#&. your wings already exist / all you have to do is fly — fu.

[tragedysworn-archive]

@fistsbled :)

     she hadn’t meant to look through his things:     it just sort of happened,     &     before she knows it,     she’s got her hands on a scarf.     head cocked to the side,     because she’d never seen lee wear it before,     so she takes it upon herself to throw it around her neck     &     make her way to where her friend was training.     ❛     hey,     lee     ——     !     ❜     twirling around as if to show off the scarf,     a grin on her face.     ❛     where’d ya get this from?     ❜ 

[falcor-thee-luck-dragon]

Life Is Strange

Part 4- The Door To Secrets

(Steven Grant x powered (f)reader)

Summary: Your world is coming to a strange new turn when you realize keeping Steven in the dark about you could mean losing him forever. Can you kill the beasts who threaten his very existence and keep him away from the voices in his own head before they ensnare him completely?

Warning: angst, fluff, eyy the wild times continue

Word count: 8685

Masterlist- Life Is Strange masterlist here

You sit on a local park bench alone, hands stuffed inside your jacket pockets, appearing rather broody. The sky is overcast and rain clouds threaten to dampen your already dreary mood as the wind sends your hair into a beautiful mess yet again. You make a face, blowing a piece of hair out of your eyes just as a pigeon lands on your left shoulder from out of nowhere.

You blink, turning your head to face the purple bellied fellow, "Is there a reason for this intrusion?" It shoves its feathery head right into your cheek in a playful manner, "What? Are the little school children bulling you again?"

The pigeon taps your shoulder with its three pronged foot, you raise a brow, "Huh. Well buddy it seems we both need to get our shit together and face our fears. You start first, tell me how it goes." The pigeon chirps in your ear and you jump away, "What the fu...heck." A woman and her two children walk past you, she gives you an odd look as you give her a friendly wave, "Nice day, yeah."

She keeps walking, ignoring you and probably a little weirded out.

You take the pigeon off your shoulder and hold it in front of you with both hands like a burrito, "Yeah? I never say yeah.....anyways, you're making me look like a weirdo. Get out of here you hunky coward."

"I'm not the one making you look like a weirdo." Coos the pigeon.

You give the feathery burrito a gentle shake, "I'm dealing with some things right now give me a damn break! Go ask Tum Tum to poop on one of the kids heads."

"Tum Tum has egglets now."

"What?" You as, surprised.

"You didn't know this? Thought the bird lady would have known already."

"Bird lady?" You retort, "You guys aren't my children."

"Aren't you sworn by Horus to protect all of us?"

You scoff, "Right, like I listen to everything bird Jesus tells me to do." You do, every time he asks.

"Well you should. And I'm going to poop on a child!" Yells the pigeon right before it pecks your hand, causing you to drop it into your lap where it abruptly takes off, "Thank you for the talk!"

You quickly jump to you feet, pointing up at the flying pigeon before belting out, "You're welcome!" You watch as it goes, flapping its small wings as it rises into the sky and out of sight when it flies past a bunch of thick trees with branches heavy with leaves.

"Who were you talking to?" Asks a young boy you can tell has Down Syndrome, he's short and is a little chubby with a raincoat on and boots to match. He looks up at you with quite a palpable fascination, he's never met an adult who talks to birds.

"Just...just myself."

"Not the bird?" He questions, tilting his head up at you curiously.

You let out a breathy laugh, "Might have been the bird too. They can be good company sometimes."

The boy nods like he knows what you mean, "I like to feed them. My mom lets me feed them bread after we get rolls at the bakery. I like the fluffy round ones, they taste the best out of all of the breads." He rambles excitedly.

"Huh, I might have to try them then."

"They're really really good. But I don't like the ones with nuts on them, blah, its gross and feels weird even if my mum says they're good for you. Not for me."

"No?"

He shakes his head, "No."

You smile softly as his mother approaches with a dog on the lead, one that you can tell is a service animal, she gives you a small wave in greeting, "Hi there I'm Thomas' mum, sorry but it seems he's a bit faster then I am when we go to the park. Keeps gettin' away from me." Thomas smiles cheekily as he pets his dog. "Was he botherin' you?"

"Not at all. We were talking about bread and feeding pigeons."

"He loves feeding the pigeons." Thomas nods happily, his mother takes a step to the side, "Well nice meeting you, have a good day."

"You too." You give Thomas a wink, "Feed some pigeons for me." He smiles brightly as you turn to leave. As you're walking down the cement sidewalk in the park can you hear his mother comment on how nice of a young lady you are, then her laughter can be heard along with her telling Thomas they'll have to make a stop at the bakery.

You keep walking onward past more people out for a stroll in the overcast weather as every bird on a branch you pass by watches you go. They can feel the power of your aurora just as all animals with feathers tend to do, from the moment Horus turned you into his champion has this been apart of your life. You can understand birds and they you, and always do they watch out for your passing when you're near.

Soon have you found your way out of the park and en route for Steven's flat, this is the day you're going to tell him everything. No holding back, if you want to protect him, if you want him to trust you again. He needs to know why you've been holding things back from him, he needs to know that you're not lying for the wrong reasons, he needs to know you love him.

Finally you reach his apartment complex and enter through the back door where you don't have to buzz in nor be seen on any security cameras. You walk down the hallways and climb up the stairs until at last do you reach his door, you stand there and pause, you hadn't prepared what you wanted to start with. Nor how to say it, how to explain everything in the least overwhelming way possible.

You take a breath and reach up to knock, though you hesitate a moment, “Just knock, stupid." You mumble to yourself. Your knuckles make contact with the metal door, knock knock knock, three raps and you take a step back to wait for him to answer.

Seconds drawl on far longer then they should, you knock again, three raps to the door before standing back again. Nothing, again. You heart fills with worry, "No, stop it. Calm down he could be sleeping or out for something." You tell yourself, trying to calm your nerves.

Waiting another minute more, you can't take it any longer and pull out a spare key, the small metal object slides into the port hole, you turn it and the lock clicks. You turn the door handle and ever so slowly open the door as gently as you can, you peak inside but by the time the door is full open are you clouded with uncertainty. Steven's not here.

You take another breath and close the door behind you with a click. Your key slips inside your pocket as you enter the flat completely, its been about two and a half days since last you two spoke to one another. He called you on the phone that night after your argument and told you he would call back when he was ready, then almost three days later and nothing, that's never like him.

So now you're here. Your eyes survey the room full of mostly books stacked upon tables, all seems to be in relative order as it always tends to look, messy and clean in its own unique way. You wander on over to his goldfish and bend down to look at him properly, its big dark eyes stare up at you as its mouth moves like it's sucking in through an invisible straw. You sigh, "You know where he went?" The goldfish doesn't say anything.

"Hungry?" No reply. You snatch some fish food off the counter and dump some into the fish tank, the little fish sucks up the pellets as soon as they hit the water. You smile and stand back to watch, "Good fish, too bad I can't talk to you guys. That would help a lot actually. But unfortunately Horus isn't the god of the sea nor aquatic creatures with scales."

You catch the sight of something shiny in the corner of your eye from off to your right, you leave the fish to search for the whatever that's caught your attention. On a desk near a window, under some papers is the edge of a key, if the sun never captured your attention when it did you'd never have seen it. The key is silver and well hidden in the mess of books and papers and other nick nacks alike.

You pull it from the papers its hidden within and the book atop of that, the key looks fresh like it's just recently been crafted, on the side is a number, 43. Your brows furrow as you pocket the key and turn to snoop around Steven's apartment some more, you search through his drawers and then his bookshelf before realizing something.

You've never really looked around his flat, you've been here many times before but that was all for sex or to watch a movie on his laptop, or both. You've never actually taken the time to explore his area with him and see what he has hidden, you pull a book out, its French. He talked about this book at the museum but you never saw it before, you forgot he even had it.

You return the book back to its rightful place and walk over to pass round the fish tank though a piece of wrinkled paper falls to the floor from the wind of your quick movement. You stop and reach down to pick it up, you stand fully, observing the back of the paper that you turn to the front where it reads in someones handwriting...

Thur. 16 - fed fish Fri. 17 - fed fish Sat. 18 - fed fish Wed. 22 - fed fish

Your brows furrow at this, Saturday the eighteenth was the last time you saw him which was three days ago, what was he doing in that time? You bite your bottom lip as your mind wanders around for an answer that comes just as you'd been hoping for though you're not exactly thrilled about it. There's a possibility he might have forgotten, there's also a possibility Steven isn't Steven right now. And that thought you don't like one damn bit.

You bite the inside of your cheek, no that can't be, no way. You take a step backwards and try to steady your breathing, you feel weird all over. Like you've lost something incredibly valuable with no way of finding it ever again. You slap the piece of paper back onto the counter near the fish tank and bolt for the door.

Once in your own flat, relatively much cleaner now, you stand in the middle of your room on the old shaggy carpet with your phone in one hand. You stare down at it with a conflicted expression across your features, you glance at your crocodile plushie, "I just want to make sure he's okay, that's it. Then I'll let him be."

You scroll to his name and press down, you bring the phone to you ear and listen as it rings and rings and rings until his voicemail shows up. "Hello it's Steven Grant, sorry I can't talk to ya right now I'm a bit busy but leave a message and I'll get right back to ya. Cheers." You bring the phone away from your ear, hand falling to your side as you think of what to do.

He always answers, always. Especially when it's you.

You try again, no answer. Then again, no answer. Then a fourth time with the same exact results. You can't help but begin to grow with an anxious frustration, is he done with you for good or can he not get to the phone because of something else entirely? You have a feeling its the ladder, he can't reach the phone because he physically cannot. But where the hell is he?

You open up your phone once more and do a little digging around before you're able to pin point his location, its some storage unit place a couple blocks from where you live. Deeply puzzled by this do you grab your shoes and soon head out the door in search of Steven's actual whereabouts.

It doesn't take you long before you've reached the place and walk through the front door and into the small room, you saunter up to the young man at the front desk eating some Thai as he watches a movie on his phone. You place an elbow upon the desk and clear your throat, he slowly looks up to lock eyes with you.

Immediately does he scramble to set down his bowl of noodles and unplug his two earbuds, "Sorry ma'am, how can I help you?" Says a British accent you can't quite pinpoint from where, as you'd expected.

"I need into a unit."

He pushes his glasses up higher, "Yeah. Alright whot's the name and numba?"

"Spector. 43."

The young man looks surprised, "Oh neat, I didn't know Marc had a girlfriend. Yeah, cool.." You blink, not appearing amused in the slightest, "Right, so go down that hallway and take a right."

"Thanks." You mutter, removing your hand from the counter to begin heading for the other door leading into the storage facility, you stop with the door halfway open, "Hey, was he here recently?"

The man nods, "Yeah, said he needed som-fin for his hikin' trip to some place in Germany I dunno he talked pretty fast kinda like you. But he sounded a little different. Guess it was a boys trip, yeah."

You nod, "A boys trip, right." He watches as you walk out the door, returning to his noodles and movie as soon as you're gone.

You wander down the long hallway between orange storage units until finally reaching unit 43, you stand in front of the looming box of mystery. So Marc is in control just as you've feared, you can't prevent this when he's called by Khonshu. But you can figure out where he goes and why, anything to possibly aid in preventing him from doing this shit again.

You know Marc was only able to front because Steven had become so emotionally distressed by you, and now you pay the price for it. You take the heavy lock in one hand and fish out the key in your other, you press it in the key port and turn, the metal curve pops open. You take out the lock and hook it onto the opened door handle before opening the orange metal door.

You walk inside to a storage unit that looks more like a makeshift bunker then a place where things like old furniture or antiques should be held. In the corner is a cot, opposite to this is a bunch of boxed shelving made for easy transportation and near the side of the cot is a box with a small jaw-string bag on top of it. You walk over to pick this up and feel for what could be inside.

Its light but you can feel a phone, some clothing, and a book inside of it. Taking a seat on the cot, your curiosity takes the better of you and you can't help but open up the contents onto the bed by your side. What falls out is a phone with Egyptian hieroglyphics on the back case cover, a thin white sweatshirt, and a book on Romanian language and slang. You pick up the phone and turn it on.

The screen shows your missed calls with a battery life of 27% in the corner, you almost break the phone in your hand from how helpless you feel. Heart brewing with frustration as you force yourself to relax your tight grasp before you end up cracking his screen or breaking it altogether. You take a steady breath and stuff the phone, shirt, and book back into the small bag, setting it on the box near the cot just as you found it.

You stand and give the place a once over before heading out the door, you lock it up and pocket your key once again. You turn and let yourself make it a couple more feet before you stop, fists balled up until the knuckles turn white and the bones of your metacarpals protrude underneath the layer of skin. You wanted to destroy that room to ruin and send a blast of furious wind throughout the entire facility.

Instead, you kept walking, said good day to the worker, and left without another word.

Now three days later do you sit in the same park you began this journey in, completely alone this time, no little boy to distract you nor any pigeons to tell you their troubles. Completely alone. Just you, the wind, and the sky above. A sky with thick puffy clouds and a sun stretching high into the sky, you close your eyes and lean your head back into the hard wooden back of the bench.

You haven't seen Steven in six damn days and have been the most irritated and anxious mess of a person you've ever been. And there's not a fucking thing you can do about it, you couldn't find a trace of him anywhere. Not snooping around his flat again, not at his work, and not in the storage unit you couldn't help but go back to in case you missed something the first time. You didn't.

Suddenly your phone buzzes rapidly within your pocket, you sigh and slowly reach in to grab it, bringing it lazily up to your ear without even glancing to see who it is. There's a short list of people it could be and right now you don't care enough to look, you instinctively hit the green answer button, "Hello." You deadpan, sounding less then trilled to be taking this call.

"Y/N!" You bolt upright in your seat the second his voice hits your ears.

"Steven?" You urge, incredibly relieved to hear his adorably sweet accent again.

He lets out a breath on the other end, sounding just as relieved as you are, "Oh dears I'm so glad you answered, I think I've been through it now love..."

"What happened?" Did Marc somehow talk to him?

Steven lets out a nervous laugh, "Well, I really dunno Y/N. One moment I'm in bed ready to sleep and I wake up, go to work and Donna's tellin' me I've missed the past five days at the museum. I think I'm loosing it, love. I haven't been this bad in a long time, I'm so tired, I feel like I've climbed a bloody mountain and right back down again. I dunno what's going on, could you...could you come over?"

You take a steady breath, "I thought you didn't want to see me."

The other end goes quiet for a long moment, you bite your bottom lip really wishing you hadn't just said that, it wasn't spoken harshly at all. Quite solemnly in all truth, but Steven's back from his adventure with Marc he never knew he was even on and you threw another bout of added stress. Stupid. You open your mouth to say something when he cuts you off.

"That....no....uh, you don't have to tell me what you don't want to okay. I shouldn't have accused you of..."

"No Steven it's fine. I owe you some truth and we both know it so don't worry about it alright, I'll be there soon." You add, pausing a moment, "Laters gators."

He smiles wearily on the other end, "Laters gators."

----

You've never walked anywhere so fast in your entire life, if anyone saw you at the park they'd probably have seen a woman jogging in boots and a jacket faster then the average park runner. You swiftly navigated through the streets until at last did you make it to his apartment building, slipping through the doors one of the residents was just about to close. Then right up the stairs and down the hall to his door.

Where you stand right now as nervous as a teen on a date for the first time, though these butterflies in your stomach are for something far different then meeting a cute guy you're really into. You're terrified to tell him the full truth of who you are, scared he'll be afraid of you, even more terrified he'll lose enough control that Marc or even fucking Khonshu may make an unexpected appearance.

You gather your courage and shove down your nerves to knock at the door, when you attempt to knock a second rap does the door swing open. Steven greets you with dark fearful eyes, he looks lost and out of it, and rather quite tired if you're being honest. However he cannot help but give you a small meek little grin when he sees you standing there as his rock and honest savior.

"Come in please." Urges Steven as you walk into the room without delay, he closes the door and locks it from behind you while you turn around to face him. He turns from the door to face you, the two of you look to one another like a pair of shy teenagers as you begin to feel a bit awkward until he rushes forward to envelope you into a tight hug.

His arms just about crush you while he buries his head into the crook of your neck, you immediately relax into him, wrapping your arms around your frightened lover like its the last time you may ever meet again. He feels good, warm as the summer sun and solid as a great stone though Steven hugging you is much more then a stone could ever give.

The two of you hold this embrace for a long time, just feeling one another so close after days apart. You can tell he's deeply troubled about something, this something you have a pretty solid clue as to what it could be, you know him far more then he truly understands. After another minute without a word spoken do you turn your head to press your cheek to his, "What's wrong Steven?" You gently ask.

He gives your body a last squeeze before pulling away though his hands still hold your forearms, he frowns, "I wish I knew love, I really do. And uh, guess that's my problem huh." He laughs nervously, "I think I'm missin' some days and before you say anythin' I know that sounds bonkers but it's true."

"Why do you think that?"

Steven purses his lips together, "I saw you called my phone but the days seemed all wrong, I know I wouldn't have waited that long to answer you. And I'm really tired and I missed my work and I dunno what's happenin' to me love I just feel really really weird again like before I met you and I could sleep a good night." He rambles as you listen intently, "I dunno what's wrong with me....I don't, I don't know what's happenin' again."

You give him a soft look, "What do you remember before you woke up this morning?"

He thinks for a short moment, "I remember uh...I remember you and me after the tea shop." He looks sad, "I said some mean things to you, I know I did. I was bein' a real twat about it too and I'm sorry for that."

You shake your head, "It's done with." You gift him a gentle smile, "What else do you remember?"

"Uh...comin' here, I went to sleep and I was really having the weirdest dreams ever in my life. I was in this place with these people but I couldn't understand them, I think one was yelling at me but I dunno things get blurry. Then I wake up here and I've missed your messages and it's not the next day its another day Y/N. It's a whole six other days away and I've missed work and everythin' and I don't bloody know what to think." oh, Steven.

"That's it? Nothing else?"

He sighs heavily, dark eyes staring deeply into yours, "That's it. Honest."

"Alright, good." You bring your hand up to cup his cheek, beyond glad to have him with you once again, "Are you hungry?"

"A little." He leans into your touch, "I don't wanna go anywhere though."

"We don't have to. I'll order us something alright, whatever you want and we can watch a movie while we're at it, sound good?"

Steven smiles, "Yeah, sounds good."

You had chosen then to hold onto the truth for a little longer, you couldn't just rip off a freshly given band-aid to someone who really needs it. And Steven really needs it, you let him lay in bed as you ordered his favorite, then you snatched his laptop from the table and fell into bed with him. He found a movie you had to laugh at when he chose it, Night at the Museum, he thought it was funny too.

In fact, he chose it just to make you laugh. He'd felt bad about how the tea shop date had ended, how he spoke to you and everything. He was accusatory and put you on the spot, and after that when he was alone in his bed with the ankle brace on and you not with him. He'd realized your personal business was yours and your own to keep until you chose otherwise to speak of it.

But he felt too terrible to call you and talk after he called the first time to tell you he'd speak when he was ready, he was assuming you'd be too angry with him to want to talk again. So he went to sleep and had the strangest dreams before waking up more tired then he started, with a body that felt like lead, muscles sore and weary. Then he looked at his phone and things never felt more off, he even went to work only to be told it was his day off and he'd missed the past few days altogether.

They luckily pitied his confusion, blaming it all on his sleep walking and that was that, he went home. He quickly remembered what you two talked about last and feeling completely overwhelmed by his lapse in memory did he call you. Hoping to God you'd answer him and agree to come see him, maybe help him understand what's been happening too.

And though he wanted you to tell him what was wrong with him, he knew you hadn't had a clue either. And when you offered him food and a cuddle movie session as the cherry on top, well how could he push you and ask if you'd finally tell him more about yourself? So he didn't, he ate and held you close until the movie ended.

Then he kissed you and the two of you fell asleep and that was that. ——

You suck in a deep breath, rousing away from your heavy slumber as the bed moves with the weight of Steven slipping away from you. You open your eyes to watch as he walks into the bathroom to begin his morning routine. You close your eyes for what seems a couple of seconds. But when you're opening them again he's seated on a chair near the table trying to put his other shoe on.

He ties it and stands, you blink lazily as he walks over to you, he steps over the sand ring before leaning into the mattress. He places a gentle hand upon your hair before leaning down to press a kiss to your temple. You reach up to place your hand over his and he smiles down fondly at your sleepy form.

"I gotta go to work love, I'll see you later." Whispers Steven as he kisses the back of your hand before placing another kiss upon your cheek. He chuckles to himself when you start to smile even with your eyes closed.

You slowly slide your hand off of his, letting it lay upon the softness of the bed sheets, "Laters gators." You softly mumble, somewhere halfway between dreamland and the land of the living.

Steven kisses your cheek one last time, "Laters gators."

You feel his presence retract away from you and the mattress of the bed bounce back into its original form with his weight gone. And through your tiredness do you still yearn to have him with you, a hand over your torso, his body pressed impossibly close to yours. His cheek pressing against your forehead as his soft breaths fan across your face.

You love waking up to that more then anything else in the entire world, there's truly nothing better. But his damn job keeps him from these blissful mornings with you more often then not, you only hope that after today he still wants to see you again. After you finally tell him about everything, holding nothing back. But first you're going to let him work, then you'll visit him at closing hours and take him to get something to eat.

Then after all that do you plan on telling him about the thing with Horus and you being his champion and whatnot. He'll probably still like you, right?

Right? ——

A man and his dog just narrowly run into you on the street when you cross with the small crowd of women heading off to start their night for some bachelorette party. You slip past them and keep heading forward for the sight of the museum in your nearing proximity. The day is turning to dusk and all you can say that you've done is feed Steven's goldfish and take a walk in the park to pass the time while he's gone.

But something inside you hasn't let you rest since the moment you stepped outside into the mid-morning air, it was almost as though you walked into a whiff of wet dog scent. A gnarly smell that just about caused your eyes to water, you had checked all around the area and even the whole entire block. But in the end of your search there was nothing to give for it, the scent was gone.

You'd been suspicious of mischievous activity ever since, the smell was still a mystery to you as you headed down the street, mulling it over with yourself. You couldn't tell what had given you that prominent smell, it wasn't a jackal and it certainly wasn't a vampire, but it also didn't smell like a being of the Underworld either. Creatures of the Underworld always smell vaguely of sulfur and rotten eggs, and vampires for that matter smell of a strange mix of flowers too sweet to smell nice.

But still, you knew this smell was something you've encountered before, however it must have been a long long time ago. Because whatever odd odor that caught your scent this morning, whatever it was, whoever it was, you've met their kind before. Well, at least you think you have, maybe....you're still not so sure.

