#emma ross x reader | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

New X-Men Xtrospective Part 1: E is For Extinction “They Will Need Us”

I am SO fucking excited for this one. As might not be obvious to ALL of my readers but should be obvious to some, I fucking love the X-Men. They are one of my favorite superhero teams period as are several of their spinoffs such as X-Factor (All versions), New Mutants, and Marauders. I love the wide cast, the hugely vast universe within the already vast and wonderful marvel universe, and the sheer amount of GREAT stories. I own all 11 movies, have several action figures, and two posters from Jonathan Hickman’s current and utterly dynamite run right above me right now as I work, as well as a marvel 80′s themed poster behind me that’s at least half x-men for good reason. I love this gang of mutants and I have not talked about them enough.

I”ve done some X-Men stuff sure: I’ve talked about hickman’s time as head writer of the books a year in earlier this year, I did a few scattered reviews back when I did single issues of comics, and then we get to the one I beefed big time: covering ALL of X-Men evolution. While it’s a noble endeavor I freely admit to overexerting myself: I recapped the episodes way too closely, gave myself no real schedule and did so while I was already covering two shows a week at the time. My point is it was a good idea, but the timing was REALLY fucking bad and if I do it again, I intend to do it right and iwth a proper place in my now properly paced schedule. I also planned to do the movies which, unlike evolution, I have solid plans to do once I clear out some of my projects. Point is I burned bright and then exploded and took a whole projecet with me phoenix style.

I had until this moment yet to do a really big x-men project, something digging into the comics, something that could help fans both of the comics and not get familiar with something really good, and help me dig into both the good and bad of something. I jsut needed the right start.

Then Christmas gave me that spark, that project that gave me the idea for a butload more x-men content on here and was the perfect starting point for some. See my friend Marco lives in Honduras, and so since i couldn’t afford to send him anything for christmas in the mail, as i’m not exactly rich, I instead offered him three reviews of anything.l He still hasn’t taken up two of them, nor one I gave him for graduating college, but the first one was a doozy, something he hadn’t read due to not liking the art, which is fine as I have some art in comics I don’t like everyone has diffrent tastes, at least for the first arc, and something VITALLY important to x-men as a whole and that’s the backbone of hickman’s current run: the first arc of new x-men, e is for extinction. And given New X-Men is one of my faviorite comics of all time I not only lept on it.. but decided fuck it I’m covering the whole thing. So every so often on here from now until I finish, i’m going to be covering Grant Morrisons ground breaking, mind shattering, status quo destroying run on the children of the atom. This.. is going to be fucking awesome. Buckle up.

New X-Men came about in 2001. Stop me if you heard this one: The X-Men, once marvel’s best selling title and one of i’ts most beloved, had been set adrift in a seal of editorial bullshit, bad writing, bad storylines and a stale continuity where not much could change or grow and things always reset to about the same place it was last week. If this sounds familiar it’s because it somehow happened AGAIN thanks to Ike Perlmutter’s bullshit, hence the current hickman run, but we’ll get into all of tha tsome other time. Point is as it was in 2018, so it was in 2001: The x-men were in bad straits and marvel reached out to a host of various creators to swing for the fences and find a new direction, something to bring sales and life back to the book. To my shock they actually took a LOT of diffrent pitches in before Morrisons won and from huge names: Geoff Johns, who had not yet returned to DC never to leave, Alex Ross, Keith Giffen.. all huge creative types. but in the end the best man won.

For those unfamiliar with him, Grant Morrison is a gloriously batshit scotsman with a long, storied and delightfully insane history in comics, mostly at DC before and after this comic. This is for good reason: DC scouted Morrison specifically because of his early work at 2000ad. See at the time Alan Moore had hit it really big with Swamp Thing, taking a d list, so so book and making it into an utter masterpiece and giving it thoroughly interesting mythology. Given it was a blockbuster hit that’s still widely loved and discussed, as it should be today, DC decided to repeat the strategy of asking British indie comics creators to come do the same to another property. This same experiment is why Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman exists, so.. yeah it was actually a great strategy and naturally Grant had their first big hit with Animal Man, a metafictional take on a b-list hero that made him a loveable family man, while also putting him through hell and playing with the medium and dc’s vast history, the last two being Morrison’s trademark from then on out.

They’d next go on to reinvent one of my other faviorite teams: THE DOOM PATROL! The patrol are a bunch of victims of strange accidents who got powers out of them that are basically curses... and Morrison solidified that concept, taking over after a weak run that ironically enough was trying to imitate the x-men’s success at the time. Instead Morrison just went all out with his weird shit for the first time and made them a team of broken but likeable people with weird powers fighting just the weirdest most incomprehensible shit, a run i’ll likely be digging into eventually along with the team as a whole. It’s also, along with Gerard Way’s recent run, the bedroock for the current and utterly masterful doom patrol series I need to catch up on. They also apparently once wrote a satrical comic starring and lik mocking hitler... a fact I somehow JUST learned but naturally doesn’t surprise me at all.

Morrison’s career at dc, after doing some creator owned stuff there when Vertigo opened up, hit it’s peak in the late 90′s as they were given the go ahead to reinvent the Justice League, with the wildly successful and awesome JLA, another book I probably need to take a look at that put the big 7 back into the team. And by now your probably getting the point of me covering his career pattern.. besides giving morrison the praise they deserve, and they’d have some really great runs after this.. and some terrible ones but no one’s perfect. My point is that at this point in their career Morrison’s greatest skill was taking something that had grown stagnant or been forgotten, blowing it up and reworking it into something glorious and new. Taking what worked, scraping away what didn’t and on the whole making something fucking glorious out of it. So here we are. The X-Men needed a new coat of paint and uncle grant had their lcd laced psycadelic paint bucket and brush shaped like a pidgeon at the ready. And for better, way better and admitely sometimes here and there worse,they changed the x-men for good. Some changes were rolled back out of spite, others finally got their chance after said rollback recently, and some were just outright thrown on the grown and smashed with a hammer. But for the most part Grant left a huge impact on the x-men and i’m here to show you why, warts and all. To me my x-men, this is new x-men. Now naturally there’s even more exposition but i’ts more in what COULD’VE been. Originally while Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Professor X were all part of the team the other two members of the slim roster for this run, Beast and Emma Frost.. weren’t. Originally Morrison was going to have Colossus and Moira Mactaggert, long time team ally, token human until very recently, and now thanks to hickman one of the most important x characters peirod and long before that a fan favorite of mine, on the team, with Moira taking over for beast.

This.. didn’t pan out since Marvel apparently either didn’t give a shit about their plans or already had things in motion as the climax of the longtime legacy virus storyline killed both off. Colossus until Joss Whedon, bastard he may be, brought him back for his terrific Astonishing X-Men, and Moira SOMEHOW stayed dead until House/Powers of X. See this speaks to one of the big roadblocks morrison faced: Jonathan HIckman currently has absolute power and all his writers working in concert, a new way of doing things comic companies shold honestly copy en masse as it’s really working wonders. Grant.. was just one of many writers and one of three main x books the others being Chris Claremont’s XTREME X-MEN, basically “let the legend do what he wants since he can’t get freedom on the main book” and another writer on uncanny... before eventually chuck austen took over and I will tackle that horrible mess some other time. Point is while Morrison was setting the tone, costume style and making the big waves, they still didn’t have full power and thus had to play nice with eveyrone else. So their next idea was Rogue, making mer more like her x-men evolution version.. except Chris wanted her, so that was out, though being a decent enough guy he willingly gave up Beast since the moira thing meant Morrison needed a science person. As for Colossus replacement, as it turned out a fan had suggested Grant do something with Emma Frost since Gen X was canceled and while Morrison had zero intention for it clearly Emma clicked with hthem and she was soon both a main part of the cast and one of their biggest contributions to X-Men as a whole.

As for what I think of the needed changes.. they ended up being for the best. I do like Moira... but Hank ended up being a much better fit for the team dynamic wise and power set wise, while Emma was the same. While Colossus, Rogue and Moira are all fantastic characters, I think what we ended up with was just a better mix overall. I DO think the team is incredibly white, but that’s a general x-men problem, even with having an assload of diverse and intresting characters, so it’s not entirely his fault. All in all it’s a fantastic roster: four of the x-men’s best, their leader in the field for the first time in forever, and a new and intresting wild card. IT’s a nice ballance of characters and we’ll get more into it as we go. Now all the expositions done, we can finally dive head first into new x-men. I hope you survivie the experince under the cut.

After an utterly gorgeous and striking cover, the one used up top, we get one solid page to introduce us to Morrison’s mission statment, how they feel and how good Frank Quitely’s art looks

I cropped it best i could for tumblr but this one image immidetly says a lot. Our heroes are just.. easily taking down this sentinel, an old model... the same one we’ve seen a dozen times. What were once the grim, possible destroyers of an entire race of beings in days of future past and devistating killing machines in the present.. had become stale easily defeated murder bots There had been noble attempts to really make the sentiinels work again like the horrifying omega sentinels, humans forcibly converted into sleeper agent killing machines, during operation: zero tolerance, but otherwise they were mostly just a prop for the x-men to knock down. And that.. really is morrison’s whole point. Lampshading and mocking the fact the x-men had grown stale, things hadn’t really progressed.. and that it was time to move on. But to Uncle Grant’s credit, they not only uses this as a mission statment but it’s plot relevant: this mission will both be explained soon and explains why Logan and Scott are out and about enough to end up where the plot will soon need them. It also helps, via the sight of the syndey opera house establish something Morrison made a staple of their run: the X-Men going global. While the x-men were never really NOT global post claremont, Morrisons run has them handling rescue missions and what not worldwide far more often than most runs before it sans Claremont, and really made it feel like they weren’t just another super team but a global force of good with a specific goal and mission. More on the global aspect next time, as that’s where it really comes in but I felt it was important to show it was there for minute one.

