#Does this count as anti team black?

[a0random0gal]

I really don't understand why people are going after Jace/Sara because of Baela and how she would react to their relationship.

First of all we're not even sure Sara is going to be in hotd 2 in the first place, since her affair with Jacaerys is not something we are certain actually happened, yet people are hating on her as if she were 100% in the show and it's dumb.

Don't say a character doesn't exist in the story and then hate on it as if it did, you're just exposing your insecurities lmao.

Second even if they get together next season Baela and Jace are never going to get married anyway,as we all now he's going to kick the bucket before they're wed.

Had the show shown them being cute together, developing a crush on one another and talking about how they are looking forward to their wedding then I would have understood the hate and mayybe I would have agreed that adding Sara would only ruin the ship and piss off the fans.

But it doesn't happen!

They barely talk, and Jace apologizes to Baela before dancing with Helaena. Some would argue that he defended her against Aegon's shitty comments but that's something anyone with a braincell would do.

That's it.

Twitter is up in flames for this? Wow

At least Sara would add to Jace's character. He could bond with another bastard, we could get his inner thoughts regarding his mother and her affair with his dad, we could see her showing him around Winterfell while he rides his dragon!

If well made this could potentially be super interesting and finally make me care about one of Rhaenyra's kids.

His marriage with her could also represent a sort of wake up call for Rhaenyra.

Damn she would finally realise that her actions have consequences! That teaching your sons that they are inherently superior to everyone else because they are Targaryens and the rules don't apply on them has consequences!

She didn't abide by the rules cause she was daddy's little princess who could do no wrong and was almost never called out on it, now she would have to come to the realization that this affected her son, who now also thinks he can break his marriage pact and get with whoever he pleases, without getting shit for it.

Pleas HBO deliver!

[dulcewrites]

I’m actually curious to see if, and honestly hope, in s2 (whenever that may come out. Studios pay your writers and actors) we get some sort of callback or allusion to the rumor that Jacaerys tried to convert Cregan from the old gods to the faith of the seven.

Not because I care about the gods, outside the religious symbolism they bring. I only want to see people’s reactions. Namely the ones who act as if Alicent is the first woman to ever openly practice the faith. Because I have a feeling those same people will paint Jace possibly doing that as endearing versus Alicent who gets painted as a monster for her connection to the faith. The most we see Alicent doing a redecorating her home. Mind you, not even every room because you can clearly see the tacky tapestries in Viserys’ room in ep 8. Plus we see her praying and wearing religious iconography. Things that are not out of the ordinary… at all. She’s honestly your textbook highborn noble woman during that time. She was born and raised in Oldtown ffs. What is she supposed to follow if not the faith💀

She gets seen as this horrible zealot out to destroy the Targaryens through the faith, and to me that is just indicative on how badly people misinterpret Alicent’s feelings/motivations.

People can have their problems with the writing in hotd. I know there are certain things I have problems with myself. But when can we start being honest about how a lot of the conversations that are regurgitated and argued about day after day have less to do with the writing, and more to do with bad faith viewing. People are watching to see what they want to see, not what is actually in front of them.

Anyone with an objective view of Alicent would be able to tell how much she clings to the faith for salvation and hope. She does it to feel close to her mother, and very kindly/cautiously tries to help Rhaenyra with that too. She then reaffirms her faith after 1. She (imo justifiably) loses her shit at Driftmark and feels guilty about it, and 2. Has to marry her children to each other. Something she expresses thinking is immoral in the past. We even see her cut her hair, more than likely as a means of punishment and repentance. She’s miserable and has very few lifelines to hold onto.

How that gets twisted into her being a bigot because she doesn’t want to see dragons having orgies on her walls is beyond me.

Also the idea she is trying to bring down House Targaryen is nuts, but also laughable. Because between her and her actual Targaryen husband, Alicent is the one affirming her childrens’ Targaryen heritage. She makes sure Aemond knows he will get a dragon one day. She makes sure Aegon gets Blackfyre and his namesake’s crown. It seems like Aemond, and more than likely her other kids, know Valyrian. Ironically, the most anti targ (and frankly valid) sentiments we get are from Viserys. He speaks on the doom, fears what is to come, and how they never should have messed with dragons.

Alicent ‘let the people remember the ancient strength of House Targaryen’ Hightower is not the Baelor y’all want her to be. And if she was, it would’ve worked in her favor more. People tend to leave out the part where the most beloved Targaryens (by their people) were partly that because of their connection to the faith. Ya know the thing Targaryens also practice.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

...So uh, basically bootleg Suicide Squad featuring not even a comic's accurate team but instead, just random characters picked randomly from throughout the MCU, including even character's that make zero fucking sense to be on the team???

[iambecomeahamburger]

Me: I ship (Zutara, Lotura, Darklina)

What you think I mean: I’m horny for the hot villain/anti-hero and project onto the pretty main girl.

What I really mean: I’m an English Literature major, bitch.

[comradekatara]

What do you think makes the original ATLA so good when practically every subsequent piece of spinoff media ranges from mediocre to downright reactionary? Considering some of the stuff the og creators were responsible for counts among the very worst, I don't think it can be blamed on their lack of involvement. Idk I've always wondered about this because it's so strange. Did ATLA end up being good purely by accident & nobody involved in its creation actually understood what they were doing or what?

lmfao i definitely do think masterpieces can be created purely by accident. not that there aren’t elements of careful deliberation and a lot of collaboration involved, but it really was a lightning in a bottle sort of project. like this is just conjecture bc i haven’t seen any of their other projects but apparently the creator of black sails has made some other, bad shows. or the creators of utena as well. see, even, the stupid lame ass ending to fionna and cake. there’s no guarantee that just because someone (or a creative team) can create a coherent, nuanced work means that they can replicate that success ad infinitum.

i think that where atla truly excels is in its character writing, which is why the fandom (a fundamentally character-focused phenomenon) still endures (not that they really get the characters lmao, but at least we’re all way too deeply attached to them in the first place). and the anti-imperialist politics are almost incidental to the show’s success. i’ve said before that it was much easier for liberals to critique american imperialism during the bush administration, because the invasion of iraq was completely inexcusable, and also very easy to criticize if you dress it up in children’s fantasy and always have the defense of going “no, don’t you see, the fire nation isn’t the us, it’s the prc, it’s imperial japan!! you know, our enemies…!” which a lot of people to this day actually believe — not that there aren’t allusions to other imperialist histories (esp wrt the air nomad genocide), but zuko’s whole speech to ozai in “the day of black sun” is literally a critique regarding what it means to live in the imperial core. it’s a western, american show for americans first and foremost.

…. and then lok was made during the obama administration. neoliberal identity politics abound. and don’t get me wrong, some of those identity politics were a good thing, because i love seeing milves and bisexuals and korra just like. in general. but it’s also a show that fundamentally revolves around capitalism as its central theme without every actually participating in a coherent class critique. the closest we get is mako and bolin visiting their family in the lower ring, which doesn’t count, bc that was established in atla.

however, just because atla endures in our consciousness, and i am truly finding new things to appreciate about it all the time, does not mean that it is without flaws, and so i do think that it’s pretty fair to assume that its success as a work of fiction and a work of art would of course be undermined by the economic forces that demanded it continued to expand its franchise for profit rather than out of any narrative or thematic need to do so. it always comes back to liberalism and capitalism. lol

[rainbowrelyea]

Supercorptober Days 29 & 30: "Stars/Magic"

Kara is seeing stars, and not the good kind. As she struggles unsuccessfully to pick herself up out of the rubble from the wall she was just blasted through again, she takes stock of her condition. Her head is spinning, there’s a sharp pain shooting down her left side, and she’s pretty sure she tastes blood. She’s having trouble focusing, but even if her blurry vision makes it hard to see the telltale green coloring her veins, the agonizing burn of the kryptonite currently coursing through her body is an all too familiar sensation.

Where did they even get kryptonite? Kara still can’t figure it out. With the resources of the new DEO behind them, the team had been able to thoroughly scour all of Lex’s old hideouts for any remnants, and Brainy had run signature traces for any they may have missed. And as far as she knew, Lena was the only person left alive who knew how to make synthetic kryptonite - unless someone else had finally figured it out.

Lena. Where was Lena? Kara squinted her eyes through the spots dancing in front of her and tried to find the brunette. She never would have let Lena come if she knew there was going to be kryptonite. How is Kara supposed to protect her if she’s incapacitated? (Much like she is now, unfortunately). Not that Lena necessarily needs Kara’s protection as much as she used to, not now that she has gotten so much more comfortable with her magic, and can definitely hold her own in a fight. But still, it’s Lena.

Kara is just barely able to make out the distant movements of J’onn’s blurry green, black and red form. Nia’s bright blue dream energy streaks across her view, then a flash of yellowish orange in her peripheral she knows is from Alex’s favorite blaster (her favorite one this month, anyways). Suddenly two concerned jade eyes swim into her vision.

“Supergirl, are you okay?” Lena’s voice is a balm to her ringing ears, the comforting familiarity of it soothing her ever so slightly. Kara maintains eye contact as best she can and manages a small nod, even as her features involuntary contort into a grimace. There’s a hand pressed firmly to her chest, followed by a faint whirring sound as Lena activates Kara’s anti-kryptonite suit. “God I need to upgrade your suit, this really should be a standard feature,” she hears Lena mutter with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Then a gentle command - “Just stay put while the suit does its job. We’ve got you covered.”

Lena quickly turns around and casts a protection spell to shield her from any further kryptonite blasts. Kara marvels at the wall of shimmering golden energy that materializes in front of her. Rao, this woman is amazing. As she feels the suit beginning to combat the effects of the green poison still weakening her body, she thinks about the many times that Lena has protected her or saved her life. Even though Kara is supposed to be the one doing the protecting. Has Kara saved Lena as many times? Honestly, she’s lost count of both tallies at this point. What she does know, with no uncertainty, is how lucky she is that her harrowing journey through the stars all those years ago somehow led her to this life, to this incredible woman now fighting by her side.

After what feels like forever, the superhero is finally able to stumble to her feet as the pain of the kryptonite subsides and her strength and other abilities slowly start to return. Just as she’s trying to get a read on the situation so she can rejoin the battle, she watches Lena’s protective wall of magic dissipate into the air. She realizes that while she was still down, the team had managed to subdue the criminals, and now J’onn and Alex are working on securing the hostile weapons while Nia dashes off to do a perimeter sweep. Still a little weak, Kara wobbles shakily when she starts to walk, and then Lena is by her side in an instant, arm wrapped around her waist to steady her.

“Hey you,” she says with a tender smile. “You had me worried for a minute there.”

Kara smiles back, even though Lena can’t see her face through the dark visor of her helmet. “I’m going to be just fine, thanks to you :zhao.”

“Khap :zhao rrip vahdhah.” Lena leans in and plants a light kiss on the front of Kara’s helmet, as the swirling blues and purples of a portal appear next to them. “Come on darling, let’s go home.”

———

Kryptonian Translations:

:zhao = love (used as a term of endearment) Khap :zhao rrip vahdhah = I love you too

[charmsandtealeaves]

I had a big reading week this week trying to clear some of my email inbox because the sheer volume was stressing me the fuck out every time I opened it 😅 Posting this a day early as I'm honestly a little worried Tumblr is gonna be funny about all the links.

Read this week:

Reset by @ncoincidences

WIP, Jily micro-oops, Temporary amnesia, Rated G

A mishap with a drunken dark wizard leaves Lily an amnesiac. The last ten months of her life has been completely wiped, which includes her breakup with James eight months before. To aid in her speedy recovery, James has to keep Lily under the pretence that her life has been the same as it was.

When It Counted by @cascader

Complete (6.9k), Order!jily, Rated T

She didn’t tell him when it counted. She’s daydreaming of a redo.

Something Foolish by @merlinsbudgiesmugglers

Complete (1.9k), Tedromeda, canon compliant, Rated E

Struggling against the expectations of her family, and her forced separation from Ted. Andromeda is pleased to discover a note left in her room.

Sunrise, Sunset by @practicecourts

Complete (2.9k) Blackevans BFF Week, Rated G

One time Sirius Black finds Lily Evans, just as she’s about to do something she might regret. One time Lily Potter finds Sirius Black after he’s received some upsetting news.

A Different Kind of Love Story by @mppmaraudergirl

Complete (5.8k), Blackevans BFF Week, Rated G

The best of friendships sometimes grow in the most unlikely of places.

The Vow by @missgryffin

Complete (9.6k), Hogwarts! Jily , Rated E

When he was thirteen-going-on-fourteen, James Potter did something truly, unbelievably stupid. Now that he’s seventeen-going-on-eighteen, he has to deal with the consequences.

Quest for Camelot by @petalsinwoodvale (Ch. 1-2)

WIP, jily Quest For Camelot AU, Rated T

All Lily has ever wanted is to be a knight, like her father, Sir Lionel. After Camelot is attacked and the magical sword Excalibur is stolen, she finds herself teaming up with James, a young blind hermit, as they embark on a quest to find the lost sword. Together, they face the threat of the evil Ruber, navigate challenges with a two-headed dragon and an ogre, and discover that they're more alike than they initially thought. Will they manage to return the sword to Arthur in time, or will they lose not only each other but also their dreams and the precious Excalibur?

