#Mission Impossible Cable Drop

[callmearcturus]

i have now watched 4 mission impossible movies (the first one, and then the three great ones) and oh my god. oh my god. oh my fucking god. the burj khalifa is everything to me. i am so wildly envious of tom cruise it's not even funny. i fucking wish i could risk my life running around the outside of the tallest building in the world. that fucking LEAP - you can see it from another angle in the behind the scenes and by god i wish that was me, i do not fear heights i simply wish to fuck around 👀

I heard someone refer to the Burj and similar stunts as the "air ballet" and it's honestly so good. I'm glad you watched MI1 bc I watched a bunch of scenes from it and one, by god ethan was such a twink back then its staggering, and two, the cable drop makes me want to bite the walls of my enclosure, it's so fucking good.

DID YOU KNOW (hahaha fuck me) that the cable drop was shot for real but Cruise kept fucking it up and hitting his head on the floor because he struggled to keep his body flat. DePalma eventually said they'd do a cut, so film the drop, and then film Ethan flat over the floor bc Cruise couldn't do it.

Cruise asked GIVE ME ONE SHOT COACH and he went to the stunt team, asked for some pound coins, put a bunch in his shoes, and then did it perfectly on the final shot. He needed just a little more weight in his feet to pull it off.

ANYWAY WELCOME TO THE PARTY, HARDY. i told punct they were in my top five of ppl i wanna trick into caring about MI and you are also in that top five buddy. 8)

[dragontopaz]

Leverage + Espionage Tropes

“Mission: Impossible” Cable Drop

[mckinlily]

Idea where the Voltron Paladins start to develop elemental powers from their Lions. Except...not the most obvious ones. 

Shiro can teleport. Well. That’s the most visible aspect of his power. What he actually does is warp the fabric of space-time because of course he does that. You know how Shiro basically fights like gravity is optional? Yeah, that just got 100x worse. Shiro essentially floats and drops and moves however he needs, and now he affects space-time for everyone else, too. You can tell when Shiro’s gotten really pissed because there’s this immense pressure and everything is suddenly heavy. Or in a combat, his enemies who were grounded are now bouncing and floating. And if you think “space”= “no gravity”, you’re forgetting this is the star pilot of the Garrison who certainly knows about orbitals and gravitational assists. He doesn’t need any alien robot-lion bond to calculate multi-body trajectories instantaneously in his head even with changing gravitational fields. Teleportation might be flashy and all, but every member of team Voltron knows that’s the least dangerous thing he can do.

Lance is an empath. At first, he’s disappointed he didn’t get anything cool and flashy like Shiro. Actually, at first, Lance didn’t think he got a power at all. This is just a normal part of forming Voltron, right? Right?? Why is no one else so exhausted from all the feelings? Guess I’m just weak... Lance actually has a near breakdown before the rest of the team clocks it and realizes he’s constantly swimming in everyone’s feelings and yeah, no. No one can handle all that. Allura steps him to teach him how to build boundaries, and still, he has to spend a few days avoiding Keith and Shiro (”What the hell, you two?! Do you guys feel ANYTHING that’s not twenty shades of repressed trauma???”). But with time, Lance learns to control and use his power to help the team. His connection is strongest with the other paladins, and he mostly uses his power to look after them and help them out during the down times. Lance has learned the importance of being a support and takes pride in healing his team when they’re down so they’re ready to kick ass in battle. But he also shines on diplomatic missions. His ability to ping what other people are feeling not only helps him smooth over offenses or fears, but he can pick up on inconsistencies and unseen red flags. Not to mention, Lance can nudge other’s emotions. Normally just slightly, but it’s enough to swing things in their favor. Lance might not be flashy, but that doesn’t make him less powerful. And anyone on the other side of the negotiating table quickly learns that.

Keith has precognition. Think Jedi see-things-just-before-they-happen Force shenanigans. His instincts aren’t just on point--he’s often reacting to things just before they happen. Naturally, this makes him almost impossible to face in combat. Incidentally, this is also part of why Keith is so bad at communicating: he’s often thinking in multiple points of time at once and condensing that down to one point to talk about is just...it doesn’t work like that. But slowly, as Keith learns how to work in a team and, if he can’t quite communicate with words, to let the others in so they sense what he’s sensing, Keith’s precognition stops throwing him out of sync with everyone else and pretty soon Voltron has the same too-fast reflexes as Keith. The others have gotten used to the flashes of Keith-thoughts zipping through the Lion bonds and letting him move them when they do. Now not only are the Lions practically indestructible, but Voltron is nearly impossible to land a hit on in the first place. 

At first Pidge is annoyed about the paladins powers because--Green Lion? Of course she’s going to get plants. And Olkarion might have helped her appreciate the natural world more, but she still thinks plant powers are lame. She’s not Poison Ivy. Give her computers and climate control any day. But then she starts talking to Green as she’s coding, and at first she just figures she’s a genius (which she is, thank you very much) but her programs are like nothing she or anyone else has seen before. Especially the viruses she writes for Galra tech. They grow. She can plant a “seed” on one part of system and later she’ll find that code sinking its roots into an entirely different part of the enemy ship. It creeps like vines, breaking through any firewall, tangling up any kind of security, alive in a way even the best AI isn’t. Pidge doesn’t even really need an access point anymore, just let her loose near some tech and like an invasive species, soon she’s overrun it all. Pidge’s code is like vines, like ivy or tangle weed, and once it’s in there, you can try to root it out. But you won’t succeed. Pidge likes this kind of plant.

And finally Hunk can kind of just...bend reality. Normally it’s little things, like cables that shouldn’t work suddenly don’t need an adaptor, the rust jamming certain gears is magically clean, that fuel cell that’s been on empty for the last three varga is still going strong. Of all the paladins, Hunk appreciates that difference little things can make (for good or for really, really bad. You won’t think changing the rotation rate of that star by half a second would make a difference, but turns out that changes the magnetic fields which create solar flares which...). Hunk’s happy making small, manageable adjustments to reality that he can predict the full consequences of. Mostly. But there’s still definitely been a time that someone’s held a gun to one of his teammate only to find--the gun isn’t there anymore? It never was? There wasn’t even a gun in existence in the first place? And occasionally someone will realize that aren’t really limits to what Hunk can change besides those Hunk sets himself. Those people start to back away very slowly as Hunk talks to himself about whether or not he should turn this rock into space chocolate That’s a pretty big molecular change, not telling what side effects with come with that. But if he took something that was already food, now there’s an idea... Hunk doesn’t use his power in combat that much. Or, at least, not in ways people notice (but isn’t it convenient that with Hunk around, armor lasts longer, equipment runs better, no one’s amo ever runs out...)

All these abilities would be chaos to work with, except that the paladins have grown to develop a low-level mind-meld like they have in the Lions. Normally it’s white noise far in the background, but it can flare up when needed and nothing is quite as disconcerting as when Keith pings something and all of them turn as one to look a second before something happens. Sometimes people swear that even when the paladins are outside of their Lions, doing separate things, they still move unnervingly like part of one unit. And in the Lions--

Gone are the days of inexperienced pilots attempting to survive. Pidge is turning your tech against you. Keith is predicting your every move. Shiro and Hunk are wrecking havoc on reality and all known laws of physics. This in addition to all the bells and whistles and impossible weapons they’ve unlocked in Voltron. And while you’re panicking, trying to figure out how the hell you’re supposed to fight this thing, Lance is there cranking your dread to eleven. Suddenly, it’s no longer surprising that Voltron is the most powerful weapon in the universe.

“Don’t they ever scare you?” ask some planetary leaders after witnessing the might of Voltron. Sure, the paladins are supposed to be the good guys, but... “What if they stop listening to you?”

“Oh, I’m not worried,” says Allura, the woman who has the power to heal and destroy planets in her fingertips. She smiles like her teeth haven’t turned sharp and blinding white in the last minute. 

“I am their Princess.” 

[stillness-in-green]

I felt like the plf war was rushed

1.Plf advisors getting hype but no payoff

2.Only miruko, Momo, and Kirishma got time to shine

3.Machia got defeated to easily

4.The war felt more like a raid

I don't know if I feel like it was rushed, per se--it's by far the longest arc in the story so far by number of chapters, and would be even if you cut off the Tartarus jailbreak and the entirety of the hospital aftermath. What it absolutely does feel like to me is unbalanced.

You note that the "war" feels more like a raid, and you're right. As a caveat, it's worth keeping in mind that "Paranormal Liberation War" as a name for the arc in question is entirely an invention of the fanbase. To the best of my knowledge, the reasoning for the name was that big action shonen series like BNHA (Naruto, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc) always have a war arc, so what we were seeing in the lengthy, mass combat confrontation with the PLF had to be HeroAca's equivalent. It's not a term that's in the manga itself, however, not called as such by the characters, not referred to as such by Horikoshi or his editors, not even namedropped in chapter or volume titles. If it feels like a raid, that's probably because that's what it was intended to be.

And that's the problem, really. This arc shouldn't have been about a couple of raids; it should have been about a war.

(Below the cut: a bunch of fired-up complaining. Uses some harsh language, and talks about both injuries and deaths we did see and some we logically should have.)

From the outset, we were told that the resources Shigaraki had amassed were "on par with, or even stronger than" the resources of the hero-saturated society. Yet, we're expected to believe that a force that strong is so easily taken down by a single coordinated set of raids? Yes, the heroes had the benefit of surprise, but there's just so much that doesn't work for me.

First off, and to get this out of the way, it's ridiculous that the heroes even had the benefit of surprise. The MLA had an unknown number of hero double agents. They had people in the government; they had people in the infrastructure. This is an organization that had been living undercover completely unsuspected for multiple generations--how did the HPSC ever manage to carry out a massive, country-wide investigation on such a secretive group and coordinate multiple simultaneous, comprehensive raids without a single person finding out and alerting the higher-ups over a period of only three and a half months?

When exactly did Hawks have time to go and revive Best Jeanist--which he tells us he did personally--such that none of the bugs and micro-cameras he was covered with picked up on it, and both he and BJ could be back in the positions they needed to be in for the raid to begin?

How did Skeptic find out about the raid such that he only discovered it at the last possible second and not minutes, even hours, before it kicked off? How did hundreds of heroes (and even "hundreds" is being conservative, given the fact that they had seventeen thousand people to detain) close in on the villa without anyone from the PLF noticing, either Skeptic with his information network or mundane precautions like people on watch?

Even granting the heroes their surprise advantage--which I don't want to--if the advisors were all supposedly "stronger than the average hero," why didn't we see any of them winning? Okay, yes, Hose Face beat Midnight, but he had every possible advantage in that "fight"; I hardly count it as some big impressive defeat that shows us that the villains were holding their own.

Here's another thing: the MLA styled themselves as an army--they were demonstrably trained in troop tactics. When we saw them in Deika, even their nameless on-the-ground people were capable of coordinating with each other on the fly in response to the movements of the enemy, as we saw come up repeatedly:

Yeah, they were off-guard at first, but as soon as the advisors made the front line (which, you'll note, was immediately), that disadvantage really should have begun eroding. Certainly once Geten--Geten! The number one MLA member most willing to disregard collateral damage! And there he was being a proper leader!--got to the front and started yelling orders, we should have seen the PLF rallying, and I can't imagine any sensible justification for the tides not turning when a) Re-Destro showed up to occupy the highest-ranked hero on the field, b) a bunch of heroes peeled off to try to stop Machia only to get trampled for their efforts, and c) Trumpet got dug out.

You know who don't style themselves as an army, though? Heroes. Oh, they get some basic lessons in cooperation as students, but the extent of such lessons we see is stuff like "why it's important for heroes to have signature moves"--so that on group missions, their reputations will precede them and fellow heroes will already know their shtick. U.A. teaches the odd lesson plan that involves the kids fighting in groups, but there's a huge difference between you and 3 to 6 of your buddies fighting a similarly-sized group in a practice fight, or a handful of heroes teaming up to take down some criminal low-lives, and the mass combat scenario that was the raid. For heaven's sake, look at our closest other equivalent: the raid on the Hassaikai base. At every turn in that encounter, the heroes let themselves get split up and picked off, winnowing down their numbers. It's even explicit in the narrative that hero team-ups were, in the age of All Might, uncommon, and heroes are only just beginning to adjust to fighting in teams. The erstwhile MLA should have had the advantage there.

As to Machia's defeat, I think the big problem with it is not how it happened, per se, but the timescale involved. The plan itself was sound enough, and even with all the kids' efforts, it still took Machia reaching Shigaraki and not getting any new orders to follow to really do him in. Given what we can extrapolate about his movement speed, though, I just don't think the kids should have had time to set all those traps, especially given how much of that equipment would have had to be fabricated by Momo on the fly. I know she's gotten stronger and all, and good for her, but you're telling me that in the four months between Joint Training and the raid, she went from passing out because she created a bag of goodies and one (1) cannon to being totally fine and still able to coordinate her fellow students while cranking out 23 jars of sedative, dozens of feet of rope/cable, multiple fire-resistant coats, explosives they somehow had time to bury, and three cannons?

For fuck's sake, Jirou gave Machia's ETA as under ten seconds. Yeah, Mount Lady slowed him down, but "only a little"--how much time could she possibly have bought them, that the kids were able to to coordinate and enact everything that plan involved?

You guys, go read this post by @codenamesazanka. Machia is so fast. So unbelievably, incredibly fast. "Twice as fast as the fastest train in the world" fast. "Horikoshi clearly did not stop to think about the distances involved here" fast. Three miles in ten seconds fast. It would have been hard enough to square with the needs of the plot that the kids were sufficiently far from the villa to have the kind of time they needed to swing Momo's plan at all, but Horikoshi explicitly letting Machia get right on top of them before the kids even start just makes it completely impossible for me to credit. Machia clearly being slower aboveground than he is when burrowing does not make that much difference to my suspension of disbelief.

My other big complaint? More people should have died, for real. The PLF warriors would not have been holding back. They were ready and willing to kill anyone they came up against. The heroes did have to hold back, because heroes, as we're told over and over again, are not supposed to kill, no matter how dire the circumstances. That difference in ability to exercise force should have been yet another significant advantage for the PLF. I could write an entire list of characters that I think could have reasonably been killed during the raids. That wouldn't be to say that I think any individual, specific character on that list should have died, just that, based on the parameters as they were presented to audience, some number of them should have.

I mean, honestly. How did Horikoshi wanna show us Gang Orca's unmoving claw in the wake of Machia's passage and not have Gang Orca on the list of the dead? How did Fat Gun run right into a mass melee and still have enough fat left over afterward to survive getting trampled by a walking mountain? How did Thirteen survive not getting pulled out of the hospital basement when Shigaraki's Decay hit? How did Trumpet survive getting a staircase dropped on top of him? How did Gran Torino survive a fist through his tiny old man chest cavity?

I could go on and on, but it's not just about the deaths, either. I'm not saying that Kamui Woods necessarily should have died by swinging himself face-first into a blast of blue fire, but I am saying that he should have been out of commission for longer than three goddamn days. You bet your ass I'm saying that after telling us that Hawks' weak point is fire, making us watch him spend at a solid minute or more with his wings wholly enveloped in Dabi's 2000 degree flames, and having Dark Shadow exclaim that his back is completely burned away, Hawks should never have grown his wings back, much less so quickly that they were already visible under his shirt a single day later.

More deaths, more maiming--heck, even more retirements. I'm not saying I love that kind of thing in my fiction--I don't, actually. I think an overreliance on it is a sign of edgelordy nonsense. But the scenario that we had demanded to be treated with the kind of gravity that would have led to such an outcome. To set up a conflict like the raid and have the villains only barely be able to scrape a partial escape, to try to tell us that Shigaraki's victory in Deika granted him such a terrifyingly powerful force only to have them lose every battle they got into, to tell us this was a blow that shook Hero Society to its core, only to be so unwilling to kill or retire any heroes the audience cares about that Midnight is literally the only significant loss… It doesn't work. None of it works.

I don't have much to say on which characters did or didn't get a highlight. I think there were a few more people than you listed that got some good scenes--Tokoyami and Uraraka both got material I liked quite a bit; Dabi famously out-trended the U.S. presidential election on Twitter when he (literally) came clean, and Mr. Compress gave us some wonderfully interesting and characteristically opaque material to chew on. On the whole, though, adding more character moments would only have been dragging out the problem: the scale of the PLF's threat and the HPSC's chosen method of dealing with it are simply incompatible with the feeble "neither side truly won or lost" resolution we got.

And that's my rant on that--thanks for the ask!

[fluffymisha97]

Reasons NOT to date

(The story has the same style (ish) like another imagine recently posted - “Why not?”) Read ‘em or not :D 

Summary: Chris has been pursuing the reader, but the reader doesn’t want to complicate things and ruin their friendship.

 Warnings: Language 

“Come on, Y/N. This could be so great you know.”

You just rolled you eyes at him and looked straight ahead on the road as you drove home. Chris had been pursuing you for a while now and wouldn’t let it go. You had met him while working on a Marvel movie some years back and you instantly hit it off. As friends. But Chris had other plans. He wanted to go out with you. He wanted the full package.

“Chris please just stop. It’s not going happen.”

There was a part of you that had thought about a few times, but you also came to the same conclusion. It was too risky, and you cared too much about the friendship you had with Chris.

“Y/N, you said yourself. I’m a great guy, sweet, good looking, understanding, funny as hell. AND I’m not cable of lying, woman dig that.”

You laughed.

“God you’re so humble, Chris so humble.”

“Y/N, you know you want to.”

He wiggled his eyebrows saying this.

“You know what Chris. I’m going to show you my list then and hopefully you’ll move on from the nonsense. Grab my phone and go to the notepad.”

“So bossy, I like it. How many men would like that tone? Huh, Y/N.”

You were about to tell him the pin when you quickly saw that he was already in your phone. He smirked at you. Sneaky ass.

“You seriously need a new password Y/N.”

You hated that he knew you so well.

“These’re just words Y/N, I need further explanation.”

“Fine Chris. If you insist. Number 1 reason or point is our friendship. One that I like too much to lose because of a possible failure to launch as a couple. Things would be too weird and awkward you know it too. I really don’t have a lot of male friendships and I kind of want to keep those that I have. Our friendship means so much to me.”

“Okay fair point but you know that a relationship is only friends that sleep together and…”

“Shut it Chris. Moving on to number. 2.”

“The age gap? Are you for real Y/N? It sounds like there’s 30 years between us and not 7 years.”

“It’s 8 or actually almost 9 years mr. Brainy  and yes it’s one of the reasons. Because you and I are in completely different stages of our lives. You’ve said yourself. You want to settle down, get married and have children…I’m nowhere near that point and who’s to say that I even will get there…Ever. Right now, it’s more than enough with my nieces and nephews, it’s enough for me. I know that having children is a deal-breaker for you Chris.”

You thought that it would be the end of this unrealistic discussion when you shared your thoughts about children. And Chris looked to be in a deep thought afterwards but only for a short time.

“Well you’re right and wrong about the whole children and marriage. But it’s not a vital necessity for me and besides who’s to say that you won’t change your mind about it. I can wait.”

Chris smiled at you showing his dimples. Calm and collected and didn’t budge at all. You rolled your eyes and went to continue.

“Number 3 distance. Wow how would we ever find a solution for that? Oh wait, I know. There’s something called airplanes that flies you from country to country. It’s settled, nr.3 is not a problem.”

“Chris, we normally live on different continents. It’ll be so much work trying to get together with your job due to travelling so much and barely any free time. Plus, I’m not as rich as a certain someone so I can’t afford flying out to see you whenever you would want me to. See, very problematic.”

“This is not mission impossible. We can find a solution easily. Next.”

“The whole famous part. You have a certain reputation to uphold and then there’s a possibility of having to keep this thing a secret and I don’t know if I want to or if we should. And then if something like this whole lily James thing comes up. I aint going take any part in that. Chris. It’s just a lot of Hollywood stuff. I’m just me.”

“Can I just say that if we were dating those kinds of things would never be an issue. I would protect you of course. If you wanted it out in the open then okay and if not, then yes it would be hard work maybe but if it’s you. It’ll be worth it.”

You felt your heart melt a little bit right then and there. You cleared your throat and wanted to move on from this conversation. It made you uncomfortable how Chris had an answer or a solution for each point you made. And you felt your list becoming more and more irrelevant. Chris sat looking outside the window while humming a little tune. Not a care in the world. You pulled into Chris’s driveway and shut off the car so you could turn to Chris.

“You’re going to have a counterargument for each point, that I make, aren’t you?”

Chris only laughed and flashed you a dreamy smile.

“Yeah. It’s because I’m that good. Here’s the deal Y/N. You don’t like my beard, consider it gone. You dig it, I’ll let it grow. You think me too skinny; I can bulk up. If I’m too bulky than I’ll…do something about that. You name it.”

You had to admit that he seemed invested and serious about it. But you weren’t sold quite yet.

“Okay mister ‘I have answer for everything’, why do you want to date me, truly?I know that you could have any woman that you want. So, why me?”

Chris stilled for a brief moment before looking straight in your eyes.

“Because you’re you. You challenge me in so many ways. You make me want to be better. In case you didn’t notice I’m just happier whenever I’m around you. There’s this feeling whenever you’re close to me. And I would like that feeling…every day. But most importantly because you’ve made a dumb list of reasons not to which is soo you. And I really like you.”

Chris grabbed your hand and brought it up to his mouth so he could press a gentle kiss on you knuckles. You felt yourself blush.

“So, can I take you on a date?”

“No.”

Chris’s smile fell as his heart dropped.

“In case you didn’t notice there’s a pandemic happening. So, restaurants and such is actually off-limits. But you can invite me inside for coffee or dinner, your choice.”

You gave him a smile before hopping out the car as Chris let out a huge sigh in relief and exited the vehicle. You held out your hand to him, which he gladly took and led you inside.

[treasureswordsgirl55]

First Dance Since 1943

Character: James Bucky Barnes

Inspired by (song): I still don’t remember it, actually 😬

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/ Fem!StarkScientist Reader

Warnings: Fluff. Dancing at Work. Insecurities. Jokes. Memories.

Author's Note: Hello!!! I hope you're ok today ❤️.

First of all, thanks you for all the replies on my last Fics! Really that is very appreciated 😍

This fic was the first that I ve write with Bucky when the series came out, so... This was the first steps of my new (lost) love about Bucky (And Sebastian too)

I hope you like this one!!!

XOXO ❤️

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

- Leslie - He raised his head as soon as he heard Joaquín's voice and gave him a smile when he saw him poke his head through the door of my office, even though it is transparent - I bring Sam with me so you can take a look at Redwing.

- It will be my pleasure - I mutter as I type a quick reply to Agent Johnson about the malfunction of Agent Sousa's new pistol. Men who come from bygone ages have serious problems with modern technology - How can I help you?

He looked up from the laptop and my eyes meet that sad look that my dreams seemed to reflect conscientiously. The owner of those blue eyes and painful memories sees me with a hint of a smile while his partner holds Redwing as if I were going to touch him just to detonate him.

- I want it to be clear that I let you intervene with him only because Torres made it clear to me that you worked for Stark.

I give a laugh that reflects my nervousness as I turn to Bucky.

- Sergeant Barnes.

- Hey. How have you been, Leslie? - The way my name sounds in his voice, which is seductive without even looking for it makes him feel that my legs melt like jelly at those words.

- Busy with so much work - I reach out to Sam making a mental note of how good that blue shirt looks on Bucky and coming to the conclusion that men who come from 1940 like the color blue - What is it? What it's the problem?

- The laser was decalibrated. I wanted to repair it but it was impossible.

- If you let me examine it, at most I will have it ready in a couple of hours - The soldier nods somewhat suspiciously but takes a step back as soon as I take that small device. - The dream of any woman, to fix one of the many work items of the Avengers.

Sam laughs as he begins to explain that he is no longer part of the Avengers as many believe. To all this, Bucky, as I allow myself to call him in my thoughts, is in silence, leaning against one of the many glass walls of the room, looking out of the building and I do not doubt for a second when I believe that he was not paying attention in the least to our conversation.

Joaquín's voice interrupts my thoughts and from the smile he brings, I know that every time he meets these two men, he considers himself one of the luckiest beings in the universe.

- Excuse me, Sam - The two men turn around as I turn the little drone and see the typical signs that this prototype of Stark technology is very poorly maintained. I make a mental note not to say that to Sam and concentrate on fixing the laser as I hear them being called from "Higher Spheres" as I call high-ranking Air Force people - They need you, there's a new report on the mission in Libya.

- Take good care of him, Leslie - I nodded smiling without looking up and muttered a "Better than you, sure" that was only audible to me.

If there was one thing he hated about Stark technologies, it was that, in addition to having the F.R.I.D.A.Y tech matrix, and without it, he couldn't do much more than touch some cables and hope the little drone would work. And i prayed that would work, otherwise i would have to ask Pepper for permission to use her facilities, but Sam would flatly refuse to take Redwing to Stark Industries.

- He screwed it up, didn't he?

I jerked my head up when I heard Bucky's voice and when I looked at him, he was still in the same position as before, looking outside the building.

- I thought you had left with Sam ...

- Excuse me, I did not want to scare you - He approached the table where i was working and indicated the drone with his metal arm, which he no longer hid under layers of clothing, much less, leather gloves - He treats that drone very badly .

- Sorry?

- Do you think that murmur was imperceptible only for you? I assure you that Sam heard it too- I cursed as he dropped the tools i had in my hands and covered my face with both, wishing that the earth would open and swallow me, as a minimum option.

- Why didn't you go with Sam? and please do not get me wrong, I like the company and I like that you are here, but it is simple curiosity - I cursed myself internally as I listened over and over again to the words that I had said aloud and I wanted the earth to pity me again and swallow me. Definitely Joaquín's idea of ​​just nodding and not talking was an excellent idea to implement.

Had I told him out loud that I liked him being there? Oh my God…

- This is Sam's land, I don't fit in here.

- And yet, here you are - I take Redwing and walk to the testing room of the laboratory that is adjacent to my office, where the music begins to play as soon as I enter the small room and as much as I want to deactivate it, I can not do it. I resign myself as soon as I hear Bucky's footsteps behind me and as soon as he enters the room, it seems too small with him there. I put the drone on the long metal table that occupies a large part of it and I type the password in the auxiliary panel of one of the screens around me and the little drone turns on, taking flight a few meters above our heads - At least It leaves me happy that I still fly with all those blows.

- I'm surprised that it's still whole - Bucky's murmur makes me laugh as I calibrate the laser to shoot the target in front of him. I try to shoot but nothing happens. I curse silently as I see from the corner of my eye that the man cautiously observes the room, as he stops when the first melodies of “She's got a Way” by Billy Joel begin to play- Do you like the music of the 20th century?

- I'll tell you the truth: I don't like current music, I prefer the lyrics of 1980s artists where they say heartfelt things rather than the lyrics that speak about certain topics in a very direct way. 1980 was a very good time, maybe you would like it.

- I have a list of songs on Spotify that I listened to in the 40's. I thought I couldn't find them again - The hint of melancholy that invades his voice makes for a moment that I wanted to meet that 23-year-old young man who should be very different from the one in front of me, with a totally different way of being and without all the suffering that would happen later - What if, that was when I learned to use a computer.

- You know, you would get along with Agent Sousa from SWORD - He turned at the mention of the new agency with a frown, clearly annoyed at the idea of ​​interacting with another agency. - He's just like you, technically speaking.

- He went through psychological torture and became a Hydra assassin? -The sincerity and ease with which those words came out of his mouth made my eyes fill with tears. The pain in his voice made my words sound clearly wrong in that conversation.

- No ... He also comes from an ancient time, like you and Steve. Only Daniel was taken out of 1955 because of Agent Coulson and his feeling of not being able to let him die in front of his eyes - Bucky nodded as he stood next to me again and watched my movements on the screen trying to get Redwing to respond, something that did not happen - Perhaps it would do them good to chat between the two ... You are not from the same era, but I imagine that their feelings towards this century are similar, and both are adapting. You can get to understand each other more than they think.

- I will keep it in mind…. Thank you, Doll - I felt the heat begin to rise up my neck at that nickname and I assumed that my cheeks must be a scarlet red color, because, despite the fact that it was cold in that room, I felt that I was on fire - I all this is strange, even though I know this technology, it is difficult for me not to relate it to all this - Unconsciously, he touches his metal arm and I let out a sigh. I'd like to know how to help him get through that, but I don't know how to do it without bringing up bad memories.

- Is there something you like?

- What are you talking about? - I put aside the PADD I had in my hands and touched the "Stand By" button for Redwing to return to his original position in the center of the table.

- Sometimes, learning becomes easier when there is something you like - I lean on the table while he remains silent and I watch him waiting for his answer, but all I get is a smile about something he is thinking - What makes you smile?

- Dance. I haven't danced in a long time. Since 1943, to be exact - He leans on the other end of the table, facing me exactly and gives me a look with a flash of mischief - And I'm not going to those places that they call discos to dance with someone.

I laughed at his tone of indignation, when I could contain my laughter, I saw him watching me with what seemed like affection, but I tried not to give it too much importance, but when I felt that my heart was going to leave my chest so hard it hit my rib cage.

- Why that tone against the discos?

- The music is too loud and there are colored lights that I don't even know what they are called, plus you can't talk to anyone - I laughed again at his complaints that were very sincere and were very similar to mine - Don't make fun of me.

- I do not, I am funny the tone you use. You seem really annoyed with it - Bucky rolls his eyes and taps on the table - What do you miss most about 1940?

- Everything, my family, my friends, my life ... The way I could go to an amusement park and not have to worry about whoever saw me wanted to run out of fear, when I could take a girl on a date without I would worry about my past, dancing with someone, that closeness that made me so comfortable and so relaxing at the same time.

- Well, at least the dance thing can be fixed - I take my iPhone out of my pocket and search the playlist for Eric Clapton's song, Wonderful Tonight and once the notes start to play, I walk over to Bucky, holding out my hand towards him, in an attack of courage, the kind that I don't usually have, but all that was to get a smile from the owner of those beautiful sad eyes - Would you dance this song with me?

Although I notice that my actions catch him off guard, he smiles at me and takes my hand, nodding his head.

