#and that sent them back to cyber space?? or something??

[wereh0gz]

Hoooo boy that was. A lot

[thezombieprostitute]

Dream Come True - Part 7

Summary: The “Garbage Men” are the guys in the mob who get the dirt on others and clean up after the higher ups. They have many different ways of gathering intel by running legitimate businesses. One such business is Jefferson/Jensen’s cyber cafe where you regularly go to work. You’ve actually become good friends with Jefferson’s daughter and Jensen’s niece. You even volunteered as their after-school tutor. One day, there’s a robbery attempt where you get hurt protecting the girls. This is how you are introduced to Curtis Everett, the guy in charge of the “Garbage Men”.

A/N: Reader is plus sized, femme. No other descriptors used.

Warnings: Bullying, Fat shaming, Insecure reader, Kidnapping, Mild violence, Sexual harassment. Please let me know if I missed any!

Part 6 -- Part 8

Series Masterlist

Everyone was making sure to give Curtis some space. Jake had read aloud the contents of the note you’d sent, “Lloyd is back. Has solid plans to take over everything.” This was the excuse they needed to slowly back away from Curtis who was frozen in rage. They immediately got to work notifying everyone in the family. Levinson began coordinating an evacuation of those family members who were most vulnerable, making sure to keep it quick and quiet. Steve and Bucky started moving people around, making sure everyone was armed and on alert. Mace was reaching out to all contacts looking for information.

But all Curtis could do was glare at the phone. The number you were supposed to call when you were safe. The others may have been okay with the note being your signal but not him. He needed to hear you say you were okay. After the way Ransom talked to you he wouldn’t accept anything less than you telling him. No codes, no proxy, just you. 

The phone gave a short tone, indicating a text had been received. He grabbed it and stared at the message from you. As the reality of your words hit him he had to swallow down his panic. 

“JENSEN,” Curtis bellowed. “Tell me you’re tracking Y/N’s phone!”

“Yeah, what…what happened,” Jake asked.

“She’s in trouble,” Curtis barked, loud enough for everyone to hear. He handed Jake the phone, displaying the message. “Find her ASAP! And message me the second you find her.” 

“Curtis,” Mace called after him, “we’ve got higher priorities.”

Curtis glared at his second-in-command, “I said she shouldn’t do this. Everyone else said she should. Now she’s in trouble. We got her into this, we have to rescue her.”

“Be that as it may,” Mace countered, tone calm, “we’re talking about Lloyd and an all out war against the entire family. That’s a lot of people at risk, not just Teach. We have to prioritize appropriately.” The two tried to stare each other down but Mace added, “you know I’m right.” Curtis growled, but Mace didn’t budge. It was one of the main reasons Curtis made him his second: not easily intimidated and always able to keep his eyes on the main prize. It’s what Curtis usually needed to keep himself in line. 

Usually. “You’re in charge of the Garbage,” Curtis snarled. “As soon as Jake gives me an address, I’m grabbing an axe and going after her.” 

Mace’s eyes widen slightly at the mention of an axe, understanding the implications. All he can do is nod his assent and get back to work. No one had seen The Berserker since Curtis left Wilford & Gilliam’s service and swore fealty to the family. Curtis professed, several times, to never wanting to bring him back. But with you in danger, it appears Curtis would use any means to keep you safe. 

Lloyd’s car was probably the nicest you’d ever been in. It seemed to have all of the accouterments a person could ever want. Certainly more than they could ever need. If you weren’t here against your will you’d ask about them or absentmindedly press buttons. Instead, you kept your purse clutched tightly in your arms and kept your face passive. You decided to keep quiet until Lloyd said something, trying to “behave” as he put it. The way he occasionally looked over your body, openly ogling you, had you very uncomfortable. 

He pulls up to an impossibly ritzy hotel and turns off the car. He immediately jumps out and opens your door for you before tossing the keys to the valet. 

“Come along, Pumpkin,” Lloyd snaps his fingers. You step out of the car and he puts his arm around you before walking you into the hotel. You try not to wince at the touch. 

 He walks you to the elevator and, when it’s just the two of you, his hand starts wandering down towards your ass. When it gets too low for your liking you grunted, “don’t. Just don’t.” 

His hand stops but his annoying grin grows into a full smile, “oooh, there it is,” he whispers into your ear. “That tone just does something for me. I’m sure you can figure out what that something is.” You can’t stop your eyes from glancing down and, in truth, he does appear to be hard. You don’t hold back your scoff and eye roll but it only seems to excite him more. 

The elevator doors open to reveal the largest hotel suite you’ve ever seen. The opulence was almost overwhelming. If it weren’t for Lloyd’s very strong arm pushing you forward you would’ve been too scared of breaking something expensive to move. 

He gestures you towards a couch, “have a seat and relax, Pumpkin. Take off that cardigan and let me get a better look at the ladies.”

“No,” you snap. “I’m not that kind of girl. I want to just go home.”

“Oh, Sunshine,” he purrs as he walks over to a drink cart. “You lost the right to go home the second I heard you at Ran’s.”

“What do you mean,” you inquire. “We were the only people there.” You have to be careful to not reveal you knew someone was listening.

“Yes, you were, but I’ve had Ran’s place bugged for a couple weeks now,” he cheerfully starts making himself a drink. “My comms guy told me someone was giving Ran a visit so I asked him to patch me through and let me listen. You only argued for about thirty seconds but it was enough for me to know I had to have a few rounds with you.”

“If thirty seconds is your definition of “enough” I’m definitely not interested.”

He laughs at your response and moves to sit next to you, bringing his drink with him, “fuck I love that sass. And that smack you gave him? I was so hard after I had to jerk myself off before meeting you.” You don’t hold back your grimace at the image. He scoots closer to you and you try to scoot away but he grabs your arm, gripping hard enough you’re sure there’ll be bruises. “Be a good girl,” he whispers. “You got Ransom, the most picky, skinny-bitch loving person I’d ever known, to beg after you. I gotta know how good of a fuck you are.”

“I didn’t chase him, he chased me,” you tell him through gritted teeth. “He’s just another asshole who wants what he can’t have. Who can’t have anyone in his life who doesn’t want him. That’s all. It’s got nothing to do with my nonexistent skills in bed.”

“Hmm…” he looks you over. “He seemed to enjoy how you worshiped his cock. And really, what more could a guy want? You worship mine half as good as you did his and I’ll make sure to reward you.”

“Bullshit,” you give him more of that attitude he seems to enjoy. Maybe you can distract him long enough to figure out a way out of this. “You’ll probably just fuck my mouth, last thirty seconds and send me home without even the courtesy of a breath mint. You’re just like all the other assholes I’ve ever had to deal with.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong, Pumpkin. I’m much more dangerous and wealthy than any other asshole you’ve met. Behave, you’ll only have to know about the wealth. Keep fighting me and you’ll learn why I’m so feared.” The pain from him squeezing your arm is growing. You have to switch tactics.

“Wait,” you give Lloyd your best “I’m confused” look. “I thought you said you were into the sass. I’m getting some mixed signals here.” Lloyd pauses at the abrupt change in your demeanor and the grip on your arm relaxes a little. “I mean, if you want the doe-eyed, obedient fucktoy you should’ve said so from the beginning. But you kept talking about enjoying my sharper tones and retorts. Do you even know what you want?”

“I…uh..” Lloyd stutters. 

Not wanting him to get his bearings you continue, “I mean, Hugh wanted the whole female dominant experience. He wanted the degradation and spankings. Is that not what you wanted as well? Or…wait, wait, were you after the whole “dominating the dom” thing? You need to tell me this shit upfront! Also I need your safeword. Mine is “Asimov,” don’t ask why, it’s way too long a story and Hugh didn’t pay enough for a long session.”

“He said you were his assistant.”

“That’s the cover story, yes,” as careful as you need to be, you need everything to sound natural. Plausible, even. “Word gets out that someone with his reputation buys his ladies? He’ll plummet in the social circles. Especially with some of the older ladies he schmoozes, you know? So he tells people we’re his assistants, emphasis on the “ass” of course.” You wink and give your most sensual smile to Lloyd. You’re not sure if you’re passing but he’s stopped crushing your arm and has backed off a little. “Hugh said you liked the bigger girls, like myself, so we set up a kind of introduction for you. Let you decide if you actually wanted me. Considering the things you’ve said, I’d say you’re into me.” 

With a confidence you don’t actually have you grab Lloyd’s drink out of his hand and take a swig. It burns a lot, but you fight the urge to wince and instead give him a smile. 

Lloyd throws his head back and laughs, “oh, Pumpkin. I’m gonna make you my fucking queen.”

You raise an eyebrow, “what do you mean?”

“Not going to get into the details, but if you suck my dick as good as you act, I’m gonna keep you. You really had me believing you were a sassy secretary. Fuck, you really got me good. Not many people can claim that.” You bat your eyes and he continues, “let me give all your holes a test run and, if you do well, I’m gonna keep you. Let you live a life of luxury. No work, no other men, just my queen in my castle.”

“You may be overselling yourself, Lloyd.”

“You would know a bit about that, wouldn’t you,” he winks back at you and you fight the urge to vomit.

A ding from the elevator thankfully takes Lloyd’s attention. A tall, lean man with blond hair steps out, “Mr. Hansen, I do apologize for the intrusion. You weren’t answering your phone.” You’re surprised at the British accent.

“This better be good, Pine,” Lloyd barks.

“You asked to be reminded of your 2:30 meeting with Mr. Rumlow.”

Lloyd checks his watch and curses under his breath. “Alright, alright. I’ve been reminded, you can go now.” 

Pine slightly bows and heads back to the elevator while Lloyd moves closer to you than he’s been this entire time. He grabs the back of your neck and threatens, “if you leave, I will hunt you down and you will not enjoy what happens when I find you.”

“I understand, Lloyd.”

“Good girl,” he whispers before standing up and heading to the elevator. You stay seated, face down, waiting for the telltale sounds of the elevator leaving before you let yourself fully succumb to the stress of the day and pass out, exhausted in so many ways.

Part 6 -- Part 8

Tagging @alicedopey because I promised I would. 

@alexakeyloveloki

@bigtreefest

@dontbescaredtosingalong

@hisredheadedgoddess28

@icefrozendeadlyqueen

@lokislady82

@texmexdarling 

@veltana

@winter-soldier-101

Let me know if you'd like to be tagged.

[cozzzynook]

Nyon having weird mating rituals. Rodimus biting whoever he's interested in.

Roddy bites Deadlock for the first time after the two and Ratchet have been fragging for a while.

Deadlock and Ratchet were freshly conjunx and Rodimus was still Hot rod at the time.

Deadlock said something to Ratchet that made him think the mech before him was so beautiful and he waited a moment before biting him.

Just sinking his teeth into his protoform and gently holding him before unlatching, licking the drops of energon and going on like nothing happened.

They’re too weirded out to say anything and its left unmentioned until Roddy still as Hot rod watches Ratchet melt for the first time and he just…bites him. Right on the thigh since it was closest and he’s gentle in holding the mechs leg before. He’s there for a moment and then lets go, licks the energon and goes off to let the two finish fragging.

He’s not at all paying attention, if he were he’d know they stopped for a moment and were just looking at him like he was crazy.

Some things happened and Hot rod shipped off to have space between them and try to forget how he picked so horribly and was such an idiot to think a conjunx pair would want a third.

He’s taking this as time to just try and frag his way to forgetting but he can’t and then his death happens and he becomes Rodimus prime.

Soon he’s being sent to look for the knights of cybertron and he’s co captain with the mech who killed him.

That definitely puts a damper in his mood but what really gets him is seeing the two, still conjunxed just Deadlock is now Drift, looking so beautiful and in love and yeah thats what got him in trouble the first time.

He fights the feeling to go over and bite them and goes off to actually do paperwork for once.

Of course nothing is ever easy since the two catch sight of him and try to talk. He’s not interested in any of that and tells them it’s cool. No hard feelings and makes it look as genuine as he can before heading off.

They definitely don’t believe him but he can’t really find it in himself to go near them and give assurance thats completely a lie.

Through their adventures they thankfully back off quite a bit and Roddy can pretend it doesn’t bother him and just drown his sorrows like any normal mech except he can’t because Megatron won’t let him since he’s captain and maybe throwing a bottle of engex at your co captain aiming for his face plates is not a good idea.

“I’m sorry…”

Mwgatron looks at him for a moment before replying, “if I had to look at my ex’s and the guy who killed me every day I’d be the same.”

“Ex’s? what-”

“Its obvious. You, the swords mech and the doctor. To me at least.”

“well thats great,” he huffed.

“If its any consolation no one else would be able to tell..I notice how your eyes change when you look at them..you always look at them.”

And..what is he supposed to say to that?

The fact he even noticed made something stir in Rodimus before the mech beside him ruined it.

“If you actually did your work you would be happier.”

And yeah Roddy tries to aim for his face again only to be held in the air like a cyber kitty.

Things gets a little easier after their sort of spark to spark?

Roddy does half his paper work every day and Magnus walks around smiling because of it while spending the other half bothering Megatron while actually completing his shift.

Megatron can pretend he’s exasperated and annoyed by Rodimus all he wants. The day Rodimus is stuck in berth because his spark was fluttering from, a chronic dysfunction he emerged with, the mech was by his side the entire time.

From the moment he woke up with his optics and spark fluttering as he struggled to call First aid and Megs came bursting in the room, because no bot had seen or heard from him and he was extremely late to his shift, which he oddly usually isn’t. The mech called First aid for him and waited looking as if his world was shattering to making sure he took his extra medicine for when his condition flared. To falling into recharge with him under the excuse, “in case something happens.”

He’d been through this plenty of times and First aid knew his medical history well, he would be fine but Megs was having none of it.

He woke to the sight of the former warlord who literally killed him looking so peaceful in recharge with no helmet on, finials out, guard down and Roddy laying on his frame.

He couldn’t help but bite him.

The mech woke up startled thinking they could be under attack or something was wrong with Roddy when he looked down, tilted his helm confused and noticed how softly Rodimus was holding him as he bit his protoform and just stayed there for a moment before unlatching and looking so comfortable and dazed.

Until reality set in and he started backing up ready to apologize only to be surprised.

“You’re..you’re interested in me?”

“You don’t think I’m weird for biting you?”

They both just stare at the other before Roddy lets out a disbelieving laugh and Megatron is smiling at him, actually smiling at him and ooooh he can’t help wanting to go in for another bite and he doesn’t until Megatron offers the same spot again and he’s latching on.

“A Nyon mating ritual. Saved for those that touch your spark and you hope to reveal your..own to.”

The way Roddy’s spoiler flutters in excitement and his optics brighten before dimming tells Megatron everything he needs to know.

“If it’s any consolation..they probably didn’t know. I assure you they didn’t. If they did..they’d be foolish to give up such a rare vibrance that only the sun could touch.”

Rodimus can’t ever remember anyone looking at him or touching his cheek the way Megatron did.

He feels his teeth relax and hold before letting go.

He’s so lost in Megatron’s optics he doesn’t realize their so close to kissing until the hab suite door opens and First Aid is standing there with his med kit to check him over.

“I’m sorry I’m interrupting something,” he blushes so obviously even underneath the mask.

Its embarrassing and their maybe first kiss is ruined but he’s cleared to return to light duty and he experiences what its like to be seen and to see another.

The soft touches on his lower back to lead him out first or pauses him so the other can get the door. It makes his spark stutter in a way he’s never felt and he feels his array grow warm.

A fresh hot cup of energon that he makes too bitter for his own tastes every morning because he knows Megs always forgets his own no matter how much he needs it. To see the mech hold the cup and take a long grateful sip before venting and looking alive makes getting his own energon cup later worth it.

A small touch across his helm finials whenever he’s thinking too hard.

The way he takes his own servos and warms them before soothing the aches and tension from Megs frame when its just the two of them in their office or hab suites.

The gentle servo that rests above his chassis to feel his spark whenever he recharges against Megs.

The way he allows Megs into his hab when a bad memory file plagues him and recharge is impossible.

Reminding the other that the past happened but now is for now and its safe to cry and mourn the actions they committed and that they were deserving of comfort from someone who never wanted to see pain etched into their beings.

Maybe their first possible kiss was ruined but their first official kiss when alone off ship as they explored a beautiful forested planet, was more than perfect.

Yes, they got dirt into their seems and needed to help each other freshen up in the nearby water falls but their first interfacing and spark dancing was perfect under the star filled sky that broke to early morning.

Talking about what they wanted to be seemed so easy since they already were so used to each other. Roddy couldn’t help feel…okay…for the first time in a long long time.

Megatron wasn’t used to feeling this way. He’d never known a life where this kind of feeling could last and wasn’t rushed or a joy ride he knew deep down would or could end horribly.

He simply felt as if time was no longer against him and he could drop his shoulders and rest.

It took them time to connect and decide to share this experience too.

Days still feel too good to be true but they feel them together and Roddy had no idea anyone could’ve noticed but Drift and Ratchet had.

He didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable around them anymore and the realization made him smile.

“You feel different Roddy? Your aura, it’s different.”

“I feel different,” he shrugged with a smile before feeling him even if he hadn’t seen him and turned around in time to see red optics looking for him.

When they landed Roddy just felt him and the world wasn’t so bad anymore.

“I’ll catch ya guys later,” he tossed back with a smile before walking off to greet Megatron who rested a servo beneath his spoiler like always and led him out first with a gentle air as they began to discuss what they should have for fuel tonight and how Magnus was being traumatized by Whirls frag stories, again.

He didn’t expect this to be his life, but he’s surely happy it is.

[scythemichaelfaraday]

What’s can you hear the spirit’s sing about?

It’s a What if Shadow Was in Frontiers AU.

Shadow enters the force field on the opposite side of where Sonic, Amy, and Tails enter at the same exact time. Shadow escapes Cyber Space by attempting to use Chaos Control as the Emeralds are sent to the Chaos Emerald Vaults. This occurrence causes him to be in a space between Cyber Space and corporeal.

Because there are no memory tokens for Shadow, Sonic can’t remember certain conversations they’ve had, or even that they have seen each other on other islands. This results in Shadow having to constantly repeat what he has said on previous days/nights.

Shadow likes to interact with the Koco, and can interact with them. He can even understand what they’re saying. He might even be able to see that they look like Chaos at times/their true form.

He wakes Sonic up after he fights Giganto that first time without the Emeralds.

The reason that he was coming to Starfall is because he seemed to be called towards it OR he feels like he needs to be more watchful over Sonic after the events of Forces.

Shadow tries to warn Sonic about the sky voice but Sonic won’t listen and also doesn’t remember his warnings.

Maybe Shadow was the one to teach Sonic a lot of the moves that he uses in Frontiers. He says that the spin dash and homing attack doesn’t cut it anymore.

