#Best Software For Face Recognition

[hayasolutionsca]

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[thirdeye-ai]

The Expansive Applications and Benefits of Facial Recognition Technology

Facial recognition technology is revolutionizing the way organizations enhance security and optimize operational efficiency across various industries. This innovative biometric solution analyzes facial features to verify identities, offering a range of applications that not only bolster security but also streamline numerous processes. In this article, we will explore the various areas where facial recognition can be utilized, the substantial benefits it brings to organizations, and the challenges they might face without these advanced technologies.

Applications of Facial Recognition Technology

1. Gate Security Management

Facial recognition systems are increasingly deployed at entry and exit points in facilities such as corporate offices, manufacturing plants, and high-security zones. These systems allow organizations to manage who enters and exits by verifying identities in real-time. Advanced algorithms assess the facial features of individuals against a database of authorized personnel, granting access only to those who are recognized.

Benefits

Enhanced Security: By ensuring that only individuals with proper clearance can enter sensitive areas, organizations can drastically reduce the risk of unauthorized access and potential security threats.

Quick Identification Process: Real-time facial recognition expedites the identification of individuals, minimizing wait times at access points. This leads to smoother traffic flow and improves overall security efficiency.

Detailed Audit Trails: Most systems maintain logs of access events, allowing security personnel to track who accessed specific areas and when. This feature is invaluable for investigations following security incidents, helping organizations respond promptly to any breaches.

2. Time and Attendance Management

Facial recognition technology is transforming how organizations track employee attendance. By integrating facial recognition systems into timekeeping processes, companies can automate the clock-in and clock-out procedures. Employees simply look at a camera that recognizes their face, recording their attendance without the need for traditional timecards or manual entries.

Benefits

Reduction in Time Theft: By eliminating the potential for buddy punching — where one employee clocks in for another — organizations can significantly reduce labor costs and ensure accurate attendance records.

Data-Driven Insights for Productivity: The automated system collects detailed attendance data, enabling organizations to analyze employee attendance patterns, identify trends, and make informed decisions regarding workforce management.

User-Friendly Experience: The simplicity of facial recognition provides employees with a hassle-free check-in process. Instead of dealing with physical timecards or logging into systems, they can simply glance at the camera, enhancing convenience and job satisfaction.

3. Visitor Management

In many organizations, visitor management is crucial for maintaining security and ensuring a positive experience for guests. Facial recognition technology can streamline the visitor check-in process. Visitors can register using a facial recognition system, which verifies their identity against a pre-approved list before granting access.

Benefits

Increased Security Measures: By quickly identifying visitors and checking them against a database, organizations can prevent unauthorized individuals from entering their premises, enhancing overall safety.

Streamlined and Efficient Check-In Process: Guests no longer need to fill out lengthy paper forms or wait in long lines. The system can verify identities in seconds, significantly improving the visitor experience and reducing bottlenecks.

Comprehensive Visitor Data Collection: The technology can log visitor details, including entry and exit times, which can be used for security analysis and to enhance visitor experience in future engagements.

4. Payroll Management

Facial recognition can also play a pivotal role in streamlining payroll processes. By linking attendance records captured via facial recognition to payroll systems, organizations can automate the entire payroll cycle — from clocking in to processing payments.

Benefits

Efficiency in Payroll Processing: Automating the payroll system reduces the administrative burden on HR departments, allowing them to focus on more strategic tasks rather than manual data entry.

Accuracy in Compensation Calculations: By relying on verified attendance data, organizations can ensure that employees are compensated accurately for the hours they worked, minimizing disputes and errors in pay.

Reduction of Paperwork: Digitizing attendance and payroll processes helps organizations cut down on paper usage, contributing to more environmentally friendly practices while streamlining operations.

5. Field Force Management

For companies with field workers, managing attendance and performance can be challenging. Facial recognition technology provides a robust solution to monitor and verify the identities of field personnel in real-time. This allows organizations to keep track of who is on-site at any given moment.

Benefits

Real-Time Monitoring of Operations: Managers can receive immediate updates on field personnel attendance, allowing them to ensure that projects stay on schedule and that resources are allocated efficiently. Enhanced Accountability Among Workers: The knowledge that their attendance is being monitored encourages field workers to adhere to company policies and report to work as scheduled.

Streamlined Communication with Management: The system can provide instant feedback on attendance and performance metrics, enabling quicker decision-making and better resource management.

6. Canteen Management

Facial recognition technology can greatly enhance operations in employee canteens by automating meal purchases and tracking food balances. Employees can simply look at a camera to pay for their meals without the need for cash or cards.

Benefits

Precise Transaction Records: Automated systems accurately record each employee’s meal purchases, allowing for better inventory management and waste reduction.

Faster Payment Processing: With quick identification, employees can pay for their meals in seconds, significantly improving the dining experience during busy meal times.

Greater Employee Satisfaction: By streamlining the canteen process, organizations can enhance employee satisfaction and promote a positive workplace culture.

7. Employee Self-Service

Facial recognition technology can empower employees by enabling them to manage their attendance and schedules from mobile devices. With a simple facial scan, employees can check in and out, request leave, or update their availability.

Benefits

Increased Flexibility for Employees: This feature allows employees to manage their attendance without needing to physically report to HR, offering them greater flexibility and control over their schedules. Improved Accuracy in Reporting: With biometric verification, the chances of attendance reporting errors are significantly reduced, leading to more accurate workforce management.

Enhanced Employee Empowerment: By providing employees with the tools to manage their own attendance, organizations foster a sense of ownership and responsibility among their workforce.

8. Healthcare Applications

In healthcare environments, facial recognition technology can be used to verify patient identities and streamline the admissions process. Patients can simply check in using facial recognition, which confirms their identity and retrieves their medical records.

Benefits

Enhanced Patient Safety and Security: By ensuring that patients are accurately identified, healthcare providers can minimize the risk of medical errors and mix-ups.

Quicker Admissions Process: The streamlined check-in reduces waiting times for patients, allowing healthcare professionals to focus more on providing care rather than administrative tasks.

Improved Data Privacy: Biometric systems enhance patient data security, ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive medical information.

9. Retail and Customer Experience

In the retail sector, facial recognition technology can be harnessed to analyze customer behavior and preferences, enabling personalized shopping experiences. Retailers can use this data to tailor marketing strategies and enhance customer engagement.

Benefits

Targeted Marketing Initiatives: By recognizing returning customers, retailers can offer personalized promotions and recommendations, improving customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Enhanced Security Against Theft: Facial recognition systems can identify known shoplifters, allowing retailers to take preventative measures to protect their inventory.

Operational Insights for Better Management: Analyzing customer traffic patterns helps retailers optimize store layouts and staff deployment for improved customer service.

Challenges Without Facial Recognition Technology

Despite the numerous benefits of facial recognition technology, organizations that do not adopt this innovative solution may face several challenges, including:

1. Increased Security Risks

Unauthorized Access: Without effective access control measures, organizations may experience higher rates of unauthorized entry, leading to potential security breaches.

Vulnerability to Threats: Traditional security measures, such as ID badges, can be easily compromised, putting organizations at risk.

2. Inefficiencies in Operations

Manual Processes: Organizations may rely on outdated manual systems for attendance tracking and visitor management, leading to increased labor costs and potential errors.

Long Wait Times: Inefficient visitor check-in processes can frustrate guests and lead to negative experiences.

3. Data Inaccuracies

Human Error: Manual record-keeping is prone to mistakes, which can affect payroll calculations and employee records.

Limited Insights: Organizations may miss valuable data that could be used to analyze trends and improve operational efficiency.

4. High Administrative Overhead

Labor-Intensive Tasks: Without automation, HR and security personnel may spend excessive time managing attendance, payroll, and visitor logs, diverting focus from strategic initiatives.

Increased Paperwork: Relying on paper-based systems can lead to clutter and difficulties in managing records.

5. Poor Customer Experience

Frustrated Visitors: Inefficient check-in processes can lead to long wait times, negatively impacting the visitor experience.

Missed Opportunities: Retailers may struggle to personalize customer experiences without data-driven insights from facial recognition technology.

Conclusion

Facial recognition technology offers vast applications across multiple sectors, significantly enhancing security, streamlining operations, and improving overall efficiency. While organizations face challenges without these technologies, embracing facial recognition can provide them with a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced environment.

As businesses increasingly adopt this innovative technology, they can expect improved efficiency, enhanced security measures, and a better experience for employees and customers alike. The future is bright for those willing to leverage facial recognition technology to navigate the complexities of modern operations.

[emptyjunior]

I'm rewatching Starstruck in the break, can I say I DESPERATELY would have loved to have seen this intergalactic chase across the stars from the Other Side😭

Like okay, campaign where you're a crew of kooky spacers on the run, classic, fun, oh the adventures we had.., can you Imagine what this story would have been like from the pursuers side? From Lucienne and UFTP?

You're Lucienne and you just got SCREWED on the corporate ladder and are already dealing with some rich trust fund kid DYING yet also leaving you in Charge of an insane company.

And during that you find out oh my god the world might be destroyed?? And there's a Princeps who has a super special computer that will decide the fate of the universe? So you stash them away to keep them safe and go back to covering up the murder you might be to blame for, because universe destroying computer is like priority TWO right now.

And then you find out?? Your ex lover friend has become a pirate???! And has STOLEN the princeps??! AND THE WORLD ENDING COMPUTER??! And quit??! And posted Nudes to the world??! And they look amazing?

So okay okay new priority is FIND THEM right NOW so you send all the resources in the world to go snatch them up which should be easy enough because you've seen them run, they're literally a weak and flailing office worker in a pencil skirt.

Welp! Next report comes in and they exploded a building with sex putty??? And decimated a fleet of the best fighters you can hire? And had time to go to a dogshow in between???

Fine, okay, it's fine because you KNOW they'll slip up again and they do! They show up,,., in a live stream? Partying with the ceo of space uber?? In a casino? That they just OPENED? WHILE THEY'RE ON THE RUN?!

So you go to that planet and go to contact the sheriff and his Head is on a Fucking Spike because your Friend absolutely wasted him? And kicked every police officer out of town so the whole town could go super super hard for space burning man?

And have escaped Again.

So now you're in some kind of room with like 20 screens and probably two blackberries in each hand, going full manhunt. Face recognition software, algorithms, zooming in on photos and yelling Enhance.

And you find them! And they👏 are👏 at👏 Disneyland👏! What! The! Fuck!

You send your best guys again! (And also??! These 'best guys' maybe have a space slug in their skull that's going to end the world! Can't even focus on that rn!). And then when they get back, happy and proud they show you the Princeps that they've captured and it's god damned thin air! Because it was a hologram and this dumb sonuva bitch is zonked out of his mind from a fish psychic. Great, of course. Of Course.

You're being hounded by your company, you still don't know where your 'dead fiance' is, you're running out of time. How are you ever going to find them- You check your phone they are doing a hunger games at Las Vegas. And a rival company has made them influencers. And they're famous.

Of course.

But you do pull it off in the end! You get them! You imprison them! And their one fatal flaw? They decided to reunite one of their crew members with their birth mother while being wanted criminals.

So that's the chase you got them (they escape again of course they escape, and the birth mother turns out to be a Hell of a business woman and maybe just did a masterful corporate maneuver on you.)

And it's so important to know that this entire time you've been chasing a Big Hot Dog.

[eightyonekilograms]

I went to the Apple Store yesterday to try the scripted demo of their VR headset. My overall impression is that it's the best possible execution of what might be a fundamentally flawed idea.

