#i got this about 5 years ago i think? the cover was intact but weak when i got it

[giverofempathy]

I love beat up, ruined paperbacks so much everyone look at my first copy of the secret history

[lucycola]

The Lone Survivor: Part 5

TOS!Spock x Fem!Reader

Spock saves the reader from an icy starship crash, only to accidentally form a bond with them in the process. They are called to investigate a happening in the morgue, seemingly to face the unseen enemy that caused the crash in the first place.

PART(S) ONE TWO THREE FOUR

WARNINGS: Blood, violence, death, corpses, language, and sexual implications. The body eating gets vivid so if you can’t ride, please don’t. 

I’m so so so so sorry this took so long to come out. I’m not good at actions scenes so I did my best! Part 6 will be out soon. If I missed you on the tagged list I’m so sorry! 

Part 5: Isn’t is lovely? All alone. My heart made of glass, my mind of stone.

Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy tried to shield you from the carnage, but you broke through their human shield to see Commander Craft surveying the morgue with a grim expression.

Only a portion of the crew were brought aboard-the rest were still being recovered by multiple teams below. Along with Craft came other starships to help with the recovery. The tundra below was harsh and made recovery an even more difficult process. Bodies that were still intact were brought aboard the Enterprise to be identified. The others well were left in makeshift morgues below waiting to be put together with their other pieces.

What you hadn’t known before yesterday was that some of your crew had been devoured.

More had been devoured now. Bodies were littered about the morgue, torn from their bags. Some were only half eaten at the limbs and thighs. Heads and torsos were still left in contact where it was less meat and more viscera and soupy organs. The poor morgue workers were left alone.

“Blunt force trauma,” McCoy noted into his recorder. “Why didn’t it eat them?”

“It appears...it only ate the Calvary crew. The ones that had been on ice,” Kirk murmured, fist pressing into his teeth.

“It likes its food served cold,” you said, absent mindedly.

“Fascinating,” Spock said.

You glanced over the logs last input by the crewman, “He listed finding my father. Right here! Doctor L/N. My father’s dead. It must have kept his form.”

“Which must be why the creature could not be detected on our scanners. It perfectly mimicked the dead,” Spock said, bouncing ideas off of you, “It may be possible to feign the absence of a pulse or temperature-or perhaps it can alter its physical state enough to where it appears to be a lack of both.”

“Why did it take so long to recognize Doctor L/N, then? The man’s been dead for years.”

“The bodies were beamed up in droves, Jim,” Bones answered, “Then picked through. After were found the Calvary’s lone survivor we stopped bringing up one by one.”

“How...” Commander Craft said slowly, through ground teeth, “Could you be the only one?”

“I don’t know,” you answered.

“Four hundred men dead and you...still alive having wrecked in an escape pod,” the commander snarled, seemingly refusing to even look at you. He still surveyed the frozen dead.

“What?” you asked in disbelief, “I was in an escape pod?”

“Don’t play cute with me,” he jerked to look at you finally, eyes blazing, “You launched the pod right before the ship went down. My crew scouted out the area you were recovered from. Only a single pod launched with only you in it. Or did your husband not tell you that’s where he found you?”

“Spock, is this true?” Kirk asked.

“It seems I may have accidentally omitted such a finding...as I was not aware of it.”

“You’re a Vulcan-you don’t miss things,” Craft spat.

“One forgets my human half-although I have never found myself so personal with you, Commander, to share such a fact.”

Craft looked to you and back to Spock and then back to you again.

“You were both with one another the whole evening?” Commander Craft asked.

“I had two guards posted out side their quarters,” Kirk said, his temper flaring, “I doubt she’s in cahoots with the damn thing. Spock looked into her mind and it seems she’s nothing but a scapegoat for a monster to get its next meal! Now you can stop targeting my officers and start cooperating.”

You reached for Kirk’s arm desperately, “Captain, I didn’t put myself in that pod. Captain, I didn’t do this-you’ve got to believe me still.”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe. What see is your crew in bits and pieces down here and that thing is going to do the same to my men,” Kirk said, patience wheedling thin. “Bridge, this is the captain. Issue a red alert. Lockdown all decks.”

“But captain,” a woman’s voice replied, “You just issued a command stating that the ship take a landing and to disregard any other orders.”

“Lieutenant, where was I when I gave such orders?”

“On deck three.”

x

The red alert beacon seemed like it would never fade into the background but it was eventually drowned out by the sound of blood rushing in your ears. Kirk had ordered you all to stay together after a trip to the armory and that you were all going to the third deck, whether the commander liked it or not.

The assent to the third deck was painful as the commander and Kirk had it out with one another. The lift felt extremely cramped, but the tension in the air made it worse.

Splitting up the party had perhaps been briefly suggested by your husband to cover more ground, to which the commander argued, “Don’t let Spock take her anywhere. I don’t trust those two!”

“No ones going anywhere unless it’s with me,” Kirk retorted, “Set your phasers to stun. We don’t know who the real crewmen will be apart from this thing. We don’t want to kill anyone else.”

“Then how to do we know you’re not the imposter then? How do we know the real you isn’t already on the third deck or even the bridge by now?” the commander asked, nearly spitting.

“I wouldn’t have asked to land. I’m getting really tired of you,” Kirk said.

The doors to the lift finally opened, showing and eerily empty third deck washed in the red light.

“Daddy?”

A small voice, a woman’s voice in fact so far away you could barely hear it.

The doctor stepped passed you eyes bugging out of his skull, “Didja hear that?” He whirled back around to you, “Did ya’ll hear that?”

“Indeed, doctor,” Spock replied, “It seemed to be coming from that corridor.”

“Daddy!” came the woman’s voice again, now sobbing and strangled.

“Joanna?” the doctor asked, immediately breaking away with full stride.

You seized him around the waist, trying to prevent him from going, “Wait-doctor-!”

“Simon!” came a wavering moan from the adjacent hall.

Commander Craft was less vocal than Bones and bolted immediately with a tailing Kirk who was then seized up by Spock, “Captain, don’t-”

“Daddy!” Joanna’s wail was blood curdling and McCoy broke free from your hold like a frenzied horse. You bolted after him immediately.

“T’hy’la!” Spock began to which in the confusion Kirk said, “Go after them-I’ll get Craft!”

x

Could it possible the creature could multiply? You hadn’t seen it for yourself, but fear blazoned in your body and drove your legs to pump themselves as far as they could go. You were younger than Bones, but your weak leg gave out. Spock was faster than you anticipated and with thundering footfalls you felt him upon you.

He swept you up quickly, “That was foolish.”

“It’ll kill him, Spock!”

“I do not think it can be many places at once or it would have acted upon the crew sooner.”

“It’s just throwing its voice?”

“Possibly.”

He was moving at a light sprint, cradling you up like a baby.

“If it likes its food cold it will go for the bridge. It’ll wreck the ship to the snow below,” you breathed, clutching onto Spock’s uniform.

“I suspect the same thing-” his running faltered a bit, “-it will pursue the captain in attempt to control the ship.”

“Fuck.”

x

“Jim!”

“Sam?”

Long ago had Kirk lost sight of Craft, now lurking beyond every corner. It seemed the third deck was empty and he found out quickly why it was so quiet, save the bells. He came upon the mangled bodies of his crew, not eaten, but twisted like rag dolls in their heaps.

Now it was mimicking his brother. The bastard of a thing-whatever it was.

“Jim, help!”

“I’m coming, Sam!” Kirk called, moving carefully down the hall, phaser in hand. It was leading to him to his own cabin. He knew his brother was dead, but it was almost like he couldn’t stop himself. It was a painful desperation and it burned like fire in his chest.

He opened the door and stepped inside. His room was the same as it had always been. Bed in one area, dress and mirror in the other. His antique weapon collection of old era muskets, sabers, and spears freckled his walls but were hard to be seen as the lights were oddly set dim.

“Captain!” a distressed voice cried from the corner. A female voice.

“Y/N?” Kirk asked, moving closer, “Kitty, is that you?”

The person moved from the corner and into the light and indeed to the captain it appeared to be you. But how? Kirk questioned.

Your face was beaten and your body was bloodied. Your dress which once was white was almost completely dyed scarlet and it was ripped all the way down, revealing your right shoulder and breasts.

Kirk snatched the blanket off the bed and brought it to cover you. “How did you get here so fast? Did it do this to you?”

“It ran as soon as it heard you. It was a man. He looked just like you. I thought it was you,” you cried.

He skimmed the tears off your face with his thumb, “There, there. I’m here now.”

“You’ve got to help me. Spock tricked me, Jim,” you said, moving closer. “I need you.”

x

The third deck was so confusing you (the real you) thought you and Spock would get lost but you honed in on the doctor’s desperate cries of “Joanna!” like breadcrumbs.

You both came to a dead end to see the doctor there, bumbling at the wall, clearly confused.

“Doctor!” you cried in relief.

“I heard Jo one second and the next-I’m at a loss!” he attempted to explain, scratching the back of his head.

The doctor stared at the bare wall as if his daughter was apart of its making. She was there in his ears and the next she wasn’t.

“She was never there,” you sighed, still cradled in Spock’s clutch.

“It was a trick, Doctor,” Spock concurred.

“Lemme down,” you reached for Bones almost desperately.

You felt like you had to touch him to truly know he was alright. His face looked alright as well as the rest of his body, but his eyes were still large with bewilderment and grief. Joanna had not been there, but she had sounded so real and seemed to be in so much pain as the ghost of your own father had been.

“Doctor, are you well enough to care for my wife? It seems she has reinjured her leg to some extent,” Spock inquired, allowing you to bear weight on your good limb.

Bones reached for you immediately and then asked Spock, “Where the hell are you going?”

“I must relocate the captain and Commander Craft for their safety,” Spock explained, already having turned promptly to leave.

He broke out into another sprint, which looked faster than it had while you were being carried. Vulcans were faster, stronger than humans naturally, it seemed.

Bones fussed over you and you shushed him, “It’s just a limp-I’m fine-no, we are not going to sickbay!”

“Where do you suggest we go then? We might as well be sitting ducks.”

“We’re going to catch up with, Spock,” you said in a definite tone.

“In your condition and mine? it’ll take this old man two weeks to get you there,” he said, shaking his head.

“Hey,” you grinned, “It’s not the first time you’ve walked a pretty girl down the aisle.”

Bones face heated up with a large grin.

x

The door shifted open and Spock was greeted with the sight of his nude wife fondling his captain. Except you were had been left in Bones’ care behind him. Something white hot and broiling ignited in his very being.

You could feel it from down the hall.

He’s mad-why is he so mad? you questioned internally, limping as fast as you could.

Kirk fired his phaser immediately into the creature’s belly, after letting it draw itself close. The mirror version of you somehow enclosed its hand around the firing phaser, crushing it completely.

Kirk shook his hand free, screaming. The creature seized Kirk by the shoulders and flung him effortlessly into the wall. He hit part of his antique weapon collection, spears and swords clattering to the ground with him.

“Captain-!”

“I’m alright.”

The imposter whirled around and grinned like a Cheshire, “Well the infamous Mister Spock! I can read the crew’s thoughts y’know. Plenty of gals seem to like you. But you only like this one, don’t you?”

The imposter ran her hand down her naked form, taunting him.

“Too bad your captain got the upper hand on your wife first. Didn’t even stop himself when given the opportunity.”

“That’s a lie, Spock,” Kirk choked.

Spock shot at the creature, phaser still set the stun. The creature was knocked back only a little, seemingly unfazed. Spock shot multiple times only with the same result.

“I like it rough,” the creature laughed, “Keep on.”

“Why did you place Lieutenant Y/L/N in the escape pod when you could have devoured her?” Spock inquired.

“I seek the weakest link of all that visit my land. I seek their fears, their sorrows and hers was most adequate for my use,” it said, “The other ships that follow after every crash always tend to stay longer when there’s someone to blame. Everyone likes someone to blame.”

“How many other starships have you sabotaged?” Kirk asked, moving slowly about the weapons on the floor.

“Enough to feed me my due.”

Kirk launched one of the old spears at the imposter and it grazed its belly, spurting purple blood.

“Run, Captain!” Spock ordered.

The creature seized the spear and thrust it a Kirk as he ran to the door. Spock was faster and quickly moved in front of Kirk, catching the spear deafly with one hand. The blade was merely inches from his nose. The phaser clattered to the ground.

“Fascinating,” the creature said mockingly and changed it form from you to Spock himself.

x

Eventually you and Bones were able follow the trail of downed crewman to the captain’s cabin. Upon opening the door you were gifted with the sight of two of your husbands wrestling with one other over some ancient spear.

Where the hell did that thing come from?

Long forgone on the floor was Spock’s phaser and you knelt to grab it.

“Jim!” Bones exclaimed.

Kirk was once again a heap on the floor, already having been assaulted twice by the imposter and saved by Spock. He was bleeding from his right flank.

Bones quickly moved to him, dragging you long with him.

“We’ve got--got to kill it--” Kirk stuttered, staggering upward. You caught him under the arm, supporting him. “The phaser doesn’t seem to work on stun. You have to set it to kill.”

Bones caught the other, “But how can we? Which one is it?”

You shakenly pointed the phaser even though it seemed it had no effect.

“Alright you two!” Kirk yelled, ‘Stop or we’ll be forced to shoot the both of you!”

The wrestling came to a still and the spear was tossed aside, rolling to your feet.

They were identical, completely. Fuck.

“T’hy’la, it is I,” said the one on the left.

“No, that is incorrect,” said the one on the left.

Down to the nose, the hair, the faint hue of green in their cheeks and lips. The familiar warmth pulled you at the back of your mind.

“Kitty, what are you doing?” Kirk began.

You moved forward, with two fingers extended, “Husband, attend.”

The one of the left immediately came forward and you felt the warmth surge closer at is it, enveloping your mind as your fingers touched.

“Fools!”

The one of the right’s entire mouth opened up as if it was a venous fly trap, launching itself at you and Spock. You fired the phaser, blasting a hole on its left side but it still came.

Kirk was faster on the draw, and launched the spear into the creature’s mouth, splattering purple liquid everywhere. Its lifeless body hit the ground with a wet thud.

The spear had ripped through its body and pierced itself into the wall behind it.

“Good shot, captain,” Spock said. “And you as well, wife.”

“Second time’s the charm,” Kirk said, holding his injured side.

You let out a dry sob, mixed in with a laugh. Bones patted your shoulder, letting out a large sigh.

PART SIX

tagged: @groovyfluxie @dontgivedeath @lumar014 @pringtella @moonchildlonan @superninjapervert420 @love-wanderlust15 @ischysiaclark@imyourspacegirlfriend @hiddlestonme @fandoms4ever97 @mywellspringoflife @rebelchild93 @nilalunis16

[aurora-the-kunoichi]

Aftermath Part Two

Here is part two of my apocalyptic TMNT story Aftermath

Read full story here

Raphael and Reader

The next morning came quickly bringing the morning sun streaming though the blinds. After the long drive sleep had come rather quickly but you had woken up at least 4 times thinking you heard voices. It had to have been your head playing games again, like it always did. God someone to talk to would be nice.

A modest breakfast was made and consumed allowing you to get out deeper into the city earlier than later. You wanted to get a few miles covered before lunch with a quick trip back to the camper with your goodies then a later afternoon trip before you settled in for the night. You never wanted to be out past dark in the city nor more than 5 miles from home base, just in case.

The first few houses gave very little to your supply cart, a few canned goods, a small supply of liquor and an interesting medical book that wasn’t in your library already. But off in the distance on top of a 4 story apartment building shined a beacon of hope. The sun hit it just right, a rectangle mirror of solar energy, oh happy day! Already this trip was proving to be worth it, as long as the panel wasn’t damaged.

As your reinforced cart bumped and thrashed along over the uneven pavement you hurried your pace, if you were lucky you could get it unhooked and off the roof before lunch.

The door to the building was already toppled over, the earth’s moister taking care of the unmaintained door hinges. You took extra care climbing over the rotting wood door making a mental note to try and remove the old intricate door handle before you left, the carved metal was exquisite.

Inside was a complete mess, the roof had failed years ago and there was a hole eaten away by the elements from the roof to the main floor. Thankfully the decomposing floors looked to be far enough away to keep the integrity of the stairs intact….mostly. You wanted…no needed that panel and by god you weren’t going to let a little rotting wood keep you from the very thing you came to New York for.

Each step you took up those steps was taken with extra care. Each foot set down adding pressure gradually listening for creaks and groans from the wood. The first three flights gave no trouble but the fourth gave some protest to the added weight. Thankfully nothing crumbled beneath you and you reached your destination. The roof access door was rusty and gave some resistance but a few shoulder slams broke the rust sediment allowing you access to your prize.

There it sat, a fully functioning (but dirty as fuck) solar panel ripe for the picking. Kneeing down to accesses how the panel was connected you pulled your tools out and got to work.

A few minutes into the process your heart skipped a beat hearing sounds that you hadn’t expected. The rusty door to the roof creaked open and the sound of shoes grinding down gravel into the roofs surface brought everything rushing to the present. You were no longer alone, ten years of solitude and now you weren’t so sure you were ready for company.

“Hey there beautiful, whatcha doing?” a not so pleasing voice crooned just behind you.

Yep not ready at all.

With a shift of your hips your hand slid down your calf resting on the hilt of your hidden blade and your other clutched your wrench just a little tighter. Slowly you rose from your knees turning to view your first look of a human in 10 years, keeping your blade to your back.

Five, there were five dirty gross looking men standing at your only exit off this building, and the way they were eyeing you up didn’t bode well for a peaceful interaction.

“We haven’t seen you around here before? We know every body who walks these streets. It’s always nice meeting new people in the area, you know, get to know them.” The man with a beard dressed in dirty cargo pants and a black t-shirt coed stepping closer. You watched his smile widen revealing a brown rotting set of teeth. Thankfully he was far enough away for now to keep the smell at bay.

“Donavan is really gonna like her.” One sneered under his breath to his friend unaware that you hadn’t been accustom to other people talking for quite awhile so his subdued speech came in loud and clear to you.

The sudden need to leave rose rapidly but you were unsure if you could take all 5 of them, maybe two……maybe. It had been a while since you had spared with another person so you could only guess your hand to hand skills were a bit rusty.

The one with the beard broke you from your thoughts and you stepped back unaware he had moved closer…..shit.

“What do you need the panel for sweetheart? Ain’t no one used that kind of technology since the virus wiped out most of the planet?” his eyes were soft but his body language was stiff and on edge, he was getting ready to pounce.

“A table.” You blurted out quickly. “I’m gonna make a table out of it. Wood rots, glass doesn’t, plus I like the design.” The lie was weak but you put on your best ‘I have no idea what’s going on’ smile and shifted your body in a defensive crouch.

“Hey, I know it can be lonely out here, why don’t you come back with us. We got food, a safe place to sleep and people starting over in life. We have our own little society, where people live in harmony.” His hand came out reaching for yours, fingers curling for contact.

