#hey i need to test if this heart monitor is working gimme your hand

[tangledinink]

I'm concerned about your latest post, are you okay????

I'm okay!!! ^^; I'm not in any kind of danger or anything, I'm just having a bad day lol. I've had worse, though, and I will be fine.

[firebrands]

the square root of infinity | stevetony

2.7k, established relationship, first fight angst | on ao3 | for @maguna-stxrk

***

Tony finds out with his hands deep in JARVIS’ code. Former-JARVIS, actual-JARVIS, he hasn’t really decided on what to refer to the mess of numbers of letters that formed his former AI, and now, well—Vision, too. It’s all a mess, really, and Tony wanted something simple to do with his hands, minimal focus, low-risk.

He should have known better, really. Nothing about him, his work, his life, has ever been low-risk.

It’s a command from Steve with a privacy protocol. Search, identify, and surveil Sergeant James “Bucky” Barnes, also known as The Winter Soldier. Missing, found, and missing again as of six months ago. Tony frowns at the monitor. He knows he hasn’t read it wrong, but can’t believe it; he reads it again.

Somehow, in the span of time of Steve coming back from Washington, of them settling in together, he’d done this. He’d asked JARVIS to do this for him, and keep it from Tony.

Tony leans back against his chair. “FRI,” he says.

His new AI chirps to life. “Boss?”

“Gimme everything JARVIS found on this.”

“It’s on your phone now, boss.” In front of him, a hologram materializes as well, displaying hundreds of photos, grainy and filtered, and copies of reports on sightings. Tony stands up, takes a step back and frowns some more. He opens his mouth a few times, borne of his need to verbalize even without anyone listening; he’s angry. He’s more shocked than angry, but the anger is there, low and simmering.

Beneath it, though, is a grain of doubt: Why? Why did he keep it hidden? Especially now—after all the truth came spilling out of them, crystallizing into something Tony held dear. And after all Steve had said, about keeping secrets, about trust. He briefly considers asking FRIDAY to print it all out, just so he can throw the sheaf of paper in front of Steve and demand: what the fuck, but he’s better now, more mature. Or so he likes to tell himself.

So instead, he walks to the penthouse and finds Steve reading.

Tony clears his throat.

Steve looks up. “Hey,” he says, setting his book down. “You done working?”

Tony smiles, pained and tight. “So,” he says, sitting at the foot of the bed. “Bucky.”

Steve’s eyebrows meet, looking concerned. “What about him?”

Tony shuts his eyes and counts backward from five. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Steve inches closer to him and rests his hand on Tony’s knee. Tony doesn’t open his eyes.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Steve says very quietly.

Tony’s eyes fly open, the anger now boiling over. “Oh is that it?” He asks sarcastically. “So you decided to use JARVIS—without my permission, to look for him?”

Steve’s mouth works, and he looks genuinely shocked. “You said I could talk to JARVIS.”

“That’s not the point!” He pushes Steve’s hand off him and stands. “Why would you keep that a secret?”

“I—I didn’t,” Steve says haltingly. “I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to know if JARVIS could find him, but I knew it was almost impossible anyway, so there was no real point—”

“If there was no point,” Tony says, voice lowering, “then why’d you do it?”

“Tony,” Steve stands now, too, tries to reach out and touch Tony’s elbow, to disentangle Tony’s arms that have crossed over his chest on their own volition. “He’s my best friend. I’m worried about him. I just thought it was something I should do myself.”

Tony nods, not really listening. His head is swimming with what he thinks could be actual reasons why Steve had kept this from him. A tangled mess of fear and insecurity, then shock at his ability to be aware of it. Is this maturity? He doesn’t like it much. Better if it stayed Steve’s fault—and it is Steve’s fault, it is. But maybe Tony doesn’t need to work himself up like this. But then again, Tony’s already worked up. “Stop,” Tony grinds out.

So Steve stops, a foot away from Tony, looking more scared than Tony’s ever seen him.

“I’m going to go.”

“Don’t.”

Tony looks up at Steve. He hadn’t even realized he’d looked away. Steve takes a deep breath, closes the space between them, and takes Tony’s hands in his.

Tony sighs.

Steve threads their fingers together, squeezes Tony’s palms. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“Want to say more than one syllable, maybe?”

A joke? Now? Tony feels his frown deepen.

“No.”

“Is this a fight?”

Tony looks up at him. “A fight means you don’t think you should be sorry.”

“Now, hold on a second,” Steve says, a small frown beginning to form on his face. Barely perceptible, if you didn’t know the signs. “I already explained why—”

“And that’s supposed to make it okay?”

“Where is this coming from?” Steve asks, letting go of Tony’s hands, which means he’s mad too, which drives Tony insane.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“There’s no need to raise your tone—”

“Don’t fucking use your de-escalation tactics on me.” Tony hisses, turns on his heel, and walks out the door. He gives himself the satisfaction of slamming it shut.

***

The next few days are filled with small acts of penitence: a cup of coffee on the bedside table when Tony wakes, a sandwich in the workshop, a completed report for a day-old mishap. It’s on Thursday that Tony’s heart finally softens. Over nothing, really, just a small doodle on his desk. He realizes, in that moment, that of all his achievements, perhaps learning to understand Steve Rogers should rank highest. Right up there with being understood by him, too.

Tony’s lying in bed, reading a report on his tablet, when Steve peeks in.

“Hey.” He sounds tentative.

Tony sighs, sets his tablet aside, and takes off his glasses. “Well, come in.”

Steve’s barely able to hide his grin, and nearly bowls Tony over when he hugs him. “Hi,” Steve says, burying his nose against Tony’s neck.

“Hello to you too, you overgrown labrador,” Tony laughs, pushing Steve away a little lest he be crushed under all combined weight of supersoldier and three bowls of pasta that Clint prepared for dinner.

“I missed you,” Steve says, hugging Tony closer to him. He looks up at Tony, resting his chin right on Tony’s sternum. “Was that our first fight?”

Tony snorts. “Unlikely to be our last,” he says.

“Hey,” Steve chides, leaning up and brushing Tony’s nose with his. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true. Anyway,” Tony leans closer, brushes their lips together. “Make it up to me.”

Steve arches an eyebrow.

“Don’t start,” Tony warns.

Steve huffs out a laugh, tips them over until they’re lying down, and makes it up to him.

***

As a man of science, it behooves Tony to conduct experiments and to test hypotheses.

First, identify the problem.

Second, conduct research.

Third, develop a hypothesis: follow if / then structure.

Fourth, test through experiments: ensure factors are varied one at a time.

Fifth and final, draw a conclusion.

Tony’s tapping the tip of a screwdriver against his bottom lip as he thinks, and then two strong arms wrap around his waist and just like that, the problem has identified itself.

(One frustrating blind spot in Tony’s life: relationships. Which isn’t to say he hasn’t tried to make sense of them, sped read through self-help books and trawled through Reddit. Unlike everything else, research pales in comparison to experience, and there’s only so much he can do to make sure this one precious thing in his life is perfect.)

“Busy?” Steve presses a small kiss on the back of Tony’s neck. Tony can barely suppress a shiver.

He wants to say, I was, until you showed up. It doesn’t just apply to this moment. That fact shouldn’t hurt.

Instead, Tony says: “Yeah, kinda.”

“Okay,” Steve says easily, pulling away. He comes back to press a quick kiss to Tony’s cheek. “See you later?”

“Yup,” Tony says, and okay. Maybe he needs to spend a day or two really figuring out who the problem is, here. (It’s him. He knows this. He’s always the problem.)

 Two days later, Tony settles on having to review related literature. In this case, this means sitting alone in the workshop as he relives every moment when Steve was distracted. Was that a sign? In a brief moment of clarity, Tony asks: “Fri, am I crazy?”

“Signs point to no, boss. But I can pull up recent results on the search engines?”

“I’d rather not hear what the general public thinks, thanks,” Tony says, sighing. He rests his face in his hands. It’s not like he meant to think of this—what is wrong with his brain, that the intrusive thoughts come in the form of the few moments he’d asked Steve what was on his mind, only to be brushed off?

What did that mean?

Did it matter?

Step three: if that was a sign, then there was a problem.

If that wasn’t a sign, then there wasn’t a problem.

If Tony didn’t figure this out, then there would definitely be a problem.

This isn’t how a hypothesis is meant to sound. Tony’s a terrible scientist.

“Fri, call Bruce.”

“Tony?” Bruce’s voice is rough. He sounds annoyed.

“Hey, seven PhDs, how do I form a proper hypothesis?”

“Fuck you, Stark.” The line clicks off.

Tony turns his wrist, checks his watch. Three AM? Figures.

He stretches out his back. “Friday,” he says, standing up. “The search functions for Barnes.”

“On it, boss.”

“Atta girl.”

***

Try as Tony might—and he’s trying, which in itself feels like a failure, because Tony stark does or does not and there is no need to attempt—he feels like something has shifted between them, and he doesn’t know how to fix it.

Maybe he’s just making it all up in his head. That’s the easy solution, isn’t it? And that’s usually the answer: start with the easiest answer and work your way up. He can already see Natasha rolling her eyes at him. Maybe the solution is to stop treating your relationship like it’s quantum theory.

Steve’s hand is on his lower back, steering him inside a restaurant. He thinks only of what Steve said, all those weeks ago: I had to do it myself.

Tony wants to argue, right this moment. But how can he? It’s awful that they can be so alike. The only reason he keeps his mouth shut is because he knows that Tony’s used that argument before. Maybe this is growth, to know when to back down from a fight. Or to avoid one totally.

Steve reaches over the table, brushes his fingers over Tony’s wrist. “You okay?”

There are a lot of answers to that. Tony settles on the truth. “Not really.”

Steve’s brow creases with worry. “What’s wrong?”

Again: an infinite multiverse of answers to answer a question that simple. With this, Tony does struggle for a moment, and the next words are much harder to say—they almost feel caught in his throat, like a lump of meat. “I don’t know.”

“You can tell me anything, you know,” Steve says gently. So gentle, it almost breaks him; Tony doesn’t deserve this. Steve doesn’t deserve this.

“I know,” Tony says, and this is him lying through his teeth, and this is what he’s good at, and maybe this is why he’ll never know how relationships are. It’s a trust issue, probably. He doesn’t know if the issue is with Steve, or with himself. “Don’t worry about it.”

Tony tries harder, now: smiles more, eats with gusto. He knocks Steve’s thigh with his knee, looks up at him from under his lashes. This is what life is like for Tony Stark: it’s acting. He knows the approximations to get his point across. As their evening goes on, the small wrinkle on Steve’s forehead smooths out, and maybe Tony wishes he wasn’t so good at pretending.

Maybe he wishes that Steve read him better.

***

The moment of epiphany is often described as transcendental.

This one hits like a ton of bricks—literally, because Tony does know what that feels like, and the suit is shock proof, sure, but that shit still fucking hurts, and even in moments of epiphany, somehow he still manages to go off on a tangent. The point remains: Steve’s hand is on his hip, and they’re in bed, and epiphanies usually equate clarity, peace.

Tony freezes up.

“Tony?” Steve murmurs, sliding his hand up Tony’s side.

“I’m sorry,” Tony says, sitting up. “I know I’m being difficult.”

“I didn’t say you were.” Steve sits up beside him, rests his hand on Tony’s shoulder, and turns Tony to look at him. “Who said you were being difficult?”

“Me, I’m saying it,” Tony says. Panic is beginning to bubble in his belly, slowly rising up his throat. Typical of him to mistake a eureka moment with a panic attack. Par for the fucking course for Tony Stark. “I’m being difficult right now.”

“No you’re not,” Steve says, rubbing up and down his arms. “Tony. Look at me.”

Tony breathes out through his mouth, then in through his nose. Steve tips his chin up and meets his gaze.

“Here are the variables,” Tony breathes out, is afraid of what he’ll say next, his brain is fogged over and full of static. “I love you, and I don’t know what to do with that.”

Steve takes a deep breath, takes Tony’s face in his hands. “Here’s a constant,” he whispers, breath warm on Tony’s cheek. “I love you. I love you. You, Tony Stark. I love you.” He kisses Tony, hard and close lipped, more aggressive reminder than affection.

“Okay,” Tony says, because there’s a wild part of him that still thinks—there was a problem, there was a problem and if this is love, then what comes next? If this is constant, then what variable will arrive to change all of that?

Steve kisses Tony again, almost desperate, this time. “Is this about Bucky?” Tony sucks in a breath at the question, horrified at being discovered. Steve hums, then he runs one hand down Tony’s back, up his arm, down his side. A reminder of his presence. Tony is suddenly grateful for it.

“And if it is?” he murmurs.

“Tony,” and somehow, Steve sounds fond, which throws a wrench in this whole debacle, and deep in the recesses of Tony’s brain, rationality begins to take root. “He’s my best friend. You’re the love of my life.”

Tony breathes.

“Did you hear me? You. You’re the love of my life. Please don’t make me compare,” Steve huffs out a small laugh, and it warms Tony all over, like sunshine peeking through the clouds after a strong rain. “And maybe you don’t believe me just yet,” Steve touches their foreheads together, then rubs his nose against Tony’s, the affection plain and chaste. It makes Tony feel more loved than he’s ever felt in his life—not that there were many moments to compare against, but still.