When the two of us are standing in front of each other, I realize that I don't know where to put my hands, much less stop to think if that could be uncomfortable for him. I wanted to back away, looking for a good enough excuse before falling into the misfortune of having to apologize to him, but Bucky, who will have simply seen my worried expression, took my free hand and brought it to his forearm, and laid it there gently, While with his right hand he held mine, and with his metal arm, he encircled my waist, drawing me close to him. We began to move slowly to the beat of the music, but he was definitely the one leading the way.

- How does it feel to dance decently again? - I was silent at the inappropriate comment and let out a sigh while I concentrated on trying not to step on it.

- It feels strange to do it after a long time - Bucky ignores my comment or downplays it, but when I look at him, I realize that he is concentrating on remembering the steps and trying to guide the inexperienced woman in front of him.

- To do it a long time ago, you do it very well - He shakes his head, trying not to smile, and before I even knew it, he released one of my hands and made me turn, taking my hand perfectly synchronized at the end of it.

- If Steve were here, I'd say it's innate ability.

- Well, if he makes you feel more comfortable, this is my first time dancing with someone, that is, I dance with a man. And I must admit that I never believed it would be in my workplace.

- Why's that? - I let out a sigh as I watch him at the same time that he looks towards the laboratory door. When he looks back at me, in his blue eyes I can see a flicker of doubt and curiosity.

Anyone could feel safe with my poor social and love life.

- It's weird to dance in your workplace. Everyone here is watching you from the other side of the glass and ...

- I meant because you never danced with anyone - Oh ... I drop my head until it almost touches his chest, but I feel that the pressure of his arm grows stronger around my waist, as if he knows that I am about to fall and I won't notice - I'm sorry if the question bothers you.

- No, no, he doesn't. What happens is that I'm not usually the type of girl who gets asked to dance. Besides, I don't like going to the disco or going out at night. In that respect I am similar to you - I admit while he gives me a smirk - I prefer to stay home and read. Or spend time with my cat.

- Intellectuals are the best - Bucky's voice sounds annoying and safe at the same time, as if something in his own words bothered him.

- But the less interesting for the men of this time apparently, more when they talk a lot about science and current affairs - Between the chords of the music, I get him to laugh. And I must admit, he has a beautiful smile, one of the prettiest I have ever seen, in fact. I start to laugh and in the midst of my laughter, he spins me around again at the same time the song ends.

- Not for me. Are you sure you didn't come out of the 40's like me? - We don't even part, and our hands are still joined as I shake my head.

I smile as I take a step away from him as I pick up my cell phone to stop the music and see him approach the window again.

- No, but I think I was born at the wrong time.

- Thanks for this - his murmur reaches me far away, but with a clear hint of satisfaction in his voice. I smile happy to have served my purpose.

- Thanks to you, at least I have experienced what it feels like to dance with someone.

- You will do it more often, trust me.

- I take the word.

Sam who had arrived at the scene a few minutes before with Torres, smiled as he watched the whole scene and remembered those days when he took advantage of Steve's innocence with women and smiled wistfully when he realized that Bucky was the clear image of his best friend. Seeing him for a moment concentrating on something other than work filled him with satisfaction, perhaps Joaquín's idea of ​​bringing him here hadn't been so bad after all.

Then he would take advantage of letting him know of his observations when the two of them were alone.

I turn towards the door as soon as I hear a series of light knocks and I meet Sam's mischievous smile, who sees me as if he had discovered gold or something much more valuable.

- I'm so sorry to interrupt, but we have work, Buck.

- Sure - Bucky turns to where I am and before he could even move me away, he takes one of my hands and leaves a kiss on it. I can barely contain the sigh that tries to escape from my lips and I simply remain silent, feeling how the color begins to invade my cheeks, in the company of the heat - Thanks for the dance.

- My pleasure, Sergeant Barnes.

Sam, who is behind us, rolls his eyes and leans against the door while Bucky approaches him with a heavy sigh - Don't even think about making jokes about this.

- Did I say something? - I let out a laugh at his comical and ironic tone as Bucky walks past him shaking his head. "See you later, Leslie." I need to make some arrangements on the suit.

- Yes Sir.

Sam glares at me as Torres chuckles at my horrified expression. I forgot he don't like me calling him sir.

- Sorry, Sam.

After a few minutes, I find myself alone again, so I return to the laboratory to work on Redwing and allow myself to release that sigh that I have been holding since Bucky appeared in that room.

That moment had been incredible ... Even if it was only that, a moment that will remain in my head.

I startle as soon as I hear a knock on the door, I take off the receiver and as soon as I turn around, I see that the one at the door is Bucky, who has his left hand hidden behind his back.

- You know, "Sergeant" is very formal - he leaves his left hand exposed and has a white flower on it. I doubt if I approach but I do it feeling that the colors begin to invade my face. No one had never given me flowers. That gesture was beautiful, I take it and I respond with a smile - Call me James.

[lockefanfic]

Business Trip: Pt 28 - Glass

Jay is unsatisfied with Nayeon’s neck, and he is quickly moving downward, to the buttons of her blue shirt. He quickly unbuttons the two buttons there before reaching up to her shoulders and sliding the shirt down her shoulders, until her small, perfect breasts are revealed, Nayeon having evidently decided not to wear a bra. Jay pauses momentarily to admire her naked chest, until Nayeon reaches up and pulls the shirt down further, pushing her own chest outward to put her breasts on full display.

Jay doesn’t waste any time and dives in, quickly capturing and beginning to suck on her left nipple - Nayeon lets a slight moan of pleasure escape her lips, not once allowing her gaze to deviate from the glass, her eyes somehow remaining locked on yours, even though you knew it should have been impossible for her to know where you were.

You are distracted from the sight playing out in front of you by Seolhyun, who is shuffling uncomfortably next to you, unsure quite how to react to what was happening in the interrogation room. When she turns her head to look at you, her cheeks are flushed and she is biting her lip, her right arm crossed around her torso while her left hand has drifted lower, past her flat stomach…

She doesn’t use words - but you find what she wants in her eyes.

You reach over, wrapping your hand around the small of her back and pulling her towards you - but keeping her facing the glass, ensuring you could both watch.

The empty chair held your attention for too long.

 You shake your head in an effort to rid yourself of the thoughts surrounding the chair and the person who should have occupied it, but your efforts are in vain. Your ears register the sound of a young woman speaking, although her words sound muffled, as though she is far away.

 "Sir? Sir, are you okay?"

 It takes you a moment to realize you are being spoken to. For a moment you think it is her voice - but when your eyes finally manage to start working once more, you realize, sadly, that it isn't her. 

 "Sir?" she asks again, and your eyes finally make out the image of a young woman with blonde hair and pale, porcelain skin.

 "I'm sorry, Dahyun," you answer, "I'm fine."

 "Here's your coffee, sir," she answers as she offers you a smile undercut with a healthy amount of concern.

 "Thank you."

 You accept the paper cup and stare blankly at the transparent amber liquid inside and realize that it definitely wasn't coffee. It was probably tea. Before you could say anything, Dahyun scurries off to finish handing off the rest of the drinks on her tray.

 "She got my order wrong too. I wanted green tea, and I'm pretty sure this is an Americano," comes a voice, and you realize it is coming from Seolhyun, who is seated to your left. You turn to see that she is offering you a smile, and you return it with one of your own - at least, as much of a smile as you could manage. You slide your cup over to Seolhyun, and she gladly accepts your trade.

 A loud clanging sound takes the attention from the both of you,and you realize that Dahyun has dropped the metal tray she was using to pass around the drinks to everyone seated around the boardroom table. She grabs the fallen tray and bows repeatedly to everyone in apology.

 "She's clumsy as hell, but she means well," you say to Seolhyun.

 Kim Dahyun was the newest member of your team, assigned to you as your new personal assistant following Choa's departure to Europe. You had only met her the day before when JYP himself introduced her to everyone in the Seoul office. You'd yet to form much of an opinion of her other than the fact that she was a bit of a klutz, constantly dropping things and getting simple things like drink orders wrong. But her resume and education were impressive, and you could tell by the way she conducted herself that she had nothing but the best of intentions.

 "She has big shoes to fill," Seolhyun observes, "Choa was on point with everything." You nod absentmindedly in agreement, staring blankly at your cup of coffee. Dahyun has shuffled off to the front of the room to where Jihyo and Nayeon are trying, mostly in vain, to set up the projector and laptop for their presentation - something Dahyun really should have taken care of, and something Choa would have had ready half an hour before.

 A few moments pass as the three of them try to figure out the right combination of monitor settings and cable plugging to get the presentation up on the projector. They eventually manage to get some sort of image up on the screen, but it's blurry and out of focus. Your eyes drift, involuntarily, back to the empty chair.

 "I don't know what happened between you and her," Seolhyun begins, "but I'm sorry."

 You look back at Seolhyun, who has an earnest look on her face, and offer her a weak smile. Your occasional liaisons with her were obviously amazing - she had the body of a model and knew how to use it - but even beyond that you were nonetheless thankful that she had become a good friend over the past several months.

 "Thanks, Seolhyun. It was tough, but it's for the best."

 At that moment Sana, Tzuyu, and Jeongyeon enter the room, the three of them greeting everyone with smiles and bows. Your gaze settles a little longer on Jeongyeon, who offers you a warm, if nervous, smile - and you couldn't help but notice the slight blush on her cheeks as she turns away to assist the three women at the front of the room with their technical issues.

 Seolhyun must have caught on to the look you shared with her.

 "You move on quick," she says, a hint of derision in her voice, "I'd thought the fun you two were having on the plane was just a physical thing." She'd obviously known Momo longer than Jeongyeon and had built a strong friendship with the Japanese girl. You didn't blame her for jumping to conclusions, especially if she'd noticed what you and Jeongyeon were up to on the flight over.

 "It's not what you think," you say, wanting to clarify things, "this has nothing to do with Jeongyeon."

 "Okay," Seolhyun says, appearing satisfied for now, "if you say so. I trust you."

 Your eyes stray back to the empty chair. 

 "She loved you," Seolhyun says, softly.

 "I know," you answer.

 ---

 Im Nayeon had always been an effective public speaker - the confidence and poise of her everyday personality showed through in the way she spoke, every word filled with conviction, as though she was one hundred percent sure of everything she said. Doubt was anathema to her - or so she made it seem.

 "High functioning criminals like these operate similarly," she states, "They keep records of everything they do in case they need it in the future for blackmail or as an alibi or for some other reason. Thus far, JYP's efforts to access that information via online methods has failed due to lack of technical effort, or ability, or both."

 Your gaze immediately snaps to Jeongyeon, who has a defiant, angry look on her face following Nayeon's thinly veiled insult. Her hand on the table has clenched into a fist. If Nayeon noticed her reaction, she ignored it and continued with her presentation.

 "I believe that incriminating evidence exists in hard copy form, or on secure, non-networked hard drives. I believe it is being held somewhere in SM headquarters."

 "And how exactly do you propose we find out where they're keeping those records," Jeongyeon asks with an edge in her tone, "nevermind actually going in there and getting them?"

 "We have the resources to determine the exact location of those records. At the moment those resources are sitting in jail cells. It's just a matter of forcing the information out of those resources." 

 Jihyo rises from her seat and joins Nayeon at the front of the room.

 "We know for a fact that Son Sungwan and Park Sooyoung - better known by their SM aliases of Wendy and Joy, respectively - worked closely with Bae Irene for years," she says, "We know that they were involved in a number of similar attacks to the ones they have committed on JYP, including those on YG and Starship. On top of that, we have three others that worked closely with Irene - Park Jaebom, Yoon Bora, and Kim Hyojung - also in custody. If anyone would know where in SM headquarters those records are being kept, it's one of them."

 "We've interrogated them already," Seolhyun points out, "in fact, you oversaw those interrogations yourself, detective. Are you saying that you missed something?"

 "No, I'm merely saying we hadn't thought to interrogate them regarding the possibility of their records existing somewhere in SM headquarters. It was something we hadn't considered until my colleague here suggested it," Jihyo answers with a nod towards Nayeon.

 "What we are proposing," Nayeon continues, "is that we re-interrogate Irene’s associates that we have in custody, this time with an aim towards confirming the existence, and then the location of, records that will incriminate SM for past crimes and implicate them in the crimes they have committed towards JYP."

 There is a hush in the room as those in attendance consider her proposition. After a few moments Sana speaks up, a somewhat concerned look on her face.

 "So saying these records to exist," she asks, leaning forward, "what's the next step? We raid SM with the police and obtain them by force?"

 "Unfortunately, no," Jihyo answers, "we would never get a warrant for that. The law would consider anything Wendy and Joy say to be a confession given under duress. Furthermore it's entirely possible Wendy and Joy would give us false information, in which case SM could sue for wrongful accusation and invasion of privacy if we were to raid them and find nothing. Someone would have to go into SM headquarters and retrieve the records themselves."

 The assembled members of your team whisper amongst themselves for a few moments as they consider what Jihyo was implying.

 "That sounds like some sort of secret agent mission," Tzuyu says with a tone of disbelief, "and furthermore SM knows who all of us are. Their security would grab us the second we step foot on their property."

 You had raised a similar point at the bar in Hawaii when Jihyo first proposed her plan. You were curious to see how your team reacted to her answer.

 "We're aware of that. This is why the person conducting the record retrieval will be someone who is completely foreign and unknown to SM."

 "That would be me," Nayeon says, a smug smirk on her features.

 As the other girls give snorts of disbelief and whisper disapprovingly to themselves, you lock eyes with Nayeon. 

 There was nothing but pride there in those eyes. Pride and full, complete confidence.

 ---

If one word could be used to describe Jay, it would be smug.

 He had a look on his face like everything that was happening to him was beneath him, as though he didn’t really believe he was facing pretty intense criminal charges. It was almost as if he thought being detained for attempted murder of a SWAT team member - in addition to conspiracy, kidnapping, and extortion charges - was only a minor inconvenience at most, and that he’d be free in no time at all.

 It was a look that pissed off Kim Seolhyun.

 “I want to walk in there and slap that look right off his fucking face,” she says, crossing her arms as she stands next to you, observing the detained former detective from the viewing room next to the interrogation room.

 “You and I both,” you agree.

 The door to the interrogation room opens, and in walks Im Nayeon - and the look on her face is one of boredom, of aloofness, of someone being forced to go through the paces. She is wearing a light blue sweater dress that leaves most of her long, slim legs bare; perfect for the warm Seoul summer, you suppose, but a little out of place in an interrogation room. She gives Jay a quick look and rolls her eyes.

 You knew Nayeon, and you knew enough about her job, to know this was all an act.

 She saunters nonchalantly over to the desk where Jay is sitting with his wrists handcuffed to a bar in the middle of the table, casually tossing a file she carried onto it. She crosses her perfectly sculpted legs and begins to examine her nails, seemingly irritated at some imperfection she saw in the glossy red finish. 

 Jay seemed a little taken aback by Nayeon’s aloof attitude towards what he had assumed would be an interrogation.

 “Aren’t you here to interrogate me, sweetheart? Or are you just here to play with your nails?” 

 Nayeon ignores him the same way she would ignore an insect that was buzzing around her. Jay persists.

 “Where are you from, anyway? You’re not from Seoul PD. No way a hottie like you would be working here and I wouldn’t know it.”

 Nayeon finally acknowledges Jay’s presence with a sharp look.

 “Seoul PD brought me in to interrogate you. But I don’t want to be here, you don’t want to be here,” she says as she browses idly through the papers in the file on the table, “so I’m just going to tell them that you’ve been uncooperative and then we can both stop this fucking waste of time. I’m sure not cooperating with a police investigation will add another year or two to the decade or so that you’ll be spending in jail.”

 Nayeon picks up a pen from within the file and begins to scratch something in a notepad. Jay scoffs.

 “Too bad all the cameras and microphones in this room have recorded you not giving a shit about your job,” he hisses.

 “Who says they’re turned on?” Nayeon retorts, not even looking up from the notes she is scribbling on her notepad. Jay snorts, seemingly frustrated with the young woman’s nonchalance - he was playing, it seemed, right into Nayeon’s trap. She finishes whatever she was jotting down on the notepad, adding a flourish to the bottom part of the page, as though she were leaving her signature.

 “Well, good meeting you. Enjoy rotting in jail,” she says, before standing and heading towards the door.

 “Wait,” Jay says as she reaches it, her hand on the doorknob.

 From your point of view you could just barely make out the small smirk that appears on Nayeon’s lips. And you might have just imagined it, but you could have sworn she’d given you a look, despite the two-way glass between you that would have kept her from seeing where you were.

 “What?” Nayeon asks, appearing annoyed once again.

 “Maybe I can help you out. Fill you in on something. Maybe in return you can tell the higher-ups something that’ll get me off these charges.”

 “You’re gonna squeal? Gonna snitch? I fucking knew you were a loser.”

 “Listen, Bora and I were just doing it for the money. We ain’t got no beef with these JYP peeps, and no loyalty to that SM bitch either. I don’t give a shit if you take them down.”

 “And what do you know that could be helpful to me?”

 “Lots,” Jay answers, leaning back in his chair now that he thought he had Nayeon’s attention, “ Bora and I met with Irene quite a bit to plan out our operation. I could tell you where we met.”

 Nayeon saunters back to the desk, throws the file back onto the table, and crosses her legs and arms once more. That irritated, displeased look on her face is still there, as though every second she spent with Jay was a waste of her valuable time.

 “Go on,” she says with a lazy tone, as though she was only humoring him.

 “We met at SM headquarters most of the time. Place is done up tighter than Fort Knox - if you go through the front door. We went in through a side entrance. Black door in an alleyway. It had a keypad.”

 “And what was the code?”

 Jay smirks - he had been waiting for this moment.

 “How about you tell your boss that Bora and I are to be set free - then I’ll tell you the code?”

 “Fuck off,” Nayeon hisses, gathering her folder and beginning to leave.

 “Alright, alright,” Jay says, raising his hands as best he could given that they were handcuffed to the desk, “I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you. But you gotta do something for me too.”

 “You’re in no position to bargain,” Nayeon answers, nodding her head towards his handcuffed wrists.

 “Those are the terms,” Jay says, folding his hands in front of him on the desk, “that keypad code will get you right into SM HQ. I ain’t got no love for those bastards, but you still gotta give me something if I’m gonna give it to you.”

 Nayeon’s frown deepens, as though she were weighing her options.

 “Alright, listen,” she says after awhile, “I can’t get you off completely. I might be able to lessen your charges so you get only a year or two. Maybe I’ll even get it down to a few months.  I’ll do what I can. In return, you give me the code.”

 “Fine. It’s a six digit code. It’s 4, 3, 1…”

 Nayeon has been jotting down the numbers, but her eyes perk up when Jay leaves the last three numbers out.

 “...and?” she says, irritated.

 “You’ll get the last three numbers when Bora and I go free.”

 “Fuck you,” Nayeon spits, “it’s all six numbers or nothing.”

 “Then have fun getting into SM without the code, detective,” Jay retorts.

 “Then have fun rotting in jail,” responds, parroting Jay’s tone.

 Jay frowns. 

 “Alright. Maybe there’s another way you can convince me to give you those last three digits, detective,” he says, giving the young woman a suggestive look up and down, his eyes lingering for too long on her breasts and the way they sat atop her folded arms.

 Nayeon stares at Jay, her eyes boring into him with a look of annoyance.

 “Alright, I’ll give you twenty minutes.”

 “...twenty minutes for what, detective?” Jay asks. Nayeon rolls her eyes again, impatient, as though she was frustrated with Jay’s inability to grasp what she meant.

 “I’ll give you twenty minutes with me. In return, you give me the last three numbers.”

 Jay lets a small, sly smile appear on his lips - he caught on to what Nayeon was implying, but he still wanted to hear her say it.

 “I’m not understanding what you mean by twenty minutes with you, detective. I’m afraid you’re going to have to explain what you mean.”

 “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. Don’t act like you haven’t been mentally undressing me since the second I stepped in here. I suppose I can give you what you want  - I’m bored as fuck around here anyway. Korean guys have no game in the sack. At least you were born in America.”

 Jay’s only response is a deepening of his self-satisfied smile.

 Nayeon lets a snort out, as though she were disgusted at the prospect of what she were about to allow him to do. She pulls a set of keys from her folder’s pocket, leaning forward to unlock Jay’s handcuffs - giving him a nice look down her shirt as she does so.

 When Jay’s hands are free, she steps over to his side of the desk before hopping on top of it in front of him.

 “The timer’s ticking,” she says, her voice suddenly low, “you better get started. If you make me cum, maybe I’ll make sure you and Bora are out of here by the end of the day.”

 Nayeon reaches down and pulls her short shirt up until it is bunched around her waist, revealing the scant pair of white panties she has on underneath.

 Next to you, Seolhyun suffles uncomfortably - you glance over to see a concerned, somewhat confused look on her face, as though she weren’t quite sure what to make of what was playing out in front of her. You were similarly uncomfortable; surely this was just some ploy on Nayeon’s part? Surely she really didn’t mean to let him…

 Jay stands, a cocky smile on that smug face of his, and he moves between Nayeon’s spread legs and kisses her deeply.

 You are taken aback by this, not expecting her to let him actually touch her, let alone kiss her; you are equal parts shocked and angered, and when you watch as Jay’s tongue enters Nayeon’s mouth - and Nayeon’s tongue darts out to welcome it - you feel your fists curl in anger. Jay doesn’t stop at her lips, however, and soon he dives into Nayeon’s neck, and she lets her head fall back to give him better access to her soft, perfect vanilla skin - and as she does so, she lets her head fall to the side where she gazes at the glass between you, as though she were looking right at you.

 Jay is unsatisfied with Nayeon’s neck, and he is quickly moving downward, to the buttons of her blue shirt. He quickly unbuttons the two buttons there before reaching up to her shoulders and sliding the shirt down her shoulders, until her small, perfect breasts are revealed, Nayeon having evidently decided not to wear a bra. Jay pauses momentarily to admire her naked chest, until Nayeon reaches up and pulls the shirt down further, pushing her own chest outward to put her breasts on full display.

 Jay doesn’t waste any time and dives in, quickly capturing and beginning to suck on her left nipple - Nayeon lets a slight moan of pleasure escape her lips, not once allowing her gaze to deviate from the glass, her eyes somehow remaining locked on yours, even though you knew it should have been impossible for her to know where you were.

 You are distracted from the sight playing out in front of you by Seolhyun, who is shuffling uncomfortably next to you, unsure quite how to react to what was happening in the interrogation room. When she turns her head to look at you, her cheeks are flushed and she is biting her lip, her right arm crossed around her torso while her left hand has drifted lower, past her flat stomach…

 She doesn’t use words - but you find what she wants in her eyes.

 You reach over, wrapping your hand around the small of her back and pulling her towards you - but keeping her facing the glass, ensuring you could both watch.

 Seolhyun lets a soft gasp escape her lips, but she doesn’t stop you; quite the opposite, in fact, as she braces herself against the glass and looks behind her at you, her eyes suddenly lustful and full of need. 

 You step behind her, pressing yourself against her tall, thin frame, and you let your hands wander over the curves of her perfectly sculpted body. You weren’t quite sure why it was happening - but you knew perhaps that watching Jay and Nayeon had inspired a voyeuristic lust in both of you that neither of you could deny.

 You reach around Seolhyun’s body with your right hand, finding and quickly unbuttoning the light green shirt she is wearing. All the while she is pressing her frame against yours, rubbing that round, full butt of hers against your quickly hardening shaft. She unbuttons the khaki skirt she is wearing, and you quickly undo your pants, allowing them to fall to your ankles where they join her skirt.

 In the interrogation room, Jay has continued his path downward, pushing Nayeon’s legs up on the desk until her feet are flat on the top of it, her legs spread wantonly as he dips his head between her thighs. He reaches around her butt and quickly pulls off her white panties, flinging them across the room. Jay certainly wouldn’t have noticed given his proximity to the delicious looking prize between her spread legs, but Nayeon has turned her body slightly.

 All so that you could have the perfect view of another man’s head between her thighs.

 It angered you, it made you jealous, it confused you - but you pushed those feelings aside. There was only lust in your mind now, and the show playing out in front of you only increased your need to satiate that desire.

 Jay falls to his knees and dips his head to Nayeon’s crotch; you can’t see it, but you could tell by the glazed expression of lust on Nayeon’s face, and the breathy moan that escapes her mouth, that his tongue has begun to play with her body.

 Simultaneously, in the viewing room, your hand has travelled down Seolhyun’s firm abs, and at almost the same time, Seolhyun echoes Nayeon’s moan with one of her own as your fingers graze her wet, hot lips.

 Jay continues his work on your ex-girlfriend in the interrogation room, Nayeon’s expression twisting in evermore deepening depictions of lust and pleasure; expressions that are echoed in Seolhyun’s features as your fingers work on her pussy, spreading her lips apart with your index and ring finger, allowing your middle finger perfect access to her clit, first gathering her juices on your fingertip and then circling the sensitive bud with slow, soft touches.

 For long minutes you continue, Jay between Nayeon’s legs and you behind Seolhyun, the moans and lustful gasps emanating from both women rising steadily in concert with the pleasure building in their young, tight bodies.

 All the while, Nayeon has kept her eyes glued to the one-way glass that separates your two rooms. It should have been impossible. She shouldn’t have been able to see where you were standing. But she did - you could have sworn she was staring right at you, even as her eyes are half-lidded with pleasure as the man working between her legs plays havoc with her flesh.

 Suddenly, Nayeon pushes Jay’s head out from between her legs. She hops off the table, places her hands on it and looks back at Jay.

 “Fuck me.”

 Jay wipes Nayeon’s juices from his mouth with the back of his hand and licks off what he doesn’t. His smile, that fucking smug smile of his, is right back on his face as he steps behind Nayeon, grasping his cock in one hand and your ex-girlfriend’s hip with the other. 

 With one hard thrust he enters her, and soon he is fucking her.

 You watch, momentarily dumbfounded, as another man does to Nayeon what you had done yourself all those years ago, and the sight of it angers you, confuses you, and made you want to go over there and punch that stupid grin right off Jay’s face. To watch Nayeon, and her perfect, small little body, be taken and fucked by another man - it made you furious.

 Seolhyun’s moans distract you temporarily from the anger that was building in your head.

 “Oh, god… that feels so good… stop. Fuck me. Fuck me now.”

 You don’t even hesitate, don’t even wait a second longer. You withdraw your drenched fingertips from Seolhyun’s body and pull your boxers down, freeing your straining hard cock from their cotton prison before lining up your shaft between Seolhyun’s legs, the wanton young woman spreading her long limbs and bending over slightly to give you the best access she could. 

 With one long, hard thrust you enter Seolhyun’s wet, hot pussy - at the same time, in the interrogation room, Nayeon lets a long, loud moan escape her lips as she is fucked from behind by Jay. You have a perfect side view of them, and you can watch as Jay’s cock appears slick and wet from Nayeon’s body before hammering right back inside her, her small, cute butt rippling with each impact of his hips.

 Nayeon’s eyes return to yours - there is lust there, but also some other emotion. She wants you to see her like this. She wants you to watch another man fuck her, have his way with her, just as you used to do.

 The anger that is building up in your body is taken out on Seolhyun, as you fuck her against the interrogation room glass, roughly and without care for her or her pleasure - her body served only as an outlet for the frustration, anger, and confusion in your mind - anger that Nayeon would pull a stunt like this, would fuck another man in front of you just to piss you off.

 Seolhyun moans and gasps and her pussy is tight and wet and hot, but your real focus is on Nayeon, and the way her small, tight body is rocked back and forth on the table as Jay fucks her - your eyes lock with each other, never straying apart, even though the one-way glass should have kept you from doing so.

 You reach up Seolhyun’s quivering torso and grasp one of her breasts through her bra, your other hand grasping her hip tightly and pushing it back toward you as you thrust forward with your hips into her wet flesh, each thrust eliciting a gasp or moan of pleasure - she was loving every moment of this.

 “Yes!” she gasps, “yes.. Fuck me… fuck me… fuck me!”

 Seolhyun was lost, uncaring of the circumstances that led to this moment, uncaring of the context of the relationship  you and Nayeon had. All that mattered to her was the intense pleasure emanating from her core, and the hard shaft that was spearing in and out of her body as she was fucked against the glass.

 In the interrogation room, Jay smacks Nayeon’s ass with a firm palm, and Nayeon yelps in pleasure and pain. She turns as far as she can while still keeping him inside her and places a hand on his chest, implicitly telling him to stop moving - and when he stops thrusting you watch as Nayeon begins to push herself back, impaling herself over and over again on Jay’s unmoving cock. Her lower body moves like liquid, her hips working hard as they are swirling and gyrating smoothly, taking the hard shaft between her legs in and out of her pussy in up and down, back and forth motions.

 Nayeon returns her gaze to you.

 You are furious now, and you take it out on Seolhyun, pistoning in and out of her body with increasing pace, her pussy tightening around yours as though heralding her orgasm.

 “Oh, fuck! Fuck me… God, I’m so close… oh god, I’m cumming!”

 Seolhyun orgasms, but you don’t care, and you fuck her right through it, not stopping at all, not even lessening the intensity or depth of your thrusts into her spasming, quivering pussy. You tighten your grip on her hip and her breast, continuing your thrusts as you feel your own orgasm approaching.

 In the interrogation room, Nayeon is satisfied with the show she has given Jay, and turns to whisper to him once more.

 “Fuck me until I cum,” she whispers.

 Jay returns his hands to her hips, enjoying the sight of Nayeon’s small, perfectly fit body bent over for him, her pussy impaled on his shaft. Licking his lips, he goes back to fucking her; Nayeon’s gaze returns to yours.

 Soon her body is rocking back and forth on the table again, and Nayeon raises her upper body from the desk, bracing herself with her hands, until she is almost upright. Her small, perfect breasts bounce with each thrust into her, the mounds of flesh looking so delicious, her nipples still stiff with pleasure.

 In the viewing room you are still pounding in and out of Seolhyun - she is moaning, and gasping, and speaking dirty, filthy words, but almost none of them really register - your eyes are locked on Nayeon’s. 

 For another minute this goes on. Every thrust Jay makes into Nayeon’s body is mirrored with one of your own into Seolhyun. 

 “Fuck, I’m close,” Nayeon says, her voice carrying an edge, as though she didn’t want to admit it.

 In the viewing room, Seolhyun’s wet, slick pussy was driving you close to your own.

 “Cum in me,” Seolhyun hisses, distracting you momentarily, “fucking cum in me. Deep inside me. I want it. Cum… cum inside me!”

