#FALCON PATROL II

[fanfic-corner]

Marvel Humor Fics

As much as I love angst, I also love to laugh at some of the predicaments my poor blorbos get into! So here are some of my favourite humor fics from the Marvel fandom.

He's a Real... Bare... Devil? by 94BottlesOfSnapple (772)

The real problem with no longer wearing body armor, Matt considers, is not actually the higher risk of injury. It’s that sometimes even when you don’t get hurt, you still end up mostly-naked in an alley that smells like day-old Chinese takeout.

Daredevil manages to lose his clothes while on patrol with the Defenders. They only make fun of him a little.

Footie Pajamas by Triscribe (1.1k)

*What?* Tony demanded. *What is it, what’s wr-*

“Ohmygosh, Mister Stark! It’s too cute!” Peter beamed from ear to ear. “There’s a little girl in the car next to me wearing Spider-man footie pajamas!”

Silence reigned for a long moment, before Tony burst out laughing.

How (Not) to Meet New People by aloneintherain (1.4k)

“Why is there a teenager in our office?”

Foggy stood in the threshold of the office, mouth slightly agape, most likely wondering if he’d walked into the wrong building. The kid waved at him, smile huge under a blooming black eye and spilt lip.

“Foggy,” Matt said, far too calm for someone who was in the presence of a beaten, bloodied, teenage stranger. “This is Peter.”

oh, jesus, not the both of you! by FRAMEW0RK (1.6k)

He’s gonna pass out.

Yup, it’s happening. Foggy can only tell because he’s passed out before, when he was twelve, after he got his finger smashed in the large metal door of their cooler. The intense pain first. Then the cold flash, then the sweating, and then the spots surrounding the corners of his vision. All of that was going on. In the middle of a courtroom. Surrounded by tons of watching people.

“Mr. Nelson?” the Judge calls out. He probably looks awful. His mother told him that he went deathly pale before he passed out the first time. Didn’t she take a video? He remembers there being a video. Is the room spinning or is that just him?

“I think ’m passing out,” Foggy mumbles thickly, hand flailing out for purchase but getting nothing on his fingers. The world was starting to go underwater. Someone yelled, and then there’s this gasping sound all around and then there’s darkness and nothing.

Team Red by SalazarTipton (1.9k)

“Ned, for the last time, I’m not going as any of the Avengers! Can you imagine what would happen if they found out? They’d think I had a favorite and--” “But you do have a favorite,” Ned interjects. Peter throws one of his fries at him. “That’s not the point! They don’t know that and can I remind you that you’re forbidden to talk about that? Going to the Tower would be hellish. Can you imagine Mr. Barton and Mr. Stark trying to prove they’re the better choice?”.

when the pretty birds have flown (honey, I'm still free) by the_crown_jules (2.1k)

“I can talk to birds,” Sam said, a little more loudly than the situation warranted.

Bucky's lips twitched, a battle playing out between his attempt to take Sam seriously and his clear desire to snicker. Laughter won out, lighting up his face in a way that was becoming more and more familiar.

“You’re such an asshole. Okay, Torres, I assume you’re listening, you can go now, you’ve had your fun.” He looked around as if he’d be able to spot Torres watching them on camera. “What is this, Falcon initiation?”

New Year's Regrets by whumphoarder (2.5k)

In the midst of hosting his annual New Year’s party, Tony is called away to rescue a very impaired Peter from a rooftop in Queens.

Happy Hibernation Day by for_the_night (2.7k)

Tony and Pepper return to the tower on Valentine’s Day to find Peter asleep on the couch. Only he won’t wake up.

Good job neither pseudo-parent panics.

throw all your lucky coins on me by keep_swinging (3.2k)

i. shock (denial) ii. pain (guilt) iii. anger (bargaining) iv. depression v. the upward turn vi. working through vii. acceptance (hope)

Sorta Kinda Kidnapped by happyaspie (3.5k)

Peter gets kidnapped on his way to school. It's fine, though. He's perfectly capable of saving himself. It happens so fast and it's so uneventful that he forgets to tell Tony it even happened. Until the kidnappers call to collect their ransom.

Not Completely the Worst by mainstreamelectricalparade (4k)

Peter's spidey-sense had been going off all day. If he had to stay at school for literally another minute longer, he was probably going to go insane.

And of course, there was one person at school whose single goal in life seemed to be ensuring that that happened.

“Yo, Penis! Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Flash called after Peter as he took the steps three at a time in his attempt to make a quick getaway.

Peter squeezed his eyes shut in exasperation and kept walking. Maybe if he ignored the problem, it would go away.

Because that had always worked so well for him, in the past.

Don’t Judge a Knife by Its Color by blondsak and Grace_d and whumphoarder (4.4k)

“Whoa, hold up, hang on,” he says, taking a step closer to get a better look. The blade is probably four inches long and neon purple, while the handle is white with a friendly-looking colorful silicon grip. “Is that a toy knife? Is this a Fisher Price mugging?”

“Fuck you, Spidey,” the mugger replies, fumbling for the knife before scrambling back to his feet and brandishing the weapon at Peter.

Or, Peter is stabbed by a misleading knife, Tony plays a high stakes game of Operation, and May retains the one brain cell.

Dollicia Elizabeth Cowleen the Third by Spideypool_supremacy (4.6k)

Peter frowned. "Why do you have such an obsession with that cow?"

"Getting jealous, Pumpkin?"

Peter looked at him, unimpressed. "Oh no. A cow is stealing all your affection. Whatever will I do." He said sarcastically.

Wade grinned. "Don't worry, Petey. I love you both the same."

"That's actually insulting."

quaranteens by blueh (6.6k)

“Peter Parker,” Cindy says. Peter’s head snaps up so fast that it almost looks inhuman. “Did Tony Stark just waltz in and pick up his child in the background of your Zoom call?”

Peter freezes. Wide-eyed, with ‘guilty’ written on his forehead in 72, bold, Times New Roman font. It takes a solid thirty seconds before he can put himself together enough to click the unmute button.

“I—no?” Peter says. His voice is startlingly high pitched and his expression is nothing short of horrified.

Damn, if that isn’t anything but a confession.

The Glass of Sand and Fog [Fan Comic] by neonbrutalism (7k)

"To be honest, I think time is scary enough without a giant axe clock." "What, worried about getting old? Daredeviling getting hard on your knees?" "No, no... It's hard to explain."

Another day, another villain, another kidnapping. Foggy gets kidnapped, Matt avoids awkward conversations, they both suffer from an inability to talk about their feelings and Kirsten is no help at all!

Learning To Say Hello by heartsdesire456 (11k)

Clint had woken up one morning about three weeks ago (Well, Clint guessed about three. Definitely more than one. Maybe.) and stumbled down to the living room only to realize there was a guy on his couch. The guy just happened to be the Winter Soldier, who Clint knew was actually Steve’s old best friend, Bucky Barnes.

Barnes had been having a staring contest with Lucky (one eye shut, to make it fair, Clint had noticed) and Clint had decided to just leave him to it and make decisions after he’d had some coffee.

(In which Hawkeye befriends the Winter Soldier and discovers the Epic Love Story of Steve and Bucky nobody knows about)

but what is a hero, really? by mjscorner (17k)

"Flash," Peter pleaded breathlessly, "you don't want to do this, okay? They're armed. Trust me, you don't understand."

"No, I think I do understand," Flash scoffed, unsurprised. "You've been a loser your whole entire life, but everyone here still adores you. Well, I'm done dealing with that, okay? Time for me to be a hero."

Peter's heart sank as Flash bumped into his shoulder and marched forward.

He stopped before rounding the corner when the faint sound of a gun being cocked echoed throughout the hall, freezing Flash right in his place. Peter turned on his heel in an instant, standing beside Flash protectively.

"But-but what is a hero, really?" Flash croaked with a nervous smile, side-eyeing the weapon suspended beside him as it softly nudged the side of his skull. 

Peter slowly raised his hands in surrender, staring at Flash until he did the same, dropping the cans of pepper spray and the walkie talkies.

"We are so, so, so monumentally screwed."

Let Me Know if It Gets Above a Six by Sundial_at_Night (65k)

“Mr. Loki?” asked the Spider cautiously. “Aren’t you—like—a bad guy?” he asked, voice full of only curiosity, as far as Loki could tell.

His first thought was, yes.

His second thought was no.

His third thought was, sometimes?

“It varies from moment to moment,” Loki answered honestly, prying his eyes open after they threatened to fall close.

“But on a scale of one to ten, where are you at right now?”

“Maybe a three?”

The Spider-child nodded. “Cool,” he replied. “Let me know if it gets above a six.

The Devil's Hangin' 'Round My Doorstep by 94BottlesOfSnapple (96k)

There’s a lot of things Matt Murdock doesn’t allow himself. His best friend is one of them. But put on a mask and suddenly everything seems so freely available, Foggy included. On the other side of the coin, Foggy’s still trying to stifle his big bisexual crush on his best friend and has no idea what to think of the vigilante who’s suddenly and inexplicably taken an interest in him.

it's always who is spider-man, never how is spider-man by i_regret_thatpersonalityquiz (176k)

"Stay?"

Peter finally looked down to see Harley Fucking Keener, Iron Lad, the boy who had caused his shoulder to be throbbing all night, looking away with a slight tint to his cheeks. Peter opened and closed his mouth, no sound coming out.

And he sat back down.

OR: Peter had been living on the streets, dealing with your average homeless vigilante stuff. Things got a bit more complicated when the Avengers started to chase him down.

I hope you enjoy these!! I'll have to make a part two at some point because there's so many brilliant fics to share. Thank you to all the fabulous writers who shared these fics with us, and happy reading!

[dr-octavio-kalev]

"The most beautiful painting I recognize is the exposed heart of the traitor."

File Code: ANM-001

Identification: Devourer of Cowards

Danger Level: Assistant 🔵

Containment Difficulty: Under vigilance by, and for, the Order

Anomaly Type: Avian, hunter, intelligent, imperial

Containment Procedures (OCIB Revision):

ANM-001 must be kept within the "Sacred Aviary of Imperial Retribution," a consecrated 10 km² sanctuary deep in the Amazon Rainforest. The site is fortified with Catholic sigils and patrolled by devout agents of the Order. Only High Inquisitors and individuals bearing the sigil of Dom Pedro II may enter its domain.

Unauthorized individuals, especially those displaying signs of cowardice, treason, or republican sympathies, will be marked for judgment and execution by ANM-001. The sanctuary is monitored by OCIB-approved security cameras and domesticated falcons, while Order-controlled drones patrol the skies under strict supervision. Any unidentified device must be immediately neutralized.

To ensure its loyalty, ANM-001 requires weekly offerings composed of convicted criminals and political dissidents. Failure to meet this obligation may result in the manifestation of its wrath.

Description:

ANM-001 is a titanic harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja) with a wingspan of 5.2 meters and plumage that gleams like forged imperial steel. Its presence embodies the living will of the Brazilian Empire, acting as both executioner and judge of the unworthy.

The entity possesses a superhuman gift: the ability to detect fear and treachery. Anyone who hesitates on the battlefield, breaks oaths, or conspires against the Crown is marked by the Devourer. Once designated, the victim becomes inevitable prey. ANM-001 can traverse shadows, approaching unseen before striking at the exact moment its target feels safe. Its assault is always fatal.

The cry of ANM-001 resounds like a chorus of fallen emperors, a sound capable of paralyzing the unworthy. Prolonged exposure to its song of condemnation drives the weak to madness, dissolving their will and reducing them to specters of regret, begging for mercy that will never be granted.

Ancient documents of the Order confirm that ANM-001 is spiritually bound to the soul of Dom Pedro II. In moments of crisis, its silhouette merges with a translucent specter of the emperor, who utters curses in the very voice of the deposed monarch. No earthly force can oppose its will.

Notable Occurrence:

On ██/██/20██, a clandestine operation team from a rival foundation attempted to eliminate ANM-001. However, the Devourer allowed them to enter its domain before hunting them down mercilessly. One by one, the invaders disappeared into the jungle, their desperate screams echoing through the night.

The only survivor, a disfigured deserter, was returned to the Order with his tongue removed—an appropriate punishment for a coward. His mind was irreversibly shattered, endlessly repeating the same phrase in delirium:

Final Note:

Let this document serve as a warning: The Empire never forgets those who betray it.

The Devourer never forgives.

The Forest belongs to him. And he rules it.

[thecleverqueer]

My favorite Star Wars ships:

Honorable mention: X-Wing

This feels cliche. I don’t know. The ships that helped blow up both Death Stars… and any time a tool can aid in dealing a blow to fascists, I’m in. Also, three cheers to Yoda for pulling one out of the bog on Dagoba with the force.

5.) The Ghost / Phantom II Combo

I love this ship. Maybe I love it a little less than I love Hera and the rest of the Ghost Crew, but truly, it is an amazing ship. It has seen a lot of action, been involved in a lot of battles, and it keeps ticking.

4.) Slave I

I’ve always liked this ship. I don’t know. It might be the way that it lands. Though, candidly, I have no fucking clue how one would get in and out of it easily since it has you sort of upside-down. Still. It’s got a great number of useful weapons. It’s fast. Sleek. Stylish. Fun for Fetts.

3.) Millennium Falcon

This is also cliche, but it did make the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. Played a role in blowing up both Death Stars too. Fun for smuggling spice, weapons, Jedi, Princesses of Alderaan. Cool co-pilot in the form of a Chewbacca. A hunk of junk that packs more punch than one would think (though it was an utter p***y magnet when it belonged to Lando).

2.) T-6 Shuttle

I’m not a simp for Ahsoka at all. Joking aside. The ship is comfortable enough to live in. Designed for peaceful missions, they can be retrofitted with weapons. I like the rotating wings. I think that’s an interesting concept. Also, the ship is sleek. Just saying.

1.) The Fondor

This isn’t even close. This ship. Holy fuck. Unsuspecting. Boring looking. But damn. Damn would you be wrong about everything. The ship navigation and droid assistance in the first episode we saw it in was pretty cool.

But, then, it shows up in “The Daughter of Ferrix” and oh my god… Luthen gets hailed by an Imperial patrol, gets stuck in that tractor beam. You’re thinking in that moment, uh oh. Then, he powers up his counter measures, and fucking sends shrapnel into the tractor beam and destroys it. Now you’re thinking, oh bad ass!

But, he’s not finished. He uses canons to blow up a tie fighter. No biggie, but cool… then, he uses those damned lightsaber laser defenses and cuts TWO of those mother fucking ties in half, and shoots off into hyperspace. My mouth just hit the floor. That was the coolest shit I’d ever seen. Give. Give me the Haulcraft!

[blueshadesfandomstuff]

Shutterbug and Seaglass Part 6 (for now): The Gauntlet Chapter 3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62723878/chapters/160575775 - For anyone without an Ao3 account or who don't want to move website chapter three is linked below the cut!

The next few days are rough for both Jason and Robin, with the only highlights being the burgers and arcade trip. Scarecrow hasn’t been sighted at all yet, which is nerve wracking, highly unusual and also just a pain to deal with. Robin spends night, after night, after night of searching the abandoned warehouse district looking for the phd wielding rouge. Each night becoming more of a disappointment and leaving him very much on edge. Scarecrow has never been this hard to find – either that or Robin II is the worst ever at looking for him. He has mixed information on that. BG and N maintain that he’s doing a good job and has a thorough enough search pattern that if he isn’t finding Crane then he’s just found a new bolt hole. Batman, on the other hand, maintains that Crane is too much of a creature of habit and that Robin just isn’t looking hard enough for evidence in the abandoned warehouses. All his sources do say that he’ll be sure once he does find Scarecrow though. Halloween is too important to the rogue for him to miss the occasion and they’re too close to Halloween now for him not to have something in the works. And hiding that something-in-the-works will be far harder than hiding just himself.

Problem is that Robin has been denied permission to look through the sewers and even most parts of the docks – even though Crane has used said before to try and get a liquid version of Fear into Gotham’s water sources before! While Robin knows the docks will be dangerous – what with both the Falcone and Maroni families prepping for the roaring drug-trade that is Halloween – Batman’s reason for banning him from the sewers remains opaque until N lets it slip that both Killer Croc and Two-Face are out. A fact that was hidden from Robin and causes Jason to start the mother of all rows when he returns for the night. He needs to know this shit! Crane and Croc AND Crane and Two-Face both have collaborated before! But when he brings that up, he’s shouted down by the Bat. And then comes the ringer… And unfortunately, Bruce chooses to wait until they’re alone in the Cave before he actually reveals what’s going on.

It starts as usual. Him and Bruce arguing in the Cave after patrol. He’s just brought up that he doesn’t appreciate that he had to learn through Big Bird that Croc and Two-Face are also out and that Big Bird tried to then hush him about it. He should have this information!

Infuriatingly though Bruce just replies with “That is need to know and you didn’t need to know!”

“Bullshit I didn’t! If there is a chance those any of them are collaborating, then I needed to know!” He’s aware that stamping his foot like a little kid isn’t conducive to adult discussion but boy does he need to get this frustration out somehow. Bruce fires back though, and fast.

“First of all: Language! I already hate that you use that kind of talk on the lowlifes we deal with, I will not have it aimed at me! Second: If they are Two-Face is found to be collaborating with Crane or Croc then Robin won’t be going near that case!”

“But how am I supposed to pass the Gauntlet if that’s a condition? You’ve set Crane as the only person I am allowed to bring in but how can I if I’m banned from going near him? Two-Face keeps his involvement in this secret until the very last second, even from you!” Then it clicks fully. “That’s why I can only access the Warehouse District… If Crane’s in the sewers or at the docs, then he’s probably working with Two-Face. You’ve set me a possibly impossible to complete mission, dangling independence in front of my face despite knowing it could all be for nothing and told me off and called me incompetent when it’s not certain at all that Crane is in the warehouses at all! And for what? Shits and giggles?!”

“If you’re not responsible enough to understand why I would keep you away from Harvey Dent then you don’t deserve Robin at all! He nearly killed Robin I before! And despite Dick’s want to coddle you, you and I both know you’re nowhere near Robin I’s level when he was almost killed by Two-Face. I’m still not sure it was wise to bring the mantle back at all after that, but I let idealism get in my way. That was my mistake, but I won’t let it kill you. If Two-Face is involved then you won’t be given the chance to win the Gauntlet, end of discussion!”

“But-”

“End of discussion!”

It takes everything Jason has to walk away quietly. Even more to wait to calm down and work through his calming exercises until he’s sure Bruce is the one being unreasonable here. He wants to stop this kind of behavior. Heck he might even say he needs to stop this behavior. He’s right to think that this isn’t okay. It’s not just pride – though he’s also allowed to have pride in his work. But he’s sure now that it isn’t just his pride smarting that makes this feel so unfair. Dangling rights over an impossible win isn’t fair, and Bruce is in the wrong to do it. Even more wrong to wait until he could attack Jason alone. He needs to send the Cave footage to Dick, Babs and Alfred. Except by the time he’s finally calmed down, enough to have worked that all over and hack into the Cave with his laptop, he can’t. Bruce has already deleted the footage of the conversation. The only thing he hasn’t done is filled in the time – it remains blank. Jason screams into his pillow. No one will believe him now. Bruce will make sure of it. He still writes down what he can remember of their conversation and attached it to the flagged missing footage, but it’ll come down to mentor vs mentee and Jason is always going to lose that battle. That Bruce planned it this way might be the thing that stings the most. How can he trust that Bruce loves him as a son when he does things like this? He hasn’t even apologized for the last time. Alfred may have dragged out of him that he does want Jason and Dick as his sons but there has been no follow through at all.

