#danny old man rand

[comicsiswild]

Iron Fist (2022) #2

[bookoftheironfist]

"I'm going to stay and fight. I'm going to fight because I can. Before our family trek to the K'un-Lun mountains. Before my father's screams. Before his long fall to his death. Before the wolves took my mother from me. Before I was saved by the inhabitants of a mystical city. Before the Thunderer taught me how to fight...I was still a warrior."

1974-2024 Celebrating 50 Years of Iron Fist/Danny Rand!

[petertingle-yipyip]

MAD AT GOD - MATT MURDOCK

season 2b - happening again

tags: @ironprincessstranger @dusstory @americaarse @johnmurphys-sass @astrobees @mayasaurus--rex // two // four // masterlist

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Reader

Word Count: 6,187

Summary: Coming face to face with the past isn’t easy. But when that past is supposed to be dead, vengeance seems inevitable.

The admission of your names seemed to settle most of the uncertainty among your group. Though maybe it would’ve been easier just to clear it away yourself. Matt was the only reason you didn’t, given he would’ve recognized it immediately.

You sat at the table beside Matt, next to the man you learned to be spoiled rich kid Danny Rand. The man with unbreakable skin was Luke Cage. And of course, Jessica.

You peaked down the hallway, wondering if Stick was still out there. You knew if things were going wrong outside, the cranky old man wouldn’t hesitate to get you or Matt to help so that gave you some odd sense of comfort.

Danny was pestering Matt about his abilities while you leaned back in your chair, calling on that old wave of sadness to create a ball of blue sparks in your hand. And as you drew from it, it seemed to get stronger and stronger. Almost as if it was getting closer.

“I don’t.” Danny said suddenly, making you raise your eyebrows and lift your head. “You’re blind.”

“Yeah, well, sight is overrated.” Matt answered and you snorted a laugh.

“Okay, but what about her?” He gestured to you and you smirked slightly, seeing the blue sparks shine brighter out the corner of your eye. “What’s her deal? Are you two together?”

“Yeah.” You grinned at the opportunity. “And you’re just heartbroken over that, I bet.” You flicked your fingers and watched the sparks flutter and land across Danny’s eyes.

He sniffled slightly as his eyes began to water, his face dropping and lip quivering as he cried gently.

“Now you’re angry.” You waved a hand and saw a red streak trail behind your fingers and land against his chest.

His expression quickly matched the emotion you sent as the tears faded and a snarl crossed his lips that almost made you laugh. You felt an elbow in your ribs and you turned to see Matt giving you a stern expression.

You flicked your wrist again to clear any influence you had and crossed both arms over your chest.

“I’m a really strong empath, pretty much.” You shrugged. “Plus highly trained and blah blah blah.”

“What did you do to him?” Luke asked quickly.

“Told you I’m resourceful. Unbreakable skin won’t help you against me.”

You reached across the table for one of the dumplings before Matt smacked your hand away. He moved your hand to the other plate and mouthed ‘Those were shrimp’. You nodded slightly in realization and picked one up from the new plate.

“Woah.” Danny said with wide eyes after having wiped any stray tears away. “I thought you had to be touching someone for that to work!”

“Clearly, I don’t.” You made a vague gesture. “Can we move on now?”

“But how did you get your powers?” Danny urged. “Did you earn them? Or was it some freak accident?”

“Я собираюсь ударить его по лицу, если он задаст еще один вопрос.” You mumbled to yourself which made Matt chuckle, even though he probably didn’t know all of what you said. “Neither. Moving on.” You said instead. (I’m going to kick him in the face if he asks one more question.)

“She’s right. We need to come up with some kind of plan here.” Luke agreed and you offered a thankful look.

“The only plan is how do we get these people off our backs?” Jessica added. “Ideally in a way that doesn’t incriminate us.”

“What do you mean, incriminate us?” Danny cut in.

“None of us are on police payroll. What we did back there was trespassing, aggravated assault, and vigilante bullshit.”

“No, I can get us off the hook for that if anything happens.” You offered. “If that gets brought up, Danny Rand hired the security company I work for. I was asked to bring in some freelancers. Rich Boy writes a check and my boss signs some papers. We’re all covered.”

“You really wanna get your job involved?” Matt’s brows furrowed.

“Russo won’t ask too many questions. I know he has a past too so leverage would be easy to find if I need it.”

“There is a cop I think we trust. I say we bring her in.” Luke offered.

“You’d only be putting her in danger.” Matt countered.

“Look, you saw what happened when we tried it the legal way.” Danny tried. “I even put on a tie!”

“I promise you cannot fight these people, no matter what your hand can do.”

“It’s chi.”

“What I’m saying is going at them head on, that’ll get you killed.”

You reached under the table and found Matt’s hand when you were hit with that memory of Elektra.

“Only if we do it alone.” Danny insisted.

“We weren’t alone when we went against them the first time.” You said, suddenly finding the tablecloth very interesting to look at. “It was me, Matt, and another really good fighter… We didn’t all make it out and I guarantee the three of us were better than this group. What makes you guys any different?”

“These people took everything from me. I’m gonna take them down, one way or another.”

“Oh, you think that wanting revenge will carry you through this?” You scoffed. “That’s amateur. It’s going to get you killed.”

“No, it won’t.”

“Yes it will!” You laughed and leaned forward, feeling Matt grab your upper arm. “It will overwhelm you and you won’t be able to think straight because you’re gonna want to ‘take them down’ but they will tear right through your pathetic little ass.”

You cleared your throat and sat back, having realized your accent was slipping in. You glanced around and noticed no one seemed to have caught it seeing that the group began arguing about whether or not they should do it. Other than Matt of course. The hand that was on your arm slid back down to your hand and gave a gentle squeeze.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Matt sighed. “Did you know he was here?”

“Who?”

“Did he follow you here?”

“You think I wouldn’t know if I was being tailed?” You rolled your eyes. “Who’s here?”

The back door opening answered your question. You all jumped up quickly, you zipping up your top quickly and letting your hand hover at the cuff of the sleeve hiding your knife. You were relieved that it was only Stick and there was no urgency in his appearance.

“Stick.” Matt announced in annoyance.

“Matty.” He nodded. “Y/N.”

“Is something wrong?” You tried.

“Other than this shitty excuse of a hideout, no. Not yet.”

“What do you mean, yet?”

“How’d you find us?” Matt asked loudly, clearly unimpressed by his old mentor’s company.

Stick pulled Danny’s phone from his jacket and smashed it before starting a small rant about personal ties being used as leverage. After a quick and tense argument between Matt and Stick, Jessica stormed out and Luke followed. Stick took some jabs at Matt and you had to nip that in the bud before one of them took it too far.

“Stop it.” You said firmly and watched the words float through the air as a white haze that wanted to clear the brewing anger between the two. “Matt’s life is his life and he can live it how he wants.”

Luke came back in and you all sat around the table, minus Jessica, and listened as Stick gave you a history lesson in the Hand. You didn’t really care about the history of the organization, how long it had been around, what it had its hands in, or any of it. All you needed were names.

Trading lives wouldn’t bring Elektra back, you understood that, but putting a bullet in whoever pulled Nobu’s strings would sure let you sleep a whole lot better. Maybe even dull that strange feeling you couldn’t seem to escape.

You caught the name Alexandra, Stick saying she’s ran the Hand as long as they’ve existed. She would serve as your main target, the top of the Hand’s five fingers.

Madame Gao, and given your last run in with her, that didn’t surprise you. You were surprised to know she was back in town and had been under your radar for so long. But then again, your radar had either been distracted or inactive so you supposed it made sense.

Sowande, an African warlord that Luke had already encountered. Interesting, but not a priority.

Bakuto, but Danny confirmed he was already dead.

Murakami, the man who really pulled Nobu’s strings. He would be your second target. Or maybe it’d be more fun to go after him first.

“I want him.” You said simply, looking across the table at Stick. You ignored the looks from Luke and Danny, along with the slight accusation in Matt’s head turn. “Murakami. I want the first shot at him.”

“If he comes out of his little foxhole, you can have first and last as far as I care.”

“Wait. What did he do to you?” Danny cut in.

“It was Nobu, technically.” You answered carefully, watching your voice for your accent as your anger spiked and every inch of your skin warmed. “He killed someone I really cared about… She jumped in front of a blow that was intended for me.”

“I’m sorry,” Luke said honestly.

“I killed Nobu that night but… Now I want him. An eye for an eye.”

“You did what? And we’re supposed to trust you?”

“We can’t get hung up on that now.” Matt said, waving a hand to try and dismiss the topic. You were surprised to hear no opposition from him but you didn’t say anything about it. “Why are you even here, Stick? What are you expecting us to do about it?”

“Hang on. He’s given me more information in just a few minutes than anyone ever did at K’un-Lun.” Danny defended.

“That’s because he wants something. And because what he wants will put everyone we care about at risk.”

“Yeah, you’ve said that.”

“And I’ll keep saying it!”

“I’ve lost plenty in this war. Don’t talk to me like I’m some kid!”

“Then stop acting like one!” You cut in firmly, raising your brows as he stood suddenly.

“What did you just say?” He asked angrily.

“Calm down, Danny.” Luke sighed.

“You calm down, Luke!”

“Sit down or I will sit you down.” You said calmly, feeling the heat tingle up your spine and down your arms to your fingers.

“Go ahead and try it.”

You smiled excitedly and began to stand before Matt’s hands landed on both of your arms and pulled you to stand on his other side. You groaned and shook out your hands, feeling the heat leave your skin in small waves. You locked your fingers and hung them over the back of your neck.

“Yeah, alright.” You muttered. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Matt asked softly, putting a hand around your waist and standing close. You rested your hand on his shoulder in return.

“Mhmm… But I will probably punch him in the face before this is over.” You smiled slightly and he gave you a small chuckle. “You don’t get second chances with these people, Danny.”

“If you’re not careful, next thing you know, you’re dead. Or worse, you’re holding the people you care about and you get the…” You rubbed his shoulder slightly and you felt a brief cold sensation crawl up from your palm and dissipate across your shoulders. “You get the privilege of watching them die.”

“I know this fight is important. I know the city is at stake.” You offered genuinely. “But before you keep trying to rally up a team, think about something. Would you be able to live with yourself knowing that your involvement only made it worse?”

The air around everyone became stagnant with the heavy indecision. You ran your free hand over your face and took Matt away from the group. You could feel a tension rising in him, a mix of grief and annoyance and anger and something close to fear. As discreetly as you could, you called most of those emotions to yourself and felt it tighten your chest. You cleared your throat to cover the groan as the sensation grew to be uncomfortable.

“If you want to, we can walk away… We can go home.. Wait and see if this fight even comes to us.” You offered genuinely. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this just because I’m willing to.”

“I don’t know what to do.” He answered gently, turning to you with a truly heartbroken expression. “At Midland Circle… Y/N, I swear…”

“What happened, Matty?”

