He can’t fully explain because the Dark Seed is what makes him evil as opposed to simply sad and lonely and traumatized.

“Numb Without You” by The Maine

You are my last, you are my first You kill me for the better You are the rising tide You're every fucking thing inside me now

You are the violence in my veins You are the war inside my brain You are my glitter and my gloom I am so numb without you

This is another Kaiser/Ken song. To an extent, this song has a sort of sadistic romantic aspect to it, but I’m choosing to ignore those undertones in favor of just the creepy sadistic part. This is sort of Ken singing to his Kaiser persona and also to depression in general. Because the Kaiser is the “rising tide” (oh, look another reference to water!) and the manifestation of his grief and trauma and mental illness.

But as the title of the song suggests, the Kaiser persona is also what allows him to still feel something. Without it, he’s in the complete numbness of his depression (which sucks, trust me), and he would rather have the Kaiser, who is violent and angry and bitter, instead of the absolute numbness of his grief and depression.

“Deer in the Headlights” by Owl City

Tell me again was it love at first sight When I walked by and you caught my eye Didn't you know love could shine this bright? Well, smile because you're the deer in the headlights

Met a girl boy with a graceful charm But when beauty met the beast, he froze Got the sense I was not her his type By a black eye and bloody nose But I guess that's the way it goes

Note: I (obviously) changed a few pronouns in the quote. It should be apparent what I altered based on formatting.

Here, we see the first time Daisuke and Ken meet. And I’m talking Ken (although evil Ken), not the Kaiser. Yes, this is referencing the soccer match they play against each other in episode eight.

It’s pretty damn obvious that eleven-year-old Daisuke is completely enamored when he meets the famous Ichijouji Ken. He blushes and stumbles over his words, and he is so overwhelmed and happy that Ken remembered his name after the match was over. He admires him, and when Ken tells him that he’s the first person to ever stop that move in the match, Daisuke just looks so pleased to hear the compliment.

Also, bonus points for any song that references the sun or light: “Didn’t you know love could shine this bright?”

“Love the Way You Hate Me” by Like a Storm

You say I'm insane I say You're afraid I get stronger from the pain I love the way you hate me

I'd rather be a sinner than a slave I'd rather be an outcast than just bow down and obey When it's all done there's only one Name upon my grave I'd rather be a freak than be a fake

Another Kaiser song. While the previous song could be placed pretty much any time during the first fifteen episodes or so, this one is distinctly set after they find out the Kaiser is Ichijouji Ken. The focus here is on the way the Kaiser (emotionally) gets off from how much the Chosen Children, Daisuke especially, fight against him and hate him. He enjoys watching them try so hard and keep failing because, while he desperately wants to have an opponent, he loves to win more--he does think it’s a game, after all.

“Lock Me Up” by The Cab

Why don't you Lock me up with joy and kisses? Lock me up with love? Chain me to your heart's desire

I don't want you to stop Lock me in and hold this moment Never get enough Ain't no way I'm ever breaking free Lock me up

This song is mostly in reference to the serious foe yay aspect to Daisuke and Kaiser Ken’s relationship for the first half of the series. The homoerotic subtext in their relationship is ridiculous, especially since they’re two eleven-year-old boys, one of whom (theoretically) has a huge crush on a female friend for the first half(ish) of the season. But you can bet that, if the Chosen Children had a second enemy during the Kaiser’s days, the Kaiser would be pissed and pull the whole “No! Motomiya’s my enemy. Only I can defeat him!” bit like he’s Kaiba Seto or something.

“Fallen Angel” by Three Days Grace

How can I take the pain away? How can I save...

A fallen angel in the dark Never thought you'd fall so far Fallen angel, close your eyes I won't let you fall tonight Fallen angel

But then there’s comes the very important part where Daisuke has a revelation. When he and V-mon meet Wormmon on the Kaiser’s base, Wormmon is determined and takes them to the Digimental of Miracles in an attempt to help them defeat the Kaiser and bring back his kind-hearted best friend. The moment Daisuke touches the Golden Digimental, something changes: It’s connected to Ken because it’s borne from his Crest of Kindness, and Daisuke is able to see that there’s more to Ken than his Kaiser persona. He knows that there’s good in him before they’ve even defeated him, and he wants to help him.

And seriously, bonus points for a song from Daisuke’s POV that refers to Ken as an angel. I’ll fight anyone who says he doesn’t see Ken that way. Legit.

“Breaking Down” by I Prevail

Lies, every time they ask me I just tell 'em that I'm fine Try to hide my demons, but they only multiply Keep me running from the voices on repeat inside my mind Everybody fucking hates you

I guess I never noticed how it came creeping in My enemy emotion but I can't sink or swim I say I'm feeling hopeless but no one's listening But no one's listening, but no one's listening

This song is in reference to the way Kaiser Ken’s psyche is falling apart. He’s having doubts. Creepy voices are talking to him. He’s confused about how the Chosen Children are actually defeating him. Chimairamon is a freaking nightmare and totally uncontrollable. And Ken is about to have a goddamn breakdown.

“Goner” by Twenty One Pilots

Though I'm weak Beaten down I'll slip away Into the sound

I've got two faces Blurry's the one I'm not I need your help to Take him out

Look how far we’ve come! We’re almost to the Kaiser’s defeat! (Dear god, this is a long playlist...)

Ken isn’t aware of how much he needs Daisuke to help him at this point. He’s too busy being the Kaiser and, you know, having a mental breakdown. But it’s important that Daisuke is the one there to help bring everything down. V-mon evolves to Magnamon and defeats Chimairamon with some badass moves (he is a Royal Knight after all), and Daisuke and the rest of the Chosen Children are finally able to get through to Ken.

“Not Gonna Die” by Skillet

Break their hold Cause I won't be controlled They can't keep their chains on me When the truth has set me free

Only when he realizes that the Digital World isn’t a game is Ken able to break through the hold that the Dark Seed (and Oikawa and BelialVamdemon, etc.) have on him. He tears off his Kaiser clothes and goes back to being just Ken. Just sweet, kind-hearted, adorable Ken.

Parts of this song, though, would be from Daisuke’s perspective. He’s determined, even though they have defeated their enemy, to help Ken, even that simply means sending him home to his family instead of letting Ken just waste away, which is frankly what it looks like he’s about to do during this scene.

“Tell Me Why” by Three Days Grace

Tell me why Does everything that I love get taken away From me? Why does everything that I love get taken away?

How come nothing ever lasts? It goes from good to bad to worse so fast All it takes is one and I'm gone, and you can't erase the past How come nothing ever lasts?