“I appreciate the offer fellas, I really do, but I think I’m good on my own. I’m just gonna take my new table top and head back home. I’m fine though guys, you can head back to your new society.”

All at once all five moved, encircling you, eyes dark with dubious intent. “You see honey, we have to insist, you see, this is end times and its our duty to replenish the human race. We need more woman in our ranks, it’s your job as a woman to carry our children. And you’re a very pretty little lady and Donavan likes them pretty. We’ll get a handsome reward for handing you over.”

Ice water flooded your veins, fucking great, they wanted you for breeding? Fucking breeding?! Your mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, what do you say to that? ‘Sorry fellas I’m not interested in your dirty cocks and baring your bastard children’? Would that work? Probably not…

Before you could retort, two of them moved, faster than you anticipated. You were able to dodge the first assailant and the second caught you around the waist and took you down with an angry huff.

You quickly rolled backwards with the momentum extricating yourself from his grimy hands and rolled back to your feet. Hands up you readied for another attack and it came with a howling roar.

The bearded man came next swinging wildly like an untrained baboon. You spun on your feel sending the back of your foot into the side of his cranium getting an undignified squeak from the man. The neanderthal of a man went down like a sack of potatoes and the rest of his crew were unimpressed by your actions.

“Brad! You fucking bitch!”

Adjusting your footing you turned to the angry mob and spat on their comrades unconscious body, “Not so fun when your prey can fight back is it?” You hissed angrily keeping each one in your sights. “You make me sick, abducting woman for your pleasures against their will. Is this what is left of the human race? Rapists? I want no part of your new society!”

“Grab her! Donavan will enjoy breaking this one. He likes them feisty.”

They came again but your growing anger made you more focused. The first one came easy, your hand came out swiping the business end of your blade across the mans cheek distracting him with pain. Your foot slamming down on his knee sent him howling to the ground next while his second friend came at you screaming like a god damn banshee.

“Dude what is your problem?” He was easy to subdue, flailing about like an octopus on crack. You ducked as he roared over you landing on his face in the gravel. While he rolled to his back a quick punch to his temple sent him directly to dream land. Three down, two to go, go you!

The last two were not as easy to outwit unfortunately. One moved in front and the other moved to the back, both coming at you at the same time. The first few minutes of the struggle were in your favor but it had been years since you had, had this much physical activity so you weren’t fairing so well as the fight continued.

Shit.

One sloppy move and you were down, both males covering your body with theirs pressing you face first painfully into the gravel. One of them grabbed your hand and slammed it it repeatedly into the ground making you lose grip on your knife sending it flying a few feet in front of you. The wrench was next.

“We got you now you little cunt.” One of them growled into your ear shifting this body in between your thighs. “Maybe I’ll take the first ride as my payment?” His hips began to gyrate into your backside making you uncomfortably aware of his growing excitement.

“Get off of me you fuckers!” This couldn’t be how it ends, your freedom lost over your need to better your life. Your first interaction with humans in 10 years and you were about to be raped? Enslaved to pop out baby after baby?

Then the atmosphere changed on the roof. Four heavy thuds were heard behind you stilling the men on top of you.

“I don’t think she likes to be touched fellas, maybe you should let the pretty lady go.” A deep voice growled just behind you, a thick Brooklyn accent on the tales of his words.

One man got to his feet and stopped mid sentence, “And what are you gonna do abo……..fuuuuccck.”

“What is it Chet?” The man still pinning your down squeaked at his partners sudden loss of words.

“It’s them.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.”

“Yep.”

All of a sudden the weight was gone and you took the opportunity to get to your feet. You came face to face with the terrified gazes of your final two assailants trembling in fear.

Ever so slowly you turned around and every ounce of breath in your lungs came out all at once in a excited wheeze. There before you stood four gigantic turtles standing on two legs and tree trucks for god damn arms. Each one dressed in black pants with different attire adorning their upper bodies. Wrapped around each of his their bald crowns sat different colored bandanas and each held what looked like ancient Japanese ninja weapons.

They must have been seven feet tall weighing nearly 400 pound each. They were intimating as hell but something about them sent a warm familiar rush of heat throughout your body. Especially the big red one that was currently eyeing you up. He was the biggest of the four and the swing of his hips as he neared made your mouth dry.

Out of habit you took a few steps back as he advanced still unsure of the new additions intentions. You were beyond intrigued but your track record for the day wasn’t the greatest.

“Hey, hey wait stop moving.” He called reaching out but it was too late. The ground beneath you gave way sending your body hurtling to the ground floor crashing against the rotting floor boards and trusses as you fell.

As the floor came rushing up to meet you, you saw the red turtle come down after you trying desperately to stop your descent. But his efforts were for not as you hit the ground succumbing to the darkness.

Every once in a while you would hear voices as you rolled in and out of consciousness. Soft but unknown voices floating over you.

“Is she gonna be alright Don”

“She should be, she has a concussion and a sprained elbow. God knows she should be dead, but thank the gods for those other floors slowing her fall. It could have been a lot worse.”

You tried to open you eyes but the pull of sleep was too great but before it took you honey colored eyes and red engulfed your vision before the darkness came claiming you.

@blossom-skies

[split-n-splice]

A chapter in which Drakken is a purveyor of human suffering and Shego is a bad apple. owo

[Chapter Guide]

5. Enabler – 2

Shego couldn’t help scrutinizing the twitchy man as he pulled out a small leather-bound notebook from under his newspaper and flipped it open to a blank page. He held out an expectant hand, but she just stared at it suspiciously, her glower asking a question she didn’t have to say out loud, which he read even with his dorky magnifying goggles on.

“You’re getting an upgrade,” he claimed. It did little to alleviate her suspicions.

She was reluctant to humor him, but offered up a single glove nonetheless and watched him carefully. The curious man examined the meager article of clothing, looking it over inside and out. He hem-hawed.

From a distance, there was nothing unusual about her gloves – they were just gloves. She’d been heckled by villains before that they looked like dishwashing gloves. Shego knew her own gear well though, and knew they were more than what met the eye, as Dr. Drakken was surely finding out now as he studied the clusters of pin-holes dotting the hefty fabric, the palms and fingers laced with tiny eyelets. At a glance, the pattern might appear to be for grip, but Drakken wasn’t so quick to dismiss them.

“These holes, they’re for…breathability?” he guessed.

“Doy,” was as eloquent a confirmation as he was going to get. He was too distracted to snip at her for the attitude though, and her guard slowly lowered as she studied him. The thought of an upgrade was both tempting and laughable, but she wasn’t laughing. “The gloves hold me back. I don’t even know why I bother with them,” she admitted.

Demonstrating on impulse, she held both hands over the countertop, palm up, and watched as Dr. Drakken flinched back when they flared with her bubbling green plasma. The glow radiating from her covered hand was noticeably dampened, physically rather than drug-induced, by restricting the amount that could escape.

She wasn’t proud as she explained, “GJ designed them to keep me from going overboard on the firepower. I got carried away sometimes. So they did everything they could to keep me dialed back without making me useless to them.” She shrugged meekly. Even without full power, she could serve a hell of a sucker punch and leave second-degree burns, though the whole point of being a hero was to help more than harm.

“I see,” muttered Drakken.

He relaxed when she snuffed out her glow and pulled her hands out of sight behind the counter, tucked safely between her knees.

The blue man began jotting down notes on the pad. “Your hands still need protection though, so an upgrade is in order. These are getting worn out anyway.” He tapped his pen on his chin, humming. “Subduing you won’t do. I’d rather amplify this glow of yours if possible.” When he caught a glimpse of her piqued interest, he smirked. “I’m sure I can find something to conduct it.”

Fixing her face with mask of indifference, she refused comment. As the blue man sketched and scribbled nonsense across two pages of his notebook, Shego began to shift uncomfortably across from him. She sipped her soda, unsure if she was free to go yet. After a couple minutes, she was about to slip off the barstool and leave him with the glove, but he spoke up again.

“Can you produce this energy from anywhere else?” he wondered without lifting his attention from the notebook.

That was an invasive question if she’d ever heard one.

Shego narrowed her eyes at him, leery once more. The deep-rooted fear of becoming a lab rat and subjected to studies reared its ugly head, but she beat it back. This guy had been bullied out of the driver’s seat earlier and could be pressured doing her bidding with stupid threats like breaking the seals on his hoard of pickles if he didn’t drive her to Cow-n-Chow. So if he thought he could turn her into a test subject, he had another thing coming.

In any case, if she was hoping to make anything of this stint with the rogue doctor, then complying could work in her favor. Especially if he was willing to engineer custom gear for her.

She swore she’d spat fire at him before, a long time ago, but she couldn’t be sure. She was tempted to try coughing up plasma-laced phlegm to see if that would jog his memory or at least answer his question, but she resisted. If nothing else, the spoken truth would have to serve as a warning that her fists weren’t her only weapons.

“I can,” she said vaguely, and held out her bare hand again to show him her palm, sans glow. “My hands are just convenient.” Channeling the energy to her hands was second nature to her now, and over the years they had become the only area completely desensitized to the fire aspects. Although she still had all her nerves intact, and she still felt it when he reached out for her hand. She fought the impulse to jerk it back as she let him have a closer look, unsure what he expected to find.

His mouth twisted into a frown as he inspected her smooth fingertips and palms, much more interested in the faint old scars and lack of identifying fingerprints than her freshly-painted nails. “Does it hurt?” he ventured. “The glow, I mean.”

She was becoming increasingly aware how rough his hands really were in comparison.

Shego shrugged. “Used to. Now it kinda just tingles. But I mean, the first time it happened – that was yow.” She laughed a little nervously at the recollection of blacking out from searing pain and the bandages she’d worn for some time afterwards. Discovering her power in a hospital ward in Global Justice’s custody wasn’t a fond childhood memory. “It took time for my body to adapt, but I got used to it.”

The rogue doctor gave another thoughtful hum. “How did you even acquire this glow?” he asked, dumbfounded.

Her smile was brittle and crumbled away even as she quipped, “Y’know, you’d know all of this if you’d stopped to read my file.” She otherwise refused to answer.

The geeky man must have realized by now that she wasn’t so open to talking about it, because he mumbled a sheepish apology for prying and released her hand he’d probably only just realized as well that he’d hung onto for way too long. He quickly shifted his attention away in favor of her glove and the notebook.

It was another moment before Shego spoke again. “So, you’re gonna upgrade my gloves?” she asked carefully, and when he nodded, she willingly forfeited the other. Folding her arms over the counter, she leaned forward and chewed on her lip as she watched him compare them briefly for any differences beyond color.

Shego couldn’t help smirking. “You could have just asked for the specs,” she snickered lightly, and tapped on the notebook where he was brainstorming some gibberish in the tiny illegible scrawl of a doctor. She hummed wistfully after another moment, musing, “I used to think it would be totally rad to have, like…claws. But it didn’t fly with big brother.”

“Claws,” Drakken echoed in disbelief, looking back up at her finally. “Isn’t that…I don’t know, a little tacky?”

“Says you. Those goggles and that polo shirt? Yeesh.”

Drakken grunted. His face was tinged with a funny shade of purple. “You want claws, I’ll make you claws,” he sighed agreeably.

“Seriously?” She considered telling him it was a joke, but was curious now if he’d deliver. A smirk quirked her lips. The whole thing was probably a huge waste of his time, but it might be fun to see how much of his time she could waste.

“Sure,” he groaned, and removed the magnifying goggles to rub his eyes and push his usual glasses back on.

As the man squinted down at his notebook, Shego caught herself staring, inwardly musing that he might be more intimidating without his nerdy spectacles – but that was only logical. The small accessory advertised a form of weakness, however trivial and necessary, which wasn’t conducive to aspirations of being feared and respected. “You should lose the glasses,” she announced flippantly, and acted before she could think twice about snatching them off his face.

“Excuse you!” he barked, reaching across the counter for them, but she held them out of range. “I need those. They aren’t a toy.”

“I’m tellin’ ya,” she twittered as she inspected the snatched eyeglasses and then him. “You’d look badass without them. It shows off your scar better.” As she slipped them on herself, she wondered inwardly if it was the same warped and clouded vision he experienced without them. She peeked over the rim at him squinting peevishly at her.

“I’d say you look cute, but I can’t be sure,” retorted Dr. Drakken dryly, as if it were meant to be offensive. “Unfortunately, I still need them, so fork them over.” He held out a hand, fingers beckoning for the return of his glasses.

She obliged reluctantly, and he finished a couple more notes before peering back up at her, his inquiring gaze lingering a little too long for comfort while she sipped on root beer. “How long have you been like this, anyway? How did it happen?” he wondered, though it felt more like idle chitchat now. She almost answered until he added, “Team Go sprang up just a few years ago and it was short lived, but—”

Guard shooting back up, Shego snatched her gloves back and fixed the startled man in a heated glare. “Where you snooping?” she accused, paranoia rising.

“Easy, Shego, easy. I wasn’t snooping,” Dr. Drakken defended calmly, hands up in peace. “It was on the news. I’m entitled to watch the news.”

It took a long moment balancing on the precipice of distrust before she backed away from that ledge. He had a point there. She couldn’t hold it against him, no matter how much she detested the thought of him knowing anymore about her than she was willing to share herself. It was information the general populace of Go City already knew anyway.

Shego set the gloves back down and breathed deep, but still didn’t answer his question.

Thankfully, Dr. Drakken didn’t press it. “I was only making small talk,” he muttered, and it seemed he was ready to drop the subject altogether now because he was tucking his notebook into the pocket of his trousers and circling around the kitchen island to rummage around in the freezer.

Shego relaxed slightly, sitting back down and swiveling in her barstool to watch his back and sip her soda as the quiet blue man tasked himself with preparing a TV dinner. Looking to the favored frying pan gathering dust up on the wall with all the others, she wondered when he’d last cooked a real meal for himself. Not that she was about to do it for him.

Watching him ignore her, she considered a bargain long and hard before she finally spoke up again. “I’ll tell you,” she called over. It wasn’t like that information hadn’t already been leaked anyway. Nonetheless, Drakken glanced over his shoulder inquisitively. “If you tell me what your deal is with the all the blue.” And if he tried to tell her it was because he had the blues, so help him, she might just hit him with plasma.

He turned to face her fully and just stared curiously for a moment. “You want to know why I’m blue?” he asked dumbly, as if no one had ever asked the obvious before.

She gave a halfhearted shrug in confirmation.

The man leaned back on the counter and frowned, rubbing his neck as if the subject was a sore spot, but he chewed it over and took a deep breath before giving her the gist of it. “Classic tale of an experiment gone wrong,” he said with a moody huff. “It wasn’t even mine. I was an intern at a research lab owned by some big shot, Gemini. Some damn top-secret experiment malfunctioned, I got caught in the crossfire, and there you have it. I’ve been reduced to just the blue freak ever since.”

“Gemini?” Shego uttered, blinking at him. Hearing that familiar name shouldn’t have been so surprising. Still, it was unexpected. She tilted her head questioningly. “Did he have a personal vendetta against the director of Global Justice?”

“Bingo.” He shot a finger gun at her. “How many Gemini do you think there are?”

Shego eyed him suspiciously for another moment, until the man began to shift uncomfortably. She racked her brains, connecting the dots, and took a wild guess as to the picture it formed. “You don’t happen to have superstrength, do you?” she asked with a small incredulous laugh, but Dr. Drakken only gave her a funny look. She took that as a negative. “Do you know what he was trying to do?”

The man’s brow furrowed at her, as if he was the one ill at ease now. Good. “Not a clue,” he said slowly. “It wasn’t my post. Why?”

She only smirked and waved dismissively. “Nothing.” She didn’t need any more details anyway to convince her that the whacked-out twin brother of Global Justice’s head honcho had been trying to recreate Team Go. Had Gemini ever succeeded, she was sure she’d have known about it.

Dr. Drakken made a pleading sort of whine and tapped a foot irritably, and he didn’t need words to convey he was displeased that she clearly knew something about his condition that he didn’t.

She denied an explanation though, instead scoffing to herself and shaking her head in amazement. She might share her suspicions later, if she was feeling nice. “Small world, that’s all,” she mumbled.

“Indeed,” grumbled Dr. Drakken. He spun around and slumped over the counter to watch the microwave, as if there was really something of interest was going on in there. “Your turn, Shego.”

But Shego smirked wryly, leaning back on the counter and crossing her legs, giving her foot a bounce. “I said I’d tell you. I never said when I’d tell you,” she teased.

Drakken groaned. “Of course.” He hung his weary head, though it was counterproductive in trying to rake his hair back as he ran his hand through it. He waved dismissively at her, ordering, “Be gone, then. Dementor is bound to want payback, so go watch the surveillance or something.”

“Aye-aye, captain,” she said, hopping off her barstool and leaving her gloves and a smashed soda can behind. She had more engaging company to track down.

Shego had to mindfully keep her pace in check until she was out of Dr. Drakken’s personal living quarters, and from there she all but skipped through his workshop and down the twisting flight of stairs. She didn’t even pause to check the surveillance feed, taking the shortcut through the office to hit up the rec room in henchmen’s forbidden domain.

She’d found a routine over the course of the first week, the scenario quickly becoming part of her daily ritual. Dr. Drakken would unwittingly put her on surveillance watch, and while he was busy tinkering in his lab or vanished into the depths of the lair, Shego might order some pushover henchman to the CCTV desk in her place while she occupied herself with the rest.

They were all threatened to keep her prohibited visits on the down low, though she sensed threats of knuckle sandwiches weren’t what kept them quiet. More likely, the thugs just didn’t want her ban being reinforced. She was fine with that, to an extent.

It was unfortunate she wouldn’t have the enjoyment of breaking the tantalizing rule of don’t mingle with the henchmen for much longer. By day, she made it her business in the lab to annoy Dr. Drakken at regular intervals with trivial things like mocking how creepily engrossed he’d become over a stupid pair of gloves, or by refusing to budge from his cushioned computer chair when she was ordered to come test the effectiveness of new adjustments. He would be sick of her by evening and tell her off, usually shooing her down to the office, when she could slack off and go join the guys.

Eventually, she was caught red-handed.

++X++

The special order had been a welcomed distraction from the monotony of constructing power staves of a short life expectancy and shorter warranty for a villainous client. After several days of several scrapped prototypes to give him grief, Dr. Drakken at last finalized what he hoped would the last set of custom gloves he slaved over for a while.

Just as he applied the finishing touches, something missing began to nag at him. He poured over a mental checklist and looked over the new-and-improved gear, but that wasn’t it.

He was ready to proudly present the polished product of his handiwork when he discovered he was alone.

Which shouldn’t have been so damn disheartening.

Over the past couple weeks, he’d begun to get used to not being the only soul in the lab, whether he liked it or not. If it weren’t for the aloof subordinate’s nitpicking or devotion to being a nuisance, he might say he enjoyed the company, even if she wasn’t much for conversation. There was something relieving about having someone other than himself to divulge his process to at least, even if it did go in one ear and out the other with an occasional scoff or snarky remark he had to decipher as feedback.

