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yelena-bellova · 1 year

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Twenty Years Later: Joel Miller x F!Reader - Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Strangers in the Night

Plot: Joel and Y/n try their hardest to ignore and avoid their past while waiting on the cover of night to leave the QZ.

Warnings: M for violence, gore, language, allusions to sex, alcohol, unwanted advances (16+)

Word Count: 6.9k

A/N: Okay, let me just say, did not expect such a big reaction to this little 2.2k fic I thought up randomly. You guys wanted a series, so here’s a series. It’ll be 16+ from here so please specify your age in your bio if you’d like to be tagged. I’m really excited to write this one, hope y’all enjoy it! It's gonna be a wild frickin' ride...

——————————

May 9th, 2002, Austin Texas

It was unseasonably warm for spring in Austin. Summer was making an early entrance and driving everyone indoors. The bars were packed each night, but especially on the weekends. Something about the heat always inspired people to drink more.

The Miller brothers were seated at a table in the far corner of Dane’s, each nursing a Budweiser. Despite it being a Saturday, they’d worked overtime on a garage apartment conversion. It was in Joel’s neighborhood and he needed the money. Jobs hadn’t been ripe for picking lately, in going the extra mile with the clients he did have, he could bank on a few referrals.

“We’re runnin’ short on the 2x4s,” Joel told his brother, “And it wouldn’t hurt to-“

“Dude,” Tommy made a slicing motion with his hand, “You’re off the clock. Switch off for a while.”

“I’m just trying to get ahead,” Joel replied.

Tommy smiled, lounging in his chair, “Look, you’ve got two modes: work mode and dad mode. And guess what? You never come out of either. It’s a Friday night, you’ve got a sitter, why not just try being a single, not-offensively unattractive, guy?”

Joel’s eyebrows were permanently furrowed, especially around conversations like this. Tommy meant well, but he’d been trying to get Joel to find something outside of work and his daughter for years. It wasn’t happening.

“So you’re sayin’ I should focus less on keeping a roof over my daughter’s head and makin’ sure she’s happy?” Joel asked, leaning back in his chair, “I get that right?”

Tommy chuckled and shook his head, “I’m just saying…you’re gettin’ more and more like an old man the longer you’re by yourself. Wouldn’t hurt to find someone that makes you happy.”

It was easy to ignore Tommy’s ramblings, but Joel couldn’t deny there was some truth to what he was saying. After Sarah’s mom up and left them, he kept his heart guarded from the world. Sarah and Tommy were the only ones he had the space to love. No, not the space. He had all the capacity in the world to hold someone else close to his soul, he was just too afraid of getting hurt again.

A few feet away at the bar, Y/n twirled her wine glass in her hand. Navigating a new city and a new job was taking it out of her. There had been no catalyst in her decision to move to Austin. She wasn’t running from a bad relationship nor did she need space from her family, she’d just wanted a change. So far, aside from the random heat wave, she was enjoying herself. The people were friendly, the neighborhood was quiet…she could see herself eventually calling the place home.

As she enjoyed her own company, a muscly man approached the seat next to her. He didn’t even do her the courtesy of asking if it was taken.

He flashed a pearly smile at Y/n, “Havin’ a good night?”

“Mm-hm,” she nodded, not looking up from her glass.

“Haven’t seen you around here,” the man continued, “You new to town?”

Y/n politely smiled, wishing he’d taken the hint. “Sure.”

“Findin’ your way around alright,” he put his elbows on the bar, indicating he wasn’t going anywhere, “Or are you thinkin’ you need a tour guide? Someone to show you around? Help make you feel a little more comfortable?”

Y/n was fighting the urge not to laugh, she’d seen dogs in heat more subtle than this guy. “I’m doing fine on my own, thanks,” she replied, her will to smile fading with each second he stayed.

“I don’t know,” the guy dragged his fingers up and down the condensation on his beer bottle, “You seem a little lost to me, darlin’. I got a hog outside, we could head out…night scene’s pretty wild here.”

Y/n took another sip of her wine, “Not really a wild kind of gal.”

The man’s lingering stare was beginning to make Y/n’s skin crawl. It was like he was staring straight through her clothes. He leaned in to her, his arm grazing hers, as if the close proximity was imperative to what he was about to say.

“I got this theory that inside every woman,” he lowered his voice, “There’s a wild girl just waitin’ to come out. She just needs the right cowboy,” he paused, a smile spreading across his lips, “To let her loose.”

Concealing her annoyance, Y/n looked down at her glass bashfully. She peeked back up out of her eyelashes, “What’s your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

“Jacob,” she repeated sweetly, leaning in closer to him, “Going around trying to prove how big your dick is ain’t gonna make any woman want to touch it.”

Jacob pulled back a little, shocked at both the comment and how easily being foul mouthed came to this woman. Y/n scrunched her nose and gave a sugary smile before moving to get up from her stool.

Jacob grabbed her shoulder, not prepared to lose the battle. “Hang on there, sweetheart.”

“Let go of me,” Y/n was quick to say.

“I don’t think you quite understand what I’m offerin’ you here…”

“Let,” Y/n gritted her teeth, raising her voice slightly, “Go of me.”

Jacob began to close the space between their faces, “What’re you gonna do if I ain’t ready to say goodbye to ya yet?”

“Hey.”

Y/n turned to the two men who had approached while she was fending Jacob off. The one with the mustache swung his fist and landed a shiner on Jacob’s nose. The whole bar gasped as he stumbled backwards, clutching his now bleeding face. The mystery man placed an arm in front of Y/n, making himself the barrier between Jacob’s advances and her safety.

Once Jacob caught his footing, revealing just how tipsy he was, he clumsily stalked back towards them. The second man stepped forward and effortlessly threw a punch to Jacob’s abdomen, knocking him off his feet and to the ground. The other patrons actually clapped and cheered at the knockout.

The man shielding Y/n and his friend grabbed Jacob’s arms and pulled him to his knees. Dane, the owner, came out from around the counter and marched towards the door. The men dragged Jacob through the bar, taking no care to his hands and feet as they knocked into chairs and tables. With Dane holding the door open, they threw him out, earning another round of cheers from the bar.

Y/n watched it all with a hand over her mouth. The whole thing had left her more anxious than she cared to admit.

Her two saviors made their way through the room, earning pats on the back from most of the patrons.

“Are you okay?” The man with the mustache asked when they reached her.

“Yeah,” Y/n answered, trying to hide how her hands was shaking, “Are you?”

“Not the worst we’ve seen,” the clean shaven guy smiled, flexing his bruised hand, “But I think you’re gonna have to take a shower to get that creep’s touch off ya.”

Y/n chortled, the feeling of his fingers digging into her skin hadn’t left yet. “I’m really sorry you had to step in,” she said earnestly, “I’m not great with following through on my smack talk.”

“Nah, you were holding your own,” the cheerier of the two men laughed.

“Hey, can I buy you guys a round?” Y/n asked, “It’s the least I can do.”

“There’s no need,” the quieter guy shook his head.

“No, I want to,” Y/n insisted, looking between the two of them.

The one who had done most of the talking so far was the first to relent. “Fine, but we’re spotting your next glass. Just to try and restore the ever-deteriorating reputation of men.”

Y/n laughed heartily for the first time of the night. She liked them.

“Hey, Dane,” the talkative man flagged down the bartender and turned to Y/n, “What’re you drinking?”

Y/n held up her dwindling glass of rosé.

“Another rosé for the rosebud,” the man finished, winking at Y/n in a way that felt more playful than flirtatious, “I’m Tommy, by the way.”

“Y/n,” she took his extended hand and shook it before turning to the other man.

“Joel,” he pressed his palm to hers.

Y/n smiled, her eyes lingering on the man as they shook hands. There was a peace to him that she already knew she liked.

Y/n ended up at Tommy and Joel’s table, each of them sipping a victory drink and talking up a storm. It was one of the easiest conversations any of them had ever had.

“So you just picked up one day and,” Tommy made a swooping gesture, “Came to Austin?”

Y/n shrugged, “Just needed a change.”

Tommy whistled, “That’s brave.”

“I mean, it’s Austin,” Y/n chuckled, “It’s not New York,” she took a sip of the free rosé, “What about you two?”

“Nah, we’ve been here forever,” Joel answered, holding his beer to his lips.

Tommy raised his bottle to his brother, “Can’t even get this fucker to take a vacation somewhere.”

“Workaholic or homebody?” Y/n asked.

Joel was inhaling to answer when Tommy spoke up, “Both.”

“Nothin’ wrong with working hard or staying home,” Joel replied, throwing back a swig.

“Nah,” Tommy replied, smirking, “Only when you do it.”

Joel glared out the sides of his eyes at his brother. Y/n laughed against the rim of her glass.

“Well,” Tommy leaned against the table, “If you ever need a tour guide, we’re at your disposal. We’ll show you the real grimy hole in the wall places. Best food or beer in the city are always in the places you’d least expect it.”

Contrary to Jacob’s thinly veiled advances, Y/n took Tommy and Joel for exactly how they presented themselves. They were funny, they were gentlemanly, and they were the first people in Austin she’d met who she felt truly comfortable around.

Joel, who was naturally more quiet than his brother, had never felt more lost for words. He was trying to keep himself in check considering the happenstance of their meeting, but all he wanted to do was look at Y/n. When she laughed, something inside his stomach twisted. When their eyes met, his chest tightened. There was something about being around this girl that felt very, very different than anyone else.

“Well,” Y/n checked her watch, catching the late hour, “I’ve got the morning shift tomorrow and I can’t be too hungover. Thank you both for the company and the wine,” she smiled at Joel, “It was a big improvement on how the night started.”

“Yeah, we’d better go too,” Joel announced, rising to his feet with Tommy, “Gotta get a head start tomorrow before the storm moves in.”

Tommy gestured to his big brother, smiling at Y/n, “What’d I tell you?”

“I gotta side with your brother here,” Y/n smiled, scrunching her face a little, “Everyone needs a break. That’s kinda what weekends are for”

“See?” Tommy said, “Maybe you’ll listen to her.”

Joel was on the verge of busting out in to a grin. “Not my problem if you two are lazy,” he shot back.

Y/n and Tommy each gaped with laughter. Joel smiled, he’d wanted to hear her laugh one more time before they parted.

“Well, you two have restored the name of ‘men’ quite admirably,” Y/n grabbed her purse, “Thank you for what you did, really. If you hadn’t stepped in, tonight would have ended much worse.”

Tommy shook his head, “Don’t mention it. Just learn how to throw a punch,” he slapped his hand against Joel’s shoulder, “And I think we’ll both sleep better at night.”

“I’ll get on that,” Y/n chuckled. She wasn’t sure if it was the kinship she felt or the rosé had simply relaxed her, but she reached over to Tommy and gave him a one-armed hug.

“See ya around, Rosebud,” Tommy said, keeping his hand respectfully high up on her shoulders.

“See ya,” Y/n replied, pulling back to look at Joel. She wasn’t sure what she expected to happen, only that she wanted to memorize his face before she left. “Goodnight,” she said with a small smile.

Joel tried to ignore how his heart was thudding in his chest. “‘Night,” he replied.

His eyes followed her all the way to the door, till she stepped out into the steamy evening air. He wasn’t sure why he had to urge to follow her.

“You,” Tommy gripped Joel’s shoulder a little tighter, “Are fucked.”

Joel rolled his eyes at his little brother’s laughter, “The hell’re you talking about?”

Tommy fell back down in his chair, a hand resting on his chest, “You were fuckin’ smitten with her.”

“‘Smitten?’” Joel cringed, taking his seat and his beer, “What’re you, 14?”

“Fine, hot for, taken with, enamored, mesmerized,” Tommy chuckled, “Whatever you wanna call it…you liked her.”

Joel shrugged and took another drink, “‘Course I liked her. You liked her too.”

“Not like you,” Tommy shook his head, still grinning, “I think she liked you too.”

Pushing down the way his stomach jumped when Tommy said that, he glanced over at the door again. He looked back to the table, checking to see if she’d left anything. Maybe she’d have to come back. What would he do if she did? Would he ask for her number? Or was that too forward? He didn’t want anything he did to remind her at all of the asshat they’d tossed out-

“She didn’t leave anything, dude.”

Tommy’s voice brought Joel out of his thoughts. He hadn’t realized how long he’d been staring at Y/n’s empty seat. There was no reason for her to come back.

“You’re fucked,” Tommy brought the conversation full circle, patting his brother’s shoulder and taking a drink.

Joel hid his disappointment, just like his infatuation; well, but not well enough. He looked down at his bottle, “Doesn’t matter. We’re not gonna see her again.”

Tommy shrugged, “Austin ain’t that big.”

Outside, Y/n was making the three minute walk down the street to her apartment complex. Her mind was no longer focused on the douche whose name she was already forgetting, all she could think of was how Joel smiled like he had a secret. How his laughter was reserved only for when he found something hilarious. How whether he was sitting beside his brother or punching out a handsy creep, he was completely relaxed. How his brown eyes were so warm, one gaze into them had given her goosebumps…

Y/n shook her head at herself, completely thrown for a loop. One encounter with one guy and she felt like there was some invisible string tugging harder with every inch of distance she put between herself and the bar. The chances of bumping into Tommy and Joel again in a city as big as Austin were slim. It was a reality she had to face. It was just one of those meetings that left you feeing like you’d experienced true magic. She was saddened at the thought of never sitting across from Joel again.

Into the night, with a total distance of seven minutes unbeknownst between them, Joel and Y/n each retired and prepared for their respective early mornings. Joel paid the neighbor who’d watched Sarah, Y/n called and checked in on her sister, who’d just had a baby. Joel kissed his daughter goodnight, Y/n finished up a load of laundry. They each changed into their pajamas, brushed their teeth, and turned out the lights. It was then, in the sweet space between sleep and consciousness that they let their minds drift back to each other….

—————————

2023, Boston

Of course it was raining. Rain made everything easier.

Joel, Tess, Y/n and Ellie trudged through the streets of what was once downtown Boston. Y/n kept a hand on Ellie’s back at all times, untrusting of both the people around them and the ones they were traveling with.

Even with the utter chaos they were in the middle of, Y/n’s mind was overtaken by the holes being burned into the back of her head. Joel’s stare was unfaltering. She wanted to turn around and scream at him, but that would garner the attention they were trying so hard not to attract. That was fine, she had more than enough anger and more than enough time to let him feel it.

Joel, whose every move was made with vigilante like precision, was struggling to keep his thoughts in order. The past was so easy to put behind you when you never had to look at it. Faced with the person who knew it all, had seen it all…the second he’d laid eyes on Y/n, it had all come flooding back. He had to get himself in check. Y/n’s unfiltered hatred was helping him there.

They made it to Joel and Tess’ apartment without any trouble, the four of them filing down the narrow hallway. Y/n pulled as far away from Joel as possible while they waited for Tess to unlock the door, which wasn’t very far. Once it was open, Joel impatiently waved for Ellie to enter, saving the same glare for Y/n. Ellie entered apprehensively, while Y/n knew enough to know that they were Joel and Tess’ leverage. Without them, they couldn’t get their battery. They were safe, for the time being.

“Give us a minute, all right?” Tess stated more than asked, heading back out to the hall.

“What the fu-“ Ellie started, the door silenced the last two letters.

Y/n put a finger to her lips, standing beside the door and listening to the other side of the door. Tess and Joel were discussing which route to take, something that infuriated her. There was only one child in their party, she refused to let Joel make her anything other than an equal.

She threw down her backpack and threw the door open. “If you two are planing on excluding me from the planning side of things, let me know now so I can strangle you both,” she said, smiling sweetly.

“You wanna tell us what we’re really doing with this kid?” Tess fired back.

“Not particularly,” Yn replied.

“Then you don’t get a voice here,” Tess looked to Joel, “We leave after dark. Stay with them.”

Joel took a step forward as his partner walked off, “Wait, why do I have to — Tess! Tess!”

Tess turned the corner of the hall without ever breaking stride.

Joel sighed loudly, eventually looking over to Y/n.

“She’s lovely,” Y/n snarked, earning a signature Miller scowl.

Joel nodded towards the door and Y/n slipped back inside, he kept an overly safe distance between them. Y/n unzipped her backpack and grabbed her first aid kit, sitting down at Joel’s table to tend to her bullet wound. Joel shrugged off his pack and threw himself on the couch. Ellie was splitting the distance between them, holding a large book in her hands.

“So,” the girl started, “Who’s Bill and Frank?”

Joel looked up confused, as if he couldn’t imagine how she could have possibly heard anything from the other side of the door.

“Oh, come on, Tool Time,” Y/n chortled, as she opened the bottle of disinfectant, “This whole place is paper thin.”

“The radio’s a smuggling code, right?” Ellie asked, “60s song, they don’t have anything new. 70s, they got new stuff. What’s 80’s?”

Joel got off the couch and ripped the book out of Ellie’s hands, throwing it to the side. He glanced over at Y/n, who was struggling to keep her grunts quiet as she cleaned her wound. A twinge of pain ran through his chest as she scrunched up her face, trying to keep her breaths steady. His fingers automatically twitched to help her, but it wouldn’t actually help anyone. Instead, he fought his instincts walked back to the couch and laid down.

“What are you doing?” Ellie asked.

“Killin’ time,” Joel said, his drawl particularly noticeable.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure that out,” his eyes were already closed, just like the conversation.

Y/n began to use a q-tip to spread antiseptic cream over the wound, the cooling sensation dulling the pain.

Ellie took back the book and walked past Joel, “Your watch is broken.”

Four little words froze Y/n, hunched over the table with her supplies. She didn’t have to look to know that Joel’s eyes were open again. It was the second time today that they’d been perfectly in sync. The first was pulling their guns on one another and, to be honest, Y/n would have preferred to stare down the barrel of his pistol. Bullets were simple and easy to dodge, memories were more cunning and hurt significantly more.

Y/n finished dressing her wound, zipping the kit back up and throwing it in her backpack. She laid her jacket out to dry on the back of the chair and finally took a good look at her surroundings. She couldn’t have chosen a place more opposite to Joel’s 3-bed 3-bath in Austin. The floors creaked, the walls were stained, and the ceilings were uncomfortably low. Home was a fluid concept in the world they lived in, and the kind Y/n was thinking of was lost entirely.

“He’s fun,” Ellie grunted from her seat at the window.

Y/n scoffed, “You have no idea.”

If they’d be using the cover of night to travel, Y/n knew Joel had the right idea to sleep now. She pulled out a sweater from her backpack, bunched it up and set it on the ground across from the couch. Without any blankets, she made the call that a nearby rug would be the next best thing. She shook it out and placed it below the sweater.

“Try and get some sleep,” Y/n instructed Ellie, “You’re gonna need it.”

Ellie simply hummed and continued paging through the book. Y/n slipped under the dirty rug and sighed, she’d slept in worse places for much longer…

She took the moment of peace to finally take a good look at Joel. His eyebrows still furrowed as he slept, as if he was in a constant state of disapproval with the world. The rest of his face was softer, a strange contrast, but so very him. His chest rose and fell in a perfect rhythm. It was hard for Y/n not to remember how it felt to lay with her ear against his heart, lifting and lowering with him…

The QZ was small, and stories got around. Y/n had known for a while that Joel was in Boston. She’d also heard the stories of the things he’d done, the people he’d killed, and just how far he’d go to guarantee his survival. Despite not owing him anything, Y/n had refused to believe them. She adamantly denied the possibility that she could have ever loved a man capable of such hideous acts. The Cordecyps had changed them all in different ways, but she had to believe that Joel was still Joel…

————————————

“Hey.”

A mumble and a boot kick to the shoulder had Y/n startling awake. She rolled over to see Ellie, still sitting by the window with the book in her lap.

“How do you know him?”

Y/n squinted and sat up, her joints cracking as she stretched her limbs. The sky outside was pitch black, clearly she’d needed more sleep than she thought.

“He’s an…” she began to say, the complexity of the situation hitting her all over again. There was only one answer to give that wouldn’t invite any more questions. “I was friends with his brother a long time ago.”

Ellie’s seemed to accept it, “Where’re you from?”

“Texas.”

The girl’s eyes widened, “You lived in Texas?”

“Just for a little while,” Y/n replied, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes,

Ellie looked down at her hands and then out the window, “I’ve never been out that far.”

Y/n sighed, thinking about what it might be like to grow up never having known what the world used to be like. “You’re not missing much, kid,” she lied. She’d have gone back to Austin in a heartbeat, if it was at all possible.

“What’s ‘rosebud?’”

Y/n’s body went cold, as if she’d just been plunged into ice water, memories slamming into her like waves. A glass of rosé and belly laughter, a backyard game of football, soft lips whispering sweet nothings against her ear…

She looked over at Ellie calmly, “What?”

The girl nodded towards Joel, who was still peacefully sleeping. “He kept mumbling the word ‘rosebud,’” she replied, “Thought maybe it was a code word or something.”

It did serve as a codeword, containing secrets, laughter, and all the love that had once existed in Y/n’s world. Now the mere utterance cut her worse than any blade could.

“If it is,” Y/n got to her feet, not wanting to be anywhere near the word, “I don’t know what it means.”

Joel woke then, startling without any real physicality. He stared up at the ceiling, dazed from his dreams. No, nightmares. That’s what they were.

“You mumble in your sleep,” Ellie said, announcing her presence, “Something about ‘rosebud.’”

If that didn’t wake him up, nothing could. His eyes flitted across the room, looking for the woman who owned every inch of the word. When Joel couldn’t find her, he pushed up on one arm and found her sitting at his kitchen table with her back turned to him.

In his subconscious, he’d seen her as she used to be. Her eyes full of light, her smile like pure sunshine, laughter pouring out of her with a freedom so few people allowed themselves. He’d felt her soft skin against his, felt her lips pressed to his jawline, right between his neck and his ear. He’d known her for the first time in twenty years, only to wake up and find her ghost.

Joel swung his legs over the couch and rose, his knees and back aching. Getting older in a post-apocalyptic world felt extra cruel. He ventured over to the table, ready to test the waters and see just how bad of a time he was in for.

Y/n sighed in annoyance as Joel took the chair next to her. She needed distance she wasn’t going to get, from him and all that he reminded her of.

They sat in the most awkward silence either of them had ever known.

Joel was the first to break it, “You get some sleep?”

Y/n glared out the corner of her eyes at him, the first words he spoke to her after their confrontation and that was the first thing he said?

Joel’s chest tightened at her poisoned stare, he wasn’t going to get an answer. “Wound okay?”

“This whole thing’ll go a lot easier if you stop pretending to give a shit about me,” Y/n said quietly, the sharpness of her tone cutting through the volume, “We both know you don’t.”

The walls weren’t coming down. Joel knew that. He didn’t want them down. But after seeing her, full of energy and joy, he had to check and see if there was any bit of that woman left. His eyes scanned her skin, so many scars and scrapes where there had once been a smooth surface. Her hair was dry, streaks of oil laced like highlights through the strands. Her nails were chipped and caked with dirt underneath. But most noticeably, there were two prominent frown lines across her cheeks. That let Joel know that the woman he’d once loved was absolutely gone.

“What happened to Tommy?” Y/n asked. She couldn’t help herself, but she kept her tone frosty.

“Sent a message three weeks back,” Joel answered, his fist fidgeting against the table, “Haven’t heard anything.”

Y/n didn’t want to take any strolls with Joel down memory lane, but Tommy was…Tommy. She couldn’t deny that she still cared about him deeply. “Do you know where he is?”

