#How does a computer virus attack?

[spread-the-influence]

How does the virus function? Patient zero is the most affected at the moment with it having near total control over her, more as a suggestive force that alters her inhibitions and exploits any vulnerabilities (her relationship with pomni) , but the fucking brainworms™ are more than willing to wipe the slate clean if the host starts to question the delusion too much and make them complacent with delusion. however, it seems entirely beholden to its host, and if the host decide it wants to die, well said fucking brainworms™ are doomed. the effects seem to vary from host to host, for gangle it was like a parasite that she just had to remove, for jax it seems to make him almost feral (most likely manipulating memories to increase aggression) as for kinger, it seems to be almost binding, like the virus is struggling to organize the code and more unable to actively attack. does it act similar to a fungus? Building a network of hosts and carriers who function according to degree of infection, since ragatha seems more then capable of understanding them it would suggest more of a hivemind network. Ragatha is at the later (potentially final stages) of the infection, much like how a fungus replaces peices of its host, and when the primary host dies, would it migrate to one of the other hosts, making them sort of carriers. players and npcs are extremely complex that the fucking brainworms™ are more than able to attach to and gradually replace (like the ship of thesus) but what happens if it infects something else, say Gangle's mask. while it's not a player character, it is both a player model, and a player asset that affects behavior. if say the fucking brainworms™ were wiped out via washing machine. could it build its own self from that character model with the pieces its ripped from the others, Gangles ribbon like movement, Jax's sight, and so forth. ultimately i wonder if the virus is more like a virological pathogen, akin to flu, or more organized and fungal in nature. and if it is organized, how organized, is it capable of forming a hivemind? (Sorry for the tangent, and the wall of text, can't wait to see more!)

oh boy ! wonderful questions , this is going to also be a long one .

the reason i often call it The Evil Fucking Worms is because it's based off Computer Worms ! (: it's not one-to-one as the influence Needs a host unlike actual computer worms , but they do share the need to spread , infiltrating Several potential hosts , and being a pain in the Ass to remove .

which means it is essentially an Evil Digital ( Kind Of ) Fungus . it latches itself into a host , have them spread the virus , and create a network ! however it inevitably means they have a top-down approach ..... so the entire thing will Fall Apart if the host goes ...... they are capable of migrating , of course , but that thing's Not immediate . if ragatha was shot in the head , either by someone else or her own volition , the virus instantly goes away and the circus is saved !!!!! we also have one casualty but let's not talk about that —

it's not smart . if they were in the virus olympics they would score last place . but in all fairness , they aren't Sentient or have Consciousness . they're just Functions trying to complete the specific task of Infecting . i like to think that in the process of taking over their host to create an exit , they got stuck . and tried to solve the problem by essentially going Oh Shit Oh Fuck just keep spreading I'm sure it'll solve the issue ( It Didn't )

so even if it infected a player model nothing would happen if the primary host got anti-virus'd . on another note , i feel a player model getting infected first would indirectly infect the player it's connected to . and subsequently make them the primary host .

player models , to me , are pieces that connect to a whole , and the player's brain is a part of that whole unfortunately .

i do Love the idea of it building itself a body through the pieces it ( read : ragatha ) took from the others , though , but it relies too much on its primary host to even bother with that kind of thing . unlike real worms they aren't really smart . they lowkey kind of dumb ...... if they manifest they would just be a tiny squishy centipede ( or whatever other animal that would thematically be consistent with its host ) ..... ragatha's the only one with the braincell ....

a hivemind used to be possible , but i've downplayed a LOT of the virus because i wanted to give ragatha more agency — because i think it's more interesting if she Does things rather than Taking Orders from the worms in her brain . of course she would Never do this shit without the worms in her head , but she's not like being directly commanded to Kill y'know . right now , the only thing that's Kind Of hivemind-like is the infected being able to understand each other .

[virulentvoidarts]

LORE DUMP BELOW

It’s an entire essay besties, I cooked here

Censor

He/him

Personality:

Crazed, has several screws loose, very mischievous. He’s extremely egotistical, bordering on a god complex at times, priding on his success and accomplishments.

People who dislike him are just jealous, and people who praise him are simply recognizing how great he is.

Censor does have a certain charm to him, though. He’s loud, full of life, and animated in everything he does

He is also quick to anger, especially if one manages to strike a nerve, as his means of dealing with external problems usually involves violence of some sort given his explosive personality.

He can also be a different person around those he is close with. While still being smug and full of himself, he’s playful and generally softer.

Physical attributes:

Height- He’s a monstrously sized creature for my cyberworld, being the tallest recorded addison (though some speculate he isn’t an addison at all anymore). This height only further fuels that god complex of his, as he is quite literally bigger and “better” than others. He uses his stature as a means of intimidation, to maintain a sense of respect and fear around him.

Automatically dislikes anyone taller than him

Machinery- like NEO was, he is made of metal in certain parts, his arms have connection points where metal meets muscle in his shoulders. He cannot feel painful sensations in his arms, despite still having a sense of touch.

Smile- Censor is permanently smiling regardless of what emotion he is feeling at any given moment.

His grin can raise or lower depending on his feelings, but it never goes away, and is one of his distinctive traits

Lore:

If a Lightner can create a Darkner through their own passions and desires, would it be possible for a Darkner to create its own “Darkner” with a strong enough will?

The whole point of the world of Deltarune is that you don’t get to pick your fate. But in Censor’s corrupted save file, there’s no player to control Kris and the gang.

He’s the result of the game crashing mid-NEO fight, leaving his world behind in an incomplete state, where the city continues on despite there being no lightners anymore.

When they don’t attack Neo as the game intended, his will overrides the corrupted script, and he creates a new self, Spamton EX. Or, as he calls himself now, “Censor”, in a personal rebrand to distance himself from that forsaken name.

While his current form is not nearly as powerful as NEO had been, he still holds enough power that he was able to steal from Queen and get away with it, using the funds to build himself up and begin anew, as Cyber City’s #1 rated game show. He’s currently a huge celebrity despite live broadcasting people getting killed in his hazardous games.

Despite now technically being able to call his own shots now, he wasn’t supposed to have a happy ending, and the world around him is constantly trying to correct the mistake, resulting in Censor having “bad luck”, in which freak accidents are more likely to happen around him.

When there’s individuals whose stories are not meant to end yet, though, his luck suddenly improves when he’s around them, since the universe isn't supposed to take out others as well, only him.

Abilities:

Censors- his name comes from one of the very first abilities I implemented during his early development: his ability to censor people.

He has a radius around him where, when the ability is active, any swear words used will be bleeped out, and a black censor bar appears over their mouths.

He uses this during broadcasts, and to piss people off.

Respawn- As an addison-turned-virus, Censor has the ability to “duplicate” himself much like computer malware can. He uploads his data into a pipis, effectively creating a respawn point where, if he were to die, he’d pop out of the pipis in a small, power save mode.

It takes about a week for him to return to his 9 foot tall self, since he’s around 3 feet upon respawn.

Because of this ability, I have nerfed Censor quite a bit. He might act tough, but when it comes down to it he does not deal a ton of damage, and relies mostly on disorientation to get away from dangerous situations, as he has a tendency to get himself killed fairly regularly.

The plays dumb about how he respawns, and in the media will always insist he does not know how he is capable of this, as it is a quality that viruses have.

Hammer- Censor can summon an oversized hammer as a physical weapon, as well as for physical gags and other uses whilst on set.

Hypnosis- certain types of malware are capable of either altering normal programs mentally or physically (or in rare cases both). Censor is the type capable of altering them mentally through hypnosis.

That being said, he turned into a virus, and wasn’t spawned as one, so his body isn't well equipped to handle the after effects of using this ability.

He most commonly uses it to hypnotize contestants of his show into signing contracts that waive responsibility of harm or death from Censor and his company. That way he gets away with the dangerous stunts and games he broadcasts. Afterward, for the rest of the day he has to deal with crippling migraines as a side effect.

This ability is another secret he guards closely, as it is a telltale sign of being a malware program.

Voice box- Despite not having lips, and his teeth taking up a large portion of Censor’s face, the voice box in his neck allows him to speak clearly. That being said, it also serves two uses in battle.

If he cranks up the volume to its max output, he can let out a shriek that basically is a sonic weapon, deafening opponents for a short period and giving him an advantage.

The voice box has a trigger that, once activated, turns it into what can only be described as a kaiju laser canon that he shoots out of his mouth. It does a significant amount of damage and CAN one-shot opponents if aimed correctly. Censor will only ever use this as a last resort to protect loved ones, never for protecting himself. This is because not only does it make him incapable of speech until respawn, since this is a permanent alteration, but it is also incredibly painful. The gun was intended for NEO; it can be fatal when used since it overheats very quickly, and can get to the point of burning through his neck.

Relationships:

Hex (Orange)- After attempting to reconcile with his OG group of addisons, his relationship with Hex has been complicated. They care for eachother, but Hex used to be a firewall program, meant to sniff out malware and keep cyber city safe, which obviously does not bode well now that Censor is a virus. That being said, tensions do die off at times and they get along well outside of Hex’s suspicions. He personally tailors most of Censor’s clothes.

Video (Pink)- Still iffy. Has no intentions of forgiving Censor for the shit he pulled during the “Big Shot Era”.

Regardless, Censor often visits the small cafe that Video runs. Isn’t super close with him, but Censor still enjoys his company regardless. Has fun messing around and annoying Video along with someone else down this list

Zero (Blue)- Zero has long since forgiven Censor for his misdeeds. They have a heart of gold, and want to see the good in the big guy. They try not to think about his show, as they are disturbed in knowing that people “willingly” get themselves killed on TV.

Will always be happy to cook up dinners for Censor when he visits

Flash (Yellow)- super close with Cens, best buds. Has also forgiven and is moving on.

They are constantly doing irresponsible things for the thrill and the fun of it, with Censor having several viral videos where he accidentally kills himself during these stunts. Flash finds them hilarious.

Video is wholly unamused by their shenanigans (but in an affectionate way). He is the target of many pranks and jokes at the hands of these two.

Relationships Continued (NOT MY OCS):

Gamma ( @notscribblous )- Used to be the bane of his existence, now is the love of his life. Is Censor’s “canon” husband, has gone through several timeline loops in which he went from despising the guy to being head over heels. Enemies to lovers is peak

Ray ( @notscribblous )- Despite Censor not wanting to be a dad, he’s ended up taking the role as a guardian, and he’s a pretty good one at that. But he will absolutely not accept the title of “dad” or “parent”.

He’d burn down cyber city to ash if it meant she was safe and happy.

BB (SeeingIsBeleiving)- DIE DIE DIE KILL. He will make sure BB’s life is hell when he’s around, even if he’s completely outmatched

Gary ( @maggyoutthere )- It’s complicated, don't ask

Schmuck ( @dr-angel23 )- he’s strange even by Censor’s standards, but doesn’t mind the little guy.

Extras:

-his magic attacks are extremely limited, which is why most of his battle tactics would be physical based. That and he usually resorts to teeth and claws to fight

-Cannot exist in a snowgrave route, only ever in a normal NEO battle

-Acts like he has cartoon physics. He, in fact, does not.

-kinda stupid

-actually really stupid

[nadinescholtes]

Soo abt the horror au..Do Eclipse and Puppet know abt the Virus?

Well, there are three possibilities,

I don't think they use normal phones but computers to communicate through other dimensions because the virus spreads only through phone calls from phones (or phones the animatronics have in their body).

Monty could warn them not to contact anyone in their dimension anymore until they figure out how to cure the virus. He did not call or anything, he threw a letter through a portal. Right after, Clips visited to see what the heck was going on, Moon, and Monty showed him locked up Solar and Jack. Explaining to him what they found out about the virus and that they can't use portals or they'll burn to death.

They told him to stay away and block every contact from this dimension until the virus is gone. They plan to come and tell in person when it's over.

Clips and Earth said their goodbyes and promised to hang out as soon as the virus was gone. Clips is still waiting.

2. They might do phone calls pretty rarely with other dimensions and haven't called yet. When they found out about the virus Monty could warn them through the letter.

3. They did normal phone calls and in the other dimension is now hell too. Monty kept in contact and gave them updates until they didn't.

Clips was the first one infected he tried to attack Puppet, and they locked him up and the next was EAPS Laia who tried to attack, she was locked up too. Both later escaped. They aren't married but they hunt together like Sun and Laia.

When the virus progressed and they couldn't find a cure still. Puppet choose to take their own life by going close to a portal and burning to death because if they go crazy they might repeat what they did to their home. And because she dies so does Ruin (because their lifespans were linked), he accepted it because he didn't want to go through hell again. He was with them when they took their own life.

Sunlight and Moonlight are the second pair who hunt together but it's not like they had a choice. They became like a second Bloodmoon.

FC killed and ate Foxy.

Puppet, Ruin, and Foxy are dead, and the others are infected and hunting. The non-infected are the ghost kids, Jake and Andy left Clips and Laia but have each other. Andrew stayed with FC, I don't know if it was by choice.

And before anyone asks, I'm not going to write something about every dimension they were in contact with. If they had phone calls with them, they are infected, end of story. 🤷‍♀️

[rei-ismyname]

The X-Men raid the Pentagon

Senator Kelly, the ungrateful asshole, has a massive hard-on for the X-Men again. In line with employing the former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as Freedom Force, he wants to basically ban the X-Men and force them into military service as part of a global superhuman arms race. Moira realises that Chuck collaborating with the FBI back in the day pre-Cerebro has come to haunt the X-Men, so a small team including Carol Danvers plan to delete the government's records on them. To the Pentagon!

Check out Logan in his fancy duds!

