#and the other guy who gets blown in half by a rocket launcher

[shimmerbeasts]

@weavertali gets a small experimental starter set in a hypothetical Star Guardian Verse.

The one aspect of being a Star Guardian, which Jinx had never really been able to warm up to properly was the whole duty part. "You have a responsibility to protect the world." "Star Guardians kill monsters. We do not harm people." "You must learn to temper yourself, Jinx." "Star Guardians are not chaotic." Blah, blah, blah! Boring! Super boring! All Janna's drivel ended up meaning for Jinx was: "We hate you being you. Stop being you and start taking things more seriously."

On some particularly bad days, Jinx thought it to mean: "You do not deserve those powers. You do not deserve to be a Star Guardian. First Star must have made a mistake when it chose you."

Today's training session had been a disaster. It probably hadn't helped that Jinx had been paired with Janna out of all people. Whose idea was this?! All the veteran Star Guardian had done was complain about Jinx's form and her 'enthusiasm for violence', giving some stupid vague warnings about darker impulses leaving you open to corruption. Horse shit! Janna was full of dinosaur doodoo.

Eventually, she had gotten so sick of the constant berating that Jinx had used her powers to quickly half-teleport and half-fly away. She needed to be alone. She couldn't handle Janna right now. She couldn't handle Poppy either. Miss World Hero had stared after her as she had flown away like the very idea of leaving training was somehow punishable by death.

They could all go to, well, not really hell. More like a starless night. Wherever Star Guardians go after they die. The void? Double void? Was that a thing?

Jinx had settled down on the brim of a chimney, her feet dangling precariously off the edge. The chill of the night air kissed her bare skin but the First Star's power was like being your own heater. Jinx barely even shuddered. Shiro and Kuro were circling the guardian, noticing her gloomy thoughts. Despite the lack of wings, both magical mediums were more than capable of flight much like their mistress.

Unlike other magical mediums, which were soft and fluffy looking, maybe even cuddly, Jinx's creatures looked more like the beasts of a horror tale. Shiro had settled down beside her, his white skull with glowing red eyes making the slim ocelot-like creature so very hard to read. Sometimes, he looked even less physical, safe for the bones of his face. His white pelt was dotted and sprinkled with pale grey or silver dots, markings and stripes.

Kuro, meanwhile, had a long serpentine body, though Jinx always swore his hide felt more like touching a shark than scales. Even his black fur was so dense and fine, it seemed to blend into his hide. Sharp claws prickled her shoulders as the cat's upper body craned sideways and peered up at Jinx. Kuro's tail wrapped around her body in a tight hug. Much like Shiro, he had not shut up, softly meowing and purring at her.

"I am not in the mood, guys", Jinx said with a defeated sigh as she snuggled against both mediums. "Kuro, your idea with the firework is cute and all, but my heart ain't in it. Why did anybody think making me spar with Janna was a good idea? She was just gonna pester me anyhow."

She cupped each of her cat medium's horrific chins and fondly looked into their eyes. "You think I am a good Star Guardian, right? There is nobody who wreaks carnage quite like me. I mean who needs starlight anyway? Just tell me what has to be blown up." She laughed and the mediums laughed alongside her.

However, Shiro suddenly got up and floated into the air. Growling, he put his ears back, his weird feathery decoration around his neck bristling. Kuro looked up too, snarled in alarm and swiftly turned himself invisible. Even around other Star Guardians, her rocket launcher rarely showed itself. Almost as if he knew Shiro created enough problems of his own.

Mistrustfully, Jinx rose too and reached up with her hands. Shiro swiftly morphed into her trusted Gatling Gun, which the Loose Canon of a Star Guardian was now directing at the approaching figure. She called out: "Whoever you are, I may have skipped training today, but I can still whoop your ass!"

Her fingers flexed around Shiro's trigger as the figure came closer and closer. It took every ounce of the miserable pile of patience, Jinx possessed, to not give in to the urge to fire wildly at the approaching assailant. Jinx had never taken the whole difference between friend and foe seriously.

However, it paid off that she had waited for as the figure came shooting closer, Jinx recognised a fellow Star Guardian. The pale, rose-coloured hair, the fair brown skin and that whitish-pink dress with its long golden and rose-coloured bands attached to the sleeves were easily recognisable.

"Taliyah?", Jinx called in surprise and lowered Shiro, however, she did not allow her rocket launcher to turn back just yet. Kuro's claws dug deeper into her skin as his eyes bore deeply into the other Star Guardian, still completely concealed. "What are you doing here? Did Janna send you?"

[noodleraptorr]

ARCANE x TF2

aka the noodle try not to combine your interests challenge (gone wrong)

sooo guess what guys! a portal opened up in runeterra and some of the characters from arcane fell through it and… It led to TF2??!?? REAL!!!

So I’m just gonna write the main interactions I thought of. I didn’t think the lore of this through much, I just wanted to have fun with the characters. Jinx exists but also Vander and Silco are alive somehow… idk. Some of it is generally describing how they’d act, some of it is conversations. Also sorry for spelling mistakes or grammar issues. Anyway, here we go!

Caitlyn & Sniper

•Caitlyn being Caitlyn decided that she would single out the person who wasn’t talkative, who kept to themselves and seemed mysterious. People who stay silent usually have the most information, she thought. And the tall guy with the weird glasses certainly looked like he was hiding something. So, she pestered the Sniper for a while. “What is this place?” “How do I get home?” “Who are these people?” “Who are you?”

•It soon became clear that he wouldn’t give her any answers. So, Cait left Sniper alone for a while. Eventually, the first battle came around, and they teamed up. Mostly because of their similar weapon choice. At first, Sniper insisted on working alone, but after Caitlyn insisted, he gave up.

•Between not one, but two skilled marksmen, the other team could barely make it out of their base before their heads were blown off.

•The pair often sat together during dinner, an unspoken respect between them. Sometimes Cait would steal Sniper’s sunglasses, just to see if she could get him angry. It never worked! He always calmly ignored her thievery, and snatched them back when she wasn’t paying attention.

•When Vi asked Cait “So, Cupcake, who's your new friend with the shades?”

She replied simply; “I found someone who's almost as good a shot as me. Almost.”

•When the portal finally opened back up, and Cait was able to return to Piltover, she was actually a bit disappointed. These people were strange. They were certainly not dignified. Not a single one of them (besides maybe the engineer) had any manners, and their greasy outfits certainly wouldn’t pass in Piltover. Sometimes they were rude or callous, or even downright crazy… but Caitlyn had encountered far worse. This rag-tag group had been good to her and Vi, and she appreciated that.

•Sniper watched her step through the portal. He was leaning against the wall with a slight smile, arms crossed. He was never really a social guy; how could he be? He was surprised to meet another marksman, and even more so by how social she was. They had started, ever so slightly, to become friends. But then she had to leave. The loss wouldn’t tear him apart- he didn’t get emotionally attached to people that quickly. But still, he’d never forget the strange woman from another universe, who was almost as good with a rifle as he was. Almost!

Jinx & Scout

•I don’t think many people realize just how many weapons team RED has. It’s really, really concerning. Just the single base had guns, swords, knifes, flamethrowers, bombs, blunt objects, and many other dangerous weapons.

•Jinx was like a kid in a candy store!

•For the first couple of days, all she did was cause chaos. She played ‘pranks’ on her new friends, which, really, were too destructive to be called pranks. She blew up half of the Engineer’s tools. She cost the RED team many, MANY bullets as she wildly fired at seemingly nothing. She convinced the Soldier that bears were in the walls, to which he fired multiple rocket launchers inside, causing immense property damage. She snuck into the Medic’s lab and… stole a spine. Like some guy's entire spine that had been in the fridge. And she started to whack people with it, and chase them around.

•For a while, Jinx didn’t bond with one single merc- most of them saw her as an annoyance, except three.

•One: Soldier, who saw her as an equal- a fellow patriot, who was fighting for the good of America (even though she had no idea what America was) and who should be on the team permanently.

•Two: Pyro. They loved everyone, no matter how many horrific crimes the person has committed.

•Three: Scout. Now, scout wasn’t exactly relaxed around Jinx, like Pyro or Soldier. He quickly learned just how dangerous she could be, and was careful around her at first. But the more he spent time with her, the more he began to realize that she wasn’t too different from anyone else on the team. Throughout the weeks she was there, Scout managed to get some of the other mercenaries to see the good in her. Many began to actually like her, despite all the chaos she harbored.

•Despite this, the Scout was one of the few people who actually found Jinx’s pranks to be funny… and she quickly noticed. The two became partners in chaos. Sometimes, Jinx would take it just a liiiitle too far. But really, who could fault her! It was funny!

•Jinx and Scout on the battlefield was really something else. They left the enemy team completely blindsided every time, with their speed and tactics. So, most of the time they were able to chill in the base after winning so many matches.

•One time in particular, they were brainstorming more prank ideas, to liven the place up. Scout paced back and forth across the dusty ground, and Jinx hung upside down from a railing (they had been kicked out of the fort after everyone got fed up with them.) ”Oh, I got it! Ya know what would be funny?” Scout piped up, and turned to Jinx, who listened with intrigue. “We should take everyone’s stuff! They’ll never see it comin!”

•Jinx slipped off of the railing, and bounced back up enthusiastically when she landed. “Yea! And we should do it right before the battle, too, then they’ll be even MORE panicked!”

Scout wheezed and slapped his knee. “Dude, that’ll be hilarious!”

•”And then..” Jinx continued, eyes seeming to flicker with joy. “We BURN their stuff!”

”YEA- Wait, what?”

”Hm. No, that’s too boring. We EXPLODE their stuff!”

”Woah, Jinx, we can’t-“

“We explode THEM! And watch the fort CRUMBLE!”

“No!” Scout reasoned, very concerned. “No, why would we explode the people we’re tryin’ to prank- Why would we explode anything at all?!”

•Jinx frowned, and sighed, reaching out to tilt down Scout’s baseball cap. “You’re no fun.”

•Suddenly, Pyro opened a nearby door, motioning the two inside with a few muffled words. Jinx smiled at Scout, who was fumbling with his hat. “I guess it’s time to eat, see ya there!” With a quick motion, Jinx threw something on the ground, and the entire area erupted into pink smoke. Scout stood there, terrified and coughing, until the smoke cleared. Pyro and Jinx were gone, and the door was left ajar for him. He sighed to himself, and headed for the door. “God, that chick is crazy…”

Medic & Viktor

•Viktor was very confused when he fell through the portal. Such unfamiliar surroundings made him feel incredibly out of place. He was not the one to go on grand adventures such as this, no. Maybe Jayce would have been a better fit; he’d learn more about the world, speak to the people, and return to Piltover with a new wealth of knowledge for the city. That was not Viktors job. Viktor’s job was to stay in the lab and actually work out the new knowledge.

•Viktor found himself staying away from the others, after they had all figured out what happened. He found the whole ordeal truly fascinating. Alternative universes- who could have thought?

•Viktor walked the desolate hallways and began to realize just how alone he was. In this strange new world, this parallel universe, he had nothing. In Piltover, Viktor had his inventions- Hextech. As a boy, he didn’t have many friends, but he had his creations. His inventions were him, in a way. The body that trudged through the hallways had failed him time and time again, so he turned to the Hexcore. His magnum opus. The one thing that truly understood him, even if he didn’t fully understand it.

•But here, in this strange world, with these unfamiliar people, he was truly, truly alone. No friends. No Jayce. No Hextech. None of his inventions. Just… Viktor.

•He had stumbled upon a room labeled ‘laboratory’. Something familiar, at least. He stepped inside, and his eyes widened. There were all kinds of contraptions, but the one that caught his eye most was a large metal machine, with some sort of pale, red light at the end of it. Cautiously, he walked to it, and it was even more impressive close up. The red light was wispy and very faint, but something about the aura of it was powerful. Viktor had the sudden overwhelming feeling that he was not supposed to be here. Panic surged in his chest, and he turned to leave. It turned out that his premonition was correct, as the door opened before he could turn the handle. Viktor froze, and met the eyes of the Medic.

•Neither of them said anything at first. They were both deer caught in headlights, frozen in shock. Eventually Viktor spoke up, to try and save the situation.

•”This…” He took a few steps back and gestured to the device. “What is it?”

•Viktor half expected the Medic to laugh, tell him to leave, or maybe even attack him with one of the multiple bone-saws lying around. But instead, he answered.

•”It is a modified fire hose. I call it the Medigun. It is used to heal teammates…” The Medic paused, and took a step closer to Viktor, eyes narrowed. He didn’t seem upset, just curious.

•”Why are you in this lab, herr Viktor?” He asked. Viktor said nothing. He was kind of surprised that the strange doctor remembered his name; they had only met once.

•Viktor got closer to the machine again. Carefully, slowly, he reached out towards the red light. It seemed to become stronger, wrapping around his fingers, hands, and eventually his entire arm. At first, Viktor wasn’t sure what was going on. But then, he noticed something strange. Within his arm, his veins had begun to turn pale purple. The color got brighter and brighter the longer he stayed near the device. Medic was next to him in an instant, observing the phenomenon. “Incredible…” He whispered, voice barely audible over the hum of the machine. Eventually, Viktor stepped back, afraid of what might happen if he didn’t. His glowing veins instantly returned to normal, as did the strength of the Medigun.

•Medic spent the rest of his time experimenting on Viktor. The pair of scientists had explained to each other the extent of their knowledge. Viktor told Medic all about the Hexcore and how it had affected him. Medic told Viktor about the Respawn system and medical fluid.

•Viktor wanted to take a more methodical approach to the experiments by using the scientific method. However, Medic insisted that they should just try things and ‘see what happens’. They ended up just doing a mix of this, with Viktor doing much of the planning and Medic doing much of the actual experimentation.

•The first thing Medic tried was Übercharging Viktor, and seeing if the Hex shenanigans would change anything. It ended up making him invincible, as it did with other team members. However, the red metallic color that usually enveloped a subject was now purple, with hints of blue.

•They continued to experiment for days. Medic didn’t bother showing up to the battles, because his team would almost instantly win with their newfound members. Both him and Viktor ended up learning a lot about the two worlds, but still had no theory on how travel between them could have happened.

•Before the portal opened back up and Viktor had to leave, Medic took a sample of his blood for further experimentation. However, he found that when Viktor stepped through, and returned to his own dimension… the blood was gone. It was as though it left with him. Medic still had his notes, his scrawlings of Hextech mechanics, and everything Viktor had told him about Runeterra. But would anyone believe him without proof of the phenomenon? Most already considered him a madman, so he thought it unlikely. Maybe his fellow mercenaries would understand, but he doubted that anyone else could. He stored the notes away in a folder, and they’d gather dust until he’d remember them again and look them over, puzzled. He’d often wonder if travel between dimensions could ever be possible again.

•Viktor wondered the same thing. When he got back to Runeterra, and met up with Jayce again, he seemed worried.

“I thought you went missing.” Jayce said. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Yes, so am I…”

•Viktor knew immediately that Jayce didn’t care that he had gone missing, just that the progress on Hextech had halted. Nobody in the city of progress cared for Viktor. In fact, nobody in any universe cared for him. The Medic he had spent so much time with was only ever interested in what Viktor had done, not who he was.

Heavy & Vi

•At first, Vi stuck to her girlfriend like a barnacle. Once it became evident that they couldn’t get home right away, Caitlyn literally had to push Vi away, and tell her to go socialize.

•Of course, she would rather do anything than socialize with a bunch of mercenary freaks. So, she went to practice boxing. That’s when she met Heavy, who approached her with a big smile.

•”The hell do you want?” She had snarled, but the man only gestured to the punching bag.

“You good at punching thing. So am I.”

Silence fell between them, and Vi narrowed her eyes.

“And…?”

Heavy stomped over to a nearby locker, and took out some large red gloves.

“Boxing match!”

•It took a while for them to get used to each other's fighting styles, but every time the two of them stepped into a ring, they both got better. They taught each other, in a way. Many would say they were mindless brutes, but they knew that was wrong. Both Heavy and Vi were intelligent, reactionary, and protective people- two sides of the same coin.

•Their first battle together was legendary. Side by side they stood, punching through their enemies without even breaking a sweat.

•During dinner time, They were often the loudest. Vi would have arm wrestling contests with the Demoman, and Heavy cheered her on. She won a few times, lost a few others, but Heavy was proud of her all the same.

•When it was time for Vi to leave and return to her realm, Heavy had only a few things to say to her:

“You are strong woman. You just like sisters back in Siberia. You have problem to fix, you will punch it until is fixed!”

He then gave Vi a hardy slap on the back, to which she smiled proudly.

“Put on big metal boxing gloves! Go back to home and fight for good cause!” He bellowed. That was all the motivation Vi needed to step through the portal, waving goodbye to the mercenaries she had come to love.

•Heavy proceeded to cry for eight hours straight after she left. Pyro joined him.

Silco & Spy

•Silco was very out of his element. He had no idea what to do when he fell through that portal, and was greeted by several strangers. Everything he had worked for in the Undercity would have to be put on pause. What would happen while he was gone? What would happen when he returned? He didn’t know, and that was what scared him the most. He, like so many others, liked to be in control. It reassured him to know that things were working in his favor. But here? Even gravity worked in different ways than it did in Runeterra. Everything was new, like another planet. He had no control over anything here.

•Still, though, Silco pushed back his emotions, as he had learned to do his whole life. He would wait this out, go home, and forget it all happened. He stayed away from others, surveyed the area, and kept an eye out for any potential dangers.

•He didn’t find danger. He found a friend.

•Under any normal circumstances, Silco would not make ‘friends’. Every person he talks to is a part of a scheme, a cog in a wheel.

•These were not normal circumstances.

•Silco was leaning against a wall one day, listening to the distant chatter of everyone else in the dining hall. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a flicker of movement. He turned to look, but by then it was too late.

•A man in a suit materialized before him, cigar in hand. Silco, remarkably, stayed calm. He had seen this man before, lurking in the shadows, watching the newcomers.

•Silco tilted his head slightly. “You’re the Spy, is that right?”

•The man exhaled, smoke swirling in the air. “How did you know?” The Spy asked.

•Silco was amused to hear a strange accent. He thought about what he should say to someone like this. He looked the man up and down. Style. He has style, for sure. “No other mercenary here is classy enough to be a spy. You’re the only one with a suit.”

•This earned him a chuckle from the man. “You flatter me, stranger.” Promptly, the spy cloaked once more, and disappeared, leaving Silco alone again.

•They would meet more often. Spy became the only stranger Silco would actually speak to; everyone else seemed too eccentric and dangerous.

•When Silco left, he wasn’t upset like some of the others were. Sure, he had made his first casual friend in years, and now would never get to see him again. He would probably never feel comfortable just sitting down and talking to someone like he had with Spy. And maybe, deep down, some part of him grieved for that. But he could easily move on to better things in Zaun, and leave that strange world behind.

•As for Spy, he didn’t know how he felt about the newcomer. Silco had often told Spy about how Jinx was like a daughter to him. She was the crazy girl with blue braided hair, the sister to the pink-haired one. Spy would spot Jinx sometimes, when he was invisible in some corner or hiding spot. She hung out with Scout a lot, for the time that she was there. Jinx was very similar to Scout in many different ways, he had noticed. They would talk to each other as though they had known each other for years, smiling and laughing… If Jinx was Scout’s parallel… would that make Silco Spy’s? The thought of it brought him a deep pain in his chest, and he didn’t know why. He didn’t want to think about why, so he forced himself to forget, as he had time and time again.

Engineer & Vander

•The Engineer was playing a tune on his guitar, when Vander sat next to him, and complimented his skills. They talked for a while, and eventually Engi offered Vander a beer. He accepted, not wanting to seem rude.

•Vander used to be a bartender, so when he tasted cheap alcohol, he knew it. That beer was one of the most vile things he had ever had the misfortune of drinking. And yet, he downed the whole thing.

•The only reason he did this was to spend more time with Engi. In a way, it was like talking to someone who was on the same wavelength as he was. They were strangers, but it really did feel like talking to an old friend.

•”Yeap…” Engi sighed, watching the sun set. “Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one with any damn sense round’ here. It’s like babysittin’ eight kids.”

•Vander chucked, and pat Engi on the shoulder. “I know the feeling. Can’t live with em, can't live without em.”

