#small little snippet of the fic ive been attempting to write for MONTHS now

[suegodvester]

One drink and straight to bed, he vowed to himself.

“A water?” The barman scoffed. “The poor man’s choice, I see.”

Wally chuckled. “The choice of a man who just got here from a trip longer than you can imagine. D’ya got any rooms free up in this place or?”

The barman’s face softened, and he laughed as he went to grab a glass of water. Returning, he leaned in as he handed Wally his drinks. “We do, but tell me, have you ever been here before?”

A blush rose up his cheeks as Wally shook his head. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure where ‘here’ is,” he laughed awkwardly. He suddenly felt very looked at.

“Curious.” The man pulled back, then nodded to himself. “Gotham usually doesn’t show herself to people who haven’t been here before, well, unless she has plans for you. Or so they say.”

“Gotham?” Wally blurted out, eyes widened in shock. “I can’t believe I’m actually here.” He laughed, not because he was happy, but he couldn’t help himself from laughing at his own stupidity. Of course, with all the weirdness going on around here, how didn’t he realize this sooner?

He did it. He found the no-man’s-land that was particularly starting to look like an any-man’s-land to him. The place he had been looking for all along.

“You know, there’s some rumors about-” The bartender started, then stopped dead in his sentence and looked up behind Wally. Right then, Wally felt two, strong hands clasp onto his shoulders.

“You’re in my seat.” A deep, bouldering voice said, the two goons behind him snickering loudly.

Wally looked around him and noticed the two chairs besides him had indeed come up empty. Still, he shrugged and tipped his drink back. “And I was having a really good conversation.” He shot back, not getting off the chair. “Please, do continue.”

He heard a couple “Ooh”’s and “Shit”’s and snickers behind him as the saloon fell silent. All eyes fell on him, or well, them, as Wally shrugged the hands off his shoulders and leaned forward.

“Funny, kid.” The man all but growled. The bottle in his hand -some dirt cheap brand of beer, Wally guessed- came into his view as Wally skillfully -although accidentally- dodged the bottle when he turned the bar chair around. The glass made a painful shattering noise as it came into contact with the edge of the bar, sending shards everywhere.

His attacker staggered back, the intoxication visible in how he tripped rather gracefully against one of his back-up buddies. Immediately, everyone at the bar shot up from their seats and started screaming. Some people saw this as the perfect time to throw some punches around, and Wally winced as he heard the rough sound of a cracking bone right next to him.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, the way this bar fight came to be, but now everyone was in on it. Everyone, except for Wally. Shit, had he really just started this? He frantically looked around, hoping to spot a way out of this mess he had so swiftly created. Hells, he hadn’t even been here for over ten minutes and he already-

A hand slipped around his wrist, and the strong grip pulled him out of his thoughts as fast as he was pulled out of the saloon. When the cold night’s air pushed his hair out of his eyes, his mind cleared. Loud screams and thuds against the walls and floors, although a bit more muted now, made him look at one of the windows.

What just happened?

“You’re really quite something, y’know?” An amused, cocky voice startled him fully away from whatever was happening inside the saloon now, and he traced his eyes to the figure in front of him.

[ilosttrackofthings]

october 11 2015, "but you just won't leave" and or january 26 2016, "s"

send me a sunday six name+date and I’ll respond with more

So I can’t actually find “but you just won’t leave” in my fic folders so I can’t give you another snippet buuut I can tell you that it was supposed to be chapter 2 of I’m hoping you can save me. In it, Mike would spend pretty much the whole night knowingly hallucinating Jess, he assumes, as his own mental punishment for failing to save her. I have always hoped I’d manage to finish it up and I did rewatch Until Dawn recently so I’ll likely keep hunting for it in hopes it’ll actually get an ending.

