#but from the clips it just looks like only enemies in crowds that are much bigger than before

[todayisafridaynight]

some heretic put the idea in my head that gaiden might be a dynasty warriors game and that.................

[cozage]

The Daughter's Return Part 3

Chapter 13: Shared Sake, Shared Secrets

Start From Beginning | Next Chapter | Table of Contents | Read on AO3

Characters: female reader x Portgas D. Ace Word Count: 1.3k

Whereas life had been miserable trying to find Whitey, finding your uncle was faster, easier, and far more painless. 

You only slept for one or two hours a night, but ate plenty to keep your stamina up, and drank as much water as you could. It felt like a fair tradeoff. You had to hope it was.

Your child must’ve understood your desperation, because it never once complained. A part of you worried that you had put too much stress on it and something was wrong, but that was a problem for another day. 

The Grand Line was kind to you, not giving you any issues or storms to navigate. You barely even saw any pirates, and once you got into the New World, people ignored you due to your flag. Even amongst pirates, there was a code to be upheld. Only the evil or the stupid would bother a member of the Whitebeard Pirates right now. 

Once a day, when you saw an island, you stopped and searched for the News Coo. On the third day, you discovered Ace’s execution would be in ten days at Marineford. You didn’t stop again after that. You were wasting too much time. 

One day later, the vivre card inched towards a ship on the horizon. You could see the flag of the Red-Haired Pirates, and your body finally relaxed. You were almost there. 

You knew that Yasopp had already spotted you, and had likely already told his captain of your arrival. You clipped his vivre card back into your stack and prepared for departure. 

“There she is!” Shanks called out, throwing down a ladder for you to climb up as your small sloop sailed in next to his. “The most beautiful girl on the Grand Line!”

“Uncle Red!” You gave him a wave and grabbed the rung of the ladder, climbing up to meet him. 

When you reached the top, he helped pull you aboard and wrapped you in a tight embrace. 

“You’ve grown!” He laughed. “The last time I saw you, you were just a little moody teenager. And now look at you!”

The rest of the crew crowded around you, all giving you hugs and high fives. Things almost felt normal. As if you were just running a quick courtesy call for your father, just like old times. 

“Sit down, have a drink!” He cheered, grabbing you a tankard. 

“I brought sake,” you said, handing him the jug. 

He admired it, his eyes sparkling. “East Blue!” He cut his eyes to you knowingly. “You must need a favor.”

You grinned nervously. “You know me so well, Uncle Red.”

“If it’s about Ace,” he sighed. “I already warned your father that this would go south. I can’t offer any more assistance after he refused to heed my warning.”

“You talked to Pops?” You asked, your brow furrowing in confusion.

“I told him what you and Ace were doing would end badly. Recommended that he pull you guys back, but he disagreed. Said it wasn’t fair for me to-“

“Hang on,” you interrupted. “Pops didn’t want us going either. We went against his advice.”

Shanks looked at you, slightly surprised at this information. It was clear your father had claimed your mistake as his own, even against a fellow emperor. 

“Let’s drink, and then we can talk.” He poured some of the sake out into a dish and handed it off to you.

“Drink my portion for me,” you offered, holding your hand out to decline. 

You could feel the air change with your refusal. It was suspicious for you to decline your own sake on an enemy ship. Everyone on the crew watched you, nervously eying their captain’s drink. 

“Come on now, girl,” Shanks said, still holding the drink out to you. “I’ve never known you to refuse a drink.”

You shook your head. “I can’t, Shanks.” The realization came crashing back. You were alone. 

Tears filled your eyes as your hand moved to rest over your stomach, and you could see understanding cross over Shank’s face. 

“You’re pregnant,” he whispered.

You nodded, wiping your tears away. “Ace is-“

“Who knows?”

“Just you, Ace, and Whitey. My dad and Marco know too, I think.”

“Whitey. Do you trust her?” His voice sounded urgent. 

“With my life,” you said, softly sniffling as you held back more tears. 

“Good. Because with the information you told her, that’s exactly what you’re doing.” Shanks sat the drink down and ran his fingers through his hair. “This is quite a nasty trap you’ve gotten yourself into.”

“Please-“ you let out a sob and pressed your forehead to the deck, bowing to him. “Please help me.”

“Hey! Cut that out! Raise your head!” 

But you kept it there, glued to the floor. You wouldn’t raise it until he agreed to help.

“Kid-“

“I’ll do anything,” you sobbed. “Please just help me get him back.”

“Oi, Captain,” Lucky whispered. “She’s begging you.”

“You’re a strategist, so let’s talk strategy.” Shanks grabbed your shoulder and gently guided you back into a sitting position. “What are you proposing?” 

“Pirates will come after us while we head to Marineford,” you said. “They’ll see us and know they can overwhelm us while our eyes are focused on Ace. My biggest worries are-“

“Kaido and Big Mom,” Shanks said, nodding along. “I can’t fight both of them, you should know that.”

“I don’t think Big Mom will be an issue, actually,” you admitted. “One of her children is about to get married. She’ll be more focused on the wedding and her already established territory rather than fighting us.”

Shanks chuckled. “Even in distress, you sure do stay up to date on current events. So, Kaido then?”

You nodded. “He might be occupied with things in Wano, but-“

“He always wants more,” Shanks agreed. “What else do you need?”

You shook your head. You were asking for more than enough already. You should’ve brought more sake. 

“Come on, kid! I know there’s more we can do!” He sipped on the sake, letting out a satisfied sigh. “East Blue sake is worth more than Kaido. So tell me, what else?”

“Captain, I think-“ Beckman started, but Shanks shot him a look to silence him. 

“I can’t ask anymore,” you said. You were certain Beckman was going to say the same thing. Asking Shanks to hold off Kaido was already asking too much. You couldn’t ask anything else. 

He laughed and took another long drink. “Then we’ll meet you at Marineford after we hold off Kaido, and we’ll go from there.”

“Shanks-“

“Do you doubt me and my crew?” He asked, looking at you. “We’ll meet you at Marineford.”

You nodded, tears flooding into your eyes again. “Thank you.”

“You need some sleep,” he said. “Take my room. I’ll call your father.”

“No!” You yelled. You knew your father would be here tomorrow morning if he found out where you were. 

Shanks raised an eyebrow, curious at your desperation. It took him a second to realize, but he began cackling, the whole crew joining in with him. 

“He doesn’t know you’re here, does he?” He wiped a joyous tear from his eye. “Oh, kid. You’re in so much trouble.” 

“I need to do what I can,” you said, grabbing your bag and standing to take your leave. “I’ve got other people to go see.”

Something pricked your neck, and you rubbed at the sting. At the source of the pain, you found a small needle buried halfway into your neck, and you could feel your vision begin to get blurry. 

“No-“ you whispered, trying to push away the exhaustion. 

“You need sleep,” Shanks said, his voice sounding distant and far away. He picked you up, holding you against his chest as he carried you inside. “Just rest for a bit.”

You tried to fight it, but you were no match for Yasopp’s sleep darts. 

--

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[peachybun-bun]

Wound Up

the graphic above was edited by @chogiwapadada

do not remove the watermark and do not repost

pairing; joshua hong x f reader

genre; smut (minors dni), enemies to lovers, co-workers with no power dynamic

notes/warnings; unprotected sex, lots of teasing and pet names, lots of bickering, spitting in the face (not during sex), spitting on the pussy, impact play, oral (f receiving), fingering, creampie, joshua is big enough or strong enough to carry the reader, talk of consent and consent given (this was important to me with the genre), aftercare

word count; 3.8k and some change

a/n; there was quite a bit of care put into this fic given the dynamic of enemies to lovers. i hope you enjoy it.

You can almost feel the pretentious smirk on his face as he stands next to your desk. You didn’t need to look up to know who it was as he sighed and rested one hand on his hip before he leaned to rest the other on your desk. “I’m busy Joshua.” You sigh out the words making the overly attractive man laugh as he gives you a good look over. You were cute in your tight pencil skirt, black heels, a different colored button up each day. Today you had opted for a lavender and it looked so nice with your skin tone.

“That’s why I’m here Y/N. I’m here to help. The boss thinks you took on too much when you took on this project. Say hello to your new partner.” You drop your pen looking up from your draft to scoff at Joshua Hong as he keeps leaning on your desk far too close to your face for your comfort. His cologne invades your senses causing you to furrow your brows when you can’t help but think how good he smells. “I don’t want a partner. I can handle it just fine on my own. You can tell him that you changed your mind.”

Joshua laughs at the level of spite in your voice as he practically watches smoke come out of your ears as your fingers grip the pen in your grasp. “I told him you wouldn’t want one and he insisted. So, I’m afraid it’s late nights and cold pizza for us for the next few weeks Princess.” You scoff at his gall when he calls you the name before you groan and push your office chair away from your desk only to stand and storm away from the man.

“Y/N…” You can hear the mirth in his voice which only fuels your anger more as you make your way into the supply room. You try to slam the door in front of his face but his foot is faster catching the door causing you to gasp when he pushes the door open and makes you stumble backwards towards the shelves holding printer paper, staples, and pens.

Closing the door, Joshua raises a brow at you and turns to look at you raising his hands in question. “Are you this much of a child? You can’t stand to work with me for a few weeks? You have to storm away and have a temper tantrum in a closet like a little brat?” You scoff at him as scolds you like he has any room to talk. “You’ve done worse and I was coming in here to get a breath and also…I needed…”

Joshua watches your brain turning as you glance around the room before reaching for a pack of paperclips. “You needed paperclips? I know for a fact you have a box on your desk. You are lying to me. It’s cute how fucking flustered you get around me.” You take a breath as Joshua moves closer to you crowding you against the shelves as he looks down at you. With your eyes narrowing you don’t think before you spit in his face making him laugh as he closes his eyes when you mutter out a “Fuck you, Hong.”

Nodding he wipes your spit from his face and puts his hand on the other side of your body as you stand completely still in front of him. “I promise I will return that favor one day. Now be a good girl and take your paper clips back out to your desk. I’ll be there in a few minutes and we can work like adults.” You roll your eyes at him and shoulder check him hard as you push past him only to hear him laugh again when you leave him alone in the closet.

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Two weeks into the project you had endured too many late nights with Joshua Hong. You refused to admit how many lingering glances had been shared between the two of you. Now you were sitting at your desk which was even closer to his as he groaned over his keyboard about being bored at 8 pm. “Shut the fuck up Joshua. You are the one who said you wanted to finish the section of the article before we went home. I was happy to leave at 5. Unlike you I have a life.”

Joshua shoots you a look with a raised brow as he swivels his chair around and rests his elbow on the desk. The pen in his fingers twirls once, then twice, before he bites at the cap in thought. “Is that so? What is it that you do for fun outside of the office Y/N? Think about what color button up you will wear the next day?”

The pen flies out of your hand towards Joshua before you even consider what you are doing causing the man to laugh as he dodges it nearly hitting him in the face. “So fucking spiteful. Did I hit a nerve? You haven’t had dinner. Come on.” You look up at him as he moves to stand shoving his hands into his tan dress pants before gesturing with his head. “What?”

“I just told you, it's time for some food. You are all wound up, you are going to pop a vessel or break a nail. We are done for the night.” Scoffing you move to stand pushing past Joshua making him laugh again. “I really fucking hate you. Why don’t you just tell me that you want me to quit Joshua? You make my life a living hell.” His laugh falls short as his brows furrow when he follows you towards the door when you go to grab your purse.

“I’m not trying to make you quit Y/N. Don’t be such a wimp.” His hand grabs your purse before you can along with your jacket making you stomp your foot when he offers to help you put on your jacket. Not willing to fight him you slide your arms into the jacket and swipe your purse from him angrily as he meets your eyes.

“You either want to kill me or fuck me. I think I know which one it really is.” You scoff in his face as he smirks at you before you are out of his grasp and out the door with him following close behind. “Goodnight Joshua!” His laugh travels too close to you as you realize he is following you. “You don’t live this way.”

“Correct, but you do, and there is a great little sandwich place on the way to your house. We can pick up some take out and take it back to your apartment.” Stopping in your tracks you turn to look at Joshua almost challenging him as he has to stop short before running into you. “You are just inviting yourself into my home?”

The smirk on his face makes you want to slap him but the look in his eyes that matches your challenge makes you want to see what will happen next. “I’ll even buy you dinner, look at me….a goddamn gentleman.” Rolling your eyes at his words you turn without an answer shoving your hands into your pockets as you start walking again assuming he is following behind you.

You weren’t sure what the sandwich was that you ordered, just that it was the most expensive thing on the menu. Joshua scoffed at you and raised a brow when you walked away making him keep to his word when it came to buying dinner. Taking out his card he couldn’t help but smirk as he glanced over to you as you crossed your arms waiting impatiently for him and the food.

“Lead the way Princess.” You glance up at Joshua with a scowl at the nickname before looking at the bag of food in his hand. You hoped it put some dent in his bank account, not that it mattered. How much damage could a $20 sandwich really cause? The point was it made you feel better.

Joshua laughs when once again you don’t speak to him, instead you just start walking towards your apartment. Your hand reaches into your bag as you climb a few steps and open a door holding it with your foot only to let it close on his shoulder when you don’t wait long enough for him to get fully inside. “So hospitable.”

“Oh I’m sorry my gentle little Prince. Did you get a boo boo? Need mommy to kiss it and make it better?” You turn to walk backwards with a smirk as Joshua’s face actually shows some surprises at your gall. “Mommy huh?” You raise a brow in challenge before turning away from him at his words when you reach your apartment door pushing it open letting him figure it out as you make your way in.

Joshua manages to push the door open and even takes off his shoes, placing them neatly by the door before following you towards the kitchen before finding you standing in front of an open fridge as you take out two beers. Your eyes meet him briefly as he smirks, taking out the sandwiches sliding your overpriced concoction towards you as he trades it for the beer. “Enjoy the truffles.”

You hum out a response as you sit on a stool at the island making sure you pick the one the farest away from Joshua. The man to your left laughs as he slides his sandwich and drink down before moving closer to you making you groan. “In my own fucking house?” You turn your head to meet his eyes as he takes a bite of his sandwich, challenging you once again.

“Fine…” You speak the word through gritted teeth before picking up your own sandwich finding it awkward just based on its size. “Can’t handle large things?” You glance at Joshua when he speaks before narrowing your eyes when you take a harsh bite of the sandwich making him suck in a breath. “I don’t think the sandwich is going to bite back, baby girl.”

You make a face not only to the taste of the sandwich but also the fact that Joshua calls you yet another pet name. Sitting the sandwich down you swivel your stool towards him before picking up your beer, taking a long sip from the glass bottle before letting your tongue rest at the rim as his eyes watch you amused.

Joshua smirks before wiping his lips, putting his own sandwich to the side as he tilts his head. “You look like you want to say something Y/N. Do you want to talk about why you are so frustrated with me? Why are you so tightly wound up?” Your eyes narrow slightly as Joshua turns towards you, his hand daring to move towards you, running his fingertips along your arm.

“I don’t want to say anything to you, but you can leave at any time, Hong.” Joshua laughs and bites at his lip when you bite at him with words once again. “That’s so cute…if you want me to leave tell me to. I’ll leave, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want me to do. However, until that moment, why don’t I tell you what I know to be true.”

You scoff and roll your eyes trying to cross your legs but Joshua kicks out his leg putting his knee between yours stopping you. Furrowing your brows you glance down only to feel his fingers on your chin tilting your head back up. “You are so wound up because you are horny. You are frustrated with me because you want to fuck me just as much as I want to fuck you. I’ve been dreaming of fucking the attitude out of you since I laid eyes on you.”

With your legs pushing against his, Joshua glances down at your thighs and tsks at you. “You are so sure about yourself Joshua. You think you are God’s gift to the world, that just because you are attractive every woman has to throw themselves at you. I won’t do that.” Joshua’s eyes meet yours once again and he tilts his head as his thumb ghosts over your bottom lip making your mouth part for him.

“And it drives me crazy. I want to turn you over my desk every single day and push this skirt up to your hips and fuck you until you only know my name. I don’t want the others.” You smirk at Joshua before letting out a small laugh and you nip at his thumb when he dares to push it into your mouth making him hiss out a curse.