Obviously, this is a Ken-centric song, the focus being on his past when he saw his brother’s death, though Osamu’s death is nowhere near his fault. Yet again, Ken goes through a traumatic experience (Wormmon’s death), and for the first time, this is (somewhat) his fault.

While I linked the subs version, the English dub of this scene actually has a line almost exactly like this song: “Not again. Wormmon’s gone. Just like my brother. I was helpless to save him, and now I can’t save Wormmon either. Why do I keep losing people?”

Sorry, were you not wanting to cry today? ...Oops.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

[glassbangtan]

Purple & Vante {Kim Taehyung}

 Words: 5042

  Summary: In which you go to a masquerade ball with the full intention of getting drunk and not socialising with anybody – that is until a man in a feathered mask approaches you and asks for a glass of wine.

  Notes: I love abrupt endings :):):) This was inspired by Singularity, of course. My boy did so well :') Enjoyyy!

  The atmosphere of the party made you tense.

  It was a hard feeling to describe – you felt slightly trapped though you were unsure as to why you felt that way. It was a tug in your chest, a warning in your ear for you to turn and flee, to get as far away from the ballroom as you possibly could.

  But you didn't. Not with Sooyoung's grip tight on your upper arm, keeping you clasped in her grip. She knew you didn't like this place. She knew the anonymity of it all startled you, made you uncomfortable, and yet she had insisted on dragging you along, claiming it would be nice for you to get a taste of 'historical traditions.'

  You had never taken an interest in historical traditions before, and you were starting to see why.

  Sooyoung dragged you through the double doors of the grand ballroom. The lights were dimly lit, only adding to the creepy aura of the place. People in masks walked around, fancy suits with tails that cascaded between the mens legs, and women in dresses that could barely fit around the tables that were stacked high with delicate wine glasses. You winced at you took it all in, your mask suddenly feeling a lot heavier on your face.

  “A masquerade ball,” you mumbled, looking around. “What if I get lost? How am I meant to find you again?”

  Sooyoung giggled, waving to a passing bartender who wore a bedazzled red bask that covered half of his face. “That's the fun, Y/N. We're not meant to find each other. This is a night purely for taking risks; you go up and talk to absolute strangers, and by the end of the night, they'll still be absolute strangers! How cool is that?”

  You gritted your teeth. “I can think of better ways to spend my Saturday nights if I'm honest.”

  “Have you never read the stories?” Sooyoung continued to walk, dragging you along with her. Her forceful grip was hidden beneath her smile, making it look as if she was merely guiding you through the crowd so as to not lose you. Little did everyone else know, she was only gripping your arm to keep you from sprinting out of the exit before the dance was over.

  “I've read the ones about how easy it is to get killed in one of these places.”

  Sooyoung scoffed. “Then you've been reading the wrong ones. I'm talking about the ones that involve the romance. A mysterious man-”

  “Or woman.”

  “-Walks up to you in a mask and he takes your hand and he asks you to dance with him. You'll take his hand and the two of you will dance the night away, only for a tragic ending of the dance finishing and you two never seeing each other again, because you never saw him with his mask off. A love story.”

  You raised a brow. “Mm. Dancing with somebody in a mask, having absolutely no idea who they are sounds very romantic. I'm flustered.”

  “That's the spirit! Now, go and live that fantasy. I have wine to get to.”

  Before you could protest, Sooyoung had shoved herself away from you and was stumbling towards the tables of wine. You stared after her, jaw open, suddenly unsure of what to do. The exit was directly behind you, an easy escape if you needed one, but leaving Sooyoung behind whenever you were positive she was going to get herself into some kind of state had you faltering. You had wanted to leave; that was your plan all along. But you were positive Sooyoung would get herself drunk and then make the stupid decision of driving home if she couldn't find you.

  You sighed, running a hand through your styled hair. It was pinned up in a mildly-casual do, though much more formal than you were used to. You found yourself missing the feeling of a pony tail or a messy bun – having your hair pinned up away from your face and yet still cascading down your shoulders made you feel like the purpose of pinning it up was defeated a little bit.

  The night couldn't be all that bad, you assured yourself. You balled your hands into the light blue fabric of your dress and started towards the crowd, hoping to find an isolated little corner that you could spend the night; maybe you'd brought your headphones. You hadn't remembered. You had been too busy arguing with Sooyoung over what heels to wear after she had refused to let you wear your converse beneath the floor length dress she had pulled on over your shoulders.

  You couldn't help but be surprised by just how full the ballroom truly was. It was these types of events that you had once believed to be the least popular ones, the ones that only the true old-style, history buffs seemed interested in. Now, you could see that a lot more people were interested in anonymous hook-ups than you had originally believed.

  You soon found yourself at one of the many alcohol tables. Your eyes grazed over the wine glasses before you carefully plucked a glass of red wine from the centre of the table. A grin formed on your lips behind your feathered mask as you took a sip, carefully moving the feathers away from your mouth to avoid messing up the mask entirely.

  The alcohol burned at your throat; good. It might make the night a little bit easier if you managed to block it out with drink.

  “Can you pass me one of those?”

  You yelped, hands jerking upwards at the sudden voice in your ear. You span around, ready to push the person away, but once he saw your startled expression, he did the action himself. He raised his large hands in front of him, a grin forming on his face as he stumbled away from you.

  “Woah, woah. Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.”

   You hollowed out your cheeks, placing your free hand against your collar bone in any attempt to calm your suddenly racing heart. You were on edge. This place creeped you out. You wanted to go home.

  Nonetheless, you turned back towards the table and took another wine glass from the centre, passing it over to the man who had just scared the wits out of you. You half expected him to turn and leave, perhaps lose himself on the dance floor again, but he simply stood there. You watched him as he brought the wine glass up to his lips and took a long, drawn-out sip, before he clapped his lips together in content and sighed.

  “It sure is warm in here.”

  It was such an odd thing to say in this situation. Of all the things he chose to notice about this situation, he was pointing out the heat.  

  Either way, you nodded, following his gaze to the thick crowd. “Sure is.”

  He turned to look at you. “You know, it's not very common for somebody to show up to one of these without somebody accompanying you. I don't even think that's very safe.”

  “That's what I said,” you replied, before silently cursing yourself. You could have at least tried to act like you wanted to be here.

  The man only smiled though, a boxy smile that surprised you with how wide it was. You couldn't see his eyes properly beneath the feathered mask he was wearing, but you could just barely see them shift into crescents at his amusement.

  “Sorry,” you grumbled, looking down at your shoes. “I don't wanna ruin the mood. You should go and have a good time.”

  The man shook his head. “I'm okay here. I usually like dancing, but it makes me feel like I'm dancing with moving manequins, and it freaks me out.”