“I feel a little crazy,” Tony says, finding it in himself to smile up at Steve.

“A little crazy in love?” Steve asks, grinning.

“I can’t believe you just made a Beyonce reference. In the middle of my panic attack.”

Steve bites his bottom lip, a poor attempt at stopping himself from laughing. Tony flicks his forehead. “Say it again,” Tony says, and his smile still feels a little wobbly, but it’s a step.

“Crazy in Love?” Steve asks, pulling Tony close and wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist.

It’s an odd angle, and eventually Steve shifts to lift Tony up onto his lap. “Ass,” Tony says. “You know what I meant.”

Steve smiles again, right before pressing a kiss to Tony’s shoulder. “Step one,” he says. “The problem is you’re afraid I don’t love you. Step two: find out how to show you that I do.” He pauses, and Tony feels breathless as he presses another kiss to Tony’s bare skin. “Step three. Hypothesis? If I show Tony I love him all the time, then eventually he’ll believe me.”

“Sounds like a shaky hypothesis,” Tony says, but his voice quivers a little as he says it. He can’t explain how he feels, other than warm in Steve’s embrace.

Steve tuts. “Step four, experimentation. Small gestures, date nights.” Steve rubs Tony’s back as he speaks, and stops to tilt Tony’s head up to face him. “Am I getting this right?”

Tony smiles. “I don’t know, what’s the conclusion?”

Steve wraps his arms around Tony’s waist once more. “You’re here. I’m here. I love you.” He leans up, brushes their lips together. “Is that enough?”

[aneverlandboi]

A Belated Birthday

From: Ned [0.01am]

happy birthday dude!!

From: Ned [0.23am]

I can’t believe ur asleep!

From: MJ [2.35am]

Happy birthday, dork. I’ll give you your present tomorrow x

From: MJ [2.35am]

well, today x

From: MJ [2.37am]

I guess you’re asleep. Night xx

From: Ned [8.43am]

hey where r u?

From: Ned [8.49am]

ur going to be late on ur birthday?

From: MJ [8.50am]

Let me guess. Missed the bus? Let me know when you’ll be here x

From: MJ [9.00am]

When you can. Don’t text and swing!

From: Ned [9.00am]

dude, we’re waiting for you??

From: MJ [9.01am]

Also try not to get hit by a car x

Missed Call From: Ned [9.10am]

Missed Call From: MJ [9.11am]

From: MJ [9.20am]

Okay, you’re officially late. Not that Harrington is surprised.

From: MJ [9.20am]

That felt harsh, esp considering its your birthday. Sorry xx

From: MJ [9.22am]

Are you okay?x

From: MJ [9.46am]

If you don’t message one of us soon, we’ll contact May!

From: Ned [9.52am]

are you okay??? has something happened????? pls message me!!

From: MJ [10.34am]

Not that you can’t take care of yourself, but you’re not answering and I’m getting concerned. Gonna get Ned to check w May if ur okay. Don’t blame me if she spills some embarrassing secretxx

Peter scrolled through the stream of messages on his phone, mood souring with every passing second. The nurses at the hospital hadn’t been willing to let him even look at his phone for hours after he’d been brought in, even with it buzzing almost incessantly. Luckily, with a police escort and a couple of agents from SHIELD, he’d skipped the queue, and after a few pointed comments, the doctors had managed to patch him up without removing his mask, although Peter guessed they now knew he was white and skinny, and that they could probably figure out his rough age from, like, body proportions and stuff. Although ‘Spider-Man is young white man’ probably wouldn’t be the biggest reveal in the world. That was only, like, one in six million people, or something.

His phone buzzed again. A news report.

Because you follow ‘Spider-Man’ in the News:

The Daily Bugle: Spider-Man hospitalised after brawl with crime boss Kingpin.

Well, it wasn’t a surprise that the news had gotten out. Plenty of people had seen him get thrown out of a twenty-third-story window, and then there were the kind bystanders who called an ambulance when he’d crashed onto the pavement from about the tenth floor when his webbing snapped. Then there were the medics, and everyone at the hospital who had seen him come in with police and SHIELD escorts, who weren’t exactly subtle, even if his suit had been covered up. It was a miracle it had taken this long for the news to be released!

Incoming Call From: MJ

Peter hit answer and held the phone against his head with his shoulder.

“Peter?!” MJ asked as soon as the call connected, “Are you okay?”

Peter thought for a moment and swallowed. The drugs were already wearing off, but his tongue still felt a bit heavy.

“I’m okay, I suppose,” he answered vaguely, trying not to worry her, “Just had a bit of trouble on patrol.”

“You got thrown out of a window, dude!” Ned’s voice was slightly muffled. It took Peter a moment to realise he was on speakerphone.

“Where are you guys?” he asked nervously. He didn’t want to accidentally mention Spider-Man if they were sat in the middle of the cafeteria.

“We’re bunking off school to come see you,” Ned said lightly, “We’re in the park a block from school waiting for a bus to Manhattan.”

Peter sighed, then realised he was chewing on his lip.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, guys,” Peter said uncertainly, “There’s a lot of news cameras outside the door, so you guys wouldn’t be able to get in without being seen, and then everyone would be harassing you guys to see if you know who I am.”

“We could climb in the window,” MJ said suddenly. Peter wasn’t entirely sure if she was joking. “You could lower some webbing, and we could climb up it. Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your webbing.”

Peter laughed at that, then, pulling his mask down over his face, leant to look out the window. He couldn’t see much – he could only lean so far without risking pulling over the heart-monitor he was attached to – but he could definitely see some figures camping outside, cameras aimed at the window. He considered waving to them, or maybe flipping them off, but the part of him that had actually paid attention during the super-hero PR crash course with Miss Potts made him reconsider.

“Unfortunately, I’ve got some creeps aiming cameras at my window, so you’d be spotted anyway.”

He heard MJ sigh in irritation and found himself smiling slightly, in spite of himself. It was good to feel wanted.

“Well, this isn’t exactly the birthday celebration I had planned.”

Peter sat back, making sure he was clear of the window before pulling his mask up and replying.

“You had something planned?” Peter asked, feeling a flash of guilt. If he’d managed to beat Kingpin, or even if he’d just been more cautious and fled when the flash-bangs went off, none of this would have happened.

“No,”MJ said hurriedly. Peter grinned. “Quick, Ned, cancel the marching band!”

Again, Peter found himself laughing, clutching his side to avoid splitting the stitching. He could only thank God for his enhanced regeneration. He’d probably end up getting out of hospital by tomorrow, assuming the doctors didn’t try and cut him up to figure out how he worked. Not that he was paranoid about men in white coats – and women, for that matter, since MJ would kill him if he even internally implied that women couldn’t be doctors, and they were just as scary when they were dissecting you. But again, not that he was paranoid, just… sensibly wary.

“But seriously, guys. I’m already getting better. I’ll probably be out of here first thing tomorrow, if I can get through the crowd of reporters.”

“You could always climb out the window,” MJ pointed out, “Though if you were going to do that, you don’t need to wait to get discharged. You could just sneak out at night and go home.”

Peter’s mind immediately came up with an alternative arrangement – more of a daydream, really – which had him sneaking out, turning up at MJ’s window at night and… well, staying the night was a pretty good euphemism. Before he could get properly distracted by the idea, a knock at the door startled him.

“I’ve got to go,” Peter said hurriedly, already pulling his mask down, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

“Okay, b–” Ned’s goodbye became distant as MJ turned off speakerphone.

“See you tomorrow, dork. Try not to break any more bones.”

Peter grinned.

“I’ll try. Love you.”

He hit the button to end the call, took a breath, then called out to whoever was stood outside. The door opened and Happy walked in alongside the doctor that had been treating Peter.

“Hey, Happy. Doc,” Peter said in greeting, nodding to the two of them.

“How are you feeling, uh, Spider-Man?” Happy asked. Peter shrugged.

“Like I got thrown out of a twenty-third-story window last night.”

“I must say,” the doctor said, looking over Peter’s medical chart with a raised eyebrow, “You’ve recuperated a lot quicker than I’d have expected. Even simply surviving fall like that is impressive, but you’re already healing up quite nicely.”

Peter nodded.

“Yeah, uh, enhanced regeneration,” he said wryly, “I heal up really quickly.”

The doctor raised his other eyebrow, then nodded. Peter supposed that when you were dealing with super-heroes, doctors just got used to hearing things like that.

“So,” Peter said, glancing between the two of them, “gimme the verdict, doc. When do you think I’ll be out of here?”

On the plus side, the doctors did not, in fact, cut Peter up and figure out how he worked. On the downside, he was kept for a lot longer than he’d intended. Peter supposed it was something about the idea that “this person just got thrown out of a twenty-third story window” that made doctors less willing to release said person, even if the person was actually medically fit to be discharged. So it was already 11pm the day after his birthday before Peter was officially discharged, herded past the throng of reporters and down a corridor by SHIELD agents, plunked inside the oh-so-subtle posh black sedans with heavily tinted window that government agents seemed to use, and driven through numerous back-alleys in a convoy of identical cars. SHIELD, and Fury in particular, seemed very determined to prevent any possibility of Peter’s identity being leaked.

Speaking of Fury…

“So, Parker.”

“Mister Fury.”

There was a moment’s silence as Peter tried to decide where to look on Fury’s face. It was a question he still hadn’t properly answered, even after a number of meetings with the director. His working eye? Or did that make a thing out of his missing eye? His nose? Or was that weird? Staring at his lips was definitelyweird. It was one advantage of the mask, that Fury didn’t know Peter was testing out looking at different parts of his face.

“What happened with Kingpin?” Fury asked, looking at Peter with what the boy assumed was his version of disappointment. It didn’t look particularly different to his usual expression.

“His people had a lot more weapons than I’d expected,” Peter admitted, “The flash-bangs took me by surprise.”

Fury frowned.

“And the machine-gun turrets hidden in the ceiling were a nice touch,” Peter added, a little defensively.

“Stark tech?” Fury guessed. Peter shrugged.

“I didn’t pay that much attention to the branding while they were shooting at me, but I’d say so.”

“How the hell did Kingpin get his hands on Stark tech?”

Peter was about to answer when he realised it was probably a rhetorical question.

“I’ll ask him next time I – ”

“No,” Fury said firmly, “Keep out of Kingpin’s way.”

Peter blinked in surprise.

“We’ll put eyes on him and wait until he gets more tech. Then we can find out where he gets it from…”

“And cut off a source of heavy weaponry,” Peter finished, nodding. “Smart plan.”

“I know,” Fury said flatly, “That’s why I came up with it.”

Peter shut his mouth.

“And if by some miracle it’s not Beck’s people, the source might be able to get into contact with them.”

Peter nodded, biting his tongue from saying something else obvious.

The car stopped suddenly.

“This is your stop.”

Peter leant over to look out the window.

“This is Brooklyn,” Peter corrected, “I’m over in Queens.”

He turned back to see Fury looking at him, expression blank.

“Get out the car, Parker.”

Peter got out the car.

It wasn’t that Peter had been planning on going to MJ’s house that evening, but since Fury had dropped him off in Brooklyn, and her house was pretty much on the way to his if you were heading into Queens from that direction, it kind of ended up with Peter perched on a lamppost opposite her house anyway. He could pop in, say hi, then head back and get a stern talking-to from May about the importance of not being thrown out of windows. Or, Peter realised with a flash of inspiration, he could put off the lecture for a little longer and stay the night at MJ’s… Share a bed with his girlfriend, or get shouted at by his aunt. It was a really tough decision to make. Honestly, he was torn.

The light in MJ’s room flickered on, and Peter saw her silhouette appear at the window. Then the window slid open. The decision had really been made for him, in that case, because it would just be ungentlemanly to leave a lady at her window in the cold night.

Sure, Peter had been perched outside her window for a good half an hour waiting for just that excuse, and then – because his legs were aching and he was quickly getting bored of waiting – he’d texted her to get her to come to the window, but that was all really neither here nor there, and he could just not mention that bit to May when he saw her in the morning. Or he could just head straight to school and put the lecture off for another day! That was much better.

[coffee-obsessed-writer]

Pride and Joy

A/N: Part 7 in the “Hunting for Home” Series. 

Dean Winchester x Reader; Sam x Charlie x OFC (friendly)

Song: Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughn

Each chapter includes a song and dialogue prompt when requested.

Summary: The wait is on to see if her forgetful nature will prove Iris’ Prophecy to come true. In the meantime, Dean and Sam get a call for help from Charlie on a case that leaves her stumped. Deciding to take Iris on her first hunt, the whole lot heads out for what was supposed to be a routine job, but ultimately has serious consequences. Could an old friend be behind some of the goings on?

Warnings: Canon Divergence, mild violence, fluff, 

Words: 6403

Everything Tags: @his-paradox @sorenmarie87  @lefthologramdeer @grace-for-sale  @redm81 @becs-bunker  @docharleythegeekqueen

SPN Tags: @soythedemonqueen  @kazosa @lucifer-in-leather  @perseusandmedusa @tiquismiquis  @mrsbarnes-rogers @yorkeylover @through-thesilver-lining @illysamorgan @fictionalabyss   @gettinjoyful @auntsalgal  @stuckupstucky @miss-spnm0mma

“It’s been more than three weeks,” Iris paused, looked around to be sure no one was eavesdropping, “are you ever going to find out?”