You jog up the stone steps and past the pillars before passing through the glass doors and into the museum you go, security gives you a surprised look as you walk past. Its been a short while since you've been here after all, you notice Donna at the gift shop and slip behind an Egyptian statue right before she's able to see you. You slyly walk around behind the gift shop as you trek onward in search of Steven.

You catch a glimpse of him walking past a large wall with Egyptian relics propped up on small stands encased behind glass, the part of the room here is shadowed to allow the exhibits to shine brighter in their small piece of light. He heads for the door at the far end, the one leading into the employees only area as you take notice of the ceramic pot in his arms. The mystery of how they let him hold let alone transport such a thing brings a smile to your face.

As you gain closer to him can you hear him muttering to himself "don't drop it Stevie, don't drop it, just keep walking concentrate concentrate" and you force yourself to hold in your laughter. However, you're a trickster at heart after all and slyly wander up to him from behind, when he's just about made it to the door do you tap him on the shoulder.

Steven jumps as he whips around to face his gentle assailant, though his hands shake and open when he does this causing the beautiful Egyptian pot to fly out of his hands and take a quick dive for the tiled flooring. He yelps for the pot and in fright, already seeing FIRED in his near future, shutting his eyes tight as he embraces for the sounds of shattering ceramic pot upon hard museum tile. He never hears a thing but your stifled laughter.

Ever so carefully does he open one eye and then the other, there you are, a smile upon your radiant face and the Egyptian pot in your one hand. Balanced so perfectly like you've done this a thousand times before, Steven lets out a sigh of relief, "Y/N you blessed woman." He breaths out, "Oh my dears I thought I was nearly about to be fired."

"It would have been my fault if you were."

He snorts, waving you off, "Eh. So, whot you doin' here love?"

"Well your shift is almost done and I did promise you something to eat afterwards, and I might just really like looking at your face. So yunno, there's that too." Steven breaks out into a beaming grin at your words.

"I got ten more minutes. Wait for me by the pillar?"

You hold out the pot for him to take, "Ten minutes. Anything can happen in ten minutes." You add with a wiggle of your brows.

He takes the pot from you, holding it tight with both arms wrapped around it like a child with his favorite stuffed animal, "I'm not gonna drop it yeah?" You tilt you head at him and he gives you a playfully offended look, "I'm not. See, all held nice and tight and safe okay? We're gonna make it to storage in one piece."

"Or a couple hundred."

He sends you a comical glare, "Y/N." Warns Steven.

You hold up your hands and take a step backwards, "Alright, alright. If you say so, see you outside butterfingers." You turn on your heal and start swiftly walking away from him.

"Hey!" Shouts Steven in protest as he watches you fast walk away, "I'll get you for that one love!"

You look at him from over your shoulder, "With what? A pool noodle, you'd drop it before you even had a chance." Steven smiles, snickering to himself as you send him a wink, turning to find your way out of the cavernous room and into the main room of the museum. And he thinks then to himself, how'd he get so lucky? What a true marvel you are, no matter how mysterious.

You lean against the stone pillar out front as the sky turns from day to night, the clouds are coated in the last bits of oranges and pinks while a great moon takes its place in the sky of stars and vast darkness. The night is cool but comfortable as you wait for Steven to find his freedom from within the confinements of that old museum of stolen artifacts.

After about fifteen minutes does he finally walk out and make a beeline directly for you, you push off the pillar and walk over to meet him. He smiles brightly and pulls you in for a brief hug, "Sorry I had you waitin' so long, it was Donna again."

You take his arm and begin to walk towards the steps, "No worries, but remember I could do something about that if you wanted. Make it look like an accident."

"No, no, none of that. Can't have you goin' to jail, I fear I'd never sleep well again." Worries Steven as the two of you walk down the steps, making it to the sidewalk and turning right, "My time after work is something I look forward too you know? Cause well..." His cheeks dust a light shade of pink in the glow of a streetlamp overhead, "...I have you."

You give his hand a light squeeze, "And I have you. Even if you are clumsy at times."

"I'm not clumsy." He protests before giving you a questioning look, "Am I?"

"A little." You make an almost pinching motion with your free hand, "A tiny bit." He waves you off as you laugh, "So what stolen item were you moving around this time?"

"Oh here we go again with the stolen museum artifacts, they're not technically stolen Y/N."

You hold up a finger, "Uh, if you have to say technically, you've already got a problem. And yes Steven, they are stolen, every single thing in that museum shouldn't you know....be there." You reason, just egging him on for good fun.

"True, true. But then no one would be able to see it and what about the people who found the stuff?"

"You mean the thieves and grave robbers?"

He shakes his head at you, "I hear your point, I really do. I get it. But as an employee of that museum we were just in, yunno where I work, I don't think they'd like me agreeing with you love."

"But you do agree with me?" You tilt your head at him, "Right?"

Steven rolls his dark eyes before looking at you, "Yeah." He whispers, looking around as though Donna could possibly hear him, "Yeah....so, where we goin' tonight?"

"Somewhere."

"Somewhere? Where is this somewhere?"

"A place near a place near another place in a big place."

Steven looks at you curiously, "Very descriptive."

"I never miss the details."

"No.." Grins Steven as he glances from your lips to your eyes again, "..no you don't."

Your walk under the stars had been a pleasant one that lead you to a small restaurant a short ways away from the museum. You two sat inside for a long time and talked about all the places Steven had ever wanted to visit, all the animals he'd ever seen, all the cool objects from the museum that have been his favorite.

Within his explanations had you felt that weird feeling in your heart again that you felt a week ago when you two had your argument. He was talking, telling you stories of his life and what he liked and dreamed of seeing and doing and here you were. Sitting, listening to him speak without saying anything about yourself once. Keeping it all in, all your history and memories from the most terrible things you've seen or done to the bravest and beyond that.

Your heart sours and seeps its poison of the cowardly, you can't tell him here, you can't bring his world to a crashing halt and make him think you're truly mad as a hatter. Steven is your sunshine on a stormy day, a voice in the darkness to make you laugh and find the light, he's sweet and gentle and kind. You don't want to hurt him, but you also don't want Marc or Khonshu to end up getting him killed either.

Steven tells you about his favorite bird as he wolfs down something vegetarian and you try to listen, but your mind is wandering a thousand miles away from you. You nod and smile but all you can see is Steven with his handsome face and adorable little grin that causes the corners of his eyes to crinkle when he's truly happy. All because he's talking to you, his favorite person in the entire world besides his mum.

His mother who does not exist to him in reality.

That you'd figured out pretty quickly after Horus sent you to protect Steven, you'd snooped around and realized his alter must have been leaving him cards in his mother's name. And that did make you sad, but also surprised with Marc. You blink, your vision clears, focusing onto Steven as he talks and eats. You pray he doesn't notice your absentmindedness, how distracted you feel hopefully doesn't present itself physically on your face.

Luckily for you, Steven looks engaged enough with his own story and what he's fixed on eating to notice anything else for the most part. But just then your eyes meet, "And like I told the bloke what it meant and he was quite impressed about it, really. I never thought such a burly man would be so into flamingos it was the wildest thing." He takes a last bite of his sandwich, "Yeah, it was a time I'll tell yah, should've been there Y/N you'd have gone nuts."

"Nuts?" You add with a humored tilt of your brow, not sure what the hell he's going on about now.

"Nuts, yeah. All the flamingos, and you like birds so, you'd have loved the zoo I went too." The zoo, oh right the zoo. You have no idea how he started talking about the zoo nor when.

You pretend to look as though you know exactly what he's been talking about for the past twenty minutes, "Ah yeah, right, right. I do love birds but its been years since I've been to a zoo. I don't think I've been to one since I was a kid actually, so damn, yeah it's been awhile."

"Well guess I'm just gonna have'ta take ya." States Steven as he wipes his mouth off with a napkin, "I know one 'round here, when I'm free and we catch a nicer day we'll go."

You give him a small smile, "Sounds like a plan."

He smiles back as the waitress comes to your table asking if you're all done and want the check, you tell her yes and she sets it onto the table of your booth. She takes Steven and yours empty plates before leaving you to it, "I got it this time." You start just as he reaches in his pocket for his wallet.

Steven freezes, "Really?"

You hold up a crisp forty, "On me tonight." This cash is in part from a wallet you snatched off a dead vampire before he turned to dust in the moonlight. Of course you'd never tell Steven that, at least not right now.

Steven removes his hand from his pocket and sits back in his seat, "Alright, cool. But it's on me next, I'll take us somewhere real real nice."

You hand the waitress the forty, attention back to him as she leaves to make change, "You tryna one up me?"

He shrugs, trying to play off a casual demeanor, "Might be."

You laugh, crossing your arms over your chest as you lean back into your seat, "You sure you want to start this game? I can take it pretty far if you want."

"How far?" He raises an intrigued brow.

"I'll take you to the moon and back if you'd like."

The corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiles, "Me first."

"Deal."

The waitress says her good-nights as you walk out the door Steven holds open for you on the other side, you say goodnight and slip through the entrance and out into the glow of the milky moonlight. The door closes and Steven finds his hand intertwined with yours as you two begin walking down the long sidewalk, "Nice night for once." He adds, looking up at the stars and a full moon above.

You give the sky a glance before your sights are set to the world in front of you, "It is. Better if all these damn lampposts would turn off, then, then you could really see the sky."

"More stars yeah?"

"Like the darkness is spotted in diamonds. A night like this one, you'd be able to see the ground without a light."

Steven glances up at the moon, "Interestin' huh? Don't think I've ever been outside on a full moon without a light, like from my phone or a street lamp."

You give his hand a light squeeze, "I have a feeling you'll know what I mean someday." His lips curl into a small smile when his focus returns back down to you.

Then you feel it, that sinking feeling in your chest right before something terrible is about to happen. Your grip on his hand grows tighter and your eyes flicker from right to left on the vacant sidewalk leading down a side street. The scent of something awful wafts into your nostrils as your heartbeat picks up.

Steven makes a face as he look at you, "Oh bloody hell, you smell that Y/N? It's like wet dog out here, who'd be giving their mutt a damn bath right now?" He chuckles, "It's almost the middle of the night."

You take notice of the river through a thin alley between buildings that you quickly pass. The next lamppost is nearing and you're starting to feel deeply on edge, you know something isn't right. Not right at all. Then you hear it, a low deep gravely growl omitting it's warning from within the darkness. You turn your head to the right and look up to see nothing on the roof.

Steven's brows furrow as he looks at you, "What was that about?" Guess he didn't hear it.

You narrow your eyes at the vacant roof, "Just thought I saw something." You mutter, pulling him faster across the pavement, past closed business' and a dead street lamp.

"See what? It's dark out."

"Uh...a bird."

"A bird?" Repeats Steven, giving you a questionable glance, "You thought you saw a bird?"

"Yeah." You pass under the glowing lamppost and keep the two of you swiftly walking towards the next main road where there should be enough people to keep this new problem away. "Just a bird."

Steven shakes his head at you, "Y/N, I don't think..." He suddenly stops and you almost lose your footing at the abrupt halt, "Y/N." Says Steven more seriously this time, the lighthearted tone gone.

Shit.

You look at him like you have not a clue what he might be on about, "Yeah what's up?" Smooth Y/N, smooth.

"You're acting strange again."

Your brows furrow in puzzlement, "What do you mean I'm acting....strange?"

"Well..." He sighs, thinking of where to start, "...I didn't wanna bring it up at dinner or anythin' but you looked sort of...out of it."

"How....how so?" You slowly ask.

Steven purses his lips together, "Well I was talkin' and you looked sort of...kinda of looked lost. Like you were there but not really."

"oh." Not as smooth as you think you are, you're in for it now dumbass.

"And now you're seeing non existent birds at night and acting all suspicious."

You'd have laughed if not for the current circumstance, instead you slowly nod, "Right, right....sorry about that." You halfheartedly mutter.

Steven shakes his head at you, clearly not believing it, "Y/N whot's goin' on? Really? I know I've let it slide and I did say some mean things the other day and I shouldn't have but I was frustrated and now I'm frustrated again. And I just need you to tell me why I shouldn't be feeling like this, I don't think you're doin' anythin' with anyone. It's just I don't know...I don't know whot to think about you sometimes!"

He removes his hand from yours to stuff them in his pockets out of irritation and childish protest. You don't blame him. But it does hurt you, and you can't help but frown, "Steven...it's....this is complicated. Can we just get out of here first?" You urge, taking a step away though you stop when he doesn't show any indication of following.

"Whot? No." His vexation with you falters only slightly until he gets a heated look upon his face showing real annoyance, "I'd like some solid answers right now. Are you....are you some sort of secret agent?"

You blink back bewilderment, "Uh what?"

"That's right, you some secret agent or somthin' sent here to infiltrate the museum?" He accuses, though a bit unsure of himself, "Is that why you're always lingerin' around and talkin' about things that are stolen?"

Again you could have laughed, instead your brows furrow as you look at him, "Steven that was a joke."

"Yeah?" He says, raising his brows expectantly.

You sigh, "And no, I'm not a secret agent. Where the hell did you get that from anyways?"

"Well because...because you never tell me about your family or where you're from, you never really talk about yourself. I've never been to your flat either so I just thought, maybe you were like a secret agent or som'fin." He mutters, still eyeing you up suspiciously though he looks a little embarrassed about it at the same time.

"No. No this is something different."

"How different?"

You rest your hands upon your hips, "The kind of different where you might think I'm mad after I tell you."

He glances from the ground to you, "I wouldn't....I'd never think you mad."

Suddenly a screaming howl erupts from the top of a roof to Steven's back left, the damn bastard must have moved when you were talking to Steven. Now it's between you two and the main street-way with people, cabs, and double-decker buses. Fuck. You grab onto Steven's shoulder as he looks at you, frightened, "Whot's that?" He quickly whispers, turning his head towards the recent noise, eyes darting all over that direction though he can't quite see it.

You glare at the beast staring down at you from the nearby roof with two glimmering eyes, "You don't wanna know."

"No I really do."

You grab his shoulder tight and he's forced to look at you, "Steven, you really don't."

"I do!" He weakly snaps, "You betta' tell me right now or so help me Y/N."

Your eyes return to the roof that refrain from leaving the looming figure hunched on upon it, it's whole body silhouetted, "Fine. Fine!" You lock eyes with Steven, "Don't freak out. Promise?"

He nods, "Promise."

You grab him by both his shoulders, getting right in his face, "You better not fucking freak out." You halfheartedly seethe through clenched teeth, nerves spiking with the crowing tension of the situation. Steven shakes his head, afraid of whatever the hell is on the roof and a little at how sharp you've just gotten all of a sudden.

He's never seen your face with such an intensive expression over it, "I'm not gonna freak out." He whispers, shaking his head again, trying to look as convincing as possible.

"You look like you're about to."

"I'm not!" He says way too loudly which causes you to send him a glare, "I'm not." Squeaks Steven, quieter this time.

"You can't run when I tell you what it is."

He rolls his eyes, "I'm not gunna run."

"If you run you die."

His brows furrow, eyes going wide in surprise, "Then why'd I run? I dunno about you but that does not sound like a good option."

"Because I know you Steven."

Steven opens his mouth to protest but knows better then to fight that logic when you've been able to scare him so many times. Instead he gives you an agreeable nod, "Fine. Would you just tell me what it is so I kno...." He trails off when the creature jumps down from its post on the roof, landing in the shadow of a small tree, one that the street lamps can't reach through the thick leaves.

His breath catches in his throat as two eyes of pale silver shine in the darkness, a shadow of a tall hairy man with pointy cat-like ears lets him know whatever this monster is. It's not a natural nor friendly one; it stands on two legs with arms much too long for its body, and the legs that it has just don't bend right. Steven's hand immediately clamps tightly around your wrist.

"Whot the fuck is that?" He whisper yells, looking at you desperately.

Eyes set hard to the creature in shadow, you don't look at him when you say, "Who the fuck is that." You correct.

Steven's breathing increases as he glances from the glowing eyed whatever to you again, "Which is?"

"A werewolf."

-

Hello all my Steven Grant lovers! Thank you all for reading and following my wild story I’m taking you all on with me, I hope at least most of you are enjoying it. Since we have no more episodes of Moon Knight to look forward to till whenever we see him again, this is something to suffice lol

-

Tagged: @halerune @idkjj04 @my-tearsdryontheirown @bekkarific  @lvonhart @nicepeony @jay-alison @ahookedheroespureheart @saturdaynightzemo​ @brujaporfavor​

[nanoland]

new chapter (lucifer fic)

(Also on AO3.)

Ponder on the Narrow House, part 5 

Mazikeen/Eve/Michael 

Warning: Smut, fucking finally.   

0  

What was he doing here?

“We are fifteen miles over the speed limit!”

Mazikeen cackled and drove faster. In the seat beside her, Eve punched the air and turned up the radio until Michael thought Rihanna’s voice would burst even his divine eardrums. (Contrary to his brother’s accusations, he did, in fact, enjoy some types of music. Just not when it was loud or fast-paced.)

“May I remind you of a crucial fact?” he demanded, having to shout to be heard. “It’s not me who’ll die if this thing flips! Angel, remember? You two are the ones who’ll be splattered all over the road! Hello? Is anybody listening to me?”

“I’m a fine-tuned supersonic speed machine,” Mazikeen sang. 

The desert outside the cherry-red convertible they’d stolen in Las Vegas was a sickening blur and he hated it. Not that he’d never travelled this fast – though he was slower than just about all his siblings in the air, he could still outpace a jet. But flying under his own power couldn’t be compared to being trapped in this hideous human death trap under the command of a demon and a madwoman.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, this time to himself, gripping his seatbelt with both hands like it was the neck of an angry serpent. “Whatever happens. Even if we crash. They’ll die. I’ll be fine.”

“Hey!” called Eve, turning to look at him, squinting. “Are you really not having fun? Maze! Slow down! He’s not having fun.”

Mazikeen groaned but brought them back to a less terrifying percentage of light speed, while Eve undid her seatbelt and climbed into the back with Michael.

He sputtered. “Jesus H. Christ – you’re not supposed to do that while the vehicle is moving. Rules exist for a reason, goddammit.”

“I’m sorry we freaked you out,” Eve told him, with… confusing sincerity.

None of his siblings had ever apologised for frightening him, Lucifer least of all (“Aww – don’t be so nervous, brother!” and a golden laugh from the brave, adventurous Morningstar after he’d enticed Michael to fly with him into a hurricane for fun and the noise and sight of it had made his twin cry).

When Michael was young, he’d assumed that was because apologies were for lesser beings, like mortals – except that when he’d discovered his latent talent for underhanded pranks, his siblings had all turned around and demanded apologies from him. The pranks had become progressively mean-spirited after that.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop – for the punchline – he said, carefully, “It’s fine.”

The wind had blown Eve’s hair all over the place. As she brushed it out of her eyes, he was reminded that today she’d chosen to wear one of her thin white summer dresses, this one low-cut enough to make it clear that that was all she was wearing.

Now mischievous, she winked at him. “But you know… if I made a habit of following those rules you like so much, I’d still be married and bored out of my mind. Wanna kiss?”

He nearly jumped out of the car.

“Uh,” he croaked.

His gaze flickered past Eve’s inquisitive face to the back of Mazikeen’s head. How long did he have? How many milliseconds left before she turned around and tore out his throat in a fit of frenzied jealousy?

“Hell, yeah!” Mazikeen cheered, throwing up the horns. “One of you take a picture for me. Or, better yet, move over so I can see you in the rear view mirror.”

Eve’s chin tilted downwards as she examined Michael. “I dunno. Doesn’t seem like he’s into it. Er – yikes. Actually, I think he’s gonna throw up. Might wanna pull over, babe.”

“I’m not going to throw up! I just need… just need air. Could you sit back for a moment?” he hissed.

She did so and he got his breathing under control. Crap, his shoulder hurt so much today.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, fidgeting. “I didn’t mean to-…”

“Is this because of him?” Michael snarled, suddenly furious.

“What?”

“Him! Lucifer! He dumped you, yeah? And now you’re – what, trying to get back at him by hitting on me? Or is it just because I look like him so I’m the best substitute you can get, or-…”

She slapped him.

It hurt.

(It really did. What? Since when did getting hit by mortals hurt?)

Mazikeen whistled approvingly.

“No,” said Eve, half-growling. “I’m not like that. I don’t use people like that, Michael.”

He touched the part of his face where her skin had met his. It felt hot. Tingly. He swallowed. “Um – right. Got it.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

The anger in her eyes subsided. “Good. Now, would you like to kiss me or not? It’s fine if you don’t want to. You’ll still be part of the team. This is just for fun.”

Feeling oafish and off-kilter, he gestured at Mazikeen. “Won’t she mind?”

“Nope!” Mazikeen volunteered without hesitation.

Eve, exasperated, huffed, “I already asked her if she’d mind. Do you really think I’d put the offer on the table if I hadn’t? Whatever they say about me in the Silver City, I’m neither frivolous nor disloyal. I didn’t go behind Adam’s back when I fell in love with your brother; I told him to his face what I was doing.”

“Oh. Didn’t know that.”

“Because he didn’t tell anyone. He didn’t care. Adam was a decent man who didn’t love me at all. But Maze does, and I love her, and we’ve decided this is something we’re both okay with.”

“Yeah, most demons are poly,” Mazikeen told him. “As long as everyone’s on board and on the same page, you can hook up with whoever you like.”

“Last chance: kiss or no kiss?” said Eve.

She was close enough now for him to smell her perfume. His chest felt tight. “I don’t like ultimatums.”

“Okay. How about wagers? I bet you anything I’m the best kisser you’ve ever met. Or requests? Please, please kiss me, Michael. Or-…”

She was so warm. Her breath flowing into his mouth felt like drinking hot chocolate on a Winter’s night, sugary heat poured down his throat and filling up his whole chest.

His bones seemed to melt. He slid down the seat, half-pushed, until he lay almost flat with her on top of him, cradling his face in her hands, her thumbs making slow, comforting circles on his jaw.

“Ghnnff-fu-fuck,” he slurred.

That he was hard, and had been hard ever since he’d noticed how low-cut her dress was, seemed almost irrelevant in the face of far more interesting observations, like the soft grunts she made or the way her breasts felt pressed tight against him, until she slid a thigh between his legs.

He cried out. Arched.

“There you go,” she purred against his neck.

Elegant and effortless, she took off her shoes and her panties, and slid down onto his cock with a soft, fluttering sigh. Grabbed his hand and raised it to cover one of her nipples.

Just before he came, he opened his eyes and gazed up, and the sun had moved behind her, draining all but her edges of definition, and the wind had picked up her hair again and sent it billowing up and out, like dark wings. Like his wings.