Grounded by @frustratedpoetwrites

WIP, Jily Modern (Magic) AU, Winter Olympics, Not Rated

When James Potter's successful Quidditch career comes to an abrupt end he struggles to find a new direction. Coaching seems to be an answer and a pair of green eyes.

Vindicated by missgryffin

Complete (20k), Order!Jily AU, Rated E

Five years ago, Lily Evans did the hardest thing she’d ever done, and broke up with James Potter so she could stay alive by secretly going undercover in America. Now, she’s been tasked with something even harder: doing a transatlantic mission with him.

Captivated by missgryffin

Complete (6.7k), Hogwarts!Jily, Rated E

"I think we should sweep the library. Make sure it's empty." "And why's that?" "Because I need to be alone with you."

Silent Night by practicecourts (ch.1-4)

WIP, Hope Lupin, Remus Lupin, Rated T

Moments in the life of Hope Lupin.

10 Things I Hate About You by @wearingaberetinparis (Ch1.)

WIP, Jily Romcom, Rated M

Petunia Evans cannot start dating the man she considers to have true love potential – a certain Vernon Dursley – until her anti-social younger sister, Lily, finds herself a partner too, which leads Petunia to take drastic measures. For surely, Head Boy James Potter – suffering from a knee injury he does not want anyone but himself and his physiotherapist to know about – should be able to charm her younger sibling, shouldn’t he? If the only thing standing between her perfect love match is blackmail, who is she not to resort to it? Are not, after all, all means justified when the end she has in mind is so very sweet?

Would you run away with me? By @ncoincidences

Complete (1.3k), jily, Rated G

In which Lily barges in on a white veil occasion.

Happy Place by Wearingaberetinparis (Ch.1-6)

WIP, jily modern AU, Rated M

James and Lily have always been the perfect couple that everyone aspires to be: from Head Boy and Girl at Hogwarts School to university students in a loving long distance relationship to – eventually – a happily engaged duo, destined to go the distance. They go together like cream and tea, pride and prejudice, fish and chips. That is, until – for reasons they refuse to discuss for fear of making everything so much worse – they really, truly don’t. For one week, however, they have to act as if all is well for they have yet to tell their friends that what had always seemed perfect, is now very much broken.

You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do that by @jamesunderwater

Complete (1k), prongsfoot in a nightclub, Rated E

prongsfoot + a locked door public bathroom on my knees trying to make you scream vibe

Truth is I’m so damn in love with you I don’t know what to do with myself by jamesunderwater

Complete (800), Prongsfoot, Rated T

prongsfoot + near death experiences + trapped with only one bed + gay pining

Over Spilt Coffee by @annabtg

Complete (1k), Tonks first person POV, Rated T

Tonks's musings on the night she picked up smoking... the night Remus Lupin broke her heart.

Breaking by annabtg

Complete (1.4k), Remus Lupin, Missing Moments, Rated T

Remus has his reasons for staying away from Tonks. Even if it breaks his heart as much as it breaks hers.

From the very first day by @kay-elle-cee

Complete (500), Muggle AU Jily, Rated T

An unexpected night leaves two coworkers trying to sort out their feelings.

Loved you three summers by Kay-Elle-Cee

Complete (600), Pregnant Jily, Rated G

A pregnant Lily has a not-so-sudden realization.

Don’t say yes by Kay-Elle-Cee

Complete (800), no Voldemort AU Jily, Rated G

Two old flames reconnect, wondering if the other is happy.

This is me swallowing my pride by Kay-Elle-Cece

Complete (466), Harry’s God parents, Rated G

The appointment of Harry's Godfather was never up for discussion, but his Godmother? That took some convincing.

Keeping secrets just to keep you by Kay-Elle-Cee

Complete (453), Secret Relationship Jily, Rated T

James and Lily's friends have a bet, and the two of them are determined to win.

Silence and patience, pining in anticipation by Kay-Elle-Cee

Complete (1.2k), Post-Hogwarts Jily, Rated T

Lily’s been hung up on James for years; a tipsy conversation might be the push she needs to do something about it.

You kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever by Kay-Elle-Cee

Complete (1k), Pregnant Order!Jily, Rated T

When Lily and James got pregnant, they made a plan for how they'd participate in the Order going forward. Plans change.

Back to the Pavilion by @abihastastybeans

Complete (1.3k), Minerva McGonagall, Rated G

A day in the life of Minerva McGonagall. Written for the Ladies of HP Fest's Monthly Minis: 1st December 2023 - Minerva McGonagall!

The Naughty List by abihastastybeans

Complete (690), jily secret Santa, Rated T

Written for the December Jily Advent Calendar 2023!Prompt: A & B are colleagues and for the secret santa one of them gives the other something inappropriate as a gag gift

Added to the ever expanding TBR:

The Next Step by merlinsbudgiesmugglers

Complete (1.5k), post-canon Andromeda Tonks, Rated G

After the war Andromeda has been wholly focused on raising her grandson. But when he goes to Hogwarts, she finds she might need something more. Kingsley and Harry have an idea for what that could be.

Speak Now by @firefeufuego Complete (1.4k), Jily love declarations, Rated T

The fuse has been lit. Lily can almost hear the crackling hiss of it, feel the building burn of it in the air as Sirius takes the reins of the conversation, as drinks are bought and poured down newly dry throats, and eventually as last orders are called and the four of them are standing outside and saying farewell with kisses on cheeks. Sam and Sirius apparate away. Lily and James do not. They stand, eyes fixed firmly on each other, ready to ignite. ‘Not forever, you said?’ James asks, his voice deep and quiet in a way that’s never been hers to hear before now. Follow-up to the lovely kay-elle-cee's 'silence and patience, pining in anticipation'.

[cantsomeoneelsedoit]

Ch 46: See You in the Here and Now

"AND THEY WERE LOOPMATES!"

Captain Andy suggests that Fuuko try to go check out what happened in 1865, but Fuuko thinks it might be better to talk to Victor directly, so they tell him to come out of the time-out ball they'd finally restrained him with. And so he does!

And that's how Fuuko discovered a way to defeat Victor.

He has an easy solution to the problem, though-- Just imagine whatever clothes you want!

Does Victor prefer the Union uniform, or is it just the most comfortable and most familiar to him?

They're characters in a book, in a book. Of course they can just imagine whatever they want! I'm not sure if it's considered "reality bending" since they're not technically in reality right now, but manifesting desires and breaking down assumptions about what's possible is becoming a theme in many areas of the story.

Fuuko always tries to find the good in people. She doesn't write people off as "bad."

Please note that past!Victor used to wear shirts that actually fit.

Victor knows that the only way Fuuko could've seen something like that is if Apocalypse showed it to her, since it's the oldest Artifact. Victor and Juiz must've formed the Union so many times, but the only other witness would've been the book. Why does Victor consider that to be something Apocalypse shouldn't show? Why is he so damn secretive?!

The way he looks down at his Emblem like, "Ah, my foolish past in which I dared to believe in love and hope..." Beyond being Andy's shonen rival, he also fills the role of Disillusioned Former Hero Currently in Despair or a kind of antivillain that used to believe in the protagonist's cause.

He's a realist; Juiz is an idealist. But every now and then, we get these clues that he wasn't always a cynic.

Victor so rude! But imagine all of those things reversed and directed with heart bubbles toward Juiz, because that's what he's implying...

Fuuko and Victor, both members of the jacket-tied-around-the-waist club.

In the Round Table flashback, we can see Victor, Apocalypse, Juiz, Nico, Gina, and Void. We don't know much about Void yet, but Nico and Gina have both been said to be older than the other Union members. Andy mentioned the Union's "anti-aging" technology kind of jokingly in the fight with Gina, but it's probably an actual necessity.

The five Negators at this table may have been the five that Juiz and Victor could count on finding every Loop-- the core members of the Union who existed within a timespan where they were all recruitable. Keeping them alive while continuing to build the team would've been really important, and I assume Nico came up with the technology to do it.

Victor: "Reject Looping, Embrace Nihilism"

Giving up on trying to fight God is just like opting out of what you were assigned to do, Victor! Of all the souls in the world, he has Undead, plus Juiz, plus all of the knowledge from past Loops, and he's just going to give up?!

The line about dancing in the palm of God's hand reminds me of characters who won't do what the author asks of them. He's like a performer who refuses to perform! What broke Victor? What made the strongest character we've met just say, "I can't?"

YIKES, Victor! He wants to put her down like an animal?! Give her a euthanasia? That's not really up to you, Victor. She's pretty capable of deciding for herself if she wants to keep fighting or not, and your discomfort with it isn't her problem. Sorry, but Victor's line of thought really grates on my nerves. Who put him in charge of deciding when people have to be put out of their misery?

ANYWAY, the fact that Victor would even consider such a thing shows up just how disillusioned and cynical he's become. He's lived countless lifetimes and seen the entire planet destroyed and rebuilt over and over. He's lost more people than Andy and even Juiz have, and he's probably lived through the dinosaur days, the Black Plague, and a lot of other things that have made him the way he is.

What took Victor out of the game was his despair. Watching the person he loved suffer broke his heart. It's also what he thought would take Andy out of the game. In Ch 16, he asks:

In Victor's opinion, the worst thing he can imagine happening to Andy--the event that might break him forever and allow Victor to take over--would be Fuuko's death. That says a lot about how strongly he feels for Juiz.

And luckily, he's starting to feel a change of heart about his plan to kill her.

Fuuko can make customized Unluck now! It's not just meteors and lava over and over; it's specific to the target. And that means that she might be the key to defeating God.

OK, but how does one "research and figure out God?" You'd have to study the world they created to try to find what they fear, what they hate, what they ignore, etc. But what do you do with that information?

"I'll interfere no longer" FINALLY! He sees the light!

Fuuko better ask Juiz about 1865, because all of us need to know at this point. The way he says it doesn't matter anymore makes me think it was about his love for Juiz, and it doesn't matter anymore because he's already told them about it. But how does that tie into Abraham Lincoln??

Knowing that she can now customize her Unluck, he tells her to kiss Andy while thinking about what death would be to him.

And wow what a panel! Suitable for framing. Print it out and paste it all over town. Buy billboards for it. Send it to your mom. It's so good. I've been looking at it for like 10 minutes.

The blue, cloudy sky and the wasteland beneath. His finger on her chin. The way her hair moves. The way their shoulders look together. Victor all alone, going his own way. The way the "dead" part of Andy's tattoo kind of looks like a heart.

She had to kiss him to leave the book, because her leaving was the worst thing that could happen to him. If she were to die, he'd fall into despair. T.T

Andy tells us all not to cry:

I love how the world in the book is still a fiery wasteland and he's just like, "I'll be fine! Bye!"

Fuuko and Andy's powerups are going to bring them even closer to finding out how to kill God. But what's been going on in the real world while she had a sidequest? Under doesn't even know what they're going up against!

Masterpost

[lavalamp-juice]

SPOILER REVIEW FOR THE MARVELS

Just got back from the theater, watched it with @that-coolllama and my mom :D 

This is all over the place but I'll try to keep it concise.

Let me start off things by saying I didn't have the biggest expectations from this movie. After watching it definitely exceeded my expectations and I highly recommend it! 

[ But TL;DR Plot Characters, and Comedy were awesome.  Couple of Scenes could have added stuff and  been a bit better. 8.5/10 ] 

Okay actual Review and Spoilers after the cut 👇

Things I liked!:

-I really liked the scene where Carol and Monica were attracted to the light like moths. That was really cool ,they just couldn't stop themselves from getting closer and touching it, human nature.

-Goose was so cute in the beginning!  SHE HAD BABIES which was fun. 27 I think. That scene that the kittens were eating all the ppl, hilarious.

-Kamala's family was a nice touch and were supportive, but didn't get in the way. Which was great :D Their duologue was natural.

-The beginning with Kamala's drawings was so fun!

-THE SINGING PLANET AND THE FACT THAT SHES MARRIED AND HER DRESSS AHHHHHHHH CAPTAIN MARVEL IS A PRINCESS?? is this based off something in the Comics? I need to see that. That world is cool and super creative. The universe is vast! Costume And Dance coordinators  worked real hard you can tell! 

-FIGHT SCENES UGH THE FIGHT SCENES. They were really good and well coordinated. I thought it would  be confusing but it wasn't :O. Especially after the training montage 💪

-The 3 Marvel Gals had awesome chemistry! All the dialogue felt so natural between them.

-Monica's Mom dying during the Blip is heartbreaking. Also seeing the background of the hospital in CHAOS was super interesting. I'm glad it is shown that  the Blip had an effect on  people's lives and not just. "a thing that happened oh well". Kinda reminds me of in Multiverese of Madness that guy tells Dr.Stange that his cat and brother died while he was blipped.

-The Skrull history is so heartbreaking. The Skrull REALLY can't catch a break huh :/ but it does create good world building & is interesting.

-THE END CREDIT SCENE THAT KAMALA IS ASSEMBING A YOUNG ANVENGERS TEAM?! AHHHH !!!!!