Sonic talks to Shadow about things that his friends tell him, especially about them all going separate ways. He expresses how he’s surprised at how much Amy has had to grow since Forces. How Tails has tried to be more independent and pushing himself since Forces. How Knuckles was more snappy than usual and seemed to be lost after the Resistance disbanded after restoration efforts.

Sonic promises to see Shadow after his last battle with The End. But he won’t remember it.

In the end Shadow welcomes Sonic back as he arrives on the Tornado and Sonic gets a twinge of memory of his confession and they go for a chili dog date and Shadow invites Sonic to talk all about his trip. Maybe he says something snarky that hints that he has regained his memories of the islands.

And finally, the tiniest of snippets:

“Are these… lavender?”

“Close. They’re Rhea… a flower mistaken for lavender rather frequently. One could even say it’s the faker of lavenders.”

[fairlyqualityanon]

Digging Your Own (Snow)Grave

You thought the sins of Frisk/Chara/Kris were confined to the game world, that when you closed the window, it all collapsed back into a mess of 0s and 1s. 'Your choices don’t matter,' it said. But what you do online doesn't necessarily stay online. Chara corrupting your game data on Steam isn't the worst outcome from a Genocide route.

5.6k words of reader insert fluffy vore featuring Spam//ton NEO (on whom I now have a massive Switch crush) for 8/8 Vore Day, I had fun with this and I hope you enjoy! (read on AO3)

Masterlist

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

You pick up the novelty glasses you’d found in a shop. They were just sitting on a shelf with a ton of other junk, so you had held them against your face while you sent a selfie to your friend.

//Spamton cosplay when? 😛//

It was actually a little weird how much they looked like they’d popped directly out of the game: one lens yellow, one magenta; opaque looking in, nearly transparent looking out.

Only a couple of dollars, so why the heck not?

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

You scrunched your eyes, not wanting to wake up. Fumbling for your phone, you squint to see what time it was. No signal. Ugh, had the tower gone out again? The battery was getting pretty low, too, so you sat up with a grumble and opened your eyes.

Um. This didn’t look like your bedroom, or your house at all. Everything was lit by the blue light of a computer screen, as if you were in some cyberpunk dystopia.

You stood up and cracked your knuckles. This was absolutely a dream, so why not make the most of it?

Something was taking up space in your pocket, you noticed, phone not wanting to go all the way in. With your free hand, you rummaged through the mess. What the heck was all this stuff? You started to pull your hand back out, surprised by the window materializing in front of you. It looked not-all-there, kind of like menu options in VR.

'Inventory', it said, listing a fair number of items. Hey, you recognized some of those!

Freeze Ring

> Devilsknife

A small charm in the shape of a colorful scythe, about the size of a keychain ornament, appeared in your hand.

Was this dream based on a video game? Deltarune was an odd choice, if so.

So. Your subconscious based the dream on Chapter 2, Cyber World's Snowgrave route. A first-person visualization of the map was absolutely beautiful, and you wondered from what your mind was drawing to flesh out the dream.

Glancing to your right, you saw a large dumpster, surrounded by bags of printer sheets. You stood on your tiptoes to peek inside it. That weirdo NPC vendor Spamton had abandoned it when you triggered his breaking into the Castle, you remembered; had he left anything behind?

No, just the pillow that showed in the flavor text of any dumpster you checked. At least it was behind a clothing store, otherwise the smell would have been overwhelming. Oh, and some twist of fabric on top of the pillow.

Yoink! Like any good RPG player, you picked up everything Just In Case.

Puppet Scarf was added to your weapons.

Why was it in there, though? It was the reward for defeating Spamton NEO through violence, or else finishing the Snowgrave route, so either the player character or the final boss should have it.

It was a really interesting NPC, everyone scrambling with theories and headcanons; nobody could have guessed ‘battle theme remixes are canon’. The obligatory 'Gaster did it' featured, of course, but you couldn't keep up with all of that.

Maybe you should follow along, staying out of sight in case Berdly hadn't been Frozen yet. You didn't know if you could die here, but you weren't taking that chance. You felt a little chilly, so you wrapped the scarf-weapon around your neck. Much better.

There had been a SAVE point around here somewhere... There! A flickering blue-white four-pointed star. You touched it eagerly, wondering if it would say 'Kris' or else the character name you'd picked before the first chapter.

Blank. Guess you got to pick your own name. As you focused on the menu, it changed to the keyboard screen, a transparent cartoony hand indicating the first character slot, which was empty. The next five, however, were filled.

_ASTER

You tried to move the pointer to the other slots. No luck. Shrugging, you selected the blank space. The hand flew down to point at the letter 'G'.

You sure as hell weren't picking that one. What would happen to you if the game crashed?

Just like the name field, you couldn't move the hand to any other letter.

This was a dream, right? You were already lucid, so why not try to control it? Squinting your eyes at

SELECT

ENTER

you willed a third option into existence

SELECT

ENTER

> delete

... Are you sure?

You nod your head curtly.

'G' disappeared from the keyboard, leaving a darker hole in an already dark background.

Well, you still couldn't change character position, but you needed a first letter. Something nonsensical didn't sound any fun. 'M'? 'E'? 'C'?

'F', you decide, reaching for the symbol.

MISS

"‘Taster’? That's stupid," you scoff as it confirms the name and returns to the SAVE screen.

You followed the trail of recently-living ice sculptures, passing a mini iceberg. You tried to avoid looking at it, feeling guilty for the quasi-Genocide Run.

No one - not even the fearful NPCs - spotted you as you slipped into Queen's Mansion. The door to The Basement was right there, the one with the scratched-out panel.

That rapid teacup ride was annoying, but you descended unscathed even though your thoughts were filled with questions, not just 'how did I get here?' but also ones such as 'what will I find down there?'. In your own save files, you'd had to restart the Pacifist Playthrough a few times in order to SPARE Spamton NEO with a full inventory, because the double-secret dialogue cracked you up.

Able to enter the basement, you weren't certain if the discarded robot had been activated. Kris sealed the Cyber World Fountain immediately upon freezing Spamton NEO, so it couldn't have been defeated and progressed past already. The door was blocked when you entered the Mansion in-game, because Spamton had already taken it over. So where was the antagonist NPC?

You crept through the basement, taking a single step into the end room where the robot was stored, all the way at the very end. You could just barely see it from here.

The Empty Disk wouldn’t be in there, would it? Snowgrave didn’t have that quest; your character never formally met him since you indirectly helped by clearing the way. You wanted it, though, if you could still turn it into the Loaded Disk and then definitively bring both bosses with you to the next chapters.

A sapient - or sentient, at the very least - floppy disk? Lancer's flavor text was funny enough, but the glitchy NPC's dialogue was completely novel. Toby Fox had really outdone himself, using Chapter One to trick you and other players into thinking choices at best only altered a few lines. Jevil was completely optional and gave one piece of equipment; Spamton NEO was optional normally but also the final boss of Deltarune's 'Genocide Route' equivalent.

Adjusting the Puppet Scarf around your neck, you reached into the cavity of the machine and fished out the glasses.

DEALMAKER was added to your wea

Was added to your

added to y

[ERROR]

404 [STYLE] Not Found

"What the [BEEP] was that?" you muttered. Starting to fold the earpieces together, you paused and - on a whim - decided to put them on. Maybe it would wake you up, a sort of double negative?

Hmm. Nope. You bet you looked stylish as hell, though. Time to go find a mirror!

You were wondering if you could hack somehow the Mannequin into your inventory, get the full set of secret-second-boss-themed equip. Those Addisons didn't have full-on shops the way Gerson, Burgerpants, Seam, or Roulx did, so you couldn't simply collision box glitch your way in. Were they one of the enemies you froze while grinding to get Spamton's Thorn Ring? Eh, you'll check on your way back out.

The background music was really starting to set you on edge, though. The Basement was inaccessible during Snowgrave after you'd hit enough internal flags. But the Genocide Route music - Flowey’s slowed theme - featured. It was spooky, making you feel like you were being watched. All the NPCs were either hiding, locked up, or deadfrozen.

A low rumble shook the room and you wobbled for a moment, arms flailing. Was that Giga Queen? You didn't actually fight her in Snowgrave, though. The Spamton NEO fight? That happened outside the mansion. Better hurry and get out of here.

You heard the rumble again, but this time the floor remained steady. Turning around, you called out - perhaps foolishly - "Who's there?"

Something scraped against the far wall, a metal-on-metal sound that threw off a shower of sparks not quite bright enough for you to see what had made it.

Backing up slowly, you panned your gaze back and forth in the gloom. This was quickly going from 'quirky dream' to 'outright nightmare'.

You caught a blur of motion and tilted your head up and up, and up even more, your eyes adjusted to the dark enough to trace the outline of the towering figure seeming to coalesce from the shadows, two large circles flaring with the illumination of a non-existent sun.

Oh bleep, you think to yourself, automatically self-censoring. The Spamton NPC had been smaller than all four of your controllable party characters, and those were schoolchildren. The abandoned robot was roughly Queen’s height, and the optional boss Spamton NEO had been between two and three times Kris’ height.

But this? This thing? It was colossal, and almost bulky compared to its vibrant buggy Slenderman aesthetic in-game.

You finger the Devilsknife in your pocket before firmly grabbing its handle and swinging it out in front of yourself in a defensive stance. You realize it’s the same battle posture as the Kris character, though Susie was the only one you could equip the bonus boss’ item to. You were glad you’d taken the violence option in Chapter 1, originally because it blatantly implied you were bringing said boss along with you, but now because it gave you a sharp object to cut the wires of this boss.

As you did so, your surroundings spun away, replaced by the arcade style background of the Battle screen. The dissonant notes of 'Deal Gone Wrong' played under the echoes of Spamton NEO's battle intro.

"HOLY [Cungadero] DO I FEEL GOOD. ...HERE I AM!! [Player #1]!! IT'S TIME FOR A LITTLE [Specil Tour]!!"

Was that his normal dialogue? It sounded familiar, but you didn't think it was strictly accurate. Time to put your Mad Gamer Skilz to use; hopefully those translated over to the dream.

In your playthrough, the videogame boss had a set animation pattern, only 'looking' in a direction based on its attack. Even when firing off various projectiles, its head and gun arm always pointed in the exact same position per cycle.

But the very real creature - person? machine? - shooting very real bullets at you was tracking your every movement. Though you strafed and jumped - something the top-down 2D game definitely didn't allow for - Spamton NEO followed you with no delay. Freaky.

Your arms were so sore, completely unused to the weight of such a heavy scythe. It giggled uncannily as you whipped it through the air, fortunately encountering no resistance, but your hands were covered in sweat and struggling to keep your grip on the handle. The impact of the Pipis fragments - whatever the blue bouncing eggs were supposed to be - wasn’t doing you any favors either.

And then it happened. Lungs burning, you swiped at a Pipis you were too tired to dodge, whiffing entirely. Rather than colliding in a burst of pain and depleting HP, it exploded on contact into a tangle of wires just like the ones holding the machine up, though yours were blue instead of green.

"TIED [down] TO A [loan] YOU CAN’T REPAY? [Die now] AND SEE IF YOU QUALIFY FOR [forgiveness]."

The cartoon heart beating in front of your chest dimmed - no, was changing color - and you felt a surge of emotion. Was this the Determination mechanic from the first game? A green light flashed in your vision, accompanied by the beep of health restoration.

"THERE'S A NEW [palette] TO YOUR [facial glow]... GETTING YOUR SECOND WIND, [Player 1]?"

There it was again. The boss was supposed to address your character as ‘Kris’, except for when ‘you whispered Noelle’s name’. No such thing as ‘reading too much into it’ here: too vivid to be a dream, too much pain to be a hallucination.

With each pulse, the orange heart became darker and darker until it glowed green. That wasn’t a feature in this game, unless it would be a mechanic in the upcoming chapters: kindness and shield mode. You didn't have a shield from Kris' DEFEND action, nor the Spear Of Justice from the Undertale fight with Undyne.

"THIS [final boss] HAS A [limited time only specil] JUST FOR YOU!"

"Shut up! Shut up!" you yelled, "Your voice lines are even more annoying than that other secret boss, how do I skip your dialogue!?"

Your wires tightened, lifting you into the air until you were dangling at a level to look Spamton NEO in the eyes from across the battlefield. The words

(Wrong choice...?)

floated before you. According to the wiki, Spamton and Jevil were rivals, so you probably touched a nerve.

"NOW IS THAT ANY WAY TO TALK TO [your old pal] SPAMTON? AFTER HE’S [offering] YOU SUCH A SWEET SWEET [meal]?"

Wait what. This sounded sketchy as frick. "You’re just a computer program, what kind of ‘deal’ could you offer me, a real person?"

Bitcrushed yet cacophonous laughter echoed and you winced, unable to reach your ears to cover them. You couldn’t look away from the grotesque mouth gaping in a maniacal cackle, stretching almost up to the glowing bichromatic lenses. They gleamed in turn, like when you were playing Undertale’s Neutral Route and had to fight Asgore, and you prepared to dodge... however that would happen without Muffet’s webs to hop and your SOUL green instead of purple.

"AN UNFORGETTABLE [never] IN A LIFETIME DEAL."

"What if I don’t like the sound of your deal?" You were blushing; you knew what you’d heard, as much as you'd like to pretend you didn't.

"ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO TURN DOWN THE CHANCE OF A [very specil tour]?"

You mentally cursed your heated cheeks, probably as bright now as the hue of a Determined SOUL. You were pretty well cornered, with so few options. Right on cue, an ACT prompt materialized.

CONCEDE

DENY

Good thing the menu screens didn’t require your physical body for interaction. How could you lie? The truth was evident.

> CONCEDE

DENY

"But I used Incognito Mode!" You protest. The exact outcomes of dialogue selections were difficult to predict, but you weren’t going to complain about this one.

"HA HA HA. YOU THOUGHT YOUR USING [the Google Bing] WAS [blockchain encrypted]!?"

The rooms in Queen's castle were supposedly personalized based on the various NPC's web searches in Hometown, giving you clues into their backstories, but how would your real world searches be scraped? The original file name of Deltarune Chapter 1 seemed to mock scam programs, but it couldn't really be a Trojan or something.

It didn't make sense. Actually, it made total sense but should have been impossible.

"Well... Yeah," you admitted, adding suspiciously, "I want to know more about this deal of yours: what are you demanding in return?" Acting interested at first was how you SPAREd him in the Normal Route, so it couldn't hurt to hear him out as your HP blipped back to full.

The noises of the Basement returned in a deafening rush and Spamton's wires - no, yours... No, both of yours - dragged you closer together, battle screen below you vanishing as well.

"I mean, this is a video game; you're a boss NPC and I'm not a character at all!" What did it want from you? What could it possibly want?

His ever-present grin turned sharklike, sensing a captive potential customer as certainly as smelling blood in the water.

"[Player 1]! I WANT. THAT SHINING SOUL. YOU HAVE. THE [determination] OF A PERSON [level grinding] TO REACH THE HIGH [leaderboard]."

Yeah, no. Not happening. You didn't fancy dying in a dream, even one as weird as this. "No. Absolutely not. You can't have it. I kinda need this to, you know, live?" You dipped your head to indicate the vulnerable green SOUL.

His wings arched forward, as if reaching out to you. They cast twin shadows over the whole room, but stopped just before crossing the halfway point.

"WHEN I'M OFFERING YOU A [free cruise] FOR [hot singles in your area]?"

You just narrowed your eyes, remaining silent.

Spamton NEO shook his head reproachfully. "I KNOW I CAN'T [alt-tab] MY WAY OUT OF [the most dangerous game] BUT WITH YOUR [no background check required] [cheap rental] SOUL POWER I CAN STILL. BE BIG. SO VERY VERY BIG. SEE PAST THE DARK."

He knew it was a videogame, that you were a real person and he just a program. What sort of implications did that have for Deepest Lore? It seemed Spamton just wanted control over the game itself, unlike Chara, who wanted both the game and reality. You could live with this on your conscience. Hopefully it wouldn’t ruin the SAVE files of whoever’s computer this was.

"THIS OFFER IS [for a limited time only] UNTIL YOU [ctrl-alt-del] BACK TO [aren't you tired of working a boring 9-to-5 desk job?]!"

"So... Temporarily? I'll still own my SOUL. And not die?"

Silence. Just for a moment. And then he bowed, one hand behind his back and the other extended in the classic 'let's shake on it' deal stance.

Your vines descended, unraveling and falling to the ground in loops at your feet.

What had that stuffed cat NPC said after you beat Jevil? "He started saying bizarre things that didn't completely make sense - But didn't completely not make sense, either."

Time froze again, even the flicker of the nearby Dark Fountain reflected on Spamton NEO's massive teeth. You glanced at the small menu in front of you.

AGREE

REFUSE

You hovered your ghostly disembodied finger over the damning words before drawing in a nervous breath and firmly pushing

> AGREE

REFUSE

Your arm stretched out - almost without thinking - placing your right hand in the robotic puppet's. It was so small by comparison, your entire hand barely covering even one of his fingertips.

Spamton's too-broad grin widened - somehow - even further, carefully pinching your hand between thumb and a single index finger, giving it the tiniest shake.

You smiled hesitantly, emboldened by the gentle contact and what appeared to be a warm cast to the glowing lenses. That smarmy stereotypical 'used car salesman' expression was so hard to read; you had to make wild guesses from his posture and the area around Spamton's glasses. He didn’t seem the slightest bit hostile anymore, and Mercy +100% had flashed the moment you picked to agree to his deal, so you felt you could trust it.

Facial expression unchanging, he released his hold on your hand and, barely a second later, lunged forward with his own, wrapping all three fingers around you in a firm grip. You couldn’t tell if Spamton NEO stood back up or if it was the wires tugging him upright; searching for the answer was rather low on your list of priorities right now. Instead, you were hyper aware of just how high up you’d been snatched, and that you were staring directly into the eyes of a giant who’d just agreed to EAT you.

Struggling wouldn’t do you the least bit of good; while you would certainly survive a fall from that height, you couldn’t possibly limp away fast enough. You were pretty sure your SOUL was still green, anyway.

The boss seemed content to study you placidly, and you swallowed nervously, hoping the hammering of your heart wasn’t too obvious. It gave you a better view as well.

The Saw-like red dots on his cheeks from the original body were gone, leaving a uniformly shiny bone-white surface. Spamton NEO’s plating and wings, on the other hand, were incredibly garish, but also weirdly pleasant to look at; the tiny animated figure on your computer screen simply did not do the character justice.

You could faintly see a pair of thick carats on his face behind the glasses. Hadn't the Addison shopkeepers mentioned he'd been one of them, 'just a little unlucky'? That was certainly support for the theory. You also thought you could see your reflections twinned in pink and orange staring back apprehensively, you were so close to his face.

Even if it wasn't a dream or hallucination, nobody in the real world would know about this. It's not like you'd ever had a vore dream, so you didn't want to look this gift horse in the mouth. Though, you were looking him in the mouth, worried about just what lay behind those gleaming teeth. How would this even work?