At least, in this shit-sundae-of-epic-proportions-of-a-week, he does manage to get a tracker into the lining of the jacket Bug wears most for Bat-watching but the she rejects the panic button from Robin soundly right up until he loses his temper with her. Then it was a showdown and he’s not proud of himself for it. As it’s just the night after his showdown with Batman-the-ginormous-asshole, Robin is much harsher then he should have been and he’s well aware that he’s definitely hurt her feelings. And called her competency into question… And her sanity… And called her creepy... And insinuated she does this for shady purposes… Oh boy, is he not proud of himself. She was hiding tears near the end of that exchange, and he hadn’t seen her since as Robin. He’s not even sure she’s been coming out and just hiding. The tracker in the beacon hasn’t budged but neither has the tracker in her winter coat and while he might expect her to leave Robin’s gift behind, she would still need the coat… Right? When he calls past as Robin the next night after noticing the lack of movement, unable to bear the grief and wondering if he can make amends, he finds the beacon outside her locked window with the blinds drawn, attached to a Dick-and-Jason-amalgam-as-Robin plush that he got her along with Batgirl at the arcade, firmly left out in the cold and wet. Shit. His stomach has been making itself at home in his shoes ever since.

Further worryingly, she’s also turned away from them all at school, turning down his, Ives and Callie’s attempts to keep her warm and out of pain and keeping her distance from everyone. Not unfriendly distance either. Not something that Ives and Callie know how fight against easily, either, though Ives is on the money that it’s like when she first arrived at Brentwood since she would absolutely have been doing this routine then too. Not something he knows how to fight either, though he can see what’s going on better then the other two can because he’s known her longer and watched her build these defenses in the first place. It’s not like she’s not mean or she’s not rude or she’s unpleasant, and she isn’t obviously outwardly cold. No, she’s none of the things you could ping her for at all, aside from her not turning up to things or automatically sitting with them at first and even that disappears after Ives gets frustrated at her. On a surface level she’s fine. She’s just as willing to give advice and she’s just as likely to commiserate, but it all feels wrong. It’s like she’s acting and that’s because that’s exactly what she’s doing. Acting while her emotions take a dirt-nap because underneath the charming exterior, she’s all but disappeared and that’s entirely deliberate because she’s protecting herself.

Gotham’s Littlest Perfect Princess has no right to attend Gotham Academy, but here she is in all her faux-glory. Full armor engaged with perfect slightly vacant smile firmly in place - mouth open just enough to show straight teeth but not enough to show the imperfection of her buck-teeth - not a hair out of place in her school-regulation-perfect ponytail, perfect full girls uniform (including the shined shoes, daily fresh knotted tie, and itchy jumper under a blazer), quintessential ‘tweenage girl’ perfume that has more to do with straight sugar than anything else (yet still somehow costs a fucking fortune) and as fully made-up makeup-wise as she can get away with on campus - which near enough ‘full glam’ because the teachers here don’t notice shit-all unless the makeup is ‘unnatural’ colours. Or what they think are unnatural colours, since unnatural here seemingly stands in for fucking rainbow options only with anything neutral flying under the radar. There is no such thing as a taupe and bronze cut crease in nature as far as he was aware, nor do lips come in neutral-toned browns, generally, but Jason digresses... There is almost nothing left of his Bug in her at all, just a bland, polite, protocol-droid-perfect-mini-socialite who’s only good side is that she never judges anyone ever. Not because it’s against her morals (she doesn’t have any noticeable ones in this form), but because it’s not polite.

He did this. He knew how important Robin was to his friend and he hurt her using it anyway and now she’s shut down to protect herself. Which she only does when she can’t take it anymore and has to disassociate to survive. And that… Along with all the bad feelings about his home situation is a bridge too far for Jason. He runs away. Right in the middle of lunch and probably spooking the heck out of Ives and Callie, when they’re already sorta wigged out by Timi, but he can’t deal with this. It hurts too much. He needs to hide so he can explode in private. He needs the world to pause for a bit.

He moves with single-minded purpose, dodging the douche canoes that he’d normally at least threaten because they’re trying to shoulder check everyone in the corridor to ‘establish their dominance’ or whatever the fuck, trying to find somewhere secluded enough that he can insure he’ll be alone for long enough to actually cry himself out. He’s going to have to choose carefully, or he’ll just end up with people around him and then he’ll want to lash out. Ives and Callie don’t know him well enough yet and as much as they’re worthy of his trust – they don’t have it yet. They’re both too new to understand what he needs and the amount he needs it. No, better he’s alone. Where can he go that Ives and Callie can’t reach? Somewhere that needs parkour, that’s for sure. Robin tactics get him places only people like Robin can get to. He runs through his options and ends up choosing the bell tower. It’s off limits to student’s technically, but when has that ever stopped him? It also has service ladders you’d need to wall climb to get to unless you had the specific key to get them down – which makes it perfect for him at the moment. No one can follow him there. Even the teachers would be leery of coming and getting him, if they could even hope to work out that he’s up here, as only the principal and the maintenance staff have the keys for the ladders, he’s fairly sure.

The bell tower of Gotham Academy is old and unused enough that picking the locked door is child’s play as is latching it behind him and no one sees him, he’s sure of it. Even with the tower being in the center of campus, attached on one side to the drama department, it’s right across from the library on one side and the teacher’s lounge on the other and thus is safely stuck in the ‘nerd quarter’ of the school. He takes the side facing the lounge. It’s too audacious to be his suspected point of ingress and the lounge will be full at this time and thus totally distracted as it’ll be fucking ‘gossip hour matinee’ amongst the staff. The whole school is revival gothic in style – all sharp arched windows, with mullions and remarkably climbable stone veneers over red brick. If he could get away with it, climbing the outside would actually be an easier way to do it. But it is what it is. It takes him a go or two – fucking useless school shoes – but he manages to get a hold of the brickwork of the bell-tower internal structure and climb up just enough to get a hold of the bottom rung of the ladder. After that it’s easy, though he’s struggling with how loud his breath is in the still air. It’s almost too loud and too disruptive to the dust motes that float through the air. He wanders around the catwalk that the ladder leads up to. It spans all four walls too but sadly it’s too shallow for him to actually hide here, but there is a door on the opposite side to him.

That probably leads into the attic space of the drama department. It’ll do. He has to pick the door lock again, but once again it’s not a hard affair, and then he’s into the drama department’s long-term storage. This is where they store the costumes and props that only get brought out when a new copy needs to be made. The actual antiques the school has amassed over time. Amongst the more delicate examples Jason finds a still sturdy lost cushion - from a chesterfield lounge if he had to guess - under a dustsheet and camps in a dusty corner behind everything else and then curls himself into a ball, forehead on his knees, almost too tired to let the tears he came her to hide fall. Everything greys out in the dusty silence and the tears finally come in earnest. Tears for him never being more than a working-class-mangy fox amongst glittering wolves ready to tear him apart at a moment’s notice, tears for Robin and his inability to be worth anything unlike the shining beacon he stole the name of, tears for Bug and her pain that he dealt her because he was struggling too, tears for Alfie and Dick and Babs who try not to fight him or each other over the scraps let by an uncaring Batman, tears for having to run from the only other two friendly people he has in this hell-hole-of-a-school, tears because he wants him mom most of all.

God Catherine couldn’t fix everything, and by the end she could barely fix anything at all, but she always knew what to do when he was upset. She was always on his side when push came to shove. Always ready to support him whether that was dinner made together or distracting him with helping her in her singing lessons or sharing game shows on the couch. All rituals that have been lost forever, along with his mom, and he just has to keep existing, somehow.

Jason’s not sure how long he sits once the tears peter-out into docile and disconnected oblivion. He’s not conscious at all, really. Not really a person in this state at all. Like this, he’s just a jumble of scuffed up doll parts in the dark. Overlooked, dusty, useless and unimportant. If it was damp then he might as well be that Robin doll with the beacon outside Bug’s window. Nothing matters here, he doesn’t matter here, so perhaps it should be less surprising that he doesn’t come back to himself until well after a little visitor makes herself at home next to him, where she’s squeezed in between him and the chair he’s behind. Or perhaps he doesn’t notice because, after almost a full school week of not smelling, sounding or looking anything like herself at all, it’s Bug he comes back to. Not Perfect Princess Timianna Drake but Bug. Hair loose and windblown, makeup free, scent a mix of shampoo and bodywash and Janney’s favorite perfume, out of school uniform and into her usual winter options of jeans, a long sleeve janky-funny bootleg tee from China Town and sporting a stolen one of his flannelette shirts under the leather jacket he outgrew last year, his Shutterbug.

Unfortunately for both of them, seeing Bug again snaps Jason right back into his body and his body feels… Awful, in a word. He can think of more though and quickly does. He’s aching, tired, dehydrated… and sad. Tears well almost as quickly as he comes back to himself. Bug murmurs to him softly, though he can’t hear what she’s saying just yet. He’s still a little unconnected it seems. But he can tell she’s trying to comfort him and that almost feels just as bad. He hurt her and he can’t even apologise right now because she doesn’t know it was him. He apologizes anyway, turning into her and tucking around him as much as he can. She makes it easy, shushing and rocking him softly.

“Y’re going to be okay, Seaglass. I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, but y’ are. We’ll get y’ right again. Alfie, Dick and Babs are in tha back parkin’ lot when y’re ready. Alfie told tha staff y’ had ta come home quickly ‘cause of an emergency so y’ aren’t in trouble n’ I picked up tha work y’ missed. We thought maybe y’d like some dinner out just us, Alf, Babs and Dickie?” It’s so good to hear Timi’s New Town accent out and about – even if it’s just for his benefit right now.

“Alfie doesn’t want me ta come back ta tha manor?” Oh god. Is he finally being tossed away for good? Bug blinks, probably unsure of what that means.

“Well… at tha end of tha night he probably does, but he’s kinda angry with Bruce f’r whatever he said to y’ that maybe caused some a�� this… He said someth’n about ‘setting utterly preposterous standards and doing us all the extreme disservice of keeping them secret’?” Jason snorts a little. He can hear the obvious quotes around Alfred’s statement there, but he sobers quickly. Bruce is nothing but pain for him right now. What can he even say?

Oh wait. “I’m just not good enough for him, Bug.” The same refrain that’s been dancing through his head every day since this mess began. That’ll do.

“Bruce said y’re not good enough?” At his miserable nod Bug bristles, though she thankfully keeps her voice down for him. His head feels delicate – like his brain is bruised. “How th’ fuck? Y’re a straight A student! Fuck, better then straight A, y’re ona fast-track course t’ early entry University! Plus… Well, y’re you! Y’ always give y’r best!”

“Seems like my best just ain’t enough, love.”  Though her faith in him helps a bit. Okay, a lot. It feels like he’s finally found dry land again after days of swimming against the current.

“Like hell! I’mma fight him then!” Jason snorts and then laughs. Her incredulous irritation on his behalf has always been one of his favorite things about Bug but the image her statement paints is also hilarious. He doesn’t strictly doubt her either. Timi is dangerous when she’s angry and it won’t be about winning for her – just doing enough damage to make her point. At his laughter Bug mock pouts at him. “Oh, I see how it is! Y’ don’t think I could take ‘em, huh?”

“No, no. It ain’t like that, Bug. Come on, anyone knows just how dangerous ya are it’s me…It’s just the image. Yer gonna look like a kitten taking outta fully grown, but suddenly terrified, Doberman!”

“Can’t be a kitten, Sveta put alla this effort into trimmin’ my claws n’ everythin’!” Bug says before flashing said claws – Actually a set of acrylics made to look like what nails would be if they were perfect. Oh… He hasn’t seen Sveta’s salon in ages. She used to do his mom’s nails for free for teaching her eldest daughter. He forgets sometimes that Timi is more aware of his old neighborhood then he is these days. It’s part of what pissed her off so much at Robin too. Theres no respect for what she does and the skills she brings, and he left her no room for her to tell him.

“Yeah, cause that’s how it works, Bug. They do look nice though. How is Sveta anyways? I ain’t bin out that way in ages.”

“She’s doin’ okay. Makar got int’ Lower Gotham Prep on scholarship so she’s proud of him in spades! She had a run in with a Maroni runner looking for cash, but I got to ‘im first. Her first three months are paid but… I dunno what she’s gonna do after that.” Oh, Jason knows what he’s gonna do. Robin’s going to fix it well before the runner even dares to come back. Old Gotham is a no man’s land of mixed gang allegiance because that’s where all the gang’s members and runners come from. Runner in Crime-alley can and will be run off just by Robin sticking his pointed boot in the mess. That’s a later Jason and Robin thought though.

“Maybe I can talk ta Alfie – he’s scary when he wants to be and if the Maroni’s know the Wayne Butler is in personal contact-”

“They’ll ransom him for fun n’ profit instead?”

“Never underestimate Alfie Bug, he’ll always surprise ya if ya do.”

“Well… fair enough I s’ppose. Alfie does seem t’ be made of magic.”

“Damn right!” Bug pulls away a little with a smile.

“Well, hows about we get going? I have a change of clothes for you in my bag.” He nods and lets Bug pull him up. Once up she leads him the opposite way to the way he came in – which reminds him how he got up here in the first place.

“How’d ya find me anyways?”

“I’d love t’ say somethin’ clever like: ‘Cause I know you’. Cause if anyone knows y’, it’s me. But it ended up bein’ a process a’ elimination… N’ stealing tha master keys from Miss Parson’s desk once I’d checked alla tha easy places.” Miss Parson is secretary to the principal. That means she had to break into the front office. Shit!

“There’s cameras in tha front office Bug!” Bug turns and cocks an unimpressed eyebrow. It’s not a look he’s subjected to as himself often, but it is one Robin’s copped several times now. Not as effective as Janet’s or Alfred’s eyebrows but more than chastising enough for sure.

“N’ I have lessons with Barbara n free access t’ th’ internet t learn all tha little dirty tricks she refuses t’ teach me. So, ona effective level, no, there ain’t. Oh, n lockpicking lessons, but if y’ don’t remember who gave me those I’mma check y’ f’r head injuries.”

“Pretty sure that ain’t what yer lessons with Barbara are meant ta be fer!” Yes Bug, he remembers teaching you to lockpick, cheeky little shit! But surely Babs didn’t… No. She would have just taught Timi the coding and Timi’s the one who’s worked out how to abuse the knowledge. Free access to the internet, indeed. His best friend is dangerous.

“Well luckily for me, mother and father have never asked without Babs having a perfectly acceptable answer for me to pass on – with evidence. So, I’m in the clear. Also, let me live a little Glass. It’s not like she’ll ever knows I use it for anything other than the above board things! I’m a homebody for the most part, not a troublemaker.” Since Jason is Robin, and has seen precisely what Bug gets up to in her free time, he sorely begs to fucking differ! But she doesn’t know that bit, so technically neither does he. Sigh. Sneaky and cheeky little shit. Also, it’s amazing how fast she changes accent automatically the minute Jack and Janet even figuratively enter the conversation.

“Speakin’ a teachin’ lessons. Ye seems much better but what happened? Or am I gonna have ta deal with Gotham’s Princess again tomorrow too.”

“No… I’m done now. Four and a bit days is all the patience I have to play her. I’m sorry Glass. I’m sorry if I contributed to you losing it today. It’s just… I’ve been made fun of for being weird for ages… Here and at Brentwood too… and then Ives and Callie an – no you didn’t but you weren’t paying attention, so you didn’t say anything at all – but they agreed that I was weird… And maybe creepy too… Creepy seemed to be implied… And I just… I just needed to prove that my being weird is what makes me good, actually. Sure, I’m weird an-and obsessive and maybe even a little creepy, but I still care about good things, important things – things that actually matter! People that actually matter! And I only want the best for the people I love and idolize! I… just… It hurt because it felt like they were rejecting me, even though part of why I’m weird is because I love them an-and you so much. Kids of my social class aren’t supposed to care about other people, not like I do still even with all of mom’s lessons, so I’m kinda flying blind when it comes to boundaries, I guess, but it all comes from a place of love, I swear.” There it is – that’s Robin’s doing… and maybe Ives and Callie too but he’ll bet his cape that it’s Robin that kick-started this horrible little journey and Ives and Callie just blundered in on fresh pain. Oh, poor Bug. He pulls Bug into hugging range and tucks her under his chin for a moment. Pouring all the love he has into it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice, Bug. Yeah, ye’re a little weird but it’s ain’t ever bin a bad weird. I love tha weird ya are. I just worry sometimes about how much trouble ya can get yerself into and worry that I won’t be good enough ta get ya back out of that trouble. Loopin’ cameras, and kicking the idiots here on campus and stalkin’ Bats… We’ve been on are own adventures and I worry now I ain’t a part a’ Old Gotham n’ not on even on Gotham Proper anymore, that yeh doing it alone now. Please don’t go where I can’t get ta ya! Please don’t leave me behind! Yer all I have left of life before alla this glitz and glam bullshit.”

“… If I promise to wait for you first, can we get Galiani's for dinner?” Comes paired with a grin so Cheshire strong that it’s almost shit eating.

“Cheeky little shit! Just cause I know how much trouble ya are, I ain’t gonna hold ya ta that. And I want Galiani’s anyways so yer off the hook.” Bug whoops and they set off together with him getting changed in the first gents bathroom they can find – which is easily achieved when Bug has the freaking Master Keys. God help him she’s a handful and a half! But she’s also the best, and not just because she’ll spend ages looking for him, but because she’s packed all his favorite clothes for him in the bag she handed him, with the jeans that actually still fit okay, a bootleg Nightwing henley (based on the shape of Big bird's projectiles - which he's hysterically named 'Wingdings', mostly because it make's a vein bulge in Batman's forehead but also because his sense of humor runs to the ridiculous), a favorite green and gold flannel and his current fitting leather jacket. Both his and her jackets are hand-me-downs from Dickie, and he was kinda charmed that Jason chose to hand-me-down further to Bug. By the time he comes out, Timi’s returned the Master Keys, as this bathroom will get re-locked by the janitors in about an hour, so they’ll both be in the clear. It’s not like the janitors are going to argue with the teaching staff over who locked what – that’s a losing fight that no one would blame them for missing out on.

With Bug in attendance no one is able to mention what Alfred found out that made him aware that Jason would need a night out with family. Which is a shame, but it also keeps all conversation away from their nightlife full stop, and for once, Jason was more than happy to not focus on capes for an evening. Batman can go hang… Also patrol alone for a night because Robin is taking a break for at least tonight. He’s also stunned when his and Bug’s suggestion of Galiani’s is just accepted and Alfred just heads off like he knows the way. He raises an eyebrow at Babs, who’s stuck in the back seat with him and Bug, Bug in the middle, since Big Bird called shotgun, and Alfred would never not be driving.

“What?”

“Nothin’ really. Just surprised ya all went fer an Old Gotham choice. Bug n’ I have the nostalgia, what’s yer reason?”

“You mean aside from this all being a pick-me-up for you and Timi?” Jason lets his other eyebrow join the first, Babs just smirks at him.

“Just because Galiani’s is in Old Gotham doesn’t mean the rest of us do not have knowledge of it!” comes instead from Alfred. Oops, he doesn’t mean to offend.

“I don’t mean it as an insult, Alf, sorry. Just wonderin’ ‘cause I thought it was gonna be a long shot. Galiani’s is fantastic but it don’t see many people from outside’a Old Gotham. Or at least it didn’t ta my knowledge.”

“Ah, yeah. That’s my fault Littlewing. As you know, I also hated Gotham Academy but at least when I was going there were more scholarship kids then there are now, at least in the middle school – high school weeded most of them out, sadly. So, I had kids that weren’t that absolute worst, but they didn’t really talk at school but would talk to each other on the bus home and when I found that out, I’d take the bus that was going to Gotham Proper with the rest of the ‘poors’ and then explore.” Comes from Dickie – though in deference to Alfred he doesn’t turn in his seat like he does if anyone else is driving, gumby limbed freak that he is. “I didn’t ever have a lot of money on me for those trips and one of the only places that could feed me was Galiani’s. I remember it was the best pizza I’d ever tasted and that was when it was cold and about to be thrown out for the end of the lunch rush. Ever since then if Alf and I were coming home early from a gala without Bruce with us, we’d call in for a slice or two or get a whole to split if we were really hungry. Tonight, I think we’re going to have to get one each though.”

“Hmm… There will be leftovers then, I cannot eat a whole pizza anymore, Master Dick. Perhaps you can take it with you if you plan to stay with Miss Barbara again?” Jason nudges Bug at Alfred’s statement. First softly and then a little more firmly when the first set of nudging only get her biting her lip.

