#world walker: aftershocks

[chaotic-tired-cat]

Rotating ao3 in my head like a rotisserie chicken till it's back

World Walker future scene under the cut since Izuku vs. Hawks won the poll of what fic to post while we wait! Reminder: im always happy to share snippets. i have so many, send help

Anyway this is technically a draft and longer than needed but! it's fun to read through. I also had to decide which Izuku vs. Hawks to do bc I have two. Somehow. lmk if anyone wants the other, it's very. uh. unhinged.

Warning for uhhhhh manipulation? I think that's it.

“This is... crowded,” Izuku murmurs when he, Ochako, and Hitoshi enter Yaomomo and Jirou’s agency gym in full gear.

“Don’t die.” Ochako taps a code against the inside of his wrist before marching towards where Gunhead is sparring with Creati.

“She says that like she’s not about to put the fear of God into some poor soul,” Hitoshi says. “We should’ve brought popcorn.”

“Gym popcorn is disgusting.”

“I don't really trust your standards, but I do trust your opinions. Tell Shoto,” Hitoshi says, and wanders after Ochako.

Izuku rolls his eyes and scans the crowd again. Most heroes are hanging out by the outer benches, watching the few sparring matches. It makes the one person doing neither stand out slightly.

Jirou picks her way across the sparring mats to tug him into a half-hug. It’s not… usual for her. She’s not one to reach out like this, for all that Class A is forged stronger than steel. So he tilts his head in silent question.

“Someone has been pushing our PR department to arrange this,” Jirou mutters, quiet enough for it to be lost amidst the gym’s noise. “We’re springing the trap to find out who.”

“Could be my mess. I might have nearly kicked a hornets nest lately.” Izuku scans the usual crowd and heroes mixed in when she steps back. Hawks isn’t watching him, not really, but he’s ruffled enough to have already had a few turns on the mats from.

Huh.

Izuku almost expected the hero to just walk up and stab him. It’d certainly be a surprise, and Hawks is decent at reading people.

Jirou follows his gaze and curses under her breath. “If you need to run, tell us. We’ll find you an out.”

Izuku shoots her a thankful look. 

“Tokoyami and Eijirou both thought it might be them, too. Aizawa-sensei stopped by yesterday and said it could be targeting him, but not to raise alarms if so. You know anything about that?”

Aizawa-sensei broke into and out of a supermax prison yesterday to visit a teleporter and was probably setting up an alibi. He also, coincidentally, would have the most disapproving expression if Izuku admitted to finding this out when he slipped while making a portal in search of snacks during his fifteen minute patrol break.

“Nope,” he creaks.

Jirou shrugs and pulls him towards where Shoto is experiencing fear through a sparring match with Wash. “Like I said. Let us know if you need to run.”

He chats and avoids the mats for a while, but Izuku gradually clocks that Hawks is avoiding looking at him.

It’s bizarre.

Every time Izuku checks, the hero is fully turned away, back to Izuku. He orbits the room as if they’re repelling magnets, but Hawks is also avoiding the very edges.

It takes a disgracefully long time for Izuku to recognize that Hawks has bags under his eyes, and keeps eyeing the main exit’s open double doors.

We’re springing the trap, Jirou said.

How long did they deal with the pressure before deciding on this option? Were they threatened? The thought spills stress into Izuku’s joints, turning him brittle with worry. He’s not an angry person, but he is protective of his class. Bringing trouble to their doorstep feels like a deeply personal insult.

So when he feels the air stir, and turns to see Hawks by his side-

He smiles with too many teeth, and walks backwards into a hell of his own design.

“Come on,” Izuku says, beckoning Hawks onto the mostly-empty mats in a challenge. “I’m not gonna pressure you into a spar, but if you need a tricky opponent, Kacchan says I’m a bit of a bastard in a straight fight.”

“A tricky opponent,” Hawks repeats with a slight grin. “Yeah, I’ll bite.”

Izuku tilts his head, analyzing the reluctance, the lethargy, the shadows under the hero’s eyes that are buried under makeup. It wouldn't be noticeable if Hawks hadn't glanced towards the exit before replying.

He says one thing and acts in another way.

Sharp eyes flick behind Izuku, and the elder hero’s resolve seems to firm.

Ambush?

No.

Too many people who could intervene around them – Izuku’s class is protective when the HPSC is involved, and Tokoyami in particular is watching. Hawks has only ever taken one intern for direct mentoring. It shows. Izuku has an idea, more than nearly anyone else here, of what kinds of sacrifices Hawks has made to keep Pro Hero Tsukuyomi from falling into the Commission’s payroll. Risks like that aren’t worth compromising for a spar. Hawks isn’t likely to start anything that his fledgling could get in trouble for.

So, what’s going on?

Izuku crosses the gym and pulls a couple wooden practice daggers off the wall. Hawks joins him after a moment of hesitation. Interestingly, he goes for a pair of swords slightly shorter than his feathers. The bokken is a surprising choice.

They take to the mats.

Stances ready.

It’s rather useless to have a countdown at this point. Hawks shifts his weight, just a little, and Izuku blurs forward.

Wood clacks together, impact rattling down Izuku’s arm from the bokken’s force. He slides under the attack, bending unnaturally to get inside Hawks’ guard. The false dagger blade lashes out, nearly catching ribs before wings flap hastily. Air billows. Hawks retreats.

Izuku follows, meeting the attack with a move Taka taught him. Wooden blades crack louder the second time. Hawks lashes out with his freehand sword. Izuku parries over his shoulder, traps the reaching arm against his side, and grabs onto the Null. Five small portals open into a handhold.

Gravity shudders.

His own tie to the earth’s mass vanishes.

Izuku uses the falter in reality to swing his weight up, wrapping legs around the juncture between wing and spine. Gravity reverts. Abrupt weight brings Hawks crashing down to plastic sparring mats. He manages to turn it into a roll, wooden blades lashing out. Izuku must drop the hero and vanish into a portal or else be nearly skewered.

He drops back into reality behind Hawks.

Far beyond, at the edge of the gym, Izuku catches sight of a figure in a business suit. A HPSC worker.

Why did they signal Hawks to accept a spar he didn’t want-

Wait.

Izuku fights like his mentors.

He fights a lot like Taka, who Izuku now knows has leveled at least one army, and a little like Cloud, who has walked every path in the spectrum of politician to hero to villain to informant. Skillsets of spies and assassins, world-breakers and berserkers live on in his tactics. Hisen is the father of two legends and twice as powerful within his domain. Izuku carries a mishmash of martial arts styles, most of which exist in far less efficient forms in this world. Lethality of combat is a localized scale between dimensions. He was raised in part by walking monsters and creatures straight out of nightmares to capably defend himself in all of them. Standards shifted accordingly.

It must show.

Hawks uses his distraction to press the advantage of longer weaponry. Izuku grits sharpened teeth with every blocked or dodged hit. An unexpected kick punches air from his lungs, and Izuku snarls with the impact. He grabs the offending boot by the heel, pushes upwards, and forces Hawks to do the splits mid-fight just to maintain balance.

Izuku was hoping that would flip him, but no, the winged hero just has to secretly be a noodle. Sure, alright. Improvise, adapt, overcome.

“Hey!” Hawks yelps, and slams both palms into the ground to try and kick Izuku with his now-free leg. Izuku hops back a step to dodge it.

"Nice try," Izuku says. He switches his grip on the ankle, turns, and does his level best to throw the hero.

Just to see if he can.

Also because they started this off intensely and Izuku isn’t a fan of that. Hawks doesn’t want to spar, so Izuku is going to make this more of a game than combat. Hopefully it’ll help without getting him in trouble with the Commission.

Red wings course-correct midair. Hawks skids back a meter with his landing, then sprints directly at Izuku.

Swords low and ready to strike.

Izuku does the obvious thing-

He braces himself, lets the Null fill his lungs, and adjusts as his back bends under the weight of stardust. Jagged teeth force his mouth open and diverging realities turn the bright room brilliant, but Izuku has forgotten what it feels like to live without hollow bones. He steadies himself against the fabric of reality and lets time slow to a crawl.

One sword carves up from the right, another slashed down from the left. Izuku meets both with daggers. This slow with a timestream stretching tripwire-thin, it’s precision work to twist, redirecting both wooden blades around him like water down a mountain. Izuku slips between them and steps forward. 

Past the outer blood circle, and into his guard.

Hawks adjusts faster than expected and flips over him, red-black winds steadying the showy maneuver. Time snaps back into a proper pace. 

Hawks crashes to earth, stumbles, and stares at Izuku with something a little too disbelieving to be surprise.

Izuku considers him.

Steps forward, then back in a feint.

The playful kind.

Hawks tries to fight back a grin and raises his swords. The edges of that exhaustion roll off his shoulders, sinking into the mats and leaving the man behind a little lighter. Tension eases further.

When they clash again, the sound is less abrasive. Hawks pulls out a flashy barrel roll of an attack that has Izuku laughing as he parries. He dances forward on playful, too-agile feet to meet it. 

The match turns into less of a spar and more a chance to show off, a game of tag easily dismissed as a test of skill.

Izuku weaves through defenses to reach out and boop the hero on the nose when Hawks fails to anticipate him engulfing an entire sword-arm in a portal. It is, honestly, so much fun to spar against someone who is surprised by his tricks.

Izuku guides the match with increasingly silly efforts, and Hawks matches him step for step, trying to trip him wit or smack him with a wing. Izuku gets a face full of downy feathers when he tries to dodge under one. It’s a different kind of victory when Hawks laughs at that. Izuku sputters and tries to get Hawks in a headlock, forcing the hero to keep facing away from the lurking HPSC Agent.

Hawks retaliates by sweeping Izuku’s feet out from under him.

Oh, it is on, Izuku thinks, and rolls to his feet, dropping both daggers in a showy gesture.

Hawks gets out a quiet, “shit” before he’s tackled.

What follows is more of a preschool slap-fight than two sparring heroes. 

It ends when Hawks licks his palm and tries to get Izuku with it, resulting in a chase around the gym neither are trying very hard at. Yaomomo calls the match in a tie once they end up in her agency’s rafters.

“I won,” Hawks declares when they reconvene on the ground, practically preening.

"That started out way too lethal," Ochako murmurs when Izuku plops down on one of the rafters next to her. She crosses her arms, pinkies curled in out of habit. "What happened?"

"Completely," Izuku lies.

-

"I think the HPSC has started to notice I don't judge Hawks for their orders. They're testing limits." Izuku sits next to his friend, watching Tokoyami start up a spar against Suneater. "It means they can keep sending him in to pry about my quirk without our legal team hitting back as hard as we should."

"We could," Ochako offers. Izuku glances at her out of the corner of his eye.

Ochako is fire and steel, wrapped up in bubblegum pink. Graduation and the following years have forged that combination into experience and brass knuckles. If he asks, she would help him burn the HPSC to the ground, no hesitation. That's not a question even worth considering.

But they would start the fire with Hawks, who is very much a victim in this situation.

Pawns don't make moves for themselves.

Not really.

"...It wouldn't end well," is all Izuku says. Ochako nods, once, taking his words with all the care of a prophecy.

Then she flips off the rafter and drops to the floor to beat her old mentor into the ground. Gunhead meets her challenge laughing.

-

Izuku switches apps on his phone when Hawks lands on the rafter next to him. Tokoyami is worrying, but it's the kind of worry he doesn't need a trained spy to pick up on.

If he was trained.

That's a thought.

"Do you have infiltration training?" Izuku asks before Hawks can say anything.

The HPSC'S hero gives him an odd look. "Cryptid, you were involved in the Re-Destro case."

"That's experience. Not formal training," Izuku points out. He pulls off a finger-less glove and fiddles with it, just to have a texture to ground himself with.

Hawks takes far too long to reply. It's not one he thinks Izuku wants to hear, or not an answer he can give.

Stitched ridges line the back of the gloves. A scratch is indented on the second knuckle, which Izuku smooths over until the divot is pressed into his memory.

"Yeah," Hawks lies, like there isn't a chasm of silence lying dead between them. "Took a few classes."

Hawks never learns field skills through structured classes. He may have tutors and teachers, but not classes.

Not if he's with the HPSC.

Universal constant.

He's also too good to have made that tell anything but intentional. Hawks plays at being a hero, but under that he's acting on the HPSC's command first and foremost. Two masks, but that's all they are. Just masks. At his core, Hawks is trapped so far down in circumstances he never wanted that he's begun to give up on climbing.

"Wild," is all Izuku says. Sludge presses at the back of his throat. "You deserved better." Still do.

Hawks startles, then snorts. "You know, R&D thinks you've got a predetermination vestigial quirk."

"Good luck to them, I guess? Vestigial quirks are a part of maybe 3% of the population, tops. What kind of genetic lottery game is that?"

"Come on, at least tell me they're wrong so I can laugh about it."

So that's what Hawks is here for.

"...Nah, the mystery is part of my charm." Izuku slips his glove back on, covering up inked lines tracing across his hands. "Sorry to disappoint."

I hope you won't be blamed for this. I hope failure is not punishment to you in this world.

"It is your whole marketing plan," Hawks says. Morse taps out on the beam.

E-Y-E-S-F-R-O-N-T.

"Gotta commit," Izuku agrees as he drums out, W-H-E-R-E.

Hawks folds the hand near Izuku into field signals, six and four. Old practice keeps him from turning around to check for their watchers, but Izuku still wants to know.

They don't trust Hawks to do this alone.

Could be internal politics. Could be backup.

Where does Hawks fall?

Izuku takes a risk. "You can't record in Japan without permission."

Hawks shakes his head. "They don't care. But wow, look, I guess I lost the bug. What a shame."

"We mourn it," Izuku says with faux-greif. "And all the secrets it would have spilled. Good riddance and good night."

“Wish that were me,” Hawks says, only half-joking. Izuku sobers at the reminder of how tired the hero next to him is. He can’t remember the last time Hawks looked genuinely relaxed.

Even now.

“It could be.”

Hawks chuckles, taking his suggestion to go pass out the wrong way. “Nah, I’m not about to slow down and leave it to your group just yet. I’m not that old.”

“I don’t think you’re old. Heck, Gunhead’s still a fan favorite, and he was an experienced hero before your debut.” Izuku presses down on the divots in his glove. “But I do think you need to rest.”

“Oh, so this is the wisdom I’ve heard so much about. Endeavor-” Hawks cuts himself off.

The silence stretches, threatening to become awkward, but Hawks recovers just in time. “Anyway. You’ve got a reputation, kid. You know that, right?”

“Do you believe it?” Izuku asks, genuinely curious. He knows the older heroes talk about their class. Everyone here has a reputation, and Izuku is recognized by Wikipedia as a cryptid. He can infer the rest.

“Not enough data,” Hawks says flippantly. “Got any advice for a bird learning learning to give his heroics career a little endurance?”

It’s blatant bait and fishing for information at the behest of his mission orders. Jokes on him, though. Izuku's been waiting on this opening for years.

"Life is not based on endurance," he tells Hawks gently. "If there's one thing I've figured out, it's that we are made to live, not claw our way from day to day in search of survival."

"Pretty words," Hawks says. His smile is crooked, picture-perfect and plastic-fake. "Should've figured from a member of that hell class."

Misdirection.

Sure.

Whatever works for him.

"You sound like Compress," Izuku mutters, pointedly ignoring it when Hawks chokes on air. "Keep your cards close as you like. Just don't start thinking you're alone."

"I was really expecting you to be more subtle about that," Hawks says.

"Okay. How about this: birds of a feather should flock together. Go talk to your chick, hawk-man." Izuku adjusts so he's crouching on the rafter beam. He turns just in time to catch sight of two HPSC uniforms in the entrance hallway. 

He's not leaving Hawks here with them.

"Can you drop me off somewhere?"

Hawks raises an eyebrow. "That- you are an entire teleporter."

"Irrelevant," Izuku sniffs, prodding Hawks until he stands up and unlocks a skylight. "Call it a gift to a friend, freely given."

"Sure, a favor."

"Gift," Izuku corrects as he lets Hawks toss him over a shoulder in a rescue hold. "Life isn't transactional."

"Could have sworn you said differently at a conference." Hawks pauses so Izuku can shut the window after them.

"Head north by northwest. Anyway, it's different when you're weaving fate. Transactions are like business deals. I don't talk with friends like I'm in a meeting. That's just exhausting. But HeroCon is fun because I can be weird and nobody knows if it's bullshit or if I'm telling the truth."

"None of it is bullshit."

"I legally should not confirm or deny," Izuku says flatly enough that Hawks should hear the unspoken warning. For all they can chat as coworkers and friends of friends, Izuku knows the lines in this conversation.

Sure enough, Hawks redirects seamlessly. "Gotta give the kids something. Not that I've been watching your fan theorists, but there are some smart kids out there. Unrelated, but have you met Chithulu?"

"Egomaniac ass," Izuku grumbles at the memory. "I traded the last one I met a bag of hot pockets to drown the All for One on that world. He ripped me off! So rude."

Hawks' flight pattern experiences a sudden loss of altitude. Izuku, who falls in arguably more dangerous ways every other hour, fails to notice the stutter until after Hawks has regained control.

"Take a left here," Izuku says once it becomes clear he's accidentally either killed the conversation or stunned his local bird speechless. "Oh look, a balcony! You should land on it."

Hawk's expression is a thing of beauty when Izuku has him stop off at Miruko's agency. He might still be stunned, though. It's hard to tell.

"I can take it from here," Miruko tells Izuku as they land. 

"Miruko-" Hawks tries to latch onto her arm, dodges the reflexive swat also via instinct, and proceeds to nearly melt. "The kids are bribing Chithulu. Why didn't I get a rebellious teenage phase?"

"You had it when you were twenty-three," Izuku points out. Hawks melts further into Miruko.

"Oh?" She asks. "What is this?"

"I mean, I know what he did, but saying that is going to make me so cursed. Unrelated, but bleach is not going to wash smoke out of those walls, and couples therapy is so worth the cost in your case."

Hawks makes a miserable little noise.

Miruko isn't letting her bestie go after that, so Izuku considers his task accomplished.

He drops into a portal as she winds up to either punch Hawks in the shoulder or grab him for a hug. He's not around long enough to know.

On his way back he might, possibly, reach through the fabric of reality to check what's in an HPSC briefcase those suits were carrying.

Maybe.

It's very illegal, so Izuku is choosing to believe that it was a complete accident he saw papers with some rather dire implications. And an assassination order.

He desperately wants a date and time to catch this. Paper trails are good, but they're not omniscient.

The HPSC uses hero licenses to track which bodies on infrared camera are allowed to exist there. It's a ridiculous setup. Something about doors and a whole team monitoring an AI that monitors every room except for a few blindspots. Izuku can't even teleport into the lobby without alarms going off.

Izuku considers this, then leans back into the Null. He lets go of his world, closes his eyes, and drops into the void.

[chaos-vulpix]

Rockshot Rave: Cole

This has been... a few months in the making...

Inspired by my initial Atershock playlist, I've put together my largest playlist so far, all to create the most Clubbing Vibe that only Cole could facilitate

Enjoy :)

7/11 - Beyoncé

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) - Fergie ft. Q-Tip & GoonRock | The Great Gatsby

Addicted to a Memory - Zedd ft. Bahari

After LIKE - IVE

Aftershock - Cash Cash ft. Jacquie Lee

Alive - Krewella

All Around The World - Justin Bieber ft. Ludacris

All Night (Louis The Child Remix) - Chance The Rapper ft. Knox Fortune

Angels - Vicetone ft. Kat Nestel

Applause - Lady Gaga

Bad Memories - MEDUZA & James Carter ft. Elley Duhé & FAST BOY

Bang Bang - Rita Ora & Imanbek

Bass Down Low - DEV ft. The Cataracs

Blah Blah Blah - Kesha ft. 3OH!3

BOOMBAYAH - BLACKPINK

Break The Ice - Britney Spears

Build The Cities (Empire of Sound) - Karma Fields & Tristam ft. Kerli

Burn It Down - AtellaGali & Rvssian ft. Fuego, Konshens & Satori

Butterfly Effect VIP - Koven

Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn

Catching On - Elephante ft. Nevve

Clarity (Virtual Riot Remix) - Zedd ft. Foxes

Closer (Xan Griffin Remix) - The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey

Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida ft. David Guetta

Come & Get It - Selena Gomez

DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love - Usher ft. Pitbull

Erase - The Chainsmokers ft. Priyanka Chopra

Evacuate the Dancefloor - Cascada

Every Single Day - Benassi Bros. ft. Dhany

Everything Black - Unlike Pluto ft. Micah Martin

Excuse Me - AOA

Feel This Moment - Pitbull ft. Christina Aguilera

Finest Hour (Madison Mars Remix) - Cash Cash ft. Abir

Fire Burning - Sean Kingston

Gecko (Overdrive) - Oliver Heldens & Becky Hill

Get Low - Zedd & Liam Payne

Ghosts 'n' Stuff - deadmau5 ft. Rob Swire

Give Me Everything - Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer

Goodness Gracious (The Chainsmokers Remix) - Ellie Goulding

Guaya - Eva Simons

Hella Good - No Doubt

Hello Good Morning - Diddy-Dirty Money ft. T.I.