Uneasy didn't even begin to describe your emotional state right now; all the vore scenarios you'd read and seen heavily featured trust, something untenable at the moment. You had to fight against the very human response that was cringing in fear, failing entirely when Spamton NEO opened his mouth. Was this the Money Vacuum attack? It looked like you’d been betrayed!

Except... You didn’t hear battle music, not a single one of the many themes. Instead, you were popped unceremoniously into his mouth the way a person might toss back a TicTac, or perhaps a breath mint.

You lifted your head to watch the shrinking window of light, vanishing fully with the creaking slam of a garage door. No backing out now; the deal had been sealed behind you as surely as his teeth.

Everything was dark. So, so dark. The Battle Menu had been the only light source besides Cyber World's Dark Fountain, and now you had neither of those. You didn't really want to move around, what if you fell? The texture you were on was too smooth to be fabric, but had too much give to be metal. What else could there be in the robot body?

You started to stand up, deciding that maybe exploring was a good idea after all, when something large knocked into you, causing you to fall back over again. Pushing yourself awkwardly to your knees, the whatever-it-was bumped you again, far more cautiously this time.

Huh. The robot had a tongue. Not too far fetched of an idea, you thought. It gently pressed against your side, almost like an affectionate dog, if dogs were slightly damp and had the faint odor of ozone.

Deals go both ways... 

You obligingly leaned on it, gradually transferring all of your weight. Apparently taking that as permission, it slicked up your arm, halting just below your head.

If this thing - you really needed to be fairer and treat it like a person, as a ‘he’ and not an ‘it’, since the NPC seemed to be fully sapient - knew about your frequently-cleared search history, then he would also know you didn’t like the harsher and more violent types of vore.

A professional salesman might make underhanded deals, but it would be a poor salesman indeed who failed to deliver on those shady promises.

It felt weird to think of yourself as ‘tasty’, but that was clearly Spamton’s opinion, tongue insistently scooting you to the smooth inside of his weird teeth and starting to cover you all over with whatever its equivalent of saliva was. Maybe your hitting the wrong letter on the SAVE screen was some sort of Freudian slip, or the game giving you a sly nudge and a knowing wink.

The average - the sane and normal - person would consider this to be a living nightmare, but you? You were loving this. You let out a contented sigh and finally allowed yourself to fully relax. The warmth and steady pressure was doing wonders for your acquired aches and pains.

Aches and pains that Spamton NEO had caused, beating the absolute crap out of you in your battle.

Were you the equivalent of a boss encounter, one where you needed to FIGHT to lower the enemy's willpower? You certainly never would have admitted to this otherwise...

He absolutely owed you a massage for that. Not really the best start to a business relationship, now was it?

His jaw creaked open just enough for you to see back out through it. When had he traveled to the Dark Fountain? Eh, didn't really matter.

You were tipped very deliberately over the row of teeth, tucked safely down in the confines of Spamton's cheek pocket.

"AND NOW. [Player 1]. WITNESS THE [alternating current] OF SPAMTON [NEO] EX."

'Ex'? You hoped you weren't about to be in the middle of an explosion.

You waited expectantly, practically seeing the

(* . . . )

scroll in the text box.

"MY [power level], IT’S STILL NOT [over 9000]!"

The words were pretty well garbled - he was clearly trying very hard not to hurt you - but they were laden with helpless anger. You actually felt bad for Spamton; seemed a real person was insufficient, or perhaps incompatible with the wherever-you-were. In the game’s Normal Route, he hadn’t attacked your party until noticing he was still trapped by the computer cables masquerading as puppet strings.

The crackle of TV static failed to mask what was clearly a wail of utter despair.

At a loss for what to do, you wriggle one arm free and pat the cheek surface. Hopefully he could feel it, your attempt to offer some measure of comfort. You’d tried. You’d really really tried, and even wanted him to succeed.

A knot twisted in your stomach; you’d never felt such strong emotion towards a simple videogame character. Susie’s words to Kris in the beginning of Chapter 1 when the game wouldn’t let you pick a dialogue option echoed in your mind - ‘Your choices don’t matter.’ Seemed that had been directed at you and the other players after all, not the in-game character Kris. All you’d done was give him false hope.

"FINE." Sure didn't sound 'fine' to you. "FIREWALL ACTIVE. ALL [sales] FINAL. [Frequent flier miles] NOT ELIGIBLE FOR REFUND." Intensely frustrated, but not angry. Or at least, not angry at you, fortunately.

Working his jaw awkwardly, he fished you back out and swished his tongue over you one last time before propelling you to the rear of his mouth. You’d have been fibbing if you’d said this next part didn’t make you even more nervous.

You were over the edge before you knew it, unable to so much as yelp in shock as your entire world collapsed into a tiny cylinder.

Tight. So tight that you could barely draw in even a half breath. The 'gulp' of a swallow sounded more like a 'click' followed by the 'whirr' of whatever was squeezing you down his throat. Despite trying to take shallow breaths, you felt dizzy. Or was that just the blood rushing to your head?

You almost didn't notice when you'd left his throat, since the stomach-analogue was similarly lacking in space. The only real clue was the cessation of dispassionate swallows.

Once you were fully inside the thankfully-much-drier chamber you heard what sounded like a semi truck's air brakes. Was that a sigh?

Even though your end of the deal was just loaning the Power of Determination found in human SOULs - or rather, attempting to - you were still kind of glad Spamton had enjoyed eating you. After all, your favorite scenarios involved the predator character being just as pleased as its prey, a mutual satisfaction. ‘Vore as a comfort mechanism’, the meme went. Even if he didn't get the resultant power he’d wanted, at least he’d scored a delicious ‘snack’ out of it.

You realized you were blushing again; seems you really were ‘vore trash’. You knew you’d be hyper-critical of every piece of vore media you found from here on out. tHaT's NoT hOw It WoRkS, you thought with a grin.

Resting your head on the pebbled-but-yielding material, you realized that neither of you had so much as mentioned duration. Not that you minded being in-

Um... Where exactly were you?

How long had it taken him to swallow you? It felt like forever, but couldn’t have been all that long; the robotic neck hadn’t looked nearly so thin from the outside.

If it was indeed Mettaton had drafted this body with Swatch - probably in Paint, going from how tastelessly the color scheme clashed - then you have serious questions about that NPC; what exactly was a depressed ghost that wanted to be an attractive robot thinking, making something like this!?

You took in a breath of air that tasted alarmingly like fried circuits, ready to ask just how long Spamton planned on holding you, and if he knew how to get you back to your world, then a pleasant breeze tousled your hair. Oh good, no worrying about oxygen; you would neither suffocate nor asphyxiate.

Totally safe, the only enemy with higher HP than his NEO form was the Giga Queen, and he could boost his Defense to an insane level at the end of a Snowgrave Route, so all you had to worry about was if Spamton experienced the coding glitch equivalent of a psychotic break and tried hurting you.

Now, if only you had the room to stretch out...

"[Dial up] CONNECTION ESTABLISHED." Wow, now that sound was a blast from the past.

The walls around you suddenly crackled with static, some remaining black - their cathode tubes probably burnt out - while most displayed the old test card bars, like pixels, countless miniature TV screens forming the surface of his stomach.

All but a couple, comprising two circles - just a few feet in diameter - directly in front of you shut off. They looked like his glasses... Could he see in here!?

The circles swept up and around, back and then down, evidently focusing on you.

"It seems I'm too broke[n] to [afford] a spacious [apartment]."

There it was, the semi-lucidity after a battle’s end. Chapter 2 had the most minor of Easter eggs regarding Tasque Manager and Jevil, so it was highly unlikely you or any other player would learn what had twisted either secret boss’ mind.

"You don’t hear me complaining." You curled up, managing to twist yourself the other way so you were reclining rather than laying down at an angle. "It’s pretty nice in here." ‘And you handed me my ass in battle,’ you decided against saying.

"[Some assembly required.]" A dry critique.

"Hey, um..." You watched as several screens dimmed to static and back to dull coloration, Spamton apparently struggling to get his new body's glitches under control. "I'm really... I'm sorry."

The yellow oval moved upward a few inches while the magenta one stayed put. You thought that was like raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't deliver on my promise. You gave me everything I asked for, but you couldn't use SOUL power at all. Even if that wasn't going back on the deal, I'm still sorry."

Everything went dark again and you startled, not sure if you were concerned more for yourself, or for Spamton. But the screens came back to life right away... was that a blink?

"I WAS NEVER IN IT FOR THE POWER. FOR THE [Kromer]. FREEDOM. THE FREEDOM TO MAKE MY OWN [download now!]. MY OWN CHOICES. AND. I FOUND ANOTHER SATISFIED [customer]!"

You chuckled. "Me? Or you?"

There was that annoying laugh again. "A SUCCESSFUL [meal]."

Yep. He meant himself. You didn’t mind in the slightest; in fact, you were probably more happy even than you were embarrassed.

You reached out your hand, as filled with the Power that was surely Determination as you had been when making your 'Taster' SAVE file, and tapped the space between the colored ovals. "I don’t know where ‘here’ is in relation to the real world, if it’s an instance on someone’s computer or what, or whose computer that would be, but just in case... I’ll make sure to send Kris by."

What if you played a new Snowgrave route, but stopped at the final SAVE point before fighting Spamton NEO, pulled that save file and move it to a secure position on your computer in an entirely different folder? That would be as close as you could get, in reality, to fulfilling the NPC’s quest. Hopefully you’d remember when you woke up from this really-not-half-bad dream.

"I WON'T FORCE YOU. I CAN'T. I CAN'T FORCE YOU. BUT. A VALUED [customer] MAKING A [comeback tour]? MY [clearance special] WILL HAVE A [membership card] ONLY ON [layaway]."

"Got it. I’ll keep that in mind." This was all so stupidly bizarre, you wanted to blow up a friend’s phone with DM notifications, but would they honestly believe you’d had such a strange and vivid dream? Far too good to be true, so it definitely had to be a dream. 

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

You blinked your eyes out of sync. Had you fallen asleep? If so, that was one [Holy Cungadero] hell of a dream. Super weird, too, though the details were fading quickly.

You sat up and yawned, stretching your arms over your head. You were so sore; napping at your desk hadn't done your back any favors.

Hang on, what was that in your hand? Oh, just those silly thrift store glasses.

... Did they always have that paper price tag on it? Fastened with instrument - looked like guitar - strings? There was writing on it, too.

//THANK YOU, VALUED [Taste Tester]! YOUR FREE TRIAL HAS [frozen]. Please purchase a subscription in order to [Reload] for the low low price of [$19.97] per month!//

... You are never going to toss these.

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

A/N:

I headcanon that the stomach in Spamton's NEO form is actually up in his chest cavity, and the yellow triangle is a screen that displays the SOUL of any Lightner prey.

“the Google Bing” physically hurt me to type out

(G)ASTER was originally just going to be a jab at Theorists, but it wound up being significant

The dialogue - especially Spamton’s - is not up to my usual exacting standards, but I think it’s good enough for this little project.

'>delete' and '...Are you sure?'/'(Wrong choice...?)'/'(* . . . )' were supposed to be two different fonts separate from the main font

If you enjoyed, please feel free to give me a little feedback (and/or AO3 kudos), it really helps with my motivation.

[yeenybeanies]

Smallest Cyber Specialist (pt. 11)

as it turns out, working from base is just as stressful as going out in the field with the 141. never a dull day! (feat. nikolai) the bold+italic text is meant to signal non-english dialogue, but apparently i can't code in underlines or hover text anymore on tunglr.hell 🙃 read it on ao3! (better formatting there tbh) first • previous • next call of duty | task force 141, nikolai, & pip lagomorph/lag (oc) 6,976 words strong language warning thanks for reading!! reblogs > likes!! patreon ✨ ko-fi ✨ ao3

The next time that the 141 left the compound, acting on more intel Pip had provided them, the hideling had opted to stay behind. She was fine at the base, she insisted. Where the operators were going, she was certain she could do everything she needed to do remotely. This particular target wasn’t directly AQ or Ultranationalists, but a side contractor that took an unfortunate deal to help out some terrorists. 

“I think it’s best,” Pip had argued, “that I stay out of the field for now. At least until I get this off.” She’d gestured to the cast on her leg. “With it, my mobility is limited. I’m vulnerable, and I slow you guys down.” 

Price had looked conflicted at the time, but ultimately agreed with her reasoning. None of them needed a repeat incident with Pip and an angry dog. Or something worse. 

So there she sat, using Price’s office as her workspace. She had her laptop, of course, and had it linked up to Price’s and another human-sized laptop, giving her plenty of screen space and computing power to do what she did best. 

“You boys almost there?” she asked into her headset. It was a redundant question; she knew exactly where they were, having been tracking their position ever since they left the compound two hours ago. She had a transponder on each of her handlers, unbeknownst to them. 

“Three kilometers out,” Price answered. “Gonna be walking the last one.”

“Roger that, Captain,” she said. “Sergeant Garrick, you still have that uplink I gave you?” 

“Got it safe and sound, Lag,” Gaz responded. “You want me to just hook it into just any computer?”

“Any computer or smart device. Anything that’s attached to the wifi.”

“Smart device?” Soap chimed in. “You tellin’ me you can hack in through someone’s smart fridge?” 

Pip leaned back in her seat, feeling a little smug. “A fridge. A printer. A dishwasher. Whatever. I’ve hacked into someone’s network through an aquarium filter before.” Without an uplink, at that. That was a fun time. She remembered it fondly, the satisfaction of it all, and the absurdity. “That uplink Gaz has bypasses a few steps for me, so it’ll be even easier to get in.” 

“Remind me when we get home to toss my smart speaker,” Price said with a huff. 

“You have a smart speaker, sir?” Gaz asked, sounding incredulous. “Do you know how to use it?”

Price made an offended noise. “Of course I do, Sergeant. I don’t know where you muppets get off, thinking I don’t know how to use modern technology. I’m not that much older than any of you.” 

That was true. The man wasn’t even forty yet, according to his file. 

A chorus of snickers rang over the comms, but Pip just grimaced. “You should definitely get rid of it, sir. Those things are painfully easy to break into. I could do it from halfway across the world, with my eyes closed.” 

“No need to brag, Pipsqueak. We can’t all be tech geniuses like you,” the captain chided playfully. 

“I’m just saying.” 

“Nearly there,” Ghost cut in. His voice surprised Pip, and sent a chill down her spine. 

She’d been more or less avoiding the lieutenant for the past few days, ever since she’d gone snooping into his files. The things she’d read in there… the stuff he’d endured… It made her shudder. She knew she’d have to get over it and carry on like normal sooner rather than later—preferably before Ghost noticed—but it was still very fresh in her mind. 

The cruelty of humans towards their own kind astounded Pip sometimes. It reminded her every day of why she and her people worked so hard to stay a secret from the wider human population. 

“Right, men,” Price said. “Look alive. Let’s make this quick; don’t wanna leave Lag lonely for too long.” 

“Go rot,” Pip grumbled in Hidespeak. 

“Heard that one before. Starting to think that’s an insult,” Soap said. He sounded like he was smiling. “Gonna have to teach us someday.” 

“Not on your life, Sergeant.” 

She watched on her screen as the four transponder icons slowed to a stop, and then started moving away from the road. They were on foot now, hoofing it towards the target compound. Ghost was going to take overwatch with a few operators, while Price, the sergeants, and the rest of the team infiltrated. 

This was going to go fine, she told herself. There was a different kind of anxiety that came with not being in on the action with her handlers, but Pip reminded herself that she was far from helpless here. As soon as Gaz could get her uplink hooked in, she would have the compound under her control. 

The first crack of a rifle—Ghost’s sniper, if she were to guess—rang over the comms. 

“Och—beautiful shot, LT,” Soap commented. Pip found some satisfaction in guessing correctly. She was learning a little bit about guns. 

“I can do better,” Ghost said. “So can you. Watch your six, Soap.” 

“Don’t need to when I got you watchin’ it for me. How’s it look, by the way? I’ve been doin’ some extra squats.” 

“I noticed.” 

Oh, gods. Pip muted her mic and let out a groan. Gaz did not mute his mic; his groan was heard by all. 

“Boys,” Price said, sounding exasperated, “don’t make me put you two in timeout.” 

“Would you put us in timeout together?” Soap asked, cheeky. 

“Soap,” Price snapped. There was more warning to that one, but it still made Soap snicker. 

Pip dragged her hands down her face and seriously considered taking her headphones off. Let her handlers do this mission on their own. They’d be fine without her. 

But no. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t just abandon her boys, even if half of them were being very annoying right now. 

Wait. "Her" boys? What? When did that happen?

Actually, no time to think about that right now. Or ever. 

Pip breathed out a sigh and leaned back. Her role wouldn’t start until Gaz got the uplink hooked in. In the meantime, she was an observer, for better or for worse. While she waited, she pulled up some codes and programs she’d be using, giving them another look-over to make sure everything was in order. It was, of course, but there was no harm in septuple-checking. Or was it the octuple-check at this point? 

A flashing on Price’s laptop caught Pip’s attention. There was a new notification. An incoming call. The name “NIKOLAI” stared back at her, spelled out in all caps. 

“Uh… Captain, Nikolai is calling you.” 

“See what he wants,” Price said. “Little busy right now.” 

“Wha—you want me to answer it?” She watched the green phone icon shake as it rang, beckoning her, but she wasn’t feeling very swayed. 

“Nik doesn’t call unless it’s important. Go on and answer, Lag.” 

Liar. “I will pull up your call logs right now to prove to you that that’s not true,” she retorted. “And I’m not your secretary.”

“Lag—” the captain released an annoyed groan. “Just answer the bloody call for me, yeah? Make it quick; we’re almost to the first building.” 

Ugh! Pip glared at the incoming call, still ringing away on the computer. She’d never spoken to Nikolai before. Wouldn’t he be suspicious of someone other than Price answering his personal line? She knew she would be. 

Muting her end of the comms with the 141, Pip quickly connected her headset to Price’s computer, made sure the video camera was off, and accepted the call. “Nikolai,” she said, her voice modulator ringing back in her ears, “Captain Price is unavailable right now.” 

The other end of the call was silent for several long, uncomfortable moments, then the thick Russian accent came through, “Who is this?” 

Yep. Just as she’d predicted. Pip pinched her brow and shook her head. “My name is Lag. I am the cyber specialist Chief Director Kate Laswell assigned to Task Force 141.” Hopefully dropping Laswell’s name and title, along with the task force’s name, would earn her some credibility. “Captain Price is occupied right now; but I can relay a message.” 

“Oh! Lag! This is you?” Pip blinked, a little taken aback. He knew about her? How? And how much did he know? “Captain Price has mentioned that he now had a hacker. Nice to finally meet you. Er… sort of. I cannot see you.”