 Your orgasms strike you both simultaneously - in the interrogation room, Nayeon lets a sharp gasp escape her open lips as she cums, throwing her head back with a louder moan as her body is wracked and finally overcome with pleasure. Her small body quivers and shakes, something you were well familiar with, and the sight of it now, due to another man, made you outright furious.

 In the viewing room you fill Seolhyun’s needy body with thick, hot streams of semen as you cum, your grip on her perfect frame tightening almost painfully as you empty yourself inside her. Seolhyun lets out a satisfied moan at the feeling of your warm seed coating her pussy, and a part of you wants to indulge her, wants to savor the feeling of her body accepting your cum, but your eyes are still locked on the young woman in the interrogation room.

 Nayeon pushes back on Jay, and he slips out of her and slumps onto the chair, his shaft glistening and slick with her juices. 

 “I hope we ain’t done yet, sweetheart,” he says, that asshole of a smile still plastered all over his face.

 Nayeon takes a moment to compose herself, but when she does she picks up the handcuffs from the table, sauntering over to Jay’s seated form, her breasts and lower body still exposed by the shirt dress that was bunched up around her midsection.

 “I have other things in mind for you,” she says, lustily. Jay licks his lips in anticipation.

 “Tell me what I want,” Nayeon continues, straddling Jay on the chair as she bends to whisper into his ear,  “and I’ll let you cum. Wherever you want.”

 At this point Jay is almost helpless, his hard shaft, still slick with Nayeon’s juices, pressed against Nayeon’s lower stomach as she grinds softly against it, her slick lips spreading her slick wetness onto his balls.

 “Fuck, sweetheart-”

 “Tell me. Tell me the last three digits, and I’ll fuck every drop of cum out of your balls.”

 “Alright, alright. The digits are 4, 3, 1…. 2���”

 “I’ll drain you dry. Anywhere you want. In my mouth?”

 “4…”

 “Or… in this wet, tight little pussy?”

 “Fuck… the last one is…”

 “Tell me, Jay. Tell me and you can fill me. Fill me with your cum.”

 “7!. It’s 7. The code is 4, 3, 1, 2, 4, 7.”

 Nayeon turns her head, locking eyes with you again through the glass, where you are still standing behind Seolhyun’s spent, exhausted body. Your shaft is still embedded inside her.

 “Good boy,” she whispers into Jay’s ear, before standing up and pulling down her shirt and rebuttoning up the collar.

 “Hey, what the… what the fuck?” Jay spits.

 Nayeon snaps her fingers. The door to the interrogation room opens, and in walk two police officers - and Jihyo, with a look of intense disapproval on her face as she steps in and crosses her arms. 

 “Toss him into a hole and let him rot,” Nayeon says as she smooths her messy hair and finishes composing herself. With a nonchalance that impresses you, she saunters over to the notepad on the desk, where she jots down the code Jay gave her.

 Jay resists, hard, but the two officers finally manage to drag him cursing and swearing out of the room, his pants still around his knees. Jihyo follows them, but not before giving Nayeon one last look. Nayeon sees it and points at the code she has obtained, and Jihyo seems placated enough to give her one last smirk before turning and leaving the room.

 In the viewing room your softened cock finally slips out of Seolhyun’s body, drawing a gasp from the young woman as a not insignificant stream of hot semen flows from her entrance to stain her full thighs. She turns around and leans back against the glass, breathing heavily. You step forward and press yourself against her, bringing your lips to hers and kissing her deeply - not so much a kiss of passion or of lust, but one of appreciation. It was your half-hearted way of apologizing for not paying as much attention to her as she deserved, not that she minded.

 “Fuck, that was hot,” she gasps, still breathing heavily. Her shirt is still undone, and you couldn’t help but watch as her bra-clad breasts heaving up and down as she catches her breath.

 Seolhyun catches on to the look you are giving her, and she reaches up to your cheek.

 “Now that the distraction is over, you can stop pretending you’re fucking her,” she whispers, “and you can start fucking me.”

 She reaches up and lets her green blouse fall from her shoulders, then reaches behind her to undo her bra, letting it fall to the floor. She falls to her knees, and with her small hands she grasps your shaft, still slick with her own juices and your cum, and gives it a lick from top to bottom.

 Seolhyun soon has you at full hardness, and you want to focus on her, want to give her the attention she deserves. For a second you look down and watch as she takes your now fully hard cock in and out of her wet, warm mouth. Seolhyun had the body of a goddess, and you knew the coming minutes would be pleasurable in the extreme, especially now that you could focus on her and not someone else. You want to give her the fucking she deserved, undistracted by what was going on in the next room.

 But all you can think of is the young woman in the interrogation room. Nayeon gathers up her files and notepad, and with one last look at you, she leaves.

 ---

 Author’s Note: Trying something new here with the voyeur thing, and I have to admit it was more fun than I thought it would be. Let me know what you all think :)

[fandom-necromancer]

Stubborn Stupidity

This was prompted by the amazing @smolandangry001! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

‘Nines, over there!’

The android saw what Gavin referred to before the man could point it out. With one quick punch to his opponent’s jaw, he freed himself and ran from the narrow hallway to the open roof. He heard Gavin struggle behind him, but the Detective was a very capable human, he would manage a single human aggressor. For once it was Connor, who was in trouble. The RK800 was held over the edge of the roof by the throat. The huge android that held him was grinning and where his hand connected to Connor’s chin and neck, the synthetic skin had retracted. A forced interface and judging from his cut distress signal it was an active connection that planted a virus into his systems.

It had been supposed to be a simple mission: Hank and Connor infiltrated the empty building in the abandoned district to eavesdrop the conversation of the criminals gathering on the flat roof. It had gone smoothly until someone had come up the stairs directly into their hiding place. The person had been one of the criminals, only late due to traffic and had unmasked them. Hank had been shoved down the stairs, Connor had been fighting with the man until the rest of the group came in and the giant android – leader of the operation – put an end to it. Gavin and Nines had been backup but had been too late to help immediately.

The human group had mostly dispersed upon the android’s command and those that had stayed, Nines and Gavin had quickly rendered unconscious. Now there was only the leader for them to take down, but with Connor hanging over the edge that would be quite difficult. Nines also couldn’t simply start a fight as the android was far superior to him. He had once been an AF200, but by now he was so heavily modified Nines couldn’t be sure of his specifications. The only thing he knew was that he had easily subdued Connor and there were a few black-market spares installed in his arms and legs.

His main advantage was that the android hadn’t seen him yet. Maybe, if he managed to free Connor, they had a chance at taking him down, both being the most advanced androids built by Cyberlife. So, he pre-constructed his best approach and executed it.  He passed the android from behind, stretched out his leg and put in his full weight to pull him over it. The android stumbled, but kept his balance with Connor as a counterweight, until the RK800 got ground under his feet. Connor pushed and that toppled the former AF200 over. Nines was quick to roll back on his feet and get over to Connor, who was kneeling, his LED a bright red. But the other android wasn’t slow either: The modified model jumped to his feet and stepped backwards, ready to lunge at them again, when three shots echoed over the roofs of Detroit. Gavin stood at the door, behind him the two now unconscious humans, gun drawn. ‘DPD, don’t move!’

But instead of listening, the android decided to make a run for it. Nines was ready to follow, when the order came in: ‘Nines! Stay with Connor, I’ll take pursuit!’ The RK900 looked down on Connor, who was struggling to free his systems from the virus, then back at Gavin, who was already sprinting after the android. They got closer to the edge and the former AF200 showed no sign of stopping. Instead, he got even faster, and Nines realised with horror, the android would jump to the next building. It wasn’t far, but Gavin’s chances of crossing the chasm weren’t the best. Still, his human didn’t slow down.

[STAY WITH CONNOR.]

The red wall kept him from running and stopping Gavin. He could only watch as Gavin jumped and flew through the air. But he made it. With relief Nines saw how Gavin hit the ground and rolled a few more metres. Nines was standing, analysing the situation. There were no more roofs they could jump to and there was no way they would make it back up here. Unless… No. The AF200 hadn’t stopped. He had landed perfectly and was now running towards the next drop. Nines calculated his speed and proven strength and came to the conclusion he could make it. But it wasn’t humanly possible to jump that far. He hoped Gavin realised that too. The human was getting up slowly, his face telling Nines he was in pain from the heavy impact. The Detective could only watch how the modified android leapt to the next building, expertly grabbing the edge and pulling himself up.

By now Gavin was on his feet, but thankfully clever enough not to try what the android had pulled off. ‘What now, little pig?’, the AF200 taunted. ‘How do you plan on stopping me now?’ Gavin narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth in anger before lifting up his pistol in one quick motion and firing three times. Nines followed the trajectory and was impressed to see two had actually found their target. Only that the AF200 didn’t seem too bothered. ‘Impressive. But futile’, the android commented. ‘Go back home. Pray I don’t find you.’

Nines knew his partner. Nines knew Gavin was as stubborn as he was reckless, both a combination of qualities that ended in very, very dumb ideas. Just like this one. RK900 immediately made the connection, as Gavin looked over to a crane, most likely used to support a platform for window cleaners once. Before most of Detroit’s citizens had left the city and never returned after the revolution. Nines watched in terror as Gavin pulled on one of the cables attached to it.

[STAY WITH CONNOR.]

Nines watched through the red haze how Gavin grabbed the cable and pulled it with him to the edge of the roof, looking over to the next where the AF200 was still standing, watching too. Nines knew what Gavin would try. He would grab the cable and jump off the side, hoping he would swing over to the other roof. Nines couldn’t even begin to explain how stupid that was. The crane could give in. The cable could rip from the mount upon the sudden weight. Gavin could lose his grip. And even if none of that happened, he could get slammed against the building he stood on now. He could get caught on the building front. He could miss the other building entirely swinging back and slamming back against the building. He could miscalculate the distance and never make it. He could make it and miss the edge to grab. He could make it over to the other side unharmed and still had to face an android that was willing to kill and stronger than Nines. The human’s chance at survival was so little, Nines would have said it to be impossible hadn’t there been the hope in the back of hi head his human would make it. His chance to come out of this alive stood at 0.001 percent. And Nines couldn’t stop him.

[STAY WITH CONNOR.]

Nines wasted precious time looking at the RK800 at his feet that still hadn’t recovered. There was no way circumnavigating the clear order. He had to watch how Gavin took a few more steps back. His survival rate jumped to 0.003 percent. Nines couldn’t stop him. He focussed on the red wall.

[STAY WITH CONNOR.]

Oh, hell no! Nines pressed against it, ignoring the warnings and sizzling pain from disobedience. He had to stop, he had to save his human! There was no pain he wasn’t willing to take to achieve that. He clawed at the wall, dug his fingers in deep and pulled. He punched and kicked and accepted stress levels high enough to deactivate any lesser android to tear it down. And as it shattered, it was music to his ears.

‘Gavin, don’t-‘ He managed to get only that far, before Gavin jumped. Nines pump stopped. He watched how Gavin vanished behind the edge, the movement of the attached cable the only sign something happened. Nines mind was focussed solely on the human once he reappeared in his vision. At incredible speed he rushed through the air, following one of the few possible trajectories to make it to the other side. But would he be able to grab onto the other roof? A human wasn’t an android. Gavin couldn’t pre-construct or calculate, he could only react. Time passed agonisingly slow as Nines calculated every possible outcome, watching Gavin fall to his death countless times, until the Detective’s hand touched the rain gutter and grabbed it. There was a short moment when he let go of the cable and hung there that everything looked like he would still drop down. Only then he made it, reaching for the gutter with his other hand and pulling himself up before the AF200 managed to get to him. He rolled over the edge to solid ground.

From how he lied there for just a moment, Nines was sure his heart was beating just as hard in his chest as Nines’ wasn’t. Because the modified android had just made it over and was about to strike. In the blink of an eye Gavin had rolled to the side and out of the way of the fist that cracked the asphalt on the roof. The human got to his knees, lifted his pistol and emptied the entire clip into the AF200. And it still kept going. Obviously desperate at that point, Gavin threw the empty gun at the android who batted it away like an annoying fly. At that point Nines was only nerves and hope. Gavin had made it so far, please….

The android had reached him and pushed him to the ground, hand finding his throat just like it had with Connor before. Only that he didn’t bother playing games. The AF200 pushed down, quickly cutting off all air in one calculated movement. ‘Gavin!’ Immediately, a timer appeared in Nines’ vision, nearing the moment Gavin would fall unconscious and a second one only waiting to tell Nines the additional time it would need to the final end once the first run out. Nines couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He could only hope for a miracle now.

Gavin was in a similarly panicked state, except that he had no timers. He only knew he would have to be fast. There was no use in struggling, he knew that. This android asshole was far stronger than Nines and his partner had proved in several situations no human was a match for him. His eyes flickered to the bullet wounds and what laid beyond their Thirium coated rims. In a last rear as his vision started to show black spots already, he blindly punched into what he hoped to be the most instable spot, broke through the hull and grabbed the wires behind it. Then he pulled with all his strength and felt something give. Nearly instantaneous the grip around his throat relaxed and the body of the android sagged to the side. Gavin coughed and spat, desperately forcing air into his lungs that wanted to push out everything at the same time. Gavin thought he had actually forgotten how breathing worked, until clean fresh air filled his lungs and he managed to relax. His last coursing adrenaline made him crawl backwards away from the modified AF200, until his back hit an AC unit. Then he just sat there staring at the android, while his fingers began trembling from the shock and all strength left him.

‘Gavin!’ The shout made the Detective look up and he was more than relieved to see his partner. ‘Nines!’, he rasped out, waiting for these strong arms to hold him and to take him away. Instead he got a fist in his face. ‘Ah! What the hell? What was that for?’ The android grabbed him by the shoulders with force and slammed him against the AC unit. ‘You idiot! You complete moron! You fucking selfless stubborn bastard human!’, Nines shouted in his face, underlining every word by slamming him against the wall in his back. ‘WHAT IF I FUCKING LOST YOU?!’ ‘Nines?’ ‘No, no “Nines”, don’t expect me to hold you and kiss you and tell you how much I love you after that stunt! You forced me to stay with my idiot brother, while you decided to pull this stunt! Do you even know how risky that was? Do you even know how high your chance of survival was?’ ‘Er… no?’ ‘Non-existent!’, Nines shouted and let go of Gavin, who immediately fell back on his ass. ‘God, Gavin, you… I couldn’t even save you. I deviated and still… you were… You could be… You should be dead…’ Nines had lost his anger, having shouted it through Detroit, but now the realisation hit how lucky they had been. For all laws of probability and pre-construction, Gavin shouldn’t sit here with him, living, breathing and continuing to make dumb decisions. Like standing up and walking over. ‘Nines? Hey, babe?’ ‘No. Go away. I… I can’t.’ ‘Nines, please.’ ‘Leave me alone you idiot!’

But the man didn’t. Instead, he wrapped his arms around him. ‘I’m sorry. Yes, I am an idiot. I didn’t think…’ Nines turned around and held his human in return. ‘Do you care so little about me? I… I couldn’t live without you, Gavin. I wouldn’t want to. I need you.’ Gavin sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Nines. I didn’t- I care about you. A lot. I’m just not used to having someone who cares about me. I shouldn’t have been so reckless. For your sake.’ ‘Please, promise me to never do something like that again, okay?’ ‘I promise. And now that you are deviant, you can stop me.’ ‘You bet your ass I will.’

[strongerwiththepack]

Curiosity

For FabFiveFeb2021 (John).

Thank-you so much to everyone who’s left me such nice comments on my little prompt fics this past week. It gave me the motivation to finally finish this FabFiveFeb fic (on the 1st of March 🤦‍♀️).

A fluffy John and Alan fic. Set 3 years before TAG. Using the prompt ‘A curiosity’. Thank-you @gumnut-logic for organising the challenge!

“Scott come on, I’m too busy this week.”

“You’re busy every week John” Scott rolled his eyes on the hologram, making John pout pathetically. “Stop putting this off. Besides, you’d be able to test out the coding on your sample collector things while you’re there.”

John narrowed his eyes, he did need to do that, but he could do it on Earth or the moon even. There was no need to go to Mars.

“What if there’s a rescue?”

“We can handle it John, a day off isn’t going to kill you.”

John scoffed. “You’re one to talk, Scott.”

“Alan misses you, just do this for him, please John.”

John narrowed his eyes. He knew what Scott was doing. Scott knew he knew as well. Didn’t mean it wasn’t effective.

“Fine.”

So that’s where he found himself now. With Alan. On Mars.

His little brother was having the best day of his life, bouncing around pointing out the different types of soil and rocks. John smiled to himself at the enthusiasm. Alan was going to make a great astronaut someday.

The journey over had been really nice. John had fielded all of Alan’s questions about Thunderbird 3 and space travel. It reminded him of when they were kids and John would help Alan with his homework. He’d even given Alan the chance to pilot which wasn’t all that thrilling when they were already on course but his brother had seemed happy enough.

Despite his reluctance, this was nice.

“Do you think we’ll see any Aliens John?”

John laughed. The transition from describing soil types to the degree of a college PHD student to asking in all seriousness about Aliens was the perfect description of his youngest brother’s personality.

“Not likely Alan.” John chuckled.

The pout added to the humour.

“Do you think dad ever saw any Aliens while he was here?” Alan queried innocently, eyes wide as he waited for an answer.

John swallowed painfully and tried not to put a damper on Alan’s mood. “He never mentioned it if he did.”

“Can we go see dad’s plaque?”

John had been before, with their dad. The footprint in the soil surrounded by a podium. He’d teased the man about it then, thinking it was rather cheesy. Not so much now.

“Unfortunately no, they’re building the new mars colonies around it so it’s closed off at the moment.” John explained. He was glad, the lone footprint would have brought up unwanted feelings this time around. “That mission is set to launch in 2061. It’ll be the first-time humans have set up permanent residence on Mars.”

“Wow” Alan admired in awe. Distraction successful. “They would need a lot of oxygen for that, or maybe one of those prototypes for oxygen conversion has been approved! And obviously they would need some sort of sustainable way to grow food…”

John let Alan trail off on his rant. The kid was going to ace his Mars paper that was for sure.

He still had to test out his sample collection drones. It was his latest project. When he had been at university it had been extremely difficult to gather consistent interplanetary data for his research. The data was out there but it was either impossible to navigate or hidden behind a paywall. He still liaised with a lot of universities and knew it was still a problem. So, he’d decided to create an open-source, easy-to-navigate database for students and researchers around the world.

He could use the data that was already available but like he said none of it was consistent so he and Brains had designed some deep-space drones that could collect all the data they needed.

They were programmed to test gravity, air quality, rock types, temperature and a host of other categories. The engineering behind these tiny drones was insane. John never could’ve done it alone, Brains truly was remarkable. His dad sure knew how to spot talent.

He placed the little drone down before activating it on his tablet.

“Hey Alan, come check this out!”

Alan bounced over excitedly as the rotor blades retracted from the drone and it rose into the air.

“Cool! Can I fly it?”

“There are no controls, it’s fully automated!” John explained as he passed the tablet to his younger brother. “The readings are already coming in, these tiny little bots can produce so much data – it’s going to revolutionise research and academia in the future.”

“Where’s it going now?”

The drone had begun to quickly move away from them before it dropped down into the earth, out of sight.

John took the tablet back. “Hmm looks like it’s found a deep crater, it’s trying to gather below surface data.”

The tablet made a shrill beeping noise. “Hmm looks like it’s found something unusual down there, we can’t get a clear reading.”

They walked over to peer over the edge of the large crater. It spanned at least five meters wide and it was too dark to see how deep.

John grinned at his little brother as he flicked on his helmet torch. “Want to take a look?”

Alan gaped at him, looking into the dark hole before his face broke into a huge grin. “Yes!”

John chuckled. “Okay, come on, let’s get the grappling gear.”

*

He and Alan dropped into the crater that was dimly lit through their suit torches. It was incredibly dusty, their torches reflected off the particles floating in the air. There was a tunnel that led further under the surface. They didn’t have enough light to see more than a few meters in front of them.

“You’re sure about the aliens, right John?” Alan questioned unsurely beside him.

“Yes Alan” John rolled his eyes as he shone his light towards the ceiling of the tunnel. “It the structural integrity I’m more worried about.”

Alan whipped his head up to check as well.

“It’s not too far in, just tread lightly and try not to make any loud noises.” John reasoned.

The drone chose that moment to zoom out of the dark tunnel at them, and Alan yelped in alarm as it almost hit his head.

John rolled his eyes facepalming his helmet as a new dust cloud erupted. “Yeah, loud noises like that.”

Alan smiled sheepishly and whispered. “Sorry.”

John cocked his head towards the tunnel. “C’mon.”

They quickly came across the source of the anomaly. There was something partially buried in the red-tinged soil.

“No way…” John gasped as they got closer.  “Do you know what that is Alan?”

“Uhhh” Alan focused his torch on it as he inched closer. “A rover?”

“It’s the NASA Curiosity rover!” John explained, brushing off some of the dust that had settled there. “It went missing in 2040 and was never recovered.”

“It looks like a bit of a relic.” Alan commented.

“Oh it is.” John said with a smile. “It was launched in 2011. It still holds the record for the longest operating rover on mars.”

“Oh cool.” Alan said airily.

John chuckled. He could tell his little brother wasn’t impressed. The rover was a dinosaur by their standards but he knew it had been revolutionary at the time.

He couldn’t wait to tell his Grandma. He still remembered her telling him the story of the Curiosity landing. How it had been broadcast live on the television. How Jeff, who’d still been a young child, had sat on her lap bouncing excitedly. The Tracy’s had always had their heart’s in space travel.

“Come on.” John prompted. “We’re gonna tow this thing out of here.”

“Do we have to?” Alan whined. “It’s massive.”

“Yep. Let’s grab the tow cables from Three.” John instructed. “NASA are going to be over the moon.”

“You can’t really ever be over the moon, John.” Alan called over his shoulder.

“I know Alan.”

*

It turned out Curiosity had fallen into the crater and lost power when it got trapped without the sun. When John and Alan pulled it from the crater, it miraculously began to charge through the solar panels again.

And that’s how, in 2057, Curiosity was returned to the world.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

West African Hybrids

“Hey… Hey! Wake up, we’re almost there.”

Ru’Yi felt a slight nudge at her side and opened her eyes. Her uniform was slightly rumpled. She managed to tie up her hair so it wouldn’t be too frizzy on landing. “Really?” She whimpered in a sleepy disappointment. “That was so fast…”

“Well, the executive department doesn’t like to waste time. So the gear department modifies planes for maximum speed.” Rodney gave her a shy smile, revealing a single dimple on his right cheek. “Are you okay? Can I get you anything?”

She shook her head. “I’m alright.”

It was still too dark to see much but, as people began to turn on their overhead lights, she noticed that his eyes were hazel, brown with flecks of green and gold mixed in, hidden behind his dark brown bangs. Everything from his hair cut, to his quiet voice, and hesitant demeanor spoke to his shyness, but now that she got a good look at him, she could tell that he was at least as strong as Brian. He had those same broad shoulders and muscles along his arms. He was also relatively tall, stretching his legs under the seat in front of him.

Around her all the students were always wide awake, shifting and speaking to their seatmates.

Ru’Yi only remembered flying once before. Back when she was fourteen when they were on the island, she had been so excited to take her first flight and she packed all her things early. She even watched videos of 757, 747 and 777 airliners to see how things would be. These massive jets with smiling Flight attendants, a friendly captain speaking over an intercom, and movies built into the seats.

But instead of a large bustling airport, her father and mother took a boat to another island where a sandy flat ribbon of land served as a runway. There were no customs, no shopping, nothing like that. Just a long silver luxury private jet in the middle of nowhere.  

“Why can’t we just be normal?” She had lamented.

Her father answered her question in his usual succinct manner. The nearest airport was nearly a day’s travel away and she would never be able to use it anyway because she didn’t have a passport. He looked at her with a head slightly tilted, like a curious bird wondering what was wrong. The juxtaposition of his serious-eyed stare, his questioning gesture and his shirt with the bright yellow hibiscus flowers would have been funny but she wasn’t laughing.

This was better anyway, her mother had chimed in. They had the whole plane to themselves. There was an onboard chef ready to fix anything they possibly would want to eat, music, movies, games, and a good pilot that her father knew. She also was dressed in a yellow sundress to match her husband’s and together, they looked like the happy globetrotting couple.

 Ru’Yi had relented, but didn’t smile. Deep down, he knew all the kids at school would envy her. They would question how some tour guide could afford a private flight to the United States.

She should be grateful.

Now sitting in the Beluga Aircraft, she realized that this was as close to normal as she could get. At least now, she was surrounded by other people who also didn’t seem to use passports, use airports or pass through customs. They were flying a jet with a jet tucked inside it like a Russian nesting doll and still managed to go faster than the planes she’d looked at as a child. She started to wonder if normalcy was as much as a fantasy to her as dragons were to ordinary people.

Aircraft Carrier, Aido-Hwedo, West Africa Branch.

The calm Atlantic waters broke beneath the unstoppable gun-metal bow of the moving wall of metal that towered a thousand feet high. It was topped with what appeared to be a flat road surface, as though a piece of highway had broken off a steel cliffside and set sail. On the side of this cliff was a name in large white block text a dozen feet high: Aido-Hwedo.

The original name of the vessel was the USS-Enterprise. This aircraft carrier was the one near enough to Pearl Harbor to participate in the famous World War II battle. It had scrambled several of its jets to help, but in the confusion of the sudden attack, many of them were shot down by their own countrymen. Later it saw intense battles of the South Pacific and then other missions during peacetime. But, for all its storied history, it still ended up at the shipyard to be turned into scrap at the end of its life.

According to history, it was scrap. Supposedly, all that was left of the ship was its bell, an anchor and the name plaque. Indeed, the name plaque was removed, but the ship itself moved about on the seas like a ghost of decades past, fighting battles under its new name.

The Aido-Hwedo was the great rainbow serpent that both created the world and sustained Earth’s form from falling to chaos -- A great beast that ate iron and, lacking iron, would instead eat its own tail.

Ordinarily, this floating runway would have been decorated with fighter jets, but for this occasion the landing surface was cleared to accommodate its incoming oversized cargo.

Within the control tower a tall man with skin the color of black coffee watched through his binoculars while a woman sat watching the radar screen. He was dressed in a black naval uniform, decorated with gold tassels. He was still, silent, and tense as he prepared to watch the plane land.

Landing on a flight deck is one of the most difficult things a pilot will ever do. The flight deck only had about 500 feet of runway space for landing planes, which wasn’t nearly enough for the heavy, high-speed jets like the modified Beluga coming in. To land on the flight deck, it would need a tailhook, which was exactly what it sounded like — an extended hook attached to the plane’s tail. The pilot’s goal would be to snag the tailhook on one of four arresting wires, sturdy cables woven from high-tensile steel wire. It would be precision flying at low speed and a high angle of attack. It was the definitive skill that tested Navy carrier pilots. The principle on landing would be to fly the plane aboard the ship at the slowest speed at which it can be done safely, to deliberately stall and drop into the landing.

Despite his confidence in the pilot, Foli Abalo looked through his binoculars with anticipation of a close call. The wire system was checked, rechecked and placed under guard. A back up emergency wire system was installed in case it failed anyway.

“Approach speed 450. Tail hook lowered.” The woman murmured. 

The lights of the plane were suddenly visible as it made its approaching turn. It moved incredibly slowly, stalking the ship like a massive fat shark.

“Speed reduced 350…”

It was the moment of truth. By now, the plane was so low and flying so slow, it had two options, land perfectly on the aircraft carrier or land on the ocean. There would be no recovering from this descent.

“On final approach. Flaps full. Speed 300.”

The roar of the engines was now audible in the tower. It rattled the glass. This plane would take up every inch of the runway and its wings would span the full width of the ship. Compared to the plane, this aircraft carrier seemed more like a sheet of notebook paper.

“Landing in five… four, three, two…”

The plane suddenly dwarfed the runway. The weight of it rocked the carrier. A pair of reverse thrusters built into the engines ignited in front of it. The brake lines caught the tailhooks and screamed under the strain. The plane passed the tower, rumbled further and further to the edge and then stopped completely, its nose peeking over the water.

A smattering of applause echoed throughout the tower. “We did it! We did it! That was the hard part wasn’t it? Get the crew down, have medics on board just in case the force of the stop caused any injuries.”

While the crew scattered, Foli smiled, his teeth a brilliant white, his black eyes twinkling. “Grant… it’s been far too long. How have you been doing my friend? Will you still recognize me? I wonder.” He chuckled.

Foli was one of a set of quadruplets. His mother had two eggs fertilized that day and by luck, both of them divided into two sets of twins. They were all born on the same day and seemed to have the same spirit in them so it was impossible to tell them apart as babies even for the most experienced spiritualist. Normally, the children would be named after the day of the week until they were given their permanent names. As it turned out, they were given the names of their birth order and that was that.

The name Foli meant first son, Atsu meant the younger of twins, Do was the first child after twins, and Dofi the second child after twins. His three brothers were also on this ship, scattered throughout the crew. Those onboard had no trouble telling them apart thanks to the uniform system of the West Africa branch. The gold crown on his hat meant he was the First Officer. But without his hat, it was very difficult to tell for those who didn’t know them well, and it wasn’t uncommon for his brothers to disguise themselves as pranks. He wouldn’t meet his friend today. His youngest brother, Dofi, would meet him instead.

He walked out of the tower where his brother was waiting and passed his his hat. Looking at them was like looking at a reflection. The same curled hair, cut short in the same buzzed syle, the same smile, and broad nose.

It was Dofi’s idea to play the prank. He was always the jokester and the one who initiated play on the ship. Atsu, the Chief Engineer was up to his ears after making the modifications to the ship for this mission. And Do had to stay on watch, keeping a careful eye on the stirring atmosphere just a few hundred miles distant. Although they were all the same age, Foli was expected to be the responsible representative and more was required of him as the oldest brother, even if he was only the oldest by a few minutes. So he wasn’t allowed to be seen playing, drinking or smoking.

Dofi screwed the hat on his head. “I’ll say I stole it.” He said, turning on his heel with a wink and then, pulling his face into a stoic frown, marched straight towards the bridge. When the other crew saw him they quickly pulled up in a sharp salute, thinking he was the captain.