So when Drakken turned around to call for her, the name died on the way out as he scanned the hollow cavern of his lab. He pulled back his sleeve to check his watch, brow furrowing. It wasn’t even noon yet, and he couldn’t recall dismissing her. The subordinate wasn’t duty-bound to stay by his side though, so he shook off the undue disappointment.

He checked his living quarters, expecting to find her scrounging up a lunch in his kitchen or lounging on his couch watching television. When he didn’t find her there, he prowled across the lair to her bedroom and rapped on the door, ready snip at her if he found she was napping, but he received no response. Boss or not, he grudgingly accepted the potential for repercussion if he were to invade the volatile woman’s privacy by simply opening her door to steal a peek.

His next course of action was to stalk down the hall and to his office to scan the surveillance feed in hopes of pinpointing where the elusive woman had strayed off to.

When he did find her, he was none too pleased with where.

Skipping the intercom, he set off at once, winding deep into the lair, to order her back to the lab in person. It was good to show his face to rest of his subordinates once in a while anyway – to at least remind them who the boss was around here.

Drakken stepped out on the catwalk that ran through a spacious man-made cavern serving as the gym, and glared harshly down at the scene below him. His frown quickly dissolved as he stared, puzzled.

For a minute, Dr. Drakken wasn’t sure if he was watching interpretive dance or a genuine quarrel among the four involved below. The swings and kicks of the henchmen held a very real force behind them, but the former superhero ducked and dodged with fluid movements and feline grace. She must have had the situation under control, because when she held up her hands to signal for a timeout, the men froze and allowed her to go along physically manipulating stances and chiding them before they resumed at her goading – or order? – to come at her like they meant it.

By the bruises and welts blemishing their faces, Drakken surmised that this wasn’t the first time they’d had such a session, but what began as a sparring exercise escalated as the men became increasingly frustrated with the newcomer continuously besting them. Drakken watched as their demeanor began to slowly change as their tempers rose, and he gripped the guard rail as he waited with baited breath for some sign it was time to intervene.

In a maneuver that made Drakken wince, he watched as Shego dove at one goon and flipped him over, pulling a backbend to slam the brute on his head. She proceeded to bounce away in time to evade another henchman charging at her with his fists flying. She laughed meanly as he stumbled over his fallen comrade, and she turned to try catching the third to attempt the move again, perhaps to test if the bumbling idiots would fall for the same trick twice. This one had wizened up and avoided her hold, but while she was dodging his punches and kicks, she managed to slip behind him, and even Drakken was surprised when she seized him by his belt and wife-beater, hoisting the thug clear over her head to toss him into another.

Even without her glow to aid her, she was stronger than she looked. She must have a touch of superhuman strength too, Drakken decided as he studied the woman jeering as his men, coaxing them onto their feet to attack her again. The sparring carried on for a few more minutes, the newcomer smiling and laughing in delight every time she got the better of the henchmen she toyed with.

Shego was rather enjoying herself. The henchmen, not so much.

And strange as it was, Drakken might have been enjoying it a little bit too, because he folded his arms on the rail to loiter, watching the show with profound interest. True, there was some shame seeing his men defeated with such ease, but he still smirked at the flicker of glee to have someone better than them on his team.

Some minutes later, two men still left standing managed to get the best of her. While one distracted her, the other swept a leg under her heels from behind, her reaction time just an instant too slow. As she fell back with a startled yelp, the men closed in, one of them snatching her arms so she couldn’t catch herself and bounce back up, and the other grappled for her ankles. Her smile was replaced with a disgusted sneer. Shego’s amusement had vanished as they fought to pin her down while she writhed and gnashed her teeth at them as she swore orders to let her go.

One henchman on the sideline nursing a black eye shouted at the active players to watch out for her hands, but the fools didn’t heed his warning as they scrapped with her on the floor.

Drakken couldn’t believe their impudence as the henchmen’s objective became crystal clear. One kept a secure grip on her wrists and the other fought past her thrashing legs to her belt. She was clearly not enjoying the roughhousing anymore as she spat a final warning at them to back off or else. Orbs of plasma were charging up in her hands when Drakken whistled sharply for attention.

Everything halted, if only for a split second.

The startled men released her and backed off abruptly when they finally realized they were being watched, and Shego hastily leapt to her feet, stumbling as she whirled on the men to discharge her plasma blasts at them as they scrambled out of the way. By the shouts of alarm, the two oafs having a go at her hadn’t known about her superhuman gifts.

The livid young woman turned her back to all, her head down and mane of hair sparing her from having to look at anyone for a moment while she fixed her belt and checked her zippers. She took a moment to calm own, heaving and visibly reigning herself in as she flexed her fingers, glow flickering erratically until it ceased.

She didn’t thank Dr. Drakken for the intervention, oh no. Instead she glared at him up on the bridge above, her lips pulled back over her teeth in displeasure as if he were the one in the wrong here. “I didn’t need you calling off your dogs!” she snapped indignantly up at him. She spat in their direction for good measure as she retreated up the staircase to join him, the steel rattling with each hasty stomp.

“Oh, I know you could destroy them if you wanted,” Dr. Drakken said airily, hoping to let it go for the moment. Though it did give him an idea for cruel and unusual punishment. He glared down to the henchmen returning to their exercises, but they didn’t look terribly shamefaced for attempting to assault the new recruit. Something about the grins the two instigators exchanged was enough for Drakken to go with his gut and write them off.

“Don’t disappear on me,” Drakken called to the newcomer’s back as she made for the exit ahead of him. “I need you in the lab.”

“Whatever,” she snorted.

Drakken almost snipped at her to watch her tone when speaking to him, but thought better of it.

On the way back to the upper level, the woman slowed her stomp. She combed her fingers through her hair and smoothed down her uniform, and double-checked her belt to be sure everything was in perfect order. Finally she threw a glare over to Dr. Drakken as they entered his office, and he knew the elephant in the room hadn’t disappeared just because they’d left the henchmen back in the gym.

“Here’s the deal, Doc,” she ground out bitterly. “If you wanna keep me around, you’ll get rid of them.”

He blinked over at the tense scowling woman stalking alongside him. He might have already planned their dismissal on impulse, but the subordinate’s command still surprised him and elicited an obstinate reaction. “What makes you think you’re more valuable than them?” he retorted in reflex, not especially happy to be bossed around to such degree.

Shego scoffed. “Because they’re a bunch of Henchschool dropouts and have to tag team for more than an hour just to wear me out enough to knock me down,” she answered, following him up the stairwell. “I’m not working with sex offenders that are gonna try pulling some sleazy shit on me. That goes for you too.”

“Understandable,” Drakken grudgingly grumbled, and he swore he could feel the daggers gouging into the back of his head. He’d have to brush up on everyone’s records. “Whatever happened to them being a bunch of pansies? I thought you wanted to hang around hardened criminals and lowlifes.” If it had been an attempt to lighten the mood, he’d failed miserably, quickly realizing she didn’t find his teasing humorous when he peeked back.

The woman snorted again and sneered, “Not the kind that are gonna turn on me like animals.”

He shook his head, grimacing. “It comes with the territory, Shego. If you had stayed away from my men like you’ve been told, they wouldn’t be a problem,” he argued weakly, but suddenly she was a step above him, looking down at him as she poked him hard in the chest, her glare burning into him. She could push him down the stairwell to his demise if she wished. It was pretty steep, and he was suddenly all too aware he’d never had a handrail installed.

“It’s me or them, Dr. Drakken,” she seethed venomously. “This is nonnegotiable. I mean it. They go or I go. What’s it gonna be?”

Dr. Drakken held up his hands in peace. “Okay, you,” he hastily agreed before he could overthink it. “I choose you. Henchschool dropouts, as you put them, are dime a dozen, but there’s only one of you. I’ll review staff tonight, if it makes you happy.”

“Good,” Shego said arrogantly, and turned back up the stairs, leaving him to tug his collar and hope she hadn’t seen the sweat on his brow. “You know, if you didn’t have that kind of criminal on your team, maybe you wouldn’t have to worry about them acting out of line.”

“What can I say? They’re cheap,” Drakken admitted unhappily behind her. “It was never an issue before.” It wasn’t like there was a foolproof way of weeding out such seedy fellows, but he wasn’t about to argue the matter here on the staircase, no matter how tall the order.

Shego peered back at him with a withering glance that told him she would be holding him to his word, but for now that was the end of the discussion.

++X++

Back up in the nerdy tech lab littered with scrap fabric and half-built staves, the rogue doctor wasted no time in handing over the new and improved pair of gloves.

The old pair from Global Justice was looking rather shabby in comparison, fiber frayed around the knuckles, and signs of wear around the palms as well. Shego was happy to toss them aside. Inwardly thrilled that the self-proclaimed mad scientist had actually come through for her, she kept a lid on her eagerness as she pulled on the brand new custom pair.

The new set looked slightly less like dishwashing gloves, with lightly padded knuckles, and sleek and slim-fitted over the fingers for dexterity. Seamlessly incorporated into the tough specialized fabric at the fingertips were the so-called claws she’d requested in jest and had tried to tell him so repeatedly. Though she was sure he’d added them to remind her to be careful what she wished for, she was still pleased by the surprisingly natural feel of the unobtrusive extensions.

More importantly, the hand protection didn’t hinder her glow at all – and most shockingly of all, her glow was indeed amplified to some degree, just as promised though she wasn’t even sure how he’d managed the feat. It only took one flare up to find out that much.

The new set of gloves fit like a dream to boot, but she knew that much from earlier prototypes. It was still something else to see it all come together in a finished product.

Depending how they held up, she might have to finagle more out of him.

Shego’s smile fell and she jumped when the blue man cleared his throat behind her. Wearing a strange sneer that almost passed as a smirk, he suggested she take the new gear out back to put them to the test. She hadn’t been outside in days, not even for a smoke break, and the thought of fresh air – along with releasing pent-up energy and getting a feel for what her new liberating gloves were capable of – was effective in bringing the smile back to her face.

She expected Dr. Drakken alone to accompany her. She was wrong.

He stopped before he could exit the lab with her, humming as a thoughtful look crossed his face, and turned back. She was told to wait outside for a surprise.

She wasn’t sure if she liked the prospect of a surprise, but she wasn’t kept waiting or guessing for long. As much as she itched to blast something while she waited, she resisted taking it out on the parched pines climbing up the slope beyond the expanse of blacktop wrapping around side of the oversized garage.

When he joined her, she was sure she didn’t like the surprise, whatever it was. Not keen on being made an exhibition, it had her frozen with a sort of stage fright as his crew of henchmen marched out from the side-door of the garage after him. Approximately a dozen rugged men – she didn’t stare long enough to count – congregated, all in red jumpsuits. The masks that usually concealed the better half of their faces were removed, but the broken dress code was the least of Shego’s concerns.

Dr. Drakken came to stand beside her, giving her a wry smirk, and motioned for the gangliest of his crew. The youngest henchman scurried out hastily to set up a row of plywood dummies for target practice and retreated back to the audience just as quickly. The rogue doctor then gave Shego’s back a small push and curt words of encouragement, “Go on. Show them.”

Her fists balled at her sides. She wasn’t so sure about being put on display like this. She’d spent enough of her life being a spectacle.

The chief must have read her hesitation, because he frowned at her and then turned to address his crewmen with biting authority, pacing like a drill sergeant with hands gripped behind his back. “There seems to be some confusion lately. It seems some of you think our newest addition is a secretary, or here to be your plaything,” he barked at his crew, dripping with derision as he issued a warning. “Make no mistake. A lovely little thing she may be, Shego here is your superior, and may God have mercy on the next man to lay a hand on her.”

The booming tone of his reproach was jarring compared to the softer indoor voice used whenever he wasn’t worked up or hollering across the lair. It surprised her for a second, but she reminded herself he was an aspiring villain after all, and most had to put on a mean show if they wanted to be taken seriously, especially by a bunch of thugs as underpaid henchmen tended to be.

“Flatterer,” she hissed under her breath. Her face was hot. It was an underhanded way of goading her on, even if superior sounded nice. She took it with a grain of salt though.

Returning to her, Dr. Drakken narrowed his eyes and impatiently ground out through his teeth, “Hurry up and light some fire under their asses, Shego. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Her reservations aside, Shego swallowed and nodded despite the onlookers watching her back. As she had so often in Go City, she tried to pretend they weren’t there as she let her clenched fists ignite. Four throws was all it took to reduce four dummies to a mess of splinters and flaming debris. It was overkill. Without her medication and old gloves, it was too easy to overcharge the blows, but the gloves held up. She’d really have to practice discipline now, she realized.

Nonetheless, she took a deep steadying breath and stared in wonder at her own hands. Her lips quirked into a smile, which Dr. Drakken caught and mirrored tenfold.

The man got his grin under control as he came to stand perhaps a little too close and fearlessly considering he’d just watched her obliterate targets with ease. “Well?” he pressed, lowering his voice to keep it between them. “How’s it feel?”

It was a stupid question when the answer was written on her face already. Between the new liberating gloves and having prescribed suppressant out of her system, she felt glee bubble up and escape in a small laugh. “Amazing,” she confirmed a little too happily. If she weren’t suddenly aware they were being watched by an audience, she just might have hugged the man for making such freedom possible – but she quickly locked that notion away. Such gratitude would be unbecoming of her now.

He was sidestepping away anyway, clearing his throat. He fixed the crew in a deep scowl. “Any questions?” he called out brusquely, but the crew remained silent. He stroked his chin as he paced along the row, and picked out two men from the crowd, beckoning them forward with a finger rather than by name. Either of the men could have flattened Drakken if they so wished, yet they humored him with hateful glares he appeared to willingly overlook.

Shego’s stomach lurched as she glared back at the loathsome men who’d made an attempt to rough her up mere minutes ago. Sure, she still burned with malice, but she couldn’t help flicking a disconcerted glance to the blue man presenting them to her as if they were gifts. Dr. Drakken’s smile didn’t reach his eyes, and he raised his brow expectantly as he nodded to them.

She had a hunch what was coming, but she was done. Demonstrating her capability on wooden dummies for the ignorant crew was enough. Still she had the gut-wrenching suspicion he had every intention of pushing it further. There was no reason to push it further, and yet—

And yet, Dr. Drakken was speaking loud and clear again. “Since they thought they could have their way with you, why don’t you return the favor and have your way with them, hm?”

Both humiliated and put on the spot, her skin crawled as she studied the grave mask of malevolence Dr. Drakken wore as he shoved the larger of the two men roughly toward where the incinerated targets had stood.

Shego stared at the new dummies standing rigid in their place. Live dummies.

Even if they deserved a lashing and she had reason enough to bear a grudge against the men, she wasn’t sure about raising a hand to them as they were. She would have wailed on them in the gym minutes ago had Drakken not interrupted, but now they were just standing there among the cinders and ash, doing nothing more offensive than giving her ugly looks.

Shego glanced to Dr. Drakken again, waiting for him to laugh and say it was all a twisted joke, but the stoic man stood to the side with his hands behind his back, reminiscent of a bailiff watching men on trial.

She was frozen like a deer in the headlights, stunned with disbelief at what was expected of her and entirely unsure how to proceed with dishing out punishment. Her fists curled as she weighed how badly she wanted to see them hurt.

After another moment, Dr. Drakken stalked back to her, shaking his head in exasperation, and grabbed her roughly by the arm. She almost twisted away. “Shego,” he hissed quietly. “You’re making me look bad. Show me you can be merciless.”

“But—,” but she was interrupted before she could articulate an excuse.

“Need I remind you, had you been any ordinary girl, these men would have hurt you. Horrendously. So punish them already and get it over with. Kill them if you want. They’re expendable.”

“Kill?” she uttered in surprise. She’d been at least partially responsible for deaths before – by mistake – in the heat of the moment – but it couldn’t be proven she was to blame for the casualties. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see the goons on display pay after what they’d tried, but murder might have been a touch too severe.

Suddenly one of the men on trial made the dire mistake of calling the bluff, and not in a particularly clever way. “Pussy,” the thug coughed under his breath. The man was cracking. The moron must have decided to let his mouth go unchecked if he was on death row for a little misconduct. “What’s wrong, boss? You sore the mistress is a slut?”

Like she hadn’t been called names before.

Before Shego could roll her eyes, the crack of a gunshot split the air and the offender jumped, crashing into the other at the spark of a bullet striking the asphalt where he’d stood a moment before.

“Do something to them, Shego, or I will,” Dr. Drakken snarled over to her, only lowering his revolver slightly. She recognized it. So it wasn’t just for show.

“I thought you were above using those,” Shego snapped, stepping back from him. She could understand now why the henchmen avoided stepping out of line.

Dr. Drakken waved the gun in a dangerously flippant manner. “Well sorry if it’s tactless!” he drawled bitterly. “It’s effective, and this isn’t the time to argue about villain tradition. Show these men you are not to be reckoned with, Shego. That’s an order.”

“What do you expect?” shouted the moron who was lucky to still have toes at the moment. “You hired a hero!”

Nasty names she could handle. Nastier idiots mistaking her for an easy target she could handle.

But like a magic word, it was that accusation that set her off, and she didn’t need any more encouragement than that. If the vile thug wanted a fight, he could have it. She’d show them just how much of a hero she was.

Letting a furious scream rip, Shego lunged into action to make an example of the offender before Drakken could shoot the fired henchman himself. Hand blazing hot – too, too hot – she let the swipe come down before the goon could dodge, connecting with the man’s torso with enough power to shred through his overalls and carve into the unthinkable beneath. A hot knuckle sandwich and the heel of her boot weren’t the taste of her they’d wanted, but it was what they got as they tried and failed to fight her off. One tried to flee, but he didn’t get far – as one plasma shot to the back and he was down for the count. He was the luckier of the two.

This time there was no intervention in the brawl, not that it lasted long enough for anyone to try.

Her brothers were thousands of miles away, but in her head, she could hear them screaming at her to stop over the roar of blood and her own scream in her ears.

Once the men were down, her fury died as quickly as it had been kindled. In no time at all, she’d overdone it, and she didn’t stop to wonder how many teeth she’d knocked out as she leapt back from the whimpering bloody pulp she’d been laying into.

Shego left the battered men sprawled on the ground as she abandoned the brutal scene without a glance back. She examined her knuckles as she went. The new gloves were sullied and in need of a good wash, but otherwise they had held up well, and the sharpened tips served a function after all, though she didn’t want to think too hard about it or that Hugo had been right that they weren’t too conducive to hero work.

Dr. Drakken barked an order for the offenders to be taken care of, and then he wasn’t far behind her, although he kept his distance.

[thisisusfan388]

It's All Coming Back To Me Now

Hey guys -- this is my first ever 'This Is Us' fic, written in conjunction with the This Is Us appreciation week organized by @bigthree :)  I'm submitting this piece for This Is Us  Appreciation Week day 2- favourite character, because Jack Pearson is my favorite character on the show. <3

This takes place shortly after Jack's death. In this chapter, we'll explore Rebecca's POV and how she coped with Jack's death and how she was feeling a month after his death. Enjoy!