“It was her.. The woman in Cambodia. The one who killed Jessica’s client.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m glad you two aren’t alone anymore.” Stick offered from behind you. “Your little back and forth games were exhausting, even for me.”

“Don’t act like this is normal.” Matt answered tightly.

“Don’t act like I don’t know what’s really going on with you… You crossed paths with her, too?”

“Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?” You groaned.

“Elektra.” Stick said simply and you felt your entire body run cold.

“Bullshit.” You scoffed and turned to Matt, who only offered an apologetic expression. “Really?”

“Yeah… She’s alive, Y/N.”

“It makes sense…” You spoke slowly, piecing together your own realization. “What I felt a few weeks ago, it was like it was meant for me to feel. I didn’t realize then but it was.. calling to me, almost. That must’ve been when they resurrected her.”

“She’s not alive. Not the way we knew her.” Stick countered. “She’s something else.”

“Something empty?” You asked as you remembered that small feeling you had earlier when you arrived.

“I couldn’t hear her heartbeat.” Matt confessed.

“Just like the other Hands soldiers… It all makes sense. It didn’t feel anything like her before and even now… I can feel something coming but it’s not the girl we knew.”

“That’s cause that girl ain’t there anymore.” Stick shook his head and you could’ve sworn there was some yearning his voice, the slightest wish for the girl he raised.

“Maybe we can help her.” Matt tried, bordering desperately.

“No, we can’t. When they brought her back, they made her forget.”

“No.. She- She hesitated. She had the chance but she didn’t kill me.”

“If I can find that recognition, some ghost of a feeling, I can change it. I can exploit it.” You offered and it was more for Matt than yourself. “I- I- I can bring out feelings connected to memories and maybe that will-“

“Don’t try to make sense of this.” Stick cut in firmly. “With or without either of you, when the time comes, whatever is living in the body of Elektra Natchios is gonna have to die.”

“You told me that you wanted me to fight so people didn’t have to die. If I can get to her-“

“What happened to the woman that he couldn’t stand because she killed the people she needed to? What happened to the woman that brought her enemies to their knees and made them beg for mercy?”

“Exodus.” You nodded slightly. “They’ll be expecting her.”

“Maybe not.” He gave a shrug.

“Someone’s outside.” Matt said quietly.

“Great.” You muttered “Я мог бы использовать кого-нибудь, чтобы ударить.” (I could use someone to hit.)

You snapped your fingers as you moved back to Luke and Danny. You had Danny get the rest of the staff out the back while Luke went to the window. You slid your mask up and tapped it on, taking only a second to appreciate the familiar blue tint of the high tech lenses as they started up.

You were hit from behind with a shock of strong confidence laced with a vague fear before you could get any visuals. You pushed your mask up and turned quickly, flicking your wrist so the knife slid to your palm.

“This wouldn’t be my first choice but I am a sucker for fortune cookies.” The woman said calmly. “Yknow, I thought it would be a good idea if we all just talked this over like adults.”

“What do you want?” Stick asked simply.

“You surprised me, Stick. You’ve become so resourceful in your old age.” She glanced over your group but her eyes landed on you. “You’re not the girl from before.”

“Нет, это не так. Но поверьте мне, вы бы предпочли иметь дело с ней, чем со мной. Удивительно, но она намного приятнее.” You answered as you gripped your blade tighter. (No, I’m not. But trust me, you’d rather deal with her than me. Surprisingly, she’s much nicer.)

“Я могу сказать, что ты сильный... Вы бы поверили мне, если бы я сказал вам, что у вас будет больше потенциала с нами?” (I can tell you’re powerful… Would you believe me if I told you that you would have more potential with us?)

“Все, что вам нужно, это еще одно оружие на случай, если ваше Черное небо выйдет из строя. Единственный способ привлечь меня на свою сторону - это если я умру..” (All you want is another weapon in case your Black Sky fails. The only way you get me on your side is if I’m dead.)

“She’s got spirit. I like her.” She pointed to you before turning back to the group. “Mr. Rand, I’m sorry your exit from our meeting was so abrupt.”

“You tried to kill us.” Danny answered angrily.

“Them, maybe, but certainly not you….”

The woman kept talking to Danny but you lost interest. You watched the van outside, keeping a grip on Matt’s sleeve. You knew this ‘civil conversation’ with who you could only assume was Alexandra wouldn’t last long. You knew you had a chance to kill her. You could pull your gun fast enough, a quick bullet to the head, maybe even burn the body so she couldn’t be resurrected, but you saw the figure coming before you could move against her.

You cursed mentally and yanked Matt away as she kicked the door in.

You felt your heart drop when you saw it really was Elektra. Your friend had been resurrected and now standing before you with the clear intent to kill you. You opened yourself completely for a quick moment, only to Elektra and found nothing was coming in return.

Her usual spark was gone, as if it was never there. There was no fear, no loneliness or anger or confusion. She was absolutely empty, a hollow shell of the woman you once knew. And it nearly broke your heart to discover that.

But maybe… Just maybe you could find some sort of emotion to latch onto. You just had to figure out what to say if you wanted to get your friend back.

But would getting your friend mean she would try to take Matt away from you again?

Before anyone could move, Matt pulled you a few steps back as a black SUV came crashing through the front of the building and knocking down Elektra. Following behind the SUV was Jessica and you were actually relieved she came back.

“Who missed me?” She asked with a cocky shrug and you rolled your eyes in amusement. “Nice goggles.”

“Said the one with a tacky scarf.” You answered as you saw Elektra get to her feet.

The fight broke out almost instantly. Luke and Jessica took on Elektra for the most part. It was easy enough for her to knock Danny around but before you could jump in, a man you could only assume was Murakami came crashing through the skylight.

Your hand grew hot around your blade and you charged at him. Your attack clearly took him by surprise because all he could do was lean away from your swinging blade. You dropped to your knee and slammed your knife down towards his foot, though he narrowly avoided it and kicked out at your chest instead.

You rolled through it and lifted your Bite, aiming a shot for his chest. It landed square in the center as Matt came to help you to your feet. Together, you two ran at him.

You used a fallen Danny Rand as a stepped off point and hooked your legs around his head. Throwing your body, you sent him right into a strong kick from Matt that laid him out. You yanked your blade out the ground and swiped it as he rolled away, resulting in you cutting open a long gash across his back before he ran off.

You considered chasing him but before you could make a move, Matt tackled you to the ground and shielded your body with his. He kept your head tucked down until the gunshots stopped. You did a quick assessment of you both, more relieved he was unscathed than yourself. Your small team circled up as the various soldiers drew closer.

“We work together, we get out of this alive.” Stick said calmly.

“And they won’t.” You replied quietly before flipping your blade over the back of your hand and driving it into the neck of the closest soldier.

Matt made a beeline for Elektra but before you could follow him, Stick grabbed your arm and turned you back to the fight. With a loud groan, you stayed put.

Stick kicked a sword into your hand without a word and you spun it once before acting.

You worked in long strokes, swipes and slashes rather than jabs. You sidestepped your temporary teammates and spun, rolling over them when they ducked or spinning around them.

“Where’s Matt?” Danny yelled.

“I’m on it! Gimme a second!” You answered as you were slammed to the ground. Looking up, you saw Murakami headed down the hall that Matt disappeared down.

You took the sword and drove it through the chest of the man pinning you down before shoving him off and hurrying after him. You ran and jammed your knee into his shoulders, making him slam his face against the door.

He spun on you quickly and scoffed when he saw it was you. You watched his expression falter as your anger rose and you knew it shone in your eyes by the way it began to tint your vision. You sparked the heat at your hands and moved in quickly, landing quick and hot purposeful combinations that kept him off balance.

You pinned him against the wall and grabbed at his face, your hot fingers digging into his skin as your thumbs threatened to gouge his eyes. He reared back and slammed his head against yours, making you stagger back slightly. You shook it off and landed a hard roundhouse kick to the side of his head that made him collapse.

It wouldn’t kill him but it’d buy you time. Making him suffer before you killed him would make his death a bit more gratifying, so that was the route you would take.

When you got outside, you found Matt and Elektra standing in silence.

“El.” You breathed and hurried across the distance as you yanked your mask down.

You felt just the smallest spark of recognition, of fear and loneliness. You hated to use that but you capitalized on it and made it stronger, hoping it would bring some sort of memories with it.

“I know you’re in there, please.” You said quietly but she only stared at you in silence. “You have to remember me.. You… You gave your life for me.”

“It was your fault I died?” She asked quietly, brows furrowing as something seemed to connect.

“What? I.. No, it wasn’t…” You shook your head, feeling a deep cold swelling in your chest and threatening to suffocate you.

Before you knew it, she was gone and Stick was leading your group into the sewers. You followed mindlessly as your head spun violently. You felt every inch of your body growing cold the more you thought about it to a point where you thought you would turn to ice.

It was your fault.

Elektra died, your friend died, because of you.

The sudden guilt made your whole body tingle and your hands shook. Matt noticed quickly and came to your side after a quick spat with Jessica, abandoning the previous conversation without hesitation. He stood close to put a hand in your hair and the other on your hip.

“Hey.. It wasn’t your fault.” He said softly before a gentle kiss to your forehead.

“She’s right… It was.” You answered in the same hushed tone, knowing if you spoke any louder your voice would break and you wouldn’t be able to get the words out. “I got her killed.”

“No. You didn’t, alright? You didn’t.”

“I did… I hesitated and it got her killed.”

“Oh, Y/N..” He sighed and pulled you in for a tight embrace. “I swear to you, it wasn’t your fault.”

You made a small squeak of protest and buried your face in the crook of his neck. You wrapped your arms around him and your fingers tightened around the material of his jacket. You closed your eyes tightly to keep back the tears and you felt your stomach twist with the newfound guilt. You felt it across your skin, like a slime creeping and crawling under your clothes but you had to swallow the thick lump in your throat.

You quietly followed your group to the van that Luke brought back, showing off Sowande tied up in the back. You felt that sadistic tendency creeping through your brain as you all headed to some building Danny suggested. You couldn’t manage to lift your eyes from the floor through the whole trip, feeling the weight of Elektra’s simple sentence in your head. Your hands shifted in and out of tight fists as you felt something ripple through your muscles. Something you didn’t like but could use.

Luke tied the captive to a chair, keeping him blindfolded and your group circled around him. They went back and forth as to how to get him to talk, if one of you could break him.

“This will drown you.” He spoke simply, as if he was in complete control.

“Do you know what that feels like?” You asked, moving to kneel in front of him as Matt stood behind him. “To drown?”

You were met with silence as his head tilted down to you.

“Drown in fear.” You mocked in your trademark accent as the yellow haze swirled between your fingers. “Drown in sorrow.” Blue danced between the fingers of your other hand.

He cleared his throat as you pushed both forward, watching the colors twist and swirl their way up his nose. He gasped and jerked in the chair as a sick smile crept across your face. You urged the sensations further, seeing a faint glow of blue and yellow settling at the base of his throat.