The West Africa Branch had managed to remain under the radar for much of history. Africa had few mountains to guarantee a sufficient amount of steady rains. So great buildings and permanent settlements were mostly confined to the coasts and river valleys. The rest of Africa was forced to follow the shifting weather. The most valuable items one had had to be portable. So the hybrids of Africa were always mobile and moving. They kept their secrets with them in oral traditions, and carried their alchemical knowledge in the form of clothing, necklaces and even scars and tattoos. When the tidal wave of destructive colonization smashed to ruins the cultures of millions and the cutting knife of modern country borders separated allies and grouped them with enemies, and the explosion of civil war blew countries into eternal cycles of poverty, the hybrid life of West Africa was like a serpent, sliding under it all, with a secret network of transportation, communication and trade.

Anjou landed on the shores searching for such treasures. They were aware of him immediately and shied away. After all, those Europeans were nothing but looters and could not be trusted. They offered him fakes in hopes of luring him off their land. He saw through their counterfeits, but showed a surprising amount of restraint and tolerance for their hesitance. After a few years of negotiations, they finally trusted him enough to grant him a single piece of exquisite art that contained the alchemical formula for a special kind of dragonslaying metal. In return, he agreed to keep them secret for seven years. 

Those seven years passed and the promise was kept and the relationship grew a bit more open. They began to send their young men and women to the college. Foli attended along with Grant. Sadly, the death of Anjou was an uncertain time for the College. They didn’t know this “Lu Mingfei” or this “Von Frings”. But Foli knew Grant Baldwin and he couldn’t refuse a request for help from a friend. Grant said he needed people who could keep secrets and no one kept secrets like the West African Hybrids.

The crew that would welcome them rolled the tall stairway up to the plane’s door and arranged themselves in a long row spanning its length, hands folded behind their backs, looking like a row of sharply dressed dominoes.

The door finally opened and Grant exited first. He looked out over them and stepped easily down towards the ‘Captain’ who gazed at him with a serious air. For a moment, the two stared at each other not saying anything.

From his perch in the tower, Foli could hear what was being said through the wire Dofi wore. He grinned as he heard his brother say, “Welcome to my ship, Director.”

Grant’s voice, at its most deadpan and dry tone said, “Since when did Foli grow a mole on his cheek? Where is he? Which brother are you?”

Within the tower, Foli tilted his head back and howled with laughter, his joy at his brother’s prank failing was intensified by the fact that his friend still remembered him after all his time. “Which brother are you? Hahaha…” He leaned forward and clicked the PA system and his voice boomed over the speakers attached to the tower. “Good morning, Mr. Baldwin! Long time no see! Hahaha!”

“Was this a test?”

“Yes! And you half passed. For the second half, you will have to find out for yourself which brother is he!”

The rest of the line of crew also grinned but kept their laughter in check as Dofi gave a bow with an elegant leg. “We’ll show your students a good time. They need rest while we prepare the mission.”

The students piled off the plane in a rush, eagerly waving and looking around. Foli watched carefully, making a checklist in his mind of each face. He’d gotten the roster from Baldwin of those approved for the mission, so when he saw a woman get off he straightened with surprise.

He didn’t remember any women being on the roster. She seemed young, her skin was only the color of a latte, but her hair was long, coiled and beautiful. She carefully stepped down to the ground and took her place in line to wait for her luggage.

He turned off the PA. It seemed that Grant had his own surprises. “Ensign… who is the girl?”

The woman at the radar shook her head. She’s not on the roster. There’s no female name on the manifest.

He rubbed his chin. He knew he should trust Mr. Baldwin, but he also knew that he only had so much authority. The School Board would easily overrule him. 

“Find out what you can about her.” He turned. “I will make my way down to the deck.”

[chromecutie]

Not A Ghost - part 42 (epilogue)

A/N - Multi-part fic. Colossus x OC where OC has come home after being wrongfully imprisoned in the Icebox. Warnings for whole fic - references and flashbacks to harsh prison environment, including various types of abuse.

NEW WARNING - fictional police brutality. Takes place shortly after events in Deadpool 2. Whole thing will end up on my AO3 eventually.

Masterlist on my profile!

Taglist: @emma-frxst  @ra-ra-rasputiin  @holamor ​  @empressme-bitch  @marvel-is-perfection  @hazilyimagine ​ @marvelhead17 @rovvboat @angstybadboytrash ​ @whitewitchdown ​ @master-sass-blast ​ @mori-fandom @mooleche @dandyqueen @emberbent @leo-writer @silver-stormy . Wanna be added or removed? Holla at me.

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

Three years later.

After the Icebox rescue, Piotr had taken another leave of absence from the X-Men until he was sure Rhonda could take care of herself. The Rasputins argued for months about whether he should rejoin at all, knowing all too keenly the possibility of being snatched up by the DMC. They had settled on a reluctant compromise that he would alternate a month of active duty with a month off.

Rhonda never rejoined the X-Men, and never again tagged along with Piotr on a mission, no matter how Wade tried to bait her. She did, however, hammer into every single active duty member about being careful and made them promise that if they ran into DMC, to either kill them or run. Scott and some of the other members shook their heads and whispered about Rhonda being paranoid, but Piotr, Ororo, Ellie, Yukio, Hank, and Kurt knew better, and they frequently drilled simulations of fighting the DMC. Just in case.

When Piotr eventually resumed active duty, Rhonda was so anxious that she would be nauseous until he came home. Though she had been resistant to getting into therapy at first, she’d found an unexpected friend in Michelle. When they got past their tension and awkwardness of seeing each other as “the other woman,” Michelle made a lot of helpful suggestions. Rhonda started seeing someone Michelle had highly recommended - a therapist who was also a mutant and specialized in helping other mutants. They worked together well, and over time Rhonda worked past her trauma to a life she cherished.

--

A dance class sprang up at the Xavier School. It wasn’t quite ballet or modern dance, but it encouraged students to seek out multiple forms of dance and see how they can fit together. Rhonda studied and gained certification to teach aerial silks and started teaching a handful of students in an additional silks class. Yukio was her first silks student, and she became a skilled aerialist in her own right.

Rhonda found she enjoyed making choreography and videos to her favorite songs. She got her prison tattoos completely covered with a floral pattern that matched the zhostovo tray from her in-laws, just like the way Piotr had painted on her a few times. It was a lengthy process, but once her cover-up sleeve was done, Rhonda started posting videos under the pseudonym Zhostovo. When her following had built enough that people in the comments were begging for lessons, she realized she had outgrown the single room in the Xavier house.

A short drive away, Piotr and Rhonda found a great spot to build a larger studio. There was enough space to teach good sized classes and with the equipment put away, it converted to a beautiful soundstage for recording videos. Friends frequently visited and collaborated - Cable moved the camera or Rhonda herself for dreamlike effects, Russell had developed incredibly fine control with his abilities and was sometimes asked to help with some pyrotechnics. Piotr, Ellie, Yukio, and Wade found themselves in front of the camera a few times when Rhonda asked them to feature or perform a duet with her. Yukio was by far her favorite silks collaborator - it helped that they had similar electric abilities and made that part of their choreography as well.

Piotr lent his talents to paint gorgeous backdrops for some of the videos, and painted murals around the exterior of the studio, which eventually came to be called the Rasputin Performing Arts Center.

--

The court case against the DMC was messy, to say the least. Including Rhonda, there had been nine mutants who had been proven to be kidnapped and thrown into the Icebox with none of their rights honored - no phone call, no lawyer, nothing. For most of the Icebox Nine, as the media had called them, there weren’t even records of them in the Department of Mutant Control’s databases. The DMC itself dodged and weaved around accusations, using the lack of official record to try to discredit the prosecution, declaring it a ridiculous conspiracy theory.

Public perception was mired in reconciling the facts that there were many dangerous criminal mutants imprisoned in the Icebox, and also many who had been detained illegally - the true number of which was impossible to determine if they weren’t even on record. Never mind guessing how many had died over the years before they could be rescued. People didn’t want to believe both things were possible and true, and it gave Rhonda and Piotr a sick feeling their case would ultimately go nowhere, no matter how determined their attorney was.

Rumor had it that the DMC had closed the Icebox and had built a new prison in an undisclosed location. Professor Charles Xavier enlisted hackers to once again find whatever plans they could, but came up dry.

--

The Zhostovo YouTube channel grew quickly. Zhostovo herself was known for incredibly expressive choreography. At first, her videos were uncut wide shots of her rolling some floorwork across her studio space, or wrapped in silks in the air with her hair dyed to match, or sometimes moving through thin air, suspended by nothing the camera could see. She started with performing to songs from the early 2000s, before branching out to more recent hits. Her videos became more complex, with multiple camera angles, close ups, and special effects that at first viewers assumed were digital, until she published a video revealing that she was a mutant, and introduced the other mutants who helped make her videos by adding fire, fog, glowing sparks, and numerous other effects. In a matter of months, maybe a year, people started saying they preferred her videos over the musicians’ official, record label-produced videos.

Zhostovo’s performances for “Work Song” and “Someone New” by Hozier were what skyrocketed her channel’s popularity. There was a bone-chilling soulfulness she poured into those that resonated with many Hozier fans. Zhostovo made a few TV appearances, always flanked by her husband, whose steel form towered over everyone else, and at least one other mutant from the group she had introduced in her videos. She wasn’t young, but her hair was always dyed bright colors, and she had flower petals tattooed on one cheek, matching the folk painting style of the sleeve on her right arm. She was also an outspoken mutant rights activist, and made it clear that she wanted to show the world - humans and mutants alike - that extraordinary abilities can be used for fun and art and self-expression. She emphasized that most mutants were not the violent monsters conservative news stations made them out to be, and that believing them would cost lives every day.

--

On an early spring day, when things were green but there was still a little chill in the air if the sun wasn't out, Rhonda and Piotr were having a picnic on her grave, a special date they did a few times a year. The plot had been converted into a little garden, with just enough of a clear spot in the middle to fit two people having lunch. The granite headstone still stood with the erroneous year of death chipped away, but it was surrounded with rosemary and wildflowers. The season’s first bees bobbed along, looking for the most open flowers, and Rhonda’s grave was easily the brightest and most lively spot in the private cemetery. 

Rhonda’s smile tugged at the flower petal tattoos that covered the old prison tear drops. She gently waved a bee away from her sandwich before taking a bite. Piotr plucked a little sprig of rosemary and added the leaves to his sandwich before starting in on it. 

“You’re quiet today,” Piotr observed. “You seem like you’re in a good mood, but quiet.” He sipped some of the white wine they had packed. He had armored down, and was now able to hold it for hours at a time. He'd kept his beard - it was thick, neatly trimmed, and had just gotten its first touches of grey.

Her eyes crinkled more as she smiled around her bite of food. When she swallowed, she took a deep breath. “I got an email this morning,” she began. “I didn’t wanna say anything about it until I was sure it was real, you know?”

Piotr regarded his wife carefully, playful suspicion growing. “Sladkaya, an email from who?”

The cemetery was quiet, but she looked around anyway, as if checking for an unwelcome eavesdropper. The wildflowers and herbs rustled in the breeze. She grinned so big Piotr was sure he could count all her teeth. Her shoulders lifted as she took a deep breath, “Hozier wants to collaborate on a music video. A real one, not the copyright infringement videos I do.”

Piotr almost dropped his sandwich before he remembered it was in his hand. He set it down and reached for her. Rhonda jumped to her feet and hugged his head to her stomach, both laughing. “That’s wonderful news!” His fingers pressed into her thighs. “Amazing! Is it for a new song? Or one already out?”

She was bouncing with excitement and squealing for a solid minute or two before she sat down again, still fidgeting and twisting with excitement. “I think a new one! His people sent over a contract and an NDA I have to sign before I can hear the song he wants to work on. Do you think Matthew would look it over? I know he’s not an entertainment lawyer, but a contract’s a contract, right?”

“We can ask,” he agreed as they toasted their plastic wine glasses. He watched her eyes sparkle with tears of excitement, the way her curls bounced as she laughed, dyed dark green to match the foliage in her tattoo. The lush blooms and leaves that filled her arm still had a raised texture of the Xs they covered if you looked closely, but the black spaces and gold scrollwork were striking any time she moved. “Is this what you wanted when we were young?” he asked.

“When I thought I was gonna go to Julliard and join a dance troupe?” She thought for a long minute, then shook her head. “It’s better.”

They shared beaming smiles, Piotr’s eyes brimming with tears for his wife's joy, when a fat little bumble bee landed on one of the flowers on Rhonda’s arm. “Oh!” he exclaimed softly. “Hold still, Sladkaya.”

He pulled out the camera he always brought along for these picnics, and captured the moment of Rhonda's surprise, noticing the bee on her tattoo, as she delicately held her wine glass with her four fingered right hand, her gravestone behind her, sunlight playing on her forest green curls.

[daleisgreat]

15 Years of Xbox 360: Flashback Special!

I am usually timely with these, but the holidays has resulted in this 15th Anniversary of the North American launch of the Xbox 360 Flashback Special to be about a month late. The 360 was one of the first major consoles to have a near simultaneous global launch in the three major market territories. With the United States and Canada launching first on November 22, 2005, followed by Europe on December 2nd and finally Japan on December 10th with most other smaller markets over the following year. The 360 had an extraordinarily long life cycle, with it being eight years until Microsoft launched its successor, the Xbox One. I had major highs and lows with the 360 so get ready to take in my journey with the system. Like with past system specials here, I recorded podcasts based on RPG games and comic book games that released on the 360, PS3 and Wii and have embedded them at the bottom of this entry for supplementary material if you crave even more 360 games to learn about. Be forewarned, this is my lengthiest Flashback Special yet, so I have implemented bookmarks for ease of navigation you can click or press on below! With that out of the way, the last special I did here was on the PS2, and I want to begin the 360 Flashback Special the same way by expanding upon its unavoidable….. CHAPTERS Part 1 – The Hype Part 2 – The Launch Part 3 - Reinventing Dashboards with Blades & Achievements Part 4 - Revolutionizing Downloadable Games on Consoles Part 5 - An Awesome Debut Year of Games Part 6 - Upgrade to HD Part 7 - Three Red Lights Part 8 - Kinect + Avatars = Wii’s Userbase Part 9 - Backwards Compatibility & Indie Games…..not those Indie Games Part 10 - For the Love of Online Co-op Part 11 - Bringing on J-RPGs and Doubling Down on Western RPGs Part 12 - Becoming a Pinball Wizard Part 13 - Racing Away to One of the Best Eras for the Genre Part 14 - The Fad that was Plastic Instruments Part 15 - Non-Kinect Casual/Family Game Hits and the Failure that was NXE Part 16 - Wanna Wrassle? Part 17 - Sports-ball Forever! Part 18 - No Russian, No Cauldron Part 19 – Dubious Honors Part 20 - Lightning Round Quick Hits Part 21 - ”It’s an Ocean” (THE END!!!) Part 22 – You’re Still Here!? Well then…. (STINGER!!!) The Hype Microsoft garnered a lot of attention by pulling the plug on its original Xbox early because of the PS2 being an unstoppable global force, and was determined to launch its system a year before the PS3. The Dreamcast had huge success in North America for its first year by launching ahead of the PS2 a year early, so I could see where they were coming from. I covered E3 2005 for the long defunct gaming site, VGpub. I recall getting a closed door tour with a few other gaming press members for the Xbox 360 and was shuffled around to a few isolated booths that showed off the 360’s “blade” dashboard interface and went over some of the functions of the system. I recall being shown Kameo running side-by-side an unreleased build on the original Xbox to demonstrate the 360’s horsepower. 360 had a couple games playable on the show floor that year with Top Spin 2 and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. From my brief time with those two games what I took away the most was the much-improved controller being lighter, slightly more ergonomic, and the much appreciated inclusion of the shoulderbumper buttons to replace the peculiar white and black buttons from its predecessor. Of the several games I was shown and/or played from E3 2005, the one that impressed me the most was Saints Row. I walked out of that demonstration thinking it looked like the first viable open world contender to Grand Theft Auto after countless watered down GTA-clones were flooding the market. Sure enough, Saints Row did not disappoint the following year and would have three more successful sequels over the years.

Back when cable TV mattered before the dawn of streaming, this MTV reveal event delivered on building anticipation for the 360.

Microsoft’s E3 press conference, which happened in tandem with a much publicized MTV reveal event of the 360 filled with all kinds of celebrities made it impossible to avoid the 360 launch hype building up to its November launch. Then there was Microsoft’s truly extraordinary “Zero Hour” launch event in the Mojave desert to give people the opportunity to travel all the way there just to buy an Xbox. Then there was the Mountain Dew contest where they were giving away 360s every so minutes and you increased your chances to win by entering more codes on their website, and yes, I must have entered at least a 100 codes from weeks of gathering bottle caps from co-workers to no avail. All this blitz of marketing engagement made it impossible to not pay attention to the 360’s launch. I was a huge fan of the original Perfect Dark on N64, and thus was eagerly stoked for the prequel, Perfect Dark Zero which made it a day one buy for me. Amped 3 wound up as the second game I pre-ordered for launch day, and it was a solid snowboarding game, which got a significant boost from its irreverent narrative that pushed me through playing it. The Launch With my pair of launch games pre-ordered I went on to count down the days until the 360’s launch. I thought I had my launch system guaranteed on November 22nd, but last second shenanigans prevented me from buying it at the final hour, yet I was able to procure dibs on the first batch of second wave systems that hit retail three weeks later. Launch window systems came with a couple limited pack-ins in the form of a DVD remote control (yay?) and the downloadable XBLA puzzler game, Hexic HD. Hexic HD was a perfectly fine hexagonal based puzzler from Alexey Pajitnov, the same designer who invented Tetris, but I mostly played Perfect Dark Zero in those opening months of the 360. I only got about halfway through the campaign, but I played a ton of deathmatch with friends and/or solo against bots. Like the previous game, PDZ had a plethora of multiplayer options and maps and tided me by splendidly during the first months of the 360’s lifecycle.

Perfect Dark Zero and Amped 3 were my first two 360 games and both held me over nicely during those initial launch window months! Over the next few weeks I played a fair amount of launch games my friends brought over and picked up/rented a couple more. Top Spin 2 I played far more than I thought I would and wound up finishing its lengthy career mode. Call of Duty 2 was a local multiplayer hit that friends repeatedly brought over. A few years later I eventually picked up Need for Speed: Most Wanted and got immersed working my way through its “blacklist” of rival racers to vanquish. Launch title Condemned: Criminal Origins I did not start playing until recent years, and I am kicking myself for not starting it sooner as it is a trip of a suspense/thriller first person game consisting of intense hand-to-hand and melee weapon combat over traditional firearms FPS weaponry. The game is still fun to this day and I have made it a ritual to play it on Halloween for the past three or four years. Reinventing Dashboards with Blades & Achievements

Also worth highlighting here during the launch was familiarizing myself with the much-loved “blade” dashboard in the launch window. The four blades were filled with many options to separate game, videos, photos and music media. I made heavy use of custom soundtracks on the original Xbox, and loved how the 360 had support for it built into the user interface so they could be dropped into any game. Dashboard and online features on the original Xbox like friends list, voice chat, game invites and more carried over on the 360 and later evolved into so much more through system updates that introduced must-have features like Party Chat that made it so several users can voice chat together regardless of what game any of them are playing. It made catching up with family and friends on weekend game nights more manageable. The biggest hit of the UI during that launch window was Microsoft debuting achievements that were mandatory for all games. These became an instant sensation among any ardent game player when accomplishing the criteria for an achievement and hearing the endorphin-rush of a sound effect and accompanying on screen graphic that indicated you unlocked another achievement. Most of the launch window games had straightforward achievements like finishing campaign missions or getting X amount of wins in sports and racing games, but they eventually evolved and encouraged users to play games in new ways I never thought of (Crackdown was a great early example of this with its achievement design). Also the way the Blades made it easy and irresistible to compare what achievements you accomplished in a game against other people on your friends list that it only upped the friendly competition between friends to see who could unlock more achievements. It is gratifying to see Microsoft allowed each Gamertag’s linked Gamerscore to carryover from 360 to Xbox One and now Series S|X. While achievements are still around today, and I occasionally dive into going out of my way to unlock some if I am enjoying my time with a game, they do not compare to the early years of the 360 where achievement-mania was running wild. Revolutionizing Downloadable Games on Consoles

This was also the first time a major console had an online digital store implemented at launch. The original Xbox had a scaled-down store they experimented with late in its lifecycle with about a dozen smaller classic arcade hits and smaller sized web browser-esque “flash” games of its era that could be purchased, and the 360 expanded on this bigtime. Initially, the 360 digital game marketplace known as “Xbox Live Arcade” launched with games maxing out at 50meg download limits so the game could fit on a memory card, so all of the first year or so worth of XBLA games were mostly re-releases of smaller-sized arcade classics like Smash TV, Contra and Gauntlet along with similar simple browser-based flash game of its era like Bankshot Billiards 2. Over the 360’s lifecycle though they kept increasing the game size limits to the point where disc-based games were coming out digitally and were multiple gigs in size as memory card and hard drive storage options increased. During the first few months of the 360 after launch developers were not flocking to releasing XBLA games because they were unsure if they were going to take off like digital games were slowly starting to on PC at that point. The launch dozen or so XBLA games were met with success, but developers were not anticipating it so in those early months only one or two new XBLA games hit a month. The big breakout XBLA success was a straightforward adaptation of the card game, Uno that launched in May 2006. I can attest for many sessions of simple, pick up and play rounds of Uno while catching up with friends over voice chat online. Microsoft eventually patched in support for the 360’s first webcam, the “Vision” camera, which lead to some peculiar matchups with strangers online who wanted to make sure to demonstrate all their adult substances they were consuming that evening. Later throughout 2006 and 2007 XBLA grew to releasing a game every Tuesday, and Microsoft enforced every XBLA game have a demo/trial so it was an eager experience to see what game would be hitting that Tuesday, because most of the time Microsoft did not announce the game until maybe a day before at that time.

It took over 20 years, but it was worth it to relive the iconic X-Men arcade game with online co-op, and EA did a bang-up job bringing back NFL Blitz for two of my most played XBLA titles! There are so many success stories of XBLA games to go on about, but I want to highlight a few of my favorites. Seeing the re-release of many classic arcade, 8 and 16-bit titles with enhanced graphics and online support was a big win for XBLA in this department. I remember interviews with the XBLA executives from this time answering fans demands and going through the legal hoopla with Konami to bring back arcade favorite beat-em-ups like TMNT, X-Men and The Simpsons, and all with online play! This treatment went doubly so for fighting games. It started with Street Fighter II: Turbo receiving the XBLA treatment, and within years Capcom, SNK, Namco and other studios were porting over their greatest hits onto XBLA like the first two Marvel vs. Capcom and Soul Calibur titles, many King of Fighters re-releases. My personal favorite is the remake, Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix that saw all new gorgeous artwork and a new officially endorsed ReMix soundtrack from the fantastic ocremix.org community.

Non-fighting game wise I was surprised by EA Sports’ revival of NFL Blitz. It is one of the few games I somehow got addicted to online, and become somewhat legitimately good at too and was able to genuinely earn the 10 straight online wins achievement against random ranked opponents! Renegade Ops is an addicting twin-stick shooter in an mini-open world unleashing destruction as pint-sized vehicles with a gruff CO barking orders from the chaotic minds from the team that also made Just Cause. Valiant Hearts I originally played on 360, and loved the passion they showed on their unique adventure/action take on a World War I game. I 1000% related to Double Fine’s take on being a wide-eyed kid caught up in the whimsical spirit of Halloween in both of its RPG-lite Costume Quest titles. Fans of past Sega consoles like the Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast were well treated, and new fans emerged after a plethora of XBLA re-releases of titles like Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, both Sonic Adventure games, Daytona USA, Ikaruga, Virtua Fighter 2, Nights, Jet Set Radio, Sega Bass Fishing, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi, Rez and others saw new life in XBLA form. The Genesis saw packs of three games re-released in bundles themed around best-sellers in the Streets of Rage and Golden Axe 16-bit entries. Although I would recommend skipping the XBLA Genesis packs in favor of the 360 disc release of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection that has 40 Genesis games and bonus unlockable Arcade and Master System titles. Sega obviously treated its back catalog well on the 360, and I put in many hours revisiting these past favorites. I bought into the hype for Shadow Complex, and it became the first “MetroidVania” I ever finished. Hydro Thunder Hurricane perfectly captured the nature of the 1999 arcade boat racer, while successfully evolving its gameplay into the HD era. Adorable puzzle-platformer Ra-Skulls brought back pleasant memories of Mr. Driller! Twisted Pixel’s Comic Jumper made smart use of implementing FMV-video into its charming superhero platform-action title. Despite its stomach-turning title, Deathspank is a lighthearted action-RPG I saw through to the end with a twist ending I did not see coming. That same developer, Hothead Games, released the first two turn-based RPG Penny Arcade games I ate up that perfectly encapsulated the popular web comic in videogame form.

Two of my best-of-class XBLA recommendations are Trials HD and its sequel, Trials Evolution. It is an exemplary example of the adage, “easy to learn, tough to master.” Its quirky, bouncy motorbike and instant reloading spawns made it easy to succumb to endlessly retrying its inventive stages after each wipeout. It also had innovative use of implementing Friends List leaderboards with their ghost times appearing as you play, just teasing you more and more upon each crash when coming close to usurping their times! The sequel added online multiplayer that clicked and made perfect use of Trials unique gameplay. Microsoft I recall got a lot of flak for their curating policies for XBLA at the time because they would only allow one game to release each Tuesday, and there were many indie developers lashing out for being on the short end of the stick for not getting their game slotted for release on XBLA. Eventually Microsoft upped it two XBLA games a week, with usually a more anticipated game hitting on Tuesday and a lesser known title from a smaller studio hitting on Friday. Looking back on this the obvious downside is the lack of quantity of XBLA titles with only one or two releasing a week, but the curation process lead to the hit-to-miss ratio of them being significantly in favor of the hit range. Sure there were some stinkers that creeped in their like the disappointing Turtles in Time Re-Shelled remake, but the good outweighs the bad greatly in the XBLA market, especially compared today to the ridiculous amounts of low-rent DIY shovelware hitting every week on all consoles with there being seemingly no restrictions for any developer to get their game on a current console, for better or worse.

The digital store also made game demos more easily accessible instead of the traditional demo disc, and downloading demos in the early years of the 360 was kind of a big deal, especially when they had major opening acts of action and intriguing narratives like the Prey and Just Cause demos that made a huge impression on me and triggered me to rush out and buy them. This also worked against games, with the most egregious case being EA Sport’s planned reboot of its basketball series with NBA Elite ‘11’s demo being so plagued with bugs and glitches, that EA infamously flatout cancelled the game days before its street date release and forced retailers to return their copies of the game. That last minute recall tempted overzealous retail employees to snatch up precious copies to make it one of the rarest physical releases on the 360, with copies going on eBay for many thousands of dollars. An Awesome Debut Year of Games

I have no idea if it was happenstance, or intentionally planned, but it worked out pleasantly in the 360’s favor in its first year of next-gen exclusivity they had one or two AAA exclusive games launching per month. Noticing multiple users on my friends list playing the latest AAA game, and with the dawn of podcasts in 2005 featuring their affable hosts discussing the latest games in exhausting detail on launch week is what I feel created the horribly named sensation, “Fear of Missing Out.” I ate up gaming podcasts upon discovering them in 2005 with 1up Yours, The Hotspot, Broadcast Gamer and Team Fremont Live being early favorites of mine and influencing my gaming purchases with their genuine positivity on the latest games that made it difficult to ignore their top picks. They, along with traditional print and online gaming press made it easier to keep up with the latest must-have game of the month for the 360’s first year. A month after launch Dead or Alive 4 snuck in at the end of 2005. It was the first fighting game on the system, and with it having a Spartan character from Halo’s universe as a guest fighter, and an innovative-for-the-time pre-fight lobby system lead to me spending many hours in it online and offline. I was terrible at it, but still had countless hours of fun, even while legitimately earning the dubious zero point achievement for 25 straight online losses.

Oblivion’s Adoring Fan I loved seeing respawn every couple of in-game days to tag along on my adventures before quickly getting slaughtered, and Test Drive Unlimited was an unprecedented always-online open world racing title that laid the foundation for Forza Horizon and The Crew! A couple months later, the first big RPG hit on 360 with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It was a huge improvement from Morrowind, and this Western open-world RPG was publisher Bethesda’s first mainstream console hit. It took me well over a hundred hours to finish that I spread out over the course of five years (just in time for Skyrim!). I had to resort to abusing the hell out of the dupe glitch for infinite invisibility potions to get past those dastardly Oblivion Gates, but it was an immensely gratifying experience to complete and fully 1000 gamerscore Oblivion! Pro tip, make sure to avoid a near freak-out experience like I had and have a bow in your inventory on the final Thieves Guild mission where you steal an actual Elder’s Scroll!

The string of big-release games kept rolling through 2006. Test Drive Unlimited broke new ground for the racing genre with its always connected open world! Before From Software had blockbuster success with their string of Souls games, they were known at this time for their niche mech games, and had their most success yet with the release of Chromehounds in 2006. The online-focused mech game was more accessible from their previous feature-extensive Armored Core titles. A pair of popular third-person Tom Clancy games hit in 2006 with the first Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Rainbow Six: Vegas titles. I rented both of these and was terrible at them online, but I do recall having fun as the decoy in Vegas to draw out enemy fire so my friends could pick off my assailants! My anticipation for Saints Row paid off, and it wound up being an awesome GTA-clone done right that year! The first Gears of War was the big 2006 holiday release from Epic Games, riding the success of several hit Unreal FPS games, but long before their current Fortnite fame. It lived up to the hype and delivered with its unapologetic brand of in-your-face gore, and smooth drop-in/drop-out online campaign play. It became one of my favorite franchises on the 360, and I would up playing through the campaign of every single game released to this day! The final big 2006 release I want to highlight is Dead Rising’s brand of campy, zombie mayhem from Capcom that became a huge new IP for Capcom and also the catalyst for many 360 owners to… Upgrade to HD Up through most of 2006 was when I used a traditional CRT (AKA “Tube TV”) as my main gaming television. HDTVs were first noticeable on the market during the PS2/Xbox/GCN era, and a fair number of games supported HD resolutions (especially on Xbox), but HD graphics were never a marquee bullet point of that gen. That all changed with Dead Rising. For the first several months I remained content with the CRT visuals of launch window 360 games, then when playing the Dead Rising demo, I could not help but notice the game’s text was rather tiny and kind of difficult to read. Upon listening to podcasts I learned I was not alone on this and it turned out the game’s text was optimized and quite readable for HD resolutions. Many more games would soon follow this trend in the following months. I noticed this even more when a friend brought over a smaller HDTV and we put them side-by-side running Rainbow Six: Vegas and I saw for myself the difference in the legibility of the in-game text. So yeah, the core graphics for all games where shinier and crisper in HD, but my primary reason for upgrading at the end of 2006 was just to read the damn text. History is repeating itself in recent years with text starting to look smaller and requiring more eye-squinting again to read in games like Wreckfest and MLB: The Show for me, when I later learned that is so because the visuals are optimized for 4KTVs (which I finally upgraded to several weeks ago).