So yeah before we move onto the first full scene of the run, let’s talk about the costumes.

We’ll talk about Emma’s later since she’s not introduced to the story for a while but yeah. There’s a sharp, obvious and immediate change just in the outfits, which take after the movie’s more military look, having the x-men not only look more like a unit but more like a professional orginization. Someone to come and help when needed. While this would take on more siginifigance in a bit, we’ll get to it, it also fits Morrisions own views that the x-men were less of a traditional superhero team and more something different on the edges that fought things out there, sorta what like he did with doom patrol. And it’s honestly a valid interpretation as the x-men are often seen as outlaws and misfits by society for beingn well.. mutants. Not as trusted as the avengers. So having them adopt this look played into that: Having them look more professional and focused as The X-Men have a less blanket mission statement than the avenger.. but also mildly threatning. Something to alarm the humans. It’s an utterly brilliant look thrown best together by the big yellow x’s, still giving it a nice flash of color to show off and show this is still a comic and this is still damn colorful.. this just isn’t your AVERAGE supherhero comic or the x-men your used to. IT’s a real shame the only fox x-men movie to use it was fucking dark phoenix.. a film where it didn’t even fit as xavier was getting flashier and more reckless so why wouldn’t he have more garish and colorful and more traditional superhero outfits. They did look good in their variants in first class though. Props there. Point is this is a classic, utterly stunning look, and tha’ts coming from someone whose fine with goofy superhero outfits and perpetually bitter hawkeye is almost never allowed to wear his actual comic outift and is instead stuck with shades instead of you know.. a mask. Or anything resembling an actual good looking costume. This though this is how you do a less superheroy costume: practical and realistic, but still cool looking and comic book friendly.

We cut to a mysterious lady, we’ll come to know her as Cassandra Nova and while I know her origin... i’m saving it for later as the comics themselves explain it eventually, and a simpering dolt she brought with her, Donald Trask, a distant relative of the creators of the sentinels who, via holograms she’s showing cro magnons slaughtring the neanderthal. Her point is that Mutants are going to do this and she’s clearly fearmongering him and trying to talk him into genocide: to wipe them out before they wipe out humanity. And it’s here we get one of hte most important plot points of Morrisons run and one of the most intresting: according to cassandra’s research Humanity will be no more in 4 generations. Mutankind is on it’s way to overtaking them at last.. i’ts still a few decades off.. but it’s coming. It’s sometihing that the whole decimation nonsense sadly snuffed.. and John Hickman has thankfully brought back. I’ll get to his run once i’ts complete in a few years, but point is it’s an utterly marvelous plot hook: Humanity, whose already attempted genocide a few times, is now in real danger of what their petty, racist, fearful attacks have been about: being replaced. It’s one of the central themes of the work the other two being “Just what IS mutantkind and what will it be”. WHat are they as a people? We’ll dig into these as we go but the threat of exctincion is the backbone of this arc... and will lead to something truly ghastly.

It’s then we get our title page.. which nothing really to add it just looks really good and helps show off who are cast is and what they can do with striking simple art.

And since we’re already talking the art of the book, let’s take a moment to discuss an intresting detail of this run: despite it’s short length there’s quite a few diffrent artist, who we’ll talk about of course as we get to each one. The most common and notable though is Frank Quitely. Frank Quitely is one of Morrison’s closest and best creative partners, having a unique, squishy art style.. i.e. the one my friend didn’t like which is why i’m covering this. And while I like the art style quite a bit, I do get why it’s not everyone’s cup of tea: His art is squashed, weird, and admitely some faces can be good god no incaranate. But it’s also why I like it: his characters feel unique, each body and figure feels like it was custom made and thus feels.. real. Like this is a person before you. And given comics can often surrender to having everybody look the damn same, this is nice. His faces may sometimes look similar but his bodies are where the action is. But while having a realistic feel his work also has a weird alien quality that perfectly fits Morrison, and thus his run on x-men. I will say while I love All-Star Superman, his art fits less there in the more hopeful silver agey story, so he’s not an artist for EVERY STORY OF EVERY TYPE.. but when it comes to sci fi weridness, he fits it like a glove so i’ts unsuprising he and morrison are practicaley soul mates, nor that his art sets the tone perfectly for the run: this is something new, diffrent and strange.. and what says x-men at it’s best more than that?

So after our opening titles we cut to the mansion where Hank is showing off his latest and greatest invention: Cerebra. Cerbebra is a massively upgraded version of Cerebro, aka Professor Xavier’s iconic helmet that allows him to track mutants to help them out.. and covertly backup their conconousness for his long game plan, but shhhh, don’t tell anyone yet that’s not going to be retconned in for a few decades. Though i’m damn certain if Morrison has heard about the current era of x-men and how it both builds on what he built, shatters the status quo and is incredibly weird, he’d be damn proud. As for how it’s diffrent Cerebra not only has a large dome around it but said dome allows the machine to amply Charles powers to a global reach. He can now see mutants all over the world anywhere in the world, something I didn’t realize wasn’t ALWAYS a thing because it seems so simple. It’s also likely to bring it more in line with the movies. And while marvel has done TERRIBLE with bringing things in from the movies or in line with them in recent years, i.e. making star lord more like his movie self while forgetting that’s how he already used to be in canon before later writers thankfully did hte better step of merging the two, Hawkeye’s outfit, Cap’s outfit or Nick Fury Jr. But for every mistep there’s also been tons of times it’s worked out really well such as here, as well as bringing hulk into the avengers for the first time since the founding, making tony stark more like the mcu version and less like a nightmarish self righetous dicktator who rightfully gets beat up and called out a lot, making Scott Lang prominent since he became prominent in the MCU, Wakanda being a major force in the marvel universe as it always should have been and various titles that have popped up to tie into movies, often bringing back a team or property that hadn’t had a book in some time like Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Shang Chi just to name a few. It’s not always hawkeye looking all jeremy renner is what i’m saying.. though thankfully comics clint isn’t that uninteresting. Hopefully the series will change that.

So yeah along with a bigger shinier cerebro we’re also introduced to a big change in Hank whose taken on his lion form rather than his classic gorilla with a weird haircut or his return to that except bald. Here he’s more like aslan in a human body and I.. love it. It looks great, helps sell hanks delima of being brilliant while looking like a beast and makes sense: he kickstarted what was likely his own secondary evolution by drinking the potion that made him bestial, so it only makes sense his body wouldn’t be all that stable even if it took years to change again. And even that makes sense as hank was breifly turned back to his original hairless ape mutation during x-factor, easily one of the books.. worse decisions honestly and one that louise simonson thankfully later undid. That probably bought him some time hence why it’s only mutating further now. It also adds an intresting wrinkle which the run will explore further: how far does this go? Will he regress? and how much hank will be left? And how will society treat his new form?

For now he’s actually extatic. While he’s going through hormonal changes, and giving out some excellent banter with Jean

Which also includes one of the greatest lines in comic book history, one that’s been in my head for decades and made me absolutely love henry mccoy.

He’s just great is what i’m saying. As you can tell it’s stuff like this why i’m glad Moira fell through. While I love her.. Morrison’s hank is just a delight and one really questionable subplot aside, we’ll get to that, he’s one of the highlights of this run with an intresting internal struggle, and great chemistry with EVERYONE. And that is the main reason i’m glad Moira fell through as his history with everyone but Emma, who he still has a great raport with, means each interaction has weight. He’s close friends with both scott and jean and thus serves as their needed confidant, while still being able to buddy and banter iwth good old weapon x, and speak with his mentor charles as an equal. While I love moira... Beast just fits into the cast too perfectly and I 100% suspect Morrison was only using her because, while she’s awesome, Claremont wanted her and thus gladly snapped her up when he no longer had a science person. I’ll get into his Jean soon enough but she’s likewise fantastic and easily my faviorite version of the character.. not that until very recently there was much honest competition.

So Cerebra fires up showing a massive cloud of mutants, showing just how much of a huge spike theirs been with Xavier wondering what it all means.. and Hank seeing a weird flare on the mointor for just a second with his special eyes. But since Xavier isn’t stupid and isn’t the kind of idiot who just dismisses it as a fulke, and since Scott and Logan are in the field, he decides to confrence call them in to see if they can go take a look.

And naturally we get to see what their up to and get context for what the hell happened in the first page. Our heroes were on a rescue mission to save Ugly John, tha’ts what people called him, a three faced mutant who ends up passing out as they head out of the atmosphere for a second. Wolverine is regenerating and smoking out of his neck becaue he could still smoke back then before marvel decided “he’s setting a bad example”.. in a comic meant for teens and adults.