You looked up from the book in front of you and gave her an exasperated expression. “Iris, three weeks isn’t nearly enough time. It’s usually a good month before you can take a test and get an accurate response.”

Iris sat back in a huff and crossed her arms over her chest. “This is torture, you know?”

“Then don’t think about it,” you said, not taking your eyes off the book. “I’m not.”

“Then you’re insane. Because it’s all I can think about and it’s not even my baby.”

“Will you please keep your voice down!?” you reprimanded. Now it was your turn to scan the bunker for any curious ears. Luckily the boys were off doing their own thing while you and Iris were taking on the task of research.

“Maybe I should just go home, I only seem to be irritating you lately,” she whined and sat back in her chair, hands clasped worriedly in her lap.

You closed the book and leaned on it, giving her an apologetic half smile.

“Iris, I’m sorry. I know I’ve been snippy lately. I am nervous, ok? I am petrified of being pregnant. Not only because of what you saw but the whole idea of pregnancy and a family was never really on my to-do list. Please, stay. We still have a lot to figure out and I really do need your help.”

“But you love him, don’t you?” she continued, ignoring the last part of what you said. “Why wouldn’t you want to start a family?”

“Yes,” you smiled wistfully, “I love Dean, very much. But our lives are not fit to raise children. No hunters I know, who have kids, wind up with their happy ending.”

“You could stop hunting,” Iris shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like the world will stop rotating if you stop hunting.”

“It’s not that simple. Hunting isn’t just something you do. It’s who you are. Being a hunter is a calling… a way of life. It's accepting that your life comes second to others most of the time. That your path is to monitor the things that go bump in the night. Parents who are also hunters will leave their kids behind well before they should. It’s happened to all of us.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, though her tone was less than sympathetic. “I guess I just don’t understand. I mean, you were raised in the life, I assume… why follow in their footsteps. Why not go to school, get a degree? Make a new path?”

“Because you will always end up getting sucked back in,” Sam said from behind you as he entered the room. “Trust me. I speak from experience.”

Iris looked concerned but didn’t continue to press the issue. “I’m gonna go grab something to eat.” She quietly got up and walked slowly from the room lost somewhere deep in thought. Sam watched her go and turned to you before heading to the archives.

“What’s up with her?” he asked, “She trying to convince you to quit hunting?”

“No, just curious as to why we do it and don’t stop. You know, considering the price of it all.”

It was Sam’s turn to be quiet now. He rifled through a few of the drawers, found what he was looking for, but didn’t close it right away. Instead, he leaned against the cabinet and asked, “Why do you keep doing it?”

“Same reason you do, Sam. Because we aren’t fit to do anything else.”

Sam’s brow furrowed as he considered your answer. Closing the drawer, he continued down into the library to retrieve the books he needed. You assumed the conversation was over and went back to the book that sat before you. But your mind couldn’t concentrate on research. You felt the need to be proactive; to go and hunt… something.

“Hey, Sam, any idea where that big brother of yours got off to?” you asked, sliding the large text away from you.

“Garage I think. Probably doing something to the car.”

“As long as it’s his car and not mine… Blanche is a very finicky girl. Doesn’t like just anyone touching her.”

Sam just shook his head. His attention was diverted by his cell phone buzzing in his pocket, and you noticed his eyes light up when he saw the caller.

“Charlie! Yeah, good. How’s it going?” he answered, his voice drifting off to nothing as he headed away to take the call.

You took this chance to leave quietly and go find Dean.

 You found him in the garage, his legs sticking out from beneath the Impala. The music was playing loud, and even obscured by the car, you could hear him singing along. Leaning against the door, you just watched him for a minute or two. Your hand absently floated down to your abdomen and wondered, if you were really growing a body snatcher. You tried to imagine co-parenting with Dean, and you kept coming back to the same conclusion, there’s just no way it could work…

Your train of thought was interrupted by Dean sliding out from beneath the car. He didn’t see you right away; nor did he stop singing. His voice mixed with that of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s made you smile. Bopping his head along and sliding across the garage floor to where his tools were, Dean kept on grooving, completely unaware of your presence.

 “Yeah I love my baby, heart and soul Love like ours won't never grow old…

She's my sweet little thang, she's my pride and joy She's my sweet little baby, I'm her little lover boy”

 “Are you singing about me or are you singing about your car?” you asked, unable to help yourself.

Dean whirled around on one boot heel, smiling, but completely embarrassed that he was caught mid-concert.

“Heyyyy… babe. What, uh, whatcha doing in here? Thought you and Iris were hitting the books.” He walked over and kissed you sweetly, most likely hoping you would forget what you saw when you had come in.

“We were. She needed a break, and I needed… something else.”

Dean raised his brows suggestively and gave you a knowing wink. “Gimme five minutes to get cleaned up and—”

“Ugh, no, perv. Well, at least night right now,” you laughed and playfully hit his chest. “But hold that thought for later.”

Frustrated, Dean sighed. You, trying not to bust out laughing at the pout now apparent on his face, tried to ignore it. “Actually, I need to kill something. Let’s find a hunt, or, I don’t know—there’s gotta be something that needs killing, right?”

“I got nothing right now. Sorry, sweetheart. What’s going on? Why the need to kill something?”

“Because we’ve been sitting around this place for a few weeks. We promised Iris a hunt before she headed home, and I think she’s ready to go. Besides, I miss being on the road. I love it here, you know that, but sometimes—”

“Its fine, I get it. I’ve been there, trust me. But do you think she’s really ready? It’s only been a few weeks.”

“Were you ready for your first hunt?” you asked, as Dean leaned against the other side of the door frame facing you.

“I guess not. Not really. But I certainly had more than three weeks experience and plenty of knowledge drilled into my head by the old man before I picked up a machete and went after something.”

“Well, Winchester, I say she’s ready. I’ll take responsibility for her. I think it’s time we give that girl a machete and point her in the right direction. It’s why she stayed, after all. She wanted to be prepared if something should come after her again.”

Dean scowled and pushed off the frame. Wiping the grease from his hands, he slowly made his way back to the Impala. Sliding the dolly out of the way, he closed up the toolbox and went about cleaning up the garage. You knew he was mulling it over and gave him the time to consider what you said. Not to mention that simply watching Dean walk around a room was a sight you could never tire of.

“I mean, I guess—”

“Hey,” Sam called out from just outside the entrance. “Charlie called. She’s got a case for us.”

You looked over at Dean and shrugged. “Guess that solves it, huh?”

  You and Iris rode in Blanche, while Sam and Dean led the way in the Impala. On the four-hour drive to meet Charlie, you broke down the case and tried to give her as many tips, and valuable information as you could.

“Iron is your friend here. Salt, too. Ghosts aren’t exactly hard to dispel,” you said, “but they can be a real pain in the ass if you can’t find their bones or the objects they’re attached too.”

“To burn? Right?”

“Yup, to burn.”

Iris nodded and took out the small notebook she’d been carrying around. You glanced over at her, scribbling away in the dimly lit interior; a hint of a smile touching your lips.

“You know, Sam and Dean’s dad kept a journal. Dean told me about it a while back. They grew up in the life, but their dad didn’t. Even though he was a Men of Letters Legacy, he didn’t know anything about this world ‘til after their mom died. Then he started the journal to track everything he learned.”

“And she was a hunter…” Iris mumbled more than asked.

“She was, yeah.”

“And how did she die, again?”

“Painfully,” you said and turned the wheel to follow the Impala into the parking lot of a small diner. “A demon, Azazel, he killed her. John made it his mission to kill Azazel.”

“Did he?”

You tilted your head and gave her a knowing look. “What do you think?”

“I think their dad is dead.”

“Right. He died, saving Dean. Dean was the one who killed the demon in the end.”

You turned off the engine and turned to face Iris who was again scribbling in her notebook. “Iris, I need to be sure this is what you want. This life is no joke, and while I doubt you’ll be digging for cases, I want to be sure that you want to do this before we involve you any further.”

“Y/N, I appreciate that, but I am ready. I need to do this before I try and go back home. I want to know how to protect myself and my family.”

You touched her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Alright then, here we go.”

 No one else picked up on it, but you saw Iris’ face light up when she saw Charlie. You had only met Charlie twice before this, both times were brief, but you liked her a lot and could easily see why the boys loved when she came around.

Iris looked as if she’d seen an angel; a good one, not the dicks you were used to dealing with. Her dark eyes sparkled like you hadn’t seen before and it finally made sense as to why Iris never mentioned a boyfriend or showed any interest in Sam (even though you may have suggested it a few times).

Dean made the formal introductions, Iris simply nodding in the redhead’s direction with a goofy smile as she shook her hand. Sam watched it unfold, too, and you could tell he was just as amused at Iris’ instant crush.

“Let’s eat, I’m starving,” Charlie said after hugging you hello. “I got the corner booth, so we could talk. Oh, Dean, the pie here… you have to—”

“Already on it,” he said starring dreamily into the dessert case, lightly biting his bottom lip. “I see a slice of blueberry with my name all over it.”

Once you were sat in the booth, food and coffee ordered, Charlie broke down the specifics of the case. A newly renovated house in town had gone through five buyers in the span of two years. At least one family member from each group that had bought it died on the premises. The local paper did a small blurb on the 100-year-old restored estate and that’s where Charlie caught the case.

“Honestly, I can’t find any reason for the haunting. If, that’s what it is,” Charlie explained and passed Sam the newspaper clipping.

“If?” Dean asked before shoveling a piece of pie in his mouth.

“I’m open to possibilities Dean. I have no solid proof it’s a haunting. But I don’t know what else it could be. Either way, there is something that keeps killing the people that move into that house. That’s why I called Sam. Thought you guys might have a different take on it.”

“Well, first things first. Let’s finish our pie, then head on over. Place empty?”

Charlie nodded.

“Alright then, we start at the empty house.”

  You and Iris were once again following the Impala. From the corner of your eye you could see her stealing glances at you, wanting to say something but kept stopping herself. Even though you had a feeling what it was, you let her debate on it a bit longer before finally just saying it for her.

“You like Charlie, huh?”

“How did—I mean. Damn. That obvious?”

“A little. At least to me.”

“She’s so pretty. Honestly the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen,” Iris mused wistfully as she watched the darkened streets and scenery go by. “I’ve never had a boyfriend or girlfriend. My parents wouldn’t let me date. Especially not a girl.”

“Why?”

“They’re from the old country. Dating didn’t happen until it was a marriage arrangement, and they are tolerable, but wouldn’t stand for their daughter to date or marry a woman.”

You wanted to say something, offer her a bit of comfort, but you saw Dean pulling off on the side of the road and followed.

“I’m sorry, Iris. I can’t imagine having to contend with that. But just know this… you are safe with us, there’s zero judgment here. Plus, Charlie likes girls better too. You absolutely have a chance. But, more on that later.”

You winked at her and a giant grin spread across her face. “Now, it’s time to go to work.”

With your entire entourage out of the cars, you grabbed the necessary equipment from the trunks and made your way to the back of the house. Sam picked the backdoor lock, while Dean stood watch. Not that there was any harm of being spotted, the closest neighbor was more than a mile away. The slightest wave of dizziness hit you, making you lean on Iris for support.

She looked at you curiously, “You alright?” she whispered.

You nodded and steadied yourself. Just as you did, Sam got the door open and you all went inside. Dean paused as he entered the house and lightly grabbed your shoulder.

“You look green. You ok?”

“Yeah. Maybe bad chow at the diner. I’m fine.”

He cradled the back of your hair and left a kiss on the top of your head. “Just be careful.”

You nodded and gave him a wan smile before continuing to investigate.

The main foyer was grandiose in size and décor. Even for it being remodeled recently, there were ornate gold fixtures that were more akin to something from the Victorian era, than modern day. A mix of pinks and soft greens were splashed through the paintings and curtains giving the room a pastel effect that seemed out of place.

A large, sweeping staircase led to at least two more levels that you could see, with a two-tier balcony overlooking the foyer. The air was heavy and ominous, and you were clearly not the only one to feel it. Iris stood close to you, shaking, but not shying away from whatever lay ahead. In the side of the staircase was a small door; the kind that would open to a closet or storage area.

Sam opened it cautiously and saw that it led to another set of stairs that descended to the basement.

Dean and Sam shared a silent exchange. They did a quick round of rock, paper, scissors; Dean lost, then hung his head in defeat.  

“Alright. Sam, you and Charlie head up to the second floor. Y/N, why don’t you take Iris to the third floor and start there. I’ll take the demonic door to Narnia. Let’s see what we can find and then report back.”

Everyone split off to their assigned locations and started looking around for what could be causing the trouble. An hour passed, because of the house’s size, you and Iris had only made it through half of the third story rooms. In the middle of the hallway, there was another smaller, oddly shaped door.

Giving it a tug, you realized it was locked. “A locked room always has something to tell you,” you said to Iris before taking a step back. Raising your foot, you gave it a good kick, but it didn’t budge.

“Let me try,” Iris said and approached the door. From her back pocket, she pulled out a lockpick set. Despite her shaky hands, she managed to get it open within several minutes time, leaving you more than a little impressed.

“Damn, Iris. You do learn fast,” you chuckled; a feeling of pride washing over you.