  You giggled. “Moving mannequins?”

  “Yeah!” He pointed towards the crowd as if that was enough explanation. You raised a brow, an amused grin forming on your face. He took one look at you, scoffed and shook his head again. “How can you not see moving mannequins?”

  “I've never seen a mannequin with a mask on.”

  “Well then you're shopping in the wrong shops.”

  “And what are the right shops? Dorothy Perkins?”

   The man shrugged. “If you like stuff from Dorothy Perkins, then who am I to judge?”

  “That sounded sarcastic.”

  “I like all shops,” he said, raising a finger. “I'll shop anywhere. I like Gucci though.”

  “Of course you do.”

  He gasped dramatically, spinning around to look at you. The tails of his black blazer swung around him, giving him a flourish that had you giggling. “What's that supposed to mean?”

  You raised your hand in defence. “You just seem like the type of guy who would like Gucci! It was a compliment!”

   The man frowned, trailing his eyes over your features for a moment before he hummed and slowly turned back to the crowd, lifting his wine glass to his lips in the process. You found yourself smiling like an idiot, watching him; he was interesting, you had to admit. From what little you could possibly gather from him whilst he was wearing that mask, you could already tell he was different from everyone else; he had this weird aura that drew you to him, even though you weren't entirely sure why. It was in the way he spoke, the way he muddled his words sometimes but still made them sound so natural. It was in the way he grinned, the way he flourished, the way he stood.

  Hell, he had approached you so casually. He hadn't even faltered, hadn't even censored himself despite talking to an absolute stranger.

  It was weirdly admirable.

  You turned back to the crowd, pondering on your odd thoughts.

  “Are we meant to tell each other our names?” the man asked suddenly.

  “What?”

  “Our names,” he repeated. “Since this is a masquerade ball and everything, are we meant to go by alias'? Or is that taking things too far?”

  You frowned., unsure how to respond.

  The man sighed. “Call me Vante.”

  “Vante. Is that real?”

  “Of course not. I wouldn't want to spoil the theme of the night.”

  You chuckled. “Right. This whole 'I don't know who you are' thing.”

  “It's got a catch to it,” Vante said, folding his arms over his chest thoughfully. “Makes it easier to talk to people whenever you don't have to have any attachments – not even their name.”

   “You're into hook-up's, Vante?”

  For the first time since he had started speaking to you, his eyes popped open wide. You could even see them through the slits in his mask, the sudden spark of surprise which dashed within them. You chuckled at his reaction, watching him as he shook his hands in front of his face to disspell the accusation you had just put upon him.

  “No! That wasn't what I meant. You're-”

  “I was joking,” you soothed, surprising yourself by laying a hand on his arm. His eyes shot down to your fingers, his cheeks flushing red from either the embarrassment or his own surprise at your movement. “Wine seems to put you on edge.”

  “Oh, trust me. That is far from the truth.” Vante proved this by swinging his head back, downing the remains of his drink in one swig. You burst out laughing as he placed the empty cup back on the table and grabbed another one, though he didn't take a sip from this one for quite some time.

   “So what about you then?” he continued, the atmosphere settling at last. “What should I call you?”

  You narrowed your eyes. You wanted to give him your real name – it was easier, required less brain work. But that would spoil the fun. And besides, you agreed with him in the sense that it was much easier to talk to somebody whenever you knew literally nothing about them – not even their real name. It was a sense of freedom, like you could become an entirely different person if you simply came up with a fake name and put a mask on your face.

  So you shrugged and said, “Call me Purple.”

  He chuckled, a low rumble in his throat that showed he was more impressed than amused. “Purple. Your favourite colour?”

  “It means 'love,'” you responded.

  “In what language?”

  “Well, not literally,” you said, shrugging. “My mum used to say it to me before she tucked me into bed. She said that purple was the last colour of the rainbow, which means she'll love me forever.”

  Vante pondered on this definition for a while, encasing the two of you in a silence. You sipped on your wine hesitantly, suddenly unsure whether telling him that story took away from the anonymous theme you had going on beforehand; but it was the truth. The word meant a lot to you, and if you were going to be called anything other than your real name for the rest of the night, you would have liked it to be something you could enjoy.

  Finally, Vante spoke up. “That's cute.”

  “Thanks. My mum does stuff like that – she's never been a fan of the normal.”

  “She didn't like the word 'love?'”

  You shook your head. “She didn't like how common it was. She said she wanted something she could say to us that nobody else would understand.” You glanced up at Vante. “I guess I've just kind of ruined that plan by telling you what it means.”

   Vante smiled. “Your secret is safe with me, Purple. Don't worry.”

  “Where did you get Vante from?” you questioned.

  “It was inspired by the Australian photographer Ante Badzim.”

  “Ante?”

  “Mm.”

  “So where did the V come from?”

  He grinned at that, looking down at you as if you had just cracked some secret code, as if nobody had noticed the random letter thrown at the beginning of the photographers name.

  “V,” he said, before throwing up a peace sign, making it all click together instantly. You opened your mouth in an 'o' shape, nodding along. Vante chuckled. “Smart, right?”

  “You have some imagination if you were able to come up with that on the spot,” you said.

  He shook his head. “I didn't. It's my alias in real life, too. I'm a photographer.”

  “Oh, really? So you're name isn't exactly keeping you anonymous. I could easily go home now and search up 'Vante' and get a look at your work outside of the ballroom.”

  Vante shrugged lazily, sipping his wine. “I don't think that would be such a bad thing. I've liked talking to you, Purple. I thought I was going to be extremely bored at one of these things.”

  You blushed despite yourself. You lowered your head, pretending to look down at your shoes though you were truly just trying to hide how flustered you were at his slight compliment.

  “It's really sad that I probably won't even get to see you again after this,” he continued. “Kind of makes you think that these dances are some form of self-hatred or something.”

  “My friend told me that that's the fun in them.”

  Vante frowned. “At least your friend knows how to appreciate this kind of thing. They must be having a fantastic time.”

  You glanced over at the large clock hung up on the wall, just barely scraping eleven o clock by now. “She's probably already passed out drunk somewhere.”

  Vante chuckled. “My friends will be too.”

  “You're the chaperone?”

  “Not officially,” he said. “But, I mean, I knew I was going to have to stay at least slightly sober – sober enough to call a taxi for all of us when they've finally had enough.”

  “All of us? You came with a group?”

  “There's seven of us. I would introduce you to them, but there a bit-”

  Vante's words were abruptly cut off by a cry emerging from the centre of the dance floor. It was loud, sounding far from pained but definitely desperate enough to catch the attention of the dancers.