“Another boo boo for mommy to kiss?” Your words are patronizing as you use a voice you would use to talk to a baby making Joshua growl under his breath. “Where is the bedroom or would you prefer I fuck you on the kitchen island?” You smirk as he leans in to ghost his lips over yours, his grip on your face tighter as you consider your choice. “Down the hall to the right.”

Joshua is off the stool and you are over his shoulder before you can think. A gasp falling from your lips as his hand runs over your ass. “I can fucking walk!” The man laughs before his hand comes down over your clothed ass making you let out a small yelp. “And daddy can carry you, Princess. You are going to need your strength.”

Your back meets your bed with a thud making you lose your breath when your body bounces a couple times. Joshua glances around your room quickly before looking down at you with dark lustful eyes. His hands sliding along your knees up to your thighs as he pushes your skirt up, “Tell me if you want this?” You pause and feel the ache in your core as his hands reach your hips making you nod. “I want it, fuck.”

Joshua’s hands move to grip your panties under your skirt before jerking them down your legs making you gasp out a moan at the sudden movement. His eyes follow the lace before he lets his gaze move back up between your legs to your pussy. “Oh baby girl…you are dripping.” You groan in embarrassment at his words but watch as he tugs on his tie undoing it quickly before discarding it with a toss of his hand.

His eyes lock with yours as he makes quick work of his shirt making you bite at your lips when you see his torso for the first time. “Like what you see?” You shake your head no and Joshua laughs before you feel a sharp slap to your inner thigh. “Fucking liar.” He watches you arch off the bed with a lewd moan before your hips roll towards him. “Let’s make a deal, we both stop lying to each other and we both get what we want out of this relationship.”

You moan out a “Whatever…’ only to feel another sharp slap when Joshua moves to crawl towards you up the bed. “Don���t act like a child and I won’t treat you like one.” You look down at him as he stares up at you, level with your core, his hot breath hitting your wet folds as he scolds you. “Fine! Ok! You look good. Fuck.”

The sound of your moans when his mouth is on your pussy is like music to Joshua’s ears. You sound like everything he could have dreamed and more as your hips roll to meet each harsh movement of his tongue and lips. He only pulls back and looks up at you making sure you are looking at him when he speaks. “Do you remember spitting in my face?”

You scoff and roll your hips towards him not thinking this was exactly the time to be talking about a fight from a few weeks ago, but a bite to your inner thigh brings your attention back to him as you squeal out a yes. “I bet you do, and do you remember my promise to return the favor?” You nod and watch as he spits over your folds before slapping his fingers harshly over your clit making you scream out his name into a moan when your orgasm hits you like a freight train.

“Now that's what I want to hear. Cum for me.” You whine at Joshua’s words when two of his fingers slide into your walls as you are already clenching into your orgasm only making you buck down harder towards him. “Please!” Joshua’s brows shoot up at your beg as his thumb circles your clit when he pushes you towards a place of overstimulation.

“Are you going to beg for me? Oh Princess…I never thought I’d hear that.” You curse your lack of resolve as he smirks at you when he moves around to the side of the bed. His hands move to help you remove the rest of your clothes. Your hands move to his belt and Joshua tsks before taking a step back letting you work. “Another thing I’d never thought I’d see. Your hands on my pants. I like it.”

“You are so cocky. It’s making me lose my sex drive Joshua.” He laughs at your words before grabbing your face making you look at him once you have pushed his pants and briefs down til he can step out of them. Your hand wrapped around his rather impressive cock. “We promised not to lie to one another. You say you are losing your sex drive and here you are, your hand pumping my cock.”

You scowl at him pulling your face from him before taking your hand away as he raises a brow at your defiance. “Do you want me to leave? I can leave you right now or I can fuck you so hard we forget what we were even fighting about.” Groaning as you feel how your pussy throbs at his words you reach for his hand making him laugh as he crawls over the bed only to pause. “You want me to use a condom?”

Shaking your head no, Joshua smirks and nods before leaning in to kiss you harshly as he drags your hands up over your head pinning them there. You can’t help but to moan into the kiss as your fingernails dig into his hand as he shifts to using one hand to pin them both. His free hand moving to grab his cock as he drags his head through your folds slowly.

“Shua…put it in!” He laughs against your lips at your words as he teases you when you lift your hips and put your leg over his hip trying to gain any upper hand in this situation. “So bossy.” You start to speak when he lines himself up with your entrance and finally pushes into you with one long slow thrust before bottoming out. You gasp a breath and hold his hand tightly, your eyes shut tight as he stays still for a moment letting you adjust.

The stretch quickly becomes pleasure and you roll your hips up making him groan on your lips before he leans back to look down at you with a smirk on his face. “Needy too.” You whine out a “shut up” making him laugh before his lips are on your neck leaving small kisses before he lets go of your hands in place of his hand moving to grab at your breast when his mouth sucks and bites at your collarbone leaving deep red marks.

“Oh…fuck…” You whimper the words as his hips slap against yours. Your head pressed back against the pillows as your fingernails rake along Joshua’s back making him hiss into a loud groan against your shoulder as he leaves another dark mark. “I’m gonna cum.” He nods in agreement as his thrusts start to become messy and quicker. “Where do you want it?”

You consider it for a moment and hold your foot tighter on his ass making him grunt as he furrows his brows and smirks when he meets your eyes. “Inside?” You nod before gasping for your breath as you lose yourself to your orgasm closing your eyes. Joshua watches your face in awe at the fucked out look that washes over you. The look of bliss that radiates from you on to him as he feels the coil that was building inside of him finally give way.

His mouth connects with yours as he mutters against your lips when he fills you with his cum. You whine to how full you feel and how your body is so tense but as he starts to slow his thrusts and you relax you feel like you are floating on water. “So fucking good.” Joshua’s voice is low and almost trembles as he pulls back to pull out of you.

He can’t help himself as he moves to pull your legs apart to watch as the mixture of cum starts to drip from you. “Oh baby, that is so pretty. I almost wanna fuck it back into you.” You groan and kick at his leg making him laugh as he moves to lay down beside you for a moment before sitting up. “That door leads to the bathroom?” You don’t even look as you figure he is looking at the only other door in the room. “You are a fucking genius Joshua.” He rolls his eyes at you before sliding off the bed and going into the other room where you can hear the sink turn on.

Turning on your side you watch the mirror and Joshua as he gets cleaned up. You can’t help but to narrow your eyes in thought at what had just happened and what it might mean. You didn’t know what you wanted it to mean. Joshua glances into the mirror meeting your eyes before smirking and wetting a washcloth before moving back into the bedroom raising a brow.

“What?” You eye him and the washcloth as he sits down and starts running it over your face and chest. “I’m getting you cleaned up.” You scoff and furrow your brows as he runs the washcloth between your legs with a shrug before looking at you with a raised brow. “I’m not a complete asshole Princess.”

“You could have fooled me.” Joshua laughs at your words as you smack his hand from between your legs and you slide off the bed moving towards the bathroom with the washcloth in hand. “You want me to leave?” You leave the door cracked as you take care of cleaning yourself up considering his words. A smile on your lips as you put some fake annoyance in your answer. “It’s already so fucking late, you might as well stay.”

Joshua smiles at your words and lays back on your bed putting his arm behind his head as he looks up at the ceiling sharing many of the same thoughts you had. He wasn’t sure what all this meant and he wasn’t sure he wanted the bickering to stop because you were sexy when you were all wound up.

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[ohmymalice]

"Brawn & Brains"

Jschlatt x Reader | Video Game Highschool AU | Enemies to Lovers

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4

Schlatt watched her intently as she gave a pep talk to her team, probably praising them for the first round. He had to hand it to her, she may not be as good as him (of course she isn't) but what she lacks in aim, she makes up for with her sneaky 200 IQ plays.

He expected her to read him, but he didn't expect that she was willing to die to get her team the win. He had this idea of her, only an idea not a full thought out view of her— She was smart, one of those girls who did things by the book, that's how she'd win, all purely by skill not by luck while he on the other hand, liked to gamble with his chances. Sometimes throwing a whole game just so he can win it back in one round. His team hates him for it, but they couldn't complain with their win ratio.

He remembered hearing her name for the first time, he was waiting for his acceptance letter into VGHS but he got rejected, the principal named Calhoun said some bullshit that he barely listened to. Something along the lines of "It's all about the game" or some shit like that, he mentioned how Schlatt focused too much on the winning aspect and not the time that goes into the game, not the skill, not what it means to be passionate.

He is passionate though! Only with winning, not much the game... Guess that's why he didn't get in. He heard her name from peers, how she was the first female varsity captain in VGHS. He remembered searching up her top clips, seeing her no scope people from a distance. To him, the person on screen was barely visible but to her? It seemed like she perceived them in an arms length distance, he was blown away, impressed even and he is hard to please.

He was jealous, he could never snipe like that, he could never read opponents like that. People chat about how he was lucky, how he's so talented but nobody ever knew the nights he spent balling his fists and slamming his desk, losing sleep for tournaments to become the best of the best, he would never settle for less.

He couldn't tell if he was her number one fan or her number one hater, or maybe both. Whatever it is, he still wanted to watch her games out of curiosity so when the opportunity came and she was in a tournament he watched and she played well until the last round, she completely fucked up and missed a shot on a guy last minute as he reached objective. He remembered seeing that look in her eye, he couldn't see her whole face but just from her eyes.

He knew she would never let herself live that down.

He couldn't tell if he wanted to hug her, tell her all about his own experiences and how he's had a lot of fuck ups too or if he wanted to laugh in her face and brag how he'd never miss such an easy shot.

He's an asshole, he knows it and there's this gnawing feeling at the back of his head, guilt maybe? Shame? Probably both.

He just didn't know how to face it.

Soon when the two got into their respective schools and started competing it was only natural they'd run into each other.

The game started and Schlatt didn't even bother telling his team shit, it was a common occurrence where he wouldn't give his team a plan and he'd just kill everyone or the majority.

"Captain, any plan?" Connor asked, one of his team mates that he grew to like. "The usual, just kill 'em'." He responded lazily, Connor nodded, used to his antics by now.

Schlatt walked off on his on, not caring whether or not his team lives. He camped up on a hill, waiting for Y/N to get near their base. He waits a couple minutes and sees her team but no sign of her. He frowned a little as he realizes she probably stayed at base.

He equips his gun and aims, the recoil making him jolt back as the bullet breaks through the air, cleanly hitting an enemy in the head. He smirks as he hears the crowd cheer, of course they were spectating him. He widely grins as he pulls back.

Few minutes go by and nothing happens, pure silence.

His team starts getting paranoid, giving comms through their walkie talkies.

"Where are they? It's oddly quiet."

"I'm looking through my scope, I don't see anything?"

Schlatt scoffs, these fuckers are over reacting.

"Schlatt? Is anything happening on your end?" Ted asks, the tall man with glasses sighed, knowing that he wouldn't respond. The rest of the team would be left alone to fend for themselves.

Schlatt mutes his walkie talkie and lays against a tree as he grumbles to himself how stupid his team is, how they won't shut their damn mouth and all they had to do was pretend that they were putting effort in the game while he did all the work.

Crack!

He whips his head to the other direction across from his base, multiple shots were fired in such specific locations.

Fuck that fucking bitch was mapping out our base.

He grabbed his gun and redirected it to the enemy's base, trying to find whoever was shooting. He couldn't tell where the main source was coming from, the sound of shots from all sorts of directions filled his ears. From a distance he heard the yells of panic from his team mates. Connor was yelling out his name in attempt to call their captain back and help them while Ted was shouting at him to shut up and focus.

"Goddamn idiots." He grunted, shuffling on the bare dirt on his stomach to properly get a look through the scope of his sniper.

He grabbed his walkie talkie again, unmuting it.

"Connor, give me the run down."

Everyone on his team sighed in relief that their captain was still alive and not wounded in anyway.

"I- They're shooting from their base but I saw some behind trees and other angles, we can't pin point where they are because they're playing aggressive, one of us tried peeking but he immediately got shot in the head-" Connor said quickly, word stumbling out of his mouth.

Trees? Schlatt looked around and spotted one behind a tree not too far off from enemy territory. He got a hit and repositioned, finding another place to hide in since the opposition probably realized where he was now.

He watched as his team in their base refused to peek, any place that they could look through was being shot at. Windows, doors, any entrance or place someone could come from was adorned with markings from the bullets.

They were making sure they couldn't step foot out of base.

Schlatt immediately grabbed his walkie talkie.

"Fuck, three of you idiots get out from the back, make sure they don't see you. Start trying to pick them off, distract them."

Before Connor, Ted, and Charlie could reply Schlatt immediately muted his walkie talkie and took a pistol and an AK47 with him.

Watching as Charlie slowly opened the back door and cleared it, Ted and Connor shuffle along. They start peeking, making sure that the enemy team knows of their presence. Nobody dies, it's mostly an exchange of utility and bullets flying through the air.

Schlatt makes a run for it across the wooded area, making sure nobody sees or hears him. He looks off to the side, taking note of where the enemies were stationed. One on top of a tree, two looking out of the window, and last two weren't visable.

He checked his equipment and took a deep inhale.

He swiftly pulled out his assault rifle, a clean shot to the head towards one of the enemies in the trees. In the corner of his eye he can see the two figures in the window of the base, their heads snapping towards the sound of his gun. Schlatt was only able to shoot one down but the other was swift and went back into base.

He grunts in frustration, realizing how everyone in their team now knew where he was. He started getting antsy, looking around and getting a bit paranoid. He hasn't seen Y/n all round as well as another one of her team mates.

He could storm into their base, clear it and try to get as much information for his team as much as possible, as much as he didn't say it much— they were very capable and good players, I mean duh they are, how else could they have joined the varsity team?

But chances are he'll die and he didn't know if he wanted to risk that.

He could also regroup with his team, give them the run down of what he knows so far (which is not much) but if they all go in blind while the other team knows all of their positions and plans, it might just end in a full team wipe out.

"God fucking damn it" He cocks his gun and decides the former was better, he grabbed his walkie talkie.

"Goin' in blind, gonna stay unmuted and comm whatever I see so we have intel. If I die, you fuckers better win." He busts down the door and clears all his corners.

"First floor clear so far," He said in a hushed tone into his walkie talkie. He continued scanning the area.

He heard a foot step up stairs, his eyes immediately dart to the stair case. "Heard someone up stairs, any info?" He whispers even lower into his walkie talkie.

Charlie peers from behind a wall, he stayed outside to patrol while Connor stayed inside and Ted was on the roof looking over at enemy territory.

"I don't see anything on the roof." Charlie's slightly distorted voice came through the device, Schlatt winced at how loud his voice was, he turned down the volume. Charlie went back to his original position, no longer wanting to look out into the other base but before he could even step further he hit a tree behind him.

A quick mumble of an apology escaped his lips out of habit.

"It's alright, I don't mind." a female voice rang out from behind him.

He sighed, not thinking much of it. His eyes grew wide.

"Wait, fuck isn't that?—"

He recognized the voice after a split second. He flicks to look behind him to meet face to face with the enemy team's captain. She gives an apologetic smile, mumbling out a sorry before she fires a bullet into his head.

Ted, Connor, and Schlatt heard the gun shot, without another word Ted looked over the railing from the roof and before he could even make out the girl's features he gets shot by Y/n. She already took note of where everyone would be position and where they could possibly reposition.

She smirked to herself, her heart swelling with pride. She could finally prove aim isn't everything, you need brains to win a damn game.

She picked up the walkie talkie on the ground that Charlie left behind.

"Hiiiiiii Schlatt!! Are you proud? I didn't miss this time." She dragged her words, greeting him in a mocking tone.

"Fuck you." His tone cold, no longer finding this funny. She cackled into the walkie talkie. His knuckles turned white, clutching the device in his hand tightly. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill you."

"I'd like to see you try." She's never seen him this pissed off, he always kept his cool or just laughed in people's faces anytime they tried anything.

"You're playing hard ball for a bitch that missed the easiest fucking shot a few tournaments ago." He sneered at her.

Connor listened to the conversation, the two were loud, not caring at this point if everyone knew their position was. While Y/n was distracted Connor snuck up towards the door that led to the back of the building. He pushed it open slightly, a loud creaked followed.