Hit My Heart - Benassi Bros. ft. Dhany

Hymn For The Weekend (Alan Walker Remix) - Coldplay ft. Beyoncé

I Don't Like You (Kygo Remix) - Eva Simons

In My Head - PNAU ft. Kira Divine

Into The Night - Nero

Into You - Ariana Grande

Karma (Alpharock & Devan Remix) - Robinson

Kick It - NCT 127

Kickstarts - Example

L'Amour Toujours (Tiësto Edit) - Dzerko & Torres ft. Delaney Jane

Lavender Haze (Snakehips Remix) - Taylor Swift

Let's Go (Vicetone Remix) - Calvin Harris ft. Ne-Yo

Like a G6 - Far East Movement ft. The Cataracs & DEV

Look Into My Eyes (Syn Cole Remix) - Brando

Lose Control - MEDUZA, Becky Hill & Goodboys

Lose My Breath - Destiny's Child

Mad At You - Navvy

Make You Say - Zedd, Maren Morris & BEAUZ

Medicine (The Chainsmokers Remix) - Daughter

Miami 82 (Vocal Mix) - Syn Cole ft. Madame Buttons

Middle (Mija Remix) - DJ Snake ft. Bipolar Sunshine

Never More (DJ Yummy Remix) - Shoji Meguro ft. Shihoko Hirata | Persona 4

OTW (Hälder Flip) - Khalid

Other Side - Illenium, Said The Sky & Vera Blue

Overdose - Ciara

Papercut - Zedd ft. Troye Sivan

Party Rock Anthem - LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock

Pon de Replay - Rihanna

Rabiosa - Shakira ft. El Cata

Radioactive - Rita Ora

Red Lights - Tiësto ft. Michel Zitron

Release Me - Agnes

River - PNAU & Ladyhawke

Roll 'n Rock - Bali Bandits

Round & Round - Selena Gomez & the Scene

Sandstorm - Darude

Say Aah - Trey Songz ft. Fabolous

See Tình (Cucak Remix) - Hoàng Thùy Linh

She Wolf (Falling to Pieces) - David Guetta ft. Sia

SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK (Loud Luxury Remix) - Joji

So Close - NOTD & Felix Jaehn ft. Georgia Ku & Captain Cuts

SOS - Rihanna

Stranger Love - PNAU ft. Budjerah

Stronger - TheFatRat, Slaydit & Anjulie

Takeaway - The Chainsmokers & Illenium ft. Lennon Stella

Talking Body (Gryffin Remix) - Tove Lo

Technologic - Daft Punk

The Girl Is Mine (Club Mix) - 99 Souls ft. Destiny's Child & Brandy

This Is Love - will.i.am ft. Eva Simons

Tonight I’m Getting Over You - Carly Rae Jepsen

Where Have You Been - Rihanna

Wild Ones - Flo Rida ft. Sia

Wings (Nu:Logic Remix) - Birdy

Words - Feint ft. Laura Brehm

Yeah! - Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris

You (à la) - SACHI

Your Affection (fu_mou Remix) - Shoji Meguro ft. Shihoko Hirata | Persona 4

Your Spell - Bad Computer

[rockislandadultreads]

Book Recommendations: National Poetry Month

Taking the Arrow Out of the Heart by Alice Walker

Presented in both English and Spanish, Alice Walker shares a timely collection of nearly seventy works of passionate and powerful poetry that bears witness to our troubled times, while also chronicling a life well-lived. From poems of painful self-inquiry, to celebrating the simple beauty of baking frittatas, Walker offers us a window into her magical, at times difficult, and liberating world of activism, love, hope and, above all, gratitude. Whether she’s urging us to preserve an urban paradise or behold the delicate necessity of beauty to the spirit, Walker encourages us to honor the divine that lives inside all of us and brings her legendary free verse to the page once again, demonstrating that she remains a revolutionary poet and an inspiration to generations of fans.

Promises of Gold by José Olivarez

In this groundbreaking collection of poems, José Olivarez explores every kind of love—self, brotherly, romantic, familial, cultural. Grappling with the contradictions of the American Dream with unflinching humanity, he lays bare the ways in which “love is complicated by forces larger than our hearts.”

Whether readers enter this collection in English or via the Spanish translation by poet David Ruano, these extraordinary poems are sure to become beloved for their illuminations of life—and love.

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong 

How else do we return to ourselves but to fold The page so it points to the good part

In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among the aftershocks of his mother’s death, embodying the paradox of sitting within grief while being determined to survive beyond it. Shifting through memory, and in concert with the themes of his novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong contends with personal loss, the meaning of family, and the cost of being the product of an American war in America. At once vivid, brave, and propulsive, Vuong’s poems circle fragmented lives to find both restoration as well as the epicenter of the break.

Water I Won’t Touch by Kayleb Rae Candrilli

Both radically tender and desperate for change, Water I Won't Touch is a life raft and a self-portrait, concerned with the vitality of trans people living in a dangerous and inhospitable landscape. Through the brambles of the Pennsylvania forest to a stretch of the Jersey Shore, in quiet moments and violent memories, Kayleb Rae Candrilli touches the broken earth and examines the whole in its parts. Written during the body's healing from a double mastectomy--in the wake of addiction and family dysfunction--these ambitious poems put new form to what's been lost and gained. Candrilli ultimately imagines a joyful, queer future: a garden to harvest, lasting love, the insistent flamboyance of citrus.

[littlefreya]

The Way To Hell - Final Chapter

Summary: Post Mi6, Alternate Canon. August escapes Hunt with his face intact and is currently the most dangerous man on earth. Unwilling to back down from his murderous agenda, he plots to continue where he stopped while a trained assassin is sent to bring him down. 

Pairing: August Walker x OFC (Ingvild) 🖤

Word count: 5k (including epilogue) 

Warnings: 18+, smut, boomer Walker, some fluff, sexual intercourse, cock-warming, mentions of torture, implied insanity, slight mentions of gore, violence, murder, mass-shooting and death. Please proceed with caution  

A/N: The ending is here and I hope I did it justice, I hope I did right by you. I will reblog my kudos, but first I must thank @agniavateira for being my beta and a source of inspiration and @raspberrydreamclouds for the cover art. 

*No permission is given for reposting my work, copying it, ideas or parts it and claiming it as your own*

Now allow me to die out of stress and anxiety.

Title: See You in Hell

Down by the valley, there is a serenity that exists only in fairy tales. Damp grass caresses her naked back, the pointy little tips ticking the base of her spine, leaving a fresh trail of dew. Pure mountain mist breathes life through blue hills caked with ice; white fog vales over the forest’s lush greenery and looms above the lake’s water like a lost-love phantom.

Lying with her eyes shut, she listens to the harmony of life surrounding her: the little fish bouncing in the river, the butterflies procreating mid-air and the hummingbird chirping with bliss. Yet the most beautiful sound is the low, melodic baritone humming and reverberating against her inner thighs. 

”Angel, With those angel eyes Come and take this earth boy Up to paradise.”

”Boomer Walker…” she teases, “Is that a song from your time?” 

Ascending a trail of kisses up her pelvis, he scoffs and shakes his head. “I’m starting to suspect that you have a kink for older men,” he answers with a throaty growl, shifting his weight further over her abdomen. The soft fur of his torso grazes between her thighs, and she sighs with pleasure. 

”Do you want daddy to fuck you?” 

”That’s gross!” she curls her nose and tries to hit his head playfully, but August snaps at her wrists with perfect instinct, pinning her hands against the wet meadow. His tongue flicks over the slant of her neck while he aligns his cock at the little piece of heaven between her legs.

Sensual yet rough, his massive girth splits her walls while his lips shower her with honeyed kisses. Ingvild throws her head back, lacing her fingers with his and coils herself beneath his large body. 

“August...” she pants, feeling the air gradually diminishing from her lungs with every thrust, “I think I’m dying...”

Never halting or slowing his rhythm, August lowers his head to peer into her eyes. Fingers drenched with blood snap at her jaw.

“Stay with me, Ingvild.” He demands, letting out a husky groan, though his voice is but an echo.

A grey, thick mist wafts around the darkening forest, covering her with a bone-chilling breeze; his calling carries on the distance.  

“Stay, princess...”

“Don’t leave...”

“Stay. We’ve only just begun.”

Ice bites its sharp fangs into the little creases between her cracked bones as another bucket filled with frosty water showers her trembling body. The stabbing pain lasts for a lingering moment, reminding her that she’s still very much alive.

It must be the 10th bucket, or maybe 12th? She lost count at some point. Day and night melt into one another in this place, and the hours don’t make much sense.

Muffled complaints vibrate in her ears. Vaguely her sight picks on two silhouettes arguing when the world abruptly flashes white, and her jaw soaks a terrible blow. Fully crashing onto the hard marble, she tries to recover, but a sudden kick rips through her abdomen.

“Your methods are too slow, Issac!” A grey-haired agent chides, standing over the girl with his foot still drawn, “Walker could be setting his bomb somewhere across the globe any minute now, and you’re taking your sweet time with her as if she’s an art project.”

The scrawny torturer frowns and turns his back at him. Walking toward the metal desk, he browses through different equipment. “My methods always work, the pretty little girl was taught to endure pain,” he grunts in exasperation and gestures at the bloodstained bandage around her hand, “she did this to herself.”

Sighing with a mixture of frustration and disgust, the CIA agent takes another swing at Ingvild’s torso, the pointy edge of his shoe colliding with the scar at her gut.

Bloodshot eyes rise with wrath, violent tides of aftershock course at her viscera. She peers at the men through the haze of pain when a third figure appears in the room, standing calmly whilst Issac and the agent argue among them. 

Tall, broad, and charismatic, the handsome man strides toward her. His tailored steel-coloured suit envelops his statuesque body as if he is made of iron.  

“You’re taking it so well, princess,” he praises in his deep, melodic baritone while crouching down to take a closer look. Ingvild lifts her head, slowly breaking into a weak grin. Onyx orbs replace the storm-touched eyes, but that chiselled face still belongs to her beautiful monster.

“Did you tell them anything about where I am headed?” he asks and gives her a pout, reaching his index finger and thumb to squeeze her bruised cheek affectionately. 

Swallowing the aching dryness in her throat, she manages to shake her head meekly. “No… I said nothing,” her voice cracking as she whispers. Her chapped lips stretch into a pale, awkward grin. 

Tiny lines form at the corner of his void-like eyes as he smiles back, radiating with dangerous delight.

“That’s my good girl.”

The grey-haired agent throws a glance over his shoulder, scrutinising Ingvild while he stands next to Issac, who is twirling a scalpel back and forth between his boney fingers.

“Who is she talking to?”

“Not very sane this one,” Issac explains as he examines the silver blade against the light, “multiple mental disorders, dissociative personality, psychotic.”

Pushing the agent aside with his free hand, Issac steps forward. He leers at Ingvild, who stares at nothing for a long second before averting her eyes back at them. 

“We just need to dig a little deeper and the little bird will sing,” he exclaims and moves closer before dropping to his knees. One of his icy hands lands on her shoulder, forcing her flat on her back. Shuddering at his frozen touch, she closes her eyes; in the bleak nothingness, she recalls the night in the lake where August let her die.

“Pretty little Ingvild, have you heard of vivisection?” Her torturer asks as he lines his twig-like finger over the spine of the scalpel. Sensing his digits sneaking beneath the hem of her shirt, she shoots her eyes open yet remains still and intrepid. 

The tiny black marbles beneath Issac’s brows glint with twisted joy, appeased at the sight of the scar as he exposes her torso. Ingvild expects the pain of the blade when something tepid and unpleasantly wet slithers across her gut like a little pink slug. 

“Umm… Issac…?” The agent interrupts, furrowing his brow with confusion and disgust as he stares at his colleague licking the girl’s torso.

“What?!” Issac snaps at him, his eyes narrowing with spite, “you wanted me to go harder on her!”

“Yes, but…”

“But shut up and let me do my job!” He yells and returns his glare to Ingvild who blinks at the ceiling silently. Disrupted by his touch, she bites her tongue, fighting to hold back the acrid substance that threatens to emerge from her gut.

“You fight very hard to protect a man who doesn’t give a fuck about you, little bird,” his snake-like voice hisses as he leans down to half-whisper in her ear, “just tell me where he is and I won’t cut you open.”

Ingvild sucks the air in through gritted teeth and turns her head to look away from the obnoxious little man. She seeks for her beautiful monster, finding him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. August’s empty glance wears a calm grin.

“He is in this room,” Ingvild jests faintly, her sardonic laughter stretching thin, her chest heaving, exhausting whatever strength is left in her muscles. August’s smirk widens with hers, large dimples are slicing into his cheeks.

Ticking his tongue, Issac allows the sharp edge of the scalpel cut a skin-deep line into her flesh. Ingvild stares at him stoically, not moving a muscle as shy drops of blood begin trickling down her navel. 

“Are you sure about your response?” he asks, ghosting the scalpel over her abdomen while crooking an eyebrow.

Ingvild bites her lip, pretending to think about her answer for a few seconds. Lifting her head up, she inches her lips toward Issac’s ear. The scrawny man listens intently. 

“August Walker is the devil, and the devil is everywhere.”

A peal of sinister chuckles spills from her lips as she throws her head back onto the ground, staring at Issac’s disapproving glare. 

But her laughter soon dies. 

Taut pressure pierces into her flesh, the blade penetrating deep, cutting through tissue and muscle as if it was soft cheese. Ingvild clenches her jaw, her mind flooded by charring white light that dismantles every thought while the blade continues to swerve.

For a brief moment, she finds herself in Bergen, hands covered with thick blood, holding the gushing wound in her stomach with shock. August stands above her, toying with his favourite knife and staring at the red taint. 

“Time to fall, angel.” 

Scattered musings run behind her eyes: Liam, the nuns at the orphanage, August, and even Erica. She’s reminded of every hit she was forced to take, every country she visited, all blending into a bizarre parade of death. 

“C’mon girl, just tell us where he is!” She hears the other man shout as he steps closer with an urgent expression. “Just give us something, a country, a region, anything to make this stop, you can still do the right thing.” 

The heavy stench of iron fills her nose; the warm, thick liquid trickles down her bare skin, spilling in a cross on the map of her torso. The pain now is undeniable, making her lips heavier as she makes an attempt to answer.

“I don’t…. know… any August.”

The CIA agent scoffs violently and balls his fists. “Deeper!” He orders Issac, who like a composer, trails the blade further through her gut, cutting into sinew and brittle tendons. Ingvild trembles, feeling her body grow weaker. 

In her mind, she can hear caged screams.

“You will die for a man who doesn’t even care if you bleed!” The agent rasps, spit coming out of his mouth as he rages above her.

‘Stop!’

“He won’t even remember you once you die!”

‘Resist, don’t show pain. You’ve been through this before, you already died.’ 

“No one will.”

Swallowing every ounce of pain, she fights to remember her training, her past. Her mind scrambles for Fjellstrekninger forest, for the green pines and their stringy needles, for the scent of beech and the damp ground. She tries to imagine the silver-blue mountains of Bergen, that last time she hiked there before going to meet Liam at the gas station. 

How strange that at the very same day she encountered the most wanted man on earth, not knowing she was destined to be his. 

But none of these images appear before her.

‘You can’t escape this.’

Her screams shudder through the entire floor. 

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?” 

August flicks his tongue over his bottom lip, glowering at the driver who gawks at him with disbelief and shakes his head. Pushing the phone against his chin, he stares forward at the rainy road, reciting in his mind the words of the MI6 and CIA apostles.

‘Erica captured a woman in her late 20s, having her tortured for information for a couple of days now. Can’t promise you she’s alive. No one goes in there.’

“I wasn’t asking,” August answers, throwing him an icy glare, “we’re taking the chopper to the Mi6 fortress in London. I don’t need to tell you what happens if you question my decisions.” 

The driver tenses his fingers around the steering wheel and shakes his head once again. He means to say something, but the scowl on August’s face shuts him up right away.

“Who is she? What is she to you?”

August huffs and lowers his gaze, eyes dropping to the plutonium case and then forward through the windshield, watching the heavy rain clouds that stretch before the sky. As he blinks his eyes shut, his mind plays a vision of an inferno; cracked ground and scorched skies. He sits on a throne made of bones and drinks wine from a chalice made of human skull. 

His angel sits on his knee, naked and pure, her iridescent wings tucked against her back. She stares at him with a smile full of admiration, her fingers brushing over his moustache. 

‘Your angel of destruction.’

“She’s just an asset.”

‘Hell lives inside you August, it always has. Rotting you from the inside as it begs to be let out. And you will unleash it, won’t you? Your suffering must be shared.’

Vast shadows gather outside the double-pane windows of the main hall. The thick storm clouds paint the sky pitch black, swallowing the stars alive one by one. Light wanes just in time for the harbinger of chaos to march into the well-secured lobby of the sizable Mi6 fortress.

If fairytales were to be true, the devil would arrive riding a monstrous mare with hooves made of flames. But if anything, he is but a man in a tailored suit and a long trench-coat. The leather soles of his midnight-black shoes squeak as he marches on, leaving a trail of mud on the cream-coloured marble.

“Evening sir,” the security guard greets and gestures August to pass through the large weapon detector with nothing but a quick exchange of knowing looks. 

The corners of August’s lips curl into a small smile beneath his moustache while he scrutinises the surroundings. Gold and pearly pillars spread across the vast hall, a false facade hiding a decaying world and the self-indulgent ghosts that harbour it. So lost in their own little lie, it takes them more than a few minutes to notice the hellhound who stepped into their haven.

It begins as a small rumble, like a seismic wave. The first tremor vibrates through the ground and the walls follow with a convulsing shudder. Gasps, chatter, and widened eyes stab at him with shock, yet they all seem to suffer from the same affliction. 

Standing paralysed, they ogle at the most wanted man on earth as he combs his fingers through his hair and walks toward the elevators located at the end of a narrow, red corridor. Unapologetically confident and ever so relaxed and condescending, he ignores them. 

A true king among peasants.  

“Is that?...”

“What the fuck?!”

“How the fuck did he pass security???”

His confidence is nothing but theatrics, as his blue eyes carry toward the large elevators with a glossy sparkle breaking on his corneas. He tries so hard to envision her beautiful face yet all he sees is a pile of dry bones.

“Stop! Hands in the fucking air, Walker!”

‘Ah, took them long enough.’

Standing between the carpeted walls of the narrow corridor, only mere inches from the silver doors, August slowly spreads his long fingers and lifts his hands in the air. His keen ear catches at least three firearms as the guards cock their guns at his direction, panting with fright. 

“Turn around so we can see you, piece of shit!!!” A presumingly young hero barks behind him. 

“Someone call Director Sloane down here right now, she’s not going to believe it!!!”

The soft rumbling in the lobby grows into impending thunder. A flash of pale purple lightning floods the lit vicinity for a split second, echoing the small grin that spreads across August’s beaming face.  

“Oh, I don’t think so, son,” he speaks serenely, almost like a tender fatherly coo. Not bothering to turn, he tilts his head up and inhales sharply.

“Go.”

Sharp gasps of shock and terror reverberate between the walls of the fortress as sudden darkness veils the main hall. The smell of their fear is almost as delightful as the strong smoky scent of gunpowder. Like shooting stars, the rapid gunfire pierces through the night. Cries, incoherent screams, and panicked gasps make for a beautiful concert, so much that he wishes he could stay, but he has a girl to rescue.  

‘If she’s still alive…’

Swallowing the bitter bile, he enters an elevator and presses the button for the basement level. He watches the flickering beams of light as his men continue to execute the remaining agents before the doors shut in. 

Drawing out his handgun and relieving the safety, he leans against the shuddering metal and stares at the neon red number while reminiscing on the day he met a pretty girl with an unpleasant smile.

“Too bad, I would have loved to see you again.”

“Well then, if our destinies were meant to be entwined, you will.”

The basement level seems completely abandoned and eerily silent. No wails nor cries carry on the chilly air. 

His Ingvild is forbearing, she would never show her suffering. Would she? 

Inching toward the interrogation cell, his hand runs across the naked concrete walls, sensing the coarse texture against the pads of his fingers. Opaline droplets of sweat bead his forehead and his lungs sink with the effort.

Muffled voices perk his ears the closer he gets: two men, no woman. No sounds of violence, no signs of her in there whatsoever. 

‘Angel, are you being brave for me?’

Arriving at the door, he takes a deep breath and gingerly pushes the handle. The pungent scent of salt and iron pervades his nostrils as he steps a foot into the shower of blinding white light. The brightness hurts and for a moment it feels as everything before him fades. 

Until his sight sharpens and he notices the two shadowy figures standing with their backs facing him. They look like vultures preying upon a corpse.

Her corpse.

‘No! Change this! Make this right!’

Wings of cherry-dark blood spread from her snow-pale body. Motionless, his girl lies with her top huddled around her chest to expose her bleeding gut. 

‘You are too late…’

Pure, undistilled rage burns within August’s throat, so ferocious it stings in his eyes, making his entire body tremble. He lifts his hand and fires the gun hastily, shooting both men in the back of their heads before they even get the chance to turn and look at the man who executed them. 

“Ingvild!” August pants, rushing and falling to his knees before her. 

“Angel?” He presses one hand to her gut, trying to pressure her gushing wounds while his fingers etch around her nape to pull her closer to his face. Blood, still sticky and warm, tarnishes his clean outfit while he cradles her in his arms.