  Standing in the centre of the room was a man with light pink hair and a man with brown hair, one much taller than the other. The smaller man's mask had fallen from his face, dangling from one of his ears.

  “Namjoon!” the smaller man yelled, throwing his hands up but not bothering to fix the mistake.

  'Namjoon' simply laughed, a loud and boisterous sound that echoed throughout the halls. He stumbled slightly as the smaller man tried to leap at him, and it was then that Vante sighed and pushed himself away from the table.

  “Jimin, stop,” Vante called, taking a few steps forward before stopping and turning to look at you. “Thank you for the lovely conversation, Purple. But duty calls. Hopefully I'll see you around.”

  You could only nod. Vante gave you one final, box-shaped grin before he was spinning on his heel and barrelling towards his friends, who had now proceeded to chase each other around the ballroom.

  What had just happened? Why did you suddenly feel sad? Why did you want to speak to that complete stranger some more?

  You shook the thoughts from your head and took a sip of your wine. Vante. What an interesting character.

  It wasn't like you had actually planned to find him. You hadn't gone to the party in search of somebody to become slightly infatuated with. You had gone purely because Sooyoung had been invited, and she needed a plus one.

  It had just gone a little farther than you had expected.

  You had propped yourself up on your pillows on the cold Sunday morning that followed the wild night you had had previously; by wild, you meant that you had spoken to a complete stranger for about half an hour before huddling yourself into a corner and waiting for Sooyoung to make an appearance.

  At least something good had come out of it, you thought to yourself as you scrolled through Vante's Instagram page – his official one. That was a reassuring thought – at least you hadn't gone home and tracked down his personal social medias. That would have been a little odd given the circumstances.

  He truly was a skilled photographer. His pictures often held little editing, you could see, but the lighting and the angles made them seem like they had been filtered; it was only the sun, though. Or it was the glow off of the metal box, or the way Vante had crouched down to snap a picture of the rising moon.

  His captions reminded you of him. He signed them all off with the word 'Vante' and a little tiger emoticon – despite what little you knew of him, that seemed like the perfect way for somebody like him to sign off a caption. It made you chuckle.

  You spent nearly the entire morning surfing through his pictures. Some featured his friends – men called Seokjin, Jimin, Namjoon, Yoongi, Hoseok, Jungkook. Judging by the honorific used in the captions, Vante was the youngest amongst all of them besides Jungkook.

  You tried not to concentrate too much on how you felt as you looked through his feed; you weren't even entirely sure what it was you were feeling, only that it shouldn't have been there. You had spoken to him for barely an hour, and sure he had made you laugh and you had craved to keep the conversation going, but you knew nothing about him. He was a mystery to you – you didn't even know his real name.

   You clicked off your laptop as the day finally started to properly start. You wouldn't allow yourself to think of him any more than you already had; Sooyoung had said it herself – masquerade balls were there to break your heart. That was what all the stories said – they had to have gotten that assumption from somewhere.

  It had been months since the masquerade ball, and you were happy with how quick the night had been wiped from your memory – Vante included.

  Though it would have been impossible for you to forget him completely – he still showed up on your feed every time he posted – you didn't feel the same sadness you had felt only a few days after the ball had ended. You just felt . . . Neutral. A little disappointed, sure, but there was nothing you could do, and you had accepted that fact early on.

  Life had gone on as it should have; you went to university, studied, hung out with your friends. You were working on your own artistic abilities; you had always loved painting, but since meeting Vante, you found yourself wanting to do it more often. Every time you saw one of his posts on your Instagram feed, they inspired you to sit down at the easel and just start. The colours he used, the angles, the sheer genius in the way he captured the most pure and casual of scenes – it was inspiring. It was one of the reasons you couldn't quite forget that night.

  “Y/N-ah!” a voice called. You yelped, very nearly dropping the painting you had been carrying across the hall – one of your own paintings.

  Walking towards you was the curator of the museum you were due to present your most recent piece at. You gave him a smile, racking your brain for any sign of his name, though with the stress of the upcoming event, it had completely slipped your mind.

  He was grinning as he approached you, looking towards the painting you were carrying. “That one's my favourite. Very – Very Vante-esque.”

  You smiled warily; you got that a lot. A lot more since you had met the fellow himself, though you didn't tell anyone that. You also didn't tell anyone that your work was mildly inspired by his own. It was obvious enough. Anybody who knew of Vante's work would be well aware where you got your inspiration from.

  The curator left you to your business shortly after that. You worked hard, hanging up the paintings you were due to present, making sure they were perfect, adding a few final touches onto the pieces you wanted people to particularly notice; you had painted a picture of a sunset – or, at least, that was what you had interpreted it as. From the picture you had gotten inspiration from – courtesy of Vante – the splash of yellow, orange and slight hint of red had given you the impression of a setting sun, a shift from day to night that was captured perfectly by a strange man with a camera.

  Again, you shoved him out of your head. Though you didn't feel the same weird attachment to him as you did only a few days after the original meeting, it was still difficult to forget about him entirely. You weren't sure if you wanted to. If the man you had met was the real Vante, the Vante you had been looking at on Instagram, surely remembering your brief encounter with him should have been an honour?

  You hollowed out your cheeks and took one final glance at the work you had hung up. The paintings were laid out nicely, ready for display, ready to show off to the world for the first time. You silently prayed to whoever was listening that nothing would go wrong – this was your one chance to prove yourself to people, one chance to have your artwork appreciated. If you ruined it this time, there would be no going back.

   Your face hurt from smiling so much.

  There were so many people. People from all over the country, coming to this very spot to bare witness to the new and upcoming art work, to support young artists – young artists like yourself.

  The anxiety was gritting against your bones as you walked around the museum, smiling and bowing to people who threw the odd compliment in your direction – it was nothing ever major. This was most definitely a more laid back atmosphere, despite the butterflies bouncing in your stomach at the moment. People were noticing you, though, complimenting you on your works and telling you how much they liked them; that was enough. Those words alone was enough for you to want to stick around, to see just how far you could push this mild taste of success you had been given.

  You had been given orders to simply walk around after your introduction was given. Let people see you, let people compliment you as they waited for the next artist to take the stage. You had been doing just that for nearly an hour, and it was beginning to get tiring.

  Your feet hurt, your stomach weak from the nerves. You hadn't been able to eat anything in fear of it coming back up, though as the night trailed on, you were beginning to regret making that decision more and more.

  You hollowed out your cheeks as you walked towards the buffet table at the back of the room. Very few people were around it due to the next presentation making their way to the stage, meaning you easily slipped through the small crowd and made your way straight to the wine glasses that were stacked up on the table. You weren't thirsty, but you needed something to take the edge off.