“Michael! Ah!”

The car stopped.

“Huh,” said Mazikeen. “There’s something you don’t see every day.”

She pointed. Panting, they both followed her finger.

Across the sky, from one horizon to the next, the clouds had arranged themselves into the words

 I LOVE YOU DETECTIVE !!!!

-LM

 “Oh, crud,” said Eve.  

[bluepenguinstories]

Happiness Overload Chapter Fifty-Six

Coriander Rule #56: Never trust someone who sits on top of a pile of popsicle sticks and obsesses over art, for such people will surely monologue.

Exhibit A, and the only exhibit to date: this Dr. Popsicle Stick Lady. Or whichever of her doctor names she gave herself. Who gives a fuck, am I right?

Now, before the rule turned out to be true, my client, Velvet, was on trial for the crime of trusting someone who had way too much fun with popsicle sticks. She didn’t know she was on trial, but she totally was. We both were, but I wanted to think I was the defense attorney. Or the prosecutor.

“I’m telling you, I’m getting bad vibes,” I tried to keep my voice low as I muttered to Velvet.

“Don’t worry. If it comes down to it, you’ve got that backpack blaster and I’ve got this gun I found.”

Tch. “Found”. More like looted off an enemy guard. Not that semantics ever helped anyone.

“Why does someone like you want to help us defeat the guys that you work for?” I called out.

She bobbed her head to and fro as if she was listening to a song. In fact, she grabbed the popsicle sticks that were in her hair and started tapping them against the pillar she sat on. “Look at all the things you can do with a little bit of arts and crafts!”

“You’re not answering my question!” I snapped.

“Oh, but I am! You see, this huge corporation claims to want what’s best for humanity, but they failed to realize that without art, Earth is just ‘eh?’ But that’s just how corporations are, aren’t they? They stifle creativity and restrict art until it’s sanitized and marketable! Just like that snappy slogan I just used! If they can’t find a use for art, they find it useless. Me? I just can’t abide. I need to show everyone all the ways art is essential to humanity!”

“But aren’t you on their side?”

“I’m on the side of art, the greatest side you can be on. As long as I’m inspired, I don’t mind where that inspiration comes from! I need to be free to explore all mediums, and even discover new ones!”

...Yep. There it was. The monologue.

I tried to look around me. I couldn’t see any form of exits besides the way we came in. Figures. If there was a way for her to have gotten out, wouldn’t she already? Considering how The Flashbulb seemed to go to great lengths to hide her existence, I had to assume that she was trapped there.

Yet another ridiculous person we just had to meet. Go-fucking-figure. Really, how could this person help us, anyway?

“Velvet, let’s just turn back and find some other way around,” I nudged her. “I don’t think we’ll find anything here.”

“Really? We found a person. That’s already one thing.”

Gah. The fu...fu...fudgetrucking nerve! Did she not notice the red flags?

Or maybe she did and she’s just confident she can use the situation to her advantage. She’s probably already thought something up. That’s just like her.

“Aaaaand...DONE!” Lord Popsicle (look, it wasn’t like anyone was going to care what I called her) announced. She held up some wooden block.

“We can’t see shit, dumbass! You’re too high!”

“Astute observation!” She dropped the wooden block down. It landed without so much as a scratch. I was hesitant to approach it, as I knew I needed to be on my guard.

“I get it, I get it! I’m a scary lady you just met who recently learned how to use popsicle sticks as chop sticks! It was hard at first, but I got the hang of it! Also, that wood block is made entirely from recycled...guess!”

“How about no?” For real, not even (if I had to guess) five minutes in and I was getting real sick of the repetition. ‘Art’ this or ‘popsicle’ that. How irritating.

“I like that! Unorthodox answer! Quite artsy!”

Velvet took a few steps forward and pointed the gun upward at our supposed helper. “I’ve got this, Corey Andy.”

“I’m going to ignore that for now,” I replied.

Why does she have to come up with the most ridiculous names? There’s no way I’m going to be referred that way.

I walked over to the wood block and picked it up. Then, my hands began to shake: it was a picture of Velvet and I, which, would have been fine. I mean, the details were amazing. Our forms were near perfect. That wasn’t the problem. No, it was that the picture was of me standing on my tiptoes and kissing Velvet’s forehead. Something that happened not all that long ago.

What started as shock and possible fear turned into anger and confusion.

“How could you…”

“How could I draw so fast? Mostly a force of habit from back when I had to finish my dad’s paintings for him.”

“No!” I shouted. My hands were balled into fists, I dropped the painting on the ground. “How could you have known? Unless…”

Beside her buzzed two little flying drones which were about the size of flies.

“Oh, that’s what you mean! I used these little bugs! They’re small enough that they can fit through the cracks within walls! It’s nice for when I need inspiration!”

“Who gave you the right?!”

Velvet turned to me. “This isn’t the time to lose your cool,” she urged me. She was right, too, and by all accounts, it must have seemed like I was making a cow out of beef jerky, but I had my reasons. I didn’t know what those reasons were yet, but they were there.

It used to be my job to spy on people. This shouldn’t bother me.

“Not only can they watch people, but they can also listen in to their conversations, and let me tell you, I’m so glad that you two found a way to get in here. I was really hoping you would. I just loved both what I heard and what I saw. The motivations, the struggles. The pain and joy. It’s all so poetic! I just had to capture your likeness.”

I dropped the painting and stepped on it. “Capture that!”

Was it petty? Sure. Would it drive home how serious I was? You betcha. No more games.

“Is it smudged?” She leaned over and looked down. “I was going to say you could keep it, as a gift, but if you want to use it in that way, that’s fine too! As long as it served some kind of purpose, I’m glad! Besides, I can always make another. The important thing is, no matter how fast or slow I am with my art, I always put effort into everything I do!”

“Look, Velvet and I don’t care!”

Velvet continued to point the gun at the art nut. “I would have phrased it better, but she’s right: we’re trying to fight an impossible battle against an entity that can’t be defeated, so if you want to help us, you’ll step aside and show us where the exit is.”

Damn. I forgot how fierce she could be when she wanted to.

“Give it up, Velvet! There’s nothing she can do to help us. Keep your aim on her and let’s walk back. If she knew where an exit was, why would she be in here?”

Velvet started to walk back, still aimed at the one atop the popsicle pillar. I pressed a button on one of the straps of the backpack and the lasers set their sights on Popsicle Lady.

“If you try anything, I swear…” I stopped myself. I sounded ridiculous. So far what had she done? Spied on us and drew a picture? In other words, a little creepy, but harmless. Velvet was right: we needed to be as efficient and free of distractions as possible. Creepy or not, if that woman wasn’t going to be our enemy, there was no need to attack her.

But as I started to walk back and try to catch up with my silk spun partner, I felt the force of something hit against me and the force thrust me against a wall.

“What the –”

I tried to move my arms, but nothing would happen. For whatever reason, I was stuck.

“What a beautiful wallflower you’ve become,” mused someone from up above.

I could hardly turn my head to face her. Whatever substance had covered me must have been pretty strong.

“What did you do?!”

“Oh, that? That’s gorilla glue! And no, in case you’re wondering, it’s not made from actual gorillas! I’m as surprised as you are, I’m sure!”

“Argh!” I tried to thrash about with the same results. No movement.

“Nothing I can do to help? Isn’t that what you said?”

“Spice!” Velvet cried out.

“Since when was that my nickname?” I groaned. Oh, it didn’t matter.

“No, I will help you two out! By drawing out your potential! True, your goal is a near-impossible one, and you were right to focus on it, but you won’t get very far without some guidance! So allow to make you my muses and become wonderful works of art!”

Ladies, gentlemen, kind folks of the jury, I rest my case.

Damn it, I really thought I was onto something. Usually I could just wing it and when an opportunity arose, I’d take it. I thought that was one such opportunity, but now look at the mess we were in.

“This is all your fault!” Coriander yelled. Whether she thought that way or was just pissed at her situation was anyone’s guess, but I didn’t blame her. “We should have never trusted this art freak!”

It’s not that I trusted her, I just thought that we had caught a lucky break. But then again, maybe I really did trust that person. Maybe I had gotten so used to finding allies recently that I believed there could have been someone in that evil lair who could help us.

You’ve gotten softer, Velvet, I scolded myself. Softer, silkier, smoother. Velvety.

I knew I’d have to take a life eventually. It went without saying that being in such a place and not expecting to have to kill was absurd. As hesitant as I may have been before, I wasn’t about to let anything happen to Coriander. So I set my sights, aimed, and…

I saw myself step forward with a pistol. She pointed it right at me. In my hand wasn’t the same heavy weapon as before, but also a pistol. We both aimed at each other, and then everything went black.

Engulfed in total darkness. Or so I thought, but there was a light somewhere. Above? A dim glow? Either way, I stood, once again.

Stop it. Stop getting distracted by this. My target is the art lady. After that, I need to free Cor...Coral? Never mind. It would come to me.

I aimed the pistol, which I somehow obtained, and shot straight ahead. I was surrounded by Velvets on all side, who also took aim, and before I knew it, confetti. Wait. Confetti? Or nothing?

That’s right. It’s all an illusion. I don’t really get it, but I just have to analyze my surroundings, focus, and then the weak point should appear in my mind.

“I know what you’re doing!” I cupped my hands and called around. “But it won’t work!”

“Cut! Cut!” The voice of the art lady boomed. “End scene! Perfect!”

“What’s going on?” I yelled in response.

“You’ve been cast in the leading role of some new blockbuster movies! But who am I, you may ask? I am the great Dr. Lynch, of course, director extraordinaire!”

I groaned. “I don’t care what you call yourself! I just want to get a move on!”

“So you’re the type of actor who gives every performance your all? Excellent! Next scene!”

I don’t think so.

I ran forward, sure that if I just broke through I would be free of the illusion, and then I could break Coriander free and together we would –

Bright, orange glow. Beat up cars. Explosions in the distance.

“Fine. I’ll bite. What kind of movie is this, anyway?”

I wasn’t sure if she’d answer, but to my surprise, she did.

“It’s an art film! Of course, all films are art, because good or bad, corporate or independent, they all have effort put into them. But, is effort the only thing that goes into art?”

I wasn’t about to answer that. I decided to wander around the city landscape a bit. Even if it was some green screen, illusion, ‘movie magic’, whatever, I didn’t see myself making much progress until I could figure out a way to exploit the situation.

Maybe I should think like a hacker, like the good old days. Only this ‘movie set’ is the software, and I’m the infection.

I went around and kicked some rubble. These “streets” were already on fire, destroyed by some unknown force that I didn’t care to know.

Off in the distance, I could see a group of people in what appeared to be superhero costumes. Jeez, what a bunch of dorks.

“Dr. Banter, I’m going to need you to get irritable!”

“That’s my secret, Admiral: I hate it when you leave the toilet seat up. I hate it when you don’t wash your hands after you use the bathroom and then wipe your dirty hands on the shower curtains. I hate when you put used paper towels in the recycling! I hate when you leave your shoes around everywhere! And when you snore!”

“Yes! More! We need you to turn into Bunk and smush Lowkey!”

I grimaced. While I didn’t know what was being referenced, it was clear this ‘movie’ was parodying something. Regardless, I wasn’t having any part of it. I picked up a brick and threw it at the group.

“Hey assholes! How do I ditch this popsicle stand?”

Everyone turned to me and looked stunned.

“It’s Black Velvet!” Admiral (I guess was his name?) pointed at me. “The secret agent who works for Condom! Why is she attacking us?!”

Condom? Really? Couldn’t they have picked a better name?

“Maybe she’s being mind controlled by Lowkey!” Someone covered in tinfoil suggested.

“You’re right, aluminum foil man! Or maybe Condom is really a front for the evil organization, Gorgon!” Some guy who looked just like a thumb suggested. Everyone looked at him in disgust. Honestly, I was too. I mean, he looked like a thumb.

“You may be the god of fungus, mighty Thumb, but you are not very bright,” Admiral replied. “Besides, that’s spoilers for the next movie! Dude, you’re not supposed to give that away.”

Are they...breaking character?!

I shook my head. It was best not to get sucked into the nonsense. What was that old saying? ‘Exit stage left’? Very well. I turned to my left and began to run.

“Smart thinking! You need to find a way to escape, don’t you?” Came the voice of ‘Dr. Lynch.’

“Gee, I didn’t know this was the director’s commentary track!” I retorted as I ran through a torn down building.

I know this isn’t real, but I don’t know how else to explain this.

“How are you doing this?”

“Should you really be asking that? That’s like asking a director ‘what’s my motivation?’ There are some things you should just know!” Her voice boomed.

She’s right. Somewhat, anyway. I didn’t know how she was doing these tricks, but I knew what my motivation was, and that was good enough.

“Mark my words, I’ll find an opening, exploit it, and break free! Then I’ll break Coriander free!”

“That’s what I like to hear! You might want to hurry, though! I hear poly...urine? Poly...uranium? Um. It’s a hard word to say, but I hear it’s quite toxic! Plus, as we speak, popsicle sticks are being dumped on her, so if you don’t hurry, she’ll suffocate to death!”

I’ll burn this whole set down if I have to. I’ll reduce every piece of “art” that she has to ash. So what if it’s true that most people don’t even “save” one person in their lifetime? As long as both Spice Bae and I are still alive, I’ll fight time and again to keep it that way.

Heh. I needed to be careful with my line of thinking; I didn’t want to be mistaken for an actual hero.

There were worse ways to die and I would have rather chosen any one of them over what was being done to me.

“So that’s just it, huh? You’re planning on confining me here until I die?!” I shouted.

“Hm? Hm?” It was like she was humming a tune. How irritating. “Oh, you can call me Dr. Bob Ross!”

“I’d rather not.”

“Very well! And to answer your question, no, I’m not just confining you. I’m confining both of you! As we speak, your little gal pal is in that little box and hallucinating up a few good movies for her to star in. I can’t wait to find out what movies she was in after she’s all done! But, if she spends too long in there, her mind will erode and wear itself out. That is, unless she finds the willpower to break free. But even if she does, that box is pretty sturdy!”

So basically I have to break myself free and break her out. Or she has to break herself free and break me out

“You two are stronger together, right? And I’m willing to bet you and her are pretty strong individually, as well. So this shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?”

That’s right. Velvet thrives on life or death situations. As for me…

“If I could just reach the buttons on my backpack…” I muttered.

“Velvet was what you called her, right? Well then! She will become Velvet, the movie star! And you...I haven’t decided yet. But I’ll make you my muse yet. Maybe I’ll make a sculpture out of you…”

That wasn’t going to happen. No sculptures. No human arts and crafts projects. None of it.

Up another torn down building I went until I reached a floor where there were no walls and I could see the sky outstretched.

Where is there to go from here?

“If it’s all an illusion, then there isn’t very far that I can go. Theoretically,” I let out a deep breath. How hopeless. I didn’t know how to go ‘off-screen’.

“There’s no escape! I will rule all of Nude Pork City and there’s nothing you can do!” Cackled a snobby British voice.

“The...fuck city?” I jolted. Startled, I turned around and saw a skinny man in a green leotard with a horse mask on. He cackled once more.

“This movie is PG-13! You can say ‘fuck’, but only once!”

“Dude, you just said it again.”

“Fuck!” He cried out, as if he had already been defeated. The most surprising thing of the whole ordeal was that I could actually hear what he said from underneath that horse mask. “No matter! No one can defeat me, for I am Lowkey, the villain!”

I looked up. Could I find my way out by running to the highest point of the building and jumping out? But then that might just kill me. Ugh. It would really help if I had a laptop next to me right now.

“Hey! Why aren’t you paying attention to me! I am Lowkey!”

“Sorry, this just isn’t my kind of movie,” I explained.

“Heh. Heh! HEH!” He cackled once again, then pulled the horse mask off. Underneath, was an emaciated face which sported greasy black hair. Even if I swung that way, I didn’t think I’d find him all that attractive.

From his suit, he pulled out three little grenades. “You talk a big game, but you’re still human!”

“Still not my type!” I called back, then rolled over behind a pillar. He tossed the grenades my way. I thought I was a safe enough distance, but they detonated, and the explosion sent me back to the further end of the building. Not only that, but the explosion was causing the building to collapse.

I struggled to stand back up. I had to hold onto the very pillars that were crumbling.

I need to run. I need to run and tackle that guy and then get out of here.

From behind me, that same snobbish voice: “Hey cupcake!”

“What...did you call me?” I growled.

“Hey cupcake, why don’t you and I go back to my place later?” He mocked. “Velvet? Like a cupcake? Are you sweet like one too? Do you taste good like one? Hm, cupcake?”

How did that Dr. Lynch woman know that about my past? Did she really know that much about me? Just how did this movie operate?

“Shut up!” I leaped and grabbed onto his leotard, then reached into his pocket and grabbed one of his grenades. “You want to taste something? Taste this!” I shoved it in his mouth, then pulled the pin and let go.

There was little time: I needed to run down the collapsing building before it could come crashing down and reduce everything to rubble.

But isn’t that what I want? To bring it all down? To destroy the “art” that would hurt the ones I care about? Why does this building feel real, anyway? Did she create this elaborate of a set? If it’s not real, then what danger am I in? If I’m in no danger, I shouldn’t be worried about anything…

I stopped.

“Where...where did the gun go?” The one that was taken off of the guard. I had it. Then it was replaced by a pistol. Somehow.

Because it wasn’t real.

When I got to that “movie”, I had nothing. I had to use a brick. I had to use that villain’s grenades. Grenades that weren’t real.

So in other words, I have nothing. But wasn’t that par for the course? I came to The Flashbulb’s lair with nothing. I’ve had all sorts of risky endeavors, and each time, I would just acquire things as I go.

I ran anyway. For whatever reason, I ran.

No. I don’t have nothing. There’s someone I came with that I care about.

On cue, just as it came crashing down, I escaped. Not even a second after, credits started to roll.

...Wait, what?

‘The End’

Then, the list of the actors who played the characters showed up in front of me. I just couldn’t believe the whole environment was covered by text. Names I didn’t recognize to characters that didn’t matter. Then, I saw my own name. Or...my character’s name? Next to it, it listed…

“No...it can’t be…” I gulped. “Scarlett Johansson?! Really? Come on! I have more class than that!”

Then, answering my call, Scarlett Johansson’s name was crossed out, and a new name replaced it.

“ZENDAYA?!”

I shook my head. “Just stop it! Why can’t I be me?”

Thus, Zendaya’s name was crossed out as well, and finally it said:

‘Velvet as HERSELF’

I nodded my head. “Much better.”

“Stay tuned for a post-credit scene!” Boomed Dr. Lynch’s voice.

Right. There was still that matter.

“Not happening!” I shouted, then ran toward the front where the credits were and kicked forward. As I did so, I hit a wall.

Literally.

Everything turned to black. But my eyes opened once more.

There was gas all around me. I began coughing uncontrollably and it ached just to stand. I didn’t understand why, but I did my best to break free, anyway. I banged my fists against the walls.

Pounding of fists.

It seemed like I was going to lose consciousness up until that jolted me back awake. I still couldn’t turn my head. All those popsicles were growing quite heavy. But, that sound. It must have been Velvet.

If she can do that...if she’s still trying…

I had to as well. It’s not enough that she could try to break free on her own. It had be me as well.

At first, all I could manage was to twitch my fingers. With each passing second, it was getting harder and harder to breathe.

But, if I can twitch my fingers…Yes!

I balled my hands into fists and with as much pressure as I could muster, I slammed my fists against the wall. It didn’t amount to much at first, but I kept trying. After a few tries, with increased force, my arms broke free and I could move them again.

However, the pain was excruciating. I cried out. I couldn’t cover my mouth.

“Hm? Oh, hello there,” Dr. Bob Ross turned to me. I raised my arm up and pressed the button on the backpack. Lasers fired around me and broke me free from the wall. With a thud, I landed.

After I brushed off the popsicle sticks, still disgusted, I looked up toward where that mad artist was.

“I’ll break Velvet out myself, then I’ll get up there and kick your ass! Mark my fucking words, you’re dead, kiddo!”

Dr. Bob Ross burst into laughter. “Okay, okay. Congratulations are in order. But you broke free a little sooner than I expected. I’m not ready for you yet.”

I cracked my knuckles and gave a fiendish grin. “Nobody’s ready for me. I can deal so much pain.”

“I’m going to need you to stay put and wait your turn,” she didn’t seem to heed my boasts at all. I watched her spin her finger, and from the ceiling, a giant claw reached down and pried my backpack off of me.

“Hey! What gives!”

She cupped her hands together and shouted: “Popsicle house time!”

“What?!”

Something dropped in front of me. Once again, I found myself confined.

Four walls. Small, dim, with a roof that was only a little above my head. My only reprieve was one window. I looked out: the room on the outside had grown brighter. I could see the encased area where Velvet was, but I no longer heard her knocks against the walls.

She better still be alive, dammit.

I leaned my head out a little more. Next to me was another popsicle house. Someone else leaned their head out: a bearded old man with gray, curly hair.

“She locked you up too, huh?”

I wasn’t about to dignify that with a response. Instead, I walked off to the other end of the popsicle house and ran toward the wall with full force, elbow in tow. Rather than the house breaking apart, all that happened was a world of hurt.

“Ow! Ow!” I winced. “Maybe I need to try harder.” I walked back, then ran again, with even more anger and drive. Again, nothing but pain.

“God damn! Who knew popsicles could be so sturdy?”

“Welcome to Gay Baby Jail,” the old man greeted once more. That time, I peeked out of the window once again.

“What did you call me?”

“That’s the name of the cell you’re in. Once she puts you in Gay Baby Jail, you’re not getting out unless she wants you to.”

I shook my head and lowered it against the window. “This is stupid…everything is so ridiculous.”

“This is your life now. Consider yourself a gay baby.”

“Ugh…” I groaned. “I am getting out of here. I don’t care how. I have to.”

“Why?”

“Because I have someone out there...we protect each other. I’m not saying I care about her, but she’s important to me and I’m going to do all that I can to make sure she’s well!”

Once again, I tried to break the walls that held me in. I wasn’t about to accept that it was useless. There had to be something I could do.

What wonderful muses I happened to acquire. Things were going so smooth that I almost felt like I needed to shake things up more. But patience. Those two were an inspiration, sure, but inspiration wasn’t instant. So while they were kept occupied, helping me along, I had to study them well.

“Now let’s see their character bios…” I pulled up a tablet. Just about everyone’s records was stored in The Flashbulb’s database. If we didn’t have a profile on them, well...I’d just have to make one, wouldn’t I? But let’s not be too hasty.