She let out a small gasp out of her lips and immediately slid towards the door, shutting it as Connor tried to kick it down. She waited for him to continuously kick, as he kicked forward she let go of the door.

The weight of his body pushed the door open, not expecting that she would suddenly let go he stumbled and fell face first. The sound of a gunshot ensued, making Schlatt look out the window in concern. He was left wondering what happened until he saw the kill feed.

Y/n ︻┳═一 ConnorEatsPants

[becauseicantdecide]

The Harder They Fall

Aemond Targaryen x Reader x Aegon II Targaryen

Warnings: Non-Con/Dub-Con, Smut, Oral (F receiving), Knife Kink, Spitting Kink, Biting Kink, Enemies to Lovers.

Summary: Aemond and Aegon both yearn for their mother's approval. It angers them when she immediately meets and favours the Princess of Dorne. They come up with a plan that ensures their mother never says your name out loud again.

Dedicated to @pluvialpoet, @bitch-biblioklept

Merry Christmas 😘😘

"I wish she'd choke on that olive and die." Aegon utters viscously.

From his spot beside his brother, Aemond almost spits his mead. If he was a man with any less self control, he might have laughed.

Instead, he turns to where his brother is watching sourly, to his mother, talking animatedly with the Princess of Dorne.

He can't deny your beauty, though he may hate you with every fiber of his being, he cannot deny that dornish dress was made for you, that your expanse of exposed skin and well done hair is anything other than breathtaking.

It's a shame that he indeed, also wanted to squeeze the breath out of you.

"Mother lets her get away with too much," Aegon continues, breaking into his brother's thoughts, "She tried to suggest to me how I should ride my own dragon."

Aemond raises a precarious eyebrow in shock and amusement.

"The worst part is the fucking bitch was right."

You were truly, proof that the gods had a sense of humour. Why else would they send someone so blood- boiling and so beautiful?

Though Aemond doesn't supply any verbal agreement of his dislike for you, he acknowledges it silently. He ached to wipe that smug smile from your face.

~~~

You liked to torment, and the Princes of the seven kingdoms had made themselves easy targets.

Like now, Alicent had promised you her younger son would accompany you through the shopping districts of King's Landing, and you were having a fun time reminding him at every moment that he'd been lent out like a hired sword.

You stayed beside him, looking up with triumphant smiles as he looked needlessly bored.

"What do you think of this colour?" You say, raising a light blue fabric to your face so that Aemond could compare them.

The Targaryen simply sighs, doesn't glance at you and turns away.

You pout.

"You're not being a very good help, Prince Aemond." You say, walking around to stand in front of him. Under his eye twitches once in annoyance.

"Ah, perhaps the import of wine and rare fruits are not as important to the Royal Family as I thought." You say in sorrow, turning away, only to grin when you feel Prince Aemond grip your upper arm to pull you back.

"Is that a threat, Princess Martell?"

"Gracious no!" You exaggerate with a smile, "I'm simply pointing out that Dorne's supplies can't be that important with the way you treat me."

You think you could hear his teeth crack with the frustration.

A shiver of pleasure floats down your spine.

Finally, he looks at the fabric in your hand.

"I hate it." He says finally, releasing your arm.

You hum in appreciation, putting it back.

"What is your favourite colour?" You ask, moving to keep up with his lengthy strides, shaking your head politely when someone tries to beckon you into their shop.

Again, he doesn't respond.

"Prince Aemond-"

"-Princess Martell." He says in a clipped tone, stopping to turn to you, "I am just a protective hand. If you require an opinion, I suggest you ask your ladies in waiting. It is their purpose."

Oh, you loved playing games.

You keep your eyes on his, wondering what's under his eyepatch.

"Leila," you call to one of your ladies' maids, you hear her step forward expectantly, ready to assist.

You don't stop looking at Aemond.

"Can you inquire as to the Prince's favourite colour?"

If only looks could kill.

There's a moment before Leila decides to open her mouth to speak on your behalf.

"Pardon me, my Prince-"

Aemond cuts her off with a look.

Pushed too far, he turns, and leaves you in the streets, disappearing into the crowds before you can say another word. You admire the sway of his hair as he walks away.

~

Aemond wasn't surprised that you'd told his mother. Sitting in his room, staring out at King's Landing, he's not fazed by his mother's sudden intrusion.

"I can't believe you," she starts, "the Martell house is a well respected and important family, the least you could do is treat her accordingly."

"You're lucky I didn't kill her." He says easily, studying the people below. Her silence speaks volumes.

"I had sought to make a match of you two, but maybe I should spare her the trouble." Alicent informs.

Aemond swivels on his mother.

"You would wed me to that spoiled brat?" He asks in disbelief.

"She is nothing of the sort!" Alicent's voice heightens as she approaches, "She is kind, and well learned and incredibly creative and if you could see that you would-"

"-Never. I would never." He spends a moment deep in thought before quietly asking, "Why do you like her so much?"

Alicent moves to his side, tucking her hand under his chin to tilt his head up from where he's sitting. He allows it to happen, because this is his mother, his blood.

She looks at him, Aemond watches some type of sorrow move over the planes of her face.

"I think she could love you. Aegon- has been forced to marry for duty, and you get the chance to marry for something else."

Aemond rolls his eye.

"I would have been happier marrying for duty." He responds.

Her grip on his jaw tightens.

"Consider it your duty to me then."

"I'll think about it." He appeases. He'd already thought about it. He would marry you when hell freezes.

~~~~

Aegon was not faring any better with you.

He'd been having his merry time with a serving maid when you'd walked into the small nook they'd been hidden in.

You'd cleared your throat, and the maid- whose name he couldn't care to remember- had slipped away and ran past you with a rushed excuse.

An annoyed sigh slips past his mouth, looking at you with droll irritation.

You didn't even flinch, smiling at him when he approached you to walk past.

"Can I ask, Prince Aegon," you blurt, humour deepening when he pauses to give you an annoyed glance, "Have you ever been with a willing woman?"

The silence is both amusing and poisonous.

You don't expect it, but it doesn't surprise you when he grips your shoulder tightly, slamming you into the same wall he'd had the other maiden pressed against.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" He growl, leaning into your space, till your breaths intermingle, "I am a Prince of the seven kingdoms and you will not speak to me as if I am your equal." He hisses, and not for the first time, the anger in his violet eyes stirs something delightful within you.

You soften your voice, tilting your head up and continuing to meet his eyes in an attempt to look more alluring.

"I meant no disrespect, Your Highness, but there's only so many times you can have your cock sucked by an inexperienced, unwilling woman before it gets boring."

He moves a hand from pinning your shoulder to the wall to wrap his fingers around your throat. Your eyes flutter with the pleasure it brings.

"Perhaps I like my women unwilling and inexperienced."

"A shame," you hit back, "When the opposite could incite pleasure you've only ever dreamed of."

His fingers tighten around your neck.

"Are you offering?" He asks, reducing his grip to allow you to speak.

"You wish." You respond, and before another word can be said, you're raising your hands to knock his away from your body, pushing him back to a respectable distance.

He hits the opposite wall with a muffled thud.

"I'll remind you, Prince Aegon, that I am a lady, and I am capable of removing your hands from your wrists should you touch me again without permission." You move to walk away, pausing in afterthought to turn back to him.

"So, have a nice day, Your Highness." You say, bowing your head respectfully, giving him a small smile, before backing away.

Aegon doesn't understand how he feels for hours after. On one hand, how dare you threaten him? On the other hand, why did it make him feel giddy on the inside?

