#agent vx

[riftclaw]

silly little thing i did based on this image bc a friend in a discord server posted the following meme:

and I said "I should draw V in that" and immediately got encouraged. Yes he does use his bike as a bludgeoning weapon.

iii will tag @sonic-oc-showdown bc like, vaguely propaganda for the poll but it wasn't intentional things just aligned that way on the final day

BTW I STARTED THIS 12 DAYS AGO THAT'S HOW BUSY I'VE BEEN

[sonic-oc-showdown]

ROUND 4 BRACKET A

Agent VX belongs to @riftclaw

Byte belongs to @bunniibones

Find out more about them below!

Agent VX: (image credit Tracy Yardley @/yardleyart)

V is a GUN agent who works mostly in reconnaissance and forensics, and has studied a wide variety of disciplines in an attempt to learn to cure a heriditary illness he and his family all have. He has a flat affect, making it seem like he's always angry or annoyed, and he tries to avoid getting too invested in the people around him, but he can be incredibly loyal to anyone who takes time to get to know him. He's immortal and doesn't know it, which leads to very funny situations where he gets back up from things that definitely should've killed him and is furious about it.

Byte: (image credit @/drawloverlala)

Byte is a programmer and mechanic who used to work for the Eggman Empire as a lead programmer and performing maintenance in the Badniks, nevertheless when they met Starline they got so fascinated for the platypus that they went after him once Eggman firing him, offering Starline their services as a software engineer.

He accepted and gave them the role of his personal assistant since he knew their capabilities due to the time they worked together in the Empire. He was kind of wary of Byte’s chaotic tendencies, but soon a great idea came to his mind; What a better way to understand the chaotic world he’s trying to control than having the chaos by his side?

Since then, Byte has been the chaotic and eccentric right-hand of the platypus, helping him in all of his tasks and missions to achieve his plan; Conquer the world for Dr. Eggman.

Byte is very playful, and mischievous, they like to play pranks on everyone, cause problems and chaos here and there and always manipulates the situation to get out of troubles without consequences. They're cheerful and very energetic, very eccentric and passionate, they're very dedicated to their interests and will do their best in completing their tasks. They also encourage others to cause troubles too.

They're determined, responsible and showing their full potential whenever the situation requires so, they're a good observer and knows how to analyze everything. They're very reliable when it comes to problem solving.

[green-kat331]

Mandy The Hedgehog (15)

Her backstory in a little more detail: Mandy is a young mechanic shopkeeper. She mostly kept to herself until one day, when she was looking for spare metal parts at her local junk yard, she came across a chaos emerald. She had never seen anything such a strange jewel, so she took it with her.

After returning to her shop, she tried to examine the jewel but with no success. Suddenly, Eggman showed up at her door, demanding she hand over the emerald or he'll destroy her shop.

Lucky for her, another blue hedgehog appeared, and saved her and her shop. After discussing the emerald and sonic learning of Mandy's life work he introduced her to tails. Mandy swore to fight along side Sonic and Tails in defending the world against Eggman.

They quickly formed and everlasting friendship.

(She also kinda wanted to steal Eggman's robots and recycle them for herself)

.

LIKES:

building thing

Replicating equipment

Working with tails

Star gazing

Adventure

Sweets

Her friends

Her gadgets

Her inventions

Others testing out her inventions

Testing out inventions herself

Practicing fighting skills

Complements on work

Shadow's shoes

Flying

Bolt, Her little robot helper

DISLIKES:

Dr. Eggman

Breaking her gadgets

Anyone who tries to harm her friends

People insulting her friends

Her things blowing up

Failed inventions

Difficult customers

Sonic mistaking her robots for Eggman's and destroying them.

SKILLS:

Hand to hand combat

Bubble gadget

Arm Lazer

Quick thinking

Reliable

She's a little baby.

-----

@sonic-oc-showdown

Agent VX belongs to: @riftclaw

[machetelanding]

[er-cryptid]

[thedeadthree]

👗 for iovanna!

POSTED! MARIIIII YOU DEAR YOU TY TY SM FOR ASKING FOR MY BABY 💜🔮🤧 she has the prettiest aesthetic + taste in style and i am just always in adoration of her ✨😖

[lilithism1848]

Atrocities US committed against AFRICA

In early 2017, the US began conducting drone strikes in Somalia against Al Shabab militants. An attack on July 16th killed 8 people.

