blood-injections · 1 year ago
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Expanding on this extreme violent zones headcanon of mine. Warning for torture mentions, body horror and crimes against humanity.
So everybody is violent and deadly and in the zones where it’s every killjoy for themself, allies are hard to come by and friends, people you actually trust, are even harder. So if you have a crew, it’s ride or die. You’d do anything for your team and having one is proof that despite all your violence and the monstrous things you’ve done, you’re still human, you’re still capable of love and receiving it. Having a crew is Hope incarnate.
And the fabulous four are one of the tightness knit crews there is. They’re deadly and unparalleled in the sands but then in the safety of the diner, when they’re all out of danger for the night, they’re so domestic, gentle with each other, even. They’re a family.
But the thing is, while the desert may be a sin-stained wasteland, most killjoys still have some morals intact, still feet regret and grief and fear of the horrible things they have to do to survive. But in Battery City, there are no morals, no limits. They do things that make even the most messed up things the Fab Four have done look like child’s play. Dracs are expendable mindless zombies because they’re the spoils of human experimentation. Some can’t walk, they stumble through the desert on cheap prosthetic limbs, but they’re sent out anyway. The citizens have things in their heads that keep them in line. If someone acts out something inside them cuts out and they’ll drop dead where they stand. Androids are forced to do the dirty work whether they’re sentient or not. Some can think and dream but when it comes down to it they’re not in control of their own body, their limbs servants to programming no matter how advanced the circuits in their heads may be. Some have been stuck doing the same thing for years when they just want to live, but they have no control over their body and they must scream.
And Fun Ghoul, despite all his skills, was one day overpowered, captured and tortured within an inch of his life. There was a storehouse that was bugged and when they caught him on the surveillance feed they sent Korse to take care of him. He wasn’t taken back to Bat City, they did it right in that abandoned building they caught him in and when they were done with him they dragged him out into the blistering sunlight and left him there to bleed out, a meal for some passing scavenger.
The others were able to find him in time but in order to save his life, Jet Star had to do the very thing they swore they’d never do to a friend- tear him apart. And then put him back together again. When Fun Ghoul eventually woke up, he didn’t recognize himself. He was left with a stitched up, full ear to ear Glasgow smile that’s sure to leave a nasty scar, one blinded eye, a cybernetic leg from the left knee down, stitches all over from excessive lacerations and other little cybernetic parts to keep things inside him together.. and he had someone else’s lung and right arm.
Over time he made the best of his condition, owned his resemblance to something like Frankenstein’s monster, embraced it, even. But for a while he was in a stranger’s skin.
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Crazy GW2 ff-ideaton for self (I’ll forget it all anyway): - Action/adventure - OC investigates Pact fleet destruction/Trahearne’s death years after. - Revenant abilities and HoT PTSR. - The world is bad, worse then in-game. - Being Commander is shit.  - Commader is “the hero Gotham deserves”. - Being everyone else is shit.  - Dysfunctional trammander. - Being “a part of a junge dragon” is shit. 
An ongoing detective/action/adventore story that takes place 10y+ from now.  - OC, for instance a young promising Shining blade exemplar (Who are they? What would they do? First thought - a headstrong tomboy, similar to Korra’s Kuvira). - SBs are preparing for something dramatic (The “enter-the-plane-of-torment-dramatic, but what exactly?).  - OC has their own team. - As they look for the support, they try to reach the remaining members of Dragon’s Watch, who refuse to take part in a suicidal mission for “I wanna get a life” reason. They never refuse to help with advice or intel, but will not accompany the OC. - Anise believes Kerida/Lidia will be a good place to start. That’s how the idea of recruiting the legendary Commander/Dragonslayer comes to life. - Commander is my own Shiro/Dragon/Renegade sylvari revenant because I can.  - Kerida thinks low of the Commander “thinking capabilities”. Recruiting him is spoken of as -a very bad idea- as he is universally considered an unpredictable living doomsday weapon nobody can effectively control. But the situation calls for drastic measures and only few people in Tyria are intense enough. The OC is worried, but also excited.  - Commander is found in Cantha, which has opened its borders by then, and he eerily reminds Shiro Tagachi in both appearance and abilities. Maybe not.  - OC views PC’s revenant skills - tearing thought the Mists - as wounds in the world and is initially frozen with terror. They overcome this feeling with time, but they also realize why nobody wants to deploy the Commander unless they absolutely have to.  - Legends have VUI (like Suicide Squad’s ”Enchantress”. Probable code phrases: Shiro - “Murderer”, Glint - “Here be dragon”, Kalla - “Renegade”, Mallyx - “Unyielding”. No Ventari or Jalis, PC is negative/offensive combatant). OC notices how the commander mutters something in combat, but never hears the exact words. - With time, OC begins to notice small shifts in the PC’s behavior due to legend invocation and can’t help wondering what exactly is left of the dragonslayer’s own persona and why he allowed himself to become what he is - literally an unthinking doomsday weapon.  - Back to DR, the SBs proceed with their preparation. Everyone is obliged to reiterate SB’s vows in the presence of a mesmer - to face their fears/desires, reveal their hidden interests and strengthen their minds. OC believes it is a good idea and everything goes well until - PC kills the inquisiting mesmer in front of witnesses and refuses to explain why. - Lady Meade oversees the process as an extra measure of safety. It seems she may have a clue - but she will never reveal it. - Commander is to be released because of the mission, being the Commander and being universally accepted “bad enough”. OC tries to confront him, but PC’s comments are cryptic - ”I didn’t kill the mesmer” and “we all understood the risks, no exceptions”.  - OC investigates. Something (WHAT WHAT WHAT???) tips them off to find out what “really” happened in Maguuma jungle about 12 years ago. - The official version of the Pact’s First Marshal death is “slightly” different from the truth. The fact that the PC killed him was concealed from the public to save what little remained from the Pact’s positive image. This was PC’s idea, supported by the rest of the high command and the few witnesses. Ridhais, who actually recovered the body, was gently persuaded to keep quiet with a lifelong pension and the Pact’s full support and protection. PC also found the way to make the Pale Tree hide the whole picture. - During the later confrontation with the PC, OC learns he had his own reasons for the many detours during Maguuma campaign and Rata Novus recovery. With the rest of the high command MIA/absent, PC’s priorities were with successful reestablishment of the Pact. In the end it costed him his sanity, earned him the impression of a mindless living weapon but worked well enough. OC is deeply disturbed and disgusted with the knowledge that the Pact was not transparent.  - In Maguuma, OC recovers some letters Trahearne and Commander exchanged during the Zhaitan campaign, as well as Trahearne’s later diary/album of letters that were never sent. OC reads it though and thinks it’s a fake, because it looks like a very unrealistic romance novel. OC tries to investigate who would benefit from compromising the high command, with no success. At some point, OC thinks the discovery has to be published or at least safekept with Priory, truth or not, but decides it can wait. - OC is enrolled in a SB’s mission for “previous effort’. The mission includes: mists, ghosts, sacred vows, runes, rituals, tons of magic. - Blah blah blah - OC and PC meet Trahearne. Each has a very painful discussion with him. - OC learns the second opinion about the Maguuma campain and thinks it looks ugly enough to be glad First Marshal died when he did. If not for the Big Statue and the Big Sacrifice talk, he would be charged with high treason for the fleet destruction, the Commander would be charged with high treason for the desertion (Eir was right!), Pact’s reputation would be ruined, Almorra would never be able to regain control during the White Mantle/Lazarus crisis, DW would be dead or scattered (probably for the best), Aurene would be a weak and sickly hatchling and probably wouldn’t survive. The world would be very different.  - Add some personal background here: OC thinks about small events changing the big picture and realises their own life would be total shit in this different world. Maybe a slave to the White Mantle/bloodstone ghoul? idk, ideas? - OC overhears some of PC and Trahearne’s talk, which is very personal. T describes what it was like to be a part of a jungle dragon. Neither expected the experience would cause PC’s revenant abilities to manifest. OC realises the “wound in the world” description is accurate.   - “Commander, the Pact” was T’s message to himself to preserve self-awareness: something that existed and was important regardless the connection to Dream and Mordremoth. T is partially responsible for Modrem attacks on the Pact camps. T believes he was powerful enough to contain the jungle dragon, but the perspective of living like this was terrifying, so he is grateful for going down as his own man (more or less). T is super-sorry this caused the Commander turning himself into a living weapon. Both say they would wish a different, happier fate for another.  - PC admits Caladbold has its own happy memory about T and he wouldn’t want to end with his mind’s eye image. OC realises a) PC doesn’t believe this conversation is happening, b) why PC could kill the mesmer. They don’t want to check the last part. - Blah blah blah - Back to DR/Cantha, OC hands the recovered letters and notes to PC.  Shorter version: start with PC killing the mesmer. Skip the first part.  I don’t have PoF yet so I don’t know how far madness goes there.  Now the big question: what would the OC be doing outside reading someone else’s correspondence?!! What is the original mission?  What team would they assemble?!! Mind, focus on the important stuff next time plz
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