#i just think super strength works well for him considering him like...punching holes in boxes with his fingers and stuff

[shitfics]

"My date stood me up, can you come pick me up?" Jinkibum;; i'm glad you're back! 💚 And i hope you're better rn. I'm another one that have the notifs on because I really like your fics/prompts. Thank you for sharing what you write again ;;;;

Thank you so much bb!! That really warms my heart. ;-; And sorry this one is coming a bit late, it ended up longer than I thought it would and I’ve been real unfocused lately. Things are definitely better than they were, but they’re still a bit rougher than I realized. ^^; 

I hope you enjoy this!! (If you can’t tell, this is 100% inspired by the incredibles because I saw it the other weekend.)

-------

It takes a few dozen rings to get through.

“This is Kibum speaking.”

“My date stood me up. Can you come pick me up?”

The other end of the line crackles. “...Jinki? Is that you?”

“Yeah.” Jinki runs a looped finger around the ribbed wire of the payphone. “I’m at that breakfast dinner near the highway.”

“The one with the shitty coffee?”

He laughs. “That’s the one.”

“I’ll be there in a bit.”

The line goes dead with a click. Jinki sets the phone back on the receiver and sighs. He knows Kibum will come for him, but he wishes hadn’t gotten into this situation. He should have given up on his date and taken the last bus.

But the stupid part of him -- the desperate part of him, if he’s honest with himself -- had to hope that maybe the other man was just late. So he’d stayed. And now he’s stuck on the opposite end of the city from his apartment.

He takes a seat against the side of the now-closed diner and lights a cigarette to pass the time.

The researchers that’d run tests on him back when heroes were above-ground had never told him if his freakish strength and sturdiness came with an immunity to the shit in them, but it’s not like he would’ve quit anyway. The habit is one of the few things about himself he can consider normal, and it’s hard not to be attached to that. Especially in recent years.

When he sees the dual headlights of Kibum’s bright blue car pulling into the parking, he stomps out the light and tosses the butt in a nearby trash can.

“Thanks for coming to get me. I know it’s late.”

“Don’t worry about it -- anything for an old friend.” Kibum smiles at him widely. When Jinki settles into his seat, he can see that Kibum isn’t clothed in his daring fashion -- instead of a tight-fitting dress-shirt, he’s clothed in a plain pink house robe, over a set of loose cotton pajama pants.

He feels a pang of guilt. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“Of course not. You know I always draw at night.”

Jinki laughs. “Yeah.”

Kibum rolls out onto the street and enters the highway for the direction of Jinki’s apartment, already knowing where to go. The engine revs sharply as they gain speed -- Kibum’s flashy sports car really was something else -- but quickly settles into a steady rumble. It’s then that Kibum decides to speak again.

“Do you know why they stood you up?”

“I have a guess, since we met through a friend of a friend. He probably heard along the grapevine that I had powers.” Jinki sighs. “I swear, everyone gay in this city already knows...”

“It’s a small community. Things travel like that.”

“You’d still think at least one person wouldn’t care. It’s not like we’d have to worry about having children.”

Kibum snorts. “Don’t worry about it so much. You’re young and handsome; you’ll find someone.”

He turns to look at Kibum, expecting a follow-up joke. The lights over the highway give him only an intermittent and dim view of Kibum’s face, but Jinki can see his words were genuine.

He smiles slowly. “You think I’m handsome?”

“I’m just stating facts,” he says, hand tightening on the wheel. He glances at Jinki sidelong, then looks away quickly, back at the road. “...But I do, yeah.”

Jinki shifts in his seat, suddenly unsure what to say. He’d known Kibum liked men from the moment they met, and at first he’d been interested -- but he pushed that down when Kibum treated him with nothing more than professional distance.

Things had changed, though. Kibum knew his alterego -- had to, since it was the only legal identity he had anymore -- and they’d become friends. Why couldn’t that change again into something else?

The old warmth in his chest that would bloom when Kibum’s hands traveled over him to take measurements feels just in reach. He wants more of it again, and not just for nostalgia.

“Would you want to come up for a drink, once we’re back at my place? I splurged on some good whiskey recently.”

“I’m not stupid, Jinki. I know what you’re really asking.”

“I’m not good at being subtle, I know,” he says. “...But what do you say?”

Kibum finger taps rapidly against the leather cover of the wheel for a moment before he answers. “Look, if you’re just lonely--”

“I’m not,” Jinki says. “I was interested in you before.”

“You never seemed like it.”

“We met through a government program. You think I was going to make a move on you when there were agents there every time I tried on a new supersuit you made?”

“You have a point,” Kibum admits, lips pursed.

He brings his car to a stop in the lot of Jinki’s dingy apartment complex, and after shifting into park, stares at Jinki appraisingly. The light of a passing van travels over his face, and again, Jinki gets a brief insight into Kibum’s feelings -- there’s hope and want in his eyes, but his jaw is set with tension.

“If we do this, and it doesn’t work, I’m not sure how easy it’ll be for me to go back to being friends.” He licks his lips, clearly nervous. “I want to make sure you’re aware of that.”

“I’m willing to take that risk, if you are.”

Kibum’s mouth quirks, a bit of vulnerability falling away to be replaced with his usual confidence. “I drove across the city at two in the morning to just give you a ride home. How much more obvious can I make it that I’m willing to do stupid things for you?”

Jinki grins. He reaches a hand across the car and places it on Kibum’s thigh. “I can think of a few ways, maybe.”

Kibum peels it away, brow raised in amusement. He leans in towards Jinki, who closes his eyes, heart fluttering in anticipation for their first kiss -- only to feel breath against his lips as Kibum does nothing more than speak.

“You owe me that drink first.”

[hermits-that-craft]

Area 77 : Counter - Chapter One

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25251397/chapters/61214353

“You have an alien too?” Scar asks, smiling at Doc as he tries not to giggle.

“Wait what do you mean by ‘too’?” Doc asks, confusion clear in his voice “Wha-”

“Oh I have one.” Scar shrugs, as though aliens are the most normal thing a person could have. Perhaps they are the most normal thing a vex can have, but Doc’s head is spinning.

“What?” Doc’s voice can’t contain the amount of sheer confusion that he has.

“Yeah.” Doc shuffles besides the desk, sending a quizzical look Scar’s way. “Yeah I’ve had him for basically the whole season.”

“The whole season?” Doc’s voice is incredulous now. “What do you mean ‘the whole season’?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one, he lives out in the jungle.” Doc freezes at that, memories of the nHo come crashing through his mind, though they are unwelcome. Scar’s voice is innocent, he can’t have known that the nHo died because of-

“Can you take me to it?”

“Sure!” Scar smiles, leading Doc out of the giant Scar head. They fly over the server, before the smell of smoke hits Doc’s nose. Scar banks, leading Doc down towards the fuel fire. The fires are small, contained, and provide some small amount of warmth against the cool night air. Mobs rattle around, and Doc hisses to a creeper that had started to approach them.

“Alright, you meant this jungle?” Doc asks, relaxed. Of course it wasn’t the season five jungle - they had left that world - but Doc still had some fear around it. Jungles have always had fog, now he can’t trust that it's natural.

“Yes.” Scar hisses, rubbing his left arm. “This is where we had our, uh, rapid deceleration from the atmosphere.” Scar points to a small wooden cage, hanging precariously from a chain. “And this is where it originated from.”

“Oh.“ So the alien came from season five. Doc doesn’t know what to say about that, but the worry and fear creeps up his throat like vines like water. “So, does it have a name?”

“Oh, no.” Scar doesn’t seem worried, almost at home in this environment. “It’s just my pet, we can name it later if you want.” The vex doesn’t seem to care about the danger it holds.