Did you experience the ‘Look and Sound of Perfect’ with 360’s HD-DVD player, along with its killer app of a film in Tokyo Drift? HD movies also arrived to the 360 in 2006 with the release of the ill-fated HD-DVD add-on. Sony getting the better end of the stick in exclusivity deals with studios lead to it losing the physical HD format war against BluRay, and movies stopped releasing on HD-DVD by the end of 2008. I almost impulse-bought the add-on upon seeing it on the clearance rack for $50, but thankfully I held off. By that time however HD streaming was starting to take off with TV shows and movies available to rent and purchase from 360’s online marketplace, and the 360 nabbing a year exclusive on being the first non-PC device to offer streaming Netflix. Streaming movies and TV shows exploded in popularity and before I knew it, almost anytime I logged on nearly half of my Friends list was making use of one of many streaming apps that would become available on the 360. A couple years before the 360 got to this level of success, it had a couple major hurdles to overcome, especially the right-of-passage a vast majority of early 360 owners fatefully dubbed…. Three Red Lights There have been a fair number of platforms that have been notorious over the years for noteworthy faulty hardware ratios like the first three original PlayStations and the problematic powering on trickery required to boot NES games, but those all pale in comparison to the atrocity of the launch year 360 units. Within a few months after launch more frequent whispers started to become prominent of knowing someone who had a 360 that failed on them with the telltale indicator being three flashing red lights on the system. Users would then have to call Microsoft to set them up with a shipping container to mail to Microsoft to repair and mail back. I was the first among my local friends and peers to get the three lights of doom, and I have painful memories of it because my system was lost in UPS transit for three months before I finally got it back after visiting the local UPS center’s lost and found.

360 #2 only lasted several months before red-lighting in 2007, and the third met its expiration date in 2011. I will refrain from going into the nuts and bolts of the architecture problems, but in layman’s terms Microsoft was in such a rush to get that year head start on Sony, that a high amount of faulty chips made their way to manufacturing and resulted in the system’s high failure rate. To Microsoft’s credit, they gave all launch year 360 owners an extended three year warranty to get their system replaced free of charge, which I took advantage of twice. The third one died after the extended warranty, but by that point Microsoft had a slim version of the console on the market releasing alongside Gears of War 3 that I snatched up, and **fingers crossed** have had no issues yet with. Being the first to be hit with the three red lights amidst my immediate local circle of friends and co-workers made it interesting. Over the next year every couple of months another friend would call or text me, and/or another co-worker would catch up with me at work and relay to me their troubles of their 360 bricking and I would be their unofficial tech support on how to get ahold of Microsoft to the point where I still remember the phone number to this day (1-800-4MY-XBOX) to get set up with the replacement system. I wound up buying a hard drive transfer cable to transfer data to new hard drives when switching systems and I recall at least a handful of people borrowing it from me when they switched systems due to switching systems and/or upgrading hard drives. In a bizarre twist, I will put a curse on Hollywood Video for my first two 360s red-ringing! The first time it happened I was playing a rented copy of Chromehounds. The Hollywood Video curse struck again in 2007 when renting Shadowrun caused my 360 to crash!!! As ubiquitous as the three red rings became, Microsoft wanted to ensure a 360 makeover image with a marketing assault for the 2010 launch of… Kinect + Avatars = Wii’s Userbase Nintendo’s Wii launched Holiday 2006, and the motion-based console was an initial sales juggernaut, and it took over two years before it was commonly available on store shelves. Both Sony and Microsoft initially had meek responses to it with Sony essentially patching in motion controls in time for the PS3’s launch with the Six Axis controller that was not that well received or regarded for its precision, and the 360 had the aforementioned Vision Camera, which was essentially Microsoft’s take on an Eye Toy that only saw a handful of games support it for motion controls. Holiday 2010 saw both companies with a meaningful response with PlayStation Move on PS3, and Kinect on 360.

Microsoft pulled the same marketing strategies as Nintendo did years earlier intentionally marketing the Kinect towards families and advertising it heavily on daytime television. Most of Microsoft’s Kinect games were more-or-less their takes on the hit Wii versions. This is when Microsoft implement cartoony characters that could be implemented across games called “Avatars.” They were especially prominent in Kinect games, and one cool side effect for them was the many digital clothing items for them that could be either bought off the Avatar Marketplace, or unlocked for free by playing through games. I am especially proud of my You Don’t Know Jack dummy, and goofy oversized head ornament I unlocked from finishing Comic Jumper. A fair amount of late gen 360 titles supported Avatars in-game, which made for some interesting sights like having your Avatar onstage in Guitar Hero 5 jamming out next to Kurt Cobain. Microsoft’s gamel paid off, and for two-to-three years, the Microsoft moved millions of units of that camera. It is safe to sumrise that the 1-2-3 punch of Kinect, Move and smartphones all combined to steal the “casual gamer” userbase that the Wii was known for and the Wii’s console sales in America plummeted from 2011 onwards. The Kinect boosted 360 console sales so much from the Holiday 2010 period until the Xbox One and PS4 launches in Holiday 2013 that in that three year timeframe Microsoft sold the most systems in America for all but a handful of months. By the Holiday 2013 launch of the Xbox One/PS4, the 360 overcame the Wii’s sizable lead to become the best-selling console of the Wii/360/PS3 generation in America.

Only Kinect game I ever played was the river-rafting follies seen in Kinect Adventures, but surprise hit games like the Gunstringer seen above tempted me to almost get a Kinect on multiple occasions. I never bought a Kinect, but did play Kinect Adventures at a friend’s….yes, it was that damn river raft mini-game. I paid attention to the games releasing for it and supporting the peripheral, and a few looked like genuinely entertaining games and went on to have critical acclaim. Many traditional games added optional “Better with Kinect” features like zoom-in art gallery halls, or audio play-calling in sports games. Even though the ardent game player in me despised the change in direction Microsoft took with the Kinect, I cannot deny there were still several games I wanted to try on it after seeing the positive reactions for Harmonix’s trilogy of Dance Central games, Twisted Pixel’s The Gunstringer and even the limited on-rail experience that is Fable: The Journey. Backwards Compatibility & Indie Games…..not those Indie Games Hitting around the same time as Kinect was Microsoft patching in a new division of purchasable digital games initially called Community Games, but later rebranded Indie Games. Microsoft made its XNA development tools easily available for almost any level of experienced developer. This lead to a deluge of DIY games that looked like they were made as a semester long development school project flooding the Indie Games channel. Some developers embraced the campy nature of the amateur works that dominated the 360 Indie Games scene, with Silver Dollar Games especially unleashing a plethora of their…brand…of games like Try Not to Fart and the ironically titled, Why Did I Buy This?

The 360 Indie Games scene left a lot to be desired as seen above with the quality of games from infamous companies like Silver Dollar Games There were a few gems in the rough to be discovered in the Indie Games channel, and like XBLA games, Microsoft enforced a free trial on all games so you knew what you were getting yourself in for before throwing down some hard earned Microsoft Points, which are like regular points, but fun! There are two DLC Quest games that are fun quirky $1 platformers riffing on how gratuitous in-game DLC would become. Tribute Games gained notoriety on here with their adorable Breakout homage, Wizorb. Finally, I was a huge fan of Zeboyd Games that earned their reputation for their 360 Indie Games and I played through and devoured all four of their humorous takes on throwback pixel RPGs (Breath of Death VII, Cthulu Saves the World, Penny Arcade’s Rain Slick 3 & 4) that released as Indie Games. Zeboyd earned their development stripes on the 360 Indie Games platform, and I am happy with their continued success today! For every one of these hits that broke through however, there were at least a few dozen forgettable releases overshadowing them. Indie Games was Microsoft’s answer for their curation policy to XBLA, but as you can see it only went so far.

Zeboyd’s four 360 Indie Games are excellent retro-style RPGs well worth your time and can be found on Steam today to experience these gems! Microsoft had similar lukewarm success with their backwards compatibility efforts on the 360. There was a huge demand leading to the 360’s launch to be fully compatible with all original Xbox games. Microsoft only originally promised that the first two Halo games would be back-compat on 360, but after enough user outcry, Microsoft released several updates over the 360’s lifespan patching in support for what ended up being a little under half of the original Xbox’s library being supported on the 360, but the software-based emulation had a list of issues and bugs that accompanied each compatibility update. Aside from a fair amount of both Halo games, I played through Fable and Spider-Man 2 via 360 back-compat, and ran into intermittent bouts of slowdown with the former, and random little portions of graphic flickering with the latter. Still enjoyed my time with both, but not without these added issues. Speaking of Halo…. For the Love of Online Co-op

The 360 featured countless games that supported online co-op which made playing the latest big AAA title all that more fun. This primarily effected first and third-person shooters with the big example for this being the Halo titles on the 360 (3, 4, Reach, ODST, Halo Anniversary Remake). I played through all five of those games in online co-op and enjoyed them all tremendously. I will give props to Halo 3 and 4 having my favorite narratives, and I loved the final level of Halo 3 being an homage to the last level of the first game where you drive a warthog through a lengthy labyrinth of enemies and terrain to navigate before a time limit expires and everything explodes, MacGrueber-style! Halo 3 brought in four player online co-op, which I experiment with friends online by trying out the “Skull” modifiers which only upped the difficulty and lead to us finishing a good chunk of the game on the highest difficulty. Halo 4 I continue to this day to reference an ill-fated moment I had when playing with my friend Derek, where I was controlling the Scorpion tank whilst marching it up a lengthy incline, and he was walking alongside me and I misinterpreted the level’s geometry where I did not see a turn and nonchalantly drove the Scorpion tank off the edge of a level and plummeted it down to its awaiting death to the erupting laughter from Derek on the headset.

While I had a lot of fun with the Halo titles online, there were plenty of other worthy options, with the first Crackdown standing out among them. Getting lost in that open world with a friend and wreaking havoc with powered-up heroes whose jumping abilities had seemingly no limits was a blast, so was coming up with random challenges for each other like making a competition to see who could race up to the top of the mammoth Agent’s tower first. Saints Row 2 is another open world game that had online co-op, and made discovering some of the game’s secrets I had no idea about like its hidden mall worth going out of the way to show to friends. Dead Island’s online co-op stood out to me with its in-depth crafting system and emphasis on melee combat ala Condemned. The four Gears of War titles on the 360 all feature first-class online co-op. Gears of War 3 I have classic memories of bringing over to a friend’s the night it launched and we set up our TVs next to each other and played through the entire journey over two days. The survival-based Horde modes from the Gears titles created a new sensation for online co-op, and I played many hours of it online in the first three Gears. I even became invested into the “deep” lore of the Gears franchise to the point that I read a couple of the novels. Gears of War: Judgment switched developer to People Can Fly who tried to freshen up the controls and gameplay a bit. They also focused the narrative on Baird and Cole’s origins which did not go over well with the fanbase, and while it was the least popular of the four on the 360 I will still give Microsoft props for trying something different with it.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance’s final boss battle with Galactus was made to experienced and conquered with someone in co-op, and while the Army of Two games weren’t perfect, I would be lying if I didn’t admit to having some fun times with all the games in online co-op If it was not for online co-op I would have not broken my curse to finally finish the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. I started and never finished that campaign on five, yes five, separate occasions with different sets of friends each time and stopped because we either lost interest and/or ran into logistic issues setting up times for everyone to meet together. A former co-worker Sean reached out to me to play with him online and I reluctantly agreed and started it the sixth time, but sure enough we stuck with it and completed it, and it was worth all the starts and stops because it remains years later one of my all-time favorite comic book games. That Galactus boss fight is a final boss fight that I will never forget and a truly epic final encounter to close the game! The second Ultimate Alliance game also featured online co-op and I finished that game on a much timelier basis because a lot of my co-workers also picked it up and we met up regularly for a couple weeks to finish it twice because it focused on the popular Civil War Marvel event that had two separate storylines. It had a more polished presentation, but the first Ultimate Alliance I easily rank as the superior game!

Some rapid-fire quick online co-op memories to wrap this segment up on: The first Kane & Lynch game was an interesting experience in co-op because I played it on this insanely huge HD projector. The first two Borderlands games were both huge hits with my friends and peers that won us all over with its loot-driven FPS gameplay. Credit to Derek for having patience with my crazy work hours and sticking with me for the better part of a year to pick away at and eventually finish Borderlands 2! To a lesser extent, another fun FPS co-op focused title were the Army of Two trilogy of titles. The games all had noticeable control issues, but the teamwork focused gameplay worked for us, and the franchise had a certain charisma to it with their many unlockable masks and charming fist bump animations to equip. Real time strategy games have historically been troublesome to pull off on consoles, but Ensemble Studios found the magic formula to make it work with Halo Wars, and somehow made online co-op viable with it too, and it was another game I found myself teaming up with Sean in a very enjoyable campaign that also featured some of the best CG cutscenes that remain stunning to this day. Finally, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand has likely the most ridiculous storyline of all these co-op titles where you play as 50 Cent himself to track down a prized skull across the middle east that made it a zany quest to just shake my head and go with to see where it took me next, and also for my friend Matt and I to jam out to its hip-hop flavored soundtrack to throughout. Bringing on J-RPGs and Doubling Down on Western RPGs In the console space, before this generation, role-playing games were dominant on the first two Nintendo and Sony platforms. That surprisingly changed this generation. Microsoft made pitches to Japanese developers in the early years of the 360 to release their games exclusively, or at least timed exclusively on the system. This lead to Square-Enix releasing exclusives like Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant on the 360, and porting its MMO, Final Fantasy XI onto the 360 in 2006 and making it cross-platform-online compatible with the PS2 and PC versions which meant it was the first game to share online user bases between consoles from different manufacturers. It took a little over a decade for this to happen again, so this was kind of a big deal. I still recall Square stunning gaming fans with their E3 announcement that Final Fantasy XIII would release day and date with the PS3 version (along with XIII’s two sequels later on), so it was surprising during this time to see Square open up its publishing portfolio on other platforms.

As twisted as its plot may be, I still got a lot out of Eternal Sonata with its highly entertaining battles. Blue Dragon was another early J-RPG that drew a lot of attention that Microsoft was serious about RPGs this gen. Other Japanese developers also released RPGs in the early 360 years with Blue Dragon, Enchanted Arms, Resonance of Fate, Eternal Sonata and Lost Odyssey all appearing. I purchased nearly all these games, but only one I played through of these was the bizarre Eternal Sonata, which is a traditional J-RPG set in the mind of dying legendary composer Federic Chopin. Its plot is as out there as its premise, and I will never forget its equally bizarre post-credits stinger, but I loved its engaging battle system that kept me glued in all the way through. I was also taking a music history class in college at the time, so the brief Chopin historical fact interludes between acts also did a lot for me. While Japanese RPGs took off on the 360, so did…. …. “Western RPGs” from companies on this side of the global hemisphere. Bethesda and BioWare are the two most prominent developers responsible for this slate of RPGs this generation after lighting the fire on the original Xbox. I already discussed my love for Oblivion, and Bethesda capitalized on that success with another blockbuster in the form of Fallout 3. Take the medieval fantasy world of Elder Scrolls and apply a retro-50s post-apocalypse skin to it and you have the formula for another Bethesda best-seller I once again put in over 100 hours in completing the main campaign and all of its DLC expansions. After that I needed a break from Bethesda’s games and have yet to play New Vegas. I did start up the Oblivion sequel, Skyrim and briefly made some headway into that, but got sidetracked by other holiday tent pole releases at that time and it regrettably succumbed to becoming lost in my backlog. I eventually picked up the remaster on Xbox One, and one day I will restart and finish that game!

Giant Bomb’s videos of their complete play-throughs of the Mass Effect trilogy is some of their best work that should not be missed! A series that did not get lost in my backlog was BioWare’s Mass Effect trilogy. The first game I initially got into as an awesome modern-day take on Star Trek, with an engrossing cast of crew mates on the Normandy. The first Mass Effect was a little rough around the edges, so I eventually fell off halfway through, but picked it up a couple years later and plowed right through it. The same thing happened with Mass Effect 2, but the advantage to finishing it in 2014 was that all the bonus story DLC add-ons were released and combined for a gratifying experience all together. ME2 delivered on hyping up being careful with pivotal story decisions that would have consequences in the infamous final “suicide mission” in the game. My initial run through of it saw three of my crew members not survive it through, and it gutted me so much I restarted that final mission and had to compromise with only two crew members passing away. Immediately after finishing ME2 I jumped right into ME3 and this time saw it all the way through within a couple months, luckily by this point the extended ending and all the story DLCs also just finished releasing and I was stunned with what Bioware held out of the core game and I can feel for players who initially played it and missed out on having a central character like Javic locked away behind DLC and missing out on essential storyline DLCs that dealt heavily with the origins of the Protheans and Reapers. The way I played it felt like a complete experience with all the DLC, but without it I sympathize for the critics who stated it felt unfinished upon first release.

There is also the fantastic “Citadel” DLC I want to give props to which is its own standalone swashbuckling adventure full of lighthearted campy jokes, and concludes with throwing a the party of all parties for all your friends! For people who have not played the initial Mass Effect trilogy, at least give a couple episodes of Giant Bomb’s Mass Alex play-through videos of all three games in their entirety a shot. I am almost wrapped up with them as of this writing, and it has been wonderful experiencing that trilogy all over again this way. Like Gears, I became so absorbed into the Mass Effect lore, that I have bought and read all of the novels, and almost all of them are good, even the Andromeda-based ones! I know the first Fable has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism over the years for not delivering on all of its promises, but that does not take away from the final product on original Xbox still being a astounding action-RPG! I treasured my time with it, and the “Lost Chapters” expansion, and late in the 360’s life in 2014 it got the remastered treatment to bring the entire trilogy (and the spin-off Kinect game, The Journey) all on 360. Fable II from what I gathered has been the highpoint of the series from everyone I have talked to. I have only played through the prologue, and failed at getting back to it while covering other games in the gaming press at the time amidst another busy holiday release season. Fable III sounds like it did not win everyone over with its major storyline hook it marketed of overthrowing a corrupt sibling at the throne, and sadly the Kinect game, The Journey was the last major single player installment of the series as of this writing. Becoming a Pinball Wizard I have played various videogame pinball titles over the years, but for whatever reason the 360/PS3 gen is when it got ahold of me and never let go. It started with Crave’s Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. Each real life table replica had their own set of goals to accomplish in order to unlock an achievement for each table, so I kept plugging away, and little-by-little I found hooked into addicting tables like Gorgar, Medieval Madness and No Good Gophers especially being my favorite. Later on Crave released an XBLA pay-per-table platform with tables from multiple companies called The Pinball Arcade. Every several months a new batch of tables were released and I found myself immediately downloading them and studying the in-game instructions for each table to thoroughly learn all of its intricacies and the addicting nature of filtered online Friends-list leaderboards had me plugged in to top the scoreboard for each table.

Well over 100 hours I invested into Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX on the 360. Two of my favorite tables are pictured above with No Good Gophers on the left, and Mars on the right. The same exact thing happened with Zen Studio’s XBLA title, Pinball FX. Their tables were not based on real tables, and as they gradually released more tables for download, they embraced their interactive nature and featured more computer animated toys that flew off of and around the table, and more dynamic special effects on the playfield that simply are not possible on real life tables. Despite them being not lifelike, and featuring more exaggerated pinball physics, I still embraced them when I was in the mood to switch up from the real tables in Pinball Arcade. Zen released a sequel a few years later in Pinball FX2 that had more dynamic community and hub-based features and integrated online friends leaderboards into actual gameplay with in-game pop-ups when your score was approaching a friend’s high-score which only intensified every attempt and kept me coming back more frequently. Some of my favorite tables from the first two PBFX games are the spooky mystery pin Paranormal, the Monty Python-influenced Epic Quest (with RPG stats and leveling that carries over in each attempt!) and the outer space themed Mars. Pinball FX3 on Xbox One/PS4 added even more community based features that keep me playing it weekly to this day, but that is a story for another time! Racing Away to One of the Best Eras for the Genre I believe Microsoft somehow found a way to publish one marquee AAA racing game each year for almost the entire 360 lifespan. They originally rotated between Bizarre Creation’s Project Gotham games, and Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport series each year. I never got into either of those series that much. Forza is the more serious sim, and I have tried out a couple installments over the years, but the intense sim mechanics are just not for me. If I would have put more time into PGR I feel I would have really got into that series, and I have some fleeting memories of getting into the second game for a brief moment on the original Xbox.

While I did not get reeled into Forza Motorsport, I fell hook, line and sinker into PGR’s replacement, Forza Horizon from the developer, Playground. It lightened up the sim-based controls and offered up enough assist options to procure that comfortable blend of sim and arcade racing. I also wound up in favor of its open world hub nature to either drive around to new races and take in the country side, or hang around the game’s central music festival. The first Horizon had such a fitting licensed soundtrack of rock and electronica-based songs that I sought out the entire soundtrack and it is its own separate running playlist for me. Since I did not upgrade into the Xbox One/PS4 gen until 2016, that meant I picked up Forza Horizon 2 on the 360 instead, and thankfully it was not all that downgraded from its Xbox One version. Both games I wound up completing all the races, challenges and finding all the hidden barnyard cars. Yes, I even played through all of the Fast and Furious licensed expansion for Forza Horizon 2 where Ludacris himself as Tej provided voiceovers to set up each race. Before Forza Horizon, another game attempted the same thing a couple years earlier with Test Drive Unlimited. It featured a sorta-GPS replication of the entirety of Oahu as its open world hub and I absolutely ate it up and was white-knuckling the final race which was a one-on-one endurance race against the top ranked AI around the entire outer highway of the island. The sequel was fun too and added another island, but I think one Alex Navarro’s reaction to the opening cutscene in his Quick Look video will be my main takeaway of it. I have mentioned in previous console flashbacks how I love demo-derby racing games, and on 360 Flatout: Ultimate Carnage was king! It is a fantastic follow-up to the PS2/Xbox games, and my brother and I played it online regularly for years, I can go on about it forever, but instead I will embed below a special three-part video where my brother and I raved about why it was one of our favorites….

Many years ago my brother and I made this three-part YouTube series on our fandom for Flatout: Ultimate Carnage The summer of 2010 saw two new arcade racing games debut that both should have been successful new IPs with sequels to this day, but since the two released within a month of each other they presumably took up each other’s player base and both Activision and THQ did not pick them up for sequels. Activision invested in Bizarre for an all new racing IP in Blur, which is essentially conflating the power-ups of Mario Kart with underground street racing, and it was indeed as awesome as that pitch sounds. I played hours of it in the main career mode and online as well. On the other end THQ invested in Black Rock Studios with their innovative racer, Split/Second, a reality show-based driving game where studio directors would triggers obstacles and destructible environments to activate and provided an all-new gripping racing experience. It too was also a riot to endure and 100% finish, but it sadly never received a sequel either.

I loved the Burnout series the previous gen, and EA delivered with an upgraded port of Burnout Revenge that remains my favorite entry in the series to this day. I got into its open world follow-up, Burnout Paradise and developer Criterion were aces with their long-term support of free updates that kept me coming back to it. EA’s other flagship racing series, Need for Speed had a few entries I put serious time into. The 360 launch title, Most Wanted had an intriguing concept of working your way up the “Blacklist” of the most wanted street racers to compete against. When Criterion did an all new reboot of Most Wanted several years later, it combined that concept with the blazing fast gameplay from the Burnout series to my approval. Finally, I will give head-nods of recommendation to both of Sega’s Sonic kart-racers on the 360. They are the top Mario Kart-clones out there, and ooze with Sega fan service. The second game, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed successfully innovated with evolving stages that switched up from racing in karts, then into mini-bi-planes and then onto water-based hovercraft. I completed the careers for both games and put in a fair amount of online play with both entries too. The Fad that was the Plastic Instruments My gut told me the original PS2 Guitar Hero was going to be big within minutes of trying out the original demo in the fabled Kentia Hall at E3 2005. Adored the first game, but the second game was when it went mainstream, and was thrilled with the second game’s HD 360 release in 2007. 2005-2009 was the apex of the genre for my friends and me. There were countless nights of my friends and family passing the guitar around trying to best each other’s scores, and when 360 introduced online leaderboards for each song it upped the competition level even higher. Local city clubs and bars did Guitar Hero tournament nights and my favorite memory from these was on a Guitar Hero III tourney night when it was my turn to go up on stage to pick a random song out of a hat I was the lucky soul to draw one of the hardest songs in the game in the form of Slayer’s “Raining Blood.” I suffered on stage, and barely managed to finish, yet it remains a memory I shall cherish! In fall of 2007, Harmonix splintered away from Red Octane and teamed up with MTV Games to unleash the revolutionary Rock Band that brought in drums and karaoke to the fold for four player co-op play!

I will forever love the countless Rock Band nights I had in the first two Rock Band games that hit in 2007 & 2008, especially the nights I played with my old podcast co-hosts Chris and Scott. I downloaded well over a hundred extra DLC songs over a few years for it, and we would routinely meet up one or two nights a month for Rock Band nights for two years. Almost always, our last song to finish off a session was the final song in the first Rock Band’s career mode that was filled with many wrist-suffering solos, yes I am talking about Outlaws’ “Green Grass and High Tides”. Our Rock Band addiction culminated with the “Bladder of Steel” achievement which we procured when playing every song straight without a fail over the course of several hours! I was almost always the drummer on Rock Band nights. At first no one else wanted to do them, but eventually I got into them and kind of became somewhat decent at it on medium difficulty. One night at an Alice Cooper concert I became entranced at watching the drummer wail away all night that I convinced myself after the show to lay down a $200 pre-order for the premium ION Drum Set for Rock Band….though after a few months something about that bulky set did not gel with me and I did not prefer the way the drumsticks clanked off the pads and I never developed a rhythm for them and eventually gave them away to free up space.

The forgotten gem Rock Band title no one talks about, LEGO Rock Band! Behold one of its awesome boss stages with the Ghostbusters theme song! The plastic instrument genre quickly became oversaturated with numerous entries a year from Activision and EA. At first it was kind of interesting to dive into some of the band focused entries of the series like how Harmonix did a wonderful tribute to The Beatles with reliving their career and its groovy “Dreamscape” stages in The Beatles: Rock Band. The Metallica nut in me feasted on forcing carpal tunnel upon myself with the painfully intricate, yet entrancing solos from almost every track in Guitar Hero: Metallica. By the time Green Day: Rock Band and Guitar Hero: Van Halen rolled around though and other offshoots that I completely skipped like Band Hero and Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits, it was clear the writing was on the wall for the genre. I did manage to sneak in some last doses of fun with a couple other off-the-beaten-path entries though before this genre faded away from its zenith.

The head-bopping mash-ups of DJ Hero with its uniquely intuitive turntable controller and feeding my karaoke addiction with Lips were breaths of fresh air for the genre late in the 360’s life.

Microsoft’s karaoke series on 360, Lips, supplied a fair amount of fun with its unique glow-in-the-dark microphones and four volumes of songs released before Microsoft eventually morphed it into a karaoke pay-per-song app late in the 360’s lifecycle. My buddy Matt introduced me to LEGO Rock Band, which Matt got for free with any Black Friday purchase one year at Kohl’s and we were both nearly burnt out on the genre by this point, but thought we would at least give this graphically unique version a shot. The adorably twee nature of the LEGO visuals with its complementing soundtrack were irresistible, and it instantly won us over. We stuck with it all the way through, and were fans of its music video-esque “boss” levels, with the Ghostbusters theme song stage being one we replayed far too frequently. Another refreshing take on the genre was through DJ Hero and its sequel, DJ Hero II. I loved that turntable controller, and it flawlessly placed me into the DJ world with its mash-up stylings soundtrack and fitting club visuals. Both games were unsung heroes of the genre when they released because they both came out a year or two removed from the apex of the genre’s success, but the DJ & LEGO games brought in some much needed fresh air in that scene. Non-Kinect Casual/Family Game Hits and the Failure that was NXE Now while I almost entirely avoided the Kinect, there still remained deluge of non-Kinect casual party games that were a hit with the family on holidays and friends on game nights. The two Microsoft published Scene It games that came bundled with their user-friendly big button wireless controllers were family favorites for a few years and successful adaptations of the hit movie trivia DVD-board game. A guilty pleasure of mine is legacy licensed trivia/board games/game shows on consoles, and the 360 had plenty of them with solid editions of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Apples to Apples, Risk and Family Feud 2012. Doritos Crash Course seemed initially like a forgettable promotional game that was free on XBLA that only offered avatars racing each other on a variety of obstacle courses, but somehow its simple gameplay was addicting and far more entertaining than it had any right to be at family and friend gatherings.

You Don’t Know Jack was a fun revival of the hit PC irreverent trivia series that was dormant for nearly a decade before THQ brought it back on consoles in 2011. Friends and I played through every episode on the disc and its DLC packs, and I revisited it for several years because of one dumb habit where the adorably jerk-of-a-host, Cookie Masterson, would have a unique greeting to open the game if you played on a holiday. The success from this You Don’t Know Jack revival got the developers at then-Jellyvision to revitalize the brand and include a bunch of other party games in the popular yearly Jackbox games that are still going strong as of this writing. I also wanted to squeeze into this chapter of the flashback Microsoft’s polarizing decision to appeal the UI of the 360 to a more family/casual audience and changed the fan favorite “blades” UI into the detested “New Xbox Experience” (NXE) in 2008. Microsoft was trying to synergize with the equally detested UI of its latest PC operating system, Vista. Tablets were starting to become trendy at this point, and Microsoft was resilient on forcing a tablet-esque UI across all its devices and the results were a total system failure. I was among the many who made their outcry heard over how ugly the many rows of diagonally aligned boxes filled with ads were a visual nightmare on the eyes. I was use to some minor ad implementation in the Blades UI before promoting other 360 games available, but the NXE mixed in all sorts of commercials, movie trailers and other assorted promotions that hit the same wrong nerves as those eye-blasting web browser ads.