  You pulled the glass to your lips, closed your eyes in content as soon as the red liquid dripped over the lip of the glass and-

  “Can you pass me one of those?”

  The words came as a whisper, but made you gasp nonetheless. Bubbles blew within your wine glass as you attempted to yell, only for it to be silenced by the drink you had been attempting to down.

  You span around on your heel, recognising the voice almost immediately. Your eyes latched onto his, but it was different this time.

  This time, it was him. You could see him, well and true – there was no mask obscuring his features, nothing taking away from the sight of his crescent shaped eyes or that boxy smile he was flashing to you in this moment, clearly amused by the familiar reaction he had pulled from you.

  You very nearly dropped your glass, shock slamming through your system – what was he doing here?

  “Vante,” you said, and it wasn't a question. It was a statement, because there was no denying who he was. You would recognise that boxy grin from anywhere – anybody would.

  He grinned even brighter, running a hand through his brown hair before letting it drop back against his forehead. Talk of his fashion sense came back to you, and you found your eyes trailing over his attire for the night; a light blue suit with a ruffled white shirt beneath it, paired with a light blue tie that cascaded down his stomach. It was clearly expensive.

  “Gucci,” you chuckled.

  Vante's eyes lit up as he looked at you, smiling just that little bit brighter. “You remembered.”

  “You don't hide it very well,” you pointed out, grabbing at the ends of his blazer. “What are you doing here? I thought the whole point of a masquerade ball was that we weren't meant to see each other afterwards.”

  Vante raised a brow, folding his arms over his chest as if judging you. You let your hand fall from his blazer, meeting his eyes – brown eyes. You had once believed that the hazel you thought you had seen was a simple trick of the light, but there was no mistaking the colour in them now. Not now that you could see them clearly.

  “If fate brings up together at the end of the day, then who are we to question it?” he said. “By the way, call me Taehyung. We're in public.”

  You raised a brow. “I prefer Vante.”

  He scoffed, poking your stomach. “And I'm sure I'd prefer Purple but it's a bit embarrassing calling you a colour whenever we're standing with some of the most posh art-buff's Korea has ever seen.”

  “True,” you chuckled. “Call me Y/N, then. Y/N L/N.”

  Taehyung reached a hand out. “Well Y/N L/N, it's nice to meet you. I'm Kim Taehyung.”

  You gave his hand a shake, blushing at the contact despite your better judgement. You felt like a giddy teenager trying to make a good first impression.

  Because that's what this was, right? Basically. The first time you two had met had been in the middle of a crowded ballroom, with masks placed upon your faces and fake names to greet each other with. He had told you a little bit about the job he did, but nothing more than that.

  This was a true first impression. This was you meeting Kim Taehyung, not Vante.

  You dropped his hand and turned back to the crowd, taking a small sip of your wine.

  “By the way,” Taehyung said as he leaned over you to grab for a wine glass. You arched your brow, looking over at him in question. He smirked. “I purple your work.”

  It took a second to click in your head. You narrowed your eyes, pursed your lips, but then it all came crashing back to you. You blushed deeply, looking down at the ground as a chuckle escaped you; he remembered.

  He smirked, clearly pleased with himself. It shocked you to think that he remembered just as much of that night as you did; you were almost sure it had been you fawning over somebody giving you attention. You had thought for sure it was just a strange attachment to a strangers humour, their way of speaking.

  Yet clearly, Vante – Kim Taehyung – had taken an interest in you, as well.

[eene-fangirl]

A Fairy-ED Come True [An Ed, Edd n Eddy Fanfiction]

Note: Can anybody who reads this please leave a review? It is going into my senior thesis. Thanks and enjoy!

The Peach Creek high school gym was covered in glitter, party streamers, and even a disco ball to make it look lively for a dance. The school faculty had to spruce things up to some extent in order to make students come to a place they didn’t even want to attend in the day time.

Guests arrived wearing their best attire. Gowns, tuxes, jewelry, ties. All were ready to have the best night of their lives. If it weren’t for two boys constantly distracting one another they could have been having a better time.

“Double Dee brings Sarah? She’s his ‘special date’? Eddy scoffed to Nazz when he saw Edd walk into the dance. “Isn’t she like a child? How does she have any idea of what love means? I thought he was referring to Marie or any other girl in this school.”

“Do you want him to be with someone else?” Nazz asked. She was put out with Edd’s constant annoyance over Edd. He was the only person Eddy talked about all evening.

“Well, yeah… I mean no… I just…” Eddy was flustered by the question. His tongue hardly ever tied up like this. For years he was confused by the feelings he felt. He was trying to avoid them. But, they wouldn’t leave his mind alone.

“Don’t be silly, Nazz.” Eddy said in an almost ‘shut up’ tone.

Nazz leaned forward to touch his hand. Eddy flinched. His head kept turning back and forth. Nazz was taken aback when Eddy took both of her hands to hold them tenderly. Tenderly was not the word. His hands were so floppy that they could have been a rubbery mannequin.

“Are you sure you wanted to come to the prom with me, Eddy?”

“Why the question? ‘Course I do.”

“You’re not just using me to make Double Dee jealous, are you?”

This got Eddy’s attention. How could he plead innocence when he was staring down Edd on the dance floor.

“I think someone wants to dance.” Eddy changed the subject. He was giving her the worst romantic eye a person could ever fake.

Without warning Sarah was dipped to the floor once more. She was getting motion sickness. Edd practically dropped her on her head a dozen times, stepped on her feet, and poked her eye out with his nose.

“Wonderful. He’s bringing Nazz to the dance floor. He’s such a showoff.” Edd said.

“If he’s here do you think could take it down a notch or learn how to dance?”

Sarah looked as if she came out from a wrestling match rather then a dance. Her hair was wrecked from the perfect bun it was in. Edd kindly tried to fix her up when he gasped seeing Eddy right next to him.

“Didn’t know you were at that base.”

Edd had no idea what Eddy was referring to until he saw his hand accidentally tug Sarah’s dress strap.

The music picked up. The dance floor was filled to the brim with people dancing close together.

Eddy spun Nazz around doing the tango. Edd focused on Eddy’s dance moves. He had no idea how splendid of a dancer Eddy was. Eddy kept going noticing Edd looking. Unbeknownst to Eddy, he was rather rough with Nazz flinging her all around. She nearly collided with other couples and tripped over her own feet.

Sarah’s feet weren’t so lucky. Edd spent more time watching Eddy then his own date.