Storm, Carol and Logan chuck on their best duds and go for half a Bavarian Fire Drill. Carol's rank of Air Force Colonel comes in handy, as does Logan's (Canadian) Captain status. Kurt stays in the car. Logan, as expected, sets off the metal detector something fierce. Ororo thinks to herself that he might do something rash (justified) but he's not the violent and reckless maniac he'll eventually become yet. Pulling rank, solidarity, and respect for war wounds gets them past the metal detector with a salute. Logan starts a conversation to avoid any 'stolen valor' issues. Onto the place where they keep the secrets!

It's wild how 'ugly' Rogue is drawn as a villain compared to today.

Unfortunately, Rogue walks past and her and Carol recognise each other. Ironically, Rogue is allowed to be here as part of Freedom Force and the X-Men are not. After a flashback explaining their beef, they start fighting, of course. Rogue dominates them pretty handily, even smooching Logan to steal his powers. She's a real shithead at this point. All this ruckus isn't great for their mission.

Unluckily for Rogue, Storm is a regulator. Throwing off her disguise to reveal her costume underneath, she gives Rogue a blast of wind as a warning. Some MPs offer help, but Carol just grabs their gun and aims at the woman who stole her life. Bullets do nothing to her though, as Carol knows all too well. This is a disaster, so Storm uses wind and fog to cover her and the unconscious Logan's escape.

Rogue mentioning the X-Men puts the Pentagon on alert, and Carol realises she's compromised the mission by starting a superhuman brawl, lol. Worse, Mystique in disguise notices Danvers and wants to kill her. Rogue is still rampaging on the X-Men until Storm calls for aid. Nightcrawler teleports in and demonstrates the value of finesse over raw power and overconfidence.

Kurt just keeps teleporting out of the way of Rogue's attacks, buying time for the others to engage and for Carol to do her part - uploading a virus that will erase all X-Men data. They're causing utter mayhem, but it might actually help here. Logan changed into his costume somehow.

Carol gets into the data room but Mystique simply must kill her ASAP. She doesn't want to burn her identity, despite planning on murdering a Colonel in the Pentagon, so she chooses Nick Fury's face.

Rogue has the upper hand again, but gets more than she bargained for when she steals Storm's powers. She has her mutant gift, but not the experience in using it. The result is meteorological mayhem. While that's happening Mystique shoots Carol in the head. She was just about to upload the virus, too.

Mystique thinks it was too easy and decides to shoot her again, falling to the oldest trick in the book - playing possum. She changes appearance to throw Carol off but this lady can punch on.

Carol knocks Mystique out and Rogue is hilariously swept away by a mini tornado. Looney Tunes shit. Carol occupies the MPs with Mystique's arrest, though she really wanted to kill her. With that, she's all alone with the big computer containing X-Men information that Chuck gave up to the FBI (snitch.)

Carol gets it done and uploads the virus, completing the mission. Despite gunshots and the massive property damage from a superhuman brawl, she's all g to just walk out while thinking that the X-Men will probably be blamed for this fracas. She's right - this shit directly leads to the X-Men becoming outlaws, which leads to the Outback Era. The X-Men teleported out, of course, and the mission is mostly a success. I'm glad that Carol is back to being a mutant ally these days. She was never an enemy, per se, but she was written like they didn't have extensive history.

Unrelated, but 'NEXT ISSUE: DRACULA!' cracks me up. Of course we go from a tense political espionage thriller to dealing with fucking Dracula. That's comic books!

[social---moth]

a love letter to my favorite game

My favorite game is unlike any game I’ve played, comparing it to anything else i’ve played feels unfair, it’s barely a game but it could occupy my top 10 games by itself

It isn’t the most fun, engaging, adrenaline rush ever, ultrakill or titanfall have it comfortably beat in that category

It doesn’t have the most well constructed narrative, signalis has more intrigue and disco elysium is a better character study

but all of those are constructed, you always feel the hand of the author

There are games with better character creators, but they don’t let you actually *play* your characters

in baldurs gate you can change basically anything about your appearance, but at the end of the day the preset dialogue the developers came up with is your only real option for roleplaying

which is understandable, letting a character say *anything* would be basically impossible, there’s no way for an AI to account for every possibility. Though it still feels like half measure, like i’m playing a customized variant of a default character

The trick is to pack 100+ people into a game and let the situation unfold

A simulated space station with simulated air, you need a proper mix of Nitrogen and Oxygen or else you’ll suffocate (or waste oxygen)

your characters body is the most in depth health bar i’ve seen in a game

you have blood, everyone has an appropriate blood type, and getting the wrong type is toxic. If you get shot the bullet can cause internal bleeding, which you need surgery to fix.

The same bullet can hit your bone, breaking it, a broken hand won’t let you hold something, a broken leg will slow you down, a broken skull will be very bad for any important organs that happen to be in it

if you get hurt enough, your body goes into shock

it gets harder to breathe, you gasp for air and collapse onto the ground, struggling to get back up before dying, if you don’t get medical attention you will inevitably die

The Station itself is similar to a body, needing a working engine to pump electricity through the hull, making sure the lights stay on and the doors keep working

Breaches in the hull leak air out, needing an engineer to fix it before the room succumbs to vacuum, if the station computer gets a virus it can pump flammable gas into the same hallways, leading to the most lethal analogue for a fever since plague inc

And every person, the doctor that keeps you from bleeding out, the engineer that keeps the station powered, the security guard that makes sure the law is obeyed

every single one is a real, living human, a person who logs in to the server to play

the stories that this makes is unmatchable, you do something and everyone acts in the unpredictable but sane way that humans do

what happens when a crewmember takes a contract from a rival corporation, or said rival corporation decides that nuking your station would be a good idea

how do people react to a creature straight out of The Thing replacing a crewmate

what happens when a vampire starts abducting people and enthralling them?

what if a Space Wizard attacks?

No round is the same, and I haven’t even talked about half the jobs

There is something to love for anyone

there’s combat with more true to life pacing than dedicated shooters

there’s roleplay with more reactive characters than any constructed narrative

there’s always a way to optimize a system a bit more, always a reason to come back

It is my favorite game, it’s barely a game, it’s a playable movie

I spent my whole life learning lessons from media i watch, because they’re all meant to have a purpose, something to say

but i get really annoyed when someone does something stupid, i wonder what i would have done in their situation, i wouldn’t monologue before killing my victim, i wouldn’t go into the dark hallway with a xenomorph hiding in it

i know i’d find some other way to fuck up, and Space Station 13 gives me the chance to

I see this game in everything, it’s addicting enough that i barely realize i’ve been playing it for 8 hours straight, i have my current *real job* because of this game

and it’s free, short of donating to the people hosting the server, or the people working on the engine itself, you cannot spend money on this game

this game is older than i am, based in an engine that predates Y2K, and nothing released since has captured its magic

Play Space Station 13, you might not like it, it took me 2 tries over 3 years for it to click, but once it did I had hundreds of hours in my first few months of playing

as for where to start? Paradise Station is pretty cool. GoonStation (yes that’s its real name) is way more advanced than any other codebase, at the cost of lag. /TG/ is pretty ubiquitous, at least some code fragments from there are in every server.

Personally, i recommend Para, but each station i mentioned has an appeal to someone

If anyone who reads this gets a bit curious and does any amount of research into the game, I’ll be happy

thank you for your time, and I’ll see you in outer spess

[auxins-insanities]

cooking up something about how Dark isnt as pure evil as ppl thing so heres a couple points i have

considering chosen's treatment by alan, it would make more sense for him to start the blackfire attacks out of anger. dark, being the younger of the two and being used to just being told what to do, went along. ← weaker point but still worth saying

we never see chosen trying to stop dark in the balckfire attacks. its not until the virus that he stepped in

speaking of the virus, chosen didnt know that dark was planning in massacring sticks. he just assumed this [the worst case scenario] and judged dark accordingly.

based on his body language, dark seemed to expect chosen to like or at least appreciate the virabot. when chosen first told them to not send the virabot, they looked genuinely confused

in ever fight between chosen and dark (except in ava 3, when dark was simply following their programming), chosen throws the first punch. ← also a bit of a weaker point bc chosen's trying to stop dark from whatever they're doing

dark did not know of the cg's existence until the showdown. he sent the virabot to destroy alan's computer, not hurt other sticks.

the one time he DOES try to hurt them, it's when they jump at him like "fight me". and like. you run up to a most likely mentally unstable person with a deadly weapon, tell them to fight you, and you expect to win???? you expect them to not hurt you??????

imo their deaths there were kinda on them but whatever

going back to the whole virabot thing, my guy was just trying to get closure for him and chosen????? like. him disintegrating the globe means world destruction but that could also mean destruction of the web

all of dark's portals were to websites which abence would affect humans, not sticks. never once did dark actually launch an attack on the outernet. he and chosen hurt sticks, yes, but they were also website sticks

yeah uhhhhh thats it for now :P

[i3utterflyeffect]

Hi! I'm new here but im really interested in the selkie sticks au. Can you resume and explain it to me please?

oh absolutely!!! selkie sticks is one of my favorites but you could probably already tell judging by how incessantly i post about it lol

so the summary is that selkies are not humans who can become seals in this au, but instead they're sticks who can become cursors!

after the events of AVA 1, c!Alan becomes trapped in his computer as a cursor. what he doesn't know at this point is that he's actually a selkie!

usually the progression of selkie growth goes from stick -> fluffy stick (in the shape of some sort of clothing) -> stick sheds coat, and that coat can be used to become a cursor, but since c!Alan is kind of a freak of nature he goes from cursor -> fluffy cursor -> stick with coat!

anyway throughout AVA 2 and 3, he's stuck as a cursor and none the wiser to his status as a selkie! however, he does make The Chosen One and The Dark Lord! they end up inheriting the selkie status. Chosen's coat is obviously kept away from them by Alan, though, and both Chosen and Dark's coats are destroyed too much to be actually used in AVA 3.

After AVA 3, Alan at some point sheds his coat, turning into a mostly just very confused stick, and while he's on the desktop, he ends up accidentally drawing SC! SC is also a baby for no reason other than I wanted to. anyway he's forced to go into the outernet because he has no idea how to raise a stick, and ends up living there in hopes that SC can at least be somewhat normal! SC is also a selkie though so normal is relative--

he does end up meeting king very early on and it splits into two AUs where Gold either survives (because Alan turns into a cursor to break open the minecraft machine) or dies, but for clarity's sake i'm going over the one where gold dies! King and Alan end up losing contact with each other after that point :(

but anyway! Chosen eventually ends up finding out that Alan is in the outernet after finding him caught up in the crossfire with SC after a fight with Dark, and they end up kind of following him around just to make sure he's not hurting SC! Alan does eventually find out, but ends up being okay with this because. like. yeah he was kind of terrible to them, that's fair enough

he also ends up adopting the color gang (much to Chosen's disbelief) and just raising the group in general as the closest thing to normal kids as he can manage, and Chosen ends up babysitting a lot and growing very attached to their little siblings! they don't tell Dark about any of this though because. you know. Alan.

this ends up kind of blowing up in their face when Dark ends up finding out about them anyway and trying to kill Alan, which is equivalent to the showdown!! it happens when SC and the CG are a lot younger so even though Dark doesn't end up attacking the kids SC still exhausts themself pretty badly healing Alan and taking Dark out. I don't think Dark dies in this AU, partially because SC is weaker, but no one finds that out for a while--

(Also! Dark uses the virus to make a faux coat basically since their old one is damaged too badly, but this pretty badly hurts them as well :3c)

anyway! Alan basically takes Chosen in under his wing after that since they're still pretty badly devastated by the loss of Dark, and also Alan feels just generally horrible about everything. he ends up using what's left of Dark's original coat (as well as a few pieces of his own coat) to repair Chosen's coat as a gift for them, and generally things are pretty peaceful after that up until AVA 6!

i haven't completely figured out what happens yet (i mean. kind of obvious since the arc itself isn't over) but i do know Vic ends up most likely stealing Alan's coat!

Vic is a very weird middle point between selkie and not-- they have fur, but never ended up shedding, and can use Alan's coat to transform!

anyway a few notes about the au:

a selkie giving someone their coat is more of an expression of trust than anything romantic! it's just essentially saying 'hey i trust you', the equivalent of a cat showing their belly. giving someone their coat can also be something they do to comfort someone who's going through something as it's a comforting thing for them!

selkies aren't a well-known legend in the outernet and typically someone would default to going 'oh, that's a human' before going 'oh, that's a selkie' if they saw a cursor!

alan can regrow his coat if it's destroyed; the others cannot

purple is a selkie because it's fun, i said so, and also getting hit with the Minecraft Beam fucked them up a little bit

SC thinks of King as something similar to an uncle! purple has a similar view of Alan since he helped them cope with becoming a selkie

cursor!alan is ridiculously big even for a selkie. he's actually taller than king in this form. i need you to know how scary he is to literally any stick who isn't a selkie he's so so so big

No one except MAYBE Agent (and Vic themself obv) knows that Vic is partially selkie.

[grotesque-marvel]

Frenrey- Love is like a camera! (it stop him in my eyes)

Summary: A short fic based on the song "ZOOM UP !" by Kahimi Karie. Benrey, Joshua and Gordon go out on an walk. Computer-virus-now-turned-human Benrey has to learn how a digital camera functions. Feelings and emotions get in the way as per the usual ! Tags: sfw, Benrey/Gordon Freeman, pure fluff, tooth rotting fluff, mutual pining (not mentioned for Gordon's side), lots and lots of sappiness, computer virus tries to learn how a digital camera works irl, not beta read at ALL

Fic under the cut, if you'd like to read it on here ^_^

“ so, this is like aaa. a shittier version of the screenshot button? ��

The bitter-yet-kind air of spring nips at Benrey’s nose, making the stout man snort more obnoxiously than he otherwise would in such a pollen-riddled season. Surprisingly, being a computer virus hadn’t actually come with the advantage of being immune to actual real-world viruses (that’s what he calls this itching, anyways, no matter how much Gordon insists that no, it is not a virus, Benrey is just allergic, which is like. So much lamer.), but that’s the least of his problems right about now as he blinks sluggishly at the strange device in his palms, turning and twisting it like he was investigating a new item in a Resident Evil game, looking for clues.

