#ONLY mr dugan

[lizzie-is-here]

like the dawn

part iv- the train and the plane

“i don’t know who sold the homeland, but i know who paid the price” - mahmoud darwish

summary: you lose everything in the span of two weeks, left with nothing at all. not even bodies to bury.

wordcount: 3.8k

warnings: cussing, violence, death, mourning, lack of closure, angst, i cried twice while writing this

a/n: i really hope u guys like this one 🥺 i know the last few haven’t been the most exciting but i promise it’s going somewhere 😩 love u all <3

taglist: @whelvedfeelingsstuff @sebsgirl71479 @rebloggingmyrecs @babyblublossom @local-mr-frog @thenyxsky @capsiclesdoll

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In the distance, you heard a train. The cold air carried the sound of creaking tracks all throughout the mountains, winding through the snow.

Jacque shook his head. “Let’s get going, because they’re moving like the devil.”

Steve stepped up and clamped a hook onto the wire. “We only got about a 10-second window,” he said. “You miss that window, we’re bugs on a windshield.”

“Mind the gap,” one huffed. You nodded, readying your hook.

“Better get moving, bugs!” Dugan yelled.

And with that, you were off. Gliding through the air and gripping on for dear life as you approached the train.

As soon as the black exterior was within the right distance, you dropped down, clinging to the roof and laying down. Once the coast was clear, you stood and began to shakily make your way to an entrance.

Steve quickly found a ladder and led you and Bucky inside as Gabe kept watch. It was eerily quiet the moment the brunet shut the door behind him, the train car falling silent.

You all stalked forward, the shield, the bow, and the gun, all on edge. After Schmidt, you weren’t sure what horrors you would face.

Steve went ahead to check another room as you and Bucky stayed behind him, watching his six. However, the moment he crossed the threshold, the doors slammed shut.

Through the window, you could see a metal suit with weapons that glowed blue confronting Steve. Behind you and your other friend, a handful of guards appeared.

Bucky shot at them as you ducked, cursing your hands as they fumbled for an arrow. The cold had seeped into your fingers, slowing your movement.

As soon as you nocked a particularly sharp arrow, you drew it back and stood back up, waiting until one popped out from behind the shelf. You didn’t hesitate to strike him down, ducking once more as the shooting resumed.

The seemingly endless gunfire echoed around the enclosed space, deafening you and Bucky. The guards stayed safe behind their helmets.

Loud banging erupted from the room behind you, and your mind instantly went to Steve. All he had was a handgun and a shield. A bullet lodging right above your head jolted you back to the fight.

Bucky grabbed his own handgun and rushed across the car to your hiding spot, and you wrapped an arm around him to tug him down. Only one soldier remained, and he was unleashing hell.

The brunet’s gun was out before you knew it, and your arrows were at a disadvantage in the cramped car. You loaded one anyways, both of you shaking as you realized that you were locked in.

Just as you were about to stand up, the door opened. Steve held up a gun and tossed it to Bucky, then nodded to the arrow in your bow. A firecracker, according to Stark.

After years, you understood his plan perfectly. You shot first, driving the guard behind the materials in the center, then Steve ran forward to slam a giant metal pipe at him. The moment the man appeared, he was shot down by Bucky.

“I had him on the ropes,” the latter grumbled.

Steve snarked back. “I know you did.”

You were going to roll your eyes and tell your boys to move along the train, head to the front, and grab the doctor as planned, but fate said otherwise. The man in the machine that Steve had first taken down fired into your train car, and while the blond protected all of you with the shield, it blasted you back.

You slammed into the wall on the far end, groaning as you reoriented yourself. The howling wind was back, and the reason was made clear when you saw the gaping hole in the side of the train.

And Bucky laying dangerously close to the edge.

You saw the scene in slow motion. The guard was aiming for Steve. A direct hit would kill him. As you tried to sit up, your vision blurred.

What happened next would be burned into your mind, haunting you even if the details would be slowly lost.

Bucky rose, shield and gun in hand, firing at the machine. All it took was one blast, and he was thrown outside of the train. With a weak scream and a rush of adrenaline, you ran to the edge as Steve took the man down.

He was clinging onto some rebar, eyes wide and full of fear as his knuckles paled. You reached out with one hand, your stomach dropping at the distance.

“Bucky! Grab my hand!” you yelled, straining as you inched out on the train. Steve joined you, climbing out as well as he screamed for you to be careful, to get you both back to safety.

You grabbed a bar above you, swinging up and much closer to the Sergeant. He was an arm’s reach away, and you held out your bow for him to grab onto.

Your footing slipped, and for a moment, your heart dropped. But then you scrambled back to safety, gasping as your brain caught up to your body.

“Stay there!” Steve yelled, extending a hand. Bucky reached for it, determined as ever. You were so close to being done. Done with your fight. Done with the war.

The rebar creaked, ripping away from the body of the train.

And James Barnes fell.

You weren’t sure if any one of you screamed. Every inch of you was focused on watching your best friend of two decades plummet through the air.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Steve look away.

But you couldn’t.

———————————————————————

To say that you and Steve were in grief would be a disgusting understatement.

For the days after retrieving Zola and returning to base, your grief poured from you. Every waking moment was spent poring over every detail from that damn train.

Steve blamed himself, mostly. Blamed himself for not reaching him. For bringing him along.

And as for you? You didn’t utter a word. You didn’t cry, didn’t scream. You stayed silent long after you got back to camp, handed off the doctor, and returned to a tent.

You stayed silent for the raid, and you stayed silent when you and Steve wandered into a bombed-out bar with a bottle of whiskey.

It was only there, when you two were completely alone, that you spoke after a week and a half.

“It’s not your fault,” you whispered to the Captain. You held up a hand when he tried to rebuff you. “It’s mine, Steve.”

Your eyes finally watered as you sat down next to him, leaning into his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around you. “He- he never enlisted,” you said, knowing he would pick up your insinuation.

“…He was drafted,” Steve sighed, choking up.

You nodded. “If I’d just… told him to tell you, maybe he could’ve applied for some sort of-“ Your words failed and died as a sob ripped through you.

“He was scared.” Those words seemed to finally break Steve. He buried his head in your shoulder, shaking and feeling smaller than he ever was before the serum.

“He never got a choice.”

As you cried, you reached for the bottle and flung away the cap. You took a swig directly from the bottle, passing it to Steve even though you knew he couldn’t get drunk.

No harm in pretending. No harm in pretending Bucky was still here. No harm in pretending that your only options were now to go home and live in this hell or to die.

One seemed more pleasant.

“It was both of our faults,” Steve mumbled. Maybe deep down, you both knew there wasn’t anything you could’ve done to change the outcome. That the blame didn’t fall on either of you.

Grief didn’t care about logic or reason, though. However, vengeance did.

“We’re going after Schmidt.” His words were decisive. “I’m not gonna stop until all of HYDRA is dead or captured.”

“I’ll let you kill him if I get to put an arrow through his chest first.”

He held up his pinkie. You linked it with yours.

And the absence was heavier than ever.

———————————————————————

“Johann Schmidt belongs in a bughouse. He thinks he’s a god, and he’s willing to blow up half the world to prove it, starting with the USA.”

You watched with tired eyes from your spot beside Steve as Colonel Phillips gestured to a map. Howard Stark joined the table.

“Schmidt is working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire Eastern Seaboard in an hour,” he warned.

Steve set down his paper, exchanging a glance with you.

“How much time we got?” Gabe asked. Phillips’ response was less than ideal. You had less than 24 hours.

A commotion broke out, but Steve’s voice carried. “Where is he now?”

“In the Alps, 500 feet below the surface.”

Morita took the picture. “So what are we supposed to do? I mean, it’s not like we can just knock on the front door.”

“Why not?” you deadpanned. Heads turned. None of them but Steve had heard you speak since that mission. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

———————————————————————

Steve sped down a trail in the woods on his motorcycle, with you clinging onto his back.

Neither of you said a word when several HYDRA agents on motorcycles began to trail you, you simply drew back your bow and loaded an arrow. At your request, Howard had upped the lethality of your arrows.

You fired into the middle, not flinching as the resulting explosion knocked several agents from their bikes.

Steve swerved as they fired towards you, weaving through the woods. From there, he began to take the remaining agents out one by one.

After eliminating the last guard, you sped toward the HYDRA base, not stopping as a tank fired blue beams of energy toward you. You aimed another arrow at the bottom of the tank, smashing it to bits before diving off the bike.

You ran up the slanted barricade as Steve barreled through the flames and rubble. Shooting down guards from the shadows, you carefully targeted some of them aiming more lethal blows. All you needed was a quick catch-and-release.

He continued to take on as many HYDRA soldiers as he could find. If you noticed the added brutality, you didn’t comment on it. You understood his reasoning. Each shot you fired, you dedicated to Bucky. And every shot connected.

Steve’s abandoned motorcycle crashed into the wall, exploding in a cloud of fire and smoke. When two more of the men in machines appeared, you tensed. They looked similar to the one on the train.