You drew your gun from your rear pocket and held it, along with your flashlight up to both see and prepare to defend yourself.

“Please tell me that gun is loaded with something other than bullets. You can’t really kill what is already dead.”

You stopped, turned to look at her and rolled your eyes. “Seriously? Give me a little credit. Bullets made with rock salt. It won’t get rid of a ghost, but it will get them off your ass for a bit.”

Carefully climbing the stairs, you could feel the temperature drop considerably. Enough that both you and Iris could see the breath expelling from your mouths.

“Stay close,” you whispered as you reached the landing and surveyed the attic.

The room was large, but sparse in what contained. A few pieces of furniture covered with dusty linens, an assortment of boxes in one corner and the broken remnants of a carousel horse.

Movement from the shadows behind the horse caught your eye and you motioned for Iris to stop. There was no noise, and it felt like no air in the room. Though you could still feel the chill, it was hard to breathe, like something was sucking the air from the atmosphere. All the hair on your arms and neck began to stand at attention, and a light buzzing began in your ears.

“Iris,” you said as calmly as possible, though it was a struggle, “go… go get the others, now.”

 Dean was emerging from the basement when he first heard Iris’ frantic call. He rushed into the foyer as she was bounding down the steps two-by-two and falling into him.

“What? What is it?!” he asked, holding her up by both shoulders. “Where’s Y/N?!”

Iris was breathless, trying to explain through gasps of much-needed air. “She’s… up… stairs… attic… door…”

“Dammit,” Dean cursed under his breath. “Here, sit. I gotta go up –”

“What happened?” Sam called down from the second-floor balcony. “She alright?”

“Sam, Y/N is in the attic, go see—”

A sound of wood breaking caused all the conversation to stop. Everyone looked up at the same time to see your body falling from the third-floor landing. Splintered pieces of wood from the railing reigned down beside you. Your back was racing towards the floor, but for Dean, everything moved in slow motion.

His body was paralyzed as he saw your arms flailing, feet scrambling to try and turn, to land face down so maybe you could brace yourself. But you couldn’t. Your body hit the ground with a sickening thud.

Dean was at your side within a second, checking for any signs of life he could find. Anything that would tell him you were alright.

“No... no, no, baby, come on…” he pleaded, tears filling his eyes while he lifted your head to try and stop the blood that was now all over his hands.

He felt for a pulse. It was there, weak, but there. Sam and Charlie were standing over you, Iris crouched on the ground, praying for a miracle. Time was of the essence, but still, everything was moving in a slowed down state.

“We need to get her to a hospital. NOW!” he barked, which seemed to kick everything back into motion.

Charlie hurriedly took off the button-down flannel she wore over her GamerGirl t-shirt and thrust it at Dean to use for pressure against the back of your head. He scooped you up as Sam rushed to get the front door open. Once back at the cars, Dean carefully laid you in the back seat of the Impala and motioned for Sam to drive. Iris and Charlie hopped in your car and followed close behind as Sam rushed you to the nearest hospital.

  There was a severe ache in your lower back. Anytime you tried to move, a ripple of searing pain tore through your head and down your neck. You were trying to wake up; you could feel your eyelids fluttering, doing their best to open.

Voices were muffled as if there were a thick layer of plastic or foam between you and the source. No idea how long you’d been struggling to wake up, you were tired but more than determined to open your eyes. You needed to see Dean, to be sure he was alright; you needed to tell him that you were alright.

The next time you tried to open them, they relented. You were drowsy, but you could see your surroundings after a minute or two adjusting to the room’s illumination. It wasn’t bright, just enough for you to make out the figure near your bed to be Dean.

The hospital room, and you knew it was that from the various beeping machines and horribly colored walls, was otherwise empty. Dean was asleep, his head fell to one side, hands clasped on his chest and lightly snoring.

You tried to speak, but your throat felt like you’d swallowed a bucket of sand. You moaned slightly as you tried to move, but it was enough to wake Dean from his nap.

The sight of you awake both elated and terrified him. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and leaned his elbows on your bed. Taking your hand that wasn’t stuck with an IV or attached to a wire, he raised it to his lips and kissed it before pressing it to his cheek.

“Welcome back,” he said roughly, his own voice still thick and full of exhaustion. “You gave me a hell of a scare, woman.”

You furrowed your brow and remembered how scratchy your throat felt. Looking at the pitcher of water, Dean took your cue and poured some into a cup, stuck in a straw and helped you take a sip. The water was blissfully cool on your tongue and helped clear up the dense taste of cotton laden throughout your mouth.

“Dean,” managed to rasp from your lips, but he just shushed you.

“Don’t try to talk. Just relax. I’m gonna get the doc, ok? She’s gonna want to know you’re awake.”

No, you wanted to scream, don’t go! But nothing came out. Instead, you shook your head slightly, despite the pain that it caused.

“I’ll be right back, promise,” he kissed your hand again and stepped out of the room.

Barely two minutes later he was back with your doctor, who was a very tall, leggy blonde and not at all what you expected. She introduced herself as Dr. Shari and curtly asked Dean to leave the room so she could give you an exam. He reluctantly complied but didn’t miss the opportunity to give her a dirty look as he left.

Once she performed her initial exam, which consisted of turning you on your side and hovering her hands over your back, she helped you get comfortable again and started asking questions.

“You took quite a fall,” she said, pulling up the chair beside your bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” you managed through the grit still lodged in your throat. “Tired.”

She leaned in closer to you, her amber eyes sparkling with mischief and an odd familiarity that you couldn’t quite place. “Makes sense. Do you remember anything about that day?”

You shook your head no.

“Do you know what today is?” she asked, making a little checkmark in her notes.

Again, you shook your head.

“To be expected. You hit your head severely when you landed, I assumed there would be some memory loss. You’ve been here for six days, Y/N. We were beginning to worry you wouldn’t wake up at all.”

“Six days?”

“Mhm. You also fracture some of your ribs, and an ankle, plus had bleeding on the brain. Thankfully they were able to stop it and there was no permanent damage. Of course, we’ll have to do some assessments, but right now, you and your baby’s prognosis—”

You felt your heart pounding and a lump form in your throat. Did she just say, “Baby?”

“You didn’t know? Best I could tell you’re about six weeks along. Honestly, I’m surprised it survived the fall. That must be a pretty strong little peanut M&M you got growing in there.”

There was something odd about her and her bedside manner, but the revelation of the pregnancy far outweighed the feeling gnawing at your gut.

“I’m six weeks pregnant?” you whispered more to yourself than to her.  But how was that possible? That meant you were pregnant before Crowley took you before Iris was even in your lives. The more you tried to wrap your mind around it, the more the pain radiated through your body.

“About that, yes. Would you like me to run the test again?” she asked with an air of indignance. “I will, but I assure you, you are pregnant.”

You shook your head in sheer disbelief and sighed shakily. The door to your room opened and Dean came back in loaded with an armful of snacks and drinks from the vending machine.

“Sorry to interrupt, thought you’d be done by now,” he said, grinning from ear to ear staring at you. “But, since you’re here, can she have this stuff? I mean, it can’t be any worse then what I saw wheeled by before.”

“We’re done. She’s going to be fine. Just needs to take it easy, heal those  bones and take care of every…thing.”

Dean furrowed his brow and looked confusedly between you and Dr. Shari. “Uh, what does that mean?”

“I’ll explain later,” you said, now eyeing the bottles of juice he’d brought you.

“Alright, I’ll leave you two to it. I’ll have them update your chart as far as your meals go and get you up and moving around in no time. We’ll try and get you out of here in the next day or so.”

When she was gone, Dean dumped all the snacks into his chair, leaving the cans of soda and juice on the nightstand. He sat beside you on the bed and caressed your cheek with his thumb.

Dean chuckled darkly; his face turned serious and pensive. “I really thought I lost you there for a minute. You can’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry, I wish I could tell you what happened… we were on a case, right?”

“Yeah. Turned out to be a poltergeist. Must have come after you once you sent Iris down to get us.”

“Iris… oh God, that’s right, she was with me! Is she alright? Did she get hurt?”

Dean smiled and tutted, “Shh, she’s fine, I promise. Sam took her and Charlie back to the house a couple of days ago and took care of it. Shouldn’t be hurting anyone anymore.”

Relief washed over you at knowing both Iris and Charlie were safe, and that no one else would die at the hands of that vengeful spirit.

“Dean, I need to tell you something,” you started, but a fit of dry coughs prevented you from talking. He got you the water and once you were done and dealing with the shards of pain it caused throughout your body, you drank it, much more greedily this time.

“Whatever it is, it can wait. Sam, Charlie, and Iris are here, they want to see you.”

“It can’t wait,” you said, feebly grabbing at his shirt before he could get up. “Dean, I--uh, I’m pregnant. From what the doc said, probably happened that night of our first date.”

Dean stared at you processing the information you just gave him. You didn’t know what to expect from him, but it certainly wasn’t laughing. He snorted a laugh or two through his nose at first, shaking his head in near disbelief. That soon turned to a full-on belly laugh where he couldn’t quite get out what he wanted to say.

“So, that night, Cas was right after all,” he tried to control his breathing and rubbed a hand over his stubbled cheek with a sigh of disbelief. “Pregnant? We’re--we’re gonna have a baby?” he had finally stopped laughing, but the grin remained on his face. It was hopeful and happy, making those cute little crinkles at the corner of his eyes appear.

“You’re not freaked out? I mean, with everything…”

Dean shook his head. “No, not anymore. After you got hurt, and I sat here watching you fight for your life, I prayed. I prayed harder than I ever had before, Y/N. I prayed for you to be alright, for us to have everything we ever wanted. If that meant throwing a kid into the mix, I told God I was ready. Cause, darlin’, if I do it with you, I can do anything.”

“Dean, this is going to be hard. Like, the hardest thing ever.”

“Eh, I don’t know. I think there have been a few things that were a bit harder… trying to put Lucifer in his cage. That was tough. Leviathans… yikes. Then there was the time—”

“Alright, I get it, smart ass.”

“No matter what it is, we can handle it. We got a team out there, you know. Sam, Charlie… hell, even Iris. They’re on our team. Cas, too. Whatever comes, we got this.”

Dean was confident in what he was promising you; it was written all over his face that he really believed what he was saying. You could also feel it; in his gaze, in his touch. If he could have faith in your ability to be parents, maybe you could too.

“You remember when you found me in the garage? Before we left?”

You nodded and smiled at the memory.

“I never did answer you…”

You furrowed your brow but couldn’t recall what you’d asked him.

“The song,” he said and moved closer to you. “You asked me if I was singing about you or the car.”

“Ohhh, right,” you snickered and remembered how cute he’d looked singing when he didn’t know anyone was watching.

“I was thinking about you. You really are my pride and joy. I’d do anything—” he paused and cleared his throat of the building emotion; smiling to cover up the intense feelings that were overwhelming him, “—anything for you.”

“Would you… sing it for me now?” you couldn’t help but ask and tease him a little in the process.”

“No,” he smiled and wagged a finger at you. “That’s where I draw the line. But, I can tell you that, I do love you, heart and soul. And, that a love like ours, will never grow old. You’re my sweet little baby, and I’m your—”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” you laughed, unable to bear to hear him speak any more of the lyrics with the face he was making. “Just for the record, I love you too.”

You could feel yourself healing just from him being there. The tension in your body began to lessen; even the pain that was present when you moved seemed to be diminishing as well. With Dean’s help, you sat up straighter in bed and felt your stomach rumble. Looking at the stash of snacks on the chair, you asked for him to open some of what he’d brought.

“I better get more, since there’s two of you now,” he teased as he handed you the bag of animal crackers. “Speaking of, do we tell everyone? I mean, is it too early?”

“I have no idea,” you said snatching the cookies from his hand. Your appetite was immediate and slightly ravenous. Trying to remember the doctor’s words, you ate them slowly, but you really wanted to just scarf the whole bag.

“I guess your exam went well?” he asked curiously, as he watched you tear into the bag of children’s cookies.

“Mhm, she said I’m healing well. A few broken bones, but otherwise great. Baby is strong and healthy.”

“Just never saw someone so hungry after being unconscious for almost a week.”

“I don’t know, I just know that after the exam she did on my back, I am feeling a lot better. Sore, and still tired, but I can move with minimal pain and I am hungry as hell.”

“Guess she’s got the magic touch, huh?” he said with a smile, but it wasn’t his real smile.

“Guess so. Hey, did you say the others were here? Grab them and let’s tell them the absolute insane news.”

“Yeah, alright,” Dean said, bending down to kiss you on the head. “I’ll be back.”

 Dean entered the hallway and found Sam, Iris, and Charlie talking lowly near the small waiting area. He raised his chin in a greeting and looked around for any people that may be within earshot.

“Hey,” he started and paused as a doctor passed by. “She’s up, and apparently very hungry. Good news, just a few fractured bones. Doc seems to think she could be out in a day or two.”

“What? That’s—that’s amazing,” Sam exclaimed looking between them. “A bit shocking, but amazing.”

Charlie examined Dean’s expression closely. “Something is up… what’s up?”

“I don’t know, but… she could barely move when she woke up. Couldn’t really talk. Pain was written all over her face. Doc comes in, kicks me out, and suddenly, she’s ready to walk on out of here and hit the nearest fast food joint.”

