#to have them taken from him... could be a theft of identity

[mus1ca1]

probably fucked rusty up that the stars stripped him of his numbers though

[icantbelieveitsnotbutler]

Who is Ciel Phantomhive?

Manga spoilers under the cut.

The events of the manga (so far) have led readers to believe that o!Ciel is the younger brother of r!Ciel and took on his identity after the older twin's death. This would mean that o!Ciel has a true name, as of yet unrevealed.

However, I believe it's possible that o!Ciel was actually born Ciel Phantomhive, while r!Ciel is the younger twin whose name we don't know.

I propose that o!Ciel first began showing signs of his illness in infancy or very early childhood. His parents, knowing that it was the same lifelong illness Rachel suffered from and would impede his duties as the queen's watchdog, decided to switch their identities and raise r!Ciel as Ciel Phantomhive, the heir to the earldom.

If they switched them early enough, at the first signs of illness, no one else, not even the twins themselves, would be aware. In fact, Madame Red and Elizabeth, the ones closest to them and featuring the most in their childhood flashbacks, couldn't tell that o!Ciel had taken on his brother's identity after their kidnapping.

Tanaka is the only one I believe might be aware, but is keeping it a secret for his own reasons (loyalty to the previous earl?). While he is currently seemingly on r!Ciel's side in the manga, he could be acting as a double agent.

There might even be evidence that o!Ciel was born first.

This is from the twin reveal flashback:

By this time, the hair direction of each twin is firmly established. Rachel is holding o!Ciel, with his hair going to the (our) left, while Madame Red is holding r!Ciel, whose hair swoops right. But which was born first?

Here's part of Madame Red's cinematic record, which I will break down panel by panel:

In the first panel, the midwife is holding r!Ciel, who we can tell was born just moments ago because she is announcing his sex.

In the second panel, Rachel is holding o!Ciel, who was born first. She is telling him that she's glad that r!Ciel was born.

In the third panel, Rachel tells Madame Red to take r!Ciel from the midwife.

Panels 4-6 are Madame Red holding r!Ciel. In the sixth panel, Rachel is still holding o!Ciel, but he's out of frame because the twin reveal hasn't happened yet.

In the seventh panel, she tells the baby who she's holding, o!Ciel, that his nose is just like 'that person's.'

While I believe that o!Ciel actually is the legitimate earl and born as Ciel Phantomhive, that isn't why he is clinging so vehemently to the name and title.

Getting called out for identity theft wouldn't make someone react like this, entering a near-cataonic state, followed by an angry outburst. The shock could be from seeing his brother come back from the dead, but why should o!Ciel be so enraged that his beloved brother should reclaim his (seemingly) rightful identity?

I don't believe that it is jealousy, pride, or entitlement that caused this reaction.

O!Ciel believes that he himself is fundamentally incapable of being Earl Ciel Phantomhive.

The only way he can fulfill this role and achieve his revenge is by becoming his older brother.

Even in his dealings with Sebastian, he believes that he can't handle the demon as himself, and must act as his brother instead.

This can be seen in his personality change after he takes on his brother's identity; he assumes a cold, aloof, independent demeanor, more like r!Ciel and his father, whereas before he was sweet and allowed himself to be open and rely on others.

When he is triggered in the green witch arc, this artificial self falls away and he becomes the self that had been suppressed to that point. That self had been stunted, still 10 years old and freshly traumatized, believing himself to be inferior and incapable.

When his brother comes back from the dead, o!Ciel can no longer become his brother to disassociate from himself and regresses again.

What o!Ciel doesn't realize is that r!Ciel's strength is also a facade. R!Ciel believes that he must be strong to protect his sickly younger brother.

Contrary to what o!Ciel believes, he is just as capable as his brother, if not more so. The things he's achieved as earl have been done by him, not his brother. He is pretending to be his brother, but that doesn't magically give him his brother's abilities. His successes have been due to his own intelligence and persistence.

Sebastian isn't contracted to him and desire his soul above all others because he's an earl or because his name is Ciel. He was called across dimensions not by a lord or the persona o!Ciel has adopted, but by the strength of o!Ciel himself.

On this page, o!Ciel is not pretending to be his brother. He's not an earl and doesn't yet have a demon to protect him. He is a child, completely alone and vulnerable, and instead of cowering and giving up, he threatens to kill the room full of his adults captors.

My wish for the manga is that o!Ciel realizes his worth outside of his identity as Earl Ciel Phantomhive, real or not. But if I'm being honest, I do hope that the boy Sebastian is contracted to is named Ciel, because the idea of a demon pursuing the soul of a person named 'heaven' is extremely satisfying to me.

[kpop---scenarios]

Yes, Sheriff

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader

Warning: Smut [mild fingering; unprotected sex. 18+ ONLY. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT]

Summary: You're brought in for questioning in an identity theft case, but you have your ways of distracting people.

Word Count: 1.6k

A/N: Thanks anon for the idea!! And thank you @skzdust for helping me!!

Everything Taglist:

@wife2straykidss @piscesrising01 @baby-stay92 @kisses-too-the-moon

@dwaekkiiracha @silly250 @rylea08 @imperfectlyperfectprincess1

@satosugu4l @gabriellamarie @tsunderelino @iovecb97

@1810cl @lordmaahes-nsc @sailorkoss @minh0scat

@pixie0627 @50-husbands @jinnies-muse @yaorzu-blog

@anskiiz @joyofbebbanburg @number1jeonginstan @skzooluvr

@jisunglyricist @ambersnowxxx @ayyonoona @31maze13

@stay-tiny-things @thegingerthatwaited @hoesheez

@stayatinykatsy @catlove83

“L/N Y/N.” You hear.

Your eyes were closed, head resting on your arms against the cool metal table in the interrogation room. You could feel a slight knot in your stomach forming but chose to ignore it. You didn't know what they had on you but you weren't terribly worried. You knew exactly what you had done and you knew what you were going to do, the only thing you could do.

Most people fold and tell the truth, but when it comes to you… absolutely not.

Deny. Deny. Deny.

You raise your head, your eyes still closed as you pretend to stretch, dragging out the opening of your eyes for just a moment. And the second you did open them, you immediately regretted your decision. The man that stood before you, made your mouth dry and your panties wet.

You could see his muscles through the fabric of his semi tight police uniform, his tight fitting pants showing off a bulge you only wanted to see become bigger.

“And you are?” You smile, sitting up straight, crossing your legs in hopes you'd be able to keep your wetness in your panties.

“Sheriff Bang Chan.” He says, sitting down in the chair across from you, setting the file down in front of him.

“Fitting.” You murmur, straightening up your posture. “Why am I here, Mr. Bang?” You ask.

“Sheriff.” He corrects you.

“My apologies. Why am I here sheriff?” You ask.

“I'd like to set the record straight first, You are in fact, L/N Y/N, correct?” He asks.

“I'm not sure. Am I?” You say, smiling.

“Or should I call you Miriam Schnider, Lisa Michael's, Julie Furgason?”

Fuck. You knew it.

“Those are some very pretty names.” You say.

“And they live very lavish lives. Is that why you stole their identities?” He asks.

“I'm not sure what you're talking about here, Sheriff. Someone stole their identities?” You ask, pulling off a very convincing gasp, covering your mouth. “What a shame.”

“It is a shame. You racked up an immeasurable amount of debt, ruined their credit, jobs, Miriam is about to lose her house.” He sighs.

“I can't believe someone would do that to them.” You sigh, shaking your head.

“So you're not going to admit it?” He asks.

“Why would I admit it? I would never do something like that.” You say. “I'm a good girl, officer.” You whisper, licking your lips.

He chuckles slightly. “Something tells me that you're not as innocent as you're trying to make yourself out to be.” He sighs, leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed.

“What would make you say that? I am very innocent.” You smirk.

“So.” He sighs. “Are you going to keep denying that you did this, Y/N? That you ruined these people's lives?”

“Like I said, how do you know I'm really Y/N? No fingerprints were taken. All your officers did was look at my ID.” You say.

“They also found ID’s of the victims names, with your picture on them.” The sheriff reminds you.

“So? What if I am actually Miriam Schnider? Or Julie Furgason?”

“You're not. Because I met them.” He says.

“Or did you meet the ones pretending to be me?” You ask.

“I'm getting sick of this shit, Y/N.” He snaps. “Just admit what we already know and then we can move on and go forward with charges and processing.”

“Let's say I did admit it, which I'm not, but if I did… what would you do to me?” You smile, cocking your head to the side.

He looks at you, a little confused.

“Would you slam me down against the table to cuff me?” You whisper. “How close would you stand to me? Would you press yourself up against me?” You ask.

He adjusts himself in his chair, placing his arms on the table, intertwining his fingers as he stares at you. “Are you hitting on me, Ms. L/N?” He asks.

“What do you think, Sheriff? Do you think I'm hitting on you?” You ask.

“I think you are. And it's highly inappropriate.” He murmurs, clearing his throat.

“Mhmm.” You groan, maintaining eye contact. “I don't think it's inappropriate. If anything, you accusing me of a crime I did not commit is inappropriate. Not to mention how tight your pants are. It really makes me want to rip them off and have you shove your cock down my throat.” You grin.

You can tell he's extremely taken aback by your comment which makes you smile harder.

He clears his throat. “There's another officer watching this interview.” He tells you. You lean forward a little, letting your shirt expose your tits a little. You watch his eyes dart between your face and cleavage.

“Good. Let him watch.” You whisper.

“Ms. L/N, you're going to get me into trouble.” He breathes.

“You know… a little trouble never really hurt anyone.” You murmur.

“Are you sure about that? I think the trouble you caused your victims definitely hurt them a lot.” He says.

“Stop ruining the moment, Sheriff.” You smile. “You and I both know that I didn't do this and you're wasting your time blaming me for this when the real culprit is still out there.”

“Do you know who did this then, if it wasn't you?” He wonders.

“I'm sure I can remember a name eventually, but right now it's just a little hard to think.” You wink, looking down. You just knew his cock was getting harder and harder.

“What do I need to do for you to tell me?” He asks.

“It's about what I can do for you.” You whisper. You slip out of your chair, crawling under the table, you lick your lips as you eye up the bulge in his pants. You sit on your knees, your hands unbuttoning his pants, slowly pulling his zipper down until he moves his chair back. He stands up, yanking you from under the table. He climbs on top of you, straddling you as he pins your arms above your head. He stares at you, his lips slightly parted, his chest heaving slightly.

You can see the struggling look in his eyes, whether or not he should do what he really fucking wants to do.

“C'mon, Sheriff. Grow a pair.” You chuckle.

He groans, continuing to fight internally. “Ah, fuck it.” He finishes, leaning down, crashing his lips down onto yours. He swiftly slides his tongue into your mouth, his body pressing hard against yours. He releases your arms, sliding his hand against your cheek. Seconds later he pulls away from you, getting up off the floor before he helps you up, pulling you off the floor too. He grabs onto you, pushing you against the table, pressing your face down onto the cool metal. You lay there as he moves behind you, digging his fingers into the waist of your jeans before yanking them down, along with your panties. They pool around your ankles while you hear him behind you, pulling his cock from his pants. You feel his hand slide against your pussy before he shoves two fingers inside of you, your wetness seeping out of you.

“Fuck you're wet.” He groans.

“Wow, you've got a small cock.” You giggle.

“Hah.” He fake chuckles. “I'm going to destroy you.” He whispers, pulling his fingers out of you. Your eyes are closed as you feel him push his cock into you, stretching out your cunt, and it hurts.

“Fuck.” You gasp.

“Is it still small?” He groans, pushing himself all the way in, stopping for only a second before he pulls out and rams himself back into you. Your eyes roll back, your cunt tightening around him as he grips tightly onto your shoulders. You pant against the table with each of his thrusts, each one hitting the right spot.

“Oh my…fuck.” You moan. You can hear him chuckle behind you.

“You're a bad girl.” He groans. You moan to agree with him, moving your hands between your legs, pressing onto your clit.

“So bad.” He groans, ramming his cock into you once again. You rub your clit, jolting with each thrust, euphoric pleasure rushing through your entire body as you listen to his grunts from behind you. There was something so fucking hot about a man in uniform, you were like a feral animal anytime you were near one, and you fucking loved it when they caved.

“Oh god, just like that, officer.” You cry out, moaning louder, your breathing becoming more erratic as you chase your high. You knew it was coming quickly, it always did in situations like this.

“You're gonna make me cum.” You groan, your orgasm hitting you quickly. “Oh my fucking god!” You cry, your pussy tightening again as pleasure runs through your veins.

“Good girl.” He grunts, holding onto you tighter, chasing his own high. A few thrusts later, he digs his fingertips into your side, holding on tightly as he cums, filling you up with every ounce he has.

“Fuck.” He breathes, standing for a second before he pulls out of you. He adjusts himself, before he walks towards the door. His hand on the knob he turns and looks at you, still spread out on the table.

“Don't move.” He says before walking out the door.

“Sheriff.” He hears. He turns to look, seeing his deputy standing there, shocked.

“Ah, deputy Seo Changbin.” Chan laughs.

“That was…” Changbin begins.

Chan laughs, patting him on the shoulder. “Why don't you give it a go?” He suggests. “Maybe you can get some more out of her.”

[zigazone]

Decided to rewatch Tinker Bell (2008) to see what short cuts they took when dismantling Ring of Belief (ROB). So here are some of them. Tumblr won’t let me add more than 10 images so this isn’t even all of them.

So first off the little dandelion seed things are reused from ROB.

The barrage boat where Hook captures Tink and Silvermist in with Peter and the lost boys, makes an appearance.

Oh also George and Mary are in the film too for some reason in the background for like 3 seconds. They are like the only background people in the film, like WHY- waste of models imo but I think they were from the ROB draft so what can you do.

Hooks ship is also just chilling there.

I’m thinking this tinker bell model they used for one scene is also from ROB because her wings are very tiny, and we know newborn fairies were a thing (they still come from a child’s laugh but they’re like baby’s/younger, kind of like how everyone could tell Prilla was the youngest fairy in the Disney fairies books when she arrived because of her wing size and features) because of the flash game and young fairy concept art.

Yes I’m sure the concept art is fairies look at their ears and their dresses are made out of flowers.

I’m not sorry but Terence is just Peter Pan’s Ring of Belief Model with a tik tok filter slapped on it and a side identity theft.

They had a remaining budget of like 3$ and since Lasseter cut Peter from the film he was just extra so my guess is they reused him to make Terence, which is why Terence’s face is different from the books. Now don’t go hitting me with the “but all of tinks friends look different and they were in the books too”. Well duh, that was intentional, they were created in marketing, they were taken and made specifically for the film, Gail had no involvement with them. They were just added in later with corresponding designs to promote the films later on. That’s also why we never got tinks book friends in the movies because they were created for the books, they weren’t meant to be “movie marketable”.

Another case of identity theft. Like come on. They dismantled Victoria and turned her into Wendy. Wendy shouldn’t even been in this film because of the last line from Peter Pan where Wendy’s dad, George, says he’s been to never land before. That isn’t possible here because Peter isn’t even in Never Land yet, Tink was just born and Wendy exists. Would make more sense if they used Victoria instead and made her like Wendy’s grandmother.

Over all the Tinker Bell films we got feel like their own bad timeline. They threw almost everything out from the books in a way and called it a day. ROB was at least consistent with the books lore and timeline. We had the purple pixie dust tree, we had the ring of belief, we had mother dove references, we even could have had the book fairies at one point. Disappointed with the Tinker Bell films rn smh. This movie is a 4/10 at best and I’m mad at it rn because it’s just stolen scraps glued together with an Elmer’s glue stick.

[tobiasdrake]

Daredevil 01x04 - Sic Semper Systema

Tentatively going to call this a good episode but a lot is going to hinge on how they plan on resolving the storylines they're pursuing.

We start the show unpacking Hector's murder. We technically don't know the identity of the assailant but it's easy to assume it was Officer Powell. It wasn't. Matt uses his Lie Detector powers to exonerate Powell pretty quickly.

I admit, I'm a little nervous about the fact that they brought up and swiftly eliminated Powell from the suspect list. In the back of my mind, I'm now worried that they may be planning to make a centrist argument with this. Like, "See? You just ASSUMED the cops had something to do with it but they were innocent the whole time! Both sides could stand to trust each other a little more, don't you think?"

Those of us familiar with the comics might recognize Angela as the second White Tiger. I can visualize in my brain a version of this story where Angela dons the mask in Hector's name and then kills or tries to kill Powell in retribution, to go along with the thing that one detective in episode 1 was saying about how the supers and the cops are just as good and just as bad as each other.

I really hope that's not going to be the angle here.

Nonetheless, the show still centers the shittiness of the police and the criminal justice system.

The B-Plot of the episode concerns this man, Leroy Bradford. Leroy's arrested for petty shoplifting by the police, seen here eating the stolen goods he lifted.

Leroy did the crime. He's not an innocent man being falsely accused. However, the show makes a point here about the arbitrary nature of the offense and arrest.

Leroy's going to go to jail for stealing a box of caramel corn. A box that does not get returned to the store, but is instead taken and consumed by the officers arresting him.

Like. What justice is being served here? It can't be about the stolen merchandise if the merchandise isn't returned, can it? Why is it wrong for Leroy to eat the stolen caramel corn without paying, but it's acceptable for the police to eat the still-stolen caramel corn?

This isn't about the theft. It's about something bigger than petty crime. It's about power; What kinds of people have it and what kinds don't. The police can eat the stolen goods because the law does not apply to them.

Leroy committed the crime. In fact, Leroy's committed a lot of petty offenses.

But there are no pages of offenses for the cops who arrested him, are there? Even though they did the same crime. That's because there are different rules for different classes of people.

Leroy is here to center a conversation about the relationship our justice system itself has with repeat offenders. This is pretty blatant; When Matt goes to negotiate with the prosecutor on Leroy's behalf, they awkwardly start debating the efficacy of punitive justice as a form of crime deterrent.

This is a really weird scene. Like, thematically, it gives Matt an opportunity to directly debate the central topic of the Leroy plotline against an adversarial strawman. But in context, it's just awkward?

Matt destroys this prosecutor in the arena of reason and logic, so she surrenders fifteen days off of Leroy's sentence to Matt as his prize. Then he makes puppy dog eyes at her until she agrees to throw in another ten days because he's just so goofy. It's weird.

Matt is philosophically correct. The next and final scene with Leroy presents that argument much better. But this scene is weird.

In Leroy's final scene, he confronts Matt with the ugly reality of what being a "repeat offender" means. Going to prison, even for a short period of time, can be life-destroying. It introduces a whole swathe of disruptions.

It can cost you your job. It can cause you to miss rent and get evicted, and that goes on your record for ten years. It can, as happened to Leroy, result in loss of government assistance benefits that are necessary to get by.

