#every time I think about HQ I start levitating

[ministarfruit]

wheee HQ again!! I promise I'll change but not today

[magicstar16]

The Spark of A Rivalry

Eyyyyyy You guys remember Juno Panatric? My Psychonauts intern oc? Well I’m subjecting her onto you all again because she has been rotating in my mind like a microwave dinner.

Btw If you want Juno’s appearance just type Juno Panatric in the searchbar on my blog (for lack of a better word) And you’ll find her. Although her shoes are black with yellow buckles now. And in this point in time she doesn’t have the lab coat and goggles. (I’m too lazy to describe her appearance in an organic way lmao).

Fic in under the keep reading tag.

Juno shuffled in her limo seat. It was taking every part of her not to fidget. She had bent over backwards to become a Psychonauts intern. All that studying, training, convincing her mother, and paperwork, all leading up to this. Being a government organization, she would no doubt be working with the best of the best.

Juno glanced back at her mom, who was answering work emails on her phone.

Her mother, Manzana Panatric. A  light blue skinned woman dark purple hair pulled back in a bun and wearing a power suit. The CEO of Panatric industries, and Juno’s mother.

“Now Juno” Manzana started. Juno started to sit up straighter, darting back to her mother. “You are about to enroll into a government agency, and you will be representing the Panatric family. You’ll be among the best of the best, and I expect you to act, work, and look like it. Understand?”

“Yes Ma’am” Juno replied, trying to hide the anxiety in her voice.

“Well” Manzana gently grabbed onto Juno’s clip-on tie. “I’m sure you’ll be able to get the first two down” she said, condescendingly.

Juno sunk into herself a little, was she really underdressed? She didn’t think  everyone there would be wearing suits and dresses, but was it a mistake to simply wear what she always wore (Or, what her mom allowed her to wear, anyway). Should Juno have worn something nicer? Should she have-

Manzana let go of Juno’s tie and began to laugh “I’m only joking! You don’t have to take everything so seriously.” 

Juno smiled, (as best she could) right. A joke. It was always hard to tell whether or not her mom was joking. Sometimes, they didn’t even feel like jokes. Maybe her mother just had a sense of humor Juno didn’t understand? She decided not to pry on it. A joke was just that, a joke.

As the car slowed down, Juno perked up. She looked out of the window to see a giant, brain shaped building. 

“Well, this seems to be your stop.” Manzana commented. Juno briskly made her way out of the car.

Juno turned back, but before she could even muster out a “Bye” the limo had already sped off. Juno couldn’t help but feel a slight bit saddened.

‘It’s no big deal’ Juno thought to herself. ‘She’s just busy, that’s all.” Still, a part of her couldn’t help but think that her mom could have taken a few seconds to say goodbye. Heck, her dad spent a good minute saying goodbye and wishing her luck, and he was always busy working on new tech for the company. (It brought Juno a little comfort, if she was being honest).

Juno took a deep breath and walked in to the building. Back straight and a stoic look on her face.

...However, that stoic mask fell as quickly as it came once Juno saw the interior. 

Juno had seen pictures of the outside of the Psychonauts HQ. However, she had never seen the inside until now. She had expected it to be cold, clean, and minimalist. Similar to the interiors of the Panatric Industries HQ she had grown to know like the back of her hand as she aged. However, the interior that greeted her was practically the opposite. 

A huge glass ceiling that let the sun shine through. A colorful and open-spaced lobby bustling with energetic workers. Real plants adorned the halls, including full grown trees! There were even floating platforms that people could just levitate up to.

Juno looked around, in awe. It was such a stark contrast to the Yuppie-infested, customer-faux-friendly, and dare she say, soulless, corporate building she grew up in, or any company building for that matter. It almost looked like something out of a video game.

However, Juno was quickly snapped out of her trance by the sight of a group of teens, which she could only assume would be her fellow interns. Juno took a few steps back, a sudden nervousness washed up over her. “No No, don’t be nervous. These are kids your age, children, they don’t know you, just breathe.” Juno reaffirmed herself as she took a deep breath and analyzed the group in front of her, thankfully they didn’t seem to notice her yet, as they all seemed to be busy talking amongst themselves.

In the pack of teens, there was a bored looking goth girl, a girl in a knitted hat in glasses, a girl about her height in a dinosaur shirt with a skateboard, a small redhead that was mostly silent, staring off into the distance, a boy in a tacky show host suit and a pompadour bigger than his head, and a tall boy in a sunhat who was fiddling with a yo-yo.

For a brief moment, Juno pondered that maybe the standards were lower than she thought.

Juno took another breath and spoke up. “Excuse me” she began.

The teens stopped to look at her (The redhead turned a bit slower than the others) Juno felt like all eyes were on her. She cleared her throat.

“I assume you are all interns, correct?” Juno asked. The Pompadour boy was the first to speak up. “Right on the mark, that’s us.” he answered. 

“Excellent” Juno, straightened her tie.  “My name is Juno Panatric. I have just recently joined the intern program.” Juno spoke politely as possible as she introduced herself, “I look forward to working with you all.” 

The interns seemed taken aback by her formality, much to Juno’s confusion. “You don’t have to talk like that.” The sunhat boy reassured her, “This isn’t a boot camp.” 

“Yeah, loosen up” The goth girl replied, her tone was oddly jovial, Juno had expected her to be a bit more annoyed when saying something like that. Perhaps she found amusement in Juno’s overly polite introduction? 

“WAIT” The girl in the dinosaur shirt perked up rolling over towards Juno. “Did you say Panatric industries? As in THE psychotech company!? THAT Panatric industries?” The dinosaur girl got right in her face, excitedly, Juno could have sworn she was much calmer earlier. 

“Ummmmm, Yes?” Juno answered. The dinosaur girl looked more excited than before. “Oh my gosh! I have so many questions! What are you guys working on now? What materials do you use? Is it true you guys are gonna make psychic power-based drones to explore Saturn?” Juno felt a little overwhelmed by the questions, she hugged herself, resisting the urge to shock this girl and make a break for it. However, The dino girl came to a halt when the glasses girl chuckled and spoke up.

“Gisu, lay off the new kid. She’s probably super nervous.” The dino girl, allegedly named Gisu, walked back, seemingly disgruntled, the glasses girl stepped up in her place. “Sorry about that.” She began “Gisu... REALLY likes machinery, to say the least.” She held out a hand “June, was it? I’m Norma. Norma Natividad. I look forward to working with you too.” Juno heard a bit of playfulness in the last comment, Juno felt a bit relieved that someone had decided to humor her. “It’s Juno” Juno corrected, shaking Norma’s hand, feeling a strange warmth from it.

“Well Juno now that your an intern, first things first, we gotta get you a uniform.” Norma said. Juno felt a little tense, “Wait, I didn’t read anything about a uniform? Was I supposed to buy that myself, did I-” As Juno rattled on, Norma spoke up. ‘Haha, no no! You didn’t do anything wrong, uniforms are provided by the program. Just follow us to the closet and we’ll get you set up.” Norma and the other interns trotted off the the closet, Juno walked to keep up with their pace. Juno was finding herself pleasantly surprised by the events of her first day. She would be working in a colorful, life-filled building, and the interns seemed more than happy to have her as a part of their posse (Especially that Gisu girl) and were even giving her a uniform, free of charge (Not that she couldn’t afford it, but she still appreciated the thought). 

With every step Juno took, a butterfly in her stomach flew away...

...Only for the entire swarm to return all at the same time once she found herself in the storage closet, clothes folded in her hands, in nothing but her camisole and underwear. 

“You okay in there, Juno? You’ve been in there a while.” Norma asked, a little too sweetly for Juno’s comfort. 

“Umm” Juno paused “I guess so? Just to clarify, if there’s a uniform, why aren’t any of you wearing it?”

Juno heard a pause from outside, before being followed by Norma speaking. “Oh uh, we’re level two interns. Now hand us your clothes so we can get you the uniform.” 

“Can’t you all just give me the uniform first?” Juno asked, sheepishly. “No silly” Norma chuckled “We need your clothes so we can measure them and get you a uniform that fits you.” She replied. “Unless you want us to come in there and measure you?” She heard a deeper voice, presumably the goth girl, say.

Juno blushed furiously at the thought, a bunch of girls, measuring her, in her underwear?! Juno shook her head furiously and snapped herself back to reality “NO! I’m fine!” Juno yelled, flustered, before beginning to find her composure and talk again “But, can’t I just pick out a uniform in my size? That Gisu girl and I seem to have similar body types, well, in terms of height at least. I mean I don’t know THAT much about tailoring and clothes and whatnot, but SURELY there has to be-” 

“Do you want the uniform or not?” Juno heard Norma snap impatiently.

“Okay okay!” Juno said. She opened the door slightly and handed her clothes to the goth girl, shutting it immediately afterwards. Juno sighed and and sunk down into the floor, hugging her legs. “Please hurry” She mumbled, trying to cover herself as much of her d̶i̶s̶g̶u̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶  body as possible. 

15 minutes had passed, Juno was still in the storage closet, in her underwear. “What’s taking them so long?” She thought. She gathered her courage and stood up, she reached the knob, surely they’d be back by now, if something had gone wrong, they would have let her know, right? You’d think they’d have the foresight to at least give her something to wear in the meantime. She decided to just take a peek, maybe one of the interns was keeping watch while she was inside the closet, Juno grasped the door handle and gently turned it.

Jiggle jiggle. The knob didn’t move

No... 

Juno turned the knob again, starting to feel a sense of panic. 

Jiggle Jiggle, the knob still didn’t move, she was locked in.

“They didn’t...” she said to herself. Juno’s panic only grew worse when the realization had started to sink in.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥. Juno thought, it was like her own mind was taunting her again.

Juno sunk down and sat against the door, shaking and hugging herself. Suddenly it felt hard to breathe, her heart was pounding out of her chest. She grabbed her aching head, feeling the need to steady herself despite sitting down.

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵.

“Shut up” Juno muttered, to seemingly no one.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥.

“S-stop” Juno croaked, tears forming at the corner of her eyes, she tried to wipe them away as quickly as they came.

𝘔𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯.

Juno touched her cheek, feeling tears poor freely out of her eyes. Was she really crying? God she was pathetic. She was a horrible daughter. Her mom was right.

Her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right her mom was right.

Juno shook like a leaf, crying as her brain screamed at her. 

At least nobody could see her like this.

After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few minutes. Juno lied on the floor, emotionally exhausted. She stared at the ceiling mulling over her thoughts. The interns were probably laughing about how stupid she was right now.