“What did they say their names were again? Velvet...and...Coriander? Is that right?”

Velvet was easy enough. Sure, there were many Velvets in most universes, but then there was matching a name to a face. Lucky for me, that also proved to be easy. Next was Coriander.

That one was a little harder. There were a few Corianders out there. More people named Cilantro, to be honest, but that was neither here nor there. But a Coriander that had some sort of relation to the Velvet whose profile was displayed in front of me? Unheard of. So instead I refined my search to all the people associated with that Velvet until I saw an image that matched “Coriander”.

My eyes lit up. Yes! YES!

“This! This right here! This is the inspiration I need!” Oh my, how interesting things were. To learn such things about those two. I could use that.

But enough about those two. They were a little preoccupied. My little muses were making me proud, reminding me of why I got into the game in the first place.

Yes: my backstory. Or more, my “midway” story. My humble origins as an intern for The Flashbulb, back when I was still among fellow artists. “But aren’t you still an intern?” The spectators might have asked, were there an audience to spectate on my thoughts. To answer those hypothetical spectators: yes. But there was an explanation for that.

It all started back in Flashbulb University (note: Flashbulb University was not an accredited university), a school where interns for The Flashbulb went, fully funded by the Education Department. We never really learned much, but the wiser of us would join clubs, otherwise we’d just get displaced and used as fodder for whatever tasks those in proper departments wanted done.

I had wandered down the halls, having gotten as lost as ever, when I pulled out my map. At the time, I developed a keen interest in the art of map making, as well as studying architecture. As it so happened to turn out, the layout of the university was...excuse my language...uncreative. If I had my way with the layout, well...I wouldn’t do anything. That wasn’t a medium I was willing to tackle just yet.

Yes. As loathe as I was to admit, there were certain arts that I would never be able to see myself doing. The art of cooking, the art of staying organized, the art of money management. Who needed any of those skills? Not me. Especially when I could just eat whatever was made at the cafeteria. My taste buds could handle anything, and not only that, I got to experience someone else’s art. Really digest it fully (most of the time).

One day in that very cafeteria, I met up with my fellow intern buddies, Dr. O’Keefe, Dr. Kahlo, Dr. Kubrick, and Dr. Méliès. Each of us were aspiring Flashbulb members as well as members of the Painting and A/V Clubs respectively.

“Every form of art will be available to you,” Dr. Louvre told me when I first joined. So naturally, the first thing I clung to was the art of film-making.

So we all sat, some of us eating tacos, others eating escargot. Me? I ate dried squid, of course.

“So what projects have you been up to?” Dr. Kubrick opened up the discussion.

“I’m studying a venus flytrap,” Dr. O’Keefe answered.

“I’ve been staring up at the moon,” it was Dr. Kubrick’s turn.

“No way! So have I!” Dr.  Méliès replied, a hint of astonishment in his voice. Then, I glanced over and noticed the two staring into each other’s eyes.

“I see the moon in your eyes,” Dr. Kubrick uttered such words.

“I see the same in yours.”

Was that really so inspiring? Yes. In much the same way I found inspiration from a burning building, Van Gogh found inspiration from the night sky. With that in mind, inspiration could come from anywhere. No, not just anywhere. Everywhere. Every little thing.

So while everyone began to chat among themselves, I began to doodle. Nothing in particular. Unlike my father, it wasn’t so much nature that inspired me, but humanity. Rather, the vague shape that humans took on.

That must be the reason I was recruited, I thought while reminiscing. Back in the memory, I recalled what happened as soon as Dr. Kubrick and Dr. Méliès left.

Dr. Pollack showed up and slammed his fists on the table.

“Hey guys!” He looked around. “Sorry, I should be more discreet.”

He sat down. “Sorry, I’m just frustrated.”

“Having an art block?” I asked as I sipped on oyster milk.

“No. It’s this...this whole thing! Day in, day out, we’re stuck as interns.”

“Well, there’s no way out of it,” Dr. O’Keefe replied. “The Flashbulb isn’t known for its upwards mobility. If they decide to put us in a department, they will, otherwise, we’re here doing their chores for them and anything else that needs to be done that they don’t want to do. Of course, if someone decides to attack the main headquarters, they keep us around so we can be their human shields.”

“Some saviors of humanity, am I right?” He slumped over.

All that time since I’ve known them and I never realized they had such ambitions.

“You know, if you want to be part of a department so bad, it’s not all that hard?” I spoke up.

“What was that?”

“Yeah, ya heard me. Easy peasy.”

“How do you figure that? It’s not like there’s an A/V Department or an Arts and Crafts Department.”

“Of course not. But there is a Fine Arts Department.”

“Those guys? Really? They’re all a bunch of snooty snobs!”

I scowled. “The answer is right in front of you, yet you refuse to see it.”

“Fine, if you’re so smart, tell us.”

“We bring the Arts and Crafts club and the Painting club and the A/V club to them. We could be the first department with its own set of sub-departments. So if you want, present them the opportunity to expand the Fine Arts Department. Those guys love the word ‘expansion’. All you have to do is say ‘expand’ and they get all hot and bothered. Try it.”

Those three looked at each other, then ran off. Not long after, the plan was a success, and Dr. Louvre as well as Dr. Cannes approached me.

“We have you to thank,” Dr. Louvre towered over me and every syllable out of his mouth boomed. “Without your help, we wouldn’t be able to,” he drew a deep breath, breathed the words between his nondescript lips. “Expand.”

He cleared his throat. It seemed that word had quite a powerful effect on him.

“But what about you?” He continued. “Isn’t there something you should want? With your artistic talent, we could make you one of the leaders of the Fine Arts Department, alongside the likes of Dr. Cannes and I.”

I shook my head. “All I want is my own studio. Food prepared for me. All the art supplies I could ever need. An assistant. That’s all.”

“Very well. It shall be done.”

Yeah, that guy sounded so big and commanding, but in actuality, he was too afraid of my artistic talents and so the Fine Arts Department left one day to a version of Earth, with no specific mission attached. While I was content to stay in my studio, I wished they would have invited me. Shame, too. They never did come back to the headquarters, and ever since, it seemed as if most people were too afraid to visit me. They gave me food, water, any art supply I needed, but that was about it.

Oh well. That was all history (in the sense that there were many gaps and the information that was known paints an incomplete picture). I had two muses now, and I would help them reach their full potential. Speaking of, it was probably about time for Velvet’s next movie to start. It should start getting good now that the movies were going to dig deeper into her consciousness.

Ah, I should’ve known by now; the walls were too thick. My movements grew weaker. It hurt just to stand.

I need to...I need to rest a bit…I’m sorry.

Right before passing out, I had just one more thought: Aha! So that’s how it works!

Then darkness once more.

Once again, I found myself leaning against the window, my only reprieve.

Then, I heard the worst thing I could hear: nothing. No more knocks against those walls.

Has she given up?

I kicked the popsicle wall that held me and screamed out. After a few huffs, I paced about.

“She better not be dead! I won’t allow it!” I growled. “She’s too good for that!”

“Relax,” the old man in the other cell called out to me. “If anything, she’s just passed out. Her second movie is probably about to start. It usually takes at least four movies to kill someone.”

Of course. She passed out before. When she first met me from a previous life, she held me at gunpoint while I held her at laserpoint. Her gun was empty. Before my lasers could fire, the power went out. Then, she passed out. It ended up being up to me to carry her and I to a locker, as I was worried about whatever danger could have lurked. Those were memories I still had, as painful as it may have been to recap.

“That...that doesn’t reassure me.” Even still, I felt too defeated to do anything other than relax. So I went back to the window.

“Maybe if I had a lighter or a flamethrower or something…” I shook my head.

“What do you need one of those for?” The old man asked.

“Are popsicle sticks flammable? I mean, they’re wood, right?”

“Those are the questions which will haunt me up to my deathbed.”

“Don’t be such a baby,” I scolded. That was something I needed to tell myself as well, huh? Why was I so worried about someone who didn’t need worrying about, anyway? She was capable. So it was fine. Ugh. No it wasn’t.

I shook my head.

“I can’t do nothing, and it’s not because I don’t think I could survive on my own. That’s not the issue. We could both probably survive on our own. But, I mean, just in case, I’d like to be there…” No, that didn’t sound right. “Well, what I mean is, even if we could both survive on our own, I’d like us to not be on our own as long as we’re alive, y’know? Gosh, maybe I’m taking this whole ‘til death do us part’ too seriously.”

“You sure do care about her, huh? So what, you two married or something?”

“What?! Why would you think that? That’s ridiculous. Anyway,” I smiled. “Yeah, I do. Even though I was supposed to hate her, it somehow ended up like this. She can get on my nerves sometimes but I know she just likes to see my reaction. If it’s something that really bothers me, she knows not to do it. She knows when to be serious, too, and she can be really supportive.”

“Sounds like the real deal.” “Oh yeah. That’s not even going into her talents. She can find the smallest details in the shortest amount of time. Hell, she’s the very definition of ‘think on your feet’. Like, sure, most of the time she’s lazy as fuck, but then when push comes to shove, she really shines. Her hacking skills are unparalleled, and she’s so resilient. Able to take on foes far stronger than her and still maneuver around whatever obstacle in her way. Being able to improvise and use anything around her to her advantage. Honestly, she inspires me, and I hope I can inspire her too.”

I lowered my head against the edge of the window and shook it. I felt like tears were about to fall out. So, at the very least, I made sure to smile.

“What’s wrong with me?” I shook my head.

“You’re a gay baby, all right,” he sounded like a fucking sage.

“Shut it, you. No one asked.”

I thought that maybe if I used my environment to my advantage, just like how I described Velvet, maybe I could have broken out. But I saw nothing that I could use.

Even if that were the case, I wouldn’t give up.

Ugh. Talk about weird dreams. Something about a fisherman’s wife and a giant squid. Being a pirate sure was a mess.

I got up from my uncomfortable cot in my captain’s quarters and stumbled out. As my accursed luck would have it, I had a headache. Like all things, I blamed it on the sea.

Yes, that very sea in which our pirate ship, the Jo-Ann’s Revenge resided.

My body ached as I swayed to and fro, as if enchanted by a sickening sea shanty.

God damn, how much rum did I have last night?

“Mornin’ Velvetbeard,” ol’ paranoid Connard greeted in ever the dull tone. “I hear the marines have taught the parrots to read our minds. We must steady our guard.”

“Uh, yeah. Okay. Jot that down or something.”

Our crew ate our share of mackerel and sardines for breakfast all while we gathered around the table and made plans for our next raid.

“So there’s a trade ship that was spotted,” Connard reported.

“Do we know its contents?”

He nodded. “Doritos, fruit snacks, top ramen. All your favorites.”

“Hot pockets?”

“Yes.”

“Ugh...but when I think of all the sodium…” I leaned over the table and rested my head on it. “Can I just, like, go back to bed? I’ve got this massive headache and I’m tired of pirating.”

“I knew it!” The Jolly Kelly Roger barged in. “You’re not really a pirate, are you? You’re a spy for the marines!”

“The fuck? Forget the plank, I’ll throw you overboard with my bare hands.”

“Go ahead! I hear there’s a pirate ship full of catgirls and I’m prepared to swim over to them!”

I looked up. “Real shit?”

“Mm-hmm! Anyways, see ya. I’m off to cat paradise.”

Jolly Kelly Roger was never seen again.

Meanwhile, three years later, and I wasn’t quite sure what all happened, but Connard went to chill in some pyramid and I lost most of my crew. All that was left was Blanka, Connard’s best and only friend. Who for some reason decided to go with me of all pirates (people).

“How did it even come to this?” I shook my head. Three years, and the headache still hadn’t gone away. It was like a coconut kept dropping on my head every morning.

“Something something gray stoner pirates,” Blanka replied, although Blanka was no longer there.

It was up to me to take on the marines and the 51st Fleet all by my lonesome. So I did. I infiltrated their ranks by punching a hole in the bottom of their vessel and jumping up. To think it was common belief that it was impossible to sneak in. Ha.

I’ve already done it once before, in fact. Like, some odd years back. When I was a wee little Velvetbeard. My first mate, Violetbeard was rumored to have been captured by the 51st fleet, so I took it upon myself to sneak in and find her, for the thought of what horrifying things they could have done to her was too much for me to bear. Unfortunate for me, I never did find her, nor a trace that she was even there. The best I could manage was stealing a pirate ship from them. That is why the Jo-Ann’s Revenge exists.

Now, onto the sneaky pirate stuff…

“There’s gotta be something I can do,” my voice grew weary in what must have been such a short amount of time.

You’re nothing without your technology.

Maybe that was true at one point in time. Even if that was still true, anything could be technology if it could be utilized…

“Isn’t the right, popsicle stick sticking out on the ceiling?” I looked up. Such a faint hope. How to get there. But wasn’t that what my whole journey was built on? Some faint hope that I took a chance with and made it far enough to find myself where I was. So being “stuck” wouldn’t register to me. Even in my past life, though others were convinced I was stuck, I still tried and fought anyway.

There were “ledges” (so many quotations, I know. Bear with me), I could use. Flimsy, easy to break, but that lent me more hope than despair. All I needed was one, maybe even a few, and I could make my attempt…

So, one foot over the other one, and just a few steps more, and I had gotten the diamond stick in the rough. The wooden needle in the needlestack. Just as my luck had turned bright, I lost my footing and fell back onto the metal floor.

“Owwww,” I groaned. There went my youthful back. Now I welcomed the embrace of my newfound elderly back. Oh, and the embrace of several popsicle sticks. One of which, I held in my hand, and when I shook the rest off of me, I got to work.

“You okay over there?” The old man called.

“The okayest,” I scoffed. Then I got to work chiseling away at the wall in front of me.

“What are you doing, anyway?” “Well, old gay baby, I don’t know about you, but this gay baby wants to leave the crib.”

“She can see you, you know.”

“Let her try and stop me.”

“How bold.”

“I’m not bold, I just happened to make the first move.”

“Bold statement.”

That guy was frustrating me. But, deep breaths, I tried to play it cool.

“What are you even in there for, anyway? I just realized I never thought to ask.”

“I was hired as her assistant after the last one got set on fire and had to be hospitalized. I told her that her paintings should have more men in them, especially men in diapers. She scowled, put me in a diaper, then kept me in here.”

“Oh jeez. I’m sorry.”

“Why? It’s not all that bad once you get used to it. I actually rather enjoy it. Plus, I don’t have to go to the bathroom, because I’m always already there.”

Ew. Ew. EW.

“Okay, uh, what was your name again?”

“Dr. Michelangelo.”

That made too much sense.

“Okay, Dr. Michelangelo. You stay right there. I’m not breaking you out.” Once I was free, I hoped and prayed that I never had to meet him again.

Hold on, Velvet. This gay baby is learning to crawl.

So far, so good. The whole sneaking business was a go. Then came the inevitable.

“Jolene, I know you’re there! You stole my man!”

Shivers ran down my timbers. The unmistakable voice of Mustachebeard, the fearsome vice-admiral for the marines. For the record, yes, I did say I was Jolene when I infiltrated their ship last time, but no, I did not steal anyone’s man.

I did my best to avoid detection, knocking marines out one by one as I traversed the hallowed halls of the ship. I stole a musket off of one of the marines, which really helped once I made it above deck of the ship and found one of the vice-admiral’s lookouts. I ran up to her and before she had the chance to pull out her weapon, I pointed the musket I had looted right at her face.

“Y’arr. Name’s Velvetbeard. I’m here to steal your heart.”

“You,” she growled. “I heard you’re the worst pirate to have ever existed.”

“Nah, there’s worse. There’s gotta be, right? I mean, I can’t be that bad, can I?”

I pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. As it turned out, the musket had no ammo. That, and I didn’t know how a musket worked.

“Nice try,” she smirked. “Now men! Fire!”

Behind her was a firing squad, which meant that I was as good as dead. But instead, everything went black. Everything began to spin in place.

That girl, whatever her name was...was kind of cute.

Yes. There was the headache, in full force. My head felt ready to split itself open and all the contents would spill forth for the world to see. It all felt both so uneasy and yet so familiar. As if it was all a rehash of something that I had been a part of before. Something long gone.

It was but a small opening, but that opening was good enough for me. Like a baby, I crawled through and as soon as I was out, I ran over to the metal box that Velvet was trapped in. I kept banging my fists against it.

“I’m impressed, but at the same time, I wish you’d slow it down! She’s got at least two more movies left in her! The next one will surely dig deep into her psyche.”

“Not. Gonna. Happen,” I growled.

That same gloved metal claw came, likely to pick me up. Some artist Dr. Bob Ross was if she thought I was going to be fooled twice. I swerved to my side to avoid the reach, then I grabbed on to the metal spring and I began to hit the wall with the metal claw.

I was awoken by that same lookout, the one I thought was kinda cute. We were in the middle of a cabin. She shook me awake. As it stood, I was grape jelly.

“Come on, we gotta work together if we wanna make it out.”

“Ugh...what happened?” I rubbed my forehead.

“We were invaded by the Polo Wearing Pirates. Fearsome bandits, they are. As much as I hate to admit it, I need your help. Everyone else aboard the ship has died.”

“Oh, I see what’s going on. Some kind of enemies to lovers type thing, right?���

“Wrong. This is serious. We will never be anything more than enemies.”

“Then why did you kiss my forehead?”

I paused.

She was gone. I was somewhere else. In the clouds? Or aboard another pirate ship. Or in a room, where my former first mate was, Violet. Just Violet.

“Why hello,” Violet greeted.

“What...what are you doing here?”

“You wanted to see me. So I am here.”

“But…” It was ten years. Tears began to trickle down. “I can accept you being gone.”

I knew where I was. At a park. Close to where the school was.

“You’re still the same timid Velvet I knew.”

“How do I escape this movie?” I demanded. Was it me coming back to my senses? No. It was just something that came out.

She approached me. Between the high seas and what I thought to be the closing credits. But maybe they were cornflakes in the wind.

“You wish you knew what happened to me. But you never will. That you may have accepted, but it will still be on your mind. The thought of what became of me. Whether I lived or died, and if I lived, have I lived a good life?”

I shook my head. “Maybe I wonder from time to time. Maybe you will always be someone that I’ll miss. But you know what? So will anyone else that I meet. I’ve accepted that I’m not the type to forget people, no matter how big or small the impact. So...deal with it.”

Yes. That was what they called a flashback. Or forward. Or somewhere in between, on the side. Because I was still next to that blue haired spice.

“So you see, ten years ago there was someone who knew me as someone else. I’m still an anxious person from time to time, but I’m also much more than that. In fact, some would even go as far as to call me ‘badass’.”

“What are you talking about?” My enemy, not lover, asked.

“I...maybe you’ll find out in a later stage of our relationship,” I teased. We got up, but I fell again.

“Sorry,” I croaked. “Now I must inform you that I feel like I am dying.”

My eyes. They eclipsed.

Pounding sounds began to erupt, like my own heartbeat. I clutched my chest, but that didn’t feel right.

“Oh no!” The blue haired wonder cried out. “We have to hurry! The ship is exploding! Our ship is going down!”

I tried to get up, but I could feel the heat. Smoke rose up all around us and I started to cough. Not only was the rest of the ship on fire, but so were my lungs.

There.

At last, the box was broken. Gas leaked out and dissipated. I covered my mouth, but I could still feel the effects making me dizzy. Not to mention that I already felt weak from my previous two ordeals.

I looked around and there Velvet was, on the floor. I rushed to her.

“Hey! Hey!” I shook her.

“Our ship is sinking…” I heard her mutter.

“No it’s not! See, I’m right here!”

I held her against me. It took me a few more seconds to register that she was just asleep, but even still, I needed her awake. Then, I thought of something.

“Hey if you wake up, I’ll kiss you on the lips.”

Her eyes shot open. “Real shit?” She uttered with a groggy voice. Then she looked over and saw that it was me, “oh hey, enemies to lovers.”

I groaned. “I wish you wouldn’t remind me.”

Now, there was just one other matter to attend to...but before I could get to that, Velvet tugged at my shirt collar.

“What about the kiss?”

“Can’t it wait? We’re in the middle of a fight.”

“No.”

I let out an exaggerated sigh, then leaned in and gave her a peck.

“Really?! That’s it?! Come on!” She jolted up.

“I’ll do it for real later,” then I turned my attention to what was behind her: the gun that she had before passing out. I took it and almost dropped it, the damn thing was so heavy. Just a few more steps, though, and I would then part with it.

“Hey Popsigirl!” I yelled.

From atop the pillar, I saw a hand emerged which then proceeded to wave at me.

I growled, then threw the gun at the pillar. All the popsicle sticks began falling down, one by one, as the mad artist’s tower crumbled.

Court dismissed.

[lipstickbisous]

you didn’t see that coming?

description: you learn that the boy with silvery soft hair has tricks of his own

warnings: quicksilver!daniel, this is nothing like the movie (age of ultron), angst, steve is like a father figure in this, this is a long one

tags: @satanicseavey @fallingforbesson @danieldelicate @jackscorbytch @sfx-bands @ijustreallylovethem @jackaveryc @why-dont-we-everything @coolkidcorbyn

it was sudden. it was very sudden. 

it was also cold. “steve?” you spoke through to comm. you crouched over clint who was lied down on the forest floor. small snowflakes started to collect in his hair. “clint’s down.”

“keep him where you are,” steve responded, and you heard grunting and screaming in the background. captain was a good fighter, there was no doubt about that. “we’ll find you.”

knowing that steve couldn’t see you through the comm, you still nodded in reply to him. “(y/n), i see you,” you heard tony’s voice speak to you. “coming over.”

you looked to your left to the man in the red and gold iron suit soaring towards you, gliding through the trees, occasionally blasting HYDRA soldiers. you nodded as he came closer.

but it was sudden.

one moment, you were sitting next to clint with your hands in defense, waiting for tony to help you. the next moment, you were in a totally different part of the forest. you took in your surroundings, your breathing turning heavy and fast.

“what the fu-” you began to say until you felt a hit againt your back. you fell to your hands and knees and groaned in pain.

you looked up and you were met with a pair of blue eyes. you furrowed your eyebrows while taking in the mixture of color. they were an ocean blue and gray, mixed with specks of green that acted like a hint of lime.

you felt the electricity start to ball up in your hand. “where are your manners?” you asked with a raspy voice. the boy’s brows furrowed in confusion. “don’t you know not to hit a lady?” you threw your arm so your hand met with his face, your goal to have the electricity hit his skin.

it was a classic move that was practiced far too often at training. normally, if your electricity hit your opponent, they would drop to the ground unconscious. of course, it didn’t happen this time.

you felt a twist in your arm and you screamed once you heard and felt the crack. “fucking hell!”