You don't leave prison and go back into the workforce and become a productive member of society.

Look at Leroy's rap sheet. Drugs, trespassing, panhandling, and petty larceny. These are crimes of desperation. "Trespassing" is how you find a place to sleep when there's nowhere for you to go. "Petty larceny" is how you eat when you have no money and your food stamps were cut off. "Panhandling" is literally begging for money on the street corner.

These are crimes of poverty. Which the "great deterrent" of the punitive system creates. Leroy's not going to be in a better position to not have to trespass and steal to survive after another ten days in prison. He's not going to step out those doors suddenly having a home to live in and a stable job. The prison isn't going to give him those things, are they? Will the Warden personally sign him back up for his food stamps?

Yes, drugs too. Substance abuse is a means of surviving emotionally when your life sucks this bad. We assume people become povertous because they're addicted to drugs, but more often people become addicted to drugs because they're povertous. Misery fuels substance abuse, not the other way around. Nothing gets people clean faster than improving their life conditions and giving them something to hope for.

It's not a system that deters repeat offenders. It's a system that produces them. An assembly line for manufactured poverty. This is what the Leroy story is about, and it's pretty good. Leroy sums the whole situation up succinctly when he says this.

It isn't justice to arrest Leroy for theft if the cops are going to eat the stolen goods.

It isn't economically sensible to spend all this taxpayer money on punishing Leroy over a box of caramel corn. I promise you, ten days in prison costs a lot more.

There is no purpose being served here. It's just cruelty.

Leroy's story is the best part of the episode. A+

But that brings us back to the A-Plot: The murder of Hector Ayala. This is where things take a surprising turn.

Gonna be honest, I have a hard time buying that Matt was able to positively identify a painted-on Punisher skull by rubbing a tiny bullet casing with his finger. That seems like a stretch for his Blind Man Superpowers.

I can, however, buy that the guy who shot Hector and was wearing the Punisher logo on his chest would meticulously paint tiny Punisher skulls on each and every one of his bullets. Probably while giggling to himself about how cool he's going to look.

I have complicated feelings about the tense emotional scene where Matt prays to the Punisher for guidance, which Frank calls him out on but still offers nonetheless.

The show has, for the sake of its conversation point surrounding police brutality, essentially deified Frank. The police are wearing his iconography and acting in his image. Hector's killer wears Frank's iconography and acts in his image. And now, in his moment of weakness, Matt too turns to the Dark God of Police Brutality looking to be told that it's okay to give in to his violent urges again.

They've positioned Frank as the voice of temptation. A temptation that they've implied Matt probably shouldn't give into? Because. Y'know. It's coming from Frank. Trying to do what he would do is what the bad guys are doing.

But the temptation is to become Daredevil again. Which you'd expect to be the inevitable outcome of this story as a whole, right?

So I'm once again left puzzled and wondering where they're planning on going with this. I don't think I'll be able to form a concrete opinion about Frank's appearance here until I see how it intends to land.

I can envision in my head a version of this story where this scene is positioning Frank as a key antagonist. Where this here is Matt's darkest moment. The show has centered Frank's methodology and influence as a key source of conflict, and I don't know how you reject Frank's methodology and influence without a rejection of Frank too.

But I don't trust them to be willing to go that far. An outcome where the Punisher and Daredevil just team up and take down all the Bad Apples still feels more likely. Marvel hasn't been great at sticking the landing with their more politically-involved material in recent years.

Also there's a supervillain now. I remember this guy in the comics being like a serial killer who uses his victims' bodies to paint art or something.

That's neat, I guess. Not sure what that has to do with anything the show's talking about. Seems kinda random. But we'll see.

Also Fisk's C-Plot is still happening. I really don't find any of his material compelling or interesting. He just sort of roams around being vaguely threatening in the direction of politics and going to marital counseling with his wife, the latter of which I am especially disinterested in.

Though based on how the whole thing is presented, I am on Vanessa's side with this affair. From how they make it sound, Fisk dropped off the face of the earth and Vanessa was just supposed to wait for him forever, without knowing when or even if he was ever coming back. Eventually, she moved on and found someone new, which his return has retroactively turned into a cheating affair.

Yeah, no, that's on him. Fisk's inability to empathize with other people caused him to make a mistake, based on the assumption that Vanessa's existence strictly revolved around his own. His relationships are hierarchical; He talks a lot about loyalty. He expects loyalty. But he gives others no loyalty in return. Why should he? He is above his subordinates like Daniel and Vanessa. His relationships are one-sided.

Yeah, he's basically just a critique of Trump. He walks around the city showing off how much he sucks, and it just... feels like spinning his wheels while he waits for the plot to arrive at the point where he gets to do something.

He feels less like the show's villain and more like the show's deuteragonist. Utterly divorced from Matt and pursuing a completely separate narrative that will probably intersect with Matt's down the road but has basically nothing to do with him at this time.

But I gotta be honest, I cannot see Fisk as a deep, interesting, compelling protagonist with many layers of thought-provoking characterization. He's just a one-note piece of shit who exists to get punched by Matt, and nothing he's done in this show thus far has convinced me otherwise. So I can't find myself being interested in his material until it propels him into conflict with the show's actual main character.

He's not good for anything other than hyping up the boss fight, nor is he doing a very good job of hyping up the boss fight. So his scenes just suck.

[wickedsrest-rp]

Baz Bhati Any pronouns

"Identity theft is such a harsh term. I prefer to think of it more as identity borrowing."

SPECIES: Doppelganger OCCUPATION: Guide at the Natural History Museum AGE: 27 Years Old PLAYED BY: Bex FC: Nabhaan Rizwan

BIOGRAPHY:

The doppelganger that would become Baz Bhati was not born as such. Like a parasite, they grew through life adopting names from the same people whose faces they borrowed, with none of their own to lay claim to. They were never sure if this was something all doppelgangers took part in; they were the only doppelganger they knew. Rather than having been raised by their biological family (who they were never sure existed, given the nature of doppelgangers), Baz was taken in by an aos sí so small that it operated more functionally as a family. 

Made up of a muse, a faun, and their biological son, this family took Baz in long before they were old enough to remember anything different. Their ‘father,’ a muse, was fascinated by the nature of doppelgangers, and thus was fascinated by Baz. The fascination was not a particularly kind one; in fact, nothing about their adoptive father could be considered kind by any stretch of the imagination. 

This coupled with his hunger saw him rise to the top of the London business scene with relative ease. Rather than feeding on artists, the way most muses tended to default to, Franklin preferred the taste of a different sort of creativity. Tech startups, hedge funds, stock exchange… Franklin enjoyed feeding on the kind of creativity borne from capitalistic ventures. And, with a doppelganger in his back pocket, he could manipulate his meals into coming to him with little effort.

It was never something Baz had wanted, but they were given little say in the matter. They were hardly the only member of their adoptive family wrangled into the scheme — their mother and younger brother were used similarly for their abilities, allowing Franklin to build up a capitalistic venture of his own so that his meals would come to him with resumes and form an all-you-can-eat buffet directly outside his office. The corporation he founded quickly became successful and was well known for paying its employees relatively well. After all, fae had little use for material things, and Franklin wasn’t interested in the money he was earning so much as the people earning it for him. Just… not in the philanthropic sort of way that the public seemed to assume.

In any case, Baz hated it. They had no desire to help maintain their father’s business. It didn’t help that they were the only member of the family that didn’t get anything from the arrangement. While their mother and brother were both able to feed off their father’s employees, Baz didn’t require any kind of meal that humans could provide. Instead, they were little more than a tool with no drive and too much free time. 

Eventually, they began finding ways to put that free time to use. Despite his nature, their father had never been a fan of the arts. He viewed them as something of a cliche, looked down on muses who took the ‘easy way’ out by pursuing them. Naturally, this meant that Baz fell in love with art in the midst of their teenage rebellion, latching first on to poetry, then music, then painting. Their love for the arts became an obsession, and eventually a path they were desperate to follow. They were expecting their father to be irritated when they announced a plan to attend art school. They weren’t anticipating just how furious he’d be.

In the end, Baz had to practically run from their father’s house without much more than the clothes on their back. Cut off from the wealth they’d grown accustomed to, they found themself truly leaning into the ‘starving artist’ cliche. Every penny they made doing odd jobs and selling their work went to paying for art school, and it wasn’t until a classmate took pity on them that they had a roof over their head at all. They got lucky there — Sebastian Bhati was a kind man, unwilling to let someone down on their luck remain that way. He lived in a tiny studio apartment, but he let Baz move in, anyway. And Baz, never one to pass up an opportunity, made themself at home very swiftly.

Friendship grew from there. Sebastian was among the first people outside their family that Baz had ever felt a real connection to, and while they didn’t share their true nature with him, they shared more or less everything else. The pair traded critiques of one another’s art, helped each other sell pieces, and gave general life advice. To Baz, it seemed that things would stay that way forever.

But of course, they were wrong about that.

Unbeknownst to Baz, their father wasn’t entirely pleased to have lost them. They hadn’t quite expected him to track them down — doing so would require more care than Baz assumed their father had for them — so it was a surprise to find him in the small studio they’d been sharing with Sebastian. What wasn’t a surprise was his rage. Sebastian coming home at just the wrong time was an inconvenience turned tragedy when it led to the young artist’s death, but Sebastian’s downfall did provide Baz with two important things. 

The first was an immediate escape from their father’s clutches. The second was a backup plan. They knew their father would get rid of Sebastian’s body to cover up the crime. Later, when they were sure Franklin would be long gone, they returned to the apartment and retrieved Sebastian’s things. Namely, his identification. It wasn’t the first time Baz had taken on their roommate’s appearance, but it was the first time they’d decided to make his face their default. 

And so, with the perfect cover identity, the doppelganger became Sebastian Bhati — or Baz. Sebastian himself had never used the nickname, but the idea of going by one of the names he had used felt strange, so Baz it was. 

Their next step, of course, was getting the hell out of dodge. London was regrettably left in the rear view, their fear of their father’s connections within the city making it impossible for them to fathom staying in it. Hearing tales of a town in Maine where strange things could exist in peace, Baz set sail for a new life… content to leave the old one behind entirely once again. 

They never were much good at learning lessons.

PERSONALITY:

Fun-loving · Free-spirited · Enthusiastic · Spontaneous · Unreliable · Vain · Flighty · Unfocused · Easily bored

OTHER INFO:

While their father had little interest in the financial gain that the company he founded offered, Baz did. They’re an incredibly material person, and the access to the family wealth is the only thing they really miss about life with their family. In Wicked’s Rest, they often try to chase the idea of wealth by living far beyond their means, which can put them in a rough spot when the rent check is due. You might see a Baz Bhati original painting listed for three or four times its worth at the end of the month. This has never worked, but they try it frequently anyway.

Sebastian Bhati, the deceased man whose identity Baz defaults to, was a siren. This is something Baz only discovered immediately before Sebastian’s death… and something they’re able to make some use of now that they use his form. They can’t access most of the siren abilities, but they’re able to use the enthrallment in a limited sense.

Prior to adopting Sebastian’s identity, Baz rarely stuck with one face — or name — for more than a short period of time. Their father dictated who they were for any given period, and until fleeing their family and moving in with Sebastian, Baz rarely kept the same face for more than a few weeks at the longest. Because of this, they’re less skilled than other doppelgangers might be when it comes to fully assuming an identity. They don’t necessarily think to research someone beforehand, and don’t consider the life that person might lead. This means they haven’t done any research on Sebastian, either, and know little about his past or interpersonal relationships.

Baz considers themself to be a jack of all trades when it comes to the arts. They’re skilled in painting, drawing, and can play several instruments, but their biggest love is poetry. They carry a small notebook with them at all times, and can often be seen jotting down poems within it.

Due to their father’s business dealings and their part in them, Baz has at least conversational fluency in several languages. Luckily for them, this includes Punjabi, which Sebastian was also fluent in… though Baz is currently unaware of Sebastian’s fluency.

In order to keep the lights on, Baz has published a couple of novels. They’re published under a fake name, and not work that Baz is particularly proud of, though they do have somewhat of a following among those interested in raunchy supernatural stories.

[star-girl69]

OKAY LIVE UPDATES!! (ALLEGEDLY!!! xoxo pls dont sue me im js a girl)

identity theft??:

q made a fake account pretending to be a girl named saylor [her real acc is saylor.steward05 on tiktok] putting her name, face, college, etc. (that's how saylor was dragged into this)

q dragged paige into the discussion by saying that fake acct of saylor was texting paige, and that paige 'replied' saying everything abt q was fake

-> they think this is fake, since paige is on her side-quest hustle rn and likely wouldn't check her message requests from random people

-> they also think that q is attempting to use paige's name to garner support for herself

reaching out to others:

they haven't tried to reach out to anyone else on the team cause they're trying not to involve anyone else

they've attempted to reach out to maryland sheriff's dept (since q is from maryland), and they said they couldn't do anything- they then reached out to uconn's campus police and attempted to file a complaint, nothing has come of it yet

they've attempted to reach out to coaches, nothing has come of it yet

mariah dmed info abt what's happening to paige, she hasn't replied but they don't know if she's seen it cause she's on vacay and allat

-> they're not mad abt it tho cause they know she's busy and that it's also not her responsibility to handle q's nonsense

azzi's brother joined the live (azzi is suspected to b part of the secret q was leaking), she offered to let him join but said absolutely no pressure if he don't want to

-> he didn't join

q + her fam (potentially) silencing others?

the original post exposing q (on mariah's page) got taken down, they say that q was the one who got it taken down

many of the people who are co-hosting on Mariah's live are coming out to say that they got banned from going live for a while (they think q is mass reporting people to stop stuff from spreading)

q's cousin is in the live

-> mariah's cohosts + ppl in the chat are getting reported/banned off the live, they think q's cousin is potentially helping her with that?

they're wondering if q's family is dealing with things privately, but "the way her family is going about things publicly shows that they definitely aren't doing anything about it)

-> q's sister allegedly posted something Mariah abt catching a fade (I couldn't hear it super well)

other stuff q did:

she DID say something (it wasn't specified what) abt someone's dead ex-gf

q allegedly also talked shit abt her teammates to mariah when they were still talking

a girl + her friend had added q on roblox (she posted her acct. a while ago to js have fun) and they played tgt, then she made an edit and q reposted/liked/faved it, but when she went on q's live ppl were being wild in the comments so she said "y'all r doing tm" and she was blocked cause q thought she was saying that to her

-> claimed that she does have receipts (i didn't see them but it could b true)

other notes:

they're not gonna discuss the 'secret' that q dropped, cause it's obvs not their secret to tell

they're discussing if kk harvey knows about what's happening w q or not, they don't think she knows? (she hasn't made any statements if she does)

-> someone asked her abt it on lacey's live last night, but the comment wasn't acknowledged/noticed

-> talking ab how kk was VISIBLY uncomfortable during their live tgt, talking ab how q was being like 'ditzy' and saying dumbahh stuff like "oh is hockey played in a gym" n other stuff like that (imo that's not the worst??? cause ngl she might js b nervous around kk)

there's a discord server abt surviving q-diddy!! (im not joining cause im not tryna actively put myself into the situation, q aint gon get me xoxo <3)

mariah was not a minor when things went down, but a lot of people who have been reaching out to her/coming out with their own stories were minors (and q knew it)

mariah is ending the live for now, since she doesn't want to risk getting banned/getting her live privilege taken away (might move the live to ig to avoid the ban) + she's starting to cry and she doesn't want to do that on live obvs

-> she'll be back on tiktok live today @ 9pm central time (it'll b pretty late for my timezone and a girls got practice in the morning so

-> she also wants to take some time to find more receipts + recollect cause this is obvs a lot for some1 to go thru

okay long story short q has done this over and over again to a ton of other people, and has also been doing some other wack stuff, a handful of her family members have been siding w her (which obvs isnt okay) -- lets not attack all of her family until stuff is confirmed abt them tho cause they're not responsible for q's actions <3

OKAY MWAH IM SORRY THIS IS A WHOLE THESIS- HAVE A NICE NIGHT XOXO PLS DONT SUE ME Q <3

i’m gonna put this in the tags just in case anyone else wants to know the q tea lol!!!!

OH MY GOD YOURE DOINT GODS WORK let me break this down.

identity theft- oh my god making fake accounts is such a q thing to do. i definitely agree w using paige’s name to garner support, that’s definitely a smart choice ig?? lol too bad it’s fake

reaching out- ok GOOD JOB FOR TRYING TO CONTACT PEOPLE!!! i definitely think the best place to go is with the coaches rn. that is where she’s going to get the most consequences in my opinion, looking forward to updates from campus police and coaches tho

silencing people- yeah i would bet a lot of money that q is the one who got mariah’s video taken down and is mass reporting, idk the things with her family i think have to be taken slowly bc no one really knows what is happening privately. like i just can’t imagine what her family is going through rn and trying to deal w what q has done must be absolutely horrible. i hope they all get some peace after all of this- but i also hope they’re doing the right thing. if q’s cousin really is helping her ban people then that’s a big no-no, but i feel like also why would her cousin join purposely on their acc instead of some secret spam or smth??? idk that’s just me, but who knows

other stuff- i heard about the ex gf thing i’m pretty sure from the original person, i cannot remember where i saw the video but i’m pretty sure it was from someone on tumblr who has reposted it. i don’t remember what was said either tho, omg the roblox thing is crazy… blocking someone that fast who you had a good relationship w previously is like kinda mentally ill as shit lmao???

other notes- i’m so glad they’re not discussing the secret.

kk harvey- ok about them acknowledging it- this unfortunately happened on the live like the second BEFORE i started screen recording- i think someone asked if laila and kk knew about the q drama and i THINK laila responded with “there’s no q drama” or something along those lines- I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG SO DONT TAKE THIS AS FACT!!!! i genuinely don’t remember that well. honestly the kk and q lives (the clips of it i’ve seen) didn’t seem very predatory? just very awkward and weird. kk was obviously uncomfortable i totally agree and i think q probably could have noticed that and at the very least toned it down, q was being very “ditzy” lol but i honestly just think that was either her trying to flirt or as you said drama anon just her being nervous

queen definitely don’t join if you’re not comfortable!!!! we appreciate you watching this live and keeping us updated so much, i’m sure most of the stuff in the discord is just regurgitated from the lives but if something major does come out i’m sure we’ll all hear about it. also don’t worry about getting the live for tonight!!! i seriously appreciate you so much for this, you are truly one of god’s strongest soldiers LOL 🙏🙏

minors- yeah the fact that this now involves minors has definitely like brought this up to a level TEN… some type of law enforcement definitely needs to be involved at this point.

i think the best thing mariah can do in this situation is remain calm and not spark the flames anymore, don’t give q reasons to mass report people, her and the other victims need to collect all of their evidence and receipts and get it to someone who will know what to do- and if that ends up being the police then that’s what it ends up being.

i definitely agree w you w the stuff about her family, at the end of the day WE DONT KNOW. we don’t know anything, we don’t know what’s true and what’s fake and unless there’s concrete evidence i think everyone following along w the situation needs to take everything with a grain of salt, verify their sources, and listen to multiple perspectives of what’s going on and think CRITICALLY about all of this for just a second.

q is the only person who is responsible for her actions, and she needs to be held accountable for them.

thank you SO MUCH for this thesis i literally love you drama anon. i hope you have an amazing night and i hope q diddy doesn’t get you ❤️❤️❤️ (if anyone sues you or attacks you just send them over here bc i will FIGHT)

[disappointmentthemusical]

Draco is a racist in the most literal sense. (Well, former – reformed? – racist, that is. He wouldn't identify as one anymore.)