Who this could include off the top of my head- 

The ones with stars are the ones who are already in the MCU

⭐ Iron Heart

⭐Shuri Black Panther 

✨Miles Morales (context- yt vid explaining prowler in MCU yt vid of Miles in the MCU

⭐ Hulk's Son

Squirrel Girl (okay she's in a commercial with Nick Fury, BUT THAT DONT COUNT 🐿️🐿️🐿️)

⭐ Peter Parker is still pretty young so he's included

⭐ America

⭐ Casey Lang

⭐ That lame girl from Secret Invasion 

Moon Girl! And she has history with the Kree so yee

The Girl and Boy Vision (tho I don't think that would work in the MCU but who knows. Wanda is obviously alive and idk Visons could have backups or smth like that)

⭐ AND BRUNO CAN BE THE GUY IN THE CHAIR INVENTING STUFF

-The way the Kree Leader Villain just... disintegrated was crazy. Speaking of her, she was a pretty alright antagonist. I wouldn't go as far as to say that she was a villain since she was doing all this for a pretty good reason. Not that what she was doing was right, but from her perspective I understood where she was coming from.

Things I didn't like/could have used touch up: 

-The Special Effects were actual great and I didn't see any problem with it! except the scene where Monica and Kamala are falling in the sky. Other than that they were good throughout!

-Carol - "I caused a Civil War, the decay of a planet,  and the Skrull their Home"

Monica- " It's okay, we're family" 

LIKE GIRL NO IT IS NOT. okay actually I forgot why the AI was bad so maybe it was worth it but still ;-; 

-Out of all the sacrifices that one was a bitttt anti climactic. I think maybe the scene just suffered from being too short. Kamala and Carol should have been shown to react more. Still, was a pretty good sacrifice </3

-Definitely could have been longer. my brother mentioned how the ending kinda feels like a much of cut scenes just Frankenstein-ed together. And yeah and does kinda feel that way.

-Some things I would have loved to see- 

Like WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT SINGING PLANTET?!!?!??

Another scene of Goose and her kittens would have been nice.

On the singing planet Carol was like " we need new clothes" and the Prince is like "k" and they just show up with new clothes? Like we didn't see them react to it or anything -_-. C'mon Kamala loving her boots would be such an easy comic book callback.

Kamala calling Bruno and Nakia. Like they were not mentioned once! T_T KAMALA YOU CAN'T FORGET WHERE U CAME FROM.

This may be that I haven't seen ALL the MCU stuff but where did the Skull go? If they have a home now are there Skull on Earth. WHY WASN'T ANYTHING FROM SECRET INVASION MENTIONED.

-Anyways-

-That X-Men End Scene. .... uh ... very interesting to say the least. I have not consumed ANY X-Men content but like to have them in a different timeline than the main MCU is a lil lame, but go off. Idk I'd like to hear the thoughts of anyone who has seen X-Men content.

Overall, I think the comedy, characters, & world building all fit perfectly. 

A 8.5/10 movie for me. Can't wait to rewatch it!!!!!

:D Thanks for reading! <3

[noshitbarnes]

Anti-Hero: Prologue

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x OFC

Summary: After being experimented on as a young child and given abilities, Daniela has become a highly skilled member of the Avengers, and has even been assigned to mentor Peter Parker. Little does she know that the happiness she’s been able to find will become threatened by the very people who started her on her path long ago.

Warnings: angst, language, and mentions of torture

Word Count: 2,887

Notes: This has been in my WIPs for the longest time, so I decided to finally finish it up and let y’all read it! This chapter is just the set-up for Daniela’s character, so please be patient with me on the story development! I appreciate it! And as always if you want to be tagged in anything let me know!

Anti-Hero Masterlist

THREE YEARS EARLIER

"So, Sergeant Daniela Velikov, right?”

Daniela hears the voice, but doesn’t think much of it, thinking it was either her boss, Phil, or maybe Fitz from the lab with more specs for a new hand blaster. She finishes typing her sentence and then looks up from the screen towards the figure that was standing in front of her. The man’s suit was a dark navy blue that hugged his frame tightly, there was a large dark black star across his chest, and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He was currently looking down at a file he had in his hands, he seemed quite interested in it; however, Daniela could still make out the dark circles under his eyes and the beard. She furrowed her brows while looking him over, thinking he could really use a shave, not that he looked bad, but that he'd look better if he trimmed his beard a bit. She stared at him a little while longer, thinking he looked slightly familiar, but the scruff and the dark suit told her she was wrong. It was when he finally looked up from the file, his blue eyes meeting her gaze that she knew who he was, Steve Rogers.

Quickly, she moves to stand at attention in front of him, "Yes, sir! Sergeant Velikov of the 78th Marines.”

"Well," Steve smirks as he looks her up and down, "you're not a Marine anymore,” Daniela smiles lightly as Steve looks back down at the file, “all right at ease, Sergeant,” she moves her feet apart and clasps her hands behind her back, “you have a very impressive resume for being just 23,” he closes the file and looks back to her.

Daniela wasn’t completely sure why Steve was here or why he was complimenting her. She had a feeling it most likely had something to do with the Avengers, she’s had many many talks with Phil about the team. Phil wanted her to join them, fight aliens, be a hero, maybe even lead the team in the future. His aspersions for her were always higher than her own.

Daniela decides to keep it cool and play along, "Thank you, sir, I've worked really hard to get where I am.”

He hums lightly and nods in agreement, "I got word about five months ago that there was someone within SHIELD who had some special abilities,” he raises glances at her to see if her demeanor changes, which it didn’t, "Coulson thought you might know who it is."

She tilts her head slightly trying her best to act dumb, "He did?”

He nods, "Sure did, got any ideas or should I start guessing?"

She shrugs one shoulder, "I don't work much with the rest of the team, sir, I usually do solo missions, so I wouldn't be the best person to ask."

Daniela made a rookie mistake, got all mushy one night, and told Phil a few things about her past, was a little too honest. She'd been apart of the team for about six months and the loneliness had gotten to her, she wasn't getting along with anyone at that point and the missions she'd been on were emotionally taxing, even for her. Phil was the only one that had shown any interest in being a friend, so after a particularly difficult mission, Daniela had a few too many drinks and went to his office and told him everything. It wasn't really anything Phil didn't already know, he was a SHIELD agent after all, he knew about her parents, how old she really was, and where she grew up, but he wasn't aware of her abilities. She never imagined that one night of confiding in a friend would lead to Steve Rogers showing up at her desk asking her questions.

Steve looks at her sternly and gestures to the file in his hand, "Do you know what this is?" Daniela shakes her head and he continues, "Coulson has personal files for every member of his team. Mostly for basic things, mission stats, what they like, what they don't, weaknesses, strengths, injuries," he drops the file behind her on her desk and points to it, "and that one's yours, so I'll ask you one more time Sergeant, do you know anyone here who has enhanced abilities?"

She glances at the file then back to Steve, with a blank expression. She had no problem lying, it was in her blood, after all she'd been doing it her entire life, but she did have a problem lying to Steve Rogers, America’s golden boy. She grew up watching him, idolizing him, and praying some day that maybe he'd come and save her too. Steve was one of the reasons she got into the army in the first place, along with more personal reasons.

Daniela takes a small calming breath, "Why does it even matter?"

Steve sighs, "Because if this person has enhanced abilities, I need to find out if their using them for the right reasons. I won't led SHIELD fall again."

Steve knew that the girl in front of him posed no threat because of the high praise Phil gave her, and Phil was one of the few he could actually trust. The only reason he was even here, grilling this woman, was because of Tony. The past few years had been rough on everyone and Tony thought it would be good for Steve to get out of the compound and try to recruit a few new faces. The entire purpose of recruitment now was to build a future team, with a good leader, and if Steve could persuade her, Daniela would be perfect.

Daniela pauses for a moment, "But why should they trust you?"

Steve pauses, he hasn’t had anyone question his motives in quiet some time, it was almost refreshing, "I'm not here to gain your trust, Sergeant, this isn't some game, I'm looking for answers," he frowns slightly when her expression doesn't change, "just be honest with me," he sighs when she still doesn't answer, "I think you realize I already know."

Daniela shifts her weight to her left foot and nods slowly, "I.. Coulson was the only one I told and that was about a year ago ago," she looks to the ground and closes her eyes, "not that he didn't already know, the man is a spy after all," this leads to a small chuckle from Steve, but Daniela continues, "this is why I knew opening up to anyone would be a mistake. I only use my powers when I'm on solo missions, so I can avoid questions about how I got them. I thought I was doing a pretty good job at hiding things,” she opens her eyes and looks back to him, “I've been running from my powers my entire life, sir," she hesitates slightly afraid of sharing, but she continues, hoping he would understand, "if it makes any difference, I don't like that I have them either, but um, it wasn't exactly my choice."

Steve listens intently, hearing not just her words, but the emotions behind them. He knew about her past, but only surface details, like where she was born and raised, who her parents are, and that they were the ones who gave Daniela her powers. If he was being completely honest, he wasn't sure if he ever wanted to know exactly how she got them. Being a guinea pig of any kind is not a fun process.

Steve keeps his poker face and decides to change the subject, "You've been with SHIELD for nearly two years, never had any disciplinary actions, never asked any questions, have always done what you’re told. You're no doubt the best agent Coulson's got,” he looks her up and down assessing her, surprised such skill could come from someone so small, “so why stop here? Got any higher aspirations?"

Daniela chuckles lightly, the change of subject a slight relief, "Are you trying to get me to join the Avengers? I thought that was usually Stark's gig."

"He's got the day off," he smiles and continues, "the team would love to see a new face, have some help with missions,” she looks to him slightly confused, so he explains further, “we need some young faces to be the future of the team, the rest of us can’t do this forever. How about it? Coulson thinks you’d fit in with us well, maybe even help run it at some point.”

Daniela scoffs lightly at his remark and shakes her head. She’s always believed in what she did, she put her heart and soul into it, and sometimes that cost her, but there was no way she wanted to lead a team of superheroes, "With all due respect, Captain, I don't think that's up my ally.”

He takes in a deep breath and takes a step closer, now only a few feet from her, "Show me what you can do,” after all, it’s what he came here for.

The sudden closeness shocks her and her eyes grow wide, "W-what?"

He smiles sweetly and nods his head to her hands, "We just agreed that you have powers, now show me.”

She visibly clenches her jaw to calm her growing temper, “Yes, sir.”

Daniela slowly unclasps her hands and brings them around in front of her. She then turns them over, palms now facing the ceiling, while taking a deep calming breath, her hands begin to glow a soft icy white. Steve watches her hands intently, thoroughly impressed with what he's seeing. Moments later she starts a small fountain from her palms, letting the water flow freely for a few heartbeats, then freezes the water over quickly, “There.”

Steve raises an eyebrow, Phil wasn’t kidding, this girl really did have talent, but she had one more secret, "What else?”

She closes her hands abruptly causing the ice to shatter and fall to the floor around their feet, “Well... I um... I don’t tell many about the rest of my powers, sir.”

“Do I need to earn your trust?”

She shakes her head and furrows her brows, “Um... not exactly,” she purses her lips, “I’m just more worried about scaring people.”

Steve smirks slightly, “You realize that my best friend has a vibranium arm and I live with the Scarlet Witch. Those are just the calm ones, we also have an archer who climbs through the vents.”

That made her relax a bit and she chuckles, making Steve smile-- she had a cute laugh. Daniela didn’t know much about the Avengers personal life, other than what Phil told her, which wasn’t much, “Barton climbs in the vents?”

He shakes his head, “Yeah, I don’t ask why.”

Steve didn’t really ask too many questions about the others, figured it was none of his business, although if they wanted to share he’d happily listen. Some say that made him cold and off-putting, that he was too much of a soldier, but it wasn’t that at all, he cared too much. He was worried that getting too close to those he worked with would just put them in danger.

Daniela giggles and Steve continues, “Anyway, what else can you do? I won’t tell a soul,” he holds up two fingers, “scouts honor.”

She heavily sighs, “I... um, alright... my powers. They call it cryo-electricity. I can manipulate ice and lightning either at the same time or separately. I’ve learned over the years I can use water and frost too.”

Bringing her right hand back up in front of her, palm still facing the sky, she curls her fingers inward slightly, as if she was holding a ball. She scowls slightly at her hand, still unsure about showing him, but he already knew, so might as well. Clenching her teeth, trying to focus on her hand, small violet colored sparks begin to dance from her fingers like little strings. It wasn’t much, but it proved the point that she could do it.

"Impressive," he meets her gaze when the sparks die out and sees hesitation in her eyes, "I'm not saying you have to join, but you'd be helping a lot of people, and I know that's what you want."

Seeing that she still wasn't sure, he decides to take a different approach, and grabs the folder off her desk, "Says here you where on the fast track to joining the SRT squad before you were recruited to SHIELD,” he raises a curious eyebrow, looking over the file, "they don't normally allow women to join.”

The SRT team was the Special Reaction Team that responds to more dangerous and high risk situations within the military base. Basically they were the army equivalent of a SWAT team. They actually don’t allow women to join, but the General that Daniela worked under saw great potential in her and said he’d grant her request when it was time. She thought she would be able to help more people if she was on the squad, which is partiality what she wanted. She still had another year left before officially applying for the team when Phil found her and convinced her of a different path.

She nods at Steve, "They said I fit the bill for what they needed, sir.”

He purses his lips in agreement, she was a fine soldier, not a lot of women can say they were a Sergeant in the Marines. He then tilts his head curiously at her, “What made you want to be with SHEILD then? You could've gotten everything you wanted with SRT. Action, adventure, helping people, what changed?”

"I um,” Daniela takes a deep breath, "it's of personal nature, sir.”

"Got anything to do with your parents?” He lightly throws the file back onto the desk causing her eyes to widen.

"Possibly, sir," she pauses, “I um, I didn't realize you knew about them.”