He blames it on his mother.

~~~~~

He knows what's coming when Alicent storms into his room while he's taking a bath.

"You will not touch Princess Martell again, do you understand?"

Aegon huffs, wiggling his fingers in the warm water.

"It was harmless really, I can't believe she told you that."

"Except that she didn't tell me, the maid you'd been forcing yourself onto did."

Aegon can't help the smile that grows on his face.

Alicent leans forward angrily to dash water into the prince's eyes. He grunts in displeasure, wiping at his stinging eyes.

"I am trying to create a union between her and Aemond, I would appreciate if you would keep your filthy hands to yourself." Alicent hisses.

Aegon laughs long and hard.

"Aemond will kill her the second they are wed, mother, she is a nuisance- so- well- wait- I don't know what I'm saying, go right ahead and wed them." He smiles deviously.

She frowns, sighing, she leans against the bathtub, deep in thought.

Awkwardly, Aegon looks down at his cock, thinking that having his mother here did not inspire the debauched activities he was hoping to get along with.

"Why do you both dislike her? She is exactly the type of person I'd hoped for."

Which was the entire premise of the problem. That you had walked into the castle and earned the favour of the Queen, affection her sons could never hope to attain.

What could Aegon say? That he despised you because she loved you? The words would only get him slapped harder.

Instead, a dangerous idea rears its head. One so dark and twisted that the very thought of it had probably damned his soul.

He waits until dinner, to speak it aloud to the only other Targaryen who understands.

~

You sit at the opposite end of the table, clothed in emerald green. A colour that emphasised the way Aegon and Aemond felt about you.

Aemond hated the way the jewels sat on your skin, he wanted to cover them in your blood, slit your throat open and watch in satisfaction as you struggled to speak another word.

You laugh at something King Viserys says, and Aegon yearns to watch you cry.

Finally, he turns to his brother.

"Killing her is not enough. I want her very name tainted." Aegon whispers.

Aemond smiles at the thought.

"What do you have in mind?" He asks.

Aegon thinks for a minute.

"What's worse that getting her pregnant out of wedlock?" Aegon asks.

Aemond already has the answer prepared.

"Making her want it." Aemond supplies easily.

Aegon looks over at his brother in surprise.

"I don't know why I get called mother's worst child when you're more devious than me."

Aemond sips his mead, deep in thought.

"That's because you always get caught."

Aegon laughs.

~

You'd managed to ignore the princes tonight, having tormented them enough for the day, you only sit back and enjoy dinner peacefully.

You listen to the stories Alicent's father, Otto, weaves, and you smile along or laugh politely where necessary. You explain the landscape of Dorne when asked, and you tell them about some of the customs.

You leave out the customs you know they'd find appalling, they could never hope to understand the way Dorne holds the pleasures of the body as an important aspect of life. That you'd read books on pleasure enhancement alongside your history books when you were ready for it. Your virginity had only remained intact because of your status, as a formality to your future husband, should he be someone outside of Dorne. You knew that these people would never understand that. There was too much currency placed on a young woman's maidenhead for your liking.

You blink, refocusing, realising that your eyes have been locked onto Aegon's face the entire time. He smiles, leaning in to say something to his brother while still looking at you.

It makes you a little nervous. What could they possibly be talking about? No doubt some plot to get back at you.

You liked the idea more than you cared to admit. Aemond was gorgeous and calculating, Aegon made you burn with your desire for him. You shouldn't be thinking this way of either man.

When dinner is finished, you find your way to the library with a cup of ale. The place is almost empty at this time of night, and you enjoy the feeling of being alone and reading books by candlelight.

The words are funnier when you're inebriated, and you enjoy reading the thoughts of maesters who have clearly missed the points of the subjects they're speaking about.

When you hear the door to the library close and locks, you look up in surprise.

"Prince Aemond." You greet, standing, bowing your head in acknowledgement. When you notice his older brother behind him, you nod your head again, "Prince Aegon."

Both men look like they're up to no good.

"Princess Martell," Aegon says happily, "reading so late at night?"

"Uh, yes, I'm- actually I was just finishing up." You say, looking back at the books sitting on the table.

"Oh, there's no need, sit with us, we'd like to see what you're reading."

You don't get a chance to protest, finding yourself sitting on the wooden bench with Aemond on your left and Aegon on your right, both men closing you in.

"Is this yours?" Aegon asks, gripping the half filled cup of ale, taking a sip before you can open your mouth to affirm. He puts it down beside you, and you swallow when he leans closer.

You try to lean away but Aemond is a solid wall behind you, and you find that you can't move too far away from Aegon.

"Don't you hate when people don't know their place, Princess?" Aegon asks, and you swallow when he rests his warm hands on your knees. You don't push them off, not wanting to be disrespectful too soon.

"I'm not sure what you mean." You say softly.

"No? I can give an example." He sighs, smiling still, when you try to turn away from him, his fingers hold onto your knees harder to keep your attention.

"Aemond here is a Prince of the seven kingdoms. Third in line to the throne, rides the largest dragon in the world." Aegon's eyes illuminate with amusement, "Do you think he should act as a sellsword because the Princess of little shithole wills it so?"

You swallow, the level of trouble you're in finally sinks into your head.

"I only asked-"

"-You only asked," Aegon hisses, "and my mother agreed." He reaches up to grip your jaw, "What sway you must have on her, what influence."

You raise your hands to push him away, but before you can, Aemond has grabbed your wrists and pinned them behind you. You make a little sound of surprise, wiggling in an attempt to get out of his iron grip to no avail.

You turn your head to the side, taking your jaw out of Aegon's grip angrily.

"How dare you put your hands on me." You say lowly, struggling still in Aemond's grip, his breath in your ear, "Let me go."

Aegon laughs.

"It's time you learned, Princess, that you cannot have everything you want."

When Aegon kisses your collarbone, you gasp in surprise. He tugs your night dress a little lower so that he can trail his mouth from one clavicle to the other.

"Stop this, Aegon." You plead, trying to pull away from him.

"What's the matter, Princess?" Aemond whispers in your ear, your heart picking up its pace at the sound of his voice, "Don't like being taken advantage of?"

You whine.

"A little help, brother?" Aegon asks, and you feel Aemond's hand grip your jaw, turning your head.

You make a quiet sound of displeasure when Aegon presses his lips to yours. You try to shake both men off but it doesn't work.

Aegon laughs into your mouth, clearly enjoying your discomfort. Automatically, you begin to kiss back, trying to grab any semblance of control you have.

Aegon's lips are soft and plush, he's gentle and commanding with his mouth all at once. It's easy to get lost in it, to forget where you are when you have his tongue pressing into your mouth to trace over yours.

You hum in bliss, getting lost and enjoying it,  only being brought back into your body when Aemond laughs in your ear.

"She likes it." He says when Aegon breaks the kiss, "What a whore." Aemond teases.

Your mouth drops open, you begin to struggle in his grip once again.

"Let me go." You grunt, and you try to pretend that hearing both brothers laugh lowly at you doesn't bring on a spike of arousal.

Aegon's eyes devour you, roaming over your body. His tongue traces over his bottom lip, and you feel like nothing more that a feast for the prince.

"Aemond," he says, eyes still caught on your chest, "Your knife."

Fear squeezes your throat.

"No way," you breathe, beginning to struggle when Aemond pulls a knife from his belt and gives it, hilt forward to Aegon.

You're panting, swearing, wriggling, but Aemond's grip is too tight, and you can't seem to get away.

It doesn't take much for Aegon to rip the front of your dress open. You suck in a deep breath to scream and Aemond quickly claps a hand over your mouth. You grunt behind it as you feel your nipples pepple in response to the open air.

"Fuck." Aegon breathes, and you close your eyes shut to avoid the way he admires you.

The knife drops on the table, you whimper behind Aemond's hand when you feel his brother cup your breasts.

"She is... as magnificent as I thought she'd be." He whispers in reverence.

You jerk when he pinches one of your nipples gently.

You don't see his head dip, but the next thing you know, his tongue laves lazily over your breast.

You can't resist a muffled moan.

You give another shake of your shoulders, not trying as hard to escape Aemond's grip.

You can feel your toes curl in your shoes, Aegon is gentle and precise and you shiver at the feel of his hands and his tongue on your body.

When you can do nothing more than relax, Aemond takes the opportunity to tilt your head to the side so that he can meld his lips to yours too.

It's almost too much, one Prince licking over your breasts, swirling his tongue over your skin, the other, delving his tongue deep into the hollows of your mouth, redefining every thought in your head. Your eyes closed shut, trying not to enjoy the rapt attention you're being given.

Aegon pinches your nipples firmly and you gasp in pain, swiveling your head to meet his eyes in betrayal, but all he does is lean forward and capture your lips.

"You don't have to do this." You whisper, as Aemond kisses your throat and Aegon kisses your lips.

"I do, Princess. You give me no choice." Aegon answers and you don't get a chance to respond as you feel Aemond's teeth sink into the skin of your neck.

Your entire body shudders, with bliss you can't process, you shake violently, pressed between both men.

"I think the whore likes being marked." Aemond observes. You whimper in disagreement.

Aegon cups your cheek, leaning in so that he's almost hovering above you. You look up at him with pleading eyes, he tilts your head so that he can see the mark Aemond has placed on you.

"What will they think, Princess," Aegon tuts, "When they see you all marked up tomorrow? How quickly my mother will cast you out."

"N-no. Please-"

"If only you'd been nicer, less of a brat. Maybe we could have gotten along."

He turns your head back to face him.

"Open your mouth."

You frown, shaking your head.

"Aemond." He says, and you feel a hand on your jaw, squeezing tightly and you can't help the little sob that leaves your throat.

Aegon reaches for the cup of mead. He takes a long sip just as Aemond works your jaw open.

Aegon leans in, and you squeeze your eyes shut as he lets the mead from his mouth slip past his lips and into yours.

Aemond chuckles behind you, clamping your mouth shut, and covering your mouth and nose with his large hand in an attempt to force you to swallow.

You do, gasping for air when he takes his hand away, not liking the sound of their devilish laughter at all.

"I'm going to kill you both." You hiss.

It only makes them laugh more.

"Hear that, brother?" Aegon says, reaching to cup your breasts in both hands and press them together, "She just threatened us."

"I do believe that counts as treason." Aemond murmurs.

"To which the punishment is death, but I'm sure we can come to some arrangement, can't we, Princess?" Aegon follows, his fingertips tracing down your ribs.

He grips the material of your skirt in his hands, bunching it up until it sits on your waist. Though you wriggle, he puts his weight on your legs, stopping you from kicking him away.

He pulls at your undergarments, reaching for the knife to cut them away, you whine, trying to garner some pity.

Next, he's pulling at your legs, until you're lying on the bench, Aemond holds your hands above your head, your body situated between his spread thighs.

You try to kick at Aegon, worried that he's about to take your virginity, but all he does when he spreads your legs is look.

After a moment, he laughs.

"How wet you are, Princess." He praises, you gasp when his thumb swipes over your little bud.

He takes his time, which is way worse that him being rough, his thumb rubbing at your center, pleasure swimming through your senses, until your thoughts are muddled. You sigh, mewling when he leans down, kissing the tops of your thighs.

This wasn't something you were aware men outside of Dorne could do.

Aegon is soft, doesn't rush his kisses on your skin and you wished you could pull your skirts out of the way to get a proper look at him between your thighs.

You definitely stop struggling when he presses his tongue to your center. Your mouth parts in surprise. Was this supposed to be a punishment?

You look up at Aemond, who hovers above, looking down at you with something akin to amusement. You close your mouth, trying to mask the way you feel from him.

As if that was ever possible.

"How does she taste?" Aemond asks, and you burn with the way he talks about you like you're not in the room.

It takes Aegon a moment to raise his head from between your legs.

"Like nectar." Is all he says, burying his face in your cunt once more.

He licks you till you're trembling, his tongue dancing on your heated centre, your thighs wrapped around his head. The candles that you'd brought in with you have been significantly burned down, and you can only speculate that it's somewhere near midnight, and yet, Aegon keeps tasting you, drinking from your centre in an almost desperate manner that makes you want to moan.  You bite your lip so hard to stop from making any sound that you can almost taste the iron of your blood.

All the while, Aemond looks at you, his eyes devour every expanse of your skin and you think that his eyes alone is stimulating enough, but then he's reaching out, fingertips tentatively grazing your soft breast.

His touches grow more firm, and he's rolling one stiff nipple between his fingers before moving over to the next.

You whimper, kicking your legs in useless frustration. Aegon's tongue begins moving faster and you can't fight either brother and at this point you don't want to.

Your orgasm knocks the breath from your lungs, you feel your womb clench deliciously as pleasure swims through your system. You make pitiful noises of pleasure, hands in tight fists, trembling as both boys pause their torment.

After a moment, you feel your senses slowly begin to come back to you.

"The way you gush Princess," Aegon murmurs, eyes still locked on your center, "puts whores to shame."

A sad, needy sound leaves your lips. You can feel an indent on the inside of your lip where you'd been biting a little too forcefully.

"What do you think, Aemond?" The prince asks, "Has she been used well enough today?"

The man in question looks down at you, finally releasing his grip on your arms.

You don't move, confused at what they planned to do now. Would they take turns fucking you?

"I think she has." Aemond says, breaking you out of your desperate thoughts.

Before you can register anything, both Princes have stood, leaving the room with soft steps, closing the door behind them.

You sit up, confused and disgruntled and wondering what happened to make them stop. It takes you a moment before the horror of realisation overtakes you.

What had just happened?

.

.

[justjams2003]

Sweet Savagery 7

Paring: Dark!Thor Odinson x Slave!Reader

Summary: All your life, Thor's blue eyes have haunted you. You believed you outran him, but now all your hopes come tumbling down.

Warnings: Death of loved ones, violence, nightmares, non-con, p in v, degradation, gore, blood, violence, Stockholm syndrome. Tell me if I missed any.

Word count: 1.6k+, Unedited

1st Divider by: @firefly-graphics

2nd Divider by: @cafekitsune

Tag list: @torossosebs @steverogersistheguy

~Masterlist~

Part 6~Part 8

That night, Thor did not even visit you. Though, the first thing you see when you wake up is the back of your fiance.

It has occurred to you, that this marriage everyone seems so keen on, is not one you ever agreed on. It was out of the blue where the word, "future wife," or "queen to be" started popping up. Can you say yes at the altar if you do not even know you're getting married? 

He's sat on the edge of the bed and as soon as you start to move and wake up, he turns to face you. "Good morning, little dove, were you tired?" He asks, drawing little circles up and down your bare leg. Show no fear. "Why, is it late?" He chuckles at your words.  

He nods, "Almost noon." Your eyes grow wide. "Why did Mira not wake me?" You sit upright, it's not that you have something to do, you just hate being lazy. "I told her to let you sleep. But unfortunately, you have duties to attend." You furrow your brows, you do not have meetings now that he is back.  

"Now that I am back, the monthly punishments must be carried out. I had hoped this would be the first time the kingdom saw our engagement, but I was informed you announced it without me."

He seems deflated with the news. Though you can only furrow your brows at this. Thor, like always, reads your expression within a second.  

"You do not know?" He asks, seeming shocked and you shake your head in a response. "In our culture, you cannot get married without a human sacrifice. Usually, the partner's worst enemy. However, before the ceremony, wearing the partner's clothes is seen as an announcement of engagement." This is entirely new to you. You clearly have much to learn.  

You nod, not wanting to set him off again with the true words you want to say. "I've picked a dress for you." Thor then proceeds to help you get dressed.

His touch is gentle, it's like a rollercoaster with him. One moment he's screaming and threatening your life, the next he's braiding your hair and clipping your corset.  

You've got your thickest snow boots on, Thor's winter cape hangs around your shoulders. Even still, you're shivering. People seemed to have taken their place inside the coliseum. There is a buzz in the air. A murmur of thrill.  

"They're excited. We've missed a few months since your arrival." Thor explains as you look over the balcony. The place where you sit is on a raised platform above them all.

In the middle, the ground where the punishment will be held is covered in a foot of snow. The steps where the people must sit too. Not that it bothers them. The villagers all have animal skin wrapped around them, some are of animals you don't even recognise.  

A shiver is sent down your spine when the snow begins falling again. Thor notices and opens his arms for you. There is a moment of hesitation. If you go to him, it shows your compliance with his violence. If you do not you might get punished.

It's as if he himself is a blanket. His size swallows you whole, not a part of you isn't covered by his body heat. Small moments of domestic bliss.  

Once everyone has settled in their seats, Thor steps up to the balcony. (With you still in his arms.) The crowd is as silent as the dead. No one dares interrupt their king. Without warning, he pushes you in front of him.  

The whole crowd cheers at the sight of Thor's cape on your shoulders. He gleams at the roar of his people. Glad of their approval. Then, after seeing you shiver from the cold, he warps you in his arms again.

"Bring out the criminal." He commands and then the gate at your side of the collosium opens. Out steps the man you know as Sir Lancelot.  

A gasp flies from your mouth and you jerk away from Thor. But his hand on your waist is tight and makes sure you aren't going anywhere. "What? But I-" you begin to plead, not wanting to see this man's death. "Apologized, yes, little dove. But he must still be punished for his crimes." He replies, his voice seemingly almost excited.  

"The crimes this man is charged with, are treachery against the king and espionage against New Asgard. How do you plead, Lancelot?" The one who was a good knight before now stands shaking in only his underwear.

He turns to face the king, his arms pressed against his body. "Guilty!" He calls out, likely brainwashed to believe this. Your heart drops in your shoes that he truly believes this.  

The crowd is on the edge of their seat. "Your punishment is combat to the death. May the gods decide your faith." The crowd cheers, people clapping and screaming, clearly they know something you don't. A loud growl vibrates through the arena. Lancelot begins to shiver more. The gate on the opposite side opens with a clatter.  

Out storms a beast. A creature twice the size of Thor and, in this case, thrice the size of Lancelot. It's similar to a bear but somehow larger in size with twice as many teeth and claws. This creature lets out a growl and the floor rumbles.

The crowd begins jumping up and down with excitement. Their faces filled with glee to see this man get ripped to shreds. No wonder no one ever leaves. The people in the kingdom are more likely to kill them before Thor ever gets a chance.  

In one swift motion, the monster tackles the guard into the snow. Lancelot gets a few punches in, but it doesn't little and he doesn't stand a chance. Within seconds the frosty white ground is splattered in red hot blood. Soon enough, guts start pouring out.

You jump, forcing your face into Thor's side. Gripping onto his clothes, just to keep yourself upright. The sight is gruesome and like nothing you've ever seen.  

This beast makes Lancelot's insides his outsides. The people of New Asgard laugh at his pleas for help. They all cheer when the creature stomps on the knight's neck. It consumes its fill, its coat covered in blood and it soaks into the snow.

Thor gives your side a squeeze when the creature retreats back inside the gate. Little is left of Lancelot and it's certain he's dead.  

"Wipe your tears." He commands and you don't even realise you are crying. Show no fear. Within seconds you force a stoic look on your face. "The gods have decided," Thor calls out and the people cheer. Happy as ever to be rid of such a traitor.

And that's the end of it. The people take their leave, some stay, however, just to watch his corpse begin to decompose.  

As soon as you're alone, finally inside the room you've made into your home, you turn to Thor and shove your body against his. Your body racks in tears and sobs, your hands gripping onto his clothes. He responds by pulling you closer in, rubbing circles on your back. "They're savages!" You exclaim, struggling to believe that they find such joy in their death.  

Not only that, but also struggling to understand how these are the same people as a week ago. Is the whole Kingdom an exact mirror of Thor? Kind and gentle the one moment and the next vicious and cruel?

"The mortals of this realm are cruel. Their minds wander and only violence seems to quench their thirst for knowledge of the world. This is why we do not show fear. They will eat you alive. This is how we keep them occupied and happy." He comforts, shunning the brutality of the world.  

"Was Lancelot really a spy?" You ask, your eyes filled with tears but you're determined to look him in the eyes. He nods, "Yes, he was sent by the English to learn of a weakness. He confessed after some guidance." He explains and his words only make you comfort yourself again on his side.

"Thank you for protecting me. I know I act out at times. But I am grateful for what you've given me."  

After your talk yesterday, it dawned on you in the maid's closet. It is true. He's taken you from being a slave to a queen. Given you a warm bed, a full belly, beautiful dresses and not a dull moment. If he's harsh at times, it's merely discipline, right?

He doesn't mean what he said. He cares for you. You're sure of it. If he didn't you wouldn't be alive. You know it.  

He caresses your cheek like he's done so many times before. "I understand, little dove. You act out because you're not used to being spoiled. It's alright. I'll teach you to be the bestest wife and Queen you can be." His smile is gentle and kind and holds a promise he plans to keep.  

You nod and just can't help yourself, bringing him in for a kiss. He holds your small hand in his own. "Come, you must be hungry, it's dinner time." The realisation hits you and after a glance out the balcony, you realise it's true. The sun is low on the horizon and just barely peeks past the snow clouds.  