“Umm, I could share it with you Alfred. I can’t eat a whole pizza from Galiani’s either.” Theres a soft pause before Alfred does exactly as Jason expected him too.

“That would be capital, Miss Timi. You don’t mind Margarita pizza, do you?” Bug smiles and voices that she like Margarita just fine. Truth be told, Bug loves weird options when it comes to food and always has – one favorite combination for pizza being artichoke hearts and Canadian bacon (maybe, if he didn’t know her better, he might assume it’s a refined pallet but Jason’s got used to a fair amount weird rich people food and knows Bug more than well enough to know it’s just her being a weird little rich dumpster raccoon) but that’s not a style of pizza a place like Galiani’s offers, plus there have been many times he and Bug had to make do with the almost cold leftovers much like Dick did in his story, and thus she’s also gotten used to any pizza as long as it isn’t too spicy (thus upgrading her and him both to weird non-rich dumpster raccoons, he supposes). Margarita is a safe option that she’s well used to.

Galiani’s is a little hole-in-the-wall kinda place. While it does have both interior and alfresco seating, most of it’s trade comes from takeaway orders because they not only do pizza but also hot chips – which is a favorite share-food of the working people of the area. When they get there, it’s got it’s usual of a line out the door to order but at least four free tables inside and most of the exterior once free too. Inside is a little spartan, but you can tell they’ve done the best with the building they could afford. The building was originally meant to be a cheap office building for some sort of desk-work boom in the last thirty years or so. Sure, it’s got a drop ceiling like an office, and damaged brown slate tiling that hasn’t been redone since half way through the 70s but it’s clean as a whistle and there are charming little red and white gingham tablecloths under the clear plastic protective sheeting, actually comfortable booth seating and chairs and the walls have a white stucco paint effect to mimic some part of Italy’s architecture and then there’s the wall with the painted fresco of the Colosseum in Rome which is only a little wonky in its paint job.

The staff are as friendly as you’ll find in an establishment this close to Crime Alley and the cooks in the kitchen learn their regular’s favorite order very quickly if you visit often. While the rest of them are finding good seats, the corner table with the double booth seating – go figure, vigilantes are sticklers for the spot with the best sight lines - Dick gets up to wait in the massive line, looking utterly unworried and unhurried. They must twig something though as well before it would be his turn to order the gal at the till calls if there are any dine-in people in the line, that they come forward first so they can get their food in a timely manner. This sparks the usual disgruntlement from the crowd but all it takes to silence the hubbub is Tony Galiani sticking his head out from the kitchen with a threatening scowl and a unimpressed eyebrows. Now Jason looks properly he knows why too. The gal taking the orders out front is Belle Galiani and Tony, like many proud family men, doesn’t take kindly to assholes heckling the baby of his family. Or any of his daughters really, as the man is blessed with four of them as well as two sons.

Belle takes Dickie’s order with the same smile that she treats all her customers to, but Jason notices Dickie comes away with a serviette stack that, unlike the other two dine-in customers, is topped with a serviette that definitely has something written in blue pen. A sullied serviette that finds it’s way into his pocket well before Dickie returns to the table. Smart man. The last thing they need is Babs getting her Coventry honed Irish-American protective rage out on an Italian-American waitress from the Bowery. That’ll be a no-holes-barred-end-of-all-civility cat fight. And both Belle and Babs play to win from what he can remember. Belle is sweet on the surface but like many Bowery girls, she’s been taught to fight by every protective man in her life and maybe even had professional lessons. That won’t have a chance in hell against Babs, but Jason would still rather not have to deal with it. Babs is bad enough with the Titans when it comes to Dickie and that’s not even starting on her personal feelings around giving out a number with social pressure to accept it. Jealousy is a cruel, cruel thing. Especially because Dickie occasionally is a bone-headed-moron and tries to play Kori and Babs off each other. Which is decidedly unfun for all involved.

It makes Babs into a real piece of work, and it turns out Kori isn’t entirely a slouch in that department either, despite her more mellow nature. Then again Kori is a recovery escapee from being sold into slave labor to save her home world, so maybe her being able to return Babs’, frankly mean, barbs with equal fire (sometimes actual fire – Starfire really doesn’t take shit talk well sometimes) is maybe a little more unsurprising then Jason gives Kori credit for. To be honest Jason kinda glad that the Titans demand at least two full years of mentor training before they’re willing to consider new members now. It not only pays respect to the age and combat experience of the current Titans, but it also means Jason doesn’t have to deal with the complicated math all those love-polyhedrons and intense social dynamics require for at least another year. Also, he has more time to convince Dickie that he doesn’t need to lead the younger members of the team and split the Titans. Maybe with time, or if he becomes more confident after The Gauntlet, he’ll change but right now Jason doesn’t need, want or deserve to be the leader of a team. Just being a member will be more than enough at first. Jason doesn’t, and possibly never will, have Dick’s drive to be The BestTM.

For tonight though there is no more talk of anything superhero related and Jason is relieved. He tired of all the secrecy and prefers to focus on family. He misses his old one, true, but this is his new one and they love him more then enough that if he can just focus on them only, he’ll be okay.

[sasheneskywalker]

sashene's to watch list

movies

Alienoid

Apollo 13

Argo (2012)

Arrival (2016)

Assassination (2015)

Atomic Blonde

Back to the Future

Ballerina (2023)

Barbie (2023)

Blade Runner 2049

Brokeback Mountain

Challengers

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Deadpool

Dune and Dune: Part Two

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Fight Club

Gone Girl

Inception

Interstellar

Jennifer’s Body

John Wick (Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4)

Joker (2019)

Kill Bill and Kill Bill 2

Kill Boksoon

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Knives Out and Glass Onion

La Femme Nikita

Lucy (2014)

Mad Max: Furiosa

MCU

Memories of the Sword

Moonlight (2016)

Nomadland

Ocean's 11

Pacific Rim

Parasite

Poor Things

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Promising Young Woman

Skyfall

Snowden (2016)

The Batman (2022)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Godfather

The Handmaiden (2016)

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay – Part 1, Mockingjay – Part 2)

The Lobster

The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King)

The Martian

The Matrix

The Old Guard

The Princess Bride

The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The Villainess

The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion and The Witch: Part 2. The Other One

There's Still Tomorrow

Star Wars (I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, Rogue One, Solo)

V for Vendetta

Wicked (2024)

Wonder Woman (2017)

Yesterday (2019)

tv shows

Agatha All Along

Agent Carter

Ahsoka

Andor

Arcane

Arrow

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Bloodhounds (2023)

Breaking Bad

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Connect (2022)

Daredevil

Doom Patrol

Dune: Prophecy

Good Omens

Hannibal

Happiness (2021)

Hawkeye

Heartstopper

Hotel del Luna

How to Get Away with Murder

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)

Interview with a Vampire

Iron Fist

Jessica Jones

Legends of Tomorrow

Leverage

Lockwood & Co

Loki

Lucifer

Luke Cage

Merlin

Money Heist

Moon Knight

My Name (2021)

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Orphan Black

Our Flag Means Death

Revenge of Others

Severance

Sisyphus: The Myth

Stranger Things

The Acolyte

The Boys

The Defenders

The End of the Fucking World

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

The Glory (2022)

The Good Place

The Legend of Vox Machina

The Mandalorian

The Nevers

The Penguin

The Punisher

The Sandman

The Umbrella Academy

WandaVision

Watchmen

Yellowjackets

Young Royals

anime

Apothecary Diaries

Banana Fish

Bungou Stray Dogs

Chainsaw Man

Code Geass

Cowboy Bebop

Darker Than Black

Death Note

Durarara!!

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Jujutsu Kaisen

Madoka Magica

Monster

Moriarty the Patriot

My Hero Academia

Naruto

Neon Genesis Evangelion

No. 6

Owari no Seraph

Psycho-Pass

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Re: Zero

Serial Experiments Lain

Steins;Gate

Vanitas no Karte

Violet Evergarden

Yuri on Ice

(italics mean i've already fully seen it)

[retrocgads]

UK 1985

[thepteryx]

The list of movies and tv-shows (Multifandom Mashup 2021)

Movies:

A Mouthful of Air

A Quiet Place Part II

A Writer's Odyssey (Ci sha xiao shuo jia)

After We Fell

AINBO: Spirit of the Amazon

Annette

Antlers

Apex

Army of the Dead

Army of Thieves

Beckett

Belfast

Bergman Island

Black Widow

Blood Red Sky

Candyman

Chaos Walking

Cinderella

CODA

Copshop

Cruella

Cry Macho

Don't Breathe 2

Dune

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

Eternals

F9

Fatherhood

Fear Street: 1978

Finch

Finding You

Firebird

Free Guy

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

Godzilla vs. Kong

Gunpowder Milkshake

He's All That

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

House of Gucci

I'm Your Man

In the Heights

Infinite

Invasion

Jolt

Judas and the Black Messiah

Jungle Cruise

Kate

King Richard

Lamb

Last Night in Soho

Le dernier mercenaire

Luca

Malcolm & Marie

Mimi

Mortal Kombat

My Little Pony: A New Generation

No Sudden Move

No Time to Die

Nobody

Old

Old Henry

Oxygen

PAW Patrol: The Movie

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway

Pig

Raya and the Last Dragon

Red Notice

Reminiscence

Ron's Gone Wrong

Rurôni Kenshin: Sai shûshô - The Beginning

Sardar Udham

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Sing 2

Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins

Space Jam: A New Legacy

Spencer

Spider-Man: No Way Home

The Addams Family 2

The Black Phone

The Boss Baby: Family Business

The Box

The Card Counter

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

The Dig

The French Dispatch

The Green Knight

The Guilty

The Ice Road

The King's Man

The Last Duel

The Last Letter from Your Lover

The Little Things

The Many Saints of Newark

The Marksman

The Matrix 4

The Misfits

The Mitchells vs the Machines

The Protégé

The Suicide Squad

The Tomorrow War

The Unforgivable

The White Lotus

The Woman in the Window

Those Who Wish Me Dead

Tides

Till Death

Titane

Together

Together-together

Tom and Jerry

Top Gun: Maverick

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Vivo

Warning

Willy's Wonderland

Wish Dragon

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Майор Гром: Чумной Доктор

Tv-shows:

A Discovery of Witches

American Gods

American Horror Story

Behind Her Eyes

Brand New Cherry Flavor

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Doctor Who

Doom Patrol

Élite

Euphoria

Fate: The Winx Saga

Fear the Walking Dead

Gone for Good

Hawkeye

La casa de papel

Loki

Love, Death & Robots

Lucifer

Maid

Mare of Easttown

Resident Alien

Sex Education

Shadow and Bone

Shameless

Solos

The Blacklist

The Book of Boba Fett

The Chair

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

The Flash

The Great

The Handmaid's Tale

The Rookie

The Wheel Of Time

The Witcher

WandaVision

WandaVision

What We Do in the Shadows

Why Women Kill

Y: The Last Man

Young Sheldon

เด็กใหม่ (Girl from Nowhere)

갯마을 차차차 (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha)

배드 앤 크레이지(Bad and Crazy)

빈센조 (Vincenzo)

설강화 (Snowdrop)

악마판사 (The Devil Judge)

어느 날 우리 집 현관으로 멸망이 들어왔다 (Doom at Your Service)

오월의 청춘 (Youth of May)

오징어게임 (Squid Game)

지옥(Hellbound)

펜트하우스 (Penthouse)

Animation:

Arcane: League of Legends

Mo Dao Zu Shi

Rick and Morty

[usafphantom2]

Low quality kerosine lands several MiG-21 of the Romanian Air Force

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 10/08/2022 - 11:15m Military

MiG-21 LanceR of the Romanian Air Force. (Photo: Hertfordshire Airwolfhound, UK via Wikipedia)

Several used MiG-21 fighters ?? by the Romanian Air Force were damaged after suppliers exchanged premium fuel for low-quality kerosene.

The prosecutors of the Ploiesti Court of Appeal followed the sale of the defective kerosene to businessman Cristian Berendel. In 2018, Berendel and the Ministry of Defense signed an agreement by which the former would provide aviation fuel to the latter for four years.

The first fuel shipments were within the standard, consisting of premium kerosene. The following, however, were cheap and low-quality fuel from Greece and Turkey, according to the Gandul website.

Over time, five fighters used to patrol the airspace, who had received the fuel, began to show signs of malfunction. Its fuel pumps, in particular, warned aviation experts and technicians that kerosene did not comply with the standard.

Romanian MiG-21 jets were damaged. (Photo: VanderWolf Images / Shutterstock.com)

Damage to planes totals 6 million euros. In addition, because the fighters were temporarily unable to fly, Romania was placed in the position of not being able to fulfill its obligations to NATO, that is, to defend its own airspace. The planes in question had to receive repairs at Aerostar Bacau.

Despite being one of the newest MiG-21 fleets in service, the Romanian fleet of MiG-21 LanceR was grounded due to aircraft maintenance difficulties and, since 1996, has had an accident rate of more than 30 per 100,000 hours.

After several incidents involving the MiG-21 LanceR fighters of the Romanian Air Force (RoAF), the Romanian Ministry of Defense announced that all operations with the aircraft were suspended as of April 15, 2022.

RoAF resumed flights with the MiG-21 on May 23, 2022. The service will continue to operate until May 15, 2023.

After May 2023, the LanceRs will be removed from service and replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons. Romania acquired 17 second-hand F-16 fighters from Portugal in 2016 and intends to buy 32 more aircraft from Norway.

Tags: Military AviationMikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21RoAF - Romanian Air Force/Roatroin Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. It has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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Cavok Brazil - Digital Tchê Web Creation

[dracowars]

hold on | poe dameron

pairing: poe x reader

word count: 1,9k

summary: where poe has to hold on to y/n for dear life

a/n: this is inspired by that one scene in Mulan II (if you know, you know)

warnings: angst, character death, mentions of blood

universe: star wars

It was in that one moment, in that one tiny second, that you were careless. You were not paying enough attention. You have felt safe, a false sense of security. And suddenly the plans with important secret information about the First Order and its troops, that you worked hard for to earn, were snatched away from you.

Leia had entrusted the four of you - Rey, Finn, Poe, and you - with this very important mission and sent you to Vandor to meet up with a spy in the ranks of the First Order who captured said plans. With these plans you could have foreseen their next steps and be prepared for them. You would have had a chance, but now that the plans are gone, the hopelessness keeps increasing.

After you went to Vandor and reached your destination, you were badly surprised on your way back to the base and had to make an emergency landing on Pasaana, a heavily populated desert planet. You immediately thought that something was not right, that something was suspicious since the Millennium Flacon was carefully checked on the basis of the Resistance beforehand and showed no signs of any damages or problems. You should have guessed that the First Order was behind this, chasing you down until they got their precious plans back. And unfortunately, that is exactly what they now succeeded in doing.

Pasaana is known for its colorful festivals and marketplaces and while you were looking for spare parts to repair the Falcon with, you were distracted. You were not paying attention, got distracted, and suddenly the plans were gone, stolen by a creature you would classify as a bounty hunter based on its appearance. They were shrewd and cunning and had probably worked out their deed diligently. One of them distracted you all, talked to you, got you involved in a conversation and offered you all sorts of things, just like a real trader. What none of you noticed, however, was how his companion sneaked up on you from behind and stole your bag with the plans.

The two of them ran away immediately and you followed them as quickly as possible. While doing so, you also drew the attention of a few patrols consisting of stormtroopers of the First Order on you, who are making the pursuit even more difficult now. Rey fends off their shots with her blue lightsaber, Finn shoots his blaster at your chasers in the middle of running, while Poe and you are closely following behind the bounty hunters.

The sand under your feet makes it strenuous for you to move forward quickly, but not only you are affected by it. The bounty hunters as well as the stormtroopers are struggling with it too and since you ran out of the actual city by now, you find yourself completely surrounded by sand.

However, you do not let it stop you and continue to pursue them in the hope of regaining the important plans with the information, not dooming your mission. Poe tries to hit them with his own blaster shots repeatedly, but terribly fails. In return for his attack, you are met with a small ball flying straight towards you; a bomb.

Within seconds, Poe throws himself protectively at you, pulling you to the side and away from the source of danger, ending up in the soft sand when the bomb goes off close to you. Poe shields the swirling sand from you with his body, his strong arms blocking your view.

“Are you alright?”, he asks you worried, his arms wrapped tightly around you, scanning his eyes over your face.

“Y-Yes. Thank you”, you stutter out. You have never been this close to him before as you are at this moment right now. His dark curls fall on his forehead, beautifully framing it, his stunning brown eyes look straight into yours. You lose yourself in the moment, wanting to control and stop the time to forever enjoy this moment. Poe, on the other hand, seems to be stunned as well. By you.

He has had these feelings for you for so long already, but he suppressed them. At first, he tried to deny the fact that he fell for you, but seeing you every day, seeing that gorgeous smile on your face that he wants to touch so bad every time, he accepted his feelings at some point, but was still not ready to confess them. How could he? In the midst of a war raging around you, he felt it was inappropriate and not the right time to put his feelings first. But right now, in this moment, he would like nothing more than to confess his love to you. Kiss you right on the spot, cup your face, softly touch you with his fingers, all that he wishes so dearly still seems so far away, even now when he can literally feel your raging heartbeat against his chest.

No longer able to withstand his loving gaze on you, you avert your gaze and Poe watches how your eyes suddenly widen.

“The plans!”, you shout in shock and bring you both back to the bitter reality. Getting up as fast as possible, Poe helping you, you stomp through the deep sand again, following the bounty hunters who have brought a great distance between you in the meantime.

“What are you two even doing!?”, you hear Rey’s voice behind you as she comes running after you both. Apparently, she and Finn successfully eliminated all stormtroopers.

“They are going to escape!”, Finn adds a little angry, the blaster still ready in his hands before another loud shot is suddenly fired.

Several Tie Fighters have now appeared above you, chasing and shooting you. You are abruptly forced to stop in your tracks when one of their fatal shots lands right in front of you, blocking your path with a violent explosion, whirling the sand through the air again.

“This way!”, Poe calls out, takes you by the hand and leads you into a crevice, closely followed by Rey and Finn. “Their footprints lead this way, come on!”

Not hesitating for long, you stay hunched between the rocks, walking more slowly than before with the Tie Fighters over your head, waiting like vultures for their prey. The footprints lead through the rocky landscape until you reach a large, deep cliff.

Right when you reach it, the bounty hunters run over a narrow, unstable suspension bridge that leads over said gorge. Without thinking any further, Poe and you quickly follow them, the loose pieces of wood creaking dangerously under your feet. And on top of all of this, the Tie Fighters reappear, now that there is enough space above you to shoot at you again. A shot fired by Finn, who has stopped on the solid surface in front of the cliff, passes you, heading straight for the bounty hunters, but missing them by only a few inches. One of them aims his weapon directly at Poe and you on the loose bridge, fires a shot as well and actually lands a hit this time. Poe cries out in pain, whimpering, when his blaster is shot out of his hand with great impact, falling into the abyss.

As soon as the two bounty hunters reach the other safe side of the gorge, a disgusting laugh comes from their mouths as they suddenly start to cut the rotten ropes of the hanging bridge. Immediately the bridge begins to sway dangerously under your feet, nearly knocking you over when you try to keep your balance.

“Watch out!”, you hear Rey’s loud scream behind you, the last thing you hear right before one of the Tie Fighters shots fly through the air again, breaking the rope in half and causing you to fall into the deep depths, screaming.

At the very last moment you manage to hold on to a broken old rope, reach out your arm right away to catch Poe as well. His weight pulls hard on your arm, making you cry out in pain briefly, but you grab his hand as tightly as you can, not letting go of him. You hang helplessly in the air over the gorge, which leads several meters down, not even being able to see the ground from up here. A cold breeze floats through the gorge and not only makes you sway, but also the almost completely destroyed suspension bridge above you.