“Ya got that right, partner…”

Engi chuckled lowly, plucking at his guitar strings to produce a soft melody. “…Ya got that right.”

Pyro & everyone

•The pyro literally just sees these newcomers as just. More friends. They dropped in from an entirely different universe with different scientific laws and history than this one? Okay and? This girl has blue hair. That’s fucking awesome and pyro is so excited about it. They don’t pick favorites, everyone is their favorite.

•When the new guys had to leave, it was a catastrophe. The world could literally end and it would be less devastating to Pyro. From their perspective, a bunch of cool new friends from another dimension showed up, helped them fight a bit, then suddenly left without so much as a “goodbye”. Heartbreak! Betrayal!

Soldier & everyone

•Upon meeting the new people, Soldier instantly began to interrogate all of them, then put each one of them through a lecture to induct them into the team, and gave them all military code names. Said codenames were as follows…

•Jinx was ‘Firework’, or sometimes ‘Braids’. Soldier held a firm belief that Jinx was a strong american patriot, which could be where the firework name came from.

•Caitlyn was ‘Ruffles’, probably because of the white frills she had on her Enforcer uniform. The uniform did not help his initial impression of her, as he was convinced that she was some sort of FBI agent or governmental official. Jinx did nothing but perpetuate this; he only stopped believing it after Demoman told him otherwise.

•Vi only really talked to the other mercenaries after Heavy introduced her. Soldier nicknamed her ‘Sargent Six’, as he assumed the VI tattooed on her cheek was the roman numeral for six, and not an abbreviation for Violet. Many of the mercenaries were surprised that he could think this critically.

•Vander earned the nickname ‘Nurse’, after Soldier’s arm was blown off and he came to help when Medic didn’t. Although it was very shoddy medical care, and Vander seemed to not know what he was doing (he was just trying to keep Soldier from bleeding out) Soldier insisted that he was the team’s new nurse. Eventually the Medic helped Soldier get his arm back, but Vander���s codename stuck.

•Silco didn't get a nickname, as Soldier was very distrustful of him, and assumed he was working for Merasmus.

•Viktor also didn't get a nickname, but when Soldier did see him, he’d yell and call him a filthy politician.

Demo & everyone

•Demo is similar to Pyro in that he doesn’t think of the newcomers differently. He doesn’t dislike them, he just sees them as a temporary addition to the team, really.

•He’s partial to Vi- he admires how tough she is, and how she never gives up on something she’s set her mind to.

•As well as Vander, who is a terrific drinking buddy, has great taste in drinks, and a good mediator for arguments.

•He thinks Silco is creepy, and often forgets he even exists.

•He liked how chill Caitlyn was; talking to her was like a calm oasis in a vast desert of craziness.

•At first, he found Jinx to be very annoying, but soon warmed up to her. They started a “Explosives Enjoyer” club together, and made very violent propaganda for it.

•Overall, Demo is just chilling with the new guys. He’s not devastated when the newcomers have to leave, but maybe he’d secretly hoped they’d stay a little longer.

BONUS: I didn’t write much of it but I think it would be funny if Mel also came through the portal and she hated everyone except Ms. Pauling.

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 45-50

This is the “Soldier of Fortune” arc.  I thought there was a song by this title and there is!    Give it a listen.

This opens with a flashback to Pip Bernadotte’s childhood, where he finds out his whole family is a bunch of mercenaries.    His grandfather confirms it, and I should point out that Grandpa Bernadotte is the most mercenary-looking dude I’ve ever seen.   He’s wearing a friggin’ beret while he tells Pip about how his dad died in some war to raise money while Ma Bernadotte was pregnant with Pip.   Was Pip’s mother a merc too? 

I guess my point is that this whole scene feels really stupid to me.   Kid Pip grew up among mercenaries, but he’s literally the last person in town to find out about it.  How do the kids at school know?   Are the Bernadottes that well-known?   I always assumed mercenaries tried to keep a low profile.   Then again, they are entrepreneurs, so maybe the kids in school found ads about the Bernadottes in the phone book.  

Even so, was Pip’s family trying to keep this a secret from him?  Because Grandpa sure wasn’t.   Not with that beret he’s got on.   It’s like he’s been waiting Pip’s whole life to tell him, so why didn’t he mention it before?  You’d think he’d want to raise the boy to follow in his footsteps, the same as Pip’s dad.  Did Pip’s mom not want him to grow up to be a mercenary?  It just seems like she should have known that wouldn’t work out.  

Anyway, Grandpa Bernadotte waxes philosophical about killing people for money, which doesn’t seem like much of a justification.   Pip was very upset about the whole thing, and I don’t think Grandpa said anything to make him less upset, and then we flash forward to the present day, where Pip’s a mercenary.

I mean, what was the point of that flashback?  Pip was horrified to find out his family kills for profit, and then at some point he got over it and joined the family business.   Why didn’t the flashback show us that moment instead?  It seems more relevant.  

At any rate, I feel like the flashback is overlooking the true point of Pip’s character arc.  He starts out a soldier of fortune like his father and grandfather, but by joining up with Hellsing he’s now fighting for a much nobler cause, ridding the world of unspeakably evil monsters.  He still seems to look at it like just another job, but it’s still important.  His defense of the Hellsing mansion is a lot more heroic because he’s fighting against daunting odds with very little hope of surviving to see another sunrise, let alone his next paycheck.  

Back to the main story, when Millennium’s forces invaded London, they sent a company to the Hellsing HQ on the outskirts of the city.   Zorin Blitz was tasked with leading this group, but she was ordered to hold off on attacking until the Major gave the word.   The Major then fired rockets at the mansion, only for Seras Victoria to shoot the rockets down... and Zorin’s zeppelin.   Now, Zorin is trying to lead a ground attack on the mansion, except Pip has turned the entire yard into a minefield.   

Seras disapproves, but Pip doesn’t care.   In this sort of conflict, he and his men, the Wild Geese, are at a complete disadvantage.   Vampires, even the weaker, artificial vampires of Millennium, are faster, stronger, and harder to kill.  He hints at some sort of vampiric ability to read an opponent’s movements, too, which might have something to do with that whole “third eye” trick Seras and Alucard use.   Against all of that, landmines are a sensible precaution, since they’re powerful enough to kill a vampire in one shot and don’t rely on a human operator with killing intent. Seras can gripe, but if Hellsing had used mines back in volume 2, the Valentine Brothers never would have made it inside.  Pip clearly read up on that debacle, since it must have taken weeks for his men to bury all these mines.

The landmines do kill a lot of Zorin’s troops, and the Wild Geese lay down heavy fire from the mansion to keep up the pressure, but Zorin won’t give up so easily.   She uses he powers to create some sort of zany illusion, where everyone sees a giant Zorin Blitz attacking the mansion.

So what the hell is Zorin Blitz, exactly?   I thought she was a vampire, but reading this manga has revealed that Rip Van WInkle is a werewolf, which led me to suspect Zorin is a werewolf too.   But the manga is silent on Zorin being one or the other.  I check the Hellsing Wiki, but it contends that both women are vampires, and the term “Werewolf” just refers to the group of officers in Millennium.   This group includes literal werewolves like the Captain and Schrodinger, but not Blitz and Rip.   

Maybe it doesn’t matter that much, but I find it a little silly to call all four of those characters “Werewolves” and then only two of them are really werewolves.   Clearly, all four of them are a cut above the Major’s other troops, and none of them show any interest in drinking blood, or any other vampire-exclusive traits.   On the other hand, this whole battle takes place under a full moon, and none of them seem to be affected by it.    Unless the Major chose this particular night to launch his offensive because he wanted them all to be at full power.   Maybe Zorin couldn’t do this illusion thing otherwise.

Anyway, the Wild Geese see this giant woman slashing at them with a scythe, and they all panic.   Seras sees it too, but she somehow intuits that it can’t be real.   Then she sees Alucard, who reminds her of her third eye.   I’m not sure if this is a flashback or Alucard is using telepathy to coach her from the deck of the H.M.S. Eagle.  

Either way, Seras uses her third eye and not only sees through the illusion but lines up a shot on the illusion-caster.  But it only grazes Zorin.   It disrupts the illusion, but it doesn’t end the threat.

And even though the illusion is shattered, it still distracted the Wild Geese long enough for Millennium troops to enter the mansion.   Seras manages to shoot them down, but there’s more where that came from.

Because the Nazi bastards figured out a way past the mines.   They just threw a bunch of knives on the ground and played hopscotch to get across.   I guess this means they can only get in one at a time, but it’s still bad news for the good guys.

So Pip adjusts his tactics accordingly.  He and his men will regroup and hold up in a defensible location, while Seras roams the building to take the fight to the enemy.   I guess the idea is to divide Millennium’s focus.   They can attack the Geese or watch out for Seras, but not both.   For some reason, Seras calls Pip “sir”, like he’s in charge, and maybe that is appropriate in this situation, but I thought Seras was in charge of their training.  

Then one of the Geese pats her on the butt and Pip steals a kiss.   I’m not sure what the hell this is about.   I guess they were trying to lighten the mood before they go to face certain death, but if my life depended on some vampire girl killing all the bad guys before they can rip me to shreds, I probably wouldn’t sexually harass her, or do anything else to tick her off.   But that’s just me.

Pip seems resigned about their chances.  He’s confident in Seras’ ability, but there’s only one of her and like... 30?  Let’s say 30, thirty Nazi Vampires heading their way.  If even one of them gets past Seras, the Geese will all die horribly.   But they took this job and the risks that come with it, and besides, there’s nowhere for them to run anyway.    He seems to accept the situation with a mercenary sense of honor.   Like, a mercenary should expect to die in some unwinnable battle, and they shouldn’t complain about it, since it’s the nature of the business. 

Anyway, it doesn’t go well.   The nature of the comic doesn’t really make it clear how the Wild Geese are operating, but I get the impression that they’re doing sort of a fighting withdrawal concentrating their forces as they give ground.    But they suffer a lot of casualties in the process.

This leads to the Geese holing up in the big conference room where Integra met with the Royal Order of Protestant Knights before the Valentine Bros. attack.   One guy panics and wants to bug out, but Pip reminds him of what I said a minute ago.   They’ve got nowhere else to go, and they all got into this for the action, so they should stick to their principles, even in the face of death.

There’s this one guy from “B-block”, who I guess was covering a certain hallway, but B-Block got cut off before they could join the others in the Round Table room.    Zorin Blitz decides to have some fun with him, so she uses her weird powers to make him see himself back home, with his dead daughter.  

This seems especially cruel, because it’s not like Zorin needed this diversion to kill one dude.   She’s just really sadistic.

Meanwhile, some other Millennium guys are eating the Wild Geese they already killed, and one of them shows off his ability to tell blood types just by taste.   It’s this really sick moment, but at the same time it humanizes the characters, which is a weird thing to say when discussing Nazi vampires, but you know what I mean.

Then Seras blows the dude’s head off, which is extremely satisfying.

So Seras is holding up her end, and growing more resolute with each kill.   She’s really improved a lot since the last time she was in action.    Yeah, these Millennium vampires probably aren’t that much tougher than the vampires she killed back in the summer, but there are a lot more of them, and they’re trained soldiers on top of that, and she doesn’t have Alucard backing her up like she did before.

By now, all that’s left of the Wild Geese are in this barricaded room, and they’ve run low on silver bullets, which means even the few shots that don’t miss will have almost no effect.   Pip is determined to hold out, confident that Seras will save them, but...

She runs out of bullets before she runs out of enemies to kill.   When she arrives to save the day, she’s still has to go through Zorin Blitz.

But Zorin doesn’t see this as a problem, and she uses her freaky mind powers on Seras, forcing her to relive memories of her days at the orphanage.    Yeah, Seras was an orphan, remember?   Alucard asked Walter about her parents a while back, and Walter said they were both dead.  How did they die?

Well, Zorin Blitz is about to find out...

[scaryscarecrows]

I'd Crawl on Broken Glass to be the One That Laughs Last

Gotham’s gone straight to Hell in a handbasket. Scarecrow’s dead, which is no loss, but Bruce is missing, Arkham blew up for reasons unknown, and the Arkham Knight’s Militia is still in control. Oh, sure, there’s a fair chunk of them in lockup, but they’ve been getting steadily more riled as the days wear on (three days since the Asylum, their boss has to be dead, who’s in charge now?), and the tanks are still running patrols, the bombs are still in the road, and there are checkpoints and watchtowers everywhere.

Jim thinks they’re waiting for something. There’s been no assault, not like he thought there might be. The street thugs and any uncaptured Rogues are still allowed to run wild, though the watchtowers have been spotted taking shots at something big flying around out there. Honestly, they’re even leaving the police alone, for the most part...but they will still shoot at the cars if they get too close. It’s like they’re on babysitting duty or something until the Knight gets back. It’s unsettling.

He’s out doing a little exploration-he doubts they’ve killed Batman, or they’d be gone, but Bruce still isn’t around-when something drops onto the roof of his car. He hits the brakes, tires screeching, and narrowly avoids sliding into a tank crossing the road.

Breathe.

Jim has no time to go for his gun before the driver’s side door gets ripped open by what Jim can only describe as the Hulk. The man outside is only a little smaller than Bane*. There’s a rocket launcher on his back and Jim’s sure he’s not the one that landed on the car, because the car would be a pancake.

He’s proven right a second later when the polar opposite of the giant jumps down. That said, this guy might be tiny, but he moves like he knows half a dozen ways to kill you. The cherry on the disaster sundae? Both of them are wearing army fatigues.

Militia. Shit.

“Boys,” he says, already planning on how to get that rocket launcher from the big one, “don’t be stupid.”

The little one doesn’t say anything. The big one laughs and before Jim can move, he’s been pulled out of the car.

“Boss wants to see ya.”

So they have a boss. Who. Who is it? One of their own? Riddler? Penguin? Goddamn Deathstroke? Who is his new problem?

“No.”

“Sorry.” The man does sound mostly sorry. “Not really askin’. C’mon.”

Jim tries to slam his elbow into the man’s collarbone. He doesn’t even really get to move before the little guy grabs his arm and wrenches it behind his back. Not hard enough to dislocate it, but hard enough to be a warning.

“We don’t want to have to hurt you, Commissioner,” the big man says. “We’re just picking you up.”

“Go to Hell.”

A gun presses against his back. Fine. He’ll go. But he won’t like it.

* * *

He’s disarmed, bundled into an APC, and blindfolded. After way too many sharp turns and double-backs, he’s...somewhere in the underside of the city. He’s thinking over near Drescher.

Wherever it is, he’s pulled out of the APC, taken inside somewhere, and handed off to new hands. When the blindfold comes off, his kidnappers are nowhere to be seen.

The men in charge of him now (and only for now, give him time…) are less...unnerving...than the other two. One is wearing the white uniform of a medic, and the other is having a snack. Cashews? Cashews.

The medic is a man on a mission. Jim doesn’t even manage to get out a, ‘you’ll be sorry’ before the man’s turning on his heel, jaw working furiously, and snapping, “Come on.”

“Where are we going.”

“Boss wants to see you, won’t listen to reason. This way.”

He stalks off and the snacker chuckles.

“Cashew?”

“No.”

“Suit yourself.” They follow the medic down a crumbling hallway. “They didn’t scare you too much, did they?”

“What’s with the good-cop-bad-cop routine?” he demands. “Is your friend up there gonna come back and threaten to carve my face off?”

The man just laughs.

“Probably, but he does that to everyone.”

“Sometime today!”

Huh.

Jim thinks they might be in the old mall. Scarecrow had been driving that way when something had happened, and, well, if Jim were going to have an evil base of operations, this would be a good one. Lot of ways in and out, nobody ever comes down here anymore-too dangerous-and it’s big, big enough to hold tanks and soldiers and whatever else these boys have. When they round a corner, he sees a familiar logo and decides that yes, that’s where they are. Hm.

They round another corner and end up in the back of the building. Jim’s not sure what this was, but there’s a corridor lined with doors. The medic stops in front of one and turns, hands clasped behind his back.

“Twenty minutes and no more,” he snarls at Jim. “You’re lucky you get that many minutes. You try anything, you might live to regret it. Might. You tire him out, out you go, I don’t care if it’s been two minutes. Don’t touch shit, don’t knock shit down, don’t--”

“I think he’s got the picture,” his other escort soothes. “Don’t terrorize him.”

“Humph. With the amount of work I had to put in to keep his dumb ass alive, I’m entitled to terrorize people.”

“Still.”

“And I’ll tell you something else. You lay a finger, one solitary finger on him, you so much as breathe too hard--”

“There won’t be anything left to bury,” the other man says, smiles with all his teeth. “Here you go, Commissioner.”

“Twenty. Minutes.”

And then he’s shoved into a room with--and good God, how--the Arkham Knight.

The Knight is lying in bed. He looks the worse for wear, but Jim can’t quite muster up pity for him. This...this is his fault. Gotham, Bruce, Barbara…

He swallows down the rage. Not because it’s the right thing to do, but because the Knight’s not alone. Jim supposes they wouldn’t just leave him unattended, not with those injuries, but still.

The Knight doesn’t seem to notice Jim. He’s certainly not looking at him. He’s looking at the laptop the other man has. Right now, at this exact second, he looks like a sick kid, wan and tired, eyes fluttering like he’s fighting to stay awake. But he’s not. Robin or not, he’s...the Knight’s not that boy anymore. Robin wouldn’t have done this, any of this. Robin’s dead.

“Sir.” The other man here isn’t wearing a uniform, he’s wearing jeans and a raggedy flannel that hangs open over some sort of band shirt. But his bearing is still that of a soldier’s, and the rifle leaning against the wall by his chair is top-of-the-line. “Gordon’s here.”

“Hrm?”

“Remember? You wanted to see him.” The Knight blinks a few times, heavy and confused, and tries to lever himself up before his companion reaches over to pin his shoulder. “Don’t do that.”

More confused silence. Now that he’s moved his head, Jim can see his pupils are blown wide. That’s not a surprise. He’s pretty sure he was in Arkham when it came down, and he hadn’t looked well before that.

Serves him right, he thinks, remembering the cuts on Barbara’s cheeks and chin. Serves the bastard right.

He keeps his mouth shut. The laptop has been closed and set aside, and the rifle is now in its owner’s lap. It’s casual enough, but the threat’s there all the same: you’ll go through me to get to him.

He wonders, a bit, what drives these men. He doesn’t really care, but he wonders a little all the same. Even the ones in the cells have been resolute that ‘the boss’ will get them out, that he’s got everything in hand, just you wait and see.

...in their defense, Jim had thought he had to be dead, and yet here he is. So.

“S’right,” the Knight finally breathes. He sounds terrible, and Jim suddenly matches the purple swelling on his throat to handprints. That scares him. Not out of pity or sympathy, but because what little he’s seen of the man says he can handle himself. Whoever did that… “S’right.”

“You up for it?”

He’d better be. Jim was kidnapped off the street for this.

“Yes.” Good. “Glad to see you’re unharmed.”

No thanks to you, Jim doesn’t snap, resolutely ignores the memory of the Knight holding up his hands and telling Scarecrow, voice painfully earnest, to take him and let Jim and his men and Robin leave in one piece. He settles for a curt nod, can’t quite muster up a, wish I could say the same.

The Knight pulls in a painful-sounding breath and drops his head to the side.

“Bring up the footage for Commissioner Gordon, would you?”

“Yessir.” The laptop returns, balanced delicately over the rifle. Jim doesn’t know if he wants to know what’s going on. “Hang on...give it a sec to load…”

The Knight moves and visibly bites back a wince, but the new angle means that Jim can see the full extent of the bruising on his neck.

“There we go--you okay, boss?”

“Ribs,” he breathes. “They don’t like it when people zipline into them.”

What.

“Need me to call--”

“No.” He swallows hard and beckons Jim closer. “M’fine. Just sore. And stiff.” He clears his throat, grimacing. “You worry too much.”

“I worry exactly the right amount.”

“M’just not used to being still this long--”

“Deal,” his friend says sharply. The Knight just grins, but that annoys the other guy. “Did you miss the flatline bit?”

“Technically?”

“I--never mind.” He makes an irritated noise in the back of his throat. “Never mind...okay, all set.”

He turns the laptop around and Jim hesitates before perching on the very edge of the bed. Nothing terrible happens to him.