At dinner, he makes sure to pile food onto your plate. And even though, in the end, each bite makes you nauseous, you make sure to eat every last bit of food. Not wanting to spoil any of it. The conversation with the Warriors three holds much less tension. This time you make sure to keep your mouth closed. Speak when spoken to.  

Things move much smoother this way. He won't hurt you.  

[chaotic-on-main]

No Regrets | CanonAU One-Shot

☾ Pairings ➼ There really isn't one in this, but we all know where it'll lead yeah?

☾ Content/Warnings ➼ underground Levi, low-key violence

☾ Author's note ➼ Uhhh my cute aggression might have come out in this one. To be honest, part of me is like, "take this idea and make it into an enemies to friends to lovers fic" and I feel like that's just the devil talking right now because I'm not even done with Unspoken Words at the moment. Time will tell. Also pretty much all of the dialogue and actions, minus the ones made by the OC, are taken from Gun Snark's manga No Regrets. I'm sure y'all are familiar with it. I just wanted to see what would happen if I placed a character to be canon compliant. So uh. Here? Enjoy?

☾ Word Count ➼ ~1.9k

“Erwin, are you sure about this?” You whisper to your blonde-haired leader as you, him, and your other squad mate, Miche wade through the crowd. The Underground, as always, reeked of dank mildew and smoke. Mid-afternoon proved to be the busiest time of day as merchants yelled over at each other and patrons alike.

“Trust me.” Erwin affirms, as if that would be enough to explain why you and the rest of your team were down here in the first place. You glance over to Miche for any sort of further explanation, but he just shrugs at you and continues on Erwin’s heels. A sudden crash piques your attention and you’re quick to swivel your head in the direction of the noise. There’s a barrel containing some sort of purplish liquid falling to the ground as a merchant shoots off his gun.

“Damn it!” He shouts. Then someone else is slammed into the ground with a hard smack, and you hear him wheezing as the air in his lungs is forced out of his chest by a short figure standing on top of it. He’s in a long dark cloak with the hood down. You only see the back of his head, a wispy black haircut with an undercut creeping up his neck.

“Erwin, is thi-” You glance at your Erwin with a raised brow.

The culprit in charge of all the commotion is already running off. No, not running. He’s flying off. Along with two other cloaked figures trailing close behind. Your ears perk at the familiar whirring of ODM gear. The leader twists his head and even from far away, you can feel his hard stare on your little group. When you look back at Erwin, he has a small smile playing on his lips.

“Let’s go.”

.

As always there were no explanations, only orders. The wind on your face would have been welcoming had you not been enclosed in rock in all directions. You find yourself zipping through the buildings and stalactites. Three figures zoom around in front of you attempting to escape your chase. The one you saw mere moments earlier, the leader you assume, circles around a large stalactite in a maneuver that for those who were not trained properly would have had difficulty following. Fortunately for you and the rest of the team, you've been in the scouting regiment for a while. Without any hesitation, you clip yourself on to the rock and circle around as well with grace. He was doubling back. Smart.

“Split up. Miche, Astrid, with me.” You grunt in response and continue to tail Erwin’s billowing cape. The rest of your squad members vanish down alleys that you just now realize two of the three hunted had disappeared in. You squint as you notice the one you currently follow zip down another alley up ahead.

“You two, go. I’ll cut ahead.” Erwin orders at you before flying off to your left. You tighten your grip on the controller and speed up. Miche disappears behind another wall and then you’re alone. For a moment, it’s just you flying through the alley with nothing but the wind roaring in your ears. Then, you spot a flash of dark fabric in your peripheral and you twist your body accordingly to follow. When you turn the corner, you see him. There he was with his hood down and as he walked with his back turned to you in a casual manner. 

“Hah! Got you!” You shout before tucking yourself into your body and slamming into him. Your eyes widen as you notice he had already pulled his arm up to guard from your attack. His eyes flash with something and you notice a moment of hesitation, but it wasn’t fast enough for you as he grabs you from the back and flips you over to slam into the ground. You choke as you feel the air out of your chest escape quickly from the impact. You groan and slowly sit up in time to see Erwin come from above in full force. His surprise attack grants him the opportunity to fling the mysterious man into the wall next to him. Miche lands behind him out of nowhere and gives you a quick glance.

“You okay, Astrid?”

“Yeah,” you cough again. “Yeah, I’m fine, just winded. Jeez dude, you didn’t have to throw me so hard.” You force yourself to stand even though your back felt like it was on fire. You attempt to stretch out the pain but end up wincing from it instead. Throwing a thumbs up in Miche’s direction though, he nods in response then looks back at Erwin.

“You brought him down, Erwin?” There’s a silent pause.

Then, “No.” And as quick as lightning, the man that had flipped you over was now running towards your leader with speed you’ve never seen before, holding some sort of pick in his hand. Erwin is too slow to pull his sword up to block but luckily Miche was able to step in quickly, using his blade to protect Erwin's face.

“Stop! Look around you!” Miche shouts out.

“Leggo, you bastard!” A feminine voice shouts out. You turn your head to see your other squad mates with two people in their clutches.

“Don’t waste your strength, Isabel.” The girl, Isabel, is actively squirming to try and escape while the one who just spoke stumbles ahead with a disappointed glare.

“Squad leader, are you all right?”

“Yes, you both did well.” Erwin gives you and Miche a nod and with that you step over to the detainee and grip his bicep tightly, making sure to lock his wrists behind him with a wooden board first. He shoots you a seething look but doesn’t shake you off. If daggers could form from his silver eyes, they would surely kill you on the spot. In response, you give him the sweetest smile you can muster before dragging him over and forcing him on his knees next to his other friends who have been forced to do the same. He hits the ground with a grunt. You stand next to Miche behind them in case they decide to flee.

“I have some questions to ask you.” Erwin steps up in front of them. “Where did you get your hands on this?” He holds up the controller grip. Nothing but silence. You eye the trio in front of you, at Isabel’s choppy red hair and the other boy’s sandy-blonde. You can’t see their expressions from where you stood but you could feel the rage radiating off their bodies.

Erwin continues, “Your vertical maneuvering skills were excellent. Who taught you?” Stark silence again. Erwin’s eyes shift over to the raven-haired man. “You are the leader, right? Have you ever received military training?” Nothing. You huff impatiently and stare up at Erwin. Nothing was going to get through them with just words. His blue eyes shift to you quickly with a warning look of 'don't'. You roll your eyes but say nothing. He glances back down to his captives.

“That is the face of a man… who wants to kill me and escape.” Erwin states. He looks up to you and Miche when he says next, “I’d like to avoid any rough treatment if I can.” 

You take a moment to glance at your squad mate, but he just gestures forwards, as if to say ‘all yours’. You grin at him happily then in a flash your hand’s knitting into the man’s dark hair and you shove him down into a puddle that just so happened to be there. His head hits the wet ground with a splash, him no longer on his knees but now laying on his stomach. You hear him grumble as he forces his head to the side so he can look up at Erwin’s dark gaze.

“I’ll ask again. Where did you learn vertical maneuvering?” The man’s hard glare matches Erwin’s, but he still says nothing. You tighten your grip in his hair and are about to push his face in the murky water even more when the girl named Isabel shouts out.

“We didn’t learn it from anyone! You think we’re gonna let a civil servant push us around?!”

“We figured it out so we could survive in this dump! Anyone who doesn’t know what sewage tastes like couldn’t understand!” The other captive yells, a cutting glare aimed at Erwin. You can’t help but snort at the insinuation that you’ve never tasted shit in your life. Quite the assumption of theirs, you think. The head you had clenched in your palms shifts so they can stare up at you. Now dark gray eyes bored into yours with malice. You can’t help but smirk down at him.

“Yes? Want to say something?” You taunt him. You’re met with a sneer, but he still says nothing.

“My name is Erwin Smith. What are your names?” When no one answers, you yank the captive’s head up with a jerk but not before pushing his face deeper into the puddle as you do so. He comes up, sputtering at the dirty water he had accidentally let into his mouth.

“I applaud your determination. But keep it up and we’ll move on to your comrades.” Erwin’s voice is stern. When you look over to the other two still on their knees, your squadmates have their blades loosely up against their throats.

“If you’re gonna do it, do it!!” Isabel screams, eyes narrowed over in your direction.

“You bastard.” A deep voice grumbles from below your grip.

“Ah, he speaks.” You tease again. He doesn’t acknowledge your comment, instead glaring at your leader who is now stepping closer to him.

“What is your name?” Erwin asks, his voice now soft.

“…It’s Levi.” You let go of Levi’s now soaked hair and take a step back. He takes this moment to sit himself back up on his knees, his head bowed slightly to keep water from dripping into his face as he looks up. Erwin takes another step forward and then pushes himself down onto the ground on one knee so that he’s level with Levi.

“Levi. Would you make a deal with me?”

“Deal…?”

“I won’t ask about your crimes. In return, you will lend me your strength, and join the survey corps.” You whirl around to face Erwin with your mouth agape.

“Erwin, wha- are you sure?” His gaze shifts to you and nods. You press your lips together into a thin line. You knew you were down here for scouting reasons, but you had no idea that it was for this.

“If I refuse?” Levi grumbles, his shock mirroring yours.

“I turn you over to the military police. Considering your crimes, I don’t think you or your comrades can expect decent treatment.” Erwin nods over to Levi’s friends. There’s silence as Levi considers this. You notice a shared look between him and the sandy-haired one. 

“Choose whichever path you wish.” Erwin states with finality. You see Levi gritting his teeth as he shoots you a cold stare. You give him a playful smile in return, despite your reservations about this plan.

“Very well. I’ll join the survey corps.”

[amethystpath-writes]

You Weren’t the Criminal

NOT A PR0MPT

******

“I’m happy to announce” -Hero took a breath, a smirk tugging at his lips- “that Villain has been vanquished.”

A crowd interrupted in cheer on the television, then the news cut to a video clip of a body being pulled from the rubble of a fallen building. Villain, supposedly.

When the audience out of frame quieted, Hero’s face became solemn. “Our team wasn’t without casualties. We lost one of our bests.”

The people gasped. Hero swallowed.

“Leader. He was found dead at the scene- we decided…” Hero shook his head. “The footage will be shared when Leader’s family has had time to grieve.”

Leader was dead- that much was true, but only because Villain, who watched his tv in awe, was responsible for the collapsed building. Villain sure as hell wasn’t dead, and that body on the news certainly wasn’t his own. Hero wasn’t sharing the footage because the footage already shown was Leader.

Villain didn’t typically care about the people, but now, seeing that Hero was clearly up to something...he couldn’t do nothing, could he? Maybe he should embrace it. If the people thought him dead, maybe it was a sign to do differently. He wouldn’t get this chance again- to start another life.

Oh, who was he kidding? Villain enjoyed this life. He enjoyed sneaking through shadows, at seeing how much he could get away with, how long he could go without getting caught. There was an otherwise unachievable amount of pride in being the country’s, maybe even the world’s, most successful criminal- to go so long without being caught that the greatest heroes of all time simply fake your death in hopes of taming you. Truly, what did Hero think Villain would do with this news?

***

“Explain yourself.” Villain was curious, having not wasted another moment before taking off to Hero’s home. And yes, he knew where it was. He wasn’t a clumsy criminal, one so naïve to not know where his enemies’ bases laid. And a base could mean anything, whether it was the team of heroes’ homes, secondary jobs, childrens’ schools, partners’ jobs, etc.. 

Hero walked to his refrigerator. After scanning its contents, he decided on a steady beer. It was either that or water, and as Villain knew, Hero didn’t like tasteless things; it was what made Hero’s betrayal against Leader so shocking.

“Hey. I’m talking to you.”

Still ignoring him, Hero parked himself on the couch. No one would bother the two. Hero didn’t make friends and he didn’t have any partners, kids, or- if he had family, Villain’s research couldn’t find them.

“What was all that shit on tv about?”

Villain might have sworn Hero chuckled if he didn’t bare a pair of straight lips.

“You killed Leader.” Hero met his eyes now, and something about that gaze, empty and soulless, unsettled Villain.  He was unsure at first; the building had been destroyed by Villain, but that didn’t mean he was responsible for Leader’s death. Hero found Leader alive, and then...“Why?”

Drawing in a heavy breath, Hero allowed himself a smirk. He shrugged.

“I’ll tell everyone.”

“You’re going to go to the media?” Hero’s tone was bored, like he knew how this would play out, and knew everything Villain would say. Was it possible that he knew Villain just as well as Villain knew him? “After you’re finally free?”

With that, Villain scoffed. Free? He wasn’t a prisoner of anything.

“You are really going to make me spell it out for you?” All this time and Hero only just now looked to Villain for the second time. “You’re trapped. You think you have to prove yourself capable of self-sustainability and you found that trait in crime. I wouldn’t care”- Hero shrugged and leaned forward to grab his tv remote- “but you’re getting in the way of things, and frankly, I have an image to uphold. On the other hand, I felt merciful.”

“Merciful?” Villain scoffed. “You dragged the man I would have claimed I killed- your teammate- out of the rubble I caused, and you took credit, for not only the destruction, but my death as well. Where’s your mercy?” In other words, What the hell are you up to?

The sound of buttons clicking on the remote made Villain grit his teeth. Hero didn’t care at all.

“Bothered?” the hero asked. “Can’t wrap your mind around my motives?”

“I don’t think you have one,” Villain admitted. “I think you’re as curious as me.”

Hero’s lips split to form an amused smile, one glittering like a white wine beneath a fancy chandelier. It frightened Villain. “Maybe. Maybe it was entertaining to figure you would show up, only to find I was right. Maybe it was confirmation, seeing how quickly a crowd’s joy could be diminished by another death.” His smile vanished. “I was curious,” he said, “about the dullness in the peoples’ eyes, hearing about Leader’s death, as if they ever knew him to begin with. I was happier to get rid of him than to chase you around.” His lip curled. “You’re a dog abandoned in the freezing rain. Whining, and whimpering, and annoying.”

Villain still couldn’t understand. “You knew Leader.”

“Obviously.”

“What made it easier to kill him rather than tracking me?”

Hero answered easily, “You weren’t the criminal. You’re just a waste of time, so I killed two birds with one stone. Take out the actual shitbag, and give you redemption, or whatever the hell you want to call it.” He sipped on his beer, then nodded his head at the tv. A video was playing on the news, a tribute to the fallen Leader- images of him and his family, a young girl, an even younger boy, and his wife appeared on screen. “His wife hated him, you know?”

“She had two kids with him; couldn’t have been that bad.”

The news paused and Hero set the remote down. The still image on the tv was of Leader and his wife, smiling in front of a great oak tree. Someone stood in the background and Villain assumed this was an image of a friendly gathering of some sort.

“Look beneath her eyes. Cheap foundation to cover sleepless bags. Her cheek,” Hero noted, “has just as much color, you see? Her skin was always yellowed in the oddest places, and her voice was so quiet on the seldom occurrence she spoke.”

“He abused her.” Villain felt a knot in his chest, but nevertheless said, “But I buried Leader beneath a building. I could have killed him.” Didn’t Villain deserve death as much as Leader for his violent acts?

“Call it a difference in morals.” Hero’s eyes never left the image on tv; he stared, eyes sharp like a knife and simultaneously smooth like butter. “Leader was evil,” he said. “You are just lost.”

What compelled Villain to sit beside Hero, he was unsure, but he found himself sinking in the cushion, and staring at the same image as his once-enemy. For once, he didn’t want to destroy a random building, or rob some bank in a big-city. He swallowed. “What now, then?”

“We find another Leader”- Hero’s nostrils flared- “and we kill him, too.”

******

[dimitrscu]

The whole "Malenia is a Sekiro boss and she'll be easier" is funny. Usually people just think of wholesale porting her stuff as an ER boss into Sekiro, and calling it a day. But if Fromsoft wanted to retain the concept of Malenia, who's to say she wouldn't still be as tough as she is in ER? If she were in Sekiro, she might have more health than Isshin, a different WFD since dodging works differently in Sekiro, different way of healing to account for the deathblow mechanic, move even faster etc.

It’s so wild to me to be honest. I’ve never understood this fascination with putting assets from other games into Elden Ring. There’s mods on nexus that either add Sekiro mechanics like deflects and movement, or there’s the ones that add Bloodbornes quick dash. Like that somehow makes the game better/easier. I’ve fought Malenia with both these mods and she just feels the same. It’s literally no different than fast rolling. The deflects don’t deal poise damage so you just stand there wiggling your sword in front of her like an idiot while she heals off you and that’s about it. Honestly if you want an easy kill then use magic. And I don’t mean that as an insult. Malenia may be weak to bleed and frost, but night sorceries will get you through that fight with minimal effort. Perfect if you want to just beat her.

But back to the Sekiro thing, yeah if Fromsoft were to properly implement her into that game you just know she would be right up there with Isshin in terms of complexity and difficulty. And then the fans would be complaining all over again. In that one clip of her in Sekiro she looked okay, but still too slow compared to other bosses from that game, especially the humanoid ones. But people just wanted to see waterfowl get deflected that's all. Like payback for all the times she blasted them with it. Wolf deflects waterfowl and the crowd cheers kind of moment.

But yeah, saying things like “if only I had deflects!” Or “if only I could play as the hunter!” Always sounds like copium to me lmao. “If only I had my trusty insta kill laser you’d be nothing to me!!” Like please. Elden Ring has so much build variety compared to the other two games and it’s almost like people can’t be bothered to learn the game and instead resort to this “if only I had X, Y, Z then things would be easier”. Maybe the problem is that you’d rather be playing those games instead. But then they’ve always been like this. “Why should I bother learning the fight when the boss cheats?” Brother, she is an AI controlled enemy in a video game, she doesn’t have some kind of personal vendetta against you, she’s not real lmao. I know a lot of people don’t understand how her hyper armor works so they seem to think she makes it up as she goes along specifically to confuse them. They want her to stand still and simply let them stunlock her to death, but then they get mad and call her bullshit when she kicks them back. Insane behaviour really.

For a bunch of people who claim to love these games they sure do love shitting on them all the time.

[cielhunternorwood]

Tower of MMORPG

Well, after needing to scratch the open world exploration itch, I returned to Tower of Fantasy, an MMO-style gacha game I played since day one and then left for a few months due to burn-out (as well as some questionable design decisions). Has it gotten any better? Well, let's just cover the whole thing.

UI/Graphics: Korean MMO/10

So, do you remember Mabinogi? Or any of those really old MMOs like SMT Imagine? Remember how the graphics looked back then? Well, that's what Tower of Fantasy generally looks like. Seeing as it's a mobile game, I can't say I'm too surprised a lot of the graphics are either very simplistic or low-resolution, and that goes for the weird UI as well.

I won't say it's terrible, but it definitely is on the low end. It has the feel of a low-budget MMO from years ago that was retroactively made a mobile gacha in order for it to sell. While it's made a lot of vistas and beautiful viewpoints over its time, and a later city looks absolutely crowded with cyberpunk-genre lightboard signs and what have you, there are also a lot of repeated textures, visible seams in terrain, and a few clipping errors that can cause collision issues.

It's not that it looks bad, but it definitely doesn't have as much care to it as more funded games.

Gameplay: Devil May Gray Raven/10

So, the main function of the combat is that you get a wide array of weapons- you can equip up to three- and they all fall under a particular element: physical, fire, ice, volt, and altered (only two characters have this so far). Each weapon is very unique and has its own move set, dodge attack, air attack, and a cooldown-based skill. Pull a bit back, yes, the game allows you to air-fight. It also has the No More Heroes bullet-time-dodge mechanic that has become popular since Bayonetta.

The best part of the combat is the Discharge system. Smacking enemies with weapons will build up Weapon Charge (each weapon has its own rate of generating charge for other weapons). When a charge is full, it causes your other weapons to flash. Switching to them triggers a QTE for a devastating super-attack (of super-support effect for Support weapons) and allows you to go to town with that weapon almost immediately.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL! Each weapon also has a set amount of Shatter power, which is necessary for dealing damage to enemy shields. Shattering shields is very important not just due to them cutting damage taken in half but also useful for stopping big enemies and bosses from using devastating super attacks if you Shatter them fast enough. It also stuns most enemies for a moment and, in some rare cases, mounting bosses to backstab them over and over for extra damage (though sometimes you may do more damage just whacking them on your own).

Combining that with the incredible mobility options, which certain other games lack, makes for a REALLY fun hack and slash game that makes exploration much more fun and interesting since you have multiple solutions for traversal.

So, what's wrong with the game? Well, it's generally kind of buggy. Repeating the low-budget comment earlier, it feels as though the game released without ironing out the bugs, and it just hasn't stopped to fix it because someone, most likely the publishers, pushed for more content rather than fixing mechanics. There's a wide array of issues with the game that are both aggravating and beneficial that I won't list. Sure, the game is fun, but you have to deal with A LOT of weirdness with terrain, physics, etc.

Now, exploration! A big part of the open world, and one of the big things advertised for Tower of Fantasy is that you found the gacha tokens out in the open world, alongside the other currency for buying more. The problem is that this is only partially true.