“What do you want with our city?” Matt asked.

“Maybe she should stop.” Luke tried and reached for your shoulder.

Stick stepped forward and stuck out his sword, stopping Luke from coming any closer.

“This place belongs to the Hand.” Sowande answered through strangled breaths. “It- It always- always has.”

“Always?” You tilted your head in interest.

“I traced it back to 1820 but it probably goes further.” Jessica answered.

“And Danny Rand? How does he fit?” You asked, withdrawing your pressure enough for him to take in a deep breath.

“Nothing you do can make me serve you. You understand?” Danny tried and you shook your head in annoyance.

“You’re the dumbest Iron Fist yet.”

You almost laughed as Danny leaned in closer. You cleared your influence and wiped your hands against your pants as you took a step around to be near Matt. The two continued a heated exchange before the prisoners started taking jabs at everyone.

“The same way the unbreakable one let that boy die in a jail cell, afraid and alone. The same way the woman couldn’t save the architect.” He paused with a proud smile as Jessica took a few steps away. “Have I gotten in your head the same way he did?”

She came charging back but Luke caught her.

“And her.” He jerked a head towards you. “She could not save anyone. Death follows her like a shadow. Tell me. What will become of your loved ones once you are gone?”

You bit back the instinct to say you had no loved ones. Instead, you pulled your knife and ran your hand over it, letting a deep heat settle across the blade. You leaned forward and yanked it across the side of his neck.

“If we’re lucky, that shadow will swallow you too.”

You tucked it away as he let out a sharp hiss before laughing.

“How many mice must drown with you? The nurse.. The woman on the radio.. The journalist.”

Your hand tightened into a fist until Matt’s hand found yours and you both knew he meant Karen.

You woke your Bite but Jessica beat you to it by knocking him unconscious. You were quick to pull Matt aside and you tried to relieve some of his stress.

“I can go get Karen if you get Foggy.” You offered. “I know he didn’t mention Foggy-“

“But that doesn’t mean they don’t know. Yeah, you’re right.” Matt nodded quickly. “Where would we take them? The Hand probably has eyes on our apartment.“

“Take them to the precinct in Harlem.” Luke called out, drawing your attention. “If you get there before we do, ask for Misty. Tell her you’re a friend.”

“You sure about this?”

“They’ll be safe there.”

You recognized you didn’t have many options so you nodded once before unzipping your top. You pulled your mask over your head and shoved it in your pocket before taking off your Bites and tucking them inside your sleeves. Once your alter ego was as civilian as it could look without leaving you totally defenseless, you hurried off to the Bulletin.

“Hey.” You said as you caught your breath, leaning in the doorway of her office.

“Uh.. Hi? It’s after midnight. What are you doing here?” She asked carefully.

“I.. Yeah, I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t important.”

“Is that blood? Oh my god.” She gestured to your face and as you reached up, you felt the drying liquid splattered across your cheek. You cursed to yourself and rubbed your sleeve across your face in a hurry. “Is that the shirt I think it is? Y/N, what happened?”

“The Hand.” You said honestly as you came closer, wiping your hand on your top. “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I didn’t have any intention of getting involved but-“

“Is Matt involved?”

“Yeah… He is.”

“Jesus.” She sighed before she stood and came around from behind her desk. “I don’t believe this.. I thought you two were done with all of that.”

“Okay… I deserve that.”

“This is how you tell me that you’re doing it again? And Matt. Matt couldn’t be here with you to tell me? Cause that’s what you’re saying. That you two are going out as them.”

“I told Matt to get Foggy because I never told him.” You defended quickly. “Karen, I’m sorry! But it’s not like that! Exodus and Daredevil, they’re not back.” That was something you didn’t even believe fully. “They’re not going to be permanent pieces in our lives. It’s just-“

“Just this time? Hmm? Is that what you’re gonna say?” She mocked and you sighed.

“We don’t have time for this!” You said quickly.

“C’mon, Y/N. Just… Just talk to me. Please.”

“Fine. We are doing it again. Because if we don’t, people will die. Whatever the Hand is up to this time around, they’re going to decimate New York to get it done… I’m sorry but we have to.”

She nodded before crossing her arm.

“I don’t.. Whatever you and Matt, or Exodus and Daredevil are doing, I’m not a part of it anymore. I don’t need your protection.”

“Really?” You laughed slightly as your patience was running out. “You don’t have Frank to save you this time around. He’s gone and you’ll be in danger if you don’t come with me. It doesn’t matter if you’re part of that or not because they’re probably coming after Y/N and Matt’s world, too.”

“I’m sorry. Does that mean they know who you two are?”

“I don’t know.” You admitted. “But they know too much already.”

“That isn’t your call!” She insisted and it was clear she was close to tears.

“Karen, please, just come with me.” You begged. “I can’t have another friend die because of the Hand. Because I messed up. It’d just be a couple days, lay low. Please.”

She sighed heavily and gathered her things. You thanked her but she assured you it wasn’t for you. Regardless, you felt a huge relief that she agreed to go with you. As you were getting her to the precinct, Claire came up with Danny and his girlfriend.

You practically ran once you saw Karen enter the police building with Claire. You hurried to the apartment and rushed to the closet, nearly tripping trying to get out of your jeans to change into your suit. It wasn’t long after until Matt came in with the same idea. You fit the rest of your outfit together, ensured your belt was fully stocked, and clipped your pack across your chest. Once you were both dressed, he grabbed your hand and led you across town.

He led you to a building that you didn’t recognize, but it turned out to be where Jessica was picking up her friend with the radio show. Tapping your mask, you were able

to see Murakami going after her. Matt led you to the same floor and was able to throw his baton to knock the knife out of his hand.

You came from the other side, flipping over Trish Walker and slamming your feet into Murakami’s side. The action threw him off Jessica and allowed Matt to move in. You helped Jessica to her feet and she nodded that she was okay, allowing you both to reenter the fight.

You drew your own staff and slid between the open space as he aimed a high kick at Matt’s head. You hooked your staff behind his leg and pulled as you rolled to your knees, just able to see him slam his back against the floor. You flicked the blade out and moved forward, slashing it with quick precision that avoided your partners. You tossed your staff up to switch hands, catching it easily and swinging it at his head.

When the weapon felt odd in your hand, you looked down to see you had caught Matt’s instead and he had yours, even retracted the blade. You chuckled slightly as you two tossed them again to reclaim your rightful equipment as Jessica threw him over a railing.

“Scarf looked better.” Jessica teased and you grinned. “Nice ears.”

“They’re horns.” Matt answered and a small chuckle escaped you. “Are you laughing?” He turned to you.

“A little, yeah.” You admitted with a smile as you slid your staff back into its pack. “Don’t worry. You’re still very intimidating.”

Matt scoffed with a small smile before nodding for you to follow. You moved to Jessica and her friend, who was staring at you and Matt in awe.

“Holy shit.” She breathed as it finally seemed to sink in. At least she wasn’t hurt. “Jessica, you’re friends with the two most badass vigilantes in New York!”

“Who? Goggles and Devil Boy?” She gestured to you and you frowned, flipping her off once she looked. “They’re not.. the worst people I’ve ever met.”

“Wow. Was that something not mean?” You teased as you all headed out.

Matt chuckled but nudged you slightly.

“I’m serious! I’m shocked! I didn’t know Jessica was able to do that!”

“I’m going to punch you in the mouth.” She warned, though you could tell there was amusement there.

“Shut up, you know you like me.” You grinned as she glanced over her shoulder, giving you a half smile and a scoff in response.

You all made sure Trish got into the precinct before heading back to where you all left Stick and Sowande.

“Hey.. You made sure Foggy got there, right?” You asked Matt.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” He nodded. “And you got Karen?”

“Mhmm.. Did you tell him anything?”

“Not much, no. You tell Karen?”

“Just the basics.” You shrugged. “She’s definitely not happy.”

“Yeah, kinda glad you went instead of me.” He admitted. “Figured you’d be able to smooth it over with her better than me.”

“Cause you can’t talk to people.” You joked and shook your head as you all got back inside the building.

“No, cause she’s more likely to forgive you than me.”

“So dramatic.” You sighed. “She still loves you, y’know. And she was pretty pissed at me anyway. ”

[teenverseofmarveltvshows]

Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Chronology of Peter's life in my AU

At first, things are going just like in TSSM, untill episode 10 of second season. After Peter took down Three Biggest Bosses of New York's crime, Nick Fury becomes interest in this outstanding youngster. As soon as Fury gets the real identity, he secretly contacts him, offering him to try to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Peter is not sure, since the job must be dangerous, but after some logical thinking of pros and cons of this opportunity, he eventually agrees. (He can make some real money there)

Then, he meets his team or co-workers, Ava Ayala AKA White Tiger, Danny Rand AKA Iron Fist, Luke Cage AKA Power-Man and Sam Alexander AKA Nova. Since Peter of my AU is both USM and TSSM versions of Peter, he's much more cooperative and frienlier, however still keeps distance because after all he's still introverted person and he's fine with having only his 2 friends and 1 girldriend(Gwen, Harry and Liz). But unfortunately for Pete, Liz can't stand his double life and soon they break up. Not like anyone is heartbroken, but it still does affect Peter, because now he feels shitty for being a total mess that can't keep his life together.

His teammates notice that(they're studying with him just like in USM), so they stop tease him that much and gave him a break. Frightfull Four, unlike his team, didn't care about his hard time, so they didn't give him a break, but instead became a daily pain in the ass. They were so annoying, that it irritated whole S.H.I.E.L.D. team so much, that it made them to get to know each other more and finally became friends. Soon enough Peter's team gets so good at beating Frightfull Four, they finally catch them and bring them to justice.

That's when he meats X-Men, young mutants or just people that were lucky(or unlucky) to be born with powers. Peter shocked that it's possible, just like his team. They even more shocked that Fury KNEW about that and never told them! When they ask why, he just says: "Doing a little favor for Old Friend", and Old Friend in question is Wolverine, a Man that's even more grumpier than Fury. Peter is so excited to get to know these unique individuals, he asks for few days off and goes to Bayville, where he meats other X-Men. They quickly become friends and threw a party to celebrate that. Meanwhile Brotherhood is so pissed that X-Men have another add to their 'little' team, that they decide to ruin the party. And they're hella lucky, since Frightfull Four is here to get their revenge! Finally Brotherhood doesn't feel outmached. But uh-oh, Frightfull Four has their own plans and they're here only for Spider, while Brotherhood is here for X-Men. And since these guys aren't the best at communicating, soon they have fight with each other. X-Men and Spider-Man are confused by that, but not complaining.