In 1998, the US bombed the Al Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, killing one employee and wounding 11. It was the largest pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, producing medicine both for human and veterinary use. The US had acted on false evidence of a VX nerve agent from a single soil sample, and later used a false witness to cover for the attack. It was the only pharmaceutical factory in Africa not under US control.

In June 1982, with the help of CIA money and arms, Hissene Habre , dubbed Africa’s Pinochet, takes power in Chad. His secret police, use methods of torture including the burning the body of the detainee with incandescent objects, spraying gas into their eyes, ears and nose, forced swallowing of water, and forcing the mouths of detainees around the exhaust pipes of running cars. Habré’s government also periodically engaged in ethnic cleansing against groups such as the Sara, Hadjerai and the Zaghawa, killing and arresting group members en masse when it was perceived that their leaders posed a threat to the regime. Human Rights Watch claimed that Habre was responsible for thousands of killings. In 2001, while living in Senegal, he was almost tried for crimes committed by him in Chad. However, a court there blocked these proceedings. Then human rights people decided to pursue the case in Belgium, because some of Habre’s torture victims lived there. The U.S., in June 2003, told Belgium that it risked losing its status as host to NATO’s headquarters if it allowed such a legal proceeding to happen. So the result was that the law that allowed victims to file complaints in Belgium for atrocities committed abroad was repealed. However, two months later a new law was passed which made special provision for the continuation of the case against Habre. In May 2016 he was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including rape, sexual slavery and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, and sentenced to life in prison.

In the 1980s, Reagan maintains a close relationship with the Apartheid South african government, called constructive engagement, while secretly funding it in the hopes of creating a bulwark of anti-communism and preventing a marxist party from taking power, as happened in angola. Later on, in the wars against Apartheid in South Africa and Angola, in which cuban and anti-apartheid forces fought the white south african government, the US supplied south africa with nuclear weapons via Israel.

In 1975, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola, backing the brutal anti-communist leader of UNITAS, Jonas Savimbi, against Agostinho Neto and his Marxist-Leninst MPLA party, creating a civil war lasting for 30 years. The CIA financed a covert invasion via neighboring Zaire and a drive on the Angolan capital by the U.S. ally, South Africa. Congress continues to fund UNITAS, and their south-african apartheid allies until the late 1980s. By the end of the war, more than 500,000 people had died and over one million had been internally displaced.

In 1966, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows he widely popular Pan-Africanist and Marxist leader Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, inviting the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to take a lead role in managing the economy. With this reversal, accentuated by the expulsion of immigrants and a new willingness to negotiate with apartheid South Africa, Ghana lost a good deal of its stature in the eyes of African nationalists.

In 1965, a CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko, described as the “archetypal African dictator” in Congo. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.

In 1962, a tip from a CIA spy in South Africa lead to the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela, due to his pro-USSR leanings. This began his 27-year-long imprisonment.

In 1961, the CIA assists in the assassination of the democratically elected congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, throwing the country into years of turmoil. Before his assassination the CIA sent one of its scientists, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, to the Congo carrying “lethal biological material” intended for use in Lumumba’s assassination. This virus would have been able to produce a fatal disease indigenous to the Congo area of Africa and was transported in a diplomatic pouch.

In 1801, and again in 1815, the US aided Sweden in subjugating a series of coastal towns in North Africa, in the Barbary Wars. The stated reason was to crack down on pirates, but the wars destroyed the navies of Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco, and secured European and US shipping routes for goods and slaves in North Africa. US Representatives stated: “When we can appear in the Ports of the various Powers, or on the Coast, of Barbary, with Ships of such force as to convince those nations that We are able to protect our trade, and to compel them if necessary to keep faith with Us, then, and not before, We may probably secure a large share of the Meditn trade, which would largely and speedily compensate the U. S. for the Cost of a maritime force amply sufficient to keep all those Pirates in Awe, and also make it their interest to keep faith.” Thomas Jefferson echoed and carried out the war, saying that war was essential to securing markets along the Barbary Coast.