“How does he dance like that?” Edd was taken at how nimble Eddy was. He flew Nazz over his shoulders or slid her through his legs. Eddy noticed someone staring. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder. But, when he took the slightest glance he noticed Edd’s blushing cheeks. And he was staring at him with a look. A wanting look. For some reason Eddy felt turned on. Nobody looked at him like that before. Edd was always telling Eddy how important he was making him feel better on days where he felt down about himself. He also remembered Edd admitting how lucky anybody was to be with him.

“Eddy?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you looking at Double Dee like that?” Nazz asked him. Their dancing slowed down to barely anything. Eddy wasn’t even holding her. There was no tender touch or even an affectionate look  like the other dates shared on the floor.

“Ugh… can you believe sockhead is trying to out dance me? Look at those legs.”

Edd gasped when he noticed Eddy looking his way. “Look as if you’re kissing me!” he loudly whispered into Sarah’s ear.

Sarah’s eyes bulged as if this were the most repulsive question she ever heard. Before she socked Edd Nazz was gesturing to her. She pointed from Edd to Eddy. A devious smile took over Sarah’s face agreeing to the plan.

“Sure, pucker up, sweetie.” Sarah said to Edd.

“It’s my turn to lead the tango.” Nazz said to Eddy.

As if it were perfectly choreographed Nazz spun Eddy into Edd who was pushed away by Sarah. Edd and Eddy caught one another holding the other by the arms to get balance. Edd was embarrassed to find how close their lips were to touching.

“Oh, uh… hey, sockhead.” Eddy was the one to blush now.

“Hello, Eddy. Are you enjoying the evening?” It was the only thing Edd could ask to forget about the embarrassing moment.

“Yeah. Been fun. Sarah abandoned you, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that. She just wanted to have a break from dancing.”

“Why did you take her anyway?” Eddy asked.

“We’re just friends.”

“When did I ever say you were a couple?”

“Oh, no, I just thought you meant you had the inkling that we were dating.”

Eddy laughed. “You? Dating a twelve year old?”

“Sarah is fourteen.”

“Oh, we’re going after the youngsters I see.” Eddy playfully nudged Edd in his side.

“Don’t be immature, Eddy!”

“Aw, why are your cheeks blushing?”

“Stop it!” Edd yelled. He was close to Eddy’s mouth again. The close proximity caught Eddy off guard. They were staring at each other again. That happened quite frequently. Eddy noticed something in Edd’s eyes. Not a speck, but something. He had no idea what.

“I’m just playin’ around. Calm down.”

“Seems Nazz has abandoned you,” Edd pointed out.

Before Eddy could defend himself he saw Nazz over by the refreshment table talking with a gang of her friends. “Knowing her she’ll be talking to them for hours.” Eddy wasn’t pouting. He felt relieved knowing he didn’t have to be stuck with her.

Glancing at the dance floor, they saw Ed and May dancing together. Edd and Eddy couldn’t help but smile. Ed and May were so happy together. They easily fit together. It’s like they were meant to be together from the start. From the way Ed looked at May made Edd frown. He wished someone would look at him like that.

Edd looked at Eddy embarrassingly. “If you want to dance, Eddy, we can.”

“You want to?” Eddy asked, raising an eyebrow.

“If you don’t we can go…”

“No, no… it’s a dance. That’s what we came here to do.”

Edd and Eddy danced each making up their own movements. Edd hardly moved his body making little jumps.

Eddy scoffed as his body went with the rhythm to the music. “You call that dancing? Come on, I know you got more in yah.”

“I don’t know how to dance.”

“That’s a bunch of bull.” Eddy answered , lifting a sly eyebrow.

Edd’s nose scrunched. “I can’t.”

“Better let the master teach yah.” Edd was caught off guard when Eddy took his arm and dipped his whole body to the floor. Then he interlaced their arms, throwing him to one side and back in. Edd playfully laughed stepping in motion with Eddy’s feet. And then Eddy lifted him off his feet spinning him all around watching all the colors distort in his eyes.

The music changed to a slower song.

Edd and Eddy were so caught up with how much fun they were having when they realized that Eddy was holding Edd bridal style. Their lips were close to touching again. A familiar magnet was pulling them closer.

Nervously laughing, Eddy placed Edd back on his feet.

“See that’s how you dance.”

“You’re quite the dancer.”

“Thanks.” Eddy felt so grateful by the compliment that he cuffed up his jacket collars.

“Um, we don’t have to stop.” Edd said listening to the slow, beautiful music.

“You really want to dance?”

“If you do.”

Edd offered Eddy his hand. Eddy slowly took it. Edd’s hand was so smooth to the touch. It tickled Edd when Eddy place his hand on his hip. He never danced with anyone before. In truth Edd wanted to dance with Eddy for years. It was his dream.

They stepped in perfect motion, slowly spinning along the floor. Their eyes never broke contact.

“So, you didn’t want to take Marie?” Eddy asked starting a conversation.

“Marie?”

“Yeah. I thought you were…”

“Oh, um… we were. Not anymore, though.” Edd looked away. He didn’t want this conversation to go on any longer.

“Oh, sorry. Why?” Of course Eddy would question!

“Oh, we were just too different.” Edd admitted though there was very different reason harboring. “Why do you ask?”

“Nothin’, things seemed steady between you two and I just thought…”

“Absolutely not!” Edd didn’t know why he raised his voice. He felt cornered in a way. He realized that it had been over a year since their incident in the bog in the woods. Eddy had kissed him.

They kept dancing as the music grew slower. They noticed couples dancing closely together, their heads laying comfortably on one’s shoulder. Edd and Eddy met eyes once more.

It was Edd’s turn to notice that wanting look. He looked at him so gently staring deep into his eyes. They were holding one another closer now.

Eddy could feel his stomach tingling. His body heated up. What was this feeling? His tongue was drying up. He always felt this way when he was near Edd. That was normal right?

That magnetic force was stronger now. It was when Edd’s lips were inches away from Eddy’s lips that the boy ran from the embrace shoving through the crowds of people to find the exit doors.

“Hey, sockhead, where are you going?” Eddy caught him by the air when they were out in the fresh night air.

“What happened in there, Eddy? My emotions were escalating and I had an urge that has never come over me before. Oh, I think it’s time…”

“It’s fine, Double Dee!” Eddy grasped Edd by his arms.

“I-It is?”

“I’m going to be the most honest I have ever been. I came with Nazz to make you jealous.”

Edd blinked. He felt as if his tongue swelled losing the ability to speak. “That’s why I brought Sarah.”

“Aren’t you the sly dog.” They were holding each other again. The same embrace from the dance floor. But, they were alone. They could enjoy the moment savoring the feelings they craved for the longest time.

“I wanted to come here with you.” Edd admitted at long last.