The passthrough video is pretty incredible. It's somewhat dimmer than reality, and the color accuracy is just OK, but it's more than good enough to feel like you're looking through clear displays at the real world. I'm told the passthrough on the Quest 3 is even better, but haven't tried that and can't comment. One thing is that there is a weird motion blur effect when you turn your head, I'm not sure if that's a display tech limitation or introduced deliberately by the software as a workaround for a different display tech limitation.

The resolution is 4K per eye, which, as mentioned, is more than enough for a powerful sense of presence in the real world. One of the nifty bits of the demo was when you turn the dial to tune out the world and suddenly you're sitting by a mountain lake, and the feeling of actually being there is overwhelming. The dystopian implications of needing a VR headset to sit at a mountain lake aside, it would be cool to have one just to have your office be anywhere you can imagine. Not $3500-before-tax cool, but cool.

Wow sports leagues are going to love this thing. I don't give a shit about sports and even I was thinking, "If the NBA put a stereoscopic camera courtside and sold you games for $50 a pop, I'd absolutely buy that"

But 4K per eye is not enough to do work, not even close. The experience of using normal computer-y applications on this was not unlike plugging your laptop in to a TV that's at the normal TV distance. You can do it, it works, but it's not anyone's preferred way of working. Text is amazingly legible, but only at sizes that are equivalent to having a single webpage take up your entire 4K monitor at normal monitor distance.

It is not particularly comfortable. Part of this might be that the store demo makes you use the "catcher's mitt" strap, which only goes around the back of your head and so gravity has to be countered only by the pressure of the thing against your face. Reviewers have said that if you use the other band that goes over your head the situation is better, but still.

A lot of early comments were making fun of Apple for having the battery be an external thing you put in your pocket and attach with a wire, but I think that's just fine: we all walk around with giant batteries in our pockets anyway, and anything you can do to have less weight on your head is a Good Thing. But then Apple took all those weight savings and spent them on making the stupid thing out of metal and glass instead of polycarbonate. It's nuts! It's like if you made a car that was 500kg lighter because you invented magical tech for keeping the engine somewhere else, and then went "great! with all the weight savings now we can build the body out of lead". Apple, you don't need to fear plastic. Plastic is good! Plastic built modern civilization.

You control it with a combination of eye tracking and pinch gestures. This is the main piece of evidence of my "best version of a bad idea" thesis: it works really, really well; so well that I can tell this is probably an evolutionary dead end. It's just fine— miraculous, even— for dragging windows around and doing the basic stuff the in-store demo has you do. It's amazing that you can more or less have your hands anywhere, including on your lap, and the recognition works perfectly (by contrast with the HoloLens I tried 5 or so years ago where the gesture recognition was total crap). But it's immediately obvious that you can never do serious manipulation of your computing environment with this.

The takeaway is that it's incredible for passive consumption of specifically-made media, assuming that ever exists at scale. But it will be a long time before we're gogged in like Hiro Protagonist to do our office jobs this way.

[scoonsalicious]

Unwanted: Chapter 24, Undercover - Pt. 3

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Fem!Reader

Summary: When your FWB relationship with your best friend Bucky Barnes turns into something more, you couldn’t be happier. That is, however, until a new Avenger sets her sights on your super soldier and he inadvertently breaks your heart. You take on a mission you might not be prepared for to put some distance between the two of you and open yourself up to past traumas. Too bad the only one who can help you heal is the one person you can no longer trust.

Warnings: (For this part only; see Story Masterlist for general Warnings) Language, mentions of drug use, human trafficking, car accident.

Word Count: 806

Previously On...: You woke up to some unsettling news.

A/N: Bye bye, Ole Sammy :(

I'm just messing with you-- he leaves, but nothing bad happens to him! I love him too much!

NOTE! The tag list is a fickle bitch, so I'm not really going to be dealing with it anymore. If you want to be notified when new story parts drop, please follow @scoonsaliciousupdates

Banner By: The absolutely amazing @mrsbuckybarnes1917!

Thank you to all those who have been reading; if you like what you've read, likes, comments, and reblogs give me life, and I truly appreciate them, and you!

Taglist: (Sadly, tag list is closed; Tumblr will not let me add anyone new. If you want to be notified when I update, please Follow me for Notifications!) @jmeelee @cazellen @mrsbuckybarnes1917 @blackhawkfanatic @buckybarnessimpp @hayjat @capswife @itsteambarnes @marygoddessofmischief @sebastians-love @learisa @lethallyprotected @rabbitrabbit12321 @buckybarnesandmarvel @fanfictiongirl77 @calwitch @fantasyfootballchampion @selella @jackiehollanderr @wintercrows @sashaisready @missvelvetsstuff @angelbabyyy99 @keylimebeag @maybefoxysouls @vicmc624 @j23r23 @wintercrows @crist1216 @cjand10 @pattiemac1@les-sel @dottirose @winterslove1917 @harperkenobi @ivet4 @casey1-2007 @mrsevans90 @steeph-aniie @bean-bean2000 @beanbagbitch @peachiestevie @wintrsoldrluvr @shadowzena43

Tumblr will not let me directly tag the following: @marcswife21 @erelierraceala @jupiter-107 @doublejeon @hiqhkey @unaxv @brookeleclerc

“Why didn’t you try to follow them?” Sam asked back at the apartment, once you’d told him about Kozlov’s visitors. He was so pissed at you for being out all night without sending word, but his anger quickly turned to concern once you had explained what had happened to Chloe.

“I wasn’t there when they took her,” you told him, which, technically, wasn’t a lie. You weren’t there mentally at the time. “I only heard about it this morning from another girl who saw her leave with them.

You were perched in front of your laptop, running through the club’s security feed that you’d managed to hack into. You were looking for any shots of Chloe, your hope being that, once you had captured her image, you could run it through facial recognition software. Hopefully, she’d been caught on a surveillance camera at some point after she’d been taken. If you were lucky, you might be able to narrow down her location based on what cameras she’d been seen on. It was a long shot, but it was the only one you had at the moment.

You’d been staring at the screen running the facial recognition for about an hour when Sam’s phone rang. Your stomach twisted, and you were worried it might be Bucky calling again. 

“Relax,” said Sam when he saw you tense at the sound. “It’s just Sarah.” He accepted the call and brought the phone to his ear. “Sister!” he greeted cheerfully. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

You watched Sam’s face fall as Sarah talked to him, morphing into deep concern. “What?! When? … Who was he with? … Well, is he alright?” You sat up straighter. You instantly felt a sense of deja vu, bringing you back to when Tony had gotten the call about Rhodey, and you knew something was terribly wrong. “Which hospital? … No, I’m gonna fly straight down. Today. … Don’t worry about that, Sarah. … He’s my nephew! Of course I’m gonna be there! … I’ll call you when I get to the airport. … Be strong, okay? He’s gonna be fine. You gotta have faith. … Love you, too.” He turned to face you, anguish written across his features.

“What is it?” you asked, heart racing with fear. “Is it one of the boys? What happened?”

“It’s A.J.,” Sam said, his voice cracking. “A friend’s dad was bringin’ him home from soccer practice and they got into an accident.” Your hands flew to your mouth. “He’s alive,” Sam clarified, before you had the chance to ask. “But he’s unconscious; hurt real bad. They had to airlift him to the trauma center at Ochsner LSU in Shreveport.”

Sam began moving through the apartment, collecting his belongings and stuffing them in his go-bag. “I’m so sorry, Pocket.”

“Sam, don’t,” you said, making him pause for a moment by putting a hand on his shoulder. “He’s your nephew. You need to be there. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t wanna leave you with the mess all alone,” Sam said. “‘Specially now that there’s a new missing girl.”

“It’s okay,” you told him. “I’ve got no leads right now, and only a miniscule potential breadcrumb trail to follow with the facial recognition. If anything starts to heat up, or there’s new info, I’ll call Tony, make him come down, okay?”

Sam studied you, as though he wasn’t sure leaving you was the right thing to do. “The second things get even a hint of dicy,” he said, “you’ll call Stark? You won’t play hero?”

You held up the three middle fingers of your left hand. “Scouts’ honor,” you told him.

“Baby Girl, I know you ain’t ever been any kinda scout,” Sam gently teased.

Once he’d finished his rushed packing, he pulled you in for a tight hug and kissed you on the temple. “I’m so sorry,” he reiterated.

“Stop apologizing and go be with your family,” you said. “Do you need me to drive you to the airport?”

Sam shook his head. “Nah; too far outta your way. Besides, I already ordered an Uber while you were looking for my phone charger.”

“Give my love to Sarah and Cas,” you told him as you walked him to the door. “And let her know A.J.’s in my thoughts. When he wakes up, give him the biggest hug from me, okay? But don’t hurt him!”

Sam smiled at you. “Will do, Baby Girl. Don’t forget, you call Stark the second you need anything, right?”

“Right,” you agreed. And with that, he was out the door, and you were alone. With a sigh, you turned to face the now empty apartment. This was fine. A.J. would be fine. Everything was fine. You would be fine.

Well, you’d be right about one of those four things, anyway.

<- Previous Part / Next Chapter ->

[drefear]

Hail to the King

Chapter 5: Distractions

Summary: Miguel O’Hara is the head of the biggest mafia family in Nueva York, scaring almost all of its citizens. Except you. And that’s exactly what he needs. 

TW: mentions of smut, reader is a lot ruder now, Miguel's still kinda annoying, stalking, lying.

A/N: This chapter is not very horny, I know, but it’s a lot of story for the plot, so bare with me (there’s a little bit of sexy in the next part tho so don’t worry)

The days at Gwen’s were peaceful and calming, having someone around to help you mentally sort through your mess. She was sweet and honest about everything, and you couldn’t help but love having a friend through all of this insanity. 

Lyla visited the second day and brought some sort of news, although you weren’t so sure if it was good or bad. 

“So there was a man coming to my fire escape?” You cleared up and Lyla nodded, big sunglasses on the top of her head now. Her eyes glanced between you and Gwen before she spoke again. 

“I had facial recognition software identify him, and he seems to be a part of another mob in Nueva York.” She opened her laptop and activated the holographic spectating, using a special glove that only covered three of her fingers and poking at the holograms. Expanding to one area, she showed you his face closer. Your eyes scanned something before your eyes widened. “Stop.” You touched her shoulder, “That… that was Eddie’s best friend, he was at our wedding.” You mumbled, thinking to yourself about the guest list you’d worked so hard on. The two women stared at you as you pulled out your phone and scrolled through many photos, landing on one and zooming in. You were right. In the far left corner, smiling, was that man. 

“What was his name?” Gwen asked, and you and Lyla both answered at the same time. 

“William Baker.” The two of you looked at each other and you just sighed. 

“Listen, I know you’re not going to want to hear this, but you need to stay somewhere else for a few days.” Lyla continued and Gwen just nodded along, but you slumped your shoulders. 

“I can’t keep staying here, what if they find me here? I’d be putting Gwen in danger.” You frantically looked between Lyla and Gwen, and Lyla bit her lip. 

“Stay with one of the guys. Hoobie used to let me stay over all the time-” Gwen spoke, but your brows furrowed. 

“How do you know Hobie?” You asked and Gwen’s eyes snapped to yours, then to Lyla’s. Something was wrong again, you could feel it. You repeated your question, this time much more firm. “Gwen. How do you know Hobie?” 

“He’s… he would come into the restaurant sometimes, he’s a lot closer to Miles than he is with me-” She smiled, but you weren’t buying it. They were all keeping something from you. 

“He was closer to Miles, but he used to let you sleep over?” You clarified, and she scratched her head. 

“Yeah, well, it was only once or twice, I was just exaggerating.” 