I mean I get it on some level as the x-men cartoon was a huge thing in the 90′s and Ben Grimm is basically a giant children’s toy with the mind of a surly 40 year old jewish man from yancy street, but stilll it’s just.. why. I may not like smoking but it’s not like it was SPIDER-MAN saying

It’s a grown man.. whose not a sterling roll model and who Claremont went out of his way to have Logan point out his healing factor means it really dosen’t hurt him in the long run and when Kitty, an actual teenager, tried one of his cigars she choked. I know it’s a weird thing to get hung up on but while i’m all for keeping kids from smoking, this was a really clumsy way to try and hehlp that that made no sense and will never make any sense.

One tangent later we find out that Cassandra was showing Trask a simulation on a flight to, unsuprisingly, south america, to a sentinel blacksite. Between covertly funding civil wars as they do, the US Goverment naturally founded an experimental sentinal project, and a second master mold during the production of the first line... when larry trask asks where it could possibly be well...

Subtly was not the trasks strong point.. or common sense... or.. not realizing their creations would dominate humanity too or not dying.

Anyways we then cut back to the x-men, as their having a psychic zoom meeting with Charlie giving one of his patnted big speeches.. and like a lot of this comic it’s too damn good not to use

The reason I couldn’t should be obvious: This one speech sums up the x-men, why their great and why their necessary in a nutshell: in a world full of prejucided morons.. there’s plenty of scared kids who NEED the x-men to protect and guide them, and with a surge in the mutant population, their needed now more than ever. We also get a good explanation in universe for the uniform change: Charles had them in the superhero outfits hoping humanity would accept them if they were packaged as something they know. Since that clearly hasn’t worked he’s trying new ways to reach out and thus going with a diffrent more rescue team approach to the uniforms. He assigns Wolvie and Cyke to go check out the flair as you’d expect and the meetings over. On the blackbird we get our first hint at a subplot as Logan noticed Cyclops couldn’t wait to get out of there, and is being a tad distant to his wife. He actually has reasons for being kind of cold for once instead of just bad writing as he just came back from being possed by apocalypse. Yeah that happened. So the experience has rattled our boy some what. More on that as we go. But Jean ducks the subject with hank but does breach the fact that Charles has been going kind of crazy with the spending, new uniforms and ambition lately. Hank explains it perfectly: After all the death, suffering and misery the x-men have endured lately, the aforementioned deaths I talked about that took Colossus and Moira off the roster, have lionzed Charles to make sure it was all worth something and look towards the future.

But enough hope time for horror as Cassandra makes her first direct move, trying to take over Charles brain , make his body her own and use cerebra to kill lots and lots of mutants. We then get one of the best moments of Morrisons run with Charles response to a horrifying monster trying to take his brain

While it is shocking to find out Charles has a gun..it’s a grim but kind of understandable precaution. The guy once got fully taken over by a brood, assembling the New Mutants in part because the brood wanted to create more of i’ts kind with more super powers. You’d be paranoid too if some of your beloved students were brought together partly due to your good intentions and partly because a space monster wanted to make more space montsters out of helpless teens, and even horribly gaslighted one of them. We’ll get to that some day. Point is Charles brain is one of the greatest weapons on earth and if the wrong person got a hold of it, it’d be the end of said earth. Thankfully Charles does not need plan gun, as Jean yanks Cerebra off him but the sheer HATE Charles felt from Cassandra, the sheer power has rattled him.. and also told him she’s in Ecuador and his X-Men need to be warned NOW. It’s a great way to set up just HOW powerful Cassandra is. Speaking of which as our first issue of the arc ends, we find out two things: Cass faked being int he government but really just used dead soldiers as prop.. and just what kind of sentinels are out there.. wild sentinels. Easily my faviorite variant of the old killing machines and one that’s barely used despite being really damn awesome. Their adaptive killing machines, designed to mutated just like their pray and take tech from around them, as a result they look like a jumble of guns and parts.. but not only does it give them a unique, cool look.. but it makes them ten times deadlier as instead of being big bricks of robots that while intimidating, the x-men know how to kill... their unpredictable variable killing machines. You can figure out how to kill one sure.. btu the next might be entirely diffrent. They are one of morrisons best creations and I hope someone uses the idea again.. aka hickman. Please use it jonathan I know your focused on nimrod but come on.

And we end on one of the best lines of the entiire run as we close out the issue

Yeah it goes without saying but i’ll say it anyway; Morrison is really damn good with dialouge and being damn quotable.

So we open with another great quote “When I got up today I didn’t expect to kill 20 million people”... and Cassandra being aware Wolverine and Cyclops are on their way and sending the Wild Sentinels to dispatch them. Also our heroes brought Ugly John along while while a dumb move, Wolvie does point out how dumb it was to divert to Ecuador with a civlian in tow.. after the plane crash of course. As for “wait what plane crash’, the sentinels attack and start picking it apart... and since letting them have such good tech is a terrible idea, Scotty blows up the damn plane. So to recap our heroes are stuck in ecuador, surrounded by murder machines, and oh look their there and knock off cyclops viser. Fantastic. So yeah our heroes are fucked. And naturally captured by the enemy.

The rest of the x-men are doing SLIGHTLY better. While beast makes a note for his girlfriend, more on that later on, Charles is in bed, half alive, explaning the rationale I gave for why he has the gun with Jean refusing to let him get back out of bed and you know.. put on the device that just nearly killed him. But when beast announces they lost contact with our boys.. yeah that ceased being an option.

Back in the Ecuadorian Genocide Factory, Cassandra does the obvious and kills donald trask as his real purpose..was to stick around and be stupid for a bit while she copied his dna so she could have full control of her new murder toys.She soon uses them, having a horrifying death chamber slaughter john.. or at least flash fry him. Wolverine takes it how you’d expect and since the sentinels need to “perserve trask dna”.. they can’t fire on him without killing her. Scott escapes.. and in a heart wrenching scene mercy kills john.. before getting badass.

To anyone who says Scott Summers is boring, unintersting, or a stupid asshole idiot head I present exhbit shut the fuck up. Morrison gets scott just right, deconstructing his emotional suppression, while showing him off as a dedicated, companionate man who gets the job done and who seconds after tearfully having to mercy kill an innocent mutant whose death was partially his fault, wastes no time making it painfully clear to the person responsible she WILL die if she tries that again. Logan however realizes she’s already won in some fashion as she’s grinning.. and yeah never a good sign when a genocidal madwoman is grinning like a loon.. and when we find out why.. it’s even less good> We cut to Genosha. A lot of you probably know what happned to Genosha but in case you don’t know what it is it was once a horribly racist country that genetically enslaved mutants and used them for slave labor. It was freed, but still struggled to truly move on.. till Magneto showed up, took the country for himself and made it a home for all mutants. When we last saw him he once again tried to take over the world leading to Logan seemingly killing him. Right now though Emma Frost finally enters the scene teaching some mutants.. when a young one named Negasonic Teenage Warhead.. yes that one and yes she was entirely chosen for deadpool for her name, reveals, via precognition, that their all going to die.. right as the sentinels attack.

Genosha.. is gone. In an eyeblink 16 million mutants are dead, a possible future gone, and one of their greatest leaders is no more. Yeah Magneto WAS alive.. but paralyzed so he could do nothing when his island was utterly slaughtered. Only a handful of mutants will be revealed to survive. Humanity had done a lot to mutants before .. but for once.. they’d succeeded in wiping a massive chunk out. What was an x-men location for DECADES at this point.. was now a smoldering crater. A what could of been that would hant the x-men ever after, even now into utopia it remains the darkest day in mutant history outside of hte decimation. It is a truly horrific moment.. and if the changes already hadn’t made it clear this is morrison saying “NO character is safe, nothing is safe, and nothing will be the same and I damn well mean that”. In one act of hate the world has changed. And it hasn’t finished changing yet.

Issue Three opens hammering in things, as Jean and Beast are in the ruins of genosha, with Xavier having found ONE surivor among the rubble, and our heroes sturggling to find even them, though Jean eventually picks them up and uses her TK to sift through the rubble.

They find Emma who emerges from a bunker in shock, clutching NTW... and not realizing she’s dead until later and revealing she now has diamond skin, her own secondary mutation. Secondary Mutation was a birlliant idea, new powers sprouting up within established mutants.. it’s just morrison barely used this great idea as did hardly anyone else. Only X-Men Blue ever really dug into it and those were artifical at that. IT’s a great idea..it’s just barely used and at most heavily implied to explain changes in powers like Jamie Madrox Multiple Personalities later on or Doug Ramsey’s vast increase in power. Disapointing.

While Charles takes in the tragedy and the fact his old frienmie is dead, the x-men wonder what the fuck Cassandra is and what to do with her.. why did she kill 16 million people, and what the fuck is she. I mean I know, but as I said i’ll explain that when the story does. IN the other room Beast tends to Emma who wants none of not fucking killing Cassandra.. and is utterly right. Bitchy, because i’ts Emma, but right: she killed 16 million people. Say what you want but while it may not be up to the x-men to kill her.. she shoudln’t be living much longer. She commited genocide. Emma decides fuck that and prepares to leave summoning a cab and making peace with being a glorious living fabrige egg. Emma did apparelty change in generation x.. but Morrison is responsible for returning her not only to being a bitch, but a gloriously delightful one And really I don’t think they reset her character entirely: she’s not the heartless monster she started out as: she has empathy, grace, and caring.. she just buries it under a lair of absolute bitch and after you know, surviving a fucking genocide who can blame her? And honestly.. I love their verison of her. She provides a nice contrast to the more idealistic, even logan, x-men and a nice contrarian voice in the room without being obnoxious and her style and sacrastic swagger makes her endlessly entertaning. Thanks to morrison she’s stuck around to this day and went from a pretty good character.. to a great one. And what makes her this way, or as jean puts it “such a bitch?”