ToF has five gacha tokens, three for weapons/characters and two for matrices, the equipment for the weapons themselves. This means there's one low-rarity banner which has a very low chance of dropping an SSR weapon/character, one standard banner which has a higher chance (with a short pity for a random SSR), and one limited banner which has a 50/50 pity at 80 pulls and then a "guarantee" in the form of paying 120 tokens once you pull 120 times. The matrix banners are split similarly into standard and limited, with limited matrices being specific to the limited weapon available.

Now... This is an MMO-ish game, so grinding for standard SSR matrices is possible, and world bosses also have a VERY low chance of dropping a standard SSR weapon, but they have all been power-crept by newer, still-limited options. It is further gated by daily Stamina and items specifically for opening Boss Chests. Also, any 'Exploration Points' in the open world are one-time only, and only about ten of the HUNDREDS of Points across all current maps hold Red Nucleus- the items for Limited rolls- and only Supply Pods in the first world drop the currency for buying more rolls, Dark Crystal.

Starting to see the problem? It's a different kind of bad from the Genshin problem, which is making it seem like you get a lot of rolls when you actually don't, since everything is one-time only. While standard weapons are still serviceable to a degree, operating in high-end content will be impossible without getting some of the newer weapons coming out in the present.

So, generally, combat is fun and allows for experimentation and combos, but the gacha really ruins a lot of it, especially when the game almost never reworks old weapons to make them either viable or at least useful in end-game content. The exploration early game is pretty fun, it is awful in the second world, and the third world so far looks to be a huge improvement.

Music: Pretty Basic/10

The music isn't much to write home about, since it's fairly simple in most cases and sounds very much like a garden-variety anime soundtrack in most places.

There is one single vocal song for the game called "Meant to Be" which is astoundingly great, both the instrumental and the full version. It's possible to hear the full version by triggering a night-time event in a specific area and the instrumental by climbing to the very top of a Tower in the center of the first world.

I won't say the music is bad, but other than the vocal song, it doesn't quite stand out. On the other hand, the music does its best to keep to its particular mood and to change based on area, combat, and so on. At the least, it doesn't do a lot of recycling of music and tries its best.

Character Designs: Cyber-Fantasy Mish-Mash/10

This is a weird one to touch on because the character designs vary by the World a character comes from, but it largely embraces a cyberpunk style for most characters and otherwise delves into Eastern Fantasy for later ones.

The designs range from fairly generic to crazy unique, but each one feels crafted specifically for themselves and not just borrowing a generic model for each body type (or at least seems to not be falling for that). Each character also has a second appearance to unlock from advancing their weapon enough via getting copies of it, with the results ranging from something of a palette swap to one guy becoming Sephiroth's twin brother.

And let's not glance over the player character, your avatar, who is highly customizable in hair, eyes, and accessories, but there's a limited selection of outfits, most of which are punk-themed, cyber or otherwise. Most outfits come from event gachas which are grotesquely expensive to attempt, so it's generally not worth it unless you're a whale.

Economy: Streamlined MMO/10

Money is Gold. Upgrade materials have two sets: elemental stones (altered weapons use one of the four base elements) and upgrade items (of which there are also four). Each weapon upgrades with one element of stone, one of the two more common upgrade items, and one of the less common upgrade items. Multiple in-game modes let you grind for these upgrade items, and they can also drop items for leveling up weapons or alternatively drop items for leveling up matrices.

The other grind modes drop equipment, which is your main source of stats and can be a massive headache to grind. Each equipment piece has the same base stats for its type and four sub-stats which are randomized. These can be upgraded with the same type of equipment pieces or crystals gained from both recycling equipment or breaking big crystals in the open world. The upgrades will boost a random sub-stat, up to a certain number of upgrade levels.

Then there's ENHANCEMENT which is just a flat level-up to the main stats of the equipment, and that item is basically locked behind weekly rewards for a specific solo game mode that rewards an amount based on your completion of it. There is a handful you can get weekly in the Commissary, using the other currency that drops from running any mode that uses Stamina.

As you can see, it can be fairly simple and easy to get into a pattern of grind for getting what you want out of the modes, and since this is MMO-style, a lot of these modes are made way easier by teaming with randoms or pals, so grind for items can be fairly painless... Well, except for if your equipment keeps tossing you bad sub-stats.

Story: There's a story?/10

So, the story of Tower of Fantasy is fairly simple. You start off as your own character, being chased by a two-headed dog, and you wind up collapsing due to radiation or something. When you wake up, your memory's gone and you find yourself saved by a blond girl named Shirli and her big sexy brother, Zeke. They live in a Shelter made out of a crashed ship in Aesperia, along with a bunch of other folks trying to survive amongst the world which was irradiated by an event known as the Cataclysm.

You get a very barebones explanation of how people survive, getting supplies through teleporter things from Hykros, a bunch of folks living in the sky in a floating city, and survive the radiation by using Suppressors to ward it off. So, guess what happens to the girl who shows you around town? Yep, her suppressor runs out of battery and she gets irradiated. In order to save her, Zeke decides to go with some bad guys known as the Heirs of Aida.

Thus, your character decides to chase their trail to save both of them and uncover the plot of the Heirs of Aida. Eventually, you find out your character was actually a form of Spec Ops agent for Hykros known as an Executor, which lends you to getting access to a lot of support in both challenging the Heirs of Aida and saving Shirli and Zeke.

To avoid further spoilers, let's just say things kind of end weirdly, and the story of the second world drops the entire Heirs of Aida plot to introduce a NEW enemy known as Grayspace Entities who just hate everything living, I don't know.

It's a very bare-bones story, as you can see, and works through several seasons of anime plot over the course of what would be a couple of episodes, and it has a very strange manner of not explaining things as it goes along. It just tosses you into situations with little prompting and pulls you along without much exposition.

While this leads to there being more gameplay time and lends itself to few dialogue bits being tolerated or over-extended by wordiness, it leaves a bad case of story whiplash where you just have to go "okay, sure, moving on".

I would add that a lot of this stuff revolves around time technology, but it's treated as mostly a MacGuffin and nowhere nearly respected in terms of concepts of time travel, manipulation, and repercussions except for when it was necessary to explain the Cataclysm's cause.

It's just generally a mess of ideas strung along with little to any connectivity or background, leaving everyone experiencing it absolutely confused.

Overall: College Student Hobby/10

Tower of Fantasy, I would say, is worth an experience to discover the combat and how much fun a game can be when mobility is made available in many ways. In fact, a lot of people who played or continue to play ToF ended up quitting Genshin due to it just having a better core gameplay. A lot of the problems with ToF come from what feels like low budget compared to its high income, and it isn't quite being fixed up unless a problem is especially game-breaking.

Again, I would say to experience it without spending, since they changed the beginning game experience, for some reason, to skip over most of the World One events while providing a side quest means for going back to play through those events.

You might not be able to experience the super power of SSR characters without some time investment, but at the least don't spend any money on it.

I say this both as someone who regretted spending money on it but also as someone who is seeing signs of a game that may be ending service sometime soon due to a huge drop in playerbase. And the problem is that it's no surprise that it happened, since this game has the feel of something that was forced to be a gacha to make money rather than being left as what it was probably meant to be: an MMO with DMC-style combat.

[tf2workbench]

One accurate shot, or lots of little shots?

I think there was a weapon in Advanced Weaponiser, a long time ago, that could toggle between “precision” and “spread” modes. I can’t remember what it was, nor can I find it on the wiki page, but you can bet I’m gonna talk about the general concept. Starting with a minigun.

Wait, wait! Don’t read below this just yet, even though you want that minigun. So that players and opponents feel like these weapons are intuitive, I think it’s important that the different modes look different. Similar enough that they’re the same weapon, but changing “forms”, a bit like how the Thermal Thruster has its active and passive models. That’s a question for visual artists, though. Interlude over. There is a minigun right under this text.

Toggle Minigun Iteration 1 (*) Press your reload key to toggle between “precision” and “spread” modes. Toggling takes 0.5 seconds. (-) -25% firing speed (-) Cannot toggle while spun up

In precision mode: (+) -75% bullet spread (+) +50% knockback dealt

In spread mode: (+) Bullets penetrate one enemy (+) +25% bullets per shot (-) -15% damage on penetration (-) +100% ammo consumed per shot

Okay, I didn’t really give it spread per se, but we’ve established in the past how low-accuracy weapons tend to feel awkward and frustrating. That’s why I gave it more crowd control but no actual accuracy penalty in spread mode.

Anyway, I like the way this weapon rolls. I would hesitantly say that spread mode is a bit too good at denying the time-honored strategy of “hide behind your bigger teammates,” but there aren’t any glaring flaws that I can immediately see. I suppose players tend to dislike knockback, but even +50% shouldn’t be enough to send them flying unless they’re airborne; it’s more to keep them away. Hopefully.

Because I’m not satisfied with one good weapon, let’s make another:

Toggle Scattergun Iteration 1 (*) Press your alt-fire key to toggle between “precision” and “spread” modes. Toggling takes 0.5 seconds. (-) -34% clip size

In precision mode: (+) -75% bullet spread (-) Damage rampup caps at 125% [down from 175%]

In spread mode: (+) Each bullet that hits increases cumulative damage by 2.5%, up to +25% (-) -10% damage

Again, didn’t give it spread, but gave it rewards for good accuracy. In this case you can deliver an earth-shattering shot dealing upwards of 120 damage, but only if you’re in close and aim well.

The trouble with high-damaging scatterguns like this is that they can be frustrating to fight; people usually don’t appreciate dying in one hit, especially when they don’t see it coming. That’s a potential problem with the spread mode, but it’s not necessarily weapon-ending.

The other problem is that this weapon seems to fuse both the Shortstop and the Back Scatter into one weapon (less so on the latter, though). We don’t want to copy other guns and invalidate their niches. If the Shortstop had something else going for it other than spread, I’d be more comfortable... but it doesn’t, at least not right now.

This was actually the reason I declined to do rocket/grenade launchers for this weapon idea. Since the Direct Hit and Loch-n-Load exist, I felt that we were already sort of repeating existing weapons. Not to say that the Shortstop is the only viable “precise” scattergun design, though - I’d invite you to share yours! For the meantime, let’s go to another class...

Toggle Flamethrower Iteration 1 (*) Press your reload key to toggle between “precision” and “spread” modes. Toggling takes 0.8 seconds. (-) +100% ammo consumption rate

In precision mode: (+) +75% flame length (+) No flame spread (-) -50% afterburn duration

In spread mode: (+) +15 degree flame spread (+) Flame particles gain +25% damage after penetrating an enemy (-) -50% flame length

Unlike the other weapons here, inaccuracy is a good thing for flamethrowers since one flame particle will do just as much damage as several. The downside: if the spread is too wide, it can make it hard to see. Oh well.

At any rate, this is a fearsome weapon. In precision mode, your effective range is greatly increased; in spread mode, you can absolutely decimate crowds in close range. And you still keep the power of the airblast, which I’m loathe to remove since it’s so interesting.

This weapon’s success hinges on two things. The first: is precision mode like a cheap knockoff Dragon’s Fury? And the second: will spread mode prove so effective that players will get angry at how fast they die? Not questions I can definitively answer, but input is always welcome. Let’s try another...

Toggle Flare Gun Iteration 1 (*) Press your reload key to toggle between “precision” and “spread” modes. Toggling takes 0.8 seconds.

In precision mode: (+) +50% projectile speed (+) Mini-crits on burning targets (+) +75% reload speed on direct hit (-) -50% damage

In spread mode: (+) +150% projectile size (+) Projectile penetrates enemies (-) -25% afterburn damage (-) -25% projectile speed

Unfortunately, we’re seeing a little bit of redundancy with the precision mode, which is a bit like the regular Flare Gun. But it’s not too similar, so I’ll let it slide!

I think both of these options could be enjoyable, which is great. Honestly, each of them could be half-decent weapons in their own right, but I think combining them gives a much more interesting experience (even if it might be a bit more complex).

Honestly, we could take it a step further and use this weapon to showcase the flare grenade I made a while back. I complimented that weapon a lot, and I think it would be an interesting direction to take this weapon... but this is fine too.

Conclusion Well, making dual-mode weapons seems like an excellent idea. The weapons we’ve come up with have had brought so much interesting gameplay that they’re almost too complex! And better yet, this treatment isn’t limited to just these four weapons - most weapons in the game can be modified to have “precise” and “spread” modes. Which one(s) would you want to see?

[forensicated]

Smiffina Episodes: Witness Part 7 - Truth And Lies (7/8)

Alesha and Leanne watch a home video of Carly filmed in happier times with Smithy. Brooke is with a friend as today is the first day of the court case and Smithy is driving Leanne to the court. Alesha apologises for not giving evidence but Leanne tells her she understands. Smithy reasons Joel makes a better witness as he was involved and hasn't got the 'lied on the first statement' thing against him that the defense would use to discredit her in this case.

Heaton and Gina lead the briefing. Emma is assigned as security for Alesha, Nate, Diane and Beth are in the mobile unit and everyone else is crowd control outside the court until Dwayne and Tito arrive and then they will be redeployed. Outside the court is a group of people chanting 'Justice for Carly' with signs and the press. Leanne and Beverley come face to face with Beverley calmly explaining she's there to support her son, whatever the outcome.

On the Jasmine Allen, Nate and Diane find a pregnant woman who was assaulted and robbed around 6am. Sam organises a door to door as Nate takes Debbie's boyfriend, Raheem Woods, to the hospital. He says he was out with friends whilst Debbie was at work. Debbie says she didn't see her attacker as it was dark and her security light didn't work. Thankfully her baby is alright. Nate and Diane gently ask if she has any enemies given the nature of the attack and Woods insists it was was likely a robbery and he tells her he'll kill the guy that did it.

The prosecution barrister, Julian Ford, tells Smithy he'll be up first to give his evidence and then he'll be cross examined by the defence. The defence barrister, Sunil Davdra, is known to Grace or 'Gracie' as he calls her. He's her ex. He's rather slippery and cocky but apologises to Grace for how he handled it when they split up. Grace is not a fan and pulls him up for misogyny before they even get in the courtroom.

Diane watches the CCTV near Debbie's home and spots someone lingering. Nate has found Raheem has previous for affray and possession. He's also part of the Creekside Boys. It's possible someone could have taken revenge on Debbie for Woods upsetting them. Nate recognises the man lingering outside Debbie's as a junkie called Ty Gibson. Woods is found by Nate and Debbie standing over Gibson who is flying high on crack and has another £100's worth in his possession. Debbie didn't have that much money on her and there were no other related robberies where he could get that much money from that night. Where did he get it? And how/why has he changed his clothes? Nate suggests that it could be from a charity shop as people leave bags outside when they're closed and he might have helped himself as he's not known to frequent shelters.

The prosecuting barrister addresses the jury with a powerful diatribe of how Carly's death blighted the community as well as her family and friends lives and contributed to the growing epidemic of gun crime. Smithy lays the groundwork of how he was on routine patrol to start with and had been looking into the pay party. His accent has become slightly more clipped and clear as he's presenting to the jury - it's adorable 😂. He explains the link between Tito and Marlon who ran the pay party, that he spotted the gang 10 minutes before the shooting and stopped to talk to them and Carly and then drove off, only to return when he heard the gunshots. He provided first aid to Carly before accompanying her to hospital. "Carly was a good kid. Really bright. One of the hardest things I've ever had to do as a police officer was tell Carly's mum that she was dead."

Debbie rings and asks if someone can accompany her back to the flat after her discharge as she's frightened to return home alone. Diane is intrigued when Debbie mentions she doesn't remember the last time the security light outside worked properly. Just from a quick look she can tell it's been loosened and isn't broken so bags it incase it'd been tampered with. Debbie then remembers she can't let them in as she hasn't got her keys and they wait in the mobile unit for a locksmith.

Sam tasks Jo and Kezia to interview Gibson but to take it easy and concentrate on his last 12 hours whilst he comes down and to not mention the clothes until he's more on planet earth. Gibson says he doesn't know anything about attacking someone but admits the CCTV image looks like him. He claims he was there to meet a man to buy gear at 5.30am on the third floor of Debbie's flats. He says he paid £20 but it's clearly not true given the amount of crack he is in possession of. He passes it off as having sold some second hand stuff and that the officers are harassing him. They know they're not going to get anywhere and take him back to his cell. Nate finds proof of Gibson changing outside a charity shop. He doesn't take his original clothes with him so Nate agrees to go and have a look if they're still there - they are. And they're covered in blood.

Debbie tells Diane she'll move in with Raheem when the baby is born. She says he's only a little wild because of the people he hangs around with and that having their baby will calm him down... now he's got his head round it. She admits Woods thought it was an accident but she got pregnant on purpose as 'even his mum says he needs to settle down'. She goes on to say he was 'vexed at first, but I know he'll come round to it!' It's obvious from Diane's face she's suspicious that Woods is involved in Debbie's attack. She feeds this back to CID and that it's likely Woods paid Gibson to make her lose the baby. Creekside are crack dealers and likely that earlier was him being paid with the cocaine that was found on him.

Sunil cross-examines Smithy's evidence. Smithy explains he is the FLO for Leanne and that as part of it he has formed a bond with Leanne and if you don't form a bond with the family as a Family Liaison Officer, you're not doing your job properly. Sunil accuses Smithy of letting this bond conflict with his job as a police officer to investigate cases impartially. "If it's not a proper conviction then it's not true justice." Sunil insinuates that Leanne and Smithy are closer than they are and that something could be going on. Sunil says he's made over 60 visits in 90 days - often outside his working hours. He then makes Smithy agree he'd do anything in his power to get the result. Smithy starts to say 'within the law' but Sunil purposely cuts him off before he can finish and talks over him.

Gibson is asked about the clothes and the bulb for the security light. He claims someone stole his original clothes whilst he was asleep and then admits he was made to do it by Raheem Woods. He was told to kick her repeatedly in the stomach but he doesn't know why. He's sickened when Jo tells him she's pregnant.

Sunil tries to tempt Grace for a dinner date. She tells him she'll think about it but knows it's just a mind game and he has nothing on her. Ford, the prosecution barrister, asks Grace about the footprint and she explains how it was found and matched to Dwayne's limited edition trainers. Sunil tries to make out that this mud is no different to other mud a few meters away and that it's ludicrous to think that it could only have gotten onto the shoe when he was disposing of the gun. Grace goes on to point out the arrests did not just hinge on the mud/trainer and the CPS would not have allowed them to continue if that had been the case. Joel arrives to give his evidence and Smithy goes down to check everything is OK - it's obvious he's been gotten at inside and that he's had a beating.

As Emma arrives at Alesha's fathers house she finds 'GRASS' has been spray-painted all over it and that a window has been broken. She chases after the suspects but they get away.

Smithy comes up to Gina and John and tells them that he's getting a really bad feeling about what is happening. He tells them about Joel and wonders if this - and the stuff at Alesha's house, is to threaten both of the major witnesses to keep quiet. Smithy heads to Alesha's to calm her down and Gina heads back to the station to try keep the lid on anything from escalating on the Jasmine Allen in response.

Oscar tells Smithy that he is taking Alesha and they're going to stay with her Auntie. He tells him they can replace the windows and he'll have an officer placed outside his house 24 hours a day. "For how long?" he asks. "Do you really think we want to live like that?"

Nate and Diane follow a black VW 4x4 linked to Creekside that has been cruising around the Jasmine Allen estate to intimidate people and likely contains the people that targeted Alesha. One of them is Raheem Woods and Nate enjoys arresting him and interviewing him. They insist they know he'd paid Ty in cocaine for doing it, they have Gibson's statement and Woods' fingerprints all over the bag. They also have what Diane reported back from Debbie. Unfortunately for Nate, Wood's winds him up. "I know where you live, I know where your kids go to school." Nate smirks and steps forward. "Whatever you do, don't tell my kids... I can't afford the maintenance." As he does, Woods forces his own head into the cell wall and shouts that Nate attacked him - in an area that's not covered by CCTV. Gina plays back the audio recording, just before Raheem said to Nate "You'd love to hit me wouldn't you copper?" before crying out. Gina tells him to make his statement and because of it he has to be bailed.

Diane sadly has to tell Debbie that it was Raheem who set up the attack to make her lose the baby. She's heartbroken. Diane reassures her the baby survived and she will too. She's stronger than him.

Joel steps up to give evidence with Dwayne and Tito eyeballing him. Tito makes a gesture of a gun against his head and Joel falls apart, claiming the police forced him to make the statement and that it's all lies. Leanne shouts at him for lying and the court descends into chaos with the judge ordering everyone out until it calms down.