“Could you just be paranoid?” Iris asked. “I mean no offense, and it was a rough fall, but the human body can do some amazing things.”

“I appreciate your perspective, Iris, but in our world, when something seems fishy, its usually for good reason. There’s something very off about this, and that doctor. When we brought her in, they told us to expect the worse. Now, she’s ready to be discharged?”

“What could it be?” Sam asked, his mind racing through a million random facts on lore and monsters but coming up empty. “Who would want to secretly heal someone? I mean, other than angels—”

“Son of a bitch,” Dean mumbled and hung his head.

Charlie and Iris exchanged a confused glance, while Sam tried to understand what Dean could have realized. A thought struck him, even though it seemed impossible, but it was all his mind could keep coming back to.

“Dean… you think?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“But, he’s dead. We saw him die.”

“Did we?” Dean asked and immediately felt ridiculous for assuming that the death they witnessed had been real at all.

“It has been years, how would—why would—”

Dean shrugged and shook his head. “Listen, let’s keep this to us for now, alright? She’s got enough going on and doesn’t need to know.”

“Know what? Enough with the brospeak, guys. Wanna share with the rest of us who don’t speak Winchester?” Charlie asked, not without a bit of sarcasm.

“Gabriel,” Dean said with a sigh.

“The Trickster? But you saw him die?” Charlie mused, eliciting an eye roll from Dean.

“Did we?” he asked again, returning her sarcastic tone.

Iris shook her head softly. “I’m so lost.”

“Forget it for now,” Dean waved her off. “Just drop it for now and we’ll figure it out. Besides, there’s something you guys need to know.”

“She’s pregnant,” Iris said with a shrug. “I tried to tell her…”

“What?!” Sam and Charlie sang in unison, while Dean couldn’t hide the enormous grin that engulfed his face.

“Dude!” Sam grabbed and embraced his brother roughly.

Charlie punched Dean’s should and silently squealed with excitement.

From behind them, the door to your hospital room opened and they saw you hobbling out in your cast, rolling your IV pole with one hand and shaking the second bag of snacks into your mouth with the other.

“I thought you were coming back… heard the commotion out here and thought I’d come to you guys instead. Besides, I am starving. I wanted to try and catch you to see if there’s a pizza place around here or something.”

You watched as Dean, Sam, Charlie, and Iris all exchanged a knowing glance and then collectively looked back at you in amazement. It didn’t dawn on you that you shouldn’t be able to be walking around or be feeling as hungry as you did.

Assuming it was due to Dean not being able to stay quiet about the baby, you scowled at him. “I guess you couldn’t wait to tell them, huh?”

“Uh, no. Iris guessed it,” he said and slipped an arm around your lower back. He kissed your cheek and tried not to worry about your “speedy” recovery. “Let’s get you back in bed, and you can visit with the girls. Sam and I will go and grab some grub. Deal?”

You nodded enthusiastically and went back into your room. It was once your back was turned to the group, did they all get a communal appearance of concern across their faces.

“When we get her home,” Sam whispered to Dean, as Dean nodded in approval.

“When we get home,” Dean repeated and followed you into your hospital room.

TAGS ARE OPEN! Drop me a message if you want to be included!

[urwarriorangel]

dine and dash (stefan salvatore au ft klaus mikaelson, part x)

Plot: You and Stefan dated for three years while in high school. You both thought your relationship would last, but college managed got in the way. So you two decided to break up. You left to college in Massachusetts and Stefan stayed in Mystic Falls. While you were gone, things changed between you and a certain original, but you hadn’t yet let go of Stefan. Now, almost six years later, you’re both invited to Bonnie and Kol’s wedding. It’s time for a reunion.

Pairing: Kol x Bonnie, Damon x Elena, Tyler x Liv, Caroline x Enzo, Klaus x Reader, Stefan x Reader (mentioned)

Warnings: language maybe? slight strangulation, blood thirst, compulsion (?)

A/N: here’s part 10!! this is probably the longest part thus far. I know I said I would make this 11 parts, but it’s more likely going to end up being 13 parts. I don’t want to rush things too much. that being said, I really hope you guys enjoy this part as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. thanks so much! let me know what you think!!! (no gifs are mine!)

dine and dash~masterlist

Flower Girl: Hope Bridesmaids: Y/N, Caroline, Davina, Hayley, Cami, Rebekah Maid of Honor: Elena Groomsmen: Klaus, Vincent, Marcel, Damon, Stefan, Matt Best man: Elijah

Previously

“If you’re going around kissing girls, you should have kissed me! I’m the one getting married, come on. I may never have another chance to kiss a girl!” Bonnie crosses her arms, standing in front of the bridesmaids as you all crack up. “Oh come on, what’s so funny?”

“Bonnie, come on. You’re gonna have the chance to kiss plenty girls. Kol would be into it if you are,” Hayley shrugs as the rest of you nod in agreement.

“Just make sure the girl’s not some traveler vampire bitch,” Rebekah shudders as you all recall the time she and Matt hooked up with Katherine’s daughter.

“Hey, points to you two for the power pickup though,” you raise your glass of champagne as Caroline walks out with a rack of identical bridesmaid dresses and Elena’s similar maid of honor dress. You all stand, holding your breath as Bonnie eyes you in anticipation.

“Well, shall we ladies?” Davina smiles, standing and looking at everyone else.

“Yes!” Hope squeals and you pick her up, spinning her around.

“The princess has spoken. Let’s try them on!”

The dresses were beautiful. They brought everyone to tears… well Hope laughed at everyone, but she still teared up after the fact. You all arrive home, slightly tipsy and with peaceful smiles on their faces thanks to the complimentary champagne at the bridal boutique.

“Woah what do we have here?” Enzo laughs as you all smile widely at him.

“You have happy, cheery bridesmaids,” you bloop his nose and Caroline laughs.

“Yeah, what she said,” she wraps her arms around Enzo and kisses him.

“You reek of alcohol, love,” Enzo pulls away, holding Caroline at arms length.

“Oh relax, dad. It was just some champagne,” you scoff, rolling your eyes.

Enzo groans, fetching Caroline and the rest of the girls a bottle of water as you walk over to the fridge in search of a blood bag. Damon taps your shoulder and you turn to face him, a smile on his face as he holds out a hand.

“As great as your blood may taste, I think I need some human blood to survive,” you scrunch your face towards him and he rolls his eyes.

“Grab my hand and I’ll lead you to the blood bags. We don’t keep them in the fridge, silly.” Damon smirks as you grab his hand. “How’re you feeling?”

“Slightly tipsy after a whole bottle of champagne,” you shrug as he leads you downstairs. “That’s kind of annoying, you pay a whole lot more and get a whole lot less.”

“I can see why you’d think that. But that also means that you get to try out stronger drinks and not pass out after just one or two,” he nudges you, poking fun at the fact that you were captain of the lightweights.

“Oh ha ha, whatever,” you roll your eyes as you two enter the dungeon part of the basement. “Are you going to kill me down here or?”

“Are you kidding me? I can’t kill you. You’re our wedding planner,” he smiles and you punch his arm as you two approach a cooler. “This is our blood bank. I’m going to monitor you and this during the next few weeks. Kol turned you, and we don’t know whether or not he sired you.”

“Right, so I’m under your surveillance. Got it. Now gimme a blood bag please,” you hold your hands out and Damon unlocks the cooler, handing you one.

“There you go, little one,” he smiles as you dig into the bag, your fangs ripping it open as your eyes grow dark. A small growl escapes your lips as you empty the blood bag.

“Another?” The veins under your eyes grow prominent as Damon’s eyes widen.

“No. Just one for today, but--”

“I. Said. Another,” you growl, barely recognizing your own voice as you stalk over to Damon.

“God damn it,” he whispers under his breath as you hiss. “KOL? KLAUS?? A LITTLE HELP HERE??”

Kol and Klaus run downstairs, followed by Stefan. They all stop at the foot of the stairs as you wrap a hand around Damon’s neck.

“Kol?” He struggles as you push him up against the wall. “Now would be a great time to test that sire link of yours.”

“Y/N? Love, listen to me. Put Damon down and we--”

“Another peep out of you and I’ll break his neck, Kol,” you turn to look at him, eyes still dark as blood drips down the sides of your mouth.

“Well there goes that theory,” Stefan mutters, not coming any closer. He doesn’t want to risk you hurting Damon.

“Y/N,” Klaus whispers and walks over to you. “Listen to my voice, okay? I’m not asking anything else. Just listen to me.”

You turn to look at him, your eyes meeting his as you take in his softly beating heart, his stormy grey eyes. He leans over and whispers a little story to you, about the first time you two met. His voice is soothing, gentle. It brings you back to the matter at hand. You look over to Damon and immediately let go of his throat, your eyes growing wide at what you’d just done. He falls down, gasping for air as you take a step back from him.

“I-I’m so sorry, Damon. Oh my god, I’m so--”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Damon stands, brushing off any hint that you may have hurt him severely. “I’m okay, I promise.”

“I’m sorry you inherited my blood thirst,” Kol gives you a nervous smile as Stefan walks into the room.

“Is she gonna be like that all the time?” He questions Kol and Klaus, a concerned look on his face.   

The three are deep in conversation as Damon walks over to you. Your hands are shaking, you’ve got blood on your face, and your heart is beating erratically.

“Hey, hey,” Damon whispers and cups your face, his lips turned up in a warm smile. “That wasn’t your fault, okay? You’re newly turned and you’re scared and so what? Your blood thirst is a little hard to handle. We’ll work through it.”

“But Damon, I hurt you,” you whisper, tears in your eyes as Damon kisses your forehead and wraps his arms around you in a hug.

“Eh, I’ve had worse,” he chuckles and you rest your head against his chest. He hums, hoping to keep you at ease while the three responsible for this tried to come up with a solution. “Come on, let’s go get you cleaned up.”

Damon leads you to the bathroom downstairs, standing guard outside the door as you quickly shower. He leaves you a change of clothes on the hanger behind the door and you get dressed, walking out to him again. He wraps an arm around you and you two head back over to the blood cooler. Your eyes meet Kol’s apologetic ones and you give him a small smile.

“We may have a solution,” Kol sighs, barely meeting your eyes as he fights to tell you.

“Anything, Kol. There’s no way I’m letting my crazy thirst ruin this wedding,” you pull away from Damon and stand your ground, determined to fix this.

“I’m going to have to compel you, love,” Klaus speaks again, voice soothing as he cautiously approaches you. “It’ll be temporary. After the wedding festivities are over, the compulsion will wear off. From there, Damon and Caroline will keep an eye on you. We’re still working the rest of it out.”

“Okay,” you nod, not questioning their decision. “I’m ready.”

“I’m sorry what? You’re sure?” Klaus furrows his brows, eyes searching yours for a hint of unease.

“Like I said, anything to ensure the wedding festivities continue without a hitch,” you nod, taking a breath and looking up at Klaus. “Besides, I trust you.”

Klaus nods, looking down and taking your hands in his before his eyes flash up to meet yours.

“You will only drink out of a blood bag until the wedding festivities are over. You will drink however many bags Damon or I see fit. You will not harm anyone. You will make sure that Damon, Caroline, and I know your whereabouts at all time. All of these rules must be followed until after the wedding festivities are over. After that, you will find Damon or I and we will help you from there. Is that clear?”

“That’s clear,” you nod, breaking out of the daze. “Thank you.”

“Of course. We’re all here for you. Don’t forget that,” Klaus lets go of your hands as Damon walks up and kisses the side of your head, your eyes not leaving Klaus.

“Alright, now let’s get back upstairs. We have to head to the hotel. It’s closer to the banquet,” you clear your throat and smile at the guys around you as Enzo walks down.

“Is this the bachelor party? Damn it did I miss the party? Since when are you a strip--?” Enzo’s eyes grow wide as you glare at him, fists clenched at your sides.

“Are you sure I can’t hurt anyone?” You look up at Klaus, a pout forming on your lips as he chuckles lightly.

“Unfortunately so,” he kisses the side of your head and you walk upstairs, determined to breeze through the rest of the week.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Caroline grabs you as you walk into the parlour, everyone’s eyes on you.

“Everything’s fine,” you smile at Caroline and then at Bonnie. “Klaus presented a temporary solution. I’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Oh, good,” Caroline squeezes you and Bonnie smiles widely at you over her shoulder.

“Now,” you pull away and wrap an arm around Caroline’s shoulder, grabbing the clipboard in the process. “What do you say we head over to the hotel? Caroline, you go ahead with half the guests and I’ll take the other half. I call Tyler, though. We’re gonna need his muscles to get all the bags and extras in their designated areas.”

“Fine,” Caroline groans. “I’m assuming you get Liv too?”

You raise a brow in response, as though to say “seriously?”.

“Alright, I’m taking the bride and groom with me.”

“Take as many people as you can! Make sure everyone’s settled into their designated rooms. No funny business.” Now it’s Caroline’s turn to raise a brow at you. “You’re right. You got this.”

“Love you,” Caroline laughs, walking away as Bonnie makes her way over to you.

“How’re you holding up?” Bonnie sighs, eyes searching yours as you shrug.

“Well, I’m not sired to Kol, but I’ve inherited his previously violent tendencies and blood thirst,” you look down at your hands and sigh. “I hurt Damon.”