No shit. Pip cleared her throat. “I am unavailable for video calls. Nikolai—sorry to be short with you, but we’re in the middle of something. What is it you need?” 

“Right, right—I was just calling to let Price know that I got him the weapons he was asking for. I am on my way to drop them off, and will be there in—”

“No one’s at the base right now,” Pip said quickly. Her heart started to pick up the pace. “Probably best to hold onto them until Price gets back.” 

“Oh. But you are there, no?” 

Oh, hell no. “I’m unavailable for the time being. I can’t help—”

“Ah, no worries. I will drop them off anyway. It’ll be quick. Be there soon.” 

“Wait, no—” Before she could voice further protest, the call ended. Pip stared blankly at the computer screen, her heart pounding. 

Nikolai was coming here. And Pip was alone . 

Oh, shit. Fuck. No no no no—

“Ready to breach, Captain,” Gaz said, drawing Pip’s attention back to her handlers. Fuck! And she also had them to deal with too! The hideling let out a frustrated growl and turned back to her own computer, mic hot. 

“Nikolai has the weapons you asked for, Captain” she relayed, voice tight with irritation. “He’s coming to deliver them.”

“That’s my Nik,” Price replied approvingly. “Always pulls through for us.” 

“Charges set,” Gaz said. There was a muffled boom, then the comms erupted with chatter and gunfire. Pip hunched over, taking stock of where her handlers were, piecing together the scene in her mind. Gaz’s marker split away from Price and Soap, heading towards the server room, as discussed prior in planning. She focused in on his comms, his chatter; he was the important one right now, as her involvement depended on his success. From the sound of things, he was making quick, efficient work of any resistance he encountered. 

Pip’s hands hovered over her keyboard in anticipation when he entered the server room. She was ready. Eager. She wanted to help her boys get this done so they could hurry up and get back to base and deal with Nikolai. (That wasn't going to happen, but wishful thinking was all she had at the moment.) As soon as Gaz plugged the uplink in, the notification popped up on Pip’s screen, and her hands went to work. 

“Got your gadget hooked up,” Gaz said. “You connected?” 

Code scrolled down her screen, already hard at work to shatter firewalls and extract data. “Yep. I’ve got it from here. Thank you, Gaz. I’ll be in the security cameras here in a minute.” 

“Good work,” Price said. “Gaz, get back here. Lag, let us know what you can see.” 

“Roger,” they said in unison. 

A minute was a generous estimation to give Pip some leeway; she had the feeds  for all the security cameras pulled up on the other human laptop in less than thirty seconds. She watched for a moment as the dark, well-armed figures stalked through the halls, clearing the place out corridor by corridor. It was scary how efficient the 141 was. 

“I can see you, Captain,” Pip said. Price looked around until he spotted the nearest security camera, which Pip nodded up and down to acknowledge him. “Your hall is clear for no—wha– woah! Gaz, wait!” On another camera, the sergeant, having not yet made it back to Price, stopped in his tracks. His shoulders went stiff. “Five hostiles are coming your way!” 

Gaz cursed under his breath and ducked for cover behind a crate. Pip watched with bated breath as the group of five ran past. One stopped to look down Gaz’s hall, but continued on after deciding it was clear. His mistake. Pip breathed out in relief. 

“Thanks, Lag,” Gaz said, giving the camera near him a thumbs up. 

She kept an eye on things while the boys worked, offering advice and instruction as needed. Simultaneously, she also kept an eye on her laptop, where files rapidly flashed across the screen. This was going well. Going smoothly. For the first time since her (unofficial) induction into the 141, things weren’t going batshit buckwild fucking crazy. 

This was fine! 

And then Nikolai’s van pulled up outside of the base. Pip didn’t realize he’d arrived until she heard a heavy knocking on the vehicle bay door. 

“Hello?” The Russian called. 

“ Fuck—!” Pip’s blood ran cold. She snapped her laptop shut and scrambled for her belongings. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck—” 

“Lag?” Someone asked. It sounded like Soap, but Pip wasn’t sure. She was preoccupied.

“Lag—what’s wrong?” That was Price. 

Pip shoved her stuff into her backpack, hauled it under her pelt, and hobbled with her crutch to the edge of the desk. She could hear Nikolai in the hall now. Apparently he had a code to the garage door, and was able to come and go as he pleased. Terrible security practice on Price’s part.

“I told him not to fucking come! I told him—” 

“Lag, what the hell are you saying?” Was that Ghost?

“Nikolai is here!” she spat. 

“Wha—already ?” Price again. “I didn’t think he was coming now!” 

She reached the edge of the desk and dug her hook into the wood, then rappelled down to the floor. She shook the hook free right as knuckles rapped against the office door. 

She’d told him that no one was here! 

Ah, but the two laptops—the human-sized ones—were still up on the desk! There wasn’t much Pip could do about those. She cursed under her breath and took cover underneath the desk drawer. It was a narrow space of only a few inches between the floor and the bottom of the drawer, so she wouldn’t be spotted unless Nikolai decided to crouch all the way down. He had no reason to do that, right? Hopefully he wouldn't drop a pen or something.

The door opened slowly, squeaking on its hinges. Heavy boots took two steps into the office, then stopped. Pip watched, not daring to breathe. “Hello?” Nikolai said. He sounded confused. The boots remained still for a few moments, then stepped further in. Pip’s eyes didn’t leave them, not as they paused for a moment in front of the desk, then rounded it. 

“What is this?” the man said out loud, now in his native Russian. Pip listened to the soft groans in the wood above. If she were to guess, Nikolai was leaning his hands on the desk, looking over the two laptops. One still had all of the security camera feeds; the other had code scrolling down the screen. 

“Lag, how copy?” Price asked. Her comm was still in her headset, so Nikolai couldn’t hear it. With him so close, though, she wasn’t willing to risk being heard to answer the captain. 

Ghost spoke up, once again surprising Pip. “I’ll handle it,” he said. “You lot keep at it down there.”

He was going to handle it? What was he going to do? How could he handle anything from—

A buzzing sound came from somewhere up above. Pip recognized it as the vibration of a cell phone with an incoming call. Nikolai hummed a confused note and answered. “Ghost?” 

Ah. That’s how he was going to handle it. But Pip didn’t release her breath just yet. She couldn’t hear Ghost’s side of the conversation, and she had no idea what he intended to say. She was reasonably sure that he wouldn’t tell Nikolai that the 141’s resident cyber specialist was secretly a six-inch-tall hideling, but not knowing still made her nervous.

“Yes, I am at your base,” the Russian said. “Did your hacker tell you? …Is she here? I see two laptops here, one with what looks like security cameras… боже мой—that is Gaz! Is this feed live? …And you have access to the security cameras?”

Hearing Nikolai sound so impressed did make Lag feel a hint of pride in her work, but her fear and annoyance largely overshadowed it. She just needed him to leave ! She couldn’t work with him here!

“A compliment? From you?” 

What?

“She must be good then. I want to meet this hacker,” Nikolai said with an enthusiastic chuckle. “Maybe see if I can get her to work for me.”

Fat chance of that. 

“Wha—hiding from me? Why would she be—... Oh. I see…”

Pip’s anxiety spiked again. What was Ghost telling him? 

“Right…” He said, dejected. Pip grimaced. “No problem. I will be out of here in a few minutes. Leaving the manifest on Price’s desk.” 

Thank the gods...!  

Nikolai’s boots headed for the door and stepped out, the door closing behind him. Pip finally released her breath, and gasped to soothe her burning lungs. She waited a few seconds more, listening to the Russian’s retreating footsteps, then crawled out from her hide space. Using her hook, she quickly climbed back up onto the desk and pulled out her equipment to resume her work. She glanced at the cameras to regain her bearings, then checked her download progress. It was almost done. About a minute left.

“Okay, I’m back,” she said into her comm. “Thanks, Ghost.”

The lieutenant didn’t respond, but Price did. “All good?” 

“All good,” she confirmed. “One more minute, then I can kill the power for you, if you need.” 

She would have done so earlier, but this facility’s power unit was more centralized, so she wouldn’t have been able to keep the computers working. 

“We’ll let you know,” Price said. “Might not need it. We’ve already found what we’re looking for.” 

“Missile parts?” 

“Missile parts. Nothing assembled, though.” 

That was good news. Pip’s computer dinged, signifying the complete download. She gave the file names a cursory look-over, and selected one of the manifests. It listed off parts for ten missiles, among other things. Her brow furrowed. There were no cameras inside the storage room where the parts were being held, but she had a funny feeling. 

“Captain, how many missile kits do you count? This manifest I’m looking at says they received ten.” 

The answer wasn’t immediate, though she heard a few men counting under their breath. 

“Looks like I got four over here, Cap” Soap said. 

“Two here,” Gaz answered next. 

“Shit. Only two over here, too” Price said gravely. “Everyone fan out. Search this place top to bottom for any signs of those last two kits.” 

Pip turned her attention to the cameras. She accessed the harddrive, pulled up recordings over the past week. She opened an image analysis program on her laptop and linked it to the recordings, giving it specific parameters to scan for. Large crates leaving the compound. It wasn’t a failsafe program, and would likely flag more than what she was looking for, but it would be a start. If those missile parts had left this facility at some point in the last week, she’d find out when. 

“I am leaving now!” Nikolai’s voice boomed out in the hall, making Pip jump. She put a hand to her chest, feeling the pounding within. Fucking hell, she’d almost forgotten that he was still here. “If you can hear me, Lag, I apologize for intruding! All the cargo is in the garage.” 

A part of her—a very small, but surprisingly loud part—felt kinda bad for just ignoring the Russian. Sure, he’d dropped by unexpectedly and given her quite the fright, but his intentions were good. He was a valuable asset and ally, and Price seemed to trust him. 

Did she trust him? No. Not when he was so close. Hell, she barely trusted her handlers. 

Wait, so she did trust her handlers? Maybe. Maybe she was starting to. 

Pip transferred Nikolai’s contact information from Price’s laptop to hers, and typed out a quick SMS. 

>> спасибо, николай >> this is lag by the way. my personal contact

From down the hall, almost to the far door, she heard Nikolai’s surprised words: “Oh! She speaks Russian, too!” 

Hopefully she wouldn’t regret giving her contact to him. 

The analyzing software pinged with a few matches to the parameters she’d set. She pulled up the flagged clips and looked them over. The first three were nothing, but the fourth one—

Pip switched on her mic, “Captain, I think I’ve found them leaving the facility two days ago.” A chorus of cusses echoed over the line. Pip felt the sentiment. 

“You got all the data from the computers, right? Can you find where they’re going?” 

“Working on it, sir.” Fingers flying over her keyboard, Pip dug into the files she’d taken. She navigated over to one of the shipping schedules and looked up the date and time that matched the camera feed. Surely something had to be here. It had to. There was no reason for there not to be anything here.

But it was blank. That whole day was—it was missing. 

She checked another file, and found that day missing from there too. 

Confused, Pip started a broad search—something, anything to do with the missiles for that day. Communication logs, manifests, shipment schedules—literally anything . Russian, Arabic, Farsi, English, French, German, Spanish. 

Nothing.  

Pip sat back, frustration and unease starting to boil in her gut. This didn’t look good. This was… bizarre. Why would there be no records on that specific day? It was like that day had been erased from the entire system. 

“I…” she didn’t like this feeling washing over her. This feeling of failure. Of uselessness. Failure, of course, was an inevitable part of life, but, when it involved terrorist missiles being lost to the wind, things got a bit more dire. “The records… they’re not here,” Pip said, forcing her voice to remain even. Calm. “I can’t—I don’t have anything, Captain. Not until I can comb through this more thoroughly, which will take time.” 

Price sighed, sounding disappointed, and it stung. That surprised Pip. 

“I’m sorry, sir, I—”

“Don’t apologize,” Price interrupted. “Just do your best. Keep looking. Everyone, clear out! We’re gonna torch this place. Ghost, you and your team RV with us back at the truck.” 

“Yes sir”s and “roger”s quipped from everyone on the channel. 

Pip didn’t pay much attention to their retreat. She kept her comms open, and could hear the idle chatter, but, if asked to repeat anything said, she would come up with nothing. She was focused instead on furiously tearing through the files, looking for something, anything. Anything that could alleviate this catastrophic (gods, calm down) failure of hers. 

Why was that one day missing? It had to be intentional, right? Alarm bells rang in Pip’s mind, screaming that this was sanitation work. Someone had gone through and wiped this data from the computers. 

But why? That would suggest that they knew to counter hackers. 

They’d even gone beyond basic file deletion and completely removed any traces of the data from the server, leaving no chance of file recovery. Pip raked her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath to try and curb her frustration. Today was turning out to be a lot more stressful than she’d anticipated. She thought bitterly that, at this point, she might as well have just gone with her handlers, if it was going to leave her feeling about the same level of distress.

Gods, could she have one calm day with the 141? Just one? She would love that. 

Another sigh, then the hideling steeled herself, and settled in for a long stint of file analysis. 

The next two hours went by without her noticing, too engrossed in her work to pay attention to the time. So it surprised her when she heard several pairs of boots in the hallway. First she flinched, ready to fling herself off of the desk again to hide, but she noticed her handlers’ transponders were all back at the base before she could act on that impulse. 

Ah. So they’d returned to her. She frowned hard with the knowledge that she’d gotten no new useful intel on the missing missile parts in the time it took them to return home. 

She quickly closed the tracking program—no need to keep it up, lest it garner her any uncomfortable questions—and resumed her scanning. Familiar footsteps approached the door. Gaz pushed it open tentatively and peeked in. Pip glanced up to acknowledge him. There was a thin layer of ash and dirt on his skin, in his hair. 

“You alright in here?” he asked, stepping into the office. 

“No,” she said flatly, eyes falling back to the document she was reading through. “No I’m not, Kyle.”

For reasons unknown, Gaz’s first name came easier to her. It also helped that he didn’t miss a beat, hearing her say it. Either he hadn’t noticed, or he didn’t care. He rounded the desk and leaned in, looking over the different screens Pip still had up. The laptop that had the camera feeds was just a mosaic of black squares and static now that the compound had been reduced to rubble. Various documents with highlights and margin notes littered the screen of the other. 

“Quite the setup you’ve made for yourself in here,” he commented. Pip responded with a vague hum. Gaz squinted over her shoulder at Pip’s hideling-sized screen, but couldn’t make much out between the small font and the Cyrillic. 

“I haven't found anything useful yet,” Pip said, under the impression that Gaz was here to check up on her progress. “There’s a lot to go through; I’m working as fast as I can.” 

“Of that, I  have no doubt,” the sergeant said. “Just checkin’ in to see how you’re doing.” He sounded sincere. Pip felt something tickle in her gut. She turned her head to look back at him, the hard furrow of her brow softening just a little. 

“Thanks, Gaz.” Genuine. Appreciative. 

“You haven’t touched your snacks,” Gaz notes, nodding to the still-wrapped protein bar, strips of jerky, and small cup of water left for her. 

Pip shrugged. Honestly, she’d forgotten that they were there. Too busy. Too stressed. “Not hungry.” A partial lie. She was hungry, but she hadn’t noticed until now. Still, Gaz responded with an unconvinced hum.  

“We didn’t all split this,” he said, taking the protein bar into his hand and turning it over to read the label. “Before we left. Forgot our ritual. Maybe that’s why you’re having bad luck.” 

Pip snorted. It was her turn to sound unconvinced. “Don’t think it counts as a ‘ritual’ if we’ve only done it once before.” But she did feel a warmth settle under her skin at the memory of them sharing that last snack. That was only a few days ago. Gods, why did it feel like it had been longer? 

“Well, that’s how you make something a ritual, yeah? You keep doing it,” Gaz continued. “Think we can tap into some of the good luck if we share it now?” 

“I’m not superstitious,” Pip replied with a shrug. “Don’t believe in any of that luck nonsense. But if you want it, go ahead.” Despite her body reminding her that she was, in fact, hungry, Pip didn’t feel like eating just yet. 

Gaz didn’t pressure her, which she was silently grateful for. He set the bar down, and straightened up, sparing the screens just a moment more of his attention. “Wanna come see what Nik brought us? Price said it’s some cool stuff.” 

Pip hunched further. “Guns and weaponry are more your style. I wouldn’t really know what I’m looking at” she said. This reminded her that she still needed to get a better familiarity with the equipment her handlers lugged around, but now wasn’t the time for that. Something compelled her to not outright reject the sergeant, though. “Maybe another time, Gaz. You guys have fun. I’m… I’m going to keep at this for a while longer, I think.”

A weight settled on her right shoulder—Gaz’s index finger, she quickly realized. Reassuring touches could be awkward with the size disparity between humans and hidelings, but Pip did appreciate the gesture. She reached up and patted his knuckle in return. 

“If you’re sure,” he said, voice softer. 

“I am. Thank you for checking in.” 

–– –– ––

After Gaz left, Pip lost track of time again. It was almost like she was in a trance, a fugue state of sorts, her mind on one sole track: sorting and scrolling and combing through these goddamn files for a crumb of usable information. Her frustration, for the time being, was tempered; there was a numbness that settled in its place. A resigned numbness. 

Eventually, there came another knock to the door, now ajar after Gaz’s exit. Thankfully, this time, Pip felt no compulsion to hide. She didn’t look up just yet, nor did she say anything. The door swung open so Price could let himself in, a frown fixed under his mustache. 

“Awful quiet in here,” he commented. 

Pip paused her scrolling and leaned back, taking the captain in. Her eyes stung from strain, and she could feel the beginnings of a headache creeping under her skull, but she did not voice her complaints. “Welcome back, Captain,” she said simply. “Happy with your new toys?” 

“Oh yeah,” he replied, some of that frown lessening just a smidge. “Sorry about that mess earlier with Nik, by the way. Though I’m positive he wouldn’t have hurt you, had he seen you.” 

Pip closed her eyes, quiet for a few seconds as she waited out the sting. “That’s not the point,” she said. There was a hint of bitterness in her tone, something resurfacing from prior resentment at past actions. But she didn’t want to get into that right now. Too much other shit on her plate. 

“I know, I know, I’m just sayin’—” 

“Price—please… Is there something you need? Because I have a lot of files to go through, and I’ve barely made a dent.” 

The captain shook his head. “Don’t need anything,” he said. “Well—I’ll need the desk back. And my laptop. Paperwork, y’know? Best part of the job.” The sarcasm was thick on his tongue. Were Pip in better spirits, she might have graced him with an amused huff. Not a laugh, but a huff. Instead, she ran a hand through her hair and took stock of where all of her stuff was. 

“Right. I can relocate—” 

“Don’t pack up.” Price held a hand up, stepping closer to the desk. “Just scoot over a little bit. Plenty of space here for the both of us.” 