“Uh-huh.” You stared her down before hearing your cell phone ring, MIguel’s name popping up as you shot her a warning glance once more. “I’m going to answer him, and then you’re going to tell me what you’re hiding.” A look of relief crossed Gwen’s face before you stood up and moved to go talk in the kitchen. “Yes?” You answered, now annoyed. 

“Has Lyla filled you in yet?” He spoke with finality. 

“Yeah, and I know him. He was friends with Eddie, and he was at my wedding, so I guess you were right about the outside help.” Your lips hated how the conversation tasted as you admitted he was right. 

“Miggy, come back to bed.” A feminine voice spoke from Miguel’s end of the phone and you just scrunched your eyes together. 

“I’m busy.” He answered, and you could hear the irritation in how he spoke. 

“You sound like you’ve had a good morning so far.” You shot at him and he groaned. 

“Not in the slightest. These women are too clingy, I can’t stand it.” He explained in frustration and you could hear a door slam shut. 

“Well, as much as I’d love to discuss your personal problems, I have other issues to ask about.” “Shoot.” 

“What is Gwen hiding from me?” You asked and his side fell quiet, something you weren’t used to. He always had some sarcastic one liners to shut you up, or shut you down with. His silence usually meant that the truth was bad. 

“In this line of business, if you’re not being told something, it’s almost always for your own good. Try not to meddle too deep, or you might not like what you find.” 

“Don’t try to say some hero shit, I want the truth if I can’t even sleep in my own bed.” You demanded and he just sighed. 

“Fine. Come to my apartment in two hours.” He concluded and hung up, leaving you without a solid answer once more. The bastard. 

Time felt like it was moving slower than normal as you got ready, Lyla sitting on Gwen’s bed as you got dressed.

“I feel like Miguel just needs a woman to put him in his place, ya know?” Lyla rambled on about how your boss was just a big softie with female problems, but you weren’t buying it. 

“He needs to see a therapist for his sex addiction, actually.” You answered, which made Lyla laugh as Gwen sat quietly. She’d looked guilty ever since you’d come back from your phone call with Miguel. Who could blame her? She was lying about your safety, hiding crucial information from you while you were staying under her roof. It felt awful. 

“Maybe he’s lonely?” Gwen chimed in, making both you and Lyla answer at the same time once more. 

“Definitely not.” The synchronization made you all laugh. Gwen was a wonderful friend, that was for sure, but Lyla was a whole other level of bonding. It was as if she was programmed to be your best friend, and she was doing an incredible job. 

The three of you gabbed on for a while until a car arrived in the lobby of Gwen’s apartment building to take you to see Miguel. 

Your feet felt like lead as you begrudgingly walked into the elevator and hit the button for the penthouse. A buzz rang through the wall of the elevator and a feminine voice answered. “Can I help you?” 

“Lyla.” You spoke and there was a laugh. 

“Yeah, I know! I just thought it’d be funny.” A ding sound indicated that she had let you bypass the security system for his apartment and the elevator moved. You leaned your head to the back of the elevator and sighed, closing your eyes. The exhaustion of the past few days had finally hit you like a ton of bricks, made your body want to bend over and curl into a ball. You wanted a nap. 

The doors opened again and your eyes darted around in surprise. You’d known Miguel was rich and organized, but his apartment was something you saw in a magazine. Nothing could have prepared you for how his personal space might look. 

He walked down a flight of stairs towards where you stood in the center of his living room, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants. You wondered if this man only owned suits and sweats. 

“You’re late.” 

“Nice to see you, too.” You answered his blunt rudeness as he gestured for you to sit on his couch. “Ok, answers.” You stated and he rolled his eyes, grabbing two bottles of water and handing you one. 

“Let’s start with the most important part. Your ex has been working with Kingpin, my biggest rival and one of the worst mobs in the city. He directly works with sex trades and child labor.” He sat next to you and leaned back into the soft cushions, as if he was just speaking about his day. You immediately hated this Kingpin guy. “We’ve found that your ex has been intertwined with Kingpin for a very long time, and even has some pull with Kingpin. His title among Kingpin is Venom, and he specializes in making people disappear.” 

“Disappear?” You asked, as if you didn’t know the answer already, and Miguel brought his hands up to make air quotes, confirming your assumption. 

“This is more of a newer specialty of his, in the last year. How long has it been since you two were living together?” You clear your throat, fear catching onto your tongue and making it feel heavy. “A-About a year. We were separated for a bit and I’d come home on and off, or he’d leave for long periods of time.” You touched your throat, imagining what he could have been doing while he was gone. “Was I- Did I marry a murderer?” Miguel just stared down towards the floor, expression unreadable and almost stoic except for the small crinkle between his eyebrows. 

“You’re surrounded by murderers, technically.” He answered and your breath caught in your throat, but he continued, “Something you should remember is that everyone has the ability to be a killer, and many people use that ability, but few people use that ability for the good of the world.” He spoke softly and you nodded, a chill creeping up the back of your neck. 

“Where do you fall?” Your voice was barely above a whisper, and he leaned forward onto his elbows, bowing his head. 

“I like to think everything I do is for the better of everyone, even if I go down in the process.” The gravel of his voice makes you feel warm and a flame sparks in your stomach, a new feeling. You scoot closer to him and continue to listen. “Those I train, or who work for me, they don’t just join for fame or notoriety. A lot of them were wronged by life, innocent until they were forced to learn how to see in the dark. That includes Gwen.” His eyes flash to you and it’s as if they turn you to stone, not being able to move on your own accord. “And that now includes you.” 

“What if I don’t want to?” “Then you can turn around and try to survive blindly. You can pretend nothing ever happened, and hope that it doesn’t follow you around for the rest of your life.” He stares into your eyes harder, more serious, and you begin to wonder when he got so close. “But that hope doesn’t usually last long.” 

Silence drips down the length of the walls as you two sit, inches from one another, smelling his breath and feeling the heat of his body so close to yours. As you're both about to collide, a loud ding sounds around the apartment and you jump backwards from the sudden interruption. Miguel barely even reacts, a deep frown on his features now as he turns to the elevator. 

“Hey!” A friendly voice echoes off of the walls and footsteps follow as you turn to see Peter walking towards you both. He stops at the sight of Miguel’s angry face and flashes a look between the two of you. “Am I bothering you?” 

“The answer is always yes, Peter.” Miguel stands and makes his way towards the other. 

“Jeez, I was just here to pick up the tech and lists for the event, but if I’m such a bother-” 

“Shut up and take it.” The larger of the two demands and you stand up, finally getting your bearings and coming to your senses. Your mind thought about Miguel saying those words to you in a very different scenario, but you quickly snapped out of it. He was your boss. Your whorish, annoying, rude boss with a taste for organized crime. 

That’s going to be a hard no. 

Standing up, you looked away and waited for him to be done. Peter’s eyes found your form and he launched over to you in a hurry. “How are you? It’s been so long, Miles says he misses you all the time, always making jokes you’d laugh at.” He rambles and you nod, smiling wide at the thought of being around Peter and Miles again. Miguel stands behind Peter, scowling at his distracted nature and folding his arms angrily. 

“I miss you all too.” You concluded. 

God, did you want to escape already. 

Peter finally left after going on and on about his daughter for around 10 minutes, to which Miguel finally snapped and started yelling in spanish. You just stood there and watched the interaction as they bickered and Miguel forced Peter out. He sighed once the elevator doors closed and leaned on the wall for a moment. As he stood there, almost statuesque, you took in his size and it finally hit you. How large he is. You bit your lip and thought about the seconds before Peter walked in unannounced. 

What would have happened if he didn’t break you two out of that seductive trance? Your cheeks began to heat up and you turned to look out the window. 

“Are you prepared for the gala?” His voice broke you from your trance, and you nodded, not meeting his eyes as he spoke. This seemed to irritate him. “You picked a dress? I want to see it.” He announced, and you finally looked up, now giving him a dirty look. “I don’t trust your sense of style.” 

“Too bad. Beggars can’t be choosers.” You hissed and he stalked to you in a few steps, showing his size from how few strides he had to take to walk across his wide apartment to meet you. 

His head bent down to give you a dark look. “I never beg.” He stated as a fact and you felt a shiver move through your spine. Shaking your head, you still refused. “You’re making me go, I’m picking the dress.” This seemed to be a battle of wills and neither of you were breaking. “Is that all?” You asked and placed your hands on your hips, attitude obvious in the snark of your words. He clicked his tongue. 

“That’s all, for now, but I might need to teach you manners soon if you keep this spoiled brat act up.” His words made your eyes go wide with anger. 

“Spoiled brat?” You barked and he smirked, enjoying getting a rise out of you. “Now, get out. I have someone coming soon, since my morning release didn’t work out.” He turned his back to you once more, and you admired how broad his shoulders were, how his back muscles rippled and shifted. He exuded power, and you’d be damned if you let him get the best of you. 

The words Gwen said echoed in your head. ‘Maybe he’s just lonely.’ 

“Maybe your morning release would be more satisfying if you didn’t get head at random times of day.” When he didn’t react, you continued, not fully understanding where this annoyance about his sex life was coming from anymore. “Maybe you’re just lonely.” The words came out before you could stop them and he finally turned back to face you, an incredulous look on his face from your audacity. “Either way, I don’t want to lay witness to whatever stupid married woman you convince to jerk you off with tweezers.” You stomped towards the elevator and pouted for a second before his hand shot out and grabbed your wrist. 

“Hijo de su-” You could barely hear the rest of whatever he said as he yanked your body towards him. He glowered down at your shocked face as he picked up his phone and listened to it ring. 

“Yo.” Lyla answered and Miguel stared down into your eyes. “Cancel the girl. There’s something I need to fix right now.”

Chapter 4

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[lunas-nargle]

↳ten

chapter ten of "meddle about" series brian o'connor x reader

x. electric blue

Five years have passed since that day.

Five years since she lost one of her best friends. 

Five years since she last saw Dom, Leon, or Vince. 

Five years since she lost the love of her life. 

Life's been quiet since then. 

Mia graduated college and eventually got a job at the firm she's always wanted to work for. Monty moved in with them as well. It didn't bother Y/n one bit as he was the person who made Mia the happiest. And her happiness is the only thing keeping Y/n alive. 

Y/n decided to go back to school, finish up the degree she was majoring in. She eventually graduated and got a job. She was floating, but barley. 

But one morning, her life preserve sunk completely. 

Y/n was awoken by her phone ringing. She groaned for a moment, annoyed by the sudden wake-up call. She looked and saw it was Mia; her and Monty were in a different state for a work thing. She eventually sighed and answered the phone. 

"Hello?" Y/n said with a yawn. She was wide awake once she heard sniffling on the other side of the phone. "Mia? What's wrong?"

"She's gone, Y/n." She sniffled once again. "She's gone."

"Who's gone?" Mia didn't answer right away. "Who, Mia? Who's gone?"

"Letty." Y/n's heart dropped. Tears filled her eyes as she took a shaky breath in. 

"How?" she asked.

"She was murdered, Y/n." 

"Brothers and sisters," the priest said. "we have gathered here to pay our final respects." 

Brian O'Conner stood in the distance, watching the ceremony take place. He looked different. Older. His blonde hair was shorter while he was sporting a little scruff. He stood by the cars, looking at one person in particular. Y/n Toretto. 

After five years of longing for her, there she was in all her beauty. She looked as she did when he'd last saw her. Just as beautiful, just as golden as the days he'd visit her in the shop. 

One of the other agents slid up beside him and said, "Facial recognition software matched Toretto about ten minutes after he crossed the border." Brian watched as Y/n comforted her younger cousin. "I don't get it. I thought he'd show." 