“Please don’t do this to me…” He whispers, shifting his hand to caress her bruised face, recalling the last time she was dead in his arms. 

The world kept spinning on its axis when she died back at the lake. So why does it feel like right now it stopped in its place?

Pressing her to his chest, August shuts his eyes and shudders with fury. All emotions come to life, and every one of them hurt.

“You are not here…” 

A deep quivering sigh of relief soars from his throat, mouth cracking into a smile at the sounds of her hoarse whisper and delicate moans. Blinking faintly, Ingvild half-opens her eyes and stares at him through heavy lids. 

“I am here,” he whispers, brushing away the sticky strands of hair from her face and squeezes her cheek beneath his thumb, “I came to take you, we have to go.”

Shifting his arms, he tries to lift her up, but his petite woman is suddenly made of the heaviest rocks; her stiff muscles protest in his grip, making it impossible for him to manoeuvre her out of fear she will bleed to death. 

“We were both at the garden,” she mumbles drowsily, licking her bloodied teeth before breaking into a maddened smile that quickly dies as she depletes her remaining strength. “I’m tired, I want to stay here and dream.” 

“Ingvild, we don’t have time for this,” August warns with concern, noticing how her eyes roll back and her lashes flutter shut, “there’s a helicopter waiting for us on the roof. You have to get up, you have to survive this, you have to come with me! Please!”

Fat, oily tears roll down her temples, mingling with the blood and tangy sweat on her face. Opening her eyes again, she peers at her beautiful monster, recognising the familiar ocean and its eternal unrest. 

Did he come here for her, or is it just a dream?

“Why?” 

‘Tell her.’

Brow lifting and face softening, his hands clutch her tightly. He rocks her from side to side, holding her protectively. Ingvild senses the wrath that pours from his heart, the thundering beat throwing its fists against his ribcage as their bodies collide.

“You know why,” August suggests huskily, nearly begging, bargaining not to admit, not to say the words he was always so afraid of. But naively, her gaze pleas in return, the child-like innocence piercing a hole through his chest. 

“Tell me,” she begs him.

‘She needs you to say it.’

“Because I need you.”

The words nearly crack on his tongue, his throat suddenly so dry it sears. He glances down at the fallen angel, sensing the most excruciating thirst, where the only way to stop it is by stealing several deep kisses from her lips. 

“I need you by my side,” he murmurs above her lips between desperate, helpless kisses, hoping to breathe life into his weakened valkyrie, “stay with me, angel.”  

An awkward stretch tugs at her cheeks, hurting as if someone slices them with a blade from side to side. For the first time in her life, true laughter crisps her face, followed by crystal-like tears that run down her sullen eyes.

“I love you, August.” 

Every nerve in his body tingles with tendrils of light, reaching out deep within his gut and spreading throughout his tendons. For a moment, he feels divine, sanctified by the words of his angel, his woman, his by free will. 

Offering her a brief smile, he captured her lips for one last stolen kiss. His thick moustache scratches at her tender flesh while a little hum plays on his tongue. 

She tastes like blood and honey - the tarty flavour of victory.

“We have to go now, princess, I have to finish this.” 

Gingerly rising to his feet, he hooks a hand below her knees and places the other against her bruised spine. Bloody footprints trail behind him as he carries her outside the white room, trying to make for their freedom.

Locked down in her office, Director Erica Sloane inhales and exhales by practice, brushing a hand through her sweat-slick hair while trying to call every backup unit. Bullets still rip through the air in every story; the sirens howl while red lights flicker from outside. She puts her hands around her ears, trying to shut the noises out, uncertain if the screams she is hearing are her people still being slaughtered, or her mind playing tricks.

Walker is many things: an idealist, a manipulative snake, a monster. But this is a side of him she never anticipated. There is no need to question his motives this time. She is smart enough to figure it out. 

To risk so much, a man must feel deeply for a woman.

Her anxiety spikes as guilt seeps in when her phone suddenly rings.

“Director Sloane,” she pants against the receiver. Somehow, as she hears the deep, measured breath, she knows.

‘Walker.’

“Hello, Erica, did you miss me?”

Erica clenches her jaw and stares spitefully into nothing, “Hardly.”

She hears him scoff from the other line, her mind piecing together that horrible, pretentious grin of his. The bile climbs up her throat just from the vision. 

“We don’t have much time, but I just wanted to thank you.” August pauses, sighing with the bliss of a madman at her ear, “You see, if not for Lacey, if not for you kicking me to the curb the way you did - I would have never become what I was meant to be. And you sent me an angel to light my way…”

“You’ve manipulated her.”

“No, you did,” August interrupts calmly, “I set her free. I will set them all free and unite them.”

The anger simmers in her gut to the point of nausea. She holds her breath, counts to ten and tries to gather her thoughts. ‘August wants a bargain,�� she thinks, but for a reason, it feels like he already won.

“Can you come and look out of the window for me, please?” He asks politely. 

Turning her head at the window, she narrows her eyes and bites her plump lips with hesitation.

“If I had a sniper on you, you’d be dead 5 minutes ago,” he assures her. 

She gets up from her office chair slowly, her fingers reaching to uncover the blinds. The storm weakened, yet heavy clouds still loom from above like a noxious mist. She seeks for August on the horizon, listening carefully to the sounds on the line. She realises they are coming from above. Her sharp eyes detect the helicopter: far, yet close enough to see his shit-eating grin and that hand that waves at her. 

He has the girl with him. Who knew a monster could care.

“You know, you are the only woman in the CIA I haven’t fucked.” He provokes and then hangs up suddenly.

Erica watches as the helicopter takes off, her eyes widening with fear as the notion of her own demise resonates like a stinging slap.

The blast takes her along with the entire building within a split second.

Standing on the cliff by the edge of the valley, August stares down at the tranquil scar that swerves amidst lush, fertile mountains. The crystalline Indus river lies before his eyes, its sweet water so clear that the sky mirrors upon the brim.   

It’s not every day when a simple man becomes a god. 

The melancholic beauty of nature makes his fingers tighten around the detonator, thumb ghosting over the button as he allows himself a couple of last seconds to inhale the air of the old world. 

Oh, how many will die for this god to receive his halo.

‘I wish you were here, my Ingvild…’ August muses with anguish, feeling an awkward jab at the spot where his heart should have been.  

A sudden rumbling noise of a helicopter makes his gut weave. 

‘That better not be Ethan fucking Hunt! I should have thrown him off the cliff in Norway!’ 

Alarmed yet stoic as ever, he draws his gun, aiming it at the aircraft inching its way to land on the other side of the flat terrain. The last thing he needs right now is someone meddling with his affairs, but it quickly becomes clear to him that if someone wanted a monster like him dead, they would have sniped him from the air before he could even see them coming. 

‘Did you forget the woman is nothing but a valkyrie?’

“What are you doing here?” He calls out at Ingvild and frowns at the pilot, abruptly struck with anger. “I specifically asked to make sure she stays rested!”

The pilot shrugs while Ingvild makes her way toward August with mild effort. Dark circles rest beneath her eyes, yet she is still so very beautiful to him, especially when she frowns. 

“She was very persuasive and horrendously stubborn,” the pilot retorts. 

“Yeah, tell me about it,” August mutters to himself and watches the little battered woman making every attempt to remain stoic as she steps closer. A shadow of a malicious grin creeps on her frosty eyes. 

Once upon a time, she promised him she will always find him. She has no intention of breaking that promise.

“Did you think I’ll let you do this without me, August Walker?” She sulks at him as she finally moves to stand in front of him. Every nerve in her body is inflamed with pain, yet the thought of not being here at the birth of the new world brings greater agony than imagined. 

Something she compares to missing out on the birth of a child.

“We are in this together now, this is our cause, our better world. You don’t get to leave me behind.”

Her hand reaches for his wrist, thumb pressing to feel his quickening pulse. Wonder paints his eyes and his lips gape softly. He promised himself Lacey will never cross his thoughts again; yet he can’t help but think about that night in his study and the pain of betrayal.  

‘How is she even real?’   

Gently peeling her fingers off his wrist, he looks at the detonator. He then takes her hand in his, placing the device in her slender grasp. 

“Forgive me, my darling. You’re right,” he apologises and turns her over to view the horizon. A shiver surges through her as she senses the weight in her palm when August moves to stand behind her, resting his chin on the top of her head.

“We do this together.”

Pesky little honeysuckles flutter within her chest as his arms wrap around her carefully. One of his hands holds hers, raising it up slightly to position the device in front of her chest.

“Do it angel, set them free.”

Taking a deep breath, Ingvild slides her fingertip over the red button. Scattered images of her life briefly flash through her mind, ending with the single moment where their gazes first met that day in Bergen.

Bright heavenly light cleanses the sky and loud thunder rips through the earth. Standing on the trembling ground, August and Ingvild stare into the distance while slowly turning to face each other. They hold their hands together, both gaping with awe as rich golden hues pour into the sky. 

Enamoured, and lost within one another’s beauty, they share a long, lingering kiss. 

Epilogue. 

Sharp and heavy, the blade split the wood in half as if it was made out of soft butter. Resting the blunt side of the leaden axe over his shoulder, he pauses and observes the pile of firewood on the ground. His lips move in silence as he counts before crouching down to pick up another log and place it on the stump. 

Strong shades of pink and orange spread between the clouds, kissed by the drowsy sun as it makes its way to slumber beneath the earth. It’s been 8 months since the coming of their new world. Even though there is still work to be done, August decided a hideout was necessary to let her mend her wings. 

“Loki!” 

Ingvild rushes into the green field with a wide, toothy smile. Feral rivers of chestnut-brown reach the small of her back, floating behind her as she runs around giggling.

‘That smile, like honey. So pure, so real.’

Playful barks answer her call, and a German Shepherd puppy appears from across the green hill, jumping over one of the logs ecstatically and wags its tail.

“Careful or I’ll cook him for dinner,” August mutters and points the axe at Loki’s direction. The pup tilts its head at him and barks with playful rage, growling and baring its needle-like teeth.

Ingvild pauses and gives August an icy stare before grabbing the large puppy and holding him to her chest, “You’re a shitty liar August Walker, you love him. Always sneaking him bacon when you think I'm not looking and snuggling him in your sleep.”

August shrugs, brushing away her comment before sticking the axe into the tree stump. “Get inside, time for dinner.” A small grin stretches on his lips as he sees her walking away, kissing the puppy on his wet little nose. 

The scent of cedarwood burning at the mantle and brewed coffee welcomes her home as she enters the cabin, immediately filling her chest with mellowness. She allows Loki down on the ground before walking into their cosy bedroom where she removes her trousers and remains in an oversized sweater and black thigh-high stockings that August gifted her after they left Kashmir. 

When she returns to the living room, August is sitting at the study with his laptop open. A small wrinkle lines his forehead while he runs two fingers over his moustache. A map and coordinates are visible on the screen, along with a messaging platform which she only assumes is a conversation with one of the apostles. 

Loki lies guarding at his feet.

“Come here, princess,” August calls, reaching out his arm toward her. “I have something to show you.”

Sneaking toward him like a large feline, Ingvild takes his hand and lets him guide her to his lap. Her legs fall to each side of his thighs, and August rests his chin at the small crook of her neck where it always belonged.

“What are you looking for?” She asks, casually pulling the sleeve over her wrist to scratch at a peeling hammer tattoo gracing her skin.

“Don’t touch it, let it heal.” August answers and takes her hand in his, entwining their fingers together tightly. An illustration of an angel wing decorates the same spot on his arm. As she glances at the way the black ink is embedded into his flesh, she can’t help but smile and ever so slightly grind herself on the semi-rigid bulge beneath her ass.

August growls against her neck, grazing his stubbles over her supple skin before reaching a hand to unzip his tracking trousers and pull out his swelling manhood. After a soft scuffle of her panties, he lifts her hips and slides himself fully within her wet, angelic cove. 

“August…” She sighs, fluttering her eyes shut for a split second, embracing both pain and pleasure. When August fills her, she is ethereal, as if a piece that was missing all her life has finally made it back home.

“You always look so beautiful with me inside you,” he murmurs against her neck, planting bristly kisses down her jawline before returning his glare forward. Ingvild only moves slightly above him, swaying slow and smooth on his thick, throbbing girth and squeezing him tight between her walls to relish in their bond.  

“I have a present for you.” He opens a tab on his browser while his fingers toy with her clit with surprising tenderness.

“What is it?” She moans as he presses down on her sensitive pearl.

“I found Liam,” he explains, a twinge of pride and a spit of revenge hanging on his baritone. He growls slightly as her cunt clenches around him by his words. “He’s hiding out in Sao Paulo. I plan to bring you his head.”

Sucking on her bottom lip, she grinds a little harder, feeling August deep in her gut. The temptation to ride him hard and rough is too great, but this sweet slow torture always brings her to a higher ground of ecstasy when they finally fuck. 

“Can it wait, my beautiful monster?” She asks sweetly, reaching her talons to clutch his thigh as he pushes further in and bottoms out inside her with a grunt. “I’d like to stay here for a while and be your angel for a little bit longer.”

August lifts his cerulean gaze back to Ingvild, the clear sky in his deep irises slightly darken as he observes the serene look on her face. His hand rises to cup her chin and turn her head to the side to meet his possessive lips. He cages her mouth with his, devouring her with the lust of a hungry man.

“You will always be mine and mine alone Ingvild,” he promises as he ends the kiss with a nibble on her chin. Ingvild licks his saliva off her mouth and stares back at him with the oxymoronic union of innocence and sinister urge before she leans back and continues to look at his plans.

‘Who is she to you?’

‘She is my queen, and I am the king of hell.’

_______________________________

Additional Notes: Song lyrics by Elvis Presely - Angel. Additional Inspiration by Nine Inchs Nails - We’re in this together. 

Disclaimer: I own no rights to Mission Impossible’s franchise or August Walker.

[king-gob]

What’s a good comic that doesn’t involve superheroes?

oh buddy. pal. friendo. I’ll limit myself to books currently running to keep this only a single mile long. Note that depending on how loose your definition of “superhero” is will affect this. I’ve seen people call John McClane a superhero so yeah.

Something is Killing the Children

by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera (Boom! Studios)

Kids have been going missing in a sleepy woodland town. A strange woman named Erica arrives, determined to do something about it. She partners with a young boy who claims to have seen the thing stalking the town, and things quickly spiral further out of control. Well-written characters and fantastic art. Easily my favorite book running right now.

The Department of Truth

by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds (Image)

Cole Turner is an FBI agent who specializes in conspiracy theories and the deleterious effect it has on the minds of people obsessed with them. Unfortunately for him, he is about to discover that there is more going on under the surface than he realized and belief is far more powerful than he could ever imagine. Tynion is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers, and Simmonds’s art is even better here than it was in Dying Is Easy (which I also recommend). This series has one of the best first issues I’ve ever read, and I was hooked instantly. A definite recommend if you are as interested in conspiracy theories as I am.

Fire Power

by Robert Kirkman and Chris Samnee (Image)

Owen Johnson is a regular dad in the suburbs. He has a great wife, two kids and a job working at his father-in-law’s antique shop. What sets him apart is that he had spent years of his early life in a Shaolin temple, mastering martial arts, including the legendary Fire Power, the ability to generate fire from his body. He has long since turned his back on his order and the responsibilities they demand, but his former life is not ready to let him go. Written by Robert Kirkman, creator of The Walking Dead and with art by the great Chris Samnee, Fire Power is a great martial arts comic, recommended for fans of Street Fighter or anyone who likes seeing monks and ninjas beat each other up. I definitely recommend starting from the “Volume 0″ prequel trade. It’s not ESSENTIAL but I believe the story flows much better with it that way.

Fear Case

by Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins (Dark Horse)

Two Secret Service agents are investigating the Fear Case, the Service’s oldest open case. All agents are put on the case, but are only given a single year to investigate, as the case has the tendency to ruin the lives of those who get too close. Winters and Mitchum are in the last three weeks before they have to turn the case over, but they are closer than anyone has gotten in the history of the Service to getting their hands on the legendary box. But the closer they get, the more bodies they seem to find, and the duo’s mental and emotional limits are stretched to their breaking point. Everything Matt Kindt writes is worth reading, and this series is no different. Recommended for fans of the X-Files and other supernatural mysteries.

I Breathed a Body

by Zac Thompson and Andy MacDonald (Aftershock)

Telling too much about this comic would honestly be spoiling it. In the not-too-distant future, the biggest social media influencer in the world posts something horrific and the macabre lengths his PR team go to to handle it. The art is extremely good at showing the body horror involved and while I do recommend the comic, be warned, it is *extremely* fucked up. Excellent horror comic.

Once and Future

by Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora (Boom! Studios)

Terrorists resurrect King Arthur in a bid for power, but it turns out that the english legend is not what they thought or bargained for. Now, a retired monster hunter and her archeologist grandson must turn back the tide of returning myths before the world is irreversibly plunged into darkness. But their family history has plenty of shadows of their own. Really great book from two of my favorite creators, and really love the way they play with the metatextual nature of the myths and legends involved. Very fun.

Seven Secrets

by Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo (Boom! Studios)

A clandestine order protects seven briefcases which hold seven secrets. However, a betrayal from within threatens to reveal those secrets, and Caspar, the son of two former protectors of the Seven Secrets, must discover the truth before all is lost. Tom Taylor is a fantastic writer that makes everything he writes infectiously fun, and with Di Nicuolo’s great eye for action scenes, this is an adventure book worth checking out.

Stillwater

by Chip Zdarsky and Ramón K. Pérez (Image)

A promise of a substantial inheritance brings Daniel West and his friend to the quiet town of Stillwater. However, they quickly realize the town’s sinister secret: in Stillwater, nobody dies. And as the marketing for the book says, that’s not just a promise, it’s a threat. Good writing and an intriguing mystery. Highly recommended.

That Texas Blood

by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips (Image)

The murder of his brother brings an aspiring writer back to the Texas town of his youth, and puts him on a violent road to his own undoing. Fantastic writing. If you’re like me and love dark neo-western and crime stories, then I honestly can’t recommend this book enough. Look elsewhere if you want happy endings.

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead

by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo (Boom! Studios)

Captain Malik and his crew pilot an autopsy ship, so named because they harvest meat, metal and other materials from the fresh corpses of dead gods that appear on the edge of space. Malik wants to see a living god, and is willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen. But the ghosts of his past haunt him, and until he confronts them, making history won’t be easy. Fantastic cosmic sci-fi story with gorgeous art by Di Meo. Recommended for people who love stories set in space, and also for people who love long panels.

American Ronin

by Peter Milligan and ACO (AWA Upshot)

In a future where supercorporations rule everyone’s lives (I know that may be hard to visualize but try to imagine it), war is fought not by nations, but by enhanced operatives carrying out all manner of assassinations and espionage. But when one unnamed operative breaks his programming and goes on the hunt, the entire sick system is about to be violently brought down. Really interesting protagonist who has a great ability. Hunt down his targets by ingesting their DNA to learn how they think, and then using that empathic ability to get inside their heads. The cat and mouse games are really fun, and I highly recommend for anyone who likes superspy stories or seeing complex plans pay off.

Casual Fling

by Jason Starr and Dalibor Talajić (AWA Upshot)

Jennifer Ryan is a successful lawyer with a loving family and a great career, but a bad decision (that is, cheating on her stay-at-home husband) made on a whim has disastrous consequences. Saying much more would be spoiling, but there is definitely something sinister going on beneath the surface. Made in the style of erotic thrillers like Fatal Attraction and Eyes Wide Shut, this book features very well-written, realistic characters and importantly (to me anyway) refuses to condemn the protagonist while not shying away from the destructive results of her mistakes. I picked this book up because I liked Jason Starr’s previous book, Red Border, and enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Recommended.

Bitter Root

by David F. Walker, Chuck Brown and Sanford Greene (Image)

In 1920s Harlem, a long-standing family of monster hunters is splintering. Tragedy and conflicting worldviews are tearing them apart, and they’re going to need to stand together if they want to save New York City from the darkness that’s coming. Hate is a powerful thing, but also a cancer, and it’s about to metastasize. Really great worldbuilding and immediately likeable characters. Despite having a lot of themes about hate and prejudice (and utilizing them particularly well, in my opinion), the book is an exceptional action story. David F. Walker is a favorite writer of mine (See: Shaft, Nighthawk, Luke Cage) and Chuck Brown wrote the incredibly fun On the Stump (also highly recommended). The issues also feature essays from black scholars who expand on some of the historical events and themes that are present in the book, if you’re into that sort of thing (which I am). I’m not sure if those are in the trades, though.