“What? How?” Bonnie looks back and forth between you and the door leading downstairs.

“He’s fine now. I just choked him.”

“Oh god,” Bonnie shakes her head, laughing a little. “To be fair, he probably liked it.”

“Bonnie!” You laugh, nudging her shoulder with yours as Kol and the others walk back up. “Alright so grab your husband-to be and go to Caroline. You guys are gonna head out earlier, just to make sure there are no complications and all that jazz.”

“What are you gonna do? Since you know, Klaus brought Valerie along?” She raises a brow at you as Kol wraps an arm around her waist.

“I’ll figure something out, love. Don’t worry. I won’t be getting much sleep anyway,” you wink at her and speak again before she can protest. “Kol, take her and go to Caroline. You’re all heading to the hotel.”

“Got it, captain,” he kisses your cheek and drags Bonnie with him to Caroline.

“Hm,” you flip through the clipboard, just realizing how much work is left. You walk around, pulling together everything that needs to be taken to the hotel. You have all the bags in one pile, all the snacks in another, all the--

“Alright, so how can we help?” Damon walks over to you while you’re going through the checklist.

“Sorry, what was that?” You look up at Damon, Elena, and Klaus who’re all smiling at you.

“Where the hell are Tyler and Liv?” You raise a brow and rest a hand on your hip, causing Damon to gulp.

“Come on, why would you want Tyler and Liv when you can have the better, more powerful, more--”

“Elena, I could literally break your neck with a snap of my fingers. Please stop while you’re ahead,” Liv walks over and Elena sticks her tongue out at her. “Sorry, Y/N. Klaus insisted on staying behind with you and Tyler still isn’t his biggest fan. No offense, dude.”

“None taken,” Klaus smiles at Liv and turns back to you. “So how can we help?”

“Liv, thanks anyways. You just help Caroline keep everyone and everything in check. Please?” She nods and walks away as you turn to look at the three doofuses left in your care. “Damon and Nik, you two are on bag duty. There should be two cars left out there, so split the bags between the two.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Damon salutes you as he and Klaus walk towards the bags. Elena tries to sneak off after the two, but you grab her arm before she gets the chance to.

“Oh no you don’t,” you turn her around to face you and raise your brows at her. “Tell me what you did.”

“Nothing?” You cross your arms over your chest and Elena groans. “Fine. I told Tyler to convince Liv to go ahead so that Damon and I could stay behind with you and Klaus. That’s all.”

“And how did you convince Klaus to stay back?”

“I asked him to. That part wasn’t hard,” she shrugs and you open your mouth to argue.

“Alright, done and done,” Damon crosses his arms over his chest as he and Klaus walk over to you  and Elena. “Anything else for you?”

“That’s it. You three can get in the cars, I’m just gonna make sure that we’ve got everything we need, yeah?” Your eyes meet Klaus’s, your gentle brown orbs unable to look away from his wild grey ones.

You’d forgotten just how much you loved his eyes, so expressive. Sometimes, you’d think he said more with his eyes than with his words. You sigh softly, unable to hold back the feeling of nostalgia that’s rushing over you.

Damon clears his throat, breaking you out of the daze. You blush and look away, mumbling something about having to look around as you try your best not to look back up at Niklaus. You bite your bottom lip, sifting through the mansion for anything forgotten and delaying your return to the group. All you can think about is Nik and how you’ve hurt him over the years, how you’ve led him on. All you can think about it--

“Hey,” you hear the unforgettable gritty voice as a shiver runs down your back. “Is everything alright, love?”

“Y-yeah,” you nod, turning around to look at him. “Everything’s fine. I grabbed some makeup bags and phone chargers and what not. We’re good to go.”

He smiles at you and turns around, heading outside with you following quickly behind. You get outside and see just one car and no sign of Elena and Damon. Klaus looks just as confused as you do, and just as you’re about to question him, both your phones ding! Indicating a text.

lena: sorry not sorry. love u xoxoxox

“Elena?” Klaus looks at you and you sigh, nodding.

“Damon?” He looks down at his phone, nodding and sticking it in his pocket. “They’re persistent. I’ll give them that. Sorry about them.”

“I don’t mind. I owe you a few apologies and I’d rather they not be around for that,” he chuckles nervously and opens the passenger seat.

“I’ve got some things to say to you, too. I guess it is better that we’re alone,” you smile at him, easing all his worries as he closes your door and heads to take his seat.

“Alright, here we go,” he starts the car, driving you two to the hotel as a silence takes over. The silence is calming at first but soon becomes unnerving.

“I guess I--”

“So here goes--”

“Go ahead! No you go!” You burst out simultaneously, laughing as your words overlap one another’s.

“No, come on. Seriously, lady’s first,” Klaus smiles as your laughs die down, allowing you the first stab at conversation.

“Alright,” you take a deep breath, calming yourself as you speak. “I want to apologize. I led you on for years, kept Stefan in my heart when I should have let go. You’re right, and it was foolish of me. I’m sorry, Niklaus.”

“Hey, hey,” he whispers, one hand reaching down and grabbing both of yours. “Look, that’s all in the past. You needed closure, and I should have been more understanding. I’d never been loved the way that you loved Stefan, I’d never experienced that love myself. At least not until I realized the depth of my feelings for you. Then I got it.”

“Nik,” you whisper his name apologetically, looking over at him and noticing a small smile on his face.

“I’m not done yet, love,” he whispers right back, pulling into the hotel parking lot. “I just want to say that you’re forgiven. I understand, I do. Now it’s my turn to apologize,” he slides the car into a spot and turns off the engine, sighing as his eyes meet yours. “I apologize for not telling you how I felt sooner. I apologize for saying the horrible things I said earlier today. I apologize for bringing Valerie into this whole mess. After everything we’ve been through, I can’t seem to shake you off. There’s not a single time that I’m not thinking of you. And listen, I know there’s no way that I can wipe away all the negative things that I’ve done, but I would like to try. If you’d let me, of course.”

“Klaus, I’d--” he places two fingers over your lips, not allowing you to answer right away. He just poured his heart out to you, he loved the pleasantly surprised look in your eyes and he didn’t want to forget that any time soon.

“I want you to take some time and think it over, please,” he whispers, leaning forward and placing a gentle kiss on your cheek before pulling back. “Come on, let’s go inside and see what havoc they’ve wreaked.”

[megamanxfanfics]

S.V - Ep. 6: Recover the Laser! Fire the Enigma Cannon!!

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

INT. NEW MHHQ – Control Room - NIGHT

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

Caption: 7:00 PM

Alia walks into the Control Room to report to Signas.

ALIA: (sighing) 7 PM and our heroes are fast asleep…

SIGNAS: There are 12 hours left and just one more device to get until collision. I think we’re alright if they take a short nap.

[Insert Title Card – Recover the Laser! Fire the Enigma Cannon!!]

ALIA: (worried) Hmmm…

SIGNAS: I know, it’s anxiety-inducing, but we have to let them rest.  Have faith.  They’ve saved the world so many times before.

ALIA: I know.. I’m just.. not used to being this close to the action, ya know?

SIGNAS: Hm?

ALIA: In the past, I always focused on my Research to distract me during the tough times. We tried to create cures for the Maverick Virus or at least find ways to combat it… When my old boss, Dr. Doppler failed to do that, I lost a lot of faith in the world.  Then my next boss, Berkana turned on us as well..

SIGNAS: (nodding) From Laguz Island…  I remember reading up on that.

ALIA: Up until now, I feel like I’ve been constantly on the run from the Maverick Virus.  My colleague escaped with me to a new lab, over in Abel City but… that didn’t work out.

SIGNAS: (curious) What happened?

ALIA: We were only trying to help!  The Great Repliforce War was in full effect, and my old colleague Gate…  He just wanted his enhanced Reploids to join the battle. But… our Superior felt that it wasn’t our place. She did everything she could to sabotage his operation.  Including… threaten my termination if I didn’t comply…

SIGNAS: (gasping, surprised) Oh nooo…

ALIA: I took this job, because I needed a serious change.  But now, all I see is the constant struggle that you guys face against the Maverick Virus! …I’m sorry, but… I just don’t know if I can handle it.

She chokes up and looks away, trying to contain herself.

Signas calmly walks over to her and places his hands on her shoulders.

SIGNAS: (comforting) Alia…  I hired you, because you are exactly the type of person that we need. Especially, right now.  Your analytical skills are beyond top-notch, and I’ve been meaning to put good use to that Research background of yours.  So now is as good a time as any.  Come.  I have something to show you.

ALIA: Hm?

He leads her to his main computer screen and pulls up a halogen image of the DNA Data they have retrieved from Grizzly Slash, Duff McWhalen and Squid Adler.

ALIA: (shocked) This is... DNA!!

SIGNAS: (affirming) Yep.  Here is the DNA Data that X & Zero have acquired from the Mavericks, so far…  Why don’t you and Douglas see if you can make something useful out of it, while we wait for them to wake up??

Alia gasps.

ALIA: (wide-eyed) This is… Wonderful!

SIGNAS: (smiling) You had mentioned your strong background in Research at our interview. So I figured, why does that have to change?

She nods with a brightness in her eyes, which livens up her spirits once again.

ALIA: Ohhh, Thank you, boss!  You have no idea what this means to me.

She can’t help herself and gives him a hug.

SIGNAS: (surprised) Oh! Hahah.  My pleasure.  

He reciprocates the hug, patting her on the back, twice.

SIGNAS: Go ahead. Do what you love, Alia.

He lets her go to work as she happily runs out of the room and heads for the R & D lab across the hall.

He returns to his chair with a smug beam on his face. From nearby, David turns over to Signas and leans in.

DAVID: Hey, what was that all about?

SIGNAS: She just had the first day jitters… Go ahead and send out Frenzy Fox to recover that Energy Cart.  Then, alert me when X and Zero wake up.  With any luck, we can fire the Enigma Cannon tonight!

- cut to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. NEW MHHQ – Infirmary – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Caption: Four hours later, 11:00 PM

Zero stirs awake and rips the energen feeding tubes off of his arms.  He looks over at X in shock, who seems to have been in the same state as him.He quickly sits up on his bed, leans over and shakes X by the shoulder.

ZERO: (shocked) X!  Wake up.

X: (groggy) Hmm? /Oh!

X grows wide-eyed at the sight of an alert, Zero who has fully recovered.

ZERO: How long have we been out, man?  We gotta get that Laser Device!

X blinks and feels his heart race at once. He sits up in bed.

X: (rising, tired) Yeeeah! Ogh.  Let’s go!

Zero stands up and helps X get out of bed.

ZERO: Alright. Come on, man!

They run out of the room.

-pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. NEW MHHQ – Corridors – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

X and Zero run down the hallway as they receive a com-link from Signas.

SIGNAS: (o.s, filtered, surprised) Oh! You’re both up. Excellent!  Pop in to the R & D Lab before you both set off on your next mission.  Alia and Douglas have some surprises for you.

X and Zero both look at each other, quizzically.

X & ZERO: Huh?

-pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. NEW MHHQ – R & D Lab – NIGHT -----------------------------------------------------------------------

X and Zero walk in to see Douglas and Alia high five each other.

ALIA: Yes!

X: Hey, guys. What’s going on??

ALIA: Oh, I’m glad you’re both up so soon. Check out what we’ve been working on!

They both walk over to their work table, with interest.  They see that five new items in the form of data chips are waiting for them.

ZERO: What is this?

DOUGLAS: Remember how we said I could make new parts for you guys??  Well, this is it!

He proudly displays five colorful chips, before them.

ZERO: (scoffing) Hmph… I don’t need any power-ups.

ALIA: (annoyed) Wait!  We’ve been working on these for the last 4 hours. The least you could do is listen to us.

Zero rolls his eyes and folds his arms, reluctantly.

ZERO: Okaay.  What have you got?

ALIA: I’d change my tone if I were you, because most of them are for you…

Zero jerks back for a second, surprised.

ZERO: What!?

X chuckles as she continues with a scowl.

ALIA: Well, first of all, Grizzly Slash was good for more than just his Crescent slashing abilities.  We were also able to create a Shock Buffer defense out of his DNA Data.

X: (intrigued) Shock Buffer?

ALIA: This decreases the amount of damage taken by half!

X: Ooh.

DOUGLAS: It also keeps you from being knocked back after taking a hit.

ZERO: (nodding) Alright.

DOUGLAS: We were then able to make a Super Recover chip from Duff McWhalen’s DNA Data.

ZERO: What’s that?

DOUGLAS: This makes all energen and weapon refill capsules restore twice as much power than usual.

X & ZERO: (surprised) Whoa.

ALIA: The last three are for Zero, exclusively. Sorry, X…

X shakes his head, paying no mind.

ALIA: This next chip, I think you’ll like. We call it the Z-Saber extend.

ZERO: (attracted) What?

ALIA: With this equipped, your Z-Saber will project a small wave of crescent energy with each slash, increasing your range by about 10%.

ZERO: Wow. Okay, I’m interested…

ALIA: (glowing, excited) Then you’ll Love the next two…  These are weapon items, extracted straight from McWhalen and Kraken’s core DNA.

ZERO: (nodding) Alright.

ALIA: First is Duff McWhalen’s Flying Splasher, which will give you more of a defensive Air-Dash that you can control with directional flight.