But he'd nonetheless been a racist – literally. He'd subscribed to the Pureblood notion that Wixen and Man are two separate creatures, made distinct by the inherent magic to one and the lack thereof in the other, which made the latter inferior. It'd taken no less than a week of critical thought to rid himself of the philosophy.

Indeed, his stint in Azkaban between his arrest and trial had been rather enlightening. It'd given him the perfect amount of time to grapple with himself, his identity, and the very fiber of the world as he knew it.

In preparation for his hearing, he attempted to shift the blame for his racism from himself. He'd been a child after all. A child very susceptible to the whims and fancies of his parents, as many children are. So, really, it's his parents' faults for impressing upon him their obsession with blood purity, and no one could fault him – sweet, innocent, young Draco – for taking up family business of slur-hurling and the mild torture of innocents.

Yes, he'd be a free man, for sure.

But then he'd unfortunately remembered that his parents had once been children, too. And at what point did the blame shift from them to their own parents, and then the generation before them?

At what point did Draco become responsible for his actions? Was it between second and third year, the transition into teenager-hood? Or was it when he got the mark? Could he blame his parents – his mother who'd begged him not to – for that decision?

What about the cabinet?

What about Dumbledore?

He'd stared at his cell wall for hours, wracking his mind for an answer other than the one he had. None came.

The day of his trial, he resigned himself to a guilty sentence.

But then, of course, Harry Potter had to muck everything up, as he always did – does. Within hours, Draco was not returning to his cell, but standing in front of the Ministry with all of his worldly possessions cradled between his arms.

Well, then.

The next five years were rather boring, full of strife and struggle. He knew poverty for the first time in his life, an experience he never wished to repeat, and despite the horror that was ages 15 through 18, he learned that it had not been rock bottom.

No, rock bottom was much, much worse.

On the bright side, his Wizard upbringing had been good for a few things. For one, his complete ignorance of the concept of sexuality meant that his open homosexuality made him "cutting edge" and "interesting." Secondly, his impeccable aesthetic taste made him hireable.

At 25, he's the most popular stylist at a bougie London salon, and he's made quite the name for himself among the rich housewives of South Kensington. Gone were the days of dumpster diving and petty theft.

Draco Malfoy is, once again, a god among mortals.

And like any god, he is a master of keeping up a facade, which is why he's able to not visibly react when the last person on Earth he wants to see walks through the salon doors.

Harry sodding Potter.

Draco should have anticipated this. Of course, Potter would show up the moment Draco's life was going well – the prick was justice incarnate. He must have a sixth sense for undeserving people experiencing happiness, and like a good hero, he sweeps in to strip the perpetrator of the feeling.

Draco refocuses on the appointment he's in the middle of, thinking invisible thoughts in hopes that it would prevent Potter from spotting him.

As anyone could've predicted, it doesn't work.

"Draco?"

He spares half a glance toward Potter, who stands only a few feet away now, having bypassed the front desk girl. He looks back to the foil in front of him, checking the color.

"Potter."

"What are you doing here?"

He pauses, gives Potter a flat look, and then continues working.

"Oh," Potter says dumbly, "right. But, I mean, um, what are you doing here, like, in, um, this side of London."

It's a lame and fumbled attempt to ask why Draco was in Muggle London, in a Muggle salon, doing a Muggle's hair, and Draco latches on to the opportunity to turn the conversation around.

"What – you think I don't deserve to be here?"

Potter's brow furrows in that familiar way that says he understands that he's just dug himself into a hole, but he hasn't a clue how to un-dig it.

"No," he denies too aggressively. "You know what I mean. I just didn't expect you to work at a place like this."

He winces at his words, and Draco doesn't bother hiding his triumphant smile.

"I'll have you know," Draco's client, a middle aged woman named Siobhan who has that eccentric look that only works on the uber rich, says with a pointed finger at Potter, "that Draco is a very talented young man, and we here are lucky to have his skill. I'm not sure how you two know each other, but I won't stand to have Draco's talents diminished in my presence."

Potter's face turns bright red, and his shoulders shoot up to his ears. "No– I, I– I wasn't trying to–"

"It's all right, dear," Draco says to Siobhan with a hand on her shoulder. "This just shows how far I've come, the success that I've achieved; I won't let others' prejudice stop me."

"Prejudice?!" Ah, there's the outrage that Draco coveted so much when he was younger. It remains unfairly amusing.

Biting back a smirk, he gives Potter a stern look. "If you'll excuse us."

He doesn't wait to for Potter to leave to guide Siobhan to the back wall where the sinks are. Behind him, he can hear Potter awkwardly shuffle out of the salon, and the tin bell above the door announces his departure.

Draco asks one of his coworkers to take over while he has a quick smoke break. Once outside, he allows himself exactly three minutes to panic before straightening his shirt, wiping his tears and heading back inside with his head held high.

If he knows Potter as well as he thinks he does, this won't be the last time they meet. Potter's horribly stubborn like that. So all Draco can do is prepare and hope that the next time Potter shows up, it'll satisfy whatever morbid curiosity he has.

And maybe next time, Draco won't notice how handsome he is.

[dyns33]

Nemesis

Another story about a character I loved, that I think almost no one knows, but that deserved that I write something. Maybe Netflix will give us a series one day, since they have the rights to Nemesis, and a new comic should come out this year. If I make you discover it, it's a good thing !

Matthew Anderson had only loved three people in his life. His mother, his father and Y/N, their best friend's daughter.

Practically raised together, he adored her more than anything in the world, this innocent little girl who stared at him with big, amazed eyes as if he were the most incredible being.

She called him 'Teetee', making everyone laugh who used this nickname to make fun of him, but Matt didn't care. As soon as she reached out to him and called him, he would run to pick her up, placing a kiss on her forehead.

When they were together, he felt weird, his heart pounding, his brain malfunctioning, nervous and yet calm.

"Later you'll marry me, okay ?"

"Yes !"

"No one will love and protect you like I do. You'll always be happy, I promise."

"I love Teetee !"

They were just childhood promises of course, sweet dreams, which were shattered on his tenth birthday.

In addition to framing his parents for murders they didn't commit, later sending them to death row, the police took Y/N from him immediately.

Experienced drug dealers, the Andersons and their partners had fought back when the officers broke down the door, drawing their guns.

A bullet had hit a cop, who would end her life in a wheelchair as she deserved for her sins. But in return, they fought back without thinking, hitting Y/N in the head.

Another police officer was holding Matthew back as he wanted to go see the little girl lying in a pool of blood and his parents who were being taken away in a car.

They would never see them again.

Y/N was dead on the blow, while the Andersons was given a lethal injection after a rigged trial.

The Brotherhood found him shortly after, broken, alone, and full of vengeance.

Nemesis loved no one. Not even himself, if he was completely honest.

He took great pleasure in sowing chaos and death around him, but in the end he was nothing more than an empty shell, following his master's instructions, wearing a huge sadistic smile.

Nothing mattered anymore. The whole world could burn, there was nothing that could make him deviate from his mission.

And besides, humans were so stupid, so treacherous, so weak and pathetic. They all deserved to be crushed.

Especially the police officers responsible for destroying his life. He had been thinking about it for twenty years, planning every detail. Joe Costello and his former colleagues were all going to pay for what they had done.

Using one of his false identities, Patrice Dubois, he began by stealing several pieces of jewelry from himself, to finance the first part of his plan to push the inhabitants of Los Angeles to kill as many police officers as possible for a large sum of money.

It worked pretty well, allowing him to get rid of as many agents as possible, between those who were executed and those who decided to flee the city.

Matt was quite surprised by one of them despite everything. A young recruit who was in charge of the theft of his jewels, and who despite the danger had decided to stay to help her colleagues and protect the inhabitants.

A quick search revealed that she was the niece of Eddie Ramirez, with a story so tragic that it could have been made into a movie to make housewives cry.

Her grandparents and father had died in a car accident when she was four years old, and she had been the only survivor, even though she had been in a coma for six years.

When she woke up, her mother and uncle were so happy that they refused to let her leave them for a long time, staying at home to study and be away from the dangers of the world.

This probably explained her great naivety. Knowing nothing else, she had wanted to become like her uncle, to help others. Top of her class, she was known for being too kind, too honest, too much of a rule follower and believing that everything would end well for the good guys.

Adorable.

Matthew couldn't wait to crush her with the others, after she showed her true colors, because she couldn't be that perfect. No one was, except his sweet Y/N, buried in a small grave that he had covered with flowers every day.

It was fun to torture her with constant calls from Mr. Dubois who wanted to know where his jewelry was, and threats made to her mother who was now in a retirement home, degenerate to the point of no longer recognizing her own daughter.

"So if I ask you to choose between you and her, would it be you ?" Nemesis amused himself by asking as he visited the old woman.

"I'm telling you she's not my daughter. My brother-in-law is a bastard."

"He's dead, you know ?"

"Yeah. And then this Maggie called me, to tell me who you were, why you're doing this. I didn't know. I wanted my daughter, not a replacement. He felt bad because he put a bullet in her head and my little girl wouldn't wake up. I suspected it… But I didn't want to see. She's not my daughter."

It was rare for Matt to stop smiling. It was part of his costume. But at that moment, he was trying to figure out if she was crazy, if she was making fun of him by trying to hurt him, or if he was discovering that all this time, Y/N had been alive.

Another lie from Castello's group.

Ramirez's niece was brain dead but his sister-in-law refused to let her go. During the Andersons’ mess, he had shot a girl the same age, who looked just like her.

No one thought she would make it, but the doctors had done a great job at the hospital. Except her life was ruined. Her father was in prison, she was all alone.

He had paid the doctors. It was quick, easy, a simple new name wrote on the right paper.

It could have changed nothing. No, it should have changed nothing, as his master would probably have said, but Matthew couldn’t threaten to activate an atomic bomb knowing that Y/N was there.

It was really adorable, her attempt to hide her fear and make it seem like she could shoot him, while she ordered him to put his hands behind his head, in her pajamas and half asleep, while the bed between them was enough protection.

“I ask you one last time, on your knees and with your hands behind your head.”

“You will not shoot, Y/N.”

"I don't know what game you're playing, but I won't let you continue to threaten the city."

"You weren't part of the plan, Y/N, but thank your adoptive mother for being rather talkative."

Poor girl. She looked at him with lost eyes, which he recognized well now. It hurt him that she was staring at him with anything other than total affection.

There was still doubt in her gaze, which made her lower her weapon.

"… Teetee ?"

She didn't really remember, it was obvious. Even if her fake mother rejected her more and more clearly, she had forgotten her father's face, his name, what had happened. But she had flashes of Matthew.

For a long time, she had wondered who this smiling and loving boy was, because she hadn't been able to meet him before the accident, nor after returning home. Her uncle had joked that she had to invent an imaginary friend during her coma.

But she had always had questions about this Teetee.

It must have been a shock to her, poor thing, to discover that everything was a lie, and that the last person from her past was the psychopath covered in blood from head to cape in front of her.

In other circumstances, Nemesis would have found it amusing. But not Matt. Slowly, he pulled out his mask, which made her drop her weapon completely. As if she knew it was an important gesture.

No one knew his true face. It had been years since even his master had seen him, and the others were always confronted with his white mask or his disguises.

Y/N got scared when he jumped, crossing the bed to pin her between him and the wall. One blow, one hand around her neck, and it could have all been over.

"I promised you would always be happy, that I would protect you." he said very seriously. "I intend to honor that promise."

"Then stop all this, please ! There have been enough deaths !"

"Oh, Y/N. You are the last innocent being in this world."

He kissed her forehead, like before, taking her face in his hands to wipe away her tears, before placing a quick kiss on her lips. Enough for the sleeping drug to take effect, making her fall into his arms.

When she woke up, she would be in Seattle, far enough away that if he were to activate the bomb, she would be safe and there would be no time to come back.

Of course, Gibson wanted to know why his protégé had made the decision to spare a cop. He normally never lied to his master, but to say that he found it funny to leave an optimistic idiot alive who could run after him later was not wrong.

Needless to say, she was his childhood sweetheart, and probably a weak point that he would have to learn to manage.

One day, maybe Y/N would agree to see things the way he did. It would be a delight to have her by his side, he would love her even more. But if she remained the same, pure and naive, then Matthew hoped they could play cat and mouse for as long as possible.

[ominous-faechild]

✦ OC Questionnaire Tag ✦

Following open tags from @yourpenpaldee (post), @honeybewrites (post), and @pixies-love-envy (post)!

I liked a lot of your guys' questions and really wanted to try them out! Hopefully that's okay, I'm really new to this kind of stuff so please be patient with me if I do any of this wrong! 😅😊

Characters from Sun and Shadow: Crow, Freya, and Daleira.

Crow (the detective's progeny)

Would you do something illegal if you were getting paid a large sum of money? (You can choose the illegal thing) I mean, aren't I already being paid to do illegal things for lots of money? Breaking and entering, very consensual information-gathering, theft of evidence, falsification of identity, planting of evidence when and where necessary... wait, who's asking again? Change of answer: I would never. 😘

What is your favorite non-human creature in the world and why? (Gods count) That's easy! My familiar, Aria! I don't care if she's connected to me, she's not human--and don't you dare make a joke about me not being human either! I am cursed, not something else! And why do I love her? I mean--is she my favorite non-human creature? Well... there's a lot of reasons. For one, she's my familiar. Like, she chose me. Even if she's a crow, too, because she's taken on a bit of my curse... I mean, that's my fault isn't it? Ha... no, I think she's fine. She's still able to sing, and that seems to be enough for her. I guess I like that about her, too. Eh, this is all too gushy. Next question!

If you were forced to kill one person you have met, who would it be? (Not yourself) *looks at the people they've gotten thrown into prison* Yeeeeaaaaah, there's a lot of options there. You really want me to pick one? Look, I already only spared them because it was against the law and my father would've been upset about it. If I'm going to go against their wishes... I'm going to pick a lot more than just one. 😉

Frey (ex-fisherwoman and heiress to the Ula company)

Are you spiritual at all? Are you not? There's so much magic in the air that most people are fae-touched one way or another, and you'd never know if you're speaking to a spirit in disguise or an avatar of the gods. Plus, my dad is an avatar--so it's kinda hard to not worship the gods or whatever other spirits out there that demand your respect. I mean, you want to get on their bad side? *scoff* Good luck with that.

Do you want children? If so how many? Uh, I've never thought about that before actually. Probably not? Maybe? I don't know, honestly. Maybe eventually? *sigh* Give me some years and maybe someone I could actually see myself settling down with and we'll see.

What’s your favorite memory? Oh... this is probably kind of depressing, heh... but it would probably be the day my dad came back from his year-long trip around the world. It'd been storming horribly, he was supposed to be in the area, and I was ten so I thought that him not responding to his transceiver had to mean something happened to him! Turns out, he'd come back early and wanted to surprise me with some gravlax he bought from a specialty place in town. He apologized when he saw how terrified I was, ha, and we spent the night together playing stupid board games. Oh, and he taught me how to make skink! ... I miss him. Dammit...

Daleira (magitech inventor and faerie)

What does your rest day look like? Ha! What rest day? Okay, okay--I actually do rest, but just maybe not in the way you usually would. I enjoy working with all these little magical devices, tinkering with them, figuring out how they work and how we can recreate them... wait, what was I saying? OH RIGHT! So my "rest days" usually just have me working in my workshop with Faer if he's there, haha. That, or maybe taking a stroll around the city! (*mischievous smile*) Anyone who thinks they're going to mess with a lone, helpless girl... well, that's their mistake.

What would be your last meal? I mean, technically--okay, no, sorry, this is supposed to be a game where I take everything literally. No ifs, ands, or buts. Alright. In the situation where I had to choose a last meal... what would I choose? Oooo, I know! I'd love a feast with as much sweets as possible! 🥰 What? Can't a girl love sweets?

If you were a hybrid, what would you want to be morphed with? Ho-kayyy, so! Ignoring technicalities and all of that stuff again. We're going to assume here that I can't choose anything that I already use and that I can't switch my appearance anymore after? Alright. So... I think I would probably pick some kind of bird? 😅 Ha... it's kind-of nerve-wracking to think I'd never be able to shapeshift again, but I like birds! Their wings, and they're pretty, and... yeah, it would be nice to fly.

Your questions!

If you could commit any crime for free and completely get away with it, which crime would you commit? (Saying "I would never commit a crime!!!" is a goody-two-shoes acceptable answer)

What would be your dream ending? Like, if everything in your life went exactly how you wanted, how would it turn out?

What is your greatest fear? And, if you were asked your greatest fear by a creature you thought might use it against you, what would you tell it?

Tagging (with no pressure): @darkandstormydolls @fantasy-things-and-such @yourpenpaldee @themboty and whoever else wants to join!

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex S03E02 - Manhunt

I can't really say that this episode lives up to the title. Not that it's bad, the title is just inaccurate. There's also a bit more Charlie backstory.

I believe the actor who plays Danny is the guy who will be in the new St. Pierre show.

How long has that guy been unconscious?

I'm trying to decide if sending Sarah to cozy up with the Danny's pregnant wife to get information is a dick move or not.

Sarah: *explains Onion routing* Joe: I'm surrounded by nerds. Jesse: Nerds unite!

I'm having a hard time believing that Rex's nose or ears didn't pick up that Danny was right behind Charlie and didn't alert him in time. Not to mention that Charlie was also on high alert. He should have heard him himself.

"Damn. This shit again."

"The dog goes in there". And then Rex takes a look and turns to Danny like, "Fuck no, it's dirty" lol

"These are terrible accommodations! I want to speak to your manager!"

"I can't even bark? This is fascism."

So grade 8 is apparently for 12-13year olds. We don't have the same system here, our 8th grade corresponds to the grade 13-14year olds would go to, because kindergarten is not counted among school years, and used to be non-compulsory at least when I was a kid (that's probably changed now).

