#i thought we were only gonna be like 4 people moving half a warehouse filled with bottled water but like 5 others joined us

[transgaysex]

laying down feels fucking sexual after moving heavy shit around for 5 hours in a row

[crimsonbluemoon]

4 , 2 and 8 for the prompts and H2OVanoss :)

Okay this took way too long. >.

AU: MafiaTrope: Enemies to loversPrompt: “wait, wait. say that again. please.”

Pairing: H2O Vanoss

Warning: Slight gore/violence cause its mafia and shit. 

“Where the hell did they get this many guys?” Vanoss swore when he ducked behind another box, hearing wood bursting from the bullets that shot through the warehouse. His eyes scanned the area, checking on the status of his gang. Basically’s arm was bleeding through the bandage that Moo had wrapped around it, proving the wound was far worse than his right-hand man wanted to admit. 

“Bigger question; why aren’t they shooting at you?” Wildcat’s swear was louder than the fight, jumping up to pepper the other crew with bullets. Despite his aggressive attack, Vanoss knew the grim truth; they’d been ambushed. It was meant to be a simple deal, and Vanoss hadn’t thought the smaller gang was a threat. That’d been why he left most of his men back at the hideout; they were mid-investigating a mysterious gang that had recently showed up on the west side of the city. 

But apparently, from the grins of the west side gang now surrounding the warehouse, the smaller gang had chosen a side. And it wasn’t Vanoss’s. 

“I can’t get a signal out to the guys; they must have a jammer with them.” Marcel’s voice was strained, almost on the side of hopeless. 

“Shit!” This time it was pain that snapped in Wildcat’s shout, and red pooled from his side from the bullet’s contact. 

“What’s the plan, Vanoss?” Moo’s voice shook, and Vanoss gritted his teeth at his own stupidity. He didn’t have a plan. They weren’t going to get out of this alive at this rate. The set up was too simple, why hadn’t he picked up on the classic bait-and-switch-

“Need some help?” Vanoss jerked his head at the voice above him, eyes wide when seeing the crazy smile shining from the rafters. 

“Delirious?” A gun was twirled in the air before a whistle shot through the air, and the visual of men dropping from the rafters was breath-taking. The show caught the other gang off guard, leaving them helpless to the spray of bullets rained down on them. Cartoonz laughed while he dropped down with ease Vanoss knew wasn’t faked, aiming his shots into the lackey’s foreheads. Anyone who aimed their guns at Cartoonz dropped like flies in seconds. A shift on a higher beam and a flash of a grey blindfold proving their sniper, Ohmwrecker, was not letting Cartoonz get hurt. Overwhelming the troops from behind, Squirrel and Gorilla were trading witty barbs while they took on the grunts on the ground. Blood splashed over their clothes from the deadly assault. 

“Hey there, Owl-man.” And in the middle of the chaotic fray was their leader. Delirious was known for his crazy antics, and his ruthlessness was almost as crucial to his personality as his unpredictability. Delirious and his motley crew were on nobody’s side but their own, and the crazed clown could decide to attack any crew he felt deserved it over breakfast. Vanoss had been on the wrong side of Delirious’s switchblade a few times in earlier years, especially when Vanoss’s crew had first started in the east bay. Delirious always had tricks up his sleeve, tampering with guns or ruinings trades between rival gangs just to get under Vanoss’s skin. They’d even fought once, both of their gangs simply watching their leaders beat the shit out of each other. Vanoss still remembered the unusual rush of heat in his stomach at the bloody smile Delirious had worn after the scuffle. The feeling had lingered long after the sprained wrist and bruised ribs. 

Vanoss didn’t really know what Delirious thought of him. The anger and hatred from before was long gone. They didn’t fight every time they met anymore. In fact, Vanoss realized Delirious and his crew had started hanging around his own more, and the duo tended to warn the other when they planned to make a move of power or started a turf war with another gang. Once, Cartoonz had saved Terroriser from getting jumped, and Panda returned the favor after Squirrel stumbled into the wrong neighborhood without his piece. Neither tried to encroach on the other’s territory anymore, despite it sharing many lines in the city. When Delirious snuck into Vanoss’s office at night ‘out of boredom’ at his hangout, Evan didn’t worry about his life as much as he once did. Sure, he still didn’t know Delirious or any of his gang’s actual names. Evan also didn’t share his own, keeping a barrier between them. Still, he never felt the twitching need to grab the gun he had strapped on his thigh, no matter how close the two sat in the darkness of the night.

“What are you doing here?” Vanoss asked, Delirious scanning behind Vanoss before he aimed his gun at the fray of men trying to run away.