“Poe! Poe, hold on tight, okay? I got this!”, you scream loudly, hoping to give him and also yourself the strength to get through this, but when you look up to where the bridge was a few seconds ago, another part of it breaks and you fall a few meters deeper. Holding on to the one puny rope with your bare physical strength, tears are already stinging your eyes, the situation seeming hopeless. The rope, which now resembles a thin thread, will not be able to hold you for much longer.

“Y/N. It will not hold us both”, Poe states, his shaky voice full of fear and sadness, saying out loud what you thought.

“No, it will hold us both. It will, I know it will!”, you reply with an equal shaky voice, looking down at him and the infinite depth below him. Bloods runs down his arm, caused by the injury on his hand due to the shot, turning his light brown shirt a deep red. Tears well up in your eyes when you notice the helplessness in his eyes. Shortly after your words, the rope starts to tear a little more and your arms turn sorer every second.

“I should have told you this much earlier, Y/N. But I want you to know that, before we die, I truly love you”, Poe confesses out of nowhere, causing the tears to flow down your cheeks, your hand clasping even more around his wrist.

“I love you too, Poe. With all my heart”, you sob and see a gentle smile on Poe’s lips, which disappears again quickly as his whole facial expression changes after his gaze fell on the thread which is the only thing still saving you from death. “We will not die, do you hear me? We will make it out of here!”

“Y/N. I am sorry”, he whispers and suddenly loosens his grip on your hand. Screaming bitterly, you try to grab him, to hold him, but his hand slips away, and Poe falls down into the abyss, margining with the deep black while you can only scream after him.

“NO!”, you cry out loudly, your hand still outstretched, warm and covered in blood where your hands were still touching seconds before. “POE!”

You are about to let go as well, your grip on the rope, that is currently still rescuing you from the same fatal fate as Poe, is already loosening when you suddenly feel how the gravity gets reversed and you begin to float in the air. Slowly, you slide up out of the deep gorge, still holding the rope in your hand, your gaze fixed on the black below you as you get rescued through the Force by Rey. As soon as you feel solid ground under your feet again, you rush back to the dangerous edge, fall on your knees in front of it while tears flow down your cheeks in streams.

With beeping ears and a throbbing heart, you feel how Rey and Finn put their arms around you, how they talk to you and try to comfort you. But nothing could. Nothing in this universe could relieve you from the absolute pain you are in.

You feel nothing but emptiness. A void that is only filled with the unbearable pain of just having lost the love of your life forever.

[octalove]

II: Blood and Ghosts

(Batgirl/Red Hood)

Description: Reader tries getting a clue. part one

“Typically, they steer clear of the Village, but that doesn’t appear to be the case as of recent. Oracle found out about an operation out of a Hadley’s Deli there- standard money laundering, but it also could’ve been linked to the shipment of cocaine that we found at the Yacht Basin.”

“Right. So what changed?”

“A better question would be what didn’t?”

A beat. The contrasting silence that followed jarred me from my thoughts as I glanced over and realized that Bruce was prompting me for an answer. Tim looked expectant and inquisitive, but that was sort of his default expression.

“Oh. Sorry. What?” I said apologetically.

“Maroni.” He said simply. Nothing came to mind. He didn’t express verbal disappointment as he turned back to Tim, but I knew it was there.

“Red Hood has been operating out of The Bowery. Maroni and Falcone are stubborn, but they’re losing. He’s pushing them north.”

“So moving to the Village isn’t expansion. It’s desperation.” Tim muttered thoughtfully.

“I believe so.”

“May I be excused?” I asked. Bruce glanced back to me, studying a moment. Scrutinizing every detail; not deciding whether or not to let me leave- rather, deciding why I wanted to. Then, he nodded. Seems he wasn’t in the mood to ask.

I swept up my laptop and phone, and ascended the stairs from the cave to the manor quickly, trying to escape the eyes boring into my back. Only when the cool, lemon-scented air of the manor filled my lungs did I breathe a sigh of relief. Alone. All I needed was few minutes alone. I scaled the marble steps to my room and shut the door.

I hadn’t told anyone that I saw him three nights ago. That I watched him murder a man in retribution for me. My alter ego, anyway. I don’t know why. Maybe because it would mean having to tell them I snuck away. Having to walk through every detail again; sights, sounds, smells. What Red Hood was wearing and what he sounded like, what gun he was holding and how he held it, what prompted him to fire, how many shots and how he acted when he did.

But if ever there was a time to be high-strung and anxious, it was when you were keeping secrets from Batman. And Oracle. And Nightwing. And Red Robin. And Robin. Damian in particular could smell a lie like blood in the water, and he wasn’t too polite to hold your gaze until he was certain you weren’t hiding anything. That, and the art of solidarity was still foreign to him- even if I did tell him in confidence, he would take it right to Bruce. Possibly the police. Maybe a news outlet or two just because it soothed his vindictive nature. I’d been avoiding him.

Evening bled into night, and I was barred from masked business on school nights, so I couldn’t even patrol to ease the anxious energy. Still, that meant less opportunity for Bruce to analyze my musculoskeletal ticks or whatever the hell he did to tell when I was nervous, so I decided it was a worthy trade-off and resigned myself to independent research.

Who the hell was Red Hood, anyway? Half of Gotham was looking for him, the other half was running from him. I opened my laptop.

His debut was The Viper House, a strip club in Little Italy that also functioned as a human trafficking hub when the owner, Renaldo, needed to buy his wife (or handful of mistresses) a new Blue Nile diamond. By the end, the building had to be gutted. There’s only so much crime scene clean-up can do with carpet.

Next came the kingpins. Blowing open a trafficking operation had a short grace period if you didn’t cut out the source. Italian mobsters, the Romani families, the crews that had built empires on drug and sex trade dropped like flies until they found that their numbers dwindled for the first time since Joker finally bit it. The dozens of loyal men on their payroll decided that empty pockets were better than a full grave, and when it came to the business of death, Red Hood was very persuasive. It went on like that for six months; he amassed men, power, weapons, and tech. Most importantly, a potent reputation. This was due in no small part to his creative footwork; he liked to send messages. One file covered an incident where Alphonso Kuznetsov decided to write Gotham’s new player an open letter in the evening column suggesting that if he decided to bring his business to Port Adams, he might find himself in a ‘watery grave’. Kuznetsov was found a week later when a fishing vessel drug an entire coffin from the bottom of the harbor, padlocked and full of water. He was bound, drowned, and gagged with a copy of the very paper that featured his message. Red Hood must have been in touch with his artistic sensibilities; it was all very Shakespearean.

Of course, these were all just words. Rumors and hearsay. All I knew of the Red Hood from my intimate encounter was that he had a quick hand, an incendiary temper, and he didn’t fucking like creeps. All the makings of vigilante, if you chose to see it like that.

I sighed. Two hours and none of my research gave me any indication of why me. Why the hell should Red 57-kill-count Hood care if some goon told me he like the way I looked in my suit? I may has well have been the veiled threats of Kuznetsov’s evening column for all my inconsequence to him.

But it all kept running through my mind. Backwards and forwards. The vitriol in his voice preluding the barbarity of his reprimand. The way he said little Batgirl, like the crime was that I’d been engaged at all. More than the memory, something was telling me to keep digging. Something dragging me back to Crime Alley with the current of the running blood through Little Italy’s gutters.

I had to do something. And if that something wasn’t going to Bruce, then school tomorrow would have to wait.

The morning went along as per usual. I woke up at six, dawned my Gotham Academy uniform, grabbed a muffin and coffee, completed a complicated and well-practiced secret handshake with Tim (that Dick was secretly jealous of), and was out the door at 6:30, keys jingling in Alfred’s hand.

He dropped me off outside the ornate gothic academy, and I waved goodbye as I skipped backward along the cobblestone walkway. Once his black Mercedes was a pinpoint on the horizon, I promptly turned heel from the front doors, heading East toward the Narrows. Catching the subway there would take me as far as the Knight’s Stadium, and from there it was a short distance to the Alley. I wasn’t exactly inconspicuous in my academy uniform- anyone who gave a shit could pretty confidently deduce that school was in session at 8am on a Tuesday, and no student native to the Alley could afford a private education, so I was bound to draw eyes. I hadn’t packed an extra outfit incase Tim or Alfred got suspicious- that was paranoia puppeteering. I wasn’t used to skipping school. I’d have to make due.

Crime Alley in broad daylight was a brand new experience. At night, at least the smoke unfurling from the sewer grates hit the flickering streetlights and offered an unconventional charm. During the day, it was like shedding light on a foul sin. I was starkly out of place, and even the lapdog-sized rats seemed to know it, scurrying back across gritty concrete when I passed by. I looked for familiar things I’d seen the other night- a run-down apartment complex, a gated liquor shop, a meager but menacing corner-store, busy with glaring laymen reluctantly dragging out their wallets for a pack of cigarettes. I caught the eye of a woman sitting on the curb with a paper-bag bottle for company, and she scowled.

Spurned by the rats, and now by the people, I was running out of options. Sticking close to the buildings that perimetered the square, I moved in tandem with the motion of the locals, so as not to draw any eyes by looking lost. It was an unnerving scape; too quiet for my liking, but just empty enough to feel safely underseen. I made my way past familiar landmarks until I finally stood before the warehouse where I’d been.

I listened; no sound from inside. Even henchmen have day jobs. Jimmying the rusty padlock was just a matter of brandishing a bobby-pin from my hair, and the heavy metal door swung open without much resistance. I cautiously picked my way around crates and boxes, unsure of what I was looking for. Clues, maybe. Proof that he was here and dropped a body in my name, amen.

There was a dark, daunting stain on the floor where Hoffman’s body was. A phantom gunshot echoed in my ears, along with a nauseating sound of flat-back weight slapping concrete.

“Ain’t school in session?” I spun on my heel, meeting the red helm of a towering man draped in leather and armor. My mouth went dry. My right foot slipped back into a fighting stance before I remembered I was in cashmere and plaid, not kevlar. Not that I even stood a chance either way; but at least he seemed to harbor good will toward Batgirl. Wordlessly, I took a few steps back until I was standing over the blood and ghosts of Hoffman’s demise.

“P-please. Don’t- don’t hurt me.” I rasped.

I could play the rebellious, morose teenager and come up with something like it was a dare, or I could offer no explanation and simply cry.

Red Hood’s head tipped one way. His hands were empty- for now. Two heavy-looking glocks hung on his waist. I didn’t want to die on top of Hoffman’s blood stain. There was a level of symbolism there I was deeply unprepared to spend my final moments analyzing.

“Lookin’ for something, darlin’?” I swallowed- unable to say you.

“Wh-What do you want?” I asked.

He laughed, but it was humorless. Lacking whatever key component made laughs so appealing. As though the sound rung off the gravestones of uncanny valley before reaching my ears. “I think we’re both asking stupid questions.” He said. I was fucked. He outweighed me by a hundred pounds, and could out-draw me even if I had a weapon. I had no explanation for my being here that suited a civilian, and my phone was in my bag, meaning help was a world away.

But just as soon as he advanced a few paces, he stopped, and gestured to the crimson beneath my feet.

“Enjoy the show the other night?” He asked, before pulling something out of his jacket pocket and twirling it between his fingers with practiced ease. A batarang.

“You forgot somethin’.”

Cold, knife-like fear erupted in my spine, driven to the hilt. He knew. How did he know? What the hell was I supposed to do? My terror must have shown on my face, because he stopped fidgeting.

“It’s okay, babydoll. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“H-how-“

He moved again, slow, lazy strides until he was no more than an inch from me.

“Who are you?” I asked, figuring if I was gonna die, I should at least know that much.

His hands grabbed mine. The leather of his gloves was cool on my skin, but it barely registered for the closeness of him. I stared at the red bat symbol on his chest, jagged and angry looking. I blinked and looked down slowly as he closed my fingers around the cold metal of the batarang.

“Go home, little bird.” It was a cold, seething demand, his voice snagging on the scrambler to make it sound like a low growl.

“Tell Batman when he’s ready to stop sending his toy soldiers,” His hand went under my chin, tilting my head upward. My breath shook as I drew it, hitching, even though the man before me was faceless. Clean, red monochrome, glinting in the light.

“I’m getting impatient.” *

I walked through the manor door in a daze, the cold steel batarang searing my palm.

Bruce and Damian were in the living room, each invested in their own reading material. The grandfather clock ticked his steady tempo, and I inconspicuously adjusted the bag on my shoulder. Bruce had a steaming cup of coffee on the glass side table beside his leather chair.

“How was school?” He asked, not looking up. My paranoia convinced me it sounded rhetorical, but I shrugged anyway.

“Same old.” A glance, to see if my lie had landed.

Damian was the spitting image of his father. He, along with Tim, operated in the wake of being an only child, so he never did care about how I did in school, or much of anything else in my orbit. If at any point he did, he never thought to ask. Father and son looked like a matching set of dolls sitting there, cross-legged, with dark hair and gaunt eyes, both leanly muscular, and habitually poised; a consequence of being from the upper echelon of each of their respective backgrounds.

“Hey, um, are you going out tonight?” I asked.

“I am.”

“Can I come?”

“Are you certain you want to?” He still didn’t look up.

I blinked. “Um… yeah. Why?”

“You’ve been distracted since the last outing.”

Damian visibly tuned in.

“Oh. Sorry. I had a big paper I was worried about for school, but I turned it in today, so I’m good to go.” I threw him a thumbs up, even though he wasn’t looking.

A beat.

“Very well, then. Nine o’clock.”

I nodded, and headed toward the stairs.

“Y/N,” I stopped, and turned around. He was looking at me now, eyes blue and steady.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think you did well?”

“…”

“On the paper.”

I threw him a smile. “The best.”

[nrndrahire]

2021

Movies:

A Mouthful of Air A Quiet Place Part II A Writer’s Odyssey (Ci sha xiao shuo jia) After We Fell AINBO: Spirit of the Amazon Annette Antlers Apex Army of the Dead Army of Thieves Beckett Belfast Bergman Island Black Widow Blood Red Sky Candyman Chaos Walking Cinderella CODA Copshop Cruella Cry Macho Don’t Breathe 2 Dune Escape Room: Tournament of Champions Eternals F9 Fatherhood Fear Street: 1978 Finch Finding You Firebird Free Guy Ghostbusters: Afterlife Godzilla vs. Kong Gunpowder Milkshake He’s All That Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard House of Gucci I’m Your Man In the Heights Infinite Invasion Jolt Judas and the Black Messiah Jungle Cruise Kate King Richard Lamb Last Night in Soho Le dernier mercenaire Luca Malcolm & Marie Mimi Mortal Kombat My Little Pony: A New Generation No Sudden Move No Time to Die Nobody Old Old Henry Oxygen PAW Patrol: The Movie Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway Pig Raya and the Last Dragon Red Notice Reminiscence Ron’s Gone Wrong Rurôni Kenshin: Sai shûshô - The Beginning Sardar Udham Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Sing 2 Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins Space Jam: A New Legacy Spencer Spider-Man: No Way Home The Addams Family 2 The Black Phone The Boss Baby: Family Business The Box The Card Counter The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It The Dig The French Dispatch The Green Knight The Guilty The Ice Road The King’s Man The Last Duel The Last Letter from Your Lover The Little Things The Many Saints of Newark The Marksman The Matrix 4 The Misfits The Mitchells vs the Machines The Protégé The Suicide Squad The Tomorrow War The Unforgivable The White Lotus The Woman in the Window Those Who Wish Me Dead Tides Till Death Titane Together Together-together Tom and Jerry Top Gun: Maverick Venom: Let There Be Carnage Vivo Warning Willy’s Wonderland Wish Dragon Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Tv-shows:

A Discovery of Witches American Gods American Horror Story Behind Her Eyes Brand New Cherry Flavor Brooklyn Nine-Nine Doctor Who Doom Patrol Élite Euphoria Fate: The Winx Saga Fear the Walking Dead Gone for Good Hawkeye La casa de papel Loki Love, Death & Robots Lucifer Maid Mare of Easttown Resident Alien Sex Education Shadow and Bone Shameless Solos The Blacklist The Book of Boba Fett The Chair The Falcon and the Winter Soldier The Flash The Great The Handmaid’s Tale The Rookie The Wheel Of Time The Witcher WandaVision What We Do in the Shadows Why Women Kill Y: The Last Man Young Sheldon Girl from Nowhere Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha Bad and Crazy Vincenzo Snowdrop The Devil Judge Doom at Your Service Youth of May Squid Game Hellbound Penthouse

Animation:

Arcane: League of Legends Mo Dao Zu Shi Rick and Morty

[mceproductions]

New Year Button (2021 Countdown Recap)

Now we review our entries.

Best of 2021

    Movies

 1. Dune

2. In The Heights

3. Spider-Man: No Way Home

4. The Suicide Squad

5.  No Time To Die

6.  Free Guy

7. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

8.  Raya and the Last Dragon

9.  Jungle Cruise and Zack Snyders Justice League

10. A Quiet Place Part II

11. Ghostbusters Afterlife and Luca

12. Godzilla Vs. Kong

13. The Matrix: Resurrections

14. F9 and Black Widow

15. Space Jam: A New Legacy

  Runners Up:

Army of the Dead

The Green Knight

Paw Patrol: The Movie

Dear Evan Hansen

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

  Honorable Mention:

Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba: Mugen Train

  Worst Movies:

 1. The Boss Baby: Family Business

2. Chaos Walking

3. Eternals

     TV Shows

 *Nominee for Best New Show of 2021

^Winner

 1.  Fena: Pirate Princess (ADULT SWIM)^

2.  Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

3.  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

4.  My Hero Academia (ADULT SWIM)

5.  Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)

6.  Conan (TBS)

7.  Squid Game (NETFLIX)

8.  Loki (Disney+)*

9.  Brooklyn Nine Nine (NBC) and SNL (NBC)

10. WandaVision (Disney+)

11. The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (COMEDY CENTRAL) and RWBY (ROOSTER TEETH)

12. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) and The Good Doctor (ABC)

13. Mare of Eastown (HBO) and Close Enough (HBO MAX)

14. Ducktales (DISNEY) and Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

15. D4DJ (Crunchyroll)

16. Invincible (AMAZON PRIME)* and The Quintessential Quintuplets (FUNIMATION)

17. Animaniacs (HULU)

18. Attack on Titan (ADULT SWIM) and Star Wars Visions (Disney+)

19. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+)

20. Bridgerton (NETFLIX)*

21. The Simpsons (FOX)

22. Superstore (NBC)

23. Marvel What…IF? (Disney+)

24. Superman & Lois (CW)*

25. Infinity Train (HBO MAX)

   Runners Up:

 Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Disney+)

Young Sheldon (CBS)

Tuca and Bertie (ADULT SWIM)

Miss Kobyashis Dragon Maid S (FUNIMATION)

Shadow and Bone (Netflix)

  Honorable Mention:

Yellowstone (PARAMOUNT TV)

  Worst TV Shows:

 1. SpongeBob Spinoffs [Kamp Koral & The Patrick Star Show] (NICK/Paramount+)

2. Riverdale (CW)

3. Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Crunchyroll)

   Music

  1.  Oliva Rodrigo “Drivers License”

2.  Jon Batiste “Freedom”

3.  Coldplay “Higher Power”

4.  Anthony Ramos and In The Heights Cast “In The Heights”

5.  JUNNA “The Sea and the Pearl”

6.  BTS “Butter”

7.  Kathryn Hahn “Agatha All Along”

8.  Ed Sheeran “Bad Habits”

9.  Adele “Easy On Me”

10. The Weeknd “Save Your Tears”

11. Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, and Silk Sonic “Leave The Door Open”

12. Lil Nas X “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and Lorde “Solar Power”

13. Katy Perry “Electric”

14. Billie Eillish “Your Power”

15. Drake “Whats Next?”

16. Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams “Friend”

17. Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Gregory Diaz IV, and Olga Merediz “Blackout”

18. Taylor Swift “Willow”

19. Coldplay & BTS “My Universe”

20. HAPPY AROUND “DJ TURN”

21. Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen Choir “You Will Be Found”

22. FranChouchou “Sagajihen”

23. The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber “Stay”

24. The Captain America Drum Corps “Star Spangled Man”

25. Vitamin String Quartet “Bad Guy”

26. Malia J “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

27. Nelly and Florida Georgia Line “Lil Bit” and Post Malone “Only Wanna Be With You”

28. Olivia Rodrigo “good 4 u”

29. Thad Cockrell “Swingin”

30. Ty Dolla $ign, Jack Harlow, and 24kGoldn “I Won”

  Runners Up:

Florence + the Machine “Call me Cruella”

Lin Manuel Miranda “Piragua”

Taylor Swift “Today was A Fairytale (Taylors Version)”

Ben Platt “Waving through A Window”

Celina Sharma “Nach Mera Hero”

  Honorable Mention:

 Themes of WandaVision

  Worst Music:

 1. Kirk Fraklin and Lil Baby “We Win”

2. Cardi B “Up”

3. Saleka “Remain”

    Game of The Year  

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart^

Deathloop*

Metroid Dead*

Resident Evil: Village*

New Pokémon Snap*

   Worst

 Taxi Chaos

[fanficsaremylifeline]

Hi. My name is Peter Parker. You might know me from such hits as “local idiot accidentally poisons himself” or “resident disaster human being gets his girlfriend lettuce, thinking it were flowers”. (Luckily, both these happenstances went over without too much of a hitch. But you probably already guessed that, otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell you all this, now would I?)