As Juno stewed in her thoughts, flurries of thoughts started to connect and flow, like jolts of electricity flowing through a newly connected circuit.

𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴---𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢---𝘛𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦---𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵                   !                 !                  𝘛𝘰𝘰 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦---𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯                               !             !                                          𝘙𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭---𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵--𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶                                                   !                                            𝘐𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶                                            𝘐𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶                                            𝘐𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘐𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘐𝘏𝘈𝘛𝘌𝘠𝘖𝘜

I hate you. I hate you. I hate you. 

That sentence repeated in her mind, like a broken record, and as it repeated, Juno’s sadness slowly turned to rage.

Juno stood up, as she dug through the storage closet, she gritted her teeth. Muttering insults and unintelligible anger under her breath.

She opened a box and found a labcoat. It was a bit big for her, but she wasn’t in a position to be picky. Juno put the labcoat on and buttoned it up, and rolled up the sleeves to her elbows once she noticed the sleeves hung off her hands slightly.

Small sparks of electricity crackled around Juno as rage flowed through her. As soon as she found a way out of here, she would give that four-eyed SNAKE a piece of her mind.

—————————————-

Norma stared at the clock, it had been what, 15, 17 minutes? Usually it didn’t take this long for someone to get out of the closet, or at least figure out a way out, did that new girl earnestly believe that they were going to give her a uniform? Was she just in the closet absentmindedly waiting for one of the interns to hand her a uniform?

Norma shook her head. “Hey Gisu, that new kid said her surname was Panatric, right?” She asked.

Gisu’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! It’s so cool right! I can get the latest info on what their making straight from the horses mouth! Maybe she can slip me some demo versions of their latest machines! Do you think she’ll let me submit my own ideas because I-“

Norma unintentionally stopped listening once gisu started rambling on. ‘That’s right’ Norma thought. ‘Juno’s family runs THE Panatric industries. They were one of the biggest tech companies out right now, and the biggest (and ONLY) Psychic based tech company in the country.’ Norma cycled through her reasoning in her head, thoughts spinning like a load of laundry. ‘She probably, no, DEFINITELY got everything she wanted growing up. She’d obviously be sheltered. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if her parents just bribed the psychonauts to let her be an intern.’

Norma unconsciously felt a slight bit of envy, imagining the many luxuries Juno must have gotten to indulge herself in, (but who wouldn’t be jealous, right?). However, that envy was quickly replaced with a sense of reassurance.

‘Yeah. I’m giving her a wake-up call’ Norma self-reassuringly thought. ‘If I hadn’t done it, it would have been someone else who gave Juno the wake-up call. And it would have been far worse. It’s good I gave it to her while she’s still a teen.’

Norma played those thoughts in her head like a record. It was good. She gave Juno a wake up call. It was a good thing. S̶h̶e̶ w̶a̶s̶n̶’t̶ a̶ b̶a̶d̶ p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶. Norma did a good thing for Juno, She-

Norma was snapped out of her thoughts as she heard a loud slam, she and the other interns turned their heads.

Norma saw Juno, burning with rage, reddened eyes, and electricity crackling around her (electrokinesis, presumably.) As well as wearing a slightly oversized lab coat. Norma felt as if she was looking at a little girl about to throw a tantrum.

‘Speak of the devil’ Norma thought.

——————————————————-

Juno angrily marched on over to the pack of teens, she leaned on over to the table, slamming her hands on it and leaning towards Norma. Norma’s eyes widened in surprise.

“That” Juno began, fuming with rage. “Wasn’t. Funny.” Against her better judgement Juno than grabbed Norma by the petard, Norma’s eyes widened a bit at the sudden outburst.

“I want my clothes back. NOW.” Juno then held up her other hand, crackling with electricity, making sure that Norma got the picture of what Juno would to her otherwise. It was an empty threat, Juno only wanted to intimidate Norma.

“Alright alright, there’s no need for tantrums.” Norma gently pushed Juno away after Juno let go of her petard. Juno scowled a bit, realizing that Norma must have seen right through her threat, she supposed the other interns did to, nobody tried to stop her, than again, they were probably just immobilized by astonishment at Juno’s actions.

“You’re right to be upset though, and I’m sorry, I’m fact, I’m going to make it up to you.”

“Oh really?” Juno asked sardonically. She could practically FEEL the condescension in Norma’s voice. If Norma really WAS trying to be sincere, she was failing miserably.

“Of course! I’m going to let you finish my asset recovery mission.” Norma chirped as she pulled out a list and handed it over to Juno. Juno studied the list intently.

“My intern assignment is to track down this list of missing psychonauts assets. MISSION CRITICAL assets.” Norma explained.

Juno looked up from the list and scoffed So you’re making it up to me by making me do you’re homework. Which is just a stupid, glorified scavenger hunt.” Juno twirled her finger in faux celebration “Wow, lucky me.” Juno said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Norma huffed and crossed her arms “If you’re going to act like a child, you’re going to do a child’s work.”

Juno thought for a moment, the sentence echoing in her mind. Suddenly, Juno, smirked.

“Oh, so you’re too incompetent to do a CHILD’s work?” Juno asked, mockingly, putting emphasis on the “child” part to further drive her point home. The other interns collectively oooooooooooo’d at Juno’s remark, all except for the Sunhat boy, who seemed to be concerned about the situation, but also curious to see where this was going, and of course Norma.

“What did you just say?” Norma asked, her pleasant demeanor completely gone.

“You heard me. Or did you just not understand? I’m soooooo sorry, I shouldn’t have used a multi-syllabic word. Would it be better if I used a simpler word, you know, something more appropriate for your level?” Juno asked, condescendingly.

Juno could practically FEEL the rage from emanating from Norma. Quite literally in fact, as Juno felt the air around her suddenly get much warmer. She couldn’t tell if the others were sweating from the heat or from the tension.

Norma growled, swiping the list out of Juno’s hands. “Fine” the bespectacled girl growled, clearly trying to hold her irritation back. “Lizzie and I will get your stupid clothes back.”

Juno smirked as she watched Norma and Lizzie go. With Lizzie trying to calm down Norma.

‘Spoiled brat’ she heard. Juno’s smirk disappeared as quickly as it came, not wanting Norma to get the last word in, even if wasn’t spoken out loud, and completely untrue on top of that.

‘Two-faced witch’ Juno snapped back telepathically. She saw Norma tense up a little more.

Even if Juno was going to be bosom buddies with the other interns over time, there was NO WAY she was going to get along with Norma.

[femreader]

Not everything - Wanda Maximoff

Summary: The last thing Wanda thought before dusting away was how the love of her life was ripped away from her, right in front of her. The truth just couldn’t be more wrong. 

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Trigger Warning:  Death, cursing, angst, fluff at the end

Part two

Wanda had never really thought about death before her family was ripped away from her. After Pietro’s death, dying had been something that was almost normal to the witch, sadly. She didn’t fear it nor did she really care about it. Every mission she went to she went with a mindset of “I’ll probably die or not, let’s see”. She didn’t think less of herself, she knew the abilities she had. But she did think less of death. She didn’t fear it in any shape or form. 

Then you came into the plans and Wanda was whipped immediately. The way you carried yourself, how you looked after everyone and kept everything together even in the toughest situations. She was so in love with you and your persona after knowing you for just a few weeks. 

And you made her better in her opinion. You gave her a reason to actually live through the missions. Something to come home to. But it also made her fear again, not her own death but yours. It haunted her in her dreams, that someday you’d be ripped away from her like everyone else were. She dreaded it, even though you assured her it would be okay. That you’d always come back to her. And you did, even if there were some close calls, you always came back to her. 

Then the battle at Wakanda happened. 

You were fighting alongside Steve and Thor, using your trusted sword as your weapon. The grip you had on the familiar weapon that had served you for so many years was so tight your knuckles were white. One alien, another. You weren’t sure how long it had been like that. You just kept killing every alien that came across you, time to time helping someone else.. Your body was running on pure adrenaline, your muscles didn’t ache, your body didn’t tire. It was like you were in flow. 

Slowly but surely you found yourself with the Avengers by the edge of the forest. The creeps ran down your back but you pushed the thought away. Slicing another alien you gave a cocky smirk to your girlfriend who just shook her head. It was amazing how gorgeous she still looked, even though her face was smeared with alien blood. You tore your gaze away and thrust your weapon into another alien. 

Thanos came through the portal. You were one of the last men standing. Steve was down, Bruce was quite literally stuck in stone and Thor was only god knows where. You heard thunder somewhere in the distance. You did your best to stop the mad titan from getting the last stone, Vision. The grunts and cries that left your mouth hurt Wanda so deeply she would’ve rather fought Thanos himself. 

“Wan- Ugh, Wanda,” Your shouts were strained and she turned to look at you. The tears were blinding her eyes, your salty waterfalls were already streaming down your cheeks. You looked at Vision knowingly, he knew it too. He nodded. You took another hit before slicing the mad titan to his arm, it barely made him wince. 

Whatever it takes. 

“Destroy it!” 

She shook her head, tears running down her face. Vision was the closest thing she had after you. He was her friend, closest friend she had ever had beside her brother. And you hated that she had to do this, but she was more powerful than you. She was the only one ho could od this. Wanda felt like she was killing you by killing him. You screamed her to do it again and again until your throat was raw. 

Thanos hit you square in the head basically and lifted your weak body from the ground by your neck. 

“You’re weak, small... a pathetic little human,” his voice gnarled as he looked down at you. Your face started to go red, but it did not falter. 

“I... am... not... giving up,” You looked at him with determination, your hands on his gigantic wrist and felt the sharp blade enter your stomach. He dropped you on the ground and the last thing you’d ever hear was the pained cries of your girlfriend, who was holding back the mad Titan, destroying the stone and watching the life slowly bleed out of you. 

***

Wanda didn’t fear death, not if you were gone too. It was done, they had lost. Thanos snapped the gauntlet and a weird feeling filled the witch. She held your limp body on her lap, watching as the normally rosy cheeks were paling. Her gaze moved to the sky and she felt her feeling numbing. It wasn’t worth to fight anymore if you were gone now too. As life slowly moved away from her body, she could almost hear your laugh in the distance. Your voice filled her head, memories flashing by her eyes.

I’ll be with you soon...

But she wouldn’t.

The opposite actually.

The surgery was difficult, especially since half of the medication staff had disappeared in Wakanda. Really it was a miracle you even survived. Twice your heart flat lined but they got it back working. Natasha had been there the whole time, following as you were unconsciously fighting for your life, holding back tears every time the heart monitor made a flat sound. 