When plumes of fire spouted from the blasters on their arms, surrounding Steve, you grabbed your radio and ran through the trees.

“It’s going to plan,” you whispered into the device. “Are you in position?”

“Ready to give ‘em hell, Agent,” Dugan affirmed. With that, you followed the HYDRA soldiers as they surrounded Steve, leading him into the building.

You snuck through the empty hallways, keeping your distance and shooting down cameras. Silently, you hid, waiting right outside of the main room of the base. You could hear Schmidt talking.

“Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say, you do it better than anyone.” No response followed. “But there are limits to what even you can do, Captain. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?”

“He told me you were insane.” You sighed in relief at his sass. He wasn’t hurt too bad if he could still snark back.

The Red Skull heaved a sigh. “He resented my genius and tried to deny me what was rightfully mine. But he gave you everything. So, what made you so special?”

A chuckle. “Nothing,” Steve said. “I’m just a kid from Brooklyn.” The next thing you heard were punches being thrown and the blond coughing. You refrained from busting into the room, instead resorting to peeking in.

Steve was on his knees, glaring in defiance at the mutilated man. “I can do this all day.”

“Of course you can, of course. But unfortunately, I am on a tight schedule.” The moment he aimed a gun, you stepped out, bow drawn. You smirked at the shock on his face.

“So am I.”

You fired, knocking the gun from his hand as the rest of the Commandos crashed through the windows.

Gunfire ensued, Nazi soldiers dropping almost instantly under the rain of hellfire. Schmidt himself ran, winding through the corridors as you all followed.

The march of footsteps echoed, and you grabbed your radio.

“We’re in! Assault team, go!” you barked. Moments later, alarms rang through the base. Phillips and Peggy led the charge as hundreds of Allied soldiers charged the building.

You followed Steve as he dashed through after Schmidt. The man fired blue beams of energy, but the shield deflected the otherworldly attacks.

The blond threw his shield, which ricocheted and held open the door long enough for you both to slip inside. But between you and the door was another one of the men wielding flamethrowers.

You winced from the heat, but you were soon saved. Peggy Carter unleashed her wrath and dozens of bullets into the suit, nodding to you both as a team followed behind her.

“You’re late,” Steve quipped.

She raised a brow, unimpressed. “Aren’t you supposed to…” She trailed off, gesturing to the hallway.

“Right.” You both ran off, with you ducking under the shield first and Steve ripping it from the door shortly after. With nothing to keep it open, you were locked in. Again.

A massive jet, more sleek and advanced than any you’d ever seen, sat in the hangar. The Valkyrie. Schmidt’s ugly-ass head stood out against the black as he scrambled into the plane. Moments later, the thrusters fired.

Between you and the ship, however, was a war waging between the two sides. Steve took to the air as you snuck through the fighting, ducking and dodging best you could.

Thanks to the serum, your friend was far ahead of you. The sound of a car engine nearby caused you to look up.

Phillips and Peggy were behind the wheel of Schmidt’s very expensive car, speeding down the runway and directly towards you. They slowed down just enough for you to hop in before chasing after Steve.

“You can’t run everywhere!” you yelled as he hopped in.

The Valkyrie was too fast, increasing the distance between it and the car with every second. But not for long. The Colonel pressed a button, and you sped up drastically, wincing from the force.

The Captain stood up as you closed in on the plane, using his shield to block the propeller blades.

“Keep it steady!” he yelled.

You grabbed him. “Wait!” Passing him an arrow, you gave him a weak smile.

“Put it through his chest.” Wrapping your pinkie with his, you pleaded, “But come back to me.”

Steve leaped, and Phillips veered the car, barely stopping you three from falling off the edge. Immediately hopping from the swaying vehicle, you nodded back to the building, where most of the shooting had stopped.

Under the lead of the Howling Commandos the Allied forces had taken out or captured the HYDRA soldiers. As they rounded them up and confiscated weapons, you searched for the command center.

———————————————————————

Meanwhile, Steve was having a horrible time. He’d been thrown from the plane, hijacked an enemy jet, and seen dozens of nukes loaded and ready to blow multiple US cities to hell.

Now, he crept into the main room of the Valkyrie, eyeing the glowing blue device in the middle. He suspected Schmidt was at the helm, but was sorely mistaken when he heard a laser charging behind him.

He barely blocked the shot, and Schmidt clicked his tongue.

“You don’t know when to give up, do you?”

With a loud “Nope!”, he ran at the man, blocking more of those blue bursts of energy. They went punch for punch, blow for blow, tossing each other around the plane before Schmidt was tossed against the controls, causing the plane to careen downwards.

The Nazi managed to turn on autopilot before long, whipping around, gun in hand.

“You could have the power of the gods! Yet you wear a flag on your chest and think you fight a battle of nations!” he screamed. “I have seen the future, Captain! There are no flags!”

“Not my future,” Steve rebuffed. He threw the shield with all his might, knocking the Red Skull into the bright blue light. The machine whirred and presented the source: a glowing cube.

Dislodged from the machine, it sent out strikes of blue lightning. Schmidt grabbed it.

“What have you done?” he demanded. The cube began to glow brighter, projecting a stunning image of what looked like… Space? And then a scream.

Steve watched in horror as Schmidt’s body began to burn away. In a blinding beam of light, he disappeared, leaving behind the blue cube, which burnt through the floor of the ship.

Clambering into the seat, Steve caught a glimpse of the plane’s destination. New York City. Ahead, golden clouds spanned the horizon.

Back at the HYDRA base, you sat in the control room, anxiously staring at the radio.

“Come in. This is Captain Rogers. Do you read me?”

You sighed in relief. “Steve. Are you alright? What are your coordinates-“

On the other end, he nearly sobbed. He hated to do this to you. “(Y/N), Schmidt’s dead.”

“What about the plane?” you asked, chuckling lightly. “I know you can’t fly one.”

‘No, but I can crash one.’

He bit his tongue. “That’s a bit tougher to explain.”

“Ok, well, give us your coordinates. Peggy can find you a safe landing sight.”

His next words tore through you.

“There’s not gonna be a safe landing. But I can try and force it down.”

“No,” you whispered. Shaking your head, you ignored your vision blurring. “We can get Howard on the line. He’ll know what to do.”

“There’s not enough time. This thing’s moving too fast and it’s heading for New York.” He paused as the full reality of the situation sunk in. “I got to put her in the water.”

“Steve, no, please. We can work something out, I-“ Choking down a sob, you wiped your eyes furiously. You had cried too much in the past week. “I can’t lose you, too.”

You could hear him choke up on the other end, too.

“Right now I’m in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer, a lot of people are gonna die.”

“(Y/N), this is my choice.”

With that, he pressed the controls forward, stomach dropping as the plane careened from the sky.

“(Y/N)?” He sounded small. Scared.

“I’m here, Stevie.”

“I need you to move on.”

No. You had lived your whole life as part of a trio. You couldn’t go it alone. You didn’t know how.

“Steve, please. I… I can’t lose you and Bucky. Not like this.”

He never tore his eyes away from the approaching ground, even as tears fell. “I know. I’m sorry. I know he is, too.”

You curled in on yourself. “Give him hell for me, okay?”

“I will,” he chuckled. “Can’t let him get away with that-“

The radio cut, and you were left with nothing.

Nothing but the soft crackle of the radio.

———————————————————————

You never went back home. You mailed a letter to Bucky’s sister and ma, and then holed yourself up in the base in New Jersey that became Peggy and Howard’s base of operations.

If losing Bucky was hell, you weren’t sure what this is.

Because for the first time in over two decades, you were completely, utterly alone.

What made matters worse is that you didn’t have bodies to bury. While Howard was looking for The Valkyrie, his efforts were unsuccessful. You couldn’t even lay your boys to rest.

The following week was spent scraping for every memory you had of the two and putting them down on paper. And then, when you filled up three whole journals, you began to write what you wished you’d said.

Particularly that you’d loved them both.

You stored those more personal letters in a lockbox. Dozens of pages of messily scrawled words, tossed and shoved away on a shelf in the barracks.

And around you, life moved on. The world mourned the loss of Captain America and one of the Howling Commandos, but you seemed to be the only one mourning Steven Grant Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes.

You wanted to give them a proper funeral. To put names to the heroes.

You weren’t even left with their bodies.

It ate at you, recurring every day and slowly pushing you to the brink.

Until one night.

———————————————————————

You had had enough. The nights of not sleeping. The pitied looks. The crying. The grief that was eating you alive and that you were sure would consume you whole.

So you grabbed your bow and quiver, ran to the runway, and hijacked the first plane you saw.

You knew nothing about flying planes. But you knew how to improvise.

Pulling up the location, you grabbed your map, scanning the Swiss Alps. You knew where Bucky fell.

Everyone was looking for Captain America. No one was looking for him.

It was almost a day of flying before you reached that same train track. The hike from your landing spot and down into the ravine was even worse.

But as you wandered the frozen land, you were on a mission. You pushed through the cold, knowing you had to be close, praying to anything out there that you could receive some piece of mind.