Microsoft eventually updated and tweaked the NXE into a much more aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly UI that remains on the 360 boot-up today. With the 360 user base understandably a modicum from what it was in its prime today, it is refreshing to see Microsoft lay off as of this writing with a complete absence of ads on the UI. I will also use this space to shout out the premium theme backgrounds that I have used for many years being the pumpkin patch and winter wonder land themes that are always a delight to see when I boot up the 360. Yes, the Xbox Live 360 servers are surprisingly still online in 2020, 15 years after the 360 launch. Most 360 online multiplayer supported games support peer-to-peer multiplayer so as long as Microsoft keeps the lights on, you will still be able to play 360 games online. Microsoft only kept the original Xbox Live servers up for seven and a half years, so to see them more than double that for 360’s servers as of today is…astonishing. Worth noting is some games like Chromehounds, Final Fantasy XI and all EA-published games utilized their own private servers which the publishers have shutdown long ago, so those games are unplayable online, but a vast majority still support the option. Wanna Wrassle? For several years on the 360, one of my yearly holiday season traditions was to buy the latest WWE Smackdown vs. RAW game and complete the career/season story mode and unlock all of the hidden wrestlers and features over the course of a few months. I did this from WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2007 through 2011. For one of the yearly installments I was so close to unlocking all the achievements to get 1000 gamerscore, but the last one I needed required a grind to complete the main single player career mode five times. I decided at the time this was a perfect opportunity to catch up on past seasons of 24 and brought a second, smaller TV next to my living room TV and absentmindedly button mashed my way through those extra career mode playthroughs, and it took almost the entirety of the second season of 24 to accomplish that feat and earn that final achievement. No regrets!

WWE's yearly Smackdown vs. RAW games featured zombies in their storylines, while All-Stars shifted the gameplay to more arcadey fun for all! The story modes in those yearly WWE games were worth playing through because the writers in some cases got creative and did things that were not possible on TV like having the Undertaker cast mind control spells for example. They added and experimented with a plethora of new modes and options, with the WWE Universe mode being a prime example of going all out creating dream cards and custom storylines. The creation options became incredibly in-depth each year too, in the later installments the developers added a Create-a-Storyline feature that had a surprising level of customization full of custom text entries for dialogue and branching cutscenes. One infamous online community, Video Game Championship Wrestling, became famous for its machinima they created with this system that contained intricate storylines with created wrestlers in its league consisting of video game character icons, developers, comic book & anime characters, fabled movie legends and yes even sprinkling in a few wrestlers. I dabbled in creating a couple simple storylines, but it was too much for me to invest into, but thankfully users could upload and download storylines from the community which added seemingly infinite replay value.

You have not lived until you witnessed an episode of the acclaimed wrestling videogame machinima that is Video Game Championship Wrestling. Will it be Gabe Newell or Dr. Wily who will emerge here as VGCW champion? WWE released a couple spinoff games that were not as feature-dense, and contained more accessible, arcade-like controls. They were on the right path with Legends of Wrestlemania, which highlighted the 80s success of the then-WWF, but absolutely nailed it with WWE All-Stars which featured a hybrid of past legends and current stars, and all of them were intentionally designed to look like roided-out action figures capable of larger-than-life moves like hurling opponents 30 feet into the air in addition to juggling, fighting game-like air combos. This all combined for fun multiplayer sessions with friends and family members who usually are not fans of wrestling games, but genuinely got into the gameplay to my surprise. I rampaged through everything All-Stars had to offer within a couple months after the latest Smackdown vs. RAW game, and was kind of burnt out on wrestling games after this for a while and skipped all future WWE games for several years starting when they changed the branding with WWE ‘12.

TNA iMpact! was from the same people who made All-Stars and had super-fun Ultimate X match as seen above! FirePro Wrestling on the other hand features only controllable Avatars and none of the trademark legacy 2D gameplay the brand is usually known for. There were a few other non-WWE games I tried out before I took a 360 wrestling game sabbatical. Rumble Roses XX was the first 360 wrestling game and the second all-women wrestler game in America after its PS2 predecessor. Never put as much time into it as I meant to, so I cannot leave any lasting impressions on it other than it gave Dead or Alive a lot of competition with its variety of costumes. I did put a lot of time into TNA iMpact! however, which was the game the All-Stars developers worked on before. At the time it hit, I was into the TNA promotion, and the game was a pretty good representation of that product with a fun Ultimate X mode, and a story mode circled around a fictional costumed wrestler named Suicide who went on to become an actual wrestler in the promotion in 2008, and the character has remained there off-and-on to this day. Lucha Libre AAA Heroes del Ring introduced the high-flying luchadores from Mexico with their own exclusive game and featured some familiar past WCW/WWE/TNA stars, but had problematic controls to prevent it from having any lasting appeal. I never played the Kinect motion-based wrestling game, Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, but I have seen clips online to witness it in its near-broken state that lives up to one of my favorite reviews on Game Informer where it became one of their worst rated games ever. There are a couple of low budget Avatar Wrestling games on the Indie Games channel on 360 that are basic affairs, but there is one Avatar-based grappler that somehow got a full fledge XBLA release with the much-respected, best-in-class FirePro Wrestling branding. Those games have been a decades-long line of some of the best 2D wrestling games of all time, and somehow Microsoft was able to secure that branding for an admittedly decent and accessible Avatar wrestling game, but a game that should in no way be worthy of that elite branding. That would be like Phillips securing the Zelda and Mario licenses for their own low-rent made games on their CDi system….oh wait. Sports-ball Forever! Time to highlight some of my favorite go-to sports games on the system. Starting off with football, there I got use to buying Madden every two or three years. I only rented the 360 launch title, Madden NFL 06, which wounded up being one of the worst debut Madden titles on a console ever. This is because of EA’s overblown “Target Gameplay” video they debuted at a previous E3 where the final game, while still graphically a leap above Xbox/PS2, was far from what they teased. To make it worse, that was the same year they debuted the doomed “vision cone” gameplay feature in the earlier PS2/Xbox versions that went over so poorly that they had to disable it as a default option for the 360 version and hide it in the options. This was also the first lead Madden game to remove John Madden himself (and co-commentator Al Michaels) from commentary in favor of a nameless afterthought of a radio-style announcer. Madden NFL ‘06 is easily the all-time worst lead-platform version of Madden!

This video encapsulates why Madden 06 was an atrocity of a debut on the platform…at least it had easy achievements.

EA stepped it up with later entries, with Madden ‘10 remaining a favorite of mine for the brand this gen. I still recall that edition was when EA initially introduced their cash cow microtransaction-focused “Ultimate Team” feature as a free DLC a few months after its release. How foolish I seem now for at first dismissing it as an interesting curiosity I could not bother to invest a dime into ever, but only to see it blow up in DLC sales for EA and become integrated across all of EA’s sports titles and other publisher’s sports games within a few years. I only picked up one college EA effort this gen via NCAA Football ‘12 which was technically free with a six-month subscription to Sports Illustrated, but I got the most out of that game, and was huge into its “Road to Glory” mode. Road to Glory had my created player play out his final year of high school, and then go through a full college season. EA were absolute pros at this point with their college game, perfectly capturing the college game pageantry by jam-packing the it full of college anthems, cheerleaders, mascots and first-class commentary from the old College Gameday crew of Kirk Herbstreit and Brad Nessler. EA was also surprisingly generous with a community create-a-school option where users could create and upload teams and stadiums, and sure enough someone created my middle-of-nowhere Midwest FCS school and high school teams. It remains a heartbreaker (for good reason though) that EA pulled out of college sports games after the NCAA student athlete class action lawsuit, with NCAA Football ‘14 being their final installment. I do not feel that much love for EA though because of how they squashed 2K’s attempt at returning to football videogames with All-Pro Football 2K8. 2K signed on a couple hundred retired legends for their game, and players could pick a handful of legends to be the standout stars on their otherwise auto-generated teams. It was a fun, different approach, which EA quickly put the kibosh on by signing many of those legends away to appear in throwaway historical features in future Madden games. As I mentioned earlier though, EA did win back some favor with me by resurrecting the Blitz franchise with their excellent XBLA version of NFL Blitz.

There were a few other non-NFL games on the 360 I gave an honest try to, with Midway releasing an unlicensed, M-rated version of Blitz before they went bankrupt with Blitz: The League II. It showcases M-rated behind-the-scenes drama storylines, and more brutal and violent hits that bestow it the M-rating, and if you can handle that, then it is worth checking out. Finally, Backbreaker was an ahead-of-its-time pigskin game that debuted an all new physics engine that EA would eventually incorporate into Madden games. While the tech was not quite all the way there, the thing I associate most with that game is it playing P.O.D.’s “Here Comes the Boom” on every…single…kickoff. It was a huge detraction in my review, and I was surprised to see a few weeks later an email from my editor at the time passing along a note from the developers to revisit the game after an update addressing reviewer feedback, which did address a multitude of things, but at the top of the list was reducing the amount of times P.O.D.’s jam played to only twice a game, thank god! On the basketball side of things, I remained a huge fan of the NBA 2K series. The 360 carried over the awesome 24/7 mode I adored from PS2/Xbox era, which was an in-depth career mode for a single created baller, doing a global tour of the street hoops circuit. The 2K games struck gold in NBA 2K11 when Michael Jordan graced the cover and the game added a new historical Jordan mode where he relived his most monumental games with historically accurate rosters, and vintage 90s telecast presentation and commentary. The Jordan mode was a success, and integration of NBA legends became a big selling point on the 2K games going forward with future installments having a theme around the Jordan/Magic/Bird NBA breakout success of the 80s and the iconic ’92 Olympic Dream Team.

EA had a downward spiral with their sim hoops games, and I only tried out a couple demos of the earlier NBA Live titles this gen that did not win me over, including the attempted re-branding of the series with NBA Elite ‘11. That doomed demo was so glitch-laden that it got EA to cancel and recall the game from retailers mere days before its street date, and took them three years to launch another proper console NBA sim. I did love EA’s re-launch of NBA Jam however, along with the XBLA sequel, On Fire Edition. They hit all the right notes on re-introducing the classic arcade gameplay to a new generation. No idea why they have not done another NBA Jam since however, but at least On Fire Edition is back-compat on Xbox One and Series S|X. The PS3 consumed the bulk of my baseball playing time with their awesome MLB: The Show games of that era. However, I do have one chuckle-worthy memory of staying up late playing a lot of 2K’s arcade take on baseball, The Bigs, at a friend’s place one night. We played several games and I recall being impressed at how fast each game breezed by. I skipped all hockey sims this generation too, with the only time I digitally hit the ice this gen being EA’s killer NHL game on XBLA, 3-on-3 NHL Arcade, which delivered the hat trick of arcade fun gameplay, creative power-ups and intuitive controls.

For alternative and single player sports games, I already raved about Top Spin 2 during the 360 launch window. I could never get into EA’s thumb-stick controls for its Fight Night games, but I did enjoy 2K’s Don King’s Prize Fighter, which came from the same team that made the Rocky games on the previous gen I preferred more. Of all the MMA games, I briefly got into THQ’s UFC 2010, but the game always became a chore when gameplay transitioned into ground submissions. I enjoyed Tony Hawk’s Project 8 when it launched, but that series also had a fall from grace with several failed experimental games once EA stepped up the competition with Skate. One of the greatest mysteries in gaming history to me will always be Skate 3’s staying power in sales seeing it on sale for so many years that eventually EA repackaged the game in an Xbox One case with a sticker on it saying it is playable on both the 360 and through back-compat on Xbox One because there were no longer any other 360 retail games on store shelves. I tried a few times to get into Skate, but like the Fight Night games, the thumb-stick focused controls never gelled with me and I could never adapt. No Russian, No Cauldron

For several years straight, from the 360 launch in 2005 through 2012 I played every yearly installment from Activision’s flagship brand, Call of Duty. The first couple of years it was not that much though. Call of Duty 2 I only played several times in local couch multiplayer battles when friends brought over a copy. I always regretted never renting or buying it cheap to play through the single player campaign which I heard is excellent. Ditto that for the original CoD which eventually got a re-release on XBLA as Call of Duty Classic. However, I played through the entire campaigns for the next six games. CoD3 I rented from GameFly and breezed through in a weekend in split-screen co-op with my brother and did not think much of it at the time, but came to learn later that when playing in co-op it removes a few levels that proved to be too daunting to be handled in split screen. Then in 2007 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare released and first person shooters as we knew it changed. 13 years later it still has two of the most powerful moments in a FPS campaign in the form of the nuclear blast and its immediate fallout in the failed helicopter escape, and THE sniping level of all sniping levels in the flashback mission which immerses the player so well into the sniper role at its apex moment, that few other games since have managed to achieve. It overall was an incredibly gratifying campaign, which was equaled with a revolutionary online multiplayer experience that popularized persistent online multiplayer unlocks with a seemingly endless barrage of weapon and character customization unlocks to keep players reeled in. I was never “hooked” into the multiplayer on a regular basis, but starting with CoD4 and for the next few games I would occasionally pop on and play with colleagues who did play all the time, and had a blast catching up while apologizing for not carrying my own with my less-than-ideal kill/death/ratio.

World at War was an interesting revisit back to World War II and I enjoyed Keifer Sutherland’s voiceover talents as a superior barking orders at me throughout. It also debuted its survival variant in Zombies mode that was a hit that year and frequently played with co-workers on game nights. While that mode would become a bigger focus and more expanded with each successive CoD game, for whatever reason it never became as popular or played as much then as in World at War. 2009’s Modern Warfare 2 somehow met the high bar for the quality of campaign that the first game set, and its “No Russian” level I will never forget and I was bug-eyed throughout it as I never experienced anything like it before or since while my character attempted to keep his cover. As good as Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare titles were, Treyarch stepped it up with 2010’s Black Ops and its Vietnam War setting. It remains my favorite single player campaign from this stretch of CoD games. The meaning of the “numbers” touched on throughout the campaign had a meaningful payoff, and I loved how Treyarch sprinkled in their own unique gameplay intricacies like “diving to prone” and my love for the RC Car killstreak bonus in multiplayer. No matter how much of a weak link I was for my coworkers in online multiplayer, as long as I got just one set of three kills straight to get that fun RC Car perk, then I considered that a successful multiplayer session! Infinity Ward had a satisfying conclusion to the Modern Warfare trilogy with MW3 in 2011, but 2012’s Black Ops II was surprisingly underwhelming to me. It felt like they tried to do too much with the campaign, and sprinkled in optional bonus missions I felt obligated to do, but broke up the narrative for me. Of course, it could have been CoD burnout by this point, and I have never played another CoD game since. If I were to play the campaign of just one CoD game after this from 2013 on, what would you recommend?

For five years I anticipated the low budget FPS efforts from Cauldron that had me reliving past historical battles and as a DC Secret Service agent seen above. Interestingly, while Treyarch and Infinity Ward took turns each year this gen delivering Activision’s big holiday FPS hit, quietly another studio, Cauldron, yearly released five budget-tiered FPS titles under the Activision Value banner. These little publicized releases always caught my eye, and I had no idea if it was the case, but Cauldron’s games felt like where Activision would send freshly recruited developers to get their feet wet before getting promoted to the CoD teams. Three of Cauldron’s five games were History Channel licensed games themed around recreating and reliving both sides of war in two installments based around the Civil War, and another in the Japanese theater of World War II. The history nut in me appreciated the History Channel-produced intro video for each level, and it was a budget-friendly alternative come down FPS game to breeze through in a weekend after the latest blockbuster CoD game. Cauldron also did a DC-terrorist themed FPS in Secret Service, and Jurassic Park-inspired FPS titled, Jurassic: The Hunted. I imagine all of these play horribly outdated now, but I still will appreciate them for what they brought to the plate. Dubious Honors

Hulk Hogan’s Main Event and NBA Elite 11 top the dubious honors list for reasons I already ranted on above, but wanted to make sure to at least notate here. Moving on to other bad games, here are a handful that I was not a fan of: Rogue Warrior was a super-short and barebones functioning FPS published from Bethesda, but bizarrely got AAA buzz and marketing. It did have a catchy closing credits song though. Turning Point was an FPS from Codemasters with an interesting concept of a post-WWII shooter if the Nazis won the war, but poorly executed and reason why Codemasters has primarily stuck with racing games since (although they did attempt one more FPS with Bodycount which I did not play, but understand is just as atrocious). One game that went on to have a misrepresented history I reviewed at the time was Bullet Witch. It was a middle-tier single player action game published by Atari, and while it had some problems I made sure to point out in my six out of ten review, I received serious flak from a few friends for overrating the game. While I addressed the game’s issues and marked it down appropriately so, I did have a fair amount of fun with the boss battles and messing around with some of the more powerful spells. Over the years I have seen many bill this game with the label that it is among the worst on the 360 with the same kind of tone and vitriol as ET received on the 2600. Even Mr. Microsoft Larry Hyrb poked fun at the game in an online video long ago. Again it is not a great game by any means, but it is far better than what a lot of people make it out to be.

An XBLA game that got one of their marketed themed event releases (‘Summer of Arcade’, ‘Fall Feast,’ etc.) was TMNT: Out of the Shadows. It looked to be a cannot-miss 3D brawler TMNT game, and with that level of hype how could it go wrong? Very much so in fact, and with some of the worst camera controls in gaming I could not put it down fast enough. Another painfully disappointing TMNT game was the aforementioned XBLA remake of Turtles in Time. It played well enough like the original, but the redone visuals did not capture the spirit of the affable 80s/90s cartoon like the original did, and it stripped out the SNES bonus levels and had poorly substituted voiceovers. Stay away! There were a couple of semi-decent 360/PS3 era Turtles games. Nickelodeon TMNT was a perfectly serviceable brawler that did a better job of bringing back the good memories of the arcade classics than Re-Shelled did. Ubisoft released a single player platformer/action game to coincide with the 2007 CG film, TMNT. It too was pretty straightforward, and not earth-shattering, but at least hit some TMNT fan service marks good enough to be a worthwhile entry. Danger of the Ooze is one that slipped through the cracks that I rarely hear talked about likely because it released late in the 360/PS3 lifecycle in 2014. This should be played by any Turtles fan because this is the standout Turtles game this gen from the platforming masters at Wayforward with their take on a pretty fun MetroidVania-style game the TMNT license seemed destined for all this time. Lightning Round Quick Hits

Microsoft did not release 360’s successor, the Xbox One until 2013, so with eight years between the 360 and Xbox One, a boatload of games hit that system and I played far too many of them which is why this is going on far longer than it should have. There remains a hearty amount of AAA, mid-tier, XBLA and other noteworthy games that I want to give their due, so bear with me as I attempt to rapid fire through these… -I got wrapped in too many open world games this gen, and I want to first give props to RockStar Games for managing to finish two of their behemoths in the form of Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption. GTAIV is the only GTA I finished the storyline for, and Niko Belic will be one of my favorite protagonists. The cell phone activities were initially a chore to retain friendship ratings, but eventually I came around to bowling, cab rides, comedy clubs and rounds of pool. RDR was the ultimate Wild West open world game. Neversoft’s 360 launch title, Gun, was in my backlog still and I blitzed through that in the weeks leading up to RDR’s launch because I just knew it would blow it away. Gun was a decent effort from Neverseft, but quickly became obsolete when starting up RDR, which did not disappoint, and delivered a remarkably atmospheric experience for its time in 2010. I loved getting lost on adventures out in the wild, and that original score is masterful and could not be have been better crafted. That final several hours of gameplay based around the family ranch is an incredibly bold choice of gameplay that will always have a special place with me. Kudos to RockStar with their spooky-themed story expansion, Undead Nightmare, which is a hell of a side story to RDR that is well worth your time all these years later!

GTA IV put a lot of attention on its mini-games that were entertaining shoulder content, and Red Dead Redemption introduced a drop-dead gorgeous wild-west open world I would crave getting lost in and exploring for adventures. -Another one of my top 10 favorites on the 360 released on the same day as RDR, and I am talking about sci-fi third person thriller that is Alan Wake. I got completely absorbed into Alan’s quest to find his wife, and Remedy had a five star presentation to keep me on my seat. Some people criticized its style of combat, but it worked for me, and I believe it will go down as the only game where its deadliest weapon in its arsenal is a flare gun! Easily the spookiest T-rated game I have played. Do not skip out on the DLC episodes that put a nice bow on the story, and the XBLA sort-of time loop sequel, American Nightmare

-Two open world games that I shamefully have resting in my backlog to this day are GTAV and Bully. I picked up both on 360, and eventually picked up the Xbox One version of GTAV. You know what open world games I did play through though? The first two Just Cause titles. This satirical take on the James Bond-super agent was right up my alley, and Rico’s unique gadgetry like hookshots, parachutes, and wide variety of instant vehicle drops innovated in new ways to traverse its gigantic open world. The chaos and destruction those games both were capable of raised the bar with how creative one could be to lay waste to their surroundings. -I already commented above how the first Saints Row lived up to its potential from its E3 demonstration I saw a year before its release. The sequels surprisingly kept getting better and better. The first two games were essentially damn good GTA-clones, but with both games having more zany activities and side missions than in GTA. Saints Row the Third upped the outrageous quotient for its plot and side missions, and was groundbreaking for how far it pushed the boundaries with its whacked out style of storytelling.

-It did not feel right to include it with the racing games above, but another recommended open world title from this era is Driver: San Francisco. Ubisoft and Reflections nailed making an open world driving game without races being the focal point. The spirit-car-swapping feature against all odds is cleverly explained, and actually works! -Despite its popularity I could never get into the Assassin’s Creed games which debuted in this generation. A friend borrowed me the first game and at first I was into its setting and gameplay, but that first game was notoriously rough around the edges and I believe I got hung up on a glitch that prevented me from making progress roughly halfway through, and I have inadvertently been done with the series since. I picked up a few other entries over the years and have been wanting to at least try them, especially hearing how the latest ones keep getting better and better. One day! -I finished my first Resident Evil game on the 360 with Resident Evil 5. That game also featured online co-op, but I ventured fourth and played it solo and still had an impeccable time with it. It put more of an emphasis on action to the dismay of critics, but having not played too much of prior entries that did not bother me, and there were still plenty of intense thrills had throughout.

This is easily my favorite arcade stick ever, and the exquisite 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot made its tall asking price worth it! -This generation saw collector’s editions become out of control, with games packed with all kinds of statures, Master Chief helmets, night-vision cameras and other gadgets for well over $100. The only one of these I invested in was 2011’s Mortal Kombat. I originally was not too hyped for that game because I had my fill of the series at that point after the three good entries on PS2/Xbox, and felt the series had nothing else to offer. My brother however is a big MK-fan and told me how he ordered the $200 edition that came with premium arcade-replica fighter stick. I went to his place to drop something off one day when he wasn’t home, and he told me had the game and stick hooked up and to give it a try while I was there. Within minutes of starting the story mode and realizing how they were reimagining the original trilogy and how they switched up the gameplay for that generation, I became immediately entranced with it and could not think of any other way to play it without that stick and could not rush home fast enough to pluck down a $200 order. I made sure to get a lot of use out of that stick, and is was absolutely worth it!

-Sniper: Ghost Warrior is an unorthodox FPS focused entirely on sniping, and for being a low-budget game at the time I had way more fun than I should have with it. Also loved how it did a 180 from games like CoD, where instead of one sniping mission to mix up the campaign gameplay, here there is one run ‘n gun mission for a break from all that sniping throughout the campaign! I am glad this game had a ton of success and City Interactive has released a few sequels that I hope to emerge from my backlog of doom. -I already elucidated on my Borderland 2 experience earlier. The first Borderlands was a surprise out of nowhere hit that I loved my first few days with it and could not get enough plowing through the campaign online with friends. Unfortunately I went on vacation a few days after it released for a week, and when I got back, sure enough, most of my friends were many levels higher than me and already vanquished the game, so I soldiered on the final third of the game on my own. It was a challenge and a half to beat the final gi-normous tentacle-laden boss, but I managed to squeak by it after gradually picking away from it behind a boulder for nearly an hour!

-I had a unique experience with the Portal games. The first one I initially played for about 15 minutes, quickly became frustrated with the teleporting mechanics and had to step away from it. A couple years later, an old co-worker Rick was one of many by that point stating why those games were some of the best games out there. I told him my case, and he offered to come over and bestow his Portal wisdom upon me. Many thanks to Rick, who did not straight-up spoil and told me what to do to get past Portal’s many puzzle rooms, but instead kind of nudged me into gradually easing into a feel for the core mechanics of the game and it helped greatly! I would not have been able to get into it without him. He had a surprise for me when he left, and left me his copy of Portal 2 to borrow and told me not to give it back to him until I finished it. I knew he was moving in a couple months at that point, and that compelled me to put all my attention into the Portal games. I am glad I did because both games are spectacular, especially the sequel which had a noticeably bigger budget to go all out with a AAA experience and narrative that came together to be one of my favorite games of that generation. -Bulletstorm was another innovative FPS with its implementation of a whip, and combining it with melee strikes and gunplay for a refreshing take on FPSs. It kind of came and went though, and I rarely hear people talk about it anymore, except for briefly last year when it got a re-release on Xbox One/PS4, with an extra DLC to have Duke Nukem replace the original protagonist’s voiceovers for the game. I will also associate the original Bulletstorm release for having one of the worst box arts of all time. It is just a no-frills footprint. If you played Bulletstorm before, sure, it will kind of make sense since kicking is a core melee attack, but if you were a potential consumer browsing games and had no clue about Bulletstorm then I would not blame you for not giving that cover more than half a second’s worth of thought.

-The trilogy of BioShock titles were all high ranking in my top 10 game of the year lists for their appropriate years. The first game immersed me into its aquatic utopia gone haywire, and it stood out from standard FPSs of the time with its heavy emphasis on its narrative and hunting down those audio tapes to get every nook and cranny of the story. Its “twist” was something else for its time, and remains one of my favorites to this day. The sequel had a lot of polarization because it was from a different studio, but I felt they mixed it up by playing as a Big Daddy for the whole game and I could not get enough of freezing Splicers and then doing a drill rush attack that shattered them into pieces. BioShock Infinite was an astounding way to wrap the trilogy with its mesmerizing city-in-the-sky setting, and one of my favorite storylines from this gen. Its two storyline DLC episodes that released around a year later are worth checking out if you missed out, especially the second episode that changed the gameplay into more stealth-based by playing as Elizabeth. It felt like a whole new game, and developer Irrational absolutely perfected the change-up! -Spec Ops: The Line will not light the world on fire for its stick-to-fundamentals third person action gameplay, but what appears to start off as just another rah-rah military shooter, eventually morphs into a far deeper and complex plot than what I thought it was going to be. A book eventually came out thoroughly breaking down its exposition because it stormed up that much of a discussion around it.

-Shmup fans had several worthy entries to play on the 360. Raiden IV and Deathsmiles were landmark new entries for the genre in their time. On XBLA, there were re-releases of a pair of renowned shmups from Treasure: Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. A pair of original shooters also stood out among the XBLA crop with the free of charge student developed game, Aegis Wing and also the beloved Sine Mora that captured the pilot play-by-play stylings of Star Fox and successfully merging it into a shmup. There were also a fair amount of Japan-exclusive shmups for the 360, most notably from respected shooter developer, Cave. Many of them are region-free and can be played on American 360s, so please keep that in mind! -I already told some tales above about my favorite comic book games, and embedded below is a video where I and my friend Matt painstakingly dissect a ton of comic book games that hit the 360. Highlights include the shockingly good movie licensed games, X-Men Origins: Wolverine & Captain America. Not-so-good highlights include the movie licensed Watchmen, Fantastic Four and Hellraiser games. Matt also had a lot more hands on time with the acclaimed Batman: Arkham and Spider-Man games on 360, and I have always respected his expertise in the genre so please give his takes a listen below! -The Telltale adventure/choose-your-own path story-driven games originally started off on PC, but became more and more popular with their console releases. I was 100% into the first two seasons of their Walking Dead games like everyone else. Loved the first one more, but my favorite Telltale episodic game is still Back to the Future. The Wolf Among Us was a fascinating twist on a mature dystopian fairy tale world. I was not impressed by their take on Game of Thrones, but I surprisingly enjoyed all eight episodes of Minecraft. I originally got that for my nephew who was huge into Minecraft at the time to play with, but he was not all that into this genre and I found myself getting into it instead. Telltale was pumping out so many of these episodic series that I could not keep up, and still one day want to go back and play through both Batman seasons they released, and their Borderlands series too which I hear is their best work.

Back to the Future remains my favorite Telltale episodic game, but the event-like nature of the first season of Walking Dead was an undeniable zeitgeist while it transpired. -The LEGO co-op games we know today based off nearly every license imaginable became ubiquitous this gen. Only one I put serious time into and was able to finish was LEGO Marvel Superheroes. This one is special to me because it was the first game that I got my nephew Carter really into right when he was old enough to start grasping modern controller-based games. Had to help him out in quite a few parts, but we got threw it, and now several years later his gaming skills have greatly improved, and I will gladly give him a humble brag on his conquest of finishing the tough-as-nails Cuphead.