[nyaagolor]

Atroquinine Headcanons

"Vex this didn't need expansion why are you doing this" because I love overthinking things

Atroquinine is the name of a chemical found exclusively in Borgnian cocoons. It has two enantiomers-- the R enantiomer is the poison and the S enantiomer is the medicine that can cure incuritis. For obvious reasons this is a pharmaceutical nightmare

(For context, enantiomers are chemicals that are non-superimposable mirror images of each other, like this:)

When extracting atroquinine from the cocoons, you'll get a racemic mixture (50:50 of both enantiomers). It's costly and difficult to isolate the S enantiomer, which (coupled with the R enantiomer's extremely low LD50) makes atroquinine extraction highly dangerous and led to its restriction to Borgnia

Atroquinine (the poison) is closer in my mind to Strychnine but with a few elements of V-series nerve agents. The symptoms (burning throat, arching back, trembling limbs, onset of 10-20 minutes) are more consistent with Strychnine while the physical properties (non-volatile, odorless liquid, long shelf life, extremely low LD50) are closer to VX and similar nerve agents. This is Ace Attorney and actual chemistry means nothing so I'm just gonna mash the two together and call it a day. VX being an AChE inhibitor is irrelevant bc I think glycine receptor antagonists are sexier

[frostios]

Vote for either Mandy or Agent VX in the Sonic OC Showdown polls I'm running!

Mandy belongs to @green-kat331

Agent VX belongs to @riftclaw

[riftclaw]

Have had a looming deadline I’ve had to tend to so I hadn’t had much of a chance for fun art until now-- new piece for @sonic-oc-showdown‘s latest round of polls.

It’s very funny thinking about these two meeting. Byte doesn’t like grumpy people-- but V’s face just looks like that. No matter how excited, eager, or fascinated he is, his face is a permanent 😠

V’s particular skillsets lie in biology, organic chemistry, and genetics, and he can take something, break it down, and use it to induce mutation in subjects (including himself!). It’s a very funny niche to fill in a series packed to the brim with roboticists. Maybe whatever the amorphous organ belonged to spat acid.

Anyway V is being very genuine here. Nothing could get him more stoked than cutting up some kind of monster spleen. Who knows what he’s gonna learn!

Byte belongs to @bunniibones! You can find the poll here.

[sonic-oc-showdown]

ROUND 3 BRACKET A

Ruby belongs to @galaxy-pop

Agent VX belongs to @riftclaw

Find out more about them below!

Ruby:

Ruby is a wolfdog cursed with a beastly form after they, along with their parents, were used to test the effects of Dark Gaia Energy on the mobian body and mind. Though their parents did not survive, they managed to escape and now live with a family of cats who've taken them in as one of their own. She has incredible strength and stamina, heightened senses of smell and hearing, and a sensitivity to Dark Gaia Energy in her environment. She can also take on a form resembling that of a Nightmare (and enemy from Sonic Unleashed) when put under extreme stress.

They are quiet and tend to keep to themselves, but are extremely loyal to those who manage to get close. Despite their appearance, they are empathetic and compassionate to a fault and don't like to take much space. They enjoy spending time in nature, frequenting their local Chao Garden, or working on crafts such as hand-made stuffed toys.

Agent VX: (image credit Tracy Yardley @/yardleyart)

V is a GUN agent who works mostly in reconnaissance and forensics, and has studied a wide variety of disciplines in an attempt to learn to cure a heriditary illness he and his family all have. He has a flat affect, making it seem like he's always angry or annoyed, and he tries to avoid getting too invested in the people around him, but he can be incredibly loyal to anyone who takes time to get to know him. He's immortal and doesn't know it, which leads to very funny situations where he gets back up from things that definitely should've killed him and is furious about it.

[drunkewok]

Tiger Inside

Chapter Eighteen

Stray Kids Mafia (ongoing)

Masterlist

Likes, reblogs and feedback always greatly appreciated

WC: 3.6k

Pairing: Lee Know x reader

Genre: Series, Enemies to lovers, non-idol AU, Mafia AU

Synopsis: After years spent away from the family, two strangers start frequenting your place of work, only to bring daunting news. Flung back into the world of the mafia, you try to adapt to your new normal and work alongside a team of eight skilled members to uncover a mystery and take down an unknown enemy.

Warnings: 18+, Minors DNI, drinking, swearing, violence, weapons

Disclaimer: Any portrayal of Stray Kids or any other idols in this story is purely fiction and does not at all reflect their own personalities or how I view them as a person, it is purely for the sake of the story.