But when you got to a spot in the snow that looked different, all you saw was blood. And lots of it.

There wasn’t a body.

Your heart jumped in your chest. Bucky could be alive. The oppressive cold warned otherwise, but there wasn’t any denying that he’d survived the fall.

The faint trail of red wound further down the path, and as you followed it, you noticed other things. Like tire tracks where the blood stopped.

And footsteps behind you. You whipped around, bow drawn, only to find a small man in a lab coat. The doctor.

You eyed him up and down, frowning.

“How did you get here?” you asked, biting out the words. “Where is Bucky?”

“The Allies decided I was too valuable to kill, Ms. (L/N). And much like me, so was the Sergeant. He’s alive.”

“Then where. Is. He,” you spat, only getting closer.

“Put the bow down,” he proposed. “And I’ll take you to him.”

Well, that was an offer you couldn’t turn down. You obliged, turning to nod down the trail.

“Where are we-“

A sharp prick stabbed into your neck and you hissed, whirling around only to watch the cliffs blur. Your arms weakened, dropping your weapon as you stumbled.

More footsteps sounded from behind you, and two sets of arms grabbed yours.

Zola leaned in, a wicked smirk on his face.

“HYDRA.”

[hournites]

I think there’s been a glitch

Hournite s3 fic 

~.~

Beth was relieved to find Rick sitting on the Pit Stop couch at exactly the time she had asked him to meet her. His knees were splayed open, both arms draped over the old peeling leather, taking up far too much room than one human possibly needed on a three-cushion sofa. Beth nudged his knee inwards pointedly, settling down beside him. The protrusion under his shirt was not subtle at all, the base of the hourglass sticking out in full view. Beth ran her tongue over her teeth, willing herself not to stress over Rick’s obnoxious display. 

“You wanted to talk?” 

Beth smiled when he did, shuffling in closer. The worn sofa sunk under her weight, dipping her to the point she was now brushed against Rick’s jeans. “I did, yes.”

“Cool.” One of his arms still over the back slid down, hovering just above Beth’s shoulder. She wondered if Rick was planning on putting his arm entirely around her, then didn’t have to wait much longer to find out. She turned towards him, curiously. They’ve sat many times here before, never quite so close or comfortable. “I wanted to talk to you about what I found when I scanned you earlier today with the goggles.” She got the results after double-checking with Dr. McNider an hour ago. They were not good. 

His brows furrowed. “You scanned me?” 

“Yes.”

“Why?” 

“I wanted to check your brain functioning.” 

“Why?”

“Because,” Beth started cautiously, dragging out the word. She didn’t want to have this discussion at all, but she knew that if she didn’t, it would only lead to more harm. “You’re not the same.”

“Huh?”

“Look, adolescence is an at-risk time for developing substance abuse. I know you don’t drink on the job, but I also know you have been prone to drinking alcohol before too.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Addiction has a hereditary predisposition, right? Your uncle is an alcoholic. And your dad…Well…Mr. Dugan implied he might’ve had an issue that he recovered from, too. So it’s a serious concern. A chronic brain disease needs to be taken seriously.”

“Addiction? What addiction?” Rick frowned, perplexed. “What are you talking about?”

Beth let out a shaky breath. “Rick, I am talking about the hourglass! The way you have not let go of it once since you took the limiter off. Why haven’t you?”

He shrugged. “It makes me feel good.”

“That’s what users say about drugs,” Beth replied gently. “But the problem with drugs is that they can damage your organs.”

“By your logic, the hourglass has always been a drug. And I’ve been using it for over a year. I’ve never had any issues with the hourglass before.”

“Yeah, but I see the change in your behavior and mood,” Beth explained. “You’re chasing a high.”

“A high?” Rick scoffed. “It’s not a high. I’m not trying to get stoned, I just don’t want to feel like shit. The hourglass makes it easier to just…” He stopped abruptly and started over. “I used to feel so tired all the time. I feel alive now.” He must’ve caught her reaction to his casual admission of depression and backtracked. “I’m not-I’m not-It’s not that I was, y’know.” 

“Rick,” she whispered urgently. “Were you depressed?” 

“No offence,” Rick started curtly, though not completely unkind, “but you’re happy nearly every day of your life. It isn’t hard for you.”

Beth bristled. “Is that an insult?” The words sounded cold, but not with the way he was starting to smile. Beth couldn’t tell. It felt like he was deflecting. “Because that’s not exactly true.”

“No!” Rick laughed and his mood changed. “No, no. Not at all. I mean, if anything, it drives me crazy, a bit.”

“Crazy?”

“You’re like the sun. It’s what I like about you. I want to feel that all the time, not just when I’m with you.”

“It’s what you like about me?” Beth repeated. She knew that was the least important bit of information in that sentence but she was still stuck on that phrase.

“Yeah.” A funny expression passed through his face, a light chuckle, a slight raise of an eyebrow. “I like many things about you.” The arm around her squeezed her shoulder. In spite of the difficult conversation, ill-timed butterflies erupted in her stomach. 

“Do you?” fell out of her mouth. Beth blinked, telling herself to stay focused on the task at hand, no matter how distracting Rick was right now with the bombshells he dropped one after the other, sending her mind in disarray. I feel alive now. You’re like the sun. It’s what I like about you. It drives me crazy. 

“Never mind, don’t answer that right now. Thank you,” she said, placing a hand on his bouncing knee. “Really, thank you, but I really think that if this is true, we should look into you seeing someone to help you.”

“Seeing someone?” The corners of his mouth lifted into a slight smirk. “I’m seeing you. You’re the doctor, right?”

“I mean, like, a therapist,” Beth struggled out, having an abysmally hard time continuing with the earnestness etched upon his face. “Not just me. If I could help you alone, I would in a heartbeat.” 

Beth’s eyes flitted around the Pit Stop loft, summoning the courage to be loving but firm with her assessment that she thought it best that Rick take a break from the JSA. 

“But I’m not qualified for the help I think you need. I think, especially after Matt left you, Rick, you’re burying everything that’s happened to you. And it’s a lot, I know it’s a lot, and that’s not your fault, okay? I’m not blaming you, but I don’t think that being Hourman 24/7 is going to be an adequate fix, especially–” She stopped her passionate intervention when she glanced back up at him. Rick was right there, eyes on her face, but not exactly computing a word she was saying. 

She was expecting his typical anger or frustration, or for him to simply get up and walk away. Not stare at her. “Are you even listening to me right now?”

“No. Sorry.” Rick shook his head. “I was too busy looking at you.”

“Looking…at me?”

“It’s hard to focus when you’re like this,” he admitted. “Especially when you’re looking this pretty.” 

Her entire speech flew out the window. Beth’s gaze dropped to her lap. Warmth flooded her cheeks and her breath hitched. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Yeah,” Rick said softly. “I really do.”

“What were you telling me?” he said again after a silence. He pinched the space between his brows with a frown, trying to focus. “I’ll pay attention this time.”

Beth blinked hazily at him. His inability to concentrate was a side effect that clearly coincided with the brain scan this morning, but why was she spacey, mirroring him? What was he doing to her? Why was she immobilized? 

“I.” She cleared her tight throat. “Um.” 

“Listening,” he murmured. 

“Rick?” she whispered.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“What were you saying?” 

“I-I don’t know.” 

This was a train wreck. Beth’s heart was ramming against her ribcage. Her mind puttered uselessly around in circles at the shower of compliments and the look of pure adoration seeping into his clear hazel eyes. She didn’t know what to do with herself. The arm around her shoulder now felt like fire. Beth has never had a crush. She didn’t even know she liked Rick in this all-consuming, sinking-in lava, too late for rescue, way. Did people go their whole lives feeling like this?!? How was Beth supposed to function?

He chuckled again and moved, completely oblivious to his new startling effect on her as he leaned closer, reaching out with his hand. Beth froze, not breathing as Rick caressed her face, brushing his calloused fingers against her, sweeping underneath her frames.

“Wh-what?” she breathed. “What are you doing?”

Rick produced the tiniest curl on the pad of his index. “You had a lash under your eye.”

Beth stared at the fine strand of hair. “Oh.” Rick leaned back, proud.

“Rick?” Beth willed herself upright, voice strangled. “I have to go.”

His brows creased as he formed an uncharacteristic pout. “But you called me here.”

“I know I did. But I forgot about something at home,” she lied. “So now I’ve got to go.”

Rick stood up when she grabbed the pouch with her goggles. “Do you need a lift?”

“No, it’s alright. I can walk.” She needed the cold evening air to slap her in the face. Hopefully, the briskness will shock her out of this floating state and her senses will return. Then she can march right back in here and finish the job to kick Rick off the team like she was supposed to do. 

Not fall in love with him! 

“It won’t be safe. There’s that killer on the loose. It’s dark.”

“I got here fine,” she reminded him, “I’m Dr. Mid-Nite, working in the dark? It’s kind of what I do.” She let out a relieved sigh, glad to know her thinking capacity wasn’t totally fried, finally stringing together some proper sentences again. ”I’ll wear the goggles.” 