“Got a tip.” Three easy shots took out two of the men, while the final shot was shifted to blow out the final grunt’s knee. Looking gleeful at the explosion of blood, Delirious shucked the gun over his shoulder, the strap keeping it close to his back. Then his blue eyes bore back down at Vanoss, his laugh growing at Vanoss’s scowl. “Said a bird might have been set up.” 

“We were doing fine without-”

“Ohm, get out of your damn nest and bring the first aid kit. This kid’s hurt.” Cartoonz’s voice cut off Vanoss’s protest, the older gang member helping Brock move Marcel to a flat surface. 

“This one, too.” Gorilla had his hand over Tyler’s side, keeping pressure and an even keel voice. “But I think the brats are both gonna live.” 

“We’re not brats,” Basically grumbled, his hiss loud after Cartoonz smacked the side of his head.  “Ow, hey! What the hell?” 

“I think you were in diapers when I shot my first gun.” Vanoss watched Cartoonz and Basically started to bicker as Ohm rushed over with his kit, Brock’s face panicked while trying to stop the fight. He only let his attention linger for a moment before turning back to Delirious, who had already moved to the man he’d left bleeding out in the entrance of the warehouse. Surprised at how silent the other leader had been in his movements, Evan moved after him, wondering why he’d left the last man alive. 

“-so if you like that particular part of your body attached, you’ll tell me why they’re after Vanoss.” He caught the tail end of the playful threat from Delirious, the knife weaving in and out of his fingers in obvious meaning. 

“No-not trying to kill him!” Fear that Delirious had earned was filling the wounded grunt’s words. “Kill his people!”

“Who wants my guys dead? What do they gain from that? And why would they want to kill my people, but not me?” Vanoss asked, picking up on the avoidance of the man’s eyes. 

“Their plan…” The hesitation of the sentence made Delirious growl, kicking into the ribs of the man once with his steel boots.

“Spill your shit or your dick is mine!” Evan wanted to point out how stupid the comment sounded (was he trying to threaten or seduce?), but another hit finally parted the other’s lips.

“He wants Vanoss as his!” Gasping, it took a few shaky breaths for the man to continue. “Thinks if he…isolates him, kills his gang…he’ll own Vanoss, take him in. From some guy named Jonathan. ‘Own the Owl-man’ or something like that.” 

The twitch of Delirious’s shoulders and the long silence sent a chill down Vanoss’s spine.     

“Wait, wait. Say that again.” There was a murderous edge in Delirious’s eyes when he stepped onto the bleeding knee of the other man. His smile took a twisted darker edge hearing the man’s whimpers, then added pressure. “Please.”

“Delirious.” Vanoss didn’t know why the focus on his life made the other’s normally light-hearted nature fizzle out so fast, or why it squeezed around his heart. “He’s gonna go unconscious-”

“If you pass out, I’ll chop you up and feed you to your family. I’ll make sure they know every piece, every bite, is you. Tell me exactly what he said.” Gone was the goofy threats and half-fumbled words; here was the man that made even the strongest of gangsters quiver. People thought that Cartoonz really ran the gang, and that Delirious was simply too distracted or unsure to keep the strong men under his control. Vanoss once thought that, too; Cartoonz tended to snap at Delirious and give far more sass in the few interactions Vanoss had seen than he thought a right hand man should. 

But in these moments, the ones where only people Delirious trusted or weren’t long for this earth got to see, Delirious was death incarnate.   

“Said…said ‘I want Jonathan know I’m here. I wan to own his Owl-man’. He didn’t say who Jonathan was or-or what he had to do with Vanoss, but-that’s all, I swear.” Delirious watched the grunt squirm on the floor without emotion, his eyes unfocused with a haunted look that made Vanoss swallow. A heartbeat later, Delirious had his gun in his hand, no hesitation in his face when blowing the other’s brains out. One shot became two, and Evan stared helplessly as several more were launched into the twitching corpses’s mutilated face. Delirious’s gun ran out from how many times he shot, and even still he tried to shoot.  

“Delirious.” Softly, Vanoss moved forward, hand hesitant to curl over the hand that kept pulling the trigger. “You can stop. He’s dead.”  

“He’s not.” Somehow, Vanoss knew they weren’t talking about the same he. Once vacant, the blue of Delirious’s eyes blazed with overwhelming anger, eyes slowly turning to Evan. Rage was there, but deeper, Vanoss could see something possessive break the hostility. “But he will be.”