Unfortunately for Steve, he knew all to well who her parents were, he just never realized that they had a daughter, “Stark and I had," he nods his head side-to-side, "a chance encountered with your father once, about a year ago, it ended with him getting away,” he frowns slightly at the ground and then looks back into Daniela's eyes, “Didn’t realize he had a daughter.”

Daniela’s parents always got away. She was starting to think they were destined to live free while she was destined to spend her eternity chasing after them like an idiot. They needed to pay, no, had to pay for what they did, not just to her, but for what they’re continuing to do. They’re monsters.

“Yeah, they’re not particularly proud of me, sir. They think that what happened to me was a blessing and that I am wasting my gift," she sighs and looks to the floor, "My apologies for having to deal with him.”

"No need, not your doing," she looks back to him and his eyes had softened, "you turned out quiet the opposite of him.”

"I um,” she scoffs, "I've worked my whole life to be the opposite of them both. I’ve tried to use what they cursed me with for the greater good, sometimes I can, some days, not so much,” she looks at her hands and shakes her head.

He takes a few steps towards her and rests a hand on her shoulder, "You've made a huge difference and changed a lot of lives, for the better,” she smiles weakly and he takes his hand away, "I can help you take the fight to Hydra. I can't promise we'll see your parents, but I can promise that if we do, we'll make them pay for what they did.”

"I've been fighting Hydra for decades, sir," she chuckles lightly, "Phil did the same speech with me years ago and he was able to convince me enough to join up here. After all these years, I have yet to see either of them.”

Steve nodded forgetting that her true age didn't show, “Well, I don't suggest you actually go looking for them,” he looks to her sternly, “you might not be happy with what you find.”

Daniela mumbles softly to herself, "Never stopped you,” he raises his eyebrows at her in surprise, "I'm sorry, sir, that was uncalled for.”

"It's alright," he shrugs and continues, "but I do know from experience that dwelling on the past only causes more pain.”

Moving on was something Daniela didn't do well, even after over 90 years. Little things tended not to bother her so much now, but childhood trauma was something that she still couldn't let go of. After all, her parents tortured her, changed her DNA, gave her powers, and then abandoned her at an orphanage when she didn't agree with their evil plan all by the age of eight. How can anyone just wake up one morning and go, "Yeah, this is fine."? The best course of action is to just fake a smile, bury the emotions deep, and hope that one day they'll die.

Daniela stares at him and blinks, "So I've been told, sir.”

[dontforgetoctober3rd]

Listen, I will not be using “anti” tags for anything that has to do with fictional characters ever. If you don’t like what I post, the block button exists.

So here is a list of my ‘affiliations’ in the HOTD fandom if you want to go ahead and block me now:

-first let me preface this by saying I’m am NEVER for hating on an actor. I will name call characters left right and center but that does not mean I hate on actors. Likewise my hatred of a team or character doesn’t mean I hate their fans/supporters or condone their harassment etc.

- I am Team Blacks

-I love Rhaenyra’s character and stan her always

- I absolutely ABHOR Alicent, Otto, Aegon II, Aemond but not Halaena

-I LOVE Viserys as a dad (but only to RhaeRhae tho he’s shitty to the rest of them lmao) he is a poor king tho lmao (Paddy Considine for an EMMY amirite??)

- I am literally counting the days until Crispy Coal dies. Hate that guy with a PASSION

-Love daddy Harwin

- yes Rhaenyra’s first three boys are bastards. No, I don’t give a hoot. To me, they are the rightful heirs

- yes the Targarycest is creepy to me but I’m not gonna waste my time harassing other fans for it and pretend like it translates to support of actual inc*st in actual life, honestly I just act like it’s a less related Targaryen that Rhaenyra has married (kind of like queen lizzy’s cousband lmao) instead of her straight up uncle so I can stomach the ship *shrug*

- fuck the greens they are usurpers

- Princess Rhaenys is bae

[omegasmileyface]

The Forest, the Trees, the Fire I: CATALYST

Chapter 6

we've crossed the halfway point! chapter 7 is also going up today since these are both late. Authors: @attackradish, @ectolemonades, me. Artist: @/crunchysart

For the full characters list, word count, content warning, and a directory to all the currently available chapters and related content, see the Table of Contents!

full summary: The world outside of Amity Park has learned about the existence of ghosts, and the time for first impressions has arrived. The delicate public consciousness could be disrupted by the slightest ripple. Danny Fenton is being ripped apart from all sides, and when he finally breaks, the ripples will be very big indeed.

warnings: similarities to real-life social justice issues, emotional breakdowns

words: 4621

AO3 link

first chapter

previous chapter

next chapter

===

January 4, 2007

Sam glanced around for what felt like the hundredth time, searching with dying hope for Tucker’s familiar red beret or Danny’s messy black hair. Resentment churned in her stomach. She wanted her two best friends to be on the front lines protesting with her, making their voices heard and fighting for ghost rights— for Danny’s rights.

She tried not to dwell on her feelings about any of that. They wouldn’t help her in the moment.

She led a crowd of Amity Park citizens. They were mostly Casper High students, but there were bubbles of adults who actually had the brain cells to think for themselves and joined them. The group was doing a march on city hall, to get the attention of their uneducated elected officials and let them know they couldn’t pass harmful legislation that easily. Her parents were going to be pissed when they found out she was not only involved, but in charge.

In Danny and Tucker’s absence, she was flanked by Dash and Kwan, and most of the Casper High football team and cheer squad had taken to the front of the crowd. Handmade signs were hoisted, with pro-ghost phrases like “Dying once wasn’t enough?” and “Fear the malevolent, nonsentient Ectophobe.”

Sam let just a little pride get to her head, proud that she could organize a group like this and proud that other people were willing to protest for the cause.

“Your two friends too scared to fight the good fight? Or does Fenton just think like his parents?” Dash remarked.

And the resentment returned. “Dash, none of that is relevant right now. Are you just here to make yourself feel like you’re better than other people, or are you actually here to help?” Sam snapped, narrowing her eyes at him.

Dash went quiet and stone-faced, holding his own sign just a bit higher.

Sam focused her energy back on what they were fighting for. She leaned behind Dash to tap Paulina on the shoulder, signaling it was time for her to put those cheer skills to use. Paulina nodded and clapped to get the attention of the other cheerleaders present.

They turned to face the other people in the crowd. “When we say ecto, you say rights!”

“Ecto!”

“Rights!”

“Ecto!”

“Rights!”

Sam couldn’t help but feel somewhat impressed with how in sync the cheerleaders were, and how well Paulina led them. Maybe she’d been wrong in her past judgements.

While the energy of the crowd began to ramp up, news vans started rolling up, cameras pointed at the demonstration for b-roll footage and others pointed at anchors getting a report ready for the evening news.

===

The crowd dispersed after a few hours. There had been impassioned speeches, so many chants Sam’s throat felt raw, and the occasional reaction from citizens whenever an official tried to quietly slip out of city hall.

Despite her physical exhaustion, Sam felt energized.

At one point a small group in support of the anti-ecto laws had formed, attempting to counter-protest. Sam avoided looking at them. She wasn’t sure if her parents were there, and she couldn’t bear the thought of them making a scene if she drew their attention. She hoped she just blended into the crowd for once, her parents too blinded by their bigotry to notice their daughter fighting for exactly what they were against.

Sam could only hope her side of the demonstrations had been effective. The crowd had been bigger than she thought it would be, and the fact that it wasn’t entirely comprised of her fellow students gave her hope for their cause. She knew she’d be glued to the news over the next few days, waiting to see some sort of reaction or response. Maybe they’d be able to at least push voting periods back.

A reporter tapped Sam on the shoulder. “Ma’am, my name is Rowan Collier with Channel 8 News, could we get an interview with you?”

Being referred to as “ma’am” made Sam shrivel up on the inside, but an interview couldn’t hurt, if only to help counter the misinformation being spread. “Yeah, sure.”

Rowan went through standard interview procedure, having Sam say and spell her name, asking where she was from and her role in the community. A cameraman had set up by the pair to film the exchange. “What motivated you to join this demonstration today?” Rowan pointed their microphone toward Sam for an answer.

“Harmful misinformation about ecto-entities is being spread every single day. Legislation is being proposed by uneducated individuals with opinions based in fearmongering. Ghosts are sentient and have emotions and needs, just like humans.”

The interview went back and forth like that, with Rowan asking for her thoughts on various ecto-legislation-related issues, and Sam giving the most concise answers she could muster after such a long day.

“Thank you so much for your time, Ms. Manson. Have a great rest of your day,” Rowan finally said.

“You too,” Sam waved.

Going home meant an immediate fight with her parents. It likely already got back to them that she was involved in the protest, and she could only imagine their rage when they saw her being interviewed on the news.

At least she knew her grandma would back her up.

===

Tucker rubbed his eyes under his glasses and sighed. His head was beginning to hurt from staring at small text on his computer screen for hours on end.

He’d spent his entire morning fact-checking the transcript from the new mayor’s press conference, and adding in his own commentary to point out fear-mongering language and just straight-up slander against ghosts. The minute he released the document, the forum exploded.

It had been an hour since he posted, and the comments and discussions hadn’t stopped. Despite his headache, he scrolled through to see what people were saying.

ect0rights: i knew this was a load of crap the entire time i was watching, mayor just sucked his own dick for an hour

>3 comments

invisobillfan: giw sux

XxghostgurlxX: Everything he said was so deeply dehumanizing to ghosts. I’ve met plenty of ghosts who were benign or even helpful, and our town hero is a ghost! It’s ridiculous to lump an entire group together like that, and imply that they’re all dangerous.

>12 comments

gardening4life: u r all  delusional children and ur parents need to raise u better

>38 comments

Tucker couldn’t help but chuckle at the last post. He didn’t even need to expand the thread to know whoever “gardening4life” was got a verbal – or would it be textual? – beatdown.

He came across a few posts of users calling for more protests. The first few had gone well. No violence had broken out, and they’d been pretty organized for being planned completely by word of mouth.

He knew planning a protest on a public forum was a bad idea, though, and with tensions rising demonstrations were becoming riskier. What happened when people had more time to think up countermeasures? What if someone got violent?

Tucker decided to take a break from the forum posts before every horrible scenario could manifest in his brain. He opened up the program he’d been working on the past few days. It still needed tweaking, but the basics were there: a secure communication system he could share with fellow ecto-rights activists.

He’d managed to get Sam to help with tests, and so far everything worked. All he needed to implement now was the secure login system and it could go live.

His plan for login protection was more complicated than just a password. First, users would have to use their personal credentials, then answer some security questions based on facts about ghosts, and finally enter a temporary universal passcode to get into the system.

If the wrong person got a hold of the program, he figured the security questions would be a nice extra defense. No one who supported anti-ecto laws knew enough about ghosts to give basic facts about how they work, and there was too much misinformation on the internet for them to just search up the answer. And even if they did get past that, they’d still have to work around the universal passcode somehow.

Tucker knew there would be cracks no matter what, but at least they’d be able to keep things private for a while.

A knock at his bedroom door broke through his skull and tenderized his brain. He folded his arms on his desk with a groan and laid his head down. “Yeah?” he called out.

Tucker’s mom opened the door. “Are you okay, honey?”

“Yeah, just a headache.”

“Well, maybe you should take a real break from the computer.” She shook her head.

“Mom,” Tucker whined.

“Anyway, Sam’s on the phone for you,” she said. She set the landline on his desk and slipped out of the room, closing the door halfway.

Tucker picked up the phone. “Hey, Sam."

“Why weren’t you answering your cell?"

“I think it’s dead. Sorry, I’ve been working all day.”

“Well, I finally caught Danny and roped him into hanging out tomorrow. Apparently his parents are gonna be out, so we can hang at his. I expect to see you there,” Sam said.

Tucker breathed out a quiet laugh at the way she demanded his presence. “Okay, I’ll be there. Hey, I’ve almost got that chat system done.”

“Does that mean you’ll finally start coming to the protests?”

“Hey," Tucker said, "I’ve really gotta go now, my head is pounding. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

They said their goodbyes, and he made a little wish in his head that she wouldn't worry too much about the way he avoided the subject.

===

Danny picked at a loose thread in his comforter. When had spending time with Sam and Tucker become so uncomfortable?

He couldn’t meet his friends’ gazes. Being with them, in his bedroom, felt like it solidified the reality of him constantly being gone. A twinge of guilt ran through him, and he resisted the urge to physically shake it away. He had to make the choices that were best for him; he had an important role to fulfill now.

“Danny, I can’t believe you’ve missed out. The protests have been going really well,” Sam spoke up. “We’ve got a lot of support.”

“Really?” Danny wasn’t sure if he was truly interested or not.

“We set up a private communication system, so the protests can be planned without any dangerous interference,” Tucker added on.

“I was really hoping with that safeguard in place you’d both start showing up to them. It’s really important to me to have you both there, you’re my best friends. And just think— Danny Fenton, son of ghost hunters, helping lead the resistance!” There was a fire in Sam’s eyes.

Danny swallowed the bile rising in his throat. Danny Fenton. Son of ghost hunters. He tried not to be angry at Sam for saying it— it was just a fact about him. She didn’t know it made him think of all the fights with his parents recently, about being coronated and knowing his parents would absolutely despise who he truly was.

“Dude, you okay? What’s been up with you lately? You’ve been completely MIA, and now you’re spacing out.” Tucker was clearly trying to avoid the current topic, and Danny couldn’t blame him, but putting the spotlight on him really wasn’t helping.