“Me too.”

“Eddy, I’ve loved you for the longest time. I never knew how to tell you. I’m so sorry for ignoring you. It’s just that, oh, how do I explain it?”

“How ‘bout by shutting up and kissing me?”

Edd smirked, but they went ahead and kissed. It was the most amazing feeling that went through their bodies. Nothing felt important. They were here in an embrace, soft lips touching the other at long last.

Instead of walking back through the doors into the claustrophobic crowds they ended their dance out in the beautiful night air with the moon showing overhead. Love never felt so real as, that night, their dreams finally came true.

[thedatasciencehyderabad]

Data Science Certification Coaching Course In Hyderabad

This module will get us snug with all of the techniques utilized in Linear and Logistic Regression. Analytic functions A perform that determines values in a bunch of rows and generates a single outcome for each row is known as an Analytic Function. Correlated subqueries The internal question that is dependent on the outer query is called a correlated subquery.

Pro-Membership will present you with access to thousands of jobs to apply for on the portal and also attend job gala's which shall be conducted once in a while. A Flexi-pass is certainly one of the very good options supplied, and you can select multiple classes at your individual pace for studying. The course content is well designed and consistent with present market necessities. It was an excellent studying experience with 360DigiTMG; I had enrolled on this course with coach Simon Tavasoli, who has good information on the subject and was very supportive in explaining the course in detail.

In case if you are also having information about SQL then it would also be an added benefit for this course. Data Science has several purposes ranging from fraud detection, demand forecasting, threat evaluation & administration, seismic interpretation, site visitors control and recommender methods and more. The functions of Data Science aren’t limited to anybody specific area and may be seen across the business verticals. So wait no extra, the time is ripe to step into the job market of Data Science. Master data of the highest Data Science expertise & attributes that might get you instantly hired by enrolling for our superior Data Science Course Training in Hyderabad program.

And if he decides to remain put for an additional 5 to 10 years on the job, he will get a handsome promotion to the Rs 7 to 11 lakhs per annum layer. If he persists and dedicates a lifetime to data science he can garner anyplace from 25 lakhs to a whopping one crore each year. A module is devoted to scripting Machine Learning Algorithms and enabling Deep Learning and Neural Networks with Black Box methods and SVM. All the levels delineated in the CRISP-DMM framework for a Data Science Project are dealt with in nice depth and readability in this course. Undoubtedly this emerges as probably the greatest Data Science in Hyderabad as a result of live project publicity in INNODATATICS. This gives a golden alternative for school students to use the varied ideas studies to a real-time situation.

Data Science certifications are the quickest approach to study and hone the talents and methods necessary to land that first data science job. Data Science is a broad field, and you have to study so many ideas in case you are a beginner. A Data Science course is a coaching program of around six to twelve months, typically taken by business consultants to assist candidates construct a powerful basis within the subject. Apart from the theoretical materials, our online Data Science course in Hyderabad contains digital labs, industry initiatives, interactive quizzes, and practice exams, giving you an enhanced studying experience. With salary packages ranging as excessive as $143, 500 to $180, 500, job roles in Data Science have turned out to be a profitable career option for more energizing and dealing professionals.

INEX tests members' knowledge of programming, quantitative and verbal reasoning. All INSOFE students registered for our PGP are eligible to obtain 100% loan help from any of the thirteen leading banks in India. We can help connect you with a financial institution so you might pursue the graduate stage certification without problem. The graduate stage certification in Data Science is a 7 months program taught over the weekends, to accommodate working professionals’ schedules. But the steering from world-class mentors and closely monitored hands-on classes during labs helped me understand the underlying math of Machine Learning and Deep Learning algorithms.

Learn the science of making these recommendations using measuring similarity between clients. The various strategies utilized for collaborative filtering, their execs and cons, SVD methodology used for suggestions of films by Netflix shall be mentioned as a part of this module. Extension to logistic regression We have a multinomial regression approach used to predict a multiple categorical consequence. Understand the concept of multi logit equations, baseline and making classifications utilizing likelihood outcomes.

Hence, many corporations are considering data science to be a part to make their systems intelligent and derive the most correct outcomes. Data science has received big benefits from time consumption to price reduction. Data science can additionally be anticipated to exchange many current job roles. Hence considering a profession in Data Science and taking over a Data Science course in Hyderabad stands as one of the best determination you make to endure a successful profession. Make sure that you find yourself selecting the most effective institute of Data Science in Hyderabad to encounter a career breakthrough.

They also make use of superior Predictive Modeling strategies and Machine Learning algorithms to make correct interpretations in regards to the incidence of future events. These professionals even have sound communication abilities and staff leading capabilities. Post the COVID pandemic, there’s exponential growth within the Indian analytics industry.

We frequently revise and replace the content of this curriculum to make it related with the current trade requirements and it covers all the latest updates on this field. Post this Data Science training completion, college students will become fully competent and job-ready specialists in Data Science. The advanced curriculum in this data science training in hyderabad covers the complete breadth of the concepts in Data Science. Students may even be creating skills in Supervised and Unsupervised Learning, Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks, Machine Learning and Deep Learning topics. Besides having sound technical and non-technical expertise, a Data Scientist will also be having a robust business understanding.

Understand the key ideas of Neural Networks and examine Deep Learning Black Box methods like SVM. 360DigiTMG is a superb place for learning the entire spectrum of Data Science modules. Being a working professional, I found it exhausting to find time for studying a brand new ability.

He will be assigned a stay project that he has to finish in a month's time. Kaplan Meier technique and life tables are used to estimate the time before the event happens. Survival analysis is about analyzing this length or time before the occasion. Real-time applications of survival evaluation in customer churn, medical sciences and other sectors is mentioned as a part of this module. Learn how survival analysis methods can be used to know the effect of the features on the event utilizing Kaplan Meier survival plot.

You will study hyperparameter, depth, and the variety of leaves on this module. Decision Trees Decision Tree is a Supervised Machine Learning algorithm used for classification and regression issues. It is a hierarchical structure where inside nodes point out the dataset options, branches characterize the choice guidelines, and every leaf node indicates the outcome. Misclassification, Probability, AUC, R-Square This module will educate everyone on tips on how to work with Misclassification, Probability, AUC, and R-Square. AIC, BIC, Model Fitting, Training and Test Data In this module, you'll undergo every little thing you should learn about several models similar to AIC, BIC, Model Fitting, Training, and Test Data. This module will drive you through all the ideas of Multiple Linear Regression utilized in Machine Learning.