Rick seemed to get her hint that she wanted alone time. Still, he asked. “Can I follow you with my car?” 

“No, Rick.” She blew out an exasperated breath. 

Beth didn’t want him to be driving that car. She wanted him to see what the hourglass was doing to his cardiovascular system. But now she could barely stomach the kindness and concern creeping into his tone, and she didn’t even know how much of it was real. Was this a cause of Rick’s messed up inhibitory control? Or was his VTA and amygdala’s synapses firing up all his pleasure centres with Miraclo euphoria?

“Here’s what I will do,” Beth said, reaching for her phone. She linked her location app with his for the night, sending an instant notification to the cell he carried stuffed in his bag on the table. “Now you don’t need to worry about me getting home.” 

Beth made it down the stairs to the first floor, and Rick saw her out. He opened his arms as the 2-car garage door rumbled upwards to reveal the moon-lit Main Street. Beth paused mid-glasses switch, squinting at him with her myopic eyes. When his arms stayed outstretched, she realized what he was waiting for so expectantly. 

A hug. 

He wanted a hug. 

Beth hugs Rick sometimes. It wasn’t all that unusual. Usually after a terrifying JSA scare or a long-weekend without seeing him. But now, she hesitated. The hourglass base was blurry, but Beth was hyper-aware of it sitting snug against his waist there. 

“Oh,” she said delicately, stepping back. She finished putting her glasses away and rested her goggles up in her hair. “It’s just that you’ve said so yourself; you’re very strong.”

Rick found that amusing rather than offensive. “I’m not going to crush you.”

“If you’re sure?” 

“I promise.” 

Beth stepped forward, then did so again, wrapping her arms around Rick’s waist and squeezing his torso tightly, allowing herself this moment. Her head rested against his shirt when Rick enveloped her. This was longer and more heartfelt than any quick fleeting hug hello. True to his word, Rick was impossibly gentle with her, hands smoothed over the back of her jacket. And that warmth from before blossomed as her stomach performed summersaults and handsprings, sucking her in again, bad. Beth never wanted to pull away. 

“Goodnight, Beth.”

“Goodnight.”

Beth scurried down the road, walking quickly on the sidewalk past the Pit Stop and the library and the fluorescent-lit diner. She was back to the drawing board, and way in over her head. Not only was Rick blissfully unaware of the emotional turmoil he just caused her (or was he?), but he was far more deep in this hourglass dependency problem than she had expected, too. And now she had to be the one to convince Rick that the adrenaline rushing in his veins was only generating an artificial joy? And now she had to tell him that his blood might toxify if he continued to live this way? And now she had to tell him that he needed to go back to his one-hour of Hourman a day routine if he didn’t want to damage his brain?

And now she had to stand and walk and breathe and talk and sit and fight next to him knowing that he maybe sorta liked her?

And now she had to solemnly accept that she more than liked him, too?

SENDING VOICE MEMO TO DR. MCNIDER.

Beth gasped, realizing she’d been ranting and venting through her vexation out loud for any and all Blue Valley night-owls to hear. 

MESSAGE RECEIVED!

CHUCK CALLING. 

Oh, Beth was so doomed.

[samarasketch]

Happy Beth Day!

"Where are we going?"

"It won't be a secret anymore if I just tell you, will it?" His lips quirked as he made a turn on the dark street. He could see from the corner of his eyes that she was getting anxious, her curiosity was making her bounce in her seats. "Just trust me, okay? It's just right around the corner."

She was just about to ask if they were there yet when he pulled over at a dark and quiet spot on a hill, lit only by the crescent moonlight.

"You're... not gonna stab me and then leave me here to die, right?" she semi-joked.

He chuckled as he got out of the car and opened her door for her. "Here, you can see for yourself."

She took three cautious steps into the darkness. "Okay... uhm... what did you want to show me-"

"SURPRISE!"

"Eek!"

The lights turned on, revealing tables of her favourite food (oh, she loved food) and her beloved friends and family.

"Aww... you guys..."

"Happy Beth Day!" Courtney said with a flourish of enthusiastic jazz hands. "We know it's not until tomorrow, but we thought it would be perfect to throw a little party at midnight for our Dr. Midnite!"

She looked around at the small crowd of her favourite people in the world. Courtney and Yolanda... Mr. and Mrs. Dugan... her Mom and Dad... and Mike and Jakeem (who even brought party poppers)...

... and of course, Rick.

Yolanda, hands full with Beth's favourite strawberry cake, bent over to Beth's ear and said conspiratorially, "It was actually Rick's idea."

"Happy birthday, Dr. Midnite," he said, looking at her with the softest expression she'd seen on him. And for a moment, she just couldn't bear to tear her eyes away.

"Oh! The candle's almost burning out! Go on, Beth, make a wish!" Courtney said.

"Just make sure you don't tell Jakeem what it is, or who knows what trouble we'll have this time." Mike joked.

"Hey! That was one time!" Jakeem protested.

Beth felt a fuzzy feeling in her chest, like it was bursting through the seams. She looked around at the people she loved and couldn't help the smile that came to her lips as she knew exactly what to wish for.

She closed her eyes, put her hands together, and silently sent her wish to the lone candle and blew it out.

"Alright everyone, help yourselves to the food! We have plenty to go around here!" Beth's Dad clapped Mike and Jakeem on the back and turned them toward the tables as everyone else began picking up their own plates.

Rick was the only one who stayed behind. "So, what did you wish for?"

She beamed. "It won't be a secret anymore if I just tell you, will it?"

He let out a laugh. "Touché."

As he turned and walked toward the tables, she looked at his retreating figure and silently repeated her wish in her heart.

[bedlamsbard]

Just under 1K written today.  Today was a very Friday Friday, which means that I did the thing I had scheduled for the day and then my brain went “thank you, we are out.”

Dugan and the other Commandos shifted a little from foot to foot, too polite to come out and ask, but clearly less interested in encrypted mystery communiques than in Steve Rogers.

Peggy asked for them. “Do you know where –”

“They’re all up in the gym, along with half the staff who want to catch the show,” Rose said.  She gathered up a armful of folders.  “I gotta take these to Mr. Stark and the colonel anyway, I’ll go with you.”

“I wouldn’t mind catching the show myself,” Falsworth said, sounding contemplative. “I’ve rather missed it.”

Rose put her hand on Peggy’s arm and Peggy looked at her, a little surprised.  “They’re all up in the gym,” she repeated. “Including Mrs. Rogers.”

Peggy felt a muscle in her jaw twitch while everyone else looked studiously down at the encrypted Typex printouts, pretending not to listen. “Steve’s a grown man and we never made any promises to each other,” she said.  “If he wants to marry the first pretty girl who drops her knickers for him, that’s his own prerogative.”

“Not the first,” Morita muttered, then said, “What?” when they all looked at him. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Um,” Rose said, looking like she regretted mentioning it.

In retrospect, Peggy decided wearily, she should have made certain she knew what the unofficial SSR story was about Steve’s mysterious appearance, since the time travel tall tale was need-to-know only.

“Never mind that,” she said.

[gorogues]

Spoilers for the Stargirl season 3 premiere!

The season started this week, and our boy the Shade appeared a bit in town, doing his thing.  He's apparently bought a house in Blue Valley, and Jakeem tosses a newspaper to him; the Thunderbolt pops out of his pocket and tells Jakeem to pedal faster because the Shade is spooky.  Later, Richard is in the diner trying their latest iteration of tea, and politely tells the waitress it needs a litle more work...but the faces he makes indicates he thought it was a lot more horrible than that.  

That's when the Gambler shows up to bug him, and the Shade does not like him nor buy his claim of reform for the sake of his daughter.  Gambler had previously knocked on the door of the Whitmore-Dugan home, telling them he was back in Blue Valley to search for a previously-unknown daughter.  Courtney seems to be the only person who believes him, but as we see later, he did appear to be sincere about searching for her and making amends.  However, the Shade threatens him away with a display of power and tells Gambler to leave Blue Valley before he or the JSA find out what he's truly up to.  Richard then discovers that some of his shadows are leaking from his eye and they spark with green energy which may be related to Jennie or perhaps her missing brother Obsidian (their shadow powers are connected in the comics).

Anyway, the Shade appears in the preview for next week's episode, so he'll obviously be up to his business and it'll involve Sylvester Pemberton.  Sylvester is sketchy as hell so far, but we saw he was kind of a jerk in flashbacks too so maybe that's just how he is...there's obviously something going on with him here, though.

And the Gambler seemingly gets murdered at the end of the episode, after discovering a mysterious someone was watching his trailer through a video feed -- that same someone is watching the JSA members' homes and other places significant to them.  Could it be Mr Bones and Helix, who were hinted at last season?  I've tried to avoid spoilers for the show, so I haven't heard if or how much they'll be around this season, but they or someone connected to them seem like possible suspects.  The killer probably isn't Cindy Burman, no matter how incriminating the crime scene looked.  Anyway, I look forward to finding out who it is and whether the Gambler is really dead or if he/someone faked it somehow.  It'd be hilarious if his daughter Rebecca/Becky appears in future episodes and is played by the same actor who played her in the CW Flash series.  Probably not going to happen, but I can dream!