“sorry,” the boy shrugged. “you didn’t see that coming?”

»«

you held a wet rag against your nose and thanked steve for handing you one. you already had a sling on your broken arm, a glass of water sitting next to you.

“jesus,” stark whispered to himself as he walked into the open-spaced living room. “what the hell did they do to you?”

you shrugged. 

steve sighed and looked down at the floor where he tapped his toe. you really were a mess. after that boy had broken your arm, HYDRA soldiers found you and made sure to weaken you more.

“a broken arm, broken nose, bruised spinal cord,” dr. cho spoke while viewing over her tablet. she noticed how you weren’t drinking the water. “you need to drink. your powers won’t come back if you don’t.”

you don’t move. it hurts too much if you do.

steve’s eyes were burning a hole into your skin, but you could care less. you watched him stare at you but you only remained still, keeping your breathing steady.

rogers wasn’t your father - you had no idea who that was. but the avengers found you and took you under your wing.

you were a test experiment of HYDRA. you were kidnapped from your family at age 15 and given a serum. the project went sideways, off the rails, and you were given the super ability to control and channel electricity. you stopped aging at 23. you were another super soldier, a small addition to the avengers.

fury assigned steve to train you, and when steve had his first day with you, he realized your strength. you took down four punching bags in a time range of 1 hour. 

“you’re not too bad,” steve nodded, seeing how you were barely out of breath. you shrugged and unwrapped your hands from the tape. 

“i guess not.” you smiled.

“(y/n),” his voice is stern, but kind. “drink.”

you looked up at the blond man with his big, strong figure. you blinked once before slowly pushing yourself up from your chair and standing on your own. dr. cho rushed to your side but you brushed her away.

you left the room.

»«

one week later

your arm was almost healed, thanks to the serum you’d be given. being a super soldier wasn’t easy but it had its perks.

you walked into the living room, collapsing onto the couch. you weren’t wearing a cast or a sling anymore but the bandage on your nose still existed. you wanted to rip the sticky, white fabric off of your skin but you were under strict orders to not do any of that; you were still healing.

“you okay, (y/n)?” the familiar voice asked you. it was one you heard almost everyday, repeating the same question. 

it was hesitant, but you nodded. there was a small amount of tension in the room with you and steve both being in it.

you hadn’t been able to complete any missions recently due to your injuries. not only that, but your powes weren’t working like power. you would out your hand and only small smarks would fly into the air - nothing more.

because of your frustration, you accidentally said some things you didn’t mean to steve. it was painful for him to hear but they were partially true. 

“have you forgotten how to feel things or some shit? you say you love me, i fucking believe you, but you say you love but you don’t prove it! you’re not my fucking father, rogers, my father is dead. i’m not your child, i’m not something you can protect! i simply train with you, i fight by your side. you are nothing more to me.”

“i’m fine,” you mumbled, stuffing a pillow into your face. you heard a deep chuckle emit from steve’s throat. removing the pillow from your face, you asked, “what?”

steve had a smile plastered onto his cheeks. “you’re not fine.”

you looked from him to the ceiling. you sighed, not knowing how to phrase it; there was only one way. “yeah, no,” you paused. “i’m not.”

it was quiet. you thought steve would’ve said something after that, but he remained silent, wondering if you had anything else to say. “i’m sorry,” you bit the inside of your cheek. “what i said was...gross. it was wrong.

“you’ve done so much for me. you have basically been a dad to me. and i’m grateful,” you looked over to him, folding your hands on your stomach. “but i’m frustrated. i’m frustrated with that mission, i’m frustrated that i let myself get beat up like that. i can’t work my powers and it’s all getting to me at once.”

steve slowly nodded, understanding about one quarter about what you had just said. “well, i don’t know anything about having powers,” he smiled. he leaned against a wall, his arms folded, looking at the floor. “but i do understand being frustrated.”

it was your turn to nod now. “do you know how scared i was when you weren’t responding on the comm?” he asked. this caught your attention. “i was terrified. i thought you were dead, although i should know better, you’re stronger than that. but i didn’t know if you were safe or not. if you had died, i would’ve stuck that on me for the rest of my life.”

you smiled and sat up on the couch. “sorry,” you apologized before smirking. “dad.”

he chuckled and took a seat down on the chair next to you. “now,” he sighed. “i have news you’re not gonna like.” you furrowed your brows, sitting forward. was it bad you wanted to know it even more now?

“what?” you asked with a concerned look. 

“we hired the boy.”

»«

two days later

he sat across from you, sipping apple juice through a straw from a juice box. he looked absolutely childish. you mentally scoffed and rolled your eyes. but you were stuck in the same room as him. 

you were both stuck in each other’s stare. yours was more cold and hard while his was more soft and playful.

“did i that to you?” he asked it simply, like he had no problem with it, with big eyes. the silver-haired boy pointed to the bruise on your forehead, and the cut and band-aid on your nose.

you shook your head. “no,” you spoke sternly. “you broke my arm.”

“oh, yeah,” he said, dragging out the ‘oh’. his tone was still playful, like everything was a joke. “i remember that.”

you scoffed, physically this time. “you’re a joke.”

“i’m a joke?” he smiled, setting his juice box on the table next to him. he let out a laugh, and you wouldn’t lie, it was a nice one. “alright, then.”

“why did they hire you?”

“you’re full of questions, aren’t you?” his eyes went wide as he smiled. “i’ll start with names. i’m daniel. and you are...?”

“(y/n).”

»«

one month later

you had been given one month to accept daniel’s apology. it was as fake as possible, but steve and tony ordered the young boy to say he was sorry.

fortunately, one month was more than enough.

the two of you had just returned from a mission. you had several cuts along your cheeks while he had a bullet wound in his shoulder. he hissed in pain as dr. cho did her best to pull the bullet out of his flesh. 

“fuck, does it have to hurt that much?” 

his response made you left. “hey,” you said, sitting on the bed across from his, getting your own wounds attended to. “watch the language, cap is here.”

you looked to your side at steve to see him scoff and look away, shaking his head. “never gonna stop, huh?” he smiled. you grinned sweetly and shrugged.

soon enough, you and daniel were alone. left in your shared room. there was a time where you two couldn’t stand each other so you slept on opposite sides of the building. but one night, you were screaming from a nightmare, and daniel being the fastest person alive just happened to get to you first.

he comforted you and you fell asleep in his arms that night. the next night, he learned a lot about you. that you were taken when you were 15, you were also a HYDRA experiment, that steve was basically your father.

you were both looking out the window, the day sky slowly turning into night.

“what’s the first thing you remember?” you asked him, leaning back against your bed. 

he looked up to the ceiling and squinted his eyes like he was thinking long and hard about it. “hmm,” he smiled, showing that he was fond of a certain memory. “i think it’s me and my little sister playing in our driveway. she was just a baby and i was so small. i was drawing something with chalk and she was playing with one of her baby toys.”

you smiled warmly as you leaned against your head, gazing at the boy. you couldn’t lie - he was beautiful. he had silvery hair that glistened in the light. it matched his eye color perfectly; you couldn’t even begin on his eye color. they were oceans, no, they were skies, no, they were forests.

“what about you?” 

you froze, staring at the floor with a longing look on your face. it was about a minute before you spoke, slightly chuckling by saying, “i-i don’t know.”

daniel’s eyes widened and his lips parted. “o-oh, i’m sorry, (y/n/n). i f-forgot about it.”

you shook your head and smiled. “it’s okay, daniel,” you looked down at your hands and set your drink down. “i think it was waking up in my cell when HYDRA had me. it was cold and damp. they fried my memory, i don’t remember anything else.”

daniel nodded, knowing the entire story. he held your hand, gently rubbing the skin with his thumb. it was something he knew that comforted you. you found it insane that you’d only known this boy for a month and he seemed to know everything about you.

you felt bad for him. he talked so much about his family. he loved his mom and dad, his brothers teased him but he loved them too. his sister was his favorite, they always got along the best. daniel wasn’t taken like you - he volunteered once he was 18. 

“i wish i never did,” he said to you. “i miss anna so much, i regret ever leaving them. she and my mom were begging me to stay. but i wanted to protect my country.”

“don’t we all?” you asked.

you looked down at daniel’s hand on yours, slightly blushing from the contact. the thoughts were getting caught in your head, but you didn’t really want them to go away. you wanted to spend all day thinking about him.

and then you felt his lips on your cheek. your eyes widened and you felt the skin turn red from embarrassment. but what were you embarrassed about? you’d been wanting this for forever.

you looked next to you at daniel. your lips parted open as he had a smug smirk on his face.

“what,” he chuckled. “you didn’t see that coming?”

»«

you had blood trickling down the side of your face, you could feel it. you were dizzy and you could hear your captain’s orders through the comm.

“(y/n)! (y/n), where are you?” he yelled, sounding extremely desperate.

you leaned against a crashed car. the were multiple buildings of sokovia that were destroyed, and after being choked by ultron, he threw you over so your head hit one. you luckily woke up only two minutes later but it was with a raging headache.

“i-i’m fine,” you breathed. your head was pounding and everything was turning into a blur. 

“(y/n), where. are. you.” he asked sternly.

you looked around but it was all just a dusty mess. “i-” you inhaled and exhaled, but you couldn’t think of words. “i don’t know.”

his voice was heard through the comm again, telling everyone to find you, but something - you didn’t know what - told you to turn the object in your ear off. then, it was silent. there was a ringing in your ears, but you felt vibrations in the ground. 

you watched a car rapidly slide close to you so you struck it with lightning. it instantly turned to ash. you sat down and leaned your back against the car, throwing your head back and yelling when it hit against the metal of the door.

“fuck!” you yelled.

you wiped the blood away and looked at the red mark on your hand. it was mesmerizing. you didn’t even notice the gun that ultron had, slowly traveling over to you.

but you heard the cries. the cries of a little boy not too far away. your eyes widened and you instantly sat up straight. he was crouching behind a flipped car, holding his hands over his neck. 

ultron didn’t see you. it was the perfect chance. you ran over to the boy and held him in your arms. 

“what’s your name?” he looked at you with wide eyes, but you didn’t have time for it. “what’s your name?!”

he gulped. “christopher.” 

“christopher?” he nodded. “all right, chris, can i call you that?” he nodded again. “chris, we’re gonna get out of here. i promise, i’m gonna get you out of here.”

the little boy nodded. you ducked as a piece of metal flew inches above your heads. “we gotta be careful now, okay?” christopher nodded.

“okay,” he mumbled.

you smiled reassuringly and looked past the car you were hiding behind. ultron hovered the ground with a machine gun in his hand. your eyes widened as bullets flew everywhere. 

to be honest, you weren’t sure if you could keep your promise on saving this boy. but you would die trying. it was your job.

you sighed, tucking the boys head into your chest. you squeezed your eyes shut, not sure if you were just going to make a run for it. you were going to let your body do whatever felt right.

only one breath was taken until, somehow, you were in the air. the boy was still in your arms, but there was something shielding you.

you were gently placed on the ground, and after you were, chris ran off to find his mom. you looked up.

it was those blue eyes. they look tired and drained, and then you noticed the blood on his shirt. he fell into your arms as your mouth parted open and your eyes grew teary.

»«

daniel wasn’t sure what to do. he’d been on missions before, they were better with you, but that didn’t change anything this time. you were nowhere to be found and daniel was all alone.

he zipped in and out of buildings, sped through alleyways and double-checked every plade he’d been.

one half of the city of sokovia was up in the air, blasted by ultron. right now, SHIELD was boarding civilians onto ships to take them down to land. daniel did his best to help out but the level of oxygen was getting lower and lower as they went higher up.

“(y/n)!” he screamed, throwing cars and pieces of building around in his search to find you. “(y/n), come on!”

“we don’t know where she is, kid,” tony spoke through the comm. “new mission, dan, try and find her.”

that’s what i’ve been fucking doing. daniel thought to himself.

his search continued. you weren’t a screamer, and it made it even harder to find you. of course, daniel wasn’t one to give up.

he often felt like it was better to just give up. but he couldn’t. he’d remind himself the same thing.

“after this, we get to go home,” he whispered to himself, despite the dust and debris everywhere around him. “we get to stay in bed and listen to music and eat breakfast together. find her, get through this, and you’ll have everything you’ve wanted.”

so he did. he found you.

you were holding a small boy in your arms and hiding behind a flipped car. you seemed to be hunched over the small boy like a shield.

and then he saw the reason why. ultron flew about twenty-five feet away from you with a machine gun in his hand. daniel’s blue eyes widened. you were in danger. he didn’t want you to be.

there was only one way to save you, and he knew he wouldn’t regret.

he sped over to you, feeling multiple piercings in his back and legs. he quickly picked you and the boy up, running back the bullets again, shielding you from the pain he was feeling.

daniel set you down where you were safe, but he felt his knees begin to wobble. you looked up at him. he felt the blood leave his body. his knees finally collapsed as he fell, but you caught him in your arms.

“you didn’t see that coming?”

hi so...i think this is my worst imagine

[magiccreaturecouncil]

Prologue

In a world where a civilization of many different lifeforms exists, chaos is inevitable, but certainly not uncontrollable. A council of 10, each of whom represent each major tribe, has been instated in order to control the chaos in the land and bring peace among every creature. 

The group prepare themselves for the ceremony to have them become leaders. 

“I’m so nervous...”, Ellie, a young, pink female with skin made of cloth and thread, stuttered behind huge, blue curtains and looked outside to see the crowd of creatures waiting for the ceremony to start. “I can’t do this! I can’t LEAD!” Ellie yelped as a cold, wet hand was placed on her shoulder. “Ellie, calm down. You were chosen for a reason. other creatures love you!” A watery female figure, Terry, was smiling at her overwhelmed silk friend. “You’re gonna be an amazing asset to this team, El. I know it.” Terry smiled and Ellie, who smiled back nervously. 

At that moment, a fiery portal burst from the ground and a figure began to emerge from the lava pool. It’s top half was that of a semi-humanoid shape with a black mask with dark orange cracks, resembling scorched earth. Hot red eyes stare at the Terry, who looked indifferently at him. “Rag... I thought you weren’t coming.”  Terry said. “It’s not like I wanted to come. But my Majordomo insisted.” ,Rag scoffed, “Can we get on with this already? I have other things to attend to.” 

 “Pfft”, Terry chuckled, “If you stopped talking like we’re still in the primordial times, people would take you a bit more seriously.” Rag’s flame grew a bit, “I don’t know about you, but I am definitely talking correctly. You’ve been hanging out with mechs too much. The sludge oil must be getting to your head.” A splash of water hit Rag in the face and he hissed. Terry smirked, “Watch who you’re talking to ‘Fire Prince’, this council is supposed to bring all creatures together after all.” She smiled at him, to which Rag responded with a glare.

  Two more figures entered, one humanoid red and brown bird and a girl in a traditional pandaren dress, along with a red cricket hair clip in her straightened hair. The bird yawned, the girl looked at her companion and spoke in a soft tone, “Looks like someone didn’t sleep early enough last night.” Yuni giggled a bit before her companion, Aril, responded. “Hey.Don’t blame me!”, He yawned again before speaking, “Blame the hatchlings...they never stop moving...and getting lost...and...” He began to doze off before Yuni hit him with her elbow. “ Come on, Ari. What type of leader sleeps on the job?” “Well, I have no idea why anyone chose me, the hatchery caretaker, to lead when I already work three 6 hour shifts. Aril rubbed his eyes and slapped his face a bit to keep himself a wake. Yuni notices Rag and smiles brightly at him. “Ragnaros! I’m glad you’re here!” “I’m not.”, Rag replied. Yuni chuckled, “Well either way, we will soon be able to discuss some issues that our tribes have with one another, and hopefully settle our differences.” Rag rolled his eyes, “Yes. I’m sure this council will provide a very... interesting take into one another’s society.” 

Another woman wearing a jade green dress with a golden dragon embroidered onto it and a young man wearing a sky blue jacket with a golden tiger stitched to the back talked amongst themselves as they entered. “And that is why, I believe that Windwool is one of the best cloths to use in dressmaking. What do you think, Xu 'Fu? “ the woman asked. “I liked all your arguments, Yu’la. They are very well thought out”, Xu ‘Fu said with a smile and he turned to the others, “Hello everyone! is everyone excited for the ceremony?” Terry and Ellie raised their hand up high and shouted “Definitely!” at the same time. Rag was indifferent and simply shrugged and muttered “Meh” in response and Aril was passed out in his chair. Yuni came up and hugged Yu’la and Xu ‘Fu tightly,”I’m glad you two are hear!” They hugged Yuni back and were taken aback by how strong she was. “We’re happy to see you too..oof..Yuni. Could you.please loosen your hug though? I can’t breathe.” Xu ‘Fu said smiling nervously. Yuni immediately let them both go. “Sorry about that guys!” she apologized. Yu’la smiled “It’s alright, Yuni. I promise.”  

The room began had a sudden chill to it, as if the temperature had dropped tremendously in only a matter of moments. Yuni, Xu ’Fu, and Yu’ la had gripped their arms while Terry and Ellie hugged each other to keep warm. Aril was chattering his teeth in his sleep while Rag leaned against the wall, holding his arms, even he was getting cold. “This is no ordinary cold.. this is the chill of death itself.”, Rag looked to see a female figure who was slightly transparent and hovered with ghostly white wings. “Valitria, surprising to see you here.” Rag stated. Valitria spoke in a low, foreboding tone, “I could say the same for you, fire prince. It is simply an obligation that I must keep in order for our tribes to finally be united. Valitria looked around the room, “Hello beings of life, do not be alarmed. I have not come to take you...yet.”, Valitria stated. “That’s...good I guess?”,Terry commented ,” Alright. who are we waiting for now?” Ellie answered immediately, “I think that the mechanical and humanoid representatives aren’t here yet.” 

At that exact moment, a loud crash could be heard from just behind the group, all of which turned to see a small, impish boy in wore- down jeans and a rough looking jacket and a thin, dark-skinned male wearing sunglasses and brandishing jeweled rings and belts  come into the room grinning to themselves. “That was AWESOME!” exclaimed the impish boy, the taller dark-skinned male chuckled “Damn right it was awesome! We gotta do it again.” Rag spoke with a smirk on his face as he spoke to the taller boy, “Look who finally arrived, I truly wonder how it took you this long to get here, Bling. With all your ‘State of the art’ technology you keep preaching about.” Bling shrugged his shoulders and looked at his hand, “Oh well. I’m here, ain’t I?” He replied snarkily towards Rag. Rag rolled his eyes and chuckled as he slowly clapped, ”Bravo! You’re actually HERE. What an amazing feat! Want a cookie?” “Hmph”, Bling responded with a quick glare and irritation in his voice as he walked away from Rag.

 The impish boy approached Ellie and waved shyly. Ellie waved back kindly, “How are you today?” The impish boy replied with a much softer tone than what he had come in with. “I-I’m fine thank you. Y-yourself? I’m Kariz by the way. But you can just call me ‘K’.” Ellie sighed. “I don’t really know, K. I’m supposed to feel like a leader... but I just don’t see why anyone else couldn’t have been chosen.” Kariz sat beside Ellie “I know the feeling..” Ellie smiled at Kariz, “Well.. I guess with other people to help us, it won’t be as bad right?” Kariz nodded and smiled back, “ Definitely!” 

Horns began to sound and a small miniature robot came in from the other side of the curtain to greet them. “The ceremony has begun! When your name is called, please proceed to front stage.” Everyone waited as the announcements began. 

“To all my fellow creatures! I am proud to announce our elected council!” The crowd cheered as he spoke and the sound of stomping and clapping echoed throughout the audience. It took a minute before the speaker could silence the crowd again. “I know that many of our different tribes have indeed had their differences and struggles against one another but I believe that we must not dwell on the past and now focus on our future, not as strangers, but as friends and neighbors. Now, enough of the preliminary announcements, it time to present our council members! And the first tribe is... Magic!” A firework popped into the air and exploded, creating a four pointed purple star. “ Our Magical representative is Ellie Plush!” Ellie took a huge gulp and headed past the curtain, walking to the speaker and nervously shook hands with them before being presented a medal. “ I am honored and humbled to be the one who bares the responsibility I have. I will do my best to achieve peace and represent the Magic community in the council!” She said proudly with little nervousness in her voice. 

The crowd  was wild with laughter and excitement, clapping for her from the minute she got on stage to the moment she was off stage. Ellie breathed out heavily and smiled at her new peers, who congratulated her. The rest of the council was announced and with every single announcement, the crowd for each tribe roared loudest for each of their representatives. 

“Ragnaros II for Elemental representative!” 

“Terry Puddle for Aquatic representative!” 

“ Xu ‘Fu for Beast representative!” 

“Yu’ la for Draconic representative!”

“ Yuni, ‘Red Cricket’ for Critter representative!” 

“Aril Teroclaw for Flying representative!”  

“Valitria Deathblossom for Undead representative!”

“Kariz Fiendish for Humanoid representative!”

“Blingtron Mini for Mechanical representative” 

Bling groaned “I told them to leave that out..” 

At the end of the ceremony, all the representatives stood before the crowd and bowed, with the audience bowing back as a form of respect. They all said their vows. 

“This council shall treat each and every creature as an equal and will protect everyone from harm or wrong doing. This council will be a place to exchange ideas and also negotiate with each other. This council is only made possible by you and we are all forever grateful! Thank you!” The entire crowd roared over excitement and the newly formed council members smiled and were proud of themselves and their people. When they all went to sleep that night, they readied themselves for the challenges ahead. 

(I hope you enjoyed this little prologue of mine! took me about 3 hours to write it all 0w0. Let me know what youguys think! 

.Ragnaros, Terry, Yuni, Aril, Valitria, Kariz, Bling, Xu ‘Fu, Yu’ la, Yuni, and Ellie are available for asks.)

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #195: Assault on a Mind Cage!

May, 1980

... Wasp’s new outfit is just so terrible.

And I’m a little bummed that apparently Wasp is going to end up captured and have to be rescued by her husband and her husband’s spin-off character.

She’s on the Avengers now and Hank isn’t and I was hoping that she’d get to grow into herself a little bit.

But hey... first time Ant-Man, Yellowjacket and the Wasp are together in one book apparently? And first time the new Ant-Man is appearing in Avengers, the team that will ruin his life and then kill him.

H-hooray?

So last time: the Avengers had a quiet day (except Vision who broke a bunch of stuff because he was a poet and didn’t know it) which was ruined when an escapee from an institute for the criminally insane showed up and begged the Avengers to save him from people that were trying to kill him.

Instead of doing that, the Avengers handed Selbe back over to the Institute because, hey, their paperwork was all in order!