“Wyoming,” Joel answered, looking past her eyes at the wall. He didn’t think he could handle speaking about his brother to her, of all people.

“Oh,” she said, “So you’re completely crazy now.”

That earned her a hardened gaze, as if Joel had anything else for her.

“I’ve never been on the other side of the Wall,” Ellie spoke up, “Look how dark it is.”

Y/n got up first, smoothing her tank top back down and leaning against the wall near the door. Joel followed, retaking his seat on the couch. They both pondered the same thing separately: how much life Ellie had missed out on just by being born in the wrong decade.

“You guys go out there a lot?” Ellie asked Joel.

“I guess,” he answered.

“When was the last time?”

“Maybe a year,” Joel quickly replied, he wasn’t enjoying all the questions, “What’s it matter?”

“But you know where to go,” Ellie clarified, looking too much like a kid, “So we’re gonna be okay.”

It was a fair question, and Joel couldn’t fault her for being scared. Fear was all she’d ever known.

“Yeah,” he answered, significantly softer than his last one.

Y/n’s eyes grazed the window, spotting the plastic butterfly that clung to the glass. After all these years, Joel had managed to keep it. It took all the self-discipline she had not to let her tears fall.

“So what’s the deal with you anyway,” Joel asked Ellie, “You some kind of bigwig’s daughter or somethin’?”

Both Ellie and Y/n knowingly smirked to themselves. “Something like that,” Ellie replied, “Oh, the radio came on while you were sleeping.”

“What?” Joel snapped to attention, leaning forward, “What was the song?

“He kept sayin’ like, “wake me up before you go-go?” Ellie answered, making Y/n and Joel feel much much older.

Joel knew what that meant, and it was nothing good. “Shit,” he whispered to himself.

Ellie’s smirk spread across her face, “Gotcha. 80’s means trouble. Code broken.”

Joel got to his feet, having used his patience up earlier in the day. “Listen-“

Y/n was between him and Ellie in a flash, sticking out a hand towards Joel. She was off limits, even for a light scolding. Luckily, the door opened up before anything could be said. Tess had returned.

“The spot under Lancaster looks good,” she reported, turning to Ellie after, “You got a jacket in your pack?”

“Yeah,” Ellie responded.

“Okay, get it. It’s time to go.”

Y/n stuffed her sweater back in backpack and went to retrieve her now-dry jacket. It had been a long time since she’d gone outside of the QZ, she couldn’t decide whether she was terrified or happy to step outside the fence.

Joel on the other hand felt like he couldn’t move. Between the fear over his brother’s safety, being close to Y/n once again and the daunting task ahead of them, he wanted to pause it all for a moment. Tess throwing his jacket at him was a good reminder that he didn’t get to take minutes.

As Y/n went to the window to check Ellie, her eye caught the butterfly in the window again. Much like ‘Rosebud,’ there was another name that she never said. She could practically see it weaved into the fine details of the creature, the bright blue against the dark black. When Joel’s back was turned. Y/n pulled the cling off the window and shoved it in her backpack. If they were going to do this, she needed to feel strong enough to do it. She’d give it back to Joel and face his wrath when the deed was done.

The four of them made it out and into the underground tunnels, landing in a lesser frequented area of the QZ. Joel climbed out first and scanned their surroundings, helping to pull Ellie out after. Y/n came through next, though Joel knew better than the extend his hand to her, and finally, Tess.

“Holy shit,” Ellie remarked, spinning around to take it all in, “I’m actually outside.”

Not half a second later, a helicopter made its round over them, searchlights shining off it. Tess pulled Ellie in and crouched behind a large piece of debris.

“Okay, we’re gonna take the left edge around the buffer zone,” Tess explained, “You stay close and you follow my lead.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Ellie nodded in understanding, glancing over to Y/n as if to get approval. Y/n nodded back, placing momentary trust that Tess would protect the girl.

“Same goes for you,” Joel said from beside her, his voice low.

Y/n glared over her shoulder, “I really don’t think you want me where you can’t see me.”

“Let’s go,” Tess ordered.

The four of them crawled under an abandoned school bus with Joel bringing up the rear. Walking while crouched was hard, but they managed their best and paused behind a car when a FEDRA patrol vehicle passed by. Once it was clear, they made their way through a rusted, metal pipe, stopping when the chopper passed over them again. Y/n caught a peek at Ellie’s face as the light shone on them, she looked terrified. Through her own nerves, Y/n reached over and took Ellie’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Joel watched the whole thing, if he wanted a glimpse of the woman he’d once known, he’d gotten it. Her heart was still there.

Their team hurried out of the pipe, rushing to hide behind another big piece of debris. A storm was starting, the lightning acting as temporary lighting for their path. Joel was leading the way when their presence was detected.

“Hey,” a FEDRA soldier shouted, “Hey! Don’t, don’t, don’t move.”

Joel hurriedly looked around for more, pushing Ellie behind him. He held his hands up in surrender, along with Y/n, Ellie and Tess. If they wanted to get out of this, they needed to play along.

The FEDRA soldier opened the visor of his helmet, getting a look at Joel. “You gotta be shittin’ me…”

“Okay, let’s talk this out,” Joel said calmly.

“Turn around,” the soldier ignored him.

“Hold on-“

“Get on your fuckin’ knees,” the soldier yelled, “Get on your fuckin’ knees!”

Joel wasn’t giving up, “Now, hold on-“

“What did I fuckin’ tell you, man? I said stay the fuck home,” he pointed to the ground, “Get on your knees!”

Y/n knew if he fought any harder, he was going to get them all killed. Taking matters into her own hands, she dropped. “Ellie,” she said calmly, “Get down.”

“Just get on your knees,” Tess said to Joel, “Just get on your knees.”

Joel listened and kneeled between Ellie and Tess, turning his back to the soldier. Ellie finally followed Yn’s directions and got down next to Y/n.

“Listen, you let us do this run,” Tess bargained, “We’ll split the cards with you.”

The soldier wasn’t having it, “Oh, will you?”

Y/n’s breaths quickened, knowing their chances of escape were slim. There had to be something to do. If she gave herself up, would he let Tess and Joel leave with Ellie? She didn’t particularly feel like dying, but Ellie was too important to compromise. They could get her the rest of the way.

“Hands on your head, eyes forward,” the soldier instructed. It was the eyes forward bit that bothered Joel the most. They wanted to control what they couldn’t even see.

“Hands on your head,” the soldier screamed, startling them all into doing it. He came up behind Tess, holding a device to her neck. Checking to see if they were infected.

Y/n’s heart stopped in her chest. Shit.

“Really, man?” Tess complained.

The soldier was undeterred, “Yep, we’re doin’ this by the book.”

Ellie nudged Y/n with her boot, signaling she knew what was coming. Y/n wasn’t sure how to offer her any assurance that they’d be okay.

“Unauthorized exit,” the soldier reported, “They’ll hang you for that.”

“Fine,” Joel tried again, “Everythin’ off this run and half off of all the pills.”

Their voices faded in Y/n’s ears. If she could move quick enough, she could spin around and shoot the soldier before he knew what was happening. It would give Tess and Joel a few seconds to get away.

Before Y/n could make a decision, Ellie stole her move and stabbed the soldier in the leg.

“Ellie!” Y/n and Tess cried in unison.

The soldier was momentarily dazed, stumbling backwards and trying to figure out where the injury was. Y/n took the opportunity to shove Ellie behind her. Joel did the same, jumping to his feet and standing in front of Y/n. It was pure instinct.

“Get out of the fuckin’ way,” the soldier yelled, aiming his gun past the adults.

Joel could talk his way out of a lot, but this looked grim. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.

“We can fix this,” he tried, holding up his hands as a barrier between them and the soldier.

The soldier was done listening to their pathetic attempts. “Move.”

Joel didn’t budge.

“Move.”

Y/n had been on the recieving end of a lot of guns, held by people who thought that God had abandoned the post-apocalyptic warland and it was their job to fill His seat. But the military regulated weaponry, the uniform, the expressionless face that wouldn’t fill with guilt the moment its body pulled the trigger.

It transported her back twenty years.

And she knew Joel was there with her.

He surged forward, letting out a gutteral cry as he tackled the soldier to the ground. He climbed atop him, pinning him, and began to throw one merciless punch after the other. The crunching of bone and squishing of flesh formed an awful, perfect, rhythm.

While Ellie watched and felt something awaken within her, Y/n felt something die. She watched the man she’d known in her past life as loving and tender become a necessary monster. People thought mourning was only for those who left the earth, but there were plenty of dead souls still breathing. If there was any debate as to whether or not her version of Joel Miller was truly gone, the proof was now and forever burned into Y/n’s mind. Someone else now inhabited in his body.

When the job was done, Joel sat heaving over the man’s body, looking down at his bloody and bruised fist. It was the closest he could ever come to avenging her. When he looked up, his eyes first fell on Ellie, who didn’t seem to mind the violence at all. It seemed she actually liked it.

Y/n’s eyes told a different story.

A well-timed lightning strike lit her up, and Joel saw tears pooling below her y/e/c pupils. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, anxiety mixing with terror. Joel knew exactly what she was thinking about him and for a singular second, he felt guilt. He felt guilt for causing her pain, for forcing her to see him as anything other than the man she’d known.

It passed as quick as it came. It had to.

Tess grabbed the dropped scanner and read the bright red screen. Y/n hurried back to the present pulled Ellie by her jacket away from Tess.

“No, no,” Ellie yelled, “No, I’m not sick!”

“Joel,” Tess called, beginning to panic.

“She’s not sick,” Y/n backed Ellie up, “She’s clean!”

“Joel,” Tess yelled again, putting space between Y/n and her.

Ellie pulled her jacket sleeve up to reveal her arm, “Look! Look! This is three weeks old! Nobody lasts more than a day! Does this look a day old to you?”

Tess examined the bite site, it looked more like a bad scar than an infectious wound.

“You would have fuckin’ killed me!” Ellie said in horror.

“I should fucking kill you,” Tess bit back, looking up at Y/n, “What the hell’s Marlene trying to pull?!”

“It’s true,” Y/n said, keeping one hand over her pistol in case Tess didn’t listen, “She’s clean.”

She looked past Tess’ shoulder and over to Joel, who was still watching her. It was a long shot to get him of all people to listen to her, but now, she was happy to bank on their history in hopes that he’d believe her.

“I swear it,” Y/n held a hand up, her eyes digging into Joel’s, begging for him to not raise his gun.

Joel stopped short at Y/n’s vulnerability, he was shaken in every direction just from the last thirty seconds. He felt his will to argue with her slipping away.

“They’re gonna catch us if we don’t run,” Ellie stated, she wasn’t wrong. They could argue elsewhere and keep their lives.

“Joel, we gotta move,” Tess called, interrupting the stare-off between Y/n and him, “We gotta move, Joel.”

Ellie and Tess were already making their way to the fence, but Y/n and Joel stayed a second longer. Neither one had much credibility with the other, not after the last time they’d been together. But at the moment, Joel had two choices. He could either die at FEDRA’s hands, or he could follow the woman he’d once trusted most in the world and believe her one more time.

He chose the latter, though he was far from believing.

Joel picked up the soldier’s rifle and gestured for Y/n to move, the two of them ran after Tess and Ellie, who were already slipping through a hole in the chained fence. Y/n pushed through it, coming to stand on the other side of the QZ’s limits and pausing for Joel. She knew he trusted her as far as he could throw her and she wasn’t totally confidant in turning her back to him. She waited till he came through and the two of them ran after Tess and Ellie, into the night and into the unknown…

————————

TYL Taglist: @bachiracore @stolenxkissess @kayleezra @the-wistful-reader @allthesesonsofbitches @goth-detectives365 @trippovert @rh1nestonecowg1rl @emiliaserpe @khaleesihavilliard @frietiemeloen @gracie7209 @dorck26 @thegirlnextdoorssister @alanis-altair @mariwinns16 @whosscruffylooking (for anyone whose tag isn’t working, change your settings to ‘show up in search results’)

Joel Miller Taglist: @xsnak-3x @xmoonknightlyx

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x you #joel miller x y/n #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller imagine #joel miller fanfic #joel miller fanfiction #twenty years later

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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 1 month

Text

Treat You 4

Warnings: dark elements, noncon, violence, abuse, other dark elements. Proceed with caution. (Tall!reader)

Note: Please let me know what you think as it helps me a lot with ideas and I love interacting with you all.

Part of The Club AU

Around noon, you think about leaving. You should head out before you grow bothersome. As you slide your laptop into the crochet bag, that man approaches. The young one with the bright brown eyes.

“You leaving?” He asks. His apron is gone and he has one of the flat cafe boxes in his hands.

“Yeah, should go,” you stand, at least half a foot taller. You slope your shoulders and bend your neck, “got a long way to go.”

“Oh, yeah? You walking?” He asks.

You stare at him, hesitantly nodding.

“I’m done. Half-shift today so… yeah. Um, could I walk with you?”

You blink, “why?”

He chuckles, “because I want to.”

You look down and hook your bag over your shoulder, “you don’t have to… you already gave me the tea–” your lip starts to tremble, “you don’t have to be nice because you think I’m pathetic.”

“I don’t think that,” his tone turns steely, “I just thought… we seem close to the same age and you’re nice so, well, yeah, I don’t have a lot of friends and I was hoping…”

“Oh.”

He shifts his weight on his feet, “oh?”

“I didn’t think…” you trail off and shrug, raising your eyes meekly. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t insult you.”

“No, you didn’t. You couldn’t,” he lets himself smile again. “It’s a nice day. I wouldn’t mind a walk.”

“Hm, well, maybe halfway,” you agree.

“Sure.”

You twist your finger in your fist, not sure what to do next. He outstretches his arm towards the door, “you first.”

You slouch and go to the door, pushing outside and stepping quickly out of Peter’s way as you hold it open. He follows and you let go. You turn and head back along your usual route. He catches up and keeps pace with your long legs.

“Do you like strawberries and cream?” He asks as he flips up the lid of the box, “special scones. They’re yummy.”

“Oh, uh, that’s nice but…”

“You haven’t eaten,” he offers the box to you.

“I’m not hungry,” you argue but your belly rumbles in rebellion. You hang your head in embarrassment.

“It’s fine, I just need to save one for May.”

“May? You’re girlfriend?”

“My aunt,” he fills in and takes a scone, shoving it in your direction. “Come on, you think I can finish all these?”

You accept it and chew your lip. You walk to the corner before you dare to take a bite. It crumbles and you try to catch the mess with your hand. It’s so good and sweet it makes your empty stomach squeeze.

“Good?” He asks.

“Mhm,” you hum.

“So, you got a boyfriend waiting at home? You can take one for him.”

“Boyfriend,” you murmur, “no…”

“Ah, not that far in yet.”

“No boyfriend,” you insist.

“Right, well, me too. No boyfriend, no girlfriend,” he laughs.

You’re quiet as you nibble on the scone. You take measured bites, both savouring the taste and trying not to show how ravenous you really are. You don’t often get treats like this. You don’t always eat in a day.

“Shame about your computer. You know, I’m a bit of a techy, I could try to fix it,” he says.

“No, that’s okay, it’s… broken.”

“Never know if you don’t try,” he suggests.

“I can’t pay you to fix it.”

“That’s fine, I didn’t say anything about money.”

“So why would you want to?”

“Well, I thought we were making friends. Friends help each other out.”

“Friends.”

“Yeah, actually, I was gonna ask, do you like video games?” He chimes.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” He echoes.

“Never played em.”

“Never… well, guess what? I got a few friends coming over, you could tag along, we could play some MarioKart.”

“Wouldn’t be any good,” you mutter.

“You’d be great,” he insists, “It’s Friday night, if you’re interested. I can give you my phone number.”

“Don’t have a phone,” you grumble, looking away in embarrassment.

“Well, you could have my email.”

“Computer’s busted.”

“Yeah, right, forgot,” he sighs, “well, how about if you’re interested, you could meet me at the cafe on Friday. At three? My shift ends then.”

“Maybe,” you reply evasively and take the last bite of scone.

“You live alone then?” He asks.

“My dad…”

“Oh, that’s cool. Just you and your dad?”

“Mom remarried.”

“Ah,” he accepts coolly, “it’s just me and Aunt May. My parents are gone and Uncle Ben passed a few years ago.”

You gulp as a shiver rolls over you. You feel awful for him. You can complain about your dad’s outbursts but at least he’s still around.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t, please, I’m lucky, I got May and now you, right? Cause we’re friends.”

“Sure,” you stop at the crosswalk and turn to him, “it’s far from here. I can go on my own.”

“I don’t mind.”

“You live around here?” You wonder.

“No, actually, the other way, but I’ve been standing behind a counter all day–”

“You worked. You should go home,” you say.

He sniffs as his smile falls, “do you think you’ll come on Friday?”

You think about it. After all he’s done, the tea, the scone, and just being kind, you shouldn’t say no.

“Okay.”

“Okay? Yay!” He claps his hands and you wince. “I’ll see you Friday at three.”

“Friday,” you confirm, “er, bye then.”

“Bye,” he chirps back, “be safe, alright.”

You hum and cross the street. As you get to the other side, you look back. He stands and watches you. You give a tiny wave and keep going, walking until you’re certain he’s out of sight.

You hope your dad’s calmed down. He usually has by now. You stop just a block away from the building. You can’t make yourself go any further.

You turn and head down to the small park behind the pharmacy. You find a bench to sit on and bring your bag into your lap. You peek inside, examining the cracked edge of your laptop. You wonder if you still have your library card laying around, though you don’t know if you can scrape up the money to pay for the computer time.

You look up and your head snaps around as you see a spec at the corner of your sight. It’s nothing. Just the old swings and slide. Probably just a robin or piece of trash blowing by.

#peter parker #dark peter parker #dark!peter parker #peter parker x reader #series #drabble #au #the club #treat you #spider-man #avengers #mcu #marvel

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angelltheninth · 9 months

Text

Where Pleasure Hides

Pairing: Tomura Shigaraki x Fem!Reader

Tags: nsfw, smut, blowjob, fingering, cock riding, virginity loss, creampie, slight breeding kink from Reader, soft!Tomura, virgin!Tomura, experianced!Reader

Word count: 1.2k

A/N: Fic commissioned by @prettylilbug.

It was quiet in Tomura's room, always quiet safe for the sound of whatever news was playing on the TV at the time. He liked the silence, he liked the silence when you were his company, laying on his chest, careful not to touch him too much. Tomura's control over his powers had gotten better since his big clash with One for All but he was still weary of touching you for long periods of time.

You didn't mind this lack of skin-to-skin contact, Tomura still found ways to make you blush, to make you horny and help you deal with said horniess, and his own, often at the same time, in the same room, watching each other.

Lately he has began to experiment, allowing oral sex and fingering on occasion. You knew he was thinking about it now too, you could feel his pants tenting as his fingers slipped into the backpockets of your pants. He rarely jerked off when you weren't around, wanting you to see every second of him feeling good and see you in return.

"If you keep squirming like that I'm not gonna be able to keep my hands to my self, little doll." He took his eyes off the screen and directed them towards you instead. "Was this your plan when you said you wanted to hang out today? Are you finally making a move on me? About time."

His smirk would be scary, sickening to most but it made your cheeks heat up, your ass push against his hands. "Have I... been that obvious?"

"Don't worry." He leaned in, biting the shell of your ear enough to make you hiss but not hard enough to make you bleed, "I'm the only one who noticed what a horny mess you are under that shy façade of yours. It's always the shy, cute ones isn't it?" He dragged his long tongue over the place he'd just bitten, soothing the attacked area. "I think I want to give it a try, all the way tonight."

"Really?!" You couldn't stop the excitement and surprise from being heard in your voice.

Tomura licked his lips, "Really. I want to give you all of me. Every. Single. Inch." He jerked his hips up with every word, his cock now fully hard and straining against his pants. "What do you say, doll? Ready to be my first?"

Your head spun as you sat up, your hand on his chest, pressure against your clothed pussy. You never took your clothes off faster. Tomura complained about not being able to enjoy the show but you pressed your finger to his lips, "Hush you, do you have any idea how long I've waited for this night?"

"Hm..." Tomura pulled your hip up and pushed two fingers inside your wet pussy, showing your pussy no mercy as his grin widened. His hoodie and pants ended up stained more and more with every thrust but he didn't mind one bit. He had the woman of his dreams above him, moaning, breasts swaying with every time he hooked your fingers and scratched at your spongy wall. "I can make an educated guess. The walls to my bedroom and yours are thin, I heard many things."

"Oh my god! Tomura! Why didn't you tell me?! That's so embaressi- ahn!" There was no time to feel shame, it was all pleasure from here on out.

"Show me, show me how you'll ride my dick." He lowered his hand to the soft squish of your thigh, his fingers still inside you.

"I think I'd rather ride it for real." Despite how embaressed you were you were a lot more horny and that feeling won over easily. You missed the fullness of his fingers, you had to work fast, pulling his cream colored cock out of his pants and wrapping your lips around it in one swoop. His cum always tasted particularly strong when compared to your ex partners. You knew not to mention them though, Tomura was quite the jealous type.

This was one of the times where your experience came in very handy. You bobbed your head up and down along his pulsing cock, feeling him overflowing with creamy, salty cum. "I love how you taste, Tomura." You lapped up almost all of his cum, leaving a little on the corners of your mouth by choice as you straddled his hips and alighted yourself with him.

"Go slow. I want to remember every second of it. I want this moment edged into my mind forever." You could have sworn you heard his words shake for a split second. With a nod you began your descent, keeping your eyes on Tomura's face, his mouth falling open more and more, eyes widening beyond what you thought was possible for him.

You gripped his hoodie for balance. His cock felt... right, "Your cock belongs inside me. Can you feel this?" You deliberately fluttered your walls around him, "That's how much my pussy likes it." Tomura nodded frantically, running his hand through his white hair, moving it from his eyes, needing to see everything, everything you had to give him.

"Fuck! Fuck, so warm. I thought it felt good when I fucked you with my fingers but this? This is the best thing I've ever felt." Tomura rolled his hips upwards, pushing the rest of his cock all the way in, causing your back to arch, "Can I move? I can feel I'm close, I wanna fuck my cum deep into you."

Feeling his impatience you nodded and put his hands on your hips, leaning forward a bit to get his cock in deeper, "You can do whatever you want to me, handsome. Fuck me hard, Tomura."

Encouragement was everything he needed to unleash all his pent up lust on your pussyhole. You dug your knees into the couch in an effort to stay still for him, wanting him to get the most out of this. "So good, doll, you're so good to me."

"Always." You moaned, "Always good for you." His cock twitched inside you, spreading his cum inside you, feeling yourself slowly getting close to the edge. "Inside, I want you to come inside me, give me your cum, fill me up, b-breed me."

"Gladly." You didn't need to say anything more, didn't need to ask again, he was all to happy to oblige with your request. He kept his pace going until you saw fireworks, no until you felt yourself falling, no floating, until you weren't sure anymore and all you knew was the white hot pleasure of Tomura's cock being slammed repeatedly inside you and his cum filling you up.

You collapsed on top of him, your face next to his, your back heaving as he embraced you close to him.

"How was your first time?" You asked against his cheek, feeling his hair under your fingers as you brushed it back.

"Is the amount of cum in your pussy not enough? Perhaps you need it in the other two as well?" Look at him, so confidant in his-

Wait... "You're still hard?! How?! There's so much!"

Tomura chuckled, cock twitching with pride, "Perks of All for One I suppose. Want to help me test it's limits?" That sounded like a dangerous challenge.