Had fun, Peter? Time for pain, because Sinister SIx is out and now they're Sinister Seven. New technologies, new strategies, new members!(Sandman, Venom, Shocker - is out; Kraven, Mysterio, Scorpion - is in) The opportunity to say hi to old and new foes strikes Peter as soon as possible. The Fight is brutal, Peter wouldn't made it out alive if not his team. He thinks about what to do, Sinister Seven is out and they're extremely dangerous! So what's the plan now? Assemble new team! After that happens pretty much happens everything what happed in season 3 and half of season 4 of USM, except for there's no Iron-Spider(Amadeus Cho is Branch), X-Men and even Brotherhood that helped them to fight HYDRA.

After that, he becames extremely close to Web-Warriors, thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Wolverine jokes a bit about how Fury copies Proffesor X, but Fury isn't hiding the fact that he was inspired by Xavier's Academy for Youngsters. Sometimes they even have team-up lessons, that are really fun. And Meanwhile Pete enjoys his life, a new team was assembled by itself. Ms Marvel, Kid Arachnid and Nova start a new team - Champions, about which Peter was completely clueless untill it was finally full of members. "Wow, since when Sam and Miles are best pals?" - he asks himself outloud and then gets the answer from Sam: "Like...since Miles got here from his dimension?" "Oh yeahhhhh....yeahhh....I remember that"

Finally, the end of this chronology is same end of USM. Peter finishes his studies at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy and becomes The Ultimate Spider-Man and a Teacher for new teenager heroes at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy(even tho he's not even 21 yo yet)

That's all, yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[yellowocaballero]

Iron Fist is Kinda Weird

Or: How do we talk about talking about social justice?

I have a diseased brain poisoned from reading comic books since elementary school, and I think it's fun to look at bad things and wonder why they're bad. I ended up writing Danny Rand AKA The Immortal Iron Fist for my Moon Knight fic series and I got so deep into researching him and the Heroes For Hire that he began to interest me. I ended up having a lot of opinions about it, things went out of hand again, I wrote a very weird Iron Fist story, and I'm officially giving up and putting my thoughts down about the character.

TL;DR: Iron Fist's history, character, and most notable relationship has an intrinsic relationship with race that really shouldn't be ignored, but the consistent framing of the character is highly revealing of the assumed context of media about social issues.

Yeah, there's some stuff to talk about. Rest under the cut. I want to make a giant disclaimer here that I am speaking from the perspective of the origins and histories of the characters, and that I am sourcing from the 1970s-1980s Heroes For Hire comic.

Unfortunately Important History

In 1974 comic book executives realized that martial arts movies were highly popular among teenage boys and were making a lot of money. Similarly, the other comic book execs across the hall were also realizing that Blaxploitation movies were also super hot right now. Thus, Iron Fist and Luke Cage were born. With this identical genesis, it's fitting that they ended up so tightly paired.

Thanks in part to the martial arts movies and the booming Hong Kong and Japanese industries, Orientalism was at a huge high America. Probably highest since the 1920s when the whole archeology thing and movies with dancing women were really taking off. TV shows like Kung Fu, about a man who wandered around knowing kung fu, were about the glories of kung fu and featuring a half-white half-Asian man played by a white man. Similarly, Blaxpoitation movies (which I know relatively little about besides the fact that the NAACP hated it, so that's probably the main takeaway here) were probably the first American film genre predominantly featuring Black people. Blaxploitation films...talked about Black issues...kind of...in a way, and you can see that thread in Luke Cage. The main thing you need to know about Luke Cage was that Dwayne McDuffie, one of the founders of the imprint featuring the only comics that actually deserve to talk about race (DC you neutered Static Shock), hated him. The background for these guys and the cultural & media landscape that gave birth to them is important, but you mostly just need to get that they were born from an American voyeuristic fascination with sensationalized depictions of other cultures.

Frog (Luke) and Toad (Danny) Are Friends

To their credit (?), they did eventually realize this about themselves, and Danny and Luke's strong friendship was characterized by their polar opposite backgrounds. Danny had been adopted at nine years old by the mystical Oriental city of kung fu etc, became the specialest little white boy and harnessed his chi to become the hero of K'un Lun, and travelled back to America in a revenge quest to find his father's killer and avenge him and inherit a fuckton of money. Luke was in a gang and then prison and he's very bitter about the prison industrial complex. They're good friends and a great team, but you can see repeatedly that no matter how seamlessly they work in the field they essentially can never understand each other. The most interesting parts of their relationship involve the push and pull of this disconnect, where Danny's naïve and clueless about America and Luke has to teach him about how the world works and the injustices that POC face. Luke teaches Danny about racism and checks his privilege like a thousand times a day. Observe.

Danny doesn't know or give a shit about money so he cluelessly tells Luke that they are best friends, what's mine is yours! Luke's tetchy about it because of Blaxpoitation Baggage. Danny's offended and he doesn't know why, Luke's old wounds are reopened and he struggles to explain it. Frog and Toad have racial conflict.

Danny is, basically, the clueless white guy. The backstory panels highlight that: he was trained in kung fu in K'un Lun, and now he's swimming in money and privilege in America and Luke feels weird about it.

Look at the way Danny talks about himself - Danny talks about his life in K'un Lun as if he had gone to the weirdest boarding school of all time. He talks about K'un Lun from a distance, using words an American would use. Danny is the privileged, sheltered white guy.

He does not think of Asia as an actual home. He doesn't identify with it. Narratively and thematically, he is a white guy who grew up in a sheltered place learning kung fu and now he's Dazed And Confused in America struggling to connect with his best friend's very unsheltered experiences.

The conversations Danny has with Luke about race are held as a white person. It is Luke explaining racism to a white person over and over again. It is a white person's clueless privilege being knocked down a peg again and again. Danny could be from Antarctica or Mars and his relationship with Luke would be he same.

Wait, Why Would A Dynamic Entirely Around Race Never Engage With The Fact That One Party Grew Up In Asia

You tell me buddy!!!

Why! Why make this choice? It is RIGHT there! Why would a guy whose entire schtick is living in Fantasy Vaguely Tibet from ages 9-19 never once speak from that cultural perspective? Why flush all of that experience and perspective down the drain?

Why would Danny engage with the world as a privileged, clueless white guy? He was just a kid when he left America. He doesn't engage with these conversations with Luke as, "Wow, your weird American situation's fucked up", he engages with it as "That can't possibly be what America is like!". Like a white person. There is no difference between Danny and someone who never left their boarding school as a child.

Is this really the most interesting way to talk about race? The characters, by virtue of their history and genesis, are inherently about race. Why are we talking about it as a Black guy constantly educating a white guy instead of as a Black guy talking to a white guy who grew up in Fantasy Tibet? As a a product of capitalism to a product of Whatever K'un Lun's Fantasy Economy was. As a product of a highly racialized society to an aracialized society. As someone who's from an area of great cultural and racial diversity to someone who grew up in a racial and cultural monoculture.

Why does Danny not have a complex relationship with his own race? He was the only white guy around for ten years, that has to be kind of weird. How does he relate his adopted culture to his home one? How does he deal with the white privilege he does hold when he doesn't understand why he holds it? I can seriously go on. I absolutely did go on.

None of this makes any sense. And the only way it makes any sense if if you see that Luke & Danny's conversations about race are not actually conversations about race. They are Luke explaining racism to the reader. Danny is the audience stand-in. The audience is obviously American white guys, so Danny has to be white and engage with the entire thing as an American white guy would. As he audience stand-in Danny has to come from the same place and viewpoint as the assumed reader, so he has to come from a place of white privilege.

It sucks. Not every reader was a privileged white guy. Not every reader was white. This narrative decision, conscious or unconscious, cut off a lot of interesting choices at the kneecaps. Because there is a basic assumption that white audiences cannot relate to nonwhite characters, and that they are incapable of looking through another's eyes and learning from their perspective.

How Do We Talk About Talking About Race?

Why should we care that Iron Fist is uninteresting and bad? This is not news. The premise has always been vaguely racist and boring. I've read some pretty nifty Iron Fists in my time and there are a fair handful of good Iron Fist comics, but the very root of the character is Orientalist. This Dances With Wolves style of 'story about POC but the lead has to be white or white people won't watch it' scenario is very old hat.

Heroes For Hire is interested in race. Luke Cage & Iron Fist are characterized by race. Their writers can admit this or not, but it's true. At its best, this inherent disconnect opens up the comics for potentially interesting breakdowns of racial dynamics, prejudice, the prison industrial complex, privilege, and American society. Luke & Danny talk about everything from capitalism to crime. Pretty reliably, the comic tends to actually try.

But all of these conversations are fixed through a white gaze. Luke talks through a white gaze, Danny's characterized by a white gaze, and these conversations are written with the white audience as the implied constant observers. At a certain point it never really feels like two different perspectives clashing and changing - just one perspective, talking about two different issues from both sides of its mouth.

I have mixed feelings on #ownvoices, but I think this is what people mean when they talk about it. There is a provincial, reductionist scope of perspectives allowed into the conversations Heroes For Hire holds, and although that's not a crime it's abjectly disappointing when compared against the interesting stories that could be told.

I haven't read a modern Iron Fist comic in like ten years, and the last time I read Heroes For Hire was during the cursed Civil War situation. I really don't know if modern Heroes For Hire and Danny & Luke are still like this. They probably aren't! But the same problems probably still underlie the two characters, and their origins will always occupy this strange space.

TL;DR: Read Milestone comics. Start with Static and move to Icon & Rocket. These are the only comics about race people should read. Look up their history sometime, it's fascinating. Ignore Luke Cage & Iron Fist. Good god.

[ciaossu-imagines]

I know it’s not a super popular fandom but, for a Spider-Man nerd like me, the Disney XD cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man is one of my favourite things to just zone out and relax too! So I love writing about it too and it’s just a very chill experience! I hope you all will enjoy these headcanons from this prompt here for some of the characters!

Peter Parker

When you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

He’s definitely a more milk than cereal guy. The bowl gets filled about half way with cereal and then about full with milk and he actually enjoys letting the cereal sit for a second until it’s at that half-soggy stage (the only exception to this being Rice Krispies because those things just taste like cardboard if they get soggy at all). He is a little bit of a food-waster in that he doesn’t really drink the milk afterwards.

Do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

Not really. I’ve always had this strong headcanon that Pete actually has mild rosacea. He doesn’t have flare ups often, but the cold wind will trigger them more often than not.

What random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

Peter doesn’t actually own too many bookmarks. He’ll snag a free one from the library every now and then, but he tends to lose them pretty quickly or leave them in his library books when he returns them. He tends to bookmark using anything that is handy because of that, like old receipts that he has in his pocket, a paper clip, or he’ll rip off a part of empty scrap paper he has at hand. He’s even occasionally guilty of the ‘sin’ of dog-earing his pages if he really doesn’t have a bookmark or anything available to use as one. I can really easily picture Amadeus yelling at him whenever he does.

How do you take your coffee/tea?

Sweet, honestly. Peter doesn’t actually drink a lot of coffee or tea, preferring soda for a caffeine fix and hot chocolate for a hot drink. He’s more of a fan of coffee over tea, unless it’s iced sweet tea with lemon. I feel he’d be really into coffee drinks like Frappuccino’s and the other Starbucks fancy coffee drinks that’s mostly coffee flavoured sugar than actual coffee still though.