Sunil insists he didn't tell Joel what to say after Heaton accuses him. "Perhaps Joel's telling the truth. We'll see." The officers gather and discuss what happens next. Noone in the jury will believe Joel's statement even if someone else reads it out so Grace suggests Alesha. Smithy says she won't do it. She reasons they have no other witnesses and that if they're so determined to get at her and stop her coming to court then they know she has enough to get them sent down. Heaton agrees and Grace goes to speak to Sunil to get him not to object to Alesha being called (by pointing out he's scared of losing his case through the evidence of a teenage girl - what an absolute winner he is!). She challenges him to accept Alesha giving evidence because if he breaks the evidence of their star witness it'll get him closer to QC, one over on the MET and Julian Ford. "That's got to feel good hasn't it?" he agrees and so Smithy goes to try talk Alesha and Oscar into appearing in court. Heaton warns him to be on his guard.

Outside the mobile unit, Raheem is causing trouble by claiming the police caused his injuries. He's shouting out that they're fixing the trial because they're liars and racists. "... Who's this idiot?" Smithy asks Beth in response who explains who Woods is and that he's accused Nate of attacking him. "Nate?" Smithy smirks. "Not even he's that stupid!" he tells Beth to call if she needs him and continues on.

Oscar says it's not their war and Smithy points out of course it is. They took over their house, they burnt the chair Oscar adored from his mother - the only heirloom from her that had been in their family for generations. They'd spray painted the house and stolen or destroyed their property, they murdered Alesha's best friend, they involved Alesha in crime and forced her under threat of injury and death to provide an alibi and lie to the police and then ran her over to try kill her and they're making them desert their home. How can it NOT be their war? Smithy says he had to tend to Carly and watch her die. Alesha saw who shot her - if they get out there's no hope for anyone. Alesha gives in and agrees to give evidence but by that time they are surrounded by Creekside Boys trying to intimidate them from balconies and streets around the estate. Smithy calls for backup to deal with the crowd and Beth calls for back up for the mobile unit. Smithy has to physically move people aside to get Alesha to the car and Raheem starts shouting that she's not welcome there and not to come back as others shout that they'll be waiting.

Soon after Reg finds the mobile unit's door has been glued shut as the unit starts getting pelted with bricks. Reg calls for urgent back up. As Smithy rushes Alesha and Oscar to the court, a red car follows them and as they near it runs them off the road, flipping Smithy's police car over repeatedly until it settles on its side. All three occupants are trapped unconscious...

[writeitinfaster]

They clipped my Wings

We planned it out. Dinner started at five and went until seven. They gave us plenty to eat, so we didn't want to miss that. I loved learning Mandarin. I needed time to study. Other kids liked learning whatever was in their program. We all needed time to study, but they let us out at four pm, and there was a sweet spot of about two hours if you put your bathing suit in your backpack. You could even change in the bathroom in Sibley Hall.

Then it was a short run around Sibley and down the new concrete stairs to the bottom of the gorge. On hot summer days, the gorge with its slate shores and deep cold water was always full. Everyone knew about the sweet spot in the schedule, but most kids and teens just wanted to swim or sunbathe.

If you took the trail on the far side of the gorge to the cliffs above the upper pool, you could fly. I saw some college men leaping into space and splashing to the water below. A few teens decided to join them, and now, it was my turn. I wet myself all over, so the plunge after the drop wouldn't be a total shock.

I swam across the gorge, and started up the narrow trail. I scratched my foot and my other leg. Getting up the trail was serious business. No one called me watermelon because of my bathing singlet. No one called me shrimp on account of my size, or Mr. Mussel, another great New Jersey name.

"It's crowded up here," a college student with a crew and loose bathing trunks complained. "What are all you kids doing?"

"Waiting in line," answered a teenage girl with a figure eight braided style and a bit too much padding. I thought of porpoises and elephant seals.

"Shit," sighed crew cut. "You going to jump or just gawk?"

"Jump of course," answered French braid.

"OK, which of you goes first?"

I smelled a dare. I smiled. "We'll do it in alphabetical order," French Braid explained. "I'm Colette," the teen girl told me.

"I'm Noah."

"OK, I go first." Colette walked to the end of the ledge and stared down.

"You have to give it a running start to get clear of the rocks," said a college man with a mustache and fairly well grown out hair.

"I know...I'm just judging the distance."

"You sure you're not scared."

French Braid shrugged, loped toward the ledge and pushed off. She splashed down an eternity later.

"OK little one," crew cut smiled at me. I smiled back. "You don't know my secret," I sang in my head. I too took a good look down. It was deep. It was dangerous. If I cleared the rocks, I would be fine. I liked the thought of it being dangerous. I decided I would think of nothing on the way down. I was the pilot zigzagging through enemy fire, on my way to take out their planes, Ukranians versus Russians from the war a generation ago.

I ran hard and fast and out into space. I felt the breeze blow me gangly. I was in the air a long while, and somehow made an awkward pencil that only partially eased the sting of water. For a few seconds, I flew. For a few seconds nothing mattered. I wanted to do it again.

[beardedhandstoadshark]

How did you like Genshin Impact, can you recommend it? I thought about starting it.

ONLY IF YOU PLAY THIS GAME AS AN F2P CASUAL AND IF FEAR OF MISSING OUT DOESNT AFFECT YOU.

DO NOT THINK TOO MUCH ABOUT GETTING A SPECIFIC CHARACTER VIA THE GACHA OR "BUILDING" YOUR CHARACTERS THE "CORRECT“ WAY. THERE IS NONE, AND THE CHARACTERS GET RERUNS. ONCE YOU START SINKING IN MONEY, ITS DIFFICULT TO GET OUT BECAUSE THE GAME IS DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU SPEND AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, WILL SOUR YOUR EXPERIENCE, AND IS JUST NOT WORTH IT TO BEGIN WITH.

But aside from that, yea! The world building is genuinely amazing and gets better with each region, both in look and lore. You can play around with your team composition however you want, without being forced to pick certain characters or combos due to difficulty. And if it does happen to be to much, you can always lower the world level so enemies are easier. There’s lots of side-games like the serenitea pot (home-designer; think animal crossing new horizons but without villagers), a card game that can be played against NPC‘s and other players (and totally isn’t one big Yugioh reference), fishing, a Pokédex to fill, and probably more coming. The characters are pretty unique in both, well, character, and lots of detail in design (though they do tend to be a bit crowded personally, + there’s that whole thing going on with Candace being. Probably quite a few shades lighter in skintone than the person she‘s based on. Yeaaaa that one’s. Oof. The game‘s from China so not much to expect anyways; but still.) And the story, for the most part, is pretty engaging, with the things happening in said story having an actual, real impact on the gameplay and world, so that’s cool!

So in total, as a pro/con list:

Pros:

Amazing world building

SO. MUCH. WORLDBUILDING AND LORE. Everywhere

Generally engaging story with real impact on the world and gameplay

Unsolved mysteries, most of which are ongoing at this very moment

A lot of freedom when it comes to what characters you wanna fight with and how your team is built; basically everything goes and can be made to work well, even outside their intended purpose

No need or push to use any 5*s, 4*‘s are great on their own too; this goes for everything, but especially the characters. They’re not dumbed down to make the 5* ones look better.

Lots of stuff to do on the overworld, more with each region, like short and long m side-quests, or daily missions/weekly bosses

Option to turn down your world level if you’d rather chill (and increase it back after a while)

Card games and home builder side-games (serenitea pot my beloved)

Fishing and Pokédex

Mini-dungeons

You can feed the dogs

Overworld bosses and a challenge tower if you‘re really into combat

Play single-and multiplayer with up to 3 other people; both friends and by hopping into the worlds of strangers. Great way to get help with bosses, or you just wanna hang out with someone.

Events at every corner; with really big ones usually dropping at the start of a new major update + the big yearly lantern rite event for Chinese New Year (currently ending but the most interesting thing was the story that doesn’t make real sense without knowing the characters anyways)

Seriously there is so much lore at every corner. Lore In world details. Voice clips. Outfit details. Idle animations. Item descriptions. Weapon descriptions. The last two paragraphs in one of the many short stories you can collect in the form of books. Everywhere. (…unfortunately also events.)

The gacha system, while being predatory af, is. Kinda tame compared to other games? You get a decent amount of the currency needed from events and such, so if you only pull casually on every few banners, it’s possible to get a lot of characters you like without spending anything. There’s also this pity system where every pull increases your chance of getting a 5* and 90 will guarantee one, which is nice.

Cons:

THE GACHA SYSTEM. I know I just wrote it comparatively chill, but STILL. Maybe do a few pulls if you happen to have enough gems, but do NOT put money into this game. Gacha games are notorious for their gambling vibes for a reason. YOUR FAVES WITH COME BACK. YOU CAN PULL FOR ANOTHER FAVE. AND NEWERS WILL MOST LIKELY BE SLIGHTER STRONGER DUE TO POWER CREEP.

Again, that whole thing with Candace. All other characters can be argued upon but she‘s got specific origins to her design so it’s a bit oof.

The fandom. I‘m not even joking. It’s your classic ultra-toxic fandom you need to find a cozy corner in and then never leave from there. The shippers are especially vicious here, though a lot of the fandom outside of tumblr is weirdly obsessed with building characters as efficiently as possible, and putting this pressure on others to grind for all that stuff too.

Grinding for artifacts, the main way to "customize“/enhance a characters‘ stats, is horribly repetitive, grindy, and luck-based. So if you do care about building characters efficiently, you‘re forced to deal with that.

For some reason Mihoyo/Hoyoverse decided it would be a good idea to put a lot of their character-lore into events, a good chunk of which can be found outside of cutscenes and instead in the world during the event. So if you miss it, you have to check out the wiki, because you can’t replay the story. Following events will sometimes treat you like you did the previous missed events too, which can be a bit confusing. Especially since other times, those lines only trigger if you DID see said events.

You can’t pet the dogs

Havent played it, but if you care about combat more than the world, their other game Honkai Impact supposedly fits that niche a lot better

TLDR: Treat this game like a casual singleplayer open-world game, ignore the gacha/artifact system, and you should be good.

[ghostofskywalker]

What I Never Told You

Natasha Romanoff/Reader

Words: 1,401

Summary: A mission going south and an almost fatal injury wasn’t exactly how you planned to pop the question, but things are never normal for you and Natasha.

Warnings: canon-typical violence, angst with a happy ending, gunshot wounds

Natasha Romanoff Masterlist 

This mission was tough, and you weren’t sure if you were going to be able to do it. Tony was already injured, and Sam had to stay back because he was sick, so the outcome of the mission depended on you, Natasha, and Bucky. You were in the middle of nowhere, trying to shut down a HYDRA base that had been attempting to hack into the Avengers’ servers, but you were severely outmanned.  Agent swarmed the base, and even though you were a really good shot, but it seemed like the barrage of enemy agents would never end.

Natasha was alone in a room, trying to keep the agents distracted while you killed their servers, and so far, it was working. “How close are you to wiping the data?” she said into her communication device, shooting another agent. “Because I’m going to run out of bullets soon.”

“I still need like two minutes,” your voice came through. “Bucky, what about you?”

Bucky’s job was to do a last minute building sweep, to make sure there were no other backup servers that HYDRA could use to retrieve the data you were in the middle of wiping. “Everything looks clear on my end,” he said. “Natasha, where are you?”

“I’m on the south side of the building,” she said, quickly putting the last clip she had into her gun. “And I’m running out of bullets.”

Seconds later, Bucky burst into the room, and all the attention turned to him. He easily cut through double the amount of agents that Natasha could in the same time, and after a brief pause, the fight was back on. She had to make sure she wasn’t tripping over any of the bodies that were already laying on the floor. The gun quickly ran out of bullets, so Natasha tossed it aside and drew the two knives she kept sheathed in her combat suit. Taking on the agents was now a little more difficult because now she had to get up close and personal with them, but she only had to make it through about two more minutes and then everyone could get back to the Quinjet.

While you were still wiping the servers, Natasha felt something in her leg. At first she didn’t register the pain, but she knew she had been shot. “Bucky!” she gasped into the comm, not wanting to advertise her injury to a room full of enemy agents by yelling to him. “I’ve been hit in the leg.”

“Natasha!” your voice came through the comm as well, obviously worried about her. “I’m coming to get you.”

“No, Y/N!” she said. “The adrenaline is still working, and I’m still able to fight. You need to finish getting rid of that data.”

In the time that she had taken to speak, she had been hit again, this time in the arm, and another agent had used the butt of his gun to hit her in the head. If you spoke again, Natasha didn’t hear it. Her mind went blank, and her body was on autopilot, still putting everything she had into battling the enemy agents. After a while, she could see the crowd start to thin, which was good, because the adrenaline was starting to wear off. She didn’t know what happened, if Bucky was able to take care of the rest of the agents, if you were able to delete the data. Barely a minute later, she collapsed on the ground, the world going dark around her.

***

You had just finished wiping the data from the computer, and you ran to where Natasha and Bucky were. You saw Bucky walking quickly towards the exit of the building, holding Natasha in his arms, and you sprinted to catch up with him. Once the base had exploded from the charge you had left in the computer room and the Quinjet was safely back in the air, you turned to Bucky. “What happened?” you asked frantically, standing over the bench Bucky had laid your unconscious girlfriend on.

“There were so many agents, and eventually it all became too much,” Bucky said. “But I think she will be okay after some rest.”

“I should have been there,” you said, dropping down to sit on the floor. “If I was there things could have been different.”

“You can’t say that,” Bucky said gently. “Who knows what would have happened, but I do know that it’s not your fault.”

You were silent, still staring at Natasha’s closed eyes and limp form. You reached out to take her hand, and tears started to slip from your eyes when you felt that it was colder than usual. Bucky stepped away to allow you some privacy, and sent communication back to the compound that they were going to need medical attention for Natasha.

When the Quinjet touched back down. you wouldn’t leave Natasha’s side. She had yet to open her eyes, and Bucky had to pry her hand out of yours so that she could be taken to the medical bay. After the door had closed and you could no longer see her, you turned to Bucky and collapsed into his arms, crying against his chest. He knew that you was planning to propose to Natasha on your next date, so it wasn’t surprising that you were reacting so much more openly than one might think you would. It was obvious how much you loved her, and how much she had changed your life. You were always someone who kept your secrets close to your heart, and Natasha was the first person who was really able to get you to open up, and she had in turn opened up more to the rest of the team as well. Bucky knew her injury wasn’t life-threatening, but he also was worried for her, and he definitely didn’t want to see you like this anymore.  

After a few hours (Bucky forced you to go take a shower and get something to eat) you heard that Natasha had woken up, and you raced to the med bay. The doors slammed closed behind you as you rushed over to her side and took her hand. “Hey,” you said, smiling at her.

“Hey,” she responded, voice still slightly weak but otherwise okay. “How are you?”

“Me? I’m fine!” you said. “You’re the one who got hit, Natasha if you should be worried about anyone it’s yourself!”

“I can’t worry about you too?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“I wish I had been there,” you said seriously, squeezing her hand. “Maybe it wouldn’t have turned out like this.”

“Hey, nothing that happened was your fault,” she said. “You did your job perfectly by wiping the data.”

“But I should have been there,” you insisted. “I could have helped you.”

“I’m going to be fine,” she said. “You can’t carry the world on your shoulders Y/N, this was not your fault and it never will be.”

“I was so worried that I’d never see you again,” you said, squeezing her hand and leaning down to place a soft kiss on her temple.

“Don’t worry,” Natasha responded with a small laugh. “You’re stuck with me.”

“I hope so,” you responded, kissing her lightly. You ran your fingers over the ring box in your coat, and you spoke again before you could stop yourself. “I know this probably isn’t the time to do this, but I need to ask you now, because I thought you were going to die back there and I could never live with myself,” you said as you brought the ring box out. “I was going to propose on our next official date, but I haven’t let go of this box since we got back here, and I want you to be my wife. I don’t care if we don’t get a wedding, because you’re all I’ll ever need.”

You watched as tears started to slip from Natasha’s eyes, and she nodded. “Yes, I will marry you,” she said, and your heart soared as she spoke.

If you were going to say something else, it didn’t matter, because once Natasha said she would marry you, all words left your brain. You slipped the ring onto her finger before leaning in to kiss her, and soon the kiss became more passionate. And when you broke apart, neither you nor Natasha could contain the smiles on your faces.

- the end -

[bumblesimagines]

Green Thumb

Request: Yes or No

Ppl seemed to like the Imagine and nobody really said anything about it being a fic but I like that (Y/N) sooo. For anyone confused about the root things, (Y/N) has root bracelets on each wrist that he can control. He can't make roots come out of his hands or anything. (Y/N) isn't gender neutral ik I use second person for a gender neutral reader but I'm starting to rlly like second person view lmao. If people like this enough, I might keep this fic going to Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame.

~

You placed your hands on the sides of the pot, watching the dead flower slowly regain its color. You could hear the faint sound of chatting and music from the party Tony was holding. Parties were never your thing. Parties meant crowds of nosy people with nothing else better to do. You heard your bedroom door open, turning around and looking at Clint.

"Hey, why don't you come downstairs? The party's ending." Clint offered a small smile, holding his side. You looked back at the flower, standing and gently placing it back with the other flowers on your desk. You approached Clint, feeling him gently wrap an arm around your shoulder.

"How's Laura?" You asked softly. Clint grinned, licking his lips as he glanced at you. You liked Clint. He was like the father or older brother you never had.

"She misses you. She mentioned wanting you to move in once training was complete." Clint revealed, looking at you. You blinked, brows raising as you stared at his face, wondering if he was joking.

"Think it over." Clint gave your shoulder a small squeeze as you joined the others, nodding to Maria. She gave a nod in return, a small tight smile on her face. You didn't blame them for not trusting you. You had attempted to kill them a few times out of fear. You took a seat on the couch, watching the Avengers laugh and chat. You stayed silent, fingers gently tracing the root bracelets.

"You thought of those yourself?" Maria asked softly, tilting her head. You looked at her, nodding.

"Having them on me makes me feel safer." You replied quietly, looking back at the roots. You continued to trace them, watching them shift slightly at your touch. Dr. Cho leaned over, humming in fascination.

"It's incredible how responsive they are to you." She whispered softly, meeting your gaze briefly for permission. You nodded, watching her reach out and touch them.

"How much can you feel? Or is it just a control thing?" She asked.

"Uhm, I know when they're dying or are in need of something but they don't feel pain so.. Hurting them doesn't hurt me." You explained. Dr. Cho nodded in understanding, leaning back.

"I'd love to ask you more questions later, if you don't mind." She gave a kind smile. You looked up upon hearing grunts, watching Clint attempt to pick up Mjollnir while Thor watched on in amusement. He gave up, chuckling. Tony went next, the smug look on his face disappearing when he couldn't lift it. You chuckled softly, watching James try to help Tony but the hammer didn't even budge.

"(Y/N), why don't you give it a try?" Clint asked after Bruce went. You licked your lips, glancing at the Avengers when their gazes went to you.

"Uhm-"

"Go on, give it a try." Thor encouraged with a a big smile. You stood up, walking up to the table where the hammer sat. You grabbed the handle, roots slithering down your hands and wrapping around the hammer. You pulled, suprised to find it was definitely harder than it looked.

"Don't pull a muscle, kid." Clint called, chuckling as you huffed, letting go of it and retracting the roots. You took a seat beside Clint, gently leaning against him as Steve went next. He went at it but wasn't able to lift it.

"It's rigged." Tony called with a shrug as Clint stood, a chuckle leaving him.

"You bet your ass."

"Steve, he said a bad language word." Maria pointed out in playful seriousness. You chuckled softly. Clint had told you all about Steve and the bad language joke. You stood up, about to call it a day before a ringing noise stopped you in your tracks. You looked up, noticing a half built robot limping into the room, mumbling stuff.

"Clint?" You called out, frowning. Clint looked at you before turning around, standing up as everyone's attention shifted to the robot. Clint slowly backed up until you were within arms reach. He knew you could protect yourself but he cared about you too much to let you get hurt.

"How could you be worthy? You're all killers." The robot said, motioning at them with its broken arm.

"Stark?" Steve's gaze stayed locked on the robot. The robot continued to speak, stumbling about. He replayed a clip of Stark saying something. Maria took out her gun, slowly standing up. Clint immediately grabbed you when the robots bursted into the room, pulling you along and hiding.

"Stay here." Clint whispered, standing up. You frowned, watching him go. Your looked over the room, noticing Dr. Cho attempting to hide behind the piano. You stood, quickly going over to her as a robot rose up. You raised your hand, making a root shoot out at it and wrap around its neck, throwing the robot to the side and watching it break.

"Thank you." Dr. Cho whispered as things began to calm down. You helped her stand, making eye contact with Clint as Thor threw his hammer at 'Ultron', breaking him into pieces.

"(Y/N), go to your room." Clint breathed out.

"No, he deserves to know what happened here." Steve said, giving you a nod.