Wasp thought there was more going on than was apparent and followed back to the institute with the Avengers following after once they realized that Wasp was missing.

And that brings us to now, where the Avengers are lurking outside the Solomon Institute for the Criminally Insane in Southampton, Long Island.

The Wasp is inside, maybe.

Also, they picked up Yellowjacket and Ant-Man at some point on the way.

But they also never explained anything to Yellowjacket at some point along the way which gives an excuse for Captain America to recap the previous issue.

Iron Man chimes in some exposition that he learned off-panel about the Solomon Institute. Apparently this institute for the criminally insane is choosy who they accept as a patients, which is a weird quality for a psychological institute to have, right?

But not weird enough to get the Avengers a search warrant so instead they’re going to flaunt the law by having Yellowjacket sneak in to snoop around.

Oh and apparently the Avengers didn’t pick up Ant-Man. Yellowjacket invited him along and he’s been lurking tiny sized waiting to make a dramatic entrance, which he does when Iron Man laments having to send Yellowjacket in alone.

Although its less of a partnership and more of a... job shadowing?

Ant-Man: “YJ asked me to meet him here when he found out what the scam was. And being something of a neophyte in the super hero biz, I jumped at the chance to learn at the hands -- er, wings -- of an old pro!”

Intern Ant-Man. Antern-Man!

So with Captain America telling them to get on with it already, Yellowjacket and Ant-Man fly off to infiltrate.

And Yellowjacket thanks Scott Lang Ant-Man for coming along.

Yellowjacket: “I appreciate your coming along on such short notice, Scott. I know your job at Stark International is important, and --”

Ant-Man: “Say, look, I enjoy soldering transistors as much as the next guy -- but the reason I originally took your offer to be Ant-Man was because I craved excitement and adventure. And if that means being docked an hour’s pay, pal, then them’s the breaks!”

I like that transistors are still a huge deal in Stark’s company. Tony Stark doesn’t forget his roots.

But also I misread Scott’s line and briefly struggled with the incorrect revelation that Scott Lang invented PayPal.

I briefly existed in a very different and confusing world.

Anyway, Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, and a giant swarm of ants sneak in through the keyhole of a side door at the Solomon Institute. And nobody notices.

There’s a guard right next to the door and he doesn’t hear a giant swarm of ants flying through a keyhole.

I was under the impression that that many flying insects creates a racket.

So as the strangely hearing impaired guard trudges off to get coffee, Ant-Man and Yellowjacket climb into the ventilation system while Ant-Man tells his ants to split up, gang, to cover more ground.

The two size-shifting heroes take a tour through the vents and see that this supposed institute is very weird.

Like. Should a place for treating the criminally insane have so many guns in the big communal bedroom? Or a big communal bedroom?

And instead of therapy, they spot people doing combat drills. Or maybe its... physical therapy?

And further along, they spot a group of people talking about candidates, students and fulfilling an order for Dr. Octopus.

Why would Dr. Octopus need inmates from an institute of criminally insan-

Oh wait a dang minute.

This isn’t an institute for the criminally insane at all, or at least not in the mental health sense!

The Solomon Institute is a front for a training academy for all those goons that supervillains always seem to have!

Although to be fair, Ant-Man and probably some of the audience have probably wondered where all those faceless lackeys came from (they have a name, Scott, probably!)

And disguising it as a place for the criminally insane means nobody would suspect a thing because training camp/institute, they’d both have a lot of criminals hanging around.

But the tour is over because “Steed” the ant and friends have returned with news on the Wasp’s whereabouts.

And she’s. She was captured off-panel (dammit, comic) and is being kept in some kind of dumb oxygen tent to keep her unconscious with sleeping gas.

She’s the only one of the Avengers that had any kind of initiative and insight and you play her like this, this comic? Come on!

There’s so many other ways this could have been played other than having her be the damsel in distress.

She could be solid snaking the institute, looking for actionable informations. She could have set off one of those emergency beacons from last time to lead the Avengers to her position. Anything other than caught off-panel!

Hmph.

Anyway, Yellowjacket blames himself because clearly with him around to tell her what to do, this wouldn’t have happened. Ant-Man, more savvy to the combined effectiveness of Yellowjacket and the Wasp instead predicts that Hank would have ended up captured too.

Also, Ant-Man has an ant-plan.

I.e., he plans to use ants to solve this and every other problem.

Its what he does, what he knows, and what he’ll stick with, thank you very much.

So Ant-Man summons a big swarm of ants to distract the guards and random scientist with biting of the eyeballs and otherwise and then Yellowjacket flies down to shoot one with his disrupter blasts and Ant-Man does the growing uppercut thing that is a cornerstone of Shrink Fu.

Then they get Wasp out of that dumb oxygen/sleeping gas tent and she revives almost immediately.

I don’t know how sleeping gas works but it seems like maybe it would take longer than that but whatever.

And with Wasp awake and “Just... slightly embarrassed. I-it only hurts... when I think” she can recount What Happened To The Wasp.

So, yes. We get to see her damseled on-panel. Honestly, its a little better than the alternative. =\

So since she thought that Selbe was telling the truth when the Solomon Institute’s limo took him away, she followed on wing.

Wasp: “It was so cold... I was almost as blue as my boots by the time we reached the Solomon Institute... but that was nothing compared to the chill I felt when I saw those stormtrooper guards... and heard the orderlies told to prepare Selbe for some sort of operation!”

Hey. Maybe you wouldn’t be so cold if you didn’t design a new costume during wintertime that is missing a sleeve and a pant leg? Just a thought.

Seriously, why this new costume?

Sure she was right about shady business, Wasp slipped into Selbe’s cell and returned to normal size to try to revive him.

But that was a stupid move because apparently there were hidden cameras in the cell and the room was filled with fast-acting sleeping gas to incapacitate her.

And the next thing she knew, she was being woken up by Ant-Man and Yellowjacket.

And then she starts making out with Yellowjacket because that’s what you do when your husband rescues you from a fake institute that’s really a training camp for mooks. You get a little frisky.

But Ant-Man points out the obvious thing. If Selbe’s cell was monitored, what are the odds that this room is too?

Very. Very odds.

Dr Solomon: “A most perspicacious query, young man. Unfortunately -- it is also rather tardy!”

Geez. Its always a bit hurtful when the villains call the heroes dumbasses. Its usually true but its like adding insult to intended injury. Exactly like that, in fact.

And we meet Dr. Pernell Solomon, as spoiled by my putting his name on that offset dialogue.

Wasp exclaims - and I’ll take her word for this - that Dr. Solomon looks just like Selbe except thirty years older.

So Solomon reveals that Selbe IS HIM DUN DUN DUNNN! but for more information please join him in his study. And that please is just to be polite. The guns that attack the nervous system are the real please in this situation.

Meanwhile, outside, the Avengers continue to wait outside. In the snow.

Luckily Beast thought to bring coffee. Although when this happened will be a mystery. Maybe the Avengers just keep some instant brew on the Quinjet just in case. That would make sense.

Either way, the point of this vignette is a conversation between Wonder Man and Ms Marvel.

And the point of the conversation between Wonder man and Ms Marvel is how Carol is an overreacting, touchy feminist.

I cannot think of any other intended reading for this exchange:

Wonder Man: “I can’t help it, Ms. Marvel. I’m worried. Maybe Iron Man and I should have just smashed our way in and pulled the Wasp out. After all, we are --”

Ms Marvel: “--‘Men’? Are you still on that kick? Look, Simon, I know you were out of action for a long time, but this isn’t the 60′s anymore! You’ve got to learn that women are more than fair damsels waiting to be rescued by shining knights! The Wasp is a valuable team member, as competent as any of her male counterparts! She --.”

Wonder Man: “Ms. Marvel, what I was going to say was that perhaps we should have gone after the Wasp because we’re... her friends.”

Ms Marvel: “‘Her...?’ oh.”

=|

I choose to believe that the ellipses in Wonder Man’s reply is because he’s frantically trying to dig himself out of the hole he put himself in.

But that’s not the intended reading. I know that because the very next panel has Beast smirking across the distance and Jocasta suggesting they put more sugar in Carol’s coffee.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Isn’t it hilarious how tightly wound she is?

I don’t want to pretend I can guess the motives of the creative staff behind these books from across the gulf of time. But considering whats in store for Carol, a writing out of the book that would make Classic Doctor Who go ‘geez that’s fucked up’ I can’t think that otherwise.

At least in Avengers so far, Carol has been pretty chill about her feminism and Wonder Man has been stuck in the past.

But this swaps things so Wonder Man is the poor, put-upon misinterpreted well-meaning dude.

Bah.

Anyway.

Ant-Man, the Wasp, and Yellowjacket are taken at gunpoint to Dr Solomon’s office so he can explain EVERYTHING.

Why? Because otherwise how would we, the audience, understand what was going on?

Basically, Selbe is a clone of Dr Solomon.

DUN DUN DUN

Well. Its slightly more obvious if you know German since Selbe apparently means “same.”

Because Dr Solomon was born with a weak heart and a rare blood type so it would be hard to get a transplant. So obviously the most correct and obvious solution is to just grow a new heart that is genetically identical.

This raises the question, if Selbe is just a clone of Solomon, wouldn’t his heart also be weak? But surely a scientific genius who explains his whole plot to superheroes would have thought of that.

Selbe is just a few months old, by the way. Artificially aged up.

Why is it even necessary for the clone to be self-aware if he’s just an organ harvest or why it even needs to be a full-bodied clone if you’re just after a heart is a mystery.

Because here’s what happened. Selbe heard that he was going to be killed to be harvested and also heard about the Avengers and decided ‘fuck this shit, i’m out’ and escaped to look for the Avengers’ help.

Of course we all know how that went. With him right back where he started and several Avengers being forced to listen to exposition at gunpoint.

Wasp actually questions why someone intelligent enough to set up a secret training school for supervillain mooks would need to create a full, self-aware clone just to get a heart but Solomon reveals that he’s just an administrator. He didn’t set this up. And if it gets out that he was using resources for a personal project, geez would he be in trouble!

He has no trouble saying that in front of several of his guards who no doubt would never blackmail him.

Dr Solomon: Pretty smart dude.

Also he notices that Yellowjacket has been wiggling his... shoulder wing things.... and tells him to cut it out.

But wiggling his shoulder things allowed Yellowjacket to build up a charge for his DISRUPTER BLASTS!

FZZAK ZZAK!

And Ant-Man punches a guy too. Good job, Ant-Man.

Dr Solomon tells his remaining two guards to “jangle them!” because the neural attacking guns are called janglers.

Takes some of the menace out. JANGLE THEM YOU FOOLS! See?

But the two guards find their guns clogged with ants.

Good job, Ant-Man! And Yellowjacket had detected the ant controlling signals so that’s why he knew it was safe to attack.

Dr Solomon decides he’ll try to strangle Wasp because she hasn’t contributed to the escape attempt at all so she must be a pushover.

And granted, I was just about to complain about that but when Solomon grabs her, Wasp introduces his chin to the heel of her palm.

“This ‘lady’ -- is a champ!” indeed!

Also “Nice teamwork, people” indeed. Wasp is just saying all the right things.

I begrudgingly forgive her of her new costume.

More guards burst in but rather than wide-dispersal *snrrk* janglers, they’re carrying cartridge weapons so everyone shrinks down to avoid the guns or perhaps lasers and then Yellowjacket and Wasp combine their respective blasts to COLLAPSE THE ROOF ON THE GUARDS

DANG

I can never get a bead on how powerful the disrupters and bio-stings are supposed to be...

Meanwhile, outside again, the Avengers notice a vehicle approach and land at the institute.

“The sinister craft glides slowly down from a gun-gray sky... hovers for a moment... and then settles with a metallic whisper. The master has arrived!”

The Avengers boggle vacantly at how advanced the ship is and Wonder Man says that they should be ready for anything.

But meanwhile, inside again, I’m noticing that although the Avengers are involved, this is basically an Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp team-up story.

The three of them find Selbe’s chamber and there’s only one guard guarding it. So Wasp flies inside his ear and whistles

REALLY LOUDLY

And then flies out, grows, and chops him in the back of the head to knock him out.

While complaining about how waxy the guy’s ear was.

It was your decision to go for this tactic, Jan.

They unlock Selbe’s cell. Wasp tells him they’re getting him out of here and they’re going to find the one really behind all this madness and-

Aw dang.

The one really behind all this madness found them.

And beat up Yellowjacket and Ant-Man so quickly and so off-panel that Wasp didn’t even notice.

Taskmaster: “My moniker’s the Taskmaster, shuggy, and I run this little operation -- along with a dozen or so others. My shtick is teaching the teachers, an’ I’ve just decided that you an’ your sleepyhead partners here would make perfect visual aides for my next class. It’s one o’ my favorites, dumplin’. I call it -- DISMEMBERMENT 101!”

Yup. Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiintroducing, Taskmaster! And he’ll be staying around for a while.

Just like the Terrible Tinkerer was introduced to explain where the villains got all their fabulous toys, the Taskmaster was introduced to explain where villains got their never ending armies of vaguely competent henchmen.

But as you can tell by the next issue caption, this is a three-part story. So to be continued next time.

Follow @essential-avengers. I’m at 13 followers. Sad, ain’t it? But with seven more, I can be forced to cover some alternate Avengers that aren’t the main 616 ones. What Ifs?, alternate universes, terrible terrible cartoons. The spectrum of everything is your menu.

[weirdo-with-a-nametag]

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? Me. Just now, to spite you.

2. Are you outgoing or shy? I’m loud, and friendly, but terrified. Sometimes I go out of my way to socialize with a lot of people, and sometimes I try to be as unnoticeable as possible. It takes a lot out of me, but it seems necessary to be social.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? My best friend, my sisters, my dad

4. Are you easy to get along with? I’ve been told I am by reputable sources

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? I have a pact that my best friend and I are to get drunk together one of these days, and he’s nice so he would care, but knowing myself I’ll probably be the one taking care of him, or I’d just pass out on the floor and he’d go sleep

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? nah

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? nah

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? what opposite?

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? not really? I mean, wait, my approach to talking about sex is somewhat clinical. If other people talk about it in other ways, I can get really uncomfortable really fast. That’s part of what I mean by “sex-averse.” If someone’s talking about sex including me, I freak a little.

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? mm, probably my dad. We talked things out a few days after I moved out, which was recent.

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say? it says, “Who?”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? I am So Bad at favorites. No, thank you, today.

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? Some people, if I know they’re going to, for sure.

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? Yeah. The world would be less interesting to me without luck.

15. What good thing happened this summer? I got an Infinity Cube (and proceeded to mess with it nonstop fr so long that I had to hide it for the next week until my hand stopped hurting), and I made several thousand dollars for my savings.

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? The last person would be my little sister’s goodbye kiss. Absolutely, I love her.

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? Of course.

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? who?

19. Do you like bubble baths? bubble baths are nice in concept. I always end up hurting my back by lying in bathtubs, though.

20. Do you like your neighbors? My neighbors hate my family. But me, personally... I’ve never been anything but nice to them, and I think we’re on okay terms. We don’t interact much.

21. What are you bad habits? I bite my nails, ignore my “eat food” alarms, stay up until after sunrise for NO REASON I cannot go to sleep, I get kinda snippy if my mom starts a conversation we’ve already had, use wrappers as coasters instead of throwing my trash away, and rarely stick with something long enough to make anything of it. I have a 95% assembled 3D printer sitting in my room. It’s been at that point for 8 months at least.

22. Where would you like to travel? Oh, yes, I want to learn languages and see the wildlife and touch the water and lay in snow outside of Oregon. Please.

23. Do you have trust issues? Doesn’t everyone? I recently figured out another level to mine, though. Fun!

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? putting on tea water and music while I do the dishes

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? Check the dysphoria for that one. But runner-ups: it’s really uncomfortable to feel my skin-on-skin when I bend my torso too far, fat rolls are a bad sensory experience for me. Amy oily or overly dry skin is distracting, and my ears always feel like they need to be popped.

26. What do you do when you wake up? During quarantine it’s been go back to sleep, eventually turn on some tv, wait for my housemate to get up .

28. Who are you most comfortable around? mm, my two closest friends, or my housemate.

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? Have one ex, who asked me something that smelled like it was leading toward “do you want to get back together?” recently. But I don’t think either of us regret breaking up, when we did. It was the right choice.

30. Do you ever want to get married? Eh, how are the tax benefits? I wouldn’t mind, but I have a hard time believing it’d be because we fell in love, and it’s also terribly restricting. I’d honestly rather have a household of 4, a big poly qpr specifically, so I’m not lonely and I can put my love somewhere, and we can support each other. That sounds great.

31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail? mhm

33. Spell your name with your chin. l,kianaz       --I did that twice and it’s identical

34. Do you play sports? What sports? Nah. If you count climbing, then yes, but not competitively. I played ultimate frizbee for a bit? And I like playing hockey. 

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? TV. No question. Music is the  foundation of the machine that pulls me through my day-to-day. That sounds dramatic, but a more precise explanation would be annoyingly long. Someone gets it.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? mm, I “like” my best friend in some kinda way, but I’m sure he knows my feeling as well as I do. (still not very well, but the point here is that I’m an open book and we’re close)

37. What do you say during awkward silences? I either don’t register them at all, or I do and immediately divert to some mental or physical activity. Usually blurt out a random thing on my mind, change the subject, or... throw something. Sometimes I throw things at people I want to talk to. Not sure how to explain that one.

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? ?

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? Clothes shopping is exhausting, what with the endless textures and noises and flourescent lights and linoleum floors and I come out of it with one (1) acceptable shirt and a feeling like I’ve been sanding the edges off of my brain with a belt sander for the hours I spent in the store. Grocery shopping can be fun, but it’s usually more pain than the food is worth, and I like looking for art supplies - SCRAP here in portland is fun. Oh, and lumber stores or carpet warehouses, if I can get away with climbing.

40. What do you want to do after high school? I want to go to college for physics, graduate and move out of the country for grad school, and end up on a research grant teaching somewhere. On my current trajectory, I’ll probably flunk out next year and go to the Job Corps for Forestry training. Look for a job as a ranger, maybe. Volunteer with rescue crews. Not a bad life at all, but I love learning and I’d feel a bit cut off, I think.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? Yeah. People deserve second chances in life, but we need to answer for our actions. And no one has the right to demand a second chance from a person. You don’t “deserve” that. You might get a second chance, if you’re lucky. But it’s luck and kindness and trust, not deserved, that you are responsible for taking care not to break.

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? Probably I’m just thinking, in some way or another. Sometimes I’m keeping myself from running out of the room, sometimes I’m focused on my music, sometimes I’m coming up with something to say

43. Do you smile at strangers? Usually. I try to smile when I make eye contact with people, try and be nice, if I feel safe

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? Space is attractive but I think I’d see/discover more with a physical deep sea trip than a physical deep space trip. Faster, certainly.

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? Music, usually, or someone yelling, or I need to pee.

46. What are you paranoid about? my actions having a “butterfly effect” and hurting people, every person, every time I interact with them, but the effects seem so small that no one notices. It’s already too late.

47. Have you ever been high? no? I get a weird loopy reaction to Ibuprofen sometimes, but I’ve never been intentionally intoxicated

48. Have you ever been drunk? see above

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? I stole some pez? But people know about that. Oh. the answer is yes.

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? black

51. Ever wished you were someone else? mm, not really. I’ve wished I didn’t exist, but not to be another person who does exist

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? If I could trust my sense of right and wrong, that would be nice. But physically? I want wings, big enough to fly with.

54. Favourite store? my favorite tea shop was Townshend’s, but they changed. There’s a kombucha place under my kung fu place that’s good, though.

56. Favourite colour? I usually say cobalt.

57. Favourite food? no idea

58. Last thing you ate? 5-am-midnight-dinner-tacos

59. First thing you ate this morning? I am denying the fact that it is morning.

60. Ever won a competition? For what? I won multiple boat races in my 8th grade shop class. Oh and my robotics team went to state two years in a row

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? nah. Got detention for something in middle school, and a lot of trouble in elementary school, but no suspensions.

62. Been arrested? For what? .....no

63. Ever been in love? questionable

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? my what

65. Are you hungry right now? I’m very rarely hungry. Also just ate. No.

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? I have 1 1/2 tumblr friends, none of which I know better than my real-life friends, so my bonds with them are not as strong, no

67. Facebook or Twitter? neither

68. Twitter or Tumblr? tumblr 

69. Are you watching tv right now? no

70. Names of your bestfriends? I refuse

71. Craving something? What? sleep

72. What colour are your towels? whatever color is cheapest

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? right now there are five pillows on my bed. Not a personal choice. If given the option, one, maybe two.

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? not really

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? probably 12, including in storage and display-only

75. Favourite animal? there are too many cool animals. It was the wolverine for a while though

76. What colour is your underwear? blue today

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? usually chocolate. Been on a vanilla kick lately though

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? used to go for mint chocolate chip whenever it was available, but I like cherry, moose tracks, I like most things without marshmallows or cake batter, unless you get really weird.

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? blue.

80. What colour pants? orange, with white dotted plaid striping

81. Favourite tv show? how to pick. I’m rewatching Leverage this week, and the Magicians is visually appealing

82. Favourite movie? uh? It was Treasure planet for several months when I was 7, and I have a deep appreciation for the movie adaptation of Holes, but I don’t know abou favorites right now. The Usual Suspects is good though

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? I don’t think I’ve watched either

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? again, no clue

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? I

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? Dory, or the manta ray, or the baby sea turtle

87. First person you talked to today?... my mom? I think

88. Last person you talked to today? my mom

89. Name a person you hate? no

90. Name a person you love? my sisters. both of them.

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? god. Let me sleep.

92. In a fight with someone? kind of in a fight with my mom over cleaning? Not much of a fight though.

93. How many sweatpants do you have? three? Maybe more if you expand the definition

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? 3 sweaters, 4-5 hoodies

95. Last movie you watched? Holes

98. Do you tan a lot? I burn in 10 minutes or less, guaranteed, and I don’t really tan no matter what

99. Have any pets? yes! Lots! 4 cats, 3 dogs, 2 snakes. Lovely sweet creatures

100. How are you feeling? vibrate-y

101. Do you type fast? no, I cheated in typing class and now I type with three fingers and a braille keyboard

102. Do you regret anything from your past? most of it

103. Can you spell well? I think so

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? I miss my best (and only) friend from elementary school. We haven’t talked since the summer after 5th grade.