Are you self-conscious of your smile?

Peter does have a lot of issues with being self-conscious about a lot of things, but the actual appearance of his smile isn’t one of them. He’d worry more, if someone seemed to be put off by him smiling at them or stared at him weirdly when he did so, that he had something stuck in his teeth because that is legit a small, weird fear he has.

Danny Rand

Do you keep plants?

Yes. So much yes. Danny is really in tune with nature, and he likes bringing nature inside. I think that he’ll have a few houseplants and that he will name them. He’s also probably quite into the idea of having a little indoor garden, either an herb garden or a few plants, like tomatoes, that can grow well in smaller, indoor spaces.

What artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

Danny, of course, meditates every day but I also feel like he would keep a journal. It’s not a rigid type of journaling…he doesn’t do it every day, even every week. It’s not bulleted or formatted any particular way every time but he journals whenever he feels the need to, in a very stream of consciousness sort of way.

Do you like singing/humming to yourself?

Danny definitely hums along to music, either music actually playing or just whatever is stuck in his head because he is really, really susceptible to earwormy type songs.

Do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

Danny’s a back sleeper to start with. He falls asleep on his back, hands loosely at his side and legs slightly apart. He uses the ‘jello game’ to fall to sleep, where he starts at his toes and imagines them just turning to jello, just becoming all relaxed and substanceless. He’ll move his way up towards his head, imagining each of his body parts and his muscles doing the same thing and he’s always asleep before he reaches his head. He does move a bit in his sleep but mostly just to change positions, not in a tossing and turning way.

What’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

I feel like Danny’s underwear is still an inner joke he has with the original team and something they’ll still occasionally tease him about.

Ava Ayala

What’s your favourite planet?

Ava’s favourite planet would probably be Earth, just because it’s home.

What’s something that made you smile today?

Her friends make her smile every day, even if they are idiots most of the time.  But I also feel like Ava sets aside time to read her favourite trashy romance novels every night right before bed, because those just really make her happy, and it never fails to make her smile as she gets ready for bed, just because she is looking forward to it so much.

If you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

Clean. Ava tries really hard to live properly and, while she does want sometimes to just be messy and gross, she does need that clean, orderly space. She’d think less, other than that, about what the place looks like and more about the actual function of the space. I feel like it would matter to her that there are separate bedrooms because she’s not a huge fan of sharing a bedroom with anyone, and she cares whether the plumbing is good, whether the appliances are in good working order, whether the water pressure is decent, and things along that nature.

Go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

I think the weird space fact that Ava knows by heart and would pull out the most is the fact that Uranus spins sideways. She learned it while doing research on a school project in elementary school and it’s just always stuck with her.

What’s your favourite pasta dish?

Ava loves a lot of Italian food but her favourite is ravioli, especially freshly made.

Luke Cage

What colour do you really want to dye your hair?

Luke actually feels no need or want to dye his hair. He keeps it really short or shaves it completely because it’s less work to take care of, so he just doesn’t see the point of him dying the inch of hair he’d keep.

Tell us something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

Luke sleep talks…like, he will carry on full conversations with people while he’s asleep, but they’ll make no sense to the other person. While living with the others, he woke Sam up once. Luke was fully asleep, but he just kept saying Sam’s name and Sam couldn’t see so well in the dark to know that Luke was just sleep talking, so Sam’s asking what’s going on and Luke just keeps telling Sam that he needs to go get a garbage bag. Sam, of course, groggy and a little annoyed at being woken up wants to know why they need a garbage bag at 2:34 in the morning, to which Luke tells him that it’s because the bunnies are coming. Like, they’re everywhere, man, we need to trap them in these bags. Sam did not sleep for the rest of the night and Luke couldn’t even recall what he said or what he dreamed about when he woke up.

Do you keep a journal? What do you write/draw in it?

Luke isn’t someone who would keep a journal. He’s not good at putting words to a lot of what he thinks and feels and having to keep a journal to do just that feels like more of a chore or an English assignment than something enjoyable or helpful.

What’s your favourite eye colour?

Luke really likes green eyes, especially those people whose eyes fall more towards the green-grey end of the spectrum instead of more towards the green-brown end of the spectrum. He just finds them really pretty and he doesn’t see many people with that particular shade so it instantly makes a person a little more unique looking.

Sam Alexander

Are you a morning person?

Not really, no. Sam’s naturally more of a night owl, though his schedule doesn’t normally allow him to be. He just finds he has more energy later on in the day and during the night than he tends to have in the early morning hours and, ideally, he’d sleep more from 3 a.m. to about 10 or 11 a.m. instead of the typically bed before midnight, up by 7 or 8 in the morning.

What’s your favourite thing to do on lazy days where you have zero obligations?

He definitely sleeps in. Other than that, Sam is an extrovert, and he definitely prefers company to being alone on his days off. He’d like to hang out with friends or visiting people he cares about. He likes to try to indulge his hobbies on his days off and probably has recipes bookmarked on his phone or a tablet/computer that he wants to try out on his days off. I could definitely see him inviting people over for supper because that is the best of both worlds to him – he gets to sleep in, he gets to have time for hobbies, and he gets to spend time with people he might not get to see as often as he’d like to.

Is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

It’s not one particular person, but two. I feel like May gets more of Sam’s emotional secrets but, because he wants to protect her, she doesn’t know about all of his superhero type secrets or what actual situations he gets up to. Rocket knows more about Sam’s superhero life, his thoughts on it, his frustrations with it.

What’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

Hey! He doesn’t break into places, not really. It’s always been because of missions and stuff, so like, he was doing the right thing by breaking in even if he was.

What are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

I headcanon that Sam still has a pair of ratty, red, dirty old high-top sneakers in his closet. He hasn’t been able to fit into them in years and they’re battered, and most people would think they look gross. They’re the last thing he bought with his parents though, and his mom helped him decorate them with fabric markers because he thought it was the coolest thing to have your sneakers all marked up at the time. He knows he should throw them away…having the sneakers won’t bring his parents back, after all, but he just can never bring himself to do so.

Nick Fury

What’s your favourite bubblegum flavour?

Nick likes Thrills gum. He doesn’t know why, because they weren’t lying on the advertisement or package when they said it tastes like soap, but it still tastes strangely good to him.

Sunrise or sunset?

He’s seen so many of both that neither really affect him anymore and it’s not often that he’ll stop to really take in either one. But, when a particularly beautiful one strikes him just the right way and he does take those couple moments to really marvel in the beauty of the universe, it tends to be sunsets that get him.

What’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

Nick Fury will never outright praise someone or tell them verbally how much he appreciates them, and he’d definitely never call someone cute or endearing. He does keep people at arm’s length and any compliments really have to be earned. That being said, he appreciates Coulson and his loyalty to both Nick and S.H.I.E.L.D. as a whole more than the other man will ever know and is one of the few people Nick actually trusts pretty completely.

Think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

Yes. He’s not ashamed of admitting it. There is no shame in feeling fear, only in how you react to that fear.

What is your opinion of socks? Do you like wearing weird socks? Do you sleep with socks? Do you confine yourself to white sock hell? Really, just talk about socks.

White socks are hell. He is really actually very particular about socks because, yes, white socks are hell but so are those garish, patterned ones that people like to give him as gag gifts. Socks have to be black crew socks, normally Dickies brand.

Jack Russell

Do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

Jack’s room is messy but not gross messy. He’s really sensitive to smells, so there’s no food just casually left out or dirty dishes hiding in there. Dirty laundry is brought out regularly to avoid the stink or just left in the laundry room for the same reason. It’s just messier in that it’s slightly cluttered and he’s not that into the whole ‘everything in its place’ type of living.

Tell us about your pet peeves!

As mentioned above, Jack has a really keen sense of smell so scented products really annoy him. He really wishes he could walk around without having his nose assaulted by a million competing perfumes, body sprays, scented candles, body lotions, heavily scented shampoos, or laundry detergents, etc.

What colour do you wear the most?

He tends to wear cooler colours, usually in the blue or green family.

What’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

Jack doesn’t get a lot of time to read and it’s not something he does a lot of. When he does though, he tends to stay away from fantasy or supernatural type stories because they do hit just a little too close to home and he’s reading more for an escape. I think he doesn’t mind horror novels though, and he recently read My Best Friend’s Exorcism, which was pretty decent.

Flash Thompson

Do you have a favourite coffee shop? Describe it!

Flash is actually kind of a basic bitch in this regard. He doesn’t really go looking for new coffee shops or little local ones because gas station coffee or Starbucks, occasionally a Dunkin Donuts, is where he gets his java fix most of the time.

Who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

I feel like it’s either Ben or Peter. They’re the people Flash feels most comfortable just sitting and being quiet with, without him feeling awkward or like he has to entertain them or be this big-shot, cool guy around them.

When was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

This, I think, is kind of the feeling he gets when he’s fighting. When he’s fighting, even if there’s a hint of fear, he at least knows what’s going on. Everything makes sense and he knows what he’s supposed to be doing and what is going to largely happen. It just is a very mentally safe place for him, if not a physically safe place.

Do you trust your instincts a lot?

Yes. One hundred percent of the time, Flash is always going to trust his instincts and is very much a believer in gut feelings or ‘heart over head’. If his gut is telling him that something is off, even if there’s no logic for it, he’s going to go more with what his instincts tell him.

Tell us the worst pun you can think of.

I was going to make myself a belt made out of watches, but then I realized it would be a waist of time! (Honestly, puns have to be really simple and obvious for Flash to get them.)

[lina-lovebug]

CALL MY NAME

Danny Rand x Y/N x Dick Grayson

Part 4

__________________

"Thank God you're alive."

Dick Grayson felt like his world collapsed when he was told that (Y/N) was shot. Not the arm, or leg, but center chest during a mission that he left because he thought she could handle it.

Especially with her old team.

"I'm fine. It didn't even leave a mark," She lifted up her shirt to show that there was no scar, not even a scratch, where the bullet entered.

"Still, I thought. . .I thought the worst, baby," Dick whimpered, his entire demeanor almost crumbling at the thought of the woman he's loved more than anything else just dying.

And he blamed himself.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let my guard down."

"No, no, this is not your fault. You saved ninety kids from absolute hell on earth, (Y/N)."

"No, I didn't," You dismissed, walking around him and towards the kitchen.

"The team did. Nova extracted the kids while Luke kept watch, and White Tiger and Spiderman apprehended the traffickers who weren't murdered. I just laid there, and Danny had to fucking carry me back like a baby," You groaned, remembering how useless you felt on your own mission.

"You called him Danny."

You looked up at him, and without the domino mask and in the comfort of your own home, you could tell now more than ever that Dick Grayson was frustrated yet nervous.

"Yeah. . .? So?"

His brows furrowed, "He's Iron Fist. You called everyone else by their hero alias but him."