Scar’s talking to Doc, but Doc can’t hear him. An eerie howl echoes through the jungle, one that Doc recognised, one that he wishes he didn’t recognise.

“-Think he can read minds. But thats okay!” Scar hands Doc a helmet, and Doc puts it on, holding his diamond helmet in his hands.  Scar hands Doc a trident as well, claiming precautions.

“You lead the way.” Doc’s voice is quiet. He doesn’t want to see Scar’s alien, no matter what Scar says about it being nice.

“It’s a little bit of a hike. Just a hike through the woods. Doc he’s super nice, well, if you have meat that is.” Scar giggles to himself, and Doc worries about Scar’s mind. If the alien can read minds, perhaps it could control them as well? “But just stay behind me. It’s totally safe! But uh, stay behind me.”

They walk up a small set of stairs, the well trodden path leading towards the mouth of a cave. Doc shivers, wishing that the sun would come out. He wraps his torn lab coat around him, wishing that he had the layers that Scar wore.

“So you’ve kept it here for almost a year now?” Doc asks, breaking the silence.

“Yeah!” Scar smiles. “He’s my friend. Now the plan was that if he got away we’d have to eliminate him-”

“We?”

“Cub and I. But I just couldn’t get rid of him, he’s too cute! He’s my friend.” Doc wonders if Cub knows that Scar had kept the alien alive, deciding on a definite ‘no’. “He’s down here.”

Scar leads Doc to a hole, going deep down into the ground. Doc gets a sick feeling in his stomach, gripping the trident tighter as he walks towards the lip of the cave. The feeling only grows worse as he spies some bones down there, blood on the dirt floor and a head.

Etho’s head.

God, Doc prays that it is decoration. That Scar gave the alien a toy, one of the fake heads. Etho disappeared almost a year and a half ago, and Doc stumbles back from the ledge, though sickening curiosity urges him back to it.

“Here, let me throw down some food. Lure him out.” Scar offers, throwing down some raw steak. A white creature dashes across the cave, grabbing the steak and Doc turns, running out of the cave.

“Oh my god.” Doc chants, over and over again, trying to calm himself down. That creature killed the nHo. That was Etho down there. Scar and Cub brought it here ?

“Doc, are you alright?” Scar’s voice is gentle, and Doc can’t bring himself to care about the danger that Scar’s alien poses. He has to be strong.

“It has to be contained, Scar. I would like to bring you into area 77 as the builder of the facility.”

Luckily for Doc, Scar agreed to his proposition.

---

The building was going smoothly, or as smoothly as it can when no blocks have been placed down. Scar was wandering the terrain, Doc following him so that the vex wouldn't fall down a hole or walk into a tree. Scar was humming to himself, a tune that Doc doesn't recognise, and he was sketching while he walked, designs of hangar bays and runways for planes, occasionally showing Doc the sketches. Doc doesn't mind the drawings, if he was truthful the vex put his drawings down too much, and he green lights most of the drawings, though a few look too hard to build, or too gaudy. Scar finds an area that he likes, not too far from where the aliens are kept, and begins to place down blocks, his sketchbook abandoned in favour of placing down the outline for the building. Doc leaves him to it, leaving area 77 to gather some materials, Scar sending him out with requests for a monumental amount of stone and dirt after he found Doc watching him build.

Doc arrives back, the cool twilight air brushing against his skin. He shivers in the cold, wishing once more that his coat was thicker, and finds Scar. The builder sits down on a chest, his jacket abandoned and a bottle of water in his hand. Scar's coated in sweat, and Doc realises with slight guilt that Scar had been building through the hottest part of the day.

"Hey Doc!" Scar calls, picking up his jacket and walking over to the creeper. "Did you get everything?"

"Yes." Doc smiles, showing Scar the shulker box of smooth stone. "Are you-"

"Great!" Scar takes the shulker off of him, carrying it with ease to the monster of shulker boxes in front of the frankly massive chest monster that popped up. Doc steps back, talking in a breath as he looks over the building. It looks amazing, the build looks nearly exact to the picture that Scar drew, and Doc looks on in amazement at Scar.

"This is amazing my dude." Doc praises, and Scar blushes, punching Doc's arm.

"It's nothing, not done yet. I'm going to expand the inside." Scar brushes off the compliments, but Doc doesn't want to have any of that.

"It's still amazing. I'm glad that I asked you to help out, I don't think anyone else would have done as good of a job as you did."

"Aw, Doc," Scar waves him off. "that's sweet. Anyways, you haven't shown me your aliens. I've been dying to meet them."

"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." Doc laughs, and Scar joins in.

"So, do I need a tinfoil hat or are they unable to read minds?" Scar teases, walking over to Doc's side. "Now I follow you through a forest at night. The hermits are going to create scandals out of this."

"The hermits will create scandals out of anything." Doc smirks over his shoulder. "Now, I'm going to just come out and say this, my aliens are cuter than yours was so don't feel too jealous."

"I bet they're hideous." Scar smirks, following Doc into the garage. "Oh god, I was right."

"Excuse me?" Doc asks angrily.

"They're so ugly Doc, look at those eyebrows!" Scar's voice is jovial, and he's clearly joking.

"Don't look the kids in the eyes." Doc warns, suddenly realising that he forgot to tell Scar about that.

"Kids?" Scar asks. "Are you breeding them Doc?"

"That's above your clearance, Scar." Doc winks, and Scar snorts.

"So you are breeding them. I hope there's a good reason that's under my clearance , Doc."

Doc notices the aliens, watching them out of the corners of his eyes. They seem to be extremely interested in Scar, and they watch the builder as he laughs. Scar turns, and panic seizes Doc as Scar makes eye contact with one of them. The alien grins, and Scar screams.

The scream is haunting, echoing not only through the room but through Doc's mind. Scar's hands reach over his eyes, as though he's trying to scratch them out, and Doc goes to grab him, but the builder begins to glow. Doc's arm falls as he watches, as helpless as he was in season five, as another one of his friends seemingly dies. A glowing white line appears, as though it was dividing Scar into two. The line waves and the aliens laugh as Scar's body begins to split into two, at the head. A new head appears, and both of Scar's heads scream as Scar is split into two.

The two Scar's drop and Doc lunges over to him - to them - and he picks them both up, taking them outside. One is clearly the original, in Scar's normal clothes sans the jacket that still lies on the floor of the garage, but the other is different. Stranger.

He wears a military outfit, and Doc notices the badge that designates him a captain. He looks angry, even asleep, and Doc dubs him Captain Angry Eyebrows until he can learn the second Scar's name, if he even has a different name.

Doc sits, watching as the two men breath, and he messages the group, too out of it to even consider privately messaging Cub and Xisuma. The sounds of rockets break the unnatural silence - even the mobs were avoiding this place - and Xisuma and Cub land. Cub frowns deeply at the sight, though Doc can see the fear on his face, and Xisuma gasps, quickly walking over to Scar and Captain Angry Eyebrows. More rockets sound, and Doc looks up to see Stress and Joe land, the ice queen holding potions in her hands, while Joe holds bandages.

"They'll need strength potions love." Stress says to Xisuma, and Joe turns his attention to Doc.

"You need sleep." He says. "You're clearly stressed over them. C'mon, lets get y'all to the village."

Scar groans, sitting up and rubbing his arm, and Doc feels wide awake. Scar looks around for a second, frowning at the amount of people around.

"What's going on?" He asks. "My stabilisers didn't break, did they?"

"No Scar, you were cloned by aliens." Xisuma says plainly, though everyone winces at the tiredness in his voice. "Doc panicked and told the group chat."