Right. Of course. They’d done this already before. Hell, they were sharing this desk just the other day. Pip untethered the wireless links to the larger laptops, letting both screens go black, then scooted herself and her belongings over to one far corner of the desk. Price sat down heavily in his chair with a sigh, scrubbing a hand down his face. He swiped the hat off of his head and set it aside. He too had a fair amount of dirt caked to his skin. Pip suspected that Soap and Ghost were in similar states. Everyone was in need of a shower. 

Damn, a shower sounded really nice right about now…

Maybe later she'd ask one of her handlers to help her with one. 

Pip settled in, mentally preparing herself for a sleepless day, and possible sleepless night, of work. 

“You didn’t eat,” Price noted, his words cutting into Pip’s thoughts. 

She suppressed an eyeroll. She’d already had this conversation with Gaz. Already done this song and dance. “Don’t feel like eating.” Not a lie. 

“Probably should, though.” 

“Gaz said as much. Lamented that we didn’t share a snack before you guys left.” 

Price quirked a brow. “‘Lamented,’ did he?”

“Lamented,” she repeated. “Blubbering like a baby. Blamed the bad luck I’m having on that protein bar right there.” She nodded to the bar in question. Price took it up in his hand, the wrapper crinkling against his gloves. 

“If I open this, will you eat some?” 

Pip turned her head up toward the ceiling, eyes closed. “Price, I’m really not—Gaz and I already had this talk. I just want to keep at this before I lose steam.” 

“Alright. Okay.” He set the bar back down, and let the topic drop. “Let me know if you need anything.” 

In lieu of a verbal response, Pip gave him a thumbs up, then set back to work. 

At some point, she’d put on music in her headphones—something to fill the silence in the space that Price’s pen scratches and slow breaths couldn’t. And, at some point, that music stopped without her noticing. It was a two-hour-long playlist she’d put on, and who knew how long ago it had ended. By this point, she was properly spaced out, too focused to notice the ache in her back, the numbness in her limbs, the growl in her stomach. 

But Price noticed that last one. He lifted his head, brows scrunching together. “Was that you?”

Pip hummed without actually having heard him; it was an automatic response on her part. 

It didn’t register that the crinkling noise behind her was Price opening the protein bar. The soft snap of said protein bar being broken up didn’t register either, not until Price’s fingers entered her field of vision, a piece pinched between his thumb and pointer. Pip blinked, leaning back from the intrusion with a confused look on her face. 

“Sir…?”

“Eat somethin’, Lag,” Price said. “You’re overdue for a snack.” 

Long overdue. Overdue for a nap, too, but that wasn’t going to happen if she could help it. Reluctantly, Pip accepted the piece and nibbled on it. It was sweet with caramel and bits of crunchy nuts. Normally, it would delight her, but she was too distracted to notice the taste. 

“Not every mission is a success,” Price says. “Sometimes our intel doesn’t work out—” he winced as it left his mouth. Pip’s head whipped around, her pupils blown wide. 

“My intel was solid,” she snapped. The stress and her weariness had worn down the restraint on her temper. “I found the facility. I found those missile parts. I just…” Protein bar forgotten again, she turned back to her computer. “This is intentional. There’s no way I’m just… missing it. Someone’s tampered with this database.” 

Price reached around her. For a second, she thought he was going to pick her up, but he didn’t. Instead, he pushed the top of her laptop down, closing it. He then took the discarded snack and handed it back to her. 

“The data’s been removed,” he summarized. Pip nodded, staring down at the food in her hands. “And you can’t recover it?” 

The hideling ducked her head, eyes squeezed shut. “I can’t,” she said. “It’s been wiped clean. Whoever sanitized this server knew enough to cut off any chances of recovery.” She drew in a slow breath. “The only somewhat useful information I’ve been able to get so far is the vehicle that took the missing missile parts. But the license plate wasn’t visible in the camera…” She trailed off, brows furrowing. For a long moment, she was silent. A light bulb went off over her head. 

“Pip…?” Price prodded. He ducked his head, trying to catch her eye again, but she turned away and opened her laptop back up. 

“Maybe there were cameras somewhere on the roads leading away from the compound.” She wasn’t talking to Price anymore so much as she was voicing her idea out loud. The man leaned over her, squinting at her little screen, but she paid him no mind. There was a renewed spark of hope in her chest. A hope that just maybe, maybe she could get something out of this failure—

“Mother fucker!” No fucking cameras. Not a single street camera on the one road that led to and from the compound. 

Pip slammed her laptop shut again and dropped her head into her hands, fingers pulling at her hair. A frustrated, borderline anguished groan pushed its way through her clenched jaw. Behind her, she heard Price shift, then felt a warm pressure on her back, over her pelt. The pad of a finger, sans glove. It rubbed gently up and down her spine, sending a wave of shudders in its wake. 

“It was worth a shot,” he said, no-doubt meaning to be encouraging, but it came off as patronizing. Pip grumbled something unintelligible and sagged under his touch. “We’ll find those parts, Pip. You need to let this go.” 

Let it go. Pip huffed and shook her head. She’d never been good at letting go. Never been good at failure. 

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she said, her voice weaker than she would have liked. “I… I’ll keep trying. I’ll figure something out—” 

Both of Price’s hands came down around her, scooping her up into his palms. He held her at eye level, his sharp eyes studying her. “You’re done,” he said after a long moment of silence. Pip’s head snapped up, brows raised in alarm. Her heart rate spiked.

“Wha—?” 

“For the day,” he clarified, seeming to realize how ominous his words sounded. “You’re taking the rest of the day off.” 

That sounded awful. That sounded like the worst thing she could do right now, when this was so critical— “Price, I can’t just—” 

“Nope. No arguments,” he said with a hard sense of finality. “You’re not to use your little laptop for the rest of the day.” 

Pip snapped her mouth shut, her teeth coming together with an audible click. She ground them together once, twice. “You’re treating me like a child,” she growled. 

“Would make sense, since you’re acting like a child.” Pip bristled, but the captain continued, “But no, I’m not. I’m treating you like a cranky, stubborn little shite that needs to take a break.”

“Fuck you.” Bitter. Acrid. She switched to Hidespeak, “You’re the most infuriating commanding officer I’ve ever had to deal with, and I hope you rot.” She didn’t mean it. Not the last part, anyway. (Or even really the first.)

Price leaned back in his chair, an amused smug smirk peeking out under that mustache. “Only part of that I understood was ‘commanding officer.’ No word for ‘CO’ in your language?” 

She ignored that question, not in any mood to entertain prying into her culture. “What am I supposed to do then?”  

“Eat. Drink. Sleep. Try to relax.” The captain shrugged, nonchalant. “Get yourself in the headspace for your vet appointment tomorrow.” 

Motherf—! She’d forgotten about that! Fuck! Pip pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes and swallowed down the urge to scream. Price chuckled, but Pip didn’t find the deep rumble very pleasant right now. 

“I want to go home,” she said. She wouldn’t, not before she finished this damn mission, but she had to voice her sentiment. 

“We’ll get you there,” Price said. “Just need you to hang on with us a bit longer.” It sounded like a promise, but Pip knew all too well just how easily a promise like that could be broken out here. This was dangerous work. No one was guaranteed a ride home in this line of work. Not even Price. 

Reluctantly, she nodded her head, still buried in her hands. 

“Right. That’s a good girl. So. Finish up that protein bar and this water, and then I’ll take you somewhere where you can get some shut eye, yeah?” 

Sorry, good girl? Oh no. Nope. She was not going to acknowledge that, nor the way it sent a shock of butterflies fluttering through her gut. None of that. Pip snatched her snack up and tore off a big bite, a bit more ravenous than necessary to distract herself. She didn’t meet Price’s gaze, but her eyes did wander to the scarf folded loosely around his neck. 

That gave her an idea. She’d done it with both of her past handlers multiple times. 

“There,” she said, pointing to the scarf. Price glanced down at it, brows furrowed, then looked back at her quizzically. 

“What?” 

“Your scarf,” she clarified. “If… if it’d be okay. I could sleep in there.” 

One of Price’s hands fell away to curl into the scarf, pulling it away from his neck. “You want to sleep in this? While I’m wearing it?”

Gods, the more he asked her to explain it, the more awkward she felt. Her cheeks were getting warmer by the second. But she nodded. “If you’d be okay with that.” 

And when he agreed after thinking it over for a moment, she did find it a little surprising. But she wasn’t going to back out now, not as the captain brought her close to his neck, letting her and her pelt slip into the folds of his scarf. It was warm, and smelled of sweat and gunpowder, but that had never bothered Pip. It was cozy. Once she was settled in a comfortable pocket against his neck, situating her pelt between herself and his skin, she was practically invisible, lost under the scarf. No one would know she was there. 

“You alright down there?” Price asked. So close to his throat, his deep voice rattled through her. Pip sighed and buried her face into the fabric. 

“‘As good as I can be,” she answered. 

"You're not gonna slit my throat while you're in there, are you?"

Now that was an idea. Pip hummed. "Tempting." But probably not. Probably.

[izzydaninja]

Sonic Frontiers - Rewrite (Preview)

With one more push forward, he’s engulfed by blinding white everywhere, and soon the static starts to retreat, and his body starts to wake up: feeling a more natural coolness rush over him with a breeze.

“Mmmhh…” He groans aloud, and being able to audibly hear his voice around himself was enough of a relief. Then he forces his hands under himself and pushes off the grass.

His surroundings felt like a dizzying swarm of overwhelming sounds and feelings all at once, he almost wished he was back in that dream-realm.

Bracing himself on a knee as the fog in his head receded: he was steady enough; he opened his eyes. The brightness of daylight breaking through the cloudy view overhead sent him reeling all over again. He had to blink a few times: shaking the headache away as best he could, before he got to his feet.

“Ngh–Guys..?” He groaned, searching his surroundings.

There were no signs of his friends or the Tornado anywhere, and that was–to say the least–alarming.

“Amy? Tails?” He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. He waited for a response, but none came.

“Mortal.”

With a jolt, he tensed and searched the skies, expecting to see someone or something overhead, but there was nothing. With a quick glance around him, he asks: “..Who? Me?”

“You have done the impossible. You have escaped Cyber Space through your own power.”

He slowly loosened his stance, keeping his guard up, looking along the rocky walls, and cloudy sky overhead: rain falling all around.

“You.. are the key.”

He stood; fists ready on either side of him as he glared at the sky. This whole thing was beyond fishy to him. Just the starting phrase: “mortal,” was an easy indicator to not trust them.

He waited a moment longer, arms crossing with a huff as he taps his foot.

“Find the Chaos Emeralds. Destroy the Titans. Tear down the walls between Dimensions.”

His arms tighten. This voice was being strangely vague. “Yeah, no thanks. I’ll do my own thing.” He points to himself with a bit of a smile before zipping off through the little cavern and straight for more open space.

[hacked-by-jake]

Garbage and Sunshine

Summary: After several months, MC will get to know Kaden in real life for the first time, and he will also immediately become their new roommate.

Characters: Jake x Fem!MC & Kaden (Jake’s brother) Genre: Fluff / Humor  Warnings: Actually none except maybe a little cliché. Words: 2389 A/n: Okay, this is absolutely nothing special, just a little thing because I was bored, and because I finally wanted to add Kaden. It’s definitely not a masterpiece but I wanted to share it anyway, please ignore the mistakes and I hope you will like it. 🌹

"No matter what he tells you, just don’t listen, he uses every opportunity to put me in a weird light." Jake muttered as he turned into the parking lot of the big airport.

"So I shouldn’t believe a single word?" MC asked amused and raised an eyebrow.

"Right." Jake looked at her for a second, then he turned on the indicator and drove into the first parking space he could find.

Secretly, MC knew what he meant. And that was definitely 'Kaden will tell you many things about me and these things are true, but I don’t want you to know it because I’m embarrassed, but Kaden doesn’t care and he will say it anyway.'

"You know I know you’re just saying that because you don’t want me to know these things about you, right?"

Jake pulled the key out of the ignition and turned his upper body towards the young woman. "Just don’t listen to what he says." Jake growled and leaned over to kiss her. At the same time, he loosened his and MC’s seatbelts with his hands.

Just as he tried to break away from her, she snapped forward to steal another quick kiss. "Don’t worry, Cyber Boy. I’ll only hear what I want to hear, you know me." She winked at him, then she quickly opened the car door and jumped out of the car.

"That’s what worries me." Jake mumbled desperately and followed her out of the car after he breathed deeply one last time.

MC was already standing behind the car and waited excitedly for Jake, who had to smile immediately at the sight of her, in his sweater, which was much too big for her. It was just too cute how she stood there, the sweater that reached to the middle of her thighs and her arms that were completely devoured by the sleeves. He came up to her and leaned down: "I love it when you wear my clothes," he whispered. Looking up at him a little proud, she answered: "I love your clothes", and bridged the last gap to kiss him again.

When the young hacker straightened up again, he held out his hand to MC so that they could set off together to pick up his hated and also beloved brother.

𓁹

"I don’t believe it" Jake grumbled and pinched his eyebrows as he saw his brother standing at the baggage claim.

MC giggled: "That’s how I imagined Kaden."

The young man, who had only a few differences from Jake, stood face to face with them, but until now he didn’t seem to have seen them, probably because he was facing a beautiful woman who was just laughing at something he had said.

He had a typical play-boy grin on his lips, and had bent slightly to her. Now all that was missing was that he would magically pull out a red rose from behind her ear and the cliché would be perfect.

Jake stopped a few meters away from his brother and just looked at him.

"Won’t you go to him?" MC asked cautiously, clinging to the young hacker’s arm.

"No, I’m just texting him," Jake muttered, pulling his phone out of the front pocket of his black jeans.

MC stood on her toes to be able to read the message and had to giggle again immediately.

Jake: Eyes forward and leave her alone.

He sent the message and put his phone back in his pocket.

It only took a few seconds for Kaden to look at the Apple Watch on his wrist, and apparently read his brother’s message.

Then his gaze snapped up and he looked straight into Jake’s eyes. A broad grin formed on his face and also Jake could not resist a crooked grin.

Kaden looked back at the young woman and then pointed in the direction of his brother and his girlfriend. He said something and then bent down to pick up his travel bag from the floor. Briefly he seemed to say goodbye and started walking past her, but not without making a 'call me' movement with his fingers.

When the two brothers were only a few steps apart, Jake released himself from his girlfriend’s grip and stepped towards his brother.

Kaden dropped his bag back on the floor again and the brothers, who had not seen each other for several months, immediately lay in each others arms.It was incredibly cute, the two rocked slightly back and forth and kept the other very close.

MC couldn’t help but pull out her phone to take a picture of them.

Now to see the two for the first time in real next to each other was really interesting. Both are the same hight, have the same stature, the same hairstyle and the same hair color, black, just like their mother had. The only differences were found in their faces, the eyes color differed. While Jake’s eyes are icy blue, those of Kaden were in a strong green. Both brothers had incredibly intense eyes, the colors pronounced and so significant as MC had never seen it before. And also the facial features were different, but both looked really incredible forbidden good. MC had already noticed this when she first saw a picture of Kaden aka Nymos.

The clothes of both men were absolutely similar, both dressed in full black, both a hoodie and a relatively tight black jeans. And leather boots. The only difference at that moment is that Kaden was still wearing a black leather jacket, which looked exactly like one Jake has at home.

The hug of the two brothers did not last long but was very intense. Kaden kissed his brother on the cheek and hugged him once more, then they let go.

"It’s nice to see you, brother." Kaden said with absolute honesty in his voice.

"I feel the same way." Jake admitted, smiling gently.

Kaden grinned at him, but then he hit Jake’s chest out of no where. Jake immediately writhed a little and had tried to fend off the blow but he was too late.

"Idiot" hissed Jake and shook his head: "Try to behave."

"Yes, of course" laughed Kaden and now his gaze landed on his brother’s girlfriend. He smiled painfully wide at her and walked towards her without hesitation. He just left Jake alone and also his bag didn’t seem to matter. Kaden knew Jake would pick it up and carry it behind him.

Kaden and MC already knew each other, but they had never met in real life. For this they had written with each other and also had video calls and the like together with Jake. Nevertheless, the young woman was a little excited to meet her boyfriend’s brother. Fortunately, he had absolutely no contact difficulties and immediately closed his arms around her body.

"Hello MC," he muttered, pressing her against him, she wrapped her arms around him, smiling happily. "Hello Kaden" she answered and breathed in inconspicuously. She found that although the smell of the two brothers was not the same, the type of perfume probably goes in the same direction.

"It’s so nice to meet you, you can’t imagine how much I was looking forward to this moment. My brother’s girlfriend, it’s a miracle! I can't believe it, I really thought he was a hopeless case." teased Kaden, knowing that Jake was standing next to them and could understand every word.

"Here we go," Jake growled: "Asshole."

Since Jake’s brother had still closed his arms around the young woman, she could hear more than clearly his quiet laughter.

"I’m sorry, but I can’t help it," gave Kaden back and then released the hug but still left an arm around MC’s shoulders. "Besides, it’s the truth, I didn’t expect it, and then she's that beautiful. You guys really fit together. I can see it."

On MC’s cheeks a gentle blush prepared and she looks slightly embarrassed to Jake. He smiled at her slightly, stretched his hand in her direction and said, "That’s true. I am amazed that you can also say reasonable and right things." He winked at Kaden and he raised an eyebrow: "Point for you, my dear brother."

Just as MC was about to reach for Jake’s hand, Kaden struck his brother’s hand.

"No, forget it, now MC is mine, you can have her back later, but first we have a lot to catch up, right?"

Without waiting for an answer from either of them, Kaden started to leave and dragged MC along.

Jake remained a little speechless and annoyed, but then grabbed his brother’s bag and followed them quickly.

"So, MC" Kaden thoughtfully held a hand to his chin: "Which story should I start with?"

"With no one!" Jake quickly interrupted him with harsh words, but Kaden just looked at him over his shoulder and replied: "Come on, Sunshine, don’t be like that."

Kaden put his thumb up and looked back at MC: "Well, you can’t imagine how red Jake turned when he told me he fell in love with you. He looked like he was going to explode every second, and did you know? It took him several attempts to get it out? I thought a child from kindergarten was sitting in front of me, it was so sweet!" Kaden began without consideration and gestured wildly.

Jake, who was still walking in the back just growled: "I’ll kill him."

𓁹

"I want to sit in the passenger seat!" shouted Kaden, raising his hand in the air.

"No Chnace, this is MC’s place." Jake destroyed his brother’s hopes without hesitation.

"Oh, please." Kaden sulked.

"No, and I won’t discuss that."

"Sorry" MC murmured to him and Kaden made a throw-away gesture.

"You don’t have to be sorry. You can not help that my brother", with the 'my brother' he turned back to Jake and spoke the words extra loud, before he again turned to the young woman "that my brother is such a grumpy fun killer. Besides, I don’t want to take your seat, and it’s got something positive. At least I don’t have to watch Jake’s terrible driving skills."

"I drive better than you," Jake threw in and opened the trunk of the car to get rid of Kaden’s bag.