"Are you fucking serious right now? What's wrong with you?" You immediately got defensive, trying to turn the narrative but you've always called him Danny. Only on the battlefield did you call him Iron Fist.

"You've gotten closer to him and I don't like it."

"He was my teammate, and he just saved my life! So sorry if I called him by his birth name," You were confused.

Did he not trust you?

After all this time?

"I could say the same shit about Zatanna," You crossed your arms.

"Zatanna is not the topic of this discussion."

"But when she is, Zatanna is some amazing sorceress! She's undefeatable, she's changed so much! God, first she's a nuisance in our lives and now she's a saviour for respecting our relationship?!" You yelled at him. Zatanna always made it clear that she wasn't going anywhere when you and Dick got together, but he always shoved her away.

"Zatanna is not the one always looking you up and down like you're some meal!"

You stepped back, "What are you talking about?"

"You're a Widow, (Y/N). Figure it out for yourself."

You did notice it. The way that Danny always gravitated towards you at meetings, the way he would subtly and 'accidentally' brush his hand against your thigh, and the way he stared. Maybe no one else noticed but you recognized it well. It the same stare he gave you after a mission where your suit was ripped and you had to get it fixed, and as mature and zen as Danny is - he was feral.

Only moments after you dropped it off to have it fixed and made your way to your room, you found Danny waiting outside with a clenched jaw and a lustful gaze.

That night was your first time together.

And the thought of that look made you shiver.

"I'll talk to him. Danny is the most respectful man I know, and he would never make a move on me," You expressed. He always asked, no matter the situation. Being raised by Monks can teach a guy a thing or two.

"After this, after SHIELD has all their shit fixed, I don't feel comfortable with you being around him anymore. I know its a lot to ask, but-"

"It is," You cut him off, "even if I were to just hang with Luke, Sam, Peter and Ava - Danny has always been their friend. They're a group, so I can't just tell Danny to fuck off when I want to see them. And it's been years since I've seen any of them. I want to repair the friendship we had."

Dick sighed, not knowing what to do. He loves (Y/N), he knows he always will, but the mere thought of Daniel Rand being the constant in her life made him jealous. She even said Danny was her first love, and as much trust that they've built up, he wanted to be selfish.

He wanted Iron Fist to go away.

"Then I want to talk to him."

Her head snapped up.

"To Danny?"

He nodded, "I need to know, man to man, that he no longer has feelings for you. That I can trust him."

(Y/N) felt off. Yes, this is a good thing, they should talk this out and clear the air. But Danny compared to Dick? Danny doesn't lie, and if he still has feelings for her, Dick might very well lose it.

But she still said, "Okay."

[avengersrewatch]

E49: The New Avengers

I started this because I wanted to talk about Kang. I'll go back to the regularly scheduled episodes but I wanted to jump ahead in the Kang storyline in EMHU.

Kang doesn't appear as the main villain again until the second season, episode 49 "The New Avengers."

In the cold open, Kang (who has escaped from prison) is working on a time machine. The Avengers attack. At this point the team is: Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, Thor, Hawkeye, Wasp, as well as Vision, Ms. Marvel/Carol Danvers and Yellowjacket/Hank Pym. You don't really have to worry about the new characters (though I think it's pretty self explanatory) because they are immediately sent into some kind of time void by Kang, who declares he has defeated the Avengers.

This episode is interesting because a lot of the speculation for Avengers: Secret Wars has suggested other heroes will have to tap in for the Avengers. And that is sort of what happens here except it is heroes from the EMHU, not other universes.

We jump back in time (I think). Kang is sill in prison and three members of the Council of Kangs appear to him. The old one who seems to be closest to Immortus says the Avengers are growing in power and they might be a threat to all Kangs (very similar to the post-credit scene of Quantumania). They tell him that even though the Council of Kangs have agreed not to meddle in another Kang's timeline they are making an exception, and return his armor to him.

They replay the cold open, with more fighting, and also it shows that Tony initiates the "New Avengers protocol" right before disappearing into time.

Meanwhile, in New York, weird stuff starts appearing. Old timey planes. Robots from the future. Japanese ninjas. Dinosaurs. Cowboys fighting Medieval knights. That kind of thing.

JARVIS locates the "chosen recruits": Spider-man (Peter Parker), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Luke Cage, War Machine (James Rhodes), The Thing (Ben Grimm) and Wolverine (Logan).

I wouldn't mind a line-up like this for Secret Wars. I'd get Andrew Garfield, Michael Chiklis, Hugh Jackman, Wesley Snipes, Evan Peters and maybe some more. Another Hulk? Quake? (I'd say Luke Cage but I am still hopeful they might integrate the Netflix universe into the MCU.) Emma Stone as Spider-Gwen?

Spider-man is the one getting information from JARVIS so he is kind of the leader except everyone makes fun of him. I feel like this would be a good way to redeem Andrew Garfield, who is a great actor, from the bad Spider-man movies he got saddled with.

Spider-man wants to come up with a plan but of course Wolverine and Luke Cage are like, "Nah, let's punch." It doesn't go well at first. But then Spider-man is all, "We have to work as a team." It's always so funny to me that this has to be stated aloud in movies and shows. Spidey also has a plan for Kang's machine but he needs someone to draw Kang away.

Rhodey volunteers. And we get a fastball special with the Thing taking Colosuss' role. This is something I would like to see on screen before Hugh Jackman retires as Wolverine. Just yeet him across the screen.

Spider-man and JARVIS try to break the machine. Spidey realizes his Spider-Sense will alert him if he is doing anything wrong. So he powers down the machine.

Kang is angry, but with the power shut down, the Avengers return from wherever Kang sent them. The New Avengers and the Regular Avengers all watch him vanish into time. (Here I would put some more fighting but this show is only a half hour.)

Iron Man makes Spider-man a "reserve" Avenger and gives him an ID card.

[leilawhittaker]

The cast page has been updated!

It would take too long to name every individual change that’s been made, so I’ll keep it to the important parts. 

I lost my mind halfway through coding this so half the character descriptions are jokes. This is good because I’m extremely funny (and cool and sexy) so you will enjoy this. 

The page was moved to a separate blog to get around tumblr's new rules on javascript.

The page is generally more comprehensive, including extremely minor characters, and the casts of more MCU projects (both ones I didn’t plan on using when I made the old OC page as well as newer projects that hadn’t come out yet like Eternals, Shang-Chi, etc.)

The order of characters has shifted, with the OG seven Avengers listed first, then most characters in order of first appearance, and then, starting with Shuri, characters who I plan to include but am not sure where they first appear yet. 

I’ve replaced the MCU Spider-Man cast with the TASM cast. However, the MCU Spidey cast still exists on the page as characters in my iteration of No Way Home. 

The following OCs have had their faceclaims changed: Leila Whittaker, Jace Barton, Haven Hendrix, Alex Manor, Riley Branson, Petra Stark, Adina Dragozera (see: name changes), Lyra Dash, Luna Lee, Daniel Lee, Sashi Desai (see: name changes), Rory Lennox, Petra Stark, and Galina Kovaleva. 

The following canon characters have had their faceclaims changed: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Vision, Phil Coulson, Barney Barton, Morgan Stark, Danny Rand, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Quill, Quentin Beck, and Daisy Johnson. 

New major OCs have been added, including but not limited to: Tasha Petrova, Nina Maximoff, Adam Jameson, Kyra Meachum, Alina Belsky, Rebecca Barnes, and Sibel Bolat. 

New major canon characters have been added, including but not limited to: Logan, Kurt Wagner, and Zelda Dubois. 

The following major characters have had their names changed: 

Adira Dragozera is now Adina Dragozera

Vira Kovaleva is now Ilana Kaspi

Luna and Daniel Li are now Luna and Daniel Lee

Mena Bashara is now Sashi Desai

The following characters have been removed for story-related reasons. (I hope to include them in the Multiverse Saga as characters who exist in different timelines.): Anya Maximoff, Jessamine Rogers, Caleb Rogers, Alina Lokisdottir, Allen Slater, Tori Slater, Kiran

[comicsiswild]

Iron Fist (2022) #1

[bookoftheironfist]

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Marvel Premiere #15, which hit shelves on February 19th, 1974! (The cover date of May 15 indicated when the book should be taken off the shelves.) This anthology series served as a testing ground where creative teams tried out new characters and storylines to gauge their appeal. One such character was Iron Fist/Danny Rand, who first appeared in #15 and stuck around for ten more issues until proving popular enough, both here and in his guest appearances in the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu magazine, to earn his own solo comic in 1975.

This was a time when martial arts were exploding in popularity across the U.S., and Marvel leapt onboard the trend with new characters like Shang-Chi/Master of Kung Fu, the Sons of the Tiger, White Tiger (Hector Ayala), and Iron Fist. These characters were a departure from Marvel's standard superhero fare; they were martial arts heroes first and foremost, directly inspired by kung fu films and famous contemporary masters like Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, and Chuck Norris, and with stories heavily focused on beautiful, thrilling, technically precise fight scenes.

Caption: "You whirl: one man, still doubled with pain, receives the blow of the hammer...another, already reeling, you dispose of with the monkey blow. The fourth attacker, more cautious than his fellows, only now makes his forward leap..." Marvel Premiere #15 by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, Glynis Wein, D. Giordano, and L.P. Gregory

This sucker-punch of an introductory issue flips breathlessly back and forth between nineteen-year-old Danny Rand's fight to survive the ritual Challenge of the Many and the One, and his flashbacks to the horrors he experienced as a nine-year-old child when, high in the mountains, he watched his parents die. The issue doesn't have room to introduce the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying (that epicness is saved for Marvel Premiere #16), but it introduces the world of Marvel's K'un-Lun and several of its key players, and teases the core premise by culminating in Danny's first time using the power of the Iron Fist. It's an explosive introduction to a character and corner of the Marvel universe that has only grown richer, larger, and more exciting over the past 50 years.

[silverwing2522]

Silverwing: The Red Thread (7)

OMG im so happy!! This is the first time finishing a fanfic story! I mean theres many in this series lol but writing is hard for me. I had adhd and autism, so for me it can be quite difficult. I'm really proud of this one and i hope y'all like it :D

“So, we’re all in agreement. This is what we’re going to do.” Danny stands with his arms folded in the drawing room of the x mansion.

Me, victor and danny had been discussing about what we were going to do about my pregnancy.

“Absolutely!” Victor stepped up, head held high.

What we had concluded was that we would jointly live for the next 9 months in the apartment danny owned in new york city, all three of us. Which meant that danny and i would be separate from K’un Lun during that time. He was not happy about it, but he still understood and reluctantly accepted the conditions.

Later while Victor was sleeping i slipped into dannys room. He was awake, thinking the same thoughts i was.

How were we going to explain this when we returned home?

As much as we had been getting along better recently, this would be more than a stretch to be believed. There was no way anyone could believe that this was really ours.