“This is footage from my helmet. How it kept going after that level of trauma, I’ll never know, but my IT department managed to recover it remotely.”

The footage picks up in a dark area, abandoned sewer network or something, probably, and it’s glitchy and stuttery.

Bruce has been caught on camera before, but not like this. This is...savage, animalistic. He comes out of nowhere, dodging gunfire and seemingly oblivious to the shouts of surprise, and moves in via a flying kick to the camera itself, which goes white and static-y for a second. A few of them come up behind him and suffer backhands and powerful kicks for their troubles, and then Bruce fills up the frame, shoulders positioned like he’s got his arms out and...and...

He looks at the Knight, looks at the bruises around his neck, and looks back at the screen in time to see Bruce going down and being dragged backwards.

“He do this to you?”

The look the man gives him is so reminiscent of the little boy Jim remembers that it makes his head spin. It screams, I know you’re not really that stupid...right?

“Well, I didn’t do it to myself.”

“--okay, sir, I’m just gonna…”

The helmet moves and Jim spots the medic from earlier before it gets set on the ground, facing Bruce. Bruce is chained to a pipe, seemingly unconscious.

“Don’t talk, just nod. Can you breathe okay?”

There’s an obvious cut--they don’t want to share it all, apparently--and then Bruce stirs and starts...giggling. Jim knows that giggle.

“What the hell.”

The Knight shudders and burrows under his blankets.

“It’s complicated. We’re reasonably sure he’s been eliminated, or at the very least contained, but--” A hand moves, presumably indicating himself. “I made it out. He might have, too.”

His friend closes his laptop and sets it aside.

“We’ve got teams sweeping Arkham’s grounds to the best of our ability,” he says. “Unfortunately, we are not a rescue team and as such are not fully equipped to handle the more unstable areas. That said, given the police department’s...track record...we would very much prefer that your men stay out of our way until we either find the individual formerly known as the Batman, or definitively confirm his demise. We’re hoping that at the very least, any injuries he may have sustained slowed him down, but we can’t prove that, given the lack of video footage for the incident.”

“It’s our understanding that Batman has, at least for the time being, lost his fight against the effects of J.” The Knight swallows. “Of Joker’s blood. I attempted to contain him--”

“Contain, my ass,” his friend grumbles. The Knight ignores him.

“I attempted to contain him,” he says again, “via...ah…”

“He blew up the goddamn asylum with himself and Batman inside,” comes the sharp interjection. “In case you managed to miss that.”

Jim had not managed to miss that, thank you very much.

“I noticed,” he says dryly. The Knight huffs a painful-sounding laugh and falls silent.

There’s. There’s a lot Jim wants to say. The Knight was Robin, and Joker killed him (and made sure they all knew it, that tape, good God, he’d sent it to everyone and Jim remembers Dove bursting into tears when she tried to tell him), but he’s not dead now, and look at what he’s done.

Much as he’d like to demand answers--or at least bring half of that up--he won’t. He doubts the man with the laptop will react well; now that he really looks, the man’s tense, clearly poised to move if he has to.

Jim can probably take him. He absolutely can’t take the others that will come at the commotion.

There’s a small dinging sound, and silence, and then an urgent, “Sir. Sir.”

“Hrm?”

“We got something.”

The Knight blinks a few times before half-surging up and demanding, “Let’s go, let’s go, then, help me up--”

“Chair or Trent?”

“Neither--”

“Chair or Trent.”

“Chair,” he grumbles after a second. “But I can walk on my own--”

“Yeah, but if the doc sees you, he’ll be mad. Here it is.”

Jim moves, semi-prepared to offer to help but not really wanting to, but they must have a system, because the Knight’s in the chair with a blanket in short order.

“I feel like a cheap Bond villain,” he’s complaining now. “One that rolls down a ramp into an electrified pool or something.”

“Maybe next time, you’ll consider your life choices, sir.”

“They weren’t supposed to come back to haunt me!”

“I know, sir.”

“Christ...what do we have.”

Should he…? Sure, apparently.

What a day. He needs a drink. A good strong one.

“My understanding is it’s better seen than explained, sir. No body, I don’t think.”

“Fantastic...the bastard’ll survive anything.”

Jim privately thinks the same applies to him, but he doesn’t share that thought. He doubts it will go over well.

The computer room isn’t crammed full of people. There’s one guy on the monitors and another one-one of the ones from before, actually, the one with the cashews-lounging in a chair next to him, drinking a Coke.

“What’s going on, you said something turned up--” He doesn’t quite hide a shiver, but when the other people in the room zero in on him, he shakes his head and insists, “M’fine.”

“Boss, I can link this to a laptop if you’re s’posed to be in bed--”

“M’fine. Pull up the footage.”

“You’re not gonna like it,” monitor-guy says, spinning around and wheeling over to make room. “Looks like he got out, same as you.”

“Seriously?”

“Would I joke when it mattered, sir? Here, look. See this?” He makes the screen bigger. “That look familiar to you?”

It certainly looks familiar to Jim. Bruce’s cowl is difficult to mistake, and there it is, crumpled in the rubble. It’s singed, and one of the ears is broken, but it is Bruce’s cowl.

“Damn,” the Knight breathes, and...Jim doesn’t like admitting it, not after tonight, but...he looks so young. A scared little boy, that’s all. “That’s not good.”

“What do we do, sir?”

“We don’t even know for sure if he’s out.” The Knight’s friend leans over the chair to get a better look at the monitor. “Maybe he tried getting out and died, we don’t--”

“I made it out,” the Knight says quietly.

There’s a wave of annoyed grumbling that includes at least one, ‘self-sacrificing dumbass’ and a, ‘in spite of your best efforts’. Jim has to wonder about that one. He can’t muster up that much sympathy, but he does wonder.

The Knight just sighs and adjusts his blanket around his shoulders.

“Fair. Anyways, seeing as I found a way out, it’s not unlikely that he’s done the same, barring the. The possibility of an instant death. I suspect we wound up in a pocket, though, so.”

“You didn’t notice anything on your way out?” Jim demands. “Was he right with you?”

“I was--”

“Concussed and bleeding to death,” a new voice snaps. “And in no shape to be walking, let alone note-taking. What the hell are you doing out of bed?”

“Briefing the--”

“Literally anybody else can do that.” The angry voice belongs to the medic from before. “You don’t seem to understand what ‘flatline’ means, sir, or maybe you’ve just got a death wish, but tough fucking titty, said the kitty, you’re not dying on my watch. Say bye-bye to the commissioner, you’re going back to bed and staying there or on God, I’ll put you in a coma and keep you there until you don’t have so much as a bruise. Do I make myself clear?”

Jim expects argument. None of the Robins ever let Batman boss them around to that extent, and he knows damn well that if he’d backtalked his superiors like that, he’d be in, frankly, deep shit. But the Knight just sighs.

“He’s been here long enough, anyway.” Long enough for what? “Keep your men out of our way, Commissioner. No offense, but Batman existed for a reason. You can’t handle him.”

Jim bristles.

“Can’t handle--”

“You know it’s true,” he snaps, and straightens up, turns to the man with the cashews. “Call everyone back.” All of a sudden that’s no longer a little boy playing Soldiers. That’s the man that crippled Gotham within hours. “I want everyone off the streets and back at base, now. Do not engage under any circumstances.”

“Yessir.”

“Get into the street cameras,” he continues. “If a rat comes out of a sewer, I want to see it. I want whatever drones we have left out and searching, but leave the car alone. That hasn’t worked so far and I’m not losing more--”

He must breathe wrong, because he suddenly starts coughing, harsh, violent whoops from down in his chest.

“Get him back to bed,” the medic orders once the coughs cease. “Or he’ll be Snow White and believe you me, nobody is getting in here to kiss him awake.”

“Jones--”

“We can handle this, sir. We’ll let you know if something comes up.”

“But--”

“You trained us for this, remember? We’re professionals.”

The Knight falls silent, one hand still pressed against his ribs, and finally melts back into his chair.

“Fine,” he says at last. “Bye, commish.”

He doesn’t recognize the men that take him back. The streets are empty, though, barring the patrolling drones, and they make it back to the GCPD unscathed.

Unfortunately, Jim returns to, quite frankly, a disaster. The officers on duty are tied up, and the militia cells are empty. Not a man left. He’s just freeing Cash when the broadcast screen crackles and the Knight appears on it, face serious.

“I mean it, Commissioner,” he says. “Keep out of the way, or I’ll put you in a cell instead.”

“You--”

“Tell Bullock hey for me, would ya?” He leans forward. “Stay safe.”

Click.

THE END

*I’m figuring Bane is bigger than the Giant Mooks because his boss fight consists of you jumping on him to slash his Venom tubes AND because he can and will run you over, while Giant Mooks of any affiliation are not rideable and don’t run.

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH45

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

-----

Chapter 45: Star Death Reality Show (XXVIII)

His right hand slammed against the emergency close button, and his body rushed out with the instant acceleration from pushing off it. As if Qi Leren had thought about the plan in his mind for a long time, he opened a hand and threw a grenade behind him without looking, sprinted out like an arrow leaving the string, and repeated this old trick when he rounded the corner, throwing down another hand grenade!

Two consecutive explosions shook the corridor like a tottering boat. Qi Leren threw himself to the ground, feeling the turbulent heat flow from the corner and blow his hair into a mess.

He coughed twice on the ground, got up, and ran away again.

Leviathan didn't catch up, and Qi Leren who had already run to the floor where the arsenal was located finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The research institute was huge, and it would take "extraordinary luck" to run into that monster again. However, he didn’t know whether Leviathan had a sensitive sense of smell... Qi Leren looked back, and the world was immersed in a bright silence. This kind of terror hidden under the light was frightening.

He Yi had been parasitized by Leviathan, who was obviously Su He’s doing. He himself had said that he’d released the dangerous creature in the underground glacier. The octopus was similar to the alien queen in Aliens, much more difficult to deal with than the ordinary octopuses. What's more, it also had human intelligence... Hey, why did you listen attentively to He Yi just now and forget to smash his head?

Qi Leren walked on, and when he came to the corridor where the arsenal was located, he saw at a glance that Dr. Lu was poking around.

"Ah! Qi Leren! You’re still alive!" Dr. Lu excitedly ran out, "How is it on your side? Have you seen Su He?"

"Have you met Du Yue?" Qi Leren asked.

Du Yue also ran out of the arsenal and took Qi Leren's arm: "Qianbei! I thought you were going to die! Thank god! You can't die!"

Hey, what did this kid say? Qi Leren lamented Du Yue, who was too agitated and incoherent, and patted him on the shoulder in comfort.

"Why is that guy so stalker-ish?" Dr. Lu muttered with a bitter expression.

Qi Leren said with a straight face: "He can hear you."

Dr. Lu's face went white with fear, staring at him, looking overwhelmed.

"I’m just scaring you, he should be gone." Qi Leren pondered that Su He seemed to have too much free time. He was acting as both a prison guard and a Devil, and he also had a lot of beautiful subordinates. No matter how much he divided his time, he couldn’t do everything. He shouldn’t be idle enough to come here to peep at how a group of wannabes did in their task.

Dr. Lu was relieved and complained, "Don't scare me all the time."

Only Du Yue, who had never seen Su He, wondered: "Who is Su He?"

Dr. Lu quickly waved his hand: "A super terrible Devil, who is cruel, cunning, and ruthless, the worst in the universe! Your qianbei was killed by him before, and his death was miserable. You could say he’s a freak!"

Du Yue was taken aback: "So bad…"

Qi Leren, who had died miserably: "........"

"Yes, your qianbei's boyfriend is grief-stricken, and he’s still wandering the world, unaware that he’s still alive."

Du Yue was dumbfounded again: "Ah, my qianbei has a boyfriend? Isn't it a beautiful woman? Qianbei said that she was particularly beautiful!"

Dr. Lu looked at Qi Leren silently. Qi Leren, who had once talked with this youth about first loves while they were watching Annie, coughed twice: "Don't talk about this now, I have something very important to say: in the glancer beneath the institute..."

Forcibly changing the subject was successful. Qi Leren locked the door of the arsenal, briefly explained the previous events, and skipped a lot of things. He only told the two people about Su He's saying that he had released Leviathan from the underground glacier, and told them about his previous fight with the monster.

"We need a temperature below minus forty degrees? Awesome, our temperature regulating clothes only guarantee that we won't lose heat in environments above minus 30 degrees. Once the temperature drops below minus 30, we won't last long, and even worse when it reaches minus 40. If you cool down that much, you may as well sign your will. To tell the truth, it's quite amazing that you can still insist on not wearing gloves..." Dr. Lu looked at Qi Leren's bare hands and then at his own hands in thick gloves and couldn't help showing envious eyes.

Qi Leren moved his fingers. Although he was cold, he wasn’t frozen. He had good resistance to cold now, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have escaped just now.

"I can't think of a way to deal with it now." Qi Leren walked around the arsenal to find the weapons he needed. "Shall we set a trap and blow it up here?"

"You can try, but if there’s an explosion in the arsenal...……S/L Data can't save you from the fire after the explosion," Dr. Lu worried.

There were indeed difficulties. There were too many explosives in the arsenal. If the explosion lasted for several seconds, even if he saved here, the resurrected Qi Leren would still be blown to pieces.

"What should we do then?" Du Yue looked sad.

Qi Leren was also depressed, and he had to worry about another question: "How much private time do you have left?"

"This is reset at 8:00 every morning...I only have half an hour left." Dr. Lu was even more sad.

"Me too." Du Yue was also worried.

Qi Leren looked at his privacy time that was less than half an hour, which was also a headache.

After the privacy time ran out, the invisible camera that followed him would ignore his instructions and shoot him from 360 degrees without any privacy. In this way, he could neither use unscientific skill cards indiscriminately nor discuss things with Dr. Lu.

If only this thing had been blown up when Mark blasted it with a rocket launcher... Unfortunately, he had used the "Prophet's Heart" at that time and he was unscathed. Sadly, even the camera was preserved.

"Where are the others?" Qi Leren asked Du Yue.

"They ran away, and then I only met Dr. Lu," Du Yue said sullenly.

"Don't worry about them, you can't stop them from dying." Dr. Lu squatted on the ground heartlessly. "Think about how to get home alive first. By now, this task is definitely not C-level. We might say there is also an A. This Leviathan looks much more difficult than the crazy lady of B-level. "

Of course, Qi Leren thought. This Leviathan was released by Su He in order to force him to level up. However, now he didn't even know what the principle of a half-field was, because his teacher Chen Baiqi hadn't expected him, a loser student, to break his shell. In her prediction, this wouldn't happen for a long time.

The plan couldn’t keep up with the changes

"Let’s think about it again... This amphioctopus is intelligent, strong defensively, fast, and aggressive... I’m afraid it’s also very strong, and ordinary weapons can't handle it. I’ll try the rocket launcher next time." Qi Leren was also very worried about this weapon that he had never used before. There was no instruction manual for weapons here, and Chen Baiqi had never taught him how to use it.

Dr. Lu and Du Yue looked at him with eyes full of doubts.

Qi Leren coughed: "Let’s think of another plan, I don't think this is foolproof."

Qi Leren’s biggest reliance was the Prophet's Heart given to him by the Prophet, but the cooldown time of this item was as long as 24 hours. To try to wait for this to finish its cooldown, Qi Leren didn't think they could spend 20 hours safely.

Then what else can I do...

Glacier.

Underground glacier.

This word jumped into Qi Leren's mind without warning, and he suddenly remembered what He Yi had said before he died: "...Even if it’s frozen in the extremely cold environment of minus 40 degrees, it will not die, but will only go to sleep. It’s like the amphioctopuses’ soldier ant, and its fighting capacity far exceeds that of the workers. Leviathan is different from the ordinary octopuses. As long as it senses the approach of living creatures, it will be forcibly thawed..."

He Yi wanted to express the danger of Leviathan, but if you thought about it carefully, wasn't this its weakness?

40 degrees below zero wouldn’t kill it, but it would go to sleep. If he could lead it back to the underground glacier and then escape quickly, so that Leviathan, that couldn't sense the biological atmosphere around it, went to sleep, then he could wait for the Prophet's Heart to cool down before going back and killing it.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this may be the only way.

"I have an idea," Qi Leren said into the silence. "The danger of confronting it is too great. My idea is that I’ll lure it into the underground glacier and let it return to its dormant state again."

Then Qi Leren explained his reasons, and discussed specific measures with Dr. Lu and Du Yue. The biggest problem was that Leviathan has intelligence, and it was difficult to set traps for it.

"We haven't been to the underground glacier. I don't know what the terrain is like. If it’s an underground crevasse or a huge underground lake, even you will be in danger. Why don't we try the laser corridor, surely it isn’t stronger than steel plates?" Dr. Lu also had an idea.

Du Yue nodded at the side: "Yes qianbei, it’s too dangerous for you to lure it to the underground glacier."

"He Yi knew about the laser corridor, and that I can pass through it. It would be difficult to lead it into that trap... But it reminds me that we need to find the others. After making sure that they haven’t been infected by the octopuses, I want to send them out of the research institute first, and then re-seal the basement of Annie's house. If they’re running around here, they could easily be killed by Leviathan," Qi Leren said.

The corner of Dr. Lu’s mouth twitched: "I think they aren’t already done for."

It was hard for Qi Leren to refute.

"But if you want to lure it to the underground glacier, will it be fooled?" Du Yue asked.

Qi Leren tried to maintain a strong smile: "Yes."

Only on this point, Qi Leren had full confidence. He would be able to taunt the monster’s ire towards him. As long as the laser corridor trap wasn’t in front of it, this monster would be like the most loyal boyfriend, only watching him in a crowd, abandoning all temptations and running towards him.

The two EX lucks, Dr. Lu and Du Yue, were just like wild flowers and weeds on the roadside, which were ignored by this single-minded monster.

This kind of thing had happened so many times that Qi Leren was used to it.

Time passed by, and there was only ten minutes left in Qi Leren's privacy time. The three people discussed how to explain it to the audience later, and unanimously recommended that Dr. Lu pretend to be the anchor, so that he could think of his lines quickly.

Dr. Lu wore a tearful expression as he auditioned:

Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, I have bad news. Just now, XXX went crazy, together with XXXX. Then they were all killed by Qi Leren and God. This god-like Qi Leren is neither a special soldier of the military nor an interstellar mercenary. Please believe that he is just an actor... Oh no, a lead singer of a tone-deaf band. Next, the lead singer of the strongest band in history is going to fight the boss. Please look forward to it.

"You really seem like a default actor. Come on, is this filming?" Anchor Lu said with disgust.

The heavy-hearted Qi Leren was not in the mood to make jokes and rolled his eyes.

He didn't want to waste any more time, so he could quickly took care of Leviathan and then set off for Ning Zhou in Purgatory.

Qi Leren pondered it. He could only use Save/Load now. Secretly Observing and Rain Day Laundry were cooling down alongside Prophet’s Heart. There were still Pleasing Rations left, but according to his experience, this monster was not in the range of creatures that could be bought off.

Then there were these weapons. Qi Leren picked up a rocket launcher and weighed it on his shoulder. Dr. Lu opened his mouth and said, "Wow, have you used that?"

"No, but I was shot at with one and hit straight on," Qi Leren said.

Dr. Lu looked at him with an expression of "I know you’re acting, but for the sake of friendship, I will barely cooperate with you." Only Du Yue, who was stupid, sincerely praised: "Qianbei is so powerful!"

Qi Leren glanced at the time. It was the early morning of the fifth day. Let's make it quick.

Dr. Lu considered his physical condition and suggested that Qi Leren rest for a few hours to refresh himself. Anyway, the door to the weapons room had been locked by him, so there was no need to worry about Leviathan breaking in.

In the past, Qi Leren might have thought about it, but now he was full of thoughts about Ning Zhou and refused this proposal.

Dr. Lu sighed: "Well, suit yourself. In fact, I’ve thought about waiting in this arsenal until the army arrives and rescues me. Either way, it can't get in."

Qi Leren was not so optimistic. The monster would come up with a way to break into the room sooner or later. Here, he could only wait to die, and...

Suddenly there was a slight noise above his head, as if something was crawling in a pipe. The three men looked up and looked at the metal ceiling above their heads, and fell into a strange silence.