"You bet." You never turned down a challenge from Tomura. "Show me what you've got, handsome." You would live to regret those words because when he was finally done with you all three of your holes were sore from use. Did you go till morning? Or was it the next night? It was too hard to tell from the constant onslaught of pleasure.

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melodygatesauthor · 10 months

Text

Last Chance

First Order Poe Dameron X f!Reader

Not Beta Read - Requested by @steven-grants-world

Kinks - First Time + Enemies to Lovers (that's not really what happens I tried lol)

Summary

You are a member of the Resistance who has been interrogated by Commander Dameron of the First Order. He remembers you from his time in the Resistance and he still harbors some hatred for you. He's ready to show you just how eager he is to put you in your place.

Tags/Warnings

NSFW, RAPE/NON-CON, forced sex, loss of virginity, minor mentions of blood, creampie, breeding kink, smut, sex, Poe is really mean, unprotected sex. DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT (this means that you should take the tags seriously! DO NOT READ if you're sensitive to some of these topics).

Word Count: 940

----

“Anything else you wanna say that might make me change my mind? Heard you were a damn good pilot, maybe I can convince you to serve me instead of the Resistance,” Poe brushed the back of his gloved index finger over your cheek.

Commander Poe Dameron of the First Order fleet had a dangerous glint in his eye accompanied by a malicious smirk. Your breath hitched in your throat. He was terrifying to you. You knew exactly what he was capable of, and when he made a threat…he always followed through. If he meant to kill you, then you’d be dead before the night was over.

“Out!” He shouted, forcing you to jump.

He shooed the storm troopers out of the interrogation room. They clicked away on the durasteel floor. He tutted at you and shook his head slowly before he undid your restraints. You fell to the ground on your knees and groaned. He grabbed you by the sleeve of your coat and pulled you up. His face was so close to yours.

“What’s it gonna be gorgeous?” His eyes were darting between yours rapidly. “Last chance.”

“You’re a traitor.” You spat, trying to pull free, but you weren’t strong enough.

“Am I?” He turned you around and slammed you against the wall, pressing himself against you, “I’m not the one who nearly got the entire Resistance killed and then blamed someone who was supposed to be their friend, am I?” He said in a low growl, bringing his lips to your ear, “am I?”

You grunt, trying to get him off of you but he’s pushing too hard, and he’s far stronger than you are.

“Fuck you.”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

“No wait–!”

Poe’s gloved hand covered your mouth quickly, silencing your protests while he pulled your pants down as far as he could and then started working on his own. He was moving fast, trying to fight against you and pull himself out at the same time was proving to be difficult, but he managed.

“Stop fighting me, you were always fighting me. That’s why you ended up being Leia’s favorite isn’t it? Hm? She liked it when you would try to put me in my place.” You felt his cock prodding at your tightly pressed thighs. “Better open your legs baby or I’m gonna have to do it for you, and I won’t be nice.”

You parted your thighs ever so slightly, and squealed the moment his cock touched your entrance. He oohed and let out a dark chuckle against your cheek.

“Never been fucked before have you? No one back home broke you in huh? Guess I’ll always be doing the Resistance’s dirty work.”

There was no prep, no kind words, not even the mercy of taking it slow when Poe thrust his fat cock into your untouched hole. You felt it rip, and then you felt the warmth of blood that coated his length while he continued his assault on your tight pussy. You were crying, sobbing, and internally begging; but he didn’t care, and he wasn’t slowing down.

“Like the way your cunt feels baby, kinda wish I’d fucked you back in the day, oh you’re so warm. So damn soft.”

He was huffing into your ear, and you were crying, heavy tears streaming down your cheeks over his gloves. None of that mattered to him, he kept going; he kept rutting his fat dick into your tight and aching hole while he moaned as if he’d never felt anything better.

“You know what–oh fuck–what I’m gonna do now sweetheart? Hm?” He was breathless while he spoke, “I’m gonna fuck a baby into you, wouldn’t you like that? Wouldn’t you like giving birth to the next great First Order pilot?”

Your sobs continued, as did his incessant grinding into your ruined cunt. He was so big, splitting you wider and wider the more he fucked into you. It hurt so much you could hardly stand it, the burn of your torn skin, and it only felt like it was getting worse the longer it went on. You felt his lips on your neck, sucking there gently, now that did feel good. You didn’t want it to though. The last thing you wanted to do was make him think that you were enjoying any part of this, even for a second.

“Mm, you liked that didn’t you? Felt your pussy squeeze over me when I did that.” He kissed just below your earlobe, and your body reacted again. He huffed out a laugh, “I’m close, and I’m gonna do it. I’m going to give you a baby, make you big and round, fill you up with my cum. You ready for me sweetheart? Hm?” His voice was rough and wrecked as he sped up his pace.

You tried to shake your head; you tried to tell him no, but he didn’t care. He did it, he filled you so full of his cum it was spilling out around the sides and dripping onto the durasteel floor at his feet. He stayed in there too, pushing his spend back into you so he could make good on his promise to make you bear his child. He stayed inside of you until he was soft, and his breathing returned to normal.

You were still crying as he let go of you and stepped back, pulling his pants up and looping his belt closed. “I’ll send the troopers back in to get you. You’ll be staying in the med bay under twenty-four hour supervision until my child is born, and then after that…you’ll be staying with me.”

----

Poe Dameron Masterlist

Star Wars Masterlist

Melody's 1k Celebration Masterlist

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the-himawari · 2 months

Text

A3! Usui Masumi - Translation [SSR] MANKAI Feature (3/3)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

Izumi: All three of your costumes and makeup look good to go.

Sakuya: Thank you!

Chikage: I didn’t expect I would appear as well.

Sakuya: I’m happy I get to act as Blanc again! Let’s do our best, Masumi-kun!

Masumi: …Yeah.

Izumi: Are you going to be alright, Masumi-kun? I heard you had a tough time with your role study…

Masumi: It’ll be fine. I asked Tsuzuru to make us act just like we always do.

Izumi: (I see. So that’s why the script is…) Alright, let’s start filming then. Break a leg, everyone!

-pause-

Izumi: (Nero and Blanc are walking through the city on their way home from shopping. Nero suddenly stops when he hears a melody playing from a streetvision.)

Nero [Masumi]: “…”

*flashback starts*

Blanbun: “Take that! We’re not gonna lose to you!”

Whibun: “That’s because we’re—"

*flashback ends*

Nero & Blanc: “The strongest Rabbit Twins!”

Nero [Masumi]: “Ah.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Ahaha. Jinx!”

Izumi: (What played on the streetvision was a toy commercial from a show called “Rabbit Twins”.)

Blanc [Sakuya]: “This anime sure takes me back. Watching the twin rabbits beating up wicked grownups was really cool, wasn’t it?”

Nero [Masumi]: “Yeah.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “I’ve been seeing a lot of their merch around these days. I wonder if it’s getting popular again due to their revival?”

Nero [Masumi]: “…I wonder if we've been able to become like them.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Hm?”

Nero [Masumi]: “Never mind.”

-pause-

Izumi: (The two were called to the office, and once they arrived, Uryu was the one who greeted them.)

Uryu [Chikage]: “I come bearing good news. I’ve got a tantalizing job that only you twins can handle.”

Nero [Masumi]: “Eh~. What the hell?”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “That sounds sus.”

Uryu [Chikage]: “Haha. Your distrust is showing clearly on your faces. Now. Now. Please take a gander at the materials.” “It’s a job related to the commercial characters for a new game from a major gaming company.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Wait, what!?”

Nero [Masumi]: “You weren’t kidding when you said it was a tantalizing job!”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “And look, Nero! This new game is…!”

Nero [Masumi]: “A game for the Rabbit Twins…!?”

Uryu [Chikage]: “Indeed. This work has been gaining popularity again these days.” “It seems the project this time will be a tag-team match between V-talents over the commercial characters of the game.” “Are you two in?”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “You don’t even have to ask!”

Nero [Masumi]: “It’s a no-brainer we’re gonna do it.”

Uryu [Chikage]: “I thought you’d say that. The materials also contain the list of your opponents, so take a look.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Let’s see~… Ah, these V-talents are…”

Uryu [Chikage]: “Oh, them. They’re twin V-talents who have been gaining traction these days.”

Nero [Masumi]: “Right, I feel like I’ve been seeing their names here and there lately.” (Twin V-talents…) “We absolutely have to win.”

-pause-

*both unleash attacks*

Nero [Masumi]: “You’re too slow, Blanc! I just told you to pay attention, didn’t I? Follow me properly!”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “M-My bad…”

-pause-

Uryu [Chikage]: “Now, now. This is just practise. Why don’t you relax and tone it down a bit?

-pause-

Nero [Masumi]: “We absolutely have to win this time. If we don’t, then we’re—”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Nero…”

-pause-

Uryu [Chikage]: “Oh dear… this might be a bit worrying for the real match.”

-pause-

*both take hits*

Izumi: (As Uryu feared, both of them are a mess in their first match against the twin V-talents.) (Meanwhile, their opponents unleash a combination without using words, and Blanc and Nero are defeated in a flash.)

Commentator: “Holy! What a spectacular combination. It’s like they used telepathy! That’s twins for you—oh, I guess they both are though.”

Nero [Masumi]: “…Tsk.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Hey, Nero. Why are you so anxious?”

Nero [Masumi]: “…Shut up.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Geez… I don’t understand you, Nero.”

Nero [Masumi]: “!” “That’s right… I mean, we’re just fakers. We can’t beat real twins.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “…!” “…”

*Blanc beams out of the game*

Nero [Masumi]: “…Blanc. I don’t understand you either.”

-pause-

Uryu [Chikage]: “Nero, have you found Blanc yet?”

Nero [Masumi]: “No… so much time has passed, yet he hasn’t come home… What do I do…!”

Uryu [Chikage]: “Do you have any idea where Blanc would go?”

Nero [Masumi]: “Any ideas… I’ve got nothing.” “…If we were real twins, then maybe we could understand each other through telepathy. But we’re different.”

Uryu [Chikage]: “Whether it’s real or fake is indeed important.”

Nero [Masumi]: “…”

Uryu [Chikage]: “However, you guys are the real deal, aren’t you?” “What’s important isn’t your blood ties or your family register. It’s the time you spent and the feelings you hold for each other.” “That’s why, if it’s you, then you should definitely know where Blanc is.”

Nero [Masumi]: “Blanc…” “…That’s right. He might be there!”

-pause-

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Nero…”

Nero [Masumi]: “…So you really were here.” “When we were little, we once ran away from the orphanage together.” “The place we ran was to the toy store. And this was where we first encountered the Rabbit Twins.” “We swore that we would become the best and strongest twins too.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “…That’s right.”

Nero [Masumi]: “That’s why there’s no way we can lose in this project. We have to become the strongest twins there are.” “Just like these two…”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “…! I think so too.” “What the heck? We felt the same way all along, didn’t we?”

Nero [Masumi]: “Let’s win the next match for sure.”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Yeah!”

-pause-

Izumi: (And so, they reached the final match for the project.)

Nero [Masumi]: “Let’s go, Blanc!”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “Okay, Nero!”

Nero & Blanc: “HAAA!!”

*both unleash attacks*

Commentator: “CRITICAL HIT! The match goes to Nero and Blanc!”

Nero & Blanc: “We did it!”

-pause-

Uryu [Chikage]: “…It looks like they’re back on track.”

-pause-

Commentator: “Congratulations on the win! Any comments for us?”

Blanc [Sakuya]: “That was only natural, right?”

Nero [Masumi]: “Yeah. Because we’re—”

Nero & Blanc: “The strongest twins, Nero and Blanc!”

-pause-

Sakuya: Great job out there! Thanks, Masumi-kun. I had so much fun.

Masumi: …Well, the play wasn’t bad. I feel like... I had fun too.

Izumi: You two were amazing! Nero and Blanc were totally in sync. You were just like real twins.

Sakuya: Thank you so much…!

Masumi: I’m glad if you say so…

Chikage: I take it your role study was useful?

Masumi: Rather than role study… I just got Tsuzuru to make the story about the issues I thought of while I was preparing for my role. … (Chikage mentioned that you can become a family even if you’re not related by blood. That’s not a lie. I know I feel that when we’re acting.) (But I have a feeling he was also talking about someone else besides us.)

Chikage: Hm? Is there something on my ring?

Masumi: …It’s nothing.

Chikage: Are you sure?

Masumi: (I’m sure Chikage also has things he doesn’t want to be asked. We’re family, so it’s alright if I don’t ask about it right now.)

Izumi: In any case, Masumi-kun and Sakuya-kun were spot on in today’s play. But Masumi-kun and Chikage-san were also perfectly in sync.

Chikage: Well, you know.

Masumi: Even if we don’t purposely try to match each other, it just happens.

Chikage & Masumi: …Because we’re family.

---

previous |

#a3!#a3! translation #usui masumi #act! addict! actors!

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l0ve-bug-m1les · 10 months

Text

Spider-Band With a S/o Who Hyperfixates on Things Hard

Miles Morales, Hobie Brown, Gwen Stacy, and Pavitr Prabhakar (separate) x Gn!Reader

Warnings: None! (Except my attempt at British talking—)

Summary: Really what the title says—

A/n: This is actually an idea i had when i first fell into the spider verse fandom but didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. Glad ya’ll picked this one! Enjoy!! Also lmk if any of ya’ll wanna be on a tag list!! I know i don’t write all that much but still—

Miles Morales 🌻🎧🌻

Bby is here for it

Always listening to what you have to say and never complaining

I have a feeling he’d be just as excited as you even if he’s got no clue what you’re talking about

He’d try to get into your interests with you no matter how outlandish they may seem

(I mean he’s basically a spider what’s so weird about fnaf lore—)

Definitely draws you things based off of the subject

“You said they were your favorite, right?”

Is always sending you memes and funny videos about your interest

Asks you for updates on your interest if it’s a series

Holds you when something bad happens and you’re sad

“Shh, shh…Hey, at least they existed, right?—Oh, no that made it worse—“

Going back to rambles, he’s always listening but maybe not always looking at you

But trust me

That boy could recite what you say perfectly

He just likes to listen while he works or draws

Has definitely made a mural of you and him in the world together (used it as a date spot. It’s true, he told me)

Overall

20/10 boyfriend

(I mean they all are but like—)

Hobie Brown 🎸⚡️🎸

Will spend hours learning songs related to your interest

But then he’s like

“What? Oh, i been knowin’ this song, luv. What’re ya on about?”

Say for instance, you dive deep into an artist or band

Obviously, Hobie’s gonna ask you about them

But would never ask you for your favorite songs because he’s “Too busy writing his own”

So he just pays really close attention to the songs you talk the most about

(As i previously stated, he learns them all and plays it off)

When you figure it out he’s just like:

“Took ya long enough, luv”

He also listens to your rants about whatever it is (much like Miles and everyone else here but shhh)

But here’s why he stands out

This man can keep up

He can and will remember all about it, and basically know about much as you do

Steals things from stores that are from the series or whatever it is

“Hobie, how’d you get this?” “It was on display and i knew you’d love it.” “Wow! I thought you didn’t buy things from brands..” “…” “You stole it…”

You’re too busy loving whatever it is to stay mad

(But we all knew you weren’t mad)

If you think your interest is cringey then you’re WRONG

“But it’s for kids—“ “And? So what?” “Well…uhm….hm.” “Yeah. Thought so. Now keep goin’, I’m invested.”

(But also in general, bby. Love what you love and come to me if anyone says it “weird” or “cringey”. I’ll beat them up bestie<33)

All in all, a king<33

Gwen Stacy 🩰🥁🩰

I’m gonna be honest

She is lost

Even if you go over things twenty times she still won’t get it

And that’s okay!

She takes notes and tries to keep up

Definitely proud of herself when she gets a detail right

“And then—“ “Wait, wait. Let me guess…He…he burned the pizzeria down, right” “Uhm—yeah, actually!” “*insert proud face*”

(Woah look at the trans flag colors^^^)

Definitely binge watches or reads your interest and learns as much as she can

She keeps a notebook full of her notes that she refers back to whenever you two are on call

She played it off as writing down some notes for school

But one day, she asked you to grab her suit from inside her drum set, and you found the notebook

It caught your eye because it had the name of your interest on it and you were like:

“Hey, Gwen? What’s this?” You showed her the notebook

I wish you could see my vision

When i tell you Gwen stood there for a good minute

I mean she stood there for several

Anywho

She just admitted to it and was all red and fidgety

Since this is her world, she was cast in mostly pink and red hues and the space around her fluttered yellow

You end up going through it with her, and talk about your favorite bits

Overall? She deserves several gold stars and cookies

Pavitr Prabhakar 🍵☀️🍵

Bby is here for it

Whenever you get excited he’s excited

When you’re on the verge of tears he’s already crying

He is your favorite character’s number one supporter

He’s always going on and on with you about your interests

Because unlike the others, he manages to actually get into whatever it is you’re talking about and not just keep up

It’s honestly a skill of his

I feel like Pav also has special interests that he dives deep into

Deep deep

Same as you so you two get along well :D

He’s always looking for the newest content and sending it to you always

“Hey! They said the next episode would be released next Tuesday!! :DDD” “There’s a new theory for the last volume!”

It’d be cute if that’s how you met and became friends

You spend sleepovers diving into your shared and separate interests with eachother

You know what’d be funny?

If he also info dumps onto the villains he fights

Hear me out

Pav tying up a villain who tried to rob a place and just going

“Yeah, so me and my partner have a theory for why—“

And the villain is just like

Stfu??????

But they’d never say that because it’s Spider-Man

All in all, your number one hype man and best friend :]

———————————-

YA’LL I DID IT :DD

#i literally just sat down #opened tumblr #and boom #ya’ll #spider man: across the spider verse #miles morales #hobie brown #across the spiderverse #headcanon #pavitr prabhakar #gwen stacy #gn reader #Love ya’ll<333 #spider-man across the spiderverse x reader #miles morales x reader #hobie brown x reader #pavitr prabhakar x reader #gwen stacy x reader

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helluva-simper · 21 days

Text

Tv static part 2

this is probably shitty but I just wanted to make sure y'all didn't think I was dead.

It was the next day. The room was dim and gray, blood was everywhere but that didn’t bother you. You stare blankly at the ceiling trying to find anything to entertain you.

“There are 750 tiles on the floor…” You mumble to yourself. Being chained to the wall was the worst, worse than your death but… not worse than this. You had an itch on your head.

Usually when this happens you act like a normal person and scratch it but in this case, your hands were chained to the ground.

You were trying everything but as you were trying to itch it against the wall, the embodiment of entertainment came its way.

He walks in with his signature smile, leaning on the wall. “Looks like someone is getting needy~.” Alastor said.

You froze, slowly turning towards him, glaring. “I’m not- you freaking psycho!” He laughs. “If not then what seems to be the problem?” He asked. “Nothing! Just leave!” “Oh, you know I’m not going anywhere and if you keep stalling, I’m gonna think it IS that and-” Before he could utterly disgust you and finish that sentence you say, “I have an itch… on my head.” You jingle the chains showing that you couldn’t get it.

“Aw, my little fox needs help from me?” Alastor mocks walking to you. “I didn’t say that. I don’t want an abusive, yandere, canabal touching my hair.” You reply trying to stay away from him, sadly to no avail.

He grabs your chin, tilting your head. Before he could say anything you moved your head. His smile angers a bit as he grabs your chin again, tightening his grip. “Being stubborn again, I see.” Alastor spoke with a hint of annoyance in it. “The best form of entertainment, I say.” You said smirking.

As you attempt to move your head again, he pulls your hair. “Gosh darn it! Argh! Let me go you-” He covers your mouth with his hand while keeping a firm grip on your hair. “Language, my dear. I was trying to be nice.” Alastor lets go of your hair letting his fingers trail down to your neck gripping it slightly. He leans towards your ear and says, “Listen,mon petit renard. You acting stubborn was fun but I think it made you forget your place.” He says darkly. You shake your head left and right trying to get his hand off your mouth.

“You, my little fox, are a pathetic, wretched, disgusting demon who I happened to find an interest in, otherwise I would've left you to rot like the other demons. But you are still replaceable. When I get bored of you I’ll just find new ways for you to entertain me and I assure you, that’s worse than being locked up in a room.” he said. You grit your teeth in frustration, cursing yourself for the momentary lapse in judgment. Every fiber of your being screams to fight back, to break free from his grasp and unleash your full fury upon him. But deep down, you know that any resistance would only lead to more suffering.

Instead, you force yourself to adopt a facade of indifference, masking the turmoil raging within you. "Fine," you mutter through clenched teeth, your voice barely above a whisper. "Do what you want."

Alastor's grin widens at your surrender, relishing in the power he holds over you. With a cruel chuckle, he releases his grip on your neck and takes a step back, his gaze never leaving yours.

"Good," he purrs, the gleam in his eyes sending shivers down your spine.

Before you can react, he reaches up with his free hand and runs his fingers through your hair, his touch surprisingly gentle despite the conversation you just had a few seconds ago.

After he was done he said, “Hm, I think that Charlie is gonna be a little confused if I’m here too long. I guess our little session will have to wait for tomorrow.”

preivous HERE!!!

Tag

@deepspace-diver

@taintedgenre

#hazbin hotel #random #funny #hazbin alastor #alastor the radio demon #alastor #alastor altruist #alastor x reader #alastor x you #hazbin hotel alastor #nun alastor #alastor fanart #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin #radio demon

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fablesrose · 2 months

Text

Ch 12 - The Lost Heir Job

Series Rewrite Masterlist

Pairing: Eliot Spencer x Ford!Reader

Description: The con this week takes a couple turns as they try to steal a rich man's inheritance from his lawyer and give it to the charity he requested before he passed away. The client's lawyer is an interesting character as well.

Words: 4989

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nate didn’t tell anyone, but I knew that he went to see Sophie, despite his insistence of leaving her alone on the last job. I wasn’t sure if she would show up, so I left Nate to meet the client on his own, just in case she did. What I didn’t expect was that our client would bring an attorney and that she would want to know what was going on all of the time or else we didn’t have a client at all.

“I hate this,” Eliot said when Nate explained the situation.

“You do not let Vicki Vale into the Batcave, ever,” Hardison said. I would have to refresh my memory on that reference, but I got the jist that he didn’t like the situation either.

“First, this is my home, not a cave,” Nate replied. “Second, we’re not gonna allow her up here.”

“Sophie would never approve,” Parker said forcefully. “Call her.”

“We can’t just keep calling Sophie.”

“Okay, I see how it is,” Hardison said. “We can’t call her, but you can go off and have a little secret meeting with her.”

I should have known Hardison would already know about it.

“What are you talking about? I was in Harrisburg, researching a client,” Nate defended.

“Wow, cause you know what?” Hardison put some evidence on the screen behind Nate, “your passport got dinged going through Heathrow Airport yesterday. Heathrow’s in London. I guess you couldn’t get a direct flight to Harrisburg.”

“Well it’s hard when you do the same day booking,” Eliot pointed out.

Hardison stuttered a bit in response to Eliot before getting back to his point, “Did you realize that London is the home of the most security cameras in the world?”

“Really?” Parker said, feigning interest.

“Who feels like playing Where’s Waldo?” Hardison asked. “I do.”

Parker raised her hand with an ‘Oh!’

“Do you think he wore his trenchcoat to be inconspicuous?” I asked.