“This isnt going to be easy..” I sit down on the edge of the bed in my silk long nightgown, facing away from him.

“I know, but theres not much that can be done about it. Youve made up your mind youre keeping it, so...we just gotta hope everyone believes that its mine. On the plus side though, at least Victor is blonde…” He said, lightheartedly. Typical danny, always seeing the positive in things.

“Yeh.” I gave a small light chuckle in reply. “I just really want this danny. I wanted it a long time ago, but then….things happened and i thought it was all over. But now...now i-i might finally get it. I cant let that go. And i know how much this means to Victor too. This is OUR kid. Mine and his.”

“Sess, you dont need to explain it to me. I know, its okay. I can already see you really want it. So have it. We’ll work out the details later. We’ve got plenty of time to prepare.” He smiles at me warmly.

I touch his hand and thank him. “Okay, so whats got you all pensive then?” I ask, confused. I was certain it was about the pregnancy, but clearly it was something else.

“I was thinking of my future. I mean...you’re married-” “Twice.” “-twice, yeh! And i’m...i dont have anyone. I had misty, but that didnt really work.” He sighs and flops his head back onto the pillow. “I guess i’m feeling lonely. Here you are, expecting. All glowing and happy. And… i guess a part of me wishes i had that.” He looked at me so forlornly. I didnt really know to say. The chances of the right girl coming along and being okay with me being tied to him were slim to none.

“You do. In a way. You have me, in a very unconventional sense. We’re stuck together, which means you’re part of this new family thats being founded as we speak. You’re a part of this dan.” I smirk as i think of my next response. “Someones got to be a good god parent! Get some morals into them! Goodness knows it aint gonna come from me or Vic” I laugh.

He chuckles in response and sighs wearily. “I guess” and gives a small smile.

I know its not quite what he wants, but its the best i can give. Its all i can give.

A thought strikes me, but i quickly ignore it. Can danny be having feelings for me? No, my mind rejects the very notion. He cant!

I start to trudge back to bed, burdened with uncomfortable thoughts.

“Sessa…” he calls me back.

“Yeah?” I turn to face him from the doorway, hesitant about what he might say next.

“What you gonna do about logan?” I sigh with mixed relief. This topic was slightly easier in comparison, which said a lot!

“Nothing. Theres nothing i can do, because of the baby. The only thing i can think of is to help him back to his homeworld, so he can find peace there somehow. Be buried with his family at least. If it gets to that.”

Saying out loud was horrible. I was essentially letting a man die. But i wasnt going to let go of this baby to help him. And nothing else seemed like it was going to work, so sending him back seemed like the best option. Part of me wanted to do that, just so that i didnt have to watch him die, or hear about it.

“Is that all?” Danny was unimpressed, but understood the situation and the circumstances surrounding it. Yet he still found it necessary to ask. As much as we had been getting along better lately, it was still fraught with conflict between us. He still said and did thoughtless things that angered me.

I stamped my foot a little on the bare wood floor and huffed at him. “What do you want me to give him?! A parade?! Yes danny! Thats all!”

He motions for me to calm down. “Its just...i...i feel like...i dont know.”

“Well thats just great! Goodnight!” And then just like that i was out of the door, heading back to my room. I knew how he felt and what he was trying to say. I felt it too. I felt that there must be something to be done. Some fix. Some other answer. And maybe there could be during the next several months. Some secret revealed. Some device discovered. Something that didnt hinge on me!

But there wasnt. And after five months Logan had gotten worse. It wasnt just his healing factor failing him now, his overall health as at an all time critical low. He struggled to move around, and when he did he would soon stop from being breathless.

He understood my decision and accepted it. But standing here, it was hard to witness it.

He laid a shaky hand on my bump and whispered low and hoarsely to me. “If its a boy, make sure you name it James.” and he winks a cheeky smile at me.

I smile and laugh back. “I’ll see what i can do.” I hold both in hands in mine. “I have something for you, just in case.”

We stood below the city of K’un Lun where the jewel of tabentha was kept. Using the machinery used to create portals to realms and dimensions, we managed to find a doorway to his homeworld. It stood there in front of us, blazing a hot mid days sun through it onto us. Sand swept through the portal and landed at our feet.

“Looks like a good day”. He laughs and holds my hands tighter in his.

I say nothing but move my hands to lay on top of his. Nestled in his palm is a small vile of blood and bone marrow. Mine.

He looks down and frowns in confusion.

I bow my head nearer to his, face to face. “Just in case you find a way.”

In the five months i had been trying to help hank and jean find a way to synthesize my unique adapting gene, so it could be used as part of a therapy regime for logan. But unfortunately we had no luck with that avenue.

So this was my last ditch attempt, that maybe he could find something or someone there that could use it to help him.

My last gift. My only gift for him.

Hope.

He cups my cheek and grounds it in his palm roughly. He sniffs deeply, scrunching up his face keeping the tears at bay. His head held high he exhales and walks away into the light.

And like that, he is gone. The portal shuts off and we, me and danny are left alone in the dim light of the temple’s basement. We dont say anything. But he moves to put his arms around me. And i start to cry for the first time in eighty years.

Its strange to think that five months ago i looked at logan and felt nothing. No affection, no connection, nothing but a stranger. An annoyance. But now, i felt like something important had just stepped out of my life. Its funny how life does that sometimes.

But i am comforted in knowing what i felt before he left. Not a man who was afraid of what was to come, but of one who was hopeful what what still might be.

[macalcord]

Fathers and Sons

With the emergence of Luke as Harlem's Hero, James Lucas moved to New York in order to arrange a reunion with his son. He reached out to his son but was rebuffed. Luke had no intention on reuniting with the abusive religious zealot of a man that not only refused to support his son who was wrongfully convicted and sent to prison. He didn't even take the time to tell his son his mother passed away while he was in prison.

But that's who James Lucas was, cold and hard. A piece of granite was more emotionally accessible and supportive than James.

There was also his fanatical attitude about races, James was velmetly against mixing of races. Luke can recall bringing home his girl friend who was mixed, her mother being Puerto Rican and her father Haitian. To James this was an offense to God, despite never being able to show Luke one passage or verse that proved his point. But that didn't stop him from threatening to kick a 14 year out for dating her.

In his apartment he moved into so he could have a place to lay his head while he looked for Luke. James walked around his living practicing what he'll say to Luke when he sees him.. It's the same thing he does every Sunday before he gives one of his sermons. Practice till it's as easy as saying your name.

James taking a break to sit at a desk, the open laptop's bright screen hurting his old eyes making him pull his glasses out, it's not much relief but enough to allow his eyes to focus one what's on the screen. Multiple pages and pictures on his son. There is a sense of peace and pride when he looks at pictures with only Luke in them. Old articles of how Luke saved Harlem. But that feeling quickly falls to the side as his eyes scan over pictures of Luke with Danny and Trish, laughing and smiling at dinner either at their apartment or Danny and Trish's Penthouse. Its obvious James hired a PI to spy on his son, the pictures probably taken with the same kind of camera Jessica uses to take long distance but clear pictures of people she's investigating.

James continued to click pictures and videos of the investigator gave him and then he had his most disgusted and angry reaction when he watched the video of Jessica and Trish outside Rand Enterprises, the night they went jumping around rooftops and got confronted by reporters, most of the frenzy of questions flew right pass him, they meant nothing to him. Until a reporter as Jessica. "Are you pregnant?"

Did his son not only shack up then marry this white woman but now got her pregnant? This in his mind is abomination in his eyes and he will straighten his son out and put him back on the righteous path.

After doing his research he figured out where to be to make sure he and Luke run into each other but first he wants to speak with this woman that is misleading his son.

Waiting outside the building for Luke to go on his morning run. Before making his way up to the apartment and waits after ringing the doorbell.

[c0s-lettuce]

please be careful - danny rand x reader

gender neutral, romantic or platonic

a/n: there aren't enough danny rand fics. pretty boy deserves better. this fic was based on the first few episodes of season 1. i hope you enjoy :)

word count: 925

You knew about the Hand. Only a little bit from your time in Hell's Kitchen. You moved back home to Brooklyn to get away from that. Yes, it meant saying goodbye to friends, but it was all in the hopes to regain a tiny ounce of normality.

You had landed yourself a good job and a pretty nice apartment. And you were living life day by day. That was until a homeless man showed up at your work and claimed to be your dead childhood best friend.

Yeah, so much for normality.

"It's me," he had said, "it's Danny."

You didn't reply. You just stared.

"We would hang out all the time after you got back from school." he continued, "Remember that one time we went a street over to the ice cream truck? You got a chocolate-covered ice cream. I got one with sprinkles. We asked for an extra cone and tried to mix our ice creams together to see what it would taste like."

He paused for a second to catch his breath. You remained silent.

Then he went on, "But it didn't work. My ice cream ended up on the floor, so you just gave me yours. Remember?"

Danny looked at you with hopeful eyes. You must've looked ridiculous. Frozen in shock, speechless, eyes threatening to spill with tears.

But then you had an idea. You walked towards 'Danny' and held your hand up. He looked confused but only a second later raised his own hand to yours.

And there the two of you stood, performing your secret handshake as if the fifteen years had never passed.

You didn't wait another millisecond to pull him into a hug. As he returned the sentiment, you managed to whisper, "I thought you were dead."

"I know, I'm sorry." he replied, "I've been away."

--------

Your ringtone woke you late at night. Peering at your phone, you saw the name 'Danny' in bright, white letters.

You let out an unceremonious groan and picked up, "Hey Danny. What's up?"

"I'm so sorry, did I wake you?" he was quick to reply.

"No, no," you lied, "you didn't, I was... reading."

"I'm sorry for calling so late. I'm just,” he took a breath, “having trouble settling back in, I guess?"

You sat up, "Hey, that's completely understandable."

"I was wondering if you could come over."

"Oh yeah, of course, just message me your address." you scrambled out of bed.

"Thank you."

The trip was short. Danny was staying in a very fancy suite that Jeri Hogarth organised for him. As soon as he answered the door, he pulled you into a hug and thanked you for coming.

The two of you let go of each other. As Danny led you to the lounge, you noticed blankets on the floor by one of the massive windows.

"Have you been sleeping on the floor?" you asked.

"Uh yeah, I'm just not used to the mattress. Felt like I was going to sink into it," he told you.

You nodded. Danny had briefly told you about living in K'un-Lun. After the New York incident and what you had seen in Hell's Kitchen, you didn't doubt him. Not completely.

The two of you sat down. Danny began to tell you what was troubling him, all the while you were doing your best to comfort him. He told you about how much everything had changed. And how he felt like he was a complete stranger in a city he once called home.

"My whole life in K'un-Lun was spent training to becoming a living weapon. To eventually destroy the Hand and-"

"Wait, wait, wait, the Hand?" you interrupted.

"Yes," Danny said, "I'm the Iron Fist, sworn enemy of the Hand? Do you know about them?"