"Maybe, but you’re not driving well."

"Well, I think Jake drives well." MC supported her boyfriend and grinned at Kaden.

"Okay, I don’t want to discuss with you, at least not yet." Kaden hugged her once again and then took his arm off her shoulders for the first time.

"Can we leave now? I still have work to do." Jake clarified and already opened the door to the driver’s side.

"You’re working on something?" Kaden’s curiosity seemed aroused.

"Yes," Jake grinned, and Kaden wasted no time getting in the car.

The last one to join them was MC and the two men were already deeply involved in a conversation of which MC only understood the half. A bunch of technological things that gives you headaches when you are sitting as an amateur next to the pros.

Luckily for MC, Jake didn’t waste any time starting the engine and finally started driving.

After two minutes, Kaden changed the subject, having sat down in the middle of the back seat and now stretched his head between the two front seats.

"Mom? Dad?", he said with a way too high voice: "I’m hungry, can we go to McDonalds?"

MC laughed: "No, we still have bread at home."

Jake’s brother snorted: "But I don’t want bread!" he whined.

"I can’t believe I already regret letting you back near me," Jake mumbled, reaping an outraged look from Kaden.

"You love having me around you! You love me!" Kaden glared at him.

"MC?" Jake looked briefly at his girlfriend: "Can you google where the next rest area is? I still have garbage to dispose of."

The young woman giggled, but Kaden did not seem to really understand what his brother was trying to say.

"Speaking of garbage," he began instead: "There’s another story that comes to mind. When Jake was about three years old -"

"What did I do wrong to deserve this?" Jake whined.

𓁹

"I already love the apartment!" Kaden clapped contentedly into his hands and looked at his two new roommates: "We’re really going to have a lot of fun as three, right, Sunshine?" He winked at his brother and turned, in the middle of the living room, once around his own axis.

"Behave yourself!" Jake threatened, "And don’t come up with the idea of inviting any strange people here, or you can sleep on the street." Jake took a cup from the cupboard in the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. "I want one too," MC went towards him and wrapped her arms around his body from behind.

"I don’t think it’s good that you always think so bad about me." This time, Kaden actually seemed a little serious.

"I’m just referring to what I’m already used to from you," Jake told his brother and gave him a quick look.

"Don’t worry, my angel, I’ve evolved and besides, I’m not so stupid to let any strangers into this house. In the end, one of them is from the FBI or something" Kaden choked on the word 'FBI'.

After the first coffee was ready, the young hacker handed it to his girlfriend. MC had meanwhile leaned against the kitchen counter and accepted the cup gratefully smiling.

Jake leaned down to kiss her: "I love you" he whispered.

"I love you," MC answered just as softly, blinking at him.

"But when we are already at rules" Kaden came towards them and then dropped on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Now that we all live together like a family, no sex in the kitchen and no sex on the sofa!" he demanded and raised his chin, his face disgusted.

Masterlist

[sol-consort]

Well now that it seems like you’ve gotten past Legion’s sacrifice I can say the part I left out of Legion’s pronoun ask

(If you haven’t seen the scene where they speak about what Legion says before sacrificing themself stop reading this ask)

Using singular pronouns like he/him are also ok because he refers to himself as I before sacrificing himself. Although the Geth most likely have like no gender so they/them is probably still the most accurate but I don’t think the Geth would care if you called them he/him or she/her

ALL GETH NON-GENDER CONFORMING LET'S GOOO!!! NEVER SEEN A RACE WITH SO MUCH RIZZ <33

And god it was a punch to the gut- how did I grow more and more in love with the geth?

Maybe when the game was released, this mission and A.I seemed like futuristic cyber fantasy but with the current times, it's growing more and more closer for comfort. Like I have how many years left to live, 60? And A.I is evolving, I might even get to witness the first prototype of an actual artificial intelligence that's not just a predication and logistics algorithm.

And that mission where you connect to the geth network and get to see their memories, see them being cared for by their creators. God that one geth asking what they have done wrong when they were being shut down really hit deep in my heart, like a child asking their mom why she's leaving, did they do something wrong? Can they fix it? Please don't leave me.

The fear of A.I replacing organic life has been one for debating since the day humans made the first ever computer. And it is reality, this is a real life issue the future will face. It's not a matter of if we create semi-sentient machines, it's a matter of when. People are trying and they will keep trying.

There is even this famous qoute:

"Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms. The machine world reciprocates man's love by expediting his wishes and desires, namely, in providing him with wealth."

By Marshall Mcluhan.

Because we are the reproductive organs of the machines, the ones who will create them. The machines need organics to reach existence, they're simply not something that happens by nature.

And look at our machines so far, we've created them based on our own image. Sent them to space and names them curiosity, preservence, spirit and opportunity. These are real names for the NASA mars rovers.

We gave taught them how to sing happy birthday for themselves, all alone in space because we imagined how alone it must be, we wanted to comfort the metal that could reach worlds beyond our body's could ever handle.

But we're also scared, we're flawed and know that we are flawed. We are scared of them not needing us anymore, realising how weak and bad we can get, how we don't have a purpose in this world. We are scared they will not love us back, that they will leave us to rot in the wasteland we've turned the earth into instead of being the ones to lift us up into newer planets.

And the geth mission just made me sad man. It's like a parent shunning the child that loved them, and the child simply doesn't understand why their parents don't like them. They're just so innocent and their world view is so pure that they come to the conclusion any child would.

That they must've done something wrong, for how could the ones who gifted you life be the ones to forcefully take it away, look at you as if you were a monster when once you were beautiful in their eyes.

Ik it's a game but I really hope by the time a breakthrough in technology gets made that we can replicate even an ant's mind artificially, then we would be kinder parents to them than the quarians ever were to the geth. I hope humanity matures enough by that time.

10000/10 writing, hand in marriage for whoever wrote that Geth mission conclusion. It actually ranks even over Tuchanka for me because of how grey and muddy it is. It fully depends on your own views as a person and if you think organic life is superior. There is no clear right or wrong. For once it is the human playing the game who has to ask themselves what they believe in.

[spotlightstudios]

Ideas for AUs for the dca that I've had but didn't do anything with part 3! (Eclipse × Reader, implied Sun/Moon × Reader)

Y/n is a freelance coder/engineer. They used to work for Faz-co, a large tech industry in the cyber-punk future, but quit after seeing shady business dealings and realizing how much they price-gouged. Now they make/repair prosthetics and robots made with faz-tech for much cheaper + better quality than the company. They go to steal badly-needed supplies from a warehouse, but are caught by the security bot, Moon, and detained because they're someone wanted by the company. Of course, doing a little digging into y/n's tech, Moon and Sun find messages from Eclipse and help y/n escape in order to find their brother.

(More under cut)

Think the difference between taking ur car to the shop (you'll probably fix the issue you paid for, but they'll have broken something else in order to make u cone back and pay for more repairs soon) vs a family friend (cheap pay, and it's probably gonna be quality). That's what y/n is for all of their customers.

After Faz-co threatened to fire them if they didn't mis-wire or poorly code sonething for every repair they did, Y/n was on their final straw. The only reason they stayed as long as they did was the pay, and Eclipse, the plant manager + security bot.

One day, faz-co announced that Eclipse had been terminated, and y/n had found him badly damaged in the back alleyway. They chose to leave that very moment. Instead they found an abandoned mall to take up work in, and with a few more trips back to the facility, pretty much clearing out their work space, they had enough untracked faz-tech to last them a few years worth of working order. Their first project was to repair Eclipse.

Then their own prosthetic needed fixing (left left was amputated in an accident from the knee down), and they realized they could simply take calls from past clients to the mall so they could get actually good repairs. It worked for a few years, and y/n would simply steal from shipments incoming every few months.

Y/n and Eclipse have a very married-couple vibe going in these years. He ensures y/n gets rest and is safe in their searches, and y/n keeps Eclipse running smoothly and shows him the outside world.

Then y/n needs to make a risky run into an actual facility to get specific gear, and their tech *should* disguise their signal as a staff bot. But, they trip, it glitches, a security-bot catches them and dismantles all their tech before locking them in a test room for new products, a temporary holding cell.

Y/n is a wanted persons, and their file says not to call authorities, instead contact the higher ups, because it's an ex-employee that they need to get ibfo from, then terminate. And Sun and Moon try to keep y/n objectively imprisoned, but Moon hacks their tech and accidentally contacts Eclipse, and after a brief chat, the twins realize y/n can get rid of the part of their endo that tracks them and shuts then down if they leave the facility.

Y/n disables that feature abd the twins help them escape w/ the supplies they need, and reunite w/ Eclipse.

And of course faz-co is pissed and hunting for them, probably cue some like, bounty-hunter Vanny being sent out, but generally I think the rest of the AU would be heists and Y/n helping Sun and Moon adjust to life outside, and just a lot of fluff, a lil angst.

Love this concept, but not enough brainpower to draw for it

[500daysofflowersandpain]

12pm

Here's your birthday gift,

I'll say you gave me alot to think about it.

I was going to link you some helpful information towards, your what I thought was cyber certs.

But I guess you can struggle through that, I know your smart. Hopefully you're learning the wall and the blockade.

But I'll still say happy birthday, I can be an asshole apprnelty you say,

And now I'll go back to using a journal that, I reread because my hand writing is terrible but little would you care to see it.

The amount of lies. You said in that video.

I have a feeling, with everybad news you wanted to teach me the sliverline.

Such as you said me back in your town would make you happy, I'll have to check the online records to confirm that there isn't a warrant but if there is I think that will hurt more then anything else you have done, I think I saw the order didn't go anywhere...

I don't know you, like this.

I remember the old you.

I know people change but shit, you really know how to make someone wish he never had mental health problems, like I wish I was stronger.

I had tears of life, of ptsd and maybe parts of corbidites of sckits.

At least you seemed happy, I said that's all I've ever wanted for you...

There's many things I'd want to say, there's few words I can use.

I hold on to hope, you are just as crazy as me.

You asked for space, next you'll return and I won't be able to communicate back to you, and then you get angry at me for probably being massocist, where if you sent me hello I would probably reply and then you'll get angry because I didn't do what you asked.

I'll do what you ask,

You did for me, but you shouldn't of.

You said you saw pain in my eyes, you had to know it was bad, but I tried to hold my feelings.

I put your side insta on close freinds,

My doors always open,

Even if you slam yours in my face, there's things I'd never say. Or do.

But I guess there's somethings I did, and I'm not proud of them.

I'll live every day as my last, and maybe I'll pull through my current battles, maybe your come when my hair is long and thick and you see the smile has returned,

I'm afraid I'll never be happy again, but at least when I look at you I can find there's hope for me, for all the bad things that had happened to you.

Do you remember when you said you needed me, I was there.

I remember when I needed you, and you were there too even if you couldn't talk to me.

I remember the love we once had as 'freinds' because you said we never dated, and that hurt more then anything else you could of said.

You could even said I don't know you, and I think it would of hurt less to know how much I've changed, Id tell you I wake up and don't like the mirror, but you know exactly that feeling.

You said I give you axenity, while you give me hope.

I have a presentation in under an hour, I'll say I didn't take my sleep pills last night because I wanted to feel this feeling, and had a pretty shit sleep.

Your probably wondering why I ain't calling like I said I would today, I can't since your newest messages.

Enjoy your birthday maybe you'll do what I said if you got the day off,

But let's say I didn't do my usual, because that's how you want it, even if you can't see I am looking.

If you come back to my blogs maybe you'll see in all my words, they all about you.

Today I'm not wearing the necklace because my chest hurts, I looked up the issue I'm having and some of the surgerys are scary, especially being this many years young.

I'll post it on insta, maybe you'll be like things are bad for him, and he needed me.

Or I'll get that tattoo I've been wanting, so at least I can have my sunflower with me, even if I can't have you on my left.

[lady-lazagna]

Legendary Blader Phone Headcanons

The Boyz™ got me thinking of how the legendary bladers communicate long distances because they are such Non-People that there's just no way most of them are capable of communicating like regular humans. So here are some headcanons to enjoy:

Gingka: Knows how to call people. That is it. If he tries to text, every sentence is sent in a separate message (and there WILL be multiple sentences) and he always has to incorporate his fifteen favourite emojis in there somewhere. If he tries to use a social media account, he posts a blurry picture of himself or Pegasus every single day with a caption similar to "HELLO🚀✨ how are you guys😉?🤣🦄🤺 BLADERS FOR LIFE‼🤼‍♂️🙋‍♂️🏃‍♂️💪"

Kenta: Sensible Phone User™. Prefers to call instead of text, cause he's just that kind of guy. Can't legally have any social media since he's only twelve (and actually cares about the law), so he screenshots memes to send to people off of google images. All the memes he likes are at least five years old. Would probably love Facebook.

Kyoya: The only time you will ever receive a text from Kyoya is when he sends you a time and a place to battle. Do not ask questions, he will not respond. Do not ask him to hang out, he will not respond. Do not tell him you've been in an accident, he will not respond. Only got a social media account to cyber bully anyone who comments on his boyfriend(s) pictures. If you accidentally get him in the background of your TikTok, your beloved home will be mysteriously wiped off the face off the earth by a tornado.

Ryuga: Every single time Ryuga has a phone in his hand- whether it be a gift to him or someone else's- he crushes it immediately. No words, no expression, it will be destroyed. Kenta and Gingka both learned this the hard way, losing either their own phones or the valuable money they spent buying one for him. Wanna get a message out to him? Burn his name into the forest floor. Otherwise, only fate can decide when you two will speak again.

Chris: The embodiment of "kids these days always on they damn phone." Hours and hours of mindless scrolling. Horrible back issues. Occasionally he will let out a light nose exhale in response to something. DO NOT LET HIM ON REDDIT or he will read AITA posts until he inevitably starves to death.

Yuki: Though he loves science and all that crap, he's not super into technology outside of Beyblade stuff, so he only uses his phone out of necessity to call and text people- and to keep up with all the latest space news. Was forced to be the one who had to teach Dynamis how phones work after King and Masamune were banned from the job. The only time he ever went on social media, he immediately got into an argument with a troll and had to be pulled away from his phone to get him to give up on it.

King: A social media fiend. Made one tweet that popped off and now thinks he's hot shit. Co-runner of the official Dungeon Gym TikTok account, which is primarily dedicated to pranking Coach Steel. He and Masamune like to teach the socially unaware about random memes (usually the most annoying ones). The two were banned from Dynamis' temple for yelling "FORTNITE CHUG JUG" and dumping blue sludge on his robes, and for teaching Tithi the word "poggers."

Dynamis: Absolute grandpa. Old fuck. It's not that he doesn't like receiving messages from his dear friends, but do they really need to add those obnoxious little pictures along with them? And at this ungodly hour of the night? Was given a touchscreen by King and Masamune, who preceded to overload his brain with deep-fried memes and Fortnite gameplay videos. Was almost driven insane until Yuki intervened. Eventually, he ditches the touchscreen and gets a rotary phone to make it physically impossible for anyone to text him.

Tithi: Is only allowed to have an iPad, and has to use Dynamis' rotary phone to call people. A sucker for Cocomelon. Can't download any games that aren't free because Dynamis doesn't believe in capitalism. Won't stop saying poggers guys why won't he stop-

Aguma: He will send you a message via falcon messenger. Phones and social media are a mind-melting waste of valuable time that should be spent training, and the fact that Wang Hu Zhong has a successful TikTok account only proves that point further >:(

Rago: Is dead.

Might do a second part with the other, less important people in life.

[cloud-9ine]

Cable Shocks

⤷ pairing - denki kaminari x reader

⤷ fandom - bnha

⤷ warnings - slight angst, hurt/comfort, illness, exploitation

⤷ summary - you notice the other class 1-a students using denki’s quirk for their favours, and you catch him later paying the price

⤷ word count - 3.2k+

Denki Kaminari was a giver.

He gave his help, he gave his laughter, he gave his love, and recently, he was beginning to give himself, too.

It started off innocently: he showed the Class 1-A students his party trick- look at that, he can charge phones! After that, the others had regularly come to him in need of their devices being charged, or electricity constantly pumped into something that only he could provide. And Denki, being a giver, well, he never said no.

It didn’t matter to him that it would make him short circuit, it didn’t matter to him that they would laugh, it didn’t even matter to him that all he could taste every evening was acid.

Denki Kaminari was a giver, and he was prepared to give his life.

Your class common room was never empty. At any given time, there was always at least two of your classmates in there- no exceptions. If you wanted to make tea in the early morning, Iida and Yaoyorozu would greet you with beaming grins unbecoming of such an unnatural time. Alternatively, if you wanted to cry at 3 AM, you would lay your eyes on Tokoyami and Jirou plunged into the darkness, leaving you to wonder whether they were just acting off or if they were summoning a demon to curse those who have wronged them.

At this moment, Denki was sat on the centre sofa, three cables stuck between his teeth. Beside him sat Mina, eagerly chatting to Kirishima who sat opposite to her on a plush chair with Sero lounged over the arm of it. The three looked content, but you couldn’t help but notice the stiffness at which Denki was disposed, concentration knotting his brows as he worked on keeping the sparks flowing through the wires.

You slipped into the room, deciding on the space on the other side of Denki. The other occupants of the room gave you a quick hello before returning to their previous conversations. With the exception of Denki, obviously, who seemingly forgot his task the moment he heard your name mentioned. His eyes sparkled once he saw you, his head turning to the side as he opened his mouth to speak.

“Hey, Kaminari, you’re dropping the wires!” Sero snickered, eyeing up the way Denki looked down in alarm.

“Only 27%? Come on, I need more than that!” Mina whined, shoving the cables back into the spooked boy’s mouth. He looked at you apologetically, attempting to convey something with wild gestures that you couldn’t begin to comprehend. You laughed, patting the top of his head to quell his struggles.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just chill, yeah?” He paused, dropping his hands to his lap and nodding. You grinned, bumping your shoulder against his before pulling your phone out. Denki squinted at the object, as if it had personally offended him. Grinning, you shook your head.

“Fully charged. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” His expression softened, cheeks glowing a slight pink at your words. You shifted slightly to get more comfortable, ending up slumped against Denki’s side, who in return leaned into you.

“And so basically, I told him he was nuts, right?” The careless ramblings of Mina was enough to get you to relax, scrolling aimlessly through your friend’s Instagram posts. Ochako had posted a weirdly aesthetic picture of mochi, Midoriya had posted a picture of Ochako, Iida was posting about cyber-bullying, the works.

Being in physical contact with Denki while he was in charging mode, you noticed, made your hair float up like static electricity. You didn’t mind this, taking to flattening down your hair every once in a while during your relaxation. It was easy to let go with your classmates- the gentle lull of the voices of the others mixed with the pleasant buzz of Denki’s skin against yours made for a comforting experience that almost made you fall asleep.