“Damn girl, it’s like you already knew,” Hardison praised as he showed a picture after picture of Nate, in his trenchcoat. “Waldo Ford. Oh, is that Big Ben? And you?”

We all smiled at each other as Hardison continued to milk it.

“Wow, you got twins and triplets everywhere.” Hardison became more serious, “and lookie there, 11:18 am standing outside of Sophie’s apartment looking quite pensive.”

“Aw, he’s rehearsing what he’s gonna say,” Parker said. “I’ve seen him do that.”

“Alright, alright guys. Okay, you caught me,” Nate conceded. “I went to London. Yeah. I saw Sophie.” He paused, looking at each of us individually. “And she’s not coming back.”

My heart sank. I had already assumed this to be the case since she wasn’t here, but him saying it outloud really hit it home. She wasn’t coming back.

Parker shook her head, “Not now, or not ever?”

“I, uh, don’t know,” Nate said. “An, uh, I don’t think she does either. So, uh, that’s that.”

There was a moment of silence as we all contemplated what that might mean.

“Could you please take the…” Nate gestured at the screens behind him with the surveillance photos of him. “Thank you,” he said once they were gone, “Can we get back to work?” Nate stood, moving the stool he was sitting on out of the way. He took a business card out of his pocket, “This… Tara Carlisle. Hardison, maybe you could just do a background check on her and if everything pans out, I don’t see why we can’t have an outsider just this once tag along. Hm?”

I couldn’t help but make a comparison, “I mean, I don’t think it’d be much different than having me around. Especially in the beginning…”

Nobody answered or added to my thought, but I did notice some clenched jaws and subtle head movements, as if weighing the odds.

“Ok, why don’t you run it for ‘em,” Nate told Hardison.

Hardison started his slide show, “Meet the late, great Bennett Kimball. He made his fortune the old-fashioned way: polluting, union busting, employing sweatshop labor. His personal life was even worse. Drunken driving accidents, chasing women, paying off the mob.

“Why haven’t we ever heard of this guy?” Parker asked.

“Because to the rest of the world,” Nate answered, “Bennett Kimball was a pillar of Boston society. Thanks to one very hard working lawyer.”

“Meet his longtime attorney, Peter Blanchard,” Hardison said, showing his picture on the screen. “This is an interesting guy. He’s a blue blood Harvard Law Graduate who turned into Kimball’s personal janitor. Dude would pay off the cops, pay hush money, God knows what else.”

“And he was rewarded by being named the executor and sole beneficiary of Kimball’s estate,” Nate added.

“Lovely,” I commented sarcastically, “So he’s invested, to say the least.”

“Mmhm,” Hardison agreed. “See, Kimball didn’t have any kids. He had a couple of ex-wives way, way back, but Blanchard is the closest thing he has to family.”

“Well, I guess this Blanchard guy didn’t count on his client having such a giving side,” Eliot said.

“Funny how that works,” Nate replied, standing up. “What happens to rich people when they know the end is near… It’s really, really amazing. Okay, I don’t know that we have a legal angle to play on this one, because in three days, he is going to present the will in probate court and assume control of the estate.”

“And our client’s charity gets nothing,” Parker said.

“Now, Blanchard was the keeper of Kimball’s secrets so…” Nate continued, “Yeah, so that’s our way in, right there.”

“You want a skeleton from his closet,” Parker deduced, a bit excited.

“Absolutely,” Nate agreed, “and there’s gotta be tons of skeletons. I mean, we want something so scary that the mere mention of it makes this guy run for his checkbook. So, uh, if that weren’t hard enough, we’ve got the chaperone to think about.” Nate clapped his hands a bit awkwardly at the task we had a head, and then took his exit.

“Tara Carlisle,” Hardison said to us. He, Nate, Eliot, and I stood outside of a prison, waiting for the attorney to arrive. “She checks out. Civil rights lawyer, does a lot of pro bono work. Collects lost causes like kittens.”

She pulled up in a low profile sudan, practical.

“Well, she’s honest,” Eliot commented.

“Crusader, incorruptible,” Hardison said as she stepped out of her car. She wore heels and a pencil skirt, professional, but still flattering along with her blond half updo and glasses. Hardison seemed to notice as he added, “And one sexy librarian.”

I looked over at him and Eliot with a raised eyebrow, but they kept their gaze on her. I rolled my eyes as I returned my gaze to the newcomer.

Nate waved and walked to stand beside her, “Hey guys, I’d like you to meet Tara Carlisle. She’s our client’s attorney. She’s gonna be joining us today.”

“I’m here because I believe we share a common goal,” she said as she shook our hands. “I just want to make sure it’s done the right way.” She turned to Nate, “Now, you said you had something we could use against Blanchard?”

Nate nodded, signaling for Hardison to explain.

“Okay, well behind these prison walls, or, um, prison shrubs,” Hardison started, pointing at the low security prison, “is Kimball’s former business partner, PJ Orson. He’s doing ten years for embezzlement. Kimball’s company paid $50,000 to a company called Lamond Holdings back in 1980.” Hardison was about to continue when he zeroed into Tara dutifully taking notes in a little note pad.

“That?” Nate asked. “Yeah, she does that. It’s okay, go ahead.”

Hardison continued, “Well, Lamond Holdings is a Vegas front company for the mob.”

“Yeah, $50,000 used to be the going rate for a contract killer in those days,” Eliot clarified helpfully.

“I’m not gonna ask how you know that,” I said before I could stop myself, since I had an idea.

“Good, cuz you don’t want to know.”

“Fair enough.”

“You think Kimball paid to have somebody killed?” Tara asked.

I didn’t have to look at Eliot or Hardison to know that we all made a little bit of a face at the question.

“Okay,” Nate took the attention to himself, “now what we’re gonna do right now is we’re going to go undercover.”

“Well, why don’t we go talk to Mr. Orson?” Tara asked.

Hardison and Eliot laughed.

“No. The best lie is the truth Mr. Ford,” she said resolutely. “I think if we go in there, and plead our case, Mr. Orson will wanna talk to us.”

She had so much confidence walking into that prison with Nate and I behind her, even up to explaining the situation to Orson. Until he laughed in her face.

Nate and I glanced at each other with a knowing look. Eliot and Hardison were getting ready for undercover anyway. It looked like we would need them after all, crazy.

Orson explained to Tara how he was living a very comfortable life in the prison. He didn’t need his sentence reduced, he didn’t need any deals.

Once Orson left, Nate told Hardison and Eliot to put the squeeze on him and for Parker to case Blanchard’s office. Nate then turned to us, “Why don’t you two come with me. I’m about to become a really terrible lawyer. You can watch.” He then turned to exit the prison.

I waited for Tara to gather her things, walking alongside her, “Don’t worry, it’ll be fun.”

She gave me a skeptical look.

I reached my hand out to shake again, “I’m Y/n, Y/n Ford.”

She shook it cautiously this time, “Daughter?”

I shook my head, “Niece, but he raised me after my parents passed.” She let out a quiet, ‘ah,’ but before she could provide condolences as I could see she was about to, I spoke again. “So, I have to deal with his bullshit all the time, trust me, you’ll enjoy yourself at least a little bit.”

The three of us headed over to the courthouse after Nate changed into an… interesting suit to say the least. It was a three piece suit, everything was powder blue except for his tie, which was orange. It was clear–he was there to make a statement.

“Look, Blanchard’s here at the same time as you are. That’s a coincidence,” Tara said excitedly as she spotted Blanchard in the hallway.

“No, it’s not,” Nate said, “we hacked into his online appointment schedule.” He quickly corrected himself, “I mean, yes, what a coincidence.” He waved a hand at us, “why don’t you wait for me outside?”

“What are you going to do?” Tara asked.

Nate stumbled over his words trying to say what he was doing somewhat discreetly, “uh, make an appointment with… You’ll see.” Nate then walked ahead of us, past Blanchard, to a judge’s door.

I stepped slightly in front of Tara, facing her as if to have a conversation, “You can watch over my shoulder, make it a bit less suspicious.”

She nodded, tilting her head curiously as she did as I told her. I in turn listened as Nate knocked on the door.

“Hi there. Listen, Jimmy Popodokolos, Las Vegas, attorney at law. I’m here to talk to the judge about the Kimball probate hearing.” He then obnoxiously kept throwing in filler words and “very important”s as the secretary tried to put him down for an appointment.

“Oh, can you see Blanchard? He must be peeved,” I asked Tara.

She hesitated, “Well, he’s facing away from me…”

“Come on, you’re a lawyer, don’t you know body language?” I didn’t wait for her answer before stretching a bit, peeking towards Blanchard in the process. “Yeah, he looks tense, this’ll be good.”

Once Nate was done talking to the judge he came walking back towards us. Tara and I quickly fell into step with him as we exited the court house.

“I think we should go back to the prison, something tells me Orson is gonna talk to us,” Nate said, stepping into the car.

I laughed to myself a bit, knowing that Eliot and Hardison must have been successful in scaring the crap out of him. They were posing as guards within the prison and were stirring up trouble for Orson. The very real threat of getting him transferred to maximum security prison was looming over his head.

Tara was confused, but Nate refused to elaborate.

“Who are you guys? Feds, playing hardball?” Orson asked once Tara picked up the phone again.

“I’m sorry, what are you…?” she said.

“Listen, the payment to Lamond Holdings was made to someone named George Gilbert.”

“Who is George Gilbert?”

“I don’t know. Blanchard said to keep it to ourselves because the mob was involved. That’s all I know, I swear. I don’t want to die in a prison riot. Please, call off your dogs.” The guard then came and told him that time was up, so he left the visiting area.

“Alright, so Blanchard paid the mob $50,000 to kill someone named George Gilbert for Kimball,” Nate said. “Well, this should be an interesting meeting.” Nate then swiftly exited the room, Tara and I close behind. She was substantially more confused than before.

Nate went to meet with Blanchard with this new found information to try and blackmail him a bit and buy enough time for Parker to break into Blanchard’s safe in his office. I went back to my apartment and changed into some comfier clothes and made myself a snack. I should have been excited to have another “outsider” around, to be able to share what I’ve discovered with someone else. But for some reason, it made me a bit anxious hanging around her. Like something wasn’t right. I tried to shake it off, it wouldn’t be the first time anxiety built up for no reason. Having a minute to myself in my apartment helped, I was able to decompress away from people for a little while.

That was until Eliot knocked. When I opened my door, I didn’t fail to catch the quick look over he did and the slight tilt of his head. I took a second myself to admire how the long sleeves of his white undershirt were pushed up to his elbows before locking my eyes with his.

“We need you over here again. There’s been a change of plans,” he stepped away from the door, letting me step out after him.

I rolled my eyes as I pulled the door shut behind me, “when isn’t there.”

“Touche.”

Eliot gave me a quick run down as we crossed the hall and entered Nate’s apartment. It wasn’t a mob hit that Blanchard paid for. It was a stripper, a pay off to make her disappear. Nate then claimed that Parker was Kimball’s child from that stripper.

Parker was complaining when we sat down that she was one digit away from cracking the safe.

“Yeah, no. This is much, much better than the safe,” Nate assured.

“I got everything on Georgia Gilbert, and I mean everything,” Hardison said. He relayed her birthdate, education, medical tidbits, including that she was colorblind, and even her shoe and dress size, heaven forbid. “And how in the world did you know that she was pregnant?”

“Wait, she was pregnant?” Parker asked.

“Yeah, gave the baby up for adoption.”

“What happened to Georgia?”

“She died in 1985. Cancer.”

My face scrunched up in sympathy. That must have been rough.

“Tough draw,” Eliot said.

“Well, it wasn’t really a guess,” Nate said, bringing us back to Hardison’s question. “I mean, for decades Kimball, he had a lot of women on the side, avoided a lot of scandal, right? So what made him decide to marry Georgia Gilbert over all those women?”

“Blanchard paid her off and Kimball thought she ran out on him,” Eliot said.

“Now, how did you know that baby was a girl?” Hardison asked.

“Oh, oh yeah… That- that was a guess,” Nate admitted.

Eliot and I chuckled a bit. The luck of this man…

“But, that’s a fifty-fifty deal.”

“Why don’t we find the real daughter?” I asked.

“Adoption records are sealed, paper only,” Hardison replied. “I have a reference number, but nobody can see inside. All this is good, until Blanchard wants a DNA test. I gotta say, even with my bag of tricks, I can’t rewrite Parker’s genetic code.”

“That’s quitter talk,” I said simply.

“You know what-”

“Yeah, so we just have to convince him that asking for DNA is the worst possible choice he can make,” Nate said, cutting Hardison from a retort.

“How do we do that?” Eliot asked.

“We don’t.”

Nate briefed Tara of the plan. She was to go to a meeting with Blanchard and do some reverse psychology to get him to not want a DNA test. With Hardison attaching one of Parker’s aliases to the adoption reference number, it made it look like Parker was the missing daughter. It sounded like it was pretty successful, but only time would ultimately tell.

It didn’t take long for Blanchard’s assistant to call, setting up a meeting with Nate and Parker. While it seemed like good news, I’ve been learning not to celebrate until we were truly home free.

I decided to go to the hearing both to show some moral support and just in case something went awry. I had an earbud in, listening to how the meeting was going to go on the riverfront. Eliot went along as well, just in case. It was a good thing, because not long after they arrived, I heard gunshots.

“Nate?!” I tried to whisper. Luckily the hearing hadn’t started yet, so others were chatting, but Tara heard and looked towards me with a worried expression. I waved her off, quickly and quietly exiting the courtroom. “Eliot, what’s going on?”

“Well, he was convinced alright,” Parker answered instead after the fighting noises stopped. “Good plan.”

“No, no, no, this is good,” Nate panted. “Because, I mean, you know, we get you to the hearing, he’ll cut us a check in the hallway just to keep you from getting in front of that judge. Just make sure that Parker gets to that hearing. No matter what.”

I started pacing the hallway. This wasn’t good, but hopefully salvageable.

“Hardison, give me some good news,” Nate asked after a little while.

“Oh, I’ve got some great news for ya,” he answered, somewhat sarcastically. “They just put an APB on Parker. It says she’s a late 20s Caucasian woman who shot an officer. She’s an addict and she’s armed. Trifecta.”

“Hardison, how good’s the description of her?” Eliot asked, but Hardison didn’t have to answer as I heard sirens coming through from his end.

“Pretty good,” Parker answered.

I listened to the background noises of them running and then eventually Nate took a call from Blanchard. Once he hung up he addressed us.

“Hardison, y/n, Blanchard’s headed to the courthouse. You’ve gotta delay him. Buy us some time.”

“How do you expect us to do that?” Hardison asked.

“I don’t know, use your imagination.”

“Just use my imagination…” Hardison said to himself before trailing off.

“Do you want me up there in the foyer, Hardison? Or should I stay back here, behind the security check?” I asked him. I was fumbling over what I could do to keep him from getting here.

“Uh,” He said, it sounded like he was rummaging through his pockets, “No, I think I have an idea to keep him here at the security check for a while. Stay back there to run last minute interference if necessary.”

I sighed shakily, “Okay… okay okay.”

He started talking with people in the lobby, asking for things to help, I assumed. I looked around, trying to think about what I could do to slow Blanchard down once he got here. What would Sophie do? Think of the classic tricks, the plausible movie tropes. My eyes flicked around the corridor, catching benches and people milling around. Then someone walked by with a coffee cup.

That might work.

I was impressed with how long Hardison held Blanchard up at the security check, but it wasn’t long enough, Nate was still running behind. To top it off, Parker couldn’t find a way into the courthouse since every entrance was covered by police. I didn’t manage to find any coffee, but I did find a cup and water, so it would have to do. I poured some on the ground a little ways from the courtroom, to have a little more space. I had the rest of the water in the cup, ready for some oscar worthy performances.

I watched as Blanchard turned the corner. I hyped myself up a bit, I had rough housed a little in college, played a pick up game every once in a while. I could do this. I timed it so I slipped on the water one step in front of him as I crossed the hall, not giving him time to avoid me. As I fell I took his legs out from under him and spilled the rest of my water for good measure. Unfortunately I fell a bit wrong and he fell on top of me, not quick enough to catch himself.

“Aw, shit,” I whispered to myself. That hurt. I vaguely heard Nate talking to everyone else, giving orders to tweak the plan again, but I wasn’t listening. A crowd had gathered around, helping Blanchard and I up.

He quickly apologized, but excused himself. He tried to run, but the water made the floor slippery, which significantly slowed his progress. I wanted to smile at the little victory, but I was soaking wet and my body was aching, so I just gently shook myself off before slowly following him.

I sat down next to Hardison in the back of the courtroom once I got there and he gave me tentative knuckles. I touched my fist to his with a sigh, “that went better in my head.”

“Well, you bought some time, so…” he shook his head a bit, “but maybe don’t hurt yourself next time.”

“Noted.”

Nate loudly entered the courtroom as Tara was questioning our client on the stand. After introducing himself, the judge demanded that Nate represent the missing heir immediately. Nate took a moment to gather his things and thoughts, which the judge allowed. I heard Tara scold him a bit for posing as a lawyer through his comms.

“Well, stick around. I’m about to practice medicine, too,” he retorted back softly.

I turned to Hardison, “oh, this’ll be good.” To which he nodded.

“Uh, Your Honor, I’d like to offer into evidence these documents showing a payment that Mr. Blanchard made to a Georgia Gilbert, a woman I contend bore Mr. Kimball’s child,” Nate said.

“Yes, Your Honor,” Blanchard interrupted, “Mr. Popodoklips-”

“It’s Popodokolos.”

“Pokadolokisp… Pop… Popa-”

“Popodokolos.”

“This man!” Blanchard said louder, “spun these fairy tales in my office. It’s a shakedown from a disbarred-”

“Suspended!”

“Ambulance chaser from Las Vegas!” He shouted. “And he says that he found Bennett Kimball’s daughter. So I only have one question for him,” he said much calmer. “Where is she?”

Everyone stared at each other for a moment before Nate replied, “I could produce her, Your Honor, if you just allow me to ask the witness one question. One question to the witness.”

The judge nodded, “Please.”

Nate then walked up to our client, “Miss Walton. What… color… is my tie?”

She hesitated, “I don’t know. I’m color blind.”

Nate went on to explain to the judge, and everyone else in the room, that both Bennett Kimball and Georgia Gilbert were color blind. It was extremely rare for a woman to be color blind, both parents would have to be color blind for her to have it.

“Wait…” Ruth said from the witness stand, “Are you saying that I’m Bennett Kimball’s daughter?”

“It’s no coincidence, is it, that you started a program helping foster kids get adopted?” Nate asked her. “No coincidence, is it Miss Walton?”

“No, I was adopted myself.”

“Yes, in 1982,” Nate said. “You were two years old. The state of Nevada.”

“Yes,” she said in disbelief.

“Now the last time you saw Bennett Kimball, he called you by a different name, didn’t he? What was it?” He asked, but she didn’t answer. “Gigi? Georgia Gilbert. Gigi.”

She nodded imperceptibly on the stand.

“That’s who he was looking at when he saw you that day. Your birth mother, the woman he loved and lost in 1980.” This whole time he was speaking just to Ruth it seemed, but he then addressed the judge, “Your Honor, Bennett Kimball didn’t call Miss Walton here out of the blue to donate money to her charity. He searched for her. He searched for his daughter.”

“I move to strike Mr. Popodokos’s evidence from the record based on the fact that I haven’t been able to get adequate time to review these outlandish claims and prepare a proper response,” Blanchard said almost desperately.

“Popodokolos,” Nate corrected again.

“Popodokolos!” He nearly screamed.

“I agree, Your Honor,” Tara said, standing elegantly. “And I would also like to add a motion to compel a DNA test to put to rest any doubt that my client is Mr. Kimball’s daughter. The truth will win out.”

“Motion granted,” the judge said. “When we get the results, I expect I will be awarding Miss Walton the Kimball estate. We’re adjourned.”

Blanchard wasn’t too happy with that outcome. He got even more upset once he was arrested as a result of the dirty files Parker handed over to the authorities from Blanchard’s office. He was screaming insults and suspicions that Nate wasn’t a lawyer as he was dragged out of the courtroom.

“So,” Nate said to Tara, “do you still think law is, you know, the only pathway to justice?”

“Now more than ever,” she replied. “I like to think that you learned something from me today.”

She then left the courtroom with a pep in her step. We all filed out after her, heading back to the pub.

We met up with Ruth, giving the bit of closure we could when Nate asked her where her lawyer, Tara, was.

“My lawyer? I never met her before this week,” she replied confused. “She told me she was with you.”

We all shared a look. We quickly said our goodbyes to Ruth, wishing good luck, before heading up to Nate’s apartment. Once we entered, it wasn’t hard to spot Tara sitting in the middle of the room. She was wearing more comfortable and revealing clothes compared to her lawyer outfit. She also wore darker makeup and had her hair down.

“Took you long enough,” she said, much more relaxed than before as well. She waved an envelope in her hand.

Eliot stepped in front of us, “Who are you?”

“Tara Cole,” she replied easily. “I’m a friend of Sophie’s.” She handed the envelope to Nate, “She said you were short handed, asked me to help. It’s in there.”

Eliot stood intimidatingly close to her, arms crossed. Parker looked her up and down evaluating.

“So you help out by lying to us,” Hardison accused.

“I wanted to see how good you really are,” she answered simply. “And show you how good I am. Consider it my audition.”

I stood back a bit, giving some space, “well, I’m never ignoring that gut feeling again.” I said, somewhat to myself, but I didn’t mind if anyone heard. Tara tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at me in response.

“I bet you’re not even a lawyer,” Parker said, a bit of disgust in her voice.

“Awe, Sophie was right. You are adorable.”

“Excuse me?”

Eliot, Hardison, and I stepped in a bit there, trying to defuse the situation that would surely lead to Parker starting a fight. It stayed at a bit of arguing before Nate caught our attention.

“She’s right. Sophie did send her.” Nate looked back at the letter, “And, uh, Sophie asked us to give Tara here a shot.” Nate handed the letter to Hardison to read to confirm. “Well played. Welcome aboard.”

“Thanks,” Tara said, shaking Nate’s hand. She then started for the door.

“Whoa whoa. Hold up,” Hardison said, stopping her. “What is this?” He held out another paper.

“Oh, that’s my invoice,” She said. “For my cut of the inheritance.” We all stared at her for a moment. “Hey, I’m not a candy striper. This is my job.”

We turned to Nate and he gave a single, slow nod.

“There, see? We’re getting paid already. It’s gonna be fun.” She then made her exit.

I sighed after a moment, “well, I say we sleep on it. Not worry about it tonight.” I stretched a bit, a groan leaving my lips when a bruise protested.

They all hummed in agreement, dispersing themselves and the tense energy around us, just a little bit.

Eliot stepped up beside me, “How’re you feeling? I heard you took a tumble, just tackled Blanchard to the ground.”

I chuckled a bit, “Something like that. I’m okay, nothing like what you do, but I’m definitely gonna be finding bruises.”

He shook his head, “yeah, but you’re not used to it like I am.”

“True.” We headed to the door, Eliot walking me across the hall.

“Take a warm bath, epsom salts help the aches,” he said once I opened up my apartment.

I looked up at him, his eyes were shifting around my face, as if looking me over. If I didn’t know him, I would have said he was nervous. “Thanks, I’ll do that.”

He nodded and then turned and started down the exit stairs supposedly going home as I shut my apartment door softly.

A/n: Reblogs and comments are welcome and encouraged! Thank you for reading!