Luckily, such is not the case with S (weird, considering that the one has a ~title that was its for real title but this one was just a random fic that by all rights I should never have been able to track down again because my organizational system was nonexistent back then). It was written in response to a Jemma/Steve prompt and I just couldn’t finish it but I’m too fond of what I did write to scrap it entirely so I hope you all enjoy:

Throughthe creepy fake wall, into the even creepier secret lair. One guard.Back of the room. Shield to the chest knocks him out before he candraw his sidearm.

Stevecatches the shield after it rebounds off the ceiling and only thennotices the other person in the room. She’s wrapped up in so manyrestraints he almost missed her. The contraption they’ve got her inis familiar, reminds him of what he and Sam dug up on the WinterSoldier in the early days. Poor girl’s just a kid, shaking andfighting while her eyes are fixed on that - what’s the word? -psychedelic screen up ahead. He smashes the star into the damn thingand she whimpers.

“Hey,hey, it’s okay. I’m Captain America; I’m gonna get you out ofhere, all right?”

Gently,he starts with the clasps holding her eyes open. She shuts them andher whole body relaxes so that when he gets her out of the cuffs, shesinks into his arms.

“Miss?”he prods, trying to hold her on her feet. “Miss, can you stand?”

Sherests one small hand on his shoulder - the other is held protectivelyclose to her body and he vows to punch at least one more HYDRA agentin the teeth before leaving this hell hole - but wavers so badly hecatches her around the waist with one arm.

“Okay,that’s not gonna work.” He taps his earpiece. “Sam? You stillairborne? I need a medical evac.”

Thereare a lot of calls questioning whether Steve’s the one who needshelp and he ignores them just like he ignores the backgroundexplosions and gunfire, focusing on Sam’s “What floor?”

“Thirty-eight.Whitehall’s office. I’ll make a hole.”

“Gotcha.Comin’ around now.”

Stevetaps off the device and looks down. The woman is resting against hischest, so still and peaceful. “Miss? You still with me?”

Shehums lowly and tips her head back. Her eyes are glassy but at leastshe’s awake. “Oh! You’re-”

“CaptainAmerica,” he says gently, filing it away to let Banner know she’shaving some memory issues. “You okay to walk or do I have to carryyou?”

“Um…”She catches her lower lip between her teeth and glances down likeshe’s checking to make sure she’s even got legs.

“Carryit is.” He hefts her into his arms before she can protest.

Shesways in his grip and falls heavily against his shoulder. “Whoa.”

“Youokay there?”

“Yes.Just …” He’s made it back into the office and is setting herdown on one of the couches when she finally gets to the en of that sentence. “Woozy.”He’s more and more glad he called Sam by the minute.

“Stayhere,” he says, using his captain voice and hoping it’ll keep herfrom rolling off the cushions. He makes sure her bad arm is restingsafely on her stomach and her good hand lands against the side of hisneck. “I’ve gotta blow a hold in the wall,” he saysapologetically. She nods like that makes complete sense.

Beforeleaving to set a few charges on Whitehall’s big, landscape window,he kicks the coffee table away so if she doesroll off she won’t be in danger of cracking her head open.

Theexplosion doesn’t wake her up. Neither does Sam lifting her in hisarms. Steve watches him disappear through the giant hole beforeheading back downstairs to beat up a few more HYDRA grunts.

.

.

She’snot their only rescue of the day - not by a long shot - but she’sthe only one on the quinjet that Clint brings around to pick him andNat up.

“Hi,”she says when he walks past. She’s on a gurney on the floor andsmiling in a very obviously drugged way. She doesn’t seem to noticeBruce splinting her swollen hand at all.

“Hey.”He squats down to look her over. “You remember me?”

Herface scrunches up so dramatically he has to bite back a laugh. “You-”she pokes him in the chest with her right hand and gets momentarilydistracted by the IV line- “smell good.”

Brucesnorts and on the other side of the cabin Sam doesn’t even tryto hold his laugh in.

“Mm-hm,”she says, patting Steve’s chest. “Very nice.”

“Don’ttake it too personal,” Bruce says, “Jemma here called me Tripwhen she first woke up and then tried to get me to confess I wasn’treally Bruce Banner.”