And in that moment, her eyes finally met his.

Y/n couldn't believe it. There he was, in all his glory, standing next to a couple sleek, black cars. His eyes blared into hers, seeing every aspect of heartbreak that was swimming in them. 

She was the first one to look away, and it was the first time she'd had the strength to look away from those electric blue eyes. 

Mia slept over in Y/n's room. I mean Y/n wasn't complaining. All the girl wanted was comfort from the only family she had at the moment. Eventually, Mia fell asleep with dried tears staining her face. She's been on and off since the funeral earlier that day, and Y/n couldn't blame her. 

Y/n eventually got up and started rummaging around the house, cleaning and getting rid of anything that they didn't need. 

"Hey." Monty said, coming into the kitchen where Y/n was washing the dishes.

"Hi." Y/n mumbled, glancing over at him.

"How is she?" he asked, knowing Mia was crushed by the fall of their friend. 

"She's upset." Y/n replied. "I mean, I don't blame her. Letty was family."

"How are you?" Monty asked, hesitantly. Y/n was so worried about Mia's emotions that she hasn't even gotten to grieve herself. Of course when she got the news, she sobbed but ever since, she's been quiet. She'd busy herself, just wanting to distract herself from reality. 

"I'm fine." she shrugged. Monty gave her a look, not believing her one bit. "Seriously, I don't dwell on things too much. I mean of course I'm upset about it, but it's a part of life, things happen, ya know."

"I saw Brian." Monty said, finally after a beat of silence.

"Yeah, me too." Y/n whispered, remembering those blue eyes glaring into hers. She finished the dishes, and started to move towards the table where a box sat. "Uh, I'm gonna take this to the garage." 

Monty nodded, worried for his friend. He's never seen her this anxious, frantic even. But he didn't want to push it. He didn't want her to crack. 

Y/n walked out of the back door, box in hand, and into the garage. She put the box down on one of the old tables. Suddenly, she heard a rustling from the back of the shed. She turned to see the last person she'd ever thought standing behind her.

"Dom." she mumbled, teary eyed. Y/n then ran towards him, pulling him into a tight hug. "You shouldn't be here. They're staking the place out. If they find you here..." 

"They won't." Dom said. "Look at you." Dom pressed a hand onto her cheek. "You're grown up." 

"Yeah, you can say that." Y/n's tears finally welled over, streaming down her cheeks. 

Dom looked around in silence, soaking up the moment. As he did, he thought of the memories this place holds. The team, his family....Brian. He remembered when he had that conversation about his dad in this place. Dom thought he could trust him but obviously his trust was burned to the ground.

His eyes then fell onto his dad's old challenger. He glanced at Y/n before going over and inspecting it. 

"Letty and I wouldn't let them junk it." Y/n commented "When she came back, we'd always be in here. Trying as hard as we can to try and fix it up, ya know. Day and night. It was weird. I think we just knew you'd come back."

"I wanna see the crash site." Dom told her, tears filling his eyes. 

[spinchip]

NEVER THE DARK

CHAPTER 13

Read on Ao3

Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12

!WARNING: refrences to ancient, non graphic child loss!

NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN LOST. // ALL IS TRUTH AND WAY.

“Gravis, Griffin, and I just arrived on scene, Pix.” Skylors voice crackles through her radio, “The civilian reports weren’t exaggerating- there’s a giant, er, slug-like animal here. In fact, ‘giant’ might even be an understatement.” Her girlfriend sounds openly bewildered.

Pix frowns, “Is it hostile?”

“Not on purpose. It keeps picking up cars and uprooting traffic lights, but it doesn't seem aware it’s doing it. It’s just bumping into things and they’re sticking.” Skylor reports, “The trail of slime it’s leaving is smoking, though, but it doesn’t look like it’s eating at the road.”

“Have Gravis move it to a less densely populated area- out of town completely would be best if at all possible.”

“Already on it. I’ll call Warden Nobel and have him bring us another containment cell.”

Skylor was always on the ball in the field, and Pixal was grateful she was by her side, “Thank you, Sky. Can you alert Commissioner McLane to the possible hazardous materials and have him block off the street until we can have Tox examine it?”

“I’ll send speedster over now.”

At Skylors affirmative, Pixal sets her radio to the side and continues looking through her extensive set of videos pulled from all over Ninjago city. She trusted her father had done what he could to get a hit on Dixie with his facial recognition software, but she wanted to be extra certain she couldn’t find the other woman the same way. She’d started with the cameras around the museum in an attempt to find the escape route the other thief had taken after defeating the ninja, but had come up with nothing. Despite having the technology to feed these videos into and get results in a matter of seconds, Pixal chose to go through the cameras with her own eyes. Her pattern and facial recognition was leagues above any of the market value programs, and if anyone was going to catch the woman’s face in the background of a walmart CCTV feed it would be her. The woman was incredibly skilled at avoiding cameras, apparently, because Pixal was coming up with nothing, nothing, and more nothing. She even had video archives open from years and years ago, hoping to comb through them all and find a facial match for her, to at least give her something to go off of. No luck there, either.

The last set of camera feeds on her upper set of screens is current security footage from several different vantage points throughout Ninjago- these weren’t monitoring for the thief. She’d tapped these in order to monitor the streets of Ninjago which were quickly becoming overrun with monsters she’d never seen before. The slug incident today was the latest in a long line of beasts that seemed to just… appear and begin wrecking havoc. The other elemental masters had been up to their ears in emergency situations, evacuations, and damage control. Today, it was a slug, a skittering weevil-like creature that crashed into several storefronts before dying in downtown Ninjago with no warning, and a flock of birds with bony protrusions on their back and acid spit. The past week has been much the same.

It was sheer good luck that Kryptarium prisons' deeper, more fortified cells were able to contain these animals.

As Pixal flicks through the camera feeds, there’s a familiar chime from her phone. She snatches it up and punches the answer button before the second ring, “Ronin.” She greets briskly, keeping her eyes on the screen as she leans back and crosses her arms.

“You called?” He drawls through the phone, and she can clearly envision him leaned back with his feet propped upon his desk. The very picture of relaxed.

“I need you in Ninjago yesterday. Your expertise is required.” She says immediately, not bothering to beat around the bush.

“Yeah, Yeah, I got your voicemail.” There’s a shuffle on his end, as if he’ sitting up in interest at the topic, “What’s in it for me?”

“You will have a hand in saving Ninjago.” She says flatly. He makes a noncommittal grunt and she barely resists rolling her eyes, “Fine.” She slaps her keyboard and pulls up his criminal record, “You have three unpaid fines here that have put out a warrant for your arrest for- really? Those are huge fines for… illegal parking?”

“I know!”

“Consider them paid off… if you come to Borg tower.” She bargains.

There’s another grunt, this time a winded cough of exertion as he gets to his feet. “What do you need me for anyway?” He grumbles, yawning into the phone.

Pixal slumps a little, “There is a new villain in town- he is working with bounty hunters. I need your help identifying one of the girls working for him.”

“You know not every bounty hunter knows each other, right?”

“I am aware that you and her have spent several years in this profession at the same time.” She says coolly, “If anyone were to know her, it would be you. Will you come?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming to Borg tower. It’ll be a few hours.” She hears the jangle of keys on the other line, “Don’t forget to take care of my fines.”

With one hand, Pixal infiltrates the police database and erases the marks off his criminal record entirely. There was no hint that he’d ever so much as looked at an illegal parking space. It takes ten seconds at most,  “Done.” She says simply, and hangs up the phone.

Another hour of nothing passes by, with a brief update from Skylor about the slug and no further activity on the cameras to be concerned about. She checks her email a few times and shoots Wu another text that he doesn’t respond to- he’d gone out to Misakos current archeological dig site to discuss the gauntlet with her, and was completely off the grid because of it. Or he was ignoring her texts. Pixal has a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that he was hiding something, but there’s no proof other than her gut feeling. She wouldn't start anything over a bad vibe.

She does another useless search for the gauntlet and once again comes up empty- there was nothing about the artifact on the internet or in any digitized academic databases she checked. There were mentions of gauntlets or sets of armor, but nothing that matched up with the powers they’d seen so far. The longer Wu went without checking in, the more certain Pixal became that he’d hit a wall too. All Misakos encyclopedic history knowledge, and even she hadn't heard of this thing… Where were they supposed to go from here?

She’s so lost in thought that the sudden screech of the red panic alarm above her head causes her to launch up out of her chair and to her feet, staggering with the surge of pseudo-adrenaline that floods her processor. She scrambles for her radio and flips it to the correct frequency just in time to hear Dareth's panicked voice shouting from the line, “-taking him to the roof!”

“Dareth! What’s going on?” Pixal demands, reaching out and turning off the alarm with the keypad next to the wall before taking off towards the elevator.

“The thief is back, and she’s stealing your father!” Dareth wails through the radio.

Pixal punches the elevator call button four times in a panic despite the fact the extra pushes won’t will it to get here any faster. This is exactly why she advocated for stairs in the ninja's private penthouse- a project the others continually put off. (“We can just jump out the window and airjitzu down. No big deal!” Well what about if you need to go up!) Stupid! “What?” She demands, squeezing through the elevator doors before they’ve fully opened.

“I’ll explain later- right now you need to get to the roof!” He says urgently, his cartoony voice uncharacteristically serious.

“I am headed that way now. I will meet you there-”

“Sorry, Pix, but you’re on your own here.” His voice comes through with a wince, “I’m down for the count.”

She feels a cold chill sweep over her body, “Are you okay?”

“I’m not dying. Get to the roof, save your father, and we’ll worry about me later.” His voice comes through firm and gentle- there’d been a time where Pixal had written Dareth off as someone she’d always need to protect, but moments like this remind Pixal that Dareth was steady and solid. He’d been training ever since her Father asked him to stay by his side, his skills had grown and he’d become a formidable opponent. It had to have been someone strong to put him down- and he definitely didn't get benched without putting up a fight.

She had to be ready when these doors opened.

“Call Skylor.” She orders, the act of taking control offering her a calm she desperately needed, “She was on her way back to the tower, she can get to you quicker than I can. Do not die.”

“Ten-four, Boss.”

There’s no more time to talk. The elevator doors open up to the roof with a ding! And immediately Pixal is assaulted by whipping wind and the loud roar of helicopter blades slicing the air into pieces. She rushes out onto the tarmac, sprinting straight for the group of people loading her struggling father into the helicopter. Standing out from the black clad ensemble is a shock of bright pink hair. The thief, the woman who took her friends away, looks back at her with a bored, neutral expression. Pixels coolant feels like it’s boiling. The other woman turns towards another member of her crew and says something Pixal can’t hear through all the noise and motions to the sky as if to say shoo!

Then, without a second of hesitation, she spins around and charges at Pixal in return. She’s fast, putting a significant amount of space between Pixal and her father when the two women meet in a clash of fists on the middle of the roof. Pixal has to keep her head on straight, but she can feel her calm, controlled mask rapidly deteriorating each time she catches a glimpse of her father getting strapped into the Helicopters back seat.

He’s looking at her with fear in his eyes, but there’s a calm reassurance there- he knows she won’t get to him in time. It’s okay, Pixal.

A pang of heartbreak bruises her power core. She feels her fighting turn vicious, jabs and punches hitting and hitting hard, until she finally slams the woman face down against the roof. She whips out a set of cuffs from her jumpsuit and slaps them on her wrists- They activate with a hum and Pixal jabs the power button frantically. The cuff link beeps and Pixal slams the woman's wrists down on the rooftop beneath her, the cuffs latching onto the roof and rendering her immobile.