Honorable Mentions/Books that I am too tired to give the full treatment to right now: Babyteeth (Aftershock) Chained to the Grave (IDW) Dead Dog’s Bite (Dark Horse) Decorum (Image) Deep Beyond (Image) Dryad (Oni Press) Family Tree (Image) The Goon (Albatross Funnybooks) Killadelphia (Image) Nocterra (Image) Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology (Dark Horse) Orcs (Boom! Studios) Orphan and the Five Beasts (Dark Horse) Outcast (Image) Proctor Valley Road (Boom! Studios) Redneck (Image) Sea of Sorrows (IDW) Second Coming (AHOY Comics) Silver Coin (Image) Tartarus (Image) Two Moons (Image) Undiscovered Country (Image) Undone by Blood (Aftershock) Vampire: The Masquerade (Vault Comics) Wynd (Boom! Studios) Year Zero (AWA Upshot) Honorable Mentions/Books that have ended but you should check out: A Walk Through Hell (Aftershock) American Born Chinese (First Second) American Vampire (DC Comics) Animosity (Aftershock) Archangel 8 (AWA Upshot) Bad Reception (Aftershock) Basketful of Heads (DC Comics) Black Science (Image) Blacksad (Dark Horse) Chew (Image) Dark Ark (Aftershock) Dark Red (Aftershock) Daytripper (DC Comics) Dead Day (Aftershock) Devil’s Highway (AWA Upshot) The Dollhouse Family (DC Comics) East of West (Image) Folklords (Boom! Studios) Gideon Falls (Image) God Country (Image) Grendel, KY (AWA Upshot) Hotell (AWA Upshot) Infidel (Image) Knights Temporal (Aftershock) Locke and Key (IDW) The Low, Low Woods (DC Comics) The Man Who Fucked Up Time (Aftershock) Midnight Nation (Image) Nailbiter (Image) Orc Stain (Image) Pestilence (Aftershock) Plunge (DC Comics) Preacher (DC Comics) Pride of Baghdad (DC Comics) Red Border (AWA Upshot) The Red Mother (Boom! Studios) The Replacer (Aftershock) Scalped (DC Comics) Scott Pilgrim (Oni Press) Strange Skies Over East Berlin (Boom! Studios) Tokyo Ghost (Image) Transmetropolitan (DC Comics) Unholy Grail (Aftershock) The Wicked + The Divine (Image) Y: The Last Man (DC Comics)

[collectorscorner]

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday 3/17/21

Collectors Corner Parkville - HQ : OPEN for IN STORE SHOPPING with Strong Safety Measures in Place (Hand Sanitizing Stations, Masks Required for All, Social Distancing Required, Limited Capacity, CURBSIDE Pick Up Optional) - According to Baltimore County Guidelines. 1-410-668-3353.

CC Parkville - 2020/2021 STORE HOURS, Sunday 12-6, Mon-Tues 12-7, Wed 9-8, Thurs 11-7, Friday & Saturday 11-8

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CC Bel Air - 2020/2021 STORE HOURS, Sunday 11-5, Monday/Tuesday - Closed, Wednesday 11-8, Thursday 11-7, Friday/Saturday 11-8

Complete list of items shipping to the stores, some items may be limited in availability. If you see anything you want to purchase on the list and are not a subscription member at Collectors Corner, just contact us and let us know if you want an item held at the stores. email - collectorscornermd@comcast.net

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PUBLISHER/TITLE/PRICE

ABLAZE Maria Llovet’s Eros Psyche #1 (Cover A Mirka Andolfo), $3.99 Maria Llovet’s Eros Psyche #1 (Cover B Maria Llovet), $3.99 Maria Llovet’s Eros Psyche #1 (Cover C

ACTION LAB ENTERTAINMENT Miranda In Maelstrom #4, $3.99 Sasquatch In Love #4 (Of 4), $3.99

AFTERSHOCK COMICS Bequest #1 (Cover A Tim Seeley), $4.99 Bequest #1 (Cover B Tyler Walpole), AR Dead Day Volume 1 TP, $16.99 Maniac Of New York #1 (Andrea Mutti 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $4.99 Red Atlantis #5, $3.99

AHOY COMICS Happy Hour #5, $3.99

ALBATROSS FUNNYBOOKS Goon Volume 3 Fishy Men Witchy Women And Bitter Beer TP, $17.99

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS Sabrina The Teenage Witch Something Wicked TP, $14.99 World Of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #107, $7.99 World Of Betty And Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #3, $7.99

AWA STUDIOS American Ronin TP, $9.99 E-Ratic #4, $3.99

BEHEMOTH COMICS Hotline Miami Wildlife #7 (Of 8), $3.99 Steambound #2, $3.99

BOOM! STUDIOS Abbott 1973 #3 (Of 5)(Cover A Taj Tenfold), $3.99 Abbott 1973 #3 (Of 5)(Cover B Raul Allen), $3.99 Abbott 1973 #3 (Of 5)(Cover C Dani), AR Abbott 1973 #3 (Of 5)(Cover D Dani Black & White Virgin Variant), AR Expanse #4 (Of 4)(Cover A W. Scott Forbes), $4.99 Expanse #4 (Of 4)(Cover B Tigh Walker), $4.99 Expanse #4 (Of 4)(Cover C Will Sliney Virgin Variant), AR Expanse #4 (Of 4)(Cover D Will Sliney Black & White Variant), AR Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Tricksters #1 (Of 4)(Cover A Peach Momoko), $4.99 Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Tricksters #1 (Of 4)(Cover B Dani Pendergast), $4.99 Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Tricksters #1 (Of 4)(Cover C Blank Variant), $4.99 Jim Henson’s The Storyteller Tricksters #1 (Of 4)(Cover D Peach Momoko Virgin Variant), AR Orcs #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Christine Larsen), $4.99 Orcs #2 (Of 5)(Cover B Sweeney Boo), $4.99 Orcs #2 (Of 5)(Cover C Mirka Andolfo Virgin Variant), AR Origins #5 (Of 6)(Cover A Jakub Rebelka), $3.99 Origins #5 (Of 6)(Cover B Jakub Rebelka Virgin Variant), AR Power Rangers Drakkon New Dawn TP, $19.99

COMIC SHOP NEWS Comic Shop News #1752, AR

DARK HORSE COMICS Art Of Keyforge HC, $39.99 B.P.R.D. The Devil You Know Omnibus HC, $39.99 Bill And Ted Are Doomed TP, $19.99 Curtiss Hill TP, $19.99 Cyberpunk 2077 Volume 1 Trauma Team TP, $19.99 Cycle Of The Red Moon Volume 2 The Children Of Darkness TP, $14.99 Danganronpa Another Episode Ultra Despair Girls Volume 3 TP, $12.99 Disney PIXAR Monsters Inc. And Monsters University The Story Of The Movies In Comics HC, $14.99 El Ciclo de la Luna Roja-Libro 2 Los Hijos de las Tinieblas TP, $19.99 Everything Volume 2 TP, $19.99 Freaks Of The Heartland TP (2nd Edition), $19.99 Gert And The Sacred Stones TP, $14.99 Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology Volume 1 HC, $29.99 Orphan And The Five Beasts #1 (Of 4)(Cover A James Stokoe), $3.99 Tales From The Umbrella Academy Volume 1 You Look Like Death TP, $19.99 Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 1 HC (Limited Edition)(2nd Edition), $79.99 Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 1 TP (2nd Edition), $29.99

DC COMICS Batgirl Returns Omnibus HC, $99.99 Batman Beyond Volume 8 The Eradication Agenda TP, $16.99 Batman Vs Ra’s al Ghul #5 (Of 6)(Cover A Neal Adams), $3.99 Catwoman #29 (Cover A Joelle Jones), $3.99 Catwoman #29 (Cover B Jenny Frison Card Stock Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover A David Marquez), $4.99 Justice League #59 (Cover B Kael Ngu Wraparound Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover C Jim Lee Snyder Cut Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover D Lee Bermejo Snyder Cut Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover E Liam Sharp Snyder Cut Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover F Liam Sharp Snyder Cut Black & White Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover G Lee Bermejo Snyder Cut Black & White Variant), AR Justice League #59 (Cover H Jim Lee Snyder Cut Black & White Variant), AR Looney Tunes #259 (Cover A Walter Carzon), $2.99 Nightwing #78 (Cover A Bruno Redondo), $3.99 Nightwing #78 (Cover B Skan), AR Revolver TP, $19.99 Sandman The Deluxe Edition Volume 2 HC, $49.99 Sheriff Of Babylon TP, $29.99 Superman Red And Blue #1 (Of 6)(Cover A Gary Frank), $5.99 Superman Red And Blue #1 (Of 6)(Cover B Lee Bermejo), $5.99 Superman Red And Blue #1 (Of 6)(Cover C Yoshitaka Amano), $5.99 Superman Vs Shazam TP, $24.99 Truth And Justice #2 (Cover A Khary Randolph), $4.99 Truth And Justice #2 (Cover B Ryan Benjamin & Richard Friend), $4.99

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT Vampirella The Dark Powers #4 (Cover A Jae Lee), $3.99 Vampirella The Dark Powers #4 (Cover B Joseph Michael Linsner), $3.99 Vampirella The Dark Powers #4 (Cover C Jonathan Lau), $3.99 Vengeance Of Vampirella #13 (Cover A Lucio Parrillo)(CGC Graded Edition), AR Vengeance Of Vampirella #13 (Cover B Ben Oliver)(CGC Graded Edition), AR

FANTACO ENTERPRISES Monster Art Of Basil Gogos SC (Werewolf Variant Cover), $75.00 Monster Art Of Basil Gogos SC (Dracula Variant Cover), $75.00

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS Walt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge Volume 5 Island In The Sky HC, $29.99

HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE Dark Wing #4 (Of 10), $2.99 Savage Circus #4 (Of 10), $2.99

HUMANOIDS Count TP, $19.99 Young Lenoardo HC, $14.99

IDW PUBLISHING G.I. Joe Castle Fall #1 (Cover A Chris Evenhuis), $7.99 G.I. Joe Castle Fall #1 (Cover B Freddie E. Williams II), $7.99 Johnny Boo Volume 12 Johnny Boo And The Silly Blizzard HC, $9.99 My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #95 (Cover A Toni Kuusisto), $3.99 My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #95 (Cover B Brianna Garcia), $3.99 My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic #95 (Cover C Erin Hunting), AR Ragnarok Volume 3 The Breaking Of Helheim HC, $24.99 Star Trek Year Five #19 (Cover A Stephen Thompson), $3.99 Star Trek Year Five #19 (Cover B J.J. Lendl), AR Star Wars Adventures Volume 2 #4 (Cover A Francesco Francavilla), $3.99 Star Wars Adventures Volume 2 #4 (Cover B Yael Nathan), $3.99 Star Wars Adventures Volume 2 #4 (Cover C Francesco Francavilla), AR Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #115 (Cover A Sophie Campbell, $3.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #115 (Cover B Kevin Eastman), $3.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #115 (Cover C Gavin Guidry), AR Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Last Ronin Director’s Cut #1 (Cover A Kevin Eastman/Esau Escorza/Isaac Escorza), $10.99 Transformers Back To The Future #3 (Of 4)(Cover A Juan Samu), $3.99 Transformers Back To The Future #3 (Of 4)(Cover B Phil Murphy), $3.99 Transformers Back To The Future #3 (Of 4)(Cover C Dan Schoening), AR

IMAGE COMICS Fall Volume 1 TP, $16.99 Head Lopper #15 (Cover A Andrew MacLean & Jordie Bellaire), $5.99 Head Lopper #15 (Cover B Dennis Brown), $5.99 Invincible #1 (Amazon Prime Video Edition), $3.99 Kick-Ass Vs Hit-Girl #5 (Of 5)(Cover A John Romita Jr.), $3.99 Kick-Ass Vs Hit-Girl #5 (Of 5)(Cover B John Romita Jr. Black & White Variant), $3.99 Kick-Ass Vs Hit-Girl #5 (Of 5)(Cover C Emily Brooks Millar), $3.99 Nocterra #1 (Cover F Glow In The Dark Variant), $3.99 Oblivion Song By Kirkman And De Felici Volume 5 TP, $16.99 Radiant Black #2 (Cover A Marcello Costa), $3.99 Radiant Black #2 (Cover B Diego Greco), $3.99 Radiant Black #2 (Cover C Rod Reis), AR Stillwater By Zdarsky And Perez Volume 1 Rage Rage TP, $16.99 Tartarus #10, $3.99 Ultramega By James Harren #1 (Cover A James Harren & Dave Stewart), $7.99 Ultramega By James Harren #1 (Cover B Tradd Moore), $7.99 Ultramega By James Harren #1 (Cover C Blank Variant), $7.99 Ultramega By James Harren #1 (Cover D Tradd Moore Raw Variant), AR Ultramega By James Harren #1 (Cover E James Harren Raw Variant), AR Walking Dead Deluxe #11 (Cover A David Finch & Dave McCaig), $3.99 Walking Dead Deluxe #11 (Cover B Tony Moore & Dave McCaig), $3.99 Walking Dead Deluxe #11 (Cover C Julian Totino Tedesco), $3.99

MAD CAVE STUDIOS Knights Of The Golden Sun #11, $3.99 They Fell From The Sky #2, $3.99

MARVEL COMICS Avengers By Jason Aaron Volume 1 HC, $34.99 Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Iban Coello), $3.99 Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover B Peach Momoko), AR Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover C Peach Momoko Virgin Variant), AR Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover D Juan Cabal Stormbreakers Variant), AR Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover E Todd Nauck Headshot Variant), AR Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover F Ron Lim), AR Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover G Stephanie Hans Legend Of The Black Knight), AR Black Knight Curse Of The Ebony Blade #1 (Of 5)(Cover H Black Blank Variant), AR Captain America Anniversary Tribute #1 (Cover A Steve McNiven), $5.99 Captain America Anniversary Tribute #1 (Cover B Mark Brooks), AR Captain Marvel #27 (Cover A Marco Checchetto), $3.99 Captain Marvel #27 (Cover B Stephanie Hans), AR Captain Marvel #27 (Cover C Bernard Chang Captain Marvel-Thing Variant), AR Champions #5 (Cover A Toni Infante), $3.99 Champions #5 (Cover B Sara Pichelli Ms Marvel-Thing Variant), AR Daredevil By Chip Zdarsky Volume 1 To Heaven Through Hell HC, $34.99 Dawn Of X Volume 14 TP, $17.99 Hawkeye Go West TP, $12.99 Iron Fist Heart Of The Dragon #3 (Of 6)(Cover A Billy Tan), $3.99 Iron Fist Heart Of The Dragon #3 (Of 6)(Cover B Jeffrey Veregge), AR Iron Man #7 (Cover A Alex Ross), $3.99 Iron Man #7 (Cover B Michael Cho Iron Man Two-Tone Variant), AR Iron Man #7 (Cover C Jen Bartel Hellcat Women’s History Month Variant), AR Iron Man Volume 1 Big Iron TP, $15.99 Juggernaut No Stopping Now TP, $15.99 King In Black Spider-Man #1 (Cover A Carlos E. Gomez), $4.99 King In Black Spider-Man #1 (Cover B Federico Vincentini), AR King In Black Spider-Man #1 (Cover C Rob Liefeld Deadpool 30th Anniversary Variant), AR Marvel #6 (Of 6)(Cover A Alex Ross), $4.99 Marvel #6 (Of 6)(Cover B Lee Bermejo), AR Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition Omnibus HC (John Byrne She-Hulk Book Market Cover), $150.00 Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition Omnibus HC (John Byrne Spider-Man Direct Market Cover), $150.00 S.W.O.R.D. #4 (Cover A Valerio Schiti), $3.99 S.W.O.R.D. #4 (Cover B Matteo Scalera), AR Spider-Woman #10 (Cover A Jung-Geun Yoon), $3.99 Spider-Woman #10 (Cover B Ron Lim), AR Spider-Woman #10 (Cover C Michael Cho Spider-Woman Two-Tone Variant), AR Spider-Woman #10 (Cover D Jen Bartel Spider-Woman Women’s History Month Variant), AR Star Wars Bounty Hunters #10 (Cover A Mattia De Iulis), $3.99 Star Wars Bounty Hunters #10 (Cover B Chris Sprouse Empire Strikes Back Variant), AR Star Wars The High Republic #1 (Ario Anindito 4th Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Thor #13 (Cover A Olivier Coipel), $3.99 Thor #13 (Cover B Nic Klein), AR Thor #13 (Cover C Michael Cho Thor Two-Tone Variant), AR Tony Stark Iron Man By Dan Slott Omnibus HC (Adi Granov Book Market Cover), $100.00 Tony Stark Iron Man By Dan Slott Omnibus HC (Alex Ross Direct Market Cover), $100.00 Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover A Arthur Adams), $4.99 Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover B Arthur Adams Kaiju Variant), AR Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover C Francesco Manna), AR Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover D Peach Momoko), AR Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover E Peach Momoko Virgin Variant), AR Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover F Kia Asamiya), AR Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover G Matthew Frank), AR Trials Of Ultraman #1 (Of 5)(Cover H TV Variant), AR Ultraman Volume 1 The Rise Of Ultraman TP, $17.99 X-Force #18 (Cover A Joshua Cassara), $3.99 X-Force #18 (Cover B Rob Liefeld Deadpool 30th Anniversary Variant), AR

ONI PRESS Invader Zim Quarterly Zim’s Greatest Plan #1 (Cover A Fred Stresing), $5.99 Invader Zim Quarterly Zim’s Greatest Plan #1 (Cover B Cab), $5.99 Martian Ghost Centaur SC, $19.99 One Soul 10th Anniversary Edition HC, $24.99

REBELLION / 2000AD Judge Dredd End Of Days TP, $19.99

SCOUT COMICS Children Of The Grave #3, $3.99 Midnight Western Theater #1 (Of 5), $3.99 Perhapanauts First Blood TP, $19.99 Wild Bull And Chipper #1, $1.99

SELFMADEHERO Case Of Charles Dexter Ward GN, $13.99 Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath GN, $13.99 King In Yellow GN, $13.99 Shadow Out Of Time GN, $13.99

TITAN COMICS Muhammad Ali Kinshasa 1974 HC, $29.99 Star Wars The Age Of Resistance The Official Collector’s Edition Magazine (Newsstand Edition), $14.99 Star Wars The Age Of Resistance The Official Collector’s Edition Magazine (Previews Exclusive Edition), $14.99

TOKYOPOP Fox And Little Tanuki Volume 3 GN, $12.99

UDON ENTERTAINMENT COMP x Artists Sponsorship Campaign Artbook SC, $28.00

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT Bloodshot Rising Spirit TP, $24.99 Savage #2 (Cover A Marcus To, $3.99 Savage #2 (Cover B Michael Walsh, $3.99 Savage #2 (Cover C David Lopez Pre-Order Edition Variant), AR

VAULT COMICS I Walk With Monsters #1 (Cover A Sally Cantirino), $3.99 I Walk With Monsters #1 (Cover B Jen Hickman), $3.99

VERTICAL COMICS With A Dog And A Cat Everyday Is Fun Volume 3 GN, $12.95

VIZ MEDIA 20th Century Boys The Perfect Edition Volume 11 TP, $19.99 Beast Complex Volume 1 GN, $12.99 Beastars Volume 11 GN, $12.99 Fly Me To The Moon Volume 4 GN, $9.99 Hell’s Paradise Jigokuraku Volume 7 GN, $12.99 Love Me Love Me Not Volume 7 GN, $9.99

WAKE ENTERTAINMENT Ascencia #3, $3.99

WARRANT PUBLISHING COMPANY Creeps #30, $5.95

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT Robyn Hood Cult Of The Spider #1 (One Shot)(Cover A Igor Vitorino), $5.99 Robyn Hood Cult Of The Spider #1 (One Shot)(Cover B Josh Burns), $5.99 Robyn Hood Cult Of The Spider #1 (One Shot)(Cover C John Royle), $5.99

Games – FUNKO Five Nights At Freddy’s Survive ‘Til 6AM Game, AR

Games – STUDIO 71 Umbrella Academy Board Game, AR

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[enkelimagnus]

Shield (Present)

Bucky Barnes Gen, 1062 words, rated M

Jewish Bucky Barnes, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Episode 5 Truth

Thoughts as Bucky prepares himself to confront Walker.

TW: non graphic description of beheaded body

Read on AO3

Part 31 of Making a Home - the Jewish Bucky series

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

It’s not the first time there’s blood on Steve’s shield.

Bucky would lie to himself if he said it was. Steve’s shield had known the mud of battlefields all over the world and the universe, and the blood of many, Steve included. Bucky remembers Steve cleaning blood off of it many nights in Europe, during the war. Enemy blood, nazis that hadn’t seen the large object coming through the air.

As much as Steve hated to kill, he had done so enough times, to protect people.

So the red streak on the shield in Walker’s hand isn’t new.

The headless body laying on a busy Riga square though, arms still raised in defense, face forever frozen in grotesque horror, forever cut off from the rest of him, that’s new.

The guy was defenseless. And more than that, he was innocent.

Steve has never killed a defenseless innocent begging for his life. Steve would never have killed someone like that.

Walker’s eyes are wide. He looks around, but it’s obvious to everyone including Bucky that he can’t see. He’s half mad, still, but he’s mostly shocked now. He’s seen that look many times before. In Steve’s eyes too. Walker’s out of his mind with pain and the serum in his veins is making it even worse.

It became obvious during the fight that he somehow got his hands on a vial of the serum. Bucky doesn’t know how exactly, but he knows he must have taken it after the Dora Milaje kicked his ass in Zemo’s house. It’s fresh, then. If this serum is anything like the one Bucky and Steve took, Walker should still be feeling the aches of the aftershocks. He’s not even done transitioning. Which makes him even more dangerous.