P.S. The title inspiration for this chapter is from Celine Dion's song 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now.'

p.p.s Special thanks and gratitude goes to the lovely @private-practice-fan for helping me to proofread and giving me feedback and encouragement for this fic. <3 <3

Rebecca's POV

The silence in the middle of the night is so loud. I lie on the bed and stare at the ceiling.

A month has passed since I've had to scatter my husband's ashes under a tree. One month since I've lost the love of my life, and had my other half ripped apart from me. One month since life as I knew it ended so abruptly.

I've heard that they are 5 stages of grief -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I may have skipped one or more stages. I was definitely in denial when the doctor first told me that Jack was dead. I casually popped the half-eaten chocolate into my mouth and told the doctor he was out of his mind and to back off. Of course, I found it impossible to believe -- just a few minutes ago, the last time I saw Jack, he was fine - sitting up on the hospital bed, teasing me and cracking one of his lame jokes. (Which I now miss so much). But when I rushed back into his room and saw his still body, that's when the harsh reality sank in -- Jack was gone forever. I can barely recall covering my mouth in shock, trying to no avail to suppress the animal-like moan of anguish that escaped my throat as I felt the floor give way from under me and my entire world crumble beneath me.

The infamous question of ‘Why do bad things happen to good people' popped into my head too.

Jack and I were supposed to live happily ever after. We were supposed to grow old together, to be one of those old couples who are still so in love with each other after many decades of marriage, one of those couples who people envy and younger couples aspire to be. One day, we were making out on the couch and planning to start a new business venture together, and the next day, our dreams were all extinguished by the fire. A fire which started with a malfunctioning crockpot. Who knew that fire, which is essential to mankind could destroy an entire house and family in minutes?

For the past month, I felt like a walking zombie, going through all the motions. The first week of being a widow passed by in a blur. I was physically present but emotionally, I was somewhere else. Yes, I was there at Jack's funeral, entertaining the guests who came and offered me their most sincere condolences. I faked a smile as I shook their hands and thanked them. I put on a facade, staying strong for everyone to see. People had been calling up to check on me, sending me well-meaning messages or dropping by to give me some prepared meals. I was so grateful for their help, but the fact is -- nothing can replace the hole that Jack's demise left in my heart. After that, when the generous friends stopped visiting, loneliness started to seep in. However, I need to be strong for my three children -- they have just lost their father and are grieving too. I can't show any sign of weakness in front of them, because I am now the leader of the family. I'm supposed to be the strong one, getting it together for the family. I have no choice, I'm the only parent they have left.  

Even scattering Jack's ashes under the special tree couldn't help me let go of him. Surprisingly, I didn't cry that night but instead brought the kids to watch a movie, where we tried to no avail to laugh away all our heartbreak and grief.

The 3 children are coping with the loss of their beloved dad in their own ways. Kevin has been spending more and more time at Sophie's, only returning to our rented apartment at night to sleep. In fact, he now sleeps over at Sophie's most nights too, so I seldom see him. I know that Sophie is leaving for NYU and he wants to spend as much time with her as possible before she leaves. But he's my son, and I know that this is his coping mechanism, his way of ignoring the fact that he was in an argument with his dad the last time he saw him. When I ask him about his college applications, he would just snap at me.

Kate seems withdrawn in her own world. I know that she was the closest to Jack and they shared a special father-daughter bond which could not be broken. My heart aches for her. I try to reach out to her, but the more I do, the more she withdraws from me. She doesn't talk to me at all; she doesn't even answer me when I show her concern by asking her if she has showered or eaten. She hasn't smiled for the past month. All she does when she's home from school is stare blankly into space with her headphones stuck in her ears. She won’t answer me when I ask her about her college applications.

Randall is the only child who seems to care about me, the only one whose sanity is still intact. He is the one staying by my side the whole time and making sure that I am okay. He is the only one who cares to ask whether I have eaten or slept and how I'm feeling. Even though he is grieving over the loss of his father too, he still cares for me and I really appreciate it. He tells me that he is interested in entering one of the Ivy League universities, although he has yet to decide which university to apply to.

_____________________________________________________________

Now in the middle of one of those lonely nights spent lying alone in bed and staring up at the ceiling, I let myself grieve. I look at the other side of the too huge king-sized bed, which seems so empty. Jack is supposed to be lying here beside me. I'm supposed to be cuddled up in our big comfortable bed with him, safe in his warm embrace. I miss being in his arms, snuggled up close to him, feeling the comfort of his heartbeat. Now the bed seems so empty and cold without him.

"Jack -- you are supposed to be here" I whisper to the empty space beside me. Even now, I still sleep on the same side of the bed. Maybe I'm subconsciously hoping for Jack to appear beside me when I open my eyes in the morning. I sigh as I continue whispering. ‘'You're supposed to be here for our children's graduations. You're supposed to be here for their weddings. You're supposed to be here to see the birth of our grandchildren. We are supposed to grow old together."

I close my eyes and feel a stray tear running down my cheek. Now Big Three Homes will remain a dream. Jack will never see our children get married. He won’t be present to walk Kate down the aisle on her wedding day if she gets married. He'll never get to meet our future grandchildren if we have them. This is so unfair.

My mind wanders to Dr. K's wise words which have made an impact on mine and Jack's lives. "There's no lemon so sour that you can't make something resembling lemonade.'' When Jack first told me about this quote, which Dr. K uttered to him in the hospital when the triplets were born and we lost Kyle, I thought it was a great quote indeed. We decided to use this quote as our life and family motto.

This quote was what got us through all the ups and downs of life, including the loss of Kyle, our 3rd triplet, and our marriage troubles just a couple of years ago. We made lemonade together. But now I have to do this alone, and I don't think I can.

I then recall Dr. K's encouraging words to me at the bench after Jack's funeral. I had been trying to stay strong for too long, but I finally broke down at his words. He reminded me of my strength and reassured me that I could go on even when I thought I couldn't. He told me that I not only made lemonade, but I made the sweetest lemonade ever. In my grief at that moment, I didn't necessarily believe his words, but I clung to them like a lifeline. His words were what got me through the rest of the month. I kept on reminding myself that I must remain strong for the kids.

Another few stray tears roll down my cheeks as I wipe them away with the sleeve of my nightgown. I am alone; Kevin must be at Sophie's -- he hasn't had a single meal with me ever since the night we scattered Jack's ashes. Kate might be at a friend's too -- she has been avoiding me like a plague. And Randall is in his own room, fast asleep.

I feel so lonely indeed. Jack was the glue that kept the family together. Now after his death, it seems like our entire family just disintegrated. As more tears roll down, I recall the wonderful memories that Jack and I had built over the years. I recall the very first time I laid my eyes on him as I was singing ‘Moonshadow'. I almost stopped singing right then as my heart skipped a beat. I finished the song as my eyes never left him the entire time. As soon as I finished singing, I left the stage immediately and went over to say hello. We talked for hours that night, until the pub closed. Since then, we were inseparable. His proposal was simple but so unique and heartwarming. Our wedding, although simple, was one of the best days of my life. I felt like such a beautiful bride that day -- Jack made sure I felt that way. We did everything together -- we watched the Super Bowl together every year without fail. We entered parenthood, grieved through the loss of Kyle and adopted Randall together. We raised 3 children together in a happy and healthy environment. We changed diapers, cleaned up messes, kissed scrapped knees, hosted numerous birthday parties and mediated sibling squabbles together. We made numerous memories as a family. I remember Easter, Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations and how we were such a happy family. Even when we had a huge argument a couple of years ago, we still managed to make up and emerge from it stronger than ever. Friends have always mentioned that we were attached at the hip, and I don't think I can argue with that.

I think this had mostly to do with Jack being the near perfect person he was. I know that no one is perfect, but he was the closest to perfect as a human can be. He always made sure to let me know every day how much he loved me and how much I meant to him through his words and actions. When we were courting, he made sure to bring me to the most romantic restaurants and shower me with the best gifts ever, even though I'm sure it must have burnt a hole in his pocket. I expressed my concerns about that, but he always brushed it off, saying that I deserve it. When I was pregnant with the triplets, he purchased our dream house- the house which was full of happy memories, joy and laughter, which ended up being burnt to the ground in an instant. Although the house is no longer physically there, the memories we created in the house will stay with me and the kids forever. When we brought the babies home from the hospital, although it wasn't common for dads to help out with childcare during that time, he erased the stereotype right from the beginning by helping me to feed them and change their diapers and waking up in the middle of the night to soothe their cries. When the children were older, he was the fun parent, always suggesting fun things to do as a family, such as spontaneous road trips and vacations, which delighted them. When one of the children was upset, he would placate them in his own way. He had the talent of turning a pout into a grin in a matter of seconds. He had the knack of resolving squabbles between the siblings effortlessly. The times when I would lose my temper over a petty thing, he would put a smile back on my face almost right away. When the kids drove me up the wall, he knew how to calm me down. When he saw that I was fuming inside, he would make a joke or give me a hug or kiss and tell me how much he loved me, and I would cool down immediately. He was always so level-headed and even-tempered. He had such a big heart; he had shown time and time again that he would do anything for me and our kids, even climb mountains and swim across seas for us. He would even lay down his life for us, which was demonstrated so clearly when he tried to save me, Kate and Randall from the fire. To top it off, he just had to re-enter the house that night to save Kate’s dog and mementos that meant so much to us. Could he have survived had he not gone back into the house to save Kate’s dog and the mementos? No one knows for sure. What I know for sure is that nothing is going to bring him back.

"Jack, I don't know how I can go on without you." I whisper out loud. "I'm not strong enough to carry on living the rest of my life without you. I know I have to be strong for our kids, but I just can't do this anymore." I whimper as I let the tears continue to roll down my cheeks.

I take another glance at the oh so empty space beside me.

"I don't know if you can hear or see me, but if you do, I need a sign that you're ok." I whisper again. I would give anything just to see his face and his smile, hear his voice and laughter, and feel the warmth of his touch one more time.

"I'm ok, Rebecca." I hear Jack's voice calling out from the dark. I am now sitting upright on the bed. Is this real? Am I hallucinating? Is that really Jack's voice I am hearing?

"Jack!" I whisper as I turn frantically towards the direction of the voice.

There in the darkness he stands, my Jack, looking ever so handsome in the same shirt he was wearing the last time I saw him.

He is smiling at me, the smile which I miss so much.

"Jack", I cry out, my words stuck in my throat. Is this really him, standing next to me?

"Jack, I…. I miss you so much." I mutter, at loss of words to say to him. " The kids miss you too. Kevin is barely at home, Kate hides in her room all the time, Randall is the only one who cares but I cannot burden him anymore… Jack, I just can't do this without you. I'm not strong enough to face life without you. I need you. The kids need you. Why did you have to leave?!"

"You can do this, Rebecca. I know you can. I have full faith in you. You're the strongest and most remarkable woman I know." Jack encourages me in his ever-soothing voice.

" But I need you by my side. We're supposed to grow old together!" I cry out.

"I know, and we'll still age together. I'm still here with you -- I'm here in your heart." he says, pointing to his heart. I'll live in the memories we shared together, and through our children. I love you so much Rebecca, more than you'll ever know. You and the kids are my whole life. So you have to be strong for the kids. Let them know that I love them so much too. Let Kevin know that I forgive him, and not to beat himself up over our last argument and that he makes me proud. Tell Kate that she'll be such an amazing singer, and that she shouldn't care so much about what others think of her, because she's already wonderful as she is. Tell Randall that he has such great potential and will go on to do incredible things in life. Tell all 3 of them that I'm so proud of them."

"You're supposed to tell them yourself!" I sob. "You're supposed to be here to see the 3 of them graduate high school and send them off to the college of their choices."

" I'll be there during their graduation. Just picture me smiling proudly at them. I know I'll be so proud of them. We raised 3 incredible kids, Rebecca." Jack points out, smiling.

" We did it together. And now I can't do this alone." I sob again.

"You're not alone, Rebecca. I'm here with you. Just look out for any signs which bring a smile to your face -- a butterfly, a rainbow, a blooming flower. I'll be here with you always." he says.

I look at him for comfort and he just smiles and shows me his perfect teeth.

I wish he would touch my shoulder in a comforting gesture and pull me into a warm embrace like he usually does, but this time he doesn't.

I reach out my hand to touch him, but touch cold air instead.

Meanwhile, he is beginning to fade slowly into the background.

"Jack!" I cry out. I am losing him all over again and it breaks my heart.

"No…no… Jack!!" I cry louder, as I reach my hand out even further, clinging to his presence.

But it's too late -- he's gone.

I stare into the darkness where he stood just a moment ago, before I dissolve into uncontrollable sobs. Why did he have to leave me?!

I sob and sob until I feel someone shaking me.

"Mom?" I hear Randall's voice calling me.

"Mom?" he calls out again as he shakes me awake.

"Huh?" I groggily reply as I rub off sleep from my eyes.

" I was wondering whether you are ok, because it's already 11 am. You never slept in until this late before." Randall says, a tone of concern in his voice. "Are you ok?"

"Mom are you crying?" he asks before I can answer him.

"Yes, I was dreaming about your dad." I tell him, sniffling. " He looked so handsome, wearing the same shirt he wore the last time we saw him. He told me to tell you that you have so much potential and will go on to do incredible things in life and that he's so proud of you and your siblings. He also told me how strong I am. I miss him so much, Randall." I say, my voice cracking.

I can see Randall's eyes begin to water, and a downcast expression on his face.

" I know Mom, I really miss him too." he says.

" He's supposed to see you graduate and go to an Ivy League university." I say, as tears begin rolling down my cheeks again.

Randall takes a seat on the bed beside me and pulls me close for a hug. Feeling the warmth of his embrace, I miss being in Jack's arms even more. I begin to let go of all the emotions I've been hiding inside and sob in his arms. I sob and sob, letting go of all the grief, despair and anguish I feel over losing Jack, and the loneliness and emptiness which losing my soulmate and companion for life left in my heart. We sit in that position for a long time, clinging on tight to each other for support. We need each other to fill the void that losing Jack left in our lives. We need to stay strong for each other.

 This is it guys, my first ever This Is Us fic. Please do let me know what you think, ok -- feedback in any form- be it reblogs with comments, notes, asks, direct messages, etc. are very welcome. I would really love to hear from you all <3

P.S. Do stay tuned for the POVs of each of the Big Three shortly after Jack's death

[oh-beyond]

The Postman AU - Part 5

Your parents tried to have children for years… They were desperate to conceive a child, almost gave up on the idea, until finally your mother got pregnant with you. Fragile child, born underweight and prematurely. You were the light of their eyes. Now you were a teenager and still treated you as if you were going to get broken. Homeschooled and trapped in your house. You didn’t need anything from the outside world.

Nothing. Until you saw the postman one day.

Angst/Fluff/Smut

Lay x reader

Masterlist

< Part 4 - Part 6 >

Summary: I was official engaged to Zhang Yixing medical student… everything looked and felt perfect, but your mother had other plans…

“She- I don’t know it was like she was going to die… I was like killing her, I do- Junmyeon-ah… I didn’t even touch he- I mean we didn’t…”

“Calm down, calm down Xing, I understand you are nervous and explaining might be a be difficult, but maybe you went on her too fast? Rushed? It’s understandable in your first time”

“Junmyeon-ah, you are not listening, I didn’t do anything, I was just… I was just, it was just a kiss, and she couldn’t handle it”

“Oh”

“I am such a bad person, like selfish and I hate myself right now”

“Yixing, you are none of what you just called yourself, it’s normal to want and feel these desires, I still can’t believe you kept yourself intact for so long, I guess it’ll have to be baby steps”

“I don’t think I can do this, it’s just not OK. Everything”

“Also understandable if you don’t want to carry the burden of a sick wife, I mean I know I wouldn’t be abl-”

“What are you saying? You are not understanding my point! I thought you were better than this! I am taking advantage of her money, I am no one, plus I wanted those things that she can’t give me, I am greedy and not a good human being”

Junmyeon fell silent for a moment not beleiving there could be someone on the face of earth this genuine and pure as Zhang Yixing. He knew his friend was one of a kind, but not to this extent.

“I am sorry friend” he patted on Yixing’s back “I guess I am not as good as you are because none of that crossed my mind. I’d just like to look at the situation from a different point of view, not as dark as Baekhyun sees things, and not as platonic as you see them”

“How do you mean?”

“Alright, for starters you are not a bad person, like that is far from being true, let’s look at it this way” Junmyeon continued “yes you will get the money from Moon Changwook to pay for your tuition, I had many times offered you this and you never agreed”

“Bu-”

“Let me finish. You clearly like this girl so anything to be close to her. I’d even say at this point that you love her because here you were ready to finally do it with her”

“Junmyeon~~~”

“Listen to me till the end. I know that it might look to some people including her mother that you are taking advantage of the situation. But I think differently. You have no other way to get close to her but to agree to Chanwook’s offer. Even though you know that ___ might not be 100% be able to make you happy”

“She will! I don’t care about that! I love her, I really do”

“And giving up on something like that Yixing is angelical behaviour. I still can’t believe you are for real. Now come one take my car, you will be late for your appointment Dr. Zhang” added Junmyeon, finally getting a smile out of Yixing.

*****

“Good morning Yixing son! You look really good. Are you ready to go? You are lucky the dean of the university is a good friend of mine, he will make an exception and let you in even though the course started 3 months ago” your dad talked but Yixing was moving his head looking behind him to see if he could get a glimpse of you.

“Son? I’m talking to you”

“Yes sajang-nim. I apologise”

“Please call me abeoji. You want to see her, don’t you?”

“Ahm… no- I mean yes, bu-”

Your father looked at his watch and smiled “well I guess you actually came a bit too early. She is in the study room, she is very lazy and hates studying, maybe you could go encourage her. No wedding if she doesn’t pass this year”

“Thanks you sajang-nim”

“Abeoji son, call me abeoji” Yixing bowed shyly, still not used to it.

He walked behind his father-in-law to be, your dad brought him to walk alongside with him “please act more relaxed, this will be your house after all”

That shook Yixing, he never really thought were you were going to live when you got married, and when your dad said it like that it did shook him. As if the accusation for taking advantage was getting more undeniable.

He wasn’t comfortable and he didn’t like it.

“Right, she is inside that room. I will give you mmm, is 15 minutes alright?”

“Oh, saj- abeoji, you are so kind thanks so much” Yixing bowed again a 90º bow.

“No worries son, she is your fiancée after all, it’s the least I can do now that you can’t really go out. I wish I could do more”

Could do more? What more could your dad do? Yixing felt really bad… nevertheless he went to see you.

Before he had the chance to knock the door it was being opened and you were pulling him inside, encircling your arms around his neck.

“Whoah! I take it you weren’t studying young lady”

“Yixing oppa, I missed you” you spoke in the crock of his neck.