"Oh, was that all?" Scar smiles at Doc. "I thought it might be something serious."

"You are going to be the death of someone." Cub shakes his head, breathing a sigh of relief. "Probably Doc or I."

"Now, why would you say that?" Scar giggles, standing up shakily. Doc and Cub both help Scar up, though Scar brushes them off as quickly as he can. "I'm the least safety adverse of us all! I always make sure to stay safe!"

"He's going to be the death of all you guys." Stress giggles. "Well, I'll be heading off, you flying my way Joe, Xisuma?"

"Yeah, I'll come back with you." The admin says, and Joe sends a sly smirk to Cub.

"Why of course I'll accompany you, Stress and Xisuma." Joe smiles, and the three hermits take off. Cub frets over Scar for a moment, and Scar laughs. Doc relaxes at that, helping Captain Angry Eyes up as he wakes.

"Who are you?" He asks, his voice gravelly. He sounds confused, almost scared, and Doc half wants to go into the garage and beat the aliens for doing this to Scar, but he convinced everyone that the aliens left. "Where am I?"

"I'm Captain Doc. That's Captain Scar over there, with Cub." Doc points at the men, and Scar perks up, turning to look questionably at Doc as he hears the words 'captain Scar'. "You're in area 77. Do you have a name?"

"I'll think of one." Captain Angry Eyebrows says quietly, before yawning. “Can I sleep here?”

“I’m sure that I’ve got a spare bed, I’ve been staying here as well.” Doc offers. “Scar, do you want to stay here as well?”

“No, I’ll head back to my base.” Scar says, waving. “I’ll see you guys in the morning, I can’t wait to finish up the bunkers!”

Cub and Scar fly off into the sky, and Doc smiles, waving them both off. Scar and Cub both wave at Doc, before rockets spam and they disappear over the horizon. Captain Angry Eyes hums a note, seemingly deep in thought, when a small explosion goes off.

“Wanna go check that out?” Doc asks, turning to the clone. Captain Angry eyes grins, and Doc gets the feeling like the captain will be beneficial to the collection of potentially dangerous items. Not so much theft as it is forceful borrowing, and Doc knows that Scar won’t be pleased with this in the morning.

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

Those Comics | Chapter One

Marvel/DC crossover x reader Warnings: Swearing and reallllllly, reallllllly bit of Angst (not really) Word count: 3353  Summary: When a sparring session with Wanda goes wrong, you find yourself in a really familiar, but still strange place... Series: You’re here | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

"Why are you always reading those comics? Don't they get boring after some time?" Tony asked coming into the living room where you sat upside down on a fluffy, grey armchair, reading the Gotham Academy comic that you've already read thousands of times. "I'll stop reading 'those comics' when you stop listening to AC-DC," you replied with a smirk on your lips, not looking up from the page you were currently on. "That-...That's not the same thing," he defended himself. "Yep, it is," Peter interfered from the bar in the corner in the room, where he worked on his Spanish-homework. With your eyes on the graphics in front of you, you didn't see how Tony mouthed 'Traitor' at Peter, but Peter just shrugged. You were like his older sister and he would always stand behind you, no matter what. "But...you're a superhero yourself and you live in a building full of other superheroes. Why do you need to read about them?" Knowing that you couldn't continue reading in peace you set the comic down and teleported it into your Bookshelf. "I always loved it. It was the only thing I cared for besides my lab and...after the incident...Well, I just wanted to have a little bit normality," you said, looking at the ceiling. Tony knew better than to say anything. Every Avenger knew that talking about the 'incident' is an absolute no-go. Back when you were only 18 years old, only a few months after getting your first job at one of America's finest Laboratories, your whole life changed. You tried to impress your new employer and so you did everything in your power and managed to get blood samples of Captain America, Black Widow, Spider-man and even a little sample of Hulks blood and you had an explicit plan for them. No. You didn't want to create a superhuman who'll be able to destroy something, you just wanted to help people. You knew that all the heroes you had blood from had a faster healing capacity than the average human and you wanted to use this, but you were stupid and tried to do it alone. Long story short: Something exploded, you inhaled some stuff, you changed and now you have the typical super soldier powers (Strength, speed and fast healing) and, because of a little big bang that happened when the blood cells of the different heroes mixed and started to attack each other + heat + science, the power to teleport yourself and other things/people. After that, you got recruited by Natasha Romanov and since then you're a part of the Avengers and a part of the family. You considered Tony a father because he was always there for you and would move heaven and hell for you, Natasha a mother, because she'd never doubt you and would support you when you needed support, and Peter, Wanda, Pietro (and Shuri) your siblings. Of course, the rest was also family, but your relationship with those was especially strong. Tony cleared his throat beside you and you noticed that you spaced off. "Did you say something?" you asked him, raising your eyebrows. "Yes. I don't think it's healthy to sit with your head down for so long," he said with a hint of concern in his voice. Rolling your eyes, even though your head indeed began to hurt, you rolled yourself off of the armchair and stood up, glad that you weren't dizzy. "Miss Y/L/N, Miss and Mister Maximoff want me to tell you that they hoped you'd join training today," surprised you FRIDAY. You huffed, but answered: "Tell them I'll be there in five." You winked at Tony, who only chuckled and sat down, and went over to Peter to give him a kiss on his cheek. "When you're finished, you can take yourself a piece of the apple pie in the fridge-" you thought for a moment, "-you know what take two and give one to May. Greet her from me." Peter hugged you and said: "Will do. Go easy on Wanda and Pietro." "No promises," you giggled and teleported yourself into your room to put on your training clothes. 