With that settled, Hank explains what Cassandra is: a competing species. As he puts it sometimes evolution takes a quantum leap forward.. and Cassandra is the result. Thus she wants to wipe out the compettition and is so far above humanity, she dosen’t need them... especially since she knows what Hank now knows: humanity is at an end. As hank puts it we have an E Gene, one that basically shuts off a race.. and thus the x-men now know what we learned earlier and that cassandra wasn’t lying: in 4 generations there are no more humans and something has to repalce htem. And Cassandra wants it to be her.

Before Logan can do what he does best, and asks why she looks like charles, Cassandra escapes, and Scott briliantly urges them to fight only on instict as she’s a telepath. A damn awesome fight insues including Cassandra donning Charles Psoonic battle armor, Scott being put in his black bug room and the general good looking chaos you’d expect from a superhero fight. While this goes on Emma has an ephinany and realizes she likes to teach, the x-men have a school.. and she shoudln’t give up on helping kids just because of what happened and turns around.

Cassandra is near victory, slipping her way to Cerebra.. and planning to kill only one mind before getting to the millions she wnats, a horrifying slug manifesting around her.. only...

So the x-men accept this and cassandra rises.. seemingly saying “I am charles” Huh... and then charles uncaracteristiacally shoots her saying things must change

We’ll get to what all of that means next time as we close on Jean and Scott in bed. Scott explains why he’s been so distant as what I said earlier: fighting off apocalypse stripped away a lot of illusions about himself and he’s having a hard time walking back from that but Jean is willing to help.. but before they can resolve their issues.. charles has an annoucnment to make and grant has one last whopper of a suprise to end his opening arc on, and just like genosha...it’s a game changer of titanic proportions

No longer is Xavier’s School hidden. Their walking into the light now and so is charles. Hope they surivive the experince. Obviously this move is brilliant: while it removes the veil of saftey the x-men had it also brings on tons of new possiblities and unlike secondary mutation, this one not only stuck but would impact the x-men for good: no longer would they hide and cower.. their mutant and proud.. and their here to stay. E For Extinction is one of the best x-men stories period. Blisteringly paced, full of great character, great concepts and utterly terrifying and terrific moments that would impact the x-men all the way to present day. It’s beautifully drawn, well paced, and a masterwork. I highly recommend it and it’s a great kickoff to a great run. Shame the run couldn’t of ended on this kind of high but.. we’ll get to that. For now this is a masterclass in how to start a run and if you haven’t read it do so NEXT TIME ON NEW X-MEN: A bunch of weirdos try to harvest mutant organs, the x-men get a brain in a jar and a new teamate, and Scott maybe cheats on his wife. Until then, goodbye goodbye goodbye.

25 notes · View notes

cameronspecial · 5 years

Text

King of CSCC (Ch.4)

Pairing: Rich Kid! Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: When Y/N gets a scholarship to attend Collegialiter Schola Currere Cucurri, a prestigious boarding school in England. She’s very studious and organizes, everything needs to be a certain way for her to be happy. Tom is the resident fuckboy at school and, with his daddy being the richest man on earth, he practically owns the school. What happens when Tom falls completely in love with Y/N, but she doesn’t want to be with him because of his reputation.

Words: 1 473

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3

The bright morning sun leaks through the window and wakes Y/N up from her deep slumber. The bright light causes Y/N to grown, so she turns to face away from the window and cuddles closer to her pillow. When she realizes that the thing she is cuddled into is too warm to be a pillow, she immediately opens her eyes and jumps away from the source of warmth. Before she can fully comprehend that it is Tom, she feels a sudden wave of nausea overcome her so she runs towards the bathroom and unloads the contents of her stomach from last night. Tom wakes up to the sound of someone puking and when he figures out that it is Y/N, he quickly jumps out of bed to go comfort her. He pulls back her hair so it doesn’t get into the water and he rubs her back to comfort her. “Ughh, why is this happening to me?” Y/N groans as she moves away from the toilet and makes her way to the sink to brush her teeth. “It’s a hangover. I promise after some Advil and some greasy food, you’ll be feeling a lot better,” Tom assures Y/N. Y/N does a double-take when she notices that Tom beside her, which was a mistake because it didn’t help the nausea or her headache, “How did get in?” “I slept here remember? You asked me to stay after I got you settled into bed,” Tom laughs whilst explaining it to her. “Right…. You were the person in the bed. I am going, to be honest, I don’t remember anything. The only thing I know is that I am having a terrible hangover and that I am really hungry.” “Okay, well get changed and I am going to take you to Five Guys for lunch. I am going back to my dorm to change.” Y/N quickly checks her clock to see the time and she realizes that it really is around lunchtime, “Sounds like a plan.”

As Y/N gets changed, she goes over the events of last night in her head. Tom took care of her and he was right there when she needed him. He protected her from Ross and made sure that she was okay. He was willing to leave Mindy behind just so that he could make sure she got home safe. Y/N starts to feel her stomach fit at just the thought of him and she realizes that she really fell for him. Tom picks her up fifteen minutes after he left and they head to Five Guys in his car. “Shit!” Tom yells as he suddenly stops the car. Y/N lets out a small yell, “What’s wrong!” “I forgot that I was going to pick up Harrison and Delilah from Jared’s house. Can you text them to see if they got back okay?” Tom asks with worry all over his face. Y/N nods and texts both of her friends to make sure they were okay, “Yep, they got home okay. Jared gave them both a ride home. After lunch could you drop me off at the mall, Delilah and I are going to go shopping.” “Yeah, of course.”

Y/N insists on paying for half of the bill much to Tom’s disappointment. “Tommy, thank you so much for taking care of me last night. You didn’t have to look after me. You could have gone home with Mindy, but you didn’t. I can’t thank you enough,” Y/N thanks him in an attempt to open up a different conversation. Tom puts some fries into his mouth before responding, “I really don’t care about Mindy. What really matters to me is that you got home safely. I mean I do care that Mindy gets home safely as well, but I don’t care if I slept with her or not is what I mean. You really don’t need to thank me. That’s what friends are for.” “Tommy, can I ask you something?” “Technically you already did, but go ahead.” Y/N looks nervously at his hands then up at Tom, “I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me tomorrow night?” “Like on a date?” “Yeah, I know that at first I told you I wasn’t interested, but the way you took care of me last night. Well it really showed me how much I mean to you and I might be reading into something that’s not there, but I really like you.” Tom’s face lights up and he jumps at his chance to go on a date with her, “Of course, I’d love to go out with you! But don’t think that you are forced to go out with me because I helped you.” “No, I totally don’t think that. I just realized that you really care for me and I really care for you too, so I think I am ready for this. You’re really sweet and respectful of me, and it made me realize how much I actually like you. And now I am rambling on, so please just shut me up.” Tom laughs and takes one of her hands into his, “You’re fine. I really like you too and I find it really cute that you are rambling.”

After lunch, Tom dropped Y/N off at the mall so that she could go shopping with Delilah. “So you guys are really going on a date?” Delilah says as she goes through some of the racks in the store. Y/N looks up from the rack that she is looking at and turns towards her friend, “Yep, I asked him out at lunch. I just felt like it was perfect. I mean he was really sweet to me and he took care of me last night. Plus, I am not going to lie, I really like him and I am really excited. I know, I haven’t really shown my feelings towards him, but I really do feel a connection. He’s sweet and funny. Last night he stayed over and we cuddled and it just felt so great being in his arms. And I am gushing, but I really need your help picking out a new outfit because all my clothes don’t feel like something you wear on a date.” “I can totally help with that! Tom likes the colour red, so maybe you should get that crimson skirt and you can pair that with a white top. You can wear a jean jacket with that and you can borrow my brown heeled boots. You’ll look great.” With that, the girls got to looking for the perfect white to go with her skirt.

They finally find the right shirt and head back to the dorms so that Y/N can try on her clothes. “So you really think I look good in this?” Y/N questioned worriedly whilst smoothing over her skirt. Delilah looks up at her and nods in approval, “Girl, you look amazing. Tom would want to rip off your clothes in that outfit.” “He won’t actually do that, right?” “Oh, no sweetie. Don’t worry, he won’t do anything that you don’t want him to do. He may have been a player, but I know he was very respectful to the girls,” Delilah assures Y/N. “Okay, I am going to go change back into my other clothes then I am going to head down to the library to do some studying,” Y/N informs Delilah.