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? I have thrown many bonfire parties, and been to those of others

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? I have no idea. Oh. Maybe a little? But we’re still friends, so I think it’s ok

107. Have you ever been on a horse? yeah, horses are fun

108. What should you be doing? sleeping!

109. Is something irritating you right now? my hip

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? “liked”? probably not

111. Do you have trust issues? isn’t this on here twice? Yes, I have trust issues.

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? mm, my dad and a psychologist

113. What was your childhood nickname? I didn’t have one until middle school, and then it was “Lemur” for about a year. Now it’s Murphy

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? I’ve been everywhere between Oregon and Virginia (drove across to move here), Idaho, California, Indiana, DC, Washington, Texas, Vegas specifically, Florida, Canada, and China.

115. Do you play the Wii? Used to play mariokart with my dad

116. Are you listening to music right now? yeah, right at this moment it’s “Tribulation” by Matt Maeson

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? I guess. Usually the noodles are disgusting, usually it’s canned, and that’s not good

118. Do you like Chinese food? there are definitely dishes in amaricanized Chinese food that I like, and for sure dishes in authentic Chinese food that I love, so I guess so?

119. Favourite book? Ah. No comment.

120. Are you afraid of the dark? I don’t think so.

121. Are you mean? I think I can be, but everyone outside my family seems to think I’m an angel, so

122. Is cheating ever okay? Listen, if you can’t tell your SO you’re interested in another person and talk through what that means with them, I think you have more important things to do? That said, I have no experience here. From other people talking about it and my general idea of the fallout and trust, no. Don’t.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? Highly unlikely. I have never tried, or wanted to

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? I don’t even know what love feels like

125. Do you believe in true love? I’m sure whatever it is can be as “true” as you believe it to be

126. Are you currently bored? always

127. What makes you happy? making things, making people happy, seeing beautiful things, and music

128. Would you change your name? I might

129. What your zodiac sign? Cancer

130. Do you like subway? no

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? I ask “what are you looking for in our relationship that is not currently there,” and we move from there. Communication and understanding. This is what happened with me and my (now) ex. We’re closer for having talked through our relationship and breakup, honestly.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? Another repeat? My dad and a psychologist.

133. Favourite lyrics right now? mm, “I want my answers to be questioned” from “Take Me Back” by Kongos because reasons I can’t explain right now. Also a bunch of Lake Ponchartrain by Ludo because I like that song and a bunch of The Mountain Goats but I can’t think sorry

134. Can you count to one million? If I dedicated the time, but why

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? Convinced my neighbor my name was “oop” or something like that? And that my real name was actually my middle name. Completely on impulse. I did convince her, though. 3rd grade me did know what was up, apparently.

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? closed. Windows open, though, it gets way too hot in here 

137. How tall are you? 5′5″ish

138. Curly or Straight hair? straight

139. Brunette or Blonde? n/a. Red.

140. Summer or Winter? winter. I overheat and I love snow and ice skating

141. Night or Day? night. Stars and no sunburn or sunlight-headaches

142. Favourite month? no idea

143. Are you a vegetarian? nah

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? dark

145. Tea or Coffee? tea

146. Was today a good day? today was long

147. Mars or Snickers? snickers, I suppose. I don’t like either of these

148. What’s your favourite quote? I’ve come across several quotes I thought were terribly clever and I wanted to remember, and I remember none of them. Although recently “anything worth doing is worth doing halfway” has been good to me

149. Do you believe in ghosts? can’t think of a reason not to

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? (via catscuddlingandyou) I’ll level. It’s 7:39am, I haven’t slept, and everything hurts, I don’t really want to get out of bed and look for a book for this. I’ll pull up the book I have on my phone, though. “so unnerved was he at the sight that he leaned against the wall with his hand to his throat to stifle his inclination to call out.”

[hysterialevi]

In the Smoke pt. 22 (Cobblebats)

(Sorry that this one took a while to post, I was a little stumped for a few days, but I’m back now. Hope you enjoy!)

From Thomas’ POV

GCPD

Observing the city from a rooftop, I scanned the surrounding area like a hawk for any of the Children of Arkham, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. I wasn’t entirely certain if Bruce had been genuine when he warned me about their next attack, and to be honest, it was a risky move focusing all my attention on the GCPD, but the commissioner’s death wasn’t something I was willing to risk. Gotham had lost enough of its citizens. I couldn’t let it lose the person protecting them.

“Batman,” Gordon’s frantic voice broke the silence as the lieutenant approached me from behind, cigarette in hand. “Have you seen anything yet?”

“No,” I answered. “The Children of Arkham are quiet tonight. Probably hoping to take the GCPD by surprise. What about Gideon? Has he said anything?”

He hesitated. “That’s the thing...” Gordon sighed. “He’s gone.”

I turned away from the edge of the roof, facing Gordon. “What do you mean he’s gone? Is he dead?”

“No, no,” he quickly corrected. “Not dead. Just missing. I dunno how, but the bastard managed to escape. And you know what’s even stranger? None of my men can recall when he did it. Just think about it. All those guards keeping watch on him--and not a single one can tell me when Gideon broke free. There’s also the fact that no one got hurt. It’s like he just...vanished...into thin air. Like he never existed. It gives me the creeps.”

 I prepared my drones, commanding them to circle around the GCPD. 

“Well, we can worry about Gideon later. For now, we have a much bigger threat to deal with.”

“Right,” Gordon crossed his arms. “Those freaks have already taken a few officers hostage. We can’t let them get their hands on Grogan too. I have everyone on high alert and prepared to come face-to-face with the Children of Arkham, if need be. There’s also a small group ready to go in case they decide to hit elsewhere in the city.”

“Good thinking.”

Gordon let out a breath, scratching the back of his head. “We need to get these maniacs out of our city, Batman, and soon. I’ve never seen a threat like them before. They’re ruthless.” A trail of smoke puffed from the lieutenant’s nose. “At least when they killed Falcone, they were helping us. Killing Grogan though...we can’t let that happen.”

I agreed. “And we won’t.”

Just then, Gordon’s walkie-talkie scratched with a static-like noise.

“Lieutenant, some of our men at the south wing are under fire! There are snipers trying to take ‘em out!”

Before Gordon could respond, I already equipped my grapple-gun and aimed it at a building across from the GCPD, preparing to fling myself across the giant gap as I glanced over my shoulder.

“I’ll deal with the snipers,” I told him. “You just keep your men safe.”

The lieutenant nodded as thanks. “Thank you, and good luck. This isn’t going to be easy.”

Pressing the trigger, the grappling hook jolted outwards and engraved itself into the other building’s surface, allowing me to soar through the sky as the darkness cloaked my tracks and police sirens flashed beneath me. Meanwhile, I could see officers scurrying all over the place like little ants, doing their best to secure the station and keep the terrorists out as gunfire began reaching my ears. The fight had already started. Now, it was just a matter of staying alive.

From Bruce’s POV

Waiting for Oz’s signal, I patiently guarded a group of hostages that we had collected as I sat on the edge of a desk, all of them staring at my mask in curiosity. It was ironic, I thought, how I was called “The Unknown” when the entire city was more than familiar with the shield that covered my face. If only they knew who wore it.

Fiddling with my gun, I thought back to the argument I had with Oz at the club as a sense of guilt started to tear me apart, making me wish I had never said any of those things. He was the only person I had left in this godforsaken city, and the last thing I wanted was to lose him. Though, as much as I loved the man, I couldn’t help but feel as if what we were doing was wrong.

It all made sense in the beginning. Hill and Falcone, they were both stains on Gotham, and I didn’t even have to question why we’d want to get rid of them. Their deaths meant safer lives for Gotham’s citizens, and with my father’s empire coming to a collapse, the chances of what happened to Oz and I happening to anyone else slimmed down drastically. 

But killing Grogan? What was that going to do besides piss the GCPD off even more? They were already at our throats and hunting us down like animals as it was. Murdering the commissioner was just going to paint bigger targets on our backs, and at the moment, that wasn’t something we could afford.

“Boss,” one of my men jogged up to me, “Penguin says we’re ready to move. The commissioner’s still inside the building, and everyone’s prepared to attack. He wants you to lead.”

Acting as if I never heard what he just said, I remained motionless in my seat, glancing back and forth from my gun to the hostages as he stared at me in confusion, waiting for an answer. 

“Boss?” He repeated, frantically looking around. “Should we...should we get going?”

Gently pushing myself off the desk, I suddenly found myself cocking my pistol and firing a bullet into the man’s head as all the hostages gasped in unison, gaping at me in bewilderment.

“Boss--!” One of the other men exclaimed, “What the--what the fu--”

Before he could even finish, I had shot him on the spot as well, his body landing with a heavy thud as silence filled the air, everyone waiting to see what my next move was. I brought my attention to the hostages.

After thinking for a moment, I holstered my gun and replaced it with a knife, cutting all the police officers free one by one, only to have none of them attempt an escape.

“Well,” I gestured towards the door, tilting my head in its direction, “what are you waiting for? Get outta here!”

One of the officers rubbed their wrists, looking at me with suspicion.

“Why are you letting us go?” They asked with narrowed eyes. I let out a breath, taking my leave.

“Believe me, I’m asking myself the exact same thing.”

From Oswald’s POV

“Any word from The Unknown?” I questioned, waiting in position. Roland shook his head.

“No,” he growled. “Nothing. Not from him, or his men.”

I sighed in irritation, muttering to myself. “What the hell is he doing? We don’t have long until Grogan decides to flee, and as if that weren’t problematic enough, Batman’s joined the party as well. He jumped in way before we arrived, apparently. Warned the police ahead of time. The GCPD were better prepared than we thought.”

Leaning against a wall, my brain suddenly lit up with realization. “Actually, now that I think about it...how did Batman know we were coming? Gideon couldn’t have told him. We planned this attack after he was captured.”

Roland gave me a concerned glare, lowering his voice. “What if someone else told them? Someone who didn’t like what we were doing...?”

“What are you talk--” my eyes widened at the suggestion, and a flare of worry began to grow inside me. I tore myself off the wall. 

“Bruce,” I snarled under my breath. “That bastard. He’s the one who told them, isn’t he? Fuckin’ hell.”

Pulling my mask over my face, I started heading towards the police station with haste, beckoning for my men to follow me as everyone gave me questioning glances.

“If Bruce isn’t going to help us,” I said to them, “then we’ll kill Grogan on our own. I don’t care how much that traitor tries to stop us. The commissioner ain’t gonna live to see the sun rise.”

From Bruce’s POV

Snatching a pack of dynamite from our supply, I sped over to where the Children of Arkham had parked their vehicles and set the fuse ablaze, doing my best to avoid the snipers’ bullets that rained on top of me as I rushed to a good position. Not everyone seemed to be aware of what I was doing yet, but it wouldn’t be long until they figured it out. I had to move. And fast. Even if the Children of Arkham succeeded in killing Grogan, I wasn’t going to let them escape.

Mustering all the strength I had in my body, I bolted through the storm of gunfire and shielded myself from flying debris as the fuse shortened, golden sparks violently spraying everywhere. 

“Stop him!” I heard one of Oz’s men shout as they aimed their weapon at me, preparing to fire. I threw myself behind a nearby wall and flattened my body against the ground, their bullet missing me by no more than a split-second. 

I checked the dynamite’s fuse. It was going to explode at any moment now. There wasn’t enough time to find a proper angle to toss it from.

Taking a leap of faith, I whipped my gun out and fired a series of random bullets at the snipers on the rooftops, sending them into cover for a few, precious seconds as I hopped over the wall and tightened my grip on the dynamite. 

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

With a strained shout, I hurled the explosive as far as I could towards the vehicles as it landed straight through an open window, illuminating the inside with a bright, red, flickering glow. Then, not even a heartbeat later, the vehicle suddenly blasted into smithereens with a fiery cloud, lighting up the entire police station...but that wasn’t the end of it.

The vehicle parked beside it also caught fire, and before I knew it, all of them were being blown to hell, one by one, like a domino effect as everyone froze for just a moment to witness it. 

From Oswald’s POV

Staring outside of the station in disbelief, I watched the chain of explosions as if it were a damn firework show, unable to move my feet from where they had planted themselves in the floor. Our weapons, our supplies...our only means of escape--all of it destroyed by...him. By the man I loved most. The Unknown.

Pressing the button on my walkie-talkie, my voice practically shook with rage as I spoke through it, my gaze still nailed onto the ball of flames surrounding our vehicles.

“...what the fuck are you doing...?” I whispered to Bruce. “Have you lost your goddamn mind...!?”

There was a long pause of silence. I glared at the device as if I were speaking with Bruce face-to-face, waiting for an answer. Then, a short string of static broke through.

I heard him sigh in a solemn tone. “...yes.”

And with that said, Bruce disappeared from contact, refusing to respond anymore. 

“Dammit.” I cursed. Angrily latching the walkie-talkie back onto my belt, I marched up to one of my men and yanked their assault rifle from their hands, making a beeline directly for where Commissioner Grogan was hiding in the station.

“What are you doing, boss?” Roland called after me. I didn’t even bother looking back.

“Finishing what we started.”

Breaking into the main area of the station, I ordered my men to begin attacking the other policemen--including Gordon--so that I could deal with Grogan alone as Roland bulldozed his way through them, knocking people left and right. So far, there was no sign of Batman, and with most of the force already lying dead, the commissioner didn’t have as much protection as he did before. Though, with Bruce going rogue, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t help out. If I wanted to kill Grogan, I’d have to do it now.

Aiming the rifle at his head, I steadily held my breath and prepared to shoot, only to be tackled to the floor by an unknown assailant. Looking up at the man who was currently holding me down, I saw none other than the masked vigilante himself, the two of us wrestling around whilst my men dealt with the police.

“...Batman...!” I exclaimed through gritted teeth, trying to shove him off, “always right on time, aren’t you?”

“You’ve caused enough chaos for one night, Penguin,” he gripped my neck, “I’m taking you down.”

I laughed. “You failed at the Skyline Club, and you failed at the debate...just face it, Batman--you’re never gonna catch me,” I reached for my knife. “Not alive, at least.”

Jabbing the knife into his arm, I managed to stagger Batman for a moment, allowing me to retrieve my rifle and fire an array of bullets in his direction, causing him to jump behind cover.

“Roland,” I called out, “make sure the Bat doesn’t leave his cage.”

As the blue giant occupied himself with guarding the vigilante, I continued to carry out our original plan and targeted the commissioner, once again being interrupted before I could even lay a finger on the trigger.

Punching me off to the side, I spotted Gordon approaching me with a spark in his eyes that I’d never seen, his nose crinkled in anger as he clenched his fists.

“Don’t you dare, you bird-masked freak,” he spat. “Don’t you even think about it. I will put you down where you stand.”

I chuckled, adjusting the tie on my suit. “Give it your best shot.”

Dodging the multiple hits Gordon sent my way, I easily maneuvered around his attacks and got up-close with the lieutenant, striking at all his openings and weak points as Roland continued to restrain Batman in the background. 

To my surprise, Bruce was nowhere to be seen so far, and I sincerely hoped it stayed that way. He had already ruined enough of our plans by now, and there was no way to tell if he had anything else in mind. I was definitely going to confront him later, but for the moment, all my attention was focused on killing Grogan.

Thrusting my foot into Gordon’s stomach with a firm kick, I slammed the lieutenant to the floor and locked him in place with a boot on the chest as I pressed the rifle’s barrel directly on his forehead, grinning.

“This could’ve been avoided,” I sighed dramatically. “But you just never know when to stop, do you?”

Cocking the rifle, I suddenly noticed Grogan himself charging towards me out of the corner of my eye, and due to reflex, found myself shooting the commissioner instead as all the policemen in the station came to a halt, watching in paralyzing horror. 

For a moment, Grogan simply stood there like a statue, clutching his abdomen and gaping at me as a puddle of blood began to spread across his uniform, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Then, with one last breath, he finally dropped to the floor in a lifeless fashion, falling right in front of me. 

I...got him, I thought, glancing at my rifle. I actually got him.

“NO!” Gordon yelled, shoving me off him as he ran over to the commissioner’s body.

Sitting there in shock, I slowly backed away from the murder scene, unsure of how to react. With all the other shit going on, I didn’t expect that I’d actually manage to kill Grogan so quickly, and the surprising success left me dumbfounded. Though, not for long.

Out of nowhere, a lone smoke grenade snuck its way into the station and promptly clouded up the air with a thick fog as my vision was thoroughly blinded, and everyone around me began to cough. That was when I felt someone grab my arm, snatching me away from the pandemonium as they slapped a hand over my mouth to prevent me from blowing our cover. It was Bruce.

“Oz,” he whispered, “are you all right?” I didn’t return the concern.

“...you...son of a b--”

“I know, I know,” Bruce cut me off, frowning. “We can talk about it later. Right now, we just need to get out of here.”

Taking one last look at the wrecked police station and Grogan’s corpse, I decided to put our argument aside for the moment and gave Bruce a nod, allowing him to lead on.

“Then let’s not waste any time.”

Appearing a little surprised at my cooperation, Bruce carefully took my hand before hurriedly dragging me away from the battlefield, the two of us fleeing towards one of the few vehicles that still remained. The rest had been completely demolished by the explosions earlier, and I had no clue how the other men were going to return--if they did. Who knew, maybe HQ would be empty tonight.

I had to admit: even though our mission was a success, I couldn’t help but feel like the total opposite had happened. Sure, Grogan was dead, and the GCPD had been weakened drastically, but at what cost? The Children of Arkham didn’t exactly leave the fight unscathed, and now, as my men were still fighting off the police, I was escaping with a two-faced traitor. The man who caused all this chaos. 

Tearing my mask off, I let out an exhausted sigh before turning to Bruce, neither of us sure of what to say as he drove in silence, taking us to an unknown destination and delivering us to safety. So far, there didn’t seem to be any police cars chasing after us--probably because there were none to spare--and no sirens could be heard in the distance. We were finally alone.

“...Oz,” Bruce suddenly said, his voice just one step away from being inaudible, “...I love you.”

Dammit, why did he have to go and do that? 

Averting my gaze to the window, I tried my best not to make eye contact with Bruce as a million words clogged up my throat and tangled my thoughts, none of them able to describe what I was feeling at the moment. I glanced back at him.

“...I love you too,” I reluctantly replied, dragging a tired hand down my face. “But sometimes you make me wish I didn’t.”

He hesitated. 

“...and yet...you’re still here.”

I leaned my head against the window, placing a soft hand on his lap. 

“Always.”

[mrevaunit42]

(Insert Boss Music) Nova vs chapter 17

it is finally here! Hello everyone, Mr.E here with the newest nova vs chapter. sorry it took so long but i kept debating how i wanted to handle this so i finally decided with the news you’ll be getting a second chapter this week. I hope you enjoy it and have an amazing week. thanks to @marionette-j2x for letting me use her ocs Kim, Jelina, Mary and Berry and for this epic arc idea. happy reading!

in case you have no idea what I’m talking about, here is the link to the story on FF if you are interested in a Star vs future au https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11773524/1/Nova-Butterfly-vs-the-Forces-of-Adolescence 

Jack snarled furiously as his claws dug into the walls, the thud, thud, thud of his footsteps scarcely heard over the scraping of his razor sharped nails against the smooth circular surface

Kim stood smugly while Jack rapidly approached, Nova completely still at his side.

“Okay pretty boy” Jack growled, skidding to a stop mid-run, feet firmly planted before his muscles tensed for a moment and with a mighty kick, he launched himself directly towards his foe “Stand still and be a good demonic hell spawn while I rip off your face.”

Kim gave a playful smirk “You are my guest. I shall honor your request.”

Jack's eyes narrowed, unsure what Kim had planned but it was far too late. The circular platform that hovered above the ground was fast approaching and Jack had no way to change course now.

Jack pulled his arm back, murdering signing in his eyes. Kim inched closer and closer, slowly coming with range of the approaching half demon and then, Jack, with a fierce swing of his arm, aimed for Kim's neck.

Screeeeech

Connor flinched, covering his ears from the terrible melody that came from out of nowhere.

Jack glare deeply at Kim who simply shrugged in response, a blue translucent wall separating the two combatants

Jack shifted his gaze to Nova who stared back blankly, pupils red and wand drawn.

“There are so many curse words I can use you on right now!” Jack yelled at the hypnotized princess “Seriously, you got to be fu...”

Nova flicked her wrist and the clear wall responded to her will, bending and twist as if it were alive. The spell pulled backwards, dragging the trapped Jack with it before pitching him forward, the protective barrier dissipating into thin air as the magician was flung back.

Jack bounced and skipped across the floor, letting out pained grunt each time he connected to the ground.

“uuuuuuuuuugh!” Jack growled, skidding to a stop in front of Connor “You!”

“Me?” Connor gestured to himself

“Why didn't you follow me?” Jack scolded, rising to his feet and clearing the dust off his clothing

“Follow you?” Connor couldn't keep the confusion out of his voice “How? I'm human!”

“You're an inventor!” Jack poked his chest accusingly “you can fly....can't you?”

“No!”

“What? What kind of self respected inventor hasn't invented a way to fly?”

“Me!” Connor rubbed his tiredly “Seriously Jack?”

“Well how was I suppose to know?” Jack shot back defensively

“Ask me Jack, ASK ME! You always do this every...”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa you're getting mad at me? For what?...”

“...Every time we do something spur of the moment you forget to ask questions and...”

“....Seriously? Dude, you need to keep your girlfriend under control. She's not exactly making this rescue mission any easier....”

“....My girlfriend? we're not dating Jack. How many times do I have...”

“...Blah, blah, blah... seriously just ask her out already!....”

Kim stared, confused at the overlapping, arguing voices of the two best friend, their attention no longer on him but rather each other.

“Such annoying creatures. I'm just going to kill them now, is that alright with you my sweet?” Kim asked lovingly, cupping Nova's cheek gently in his hand.

Nova gave a short, curt nod.

“UGH” Jack walked away from Connor “Seriously? What the hell dude? I risk my life and more importantly, my mom's clothes to help you and your crush out from an evil demonic plot and this is how you thank me?” “What do you want from me?” Connor countered, his arms flailing dramatically “I can't fly and there's no way I can walk on vertical, smooth walls Jack and if we can't get up there, we can't stop them!”

“That sounds like a you problem!” Jack yelled

“that sounds like an us problem!” Connor shouted back.

“Do you think it worked?” Jack questioned as a shadow fell over both teens.

“Totally!” Connor confirmed

The two nodded in agreement before leaping back in perfect sync.

Kim expected to be wiping an annoying demonic splat from underfoot. Instead found a broken, cracked floor and that irritating spawn coming straight for him.

Jack leapt into action, his fist sinking into Kim's jaw while throwing something underhand towards the still recovering Connor.

Nova landed a moment after Kim, using the wand as form of flight and while effective, it wasn't as elegant or controlled as the Lord of the manor's landing.