Qi Leren suddenly thought of a problem.

The air of this large underground research institute was unexpectedly clean, and there was no staleness of air being trapped. Its exhaust facilities were obviously operational.

Qi Leren's eyes turned to the vents in the corner of the ceiling. There was a metal shutter one meter square. It seemed that the sound of something crawling had come from there!

-----

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

[orange-axolotl]

This idea is based of this post! A huge thank you to @tack-tick who inspired me to write this and @dreamsmp-au-ideas for giving them a platform to put it on.

tw: hurt/no comfort, major death warning, I put smajor in place of Sclatt because i saw some cool ideas of him being Phil’s brother somewhere, a role reversal au.

ao3 link

*

Wilbur’s lost count of how many portals that he’s moved through at this point. The endless voids of stars and the sickening purple swirls that he’d raced through all blurring together as he moves through world after world. 

It’s been two weeks since he’d received the letter from Technoblade that had prompted the mad dash. He’s read it so often that he can recite it by memory, can see where Techno’s always steady hand had smeared ink. 

‘Dad’s not doing too well. Things aren’t going the way that we had planned. It might help us out if you could by. The sooner would be better.

 - Technoblade.’

Most people wouldn’t find that alarming, some would even scoff at the way that Wilbur - a relatively soft musician in a family of warriors - is rushing to help the mighty and untouchable Technoblade. 

There are only three people in the world who could read the warning signs, the red flags, the imminent danger in his brother’s words. It’s the reason that Wilbur had received the letter instead of the several more powerful people that Technoblade knows.

As soon as he’d gotten it he’d called on every single connection that he has, pulled on old favors, tracked down any kind of help that he could find. At every turn there was helpless shrugs and advice to not go anywhere near that server. Blocked from the common every man in a way that it hadn’t been at the beginning. 

He places the ender eyes and does his best to focus on the sketches that Niki had sent him. The bare outlines of a podium, the white house in it’s half - glory (Tubbo and Phil) and it’s half - disatrous (Quackity) state. The flag that he’d designed.

His breath catches as his feet find air. He thinks of his father’s glorious iridescent black wings, Tommy’s barking laughter, Techno’s deadpan jokes. The smell of freshly baked bread.

The end swirls around him, stars twisting around him at a breakneck speed. 

Phil’s voice starts to echo all around him a moment later.

“I think that there really was something special about it, ya know?” Phil says, sad and melancholic, “The way that we all built it from the ground up. The way that we managed to keep Dream from stepping all over us, but I think that - I think that eras passed us by.”

“Phil?” Wilbur calls out, struggling to keep his eyes open. “What are you doing?”

A beat of silence.

A whispered, “Wilbur?”

“No, it’s one of your other sons. Yes, it’s me.” Wilbur says, the stars finally slow down until they’re merely turning around him. “I’ve been looking for you guys for so long. It’s a bitch of a thing to get on a server without being whitelisted.”

“Wilbur, mate, you really should go home.” Phil says. It takes far too long before Wilbur realizes that he’s crying. “There’s not really much to be done here.”

Oh gods, Wilbur doesn’t think that he’s ever once heard Phil cry. 

“Where are you?” Wilbur calls. He doesn’t know if the stars are actually closing in on him or if it’s a trick of the void. He doesn’t much care when he has a crying father to try to talk too, “Dad, where are you? Where are the others?”

“We’re in L’manberg,” Phil says, catching on the word. “You wouldn’t know exactly where I am. I - Wilbur. I think that it’d be best that you stay out of the Dream SMP for right now. You can try again in a day or two -”

Wilbur’s feet finally meet stone, but much more importantly his eyes are fixated on the black feathers of his father’s wings. The feathers are all in disarray in a way that Phil would never let happen. Wilbur isn’t naive enough to think the dark red smeared against the back is anything other than blood. 

The room that they’re in doesn’t look like anything that’s been described to him. There are words carved into the wall shadowed so Wilbur can’t make out more than a few words. His hands start shaking when he realizes that they’re the semi - joking lyrics that Wilbur had sent to him, months ago now, after they’d won the war. Wilbur had insisted that they’d need a national anthem. 

“How’d you get in?” Phil asks. 

“I - I hacked my way in,” Wilbur says, taking a careful step forward. He has to duck so he doesn’t hit the top of the ceiling. “Phil, what the fuck is going on?”

“Stay back!” Phil snaps, whirling around as the sound echoes in the small space. The instinct to obey that voice has Wilbur taking two steps back. Phil swallows, a few tears trailing down his cheeks, he attempts a horrible facsimile of a smile. “Wilbur, we won.”

“You don’t seem very happy about that?”

“Scott - Scott’s dead, Wilbur.”

Wilbur’s heart drops into his stomach. He has to grab at the edge of a wall to keep himself steady as the words slam into him like a blow. “What?” he whispers, “But I thought you were going to take him in peacefully?”

“He didn’t want that,” Phil says, tragedy written into the deep-set wrinkles of his forehead and in the bags under his eyes. “He made sure that we wouldn’t be able to take him in.”

Wilbur forces himself to focus on Phil. He has too because otherwise the grief would overwhelm him. He still doesn’t know how his vibrant, extroverted, and fun - loving uncle had turned into the cold tyrant that he’d been told about. 

Instead he focuses on the way that Phil looks like he might turn into dust at any moment. His bucket hat is wrinkled and sags against his forehead, his shoulders curved and his wings hunched defensively around him. He looks old in a way that Wilbur’s never seen him look. 

He hasn’t moved away from the wall. He’s so obviously hiding something from view.

“Phil,” Wilbur’s voice is shaking despite his best effort. “Phil, what’s this room suppose to be about?”

Phil takes a deep fortifying breath. His back straightens, his wings go lax against the floor even as they twitch with energy. 

“Phil?” 

“Do you remember Eret?” Phil asks. 

Oh, Wilbur remembers Eret. The deep wounds that they’d left on his already untrusting father and brother had Wilbur and Tommy sending scathing letters for weeks afterwards. He remembers the half - upset, half - amused way Phil had written about the rainbow - themed castle. He remembers laughing so hard that he’d cried when Tommy told him about the crusade that he and Technoblade were undertaking of stealing every single flamingo that Eret had dared put up. 

“I remember Eret,” Wilbur says, “I don’t know what he has to do with this. Phil, please, let’s just go and find our boys -”

His communicator beeps. Several rockets go off. 

TommyInnit was slain by Dream using [Nightmare]

Dream went off with a bang due to a firework fired from [Rocket Launcher] by Technoblade

Wilbur stares down at the communicator in horror. He glances up desperate to see the same horror echoed in Phil’s face. 

Phil doesn’t even look down, instead just staring at him with tears trickling down his cheeks. He’s moved so he’s no longer hiding the back wall. His hand is hovering over a stone button. 

“Did I never tell what Eret told us? Before he betrayed us all?” Wilbur shakes his head. Phil smiles a very sad smile, “It was never meant to be.”

A click of a button, the hiss of TNT igniting, the hard impact of Phil slamming into him, the sound of wings fanning out and feathers puffing out into a protective layer. 

It all happens so quickly that Wilbur doesn’t have anytime to process it before the sound of utter devastation hits him. The sound of buildings crumbling into dust, the sound of screams, and rockets.

The beeps emitting from their communicators are coming every second.

“Oh my gods,” Wilbur cries out, coughing and spitting when dirt ends up in his mouth. He can’t open his eyes against the dirt and dust that must be lining his face. “Phil!”

Gentle hands wipe at his eyes until he can finally open them again. Phil is staring down at him, the previous grief and tenseness replaced with worry.

“Are you hurt?” Phil demands. 

“Oh my gods,” Wilbur whispers as he stares at bloody stumps where wings once were. “Dad. Dad, your wings.”

“Are you hurt?” Phil demands again. The worry replaced with a steely resolve. 

Wilbur shakes his head. His hearing hasn’t even been damaged despite how close they both were.

Phil stumbles to his feet, leans his shoulder against a half - broken wall. Wilbur stays laid out against the wall and stares out at the utter devastation of what he assumes had once been a nation. Now there is only rocks and collapsed buildings, people standing the edge of a crater.

He can’t recognize any of them from this distance.

“Wilbur,” Phil says, drawing his attention to him. His tone has gone utterly casual as if he hadn’t just blown up his own nation. “Have you been practicing with a sword like we’ve told you?”

“Y - yes?” 

Phil pulls a netherite sword from it’s sheath. He doesn’t look quite right without his wings but even more than that, there’s something gone from behind his eyes. He holds the sword out to Wilbur, “I need you to kill me, Wil.”

“No!” Wilbur says, pulls himself up onto shaking legs. “Phil. Phil, we need to go find our boys. We need to make sure that Tubbo and Niki are alright. I’m not -”

The handle gets pressed into his shaking palm. Phil continues to look completely blank, “Do it, Wilbur.”

“No! Phil. Dad, listen to me. This is nothing. This can be rebuilt in a few weeks. We can salvage what we need to -”

The words catch in his throat as Phil meets his eyes. He takes the handle back out of Wilbur’s limp hand. 

“Alright,” he finally says, a hand reaching up to cup Wilbur’s cheek for a moment before falling away. “Alright, Wilbur.”

Wilbur nearly collapses again from the relief, “Thank you. You were scaring me -”

Phil drives the sword through his own stomach. Stumbles backwards with the force. 

Wilbur screams. He doesn’t think that he makes any words but if he did then he wouldn’t be able to hear them over the blood pounding in his ears. 

“I’m sorry, Wilbur.” Phil mouths, “I’m sorry.”

He stumbles back another step. 

It takes him right off the ledge and into the new crater. It’s a free fall that that a mere minute ago he could’ve flown away from. Now, he’s utterly helpless against the gravity pulling him down. Wilbur lunges towards the edge, his hands hanging uselessly where his father had once stood.

He isn’t quick enough. 

His father eyes never leave his face.

Philza hit the ground too hard while trying to escape Philza

[ofstarsandfireflies]

Moved this movie up the list because I was excited to write this one.

Please enjoy!

Mr. And Mrs. Smith

Two spies who are married don’t know the other is a spy also.

With the world as dangerous as it was, Tony is an Black Widow; a leader of a secret group willing to kill anyone who stood in shield’s way.

With the world as dangerous as it was, Stephen is a Sorcerer; a leader of a secret group willing to lay down their lives to protect the world.

But they can’t tell their husband that. What would he think?

Each day they pretend to go to their day jobs when in actual fact they are fighting one another on the streets, Tony in his armour his husband knows nothing about and Stephen using a hooded cloak to cover his face his husband knows nothing about.

And then they come back home, talking about their day as if nothing had happened, just like any other couple.

But their lives at home have become boring and dull, both too exhausted to do anything in bed but sleep and their relationship is suffering because of it.

It was never like this though.

Not when they started dating five years ago, six according to Stephen.

Tony was never good with dates.

No, back then, Tony and Stephen couldn’t get enough of one another.

Back then, there was little time between missions to become bored with the other.

Neither knew what the other was, just that they were what they had always wanted.

And not even three months into their relationship, Tony proposed.

The honeymoon phase came and went, and slowly walls were built between the other not only to cover themselves, but to keep the other safe and at a distance.

And now they were getting counseling.

Now the walls were built too high.

Now their jobs were getting more dangerous.

They should get a divorce.

At least if something happens, the other would be safe.

It was a hard reality they had to face.

Getting nowhere on either side, both are given the order to kill the leader of the opposite group.

They try, they really do, but don’t succeed.

Tony’s suit can withstand any magical attack and Stephen’s magic can withstand any rocket or projectile Tony hurls his way.

The fight lasts well into the night until they each realise they’re both late for dinner.

Their husband is probably waiting at home with a pissed look on his face and the last thing they want is an argument when their relationship is barley hanging on by a thread.

They run.

Stephen gets home first, quickly changing his robes to his regular clothes and walking into the dark house.

Maybe Tony went to bed early?

Calling out to him and walking up the stairs to their room, Stephen freezes when he hears the Iron Man suit land on their roof.

How had it found him?

How had it found Tony?

He quickly changes back into his robes, uncaring that his hood isn’t covering his face anymore.

If the Iron Man has already found out where he lives, there’s no use trying to hide his identity.

Ready to blast this intruder in half, he’s thrown back from the explosion of those bloody rockets, propelling him through the wall into the guest bedroom.

He makes a run for it, jumping through one portal to land above the Iron Man and wrestling him to the ground, trying to find a weak point in the armour to put it down for good.

He’s just managed to break the helmet off from the neck when the suit blasts up through the ceiling, Stephen letting go before he hears the repulsors heating up.

He manages to whip out a long rope of orange magic and snag it around the Iron Man’s leg, the blast from his gauntlet just missing Stephen’s head as he brings the suit down and they crash through the roof and first storey flooring to land in the entryway.

Both are up in the matter of seconds, the glow of Stephen’s magic from the suit of armour creating enough light between them that they can finally see the other’s face.

Neither of them move.

Neither of them speak.

Confusion.

Realisation.

More confusion.

And then hurt.

Stephen is yelling.

Tony is making snide comments. It’s only when Stephen begins accusing Tony of using him as a cover that Tony lets it known he’d thought the exact same thing of Stephen.

That’s why their relationship failed.

It’s the other’s fault.

Tony grabs Stephen and they almost come to blows again, each knowing that they have to unleash their attacks, yet each waiting to see what the other will do.

Moving at the same time to shed each other’s clothes definetly wasn’t what either thought they would do, robes and armour pieces fall to the floor in a jumbled heap together as their rekindled love for each other barley gets them half way to the bedroom before they just give up and decide the floor is as good a place as any.

But they were careless.

Stephen’s magical signature can be traced, as can Tony’s suit, and within the hour both have lead a new division to their location.

One sent to kill them both; Hydra.

They barley have enough time to get changed before bullets are flying through the windows of the house and destroying most of what Stephen and Tony hadn’t managed to.

Hydra agents are descending through the skylights Stephen had put in himself and bleeding all over the floors Tony recently had waxed.

And they just keep coming, both deciding now is the best time to be asking questions about what was actually real in their marriage while bodies keep dropping around them.

It’s cathartic and enlightening to be sure, perhaps a little too much seeming how Stephen learns Tony brought a paid actor to be his dad to their wedding and Tony turns one of his attacks onto Stephen when he tells him he’d actually been married once before, causing them to lose focus and almost be blown to pieces by some idiot with a rocket launcher.

Knowing they can’t fight like this forever, Tony offers Stephen an alternative.

They blow up the house with the agents inside and get away before they can get caught in the blast.

Stephen agrees it’s a solution, but not a long term one as his portal will leave behind a signature of where they went.

Tony knows this, but also knows they’ll have a little time before they’re found.

They can get help, information, and then take the fight to Hydra once they know where they’re stationed.

That’s all well and good but how was Tony planning on blowing up the house? His rockets aren’t gonna do much but put it out of its misery.

Much to Stephen’s horror, Tony tells him how there’s a bomb under the house, should something like this ever were to happen.

And no. He wasn’t planning on telling Stephen about it because it was on a need to know basis and now Stephen needs to know.

Tony activates the House Warming Protocol with a single voice command, and as it is acknowledged, Stephen drags him to the portal, barley making it a foot inside their new destination before what little remained of the house they had built together was blown sky high.

Wong isn’t too pleased about the visitors this late at night.

Especially when those visitors are bringing hell down upon his doorstep just from being here.

But he’s not one to turn down a friend.

Especially since Hydra hope to lure both sides into helping with the hunt after the bounty they just placed on their heads.

But why were they being hunted in the first place?

Because they were unsuccessful in their mission?

Wong can’t believe how stupid they are.

Well, yes, he can, and in that aspect they really were made for one another, but this has nothing to do with their failed mission in killing each other and everything to do with them being married to each other.

Hydra had control of the Sorcerers and the Black Widows, and when they found out about Tony and Stephen’s marriage, they thought to see who was the strongest out of the two.

Tony couldn’t believe this.

He’d thought his whole time that he had been working with Shield, the good guys against Hydra, but instead he’d been working for Hydra itself.

They needed to find out where that Hydra base was, and the only person Tony knew who had ever been there, was Natasha.

One of the few people Tony trusted.

Nat was more than happy to help him and so was Wong, both agreeing to keep anyone who was following them on their toes.

As they made their way through the silent corridors, taking out any guard they came across silently so as not to sound any alarms, they thought they were doing pretty well.

Well, that is until they ran into Task Master.

One single agent with the training of a thousand.

No matter what they threw at him, no matter how they moved or what they thought was something new, Task Master seemed to predict what they were going to do.

They stand back to back. Stephen can feel the armour pressing against him as Tony fires at their lone enemy, all the while the magic Stephen had once used against his husband fights along side him.

But Task Master is evading everything they throw at him.

He’s dodging attacks Stephen has only used once or twice before, and Tony is faring no better as his missiles zoom around the room and hit everything but their intended target.

They can’t beat this guy.

Not this way.

Stephen looks to Tony and sees him already waiting to catch his eye, grinning as he’s had the exact same idea.

And when he feels Tony take his hand, he knows what he wants to do.

Lining up the shot, Stephen’s magic causes an almighty fireball to explode out of Tony’s hand, finally hitting their mark.

And then, once he hits the ground, everything goes quiet.

They look around, surveying the carnage around them.

They’re the only ones left alive.

They did it.

They don’t need to keep secrets from one another anymore.

They don’t need to fight each other anymore.

They can just enjoy retirement together.

Until they’re found again of course.

Gotta spice things up every once in a while, right?

Quotes

“Stop. Stop. You’ve only known the girl for six weeks.”

“I’m in love! She’s smart, sexy, she’s uninhibited, spontaneous, complicated. She’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“You know I never do anything without thinking it through.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s in construction. Big-time contractor.”

“A server goes down on Wall Street. She’s there, anytime, day or night. She’s like Batman for computers.”

These two talking to their friends about each other.

“Why is it you think we failed? Cos we were leading seperate lives? Or was it all the lying that did us in?”

“I have a theory. Newly formed.”

“I’m breathless to hear it.”

“You killed us.

“Provocative.”

“You approached our marriage like a job, to be reconned, planned and executed.”

“And you avoided it.”

“What do you care if I was just a cover?”

“Well, who said you were just a cover?”

“Wasn’t I?”

“Wasn’t I?”

Tony and Stephen trying to figure out if what they had all this time was real.

“You know, sweetheart, you’re being a bit hypocritical. It’s not like you’re some beacon of truth.”

“John, my parents...they died when I was five. I’m an orphan.”

“Who was that kindly fellow who gave you away at our wedding?”

“Paid actor.”

“I said, I said I saw your dad on Fantasy Island.”

“I know.”

I love this line

Normal Lies

By day, they’re the enemy.

By night, they’re husbands.

And when dawn finally breaks, they have a choice to make.

Missed a Day? Catch up here!

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15

Day 16 Day 17

[hyperpsychomaniac]

Who Says You Can't Go Home - Chapter 3

Darkwing Duck (90s series) fanfiction

Sequel to my recent fanfic The Other Side of Me

Summary: Down on his luck, the Negaverse Launchpad crashes at Launchpad’s parents looking for help. Launchpad, who has avoided visiting his family since he started working with Darkwing, returns in a panic to ensure his double isn’t causing trouble. And then it gets awkward.

Chapter 1

***

Launchpad left the Gator outside and stormed into the hanger. “Why am I always so stupid?!” Forget the planes. He just wanted to find something to throw.

Until he stepped inside. He’d forgotten how pristine his parents’ hanger was. Unlike the dilapidated hanger he’d been able to afford in Saint Canard, this was tidy and immaculate. Every plane was clean and painted. Every tool had its place, outlined in white paint on the numerous tool boards, so there could be no excuse to not put them back where they belonged.

The nostalgia hit him like a slap in the chest. This was where his love for aeroplanes had started, and grown. And it was impossible to separate those feelings from memories of his family, being here with him, and sharing every triumph and crash along the way. He’d missed this place. He wished he’d come back sooner. Launchpad gulped at the lump in his throat. “Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Why am I always so stupid?”