Pixal leaps to her feet and spins around- the helicopter is off the roof, probably has been for a while, and it’s flying across Ninjago faster than Pixal could feasibly catch. She’d have to race down the stairs to the sub basement, gear up, and then give chase- they’d be gone by then. They were already gone.

Her chest feels like it’s caving in. Why? Why can’t she save the people she loves? Why is she always on the sidelines, just a second too late?

Pull yourself together. She takes a deep, shuddering breath just to move air through her circuits. The thick smell of asphalt brings her mind back to the current issue- she turns around to find the thief still cuffed to the roof, her mouth and nose covered with blood and that infuriating bored expression on her face.

A ringing fills Pixal head and she feels disconnected from her body, pushing away her despair so hard she distances herself from her own processor.

Pixal hauls her up and takes her down the stairs to the ninjas level, not caring when she stumbles to keep up with Pixals rapid pace. She can’t care about anything right now. They rarely use the actual interrogation room, but Pixal fishes out the key for it now. On one side is the classic one-way glass and a few metal chairs seated at a metal table securely fastened to the floor. Pixal uncuffs the restrictive suppression bonds and switches them out for classic metal cuffs, weaving the chain through another padlock and chain attached to the table so she doesn’t get any funny ideas. She’s moving on autopilot, clicking locks together with practiced, robotic movements. She has to keep herself together, everyone is relying on her. Once she’s secure, Pixal washes her hands. After that she politely hands her a box of tissues so she can mop up her bloody face and gets her a glass of water and an ice pack.

She doesn’t say anything to the thief, who matches her silence quietly. Pixal observes her behind the one-way glass for several long minutes.

The bubble around her pops, and reality rushes back in. She sucks in a sharp breath and turns away, whipping her radio out and hitting the button frantically, “Dareth?” She questions. No response, “Dareth, status report.”

A long pause.

The radio crackles, “He’s alright, Pix.” Skylor’s voice comes through from Dareths radio, “He’s with the medic now. A few broken bones, but nothing life threatening.”

Pixal closes her eyes and presses the radio to her forehead, relief so deep she can almost feel it in her circuits. “Stay with him, please, and ask him what happened once he is cleared for visitors.” She glances over at the pink haired woman, who looks completely at ease as she balls up a blood soaked tissue and sets it on a clean tissue to avoid getting blood on the table top, “I caught our mystery thief from the museum break in.” Two mismatched eyes glance up and seem to meet Pixals green ones before skating away to look around the empty room, “I’m going to see what I can find out.”

The woman smiles serenely and settles back, unconcerned.

“Good luck. Call me if you need me, okay?”

“I will.”

The room is still deafeningly quiet when Pixal goes back inside. The click of the door closing behind her feels harsh on her audio processor. It’s sterile, with gray floors and white walls and fluorescent lights strung across the ceiling. Pixal sits at one of the available chairs on the other side of the table,  “My name is Pixal borg. I have a few questions for you.”

The woman smiles wider.

“Hello, Miss Borg. Ask whatever you like.”

She spends the next hour asking questions to a brick wall. The thief is listening and attentive to every one of Pixar’s words, but at the end of each question or statement is pointed and resolute silence. She doesn’t rise to any bait Pixal sets out- she doesn’t get angry or scoff when Pixal slips in subtle insults, she doesn’t preen over praise, she doesn’t even look tired or annoyed as the questioning continues on and on. She’s the picture perfect image of poise, and Pixal can’t gain an inch.

Her phone rings at the hour and fifteen minute mark. She answers it with a palpable relief to have something else to do other than fail at questioning her only lead about this kidnapping, “Pixal speaking.” She greets briskly, stepping out of the room and rolling imaginary soreness from her shoulders.

“What’s with all the blood on the roof?” Ronin asks curiously.

Pixal winces- she’d handed out a few good left hooks during their scuffle, “The thief I needed you to identify made an appearance today. I caught her.”

“Damn, did you break her nose or something?”

“Her employer kidnapped my father.” She reveals bluntly.

Ronin sucks a hiss of air through his teeth at that, “…Okay, well, send me up the elevator and I’ll come down.”

Pixal calls the elevator and once it arrives she steps inside and rides it back up to the roof. She’s beginning to hate this thing. She clicks her radio just to be doing something, “Any news, Sky?”

“Dareth is sleeping off anesthesia right now, sorry.”

“Thank you. Ronin has just arrived, I believe he will be able to help.”

“Keep me updated.” Skylor says pointedly.

“I will.” Pixal holsters her radio, staring at the closed doors in front of her. She felt so useless- she couldn’t get a peep out of either of their two leads, she was stuck inside doing futile research while random monsters were running wild through Ninjago, and she couldn’t stop her father from getting kidnapped from right under her nose.

The doors open to Ronin leaning casually against the wall waiting for it. He whistles low, eyebrows shooting up to his hairline, “You look like shit.” Are the first words out of his mouth.

“It has been a rough week.” She says tightly.

“It’s Tuesday.”

“Get in the elevator.”

He obliges and she takes them back down to the Ninjas floor, filing him in on the situation as they ride down. He’s rubbing his scruff in thought as the doors open up and they step out, thinking hard, “There are two possible options I’m thinking of, Maybe Milena or Raven. Both of them color their hair regularly, and they’re sloppy enough to get caught like that.” He muses, “I’ve never heard of a Dixie Samson though, which makes sense if she’s a rookie.”

Pixal heads straight towards the interrogation room, feeling an inkling of dread- part of her is convinced the woman would have vanished in the time it took her to bring Ronin back here. She feels a line of tension leave her shoulders when she walks back inside to see her still sitting there casually on the other side of the glass.

Ronin stops dead in his tracks, “By the first master- You have got to be kidding me.” He groans, reaching up to run a hand down his face. He looks back up at the woman and does a full body wince.

“Do you know her?” Pixal cant help the amused curve of her lips at Ronins dramatics.

“Do I know her…” He grumbles darkly, dragging his feet up to the window, “She’s my ex sister in law.”

Pixals checklist of questions on the woman is immediately derailed in surprise, “You were married?”

“Everyone makes mistakes.” He defends.

“Who would agree to- no, it is not important right now. What can you tell me about her?”

“I can tell you she’s only in those cuffs because she wants to be.” He grimaces, “Her name is Stella and I doubt there's a set of restraints good enough to hold her short of strapping her down like Hannibal Lecter, and I’m skeptical if even that would work. If she’s still here, she has ulterior motives. She wants something from you, or she wants something in this building.”

“She already took everything.” Pixal barely resists baring her teeth. She sighs, “I need to get information from her.”

“Sorry, but you’re out of luck there. I can promise you she won't speak a word of her employer. You couldn’t waterboard info out of her if she doesn’t want to tell you.” He delivers the bad news bluntly.

“So this is another dead end.”

“Not exactly.” Ronin crosses his arms over his chest and leans back against the glass, “Stella isn’t cheap to hire and if we throw in who exactly she’s dealing with- Borg, the ninja, you- that’ll only make this job that much more expensive. So we can confidently narrow down her employer to Ninjagos one percent.” He grins at Pixals shocked expression, “She does damn good work- the best work- but it’ll cost ya. That big paycheck is what ensures her loyalty. As long as her employer is supplementing her bank account, her lips are sealed- even in the face of torture.”

“She’s all about money…” Pixal turns that over in her mind, looking for the piece she needs to unravel Stella's loyalty.

Ronin shrugs, “All mercenaries are, Stella just has the status and reputation to be bought out by the richest of the rich. With that amount of cash backing her up, You wouldn't be able to even threaten anything out of her.”

Pixal holds up her hand, stopping Ronins words as she carefully considers his words. “I don’t need to threaten her.” As if she’d had an epiphany, Pixal immediately takes off around the corner. Ronin ends up scrambling after her, Following her into Stella's interrogation room just barely before the door closes.

Stella looks relaxed and unconcerned, that same bored expression she's always wearing on her face. She’s got her chair kicked back and her feet on the table, her cuffed hands folded over her belly as she observed them come inside. She raises a brow at Ronin and opens her mouth to speak but Pixal beats her to it.

Pixal yanks out a leather wallet from her jumpsuit and grabs a pen from her from breast pocket, “I am aware you will not speak against your employer, and I am also aware he is paying you a lot of money to keep his secrets.” She sits down in front of Stella, slamming her pocket book and pen to the table, “But I’m Pixal fucking Borg.”

She opens the book and pulls out a stack of checks, signing one and sliding it across the table blank, “Are you interested in new employment?”

Heartbeats pass. Ronin is staring at the check so hard Pixals half sure his eyes are about to pop out of his head, but Stella looks as cool and collected as ever. If Pixal had to breathe she’d be holding it, praying that the gamble works. Stella carefully takes each foot off the table and sits up straight, scooting her chair forward and resting her elbows on the table. She studies the check for a long moment before her lips twitch, the scar at the corner of her mouth pulling her lips into a pleased smile.

“I don’t want your money, Pixal Borg.” She gently, strangely respectfully, tears the check in half and slides the pieces across the table towards the two. Ronin makes a sound like a wounded animal at the action.

Pixals heart plummets.

“But there is something I do want.” Stella continues before Pixal can feel the full weight of failure. Stella looks at Pixal with a firm, intense furrow to her brow. “I will tell you everything I know if you do me a favor. I don’t know what or when that will be. This is what I do know: You are the most powerful woman in Ninjago, Pixal Borg, and I want you to owe me.”

“Deal.” Pixal hold out her hand for Stella to shake without a second of hesitation. Her friends, her family, her father- everyone was relying on her, and she needed this information because right now they had nothing.

But as Stella takes her hand in a firm grip, Pixal can’t help but feel like she’s made a deal with the devil.

Sella sits back, bored expression sinking over her features once more, “His name is Broden Voss, the CEO of Voss Technologies.” She gets right down to business. Pixal recognizes the name in flashes of memory- a place card at a table during a charity event, investors threats to take their money elsewhere when her fathers quarterly review is lower than expected, a flash of red hair and a shark-like smile as a towering man shakes her hand at a high brow cocktail party, “He hired me to infiltrate Ninjago Citys Museum of History after his previous hire, Dixie Samson, failed. I was tasked with finding and retrieving a gauntlet forged by one of Voss’s ancestors, a warlord by the name of Utano whose armor had mystical powers. I was paid to do whatever possible to return this gauntlet to him, and as such I used one of the abilities in the gauntlet to send the ninja to another Realm. The only other ability I've seen... I have witnessed Voss change the gauntlet configuration with a thought. Essentially shapeshifting, though I can't be certain how far that particular gift goes.

“Voss’s plan always centered around Cyrus Borg. Ever since Voss Technology was usurped as Ninjagos main technology company by Borg Industries, he’s felt cheated and wronged. Now that he has this powerful artifact, he intends on using it to tear Ninjago apart and rebuild it with Voss tech, installing himself back in the forefront of tech manufacturing,” She pins Pixal with a pointed look, “He’s obsessed with defeating Cyrus Borg- but your father is not in any immediate danger.”

Pixal feels a bit of tension leave her shoulders, “I have time to save him?”

“Voss wants Borg to have a front row seat to the fall of his empire. He wants Cyrus alive to see the rubble of Borg Tower and after that, I don’t know. Now that he has Borg, though, his plan will be entering the final phase. He will use the power of the gauntlet to open portals throughout downtown ninjago- I know several of the locations he’s planning on placing them that I can pass along. He’s targeting centralized, high traffic areas so he can flood the streets with monsters as quickly and effectively as possible. He is aiming for the absolute maximum amount of destruction in every inch of the city.” She steeples her fingers, “Evacuate the city. Now.”