ZERO: (shocked) I can fly with this!?

ALIA: Only momentarily. Don’t get too excited. But yes. Your air-dash should be more mobile than before.  And you’ll be coated in a protective layer of the same material as X’s Goo-Shaver.

Zero looks at X.

ZERO: What’s that??

X: It’s like a water-based Plasma. I can’t really explain it, but it’s powerful stuff.  It’s what helped me bring down Squid…

He looks at his buster with slight remorse.

ALIA: Well, speaking of Squid Adler, that’s where this last chip comes from.   We’ve correlated his electric weapon data to interact directly with your Z-Saber, which will give you an awesome striking Electric Blade.

ZERO: Ooh.

DOUGLAS: (smiling) Still don’t want these Power-ups???

ZERO: (bothered, smile) Alright, gimme ‘em. X can have the Shock Buffer and Super Recover though. I don’t want to hog them all.

X shakes his head.

X: No, that’s okay.

ALIA: Huh???

X: I have the Force Armor, and another one on the way. I’m okay.  Really, I think Zero should have them.

ZERO: Are you sure??  All of them???

X: (smiling) I’m positive.  Let’s save the World, Zero.

He puts his fist out for a friendly bump with the most confident and sharp look in his eyes.

Zero gives him a nod and then a fist-bump with a smile.

X runs out of the room, while Zero equips his new power-up chips.

DOUGLAS: Wow!  And here you thought you weren’t getting any of these.

ZERO: Alriight, alriiight.

Zero gets equipped with all 5 of the power-up Data Chips within his gauntlet. Then he looks up with an eager grin.

ZERO: Man! I can’t wait to test out these new abilities.

ALIA: (content) We’ll be right here.  I’ll be on coms guiding you both every step of the way.  Now, go!

She leans up and gives him a friendly pat on the shoulder, but he simply turns around and runs away, ignoring her.

ALIA: (reacting) Oh…

DOUGLAS: Something wrong?

She combs her hair with her hand for a second and walks over to the monitor.

ALIA: N-no..  I just hope they’re successful on this mission…

DOUGLAS: (smirking) Uh huh.

-cut to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  EXT. NOVIKOVO – Fortress Lab – DAY -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Caption: 9:05 AM - Russian Time

In the solitude of Novikovo, Russia lies a rich, fortified lab, hidden from sight by numerous tall mountains.

X and Zero teleport to the area and take in the sight of his massive fortress.  They land on a cobblestone roof, just before a drawbridge, which leads to the entrance of the fortress.

ZERO: Whoa… This place, is huge.

X and Zero instantly explore the area as they kick-jump up a small wall, which leads to the large drawbridge.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) We can learn lots about Dr. Izzy Glow just from looking at this Laboratory… He is the world leading authority on laser technology. Therefore, the laser he created will be great use to the Enigma. I hope he will willingly give one to us, but… …I heard he is a very stubborn person so this might not be easy.

Zero grins.

ZERO: Well, I can be very stubborn, myself. Come on, X!

X nods and readies his buster

Zero pulls out his saber and slashes at the draw bridge a couple of times, admiring his new orange-tinted extended slashes as he cuts at the bridge a little harder.

X shoots level-1 shots at the bridge until it is forced down to lie flat, before the actual entrance of the hallway.

They both run on top of the bridge, which does not quite reach the hallway entrance. They stop short, when they see that below them is a dangerous bed of spikes.

ZERO: Whooa, let’s steer clear of that.

X:

Yeah!

They both carefully dash-jump inside Dr. Izzy Glow’s Fortress.

-      pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. FORTRESS LAB – Hallway Entrance – DAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

They proceed down the red-carpet steps, before a long wall where a Met jumps out at them.

X: (gasping) Haven’t seen one of these in a while.

He shoots at it a couple of times, but his pellet shots are blocked by it’s hard-hat.  After a moment, the met peeks his little face out, while Zero dashes and takes a strike at the air.  His extended slash is able to reach the met from a distance, surprising both him and X.

X looks over to him.

X: Whoa, you get a pretty good reach with that thing.

ZERO: It’s like a complete extra slash! I’m gonna have to get used to that.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Hehehe.

They both kick-jump up the wall before them and spot another met on the other side of the carpeted floor.  This time X takes it down with some carefully aimed level 1 shots, while Zero drops down and leads the way.  Zero runs into another wall and kick-jumps up towards a Guardian drone, which he easily cuts down once it’s shield guard is up.  

They drop down through the opening corridor as they come near a lethal chandelier of spikes.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Whoa, careful!  The platforms above you can’t be destroyed, so you will have to time it just right to get through…

X: (acknowledging) Right!

They both wait and see two spike chandeliers rapidly drop down before them.

ZERO: Damn!  This guy really doesn’t want any visitors.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Told yaa.

The chandeliers slowly rise up, out of sync, but with their opening they dash through and pass the platforms.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Oh no!!

ZERO: Hm??

X: What is it?

Zero slashes another guardian and met down, while Alia speaks.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) There’s another researcher and he’s stuck just beyond that board above you.

X: Hmph!

X transforms into his Force Armor with a quick flash of white light and looks up at the board with a determined face.  He fires a charged plasma shot to the wooden plank, but it is simply absorbed into the mysterious virus-infected board.

X: Whaat?

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) It’s just like I thought…  You can’t break through the board unless you use a special weapon.

Zero perks up and sparks his Z-saber with lightning.

ZERO: Allow me!!

He uses his new rising Electric Blade attack, but unfortunately it does not work.

ZERO: What!?

He jumps up and tries to use his Crescent Blade slashes in the air, multiple times, but to no avail.

ZERO: Damn it!

X shoots a charged Goo-Shaver at it, which does not work either.

X: Nothing is working!!!

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Try… Dragoon’s Rising Fire.  You should have it again..

X: (surprised) Really??

X looks up, concentrates and shifts his armor into red and white as he charges up.

X: (concentrating) Shuuuuryukeeeen!!!!

Zero takes cover as X blasts through the wooden planks only to find more spiked chandeliers in his way.

X: (reacting) Whoa!!

He quickly air-dashes and holds on to the wall, setting off his thrusters.  Once the chandeliers rise, he is able to kick-jump up the wall and assist the researcher in need.

RESEARCHER: (grateful) Ohh. Thank you!  I was installing Dr. Glow’s enhanced security platforms when this board mysteriously appeared and trapped me inside.

X nods.

X: That’s Sigma’s virus. It’s been awful to us all.  Here.

He pulls out a teleporter ring and offers it to the Researcher.

RESEARCHER: Be careful!  I fear this Fortress is ridden with the Virus.  You’ll need this.

He pulls a Power-cell out from his compartment belt and offers it to X in return.

X gasps and takes it.

X: Thank you!  Where’d you get this?

RESEARCHER: (insulted) We make them!

X: What?

The Researcher takes the teleporter ring and sends himself away.

X makes a confused face as he drops down to an impatient Zero.

ZERO: Come on, X!!!

-      pan to –

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. FORTRESS LAB – Chandelier Trap - DAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Zero dashes across the hall to a set of ladders.  He ignores them and double-jumps in the middle of the room, narrowly bypassing a chandelier that comes down right behind him.

With the chandelier lowered, X uses the first ladder and then catches up to Zero at the second ladder with an air-dash, while the chandelier rises.

At the top level of the room X and Zero spot a guardian waiting for them at the other side of the rising chandelier.

ZERO: Got this one!!

He fearlessly air-dashes toward the guardian mechaniloid and sets off his new F-Splasher forcefield around his body.  His air-dash is just as short, but he is able to direct it more as an attack, lowering himself right into the mechaniloid as it crumbles under his water-based plasma power.

X & ZERO: Whoa!!

X: Damn, Zero. Are you crazy??

Zero looks at him with wild eyes.

ZERO: After staying in the game this long? - You know it!!

X makes an amused, but concerned face as Zero takes the lead once again.

-pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. FORTRESS LAB – Spiked Room - DAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

They both pass the platform to find a spiked floor below them and a series of spiked chandeliers hanging on chains from the ceiling.  

X: Oh man… How should we tackle this one?

ALIA: (o.s, filtered)

You should proceed by stepping on the platforms.  Please be careful.

ZERO: (revved up) You heard her!

Zero anxiously air-dashes to the first chandelier platform after it drops.  Then the next, as they both rise towards the ceiling.

Zero turns around and gives X a thumbs up.

ZERO: See X?  It’s no biggie…  Just do what I do.

X looks in horror and points behind him.

X: Look out!!!

ZERO: Huh??

He turns around to find a small purple Sigma head with devilish horns right behind him.

ZERO: SIGMA! What the- Uaarrrggghhhh!!!!!

SIGMA: (v.o, echoing) Heeheeheeheehee.

With no time to react, Zero has no choice, but to dash through Sigma’s head, which dissipates and relinquishes itself into his pores like a ghost virus.

X & ALIA: (horrified, o.s, filtered)

Oh NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Zero glows with a purple aura as he air-dashes to the other side and carefully looks at his body.

X: (wary, worried) ZEEERRROOO!!!!!

The purple aura slowly disappears as Zero stares at his hands and blinks, confused and awestruck.  He keeps his back to X and stands there in silence.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered, scared) Oh, God…

X fights through the chandelier platforms with a determined glare in his eyes as he nears, Zero.

ZERO: It’s… okay.

X lands right behind him.

X: (fretful) Huh?

Zero turns around with his armor looking pristine and glossy, as if he was first created.

ZERO: (surprised) I’m.. okay!!!

He shows X his clean hands, opening and closing them as if they are brand new.  

ALIA: Was it the Shock-Buffer that protected you??

ZERO: Maybe… I don’t know…

He twists his wrists and stretches his fingers, until he unfurls the Z-Buster from his right hand only to find that it has completely been repaired.

X: (worried) What the-

Zero shakes his head.

X: Did Sigma just… repair you???

ZERO:

(wide-eyed) I don’t… know!

He makes a firm grimace of his own as he looks away, trying to focus on the mission.

X: Why would he do that…?  And how???

He shakes his head, a little more annoyed.

ZERO: I don’t, know!!  Come on, we don’t have any time.

He runs away, while X is left to simply shake it off and continue to push past more chandelier obstacles in a short maze-like descending hallway.

They both wrestle through short spiked chandeliers and a couple of mets in their way, before they find another Researcher who looks hurt, near a tall chandelier.

ZERO: Here, man.

He gives the researcher a teleporter ring and air-dashes above, into another descending set of spiked platforms.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Break the door that you can see below, and proceed to the next room.

They carefully make their way down until they find the door and break it down a combined charge shots.

ZERO: (smirking) Haven’t done that in years…

He runs in to the next room.

-      pan to –

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. FORTRESS LAB – Spiral Staircase - DAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

In the next room, they come to a flight of stairs which spiral upward seemingly endlessly.

X: (worried) Zero, are you sure you’re okay?

They come across a bunch of spiky mechaniloids and tiny hotarion firefly mechaniloids.  

ZERO: (upset) I don’t want to talk about it!

He slashes the spikys down with an extended slash.  Then he crescent slashes a set of hotarian’s brutally and swiftly air-dashes ahead.

X: (reaching out) Waait!!

X dashes, only to get cut off by another ghost virus of Sigma’s head, which has appeared before him.

SIGMA: (v.o, echoing) Heheheh….

X: (spooked) Whoooa!

X blasts him with level 1 shots, but they go right through him.  He frantically dashes around the ghost virus and runs away from him.

SIGMA: (v.o, echoing) What’s the matter??

It disappears and reappears before him, as X gets stung by some hotarian lasers in the process.

SIGMA: (v.o, echoing) Are you scared that I might find you? …The real youuuu???

An image of iX appears in X’s mind.

He charges up.

X: NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

X blasts a large Plasma shot, which takes out a set of hotarians in his way as he finally catches up to Zero, who has been halted by aPrism Guardian.

Four poles have dropped from the ceiling, in which three block-shaped laser turrets have taken their positions against Zero and fired their first set of lasers at him.

Zero manages to jump to the far pole and cling to it with his wire-hook, evading the bottom two laser blasts.  However, he takes the brunt of the top laser blast as he attempts to slash it down with his Z-Saber.

ZERO: Auughh!

X: /AAH!!

X blasts down the laser turret that was hurting Zero with a Plasma Shot, while the other two, retreat back into the ceiling.

Zero drops down with a grateful look.

X: You okay?

Zero makes a weakened smile and gives him a silent thumbs up.

Then, three more laser turrets come down in different positions.  X and Zero fire and crescent slash at two pink turrets near them, but their attacks only ricochet off.

X uses his old Aiming Laser, which attackes all three turrets at the same time with a green, red and yellow laser.  The black turret is the only one, which is affected and destroyed.

X: The black turret is the target!

ZERO: Nice, X!!

The turrets retreat once again, and then reappear in different positions.  A black turret is directly above Zero.

He narrows his eyes with a smirk and uppercuts it with an Electric Blade slash.

ZERO: (proud) Yeah!!!

X smiles at his partner, then charges up as he sees them come down again.  This time, the black turret is in the middle, while a pink turret lands directly in front of him.  He jumps on the pink turret and blasts the black one away with a Plasma Shot before it can fire upon him.

The other lasers fire anyway, despite missing their targets and retreat into the ceiling once again.