The only clutter was on the work bench in one corner, which had a half pulled apart piece of equipment on it. And beside the work bench, his father’s desk. It had been there for as long as Launchpad could remember. The diagrams and spreadsheets and post its stuck above it would inevitable change, and accumulate, but they were all along the same theme. Ripcord tracked every scrap of maintenance information to do with every plane in the hanger, at least until his wife told him to get rid of all that useless paper and he’d cut it back down to a more reasonable level. There was certainly a degree of organisation to it, be it something only his father could really follow. But, seriously, talk about overkill.

Launchpad picked up the maintenance drawings left out on the very top of the pile. Despite his annoyance at his father’s over-complication of what should be a simple task, this was the easiest way to see which plane Mom and Dad were currently working on.

“Okay, I get you’re ticked at Mom and Dad. But if you screw around with Dad’s paperwork he is really going to lose it.”

Launchpad dropped the paper back in its spot. “I wasn’t going to.” He turned to face his sister and flung a hand out at the wall behind him. “I can’t believe he’s still doing this.”

“I told him last time I visited I could help him computerise it,” said Loopey. “But I think he likes it all out where he can see it.”

“That’s not what I meant. They’ve barely got a dozen planes. How much time does he waste with this?”

Loopey raised an eyebrow. “Not everyone runs their planes to failure.”

Launchpad snorted. “I do not run my planes to failure. I run them until they crash. Then I have to repair it all anyway. That seems to keep on top of it.”

Loopey shrugged, then rubbed her arm. “Listen, I didn’t know Mom and Dad lied to get you here. I’m sorry.”

Launchpad leaned back against the desk. “Its not that they lied. It’s just… I was worried! But they’re not bothered by the other LP at all. I think Mom may have scared him into behaving himself. They don’t need me to keep him in line. And I just… I wasn’t ready for this. I came out in a rush. If he wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have even come!”

“You think, maybe, that’s why they weren’t honest? I know the last few times I’ve visited, they missed you. Especially Dad.”

He wanted to say it was complicated. That they’d end up asking too many questions, and he just wasn’t smart enough to make up something which wouldn’t put DW in a spot. “Yeah, well, looks like Dad’s got a replacement now, so.”

“Oh, Launchpad. Really?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m being childish. But I didn’t want to disappoint Dad and I knew he’d be upset that I haven’t seen him, or hardly spoken to him. I knew it was going to be awkward. But then he was there with the other Launchpad he just seemed… fine… and I wanted to be able to talk to him like that, but there’s all this… stuff… we’d have to go through first. I was going to come back at some stage. It’s just… hard. And now everything’s blown up. What am I supposed to do?”

Loopey put an arm around his shoulders. “Come on, lets take the planes out. You need to clear your head. By the time we get back, Dad’ll have calmed down too. I think you two just need to sit down and talk, you know. It’ll be fine. He’s just a big softie who hoards maintenance manuals. It won’t be as bad as you think, I promise.”

Launchpad smiled faintly. “Yeah, maybe. Lets do that. For so long I’ve just been flying the…” Thunderquack. He cut himself off with a gulp.

Loopey chewed her lip. “Whatever you’re doing right now, Mom and Dad are going to be proud of you.”

Yeah. If only he could tell them.

“Come on. You pick first. Hint: make sure its something small and manoeuvrable. There’s a place I really want to show you.”

***

“If its trouble you’re looking for, I’ve got a few ideas.”

Gosalyn whirled around at the familiar voice, fists bunched.

The Negaverse Launchpad leaned on the porch railing behind her, twirling an unlit cigarette in his fingers. She hadn’t even heard him approach. “I mean, I kind of owe you one. That was getting awkward. I’ll help Gosalyn find the snacks was a perfect excuse to get out of there.”

“You don’t fool me one bit.”

“You don’t like me very much, do you?”

“You beat up Launchpad!” Gosalyn jabbed a finger back at the house. “I bet you didn’t tell his parents THAT, did you?”

The cigarette slowed in its dance about his fingers, and Launchpad looked down at his boots. “I did, actually. Brought Mrs McQuack to tears. And the look on Mr McQuack’s face… I thought he was going to punch me. And I would’ve let him. But, of course, he didn’t. At least I know where Launchpad got his good heart from. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me these last few months if it weren’t for these guys.”

“What you did was still wrong. And mean.”

“I know. But Launchpad and me, we’ve already talked about this. I apologised, and he accepted it. At least, I thought he had.” Launchpad pulled out his lighter, paused, then headed off the porch and down the front path. He looked back over his shoulder. “Well, are you coming? Mrs McQuack will kill me if I light up right outside the house.”

Gosalyn chewed her lip. Awkward adult conversation, or the seedy guy her Dad definitely would not want her hanging out with alone? There was really no contest. She leapt down the front steps and jogged to catch up with him.

Launchpad grinned at her.

“Don’t look so smug. I said I’d be watching you. I can’t watch you if I just let you wander off, now can I?”

The Negaverse Launchpad shrugged. He lit up as they walked, then pointed to a churned up section of dirt just beyond the greener gardens surrounding the house. “That was where I landed when I crashed here.”

“I bet you don’t crash as good as Launchpad.”

“I thought I did a pretty good job for my first time. And with a snapped arm.”

Gosalyn immediately stared at his arm.

Launchpad flexed his hand with a slight wince. “It’s getting there.”

“How’d you snap your arm in an aeroplane?

“Genius that I am, I thought it’d be fun to hang out with air pirates. I figured they’d be a little nicer over in your dimension. They were, sort of. Unfortunately, thanks to your Launchpad, I think I’m developing a conscience. They were nicer, at least until you call them on their crap and tell them you’re leaving.”

“And they broke your arm…?”

“No. I broke it punching my way out of a poorly constructed jail cell so I could steal my aeroplane back.”

“Ow?”

“Yeah.” Launchpad sucked on his cigarette. Smoke wafted from his nostrils as he spoke. “But I’ll be damned if I let anybody else bully me into staying somewhere I don’t want to be.”

Gosalyn kicked at a stone along the dirt track. Launchpad had explained to her, back when he’d come back home after setting up his double with his own plane, why he’d done something nice for the guy who’d beat him up so bad it’d left him sobbing on their living room sofa. But she wanted to hear it straight from the source. “Launchpad said Negaduck wasn’t very nice to you.”

Launchpad looked away. “No, he wasn’t.”

“So what did…”

“Did you want to get into some trouble or not?”

Gosalyn scowled at him, then folded his arms. Fine, he could change the subject. She didn’t have to make it easy for him though. “I don’t know. You are still Launchpad, sort of. I don’t think you’d be game to get into my kind of trouble.”

Launchpad snorted smoke, and laughed. “Seriously, kiddo?”

“Launchpad won’t even play baseball in the house with me.”

“I ain’t your Launchpad.”

“Oh yeah? You wouldn’t even smoke outside the McQuack’s house because you’re scared you’re going to get in trouble with Launchpad’s Mom. So what have you got to offer?”

“There’s an art to getting into trouble that I’m only now starting to understand since I left the Negaverse. Over there, you can cause as much chaos as you want. Especially if you work for…” He swallowed, then covered it with a cough. “Well, over here, there’s an art. I’m not scared of the McQuacks. They’ve just been really nice to me and I don’t want to upset them by setting things on fire in their front garden. But that doesn’t mean I can’t set things on fire.” He winked. “They just can’t find out.”

“Hmm. I think you just don’t want them to yell at you.”

Launchpad shrugged. “That too.”

“So, we’re going to set something on fire?”

Launchpad rubbed at his beak, then snapped his fingers. “No. I think you’d like the potato gun.”

“There’s a gun for shooting potatoes? What did the potatoes do?”

“Not for shooting potatoes. For shooting potatoes. AT things. And because if I brought an actual rocket launcher onto their property I would definitely get kicked out.”

Gosalyn’s eyes widened. “Keen gear.”

***

As the two planes - one red, one pink - climbed into the air, Launchpad felt the lead in his stomach start to dissolve. The wind whipped through his feathers and blew his scarf back. It was cold and clean and it tore away at the last shreds of exhaustion better than any cup of coffee could. This was what he’d been missing in the Thunderquack.

Loopey’s bright pink plane pulled ahead of him. She waggled her wings, then tapped the side of her head.

Launchpad adjusted his headset.

“… still testing,” his sister’s voice came through the radio. “Hey, you big doofus. Loopey is the best.”

“Yes, I can hear you now. Squirt.”

Loopey snorted. “Seriously. I am not twelve anymore.”

“Gee, I don’t know…”

“I’m assuming you’re feeling better? You seem to have your sense of humour back.”

Launchpad settled into level flight. “Yeah. Thanks for this. I really needed it.”

“Good. Now, try to keep up.” Loopey dropped her plane down to skim the desert floor and accelerated.

Launchpad fell in behind her. His sister flew deliberately; she definitely had a place in mind. He followed her silently for a few moments, thinking. Where the heck had he not flown around his parents’ place? Sure, he’d left long before his little sister had been old enough that they could go out flying together, by themselves. Some new obstacle was not just going to grow out of the desert floor. Unless… “Loopey?”

“Yeah?”

“Where are you taking me?”

“The canyon.”

It was the only place he could think of. But hearing Loopey actually say it still made Launchpad baulk. “Woah. Wait. The canyon?”

Loopey laughed. “Oh wow. Serious deja vu, big brother. You say that just like Dad used to.”

“Um, yeah. When he told us never to go fly there.”

“Yeah. When we were kids. We’re not kids anymore.”

Launchpad frowned. His sister had a point. “What was the reason he didn’t like it again?”

“He never said. Look, its a tight canyon. If you behave like an idiot, or you’re fifteen and don’t really know what you’re doing, you’re going to get in trouble. I’m not surprised he didn’t want his teen-aged kids flying through there and getting hurt. But we’re both adults now. We’ve got thousands of hours under the belt between us. We know what we’re doing. I’ve been dozens of times. You know, when I actually come to visit our parents. And… maybe once… when I was a teenager…”

Launchpad snorted. “Loopey!”

“Don’t you dare tell Dad that last bit!”

“Heh. I’m glad we’re on our channel.”

“He was just worried about us getting hurt. You know what he’s like. Trust me, it’s fine.”

“So, they know you go there now?”

“No, are you kidding?”

Launchpad laughed. “Okay, yeah. I think if I go to the scary forbidden canyon behind Dad’s back I can probably just about manage to talk to him when I get back without acting like a three year old. Get the rebellion out of my system. Thanks, Loopey. You really are the best.”

“And don’t you forget it. Okay. There it is. Two o'clock.”

A sheer cliff rose out of the desert surface. Loopey banked towards the crack she’d indicated and Launchpad followed, tight on her tail.

“It varies in height. But deep enough for two planes, so skilled pilots such as ourselves should be able to pass. It you decide you need to bail, check what’s up there first, or you’ll clip your wing on a branch or a rock or something growing over the edge. There’s a few narrow bits. But if you just concentrate, and stay on the line, you’ll be fine.”

The desert sped past beneath them; the crack raced towards them. “Got it.”

“Oh yeah,” his sister said as she lined her plane up with the entrance. “It’s a race.” She darted into the gap.

“Hey! Little sneak!” Launchpad didn’t bother sending the message through the radio. He grinned and barreled in behind his sister.

A pink tail darted around the first bend. Launchpad floored it, and concentrated on eating up the distance. She’d gained a slight lead. And her flying had gotten better since he’d last seen her. Her plane swayed along with the undulations of the canyon, perfectly in rhythm. She’d definitely done this before.

But the canyon walls were no tighter, comparatively speaking, to threading the Thunderquack through the skyscrapers of Saint Canard. Launchpad did that every second night. If he didn’t need to cover for DW, he could’ve told his sister that. Launchpad shook off the thought. He kept on her tail, cutting the corners tighter and tighter.

He saw his chance, he dipped the plane down, wheels just clearing the rocks below, and swooped underneath her, taking the lead. “Hah! You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to beat the great Launchpad Mc…”

Loopey shot clear over his head, did a complete sideways roll, rocked left and right, then angled her plane at the last minute to clear the next bend.

“Show off!” Launchpad drew in a breath and focused. He’d underestimated his little sister. But, like most people, he doubted she had as much experience crashing as he did. And experience crashing meant he had experience getting close to a crash without freaking out.

She knew the bends, but she was not getting anywhere near as close to those rocks as Launchpad knew he could. He caught up quickly. The canyon decreased in depth. Loopey was keeping down low, so he pulled up above her. His wings were about a foot or two from the top of the canyon. If he had to bail, he’d lose the race on a technicality. But the position meant he could also keep his sister from pulling any fancy moves on him.

“Launchpad, pull up! I’ve got to clear that…”

Now that was just low. There was plenty of room to… Launchpad saw the rock jutting out of the canyon wall, down at his sister’s level. In the position he’d forced her into, it’d cleave off half her wing.

Launchpad yanked up on the control yoke, at the exact moment his sister slammed her upper wing into his wheels. He shot out and over the edge of the canyon. Below him came the scrape of tortured metal and pulverised rock billowed up into the air. “Loopey!”

Launchpad banked his plane around, bleeding off speed as quickly as he could. He still shot back over the canyon far too fast. A flash of pink caught his eye, bouncing along the canyon floor, but disappeared again just as quickly.

Launchpad scrambled for his headset. “Loopey, Loopey! Come in. Are you okay?” Then he yanked his finger off the send button, leaving the channel open, and forced himself to wait.

The siblings’ channel, the one they’d used ever since their parents had given them their first two-way radio set, and they’d called each other from either end of the house, was filled with nothing but static.

“No, no, no…” Launchpad banked around again and landed the plane. He trundled right up to the canyon’s edge and leapt out, heart hammering in his chest. He cupped his hands to his beak. “Loopey!”

He caught sight of her plane below. The dents of his wheels were in her upper wing. The very edge of her wing had been sheared clean off. The canyon wall wasn’t that steep. He could climb down. Launchpad alternated between sliding and grabbing for handholds. His shoulder slammed into the dirt behind him in his rush and he skidded the last few feet down.

He was on his feet in an instant and ran for Loopey’s plane. “Loopey!”

Loopey leaned heavily against the side of her plane, hugging herself and drawing in steadying breaths.

Launchpad barrelled into her. “Loopey, I’m so so sorry.”

Loopey threw her arms around his neck. “The hell were you doing, Launchpad? I was telling you to pull up.”

“I know,” Launchpad sniffed, face buried against her hair. “I thought you were messing with me so I’d lose.”

“Not with something like that.”

“I know.”

Loopey pushed him gently back. Launchpad cupped a hand to her cheek and wiped away a stray tear from her feathers. “Please don’t cry.”

“Pft.” Loopey waved his hand away. “I just scared the crap out of myself. Besides, you are too you big dummy.”

Launchpad rubbed at his eyes, then turned his attention to Loopey’s plane. “Well, you managed to land in a canyon. That’s… impressive.”

“I cleared most of that rock after I had to ram you out of my way. Still clipped the wing though. That tends to slow you down pretty quick.”

“You’re not going to be able to fly that back, you know. Even if we fix it, we can’t take off in here.”

Both of the siblings turned to each other and winced.

Loopey snapped her fingers. “The jeep. It’ll be able to tow it out. And we can bring the parts to fix the wing. Just need some sealant and we can bolt or rivet that loose strut back down.”

“We can climb back out of the canyon. I’ll fly you back. We might just be able to get it back before Mom and Dad find out.” Dad. Launchpad groaned. “I think I need to sit down.”

“Woah, hang on.” They both sat in the shade under Loopey’s wing. She put an arm around his shoulder. “You okay?”

“I don’t know what’s scarier. The thought of facing Dad, or nearly killing my little sister.”

“Hey, this was not all your fault. This was super dumb. I should’ve at least taken you though the canyon to scout it out before we tried racing each other. That bit of rock I nearly ran into… it wasn’t even there last time. Something must’ve shifted.”

They sat under the wing for a few minutes more. Launchpad felt his heart starting to still. Well, turned out crashing was a whole lot scarier when someone you cared about was doing it. Who knew? They still had to get that plane back without letting their parents know what they’d done. It still set him on edge. But… it was better than the alternative.

“Hey, Launchpad?” Loopey said eventually.

“Yeah?”

“You know that awkward moment when you realise your parents were right?”

Launchpad groaned and put his face in his hands.

***

Chapter 4

[jarmes]

Red vs Blue is going to be a curbstomp on behalf of the Blue Team. At the end of the last episode, the core three members of each team were shown. Let's do a little analysis:

RED

Sarge:

Sarge's greatest strength is his courage, shown best in him standing down the Meta in season 8. He also survived a sniper round to the head, which is impressibe, but it knocked him out, which is basically death in a fight. But, beyond having planet sized balls, Sarge is really just a guy with a shotgun.

Simmons:

Simmons is probably the weakest red, with no unique combat feats. He does wield a rocket launcher, which is nice, but he's never shown to be particularly adept with it. He's the red team's tech guy, yes, but he's nothing compared to Epsilon.

Grif:

By far the toughest of the Reds. Grif has insane durability feats, like the time he got blown up and thrown off the vahlalla base, or getting punched by tex a dozen times. Grif also has access to future cubes and the disintegration gun, which are the only way the Reds could take out certain blues. If they give the reds the jeep, Grif and Simmons are deadly together. But, that would presumably mean that the blues get Shiela, who is deadlier.

BLUE

Church/Epsilon:

Classic Church is useless in combat. But, if they allow his reincarnation Epsilon, Church is the most dangerous member of the original cast, basically immortal and able to control minds. He also has the ability to amplify other characters's abilities tenfold.

Tucker:

Tucker is consistently shown to be the best fighter of the sim troopers, having held up against the Meta the longest, fought Felix toe to toe, defeated Wyoming, and survived against CT for months. He's a master sniper and wields a sword that negates the Reds' armor. And if they give him the Hephestus (Meta) Armor...

Caboose:

Caboose is the physically strongest sim trooper. He's dumb, but he can slaughter entire armies if angry (something Epsilon can make him instantly). In addition, his Freckles Rifle makes him the best shot on the team.Now, there are other team members not shown in Venom v Crona, but that would only make things better for the Blues

RED Backup

Donut:

The deadliest of the reds. Almost as tough as Griff, and able to throw grenades with deadshot accuracy from half a mile away.

Lopez:

Tough to kill, but easy to behead. Little combat experience.

BLUE Backup

Tex:

An unstopable killing machine that once defeated the entire core red team, plus tucker, without breaking a sweat. Even if they don't give her superstrength, she's still the best fighter of the original cast.

Wash:

Wash isn't very flashy, but he's still a freelancer, and a better all around fighter than any of the Reds.

Carolina:

Stronger than the meta and tex, both of whom defeated all of the reds with ease. Nuff said.

Sister:

Not really great in a fight, but she'd keep Grif from fighting back.

TL;DR Red is dead

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Diversion

...

...

...

*After a brief moment of waiting, Miu suddenly shoots up her flare, and Maki, Himiko and Mukuro spot it.

Gotcha! Let’s go!

Right!

Yeah!

*The three of them rush into the main lot...However...

...

Now what?

There...should be guards here...

Do you think...Whoever beat us here took them out?

Took us out? Whatever do you mean?

Huh!?

N-No...that voice...

I don’t quite know what happened to those previous intruders, but maybe they just went home...Who really knows?

But well...Puhu...Puhuhuhuhu...I guess we’ll play with you for a while...!

I-It’s!

RAWR!

MONOKUMA!!

And they’ve got guns!

Puhuhu!

*The small army is made of at least 7 Monokuma’s. The all open fire upon the three of them!

Nyeh!

Maki! Get Himiko to cover! I’ll handle this!

But...

It’s ok...I helped build these assholes...

I can take them apart just as easily...

*As the Monokuma’s shoot her, Mukuro serpentines and avoids the bullet fire. She pulls out her knife and carves the first one she reaches in half.

Grrr....Rawr!

PUHUHUHU!

There’s more!?

*As soon as Mukuro destroys the one, about another 100 Monokuma robots come pouring out of the base’s buildings.

Is Mukuro...gonna be alright?

...I think she’ll be fine but still...take this...

I’ve never used a gun before though...!

First time for everything...!

*Maki and Himiko use Miu’s electroguns to shoot the Monokuma’s from a vantage point. Surprisingly enough, they drop like flies.

Hyah! RHA! 

Oop!

Grah!