She doesn’t hesitate on this, raising her Borg radio to her mouth, “Sky, I am officially ordering a full evacuation of the city. I will explain everything later, but right now I need you and the others mobilized.” At Skylors confirmation, Pixal turns her attention back to Stella, “Monsters from where, exactly? Where do these portal lead?”

Where did you send my friends?

Stella pauses on this question, aware the answer will not be one Pixal is thrilled to hear, “The Realm of Madness.” She reveals. “What’s going to come through that portal are some of the most terrifying monsters Ninjago has ever seen, and if I’m any good at reading people- and I am the very best- I can tell you that Broden Voss will not be able to control the chaos he creates. If you can’t stop this, it could lead to more destruction than Ninjago has ever seen.”

“Well,” Pixal says tersely, “Maybe I would have a better chance stopping him if the ninja had not been sent to the Realm of madness and unable to help.”

“Yeah, my bad.”

Ronin trails Pixal as she goes back to the computers, sitting down roughly and opening up a new tab to start another bout of research. Now she had a name- Utano, a great warlord. Pixal could work with that. She pauses and glances at Ronin, curiosity picking at her, “Your sister in law, eh?”

He lets out a put upon sigh and crosses his arms, “Ex sister in law, I’ll remind you.”

“Who became a bounty hunter first?”

“...She was,” He admits grudgingly, “She’s been in the game longer than most.”

Pixal frowns, “I went through countless security feeds and crime reports- That long and she hasn’t gotten caught on camera anywhere? Not even during a trip to the grocery store?”

“Oh, she definitely has. You just don’t know where to look.” He sits down next to her, “She changes her appearance just as seamlessly as Chamille- hair dye, prosthetics, contacts… her eyes aren’t actually blue and brown, you know. She’s evaded any and all facial recognition with clever makeup and smoke-and-mirror tricks.” Pixal opens her mouth, “-And no, I am not going to tell you what to look for. Even if I wasn't a fellow mercenary following the mercenary code, Stella is not an enemy anyone wants to have.”

“Okay.” Pixal relents, “Do you know what this favor could be?”

“No clue.” He shrugs and peeks over her shoulder, “You looking up that warlord guy?”

“Girl.” Pixal corrects as she scans over the basic wikipedia page she’d pulled up. There was… little here, “No parents listed, no spouse. She had one child later in life, but there is no information on them, Not even a name. She was married to a powerful lord in her twenties, but he died a year after they wed. She rose to power through extremist political lobbying and strategic battles with her personal militia until she had conquered over half of ninjago.”

Ronin quirks a brow, “No mention of her magic armor?”

“None here. All it says is she was killed by the elemental masters of creation during her final battle.” Pixal goes back to her original search, “But that was just wikipedia, I’m sure there’s more information somewhere.”

Spoiler alert: There was not more information anywhere.

Pixal scours the internet, following dead end academic papers and documentaries- she even got desperate and checked reddit, of all places. Even after using her status to get into parts of the internet usually barred from the general public, she still came up with nothing. “There are scrolls referenced in all of these papers, but I cannot find the scrolls. They were never digitalized, and apparently no one knows where they went.” She sits back roughly, pushing herself away from the monitor so she doesn’t have to look at it anymore.

Ronin startles awake where he’d fallen asleep on the couch after he got bored, peeking up at her over the arm of it, “Maybe Stella is lying about Utano.”

It’s at that moment that the elevator door dings open and Misako comes striding out with Wu trailing slowly behind her. She’s dressed in thick pants and a button up covered in a thin layer of sand and dirt, her hair much the same in its bun sitting on top of her head, “Did I hear you say Utano?” She asks, shrugging off her satchel and tossing it aside with a cloud of dust, “I came straight from the dig site once Wu informed me of the situation. If you already know about Utano, then we’re on the right track.”

“Misako!” Pixal stands with a smile, moving to hug the woman, “It is good to see you. We know the name, but there’s not much else on the internet to go off of.” She admits.

“I know.” Misako says with a wince, “When Wu told me about the gauntlet, I had a feeling I knew what it was. The scrolls that had any record of Utano were all under the Explorers Club’s lock and key- When I called Cecil and asked about them, he confessed that several artifacts in the clubs collection went missing the day they were all transferred to the museum's custody, apparently lost in the shuffle.”

Pixal feels her expression darken, “He is saying the explorers club lost artifacts? I find that difficult to believe.”

“I looked into it on the way here. Underhill sticks out as the most suspicious- he took off to the other side of the country and bought himself a nice, expensive house on the beach, but the rest of the club members all seem to have come into some money with similar luxury purchases as well.” Misako confirms grimly. “That doesn’t matter right now. What do you know about Utano?”

Pixal relays all the information Stella had told them and what little else she’d gleaned from the internet. Misako nods thoughtfully, “Her reign over Ninjago started hundreds and hundreds of years ago, before we were even aware the sixteen realms existed- She was part of Ninjago and the Cloud Kingdom, a parent from either realm. We refer to her armor in modern times as the Allied Armor of Azure, said to call on different realms to aid its wearer, and scholars presume she received a gift from her Cloud Kingdom parent that allowed this type of enchantment. The only pieces that were meant to survive the armor's destruction were the Helmet that we passed on to the Cloud Kingdom, and the chest plate, which we studied.”

“Is there a way to neutralize its abilities?”

“If there was a way, it would be in the stolen scrolls. As I see it, there is none.” Misako says apologetically, wincing. “Even the Elemental Masters were not able to defeat her at her most powerful.”

Pixal frowns, “The elemental masters did defeat her.”

There’s a pause, “Yes… they did, but it… wasn’t a fair fight.”

“What does that mean?” Ronin pipes up, “Did they get her while she was sleeping or something?”

Misako sighs, “You said you read she had one child, yes?” Pixal nods and Misako shakes her head, “She had three. We have private scrolls written by Utano detailing her three children and how much she loved them. The Elemental Masters of the time made a decision. They needed leverage- They needed bargaining chips. Only one child survived, and Utano was defeated.”

a heartbeat passes.

Pixal swallows down her horror, “The only way they stopped her was by going after something she cared about.”

“And from what Stella is saying, it sounds like Broden Voss doesn’t care about anything-” Ronin snorts, “Except maybe killing your dad.”

“You are not helpful.” Pixal snaps immediately.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have any good news.” Misako bows her head.

“Thank you for coming, Misako, but this has been a huge waste of time.” Pixal says bitterly, turning away.

Misako doesn’t flinch at the words, knowing what stress Pixal must be under. She almost doesn’t want to say what she needs to say next. She takes a step forward and opens her mouth anyway, “I didn’t come here to tell you about Utano. Wu could have passed along that message for me.” She says softly.

Pixal looks back at her with a questioning frown, “What did you come here for?” She asks.

Misako steps to the side so Wu is standing in front of Pixal now. He looks miserable and ashamed, staring down at the floor, “I came to make sure he told you.”

Pixal feels a lightning flash of alarm go through her, “Told me what?” she swallows roughly. From where he’s laying on the couch, Ronin sits up in curiosity. There’s a pregnant pause, “I do not have time for this.” She says sharply, refusing to let her voice shake. She turns back to the computers, moving away from them. The tension in the room feels different and wrong- She doesn’t want him to say anything.

“It’s about Zane.” Wu manages to whisper, still looking at the floor.

Pixal freezes in her tracks. Her core seems to tighten painfully, icy fingers wrapping around her insides and tangling her carefully sorted wiring into knots. She slowly spins on her heel to face him again, “What about him?” She asks carefully. The question is laced with grief.

He’s going to break her heart.

Misako makes a go on gesture with her head that Wu sees out of the corner of his eye. He takes another moment to build up his nerve and looks up, meeting Pixal eye for the first time since he’d walked through that door, “Three years ago-'' He begins.

“Master Wu, I don’t need a recap,” She says tightly.

“Three years ago,” He presses on, “After we caught Aspheera, I went to see her in Kryptarium. There were questions I needed answered. When I saw her, I asked why she chose to kill him when I was the one-” He swallows and pauses for a moment, “She told me he was not dead.”

Pixal stares at him, “She did not kill him?”

Wu takes a tentative step forward, “No, she merely banished him… To the Never Realm, a realm impossible to return from.”

“He is… alive?” She breathes softly, shock rendering her dumb for several long moments. Joy and hope bubbles up her chest, “Zane is alive. We can bring him home. We just need to figure out a way to get back to Ninjago- there has to be some way to make it back.”

“Pixal…” Misako’s voice is heavy with sadness.

“Why did you keep this from us, Master Wu?” She’s trying to be angry, but the happiness spreading through her fights the frown on her face, “We could have figured it out together, all of us, and brought him home!”

Wu looks at her with wet, sorrowful eyes. Pixels smile dims.

“There is a way back from the Never Realm,” He says gravely, “The fruit of the travelers tree, high in the mountains.” Her circuits tie themselves together, she can tell another shoe is about to drop, “I discovered it three years ago, when I traveled to the Never Realm to get him.”

She’s not smiling anymore. The room is silent. The glow from the computer monitors illuminates Wu’s robe in pale blue light. It’s so, so quiet.

Her voice is steady, “Why is he not home?”

“Pixal…” He begins.

“Do not patronize me!” She shouts, tears springing to her eyes, “Why tell me this? Why bring up the past and get my hopes up just to crush them again? I have already accepted that he is dead, I did not need you to yank my feelings around like-”

“He’s not dead.” Wu cuts in, and Pixal stops mid-rant, her hands loosening from the fists she’d balled them into.

“I do not understand.” She says blankly, slumping into herself. She tries to put the pieces together, to fit the tragedy into a story that makes sense in the absence of an explaination, “He… chose to stay there?”

“No,” Wu says sadly, and then proceeds to tell her about the worst moment of his life. He tells her about coming to a land unnaturally cold and barren, snow drifts and ice that suffocated the crops and froze people whole. He tells her about the handful of towns still alive who lived under constant fear of their supernaturally powerful emperor, a man who controlled every snowflake in the land. He tells her about making the trek across the mountain and stumbling upon a species of beast hunted to near extinction by the Emperor's samurai, and finding the travelers tree. He tells her about finally coming upon the palace gates, through the Emperor's throne room doors, and who he’d found sitting atop the dais.

“It was Zane, his body, but the man we know and loved was gone.” He tells her, voice thick with pain, “He was violent and angry, and passive to the struggle and pain of others. He did not respond to my voice, he did not react to reminders of who he once was, and he did not hesitate to attempt to strike me down.”

Pixal is silent, leaning against the communications console as if her legs had no strength. She says nothing, face twisted up in aching raw grief and sadness.

“Zane… I believe he was gone, truly. He would have been horrified at what he’d become… You must understand, I did what I did to respect the man I loved as my own son.”

“What did you do?” Pixals voice cracks.

“I could not kill him,” Wu closes his eyes, “I used the fruit of the travelers tree to open a portal to the Realm of Madness… where I banished the Ice Emperor, and freed the Never Realm from his grasp.”

She bows her head, hiding her face in shadows.

“I told you all of that to tell you this… the longer the Ninja haven't returned, the more I fear there is something… or someone keeping them there. They should have made it to the Mountain of madness by now. I have the utmost faith in them, but not only am I afraid of what they might find there, I am afraid of what- or who- may find them. The Ice Emperor was a formidable foe-”

“Stop talking.” Pixal interrupts him icily, voice hard as steel.

He goes silent, staring at her.