The dull ache of pain is probably enough to fuel aggressivity by itself. And add to that the psychological distress of losing your best friend… Bucky can’t imagine the state Walker’s head is in right now. Even with all that happened to him, he’s never been in this situation. Freshly enhanced and overcome with grief and distress.

They need to stop him before he does worse.

The moment Karli and the rest of her friends run away, Bucky puts himself in the path between Walker and them, just in case. But Walker doesn’t move. He just stares at him, then at the rest of the crowd.

Because there’s a crowd. Walker’s decapitated a man with Steve’s shield, in a public square, in front of dozens of bystanders who took photos, videos, and more than anything: they heard the man beg. They heard the man say it wasn’t him. They heard that, and they saw Walker still grab that shield and slam it down.

For a second, that motion, the shield up that way, made Bucky think of the final instants of Steve and Tony Stark’s fight in Siberia. Steve slamming his shield down, Bucky’s horrible dread that he had killed Stark, that Steve had changed into something he didn’t recognize, that he would kill him like that. Seeing the sparks flying from the core of the suit, and the relief that came with it.

But Walker isn’t Steve. And the young Flag Smasher on the ground wasn’t Tony Stark, and didn’t have an armored suit with a core to break. He had a neck.

The sound of it still resounds in Bucky’s ears too clearly. He hates that kind of sound. The same kind as Lemar Hoskins’ back, the same sound as countless bodies slamming into walls or doors because of him. People thrown off buildings. Or just falling from their windows after they’d been shot.

Bones cracking. He knows that sound and it’s going to haunt him for a while, but at least this once it wasn’t his fault.

Walker starts running.

They let him run. There’s no use in chasing, not when Sharon’s running tech for them and has a tracker on Walker. They know where he’s going, it won’t take long for them to come after him. Bucky knows they can’t afford to add to his distress by giving chase. They can’t add prey instincts to this mess of emotion and power. Walker would feel cornered. He tells Sam that, but he doesn’t tell him he’s afraid of Walker going after Sam on purpose, knowing Sam’s not enhanced.

For all intents and purposes, Bucky’s brain now classifies Walker as an apex predator.

And they’re going to try and steal his shield.

It’s not the smartest thing they’ve ever done, but they can’t just.. Let him have it. If they do, it will end up in the hands of the government the second Walker steps back in the U.S. and gets court-martialled - which is undoubtedly going to happen with the videos currently going viral on the internet.

If they get their hands on the shield again, it will go two places. A dark corner, or another angry white guy’s hands. And Walker is not the worst person it could have gone to. At least he seems progressive enough to be married to a woman of color.

A part of Bucky knows it will end up in much worse hands if it gets back to the government. And Sam must feel the same way. Sam might not want the shield for himself right now, but he doesn’t want it back with those who gave it to Walker in the first place. That’s a start.

So they follow at a distance, until Walker seems to stop in a warehouse in a disaffected train station. The dot stops running on the screen.

When they approach the facility, Walker’s anguished and angered screaming can be heard from way too far. At least to Bucky. He doesn’t know how well Sam’s ears catch things.

If this was any other situation, he would feel for Walker. Losing his best friend this way… That’s what Steve must have felt when you fell off that train. No wonder Steve crashed that plane into the ice.

When they come up to him and he immediately quips at them, Bucky knows he’s not going to go down easy, no. He wasn’t expecting him to, but it’s still going to be a bitch.

One desperate, in pain, recently enhanced supersoldier vs a supersoldier with a metal arm and a soldier in a winged suit. Les jeux sont faits.

[zellybelly]

Broken Windows

 “They say eyes are the windows to the soul.”

Just an idea I had: If Clem was taken to the boat instead of Louis/Violet I imagine that Violet and Louis would combine to be like Clem was in the episode. Still had the party, and AJ told them a bit about himself and Clem. And Vi and Lou hug it out before they go to recuse them.

Relationships: LouxClem (Romantic), ClemxVi (Platonic), ClemxAJ(Platonic)

Summary: Instead of Violet/Louis being taken by Delta, it’s Clementine. She endures her own form of pain while there, and only hopes that AJ is safe. When they come to rescue them, they find Clem in bad shape.

Warning: Physical beatdown, gore, slight aftershock

She thought she hated boats before the world went to shit. But this really took the cake. The rocking of the boat made her head spin and her stomach churn. Her throat burned from the bile she felt rising.

The smell made it worse. Walkers smelled so much worse, but she was used to it. This though, this was nauseating. But that could’ve also been the blood.

She remembered what happened last night, and despite everything that happened since, she never regretted it.

She groaned and looked up to see the barrel of a gun right in front of her. Aimed right between her eyes. She looked past the gun to see Lily’s saddened face.

Clem copied her saddened face and felt her eyes sting. Once she called this woman her family, someone she was friends with. But now...

“Shit.” She heard Lily curse, “this should be easy.” So she wasn’t the only one feeling this pain. When you see an old friend, and you’re on opposing sides. It is the worst thing one can experience. Her breath hitched, with her muscles tensed, like she was fighting with herself to pull the trigger.

“You won’t kill me. I know you won’t.” Clementine’s voice was soft like she was talking to a friend. In some ways, she was.

Lily’s voice was full of emotion when she responded, “why?”

Clem’s golden eyes looked into hers, “We were like family once. You won’t hurt family.” She turned her head, showing off the hair clips in her hair. 

If possible, Lily’s face was, even more, saddened, “You kept them?” Her voice cracked. 

Clem nodded. “I should’ve gotten rid of them... but I couldn’t.” She whispered. Her eyes stung when she felt tears escape. They dripped down her face onto the dirt below her. 

Lily took a step back, shaking her head. She looked to Clem like she was debating something. The woman took a deep breath, and swung her gun at Clem, hitting her over the head.

Clementine fell to the ground. She heard someone shout out her name, Louis or Violet she believed, maybe both of them, but the world already faded around her.

She suspected Lily did so because of what she had said. They were once family. Maybe Lily thought they could be so once again. 

She was relieved and horrified to see both Aasim and Omar. They both seemed fine, and they had expressed concern for her. She’d been unconscious for the entire way over to the boat, and they weren’t sure when she was going to wake up. 

They had told her what had happened after Lily knocked her out. Louis had rugby tackled Lily in an attempt to rescue her but was subdued by the combined forces of Lily and Abel’s arm. Violet had come to their rescue, but it was too late for Clem. Lily slung the girl over her shoulder and shoved the girl into the cage. 

Even though it was in vain, Clem smiled. Her boyfriend came to save her. Even if he failed, she felt her heart flutter at the thought. 

They talked with one another about a plan. However, all ideas led to a dead end. The only thing they could hope for was that the others came up with a better plan than them.

At one point Minerva showed up, mainly to check on Aasim and Omar. She told them what had happened, that Sofia died and that Delta was her family now. 

It was clear she didn’t a shit who Clem was, didn’t even bat an eye. It made sense, they never met each other. 

“Clem.” She looked up from her place in the corner of the room. Lily entered the room with Minnie, and she stood. 

“What?” “It’s time you and I have a talk.” 

Now she was here. Trapped, broken. Bloody. 

She heard voices outside of her room, but she couldn’t focus on them. She had other things to worry about.

When Lily came in to talk, she tried to convince Clem that what they were doing was good. She didn’t agree. She started yelling about how fucked up Lily became since they last saw each other.

That did not end well. Especially for her leg. In her anger, Minerva had buried her blade in her calf. She was scolded instantly, but it was obvious that Lily was probably going to give her the order anyway. So there she was, slumped in the corner of the room. Her head leaned against the wall, her wounded leg faced the wall. 

The voices came closer and the door opened.

“Aasim! Omar!” Louis cried when he saw his friends. He went up to the door and watched them come up to the bars. “You’re okay.”

“Louis! Vi!”

“Holy fuck!”

“Where’s Clem?” Louis looked passed them, but he didn’t see her.

“She’s in the other cell. You take care of her first, she’s not doing so great.” The shake of Omar’s head made Louis’s blood turn to ice. 

Minnie unlocked the other cell and he pushed past her into the room. His heart dropped when he saw her. She was conscious, but she seemed to be in pain. The leg farthest from him was covered in blood.

“Clem!” He walked up to her and was about to grab her shoulder when he was smacked over the head.

“Minnie! What the fuck!”

“I will kill him, Violet! Don’t test me!”

“Louis?” He felt someone tapping his cheek. He groaned and his eyes scrunched together before they opened. 

“Clem!” He gave a relieved sigh and hugged her. He pulled her to his chest and felt her arms wrap around him. “You’re okay.” 

“Yeah, yeah I am.” Louis stood up and helped Clem to her feet. She hissed and leaned against the wall.

“Clem?” He held his hand out. Her hand grabbed onto his arm, and he helped her shift her weight on him.

“It’s not that bad, it just hurts.” She dismissed it and after a moment, she was able to walk, though she had a noticable limp.

She turned to him, and she gave him a long and tight hug. Her head was buried in his shoulder. He was surprised, but he recuperated quickly. “Thank you.” She whispered.

He pulled back confused, “For what?”

“For coming to rescue us.”

“But...” “It’s the thought that counts Louis. Just accept the compliment.”

I imagine it goes on as the episode does, except I want to imagine that Clem kicked Minnie off of her and took the crossbow and shot her shoulder.

I dunno

If you guys have any ideas, let me know!

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 22 July 2019

Quick Bits:

A Walk Through Hell #12 concludes what has been an excellent horror tale from Garth Ennis, Goran Sudžuka, Ive Svorcina, and Rob Steen with another trip into existential terror as we’re given a glimpse of what this is all about and what’s coming.

| Published by AfterShock

Action Comics #1013 keeps a lot of plates spinning as it works through elements of “Year of the Villain”, Event Leviathan, the ongoing Invisible Mafia story thread, and the Rose and Thorn revival. It’s kind of impressive as to how it remains entertaining and engrossing with as much going on.

| Published by DC Comics

Age of Conan: Bêlit #5 is another ending this week, as we finish off Bêlit’s coming of age origin story, as she confronts the Stygian priest and lays claim to her title of Queen of the Black Coast. Great art from Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Andrea Di Vito, and Jason Keith.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #26 introduces us to the new Sinister Syndicate fully as they plan an attack on Boomerang. It’s kind of funny to see him still getting into trouble even now that he’s trying to stay legit. Great art from Kev Walker and Laura Martin.

| Published by Marvel

Ascender #4 gives us a few surprises in the fight between the vampires and the resistance. The grey washes, with mixes of red, from Dustin Nguyen on the vampire’s throneworld is very impressive.

| Published by Image

Batgirl #37 launches the new creative team of Cecil Castellucci, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Jordie Bellaire, and AndWorld Design with part one of “Oracle Rising”. There’s a nice battle with Killer Moth, emphasizing what some villains are doing in order to try to get noticed by Luthor to receive the offer, while playing up the expense that goes into crimefighting. Also, the Terrible Trio unleash something probably not too good.

| Published by DC Comics

Dark Red #5 concludes the first arc as Chip and Evie try to fight off an army of Nazi vampires. It’s good, with some nice funny moments. Great art from Corin Howell and Mark Englert.

| Published by AfterShock

Detective Comics #1008 is a straight-forward single issue story of Batman and Joker at the circus from Peter J. Tomasi, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, Dave Baron, and Rob Leigh. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the extended arcs, even as it sets up a new threat in the “Year of the Villain” offering.

| Published by DC Comics

Dial H for Hero #5 gets a little meta as we dive into the Multiverse, the Heroverse, and the Bleed from Sam Humphries, Joe Quinones, Scott Hanna, Jordan Gibson, and Dave Sharpe. The use of breaking through panels, reproductions of old comics scenes, and a variation of styles just deliver phenomenal storytelling.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish #2 continues to fill in the backstory of the adventurers’ time with the White Sails, introducing us to the pitfalls that harried them, before giving more hints in the present of the nightmare that tore them apart. B. Dave Walters, Tess Fowler, Jay Fotos, and Neil Uyetake are delivering an entertaining fantasy tale here.

| Published by IDW

Fearless #1 is a new three-issue anthology mini-series spotlighting a number of the women of Marvel, both characters and creative talent. This first issue leads off with a continuing lead feature from Seanan McGuire, Claire Roe, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Janice Chiang, as Sue Richards, Carol Danvers, and Storm prepare to visit a girls camp as motivational speakers. There’s also an entertaining Mille the Model back-up from Leah Williams, Nina Vakueva, Rosenberg, and Chiang. And a very funny Jessica Jones story from the Captain Marvel team of Kelly Thompson, Carmen Carnero, Tamra Bonvillain, with Chiang. Though short, that last story is pretty much worth the price of the issue alone.

| Published by Marvel

Five Years #3 sees Tambi meet with Ivy and Julie to discuss that various nations around the world are dangerously developing Phi-alloy technology. Also a surprise appearance of people we thought were out. Great art as always from Terry Moore.

| Published by Abstract Studio

The Flash #75 delivers three stories for this extra-sized anniversary issue. The lead concludes the “Year One” arc. This is some of the best art that I have ever seen from Howard Porter, he and Hi-Fi just deliver amazing artwork here. There are also two back-ups, one hinting at things to come in the future for Barry and the other tying in to “Year of the Villain” as Captain Cold receives Luthor’s offer.

| Published by DC Comics

Guardians of the Galaxy #7 begins the second arc, “Faithless”, from Donny Cates, Cory Smith, David Curiel, and Cory Petit. It really introduces us to the new Universal Church of Truth as they take out an entire squadron of the Nova Corps and then worse things happen as the Guardians go off to investigate. I love the name for the Guardians’ new ship and that final page is one hell of a shock.

| Published by Marvel

History of the Marvel Universe #1 is an interesting project from Mark Waid, Javier Rodríguez, Álvaro López, and Joe Caramagna. It’s framed as Galactus telling Franklin Richards (at least I think that’s Franklin Richards) the history of the universe before it dies and the next is reborn. As expected, it’s dry facts, but it’s fascinating in how it’s comprehensively presented and the artwork from Rodríguez and López is jaw-dropping gorgeous. There are also annotations in the back to show where these events come from. It’s well put together and I highly recommended it to die-hard Marvel fans.

| Published by Marvel

Invisible Kingdom #5 concludes the first arc with an almost entirely one-sided battle between the Sun Dog and a Lux battleship. G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward, and Sal Cipriano elevate the tension nicely through this issue and give a few surprises when everything seems grim and it looks like the end.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Killer Groove #3 wonderfully showcases one of Jackie’s cases as it intertwines with the music scene and criminal underworld. Ollie Masters, Eoin Marron, Jordie Bellaire, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou are doing a nice job with this series of crafting one larger story out of many separate smaller tales.

| Published by AfterShock

Lazarus: Risen #2 is another dense read. The series has always been hefty, but this new format has elevated things further, doubling up comics content and adding a prose short story, the letters pages, and extra content like gaming material and the usual in-world advertisements. I’m loving it. Greg Rucka, Michael Lark, Tyler Boss, Santi Arcas, Simon Bowland, Adam Christopher, and Crystal Frasier are definitely giving you your money’s worth and more here. Excellent comics content as the war between Carlyle and Morray/D’Souza heats up.

| Published by Image

Livewire #8 pits Amanda versus Jada for a final round. It’s still interesting how practically everyone is trying to portray Amanda’s actions as harmful and villainous. Great art from Kano.

| Published by Valiant

Martian Manhunter #7 sees J’onn and Diane uncover some of the results of the experiments that have been going on with the kidnapped and missing people, it’s horrifying. Incredible and haunting artwork in this one from Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia. 

| Published by DC Comics

Marvels: Epilogue is a short, but sweet, coda to the Marvels series from Kurt Busiek, Alex Ross, John Roshell, and Richard Starkings. It spotlights events from X-Men #98 through the eyes of Phil Sheldon and his daughters, capturing some of the awe, wonder, and terror that Sheldon experienced during the main series. The book is filled out with an interview with Busiek and Ross on their experience with the series and what it’s like to look back on it 25 years later, as well as interviews with the editors who worked on the book.

| Published by Marvel

Middlewest #9 sets out a new quest for Abel as he comes across the Nowak people. Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu, and Nate Piekos are continuing to make magic with this series. The art is beautiful and the story is endlessly captivating.

| Published by Image

Psi-Lords #2 continues to investigate these four captives, changed for whatever reason by the Psi-Lords, and the habitat of their prison. An interesting jail hierarchy of gangs is revealed and a bit of a memory of the four’s lives before being captured. Gorgeous art from Renato Guedes.

| Published by Valiant

Star Pig #1 is weird. Very weird. Delilah S. Dawson, Francesco Gaston, Sebastian Cheng, and Shawn Lee give us the story of a kid on her way to space camp whose ship is struck and destroyed by an asteroid, saved by a space pig and a scavenger energy ball. It’s probably one of the more unique tales I’ve seen in a while.

| Published by IDW

Sword Master #1, like Aero before it, features two stories. In the first, Greg Pak adapts into English a tale from Shuizhu and Gunji of the titular hero, Lin Lie, and his quest to find his missing father. It’s an interesting start and the artwork from Gunji is gorgeous. The back up original story pairs Shang-Chi up with Lin in a story from Greg Pak, Ario Anindito, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham. It follows up on their appearance in the New Agents of Atlas tie-in to “War of the Realms” and presents an interesting antagonist on their trail.

| Published by Marvel

Valkyrie #1 is a wonderful debut from Jason Aaron, Al Ewing, CAFU, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Sabino. We get some continued supporting cast from Jane Foster’s time as Thor, although with a new status quo, and an interesting hook in trying to track down Dragonfang, the former Valkyrie’s sword. The art from CAFU and Aburtov is beautiful.

| Published by Marvel

Warlord of Mars Attacks #2 continues this crossover of John Carter and Mars Attacks. It’s interesting how it incorporates Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories as actual things in this world and explains how Mars as a dead planet and one as teeming with life as Barsoom could exist simultaneously.

| Published by Dynamite

The Weatherman Vol. 2 #2 gives us more of a look at the nightmare that has consumed Earth as the crew attempt to find the doctor who might be able to fix everything. It goes about as well as could be expected. The monster designs and execution from Nathan Fox and Moreno Dinisio are incredible.

| Published by Image

Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre #1 is another one-shot catching up on the wider world of Venom as we barrel headlong into Absolute Carnage. Cullen Bunn, Joshua Cassara, Alberto Alburquerque, Jay David Ramos, and Clayton Cowles give us a great story checking in with Andi Benton, the former Mania and occasional sidekick to Flash Thompson’s Venom.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Woman #75 continues “Return of the Amazons” from G. Willow Wilson, Xermanico, Jesus Merino, Vicente Cifuentes, Romulo Fajardo Jr., and Pat Brosseau. This arc basically brings Wilson’s run around full circle to deal with some of the elements that kicked off her first issue as Diana faces off against Grail. Some really nice double page spreads with border art from Xermanico.

| Published by DC Comics

Other Highlights: Archie #706, Archie vs. Predator 2 #1, Bone Parish #11, Books of Magic #10, Clue: Candlestick #3, Curse Words #23, Doctor Strange #16, Farmhand #10, Freedom Fighters #7, Grumble #8, House of X #1, Justice League Dark #13, Lumberjanes #64, Magic: The Gathering - Chandra #3, Magnificent Ms. Marvel #5, Marvel Action: Avengers #6, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #41, Night Moves #5, Redneck #22, Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual #1, Shuri #10, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #6, Star Wars #69, TMNT: The Rise of the TMNT - Sound Off #1, Tony Stark: Iron Man #14, The Wicked + The Divine #44

Recommended Collections: Black Panther - Book 7: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda Part 2, Go-Bots - Volume 1, Harrow County: Library Edition - Volume 3, House of Whispers - Volume 1: The Power Divided, James Bond: Origin - Volume 1, Lodger - Volume 1, Lumberjanes - Volume 12, Savage Sword of Conan - Volume 1: The Cult of Koga Thun, Self/Made, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 6: The Flight of the Falcon, Thor of Realms, William Gibson’s Alien 3

d. emerson eddy might well be a space lord.

[chaotic-tired-cat]

“Fury”

“Oh,” Cryptid breathes as he watches fate be torn apart. Horror curdles into fury. “You dense motherfuckers.”

Thanks for the ask!!!