Tags: @instantdinosaurtidalwave @kniselle @technikerin23 @kiwikitty13@plasticbottleholder

#eliot spencer x reader #eliot spencer #leverage #rewrite #slow burn #multichapter #nate ford #sophie devereaux #alec hardison #parker #ford!reader

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pendragon-writes · 1 year

Text

𝒜 𝒩𝑒𝓌 𝒫𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑜𝓃

Aged up!Daimian Wayne x Male!Reader

Requested: Yes

Tw: Typical Dc Violence, blood

Tags: M!Reader is the son of Harley and Ivy, Could be seen as platonic but is hinted toward romantic

Damian wasn't one for love, while all of his brothers and his own father were known for some sort of love Damian was sure that love wasn't meant for him, he always wanted some sort of love and while he was just a teenager and had time he felt as though he was craving it more than ever. He wasn't the only one who craved the feeling of love.

See Damian was used to weird, growing up with assassins, having a loving family full of crime fighters, and meeting meta-humans and aliens alike. But this was a new weird for him. He'd never seen someone walk two hyenas in Gotham in the middle of the night, and certainly not during patrol. "Look, Mom and Ma want me to walk you two but I can't if you keep trying to bite people!" The hooded person yelled. The hyenas howled in protest but a giant 'plant'? He wasn't too sure, Screetched at them silencing them for good. While the hooded figure didn't seem like a threat per se it did pique his interest.

°。°。°。°。°。°。

He jumped down to where the hooded figure was and was immediately getting growled at by the two hyenas, the hooded figure swiftly turned around and threw a dagger at him but due to his training, he dogged the dagger. "Oh, it's just you, when my hyenas were growling I was assuming it was because of a threat," The hooded figure responded. This ticked him off immensely but he did his best not to show it, while he wasn't a threat to civilians the tone the other used sounded as though they were mocking him. Unfortunately, the poor lighting didn't let him see the person's face. "What's your name?" He questioned. "Now why should I tell you that? Just because you wear a Halloween costume and punch bad guys doesn't mean I can just tell you my name now," they responded, in a sickeningly sweet tone, a tone that was familiar yet he couldn't put a name on it just yet.

"What I can tell you Robin, is that we will see each other more often from the looks of it." "What do you mean by that?" He questioned. "I think we both know what I mean." "TT, No, I don't think we do," he argued. "Well, in that case, it's your problem, and hey as much as I enjoyed our talk if I don't get home soon my moms are gonna burn down Gotham looking for me, oh and it seems you have a call." Just as that was said he started hearing a call come through the coms.

°。°。°。°。°。°。

It's been a while since that last encounter, while he hasn't met your mother's personally he had a feeling he knew who they were. If the obvious fashion statement and fighting style had anything to say about it or the fact that just now he caught you talking to a plant. "Who's a good Cleopatra, you are yes you are!" While he didn't reveal his identity to you he wasn't wearing the rest of his suit like he normally would, sticking with just the mask. "Oh, Robin! Meet Cleopatra, my African Strangler." his friend introduced. The plant started snapping a bit but soon calmed down. "Did you want to go to that vegan place you were telling me about today?" "Yeah actually, I'd like that."

°。°。°。°。°。°。

"So, you ever plan on telling me your actual name? I mean we've known each other for what a year and a half." Damian asked. "Hm, only if you share yours. I mean hasn't our whole friendship been about secret identities." "True, but me sharing my name is a bigger deal." "I guess, but equal trust right?" "I can respect that." "How about I introduce myself first in order to honor that. My name is Damian." "Nice to meet you, Damian, I'm Y/n."

#damian wayne x male reader #damian wayne #robin #dc x male!reader #dc x male reader #m!reader #x male reader #male reader #male!reader #x male!reader #dc x m!reader

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katz-chow · 7 months

Note

Hiii! I love your writing style and I have a NSFW req for you! But only if you're willing to you know....

So ghost is already in a relationship with reader and through some conversation he discovers that reader has never ever used any kind of toys before. So he decides to buy multiple types... Without telling reader, and will only show them all to her one day and basically be like "which one you wanna start with"

Also if possible can you make it... Only with Ghost giving praises and words of encouragement, and NO degradation please... I feel like he'd just be so gentle with it, even if he can be a tease that doesn't mean he'd be mean about it... I feel like he'd like leaning into the more encouraging/reassuring role you know....

Katz's Kinktober...

Order #4 for Simon Riley!

TOYS

to read all of my kinktober pieces, search up the tag #katzskinktober

warnings: blindfolded reader, fem! reader, softdom!ghost, praise, daddy issues but not the title

A silk blindfold tied over your eyes as you laid on your familiar shared bed, Simon's form dipped the bed on your right. You could feel him shift around, settling things at the foot of the bed. Your breath was rigid, anticipating his touch- any touch at all actually. Warm hands then dragged themselves up your leg and down into the dip in between your legs as you clinch your thighs together, whining against the pads of his fingers.

"You okay, Lovie? Hm? We're gonna play a little game today now, yeah?" The timbre of your husband's voice rings in your now focused ears, your sight restricted.

A high pitched hum escaped you as you squirmed under his touch. He chuckled sweetly, his other hand stroking your hair and cheek. A sweet kiss placed itself on your head as you leaned into him, head meeting his chest. He held you close, picking you up and onto his lap. "Pick a number for me, no higher than five." He purred into your ear.

"F-four..." You struggled, only the sensation of his lube-covered fingers rubbing themselves against your velvety walls. Then suddenly, they disappeared from your cunt, and instead a much larger object appeared at your entrance. "Oh fuck, Simon..." "Shh, shh, it's okay... I'm right here," he cooed against your head quietly. "You're okay, Love." He whispered, kissing your head and neck softly, one arm around your waist, holding you against him. The smooth glass slipped into your lubed pussy with ease, drawing out your mewling as it filled you up.

Your moans and the sounds of the wet glass filled the air, making you flushed and embarrassed. He pulled out after slowing down, the dildo being completely removed from you. "Wanna guess which one that was?"

You hiccup, trying to catch your breath as you whimpered out, "The g-glass one?"

"Good girl, you did so well," Simon nuzzled his cheek against yours, kissing your neck and nipping your earlobe. "Pick another number, my love..."

Your palm slid across his forearm, holding you tightly to him. Your fingers found his and intertwined themselves in between his own fingers. "One..."

"You'll like this one, gonna make you cum so sweetly..." he licks the tip of your ear, teasingly. A click of a button and then the whirling of a machine, the thought of it made your grip on the back of his hand tighten.

The vibrator pressed itself up on your clit, immediately making your sensitive cunt signal a wave of pleasure through your body. Legs shaking and your body squirming in his grip, you cried out for him, threatening to spill over. A string of curses left your mouth as your pussy pulsed against the air, body stiff as your orgasm rocks your body: quick and fast.

It leaves your aching clit as you heaved to catch your breath, Simon's arms now both wrapped around your waist. He exhaled warm breaths onto your shoulder as you calmed down from your high. "You did so well baby...felt good hm? I've gotcha, Lovie, I'm right here. Wanna choose another number for me?"

taglist (comment to be added!!): @happy-mushrooms @snohglo @swhyuk @n1tingal3 @ayesha-fish @muffinsncoffee @sammysinger04 @liwooa @thriving-n-jiving

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mikodrawnnarratives · 2 months

Text

y'know what.

fuck it

Happy Birthday, dear Evie Artino

Renegades Trilogy - Word Count: 17092

Summary: It's been 12 years since Nova's family was murdered. After the previous year of being a renegade and the aftermath of her uncle's actions, Nova gets a moment to breathe. To grieve. Though, it's a little more than difficult to do that once she's told her baby sister's corpse was never buried. Never found. And now she has to search for the infamous thief, gone rogue, Magpie. As if she didn't have enough problems to deal with. Let's just get this over with...

Before you read!

This fic is going off of the assumption Magpie was 11 months old when her family was killed, therefore ten years later would mean she is 10 and 11 months old, 12 years later would be 12 and 11 months old (close to 13 years old) etc etc.

(I say assumption bc I'm not sure how canon Maggie being 11 months old at the beginning is. It makes sense since she was around the age she'd start to move around but still, just want to let y'all know)

I’ve done my best to show this on a timeline image in the end notes but I wanted to be clear with that! The timeline also goes off some assumptions and guesses for how much time passes from book 1 to the end of book 3.

BTW I'm sorry if ages and time stuff get confusing

I confused myself in the middle of trying to figure this out and, even though I think I've gotten everything fixed, there may still be issues

Check ao3 for tags

Nova took a deep breath, focusing on the wind gently tossing her hair. Better to focus on that than the heaviness in her chest. Leroy smiled and patted her shoulder in comfort.

“I’ll stay” Nova whispered, but then chuckled “But I’m crashing with you. The Renegades' campus rooms are terrible!” She straightened and let her tired smile relax.

Leroy shrugged, “As far as I’m concerned, the couch has been yours for a while.”

“Thank you, Leroy” She smiled. Leroy chuckled and pulled her into an odd side hug, her eyes blowing open from the action initially. She made a sly smile on her face to hide her apparent awkwardness, “I never took you for the cuddly type, Cyanide.”

“I’m not. But this is an exception.” He rubbed her arm, “You did good, Nightmare. Don’t beat yourself up about the rest.” Nova resisted the urge to fully melt in his touch, fully embrace it. Like she deserved it.

“If only it were that easy.”

“It never is. But that’s how life goes sometimes."

"Look at you being all noble and wise! Haha! You haven't been taking classes from Simon have you?"

Leroy's smile lessened a little, something crossing his mind, "Nova?"

She broke away from his hug, "Hm?"

"Have you visited them yet?" He adjusted his glasses, “They did give them actual burials, right?” Nova appreciated the dark look that donned his face. She knew that look, and the revenge schemes it carried if he so chose.

It’s been a year since Ace Anarchy was defeated for good. And a year since Nova’s actual family was revealed to everyone. Who her uncle actually was. Her motivation for becoming an anarchist in the first place. One whole year of recovery from the remaining damage, and of tearing down a faulty system and trying to rebuild a new one.

And it’s been twelve years since the murder of her family.

She pursed her lips and admitted what had also been on her mind, “No, no they did. I just haven't gone yet. There are gravestones and everything from what I've heard." She chewed on her lip.

Leroy tilted his cup around to watch the coffee swirl around. "Would you like emotional support?"

"You say that like a joke but please heh…" Nova laughed and turned to Leroy. She gripped the railing. "It's… gonna be weird. What do I even say?"

"They're graves,"

"Their graves."

“Right… my bad”

She fiddled with her fingers and Leroy placed a hand on her shoulder.

The chemist shrugged, "You don't need to know immediately. You don't need to go immediately, believe it or not."

Nova looked at him and opened her mouth to say something before a notification on her phone made her ears perk up the ever so slightest. She pulled it out to see the team group chat yapping about some shop opening. Leroy rubbed her back, "Just tell me when you want to visit."

"Thank you"

Nova spares a passing glance to the calendar and clock as she stands in the waiting room. She shifts from foot to foot. Discontent with standing, she paces. She wrings her hands as she does so.

It’s a miracle she hasn’t fled already. To procrastinate on it all for a little longer. But by this point it would be pretty idiotic to turn back now. Nova fidgets with her hair, waiting for her name to be called by the front desk.

It was taking longer than she would have liked to find out where her family's graves are. Leroy left with someone after they, not so discreetly, began to whisper. The renegade at the front desk kept passing weird looks to her. She couldn’t discern what emotion they had on their face. Maybe they were a prodigy, and gifted at masking. She didn’t get too good of a look at Leroy’s face either before he abandoned her in this desolate room. The cold blue light covering the room.

There’s no way they aren’t keeping something from her. Now she just wishes she had followed them. Anything to beat this trepidation.

Whatever they are hiding, she doubts it could be anything that Leroy would react better to than her. She keeps her ears peered just in case Leroy explodes something in reaction. There really wasn't a lot that Nova would take worse than Leroy, in her most humble opinion.

Footsteps running are her only warning before the front door to the establishment bursts open. Three hands all trying to cram through. Their bodies follow close behind in a clumsy, un-organized effort.

She jolts her head to the noise and stares at the multiple people who crash through. Adrien, then Ruby followed by Oscar, Danna, an-

Wait. Danna-?

"Nova!"

"We heard-"

"We're so sorry!!"

Roxy and Oscar charge past Adrian and run at her full speed. They knock her over before she could blink. She groans and sits up, utterly confused. "What are you talking about?"

Adrian opens his mouth and-

BOOM

Leroy…

Danna comes over to the three of them on the floor, and yanks them up to their feet. She places a hand on Nova's shoulder, "You haven't been told?"

"Told me what?!" Nova would have kept her attention on Danna if Leroy literally hadn't just made something explode, "Leroy, do you want MORE community service?! What's going on?"

Leroy yells something Nova can't make out. But he's pissed. She frowns, her guard rising.

"Nova" Adrian walked up to her, maintaining her eye contact. "I think you should see it for yourself."

Nova's eyes soften and she takes Adrian's hand, "Why can't you tell me?"

"BECAUSE THEY FUCKED UP AGAIN THAT'S WHY!" Leroy's hair was still poofy from his rage just moments prior. He marches straight to Nova, forcing her to part from Adrian when he grabs her by her shoulders. She flinches and he pauses, immediately apologetic for his abrupt action, he sighs. "You said you had a sister, yes?"

Adrian inhales sharply and Nova's frown deepens, "What does Evie have to do with this…?"

Danna speaks up, "Are you aware of one of the latest villains, that has been flaunting their superpowers everywhere? They are going by the name “the Terror" (if they couldn’t get more corny)" Danna sighs. "Just this morning they went around terrorizing all across the city. Everywhere and anywhere they liked."

"I heard about that, but I didn’t think they’d be able to wreck this place too. I thought these cemeteries had measures in place to protect them."

Adrian answers this time, rubbing his arm "Normally yes, but more Renegades have been needed to handle the new prodigy accidents and villain attacks ever since we defeated Ace Anarchy."

Danna speaks up again, "Resources for protection have been focused around civilian homes and shelters."

Nova blinks and her eyes widen slightly, "What happened."

Leroy smooths his hair out as he takes a deep breath, "The Terror robbed several graves. The Artino's were one of them."

Nova's face shifts from one of confusion to one of anger and horror, "Where are they." She practically snarls.

Leroy chuckles without humor, "That isn't the only thing, Nightmare." His hands shake.

"There's more??"

The Sketch team is quiet, allowing Leroy to speak.

Leroy chokes at first but clears his throat to speak clearer without his emotions in the way, "Your parents' caskets and bodies have been recovered and will be reburied and their graves fixed once they catch the culprit."

Nova loses her breath, "You said Evie earlier. What happened to Evie!?" She looks around, "What. Did. He. Do."

"Nothing" Adrian says, "Her body was never there."

“What?” She stared at Adrian like he was making an uncharacteristic sick joke. He wasn’t. Nova's eyes widen but in confusion more than any horror or shock, "What do you mean? If she isn't there then the graverobber must have taken her!"

"The motive doesn't match up. He wasn't interested in any of the bodies. Of all ages." Danna says.

Oscar chips in hesitantly, "Her casket doesn't have any evidence of where a body would have been for 12 years."

Nova pauses and after a long silence takes a deep breath. She shakily sits on one of the lobby chairs and hugs herself. She pinches the bridge of her nose, "Are… are you saying… that Evie's body-" she hesitates, clenching her teeth before swallowing the lump in her throat, "Evie was never recovered from the crime scene. For twelve years, she has been missing."

Adrian's face crumples slightly, hesitating to reach out. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"

Leroy's murderous face makes too much sense now. Hot burning coals threaten to boil her alive just underneath her skin. Her breath slowly leaves her.

She was so close.

Nova had grieved before. She never thought her family would get the graves they deserved and had become okay with that. Or at least, grew used to the ache. Learned to be okay.

But, hearing they did. They did get graves. To honor their final rest. One they deserved when Captain Chromium failed them. Nova heard she could see them, even if they wouldn't be alive. Even just a gravestone above where their body rests forever. For a moment, a raw piece of her felt as if it could heal after being hollow for so long.

And it's been ripped away again.

Nova wants to be angry. She is angry. Angry at all the renegades who failed her family all over again. Who got to go home to their perfect, happy homes, in their rich lives, with their complete and happy family.

Everything feels fuzzy. In slow motion as she vaguely sees renegades exit the room one by one. Plans over the radio to recover from the graverobber underway. Mentions of names. The Artino’s. David… Tala…. Nova…

Evie…

Adrian slowly sets a hand on her shoulder, and she doesn’t jolt. He makes circles with his thumb as she breathes. Heavy breathes that keep her from gasping. She slowly lifts her head up. Her lip twitches and Adrian doesn’t say anything.

She’s furious.

She’s trembling.

She’s frail.

She’s weak.

She failed.

She failed them.

She failed Evie.

Logically, both her and Adrian know that’s not true. She tried her best. She was only six. A six year old couldn’t be blamed for what happened. He knows his father messed up. Which is more than Nova could ever ask of him.

Nova’s angry. And she’s sad. She’s so tired.

She’s hurt.

Her baby sister was so close.

But it was a lie.

###

Nova dumps the final bag of confetti in the recycling bin, marking the end of cleaning up after the parade a couple of days ago. It was to mark a year's progress after Ace’s second defeat. The permanent defeat. With confetti.

After all that work to clean up the streets from the last villain attack. Confetti. Suffice to say, she wasn’t the one to come up with the littering party idea.

The parade itself was an attempt to stir up some more positive attention to the renegades’ name. Or rather, to honor the work done so far to keep everyone safe. Not that any positive attention to the renegades couldn’t hurt their shambled reputation from the last couple years.

That’s how Nova thought of it. She wouldn’t have agreed to participate otherwise. Not when she could continue working on the case of her sister’s disappearing corpse. It was quickly going cold.

It was like the body walked away. Some kind of twisted magician’s act. And it was up to her to figure out how the magician did it. Where the magician is.

She purposefully avoided looking at Captain Chromium in the meantime. It only added salt to the wound to hear his involvement at the crime scene. Once it was a kind gesture for him to be so involved in her family’s death. Only after Nova learned Ace was responsible for sending the assassin. Now the gesture left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Surely he would have seen. Surely, he would have seen Evie’s body go missing. Footprints of a thief could have been documented. Her sister should have been put to rest. There should have been enough renegades at the scene to catch them!

It didn’t help that Adrian's father was on rocky terrain with Nova even before this revelation. And to think they had been getting along better over the last year. Now all that progress has been wiped clean. Who knows if it’ll be the same.

She felt the bag crunch in her grip. She let herself dig into it just a little more, just to get some of her fury out before dropping it.

Adrian talked to his father about what was remembered at the scene. Nova knew the man had been trying to talk to her to apologize for a while now but she just couldn’t face him. She wouldn’t want to punch her boyfriend’s father’s mug. Not that he’d actually be affected by it. The same applied to his husband as well.

Nova pulls out her phone. She clicks open the group chat she shares with the rest of her team. She scrolls back through the messages, looking for updates for what must have been the thousandth time.

Danna and Adrian have their time split between their own duties, so she couldn’t blame them. When they were available, they mostly worked on finding the negligent heroes (aside from the obvious) at the crime scene who were responsible for Evie’s disappearance. Danna’s been more helpful than Nova ever thought she’d be, seeing as they haven’t always been on the best terms. Understatement of the year.

She appreciated it nonetheless.

Oscar and Ruby have been incredible whenever they were free. They either joined her in what they deemed “detective business” (she really didn’t know how to feel about the name) or used their own efforts to search and track down where the body ended up.

Evie’s birthday is coming up soon.

And it’s been a few weeks since Nova learned about the absolute incompetence of the clean up crew. The current leading theory was a bias, which didn’t seem too far off. Adrian has been working with his father to see if this has happened to anyone else. Despite the rest of Sketch’s team trying to help out, Nova could feel her hope dwindle.

It was ambitious from the very beginning. To find the body of an 11 month old baby, twelve years after her death, but Nova really did let herself hope at first.

She couldn’t help but begin to sag around after any reminder of her sister. She felt conflicted between joining the efforts to find her, and distracting herself from the ache in her chest. It was like she was 6 years old all over again, and processing her sister’s death for the first time.

And it's certainly not a helpful attitude for actually finding her.

She’s begun to pack her schedule with numerous duties as of late. 24 hours every day allowed her to split her time between distractions and facing her current dilemma. No one was complaining from the extra help. The only real downside was the whispers about her. Nothing new. Everyone wins in the end this way.

Maybe she shouldn’t have been so open to any request in hindsight.

Nova stares at Thunderbird, “I’m sorry. Repeat that again?”

Thunderbird sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, the hero seemed much more fidgety than ever now that Nova paid attention, “Nightmare. Magpie’s missing.” Her feathers fluff up as she articulates this fact to Nova. Like she should care.

Nova scoffs, “No, no, the other part. You want me to-”

“You aren’t busy, are you? Then we need all the help we can get.” Thunderbird looks seconds away from shaking Nova senseless. “Look. I… I know about your sister and it’s all the campus can talk about. And-”

“Really?” Nova blinks, “I didn’t think I was that popular.”

“And. I’m sorry to ask you this when you’re grieving.”

Nova shifts uncomfortably where she stands. Thunderbird rarely talked to Nova when she wasn’t furious. To come to her when she’s desperate is… different.

Nova clears her throat, “Are you her mom or something? Why are you so pressed where she is?”

Thunderbird blinks at her, and squints. Oh that really ruffled her feathers. Nova could see veins popping out. “No, I’m not. However, I sponsored her and got her in to be a renegade. (In hindsight, a very poor decision…)” She glares pointedly, “She’s barely a teenager! Isn’t this concerning to you?”

Nova laughs. “I was taking care of myself by eight. I know jack shit about what’s 'normally' concerning.”

Thunderbird blinks and settles down slightly. “Right. Right… you were raised by villains-”

“Anarchists.” Nova corrects.

“Sure. But that was for you. Surely you can understand why we are worried for her. The Bandit is her age by now.”

She's got Nova there. Thinking about it, Max going missing would frazzle Nova too. She folds her arms and gives her attention to Thunderbird. “Don’t the renegades require contact information from a guardian?” Nova asks, “They should know where she is?”

Thunderbird’s lip trembled slightly, “Margaret’s… a special case. Her orphanage approved her residence and I paid for her fees and expenses.” Nova blinks, she remembers now the previous residence where she found out the kid used to live. It was pretty much useless at the time and now a year later, it’s been brought up again.

“How do you know she’s not brooding and being a problem on purpose. Running away from any responsibility she had.”

“Nightmare.”

“What?” She raised her hands in defense before placing them on her hips, “Magpie isn’t exactly thrilled about authority. This could just be avoiding the consequences of her actions somewhere, and being the moody brat she is.”

“Margaret… yes, she is very… temperamental.” Thunderbird sighs, “But even Magpie doesn’t disappear for weeks.”

Nova does a double take, "Weeks?! And you haven’t started looking sooner??"

Thunderbird scowls, "Do you really think you're the first renegade I've told?"

Nova cheeks pinken slightly and she frowns, “Then who else knows?”

Allegedly: Captain Chromium, Simon, and most of team Sketch are all the heroes Nova is told has been notified. Thunderbird doesn't specify who is looking. Orders to send out missing posters were underway until there were complications with schedules.

Now that Nova thought about it, she may have heard Adrian’s parents discussing the 12 year old’s sudden absence a while ago. Thunderbird didn’t mention her friendgroup’s lack of involvement. She did note Adrian’s efforts to search for Magpie too. Nova bit her lip, she knew how much Adrian still cared about Magpie. Despite her sticky fingers.