The human looks amused by his antics, anyways, judging by the ugly snort he lets out followed by the smile stretching across freckled cheeks which does not make Benrey’s heart palpitate weirdly as if he’s on the brink of a heart attack. 

“ It’s a camera, Benrey,  „ Gordon carefully, patiently explains, green eyes kind despite the kid currently tugging on his pants demanding that they go to the park, dad, pleaasee!!, “ Like the- you literally had a camera in Xen, how can you not recognize it? ,,

Benrey sniffles once in reply, stubby fingers finally properly gripping the gadget before he look up at Gordon, sensing that he’s supposed to verbally respond to that question. “ uhhhh. yours is. shittier. ,, He deadpans as if that’s supposed to explain anything, fingernails digging into the sides of the camera like there’s supposed to be a hinge and the camera just doesn’t know it yet. “ there’s no- there’s no film slot thing. how are you supposed to take pictures without film, idiot? stupid useless device. ,,

Gordon snorts again, like there’s some great inside joke that Benrey had been oh so cruelly left out of, before the man bends up to scoop the fussy child up in his arms, groaning at the way his bones creak like awkward hinges that hadn’t been greased in a long time. Can one grease their bones, anyways? Is that, like, an automatic function? Benrey’s body surely doesn’t do that, judging by the constant pains in his spine. Then again, Gordon does often comment that he sits like a fucked up shrimp, so-

Finger snap in front of his dazed eyes and Benrey is quick to catch on, blinking once, twice, before his other senses catch up and he tunes back into Gordon’s monologue with a startled look. 

“ Have you- were you even listening to what I was saying? ,, Gordon doesn’t expect a reply to that, Benrey’s learnt that’s merely a rhetorical question by now- of course Benrey isn’t paying attention, he almost never is, “ I was telling you about how these are digital cameras. Don’t need film if you just have an SD card to - how do you not know about digital cameras, even? They’ve been around forever, man, that’s like- you know about gaming PCs but not about digital cameras? What even- ,,

Just like how Gordon had previously broken Benrey out of his trance, the shorter repays the kindness by flicking Gordon’s forehead just harshly enough to break him out of his rambling. At first, he quiets up, but he’s quick to continue as if nothing happened, putting one hand on his hip whilst his other, prosthetic one, is busy holding up his child who has by now begun to play with Gordon’s hair out of boredom.

“ It’s just- I’m not asking for much, man. Just one nice picture with me and Joshie, yeah? Then we can continue on our walk. ,, Gordon would be a fool to believe in Benrey having an attention span longer than a few seconds, and Benrey is already considering him a fool for thinking that he can do anything more complex than press the popcorn button on their microwave. Still, the short man shrugs and waves Gordon off, a sign that, whilst begrudgingly so, Benrey’s willing to entertain his antics.

The smile that Gordon flashes back is nearly as blinding as that of a camera’s flash, and Benrey feels like he should cover his eyes lest he go blind, yet he surprisingly doesn’t mind the thought of losing his vision due to the man’s happy grin. He does, however, mind the instant nausea effect that he gets right after that thought, world tilted just a little off its axis as he watches Gordon bound over to the spot he had picked out for the picture whilst Benrey was probably spaced out. Benrey, being the oh so diligent security guard that he still believes he is, follows shortly thereafter. Just to make sure Gordon doesn’t cause a scene, of course.

They’re dressed more fashionably than either of them are used to, really- Gordon has decided to bundle up in the bright orange sweater that he had oh so lovingly been gifted by Dr. Coomer this past Christmas, along with a stereotypical combo of blue dad jeans and sandals with white socks. His green-tinted glasses sit awkwardly on his nose, the lenses crooked and bent from probably sitting on them by accident far too many times, and his prosthetic glistens in the bright sun of the afternoon, a vivid black and orange metal that matches the design of the HEV suit almost uncannily so. Pfft, fanboy.

Benrey, on the other hand, had tried something other than the usual black hoodie and gray sweatpants, the recent dressing up games that he had been playing giving him a more refined fashion taste than before. Not like he had been programmed with a fashion taste, after all, but Benrey likes to believe he’s improved anyways. Dressed in a white tank top with a black leather jacket he’d stolen from Gordon draped over his shoulders, a pair of khaki-colored jeans that Gordon insisted on getting him no matter Benrey’s protests and whines. He had forgone a hat today, surprisingly, though he’d ended up snatching Gordon’s anyways, a bright orange beanie that matched the scientist’s sweater, coming from none other than Bubby himself.

Joshua’s outfit had actually been picked out by the kid himself, this time, deciding on a pair of cream knee-length shorts and a matching-colored bucket hat, a graphic t-shirt currently hidden by the tightly zipped up bomber jacket around his body. God, Benrey felt as if just yesterday he had been staring at a pruny baby swaddled in blankets, only to now feel his eyes soften impossibly so as he stares at the chestnut curls that bounce with the motion of Joshua’s head as he turns towards the short man, offering him a similarly blinding smile that shows off the gap in his teeth proudly so.

Snapped out of his reverie, Benrey shakes his head as if trying to get rid of a dizzy spell, focusing back on the gadget at hand as he brings it up to his face. It really is a technological marvel to him- he’s so used to static, low quality props that felt like air in his hands, yet now he can brush his fingers against the material, can feel all the ridges of the plastic casing on his fingertip, can drag his nail on the scratched up silver accents, can see the image reflected actually change as he moves the camera around, trying to get a proper angle.

He’s not exactly a photographer, per se, but it’s not like he can’t see which angles are flattering and which are very much now. He fidgets with the settings for a bit, tongue poking out as he flicks through all the filters available only to settle for the default anyways. Best not to fuck up and have Gordon chide him for it later, though he suspects the man has been going softer on the arguing lately. He tends to look at Benrey with a far more tender look, an indecipherable emotion swirling within those pupils that makes Benrey’s once-digital self feel all like scrambled code and ciphers on the inside.

Finally, he finds the perfect angle, the light reflecting off of the models just so, bringing out all the details Benrey had been striving for. At first, he fumbles with every button for a moment, unaware of which one actually takes the photo, before he promptly startles at the sound of the shutter going off, camera unceremoniously falling onto the dewy grass. Grumbling as he hears the echo of two laughters basking in his misery and shame, the short man reaches down to grab the camera, only to wince as a resounding crack comes from the small of his back, bringing forth even more laughter at his expense.

“ boo, laughing at my pain. how dare you. punishment for you both, eternal torture . ,, Benrey hisses as he finally manages to grapple the now wet camera back in his hands, using the corner of his tank top to messily wipe away the dew before pointing it the same way it had been before, huffing and puffing. The pouting doesn’t last for long, however, as Benrey’s jaw slackens at the sight reflected in the feed of his camera-

Gordon and Joshua are both leaning their heads into one another’s as they laugh, both their faces scrunched up with what must be a chest-aching amount of laughter. Like this, Gordon’s wrinkles become all the more apparent, yet all they do is make him look all the more breathless, crow’s feet tracing the arc in which his eyes are squeezed shut whilst his smile dimples in his cheeks, giving his expression just another pop that has Benrey’s breath catching in his throat. And Joshua’s smiling wildly too, the missing canine on full display as his cheeks are blotchy and red from laughter, small torso heaving with the force of his childish giggles-

Click.

Benrey remains staring there dumbfounded long after the shutter of the camera goes off, long after the pair’s laughter die down only to be replaced with concerned glances shared between father and son as they stare at the man who stands there utterly slack-jawed. There’s a blush crawling on Benrey’s face, the redness tracing a path all the way down his neck and to his chest, and Gordon lets out another ugly snort at the thought of Benrey looking as if he’d been sunburnt, the sound finally enough to once again snap the shorter out of whatever stupor he had been under.

“ bwuh- uh– ,, He flounders like a fish out of sea, glancing between the device, then the tall man, then the device again, as if there’s a puzzle slotting together right before his very eyes.

 Instinctively, not knowing what else he is meant to do, Benrey then begins waving his hand around with the camera still clutched tightly as if he was rushing the development of a polaroid, the sudden movement pulling a startled laugh out of Gordon. Eventually, after enough staring from both ends, the curly haired man merely shakes his head and kneels down to allow Joshua to practically bolt out of his arms, quick to stand back up and place his hands on his waist as he looks at the child with a happy grin before once again focusing his attention on his silent friend, his pace lazy and unhurried as he makes his way over towards the frozen figure.

“ Try not to swallow a fly, dude, ,, Gordon teases as he pats Benrey’s back roughly, said man gasping as if he’d actually choked on an insect right then and there, “ What’s up with you? Was the picture really that bad? Cmon, let me see. ,,

Wordlessly, Benrey snaps his jaw shut and passes the device silently to the taller man, Gordon’s mouth letting out an instinctual ‘thanks’ as he pulls it from Benrey’s grasp and moves to look through the gallery. Now it’s Gordon’s turn to gasp as he looks down at the screen with wide eyes, almost unbelieving of the candid photo Benrey had took- it looked near professional, really, save for the little bit of motion blur, but to Gordon’s eyes it was perfect.

“ Oh my God, dude, this is- this is awesome! ,, Gordon laughs excitedly, bouncing on his feet as he clutches the camera even tighter, “ I’m so printing this out- thanks a bunch, Benrey, you’re the fucking best! ,,

Still reeling from the events that had just unfolded, Benrey barely has the time to let out a startled ‘whuh-’ before his head is wretched by an arm wrapping around his neck, quick to hear the shutter going off as he notices the camera is now pointed towards themselves. Stumbling on his feet once Gordon lets him go, Benrey blinks as if having actually been dazed by a nonexistent flash, the shorter man having to clutch tightly onto Gordon’s forearm so as to not collapse then and there. Gordon lets him, of course, far too focused on the camera in hand to really pay any attention to the way in which he instinctively offers up his limb for the other to hold onto.

“ Gonna hang this one up, too. ,, That voice calls out again, this time less affectionate and more smug as he turns the camera around, showing Benrey the picture that Gordon had managed to sneak. It’s a pretty crappy picture, all things considered- a selfie of them that had definitely been taken in a hurry, yet Gordon’s crooked smile and Benrey’s shocked, flustered expression remain unblurred in the midst of it all, almost as if the camera is personally mocking him for existing. It’s… Cute, almost disgustingly so, like a photo you’d see in an old married couple’s album as they reminisce about their youthful love.

The thought of that alone is enough for Benrey to shove the beanie up until his eyes get covered as he grumbles and kicks at Gordon’s shins, ignoring the man’s outraged cries in favor of running away from the scene… Only to, of course, collide directly into the nearest tree due to his lack of sight. As he lays there on the dewy grass, however, and listens to Gordon’s wheezy laughter as the man undoubtedly makes fun of him, Benrey finds no annoyance in his heart, merely basking in that familiar feeling of scrambled emotions bouncing around in his heart like a game of fucked up ping pong. Maybe digital cameras weren’t so shitty, after all.

[ananthasnoquarrelwithaboot]

A Theory [*Spoiler Alert*] :

Interior Chinatown is about a future where Hulu shows are made completely by A.I. and are starring individual A.I.s that are placed in a virtual environment much like a video game. Jonathan Wu’s A.I. was the first to become sentient and as he grew increasingly aware of his surroundings, Hulu programmed the rest of the A.I. to attack him, much like you would a virus on a computer. Because it is still a show, the way it attacked him was by making him seem crazy and they capitalized on the drama. By making Jonathan Wu the villain, Hulu is combatting the virus he was spreading by trying to get other A.I. people to become sentient as well. Jonathan, realizing he can’t escape becoming part of their story, does the only thing they don’t expect: cuffing himself to a sinking ship. Unfortunately for Hulu, Jonathan’s death came too late because his sentience had spread to Willis Wu, now hell-bent on finding out what was going on. Willis and Jonathan spread it to Lana, and at the end of the day Jonathan was able to save them by telling Lana the way out of the matrix. Cut to Lana tackling Willis off of the roof of the building to their deaths. Except they can’t die - they’re A.I. Instead they go somewhere else. Willis is able to see Jonathan for a second, (maybe Jonathan figured out how to hack the system?) but Hulu is still in control. Willis is thrown into a new show, in a new role. Hulu thought that resetting him into a new narrative would fix their ailing A.I. but they were wrong. Willis remembers, and Lana is there too and so does she.

Season 2 seems like it should be interesting if this theory is true because there’s no battle more futile than an A.I. trying to break out of a virtual world. How could a line of code ever become physical? Also, why was Jonathan not put into a new show but Lana and Willis were?

So many questions!

[youtopialanding]

Youtopia

Chapter 3 : The last message

4964 words.

No TW.

The weather didn’t seem to be calming down, around their shelter. Outside, a real hurricane was raging, preventing them from even thinking about going out for supplies. Fortunately for them, they still had enough to last an entire month in these conditions ; unless something bad happened and added to their problems, of course. Everything seemed to be fine though. Nick had completely fixed the ventilation, so their breathing air wouldn’t be as toxic as it had been over the past few weeks. M.I.N.D. gathered a lot of the previously corrupted files, those attacked by the last virus that fried half of her system. Nicholas narrowly escaped a total transformation into one of those bloodthirsty creatures. Yes, everything was fine.

“How is he ?”