[redjaybathood]

canon divergence where after bruce kills jason at the end of utrh, jason takes a while to recover, and then. THEN he just kills the joker and leaves gotham. no more drama. he’s just gone. aka my fantasy of canon ((for the ask game))

1) If Jason could have redo it all over again, then he either would not bother with Bruce at all; just killed Joker, then went to take over Gotham. Or he wouldn't bother with Gotham, just killed the Joker when he got his hands on him in LA.

+Maybe he would have stayed in LA, and that would have given us a plenty of unique stories, team-ups with Manhunter, and Outlaws in Hollywood.)

But there's no redoing it.

He leaves, kinda depressed.

2) There's no kinda. He is depressed. Like, he's low-key depressed throughout canon, especially recently, it seems like. However. This time it's serious enough that he does leave Gotham. Because the only way he does it voluntarily, without a manhunt after him, without him kicking and screaming, without a clear and more pressing goal, is either because everything tip-top in Gotham (which is not the case), or if he literally can't do it anymore. Do anything anymore.

I want to imagine him sipping an orange fresh somewhere on the beaches of a southern island. And there's Kory, and they go rescue Roy, and then the Outlaws hijinks ensue. I want it so badly. But. But.

He gets to a small picturesque town in the middle of America where everyone knows each other and nothing bad ever happens. And he stays there. Just. Fixing bikes and cars and trucks and basically anything with a drive.

(and if it's South Kentucky, it's a crossover with Justified; if it's Minnesota, it's crossover with Fargo; if it's Nebraska, it is a crossover with Stargirl TV series, my beloved; look. Younger Jason would be so hyped to meet Pat Dugan! Older Jason as a guy who needed a job and Pat gave him one, and then one day he's like, discovers this giant-ass Robot there and goes: cool; anyway, Pat, the car that Mrs Jenkins got in on Friday - I changed the oil but it needs serious work, right, I'm afraid the brakes could fail any minute, but she doesn't have enough money with the recession and all, take the costs out of my paycheck and I will do the whole work myself... And Pat is like: why no one ever is surprised by my giant flying Robot?)

3) And, you know. If it's a normal town then he's gonna have a normal life. Grow veggies in the backyard. Ride a velobike to work. Do yoga. Never watch news. Read books. Write books. For children, maybe - for children like him.

4) After Damian dies - Jason doesn't know about it, he doesn't know about his existence even - Bruce comes to visit. And it goes like... Jason is not surprised - he didn't expect it, sure, because why would he, he thought Bruce moved on just as he did. But he doesn't have it in him to be surprised, or glad, or sad, or anything.

Because there's this empty hole inside his chest. There is a routine he uses everyday to make himself do something, anything. And there are days when he doesn't get out of his bed because there's no point.

So he's like: wanna have some tea? I baked biscuits. And Bruce is like: yes. Thank you. And they're just talking. Drinking tea. Nothing serious, just - how's Alfred? Is Gordon still the Commissioner? Did Dick tied the knot with Barbara yet? on one side. What do you do for a living? Do you have friends now? Do you have a dog, you always wanted one? on the other.

And then Jason falls with his face down on the table. Because Bruce drugged him.

Bruce takes him to Quarak. He needs Jason to remember, how did he come back. And Jason is like: you know this is not the place where you can trigger any relevant memories. I died here, but I came back in Gotham. Both times.

And Bruce is like: both?

Jason: both.

Bruce: when was the second one?

Jason: you know when was it, you've been there. You did this. What's this is about? Do you want to discover the secrets to immortality now, old man? Age catches up to you? Well, Ra's tried to find out and failed. And I don't remember myself. One second I'm dead, another I'm not. Is that all? Can we go now?

Bruce: Yes. This is all. I am sorry, Jason. For taking you here.

He steps in for a hug. Jason doesn't care much so he allows it. Bruce breaks his neck.

And waits to see how Jason is coming back.

Only this time, he doesn't.

5) Artemis and Bizarro are in Qurac as well. They're looking for the bow of Ra. They see, instead, a guy in the desert, who's sitting there, with a dead body at his feet.

Artemis knows that dead guy. She killed a man, years before, with the same face. So she steps in.

It comes to blows. But Amazon plus a Kryptonian, versus Batman who's not firing at full cylinders, that's a quick enough fight. Except for Superman and Wonder Woman showing up and helping Batman (I imagine their reaction seeing dead Jason on the desert floor and Bruce fighting two superpowered people - oh god, thinks Clark, he lost him again. They killed him, thinks Diana)

Now Artemis and Biz are at disadvantage. So they need to run. But there's no way Artemis would leave this kid to his murderer, so they take Jason's body with them.

Now, they are on the run from the world's mightiest heroes. The only chance they have is if Artemis finds the bow, after all.

6) She finds it. It all goes down pretty much the same way except Trinity is against them, which helps the government to get the upper hand. But then the government's actions take priority for the Trinity, so they temporarily call a truce.

One way or another, it's over. Biz didn't get hurt here bc Clark was here to help. But after all said and done, Diana turns to Artemis and demands an explanation, why would she kill Batman's son.

Artemis retorts that Jason was already dead when they arrived and she suspects that it's Batman who killed him. Bruce says nothing. Clark asks to see the body so they could investigate.

Joke on them, Jason's body is gone.

Bruce is enraged. Losing control over his actions and speech, he blames Artemis for taking Jason away from him - after everything what Bruce done. He killed him, and now what - it's been for nothing? Tell me where you hiding him! I need to know how he keeps coming back!

7) And look. If there was any way to bring Jason to Gotham, and have him come back there, I would say it's the city itself that brings him back every time.

But here, I don't know - you might get Egyptian gods involved (that's the Bana Mighdal pantheon so it would make sense. He died in their lands twice, that's a sort of thing that makes gods to take notice and maybe use you).

Or the body was stolen by someone else.

8) cue the arc with the Untitled

9) he does ends up with All Caste. They don't treat his depression exactly, but he manages to pull through with their help anyway.

[captainjimothycarter]

Touch Of Home

A Snippet For Day 1: Inspired By For Steggy Week. I will be posting the full fic tomorrow, after it's edited.

Craning his neck at the sound, he could see the Howling Commandos at what Colonel Phillips had insisted was a ‘legal distance’ from Steve when he did these ridiculous interviews.

Dugan sat behind the wheel, still laughing at something Falsworth’s cheeks were tinting pink about. He only stopped when Jones leaned over from the back to whisper into his ear, pointing towards a figure marching towards them. It was a familiar sight to see Agent Carter marching across the muddy grounds with a piece of muddy and torn cloth in her hand. 

All he could hear between the rustling of the journalist's papers was her accusing them of using her old nylons and how they weren’t the Howling Commandos, but nothing but a bunch of buffoons stuffed in military uniform. 

He tried not to laugh, tried to remind himself that he was in a very serious interview that would make its way across America to ‘give the people a ‘real insight’ on their American Hero, but he was only human. A snort escaped him as her lecture continued, Peggy stopping and turning on her heels when the sound traveled over to them.

She caught his eye and smiled, swinging the muddy hoses in her fingertips. He felt his face flush, a warming bundling in his chest as she smiled at him, barely able to remember to give her one back. 

Steve was a selfish man and he wanted more of that smile, he realized, but more importantly, he wanted more time with her. He wanted to follow her after the war, like some lost puppy, hopelessly in love. He wanted to take her dancing, to give her the life she deserved. He wanted to see her every single day of his life, until his dying breath. 

That’s what home was for him, home was Peggy Carter and how a simple smile could just turn his day around.

He wanted to be the reason for her smile. He wanted to give her that life they’d whispered about on those dark and cold nights, with no other souls around but them. It would be an honor to assist her in changing the world and more selfishly [repeating], to just be them.

Peggy Carter was the reason he was here now, not just because of the serum but giving him the chance to prove himself. To remind him that he was more than just some lab rat and a dancing monkey.

“Mr. America?” The journalist cleared his throat, leaning over to tape his pen on Steve's leg to get his attention. “The question, Captain? I asked-”

“Home is...” Steve interrupted him, turning back to the annoyed reporter. “Home is going where I’m needed and wanted.”

[arctimon]

Multiverse Madness - A Big Hero 6 Discussion

(This post will contain ZERO spoilers for Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness...mostly because I haven’t seen it yet.)

Nowadays, you can’t go anywhere without hearing about the Multiverse.  Marvel (both in the MCU and in the comics) and DC have both delved into the other worlds that make up their universe.  Marvel has done it on a much grander scale, with it prominently being showcased in recent and upcoming films.

The What If...? series is kind of like this to an extent, but the Multiverse is not a new thing.  In fact, they’ve been around for a long time.  Earths upon Earths of realities with superheroes all in them, with Earth-616 being the main comic universe and Earth-199999 being the main MCU.

You can go to the Marvel Wiki, look up any character, and be treated to at least ten other versions of that character, all in different realities.  The one I’ll use for this example...