Then they moved you to the HQ. Steve, Thor, Natasha, Rocket, Carol the whole team went to find Thanos and rewind the whole mess. It didn’t go the way they expected it to go through. It was impossible to bring everyone back. The stones were gone. You woke up while they were gone. To say you were panicking was an understatement. Half of the population was gone, the news was filled with sorrow and families looking for each other. 

And now you were going to have to live without Wanda forever. It made you wish you would’ve actually died. It would have been less painful that way. 

Five years. You didn’t speak with anyone about it, you woke up, trained, went outside and helped the less fortunate. Then got back home and went to sleep. Repeat, that over and over again for five years. The sword was in a trunk, buried deep under all of the books and letters there was. You hadn't even cleaned it from the battle. You couldn't see it. You couldn't bear that. A couple of times you fell into a drinking spiral but there was always someone, usually Steve or Natasha to help you back onto your feet.

The miracle called Scott Lang felt too good to be real once he came. Five years, five fucking years, the slowest years of your life and now there was a man talking about time traveling. At first, it was too good to be true, it wasn’t... it couldn’t work. It would be nearly impossible. Nearly. 

But you did it anyway.  And lost another member.

Then Bruce snapped and you waited. The HQ went silent, Clint’s phone rang and his wife spoke. The man broke into tears right then and there, that was the moment you knew... you knew she was back. Somewhere. One phone call away.  As you went to grab your phone the whole place blew up and the hell was loose. You were fortunate enough to not be completely buried by the building.  

Somehow you had managed to find your trusted sword in the middle of all the mess, it still had the blood of the old aliens on it as you had not used it after the battle on Wakanda. You felt determination fill you and you gripped your weapon tightly in your hands as the portals around you and Steve appeared. Literal chills ran down our back and legs and you coudln’t wipe off a smirk from your face when the alien army in front of you watched gobsmacked. Your feet tingled, you couldn't stay still. You already wanted to face the titan and fulfill your promise to him. 

“Avengers...” Steve breathed out. “Assemble”

And like that, you were fighting again. Left and right, fury filling you. The aliens were dropping dead by your feet faster than Thor could summon the hammer. It was rather scary, to be honest. The small teenaged boy Peter had to keep away from you in case you didn’t recognize him, not that you’d ever actually hurt your own team members. It was still quite intimidating how many aliens you made a pile of in just a couple of minutes. It reminded them why you were made an avenger in the first place. 

It was when Thanos was walking towards the gauntlet you saw her again. And holy shit was she gorgeous. Not aged a day, unlike you who was five years older. Wanda’s eyes were red, literally like glowing and the familiar swirls Hydra had given her were dangerously big and glowing ever so brightly. Her voice was venomous as she spoke to the Mad Titan in anger and fury, chest heaving up and down.  

“You took, everything from me.”

“I don’t even know who you are.”

“You will,” She said monotone and levitated upwards, her arms resting on either side of her. You followed as she kept punching the titan with all of her powers. Her whole body was glowing in a different way, you hadn’t ever seen her so... mad. She was dangerously angry. And you couldn’t help but applause her for it. It was kinda hot, to be honest.

When Thanos ordered the shooting you snapped out of your trance. Wanda was still holding him back, not caring if she was smashed to death. Once an energy ball hit her, missing her just by a foot she fell over on the ground, momentarily losing her hold on the mad titan. One of his soldiers took notice of the action and went to raise their sword, ready to plunge it into Wanda’s body. 

“Not my fucking girlfriend you asshole,” You grumbled as you ran at the alien and made sure to shove your sword straight through its neck, the only weak spot in their armor. The alien tried to move, to do anything to get out of the pain but you just twisted the sword tighter, until the soldier fell onto the ground and left you there, breathless and a splash of odd colored blood on your chest, neck, and face.

Wanda’s knees buckled underneath her when she saw you. Her eyes returned into their respectful but not any less beautiful color you hadn’t seen in so long. She breathed out your name, so softly you couldn’t even hear it, you could only see her mouth your name like it was just the two of you in the comfort of your bed.

 You took her into your arms and you sat on the ground, holding her head against your shoulder and her waist against yours. It was the best feeling you had felt in five years. Her scent you had on your old clothes now filled your nose and refreshed your memory. Her red hair tickled you face as you moved to kiss her. 

“Not everything,” You mumbled against her lips and Wanda couldn’t do anything else than sob dryly. Her hands went to your face and she leaned her forehead against you. 

She hadn’t lost everything. She hadn’t lost you. 

[chaniters]

Halloween Part II

The Rangers take on Red Behemoth, who has joined Psychoathor as he leads the Phoenix riots against GeniTech’s Headquarters amidst an ecological disaster.  Sidestep comes up with a plan that can hopefully salvage the situation. 

(So on a quick note, I’ve learned that complex stories with multiple characters and a long series of actions and consequences are HARD to write.)

Hope you enjoy this!

Spoilers, as usual. 

__________________________________

“Let’s do the wiring trick!” you ask hurriedly, gun in hand back to the pile of clutter Charge and you are using for cover. You’re very thankful to whoever used this rooftop as their personal storage, else Red Behemoth would have splattered you both by now. 

“You think you can penetrate that armor?” he looks nervous and sweaty, but he’s still got that spark in his eyes that tells you he’s aching for action and crazy stunts right this instant. 

“With the plasma cutter, I got at your HQ? In a heartbeat!” you say holding it on your right hand. 

A single nod. Good. Steel would already be giving you hell about stealing. 

“Alright, you go left, I’ll go right,” he says starting a sprint that leaves a static streak behind him.  Never ceases to amaze you how fast he can move. You start your own sprint… 

“Hey, over here you Soviet asshole! I bet your museum armor can’t hit me!” you taunt him while taking a few energy gunshots at the Behemoth. You’re making it worse by sending a strong scent of frustration into Red’s mind as your shots hit his visual hud.

“Die, you capitalist pigs! RAAAHHH!!!” he roars turning the chassis of his armor towards you, machinegun’s spinning and vomiting bullets at a frightening speed. Thankfully there are a few water tanks on this rooftop to avoid the onslaught…not that they last long before you have to take cover elsewhere. You’re keeping his aim a few degrees off with an illusive after-image. It should be enough to keep you safe against most enemies but considering Red Behemoth’s already awful aim you could still get hit at any time.  

You let go of his mind just as Charge gets close enough to yank one of the Behemoth’s machineguns out of its base with both arms. It doesn’t go like planned, because the thing’s still heavily wired to the villain’s and won’t fully detach, nor will it stop firing… Luckily for you, Charge’s very good at improvising. He manages to turn the gun around just enough to face its owner, blowing up its own base along with most of the Behemoth’s mechanical arm. 

“Newsflash, the cold war’s over bitch! Lay off the guns!” Charge adds his own attempt to infuriate the enemy. 

“Never! I will burn your entire bourgeoise experiment of a country myself if I have to!” he yells turning while aiming a heat-seeker missile at Ortega with his surviving arm. 

Now it’s all up to you… You time your leap and… 

Success!

Wrapping your legs around the armor’s back, Behemoth notices too late that you’re there, swatting fruitlessly in your direction with his missile-loaded arm.

“Get off me, you little Sidekick shit!”

“It’s SIDESTEP!” you say dodging while confusing him about the length of his claw, making him think it’s impossible to reach you. If only… A slab of concrete collides with his face just in time to distract him. You hold on tighter, realizing Elyise is there providing support… good. 

“You’re all products of this weakened and fallen democracy! You will all be crushed under the Soviet Heel!” his Synthesizer yells while shooting some manner of a laser from his chest at Elyise, who quickly levitates away from its firing arc. 

“How many weapons do you have in there, freak??!” you ask in shock. 

“More than enough to destroy all of you American puppets!!”

“You’re not even a true Russian agent!” you say taking out the cutter and sticking it as close as you dare to the armor without burning your hand. 

“My birthplace doesn’t matter as long as I am serving the great ideals of LENIN and the motherlan…- AAAGHH!”

The burning must have got to him, and that does get his attention big time. He jerks violently, while trying to catch you with the claw, like a maddened bull. You twist and turn like a snake, doing your best to avoid getting crushed.

Luckily, the cutter is top-notch, and soon enough you have a decently sized fracture on the shell. You pull the wiring from your pack as fast as you can, and stick it in, throwing the other end at the ground, were Charge takes it.

“GET OFF!” Behemoth yells with a spin that actually leaves you without enough hold to stay on top. It’s a bad landing, and it takes the air of your lungs as you fall over the hard rooftop. You stand as fast as you can, but he’s faster this time. All you can see is the Red Behemoth impossibly tall in front of you, pointing the missile straight at your face.

“Say your prayers to your almighty dollar now” his voice thunders down onto you. 

“Oh, will you shut up already? Do you even know how annoying you sound?” Charge says activating a full discharge … 

What follows is that delightful moment when Red looks down, only now noticing the cables going all the way from Charge’s hands to the back of his armor…

*BKZKKAAAAAP*

He lights up like a glorious christmas tree, everything malfunctioning at once, intense black smoke coming from within soon after. He only manages a weak-high-pitched scream before falling down on his head. 

His arm falls limps to the floor, vaguely pointing at you. It’s over. He’s done. You won.

But the small missile’s not done, seems it didn’t get the memo. You notice that just as it activates, the burnt arm’s mechanism not releasing it. It’s ignited tail sizzles and yanks at it’s hold trying to break free for a whole two horrible, endless seconds as you direct a panicked jump to the side…  

Colorful.

That’s all you can think about the resulting explosion before the shockwave separates your feet from the ground.

Impact comes from behind as well, as your back hits hard against Charge’s solid chest. He wraps his arms around you, protective, holding you in place. His gesture is firm but ultimately hopeless, as the shockwave will soon sweep him away as just as it did you. Still, he doesn’t let go.  

Despite his aid, it’s now the both of you falling down from the building, fast as a bullet and hard as a brick. Your life flashes before your eyes in as the ground closes in, much shorter than you had hoped it would be.  Still, once the final score is tallied, you have to agree that hitting the pavement head-first while in Charge’s strong arms is a pretty decent way to go. You can probably accept this fate… He is the man that you…

…no. NO!!! What the hell are you thinking? Are you daydreaming in the middle of a fucking war?!?! What is wrong with you?!

Your training kicks in, dissolving the romantic delusion and bringing you back to the bloody reality of Phoenix’s riot. Pulling the pathetic sentimentalism aside, your mind reaches swift for Sentinel, who miraculously is both nearby and happens to be the ranger that can pick on your calls for help faster than any trained operative you’ve ever worked with. 