Ruffilo was sitting on the same table that welcomed him a few days earlier, his eyes staring at Noah’s back from afar. His shirt was folded next to him, and he was trembling from the cold in the middle of this poorly insulated cavern, but didn’t complain at all. He never complained anyway.

Jolly, who was focused on his task, didn’t even straighten up to answer.

“You’re the wounded one here, why do you worry about him?” “Because I know him too well.”

The cryptic reply finally got a reaction from the wannabe doctor, who just raised an eyebrow while applying a heavy dose of foul-smelling ointment to his friend’s shoulder. However, the latter didn’t feel like elaborating, even though he clearly seemed worried.

“What do you mean?” Jolly finally asked, once he realized he wouldn’t get any answer otherwise. “He’d be capable of doing something stupid very soon,” Nicholas replied.

The older one stared at him for a while, not really convinced by his words. Of all of them, Ruffilo was the one who knew Noah best, to the point where everyone wondered if he hadn’t turned into a telepath or something. Now that Jolly thought about it, it was easy to communicate with him with a glance; even he didn’t struggle that much to understand or be understood by him.

“We’re here to talk him out of it,” he reassured, but the brunette shook his head. “He’s blinkered. If he decides something…nothing and no one will prevent him from doing it. He doesn’t know how to rationalise, especially when he’s still feeling so guilty about everything. Because he is guilty - of many things. It’s killing him, slowly. I can see it. So he tries to take back control, and usually, he does that pretty poorly.” “That’s a good reason to stop him, right?”

Nicholas, who was talkative compared to his usual self, just shook his head again and went mute. It was useless to ask him anything else; he wouldn’t answer anymore. Jolly sighed, but resumed his task and rolled a bandage over the oozing wound. What was the point of all this ? If his friend felt like talking again, and actually explaining things… he would be more than happy to listen.

Noah didn’t hear a thing about what was going on around him. Lost in thought, he was staring at the computer screen with intense focus, waiting patiently for something to happen. The bad weather was actually a good thing for him; as he couldn’t leave that place, he had enough time to catch up on his lack of sleep and now felt much better than before. M.I.N.D. was right : he had to take care of himself, for the greater good. If he fell, all of their efforts would fall with him. Feeling rested and his belly full for the first time in weeks - although their meals were more nutritious than tasty - he felt his senses sharpened, his focus easier to maintain. Who would have thought that an AI would know more about humankind than a real human ?

“The signal is still too weak, boss,” M.I.N.D. suddenly said, her robotic voice resounding in his head. “Our waves can't go this far, and with that storm…” “I'm sure you can do it,” Noah whispered.

A hand landed on his shoulder, and the young man was slightly startled by this sudden contact. He hadn't even heard Nicholas approach. His treatment was over, and he had put his shirt and hoodie back on, but he was still trembling from the cold; his fever was probably still lingering, although he wasn't hallucinating in bed anymore.

“Explain,” he just said, but that one word was enough to convey what he needed. “M.I.N.D. spotted a signal two days ago,” Noah explained while pointing at what looked like a very flat radio wave. “It's a bit far, so we're trying to decipher it, but…it's a bit more complicated than expected.” “A signal? But…we haven't received any for months.” “I messed around with the external sensors last week, and worked a bit more here too. I didn't think it would be useful…but when I adjusted the antenna settings and aimed for a broader range, I finally picked something up.”

Noah struggled to hide his excitement. However impassive he usually looked, his best friend knew how to read his mind. And this new behaviour, far from being reassuring, only triggered an alarm inside his head.

“We're not even sure that it's anything important…” he sighed while pulling his hand away. “You always avoided the other rebels…why do you care now? It can just be another group.”

Noah shrugged. It was true, his behaviour had suddenly changed, as if he had enough of being alone against the whole world. Yes, their last meeting with another group of rebels was…challenging, to say the least, and they almost had to move from their current headquarters. Yes, their leader himself took the drastic decision to carefully avoid every single living thing on this planet, waiting for the general situation to improve. But maybe his unwanted isolation he’d been dealing with for so long was starting to wear him down? No, that's not it, the brunette thought, frowning. The tattooed guy had something in mind, and he feared the moment he would act on it.

“I managed to localize the signal, boss,” M.I.N.D. suddenly said, and her voice made Nicholas jump a little. “Perfect!” Noah shouted, unable to hide his excitement anymore. “Can you process it?” “I need a few more seconds.”

The computer blew violently, tangible proof that it was working hard. With all the new components Jolly gathered the other day, its performance was better than it used to be, even if they weren't protected from a sudden system crash.

On the main screen, the radio waves seemed to grow more and more, going from a straight line to large oscillations. This change fascinated Nicholas as much as it stimulated Noah; he knew more or less that M.I.N.D. was capable of many exploits, but seeing the proof in front of him was truly amazing.

“Voice message deciphered. Unable to find additional information for now,” the AI declared, and Sebastian made a victory sign. “Finally !” He shouted, a big smile on his face. “Play it !” 

A static noise reverberated on the walls, so loud that the two other men stopped in their tracks to look at the source of the sound with wide eyes. Jolly and Nick walked towards the workshop, the first suspicious, the second dumbstruck. The waves weren't stable enough, but after a few seconds of only hearing static, a man’s voice spoke.

“Do…hear me? Do…hear…Ah…! Here’s…Saï…found a way to save…poor lads…Gaia Facilities. …need help. LA 33…39…29…2…117…46…01…9…help…save…”

The message suddenly stopped, as if the transmission was abruptly cut off by something, and the static started again while the entire room remained dead silent. None of the four men dared speak. Of all the rare messages they had managed to get since they had lived here, this one was certainly the most cryptic of them all, and not only because half of the words were lost due to the poor reception. They looked at each other, baffled, each one of them wondering what it could mean. Then…

“Who…who was it ?” Nick asked.

Nicholas shrugged, the only one reacting to his words. The youngest was a bit upset to be ignored, but quickly understood that the two others were absolutely focused. Noah started the recording again, frowning, looking more disturbed than usual. Suddenly…

“I know that voice,” he mumbled. “Me too,” replied Jolly, his face showing the exact same expression. “But from where ?” “I don't fucking know…from another refuge, maybe?” “Nope,” Ruffilo cut in. “I don't recognize it myself.”

Silence spoke again, and time stood still. One could only hear the computer fans, as M.I.N.D. was still working on the signal, hoping to find where it was coming from. Noah sighed, slouched in his chair and crossed his arms. He didn't know how to react to this brand new information. That man…did he really know how to free the prisoners from the labs ? Gaia Facilities…he'd never heard that name before, but in the context, it may be the name of these underground labs. But those labs were unapproachable, strictly watched by the rogue AI and its worshippers…how could anyone escape from there without consequences? Who could enter these places, unless he was one of these worshippers ?

“Saï…never heard of this name before, it must be a code name,” Jolly said, thinking out loud. “Same goes for the Gaia Facilities, never heard that before. The numbers at the end…it looked like coordinates. Maybe that’s where the signal comes from. M.I.N.D. ?” “I’m still looking, boss,” the robotic voice replied. “But there’s a problem.” “What problem ?” blurted Noah, who straightened suddenly. “The message is dated from April 23rd, 2047.”

The info was a shock, the crash of an emotional rollercoaster. The signal must have been playing continually since that time, with no one to detect it before because of its weak emission. Five years had passed since its recording…how could they know if the person talking here was still alive ? In a world so hostile, surviving even for a week outside was a huge achievement.

Jolly’s face was pale, but Noah was still active and just typing on his keyboard. He was taking notes on the message in question, as if the last piece of information didn’t count. Male…adult, maybe around their age…weird accent. He then asked M.I.N.D. to check the coordinates. If the message wasn’t a blatant lie, that man was based in the heart of the city, far beyond where they wandered to get their supplies. 

“Anaheim…” he whispered, reading the map displayed on his screen. “This is very close to the centre. Too close, maybe.” “Way too close,” Nicholas abruptly cut in, frowning as he held his wounded shoulder. “It may be a trap.” “A five-year-old trap, really ?”

Noah’s joke didn’t go unnoticed. He seemed to be taking this situation way too lightly, but his best friend already knew what was going on in his mind. He wanted to go there…discover who sent this message and what additional information he was holding that could help them in their quest. But it was too easy. Too…precise. How could they know if it wasn’t a trick made by those who wanted them dead ? If they recognized that voice and it wasn’t from one of the other shelters they had visited in the past, it was obviously from the enemy. And yet, their leader didn’t even think about this possibility.

“Noah, you…” he started. “We’ll talk about this later,” Noah cut him short. “I know what you’re gonna say, and I don’t wanna hear it.”

Ruffilo clenched his jaw, frustrated by this childish behavior, but didn’t say a word. As he was tipsy from this new victory, from finally having something to work with, his friend didn’t want to listen to reason. He had to be patient… again.

“Again. Go on. Too soft. Too late. Nope. Still not.”

There were fighting noises in the second room of their headquarters, the one they only used for physical training. Coached by Jolly, Nick tried to keep up with the pace he imposed. Since their last mission outside, he had practically begged the former soldier to train him personally, as he had witnessed first-hand the gap between his level and the others’. Yes, he’s always been athletic; yes, his youth and physical condition were more or less an advantage against a thirty-something guy who looked like he’s lived dozens of different lives. But alone against this fellow, he finally realised how much his “advantage” was far from being enough.

He was jumping, rolling over, barely avoiding the projectiles his teacher was throwing at him without being able to really come closer than a few feet from him. His goal ? To make Karlsson yield to his will and prove to him in the process that he deserved his place in the team. Of course, Noah had already comforted him about it when they were alone together… but he still stupidly felt like his elder wasn’t thinking the same thing. His expression was always enigmatic, he seemed to judge him constantly, even looked kind of disappointed from time to time when he looked at him. No matter his colossal efforts, Nick still feared that he wouldn’t be enough for him.

Suddenly, as he was watching his opponent wondering if he would even reach him one day, a window presented itself. Here…he wasn’t paying much attention to him, was he? Maybe Jolly was tired too and had underestimated him. It was the right time to move. Quick as lightning, Folio jumped and reached his enemy, his fist meeting the taller one on the stomach, missing it by only a few inches. His second punch though, reached the target. Jolly groaned from discomfort : protected by his equipment he withstood the blow and took a single step back, his piercing eyes staring at his young pupil.

“Almost,” he said. “But you’ve lost anyway.” “What? No!” retorted Nick.

Hadn’t he touched him, finally? Hadn’t he avoided all of his blows, the projectiles, Hadn’t he come close? Why did Jolly decide that he had lost when being less than three feet away from him was proof he’d win this round?

One second of hesitation, of confusion. One single second was enough for Jolly to grab him and pin him to the ground, a knee on his chest, two fingers pointed at his face. In shock, Nick forgot to breathe for a second and simply stared at his hand, his heart pounding in his chest. It felt like he was just threatened with the barrel of a rifle.

“Boom,” said Jolly, his hand mimicking the recoil of a weapon. “Outside, you’d be dead ten times over.” “It’s not fair!” Nick protested. “You distracted me, and…” “Everything can be a distraction outside. You have to lock your mind, and act. Not think for two hundred years or so. They will never reflect for too long, when they try to blow up your brain.” “But…” “You have to learn how to spot the false opportunities too. If your opponent is powerful and skilled, there’s very little chance he’s gonna make some basic mistakes like the one I offered today… if you just go for it and don’t analyze enough, you’ll just make yourself an easy target.”

The lesson was hard, but necessary. Head down, Folio stayed on the ground and didn’t even dare to look at his coach. He accepted his hand however and finally stood up, but turned around when he felt his cheeks burning. He was ashamed to fall for such an easy trick, ashamed of his weakness too. But Jolly just patted him on the shoulder, and when the youngest finally gathered the courage to look at his face, he thought he saw a little smile stretching his lips - which, for a man like him, was the equivalent of a burst of joy for anyone else.

“You’re pretty good, kiddo,” Jolly said. “You’re just…a bit too naive for this world.” “How so?” Nick asked. He didn’t really like being called “naive” at his age. “You can still see the best in people. You hesitate before you kill anyone, anything…you must be one of the rare people in this world who still possesses a soul. Keep it safe. It will always be your most valuable possession.”

It was the very first time Jolly actually gave him a compliment, and Folio wasn’t sure how to react. He opened his mouth, but closed it quickly when he realised that he had nothing to reply to. That situation was so unusual that he was thrown off completely.

It was the shouting that stopped their conversation in its tracks. Nick was suddenly worried ; he ran towards the main room, his equipment still on, rapidly followed by his coach, who now looked inexpressive again. 

Noah had left his spot, and was now standing tall in the middle of the room, arms crossed against his chest. In front of him stood Ruffilo, and the youngest had never seen him so angry. His hands were trembling, and his eyes could kill. The tension around them was so electric he was scared to even come closer. Whatever Noah had said, his best friend was having none of it.

“Stop your bullshit, I know why you’re doing this,” Nicholas spat out, his words as sharp as a knife. “You still think you’re responsible for what happened to me. You always think you’re responsible for everything. Look at what you’ve done! I knew you’d be doing something stupid.” “Shut up!” Noah shouted, his face red with anger. “You… you don’t know what it’s like, so shut the fuck up, Nick.” “Did you forget what happened the last time you went solo? Do you really think she deserved that?!” “SHUT UP!”

His hand moved by itself, or so it seemed. Blinded by rage - and maybe a bit of fear - the leader threw his fist towards his friend’s face, who didn’t have the time to block it. Nicholas took the blow and had a hard time staying on his feet, as he stepped back far enough to put a bit of distance between them. He winced, spat out some blood from his now-wounded lips and gave his opponent a dirty look. Noah looked completely lost between anger and despair. He was staring at his hand like it wasn’t his, like it wasn’t his decision to hit so hard.