Harrison looks at Tom with a look of wonder on his face, “You’re so whipped for her it’s crazy. Mate, you’ve only known her for a week.” “Haz, it doesn’t matter how long we’ve known each other. It’s not like she’s asking me to marry her. Where just going on a date. You should have seen how cute she during lunch. She just kept rambling on and she was so nervous. I know I wouldn’t admit it before, but I really like her. And I think she really likes me too, so shut up and help me find an outfit.” Harrison and Tom go through Tom’s clothes to find the perfect outfit. “I think you should wear these jeans and your black t-shirt with your green hoodie and your jean jacket. That way if she gets cold you can give her either one and still have something to wear, so you don’t get cold,” Harrison suggests. Tom gives him a ‘that’s a great idea’ face, “That’s really smart. How’d you think of that?” “I did it once on a date and I’ve never not done it on a date since,” Haz explained, “Also Delilah just texted me, that she and Y/N are in the library and after they are going to go to dinner. So… do you want to head over?” “Yeah, sure let’s go,” Tom says as he grabs his hoodie and heads down to the library with Harrison.

Taglist: @bookgirlunicorn @itsjstz @rachaeldonnaspiteri1@madithemagicalfangirl @glcssyholland @marisophie@truestrengths@mjsholland @iwastornsincethestart@saltysebastianstan@loxbbg@linnyalou@scoobieboobiedoo @anaussiesblog @jillanaholland@madon566 @tiny-friggin-human @parkeret @outwrspacez @watson-emma@jessybellsworld @thatdamjoke @averyfosterthoughts @greenarrowhead @v-valz-n @oswald-1998

#tom holland #tomholland #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fic #tom holland imagine #tom holland imagines #tom holland blurbs #tom holland x reader #rich kid! tom #richkid! tom #richkid! tom holland x reader #richkid! tom holland #fuckboy! tom holland #fuckboy! tom holland x reader #tom holland fuckboy x reader #fuckboi! tom holland x reader #fuckboy! tom

88 notes · View notes

weirdsciencecomics · 5 years

Text

Here are the February 2020 Marvel Comics Solicitations for all x-Men related comics!

WOLVERINE #1

BENJAMIN PERCY • ADAM KUBERT & VIKTOR Bogdanovic (A)

Cover by ADAM KUBERT

VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

VIRGIN VARIANT COVER BY ALEX ROSS

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY JIM LEE

HIDDEN GEM SKETCH VARIANT COVER BY JIM LEE

VARIANT COVER BY ADAM KUBERT AND GREG HILDEBRANDT

PARTY VARIANT COVER BY RAHZZAH

PREMIERE VARIANT COVER BY ADAM KUBERT

VARIANT COVER BY R.B. SILVA

VARIANT COVER BY SKOTTIE YOUNG

VARIANT COVER BY JEEHYUNG LEE

DIE CUT VARIANT COVER BY CHIP KIDD – USE CODE SEP198963

ADAMANTIUM VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLE*

*Not actually made of adamantium

THE BEST IS BACK!

Wolverine been through a lot. He’s been a loner. He’s been a killer. He’s been a hero. He’s been an Avenger. He’s been to hell and back. Now, as the nation of Krakoa brings together all Mutantkind, he can finally be… happy? With his family all together and safe, Wolverine has everything he ever wanted… and everything to lose. Writer Benjamin Percy (X-FORCE, WOLVERINE: THE LONG NIGHT) and legendary artist Adam Kubert (X-MEN, AVENGERS) bring the best there is to his new home! PLUS: The return of OMEGA RED!

72 PGS./Parental Advisory …$7.99

MARVEL TALES: WOLVERINE #1

Written by CHRIS CLAREMONT, JIM LEE, JOHN BYRNE & FABIAN NICIEZA

Penciled by DAVE COCKRUM, JIM LEE & ANDY KUBERT

Cover by INHYUK LEE • VIRGIN VARIANT Cover by INHYUK LEE

He’s the best there is at what he does… and Wolverine is here to prove it as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the House of Ideas with the era-spanning MARVEL TALES! This anthology series shines a spotlight on fan-favorite characters, features timeless stories and highlights some of our most impressive talent from the past eight decades. First, with the X-Men captured by the Brood, Logan slashes his way through the alien hordes — but can his healing factor beat back their deadly infection? Relive this classic tale from UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) #162! Then, in X-MEN (1991) #4, Wolverine’s past as an espionage agent returns to haunt him — but now all of the X-Men are in the deadly Omega Red’s crosshairs! And when Magneto threatens the entire planet, a climactic battle will change everything for Logan in the seismic X-MEN (1991) #25!

80 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T …$7.99

WOLVERINE: CLAREMONT & MILLER #1 FACSIMILE EDITION

CHRIS CLAREMONT

FRANK MILLER (A/C)

He’s Wolverine. He’s the best there is at what he does. And what he does best isn’t very nice. Revisit the classic, character-defining story that burned that phrase on the collective consciousness of comic book readers! A pair of industry legends — Chris Claremont and Frank Miller — show how the breakout star of the X-Men could also be a solo series icon! Claremont and Miller take Logan away from his teammates — all the way to Japan, where Mariko, the woman he loves, has married another out of duty! As Wolverine hunts for answers, he is drawn into brutal combat with Mariko’s father — and enters a shadowy world of samurai and ninja which he never truly leaves! It’s one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! Reprinting WOLVERINE (1982) #1.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

WOLVERINE: CLAREMONT & BUSCEMA #1 FACSIMILE EDITION

CHRIS CLAREMONT

JOHN BUSCEMA (A/C)

The debut issue of Wolverine’s first-ever, long-running ongoing series! Chris Claremont teams with comic book giant John Buscema to send Logan on a sword quest — fighting pirates in Indonesia! From there the action heads to Madripoor, where a cult seeks the black blade known as the Muramasa Sword. Whether wearing his stripped-down black suit and no mask, or donning his signature “Patch” disguise, this is a Wolverine unlike anything ever seen before — slicing and dicing armies of pirates and cultists! It’s one of the all-time great Marvel comic books, boldly re-presented in its original form, ads and all! Reprinting WOLVERINE (1988) #1.

32 PGS./Rated T …$3.99

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #1 (OF 4)

CHIP ZDARSKY • TERRY DODSON (A/C)

Variant cover by Mark Brooks

VARIANT COVER BY TBA

VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS ELIOPOULOS

FLOWER VARIANT COVER BY MEGHAN HETRICK

HIDDEN GEM VARIANT COVER BY TBA

THE SEEDS WERE PLANTED IN HOUSE OF X….

THE LINE IN THE SAND!

ISSUE #1 – KRAKOA. Every mutant on Earth lives there … except for one. But now it’s time for FRANKLIN RICHARDS to come home.

It’s the X-MEN VS. the FANTASTIC FOUR and nothing will ever be the same.

40 PGS./Rated T+ …$4.99

X-MEN/FANTASTIC FOUR #2 (OF 4)

CHIP ZDARSKY • TERRY DODSON (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY MARK BROOKS

FLOWER VARIANT COVER BY MEGHAN HETRICK

VARIANT COVER BY CHRIS ELIOPOULOS

The world has been re-shaped by the X-MEN. But you can’t reshape a world without encountering its true master … DOOM..

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

GIANT SIZE X-MEN: JEAN GREY AND EMMA FROST #1

JONATHAN HICKMAN • RUSSELL DAUTERMAN (A/C)

VARIANT COVER BY MIKE HUDDLESTON

Variant Cover by Iban Coello

BLANK Variant COVER ALSO AVAILABLE

Hickman & Dauterman take on Grey & Frost!

The first of five essential X-tales specially designed to showcase some of Marvel’s best artists! First up, Russell Dauterman, superstar artist of THOR and WAR OF THE REALMS! When Storm is in danger, it’s going to take two of the most powerful telepaths on Earth working together to make things right. Jean Grey and Emma Frost, together again for the good of Krakoa!

40 PGS./ONE SHOT/Rated T+ …$4.99

EXCALIBUR #7

TINI HOWARD • WILTON SANTOS (A)

Cover by MAHMUD ASRAR

Gwen Stacy Variant COVER by BEN OLIVER

THE HUNTSMEN AND THE WARWOLVES!

Excalibur faces an old foe – this time as the hunters rather than the game.

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

X-MEN #7

JONATHAN HICKMAN • Leinil Francis Yu (A/C)

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY MIKE DEL MUNDO

MUTANTS ARE FOREVER!

The Resurrection Protocols have changed everything for Mutantkind. NO MORE can humans’ hate and fear take their lives from them. But… what ELSE has it changed?

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

MARAUDERS #7 & #8

GERRY DUGGAN • STEFANO CASELLI (A) • CoverS by RUSSELL DAUTERMAN

THE TREASURE OF ISLAND M!

As Verendi’s plans against Krakoa grow, the Marauders find themselves missing something vital… something that brings Storm and the White Queen to blows. Artist Stefano Caselli (AVENGERS, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN) joins the crew of the craziest X-series of them all!

32 PGS. (EACH)/Rated T+ …$3.99 (EACH)

X-FORCE #7 & #8

BENJAMIN PERCY • JOSHUA CASSARA (A)

CoverS by DUSTIN WEAVER

MISS FORTUNE STRIKES!

Domino’s luck seems to be changing… Can she find the source of her misfortune before it costs lives all over the world? And has Colossus healed enough to help her… or even himself?

32 PGS. (EACH)/Parental Advisory …$3.99 (EACH)

NEW MUTANTS #7 & #8

ISSUE #7 – JONATHAN HICKMAN • ROD REIS (A/C)

ISSUE #8 – ED BRISSON • MARCO FAILLA (A) • Cover by ROD REIS

Deep in Shi’Ar space, the NEW MUTANTS have found themselves dead in the middle of an intergalactic power struggle. They’re probably equipped to handle that, right? And back on Earth, the young mutants of Krakoa look forward to the future…whatever it may hold.