This is the story of another time I – albeit with the best intentions – really messed up.

It all started about ten days ago. I was at home, just minding my own business, when the doorbell rang, followed by my Aunt calling out: “Peter, you have visitors!”

After putting down my comic book, I walked out to the living room, to find Mr Captain America, Mr The Winter Soldier White Wolf and Mr Falcon standing there.

“Uhm hi.”

“Heya, Queens”, Mr America smiled. “You doing alright?”

“Yeah, Brooklyn”, I grinned back. “What brings you by?”

“We could do with your help on a mission.”

“What kind of mission are we talking about here?” Aunt May eyed the Avengers quite sternly, and it was almost funny to see the superheroes, that had fought in World War II shy back in fear. Totally understandable, though, I don't think there's anyone that warrants more respect than Aunt May. Ok, maybe Pepper Potts. And most definitely MJ. MJ, that's short for Michelle Jones, she's my girlfriend the absolute best, most wonderful person, ever. Like, she's so smart, she's really badass and doesn't take anybody's shit. And she's so pretty, like really beautiful, inside even more so than out, although that's not even possible. And when she laughs... The whole room lights up and my brain's entire bio-chemistry just blows up. MJ is the absolute best, perfection incarnate and I realize that I maybe may have trailed off a bit there... Sorry 'bout that, let me get back to the story.

Where was I?

Right, Mr America, Bucky, Sam, a mission and a stern Aunt May.

“It's nothing military”, Steve explained. “It's Tony's birthday coming up and we'd like to get him something special.”

“That's why we need your help”, Sam continued. “You do know him better than we do, after all.”

“And you probably have the best idea what to get the guy that already has everything”, Bucky finished their pitch.

“That is a really wonderful idea”, May smiled.

“Yeah, it's totally awesome”, I agreed. “And I might just have an idea what to get him...”

For purposes of dramatic story telling, I won't share the surprise we got for Mr Stark just yet. Rest assured though, it is a good one.

Spending the afternoon together was a lot of fun. After having gotten the surprise, we all went for doughnuts. The Avengers couldn't stay too long though, they had appointments back at the compound, some sort of meeting, that I am happy to miss out on. Seriously, those Avenger meetings are boring as hell!

So I did what I love doing in my free time: I went out on patrol.

Oh right, that's something else you need to know about me first. Do you see that red figure, swinging through the streets, doing a flip and landing right over there on that rooftop? Yeah, that's me. For I am a superhero! But not just any old superhero, I am the one and only Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, vigilante par excellence and part time Avenger. As little as I enjoy showing off, I have to admit that this is pretty awesome. I'm super strong, can climb up walls, walk on ceilings and my newest suit update even made me bulletproof! (Well, not me directly, but to quote the one and only Ironman: “The suit and me are one”, so you get where I'm going with this.)

That particular day there wasn't going on too much, though. Few pick-pockets, a car thief, but other than that it was slow, crime-wise. The problem with days like these is that it gives my mind plenty of chances to roam, especially around that one thought: I still hadn't found the perfect birthday gift for Mr Stark myself. Which yes, sounds ironic, given that I had found the perfect thing for the other Avengers to gift him, but not the right thing for me to give him. You see, our relationship started out as this sort of mentorship, where he helped me with the suit, showed me the way around an engineer's lab and is always ready to help out during patrol. By now he's more like my family. And yes, I found this pretty funny shirt, with that graph having a bunny and a duck as the x- and y-axes. No, let me rephrase that, it's not pretty funny, it's freaking hilarious. But it doesn't really say how important Mr Stark and our relationship is to me.

But what do you give the guy who is kind of like a Dad to you?

Unfortunately, even though I'm pretty smart, this thought process took a lot longer than I'd have liked. Even with the help of Ned and MJ, the smartest and best people I know, I got jack with a side of squat. The best thing they came up with was for me to cook a nice dinner for Mr Stark and Pepper. Which would be a wonderful idea, if I could cook something other than toaster-waffles or microwave-popcorn. And, as delicious as either of those are, neither really make for a fancy dinner fit for my father-figure's fiftieth birthday.

“Come on, you can make him a cake at least”, Ned mumbled, clearly caring more about my issue than the Spanish Test we were supposed to be taking right now. And that is the exact reason why he's my best friend and why I love him so.

“Fine. You know how to make a cake?”

“That's what the internet's for”, MJ hissed over.

So that's where I ended up (after getting detention for talking during a test), in front of my computer, googling how to make a cake. But just a cake wasn't enough. It was like a nice entrée, but the main course had to be so mind-blowingly amazing, showing Tony how much he means to me.

At this point of the story I'd like you all to burn into your mind how pure my intentions were and you have to agree that all I'm doing is the most amazing shit. Right, now that we're in agreement that I'm a wonderful, charming person and a delight to have around, let me continue to where everything started to go downhill.

Regrettably, all my fantastic ideas didn't really hit until the night before, which brings me to my first mistake: me thinking I could plan the most wonderful and amazing gift for Tony in about one night. Needless to say, I didn't really think all of it completely through (Mistake 2). And, for added motivation, I ingested an interesting and possibly quite dangerous mix of coffee and redbull (Mistake 3).

At first everything started out perfectly fine. The recipe was simple enough, I barely burned the damn thing and the parts that were a little dark were easily enough covered in chocolate. Some blueberries on top and I even managed to fit 50 candles on top.

Oh, you should have seen Tony's face when I carried it into the compound, he was so happy!

“Peter, that looks so delicious! I'm not sure I'm that old, though.”

“Sorry”, I shrugged and barely bit down my grin, but it's just so much fun to rile up Tony, especially when it came to his age.

“Yeah, yeah”, he grumbled and, with his arm around my shoulder pushed me to the living room, “let's jump ahead before you say something that might make me throw you out of my house.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“How was school?”

Oh fuck. After spending all morning in the kitchen, there might have been something I might have forgotten... (Mistake 4). Shit, May was so going to ground me.

“Nothing unusual”, I lied. (Mistake 5 – never, ever lie to Tony Stark, no matter how big or small the fib). “MJ and Ned wish you a very happy birthday.”

“Thank them from me. Now, the official party that is supposed to be a surprise starts in an hour.”

“Which of course you know about”, I grinned. It was virtually impossible to keep anything from Tony in this building.

“Naturally”, he grinned back. “Wanna sample a taste first, though?”

“I would love to try this perfection of palpable divinities.” (Misplaced confidence and hubris – mistake 6).

“Right.” It was with a roll of his eyes that Tony got a knife out. “So, the trick is to cut out a small slice from the middle, push the sides back together and...”

“Yeah, yeah, what do you take me for?”, I shot back, “I'm not too dumb myself.” That statement will soon be disproved, but let's revel in the beauty that is this moment where everything is still alright.

And for a few glorious moments, everything was perfect. The cake was delicious and Tony seemed to think so, too. Until he started clearing his throat. And again.

“You alright?”

“What's in that cake?”, he coughed, loosening his tie. “Not walnuts, is it?” (And that would be mistake 7).

“Uhm yeah?” Well shit. “Please don't tell me...” Of fucking course Tony would be fucking allergic to my birthday cake. “FRI, tell Bruce we're on our way to the medbay.”

“It's ok”, Tony choked, “I'll be...”

“Yes, you'll be fine.” I tried my all to sound not too panicked, I'm honestly not so sure if I succeeded, what, with my focus being on trying to get Mr Stark some help. Admittedly I all but carried him to the medbay, which he probably didn't appreciate as much as I hoped he would, but well. Safety first. (And maybe, next time, figure out what allergies the people around me have).

A shot from Bruce later, it was ok again. I would love to say it was great, but well. The admittedly disgusting looking swelling around his neck went down, and he even managed to sort of breathe again, but it still didn't look all that healthy. In short: it fucking sucked.

“Hey kid, it's alright, lived through worse.”

That might have been true, but then it hadn't been my fault. And it had been on the battlefield, not within the safety of his home and the comfort that was supposed to be his birthday party.

“And you didn't ruin my birthday”, Tony continued; apparently now able to hear every single one of my thoughts. “It doesn't matter if I look a little puffy on the pictures. It's still gonna be a fantastic party.”

“Of course he knows about the party”, Bruce scoffed. “Who blabbed?”

“Nobody did”, Tony made clear, “I'm a genius, remember?”

“Yeah, so are the other people present.”

Not that I felt much like a genius at that very moment. And Mr Stark was definitely in worse shape than “just a little puffy”. The rash had gone down a bit, but under normal circumstances Tony wasn't that red unless when wearing his iron suit and he tried not to let anything on, but I was pretty sure that whatever Tony would try to eat would be immediately thrown up again.

The other Avengers thought the whole thing to be hilarious. Which it really wasn't. Trust me. I know I wasn't the one who who almost died, but almost killing my father-figure? Being the person responsible for taking down Ironman?

Given the – hopefully understandable – embarrassment, I'm going to skip telling you about the teasing, the comments, the jabs, the laughter and everything the Avengers dished out. Well, as luck would have it, my actual present was still to come and that just had to blow everybody's mind enough that they'd forget my poisoning of Tony.

So not too long into that horrible party, I happily excused myself and headed straight for mistake number 8: letting my frustration motivate all my next moves. It would probably be best to tell you what I envisioned for my proper gift: personalized fireworks. Before you say anything, I now know that it was a horrible idea. There is probably no need for me to tell you what happened next, is there? To put a painful story short there was a loud bang and then things around me go dark.

If I'm being perfectly honest, I couldn't tell you much more details about that very situation if I wanted to, it's all a little hazy and Mr Dr Bruce say it's to blame on me hitting my head when that explosion threw me across the workshop. That we know thanks to FRIDAY, the Stark AI, having recorded it all and it would have been quite nice to remember that because the footage looks rad.

Anyways, I survived. Yay! Aunt May threatened some workshop-restrictions and a bit of grounding, not so yay, and MJ called me a dumbass, which is MJ-language for 'I'm glad you're not dead and I love you'. So, yay on that as well.

At the end of the day it was just Pepper and Tony cuddled on one couch, Happy and Rhodey decidedly not cuddling on another and me with my head on Aunt May's lap while she put her fingers through my hair, which is just the most soothing feeling in the world.

“I don't want to kill the mood, but mind telling us why you first tried to kill me and then yourself?”

“I didn't try to kill anyone. I just wanted to give you the perfect birthday gift.”

“That is the absolute sweetest thing”, he smiled. Well, I think he smiled, his face was at that point still weirdly swollen. “But you do know that every gift from you is the perfect gift, right? Even those ridiculous shirts are worth more than any Gucci suit.”

“Well, if you're bringing it up...” With that bruise on my face my smile looked probably similarly skew and messed up as Tony's. “If the cake was the entrée and the fireworks the main course, this is dessert.” From underneath the couch, where I had hidden it, I got out the last present. It took me probably an hour to wrap that damn t-shirt, suffered countless paper-cuts, invented half a dozen new swearwords and it still looked like it got caught under a steamroller. Maybe giving gifts just isn't my strong suit...

“This doesn't blow up if I open it, does it?”, Tony grinned.

“I didn't expect the other two to go that disastrous, so who knows?”

It didn't blow up, in case you were wondering. And Tony loved it, in case you were wondering about that.

So there we are. I am an idiot, yes, I know that, Mr Stark knows that and you know that, but I believe I'm an adorable idiot. It's been a few days since Mr Stark's birthday, I'm all healed, as is Tony. Of course I have not yet lived it down; the Avengers unfortunately aren't forgetful when it comes to idiocy and therefore I have repeatedly been gifted walnuts over the last few days and will continue to receive them for a long time to come.

But that's alright. The best gift, as it turned out in the end, wasn't for Tony, but for me: at his latest press thing, Mr Stark actually wore the shirt I got him. An official SI press conference, with the most prestigious papers and news outlets from all over the world and he showed up not in a fancy expensive suit, but in the damn science-pun shirt about rabbits and ducks. And all the explosions and near-death experiences can go to hell, because the very picture of Tony wearing MY shirt adorned all the newspapers this morning. And that's the best present anybody could ever get.

The End

Oh shit, wait, I totally forgot to tell you what the Avengers got Tony! You're going to love this. A little hint: Pepper wasn't all that happy about it. Yeah, you got it: a giant plush-bunny! Exactly, it's amazing.

Huh, maybe I'm not that bad at having gift ideas after all...

[hytregos]

Existence No. 1: Awakening

Pages: 18

 Word count:  8463

... 

       Many years after the Omni War, everything has been devastated. This is a world where all your characters meet, either from fanfiction or canon stories. Name the character or fanfic, it is in it but is must make canonical sense. All worlds have been brought down to their knees, only to beg for a piece of crumb. After the war, the United Rail Nations formed a new ideal and recovery method on how to recover after the war.

However, when it was thought they all could recover; there have been financial and policy setbacks that have kicked in just days, weeks, or even months before hand. This resulted in what many would name, the green death. Why was it named this way, it is named because everyone started losing money randomly without any intervention. Stocks start to deplete rapidly, a majority of cosmic bank and planetary banks went dark. Worldly civilizations and economies started to fall apart.

The newfound and enriched politics that have formed up and have been established started to slowly break apart to the point where politicians and leaders start having fist fights. After a while, the broken political system started to shatter more widely. This was an opportunity for terrorists and pirates that originate from any spectrum. Mass death and revolutions plagued everything. As if anything could get worse, there have been reports of civilization shutdowns, causing mass famine to spread. This allowed multiple unknowns to take place and rule the abandoned or dead worlds in their name.

Just as things can’t get worse, there are many secrets in the cosmos. Some are open; some are not meant to be discovered. And some… that are originally not meant to be.

-

Prologue No.1

 Everything has its beginnings. Everything has its pros and cons. Everything starts with humble or great beginnings. There are heroes and there are villains who created their stories, stories that have been passed down through time. Most particularly; The grey fox, the blue falcon, the hare, and the frog taking on the evil monkeys, fish, and bugs. The naive little boy martial artist to challenging the gods. The young star warrior who stood against a king, a knight, and nightmares. Two plumbers, a princess, and a demon king. A silent boy with a fairy, a princess, and a reincarnation of the lord of evil. A kaiju and a country. The battle of metal tops with spirits within. Knights who’s blades shine with the force would ease the darkness. One soldier, one alien, one ark, and seven rings. The slayer who went to hell and back. The man who does good. A trainer and its companion. The man of the universe. The cats of the universe. The dragon warrior. A cat who shows fun with a big hat, colored red with white stripes. The green what who stole Christmas. The robots in disguise. A brave kid against the Titans. A boy who claimed the stoned sword that once belonged to his father. A targeted man who survived the POW camps. The firstborn of a God. The founders of the land of the free. The father of country named India. The man who forged the art of war. The father of western studies. The president who freed the slaves. The lost underwater city. The man on the moon. The first woman to fight for women's rights. The American Evangelist. War that conflict with other worlds. The underwater creature of madness. The scientist who constructed E=Mc2. The entrepreneur who named a theme park after himself. The little blue people who wore white and red. The big blue people who are tree lovers. The Mexican tiger boy. A spoiled boy with a groove. A ghost hunting phantom. A leader of the primates.

A time card came with a thousand to a trillion introductions later, both in the realm of fiction and nonfiction.

“They told me to hold the time card because some yellow sponge was what came and it would be a waste of time and effort if the author included a lot more introductions”, an individual announced as it walks off with the time card.

And finally, the chaos warriors and the protectors of seven gems with its giant emerald. These characters and their stories inspired others to make their own fan made creations or even something new but inspired by them. Just like this one. And believe it or not, all of these characters actually met.

-

Before all of those, everyone was separated. But then, geniuses from their own realms came together to build machines or create special portals to other realms. That is how everyone met. For short, just think about anyone fictional, they likely met but also won't be doing what you could expect them to do. Just like a Sondash ship. It was a new golden age. Everyone started new alliances and created new… things (almost anything to be exact, kind of like the virtual reality thing in Ready Player One known as the Oasis).

However, everyone speculated that a new force of negativity will rise eventually. Some agreed, some neglected, others were silent by just the thought of it. After ten years, it came to be, the empire, a combination of forces united into one formidable foe. Those who knew, shoved it in disbelievers faces screaming, “HAHA, WE WERE RIGHT!” Sharply little of those who were silent, knew about something, that this was part of an upcoming disaster, upon immeasurable levels, upon mythological levels. The war had two names; The Omni War and The War to End All Wars. The one who established led this empire was Mhleliw II. It took eight years but the empire has been defeated. He promised that this empire will last forever, and that everyone will ascend to godhood. However, despite his defeat, Mhleliw II was never found nor was any trace of him. Some suspect he may have killed himself or have wandered off in his madness.

After years of peace and terror with violence that was unbearable for one moment everything went back to normal. Everything is a barren wasteland. And the war came with a cost. A new depression came where everyone is set on the break of poverty and worse. It didn't start immediately; it started after cosmic stock market trading system crashed. It started a year later after the war ended. After the trading system crashed, then came banking failures, digital piracy, name it, it happened.

However, after researching the technology and the nature of the mechanisms that belong to the empire, people began to go mad upon trying to understanding it. One of these unfortunate madmen, is a young child, before the age of 10, saw two sigils clashing with each other out of pure rage, fighting for dominance. Another was a mad teenager, aged 15, who saw what it looked like or what they looked like. Because of this, there has been a new research group with highly developed and trained minds to ensure that they don’t go mad upon research. This group is known as “Project Omni of Creation and Destruction”.

Now, we get to the story-

Some Skion scouts, who suddenly got lost, trapped in some realm. The Skion are four armed vampire like beings without the special powers, wearing antiflux oxygen suits that run on 48 hours of oxygen. It all went from random galaxies to now, breaching rifts with singularity micro-dimensions. Now, they’re stuck, in an unknown void, surrounded by some barrier. The 

-

location with the barrier has what felt like ten suns, with a surrounding of four other bright lights, each with their own attributes. One is comprised of an advanced technological machine like flicker, one comprised of corporate promotion spotlights, one of the desolations of matter and anti-matter, and one comprised of both cosmic time schemes. The one they fly above is comprised of what looks like a world purely composed of how nature sets up the way of how life naturally functions.

The scouts are Mikov, Trieechii, and Qu’tuk. Mikov is the youngest and stands 5.5. He is also the most amateurish and irresponsible. He’s bald with triplet pointy ears with yellow silicone iodine eyes with tiny pupils. The skin is as reluctant and dirty as frog depiction. His color scheme on his armor is yellowish plagued with stone red paint cells. It had extendable chain lingering and dangling on the spiked shoulder plates with molting krinkiton metal.

Qu'tuk, the middle aged of the three, the leader of this patrol squadron, he unfortunately stands 4.11 due to a lack of mutual calcium and protein deficiency since birth. He has no eyes but has astronomical sensory of his surroundings. Not only the shortest but also the heaviest of the group, as well as the strongest. He has no hair, no ears but has earholes. Extremely thinned eyebrows with some baize splashed onto some of the parts. His personal armor standbys are nothing but a deflection electromagnetic bubble which always malfunctions.