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 365

November 2022 Solicitations

Comic Reviews:

DC

Batman: One Bad Day – Riddler by Tom King, Mitch Gerads

Webtoons:

Red Hood and the Outlaws

Marvel

A.X.E.: Death to the Mutants 1 by Kieron Gillen, Guiu Villanova, Dijjo Lima

Avengers 1,000,000 BC by Jason Aaron, Kev Walker, Dean White

Edge of Spider-Verse 2 by Dan Slott, Mallory Rosenthal, Ramzee, Chris Giarrusso, Ig Guara, Paco Medina, Ruairi Coleman, Walden Wong, Brian Reber, Rico Renzi

Ultraman: Mystery of UltraSeven 1 by Kyle Higgins, Mat Groom, David Lopez, Gurihiru, Davide Tinto, Espen Grundetjern, H.J. Diaz

Infinity Comics

Marvel’s Voices: America Chavez

Strange Tales She-Hulk

Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal

Image

20th Century Men 1 by Deniz Camp, S. Morian

Last Shadowhawk (30th Anniversary Special) by Brian Haberlin, Philip Tan, Daniel Henriques, Todd McFarlane

Razorblades: Small Cuts Special by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Andy Belanger, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz, Martin Simmonds, Josh Hixson, Liana Kangas

Shirtless Bear Fighter! 2 1 by Jody LeHeup, Nil Vendrell

Silver Coin 13 by Johnnie Christmas, Michael Walsh

Dark Horse

Parasomnia: The Dreaming God 1 by Cullen Bunn, Andrea Mutti

IDW

Sonic the Hedgehog Annual 2022 by Ian Flynn, Daniel Barnes, India Swift, Ian Mutchler, Evan Stanley, Aaron Hammerstrom, Gigi Dutreix, Adam Bryce Thomas, Abigail Bulmer, Thomas Rothlisberger, Natalie Haines, Joana Lafuente, Priscilla Tramontano, Heather Breckel, Leonardo Ito, Valentina Pinto

Trve Kvlt 1 by Scott Bryan Wilson, Liana Kangas, Gab Contreras

Dynamite

Lady Hel 1 by Erik Burnham, Zhengis Tasbolatov

Vault

Barbaric: Axe to Grind 1 by Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden

Heart Eyes 1 by Dennis Hopeless, Victor Ibanez, Addison Duke

Heavy Metal

Entropy 1 by Christopher Priest, Montos

Archie

Chilling Adventures Presents… Jinx’s Grim Fairy Tales 1 by Mags Visaggio, Joe Corallo, James III, Craig Cermak, Eva Cabrera, Evan Stanley, Matt Herms

AfterShock

Jimmy’s Little Bastards 1 by Garth Ennis, Russel Braun, John Kalisz

Scout

Life and Death of Brave Captain Suave 1 by Joseph Sieracki, Kelly Williams

A Wave Blue World

Crash and Troy 1 by Jarred Lujan, Kyler Clodfelter

99 Cent Theatre:

Smart Girl 1 by Fernando Dagnino

OGN

Beastlands: The Keepers of the Kingdom by Curtis Clow, Jo Mi-Gyeong

Into Radness by Kyle Strahm, Jake Smith

Ray’s OGN Corner: Stepping Stones and Apple Crush by Lucy Knisley

Additional Reviews: She-Hulk, surprise movie review (New Mutants)

News: Omni News, Doom Patrol and Teen Titans, Batman 2, RWBY/Justice League movie, animation news, Velma cancelled, Madame Web cast, Kung Fu Panda 4, Valiant reduces output, the return of Bob Phantom, new Jason Aaron creator-owned series from Boom, Ezra Miller, two new Cullen Bunn books, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad movie, Superman and Lois loses a main actor, Mad Cave acquisition, new FF creative team, new Black Label mini from Marc Silvestri, another spider confirmed for Spider-Verse 2, Young Justice cancelled, Frank Miller variants, HBO Max, WildStorm, three new DC books from Geoff Johns, LOTR rights have been sold, new Bendis from Dark Horse, new Iron Man creative team, Enola Holmes 2, Knives Out 2

Trailers: Wednesday Addams

Comics Countdown:

Batman: The Knight 8 by Chip Zdarsky, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Ivan Plascencia

Dark Spaces: Wildfire 2 by Scott Snyder, Hayden Sherman, Ronda Pattison

Do A Powerbomb 3 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer

Nightwing 95 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest 6 by Mark Waid, Travis Moore, Tamra Bonvillain

Undiscovered Country 20 by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Leonardo Marcello Grassi, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Matt Wilson

Tales From Harrow County: Lost Ones 4 by Cullen Bunn, Emily Schnall

Daredevil 2 by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Checchetto, Rafael de Latorre, Matt Wilson, Ann Nocenti, Chris Giarrusso, Klaus Janson, Chris Samnee, John Romita Jr, Alex Maleev, Paul Azaceta, Mike Hawthorne, Phil Noto

Usagi Yojimbo 30 by Stan Sakai, Hi-Fi

Shirtless Bear Fighter! 2 1 by Jody LeHeup, Nil Vendrell

Check out this episode!

[amanita-cynth]

WIP Meme Tag Game

So I was tagged in this by @asomeoneperson and spent a few days trying to figure out how to do it because...I have so many WIPs, in so many folders.

So many.

So I’m gonna put some of these under the line and I culled some that don’t have much happening. Kept the punctuation cos it really adds to the vibe

Anyone who wants can do this. I am so tired

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Standalones (cleanup folders):

Ballora

demons and heroes

Wolves, Witches, and Giant Alien Monsters

blooms and battleships

Worldbreaker 

Drakeheart

Worldbreaker, Worldbuilder

Olra Firefist

The Trish and Mali Saga

Redemption via cake

Demonic Association

Pets are good for your health

Liasions

Subject Zero

Subject Zero

gm: aftershock

GM: dancers

GM: reach high

GM: sibling complex

GM: to create

Pantheon Champions

The Hungry City

#JustQueerChampions

Champions meeting others

Cliches the champions ran into

dumb things that will probably stay non-canon

prison reports

The Casebook of Detective Selina Gray

Standalones (general folder):

alien rescuers prompt alien civil war

dragon virus-apocalypse

Just psychic things

Magical girls

Patron siren

Sector 9

Shadow-walkers

Shadow-walkers appendix

this is not how first contact should go lol

The ghost of guilt

The Immortal Story

The trouble with intuitivs

The trouble with intuitivs and feds

this is not an isekai/a song of shadows and stars

oh the truth

totally not host

TSaTS (The Strange and The Sorrowful)

Clerics

Ghosts, demons, and self-esteem issues

Guardian

literal hellish neighbours

Modern ghost busting

monstrous sacrifices

Recovery takes time

Reverse ZA

strange aftermaths

the vessel

the spirit trap house

worlds and ways anew

it takes a demon, an angel, and an old one...

monsters and worse monsters

*deep breaths* Into the Alcion stories now, which I’ve been writing for years, my first real project

Alcion Mains:

Angel or Demon

The rhaniad

charna/runi/sacha shit

DragonBane returned

the new epoch

Alcion Asides:

After Nessy’s Death

Android Apocalypse! Yay!

ARC with angel

Born of a fuckyou au

Crossing worlds

Haunting

Hell. No.

Ghosty story

maude and dana adopt a superkid

Paramours

RICEEs arrival

Sands

Sonrise and the puns keep coming

Soothsayer

Time trials

Victori

Yeah right!

Alcion History Snapshots:

Amnesiac Rosa

Asaj

helen, gerrick, aldwin

JC

kinda rosa origin story

Merlin

Sea Dog Days

Time travel

TRITON

UFRS

WW2

[collectorscorner]

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday 2/17/21

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PUBLISHER/TITLE/PRICE

AFTERSHOCK COMICS Miskatonic #4, $3.99 Shadow Doctor #1 (Cover A Mark Chiarello), $4.99 Shadow Doctor #1 (Cover B Georges Jeanty), AR We Live #5, $3.99

AHOY COMICS Penultiman #5 (Of 5), $3.99 Second Coming Only Begotten Son #2, $3.99

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #317, $7.99 Sabrina The Teenage Witch Something Wicked #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Veronica Fish), $3.99 Sabrina The Teenage Witch Something Wicked #5 (Of 5)(Cover B Sweeney Boo), $3.99 Sabrina The Teenage Witch Something Wicked #5 (Of 5)(Cover C Andy Fish), $3.99

AWA STUDIOS American Ronin #5 (Of 5) , $3.99 Byte-Sized #3 (Of 4), $3.99 Devil’s Highway Volume 1 TP , $9.99

BEHEMOTH COMICS Hotline Miami Wildlife #6 (Of 8) , $3.99 Steambound #1 , $3.99

BOOM! STUDIOS Abbott 1973 #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Taj Tenfold), $3.99 Abbott 1973 #2 (Of 5)(Cover B Raul Allen), $3.99 Abbott 1973 #2 (Of 5)(Cover C Mirka Andolfo), AR Expanse #3 (Of 4)(Cover A W. Scott Forbes), $4.99 Expanse #3 (Of 4)(Cover B Tigh Walker), $4.99 Expanse #3 (Of 4)(Cover C Priscilla Petraies), AR Expanse #3 (Of 4)(Cover D Priscilla Petraies), AR Forever Home GN, $12.99 Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Volume 3 The Journey Into The Mondo Leviadin HC, $24.99 Once And Future #16 (Cover A Dan Mora), $3.99 Once And Future #16 (Cover B Dan Mora), AR Once And Future #16 (Cover C Dani), AR Power Rangers #4 (Cover A Matteo Scalera), $3.99 Power Rangers #4 (Cover B Danielle di Nucuolu Legacy Variant), $3.99 Power Rangers #4 (Cover C Pink Blank Variant), AR Power Rangers #4 (Cover D Matteao Scalera), AR Power Rangers #4 (Cover E Danielle di Nucuolu), AR Power Rangers #4 (Cover F Goni Montes), AR Power Rangers #4 (Cover G Goni Montes), AR

COMIC SHOP NEWS Comic Shop News #1748, AR

CREEPY CLASSICS/MONSTER BASH Monster Bash Magazine #41, $8.99

DARK HORSE COMICS Barbalien Red Planet #4 (Of 5)(Cover A Gabriel Hernandez Walta), $3.99 Barbalien Red Planet #4 (Of 5)(Cover B Naomi Franquiz) , $3.99 Blade Of The Immortal Deluxe Edition Volume 2 HC, $49.99 Stranger Things And Dungeons And Dragons #4 (Of 4)(Cover A E. M. Gist), $3.99 Stranger Things And Dungeons And Dragons #4 (Of 4)(Cover B Anna Dittmann), $3.99 Stranger Things And Dungeons And Dragons #4 (Of 4)(Cover C Jess Taylor), $3.99 Stranger Things And Dungeons And Dragons #4 (Of 4)(Cover D David Michael Beck), $3.99 Young Hellboy The Hidden Land #1 (Of 4)(Cover A Matt Smith), $3.99 Young Hellboy The Hidden Land #1 (Of 4)(Cover B Mike Mignola), $3.99

DC COMICS Batman Catwoman #3 (Of 12)(Cover A Clay Mann), $4.99 Batman Catwoman #3 (Of 12)(Cover B Jim Lee & Scott Williams), AR Batman Catwoman #3 (Of 12)(Cover C Travis Charest), AR Books Of Magic Volume 3 Dwelling In Possibility TP, $24.99 Future State Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Liam Sharp), $3.99 Future State Catwoman #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Hicham Habchi Card Stock Variant), AR Future State Green Lantern #1 (Of 2)(Tom Raney 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $5.99 Future State Immortal Wonder Woman #1 (Of 2)(Jen Bartel 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $5.99 Future State Immortal Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Jen Bartel), $5.99 Future State Immortal Wonder Woman #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Becky Cloonan Card Stock Variant), AR Future State Justice League #1 (Of 2)(Dan Mora 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $5.99 Future State Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Yasmine Putri), $3.99 Future State Nightwing #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Nicola Scott Card Stock Variant), AR Future State Robin Eternal #1 (Of 2)(Eddy Barrows 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Future State Shazam #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Bernard Chang), $3.99 Future State Shazam #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Gerald Parel Card Stock Variant), AR Future State Superman Worlds Of War #2 (Of 2)(Cover A Mikel Janin), $7.99 Future State Superman Worlds Of War #2 (Of 2)(Cover B Riccardo Federici Card Stock Variant), AR Future State The Next Batman #4 (Of 4)(Cover A Ladronn), $7.99 Future State The Next Batman #4 (Of 4)(Cover B Jim Lee & Scott Williams Card Stock Variant), AR Hellblazer Volume 24 Sanctioned TP, $34.99 MAD Magazine #18, $5.99 Richard Dragon Kung-Fu Fighter The Coming Of The Dragon HC, $49.99 Scooby-Doo Where Are You #108, $2.99 Teen Titans Volume 4 Robin No More TP, $19.99 Truth And Justice #1 (Cover A Chriscross), $4.99 Truth And Justice #1 (Cover B TBD), AR

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT Die!Namite #4 (Of 5)(Cover ZA Lucio Parrillo Virgin Variant), AR Die!Namite #4 (Of 5)(Cover ZB Arthur Suydam Virgin Variant), AR Die!Namite #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Lucio Parrillo), $3.99 Die!Namite #5 (Of 5)(Cover B Arthur Suydam), $3.99 Die!Namite #5 (Of 5)(Cover C Will Robson), $3.99 Die!Namite #5 (Of 5)(Cover D Rachel Hollon Cosplay Variant), $3.99 Sacred Six #7 (Cover A Lucio Parrillo), $3.99 Sacred Six #7 (Cover B Stephane Roux), $3.99 Sacred Six #7 (Cover C Elias Chatzoudis), $3.99 Sacred Six #7 (Cover D Fay Dalton), $3.99 Sacred Six #7 (Cover E Derrick Chew), $3.99 Vampirella The Dark Powers #3 (Cover A Jae Lee), $3.99 Vampirella The Dark Powers #3 (Cover B Joseph Michael Linsner), $3.99 Vampirella The Dark Powers #3 (Cover C Will Robson), $3.99 Vampirella The Dark Powers #3 (Cover D Jung-Geun Yoon), $3.99 IDW PUBLISHING Dungeons And Dragons Infernal Tides TP, $17.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Last Ronin #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Andy Kuhn), $8.99 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles The Last Ronin #2 (Of 5)(Cover B Kevin Eastman), AR

IMAGE COMICS Aria Heavenly Creatures #1 (One Shot)(Cover A Jay Anacleto & Brian Haberlin), $6.99 Aria Heavenly Creatures #1 (One Shot)(Cover B Joe Quesada & Danny Miki), $6.99 Aria Heavenly Creatures #1 (One Shot)(Cover C J. G. Jones), $6.99 Aria Heavenly Creatures #1 (One Shot)(Cover D Drew), $6.99 Excellence #10 (Cover A Khary Randolph & Emilio Lopez), $3.99 Excellence #10 (Cover B Tara Nicole Whitaker), $3.99 Family Tree #11, $3.99 Haha #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Zoe Thorogood), $3.99 Haha #2 (Of 6)(Cover B Martin Simmonds), $3.99 Scene Of The Crime TP, $16.99 Stillwater By Zdarsky And Perez #6, $3.99 Walking Dead Deluxe #9 (Cover A David Finch & Dave McCaig), $3.99 Walking Dead Deluxe #9 (Cover B Tony Moore & Dave McCaig), $3.99 Walking Dead Deluxe #9 (Cover C Julian Totino Tedesco), $3.99

MAD CAVE STUDIOS Hollywood Trash #5 (Of 5), $3.99 Pantomime #4 (Of 6), $3.99 Terminal Punks #4 (Of 5), $3.99

MARVEL COMICS Amazing Spider-Man #57 (Marcelo Ferreira 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 Black Knight #1 (Facsimile Edition), $3.99 Black Panther Epic Collection Volume 2 Revenge Of The Black Panther TP (New Printing), $39.99 Black Panther Who Is The Black Panther Marvel Select HC, $24.99 Black Widow #5 (Cover A Adam Hughes), $3.99 Black Widow #5 (Cover B Olivier Coipel), AR Black Widow #5 (Cover C Terry Dodson Marvel Vs Alien Variant), AR Cable #8, $3.99 Captain America #27 (Cover A Alex Ross), $3.99 Captain America #27 (Cover B Ivan Shavrin Marvel Vs Alien Variant), AR Captain America #27 (Cover C Patrick Gleason Stormbreakers Variant), AR Captain America Heroes Return The Complete Collection Volume 1 TP, $39.99 Champions #4 (Cover A Toni Infante), $3.99 Champions #4 (Cover B Ernanda Souza Ironheart Black History Month Variant), AR Daredevil By Chip Zdarsky Volume 5 Truth Dare TP, $17.99 Dawn Of X Volume 13 TP, $17.99 Guardians Of The Galaxy #11 (Cover A Rafael Albuquerque), $3.99 Guardians Of The Galaxy #11 (Cover B David Finch Silver Surfer Variant), AR Immortal Hulk Flatline #1 (Cover A Declan Shalvey), $4.99 Immortal Hulk Flatline #1 (Cover B Kevin Nowlan), AR Iron Fist Heart Of The Dragon #2 (Of 6)(Cover A Billy Tan), $3.99 Iron Fist Heart Of The Dragon #2 (Of 6)(Cover B Marcos Martin), AR Iron Fist Heart Of The Dragon #2 (Of 6)(Cover C Emanuela Lupacchino Masterworks Variant), AR Iron Man #6 (Cover A Alex Ross), $3.99 Iron Man #6 (Cover B Patrick Brown Avenger Mech Strike Variant), AR Iron Man #6 (Cover C Ernanda Souza War Machine Black History Month Variant), AR King In Black #4 (Of 5)(Cover A Ryan Stegman), $4.99 King In Black #4 (Of 5)(Cover B Leinil Francis Yu Connecting Variant), AR King In Black #4 (Of 5)(Cover C Ian Bederman Tattoo Variant), AR King In Black #4 (Of 5)(Cover D Rahzzah Dragon Variant), AR King In Black #4 (Of 5)(Cover E Paolo Rivera Spoiler Variant), AR King In Black #4 (Of 5)(Cover F Ryan Stegman Sketch Variant), AR King In Black Gwenom Vs Carnage #1 (Of 3)(InHyuk Lee 2nd Printing Variant Cover), $3.99 King In Black Planet Of The Symbiotes #2 (Of 3)(Cover A Tony Moore), $3.99 King In Black Planet Of The Symbiotes #2 (Of 3)(Cover B Kyle Hotz), AR M.O.D.O.K. Head Games #3 (Of 4)(Cover A Cully Hamner), $3.99 M.O.D.O.K. Head Games #3 (Of 4)(Cover B David Lafuente), AR Marauders #18, $3.99 Marvel #5 (Of 6)(Cover A Alex Ross), $4.99 Marvel #5 (Of 6)(Cover B Adam Hughes), AR Marvel Masterworks Howard The Duck Volume 1 HC (Direct Market Variant Exclusive Edition Volume 300, $75.00 Miles Morales Spider-Man #23 (Cover A Taurin Clarke), $3.99 Miles Morales Spider-Man #23 (Cover B David Finch Miles Morales Variant), AR Miles Morales Spider-Man #23 (Cover C Ernanda Souza Black History Variant), AR Ms. Marvel Army Of One TP, $12.99 Savage Avengers #18 (Cover A Valerio Giangiordano), $3.99 Savage Avengers #18 (Cover B Superlog), AR Savage Avengers #18 (Cover C Leonel Castellani Avengers Mech Strike Variant), AR Silk Out Of The Spider-Verse Volume 1 TP, $34.99 Spider-Woman #9 (Cover A Jung-Geun Yoon), $3.99 Spider-Woman #9 (Cover B Rose Besch), AR Strange Academy First Class TP, $13.99 Thor #12 (Cover A Olivier Coipel), $3.99 Thor #12 (Cover B Nic Klein), AR Thor #12 (Cover C Geoff Shaw), AR Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 4 HC (John Romita Jr. Direct Market Cover), $125.00 Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 4 HC (R. B. Silva Book Market Cover), $125.00 X-Men Evolution TP, $12.99 X-Men Legends #1 (Cover A Brett Booth), $4.99 X-Men Legends #1 (Cover B Iban Coello Connecting Variant), AR X-Men Legends #1 (Cover C Leinil Francis Yu), AR X-Men Legends #1 (Cover D Russell Dauterman), AR X-Men Legends #1 (Cover E John Tyler Christopher Action Figure Variant), AR X-Men Legends #1 (Cover F Patrick Gleason Stormbreakers Variant), AR

RED 5 COMICS White Lily #1, $3.95

RED 5 COMICS – STONEBOT Machine Girl And The Space Invaders #4 (Of 4), $3.95

SCOUT COMICS Black Cotton #1 (Of 6), $3.99 Black Friday #1 (Of 3)(Cover A Travis Williamson), $3.99 Black Friday #1 (Of 3)(Cover B Travis Williamson), AR Recount #2, $3.99 SCREAM HORROR MAGAZINE Scream Magazine #63 , $9.99

TITAN COMICS Enki Bilal’s Legends Of Today HC, $39.99 Star Trek The Official Magazine #79 (Newsstand Edition), $9.99 Star Trek The Official Magazine #79 (Previews Exclusive Edition), $9.99

VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT Savage #1 (Cover A Marcus To), $3.99 Savage #1 (Cover B Christian Ward), $3.99 Savage #1 (Cover C Guisseppe Cammuncoli Pre-Order Edition Variant), AR Savage #1 (Cover D Stacey Lee), AR Savage #1 (Cover E Blank Variant), AR

VAULT COMICS Bleed Them Dry TP, $19.99 Hollow Heart #1 (Cover A Paul Tucker), $3.99 Hollow Heart #1 (Cover B Tim Daniel & Nathan Gooden), $3.99 Hollow Heart #1 (Cover C David Mack), AR Hollow Heart #1 (Cover D David Mack Foil Variant), AR Hollow Heart #1 (Cover E Jen Hickman), AR Picture Of Everything Else #2 (Cover A Kishore Mohan), $3.99 Picture Of Everything Else #2 (Cover B Adam Gorham), $3.99