Once more, Charlie has to give up his gun and handcuffs.

Not the phone!

Like hell I'd leave my phone at a sketchy place that cosplays as a club. These people are nuts.

Now, that's HD lol

"I was framed." "You and half the prison population." Snarky Charlie under duress is back.

"I'm gonna prove you wrong," he says while he has taken a cop hostage and points a gun at him (and has another one locked in a room, I'm not forgetting about Rex).

"I'm asked to solve cases based on the tiniest pieces of evidence and do you know what my biggest fear is? It's that I'll make a mistake. That someone innocent will spend a part of their life in jail because of me". Can you tell that this season is post BLM movement? I mean, I don't want to throw too much shade on this show, because every cop show did the same thing and most of them ended up with the characters sounding off. Also, right before that, Charlie told her to get whatever she could about Danny from Lyn, so...

One of the many phones that have been sacrificed to solve a case.

Some of what Jesse explains about the tech they were using to steal from people is factual, and the rest is garbage.

Sarah: "Identity theft. Or, sorry, would you prefer the term social engineering?" Jesse: "Well, now you're just showing off." Okay, just tone it down a bit.

I'd forgotten how many times Danny had threatened to shoot Rex. I like him less now.

Danny: Where the hell is he? Rex: Look up, asshole.

"Who is that, friend of yours?" He shot at him, Charlie.

Charlie called someone else stubborn! Pot, meet kettle.

That's a good look. But I guess we need a tie with the suit in case we have to triage someone.

"You're gonna hand me over?" "It's tempting." "Wouldn't be the first time". The plot thickens. Or Charlie's backstory, anyway.

So Charlie and Danny had stolen something from a store at one time, they got blamed when I'm guessing there was another theft incident in the same store and the store owner had called the cops on them, Charlie had told his dad about it and that they hadn't stolen anything, his dad believed him and convinced the owner but he also told Danny's dad who was abusive. And Charlie didn't know the last part, and he never talked to Danny again. Having seen Charlie's dad now, I could see him asking Charlie to cut off ties with Danny. Anyway, it's pretty funny to think of Charlie as a troublemaker.

The most unrealistic part about all this is that people heard the gunshot with the music blasting.

Once again, Sarah arrives at the right time to be taken hostage.

Charlie's inner monologue: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-

Sometimes the show is telling us loudly that Sarah is the woman Charlie likes and others, like this one, they do it subtly. For the non-believers (not that it matters anymore), there is no reason for Sarah to be in this scene. Sarah just goes along with Lyn because Lyn is heavily pregnant. Lyn seems to be able to carry herself just fine and is, in fact, the one to drive them there. The reason they put Sarah in that scene is because Lyn is the woman Danny cares about and Sarah is the woman Charlie cares about. Note that Charlie would want to help Lyn or Danny anyway, so adding Sarah is just to show that parallel. And wisely, whoever wrote the script realized that to do so without having Sarah offer anything to the scene would put her in a damsel-in-distress position, so they have her disarm the bad guy after Rex's charge.

Guys, we really need a safeword for when someone is kidnapped.

RIP to the shot of Charlie and Sarah with their weapons drawn together. Why did no one think to hold the camera on them for a few seconds, why can't we have nice things?

"You okay?" "Yeah". He also wanted to say, "And you look so fucking hot with that shotgun," but he's a gentleman and this is a family show.

"Hey, I'm here too."

And a nice chase at the end to give Rex a proper takedown scene.

"You made me run."

"Claire could use some better clientele". She's a lawyer.

Subtle.

[danielfuckingricciardo]

Why Anita Driver should be Stopped - An Essay(ish) Post

Hi. So I don’t often do long posts like this, you probably know me as a fic writer and shitposter, but this situation has been irking me since I first read about it and so I only felt it right to explain why.

First off, I wanna say that I understand what she’s doing (I’m going to refer to Anita as she/her throughout this though I have no clue on the author’s actual gender identity). I think she’s very intelligent, using pastiche and parody to create content tailored towards a certain specific audience.

But as someone who knows their fandom history, and has moved in fanfiction circles for over 10 years, the attention one specific book I’m not going to refer to by title because I may throw up in my mouth a little, has received has me very worried for F1 RPF writers as a whole.

RPF has always been a main stay of fanfiction culture. Though there are many ‘antis’ who think it’s wrong and inappropriate to write about real people, RPF fandoms, think One Direction, BTS etc have always been some of the biggest out there.

And I’m sure you’ve seen as popular fan works such as the ‘After’ series by Anna Todd and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ by E.L. James have transitioned from fan work into published original novels.

Because of this, fan works are booming. Fanfiction is less of a dirty little secret now, confined to locked sites and email chains, but is something that many people know about even if they don’t consume it themselves.

And so, enter Anita Driver. Capitalising on the BookTok trend of ‘spicy’ fiction (what I would call erotica), the author has taken it upon herself to self publish a novel in that similar style but using Daniel Ricciardo not just as inspiration, but as the main protagonist.

I get what she’s trying to do, I really do. I can see that it’s parody, it’s not meant to be taken seriously, but firstly it’s illegal and secondly it really puts fanfiction communities at risk.

Part One: Defamation

Legally, you can’t take someone else’s identity and profit off of it without their explicit consent to do so. There’s a reason Harry Styles became Hardin Scott, and Edward Cullen became Christian Grey. That’s someone else’s intellectual property, or their identity. You cannot legally make a profit out of that. The subject could quite easily build a lawsuit against the author, and the author would have no grounds for defence. There’s a reason AO3 do not allow you to share fundraising links or anything else similar to that, and it’s to protect themselves and the authors against possible lawsuits.

I’d also just like to add that there’s plenty of erotic F1 inspired books out there. I haven’t read them myself but I know that the ‘Dirty Air’ series draws inspiration from current drivers on the grid, but doesn’t explicitly mention anyone real by name! Every character is the intellectual property of the author, it is original fiction that can safely make a profit.

By using Daniel Ricciardo’s image and personality, Anita Driver is putting herself at risk, in this case, not for theft of intellectual property, but of defamation. I haven’t read the book, of course I haven’t read the book, but I can easily believe that the content within could be considered to be defamatory as it may damage public perceptions of him. Now I’m no expert on law, I took a semester of media law and that’s it, but people have definitely sued for less.

In U.K. law (which I’m going off because I know the most about it) “A statement is not defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.” (x) It could easily be said that portraying Daniel in this way would cause damage to his reputation. We know his image isn’t squeaky clean, but having this book using his name could easily lead people to believe that he was in some way associated with its production. I don’t think anyone would like their public perception to be that they actively encourage and fund the production of erotica about them.

In a lawsuit, Amazon could also be held liable for this, as their website is the main distribution platform for the book, and Anita Driver is a pseudonym and and an unknown.

“It is a defence for the operator to show that it was not the operator who posted the statement on the website. The defence is defeated if the claimant shows that it was not possible for the claimant to identify the person who posted the statement.” (x) If Anita Driver remains anonymous, Amazon could easily be held liable in a court case. Because of this, it would be in their best interests to remove the book to avoid this. (I do not like Amazon, and while they would easily be able to fight the court case with their billions, it would be much easier for them to remove the book and avoid any possible cases.)

So honestly, it is easy to see why this book is a danger to the author. Now I’m not saying that Daniel would necessarily sue. I think he’d probably just laugh it off even if it does make him feel uncomfortable (which it probably does, it would me!) because he has more important things to do. But I honestly don’t know how F1 and Liberty Media might react to this, they would definitely be more likely considering Daniel’s Reputation in turn reflects their own.

Part Two: Danger to Fan Works

This leads me in nicely to part two, actually, because legal threats against fanfiction writers have been a real problem to various communities over the years. Anne Rice, creator of the ‘Interview with a Vampire’ series, had all works purged from the internet in the early 2000s, and threatened writers with legal action if they continued to post fanfiction.

Fanfiction has always been a niche. It’s a small part of the internet for those who want to put their blorbos in situations, or just to think about them fucking nasty. But fan works haven’t always been accepted. Many people still look down on fanfiction, particularly those feature OCs (original characters) or reader inserts.

Anita Driver’s book would be more at home on Wattpad than Kindle Unlimited. It is a fan work. It is written by fans, for fans, and should be kept to that specific audience (without paying for it of course, because as I said, it’s very illegal!)

A work of fanfiction being a book is nothing new, as I mentioned earlier, the ‘After’ series and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ started out life as fanfiction. But when published, they were no longer fanfiction, they became original works of their own.

Putting fan works out in the open like that only threatens the F1 RPF community. It leaves us open, vulnerable, more so than normal. Sites like AO3 can only protect us to a certain extent, we can lock fics, sure, but that only stops those who don’t have an account from accessing our works.

If this one book is out there, who knows what may happen next. All it takes is for someone to say ‘I don’t want works featuring me published online and I will threaten a lawsuit’ and we’re back to email chains and password locked neocities webpages.

So it genuinely makes me worry.

And with the recent development of Dax Shepard sharing the book with Daniel himself, I feel that it’s all just too close. Fanfiction is never meant to be seen or read by its original subjects. Sure, they may actively seek it out if they want to, but unless they explicitly consent to it, they shouldn’t be seeing it. Daniel has had no say in the matter, it seems. It is being forced on him, which is going to look bad for the fanfiction community as a whole.

Part Three: Conclusion

Honestly, I don’t know whether I’m just being overly freaked out by this whole thing, I hope it just nicely blows over, the book disappears from people’s minds and we get to just keep our niche little side of the internet safe. But part of me is scared.

I’m scared for what may come, if the book is popular, will people try and emulate it? Will people start ripping fics from Tumblr/AO3/Wattpad to sell on Amazon to make a quick buck off the back of this? And will we have another Anne Rice type situation which kills the community completely?

I don’t know. And that’s what worries me. I hope that this whole thing blows over, that Daniel isn’t too freaked out, and that Anita Driver stops using ai image generators to make her book covers (Lance has waaay too many fingers on her most recent one. Caught you out babes x)

This is the end, for now. I suppose I’ll probably add to this if there are any more developments, and if anyone has anything to add (maybe some better law knowledge because mine is basic) please feel free!

Thanks for reading.

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Agitation 3.8

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

(Every time I type out Agitation, I feel like I'm spelling it wrong)

“Any trouble?” Grue asked Tattletale.

Tons

Tattletale took hold of the stainless steel wheel that jutted out from the front of the vault and spun it, then stopped it. She repeated the process, going right, then left, then right again, for an indeterminably long time.  Just when I had the hopeful thought that maybe she wasn’t able to get in, there was a sound of something heavy shifting inside the door.

Tattletale OP, please Nerf :P

 The bank kept copies of all important documents for the local branches here, in a fireproof vault, in case of disaster

Take those too!

Grue, for his part, withdrew a short crowbar from within the darkness that smoldered around his body.  He set to cracking open the filing drawers with the squealing noise of metal creaking and bending.

Oh. They are. Cool. I don't remember hearing about this part. Probably Coil wants to do identity theft or w/e with it.

 Or, on a similar note, maybe there was something specific that would be found in the midst of the paperwork, and he was willing to buy it all if it meant keeping his true intentions unclear.

Probably not in this case, as the Bank wasn't his idea, but it's definitely the kind of thing I can see Coil doing.

I’d only ever seen her sullen and hostile, so any smile would be kind of creepy.  It was worse than that.  Hers was the kind of smile you’d see from someone who had never seen one before and was trying to replicate one from what they’d read in books.  Too many teeth showing, I suppressed a shiver and focused on the work.

Fuck. I'm not allowed to relate to Rachel. I don't like her. But fuck me if I don't do that too. Always too many teeth when I smile on purpose. When I was a kid my then stepmom called it my 'serial killer smile' which really does to wonders for a ten year old's sense of themselves. Thanks!

The cockroach, I’d come to think of him.  The boy with no weak points.

That's a bit rude, Taylor.

Gallant was an older teenager in a gunmetal and silver costume that blended the appearance of a pulp science fiction hero with a medieval knight.

Boo hiss Dean! /s

(Dean's nice. I like Dean.)

Also, probably a striking visual image.

His muscle laden arms were bigger around than my thighs,

Does that mean much, coming from you, Taylor? :P

He’s also packing personal biokinesis, which means he’s got a kind of ability to manipulate his own body. He can heal just by concentrating on an injury, and he’s used it to bulk up. He might be capable of doing more on the fly, depending on how much he’s trained since we saw him last. He’s been a solo hero in Brockton Bay for a little while.”

Kind of the opposite of Amy then. She can affect all life but herself, and he can only affect himself.

“I made an educated guess,” Tattletale spoke in a low voice, “I was wrong.  Sue me.”

I volunteer!

“Educated guess.  It would have been nice if you had said it was an educated guess, way back when we were planning this.”

I think that's technically *all* Tattletale can do. It's just that her guesses are very educated.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was a bad situation, and worse, I was afraid it was my fault. I’d warned Armsmaster something was going to happen. I could believe that he’d told the teams to be ready to go out in force. Even worse, he could be the unknown person on the roof. If that was the case, and Tattletale caught on, I was supremely fucked.

This one's not on you, Taylor.

“You guys are masters at the getaway, right?  So we change gears.  We fight them face to face.”

There are so many ways this could go wrong for our protagonists. Is this Taylor hedging her bets, or just desperate to not get a hostage hurt and grabbing onto the only option?

[trulybetty]

oct' 21 x acorns

Prompt: acorns Pairing: tim rockford x f!reader Word Count: 724 Warnings: T+ mentions of crimes & a touch of spice. Summary: pretty proud of this one and it's use of the prompt 😋 tim knows the way to your heart is discussing the latest research for your podcast.

x. masterlist

“Acorns? You moving into squirrel crimes now sweetheart?”

“Ha ha,” you responded dryly,  “ACORNS, the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network.” He raised an eyebrow in interest, you weren’t sure if this was the result of learning what the acronym was for or if it had something to do with you starting the process of peeling off your t-shirt.

When you looked back at him, once the shirt was up and over your head, he was adjusting himself where he was sitting up against the headboard of the bed, his glasses now folded on top of the book he had been reading when you’d entered the room.

“So,” he began, a soft smile playing at his lips as he crossed his arms at his bare chest, “what’s caught your eye?” he asked.

You smiled back at him, a genuine one - he knew the way to your heart, true crime.

“So,” you started, turning to the dresser as you unhooked your bra, “so they were seeing an increase in reports on ACORNS, right? You've got your standard mix of fraud, identity theft, all the usual cybercrime stuff. Nothing to write home about right?”

“But?” Tim pressed, playing along.

“But what got me curious was a pattern of crimes that looked like random, disconnected incidents targeting average people. We're talking about everything from a cafe owner in Sydney to a retired nurse in Perth. And this has been going on for years.”

"Years?" Tim echoed, intrigued. "And they're just noticing this now?"

“Exactly!” you replied enthusiastically, tossing your bra into the laundry hamper and reaching into the dresser for one of Tim’s oversized shirts, what he wore when he actually had more than five minutes at home between cases. “The reports have only now been made public, and by the looks of it it’s taken them this long to even realize something might be off, and because it’s public knowledge, it’s caught the attention of the armchair detectives who are digging in, but no one can find a connection.”

Tim shifted in his seat again, tapping his fingers against his chest thoughtfully. “Not entirely strange though,” he said. “Cyber crimes are still relatively new. Many countries are sitting on data that they just don’t know what to do with besides selling it. Though, with any crime, patterns usually emerge sooner or later, someone slips up. Have they found anything that could point to a single culprit or group?”

“Nothing. Zilch. That's why it's so bizarre,” you said, shimming out of your jeans and kicking them off before walking over to sit beside him on the bed. “But here's where it gets interesting. When you compare these Australian cases to similar crimes reported in neighbouring countries like New Zealand or Indonesia, little patterns start to stand out.”

Tim raised an eyebrow, his attention fully piqued. “What kind of patterns are we talking about?”

You grinned, thrilled by his obvious interest. “Teeny tiny little anomalies,” you took his glasses and book and placed them on your bedside table, “Specific coding sequences, certain times of the day when the attacks occur, even certain types of targets that are more frequently hit in both regions. Individually, these little things don't really mean much. But when you start looking at them collectively and across borders, it’s like a constellation. You begin to see the outline of something much bigger.”

“Sounds like someone's running a long con,” Tim observed.

He uncrossed his arms as you swung your leg over to straddle his hips, your arms wrapping around his neck to rest on his broad shoulders.

“That's what I'm thinking too,” you said, your voice low as you leaned in to place a kiss on his lips.

Tim's hands slid up your sides, his fingers grazing the bare skin of your back under the t-shirt, “You really shouldn't have bothered.” he said, his voice low and husky.

You leaned in closer, your breath hot against his ear, “Bothered with what?” you whispered feigning cluelessness, trailing kisses down his neck.

“The shirt,” Tim replied, tilting his head back to grant you better access. “You're much better without it.”

You laughed softly, the sound sending shivers down his spine. “I needed something to wear.”

“Who said you needed to wear anything at all?” Tim countered, flipping you both over so he was on top of you.

[autisticsupervillain]

Ace Attorney: Crossover Cases

The Show where we take Ace Attorney characters and have them solve cases in other franchises.

Today's Crossover: Hitman

Today's Case: Turnabout Cohabitation

Case Details:

Mumbai, India has a dark criminal underbelly hidden underneath its surface. The Maelstrom, a notorious pirate whose true face and name are unknown, has recently moved in, along with his lieutenants Vanya Shaw and Dawood Rangan. Rangan has restired to become an egotistical Bollywood film producer, releasing heavily romanticized films on his "adventures" with the Maelstrom, though truthfully the sinister pitate he is still lurks underneath. Vanya Shaw meanwhile, has become the self appointed queen of Mumbai's criminal underworld, working her gang to near death in strick slum conditions. The Maelstrom has gone back to running his old gang, The Crows, but the three do stay in contact to assist an underground international terrorist group known only as the Militia.

The Kashmirian is a local assassin looking to assassinate both Rangan and Shaw as a job interview to get hired by the Maelstrom, seeing the two as just "loose ends" in the Maelstrom's operations. Meanwhile, however, an entirely different conspiracy is afoot. Agent 47, international assassin extraordinaire, has been sent in to eliminate Abdul Chabra, Hemant Laghari, and Vivaan Dhar, a trio of thieves whose MO is working as security for years at highly secure buildings under fake identities in order to case them for theft. A previous employer whom they stole from tracked them to Mumbai and hired 47 to eliminate them.