“Master Wu… for all of your age… for every ounce of wisdom you have… you are still one of the most foolish people I have ever met.” She looks up at him and her eyes burn, hot pinpricks of fire and pain and rage. “You should have dragged him home. We would have helped him- we would have helped him! We could have saved him-! And- and you better hope the ninja run into him, and do what you failed to do and bring him back to Ninjago- or else when this blows over I am dragging you to the Realm of Madness myself and we are combing every inch of that realm until we find him ourselves!”

He shrinks with shame and guilt under her ire as she advances upon him, rage making her fans kick into high gear, “You knew he was there, you knew the- the Ice Emperor was in the Realm of Madness and you knew he could have posed a serious threat to the ninja, yet you told me they would be okay! That there was nothing to worry about! And now- I cannot go after them! I have to stay here and protect Ninjago, I cannot leave these innocent people behind like I could have a few days ago when my friends first vanished-!” She chokes on a sob, swiping hot tears out of her eyes.

“Pixal, I didn't know-" He looks gutted, "… I’m so sorry-” He starts, reaching out, but she takes a step away from him and bares her teeth.

“Do not-” She snaps, jerking a hand down to keep him away from her, “-Apologize to me. Apologize to Zane when we get him back, apologize to the ninja for keeping this from them, and then never speak to me again. That’s the only thing you can do for me, Master Wu. We’ll work together now because the city needs everyone it can get, but after that... “ She shakes her head, condemnation in her eyes.

He nods, cowed, “If that is what you want… I understand.”

She takes a deep breath, centers herself, and picks up the communicator again. She needs to talk to Skylor, Her face is grim as she raises it to her lips.

“Pixal?” He hesitantly says, before she can speak, “What are we going to do about the ninja?”

“We are going to trust they can make it home,” She says, “And we are going to do our best to make sure there is still a home to come back to.”

The first thing Cyrus smells is the thick scent of designer perfume- he was born into money, raised in the lap of luxury, expensive colognes have always been a part of his life. With the blindfold wrapped around his eyes, the smell becomes stronger and sharper. He narrows the other occupant in the room to a handful of other high society socialites. If he were in the upscale, posh parfumerie in downtown Ninjago he could appreciate the sweet earthy scent of tahitian vanilla, ylang-ylang, rosa centerfoils, italian cinnamon, jasmine, osiris root, and rose oil. An expensive bottle worn only for special occasions- he might even recognize it. As a recently kidnapped prisoner trying to figure out how to untie his wrists from the railings on his wheelchair, some of the intricacies of the scent are lost on him.

“You’ll won’t get away with this.” It feels cliche the moment it comes out of his mouth, but he can’t help but break the silence. The other person in the room is just… staring at him. Cyrus can feel the satisfied, smug gaze weighing on his shoulders. He knows he’s being watched.

“Yes, I will.” The voice is deep and smooth, effortlessly confident.

He doesn’t know what to say.

Shifting sounds in front of him, then the soft click of a wooden box closing. The sharp flick of a lighter. The smell of burning tobacco and whiskey seeps into the air.

“Would you like a cigar, Cyrus?”

“I never acquired a taste for them.” He responds stiffly. He knows that voice, doesn’t he? From where?

“Oh, I’m sure you’d like these if you tried it. Two thousand dollars, retail.” He pauses to taste the smoke, probably. Cyrus can’t see him to tell, “Could I offer you a drink, then? What’s a man of your status’s drink of choice?” He humms in thought, gravely and low, and taps his fingers on a table (desk?) in front of him. It’s more for show than any actual thinking, “Louis XIII cognac? Chateau Cheval Blanc, 1947? Or maybe you go for something a bit pricier, hm? D’Amalfi Limoncello Supreme?”

“I’m not thirsty.” 

“I recommend the cognac, personally. It’s a celebration, after all.”

The hair raises on the back of Cyrus’s neck, “A celebration of what?”

“My victory, of course.” He laughs like that was a silly question, “I won.”

Swallowing thickly, Cyrus tries again to wiggle his wrists out from his bindings. “The ninja-”

“-are gone.” The man responds and Cyrus freezes. The voice was no longer across the room, but right in front of him. He’d move silently across the floor, crouching down to speak directly to Cyrus, “The ninja are gone. No one will be able to save you.”

He leans in, his breath hot on the shell of Cyrus’s ear, “I suggest you have a glass, Cyrus. It will be the last drink you ever have.” He promises.

Cyrus jerks back and slams his head forward before he can think about it. There’s a sharp crack and something warm and wet splatters on his cheek. The man swears loudly and he can hear him stumble away.

“You son of a-” He snarls, smooth confidence immediately bleeding into red hot rage.

“That- ow- Well, that hurts.” Cyrus winced, head pounding.

“I am going to enjoy destroying you!” His voice is thick with hatred.

Cyrus doesn’t know what to think. Who are you?

His wheelchair is kicked roughly and he tips over. He falls hard and he could have braced himself and been just fine if not for the edge of a coffee table sitting perfectly at concussion height.

The world turns black.

[theriverspath]

Ineffable May 2024, Day 5: Retirement

Rated General Audience

There was more salt than pepper in Nina’s locs these days, and she was beginning to appreciate a mug of something hot less for the caffeine content and more for the soothing warmth on the overworked joints of her hands. Today, though, her hands were empty as she waved one over the small black screen installed on the wall just inside the kitchen door of Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death. The movement woke the alarm system’s AI and a cheerfully neutral voice addressed her.

“Hello, Nina. Leaving for the day?” The face recognition software had records of all of the shop’s employees, and was programmed to know who was due to open and close based on the work schedule. Or rather, it had been programmed with that information until about a week ago. Currently, the only person it had on file was Nina. Soon, it wouldn’t even recognize her. Her smile was a little sad as she answered the now-glowing screen.

“Yes. Lock up after I’ve left, please.”

“Sure thing! Have a good night!”

“Thanks.” Nina exited the swinging door that separated the kitchen from the dining area. She paused before crossing to the front door, and could almost hear the bustle of a morning rush around her. She had spent decades behind a counter, offering the people of Soho the best drinks and pastries she could muster. During that time she'd seen old friends come together to enjoy each other's company, stressed students pounding away at keyboards, couples falling in love, and families grow. There had been so much life, both hers and others, lived within these walls.

When she was finally ready to leave, Nina’s steps echoed in the empty space. The next tennant was converting the storefront into a salon, and hadn’t wanted any of the furnishings. So, Nina had sold or donated it all. She’d kept the miniature Statue of Liberty, though, and it now held pride of place on the fireplace mantle in the little flat Maggie and she had just downsized to. Everything else had gone within the last few days.

The doorknob felt so familiar in her grip, and it seemed odd to think that this would be the last time she would turn it. Turn it she did, then stepped onto the pavement and let the door close behind her. She heard the snick of the lock sliding into place and knew that the system had done its job.

“Ready?” Maggie’s voice was soft, and there was no rush or ugrency behind it. Nina took in a breath and nodded.

“All done. I just need to leave the keys with the estate agent on the way home.” She slipped her hand into her wife’s, and they began the walk that would take them past the office and to their flat. Maggie’s eyes crinkled at the corners with her smile when they passed The Small Back Room. Through the big window, she could see Tony helping a customer sort through a selection of vinyls. Nina didn’t have to hear him to know that he was expounding how you just can’t get the same sound from digital, and isn’t it amazing how physical media really connects us to music in such a tactile way. Their son had inherited Maggie’s love of the record shop, and had happily taken on the responsibility of the day-to-day running of it when she’d decided to take a step back from the business.

As they approached the estate agent’s office, Nina realized that she really didn’t feel like going in and doing the whole smile-and-shake-hands-and-small-talk ordeal that inevitably came with these sorts of interactions. Fortunately, the building had a little brass flap on the exterior for people to deposit paperwork and what-not after closing. So, she just dropped the keys in that, and heard them clank into the little box that caught them.

“I don’t feel like cooking tonight. How about we pick something up?” The two women took their time strolling down the busy street, discussing the merits of the various restaurants between here and their flat. The air was cool, but not quite cold enough to make them want to quicken their pace. They eventually settled on a new Italian place and, once home, enjoyed the steaming containers of pasta in front of a warm, crackling fire.

-----

Want to play along? Check out the prompt list from @blairamok.

[prairiesongserial]

24.24

Salome took the stairs two at a time, blocking Gusev’s attempts to slip around her in the narrow stairwell. Fending him off was difficult with only one arm; she should have recovered the one she’d lost, but carrying it with her only functional arm wasn’t currently a viable option. There would likely be time to collect it later, once she had collected Frankie.

As Salome reached the upper deck’s landing, Gusev tried to push past her. Salome pivoted on her heel and shoved him, satisfied by the short, indignant cry he gave as he tumbled backwards down the stairs. That would both injure him further and slow him down for another thirty to sixty seconds.

The upper deck was still conspicuously silent of gunfire. Passengers were fleeing through the sleeper car and down the stairs, as far away from the fight in the dining car as they could manage. Salome allowed most of them past, letting the tide of bodies further hinder Gusev’s progress up the stairs and push him farther away from her.

Two stewards were attempting, largely in vain, to contain the panic. One of them stepped out in front of Salome as she passed through the sleeper car, holding his arms akimbo to prevent her from passing.

“There’s a situation in the dining car, miss,” he said. “You can’t go that way.”

“No,” Salome said, simply, and knocked him aside. 

She continued to travel against the flow of foot traffic, forcing everyone else to walk around her or be similarly tossed towards the walls. She paused only once, when a face in the crowd pinged her recognition software. Hennig. Salome grabbed him brusquely by the collar of his jacket. He shouted in protest; she ignored him, and dragged him with her through the rest of the sleeper car.

When they reached the door, she stared at it for a long moment. She only had one hand to open it with, but that hand was required to keep a grip on Hennig. He would run if she didn’t. She thrust him towards the door in front of her.

“Open it,” she said.

Hennig did so, then opened the door to the dining car as well. Apparently he had decided it best not to argue with her after being so easily manhandled. Salome tossed him down into a booth that was missing its table, and stood over him.

“Your life is the highest priority of everyone currently in this car,” she said, not particularly caring if he believed her or not. Salome wasn’t sure if she even believed that the Russians were invested in Hennig’s life, but the fact that he hadn’t yet been shot indicated as such. “You will stay here.”

Hennig shut his mouth and stayed.

Ostrovsky was on the ground near the doorway, struggling to stand. He gave Salome a look of disbelief as she stepped away from Hennig, towards him. Salome was unsure what that look was for. She didn’t have enough situational data on Ostrovsky to say. It could equally have been because of her missing arm, because of the bullet holes riddling her clothes, or because Gusev was not currently accompanying her.

Ostrovsky was also disarmed. He’d had a gun, but had lost it somewhere. Salome scanned the dining car, but with the overturned chairs and tables, she couldn’t confirm the location of anything else. Finding the gun would be her next priority. There was no need to consider Ostrovsky a threat for the moment; perhaps he could be used as a bargaining chip against Gusev, but that would be for Frankie to mediate.

“Hey, Sal,” Frankie said, from the other end of the car. She was also getting to her feet, shaking glass out of her robe. Blood was dripping down her face from some unseen head wound; based on the sluggish flow and the glitter of glass in her hair, Frankie had fallen and hit her head when the train had abruptly come to a stop.

“I was just about to kill this clown,” Frankie said. “Unless you wanna do the honors.”

Salome’s feet encountered an obstacle on her way to Ostrovsky, and she looked down. There was a dead body on the ground in a pool of blood. A man. He looked to have been shot in the throat fairly recently; his body was only just going into rigor. Salome scanned his face, and the Hemisphere database unexpectedly returned a 99% match for Julien Dupuis, Canadian assassin.