When they reappear, Zero double jumps towards the far black turret and uses his crescent spinning slashes to annihilate the Prism Guardian.  With his last attack, the entire Security system explodes and the poles themselves are fried out of their sockets, falling down to the ground, pathetically.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Wow! You did it!!

ZERO: (cocky) As if there was any doubt…

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) Okaay, okaay. Easy, boys.  There should be a teleporter at the end of the stair-case.  Proceed with caution.

The two smile as they run towards the teleporter and use it, one after another.

-pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. FORTRESS LAB – Top Defense Systems - DAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

X and Zero teleport into a nice open hallway with an excellent view of the mountains by an open balcony with gorgeous architecture.  But these sights are ruined by spiky mechaniloids which bounce after them on the luxurious carpeted floor.

X: Aah!

X fires level-1 pellets at them, annoyed as they are put down quite easily.  They make their way up a carpeted ramp, which leads towards a very threatening laser cannon.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) His defense system is engaged. It attacks you with powerful plasma. You may be able to neutralize it with your other weapons.

X: Hmm…

He tries his X-Buster, but it ricochets off. Zero’s Z-Buster, as well.

Zero then tries using his crescent slashes, which work like a charm as they completely destroy the large laser cannon.

X: Nice, work Zero.

They look up and come to find that the whole hallway above them is riddled with these laser cannons.

X: Oh man. We have our work cut out for us.

ZERO: Then let’s get started!!

Zero double-jumps up, ignoring the ladder right by them and kick-jumps off the wall to reach the next floor, only to get knocked down by a large Plasma Blast.

X carefully climbs up the ladder and creates a forcefield out of his C-Shot, immediately destroying the laser cannon.

X: Hmph, That’s what you get.

X dash-jumps over Zero and dashes ahead.

Zero shakes his head with a smile as he gets up.

ZERO: Whatever..

He dashes after him, up the ramp.

With X’s C-Shot forcefield, he runs through a hotarion and easily kick-jumps through two defense systems on the wall, as he reaches the next floor. Then, his radar suddenly perks up.

[RADAR]: Light Capsule above.

X: (gasping) Really??

His C-Shot forcefield dissipates when he looks up and finds a small nook near the ceiling.

X: Ooh.

Zero catches up with X, to see him distracted by another power-up.

ZERO: While you’re busy with that, I’ll clear the path ahead.

X: (nodding) Alright, bud.

He air-dashes towards the wall above and sees a laser cannon before him.  X simply fires C-shots in a rapid fashion, cutting away at the cannon as it fires it’s plasma at him.  At close-range, X persistently dodges with side-dashes and nearby close calls until the cannon is destroyed.

X: Yes!!!

He walks into the hidden room and stands before another Light Capsule, surprised to see him again so soon.

DR. LIGHT: (smiling) This is the final program for the Falcon Armor. Analyze this arm upgrade and store it into a secure area with Alia’s help.  Once it is successfully uploaded, your Falcon Armor will be complete.

X smiles.

DR. LIGHT: With the arm part equipped, you can maximize the attack power of your original shot and fire a piercing laser as your Fully Charged shot. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to charge the special weapons in this armor, but luckily you still have the Force Armor for that. As this armor specializes in mobility, you might find that this is all you need.  

X makes a thoughtful nod as Dr. Light disappears.

X: (at ease) Hmm… It seems that Dr. Light was concerned about balancing my power-set, after all.

He steps inside the capsule to receive his upgrade.

-pan down and across the hall-

Zero has destroyed a set of defense cannons within the hallway, and is dropping down into an open room, where more plasma cannons await him.

ZERO: Hey Alia.  Any idea how close I am to Dr. Glow??

He swiftly advances towards the wall and double jumps with crescent slash attacks as he ascends through the corridor with kick-jumps.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) You’re very close, actually. Dr. Izzy Glow’s room is above you, about 30 clicks away. There are several plasma defense devices installed on the way, so keep using your C-Slash!

ZERO: (smiling) Got it!

He ascends up the stairs and chips away at the cannons ahead of him.  As he kick-jumps up the long vertical hallway, X catches up to him with a C-Forcefield of his own.

X: Hey.

ZERO: Hey!

They both take their sides on opposing walls and proceed to plow through Dr. Glow’s defenses, until they reach the top floor and find the gateway to his chamber at last.

X gasps as they run through the gateway.

ZERO: This is it, man. You ready?

X: (nodding) Let’s save the World, Zero.

-pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. FORTRESS LAB – Izzy Glow’s Chamber – DAY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A siren immediately goes off, as the two intrude on Dr. Glow’s private space.  From there, the lights go out dramatically as Izzy Glow makes a colorful appearance with a teleport that has a firefly glow.

The lights go back on, but so does the device to his laser cannon, which he seemed to be working on, before they barged in.  It sparks omionously amidst the dim light as he scowls down at them in mid-air.

IZZY GLOW: (unamused)

What a graceful entrance…

X: This laboratory is so badly infected by the virus. There was no other way for us to enter.

IZZY GLOW: Hmph!

ZERO: Dr. Izzy Glow, will you do us a favor?

IZZY GLOW:

(stubborn) My work is not for Maverick Hunters! I’ve never trusted your approach. Therefore, I will not cooperate with you.  However, I do find you both fascinating… No one has ever managed to analyze the infamous X and Zero…

X: Doctor!  We don’t have time to argue with you.  Please, understand.

IZZY GLOW: (shaking) My body… has already been infected, too. I realize these thoughts may be wrong… But it’s too late to change now…  Soon, I’ll be one of the Mavericks…

X: Noo!!

ZERO: Brace yourself, X!!

IZZY GLOW: It’s time…  I’ll have to learn about you two through battle. Now…  Put me out of my misery!

X: DAMN IT!

ZERO: LET’S GO!!!

Zero runs towards Izzy Glow and instinctively uppercuts him with an E-Blade, which violently shocks the stubborn specialist.

X reluctantly switches to his new Tri-Thunder power with a frown.

X: (v.o, thinking) Alright, Adler…  You’re gonna help me save the World after all.

Izzy Glow teleports away from Zero, only to get blasted down by X’s Tri-Thunder, which covers the room in three currents of power.

IZZY GLOW: Caaauuughhh…

X shakes his head.

X: This is unfair..

ZERO: (firm) We have a job to do, X!

He dashes towards the Firefly and slashes at him in a combo.

IZZY GLOW: AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

He teleports away, swiftly and angrily.

IZZY GLOW: Take this, you foul Hunters!!

He shoots out a sophisticated Firefly-shaped laser, which directs itself down towards X.  When X dashes away, he directs it to Zero, who powers up and defiantly air-dashes above it with an F-Splasher.

The F-Splasher reaches Dr. Glow’s legs and stings him as he teleports away.

Zero proceeds to use his 2ndjump to stay airborne and Crescent slash him on the back on the way down.

IZZY GLOW: AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH.

He teleports over to the wall and juts out his bottom-light, which he powers up.

IZZY GLOW: Get AWAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!

He fires a powerful green laser at them, which knocks them both down.

Then he swiftly comes near them and teleports away, faking them out constantly as a form of defense.

ZERO: Agh!  What the Hell is with this guy!??

X: He doesn’t know how to fight, Zero. We’re forcing his hand!

ZERO: (aggravated) WE NEED THAT LASER!!!

X: (torn) I KNOW!!!!

Izzy Glow floats above them and blasts his bottom Prism Laser at them vertically.

ZERO: NO!! I refuse to feel guilty.

He dashes away and uppercuts him again with an E-Blade.

IZZY GLOW: AAAAAAIIIIHHHHH.

ZERO: You’re not cooperating, and told us you’re becoming Maverick.

X shakes his head with tight, closed eyes, holding back some tears as he charges up.

X: I can’t believe I’m doing this… I’m sorry Doctor… but WE HAVE TO PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR MISERYYYYY!!!!!

He unleashes a charged Tri-Thunder, which creates six currents of lightning around the room.

IZZY GLOW: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH.  

He tries to evade the thunderbolts with swift teleports, but gets shocked three times and falls to the ground, smoking.

IZZY GLOW: (panting, hurt) To die at the hands of the Notorious X & Zero… Is this my cruel fate..?

X: It doesn’t have to be!!

He shakes his head, huddling over, in pain.

IZZY GLOW: (obstinate) No…  I’m too far gone…  But if I get out of this alive..  I’m coming after what’s left of this planet and tormenting everyone you Love!!!!!

ZERO: That’s it!!

Zero runs after him as Izzy Glow unfurls his last desperation attack.

IZZY GLOW: Prism Shot!

He spreads his arms out to create lights across the floor, where a multitude of green light-balls attack them from all directions.

X: Aghhh. No..!

Zero grits his teeth and electrifies his Z-Saber once more.

ZERO: It’s time to /DIE!!!!!

With a final uppercut from his Saber, he slices Izzy Glow in half and absorbs his DNA instantly.

Zero gasps as he feels a new power enter his veins.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) You got Izzy Glow’s Chaos Flasher from his DNA Data! His weapon chip is the Will Laser, which X may use.

X sniffles.

X: (regretful) I don’t care.  I just wanted the Laser Device for the Enigma...  Why does it always have to come to this…?

He walks over to Izzy Glow’s remains and picks up his weapon chip.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) It looked like a quiet Laboratory… but the inside was in complete ruins.  The Sigma Virus has caused total disorder everywhere… In order to fix the situation, we need to make good use of Dr. Izzy Glow’s Laser Device.

At this moment, she teleports Douglas and their Recovery Team – Rho, Frenzy Fox, Freeze Alopex and Frostbite into the room.

X looks at them, awestruck.  Their surviving teammates are as focused as ever as they go right to work at dismantling the laser device with Douglas’ help.

ALIA: (o.s, filtered) We’ll finish taking the Laser Device back to the base.  Thank you for your help.  We’ll meet you at the Hunter Base.

X nods and powers down into his base armor, feeling a sense of relief for the first time in a while.  Maybe they were going to win this one, after all.

-fade to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. NEW MHHQ – Control Room – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Caption: December 6th, 1:00 AM – 2 hours later…

X, Zero, Alia, Douglas, Signas, Hector, Kirk, Dave, Lucas, Rho, Frenzy Fox, Freeze Alopex, Frostbite and Lifesaver all look at the Main Monitor with hope in their eyes.

Displayed is a schematic of the completed Enigma Cannon.

DOUGLAS: At last!  The Enigma has been completed!!  It’s old, but we’ve reinforced it with those devices… It should work fine…  Well, we’re ready!

Everyone nods as a group as they all look ahead at the screen with anticipation.

SIGNAS: The time has come at last! We are going to launch the Enigma.  The fate of the Earth depends on it.

Alia calculates her figures one last time.

-pan to-

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  EXT. NEW MHHQ – The Enigma Cannon - NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

On the right side of the base, we see a bird’s eye view of the upgraded cannon, pointed at the sky.

ALIA: (o.s) The energy, the power, the angle… everything is clear.

-      pan to –

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  INT. NEW MHHQ – Control Room – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Signas clenches a fist as he makes his fateful command.

SIGNAS: All right…  This is it.  /FIRE!

-pan to –

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  EXT. NEW MHHQ – The Enigma Cannon - NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

SIGNAS: /FIRE!!

We see the Enigma Cannon /fire a powerful blue blast from a close angle.

SIGNAS: /FIRE!!!

We see a side-angle view of the same fateful blast.

SIGNAS: /FIRE!!!!

We see a final back-angle view of the cannon as it blasts it’s huge wave of energy into the sky.

We follow the giant blue wave of energy into Outer Space, where it collides with the Space Colony, Eurasia.

-pan to-

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

EXT. OUTER SPACE – Eurasia - NIGHT

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

The Space Colony is struck by the blast, which does severe damage to it’s front and side.  The blast erupts into a brilliant flash of light.

-Fade to White-

SIGNAS: (o.s) Did we make it? …Did it get crushed apart?? Alia, give us the report.

ALIA: (o.s) …Negative! We only destroyed 62%!!

Jeers from the Hunters can be heard.

HUNTERS: (o.s, layered) Damn it!!

HUNTERS: (o.s, layered) Shit!!!

-fade in-

We slowly see that the Eurasia Colony is still fully operational, with only a chunk of damage done to it’s frontal and side regions.

ALIA: (o.s, disheartened) We have merely made it change orbit… and delayed the time of impact…

-pan to –

-----------------------------------------------------------------------  NEW MHHQ – Control Room – NIGHT ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Alia winces at the screen, and looks down feeling hopeless.

X’s mouth is agape, as he stares at the screen in disbelief.

Signas looks at the screen with a dogged, unwavering glare, while Douglas makes a confused, crooked look at the screen with a slight grimace.

ZERO: Curses!

Zero looks down with closed eyes, while the other Hunters console each other.

Frenzy Fox and Freeze Alopex give each other a saddened hug, while Rho bends down to hold Frostbite in consolation.

Lifesaver takes a deep breath, lets out a sigh and leaves the room.

DOUGLAS: The Enigma was not successful?

SIGNAS: (confirming) No…

He makes a firm grimace.

ZERO: Now what…?

-Freeze frame. Grainy Effect.-

The failed Hunters all look down in defeat and despair, while X stares at the screen with a determined face.

-Fade to Black-