"A bit... a while ago, I was at Metro-General Hospital visiting a friend. Then these ninjas came out of nowhere. It was a mess. I was lucky to get out of there-"

"The Hand is here? In New York?"

"I guess, yeah? I don't really know about them..."

Danny paused for a second and turned to face the window, "So I am supposed to be here."

--------

And that brings you to now, in the Chikara Dojo. There's a dying man in the owner, Colleen's, bed. Claire, whom you met before in Hell's Kitchen, is trying to keep him alive. And Danny is talking about going to challenge the Hand.

You watch from the door as Danny performs Tai Chi in the dojo. You take a moment to think. How this ten-year-old boy you once knew has grown into a man. How this grown man is now a master at Kung Fu. How he wants to challenge the Hand.

"You're worried," Danny states, snapping you out of your thoughts.

You exhale and lean against the door frame, Danny still facing away from you. "Of course I am."

"I'm not going to get hurt, I promise," he replies.

You scoff and mutter, "That's one hell of a promise..."

"I have a vision of total victory and nothing else. It's the reason I've gotten this far. Defeat has no place in my mind."

"Danny, seriously," you walk up to face him, "I've seen what the Hand can do. I mean, what if they kill you?"

"That's not going to happen." Danny places his hands on your shoulders and looks at you with a sincerity you've never seen before.

Silence falls between the two of you. You take this opportunity to embrace him again.

"Please, be careful," you say.

"I will, I promise."

➸

[daresplaining]

Have Matt and Danny Rand ever bounded around having really hard martial arts masters training them?

    Great question! And the answer is, not really-- at least, not on-panel, as far as I can remember. Marvel's superhero community (and Danny’s inner circle in particular) is filled with skilled fighters, so that's certainly not an experience that's unique to the two of them, and to be a martial artist with that degree of ability, the training has to be "really hard"-- it's not like Stick and Lei Kung were doing anything strange or gratuitous in their teaching. Lei Kung was strict, yes-- as war master of one of the Capital Cities of Heaven, he had to be-- but he was also a loving father figure to Danny; and Stick and Matt had their own deep, affectionate, if complicated bond. And of course, Danny's training was on an entirely different level than Matt's, so it's a bit of an apples-and-oranges situation. What we do know is that Danny and Matt respect each other very much, both in combat and in life, and part of that comes from respecting each other's history and training.

    That said-- and this isn't what you asked, but it's something I love, so I'm gonna geek out about it-- there are some fun connections between their legacies. To start, Master Izo (Stick’s mentor and founder of the Chaste) is in the Book of the Iron Fist!

[ID: Excerpt from Brubaker’s Daredevil run. A bunch of characters (Matt Murdock, Danny Rand, Dakota North, Carlos LaMuerto, and Master Izo) are standing around in Matt’s kitchen in civvies. Izo is in the background, drinking from a container.]

Danny: "Uh, Dakota? Who's the old guy drinking the grain alcohol?"

Dakota: "Says his name is Master Izo."

Danny: "Master Izo? Really?"

Matt: "Wait-- you've heard of him?"

Danny: "Yes... he was mentioned in the Book of the Iron Fist... a few hundred years ago..."

Daredevil vol. 2 #113 by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, Stefano Gaudiano, and Matt Hollingsworth 

    You may know this, and I've talked about this scene before, but it's been a while and I'm always in a mood to ramble about my guy Izo and the Iron Fist mythos. If anyone is unfamiliar, you should follow my IF blog! the Book of the Iron Fist is a written chronicle of the lives and deeds of the Iron Fists, extending back through the centuries. There is no direct link between K'un-Lun/the Iron Fist legacy and the Hand/Chaste lineage to which Matt (and Izo and Stick and Elektra and Maki Matsumoto and Sam Chung, etc.) are connected. They're completely separate worlds. But this fun fact of Izo bumping into an Iron Fist at some point in his long, chaotic life is something I cherish. This interaction is followed by a wonderful scene of bonding-- not between Danny and Matt, but between Danny and Izo, over Matt (which I discussed in some detail here).

    There's also this odd little moment from Bendis' Defenders run:

[ID: Excerpt from Bendis’ Defenders run, showing Matt and Danny standing together in a dark alley. Matt is in his Daredevil costume with the mask off, and Danny is in the full Iron Fist costume.]

Matt: "I am blind."

[ID: Danny puts up a hand for a high-five.]

Danny: "Oh! Dude, that is awesome. There was this street-fighter named Stick who was blind."

Matt: "He was my sensei."

Defenders (2017) #8 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, and Justin Ponsor

    There are all kinds of little continuity weirdnesses in this series, so this could just be among them, but it is an extremely cool idea, and does make sense timeline-wise. While we know pretty much nothing about Stick’s early life (get on that, Marvel!), we do know that he spent probably quite a long time training at the Chaste’s secret mountaintop headquarters, and then at some point later wound up in New York, where he eventually met young/teenage Matt. He seemingly stayed in New York after their falling-out when Matt was in college (based on Man Without Fear continuity, which is the only continuity we have for this plot detail), gambling and fighting and doing all the things he complained about Izo doing back in the day. When Matt searches for him many years later for help with a hypersensory issue (in Daredevil vol. 1 #176), Stick is still hanging out in the city. During that gap in Matt and Stick’s relationship, Danny Rand returned to Earth and settled into his new life in Manhattan. And in both his own life and his eventual Heroes for Hire work, he was spending a lot of time in the same kinds of unsavory places that Stick seemed to be frequenting, interacting with a lot of the same kinds of well-connected, low-level people in the criminal underworld who would know Stick-- and so it is likely that Danny would at least have heard of him, if not run into him. (In fact, “mysterious weirdos who can kick everyone’s butts” is Danny’s exact area of interest.) This might have just been a throwaway gag for Bendis, but I’m begging someone-- anyone-- to write me this flashback issue. Please. That is an interaction I’m dying to see. 

    I’m sorry this went a bit off-topic, but I hope it was interesting anyway. I know I had fun. Thanks for your great question!

[lina-lovebug]

CALL MY NAME

Part 3

Danny Rand x Y/N x Dick Grayson

__________

They thought it would be cool. That it would be easy to go on a co-ops mission with her. Y/N had been prepping for this mission for months, but suddenly, Dick had other things he needed to attend to. She understood and knew she could handle this mission on her own, but that changed when her former team volunteered to join.

"Guys, this stuff isn't like SHIELD. It's dark-"

"We can handle it. No biggie. What is it?" Sam asked.

"Child sex trafficking ring," She crossed her arms, and it suddenly got quiet.

"I've seen so much as a Widow, but this is heavy. You're going to see some really hurt kids, and you might even walk in on. . ." Her hands curled into fists.

"It's strictly professional. No one needs to know that the League was involved. Strictly under wraps. Got it?" She asked, fully prepared for this.

"Yeah," Sam breathed out, not so sure of himself.

"Just tell us what you need," Luke told her.

"Good. I want Peter and Ava to be on the far north side of the building, and it's old so it should be easy to get in from these access points," As she was explaining these things, and leading them to the bio-ship they'd need to get there, Danny couldn't help but admire her initiative. Of course she knew they were all novices when it came to this, but she was being a leader.

She was being amazing.

"-Danny, Luke, you'll go under and Nova will keep watch from over us with the bio-ship. These will keep us connected," She walked up to Danny, seeing him fumble with the ear piece and grabbed it from his hands.

"Here," She gently placed it in his ear, too close for his own comfort but it felt nice seeing her act like this. She needed to get away in order to grow.

This was good for her.

"Wait, will you be going in alone?" Danny asked.

"Yes. They won't expect-"

"No. I apologize, but you can't go in by yourself. Not without backup," Danny insisted.

"They know me, so they'll know to expect me. They'll never expect you guys."

"Make them expect the unexpected," Danny retorted in his usual soft tone.

"Yeah, Danny's the quietest of all of us. Especially if you're going in through the roof and into the center of if all," Peter pointed out.

"But what about Luke?" Y/N questioned.

"I'm a brickhouse. I'll be fine," Luke insisted, and Y/N turned back to Danny.

"Follow my orders. Got it?"

"Of course," He smiled softly.

It was going smoothly. Nova stationed the bio-ship not too far from the building, and he was hiding in plain sight. Everyone was following orders as Y/N and Danny found the secret entrance through the roof, and she looked up at him.

"You ready?"

His firm nod was all she needed before jumping down. Immediately, Danny was in a panic. No ropes? Nothing to help her? He watched as she rolled onto the ground, Immediately catching the attention of the traffickers around her as she got into position.

"Sorry boys. Did I interrupt anything?"

His heart almost dropped once the first gun shot fired off. Immediately dropping down, his fists breaking his fall, he had to quickly focus on himself as bullets started towards him and he dodged and his fists easily blocked them.

"Widow-!"

She was fine. There were easily ten bodies behind her as she grabbed a gun from the man before her, aiming right for her head, and used his grip on it to her advantage. Grabbing the gun, she launched it forward and used the crown of her head to smash his before breaking the gun and letting him collapse to the ground.

Her face dropped when she looked back at him.

"Iron Fist! Behind-!"

A gunshot rung out.

But he didn't feel anything.

Danny looked over to Y/N, who had gasped and immediately grabbed her stomach.

No. No, no, no, no!

Danny immediately crushed the gun in his hand before punching the man in the face, not caring in the moment that he broke his nose and the guy definitely might have memory loss.

He shot her.

He shot Y/N.

"Sh-shit, Danny," She breathed out, falling to her knees as Danny fell with her. He wasn't going to let her die, not like this.

"Get the kids out. I-I'll be fine," She hissed, the pressure making it hurt even more.

"The team will get them. I need you to live. Move your hand."

"W-wow, you're so calm even though you're holding a dying girl in your arms," She joked, doing as he said as Danny readjusted her to be on his lap as his hand started to glow.

"There would be no honor in me if I did not know the full capacity of my power," His warmth from his hand radiated within her as she stared at the wound starting to close.

"You. . .you can heal? H-how?"

Danny chuckled, "I am a King, Widow. A King must be trained to his full capacity in order to protect his own."

"Right. You're King of K'un L'un," Y/N reminded herself. She was so angry when she found out that Danny didn't tell her, and was fully ready to just leave without saying goodbye.

"Still no queen?" She asked as he helped her up.

"Despite your initial outburst towards me in K'un L'un, the people wanted you," Her eyes widened as she leaned against him.

"Wh-what? But, I was horrible to you. I yelled at you."

"They knew I was leaving someone behind. They told me a woman who will remind you of your own humble mind is a woman worth crowning," He couldn't remember the last time she was so close. Her fit body pressed against his and she couldn't ignore that Danny definitely toned up and that suit wasn't helping.

"We need to get the children-"

"Y/N," He pulled her back by her arm, missing how close their bodies used to be to eachother.

But Danny wasn't that type of man.

"You. . .go ahead. I'll signal Nova," She knew he wanted to say more, to maybe even do something.

And maybe she wanted him to.