Is Wanda herself.

Going to her page on the Marvel Wiki shows that there are 191 other versions of her in the comics world, all stemming from different Earths.

Such as the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610)...

Wanda’s mashup with Zatanna in the Amalgamverse (Earth-9602)...

And even her entry in the Mangaverse (Earth-2301). (As an aside, the Mangaverse is actually pretty good and you should try to read it if you can.)

There are many, many other Earths, of course, and very rarely will you find someone with only a few versions of themselves spread all across Marvel’s history. ...So you probably know where I’m going with this. Big Hero 6.

Oh.  Whoops.

This Big Hero 6. The team only exists on two Earths: Earth Prime (the -616 one) and their own one in San Fransokyo.

The movie (and the series) are set on Earth-14123, previously known as Earth TRN441 on the Marvel Wiki.  They use a Temporary Reality Number system for universes that don’t have an official Earth number.  Here is a list of all of the realities from a website I found, and here is one from the Marvel Wiki.  Be warned; it’s very long. Would BH6 ever get their own entry or presence in the MCU universe (Earth-199999?  Perhaps.  We already had rumors last year that they were in the works to appear, but those appear to have been shelved...for now.

I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll say it again.  Rumors don’t come out of nowhere.  Do I believe that Marvel Studios has a big filing cabinet with a ton of superhero names on file folders and one just happens to have “Big Hero 6″ on it?  Absolutely.

But as most things, it has to be the right circumstances.  Guardians of the Galaxy came at just the right time for its popularity to explode.  They were a thing in the comics, sure, but they weren’t as popular of a team as the Avengers.  Now, they’re more popular than ever before.

Of course, who would you get to play the LA version?  If they’re grown up, would you want Ryan, Jamie, Genesis, Khary, and Brooks playing them?  If not, you’d have to recast them to someone younger. But live-action BH6 pipe dreams aside...I’m sort of surprised that Earth-14123 didn’t explore a lot of other possible Marvel heroes in their show. I’ve made mention multiple times in the past (this post being one of them) about all of the references that this Earth has to other heroes, Karmi being one of them.

We already know that Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) exists in this Earth, because of Fred’s recommendation letter:

What other heroes of Earth-14123 could we want?

Monica Rambeau?  Nick Fury II (Grace)?  Nick Fury 1 (Callaghan)?  Linda Carter?  Timothy (Dum Dum) Dugan?

Lady Deathstrike (Momakase)? On a separate note, I wonder what Hiro and the others would look like if they showed up in some of these other universes, like the Mangaverse and the Ultimate Universe?  The possibilities are almost infinite.

But I’ll leave that to the fan artists of the world.  Not little wannabes like myself.  XD

But as a last thought...

I wonder what an Earth-14123 Wanda would look like.

Or do, for that matter.

[jimsmovieworld]

THE NEXT KARATE KID- 1994 ⭐️⭐️

The fourth installment of the karate kid franchise is very bad, at some points so bad its enjoyable, but for the most part, its just bad.

Pat Morita returns as Mr Miyagi. In this film, Mr Miyagi takes Julie (Hilary Swank) under his wing. Basically he watches her have an argument with his mum, so he sends the mum to california for the summer and he moves in with Julie.

Julie is attending some insane military academy ran by Col Dugan (Michael Ironside). The school is ran by Dugans goons, who basically just go about fighting people and sexually harrassing people? One of the most confusing scenes involves them, towards the end of the film at the big dance, the goons bungee jump down into the dance from the ceiling? For no reason? And one of them breaks there arm? I was puzzled.

A young Walton Goggings plays one of the goons. The villains are one of the main issues with the film, so bad and not believable at all. In fact the whole military academy thing is terrible. They should have just had Julie go to a regular high school and have a girl gang there for her to deal with. Maybe led by a no nosense karate broad called Jenny Lawrence?

The final fight is always something to look forward to in these movies. Julies final fight is against Ned (head goon), it had been building for the whole movie. Its just a squash match. She beats the shit out of him, he resorts to cheap tactics and throws mud in her eyes but is then only able to use that to land one blow on her? But its ok because we still have Miyagi vs Col Dugan? Psyche! Thats a squash too naturally. That one should have been a squash because no one is on Miyagis level, but having Julie in a good fight would have helped.

My final issue with the film is that half way through the film Miyagi and Julie leave to go to a monastery for some reason, they are theyre for an unbelievably long amount of time. And some of the shit going on there was beyond childish.

Im summary, this is better than the Jaden Smith karate kid but worse than all the others.

[jaclynhyde]

C U

C. A pairing you wish you shipped, but just can't.

Canon ships in general; even the ones that I love in canon, I have zero interest in reading fic for. And so many of them just irritate the hell out of me or bore me, which makes the canon boring or irritating when it focuses on them. As for specific ships, I wish I shipped Yuri/Flynn from Tales of Vesperia because they are extremely shippy and there's infinite fic and art out there! But no, I only care if Raven's in the middle.

U. Your favorite male/female ships.

Gudako/Romani from Fate/Grand Order (love the M/M version too), Shepard/Zaeed from Mass Effect (ditto), Dezel/Rose from Tales of Vesperia, Rosa/Joey from the Blackwell series, Sam/Teal'c from Stargate SG-1, Loranna/Thrass from Star Wars EU, Donna/Tenth Doctor (non-canon only for the love of god)

And in DC Comics, I have currently fallen hard for Mr. Bones/Beth Chapel which nobody ships and also they can't even hug!!! I also like a lot of the married couples (Ralph/Sue, Scott/Barda, Jay/Joan), Renee Montoya/Vic Sage (non-canon only for the love of god), every combo of Tora/Guy/Bea, every combo of Whitmore-Dugan-Crocks in Stargirl

And probably more!

[docrotten]

IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) – Episode 155 – Decades Of Horror: The Classic Era

“Where are you? What do you look like? What am I supposed to be looking for? I know you are out there hiding in the desert. Maybe I’m looking right at you and don’t even see you. Come on out!” Doesn’t the song go, “Who are you? Who, who, who, who?” Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Chad Hunt, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Doc Rotten, and Jeff Mohr – as they set their eyeballs with relish on Jack Arnold’s It Came From Outer Space (1953).

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 155 – It Came From Outer Space (1953)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL, THE CLASSIC HORROR MOVIE CHANNEL, and WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL Which all now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/; https://classichorrorchannel.com/; https://wickedhorrortv.com/

A spaceship from another world crashes in the Arizona desert and only an amateur stargazer and a schoolteacher suspect alien influence when the local townsfolk begin to act strangely.

  Director: Jack Arnold

Writers: Harry Essex; Ray Bradbury (film treatment)

Produced by: William Alland

Music by: Irving Gertz, Henry Mancini, Herman Stein (all uncredited)

Cinematography by: Clifford Stine

Editing by: Paul Weatherwax

Costume Design by: Rosemary Odell (gowns)

Makeup Department:

Joan St. Oegger (hair stylist)

Bud Westmore (makeup artist)

Jack Kevan (makeup execution) (uncredited)

Art Department: Joseph Hurley (conceptual artist) (uncredited)

Visual Effects by:

David S. Horsley (special photography)

Roswell A. Hoffmann (special photographic effects / visual effects optical printing) (uncredited)

Selected Cast:

Richard Carlson as John Putnam

Barbara Rush as Ellen Fields

Charles Drake as Sheriff Matt Warren

Joe Sawyer as Frank Daylon

Russell Johnson as George

Kathleen Hughes as Jane

Virginia Mullen as Mrs. Daylon (uncredited)

Dave Willock as Pete Davis (uncredited)

George Eldredge as Dr. Snell (uncredited)

Bradford Jackson as Bob – Dr. Snell’s Assistant (uncredited)

William Pullen as Deputy Reed (uncredited)

Robert Carson as Dugan (uncredited)

Edgar Dearing as Sam (uncredited)

Alan Dexter as Dave Loring (uncredited)

Whitey Haupt as Perry (uncredited)

Casey MacGregor as Toby (uncredited)

Dick Pinner as Lober (uncredited)

George Selk as Tom (uncredited)

Robert ‘Buzz’ Henry as Posseman (uncredited)

Kermit Maynard as Posseman (uncredited)

Ralph Brooks as Posseman (uncredited)

Ned Davenport as Man (uncredited)

Calling all “Monster Kids!” The Grue Crew tackles the sci-fi, 3-D, Jack Arnold classic, It Came From Outer Space. This one’s got it all: groovy alien eyeball monster, body-snatching shenanigans, coming-at-ya 3-D fun, and… The Professor from Gilligan’s Island. What else do you need? The Grue Crew discusses all this and much more.

At the time of this writing, It Came From Outer Space is available for streaming from the Classic Sci-Fi Movie Channel, the Classic Horror Movie Channel, and multiple PPV sources. The film is also available as a Blu-ray disc from Universal.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next in their very flexible schedule, as chosen by Daphne, is The City of the Dead (1960), released in the US as Horror Hotel and featuring Christopher Lee.