“Really? I was just here hours ago” he caressed your hair and your back.

“I can’t wait for you to live with us, I’m so happy oppa”

Yixing exhaled… he wasn’t getting used to hear that. He wasn’t liking the sound of it.

“Baobei, go back to study now, I will come visit again I promise”

“Come everyday, please” you detached yourself to look at his face.

“I’ll try, now go back to what you were doing”

“Ammm, I really am a bit lost, maybe you can help me study, when you are back?”

“Let me see, what were you doing?”

“It’s algebra, I hate it”

Yixing walked to your desk taking the book in hand, eyeing the exercises you were solving. You weren’t bad at all actually, he took a pencil and just corrected minor mistakes in your equations, just to get interrupted by a pair of arms around his waist, leaning your ear on his back. He gasped, putting the pencil and the book down covering your hands with his.

“Come on ___, I need to go now”

“I am sorry for yesterday, oppa you know…”

He closed his eyes exhaling again, feeling guilty for making you feel like this. He turned around cupping your cheeks “don’t say anything please, I am the one who should be sorry, I shouldn’t of had”

You went on your tiptoes pecking his lips, the worried look vanished, and you managed to make him smile bringing his dimples to life. You pecked his lips again.

“___~~~ stop now” he laughed he couldn’t contain it.

“Kiss me oppa”

“I have to go”

You melted in his arms “oppa”

“___? What’s wrong?”

He held you straight, pressing your chest onto his as he fanned your face.

“Your dimples, I just collapsed”

“___! Not funny I was worri-”

You kissed him now, your kips landing on his, your hands under his ears to bring him closer.

He wanted to kiss you back but he had promised to himself never to get excited again.

“___, I have to go”

“Alright, alright good luck oppa. I love you”

“I love you more” he said kissing your forehead before going back to meet your father. As soon as he opened the door he sighed loudly, he leaned his back on the door pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Oh, our beloved beggar, ni hao Xixing. I would like to ask you why you still didn’t do what I have asked you?”

“Good morning samo-nim. I need to go sajang-nim is waiting for me”

“You are going ahead with this nonsense?”

“I am”

“Your tone. Watch it”

“If you’ll excuse me” Yixing tried to walk away but your mother stopped him pulling at his shoulder tuning him aggressively around to face her.

“So haven’t you learned that my daughter can’t be a wife? She can’t, and I won’t allow it because I intend to keep her alive”

“Marie! Stop it, we will be late” said your father that appeared to witness the improvised scene your mother was causing.

“No Changwook oppa, does Yixing understand the situation?”

“I understand it. And I don’t care”

“You want me to believe that you will just give up living marital life like a healthy young man would? Or are you planning on cheating on ___?”

“MARIE! I’M WARNING YOU!”

“I love ___, that is what matters”

“When? How? Excuse me I just can’t believe it”

“Let’s go son, ignore her for now”

“Appa? Eomma? What are you talking about?” you said opening the door of the study room surprising everyone.

How much of this conversation have you heard? How much damage did it cause? And most importantly, how much would affect you?

“___ honey!”

Yixing couldn’t just see your sadness and not do anything, his legs moved forward opening the door fully, his arms embracing your weak shaking body, one arm around your waist, and the other around your shoulders, his hand at the nape of your neck bringing you to his chest.

Your mother gasped at the sudden action, looking at your father enraged. She was about to pull Yixing away from you but your dad grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“Stop it Marie” he whispered in her ear “your overprotection is going to cause her irreparable damage. What you just said… stop it! I will not let you depress her. Just stop it!” he continued as he forced her down the stairs with him.

“___, my precious delicate flower. Shhhh, why are you sad?”

“What was that about? Why can’t I be a wife?”

“What? That is nonsense, you will be the most prettiest wife, the only wife I want”

“Cheating, she was talking about cheating, I am not stupid, I know what she meant”

“You understood? Because I didn’t. All I know is that I want you to be between my arms every night”

You detached yourself pressing your hands on his chest to look at his eyes “between your arms and do nothing else?”

Yixing bit his lips trying to think his next sentence, promising eternal love would sound just too unreal and unbelievable.

“Who said? Yes we will be cuddling, and kissing, and loving each other” he tilted his head to one side capturing your lips, slowly, lovingly, as if time had just stopped, running his hand over your back carefully and the other running his fingers through your hair.

“Oppa”

“___, don’t worry about that now. Alright? You have exams coming up, and if you don’t pass them all I will get very upset. Promise you will study?”

“I promise, I’m sorry”

“Don’t. I love you. I’ll be back”

“Today?”

“My ___, what am I going to do with you?” he added kissing you again.

*****

The ride to the university was quiet. Quiet and heavy, both your father and Yixing seemed to have their own reasons to be feeling the way they felt.

Your father felt as if he was offering a burden on a young healthy man that had all his life ahead of him, also the burden of having him study and be the best one.

Yixing had the feeling as if just sold himself for the tuition, he agreed to all this without even consulting his mother, he agreed to all this without thinking what will people think about him. It looked really bad, especially as to agreeing to marry the sick inheritor of Moon Changwook’s fortune.

They arrived and made their way through the university, your father noticed that Yixing did make a big impact with the female population, watching Yixing’s every move. Liking the way he shyly looked at the floor as he walked ignoring all the female students.

Finally arriving at the dean’s office you father patted on Yixing’s back before knocking the door.

“Hello Cho Suntae, long time no see!”

“Moon Changwook himself!” 

Yixing stood like a deer caught in headlights, not knowing how to even introduce himself.

“So this is him, my future son in law Zhang Yixing”

“Welcome to out school Zhang Yixing! Have you got your report from last time you studied?”

Yixing bowed a few times before presenting his reports.

“Oh wow, Seoul University, so you got a scholarship? Boy, why didn’t you just continue? I though I was going to make you a favour here but you are excellent”

“I wa-”

“Some family issues, Suntae” interrupted your father looking at Yixing to be quiet “so can he just start right away?”

“I can make that happen”

“Yes, but don’t I need some sort of entry examination?” asked Yixing naively.

“No need son, I’m sure you can catch up, we won’t let you perform surgery on anyone anytime soon anyways”

Both elders laughed out loud with that joke, but Yixing just felt more and more uncomfortable with the reality, getting things done just by talking to connections. Sure this world was scary, and he certainly didn’t want to be part of it.

Too late now…

Too late because he was in love with you.

“So you will start next week son! Excited?”

“Yes, yes”

“Why do I see sorrow in your eyes? Are you doubting marrying ___?”

“No! That is the only thing that I am a 100% sure about”

“Then what is it?”

“We haven’t really spoken how everything will work out. It makes me really look like an-”

“I told you. Ignore Marie”

“Alright and what about my mother? Is she going to be in the picture? I am not ashamed of who I am and how I was brought up”

“And if you were I would of doubted your integrity Yixing. Your mother is more than welcome any time. After all I should be thankful that she raised a young man like you”

*****

The following days were really awkward, especially after Yixing called his mother and told her. She wasn’t proud of it, she thought her son had changed for money and their relationship grew cold and distant.

Yixing visited you everyday and helped you studying, always with the supervision of your mother who kept making his life a living hell. Although you always stole kisses from him whenever she wasn’t around. That made it bearable.

He started college and was doing quite well, he was the only ‘peasant’ in the private university, but that didn’t stop curious snob students from trying to get close to him out of curiosity and admiration. And that gave your mother a brilliant idea to expose him and get hated by your dad, and most importantly you. It was all being planned as she watched him walk holding his books shyly from behind her dark shades.

Zhang Yixing will be soon falling in Marie’s trap.

“How are you Sohee? How is your mother?”

“Marie imo! Very wel and you?”

“Sohee, have you met my son-in-law to be?”

“Yes he is in our school, he is doing medicine right?”

“Right!”

“Congratulations, my mom wanted to congratulate you properly but you know how bus-”

“No need for that now Sohee, I need a favour. Of course you’ve seen how handsome he is, I am sure a lot of students have an eye for him”

“Well I am not going to lie, if you want me to spy on him it’s useless, because he really doesn’t talk to anyone, it’s like he feels that he is less than others? If I may say so myself?”

“Of course he is, he is a filthy Chinese rat taking advantage of us”

“Oh…”

“You don’t approve to-”

“Listen Sohee-yah, I need your help, I am sure you might know of anyone that has a particular interest in him. I want her to seduce him, and I want you to take pictures of that”

“Well as a matter of fact there are many girls that would kill to have him look at them”

“I just need one. One that would be willing to do this, and believe me Sohee your reward will be more than satisfactory”

“You got yourself a deal Marie imo”

That day Marie was nice to him, Yixing came for dinner and she even took his jacket and greeted him with a smile. Yixing didn’t suspect anything and just went with the flow. An innocent dinner while your father was away on another business trip.

He smiled at her showing her his dimples and she couldn’t disagree about the fact that he was indeed gorgeous. Way too much… he will definitely fall in her trap because any girl would certainly do the job gladly.

"How have you been Yixing? How is college doing?”

“Very well samo-nim, I will make you proud, I will pass everything. I promise”

“Relax boy, you are part of the family now. I hope you don’t mind that I have invited 2 girls over. They actually are in your college”

“Oh!”

“Kim Sohee is doing Microbiology, she is the daughter of a good friend of mine. And she brought her friend who actually is in 2nd year just like you. Lee Hana, I guess you know her” you mother added with a smirk looking back at him as they walked down the corridor.

“Ammm no, I don’t think I know her”

“Oh come on she is very pretty, how can you not know her?”

“I don’t samo-nim. Where is ___?”

“She is in her room getting ready” 

Your mom slid open the double doors to the living room letting him enter first, he bowed at the girls that were ready to toy with this innocent lamb. He sat down awkwardly holding onto his knees looking around.

“So Yixing right?”

“Yes Hana-ssi”

“You know my name? I like that, I thought you were just studying all the time”

“Well samo-nim just told me your name so…”

“Samo-nim?” Asked Hana looking at Sohee “weird how you address you future mother-in-law”

Yixing cleared his throat looking away again.

“So I heard you are a brilliant student, perhaps you could help me sometime” she added getting up sitting next to him suggestively looking at him with some added intensity.

“I’ll go check on ___”

“I will go, Marie imo said she was still changing”

“Good idea Sohee-yah”

When Sohee left the room Hana went to touch Yixing’s shoulder but he stood up as he understood straight away the game that was being played at him.

“I need to make a call”

He dialled Junmyeon’s and whispered over the phone what was happening.

“Junmyeon-ah help help help”

“She is just throwing herself at you?”

“Yes, I know what this is”

“Clever Xing, alright. Let’s play it her her way. I’m coming, don’t worry”

Yixing noticed that Hana had moved from the couch and was really close to him, so close that most probably she heard the conversation.

“Are you scared Yixing? Are you scared that I am this attractive and that I want you?”

“Want me? When did this escalate to want me? I just met you like 2 minutes ago”

“But I had my eye on you since you arrived in college” 

She placed her hand over his chest darting her index finger inside his shirt.

“Alright stop!” he asked firmly grabbing her wrist.

“Uuuh I like it! I love that frown and how you hold my wrist. You like it rough cutie?”

“I’d like you to stop because I love my fiancee, you are wasting your time, this little game you got going on. You won’t succeed”

“We shall see” 

Yixing moved away and went outside to check on you. Your mom and Sohee were just outside the living room, they watched him walking past them as if nothing, she got really upset.

“Where are you going?”

“I am going to check on my future wife” he sing-sang that last word making your mom getting more aggravated.

“She’s not ready!”

“I’ll make her ready” he added climbing the stairs without looking back.

He went straight to your room, he knocked the door and noticed that you were clearly asleep, he opened it and indeed saw you placidly drifted to a peaceful snooze.

“___, baobei. It’s me”

“Zhang Yixing get out of ___’s room” your mom’s voice was heard from the corridor.

He instinctively locked the room and ignored her, he couldn’t believe the spine he grew. When it came to you he knew he was ready to do everything and anything.

By the time she knocked the door gently not to wake you he was already inside the covers next to you.

“Baobei, come here” he whispered placing his arm under your head to bring you to his chest.

“Oppa?” you said without opening your eyes “I am not feeling well, and I am pale and ugly”

“Oh but what will I do with my blind heart that like you pale and ugly?”

“Oppa~~~” you whined.

“I adore you ___, I can’t see anything but you”

“Let me brush my teeth” you said trying to get up, but he brought you back to his chest.

“Let me be the one that tastes your lips before the tooth brush” he sad pinning you to the mattress hovering your face.

He kissed you softly and lovingly, you had no energy to even part your lips but with care he did everything. He stroke your hair as his lips took care of your weak ones. They were soft and caring, and he made you feel warm and got all your nerves on edge, like a boost of energy you tried to respond to the kiss.

He tilted his head to get better access, you pulled him by his shirt so you could caress the nape of his neck like you liked. He loved how your fingertips felt against his skin.

It turned him on so fast…

He hated how his mind would get blurry and commanded him to do more than just kissing.

“Stop! Stop stop stop!”

“What?”

“W-well! Your mother is outside”

“And?”

“And, and, oh oh… did you hear that?”

“No?”

“It’s the door, Junmyeon is here”

“Alright, I’ll get changed and will be right there, I guess I’ll need mom’s help”

“Soon it will be me helping you”

“I hate that idea though, I am treated like a 5 year old”

“But I love taking care of you” he added capturing your lips one last time “don’t be late”

Yixing opened the door to find your mother just right there arms crossed over her chest “unacceptable, you aren’t married yet”

“As you said nothing will happen, so I will take the advantage of doing this. Coming to her room because nothing will happen” he was so proud of how savage he was being lately.

You mother scoffed and let herself inside your room.

As Yixing went down the stairs with a proud smile he heard Junmyeon and… Baekhyun?

They were at the reception being greeted by Ada who advised them where the living area was.

“Baekhyun?”

“Yeah! Why? You think I can’t take rich girls? Try me”

Yixing looked at Junmyeon who was giggling.

“Was this your idea?” he asked.

“Well he is the right person for the job Xing, at least give him that” 

“Unless you are afraid to show me your delicate jewel”

Junmyeon elbowed Baekhyun, he literally had no filter.

“So where are these snakes you want to get rid of Xing?” asked Junmyeon casually trying to smooth the ambiance.

Yixing nodded and walked in front of them guiding the guys, Junmyeon and Baekhyun followed him as the older male scolded Baekhyun again with a threatening gaze.

“I brought company ladies” announced Yixing sliding open the double doors to the living room.

Sohee and Hana actually got excited, they knew that Yixing had discovered the little trap they had for him, and they couldn’t get better punishment for it.

Baekhyun sat excitedly between the 2 girls taking a liking to Hana who did welcome it. While Junmyeon sat on the armchair smiling cheekily because he loved the attention of any girl.

Unlike Yixing who was waiting patiently for his beloved.

Text:

You: I am too weak today and mom doesn’t want me to go meet the guests 😞 but if you come and collect me I’ll make an effort.

Yixing: I’m coming 😘

He rushed upstairs again meeting your mother half way.

“She can’t, she is too exhausted, I wonder why”

“I will help her and take care of her”

“Don’t be selfish Yixing and leave my daughter alone, I’m begging you now”

“Never” 

He pulled his arm away from her and went running to your room.

‘Have it your way Zhang Yixing’ is all your mother could thing of right now…

Yixing knocked the door and let himself inside your room, you were dressed in a half sleeved navy mid thigh light chiffon dress, simple and elegant, you were brushing your hair with difficulty and your eyelids were heavy, they were almost closed. When Yixing saw you this weak it pained him, but he did really want you downstairs, maybe so you could presence the plan your mother had going on… he felt selfish like your mother just called him, but still… he just wanted you there.

“I’ll do that for you” he said taking the brush from your hand sitting next to you in bed gently brushing your hair.

“Oppa, I am sorry I am like this”

“Don’t be sorry, I love you”

“Do you like my makeup?”

“I love you with our without it”

“But look at me, please let me feel you like me for real”

Yixing stopped brushing your hair and went on in knees in front of you, he cupped your face and looked at you in detail “why would you say something like that? Do you think I don’t like you enough?”

“No… but I want to feel desired when I look pretty, your reaction to me with bed hair and pyjamas is the same as when I am feeling pretty. I want to feel that you find me sexy. I am so pathetic I am basically beggi-”

“Shhh” he cut you off placing his index finger over your lips, his own lips forming into an ‘O’ before he bit his lower lip “sexy you say?”

Your eyes doubled in size expectant as you felt that familiar electric feeling running down your spine, immediately feeling the heat on your cheeks.

“Don’t you know what you do to me little girl?” he continued eyeing you with a new kind of gaze, his eyes dark while his pupils dilated. He pulled you to stand, his arm encircling your waist and his hand resting on the small of your back, surprisingly you didn’t know what to do, it felt much hotter than when you were making out in bed. He tilted his head looking from your collarbones to your lips back to your eyes.

He looked like a bad boy.

Ughrrrr you loved this side of him.

“You drive me crazy __, you can make me lose control baobei, that is why I don’t show you what you do to me because I want to maintain composure”

“I w-want to know what I do to you”

He went to kiss your jaw but instead he just inhaled and exhaled taking in your scent, you heard a muffled groan before feeling his lips over your earlobe.

“You make me hot and bothered, you create goosebumps all over my skin, you make my thinking and reasoning so blurred that I don’t know if I can hold back. Now let’s go because I don’t want to ruin your makeup and your dress”

You giggled covering your mouth, he bent and placed his hands behind our knees lifting you bridal style, you encircled his neck kissing his cheek.

“I love you”

Your mother was waiting downstairs, her hands over her hips completely pissed, make that extra pissed when she saw you in Yixing’s arms and how you smiled at each other. It was killing her slowly.

“So you brought to much company, too many people, haven’t you heard about immunodeficiency disorder future doctor to be?” your mom asked with a sarcastic tone.

“She will be fine”

“She will be fine? What do you know? You weren’t next to her when she had uncountable nights of endless fever, you weren’t there when she had to be isolated, you know nothing Zhang Yixing”

“Eomma, please, I want to be there, I want to feel engaged and brag about my handsome fiancee with other girls. Please~~~ I will take a shower after and go to bed, and I will do anything you want”

Your mother sighed in defeat, you broke her heart, but of course you wanted to feel like any other girl, she nodded her head and let Yixing take you to the improvised gathering.

As Yixing walked proudly carrying you all invitees stood up to greet you, Baekhyun was the most shocked when he saw that indeed you weren’t ugly at all, in fact you were too pretty and you looked too good next to Yixing.

Yixing set you down, Baekhyun being the first one to greet you placing a kiss on the back of your hand, your mother was losing it, too much contact, too many people… chances you will be sick tonight were high and she wasn’t having it.

At the dinner table things started to get really awkward as Hana sat next to Yixing, she didn’t give up because she had an agreement. She touched Yixing’s calfs with her toes and she even dared bring her hands to his thighs. Of course this didn’t go unnoticed by Junmyeon and Baekhyun.