Trieechii, the oldest of the three, also the leader of this squad, standing 6.2. Like Mikov, has triplet pointy ears and silk flavored eyes with large pupils with a secondary pupil. His neck is oval shaped due to a mercury and prolonged corona exposure that came from one of a variation of a tyrannical singularity created space mutant's crystals. He has a hairstyle that is identical to that of Niagara falls with a multitude of broken hair fangs that looked like a 10 foot dragon slayer wearing dragon killing equipment... who is a dragon type as well. His armor pigments were pure purple mixed with granite and ruby.

Qu'tuk shoved Mikov with aggression, “It was your idea to bring us here!”

Mikov turned around and responded, “Mine!? You’re the one who thought about this AFTER you raided bunker c-42 on empire terrain! And after you decided to tinker with rift crossing dimension breaches!”

"Oh BLAH BLAH BLAH, always blaming the deadbeat smartass!"

"Oh BlAh BlAh BlAh, AlWaYs BlAmInG tHe DeAdBeAt SmArTaSs!"

"Oh, now we are going through this AGAIN?"

"Oh, NoW wE aRe GoInG tHrOuGh ThIs AgAiN?"

-

Those two argued for a long time. This strife of words went upon to even Mikov, as usual, starts mocking Qu'tuk. The situation is a dumbass vs a smartass. Mikov is a buffoon who only knows how to get into trouble while Qu'tuk is the one who many would consider "the one who knows too much".

Trieechii one had to fire a shot between them to cease the quarrel. But that barely did anything. They continued to quarrel after the shot was fired. How can he deal with this? Usually, the shot works but didn't work didn't work. Trieechii reaches for something in one of his four pockets and pulled out a flare. This flare began to gleam a bright light, overshadowing the argument between the two Skion scouts. They both used their arms to shield their eyes from the bright light. The flare that Trieechii is using is a Glani flare. This flare has been manufactured and produced by the Alien sentient modulator known as Cellva konk, who is known for inventing the alpufan dusk.

Both Qu’tuck and Mikov stopped fighting and turned to Trieechii. They both gave a dumbstruck face to him to resemble their idiocy. These to bundlers, they always get into repulsive arguments over a little crumb of bread. Some back at planet Sulop began to wonder why those two were stationed together in the first place. Trieechi gave them disappointed, but not surprised face. The two responded with the usual gestures, a spinning hand, giving off a ‘I won’t do it again’. Trieechii knows that another quarrel will happen again, just give it time. 

Trieechii then turned his attention to the strange barrier to see a shadow flying towards them. Both Qu’tuck and Mikov turn to look at the shadow. When the creature bumped into the light part of their barrier, the creature bounced back. But nothing less, it did it again and again and again until there was a crack. The scouts didn’t even notice the crack, but what they did hear was the sound of what felt like two church bells being scrapped by each other.Qu’tuck and Mikov hovered to the location to figure out what is happening there. Likely that this barrier was there to keep the shadowy figure and others like it in that so called world.  

“Wait, I don’t think moving closer to that barrier is a good idea.”, Trieechii exclaimed cautiously.

The other two smirked and looked at each other and back, “We’ll be fine, it’s just a shadow figure. Likely one of those shadow demons that the night hunters fight.”

“I am just saying… Look around you, does this place seem out of order to you?”

The two stopped and turned to Trieechii with flickfulness.

-

“Think about it, a giant creature that shows that it wants out and four others that could be like this place? Something doesn’t seem right here.”

Qu’tuck moved his voice in, “I think he’s right. I mean… now that I think about it, I don’t think we are supposed to be here. I think it is best to figure out a way out before we one, lose oxygen and lose our ability to properly breathe and second, maybe the one light with machine flickers would be able to help.”

Mikov doesn’t care and just laughs his ass off, thinking that this is a joke. Matter of fact, this scout thinks that all of this is a joke. Why does this person think all of this is a joke is a reasonable matter. Under Mikov, the creature flies towards the barrier, focusing its attention at the three scouts. Mikov flies closer to the barrier, not acknowledging the other two’s call outs for him to fall back. In response, he goes on a freefall to the barrier. Because he is falling at a rapid paste, the creature stops soaring and hovers in place, waiting for the moment to strike.

Mikov stops his freefall right where he is at the exosphere, the tip of the world’s atmosphere. The other two soared down to Mikov’s position. The creature’s eyes began to gleam with excitement. It stops hovering and aerialites to the Skion’s position. It aligns its wings together and creates a twin spear motion with the wings. It began to ascend into the air once more and lock on the three Skion scouts. Qu'tuk notices the creature charging at them.

The creature appears large, has five wings on both sides of its body. But because it is seen as a shadow figure, it is hard to truly make out for what it is. The most notable thing is the eyes, the two slit pupils that may have given its size away. From what the eyes can tell them, this thing is a massive flying behemoth. But would behemoth be the right term, it is rather skinny and slick than hulking and bulking. Rather, this would be some kind of flying serpent like creature with wings rather than gliding scales on the bottom of its body.

The other two then turn to the barrier to see the shadowy figure penetrate the barrier, allowing it to reach out. Their eyes stared shook, their blood ran cold like ice, every breath felt like charcoaled firecrackers. It looked small from the distance, but now, they see… this thing. They are not sure what this thing is. Qu’tuk however, slowly started to bleed out from his eyes and choke from the blood that ran down from his eyes to his mouth.

The other two opened fire at the creature. They used Krakulon Harpoons to potentially stun the creature and keep it away. It stuns enemies by emitting a 100- 1,000,000 volt stun, enough to render an Elder electric Dragonite to its bones. But the harpoons didn’t work, the sun is having no effect on this creature. But rather, the stun effects are reflected back at them, causing the three scouts to have a severe reaction to the electrical volts. However, the volts returned are stronger than  the volts brought from the harpoon.

-

The creature looked back at its world, never before did it attempt to do such. Many others do try but most all never made it. Perhaps the Celstiontiqunchs’ were but delusional liars made up of those who descended on mad corruption. Last time they were free was when they were frontiering strife from those machines. This barrier was made to keep them out forever, but this? Why, no, more like how, how did it free itself from the barrier? The creature looked at the three Skion scouts. It noticed that one of them still lived after that reflected volt. Trieechii weakly slithered his nearly shut eye towards the creature as he can only see it’s eye. He can’t truly understand what he is seeing. What is this thing? Why is it here? Where is this place? 

The creature simpered one of its right five eyes towards Trieechii, returning attention to Trieechii. It gave off a blank red eye, no pupil or cornea, that shines at Trieechii. Slowly in response, Trieechii began to shake uncontrollably as his mind starts to deteriorate. The creature turns back to its world. Upon returning to it’s world, it notices that the barrier is flickering. With each flicker, the barrier grows weaker and weaker, allowing it to pass through. Could that mean… he is returning? Or is…, it returning? Either way, these questions conflict with the creatures thought processing.

Next, in a faraway land known as Equestria, that has been renamed Pionola; the new leader, Dimeonka, is now leading the ponies. Because of the war, Pikonola is having a hard time and Dimeonka doesn't stray far from the struggle. Dimeonka is a stallion with a black pigment with white red stripes. He is a calm mined pony with a low temper esteem. He likes to point the way to a better world, through extremely dangerous situations that can leave an entire species extinct. He goes through PTSD and is currently on medication. His eyes are brown, mane and tail are blond and he has an arrow piercing a page as a cutie mark.

But what happened to Twilight and her friends? Twilight and the rest of the mane six died in the war. Celestia and Luna died in the depression due to lack of funding and the plague. Discord; after fluttershy’s death, went into depression, which lead him to suicide by making himself fade from existence. Spike is nowhere to be found. In other words, Equestria is in ruins. Lack of funding and something about some powerful demon who always smiles came in and turned the world into a ghost town. The biggest one is a war against a band of space pirates.

The current party runs Equestria is a Brankius party. It is a party where the direction of society is directed by a higher one’s thinking. In other worlds, there is this hidden individual who gives orders to officials and the officials’ synchronize it in their way so this hidden individual won’t be detected. In context, Dimeonka is not the true leader, but a figure to the real one, playing the act whole the hidden one dangles with the puppet strings. However, the figure must 

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be a well known selective that must commit an action that will make him forgotten, so he or she or it can remain in power.

Although it works perfectly if done correctly, the political party is heavily flawed. Secretly, everyone fights for that secret leadership, only for everyone to end up killing themselves after obtaining such position. This has been going on for a long time, enough to render Dimeonka to his hoofs and possibly be on everyone’s mercy. But after a long setback, Dimeonka changed somethings to how Equestria’s Brankius party roles. Because of this change, the secret leader has been revealed and executed, and Dimeonka became the true ruler. 

He is a reddish solid color, with short mane and tail that indicates that he has fought an Ursa Major and lived. His eyes are violet with some bloodshot veins indicating bloodshot eyes. He bares a conch shell crest cutie mark, indicating that he likes to decorate things in a ‘counched’ matter. He wears a pair of goggles, the left glass however is slightly cracked but barely noticeable unless you look real hard on it. He stands at 5.7 ft tall and 6.10 ft at length. 

In the castle, a guard is taking a break in the guard headquarters. However, in other worlds there are guards, security, and other personnel or some type of police headquarters with a lone operative taking a break.  Each of them laid down or sat down and rested. However, they heard some type of voice or felt some type of presence. They look around to see nothing, but that insecurity remains. ?They each know something is here, there has to be something here, but what? 

Each of them looks up to see some strange shadowy figure that is staring down at him. Some  didn’t seem concerned that much, some were concerned, most were silenced. Those who didn’t seem concerned, waited for it to do something. Those who were concerned armed themselves or amped their abilities and prepared for a fight. Those who were silenced, couldn’t bare to witness what they are seeing. 

Despite different approaches, they all met the same fate. The ones who were not concerned were an easy picking, allowing the shadowy figure to pounce on them, metaphorically devouring them. Those who were concerned, tried to dispense of it, but all failed in the attempt. Those who were silenced, began to tear with terror. They are returning, they know the time is right. THEY are here, they are… The shadow figure opened its mouth at the silenced guards and…

Shortly after, the guard shows up struggles to stay up as it walks down through the empty halls of their locations. They shook ferociously as if they were frostbitten. Their eyes look bloodshot, their faces reddened with some but not noticeable cuts. Their armor/suit is ragged, cut, and damaged. Their posture is rugged and clearly, the individual(s) struggled to stand.

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“Why are you shaking like that and where were you?”, curiously asked the leaders as the guard walks forward. 

The guard stops and tries to speak, but they each fell down in different ways, showcasing a fresh slashes, cuts, or scars, through their bodies, from their head to their feet. Thecuts began to bleed heavily. Some of the cuts even exposed their interior muscles or even their bones. Some of the flesh that are right by the damage started to fall off as the blood began to sprinkle, but for some, it didn’t or did sprinkle again. Their bodies begin to cloud as more blood began to leave their body. 

One section of leaders were not conspicuous of the situation and mildly laughed it off, claiming that the whole thing is an act. Some began to laugh with the leader, while the others try to help the individual. The second cast were curious about what is going on, so they called a medic to figure out what is going on. The third cast rushed to the individual's attention, demanding a medic to aid this individual. However, what they all have in common, is that they were attacked by the same thing. However, each attack on each individual has taken different forms, all depending on the area and species. What could be the cause of such calamity? Is it another terrorist attack or some type of remediation that is randomly unfolding itself to the world. There are enough problems right now, why start a new one?  

Each of the guards were shaking intensely as the cold started to flood their bodies. They all wish they have never seen what each of them have seen, they just want to forget it. But now, their lives are cut short because of this calamity. Was it fate or some sort of interruption? Each withering slowly as the light starts to fade for each of them. Each of the leaders or medics or anyone who was close to the guard asked questions such as, “What happened? Who did this to you? Is this some prank? Who would commit such brutality?” Each of the guards slowly looked up with clouding eyes. 

“He….”, they each weakly mumbled out loud. 

“Who?” 

“HEEEEEEE…..Ee.eee--”, each of the guards died out before they could utter a word. 

This info, not enough, but by how each said it, it is as if they have seen something they were not supposed to see. Each of the medics used brain transplants on the guard(s) to translate what they saw. they stick the electrical receivers in the neck part and the neuro receivers in the cranium parts. The medics added the impulses into the victims to get a read of their memories. This is happening through many methods; psychiatric memory manipulation, magic mind reader, anything to figure out what happened.

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Back at the throne room, Dimeonka used a mind extract spell to analyze the corners of the guard’s recent memories. This spell only allows Dimeonka to go back to memories that are 72 hours old, or three days to be simplesti. He looked into the mind of the recently deceased guard and found what appears to be a shadowy figure or some type of [phantom that attacked him. It was fast but terminal. It took many forms but what remained was a figment of eye and a spine of teeth. IS that right? A figment of some sort or… something? Dimeonka can’t tell since the memory is starting to fade. But unlike most times, matter of fact, this is the first time anyone’s memory is fading a lot quicker than necessary. 

When Dimeonka stopped his mind trace, he noticed that the body is starting to fade from existence. No seriously, none of that thanos dust or fade like a ghost, fade as if this guard never existed in the first place. Dimeonka took notice as the guard starts to fade away. This method was said to be complete fiction with possibilities such cause being impossible. But seeing the impossible before him, stunned him to the bone. He is speechless on what he has witnessed. Never before had he witnessed such testified death impossibility happen before him. Everyone else who knew about the same theory were also stunned, speechless.

Dimeonka stumbles backwards conflicted, trying to understand what is going on. But has he goes deeper into realisation, he notices that he is slowly beginning to lose his mind. His head pounding, brain cells start to deteriorate and rupture, and his vision starts to blur. He can barely keep it together, this is something that should NOT happen. Begins to hum “whisper of the river” to calm himself down. It is a song that requires you to use leaves for instruments to play it correctly. This song has been used in mediation sessions that he has been taking lately. Though it is hard to play it correctly with the right leaf structure, the result is really soothing. 

The Everyone else is either losing their mind, remained frozen, or quickly assessed the situation and alerted everyone in their high councils about the situation. This isn't just happening to Dimeonka, this is happening to everyone! When each senate or council member got the information, they either doubted or embraced the information. Those who doubted the information either went mad or had some of their own underlings containted. Those who embraced it couldn’t believe what they are hearing and try to reject the information. They can’t bear to hear such information that invalidates the current knowledge that they have. 

Every time something new but unexpectedly large is announced, nearly everyone panics. No one can rest in this time of era with war, terorism, economic deterioration, etc. What else is there to do in these times without having some sort of life or death stress? Is everyone’s struggle in vain, does it have no end? Would there be a moment where everyone can finally rest? Some are indeed dying from overwhelming stress, anxiety, etc. But this uprise, this crosses too many lines. 

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Dimeonka then calms himself down and orders three guards to investigate the area. The three guards swifty stampede through the halls to the location where this recently deceased guard was. The iron weight added with every thump on their hoof gave out loud clanging vibrations to the fortress. The stress from the fast pasting stallions causes the armor to start scratch up in some parts. However, this particular armor is constructed by a form of nanometal that regenerates any form of it'setal tissue, as long as the wearer is alive.

"What do you think caused that?", the second guard personifies to everypony. 

"Could be some large creature. Otherwise, something new, maybe not.", the third guard responds hastefully to the second guard. 

Like everyone, they pray for a REAL rest. Everyone is always on alert, no breaks, almost no sleep, and even no repercussions for their physical or mental health. These guards are no different from such unfortunate calamity. The guards have been trained to contain a mind that is solid metal. However, because of the underdeveloped and decaying economy, as well as political corruption that sprung behind places, the guards begath to throttle into corruption as well. Because of such actions being taken to course, the united rail nations stepped in for each local system and suggested robotic guards, but many, including Equestria, declined the offer. 

The guards arrive at the scene of the incident, only to find nothing but debris that originated from the guard and the room storage. The room is about the size of an average size shed. The room can store up to 25 stallions and is one of the new five guard stations that hosts a mini kitchen. This station also holds five beds and has an armor closet that holds different types of armor, all for different purposes. Such example of differentiation is bulk armor is for walls, slim is for scouting and patrols, and weighed is for intense wind resistance. 

They scavenged the room for any clue but no answer. However, there is one clue, on the chair, a giant clawmark that is causing the chair to spaze in and out of existence, trying to render itself and keep itself alive, somehow. One of the guards attempted to touch it, but was stopped by a voice in the guard’s head, telling him not to think about it. I mean, it’s just some anomaly, what can go wrong? These guards are nothing more than mere privates that just entered a militant force. 

During the scavenging, they manage to uncover the guard’s notes, written in a black notebook with stretch marks that have dried tear stains on it.  The pen has been used three days ago and is covered in dry sweat. The notebook has been written on the same day as when the pen has been used. The pen has a metallic but rubbery for it’s build. It is six inches and some damage indicates that this guard chews on his pen. The chew marks indicate healthy but brittle teeth bites. 

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Two of the guards looked everywhere but barely any clues to what really happened, other than the claw marks on some places. They turned to the third guard, who has begun to stutter and sweat. His eyes are pinned on what he is reading, something about an unknown force awaiting and some schematics about unreilating and unknown locations. Some of this knowledge… is not even on record. Trojecting seven light years from waypoints outside their own multiverse and pinpointing several stars to constellations that don’t replicate natural shapes. This knowledge...., isn’t theirs or anyones that they know of. 

As much as the guard tries to understand it, he can feel his mind slowly melting as he attempts to see any real meaning in their world. But all of this…it makes no sense, everything is wrong here, it doesn't match up! The guard begins to pant uncontrollably as he thrives deeper and deeper into the pages. Be begins to hear voices, voices that he has never heard of before, or rather voices that maybe no one has ever heard from before. The guard looked around to see if anyone is there, but all he could see was his vision blurring and the two guards looking at him with confusion and scarcse. 

The guard looks up to see a figment of shadows looming above their heads, mumbling things to one another, as well as giving off a glitch like vibration to them every time they revolve around each other. They each can’t be described but they all have multiple appendages on nearly every part of their body, each with their own set of eyes and mouths. The main eyes are large with a set of 2x3. The best they can come up with is some twigs that are strapped down to a large pole and liquefied in some jello maker. The limbs are rather something that a jellyfish would have, something rubery but also slimy and satisfying to touch. 

The guards don’t know what to think about this, al they have in mind is what is happening to the third guard as he starts to swiftly turn the pages frantically and in a frightened motion. He continuously turns his head and eyes as he swarms through every page he looks at. All of it, it is not supposed to make any sense. Everything this guard is reading, it’s all wrong. It’s supposed to be WRONG! None of this is supposed to be true! 

The guard starts mumbling some strange words, in a voice that mirrors that of the shadowy figures that are floating close to the ceiling. The creatures crack down to the third guard, emanating a strangely distortive energy around them that causes all but the shadowy figure’s vision to start blacking out. Is this what that earlier guard experiences, was this the final moments of vision before he passed? Is this, what he saw? What the hell is going on, someone tell them something, tell them something NOW! 

One of the guards, the first guard, ran away from the scene before this blacking out could advance. He can only bare to look back and witness the two fading from existence like that. 

-

There is no true way to describe the situation that they are in, it is as if they are being erased from their memory. However, despite such feeling of relativity, it is not the exact same. This one guard, named Hipiro, has joined the guard just to get paid and finally make a living, not settle down on unknown anomaly that shatter reality by just being there. 

Hipiro is a low class guard, just like the other two, mostly just so he can make a living out of something. The other two did it for the power and position. Hipiro is 27 year old pegasus who was born with one wing deficiency; a disorder that only gives pegasus one wing instead of two. This deficiency is rare, but it has happened before. It is as rare as obtaining candymarus; a condition where somepony born with candy for body parts. However, one of the largest differences is that one does not almost instantly die days after birth. 