Danny took a deep breath and forced his voice to be steady. “I’m just trying to make the safest decisions for myself. I can’t be here, just sitting around and waiting for the Guys in White to figure me out. You guys… you saw what happened with Vlad.”

“So you disappear when you could be helping? You’re literally the town hero!” Sam cried.

“But most of the town doesn’t seem to see me as that, do they? I’m a ghost, an ectoplasmic abomination that doesn’t deserve to have basic rights despite saving their lives on a near-daily basis. And what if the GIW made the connection? Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom, I wasn’t exactly the smartest 14-year-old when I came up with that name, thinking I could keep my identity a secret. What if they brought some kind of ectoenergy detector to a protest? I’d be outed immediately, probably hauled off to be their next experiment. I’m glad you can take action, but it isn’t safe for me.” It all rushed out before Danny could force it down. He hated how harsh it sounded, but it felt like a physical release of pressure as it came out of his system.

Sam had an unreadable expression on her face. Tucker sat stiff as a board, his entire body tense and his gaze glued on the poster above Danny’s bed to avoid eye contact. The silence grew, and the tension didn't lessen.

“At least I can count on Tucker,” Sam spat.

“I’m more than happy to keep helping behind the scenes,” Tucker said cautiously.

This only irritated Sam more. She stood from Danny’s desk chair abruptly, sending it into a spin. “I have to get going. Got a lot to do between this and homework. Nice to finally see you again, Danny." There was no warmth in her voice as she stormed out of the room.

The front door slammed downstairs.

“I, uh, need to get going too,” Tucker said. “I’m not really sure what you’re not telling us right now, just… be careful, and maybe be around a little more, okay?” Tucker sounded like he pitied Danny more than anything, and he left with an unyielding gentleness.

That had not gone at all as Danny hoped it would.

===

The phone was ringing before Valerie had a chance to second-guess her decision.

“Val?”

She found herself speechless when she heard a voice on the other end that wasn’t a voicemail message.

“Hello?”

“Danny! Hey, I was surprised you answered,” Valerie said.

“Uh, yeah, sorry, things have been weird lately,” Danny said. He sounded exhausted. Maybe she woke him up from a nap or something.

Valerie had no idea what to say. She didn’t call with any expectation he’d answer, she’d acted on an impulse and now she had to do her best to make this worth it.

She wanted to ask so many questions about what was going on with him. It was an easy distraction from her own feelings, the mess of anxiety and anger and heartbreak and distrust swirling in her head after recent events.

“How’s it been going?” Danny asked after she had been silent for an uncomfortably long time.

“Oh, you know, weird.” She let out a nervous laugh. “Man, you heard about that stuff with Mayor Masters, right? It’s crazy, I mean, a ghost was our mayor!”

That statement didn’t really begin to cover her feelings about the situation. And, God, why was that the first thing she brought up? She knew Danny’s family had been close with Vlad, it was probably a sore spot and she just threw it in his face.

“Oh, yeah. That whole thing was really crazy. I mean, who could have guessed?” Danny responded. His voice had a cold edge to it. Shit, she was already completely screwing this up.

“How have you been? No one’s heard from you in a while.” Nothing she said felt right coming out of her mouth. She didn’t know what she wanted to hear from him, but at that point, she’d take anything just to keep him talking a little longer and maybe get him to open up.

“Things have been tense at home. I’ve just been dealing with things in my own way. Don’t worry, I’m not running off with the circus or anything.” Danny’s attempt at sarcastic humor fell flat. Valerie tried to convince herself it was just because they were talking on the phone, but there was only so much she could do to ignore the rising irritation peeking into Danny’s voice.

“Yeah, just, people have been worried, okay? I’ve been worried. The GIW’s got this chokehold on Amity Park right now, and it’s all weird and I thought for a minute maybe something had happened to you,” Valerie said. She heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end.

“Why would you think something happened to me?” Danny asked.

Valerie furrowed her eyebrows. Did he think she was implying something, or was he implying something she needed to pick up on? “I just hadn’t heard from you. I mean, a while back your parents contacted me, of all people, because Sam and Tucker didn’t even know where you were. Should I be concerned about something? Do you want to talk about anything?”

“No. Sorry, Valerie, I gotta go. Uh, thanks for calling,” Danny said.

“Wait—”

The line went dead. Valerie groaned. Where had she gone so wrong in the span of just a few minutes? Maybe she shouldn’t take it personally. He seemed to be shutting everyone out, it wasn’t like she’d be some special case.

But maybe she thought it’d be different, a change from the people who were always around him and knew the intimate details of his life. She could offer him a space to open up and get a different perspective. She yearned for that brief period when they’d been close, their friendship that had fizzled out.

===

Danny threw his only good pair of headphones on the floor. Crunch! There they went! They had been a birthday gift from Sam and were the only way he ever let himself listen to music anymore, but now they were gone!

He was experimenting with small permanences. If he ruined all his friendships, they would be gone forever, if he let all his secrets go, they would be open forever, if he screwed up this whole teenage monarch thing everyone would be fucked forever, so he'd better get used to it on an expensive piece of plastic and wire first.

Everybody was so fucking worried about him that even when he just wanted to exist, to chill as a human before that option was off the table forever, he couldn't get a break!

Nobody would give him a fucking break!

He needed less on his plate.

He'd been trying to make use of those prioritizing skills that were being drilled into his head. He was already keeping up with his family as little as possible. School was an easy loss, he was never going to get his grades back up anyway, and it wasn't much to lose. He didn't need a diploma, it would just make life easier.

But that wasn't enough, so Danny had to drop something else, too. Not even on purpose, he had already started pushing his friends away. His hope was that if he didn't actively start any fights, the friendship wouldn't deteriorate too much while he was busy. He could pick it back up once all the ghost legislation shit cleared up. If he did something drastic and new, like finally telling them about the Ghost King thing after putting it off for forever, or telling them he couldn't spend time with them, the friendship might destabilize. It could have collapsed by the time he was ready to give himself to his friends again.

So, for now, Tucker and Sam were just going to have to get by without him. They would understand.

It had taken half a day of sitting in his room in silence to come to terms with the fact that he needed to put patrols away for now too. It wasn't like many ghosts were coming into town anymore with such a hostile environment, and he couldn't do anything about the GIW being weird, so patrolling wasn't even helping anything anymore. Really, he just did it to see Amity. It was the only bit of peace he had in the day.

But in all honesty, it only put him at risk, and it took up so much time. It hurt way worse than he expected, the thought of not going out to look over the town. Sue him for being nostalgic! He grew up there. When he looked around, he got to see that some things weren't drastically different.

Or, at least, that's what he was telling himself.

He needed something else to break.

Crash! His mug that said ground control to major Dan. They had gotten that at a rest stop when he was 6, and it never got used for drinks. And now it never would be!

Did he even have any other reasons to stay here? Every time someone knocked on his door, he felt his heart stop for a moment when a little voice in his head said it was a raid coming to take him off to some experimentation facility. He avoided public buildings, the Internet, and every authority figure he knew because he figured he'd do something wrong and they'd put it together. They'd find him out like they found Vlad, and Danny wouldn't have the same chance to run away.

Everybody wanted him to do something. Everybody wanted him to act. But every action he could think of would get his home life compromised. Maybe… he could put all of that on hold?

Fuck it. Everybody needed something from him right now, but the ghosts needed it the most. They weren't doing anything to defend themselves, and the humans weren't slowing. It sucked, it sucked so bad that he wasn't able to finish growing up before he had to do all this King shit, but nobody else was doing it. It was his best shot at helping meaningfully.

He was the only person who could do it, so it was his responsibility. Again.

Sure! He could dedicate himself to that! The more help he did now, the less time everybody spent in this mess. So that was it. Danny was going to make using politics to help ghosts his sole focus. He didn't need any of this other shit for that.

So he took off. He shoved as many irreplaceable keepsakes as he could fit into a pocket dimension, just in case somebody tore through his room. Then he grabbed an armful of his favorite clothes, tossed them through the Portal, and looked around. 

Funny, besides a few more computers and real photos of ghosts, the lab looked just like it did when he was a kid. Nothing else in his life did.

Whatever. He had to get out of here before he thought about it for too long.

Danny jumped through the portal. He took all of the rage he'd been ignoring and channeled it into his fingers. When he swiped his hand through the portal, the energy crumpled under his claws like paper, and the portal was no more.

He didn't have to beat up the loose metal frame, but it was nice to get to break something and not regret it.

"How's that for permanence?"

His voice echoed through the green void for longer than it should have.

Guess it was time to move into that cold stone castle. 

===

It should come as no surprise that we are not satisfied. The boy King is a fool. He will continue to lose loyal ghosts, and before anything significant has even been done, he will seal us off from the living realm once again, where they can continue, undisturbed, to make plans to reach us again with their weapons of mass destruction.

He has shied away from an easy battle, from mercifully proving our superiority to the living humans in one quick movement. We would not have to fear what they might do in the coming years, and they would not have to fear us. There would be a few deaths, on their side surely and perhaps on ours, but our boundaries would be established and they would not attempt to intrude any longer.

But he has ties to the living humans, in both his core and his flesh. He is living, and it makes him unwilling to make the hard decisions. The Phantom is both a child and divided. He has barred us from acting, and in doing so he has set us all up for failure.

No, we are not satisfied at all.

So we have decided to act regardless. The boy King has told us not to, and asked to be left alone, but he refuses to think about us as soon as we have left his sight. In his weakness, he has not taken any measures to ensure that we do not act without permission. Perhaps he expects us to be bound to some sort of "duty" to him, but we are no strangers to taking up our own law when we are not satisfied with the law we are given. Otherwise, we would not be enforcers. We would not be creatures of the law.

We simply have to do our work without his knowledge, or leave him too distracted to worry about our involvement. If he knew about our treason, he would surely destroy us, or come close to doing so. So we will use stealth. Discretion.

This is easy. We only have to play with cause and effect.

So, we send word to the living humans' force, the Garrison Irving Walker Commission. Almost honestly, we inform them that we seek to help their effort. They will be given the information and tools to raid the library sector near the wastes, where they may gain information on their enemy. They will have to meet with us, but they may do so with as many scientific protections as they would like to take.

If the boy King has at all been useful to us, it is in convincing the living humans that their guards against us are foolproof.

They destroy our notices a few times, fearful of the intrusion of their enemy. We continue to reach out, insisting that our offer is genuine. Almost honestly, we tell them that there are ghosts we disagree with, enemies of ours, who would benefit from their ignorance.

They meet with us, in a remote location close to their Great Lakes. They pack the area with wards and shields, so that approach is impossible for us and just barely viable for our gifts, and they pack themselves with weapons. They are wise to expect us to break their trust, although they do not know how useless their defenses would be.

We send three eyes. These eyes speak to the Commission representatives. We give them a live map of the area with several safe routes marked out, a portal ring which they can use to summon only one portal, but with six uses (they will want to test it, so just two uses would not be sufficient), eight Amulets of Dark-Score so they will move about undetected, and a vial of blood blossom gas— protected, of course— to incapacitate any ghosts they will find on their way.

These items are so rare, so hard to come by in these numbers. This is how much it takes to prepare a group of humans for a raid on an unprotected part of the Infinite Realms.

But they will learn, and they will temporarily become a more significant threat to us. And the Phantom will finally need to face them head-on.

The commission representatives, before checking our gifts for safety, disincorporate the three eyes. We anticipated this, of course, and it does not matter to us. They are lucky we are such patient ghosts. Others might not have hesitated to retaliate.

We need no retaliation. They will face their ends in time. They plan their expedition now, and their glory will be short-lived.

We will soon have our power back.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

hi yes im still alive

DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST--

HAVING A MOMENT TO PROCESS ALL THE LORE AND STORY CHAPTER 6 JUST DROPPED ON US, I CAN BARELY WRITE

AHHHHHHH, I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS 😭 kjdbbaufbiafafvoaybo LEMME PUT ON MY THINKING CAP AND THROW SOME STUFF OUT ASDYUBUASDLI;AGVUOQIB;VI You’ll understand why I used Leona’s face here even though it’s Idia and Ortho’s chapter after you read my thoughts--

***Chapter 6 (and other main story) spoilers below the cut!***

Okay, just to keep it simple, I’ll try to keep things in chronological order!

First is a bullet point list of my thoughts on chapter 6 so far, then all my questions and theories (mostly a biggish theory on Ace) are at the end of the post.

Expectation: Idia cowering in his room, Vil and Rook busting down his door using Epel as a battering ram, dead Ortho theory confirmed

Reality: SWAT TEAM RAID ON NRC, DORM LEADERS (sans Kalim) AND JAMIL GET KIDNAPPED

Admittedly, I’m disappointed to see that the injury Grim inflicted to MC was basically just a cat scratch and nothing more. I thought it would be a lot more impactful if MC had to deal with juggling the realization that Grim has betrayed their friendship and trust while also on the verge of death (or at least while being severely injured)... And given how MC reacted to the attack at the end of chapter 5, I would think whatever struck them was much more substantial than just a cat scratch. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say either the script got scrubbed by Disney, or the intent was that MC was still woozy from VDC / OB Vil, MC felt so betrayed that it shook them emotionally, or that MC was just that weak by default that they can’t defend themselves against cat claws.