*Some of the Monokuma’s try to attack Mukuro with their claws, but she blocks their attacks with the knife and then decapitates and dissects all of them. One by one, the Monokuma robots keep being destroyed. Suddenly...

What the...!?

Puhuhuhu!

What!? That one has a rocket launcher!

Shit...!

Himiko, stay here!

Nyeh!?

*Maki suddenly leaps off of the vantage point, and jumps between Mukuro and the Rocket Monokuma as it fires...

What the-!?

RAGH!

*Maki dashes towards the Monokuma and slices the rockets in half, one by one. When they’re all down, she slices the Rocket Monokuma apart.

Wow...I uh...Thanks for the save...

No problem...

Hey! Is that all you got!?

*In place of an answer, a large, heavy door opens up and some weird creatures come rolling out.

Puhuhuhu!

*Sigh* You had to ask...Ball Monokuma’s...

How many variants of that damn bear are there!?

Most of these new ones are by Monaca Towa...Junko’s protoge basically...

HEY!

Huh!?

Hey, dumb ball things!

Oho!?

Catch me if you can!

Puhuhuhu!

*Taunted by her, all the ball Monokuma’s start to chase Himiko.

NYEEEEEEEEEEEEHHH!

What the hell is she doing!?

Distracting them! Shoot them now!

Right!

*As Himiko diverts their attention, Maki and Mukuro use the electroguns to destroy the balls.

PUHUHUHUHU!

NYEEEH!

Himiko!

*One of the ball Monokuma’s catches up to Himiko and almost flattens her, but Maki kicks it so hard, it goes flying and smashes apart when it impacts.

Huff...huff...huff...

Are you ok!? That was really dangerous!

Worried about me, huh?

Well, I at least ran off the pizza I had for dinner...

Heh...

Guys...I don’t mean to break this up...but do you hear that?

Hm?

*Maki and Himiko listen out at Mukuro’s words, and then suddenly, another large iron door opens to reveal...

RAGH!

That’s it...THAT’S an exisal...

I uh...I think I’ll retreat for this one...

It’s fine. We can take it. I’ve blown up tanks bigger than this thing...

*The exisal takes a downward swing at Mukuro with its left hand. She dodges, but it tries to shoot her with it’s gun arm. She dodges that too, but due to her momentum, she is hit back.

Gah!

Hey! You’ll pay for that!

Rah!

Nyah!

There’s more of them...Dammit!

Guh...huh?

Hm...

This’ll work. Hey Maki! Catch!

Huh?

*Mukuro reaches into the body of one of the Monokuma’s and pulls out it’s bomb. She chucks the bomb to Maki, who deactivates it and throws it at one of the three exisals. It blows up and is destroyed.

Hah!

*Maki rushes up to another exisal and jumps on it’s head. She then grabs her knife and stabs it into the open circuitry. She then moves the knife, which steers the exisal, and she moves it towards a large construction crevasse in the ground. Before it falls, she jumps off it. 

Mukuro! How are things on your-

*Maki is cut off as she looks back towards Mukuro, who is already standing on top of the broken up exisal.

Piece of cake...

Haha...

Yeah! Go team!

Well...I didn’t really do anything...

Other than stupidly make all those balls chase you.

Hey, that was brave as it was reckless...

*Suddenly, more doors open up, and more Monokuma’s come pouring out. Within a few minutes, the three of them are surrounded...

Tch...more of them!?

If this keeps up...the three of us won’t be able to handle this on our own...

I’m already tired...

Yeah, I’m getting exhausted too...

Dammit...

Puhuhuhuhu!

PUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU!

*The Monokuma’s draw closer and closer, their claws and weapons at the ready. Mukuro, Maki and Himiko stand in the middle of them all, helpless...until...

YOWZA!

Huh!?

*The Monokuma’s start to explode from the back as someone shoots them. Every one of the Monokuma’s turn towards the entrance to the lot, where the gunfire originated from.

C’mon! Light those fuckers up!

*An army of human soldiers suddenly start rushing into the lot.

What?!

Hey, who the hell are you guys?

Stand down...these guys are friendlies...

Who the hell-!?

Maki. Don’t worry, these guys are on our side...I think?

You Future Foundation people shouldn’t be here...

Well, I’m glad you Kisaragi Foundation guys are...

Kisaragi Foundation? You mean that other organisation that’s kinda like ours?

Yes, that’s the one.

Sir. There appear to be more coming...

Let us help out. The more the merrier, right?

Sure, fine...By the way, is it just you three?

No. We’re just a diversion. We have friends on the inside trying to infiltrate the base...

I see...very well...

*Tsurugi reaches for his radio.

Maki!

Huh? How do you-!?

There are people inside the base that need backup. Can you handle it? We’ve got everything covered here...

Officer Kinjo. These bastards are gonna keep coming.

Well, I don’t expect any casualties Iranami! You got it!?

Yes sir!

[razieltwelve]

Swords (Final Effect)

Commander Jane Shepard (promotion currently under consideration) ducked behind a wall as another hail of projectiles hurtled down the corridor. In the aftermath of the Reaper War, space pirates and raiders had become for more bold due to the losses the major powers had suffered. It was up to her and other elite agents to deal with them since the major powers were still struggling to recoup their losses.

It had gotten bad enough that the Systems Alliance had asked the Empire for assistance although they had been careful about rewording it as ‘cooperative training exercises’ for the press to avoid inciting a panic. Personally, Shepard would have been perfectly happy telling some of the more overzealous members of the Empire to go nuts since they apparently had a long-standing grudge against space pirates. However, the higher ups did not want to appear weak with negotiations underway.

Honestly, it was ridiculous. Even if the Systems Alliance had been at full strength, the Empire could have crushed them without breaking a sweat. Oh well. At least dealing with space pirates took her mind off the fact that she would soon be swapping her armour for her dress uniform since she was, apparently, someone the Empire had come to respect greatly, and her superiors wanted her to participate in some of the negotiations.

“Can someone clear those pirates out?” Shepard asked over the comms. “I’d rather not stick my head around the corner and get it blown off by a rocket launcher.”

In response to her words, several glowing spears flew down the corridor, turned the corner, and then hurtled into the pirates before exploding. She rolled her eyes. Honestly, Celeste was just showing off now. The pink-haired Dia-Farron had the ability to create Aura construct in just about any shape she wanted that she could manoeuvre with incredible speed, accuracy, and precision.

“Consider them cleared out,” Celeste murmured as she walked past Shepard. The hamster on her shoulder squeaked a greeting and rubbed his paws together in glee. Knowing him, he was looking forward to looting the corpses. The pirates might not have advanced technology, but the Dia-Farron had made a point of collecting any technology they encountered. “Are you coming?”

Shepard laughed. “Right behind you.”

“Of course.” Celeste inclined her head. Like most Dia-Farron, the power armour she wore was dominated by shades of pink, orange, green, and blue. It looked a bit odd, and it was absolutely lacking in anything even approaching subtlety, but she doubted Celeste cared. “Do you want a weapon?”

Shepard grinned. This was why she loved working with Celeste. “Twin swords, monomolecular edges.”

Celeste waved one hand, and a pair of glowing swords with monomolecular edges appeared. “There you go.”

Shepard heft the weapons, and her grin widened. Celeste had weighted them to feel just like real swords. “Some covering fire while I close in would be appreciated.”

Celeste snapped one finger. A series of glowing blades thundered into the makeshift barricade the space pirates had tossed up. The barricade came apart in a shower of mangled metal, and Shepard gave a savage smile as she raced forward. There was nothing quite like fighting the enemy face to face.

As she ran, Shepard took a moment to appreciate her armour. The Dia-Farron had worked on it. They had, apparently, only used technology that the Systems Alliance was capable of replicating in the near future, but the suit was far, far, far better than it had originally been. It seemed to anticipate her movements, and the servos built into it amplified her strength without hindering her speed or agility. Without her suit, Shepard was one of the deadliest humans alive. With it? She was a living chainsaw.

She struck the pirates in a blur of motion. One sword whipped up and forward, and the pirate - a Batarian - was cleaved in two. Using her other sword to relieve another pirate of his weapon - and the arm that was holding it - she spun and decapitated a pair of pirates that had tried to sneak up on her. Fully immersed in the thrill of combat, she pressed on, ducking several shots, before she leapt, twisting in mid-air to kick off the ceiling and land right in the middle of the next group of pirates.

With terrifying ease, she sliced and diced her way down the corridor. The glowing Aura construct blades seamlessly cut through everything they encountered as she decided to put some of her lessons with Celeste to work. The Empire placed a far greater emphasis on melee combat than most factions, and the moment she’d found out that Celeste was considered a master of several dozen different weapons, she had immediately badgered the other woman into teaching her whenever she had the chance.

The ultimate objective of all weapons forms in the Empire was to become formless, capable of adjusting to any situation and exploiting any weaknesses or flaws in the opponent. However, attaining formlessness required absolute mastery of form. Celeste had picked out several styles that she thought would suit Shepard best, and Shepard had worked tirelessly to incorporate them into her fighting.

Her favourite form was the one she was using now, something Celeste referred to as the Intercepting Blade. It was a style that relied on speed, precision, and above all anticipation. The ability to read the opponent’s movements and then react, striking before they could react or adjust was crucial. Given how quick Shepard was, as well as her instinctive grasp of combat, it was a style she had quickly grown to love.

A slight twitch of her next opponent’s arm gave his moves away, and she used her superior speed to kill him before he could do anything more than start his attack. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a trio of pirates, and she guessed their intentions. She threw herself sideways and let the devices built into her boots grasp onto the wall. Running sideways along the wall, she parted one pirate’s head from his shoulder and then let herself fall, rolling under a shotgun blast before springing up and bisecting the shooter as she soared over him and landed behind the final pirate. He turned, knife flashing toward her throat, but she was ready. She parried the blow with one sword and then gutted him as he skidded past.

Silence reigned for a moment in the corridor before one of the pirates, who had somehow managed to survive being cut almost in half, raised his weapon in trembling hands - only to be pinned to the wall by an Aura construct spear through the eye. The weapon dropped out of his hands, and Celeste chuckled.

“You missed one.” At Celeste’s feet, her hamster was busy scanning the pirate’s equipment and packing it away into one of his subspace pockets. When one of the other pirates twitched, the hamster squeaked and fired a thin beam of electricity into the downed Batarian. Shepard had learned the hard way that war hamsters were deadly even without transforming. Celeste’s lips twitched. “And was all of the flipping and twirling really necessary?”

Shepard chuckled. “Not all of us can just point and have a storm of swords impale our opponents.” 

Celeste shrugged. “I won’t argue with that.” She summoned a glowing sword for herself and leapt to cut a hole in the ceiling. Several corpses tumbled down. There had been pirates crawling through an air duct. “But this facility really does have a lot of pirates in it. It’s rather aggravating.”

“It’s easy pickings with so few ships able to patrol at the moment.” Shepard knelt beside one of the bodies and frowned. She’d seen quite a few pirates wearing these badges. The last thing they needed was for the pirates to organise into proper groups instead of haphazard raiding parties. “By the way, you never did tell me who devised the Intercepting Blade.”

“Oh?” Celeste grinned. “The Intercepting Blade is a style that is heavily based on the techniques and tactics used by Saviour. To be honest, you really need some form of precognition or prediction to use it to its full potential.”

“Saviour?” Shepard’s brows furrowed. “As in the Semblance the Fleet Admiral has?”

“Yes. Maybe you'll get to see her use it someday, but I doubt there’s anything in this galaxy strong enough to warrant it.”

“Not even a Reaper?”

“Oh, she could kill one of those easily enough with her Semblance, but we’ve got other things that can do that too as you know. However, there are things back home that we do need Saviour to kill. Hopefully, none of those show up.”

“Let’s hope so.” Shepard shuddered. Some of the stories she’d heard about the Grimm made the Reapers seem positively pedestrian in comparison. Swarms numbering trillions of Grimm, some of which could consume solar systems? Insanity. “So are there any more pirates around?”

Celeste shook her head. “I’ve had my drones scan the rest of the facility. There aren’t any living pirates around. However, there are some personnel holed up in one of the more remote wings of the facility, so we should go tell them it’s safe to come out.”

“Ah. Right.” Shepard glanced at the two glowing swords she was holding. “Thanks for the swords, by the way.”

“It’s fine.” The swords vanished, and Celeste began to walk down the corridor with her hamster perched on her shoulder. “Weapons are meant to be used, and you looked as though you were really enjoying yourself. I’ll have to see if i can get you a plasma sabre.”

“A plasma sabre? I’m assuming that’s basically a sword made of plasma, right?”

“Basically. I won’t get into the specifics, but that’s pretty much correct. You’re not technically supposed to get one since it’ll be a while since your people get close to developing any, but I can handle the paperwork to authorise it.”

Shepard couldn’t wait. “You know, Liara thinks I’m becoming even more obsessed with weapons now that you guys are around.”

“I’m a Dia-Farron. True, I come from the more sensible side of the family, but I can hardly complain. When I was growing up, my cousins spent most of their free time building weapons that could smash cities. By the time I was an adult, they’d moved up to constructing planet-cracking weapons that were, technically, illegal but it wasn’t like anyone else in the family was going to say anything because everyone else was doing it too.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

A Shepard’s work is never done.

You can find me on fanfiction.net, AO3, and Amazon. Please check out my newest story on Amazon. It’s called Monster Whisperer.

[daysasunder]

If you're doing prompts still please x: You're a new hunter and Cayde-6 teaches you how to use a bow

As someone who is still mourning Cayde-6 I am going to make this a ode to the moron of morons. 

This also came out wayyyyy different then i thought it would... and also a lot longer. Whoops! 

Sorry if this wasn’t what you had in mind but this is what my brain made ¯(°_o)/¯

(also thank you for asking a prompt, im not popular so youre the only person who asked anything (ﾉﾟ0ﾟ)ﾉ)

It looked to be about mid-day when Z got to the EDZ. 

A weird communication sent to her ghost, Luna, had them leaving Titan early. Trying to find more of the weird spiral things that Sloane wants in exchange for different gear. Its a process that has had Z and Luna going into weird places all around the barges and into the deeper parts of the archaology.

This caused them to find more of the weird orange things, but it also go Z killed a lot. If it not being that accidentally killed herself with the rocket launcher. Getting swarmed by the hive. Or jumping off something she couldn’t survive the fall from. (Okay, some of them she knew she couldn’t survive but it was still worth trying.) 

Learning her powers given to her by the traveler … was interesting. Is the easiest way to put it. Z was only a few weeks old technically from her re-birth? Rise from the dead? Un-deading?

Z has to think that out off all the planets she’s gone to so far, Titan is her least favorite. If only because the Hive and the fact that their screams pierce her ears and make her freeze up every time shes heard them so far. 

Z shivered at that thought. 

“You ok, Z?” Luna noticed the shiver, whoops. 

Not wanting to worry her ghost, Z gave a nod and picking up the pace as she and Luna trucked on words to the location on her hud. 

Luna filled the silence with her chatter. Z not really being a talker so far, which she feels a little rude to her ghost, but her ghost told her its normal. Other Guardians also didn’t talk much when they were first brought back. It’s a process. To figure out who you are now that you’re a guardian. 

“Oh- look we’re here!” Luna exclaimed when they stopped. 

It was a base camp? Or what looked to be the remains of one. Everything was blown up and or scorched. Although it didn’t look recent… more like it happened then nothing. Odd? Or was this a normal occurrence in the EDZ? 

“This is odd, but these are the coordinates. Could this have been a mistake? Or a prank?” Luna twisted around Z’s head trying to figure out what was happening and if they’d just brought into an ambush. 

Then they heard a chuckle from above them. 

While Z may be a new guardian, these past few weeks had her get ingrained into grabbing her gun at any sound. (This may have also gotten her in trouble at the tower. She may or may not have shot a warlock … or 3. When they came up from behind her while she was looking at something. It wasn’t on purpose and they understood what it was like. Still. Not a good thing.) 

Pointing her hand cannon at the sound, ready to shoot. The person they saw wasn’t who they were expecting. 

There in the tree leaning against one of the branches was the Hunter Vanguard- Cayde-6. 

Z has met Cayde-6 2 other times. When she was first brought to the tower and given armor and the whole city spiel. The second time when he was running away from someone in the tower to the city. The rumor channel said that Cayde had catapulted a chicken at Commander Zavala. He was running away to make sure he wouldn’t become Cayde-7. 

Which brings the question…

“How did they let you leave the tower?” Luna asking the burning question that was on both their minds. Letting Cayde leave the tower always spells trouble. Or at least that’s whats told to all the guardians and from what’s she’s learned. There is a reason for it. 

“First of all- that’s hurtful. I come here in peace to see how one of my newest hunters is fairing as a kinder guardian and I am immediately attacked. I was worried you ‘ya know. Of course I worry about all my hunters but the new ones, WHEW. Those guys can get into trouble fast and often.” Cayde jumps down from the tree and puts both his hands over what Z assumes to be an EXO’s heart, “They make me so proud. It almost brings a tear to my eye.” An over dramatic sniffle and wipe across his eye follows. 

“Well that is unless you’re them, but they just go into head first into anything and come out.” Cayde crossed his arms over his chest and gave a thoughtful nod. 

“Them?” Luna asked. 

Cayde’s face hardened and he gave the two of them a once over. Like he was trying to see in side them. Who they were… what they were… why they were who they were. Which when being the Hunter Vanguard and to have lived as long as he had. He’s looking for something specific. 

Whatever it seemed like Cayde was looking for, maybe he found it. 

“The Greatest guardian to ever live, and lucky they’re on our side.” 

Our side? 

Z noticed Luna about to ask. Z shook her head at Luna. This wasn’t the time to ask about that. At least not yet. 

Deciding to speak, “Why … are you here?” Z’s own voice still sounds weird to her. 

Cayde smiled, “To give you this. Sundance! Can you please do the honors of gracing the other Hunter with her present?” 

A ghost popped up in front of Z.

“Hello! Here’s your delivery!”

Z was so startled that when the ghost transmitted the thing Cayde had brought. Z dropped it straight on to her foot. 

Immediately the pain shot up through her leg and she yelped. Falling down to grab her foot she looked at the thing that dropped on it and almost had half a mind to kick it with her good foot. 

What the hell is that? 

“What is that?” Luna mirrored her thought to the outside world. 

Cayde gave a chuckle, which Z knew wasn’t only for the dumb question. 

“That is a bow.”

A bow?

Cayde walked over to Z and picked up the bow.

“It’s a weapon that not a lot of Guardians use, but seeing how you have knack for precision shooting. Don’t give me that look I’ve been watching you while you were here in the EDZ. Which reminds me we need to get you up to not be able to be trailed easily. What’s your subclass? Gunslinger?”

“Arcstrider.”

Cayde gave Z a look.

“Really? Well every guardian is different and maybe mass destruction is still in your future.”

Z feels very lost from half of this entire conversation. Somehow Z thinks that’s what happens when you talk to Cayde regardless though.

“Well whatever your subclass is. This is how you use a bow. Pull back, aim, and let it go. Not too much different from a gun only that your arms get a work out and you can’t hold the shot for too long. Unless you’ve got the arms for it.” Cayde mimicked what he was saying as he said it.

“You got all that Hunter?”

Z wasn’t sure if it was rhetorical or not but she nodded her head anyway.

“Fantastic! Here now you try.”

Taking the bow back from Cayde. Z got out the … bullets from where they dropped next to her feet. Looked very different from normal bullets but what does Z know? She’s been confused since Cayde showed up.

Following Cayde’s instructions Z shot her first arrow.

It felt slightly more satisfying then shooting a gun for some reason.

“Yeppie! Nice shot! But you know maybe this isn’t a good idea? What if giving all the hunters a bow they become buff enough to be mistaken for titans? Hey Sundance-“

Z took a few more shots with the bow, just getting a feel for the movement. When she noticed there was a toggle on the bow. Not knowing any better she pressed the button. Nothing exploded immediately so Z figured she was in the clear. There was only a little light up on the reticle that had changed anything.

Looking for a target to see with the light up reticle. Z chose a box in the middle of the trees close by. Pulling her arm back and releasing the bullet. The moment it made impact with the box- it exploded. Z dropped the bow on her foot … again.