Three minutes later you stood in the training Area, surveyed by Clint and Natasha, besides Wanda and Pietro, stretching yourself. "We'll start with 10 rounds," stated Natasha, which earned her a laugh from Piet, a chuckle from you and a groan from Wanda. As the only one without physic-enhancing-powers, she obviously had the most problems with that. All three of you went into the starting position when Natasha added: "For Wanda." Pietro and you looked at her confused, but she continued with a smirk: "10 rounds for Wanda, 25 rounds for Y/N and 100 rounds for Pietro. Friday counts." Now Wanda was the one to chuckle and you and Pietro the ones to groan. "Start," Nat shouted and all off you started. After two minutes Pietro wasn't visible anymore, you were already two and a half rounds in and Wanda just finished the first half of her first round, already looking exhausted. You finished your 25 rounds in seven minutes as the first, which was mostly because Pietro tried to cheat and Natasha gave him 50 extra rounds. He finished a few minutes after you and Natasha allowed Wanda to stop earlier because the young woman was already breathing heavily, while you and Piet didn't even break a sweat. When the young Sokovians breath calmed down, you once again stood in a line with Nat in front of you. "Now we're going to do some sparing. Powers are allowed, but nothing that could have serious long-term consequence." she stepped back and motioned at the boxing ring in the middle of the room, "Wanda against Y/N. First one on the floor loses." The both of you made your way in the ring and stood opposite each other with smiles on your lips. "Good luck," you winked at Wanda. "I'm going to need it. I've got a feeling that you won't go easy on me today," she chuckled with a hint of worry in her voice. "You're right," you said and immediately teleported behind her kicking in her knee-pits (not with your super-strength). She almost fell but used her powers to lift herself off of the ground and turned around in the process. What she didn't expect was that you already expected that and threw a punch directed at her face. Wanda lifted her hands trying to shield her face and the second your skin touched hers the red energy from her body wandered over to you. Everything around you blurred out and you could only remotely hear a gasp and your name being called. Panic and fear filled your head and you felt like you burned from the inside. The only thought that swam around in your head was that you wanted to be somewhere else. As far away as possible. And it seemed like your body fulfilled your wish because a second later the fear and panic was gone. You must have teleported yourself away. It took you a second to realize what was happening. You were falling. Fast. A look down told you that you were falling straight down onto the ground, but it seemed like you were still pretty far away. What only meant that you'd get faster, until you reach the fastest falling point and, considering your approximate height, would most likely start burning, because of the friction. And if that wouldn't happen you would definitely splash on the ground, hopefully not killing someone in the process. Maybe you would even survive those things. You hadn't tested the limits of your healing powers yet and you didn't plan on doing so now. You felt your body getting hotter and you could basically hear your life-count tick. You'd only had one idea. Use your teleportation. You closed your eyes and concentrated, but because you didn't know how high you were, you could only guess. A second later you reopened your eyes to be greeted by the ground being much closer. But still too far away for a human to survive, but before you could do something, you felt your body hitting the floor. You groaned in pain, while you lifted yourself off of the ground. A look at yourself told you that you had barely any wounds, but left quite a crater around you. "Shit," you mumbled and picked yourself off of the ground. Your whole outfit and most of the rest of your body was full of dust and earth. Your gaze wandered around the area around you. You've never seen this place. A few meters away stood a huge building that looked pretty old and you were thankful that you landed in the park behind it. Or was it the garden? You didn't know. With a huge leap, you jumped out off the hole and took your stark-phone out of your pocket. Since crashes weren't unusual in your 'job', Tony and Shuri together modified the normal stark-phone with Vibranium to make it basically indestructible. You turned it on and tried to call Nat to tell the others you were okay; only to hear a record of FRIDAY saying: "I'm sorry, but it seems like you have no connection. Please try again later." Confusion filled your eyes. No connection on a stark-phone? That was like saying: No water in a swimming pool. Weird... You put the phone back into your pocket and started to walk towards the old house- If someone lived in there they would've most likely heard the crash- and the nearer you came to it, the clearer you could hear different male voices discuss anything. You tried to find out where the voices came from and guessed that the people speaking came around the house. Your Avengers instinct took over and you teleported yourself on top of a huge tree that stood beside the path that leads around the house. "I bet it's one of the supers and they need our help with something," spoke a male voice. "As if. Clark and the others know how to use a phone," said another voice that sounded slightly younger. "TT. Could we hurry up a bit? If we continue to be so slow, whoever crashed in the backyard, will be gone," yet another voice said, but this person was definitely a child or a young teenager. "Calm down Demon-spawn." Wait...Demon-spawn? Somewhere in your mind, a little bell ringed, but you couldn't remember what your mind tried to tell you. The four people who talked finally came around the corner and all four looked similar (and kind of familiar). They all had black hair (except for one of the two older ones, who had a white streak in his hair) and were buff...well, as buff as they could be for their age. Two of them looked like they were in their (really) early twenties, one looked around 15/16 and the last one looked like 12. If you had to guess, you'd say they were brothers. Maybe they could tell you where you were. You jumped down from the three, superhero-landing for the win, and cleared your throat. The boys turned around immediately. "Hey...äh...sorry about the crater in your garden...that's kinda my fault. Could you boys tell me where I landed?" you asked with a nice smile on your lips. The boys changed their stances and you recognized them as fighting stances. "Guys, believe me, you don't wanna fight me. I got here by accident and I don't plan on staying long. I'd just like to know where I am, so that I know how long the way back home is," you said, but also shifted your feet into a more fighting-like position. "Who are you?" asked the guy with the white streak while he narrowed his eyes. "I'm Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N. And you?" you answered, trying to stay positive. Now a look of confusion made its way onto the faces of the boys. "You...You don't know us?" the 15-year-old asked with one eyebrow raised. "Ähm. No. Sorry. As I said, I'm not from here." You shrugged your shoulders and tilted your head to the side, "Should I?" "We're the sons of Bruce Wayne. Everyone in Gotham knows who we are," said the youngest one and you couldn't help but start to laugh. Completely out of breath you laughed: "The...The sons...Of B-Bruce Wayne," before you started to laugh again. You looked at them, still giggling, before you turned serious and asked: "No, seriously. Who are you guys?" All of them looked at you like you were crazy and the youngest repeated: "The. Sons. Of. Bruce. Wayne." Your eyes wandered over their faces, searching for a hint of sarcasm, but they found nothing. "You...You're serious?" you asked, while the bell in your head ringed louder and louder. The old house, The 'Supers', Clark, Demon-Spawn, The sons of Bruce Wayne...could it be? Before someone could answer your question, you pointed to the one with the streak. "Jason?" He nodded and your finger wandered to the next grown up. "Dick?" He did it like Jason and nodded. The next person was Tim and the kid was Damian. When you found that out, you buried your hands in your hair. "Oh Shit, Oh Shit, Oh Shit. That's not possible. I can't be here. That shouldn't happen. That can't happen," you rambled and started to pace in front of the Waynes, who all looked at you like you were crazy. You stopped and opened your arms in a sweeping gesture. "I can't be talking with three freaking ex- and the current Robin," you whined, but immediately slapped your hand in front of your mouth. If the comics were right than the Batfam was really sensitive when it came to their secret identities. You were right, then a second later Jason rushed over to you with a raised fist, ready to fight. "Really?" you mumbled and dodges his punch, grabbing his arm and sweeping his feet away with your right foot. When he laid groaning on the floor, you turned to his brothers. "You know, fighting me is-" you started, but got interrupted by the other three who now came at you. Tim came from the left and Dick from the right, while Damien came from the front. You rolled your eyes and teleported yourself away, which ended in the three off them running into each other and landing groaning on top of Jason. "-Useless," you finished your sentence, leaning against the tree you sat in earlier. Damian was the first one to stand again and without hesitation, he came at you. "I know you got trained by the league of assassins and everything, but you're not the only one who had some bad-ass-trainers," you said, which made him stop for a second. You shrugged. "Ever heard of the Avengers? Are we the comic characters here?" Now Damian stopped completely and Dick, Tim and Jason stood also up beside him. "You mean the superhero-group with the rich guy, the Monster and the spider-dude?" Tim asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "First off; Yes. Second: Bruce isn't a monster, the spider-dude is called spider-man and it's not like your father isn't also a rich superhero dude. The only difference is that Tony doesn't hide his identity and that he's way more fun to work with." "So...you're saying that you're an Avenger, and with that, a comic character," asked Dick again. "Yep. You maybe know me under my superhero-pseudonym: Glitch. I'm the girl that tried to help people and got caught in a laboratory-accident which ended in me having powers..well-" you scratched your chin, "-now that I think about it there are at least twenty heroes in both of our universes that have that kind of story...Flash, Bruce also somehow..." You stopped yourself and shrugged. "But back to the topic. I was training with Wan- well you most likely know her as scarlet which, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Quicksilver. Things escalated a little bit and I kind of teleported myself here," you tilted your head again and mumbled: "I never knew that I could teleport between Universes." You turned to the boys again and saw the confusion in their faces, which soon turned into a smirk on Tim's lips. "You're Glitch. I love your comics. There was such a hype when you revealed that you're Pan," he squealed and you scratched the back of your neck. "I only told that my closest friends..." "Yeah, but it was in the comic and with that everyone who reads it knows it." "Great," you mumbled and rubbed your temples. "Why are you telling us all that?" interrupted Jason before Tim was able to freak out again. You smirked and shrugged. "I'm a fan of your stories and I made sure to know kind of everything about you and your universe, so I guess it's only fair if I'm honest with you." "So...are you able to teleport yourself back to your universe?" Damian asked a little bit grumpy, not caring for your statement. "I don't know...but I can try." You took a deep breath and closed your eyes concentrating on your home. You reopened your eyes and looked around and saw the boys still looking at you. "Nope. Maybe Universal-jumps need more energy...I'll try again later-" your eyes widened in hope, "-Can you introduce me to the justice league?"