~~~~~~~~~

You licked your lips, glancing at Clint when he silently drew an arrow. You unclenched your fists, watching the root bracelets around your wrists grow and wrap around your fingers. You were surprised you had even been asked to tag along considering you were still new and young. You watched the Maximoff twins, stare at Tony with pure hatred. Not long ago, you were also an enemy of the Avengers. Clint had taken you under his wing, practically adopting you after everything. You assumed you were only allowed to tag along because of your powers. You had gained better control of them over time.

"Stay alert and stay close." Clint told you, shooting the arrow once the fight began. You watched the robots, nodding. You leaned forward, slightly over the railing, fingers moving. The roots wrapped around them shot out, wrapping around one of the robots that had lunged for Steve. You moved your arms back and apart, watching the robot be ripped apart. Steve looked up towards you, giving a greatful nod. Clint grinned, drawing another arrow. You noticed a flash of blue and white running below, keeping an eye on it. Another root shot out, successfully making the male Maximoff trip and stumble. You retracted the root, shifting your attention onto the men with guns.

"What a shitshow." You muttered, sighing softly. Clint glanced at you in amusement.

"Language." He called playfully, chuckling when he heard Steve groan. You let a small smile slip, roots wrapping around the necks of two of the gunmen. You slowly clenched your fists, making the roots strangle them. You heard Thor mention something about the Maximoff girl trying to mind control him.

"Drop 'em." Clint said, giving you a pointed look. "Only make them pass out, don't kill them."

"Fine." You huffed, dropping the men with a small scowl. Clint shot an arrow that knocked out a whole floor, giving a satisfied hum. You heard soft footsteps, spinning around and grabbing the girl Maximoff by the throat, grip tightening with each passing second. Her eyes were wide, caught off guard. Fear flashed in them briefly. Clint quickly planted an electrical arrow on her forehead. You removed your hands, glancing at Clint.

"You seriously need some freshing up on those people skills." Clint said, shaking his head. You scoffed, head tilting slightly.

"She's the enemy!"

"No killing-" You were suddenly shoved forward, bumping into Clint and crashing into what seemed like a control room. You grunted as pain struck up your back, turning your head and watching Pietro pick up his sister bridal style. You shot out your hand but he dodged the roots, using his superspeed to run off.

"Yeah, you better run." You heard Clint breath out. You turned towards him, roots retracting completely.

"Are you okay?" You asked softly, feeling glass digging into your hands as you slowly stood up, grunting softly. There was definitely gonna be a big bruise on your back when you checked later. You helped Clint stand, watching him attempt to contact the others. You leaned over the railing, seeing Steve laying on some stairs. You raised your hand, having the roots grab onto something sturdy before jumping over the railing and heading down to the floor he was at. You approached him, crouching down, cupping his face and seeing his red eyes and dazed look.

"The girl got to Steve." You said, sighing softly.

"Natasha as well." Clint replied. "Seems like the whole team is out of commission."

"Wonder what they're seeing." You muttered, standing and having the roots gently wrap around Steve's arms and waist. They were thin so dragging him along was the only choice.

"Having fun on your first mission yet?"

"Oh, fuck off, Clint." You called with a huff, trying to drag America's sweetheart across a ship, avoiding bodies and trying to keep his head from bumping into stuff.

"Sorry, buddy." You winced, watching Steve's head bump against some steps. Once outside, you were able to drag him along with more ease, getting him inside the step as Clint went to get Thor. Natasha had slowly come out of her daze, groaning softly and holding her head. You looked at him, gently slapping him. Steve gasped, panting softly as his blue eyes met your (E/C) ones.

"Welcome back." You muttered, standing up.

"What happened?" Natasha asked, looking at you with furrowed brows. She looked around the ship, standing.

"Where's Banner?" She asked with a frown. You rubbed the back of your neck, stepping aside so Steve could get up.

"He.. He and Stark are in the city. He hulked out." You told her, concern appearing on her features. Natasha cursed under her breath, though her mind seemed to be somewhere else. You turned towards the entrance, seeing Tony with Bruce. Clint returned with Thor, silence filling the air as Clint got the aircraft in the air. Clint motioned for you to get closer, a smile appearing on his face.

"You did amazing today." The praise made you smile, nodding as you glanced down at the ground. It had been your first real fight.

"Does that mean-"

"Not yet, we still need to work on some things. Soon enough, you'll be officially part of the team." Clint assured. You nodded, taking a seat nearby and sighing. Clint steered the ship to his home, landing it. The Avengers seemed confused at the unknown location but you happily got out of the aircraft. Clint chuckled, watching you head up to the house and enter.

"Honey? We've got company!" Clint called. Laura appeared from one of the rooms, smile widening.

"Hey, sweetie." Laura cooed, arms extending and wrapping around you. Both of you chuckled when the baby kicked.

"Someone's happy to see you too." Laura smiled, placing a hand on her belly before greeting Clint with a kiss.

"Gentlemen, this is Laura." Clint introduced her to the team. You enjoyed Laura's company. Her warmness was welcoming and she had been more than happy to take you in. Footsteps echoed lightly, preparing Clint to greet his kids. You smiled, watching them greet him. Natasha had been the only other one who knew about Clint's family. Lila gasped softly upon seeing you, quickly running towards you. You bent down, picking her up and chuckling.

"Miss me?" You asked, giving her a gentle hug. Laura looked over, smiling softly.

"Of course she missed they missed their cool big brother." Laura said, giggling softly when Lila noticed Natasha and happily went over to hug her. Cooper took Lila's spot, giving you a big grin. Thor suddenly left the house, Steve following.

"What have you been up to?" You asked, watching Coppers eyes light up. He grabbed your hand, pulling you along to his room. Laura and Clint hadn't officially adopted you but they were more than happy to do it. Once you were done with training, they were gonna get the papers and make you a Barton.