Please do not copy or repost my work

When Seungmin last dressed my wound, I couldn't help but notice the equipment strewn across his desk. He was elbow deep in tests besides the few times he cut away to help me, brows furrowed at the puzzle of chemicals that sat before him. I couldn't even think of where to begin if I was in his position, instead staring beakers down in hopes of some epiphany ringing loud in my ears. 

My fingers tapped my knee as he turned to grab new gauze, my eyes wandered across the table in the far room. Vials and jars galore, notes scribbled upon journal pages, and a light sitting in the corner of the desk reflecting off the different glass containers and illuminating their mysterious contents. 

The familiar signs of sleepless nights were now manifesting under his eyes, the same ones that were prominent on both Chan and Felix's prior. I watched his face as his hands made slow work on my shoulder, his movements delayed from exhaustion invading his body. His eyes felt hollow, drooping as his lips sat slightly parted, almost as though the act of breathing even took too much of his energy. 

“How long have you been at it?” Seungmin paused as his eyes steadied the floor, the gears in his mind slowly turning and jamming at my question. He shook it off before tearing the strip of gauze at the end, turning his back to me and placing it on the table beside him.

“I don’t know, since we got back?” 

“Have you slept at all?”

“Here and there, lay down and shut my eyes for a moment when I feel the need.” He sat back into his chair, pulling himself towards the desk, tucking his legs underneath as he quickly began to type away at his computer.

“That surely can’t be doing you any good.” I stood from the bed and crossed over to him, scanning my eyes across the vials strewn about. “I can’t imagine going without sleep has been helping at all with your research.”

A particular pair of vials caught my attention, one filled with a clear liquid, so transparent it seemed to defy physics and looked as though the vial sat empty. The next looked to be a thicker liquid, the light reflected into it and amplified its translucent amber color and leaving a colored cast of light onto the surface below it. 

"I'm getting work done, am I not?" He stayed focused on his screen as he clicked to different pages, split screens among two monitors displaying multiple articles. I couldn’t help but read from over his shoulder, a particular page documenting a chemical long outlawed among the countries. I bent down slightly, trying to get a closer look at the information plastering the screen.

“VX?” Seungmin slightly jumped and turned to my voice now carrying much closer to his ear before turning back to the screen, bringing up the chemical make up on the screen and pulling his chair to his microscope and peering into it.

“Potent nerve agent.” He mumbled as he flipped to the next slide, a moment of silence before he quickly popped up, fully alert. “Don’t touch anything.” Raising my singular free hand with wide eyes, responding with haste.

“Wasn’t planning on it” I watched as he hunched himself back down, squeezing an eye shut and peering through the eyepiece once more.

“Listen, not to be all ‘you need to get out of here so I can focus’, but uh, you need to get out of here so I can focus.”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Stepping back from the desk, I made my way towards the door, pausing before I reached for the handle. “Let me know if I can bring you anything, okay? Coffee, food, anything.” He mumbled a slight I’m good thank you and I took it as my final sign to get out of there.

Pulling the door shut behind me, I hesitated in the hall, leaning my back against the wall and my head fell back and let my eyes relax. 

We were very quickly nearing the 48 hour mark since our surprise gunfight, and tension was still running high in the house. Most of us were quiet, minimal words spoken between us. There was nothing I was craving more than the laughter, the bickering, the casual comfort that the group provided when we all had the luxury of relaxing together.

Adding to the painful tension, it was as if the switch had been flipped again, and Minho was avoiding my gaze at any given moment. Every sliver of progress that had been made between the two of us had felt like it had crumbled beneath us, slipping into oblivion as if it had never occurred. It felt as though he was everywhere in the house, all at once. Wherever I went, it seemed like he was always passing me, eyes pointed forward as he slipped by like I was a ghost.

By the third time I couldn't help but stop and watch as he left, slipping into Chan's office in silence, my feet gluing me in place. It stung a little, feeling so polar opposite to the concerned and caring Minho that I had just experienced. It was a bite of the tongue every time he passed, convincing myself he was just stressed, sent on a mission from Chan each time he made his way through the halls.