Because he’s a professional and not someone fantasizing about some himbo coming to his aid. Ugh, you disgust yourself. When did you let it get this bad? Your handlers warned you so many times against developing such strong personal attachments like this and it’s never been clearer that they had a point…   

Sentinel’s wind gust is quick, efficient, and incredibly cold, stopping you both from becoming a permanent landmark in the nick of time.    

When you finally do hit the ground, the impact is soft and gentle, and you both roll slowly to the side, Charge still won’t let go. You look back to see he’s got his eyes closed, shivering. Shit, he was probably expecting to die right now, just like you did… 

“Hm… guys? I’m really digging this bromance of yours, but Psychopathor’s Doomriders are still out there trying to kill everyone?” Sentinel says, hovering downwards. “Good save calling on me Sidestep, that telepathy’s sure handy” He grins, only his lips visible under his mask. 

Charge exhales, and it takes a few seconds for him to actually realize no one is going to break every bone, and that it would be wise for him to let go of you now, a point that you help drive with a heavy frown.  

“Thanks, Sentinel,” you say dusting yourself off, your gaze still on Charge. 

What the heck are you doing Awan? Why do you want him to hold you when you should yell for him to stay the fuck away? The worst part is you’re pretty sure you’re sending the worse mixed signals and now that you’ve effectively blackmailed Elyise into leaving him, there’s not going to be anything stopping this mess from getting impossibly much worse. 

You need to pick a lane and stay in it, and it can’t be the same as his. Right?  

“Great job, both of you,” Charge says, a bit sheepish, pretending he wasn’t burying his face on your shoulder just a minute ago.

If you could only scream now…

____________________________

“Well it’s official, it can get worse,” Anathema says holding a tablet that’s playing the news. “Another shootout, three dead, and now they’re taking over police stations. The Revengers got beaten badly. Psychopathor’s people are passing guns onto the rioters right now.”

Everyone looks at the scenes with concern. While Red Behemoth’s been defeated, The Calamity, Ripper, Queen of Diamonds and the Beast from Below have all joined Psychopathor’s “Doomriders”, his improvised villain team and more are said to be about to join as well. More and more people are rallying to them each hour. 

“At this rate, there’s going to be a civil war when they reach the base of the Arcology” Ashfall states

“That why we get the mission done, and don’t let them get any closer,” Steel says adjusting his new hand’s mods. 

“Oh yeah? Fighting Psychopathor’s one thing, but how are we supposed to stop hundreds, maybe thousands of armed civilians? I didn’t sign up for this!” Ashfall replies, and soon an argument erupts. Ashfall’s outbursts at Steel often make your own arguments seem mild. 

You take the tablet from Anathema as he joins in, their voices fading into the background as your shields raise. You focus on following the events on the screen. Only a few hours since the helicopter ride from Los Diablos, but the images are outright haunting now. Discarded Halloween costumes everywhere, stepped on by people fighting over air filters, shops closing or getting burned down and massive traffic jams after some rioters turned to burn cars as well. 

People have completely lost it, taking orders from the worst villains imaginable. Some of them, especially the ones without covered faces are going into awful coughing fits on screen. Just watching it makes you adjust your own air filter tighter, a constant reminder that you’re surrounded by the cloud.  

Things escalated very quickly after the first death from toxic poisoning was confirmed by the media, and it’s turned into a real shitshow since then. 

If you could just leave the villains and GeniTech sort out their differences in private it would be great, but that’s not an option. Not when the air is poison and everyone knows there are not enough gas masks coming. GeniTech did not help things out at all when they announced their “unlimited” power supply could keep the Arcology supplied with fresh air and clean water for centuries to come, of course, only for those with the means to buy their way in.

It doesn’t matter if Catastrofiend caused the toxic spills, the media caught on the factories being subsidiaries and now everyone’s blaming GeniTech… which also happens to owns the only safe refuge. 

A few civilians already tried to break in, and it turned bloody for them when GeniTech’s soldiers opened fire with short-range repeating anti-riot laser weapons. Most of it was blocked from the news, but several videos are being passed on by cellphone messages by those who recorded it, and it only made everything worse. They dispersed for now, but once Psychopathor rallies enough support and amassed enough weapons to fight off the GeniTech mercenaries, the parks around the trio of conjoined massive futuristic skyscrapers that form the Arcology are going to become a superpowered battle royale and who knows how many are going to die.

 You’ve given up on trying to find his motivation by now. Truth is, he’s probably just as angry at GeniTech and the government as everyone joining him and wants it all to burn. 

Steel’s right that if you let Psychopathor advance, the crowd will immediately follow and it will turn into a real bloodbath. But if you stop them… then the fucking cloud will still get them. 

Why is humanity so reckless and stupid, you can only wonder.

You focus back on them, Ashfall and Steel pointing fingers at each other while Anathema tries to mediate. Sunstream and Elyise are whispering at the back and Charge just looks miserable. 

“Marshall” you interrupt them at the right moment to break the argument, adding a mental finger-snap to get everyone’s attention to it. “I’m sorry but both Steel and Ashfall are both right. This is useless, we can’t stop Psychopathor if the citizens are on his side, and even if we could it will end badly because the cloud isn’t going away.”

“I know that, but do you have any better ideas?” Charge says exhausted. 

“Yes. We need to get GeniTech to let the people inside until the cloud dissipates. It’s the only way.”

“Already asked for that. They said no, no one gets in without paying them. Company policy, they said.”

“Well then we need to ask again”

“Look Sidestep, I’ve called several times already, ok?. We can’t turn those corporate vampires compassionate overnight.”

“Who said anything about calling? Their entire board is gathered in there for their Halloween party, right? I say we visit them.”

“What makes you think that will make any difference…?”

“I’m pretty sure I can help you appeal to their values if I’m right beside you. You know, change their minds on the subject?” you say tapping your forehead.

There is a brief moment of silence as everyone considers your words. They all know you’re a telepath, you just haven’t ever had a situation to use your powers like this. 

“I’m in,” Anathema says extending his hand first

“Me too” Ashfall places his hand on top of Anathema’s, a quick second.

“I don’t think there’s much of a choice here, we have to stand by the people” Sentinel says adding his own.

“Agreed. And I don’t want to shoot civilians, like ever” Sunstream states joining the hand stack

“I’m game for it, never liked those greedy bastards” Elyise states as she enters the huddle. 

Steel gives you a long stare 

“It might…actually be worth a shot,” he says drily before placing his new hand on top of Elyise’s.

All your eyes converge on Charge’s… he finally snorts, stacking his right with you all. 

“Alright, team… So this is how we’re going to do this…”

___________________________________________________

My Fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

[alittleofsomethingarts]

The Spy Comic (7-10 + Q&A #2 and a fic)

Alrighty guys, this took a while to post and draw!

The Spy Comic (1-6 + Amino Q&A)

The #10 took me a while to do, but otherwise I hope you guys enjoy this stupid comic!

#7 Criminal Scum

#8 Unscripted Wrestle

#9 Wow Wow Chibi Cuties!~~♡

EXTRA #2

#10 A Catastrophy

EXTRA #3

QNA #2

And last, but not least, a little story I wrote way back in August with the origins of the Spy Crew, adding to the lore. Whoops. Yes my mind went that way.

COVER:

~~•°☆♡○♧○♡☆°•~~

Agent Punny sighed deeply. How did it get to this point? How come her job doesn't bring any joy anymore? She was looking at the new recruits training, going back in her mind to what could've started all of this mess.

It started out really well. Her skills proved to be very useful in the agency, and she became the top newbie in a matter of weeks. The best agent, Agent King, invited her personally to pass the hardest test of all - becoming his partner. Nobody has passed it before, until Punny proved herself to be worthy.

She was ecstatic, for she admired him from day one. He was funny, had good work ethic and just was so super cool... And she wanted to get to know him better. At first, being the partner of the Best Agent of C.R.O.W.N. (Crime fighting Rentless Operators Whamming No good) was the best job ever. She got to spend with him every single day, going on epic missions full of danger and action. He did most of the action though, Agent Punny was very observant and helped Agent King to get through all sorts of tough situations.

Unfortunately...

Agent King turned out to be a complete workaholic. He would care only about doing a good job, and he seemed to be enjoying what he does, but Agent Punny wanted something more. She did everything in her power to grab his attention, but he only saw her as a friend and a partner. It was bumming her out a lot, to the point of having a slightly worse work performance.

She remembered it clearly - that day she almost sent Meme King to his death, by forgetting to tell him about an acid trap laid down by the enemy. They were sitting on a bridge, waiting for C.R.O.W.N. bus to pick them up, along with the bad guys...

But before Agent King could confront her about it, a guy looking just like Agent King approached them. He was immediately accepted to C.R.O.W.N., due to having great powers and high morals, and in a matter of a week, he was accepted as one of the top agents, breaking all the records the company had before. The guy was dubbed Agent King Junior, for being an almost exact copy of Agent King.

What Punny found, however, is a new friend. She was bouncing between both Agent King's, going on different missions together. But it didn't improve her mood much. While Agent King Jr. turned out to be a very good friend, he wasn't all alone and there was no way Punny was going to ruin somebody's relationship over her selfish desires.

That quickly changed on the faithful day, when C.R.O.W.N. discovered the man behind many of the troubles the company faced. His name was...

"Doctor Fell?" Agent King Junior scratched his head, as he and Agent Punny were looking through the files.

"This is a side mission the HQ has given us. In between missions we must spy at him and find out everything that we can." Agent King has already read the file and was instructing his young colleagues.

"But there's not much to read," Agent Punny raised the only sheet of paper that they had on the guy.

"The agents that tried to do research on him, have all mysteriously disappeared, so it's up to us to get the data on him." Agent King had tossed a different file towards Agent Punny. "Me and Tori will have to go on the next mission, so the first phase of data gathering falls on you."

She was looking at the bad quality photo of Dr. Fell in the files, thinking that it would be nice to have a better look. There was a written description, of course, so that it would be easier to identify him, but that side mission was for another time.

Or so she thought.

Apparently, their next mission involved stopping somebody from spreading a chemical with who-knows-what to a building full of innocent people, who turned out to be Dr. Fell himself, in flesh (or, rather, bone). Both she and Agent King had a good look at Fell, before he escaped, not before they managed to stop him from poisoning an entire building. As she suspected, his golden tooth and wide grin looked better in person. And his coat looked absolutely badass, making him look really cool. Agent Punny kept reminding herself that Fell was an enemy.

That night Agent King and King Jr. located the house Fell was living in and tried getting in, but were almost killed by the traps set by the Doctor. Their clothing was all scratched and cut, and Agent King had a piranha stuck to his cloak, but they were all alive and well, and brought a lot of data to the company.