She hardly muttered a word as she waved her wand towards the ground. There was a flash and Nova bounced safely off a multicolored jelly that appeared below that disappeared with a pop as Nova gently landed.

Nova whirled around to the defenseless Connor, wand glimmering in the red glow of the room.

She fired a beam of pure magical rainbow energy directly at her best friend without so much as a blink.

Connor took a deep breath, trying his best to relax his body as both spell and shield came racing towards him, too close to call which would reach him first.

The shield skipped across the stone tile, bouncing once, twice and a third time before landing into Connor's waiting hand.

“I love hammer space!” Connor raised the shield as quickly as he could and held on for dear life.

The spell slammed into Connor's defense with a metallic clang.

Connor fell backwards, the shield flipping out of his hands and high into the air while he slid across the floor

Nova trembled for a moment before firing another spell at the sprawled inventor.

Connor rolled to the side, holding firmly onto his glasses as the spell flew by, missing him by mere inches.

Nova staggered for a moment. She clutched her head weakly but remained firmly under Kim's control.

Connor scrambled to his feet, narrowly avoiding another magical strike from his best friend.

“Come on Nova!” he called out to her, ducking under another attack “I know you're in there!”

Nova walked forward with a refined grace, batting spells left and right towards Connor.

Kim stumbled backwards, Jack's fist connecting with his stomach and knocking all the wind out of him. Before he could react, Jack's other fist struck his cheek sending him reeling further.

“Seriously?” Jack taunted, cracking his knuckles eagerly “I thought you'd be tougher”

Jack went for another jab directly for the smug teen's face

Kim smirked, catching Jack by the wrist and locking on with an iron grip

“I thought you'd be smarter” Kim teased before taking off high into the air, carrying a helpless Jack with him.

Jack frowned “OH COME ON, I HATE YOUR STUPID WINGS!”

“And I your stupid face!”

Jack muttered a curse his mother would've been proud of as Kim threw him effortlessly towards the nearest solid object.

Jack collided against the wall, cracking its once perfect surface.

“Oww” Jack moaned before crying out in pain again, Kim sinking both his feet directly into his stomach.

“That's how you fight” Kim's eyes glinted with a sick joy.

Jack's hands burst into flames, the half-demon lunging directly his enemy

Kim flew back just out of Jack's range and with a quick twirl, connected his foot to the back of the magician's head.

Jack smashed into the floor, leaving a deep indentation in his shape on the tile.

“Oww...” Jack peeled himself off the ground, wobbling unsteadily but maintaining his demonic form “how's the fight buddy?”

“Well....” Connor's strained voice called back, he was tucked into a little niche, shield in front as Nova pelleted him with various tiny sea animals, each one leaving another dent on Connor's line of defense “Not good.”

“Awesome, me too”

There was the whistling of something rapidly approaching but Jack didn't need to guess what that meant.

He narrowly rolled out of the Jack shaped hole as Kim slammed into where Jack once lay, his fist sinking several inches into the earth

Jack let out a tired groan “oh. you're that type of demon”

Kim's smug smile was equal parts annoying and infuriating “yep, the superior kind”

Jack inhaled deeply, taking as much air as he could. He pressed his palms together and exhaled. A bright red flame escaped his lips, a spherical orb that grew and grew, elongating until the tiny ball of fire became a raging stream.

Kim lightly sweated at the sudden rise in temperature. The swirling vortex of flame approached, drawing ever closer to him though he made no move to avoid it.

Kim yawned, allowing the attack consume his form entirely.

Jack fell to his knee, struggling to maintain his form after an exhausting day.

“Two transformations in a day....” Jack huffed, beads of sweating running down his back “That's a record....oh man, sweat. I hate sweat....”

“I know right? So ungentlemanly” Kim's voice calmly responded, not even a slight tremor in his words.

Jack covered his eyes as a surge of black flames overtook his, extinguishing them and snuffing them out of existence while Kim stepped forward, the smirk all too obvious on his lips.

Jack let out an exasperated sigh

“What did you expect?” Kim scolded Jack, drawing closer and closer “You may be the prince of the Underworld but you are not your father. You do not possess his strength!”

Jack groaned as Kim kicked him squarely in the chest, sending him skidding onto the cold, damp floor

Jack winced as it became hard to breath, a dull painful ache in his chest told him he probably just cracked something, more than likely a rib.

Connor yelped, the shield moaning before snapping in half and flung to different corners of the corner less room.

Nova's movements were stiff and robotic, eyes still dull and a pale red.

“Nova, come on!” Connor cried out but she didn't listen, opting to instead try and blast him again.

Connor dove out of the way, flinching when his shoulder connected with the solid ground. He scampered to his feet, narrowly avoiding a second assault from the hypnotized princess.

Nova edged closer, never stopping in her pursuit of her best friend.

“Look I like the Terminator as much as the next fan, even if the series hasn't been good in a loooooong while, but this is a little overkill.” Connor joked playfully.

Not even a smile.

“ugh, seriously? You can't keep this up Nova!”

Nova gave a grimace almost like she was agreeing with him but still she pressed forward.

“I know you can't” Connor whispered, backing away from his best friend “You hate this. I can tell even with your lifeless eyes. Oh man, that's an image I'm not getting out of my head any time soon.”

Nova flicked her wrist: A wave of mutlicolored homing birds rocketed out of the wand and closed in on Connor.

Connor pivoted on his feet, ducking and weaving as the animals exploded around him in puffs of colorful explosions.

Connor dove forward, the last one exploding with a force far greater than the rest. Connor lost control, tumbling forward uncomfortably.

He coughed. Rainbow colored smoke poured out of his mouth as he glanced at his glasses, finally noticing a rather large crack that formed on one side.

“Oh man, mom's going to kill me.”

The musical, whimsical tone of magic charging filled his ears and as he glanced up, he found himself face to face with Nova.

“Right, she's going to kill me” Connor sighed tiredly.

Jack bit his tongue as he slid across the floor, clutching his broken arm tightly.

Kim was out for blood but he was going to enjoy this moment. He wanted to savior the failed attempt of those who were foolish enough to oppose him.

Jack took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for the sudden sharp pain that would come in a moment. Steeling his nerves, he popped his wrist back into place, nearly letting out a cry of torment while the bone reformed, knitting back together perfectly though the dull throbbing remained.

“You can't keep healing your injuries Jack” Kim sneered, taking his time with his approach “You can't beat a pure blood demon. Not even with all your father's powers.

Jack weakly rose to his feet, still fighting the urge to go full demon. Even on his deathbead, that was an option he would never dare take. But he could feel it. He felt the survival instinct clawing at his will. The self preservation twisting and turning, attempting to wrestle itself out of his control but he wouldn't. He couldn't go that far. Nothing was worth that power.

Jack grimaced as Kim roughly grasped one of his horns and squeezed as hard as he could. Jack felt more sweat rolling down his forehead as a black flame crackled in Kim's other hand.

“How could you ever have thought you had a chance against me?” Kim taunted, his razor sharp fangs glinting with an evil gleam “You're half a human, half a demon. Two useless halves and never a whole.”

Jack coughed, ignoring the crack noise of bone under Kim's iron grip “Easy, I trained with the best.”

Kim let out a bone chilling laugh “All your father's training and you couldn't even wind me.”

It was Jack's turn to smirk and for the first time in a long time, Kim felt a shiver of fear run down his spine.

“Not my dad, my mom.”

Kim felt the fright drain out of him, a moment of tranquility after uncertainty.

“Your mother? What could your mother possibly have taught you that could outweigh the training of your father?”

Jack's fist blazed to life and with one swift movement, he threw one final punch at Kim.

Kim shook his head disappointingly, moving his face just out of range Jack's desperate attack. Just a pathetic attempt from a pathetic....

Instead of connecting with his punch, Jack opened his palm and.....

Pop.

Kim cried out in pain as gunpowder and metallic filings scattered into his unprepared eyes which burned and itched with the intensity of molten lead as a brilliant array colorful sparks blinded him for a moment.

Jack scrambled to his feet, the firecracker wrapping burnt to crisp in his flaming grip “She taught me never to play fair!”

Jack slipped one hand into his pocket while the other made a mad grab for Kim's shoulder and while the full demon was stronger than Jack, he was far too distracted by the sudden counter attack to notice what was going on.

Jack nodded to himself as he felt his finger slip into the ring he carried in his pocket. He pulled Kim's shoulder forward while freeing his other hand and driving his fist directly into Kim's shoulder as hard as he could.

The flames died at once, wings fell limp as Kim staggered back, the worst burning sensation ever he felt digging deeper and deeper into his shoulder. Kim was confused by the pain he was feeling. He routinely produced some of the hottest flames this side of the Underworld and he had never once felt the cruel touch of flames. But now he felt it. He felt searing, unbearable pain seeping into his skin, tears form in his eyes despite his efforts to shrug it off.

Kim swayed uneasily. He felt weak, drained, helpless. He staggered away from Jack, openly glaring at the half demon

Jack cockily smiled at Kim, flexing his fingers threateningly as he gestured at his enemy with the ring.

“What was that?” Kim snarled despite how woozy he felt.

“Easy” Jack explained with the smuggest voice he could muster “another gift from my mom. She gave it to me in case I ever had to go toe to toe with a demon.”

Kim shook his head in disbelief “Impossible! Humans have nothing to stop demons! They have no knowledge of magic or alchemy or...”

“Psst” Jack rolled his eyes “Clearly you don't know my mom. Loves all that witchy stuff. Like this little baby for example.”

Jack showed off his dull black, faded ring carefully to Kim. Kim stared at it wordless. It was a rather strange, warped, five-pointed star with a flaming eye in its center carefully etched into the accessory and despite not knowing what it was, he felt great fear just looking upon on it.

“It's called an Elder Sign” Jack explained, moving it closer to Kim and getting a chuckle at the fell demon's panicked response “It's an ancient ward against evil, malevolent beings. Demons included. It's great for punching them in their self-satisfied, jerky faces.”

“B-but you're a demon too!” Kim protested “it should be hurting you as well”

“Ah ah ah, half. Checkmate” Jack grinned, his smile a facade about how dead tired he felt “hey...what's that?”

“What?” Kim glanced about his body, suddenly feeling very self-aware and exposed

Jack motioned to dark, wisp smoke trailing of his body, blanketing Kim like a cape “All this black smoke....”

“Black smoke? I do not understand...and who are you!? Why are you in my home? I did not grant you permission to enter!”

Jack raised an eyebrow “We were kinda fighting to the death a minute ago....you really don't remember that?”

Kim's face broke out into genuine confusion. Jack could see him straining to piece together the mystery of this strange, well dressed teen and why his shoulder burned terribly.

“Huh.” Jack said with a nod “Interesting and for the record, I was totally kicking your ass this whole time.”

“Your clothes seemed a bit charred.”

“Oh” Jack glanced down “Oh yeah, I did that. Got a little out of control. Blood lust and such”

Kim's gaze was confused and unsure but he certainly didn't seem like he was suddenly going to lunge at Jack without warning

Jack reached for the smoke but to his surprise, it inched away from him. Almost like it was...

“Okay, OUT!” Jack snarled, holding the ring up in a threatening matter “Exit from the demon's body right now or I will sucker punch you! I MEAN IT! SHOO!”

The smoke shifted back and forth before fading away, harsh low whispers muttering under the red glow of the room.

“Umm....sir?” Kim gently asked “What is going on?”

“Well it's a long story” Jack began before a thought hit him like a runaway train “OH WAIT, MY HUMAN!”

Jack turned around in time to see a flash of bright light.

Meanwhile, a few seconds ago.

“Just like that?” Connor asked “Narwhal to the face? I always thought you'd take me out with a hammer for talking to Missy.”

Nova twitched uncomfortably at the sound of her rival's name

“Cool, good to know!” Connor smiled, reaching directly for Nova's wand.

Nova pulled back, prepared to strike again when Connor took her hand in his, holding on tight and pulling her forward.

Nova stared blankly at his action, her face set somewhere between lost and eager.

“Come on princess, let's dance!”

Nova swung her wand towards Connor's face but he was already pulling in the opposite direction, forcing her to pivot on her heels or fall flat on her face.

Nova shifted uncomfortably as she went for another swing at her best friend but Connor began pulling her into a dizzying spinning.

Nova reacted naturally, tilting her back as she twirled on the balls of her feet, holding onto Connor's hand with a firm yet distance grasp.

Nova pulled herself to a stop, firing a spell point blank at Connor  who elegantly dove out of the way, tumbling into a roll and rising to his feet in the most dramatic pose he could must

Nova snickered, covering her mouth at the inventor's ridiculous action, her red eyes slowly changing colors.

“Come on Nova, dance with me!”

Nova attacked with her wand but it was lazy at best.

Connor took her hand once again, pulling her into another spin while ignoring how tired and weary his body felt. His limitations were catching up but he needed to push on. He was so close, he could feel it.

Nova's wand arm fell at her side, the pair slowing to a stop.

“Nova....you there?”

Nova blinked once....twice.....

“Four..ey...”

Pop.

There burst of an explosive startled the unsuspecting pair and Nova reacted

There was a blinding flash of light and Connor crumpled to his knees, heavily breathing as he took a spell to the chest.

The fog cleared and Nova found herself staring an injured Connor in a dark creepy room basking in a really tacky red light.

“Connor!” Nova cried out, dropping the wand and reaching for him.

Nova's body was more fatigued than she remembered. Her bare feet slipped on the tile and fell to the ground, wildly grasping at anything she could to break her fall.

She shut her eyes in reflex and prepared to hit the floor at full speed.

Instead she landed on something squishy yet firm.

She peeked a single eye opened, electric  blue meeting forest as Connor gave a half worried, half relived look directed at her as she lay in his arms.

“Connor?” Nova questioned gently, unsure if she was really seeing him “Connor! I...”

The wand hit the tile with a muted thud. There was a moment of tensed silence.

The wand let loose a torrent of magical energy and like a knife, cut and etched itself across any surface it ran across, striking in any and all directions wildly before connecting with the circular platform overhead.

The platform groaned angrily, rock and rubble breaking off in large chunks as it fell towards the two weaken best friends.

“Connor!”

Connor held Nova closer, refusing to let go for any reason. Even being crushed by giant stone blocks.

A moment passed and despite how fast Connor had calculated the fall speed of the heavy object, he and presumably Nova, were still alive.

Connor opened a single eye and found Jack holding the entire structure by himself, hands firmly planted underneath though straining to keep it from crushing everyone.

“Yeah, sweet reunion, can we do this somewhere else?” Jack told them, holding none of the sarcasm back.

Nova scrambled for her wand, aiming high and praying she remembered the spell correctly.

“Bubble gum bubble pop!”

The room filled with the sound of air expanding as a small, ever growing pink bubble formed out of the star embedded in the wand, expanding and expand until it swallowed the platform whole and with a loud, thunderous pop, vanished into the void with no trace of the object in sight.

The trio fell upon the floor, tired, weary and winded.

“Council vote” Connor shouted “Never do that again? All in favor?”

Jack and Nova vigorously agreed

“Agreed” Connor let out a relived sigh.

“Master KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!”

Nova, Connor and Jack sat back at once, halfheartedly striking various fighting poses though Berry, Mary and Jelina ignored them as they rushed to their master's side.

Kim stared quizzically at his maids, unsure why they were so happy to see him. True their relationship was very solid but he had never seen them so joyful before

“Ladies?” Kim asked, struggling to get to his feet.

Berry jumped into action first, easily lifting Kim onto her back and holding on tightly.

“Master” Jelina began warily “Are you....well?”

Kim raised an eyebrow at her question “I feel well...mostly. Is there any particular reason I should not be feeling well?”

Jelina shook her head “No my lord. I shall explain later but for now we must leave.” Jelina turned sharply towards the trio “We must all leave”

Jack nodded, completely understanding what Jelina was trying to say

“No”

Nova did not.

She rose to her feet shakily, using Connor for support as she shot an accusing glare towards Kim and the maids “No, they kidnapped me and held me hostage, I'm not trusting any of them!”

Kim was taken aback.

“I did what now? No offense but I don't care how cute you are, I wouldn't risk my standing with the demonic board to kidnap the princess of Mewni.”

“wait, what?”

Kim scoffed “many beings know who you are.”

That didn't comfort Nova but before she could argue further, Connor pulled at her hand.

Nova took his in hers and using the little strength she had left, help him to his feet, catching him when he fell too far forward.

Her cheeks were tinted red though no one could notice in the glint of the red lights overhead.

“It's okay, they helped us.” Connor explained, holding onto Nova's shoulder reassuringly “It's thanks to them we even got this far.”

“Enough” Mary growled, cutting any and all conversations off “We need to go before our other guests discover we're not following script anymore.”

“Too late”

Mary and Jack let out an annoyed grunt as the door was flung open, dozens of dark robed, hooded figures slipping into the room and outnumbering the group.

“Who are they?” Kim asked, unsure why so many people were in his home.

“Your guests you invited m'lord.”

“I did what now?”

“Enough talking” Mary snarled, taking a step forward “we need to go and the only way is through them!”

“Dimensional scissors!” Nova cried out, frantically reaching for her pocket only to find nothing of the sort “Ugh, this stupid dress!”

“I think it looks fetching on you princess.”

“Not now lover boy” Jack cut off Kim, pushing Connor and Nova behind him “We can't, he's got a crystal that prevents portals from forming. We're trapped.”

Jelina took her place to Mary with an air of finality “You rescued our master. You have done enough, we will take care of this.”

Berry shook uneasily “I dunno...there's a lot Jelly....”

“We will fight” Jelina replied “and protect our lord.”

Nova glanced nervously towards the sea of hooded figures, each swaying hypnotically back and forth. It was impossible to tell how many there were but it seems they were about to find out.

Jelina took a deep breath, holding onto Mary's shoulder reassuringly. She vowed to protect her master at any cost. A promise she would fulfill even if she must die. It was her duty as....

The air howled loudly, a fierce wind swirling about as largest dimensional portal Nova had ever seen formed above them without warning, the harsh, pale red illumination replaced with brighter, gentler familiar glow of Earth's sun. There was an impossibly small silhouette staring down from on high though Nova couldn't tell who it...

“Novy, is that you?”

“Sol?!” Nova's tone was incredulous as expected

“Oh good, it took a few times to find you.”

“Sol!” Nova called out “Sol, how did you...?”

“They're here! found them!” Sol let out the cutest yawn, stretching his tiny arms as he stumbled out of view “I'm tired. I'm going sleepys now.”

No one said anything and even the cultist shared an uneasy, confused gaze with one another.

There was the sounds of deep thuds, metallic footsteps that grew louder and louder each passing moment.

Another figure appeared, a towering shade in the light. With a mighty jump they fell through and landed on one knee into the Underworld.

They rose slowly. The figure was clad in a dull grayish suit of armor, a large pink plume sitting on top of their helmet. The face plate was monstrous, two sharp fangs protruding from either side of the face. The figure held aloft a massive war hammer with one hand, stretching their body for the battle ahead.

“None shall harm the princess or her friends.” a feminine yet firm voice called out to the cultists “If you proceed, I will strike you down without remorse.”

Nova felt a wave of relief wash over her as her body relaxed into Connor's embrace “Katrina!”

Nova could imagine the smile her big sister must've heard when she heard the princess call out for her.

The cultist made no motion of giving up or even that they heard the warning given to them.

Katrina flexed her arm once more, placing her weapon carefully on the floor.

“I am Katrina Bulgolyubov” She shouted into the crowd “Daughter of Yvgeny Buglolyubov and personal bodyguard of Queen Star Butterfly and the royal family of Mewni.”

Katrina picked up the hammer easily, gesturing to the mob with a lazy, one handed swing.

“You have been warned.”

[tragedysworn-archive]

@fightaers​​ +  plotted starter

                  A  BIG  YAWN  as  she  sits  criss  -  crossed  in  the  middle  of  iruka’s  living  room  ,  waiting  for  the  man  to  arrive  home  / / /  shibuki  would  tell  her  it’s  creepy  to  barge  into  someone’s  home  uninvited  ,  but  she  personally  doesn’t  see  the  problem  .  chomei  is  rolling  his  eyes  ,  but  fu  chooses  to  ignore  the  beast  ,  as  she  often  does  .  she’s  been  waiting  over  an  hour  &  she’s  sure  kegon  &  yoro  are  searching  for  her  ,  but  she  has  no  interest  in  going  back  to  them  :  they  weren’t  real  friends  ,  simply  guarding  her  at  shibuki’s  order  .                    a  grin  spreads  across  her  lips  as  the  door  jiggles  open  ,  the  familiar  face  instantly  brightening  her  mood  [  she  wonders  if  this  is  what  it  felt  like  to  have  a  family  ,  to  have  someone  that  truly  cares  ] .  ❛  𝒊𝒓𝒖𝒌𝒂  —— !! ❜  on  her  feet  in  an  instant  &  crowding  the  man’s  personal  space  ,  shoving  a  piece  of  paper  in  his  face  .  it’s  a  crude  crayon  drawing  ,  that  sai  had  attempted  to  help  her  with  [  but  she  doesn’t  have  an  artistic  bone  in  her  body  ]  .  ❛ 𝒅𝒐  𝒚𝒐𝒖  𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆  𝒊𝒕  ?! ❜

[tragedysworn-archive]

@fightaers​ said: “Here, lean on me. I’ll support you.”

                    she’s  not  used  to  having  a  friend  .  that  much  is  obvious  ,  as  sai’s  words  catch  her  by  surprise  .  head  spins  around  to  face  him  so  fast  that  it  makes  her  dizzy  &  the  pain  that’s  coursing  through  her  body  causes  her  to  stumble  :  tries  to  catch  herself  on  the  tree  beside  her  ,  but  instead  she  falls  face  first  into  dirt  .  looks  like  she’ll  have  to  take  him  up  on  that  offer  .  ❛  𝑨𝑯  ,  𝒊  𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔  𝒔𝒐  .  ❜  shibuki  had  always  told  her  that  friends  meant  you  didn’t  have  to  do  anything  alone  / / /  maybe  that’s  why  she  was  so  desperate  to  have  some  .  with  some  help  from  chomei  ,  fu  takes  hold  of  sai’s  hand  to  stand  herself  up  —  head  still  spinning  ,  but  she  offers  a  grin  as  an  arm  is  thrown  around  his  shoulders  .  ❛  𝒊  𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕  𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏  𝒕𝒐  𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆  𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆  .  ❜  her  way  of  apology  ,  &  maybe  it  is  a  small  white  lie  [  she  was  always  excited  for  a  fight  ,  even  if  it  ended  with  her  being  bruised  &  battered  ]  .