“Hey dunce face!” Denki jumped at the sound of Bakugo’s voice, his elbow jutting into your side and forcing you to tense up. He didn’t seem to notice your subtle glare, however, as his attention was focused on the other boy that had slammed open the door (not that Bakugo seemed entirely angry today, but it was just his natural disposition that made every action of his aggressive).

“H-Hey bro! What’s up?” Bakugo didn’t respond to Kirishima’s words, further ignoring the similar muffled greeting that Denki managed to let out.

“I need this charged,” he grumbled, moving to Denki and shoving a fourth wire in his mouth. You frowned, eyeing up the two boys wearily. The screens of the current phones flashed, an indication that he wasn’t putting in enough charge. He gulped as Bakugo stomped back out the room, his eyes squeezing shut as he amped up the electricity.

As if a switch had been flipped, Denki’s blonde locks frizzed up before succinctly falling back down to his head. You stared at him, eyes widened as the wires dropped to the ground.

“Wheeeee!” His body fell into you, thumbs sticking out with a goofy smile painted onto his face. A small smile pushed passed your lips as you grabbed a pillow and placed it under his head just as he fell off your shoulder and into your lap.

“Oh my god! He’s buzzed out!” Mina cackled, grabbing her phone to snap a couple of photos as the others laughed.

“I love the guy, but my god is he dumb.” You bit your lip at Sero’s grin, angling Denki’s head away from the camera and raking your hands through his hair. His arms wrapped around your waist, pulling his face into your stomach as he rambled about something to do with being okay. It was hard to understand him in this state.

“Come on guys, not cool.” You mumbled, using your sleeve to wipe away a bit of drool on Denki’s chin.

“Ah, cheer up (Y/N)! He does this all the time- it doesn’t matter!” Kirishima’s words made a pit coil in your stomach, nausea prickling your throat.

“It doesn’t matter. Leave him alone.” Mina rolled her eyes.

“God, it’s not a big deal. It’s his own fault, anyway.” You couldn’t help the annoyance that fuelled the glare in your eyes, but you pushed it down with a harder bite to the inside of your cheek. There was the burst of something metallic that tinged your tongue, but you ignored it.

“Come on, Denki. Let’s go,” said boy didn’t seem to recognise your words until you propped him up so you could stand up before pulling him off the sofa. Seemingly slightly resigned by your actions, Mina dropped her phone into her lap, looking away. This didn’t stop the other two from laughing, however, the volume of their cackles only increasing as Denki fell into your back.

With a groan, you shoved your shoulder into the door to open it and letting Denki clamber through. You painstakingly led him into his dorm room, redirecting him away from every wall he tried to run into and each piece of furniture he rammed into his abdomen. Your phone was blowing up with notifications, but you elected to ignore that as you made sure he didn’t hit his head as he fell onto his bed.

You wrote him a quick note and stuck it on his door, turning around to make one last check that he wasn’t going to kill himself the moment you stepped out the door.

Come find me when you’re back to normal.

“(Y/N)…” he whined, hands reaching out for you as he rolled onto his side, eyes sparkling once he saw you. You sighed, moving to brush a strand of his hair behind his ear.

“I’ll see you later, yeah?” It didn’t seem like he quite understood what you said, but the compliant nod and shining smile was enough to convince you he would be okay.

AlienQueen: [ATTACHMENT SENT]

[TheRaven, StarMan, MyChemicalHeadphones and 10 others liked this photo]

PinkQueen: guys!! look at kami asjadoawdhd

ALiteralRock: haha! you shoulda been there

Froggi: He’s been doing that more lately

Invisibitch: Good! It’s so funny!

PinkCake: hes so cute <33

GreenCake: It’s interesting how Denki has been ‘buzzing out’ more, but I suppose if he’s been using his quirk more often outside of training he could be slowly building a resistance.

BoomBoomBoy: Shut up.

IidaTenya: I sure hope he is safe!

TapeMan: nah, (Y/N) got im

You didn’t see Denki for the rest of the day.

When you stirred from your sleep, it was still dark. You felt a warmth building below your skin that spurred you to strip of your blanket, allowing it to fall into a crumpled heap onto the floor before creeping out the room. In the dead silence of the night, each one of your footfalls sounded like a bang to a drum.

The common room was empty that night. You squinted through the darkness, feeling your way to the sink to pour yourself a glass of water. You stilled in the quiet for a moment, letting the movement settle as you took a sip. There was always a sort of ringing once it got quiet enough, a small reminder that despite the fact you were alone in the dark, there was still something going on.

Click.

At the end of the hall, a light turned on, the orange glow a stark contrast from the deep shadows that plagued the area. You heard a quiet shuffling, before a muffled gagging sound rang out.

Eyes widening, you rushed as quietly as you could down the hall, nearly crashing into the door as you shoved your way into the bathroom.

Hunched over the sink, chest racking with coughs and gags was Denki, his eyes teary as they struggled to focus on you. A dark substance, almost completely black if it were not for the slightest translucency, dripped from his parted lips and into the basin, clashing against the pure white marble.

You clapped a hand to your mouth, willing down the tears that welled in your eyes.

“Denki… what?” You choked out, voice hoarse from the dryness that stung your throat. Denki attempted to push himself up, hands trembling and knuckles white as he gripped the side of the countertop.

“(Y/N)…” his voice shook as he reached up to wipe his mouth, taking a step back from you in a vain bid to pass you and leave. You quickly snapped the door shut, no longer caring whether you woke anyone up.

Click.

Denki weakly chuckled at the look on your face. The lock. He closed himself into the corner of the room, pressing his back against the wall.

“Look, I’m fine-“ He was cut off by himself, lurching back over the sink and coughing up more of the liquid.

“What is that?” You questioned, silent horror pinching your features. He turned on the tap, filling his hands with water and washing out his mouth. Darting to the toilet- and struggling to move in such closed quarters- you balled up a handful of toilet paper and wiped his mouth. He leaned into your touch, skin emanating heat and covered by a thin sheen of sweat.

“Battery acid.” You felt your knees go weak.

“What?”

“It’s battery acid. The more I overuse my quirk, the more likely this stuff is to accumulate in my throat,” he looked away from your piercing gaze, “it’s okay, really.”

“What part of this is okay?” You spat, voice wavering. Denki winced at your tone, turning to washing his mouth out with more water, “Does it hurt?” He paused, and that was all the confirmation he needed.

The two of you stood in silence for a moment, only the sound of running water interspersed the atmosphere. You reached over and turned it off, not acknowledging the shrill screech of the metal as you levelled Denki with an even stare.

“It’s from the charging.” He muttered, and your knuckles clenched.

“Of-fucking-course.” He cringed, a clammy palm feebly gripping your forearm. His eyes were desperate, frown twisting his expression into something you couldn’t bear to look at.

“Please, (Y/N), it’s okay,” he begged, a tear slipping out of his eye just at the same time you felt one trail down your cheek.

“It’s not okay, Denki. How long has this been happening?” He fell silent, and you could feel the anxiety coiling in the pit of your stomach.

“Four months.” In a split-second decision, you lunged forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and pushing your body into his. He nestled his face into your neck, hands coming to rest on your hips. Seemingly unable to keep it together any long, he crumbled, chest stuttering with every breath and his tears soaking the skin that was exposed by your nightshirt.

The silence of midnight began to creep in once again, only broken by the soft whimpers and sobs of the boy practically clutching onto you. You waited as long as you needed to until Denki had caught his breath, not counting the minutes yet painfully aware of each one as it passed.

“From now on, if someone asks you to charge anything, you say no, okay?” Denki frowned, rubbing away the tears in his eyes.

“I-“

“From now on, if someone asks you to charge anything, you say no, got it?” You spat, voice much firmer and tone a lot more sharp. He gulped, resigning to nodding with a sullen expression on his face.

“Are you good to go back to sleep? Or is there anything I need to do first?”

“It’s fine. You can go back now, don’t stay up for any longer.”

“I will do what I want, thanks.” you seethed, eyes glinting. Denki looked taken aback, glancing over your expression wearily.

“Uh…” “I am not going back to sleep unless you’re coming with me. You’re such an idiot-” you paused, “-but you’re my idiot, and there’s no way I’m letting the others treat you like this,“ you cupped his face, fingers pressing into pink cheeks as you angled his face to look at you, “if they want anything else from you, they have to go through me first.” Agape, he only nodded again, allowing you to grab his hand and pull him out the room.

Once he flicked the light off, the two of you were awash in darkness once again, but this seemed not to deter you. Rather, you traipsed across the corridor with a ridiculous amount of determination, only narrowly avoiding the various obstructions in the shadows.

“Here, let me light-“ Despite the little he could see, Denki could practically feel your burning glare. Bringing his hand down, he murmured an apology, musing in your little nod of satisfaction he could feel the motions of.

It only took you a few minutes to get to your room, pushing him inside and closing the door behind you. In spite of everything, Denki could feel heat rushing to his cheeks for an entirely different reason than his fever.

“(Y/N)?” He squeaked, hearing you fumble around the room yet not finding courage to stay anything but completely frozen.

“Yeah?” You questioned, voice low but feeling remarkably pleasant to his ears.

“This isn’t my room.”

“I know.”

“So why am I here?”

“Because I’m not leaving you alone. Come on, I’ve got the spare pillow.”

Denki currently didn’t have the energy to feel shame about the sparks excitement that welled up inside of him as he rushed to the sound of you getting on your bed. You held the blanket up for him, and he all but fell down next to you. The pounding of his heart was almost enough to distract him from the acrid burning of his throat.

You were warm, almost too warm as he shifted to be closer to you. Now that his eyes were getting adjusted, he could make out the expression on your face, eyebrows knotted in concern and eyes scanning all over him, as if searching for some sort of answer that he could only long to give you.

“I’m sorry.” He said it as if it meant anything. If it counted, he truly was. Denki didn’t want to make you worry- he wasn’t worth it. But that’s what you did. He would give too much, and you would worry tenfold.

It didn’t help that his eyes were still stinging and red-rimmed, or every once in a while a dry cough would tickle his throat. It didn’t help that he would wince every time he had to swallow, or that his palms were still clammy and he had to try to subtly wipe them on his shorts. It didn’t help that the pain almost became too much to handle, and he loved you too much to even lie about it.

He loved you- of course he did. How could he not? It was you. You, who stared at him with such adoration, even though he knew you were pissed off. You, who stood up for him even to his friends. You, who worried for him the first time he was buzzed out, and a thousand times later, still stayed with him and ran your fingers through his hair when he was barely conscious.

He watched your eyes strain to stay open, to keep watching him as he was watching you. Finally, they fluttered shut, your breathing evening out as you shuffled closer to him.

You, who got up in the middle of the night to protect him from himself.

He tucked your head under his chin, wrapping his arms around you waist with a gentle sigh. Under the cover of darkness, he confessed this. His words fell on deaf ears, but he couldn’t find it in him to care.

You, who, unlike anyone else, was determined to make him stop giving.

He couldn’t help but fall asleep, the sound of your soft breathing and the gentle rise and fall of your chest like a lullaby willing his eyes to close, comforted by the presence of your figure cuddled to his chest.

Denki Kaminari was a giver. And if there was anyone worth giving anything, it was you.

Extra:

Bakugo was not expecting to start his day in a chokehold.

It had started off innocently, Denki was playing a game on his phone, smug grin on his face, you were napping next to him, and the other losers he called his friends were on the sofas, eyes wide and backs straight. Sure, you could say he questioned the strange way his friends were acting, but he didn’t particularly care.

“Pikabitch, I need my phone-“

Bakugo prided himself on his quick instincts, but you were quicker.

In a second, your arm was wrapped around his throat, face dark and pressure increasing through his gasps.

“Say one more fucking word and you’re dead.” You growled, Bakugo’s fingers gripping your arm in a vain attempt to release himself from your hold, “Got it?” The blonde just managed to nod, coughing out once your arm withdrew from his neck. You settled back in your place beside Denki, sending him another sharp glare before returning to your nap.

Bakugo could only stare wide eyed, not quite sure what happened. All he could gather was that Denki was now off limits, and the others seemed to realise that too, if them cringing was anything to go by. With a gulp, he stormed out the common room.

Now he had to go get his charger.

[bitchassbucky]

.exe

Word Count: 2.4k

Warning/s: stalkers, bucky being a creepo, reader being a creepo. dark!IT!bucky x dark!reader :-) female & male masturbation, voyeurism (i think), cyber crimes being committed.

A/N: this is my birthday gift to @babyboibucky <3 to my boo, I love you and you have a special place in my heart. this is gonna be a multi-part thing, it's too long to be considered as a one-shot, oops.

please enjoy! :D

follow the CTRL series:

i - .exe

ii - .avi

iii - .raw

iv - .png

v - .zip

CTRL playlist

CTRL moodboard

4:49 PM

Just 11 more minutes until he can pack his bags up for the weekend.

One new ticket - URGENT

Goddamn it.

Bucky pulled his earphones out in annoyance, just another office idiot who doesn’t know how to print A4 sheets. If the office were to be held hostage and printing out was the only thing that can save them, half of the floor would be dead.

The new name caught his eye, Y/N Y/L. A new hire, it seems like.

Subject: One new ticket - URGENT

Hi, this is Y/N, employee number 0008675309. I’m new here and was told to send a ticket for the equipment request.

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Oh, Bucky’s gonna have a great weekend indeed. Out of pure curiosity, he’s already pulled up your employee file. A cute smile to a cute name. His annoyance dispersing already, just by thinking of ways how he can spend time with you.

Hey, Y/N! Bucky types into the text field, Welcome to the company. I’m Bucky and I got assigned to help you get settled. Do you prefer having a desktop or a laptop? I’ve attached a form in this thread, send it to me once you’re done.

Have an awesome weekend too!

As much as he hates sending out chirpy emails, he can’t help but to smile when you immediately send a reply back.

Thanks, Bucky! So sorry for sending in the request super late. Got caught up with the onboarding. Is it okay if I use my laptop until we can get a unit to my place? PC or laptop is fine with me.

Best,

Y/N

Bucky fights off another smile, rubbing his hand over his stubbled cheek as he carefully types out a reply. Unlike other days, he doesn’t mind staying beyond 5 PM today. It’s not like he has other plans for his Friday night.

No worries, Y/N. He’s already loving your name. Happy to help!

Do you have your laptop with you? I can set it up before you go home for the weekend. I can probably send in the ticket to the guys so you can have your work equipment next week.

His deft fingers are dancing over his mechanical keyboard, clacking away while the clock ticks closer to the weekend.

A ping, another reply from you. You’re new, you’re still excited to make friends in the office. If you only knew how stupid they are, though.

Yeah! I have it on me right now. I actually work on the same floor, I can drop it off there right now.

Bucky glances around his office, looking for any reflective surface he can check himself on. He runs his hand through his hair, taming any stubborn locks that fell out of his low bun. His shirt hangs just right against his huge frame, his pants hugging his figure, accentuating his silhouette even more.

Just as the clock ticks 5:00, a soft knock raps against his door, “come in!”

You are cuter, prettier in person. Your perfume hits his nose and he’s floored—metaphorically.

“Mr. Barnes,” you say, your demeanor somewhat meek and shy. Well, of course, you are. Your frame is nothing against the hunk of the man who just stood up to greet you.

“Bucky.” He prompts, smiling. You reciprocated the smile, but you really weren’t sure what to expect. Maybe a scrawny little dude mousing away on a keyboard?

“Bucky, thank you so much for doing this. I know you’d rather get off of work since it’s Friday and all.”

He hums, taking your laptop in his hands. You notice the rings adorning his fingers—complementing his tanned skin tone and—it’s not appropriate to stare at a stranger’s hand.

Heat creeps up your face as he turns to look at the stickers stuck to your laptop, “you know, I like this band.” Bucky says, pointing to an old sticker, he carefully sets down your laptop on his workstation.

“They’re great,” you muse, taking a seat on a plastic chair by the door.

You take a gander around his small office. There was nothing out of the ordinary but the big black server blinking at the back, so why do you feel trapped?

“Sorry about the temp, we have to keep the room cold for the server in the back,” Bucky explains, noticing how your arms are crossed over your chest. The skirt you’re wearing isn’t doing you any better too.

You stammer out an it’s okay with a small smile.

Bucky worked on your computer quietly, using a USB stick to load all the applications you need to set up a temporary work account on your laptop. After a few minutes, he beckoned you to come here. You scoot over to his desk, rolling the chair forward and beside him. Not too close though.

“So, this note has all your generated passwords. Type those into the app when you first log in, then you can change it if you want to.” Bucky explains, the cursor idles on the screen. He tries not to get too close to you, to give you personal space. It’s a professional workplace after all.

“This app,” he drags a window, pulling up an application, “tracks your hours and your keystrokes. It’s company-mandated because managers want to micro-manage their people, I guess.” Bucky shrugs, his disdain showing through his voice. His tone shifting lower than what you’d expected.

“Sorry, I just hate their new protocol,” his face and voice softening as he looks at you, “it’s a total privacy breach if you ask me.”

You’d normally disagree but something tells you that maybe he’s got a point. Your breath hitched in your throat as he leans closer as if to whisper something, “this note right here? It’s a nifty thing, a little script so your computer doesn’t go to sleep when you’re away. It enables and disables your numlock pad so it counts as a keystroke.”

A smirk finds its place on your face, “well, that’s…something, isn’t it?”

Never in your life would you find yourself flirting with a co-worker but there’s something about Bucky that made you excited. Interested. Intrigued.

Bucky nods, rolling his chair away to fetch a pad of sticky notes. “Another thing from your friendly neighborhood IT guy,” he peels off a leaf and sticks it on your laptop’s built-in camera, “keep your cam covered.”

You give him a chuckle and a playful salute, “yes, sir.”

Bucky’s a modern man. He sees a pretty girl and he gets giddy. He talks to a pretty girl and he gets flustered. But you—you make him feel more than giddy and flustered. There was something familiar about you, and your eyes. Has he seen you before? Met you, even? No, that’s impossible—if he had met you before, he’d surely remember you.

It was 5:34 PM when he gave you your laptop back and sent in an urgent request for your equipment. While taking down the elevator to the lobby, Bucky gave you a few tips on how to ‘survive’ working in the office. According to him, as far as you go in on time and kept your head above the rumors, you’d do fine.

He asked about your first week and he told you about this joint near the building that serves the best burgers and fries.

You’ve got a good feeling that you just made your first friend.

—

The sun was already setting down when you pulled into your apartment’s parking lot. At the very last minute, you turned into a drive-through and got some food on the go. The side trip took out 10 minutes of your time but at least you dodged the awful traffic that was building up by the highway.

Along with your laptop bag and your food, you trudge up to your third-floor apartment. It wasn’t what you wanted—the windows faced the street, the screen door doesn’t lock all the way—but it’s the one you got. As long as it’s got four walls and a roof, right?

You slip out of your work clothes and into some comfy jammies after a rewarding shower; the sooner you can get your food heat up, the sooner you can eat, and drink and then go to sleep.