By the fourth I had enough, stopping in place before he reached me, watching as he passed by me once more in silence. Pivoting on my heels I swung around, lending a bit too much volume to my voice as I called out.

“Yah!” He stopped, hesitating mid step before turning in my direction, head tilted and brow arched. “I still exist, you know.” My frustration bled through my words, melting into a puddle beneath my feet and radiating back up and engulfing me. His silent stare broke as his eyes drifted down to the sling, brows softening as his face dropped.

“I know.” His voice barely sat loud enough for me to comprehend, eyes avoiding meeting mine again as he gazed down the hall towards Chan’s office.

“The least you could do is say hello, or even a smile, nod of the head, anything. Just stop acting like I’m not even here.” He hung his head before bringing a hand up to aggressively massage his eyes, dropping the hand at his side and slowly turning back to me with a forced smile and nod of the head.

“Hello.” Without further word he continued back down the hall, slipping back into Chan’s office, letting the heavy door shut behind him. I scoffed with a roll of the eyes, he’s lucky that I’m stuck with this fabric restraint or my hands would have gladly found their place around his throat while giving him a good shake.

My fingers tightly twisted in the air in front of me as grumbled incoherent irritations made it past my lips. Attempting to take a breath to compose myself, I let out one more mumbled fucking ass before heading back down the hall towards the stairs.

Flicking on the light to the kitchen, I looked around the counters, only just now realizing the disarray the kitchen had fallen into. I pulled different pieces of trash from around the room, dropping them into the bin and tidying up the surfaces before targeting the pile of dishes accumulating in the sink.

I attempted to apply extra pressure to the bowl, pressing it into the surface of the sink while scrubbing to try and keep it in place with a single hand. Not every dish seemed to like this treatment, the occasional one slipping from my grasp letting it slide around, hitting multiple dishes in its wake and leaving a crashing noise echoing down the hall. The frustration bubbling inside me from my Minho encounter, paired with the irritation of my restraint manifested in a string of mumbled curses and threats towards the inanimate objects in front of me.

“Hey, hey! What are you doing?” Hyunjin seemed to have appeared out of thin air, snatching the sponge out of my hand and gently pushing me out of the way. “You’re supposed to be resting, why are you cleaning?”I threw my head back with a sigh, my closed eyes opening to focus on the ceiling before lowering my head back down to Hyunjin.

“I’m fine, I may only have one hand but I can still perform simple tasks. You guys don’t have to baby me.” I tried to reach for the sponge and grab it back out of his hand, which he responded to by holding it up in the air and out of my reach.

“I’m perfectly aware that you can, that’s not the issue.” He stared me down sternly with his other hand settled on his hip, “We would treat any of the members the same if they were injured, and I’m here to remind you that you’re one of us now, so you’re getting the same treatment.”

With a groan I leaned against the counter behind me, accepting I wasn’t going to be getting anywhere in this debate. Hyunjin set the sponge down on the sink before turning back to me.

“Listen, the other members are gonna be down here pretty soon, Chan said it’s time for the meeting. Just go sit down, and don’t you dare let me catch you with a sponge in hand again.” I huffed as I pulled the fridge open, grabbing a bottle of water and making my way to the couch, plopping into the cushions and pulling a blanket over my legs.

I pressed the bottle to my stomach with my restrained hand, attempting to hold it firm while my free hand twisted off the top. I have barely had this thing attached to me and I was already sick of it, and I was real close to making the call to leave it off myself, I could deal with an angry Seungmin later. I just needed free use of both of my arms again. 

Raising the bottle to my lips, I let the cold liquid pour down my throat and chill my chest, the physical cold finally calming down the mental fire within me. 

Sure enough, just as Hyunjin predicted, each member started to slowly slip into the room, taking place on the couches and settling themselves in. Hyunjin took a seat on the couch that was beside mine, crossing one leg over the other and staring me down with folded arms.

“What? You think I’m gonna get up in the middle of this and start cleaning or something?” I snapped at him, a slight smile and chuckle coming from him as he shook his head, tilting his head back to look at Felix as he entered with us.

“She gets fussy when frustrated.” Felix placed his laptop on the coffee table before sitting on the floor in front of me, starting to open it and set up what he needed to present. I nudged him in the back with my foot, causing him to let out a soft giggle as he turned around to look at me. “What? I’m just speaking facts.”