VIZ MEDIA Assassin’S Creed Blade Of Shao Jun Volume 1 GN, $14.99 Blue Flag Volume 6 GN, $12.99 Golden Kamuy Volume 20 GN, $12.99 Mermaid Saga Collector’s Edition Volume 2 GN, $24.99 Urusei Yatsura Volume 9 GN, $19.99 Zom 100 Bucket List Of The Dead Volume 1 GN, $12.99

WARRANT PUBLISHING COMPANY Vampiress Carmilla Magazine #2, $5.95

ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT Courier Liberty And Death #2 (Of 3)(Cover A Igor Vitorino), $5.99 Courier Liberty And Death #2 (Of 3)(Cover B Sabine Rich), $5.99 Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Quarterly Darkwatchers #1 (Cover A Edgar Salazar), $8.99 Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Quarterly Darkwatchers #1 (Cover B Keith Garvey), $8.99 Grimm Fairy Tales Presents Quarterly Darkwatchers #1 (Cover C Nelly Jimenez), $8.99 Oz Heart Of Magic GN, $19.99

GAMES

NECA/WIZKIDS Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Dwarf Fighter Male, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Elf Druid Male, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Elf Fighter Male, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Gnome Wizard Male, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Goliath Barbarian Female, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Halfling Fighter Female, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Human Ranger Female, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Human Rogue Female, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Human Wizard Female, AR Dungeons And Dragons Icons Realms Premium Figure Human Wizard Male, AR Marvel HeroClix Fantastic Four Future Foundation Booster Brick, AR Marvel HeroClix Fantastic Four Future Foundation Dice And Token Pack, AR Marvel HeroClix Fantastic Four Future Foundation Fast Forces 6 Pack, AR Marvel HeroClix Fantastic Four Future Foundation Play at Home Kit, AR Marvel HeroClix Unpainted Mini Doctor Doom, AR Marvel HeroClix Unpainted Mini Human Torch, AR Marvel HeroClix Unpainted Mini Invisible Woman, AR Marvel HeroClix Unpainted Mini Mr Fantastic, AR Marvel HeroClix Unpainted Mini Silver Surfer, AR Marvel HeroClix Unpainted Mini the Thing, AR Waddle Board Game, AR Warlock Tiles Accessory Torture Chamber, AR

WIZARDS OF THE COAST Magic The Gathering TCG Kaldheim Bundle, AR Magic The Gathering TCG Kaldheim Collector Booster Pack, AR Magic The Gathering TCG Kaldheim Commander Deck, AR Magic The Gathering TCG Kaldheim Draft Booster Pack, AR Magic The Gathering TCG Kaldheim Set Booster Pack, AR Magic The Gathering TCG Kaldheim Theme Booster Pack, AR

TOYS - T-SHIRTS & COLLECTIBLES Aquarius Harry Potter Movie Posters 1000 Piece Puzzle, AR Conan The Barbarian Ultimates Wave 1 Conan Action Figure, AR Conan The Barbarian Ultimates Wave 1 Rexor Action Figure, AR Conan The Barbarian Ultimates Wave 1 Thorgrim Action Figure, AR Conan The Barbarian Ultimates Wave 1 Thulsa Doom Action Figure, AR Creature From The Black Lagoon 16 Ounce Tiki Mug 3D Variant, AR Masters Of The Universe Nyeeh T-Shirt LG, AR Masters Of The Universe Nyeeh T-Shirt MED, AR Masters Of The Universe Nyeeh T-Shirt SM, AR Masters Of The Universe Nyeeh T-Shirt XL, AR Masters Of The Universe Nyeeh T-Shirt XXL, AR Mummy 16 Ounce Tiki Mug, AR Mummy 16 Ounce Tiki Mug Scarab Variant, AR Phantom Of The Opera 16 Ounce Tiki Mug, AR Phantom Of The Opera 16 Ounce Tiki Mug (Crescendo Variant), AR Pocket POP Star Wars Luke Skywalker Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars Mandalorian IG-11 Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars Mandalorian Mandalorian Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars Mandalorian Mandalorian With Blaster Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars Mandalorian Moff Gideon Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars R2-D2 Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars Stormtrooper Keychain, AR Pocket POP Star Wars Yoda Keychain, AR POP Animation Simpsons Duffman Vinyl Figure, AR POP Animation Simpsons Itchy Vinyl Figure, AR POP Disney 65th Anniversary Donald In Lederhosen Vinyl Figure, AR POP Disney 65th Anniversary Mickey In Lederhosen Vinyl Figure, AR POP Elvis Presley 1968 Comeback Special Diamond Glitter Figure, AR Spider-Man Stealth Previews Exclusive Action Figure, AR Star Wars Phantom Menace Qui-Gon Jinn ARTFX+ Statue, AR Wolfman 16 Ounce Tiki Mug, AR Wolfman 16 Ounce Tiki Mug (Full Moon Variant), AR

[highwiredazeken]

THE DAYS AND NIGHTS OF AMERICAN TEETH

American Teeth is the sonic alter ego of Elijah Noll, who collaborates alongside producer Colin Brittain (All Time Low, A Day To Remember, ONE OK ROCK, Papa Roach) and this meeting of the minds has resulted in quite a journey into the realm of pop punk and beyond. Hailing from Portland, Maine but currently based in Los Angeles, American Teeth recently signed to Fearless Records and plan to release his debut album later this year.  With singles such as Barred Out and One Of These Days already making a lasting impression on all types of music fans, American Teeth is slated to open the Aftershock Music Festival in Sacramento and has other live shows in the works as well.  Highwire Daze recently interviewed Elijah Noll find out a whole lot more about the up and coming American Teeth and their absolutely exhilarating, imaginative songs!  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in American Teeth and how long you’ve been doing this project. I am the singer, writer, co-producer of American Teeth. I started the project – we’re coming up on two years in June actually. So, it’s a fairly new project that came out of a session that I had with my now frequent collaborator Colin Brittain – who’s a great producer. We had a session with Munky from KORN actually – that was kind of put together and we really ended up hitting it off the two of us and started writing songs for fun – and that’s kind of how it all started.

How did you wind up signing with Fearless Records? That was after a couple of different meetings – Colin and I together ended up going around meeting a couple of different record labels – Fearless was one of them. Colin actually knew Andy Serrao the President of the label – so we ended up popping in there after one of our meetings in the area out here in LA.

You’re originally from Portland, Maine. What was the music scene like in Portland, Maine and were you involved with any bands up there? The music scene was definitely small. I was more involved as a fan of the emo scene up in the area. I don’t know if you know the band Sparks The Rescue – I went to some of their shows. We had a few venues like The State Theater. The Cumberland County Civic Center was kind of like our arena-type venue. I specifically remember seeing My Chemical Romance and Green Day there, which were pretty pivotal moments for me at the time. I used to play mostly house parties in kid’s basements and stuff like that. I definitely didn’t explode on the Portland, Maine scene. I was more kind of a fan within the scene.

And now you’re all the way across the country in Los Angeles which has a legendary music scene. What did you think of the music scene out here prior to the pandemic? I think that it’s actually growing because of the ability to connect virtually and all of that. I feel like people are just more driven to connect whether it’s through Zoom or Facetime. You could just do a quick meetup to see if it’s worth working together. It’s different than when shows are happening, but I do a lot of stuff on the writing side of the music scene out here, so I’ve been able to really connect with a lot of people – not only in Los Angeles but all over via Zoom. I’ve personally found that my network has expanded pretty quickly throughout this strange time.

What has it been like to write and release new music for American Teeth in the middle of a pandemic and all this social unrest in the world? It’s definitely helped fuel my creativity and the creation process around that. As far as releasing, it’s been interesting because it’s really kind of this thing where you’re putting it out and you don’t get to go play it live like you usually would. Like you’re just putting it out there. I’m focusing more on getting the song out and really making sure that I’m creating visuals that match the story I’m trying to tell or the vibe that I want people to feel. And I’ve been getting into TikTok too which has been an interesting journey.

Let’s talk about your new song One Of These Days and what inspired the lyrics for you. That song is essentially about acceptance honestly. It’s about waking up and just feeling terrible right off the bat. A lot of times when I’m feeling down or I’m going through a bad day, I’ll try to deny that that’s happening, or try to convince myself “It’s fine. I’ll be fine…” and just push through. But I found recently with some trial and error that sometimes often when you just accept that you’re having a shitty day, and allow yourself to feel that, you can move past it quicker. It’s really kind of the meaning behind the whole thing – let go and accept that you’re having a shitty day – and by doing that, most of the time you’ll be able to move forward that way.

You have another song called Barred Out that you did with Twin XL – Cameron Walker who used to be in Weatherstar and The Ready Set. How did that collaboration come about, and tell me a little about that song? Yeah, that was a fun one! That one came out of a co-writing session that we had with Cameron. I brought him in with the intention of doing some stuff for American Teeth. And while we were writing, he was singing the pre-chorus part that he’s featured on. Colin and I heard him singing on it and he just killed that performance of it! I got up on the mic and sang the same thing, and it just didn’t feel the same. There was something about his take that felt really natural and perfect for it. And we told him if you want to be on this track, it would be a great way to cross our worlds. And he was down and that’s how it all kind of came together. It was pretty natural.

You also did something with the band Dreamers called Still Not Dead. Tell me how that came about. That was actually another situation where there was another co-writing situation with Nick from Dreamers and I and Colin. That day the intent was to do a Dreamers song, so I wasn’t intending on being on the song. But it was the day a little over a year ago that Kobe Bryant passed away – and Nick had just gotten back from a trip from his hometown in Seattle – unfortunately one of his childhood friends had committed suicide, so he was coming back from that funeral. It was really a dark day for everybody in general. I’ve had plenty of loss and death in my life, including my dad when I was like 12 – and a lot of family members over the years. So, we just kind of decided that we were going to write a song about how we were feeling in that moment. It was kind of like glaringly obvious that that’s what we needed to get out. So, we kind of each told our story about our experiences with death and loss – and wanted to put a bit of a spin on it that was hopeful in a way – like a celebration of life amongst all of the loss.

Your producer Colin Brittain – he’s worked with bands such as All Time Low, Papa Roach, 5 Seconds Of Summer – the list is crazy! What is it like working with him? It’s really fun – we have a good thing. He’s so incredible. His track record shows how talented he is. I think that when you bring both of our talents together, we have something that I feel is really unique – and we just have so much fun creating together.

Providing live shows actually start to happen, what are you looking forward to the most about your appearance at Aftershock later in the year? It looks like you’re playing the same day as My Chemical Romance… Yeah, it’s crazy man! It’s a dream honestly. I think about Aftershock frequently, and I can’t wait. Performing is my all-time favorite piece of music, and being an artist I just can’t wait to jump around on a festival stage. It’s going to be so amazing!

If you could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why? I would say that number one would be The 1975. I’m a really big fan of that band, and I think the band has really developed this awesome fan base that I would really love to perform for. My Chemical Romance is one of them, but I happen to be technically opening the stage for them, so that’s going to be Step 1. Step 2 would definitely be being a direct opener on a My Chemical Romance tour. That would be just completely insane. I’m a big fan of Gerard Way and his artistry and his creativity – and I just think that would be so cool!

If the music of American Teeth was a donut, what kind would it be and why? Oh, that’s a good question because I love donuts. This isn’t my favorite donut, but I think this represents us the best – a rainbow sprinkle chocolate donut. The sprinkles for me represent the many colors – the many dimensions of the sound that American Teeth has. And maybe it has a soft cream filling because the music a lot of times has a hard outer shell, but there’s a softness and warmth in the middle.

What do you hope the rest of 2021 brings for American Teeth? A lot more live shows – I want to manifest that now. More live opportunities and the ability to connect with real people in person – and to meet new people that way. An album is happening this year, and that’s exciting. And I’m also experimenting with some visual stuff with creating little, short films and things around the music – so definitely more of that as well.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

American Teeth on Facebook

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 10 June 2019

Quick Bits:

Age of Conan: Bêlit #4 sets up a rivalry with a high priest from Stygia in this penultimate issue. Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham guide us through more of Bêlit’s family history and hints of madness.

| Published by Marvel

Age of X-Man: Marvelous X-Men #5 is the first of these minis to reach their end, but it’s far from a conclusion. While the team and Psylocke find out the nature of reality as everything starts unravelling, much still remains hanging, and the conclusion is set for Age of X-Man: Omega. Great art from Marco Failla and Matt Milla.

| Published by Marvel

Amber Blake #4 concludes what has been an entertaining thriller from Jade Lagardère, Butch Guice, Mike Perkins, Dan Brown, and Robbie Robbins. Some nice twists and surprises as this story ends.

| Published by IDW

Archie #705 is part one of “Archie & Sabrina”. I quite like the change to the trade dress to reflect that, giving the appearance of a limited series for the arc, while maintaining the ongoing numbering. Nice Spencer, Sandy Jarrell, Matt Herms, and Jack Morelli do a great job moving through Cheryl’s “Bachelor” plans to hints of things to come, along with impending conflict between Betty and Veronica.

| Published by Archie Comics

Batman & The Outsiders #2 spotlights the battle between Ishmael and the team as he goes for Sofia. Great art from Dexter Soy and Veronica Gandini. The little bits of occult belief and practice Bryan Hill gives to Ishmael are interesting.

| Published by DC Comics

Bronze Age Boogie #3 is another fun issue, pitting Li against Lynda for the Martians’ amusement. The pieces are all coming together nicely. Also, the “Major Ursa” back-up is just about the best thing ever.

| Published by Ahoy

By Night #12 is a bit of a weird one for the conclusion to this series, focusing almost solely on our side of the rift and what happens down the line for everyone. Still, this has been an entertaining series from John Allison, Christine Larsen, Sarah Stern, and Jim Campbell. 

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Calamity Kate #4 brings this series from Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto, and Zakk Saam to a close. It’s still a bit of a head-scratcher, wondering how much is real and how much is a manifestation of Kate’s issues with her break-up, but it’s entertaining.

| Published by Dark Horse

Detective Comics #1005 concludes the Arkham Knight’s “Medieval” arc from Peter J. Tomasi, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Nathan Fairbairn, and Rob Leigh. It’s really weird seeing Anton Arcane as anyone’s lackey, but that aside this is still a decent conclusion. The art from Walker, Hennessy, and Fairbairn is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

The Empty Man #8 is the end of the series. For now at least. It’s a satisfying conclusion for this horror story from Cullen Bunn, Jesús Hervás, Niko Guardia, and Ed Dukeshire, even as it leaves hooks for the possibility of more. Very interesting bits of body horror and ideas about infection.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Flash #72 continues “Year One” from Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi, and Steve Wands. Once again, the artwork from Porter and Hi-Fi is phenomenal. The layouts, the action, the sheer visual storytelling is incredible.

| Published by DC Comics

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #7 is the first part of “Feast or Famine” from Tom Taylor, Ken Lashley, Nolan Woodard, and Travis Lanham. It’s May’s grand reopening of the FEAST shelter and it appears as though people are angry that it’s happening.

| Published by Marvel

Gogor #2 is possibly even better than the first issue, giving more focus to the tale even as Ken Garing does more world-building. This is a very interesting fantasy story, with fascinating characters and regions, and beautiful artwork.

| Published by Image

Hawkman #13 gives us a single-issue story from Robert Venditti, Will Conrad, Jeremiah Skipper, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft on the endless cycle of war. It’s a good bit of decompression following “Cataclysm” and Bryan Hitch’s run, using Carter’s endless resurrection to show the toll of battle on one planet.

| Published by DC Comics

Immortal Hulk #19 is another incredible issue in this amazing run, with Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Paul Mounts, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Cory Petit delivering hard on the new Abomination and Harpy. The body horror aspect of this story is ratcheted up even higher.

| Published by Marvel

Infinite Dark #7 looks like it’s building for a catastrophe for the end of this arc at a magnitude even greater than losing the outer ring in the first arc, as the remaining portion of the station gets plunged into the dark here. The level of tension that Ryan Cady, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, and Troy Peteri are creating here is about to explode.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Joe Golem: Occult Detective - Conjurors #2 sees Joe brought back to life by Simon Church, against the objections of Simon’s ghost friends, and sets up the road to what looks like might be a new status quo, bringing forth an old direction. Great art from Peter Bergting and Michelle Madsen. I really quite like the murky appearance of the underwater scenes.

| Published by Dark Horse

Justice League Odyssey #10 gets a new logo while the team continues their search for relics for Darkseid. Also, more intrigue as they still don’t exactly know whether they can trust one another. Dan Abnett, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, FCO Plascencia, and AndWorld Design are telling an interesting story here.

| Published by DC Comics

The Life & Death of Toyo Harada #4 enacts Angela’s plan on the rest of the team with explosive results. It’s interesting to see everything burnt to ash along the way. The flashbacks into Harada’s life this issue are illustrated by Diego Yapur and they’re worth it on their own, but you also get the present day material beautifully rendered by CAFU.

| Published by Valiant

Outer Darkness #7 begins the second arc from John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau. We get a little bit of Rigg’s past, more of the crew’s aggressive behaviour towards one another, and a rescue mission as an 18th century mansion tries to swallow another ship. This is the good, weird stuff.

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Punisher #12 begins Frank’s trek back to New York in the first part of “War on the Streets” from Matthew Rosenberg, Szymon Kudranski, Antonio Fabela, and Cory Petit. Great art from Kudranski and Fabela as Frank fights off a squad of Hydra goons on a remote island.

| Published by Marvel

The Ride: Burning Desire #1 returns for The Ride’s 15th anniversary, with a lead story from Doug Wagner, Daniel Hillyard, Laura Martin, and Ed Dukeshire, and a back-up illustrated by Adam Hughes. Nice set-up picking up on where Vega is now fifteen years later. And more depraved cops.

| Published by Image

Silver Surfer: Black #1 is another leg in Donny Cates’ redefinition of the Marvel Cosmic, joined here by Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart, and Clayton Cowles. This reminds me a bit of the George Perez/Tom Grindberg run from ages ago, with some incredible artwork from Moore and Stewart.

| Published by Marvel

Sonata #1 is a fairly imaginative sci-fi/fantasy debut from David Hine, Brian Haberlin, Geirrod van Dyke, and Francis Takenaga. It introduces us to to races of colonizers in the Ran and the Tayans, bringing conflict with them as they try to carve out new lives on Perdita. Beautiful artwork from Haberlin and van Dyke.

| Published by Image / Shadowline

Star Wars: Vader - Dark Visions #5 closes out this series of takes on different perspectives on Darth Vader with a barkeep suffering hallucinations as he tries to flee from Vader’s wrath, from Dennis Hallum, Geraldo Borges, Marcio Menyz, and Joe Caramagna.

| Published by Marvel

Supergirl #31 is pretty much concurrent with Superman #12, though you should probably read Superman first if you’re reading both of them. There’s no need to read both, though, as it stands well enough on its own. This one presents the reunion of the House of El from Kara’s perspective and then continues on the battle against Gandelo.

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #12 reunites the entire House of El amidst the battle with Rogol Zaar and the fleets trying to kill Jor-El. There’s foreshadowing of more “everything you know is wrong!” about Krypton’s destruction and Superman’s origin, which may or may not rub you the wrong way, but I find it entertaining. Especially with the beautiful artwork from Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair.

| Published by DC Comics

Transformers #7 is part one of “The Cracks Beneath Your Feet”, with Brian Ruckley, Angel Hernandez, Andrew Griffith, Anna Malkova, Joana Lafuente, Josh Burcham, and Tom B. Long picking up again in the present, following up on the second recent murder on Cybertron. It’s fairly morose, as you’d expect, as Bumblebee laments the loss of the new spark, Rubble.

| Published by IDW

Trust Fall #1 is a great debut from the Dead Letters team of Christopher Sebela and Chris Visions, with Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou providing his usual outstanding lettering to round out the team. It’s another crime drama, with the interesting twist of a family member with teleportation powers. Visions’ art is amazing and the hook of the family being set-up to fall right as they’re ready to move on to bigger and better waters is enticing.

| Published by AfterShock

V-Wars: God of Death feels more like a tease than a discrete story. The good news is that you don’t need to have read any of the previous V-Wars stories, as this fills you in on what you need to know, the bad news is that there’s no indication as to anything else coming next. Still, great art from Alex Milne and Brittany Peer.

| Published by IDW

Other Highlights: Accell #21, Age of X-Man: Apocalypse & The X-Tracts #4, Amazing Spider-Man #23, Asgardians of the Galaxy #10, Catwoman #12, Champions #6, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark #6, Event Leviathan #1, Five Years #2, GI Joe: A Real American Hero #263, GLOW #2, The Grave, Grumble #7, Gunning for Hits #6, House of Whispers #10, Invaders #6, Ironheart #7, James Bond: Origin #10, Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #3, Jughead’s Time Police #1, Major X #5, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #5, Morning in America #4, Oblivion Song #16, Orphan Age #3, Penny Nichols, Princeless - Book 8: Princesses #4, Prodigy #6, Red Sonja: Birth of the She-Devil #1, Rick & Morty Presents Mr. Meeseeks #1, She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #3, Spider-Man: Life Story #4, Star Trek: The Q Conflict #5, Superior Spider-Man #7, Symbiote Spider-Man #3, The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #7, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #45, Unnatural #10, Venom #15, War of the Realms: Giant-Man #3, Wonder Twins #5, Wonder Woman #72, Xena: Warrior Princess #3, X-Force #9

Recommended Collections: Avengers: No Road Home, Dark Souls: Age of Fire, Hawkman - Volume 1: Awakening, Hulkverines, Ice Cream Man - Volume 3: Hopscotch Melange, Lollipop Kids - Volume 1, Road of the Dead: Highway to Hell, Moonshadow, Star Trek vs. Transformers, Swamp Monsters, United States vs. Murder Inc. - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy likes pie.