So the game was on.

Baekhyun started to do the same, at some point he winked at her licking his lips seductively. Poor Hana was losing her shit herself, too busy to notice that your mother was losing her patience.

Hana came back from her thoughts with Baekhyun and went on with the plan they had in mind, she asked Yixing to pour her a glass of wine, when she took it faking that she was a bit tipsy she dropped it on his lap creating a mess. 

“Oh dear Yixing, let me get you some clothes, I will let Ada send your suit to the dry-cleaners right now”

Yixing didn’t suspect anything and just followed your mother, He went to the bathroom taking off his jacket, his shirt and his pants, trying to clean the little moist that got into his briefs with some toilet paper.

He heard a knock on the door thinking it was your mother, he went behind the door peeking his head to take the change of clothes.

“Thanks samo- Hana? What do you want?”

She pushed the door open and pinned poor Yixing to the wall.

“Oh my god, all this equipment will go to waste with that sick girl? How about you and I try it out?”

“Please get out, please, you saw I am not interested”

“What will she give you? I know a lot of things I could” she added palming his crotch making him gasp in surprise.

“Don’t touch m- ah, no no no. Move away”

“Hello guys! Care if I join?”

“Baekhyun help!”

“See he is no fun, how about you and I babygirl?” Baekhyun pulled Hana away from Yixing, he paralysed her when he roughly forced his tongue in her mouth making her moan “I knew I’m more your type, I am wild just like you are”

Yixing couldn’t believe how willing Baekhyun was, but for now he needed clothes, he questioned wether to put on his own stained ones or Baekhyun’s that were being peeled shamelessly.

He took Baekhyun’s shirt and he put on his own pants and went outside leaving the horny dog take care of the situation.

He waited for your mother outside who of course wasn’t anywhere to be found, he was panicking, if you saw him right now…

“Oppa?”

He heard your voice, he had no other choice but to hide back in the bathroom.

“You like that don’t you Hana? You like me better don’t you? You were just acting outside” Baekhyun kept saying as he kissed her furiously.

She didn’t reply but just took the attack. Yixing didn’t know what to do… you were just outside.

“Yah Baekhyun-ah! Enough! ___ is outside! Help me man!”

Just then Hana had an idea and her plan would be a total success. She detached herself from Baekhyun unbuttoning her shirt, he thought she was giving more of herself, but instead she opened the door to the bathroom faking a cry.

“Unni? What-why are you? Your shirt” you asked puzzled pointing at her exposed bra, this was the first time you’ve seen such a scene.

Before she opened her mouth to reply Baekhyun came from behind closing her mouth with his hand.

“Baekhyun oppa? What is going on?” at this point you didn’t understand anything.

Hana tried to set herself free but Baekhyun held her in place.

“Why are you gaging her? Leave her alone!”

He had no other choice but to set her free.

“Hana unni?” you asked again “what is happening here?”

“They attacked me!”

“Th-they?” you asked confused.

“Yixing and Baekhyun attacked me in the bathroom”

“You whore! You liar!” shouted Baekhyun “that is not true ___, believe me, it was me and it was consensual”

You took shaky steps and opened the door of the bathroom finding Yixing behind the door breathing heavily his eyes big as orbs.

“___ this isn’t what it looks like” said Yixing “Hana had it all planned”

“Why is there lipstick on your shirt?” you asked almost whispering.

Yixing looked at his shirt in panic taking off the shirt throwing it to the floor “___! I swear it’s not-”

“Get out of my house all of you! RIGHT NOW!” exclaimed your mother.

You took a step forward placing your hands over Yixing’s shoulders surprising everyone “tell me what happened, I will believe you”

“Look at me ___, I swear I didn’t do anything”

“I believe you”

“OUT! OUT RIGHT NOW OUT!” your mother continued.

Junmyeon and Sohee followed your mother’s loud voice, it was quite a view. Junmyeon did a face palm pulling Baekhyun to leave, while Baekhyun shot Hana a death glare.

“I will get to you bitch!”

“I am amused Kim Junmyeon, I didn’t expect you to have these specimens as your friends. Does your family approve?” asked your mother.

“Let me add that I am a mechanic, a greasy filthy mechanic! You have been just almost fucked by a mechanic pretty girl!” Baekhyun said poison almost coming out of his mouth.

“This is over! Game over Zhang Yixing, now out before Changwook knows about this. I will juts say that you had broken up, now your hands away from my daughter” your mother pulled you away from him and you collapsed.

______________________

A/N: Well… I am such an angsty person, this still has a lot of drama, Yixing not giving up on her, the dad still needs to know what happened and he will keep sneaking in the house because he just is so in love…

Thanks for reading, feedback always welcomed ^_~

[dezembergirl]

Homework (Apart 5)

I fell in love with writing happy and fluffy Noorhelm, so that’s why I kinda stopped writing this story. It’s so much for emotional complex and  straight up heart breaking to write. Buuuut I got over my self and wrote another chapter.

I really hope you like it! (Also I tried to quicken the pace, so we can get to the better parts sooner.) <3 for sticking with me!

Fandom: Skam

Pairing: Noorhelm

Story: Apart

originally published at ao3

Eskild had pulled every trick - unpacking Noora’s stuffed rucksack multiple times included - to persuade her from moving. She wasn’t leaving the Kollektiv, not really; not like London. But she could assure Eskild she’d be back next weekend all she wanted, he kept pouting and begging.

She would have never presumed to ask Eva anyways, but when her friend had offered to share her room for a couple of nights until her mother returned from Brussel, Noora couldn’t refuse. The empty house was less crowded than the city flat she shared with three more or less agreeable living companions. Even Eskild couldn’t argue with the lack of beds at the Kollektiv and the past nights on the couch had left her spine aching for a real mattress.

Sprawled on Eva’s bed and a pillow tucked under her chin she scrolled through her phone. It really was a bad habit, especially since her thumb paused on William’s unanswered chat every time. It wasn’t as if she didn’t want to reply; Noora knew just how hard it was, waiting for an explanation, even a quick hi, anything but silence. She remembered the sleepless nights she had spent last spring, sulking in her own bed and alternated between praying for a single word from him and cursing William for not replying to a any of her texts. She put the phone down and leaned back against the propped up pillows.

«I hate irregular verbs.» Eva had her books and papers scattered across the duvet and pillows, struggling with a Spanish homework.

Not being back at school yet, Noora had nothing to distract herself with and there was only so much cleaning one could do. (Scrubbing the wall at seven in the morning two days ago might have taken it a step too far.) She hated the empty space in her head, it reminded her of London and all the things she had left London for. So when Eva had kept on nagging about her dropping grades, she had been more than glad to look over her essays and papers for her.

«They’re not so bad once you get them into your head.»

«Spanish doesn’t agree with me. I should have chosen German.» Eva sighed and Noora laughed.

«Because that would be any easier?»

«At least it doesn’t have the Spanish r.» to Noora’s amusement Eva tried to roll the r and failed miserably.

With a groan Eva forced her attention back to the paper and Noora continued scrolling through the chat. It read like a diary of the growing distance between them. The last ���I love you’ was weeks past and she scarcely remembered the last time he had said it to her in person. It must have been some hectic morning where he would quickly kiss her goodbye, mumble the words and disappear for the next 8 to 10 hours.

She scrolled back to his newest message.

William: Noora??

It wasn’t because she didn’t love him anymore, she still did. Maybe too much, but he had changed in ways she had barely recognized him some days. Not just because he had swopped his simple pants and fitted sweaters for perfectly tailored suits and dark blue ties that seemed to strangle all life from his body. She missed the person that had made her cocoa every other night and she could have talked about absolutely anything with at 2 am. He knew so much about her, everything there was to know - except maybe for the spelling of her name, but that was mystery even her parents hadn’t been able to explain. Eva was her best friend, the first girl she had met in Oslo, but there were things they didn’t talk about. Eva’s family was fucked up as well with her mother always traveling but until William no one had ever comprehend what it meant to have family and still not have family at the same time.

She was grateful for the things Mari had told her. It might not have been right to hear it from her but every time she had tried to ask William about it since, the pain in his eyes had made her drop the topic instantly. He had only managed to tell her how he used to play with Amalie, read her stories and would slip under the covers with her to keep the nightmares away. Noora had never known a sibling of her own but William’s choked words as he remembered his little sister mangled her heart. She had scarcely ever seen him cry before that. Mari had been right, he had perfected the art of hiding his feelings, even from her. (Had he cried now that she had left him?)

Maybe that was the problem, they were too fucked up. Or was it that William had finally found the family he had never had in Oslo. Noora had only ever met his father once, two days after they moved into the apartment. He had been there to give William something work related and had only acknowledged her with a quick nod, not waisting any time on niceties. Though she appreciated the honesty, his cool demeanor had felt especially out of place compared to William’s almost childlike excitement.

He had had daddy issues written all over him and no one, especially not his father, had ever looked close enough to care. Now that he did give him attention it had changed everything. She should have been happy for him, for finally finding some family member that showed any signs of interest, but that wasn’t was family was supposed to be. Just like her, he had probably never experienced genuine love or honest affection before, and this came close enough.

Was it because she wasn’t so sure what William would have chosen, her or his dad? Not that she would have ever posed such an ultimatum but she wouldn’t put it past his father. Maybe this was his answer, he chose London over Oslo, work over her. Noora knew it wasn’t a fare assessment, she was the one who had left and it was pathetic to think he would drop everything to chase after her the second he discovered her disappearance. (It was selfish, but every time someone knocked on the door or entered a room, she would hope it was him, just for a split second.)

She continued to stare at the unanswered message, the brightness of the display making her eyes strain. When her phone vibrated, the surprise almost caused her to drop it. Her mouth went dry when another white bubble appeared under his last one.

William: Chris told me you’re in Oslo, can you please answer

She wasn’t sure if it was good or bad that he knew where she was.

«Eva,» she looked up from her homework. «Have you told Chris that I’m back?»

«Hmm» Eva furrowed her brows, «Was that supposed to be a secret?»

Noora swallowed and pursed her lips. Eva had a point, it was no secret and explaining why William’s best friend knew more about his girlfriend than William himself was a topic she didn’t want to tackle. Eva was still twirling her pen between her fingers studying Noora, who very clearly wasn’t typing a reply to William’s text.

«If you wanna talk about it …» Eva carefully said.

«I know,» Noora nibbled at her lip. «It’s just there is nothing to talk about.»

Eva didn’t look convinced but dropped her eyes back to her Spanish homework.

For now, she hadn’t told anyone exactly why she was back. Only that everything was okay and she had missed her friends. Thankfully, no one had been bold enough to ask any more than that. Sometimes she would catch them staring, studying her face as if they expected her to collapse in front of their eyes at any second. She would have to tell them the truth at some point but for now she was grateful that Sana had stifled any tactless questions Vilde was no doubt itching to ask.

William: just please say something. I am so sorry!

Her buzzing phone send shockwaves through her body and she had trouble concentrating on the words on the screen. She was sorry too, more than he knew.

This would have been so easy if it had all been his fault, his doing alone. But the truth was complex and she knew that running wasn’t the appropriate way to deal with their problems, but staying would have killed the last bit of life in her soul. Why couldn’t he be the asshole she had seen in him a year ago, self centered, caring for none but himself and no one she could ever fall in love with?

What was worse, that she knew that he cared, maybe even more than she did - only he hid it well - or that he had stop caring about her; if he hadn’t, he hid it even better.

She knew that that was what they all assumed when they stared at her. The pity filled eyes, because surely William Magnusson had returned to his old ways and had sent her back to Oslo with a broke heart. The urge to defend him battled with the still intact peaces of her broke pride. They wouldn’t believe her, Eskild hadn’t when she had tried her best to explain how she was the one who had done all the leaving. She didn’t want to imagine the look on Sana and Eva’s faces when they discovered what she had actually done. How she had been too weak to face Nico at the trial, how she had lied to everyone and had left William with nothing but an empty apartment.

Her eyes were glued to his name on top of her screen and she had to bite back the tears. Noora wanted to scream at him, make him see all the things her head couldn't find words for and her mouth was to cowardly to pronounce. She wanted to say something, anything at all.

She couldn’t.

She wanted him here, at her side to wipe the tear from her cheek and make all of the last months undone. Instead she stared at Eva, still struggling with her essay and swallowed down the childish wishes.

They went to sleep early and Noora was thankful for a full night’s sleep in a real bed. She closed her eyes.

If he really loved her, he would come after her; maybe Eskild was right.

[cobracommanderofficial]

The Fall of Mt. Spring

Hey guys! Here’s a story I worked on during my flight to California last night! It has a pseudo-Lovecraft tone (It could best be compared to the Thing on the Doorstep) I hope you guys like it!

I know it seems like I have committed a most horrible deed, and in most other circumstances I would agree with you. However, with this note or story or whatever label you want to apply to it, I only wish to clear some things up. More specifically, I'd like to openly testify my participation in the incident that is now commonly known to the public as "The Fall of Mt. Spring", and how I acted in the just, at least from the perspective I held at the time. 

Now, I suppose I should give some background information on the whole affair, as it should signal why I was in Mt. Spring during the semi-apocalyptic week that shall forever scar our history. Now, I suppose I should start at the very beginning of this whole affair. Back when I was still in university (I've long since dropped out to pursue independent archaeology), I made the acquaintance of a fellow by the name of Edward Wallace. Now, Edward was a most peculiar fellow in several regards. For one, he was in no way ugly or unkempt, but he always exuded an aura of repulsion. Thus, he was never the most popular fellow. Second, his interests and hobbies were unique, to say the least. He spent nearly all of his free time working some sort of internship at the nuclear power station on the edge of the city. Besides that, all he really did was sleep and make others uncomfortable. Finally, his taste in music was absolutely terrible. I cannot put into words how much I despised it. One can only listen to the Spice Girls so many times before madness begins set in. However, in spite of all these overwhelmingly terrible aspects, I couldn't help but find myself fascinated with him. How could a man sustain a lifestyle such as his and not fall into a despair so inescapable that suicide is seemingly the only escape? I became the only thing that resembled a friend in his life, so presumably he spent more time with me than with any other human being. I never did develop an emotional attachment, but over time I slowly began to realize that Edward's entire perception of reality was some kind of twisted satire. He majored primarily in accounting, but wished to become an engineer full time at an atomic research center. He said both subjects took into account his worldview of total nihilism. I wondered what kind of upbringing could produce an individual as....special as Edward. So, I probed him for months about it. Alas, he remained mostly tight lipped. All that I was able to ascertain was that he was born and raised in a town called Mt. Spring, in Vermont, and that he hated it there more than anything. That was the only aspect of his childhood he would willingly talk about. How much he despised that town. How it's very existence was a threat to Edward's sanity. It was seemingly his life goal to destroy it, either physically or economically. I suppose that would explain his career choices. Now, one Saturday afternoon, I received a phone call from Edward. 

"T-Tommy. It's finally time. I'm going back to Mt. Spring. My mother has called me, and she's fallen deathly ill. The doctors think it's some kind of cancer. I want to be there for her. So, I must abandon my studies. In a couple days, you should get a package through the mail. It contains all the knowledge I have collected on possible methods via which to neutralize the threat of Mt. Spring. Guard them with your life. I'm sorry it had to end so suddenly. Perhaps one day we'll meet again. Perhaps not." 

Then, a click. He had hung up. When the package arrived, I looked through the contents with some curiosity. Inside there were three books. One was some sort of explanation of the possible weaknesses and faults in a nuclear power plant. The other was a collection of ramblings on covert government operations located in and around Mt. Spring, some of which seemed downright ludicrous in scale and purpose. Finally, a journal with a brilliant purple cover and a shining gold top. Stuck to the front of this was a Post-it note. It read 'ONLY FOR DESPERATE MEASURES. YOU'LL KNOW WHEN." These three pieces of information led me to draw one conclusion: That Edward was absolutely insane. So, I tucked the package under my bed and went on with my life. Soon enough afterwards, I dropped out of university to pursue my passion of archaeology. 

Work was slow at first, but that changed one stormy September evening. The one incident that secured my path to Mt. Spring that fateful day was also the most important day of my life: I had just discovered a fully intact ruin buried deep within the Rocky Mountains. It seemed to be some kind of holy burial site, filled with coffins and offerings. Realizing that no good would come of me sticking around, I made note of the coordinates and went to the press with my discovery. It was hailed as incredibly important, and shed light on some of the more obscure rites of one offspring of the Sioux tribe. How they got that far north, and how they survived in such harsh conditions (Most of the ruins, including the burial site, were located at some of the highest altitudes in the Rockies.) are still a mystery to us. However, my discovery helped expose at least one fragment of their seemingly expansive culture. Approximately a month after the burial site hit the news, I heard the telephone ring. I assumed it was a journalist asking for an interview, so I ignored it at first. It kept going and going and going. Eventually, more than slightly irritated, I picked up the phone. 

"Hello, this is Thomas Frost. What business do you have?" I seethed into the receiver. A familiar voice replied. 

"Thomas, it's me. Edward. I was just watching the news when I saw your name pop up. I was so surprised you abandoned theater. Say, would you like to take a visit to my place, for old time's sake? I'm not too far from Philadelphia, if that sweetens the bargain." Edward replied. Something seemed off about his voice. It seemed restrained and concerned, almost like someone was pointing a gun to his head as he said it. Moreover, I was concerned as to how he got my home phone number. Brushing it off as him having a contact or two in the journalistic industry, I spoke into the phone again. 

"Depends where and when. I would like to see you again. It has been ages." I had calmed down at this point, but I was unable to keep concern from reaching my face. 

"Oh, it's fine. I'm located at 457 East Roosevelt Drive, in Mount Spring. Also, any time works for me. I'm settled here. Not busy at all" his raspy voice replied. I almost dropped the phone in shock. He had willingly moved back into that town which so many years ago he had despised with the entirety of his being? I was most concerned. However, I agreed to his offer. I had to investigate why he had suddenly made himself comfortable in a metaphorical den of wolves. It was almost as if Ahab were to suddenly join Greenpeace and preach about whale conservation. The math didn't add up. So, the date was set. When I was packing my stuff for my week-long stay at Mt. Spring, I noticed a box sticking out from underneath my bed. It was that package from so many years before. I figured it would be a decent topic for conversation, so I added it to my luggage. After I had finished packing and locking up the house, I jumped into my used convertible and began the hour and a half ride to a place that would alter my perspective of reality forever.

 I drove past the city limits of Mt. Spring at approximately 5 pm. From the second I entered the town, I felt something was off. The architecture of every house seemed copied and pasted. When I hit what could be referred to as 'downtown', I was utterly appalled. It was entirely chain stores, without a single unique business or service offered within the whole town. I immediately understood why Edward had hated this place so much. Thus, I was even more confused as to why he willingly moved back here. After about half an hour of driving, I arrived in front of a clean cut suburban lawn. Several gnomes and flamingos had been erected around a patch of dirt, creating a defensive barrier between the petunias and whatever Nature could throw at the pitiful excuse for a garden. Otherwise, the lawn was featureless and was so vibrantly green that I nearly threw up. I walked up the cement pathway to the front door and knocked three times.