“Maybe just don’t speak then.” I mocked, giving a blatantly fake smile before he reached back and patted my leg.

“It’s okay, I know healing isn’t fun.” I glared at his condescending tone, opening my mouth to retort but getting cut off by Chan and Minho being the last to enter, joining the rest of us.

An eerie silence laid over the room, the sunset outside leaving a warm glow pouring in through the windows. Minho had taken it upon himself to sit at the far end of the couch, planted next to Jisung and putting as much distance as possible between us.

Chan fiddled with a small projector on the coffee table as the other members surrounded him, I watched as Felix  flipped between multiple documents on his screen, the words flying by too fast for me to comprehend.

I pulled my feet up onto the cushion underneath me, my knees pulled up to my chest, sandwiching my arm against myself as it laid snug in its sling. Seungmin sat beside me, flipping through a notebook searching for keywords frantically scribbled upon the pages. My eyes glanced at his book with each turn of the page, the notes flip flopping between clean and organized, to words scrambled with no rhyme or reason.

The projector finally roared to life, the motor letting out a warm buzz of air as it shined onto the whiteboard in front of us. Each member’s attention is brought to the blank screen as it clicked to mirror Felix’s laptop as he plugged in the cord linking the two, scrolling through the copied system from the warehouse. An elaborately organized system of files littered the screen, my eyes squinting as I attempted to process the quickly flowing information as Felix tried to find a certain page to start the meeting on.

Chan rose to take seat on the armrest of the couch to my side, fingers interlocking in his lap as he waited for Felix to find his target. As the screen finally stopped in place, Chan’s tilted head slowly turned to the rest of us, eyes scanning between each one of us in silence before letting out a slow deep breath as a sigh. He gazed down at the floor, searching for the best way to communicate with the group as we sat in awkward silence.

“So things are looking worse than we expected.” He avoided our gazes as he turned his attention back to the screen, each of our eyes following his line of sight as Felix opened one of the folders. My brows creased as I studied the words on the screen, unsure of what exactly I was looking at. “But before we continue on, from discussions I’ve had with each of you, it seems like we had a visit from SuperM.” Chan slowly turned to the group around him, his eyes falling on mine before slowly following down to the sling across my body, then quickly down to the hands in his lap with a clear of the throat as he swallowed the lump lodged in his airway. “It wasn’t very expected for them to be involved in all of this, but it seems as though they might be the surveillance team for the warehouse.” He turned to look back at Seungmin. “Wanna let us know what you found?”

“Oh, right.” Seungmin’s back tightened as he sat straight, flipping back to the first page of notes in his book. “So, they’re clearly running multiple tests down there, these chemicals are far stronger than anything I could have expected. I’m still trying to run tests on them myself, but they’ve been experimenting with different combinations, compounds, and how they interact with each other. I was able to take with me a lot of their log books which is going to set them back in their research quite a bit.” The series of nods in acknowledgement from the group followed with tight lips, none of us truly knowing how to respond to the information being fed to us. Seungmin relaxed into the back of the couch, his journal dropping into his lap as his fingers ran through his unkempt hair. "I have a hunch I may have discovered what they are, and if I’m right, we might have a big problem on our hands.”

“Okay, so what might it be then?” Changbin was slouched back into the cushion on the couch, relaxed with his arms folded across his chest.

“There’s the potential that this is VX that we’re dealing with, a nerve agent that was banned by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction in the 90’s. From reports, all countries had actually disposed of their stockpiles of this stuff, but every now and then it has popped up in different attacks.” Seungmin ran his fingers through his hair again with a sigh before continuing. “It attacks your entire nervous and muscular systems, stopping communication between the two and completely paralyzing you until even your lungs stop working and you eventually asphyxiate. It’s highly dangerous, just simply getting this stuff on your skin can cause the effects, but it also has the potential to be dispersed as an aerosol.” The room fell quiet once Seungmin finished, Felix finally breaking the thick air by speaking up.

“Now in terms of my findings…” His words sounded anxious as he spoke, his finger tapping on the table in front of him before continuing. He looked up to the projection as he opened a document housing a log book of different contacts, names of varying origins and a wide array of locations. “Things are a lot more extensive than them simply importing these chemicals.” He slowly turned to the group behind him, his eyes trying to hide the nerves pounding through his system. “They’re also setting up plans for export to other countries. I’ve tried looking into the names in this document, they’re key players all across the world.” Mouths hung slack as everyone’s eyes crossed back and forth between Felix, Chan, the screen, and each other in tense silence.