Participants from the course have secured roles such as Data Scientists, Machine Learning Engineers, Data Analysts, Analytics Consultants, and so forth. in main Analytics Companies. This project is based on healthcare and healthcare services widely use Machine Learning models. This is likely one of the critical projects of the PG in Data Science course. Text cleansing, regular expressions, Stemming, Lemmatization Text Cleaning is a necessary procedure to emphasize the attributes in your machine studying mannequin to determine on. Regular Expression is a language that states textual content search strings.

After this, he gets elevated to Principal Data Scientist and finally heads the Data Science vertical as Chief Data Scientist of the company. The prime employers in Data Science are IBM, Accenture, JPMorgan Chase, Amex, McKinsey & Co, Impetus, Wipro, and Microsoft. Bundle offers are outlined primarily based on this measure of dependency between merchandise. Understand the metrics Support, Confidence and Lift used to define the rules with the assistance of Apriori algorithm. Learn the pros and cons of every of the metrics used in Association rules. It is necessary to procure user consent prior to operating these cookies in your web site.

Virtual Assistants are actually a typical requirement for an Organization. But, to make the assistant simpler we are now into chatbots which involves Natural Language Process, Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence. These interactive chatbots are designed to serve as an intellectual responsive course of. Hands-on instance of SVM classification and regression issues using a business case in Python. The Data Science course helps in combining the disruption into classes and speaking their potential, which permits knowledge and analytics leaders to drive higher outcomes.

Learn about kernel methods used to transform the data into excessive dimensional spaces to classify the non-linear areas into linearly separable knowledge. Revise Bayes theorem to develop a classification method for Machine studying. In this tutorial you'll study joint probability and its purposes. Learn tips on how to predict whether an incoming e-mail is a spam or a ham e-mail.

These will be done beneath the guidance of the faculty and industry mentors. The project will aim at consolidating the tools, applied sciences, and methods learned and mastered through the data science course in hyderabad . The capstone project paves a path for the candidates to demonstrate analytics expertise to their potential employers. 360DigiTMG Research Lab is doubtless one of the best data science coaching institutes in Hyderabad. I joined right here as soon as I accomplished my bachelor’s to attain a big job.

We present an end to end course with placement help after the internship is over. We additionally float your resume to several dependable placement consultants with whom we've an extended association. Additionally, through the mentorship session, if the mentor feels that you require further help, you could be referred to another mentor or trainer. Each classroom session is recorded on video and saved in our Learning Management System ISPRY. You shall be assigned a dedicated login to AISPRY. In India, Data Scientists have four job hops in 8 years with a 2-year tenure with each employer. First, the aspirant joins as a Data Scientist intern and as a Junior Data Scientist after which strikes on to turn into a Senior Data Scientist.

For more information

360DigiTMG - Data Analytics, Data Science Course Training Hyderabad  

Address - 2-56/2/19, 3rd floor,, Vijaya towers, near Meridian school,, Ayyappa Society Rd, Madhapur,, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081

099899 94319

https://g.page/Best-Data-Science

[scentedbeardgarden]

The class is taught in a tutorial format using the panda’s library, and only a minimal statistics background is predicted, and the primary course contains a refresh of these primary ideas. Learners with proper training in Computer Science but without formal training in knowledge science will nonetheless discover the skills they purchase in these programs priceless in their research and careers. Secondly, mentors all have 6+ lengthy experiences, and sophistication halls have cameras launched and all conferences are recorded in order that could be reviewed to ensure maximum learning. Thirdly, each one of many students secures sensible placements at completely different fam end organizations. The actual charges may differ from one Data science Course in Delhi have a coaching institute to a different one. You can immediately contact one which offers Online Data Science Training. Software testing developer at Interglobe technologies is joyful to say that I was extremely happy with the course and the educating style. There was an efficient mixture of theoretical and sensible work. Croma Campus did reside up to its name of offering great training and I am joyful to successfully full the training on Software testing and database testing. Salesforce at HCL TechnologyI learned salesforce Admin and Developer course from Croma Campus. It has opted as the most most well-liked Language for Data Analytics and the rising search developments on Python every day also indicates that it is the "Next Big Thing" and a should for aspirants within the Data Analytics subject. SRC Computer Education offers a Data science course in Delhi NCR with experienced trainers. Our Data Science course helps you with information modeling, business analytics, machine studying algorithms, Naïve Bayes, and many different topics. I strongly feel that that is the best institute for anybody to search for steerage and profession transition in knowledge science. As a more energizing with no technical knowledge relating to trainer made it really easy to study a brand new different coding language. The neatest thing about the institute is all schools even those who taught tableau to provide you their sensitive information and makes learning really easy. The best part of CTC is that they teach you and in addition prepare you for the interview. I personally feel my determination to join CTC helped me a lot in my overall progress. At last, I would just say that my general expertise is basically satisfactory. To excel in the area of Data Science, you have to have great information about Python and its understanding. Join Techstack to learn in regards to the Python data science course the place the historical past of the options of Python and its variables might be included. You may also study in-depth relating to how Python capabilities while merging and sorting the data accordingly. Building an analytical approach over data-oriented issues takes time, and this program helps in constructing the same. Most employers search for information science professionals with superior levels, similar to a Master of Science in Data Science. There are many other industries similar to finance, retail, schooling, marketing, business, agriculture, and plenty of more. Data science helps the customers to get a product at one of the best prices by using value comparison websites. Data science helps to attain the information from all websites the place the actual product is displayed and empowers the person to crack one of the best deals. Once the part of testing ends, it's deployed to the client to unravel the defined downside and achieve the objectives determined. The application of different data visualization instruments corresponding to Tableau, Highcharts, Datawrapper, Sisense, Fusioncharts, etc makes it straightforward to understand the mannequin. Data science course in Delhi has multidisciplinary expertise involving a number of processes, patterns, algorithms, strategies on a piece of given information to derive the mandatory insights. The class includes execs working with some of the main organizations across completely different domains. ExcelR Data science, as a subject, has established itself as a high career option. With the wealth of information obtainable relating to fresh job seekers obtainable on social media, company databases, and so forth, Data Scientists can hunt fresh talent for the organization and recruit the very best to fit the organization's needs, dashing up and streamlining the recruitment course of. Now at ExcelR, the Data Science courses in Delhi curriculum provide extensive knowledge of Data Collection, Extraction, Cleansing, Exploration, and Transformation with expert trainers having 10+ years of experience with 100% placement assistance.

You can reach us at: ExcelR- Data Science, Data Analytics, Business Analytics Course Training Bangalore Address:49, 1st Cross, 27th Main, Behind Tata Motors, 1st Stage, BTM Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560068 Phone: 096321 56744 Directions: Data science course in Bangalore Email:enquiry@excelr.com