 No response. I rang the doorbell. After about twenty seconds, the door opened. A woman in her mid thirties stood before me. Her brown hair was held in a tight bun, and her piercing blue eyes were surrounded by laugh lines. On her right hand was a diamond ring, and she wore a long blue shirt with denim jeans. She took a moment, seemingly sizing me up.

 "And who might you be", she asked in a most demanding tone. I was almost too shocked to reply.

 "M-my name is Thomas Frost. I'm an old friend of Edward." I managed to sputter out. This woman's demeanor was almost terrifying. She turned back into the house and shouted, 

"Eddy, Tom is here to see you!." Slowly, a familiar gaunt figure shuffled towards the doorway. He wrapped his arm around the woman's shoulder, and I had to hold in a gasp. Standing before me was none other than Edward Wallace. However, something had changed about him. The aura of repulsion he had once carried about him had vanished. All that was left was a smiling blonde man with unusually tan skin.

 "Aaaaaaaah, Thomas. So glad you could make it. How have you been?", he asked me as we walked inside. 

"I've been fine, Ed. But I'm sure you know enough about what's happened to me recently. I haven't heard from you in almost a decade. How've you been?" I replied. 

"Ohohoh, right. You have no idea what's happened in the past 8 years. Well, I suppose I should enlighten you. But first I shall show you to the living room and prepare for us some coffee." He led me down a couple hallways, eventually opening up into a fairly luxurious den. There were three couches, a flat screen TV, and a real fireplace. How exotic. However, what caught my attention the most were the bookshelves that lined the walls. After my host excused himself to grab us some refreshments, I began to peruse the library. I figured, knowing Edward, that the books would be interesting if not totally incomprehensible. I slowly began to realize, however, as I moved from shelf to shelf, that this was maybe the most boring library I had ever seen. Nothing of any literary challenge had presented itself. It was all either bland romance novels, books on taxes and accounting and whatnot, or fiction that even a public library would be ashamed to put on display. I was so wrapped up in my judgments that I hadn't heard another figure enter the room. A shrill voice pierced the air.

 "There's an intruder! An intruder! An intruder in our house. Mama!!!" I turned around to see a girl that couldn't have been older than 7 standing in the doorway, crying. The woman from the front door quickly entered the room and began to soothe the child, promptly bringing her back to wherever she had appeared from. Almost as soon as those two had departed, Edward appeared. In his hands he clenched a silver coffee tray. We both took our seats on the couch, and he began his story.

 "Ah, well, it all began right after I arrived here. At first, I was as mortified as I had been when I was younger. I had truly hated this town back then, and now I just can't understand why. Anyways. I came to see my sick mother in the house she had bought with retirement funds. She had a brain tumor, Tommy. She wasn't going to live past November. I stayed there to comfort her. Slowly, she descended into lunacy. She began to say things about ants in her brain and how I had been right about hating this town. I simply ignored it as the ramblings of a madwoman. On November 3rd, she passed on to the next life. I was there at her funeral. It was Dios de los Muertos on that day, if you'd believe it. I went back to the house and began to pack my things when I heard a knocking at my door. A freak snowstorm had hit, and had blocked all the roads leading in and out of town. I was forced to stay there another night. Simply mortified, I couldn't sleep that night. The next day I decided to venture into town. Alas, there was nothing of interest there. Just the same chains you see everywhere. So, I began to head home. It was then that I was stopped by a simply beautiful young woman. We began to talk, and she decided to give me a gift due to the troubles the weather had caused me. It was a piece of cake. I decided there was no harm in accepting such a present, so I took it home and ate it. The very next day, I came down with a terrible fever. The young woman and her family took me into their care. They gave me medicine and clothes and made sure I didn't do anything dangerous. I had lost my sanity during those days, they said. I wrote odd things and put them in odd places. Notes addressed to my future self or something along those lines. Anyways, it seems they made sure to take most of the letters down. They feared that seeing any of them would reduce me back into the state of shock that had left me bedridden so long. I was sick for three months, Tommy, and over the course of those three months I fell in love with that young woman. Her name is Katherine, by the way. I stayed in town, in my mother's old house. We dated, fell in love, and married. I got a job doing tax returns at the local H&R Block, and Katherine worked as a painter. Soon, we bought this house. Not long after, Katherine became pregnant with Samantha. She quit full time painting to look after the kid, but she still does it in her free time. That brings us to the present. Here I am, living a happy life." 

The speech had knocked the wind out of me, to say the least. It was an absurd amount of information to process at one time. I slowly began to connect the dots while sipping my coffee. Ed went on about how I could save more money with his damn tax firm, and how he could snag me a special discount. But I wasn't paying any attention to that. I was more thinking of what had happened to Ed's mother. It reminded me of something I had read ages ago. One of the ramblings in the books Ed sent me. How they keep you in by forcing you to stay, whether through debt or through manipulating the weather or anything. They would do anything to get their hands on new test subjects. I had no idea as to who 'they' were, but I began to have frightful notions about the town around me. The rest of the day passed without event. Ed had prepared accommodations for me in the attic, so I headed up there to unpack. My lodgings had an almost frightening aura to them. Dingy, poorly lit, and wooden. Definitely not the kind of place you would want to sleep. However, I found them almost comforting. Something that wasn't a complete carbon copy. At least, I didn't think it was.

 My dreams that night were plagued with night terrors and images of demons emerging from fiery brimstone cracks. The next morning, the entire family (Me included) sat down to breakfast. Katherine had made pancakes. However, I didn't eat much. I had lost my appetite the night before. So, I made polite conversation with Edward as the fruits of the housewife's labors slowly went cold. We had decided the night before that today Ed would give me a tour of the town. So, we hopped in the silver Prius and began to explore the town. He slowly drove past the various strip malls, explaining in detail the services offered by each niche of capitalist hubris. Oddly enough, he sped by things that were far more interesting. At least to me. For one, he totally ignored a ruined house that showed signs of habitation. He sped past an unmarked cement building that emitted a bad aura. The straw that broke the camel's back, however, and the sight that made me force Ed to stop the car, was the nuclear power plant on the edge of town. 

"Hey, Ed, didn't you want to work at one of those places when you were younger?" I asked. I was genuinely curious as to why he had taken up a job distributing tax returns rather than engineering an atomic reactor.

 "Hmm? Oh, that? I was just joking around about that.", he replied almost robotically. We spent the rest of the day driving around the outskirts of town, admiring the scenery. We stopped at the local Denny's for dinner before heading back to the house for some relaxation time. While I lounged on the couch, Ed spring an unexpected question onto me. 

"Say, Tommy, you wouldn't happen to still have those books I sent you, would ya?" he said in a relaxed tone that seemed almost serious. I was filled with an immense feeling of dread. I felt like it would not be in my best interests to tell him yes.

 "Ha, I had nearly forgotten about those. Yeah, I threw em out ages ago." I tried to not sound or look concerned. Either I am a very good actor, or Ed is a better actor than me.

 "Oh, alright then." He sounded almost disappointed. I decided to head up to bed not long after. However, my sleep would not go uninterrupted. Around 2 in the morning, I awoke to loud noises coming from downstairs. I crept out of the attic, curious as to what was going on. Downstairs, I saw something most disturbing. Ed had been tied to a chair, and was struggling. Katherine was slowly injecting something into his jugular vein. I fled the scene before I could react. Something bad was going on here. I knew I had to get out of town ASAP so that I could tell the authorities. But I felt bad leaving Ed here, alone with whatever it is that's going on. I woke up early the next day. I decided first to explore the old wooden house that had raised my curiosity. I hopped into my Ferrari and drove down the winding roads until I reached the pile of wood that was at one point called a house. As I got out of my car and walked towards the ruins, I felt as if I was being watched. The hills have eyes and all that it implies. When I reached the main debris pile, I rummaged for a good hour. I had no idea as to why this place intrigued me so much. I suppose it was a guy feeling that led me there. After an hour of fruitless digging, I decided that the home was a lost cause.

 As I walked towards my car, I tripped over a pile of wood I hadn't noticed in my exhausted state. When I got up and dusted myself off, I noticed something odd. Some gleaming metal in the mass of plant matter. I decided it wouldn't hurt to check it out, and began to unbury it. No sooner had I started moving logs a trio of figures emerged from the woods in front of me. All of them seemed very old. Their eyes were possibly the most curious part about them, as they seemed to glow a golden yellow. The one leading the trio stopped the other two and began to talk. 

"Traveler, I recommend you leave this town soon. Nothing good will come of staying here. However, if you unbury that thing",he motioned towards the piece of metal,"there will be no turning back. They will not let you leave. What is it you choose?" Of course, I was immediately confused. Why was everything so dramatic and black or white? What had I done to deserve this warning? Just what the hell was going on in this town? The rational side of me reasoned the best thing to do would be to bail out of town ASAP. The archaeologist in me won over in the end, and I unburied what was now evidently a key. What it was doing here, I had no idea. I felt tired after that whole incident, and decided to head back to Ed's house. When I arrived, it was 10 am. The family had just sat down to brunch. I felt a sudden urge to ask Ed something. 

"Say, Ed, whatever happened to your mother's place?", I inquired. His face turned sullen. 

"Ah, yes. We drove by it yesterday. It was destroyed in a fire some years ago. Very sad." he returned to eating. I began to connect the dots. But now I had to be cautious. Things were getting deep. After a day of avoiding the family, I excused myself to the attic. While I was studying the key, I noticed something most peculiar about it. The material it was made out of bore a striking resemblance to the lock on the purple journal. I began to pace. What to do, what to do? Should I open it? I recalled the note. Was this a desperate measure? Ed seemed happy here. I didn't want to take that away from him. However, there was no ignoring what I saw last night. Maybe it was a kink thing? No, definitely not. I paced and paced and paced. At one point, however, I was so deep in thought I ran into a low set banister. I fell backwards, disturbing the few pieces of furniture in the attic. My impact had caused the bookshelf to fall down. I struggled to put it back up when I noticed something odd. Where it had once stood, there was a note surrounded by a rectangle free of debris. 

I decided my best option was to take it and right the bookshelf before anyone came to investigate. I waited an hour for all the noises and lights in the house to turn off. After 15 minutes of total silence, I took out the envelope. On the front, in Edward's familiar handwriting, was my name. My curiosity was piqued. Why was a letter that was evidently ancient due to it's location and state of yellowing addressed to me, when Ed claims to have forgotten about me until he saw the news report? I took out my Swiss army knife and cut it open. It read: 

Tommy, Desperate times have come upon us. I have been poisoned? No. Something? Maybe. The ruling body of this town, Thomas, they're they're they're they're. They have a hold on me and I they gavem me a fever that cake was l;acd with ssomethng. Now they have an excuse to pump me full of drugs and convert me into a goddamn pod person. ogmdman pod people are everywhere.E it kills you eventuall. It's what happened to motherr. The radio waves ithey send out from that damnable tsotne building tommy. then riado waves influnece you on once ytheyve established a footold in you mind. Don't eat the food. theyre dkeoeododestroying all my letters.i OI HOpe you dindfind this before it's too late. I mad e ap lan just in cas this thing happen. I have harbored a susopicion bou this or mnay years an and its confirmed, tommy! im not insane. i was engineeered, like this, you know. to be a repulsive monster. some experiemn by th cia or whoever the hell is running this. the books tommy. dot let me see thiem dont dont dont dont. run if you can but if you cant then fight your way out of this hellscape. i can fee l them isnide my head tommy. i hope you can sav trshis damnntown 

-the artist formerly known as edward wallace 

This letter shocked me, and fueled the growing sense of paranoia I had about my surroundings. I began to realize that if some big organization really was running this than I had no choice but to somehow put an end to this. I had no idea how. I decided the best choice would be to hide these sensitive materials in my knapsack and head to sleep. The fourth day was when I decided to take action. I ate with the family and left for town hall. Maybe I could glean some information from the official source, however biased it may be. There was practically no wait for the mayor. If Ed's crackpot theories were right, that's because the theoretical 'they' decide the emotions of the townsfolk. No unhappiness. I entered the mayor's office and took a seat. The mayor was a short and fat man with a withering toupee and a voice like sandpaper. I started off the exchange. "Mr. Mayor, what can you tell me about the concrete building on the outskirts of town? I'm a journalist and I'd like to do a report on the local sights and attractions." "Ohohoho, you can't fool me Mr. Frost. I've seen you on the news! But, I suppose I'll let this little lie slide for the sake of our visiting celebrity. Yes, that building isn't open to the public. It's some kind of radio station. You see, it's the wave of the future. A radio station that doesn't need an antennae. How wonderful. Yes, it is government owned. I believe it exists solely to test the new technology, so don't expect to tune into it. It's on a private frequency. Ultraviolet or ultraviolent or whatever those scientists call it." The mayor's phrasing disturbed me just a bit, but I figured that was the most information I would be able to glean from him. I stepped out of the building and rode out to the concrete, bunker-like structure. I began to investigate it, as it didn't have an immediately apparent entrance. However, after searching the nearby woods for half an hour, I discovered a door embedded in the ground. I tried to pry it open with my bare hands, but that was a fruitless effort. Using some nearby stones and sticks, along with that ever-handy swiss army knife, I was able to construct a pulley that managed to open the door by just a crack. Surprisingly, after it opened a bit it was as light as a feather. Truly, technology is amazing. I descended into the bunker, ever cautious of where I tread. 

This place had a bad aura about it. It was dimly lit, but I managed to make my way in the direction I believed the structure to be in. There seemed to be a series of tunnels beneath the town, leading anywhere and everywhere. It had disturbing implications that I had yet to witness. Eventually I reached directly below the structure. The mayor, it seems, had been lied to, to an extent. There was a working antennae, but it seemed to be buried underground. It was hooked up to all sorts of odd machines I couldn't possibly recognize, and I had a headache just from standing in the same room as it. That was when I noticed the security camera. I really didn't like that. I fled as soon as I saw it. Technically, what I had just done was illegal. The sun had set by the time I reached Ed's house. I noticed some black sedans parked out front, so I stopped my car several blocks away and snuck in through the back door. I saw Ed and Katherine talking to some men in black suits. I slowly ascended the stairs, checking on my belongings. The room was a mess. Everything had been turned upside down. Thankfully, I had what they wanted on me at the time. As I slowly looked around to assess the damage, I heard a shrill voice. "The intruder is back!" the little girl screamed. Great. I quickly went into panic mode. As the men in black and the rest of the Warren family began to ascend the stairs, I looked for an exit. I managed to budge the window open enough to climb out and descend the three story house. I fled my car and ran into the woods. 

The following 24 hours were a blur of adrenaline as I hid from the search parties and the spotlights and I recall being referred to as a threat to national security and labelled a terrorist and mother of god and I kept running and running. On the morning of the sixth day I awoke in a different place from where I fell asleep and immediately panicked. I was silenced by those same glowing eyed figures from before, who suddenly appeared before me. "So, I take it you've come to realize what's going on here?" the slender female asked. "Y..Yeah." "We realized that a long time ago. Before you were born. Before we were born. The experiments on Mt. Spring date back to the early days of the Cold War, if you didn't know. Besides general population manipulation, there were various experiments. Some were supposed to be psychological weapons, like your friend Edward. Some were born as laborers. Us? We were born as intelligence officers. Far too intelligent for our own good. Once we became self aware, they tried to get rid of us. It failed, of course. So here we are. In hiding. They've managed to accelerate the passage of time for us, so it shouldn't be too long before we pass on. But you. That purple goddamn notebook can put an end to all of this. Free this town, son." The leader said in an imperious tone before all 3 faded into darkness. I checked my knapsack. The key and journal were still there. I began to decipher... 

Ed had apparently planned this a long time ago: the utter nuclear annihilation of Mt. Spring. I suppose it isn't surprising, as he was a psychological weapon, but still. He played his part far too well. Using some insanely obscure psychohistory techniques, he was able to guess the entire future of the power plant on the hill for 15 years after the journal was hidden. All that was left was for me to play my part. Over the course of the day, I planned my route and strategy; luckily, Ed had already done the most difficult parts of the planning. All that was left for me to do was pull it off. I decided I'd do it the very next day. I decided to get an early night in. When I awoke, I began my journey. Avoiding patrol patterns and various sheriff's deputies, I made my way to the plant. Avoiding the guard detail was difficult if not impossible, but Ed had planned ahead for this. I just needed to get my timing perfectly right. After three hours of dodging guards and infiltrating security (A majority of that time was made up of me waiting for patrols to pass me) I made it to the central control room. Pulling out the purple notebook, I began to follow the instructions Ed gave me. It took me a good half hour to get everything done. The strain of pulling off complicated system overrides and time sensitive power shutdowns all the while avoiding any and all living beings can really take a lot out of a guy. But, finally, all was done. The only thing left for me to do was press the confirmation button after this prompt appeared

 [confirm basin destruction?] [Y / N]

 As soon as I pressed yes, a great rumbling overtook the building. I realized I had to get out of there ASAP. I began sprinting through the hallways as I heard the nuclear reactor being ejected into the valley below. Soon, Mt. Spring and the horrors associated with it would be blown to smithereens. I reached the outside of the plant and began running through the woods in the opposite direction of the town. A program installed inside the reactor's command processor began the sequence that would lead to annihilation. The most frustrating part of the whole deal was managing to disable the firewalls put in place to prevent such actions. But, it worked out in the end. I must've been about 10 miles away from the site of impact when it went up. I was knocked prone by the explosion. When I woke up, I was in custody. I was asked to give a statement. I refused. I knew there was no way in hell they would believe me. I wouldn't believe me. Besides, they were owned by the same government perpetrating those awful crimes. I was put under house arrest while they put the trial together. I know what will happen to me. I'll inevitably be found guilty, and tortured or executed or even worse. They know that I did it. So, this is my adieu to the world at large. Death is preferable to whatever they might have in store for me, experiments or otherwise. I hope that this manifesto makes it to the light of day. I'm sorry to the families of those I killed. They're at my door now. The police. I have to end it now. Goodbye. Goodbye. I'm sorry, Ed.

[yeskhanzadame11]

2009 College Football Preview

Alabama Crimson Tide After an utterly unbelievable 2008 season, which was in by no manner short on thrills, the 2009 college football season is nearly upon us. Training camps are into high gear, and the season is roughly a month away. Recently the Preseason Coach's Polls were released, with the top of the rankings looking very familiar to their predecessor. Defending National Champion Florida is sitting at number one, with Texas and Oklahoma sitting squarely behind at two and three, with USC and Alabama filling out the remainder of the Top-10. All five of these teams are loaded, and it is a very real possibility that one of these five teams will be the BCS National Champion of 2009. So with that said, let's take a look at each of the Top-25 teams, and see what 2009 may have in store for them.