Ever since then, both Agent King's and Agent Punny were rotating in spying at Dr. Fell. Agent Kings mostly tried getting as much data on the traps as possible, and she was spying on Fell whenever he got out in public in civilian clothes.

Little did they know that Doctor Fell was completely aware of the eyes on his house and himself. He was really annoyed at the fact that a couple of stubborn idiots were sticking their noses, where they weren't suppose to. He didn't want them to know what's he's been experimenting on, and went an extra mile to set up high security around his house and motion detectors with mini cameras on his neighbours houses. Eventually, Agent Kings were getting more and more traps, and spent a lot of time disabling them, but they could never make it in time. Fell made a habit of going out for not more than an hour at the time, which sort of annoyed Agent King, who had never had trouble with traps beforehand.

He also noticed that some goat lady monster was seemingly following him around, whenever he went out. Intrigued, he decided to lure her closer, thinking she had something to do with those annoying skeletons in his backyard. She was definitely not bad looking, from the footage he'd seen of her spying on his house.

Agent Punny was appointed to spy on Doctor Fell all the time, for Agent Kings got busy with plenty of missions she wasn’t aware of. Though whenever they got free, they would check on her or even replace her, if she was falling from exhaustion. To Fell’s disappointment, the goat lady was never truly alone. She would either be with those pesky skeletons, or other agents of all sorts, and she would always be nice to them. He sometimes teleported to listen to what they were talking about, and not too long after that he decided to pursue after Agent Punny and spend a night with her.

And, oh boy, did he succeed… But she was getting ahead of herself.

Whenever she was alone or wasn’t looking, he’d slip little notes and gifts in her surroundings and even her pockets. Agent Punny was rather puzzled, but it didn’t take her too long to figure out who it was from. She did notice a skeleton hand putting a flower in her pocket once and, in the rare instances she was left alone, one time he opened up the window on the front and blatantly waved at her! Something irked her to keep this attention to herself, though. It was mysterious and special. Eventually, she was looking forward for those little things and she kept every single note to herself. Just like Fell hoped and planned.

And none of the C.R.O.W.N. agents could get close even to the front door.

But then, it happened. Something that would completely change her outlook on things.

One hot afternoon, after a night in a casino, she didn't have time to change to casual clothing from her field dress, so she was hanging out around Fell's house, looking at the front door, being totally fabulous. She remembered, how the sun was burning everybody alive, and how loudly nature made itself known with the birds and the insects singing together in chaotic harmony. She was under a tree shade, though, so the sun wasn't as bad on her fur. To her surprise, she heard a voice from behind her back:

"Hey there, Sweet Momma, I've noticed you've been hanging out around my house a lot."

It. Was. Fell!!! Her heart started to beat fast, and she tried to keep her cool, but she suddenly started sweating and her cheeks turned red involuntarily. Thankfully her shades were shielding her panicked eyes. She noticed him getting closer as he said just loud enough for her to hear:

"Why don't you come over and have a cup of coffee?"

He was inviting her to his house?! WHAT??? How did it even-

The next thing she knew is that she was sitting in his living room, holding a cup of iced coffee and him sipping his own coffee next to her. Her cheeks were red from how flustered she felt. She just stared at her mug and muttered:

"I don't even like coffee..."

She could hear Fell putting down his half empty mug on the coffee table, and reaching for her mug, levitating it with his magic.

"Well, you don't have to drink it if you don't want to."

Her special C.R.O.W.N. mobile device started vibrating in her pocket, getting Agent Punny's head back in place just enough.

"I-I really shouldn't be here-"

"Ssshhh..." her sunglasses were lifted up with magic and her eyes met with his. When did she turn her head?

"They can wait after we have some fun~"

He knew that at this point, she wouldn’t say no.

"Ah-"

___

"AGENT PUNNY!!!"

She snapped back into reality, and turned towards her colleague Agent Screen, that has been calling for her for the past minute.

"Are you alright? You've been zoning out a lot for the past hour without moving an inch."

"Ah... Mmm, I'm alright." She stood straight up and stretched, bringing relief to her stiff body.

"You sure? We're all worried about you."

She noticed other agents were looking at her with worry in their eyes, making her smile nervously.

"Well, don't worry about me, I'm really fine. Maybe tired a bit. I'm gonna go to the chill room and grab a snack or something..."

She waved to the agents that were looking at her and hurried to the lounge. Agent Screen coughed and fixed the screen on his head, as the Special Forces caretaker Agent Dance asked:

"Was it me, or was she smiling the second before she snapped back to reality?"

___

Drinking some tea and munching on a sandwich, she was sitting in her favorite spot in the corner, where she could watch other agents come and go. Agent Cocoa was snoring on one of the couches and Agent Scram seemed to be very busy with his documents. She wanted to get her situation sorted out, so she tried to remember what was the last thing she was thinking about...

... Oh that.

She still remembered what happened that day and night. They were definitely having LOTS of fun. The next morning she woke up in Fells bedroom, completely naked and alone, in shock of what had happened. She sat up, looking for her dress, which had been carefully laid on a chair next to the bed. Grabbing the blanket to cover herself, she got to her dress and pulled it towards herself, searching for her C.R.O.W.N. mobile device. She flipped it open, to see at least a 50 missed calls and around a 100 new messages. Knowing that the 10 agents that tried to contact her must be worried sick, so she wrote her superior, Agent King, that she had infiltrated the house...

... But why does she feel so bad about telling on Fell to the CROWN HQ?

Punny sent the message and sat on the bed, with the blanket covering her front and her hands pressed against the chin. It didn't take her long to realize why she was feeling bad.

"Good morning, hun~" she heard and felt a peck on the cheer.

I don't want to work for C.R.O.W.N. anymore, she thought.

She felt something being put on her knees. It was a plate with bacon, eggs and thick pancakes, complete with a side of mustard being poured all over the bacon.

"Breakfast is served~"

At first she smiled and thought that it was a really nice gesture, but then she remembered who was she with.

"I can't eat this! What if you laced it with poison?!"

Fell looked as if he was deeply insulted.

"Why would I poison the food I eat myself?"

As to prove her wrong, he grabbed a piece of bacon off her plate and ate it in front of her. She just stared at him and started giggling. She had a good knack for when people were lying, and this was not the case here.

That was a start of a very weird relationship. She never reported on what she did with Fell in his house, but she did report on some other things. Like how he said that she's welcome to come over anytime. Agent Punny didn't use the privilege often, though. Mainly because her co-worker friends wouldn’t leave her side anymore.

He'd start bringing her tea at times or other snack food and chit chat when the other agents weren't looking. They had a lot in common, surprisingly, and the chats were always warming her heart. Sometimes he would tease her, by kissing her in front of other agents and flipping them off before disappearing... And the more Fell did that, the more the thought returned to her head.

I don't want to work for C.R.O.W.N. anymore.

I don't want to work for C.R.O.W.N. anymore!

I DON'T WANT TO WORK FOR C.R.O.W.N. ANYMORE!!!

She looked at the empty paper cup in her hand with a wet teabag on the bottom of it. Is she really ready to leave the agency she's been apart of for many years now? Two months ago she'd say no.

"Tori! Quick!" Agent King teleported to the room, disturbing Agent Scram’s documents, making them fly all over the room, and ran up to her. "We've got information of Dr. Fell!"

She looked rather calm. "What's wrong?"

"We've got information on where that evildoer  will appear next! He's got some evil plan going on! Make sure to look presentable!" He teleported away with a pop.

"Oh boy..."

~~•°☆♡○♧○♡☆°•~~

Right after that the first comic of the spy series happens.

[alphacentauriiswatchingyou-blog]

Steven Moffat Appreciation Day 2017: DWM Production Notes

With the end of the Moffat-era we are not just losing Steven’s writing talent on the screen, but also in the monthly DWM column in which he answers questions from readers of the magazine, sometimes serious, sometimes less so. Here are some of my favourites: 

Is the Doctor's accent innate or part of the TARDIS' translation system? While people and lizards from Earth hear the Doctor speak with a Scottish accent, would beings from other planets hear him speak with a totally different accent?

The Scottish accent is prevalent throughout the universe because it is so sexy. That's one hell of an evolutionary advantage.

How do you think the other Masters would react to Missy if they ever met?

Oh, I've given it thought! Surely there's fan fiction already? There must be - to your work, if not! The impossible one, of course, is the Delgado/Gomez simmer-fest - but oh, imagine! Hooded gazes at dawn! Sneers like sword slashes! Sexy prowls, cat-like circling! In no time flat, a country cottage, three kids and a Volvo.

One summer evening, as they both puff away in the cigar gazebo, watching the children (identical girl triplets, dead white and levitating) rebuilding the lawn mower into a nuclear reactor using Master Plan Q, the question inevitably arises...

THE MASTER: My dear, you've never exactly told me who you are.

MISSY: You're always so busy, trying to drain the world's oceans, or rob banks with dinosaurs - 

THE MASTER: I just want the kids to have a future. 

MISSY: Then why do you keep trying to blow up the planet? 

THE MASTER  Must we always take this attitude to my work? 

MISSY: Or freeze the polar ice caps. 

THE MASTER: That was a simple administrative error. 

MISSY: Don't you think there might be a clue in my name? 

THE MASTER: Missy? 

MISSY: Tiny bit of a clue? 

THE MASTER: I have long suspected there was some cunning word play involved. Some abtruse hint as to your true identity, of some fiendish complexity and subtlety that it eludes even my mighty Time Lord brain. Is it short for Mistress, though? 

MISSY: Yep. 

IN THE GARDEN, THE TRIPLETS OBSERVE THE TWO CIGAR TIPS GLOWING MORE BRIGHTLY FOR A MOMENT IN THE SHADOWS OF THE GARDEN. 

THE MASTER: My dear, do you think the triplets ever get lonely?

AND FROM THE HAPPY HOME, THE REST IS SILENCE. EXCEPT FOR THE NIGHTLY SING-A-LONG OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY.

In Kill the Moon Clara is very upset at the prospect of killing a big chicken. Yet in The Time of the Doctor she is seen gleefully roasting a turkey! How can she care so much for one type of poultry and so little for another?

Oh, for God's sake! It's not a turkey inside the moon, is it? It's a giant, pregnant space dragon and some spiders. Have you no grasp of physics?! Has Doctor Who taught you nothing?!