Hey, Ramshackle’s finally getting renovated! Proceeds to immediately get destroyed again--

I feel like????????? They tried to retroactively explain why Neige won to try and mitigate the uproar over how VDC ended. There’s some dialogue between the VDC group about how they didn’t perform at their peak because of having just walked out of dealing with OB Vil, and how Neige’s fans were going to vote for him anyway because they resonated with his background. Honestly, I think they should have moved on from that sore spot instead of bringing it up again, even if how chapter 5 ended didn’t personally bother me.

BOOM, HERE COME THE TWST TERMINATORS--

NOT GONNA LIE, THOSE STYX GUYS LOOK HOT SO COOL

AAAAAAND IT’S KIDNAPPING MONTAGE TIME, KIDS

JOABSFHUPAUABDBADB CALM DOWN, RIDDLE??????? YOU’RE GOING TO COMMIT ARSON IN BROAD DAYLIGHT--

Okay, I know this chapter’s focused on Ignihyde and Grim, but the standout part to me (so far) has been the scene where Leona’s being kidnapped. Historically, Leona has not been a character that I like (excluding that one time I had to pretend to like him for a game). I feel like he’s one massive missed opportunity (he didn’t show up much in chapter 2, he’s pretty similar backstory-wise to his Disney counterpart compared to the other Dorm Leaders, he didn’t seem to learn anything or become a better person even a LITTLE after chapter 2, etc.). I’m not a fan of his lazy and arrogant attitude either (even if it is justified by his backstory). But here? THIS IS THE LEONA I ACTUALLY LIKE AND WANT TO SEE MORE OF. 

LIKE????? I CAN’T DESCRIBE TO YOU HOW MUCH I LIKE THIS SCENE???? Yeah, we have Leona fighting STYX at first, but as soon as he realizes who they are, he wises up and surrenders because he knows better than to resist arrest. AND NOT ONLY THAT, but he uses King’s Roar in a smart way--to turn the falling greenhouse glass panes into sand so they don’t hurt anyone nearby (namely him and Ruggie).

And after he turns himself in????? LEONA TELLS RUGGIE TO TAKE CARE OF SAVANACLAW FOR HIM!!! THIS is what a real leader would do. He looks after himself and his people, but he knows when to surrender, AND he leaves his “kingdom” (the dorm) in good hands while he’s away. THIS is the Leona I want to see.

AJBDUASHPFBUABFIABIYFBIPFAAFIAF I ALSO REALLY LIKE HIS SASS WHEN HE JUST THROWS HIS HANDS UP AND ASDBIASBIABAIODDAYOFAIPPADAIDB SAYS “I’ll go with you, but be careful while escorting me, okay? Despite my looks, I'm a precious prince. I’ll get sick/dizzy if you drive recklessly.” SARCASTIC SASSY SMARTASS??????? IF YOU HAD MORE LINES LIKE THIS, I’D LIKE YOU MORE

I love how Azul’s still talking about capitalism/how he can profit from Idia (apparently the Shrouds are like the TWST equivalent of Google??????) as he’s being escorted away by the agents?????? IF I WERE HIM, I’D BE PISSED OFF THAT THEY INTERRUPTED MY BOARD GAME????? At least let the man finish first--

Damn, everyone’s being tasered???????? And apparently all the STYX agents are equipped with anti-magic plates? I guess Bind the Heart can just eat shit then--

Lilia’s ringtone is cute, period.

CROWLEY CALLED STYX TO CAPTURE GRIM???? GRIM IS OFFICIALLY A SCP THAT NEEDS TO BE CONTAINED????

WAIT WHAT CROWLEY’S BEING KIDNAPPED TOO??????? Oh well, the school is probably safer in Trein’s hands anyway--

askhlbfbilhidbabbidasb RIDDLE WAKES UP POST KIDNAPPING AND HE’S USING LEONA AS A LAP PILLOW?????!

How does it feel to be held in a room against your will, Jamil? Yeah, don’t like a taste of your own medicine, do you?

OH HI IDIA, NICE YZMA MAD SCIENTIST GETUP YOU GOT THERE

Wait, what????? THAT’S IT?????? SERIOUSLY???????

MAN.

I have so many questions??????? Specifically about STYX and what they do, and how the Shrouds are tied into all of it.

So they say STYX is a specialized unit called in to quell serious Overblot cases. And if Crowley called them to deal with Grim... well, bad times ahead for Grim. STYX has also been studying Overblot for a long time, which is why (I think?) they captured Riddle, Leona, Azul, Jamil, and Vil. 

There’s been some allusions made between Grim and Stitch in a lot of fan art and fan theories I’ve seen, since their struggles have some parallels: that being them struggling to decide if they are “good” or “bad”. I don’t know if this was intentional on the part of the TWST writing team, but regardless, it’s a really good concept that plays into the themes of TWST itself. There’s no good, there’s no evil, no black and white--most of the characters we see may be BASED on villains, but that doesn’t MAKE them villains. They are good, and bad, in their own ways--and now Grim is dealing with that crisis as he fights to keep his sanity and avoid completely succumbing to Overblot.

Though Idia seems to be involved with STYX’s research, it doesn’t sound like he personally gave the order to retrieve those test subjects (or at the very least, he’s not happy about roughing up the test subjects), it sounds like the orders came from other people in the organization. His parents, perhaps?

They mention briefly that Idia’s parents are asking him to “come home”, so it must be for something urgent. Are they worried about his safety? But Idia’s lines at the end of chapter 5 lead me to think he is estranged from his family, since he straight up rejected a job offer linked to them (Olympus Corp is owned by the Jupiter family, and the Shrouds are a branch family of Jupier), and says something like “I’m not welcome anywhere”. Has Idia done something to disgrace him from the rest of the family? Or is it more of a self imposed/self inflicted statement, given that he always says he’s “cursed” and acts like he’s guilty of something that deserves scorn?

Why is Idia participating in STYX research, even if it means experimenting on his fellow students (and fellow board game enthusiast Azul)? People are speculating that he wants to use blots to fully revive Ortho (if dead Ortho theory is true), or that Idia actually has heroic intentions (he wants to know more about blots to prevent OBing from happening?), but at this point??? Literally anything could happen?!

In future parts, I’m guessing Pomefiore, MC, and Adeuce will team up to break Jamil and the Dorm Leaders (except Malleus, Malleus got left out again www) out? And HOPEFULLY we get to see Rook’s Unique Magic or at least more screen time, since I feel like he got so little in chapter 5... Another thing I’d like to see is Ace and/or Epel getting their Unique Magic, or at least starting to develop it. It’s really mostly Ace I want more details for.

A theory I’ve been holding onto for a long time is that Deuce getting his UM will spur Ace on to become jealous (since he has always seen Deuce as an idiot/”lesser” than him), and that will cause a rift in the friendship, or for Ace to throw himself into a dangerous situation to prove himself (he has done it before with Riddle)... and has his ass rescued again. This would make Ace even angrier, since he feels like everyone is treating him like a little kid or rubbing it in that he isn’t “as good” as they are. I don’t know where it would go from there (I’m sure TWST would get creative), but ultimately it would culminate in Ace making amends with everyone and rushing in to save them from either Grim or Idia OB.

I don’t think Ace would discover his UM in a similar manner as Deuce (Deuce had to embrace his own stubbornness and straightforwardness, but as the term “Unique” Magic implies, the way a magic develops and manifests is “unique” to the user). While Deuce has to learn to accept his own way of thinking, I believe Ace is already sure of his own way of thinking and has totally accepted it. I think what Ace has to deal with instead is coming to terms with his fickleness. We’ve seen him time and time again treating his loved ones kind of callously, from constantly bullying MC, Grim, and Deuce to ghosting his own girlfriend and flaking on people when they are counting on him to do a task.

The issue with Ace isn’t that he isn’t aware, it’s that he is aware and he seems to think this behavior is totally okay. He demonstrates little to no remorse in what he does and says, and he doesn’t seem to care about the consequences either (how many times does he get punished by Riddle, yet he keeps doing the same dumb things over and over?). Ace appears to operate under the mindset of always being in the right, or (if he’s in the wrong), he won’t really acknowledge it, or he will wave it off as “no big deal”--and I think that’s his greatest weakness.

In the scenario I described earlier, I mentioned that Ace’s jealousy will cause a wedge between him and his friends, and I think this will play into him realizing the error of his ways. When he has finally driven away all of the people that supported him, what will he have left? Nothing. Then maybe Ace suddenly finds himself relating to Idia, or to Grim, who have Overblotted and are in a similar emotional state as he is. Confused and lonely... and that energizes him to pitch in again, even if all he has is wind magic up his sleeve. Everyone could be shocked that Ace has returned, and in that moment, he could finally realize his true potential and unlock his Unique Magic!

(Maybe that’s too specific, but that’s a scenario that I’ve had playing in my head for a long time!)

... Buuuuut given that Ace has gotten little to no spotlight so far in chapter 6, I’m not sure if they’ll lean into him developing his UM yet (unless they pull a chapter 5 and really start addressing Ace in the latter half of the chapter like they did with Deuce). Seeing as chapter 6 is dealing with a lot of heavy topics (death, Grim lore, Overblot lore), I’m thinking maybe the TWST team will push off Ace’s UM development to chapter 7???? The only way I can see it happening in chapter 6 is if the chapter is SUPER long, or if the writing is REALLY good or really bad. 

Anyway, I’m keeping my fingers crossed!!! I’m so excited for the rest of chapter 6... I hope that we don’t have to wait too long for it!

[wolferine]

Unforgivable - Part 2

Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Summary: When the reader loses their temper, it causes them to commit an act they can never take back...

Warnings: Violence, blood, torture, death

Word count: 2372

Part 1

Tags: @yeetus-thyself @phoenixofash @lilclownx @yeeterthekeeper @alessiapn @diaryoflife

AN: Please read to the end before you come after me. :)

Everything is a blur. The last thing you remember is cradling Natasha in your lap and seeing the pain of betrayal in her eyes. You did this to her. You couldn’t control your anger and now she had a bullet—shot out of your gun—in her back. You hurt her and there was no way you could ever forgive yourself for that. 

You finally let Tony get close enough to take care of her, because you realized you don’t deserve her anymore. 

You run away from the Avengers Tower, your leg slowing you down, but you don’t care. Each step feels like a knife rubbing against your bone, but even that’s not enough to distract you from the pain in your chest. It feels like someone has torn you open, ripped your heart out of your ribcage, and thrown it into a bonfire.

But you have no one to blame than yourself.

Tears stream down your face as you stumble through the streets, eventually finding some privacy in a nearby forest. Your sobs echo through the trees as you crawl hand over hand, your uniform shredding open on bushes and branches. The trickle of a creek calls to you and you dunk your bloody hands in the freezing water, desperate to wash yourself of your failures.

You can’t believe what you’ve done.

The scene of Natasha falling to the floor plays over and over in your head and you would pay anything to unsee it. You curl into a ball, wiping your nose on your knees. You deserve all the pain and misery for your actions. You’re so caught up in your head, thinking about all the ways you can punish yourself, that you don’t notice the group of men sneaking up on you from behind.

“Over there! Over there!” 

“By the creek, see?”

“Wait—that’s an Avenger?”

“Looks like someone had a bad day.”

“Hey, Y/N.”

At the sound of your name, you finally lift your head, only for the butt of a shotgun to slam into your face. Your nose breaks and blood fills your mouth. You turn away, not even interested in protecting yourself. If they killed you, you would thank them.

“Aw, come on. At least give us a reaction,” someone says.

The shotgun butt smashes against the back of your head and you wouldn’t be surprised if it cracked your skull. Someone kicks your leg where you were shot, and you bite your lip to hold back a scream.

“Well, this is anti-climactic.”

“Hey, if it makes our job easier, I’m not gonna complain.”

“I still think Hammer’s weird for wanting Y/N over the other Avengers.”

“Given the circumstances, he couldn’t really be picky—”

“Stop standing around and get to it!” someone yells. 

The men surround you, punching and kicking every inch of you. The bulletproof vest of your uniform does little to lessen the impact of their blows. You feel bruises forming along your ribs and your rattling teeth bite your lips bloody. It doesn’t take long for you to black out and the peace is blissful.

***********************************************************************

Sometime later—you have no idea how long—you jolt awake, finding yourself strapped to a metal chair in the middle of a dark, concrete room. A man in glasses and a gray suit with white gloves stands in front of you. 

“Hello, I’m Justin Hammer,” he says, offering a hand, then withdrawing when he realizes your arms are tied to the chair. “Sorry, force of habit.”

You stare at him. Your tongue pokes around the inside of your mouth and you notice some teeth are missing. There is a painful crick in your neck every time you try moving your head and every breath you take feels like a razor blade scraping the inside of your lungs.

“You’ve probably never heard of me, but I’m very familiar with you and your work with the Avengers. But the reason I have you here today is to talk about this man.” Hammer pulls out a folded photograph from his pocket and shows it to you.

It’s Tony Stark, but you have no desire to even think of that man anymore.

“Your best friend, right?” Hammer teases and you curl your lip at him. “What’s wrong? He’s the one who got you a spot on the team, isn’t he?” You look away from him. “I heard what he did to your girl,” he continues. “That must’ve felt like the betrayal of the century.”

“What?” you ask, confused as to what he’s referring to.

“I heard about what happened at the Avengers Tower. So tragic.” Hammer crumples Tony’s photograph and drops it on the floor. “Romanoff didn’t deserve that.”