Unsure how to process the statement, Vanoss didn’t speak, watching Delirious shrug off his hold and stalked back into the warehouse. Slowly, Vanoss turned his eyes back down to the body bleeding out by his feet. He wasn’t sure who was after him, or why, but it seemed Delirious did. And he’d taken it personally, though Vanoss didn’t know why. 

But he planned to find out.

[clexa--warrior]

There’s a new group of villains on Fear The Walking Dead.

Well not entirely new. These are the same people who’ve been scrawling “The end is the beginning” everywhere. The same people with the submarine who are looking for Morgan who took the Magical Key from the bounty hunter way back at the beginning of Season 6.

I admit, I’m just kind of tired at this point. Tired of all the bullshit and bad writing and the tedious characters and the predictable stories. Tired of the parade of mediocre villains. Bone weary. And yet here I am, still reviewing this damn show.

Let’s take a little walk down memory lane, shall we?

TV’s Greatest Villains

At the beginning of Season 5, after the Most Horrible Villain Of Any Walking Dead Show was taken care of at long last, we got a new group of bad guys who . . . just wanted their warehouse back? And directions to an oil refinery?

Truly, these were now The Most Horrible Villains Of Any Walking Dead Show Ever.

Logan (played by a woefully underutilized Matt Frewer) was the head honcho of these bad apples and he fooled Morgan’s group into flying a plane they didn’t know how to fly far, far away to help some strangers in another part of the vast continent of Texas. Then he . . . moved back into his warehouse! The bastard.

After half a season of trying to fix the plane so they could fly back across the Pacific Ocean (which we all know separates the two halves of Texas) Logan tries to pretend like he’s a decent guy and fools the Morganites into showing him where the oil refinery is. Dastardly Logan! Then, just when Morgan and Logan decide that their names are similar enough that they might as well be friends, the Rangers show up!

They show up on horses with rifles and expertly kill Logan and every single member of his crew but for reasons (reasons!) they spare Morgan and the Morganites. It turns out that Logan was working for the evil witch queen of Lawton, Virginia—Truly The Most Horrible Villain Of Any Walking Dead Show Ever (Seriously). She is so evil that she kills the people working for her, who helped lead her to the oil refinery, and spared some people she didn’t know who weren’t loyal to her at all for reasons.

Yes, you heard me. Reasons! You don’t get to know the reasons. That’s not how scripts work. Scripts are supposed to be confusing, opaque and riddled with plot holes and inexplicable character choices.

Anyways, Virginia and the Rangers with their horses and their cowboy hats and their idyllic Texas aesthetic become the new Big Bads sometime in the second half of Season 5. Morgan and Friends make a PSA documentary to make sure anyone wandering from gas station to gas station is able to know who to call (GHOSTBUSTERS!) if they’re in trouble (which, like, yeah it’s a zombie apocalypse) because Morgan really wants to make up for all the bad things he’s done and so do all his friends.

Virginia is very mean, though, and so she makes a PSA, too, and that pisses Morgan off so bad that he takes his people far, far away to an abandoned Western-themed park-town filled with zombies and they make another PSA on the way that’s even more amazing and magical but a dude dies making it, marking the Best Walking Dead Death of All Time in the process. Seriously a dude decides it’s so important to film a selfie shot for the PSA that he dies when a bridge that’s collapsing surprisingly collapses! And then everyone is very sad!

Then, uh, after a spell at the new town that has no resources or water because it’s a theme park town instead of a real town, Wes and Alicia paint some stuff and June and John Dorie get married and Daniel plays some guitar and sings and Frank Dillane is like “Holy shit I’m so glad I bailed on this show” and then Virginia comes because Morgan calls her because instead of walking somewhere else they decide they should call the Evil Witch Queen Of Lawton so she can rescue them by splitting them all up (even Skidmark the cat!) and then the season ends with Morgan getting swarmed by zombies but don’t worry he’s still alive and they’ll tell us as much in a trailer that comes out before Season 6 because AMC is criminally addicted to spoiling their own shows for no reason on social media and . . . and . . .

Somewhere between Season 5’s finale and Season 6’s premiere AMC and showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss must have put their heads together with Scott Gimple and decided that the Rangers and Virginia were actually super dull villains, just like the last few villains (I skipped the whole Vultures plot because they were actually so stupid they put the stadium under siege but still let Madison and co. go out scavenging because somehow they never read the Siege 101 manual or something).

Anyways, for reasons that must be obvious by now, somebody must have pointed out that Virginia is not a very good villain after all, partly because she’s just not that convincing but mostly because she made a goddamn copycat PSA and someone thought that was actually a cool story because there is no God and life’s not fair and this is also why we can’t have nice things, son.