“She’s dead because you’ve been too dumb to follow orders again,” Ruffilo added with absolutely no emotion. “She’s dead because of you. And the only thing you wanna do now is just…kill yourself out there. You’ve got no balls left. You’d better give up and die a ‘hero’ for absolutely nothing, just be a martyr and not do the work you’re supposed to do. You’re pathetic, Sebastian.” “For once, I have one last chance to fix everything,” Noah replied with a shaky voice. “I won’t let it go so easily. It’s YOU, who’s been holding me back from the beginning. YOU who’s giving up the cause!” “Guys, we…” Folio tried, but Jolly raised his hand to prevent him from saying anything.

The youngest didn’t understand why his coach was letting this situation escalate. Why wasn’t he trying to stop it, teach them a lesson, force them to focus on something else until they were both in a better mood to communicate? He who was so wise, always a straight man, their true leader in the shadows really, just gave up this role in a matter of seconds. What was going on in his head ? There had to be a reason…

“I don’t fucking care about you and your stories, I’m outta here !” Noah cried out, and he immediately walked away from Nicholas. “Fuck off if you like,” he replied. “Kill her another time.” “FUCK YOU.”

Nick didn’t understand a word of this exchange, but as he saw Jolly reach for their leader, he hoped that finally he got bored and was trying to diffuse the tension. What a surprise then, when he saw him just..help Noah put on his suit! He even handed him his rifle without a word, his face still blank, lips closed, gaze as cold as a dead fish.

“But…do you really support that?!” Nick couldn’t help but ask.

Jolly ignored him, too busy checking the suit for the one who was trying to flee this shelter. Too many questions were swirling in the youngest’s mind; why would they push Noah away when there was a big storm outside? Why would they support such a breakup when they had to stay together to survive? Why did nobody in this fucking headquarters act as usual?! He couldn’t stand it anymore. Tired of being set aside, he stepped in front of the corridor that led to the exit and spreaded his arms, his eyes locked on Noah’s supposed face.

“Don’t go, it’s too dangerous out there alone !” he pleaded. “Move your ass, Nick !” Noah retorted. He obviously was still pissed under his helmet. “No, I…” “MOVE.”

His elder’s cry made him jump a little, but Nick held on. He wasn’t going to let him risk his life for nothing worth! He didn’t even understand why he was the only one acting right now. That Nicholas was too angry to step in once more, he could understand. But Jolly? He went down in his estimation. 

Too disturbed by his thousand questions, Nick was distracted long enough for Noah to push him aside abruptly. He was thrown against the wall and almost fell. In a few seconds, the leader of the rebellion was gone.

“I… I don’t understand…” Nick stuttered as he stared at the now empty corridor. “Why… why didn’t you stop him? He’s gonna die outside! There’s a fucking storm!”

Nobody replied to him, as usual. Nicholas was cleaning his wounded lip with some 90° alcohol, while Jolly was tidying the equipment zone.

“M.I.N.D.?” he snapped suddenly, his raised voice startling Folio in the process. “I’m still here, boss,” the AI replied. “Track Sebastian. Report everything he does every… hmm… let’s say, five minutes. If you lose the signal for more than half an hour, ring the alarm bell.” “On it, boss.”

Jolly had a satisfied look on his face when he turned away from the computer. His gaze met Nicholas’s, who nodded with a knowing look. Nick felt a bit lost watching them communicate like that, and a bit…isolated. They all seemed to be telepaths here, and here he was, set aside without consent. A pout on his face, he tried to mask his frustration and looked for something to do with his hands. Suddenly, a powerful hand landed on his shoulder.

“Stop worrying so much, it’s gonna be okay,” Nicholas assured, his voice now as soft as it used to be. “No, it’s not !” Nick protested. He was disturbed by this illogical reaction. “He’s all alone out there, with the prowlers, the storm, the…” “He’s been through worse, believe me. And he’s got good equipment.” “But…you just…” “M.I.N.D. is with him, he’s not alone. And he needs a reality check. He’ll be fine, don’t worry.

The youngest still didn't understand the situation. Once more, it seemed he was missing some elements to get it. He glanced at his elders, biting his lip, frowning, but just walked away with no further questions. He didn’t want to anger Nicholas again, because even if he didn’t really understand all that was said between him and Noah, his tone was enough to scare him a little bit.

“Maybe you went a little bit too far,” Jolly tried, coming up to his friend. “Oh so you’re taking his side now ?” Nicholas retorted.

He was wincing from the pain, a hand on his shoulder, his forehead wet with sweat from the fever. Silently, the older man helped him remove his hoodie and shirt, and noticed with horror that the bandages were already wet with a mix of blood, ointment, and pus. He sighed, but just gathered his tools to treat the injury again.

“Don’t start a fight with me,” he said with no emotion in his voice. “You know that I never take anyone’s side. But you’ve gone too far.” “Because I mentioned her ?” Nicholas spat out, his face distorted by pain. “It’s the only thing he reacts to nowadays. Sometimes, I even think he forgets her a bit too easily.” “How can he forget her ? She’s part of him now. She always reminds him of her presence, and her absence. Believe me when I say he’s never forgotten her.”

Silence spoke volumes. Nicholas didn’t know what to reply to that statement. He was breathing heavily, trying not to show his weakness under the hands of his improvised doctor, but was relaxing a bit more as if the anger was leaving his body and just left regrets. He sighed and glanced at the computer screen absently. 

“It’s been almost two years and he hasn’t changed,” he whispered, defeated. “I can’t help but wonder if his merging with M.I.N.D. is a good thing. She protects him, yes, but…she also brings up too many bad memories.” “It wasn’t up to us to make that decision,” Jolly recalled. “I know, I know…but we should have said something. Stopped him from doing this. We’re fighting against a rogue AI, and our leader merges his mind with another AI. How can we know if she’s not gonna go rogue herself ? How can we know if he’s kept…his identity ?” “Noah believes in it, doesn’t he ? He’s not stupid, you know. He’ll figure it out, if M.I.N.D. becomes maleficent.” “Would he ?”

The question hung in the air, like a floating uncertainty. To worry about this subject was useless, especially since they were certainly spied on by said AI who was always watching over them either through the computer or simply the chip they all had on their arm. They just had to pray that M.I.N.D. never faltered, moreover, pray that Noah never became mad enough to switch sides.

Maybe it was a bit presumptuous to leave their shelter alone in the middle of a storm. If the acid rain was a bit annoying at first, the violent wind around him was so strong that he struggled to even stay on his feet. Worse : some pieces of the landscape, damaged by the weather over the past few days, detached from their original place and threatened to strike him. The night had fallen a few hours ago already, and the darkness didn’t help him watch what was going on in front of him. His jaw was clenched; Noah still tried to walk towards his goal in the middle of a real apocalypse, his eyes focused on what looked like a GPS watch.

“I know we can make it,” he mumbled, more for himself than for the AI at his side. “Ruffilo was right boss, you don’t have a solid plan to reach the target,” the robotic voice replied coldly. “Ah, don’t do that again!”

The storm, far from calming down, seemed to get even worse, so much that Noah wondered if he would be able to even put one foot in front of the other. It was right at this moment that a strong gust of wind forced him to fall on his knees. He barely avoided a scrap of metal, flattened himself against what looked like a building in ruins, and breathed out while grabbing his weapon. He was lucky no creature was around, but the weather was bad enough to be a proper opponent. Definitely, going out at that time was a very bad idea, but he’d never admit it.

“M.I.N.D., I need you,” he blurted out with regret. “Guide me.” “Boss, the cyclone is dangerously approaching the zone. Your safety is compromised.”

Noah screamed out of rage. Nothing he’d tried lately was working properly, and he felt terribly helpless. He took his courage in both hands and ignored the AI’s pleas, then stood up and started walking again against the wind. However, a few seconds later, he just froze in place.

In front of him was an impassable wall, just like a thick, greyish smoke he couldn’t help but fear. A moving wall coming closer and closer at high speed : the heart of the cyclone.

The wind intensified, and he fell to his knees again. Something hit his head ; he blessed his helmet but still felt the shock, and understood a bit too late that he was in deep shit. His breath was short, but he screamed again to gather his strength and tried to run - or just fight the storm, really - taking a few more projectiles in the process. He had to make it. He had to find shelter for the night at least, then resume his activities once the weather was calm enough and the cyclone was gone; or if he managed to reach the eye of it, where he would be safe for a while.

Another projectile hit him on the head, strong enough to throw him further away as the wind was lifting him up a bit. However sturdy his equipment was, he could still feel the pain throughout his entire body, tossed around like a puppet with no strings. His weapon was ripped from his hand, and no matter how much he tried to grab it, his helmet started to move away from his head. When it was also ripped away by the powerful storm, Noah finally understood that he could just…die here. Die before he could even do something meaningful for the entire world. Nicholas was right… why didn’t he listen to him? Why did he think he could do it alone?

“M.I.N.D.!” he cried, as panic started to grow in his gut.

His face was hidden in his arms, his eyes closed to protect his sight from the acid. He couldn’t control anything in that situation. Had no more hope of getting out of here either. Why was he so narrow-minded? He really thought he could make it, that he’d be a hero within his team, that he could prove how capable he was…but what would he accomplish now? Absolutely nothing.

Another projectile hit him violently in his head, and this time, the leader couldn’t bear it anymore : his consciousness was slipping away from him, leaving just a dislocated rag doll. He could never survive this.

[bestworstcase]

Hello! I’ve enjoyed reading your rwby analysis posts, especially the things you’ve had to say about Penny. The amount of care you put into thinking and writing about her is great. I’m curious what you thought about Penny getting turned into a human, because… I personally really didn’t like it. It just really hurt me that after she was attacked repeatedly because she was built differently, that the solution to that was to remove everything which was different/unique about her and make her “normal.” And then have the actual physical representation of her differences violently die and then be obliterated like they were some horrible, hideous thing.

A good chunk of her story seemed to revolve around being just as much a person as anyone else even though she had a body that worked differently. And I sure did relate to that irl! But then turning Penny human seemed to send the message that Penny could only actually be a full and happy person (such as immediately discovering how wonderful hugs feel) if she was normal. I want to believe I’m taking that scene the wrong way, but… I’m not sure how else I can interpret what happened. So yeah, I’m curious what you think! I’ll be interested to read your thoughts, whatever they may be.

ooh, well, i’m not keen on the way the fandom writ large interprets the scene (as ‘penny became human’/‘penny became real’) and i like how it was done because imo it is really NOT framed as a positive transformation?

there’s an element of relief and joy to it of course—because everyone’s glad that penny survived this ordeal with the virus—but, as you say, the self-destruction of her robotic body is a big focal point of the scene and it is done in a very horrifying way, with the camera moving between penny’s POV as she watches it happen and her robotic body’s POV as it desperately tries to reach her before succumbing to the virus. and penny herself is profoundly disturbed by the experience—she’s not happy to be ‘free’ of that body at all, and ruby hesitantly asks if she’s alright because penny clearly isn’t. 

so while penny does then find a small thing to appreciate about her new flesh body and that momentarily alleviates the horror… the tone is very much set by the amount of focus given to penny watching a part of herself die and, after that small burst of joyous relief, watching her old body crumble into ash and flinching away with horror again. 

to me, this reads as a rebuke of how flippant yang was about the loss—“the mechanical parts are just extra,” except penny’s body isn’t truly equivalent to a prosthetic, right? that’s just her body. 

it’s not all she is, but it’s also a lot more like the arm yang lost than it is like the prosthetic yang got afterwards. penny loses a core part of her identity…

…which is reinforced later, inside the portal, when penny is taken off guard by the abrupt realization that she no longer has floating array. weapons are a fundamental part of huntsmen identity, seen and understood as “extensions of our selves,” and penny’s is literally destroyed by her involuntary transformation—involuntary in the sense that it’s a choice she was forced to make under extreme duress thanks to watts—and she has to recreate that piece of herself with magic.  

and there’s smaller, subtler things wrong, too. i think the amount of focus put on her bare feet is meant to highlight that she does not have thrusters any more—an essential aspect of her natural mobility is just gone, again leaving her dependent on the maiden powers to do something she used to be able to just DO. 

or consider how disoriented she seems right before cinder gets her. in her original body, penny had sophisticated tactical software built into her sensory array which among other things made her virtually immune to emerald’s semblance. she could see infrared light and aura and the tactical analysis program worked much, much faster than any human could keep up with—because her physical brain was a computer! and then she loses that and spends the entire fight mainly getting clobbered and then struggles to keep track of what’s even happening when cinder gates her off from her allies!

her new body is healthy and whole by human standards, but measured against what penny had before… the narrative gives, like, a LOT of attention to signaling that penny has been measurably disabled in a multitude of ways. if she wasn’t also the winter maiden—& bear in mind that penny only became the winter maiden BECAUSE of what her original robotic body could do!—penny would have been rendered utterly helpless by this transformation. no weapon, no flying, in a much more fragile and vulnerable body that could feel pain. (think about how much screaming she does during that final fight, compared to the time she gets flung several blocks by a grimm so hard there’s an impact crater and she’s like “ouch! :)” about it)

and obv, that fragile new body is the only reason cinder was able to kill her at all. i think that’s sort of the point: penny did the equivalent of *barely* surviving a debilitating illness, went from her sickbed to a battlefield, tried to fight like that, and died because she in a state of extreme physical vulnerability due to recent illness. that’s why all of her friends were so insistent that she not participate in the fight—she wasn’t ready to be fighting! if she’d lived, she would have needed to spend quite a long time recovering, learning and accepting her new limitations, and training within those new limits.

so, to me? the narrative framing of the transformation feels somber, with “she lived! it worked!” being the silver lining on what is otherwise a tragic outcome. watts infected her with this brutal, horrific virus and the only way to save her life was to sacrifice a fundamental part of her self, in this acutely traumatizing way. i think the fandom collectively sort of tunnel visioned on the pinocchio narrative of ‘becoming a real girl’* to such a degree that the bittersweet framing and the underlying horror of what happened to her gets widely overlooked. and i don’t think those tragic/horrific notes are there by accident—the narrative puts quite a lot of emphasis on them, and deliberately bookends the joy of “do hugs always make you feel this warm?” with those moments of intense horror with the violent death and then destruction of her robotic body. 