32 PGS. (EACH)/Rated T+ …$3.99 (EACH)

DEADPOOL #4

KELLY THOMPSON • CHRIS BACHALO (A/C)

Variant Cover by PHILIP TAN

GWEN STACY VARIANT COVER BY MIKE HAWTHORNE

DEADPOOL VS KRAVEN!

King Deadpool enters single combat to save his entire kingdom! If Deadpool became king of the monsters when he killed the previous king, will Kraven become king when he kills Deadpool?

32 PGS./Parental Advisory …$3.99

X-Men February 2020 Marvel Comics Solicits Here are the February 2020 Marvel Comics Solicitations for all x-Men related comics! WOLVERINE #1 BENJAMIN PERCY • ADAM KUBERT & VIKTOR Bogdanovic (A)

#deadpool #Fallen Angels #Marauders #marvel #marvel comics #Marvel Previews #New Mutants #Preview #Previews #professor x #wolverine #X-Factor #x-force #x-force 1 #x-men #x-men 2 #X-Men/Fantastic Four

3 notes · View notes

southsidewrites · 5 years

Note

Hey, love your friends series with Southside serpents. I was wondering if you could do the one with the home study where Rachel and Ross discuss each other's fears and take Emma to the park. But could you do it with sweet pea x reader with their child but they're still married or what not please? But fangs has a fear like Rachel's, very odd to some people but still real to them

Thanks for the kind words!! This one’s added to the list!

#request #the southside serpents as friends #anon #answered

2 notes · View notes

randomfandomnessss · 6 years

Text

Laundry Virgin (John Watson x Reader)

A/N: Hey everyone! This is Emma, the writer. I just wanted to make you all aware of a slightly different formatting that I’m going to start implementing in these fics. Especially in light of Pride Month, a month that is near and dear to my heart, I realized that a lot of the fics that I’ve written have been specifically geared towards women. Now that’s all well and good, but I realized that I was excluding any LGBTQ+ readers from gaining full enjoyment of this blog. If this has included you, I would like to apologize because everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy this account to its fullest. Because of this, I am going to start writing more gender neutral fics. The fic below is my first gender neutral story. As usual, if any of you have any suggestions for improvements that I can make or any requests for future stories, we are MORE than happy to create something that you would like to see. Make sure to comment below with what you’d like to see!

Much love,

Emma

PROMPT: Based off of an Episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S where Ross and Rachel go to the laundromat together and have their first kiss.

I walk into the laundromat with my bright red basket tucked beneath my arm. I don’t have much laundry to do myself, but because Sherlock almost never decides to exercise personal cleanliness, I periodically have to run by the flat and pick up all of the clothes that he has decided to fling into a pile where he knows I will inevitably visit to collect.

My basket is heavy with Sherlock’s sheets, bath and kitchen towels and his usual load of dirty clothes today. After a few months of living with him I realized that if I was not the one washing the sheets and Sherlock was not the one washing the sheets, his sheets had in fact not been washed in at least six months, and this posed a serious hazard that might soon need to be addressed by the Health Department.

I scoured the entire flat for all linens and arranged a trip to the laundromat posthaste.

I am surprised to see the hoards of people crowding the laundromat on this rainy Wednesday afternoon, but try to blend into the crowd and find a washing machine to use.

Luckily, I spy one tucked away in a corner that’s been overlooked by most other people.

I carry my basket over and begin to load my clothes into the machine.

Next to me, someone carries their basket and sets it down carefully on top of a machine. They pat their pockets and a confused look crosses their face. They turn to retrace their steps, presumably to look for something, and a woman darts forward with a sharp and cunning look in her eye, sweeping aside the basket resting atop the washing machine and beginning to load in her own clothes.

The person turns again, and smiles politely.

It’s a beautiful smile, and one that I’ve been looking at for a little too long to be socially acceptable. I blush and turn away.

“Excuse me, I was kind of using that machine.” The person with the beautiful smile says to the woman.

“Yeah, well now you’re kinda not.” The woman speaks with a heavy Cockney accent, and flashes a nasty, yellowed grin.

The smile melts away, and their brow is now furrowed. “I beg your pardon, but I put my basket on top of the machine. In most circles, you know... That’s kind of an unofficial reservation?”

The woman widens her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, was that your basket?”

“Yes,” the person smiles again, and relaxes slightly.

“It’s a beautiful basket you got there. It’s unfortunate that I don’t see any suds.” The scheming edge returns to the woman’s voice as she casts a sidelong look at the person clutching their basket.

“Pardon?”

“No suds, no save, okay?”

I can see the person visually deflating. After scraping up my confidence, I turn to the arguing pair.

“Excuse me, what’s going on here?”

“Oh, er, nothing, this horrible woman took my machine.” The person looks vaguely shocked at their words, but I pay no mind to them.

“Well, was your basket on top of the machine?”

“Yes, but apparently the issue is that I didn’t have any suds.”

“Why is that an issue?”

“Well, you know... ‘No suds, no save’.” The person shrugs and shakes their head, sighing.

I bite my lip and turn to the woman eagerly stuffing her clothes into the pilfered machine.

“Excuse me miss, this is my friend’s machine.”

“It ain’t my fault they didn’t put their clothes in first, innit?”

“Now, now, that isn’t the rule and you know it. Kindly remove your things so that this kind person can wash their clothes.”

The woman cast me a foul look, and turned to see several pairs of eyes now fixed on the unfolding scene.

She snatched up her clothes from out of the washing machine, shoved them back inside of her basket and stormed away.

I turned to the crowd of milling people who were staring at the scene with vague interest and hold up my hands to signal an end to the scene. “All right everyone, show’s over. Please return to your laundry.”

I turn back to the person whose face is now completely red with embarrassment, but there’s also gratitude in their eyes.

“Thank you... That was amazing. I usually can’t even send back soup without feeling like I’m somehow in the wrong.” They smile again at me, that beautiful, dazzling smile.

“Oh, sorry, would you like to use some of my detergent? I don’t see any with you...”

They look around and sigh. “Thank you, that would be lovely. You’re like my personal laundry hero.” They blush.

I grin back foolishly and grab my detergent, whirling around to give it to them as soon as I can.

Something inside me feels like they shouldn’t have to wait for anything. I don’t know why I feel this way, I barely know them, but the feeling is strong and insistent.

I drop the laundry detergent and can’t do anything for a few seconds except stare in dismay at the bottle on the ground and mutter a weak, “Oh...”

They laugh, but try to play it off as a cough.

I bend down, grab the bottle again and hold it out to them.

“So, here it is... It’s Uberweiss, an extra-tough German detergent. It’s new. I don’t know why I’m telling you this... Aren’t you going to separate those?” I ask suddenly, glad that I noticed that they were loading all of the clothes into the same washing machine to distract from my endless train of babbling.

They stare down at the washing machine, a confused, lost expression on their face.

“Am I not supposed to? Sorry, am I supposed to use one for shirts and one for trousers, or...?” They trail off and then a thought occurs to me that would explain why they’ve looked so lost throughout this entire encounter.

“Have you ever done laundry before?”

“I-I-I-I, well, I know other people that have, and my mum has a machine in her house, and I...” They sigh and smile, throwing out their arms in defeat. “Okay, you discovered me.” They lean forward and wink at me. “I’m a laundry virgin.”

I chuckle nervously and tug at the top button of my collar. “Well, that’s okay, I’ll use the gentle cycle.”

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I berate myself for sounding like a total creep.

“Okay, um, basically you want to use one machine for whites and another machine for your colors, and a third machine for all of your... delicates...” I try to say it politely, but they give me a confused look. “Your, you know, undergarments?” I try again, and the confusion clears, replaced with a blush and a nervous chuckle.

“Ah, sorry, right then!”

They begin to sort their clothes, and soon stop.

“What about these? This pair of underwear is white cotton, so would that be under whites or delicates?” They hold the pair of underwear out to me and I feel the blush color me from the tips of my ears across my entire face.

“I, um, I think that would have to be a judgement call that you have to make.” I clear my throat.

“Right, of course. D’you have laundry of yourself that you have to do then?” They prompt gently.

“Ah, yes I do. I’ll be right next to you, you know, in case you have to deal with any more horrible women.”

We both laugh, and I shift slightly to the side to my own washing machine.

I know that between my clothes and all of the sheets in 221B that this is going to take multiple loads, so hopefully, I’ll have more time to spend with this person.

After a while, I hear the doors of three washing machines slam shut, and I hear the gentle whir of the machines as they start up.

The person leans up against a laundry machine and turns back to me, sighing happily.

“Thank you again for helping me out. I just moved to London, and I know this must sound really stupid, but I feel that if I can actually manage to do my own laundry and make it through the everyday things of being on your own, there really isn’t anything I can’t do, you know?”

I smile and subtly lean closer to them. “I do understand, and I don’t think that sounds stupid at all. Oh no,” I suddenly catch a glance of the machine which contains their whites.

“What, what’s wrong?” They ask anxiously and try to follow the line of my gaze. I leap in front of the machine window.

“Ah, the laundry’s done! Oh no is just a song that we sing when doing laundry, erm, ‘Oh no, the laundry’s done, the laundry’s done, the laundry’s done’!”