“Is this the only reason you’re here?”

Thunderbird sighs, "You're needed for your familiarity in the locations listed here." She hands Nova files detailing the locations, "You may be interested to hear The Terror’s movements have been narrowed down to these districts."

Nova takes the files, "What about Magpie?"

"...All I'm asking is to keep an eye out for her. Report if you see her. Talk to her if you can. Try to convince her to come back, please.” Nova resists the urge to roll her eyes at the idea of peacefully talking with Magpie like Thunderbird is suggesting, “She grew up in that neighborhood, y'know."

Nova blinks, “She did?” Thunderbird nods and Nova hums. She already knew the whereabouts the orphanage Magpie went to at one point wasn’t too close to her neighborhood. It was plausible Magpie went to the elementary institution Nova vaguely remembers from the area.

Thunderbird folds her arms and Nova notices her feathers fluff up slightly. Oh now the birdie needs to be all stern and professional huh. Got it. No sentimentality here. “Your task is to search the area for The Terror already so… keep an eye out for Magpie. Report back to me.”

Nova deadpans, “Is that an order, Thunderbird?”

“It …is a request.” She took a deep breath to level out her pride, “Please, Nightmare. I know Margaret wasn’t the nicest-”

“Oh she was a complete turd.”

“Watch your language, Nightmare.”

“We’re both adults here, Thunderbird.”

“...right.” Thunderbird sighs, “But do you have to be so casually insulting. And in the workplace?”

“I’m sure Magpie’s called me worse behind my back.”

“How immature can you get…” Thunderbird deadpans.

“I’ll tell Magpie you said that.”

Thunderbird’s lip twitches and her feathers lift slightly, “oh, so you’ll look for her now?”

“No promises I’ll find her. Or bring her back. I doubt she’d come back easily if she ran away.” Nova scratched the back of her neck, “But Adrian cares about her. You care, I know Danna cares, and from what you tell me, even more than them. So why not.”

Nova won't like coming across the thief again but she supposed there's no other option with the mess the tween's caused.

“...then call me Tamaya.”

Nova makes a double take, “What? Where did that come from?” She stares at Thunderbird for an explanation.

Thund- Tamaya frowns, “We aren’t on the field. And we aren’t strangers. We’re coworkers. And Adrian is the closest thing I have to a nephew so…" She clears her throat. "And… Nightmare, if you help me find out if Margaret is safe you’ll have my deepest thanks.”

“...” Nova really could only stare. Tamaya is almost bowing. BOWING!?!! For her help. Someone she despises. Really? “Magpie matters that much to you?”

Tamaya straightens, “She’s fierce when she wants to be, and when I met her… you should have seen it, Nightmare. Her determination despite how young she was…” She cleared her throat, “If only I had done things differently, maybe she’d still be here. I’d know where she is.”

Nova’s eyes soften slightly and she sighs, rubbing her arm. She really hopes she won't regret this. She stashes the files away in her bag, “I’ll help. Promise.”

Tamaya deflates from relief, Nova could see the tension in her posture after being so vulnerable about this request. More like a plea than anything, really.

“And call me Nova, Aunt Tamaya.”

“I’m going to regret this, aren't I.”

“Likely!”

###

Adrian and Nova met up before she had to depart to search the district. Adrian squeezed Nova's shoulder in comfort when she sucked in a breath at the sight of her old neighborhood. She squeezed his hand back before they went separate ways.

The only pretty thing to look at here would be the setting sun and a darkening sky that is right behind it. The buildings fare much worse off, with buildings crumbling, the sidewalks are uneven from the large tree roots. Many of the homes sit with broken glass and lay abandoned.

Most people in these areas stick to the new apartments nowadays. They're the only buildings that are still structurally sound and have the least risk of break ins. Made to be less vulnerable to villain attacks due to the design of the buildings. Even the renegades have been trying to finish up repairs on one of their more elaborate renegades apartments.

Nova would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought of running away to live here when she was younger. Find an abandoned house to camp out at. Especially when Ace got angry. She never did, she didn’t want to abandon her only family. Even when he hurt her. He saved her after all.

Honestly, if she had lived here, it probably wouldn’t have been too different from living underground.

Growing up here couldn't have been nice.

Nova thinks about what Thunderbi- Tamaya said. Before she left she was told in depth about the process of resigning the Renegades, and it wasn't as simple as walking out unless you were arrested or were okay with losing any final paychecks and insurances offered.

Maybe Magpie did. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

Nova pulls the collar of her jacket closer, she really should have picked out a jacket with a hood. She needs to look casual though. There should be a coffee shop down the street that she plans to make a stop at. If anyone has eyes on her then it'll be her “motive” for snooping around the area.

She adjusts her black medical mask. Her movements are careful not to reveal the weaponry she’s hidden underneath her clothing. Her ears twitch from a garbage can jostling. A raccoon.

Nova makes it down the small stretch of suburbs still remaining, finally making it to the urban districts. She could hear the noises of city crowds up ahead. Lovely. Coffee shop right ahead. Either this villain shows themself and becomes a quick turn in, or she gets coffee. Classic on the job look there, huh. Maybe she’ll get hot chocolate, coffee is too bitter to be worth it.

"The terror" was becoming "the pain in the ass" to her honestly. The anarchists had their collections of thieves, sure, but on the other side of the coin turns them out to be more nuisances.

She takes one step onto the sidewalk and a figure runs into her, Nova is shoved straight into the brick wall behind her and they bounce back onto the ground “OOF-” She wheezes and scowls at the figure, “Watch where you’re goi-” The black clothed figure’s hood fell back.

There sat Nova’s other objective.

Magpie rushes to pack up all the things that had fallen out of her bag from the tumble she took when colliding with Nova. She freezes when Nova guffaws her name out loud.

“Nightmare?!” Her eyes bulge and she stares at Nova. Nova takes in the kid’s choppy haircut, now longer than the bob she wore when Nova first met her. A cloud of dirt has stained the mostly black clothing she has on, and Magpie clutches a passenger bag as she collects her last scattered item. A diamond bracelet.

Wait a minute. “What did you-”

Magpie bolts, cutting through the next crowd as Nova runs after her. “Get back here!”

Magpie takes a sharp turn into the nearest alley, Nova apologizes to all the citizens as she parts her way through. She sees the sewer lid slide into place when she gets to the alley. Oh, does that brat think she’s clever?

Nova pries open the lid and jumps inside, cringing from the smell immediately. Her shoes splash in the water the moment she gets down. She equips her flashlight though it’s almost unneeded when she hears more splashing up ahead.

She catches up and grabs the kid’s hoodie, ignoring her cry of shock. “What do you think you’re doing!?”

Magpie snarls and turns around and successfully pushes Nova away. “I could ask you the same fucking question!”

“I asked first.”

Magpie sneers, “Oh look who’s high and mighty by using playground rules.” She turns around to walk away only for Nova to keep up pace with her. And that kid has the nerve to count her little collection of stolen goods in front of her. Nova runs up and tries to grab the bag out of Magpie’s hand, she curses under her breath when the brat dodges.

“Hey!”

“You’re stealing again, aren’t you! I bet that jewelry doesn’t even belong to you.”

“Belongs to me now.” But her eyes widen like dinner plates when Nova makes another grab for the bag, slowed down only by the sludge in the bed of the sewer, “Watch it! Some of this is mine for real!”

“So the thief admits it”

“Oh, will you shut the fuck up!” She complains once Nova stops making grabs at her bag so she could search it. Nova folds her arms and Magpie gives her a pointed glare, her nose scrunching, before returning her attention to her collection.

Nova returns it and pinches the bridge of her nose, “I swear to god, if you’ve been missing because you’re off playing the act of the latest thorn in our side ‘The Terror’ I-”

Magpie turned around with a deadpan, “Who?”

“Oh how convenient. You don’t know about the graverobber who appeared just around the time you disappeared.” Nova points at Magpie, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t cuff you right now on suspicion of theft.”

“Wow, the Anarchist has turned full cop huh. What a shame. Newsflash, I’m not a graverobber. Do you really think these arms could lug around a shovel?” Magpie grips her bag tightly in the defensive.

“Your powers could easily help out with that, I'm not stupid.”

“And last time you knew exactly what my powers could do was…?” Magpie blinks several times on purpose at Nova, putting a hand next to her ear to mock signal the action to help hear better. “What was that? Never? Who knew!”

“Not funny.”

“Besides, modern day graves aren’t even worth robbing for the amount of effort it takes. No gold or silver is ever buried with those crypts anymore. The highest prices you could get would be from the organs.” The girl gags. Magpie fiddles with her passenger bag’s strap, but Nova can see she has been eyeing their whereabouts for an escape for the past few minutes.

Nova puts her hands on her hips, “Should I be concerned how you know this? Actually nevermind, you always say weird shit.” Maybe she was exaggerating here but she didn’t care too much at the moment.

Magpie whips her head back to Nova, scowling. “What are you even doing here. Shouldn’t you be after The Teapot or what's his name?”

“I’m here because you disappeared without a trace.”

Magpie rolls her eyes. “Please. Like anyone cares. I’ve been gone for two weeks and haven’t seen a single one of you hypocrites.”

“"No one cares"??” Nova guffaws.

“That’s what I said. Yes. Congratulations, your ears function perfectly.”

"Several people care! Do you think I'd be here looking for your ass if people didn't!? Adrian, Oscar, Thunderbird, Tsunami, both of Adrian's dads. You can't just disappear like that!"

"I quit." Magpie bites. "And, well, you found me! You can go tell them to mind their business."

Magpie begins to walk away in a huff, and Nova's mouth opens and closes like a goldfish before recovering enough of her brain cells after the audacity of the comment.

"What. Is wrong with you?! They don't just want to know you're okay, they want to SEE you're okay." Nova waves her arms around to emphasize her point. She subconsciously remembers and notes how she had picked the habit up from Leroy.

"Besides" she pinches her nose, "you can't quit the renegades without a conference and before handing over your equipment" Nova makes a pointed glare at the cleanup crew uniform Magpie wore under her hoodie, only barely visible. The clothing was less of an issue than the tech-advanced gloves and shoes Nova knows Magpie smuggled from the other techies in the renegades. She just knew that the uniform allowed the girl to carry more than usual.

Magpie's face pinkens slightly but she lashes back just as quick. "I'll do what I want, Miss Juliet."

"…What did you just call me?!"

“You heard me!”

Nova growls in frustration, “GOD why does anyone want you around when all you do is cause trouble and spout insults like it's a competition!?”

“You tell me! I've made it plenty clear that I don't want to be anyone's friend.”

“Magpie-!”

The girl had the nerve to try and dash away again, using her powers to rip herself out of the muck and stick to the walls. Nova reaches in her jacket and pulls out her netting gun, and in a second the projectile stretches into a web and stops Magpie in her tracks, trapping her foot temporarily. Magpie growls as Nova readjusts herself, prying away from the stickier filth.

“Are you even listening?!?! You’ve been missing for weeks!! You can’t just disappear like that.” She sighs “You worried a lot of people. Good people. Frankly, good people that have much better things to be worrying about than a thief.”

Magpie groans, “You’ll NEVER drop that will you.” She shakes away the net from her foot and Nova collects it with a frown.

“Maybe when you show actual change for once.” Nova scowls and points to Magpie’s satchel. “I bet that bag is full of stolen goods, huh. A thief in the renegades.”

“Did you already forget I QUIT” Magpie grits out as she gets up.

“Again. Not OFFICIALLY! You’re still associated to them-!” Nova fumbles, “Them- us. The heroes.”

Magpie doesn’t seem to notice her fumble and solely focuses on what she said before. “OH like I’M gonna deal so much damage to the renegades reputation” She sneers and kicks aside some trash.

Nova takes a deep breath before practically shouting, “Yes!”

“I don’t go around flaunting my story unlike someone.”

Nova grits, “You are infuriating.”

“Thanks, I try.” Magpie brushes dirt off her clothes like it’ll make a change to how muddied they’ve become. “And besides, the renegades don’t need help soiling their reputation.”

Nova sighs and rubs her forehead, “I’ll never understand what Callum ever saw in you.”

Nova expected a snarky comeback immediately. Some snappy retort spat back at her like Magpie had been doing.

But Magpie stays quiet.

Nova looks over and sees the way Magpie's fists clench. She considers saying something again but Magpie brushes ahead of her.

Nova tilts her head to get a better look at Magpie and sees the kid’s fists clenching. Nova considers saying something before Magpie grunts and continues to search for the sewer exit. Preferably one that Nova isn’t in the way of. Nova still follows close behind.

“Maybe that’s why Callum was better than you hypocrites.”

Nova frowns, she really shouldn't be surprised anymore. “You’re one to talk.”

“Why do you think I left.” The heat was rising in her voice again, and Nova gladly met it.

“What else? Selfishness!” Nova’s hands swung around to exaggerate her point. “You didn't even think about how the people around you would worry for your safety?? All so you can indulge in a life of crime.”

“That’s not why I-”

Nova deadpans, “Sure.” Nova walks ahead of the tween in a spurred heated pace, turning the corner and checking the area. Magpie’s appearance had distracted her from the fact they were in territory many new villains loved to travel through. Must be the "aesthetic".

Despite walking ahead, she didn’t go so far where Magpie would be out of her peripheral vision. Her ears remained keen for if Magpie would try to dash off again.

“If you'd just let me talk-!”

Nova turns around, about to open her mouth when something large shoves her into the wall. She hears a shriek and draws her weapon blindly. It’s ripped from her hand almost immediately and she whips her head up, finally seeing their attacker.

A tall boney figure of a man stands right across from her, holding the small tween in his grasp with a maniac smile on his face. He’s giggling. The dagger Magpie had tried to grab in a last ditch attempt to protect herself had been pried out of her grip. The man brings her dagger to the kid’s neck, only centimeters away from slicing skin. Magpie trembles, trying to squirm out of the sickly skinny man's hold. His grin stretches from Nova's attention.

"If it isn't the famous hypocrite, Nightmare" the villain drawls out. When Nova steps closer, he shifts the dagger dangerously close to Magpie's neck. She stops. "Yeah that's right…" the villain giggles deliriously, twitching. "You can't do anything."

"What do you want?" Nova says cautiously, her eyes stayed glued to the dagger. Under her breath she whispers “250cm. Shabby haircut and facial hair. Notch in right ear, scarring from corner of the ear to top of-”

“Are you tattling on me? …heh …hehe continue! Not that it will work~” The villain strangely allows her to note the details and send in the report for back up “They won’t get here in time.” He sniffs and blinks lazily. Is… Is he drunk? His grip on the dagger laxes ever so slightly but Nova doesn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet.

“You haven’t answered my question sir.”

“Drop your bag pretty little lady” The man uses his foot to slide Magpie’s passenger bag over to him, “This one’s getting lonely~” The raven-haired child squirms in his hold but he tightens his grasp on her, creating a striking cut across Magpie’s neck. Magpie cries out in pain.

“That’s what this is? A robbery? Drop the kid you don’t need to-”

“Stop talking, or I’ll slit her THROAT!!” The villain screams seemingly out of nowhere. Nova halts immediately, giving the villain more satisfaction than she’d like to. She grits her teeth, plotting how to handle this. “There we go~ That wasn’t so hard was it? Can’t ignore me now huh heh… heh heh”

Nova prays he’ll start to monologue. Oh please let him start monologuing! She needs the tim-

“You may be wondering why I’m doing this…”

THANK GOD

Magpie looks to be in pain but even she rolls her eyes in annoyance. The man giggles and his body seems to spasm like static. Nova squints. His hair shifts from orange to black to brown in a matter of seconds.

“Do you like my power, little Nightmare?” Nova jolts and sees the scruff and build of Ace Anarchy right in front of her. An unstable form that shifts back into a stretched twig in the next second. “I’ve been meaning to give it a test run.”

“How are you-” Nova barely gets a word in before the villain continues.

“My form appears differently to all who see me. I appear as the people you’ve feared, who you’ve hated and cowered under in the past. I am fear. I am terror.”

“Wait- You??” Recognition hits Nova like a stack of bricks and she groans internally. The graverobber.

A grin stretches across his face. His eyes hollow out and he takes on a sickly gray appearance. It almost looks like Ace Anarchy… but not quite. His eyebags stretch down his face for forever and he almost appears undead. His teeth appear chipped and stained with alcohol. His lip appears blistered, bleeding, as if a smoker’s lip.

Magpie screams when she sees his new appearance. With the villain’s attention away from her, she almost escapes his hold. She kicks wildly at him with the heels of her feet.

The Terror growls and makes a wild jab at Magpie before she escapes his hold, he nabs her cheek but Nova jumps in to restrain him before he can do anymore damage. Magpie falls to the ground as Nova grabs a hold of the villain. Nova rips back his (real) sleeve but the man shoves her off him before she can activate her power.

The villain trips her and Nova curses when he attempts to keep her down by kicking her. She grabs his foot and yanks him down into the sewer’s sludge. She gets one good punch in before he returns the blow.

The man grabs the dagger but before he can strike, the dagger is ripped out of his hands and heads straight into Magpie’s. The Terror snarls at the child but gets caught up in wrestling Nova for her netting gun. Magpie dashes the other direction.

His face shifts to Adrian’s and Nova falters, immediately losing her advantage. Her own netting gun fires from The Terror’s hands, and pins her to the ground, knocking her head to the side.

She jolts up to get out of her own net casing, furiously searching for the other dagger on her person. She does her best with the newfound dizziness. The adrenaline pulses through her veins, allowing her the luxury to ignore the growing headache. She has no doubts it'll be an issue later, unfortunately.

The man fires the net at Magpie next, pinning her down for good measure as he searches her bag and nabs what he finds shiny. Magpie kicks and swears up a storm. The villain shoves her into the muck to shut her up. He takes her bag and runs.

Nova curses herself for her design choices. The net only closes around its capture, leaving no room for correction. She severs the net around her with the dagger the villain hadn't gotten a hold of in his hast, but it takes her longer than she’d like to retrieve it.

She clutches her head once she gets onto her feet, stumbling only slightly. The tunnel's few and far between lights flickered. The villain got away.

Nova almost considers going after him but Magpie's struggling takes precedence. Nova beelines for Magpie, kneeling down and cutting the ropes that trap her face in the sewer's waste and water.

Nova cuts away the last piece that kept the child down, and Magpie jolts up to gasp. She sputters and coughs for a few minutes, gulping precious air. Procedure mandated Nova check with Magpie if she swallowed any water and (at least from Magpie’s testimony) she’s fine. Wouldn’t hurt to check out later.

Nova frowns toward the direction the villain went but shakes her head. Not yet. She helps pull Magpie to her feet and helps her down on the dry (not dry, moist actually, but considerably dry-er) concrete that sits above the sewer water. Nova pulls out a med kit, paying attention to the gashes the villain landed on Magpie. Her own could wait.

When Nova attempts to clean the gash on the kid’s cheek, Magpie jolts backward. Nova sighs.

“If I don’t do this, the wound will only get worse. Trust me, you don’t want to get an infection.” She says sternly. “And the quicker we do this, the sooner we catch that bastard.”

Magpie frowns, her eyebrows furrowing. She isn’t whining anymore at least, and she braces herself when Nova pulls out the antiseptic again.

Magpie winces from the sting of the disinfectant. Nova frowns and sympathizes with the kid. Using this disinfectant wasn’t the most preferable way to deal with these cuts, she’ll admit. But after the wounds’ contact with the sewer water, infection was definitely a greater concern. Nova will probably need to haul Magpie over to headquarters just to make sure the kid didn’t get any diseases from the sewage.

The cut on the kid’s cheek really only needs a simple bandaid but the laceration on her neck requires gause. It’s hardly a pretty sight but at least it isn’t bleeding too badly. Likely surface level.

She, again, cleans the wound and ignores Magpie’s winses. She applies the gauze to her neck and gently wraps the bandage around.

Nova lets out the breath she had been holding in, “There. That wasn’t so hard was it?” Despite what she said, her tone was only half heartedly snarky. The villain had caught her off guard and she wasn’t enthusiastic to fail helping the kid again.

Magpie doesn’t respond. Instead, she chooses to stand up again, stumbling in the process. Nova catches and steadies her. Nova tries to check the kid’s head for a bump but the kid bats her hand away. The child frowns and looks away, feigning strength that contradicts her dependance on Nova to keep her steady.

Nova turns her attention away from the ex-renegade and back to the sewers. Inside her jacket, the thrum of her tracker comforts her of the villain’s whereabouts. She pulls it out and watches the flickering red spot’s movements. The blinking green dot marks where she is.

“He hasn’t gotten far. Keep a hold of my arm and on my sig-”

“It’d be easier if you left me behind” The ex-renegade gruffs.

Nova looks at her, “He took your stuff too.” And Nova didn’t want to risk the kid running away the moment she left her sight. But one appealed more to Magpie’s wishes than the other.

Magpie huffs and her attitude returns, “I don’t carry anything too important. I’m not stupid. He just snatched today’s income.” She mumbles something about finding a new bag.

Her nonchalance couldn’t help but make Nova bristle, “Income? Really. You mean what you’ve stolen today.”

“I’m using my powers for something useful now, aren't I?”

“Something useful would be helping people.” Nova couldn’t help the bite that came out in her voice. “Not causing a bigger issue for the Renega-”

“Why would I help them?” Magpie snarls, “Their reputation can go die for all I care. They didn’t help me and they aren’t entitled to my help”

Nova blinks, “What?”

“I know you heard me, don’t lie.”

Nova deadpans, “Oh? Clarify for me.”

“Why should I.” Magpie shoves herself away from her, getting her balance back mostly. She keeps one hand on the sewer wall.

Nova sighs, giving up on getting an answer for her question. Better to not beat around the bush. “What do you mean by ‘they didn’t help’? They were always reaching out! Callum was-”

Magpie scoffs, “Exactly. Callum. Everyone else was in it for my powers.” She grumbles something inaudible and then, “He was too but at least his power let him see past that.”

Magpie winces in pain and stumbles, Nova rushes to her side to catch her again. Magpie doesn’t bother fighting her again but she does scowl. Nova ignores her and focuses on helping her walk. The kid’s right foot must be sprained or something.

Nova sighs, “Renegades are chosen because of their skillset.”

Magpie huffs “Yeah, well. I signed up for history. Artifacts.”

“And you barely did anything.”

Magpie blew her hair out of her face. “Then good thing I’m out of your hair now. You don’t have to spare a thought to think about how worthless I am to you lot.”

Nova groans internally. She’d give anything to just drop the kid. “No one thinks you’re worthless. You haven’t been applying yourself so-”

“I have.” Magpie defends.

“Really.”

“Really!”

Nova heavily doubts that but chooses just to roll her eyes. “Well if we’re going to talk about this, why did you leave.” The villain wasn’t too far ahead but he had still made a substantial run for it. They were hardly close enough for their voices to be heard by him yet. From what the tracker suggested, he had paused to look at all his newfound treasures. Likely, he hadn’t noticed the tracker yet. Amateur.

“The renegades are hypocrites now.”

Oh this argument? Nova takes a breath, “They always have been.”

Now it was Magpie’s turn to be skeptical.

Nova continues, “But these kinds of organizations will always have flaws. That’s why good people need to be there to improve them.” Nova never thought she’d see a day where she’d so adamantly defend the renegades but here they were.