-I subscribed to the Official Xbox Magazine for several years, until around 2009-ish, and I was surprised that they stuck with including demo discs for another year or two after that since downloading demos quickly made the discs obsolete. OXM did attempt a few exclusive disc goodies though, and one I always came back to was their own take on an episodic game called OXM Universe that lasted for about a couple years. The disc itself awarded up to 1000 “OXM” points based on checking out all the demos and videos on the disc. Those points could be used in the space ship station game, OXM Universe, which was entirely menu-driven to build space station tech and explore a galaxy. It did lead up to a decent conclusion if you stuck with it all the way to the demo disc that came with issue 100 and upon completing all the final tasks you are rewarded with a lengthy video filled with OXM staff past and present thanking everyone. THAT IS MIGHTY COOL OF THEM TO GO TO ALL THAT WORK FOR A DEMO DISC EXTRA!!! -I think one thing we take for granted in today’s console space is the ridiculous amount of weekly sales and specials on digital games across all platforms. It was not always that way. In the early years of the 360 digital marketplace, for a couple years all that was available was one weekly game on sale and one piece of DLC on sale each week and that was it for a couple years. Luckily, Steam was catching fire with their acclaimed Fall and Winter sales with their monster savings, and that eventually rubbed off on 360 and PS3 and by the end of those system’s lifecycles both started offering a surplus of weekly deals and flash sales. -Digital game preservation is something that is brought up more and more lately, and one thing that periodically ruminates in my mind is how the 360 handles patches/updates. For the longest time, most games had limits of 4mb patches until the later years in the system’s life where they started to change into the larger file sizes we associate with them today. However, the 360 has a nasty habit of auto-purging a game’s update on the 360 after several different games get played on the 360. So if you were to revisit an older comfort food game many years down the line long after the 360 online servers got shut down, any updates for that game were likely auto-deleted and cannot be re-downloaded. This could be huge for a lot of games whose patches likely helped patch out game breaking bugs and other issues that can no longer be downloaded whenever the 360 servers go offline. Just food for thought.

-Final random item I want to bring up is something you saw in the header image to this special. Yes, that is a leaning gallery of 360 faceplates! Remember those? They were kind of a thing for the first couple years of the 360 when Microsoft was flexing the customization options of the 360 so anyone can snap on or off a variety of 360 faceplates to make their system stand out in their own way. I never bought a single faceplate, and only procured them if they were pre-order bonuses, or part of some promotional giveaway. The only highlight of this was how I got my Madden NFL 08 faceplate, and that was when I participated in my Gamestop’s yearly Madden tournament where no more than four people showed up for the few years I participated. The year I won, was when I got the Madden NFL 08 faceplate, which sure as hell beats my Madden NFL 07 plastic beverage cup from the previous tourney! It will forever remain in my drawer with my faceplates for Full Auto, Eternal Sonata and Deathsmiles. It is not like there is some uber-popular YouTuber who has a unique fandom for that particular version of Madden who could benefit from it in any certain way. To the drawer the faceplate remains! ”It’s an Ocean” (THE END!!!) OMG, this took me a whole month to gradually pick away at. I did not come close at all to releasing this in time for the 360’s 15th anniversary of its launch. I feel that I could have made this into a mini-eBook and charged six cents for this!!! As you can tell from my many memories I have shared thus far, the 360 is a platform I hold in high regard. I waited three years to upgrade to the Xbox One and PS4 in 2016, so from late 2005 until late 2016, the 360 was one of my primary go to consoles. Which is why I had so many memories, good and bad, to get out of my system. If you want to catch up on one of about a dozen other flashback specials I have crafted like this (which are thankfully significantly shorter) over the years check out the links below. In the meantime, I will close this off with two embedded videos of episodes of my old podcast I recently un-vaulted circled around the 360. They are the final installments of our history of comic book games and RPG games series. Both episodes focus on the games that hit for those genres up until the point the episode was recorded for 360, PS3 and Wii. Many thanks once again if you have stuck with me for these near-18,000 words of garbled memories of mine, I sincerely appreciate it and I will see you all next time if I can somehow muster enough energy after this beast of an entry for yet another anniversary flashback special!

Listen to us break down almost all the RPGs that his this gen released through 2008

And here we dissect all the comic book games released on these platforms through April of 2011 My Other Gaming Flashbacks Dreamcast 20th Anniversary GameBoy 30th Anniversary Genesis 30th Anniversary NES 35th Anniversary PSone 25th Anniversary PS2 20th Anniversary PSP 15th Anniversary and Neo-Geo 30th Anniversary Saturn and Virtual Boy 25th Anniversaries TurboGrafX-16 30th Anniversary and 32-X 25th Anniversary

If you made it this far and have yet to experience the THING that is Rogue Warrior’s end credits theme song, then I dare you to click it above and not have Mickey Rourke’s lyrical lashings remain forever stuck in your head!

Enjoy this montage of the many creative demises of the worst sidekick in the history of videogames! You’re Still Here!? Well Then, Let Me Tell You Another Story About the Shephard….Not That Shepard

It is not my tale to tell of “another story about the Shephard.” Hopefully, EA and BioWare will right that ship as they teased at the recent Game Awards a few weeks ago. I am talking about the other Shepard on Xbox 360, that being Lost: Via Domus’s Jack Shephard. Jack and most (not all) of the cast from the first season of Lost are in that game, but are not playable. Instead, a new offscreen Oceanic survivor is introduced as the playable character, Elliot. The game was an average licensed adventure-lite game affair (find out all about by click or pressing here for my original review), but at the time when it released Lost was in its fourth of six TV seasons, and I was eating up every bit of fan service that game offered. It did have a couple minor things never seen in the TV show like the Dharma magnet, and I loved its ending which got my mind reeling with it possibly tying into new fan theories from the latest episodes of the show at the time. One in particular being my favorite episode of the series, “The Constant.” Not a great game, but loved how it treated the license. That said, this hit a few years before Telltale hit big with its Walking Dead games, and I can only imagine if they were the ones to give their episodic adventure game treatment to Lost instead. Now that is another story about the Shepard I would be all-in for day one!

[sablelab]

Covert Operations - Chapter 95

SYNOPSIS: Jamie makes his way towards the monastery and takes out several guards in the process. Having found his way inside he comes across an obstacle that could hinder his progress.

This chapter has a lot of violence in it.  Previous chapters can be found at … https://sablelab.tumblr.com/covertoperations

My apologies for mentioning the rodents in the last chapter but nothing happened, they were just used only to exacerbate Claire’s fear as I’m sure it would have ours as well. Rest assured Jamie will find her in the next chapter and they will make their escape.  THANK YOU all for reading, liking and reblogging my story so that others may see it. I am very appreciative.

  CHAPTER 95 (V) Wearing his night vision goggles and dressed in mission black from head to toe, James Fraser made his way towards the building. Less than 50 metres from the perimeter he parted the tree branches and stopped to get his bearings. From this position in the woods he could see the monastery clearly through the undergrowth. Taking out his special night binoculars he surveyed the large construction in the distance and assessed what obstacles lay in the path of his objective. Considering that Fergus had said that surveillance at the monastery was sophisticated, Jamie was thorough in his sweep of the grounds and surveyed all corners of the perimeter. What he saw confirmed Fergus’ evaluation. The triad was certainly prepared for any contingency. Surrounded with wire fencing, probably high voltage judging by the simplicity of the design, Jamie made out twelve men who were outside the monastery keeping watch. There were two guards in the courtyard, four patrolling inside the premises, another two at the door of the monastery and a four-guard rotation outside the complex. Without a thermal body count he had no idea how many were on the inside, so until he found Claire he would be exposed. However, he was confident that eliminating the guards on the outside would be just a formality. Having seen enough he lowered the binoculars and glanced down at his watch timing when the guards on the fence line changed. Jamie then did another complete sweep of the area. This time he made out two high-resolution digital security cameras to the east and west. He timed the rotation of the cameras and found that a full revolution occurred every five minutes in sync with the guard change. It was a short window of opportunity but nevertheless it was enough time for him to slip past undetected. Preparing for his assault, he opened his backpack and took extra guns out of the bag that Murtagh had given him. He slid a Walther P57k with bottleneck silencer into the back-waist band of his mission pants, he placed another under the leg of his pants and the other weapon he put in a pocket on his mission suit. He also took out a scanner and a destructive detonator timer. He placed them in his pockets as well. Just as he was about to advance further towards the monastery, a guard passed by. Dropping to the ground he rolled over training one of his weapons on the guard. Jamie thought it strange when the man reached up to check something protruding from a large tree in the grounds. Zooming in on him, he watched what he did next and saw the guard adjust some type of mechanism on the tree before walking away. The guard’s movements set him to thinking, but he was not happy with his thoughts. Had the triad strategically placed sensors in the grounds? It certainly appeared so. Were they also on the outside of the perimeter? If so ... how could he have missed them? How had he failed to see the devices? As a consequence, did the triad already know that he was here? Jamie tapped the comm. link on his earpiece hoping that communication had been restored and that Fergus would answer.

 “Fergus ...” 

Back at Section One in Tactical … Since they had lost communication with Jamie, Fergus had anxiously waited for any message from Section’s Level 5 operative. When he heard his faint voice say his name he answered almost immediately.

 “Jamie ... I can just hear you ... wait ... I’m changing to C Band ... Jamie?” 

“Fergus ... I need to get in here.” Suddenly he heard a shot ring out. It sounded like it came from inside the monastery. Jamie closed his eyes. “Fergus ... hurry ... I heard a shot.” Having heard the dismay in his voice, Fergus knew that every minute was crucial. “What can you see? ...” Jamie barely heard his questions. He brushed his fingers over his upper lip. Was he too late to rescue her? Had they already eliminated his Claire? “Jamie? ... What security does the monastery have?” When the sound of Fergus’ voice cut into his thoughts, he methodically relayed all the security devices he had observed without delay. “An electrified fence, twelve hostiles outside, hidden sensors and two digital cameras with a full sweep of the grounds every five minutes.” Quickly typing the Intel Jamie had given him into his computer as he spoke; Fergus collated this information with what Section One knew already. However, there were some discrepancies as the Rising Dragons had increased their security surveillance from his original data. The hidden sensors must have been added recently, he thought. Fergus made some adjustments then spoke to Jamie once more. “Okay ... Got it ... I’ve tuned into the cameras’ wavelengths and linked their rotation directly to the mainframe. I’ve been able to construct a picture that will replay the same images repeatedly.” He then hit another key on his computer keyboard. “Okay, we're rolling.” “Covered?” “Yeah, they're watching our feed now; they’ll think the perimeter is clear.” “What about the sensors?” Having anticipated his next question Fergus was prepared. He’d immobilized the sensor triggers by looping into the same frequency as the cameras and was able to re-jig their capabilities as well. He watched his monitor with a broad smile on his face.

“Disabled.” 

“How long have I got?” “The tape runs another five hours ...You can take care of the rest ... No?” “Yes.” “Jamie ... Operations has sent a backup team. Perhaps you should wait.” “Thank ye ... but I canna wait for them. I need to rescue Claire now,” was James Fraser’s succinct reply. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Quickly making his way in the direction of the sound, Jamie knew he would have to keep to the shadows to avoid detection by the patrolling guards, but first he needed to find a way through the fence. Cutting a way through the wire was out of the question. It was far too dangerous and not time effective. He was faced with a dilemma but not an impossible conundrum. He would need to disable the electricity current somehow before he had any chance of approaching the monastery. If he could short circuit the power just long enough for him to scale the fence it would be enough. This short window would be sufficient not to raise suspicion by the guards, who when and if they checked, would think that some kind of animal had run into it. Rummaging in Murtagh’s bag of tricks, he found some fibre-optic cable, wire snipers and a metal spike. Cutting the wire, he fringed the strands, wound it around the spike and carefully laid the loose ends against the electrified fence. He heard the sizzling sound crackle first, then Jamie jumped back as a shower of white sparks suddenly exploded around him. It had worked. The power was temporarily rendered dead so he quickly scampered over the fence. Making it over with seconds to spare, he dropped heavily to the ground on the other side before rolling into the shadowy corner as the fence bounced back to life. That was too close for comfort, he thought. “Jamie, you okay?” James Fraser could feel the hairs on the back of his neck rise with static electricity. One more second and he would have been electrocuted. “I'm fine. Dinna fash, I'm in.” “I'm picking up a signal ... Jamie, do you have visual?” Composing himself he took a moment and watched from the shadows to see the reaction of the guards. He looked around and saw two men look over towards where he was. One of them signalled to his buddy that he would patrol over to the fence and check what had caused the sparks to fly. “I've got them.” Steely eyes watched as the guard advanced towards where he was hiding. Little did the triad member know, but his time was numbered. James Fraser was waiting for him. The guard looked like a body builder. He was stocky and broad shouldered and carried a lethal automatic weapon. The guard looked along the fence then bent down when he saw something that caught his eye. As he did so Jamie closed in behind him and thumped him with his gun. However, before he could shoot him, the guard regained momentum. He twisted around and knocked the silencer out of his hand. He lunged at him and threw a punch. Retaliating Jamie caught the guard off balance by throwing a punch of his own. He fell to his knees but in so doing brought Jamie down with him. Regaining their balance, the two exchanged more blows. Similarly accomplished and just as dangerous, they engaged in hand-to-hand combat for a short while until the guard gained the upper hand. One precise blow to the head caused Jamie to loll backwards. The guard then lunged at him in an effort to finish off his opponent, but Jamie was able to leverage his legs around his neck. Rolling him to the ground, he twisted his legs snapping the guard’s neck with a resounding crack. He lay on the ground lifeless. Jamie then dragged the man’s body into the bushes and covered him with foliage. “One down.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Taking another look around for any of the other guards, he noticed that two were patrolling the far side of the fence, while the third was now making his way over to where he was hidden in the shadows. Coming to look for his colleague the unsuspecting guard was not prepared for what awaited him near the perimeter of the fence. Hearing the sound of a twig snap in the bushes behind him, the guard looked around to the source of the noise. That’s when Jamie struck him to the throat with a blow that saw the heavy-set guard crumble and fall. Like his partner, he dragged the body out of sight. Picking up his dropped weapon, James Fraser watched as the other two guards began to make their way over to change with the two guards he’d disposed of. When they came closer and were unable to see their colleagues, the two men became a little agitated. Just as they were about to make radio contact, Jamie raised his silencer and with two quick, rapid shots watched as the two men fell to the ground one after the other. One of the men fell towards the electric fence. His body rested heavily against the deadly wire as a riot of luminous sparks filled the air. The guard’s frizzled corpse twitched uncontrollably as the high voltage current coursed through his lifeless body. “Four down.” Sprinting towards the monastery his objective was as clear as crystal. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Slipping through the night like a shadowy apparition, Jamie moved swiftly but quietly towards the monastery building. His night vision goggles made his course easy despite the darkness. Ever alert to the danger that surrounded him he was cognizant that there were still eight guards that were unaccounted for. He saw two move away to the far corner of the grounds to patrol the outskirts of the monastery boundary. It would be a while before they returned. The coast was clear. Keeping his eye on the patrolling guards who were within the perimeter he moved up several steps and into the open courtyard of the monastery. So far, he’d had clear passage towards the building but when he heard a guard approach, he ducked behind one of the larger than life-size statues with exaggerated features and grotesque expressions that were facing into the quadrangle. He then observed what the man did. The lone guard stopped to light a cigarette. Leaning his back against one of the statues near where he was positioned, he took a long drag before blowing the smoke up into the air. While the man was preoccupied Jamie made his move.  Creeping up from behind the guard, he grabbed him from behind in a head lock. The cigarette fell from his lips as a small gasp of surprise was muffled when he placed his hand over the guard’s mouth. With a flick of his wrists, Jamie twisted his neck. The snap of the guard’s bones breaking echoed in the stillness of the night. As the sentry’s head lolled forward, he eased his body down to the ground and placed it behind the statue out of sight while still keeping alert for any other movement. James Fraser barely made a sound in the quiet of the night as he ran across the span of empty courtyard space to the next statue watchful for the second guard patrolling this part of the monastery. His vigilance was rewarded when the sound of footsteps echoed on the gravel surface. Taking cover once more Jamie was aware that another guard was making his way down some steps into the courtyard. Once again, he merged into the shadows and waited for the guard to appear. Standing just below the steps, the guard shone his flashlight around the quadrangle on a routine check of the courtyard. When the beam of his torch passed over the statue where Jamie was hidden, he pulled back deeper into the shadows until the beam traversed onto the next concrete monument. The guard moved further into the quadrangle shining his torch around the area. Suddenly his flashlight honed in on something out of the ordinary on the ground near one of the statues in the distance. Jamie’s eyes followed the path of his curiosity. The guard had stumbled across something where the first guard was felled ... it was the man’s smouldering cigarette. Thinking that this was strange, as he knew that his friend always smoked his cigarettes to the butt, he called out his colleague’s name, but he heard no reply. The second guard began to move toward the fallen cigarette to check it out. He called out again. However, as he did so, the guard turned around behind him when he heard the sound of a rock being thrown and shone his flashlight in that direction.

“Is that you Chen? ... Where are you?”

Another rock tumbled past his foot. “Okay ... I get it ... two can play this game!” He shone his light in the direction of the small thrown missile only to have another stone come from the other direction. Spooked, the guard turned sharply to his left and came face to face with a man clad in black ... James Fraser “What ... the ...fuck!  How did you get in here?” he mouthed dropping his torch and reaching for his weapon. “Over the fence ...” Jamie replied casually as he sidestepped the guard knocking his weapon from his hand in the process. The sentry was caught off guard as he out manoeuvred him. He turned and charged at him. Sidestepping him once more Jamie karate chopped the man, but he retaliated with a blow of his own. A quick flurry of exchanges occurred before the guard pulled a knife from his shoe. With the knife raised, he lunged at the black clad intruder who managed to avoid the thrust of his blade. They fought for possession of the knife that the guard was holding but he lost his balance in the scuffle. He lunged once more but Jamie grabbed him, twisting the hand holding the knife to the guard’s chest. He tried in vain to avoid the blade piercing his flesh, however, the more he struggled the deeper the blade went until it was embedded in his chest. Blood spilled from the deep cut yet still he continued to fight off his aggressor. James Fraser, however, was far too strong and sharply twisted the blade up piercing the guard’s heart. With a cry of anguish, he fell lifeless to the ground. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Having made his way across the courtyard, Jamie climbed the stairs leading to the entrance door of the monastery and observed that the guards who were there were nonchalant about their duties. They were both playing a game of Mah-Jong to wile away the hours knowing that the perimeter and grounds were well protected. Any interlopers who had managed to get into this well fortified monastery were either dead or would have been captured without their input. Jamie bypassed the two preoccupied guards and slipped to the west side of the building from whence he’d heard the gunshot.  

“Jamie ... when you are able, you’ll need to place a scanner so that I can pin point where Claire is being held.” Flattened against the wall, he pulled the scanner from the pocket of his mission suit and attached it to the building. “Done.” James Fraser slipped from window to window peering inside to see if Claire was being held in the rooms. He knew instinctively that the torture room would not be here and was more likely to be in an underground room within the monastery. Nonetheless he continued along the wall looking for an opening into the building. “Fergus ... Have ye located Claire yet?” “No ... but I’ve now got a blueprint scan on the monastery.” “Okay.” The computer whizz had worked quickly to use all the sources he had at his disposal. Once he had planted the scanner, he’d set to work immediately collating the Intel he already had. Fergus then pulled up a transparent schematic of the monastery on an overhead monitor. He relayed the Intel back to Jamie. “I did an infrared scan of the monastery off our satellite feed as well. It’s built on top of an ancient structure. Over the centuries a system of underground tunnels were built by the monks who lived there.” “Location?” “Proceed about fifty metres north of your position there’s a disused tunnel that the monks used there.” “How do we know the passageways aren't collapsed?” Fergus noted the different colour patterns to the various passageways in the schematic on his overhead monitor. “Colour saturation indicates structural density. A blue line traces a pathway through the maze that leads to what I believe is the underground torture chamber.” “How stable are the configurations?” “There is no way to be certain but our options are limited. Jamie ... There’s a hot spot in the west wing of the building three floors down.” “That must be it.” “Yes.” Armed with the Intel he needed to enter the building; James Fraser made his way to where the tunnel was located. The door was well camouflaged. It was overgrown with foliage and was nearly unrecognizable as a secret entrance into the monastery. He looked back and forth for any triad security guards but this side of the monastery was apparently deserted and although he kept watch for other guards none eventuated. He had clear passage to the tunnel entrance but when he tried to open the door sealing the opening, it was locked. Taking his laser from his hip holster he shot the laser bead over the lock in order to cut through its interior mechanisms. “Jamie! There are two guards on the north rim, coming from behind!” Although he’d not completely cut through the lock, he had damaged it enough for him to enter the tunnel. He quickly kicked the door in. The weakened lock couldn't hold against the force of the thrust and gave way. Jamie tumbled inside, and just as quickly closed the door behind him and leaned against it. “I’m in ... which way?” “The primary tunnel runs directly before you. Follow the tunnel straight ahead. It should veer to the right then there are a set of stairs that descend downwards.” “Have ye got a reading on Claire?” "She's down about three floors ... At the first flight of stairs there is a grate covering the entrance.” “Tunnel access?” “Through the grate. From there it’s two hundred meters to the next point.” ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* When Jamie reached the stairs, he was confronted with a steel frame covering the opening to the stairway. He pulled it off, slipped through the opening and made his way down a short flight of stairs until he came to another landing. Ahead of him was a long and narrow passageway. He ran along it until he was confronted with three tunnels each going in a different direction. “Which way?” “Take the far-left tunnel ... and keep moving straight.” These tunnels had not been used for a long while. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and they were eerily quiet and cold. Moving further through the tunnel Jamie’s foot suddenly stumbled across something lying on the ground. As he looked down, he jerked back in surprise to see some human skeletal remains dressed in a monk’s robe. The corpse had long since decomposed and judging by the remains he had been there for many, many years. The triad obviously didn’t know about these tunnels which boded well for him. His detection would go unnoticed and he would be able to egress the same way when he’d rescued Claire. He continued on with renewed confidence. “Twelve meters to your right there are another set of stairs.” Adhering to Fergus’ instructions explicitly, Jamie continued on following the tunnel as it weaved its way through the bowels of the monastery until it came to an abrupt stop when he came to a dead end. All that was in front of him was a brick wall. Realising that something was wrong he spoke to Fergus who was monitoring his progress back at Section One. “Fergus ... There's no more tunnel ... there's just walls.” “It has to be there.” “Well, it’s not.” Fergus stared at his computerized schematic, trying to figure out the reasons behind the discrepancy between his program and his information. “Jamie, kick the wall.” He did. One kick and the wall began to collapse. Bricks and crumbling mortar fell onto the ground at his feet. “Got it ... That's it ... Okay.” He kept kicking at the wall until he had opened up a hole that had been sealed over for some time. Pushing at the rubble with his hands, he dislodged the bricks opening up a cavity large enough for him to be able to get through. Once on the other side, the tunnel wall zigzagged into the darkness. He followed the winding passageway and went deeper into the monastery. Straight ahead of him Jamie could see what appeared to be some kind of air duct and a beam of light filtered through a closed door beneath it. He stopped and pulled out his silencer.  Checking the clip, he slid the weapon into position then clicking off the safety switch he held it at the ready. Reaching out, his hand rested on the doorknob.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ to be continued on TUESDAY 21st when Jamie finally finds his Claire.

[daisylincs]

Staticquake 20, 13 with enemies to lovers

20 = Teacher AU and 13 = Detective AU. With enemies to lovers!! Oh, this is going to be FUN. 

Daisy is a teacher at Shield Academy, a unique school in that it's specifically for orphans, specifically to help them find a family in friends. For Daisy, an orphan herself, the school's mission means so much. She never had access to something like this when she was stuck in the system, but she knew it would have changed her life if she had. And seeing how it changes little orphans' lives every day means everything to her. 

Then, one horrible day, it comes out that one of the school's top board members, John Garrett, is completely corrupt. The asshole was siphoning funds off people's generous donations to Shield, and using them for his own illegal means. 

Everyone worries that the school is going to be closed down, Daisy more than anyone - this place is her life and soul, and a passion project in the way none of her colleagues can really understand. 

But luckily Coulson, their headmaster, has a kind of grudging partnership with the local police captain, Talbot. So instead of being shut down, they just have to have a detective in each class until they find out who was helping Garrett (because there's no way he was acting alone.) 

For her part, Daisy HATES it. This is a school for helping little orphans find families, dammit, not for freaking them out by having a cop standing over them the whole time. 

And no, she doesn't care how cute he is. 

(Because of course her assigned detective is cute. The universe is unfair that way.) 

That doesn't change the fact that she hates him. 

She has to give it to him, though, he really tries to be nice at first. "I'm Lincoln," he says, holding out his hand for her to shake and offering her a nice smile. 

"Yeah, I don't care," she says coldly, brushing past him and leaving him standing, surprised, in the doorway. 

He doesn't get the memo, and tries to corner her before her next class. "Hey, uh, I don't think we met properly earlier -" 

"No, we didn't," she interrupts, slamming her coffee mug down with a lot more force than necessary. "And I'm not interested in meeting properly now, either." 

She gets up and leaves him gaping after her again (if she's not careful, this is going to become a thing.) 

The next period, he seems to have learned his lesson a bit, and just wordlessly holds open the door for her. (She steps on his toes on the way past.) 

And for the rest of the day, she takes a vindictive kind of pleasure in making him fetch and carry for her the silliest things for her. If she has to have a cop standing there spoiling her lessons, she figures, she might as well make use of him. 

Now it doesn't matter how nice a person you are, eventually you're going to get annoyed when someone keeps sending you off on senseless errands. Daisy knows that perfectly well. In fact, she's counting on it. 

"Why are you so determined to hate me?" a frustrated Lincoln demands when her kids have left for the day, folding his arms and glaring at her. "What did I ever do to you?" 

"You mean aside from scaring my kids and spoiling my classes?" she replies archly. "You're here, and you're a cop. Isn't that enough?" 

"I'm a detective," he corrects. "And what do you have against the police?" 

"That's none of your business," she says, letting her voice bite cold. "See you tomorrow, Sparky." (That last bit as a mockery of the lightning-bolt insignia of his department.) 

The next day (and the next), she makes it her personal mission to make his life as much of a hell as possible. If he thought yesterday was bad, oh boy he hasn't seen anything yet. Computers keep breaking, cables and whiteboard markers keep disappearing, and somehow it's always his job to go find replacements. 

And that's not even the best part. That's when she sweet-talks Nick, their grumpy one-eyed cook, into giving him chilli sauce instead of ketchup with his burger, and salt instead of sugar in his coffee. 

Really, it's no secret that Daisy hates Lincoln. And it shouldn't be all that surprising that he starts to hate her right back. 

And he's a cop. So he has full right to pull her over for questioning whenever he likes. 

Which of course he does. Constantly. 

Everything about him just makes her so irrationally furious. There's the way all her colleagues seem to like him - which, excuse me, guys, he's a cop?? He's literally here to investigate you! And there's that mocking smile he gives her when he pulls her out of class at just the right time to annoy the living hell out of her, the smile that makes her want to slap him so hard because he should not be allowed to look that attractive while being such an asshole. Then there's the fact that he won't stop bugging her about why she's so against the police, which somehow always evolves into the two of them yelling at each other about "stubbornness" and "none of your damn business" and "bloody infuriating!" 

Honestly, their feud is becoming the stuff of legend in the school. She swears she saw one of her older students, a mildly obsessive girl called Ruby, recording one of their shouting matches the other day. 

And it's not just the students. On no less than fifteen occasions to date, Hunter has made it his personal mission to drop into her class and go "killed each other yet? No? Oh, what a shame." 

Mack's in on the joke, too, and teases her relentlessly about it. He's even taken to calling Lincoln her boyfriend, which is the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. It's just Hunter's idiocy rubbing off on Mack - there's no way she and Lincoln would date, ever. He's the worst. And even if he is kind of cute, that's TOTALLY not the point. 

Jemma just shakes her head at the whole thing. "You're acting like an idiot, Daisy," she says in her yes-I'm-right-and-we-both-know-it voice. "Both of you are. And you're going to regret it someday." 

As always, Jemma is right. 

Because Talbot somehow gets it into his head that she, Daisy, is the one who was working with Garrett. 

"But that's ridiculous!" she shouts, and everyone in the room agrees emphatically. "Shield is my life, why the hell would I betray it?" 

It's then that Lincoln comes in. 

And Daisy just thinks, oh, shit. 

Because of course the cop that's been monitoring her thinks she's the biggest asshole in the world. He hates her, and now that she thinks about it, her behaviour towards him could actually very easily be seen as aggression because she didn't want to be found out. 

Oh, shit. 

She's dead. She's so, so, so dead. 

She starts to panic a little. Shield is her entire life - she pours everything she has into this school, into helping these little orphans find a family in friends the way she's found a family in her colleagues. If they take Shield away from her, she doesn't know what she'll do. 

She meets Lincoln's gaze, sure that she's going to see triumph there, but all she finds is confusion. 

"Daisy?" Lincoln asks, incredulous. "You think Daisy's working with Garrett?" 

Talbot nods. And to Daisy's total shock, Lincoln shakes his head firmly. "That's impossible." 

"What do you mean?" Talbot asks impatiently. "She's the computer science teacher, it would be easy for her to steal funds like this." 

"But she'd never do it," Lincoln says, firm. "This school means everything to her. She cares about it and the kids here more than anything." 

"It's not Daisy," he repeats emphatically. "You got that?" 

Grudgingly, Talbot agrees, and the whole room sags in relief. Daisy's colleagues rush to hug her, but all she can feel is numb disbelief. 

Lincoln defended her. Lincoln defended her. After all the asshole-y things she did to him, and all the times she went out of her way to make his life a living hell, he defended her. 

She's still standing there in a state of shock as everyone trickles out of the room. It's only when Lincoln makes to leave that she snaps to her senses. 

Grabbing him by the arm, she pulls him into an empty classroom, ignoring Mack's knowing little smirk. 

"You defended me," she tells him, still holding on to his arm. "Why?" 

"What, you thought I was going to let that moustached dirtbag drag you off to jail for a crime you didn't commit?" he asks archly. 

She shrugs, suddenly feeling like she's really misjudged him. "No, but… you hate me."

"So maybe you're not my favourite person in the world," he says, and that gets a smile out of her. "But it's obvious that you care a lot about these kids. The way you smile when they look at you, and the way they smile back - it's honestly incredible. Very few people will care so much about kids who have so little. I don't need to like you to see that you're an incredible person."

Daisy is genuinely touched. Okay, so maybe she did misjudge him, just a little. And maybe she was a little unfair to hate him immediately. 

"I'm an orphan, too," she admits, properly meeting his clear blue eyes for the first time. "That's also why I hate the police. They were always the ones who pulled me from foster home to foster home. I guess after a while … every bad thing that happened, I just associated with them. It’s an orphan thing, I think." 

"So that's why you hated the idea of a police detective in your class," he says, his eyes flooding with understanding. 