(In the Marvel Universe, shortly after you disappeared)

"What have I done?" Wanda sobbed with her face in her hands while Pietro patted her back, also with tears pricking in his eyes. Both of them and almost all of the other Avengers were gathered in the main lab, while Bruce and Tony tried to locate you with the help of multiple satellites. After they had finally managed to defeat Thanos and bring back all the victims of the snap, becoming stronger as a team while doing so, all of them were kind of reliant on you. You were the one who kicked their ass when they started doubting themselves, and you were the one who held them when they cried or panicked about the whole freaking situation, never letting your shell burst in the process. You somehow became the heart of the Avengers. That was why everyone was on edge when Nat told them what had happened. They all worried about you since you normally teleported back in a matter of minutes, but now you've been gone for almost half an hour, and no one had an idea where you could be. "Anything on the Satellites?" asked Carol who was practically buzzing with energy. "No. Nothing, not even a trace. It looks like she isn't even on earth," Tony sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Do you mean, she's on another planet?" asked Thor who was practically buzzing with energy. "I am saying, that I have no fucking clue where she is!" exclaimed Tony loudly, making most people in the room flinch. It wasn't usual for Tony to freak out like this, he was always calm and tried to make everything funny, but all of them knew how worried he was about you. After he had lost Peter, even though he came back, his mind played games with him, making him worry about losing one of his un-official kids again. "We'll find her, we need to," Carol said, laying her hand on Tony's shoulder to reassure him. "I'll go and ask some of my intergalactic contacts if they know something." She said, before nodding at the rest of the Team and jumping out of the window, flying towards the sky. "I'll see if I can find some spells to search her," Stephen announced and disappeared through one of his portals. One after one they all made their way to either find you or to save people, since they all know, that you wouldn't want them to neglect the people who needed them until only Tony was left in his lab, looking at a picture of you on his holo-desk. "Where are you?" he mumbled to himself, his glance wandering to the window, where the sun was slowly dawning. He had no idea of the adventure that was coming towards him and his family.

[fullmetalirin]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Battle with Sloth (OG 46-47)

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 46: "Human Transmutation"

Tucker makes a deal with Alphonse, offering to show Alphonse how to use the philosopher’s stone in exchange for using the stone to resurrect his daughter Nina, while Lust offers to help Edward in exchange for making her human.

Tucker invokes equivalent exchange during his bargain.

We cut to Izumi and Ed discussing Dante. There is a flashback where Izumi argues with Dante about using alchemy for the good of others. Dante tells her to become a State Alchemist if she wants to help people so much… interesting. Izumi asks if she likes people at all, and Dante says she doesn't. She gives a speech that's actually pretty similar to some of the things Envy says in Brotherhood, that humans are violent and savage and will just abuse any power they're given. Izumi shoots back that she herself is human, and Dante doesn't answer. Hmm. I wonder how much is truth and how much is deception? Certainly it would make sense for Dante to want to hoard her power, but I wonder if she really believes what she says – is this how she justifies Amestris to herself, thinking that people would find a reason for war anyway, so they might as well do it for her? Is she projecting her own emptiness onto others? A lot to reflect on here.

Izumi discovered a love letter from Hohenheim to Dante. Good sleuthing! She notices that the date is written in the Christian calendar, and confirms that Christianity is out of practice now. She gives the date as 400 years ago.

Ed seems to come to the conclusion that Hohenheim is the leader of the homunculi. Ah, that's actually a reasonable deduction – he believes Dante was killed by a homunculus, and Izumi just told him there's bad blood between them. But ohoho, how ironic, especially considering Brotherhood.

Ed apologizes to Izumi. Because he's going to kill Wrath?

Mustang pulls strings to keep Fuery out of danger, which is good of him.

He then takes Fuery's glasses and puts them on Riza to assess how she looks, which is kinda creepy. I guess it's reasonable if they are in a relationship, but otherwise, enh.

Bradley promotes both Mustang and Armstrong, and says he hopes the rumors about Mustang are unfounded – that he's planning a coup? So I guess this is some "I know you know" posturing. He goes on to say Archer is still alive – ah, that was the guy missing half his head. I guess he got hit by the edge of the blast.

Bradley has a secret elevator to Dante's mansion underneath Central, which… appears to be part of a city? I think we learn more about that later. Dante confirms that she plans to frag everyone connected to Hughes in the battle.

Envy uses boku? I'm surprised this is the first time I've picked up on that. I guess he does like appearing cute. I suppose it adds a layer of creepy/cute dissonance we English-speakers tragically missed out on.

Envy was supposed to stay in the north, but came to Central because he heard Hohenheim was there. He calls Bradley a "human poseur", and Dante confirms Bradley is a homunculus who can age, "one of [her] masterpieces". I love that that's why he's Pride, by the way – that's utterly brilliant. Dante works very hard on her horrific monstrosities, thank you very much!

Here we get confirmation that Hohenheim was Envy's birth father, and the one who made him. That's a little surprising, I thought that was saved for the very end. I actually do think accompanying that reveal with… everything else that happens in that episode would have greater impact, but I guess some buildup works too.

Bradley asks if Envy misses him, and Envy sends him flying. He then tries to pummel him, but Bradley easily dodges – another nice touch.

Ah, Envy uses ore now. So I guess he switches depending on his mood.

Envy throws a tantrum because he wanted to kill Hohenheim, smashing the floor with his punches. Hm, so he does still have super strength in OG, even though there's less justification for it. I guess we can chalk this up to the homunculi being magic in general.

Dante goads him, and Envy decides he's going to take the Philosopher's Stone from the Elrics before they can use it to restore themselves.

Sloth/Lust/Wrath have broken into the Elrics' room and found a note saying Al is going to meet with Tucker. Wrath is bouncing on the bed, which is cute.

Lust realizes that if Tucker is teaching them to use the Stone, they could use it to humanize the homunculi, too.

Ed returns and gets a faceful of homunculi. He immediately goes for the locket, and makes Lust grab it by accident. Clever!

But then Wrath appears. He absorbs Ed's automail arm. Ed taunts him, saying he'll never be human even if he takes his whole body – even Al, with nothing but a soul, is still more human than him.

Lust turns on Wrath. The automail he absorbed can deflect her spear, which doesn't seem right. Wrath tricks her into impaling the locket, which paralyzes her. Clever!

Wrath breaks off one of her fingers and absorbs it. Yikes!

Ed frees Lust, and now she can impale Wrath through the armor for some reason.

Ed asks why the homunculi want to become human when they're already immortal. Lust says she could say the same thing about Al.

Ed demands to know who the homunculi's master is. Lust says she'll tell him when she becomes human. LOL.

Tucker appears to have succeeded in his human transmutation, but he didn't attach a soul, so that's reasonable. So the Philosopher’s Stone is just to create a proper body. Sloth appears and he freaks out.

Al discovers that a part of his armor has disappeared. Seems like an awful lot just to stitch a body together, considering how much power he's supposed to have.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 47: "Sealing the Homunculus"

As Edward, Lust, Wrath, and Sloth all arrive at the factory where Alphonse went to meet Tucker, a climactic battle ensues, as Edward and Alphonse must finally confront their creation.

Time to see how OG handles a boss fight!

Sloth starts acting motherly towards Al. Al appears to buy it, but he's had a hard day, I'll cut him some slack.