Felix turned back to his computer, clicking through multiple files until he reached a deeply hidden log book of communications. Notes on their progress with testing, short paragraphs following one after another, dated and time stamped after each one. Each update concluded with the same sentence;

The Tiger has been contacted.

I tuned out the voices around me as my brows creased in confusion, my eyes scanning the room slowly with no visual input as my brain buzzed with thoughts. A knot quickly formed in my chest, the boiling of stomach bile leaving a poor taste in my mouth the moment the lightbulb flipped on in my mind. My sight turned frantic as I sat in doubt;

No, it couldn’t be…

He couldn’t…

My unrestrained hand gripped at the fabric covering my knee as I tried to calm my breathing, the words coming from the mouths around me sounding like a distant muffle as the members deliberated amongst themselves about who the mysterious Tiger may be.

But I knew.

With frantic eyes I looked towards Chan, who had clearly taken notice of my silent panic and had his focus pinned on me, also tuning out the other members as we shared sharp silent eye contact. My head was spinning as I struggled to swallow the rock that was lodged in my throat, a wave of nausea quickly overtaking me as I tried to fight it off. The room fell silent as I pulled myself from my seat, avoiding the eyes around me as I quietly excused myself to the bathroom and tried to escape the walls closing in around me.

It felt as though my feet couldn’t take me towards the door fast enough, the desire to lock myself within the confines of the bathroom taking over, needing to put a wall between myself and the new information that my brain was processing at a rapid rate. I shut the door behind me with a click of the lock, the light illuminating the small room around me as my single arm supported my weight against the edge of the counter.

He had been by our side my entire upbringing, knowing every function of the family. He had assisted us with so much, could he truly be capable of turning on our father? Would he stoop so low as to take him from us?

I leaned back into the wall as my head fell back, staring up to the ceiling as I blinked back the moisture now building up along my lash line.

He was an honorary member, an unofficial brother of my father, welcomed into our home on so many occasions. He knew the layout better than the housekeepers, he knew exactly how he could make his way towards my father’s office without any suspicions pointed in his direction, his presence within our halls of safety was no surprise, and honestly it became an assumption.

The softest of knocks emitted from the door, knocking my from my haze, my body and mouth too frozen to formulate a response, my feet firmly planted and mouth sewn shut.

“Y/n…” Chan’s voice was gentle, quiet and almost a whisper as he spoke through the wood. “If you’re alright, I’m going to need you to open the door.” My head rolled in the direction of the door, my tongue struggling to function as it quickly dried, I knew I needed to tell him, it wasn’t a secret I could keep hidden.

Pulling my body from the wall, my hand hesitated over the knob as I gave one final attempt to compose myself, slowly pulling it open and revealing a concerned Chan standing in the doorway. His eyes studied my face, my pale skin reflecting light as the blood that drained from my face had stolen with it all color.

“Is there something you should let me know?” My fingers fidgeted within the fist they were tightened into, lips pursed as I avoided speaking the words that sat on the tip of my tongue.

“The Tiger.” Chan’s brow raised as he eyed me, waiting to speak until I had continued. My face scrunched with tight lips as I quickly pointed my head to the floor, rising again to meet Chan’s eyes with one last deep breath. “Tiger JK.” Chan’s head tilted in question, brow raised. I held his gaze as I forced the panic to the back of my mind before gaining the strength one final time, speaking flatly.

“My Godfather.”

Next Chapter

[sublimenol]

Art by Adam Bryce Thomas

The battle rages on and it's getting close as the finish line draws near. Deirdre still has hopes though and she won't be giving this one up yet!

The @sonic-oc-showdown poll where she takes on @riftclaw's Agent VX is still going on here Please give my girl a vote and go green!

[riyamilea]

Artfight 2023 attack featuring @riftclaw's OC, Agent VX!! Was glad I could do a proper drawing of them this time around.

Thanks for looking!

[green-kat331]

Thanks so Much for everyone who Voted for Mandy in the first round!!! this is super fun and I can’t wait for more!!!!!

@sonic-oc-showdown