“W-What are you talking about? Is she okay?” Your bottom lip quivers in fear.

Hammer kneels in front of you. “She’s dead, Y/N.”

“No, no…” You feel like he’s punched you right through the chest. “T-That’s not possible.”

“I’m sorry. I know she meant a lot to you.” Hammer stands again.

“How do you even know what happened at the Tower?” Given its security, there was no way news like that reached the public. At least not the truth of it. Maybe Hammer was just trying to mess with you.

Hammer motions behind him and a blonde woman steps forward from the shadows. Her face jolts your memory, but you don’t remember exactly where from.

“Recognize her?” Hammer asks. “She actually works for me, but she’s been pretending to be a SHIELD agent for some time now. She was right outside the door when your little spat with Stark went down.” Your mind flashes back to when you returned from the mission with Natasha. On your way to the private Avengers’ quarters, you remember passing the same blonde woman right outside the door.

“She heard everything that happened inside,” Hammer says as the blonde woman retreats into the darkness again.

“N-Natasha’s…She’s…She’s not dead,” you stammer.

Hammer shakes his head. “She went into surgery after Stark shot her, but due to the placement of the bullet, there were some complications and she coded on the table. They couldn’t revive her. That part was all over the news.”

You feel so sick you want to vomit. “I…I killed her?”

“No. You didn’t kill her. Tony Stark killed her.”

You start gasping for air, only worsening the pain in your chest. “No—But—He—I’m the one who pulled the trigger—”

“But you weren’t aiming for her. You were aiming for Stark, and he’s the one who deflected the bullet into her,” Hammer says. “He’s also the one who sent you two on that mission to begin with, wasn’t he? The reason you lost your cool and pulled your gun out? Think, Y/N. All of this is Stark’s fault.”

But the sadness of thinking you’ve killed Natasha is too overwhelming. You can’t focus on anything but your own guilt. You will burn in hell for this and you won’t even mind.

“Listen to me, Y/N!” Hammer snaps, striking you across the face. His rings cut into your cheek and blood fills your mouth. “I hate Stark just as much as you do. He’s been my business rival for years and I need someone to help me take him down. Who better than you, a former friend of his, who knows how to hit him where it hurts?”

You start crying at the thought of having to exist in a world without Natasha Romanoff.

Hammer tries getting your attention by slapping you again, but you’re unresponsive. You’re too lost in your grief to process anything he’s saying, and eventually he gives up, promising to come back another time to reveal his master plan to you.

It takes an entire month before he can even communicate with you. Your depression is all-consuming and their threats on your life have no effect. They’re startled to learn you actually enjoy the torture because you believe you deserve it after what you did to Natasha. But Hammer is relentless and finally figures out how to manipulate you into his bidding.

Six months after your capture and the accident, you finally crack. Your agony and pain turns into pure rage and hatred for Tony Stark. You can’t bring Natasha back, but you can get revenge on the man who took her life. After training with Hammer’s technology, which is almost as advanced as Tony’s, you’re deemed ready to be let out in the real world. Hammer personally asks for your help to kill Tony Stark, and it’s an offer you accept gladly.

***********************************************************************

Three months after the accident…

Natasha wakes up and looks to her right, disappointed to see the bed still empty. She’s tricked herself into believing that one day you’ll show up, ready to pick up the pieces and continue where you left off. But nothing has been the same since you left.

She sits up and turns the lights on. She scoots to the edge of the bed and carefully lifts her body into the wheelchair parked there.

The bullet had struck her lumbar spine, shattering her L1 vertebrae and paralyzing her from the waist down. Tony requested help from the best doctors he knew, but even the greatest modern advancements couldn’t repair her spine. He had personally designed her wheelchair, and she knows she should be grateful to still be alive, but she’s never felt so helpless and alone. 

After the accident, you ran off and no one could locate you. Secretly, she held onto the hope you would return one day, but she knows your guilt and shame are keeping you away. She wants to tell you that it wasn’t your fault and that she doesn’t hate you, but you’re not even giving her that chance.

Tony made the public announcement that Black Widow had retired from the Avengers. No one knew she had been paralyzed, nor that you had unofficially resigned from the team. Without you, without Black Widow, Natasha didn’t know who she was anymore.

She leaves her bedroom and goes into the kitchen. Tony arranged most of the food and dishes down to her new height but she feels like she’ll never adjust to not being able to stand anymore. She locates a bowl and a box of cereal and rolls over to the table. She chokes down dry Cheerios and pours her second bowlful when Tony walks in.

“Thank God you’re finally up,” he says. “When you’re done, I have something to show you.”

“Y/N?” She perks up.

“Uh…no…”

Natasha knows Tony blames himself just as much as she does for her accident, but it wasn’t his fault either. She wrestled between anger and guilt, sometimes blaming you, sometimes blaming him. But in the end, it’s easier to blame herself. She should have stopped you the moment you took out your gun, regardless of whether or not you pushed her. But she got so caught up in the moment she froze, and now she was paralyzed and you were gone.

“Just come down to my workshop, okay?” Tony disappears again.

With nothing better to do, Natasha takes the elevator down to Tony’s workshop. She doesn’t visit often, but when she does, she’s always impressed by his latest inventions and gadgets. She rolls down the aisle of old Iron Man suits displayed in glass cases, admiring the subtle differences in each one.

“Where are you, Tony?” she calls.

“Over here!” He waves her down from the other end. “I’ve been working on this for a while, and I know it’s a little premature, but I couldn’t help myself.” Tony stands next to another Iron Man suit, but it doesn’t quite look like it will fit him.

The suit is curved to fit a woman, black and red instead of Tony’s iconic red and gold. Natasha sees a red hourglass emblazoned on the belt buckle.

“What…What is this, Tony?” she asks, tears in her eyes.

“It’s an Iron Widow suit,” he says. “Or, whatever you want to call it. You’ll have to get in and test it out for yourself, but it’ll allow you to walk again and…be an Avenger again.”

Natasha wishes she could throw herself into his arms, but pulls him down to her level instead. “Thank you,” she whispers, wiping her face. She never thought she would be able to serve as an Avenger again, but she’ll take the opportunity if it means taking her mind off recent events.

“Ready to try it out?” Tony presses a button on the side of the suit and the suit opens up, bending into a crouched position so Natasha can get in it like a chair.

 She smiles for the first time since the accident.

 “I am.”

***********************************************************************

Six months after the accident…

Natasha is in the gym, lifting dumbbells on a bench when Tony walks in. Although she now has a legitimate excuse for skipping leg day for the rest of her life, she now has to make sure her upper body is twice as strong to make up for it.

“Look who decided to slide through my DMs this morning,” Tony says, shoving his phone in her face.

Midnight. Central Park Carousel. Come alone.

The text was from you.

“Oh, my God,” Natasha says, setting the weights down. You haven’t even texted her since the accident, and she’s a little hurt you didn’t reach out to her first. “What’s this about?”

“I have no idea.” Tony shrugs. “I know it says for me to go alone, but since it’s from Y/N, I wanted to ask if you wanted to tag along.”

“Of course.” In a way, Natasha feels like the text is really meant for her. Central Park was where you had asked her to be your girlfriend. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

“I’ll need you to be on your A-game. We have no idea what Y/N’s been up to these past six months. I don’t know if you’re gonna like what we find,” Tony says.

Natasha has spent countless nights wondering where you’ve been and what you’re doing. Now she has the chance to find out. “It’s going to be okay, Tony,” she says.

He shakes his head. “Just so you know, I’m praying more for you than me right now.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click here for Part 3!

AN: I never went to medical school, so forgive my medical inaccuracies.

[austarus]

Timeless!Harrison Wells x Reader - White King, Black Queen

*A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owner.

**Please don’t forget to comment, like, and reblog. It means a lot to content creators of all kinds!

***I’d also like to thank @grimtamlain-writes​ for being my beta reader.

MASTERLIST

Word Count: 2267

You narrowed your eyes as the city continued to bustle, noise from people and cars emitted in the air. Clouds hung sparsely over Central City as the waning moon took the place of the sun high in the sky. The wind blew a light breeze through your hair. You kicked a leg back and forth gently as you sat on the edge of the STAR Labs tower wings. Your other leg was bent close to your body, an arm resting over your knee. The height didn’t scare you so much as it used to. In fact, you didn’t mind being so close to the edge anymore. If you fell, then you fell. Truth be told, your powers would save you whether you willed it to or not. Some would say it’s a curse, others not so much. Your umbrakinesis acted like a defense mechanism at those times. A sigh left your lips as you straightened up your back, cracking it. Relief echoed through your body, but your heart felt heavy. Time is ticking... You knew what was happening downstairs, Gideon had alerted you when someone entered the Time Vault. It wouldn’t be completely wrong to say that you didn’t want to face him – couldn’t get attached since he’d been here. Not again. Staying up here was your way of avoiding that problem until… Until what, though?

The hair at the back of your neck stood up, a chill ran down your spine as your shadows alerted you of a presence a distance behind you. Turning your head slightly, you sent an icy look to the one person you dreaded to see. The face of the man you had seen pass one too many times. Their looks from their final moments imprinted in your mind for this one to come back. He was the last thing you had of them.

Harrison Wells.

A small smile was on his face, his hair tousled with his clear-framed glasses perched on his nose. He knew you’d be up here. The others told him you’d been up here since his reincarnation into the world. Since he’d made contact with Team Flash to help them and explain his predicament of currently living. But really, Harrison would have known if no one had told him. He had sensed it. Seen it – the images flickered past in his brain. The other versions of himself with you up here – the foreign familiarness that he personally did not experience.

But nothing more than a dreadful reminder of what’s past.

“I’ve come to say good-bye,” the genius started in a soft voice, wanting to approach you carefully. Your glare bothered him, yet he knows it shouldn’t, for once Harrison leaves, he will be united with Tess, the love of his life. Over and over and over again.

You snorted, turning your gaze to the stars that twinkled away from the clouds. You could see the constellations of Cassiopeia, winking brightly light-years away. “Such a shame, you could have helped them with Godspeed.” A bitter laugh left your lips as you recalled Nash showing you how to recognize the constellations and where to navigate from there. Sherloque would drink his tea up here with you and converse about his cases. HR would read to you his latest ideas and novels while you gave your input. You would drag Harry out of his lab to get some fresh air. And Eobard… he was the one who showed you this view, before Barry had woken up, before the Particle Accelerator had gone online.

“Team Flash is more than capable of handling threats on their own.”

“I take it you think that having a Wells must be a handicap, hm?”

“I never said that.”

“Hmph.”

“I couldn’t leave without telling you good-bye.” You pressed your lips thinly and Harrison continued, pocketing his hands in his dark coat. “It didn’t feel right to go without saying that.”  The night was getting colder, yet you remained out here in a thin jacket. Dare he say, he worried a bit?  You turned to fully look at him from your seated position. “I… won’t deny the sentiment I feel towards you. The memories of the past Wells. Their thoughts – well, previous thoughts – and feelings are still here.” Harrison had gestured to his head then placed a hand on his heart. Bile rose at the back of your throat as the smiling images of the boys hit your mind. You bit your lip hard as he spoke, “Each one of them felt strongly for you, but I’m not them. They’d want you to move on. To live-”

“No!” Your patience snapped, standing up rapidly with expert footing. Shadows went rampant in the night, wind howling in his ears. “You don’t get to say that!” Darkness immediately consumed the atmosphere and air around you both. Unbridled anger licked up in your heart and soul as you took heavy steps towards him. Harrison couldn’t see, but he could feel the moving darkness as he stood his ground. “You have no right to act all high and mighty towards me.” A hiss left his lips as a dark particle lashed at his arm, burning through his coat and marring his skin just as he heard your anger burn in your next words. “You don’t understand the strings that fate has chained me with! Nor will you ever understand my burden.”

***Flashback***

“What is it that you want?” You glared at the entity. The Monitor had appeared in your kitchen as you were pouring yourself some alcohol to enjoy your quiet night. You had taken some time away from all the heroes and villains running around.

“I came because I require your assistance for the Crisis.”

“Pass, I’m not in the mood to play the hero.”

“The point is not to be a hero or the villain, but to honor fate’s will.”

“Well fate can go hump a stump for all I care,” you sipped on your choice of alcohol, you turned away from the eternal entity only to find him in front of you right as you had exited your kitchen. A deep frown crossed your features. This is such a drag.

“Fate has bound your life to Harrison Wells the moment you first met him years ago.”

“False, that was Eobard masquerading as Wells. So, technically no.”

“That technicality may be so, but fate saw the speedster as your gateway to the rest of them. Without Thawne you would not have been so tied to Harrison Wells’ existence.” Rolling your eyes, you took another sip, already knowing you’d need a couple of glasses to forget about this interaction. “Your life is bound to his. To them.” The Monitor had you right where he wanted you, pushing images into your mind to allow you to see reason. “You were a lover.” You flinched as the image of Eobard appeared in your mind. “A partner.” Harry. “A friend.” HR. “And a confidante.” Sherloque. “Now this one needs you as well, he is in danger of himself with the Anti-monitor. My opposite entity.” You knew he was referring to Nash, the multiverse explorer with the haughty attitude and snarky comments.

“…”

“You are the anomaly that exists in the multiverse, there is no other in your position.” The entity saw the hesitation flicker in your being. “The time has come for you to be his protector.”