“You’renot,”Jemma says, swinging her hand over to give Bruce a weak smack - ormaybe she was trying to rub his hair, that’s more what it ends upbeing.

“Didyou?” Steve asks, giving up on keeping the smile off his face.

“Toshut her up,” Bruce says. “She was trying to quiz me on my work -did a damn good job considering she was already high as a kite - soI’m guessing HYDRA wanted her for her brain.”

“Yeah,”Steve says, remembering the machine she was hooked up to. “Theremight actually be some memory loss - how is she physically?”

Brucelooks up from his work on her arm. “Decent for someone in HYDRAcustody. The wrist is broken but it doesn’t feel too bad. She’sgot some bruising and some swelling. Not enough to do real damage,but enough to scare her.” His voice goes cold and distant, the wayit does when he’s thinking of things he shouldn’t be.

Stevekeeps alert for signs his emotions are getting away from him butotherwise leaves Bruce be. 

Jemma’sdrifted off to sleep again and Steve brushes her hair from herforehead, revealing another bruise. Bastards.

Beneathhis feet the quinjet takes a wide turn. He and Bruce exchange a look;he’s not the only one confused.

“Uh,what’s happening?” he calls up to the cockpit. The cargo ramp isopening and he rests a hand on Jemma’s stomach just to be certainshe stays put.

“Starksays to head west!” Nat yells, her words almost lost on the wind.

Theramp closes and Tony’s heavy footfalls echo in the tight space.“Stark,” he says snarkily, “has been on the phone with MariaHill. Who very casually asked if we’d recovered any prisoners andthen even morecasually asked if any of them were former SHIELD agents.”

Stevetips his head back. “Was she?”

“Idon’t know!” Tony snaps. “The only records on this girl areHYDRA’s. You google her name and there’s nothing.She’s a ghost.”

Stevelooks back to Jemma’s peaceful face. He can feel Sam watching himand he’s willing to bet Nat’s paying just as much attention,though she’s too good to show it.

“Howdo you know Hill wants her?”

Thebreath hisses out of Tony as he steps away from his suit. “Ifinally got her to admit Agent Jemma Simmons is who she was fishingfor - probablywhy she gave us this base’s coordinates in the first place. Shetried to say the girl’s dadwas worried about her, but unless her dad’s the Invisible Man, I’mbetting that’s a load of crap.”

“Soyou’re having us fly awayfromHill,” Sam says slowly, “because … what?”

Tonyfalls into the two seats next to Bruce. “Because I want answers andI’m pretty sure she’smore likely to give them to us than Hill is.”

Bruceand Tony get into a fight over what, exactly, constitutes akidnapping, while Steve makes himself comfortable on the floor nextto Jemma’s head. He’s pretty sure Tony’s wrong - about thedefinition of kidnapping andJemma giving them answers. She just got out of HYDRA’s worstinterrogation cell and she still had the wherewithal to make Bruce Banneragree he was lying about his own name; she’s not gonna be easy.

.

.

Steve’sright. The next day - after her system’s clear of HYDRA’s drugs,the cast on her wrist is dry, and they’re all settled in at thewest coast base (aka the underground bunker Tony built out of theremains of his mansion after he got it blown up) - Jemma wakes up,realizes her doctor really is Bruce Banner, and promptly shuts hermouth. Tony cajoles, he threatens, he begs, but there doesn’t seemto be a damn thing he can say to get her to talk. It’s hilarious.

Steve’stempted to let it keep going - they’ve got popcorn and the securityfeed up on the big screen - but once people start placing bets, it’sgone a little too far.

“Okay,okay. I’m going in.”

There’sa lot of yelling - a surprising amount of it from Natasha - and evenmore popcorn thrown at him, but he’s not backing down. They’rethe Avengers, they don’t kidnap people, and despite Tony’sattempts this is looking more and more like a kidnapping - or atleast an unlawful detainment - every second. He snags an unopenedwater bottle on his way out of the lounge and jogs down the long hallto Jemma’s room.