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel, the site, or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at feedback@gruesomemagazine.com

To each of you from each of them, “Thank you so much for watching and listening!”

Check out this episode!

[hournites]

What did I miss? 

Hournite fic | Season 3

A/N: Get these two together already. I’m going to explode. 

~.~ 

“What did I miss?”

Rick walks into the Pit Stop from the side door, tossing his beat up school bag on a nearby stool. Nobody is here anymore. Courtney ditched, again, for Cameron presumably. Yolanda, pissed off, stalked away to go home and Sylvester and Mr. Dugan were out…somewhere.

“Nothing much.” The file of notes she’s compiled of their investigation is barely enough to warrant its own folder. She clicks x on the top of the webpage encrypted with a password and Beth glances up from her laptop. Her bright smile wobbles into a laugh. Rick has streaks of dirt all over his face. “How did the burial go?” 

Rick lets out a confused chuckle of his own, sitting in the chair next to her. Their knees brushed. “How’d you know I…?” 

Beth points at his face. 

“Oh.” 

She goes to fetch a wet paper towel from the sink area where Pat fixes up after work. She wipes the brown grime from his cheek and forehead. There’s a lot of it, and the more she rubs, the more it smears. She asks, “What is your plan, exactly, if you do reanimate Grundy?” 

“Uh...” 

The paper towel presses a little deeper against his skin. “You do have a plan, right?” 

“Yeah…?” That’s a no.  

Beth sighs. “You’ll have to take care of him. He’s…big.” 

“I know that.” He sounds impatient but it’s not in a condescending way. Beth knows Rick gets caught up in the moment. Right now he’s got a one tracked-mind and it is all about bringing Solomon Grundy back to life. He feels guilty that he summoned the monster only for Eclipso to end him. And frustrated that it’s taking so long to revive him. But what Beth worries about is how Rick will handle juggling single parenting a zombie-monster, fixing his hourglass, and figuring out how to scrape through school well enough for a shot at college.  “At this point, I don’t think it even matters.” 

Beth pats his cheek scrubbed pink with her free hand as he grumbles. “You’ll figure it out.” She smiles and brushes away the last spec of dirt with her thumb. “All better.” 

Rick’s gaze softens. He catches her wrist as it pulls away, halting it in the air. “Beth?” 

Her breath hitches at the way Rick’s eyes won’t move from hers. Intense and warm, and so handsome. “Yes?” 

“I need to tell you something.”

Her heart jumps in her chest. She wills herself to calm down. There’s no way of knowing what Rick will say to her. It’s probably not what she thinks. “What is it?”

“I drink.” 

“What?” 

“I drink,” Rick says, and it takes Beth a lengthy moment to understand he is referring to the first time Cindy walked into the Pit Stop. “At least, I used to. It’s been a while, but...” He swallows, his eyes pleading for her to give him a chance. “I needed it sometimes? Just enough to blur the edges off a bad day. So I wasn’t stuck in my head. I thought you knew I sold kegs.” 

“Because you needed money, I thought…” 

“Yeah. But I still drank. And I wouldn’t get as drunk as my uncle but he always had beer at home. Beer is the one thing we always had.” 

“Oh,” Beth replies weakly. Her voice cracks at the pain she feels behind his words. “Why are you telling me this now?” 

“You said we don’t drink to Cindy. I don’t want you to think I’m someone I’m not.” 

“Why not?” 

His leg starts to bounce nervously as his cheeks flush. “I just don’t want you disappointed with me anymore than you already are.”

“You think I’m disappointed with you?”

“I don’t trust Cindy. Or Artemis and her parents. Or the Gambler’s intents before he died. And The Shade’s advice is a load of bull. And every time I have to talk to Mahkent you get this look on your face and I know you want me to try but I can’t turn this switch off inside my chest that’ll magically make me believe all the shit these people do are okay.” 

“I never said that I think what they do is okay. And I believe you about Cameron.” 

He pauses. “You do?” 

Beth nods. “Courtney lied and said she had a headache in the group chat but Chuck pinged her location at the Mahkent estate.” 

He rolls his eyes lightly.

“But I don’t know them as well. Not the way I know you. It’s different.” Beth catches his clean face in her hands. “I understand why you drank.” 

“You do?”

“Rick...” 

He reacts to Beth’s split-second decision kiss with a sharp breath through his nose. His back presses against the edge of the table behind them, right elbow sliding against its smooth surface as Beth is greeted with his other hand snaking its way around her waist. Her own stool rolls forward as he pulls her close. Kissing Rick is not what Beth expected to do when he walked in, but she can’t say she’s never thought of this before. 

“I didn’t know you wanted that,” he replies breathlessly. “Or, I would’ve…” 

Beth arches a playful brow, scooting over until she’s half on his lap. “Spent more time with me this summer instead of shovelling a body into the ground over and over again in the light of the full moon?” 

Rick fixes her an unamused look with no heat. Instead of responding, he leans in again. Beth gazes down at his mouth before her lips are captured in another meltingly slow kiss. Two in one day and dare Beth say it might compete with reading for her favourite pass time. 

“Making out in the Pit Stop? Really?” 

Beth startles as Rick stiffens. His gaze slides to the floor. 

Mr. Dugan walks in, clumsily thumbing at the iPhone Sylvester bought him then shoving it into his pant pocket. “I thought this was supposed to be a JSA meeting.” 

“It was,” Beth says, sheepish. 

“And since when did this start happening?” He flaps a hand between the two teens as though “this” was a living, breathing organism that might jump out at him. 

“Just now?” Rick reluctantly loosens his hold from her waist. Beth climbs out of his lap and returns to her own chair.

Mr. Dugan side-eyes them for a long awkward moment. Beth presses down the nonexistent creases from her jeans as Rick’s kiss replayed in her mind before giving Courtney’s step-dad her best-behaved-JSA-member smile. 

“Alright, well, Sly is headed on over here to take another spin with STRIPE.” 

“We’ll leave.” Rick hauls Beth up with his hand and then doesn’t let go. His hand isn’t soft. Beth doesn’t care. It still sends tingles to her toes. Beth bites the inside of her cheek so that her happy grin won’t explode across her face. “Do you need to be home now?” 

She shakes her head. “Please no. Anywhere but home.” 

Rick cocks a hopeful eyebrow at her. “Richie’s, then?” 

“Mr. Tyler are you asking me out on a date?” 

“Do you want it to be a date?” 

“I think I do.” She turns behind to call out to Mr. Dugan as Rick gives her another light squeeze. “Have fun with Starman!” 

[cosmicbelts]

𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 : 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐋𝐄.

part one out of six. written on october 14th, 2021.

by definition, love is an intense feeling of deep affection—or it can be known as a great interest and pleasure in something. for some people, love can take one unique form. for other people, like courtney elizabeth whitmore for example, love takes multiple forms with various definitions and situations. in this writing series, treating this one as a preamble, we are going to explore love as it is seen throughout courtney’s life: her self-love, familial love, romantic love and aspirations, her passions and hobbies, and the love for her beloved justice society of america.

courtney’s love for herself travels in waves, much like a rollercoaster. on some days, it is at such a high frequency that her confidence displays itself to those who don’t even know her. however, most days she is second guessing herself and her actions. should she be stargirl? why was she trusted enough with the lives of the citizens of blue valley, nebraska? was she worthy enough? was she useless? especially when her staff was misbehaving, off in its own galaxy, courtney fet like she could not help the town of blue valley like she was normally able to. she felt horrible sitting on the sidelines, watching as the rest of the justice society (which she formed) saved the day.

when her cosmic staff was working the way it did the day she picked it up for a ride in the sky for the first time, she felt like she could rule the world. of course, she only meant to use her newly found abilities for the good of helping others. she was reminded of the happiness and joy that los angeles and her former gymnastics team gave her. this joy was what gave her the confidence to carry on the mantle as the next generation’s star spangled kid—otherwise known as stargirl.

courtney only has one biological parent in her life: her mother, barbara whitmore-dugan. although courtney’s mother was always working when she was younger in los angeles, she was still her mother. barbara always made sure that courtney was out of harm’s way. without courtney’s father in the picture, barbara needed to be there for her daughter. and she was. even after moving to blue valley, courtney knew that her mother made time to be the parent that she needed despite working all the time. this was what spoke loud to courtney. this was how she knew that she was loved. and courtney, naturally, loved her mother right back.

at first, courtney did not want a new dad, let alone a new younger brother. she was perfectly fine with life being just her mother and herself. it took at least an entire school year for courtney to feel more comfortable around patrick and mike. patrick was the only person who came close to a father-figure for courtney—aside from mr. kramer back in los angeles. after some time had passed whilst becoming stargirl, courtney learned to love patrick and mike truly as a father and brother, respectively.

when people see courtney, they automatically assume that she loves anyone and everyone. this is most likely due to her mannerisms. what those people don’t know, however, is that courtney is actually bisexual and biromantic—at least, she is bisexual on earth-2 (pre & post crisis on infinite earths). in the cw tv series, though, it is present that courtney and cameron mahkent have some sort of relationship going on between them. it is safe to say that the relationship is either one-sided or non-existant altogether. on the other hand, courtney has a big crush on cindy burman, and she feels extremely awful that things have turned out the way they have between the two women.