1.) Florida Gators

After winning their second BCS Championship in the last three years, Urban Meyer, Tim Tebow, and the Florida Gators look to add another one to the trophy case. Doing so will arguably make them team of the decade, which most would hardly argue with. Florida has 20 returning starters, and one of the finest recruiting classes in the country, which make for another run for a title very, very possible. Their schedule isn't near ly as difficult as it was the previous year, with the only real challenge coming when they travel to Death Valley to meet LSU. Seriously though, we could be witnessing history when it's all said and done. Tebow could win his second Heisman, and the Gators could win their third BCS Championship in four years. So, 2009 could very well feel like its predecessor, because the Gators are once again the team to watch, and the team that probably won't get beat.

2.) Texas Longhorns

After defeating Oklahoma last year, the Texas Longhorns were denied a spot in the National Championship Game. As a consolation prize, they had to settle for besting Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl, which isn't bad either. However, that is the past, and Mack Brown and Colt McCoy are shooting for the moon, as they look to be playing in Pasadena come January. McCoy was outstanding last year, and is now protected by a bigger, more experienced line, which should open holes for a better running game. At times last year, McCoy had to run the ball too often, but that shouldn't be the case this year. Defensively, there will be changeover as the Longhorns lose a number of defensive linemen from a unit that accumulated a nation-best 47 sacks. With all that said though it's going to come down to the game in Dallas where their rivalry with Oklahoma will reconvene. The winner of that game will almost guaranteed a spot in the BCS Championship Game.

3.) Oklahoma Sooners

Despite coming up short in the BCS Championship Game, the Oklahoma Sooners are poised to make another run at that crown. Bob Stoops has reigning-Heisman winner Sam Bradford behind center once again, and deep backfield, the best tight end in the country, and a number of blazers at the receiver positions. The defense is back intact too, with better depth, and more experience from a unit that was the team's weakness a season ago. They allowed too many big plays in 2008, and need to be better in 2009 if they wish to get to Pasadena this January. The most important thing for stoops to attend to is the offensive line, which returns just one starter from last years group, which was scary-good. Bradford was rarely touched last year, but he might have to get his jersey dirty this season.

4.) USC Trojans

It was business as usual for Pete Carroll and the Trojans in 2008, as they won their fourth consecutive Rose Bowl, and finished in the AP Top-4 for the seventh straight season. This was tempered a bit by their loss at Oregon State, which ultimately kept them from competing for a BCS Championship. The unexpected loss of quarterback Mark Sanchez would seem like an issue, but for a program that is as loaded like USC, there are a number of very capable passers just waiting to step up. They have a very experienced, deep offensive line, and the best skill position players in the nation, so whoever is behind center should fair very well. The defense, which was historically great last season, lost a number of playmakers, particularly the linebackers, but has more than enough talent in waiting to plug the holes. The Trojans will challenge for another National Championship, but they will probably end up in their fifth consecutive Rose Bowl, which really isn't all that bad.

5.) Alabama Crimson Tide

In just his second season as the headman in Tuscaloosa, Nick Saban kept the Crimson Tide atop the BCS standings for the majority of the season. However their last two games weren't that savory. Alabama fell to eventual National Champion Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and was then embarrassed by Utah in the Sugar Bowl. What Saban doesn't have this year is an experienced quarterback, but he's got just about everything else covered. The defense will be a monster, and the skill positions, and special teams are dynamic. It shouldn't be overlooked that the Tide lost three starters on the offensive line, which was arguably the best in the nation last year. Alabama doesn't face Florida in the regular season, and another Top-10 finish is very likely for the highest-paid coach in college football.

6.) Ohio State Buckeyes

Last year was a bit of a transition for the Buckeyes, who handed the reigns over to super-frosh Terrelle Pryor early in the season. Pryor had his ups and downs, but the dual-threat quarterback is the firm starter in 2009, and its a matter of time before we start to see the consistency he lacked last season. When this happens, look out. What could hold him back is inexperience at the skill positions. Both leading receivers are gone, and punishing back Beanie Wells is too. The offensive line needs tinkering with as well, especially at left tackle. Think replacing all of that is bad, then take a look at the defense, which won't be as polished or as deep as it was last season. Let's not forget about the looming matchup with USC in the Horseshoe, for the Trojans annihilated the Buckeye's a season ago. There are also road games at Penn State and Michigan and this could be a challenging season for Ohio State. But you know what? I got a feeling that Jim Tressel and Pryor are up to the task.

7.) Virginia Tech Hokies

Could it be that Virginia Tech once again looks to be the class of the ACC? Even after a supposed rebuilding season, the Hokies were able to muster another appearance in the Orange Bowl, where they thumped Big East Champion Cincinnati. Sophomore Tyrod Tyler is the unquestioned starter at quarterback, while Frank Beamer will benefit form having 17 starters return from last year's unit. Taylor's ability to break down a defense with his feet makes us reminisce to the day's of another Hokies passer, while a deep staple of running backs should give Beamer the luxury of being able to run the ball on just about anyone. The offensive line is arguably the ACC's best as well. The only real issue for Virginia Tech is the inexperience of the defense. With that said though, they are still oozing with talent. We'll see just how good these Hokies are early because they'll open their season against Alabama in Atlanta, which is no easy task.

8.) Penn State Nittany Lions

2008 nearly became Joe Paterno's ride into the sunset, as the Nittany Lions' flirted with the number one ranking in the country all the way into late November, before they fell on the road at Iowa. Despite that shortcoming they managed to win their second Big Ten Championship in the last four years. Leadership is something that Penn State has returning this year, which is a very good thing. Dynamic quarterback Daryll Clark is back for one more season, while linebacker Sean Lee leads an always-imposing defense. The problem for Paterno could lie with the departure of three big time receivers, as well as two of his top offensive lineman. That considered, it would be unrealistic for the Lions to put up the staggering amount of points that they did a season ago. They do however have a very easy non-conference schedule, and get Ohio State at home this season as well. Look for Penn State to challenge for another Big Ten crown, with another ten-win season in the cards.

9.) LSU Tigers

Despite a season that saw them get thumped by both Georgia and Florida in ridiculous fashion, the LSU Tigers closed out their title defense with a very impressive demolition of Georgia Tech in their bowl game. From that game came the emergence of sophomore quarterback Jordan Jefferson, who will be expected to take the Tigers back to the top of the BCS ladder. His improvement could give LSU what they need to vault past Alabama in the SEC West. Les miles has the conference's best group of running backs and receivers at his disposal so expect this unit to fly. Alabama Crimson Tide The only things that could slow the Tigers down for an eventual meeting with the gators in Atlanta is the fact that they lack experience on the defensive front, and that their chief competition in the conference, Alabama and Mississippi, don't have to play Florida.

10.) Mississippi Rebels

Before Houston Nutt took the Job in Mississippi, the Rebels were winless in the SEC. In his first season, the reverend drove his team to five SEC wins, one of which came against Florida in the Swamp. They then finished up a six-game winning streak with a beat down of Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. So what will Nutt do for an encore? During that winning streak, quarterback Jevan Snead threw 16 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions. Big things are expected out of the young passer, for he is probably the best pro prospect in the nation. Snead is surrounded by a fine collection of receivers and backs, one of which is Dexter McCluster. There are also 16 returning starters for the Rebels, which might just be enough to put them in their first-ever SEC Championship Game. But then again, that just might be a year away.

11.) Oklahoma State Cowboys

Look anywhere throughout this Top-25 Poll, and you'll be hard pressed to find another team that has the firepower on offense that the Oklahoma State Cowboys have. Between quarterback Zac Robinson, running back Kendall Hunter, and wide receiver Dez Bryant, the Cowboys have arguably the best player at their respective position in the country. The problem though for Oklahoma State is that they are perennially one of the biggest risk/reward teams in the country. Yes they put up a lot of points and a massive amount of yards, but they don't play much defense, which is the primary reason they haven't overtaken Texas or Oklahoma in the Big 12 South. For example they scored 41 points against the Sooners, and still lost by three touchdowns. In fact, the Cowboys haven't finished better than 74th in the nation in total defense since 2001. With that said, don't expect them to overtake the giants of the conference until they find a way to stop their opposition.

12.) California Golden Bears

California has proven to be one of the most consistent programs I the nation since Jeff Tedford took over the job in 2002. If not for USC, they very well might have ended their lengthy 51-year Rose Bowl draught by now. With USC reloading, this may be the year for the golden Bears or maybe not. California was hit hard by the draft losing six starters to the NFL, and needs to find a quarterback. There are 15 starters coming back from a nine-win season, so there is quality depth for the Bears. Tedford has been a wizard when it has come to developing quarterbacks in the past, but Kevin Riley has yet to take the proper steps towards making Cal one of the nation's elite. He doesn't have much help in the passing game both as the receiving corps hasn't matured and lacks experience. What Tedford does have though, is arguably the most explosive running back in the country, in the form of Jahvid Best. Best averaged 8.8 yards per carry a season ago, despite dealing with injuries late in the season. He was so explosive, that he had seven rushes of at least 60 yards in 2008. If Cal does in fact overtake USC this season, best will be the catalyst. However if Riley can't take the next step forward, neither will Cal.

13.) Georgia Bulldogs

This time last season the Georgia Bulldogs were a lot higher on this list. In fact, they were the Preseason Number One in 2008. Well, that was not to be as Mark Richt's unit finished at a very respectable 10-3. Now Mathew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno are gone, leaving a number of talented players to fill the roles of the former stars. Richt has recruited well, and the offensive line is a much more experienced group than they were a year ago. The Bulldog's fortunes could rest on the arm of quarterback Joe Cox, who has had experience in the past as the starting quarterback. The defense should be strong once more, with defensive tackle Jeff Owens returning from a knee injury which sidelined him all of 2008. The Dawgs will open up the season at Oklahoma State, and will eventually have to endure the rigors of the SEC, which is no walk in the park. Still, Georgia has yet to finish outside of the Top-25 under Richt's watch; so nine wins shouldn't be a stretch for the Bulldogs.

14.) Oregon Ducks

Changeover is the theme in Oregon, as Mike Bellotti is no longer roaming the sideline in Eugene. Former offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was elevated to the position, as the Ducks look to capitalize on USC going through a change in passers (for what that's worth). Kelly's "read-option" offense has the pote ntial to be explosive, and with Jeremiah Masoli running the show, a third consecutive Top-10 finish in total offense is very possible. Masoli, who won the job amidst multiple injuries, rushed for 718 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2008, and looks to take the Ducks back to the top of the polls. What could hinder them from doing so is the fact that there are only 10 returning starters on this year's team, which is the lowest in the conference. Oregon also gets a tough test to open the season, as they travel to Boise, Idaho, to take on the 16th ranked Broncos on the blue turf. However when it comes to conference play, the Ducks will host both USC and Cal this season. Ten wins and a Rose Bowl bid could be very probable for the Ducks in 2009.

15.) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Paul Johnson's first year at the helm at Georgia Tech was truly an impressive one. He brought his famed "triple option" offense to the ACC with fantastic results. The Yellow Jackets put up ten wins in 2008, and 17 starters back on both sides of the ball, including ACC Offensive Player of the Year Jonathan Dwyer and dual-threat quarterback Josh Nesbitt. Nesbitt suffered a balky shoulder towards the end of the previous season but has looked great thus far in camp. Besides he's just as dangerous a threat on the ground as any of the other four running backs that Johnson has in his arsenal. One thing that Johnson must address however is the defensive line, which lost all four starters from a very stellar unit. If they can fill the holes left on that defensive front, we could be looking at a team that is primed to join the ranks of the nation's elite.

16.) Boise State Broncos

If not for a 17-16 loss at the hands of TCU, the Boise State Broncos would have been joined Utah as the only undefeated team in the nation. With that performance aside, the broncos averaged 49 points per game, and did so with a freshman quarterback and 11 different starting combinations on the offensive line. The experience gained by Kellen Moore coupled with continuity up front should make Boise once again one of the most prominent offenses in the country. What could stifle them though is the fact that they only have one returning starter on defense to start the season. That shouldn't be too big of a concern, for the Broncos usually just outscore all their opponents anyway. With that said, we'll know where they stand after their season-opening matchup with the 14th ranked Oregon Ducks on the blue turf in Boise.

17.) TCU Horned Frogs

Does anyone find it odd that there are there are three Mountain West Conference teams ranked in the Preseason Top-25? The winner of this conference has finished 16th or higher in the polls in each of the last 5 years, two of which they finished 2nd and 4th. Well it shouldn't come as a surprise that the first of these teams, TCU is occupying this spot. The Horned Frogs have been no stranger to the polls over the last 5 years, and look poised to be there once more. There is experience and efficiency at quarterback with Andy Dalton, and perennially one of the nastiest defenses in the nation. The Horned frogs haven't allowed more than 18.7 points and 330 yards per game in each of the last four seasons. What could hinder them though is that they only have 4 returning starters on that side of the ball, but one of them is defensive end Jerry Hughes who posted 15 sacks and 6 forced fumbles in 2008. They also get two solid no conference games to start the season, opening up at Virginia before facing Clemson in Week 3. Look for TCU to win their first MWC Championship since 2005.

18.) Utah Utes

After finishing the season as the only undefeated team in the nation, it was understandable as to why the Utah Utes had such a gripe with the BCS. They finished ranked 2nd in the nation, after overwhelming the powerful Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugar Bowl. However with great success apparently comes great departures, as Utah must replace both coordinators, their best offensive player (quarterback Brian Johnson), best defensive player (defensive end Paul Kruger), and the best combo kicker in the nation (Louie Sakoda). While they may not be BCS-caliber, they still have the potential of making headway, as they have three tough road games at Oregon, TCU, and BYU, which will go a long way in determining where they will be at the end of the season.

19.) Florida State Seminoles

With a cheating scandal hanging over their heads which could possibly cost Bobby Bowden to vacate a number of wins from a few seasons ago, their was one good thing to come out of 2008 for the Seminoles; they found a quarterback. Ponder proved to be an outstanding athlete that took to playing the position well last season, but Florida State will now need him to take the next step if they want to get back to the days of dominance in the 90's. Bowden wants to run the ball, and it looks like this season he just may have the offensive line to do it. The defense looks to be up to the school's lofty standards again, but the special teams unit leaves a lot to be desired. The Seminoles open the season up against Miami at home, and have tough road games against both North Carolina and Florida to close out the season. With all that said, 2009 is all about Ponder, and whether or not he can take this team to the next level, because if he can't, we could be looking at the end of an era in Tallahassee.

20.) North Carolina Tar Heels

With the ACC throne figuratively vacant at the moment, the North Carolina Tar Heels could be the team that vacates that position. Butch Davis has quietly built a monster, which very well could explode this season. The defense returns 9 starters, four of which comprise a defensive line that has the potential to be dominant. The Tar Heels are solid at quarterback with T.J. Yates, but must find a way to replace arguably the most explosive receiving corps in the conference, which featured first round pick Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Tate. The backfield could be explosive though. The only other real possible obstacle for North Carolina is ironically the health of Yates, who missed time last season with a broken ankle, and even suffered a thumb injury catching a Frisbee in the spring. Look for the Tar Heels to improve on their previous 8-5 campaign, but don't be surprised if Davis and company are still just one year away.

21.) Iowa Hawkeyes

After being a surprise contender in the Big Ten last season, Kirk Ferentz and his Hawkeye's must find a way to replace all the things that made them great last year. They must find a replacement for rugged running back Shonn Greene, who rushed for 1,850 yards and 20 touchdowns to lead the conference. They must also find replacements for both the interiors of the offensive and defensive lines. The defense does return 8 starters, and if they can muster the type of performance they did a season before where they held the opposition to just 13.0 points per game, then Ferentz could really have something brewing. What he absolutely needs more than anything is for quarterback Ricky Stanzi to take the next step forward, after the first-time starter had an impressive first season at the helm. Stanzi was key in IowaâEUR(TM)s upset of undefeated Penn State as he engineered the game-winning drive. How he handles more of the load this season will go a long way in determining Iowa's success in 2009.

22.) Nebraska Cornhuskers

The rebuilding process that second-year Head Coach Bo Pelini is amidst in Nebraska is proving to be a tedious one, but after an 8-4 regular season, the Huskers pulled a nice upset of Clemson in the Gator Bowl to build some momentum going into 2009. The talks of a revival should simmer down a bit, or at least until Nebraska makes it out of the first month of the season, which features games at 7th ranked Virginia Tech and Missouri. Winning the Big 12 North however is very possible for the Huskers; especially with Missouri likely taking a step back this season. Pelini will have to coax steady play out of junior quarterback Zac Lee, who is taking over for the productive Joe Ganz. Remember, Nebraska has played in only one Big 12 Championship Game in the last 10 years.

23.) Notre Dame Fighting Irish

The Irish were 7-6 a season ago, and won their first bowl game in what seems like ages. Things are definitely looking up for Notre Dame in 2009, and their ranking in this very poll is evidence of that. They may not be contenders for the BCS Title, but the Fighting Irish definitely look like they can win ten games this season. First and foremost Jimmy Clausen and the offense look like they finally have experience to put up huge numbers. Charlie Weis has the kind of depth at receiver and running back that he hasn't had since his first season with the Irish. The defense has been making strides too, as they could field possibly one of the best secondaries in the nation. However, there are question marks across both the offensive and defensive lines, where experience is sorely lacking. The kicking games are suspect as well. The overriding factor though may be the schedule; for the Irish face all of their tough opponents at home, and with the exception of USC, they're all very beatable.

24.) BYU Cougars

Last season, BYU reached as high as 10th in the polls before falling to the bottom of the Top-25 after losses to both TCU and Utah. For all the boasting that they were a Top-25 caliber team, they were a combined 49 points worse than their two superior conference counterparts. Fortunately, they have just about all of their explosive offense back intact; quarterback Max Hall, tight end Dennis Pitta, and running back Harvey Unga, who will be responsible for lighting up score boards this fall. This year they get both Utah and TCU at home, as well as Florida State, which could cement the Cougars into the Top-25 this season, and possibly give them a different destination come bowl season aside from the Las Vegas Bowl. They will however, get a test of epic proportions to start the season as they take on 3rd ranked Oklahoma on a neutral field in Arlington, Texas.

25.) Oregon State Beavers

After pulling the upset of season in knocking off number-one ranked USC, the Oregon State Beavers fell one game short of their first Pac Ten Title since 2000. In 2009 for the Beavers to contend, they will have to rely on their offense, and the game-breaking talents of twin brothers Jaquizz and James Rodgers. These two tailbacks are electrifying, and are the prime reason why they were able to upset the Trojans last year. There is however a bit of a quarterback controversy brewing in Corvallis as Sean Canfield and Lyle Moevao battle it out. The offensive line will be revamped, but the real questions are on defense, where there are only three returning starters. Rebuilding a defense tends to lead to trouble, and the Beavers must replace their entire secondary. There will also be three new defensive lineman on the front as well, so the defense could be a major detriment for the beavers in 2009.

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