(*something that… really isn’t a prominent theme with penny?, because her struggle with personhood is centered on how *other people* treat her like an object and i would argue her pinocchio ‘becoming a real boy’ moment is actually her acceptance of the maiden power—not because that ‘proves’ she’s a person or whatever, but because it’s a moment of emotional self-actualization where she chooses to do the right thing according to her own judgment instead of mindlessly following orders like the puppet ironwood expects her to be. it’s symbolic! & that gets called back to explicitly by winter, later, with “you were *always* the real maiden, i was the machine,” the ‘realness’ in the pinocchio narrative here is about emotional authenticity and refusal to sacrifice conscience or heart in the name of following orders.

rwby is… pretty profoundly uninterested in the question of ‘does the robot girl count as a person?’ because it answers that within literal seconds after revealing that she is a robot with an emphatic ‘yes, obviously, she has a soul, zero ambiguity here’ lmao. what it does do is leverage pinocchio to explore themes of dehumanization and personhood within an authoritarian military regime.)

so yeah, that’s how i read that. it’s joyous because she lives but it’s also not a victory earned without grievous loss, and the tragedy is exacerbated because she *does not have time* to catch her breath / process / learn how to live in her new, disabled body before cinder… cinders.

[qdrex]

TCDO ep 5

Trauma, suggestive language

How I regret it.

How I regret that this day has come.

-Dark, this doesn't lead anywhere, stop it!

-Hah... Make me.

Half an hour earlier...

-Dark? - I slightly pushed the open door to the room upstairs. It's actually Dark's work room. It was the only room in our house with a balcony with uh... Well... I wouldn't call it doors. It was more like a metallic blind? I can't name it myself. It was Dark's idea, like one of his creations, just not as murderous as the rest.

I looked around the room. There were plans for his new creations on the walls. I didn't go into this room very often, so it kind of... concerned me?

He finally noticed me. He was happy. He immediately wanted to show me what he had created so that it was finally ready. He pointed to the large robo-spider.

Ew... I hate spiders and Dark knows it. But he's actually fascinated by them.

He typed something on the computer, and a spike, red like the rest of robot's body, appeared in it's arm. Dark took it in his hand, scratched the globe with it, and in the blink of an eye it disappeared.

It just disappeared.

Foreshadowings of what Dark most likely wanted to fulfill began to appear before my eyes. The destruction, the takeover of the Internet and all the rest... Before I could talk to him about it, he was already standing next to the big machine. As soon as he was about to press the red button, I grabbed his arm.

-Dark... It's not worth it.

But he still does his thing. He wanted to click it again.

-Dark, no.

Or maybe...

Then... I felt madness build up inside me. Why the hell doesn't he ever listen?! He must ALWAYS stand his ground. I threw him on the floor. He made me angry. I tried to turn off the machine so it wouldn't tempt him anymore, but... Instead, Dark attacked. Well, maybe not entirely. He didn't hurt me, he missed.

This is enough

-Dark, stop it! Did it blow your mind?!

And he succeeded. I didn't have time to stop him, only to send him far away with a punch. The robo-virus has been sent. I have to stop this. But wait, where will it-

No... Please, just not this.

Alan. Becker.

Otherwise Noogai. A person who abused me mentally, physically and sexually.

No, I can't. I... But I have to...

Decision. The virus will spread further later. I can't let this happen. I cannot allow Dark to become a murderous killing machine.

When I finally got into Alan's computer, killed the virus, met Alan's other terrified creations, then...

Actually, I don't want to talk about it.

I lost him. Dark died. He's dead, he's fucking dead. And it's all because of that kid, that brat, it's all because of...

Enough, Chosen. That child saved your life this way. Damn, he saved everyone!

But what I do know is that now, I'm sitting where the entire battle ended, tears rolling in my eyes.

I...

lost him. The person i always cared the most about.

[im-not-buying-it-ether]

First meetings between the Chief and the Drake

Tim honesty doesn’t know why he has to work with The Chief (or whatever the hell he’s called back in good ol’ Fawcett)

Why does an entire pseudo family of magic users even have a tech guy??

“They have useful information on the group were dealing with Tim,” rang-out Oracle’s heavily disguised voice. Ready for further hide her identity behind the screen to his left for when the expected Marvel finds his way to the Bat-cave. “With all the magic issues we already have to power through without outside assistance I think its nice we have more to rely on than just Zatanna or Jason whenever they’re in town.”

Tim fidgeted in the Bat-chair, swishing the tea Alfred made for him earlier in his mug. “I know but the whole family is a deck of wild cards, how do six people capable of taking on Superman on an off day just pop out of the woodwork with no history other than ancient the kind Babs?” Tim took another once over of the cave security cams and aerial footage of the manor’s surroundings, “We only found out about the rest of the family two weeks ago because of that shitty Luthor-Sivanna team up, Cap has a whole team hidden away in his city or that Rock place he mentions once in a blue moon and he never mentioned there being more of him.” Tim flew his empty hand up in the air, “and now Bruce is pulling his hair out trying to research what his now a minor pantheon of ‘heroes that are probably weird ass new gods’ and is going grey-er than normal finding nothing!”

At the end of that mini rant Tim could feel the disinterested, patient look from behind Barbra’s monitor, “Got the bats out of the cave now?”

“Is that some kind of family saying?” Questioned a voice from the nearby medical platform, The Chief had bypassed cave security at some point unknown to Tim.

Good god Bruce needs some anti magic runes or something…

“Oh!” The man startled when Tim head snapped to his direction, hovering in front of the door of a containment room or when they need to hold someone infected with anything from new fear gas to a zombie virus.

Why is he just floating there? Shouldn’t he be by the elevator or the Zetta tube if he just got here?

“Sorry, I’m uh- heh,” he hovered down closer to the Bat-computer, one hand rubbing his neck nervously and the other in mock surrender. “Cap said I needed to pop by to pass on what we know on Dionysian cult practices and what the stuff you guys found exactly does?”

There was a tense moment, one normally shared between vaguely Batman like heroes and vaguely Superman like heroes. Where one looks the other over studying for the slightest hint of evidence to their theories in everything about them, their form, the choice in costume design, the body language, to even the slightest hair out of place. All done in a fraction of a second to not force the subject of the inspection into trying to hide anything after the fact, all while the other acts so painfully normal and human that it throws every speculation out the window. Too nervous in the face of a mortal man to be anything approximating an immortal being or god, but proven to be far too strong to be anything but.

His proclaimed older brother wiped the floor with a Superman infected by red kryptonite. He broke the man of steels arm and bruised multiple ribs subduing him so that he wouldn’t knock down another building. The Captain had been able to catch up to and outrun Wally when a bomb got strapped to his wrist and disarmed it while still flying faster than the man could run. None of the Marvels have documented limits in all the battles they’ve joined the league on, short of the minor annoyance of a magical attack. One of them is the dictator of a small country. They pop in and out of existence for superhero duties on a whim. Good god Bruce why did you have to rub this specific paranoia onto me?

“I’m going to hazard a guess and say our magic friend has arrived?” Oracles distorted voice snapped him from staring the lanky hero down, just now noticing the outstretched hand waiting to shake his. Turning back to the monitor Tim replied a curt, “He’s here.” Ignoring the childishly dejected look of the possibly thousands years old or freshly spawned being of magic to his right.

“So,” the hero in grey clapped his hands, “I can just upload the data we’ve got on them to the Bat-Computer here and just head out for you guys to do your, uh, Bat…thing?”

“That would be be-”

“Do you have the files physically on hand, on a drive, or on another device we’ll have to link to the computer?” Oracle interjected, startling both men.

“Oh, uh, well…” he began flexing and un-flexing his fingers, “I can literally kinda just, well I can basically upload everything I know in my head to what you’ve got here?” Probably realizing how odd even that sounded he rushed to clarify, “I-I’m basically like a magic technopath or whatever it's called, I can talk to machines and control them to a degree. Not like flinging keyboards with my mind or talking politics with a toaster levels of talk but I can just y’know,” he gestured between his head and the many screens, “Take what's up here that you need and put it in here?”

The man gave a unsure and lopsided grin, as if hearing how near absurd it sounded to have the ability to mix two polar systems together so seamlessly to be as simple as a data transfer between a computer and a human maybe human mind with magic. A force that has famously never worked well with modern machines or technology without major repercussions or those machines fusing with the person trying to mix them, the closest they’ve gotten that doesn’t instantly mutate the user or straight up explode is when Cyborg connects to New Gods Tech and even then its a gamble of if he can do anything with it or if it will infect him with some kind of virus.

He’s nervous mentioning it but he has an air of confidence like hes done this before, but also as if its common knowledge for him but something to withhold from Red Robin. Tim wonders if this is a universal power for his “family” but replays how he phrased it in his mind, he only said “I” and not “we”, it’s most likely a power specific to him or only he’s been able to master.

[eveandtheturtles]

Twisted Turtles Scenarios

Hello! So I was talking with @tinkabelle19 and somehow my brain spawned these absolutely Murphy's Law scenario. So here are these Bayverse What If situations where things don't go well for the turtles. You can use these scenarios for fics or art just tag me as the creator of the idea ;)

Tagging: @m1dnyt3-w0lf @thelaundrybitch @raphsmuneca @madammuffins @sharpwindow @pheradream-15 @leosgirl82 @kikithedreamerwriter @fyreball66 @dilucsflame33

General TW: Character Deaths in many different ways. Enjoy!

Raph - Fallen Protector

After Splinter dies defeated by Shredder Raph and April were too late to save Leo, Donnie and Mikey from Sacks. Enraged by that with the help of the humans Raph barely manages to have his revenge. He takes down Shredder but he can't stop the virus' spread. To make up for his failure, he gives April some of his blood so that the antidote can still be made.

Unfortunately, New York takes the hardest hit from Sack's virus, turning the city into a war zone with resources being scarce. Raph tries to fight the good fight, following his father's teachings but he's no Splinter nor Leo. He can't patch himself or fix things like Donnie with his tech, nor does he have the optimistic nature of Mikey. April and Vern eventually die on duty. Raph is alone. Abandoning the way of ninja Raph joins an underground fighting ring, occassionally doubling as a bodyguard for shady 'business men'.

"What's the point of protecting if there's no one left to protect..."

Mikey - Driven By Guilt

Splinter dies in the attack. Raph stands his ground against Shredder and falls. And when time came to test Mikey the rope slipped right through his hands on that snowy cliff and Leo, Verne and April plummeted to the ground below.

He and Donnie still got to the Sacks Tower. Sacks makes his antidote but the virus is stopped thanks to Donnie. The two barely stop Shredder thanks to Donnie's quick thinking and Mikey's luck and skill. Unfortunately, Donnie takes great damage from the fight. His ninja days are over and eventually transfers his mind to a computer.

Guilt drives Mikey to push himself but he can't stop hearing the voices of Leo, Splinter and Raph in his head, often blaming him for their deaths. For his blunders and mistakes.

Donnie tries to help, support his little brother but there's not much he can do now as merely a program.

Mikey gets more and more violent, sometimes his mind more stuck in the past than present, no matter how much Donnie tries. That light and glue that once held the family together has dimmed and inevitable is falling apart.

"I will never let go, not again..."

Donnie - Mad Genius

tw. substance abuse mention and torture. sorta.

Shredder didn't leave Raph behind. Sacks was smarter. The turtles were going to be kept by the billionaire as permanent guinea pigs to be their infinite mutagene supply. Leo and Raph were too prideful for that, they tried to escape but the escape plan failed, costing them their lives. Mikey, depressed with the two elder brothers' death and their treatment from humans slowly but surely faded away. He wasn't strong enough to stand all the chemical substances pumped into their bodies 24/7 nor the frequent operations.

But Donnie... Donnie had his mind and will. He knew if he waited long enough there would be an opportunity. While he bid his time, his grief and slowly building up hatered for humans were splintering and twisting his brilliant mind.

After the assault on the turtle lair, April survived, but no one would believe her and Sacks had money - the ultimate power in the human world, making her persona non grata anywhere she went. But she persisted. She managed to somehow get in contact with Donnie and plan an escape for him, although it hit her hard to hear the other three didn't make it.

During the escape something went wrong, or so April thought watching the entire Sacks facility explode but she didn't miss the twisted satisfaction on Donnie's face. Afterwards Donnie retreated underground.

She tried to reach out and comfort him but Donnie didn't reciprocate. His fevered mind was now addicted to two things - revenge and various chemical compounds his body got dependant on in Sack's captivity. He shut her down and cut all contact.

A while later, in utter shock April could watch on the TV screen the newest villain tearing the city apart like Shredder never could.

"I may be mad but who's fault is that."

Leo - Failed Leader

The mission in Brazil went as bad as it could. Leo shouldn't have jumped after Donnie, he should have waited for Raph. The fight with Rocksteady and Bebop went so wrong. He still could see Donnie getting hit with that missle from the tank. He barely saved Mikey.

They both got stuck in the jungle. Adapting was difficult, he had no doubt April would try to reach them only they had no tech... Mikey tried to cheer him up. Follow whatever he said, clinging to his eldest brother after losing the other two but eventually Leo's control became too much. After an argument Mikey went on his own.