Magpie pipes up again, “And yet they still flaunt the idea everyone is equal” Her words taunt the idea itself in an almost singsong way. “Nobody sees that’s the furthest thing from the truth”

“What do you mean by that?”

“No one is equal just because everyone and their mother has powers now.” She shifts slightly as they walk to turn the corner. “No power comes with the same strength as another. And now prodigies aren’t people who earned it.”

Nova chokes and whips her head around to the kid, “Earned it??”

Magpie puffs her chest out, defending her claim with no hesitance, “Becoming a prodigy comes from survival!” Her fist tightens, “And now there are new “prodigies" that flaunt their power like it’s the same thing!” She pointedly looks at the tracker with the villain’s location. Nova had to admit, she was right for this case.

Despite that, Nova refutes Magpie’s previous claim, “Not all ‘previous’ prodigies got their power out of necessity.”

Magpie bites back, “The majority did. And yet, everyone’s trying to act like nothing has changed for the worse.”

Nova frowns, “What does this have to do with you quitting?”

Magpie shuts her mouth and remains silent. They walk a good chunk for a good chunk of time before Nova opens her mouth, “Oh now you’re silent on me again. Great.”

Magpie groans something closer to a whine. “Why are you so interested anyway??”

“Maybe I want to know what’s in that skull of yours to think it’d be a good idea to disappear for weeks! You worried-”

“I don’t care.” Magpie mutters.

Nova still heard it. “Say that again.” A challenge really.

“They don’t actually mean it.”

Nova barks a humorless laugh, “Yes, (oh boy) yes, they do!”

Magpie whips her head back to Nova, “I was a nuisance! I burdened everyone. I used up resources.” She listed them like they would obviously affect how others would think of her.

And it did. Not always the way Magpie believed though.

Nova agrees with her, “Yeah, you were. What does that have to do-”

“Everyone should be happy I’m gone. I’m no longer a stain on their reputation.” She shoves her hands into her pockets. “But then again, they ruin their reputation well enough without me.”

Nova doesn’t bother trying to interject and correct her again. Instead, she listens to Magpie spout off. She’s fessing up now.

“I’m on the side that matches my character now, right? At least in their eyes. You should be happy.” Magpie quips, continuing her spiel.

Nova doesn’t say anything for a moment. Taking in the kid’s words. She isn’t really sure if she regrets making Magpie talk again. It was easier when she was silent honestly. Easier on her headache. Regardless, Nova speaks up again, “...That’s it? That’s why you made everyone worry?”

Magpie speaks firmly, “They aren’t actually worried. I can guarantee they just want my superpower and labor. Why would they be worried about me?”

Nova takes in a deep breath, hopefully warding away her oncoming headache. “Honestly, I have no clue.”

“Told you.” Magpie grunts.

“But.” Nova breathes out, “They are worried regardless. Thunderbird herself asked me to go looking for you. And she doesn’t even like me!” Nova hoped her emphasis on Tamaya’s desperation would convince Magpie but it had the opposite effect.

“If anything that proves my point they don't care.” Magpie chuckles. It wasn’t funny. “Leaving my fate up to an ex-anarchist. If they are so concerned, where are they right now?” It almost sounded like a genuine question. One that flabbergasted Nova to no end.

“Busy! And they have been looking for you. They just also have more important things to do than-”

“Look for a shitty kid?” Magpie finishes for her. Nova’s eyebrows furrow at the wording. “I know you don’t like me. Nobody likes me. I made sure of that.” Of all the things for the thief to be honest about, Nova didn’t think admitting her self fulfilling prophecy would be one of them. “Callum was the only one that- …”

“That what?” Nova pries.

“That…” Magpie’s face scrunches up, a pattern when she’s forced to be vulnerable. “I mean that he was annoyingly persistent. He had a good superpower that… could have changed the world.”

“It did.”

Magpie laughs sourly, “It didn’t.” She shakes her head. “He died.”

“He inspired the people around him.” Nova insisted.

“And look what happened to him.”

A silence falls over the two. An uncomfortable one. Nova honestly isn’t sure what to do. Magpie never seemed the sentimental type in any shape whatsoever. She wouldn’t believe the kid even cared about Callum if she hadn’t seen her sobbing over his dead body last year.

Nova breathes in and breaks the silence, “He… was a martyr.”

Magpie’s voice comes out raw. “So? The wonders he saw shriveled up.”

“That’s not true.”

“Yes, it is. Barely anyone in this city has a shred of pity in their soul.” She spits. “Not without profit. Without glory.”

Nova puffs her chest out, “Bold of you to criticize this of the city.”

“Bold of you to assume I give a shit. I know my hypocrisy. I’m just telling it as it is.”

Something in the way Magpie uttered her last statement makes Nova pause. A sort of Deja vu waving over her. The echo of their footsteps quickly replaced their voices and filled the halls of the concrete and waste maze.

“...sounds pretty lonely.”

“Nice try, Nightmare. I’m not falling for that.”

“I’m not trying to trick you.”

Silence. Nova isn’t surprised by this point. In the corner of her eye she could see Magpie avoiding her gaze, entranced by the mesh of components that make up the concrete below them. Nova briefly glanced at her tracker and chewed on her lip.

Nova sighs, “Just… Give me a reason to tell Tamaya and the others why you left when I get back.”

Magpie turns to her, squinting her eyes. “Are you serious?”

“Dead. Dead serious.”

Nova looks at Magpie a second longer and flicks her attention back to the tracker. Magpie opens her mouth and Nova places a finger against it. Magpie's face twists in offense until she realizes what they've stumbled across.

Nova cautiously leans forward to see two men and the lanky villain from before. The lanky villain has donned a new mask, covering his face and neck entirely, masking his ability but protecting him from Nova’s. Magpie freezes and Nova moves her hand to the kid’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

She taps Magpie’s shoulder once. Twice. Magpie blinks and perks up to look at her with a surprised recognition. Nova continues relaying her instructions.

The girl squints her eyes at Nova. Nova gives her a look and the girl huffs.

"..-. .. -. ." she taps back. The Morse code didn't translate her tone, but Nova could tell from expressions alone the girl’s grumpy agreement [Fine.].

Nova places her hand on the wall and points to one of the individuals The Terror stands next to. The one that looks about ready to fall over from nerves. He's holding a hefty chunk of concrete, the torn reinforcing steel at the center. It’s hard to miss the gaping hole in the wall, light shining through it.

Magpie gives one gentle attempt to pull the bag away from him, it's across the shoulder of the man, but she slumps and gives up soon after. His arms are in the way of cleanly stealing her bag back.

Nova’s head lifts up and she points to the gravel and shards from the mess the group must have made in their haste into the sewers. The girl activates her powers and gathers the shards at her feet. Magpie moves them slowly into the water.

The movement startles the timid man ("Crocodile?!") into dropping the concrete, it breaks half once it meets the ground. The halves splash into the sewer's muck and liquid. One of the dealers smacks him in the head and the Timid dude straightens.

Magpie and Nova breathe a quiet sigh of relief once the merchants return to deciding the price they’ll pay for The Terror’s stolen items. Magpie lifts one slab of concrete slowly, breathing in. The water decreases the difficulty of carrying the concrete slabs, the only challenge will be getting it out.

Nova stays tense. She keeps a finger on the activation tigger of the tracking device. In the past she’s designed and built in the function to employ a heavy magnetic force, stuck to whomever she aimed it at. The corresponding magnetic rope weighs heavy on her gear belt.

“460. Final offer.”

“Deal.”

“Mack, get the fucking rocks, we’re going now.”

“Yes!”

Magpie jolts and lifts the concrete into the air, throwing them at the three. One thwacks the timid man, and he collapses to the floor. The second only grazes the Terror and the other dealer.

Nova activates the tracker, the metal presses tightly against his leg and expands to his knee. Magpie uses her power to shut the messy entry/exit hole. The Terror backs up and the second dealer curses Nova’s hero name. He opens his hand-

Nightmare shoves Magpie out of sight at the corner and dodges the dart flown her way. She runs up and kicks the second dealer into the sewer water before tackling the Terror to the ground. Her netting gun falls from her person in the process.

Magpie pulls her bag to her person, as well as the other (much larger) bag of trinkets and valuables stolen by the graverobber. She pays no attention to Nova punching the Terror and his strikes in return. Roughhousing. None of her business now.

She rummages to check her own stuff is still present, and then peeks through the other bag of belongings. Her eyes catch a card and she fishes it out.

A drivers license, with the name Oliver Berk listed next to a picture of a man.

Magpie doesn’t get to examine it for long. The second dealer hacks up the disgusting “water” and pulls himself out. He grabs Nova’s netting gun. Nova’s too busy keeping the Terror from escaping to notice. The Terror’s clothing covers up her options to force him unconscious in a split second.

Magpie jolts up to her feet and runs out of hiding. “Hey!”

The second dealer looks up just before she shoves herself against the man to grab the gun. He yells in shock and she scrambles to rip the netting gun out of his hand. He grabs her hood and lifts her into the air. “What the hell is this kid doing her-” She aims the netting gun and pins him down.

She goes down with him, only outside of the net. He lets go of her hoodie and she knocks against the concrete. Nova looks up in a panic from the sound, wide eyed and distracted. The Terror kicks her in the stomach and abandons the scene. But not before smashing the tracker device, prying it off of his leg.

###

Nova groans and gets to her feet. The pain eases after a moment. She looks up and breathes a sigh of relief to see Maggie getting to her feet.

Nova slides down into the gutter between them to reach Maggie sooner. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Breathes Maggie.

Nova strides toward the kid and grabs her shoulders. Magpie freezes. Nightmare checks her head for bleeding, only finding a goose egg. “You got knocked twice in the head today.”

“I’m fine, Nightmare.”

Nova sighs and lets Maggie go. Choosing to walk over to the second dealer, she puts her hand through the net and forces him to fall unconscious. Nova’s phone pings with a new message and Maggie uses her power to snatch it and view it as Nova collects the other dealer from where he dropped.

“How come you didn’t run earlier?” Nova asks Maggie as she looks through the two villains' persons for identification, not before tying them up just in case.

“When?”

“When you grabbed the loot.”

“...ahuh.” Nova scratches her cheek. “And you ran out of hiding because…?”

Maggie pauses and shrugs. “They… could have had more on them”

“If- if he got you then I’d be fucked!” The girl defends herself. “Who here is more experienced with fighting and winning?”

“Okay okay, that’s fair.” Nova collects two identification cards. “These will be helpful at least.”

Nova accidentally pulled out a photograph when she had searched the man's pockets. She stares at a photo of kids barking a resemblance to the man. She sighs in sympathy.

“I found another.” Maggie pulls over the large bag and hands Nova the driver’s license. “Oliver Berk. No powers recorded on it as of five years ago.”

“It’s outdated?” Nova examines the identification. “It doesn’t match either merchant.”

“The Terror?”

“It’s more likely to belong to someone who died in the past few years.”

Magpie’s nose scrunches, “Why would you steal a driver’s license? They’re worthless.”

Nova gives her a look, “Actually, they’re worth a lot. Especially if you need a new identity.”

Maggie blinks and her cheeks pinken ever so slightly out of embarrassment for not thinking of that possibility. “Well… won’t a dead person’s ID catch eyes? Someone would notice that right?”

“...Who knows anymore.” She sighs.

Maggie pulls out Nova’s phone she snagged earlier and looks at the message.

“Oh. Her.”

“Who?”

Maggie shows the screen to Nova. Nova sours for a moment to see Maggie stole her phone. She perks up in interest the moment she recognizes Thunderbird’s contact.

"Was she the one who put you up to looking for me?"

"Yeah why?"

Maggie walks over to the side of one of the men to sit down, crossing her legs. "She, especially, doesn't care. Not really"

"Sounded like she cared to me."

"She cares about my power. How it can be used. She was jumping to sponsor me after I tried out. Though, I bet in a heartbeat she'd want it to be someone else's." Maggie fidgets. "...she’s the reason I got out of the orphanage and a place with the Renegades when I did."

Nova hesitates to respond. She wishes she knew what to say, but she can't think of anything. Nothing that would make anything better. She doesn't know Tamaya well enough to argue or agree.

"...sorry about that, kid."

Maggie shrugs and places the phone down. Nova retrieves it quickly but Maggie's already reverted her attention to searching the merchant's pockets as if it were Christmas.

"You should probably tell her how you feel." Nova tries. "Might help clear up some things…"

Maggie pauses. She changes the subject.

“About your question earlier? About what you should tell them? Yeah… tell them don’t bother.” Magpie says as she packs up her once stolen trinkets, “It’s best for everyone if I stick to being a ‘villain’. If you’re shocked-” she searches the knocked out pawnbroker’s pockets for cash or anything of value, waving around the items to examine them “Don’t be! It’s been a long time coming.”

Nova at Magpie. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Is that so hard to believe?”

Nova snorts, “No it isn’t. I’m being validated.”

Magpie deadpans as she shoves a very fancy trinket into her bag, “Congratulations. Would you like a metal?”

Nova blinks, “Did you just-”

“MEDAL! Medal. Gah forget it!” Magpie’s face pinkens and she stands to her feet in seconds. She secures her bag in its place, keeping her eyes away from Nova’s amused expression. “Anyway. You know I only care about me.”

“That’s true”

“Callum was the selfless one.”

“Yep”

“And he was wrong about me.”

Nova clicks her tongue, “I mean, I didn’t know him for very long all things considered, but I have a hard time believing Callum could be wrong about something like that.”

“Well, he was.”

She raises her eyebrow, “What exactly did he say about you anyway?”

Magpie scoffs, “What? The potential he saw? The wonders his power “revealed”?”

“Well, yeah. What else.”

“Stupid stuff…” The tween mutters.

Nova pries more, “And that stupid stuff is…?”

“...” Magpie relents after a moment of silence. But not after taking the time to roll her eyes. “He made me think that I could help people… the way I wanted help once.”

“This is stupid. You don’t care.”

Nova pauses and can’t find anything to say about what Magpie just uttered. Nothing that would help. She waits for the kid to say anything more on the subject.

“No- well…” Nova grimaces and sighs, “Why don’t I tell you something.”

Magpie whips her head back to Nova and squints her eyes. Eventually she bites and asks, “Tell me what?”

Nova took a breath and before saying something she hopes she won’t regret telling the 12 year old, “After we defeated Ace Anarchy, I wanted to quit.”

“Quit?” Magpie looks over to her, dumbfounded expression and everything.

“Yep.”

Magpie’s expression lessons. “...Why?”

“I felt I’d do more harm than good staying on the team.” She chuckles, beginning to fidget with her bracelet out of the need to do something with her awkward hands. “After all, my mistakes led to Ace running free for so long. He’s… the reason my family is dead.”

“What? Your…”

Nova nods, pursing her lips, “He hired the assassin. Shot my Mom, Dad, and sister.” Mentioning her long-dead sister made her heart ache. And at the same time, it was odd. She never imagined telling all of this to Magpie one day, and here they were.

Magpie’s eyebrows shoot up, and after a few seconds she utters “oh…”

“Yeah… turns out he kept me ‘cause I was a prodigy. I never knew.”

Maggie’s eyebrows furrow but she doesn’t say anything. The silence draws on longer than comfortable for the two of them.

“Anyway…” Nova clears her throat. “I’ll always carry the guilt of what I could have done. The deaths I could have prevented are on my shoulders. I could run away, and suffer for what I’ve done and didn’t do.” She then smiles, “Or stick around. Stay with the people that care about me. And try to be better now. Make things better. That’s what the Rejects have been trying for the past year and counting.”

“The rejects?”

“Narcissa’s the leader. I’ll give you a fair introduction to them later if you want.”

…

Nova coughs, “Anyway, I guess what I’ve been trying to say is, it gets better. You never know where people that get you, show up. And that more people care about you than you ever realize.

“Y’know, when things to crap.”

###

Nova sends a quick text before her and Maggie leave. It's to heroes in their area, notifying them of their location, the situation, and the pawnbrokers. She trusts them to handle the two fairly.

It didn’t take very long to find The Terror's next planned location once they rummaged through the two pawnbroker’s pockets and found how they had been communicating with The Terror.

And the fact The Terror was actually Oliver Berk. The grin on Maggie's face for being right didn't leave for a while. Nova could only sigh. Of course the amateur villain would keep his identification with him.

The amateurness didn't stop, and his weak security both hurt Nova and made her want to laugh. How could you screw this up so badly?? From there she and Maggie had tracked him down to his next location and ambushed him, making quick work of tying him up.

Maggie holds her lucky bullet in her hand and close to her when she stands against the sewer wall and slides down into a sit. She fiddles with it a little and looks at Nova who is finishing up her report to headquarters. Nova rubs her head to ease her headache as she writes. She types up she has apprehended the villain, their location, and a promise to return to hq soon after denying a ride back.

“...My family was murdered too”

“Hm?” Nova turns to Maggie.

“When I was a baby. I don’t know too much. I was found by the landlord or something.” She holds up the bullet. “I just know this gave me my powers.”

Nova blinks and lets her mouth form an ‘o’ shape. Out of all the things today, this wasn't one she thought Maggie would talk about.

The kid holds the bullet closer to her chest, "This is my power. I don't care what you think about me. What anyone thinks. This power is mine and only for me. It is me. It's… how I survive" she grits out.

Nova breathes out a sigh and shrugs, "I mean… I get that.”

“You do?”

Nova nods, “The anarchists weren’t exactly buddy-buddy with me. Even after the age of anarchy, it’s common advice, you could say, to keep your guard up. Just in case.

"And with hindsight, I was only kept alive by my uncle because of my powers…"

Nova couldn’t help but fidget slightly from Maggie’s persistent attention. That stare. Now that the kid was actually listening it was almost unnerving. The kid’s piercing blue gaze only assisted the look.

“And some shitty things have happened to me. No surprise there. My new friends help me out with that now.”

Maggie’s concentration on what she says breaks the next second, and she snorts, “What are you even suggesting. Getting cheesy friends may have worked for you, but it won’t fix anything for me. We aren’t the same.” Maggie looks away from her with a scowl. “I have nothing. Nothing of my old life. Blurry memories maybe. But no photos. No gravestones. No names.”

Nova pauses and frowns. Maybe sympathetically. She doesn’t really know. “You don’t need those to move on.”

“Says the renegade with photos, and memories, and names, and graves to say goodbye to.”

“I lost most of the photos a long time ago. And,” She raises her finger to emphasize her point, “my sister’s corpse was never recovered so watch your mouth.”

“At least you know her name”

“Will you please just work with me!? I just” Nova breathes in. “I want to hold out an olive branch. Because… you aren’t nearly as alone as you think.”

Maggie stays quiet. Nova fills the space.

“Look, we definitely got off on the wrong foot” She pauses and bites her lip. “Pun, not intended.” Nova ignores the incredulous look Magpie gives her.

“But. I don’t want to see someone else go through what I did alone.”

“We. Are not. The same.”

“No, we aren’t. But pretty damn close, dontcha think?” Nova chuckles lightly, but is met with Magpie’s continued silence. “Yeah okay, that wasn’t funny.”

Nova heads over to where the villain had been tied up and readjusts the knots, she needs something to do with her hands. “We can leave soon and forget this ALL happened if you want. Just know this, I am lucky to have gotten back so much.”

“I could have told you that.”

Nova ignores her. “But for the longest time… I didn’t know I had that much to be returned. I thought everything about my past died that night, aside from my memory. Even my bracelet wouldn’t be as important to me, without that memory. That memory was my drive and it still is.”

Maggie’s quiet when she responds, her overgrown bangs hover over her eyes and shade them. “I tried moving on.”

“Did you?”

“I moved on… by staying alive.” Maggie lets out a breath. “Who cares if they didn’t come back. Or if I have nothing left. It’s me now. Those pieces are dead and I’m the one who’s living.”

“Good. Stay alive. But that living person can’t have any friends? Any support?”

…

“I can’t say goodbye to my sister.”

Maggie looks up at her, “You were telling the truth?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Maggie doesn’t answer and lets Nova continue.

“They have a gravestone in place, but she isn’t there.”

“They couldn’t find a simple corpse? That is… hilariously incompetent.” Maggie almost deadpans.

“Yeah well, doesn’t change I can’t say goodbye. Or hello. Tell her about my day. About an awful coworker. A competition for kids that… she’d be the same age as. And,” Nova blinks, “I can’t say happy birthday, either.”

Maggie’s eyebrows furrow.

“She… uh… Evie. Would have turned thirteen this week…”

“...thirteen?” The silence could only be described as all consuming. And Maggie’s tone was undecipherable.

“Yeah.”

Maggie only stares at Nova. Her eyes focusing on her like a hawk. In disbelief? In sadness? Nova never would think of empathy to be an emotion Maggie would display before tonight, but she’s been surprised on the contrary before.

Maggie’s lip twitches. Her lips form into a scowl, bringing the rest of her expression with it. Her hackles raise. “Oh yeah. Very funny.”

Nova blinks in confusion. “What??”

“I’m not gonna fall for that.” She pushes herself off the wall she had been leaning against.

“I’m not lying.”

“You’ve done it before, Insomnia.” Nova squints her eyes and Maggie continues, “Twelve years after a home invasion? Murderer on the loose with a gun?! Yeah, as if. You just want to trick me!”

“Why would I do that??” Nova returns Magpie’s volume, “Why would I lie-”

“I am thirteen years old.”

Nova blinks incredulously, “...W-what?

“And whatever sick trick you’re playing on me isn’t funny. I won’t go back to headquarters. You can’t fool me. Is this what they're training Renegades to do now? Fuck with people’s heads?!”

Nova’s mouth remains wide open out of offense, and she has to remember to close it as her expression heats up. She’s speechless from this accusation before she speaks up, “You’re talking nonsense! Why are you- what does-” she flounders to make sense of the conclusion Magpie has come up with “You- You’re thirteen?”

Magpie scoffs, “Yeah. Thirteen. Just short a month after I was admitted to the orphanage. After- …after my family died.” She quiets but keeps her glare on Nova. “But you already knew that didn’t you.”

Nova’s furrowed expression stays put until she digests what Magpie is saying. Her expression slowly lessons and her eyes widen. She steps back.

The thirteen year old blinks, “What?”

“I’m not making this up, Magpie.”

“What do you mean you aren’t making this up.”

“I… I’m telling the truth. I wouldn’t lie about this.”

“Well I’m not lying either.” Maggie intended to spit the truth out but the moment she said it the more it seemed Nova’s words were also ruminating in her head too. Her eyes widen but it doesn’t match Nova’s expression.

Nova’s face pales and her eyes dart to the hand that Maggie grips her bullet with. A… a bullet?

“It can’t be…”

###

Life, has been a nauseating rollercoaster for Maggie. Especially for today. A day she thought wouldn't be stressful for once. Calmer even.

Sure, she planned to snag more than a few trinkets to pawn but today she didn’t want to have to run away from annoying heroes. The ones that get upset with her theft. Frankly, she didn’t want to think about them either. One stop at the food drive was plenty of that interaction.

Maggie didn't think about the heroes that saw her at the food drive and did nothing. The ones who've been in the area enough to know only people in poverty end up here. She didn't think about never seeing Sketch's team once.

Not… not that she'd want to see them! They'd only nag her.

The point is… she didn’t want to run, or get hurt. The last few weeks she's stayed away from ugly fights and for a reason. Her goal is to survive, not get some wound infected and die from a disease.

And yet, she had to run from the annoying Nightmare and was cut up by the latest piece of gossip, The Terror. Who… she also had not been keen on running into. The sting on her cheek and pain from her neck were sour reminders of that failure.