As Wrath revives, he appears to dream of outrunning the Gate. I wonder if the Gate tries to pull them in when they die, or maybe just Wrath? It’s a cool depiction, regardless. Rather than just burning power to regenerate, it looks like they’re using the souls in the red stones to actually escape the Gate -- they’re lives, not HP.

Izumi and Sloth blend together in his memories.

Tucker tries to use Al again and Sloth drowns him. The soulless Nina watches impassively.

Ed makes a new arm out of spare metal. He still appears able to move it like normal, so he must have extended the nerve wires somehow. I find that pretty dubious when in the movie he says he doesn’t know how automail works. I guess the writers wanted the drama of him losing his arm but didn’t want the hassle of returning to Winry every time. It keep the plot moving, so it’s allowable, but it still seems a little contrived.

Oh, looks like she didn't kill Tucker. He shows up to creep on Al some more. Ed sees the hole in the armor. Al says it's equivalent exchange.

Ed turns his arm into a gun… I guess he could be extending the metal very thin. He shoots at Sloth, which obviously does nothing. Tucker is somehow able to dodge despite standing right behind her.

Ed jams the box of remains into Sloth, and she melts.

Al yells at Ed for digging up Trisha's grave without telling him. Ed says he's the only one who needed to go through that. What was he expecting, though? He'd have to tell Al eventually.

Lust reflects on her memories. She points out there's no logical reason homunculi should have them. She thinks it might be the memories of the alchemist that are imbued.

Al throws away Trisha's remains because he's stupid. He thinks that since they made her, it's wrong for them to kill her; Ed insists the reverse.

Wrath absorbs the remains into himself.

Wrath sees Lust attacking Sloth. There's a bit too long of a pause as Ed explains what's going on to Al before Wrath attacks. Wrath absorbs the guns in the warehouse to create a massive gun-arm.

Sloth enters Al's armor and starts pupetting him.

I was about to complain that Wrath couldn't hit anything, but Lust actually does eject a ton of bullets. I feel like we still didn't see any of them connect, though.

Wrath brags that he can't die, but Lust says he actually only has as many lives as he has red stones, so she can still brute-force him. Ah, so that does hold true for this continuity too. I guess the idea is that most of them just have an effectively inexhaustible number of lives.

Lust starts using the same wide swipes I complained about in BH 19, but she actually does seem to be extending them. Wrath is only dodging because he's very agile, as previously established.

Wrath comes across the locket, previously discarded, and tricks Lust onto her own transmutation circle. Is it reasonable she'd forget about that? We don't see the circle because of camera angles, but surely she would have? I would think a homunculi would want to steer clear of a sealing circle even if they're sure they're safe.

In an adjacent warehouse, Sloth uses Al to attack Ed. Since contact causes an unstable reaction, Ed has to stay clear. He draws a transmutation circle using tables in the warehouse and uses it to freeze Sloth.

Meanwhile, Lust vomits up her stones. Wrath sneers that she must have wanted to die if she wanted to become human, and Lust wonders if that's true. Wrath kills her, but wonders if that's true for him too.

We get a flashback to the transmutation from Sloth's perspective. Dante arrived apparently the same night to feed her stones. (The question of how she knew to be there is sort of answered by her saying they're Hohenheim's sons so she knew they'd try it.) Dante confirms that all the homunculi were messes to begin with, and only gain complete forms after eating the red stones. Sloth is confused by Trisha's memories, and Dante says she will understand once she becomes human.

Back in the present, Sloth manages to melt herself by… shivering?

Sloth says that she wants to kill Ed so she can be free of her memories. By killing him, she'll prove she's not the person she remembers.

Ed stabs Sloth, and she suddenly explodes. Ed says he transmuted his automail into sodium. Clever!

Wrath fuses himself with Sloth, which paralyzes her because of the remains. Not so clever, Wrath!

Apparently you can't normally transmute a whole body; even Kimblee only transmutes part of the body. The reason Ed was able to break Greed's shield is because homunculi aren't human, and can be wholly transmuted. Ah, that also explains why people can't do what Wrath does. Ed uses this principle to transmute all of Sloth into ethanol, causing her to evaporate. Oh, and it looks like he actually grabs some elements from the ground first, which explains where he's getting the carbon from. Since the inability to turn water into wine was a plot point earlier, it's good that they actually accounted for that.

And… Winry is watching them? We end quite suddenly.

Conclusion

What a fantastic set of episodes! This had wonderful buildup, and the tactics used in the battle were so clever! You can see that the directors went through a lot of trouble to establish where everything was to make the alchemy plausible. Probably why they chose to set it in a warehouse, haha. And the battle is matched in violence by emotion – the brothers finally face head-on their sin and how they feel about it, and we get even more philosophizing from the homunculi's side. As I said last time, the nature of humanity and personhood are crucial themes to OG, and we see that in full display here. I love how we see Lust's humanity contrasted with her still vicious behavior towards Sloth and Wrath, Wrath's mommy issues, Sloth's anti-mommy issues… It's such a rich picture.

My only real criticism, I think, is that I wish there was more of it! Oddly for OG, I think this felt a little rushed, mainly because Ed and Al have avoided the subject for so long. There wasn't really enough time to have both a satisfying battle and to fully address all these issues. I'd have liked to see Ed and Al discuss this a little more beforehand, maybe get a bit more of Sloth too. That might have alleviated some of Al's idiot ball, too – the only excuse I can come up with is that he must still be mentally 11, but you can only lean on that so far.

That, and, I don't know why they're so cordial to Tucker when Ed was totally willing to punch his face in the first time. I'd have liked to see them still angry about Nina, given how that was such a crucial part of their lives; right now, it feels like they've forgotten about her.

Let's update our homunculi list:

Greed is wasted.

Lust defects, and is killed out of vengeance for a loved one.

Sloth is paralyzed.

These two are more poetic than ironic, but I still think they're a lot better executed than Brotherhood's poetic fates. I love that Lust is actually lust – she desires humanity, life, connection, everything that the too-human Dante spurns. So of course she defects. Greed talked a big game about rebelling because he wanted more, but I think Lust has the better, and more meaningful, claim there.

I will admit that Brotherhood!Sloth's fate is probably the most clever of those fates; killing Sloth by outlasting him sort of represents overcoming your own sloth. But agonizingly long battles are not OG's style and, in my opinion, not terribly good storytelling in general, so I find this a much more efficient way of fitting the theme. I do think it's ironic in a more general sense, in that her power is evasiveness: of course she's killed when she's pinned down. Perhaps we could also say that she's sort of killed by anti-sloth, in that she would have survived if Wrath hadn't tried to help, but that's a bit of a reach.

I have to say I'm also finding it interesting how there are strange echoes of Brotherhood in how this plays out. Greed is destroyed by the main villain, the fight moves to Briggs, Ed mistakes Hohenheim for the villain, Sloth is sent to assassinate the heroes and is assassinated herself, Lust brings up the possibility of brute-forcing a homunculi to death… It makes me wonder if these are coincidences, or if they did get a more comprehensive outline than I thought. Or cause and effect could be reversed -- Arakawa may have included those elements later as an homage to the anime.

[haruxyoshioka]

Every Hero Starts Somewhere - TCR Secret Santa for @raythecomputerart

Merry Christmas @raythecomputerart!! I was your secret santa, and the moment I saw Teen Titans on your list, I knew what I was writing. It kind of got away from me so it’s pretty long but I hope you enjoy it!

She was a bit nervous, if she was being honest. She hadn’t really been on her own, but she’d always known what she wanted to be. She’d tried to hide the secret from her mother as long as she could, but there was only so many ways she could cover up the bruises and the added muscle she was putting on. She’d had to come clean to her mother, that she had been training, that she was working under a superhero. A superhero who was, like herself, just a normal human being with no special powers or abilities, aided only by special tools designed to help her keep up with the rest of the superheroes. 