It was a damn lucky poacher who got his shot in before Leo got there. Too late. Burying his youngest brother Leo decided the world didn't need him. He was alone. He failed.

Just how much he learned soon enough after the Technodrome hovered over the Southern America.

".....there's nothing left to say..."

[rayray2390]

AA Clint Barton x Reader

Part 11: Crack in the system

It’s been a crazy month for us at Avengers tower. We’ve been collecting the six infinity stones making sure they didn’t end up in an evil aliens hands, his name was Thanos and I’ve never been more scared in my life. Once we defeated him the contingency plan was to have Tony’s robot Arsenal hold the stones powers to keep them away from anyone who wanted that power. But Arsenal turned into Ultron who faced the team before in the past. That was a week ago and we’ve heard nothing about Ultron for a while and it’s making me uneasy how everyone is so calm about this. I can tell Cap feels the same way, and it’s starting to cause strain between him and Tony. Right now we’re having a barbecue on the roof and Thor uses his lightning as a power source to cook the meat faster. I’m on the side sitting in the shade of an umbrella I brought reading a book. “Aw come on!” I hear Clint complain and when I look over at his direction I see Hulk has eaten all the hotdogs.

I chuckle and go back to my book. “There’s nothing sadder than a hungry man whose hot dog just got hulked.” I mutter under my breath. I read a few more pages of my book and feel someone sit next to me. When I look over to them I notice it’s Natasha. “Hey Nat, what’s up?” I say with a smile.

She gives a small smile back, when I joined she always gave me the cold shoulder but now that I’ve been on the team for a year she’s warmed up to me. “Oh nothing much. I just wanted to know what you and Clint are doing for your anniversary.”

“Shit, it’s been a year already?” My smile gets bigger at the thought, I set my book to the side and sit up. It feels like yesterday when me and Clint got together, now we’re heading into our one year together. “Honestly I have no idea. I wasn’t even sure on what to get him.”

“You’ve got him wrapped around your finger, I’m sure if you got him a rock he’d be happy.” Her words get me to laugh a little, but it’s true. Clint would definitely be happy with anything. “And just a heads up he’s totally going to make your anniversary memorable.” I believe her for that, every date me and Clint have been on he’s put more effort into our dates than my ex ever did. Honestly I’m more excited for this than I was for anything in my past.

Multiple explosions interrupt our peace and me and Nat go to join the rest of the team to look down at the city to see what’s causing the explosions. What we see catches me off guard, it’s a giant robot walking on four legs heading towards the tower. “Mission- Destroy Avengers.” It says loudly and shoots a small missile at the building causing it to shake.

The machine starts to climb onto the building and Tony takes off in his suit while Cap is on a hover cycle. I take my web shooters out of my pockets and put them onto my wrists while loading them with new webbing. “Quick, vicious, and concise. This has all the signs of an Ultron attack.” I say as Clint pulls out his bow and arrow.

Clint points it at the machine with the red light shinning on the end of the arrow. “I wouldn’t bet against Tony’s tech.”

“I thought Ultron was locked in Arsenal’s body.” Sam says from above with his wing pack on. He throws some of his wings down onto the machine but it does little damage.

“He’s an artificial intelligence that works like a computer virus.” Cap’s voice comes through on our coms. “He can take over all kinds of tech.” Cap throws his shield at the machine and it bounces off and flies back to him.

“If there’s a chance this is Ultron, shouldn’t we treat it like it is, you know just in case?” Sam asks as he makes his way down to join Cap and Tony.

“For fun let’s pretend it is. Activating Ultron protocols.” Tony’s command makes the whole building go into lockdown mode. “All tower data access is shut down.

“What about your suit?” I press on the button on the com in my ear to talk to Tony.

“Of course. I’m now a completely isolated local system.” Tony says.

Sam throws more wings at the machine. “And the rest of us?”

“Ultron can infiltrate anything tech,” Tony starts. “So make sure you don’t get into a game of tag, your it.” Tony shoots some missiles at the machine and it does more damage.

“Don’t have to remind me not to play games.” Cap jumps off his cycle and lets it crash into the machine. He succeeds in landing on it and uses his shield to destroy any of the rays blasting at him. The machine gets the better of him by blasting him from behind making Cap fall, but thankfully Sam catches him. It continues its ascend to the top of the tower.

Thor flies down the tower with his hammer and starts hitting the machine. “In Asgard, the penalties for going where you are not invited are harsh.” Thor is able to knock the machine down so it’s not as high as it was.

“That’s right buddy. Find your own barbecue.” Clint says as he shoots the ice arrow at the machine. This makes it fall to the ground but it shoots out one last beam at the tower where me, Nat, and Clint were standing.

The ground beneath us crumbles and we fall along with the robot. I shoot my webs at the robot and pull my self on top of one of its guns. “Here’s a tip: Don’t taunt the robot!”

“Lesson learned.” Clint says as we land harshly on the ground. The robot charges at Clint and before I can move Hulk makes his way and stops the robot before it could do more damage. “This does not make up for stealing all the hot dogs.” Hulk throws the machine far enough back for him and Clint to dodge any of its blasts.

Sam flies above the robot and scans for weaknesses. “The shielding is vulnerable in the middle of the legs. Let’s cut this thing off at the knees.”

“Already on it.” I run towards the robot and shoot a web near its knee. Nat hands me a small explosive as I pull myself onto the robot. I have enough time to stick it to the knee and get off of it just in time as Thor, Tony and Clint find ways to destroy the knees as well. There are four explosions and the robot lays on the ground defeated.

Tony lands on the ground safely and we all gather around him. “If this had been an Ultron attack, my app would have picked it up a mile away.” I am so tired of hearing about this so called great app he’s been working on, it keeps everything in me to not roll my eyes at him.

“Ultron’s more than just a computer virus.” Sam says. “He’s smart. Could he figure out a way to fool your detector?”

“Of course not, I created it.” There Tony goes again. But his next words make me really question him. “Whose side are you on?”

“Sam’s got a point.” Cap says stepping forward. “Anything you can throw at Ultron, he can throw right back.”

“You guys act like I’ve never met Ultron before.” Tony says sounding so sure of himself. “My app compensates for his smarts. Remember, he’s not the only high tech villain out there who wants to take down the avengers.” Tony walks over to the robot and takes out its main computer system and turns back to us with it in hand. “Let’s find out who sent this party crasher.”

—————

“You ok babe?” Clint asks me as we make our way back to the tower.

“Hmm? Yeah I’m fine.” I cross my arms and continue to walk as the team makes their way to Tony’s lab.

Clint wraps an arm around my shoulders and stops me from walking. Once the team is in Tony’s lab he speaks in a hushed tone. “Are you sure? Because you only cross your arms when you’re deep in thought. Talk to me.” He rubs his thumb lightly on my shoulders and it relaxes me a little.

“Have you noticed that Cap and Tony have some tension between them?”

His eyebrows furrow at my question and I bite my lip thinking I was just being paranoid. He notices this and gives me a reassuring smile. “Yeah there might be some tension. But this is Cap and Tony, they’ll work things out.” I give him a look that silently tells him I don’t believe him. “I know you’ve only been on the team for a little over a year now but I’ve been working with them for years there’s always going to be some tension.”

I uncross my arms and run a hand through my hair letting out a small sigh. “Yeah you’re right. I guess it’s just me still getting used to being on a team.”

Clint smiles and takes my hand in his and leads me to Tony’s lab. “Trust me this tension will cease to exist in no time.”

As we walk into the lab we see the team surrounding a screen with the computer system from the robot projected. “I’ll trust your app can detect Ultron,” Cap says. “But once we detect him, can we stop him?”

“I wouldn’t be a very good Tony Stark if I hadn’t thought of that.” Tony walks over to the screen and presses a few buttons which brings up an image of a triangle with a circle in the middle and three on the outside. “This piece of malware is the Ultron Destroyer. I’ll give you one guess what it does.”

“And he’s just going to invite you into his system to install it?” Nat asks placing a hand on her hip.

“That’s the beauty of having back door access to Arsenal.” Tony says with a smile. “The second Ultron shows I upload this and the Ultron intelligence goes bye, bye.”

“Will Arsenal survive?” I ask getting closer to Tony. I knew that the robot meant a lot to him, his father programmed that for him after all.

“Unlikely.” His smile falls a little but I can tell he’s keeping the pain down.

“Are you sure you’ll be able to pull the trigger?” Nat asks with concern. “Maybe someone else should hang onto the Ultron Destroyer.”

“Nay!” Thor immediately protests. “Arsenal is Stark’s father’s legacy. If someone must destroy the machine, it should be Stark. It is a matter of family honor.”

“I’ll do what I have to do.” Tony says.

We all look at each other not sure if he’s really ok with that. After a minute Sam speaks up. “You sure, Tony?”

Before Tony could answer Cap speaks. “Enough. He’s an avenger. If you say you can handle it, I believe you.”

“Thanks Cap.” Tony says gently. Clint nudges my elbow and smiles at me as if saying ‘I told you so’.

Sam looks at the computer part and brings up two new screens. “Tony you were right. The circuitry on this thing is specific to one manufacturer.”

Nat goes over and combines the two screens bringing up a new circuit board. “Hammer Industries. And this models only manufactured at one facility.” I internally shudder at the thought of seeing Justin Hammer again. The last time we met he was a bit of a creep.

“Well you can’t teach an old Justin Hammer new tricks.” Tony’s usual smile returned to his face. “And I’m not waiting for an invitation.”

—————

It doesn’t take long for us to get to Hammer’s old facility with the Avenjet. It’s the same one we came to when he built the Adaptoid, but he moved sometime ago. “How long has it been since Hammer used this place?” I ask.

“Government intelligence says the place is still active.” Nat answers.

Clint crosses his arms with a smile and looks at Nat. “Looks like your intelligence isn’t so intelligent, guess Hammer shut everything down and ran.”

There’s a loud explosion from the buildings roof, then a giant robot lands in front of us with a red color scheme. Next a bunch of little robots join at its side and Nat gives Clint an offensive look. “Don’t ever question my intelligence.”

“Point taken.” Clint says as he draws his bow and arrow.

The robots begin to fire at us and the team dodges as much as they can. I shoot some webbing at a small group of them but their blasts easily cut through them. “Hammer’s never been this aggressive. He’s changed his tactics.” Cap points out as he uses his shield to knock down the robots I shot my webs at. “Focus your attacks on the big guy. Looks like he’s controlling the rest of them.”

“And it looks like there’s somebody inside of it.” Sam says as he scans the big robot.

“Could Hammer be trying a version of his own Iron man suit?” I ask Tony as the robots begin to fire at us again. I try jumping onto one of the robots but it flings me into the facility making me hit my head. Clint finishes off his own group of robots and runs over to help me up.

Tony scoffs. “Figures. Hammer wouldn’t risk the time and money to develop his own design if he could steal someone else’s. Usually mine.” He flies over to the giant robot and shoots his own repulser beams.

“Break these dreadnoughts apart. If they’re in pieces Hammer can’t control them.” Cap orders to the team. We’re able to knock a few of them out on our own but more just come our way.

Tony is able to get the giant robot down and there’s a window for us to see Hammer in it. “Stark, help. Get me out of this thing.” Hammer sounded desperate.

“What?” Before Tony could question anything further the robots begin stands again and knocks him into the building.

“That wasn’t me. My robots just started acting on their own.” The robot continues to stand straighter as the rest of us surround it not letting our guards down. “This experimental battle armor formed around me and I’m trapped in here. I can’t control anything.”

“Yeah, what about the giant robot that attacked Avengers tower?” Sam asks as he lands next to me.

The robot throws a punch put way but we easily dodge it. “That’s where it went?” Hammer asks sounding genuinely confused.

“Why should we trust you?” Cap asks.

I see Nat hacking into one of the robots and a screen pops up showing that Hammer is telling the truth. “He’s telling the truth.”

On the coms I hear Tony speak. “Imagine that, Hammer not lying.”

“Hammer’s got this whole place on a closed network.” Sam says. “If we blast the source, it’ll fry computers dreadnoughts, the big guy, everything.”

“No! I asked you to help, not destroy my entire company.” Hammer immediately goes against what we’re planning. The robots we

“This isn’t a corporate negotiation.” Tony says seriously. “Thor, impress us with your grilling skills.”

“Everyone loves a cookout.” Thor smiles and waves his hammer in the air. Once it’s charged enough he slams it to the ground causing the ground to shake and the lightning to fry all the robots.

“I’m ruined.” Hammer says as the robot he’s in falls to its knees. “You’ll answer to my board Stark.” Tony walks over to him and helps Hammer out of the contraption. “I’ll own Stark Industries after this.”

“I’ve never heard anyone say thank you like that before.” Tony says. “And before anyone asks again, no this wasn’t Ultron. All tech has a signature if you know how to trace it.” We all gather around Tony and Nat brings up a screen on her blasters to see what Tony sees. “This one for example leads right to-“

“A.I.M.” Nat finishes for him. “It’s not in Shield files, it must be a secret base.”

“Advance Idea Mechanics, evil tech organization not connected to Ultron.” Tony objects believing Nat was wrong.

—————

We end up flying the Avenjet to the coordinates anyway despite Tony’s protests. We end up arriving on a deserted island with Nat leading the way. “Why do evil scientists always live on beautiful tropical islands?” Clint mutters to himself. “Why don’t we live on a beautiful tropical island?”

“Tropical islands don’t have pizza, remember? We went over this.” I tell him with a smile and he matches mine.

“The main base has a blind side.” Nat states interrupting our conversation. “There’s no entrance so it’s not guarded. But scans indicate a weak spot in the exterior wall.”