Hipiro runs off to the throne room but before he enters it, he is introduced to a foul odor, fresh but foul and somewhat spicy. When he arrives at the throne room, he only witness what can be described to be gore. What else can be said about witnessing multiple corpses rangolled around and hung from their intestines or any organ of bone of theirs. Their eyes are jotting out with their Sclera and corneas ripped to shreds. Parts of their iris’ are scattered with their pupils mixing with other pupils. The veins of the eyes are mixed with some of the blood puddles that has dried up. Actually, Hipiro is not even sure if the strains are veins or thin tissues of flexible muscle. 

The legs and hoofs are dismembered and dislocated. Their muscle tissue is slowly slithering off as is drips down from the body part is was originally assembled to. Some of the muscle tissue has some bone marrow leaking onto the remains, causing the order more rock and milk like. Some of the bone marrow has protein and fat in it, causing the odor to worsen. The stench when blood starts to rot and bodies began to decompose. But it has barely been an hour and this is happening? What the hell is going on, SOMEONE TELL HIPIRO SOMETHING! 

The flesh that surrounds the torsos have been tangled up in what can be described to be a big pile of cheap spaghetti. Intestines all chews or clawed up and tossed around one another. By some means, some of the dead poses are even individuals who are attempting to return their intestines back in their bodies. Some of the intestines still has depiction in them that are now leaking from the intestines. Some of the stuff wasn't even fully digested ye and it comes out as a brownish liquid that is jet to be become a wet solid based depoture known as poop. Some of the intestines has depiction on the exterior of them. Some have dried up with insects feeding off them and maggots devouring the remnants. 

The livers and kidneys are no different from such fate. They all are torn up and scattered among the throne room. Stomach acid starts to corrode the gallbladder and kidneys. Some of the corroded parts happen to be tongues Some parts of the arteries are penetrating the spleen, and 

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thoracic. The stomach acids also increase the smell of the foul odor coming from the remains. Some of the kidneys and livers have become a breeding ground for many insects. This place, nothing but FOUL! 

The heads and tails of the ponies are all what can be described to overlayed flesh just being folded to the point of There is a pony with their stifle being crushed by a spinal cord that is slowly being devoured and covered in slime and mucus by bone worms. The skull is bashed up with parts of the brain dripping out or splattered across a terrain. Their tongues are al dripping out with saliva and blood with their spinal fluids leaking down from their necks. Their teeth brackled and some hung around like decorations. Even their noses were all smashed as if they were compressed by a hydraulic press. 

Hipiro slowly walks in to see everybody rendered down and disemboweled and possibly eaten, al in different ways. He starts to suspect that this has something to do with the shadows that has been circling that guard station. Now that he that he thinks about the shadows, Hipiro begins to wonder; is the other guard, Thundero ok? Is he dead, is he injured, what has happened of him? All of this is rapidly flowing through his mind, making him feel unstable. Too much, so little time, so many weird things going on. He doesn’t know what to do. 

He then hears a rather high pitched joyful but sinisterly unsettling and disturbing laugh, in a voice that he has never heard of before. He looks around to see some of the bodies disappearing, only the blood stains remain of the deceased ponies and stallions. Wait, what happened to Dimeonka; where is he? Has he met the same fate as these unfortunate souls? If anything, what if he evacuated just before whatever happened here? The possibility is medium, he mostly never backed down from a challenge, especially if it threatens his position of power. But if it doesn't me may try to strike a deal with it so there wouldn't be any conflict. 

He then hears a studderosh and petrified voice in the distance. Sounds familiar, rugged and weakened, through a pile of corpses. Out came a hoof, covered in blood but looks as if it were blending in with the fur. The fur color… and how the hoof is shaped, it’s familiar. Hipiro gallops towards the pile of bodies carefully, he doesn't want to trip over the bodies or slip caused by blood puddles. If he did, he would likely end up with serious injuries due to armor added impact which could lead to a concussion or some loss of bone structure or even interior bleeding. 

He arrives at the corpse pile and reached his hof out and led a hoof to this survivor, only to the survivor to be a familiar stallion. 

“Dimeonka?”, Hipiro sharply realizes after he has pulled this stallion out from the pile of corpses. 

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Hipiro lifts him out, only to feel vibrations coming from his leg. These vibrations that is intensely being deominstraighted to Hipiro, it is as if something has scared Dimeonka. He has shakes like this at times, however for the shaking to be intense as if he were a vehicle in an extremely rocky road, something has caused him to result in this behavior. Hipiro pulls Dimeonka complete out of the piles and the first thing he witnesses is the sheer horror on his face. Whatever Dimeonka has seen, it must've been out of this word. 

“Hey, Lord Dimeonka!”, Hipiro calls out to his master. 

He then proceeded to tap him, causing his to snap in fright and terror. Hiprio jumped back in shock at what has happened to Dimeonka. Dimeonka looks at Hipiro with petrification as if he has seen something that scarred him for life. Hipiro waves his wing to Dimeonka, but in response, Dimeonka swiftly gallops out of the pile, circles around the room, and back into the pile. 

“WHAT ARE YOU D-D-DOING!?”, frantically squealed the petrified stallion with his body still heavily shaking uncontrollably. 

Hipro jumps in response to his random squealing. Whatever Dimeonka saw, it clearly gave him an impact. Never before has Dimeonka ever acted this way. 

“NEVERMIND WHAT I SAID!”, Dimeonka squeaked and dragged Hipiro into the corpse pile. 

“What are yo-”, Hipiro is interrupted by Dimeonka, shushing him. 

“This world, this isn’t our WORLD! This place, it doesn't… IT DOES NOT BELONG TO US! IT IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE OURS!” , Dimeonka begins to lose it. 

“Lord Dimeonka! Listen to yourself! You don’t know what you are saying!” 

“NO, YOU LISTEN TO ME! LISTEN TO MY VOICE AS I COMMENCE THAT WE SHOULD ALL OPEN OUR EYES!” 

They both then hear some chuckling in the distance. It originates beyond the throne room entrance. The chuckling continuously gives off a vibe as if there are multiple voices there. One childish, one of an adult, one of a lunatic, one of a beast, one of a creature from an unknown world. The walls began to collapse as the bodies began floating in the air, exposing Hipiro and Dimeonka. The roof began to distort as it gave of this glitched or static like sound effect. It is as if reality of collapsing, but for the two, they know it’s more than just a reality split. 

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“They are here…”, Dimeonka mumbles in submission. 

“Who?”, Hipiro responds swiftly and mildly frightened, and recognizing the submission in Dimeonka’s voice.  

“They… I don’t know. But they are here. They are here to take what we have become. They are here to reclaim what is theirs.” 

Hipiro glanced at Dimeonka cluelessly; who is… are they? What do they want? Hipiro starts to feel his brain pounding intensely. Each pounding causes him to startle and fall to the ground with immense pain. He recovers but slowly feels the aftermath of the head pounding still taking affect. He remembers something about Dimeonka, before his leadership, he had to be taken in for insanity treatments. Perhaps this was one of the main reasons. He may have been slowly losing his mind over time, likely due to a drastic change of point of view. 

Nothing less, the voices, they slowly creep up closer to the two, causing them to gain goosebumps. The voices echoed through the room and through the halls, but it also gives a feeling that these voices originate more than just one location. Hipiro looks for an exit and notices the open glass figurine window. He charges at the glass figurine, hoping to make an escape and breach into the outside world, escaping this situation. He could take Dimeonka, but given his current situation, his mind is set into submission as he slowly begins to grow unstable. 

He collides with the glass only to be reflected back, not dealing any damage to the glass. This blast sent him back a 1 ½ yards away from the glass. He felt this deflection as if something backhanded him back to his starting point. He looks around to see nothing but Dimeonka scrambling his voice around as he begins to roll around, once again, in submission. Hiprio begins to think, “Who is he really submitting to?” 

A voice called out Hipiro’s name in an unsettling and grooming way. It is as if the plagued sea of stars have begun to spiral in his tounge. The sky begins to twaddle around him as an attempt to slurp some sense into him. The revendius vocality is causing him to stutter and shaking randomly. It is small and barely noticeable; but for the emitter, it is noticeable. The voices begin to cackle out like some ravaging noises, so infamiable, so untamed, it can never be recognized or even puzzled together.  

A shadowy figure begins to loom over the halls, but some of the shadows originate from the windows. The shadows that are originating from the windows cause mass screaming among the new Ponvymania town. A gang related town with a low tolerance for anyone squishy or soft. Ponyvill fell into decay after the Omni war hit Equis. It when out quicker than a rendering siphon. It is peckering with the scent of… mixed frost and sea salt, or so what can be stated. 

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  .Hipiro stumbled backwards as the shadows began to surround him, starting with some type of… claw like figure? He is not sure, but what he sees, is a claw of sales that indicate something of reptilian origin. Or… what impracticalities have penetrated his mind? Hipiro then begins to hear Dimeonka screeching some foul and dispensed language, he can’t even understand what Dimeonka is saying. Matter of fact, there has been no recordings of the language that Dimeonka is using. Words that… could not… should not… 

The shadow begins to form, around Hipiro as he preps a Gattatik Val C-3 Machine Gun from his armor. The weapon supports a cooler from the barrel and the ammunition are Slug double F centimeter roundz. One shot from this weapon can send a curl a blue whale to oblivion. The bullets however, are nothing more than a crum, enough for a mouse to feast on. He stands firmly, waiting the the ting to pop out. He feels a hoof dragging upwards on his hind left leg. He turns his neck 157 degrees counterclockwise to find out who is dragging his limb. 

Dimeonka looked at Hipiro with fanaticism in his eyes and sweat. His heavy breath gave a feeling as if he lost it. Hipiro slowly moved his head backwards, away from Dimeonka as he slowly creeped up to his upper torso. Dimeonka reacted to this by pinning Hipiro down on the ground. Dimeonka screamed in submission, demanding the shadow to take them away. 

Hiprio pointed the Gattatik as Dimeonka is he screamed, “I am sorry… I have no choice.” Hipiro fired the gun, instantly ripping Dimeonka in two, scattering his organs and kidneys everywhere. 

The foul scent of deprained blood being spilled fresh as the scaled claw swipes it an ingests it like a…- jellyfish, or a blob like substance. The body of Dimeonka is swiftly ripped apart and dissolved as it was injected by the random gloomy prepotouisms. The liquids from the body began to evaporate as his skin and fur begins to dissolve. The muscles are ripped up and saturated into this smoothie like substance. The bones have been ruptured into… seeds inside of a strawberry shake? The organs and the brain have been shifted in tenderized cuisines in a size of a pill. 

Hipiro thought Dimeonka would die in battle or some kind of disease or assasination attempt. But this, how can it be spelled out? Being eaten alive? Being dissected alive? Being burned or melted alive? Atoms ripped apart? What can it be? What is this thing doing? Is there anything to be said for what Hipiro must bestow? He walks backwards frightened, he rather be hypnotized into being a worthless slave he once was rather than witness this. He felt a pat on the back, it felt scaley, but interestingly smooth and mildly soft. He stops to turn to witness a giant appendage glooming over him… Hipiro slowly increased his voice to produce a scream that he 

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could never reach. The thing opened what appears to be opening its… mouth and towered over Hipiro. 

Back at the unknown word, the barrier that surrounds the location begins to raddle. The creatures within the world begin to look up and notice the barrier flickering on and off, rattling intensively. That is when they knew, the barrier, it is dying. One of those creatures… expands its wings and skyrockets in the air. This thing begins to curl into a ball in preparation for potential breach. The creature makes contact with the barrier and it miraculously breaches. The pressure from the breach scatters into the infinite sea for where the starts and beyond lay. The creature uncurls itself and looks back. In response, the creature cries out to the other creatures, informing that the barrier is broken, and descend back into its world once more. 

The creatures responded drastically, screeching and whaling their snarls at every location there is. This was enough to inform the other starry locations and some locations in the…--- infinite sea of stars, where ‘everyone’ thrived. Those who heard such sounds… and paid attention to these foul and unfortunate sounds…, they were all RE-introduced to… what they considered a voice from the reaches beyond the void.  Those who didn’t pay attention, ignored it and moved on. No one could ever guess what has happened.

[green-eyeddragonfanfiction]

War of Attrition: Chapter 16

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier x Reader Summary: Best friends with Steve Rogers, renowned Howling Commando, and married to one James Buchanan Barnes, your life wasn’t perfect, but it was as close as it could possibly be in the middle of World War II. Then you fell from a train in the Alps, and everything changed. You spent nearly 70 years as a tool of Hydra alongside your beloved, though your past with him was more often than not forgotten. Sokovia climbs higher but neither you nor the Avengers have found a way to stop it without either killing everyone on the floating rock, or everyone down below. That, however, is a a problem left to Steve, Tony, Natasha, and the others. You focus on staying alive, hidden, and saving as many people as you can. Down below, Bucky does the same. How long can your luck hold out? Warnings: Swearing (always), violence, extreme action featuring a robot-killing cyborg and adorable drones, major character death Word Count: ~4,112 A/N: :( Please read warnings!

Masterlist // Book One // Book Two

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

“He seems nice,” Alfred said a bit too cheerfully in your ear.

“I’m just glad he’s not the enemy anymore,” you muttered, watching trash and debris settle in his wake.

Bucky scoffed. “He and Steve’ll butt heads and you know it.”

You nearly smiled at the thought, but quickly pushed the idea away. Bucky was almost definitely right, but at least the kid would have someone good to look up to and learn from. “Time to get back to work.”

“Alright, we’re all clear here,” said a voice over the comms. If you had to guess, it was Hawkeye. He was the only man of the group you didn’t know the voice of by now.

“We are not clear,” Steve said, and you could hear the sounds of combat in the background to corroborate his statement. “We are very not clear!” he said, the sound of screeching metal following a second later.

“Alright, we’re coming to you,” Hawkeye told him.

“They are gathering in the town center, near the other end of the rock,” Alfred informed you.

“How are things looking on this end?” you asked, eyeing the sky warily. You vaulted up on top of one of the lower buildings, hoping to get a look around without being too exposed.

“Activity in this area is nearly nonexistent. It seems the enemy is focusing on trying to kill the Avengers. Still, it seems that a few smaller patrols are in the area, attempting to eliminate any stragglers.”

“So stay in the area to help the people the Avengers can’t get to and hope Steve, Natalia, and the others can take care of things on their end?”

“That is the path most likely to lead to the survival of all remaining citizens, Madam,” Alfred said quietly.

“Are the drones still functioning? Protecting the people and updating them on the situation?” you asked as you looked around the city. Sure enough, you could see bots flying towards the other end of the rock and quickly hopped two stories back down to the ground so they wouldn’t spot you.

“Correct, Madam. I-”

“What do you got, Stark?” Steve asked Tony over the comms, and Alfred quieted instantly so you could hear.

“Huh? Nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city,” Tony said quietly. “That’ll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear,” he said, though it was clear from his tone what he thought of the idea.

“I asked for a solution, not an escape plan,” Steve said resolutely.

“Impact radius is gettin’ bigger every second. We’re gonna have to make a choice,” Tony said sadly.

“Hear that, Buck?” you murmured softly. He grunted an affirmation, but Steve wasn’t done talking.

“Cap, these people are goin’ nowhere,” Natalia said. She was close enough to Steve that you could hear her through his comm, too. “If Stark finds a way to blow this rock...”

“Not ‘til everyone’s safe,” Steve said obstinately.

“Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There’s no math there,” Natalia said, shocked that she had to spell it out for him.

Bucky suddenly sounded frantic. “I’m coming up there. They’re not gonna blow you to hell. I’m bringing the Batmobile up and-”

“I’m not leavin’ this rock with one civilian on it,” Steve said, cutting off Bucky’s harried planning.

“I didn’t say we should leave,” Natalia said solemnly. A pause, then, “There’s worse ways to go... Where else am I gonna get a view like this?” She sounded resigned and suddenly you wanted to yell at her. Yell at them both. They didn’t give up, not those two. Never those two. It wasn’t in their nature.

“Don’t do it, Doll,” Bucky said quickly, always knowing where your mind would go a split second before you did.

“I gotta, Buck! They’ve given up and-”

“Glad you like the view, Romanoff.” You froze, hardly daring to believe your ears. You knew that voice. “It’s about to get a whole lot better.”

“Alfred?” you asked, shocked, already heading towards where Steve and the majority of the citizens had holed up.

“A SHIELD helicarrier has appeared on the other side of the rock, Madam,” Alfred informed you, sounding nearly indecently pleased.

You fought the urge to throw your arms in the air and cheer. “Coulson and Fury, you sly dogs! Man, I’m so glad we didn’t actually kill him,” you said, grinning widely.

You could hear Bucky’s snort of amusement over the line.

“They have a place to go now,” you heard Bucky say faintly. You could imagine him staring towards the rock in the sky, trying to glimpse it and the helicarrier, which were now dancing in the clouds.

“Alfred, send all remaining drones to search for survivors. Get the drones guarding civilians to lead them to the helicarrier,” you said, skating almost lazily towards the other side now that you had a second to catch your breath and the problem of getting civilians off the floating rock had been solved.  

The comms crackled to life again. “This is SHIELD?” Pietro asked, and you could hear the smile in his voice.

“This is what SHIELD is supposed to be,” Steve said. You could imagine the smile on his face in your mind’s eye and a pang of sadness went through you.

“I miss him,” you said quietly.

“Me too,” Bucky said instantly.

“This is not so bad,” Pietro said, and you could imagine the grin on his face, not cocky for once.

“Falcon and War Machine have appeared on the field... or, more accurately, in the sky,” Alfred informed you. “They are protecting the SHIELD helicarrier and the lifeboats ferrying people from the rock to the ship.”

“Got it, Al. How are the citizens doing? Making their way over to the helicarrier okay?” you asked, slowing down a bit and watching your surroundings a little more closely now that you were getting close to the center of all the action.

“Affirmative, Madam. They should rendezvous with the other survivors soon,” Alfred informed you.

“What about you, Buck? It sounds like they’re gonna blow that rock to hell as soon as the people up here are clear. It there’s anyone in the splash zone-”

“Don’t worry, Doll. Alfred and I managed to get the shield reactivated. The drones are busy clearing the last of the people out of the city. A few refused to leave, but most are either on their way away from the city in cars or they’re in the abandoned base, protected by the shield. We’re lucky for once, Hydra had another shield prototype nearby and thanks to Alfred we managed to get it up and running. The extra power from the drones should hopefully protect us from any rocks that manage to make it this far over,” Bucky told you, a hint of pride working its way into his voice.

You nodded, yet another weight rolling off your shoulders. “Good job, Bucky,” you said with a real, honest to goodness smile.

“You too, Doll,” he said fondly.

“I got it!” Tony’s voice came over the comm, interrupting your conversation. “Create a heat seal. I could... I could supercharge the spire from below,” he said, a little frantic.

“Alfred?” you asked, narrowing your eyes.

“A moment, Madam,” Alfred said quietly. You were close enough to the fight now that you could hear the frantic screams from the citizens and the explosions from the Avengers and the death bots. “It is possible, if they can find enough power,” Alfred said quietly.

“Thor, I got a plan!” Tony said a moment later. You fought back a smirk. Yeah, a lightning blast from the God of Thunder would do the trick.

“We’re out of time, they’re coming for the core!” Thor said, grunting a second later as he presumably fought off a bot or ten.

“Rhodey, Falcon, get the rest of the people onboard that carrier,” Tony said quickly.

“On it,” came what you assumed was War Machine’s voice a split second later.

“Got it,” you heard Falcon echo.

“Avengers, time to work for a living,” Tony said. You saw the red-gold streak of him fly far above your head, towards the center of the rock, and cursed.

“I gotta stay and make sure all the citizens get onboard. Some of them haven’t arrived yet,” you said as Drones Seattle, Orlando, and San Diego joined you again.

“And then you get on one of those lifeboats and you get off that damn rock,” Bucky said sternly.

“Nah, I like it up here. Very comfortable, super easy to breathe. Prime real estate, perfect view,” you said dryly.

“(Y/N),” Bucky said testily.

“All of the remaining active robots have moved towards the center of the rock. Or, more accurately, towards the Vibranium core holding the rock together,” Alfred chirped.