Persephone was a kind hearted woman with a backbone of steel on her, and family funds to back up her high tech tools. By day she was the soft hearted but stone heiress who gave away half of her money to charities and people in need, and by night, she was Midnight, a hero whose name alone made some of the more hardened criminals in the city shiver in fear. 

Haru’s origins were nowhere near as dark or stressful as some heroes had--Persephone herself had lost both of her parents when she was younger. Haru was normal in every since of the word. She’d lost her father early on, and barely remembered him. There was a hazy father shaped hole in her memories, along with boxes of fish crackers. Her mother worked hard to support them, and made a name for herself in the craft world as Haru got older.

But with high school almost done, and college looming on the horizon, the teen felt the pressure to decide her future creeping up on her. Her dream since she was a little girl had been to help people, fascinated by the stories of heroes in the news--but no supernatural abilities or powers had ever manifested, and she tried not to be disappointed...until she heard about Midnight. Her hope had been renewed, and she threw herself into what basic training she could manage. She told her mother she was just trying to get in better shape, to be healthier and do better in P.E. But really, she just wanted to somehow convince Midnight to take her on as a sidekick, to help her become a hero like her. 

She’d told her as much, one night, after a chance encounter on the roof of her apartment building. Haru had been stargazing, something that helped ease her stress when she couldn’t draw, and Midnight had all but tumbled to the roof’s surface in front of her, bleeding. 

The brunette had panicked, and quickly raced to grab the first aid kit and bandages and did her absolute best to help her hero. Midnight had been touched by her words, though she warned it was a dangerous profession, as the gash in her side attested to, but Haru was nothing if not stubborn and determined. She was working hard, she wanted to make a difference. She wanted to believe someone like her, powerless and normal, could be a hero to someone else, just like Midnight was. That was what finally convinced Midnight--Haru’s impassioned plea, and she promised that when she was healed, she would see what she could do. 

She still couldn’t believe everything had worked out, but Haru had succeed. Training was hard, but she stuck to the schedule her mentor made for her--and she still couldn’t believe that Midnight and Persephone were the same person. She became Sparrow, Midnight’s small, but equally fierce sidekick...until the League was formed and Midnight became a part of it. But she trusted Haru to continue to watch over the city, and call for help if things ever got too hard. 

It was pretty tough, if she was being honest, but things were quiet--until that night. It had been a routine bank robbery, or at least, it was supposed to be. But everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. The criminal in question was a bulky young man with some sort of werecat ability, and super strength to top it all off. He’d already bent her staff when he’d punched her through the window. Luckily her suit prevented her from getting any serious injuries, and she was thanking the powers that be that she’d had the foresight to ask Midnight to make sure she had a hood. 

“Yer gonna have to try harder than that, chicky,” the man-cat grinned at her, cream colored fur almost glowing in the light of the full moon and the dim emergency lights in the bank. He towered over her, almost three whole feet on her measly five feet and three inches. 

Haru grimaced and pushed herself back onto her feet, also glad she had a spare staff. Luckily for her, her mentor taught her well. She drew the weapon from her belt and tightened her grip around the staff as it extended a few more feet, and settled into her fighting stance. “Didn’t I tell you,” she began cheekily with more confidence than she felt, “we’re just getting warmed up!” 

And then everything went to hell in a hand-basket. 

A car suddenly picked itself up off the payment and rocketed toward the criminal, the force almost knocking Haru off her feet while the robber threw himself to the ground as the car smashed into the bank.

“Oh, I missed,” came a new voice, sounding oddly cheery despite the damage they’d just caused. “That’s funny, considering how big of a target I had.”

Haru whipped her head around to stare at the dark skinned teen, dressed head to toe in a black cloak that she vaguely noted resembled bird wings. She’d never seen him before, though it wasn’t unheard of for other heroes to pass through the city and take on crime while they were here but it usually wasn’t people close to her age. A year or two older, if she had to guess?

“Aw great, another one?” the cat beast groused as he pushed himself back up, glaring at the two heroes. “This is just not my night.” He was getting hungry too, dammit. 

“You looked like you were having a hard time,” the hooded stranger said, addressing Haru this time. “Sparrow, right? I heard Midnight joined the League.”

“I, uh, yeah. That’s right,” Haru responded dumbly, wondering why he was trying to strike up such a casual conversation in the middle of a fight. Did he really think so little of the man she was trying to apprehend? 

“I’m still here, birdbrain!” the robber snapped, yanking the door off of the definitely totaled car and hurling it at the two. 

Haru yelped and jumped aside, but the door froze in midair before it could collide with the stranger. When he smiled, it was all teeth. 

“Looks like the kitty’s got a hairball in his brain,” he remarked casually, lightly, as if he were talking to an old friend. Haru realized his hand was extended, and with the barest flick of his wrist, the car door went flying back at the young man who threw it. 

“GO FRY YOURSELF, YOU BIG CHICKEN!” the cat yowled as he dodged, moving surprisingly fast for someone of his size. 

“Do....you two know each other?” Haru realized with a start, glancing between the two. 

“Something like that,” the hooded stranger replied. “We’ve got a bit of a history. Meet Renaldo Moon, petty thief and vigilante. Ah, perhaps Moota is more accurate now.”

A vein throbbed in the cat-man’s forehead and he snarled. “Moo?!” 

The stranger almost doubled over with his laughter. “He actually said it! Oh, still as empty headed as ever!” He had to stop abruptly and dodge as Renaldo Moon suddenly lunged forward, swiping at his head with a large paw. “I’m Toto, by the way! All the bird names were taken, it seems.” 

“N...Nice to meet you..?” Haru offered uncertainly. This was certainly the strangest night she’d had since her mentor had been gone. But she had to shake off her stupor, she was in the middle of a fight. Getting distracted would only make things worse. 

Taking a deep breath, she rushed forward, using her staff as an extension of her arm, the way she’d been taught and tried to land a blow to Renaldo’s stomach but he swiveled, the back of his paw catching her across the face and knocking her off balance as her staff narrowly avoided hitting Toto in the stomach. Oh, this was so not going the way she’d planned. 

“That’s no way to treat a lady, you know,” Toto supplied unhelpfully, and Haru felt an invisible force slowly lift her back onto her feet. Superpowers really were handy, weren’t they? 

“Thanks,” she nodded, focusing her attention on the robber once more. 

Between the two of them, this guy was going to be hard to take down. He was surprisingly fast and light on his feet, not to mention stronger than he needed to be. It was kind of annoying, and being a normal human, there was only so many super strong hits she could take before she needed a break. Even if Toto had telekinetic abilities...wait a minute. That gave her an idea.

“Toto!” she called, “can you restrain him somehow?” 

His grin returned in full force. “I would love to,” he answered with a nod. 

“Just try it,” Renaldo snarled, flexing his paws, still snarling. 

Toto raised his hands and exhaled slowly, and the car slowly lifted itself out of the bank entrance and began to bend. A single gesture was all it took for the wreckage of the car to fling itself at the robber, and Haru winced at the sound of creaking metal as the car bent itself around the burly robber. But it seemed to work, at least, as they watched him struggle against his bonds.

“That should hold him,” Toto noted, giving Renaldo Moon a smug look. 

“Thanks for the help,” Haru smiled wryly, leaning on her staff. “Not that I could do much.” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that. You did remarkably well for....ah, that’d be rude of me, wouldn’t it?” he winced.

Haru smiled and shook her head. “It’s alright. I know there’s only so much someone like me can do but...even so, I still want to try.” 