[chaotic-tired-cat]

trick or treat!!!

Happy Halloween, Anon!!!

The closest I have to a Halloween special is a series of snippets I kind of wandered into writing, but they seem pretty fitting! These are from World Walker: Aftershocks, which is really a bunch of scenes made to figure out where the characters are going to end up.

This involves no World Walker or canon bnha spoilers, and is very sparsely edited. DimensionTravel!Izuku hunts ghosts with this background character below the cut, inspired by Buzzfeed Unsolved, YUTS, and Game Changer. Interviewer OCs are named Ran, Myuki, Kaito, and Tatsuya. Cryptid's PR guy is named Dai.

Tw: ghosts and related topics.

Cryptid ducks under the doorway.

Ran visibly falters.

Cryptid's agency did all of the communication with them, supposedly because Cryptid himself is a workaholic who handles emergencies not just here, but also wherever else he disappears to. He also has a tendency to choose interviews near emergencies that unfold in a predictable future for him and a horrible surprise for everyone else, so apparently it's safer for everyone involved if he makes his own patrol schedule for the agency to work around. Dai from PR was lovely to talk to. They have no complaints.

But Dai from PR neglected to mention exactly what Cryptid is like in person. Cameras glitch out occasionally and secondhand accounts grow either poetic or lack detail, so they had no real warning about this. Tatsuya is abruptly aware that the fanart is perhaps more accurate than photos of this hero, which would be funny if he were able to breathe right now.

Cryptid looks horrifying. 

Unseen wind stirs green hair. His dark costume highlights the fact that his shadow pulls an echo of stars up from the floorboards, and the sharp teeth of his smile that forces his mouth open slightly. When he looks at them, a galaxy rests in his eyes.

He steps forward. There is something distinctly unnatural in the way those joints move. 

Ran audibly inhales through her teeth.

The next step is better, then the next. Cryptid's back straightens and his mouth closes into something more human. The stars and eerie presence are packaged away, folded up and tucked into the hero like a coat left at the door. It makes being affected by an unfelt wind and possessing odd-bright eyes feel like any other quirk.

"Hello," Cryptid says kindly, stopping a fair distance away, which is greatly appreciated. He tucks his hands behind his back, posture unthreatening. "Are you Ran?"

"Yeah," she gulps. "Um. Your agency said we should do an interactive interview with you?"

"Dai has been very accommodating," Cryptid agrees serenely. "And the void stops screaming at me when it thinks I'm busy."

"Oh?" Ran asks, voice pitched just a touch higher than normal, but she's too good an interviewer to let that leading statement go. "What do you mean?"

"There's a version of me trying to swallow the sky in another universe, and the void wants me to watch." Cryptid gestures, shoulders now hunched to communicate lack of threat. "But moving around will help convince it that I'm busy, so I really do appreciate you all changing so much of your schedule to make this work."

"It's no problem," Ran says. Ironclad control returns, one of the reasons she was chosen for this activity. "I have a list of pre-interview topics here. Anything else you want to talk about or avoid can be added to the paperwork, and we will be including your agency in the editing process whenever your quirk is discussed."

Tatsuya continues unpacking equipment as Cryptid irons out their details.

They have two guests on the game show today. Both heroes were on their list of candidates, but after hearing Cryptid's situation, an idea was pitched. Adding in Exorcism: the Ghost Hero to this was a stroke of genius. It'll make an amazing special.

Onemu Shinya waits by the car, discussing things with her own interview team of Miyuki and Kaito.

Six people, two of which are heroes. Three, gods help them, are thrill-seekers. Tatsuya was the only person in the office who saw bargaining power for what it was when the crew was short one member. They are paying him a lot to film and make snarky commentary behind the camera. Life is good.

Neither of the heroes know what the schedule holds.

Then again, they probably know it'll be odd. Burnt Honest Tea sits halfway between a game show and news organization due to hiring more actors and comedians than journalists. Everyone here has some kind of past in the entertainment district. The employee-owned business model is a wreck. They do comedy. Humor. A little gossip, when it's lighthearted and everyone involved is fine with it getting aired, but that’s a rare one. Celebrity guests are more likely to get dumped in a room full of puppies than interviewed from an armchair.

They figured out a while ago that since heroes have licenses for public quirk use, they could hire a bunch of weirdos to conduct interviews in the most extreme places possible. This is legally and logistically a nightmare. Crucially, it also sells really well because nobody else is willing to make a whole business around that model.

It takes a while for set-up to finish, and the heroes are brought to the front of the eerie brick building. It likely has been abandoned for longer than anyone here has been alive.

Probably.

Their two guests are odd enough that Tatsuya cant help but suspect otherwise. He suggested the question during one of the meetings and got shot down, though.

The two heroes wait patiently by the door as set up finishes.

Cameras and mics checked, lights on, introductions finished, and ground rules reiterated.

Filming starts.

“So what are we doing?” Exorcist asks, and Tatsuya winces preemptively. She has to suspect they’re going-

"Ghost hunting," Ran says.

Exorcism closes her eyes, and Cryptid nods thoughtfully before sticking his entire arm into a circle of blazing starlight. He pulls out a pair of gloves, and tugs off his own, revealing what looks like tattoos underneath.

Exorcism sighs, eyes still closed. "You can punch ghosts now, can't you?"

"I can punch ghosts," Cryptid agrees sagely as he puts on the new gloves, then holds up a cautious hand. "...Will it launch your soul out of your body if you touch these?"

Exorcism high-fives him.

"Guess not."

Tatsuya just knows today is going to be great.

-

"Hello," Cryptid says to the hallway, exactly as he greeted Ran earlier. It makes the underlying message clearer - don't be scared, I will not harm you, I know I am frightening and promise not to move too fast or speak too loudly. "I don't have any dominion over life and death, but we can speak if you'd like."

"You're very kind," Exorcism tells him with a pat to the back, then stomps past him into the hallway with Kaito and Miyuki on her heels. "Hey, ghosts! If you got a problem, now's the time to speak up!"

Unearthly screeching fills the building.

"Get their ass," Cryptid says, completely straight-faced. A door slams down the hall, and Kaito screams. Cryptid looks more alarmed at the scream than the haunted door.

"Hey, friend!" Exorcism yells in the same instant. "Ooh, you've got vibes. Where's that shirt from? It's cute."

"So," Cryptid says as he turns to Ran and Tatsuya, "shall we?"

"This was such a mistake," Tatsuya says. Ran shoots him a look that disagrees, and he zooms in on it just to be petty.

-

Exorcism considers the door, then turns to the empty space to her left with a raised eyebrow. She's gone a little translucent.

"Sure," she tells the patch of air. Then, "this is your local service announcement; big noise incoming."

"Go for it," Cryptid says distractedly as he pokes at a ratty, bug-infested curtain. It blocks off a corner of secrets Tatsuya has zero interest in. He is, unfortunately, the only person to feel this way. Ran gestures at him. It's a loving one. The kind that implies she will kill him in his sleep if he misses whatever bullshit their local Wikipedia-classified cryptid is about to pull.

It's fine. He's not in charge of filming Exorcism.

That hero is busy counting down her big noise out loud. It's very appreciated. Tatsuya has plenty of time to brace, so the abrupt crash of wooden planks is almost comfortable. He gives it a three-count before glancing back.

Exorcism tosses aside a piece of the door she just kicked in. She turns around to scan them all for injuries, with only a glance into the whole new room of horrors she just uncorked for their miserable little field trip. Then again, she's a hero known to get information from ghosts. This is her home turf.

Tatsuya flinches when Kaito lurches back from the broken doorway, face ashen.

Exorcism pauses.

She leans back, peering inside for a second assessment of whatever she unleashed.

"Hm," she says, fully awake for the very first time. Tatsuya's stomach flips upside-down.

"What's up?" Cryptid asks over from where he's placing a line of ginger candies under the most cursed piece of furniture to ever exist. Tatsuya isn't the faintest bit religious, superstitious, or even faintly curious about these kinds of things, but even he knows that broken chair has some seriously bad vibes. If they set an apple on it, that fruit would definitely rot in seconds. It is extremely unnerving. Ran hovers over Cryptid's shoulder as the hero happily arranges some kind of offering, torn between her own curiosity and nausea.

"This isn't mine to deal with," Exorcism says, brushing a hand over the wall. The shadows under her hand glitch out in real-time and is honestly the weirdest thing Tatsuya has seen in his life.

He holds his camera steady and exchanges a look with Kaito. Miyuki wanders over to serenely hold up what looks to be a Geiger counter. The little box ticks in a slow but uneven little pattern until she presses it to the wall.

The ticking turns slightly chime-like, then stops.

Tatsuya is fairly sure this isn't supposed to happen, but his science knowledge levels out at baking soda and vinegar. Miyuki, who has the kind of brain that saw her through engineering at Waseda until she decided it didn't spark joy, looks personally affronted.

"Ah," Cryptid says, hesitantly approaching. "Yeah, that'd be me. Thanks for catching it."

Tatsuya is very nervous about how Cryptid seems to be using Exorcism as a meat shield against the wall, until he notices that Cryptid isn't actually avoiding the wall at all.

Miyuki, with her massive brainpower, picks up on the source of his nerves as well. It's probably easier for her, since she seems to be the epicenter.

She looks at the dead silent box she is currently pressing into the wall.

The wall shivers hypnotically. 

"Don't," Cryptid murmurs. It's unclear who he's talking to. "I did not make a deal with you to punch ghosts so you could-"

Exorcist swipes the box from Miyuki and tosses it to Cryptid, who yelps, fumbles, and catches it. The freshly returned ticking halts the second he has both hands on it. Instead, there's just one, constant, note.

Like a dial tone.

Cryptid stares at it in betrayal.

"Uh, so-" Ran clears her throat. "Are you doin' alright, buddy?"

"I am feeling very grateful for those NDAs," is all Cryptid says. "Um. Anyway. This is normal?"

He doesn't sound very sure.

"Kid," Exorcism sighs.

"It's completely expected," Cryptid hisses at her desperately.

"I'm drinking buddies with Eraser," Exorcism says, and Cryptid seems to deflate.

"Okay, so it might be normal but I honestly stopped trying to track what my quirk changes about me when I was so much shorter than this." Cryptid sighs, dial-tone box now clutched to his chest. It seems to be making the screaming note almost musical in an unearthly way. The realization of how that noise is shaping into an echo of a heartbeat raises hair on the back of Tatsuya's neck.

"That's messed up," Kaito tells him gently. "Aren't heroes supposed to be really good at using their quirks?"

Cryptid snorts. "That is a very long discussion nobody here except maybe Exorcism would enjoy having. Let's just say my quirk is the ability to skydive through an Old God, but testing limits weakens the barrier between my existence and its control?"

Exorcism pats him on the shoulder, and something like understanding seems to pass between them.

Something breaks in the room behind Tatsuya.

Every single member of their unfortunate little filming party is in this room, along with both their heroes.

"Let's go meet the neighbors," Exorcism decides, and leader her two adrenaline junkies away. It leaves Tatsuya in this room with his local cryptid and bad influence. Ran, despite getting them all into this mess of an interview, jumps slightly when Exorcism yells, "hey, friend!" loud enough to be heard through the wall.

Cryptid seems more interested in the fact that his cursed little offering has disappeared from the chair. Ran huddles after him.

"You are so weird," Tatsuya tells the hero gently.

"Yeah, well." Cryptid shrugs and pats Ran's white knuckles, which are currently clenched in his costume jacket. "Unknowable things aren't bad. Humans fear them, because a problem without definition is a problem that can't be controlled."

The way he says it separates them into two groups - humans, and whatever he is - which inspires the same curiosity Tatsuya feels when looking down from a cliff or skyscraper window. He can appreciate the danger mere inches away. He also wants to toss a paper plane at it.

"That's not how any of this works," Exorcism says through a yawn as she steps back through the broken-down door. The onmyouji pauses, noticing Ran breathing through her adrenaline. "Sorry, are you okay? Yes? Okay, just let us know."

"Maybe this was a bad idea," Cryptid murmurs as he pats the interviewer's shoulder. "We can go-"

"No," Ran interrupts in a wheeze. "I am having the time of my life. Let's keep rolling."

"Adrenaline junkie," Kaito says from the doorway, despite being sheet-white and grinning like a lunatic.

Cryptid and Exorcism exchange a look.

"You'll tell us the moment any of you want out," Cryptid says to the four of them. It's not a request so much as an order. "We're not going any further until I know everyone is completely fine with this."

A chorus or agreement rises, and Exorcism yawns.

"You were saying something," Ran says, once again showing that she's the only one here actually trained to host anything. "About how Cryptid is wrong about the nature of unknown things?"

Exorcism pauses, visibly trying to recall. "I was. Yeah. Basically, we fear what we don't understand for a very good reason."

"Doesn't mean you can't make a home out of it," Cryptid says.

"Are you not human?" Tatsuya asks, because it feels like they skipped over that little comment implying he isn't.

"In the way you're asking? Yeah. I was born human, I register to call-response quirk users, and I am capable of passing DNA tests in the right circumstances. In the way that matters-" Cryptid shrugs. "No. I'm a loophole."

Delightful.

That explains nothing.

"Could you explain what a loophole means in this context?" Ran asks. Miyuki smiles at her in a way that says, I could kiss you for keeping us on topic right now.

-

Blood runs down the wall.

"Huh," Cryptid says, completely unbothered by the many people now clinging to him. "That is one way to decorate. A bit too much red for me, personally, but it would look great in a children's hospital."

"Oh my God," Kaito garbles.

Exorcism muffles a yawn and pats him on the shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Kaito creaks. Cryptid takes their elbows and leads them to a very dusty chair, where he starts talking them through a breathing exercise. It works, and Tatsuya keeps his camera on the very haunted painting everyone seems to be ignoring. 

"It's good that we brought heroes," Miyuki says serenely.

Cryptid pauses as he tries to figure out what to say to that, which gives Exorcism time to be distracted by the blood dripping down a wall from inside the picture frame. Tatsuya turns his camera just in time to catch her place both hands on the wet red wood, lean in, and lick that nasty, dust-clumped, haunted blood. She makes a face at what he guesses is the flavor, then walks right out the door.

Her team follows, hopefully to ask her what in the world she was just thinking. Ran watches them leave from the door. This is great until it leaves him with Cryptid and a bleeding painting.

"Oh, that's funny," Cryptid says under his breath. He claws open a section of thin air through the painting. Tatsuya's camera glitches at the bright-dark void, but Cryptid casually leans out to inspect something on the other side. Plastic crinkles. He tugs something out, stuffs it in his pocket, and pats something that sounds like fabric.

The air to his left starts bleeding.

Just.

The air.

Dripping red.

It falls to the ground since there's nothing for the liquid to cling to, leaving Tatsuya very freaked out by the spontaneous puddle of red on the floor.

"UH," Tatsuya says, then has to shove at Ran before she can poke it.

Cryptid laughs a little, in a quiet way that's oddly reassuring. Nobody laughs like that when they're panicked. "We're very safe. That one wasn't a ghost."

This is not helpful news. Well, it is helpful in that it's good content, but Tatsuya is beginning to wonder if he's really being paid enough to witness this.

"So, what are you doing?" Ran asks. Cryptid clicks his tongue at whatever he's seeing, then moves a bit to the side so Ran can sidle up next to him and also lean out. She turns a little green but bravely stays put.

"Spring cleaning," Cryptid says. "It's really rude to litter in the void, but sometimes this happens anyway. So I'll just-"

He moves as if wiping something outside the portal, and the patch of spontaneous blood dumps a full bucket onto this already haunted floor.

Ran reaches back blindly, and Tatsuya reluctantly takes her place. Cryptid, blessedly, does not notice Ran trying to get Tatsuya and his camera to the portal. He shuts it the second she's out. Tatsuya can't help but feel a little relieved at being spared the burden of witnessing whatever Ran saw.

He likes not knowing, sometimes.

Ran fixes this by turning to him with very wide eyes and saying, "there was, I Kid you not, a wall of fabric, and so many stars. He found blood on the fabric and shoved it in, and it was like it wanted? To go?"

"Do you need to sit down?" Cryptid asks her gently.

"I saw the void, and it had so much shit in it," Ran tells Tatsuya and his camera. Cryptid very gently takes one of the hands she's gesturing with and pats it to catch her attention.

"It is very big," Cryptid agrees serenely. Ran frantically points at the painting, which has stopped dripping.

"Big," she repeats. "Big is small compared to whatever that was."

Tatsuya nervously shifts.

"It is also an ecosystem," Cryptid continues, slow and calm. "What you saw is no different than a forest, or the ocean. It is a perfectly natural part of the way things work, just a part you weren't aware of."

"There was nothing natural about that," Ran hisses.

"Pigeons make milk," Cryptid says, which- what? The unexpected announcement has Ran startling right out of her existential crisis. "There are species of jellyfish so rare they've only been caught on camera once. There's a river in England that looks like a brook from the top, but is so narrow and deep that putting a foot in would suck you right down. Many strange things exist in the world that you have not discovered yet. This does not make them wrong, or bad. It does also not invalidate your experience with them if anyone chooses to believe what you have experienced does not exist. Okay?"

Ran stares at him.

Cryptid meets her eyes steadily. "You are right about what you saw, no matter what people may try to tell you. And you are not alone in your knowledge of it. Everything is working as it should."

Ran keeps staring at him, until Cryptid slowly opens one arm in an offer. He lets the interviewer choose how close she gets, then stands there with an arm draped over Ran's shoulders like it's the most natural thing in the world.

A spider skitters across the ceiling.

"We are going to stand here and breathe for a little bit," Cryptid says easily. He glances at Tatsuya. "How are you holding up?"

"You've seen someone go mad from this," Tatsuya realizes. His mouth puts it into words before he can stop the conclusion from lying dead as a ghost in the stifling air between them.

"Not yet," Cryptid says. He glances at Ran, then up at the dust and cobwebs.

Not yet.

There is subtext in those two words.

Tatsuya finds his heart speeding up.

The reason these interviews are safe and worth doing is that they are conducted with trained rescue specialists. The danger is chosen specifically to be something these heroes can handle in their sleep.

The danger is not supposed to come from the hero-

"Can you smell that?" Cryptid asks, cutting through Tatsuya's gasping panic.

What-

He inhales, finds he's breathing too quickly, and forces his lungs to cooperate. Two deep breaths later, he glares at Cryptid.

"Any iron?" The hero asks. "Deep breaths, long and slow. There you go, just like that. Can you smell iron?"

"You bastard," Tatsuya wheezes.

"I'm very manipulative, yes," Cryptid says serenely.

"No iron," Ran creaks.

"Fake blood," Cryptid says. He shrugs the shoulder Ran hasn't claimed at Tatsuya's disbelief and adds, "someone pranked your show. Not with whatever Onemu is doing - the void loves her too much to interfere in that. But it did allow someone to set up that painting specifically to fuck with me."

What.

"Why did I agree to this?" Tatsuya asks under his breath.

"Because you had a formative experience at thirteen where you realized surrounding yourself with extroverts and people who thrive in odd situations brings you more happiness than any desk job," Cryptid explains. Tatsuya fumbles with his very expensive equipment. "Also, I suspect you're being paid a fair amount, but really it's the same as Kaito. Y'all really should compare wages."

"We're keeping you," Ran decides from where she's pressing her hands into her face.

Cryptid grins at the ceiling, which Ran misses entirely. His smile is too wide, too sharp, and stars bleed from his shadow. "Good luck. I am not made to be contained."

Mundane cheer takes its place by the time Ran shakes her head and steps away.

Tatsuya was holding the camera, though.

-

Izuku waits on the building roof.

"When did you figure out it was me?"

Not needing to turn around to identify the speaker, Izuku just heaves a sigh. The empty bag of fake blood crinkles from his belt pouch. "Nobody else would."

Cloud makes a disgruntled noise.

"And that last thud upstairs was very good, but when you swear into the Null about hitting your elbow on a brick wall, I can hear it."

Cloud frowns.

"I thought you hated ghosts?" Izuku asks, and gets a strange look for the question. As if Cloud hasn't put string ghost traps on top of several versions of the cafe.

"There was nothing supernatural about that place. Guess they were ghosting you."

"Then who was Exorcism talking with?"

"She wasn't talking to-" Cloud loses about two shades of color and backs up a bit. "Right. Cool. I'm gonna- uh. Go cleanse myself in a temple or something-"

"Did you not know?!"

"No," Cloud hisses back, hair bristling slightly like a cat. "I don't mess with ghosts. They get hungry and-" he breaks off, gesturing. "I don't know shit about exorcism, but that is very much not something I want to mess with!"

"I've seen you pickpocket an HPSC president," Izuku says, mildly offended and not sure why.