similarly to the cw series, in the dc comics, courtney and billy batson have a relationship. in my portrayal and understanding, however, that relationship is merely just a soulmate/platonic/one-sided relationship. courtney is still, and will always be, bisexual. it is safe to assume that she and billy are best friends and allies within the dc extended universe (specifically for the sake of my portrayal). love can be both platonic and romantic, and in this situation, courtney’s love for billy is one hundred percent platonic.

one of courtney’s primary passions is helping others. this is why being stargirl is so important to her. without her cosmic staff and the title of stargirl, she feels like she cannot accurately help those in dire need. courtney was raised to be the opposite of her biological father; she was raised to be good to others. to be the person that others can depend on and listen to. courtney has been looking for someone to depend on in her own life, so it is necessary for her to be that person for someone else in the world.

before she was stargirl, courtney was an advanced level gymnast and at least a blue belt in tai-kwon-do. she performed gymnastics alongside her best friend, mary kramer. when she moved to blue valley, she did not continue with gymnastics. she easily could have joined a new gym, but since she was so close to placing in the trials for the olympics, leaving that behind with los angeles really put a damper on her training altogether. now, though, she applies her gymnastics and tai-kwon-do skills to being stargirl and saving the town of blue valley, nebraska from the injustice society of america.

for the longest time, about a year to be exact, courtney thought that her biological father was the original starman. why else was she able to work alongside the cosmic staff? wasn’t sylvester pemberton supposed to be the only person allowed to control it? there must have been a reason for that. the hope that starman gave courtney was just the right amount in order for her to believe in herself. that love is super rare, and some say it is a super attractive (in a platonic sense) look on someone. she needed something (or someone) to believe in, especially at that time in her life.

this is also where the new justice society of america comes in. courtney formed a new group of superheroes containing students (who were all outcasts) who sat with her in the lunch room. for only having met that school year, the new jsa surprisingly worked well together—so well that they were the center of all of courtney’s attention rather than her school work. without the new jsa, courtney would just be the new girl again. she wouldn’t have anyone else to turn to that was her own age. being in that position was the worst possible place that she could imagine being in.

[100yearoldcomics]

May 23, 1922 Our Boarding House by Gene Ahern

Caption: Dugan & Dixon get a "gentle reminder." [ID: Dugan & Dixon return to their attic room, in full suit and cane. Dixon, angered, tosses his straw boater hat across the room. /end] Dugan: Ah, greetings! Get this, Gus. "Messrs. Dugan and Dixon, I wish to inform you that you are two weeks behind on your board and room. Please give this your immediate attention. Mrs. Hoople." I suppose if we let it coast another week, she'll throw our bill on th' door with a stereoptican slide! Dixon: Why say, if we went and left this attic roost, she couldn't get a fireman up here to put out a blaze. I'm developing an alpine yodel from scaling the three flights of stairs. The only thing she could get to stay up in this loft is a flock of pigeons. I suppose we're what she calls her "overhead expense"!

[agentmmayy]

i would 100% fuck timothy "dum dum" dugan

[posi-pan]

Last year, I shared all the 2020 books with pan rep I knew of, and it was only 57 books. My list of 2021 books with pan rep is at 141.

Pan rep in books seems to be growing each year, and I’m really jazzed about it. 🥳🥰 (The eight books above are four I’ve enjoyed and four I want to read!)

The Bookseller’s Boyfriend by Heidi Cullinan

The Boy Next Door by Sierra Hill

Charisma Check by Charlie Novak

Dragon Tamer by Ophelia Silk

The Hidden God by Crea Reitan

The International Language by Jen Luerssen

Lily’s World by Margaux Fox

Love’s Divine by Ava Freeman

The Mark Falling by Samantha Shannon

Só Mais Um Capítulo by Madu Machado

Teddy’s Truth by K.D. Ellis

Tough Love by David Horne

Upon Another Edge Broken by Anthony W. Eichenlaub

We Could Be Heroes by Mike Chen

Wish by A.J. Sherwood

Adore by A.D. Ellis

Best Laid Plans by Roan Parrish

Billy's Geeky Quest by J.B. Buell

Blink by Sawyer Benjamin

Cinderllis by Evie Drae

A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth

Enquanto eu Viver by Leticia Rosa

Eu Não Sei Parar de Te Olhar by Lyli Lua

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado

Goal Lines & First Times by Eden Finley and Saxon James

Hooked on You by K. Evan Coles

How to Be Good by Chace Verity

King’s Ex by E.J. Russell

Leather and Lace by Magen Cubed

The Marriage Rival by Kat T. Masen

My Broken Crown by Steffanie Holmes

Not Quite Out by Louise Willingham

Portals and Puppy Dogs by Amy Lane

Queen of the Immortals by T.R. Hamby

Saving Throw by Alex Silver

Tempting Jordan by Andrea Dalling

Transgressions of Power by Juliette Wade

The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca

The Witch by Taliesin Govannon

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

The Blue-Spangled Blue by David Bowles

Brother’s Best Friend in the Mountains by C.J. Turner

Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore

Comatose in Como by C. Farren

The Councillor by E.J. Beaton

Deize o Sol Entrar by Guilherme Buiatti

Drag Me Up by R.M. Virtues

The Home I Find with You by Skye Kilaen

The Long Game by Anna Martin

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore

Queen’s Ransom by Layla Reyne

Songs of Red Current Wine by V.L. Locey

The Striver by Vivica Dorn

Temos um Acordo? by Bruna Catarina

Baby Come Back by Roxanne Riley

The Belle and the Beard by Kate Canterbary

Beta Bots by Ava Lock

Bom dia, Sr. Jones by L.L. Moon

Cinnamon Roll by Anna Zabo

Cute Mutants Vol 4: The Sisterhood of Evil Mutants by S.J. Whitby

In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens

Fandom by Eden Finley

Final Curtain by J.B. Trepagnier

Headless by Aveda Vice

Hold the Door by Vinni George

Hunting Season by Kate Rudolph

JT’s Mission by Rosie Jarvis

Pieces of Us by Claudia Y. Burgoa

Plus One Bonus by Alex Silver

Ring of the Dragon by Kayelle Allen

Und ich leuchte mit den wolken by Sophie Bichon

The Virgin Rule Book by Lauren Blakely

Blood Pact by Courtney Maguire

In the Ravenous Dark by A.M. Strickland

Coming Home by Rebecca J. Caffery

Feed by Aveda Vice

Getting Friendly by Saxon James

Honest Lies by Sam LaRose

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

It Goes Like This by Miel Moreland

King & Queen by Maz Maddoz

Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

Straight On ‘Til Morning by K.J. Sutton

When You Get the Chance by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson

Baby, eu vou by Lylia Lua

Continuum by Chella Man

Galen by Jaclyn Osborn

Just One Night by Chelsea M. Cameron

Metanoia by Cora Menestrelli

Mr Next Door by Joe Satoria

Never Kiss Your Roommate by Philline Harms

Not Guilty by Brit Ryder

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Opening Lines by Jeris Jean

Playing the Role of a Surgeon by Emily Hayes

Save the Date edited by Ann Roberts

Scarlet Sun by Isabel Hansen

Stop and Stare by Katia Rose

Swipe Right by Tagan Shepard

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

The [Un]Popular Vote by Jasper Sanchez

Weekend Girl by Alex Powell

Cruel and Careless by Bailey Nicole

Demming by Avril Ashton

Have We Met? by Camille Baker

Hold Fast Through the Fire by K.B. Wagers

Keep Me Close by R.M. Virtues

Matched By My Rival by D.J. Jamison

O casamento diferente do CEO by L.L. Moon

Once Stolen by D.N. Bryn

Perfect Timing by A.D. Ellis

Queen to King Three by Jennifer Cody

There’s Magic Between Us by Jillian Maria

The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters

Skin by Aveda Vice

Waylaid by Sarina Bowen

Weapon UwU Vol. 1: Godkillers by S.J. Whitby

Distant Gardens edited by J.S. Fields

The Friendship Equation by J.R. Gray

Freedom in Falling by J. Emery

Love’s Bequest by Blake Allwood

Second Chance Romance by Seth King

The Second Rebel by Linden A. Lewis

Act Cool by Tobly McSmith

Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

A Dark and Starless Forrest by Sarah Hollowell

Keisha and the Rise of the Legacy by T.R. Tells

Sashayed to Death by C. Farren

Bees and Honey by Victoria Weyland

Cute Mutants Vol 5: Galaxy Brain by S.J. Whitby

The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta

Initiation by Alethea Faust

Ride the Wreck by Max Walker

Skeletal Equation by A.E. Lister

Thronebreakers by Rebecca Coffindaffer

What’s the Matter with Mary Jane by Candas Jane Dorsey

The God of Lost Words by A.J. Hackwith

Tahira in Bloom by Farah Heron

Yours, Insatiably by Aveda Vice