RUSSELL T DAVIES asks: I love your list in DWM 482 of the Doctor's many wives. Did you ever think we'd be having that conversation, 10 years ago? But... what's this? His marriage to Queen Elizabeth the First was unconsummated? But, but, but... in The End of Time Part One, the Tenth Doctor arrives on the Ood-Sphere to greet his old friend Ood Sigma with the words, "Got married. That was a mistake. Good Queen Bess. And let me tell you, her nickname is no longer... ahem." So, what does that mean, boss? What can it possibly mean?? Steven, what does it MEAN??? Thank you.

Oh for God's sake. PAY ATTENTION. You've gone soft up there in Manchester. Practically tofu, I'd say. Probably all that lazing about, never writing any episodes for me, even though I wrote six for you. Yes, SIX. Actually, no, SEVEN. Time Crashcounts too - and it was for charity. But never mind, oh no, I'll just type on and on and neglect my children, that's fine.

Okay, the facts. I said the marriage was unconsummated - and so it was. You saw for yourself in The Day of the Doctor - he ran straight off after the ceremony. Would we have put that on television if it wasn't true? But I never said - not once, not ever - that the relationship was unconsummated!

Yes, Russell! I went there. Even as you gasp and clutch the furniture for support, I am writing in the pages of Doctor Who Magazine about pre-marital shenanigans! I realise you've probably never heard of such unsanctified naughtiness - glancing at your resume, I see you write mainly about fruit and veg for Channel 4 - but it does go on, you know. Well, outside of Manchester.

So there you are. You may sleep again. The Doctor's boast in The End of Time (oh, and thanks for that title, just before I took over) and my statement that his marriage to Elizabeth was unconsummated are in no way contradictory. True fact! Accept my True Face. Back away in shame at your wrongness.

Actually, write me a story, and we'll say no more about it.

I read an article that said there was a TARDIS flooding scene in an episode of the 2012 series that was cancelled due to Karen Gillan being unable to swim. Could you elaborate on that further, please?

We decided not to drown Karen. There was a meeting. We voted.

Do you have any plans in store for the Cyber-Brigadier? Or will he just be left in limbo, protecting Kate wherever she goes?

Oh God, can you imagine. It's the spin-off: "My Dad's A Cyberman!"

KATE: Dad, please don't sit in my office. CYBERBRIG: Just sorting out a few things for you... KATE: Really, we're fine. CYBERBRIG: You've got far too many people. All you need is a Sergeant, maybe an occasional Captain, and a nice family car for you all to drive around in. Keeps the Earth perfectly safe! KATE: It's changed days, Dad. CYBERBRIG: And why don't have a big sign outside - UNIT HQ, with your name on it? Does you good to see your name on a big sign. KATE: Well, we are supposed to be a top secret organisation. CYBERBRIG: Yes, yes - you put 'Top Secret' on the sign. Have I taught you nothing about security?! And for goodness' sake, why do you have all these women about the place? How much tea do you need? KATE: They're scientists. CYBERBRIG: Scientists?! Have we been infiltrated? Evacuate the building, I'll lure them into a nuclear reactor. KATE: They work here. CYBERBRIG: They what?! You only need one scientist, Kate. A funny one, with silly clothes, that's the ticket. Give him a tiny little office and a table, he'll be perfectly happy. KATE: I'm a scientist. Science leads, that's what you taught me. CYBERBRIG: Exactly! Science leads! But only if you let it. Round them all up, put them in booths, waterboard any trouble-makers - KATE: Dad, you're getting excited again! Your moustache has slipped. CYBERBRIG: Oh, no, has it? It's this face, it's a bit slippery - like all aliens. I say, Kate - do you think people know my moustache isn't real? KATE: I think they always did.

Since the earliest days, whenever we viewers follow the Doctor into the TARDIS, he seems to take quite some time getting to the console before the TARDIS takes off. But when we stay outside, the door barely has time to close before dematerialisation occurs. What's your in-universe explanation for this quirk?

Oh, you and me both! I've worried about that for years. And in fact, decades before I got anywhere near Doctor Who, I came up with an answer. It's not in the show - it is not canonical - but I offer it up.

The TARDIS knows the future. Or rather, the TARDIS makes no distinction between past, present and future - for any time machine, time is all one long event stream, hanging there in causality, unmoving and unchanging. In other words the TARDIS already knows when its connection to real time and space will no longer be necessary, in any given part of the event stream. So as the Doctor and friends move towards the console, in the world outside the doors, the TARDIS has already fast-forwarded to the take-off the Doctor is about to perform.

Any good? Got something better? All head canons are equal!

How come the Doctor allowed River Song to go freely with her vortex manipulator but he kept disabling Jack's?

Every time he grabs River's wrist, it all goes very wrong.

[In Heaven Sent] who put the chalk marks around the missing paving slab, and who buried the slab in the ground? Was it whoever created the trap?

Oh, this is... wrong somehow. I figured out, in detail, how the Doctor's first few trips round the castle worked, but I deliberately buried it. I wanted atmosphere and mystery: for us to be trapped in the Doctor's nightmare, never sure what to trust. And I particularly liked (and still like) the idea that everyone would have a different theory about the logic. Peter Capaldi has one version, Rachel Talalay has another, and in a moment you'll have mine. But mystery and discussion is better, I swear.

So. What follows is not canonical. It's just the best I could work with from what the Doctor told me. Frankly, and with all my heart, you're better off not reading what comes next. Never trust answers - they're the opposite of conversation.

Okay...

The first time round the castle, the Doctor is there for many years - because there is no clue leading him to room 12. He's ancient by the time he understands that room 12 is important. It's a very old man who starts punching the wall...

After a few thousand years of this, he realises he's going too slowly. He needs to get the next version of himself into room 12 faster. But how to leave a message in a recycling puzzle box that a man like him would ever trust?

One ancient version of the Doctor doesn't punch the wall. He totters back out of the chamber before the veiled creature can arrive, and scratches the words 'I AM IN 12' in every nook and cranny he can find. He chooses that message because it sounds a little like a cry for help, and that always appeals to him. The next Doctor might even be fooled into thinking it's Clara. Oh, the cruelty of the Doctor to himself!

He knows that some of those hidden messages might just survive, because he knows the castle reset isn't perfect - the dust in the teleport room, the skulls in the water, the way the portrait of Clara he painted (of course it was him, the soppy old fool) has aged. Suspecting that objects moved from rooms, or added to them, sometimes can resist the reset, he pulls a scratched-on flagstone from the kitchen floor and buries it in the garden (later Doctors add the details of the arrows and the spade). It's this message - one of only two that manage to survive - that he always finds. The loop shrinks, the Doctor is younger as he punches the wall, and the Time Lords tremble as the storm grows closer.

The other message that survived? In my head - and I suppose, only there - 'I AM IN 12' is also written on the back of Clara's portrait. The trouble is, the Doctor draws too much strength from her smile ever to turn her face to the wall...

There are many more and I recommend to read them all. You can find a lot of them on reddit or on here. I really hope old chibs keeps this up, but I know it will never be as glorious as the answers of Steven “Master Selfcest Fanfic Writer” Moffat.

[marvelrebirth-blog]

Step 1: Civil War II

The first move into this new universe was a strange choice by Marvel, choosing to capitalize on the new movie and launch a new series of comics about a new Civil War. After a reboot. Just jump straight into a massive conflict between superheroes. Instead of just letting the heroes get accustomed to the new world. Alright this is going to take some work. 

So Civil War II starts off confusing enough - by introducing a Inhuman who can see the future, Ulysses, which causes a dispute among the Avengers.

Except that doesn’t make sense. There are a dozen other Marvel characters who can see the future and do much more, characters like Jean Gray. Ulysses also isn’t that interesting of a character and is treated as more of a plot device than a character. 

So here is my revised version of Civil War II, our first jump into this new universe after Secret Wars annihilated the Marvel Universe.

First things first, replace Ulysses with the aforementioned Jean Gray. Jean Gray is a compelling, interesting character who is familiar to old readers but also can serve as a good intro character for new readers. Jean Gray can see the future but also has telekinesis, levitation, and most importantly, a connection to the Phoenix Force.

The Phoenix Force is important to the Marvel Universe in a handful of ways, but right now will be pivotal due to it’s job in maintaining the natural order of things. Now that I have proposed the first fixes, let’s head into the new edited story.

We open with Jean running through a forest, pursued by shadowy figures. As she continues to run the figures end up catching up to her and knocking her down. As she looks up, she sees that the mysterious figures are the Inhuman Royal Family: Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Crystal, etc. As Black Bolt approaches, his mouth begins to open, ready to land a killing blow as Captain Marvel descends from the sky in front of Jean. 

It’s at this moment that Jean wakes up in her bed and realizes this was a dream, or was it a vision? 

Cut to the Avengers HQ, where Iron Man is working on some new tech like usual. As he is working, Spider-Man crawls into his lab to alert him that there’s a visitor, but not before joking around and annoying Tony. Tony heads out to see who this visitor is and ends up finding Captain Marvel, back from her most recent exploits in space along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, or at least Star Lord, Kitty Pryde, Drax, and Rocket Raccoon. 

The group of cosmic voyagers call for an emergency meeting among the Avengers and gives them the rundown: the Phoenix Force has been much more active recently, has wiped out dozens of “unnatural” planets, and seems to be heading towards Earth. Star Lord cranks out some lore, explains the Phoenix Force to the Avengers (Giant cosmic force meant to uphold balance) and how it is always connected to somebody on Earth. Of course, the Avengers make it their job to find whoever the Phoenix is connected too.

Cut back to Jean Gray, living her every day life (in this version she is NOT yet an X-Men, in fact she is not certain over her own abilities yet) but as she continues day to day, these “dreams” become more and more frequent. These “dreams” include visions of the Hulk slaughtering the Avengers, a new black-suited spiderman, Captain America dropping to his knees and kneeling to a hidden figure, a great burning bird, and lastly a strange man wearing a visor clutching a hidden body, a great beam of light being shot from his eyes. 

She cannot get this man out of her head, but also begins displaying strange abilities like making regular objects move with her mind. As she continues through daily life, she sees a strange figure in the shadows while heading back to her apartment. This figure seems vaguely similar to one of the figures she saw pursuing her in the forest. She begins to run to her apartment before locking the door behind her once she’s in.

She turns around to find Iron Man sitting in front of her, drinking a cup of coffee, with Captain Marvel standing next to him. The two explain what’s happening, that they believe she is a mutant, and has a connection to the Phoenix Force. 

Of course she has no idea what that means. They convince her to come with them to the Avengers HQ, but as she is being led there, she has a new vision: a strange purple humanoid beaming to Earth wearing a golden gauntlet. This drives Captain Marvel into a frenzy, “He isn’t supposed to be here” she says. Iron Man and Jean are equally confused (remember this is a reboot). Captain Marvel rushes them to the HQ before asking Jean where she saw this being and when did she think he would arrive.