“Julien Dupuis. Was he trying to kill Hennig?” she asked Frankie. Ostrovsky was incapacitated and Gusev was not here yet–and weaponless, besides. They could afford a moment to debrief.

“Dunno,” Frankie said. “He was dead when I got here.”

“Who killed him?” Salome asked.

“Stewardess. She had a little gun on her.”

“Why did the stewardess have a gun?”

“She’s Hemisphere, I think. Maybe American.” Frankie shrugged. She kicked a large piece of glass across the car, sliding it toward Ostrovsky at Salome’s feet. It stopped a few inches short of his nose.

Salome frowned. This was as equally unexpected as the Canadian assassin, and deeply troubling. None of her predictions had taken into account the probability of American and Canadian agents aboard the train, because the probability was just too small to bother factoring in. And yet, here they both were.

“You worry too much,” Frankie said. “She’s dealt with. Where’s the other Russian? You kill him?”

Salome chose not to reply. She flicked her gaze to Ostrovsky, nonverbally communicating the reason for her silence. She did not want to give Ostrovsky a clear idea of what had happened to his partner–that would afford him hope, which would give him more of a will to fight.

As if proving her point, Ostrovsky tried to crawl forward towards the exit. Salome brought her boot down on his back, applying precisely enough pressure for her weight to keep him in place. He groaned, and decided not to move anymore.

“Where is your gun?” Salome asked him, in Russian.

Ostrovsky’s eyes darted past her, and he bared his teeth in a strained smile. His canine teeth were uncommonly sharp.

“When the train stopped,” he said, slow and labored, “it slid out the door.”

Salome followed Ostrovsky’s eyeline to the doorway behind her. Gusev was standing there with a sniper rifle over his shoulder.

There was a series of deafening bangs, the sound of a rifle firing at a much shorter distance than it was meant to. Salome braced in anticipation of more bullets impacting her exterior chassis, and unexpectedly felt none; it took her a moment to draw the logical conclusion.

“No,” she said aloud, taking her foot off of Gusev.

On the other side of the dining car, Frankie lay in a pool of blood, nearly mirroring Dupuis’s body. She was no longer breathing. Salome knew that before she crossed the car, just as she knew that Ostrovsky had fired the rifle six times and each bullet had struck home in Frankie’s chest. Nonetheless, she had strict protocol to follow; she knelt by Frankie, blood soaking into her robe and staining it a deeper shade of red, and began to perform chest compressions with her single working arm.

Salome had seen corpses before on several occasions, but never the corpse of someone she knew. Though Frankie’s expression was still lively, a half-smirk fixed on her lips, her eyes were glazed and unseeing. It stirred something inside of Salome that she couldn’t name, another unexpected and unpleasant feeling on the stack of such feelings she had encountered today.

Distantly, she was aware that the Russians were moving around the car, making their exit before she could retaliate. She could not make herself prioritize that. She should have been able to. Something was wrong with her.

The Russians were speaking to Hennig now; Salome heard him shout in dismay, but no gunshots or blows followed. She didn’t look away from Frankie. She couldn’t make herself. Blood pooled between her fingers, oozing out from the holes in Frankie’s chest each time she applied pressure.

“Ezio,” she said aloud, though he would not hear this audio log until later, well after he found out his sister had died. “I have encountered another bug that has affected my prioritization. I apologize.”

24.23 || 24.25

[thirdeye-ai]

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[medeaft]

When I take progress photographs of a painting for whatever reason, and I reach the stage where the camera software puts a little face recognition square over the face in the picture, it is the best feeling. Even the camera now knows there is Strauss!

[robertmaynard]

How Robert Maynard Built Six Successful Companies and Conquered Bipolar Disorder

Robert Maynard is a prime example of resilience, entrepreneurship, and mental health advocacy. Despite facing the challenges of bipolar disorder, he built six successful companies and became an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs worldwide. His story highlights how perseverance, strategic thinking, and a commitment to personal growth can lead to extraordinary achievements.

Overcoming Mental Health Struggles

For many, it can be debilitating, but for Robert Maynard, it became a catalyst for self-awareness and strength. Diagnosed with the condition in his early 20s, he initially struggled with the emotional volatility that came with it. However, instead of succumbing to the challenges of his mental health, Robert decided to manage it proactively.

He focused on therapy, medication, and self-care routines that helped him regain balance. His journey taught him valuable lessons in resilience and mental discipline—lessons that would play a critical role in his professional success. Maynard believes that understanding and accepting his mental health condition allowed him to tap into his full potential, both as a leader and as an entrepreneur.

Building Six Successful Companies

Robert Maynard didn’t let his mental health struggles define him. Instead, he used his challenges to build an entrepreneurial empire. Over the years, he founded and led six different companies across industries such as tech, health, and consulting. His ventures often focused on solving complex problems with innovative solutions.

Tech Innovations: 

Robert’s first foray into business was with a tech company that revolutionized customer experience software. His ability to identify gaps in the market and create solutions earned his company recognition and significant growth.

Health and Wellness: 

Recognizing the importance of mental and physical health, Robert Maynard went on to build companies focused on wellness solutions, providing therapy tools and mental health resources for individuals facing similar challenges.

Consulting Services: 

With a deep understanding of leadership and management, Robert founded a consulting company aimed at helping startups navigate the challenges of growth and operations.

Each of his ventures was fueled by his passion for creating value, his ability to innovate, and his unique perspective on business that was shaped by his personal experiences.

Leadership and Personal Growth

Robert Maynard’s leadership style is deeply rooted in his experience managing bipolar disorder. His approach to business emphasizes transparency, mental well-being, and empathy. He believes that understanding one’s mental health is crucial not only for personal growth but for fostering a productive and healthy work environment.

He encourages leaders to prioritize their mental well-being, seek help when needed, and maintain a balanced lifestyle. By embracing vulnerability, he built strong, resilient teams that understood the importance of self-care while striving for excellence.

A Legacy of Inspiration

Today, Robert Maynard’s story serves as a powerful reminder that challenges, whether mental or physical, don’t have to hinder success. His journey proves that with the right mindset, tools, and support, anyone can build a legacy of achievement. Maynard continues to inspire not only entrepreneurs but anyone battling mental health conditions to live their best lives, reminding us that success is not defined by circumstances but by how we rise above them.

Maynard’s story is a testament to the power of perseverance, self-awareness, and the ability to turn adversity into opportunity.

[dataterrain-inc]

4 Ways Oracle HCM Cloud Boosts Productivity

Move Your Business Forward by Advancing to HCM Cloud Applications If you are considering migrating to the cloud, you may already be aware of its financial benefits as far as hardware and IT infrastructure are concerned. You may also have an idea of the savings resulting from scheduled updates and maintenance, but do you know how moving to the cloud will impact your business’s productivity? Geared towards medium and large businesses, below are some of the best benefits of Oracle HCM cloud for enhancing the company’s productivity in the following ways:

1. It enhances connectivity and collaboration

According to a recent survey, 64% of the persons interviewed confirmed that cloud connectivity and collaboration have exponentially increased the time it takes to execute tasks. Through cloud computing, employees can access files, company documents, projects, and emails from wherever they are, thus reducing wasted hours and increasing employee efficiency. It is one of the crucial Oracle hcm cloud benefits, where employees can contact each other or participate in meetings, whether they are on-site or working remotely.

2. It is scalable and flexible

Predicting the growth of your business is one of the biggest challenges businesses face today. Whether you experience fluctuations or rapid business growth, Oracle HCM Cloud can be tailored to meet your needs, especially through tools such as BI support. Cloud computing enables your business to adapt to internal changes and external conditions easily. Hence, Oracle HCM cloud productivity along with scalability and flexibility makes it the right investment.

3. It increases employee satisfaction

Engaged workers are more productive. According to a survey on The Impact of Employee Engagement on Performance showed that organizations that prioritized engagement realized an 81% increase in employee productivity. Oracle HCM Cloud is an effective goal and performance management platform that streamlines employee recognition and appraisal processes. As HCM Cloud Applications make the company documents and projects readily available and easily shareable, employees can align their goals to those of the company..

4. It streamlines the recruitment process resulting in quality hires

While the recruitment process is time-consuming and costly, it is more frustrating if you do not end up getting the right hire. According to a recent report, the turnover rates increased by up to 7.6% in 2018. Most of the reasons why employees leave an organization are preventable. Employee turnover compromises your company’s growth and success. However, this can be easily remedied through cloud computing tools and Oracle HCM cloud productivity.

Take Your Organization To The Next Level With BI Report Support

The digital world has made the business world extremely complex and competitive. Cloud computing tools such as Oracle Fusion HCM have enabled businesses to handle big data easily and efficiently. Through such solutions, your business gains a competitive edge and stays as productive as possible. For more information about how Advanced Business Intelligence software can improve your organization, contact DataTerrain online today.

[toasterthievery]

I READ MERE APPENDIX AND I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT IT

The real gravity of Professor Honeycutt's situation doesn't get explored too often since everyone has bigger things to worry about when they're bring chased by Triceratons, and the identity crisis that goes down in this issue is just heartbreaking and really a sight to behold since he tends to get so little focus. It says a lot about him as a character in the best way possible.

Something that I really like is that time has passed since the accident that cost him his humanity in the first place, but that it's something that still affects him deeply. It's something he's come to terms with on a surface level so that he can continue to function day to day, but it weighs on him heavily.

You can feel his horror the moment when he realizes he never installed the component that would allow for a real transfer. He states later in this issue that he's been asking himself for years whether he's really Honeycutt or not, but speculation and evidence are two different things and his worst fear looks to be coming true.

And the idea that Fugitoid does not equal Honeycutt is pervasive. It comes up again and again, making it impossible for him to ignore. Even small things, like his voice recognition software not recognizing him, keeps him at arm's length from the "real" Professor Honeycutt. It's so uncomfortable, like a constant ache, to not be recognizable as the person you are in any capacity.

To wonder if your existence is even a scientific possibility.

And I know he's dealing with the damage he sustained at the beginning of the issue, but it obviously goes deeper than that and everything is being exacerbated by it since he's been experiencing hallucinations and memory loss. It makes it kind of all come at him at once in a way that's impossible to deal with and brings all that pain fresh into his mind.

It makes him feel less human than ever, which is a hard pill to swallow. This side by side panel (that hurts me immensely) is just a great illustration of the identity problems that he's dealing with.

He's reaching his limit and there's nothing that can really be done to fix his situation. It's a really cool thing to see Honeycutt's thoughts and feelings that haven't been filtered through the viewpoint of the turtles, and to see how acutely he feels the shockwave of everything that's happened to him. Where does the line lie between man and machine? How can he say with certainty that he's a real person when he's so familiar with the technology that caused the accident?

The part right after this has my FAVORITE set of panels in this entire thing.

It's very ironic that in having this crisis, he's proving he's more than just an unthinking object, but that's hard to see when everything is coming crashing down. I genuinely can't express enough how much I love that that he's reached this low where he can't think of himself as real, and because of that, it's fine if he simply takes himself apart until it's not a problem anymore. And in a way, it's easier for him to see himself that way because machines can be fixed; they don't deal with the messy, nonlinear recovery that real people have to face.

THIS IS BRILLIANT and I'm in love with the ship of Theseus dilemma that's at play here.

Even though Honeycutt comes out of it all right...there is still no easy solution for him, and the rock and hard place he finds himself wedged between won't give so easily. His struggles are fascinating and compelling, and getting to see them so up close and personal was a serious treat. Actually one of my favorite comics I've ever read. I'm never going to be normal again.

[cherannetworks]

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