47 entered the country under the alias Tobias Rieper and moved into the local Chawl to case the area. The Kashmirian happens to be living in the same building at the same time, where his neighbors have taken notice of his suspicious behavior. Namely, they saw him with a conspicuously large briefcase and what seemed to be a sniper rifle stand. Overhearing this conversation, 47 decides to use the Kashmirian as his scapegoat in his operation.

Abdul and Hemant work as private security at Rangan tower, where Rangan is shooting his latest movie. The Chawl is across the street from it, where the Kashmirian has his sniper rifle set up to aim for Rangan from his apartment balcony. However, the Kashmirian isn't a very good assassin, as he can't adjust the scope right to aim for Rangan's window. Seeing his opportunity, 47 steals the rifle and sneaks out, prompting the Kashmirian to panic. Assuming he's been caught, the Kashmirian books it to the street and catches the bus to get out of town at roughly 5:15 pm, with his ticket stamped with the time.

47 sneaks back into the apartment with the rifle and takes his shots. First, he shoots a propane tank near the top of the building, causing it to explode when Laghari goes for his smoke break nearby, sending his body hurling from the top of the building to the bushes below. Then, 47 shoots an oil barrel near the bottom of Rangan tower. Abdul, who hadn't heard the explosion due to guarding the loud construction area at the bottom of thr building where Rangan tower is still under construction, blows himself up when he lights his cigarette nearby.

47's final target, however, cannot be hit from his current vantage point in the Kashmirian's apartment, as Dhar is posing as a guard at the train yard to cover the thieves intended escape route. As such, 47 needs to break into another apartment room on the opposite side of the Chawl to use its balcony as a vantage point. The problem being that two neighbors are gossiping just outside the door he needs to lockpick into. Knowing that they'd see him with a rifle on his back no matter which route he took, 47 ditched the rifle for now and took a route between the apartment rooms where he could break in through the apartments locked window, unlocking the door from within. Then, to remove the neighbors from his path, 47 lured them into the room by leaving the door adjar and creating a loud crash by throwing utensils around. Then, 47 bludgeons them unconscious from behind and stuffs them in the closet. Finally, with all obstacles removed, 47 retrives the sniper rifle again and takes his shot, popping Dhar in the head from a specific angle through a hole in the train yard roof.

His task done, 47 plants the rifle back on the stand exactly as the Kashmirian left it to frame him. However, he cannot take his leave just yet. A new contract has come in for Dawood Rangan, Vanya Shaw, and the Maelstrom, so 47 must remain at his apartment for the time being to scope out new targets.

This is where the Ace Attorney cast comes in. Interpol had been monitoring Rangan for quite some time now in an attempt to link him and the Maelstrom back to the Militia. An apparent threat on his life threatens to undo all that hard work, so they call in Chief Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth to examine the scene. Miles quickly finds the smoldering bullets in both the propane tank and the oil. While the bullets are too fried for ballistic markings to be applied, Miles is able to determine the only vantage point from which both shots could be fired to be the Kashmirian's apartment room. There, he finds the Kashmirian's rifle set up to aim for Rangan's office. Furthermore, when Dhar's body is discovered, Miles matches the bullet's markings to the rifle. Time of death is marked down as 5:17 for Laghari, 5:19 for Abdul and 5:25 for Dhar. Miles then takes the testimony of the neighbors who were assaulted in someone else's apartment and realizes the killer must've broken in to get his shot on Dhar. He also takes the testimony of the neighbors who were suspicious of the Kashmirian and "Tobias Rieper", a "tourist" who claims he was taking a bus tour at the time. Miles now thinks he has a clear idea what happened and the Kashmirian is swiftly arrested at a nearby airport.

This is where Phoenix Wright enters the picture. Phoenix is taking a family vacation with Trucy around the world when he finds Miles investigating the crime scene. Miles informs him that he's been called in to investigate a major crime scene and that he's not at liberty to discuss it with civilians. But, Nick can tell something's bugging him and Miles admits as cryptically as he can that one of the three killings didn't have a motive. As in, Miles is bothered by the fact that the Kashmirian seemingly had no motive to kill Dhar as he has no obvious ties to Rangan, especially as he went out of his way to do so.

Interested, Phoenix visits the Kashmirian at the detention center. Knowing Phoenix vaguely by reputation, the Kashmirian admits to everything in his plot to kill Rangan and Shaw, assuming that the Maelstrom brought him in to get him released. When the Kashmirian denies killing Abdul, Laghari, and Dhar and protests he had no motive to and doesn't even know who they are, the Magatama shows he isn't lying, prompting Phoenix to take his case so the real killer doesn't escape.

Oh, and for conveniences sake, lets assume the Ace Attorney characters read up on another Marathi to be able to talk to people here.

[clericofshadows]

don't ask about Ryuusei

Description: Regis Shepard receives an odd invite from Joker, which leads to him falling through a fish tank, being taken care of his lovers, and finding out that there's an identity theft plot against him--all in that order.

Pairing: Regis Shepard/Kaidan Alenko/Zaeed Massani

Rating: M

Word Count: ~14K

Regis was sitting at his desk, scrolling through his terminal when he saw a message from Moreau pop up.

Shepard, I've got a few things I wanted to go over with you. With the Normandy in dry dock, I figured we could meet up at that Ryuusei sushi place down in the Wards. I hear it's the best. Joker

Something was a bit off on the tone of the email, but it wouldn’t be the first time Moreau made EDI type up something for him.  He didn’t recognize the name of the restaurant, but the mention of sushi made him pull a face so he searched it up.  The first link revealed that it was not only a fancy, high-end sushi place but also housed in a fucking fish tank.  He knows how much Regis hates fish.  Hell, he was there when Regis boasted about getting the Cerberus crew to remove the eye-sore in his cabin.

So why would he ever suggest Ryuusei over any other restaurant?  Regis will go the extra mile for some of his crew, but taking someone out to a fish tank themed restaurant is crossing the damn line.

He pushed the chair away from his desk and stalked back over to the living room.  Kaidan made a concerned expression, sensing his anger from a mile away, making room for him on the couch.

“I’m going to murder him,” Regis said, flopping back down on the couch, pulling his omnitool out to show his husbands. “What the hell is this?”

Zaeed looked over his shoulder, squinting his eyes at the omnitool. “Are you sure it’s from him?”

“I’ve scanned it, ran it through my filters. Do you want me to message my friend in infosec? It’s legit,” he replied. “I’ve already looked up the place. It’s a fucking fish tank that only serves sushi and seafood. I’ll pass.”

“Joker’s an ass, but he’s not an idiot,” Kaidan said. Fair point to make. Moreau values his life over jokes when it comes to Regis. Most of the time. “Want us to go with you?”

“I might need some material witnesses, but I’d argue you’re both too damn biased to be of any use,” Regis said, turning to kiss Kaidan on the cheek. “I appreciate the offer, though.”

“That’s what Spectre authorizations are for, right? Abuse your goddamn power. Wipe your slate clean,” Zaeed chuckled. “So, are you going to go?”

“Might as well. What’s the worst that could happen?”

He could get food poisoning again.  He was fifteen years old, and his mother took him out to a place on Arcturus known for its seafood.  He was sick for days afterwards, his mother somehow escaping from the horror that he felt.

Regis swore off fish in any form since then. 

“I could think of a few things,” Kaidan said, furrowing his eyebrows. “You just jinxed us.”

Regis rolled his eyes. “Just be on standby, loves. Hell, why did this place highly recommend formal wear? I rather not waste one of my suits on Moreau.”

“Think of you wearing one of those suits as something we can take off of you later,” Zaeed said, leaning over the couch to whisper in his ear.

Regis smirked, pulling him in for a kiss. “You have good ideas, Massani. Fine, I’ll wear one of my suits. But not my nicest one.”

He got up from the couch. “I’ll be back. Don’t follow me, because I know damn well you’ll make me late.”

“What? We would never,” Kaidan replied, laying his hand on his chest in mock offense.

Regis walked backwards to the stairs. “Bullshit. I can see you two already scheming.”

“Only about tonight, baby,” Zaeed said, curling up next to Kaidan. “We would never sabotage an important meeting.”

Regis stopped at the stairwell, a hand on the railing. He glared at them with narrowed eyes. “Sure,” he said, drawing out the word. “And I’m definitely straight.”

���The horror!” Kaidan chuckled.  “Go get ready.  We’ll hold down the fort.”

Regis smiled as he walked up the stairs into their bedroom, opening the closet and sorting through his suits.  He grabbed a red vest, a black button down, slacks, and a pair of his combat boots.  For comfort.  He grabbed his silicone wedding rings and placed them on top of each other on his ring finger, keeping the real ones safe on his dog tags hanging in the jewelry box.

He also reached for his holster, designed to fit his N7 Eagle perfectly underneath his shoulder.  

Sitting on his weapon bench was one of his visors.  A thinner, smaller model turians tend to prefer to use, recently co-opted and refitted for human use.  He tucked it in his vest pocket, one of the arms of the visor hanging off the side of his pocket.

Because you never know.

He took his time getting ready, ensuring no piece was out of place.  He finished up by finger-combing some product in his hair and rubbing some oil into this beard.

When he walked down the stairs, rolling up his sleeves, revealing his inked arms, Zaeed let out a whistle.  Regis rolled his eyes as he stood in front of the couch, twirling around so they could look at his outfit.  “Good enough to take off of me later?”

“I don’t know,” Zaeed said, a sparkle in his eye.  “This is a picture I want to keep.  May just have to worship you with it on, only taking just enough off to make you writhe.”

Regis gave him a look , but he doubted it had much fire behind it.  “You are not going to ruin my suit.”  Zaeed held up his hands in surrender, keeping that smug expression on his face.  Bastard.  That’s all Regis is going to think about during the damn meet up.

Dry cleaning does exist…

Kaidan shook his head at Zaeed’s comment.  “Do you really need the Eagle?” He asked, pointing at the holster.

“I’m a Spectre.  I can open carry,” Regis said, crossing his arms.  “Too much?”

“Yes, I know you’re a Spectre.” Kaidan rolled his eyes.  Regis stuck out his tongue.  “Nah.  It suits you.  Makes it clear how you feel about the meeting.”

“I’m going to be pissed if I find out this could’ve been a damn email.” Regis said.  He stepped forward to kiss the both of them on the cheek.  “I’ll be back soon.”

“Try not to kill our pilot.  Don’t have many of those that will put up with our crew,” Zaeed called out as Regis opened the door.

He shot him a one-fingered salute in response.

The ride to the restaurant was quick enough.  Regis toyed with the rings on his finger, twisting them around.  He wasn’t anxious, per se, but he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the meeting.

Mostly because he was going to give Moreau one hell of an earful.  

The skycar stopped and he stepped outside, looking at the line of people.  As he walked to the end of the line, all eyes on the first Human Spectre and Admiral, the host waved him forward.  He sighed and got out of his place in line, stepping onto the fish tank floors, looking down on them with barely disguised annoyance.  Moreau waved him over to a table in the back, a grin on his face and wearing a casual blazer and jeans.  

Okay, something is weird.  Something is definitely up.  There’s no way he’ll ever be this enthusiastic about a meeting with Regis.  They tolerate each other, and that’s it.

He almost wanted to see if someone was behind him.

He walked over to the table and sat down, lacing his fingers together on the table.

Moreau’s gaze landed on his gun.  “Uh, was that really necessary?”

“Oh, you mean this?” Regis pointed at his holster.  “I don’t know. Why the hell did you invite me to what I could consider the biggest abomination of a restaurant on the Citadel?  You know I would’ve been perfectly fine at a damn noodle stand.”

“Wait a minute, you messaged me .  For a second, I thought it was a prank.  I mean, hello–” he gestured around.  “I know you.  This is your personal hell, but maybe you decided to let that all go to celebrate your favorite pilot.”

“My favorite pilot is EDI,” Regis deadpanned, keeping his face neutral as Moreau clutched at his chest in offense.  “Shit, so you got a message from me, and I got a message from you… I knew I should’ve involved infosec.”

“You were about to involve infosec?  Let me see that message you got,” he replied.  Regis obliged, pulling up his omnitool.  He read over it quickly.   “That’s weird.  My message is almost the same, except from you.”

“My filters and scans didn’t pick up any anomalies, so I just assumed you had EDI write and send it like you have a tendency of doing,” Regis replied, shutting it off.  “This isn’t good.”

“Hey, she offers!  It’s efficiency,” he defended.  His gaze fell to something behind him.  “Uh, there’s a low-ranking officer in blues trying to get our attention.”

Regis turned around to see a young woman waving desperately to get their attention, clothed in perfect dress blues, hat in place, and shoes shined to perfection.

Almost too perfect, but not uncommon with some of the lower ranks.  Wanting to make themselves seem as important as possible, which he couldn’t blame.

Still… This whole situation made him unnerved.  Regis got the attention of the host who was trying and nearly failing to hold her back.  He made a “come here” motion and the host reluctantly let her through as she stumbled forward.

Another thing bugged him.  Kaidan and Zaeed knew he was here.  How did she know he was here?  Did the press announce it that quickly?  Admiral Regis Shepard spotted at Ryuusei, more at 11?

She stopped at their table, holding a datapad, almost sounding out of breath as she introduced himself.  “Staff Analyst Maya Brooks.  Alliance Intelligence.  Com–Admiral Shepard, there are people trying to kill you.”

He’s been an Admiral since the end of the war.  Kind of annoying that some people still try to call him Commander.

He and Moreau shared a look.  Moreau spoke up.  “Uh, yeah, that’s pretty typical for Shepard.  What’s new?”

“No, like I’m aware of the remnants of Cerberus and other orgs, but ugh–” she shook her head, looking frustrated with herself.  “Someone is hacking into your accounts.  Comm channels, personal records… They’re targeting you specifically.”

Regis narrowed his eyes.  “I figured that out before you got here.  You and your department must’ve dropped the ball.  I have my own fucking security, so what the hell is going on?”

She flinched back at his hostility, but something about it looked exaggerated.  Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so harsh, but her high energy was getting on his nerves.  “We don’t have all the intel yet!  And I’m not about to guess when we don’t have all the information.”

Regis made a motion with his hand to continue.  “Well, what do you know?”

“Take a breath, Brooks,” Moreau said.  “Not like this is a life-or-death situation or anything.”

At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a lot of movement from the entrance.  With a hand on his gun, Regis watched as a whole group of armored, armed mercenaries started pouring in, pushing the host aside.

Shit.

Regis made no move just yet, not wanting to draw too much attention to himself.  He readied his Tech Armor on his omnitool, ready to flash-forge it over his body.

It’s a good thing he didn’t wear his best suit.  He had a feeling it wasn’t going to survive this trip.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!  Tonight's performance is brought to you by random acts of violence,” one of the mercs announced, presumably the captain.  At his word, his fellow mercs started shooting in the air, causing chaos and throwing up tables, causing the civilians to scatter and cower in fear.  They shot at the glass, and Regis put on his visor as he got up, shielding Moreau from the fire and using the table as a make-shift shield.  

As the visor calibrated, he noticed that the structural integrity of the building was severely compromised.  You would've thought that an expensive restaurant would spring for the best glass for their precious fish.

He was going to leave a one-star review if he gets out of this mess.  

“Spread out boys!  Find me Shepard!” the captain announced.

Regis pushed Moreau down, keeping an eye on the analyst.  He drew his gun and activated his omnitool, typing out an SOS to Zaeed and Kaidan.

Need help.  Suit up fast.  Ryuusei.

The message lagged a bit before eventually sending.  Shit, they’re jamming comms too?  He sent it just in time, but the warning signs on his visor weren’t helping with all the chaos on the tanks.

A fish restaurant is not going to kill him today.

“Stay there,” he ordered Brooks.  “Moreau?” He asked, turning to him, looking him over with a concerned eye.  “Are you okay?”

“Ow, my pancreas,” he groaned, clutching his side.  “I’m fine.  More durable than you think.”

Regis rolled his eyes, about to move forward, but a merc came forward and yanked Brooks out of her cover.  She stumbled as they dragged her across the floor.  “Goddamn it,” Regis muttered.

“Listen,” he said, getting Moreau’s attention.  “I’m going to go after her.  I’ve already sent word to Kaidan and Zaeed but rally the crew.”

“Rally the crew and your crazy husbands, got it,” he said, slowly getting up from the cover.

Regis smirked and kept an eye on Moreau, waiting for a trooper to try and get the obvious bait, holstering his Eagle.  And then, one shouted.  “Hey!”

Regis reached up and yanked the merc over his cover, flash-forging his omni-blade and sinking it in his chest with a growl.

He took the weapon off the corpse, not recognizing it as anything currently on the market, much less the Spectre market.  Lightweight, suppressed, and human made.

Interesting.

“You used me as bait!” Moreau accused.

“Yes, I did.  Now get the hell out of here!” Regis replied, twisting his fingers into a barrier, feeling the dark energy settle over him.  He forged his Tech Armor as well, trying to provide as much protection on him as possible before leaving the compromised position.

Regis peaked around the corner, aiming with the new pistol and headshotting the nearest merc, watching in satisfaction as they collapsed to the ground.  The gun barely made a sound, low enough to not be immediately detected as a gunshot.

Well, his Eagle is going to be useless.  Damn. His favorite gun is already overshadowed by some new black-market tech. 

He crept forward, gathering dark energy in one hand, twisting it into a Reave, tossing it at the nearest merc.  The merc panicked, making him a perfect target.  Pull the trigger, and then-–dead.

Regis prepped an overload on his omnitool, using his eye-tracking software to pinpoint the group of mercs near the bar, creeping towards his location.  In a flash of red, he overloaded their shields in a rain of sparks, making them vulnerable to a blast of dark energy.  He teased the energy in his palm, twisting his fingers to point forwards into a shockwave.  The energy pulsed on the ground before blowing up in their faces, knocked out by the force of the blast.

“I’m over here!” Brooks called out.  Shit.  Another merc turned towards his direction, walking away from his position at the bar.  Can she not read the fucking room?

Regis reloaded the pistol, grabbing a fresh heat sink from the ground and vaulting over the bar.  He rushed towards the merc, detonating his tech armor with a clench of his fist, causing them to stagger.  He forged another omni blade and stabbed it through the helmet, ripping it away in a spray of blood.

There definitely goes his suit.  

Brooks was lying on the glass in front of the entrance.  He ran towards her, gunning down the merc guarding the entrance.  He slid down to her.  Holding out a hand, he helped her up, her grip very tight.  “You alright?” Regis asked, brushing off his vest, stuffing the new gun in his other holster.  “Come on, we need to–”

He heard the sound of jet-propelled armor, and then a flash of red.  She pushed him out of the way, Brooks took the shot meant for him, clipping her side.

Regis gritted his teeth as he moved to get up, winded by the way he fell on his back.  The merc continued to fire around him, missing every shot, hitting the glass…

Well, shit.  His visor flashed with warnings, the glass started to creak ominously, and then–

The glass shattered.