Based off all signs in the vision, Jean concludes that “Probably any minute from now, in what seemed like... Germany?”. Captain Marvel then rushes in with the Guardians, explains that they have to head there immediately with Jean. The group heads out and as they approach, Jean gets a surge inside her mind telling her where there target is. They soon find him:

Thanos with an empty Infinity Gauntlet. 

Thanos of course begins a classic villain monologue but something is off about it. He tells them “You have the wrong person. I’m here to stop somebody from using the cosmic cube for worst intentions than my own”.

They don’t believe him. They begin to fight the Mad Titan but at a cost. By the end of the fight, Star Lord is struck by one of Thanos’s punches, delivering a fatal blow. 

(Star Lord was chosen because first of all, who cried over War Machine, second of all, a first time reader probably knows Star Lord due to Chris Pratt’s amazing job, and third of all, instead of having War Machine cause She-Hulk’s death through what might be the stupidest and most inaccurate comic death, Star Lord will die in a legitimate way with enough emotional baggage that it would feel like two characters died. It also helps set up future comic arcs without actually being like HEY LOOK WHAT WE SET UP)

Thanos is defeated, the Mad Titan warps off of Earth, and the remaining members of the team rush back to Avengers HQ to try and save a dying Star Lord. Cue sad scenes of Kitty crying over her dying husband and the Guardians trying their best to save him. 

Star Lord dies that night. The Guardians refuse to support Captain Marvel and Jean, believing that its their fault Peter is dead. Iron Man begins to speak out over abusing Jean’s power. Things begin to heat up among the Avengers, some thinking they should use Jean’s power to try and prevent crime but others supporting Iron Man’s belief that a criminal is only a criminal once the crime is committed. 

Jean decides to tell the Avengers about the rest of her “dreams”, but the one that sticks with the Avengers the most is her vision over the Hulk. Iron Man and a small group of heroes that support his side quickly set out to confront Bruce Banner, the man once known as The Incredible Hulk that has fled into solitude. Captain Marvel and her followers chase after Iron Man. 

Jean Gray is left alone at Avengers HQ, overcome with worry and anxiety. The only person who didn’t head off with either side, besides Jean, is the mourning Kitty Pryde. The two begin to bond, which helps Kitty calm down. Kitty tells Jean about the X-Men, a team of heroes with powers and abilities like hers, and how Kitty used to be a member before joining the Guardians. The birth of a friendship.

Meanwhile in Oregon, Bruce Banner is living his life in peace when he is confronted by Tony Stark and his followers. Then, Captain Marvel and her followers soon arrive. The two sides begin to argue once again before a startling event occurs:

Bruce Banner is struck by a single arrow and falls to his knees, letting out one last breath, a sigh of relief, before dying in front of both sides. Than out of the woods walks Banner’s killer, Hawkeye, an ex-Avenger renowned for his loyalty. Hawkeye lets himself be captured, arrested, and tried in court for Banner’s death, but reveals that Banner told him that if he was to be confronted by any super again, to either become a hero again or otherwise, that Banner wanted Hawkeye to kill him using a special arrow tip designed to kill him. 

Hawkeye is charged with murder and sent to a prison designed for super’s, which means Hawkeye, a powerless hero, is sent face to face with many of the villains he helped turn in. Of course, the villains assault him and Hawkeye is beaten into comatose. Of course this doesn’t happen in a matter of a few days, but rather over a stretch of time. During the events of the trial, other comic arcs could fit such as Inhumans vs X-Men or whatever other Superhero vs Superhero event Marvel has planned next.

During this stretch of time, Jean’s relationship with a handful of characters is rather shaky, except for Kitty Pryde who she has become close friends with. Iron Man and Captain Marvel visit Jean from time to time, hoping to learn of new visions. Jean has become to just keep the visions to herself, afraid of what will happen next because of what she sees.

However, she decides to tell Kitty about the vision of the strange man firing a beam from his eyes. Kitty of course tells her that that sounds an awful lot like Cyclops, the former leader of the X-Men gone rogue. The X-Men continue to interest Jean more and more. 

Eventually the news of Hawkeyes beating comes out, and the Avengers begin to blame Jean for all this bad news. First Star Lord died, then Hulk, now Hawkeye of all people in a coma? Captain Marvel remains staunch in her position, believing that its for the greater good if they continue to use her to foresee events. Iron Man wants to stop Captain Marvel and accuses her of viewing Jean as property instead of an actual person. Tensions get heated and at this moment, Jean gets a new vision: Iron Man and Captain Marvel duking it out in the remains of some big city. Jean is deeply troubled by this, but decides not to mention it. In her eyes, it could only make things worse.

The argument between Captain Marvel and Iron Man continues to spike, anger rises, and soon enough, punches are thrown and the battle begins. The two sides begin to fight, people die, thousands of dollars of property damage. Jean and Kitty head out to try and stop the fighting, but soon enough the fight finds its way across the Hudson, bringing the fight from New York now to New Jersey. Heroes are knocked out or flat out killed until finally, its left to just Captain Marvel and Iron Man duking it out like the vision foretold. 

The important part of this battle is that the reader does not get to see the bombastic epic action. Nuh uh. They see the after effect, the carnage, the remnants, the destroyed buildings and hurt civilians. This battle is through the eyes of Jean and Kitty as they make their way across the scene, watching the fight unfold or at least the back end until eventually they reach the climax of just Captain Marvel and Iron Man.

Jean and Kitty try to persuade the two to stop fighting but Captain Marvel lands one pivotal punch against Iron Man’s chest, seemingly killing him. Jean Gray is deeply affected by Tony’s apparent death, and is shaken by all of this violence.

The Civil War is over, Captain Marvel won and now leads Earth’s heroes against threats. However, the Guardians of the Galaxy are left leaderless, tensions between mutants and inhumans begin to rise, somebody apparently has their hands on the cosmic cube, and the phoenix force is still on the way.

And this is how I’d handle Civil War II.

[chaniters]

SUNKEN TOWN

Episode 4 of my Awan Cormac second series! (Belonging to @kruk-art)

Spoilers in this one too!

Enjoy!

__________________________

Rangers HQ

“There’s nothing there!” Anathema says, enhancing the image

“We just need to go over the parameters. Can you switch to thermal readings?”

“Already did and it’s not turning up anything” 

“Why are we letting the civilian into the city’s camera security feed again?” Steel complains.

“If he thinks he’s onto something,” Ortega says tiredly “We ought to try”

“Combine thermal and visual trough this filter,” you say handing him a Data-rod.  “That should get us what we want” 

“Sure, but I think we’re a bit past filters by now. This isn’t going to… “ he stops mid-sentence as the image changes radically 

“...wow. You’ve got to be joking!” he says as the image shows a ghostly figure walking the streets, unseen by all civilians.

“I told you he was using cloaking devices!” you say exasperated.

Ortega goes silent as he observes Void leave the camera’s fixed angle. 

Anathema doesn’t wait for your cue and applies the same procedure to other cameras. Soon, they begin showing images of Void, setting up the hospital attack from the shadows. 

“That’s enough, the tech team can take it from here,” Ortega says putting a palm on Anathema’s shoulder. Technicians begin duplicating the procedure over the rest of the city-wide security feed as you all follow him to the meeting room. 

“Good job, Sidestep,” he says with a smile

……………………………………………………….

It takes hours, and they won’t even let you back into the tech-room. Your access got rescinded after Steel started quoting regulations. Nothing to do but wait and you’re in no mood for Ortega’s shenanigans. 

You keep fiddling with your targeting jammer, trying to amplify its powers, since that’s all you can really do. The ranger tech-tools you stole are admittedly better than your old work tools at home, and you want to fine-tune the hell out of it for the next time you meet Void. 

An annoying tingling at the back of your skull starts distracting you from your work, while you do your best to ignore it. Contrary to what you would expect, It doesn’t go away but begins burning mercilessly, like a hot iron. No. Not iron.

“What?” you say without turning, as you feel you can’t take it anymore.  

“I see you already helped yourself to our tech,” Steel says, arms crossed, staring at you. 

“I shared something, so it’s only fair you share something in return, don’t you think?” you retort. You generally respect Steel but you’re on edge. 

You. Are. Not. Having. It. Today. 

“I want to stop that asshole, just like you and rescue all the patients while at it. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“You seem to know an awful lot about Void”

“We do have a history. Ortega knows that already, I think he told you unless I imagined that part”

“No one fully explained what that history is, and I don’t think he knows either.”

“I helped stop him last time in case you forget!”

“Maybe so, but I think you know a lot more than you’re letting on. And I think we’re going to be at risk because you’re holding on to information.”

He’s right, and you know he’s right. But you can’t really tell him that Void was trained by a government program that creates artificial humans because that would lead to a whole different can of worms. “I told you everything I know about his mods!”

“Yes, you did. Still, I also know cloaking devices like that are experimental army tech that you’re not even supposed to know about. How you have a filter capable of seeing through it, that’s what I’m wondering.”

“Experimental stuff gets misplaced all the time, right? Like drugs that kill people or give them powers. You’re seriously coming at me because the army lost another toy? I’ve just happened to have seen this stuff before” At least this is the truth. Void’s cloaking is government made, and they misplaced it. Big time. How Void got authorization to even use back when you were both in the farm it is something that you always wondered about. Whoever handled it to him back then must be regretting it very much now that he’s gone rogue. 

He says nothing, so you take the chance to speak again.

“If that’s all you got, please go away? I don’t like being stared at”

“I’ll stop when I figure out who do you work for.” 

“What the fuck are you implying?!” you say standing up and facing him… 

“ENOUGH!” Ortega says entering the room. “Can’t I leave you two alone for more than a couple of minutes?”

“I WISH I was alone” you complain under Steel’s glare.

“You know what? You two should just…” Ortega starts before realizing the futility of it all “... whatever. I’m not your nanny… Just came to let you know that we lost them. The trail goes cold when they reach Sunken Town. The cameras end there”

“So when do we leave? I’m ready right now” you state standing up and shoving the scrambler on your backpack

“Nobody’s going right now ... What we’re going to do is keep working on it day and night. There are other… whoa. Wait!” 

You’re already walking to the door, Steel stepping to the side more than happy to have you out of the HQ

“That’s it, I heard enough. I’m going to Sunken Town alone then”

“That area’s not even mapped! And it’s huge! You’re never going to find them like that. And they’ll see you coming from miles away! Our teams are trying to trace their comms… something’s going to show up, we just need to be patient, that’s how these things work!”