They put their hands on their hips and arch their eyebrows at me.

I raise my hands in defeat.

“Well, I’m really sorry to tell you this, especially after you telling me what doing your own laundry means to you, but there’s one tiny problem with your whites... You left a red sock in the wash with all of your white clothing and now everything is just the slightest bit...”

“Pink!” They gasp in dismay, and drop to their knees in front of the machine window. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

I put a hand on their shoulder and try to look on the bright side. “At least you got the clothes clean! In the end, that’s really the important part!”

“I suppose... But I don’t exactly fancy the fact that every piece of white clothing I own now looks like pajamas. Excuse me, he had that trolley first!” They suddenly leap forward to block the way of a woman trying to take my trolley.

I turn and see that it’s the exact same woman that made such a fuss over the washing machine earlier on.

“There weren’t any clothes in the cart.”

“You need to stop making up your own rules! This is our trolley, and if you want it...” They swallow, and step inside of the trolley defiantly. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to take me with it. Oh, but don’t worry, I’m good fun. I’m an absolute whiz at Monopoly.”

The woman looks between us, and back down at the trolley, rolls her eyes and turns to the door for the final time.

I turn to them in amazement.

“That was incredible!” I lean against the washing machine and smile. “We’ve gone through all this and I just realized we don’t know each other’s names. I’m John, John Watson.”

They lean forward inside of the cart and extend their hand. “Y/N, Y/L/N.”

I grasp their hand and look inside of their eyes. They have beautiful eyes. I bite my lip and before I can second guess myself, I blurt out, “Would you want to go out sometime with me? Maybe get some coffee?”

They blush and smile that paralyzing smile.

“I think that’d be a splendid second date.”

I furrow my brow, but still grin. “Second date?’

“I mean, you don’t do laundry with just ANYONE now, do you? That’s personal. Intimate. Sounds like a first date to me, don’t you think?”

I chuckle, and my nervousness begins to melt away.

“I suppose you’re right.”

Suddenly, the smile vanishes and they look nervous. “You know, I don’t often do things like this, but...”

Without a second thought, they tug my hand forward and press their lips firmly to mine.

It feels like fireworks inside of my skull, and everything feels warm and bright inside.

When they let me go again, I stand up stammering slightly, turn to grab my laundry and smack into an open cupboard door.

I drop to the ground like a stone and lie there dazed from the kiss and the sharp, throbbing pain radiating from my skull.

Y/N leaps out of the cart and drops to my side, eyes filled with concern.

I wave a hand lazily. “I’ll be fine. I’m a doctor, really.”

They roll their eyes. “First date, laundromat, second date, ER... What do you suppose we’ll do next?”

#john watson #dr. john watson #martin freeman #john watson x reader #bbc sherlock #sherlock holmes #sherlock #benedict cumberbatch #friends #ross geller #rachel greene #rachel #ross #ross and rachel #GenderNeutral #Gender Neutral!Reader #lgbtq+

72 notes · View notes

marvelous-heroimagines · 7 years

Text

The Bronx: Part 7

Pairing: Reader x Peter Parker Word Count: 2.9K Warnings: Angst?, fluff, swearing

A/N: The finale! A huge thank you to everyone that showed this series love, through likes/reblogs/comments/feedback!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

~~Peter’s POV~~

“You alright, kid?” Tony’s voice sounds in Peter’s ear. Peter finally succeeds in taking out his share of the guards, knocking the final one out with a hard punch,

“Yes,” Peter replies through gritted teeth. He didn’t mean to be mean to Tony, but he was too on edge right now to worry about being polite.

The moment Peter and Tony had returned to the compound, after seeing you dragged into the quinjet and out of reach, they started planning this mission. Peter’s first real mission; one that he wouldn’t have had to fight if it weren’t for his stupidity months ago. Getting you back safely was the only way he could fix his mistake, and he was determined to do it first try.

“Through here,” Tony informs Peter when they meet up, passed out agents littering the ground. Tony leads Peter down multiple hallways and staircases, it seemed they were going deep underground. ‘How big is this facility?’ Peter wonders to himself.

Suddenly, Tony stops dead in his tracks, causing Peter to bump into him. Peter was about to apologise, but his attention is caught by Tony’s Iron-Man helmet sliding up. Tony is staring into a room, a frown between his eyes.

“What is it?” Peter queries, not able to wait for Tony to tell him,

“I thought this was Y/N’s room,” Tony mumbles, confusion thick in his tone, “I could’ve sworn-”

“Hello?” a female voice calls out from the door behind them, making Peter jump, “What’s going on?”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.,” Tony calls out, “Open all the doors in this corridor,”

In the next moment, 5 doors buzz and swing open. Peter’s muscles tense as he prepares for the worst - a fight against 5 enhanced kids. But no one attacks.

“What’s going on?” the same female voice from earlier says, and Peter spins around to see a petite, blonde girl in front of him and Tony. She looked to be around Peter’s age, maybe a year or two older, and she looked frightened.

Peter suddenly recognises her from the news; she fought along side you yesterday afternoon.

“I know you,” she breathes out, staring at Tony. Her eyes dart to Peter and a smile forms on her lips, “And you... Hello, Peter,”

“How do you know my name?” Peter asks, a little taken aback and scared, he was wearing his suit - how did she knew who he was?

“Y/N thought about you almost constantly,” her eyes crinkle with her smile, “It’s hard to keep secret identities a secret when I could read her thoughts. She-” footsteps from further along the hall stops the girl from continuing to speak.

Tony appears cautious as teens around Peter’s age start emerging from the other 4 doors. Peter recognised all of them, they were all enhanced. Where were you if your teammates were here?

“Hello,” Tony calls to the kids, “I’m Tony Stark, and Spider-Man here is Peter Parker,” Peter shoots Tony a ‘what-the-fuck-dude’ look for revealing his secret identity to teens that could kill him in his sleep, “We’re here for Y/N, do you know where she is?”

The larger of the two male boys steps forward - he looked almost 18 - and squares his broad shoulders, “The last thing White Queen... Um, I mean, Emma could read from Secretary Ross’ mind was that they were going to take her to some kind of raft?”

“Fuck,” Tony mumbles, “Alright, thank you,” Peter watches as the teens glance between themselves and Tony and Peter, almost like they were willing another to speak.

Peter nudges Tony’s arm, silently reminding him of the rest of the plan, “Oh,” Tony says, “If any of you wish to leave and go home to your families, follow me,”

All 5 teens grin at one another and hurriedly follow Tony as he leads the way to the exit. Peter follows last, his mind working a little slow as he tried to think of what the hell the tallest boy meant. Were they going to strand you at sea on an inflatable raft?

Emma, Laura, Scott, James, and Claire all introduced themselves to Tony and Peter once Tony’s quinjet was on its way to returning them home. Peter tried to stay interested in their conversations, but he was too sick with worry to really listen.

After Tony dropped all the teens off to their respective homes, and gave them each an Avengers business card - telling them that any time they needed help, or if Ross tried to come after them again, to give him a call - he and Peter returned to the compound. The moment Tony’s feet touched the ground, he started pacing; and 45 minutes later, he hadn’t stopped.

“Tony!” Peter finally snaps, his racing brain getting the better of him, “Can you please tell me what our next move is?”

“I will, when I figure it out,” Tony dismisses him with a frown,

“Then can you tell me what the hell kind of raft they’re putting my girlfriend on?” Peter says with exasperation,

“It’s not a raft,” Tony informs him, “It’s The Raft,” Peter looks at Tony, an irritated expression plastered on his face, “Oh, right. It’s the most secure prison on Earth. Ross took Team Cap there after Germany,”

“How’d they get out?” Peter asks,

“Cap,” Tony simply states, “That man is better than me at breaking into places,”

Peter just stares at Tony, the answer so obvious to him. Silence falls over the two of them until Tony finally glances at Peter.

“Oh, of course!” Tony grunts, clearly feeling like an idiot that he hadn’t thought of it earlier. Tony finally stops pacing and marches off to delve deeper into the compound, with Peter hot on his heels. Tony mumbles to himself as he rounds a doorway and makes a beeline to his office desk, “I know it’s here somewhere,” Peter hears Tony mumble before he snatches something out of his desk drawer with an ‘a-ha!’

“Think he’ll help us?” Peter questions, watching Tony click buttons on the ancient mobile phone,

“No doubt,” Tony says before bringing the phone to his ear.

~~Reader’s POV~~

You’ve only been locked in your cell for a day - you think - but you’d already learnt not to yell or fight. Any time you did anything that seemed threatening, you would be electrocuted. The metal collar was supposed to be removed after the mission, but Ross had changed his mind. You didn’t do what you were supposed to - capture Steve, Sam and Bucky - so Ross had you imprisoned.

You had no idea where you were, having been blindfolded once Ross decided that you weren’t returning to the facility with your friends, but your cell was cold and you couldn’t hear anything.

Suddenly, the lights around you go out, plunging you, and the circular area outside the cells, into darkness. Your heart rate picks up and you jump off of the ground. If you’re arms hadn’t been tightly wrapped around your torso, in a straight jacket, you’d have balled your hands into fists; readying yourself for anything.