She nods, dropping her gaze. "Yeah. And it's unfair to you, I get that, but…" 

"Don't apologise for having a shitty past," he says, firmer than she expected. "No-one's ever going to blame you for it." 

"I'm not apologising for that," she says, meeting his eyes again. Wow, they really are very blue. "I'm apologising for taking it out on you. That was wrong." 

"A little," he admits. "But hey, I'm not entirely blameless in this, either. I was kind of an asshole, pulling you out of class right when it'd annoy you." 

"Kind of an asshole?" she snorts. "Try the dictionary definition of asshole." 

“And what does that make you?" he asks, arching her eyebrows in a way that should annoy her but is instead making her catch her breath. 

"I don't… know," she says, suddenly sharply aware that she hasn't let go of his arm yet. Oh, and they've also somehow drifted closer during this whole conversation, so that there's now barely ten centimetres of space between them. 

God, this is awkward. And it's only made worse by the fact that Daisy definitely just thought about kissing him. 

She makes to pull her arm away, cheeks burning, but Lincoln stops her with a hand on hers. "Wait." 

And that one word is enough to spur her into action. Firmly closing the last distance between them, she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. 

She kisses him with all the annoyance of a thousand arguments, where she raged at herself for finding him so attractive just as much as she raged at him. She kisses him with weeks' worth of denial and repressed feelings, and hot damn. 

That's a kiss. "What do you say," she says when they break apart, totally breathless, "we turn this into a whole different kind of fighting?" 

"I cannot believe you just said that," he says dryly. "But I'm in." 

"Good," she says, and kisses him again. 

(The police department finds Garrett's mole a few days later - the douchebag-y Phys Ed coach, Grant. But for some reason, Lincoln keeps coming back to the school. And for some reason, Teacher Johnson never yells at him or tells him to leave.

Teacher Simmons just rolls her eyes whenever any of the students ask her about it. "Cluelessness," is all she'll say in explanation, before walking away to go plan their next science project with her boyfriend. 

The whole school figures it out eventually, of course. Daisy and Lincoln aren't exactly subtle. 

But everyone is really, really happy for them.

The End.) 

This is my favourite bullet-point fic yet - thank you thank you thank you lovely anon for this wonderful prompt!!

[thanksjro]

Last Stand of the Wreckers, Issue #3: Garrus-9 is Fun for the Whole Family

Noticed a little something as I was reading- in issue #1, Roberts is credited for contributing to the story. However, in issue #2 and on, he’s credited as a writer alongside Roche.

Maybe it’s just a change in the how the credits were being labelled within IDW, because it never seems to stay consistent between series, but that’s still quite the jump. He’s accumulating power much faster than I originally thought. How delightful, and also terrifying.

Getting back to the story, we open up this issue with a flashback: two years ago, Overlord deigned it necessary to reunite Shockwave’s head with his body. Now, this was still nearly a year after he’d first taken over Garrus-9, and Shockwave can’t help but question the wait.

Back when Megatron still had Overlord under him, he had Shockwave slap something called an “Achilles virus” into the guy. This virus made it impossible for Overlord to comprehend any weaknesses Megatron might have- something positively devastating to a tactician as ruthless as Overlord. He, of course, wants the thing removed. Shockwave agrees.

With how many of the IDW universe’s problems this chunky purple fuck is responsible for, I’d honestly be more surprised if helping Overlord DIDN’T help him further his own agenda in some way.

Once Shockwave frees up Overlord’s processors, he’ll be free to go and cause more mayhem, while Overlord keeps doing his thing on Garrus-9. Shockwave, because he’s a smarty-pants, knows what he’s up to- he’s trying to goad Megatron into coming to see him, by way of ultraviolence.

When I was a little kid- we’re talking no more than five- if I wanted my parents to come see me after I’d woken up in the morning, I’d do this god-awful thing where I’d shriek at the top of my lungs repeatedly and then hide under my blankets acting as if I’d been sleeping like a perfect little angel the whole time. This feels a lot like that, except Overlord’s been screaming for three years.

Back in the present, we get a taste of some dramatic irony, by way of Fisitron’s fanboy datalogs.

You’re never going to guess what’s happened.

Since the ping-pong ball Verity was riding in smashed right into where Overlord likes to hang out, it’s looking somewhat grim for them. Not that things are looking any better over here.

Guzzle isn’t much of a team player, it would seem.

Springer’s worried that the others were DOA, but Twin Twist seems to think things are alright.

And he would know, I suppose.

Over in the Pit, Overlord’s greeting his new guests. Rotorstorm tries to break the tension  with a joke. It actually goes over pretty well with Overlord.

Still, it’s a tough crowd.

Back over with Wrecker team A, the boys have just blown up a hallway to buy themselves a little time. Well, Guzzle blew up the hallway, since he’s a tank, but the others were there for moral support.

Things have really hit the fan, and Springer makes the call to split up and look for clues get help. Guzzle and Kup pair up and run for it, which seems appropriately themed, while Twin Twist decides it’s time to break out the alt-mode and dig through the floor so they can get to the Autobot prisoners. Springer’s not too sure about that, seeing as Twin Twist’s hurt, but he says they can take it. Yes, they.

After that painful scene transition, Overlord implores the Wreckers before him to surrender. Perceptor, having a case of terminal bad-ass disease, orders Pyro to keep Verity safe- which he does by stuffing her into his chest?- while he and the others attempt to bare-knuckle box Overlord into submission.

I’m not kidding, he’s just shoving her in there.

While Perceptor and the gang commit suicide, Twin Twist’s just finished drilling, and it’s looking like it’s a bit more of a drop than he was expecting. Luckily, Springer swoops in and catches him before he can take any fall damage.

Both they and Impactor land safely on the floor of an energy reactor, and it looks like they’ve got company.

The company is Kick-Off’s corpse. Guess Overlord kinda sucks at rewarding people.

As Impactor and Springer discuss Kick-Off’s very brief stint as a prison gladiator, Twin Twist makes the horrific discovery that they’ve set off a defense mechanism, and if they don’t get out of there pronto, they’re gonna be robo-toast.

Overlord gets word of these guys running around in the energy reactor as, he kicks Percy and pals’ ass. Repeatedly. Delighted that there are more toys to play with, he makes a prison-wide announcement: anyone who brings him the head of a Wrecker can leave Garrus-9.

I don’t think Percy likes that idea too much.

Without any further ado, Overlord sicks the entire prison populace on the Wreckers. Perceptor, ever the brainiac, buys them a little time by blowing up a fuel tank that managed to survive the ping-pong ball crashing. The Wreckers book it out of the Pit, ready to head for Aequitas. Only one problem- Ironfist is having a breakdown. Perceptor is surprisingly considerate about the whole thing.

Like, this is about as much as anyone could ask for in such a dangerous situation. Of course, Ironfist is a bit too hung up on the complete annihilation of a skull he just witnessed to appreciate Percy’s kindness.

Here’s the thing about fanboys; they have a bit of a habit of putting their heroes on pedestals.

No, the adventuring doesn’t happen until 2012, Ironfist, and you aren’t going to be there for all that.

Seems like Overlord’s presence on Garrus-9 has sort of smashed Ironfist’s dreams of grandeur. Though given the constantly-changing roster, and the fact that Ironfist probably knows more about the Wreckers’ escapades than most, one would think he’d at least be prepared for something this wild to be a possibility.

This whole spouting off attracts Topspin, who berates Ironfist for being a baby. He doesn’t even know why the guy got brought along on this mission, seeing as none of the established Wreckers voted him on. Ironfist is just sort of here. Before we can get into all that though, Perceptor breaks their little squabble up, because we just don’t have time for that right now.

Over with Guzzle and Kup, we’re descending a ladder and reveling in implications, as Guzzle notes how he had a bunch of friends die in a rescue attempt similar to this one. Kup mentions that he hopes the guy being rescued was worth it. Guzzle says that it depends on who you ask.

So we’ve got an angry little tank dude and the old man who’s responsible for several of his friends’ demises, working together, without any other supervision, in an insanely dangerous place filled with murderous Decepticons and high places that don’t follow OSHA regulations. What could possibly go wrong?

Back with Percy and the boys, we finally get the down-low on what Topspin and Twin Twist’s whole deal is. Turns out they’ve got a rare and potentially exploitable manufacturing error- they’ve got branched sparks, which means that their nervous systems overlap to a point where they can feel each other’s pain. This seems like it ought to discourage one from joining the Wreckers, but since when have the Transformers ever been about self-preservation?

Look at that face. It’s like he knows what the narrative’s gearing up towards.

Perceptor’s found a funny part of the wall, which gives him a pretty good feeling that Aequitas is right behind it. It’s at this point that the others start asking just who the hell Aequitas is, and then Pyro remembers he’s still got Verity trapped inside his chest cavity.

Verity is released from the torso jail, a little banged up and a lot pissed off about being forgotten. She starts saying some rather uncalled-for things about the dead before she catches herself, and we get a bit of an insight into Wrecker ideology.

Perceptor has busted through the wall while Topspin’s explaining the group philosophy, and we finally find what Fortress Maximus’ has been up to while all this has been going down.

The Decepticons have been using ol’ Max here as a lock pick, seeing as he wouldn’t just GIVE Overlord the code to the chamber. Perceptor starts cutting the poor guy out of all the cabling he’s hooked up to, and everyone once again questions just what’s up with Aequitas that the Decepticons want to get to him so badly.

Speaking of Decepticons, they’re collecting in droves in the hallway, just itching to rip off some Wrecker heads for a free ticket out of Garrus-9. Perceptor unhooks Fort Max, passes his limbless, eyeless body off to be carried by the two largest friends at his disposal, and the chamber opens up.

This is about the time that the story catches up with the other team of Wreckers, the guys who were trapped in the energy reactor. Yeah, that branched spark plot point is about to get very relevant.

Dentists are the worst, even in space.

And that’s the end of issue #3.

[this-is-my-canon]

My @kakaobiweek prompt for today, Cyberpunk

Eyes Toward the Future

Read it on Ao3 here

There were sparks. He was hurt. Blinding flashes had erased all trace of the neon green lights surrounding the warehouse. Gunshots blasted in a deafening cacophony.

This is all Kakashi remembers as he opens his eyes.

His lashes flicker, creating black striations in his vision before the red glow of the room comes into view. Everything is basked in this light, though no form triggers a memory. Machines appearing to be long retired from use surround him with a layer of dust coating them in the mysterious red haze. Kakashi coughs, realizes his ribs are bruised, and tries to rub the aggravated spot.

He can’t move.

As his head lolls on his shoulders, Kakashi gasps. His senses heighten in an instant, brought on by the programming implanted in him. The rank smell of a wet atmosphere and metallic scent of blood fills his nose. Shrouded silhouettes in the distance come into focus, moving toward him. His programming which should’ve allowed this level of clarity before now must’ve been disabled when this all happened.

When this...all happened.

[[MORE]]

His eyes go wide as his gaze sweeps the floor. Bodies litter the cement, shrouded in shadows, but still recognizable in their distinct markings and masks. Kakashi’s team. All of Team Ro accounted for, and their captain suspended by wires, held in a warehouse, accompanied by the hollow laughter of the approaching figures.

He remembers the mission.

To hunt and capture or possibly disable the rogue cyborg threatening Konoha and its infrastructure, along with the people who live here. The Third hadn’t expected them to find the Madara Uchiha himself in this location, or there would have been reinforcements. Kakashi’s team hadn't stood a chance.

“Kakashi Hatake.” The first dark figure emerges from the shadows and peels back his hood to reveal a face framed by a mass of dark disheveled hair, lined with rivets where his cybernetic parts intersect with the human skin with which he was born. His eyes swirl grey and glow as they scan and record Kakashi’s every movement. “I’m surprised your leaders managed to find us. And they sent you.”

Kakashi tries to raise his head to meet those threatening eyes, and then thinks better of it. “Madara...Uchiha.”

He groans as the muscles in his arms and back protest, strained by his current position. His grimace doesn’t go unnoticed, and there’s something like a considerate hum from Madara before the other figure steps forward, patting Kakashi’s cheek with a mockery of fondness.

“Stupid, loyal Kakashi.”

His voice runs through Kakashi like ice. Kakashi doesn’t need the enhancements to pinpoint it. It’s a voice he’s heard since he was a child, which has changed and molded into something ominous and so very different over the years. With its newly acquired robotic undertones, Kakashi only recognizes it now because of how intimately he used to know its owner.

As Obito lifts his hood to reveal a face even more augmented than the voice, Kakashi turns away. He is forced by a cold, metallic hand on his chin to face Obito again. Obito, who once was a child just like him, a child of Konoha and the closest thing Kakashi ever had to a friend, now a cyborg with a grudge, an enemy of the state. His facial structure is relatively unchanged, but his eyes blaze red and swirl as they lock with Kakashi’s. Like his hand, his arm is a metallic structure that looks like it had never been human. Kakashi suspects there is more alteration beneath the clothing, but he’d rather not have his suspicions confirmed. Obito is with Madara. Kakashi doesn't need to know anything more about him.

“You still think they’re right,” Obito says with a sneer before releasing Kakashi’s chin so suddenly he feels his neck jerk and spring back.

Kakashi coughs as his body quivers under the strain. “You won’t get away with what you’re doing forever.”

Madara laughs. “And what does Konoha think we’re doing?”

Obito raises his hand to Madara and gives him a look that begs permission. Madara doesn’t say a word, but Kakashi knows they’re communicating. They have to be linked. The Third had discovered long ago that this was how Madara and his people remained undetected for so long. Any other form of communication, and the ANBU would have had them monitored and found.

After a long moment, Madara raises a brow and looks Kakashi over. “If you think this is wise…”

“Wise?” Obito says with a shrug, approaching Kakashi until they are eye to distinctly red and terrifying eye. “Do I do anything because it’s wise?”

Kakashi recoils from him, unable to extend the gap between them. “If you’re going to kill me, Obito, get it over with.”

Obito snorts. “I’m not killing you, Kakashi. Where would be the fun in that?”

Madara folds his arms across his chest in a grand gesture. “You’ll be our messenger.”

Kakashi struggles with his restraints, deciding whatever they have planned, it can’t be good. His system has had its chance to recharge by now, at least enough to afford him the strength he needs to break free. And he does. The cables around his wrists snap before he drops to the cement floor, his ankles buckling at the impact. He doesn’t take a second to revel in the pain, but scrambles to get away. Obito and Madara both will be nearly impossible to escape, but he has to try.

He runs, throwing busted machines behind him to slow his pursuers, who don’t make nearly as much noise as he expects them to. His eye catches sight of a vertical sliver of sunlight - a doorway. When he reaches for it, everything goes black. Gravity pulls him down and a soft shroud closes tightly around his face until it is near suffocating.

“Soon you’ll see this world as I do,” Obito’s voice rings through his ears before something hits him at the base of the skull.

And then darkness.

———

When Kakashi wakes, he recognizes the familiar comfort of his own bed. He opens his eyes to see the utilitarian room with more clarity and crisp edges than ever before. The cracks along his plastered ceiling, the metallic sheen of his chrome headboard, the blades of the ceiling fan spinning above all vividly clear. When his TV comes on across the room, attuned to his consciousness, the sound is familiar, but the multicolored lights bouncing off the screen are more vivid and with a wider spectrum than Kakashi has ever seen.

Kakashi sits up as a weather man announces Konoha’s weather for the day and signs off for a word from their sponsor, and instantly plops back down. He feels weak, more drained than ever, in spite of apparently waking from sleep. He tries to remember how he got here, but all he can remember is Obito’s altered voice in his ear.

He surges his power, willing himself out of bed with the reserves he has in store. He feels like shit as he pads barefoot across the creaking floorboards, walking like a zombie. Maybe he is a zombie, he thinks briefly as he turns the corner for his bathroom. That would send a message to Konoha.

When he braces two hands on his bathroom sink, glad he’s made it here, Kakashi breathes out and wills his stomach to stop churning. He can’t remember feeling so awful in his life, and he’s had plenty of close calls as one of the Third’s most active ANBU. He raises heavy eyes to the mirror and falters. His knees give out from under him and he drops as he processes what he saw during the momentary glimpse of his reflection. His razor clinks to the floor, batted off the sink’s edge by his arm in the fall. Toilet paper rolls across the bathroom floor, a banner of white across the peeling green linoleum. Kakashi’s hands are shaking as he latches onto the sink’s edges again, determined to face himself in the mirror and confront whatever he sees, whether it was real or not.

As he rises, he takes a deep breath and absorbs what he sees with a stoic expression. His left eye has changed. It matches Obito’s, a whirl of red in complete contrast to Kakashi’s dark grey on the right. And this explains the clarity, the wider spectrum of color, the way he recalls the recent visual of the flashing television lights with a kind of precision he’s never had before. Madara wanted to send a message to Konoha. Kakashi leans forward, pulls his lower lid down with his fingertip to expose the organic inner lining around new inorganic material, inspects it closer, and wonders what message this will send.

“Captain.”

Tenzo’s voice comes from the speaker beside his mirror. Kakashi is thankful he doesn’t have the camera turned on. He doesn’t want to explain this just yet. If he had any choice, he wouldn’t explain this at all. It’s bad enough he has to explain what became of his team and his mission. He’ll have to face Tenzo, the one member on his team who hadn’t been sent into that slaughter, and admit to him how he’s failed all of them.

Kakashi bows his head and curses under his breath.

“Are you there?”

“What, Tenzo?” Kakashi says into his sink, his strained voice echoing off the porcelain.

“Right. Uh. How was…” He pauses. “Never mind. You’re late for your report to Lord Third.” Another pause. “Captain.”

Kakashi sighs. “I heard you. I’m coming.”

His eyes look back at him from the mirror. One composed of his genetic material, the other fashioned by illegal cybertech, gifted to him by Obito Uchiha. He doesn’t know what Madara and Obito are planning with this. He’s hesitant to enter the Tower with this eye. Obito said Kakashi would soon see this world as he does. Whatever Obito sees, Kakashi isn’t letting him see behind the walls of Konoha’s leadership. He reaches into the bureau drawer slotted open outside of his bathroom and pulls from it a leather strap.

It’ll suffice.

——-

When Kakashi crosses through the security checkpoint of the Tower, the alarms, unsurprisingly, blare. The eye has set it off. Unsanctioned cybertech is forbidden in their leader’s headquarters, but Lord Third does want to see Kakashi. Judging by the last urgent message, Kakashi will be drowning in heaps of paperwork for not showing sooner. The eye and him are inseparable at this point though, so he proceeds forward until another ANBU in uniform puts his hand on Kakashi’s chest. Kakashi looks first at the hand, then sends the rookie a glare.

The ANBU behind the machine speaks first. “What do you have there, Captain Hatake?”

Kakashi pats the pack on his hip the woman is eyeing. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“We can’t let-“

“Let him pass,” Tenzo calls from the lighted hallway. When Kakashi looks ahead, Tenzo is jogging toward them. “He’s beyond late for this meeting. Lord Third will have my head if I don’t get my Captain in his office.”

“But-“ the rookie reluctantly backs off as Tenzo pushes his way forward and ushers Kakashi through with a gentle but insistent shove.

“He’s a Captain, Rookie,” the woman says, her voice fading as they acquire some distance. “Leave it alone.”

“Kakashi,” Tenzo says, “what happened?” He squints, frowning as he leans in closer. “And what’s with the-“

Kakashi slaps his hand away before Tenzo can touch the strap angled across his new eye. “Madara happened,” he says, because he knows the name is enough to keep Tenzo’s questions at bay, at least long enough to get them into Hiruzen Sarutobi’s office.

Tenzo gasps and falls into silence, though he broadcasts his anxiety and setting-in despondency loudly enough. When they reach the door, Kakashi feels dizzy. Here he will have to relive the devastation of that mission, not because he is required to report, but because Tenzo deserves to know what happened to his teammates. Konoha needs to know the whereabouts of a criminal like Madara...and Obito. Kakashi’s leadership deserves to know about his new eye and the liability he could be for the ANBU.

“Come in,” Lord Third calls from the other side of the door.

Tenzo meets Kakashi’s gaze before reaching for the handle and pushing the door open. Inside, Lord Third sits on a pillow, his feet tucked beneath him, a kimono wrapped around his person. Smoke pours from the pipe pressed between his cracked lips, clouding the flickering security screens on the ceiling in a milky haze. Two ANBU stand in the shadows at the corner of the room, as if trying to make themselves invisible.

“Ah, Tenzo,” Lord Third says, sending Tenzo a smile before raising a brow at Kakashi. “You finally found him.”

Tenzo huffs a laugh. “Yes, Lord Third.”

“Lord Third,” Kakashi says with a nod and a stilted bow. “Sorry I’m late. You see-“

“The only explanation I want to hear,” Lord Third says abruptly, waving his pipe in a wide circle in the air, “is the one regarding that failed raid. Am I correct in assuming it failed?”

“Yes.”

“And how did that-“

“It was Madara Uchiha,” Tenzo says before Kakashi gets a word in. “He was there.”

The Third’s wrinkled eyes go wide as they turn on Kakashi. “Is this true, Kakashi?”

Kakashi closes his eyes. “He killed them all. Team Ro is gone.”

He waits for the reaction, the scolding, the admonishments. When that doesn’t come, he opens his eyes to see Tenzo gazing at him with concern and Lord Third thoughtfully gnawing on his pipe.

Finally, Lord Third removes his pipe and licks his lips. “All? Except you appear to have escaped Madara unscathed, Kakashi. What aren’t you telling me?”

Kakashi flicks a glance at the ANBU to Lord Third’s right, then the one to his left. “Not quite unscathed.”

Kakashi’s hands are clasped at his front, but he unclasps them to swipe a hand across the pack at his hip. Tenzo perks a brow and meets Kakashi’s eye while Lord Third nods and hums.

“Very well,” Lord Third says before setting his pipe aside and raising both hands. “Leave us.”

“Lord Third!” The ANBU to the right gasps.

“If Captain Hatake, the man I’ve kept by my side for years, suddenly becomes a source of danger to me,” Lord Third says with a hint of mockery in his voice, “I’m sure Tenzo will come to my defense in your absence.”

Tenzo nods, and the pair of ANBU slink out behind them with wary eyes locked on Kakashi. Kakashi heaves a sigh when they’re gone. They may be right to be wary. Kakashi has to be careful here. He raises his hand to the strap covering his eye, but it trembles and lowers against his will. Swallowing his resolve, he tries again, acutely aware of the two sets of eyes intently locked on his face. When he pulls the strap free, he doesn’t immediately open the new eye along with his own. It is not because he is hesitant to reveal it, but he is hesitant of what it can do. He still doesn’t know the extent of its uses, of why Obito gave it to him, why Madara allowed it.

“Kakashi,” Lord Third says, his voice intense and hoarse. “Open your eye.”

He obliges against his better judgement, because his training to follow orders is that engrained at this point in his career. As he takes in the new details of the world around him, the visual cues molding the room into fine precision, he barely has to glance at the others to recognize their shock.

“Captain,” Tenzo breathes.

“A gift,” Kakashi says, tapping his eyelid as he closes the eye, “from Obito.”

“Obito Uchiha,” Lord Third says. “So he was there, too.”

Kakashi hums his agreement.

“Why?” Tenzo blurts. Kakashi shoots him a one-eyed, questioning glance. “Why would he give you...is that...his?”

Kakashi presses his lips into a hard line as Tenzo’s question sinks in, confirming what Kakashi hasn’t even acknowledged to himself that he suspected. And though he hasn’t taken the time to think about it before now, he knows the answer instantly. Flashes of images from places he has never been. Madara Uchiha’s smile looking almost fond. His own eyes, looking back at him from a face full of judgement. These are all in his head, loaded from the memory contained in the eye.

It is his.

Kakashi shrugs and releases a sigh. “He said, soon you’ll see this world as I do.”

“And Madara agreed to this?” Lord Third says.

Kakashi hardens his gaze and meets the old man’s eyes. “I think he plans to use me to infiltrate the ANBU. Lord Third-“

Tenzo gasps and rushes forward. “If he can penetrate our defenses, Konoha will be lost! We can’t-“

“You should remove me from duty,” Kakashi says with regret, shying away from Lord Third’s penetrating gaze. “At least for now.”

“On the contrary,” Lord Third says, making Kakashi snap his gaze back to the old man with both eyes open, “I think we can use this to our advantage.”

Kakashi balks. “Lord Third.”

“Think of the tech, what it can do for Konoha.”

Kakashi closes his eyes, retiring his argument. There is no doubt cybertech can aid Konoha in its battles, and Kakashi will figure out how to manipulate it in no time, as he masters everything else rapidly. It goes against Konoha’s principles, though. This cybertech is part of the very illegal technology they’re fighting against. It dehumanizes its user. It comes with as many flaws and disadvantages as it has advantages. It is dangerous and reckless. But apparently, Kakashi will be using it.

He sighs. “Yes, Lord Third.”

“But the security!” Tenzo interjects.

“I’ll leave that in the ANBU’s hands,” Lord Third says with a proud smile as he reaches for his pipe. “Kakashi, I can’t have you reporting here anymore with that eye. You won’t make it through security and-“

“I’d rather not give Madara the chance to record anything,” Kakashi finishes.

Lord Third nods. “Right. Tenzo will be the go-between. He will contact you with your next mission. And Kakashi. Tenzo.” His voice is solemn as he looks up to meet their eyes. “I’m sorry about your team. Those men and women served Konoha well.”

Kakashi inhales. His chest feels like it’s laced with barbed wire. “Thank you.”

He bows his head as he leaves the office with a solemn Tenzo, who has no words for what’s transpired. Kakashi is relieved about that. He would rather not talk about this. He has cybertech to master. He has new missions to pursue. He will use the illegal implant in his head for the good of Konoha.

——-

The fight against illegal technology wages on in the months to follow. Kakashi is constantly drained by the power of the Sharingan, the tech he now is known far and wide to have mastered. It eats away at his reserves with every use, yet has carried him through close calls more times than he can count. It aids him in the assassinations of conspirators and their families. It aids him time and time again when his teammates fall. Some days, he doesn’t know how he considers himself to be in the right. Yet Konoha continues to make use of his skills and his illicit gift, expecting him to serve. Lord Third frequently requests Sharingan Kakashi’s assistance on the most heinous of missions. He is needed. He is valuable. He is not to step foot in the Tower, because then he would be a liability. The more he is used, the more he understands what Obito must’ve been feeling when he decided to leave Konoha. With the passage of time, Kakashi finds himself growing disillusioned with his state, his government, his leadership.

He sits at his desk now, in the dark, coming down from the adrenaline of another long day of work. An empty bowl of ramen rests beside him with neon chopsticks pointing out his window. Multicolored flashes permeate his room as the computer screen before his eyes flashes an ad with a naked, bent-over woman moaning and screaming while the man behind her slaps his skin against hers again and again, until a bottle of lube spins over them and loudly announces its addition as a new product with dance music blasting in the background. Kakashi recognizes this ad playing before his eyes, but he isn’t fully looking at it. He’s looking more at the red light reflected in the dark corner of the screen, the familiar eye staring back at him. He hunches forward, bracing his elbows on the desk and refusing to meet the eyes of his intruder. He knew he would come eventually. He is resigned to accept whatever happens next. No matter what happens, he feels he deserves it - and worse.

“Sharingan Kakashi,” Obito says, his voice a whisper in the darkness.

Kakashi raises his gaze to the new ad playing on his screen, marking a bookstore’s grand opening. This ad doesn’t have the darkness to permit him a reflection. He can turn around, or he can wait here blindly. He doesn’t move.

“Do you see now?” Obito says, closer this time.

Kakashi hangs his head and tries for a long moment not to break. He fails. A sob racks his chest as his Sharingan eye replays visuals of children smiling and accepting handouts in the slums, runaway teens escaping pursuit as a door is opened for them from a dark alley, stray cats eating from the palm of his hand. But it’s not his hand. His hands are stained with the blood of innocents. It is Obito’s hands he sees, Obito’s memories. They’ve haunted Kakashi as he’s taken them along with him on every vile mission. They’ve made Kakashi see this world more clearly than he ever has.

“Yes,” he chokes. “I’m scum. The lowest of scum. Do your worst. I won’t stop you.”

A hand lands on his shoulder and Kakashi braces for the strike that is bound to come. After seconds have passed with nothing happening, he whips his head up. He whirls around to look over his shoulder and see Obito looking down on him with one eye to match his and another to match the grey whirling tech Kakashi had seen on Madara. His mismatched eyes manage to convey pity.

“You are scum,” Obito says, his words betrayed by the note of fondness in his voice. The hard clank of steel hitting wood alerts Kakashi of the dagger set by his side. “But he trusts you. Your Sharingan can get close.”

Kakashi turns his gaze from the dagger reflecting multicolored dancing lights to the smug look on Obito’s face. It is only by use of his Sharingan that he is able to determine the emotion he sees in Obito’s eyes - not triumph, but sadness. He is sad for Kakashi, even in sight of his win.

Obito squeezes Kakashi’s shoulder. “You know what you have to do.”

Kakashi turns his eyes to the hilt of the dagger and picks it up, turns it over until it reflects a beam of light across his tiny apartment. “You think it’ll make a difference?”

“Doing away with the leadership?” Obito says with a frown and a shrug. “It’s a start. Madara has a vision. I plan to fulfill that vision.”

Kakashi gives him a wry smile. “Too bad I won’t be there to see it come to fruition.”

“You do your part,” Obito says, lowering himself to meet Kakashi eye to eye, “and I’ll do mine.”

Kakashi seizes Obito by the wrist before he can rise again and walk out of his life forever. “Stay.”

Obito eyes Kakashi’s hand and then steadily meets his gaze. “Kakashi. Stupid, loyal Kakashi.”

He leans down and pulls Kakashi in for a kiss. It is tender and gentle, not like anything Kakashi would expect from a rogue criminal. And Kakashi needs more. He grabs a fistful of Obito’s shirt and tugs him forward until their kiss is hard and bruising. Obito’s hands explore Kakashi’s body as he rises from the chair and makes way for the bed.

Because tonight may be Kakashi’s last night in this world. He has seen it clearly now, just in time to leave it, hopefully in time to leave a mark that will overshadow all the violence he has inflicted on it. He can hope for Madara’s future to be a better tomorrow. He will entrust Obito with overseeing the change, because when he is gone, Obito will remain, showing Kakashi the future through his eyes.