“The robots want to drop it early,” you said, eyes widening in horror. “They don’t care if it’s high enough yet. They’re content to wipe billions of people from the face of the earth rather than let the Avengers stop it.”

“It would seem so,” Alfred said gravely.

“They’re trying to leave the city!” Thor said suddenly, drawing your attention.

“Shit,” you swore, running up the nearest building to get a better view of the robots’ path of egress. Sure enough, a veritable wave of death bots was headed towards the edges of the city.

“Can’t let ‘em, not even one. Rhodey,” Tony said urgently.

“Sam,” Steve said, just as tense.

“I’m on it!” Rhodey said. You could hear his thrusters strain to push him faster towards the largest pack of bots.

“Got eyes on ‘em,” Sam said. You could see the sun glint off his wings as he streaked towards the other escaping mass.

“Alfred, all drones not currently helping citizens, now,” you said, panicked. Tony was right. If even one of them managed to make it out of this alive, this fight wouldn’t be over.

“Understood.” Immediately, all of the drones that had been around you shot off in every direction, jets propelling them at maximum speed through the air. You hopped back off the building and ran as quickly as you could towards the area the lifeboats were docking at, hoping against hope that they’d finish loading before the Avengers blew the rock to pieces. “Tony Stark has flown to the bottom of the city. According to my calculations his suit should be low on energy after the extended fight,” Alfred said after a minute or so.

“He’s creating the heat seal,” you guessed, looking around the area for any stragglers while doggedly staying out of sight of the SHIELD personnel and any stray Avengers.

“That is likely, yes,” Alfred agreed.

“Does he have enough power to do it?” you asked, frowning. You used backscatter and managed to spot a few people still hiding and quickly ran over to them. One was trapped under a fallen slab of concrete and it took every ounce of your strength to lift it so the young woman could wiggle out from under it. Someone- probably her husband by the looks of it- thanked you profusely as he picked her up and carried her towards the lifeboats.

“Unknown,” Alfred said dubiously.

“Send him a drone. Let him drain it. That heat seal has to work or-” you bit your lip and didn’t let your thoughts go that way. “It just has to work.”

“Of course, Madam. Drone Indianapolis is on its way.”

“As soon as it gives Tony what’s left of its battery, let it drop and activate self destruct once it’s far enough away, okay? I don’t want Tony getting his hands on it. He’s too smart for his own good.”

“Of course, Mistress Barnes.” A pause, then, “Captain Rogers, Agent Romanoff, Thor, and Agent Barton are moving this direction. I recommend moving with care,” Alfred warned.

“Got it. Thanks, Al,” you said, moving near silently through the streets, looking for any last minute stragglers. You didn’t want to leave anyone behind. To get a better look, you jumped up on the nearest building, backscatter letting you scan everything nearby for signs of people.

“Incoming,” was the only warning Alfred could give before a quinjet raced by overhead, firing on the city square, not even a block away. Even a split second glance at the cockpit told you the pilot wasn’t human. In was the largest of the robots, similar to the one that scared you so violently last night.

“It’s firing on the civilians,” you breathed, already rocketing towards the jet. The sound of gunfire couldn’t quite block out the roar of rage from the Hulk, though.

Steve and Natalia are there, a small part of your mind screamed at you.

You built up as much speed as you could, grateful that the robot had stopped midair to concentrate fire on a single spot.

You ran out of roof to run on, but you’d already jumped, leg outstretched as you soared through the air, aiming right for the machine gun attached to the bottom of the plane.

The time in the air felt like a small eternity. You could barely hear your heel jets as they propelled you just that hair farther and faster.

Your foot connected to the gun with and almighty screech of metal, the force of the hit tearing it from the retractable arm that attached it to the plane.

You had a single moment of victorious elation. You did it. You stopped the robot from firing on civilians. On Natalia and Steve.

And then you were falling.

“Oh, shit,” you breathed, stomach swooping uncomfortably as gravity took effect on your body once more. Now, with the added weight of the huge gun clenched in your talons, you were hurtling sixty feet towards the ground. If you were unlucky, your momentum would carry you too far and over the edge, and then you’d be falling much, much farther.

“(Y/N)?!” Bucky yelled over the comm, alarmed.

“Fuck, oh fuck!” you gasped, trying your best to flick the gun off your foot. If you landed with it still attached you sure as hell wouldn’t survive. Hell, even without it you might still not survive.

It slid off your talons, but the ground was getting uncomfortably close, and-

A pair of arms caught you and you blinked, confused for a second. There hadn’t been anyone under you a second ago, and-

“What, you think you’re the only one allowed to be a big damn hero?” said a playful voice. He shifted and, with the sun behind his head and the immediate danger of ending up a pancake (again) passed, you were able to get a good look at him.

Pietro Maximoff was smirking down at you.

“You think you can stand?” he asked, giving you an appraising stare.

You nodded numbly. Somewhere in the back of your mind you registered Hawkeye carrying a kid towards the lifeboat, giving you and Pietro a confused stare as he went.

Oh, that’s good. They’re alive, your mind supplied, still racing from the adrenaline.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” he asked playfully as he set you down, hands hovering to catch you if you faltered.

You shook your head. If you talked, then they’d hear you over the comms and you knew your voice modulator had been damaged in the fight, and-

“(Y/N).”

You froze, mind coming to a complete stop.

Pietro turned around to look at Steve, brow furrowing in confusion. “You know her? She has not said a word to me,” Pietro said in thickly accented English, sounding just a little bit offended.

But Steve might not have heard him, judging by the way he didn’t even look at Pietro. He was staring at you and you knew, even with the nanoskin and mask hiding your features, that he knew it was you.

You had, after all, just used your cyborg legs to take down a quinjet gun.

“(Y/N)? Was that Steve!? (Y/N), you have to get out of there!” Bucky hissed urgently in your ear.

Where were you supposed to go? On the lifeboat with Steve and the others? To SHIELD, who you knew wanted to take you in?

“(Y/N), please. I can see that look in your eyes. You’re looking for a way out. You don’t have to. Please, Natasha, Sam, and I have been searching and-”

“Jump, Doll,” Bucky said, snapping you from your quickly spiraling thoughts.

“What?” you breathed, shocked.

“We have arrived,” Alfred said.

Steve thought you were talking to him and he took a small step forward, still hesitant, looking at you like you were about to run away any second. “It’s alright. We want to help. Natalia and I. Sam, too. Please let us help,” he said, smile strained.

“Jump. We’re waiting right below. We’ll catch you, I promise,” Bucky whispered.

You turned your nano-disguised eyes on Steve. “We have to go. Now. All civilians are onboard.”

Steve looked wary, but nodded.

Pietro gave the two of you one last glance before he flashed away towards the center of town.

Steve watched you for a moment but when it was clear you weren’t going to move before him, he gave you a tentative smile and turned his back.

And the moment his blue eyes weren’t on you, you powered on your heel jets and flew off the side of the rock.

“(Y/N)! No!” Steve yelled, not fast enough to catch up with you before you were off the edge. For the second time in five minutes you felt the horrible feeling of your stomach flying up into your throat. Below you was a fluffy expanse of cloud... and a single flying black car. It moved the second you were jumping. You knew Alfred was adjusting the position based on your trajectory and a second later you were landing heavily on the hood, wincing as your toe talons made four large gouges in the paint in an attempt to hold onto the smooth metal.

A split second later Bucky was pulling you into the car, and, just before you got tugged inside, you glanced up. With your enhanced eyes you could see the look of shock, hurt, and longing on Steve’s face, clear as day.

Then you were in Bucky’s arms, the site of the floating city completely blocked out by the hood of the car.

“Go. Go go go. Or he’s gonna jump after us,” you hissed, and not even a second later the engines throttled you forward at full speed, at a slight angle so that you’d slowly make your way back down to the ground.

“Please tell me the cloaking works,” you said, throwing worried glances out the window for any sign of Falcon, War Machine, or Iron Man (or, god forbid, Steve).

“I’m afraid cloaking has not been successful yet, Madam,” Alfred informed you.

“Then just drive, Al. Fast as you can away from this place.”

“Yes, Madam,” he said amicably.

You finally turned your attention on Bucky, who hadn’t let go of you since he first got his hands on you.

You looked away almost immediately again. He looked pissed.

“You’re angry,” you said, staring determinedly at the rapidly-approaching cloud cover.

“Yes.”

“Because I almost got caught,” you said quietly.

His grip on you sagged, which made you look at him, surprised. His grey-blue eyes were sadder than you could recall seeing them in recent memory. “No, Doll. I’m angry because you almost got yourself killed,” he said softly.

You grimaced and buried your face in his chest. “I’m sorry, Bucky. I couldn’t help it. They were attacking people and then that super death robot almost hurt Natasha and Steve and their friends and I just-” you bit the excuses off and wrapped your arms around him, giving him a tight squeeze.

Bucky stayed quiet for a minute, but he held you close and buried his nose in your hair, taking a second to reaffirm that you were there, safe, with him. “Next time an army of evil robots attacks we’re not splitting up,” he said testily, the effect somewhat ruined by the way he pressed feather-light kisses to your temple.

You looked up at him, tentative smile on your face. “Deal, Buck.”

You watched the video feed from the Batmobile, wincing as giant rocks pummeled the town of Novi Grad. The last thing that Bucky had done before coming to get you was piling all of the pilfered research into the hood and back seat of the Batmobile along with your portable workspace, but everything else would be lost to the damage.

You had a few of your drones keeping a lookout on the area. The shield around the old Hydra base seemed to be holding out, but the town had no protection and areas of it were reduced to rubble in seconds. A significant portion of the rocks landed in the lake, but not enough to spare the town. You watched with bated breath as Tony weaved between giant chunks of debris. You and Bucky both breathed easier when he made it out of the worst of the debris field, nearly missing Thor falling into the water in the process. It was a bit longer than you would have liked, but eventually the Asgardian flew out of the water, hammer leading the way.

Eventually, the sky cleared, and the sun shone through the hole in the clouds, onto the destroyed city of Novi Grad. Even some buildings on the edge of town hadn’t been spared the destruction and you were thankful Bucky (with the help of your drones) had decided to evacuate the entire city.

A flash of light at the edge of the crater drew your attention and the closest drone was already zooming in on the source.

The red man- the man that Alfred was fairly sure was an android- was standing near what had to be the last of the death bots, reduced to a melted heap of scrap.

You finally waved the screens off, letting the view of the rapidly-passing surroundings appear once more. You shifted in Bucky’s lap, eyes drifting closed.

“We did it,” you said quietly, a small smile on your face.

“We had a little help,” Bucky said quietly and even without looking you could tell he was smiling a bit, too.

“Feels good,” you admitted softly. “Helpin’ people,” you clarified needlessly.

“Mm.” An affirmative hum that you felt vibrate in his chest.

“Need to find a new place to live for a while,” you said tiredly. Fighting as hard as you did today had taken a lot out of you. You didn’t have the stamina that Bucky did.

“Me an Al will take care of that. Get some sleep, alrigh’?” he said gently, placing a tender kiss to your hair.

“Good idea,” you mumbled, already halfway unconscious.

Bucky’s POV

Eventually your breathing evened out and you relaxed against him and Bucky couldn’t help but smile down at you. He’d nearly lost you again today, but it seemed that after seventy years of bad luck the two of you had finally found some good fortune. Either that or someone else’s good fortune outweighed your terrible ones.

“Where would you like to go, Master Barnes?” Alfred asked quietly so as to not wake you.

Bucky mulled it over for a bit, thinking. The Batmobile’s flight systems only lasted an hour at most and, now that Natasha, Steve, and Wilson knew you were in Europe, they’d search high and low for signs of you. It’d be too risky to go back to the boat. They’d likely expect you to run far away as soon as possible, likely by plane.

Somewhere close. Ideally a place not monitored too closely like the huge world powers tended to be.

“Bucharest, Romania,” he said finally. He was ninety percent sure he knew Romanian, though languages didn’t always come easily until he was thrown headfirst into them. Not to mention you’d talked about that bar (which was really more of a black market or speakeasy) in the city that catered to... well, people like you and him.

Well, not exactly like you two. No one was exactly like you two.

“Confirmed. Plotting a course now. I recommend changing the Batmobile’s exterior soon after a base is established, as it is likely all of SHIELD and the Avengers know what to look for now.”

Bucky sighed, already having thought about it. If the Batmobile wasn’t so useful (and your pride and joy) he would have already ditched it. “Got it, pal. Let me know when we’re getting close?” he murmured.

“I will, sir. Shall I wake you if either of you exhibits the symptoms of night terrors?” Alfred asked kindly.

Bucky nodded his head. “Please, Alfred. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Master Barnes. Enjoy your nap.”

Bucky was asleep within five minutes, lulled to sleep by the dull roar of the engines and your even breathing.

Next Chapter

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Duehring Tags: A-1 Skyraider, A-26 Invader, AC-47 Spooky, AH-1 Cobra, C-123 Provider, CSAR, EC-47 Electric Goon, F-4 Phantom II, FAC, Fast-FAC, H-19 Chickasaw, H-34 Choctaw, HH-3E Jolly Green Giant, HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giants, Hurricane Camille, LAO Arrowhead Lake, LAO Ba Na, LAO Ban Ban, LAO Ban Ban Valley, LAO Chinese Road, LAO CSAR for Falcon 64B (Laotian Civil War), LAO CSAR for Tiger 02 Fast FAC (Laotian Civil War), LAO Hmong Meo Tribesmen, LAO King Sisavang Vong, LAO Laos, LAO Laotian Civil War (1959-1975), LAO Lima 08 - Vientiane (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 05 - Paksong (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 16 - Vang Vieng (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 20 - Sam Thong (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 20A - Long Tieng (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 26 - Xieng Dat (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 272 - Ban Xon (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 46 - Seno (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 54 - Luang Prabang (Laotian Civil War), LAO Long Tieng, LAO Luang Prabang, LAO Monty Banks, LAO MR Military Region (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR1 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR2 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR3 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR4 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR5 (Laotian Civil War), LAO Muong Moc, LAO Nam Bac River, LAO Nam Mu River, LAO Nong Pet, LAO Operation Barrel Roll (1964-1973) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Pakse, LAO Pathet Lao, LAO Plain of Jars / Plaine des Jarres, LAO Purple Porpoise, LAO RLA General Sayavang, LAO RLA General Vang Pao, LAO RLA Major Umpang, LAO RLA Royal Laotian Army, LAO RLAF Captain Yang Bee, LAO RLAF CPK Chao Pha Khao Hmong Pilots/Backseaters (Laotian Civil War), LAO RLAF Royal Lao Air Force, LAO RLAF Tigers (Laotian Civil War), LAO Roadrunner Lake, LAO Route 4, LAO Route 7, LAO Route 71, LAO Sam Neua, LAO Sam Thong, LAO Savannaket Province, LAO St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Project 404 (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Steve Canyon Program - Ravens FAC (Laotian Civil War), LAO Vientiane, LAO Vientiane - US Embassy (Laotian Civil War), LAO Wat Chom Si Temple, LAO Wattay Airport, LAO Xiangkhoang Air Transport Service, LAO Xieng Khouangville, MYS Butterworth, MYS Kuala Lumpur, MYS Malaysia, MYS Penang, O-1 Bird Dog, O-2 Skymaster, OV-10 Bronco, PHL US USAF Clark Air Force Base, POW, SGP Singapore, SGP Tiger Balm Gardens, Son Tay Raid, SpecOps, T-28 Trojan, T-37 Tweet, T-38 Talon, T-41 Mescalero, THA Hat Yai, THA RTAFB Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, THA RTAFB Udorn Royal Thai Air Base, THA Thailand, THA USAF C-130 Klong (Vietnam War), U-17 Skywagon, UH-1 Huey, US Bob Hope (Entertainer), US CAP Civil Air Patrol, US CIA Burr Smith, US CIA Central Intelligence Agency, US CIA Dick Johnson, US CIA George Washington Bacon (Kayak), US CIA Larry Devlin, US CIA Thomas "Shep" Johnson, US CIA Tom Norton, US CIA Vince Shields, US CIA Will Green (Black Lion), US Edgar "Pop" Buell, US Father Lucien Bouchard (Catholic Priest), US USA 1st ID, US USA 25th ID, US USA Fort Rucker AL, US USA Green Berets, US USA United States Army, US USA USSF Special Forces, US USAF 19th TASS - Sundog FAC, US USAF 1st Air Commando Wing, US USAF 1st Special Operations Sqd - Hobo, US USAF 21st Special Operations Sqd - Knife, US USAF 23rd TASS - NAIL FAC, US USAF 338 TFW - Ram, US USAF 388th TFW - Jody Fast-FAC, US USAF 388th TFW - Tiger Fast-FAC, US USAF 39th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Sqd - Crown/King, US USAF 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Sqd - Jolly Green Giant, US USAF 432nd TRW, US USAF 432nd TRW - Falcon FAST FAC, US USAF 432nd TRW - Laredo FAST FAC, US USAF 504th TASG, US USAF 555th TFS - Falcon, US USAF 56th Special Operations Wing - Det 1, US USAF 7th ABCCC Airborne Command and Control Sqd - Cricket, US USAF 7th/13th Air Force, US USAF Col Frank Birk, US USAF Craig Air Force Base AL, US USAF Eglin Air Force Base FL, US USAF Fairchild Air Force Base WA, US USAF Fairchild Air Force Base WA - Surival School, US USAF General Robert J. Dixon, US USAF Hurlburt Field FL, US USAF JEST Jungle Environment Survival Training, US USAF LCol Donald "Digger" O'Dell, US USAF Major Edwin "Jerry" Rhein, US USAF Major Jim Rostermundt, US USAF Selma Field AL, US USAF United States Air Force, US USN Commander Dieter Dengler (POW), US USN Holly Field FL, US USN United States Navy, USAID, VNM Angels Wing, VNM Bien Hoa, VNM Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnam War), VNM Cao Dai Religion, VNM CIA Air America (1950-1976) (Vietnam War), VNM Cu Chi, VNM Di An, VNM DRV NVA 312th Division, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM Duc Hoa, VNM Duc Hue Special Forces Camp (Vietnam War), VNM Hau Nghia Province, VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam War), VNM Long An Province, VNM Muc Hoa Special Forces Camp (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Barrel Roll (1964-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Parrots Beak, VNM Phan Rang Air Base, VNM RVN ARVN 25th ID, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN ARVN CIDG Civilian Irregular Defense Group, VNM Tan An, VNM Tan Son Nhut Air Base, VNM Tay Ninh, VNM US MACV DCAT 99 - Allen FAC, VNM US MACV DCAT Defense Combat Advisory Team (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM US UH-1 Huey Firefly Missions (Vietnam War), VNM USAF FAC-U (Vietnam War), VNM Vam Co Tay River, VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975) Rating: ★★★★★ (5 Stars) Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Aviation.USAF.FAC, Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Laotian Civil War.Aviation.FAC.Ravens 

Description: Ask any fighter pilot or Forward Air Controller from the Vietnam era and he’ll tell you that he heard about it. While the war in Vietnam ebbed and flowed with alternating violence and boredom, there was a rumor of another war, somewhere else, where men flew long hours in propeller aircraft without markings into constant danger in a land where adventure reigned supreme, where common sense replaced the hated Rules of Engagement and where a man could finally test the limits of his abilities. These pilots were few in number and their call sign was Raven. This is the wartime autobiography of one of the few pilots ever to fly under that now famous call sign. Craig Duehring lived and flew out of the guerilla headquarters at Long Tieng, Laos, in support of the iconic Hmong leader, Major General Vang Pao, for a longer tour of duty than any other Raven. During that time, he knew many of the most notable Ravens and participated in many tragic events of the day – including the famous “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre”. This is the story of how one young man left the farm country of southern Minnesota and embarked on a career as an Air Force pilot during the height of the Vietnam War. Equally as important as the combat he experienced is his personal triumph over repeated obstacles and near disasters to achieve his dream that will be a source of inspiration for young readers everywhere. Do such challenges attract the best men or were they average men who were simply doing their personal best? Judge for yourself