***Time Skip***

Nash panted, on the ground of this desolate land on his hands and knees. His mouth felt dry, tasting iron in his mouth from the blood on his split lip. How much longer can he endure this? The Anti-monitor continued to laugh at him, to mock him, for his weakness. Pariah gripped hard at the dirty snow, blood and mud defiled the pure whiteness. He couldn’t get back up. His body ached. No matter how hard Nash tried to push back, the Anti-monitor was too strong for him even with these temporary powers.

“Humans are such fickle beings,” the anti-entity spoke in a grand manner, “Soon the multiverse will be mine and there shall be no flaws. No humans to corrupt my domain.” The eternal being gathered his divine power into the palm of his hand and fired anti-matter at his appointed Pariah. The one to bear witness of the end of the multiverse. His curse.

Nash shut his eyes; this was the end. This was his end. A breath left him, what he expected to be his final breath. But the final blow never came. Ringing greeted Nash’s ears as he opened his eyes. Standing in front of him, shielding his body was you and your dark powers. For whatever reason it withstood the anti-matter as particles clashed against one another. You stood defiantly and gracefully in your fighting positions, conjuring your dark spectacles from every shaded corner.

“Don’t you dare touch him, you fucking monster.” You growled, your hands working magnificently to bind the Anti-monitor down. Once bound your umbra became spears and swords that pierced through the entity. While it could not kill the Anti-monitor, it slowed him down – meaning it would slow down his assault on Nash. You needed to get him to safety, needed him to have enough strength to teleport you two away from this dimension. And that’s exactly what you convinced him to do when you grabbed him, hugging his injured body to yourself as he fought to stay conscious.

***End Flashback***

“You don’t understand what loss truly is! You don’t get how hard it is to move on from this.” Just as you had moved, so had Harrison. A dagger of darkness at his throat, clenching the front of his cloak as he held a dagger of light to your own throat. Harrison  gritted his teeth as he used his powers to light up the area in his green light. “This pain, the misery of losing over and over and over again. To bear the burden of fate’s strings only to watch them all fall.” He flinched at how the veins around your eyes had darkened to a charcoal color. His throat dried as fear hit him. Harry’s memory flashed into his mind – the memory of you in this state, accidentally killing a meta in self-defense. “You’re just a selfish man, running away from what’s in front of him.” Harrison’s light battled against your darkness to keep the physical manifestations of umbra away from harming his body. “I despise people like that.”

“I’m only doing what’s best for me.”

“By what, Harrison? Running to the past? What’s in the past is best left in the past, those who hold on to the past don’t appreciate the present.”

“Such hypocritical words coming from someone who sulks around up here for what once was.”

“You don’t fucking know anything about me. All you have are some second-hand memories, but you don’t truly know me and what I’ve been through. You’re just like Barry.”

“And you’re any different?”

“At least I know the difference between reality and a desperate dream.”

“…” He knew Tess is doomed to die for time to flow, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t cherish every second with her until it was time. Maybe he was a desperate man chasing after a desperate dream, but he would until the bitter end. For Tess.

“A Time Loop is just a miserable notion for you to see Tess when her destiny is already a fixed time point. Just like Barry’s mother. Their deaths are absolute. Even with your Timeless powers you can’t interfere with what’s set in place.”

“That may be so, but I’ve fulfilled my part here – at least I have someone to return home to, even if they are doomed to die. I could be by her side over and over again.”

Harrison’s words pierced your heart, you pushed the tears back. The ache in your heart throbbed at a greater rate. At least… he had the power to return to his someone… The genius saw the haunting dejection in your eyes, the way your shoulders quivered as you tried to keep yourself together. He regretted the words that left his mouth…

“Do as you please,” you whispered, loosening your grip on his jacket to let him go. The darkness dissipated as you walked back to your perch with pocketed hands. “I’m done begging…” You mumbled to yourself so quietly that he didn’t catch your last statement. A tear left your eyes as you stood tall where you once sat.

“Good-bye,” Harrison murmured to the wind drifting in your direction before turning and leaving. A part of him felt torn by the things he had spat at you. What’s done is done. I doubt I’ll be back here any time soon. Clenching and unclenching his hand, Harrison shut his eyes and summoned his powers to pass through time. Tess, I’m coming home.

“Good-bye, Harrison.” Another tear fell, this time you wiped it as the night continued. He was gone. They were gone. You were alone, once again spectacularly alone and cold.

The pieces are all in place. The time has come…

Time still ticked as seconds went bye. A voice whispered at the back of your mind; the presence residing there since his exorcism. The one that kept you company through all this.

“It’s time, my queen.”

Checkmate

[echoalyssa]

Phantom | Dick Grayson

Authors Note: There’s some light language in this, but thats about all!

“Phantom to Nightwing, entering dead zone now. Start the clock and come in if I’m late. I love you.”

You now had an hour inside the base, unable to contact anyone. You were collecting intel and because you were the stealthiest and smallest, (Damian was too young for this particular mission) Bruce had sent you in.

Your boyfriend, Dick Grayson had wanted to come with you but Bruce had rejected the idea because two people was more risky than one.

Dick had been livid, it was more risky for your life for you to go alone. He was your partner even though you were all a team. Ever since childhood, the two of you fought together and somewhat seemed to share the same mind.

You push a vine our of your dace. Your black masks shows the digital map of the quietest places to step. Your hood is pulled up to disguise your features and skin tone that obviously didn't fit in with the darkness of the air around you.

You had left your mottled cloak behind, opting to only have to worry about your body and where you place it. 

Joker was extremely active underground lately, he’d evolved and Bruce had only your mission as a lead. 

Your mask displays your one hour timer on the left hand side of your vision. Fifty minutes to get into the compound and back to safety.

The compound comes into view, a flat stone building that just didn’t fit in with the forest that surrounded it. You creep forward, staying in the shadows and hugging the walls of the building until you reach the only vent.

The stone was practically flat but years of training allowed you to look your gloved fingers into a crevice and wedge a booted foot into the building.

You begin climbing, scaling upwards twenty feet. The screws of the vent are all different and you have to pull away from the wall, your body straining so you can unscrew the bottom two.

You’re small enough that you can pry the vent open enough that you can squeeze yourself in. Forty minutes your clock reads. You were going too slow. You crawl forward on your elbows, you trek forward, you should have asked for two hours. Shit.

You hit the record button on your wrist panel and pull the microphone out.

It’s a tiny one but the quality is amazing. You’re peering through a small vent above a research lab now and you thread the microphone and it’s wire through the vent. The audio feeds into your ear piece and also saves to the hard drive in your panel.

You’re holding your breath, only breathing when you have to to minimize any chance of getting caught.

“We need to move in now! He’s only getting more recruits and it’s only a matter of time before they find us again.” Says a voice.

“If they haven’t already! I say we try the new weapon on some unsuspecting crowd of bystanders now. Then they’ll be too busy trying to save those silly citizens to deal with us.”

“Yes but is it ready..?”

“It needs to be tested again and we need to find a more powerful energy source eventually.”

And then the joker walks into view of the vent. He’s holding a blueprint and he spreads it on one of the tables. It’s the paint schematic for the weapon because of course, the joker being the joker meant that everything needed to be green, purple, and white.

You raise a hand to your mask and tap twice. It takes a screenshot of your view of the blueprint and sends it to the bat hard drive.

“Did you have any luck with batons inner circle? Would anyone snitch?”

“A couple...” the speaker listens. It’s valuable intel and now Bruce would be able to feed false information to the rats.

You begin to tap their names away into the panel and then attempt to wirelessly hack into the mainframes. The firewall were strong and plentiful but eventually they all fall victim to you. Sixteen minutes your timer reads. Shit. The data downloading from their computers and into your drive is only halfway done.

It won’t be very detailed. Just minuscule bits of information because you couldn't connect physically to the computers. It’s a line of script here and there that didn't make much sense to you because you weren't super tech-y. Though every line counted and that you knew. Several addresses also pop up.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, your panel signals that the download is complete. Seven minutes reads the timer. Double shit.

You scramble backwards knowing that you’ve done all that you can. Somehow managing to turn yourself around in the small space. You’re almost at the vent when you foot clangs against the side of the vent.

You freeze, no alarms go off, but then again why would they? The timer is still ticking and you continue on, sliding out of the vent. You fumble with the screws, attempting to get them back in in case your cover hadn't already been blown. You then plant your feet, push off and flip down to the ground. You land nimbly in a rolling crouch and then pop to your feet and take off, sprinting for the tree line.

They come from the shadows. Dozens of them. All focused in on you.

You suck in a breath and draw your longswords.

“Bring it on Goonies!” You call and they surge forward all at once. Some with guns, electric batons, and swords.

You stalk forward, meeting them in the middle. You begin slashing immediately at arms, legs, torsos, anywhere that wasn’t too lethal. You weren't a killer.

Except there were just so many, the sword in your left hand falls from your grip and you pull out a disc, throwing it into the incomers. It explodes, blinding some and wounding others. 

You yank s taser out from your belt and stab it into an attackers neck while blocking an attack with your sword. And then it happens. A baton smacks into the back of your head and you stumble forward, dizzy. A blade slashes your thigh, splitting skin and muscle. A cry comes fro, your lips and you lash out desperately with your one remaining longsword. You're able to down the foe who had slashed you.

Two more take his place and then a dagger rips through your abdomen from behind. You scream, falling to your knees. Just as it gets put through your thigh, followed by your shoulder. You land in the grass face first and the world goes dark, sound fading out.

‘Dick.’ Is your last thought.

~~~

Dick is staring at the timer that is displayed by his make. 00:00:05. 00:00:04. 00:00:03. 00:00:02. 00:00:01. And the dreaded number... 00:00:00. It blares red and he stares at the forest, fists clenched. Where was she?

Tim steps forward and places a hand on his shoulder. “Give her five minutes okay? She’s smart. You know how these missions sometimes go overtime. She’s got this.”

“We never should have sent her in alone. It was too risky. Damn it!”

His fist rockets into a tree. He considers going after Bruce, giving him a piece of his mind. Then decides that it isn’t worth it and begins to prepare to go in after his love.

He makes sure to grab the miniature cauterizer and some other emergency medical supplies, stuffing them into the pouches on his belt.

“Wait, Nightwing, we’ll go together. We need a plan!” Damian calls.

His heart is pounding out of his chest and he can’t breathe. ‘What if he was too late? What if she was already gone?’

He doesn’t want to wait for a plan, time was ticking. He pushes past his adoptive brother.

“Dick wait!” Jason calls trying to grab his arm. But he keeps going, breaking for the trees to find her.

Jason and Tim look at each other, then they both look at Damian. “Stay here.” They say simultaneously/

“No way!” He yells back at his brothers.

The three of them take them off after Nightwing. And Bruce, having watched all his children run into danger, follows them in.

Nightwing is pushing through vines and branches, not caring if he makes noise or not. He knows the rest of his family will follow him, but quietly.

His mail enhances his vision in the darkness. He draws a thumb over his own panel and it activates the heat censor on his mask. Dick Grayson pushes forward quickly, scanning frantically for her heat signature.

And then he sees it. She’s always run cold. Her fingers and limbs always frozen. A small prone figure, running colder than the other surrounding bodies. He kicks up his pace, heading for her because he just knows.

“Phantom!” he yells, followed by, “Robin! I think I found her!”

He skids to a halt and falls to his knees, he can see the stab wounds. The way her blood has soared into the ground beneath her. 

Nightwing rolls her over, jamming his fingers under her neck to find a pulse. It’s there. But weak.

He rips the cauterizer out of his belt and drapes her body over him just as Jason appears. 

“Is she..?”

“Alive.” He grunts, “Not for much longer I need to..”

Jason helps him rip the uniform away enough so Dick has enough room to maneuver.

“Hold her down!”

Jason does as he’s told and Dick places the cauterizer to her skin.

“Only do what you have to, we need to get out of here. And soon.”

He pushes the two flaps of skin together and places the sparking tool to it. The heat melds the skin together. She’d need to be pumped full of antibiotics in case any of the blades were dirty and risked infection.

She only stirs slightly, too disoriented from her loss of blood. He talks to her the whole time he works on her.

He only does her abdomen, knowing that it’s her most serious injury. It might not even hold from the jolting and jostling that would occur in the journey back. Dick stabs a painkiller into her thigh, just in case she were to awaken.

He motions to Tim and Damian, who had been standing guard, to take up the rear. Grayson then scoops up his girlfriend, cradling her to his chest.

“Jason. Take point. Let’s get her home.”

~~~

He sits by her bedside. His hands are covered in her dry blood, along with his suit. He hadn’t bothered to change.

Y/N had needed a blood transfusion and he had offered immediately, hence why there was a needle in his arm funneling blood into girlfriend. Alfred had stitched do her wounds and hooked her up to an IV for hydration and anti-infection purposes.

She’d been changed out of her uniform after she was stable for cleanliness reasons and was now wearing one of his black shirts.

He’s holding her hand, his thumb tracing over the pulse point of her wrist occasionally.

It would be a long road to recovery for her though they all knew that she would bounce back and attempt to get back in to the field as soon as she could walk.

It’s days later when she finally wakes, her eyelids fluttering.

“Dick.” She whispers.

He’s right there, just like he had been, he’d only left briefly to shower but he ate and slept at her side. Jason had covered both of your patrols, with Bruce helping out.

“I’m okay. You’re okay, babygirl.” He places a hand on her face and she leans her head into his touch.