“WHOA- WHOA! Did you press the button! I didn’t tell you to press the button yet! Why would you press- the trees on fire! THE TREES ARE ON FIRE! GET SOME WATER!”

Z scrambled to find something to get water. Is this why he’s never allowed outside the tower?! The curse of Cayde-6?!

[cleverwolfpoetry]

Psycho-pass Movie Novel Chpt.5 Final part

Where Kougami and Akane meet again, after 142 pages, at exactly half of the book.

translation by cleverwolfpoetry @ https://cleverwolfpoetry.tumblr.com/

3

Shooting down a helicopter type assault drone was unlikely for a regular guerrilla fight. Tsunemori was not a specialist in that field but she knew the efficiency of Japan-made drones.

The light spots of the drones went out one after another.

Rounding his eyes, “…it’s that guy?!”

Nicholas muttered in an annoyed tone.

This time, Tsunemori sensed Kougami’s presence beyond the monitor.

It’s not that it was a proof at the moment. Only, the presentiment of meeting again had run through her heart as quick as lightning.

Kougami put the antimaterial rifle away in its case, locked it and covered the box with a sheet that blocked the electromagnetic waves. It was too heavy to carry but, being a valuable model of rifle, he had planned to pick it up later.

An entire set of equipment for rappelling* had been arranged on the terrace of that building.  A rappelling rope made of reinforced polyester, able to take a load near the 4 tons, was tied to a steel pipe. Kougami grabbed the rope and threaded it through the carabiner --- a ring-like metal fitting used to connect the body to the rope, then attached it to his belt. Without the slightest hesitation, he jumped down from the terrace. With training, men get used even to the fall from a height. Kicking the wall, he fell like he was flying and went to the ground in one go. Unclipped the carabiner, Kougami started to run and got into a light truck parked there in advance. In that vehicle, an assault rifle and a cylinder grenade launcher had been prepared on the passenger seat. While pulling the weapons and taking them on his back, he started the engine. He ran through the ruins at full speed.

While driving, he gave instructions to his comrades through the portable terminal.

“…start the counterattack. Do exactly as I taught you”

 Received Kougami’s instructions, an armed guerrilla’s truck started to run towards the government drone units. On the truck bed, there was an ECM* pod retrieved by the bomber aircrafts. A technical expert positioned on the truck turned on the ECM with a laptop. Doing so, powerful jamming electromagnetic waves were emitted.

Because of that influence, the small drones strayed off course. Lost control, the unmanned aircrafts fell.

 Inside the operational command vehicle Siva, an operator yelled hysterically.

“The small drones are out of control. It’s a jamming device!”

“It doesn’t matter” Nicholas said with a scowl. “The larger drones are stand-alone. They can’t measure the psycho-pass but they’re good as long as the friend or foe system is working”

“That’s exactly what they must have predicted”

Tsunemori chilled him with her words.

“ ! ” Nicholas glared at Tsunemori with hostility.

A drastic change happened on the monitors. The guerrilla had increased its activity.

After securing a safe route by shooting down the helicopters in the assault, the ECM entered the scene. The timing had been calculated −−−. The armed guerrilla men, who were hiding everywhere behind the ruins, started the counterattack appearing all at once. Once again, the guerrilla reinforcements came running on technical vehicles from the suburbs one after another.

Under the ECM jamming, the four-legs tanks Ganeshas had been separated by the operators’ control. Obeying to the algorithm for military use, they began to move in pseudo-autonomy. They tried to point their main guns to the technical vehicles.

At that moment, several guerrilla men threw grenades from the shadows of the ruins. Ordinary grenades wouldn’t have had effect on a Ganesha, but these ones generated a surge current from a high capacity condenser that short-circuited the electronic parts with an electromagnetic pulse.

After a flash of lightning, the Ganeshas and Skandas movement stopped.

“…what was that?”

Nicholas must have seen this weapon for the first time. A clear agitation was written on his face. Despite having the knowledge of that technology inside his head, he had never seen it used for real and couldn’t react promptly.

“An electromagnetic pulse grenade!” Tsunemori shouted irritated.

Listening to that, Nicholas startled checked the status of the drone troops again.

“There’s an electromagnetic shield on the main parts. Start them again immediately!”

“If you have the chance to start the drones again, it’ll be enough!”

Immediately after the pulse grenades, the guerrilla men had suspended the ECM jamming. Keeping in contact through the radio, they moved to counterattack launching the RPGs, antitank rockets, on the Ganeshas’ joints and top armors. During the restart time, the perfectly still drones became TARGETS* for several seconds. The men detonated IEDs (improvised explosive device), roadside bombs made modifying high-explosive shells, and blew away ten Skandas, making them collapse on the road and block the advancing of the armored cars. By the time the restart finished, the guerrilla men had already started to retreat. It’s been a heavy blow for the drones of the government troops −−− so it’s enough, I guess he’s judged like that. The guerrilla’s tactical advisor −−− the chance it’s Kougami Shinya is high −−− he has truly an excellent judgment, Tsunemori thought.  

“We can’t always end up being beaten. Let’s move to the chase!”

Nicholas said exasperated.

The Skandas hit the back of the retreating guerrilla.

They cornered several of those foolish men in a blind alley. The figures of the men throwing away the weapons and pleading for their lives had been displayed on the monitors of the command operational vehicle too. Watching that, Tsunemori noticed sharply “The opponents aren’t resisting!”, but Nicholas wouldn’t listen.

A light truck dashed there and clashed with all its strength on a Skanda that was about to execute some guerrilla men, thrusting it away.

“−−− !”

Through the cameras of the hit Skanda, the face of the light truck driver could be confirmed.

Looking at his face, Tsunemori opened the door.

She jumped out of the vehicle.

“What are your intentions?!”

“It’s a criminal investigation!”  

Tsunemori shouted back to Nicholas’ angry voice.

“Don’t walk away from us! Here’s a battlefield!”

Ignoring those words, Tsunemori began to run with all her might.

 4

The light truck Kougami had gotten into received the withering fire of the rebooted Skandas. The rear part was blown away in a flash. Kougami jumped off the partially destroyed truck and rolling on the ground, he took position with the grenade launcher at the ready. Shooting a shaped charge* in a prone position, he opened a big hole on a Skanda and destroyed it. He stood up and did it again then ran like a hurricane through the ruins, become a battlefield.

Kougami caught sight of his comrades’ squad leaders at the meeting point. Each of the six leaders was in command of ten subordinates. The faces of these men, who were checking the escape route, lit up upon seeing him. In that hard battlefield, those looks conveyed him the hope of counterattack they had because of his presence.  Kougami himself would have definitely withdrawn from such a burden but the tense situation hadn’t allowed it.

“Listen! I’m luring the enemy, in the meanwhile draw down the troops!” Kougami fired his instructions to the squad leaders. “We are in control now but, if you don’t pay attention they’ll massacre you in no time!”

The leaders nodded and started to move.

Kougami started his solo action. His comrades were worried about it but the will to do dangerous actions alone was Kougami’s natural disposition. After the pulse grenade, a persistent Skanda they had failed to bring down during the restart time was running around chasing the guerrilla men. If I managed to draw it, I’d like to turn it into scrap…

Kougami stepped into a once commercial building. It was a covered shopping arcade with a roof made of toughened glass. Hiding in the shadows, he replenished the ammunitions of the grenade launcher.

At that moment, he heard footsteps.

Someone was getting close rapidly.

It wasn’t a guerrilla man. His other comrades must have all gone for the escaping route. −−− A soldier of the government army? Recently they have started to rely on drones, the chance they have invested soldiers at this timing is low but…

 The owner of the footsteps dashed out from the corner.

As a result, Kougami crouched down, ready to ambush. He tried to keep back the grenade launcher he was carrying on his shoulder through a slinger and grabbed his opponent’s arms tightly.

Then --- he realized. He knew that person.

Tsunemori Akane.

The instant he had understood that his opponent was Tsunemori Akane, Kougami’s grip loosened. She shook herself free from Kougami’s hands and, turning around, restrained him in a joint lock. Grabbing Kougami’s right arm with both hands, Tsunemori immobilized his elbow. Kougami willingly jumped, escaping from Tsunemori’s technique that had become quite sharp.  

The distance increased.

Tsunemori rapidly pulled out a gun.

“…it’s been a while, Kougami-san”

The voice of a woman concealing her emotions. Kougami unconsciously made a wry smile.

“Truly, I didn’t expect you to come this far…”

“You are under arrest”

“Arrest…? Do you understand the situation?”

“Are you the one who sent terrorists to Japan, Kougami-san?”

The talk had gotten strange.

“What? What do you mean?”

When Kougami grimaced and was about to ask back, Tsunemori also showed confusion.

“Then…”

A bad sign ---. Outside the building, the footsteps of one of those tanks with robotic arms. Kougami instantly pounced on Tsunemori. Tsunemori was holding the gun but there’s no way she would have shot him, he was sure of this. Holding Tsunemori tight, he covered her for protection. Then the fire of the Ganesha. The artillery shell flew overhead, and the shock of the impact ran. The window glasses had been smashed to pieces all at once, scattering around, an entire abandoned shopping center demolished.

After that, the Ganesha opened a rapid-fire with the machine-gun. The gunfire shot through the wall was following Kougami and Tsunemori. The aim is not precise, I wonder if it’s thanks to Tsunemori’s presence. She must be registered in the friend or foe system.

“…what are you gonna do, Inspector? Shoot me or let me go? Which one?”

“…I’ll cooperate with you”

“Hey, wait!”

“It’s only temporary. As part of the investigation”

 5

Through the Ganesha’s camera, Tsunemori’s figure had been also ascertained by the operational command vehicle.

“The Japanese girl is moving with a man who looks a guerrilla leader!”

A leading member of the guerrilla −−− a tactical advisor −−− Kougami Shinya. The enforcer escaped from Japan.

“Take out that brat from the friend or foe system…!”

Nicholas yelled loudly. As if he believed the more he made his voice big the more the orders were executed rapidly.

“But…”  the operator hesitated.

“Here’s a battlefield! Strategy takes priority!”

“It’ll take time. We have to send back the system to the headquarters first or it won’t work”

“Shit!”

 Destroying the walls which had become cheese-like because of the bullet holes, the Ganesha appeared in the arcade shopping center and ran after Kougami and Tsunemori. As Tsunemori was an “Ally” according to the friend or foe system, Kougami was actually the only one to be recognized as a target.

The two escaped until they reached a plaza with a fountain within the arcade. The plaza covered by a dome had human-shaped bronze statues that looked like great men of this country in the middle and around the statues, an artificial pool with jets of water. Even the plaza that must have been beautiful once, abandoned for many years, seemed to have received stray bullets from the civil war everywhere. The water of the artificial pool with the broken edges had mixed with rainwater in the past days, as a result it was slightly dirty.  

“Jump in”

Kougami said.

Despite a moment of hesitation, Tsunemori obeyed to those words.

She wasn’t good at swimming. −−− unpleasant memories, a past trauma. However, the rainwater pool in that plaza had such a depth that her feet barely touched the bottom and of all things, recently Tsunemori was practicing swimming actively, nevertheless gingerly.  This was a good chance to test the results of her training.

Swimming in the cold water, Kougami and Tsunemori hid in the shadows of the bronze statues. The Ganesha was getting close, leaving deep marks on its path. The damping factor of infrared rays and laser scanning was bigger in water and the drone lost its targets. However, after a revaluation, and the Ganesha switched into body motion detection mode.

Taking advantage of the revaluation moment, the fugitives turned behind the drone back. Kougami, who had stepped out of the rainwater pool, took the grenade launcher on his back and fired at the roof of the plaza dome. Explosive had been placed there as a measure in case of need. A chain detonation burst with a domino effect. The heavy bass sound of multiple impacts −−− . Blown up by the grenade, the roof fell untouched and buried the Ganesha.

To avoid being swallowed up by the collapsing building, Kougami and Tsunemori got out of the arcade in great haste.

 After coming out of the Arcade commercial building, they found a small wooded area at a short walking distance. Entered the wooded area, Kougami approached a thick raised bush. In that bush, an infrared intercepting sheet, abundantly concealed by foliage and tree branches, was covering something. Kougami grabbed the sheet and tore it off. Hidden under it, a military jeep equipped with a heavy machine gun.

Kougami jumped on the driving seat and Tsunemori on the passenger seat. The engine started through the fingerprint authentication.

 They were running fast on a roadway in a wooded area inside the military jeep.

“…what does it mean? Explain me, please”

“it’s exactly as you see. I’m taking part to the movement for the democratization of this country as a military advisor against the drones”

“This car, where is it headed?”

“There are still some places here and there where the power of government forces is weak. We’re heading in one of those places…by the way, Inspector”

“Stop that, please…”

When he had been told ‘stop that’, for a moment Kougami didn’t understand. After some thought, he realized it. He had called her ‘Inspector’. --- That’s the hound behavior, it seems that neither several years abroad could break this habit.

“Tsunemori…don’t you think there’s something off about him? That chairman”

“…eh?”

“He’s rather a good-for-nothing man. I wonder what a dictator’s crime coefficient looks like”

 For more translations, visit me at https://cleverwolfpoetry.tumblr.com/

NOTES TO TRANSLATION:

*rappelling: I think images speak by themselves

*ECM: acronym for electronic countermeasures. An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting information to an enemy. The system may make many separate targets appear to the enemy, or make the real target appear to disappear or move about randomly. It is used effectively to protect aircraft from guided missiles. Most air forces use ECM to protect their aircraft from attack. It has also been deployed by military ships and recently on some advanced tanks to fool laser/IR guided missiles. It is frequently coupled with stealth advances so that the ECM systems have an easier job. Offensive ECM often takes the form of jamming. Defensive ECM includes using blip enhancement and jamming of missile terminal homers. (from Wikipedia)

*TARGETS: written it in capital letters because in the book this sentence is written with dots above the kanjis.

*shaped charge: A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Various types are used to cut and form metal, initiate nuclear weapons, penetrate armor, and "complete" wells in the oil and gas industry.

[algarithmblognumber]

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’ Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’ http://www.nature-business.com/business-8-winners-4-losers-from-chiefs-win-vs-broncos-on-monday-night-football/

Business Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs put their perfect record on the line against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. For a while, it looked like the Broncos would end their five-game losing streak to the Chiefs. They never trailed in the second half … until the final two minutes of the game, after Mahomes engineered the type of game-winning drive that clinches MVP awards on Oct. 1. Here are the biggest winners and losers from the Chiefs’ thrilling 27-23 comeback win. Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ left hand Did you know there are currently no left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL? Don’t tell that to Mahomes:

That was on third down, with Von Miller coming toward him fast and the Chiefs trailing by 3 with three minutes left. If you already thought Mahomes isn’t fair, just wait … Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ right hand To remind you what he can do with his arm, here he is on the next third down on the Chiefs’ game-winning drive:

Two plays later, Kareem Hunt ran in the go-ahead touchdown. Loser: The Broncos’ final drive Even though the Chiefs had stolen all the momentum, the Broncos had just under two minutes to get in the end zone and win the game. On fourth-and-11, Case Keenum found Emmanuel Sanders for an 11-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Sanders even had the wherewithal to get out of bounds. On the next play, Keenum hit Jeff Heuerman in the middle of the field for a 36-yard gain. But they still needed that touchdown. On third down with just 22 seconds left, here’s Keenum’s throw to a wiiiide open Demaryius Thomas:

Yikes. So with one play left and the game on the line, here’s Courtland Sutton trying to lateral the ball before he even catches it:

That sealed the game for the Broncos’ 10-point blown lead. Loser: All the teams that didn’t draft Phillip Lindsay

This past year, rookie running back Phillip Lindsay wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine and went undrafted too. He’s quickly making everyone regret they ever passed on him. Here he is — all 5’8 of him — bulldozing his way to give the Broncos a 20-13 lead:

Lindsay, a Denver-area native who went to Colorado, earned a spot with the Broncos and helped revive what had been a stagnant running game. Winner: Eric Murray’s disrespectful pick This looked like an easy reception for Jeff Heuerman, until Murray rudely took it off his hands:

That was just the second pick by the Chiefs defense all season. Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ … legs? If Mahomes is known for one thing, it’s his rocket launcher of an arm that had him leading the NFL in touchdown passes even before Monday night’s game. The Denver defense didn’t make it easy on him, putting him under more pressure than he’s used to and forcing him to make quick throws. In the second quarter, he used the Broncos’ pressure to his advantage, running (!) in the first touchdown of the game:

It was also the first rushing touchdown of his career, though it’s something he did fairly often at Texas Tech. On third down early in the third quarter, when the Broncos fans were at their rowdiest, Mahomes extended the play by rolling out, giving tight end Demetrius Harris a little time to get open for a 24-yard gain. A few plays later, on another third-and-long, Mahomes scrambled and finally connected with Travis Kelce on a throw that really had no business in working but well, Mahomes:

Mahomes’ legs helped him buy extra time and avoid sacks all game. Just look at these numbers out side the pocket:

Loser-turned-winner: The Mahomes-Kelce connection No one has been targeted on more of Mahomes’ fastballs this season than tight end Travis Kelce, who entered Week 4 with a team-leading 16 catches. His 229 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions were second on the Chiefs, behind Tyreek Hill. Early Monday night, Kelce’s connection with his quarterback is off. He started the game 0-for-5 on targets from Mahomes. One pass hit Kelce in the hands, but was thrown behind him as Mahomes faced heavy pressure from the Denver pass rush. They finally hooked up on the sixth try, and it got the Chiefs into scoring position. They tied it 13-13 midway through the third quarter. Shortly after, Kelce was the Chiefs’ leading receiver again. He might have gotten off to a slow start, but with the Chiefs down double digits — a rarity in the fourth quarter for them — Kelce was Mahomes’ safety blanket. Kelce’s 2-yard reception got the Chiefs within three points with just over six minutes to play and helped complete the comeback. Winner: Travis Kelce stealing a bird Following the Chiefs’ go-ahead touchdown late in the game, Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce were greeted by Broncos fans’ middle fingers. Kelce knew the perfect comeback:

Winner-turned-loser: Case Keenum looking like his 2017 self … and then back to his 2016 self Not many expected journeyman Case Keenum to follow up his career-best 2017 with another season quite that good. So far in his stint with the Broncos, he’s been less like Vikings QB Keenum and closer to Rams QB Keenum. He hasn’t been bad necessarily … just mediocre, something the Broncos are all too familiar with when it comes to quarterbacks. In the first half, Keenum was playing his best game of the season:

Before his 42-yard pass to Courtland Sutton, Case Keenum hadn’t completed a pass thrown 30+ yards downfield since Week 10 of last season. He was 0-of-12 on such throws in that span, including the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/IDFTBy9pHG— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 2, 2018

And check out this surprise jump ball on fourth down:

Keenum was a #gamemanager for the first half, which was enough to give the Broncos a 13-10 lead at halftime. But he reverted back to the guy who can’t put the team on his back in the second half, including overthrowing Demaryius Thomas for what could’ve been the game-winning touchdown. Winner: The MNF cameraperson Give this person an Emmy right now:

Loser: Anthony Hitchens gets taken for a ride in the end zone First, let’s give a little praise to Royce Freeman, who showed patience and then a whole lot of power on this touchdown run. But poor Chiefs linebacker Anthony Hitches, who got dragged along as Freeman scored:

The Chiefs came into this game with the worst defense in the league. That’s not helping their case. Winner: Kareem Hunt is alive! With Mahomes and the Chiefs’ No. 1 ranked passing offense, Kareem Hunt came into this game as a forgotten piece of the offense. Hunt, who led the league in rushing last season, made his presence felt on the Chiefs’ first drive of the game. On fourth-and-inches from their own 43-yard line, Hunt barreled through to get 2 yards and the first down. On the next play, Mahomes found him for a 27-yard gain, punctuated by Hunt trucking some dude:

Kareem gained 33 yards on the drive. Alas, for the first time all season, KC didn’t score a touchdown on its opening drive. But at least Hunt got involved again. At the start of the second quarter, Hunt dropped a pass … and then on the next play, immediately did this:

To cap it all off, Hunt scored the game-winning touchdown with under two minutes left. Game preview The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been great on defense going into their Monday Night Football matchup against the rival Denver Broncos, but Patrick Mahomes has had little issue keeping his team on top through three games this season. The Chiefs will travel to Mile High to face the Broncos beginning at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN (live streaming via WatchESPN). Mahomes has thrown for 896 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in three games this season. He’s completed 66.7 percent of his passes, and has been assisted by a decent but not-great running game. Mahomes shredded the Chargers for four touchdowns, the Steelers for six touchdowns, and dumped three of them on the 49ers in their last outing. The Broncos are 2-1 on the season, with one-score wins over the Seahawks and Raiders in their first two games, and a 27-14 loss at the hands of the Ravens in their last game. Monday’s game will be Denver’s third home game of the season, with the other two being wins. Below is all you need to know to watch the action on Monday.