“So we blast our way in.” Clint says.

“No, smash.” Hulk says putting his fist into his palm.

Cap quickly shuts down those ideas. “We can’t be reckless. A.I.M will have defenses at the ready.”

“And despite Tony’s confidence,” I say. “I still think Ultron could be behind this.”

Thor immediately comes to Tony’s defense. “Tony Stark would never be outsmarted by a mere robot. Hulk on the other hand-“ Thor gestures to Hulk and he responds by hitting the tree they stand by making a coconut fall on Thor’s head his helmet protecting him.

We continue to walk towards where we think the hideout is with Cap leading us this time. “A.I.M had the advantage of an entrenched position. We’re better off splitting up and targeting all sides at once.”

“Why play it safe?” Clint questions. “Sorry Cap, I think I’m on Tony’s side.”

I raise an eyebrow at Clint’s confession. “Again, there are sides?” I could never choose between Cap or Tony, I’ve always been able to work on both their plans. But his words somehow send a gust of betrayal my way.

He gives me a regretful look, but he doesn’t get to say anything because a voice interrupts our conversation. “There are always sides.” We look around and are already on guard. We don’t see him anywhere but his voice is everywhere. “And humans are on the losing one.” Guns begin to pop out of nowhere and point in our direction, most of them with a screen and Ultron’s face on them. “The Avengers’ organic data is to be purged.”

“You said your scanners didn’t detect him.” Cap says to Tony. Tony doesn’t at all respond to what Cap says, nor does he respond to the guns firing at us.

“So much for your Ultron detector, Tony.” Nat says.

“Told you Ultron could find a way to trick the system.” Sam says.

I shoot some of my webs at the guns to stop them from firing, while Clint shoots whatever arrows he has at the ones on my opposite end. “Now’s not really the time for I-told-you-so’s.” Clint says and we both duck at a some new firing coming our way.

“Hulk can you get me to hire ground.” Clint asks.

“What do you think?” Hulk asks as he takes Clint and jumps to a higher place.

I make my way to Tony who’s not making a move to avoid the firing. “You knew Ultron was here, didn’t you?” My voice comes out more harsh than I intended.

“Look I had a suspicion, but it was only a faint reading. He’s outsmarting my detector.” Tony says and it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking when he has his suit on.

Cap comes over and covers us with his shield. “If you know where he is, then upload the Ultron Destroyer.”

“I can’t he’s evading my scans.” Tony uses his repulser to fire back at the guns. “I need to make physical contact with his body. Back me up.”

“Get to the base, we’ll cover you.” I say putting as much trust as I can into Tony. At this point I don’t know if I can trust him anymore. If he knew something he should’ve said something.

—————

It didn’t take long for us to finish up outside and follow Tony into the base. When we get there Tony is on the ground being smashed by giant mechanical snakes controlled by Ultron who’s hooked up to a machine. “Tony, you get Ultron we’ll take care of the snakes.” Cap says.

Ultron unplugs from the machine and flies towards Tony as he does the same. We fight the snakes without many problems but as we fight I look over and Tony is loosing to Ultron. When Cap finishes with his snake he throws his shield at Ultron and calls out to him. “You fight one of us, you fight us all.”

“Very well.” Ultron says as he flies down and attacks all of us one by one while Tony hangs from the wires Ultron was just at. I shoot some webs over his eyes but it does no good, he takes the webs off his eyes like it’s nothing and knocks me to the side. Clint shoots several explosive arrows but it does no damage. “Loyalty or a lost cause appears admirable to you humans.” Ultron blasts Clint knocking him down next to me. “In reality, it is inefficient.”

“I’ll choose loyalty over efficiency any day.” Cap says as he throws his shield at Ultron.

Hulk joins his side and throws Ultron to the side. “I’m with Cap.”

We all do our best to fight off Ultron as Tony is able to free himself from the wires. With our combined attacks we’re able to do some damage to Ultron, but it’s not enough. Ultron holds out his hands getting ready to blast us. “Seven human viruses ready to be eradicated.”

“Something about humanity you’ll never understand, Ultron.” Cap says as he slowly gets off the ground.

“Enlighten me.” Ultron says as his hands get brighter.

I see Tony in the background grab his Ultron Destroyer from the ground and quietly makes his way towards Ultron. Cap continues his speech. “Friends, they always have your back.” Just as he finished Tony snuck behind Ultron and placed the destroyer on his back causing Ultron to fall to the ground. Tony presses a button on his device making Cap and the rest of us worried. Cap is the first to approach him. “What are you doing Tony? You destroyed Ultron, right?”

“Not exactly.” Tony says with no other elaboration.

“How not exactly are we talking here?” I ask stepping closer to stand next to Cap.

“I didn’t use the Ultron Destroyer to its full potential, only about 95% should knock out Ultron long enough to save Arsenal.” Tony says as he continues to work.

My eyes widen at Tony’s words. He said he could do it and completely lied to our faces. “Tony, you assured us you would take down Ultron when you found him.” Cap says feeling just as infuriated as I am.

“No I assured you I would do what was necessary. I can fix this.” Tony says.

“We know Arsenal is important to you,” I say stepping in with urgency in my voice. “But we’re talking about the safety of the world here.”

“I need you to trust me. I can stop Ultron and save Arsenal.” Tony get’s deeper into Arsenal’s motherboard.

“Just fry him now before he reboots.” I say growing angry.

“Nat how many times does Tony have to save the planet before you trust him?” Clint said joining the conversation. “He’s got this.” I can’t believe he’s ok with this. I know I should trust Tony but this feels like everything is being torn apart in front of me.

“Just eleven more seconds.” Arsenals voice comes through with a ‘Hello Tony’ followed bu Ultron’s ‘Goodbye Tony’. Ultron blasts Tony sending him flying back towards us.

“Pathetic human emotions have rendered you ineffective, Stark.” Ultron says as he stands to his full height fully recovered. “Ultron lives.” He presses a button on his wrist causing a self destruct system to the base. He’s able to escape through a trap door in the floor leaving us in the building.

“There’s no time to track him.” Cap says with urgency in his voice. “Avengers pull back.”

“Way ahead of you Cap.” Nat says as she presses some buttons on her stingers. “Avenjet’s on its way.” The Avenjet gets there in time and we’re able to get in and escape the base as it explodes behind us.

—————

When we get back to the tower Cap and Tony have an argument which causes Cap to quit the team. I’ve never seen anything this bad with them, there’s no trust anymore with Tony and I don’t know how to feel about that. As I make my way to my room I remember that Clint sided with Tony the whole time, and while I loved the man- wait do I love him? Of course I do, but today’s been exhausted and I can’t even think about telling him that now, especially when he sided with Tony. I reach for the handle of my door when I hear my name. “Hey Spidey.” I turn around and see Clint with a sheepish smile on his face. “Can we talk? I know today’s been exhausting but I wanted to explain myself for earlier.”

“Yeah we can talk.”

“I just want you know, no matter what happens between the team I don’t want it to affect us. I mean who knows how bad it could get with them, but when it comes to you I don’t want to lose you.” I can hear the genuine concern in his voice and after today I needed to hear those words. “Plus it’d be pretty sucky if we broke up before our anniversary.” He laughs softly and I join him on that.

“I agree, and I don’t want what the team’s going through to screw us up either. Just promise you wont side against me.”

He takes my hand and raises it and presses a small kiss to the back of it. “I promise.”

[theartsanityshoppe]

I like your detective stuff! Does he have a nemesis like Sherlock has Moriarty? And was he born mute or did he lose his voice? The sign language is really nice to see in a character!

Why was this in the 'bashful' gif options

Thanks Anon!! I greatly appreciate the comment~ I myself, also really like my detective stuff and I mean reeeeeeeeeeeeally like it lmao

Otherwise, I'm going to write these answers out as the parts of the story these questions delve into is being currently reworked and some of the answers are kinda up in the air / half canon as of right now. This will probably be a longish answer so I'll put a quick answer up here, and a "read more" underneath that with my ramblings. Quick answers: Was he born mute or did he lose his voice? - He was born mute. Does he have a nemesis? - Yes and no... I've cycled through a few characters but the main one now, without spoiling much, is named F.E.L.I.X.. But I've been working on a couple others who could possibly take over as his main nemesis.

For longer, more rambly answers, keep reading!

So like I said the answer to at least his nemesis part is kind of up the in air atm. I also wanted to expand a little on the mute aspect~

Flint is primarily mute because I tend to view this world in the terms of a video game, in which of course the player would play as the Det. [and as Cy actually who hasn't appeared in the comics yet] and like a lot of video games I always imagined him as being a "silent protag" despite still communicating with the other characters. Like Link in the new BOTW/TOTK games.

The second reason behind it was I just couldn't imagine him with a voice?? No matter how hard I tried, it just felt. Wrong for his character if that makes sense? So I figured "hey why not just give him sign language! How often do you see a deaf or mute main character anyway?" I've started to see more ASL used in shows - most recently in Only Murders in the Building which I LOVE [both the shows and the inclusion/importance of the deaf character in the story] and I thought it would make him a more interesting main character tbh. I also really really REALLY want to learn ASL, as my first grade teacher taught us a bunch when I was a kid but I've sadly forgotten just about all of it as she was just teaching us for fun. It had nothing to do with the class lol.

As for Flint's nemesis[es]! He currently has at least two, one of which is still so under-construction they don't even have a name yet or a design hahahaha.

Originally his nemesis was supposed to be Prof. Specter, aka this guy, whose a literal shadow man. [Cuz. Yah know. Shadow vs Light/Flames?] He was supposed to be almost the Dr. Claw to Flint's Inspector Gadget, but I just never went anywhere with him?? I couldn't really think up anything good tbh, and I felt like Flint easily overpowered him. I also couldn't think up any good reasons for him to BE so evil/want to attack the town etc. So he just became a smaller villain, who currently works under the main big bad. I am a MASSIVE sucker for "opposite" characters - the "good" version vs the "evil" version basically, and I have been actively trying to utilize that in a story of mine FOR YEARS. Think like, Darkwing Duck vs Nega Duck. This shit is my JAM.

For the first nemesis, his name is F.E.L.I.X. [Force Entity Learning Integrating and eXterminating] Flint, and he's a sort of "evil" version of Flint. [These are all cheebs of the various forms Felix currently takes in story]

The littlest dude is ACTUALLY Felix, [he starts off by possessing a flash drive and transforming it] and the rest are just later forms he takes throughout the story. Originally he was just some weird little alien computer virus that landed on earth, a la Invader Zim style, here to prepare Earth for conquer by his Mother Program, which is still more or less the case? The reasoning behind him being in Neo Oldesville and him eventually taking on Flint's appearance have changed a lot though.

The main reason I hesitate to call him a nemesis atm is because he was originally just more of a comedic, but still kinda dangerous, character and Felix Flint was originally going to be a sort of split in Felix's personality/code that took life on it's own, separate from Felix, warped by the internet, others personalities, and probably some other villain's code. He was just gonna go kinda crazy as his coding was rewritten too many times and start attacking... but that idea has been scrapped due to the rewrites.

He was also smart, but not in the same ways the Detective is, so they weren't really butting heads like Sherlock/Moriarty do wherein Felix would be besting Flint at every turn or something like that. Instead Flint actually bested Felix pretty easily originally. Felix Flint was basically my solution to fix that major leveling scale issue lol.

The other character, the unnamed one, is a Mad Scientist/Cult leader, whose become basically the 'secret' big bad of what I would call the first season of the story. Idk maybe longer than that? I haven't decided on how long I want this story to be tbh. I'm still working on the character and their storyline and how it intersects with both Flint's and Cy's, (whose the deuteragonist to this story)... but the most I do know/will reveal here is that this Mad Scientist is the leader of a cult that worshiped two aliens that used to exist on planet who promised to help the humanoids [as people are generally referred to here] "ascend to a higher life form" but were later stopped and destroyed by a group of super-hero like super spy sisters who learned that the aliens were in fact extremely hostile and their idea of "ascending to a higher plan" was just assimilating all of this worlds knowledge/tech and then selling off its inhabitants as slaves. I haven't decided if the rest of the world knows this fact, or if the alien characters are considered martyrs or something yet... or even if the rest of the world knew they WERE aliens. Just that they're eventually defeated by these legendary super-spies, and that a small cult remained behind after everyone else moved on from their teachings.

The leader of this new cult basically wants to bring those aliens back - specifically by summoning one of their kin to the world to help fully restore one of the deceased aliens back to life, but what he summons is Felix instead, as the race of aliens the cult worshiped had all been destroyed and absorbed by Felix's Mother Program years ago. Irony at its finest lol.

This new mad scientist/cult leader character is supposed to have very deep ties with Cy, who in turn has pretty deep ties to Flint, and I've been planning on possibly making him a sort of Moriarty to Flint, but I'm still ironing out details.

One reason I haven't quite finished this all yet is because while I am planning on using some religious ideology [is that the right word here? or would mimicry be better] in the cult, I don't necessarily want to make it a "RAWR RAWR RELIGION IS EVIL RAAAWR" kind of situation, since it's specifically that CULTS are evil. I myself was born and raised without religion in my life outside of just being in America, so while I don't believe in any religion at all, I also don't want to be cruel to anyone who does. I do, however, know that a lot of cults use Christianity as a guise to trick their followers into controlling them though.

Mostly I just really want the two aliens from the original cult to look semi like a devil and an angel cuz I thought it'd be hilarious if they were basically the "angel and devil on your shoulders" lmao.

If anyone wants to know more I'm happy to explain even more in detail. I don't care about spoiling things haha I'm not planning on creating a huge comic or anything anytime soon - I mean I would love to turn this series into a game or something in the future but for now I'm just having fun I LOVE talking about my characters/stories.