Squinting out of your cell, you see figures flying across the room. You can’t hear anything, so your best guess is that someone is fighting the guards that watched over you. When you notice a figure approaching your cell, you instinctively take a few steps back, desperately writhing in the straight jacket, trying to get free just in case you had to fight.

The lights flicker on and your cell door swings open. You breathe a sigh of relief when you see Steve standing in the cell doorway.

“What’re you doing here?” you ask, worrying that he’d be caught and thrown in here with you,

“Stark called me,” Steve says as he walks around you and breaks the straight jacket with one powerful yank, “He and the kid tried to find you at Ross’ facility,”

You shake your arms out as blood starts flowing properly through them; although you don’t feel better yet, your powers are still withheld, like in Ross’ facility.

You follow Steve out of your cell, but stop dead in your tracks when Bucky and Sam walk into view. Your heart drops as Bucky stares at you.

“Bucky, I’m sorr-” Bucky stops you but holding his metal hand up,

“No need to apologise,” he smiles at you, “I clocked that collar the second I saw you in New York,”

Your hand flashes to the collar you’d completely forgotten about. You pull at it, desperate to get it off. But without your powers, there was no way you were able to break it.

“May I?” Bucky asks, his eyes flash with amusement. You nod and spin around, holding the hair off of your neck. Bucky’s metal arm whirs, and the next second, the metal collar falls from around your neck. You give Bucky a thankful nod.

“Cap, we’re gonna have company, soon,” Sam interrupts.

Steve nods, “Time to go,”

You jog along behind the three men as they make their way out of the prison. The 4 of you break out of the building and cold wind hits you in the face. The prison was in the middle of the ocean - no wonder it was so cold in your cell. The moment you step out of the floating prison, you feel your powers flow through you again, causing relief to wash over you.

You, Steve, Sam and Bucky hurry into the quinjet and take off just as helicopters come into view, fighting against the high winds. You can’t keep the relieved smile off of your face, watching the prison, and the authority that had used you, fade away.

~~Peter’s POV~~

Peter tried his best to stay focused, but he couldn’t care less about Maths right now. He was too on edge about your rescue. Thankfully, Steve, Sam and Bucky had agreed to help, and Peter knew that Cap was the best person to do the job, but that didn’t stop him worrying. There was so much that could go wrong.

Peter’s phone vibrates in his pocket, bringing him back to reality. His hand flies up in the air, “Sir, I’m not feeling well,” he hurriedly says, not waiting for the teacher to look at him. The teacher looks as though he’s going to roll his eyes, but gives Peter a stiff nod. Peter is up and out of his chair within seconds, bolting for the exit.

Peter pulls out his still ringing phone and answers it as he walks, fast paced, down the halls and out of the school, “Happy?”

“Hey kid,” Happy’s voice sounds through the phone, “A car is waiting for you,”

Peter spots the black Audi at the same time Happy had mentioned it, “Is she-” the line goes dead, making Peter groan in annoyance.

The whole drive to the compound, Peter couldn’t sit still. He’d been so worried about your safety, that he hadn’t even thought about what he was going to say when he finally got to see you. Would you be mad, or hate him? Probably. You had every right to be. It’s his fault that Ross got his hands on you, and used you for his own good. The knot in Peter’s stomach tightened as he thought about how much you’d hate him.

The car rolls up to the Avenger’s compound, and Happy is waiting for Peter’s arrival. He walks Peter through the compound, continuously complaining about this being below his pay grade. No matter how many times Peter asked about you, Happy just kept telling him to wait.

“Through there,” Happy mumbles, peeling off and leaving Peter.

Peter walks through the double doors, and he immediately spots Steve, Sam and Bucky standing together. Bucky is looking around, clearly out of place and alert, while Sam and Steve are chatting. Peter’s muscle tense as their eyes land on him. He thought he was here to see you, but if part of Team Cap were here, it could mean anything was about to happen.

“What’re you doing here?” Peter says, he tried to sound threatening, but the three men just looked at him with confusion.

Sam’s eyebrows raise, “Wait... You’re the Spider-kid,”

“It’s Spider-Man,” Peter mumbles, “Does Tony know you’re here?”

“I do,” Tony’s voice sounds from the floor above them. Peter peers up as Tony descends the stairs, looking pleased with himself, “Peter, meet Rogers, Wilson and Barnes,”

“This is the kid that kicked your asses?” Steve asks Sam and Bucky, causing Tony to laugh, and his friends to scowl,

“Tony,” Peter interrupts, “Where’s Y/N?”

“Getting dressed,” Tony says, looking proud. Before Peter can ask, Tony answers his question, “She’s fine... Thanks to Cap and his boys,”

~~Reader’s POV / Meanwhile~~

Staring into the mirror, you can’t believe that you’re seeing yourself. You looked like a totally different person, powerful and awesome, in your own superhero outfit. Tony hardly had to ask, you already knew you wanted to join the Avengers, especially now that Tony was going to get Team Cap back. It was all you wanted after Germany.

Tony had filled you in on your other enhanced friends, telling you that the moment each of them finished high school he’d be offering them positions on the Avengers and a room in the compound. You’d already rung your dad, and reassured him that you were fine. He still thought you’d been completing an internship in Washington. You didn’t want to worry him, so you kept up the lie; telling him how great it was and how much you’d learnt.

To be honest, your hero outfit was a little revealing - but still in good taste. Tony theorised that the more skin you had exposed, the easier you could use and control your powers; not to mention that the material was tedious to make, it had to be able to withstand the intensity of your powers, your fire could potentially reach the temperature of the sun.

Taking one last breath, you spin on your heel and exit the room. You can hear Tony talking, probably to Steve, Sam and Bucky. Wandering up to the upper level railing, your breath hitches in your throat when your eyes land on Peter.

He’s staring at you, his eyes wide, and fiddling his fingers. He looks nervous, but you can’t keep the smile off of your face. It was the first time you’d laid eyes on him since being taken from that alleyway, and you couldn’t be more relieved. When he sees that you’re smiling at him, a little smile dances on his lips.

You want to run to him, telling him how much you’ve missed him and love him, but you had to navigate the stairs first. Coming down them as fast as you safely can, you ignore Tony, Steve, Sam and Bucky’s looks and go straight to your boyfriend.

You throw yourself on him, your arms wrapping around his neck, and plant a kiss on him. He’s frozen for a moment, probably taken by surprised, but he soon relaxes into your frame. His arms wrap around your waist and he even lifts you off of your feet. The two of you smile in the kiss, and break apart.

“We’ll... Um, leave you two to talk,” Steve mumbles before shuffling Sam, Bucky and Tony out the door.

Your eyes drift back to Peter, and he’s chewing on his bottom lip, “You don’t need to apologise,” you say before he can voice his thoughts,

“Yes, I do,” he tells you, “I wasn’t thinking. I thought that I was doing the right thing... If I knew what Ross would do to you...” Peter trails off, looking guilty and upset,

“Babe,” you coo, placing your hands on either side of his face, “You couldn’t have known,”

“I still feel responsible,” he whispers,

“Don’t,” you tell him, “The whole thing wasn’t a terrible experience. I can control my powers better than ever... And I made new friends,”

“I’ve missed you,” he says, letting himself smile a little,

“I love you,” you blurt out, unable to stop yourself. Peter’s small smile breaks into a wide grin,

“You’re too good to me,” he shakes his head with a smile,

“I know,” you playfully tease. Peter kisses you again. You’d forgotten how crazy you were about him, just a kiss made you weak at the knees, “So,” you drawl out once the kiss ends, “What do you think of my superhero outfit?”

Peter takes a step back, and pretends to think over his answer as he looks you up and down, “Gorgeous,” he finally says, “...And the outfit is nice,”

You let out a giggle, “You going to let me fight criminals now without worrying about my safety?”

“I’m always going to worry about your safety, Y/N, I love you,” Peter tells you, making your heart skip, “But you can definitely handle yourself... Just don’t get mad if I try to protect you from time to time,”

You nod, “I think that’s reasonable... As long as you do the same,” you cock an eyebrow at your boyfriend.

He nods, “Have you seen the whole compound?” you shake your head, “Come on, I’ll show you around,” Peter slides his hand into yours, interlacing your fingers with his and leading you away.

Tags: @addictwithafandomblog, @klutzly, @hantu369mc, @leahhavoc, @meep-meep22, @redstarstan, @heismyhunter, @coffeeismylife28, @goldenlifevsgutter1996, @rosyfluffyprincess, @invisible2niall, @woww-za, @impala-moose, @stratmoxphere, @bearded-bucky, @caitsymichelle13, @pleasefixthepain, @spn-worm, @buckyobsessed, @specs15, @sebstanwassup, @wunnywho, @thedarknesswarrior, @girlwith100names, @addictionmarvel, @melconnor2007, @ipaintmelodies, @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked, @spookydoritos, @fanboyswhereare-you, @theclonewarss, @psychicwitchphilosopher, @tcmhollnd, @all-that-glitters-is-cold, @earthtomarvel, @multifandom-slytherin, @princeofsassgard, @dxnaii-rxse, @thiscuriouslymiss, @girlygirlbishop, @flammy-whater, @ichbinannaaa, @meka-meow, @metal-armed-dino, @youarejustmymission, @nathalieruaudel, @peter-spider-parker-man, @potterjamesharry

Tags that didn’t work: @mo320, @mrs-stan-barnes

221 notes · View notes