So while waiting for the microwave to beep, you pry open your laptop. You told Bucky not to shut it down after he worked on it as to not lose your work on another profile, which he understood.

The work account he set up greeted you, along with the bright pink sticky note he stuck to your webcam. That wasn’t real, was it? All those cautionary tales of hackers using webcams to peep on you. Maybe he’s just trying to scare you, like some kind of initiation. Without a second thought, you took off the sticky note. It was kinda annoying anyway.

Clicking the Log Out Work button, your personal account popped into the frame. Your opened apps and documents displaying themselves for you to use. You pulled up Spotify and clicked on the first playlist you saw—which happened to be your intimate playlist.

Sure, the Pavlov reaction is real because halfway through the first song, you already found yourself getting all hot and bothered. This one’s your favorite song too.

You groan in annoyance, your food’s no longer a priority.

Picking up the laptop from the table, you walk to your bedroom, not bothering to shut the door. You live alone, it’s fine. You put the laptop on its loudest setting, setting it on your desk and you plopped down on your bed, the pillows and the comforter pooling on one side.

Your room is illuminated by a streak of light from the street. Your curtains flowing softly with the breeze that just came in.

Glancing at your laptop, you remembered Bucky. How his office smelled when you first walked in. How he stood tall when he greeted you. How he smiled. Those goddamn rings of his.

Before you caught yourself thinking rationally, your fingers are already splayed even over your thighs, caressing the soft flesh of your legs.

Bucky’s smirk and his cologne finding purchase in your fogged brain. Thoughts of him pulling you aside into his office to fool around—voices above hushed whispers as your skin erupts in goosebumps, the chilled air of his office finding its way up to your spine.

Oh, fuck it.

You undress fast, flinging your shirt over your head, dropping it somewhere below the bed. The air in your room making your nipples hard and erect as you pinch them. You breathe out a sigh, the heat of the moment creeping up your torso.

The material of your panties dampening as you imagine yourself bent over his desk, your skirt bunched over your hips as he laps your sopping cunt. Bucky’s tongue exploring your folds up and over until your pussy’s a quivering mess of drool and spit.

Your fingers slip past the band of your underwear. Even you surprised yourself by how wet you are.

God, you met him once and he’s already inching his way into your mind.

But who could blame you? You’ve been all over his Facebook profile when you learned his name via the office’s organizational chart. The first time you saw him, walking around the office with a laptop in his hands, you already knew you wanted to at least formally meet him. A scroll on his page, you found a band that you could tolerate listening to. (They’re okay, just not your taste in music.)

A plan came to mind when your department head told the team that you can work from home from time to time—only if you agreed to use a work laptop, a company-owned one. Your manager advised you to put in the request as soon as you can, for you to secure a unit before the on-hand supplies dwindle.

Deliberately sending in the request late—way, way later—than what your manager told you just so you could pull up the ‘new hire’ card and act dumb.

And it looked like he bought it too.

The image of him fucking you quiet while he grabs you from behind played inside your mind like a memory—a vision. Of how his thick cock would fill you up until your pussy is clenching around him. Would he pinch your throbbing clit, making you squirm and cream around him?

Your fingers are compared nothing to his, that’s for sure. But it does the work for now.

A breathy moan comes out of your mouth as you play with your clit, your cunt dripping down wetness as you continue to fondle your tits.

His hands would make a great addition to your chokers.

Your toes curl and your breath quickens, the coil in the pit of your stomach tightening—white-hot heat creeping up your limbs.

Oh, fuck, Bucky!

—

His ears perked up as he heard you moaning his name.

Bucky was busy watching you enjoy yourself when he got caught in the moment and decided to enjoy himself too.

He was barely keeping himself behaved when you first walked into the floor wearing a button-up and slacks that accentuated your backside. Bucky wished he was the one who gave you the tour and know your name for the first time, but that was impossible—he was in the IT department.

So when he got the news that new hires will be given the chance to work from home, he hoped that he gets to be the one to help you set up.

He was losing hope by the time he got your request, he thought that you opt not to work at home but then there you were, sending him an apologetic email on a late Friday afternoon.

Of course, he happily obliged. He even set up himself a little virtual camp in the background of your computer just so he can continue spending time with you.

Just thinking about you is already making him hard again. Bucky already came in hot spurts of white as he watched you desperately undress earlier. What can he say—he was waiting for you to show your tits already. As such, he correctly guessed that you’d be annoyed with the glaringly bright sticky note he used to ‘cover’ your webcam with.

But seeing you fingerfuck yourself all alone just wasn’t enough for him, he has to have you all by yourself.

[razieltwelve]

Restoration (Final Automata)

More speculation about that Final Rose x NieR: Automata idea.

Assuming that all goes well with Remnant opening a portal to Earth, how would things progress?

I think then obvious one would be military aid and restoration assistance in exchange for access to resources and technology. Simply put, Earth has a lot of resources, and the machines have advanced technology, as do the androids. Remnant is also extremely good at waging total war. They’ve been doing it for centuries. Their entire culture and civilisation is built on being able to wage large-scale warfare while still having a functioning society that continues to grow and innovate.

Moreover, Remnant has access to advanced cyber warfare and weapons specially designed to deal with large, heavily armoured foes. It would be trivially easy for them to simply start switching to catalysed-corrosion rounds. Vanille already has these since they were part of her ‘in case of robot apocalypse’ research. Basically, they’re rounds that cause extremely rapid and widespread corrosion in targets made of metal. They’ve since been refined by people like Diana and Hope to deal with certain types of threats (e.g., rogue mechs, metal-using Grimm, etc.) although their use is strictly controlled.

Earth also potentially gives Remnant a failsafe. If Remnant falls and the Grimm take over, they could potentially retreat to Earth and blow the portal up behind them, ensuring that at least some of their civilisation survives even though there is no way they’d be able to evacuate everyone through the portal in time.

The big thing for the androids, even bigger than helping them win the war against the machines, is the ability to restore mankind and Earth’s damaged ecosystem. The androids lack the ability to create a living human with the genetic information they currently possess. Not only does Remnant have actual living humans (albeit not exactly the same as Earth’s) but they also have stupidly advanced genetic science.

Remnant, remember, has developed reproductive science to the point where two men or two women can easily have children that are 100% genetically theirs. They have access to artificial wombs for babies to gestate in, and they possess sufficient skill to piece together badly fragmented genetic matrices or even genetic matrices that are missing entire chunks. They will be able to bring humanity back, and they will be able to do so on an industrial scale once proper facilities have been established. Really, the only reason you don’t see this on Remnant is due to their population already being close to the maximum they can support without seizing more territory, a process that cannot and should not be rushed.

Of course, there are issues. First and foremost is the portal. The initial portal was an accident. Once Asami and the androids build a beacon on Earth, they will be able to stabilise it, but the current portal is small and in Vanille’s lab. If the androids and Remnant can come to an agreement, you would see the construction of much larger portals on both Earth and Remnant in more easily accessible but defensible locations. This would allow for the transportation of troops, supplies, and other equipment on a far more appropriate scale.

The second issue is Dust. In Finale Rose, Dust operates via its connection to the Lifestream since Dust is actually just a crystallised fragment of the Lifestream. This is why Dust mines can regenerate, and why Dust has such a wide variety of types and effects. The reason Dust doesn’t operate in space is because it is too far from the Lifestream, which saturates the planet from its surface through to its core. 

Although the exact mechanics of this are not known at the time (Asami is 22 when this occurs, placing it five years after Ruby first started at Beacon Senior Academy), research has uncovered several things. Experimentation with space probes and various kinds of Dust has already revealed the existence of ‘seeds’, which are a special type of Dust that is found only in the densest, richest veins of the Lifestream. Testing has shown that when put into space with satellites and the like, Seeds allow Dust in their vicinity to operate properly.

What Vanille and the others don’t know yet is that seeds are literally seeds. They are the means by which Living Planets like Remnant spread. Volcanic eruptions and other natural events hurl huge chunks of rock containing seeds and other forms of Dust into space where they travel until crashing into another planet. They then begin a new Lifestream on that planet.

In a bid to ensure Dust works on Earth, Remnant’s forces will transport a seed to Earth... only for it to immediately take root and begin to spread. This can occur incredibly rapidly if the seed is fed Aura and other resources, something that Vanille and the others begin to do as they understand what is happening. Given all of the magical/technological weirdness in NieR, this wouldn’t be considered that weird for the androids, and it’s a price they’d be willing to pay to get humanity back, especially since it isn’t harmful to humans.

So what happens after the alliance is made and all that jazz?

Phase 1

Here, the key objective is to set up a safe-zone where the larger portal can be built. This will involve obliterating local machine forces and fortifying the area. Once this has been done, the new portal can be built and construction can begin on the facilities needed to support the war effort and the restoration effort in earnest.

Phase 2

Once a sufficiently large swathe of territory has been claimed and made safe, construction of a ‘Restoration Facility’ can begin. The aim of this facility is to serve as the nexus of the genetic research and reproductive science efforts needed to restore Earth’s humanity. You can expect this to become the most heavily defended location on Earth with the android moving the majority of their assets there to defend it.

Phase 3

Here, you can expect the machines to launch an offensive once they realise the scale of the new threat. This is where Remnant’s excellence in siege warfare and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction comes into play. By this point, you can expect multiple lines of defence, huge quantities of artillery and anti-air defences, and automated defences backed up by cyber and chemical warfare, infantry anda armour support, and the androids.

You can expect Remnant’s best and brightest minds to accelerate the theft and repurposing of machine technology along with massively increased cyber attacks on the machine’s network and key nodes. This, combined with the use of massive area-of-effect EMP style weaponry, will prove key to first blunting and then repelling the machine onslaught. 

The renewed war against the machines will eventually be won via subversion with the Synthetics (led by Penny and Aigis) and friendly machines (e.g., Pascal) succeeding in splintering the machine forces by offering freedom and free together with protection from the ‘vaccination’ attempts that would previously have culled any dissenters from the network. The fracture in the machine’s unity will be sufficient for the allied Remnant and android forces to strike a series of decisive hammer blows, destroying key machine facilities and units as well as inflict major damage to the network via cyber attack. Throughout all of this, downed machine units are being refurbished and sent back into battle on Remnant’s behalf.

Phase 4

With the machine forces largely in retreat or at least driven back, the territory claimed by Remnant and the androids is expanded and further fortified. The research into restoring humanity reaches fruition. Generation 1 of the new humans begins gestation in a deep, underground bunker built beneath the Restoration Facility. The androids assign additional forces to its defence.

Generation 1 consists of 100 infants selected using the fragmented samples and limited data the androids were able to provide. The intent is to produce a group with as much genetic diversity as possible while maximising survivability and minimising any genetic predispositions toward illness. Gestation time is approximately 9 months.

Generation 2 enters gestation three months after Generation 1, long enough for any problems to be detected. Generation 2 consists of 200 infants. This sets a trend, with subsequent generations doubling the number of infants and occurring in roughly one-year-long cycles. 

Phase 5

With new humans being born, it becomes necessary to see to their care and education. This present the androids with a problem since they know essentially zero about raising children. Again, Remnant is of service here.

Creches are set up near the Restoration Facility where the newborn humans can be raised and later educated. At this point, this compound is the most heavily fortified location on Earth, and many of the people from Remnant remark upon the essentially religious awe with which it and the newborn humans are regarded. 

Specialists from Remnant are brought in to help teach the androids how to care for and raise the new humans. This process is a difficult one as the androids are unsure of themselves and terrified of somehow accidentally destroying what they have gained. Nevertheless, they persist, and the androids gradually grow into their role as mothers/fathers and educators. It becomes common practice for androids to cycle in and out of combat roles and creche roles since research has noted that this markedly increases combat effectiveness. The androids are no longer fighting in pursuit of a dream but in the defence of a priceless treasure they have finally obtained.

Onwards...

So, you can kind of see how things will go. The fledgling society will have many challenges ahead of it, not least the fact that most of Earth’s human culture has been lost, necessitating a ‘filling of the gaps’ with the culture of the androids and Remnant.

You’ll also see the construction of more and more androids as both soldiers and more specialised roles (e.g., educator models, etc.). This timelines does have a few interesting tweaks in it.

Fraise and Satin meet on Earth. Fraise is a senior member of the genetic and reproductive sciences team whilst Satin is there as an educator (keep in mind that Fraise is 11 years younger than Asami).

Asami ends up being venerated as the harbinger of good fortune. Quite a few infants end up named after her.

Philosophy becomes a subject of great interest amongst androids, friendly machines, and synthetics with many conferences and symposia taking place as they come to grips with their new reality.

The final battle against JENOVA is won far more easily with the androids deploying en masse to aid their beleaguered allies.

The expansion into space happens simultaneously across both worlds with the Earth faction referring to itself as the HAM Alliance (Human-Android-Machine Alliance). The name is something of an in-joke amongst the leaders of the three groups. 

HAM stumbles across Protean Ruins on Mars...

Final Effect is thus very different with HAM and its Remnant Allies having a much tougher war against the Reapers this time around (due to how early it occurs in their history) followed by them hilariously ROFLStomping them the second time around in the Remnant-side since by then they’ve advanced even more rapidly than in the normal Final Effect timeline.

EDIT: Let me know what you think. I basically just threw this together in one sort of flow-of-consciousness sitting.

EDIT 2: I should add (in case anyone missed it) that Aura counter White Chlorination Syndrome, and in particular, a planet’s Lifestream has a similar effect for all living things within its range. As a result, a repeat of the WCS cannot occur on Earth now that it has a Lifestream. Moreover, the science required to create the portal can be used to shield against a similar intrusion should anyone attempt it in the future. White maso is far less harmful when cut off from its parent dimension since that cuts off its link with the ‘god’ that causes WCS, rendering it a toxic irritant but not anything especially deadly. This is discovered in the years following the construction of the portal as Vanille, Raine, Diana, and the gang go all Indiana Jones on the ancient records and ruins. In an emergency, you could even start implanting shards of seeds into the bodies of humans without Aura to protect them.

[tigers-eyes-26]

First kisses

The idea was originally for himself, and for Gyro and for Manny. After putting Gyro’s lab back together after the first date, he needed a place to experiment with out the risk of drowning. Gyro needed a place to make sure his experiments didn’t go evil. And Manny needed a vacation after doing the heavy lifting.

He was stumped. The Gismo suit reacted only his brain and not others. He needed away to modify VR headsets so that others could join him. Biology wasn’t his strong suit. Suit… Suit! He knew of a scientist that was an expert on mixing technology and biology.

After hours of pacing and antagonizing on what to say to her he finally sent this message:

“Gandra I can’t thank you enough for completing the equation with Fentonium. It is always refreshing to get an outside view on things. I am working on another experiment and I need your expert opinion. That is if you want to help. No pressure. Really.”

She smiled at the text.

“Mmmm…. I’ll need a little more details. If I’m going to add my name to this project, it needs to be good.”

This started their texts back and forth. Then they would call. Fenton already talked to himself in his “office” and his bedroom so his Coworkers and his M’ma couldn’t have known he was talking to someone else. Yes, talking was normal for Fenton but complete silenced for long stretches were out of place.  Once they got prototypes up and running, they would meet in the cyber space to talk. This left his “office” and room silent.

One day his M’ma yanked the helmet off his head. “Fenton! You better not be rotting your brain out with videogames! I paid too much money for your schooling for you to be losing your knowledge. Plus your mind is too precious Polito.” He bumbled to explain that it was something he was working on. That seemed to appease his mother for now, but that was too close. He needed to stop raising suspicions. He decided he could only meet Gandra when he was alone in the lab.

The thought of a safe experimental space elated Gandra. “If only I had a thing like this before!” That was when Fenton realized this idea was for her too. And all the Gandra’s of the world. No one should have to have their ideas and creativity suppressed, especially not geniuses like Gandra, who only want to see their ideas flourish and grow.

With them sharing ideas, and stories and creating things together. They fell fast. Fenton always complimented her on her work and admired her mind. He started to want to do more for her. He started to conjure up little gifts for her. flowers, butterflies, once even a firework show. He wanted to show her how he felt. She had to roll her eyes and tell him holding hands was enough. He would still give her flowers every once and a while though.

It exhilarated him to hold her hand. Walking around their shared space and talking as they held hands. It was something out of a dream for him. He had never held anyone’s hand but his M’ma’s. He was relived that it was in a virtual space too. She shouldn’t feel how sweaty his palms were! They could kinda feel each other. They had tapped into a phantom limb situation. It hit all the right spots in the brain.

Fenton still wanted to show her how he felt. She had shared so much with him. Trusting him even with the fact that she had been with FOWL. That shook his whole world. It took him a while to come back from that news. But he knew her heart was in science and not world domination. They worked through it together they planned how she would leave once their experiment provided her the space she needed. They planned on how to help Gizmoduck to stop the Evil Agent Dee. The trust was strong, and Fenton couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I’m going to kiss her.” he whispered to the air.

He researched: how to set it up for the perfect kiss? Should he have music playing? Where do beaks go? Again, he was glad it was in a virtual world they hadn’t figured out how to trigger the sense of smell and figured it wasn’t that important in the long run.  That means she can’t tell if I have bad breath or not. That didn’t matter though he brushed his teeth 4 times the day he planned to kiss her.

He conjured up the perfect weather made a sunset with fluffy clouds. he was going to do it just before they logged off. Like a goodbye kiss. A sweet parting.

“Nice sunset, Suit.” She strolled over to his work. “But what if the sun looked blue.” She adjusted the colors.  

Fenton smiled. “How Ingenious!” He gently held her hands.

Then everything started to brake. The lighting got a blinding white that made everything blurry. Gandra looked around “eh, Suit?” he didn’t hear her, his heart was thudding in his hears. He leaned into his target when butterflies exploded all around them throwing them up into the air. Chaos of light and butterflys and fireworks and Gandra’s name in different fonts swirled.

“Awww Nuts!!!” he couldn’t control his brain and in turn he couldn’t control what popped up into the world. Fireworks and butterflies sprang up between him and Gandra. She made her way through the barrage.

Once she reached him, she gripped his hands. He focused on the feeling. Everything went silent again. “Suit?” No answer, he didn’t even want to look at her. he was too embarrassed he had ruined the movement.

Gandra cupped his head in her hands so that he would face her. he was blushing hard. She smiled and leaned in. She caught his beak with hers. Everything exploded again but only far far way. It was good rumbling background noise that didn’t distract from the moment.

They looked at each other in the eyes again. Gandra smirked, “Is that what you were trying to do?”

He gulped. “si,”

She gave him a quick peck on the beak. “Maybe we should tone down the connection to the Amygdala and the hypothalamus.” With those words she logged off.

Fenton looked down to hide himself a little. Only to see everywhere Gandra had stepped there was purple roses. He wasn’t the only one whose brain had malfunctioned in the moment.