But even when she had been shoved into the sewage, her foot stomped on, Nightmare still helped her. Hell, Nova looked concerned after the second fight.

And she never expected Nightmare to… be nice to her. Like, ever. In the beginning she was just as annoying as before but… Maggie never would have predicted it.

Maggie also never thought she and Nova could work together.

It unnerved her a little when Nightmare told her things that, Maggie would never tell if in Nova's position. Why would Nova trust her with all this information?

Heck, Maggie thought she had it figured out for a moment. That Nova was actually backstabbing and exploiting her knowledge of Maggie’s past to trick her. It made sense.

Her mind was eager to brush aside the last hour. It was all fake, right?

But this.

This isn’t how a fucked up villain would react to being found out. For lying the entire time.

Maggie grips her lucky bullet in her hand.

Today has been a rollercoaster. And Maggie hates rollercoasters.

The silence between the two stretches on for hours. Or a minute. Who was she to tell?

Nova?

Nova’s her… sister?

The thing about Maggie is, she hates hoping. She despises the very concept. When she was younger, she hoped all too much. Too many nights she spent staying up listening to the grownups and their phone calls. Waiting for someone to call, asking for her. Someone to walk through the doors one day, and call her theirs.

Waiting for her sister to burst through the doors, apologizing for leaving her with one big hug.

The very thought makes her nauseous nowadays. How could she have been so naive. Wasted all that time hoping. Focusing on a what if rather than what she could do. She could do so much.

She left.

And now she’s here. And now her sister is here. Well, maybe her sister.

Nova is murmuring something Maggie can’t quite follow, her hand is over her mouth as several emotions flicker across her face. She looks about ready to barf, and Maggie couldn’t blame her if she did. The kid feels ill enough to join her, honestly.

She wants to shut down the possibility all together. That her sister really is gone and she’s not right in front of her, staring at Maggie like she’s seeing a ghost. The hope and trepidation in Nova’s eyes that Maggie stomped in her own a long time ago.

Nova pinches the bridge of her nose and walks over to The Trashbag and hoists the villain over her shoulder. She mumbles something under her breath, Maggie can't make out.

Something grabs Maggie’s hand and she jolts, ripping her hand away and whips her head toward- Nova. Nova’s hand is shaking and she seems to be trying to keep her calm. Upon further inspection, Maggie realizes she’s trembling too. Why is she doing that?

“Maggie…”

Maggie clenches her fist, and lets Nova hold her hand in a tight grip, before exiting the sewers.

###

Nova jumps out of the cab with Maggie close behind, she rushes out a “thankyousomuchsorry!” to the cab driver still frozen from the two renegades and villain that hitched a ride. She makes a mental note to pay them back later.

She sees headquarters' front entrance light up the darkening sky as she approaches. Her head throbs once she walks in and meets the fluorescent lights. Nova unceremoniously drops the villain on the ground and ignores the shocked staff when she beelines for the medical suite. She never once lets go of Maggie's hand.

Her mind notes the sound of heroes telling Mr Berk his rights before they take him away for interrogation. Nova opens the door to the medical suite and the bustle of the front lobby muffles once the door is shut.

Maggie lags behind as Nova reaches the counter, asking for a kinship test.

Nova's breathing feels wrong. She could see from the rise and fall from her chest that she wasn't hyperventilating. But it felt too slow. Every breath was too big. Suffocating her.

The person from behind the counter hands her the box containing the test. She holds it carefully and can only stare. After a moment the person at the desk looks at her in confusion and gets her attention.

"It's just a mouth swab, Sweetie. Don't worry" the person offers her a smile. Nova's cheeks pinken and she mutters a thank you before practically running back to where she left Maggie.

Nova takes another breath. It, is just a saliva test. When it comes down to it, it won't even be painful.

Her eyes catch the labeling. Sibling kinship test.

Her gut twists from the word.

…could Maggie really be…

"What's taking you so long?"

Nova whips her head up to look at Maggie's furrowed expression.

"Ah, nothing nothing. It's fine." Nova opens the cardboard box, the thick paper glowing the box closed tears apart. She presses the flaps aside and dumps the innards onto the small table offered in the room. Maggie eyes the tests with trepidation.

Nova takes a deep breath in, "Magpie"

The thirteen year old looks back at her.

"I… if. This confirms anything. …We don't need to do anything about it immediately. If, you don't want to." Nova hands the tween one of the still packaged swabs. "I don't want you to think… that you're obligated to anything."

The thirteen year old grabs her own sleeve to tug on slightly as she stares at the test. Not touching it.

"...what if it doesn't…"

"Doesn't… confirm anything?" Nova finishes. "...well. Still, you don't have to do anything." Nova rubs the back of her neck "but, feel free to talk to me."

Maggie looks up at her with a skeptical squint. "Why?"

"On the streets, support systems are vital if you don't want to end up dead within a month" Nova smiles. "It could just be a phone number, okay?"

"No, I mean, why do you still want to talk after all the times I stole your bracelet."

"I have a funny feeling you won't be trying that again. Not unless you want the Renegades on your back" Nova shoots the girl a look that says 'right?'. Maggie can't refute that.

From the many years of technological development and the growth of prodigies, some things have taken less time to analyze than before. What would have taken a few days could now receive results in a couple hours or so.

Maggie hesitates before opening the plastic package and retrieving the mouth swab.

An agonizingly long couple hours. Better than the alternative but still an infuriating amount of time to wait for DNA testing results.

Nova convinced Maggie to have the wounds she received by The Terror checked for infection in the meantime.

Though one of the nurses nearby grabbed her as well to be patched up. Maggie laughed at her, and her initial shock and realization of what she neglected to do. It didn't take long for the nurse to finish patching Nova up. Sent back to the cold waiting room soon after…

It was easier to forget what they were waiting on with the distractions.

Nova looks at her phone again. She doesn't unlock the screen but she does view the time. And the texts she's received from Adrian and Tamaya. Both have been caught up in an incident downtown and would be there as soon as possible. Though, she warned Tamaya to wait until Maggie wanted to talk to her. Nova decided against telling Oscar, Ruby, and Danna what happened.

It could be completely coincidental. More doubt settles in Nova's mind the longer she waits.

When Maggie returns, Nova doesn't look at her. She fiddles with her hands, she almost wishes she had one of her inventions or something to do.

Finally, someone calls for them. Nova whips her head up and stiffens. This… is really happening. Her brain feels like it's still trying to catch up to the events around her. She stands up and looks at Maggie. The girl tenses and freezes up.

Nova goes to check the results without her. She could almost hear the quiet sigh of relief.

Someone, with a stereotypical lab coat, on hands her the envelope containing the printed results.

Nova doesn't catch much of the explanation of how the DNA match results were determined, but she appreciates it nonetheless.

She leans against the wall and slowly wills her fingers to open the letter.

It's been a little more than 12 years since her family was killed.

Her hands tremble as she slowly takes the folded paper from inside.

She remembers every gunshot.

BANG!

She remembers hiding in that cramped closet.

BANG!

Nova takes a deep breath.

Evie's crying was cut short with one final…

…

BANG!

She unfolds the paper.

Ace never let her see Evie's bloodied corpse. The last time she saw Evie was when she left her sleeping body to check on her parents. When everything changed.

They never got to see a funeral. Nova never knew what happened to the bodies. Ace never gave up any details on the subject.

Looking at the paper was disorienting at first until her eyes caught onto the letters and began to read. Alleged Sibling was typed at the top of two columns, above "Nova Artino" and "Margaret White".

She keeps her thumb over the results number but the more she looks, the more numbers that match.

Nova moves her thumb and stared at the paragraph beneath the total index.

Her eyes are dragged to the nines in the percentage listed.

DNA testing done to determine siblingship of the alleged siblings. Based on testing results obtained from analyses of the DNA loci listed, the probability of full-siblingship is 99.8%. The likelihood they share a biological father is….

…not a coincidence then

The air leaves Nova's lungs the next second. She couldn't even read the rest before she began to sway. She braces herself against the wall and does her best to lower herself to the ground safely.

Nova took in another breath but it came out as a strangled sob. Her face is wet. When did she start crying?

Maggie's Evie.

Evie is Maggie. Magpie.

Evie's… alive.

How??

Her mind remembers the bullet in Maggie's hand. It… gave Maggie her powers…

She hears Adrian come through the doors before she sees him in her blurry vision. His Sentinel uniform is mostly covering him still.

Nova holds a hand over her mouth and stumbles to her feet.

"Nova-"

Nova runs past her confused boyfriend, who voices his confusion and concern immediately after.

She runs out into the waiting room and her eyes dart around, looking for-

"Nova?"

Nova whips her head to the source of the sound. Her eyes first catch the shiny gleam of the cold blue light reflecting a choppy hair cut, greasy and dark, donned on the thirteen year old.

Evie looks up.

Her eyes are her mother's. A piercing grayish blue. The same ones that sobbed her heart out due to a fever twelve years ago. The little baby girl who's crying was cut off. Cut off by the same gunshot that has echoed in Nova's head since she was six.

"Nova?"

Nova's world spins slightly but she continues to stare. She feels frozen, her hands possessed when she tightly clutches the warm printed paper.

Evie's eyebrows furrow in apprehension, her hackles raising. She stands up. "What? What is it?!"

Nova can only stare.

A beat passes.

Evie backs up slowly and before Nova can say anything, the girl runs out of the room like a startled deer. Shoving past everyone in her way of the exit door.

Adrian's voiced confusion snaps Nova out of it. He tries to say something to her but she can't articulate what exactly. She runs after the kid.

Nova throws open the door and bursts outside, looking around wildly. Her heart is thumping, ready to burst from her chest. She curses her eyes for blurring her vision with streaming tears. She feels sick.

Steps skidding around the corner alert her attention and she follows in haste.

Her breathing is heavy, and she can see each hot breath she pants dissipate into the cold air.

Curses flood Nova's head when whips around her corner and doesn't see the kid. Where…

Her eyes dart around as she catches her breath. She… she couldn't have imagined Evie… could she… is Maggie still in-

Her eyes finally catch a huddled figure in a more obscure section of the wall. If Nova's thoughts weren't running wild, she probably would have caught the kid immediately.

The wall is uneven, a section jutting out, allowing someone to hide right one of the walls. The girl sits next to the large garbage bin. Honestly, it's a half hearted attempt at hiding. Maybe she didn't even mean to hide.

Just needed to get away.

Nova's shoulders relax and she stays where she stands. Nova keeps her eyes away from the twelve year old girl, willing herself to stop trembling.

Nova takes in a shaky breath and squeezes her eyes shut for a moment. She only needs a moment.

The silence is deafening.

Nova wipes her eyes and clenches the printed test results.

"Is…" She starts and stops, clearing her throat. Come on Nova! Be at least somewhat composed about this! "Is that the bullet… the one that…"

That killed you. Killed her. Almost. It almost killed her, now. It almost killed you, didn't it?

"...how would I know." The twelve year old looked like she meant to spit the sentence out, but it came out more exhausted and dim. "I was a baby." The girl holds the bullet tightly in her palm, curling into herself.

Nova's mouth opens and closes for a moment. Magpie's skin prickles when she stares for too long.

Magpie bites, "what?"

"Look. It- … it's hard to go from believing your baby sister was shot and murdered to finding out she's been alive and… well… you"

Maggie weakens slightly and turns her head away…

"Is it disappointing?"

Nova's features furrow after Maggie's question. She responds, with a question. "Is it disappointing that I'm your sister that disappeared?" Nova's voice is sore. This day has been exhausting for the two of them.

"I… I don't know." Maybe it would have been before today. Or if Maggie was still searching for her sister even when she met Nova. "I just thought… I didn't have anyone left…"

Nova sat in silence for a bit, biting her trembling lip, "... Me too."

Nova, uncomfortable with looking down at Maggie, decides to walk over and sit beside the kid. Not terribly close, but close enough that after a long pause, Maggie sort of leans onto her shoulder.

Nova can barely feel it, like Maggie's hovering just the slightest so that she wasn't actually pressing fully against her.

Ready to flee.

Nova doesn't comment. And Maggie speaks up, in a vulnerable tone unlike any Nova had heard from Maggie before. Even compared to tonight's dizzying developments.

Closer to a whisper.

"...you really thought I was dead?"

"Maggi- Ev- '' she breathes out. "...yeah. When I heard the gunshot and her… your crying stopped…" Nova has to stop herself, she purses her lips. She locks her eyes on the lamp hanging in front of the brick wall parallel to them. Studying how it reflects.

"…so. You didn't mean to leave… me? You… you would have stayed?"

Nova looks over, her eyes are wide and she tells herself to not get emotional. Don't. Her head whispers lingering doubts that… this isn't even real. "Yeah… " Nova feels a little breathless.

It certainly doesn't feel real.

Magpie turns away, staring blankly at the same brick wall. The wall behind them feels the same. She blinks, trying to make sense of it all, "so…"

"So?"

"You were here…the whole time…"

"Yeah… Sorry. …that I couldn't have been before"

"Okay…" Maggie hunches closer into herself. "This sucks."

Nova looks over, "why's that?"

Maggie doesn't answer her question. "Do we know for sure that the blood samples matched? Test it again!" Maggie pulls her sleeve down, holding her pale boney arm out to Nova. Nova blanches.

"Wh-what?! Maggie, you know the equipment they have is the best in the city. It's not a mistake." Nova frowned at her. "Plus, they're saliva tests, not blood."

"Well-! Well… …" Maggie purses her lips, holding them shut as her mind thinks and catches up. Nova's mind still hasn't, truth be told. "Then what are we going to do now,"

Nova takes a deep breath, "I don't know." She fiddles with her bracelet, "...Do you want your records updated?"

Maggie blinks, "You have them?"

Nova weakly smiles in a wistful way, "Yeah. The renegades made sure to file them. Let's just say… they felt guilty" she couldn't help but grunt the last part out.

Maggie blinks and looks up, "Really?"

"Yeah. You, uh, wouldn't remember, but Captain Chromium promised our family's safety and… you know how that played out."

Maggie pauses and then huffs, “That’s not surprising” she pauses again to think. “Does that mean… I have a birth certificate?”

Nova sat up a little straighter, “Yeah. Evie Artino…” She wet her lips and wiped her tear stained cheeks, "...twelve years now. They brought her- you home a few days after. I got to meet you at the hospital already. Along with… our uncle."

Maggie frowned. "Ace Anarchy. Lovely family bonus points I guess…"

"He didn't seem so bad at the time."

"That's how they trick you."

"Yeah,"

Maggie just slightly nudges closer to Nova, "what day?"

"The…" Nova opens her mouth only to close it again. "...well. I guess this means happy birthday." Nova's small smile stretches as far as it could on her face. Not much considering the amount of restraint she had to not cry. "Happy Birthday, Evie Artino."

Nova remembers being a kid and ecstatic for her sister's first birthday. She fully planned out the cake and decorations right alongside her mom who had to remind her they couldn't afford to go all out.

She was sad at the time but she was determined to sing super loud for her sister when the day came. And give her even better gifts when Evie gets older.

After the final gunshot, Nova threw all of those hopes away. Burned them to ashes, really.

Maggie frowns for a moment and looks away for a moment to wipe her eyes with her fist. She turns back and without a word, sits her head back to where it had previously been close to Nova.

Nova feels the weight this time.

"I don't know… I don't know what I want…" Maggie thought she knew at one point. She knew exactly what she wanted. To be a little orphan Annie, found by her full family and welcomed with big open arms. It didn't matter who found her. As long as someone found her and loved her.

But now? She's given up on that fantasy for so long that anything remotely similar is… unfamiliar. She can't navigate this. It still… doesn't feel real.

Nova shrugs and says, "That's fair. I don’t really know either” she chuckles softly “Never thought Evie… you could be alive. Much less a prodigy.”

She straightens slightly, not enough to nudge the girl off her arm though. Maggie's (surprisingly) skittish enough that Nova could even say she's like a bird, quick to fly away.

Nova frowns, “I can only imagine what Ace could have done if he knew…” The arm Nova had subconsciously placed around her sister tightens slightly before she reminds herself it’s okay. He’s dead. He can’t use Maggie like how he used her.

Magpie blinks and cringes, “Working for that crusty old terrorist? Pass.”

“You wouldn’t know any different.”

“I grew up in an orphanage.” Maggie grunts, “They aren’t exactly known for their good conditions. I learned that and didn’t know any different.”

Nova sighs, “I know. Were they… bad to you?”

Maggie shoves a hand into her pocket, fiddling with her bullet. “They weren’t good, let's just just say that…”

Nova frowns, her chest tightens and she has the strangest feeling of… protection come over her?

Would it have been different before she knew who Maggie was? Maybe… maybe not.

"What did they do?"

"What do you think? Everyone was either wasted off their arses or busy setting fire to the nearest building out of some petty revenge…" Maggie pauses, "They… uh… somehow never set fire to the orphanage itself. I bet they wanted to."

"I get that. Honey frequently downed bottles of booze when she could."

"I didn't think the anarchists had the money for that sort of thing"

"We didn't. I ran, er, 'errands' a few times"

Maggie blinks, "Wait, you stole??"

"I was an anarchist, kid."

The kid huffs, "Hypocrite."

Nova chokes, "I- that's different."

"Is it?"

"Yes, actually. I'm an- was. Was an Anarchist." Nova coughs. “You were stealing as a Renegade”

“Same difference.”

“I… Whatever.” Nova rolls her eyes. “Drunk bastards raised you?”

"Meh, they don't deserve that much credit."

"Fair." Nova frowns and looks over at Maggie. She notices Maggie tense and returns to the topic, "Anyway, just say the word and I'll pull the strings I need to get your records fixed."

"...thanks" Maggie murmurs, "Maybe later."

Nova rubs Maggie's arm as she relaxes. Nova's head buzzes with questions but she'll save them for later.

Then. Maggie asks. "canIhugyou?" Rushing out the sentence before she could chicken out. Her cheeks pinken ever so slightly.

Nova blanches, "er, Sur-?" Maggie cuts her off and hugs her tightly, squeezing her for a moment. Nova blinks and slowly puts her arms around the 12 year old too. She doesn't even mind the spot on her clothes getting wet from where Maggie has buried her face.

Nova rubs her back and squeezes back too. She presses her lips thinly together and hugs her close. The kid's body weaves with silent sobs. Nova lets the tears fall from her eyes as she rubs her sister's back.

"Hey" She says softly, "You good?"

Maggie nods lethargically, not moving from the hug.

"Do you still want another test done?" Nova's lip twitches up slightly.

"I… don't want to head back inside yet"

"It's getting late"

Maggie makes a noise, it tells Nova she really doesn't care. At all.

"It's warm inside"

"No" Maggie huffs quietly.

"Okay" Nova chuckles and rubs Maggie's arm, "thennnn…. how about we go somewhere else… warmer preferably."

Maggie pulls away a little bit to look at Nova.

"It's your birthday so, how about we head over to a restaurant or something. Your pick." Nova suggests, "We can hang out there till you're ready to talk to everyone else."

"I thought restaurants close earlier than that"

"Kid, I don't sleep. I know a few All Night Open places if your pick closes too soon."

Maggie pulls away completely and fiddles with her bullet in her pocket. "I… don't mind that." She whips her head up. "You have to promise not to make the waiters sing."

Nova blinks and laughs, snapping her fingers, "Darn, there goes my plans!"

Maggie scowls and squints at her.

She sighs dramatically, "I promise I won't."

"Won't what?"

"I won't make them sing" Nova smiles and stands up, opening her phone and sending a quick text. "Everyone inside can wait a little longer now that they know you're breathing. No promises they won't try to sing to you later."

"They're not allowed."

"I'll tell them that." Nova holds out a hand to Maggie, offering to help her up. "Got any restaurant requests yet? Fast food?"

Maggie hesitates and accepts her hand, "...your favorite. Whatever it is…"

"Okay"

###

Nova sets the finished food dishes to the side of their booth's table. She rubs Maggie's arm as the kid breathes in and out slowly. Her eyelids twitch from dreaming. She puts her coat back on Maggie after it slowly slid down.

Their private booth's light flickers from the fancifully decorated lantern. The warm light thankfully gentle to her, albeit dimming, headache. A waiter had offered to find some ice earlier but she declined politely.

Nova's phone lights up again from another text. She sighs and clicks her phone off. They can wait for a little while, she's already explained enough for now. Though she's surprised by their resilience to check up on them. It's been hours since they left.

Her hand plays with Maggie's hair. Moving it out of the kid's face, not bothering too much with some of the tangles. She does her best to keep her thoughts off of how tonight's events will change everything in the future.

Nova is more than content with staying with her sleeping sister, the one that is unconsciously hugging her. On her birthday.

After texting Adrian, he thankfully understood and avoided texting questions, despite the thousands Nova is sure he has.

Someone knocks on a clipboard outside and the booth's curtain opens a little. The waiter waves apologetically and notices Maggie is sleeping before they speak. The waiter smiles and takes the dirty dishes, handing Nova a to-go box like she requested earlier.

Before the server leaves, they put two plates on the table. Both with a slice of chocolate cake. Nova quietly thanks them and hands them the paid check, along with the generous tip.

After the waiter leaves, Nova carefully packs up the remaining food for leftovers without waking Maggie up. Her phone lights up from another text and she sees the time.

Nova pulls out a candle and a matchbox. She sets them both to the side. She grabs her phone and decides to open up her camera app. She takes a picture.

Showing her, the cake slices, and Evie.

She puts out the match and takes a quick picture. Showing Evie, her, and the candle.

…she stares at it. The candle ended up in the frame. A single candle.

She wishes she could've gotten the number of candles accurate to her sister's age, but this was all the restaurant had left. Plus, 13 candles wouldn't fit in a single slice.

Yet, strangely, it almost feels poetic now. One candle for the first birthday they missed. God, now her thoughts were corny. Must have been the Everharts' influence on her.

But she accepts the cringe. And she thinks about herself 13 years ago. Little six year old Nova, excited for her baby sister's first birthday.

Nova loved the idea of celebrating her sister's birthday the exact time she was born. Her parents, not so much, given Evie was born close to midnight. Nova's still not completely sure where she heard the idea from at six years old.

Nova hums a little, and remembers practicing the song they would sing once it was time to. The one she still hasn't sung in a while. She smiles a little.

"Happy birthday… to you"

Nova grabs the candle and places it in the center of Evie's cake slice as she softly sings the lyric. She lights the match.

"Happy birthday to you"

Evie's eyes blink awake lethargically, shifting a little bit to adjust her position. The girl sleepily looks at Nova as the ex-anarchist lights the birthday candle.

Nova didn't need the waiter's assistance after getting permission earlier. Perks of saving the owner she supposes.

"Happy birthday, dear Evie."

She lets out a breath, saying her sister's name with a smile. Nova tucks a few strands of hair behind Evie's ear. Evie tiredly nuzzles into Nova's arm to get closer, but she does keep an eye on the candle as it flickers. She doesn't look at her, but Nova knows Evie is paying attention.

"Happy Birthday to you"

End notes:

#Be warned I've been editing the ao3 version of this much more than the og document #I'll try to get all corrections checked but I may not catch everything #atm I can't access ao3 on my computer so I can't ctrl a my way out of this one #IT IS DEFINITELY BEST TO READ THIS ON AO3 IF YOU CAN #renegades trilogy #evie artino #maggie white #nova artino #fanfiction #renegades fanfiction #leroy flinn #tamaya rae #adrian everhart

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