Regis cried out, reaching deep within the gravity well to start to slow his fall, but it failed, a spike of pain coming from his neck.  He blindly reached for something, anything to grab onto.  His hand slipped on the neon sign, the panels shattering with his weight until he stopped at the very end, his hand covered in cuts and starting to sting with the saltwater raining from above.

Slowly, carefully, he raised himself up, cringing at the pain radiating up from his hands and bare arms.

How the hell is he going to get out of this?

He started to try and climb up more, but then it started to creak.  He widened his eyes as the sigh failed to support his weight, and he fell with a shout, rolling down the glass windows.

Reaching out for more purchase, his grip landed up an open window, and he was dangling once more.  No time to think, no time to do anything as he looked up and saw more glass and remnants of the sign raining down.

He took a breath and let go of the open window, sliding and rolling down the wall until he landed on a solid platform.  

Water still rained down on top of him as he slowly rose up, clutching his side and looking over his body.  His hands were shredded and covered in blood.  His arms were marred with cuts.  He was soaked and smelling like fish.

Sure, he’s been through hell many times.  But somehow the fish part made this encounter part of his worst.  

With a pained sigh, he activated his omnitool and cursed at his low level of medigel, barely enough to seal the worst of the cuts on his hand.  He applied it gently to his hands, ripping off parts of his dress pants to create a crude bandage.

It will be enough for now.

He glanced at his visor’s HUD, noticing that his amp was overloaded.  Shit.  No wonder he couldn’t levitate down.  

He’ll need a new replacement, stat.

A flick of his wrist, and his omnitool reactivated.  He searched through the comm feeds, only picking up on a local one.  All others were still blocked, no way to get a message through to any of his crew.

He reached for the suppressed pistol, looking around to try and get his bearings.  

“Admiral! I found a secure terminal.  Are you okay down there?”  Of all the people that are able to reach out to him.

“Yeah, feeling peachy.”  No, he’s not okay.  Not about to admit that to her.

He made his way through the scaffolding, jumping over to the next platform and sliding down the ladder.  “Didn’t you get hit?” He asked, making conversation.

“Yup!  I used a lot of medigel.  Too much of it, maybe.  Everything is a bit… bouncy?”  She sounded very chipper, almost manic.  

“You used too much,” he confirmed absentmindedly, jumping over to another set of platforms and sliding down another ladder, wincing at the contact with his abused hands.  “Alert C-Sec.  I’m looking for a way out.”

She didn’t immediately reply, and Regis was almost thankful for it.  His gaze landed on a skycar lot across the street, selling top of the line models.  A skycar took off from the landing pad.  “I see a lot and a landing pad.  Cision Motors.”

“Yeah, I see it!” 

“Good.  Get a shuttle there ASAP,” he ordered as he made his way down, finding himself in front of a freezer storage of some sort.

“So, um, it turns out that C-Sec has the whole area locked down.  It’s going to be tricky to get a shuttle down there.”

Great.  Regis made his way through the freezer, rubbing his arms at the sudden chill.  “Well, keep at it and find a fucking solution!”  He glanced back down at his omnitool, seeing two comm requests pop up.  He read through their signatures and pushed them through, recognizing his husbands’ sigs from a mile away.

Finally.  Some real help.  

“Oh, and you should stay off your comm.  Except for me!  Because it’s hacked.  And that’s how they found you.”  Ain’t that convenient.  He ignored her, climbing up the ladder and nodding at the salarian taking a smoke break, who barely spared him a glance.  

“Do you even know who these mercs are?” He asked, hoping she had something to give him.

“No.  They really don’t seem to like you!”

“That’s real helpful, Brooks.  Thanks for that very astute observation,” Regis growled out, crouching down at the top of the building.  

Why is it taking so damn long for their comms to get through?  He glanced back down at his omnitool and pushed them through again, changing the security on the fly so they could patch into Brooks’ comm instead of his own.

If she complains about it, he’s muting her.

He leapt from building to building until he stopped at one at the edge of the market, seeing a group of the same mercs patrolling around.  Shit.

Without his biotics, this wasn’t going to be fun.  His visor helpfully outputted that the temp of his amp had gone down, but diagnostics were still too volatile for him to risk it.

“Regis!  Can you hear me?” Kaidan’s voice appeared, and Regis relaxed minutely.  

“Yes, love.  Loud and clear.  Zaeed got routed in, too?” Regis replied with a relieved smile, still perched on the top of the building, scanning the area before dropping down quietly, crouching down behind a random stall.

“Of course.  We’re on foot, but close.  Goddamn, can we ever have a peaceful leave?” Zaeed said. 

Regis was looking forward to them peeling his suit off of him.  Now all he wanted to do is soak in that hot tub and never come out.  

“Joker let us know what happened.  Did you really use him as bait?” Kaidan chuckled.

“Excuse me, who is this?  You’re on an unsecured channel, and you are putting Admiral Shepard in danger!” Brooks yelled out.  Regis shook his head and shot at the nearest merc, watching him collapse to the ground in a satisfying crumble.

“And who the hell are you?” Zaeed cut in.  “Not like we have a lot of options here.”

Regis ignored the conversation as he summoned a drone, directing it to distract the mercs heading towards the body.  

As they focused on the drone, he detonated it, overloading their shields and making them vulnerable to a few well-placed shots. Well, if they aren’t going to introduce themselves, he might as well do it.  Not like he’s fighting for his life here or anything.  

“Zaeed, Kaidan, this is Staff Analyst Brooks.  Brooks, these are my husbands, Zaeed and Kaidan.  Not the type to be putting me in danger,” Regis explained as he crept through the alleyway, keeping an eye on any other mercs.  “Play nice, because I’m in the middle of something here.”

“As if you ever play nice,” Kaidan said with a barely disguised snort.  “Can you send me your diag?”

Regis sent the outputs through the comm, hoping there was enough bandwidth to handle the data transfer.  Luckily, it went through, and Regis rolled over to the nearest stand, aiming for the next group of mercs with another primed and ready overload.

“We’ll make sure to call Vik so they can get you checked out.” Regis could hear his wince across the comm.  Yeah, he knew they weren’t great, but Kaidan was the most knowledgeable about bio-feeds.

The fact that he’s favoring Vik over Chakwas is signal enough that his amp problem is something serious.  Great.  Just like he thought but hoped he interpreted incorrectly.

He fired off the overload, taking down the second group with precision, disposing of the smoking heat sink and scooping up another off of the corpses.  

“Just my amp.  Can easily be replaced.  I’ll be fine,” Regis said, checking his program cooldowns before switching over to the cryo freeze, firing it off at a sniper who was getting set up at the back counter.  

He took a deep breath and continued forward, starting to feel weary.  His hands and arms ached, and he was sure he was going to be a massive bruise by tomorrow.  

Keep pressing forward, Regis.  It’s this or death.

At the end of the street was a locked door.  He glanced at the security and pushed through his Spectre credentials, the door opening and confirming his status.  

“I’m almost at the lot.  Just have a few more mercs I need to fight through,” Regis said, crouching behind an elegant potted plant.  “Unless any of you are close enough to go ahead and save my ass?”

“Almost there!” Kaidan said.  “Hold out a bit longer.”

“You say that like it’s easy,” he muttered, temporarily muting himself.  He unmuted, “Glad to hear!”

He summoned his drone again and drew some of the mercs towards him.  His hands started to shake as he raised up the pistol.  Shit.  He needs to get out of here, fast.

His first shot went wide, but the next hit home, taking down one of the mercs as the other shot at his drone.  

He ordered the drone to shock the merc in a blast of sparks, finishing them off with another bullet.  Only a few more to go.

He glanced at his diags again, seeing the output of his amp improving.  Normally, he wouldn’t do this, but this is not a normal situation.  He flicked his fingers into a singularity, feeling his corona roar to life before tossing it at the group of mercs waiting at the entrance to the skycar lot.

“Admiral!  There’s a C-Sec shuttle inbound if you can get to the car lot,” Brooks announced.

“Got it,” Regis said, trying to keep his voice steady.

He’s going to pay for that later with one hell of a migraine.

Worth it to stay alive.  

He grabbed some more clips and holstered the suppressed pistol, noticing a M-11 on the side.  He traded it out for his Eagle, not caring for stealth at the moment, although he noticed that the gun pierced through armor like no other, almost like a mini Widow.  

As he walked into the lot, he saw Kaidan holding a group of mercs in the air with his biotics, his corona burning blue.  Zaeed had his Widow out, sniping the heads of the mercs before Kaidan threw them against the wall in a blast of dark energy. 

Regis holstered his gun as Kaidan walked towards him, his corona slowly dissipating.  To his immense pleasure both Zaeed and Kaidan opted to wear their matching long coats and infiltration style gear, Kaidan’s blue duster marked with the Spectre logo.

Kaidan’s expression morphed into one of concern as he got a better look at him, gaze falling on his hands.  “What happened?”

“Fell through a fucking fish tank,” he replied, opening his arms for a hug.  Kaidan hugged him back, and Regis let Kaidan support him as Zaeed prepped some medigel.

“And your amp?” Zaeed asked after they broke apart, clasping Regis on the shoulder.  “I still want to take that suit off of you.”  Kaidan rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his husband.

“Me too, so we can burn it later.” Regis sat down on the curb, taking a breath.  “My amp needs to be replaced.  It’s better than what it was, but I don’t trust it right now.”

“We’ll be calling Vik the moment we get back to the apartment,” Kaidan said with a nod, sitting down beside him.  “Now be honest.  Scale of one to ten.”

Regis closed his eyes.  “Five, maybe six?  That fall fucked me up.  Only came out of it unscathed as it did probably due to Cerberus’s enhancements.”

Zaeed activated his Kuwashii visor and performed a scan of his own, kneeling down, starting to administer some medigel to the more superficial wounds.  “Don’t see anything too abnormal, but I’m no medic.  Your goddamn amp is still going crazy.”

“I may have used some biotics even after it threw a warning,” Regis admitted.

Kaidan gave him a hard look, but it was softened by the concern still written on his face.  “Don’t use any more until we can get you checked out.  Are your programs still running at optimal levels?”

Regis gave him a hard look of his own.  “You know who you’re talking to, right?” He stood up and forged his tech armor.  “No issues at all.”

“Then stick to them,” Kaidan said with a pointed look, checking over his N7 Valkyrie.  

Zaeed stepped in between them.  “Love the foreplay.  Let’s get out of here?  Landing pad is beyond a locked gate, maybe we should find a way to open it so we can get on with it?”

“Oh, I’m sure you want us to get on with it,” Kaidan muttered.

Regis rolled his eyes and stalked over to the set of offices where there was likely some sort of master lock to unlock the gates.  They followed him as he activated his omnitool, priming it to overload the door.  “Stand back.”

Kaidan slowly lowered his raised arm.  “Just a minute, love.” He moved to knock on the window, and Regis noticed a volus sitting underneath the window.  Ah.

“Would’ve been faster if you let him destroy the damn lock,” Zaeed said, gesturing with the Widow.  “Hell, I could’ve blasted it off for you.”

Kaidan ignored them both.  “Could you unlock the gate?”

With a mechanical sound, the gates lowered into the floor.  “Thanks.” Kaidan said, walking past both of them with a smirk on his face.

“Well, I could’ve done that ,” Regis muttered, following close behind him.  

“Boring.  We could've been out of here by now if you hadn’t played nice,” Zaeed said, clapping him on the back.  

“Isn’t that what you love about me?” Kaidan shot back, walking backwards towards the landing pad.  “We need someone in this relationship who doesn’t immediately resort to violence.”

“There’s a key word in that sentence, love,” Regis teased.  “‘Immediately.’”  

As they made it to the landing pad, they saw a C-Sec shuttle flying towards them.  Regis lowered his gun, raising up an arm to shield his face as the shuttle started to lower.  The shuttle door opened, and he caught the flash of a turret.  Shit.  Nothing is ever easy.

“Get down!” Kaidan ordered, summoning up a biotic bubble as the mercs opened fire, bullets stopping in the wake of the dark energy surrounding them.  Zaeed pushed them both behind the lot’s sign, throwing off a bundle of Inferno grenades to cover them before ducking into the bubble.

Kaidan let the bubble go, conserving his energy.  They all shared a look, looking at each other first before glancing back at the shuttle, looking for a way out.

And then, the sound of glass shattering and the distinct sound of a krogan war cry came out of nowhere.  Regis glanced at his diags to make sure he hadn’t fallen into shock.

“Is that–fucking hell…” Zaeed said in growing awe as the sound of an engine blowing up filled the air.  “Good goddamn timing.”

The shuttle crashed to the ground and Regis risked a glance around the sign, seeing Wrex pummeling the mercs without breaking a sweat, headbutting and pushing them around before tossing one unlucky bastard out the back door.

“Just to make it clear, Wrex was not one of the people we informed,” Kaidan said, walking out of cover.

Wrex walked towards them calmly after kicking another merc out of the shuttle.  “Maybe you should’ve, Alenko.  Almost missed all the fun!”

Wrex pulled a minigun from a corpse and tossed it to Regis, who caught it with a grin.  “Glad to have you here.  So, what exactly are you doing here anyway?” Regis asked.  

“Butting heads with the Council over krogan expansion,” he said.  “Shepard, you should take up the human council position!  We’ll have someone who could have our backs.”

Regis shuddered at the thought.  “Respectfully Wrex, that’s going to be a hell-fucking-no.”

“Ah, what a shame.  I get it though.” Wrex nodded at Zaeed who did the same in response.  

Regis looked over the minigun as an explosion rocked the area, coming from inside the building.  He sighed, shaking his head.  “Wrex, you with me?”

“Always, my friend.  Now, stay back.  You’re too squishy in that outfit of yours,” Wrex said, priming his shotgun.

Mercs poured in from the ceiling, jumping down and ready for a fight.  Two biotics–well, technically one at the moment–one krogan, and one pissed-off merc versus a whole company of mercs.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Regis dashed over to the nearest cover, which was yet another sign advertising the business.

“So, we got a way out of here?” Wrex asked as he lifted a whole group of mecs for Zaeed to snipe.

“Of course we do.  We’re goddamn professionals,” Zaeed replied, picking them off one by one. 

“That’s not a yes, love!” Kaidan called out, throwing out a quick overload to take down an engineer about to set up a turret.  Regis sent out his drone to assist, despite being low on resources.  He tested the gun and took down a group of mercs advancing towards him, mowing them down without much effort.

He’s still going to mostly sit this one out.  He’s not an idiot.

“Admiral!” Moreau’s voice filled the comm.  “We’re on our way.  I picked up Brooks.  Figured you have a few questions.”

Sure, but not right at this minute.  “Maybe later.  By the way, that shuttle you sent?  The C-Sec shuttle wasn’t C-Sec, it was filled with a bunch of mercs.  So please, hurry up,” Regis replied, taking out a few enemy drones heading towards him with precision.  

“What?!” Brooks asked with an exaggerated inquiring tone.  

“You heard me,” Regis growled out, taking a breath as he replenished his tech armor.  

“Right, sorry.  We’ll be there soon!”

Regis started to feel a little bad for being so hostile, but something about her was rubbing him the wrong way.  No one can be that damn chipper.

“Great place to fight in.  Lots to destroy!” Wrex announced and the tell-tale sound of glass shattering filled the air.  Zaeed shouted with glee as he fired off something explosive.  Kaidan started to fall back, heading to Regis’s position.

Regis shook his head but was grinning all the same.  Yeah, he missed this kind of action, not getting up to much of it post-war, clearing out Cerberus stations and herding survivors, working to scout the galaxy and continue looking for more history.

“Approaching your position, Admiral.  Just following the gunfire,” Moreau chuckled.  “Sorry it’s taking a while.  Had to take the scenic route.”

“Copy that,” Regis acknowledged.  He prepped another overload as a sniper tried to sneak up on him, their cloak revealed by his visor.  No match for his technology.  He fired it off, paying little mind to the arguing going on the comm.  Brooks started yelling at Moreau for nearly crashing multiple times.

If it gets them here faster, Regis didn’t care how they did it.

“Hey, Shepard, get to the shuttle!” Moreau announced as the sounds of whirring engines grew louder and louder.  

Kaidan yelled.  “Fall back!” Starting to provide cover fire, he extended his barrier so that it would also envelop Regis, the blue dark energy surrounding him in a protective field.  

Moreau maneuvered the shuttle so it was hovering just above the ground.  Wrex charged towards the shuttle, throwing a set of Warp grenades behind him that exploded in a flurry of blue and red before jumping aboard.  Zaeed was close behind, jumping on and holding out an arm.  Regis grabbed onto him, and Zaeed pulled him close, holding onto Regis tightly as he stumbled forward.

Kaidan jumped aboard once everyone was secure and Moreau shut the shuttle door, halting the path of gunfire.

He took off in a burst of speed that was definitely illegal for this sector of the Citadel, the sounds of gunfire slowly quietening down.  

Regis clung to Zaeed as they headed back to safety in silence, Kaidan watching them with a concerned eye.  Even Wrex looked worried, leaning against the back wall of the shuttle.

“Vik’s meeting us at the apartment,” Kaidan said, breaking the silence. “Finally got the comms through.”

“Thanks.  Adrian coming too?” Regis asked, trying to keep the exhaustion from creeping into his tone.

“Nah, just them.  Figured you wanted a quiet apartment when we get home,” Kaidan replied.

Regis nodded in response, Zaeed rubbing circles into his back.  “We’ll be home soon, babe.  Ready to jump in that tub?  You smell like shit.”

Regis couldn’t help but laugh.  “I’m well aware.”

Before they entered the apartment, Wrex asked, “Someone want to tell me what’s going on here?”

Kaidan stepped between him and Regis.  “After we get cleaned up.”

“But it’s important we stop the threat now!” Brooks said, moving past to try and get into the apartment.

“And it can wait until I get my damn amp replaced,” Regis said, blocking her from moving any further.  “Get the rest of the crew up to speed.  A few hours isn’t going to make any difference.”

“Come on, Brooks,” Moreau said, motioning for her to follow, meeting his gaze with a nod.  “We’ll meet with the crew down on the strip.”

Wrex stayed behind as Moreau more or less started dragging Brooks with him.  The moment they stepped into the elevator, Wrex motioned at the door.  “Want me to keep an eye on your place as you take a breather?”

“That would be great,” Regis said, relieved.  “I’m expecting Vik, remember them?”

“Sure do.  I’ll make sure that only they get in for you.”

“Much appreciated, Wrex,” Zaeed said, shaking his hand.  

“Anything for you. Try not to get too distracted with each other,” he laughed.

Kaidan rolled his eyes as he unlocked the door.  “I make no promises to that.”