And they must have realized that the Rangers are a like a cartoon version of what might happen in Texas after a zombie outbreak (just compare this clown show to the far more realistic Vatos gang from Season 1 of The Walking Dead). All these realizations must have felt strangely repetitive after what I can only imagine were similar revelations about Martha, the Vultures and Logan. So many revelations, so little useful insight or meaningful changes!

The Believers

In any case, they had June kill Virginia after a weird series of events that also saw one of the only good characters left on this godforsaken show get killed by yet another brat, and came up with The Believers, a group almost entirely inspired by The Monkees. These totally realistic folk live underground where they grow crops and embalm zombies and talk about how you need to be able to “see” when you look at this one creepy zombie they have entwined in vines in their basement. They’re led by a guy named Teddy played by John Glover who must really be down on his luck to take a role on this ridiculous show, though he’s actually creepy as a villain so that’s something. But no, I’m not going to feel any hope or optimism because fool me once shame on me, fool me again and George W. Bush, man. He has something to say about this.

Wes and Alicia and Al and Luciana all find their way to these people. I honestly can’t remember how they found them, but they show up to scout things out. They get interviewed like we’re back in Alexandria. Things go bad when Wes runs into his long-lost brother and ends up killing him after a scuffle over a gun. Wes’s brother has had a little too much of that Kool-Aid if you know what I mean. Wes isn’t too shook up about it. Remember when the entire brothers Dixon conflict between Merle and Daryl played out over the course of one single episode of The Walking Dead? Yeah, me neither.

Luciana says stuff because she’s still on this show for some reason. She says stuff a few times and people say stuff back to her. Al checks an embalmed zombie with a helmet on thinking it might be her lover girl from Season 5, because you totally embalm zombies with their helmets still on, but it’s not. Boy I was really worried there for a second!

Alicia sets the embalmed zombies on fire so they can get away and the others escape but Alicia doesn’t and then she has to have a whole entire conversation with Teddy and it’s pretty damn awkward when she tells him “You wanna kill me? That’s not gonna happen.”

Teddy’s like “whoa damn I was going to kill you but now that’s not going to happen crap” and Alicia’s like “So there, Teddy. You jerk face with your crazy-man beard.”

He knows something about Madison somehow. And he wants to “save you, Alicia” but “I don’t need saving” she tells him and then he talks in more cryptic circles. Teddy��s been looking for someone like Alicia for a long, long time and she’s like “listen old man at least I got some lines this episode!” which, to be fair, is true.

THE END. CREDITS ROLL.

Verdict

Yes, I am clearly mocking just about everything about this show. But I didn’t come up with this crap. I didn’t come up with Martha and the ethanol, or the plane and the beer-balloon, or Totally Pointless Logan, or Ginny and her boring ass cowboys. Maybe Teddy will be a better villain than all these. To be fair, he is a better villain already in a lot of ways. Then again, the bar set by the Vultures, Martha, Logan and Virginia is not very high. It’s so low, it’s less a bar and more of a speed bump.

So while Teddy is far more intriguing than the rest, and it’s even possible that Glover’s brief appearance here in this episode was better than the sum of all the other villains in this show since Season 4, I imagine they’ll find a way to screw him up also and then, as soon as he’s worn out his welcome, replace him with some other group of bad guys. The Shouters, a group of post-apocalyptic crazy people who wear zombie faces and shout at each other really loud, led by a bald woman named Alphapha.

Here’s the thing.

We need more than just Good Guys vs Bad Guys. There are other struggles to work with in fiction. Friction between the group that causes realistic, compelling internal strife. Survival against the elements and just the struggle of surviving in a world laid low by a pandemic, maybe without creature comforts like walkie-goddamn-talkies. Or perhaps a compelling story about a survivalist group at odds with a Native American tribe over water rights, whose intertwined family histories are marred by murder and revenge, where our heroes find themselves torn between both sides of a bloody fight they know very little about.

Yeah, what a notion.

Like I said at the very top of this review, I’m tired. I’m tired of Fear The Walking Dead. I’m tired of the same crap happening over and over again, another absurd bad guys who ultimately make the same fatal choice: They mess with Morgan Jones. NOBODY messes with Morgan Jones.

Maybe Morgan can make a PSA about how mean and delusional Teddy is and then Teddy can make a PSA about how The End Is The Beginning, Actually, Morgan You Twit. It’s just all nonsense at this point and it has been since the end of Season 3. We aren’t dealing with actual stories about real people. We’re watching a cartoon with two-dimensional cartoon villains and a bunch of uninteresting flat characters. Except a cartoon would be more fun.