“You’re very noble, Miss Sparrow. I can see why Midnight took you on.” 

“Wha? Nooo, no, I just got lucky. Really stupidly lucky,” Haru laughed and waved her hand. 

“You really think that’s all it is?” Toto asked, raising an eyebrow. 

Before Haru could answer, both froze when they heard the sound of bolts popping, metal groaning. Haru’s eyes widened, and Toto muttered a curse under his breath and as if on cue, Renaldo Moon burst from the bent and mangled car with a fearsome roar. 

“....His strength is really ridiculous,” Toto sighed. “Honestly, it’s not even super strength. He’s just got so much lard.” 

If it had been any other situation, Haru would have laughed, but now they had a problem on their hands. Instead, she shared Toto’s sigh. 

“You know, this is not how I imagined this night going,” she stated. She really wanted to go home and take a bath and curl up with a good book. Didn’t seem like that was going to happen any time soon though. “Would it be too convenient to hope for someone to just drop from the sky and knock him out?” she asked.

There was a moment of silence and Toto blinked, staring up at the sky. “I think you ought to be careful what you wish for, Sparrow,” he replied. 

Haru followed his gaze, and her jaw dropped. Streaking across the sky was something that looked like a meteor but it was quickly approaching them. 

“Now what?” Renaldo snapped, scowling up at whatever was streaking toward him, and then suddenly he was on the ground as the object slammed into him, sending him rolling down the street. 

Toto and Haru shared an equally confused look  before hurrying over. The object was revealed to be a person, dressed impeccably in a crisp white suit and red vest. Even a top hat? It looked like he’d stepped out of some period drama. Everything about him seemed too perfect. Emerald green eyes glittered like gemstones, and he was seated on Renaldo’s back, looking equally confused.

“Talk about Deus Ex Machina,” Toto blinked, scratching his head. 

“Quite sorry to interrupt. Once I entered the atmosphere it was rather hard to adjust my course,” the male smiled apologetically, and Haru felt like even that was dazzling. Every move seemed dashing and gentlemanly, even as he smoothly rose to his feet. 

“Wow, you’re cool,” she breathed, then caught herself, cheeks burning as she shook her head. “Um. Don’t worry about it,” she continued, tugging at her hood in her embarrassment. “I was just thinking it’d be convenient if someone fell from the sky and...well, there you were.” It was kind of like fate, but she was not going to admit that out loud. 

He looked relieved to hear that, and bowed with a flourish. “I am glad that I was able to assist such a fetching heroine,” he smiled as he straightened. “I am called Baron, a Creation. I came with my older sister, but it appears we were separated, but it’s fortunate that I landed here, if it was any assistance to the both of you.” 

Aliens weren’t exactly uncommon in the world of superheroes, but it was still her first time meeting one in person. Still, he looked incredibly human, save for his cat like eyes, which she only noticed once he was close enough. 

Realizing she was staring, she coughed awkwardly and ducked her head, scuffing her boot against the pavement. “I’m um, Sparrow. Midnight’s sidekick. This is Toto.” 

“Nice to meet you, Baron,” he smiled cheerily. “And congratulations on knocking over the bowling pin.” 

“Are you two working together?” Baron asked, tilting his head to the side. Another very catlike move, and Haru wondered what the odds were of running into two cat-people in the same night. 

“No, though that’s not a bad idea,” Toto mused aloud, tapping his chin. “It’s better to have a network of heroes to rely on, just in case.”

“...I am more used to working with other people,” Haru admitted. It was far easier than fighting alone, as she’d been reminded tonight. “Forming a team isn’t a bad idea at all.” 

Baron smiled, and once again Haru felt a bit weak in the knees. She was so in over her head, wasn’t she? 

“If you’re forming a team, would it be alright with you if I joined you?” he asked. “It would be best, I think, if I were to experience this planet’s culture first hand. My sister is planning on joining the League anyway, so I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if someone was...keeping me out of trouble, so to speak.” 

Toto grinned and nodded. “That’s alright with me, if it’s alright with Sparrow here.” 

Her heart gave a funny little kick and she almost choked on her words. “Y-yeah, um. Yeah. That’s fine with me.” 

“Excellent. I’ll look forward to working with the both of you,” Baron said as he extended his hand to her. Shyly, she reached forward and shook his hand. 

A loud groan reminded them all that Renaldo Moon was still there, and he was still unrestrained. The three tensed, preparing to resume the fight, and Haru hoped it’d be much easier with three people against the burly male. 

But all he did was haul himself out of the crater and sit down, still scowling. “I give, I give,” he huffed, propping his chin up on his his paw. “I just ain’t cut out for this.”

“This is....too easy,” Haru murmured, furrowing her brows. Beneath her mask, she squinted at the large cat-man. “You’re seriously giving up?”

“There’s worse than me out here, chicky,” he sighed. “It’s been a hell of a night, and honestly? I just want it to be over. If it gets that King bastard off my back, I’m more than happy to turn myself in.”

The air went still as Haru’s eyes widened. “King...?” she repeated. She knew the name, Midnight had warned her before she left. She wasn’t supposed to take him on, she was supposed to let her know if she heard anything. The League would handle him. It’d be too much for her, Midnight had said. She’d looked so stressed and worried, paler than usual when she passed the information on to Haru, and she still wondered why. It couldn’t be that he was just a fearsome villain. There was more fear in her mentor’s eyes than any villain had ever put there. 

She bit her lip and clenched her fists. “About that King guy, do you mind telling me what you know about him?” she asked. 

Renaldo frowned and squinted at her, scrutinizing her. “There ain’t no way you can take him on, chicky. Even with the three of you. The guy’s insane. He’d even put his own son in harm’s way if it got him what he wanted.” 

An idea formed in her mind. Reckless and stupid, but hopelessly brave--something Midnight had told her before, praising Haru’s reckless bravery but also chastising the very same recklessness. It wouldn’t always work out, she warned, be careful of your decisions. 

Haru smiled and offered her hand to the exhausted robber. “All the more reason to help us out, right?” she asked. “I mean, if you’re helping out heroes, you’ll be given a lighter sentence, maybe even pardoned, right?” She saw his ear twitch, though he wasn’t looking at her now, and she knew she had his interest. “Join up with us, and I’ll see if I can get some strings pulled.” 

“Are you sure that’s a wise idea?” Toto asked, frowning at Renaldo. 

“Honestly no, but...Midnight was worried about this King guy when she left. There’s gotta be something we can do right? All four of us?” Haru answered. 

Renaldo was silent, then slowly rose to his feet, placing his paw in Haru’s hand almost reluctantly. “Don’t regret those words, chicky,” he grinned. “And call me Muta.” 

It was probably the most ragtag team of heroes she could have chosen. Her, with no powers, clever and witty Toto, a former criminal, and a gentlemanly alien. But that night, Haru felt more excited to be a hero than she’d ever been. She paused as the sky began to lighten, the sun slowly rising over the horizon, the first rays of sun washing over them. It seemed fitting to watch the sunrise like this. 

“Well team,” she began, turning to face the others with a bright smile on her face. “The next step is to get our own base of operations, right?” 

“If you don’t mind, I think I know the perfect place,” Toto supplied. “A sanctuary, I guess. It’s a hidden plaza, past the Crossroads. I hang out there all the time, no one ever comes back there. It’s close enough in town, and hidden enough that we don’t have to worry about any breaches.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Haru nodded. “Much better than a...oh, I don’t know...a T shaped building in the middle of the bay?” Surely no one would ever be that dumb, right?

It wasn’t at all the way she’d planned for this to go..but you know what? It had turned out much better than she’d ever expected. They faced a new day, united, and ready for whatever would come their way.