“-allthe alien technology you can study! Seriously! I know Thor.”Tony’s latest line of attack is a good one - assuming Jemma reallyis a scientist like her HYDRA file says.

Steve’sbeen looking over it the last few hours. Far as he can tell, shedidn’t exist prior to six months ago when she started working intheir bioweapons division. Since then, she’s been an exemplaryemployee, even saving a superior’s life while on a field missionlast month. (What a lab rat was doing in the field, the file failedto say.) There’s some sketchy evidence linking her to a data leak,but it could just as easily lead to another branch of HYDRA as to areal enemy. They really have no idea who this woman is.

“Hey,”Steve says, stopping just inside the doorway. “You wanna give us aminute?”

“No,”Tony gripes. He steps up close so they can speak without beingoverheard. Steve keeps his eyes on Jemma, who looks worryingly smallin the oversized bed. “You think you can get her to talk?”

“Shehasn’t said a word in hours. Ten bucks says I can get her sayingwhole sentences in ten minutes.”

“Fiftyand five minutes.”

“Done.”

Tonyslaps Steve’s shoulder on his way out.

Stevegives Jemma a pained smile as the door swings shut and then grabs astool from the wall to bring it over to her. “So. I get that thisis … weird. You get captured by HYDRA, then you get saved by theAvengers, and now you’re in our secret base. Weird.”

Jemma’slooking him up and down warily, so he takes his time about pullinghis phone from his back pocket.

Heholds it out to her. “Here. You wanna call someone, go ahead.”

Shewants to. She’s temptedto, but slowly she shakes her head. Her eyes stay on the phone untilhe sets it on her bedside table.

“It’sright there if you change your mind. Water?”

Thistime she accepts, taking slow sips from the bottle. Steve’s beenthere. Even with the fluids Bruce has got her on to replenish whatshe’s lost, she wants that visceral feeling of drinking. She needsit or she’s never gonna feel normal in her own skin again, so helets the time tick by until she lowers the bottle to her lap andrecaps it.

“Let’sstart over,” he says. He holds out his hand. “Steve Rogers.”

Shestares - at him, at his hand, and then at the wall on her left.

“Canyou talk?” he asks, pitching his voice to sound worried. “Youneed me to call Bruce back-”

“Ican speak,” she says and Steve does a mental victory lap. He wisheshe could hear Tony cursing.

“Butyou’re not?”

Sheshakes her head, back to the nonverbal.

“Youwanna tell me why?”

Shesighs heavily and, when she speaks, sounds like she’s quoting amanual - or a lecture. “I am not legally allowed to be in the sameroom as any member of the group codenamed ‘the Avengers,’ nor amI allowed to communicate with any of them.”

That’sa new one. “Well now I gotta know why.”

Asmile tugs at her lips but they’re shut tight - tighter,if he had to guess.

“Allright. Plenty of time for that later. You were a SHIELD agent, right?Loyal?” He tries to sound uninterested in the answer but whatlittle residual anger he still feels over that day doesn’t seem toaffect her. She goes far away, her eyes haunted.

“Yes,”she says. And then she does the damnedest thing: she smiles.Steve doesn’t know what to make of it.

Henods, trying to get the conversation back on track. “Yeah, Mariasaid you were.”

Jemma’seyes snap to him, all at once back in the moment. “M-Maria…?”

“Hill,yeah. She was very interested to know whether we’d gotten you outof there safely.”

“Oh.”She doesn’t seem too happy about that. “You were sent … forme?”

“That’swhat we’re trying to figure out. Maria wants us to bring you backto New York yesterday.We’re a little more interested in the why.”

.

.

.

.

Aaaaaand then there would’ve been some fun with the Avengers figuring out that SHIELD is still going but Fury’s not in charge and Jemma trying her darndest to not let them in on the Coulson secret and of course some Jemma/Steve happening. But it was not meant to be, sadly.