Time: 8:15 p.m. ET

Location: Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Denver, Col.

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN

Odds: The Chiefs opened as 4.5-point favorites over the Broncos

The biggest injury news for Denver is the loss of tight end Jake Butt, who was placed on injured reserve. The team signed Brian Parker, another tight end, off their practice squad in a corresponding move. Another issue for Denver is the thigh injury to Tramaine Brock, as he is listed as doubtful for Monday’s game. Adam Jones and Dymonte Thomas are also injures and listed as questionable. For the Chiefs, the biggest concern is the absence of Eric Berry, who has a bone spur that is digging into his Achilles, and he’s been inactive thus far this season. Berry is officially doubtful for Monday. Aside from Berry, the Chiefs are relatively healthy, however. Berry is the only player listed as doubtful on the final injury report, and Kansas City has nobody listed as questionable. If the Broncos are going to have any chance against the Chiefs, they absolutely have to uncork the offense early and often. Peep the five questions with the enemy post on Mile High Report, and then the one from Arrowhead Pride. Denver will be wearing the all-blue uniforms against the Chiefs. The Chiefs are rolling. The Broncos are not, but Monday’s game is a huge opportunity for them to make a statement.

Case Keenum hasn’t been playing great for the Broncos (he’s not getting much help, to be fair), but head coach Vance Joseph isn’t worried about his interceptions thus far. Former Chiefs star Tony Gonzalez thinks Patrick Mahomes will break the single-season touchdown record.

Of the seven SB Nation experts picking Week 4 games, all of them are going with the Chiefs to win on Sunday. The coin flip and the OddsShark computer are going with the Broncos, however.

Rise ’n Grind

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Read More | https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/1/17903726/broncos-chiefs-2018-start-time-tv-channel-watch-live-stream-pick-results | James Brady, Sarah Hardy

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’, in 2018-10-02 04:44:03

[computacionalblog]

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’ Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’ http://www.nature-business.com/business-8-winners-4-losers-from-chiefs-win-vs-broncos-on-monday-night-football/

Business Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs put their perfect record on the line against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. For a while, it looked like the Broncos would end their five-game losing streak to the Chiefs. They never trailed in the second half … until the final two minutes of the game, after Mahomes engineered the type of game-winning drive that clinches MVP awards on Oct. 1. Here are the biggest winners and losers from the Chiefs’ thrilling 27-23 comeback win. Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ left hand Did you know there are currently no left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL? Don’t tell that to Mahomes:

That was on third down, with Von Miller coming toward him fast and the Chiefs trailing by 3 with three minutes left. If you already thought Mahomes isn’t fair, just wait … Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ right hand To remind you what he can do with his arm, here he is on the next third down on the Chiefs’ game-winning drive:

Two plays later, Kareem Hunt ran in the go-ahead touchdown. Loser: The Broncos’ final drive Even though the Chiefs had stolen all the momentum, the Broncos had just under two minutes to get in the end zone and win the game. On fourth-and-11, Case Keenum found Emmanuel Sanders for an 11-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Sanders even had the wherewithal to get out of bounds. On the next play, Keenum hit Jeff Heuerman in the middle of the field for a 36-yard gain. But they still needed that touchdown. On third down with just 22 seconds left, here’s Keenum’s throw to a wiiiide open Demaryius Thomas:

Yikes. So with one play left and the game on the line, here’s Courtland Sutton trying to lateral the ball before he even catches it:

That sealed the game for the Broncos’ 10-point blown lead. Loser: All the teams that didn’t draft Phillip Lindsay

This past year, rookie running back Phillip Lindsay wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine and went undrafted too. He’s quickly making everyone regret they ever passed on him. Here he is — all 5’8 of him — bulldozing his way to give the Broncos a 20-13 lead:

Lindsay, a Denver-area native who went to Colorado, earned a spot with the Broncos and helped revive what had been a stagnant running game. Winner: Eric Murray’s disrespectful pick This looked like an easy reception for Jeff Heuerman, until Murray rudely took it off his hands:

That was just the second pick by the Chiefs defense all season. Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ … legs? If Mahomes is known for one thing, it’s his rocket launcher of an arm that had him leading the NFL in touchdown passes even before Monday night’s game. The Denver defense didn’t make it easy on him, putting him under more pressure than he’s used to and forcing him to make quick throws. In the second quarter, he used the Broncos’ pressure to his advantage, running (!) in the first touchdown of the game:

It was also the first rushing touchdown of his career, though it’s something he did fairly often at Texas Tech. On third down early in the third quarter, when the Broncos fans were at their rowdiest, Mahomes extended the play by rolling out, giving tight end Demetrius Harris a little time to get open for a 24-yard gain. A few plays later, on another third-and-long, Mahomes scrambled and finally connected with Travis Kelce on a throw that really had no business in working but well, Mahomes:

Mahomes’ legs helped him buy extra time and avoid sacks all game. Just look at these numbers out side the pocket:

Loser-turned-winner: The Mahomes-Kelce connection No one has been targeted on more of Mahomes’ fastballs this season than tight end Travis Kelce, who entered Week 4 with a team-leading 16 catches. His 229 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions were second on the Chiefs, behind Tyreek Hill. Early Monday night, Kelce’s connection with his quarterback is off. He started the game 0-for-5 on targets from Mahomes. One pass hit Kelce in the hands, but was thrown behind him as Mahomes faced heavy pressure from the Denver pass rush. They finally hooked up on the sixth try, and it got the Chiefs into scoring position. They tied it 13-13 midway through the third quarter. Shortly after, Kelce was the Chiefs’ leading receiver again. He might have gotten off to a slow start, but with the Chiefs down double digits — a rarity in the fourth quarter for them — Kelce was Mahomes’ safety blanket. Kelce’s 2-yard reception got the Chiefs within three points with just over six minutes to play and helped complete the comeback. Winner: Travis Kelce stealing a bird Following the Chiefs’ go-ahead touchdown late in the game, Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce were greeted by Broncos fans’ middle fingers. Kelce knew the perfect comeback:

Winner-turned-loser: Case Keenum looking like his 2017 self … and then back to his 2016 self Not many expected journeyman Case Keenum to follow up his career-best 2017 with another season quite that good. So far in his stint with the Broncos, he’s been less like Vikings QB Keenum and closer to Rams QB Keenum. He hasn’t been bad necessarily … just mediocre, something the Broncos are all too familiar with when it comes to quarterbacks. In the first half, Keenum was playing his best game of the season:

Before his 42-yard pass to Courtland Sutton, Case Keenum hadn’t completed a pass thrown 30+ yards downfield since Week 10 of last season. He was 0-of-12 on such throws in that span, including the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/IDFTBy9pHG— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 2, 2018

And check out this surprise jump ball on fourth down:

Keenum was a #gamemanager for the first half, which was enough to give the Broncos a 13-10 lead at halftime. But he reverted back to the guy who can’t put the team on his back in the second half, including overthrowing Demaryius Thomas for what could’ve been the game-winning touchdown. Winner: The MNF cameraperson Give this person an Emmy right now:

Loser: Anthony Hitchens gets taken for a ride in the end zone First, let’s give a little praise to Royce Freeman, who showed patience and then a whole lot of power on this touchdown run. But poor Chiefs linebacker Anthony Hitches, who got dragged along as Freeman scored:

The Chiefs came into this game with the worst defense in the league. That’s not helping their case. Winner: Kareem Hunt is alive! With Mahomes and the Chiefs’ No. 1 ranked passing offense, Kareem Hunt came into this game as a forgotten piece of the offense. Hunt, who led the league in rushing last season, made his presence felt on the Chiefs’ first drive of the game. On fourth-and-inches from their own 43-yard line, Hunt barreled through to get 2 yards and the first down. On the next play, Mahomes found him for a 27-yard gain, punctuated by Hunt trucking some dude:

Kareem gained 33 yards on the drive. Alas, for the first time all season, KC didn’t score a touchdown on its opening drive. But at least Hunt got involved again. At the start of the second quarter, Hunt dropped a pass … and then on the next play, immediately did this:

To cap it all off, Hunt scored the game-winning touchdown with under two minutes left. Game preview The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been great on defense going into their Monday Night Football matchup against the rival Denver Broncos, but Patrick Mahomes has had little issue keeping his team on top through three games this season. The Chiefs will travel to Mile High to face the Broncos beginning at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN (live streaming via WatchESPN). Mahomes has thrown for 896 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in three games this season. He’s completed 66.7 percent of his passes, and has been assisted by a decent but not-great running game. Mahomes shredded the Chargers for four touchdowns, the Steelers for six touchdowns, and dumped three of them on the 49ers in their last outing. The Broncos are 2-1 on the season, with one-score wins over the Seahawks and Raiders in their first two games, and a 27-14 loss at the hands of the Ravens in their last game. Monday’s game will be Denver’s third home game of the season, with the other two being wins. Below is all you need to know to watch the action on Monday.

Time: 8:15 p.m. ET

Location: Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Denver, Col.

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN

Odds: The Chiefs opened as 4.5-point favorites over the Broncos

The biggest injury news for Denver is the loss of tight end Jake Butt, who was placed on injured reserve. The team signed Brian Parker, another tight end, off their practice squad in a corresponding move. Another issue for Denver is the thigh injury to Tramaine Brock, as he is listed as doubtful for Monday’s game. Adam Jones and Dymonte Thomas are also injures and listed as questionable. For the Chiefs, the biggest concern is the absence of Eric Berry, who has a bone spur that is digging into his Achilles, and he’s been inactive thus far this season. Berry is officially doubtful for Monday. Aside from Berry, the Chiefs are relatively healthy, however. Berry is the only player listed as doubtful on the final injury report, and Kansas City has nobody listed as questionable. If the Broncos are going to have any chance against the Chiefs, they absolutely have to uncork the offense early and often. Peep the five questions with the enemy post on Mile High Report, and then the one from Arrowhead Pride. Denver will be wearing the all-blue uniforms against the Chiefs. The Chiefs are rolling. The Broncos are not, but Monday’s game is a huge opportunity for them to make a statement.

Case Keenum hasn’t been playing great for the Broncos (he’s not getting much help, to be fair), but head coach Vance Joseph isn’t worried about his interceptions thus far. Former Chiefs star Tony Gonzalez thinks Patrick Mahomes will break the single-season touchdown record.

Of the seven SB Nation experts picking Week 4 games, all of them are going with the Chiefs to win on Sunday. The coin flip and the OddsShark computer are going with the Broncos, however.

Rise ’n Grind

Want NFL news and interesting links in your inbox every weekday morning? Rise ’n grind with us.

By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy.

Read More | https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/1/17903726/broncos-chiefs-2018-start-time-tv-channel-watch-live-stream-pick-results | James Brady, Sarah Hardy

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’, in 2018-10-02 04:44:03

[magicwebsitesnet]

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’ Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’ http://www.nature-business.com/business-8-winners-4-losers-from-chiefs-win-vs-broncos-on-monday-night-football/

Business Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs put their perfect record on the line against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. For a while, it looked like the Broncos would end their five-game losing streak to the Chiefs. They never trailed in the second half … until the final two minutes of the game, after Mahomes engineered the type of game-winning drive that clinches MVP awards on Oct. 1. Here are the biggest winners and losers from the Chiefs’ thrilling 27-23 comeback win. Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ left hand Did you know there are currently no left-handed quarterbacks in the NFL? Don’t tell that to Mahomes:

That was on third down, with Von Miller coming toward him fast and the Chiefs trailing by 3 with three minutes left. If you already thought Mahomes isn’t fair, just wait … Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ right hand To remind you what he can do with his arm, here he is on the next third down on the Chiefs’ game-winning drive:

Two plays later, Kareem Hunt ran in the go-ahead touchdown. Loser: The Broncos’ final drive Even though the Chiefs had stolen all the momentum, the Broncos had just under two minutes to get in the end zone and win the game. On fourth-and-11, Case Keenum found Emmanuel Sanders for an 11-yard gain to keep the drive alive. Sanders even had the wherewithal to get out of bounds. On the next play, Keenum hit Jeff Heuerman in the middle of the field for a 36-yard gain. But they still needed that touchdown. On third down with just 22 seconds left, here’s Keenum’s throw to a wiiiide open Demaryius Thomas:

Yikes. So with one play left and the game on the line, here’s Courtland Sutton trying to lateral the ball before he even catches it:

That sealed the game for the Broncos’ 10-point blown lead. Loser: All the teams that didn’t draft Phillip Lindsay

This past year, rookie running back Phillip Lindsay wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine and went undrafted too. He’s quickly making everyone regret they ever passed on him. Here he is — all 5’8 of him — bulldozing his way to give the Broncos a 20-13 lead:

Lindsay, a Denver-area native who went to Colorado, earned a spot with the Broncos and helped revive what had been a stagnant running game. Winner: Eric Murray’s disrespectful pick This looked like an easy reception for Jeff Heuerman, until Murray rudely took it off his hands:

That was just the second pick by the Chiefs defense all season. Winner: Patrick Mahomes’ … legs? If Mahomes is known for one thing, it’s his rocket launcher of an arm that had him leading the NFL in touchdown passes even before Monday night’s game. The Denver defense didn’t make it easy on him, putting him under more pressure than he’s used to and forcing him to make quick throws. In the second quarter, he used the Broncos’ pressure to his advantage, running (!) in the first touchdown of the game:

It was also the first rushing touchdown of his career, though it’s something he did fairly often at Texas Tech. On third down early in the third quarter, when the Broncos fans were at their rowdiest, Mahomes extended the play by rolling out, giving tight end Demetrius Harris a little time to get open for a 24-yard gain. A few plays later, on another third-and-long, Mahomes scrambled and finally connected with Travis Kelce on a throw that really had no business in working but well, Mahomes:

Mahomes’ legs helped him buy extra time and avoid sacks all game. Just look at these numbers out side the pocket:

Loser-turned-winner: The Mahomes-Kelce connection No one has been targeted on more of Mahomes’ fastballs this season than tight end Travis Kelce, who entered Week 4 with a team-leading 16 catches. His 229 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions were second on the Chiefs, behind Tyreek Hill. Early Monday night, Kelce’s connection with his quarterback is off. He started the game 0-for-5 on targets from Mahomes. One pass hit Kelce in the hands, but was thrown behind him as Mahomes faced heavy pressure from the Denver pass rush. They finally hooked up on the sixth try, and it got the Chiefs into scoring position. They tied it 13-13 midway through the third quarter. Shortly after, Kelce was the Chiefs’ leading receiver again. He might have gotten off to a slow start, but with the Chiefs down double digits — a rarity in the fourth quarter for them — Kelce was Mahomes’ safety blanket. Kelce’s 2-yard reception got the Chiefs within three points with just over six minutes to play and helped complete the comeback. Winner: Travis Kelce stealing a bird Following the Chiefs’ go-ahead touchdown late in the game, Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce were greeted by Broncos fans’ middle fingers. Kelce knew the perfect comeback:

Winner-turned-loser: Case Keenum looking like his 2017 self … and then back to his 2016 self Not many expected journeyman Case Keenum to follow up his career-best 2017 with another season quite that good. So far in his stint with the Broncos, he’s been less like Vikings QB Keenum and closer to Rams QB Keenum. He hasn’t been bad necessarily … just mediocre, something the Broncos are all too familiar with when it comes to quarterbacks. In the first half, Keenum was playing his best game of the season:

Before his 42-yard pass to Courtland Sutton, Case Keenum hadn’t completed a pass thrown 30+ yards downfield since Week 10 of last season. He was 0-of-12 on such throws in that span, including the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/IDFTBy9pHG— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 2, 2018

And check out this surprise jump ball on fourth down:

Keenum was a #gamemanager for the first half, which was enough to give the Broncos a 13-10 lead at halftime. But he reverted back to the guy who can’t put the team on his back in the second half, including overthrowing Demaryius Thomas for what could’ve been the game-winning touchdown. Winner: The MNF cameraperson Give this person an Emmy right now:

Loser: Anthony Hitchens gets taken for a ride in the end zone First, let’s give a little praise to Royce Freeman, who showed patience and then a whole lot of power on this touchdown run. But poor Chiefs linebacker Anthony Hitches, who got dragged along as Freeman scored:

The Chiefs came into this game with the worst defense in the league. That’s not helping their case. Winner: Kareem Hunt is alive! With Mahomes and the Chiefs’ No. 1 ranked passing offense, Kareem Hunt came into this game as a forgotten piece of the offense. Hunt, who led the league in rushing last season, made his presence felt on the Chiefs’ first drive of the game. On fourth-and-inches from their own 43-yard line, Hunt barreled through to get 2 yards and the first down. On the next play, Mahomes found him for a 27-yard gain, punctuated by Hunt trucking some dude:

Kareem gained 33 yards on the drive. Alas, for the first time all season, KC didn’t score a touchdown on its opening drive. But at least Hunt got involved again. At the start of the second quarter, Hunt dropped a pass … and then on the next play, immediately did this:

To cap it all off, Hunt scored the game-winning touchdown with under two minutes left. Game preview The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been great on defense going into their Monday Night Football matchup against the rival Denver Broncos, but Patrick Mahomes has had little issue keeping his team on top through three games this season. The Chiefs will travel to Mile High to face the Broncos beginning at 8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN (live streaming via WatchESPN). Mahomes has thrown for 896 yards, 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in three games this season. He’s completed 66.7 percent of his passes, and has been assisted by a decent but not-great running game. Mahomes shredded the Chargers for four touchdowns, the Steelers for six touchdowns, and dumped three of them on the 49ers in their last outing. The Broncos are 2-1 on the season, with one-score wins over the Seahawks and Raiders in their first two games, and a 27-14 loss at the hands of the Ravens in their last game. Monday’s game will be Denver’s third home game of the season, with the other two being wins. Below is all you need to know to watch the action on Monday.

Time: 8:15 p.m. ET

Location: Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Denver, Col.

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN

Odds: The Chiefs opened as 4.5-point favorites over the Broncos

The biggest injury news for Denver is the loss of tight end Jake Butt, who was placed on injured reserve. The team signed Brian Parker, another tight end, off their practice squad in a corresponding move. Another issue for Denver is the thigh injury to Tramaine Brock, as he is listed as doubtful for Monday’s game. Adam Jones and Dymonte Thomas are also injures and listed as questionable. For the Chiefs, the biggest concern is the absence of Eric Berry, who has a bone spur that is digging into his Achilles, and he’s been inactive thus far this season. Berry is officially doubtful for Monday. Aside from Berry, the Chiefs are relatively healthy, however. Berry is the only player listed as doubtful on the final injury report, and Kansas City has nobody listed as questionable. If the Broncos are going to have any chance against the Chiefs, they absolutely have to uncork the offense early and often. Peep the five questions with the enemy post on Mile High Report, and then the one from Arrowhead Pride. Denver will be wearing the all-blue uniforms against the Chiefs. The Chiefs are rolling. The Broncos are not, but Monday’s game is a huge opportunity for them to make a statement.

Case Keenum hasn’t been playing great for the Broncos (he’s not getting much help, to be fair), but head coach Vance Joseph isn’t worried about his interceptions thus far. Former Chiefs star Tony Gonzalez thinks Patrick Mahomes will break the single-season touchdown record.

Of the seven SB Nation experts picking Week 4 games, all of them are going with the Chiefs to win on Sunday. The coin flip and the OddsShark computer are going with the Broncos, however.

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Read More | https://www.sbnation.com/2018/10/1/17903726/broncos-chiefs-2018-start-time-tv-channel-watch-live-stream-pick-results | James Brady, Sarah Hardy

Business 8 winners, 4 losers from Chiefs’ win vs. Broncos on ‘Monday Night Football’, in 2018-10-02 04:44:03