“Well, that’s not how I work!”

“But… one does not simply walk into …”

You slam the door leaving him and Steel behind.

“...Sunken town” he finishes the sentence groaning. 

--------------------------------------------

Sunken Town. 

Blacked out on tourists maps of Los Diablos, the government would have it be looked at from afar but never visited. 

Former Los Angeles’ city center, the area was sprawling with skyscrapers right until the big one hit. The city’s iconic skyline turned wasteland in a matter of minutes, as the earthquake seemed to hate this area hardest. What remains now is a labyrinth, of interconnected toppled buildings leaning unsteadily onto each other in odd angles, along with a series of tunnels,  garages, basements and old subway installations.

 The new system combined to create a massive man-made cave system that is constantly expanded further by its duellers in (often catastrophic)  attempts to create new passages and recover pieces of sellable wreckage and valuables.  Everyone refers to it as the “Sunken Town” and only the most desperate dare venture -or live- here, the population consisting mostly of criminals, treasure hunters, social outcasts and the desperate. 

Declared unsafe by virtually every engineering survey, the whole area became abandoned after attempts to bulldoze the rubble caused heavy tremors and deadly incidents with the locals. By all accounts, it is a death-trap with buildings collapsing almost every week and populated by hostile and armed pariahs under the ugly shadows cast by of Los Diablos brand new buildings.  

Ortega wasn’t kidding when he said you’d never find Void like this. Even with your telepathy, the residents simply don’t know the layout well enough beyond their own turf and have confused and conflicting ideas about the rest. Picking their minds to create some sort of map won’t be effective if the pieces won’t add up. 

You switched strategies to focus on rumors of the kidnapped victims, but all you get is some silly urban legend about people getting taken in their sleep and murdered by some sort of cult hiding somewhere in here. You have a hard time imagining Void joining a cult, and while Psycopathor and his fans are actually a sort of cult, their killings tend to be public.  

You’ve been at this almost the whole day now, and not a single mention of them. It’s maddening. You might as well go back to the rangers and see if they got something by now, but that’d be admitting defeat.  The night-vision setting on your mask is really giving you a headache by now but there’s no electricity here.

Your thoughts are interrupted by stray thoughts atop one of the inclined buildings. You can hear gunshots as you lift your gaze, and then a figure jumping several stories down onto the pile or rubble below, the fall slowing down into a glide before her feet touch the ground.

Impressive. Some sort of levitating boost?

 You’re getting an adrenaline rush from her mind. Someone’s after her… and soon enough you can see her pursuers, wearing night-vision goggles. All of them jumping down behind her.

 Unlike her delicate fall, they’re using a simple combat exoskeleton enhancement over their clothing, landing heavily and leaving cracks on the old pavement. You considered getting one of those, but the batteries are faulty and need recharging all the time. 

But more importantly… Matching uniforms and equipment, and all of them chasing the same individual…? This stinks of supervillain minions. 

Without another thought, you start running towards them with your gun drawn. If you don’t act, she’s going to get caught. You hide behind a corner and pull her by the arm the moment she runs next to you. 

She tries to pull away, but you hold her arms and look into her arms while trying to calm her mind. It takes a few seconds for her to realize who you are, and then she stops struggling. In turn, you can see she’s no ordinary civilian… she’s wearing her own costume.

“I’m Sidestep, and I’m here to help.” 

“Wow. I thought I was the only one in this dump, less of all someone famous. I’m Elyise, nice to finally meet you!” 

“Any idea why those goons are chasing after you ?”

“I don’t know.. Maybe my magnetic personality? No?” she laughs nervously “Help me take those jerks down and I’ll share what I know”  

“You’ve got it,” you say to that peeking at the rubble pile from your hiding spot. 

Your mind’s sensing something odd about her. Some sort of telepathic ability bouncing off yours, too faint but it’s there. She might be an empath?. 

No time to give much thought to it as you can see her pursuers catching up. 

“She can’t have gone far! Find her now!” one of them demands, furious. 

The enemy starts running in your direction, four males and a woman, all armed, all furious and charging with their exo-skeleton suits, so it’s do or die. You pull quickly and take a shot at the one who spoke. He collapses with a shriek as the energy blast hits him squarely on the chest, while the other one avoids you taking cover. He shoots his own gun right back at you, but you’re behind cover now. Telepathy always gives you an edge in shootouts.

Elyise jumps to the side, waving her arm… causing several pieces of debris to lift from the ground and rain in her general direction. Telekinesis… magnetism? Hard to tell.  One of the enemies gets hit by a piece of wreckage and falls flat, while the other covers with their exoskeleton’s arms. Your mind tells you the one hiding is about to shoot Elyise, and thus you’re ready to take a shot the moment he pokes his head from his cover,  taking him down as well.

Only two left.  

“It’s Sidestep!” one of them screams

“I don’t care who he is, he’s not gonna get past me!” the woman answers in turn, ripping the door from a rusted car, and charging towards you. The old door blocks your shots and Elyise’s wreckage rain, letting the other minion follow.

Both of you are forced to duck as the one closer to you flings the door in your direction, missing narrowly. Falling to the side, you roll to avoid getting stomped by the male minion, but end up taking a hit to your hand, forcing the gun out of your fingers. Elyise’s got her plate full, gliding to the side to avoid the other one.

“You're so beautiful in that suit… I’m going to enjoy turning you to a pulp!” the woman screams charging her, sending fist after fist, edging closer to her.

Your opponent gets ready to finish you off, pulling his fist back, ready to crush your skull… but luckily he’s forgotten who you are. You haven’t. 

Stepping to the side, you let his fist get stuck in a decayed brick wall.

You can’t help the smile under your mask as he struggles to free himself realizing his mistake, not fast enough to avoid the spinning kick that turns light’s out for him. 

Turning to help Elyise turns unnecessary, as she’s lifting her opponent in the air as she flails her arms fruitlessly before being slammed into the dirt so hard it makes you close your eyes. 

“Who’s the pulp now, asshole??” she says kicking her a few times. Perhaps there are some anger management problems there…?

“Well, that takes care of the trash,” she says dusting her hands “We have to bind them so they don’t report back on us and…”

“Leave that to me,” you say focusing on their unconscious minds. It takes a few moments, but it’s relatively easy now that they’ve been taken down. “They won’t remember a thing,” you say standing up.

“You… you did something to them?” she asks uncertainly. Of course, you were right, she is a telepath of some sort. This just confirms it, that she could tell you did anything in the first place. 

 “Just a minor thing. Let’s get far before they wake up” you say taking a tunnel formed by a collapsed structure as she follows. 

……………………………………….

“Come in! Come in Elyise” the intercom says

“I’m here! Stop yapping already!” she answers

“Oh thank god! I thought they’d get you! And it’d be all my fault!” 

“Nobody’s going to get me, you hear me?. I had it under control! And now Sidestep’s here so we have an even better chance!”

“Sidestep? Sidestep is that you?” the voice sounds different than what you remember… he seems confused. You look at the image… Reaper’s on the other side, sitting on a sofa with a cast arm and a cigar on his mouth in a very richly decorated room, a half-empty whiskey bottle next to him. What the hells is going on…?

“Hey, Reaper… it’s me” you say

“Thank you! Thank you for looking after my protegee.. She’s…”

“I’m not your protegee!” she interrupts “I found you drunk at Owl’s wailing about what Psycophator did, and took the case, remember? I needed your resources and your computers! You’re the one helping me, not the other way around!”

“Thank you Sidestep…” he goes on and on ignoring her. 

Elyise groans, turning off the audio. “He’s under meds for the pain… his doctors are a bit… liberal about painkillers. He’s been in high cloud nine right now since the fire, and he’s also drunk because he thinks it’s somehow his fault” she says before turning the audio back on.

“... and if something happened to her, it would be like Hood’s death all over again! She’s even telekinetic like him… I mean not exactly like him, she’s not nearly as insufferable but still, if something happened I wouldn’t even know what to…”

“Nevermind that! Did you find any extra intel?” she cuts him off

“Intel?” Reaper asks losing his previous train of thought. “Oh… right. Yes, Charon found a lot actually interesting details”

Charon… his supercomputer named after the mythical ferryman according to the comics. Supposedly an AI. You never thought it was real.

“The structure you found, is part of a collapsed chemical plant” he explains showing a diagram in the intercom's screen. “The plant’s been abandoned since before the big one. Also, hear this out… It’s the original plant where they first manufactured the hero drugs, back when they were just diet pills!  It was a big scandal back then when the media broke the entire story, the corporations, they  stole this researcher’s papers and used them without her consent to develop...”

“You can spare us the history lesson… we could use plans of the place tough” Elyise interrupts again. It would seem she’s officially had it with wasted Reaper by now. 

“Hm.. here,” he says the intercom updating with schematics. “The building’s partially collapsed now, but many floors and labs should be intact, and it had several basements, you’d have to go check on them yourselves.”

“It wasn’t abandoned now,” she says “It’s been turned into some sort of clinic, guards everywhere, and they’ve got the patients from Houswald captured inside. I think they’re experimenting on them… “ she says looking at you.

“Those bastards! They can’t do that!!!! You just hold right there… I’ll go get my suit and…” he says suddenly enraged.

“Enough!” she yells “You’re wounded, and in no shape to fight Reaper, and besides you’re retired! If you want to help, you need to pass on the coordinates to the rangers, your the only one with the tech in place to have communications in this dump!” Reaper’s gizmos are the most advanced you’ve seen yet rivaling farm’s experimental tech, and way ahead of the rangers. No wonder he was the top hero for so long if he had that much money to burn on it...

There is a silence on the other end and you can tell Reaper’s trying to process the words in slow motion. He’s so darn high, it’d be funny if your lives didn’t depend on him right now. “Fine… I’ll tell the rangers. Just wait till they are close before you make your move, you don’t want to get caught without reinfor..-” 

“I know!!! It’s not my first time doing this!” Elyise complains, but Reaper keeps going on about the dangers of the job until she simply turns off the intercom frustrated. 

“Wow… you’re really harsh on him” 

“Spare me,” she says walking onwards “I’ve been taking his tale of woe for three days straight while Charon investigated. And the worst part? The AI It only works with HIS voice recognition. HIS. Not mine. So I had to get him to repeat every question I asked, and you’d think he ‘d stop drinking while at it?  He did not. And the crying. God, the crying is the worst… You wouldn’t believe how bad he…”

You smile as you keep walking behind her hearing her huge list of complaints.

____________________________

My fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.