His laughter filled the air as they walked into the apartment, only quietening down after the door was closed.

Safe in the apartment, Regis started to pull off his ruined suit, tossing both his Eagle and the mystery M-11 on the coffee table.  Kaidan moved in to help him, batting his hands away as he unbuttoned the silk shirt, gently pulling it off of him to not disturb the healing skin.  Some bruises had already started to form, coloring his chest in a mass of purple.  Regis winced as Kaidan ran a gentle hand down his chest, feeling for any abnormalities.  “Let’s take the rest of this upstairs.”

Regis looked over at the stairway with hesitation.  “Is it too much to ask for one of you to carry me?”

“‘Course not,” Zaeed said.  “But before I pick you up, don’t play the strong Admiral.  How are you really feeling right now?”

“Terrible,” Regis said with a sigh, sitting down on the couch despite his ruined pants.  He kicked off his boots.  “Neither one of you want to know how close I was to falling to my damn death back there.”

“Joker let us know.  He caught a glimpse of the hole,” Kaidan said quietly, pressing a gentle kiss on the pulse point of his neck.  “But you’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”

“I felt so helpless,” he admitted, looking down at his knees.  “When my amp failed, I thought that this was it, no way out.  Too damn lucky that I caught my hand on a sign and then on an open window after the sign broke.” He shook his head.  “If any of the crew even thinks about joking about what happened…” he trailed off with a yawn, his unspoken threat losing steam.  “You get the idea.”

“Most of the crew has a good head on their shoulders.  Doubt they’ll risk your ire,” Zaeed said, taking off his gloves and tossing them on the couch, shrugging off his duster.  “Ready?”

Regis nodded and allowed himself to be picked up into a bridal carry, cradled close to Zaeed’s chest as they walked upstairs.  He could’ve made the trip, honestly.

But he wanted to be taken care of, and he was glad they picked up on that.  He hadn’t felt so vulnerable in a long time, and he hated that he was put into that position.

Especially in front of an officer he knows nothing about.

Zaeed put him down in front of the bathroom and Regis pressed a kiss on the corner of his lip before stripping down, throwing the ruined and torn pants into a corner of the room.  Kaidan had followed them inside their bedroom, stopping in the doorway.  “I’m going to wait for Vik downstairs and start looking into this mess in the Spectre channels.  Need me for anything?” Kaidan asked.

“I think we have it handled, babe,” Zaeed replied.  “But don’t get too deep into it right now.”

Kaidan smiled.  “I make no promises, love.  Now relax and get better, Regis.  Take all the time you need.”

“Don’t worry, I definitely will,” Regis said, pulling off his underwear and slipping inside the hottub with a groan.  He felt both their gazes on him as he sunk into the water, dunking his head to get his hair wet and to start to scrub out the grime from the day.

“If you’re going to look at me, join me,” he said, pointing at them both.

Kaidan chuckled once Zaeed started to strip the rest of his leathers down, pulling off the reinforced fibers with quick precision.  Regis watched as Kaidan leaned in to kiss Zaeed on the lips, cupping his head and pulling him close, pulling away just before it got heated.  Zaeed almost seemed to chase after Kaidan, wanting more as he walked away from the bedroom.

Regis thought they all needed some quiet reassurance.  

Zaeed tugged off his underwear and joined him in the tub. Regis raised up and Zaeed settled behind him, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him in close against his soft chest.  He sighed, closing his eyes and relaxing into the embrace.

Zaeed grabbed Regis’s favorite shampoo and started to lather it into his hair, massaging Regis’s scalp with expert hands.  He allowed himself to be pampered, to be taken care of.  

A ritual they do if a mission almost went south.  When they knew it was life or death. 

They knew the score.  So called “old” soldiers and mercs have been at it for too long and yet none of them want to leave.  

Moments like this, however, reminded them what danger still lurked, how easy one of them could be taken away.

When Zaeed was done with his hair, Regis took a second to wash out the suds.  About to grab the bottle to do the same for him, Zaeed batted his hand away, pushed the shampoo further away from him, and instead reached for the citrus scented conditioner.  “You can take care of me later.”

Regis only hummed in response, relaxing even more as he started to work the conditioner into his hair, expertly applying it to his curls and combing out tangles with his fingers, making perfect little coils as he went along.  

Maybe he’ll keep his eyes closed.  Yeah, that felt nice.  The sensation of being taken care of along with the repetitive sounds of the jets in the tub lulled him to sleep, allowing himself to relax fully knowing he was safe in the arms of a man he loved.

“Regis?” 

His eyes popped open and he realized he wasn’t in the tub anymore as he raised up quickly, finding himself clothed in loose joggers and resting on their bed with a knitted blanket wrapped around him.

Was he really asleep for that long?

He rubbed at his eyes and noticed that the cuts on his body were nearly healed by the medigel, but the remnants of the heavy bruising still remained.  It’s going to take a couple of applications to get rid of that, and Regis preferred healing things like that naturally, not liking the feeling of medigel unless it was necessary.

Kaidan had changed into a blue sweater and jeans, sleeves rolled up.  “You fell asleep on Zaeed.  He cleaned you up and got you tucked in.  Only been about thirty, forty-five minutes.”

Looking around the room, he saw no sign of Zaeed.  “Took care of me and bailed?” he chuckled.  

“He’s out there with Vik and Ash.  She wasn’t about to let Wrex stop her from checking up on you,” he explained.  

Ah, Ash is here too?  Great.  He wanted to hear her thoughts on this mess before his apartment becomes home base for whatever the hell is going on.  

“Good. Go ahead and send them up for me.  And can you hand me one of my sweaters?” He asked.

“Of course, love.  One of your off the shoulder ones?” He replied, opening one of the drawers after typing a quick message on his omnitool. 

“Yeah.  Vik needs easy access to my port.  Are you going to get yours checked out while they’re here?” Regis asked after Kaidan handed him the sweater.

“Nah, they already ran some basic diags.  All my outputs are good, so they’re not worried.  We use different amps anyway.”

“Knew I shouldn’t have tried that fucking Savant.  Work well but get pissy if you mod them,” Regis muttered as he pulled on the black, loose sweater.  

“You modded a Savant?” Kaidan shook his head.  “I doubt the Serrice Council will take kindly to that.  Reason number one why I don’t use their stuff.  Too damn regulated.”

“Hey, they have great outputs that are even better if you overclock them,” Regis defended.  It’s not that he liked the Savants, but rather he enjoyed beating them down into submission. 

“And that’s why I stick to HMBA.  Modifiable, open source to Spectres, and I’m not breaking any terms of service in the process,” Kaidan said with a pointed look.

“Regis, my darling, you know how much I hate the Savant line,” Vik said as they entered the room, carrying a case full of their supplies.  “If you’re going to go crazy, use one of my Armali mods if you must.”

“Armali has shitty power output,” Regis said, crossing his arms. 

“Which is why I modded them,” they repeated.  “I even have a license in order to do so.”

“Don’t argue with the doc, Regis,” Ashley said, leaning against the doorway.  “We need to get you back out there so we can deal with the bastards who decided to target you.”

Regis rolled his eyes.  “Good to see you too, Ash.  Keeping my crew in check?”

“Only had to shut down a few who thought it was unfortunate you destroyed their favorite restaurant.”

“Thanks,” he nodded.  

“No problem,” she waved it off.  “Zaeed’s currently deciding if he wants to go down there and give the crew a piece of his mind or continue his debate with Wrex.”

“Do I even want to know what they’re arguing about?” Regis asked, watching Vik place their case on his weapon bench and take out some supplies.  

“Last I heard they were bitching about shotgun mods,” Kaidan said, crossing his arms.  

“It’s gotten worse.  Inferno versus Warp grenades,” Ashley said, almost sounding grim.

“Inferno grenades are superior.  If you’re going to Warp someone, do it right from the get-go.  No external hardware required,” Vik said, walking back over to the bed, omnitool active and diagnostic tools in hand.  “Sit up straight for me.”

Regis did as they said and closed his eyes as Vik felt for the synth-skin covering his wetware, housed just underneath his Torfan tattoo–the black skull that used to represent his squad.  “Ah, there we go.  Dare I say that Cerberus improved on interfacing?” They commented, raising up their omnitool and inputting a code.  

Regis felt a twinge as his cybernetics adapted to the code, pulling the skin away to reveal the port underneath.  “Which is why I’m working with Miranda to adapt this technology on a consumer level.”

“And you two are doing impressive work.  Cannot wait to see it leave the trials.  You are going to revolutionize biotic interfacing and so much more,” Vik said.  “Kaidan, how is it working on you?”

He rubbed his neck.  “Feels weird having easy access to my ports again, but I knew what I signed up for when I kept mine underneath the skin for better protection.  Never liked the idea of exposed ports.”

Vik hummed as they scanned the port for any abnormalities.  “I don’t see anything concerning.  Just a temperature spike that caused the amp to shut down before rebooting.  What were you doing when it shorted?”

“Trying to levitate down when I fell from that fucking fish tank,” Regis said, keeping his head still.  

“Ah.  Well, it’s going to happen again if you do anything intensive like that, I’m afraid.  Were you able to do feats like that previously with no issues?”

“Been a while since I’ve had to do a maneuver like that, so honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever tested that specific mnemonic with it.  Handled everything else I threw at it,” Regis admitted.

“Say it with me–” Vik started to say, but Regis interrupted him.

“Yes, yes, I know, test all maneuvers with any new amp and any new mods,” Regis sighed.  “Been a little slow lately, so I never got around to testing everything.”

“Regis…” Kaidan started, getting that tone of voice that meant Kaidan was more than a little annoyed with him. 

“Yeah, I know,” he repeated, closing his eyes.  “I won’t do any more experimenting with my amps without testing everything I do.  Happy?”

“Only once I see it in practice,” Kaidan said, his voice taking on a lower tone.  

“Ah great, you two are flirting,” Ashley said, exasperated.  “Keep that up and I’m leaving.  Don’t need to hear how you solve problems.”

Kaidan chuckled.  “Sometimes he makes it so easy.”

“He is right here,” Regis muttered.  “Vik, can you remove it already?”

“Of course.  What do you want me to replace it with?” they replied, professional as ever.  

“How are your Armali mods?  I like the blending they provide, but again, I miss the better power output in return.”

Vik grabbed the sealed container housing the chip.  “Very comparable to an overclocked HMBA.  You’ll still find that HMBA has better power outputs, but you lose out on the blending you prefer to do.  HMBA is perfect for more controlled powers versus on the fly.  Armali will allow you to stick to your style without sacrificing too much.  If you hate it we can swap it out for something else.  I probably won’t be offended.”

Regis mulled it over in his head.  HMBA isn’t a bad amp per se, but he wasn’t too fond of its rigidity.  Which suited Kaidan just fine, as he tended to stick to one mnemonic at a time, giving time to cool down and settle his field in between.  

Regis was a speedcaster, switching and twisting mnemonics together to create reactions and unpredictable attacks only his lovers and most trusted companions know how to read.  Sure, he could stick to rigidity if needed.  But after Cerberus, he almost seemed to do far better with on-the-fly adjustments than ever before.

He blames it on the constant feeling of survival he felt while trapped in their claws, his biotics never quite the same since his resurrection. Kaidan always reassured that his field felt the same, when their coronas would intersect and twine with each other on the battlefield and in the bedroom.

But he could never shake the feeling that his biotics turned into their own beast after Lazarus.  

“Let’s try it.  If not, I’ll follow Kaidan’s route and trick out a HMBA,” Regis said.  He caught Kaidan’s gaze, and he looked so smug.  Bastard.  He’ll wipe that smirk off his face once he gets his amp back in order and kicks everyone out of his apartment…

“Great.  Now, take a deep breath for me,” Vik said, reaching in to disconnect the amp.  Regis breathed in slowly, waiting to feel the detachment.

He shuddered as Vik pulled out the amp, feeling like he was dunked in cold water, his veins turning to ice.  The corona pulsed around him once before winking out in a flash.  “Fuck,” he muttered, taking slow, deep breaths, his heart racing.  

“That’s what happens when you swap out an amp?” Ashley asked.  “Damn… how does it feel?”

“Getting dunked in cold water,” Kaidan said, face pinched in discomfort.  “Feeling sluggish even though your movements are clear.  Feeling like your sensations are both heightened and diminished.”

“Exactly,” Regis said.  “Feels different for every biotic, but most L2s tend to get the same effects.  More intense.”

“Afraid it's not much different for us,” Vik said, dropping the amp into a separate container. “Technically I’ll need to report this to Serrice, but they also won’t take kindly to someone interfering with their settings.  Even if you’re a Spectre.”

“So, what are you going to do?” Ashley asked.  “Come on, we can bend the rules.”

“And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  I’ll wipe the logs with my software, fudge the numbers, and they won’t look at it any more than usual because they’re getting it from me,” Vik explained.  “Anything for you, Reggie.”

And there’s Vik’s way of showing that they’re doing him a massive favor.  Goddammit.  

“Wait, Reggie ?” Ashley repeated, her face breaking out into a grin.  “How have I not heard that before?”

If his amp port wasn’t open, he would’ve started strangling Vik already.

“Oops,” Vik said, not sounding sorry at all.  “Anyway, ready for the insert?”

“Do it,” Regis said with gritted teeth.  “So, I can strangle you faster.”

“Hmm, maybe I have more diagnostics to do.  Read some more logs.  Get a good picture of your outputs…” Vik chuckled and turned to Ashley.  "Childhood nickname that he secretly loves.  Don’t deny it!”

“Does that mean you have childhood pictures too?  Please, I need to see them,” Ashley said.  “He must’ve been so cute!”

“I was fucking adorable,” Regis said, interrupting their conversation.  “You can see all the baby pictures you want after you reseat my amp.”  Ashley gave him a cheeky thumbs-up, looking expectantly at Kaidan, who held up his omnitool to prepare a data transfer.  Traitor.  

“Breath in deep for me, darling,” Vik said, taking the new amp out of its case.  

Regis breathed in while they inserted the amp, his corona igniting in a bright violet in response.  He exhaled as he let his corona surround him, keeping a handle on biotics from flaring out, adjusting to the difference in outputs on the fly.  As a test, he pulled the scope sitting on his bench towards him.  It flew towards him quickly, landing in his hand without a hitch.  “Much better,” Regis sighed, crossing his legs into his meditative position, allowing himself to slowly levitate with a push off the bed before settling down.  

“Beautiful,” Vik observed.  “I think you’ll find that my amp will rank among the best.”  They finished up by scanning it once more and resealing the synth-skin with another code.  Regis rubbed at the now-sealed skin once finished, itching slightly after it meshed back together. 

“I don’t even know if I can test it fully with all this shit going on,” Regis said, retracting his field.  Kaidan’s biotics had reacted in kind, a subtle blue field around his eyes glowed while the rest of his corona was carefully hidden.  

“Armax is just down the street,” Ashley said.  “Surely we can get a few matches in.”

“Depending on what we find out,” Kaidan said, crossing his arms.  “None of the Spectre channels had anything that stood out, and I couldn’t get Hackett on the comm.  I could contact Hannah, but I figured you wanted to keep this on the downlow.” 

“Fair enough.  She’ll be worried, and I don’t want to deal with that right now.” Regis looked down at his loungewear.  “If I’m going to talk with the crew, I’m getting changed into something different.”

“You and your appearances,” Vik muttered, packing up their stuff.  “Need me to hang out while you debrief?” “If you want,” Regis said.  

VIk shrugged.  “Might need someone to patch all of you up.  Karin is at some sort of conference right now, right?”

Ashley nodded.  “Yeah, she’s sorry she can’t make it.  And both Kaidan and I told her to stay put.”

“Then I’ll hang around.  Ash, let’s sort through some pictures,” Vik said, offering a hand.  Ashley took it with a grin, leaving Kaidan and Regis in their bedroom.  He tugged off his sweater, looking through the closet until he found another one of his black button downs and slacks, pulling them on before grabbing a pair of socks.  

“Feel better?” Kaidan teased, eyeing him up and down before grabbing both his hands.  He leaned in for a kiss, and Regis returned it, soft and full of yearning.  Hesitant to break apart, they both kept chasing each other.  Regis removed his hands from his and pulled Kaidan in closer, cupping his neck and tangling a hand in his hair, breathing in his scent and his love.  They finally broke apart after Kaidan started to kiss down his neck, peppering light kisses on Regis’s tattoo, stopping at the skin showing at the unbuttoned collar.  “You smell better, too.”

“And here I thought you had more tact than Zaeed,” Regis rolled his eyes.  “We better head down before they all assume we’re doing something else.”

“Probably too late for that,” he chuckled, reaching for Regis’s hand again.  “Come on.”

They walked downstairs, hand-in-hand.  Zaeed whistled at them, changed into a short sleeve white button down and jeans.  “Beginning to think I needed to break you two up.”

“Or join them,” Ashley piped up, sitting on the couch next to Vik.  

“Says you,” Regis said, directed at Zaeed, the two of them joining him by the fireplace.  “Shall I tell the gang what you wanted to do to me earlier?”

“Might need to be more specific.  I probably said a lot of things,” he laughed.  

Regis shook his head as Wrex walked over to the door, letting Moreau and Brooks in.  “Finally!” Brooks exclaimed.  “You know, I can’t believe you survived all that.  They had guns!  And grenades!  And those drone things!”

“As did Cerberus and nearly every other organization I’ve had to fight against,” Regis said, opening his omnitool.  “Has anyone contacted C-Sec?  Need to get Bailey read in on this.”

“Okay, that sounds… Wait!  Wouldn’t that make whoever you contact a target too?” Brooks interjected, resting her chin on her hand.

Regis narrowed his eyes.  “It’s C-Sec.  You know, the security force onboard this station?”

“Honestly Shepard, she has a point,” Moreau said.  “Do we even need to take that risk?”

Regis sighed and shut off his omnitool.  “Fair enough. Guess we run this ourselves like everything else.”

“Wow, you agreed with me?  Can you say it again?” Moreau asked eagerly, a grin on his face. 

Regis gave him an annoyed look, about to tell him to bring up the rest of the crew when Brooks rambled, “Right.  Ourselves.  On our own.  Outside the law.  Okay, yeah.”

Even Kaidan started to look frustrated, a pinched expression on his face, his eyebrows slightly furrowed together.  “Brooks, you need to focus,” Kaidan said.  “You have a team of Alliance soldiers, Spectres, and top operatives from different species.  If you can’t handle this, I suggest you sit this out and let us handle it.”

“I can’t sit this out!” She replied, balling her hands in fists.

“Fine,” Regis said, staring her down.  “But this is my operation, and you will work under my orders.  If I find that you are a liability to us and the mission, I will contact whoever I deem necessary to deal with the situation and damn the consequences.  Clear?”

“Crystal,” she said with a nod, her voice surprisingly steady.  

He can’t get a read on her.  Maybe she’s too green, trying to over and undercompensate.  It’s been a while since Regis has dealt with anyone in Intelligence that wasn’t a high rank, and a lot of people did join up after the war.  

Perhaps he should withhold his judgment of her for now, skewed by his frustration at the whole situation.

“How did you even get involved in this mess?” Ashley asked.  

She straightened up.  “I monitor data for Alliance Intel to prevent fraud and hacking of officer IDs.  Like someone using an admiral’s pass to get into a nightclub on the Citadel when that admiral is currently stationed on Pinnacle.  I wrote a tracking program.  It’s really neat!   I named it ‘Mr. Biscuits’ after my cat.”

“Brooks,” Ashley said, getting her attention.

“Right!  Sorry… Anyway, my program detected a breach in your classified files.  Soon, everything we had on you was compromised: personnel files, mission reports, everything.”

Regis swore, shaking his head.  “So, what you’re telling me is that they now have access to my military codes?  My Spectre codes?  Explains why they wanted to kill me.”

“Nothing to stop them until the damage is done,” Wrex said with a nod.  

Regis looked at his crew, his gaze lingering on Kaidan and Zaeed.  “Then we need to figure out who they are and shut them down.  Ideas?”

“What about that pistol you picked up?  A goddamn work of art,” Zaeed said, motioning to the M-11 still sitting on the table.  

“Damn thing is so tiny I thought I was going to fucking break it,” Regis said, picking it up.  “Packs a punch like a mini-Widow.”

The door chimed and Kaidan moved to check on whoever was at the door.  A moment later he opened it to reveal Wren with her omnitool out.  

“Hey Wren!” Ash waved.  “Glad you could join us.”

“Of course!  Been doing some research on my own.  Glyph can hopefully give us some insight on that cute little pistol you have,” she replied, summoning up the drone.

“Did you ever get all the bugs fixed?” Regis chuckled.  “Stubborn little guy.”

“Not really…” she trailed off, staring at the cyan drone.  “It still bugs out some, but it is less bound to misinterpret orders.  85 percent of the time.  Anyway, Glyph, start looking into this M-11.”

“I’ll begin collating relevant intel for review, Major Clarkson,” Glyph said, discs spinning. 

“Well, I’m glad to see you in one piece.  Hell of a fall back there,” she said, holding out her hand.  

He shook it with a firm grip.  “I’m alright.  Still healing up, but I’m ready to deal with whatever happens next.”

“Good to hear.  You know, you did the galaxy a favor getting rid of that place.  Overpriced, overrated, and some of the blandest food I’ve ever had,” she said, shaking her head.  “Saved me the trip of having to take it down myself, if you know what I mean.”

She turned to Brooks.  “Come with me.  Catch me up on what we know.”  Brooks nodded and followed her to the dining table in the back of the kitchen.  

“Well, Wren’s on point,” Wrex said.  “So, where’s the rest of your crew?”

Moreau held up his omnitool.  “Getting that covered right… now.”

The door chimed.  Regis waved his omnitool to unlock it remotely.  

“Had to gather some people who actually like getting shot at, you know,” he said as EDI walked in, flanked by Tali, Cortez, and Javik.  

“Permission to come aboard, Admiral?” Tali asked cheekily.

Regis grinned.  “I don’t know.  This is my quiet place after all.”

“Good to see you doing okay.  Wasn’t sure how to react after I heard what happened,” she replied, hugging him from the side, her knitted poncho swaying with the gesture.  “Say, how did you get roped up into going to a sushi restaurant?”

“Thought Moreau was pulling a fast one on me and wanted to put him in his place,” he replied, glancing over at Moreau who ignored him in favor of talking with EDI by the bar.  “Turns out it was an assassination attempt.”

“It’s never a dull day, is it?” She laughed.  “Ah well.  I got a little bit of relaxation in, and that’s all that matters.”

Kaidan and Zaeed rejoined him by his side after catching up with some of the crew.  He turned to face both of them, lit by the fireplace.  “You know, it was nice to see you two in action at the car lot.  It was pretty hot.”

Both Ashley and Tali groaned.  “Really, Regis?” Tali said, sitting down on the couch next to Ashley.  Vik looked amused, watching them with a barely concealed glee.

He ignored them.  Kaidan crossed his arms, nudging Zaeed with his shoulder.  “Why, thank you.”

“We try,” Zaeed smirked.  

Regis smiled, feeling his cheeks heat up.  “What would I do without you both?”

“You’ll never find out,” Kaidan said as Zaeed chuckled, “There’s no goddamn way you’ll ever find out.”

“God, you three are so sickening,” Ashley said, shaking her head.

“Which is why we keep them on their toes!” Tali said, giving them all a look.  “Time and a place.”

“This is my apartment.  I’m going to do whatever I want in it,” Regis shot back as Zaeed kissed his cheek.  

“You tell them, babe.”

Regis shook his head.  “I’m going to check in with the crew, and hopefully soon Wren wil have figured something out.”

“Are we embarrassing you, love?” Kaidan asked.  “Go on, do your job.”

“I’m not the only Admiral here.”

“And yet you’re the one who is in charge of the ship.”

Regis gave him a look and twitched his fingers, sending a small burst of dark energy to shock Kaidan.  He walked away with a smirk, knowing his gaze was following him as he walked over to Moearu and EDI.

“You know, he used me as bait,” he said, sitting at the bar.

“Yes.  You have mentioned that a few times, Jeff,” she replied.  “A sound solution.”

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side!”

“I’m on the side of data, which states that Shepard’s strategy ensured that you got out with minimal injuries.”

“My pride is injured.”

“An unfortunate side effect that is rectified by personal growth and reflection,” she replied, not missing a beat.  

Yeah, they’re fine.  No need to interrupt.

Steve was sitting at the bar in the back of his apartment, away from all the chaos.  Probably the quietest part of his place at the moment.  “Hey Shepard.  Glad you made it out okay.”

“Hey Steve,” Regis said, sitting down next to him.  “Adrian didn’t join us?”

He shook his head.  “Nah, said something about a job he needed to look into.  He’ll try to stop by later, wanting me to tell you he is worried about you.  But I know he’s not going to miss out on spending time with Vik so…” He trailed off, a knowing look in his eye.  “I should’ve brought Tomas into this.”

“Coats would’ve been great to have on hand,” Regis said with a nod.  “I’ve been meaning to ask if he wants to transfer on board the Normandy.  Thoughts?”

“You matchmaker,” Steve said, blushing.  “If you can make it happen and he’s fine with being on board our little circus, I’m okay with that.”

“Of course, anything for my crew.”

“Almost anything,” Steve corrected.  “After that fiasco, never go out to eat with Joker!”

“Not that I ever enjoyed going out with him before,” Regis chuckled.  “If I need a pilot in this mess, you’ll be the first I’ll call.”

“I’m sure Joker will take offense to that.”

“He knows I prefer you on the shuttle excursions.  He’s a bit too… showy,” Regis said, shaking his head.  

“Oh, I agree.  Time and a place.  Finesse is what’s needed for drop-ins.”

“Admiral,” Javik greeted as he joined them.  “Much quieter back here.”

Regis motioned for him to sit down, but he stayed standing.  “It is.  Calm before the storm.  Anything you want to say?”

He shook his head.  “Nothing that hasn’t already been said.  This is a first for me.  Never heard of anyone in my cycle falling through a fish tank.”

“Wasn’t exactly my fault,” Regis said with a pointed look.  “Blame the mercs.”

“I think I’m going to enjoy teaching them a lesson,” he grinned, showing pointed, thin teeth.  “I heard our Broker say she found something out.  Maybe it will be useful to us.”

“Thanks, Javik.”

He walked down the hallway to join Wren and Brooks.  “If you’re ready, I already found something.”

“Want me to go ahead and gather the team?” Regis asked.  

“Please do.  The faster the better,” she said, not looking up from her portable terminal.

Regis announced for everyone to huddle up, and soon enough, the crew was around the dining table, waiting for Wren’s announcement.  Like always, Kaidan and Zaeed stood next to him, flanking him on both sides.

Wren looked around the table, seemingly counting off everyone before clearing her throat.  “We have a lead.  I called in some favors to run a trace on the gun.”  She typed something on her terminal that brought up a picture of an older man.  “Which brought me to Elijah Khan.  A casino owner who has been suspected of using his profits to smuggle weapons into the Citadel.”

“I found it interesting that after the attempt on Regis’s life, Khan made a call.”  She pulled up the audio, the picture changing to a basic media player.

“I’m cutting you off and returning your down payment now.”  The first voice must be Khan, sounding frustrated, perhaps even panicked.

“What’s the problem?”  Someone replied, their voice sounding altered to stay anonymous.  

“Turn on a vidscreen!  When I sell a gun, I don’t want it showing up on the nightly news!”  Great.  Guess he needs to expect an interview or two in the future.  

“You won’t be linked to me,” the voice replied.

“Save it.  Our association is terminated.  And if you even think about coming after me, I’ve got info on you ready for prime time, so you ponder that.  Khan out.”

The call ended, and Regis crossed his arms against his chest.  “Found our identity thief.”

“Unfortunately, they have an ID disguiser,” Vik nearly groaned.  “Not even Adrian can get around those reliably.”

Regis sighed.  “I was afraid of that.  Anyway, did you find anything on the mercs?  Affiliations, origins, any of that shit?”

Wren nodded, looking grim.  “A PMC named CAT-6.  As most of you should know, it’s the Alliance term for dishonorable discharge.  Criminal records, steroid use, violent histories… you know the drill.  Definitely hired by the thief, no association with Khan.”

“Good job with the phone call,” Kaidan said in approval. 

“We can lean on Khan, probably get him to squeal,” Zaeed said, looking down at the gun.  “Throw in a few Spectre threats and we can get him to talk all while taking the goddamn bastard down.”

Wren shook her head.  “If only it were that easy.  The casino has a panic room and chances are, he’ll go to ground there.”

“I would suggest providing programs to hack the doors alongside your own security,” EDI started to say, turning to face Regis and Wren.  “But there are many guards and cameras on the premises.”

“Yeah.” Brooks said, adjusting her hat.  “He could disappear or worse.  If his guards ever open fire, normal people could get hit.  Like I did.”

He hated to admit she had a point.  But ‘normal’ people?  Seriously?  “I agree.  We can’t risk any civilians that could be targeted by our actions.  So, we go in quiet.  Small team.  No gunplay.”

Glyph reappeared on the table.  “Major Clarkson.  This evening the casino will be hosting a charity event to continue to assist refugees from the war.”

Wren smiled.  “Perfect.  Purchase some tickets and pull up a layout of the building.”

A holographic display of the casino appeared with a few key points highlighted on the map.

“This is great and all… but how close can we get?  Who puts a backdoor in a panic room?” Moreau asked.

“Allow me,” EDI said, stepping forward and adjusting the sleeves on her button down, her visor changing blue as she interacted with the map.  Parts of the map changed red, highlighting air shafts and vents.  “This air shaft bypasses the security gate and ends up in storage.  From there, the panic room’s door-camera can be disabled.”

“This isn’t just any casino,” Kaidan said, tilting his head to the side.  “There has to be alarms in the shaft.”

“I have some countermeasures that should help.  I’ll know more once our team gets inside,” Wren said, swiping to another screen on her terminal.  

Javik looked at the map, resting his chin on his fingers.  “Whoever goes inside that shaft needs to be small in size.”

Wrex laughed.  “Yeah, that’s not me.” He gestured down at his armor.

Everyone’s gaze slowly fell on Tali.  She shook her head.   “I’ve done my time in the vents before.  And besides, my suit’s built in tech will be picked up by the sensors.”

EDI piped up.  “My presence in the casino would arouse suspicion.  Mechs are not allowed since they can have cheating software, even if I wore my mech’s synth skin.”

Ashley held up her hands.  “I can do infiltration, but not this kind of infiltration.  Sorry, but no.  You’ll need me for backup if things go south.”

Brooks looked at all of them. “What you need is somebody trained in zero-emissions tech.  No electronics, no metal.  Just undetectable polymers.  We had a course back at Op-Int, disabling a bomb with these little tweezers.  See, the bomb was filled with shaving cream…”

They didn’t have many options.  Regis, Kaidan, and Zaeed were all too large and filled with tech and would likely be the main ones on the field.  EDI and Tali were ruled out.  Same for Javik and Wrex.  Steve didn’t speak up during the meeting, but Regis wasn’t about to volunteer him.  Vik’s implants and enhancements to improve their skills as a surgeon also prevented them from doing it.  Wren’s running the operation.  

Looks like it has to be Brooks.  And Regis was hoping that wouldn’t be the case.

Regis met Brooks's gaze.  “All right.  You’re in.”

She stepped back.  “What?  No… What?!”

Regis gestured around him.  “You said it yourself.  We’ve all got too much tech.  And it’s too risky to bring anyone else in.”

“But… I managed to get shot just coming to talk to you!  Now I’m supposed to hack my way into a safe room?” Brooks replied, shaking her head.

“Getting shot was something no one would have planned for,” Kaidan offered.  “There was no way to know that the mercs were already after Regis.”

“Exactly,” Zaeed said with a nod.  “None of this is a typical situation and none of us have any goddamn options.”

She still looked hesitant, so Regis spoke up.  “I recall saying to you that this is my operation and you will be working under my orders.  Listen to our orders and focus.  You have a team backing you up.”

She let out a sigh and nodded.  Maybe this will teach her some confidence.

Or cause this whole operation to go down in flames.  

Wren clapped her hands together.  “Great!  Now that everything is settled, there is one last hurdle to get us inside.”

“Which is?” Regis prompted, raising an eyebrow. 

She grinned.  “Black tie required.”

“Oh hell yes,” Regis said, damn near cheering.  “It’s a good thing I didn’t waste my best suit on you, Moreau!”  Kaidan also looked pleased, but Zaeed started to frown, never quite enjoying looking nice.  

It took him no time at all after their wedding for him to start taking down his suit, leaving him in his button down while Regis and Kaidan stayed in their finery until that evening.

He’s going to enjoy dressing them all up to match and shutting up Zaeed’s bitching about the matter.

“I take so much offense to that,” he replied, shaking his head.  “Are we all going into the casino?  Or is it just these crazy lovebirds over here.”

“Small team.  So just those three and Brooks,” Wren replied, pulling up the tickets.  “The rest of us will say close, but outside, ready to react if need be.”

“When does it start?” Kaidan asked.  “How much time do we have?”

“It’s supposed to go on for the entire evening late into early morning, so we can get there at any time.  Fashionably late or just on time.  Doesn’t matter to me as long as we get inside,” Wren said.  “Now, let’s give our infiltration specialists time to get changed, shall we?”

WIth the meeting over, everyone dispersed, going back to hang out in the apartment, some deciding to leave to grab their gear so they’ll be ready to go if something happens.  Luckily, they all had spare versions of their preferred hardsuits lying around along with their main gear, so at a moment’s notice the triad can be prepared for anything.  

“Don’t take too long up there, boys,” Ashley said as she walked back to the couch.  

“You have nothing to worry about.  Regis is a goddamn tyrant when it comes to fashion,” Zaeed muttered, heading over to the stairs.  “I’m sure he’s scheming already.”

“I have an idea in mind,” Regis replied, walking up the stairs.  He stopped at the doorway, ensuring none of the nosy crew were within earshot.  “But you know you love it.  All three of us, matching on and off the battlefield, showing that I’m yours and you are mine. ”

“Don’t fret, love,” Kaidan said, wrapping an arm around Zaeed’s shoulders.  “Just think, afterwards we might be able to make that promise to Regis happen.  Except this time, it’s all of us.”

“And I’ll say it again: You aren’t going to ruin my damn suit,” he shot back, opening their closet to pull out three wrapped suits.  One with red detailing, one with blue detailing, and one with yellow detailing.  The human crew sometimes joked about them being the primary colors, but Regis didn’t care.  

All they cared about was looking damn good, and Regis ensured that both on and off the battlefield.  Fabrics made of strong synthetics, able to take a few hits if need be.  Able to tolerate light action.

And be ready for any format event that is thrown at them, like this.  

“A three piece?” Zaeed asked, slipping off the protective sleeve.  “Hmm.  Not bad.  When did you get these ordered?”

“A while back.  Wanted them for our anniversary… but I thought they would be great for this,” Regis said, running his hand down the fabric.  “What do you think?” he asked softly.

“Beautiful work,” Kaidan said.  “Can’t wait to see all of us in them, stealing the show.”

“And that’s the whole point,” Regis said, moving to kiss his cheek.  “Is it bad to say I’m actually looking forward to this?”

“Nah, I know you love showing us off,” Zaeed replied.  “Still doing okay?”

He nodded.  “Thanks, by the way.” “No need to thank me, baby.  Though I did panic a bit when you damn near went limp in my arms.  You needed the rest.  I only wish it was longer.”

“Me too.  I wanted to join the both of you,” Kaidan said, glancing over at the tub.  “Duty called and it still does.”

“It never stops,” Regis agreed.  “Hopefully we’ll get some time to ourselves after this.  We can’t be running this mission without stopping, and I want our apartment back.”

“I’m sure Vik and Ashley will ensure we get all the time we need to ourselves,” Zaeed said, starting to take off his clothes and put on the new suit.  “Or I will make sure of it.”

“You’ll hear no complaints from me, love,” Regis replied.  “Seeing you both out there…”

If he wasn’t covered in fish water, debris, and who knows what else, he would’ve shown his appreciation right then and there.  

“Love, your competency kink is showing,” Kaidan chuckled, moving over to the mirror to gel up his hair.  

“Can you blame me?”

“You know, there’s a reason why we chose those suits to wear…” Kaidan trailed off, heat behind his gaze.  

They continued to chat, recapping the events of earlier today and ensured they all had the details squared way before the event later tonight.

If it wasn’t soured by the threat over his head, Regis would loosen up, enjoy the evening as Regis Shepard-Massani-Alenko, giving interviews, press, and showing off his lovers.  Instead, he has to be careful to not draw any more attention than usual, and worry about the people around them, in case their assailant strikes while he’s vulnerable once more.  

Putting on the suit felt like putting on armor, immediately falling into his media presence persona.  How he wished he could be Regis at this moment, and not the ruthless Admiral.

But this time, he ensured he put the real rings on, the bands replacing the silicone ones that somehow survived the action of the day.  To his utter adoration, his husbands did the same, their commitments to each other shining in the light of their bedroom.

All ready for whatever comes next.  A casino heist at a charity event… if Regis knew where Kasumi was, she would be utterly delighted.

Just another day for Regis and his crew.