What is the point of this show now? It’s like a goofier version of The Walking Dead, which also suffers from too many villain groups at this point and too many characters but not this level of crappy writing (usually).

Let me predict the plot for the remainder of Season 6 and likely part of Season 7 if AMC is actually going to let the current showrunners continue driving this show into the ground:

Teddy wants the key from Morgan so he can use it to activate the nuclear bombs on the nuclear sub that’s in the middle of Texas (because Texas, you recall, is separated by the Pacific Ocean which has dried up because ZOMBIES and the sub is there now). He wants to nuke the planet because he wants to save everyone because they’re weak probably. From this nuclear wasteland, new life will spring eternal and his cult—well protected in their underground parking garage with their cute little gardens—will be the new rulers of the world. Or at least of Texas which—we know because of geography class—accounts for approximately 57% of Earth’s land mass.

Look, I’m sorry. I’m really truly sorry but if this show continues to be a joke I don’t know why we should take it seriously. A mocking review if only fitting for a show that continues to make a mockery of itself. AMC has the resources and the wherewithal to produce a better zombie show and quite frankly audiences deserve one. There was nothing fundamentally awful about “The Holding” so I’m honestly not fully sure why I’m in such a snarky mind frame, but there was nothing very good about, either, and it’s just plain as day to me that they’re already falling into the same traps they keep falling into over and over and over again. Meet the new bad guy, same as the old bad guy. It’s all so predictable.

Because they don’t really learn from their mistakes, or because even if they do they just don’t know how to course correct. That’s the problem when you just don’t have much talent but nobody steps in and says “enough is enough!”

Because seriously, my droogies, enough is enough already.

[eviearie]

Setups and Celebration

So I started writing this fic a long time ago but never got far, hated it, and then realized "hey, it's almost June 4th, which is Roman's 'actual' birthday" so I started over and this was created! Happy Birthday Roman!! Not too proud of how the ending turned out, but hey, at least Roman's having a good time.

This is for @snowdice's Roll the Dice Event btw-

Rolled a 1, so one main character

Rolled a 3, so that character is Roman

Rolled a 6, so Superhero AU

Rolled an 8, so it's fluff

Prompt word is "Birthday"

For background pairings I got Patton/Virgil/Janus (moxceit? someone tell me their ship name) and Intrulogical

Word Count: ~2k

Warnings: food mention, weapons mention but there's no fighting

Ao3

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

Of course it was today. 

Of course the 8-day no-crime streak ended on the famous hero Prince's birthday. 

And of course the one committing the crime was his twin brother.

Roman didn't know what he was thinking; that's exactly the kind of thing Remus would do for his birthday. Causing chaos? The only self-indulgent birthday gift expected from his own brother, The Duke. 

But that wasn't the point. The point was, someone was kidnapped and being held by his old wombmate, and Roman had to go save them. 

The Prince ran across the city, jumping off of and onto the roofs of buildings, climbing down fire exits (which probably would be illegal, but he was being heroic so-), and landing on the sidewalk where pedestrians gasped and moved out of the way quickly. With a shout of "Sorry! Coming through--," he started running again towards the giant warehouse near the edge of the city. He would normally feel bad about almost toppling over a group of people, but as soon as they started gasping and gushing over 'the famous hero Prince!' fumbling for their phones, all possibilities of guilt he could have felt vanished. 

Roman leaped onto the roof of the warehouse, crouching and rolling to lessen the impact and the noise. He cringed, knowing that if his brother was inside below him he almost certainly would have heard that, but the absence of weapons pointing up at him from the ground suggested otherwise. Peeking over the edge of the roof, Roman couldn't see any robot--or otherwise--guards near the front gate, so he decided it was safe and dropped down with a soft thud of his boots on the concrete. Looking around and not seeing anything out of place or especially dangerous, he walked casually into the warehouse. Venturing further in, the sun's beams of light stopped reaching far enough and Roman was standing in a hazy expanse of darkness.

A shuffling sound was heard from a place in the back-left part of Roman's vision; a place that must be close to the corner of the warehouse. The hero squinted to try and identify the movement, his right foot stepping forward. 

Suddenly, a blinding light flicked on. 

Roman shielded his eyes, unable to look up in the direction he was looking before. Unveiled in this new light was a chair with a person sitting on it, tied up and head dangling low. They appeared to be unconscious. When Roman's eyes adjusted to the new brightness, he could clearly see- and recognize- the mess of light brown curls on the person's head. Pair that with the khakis and the bright blue shirt, and it was undoubtedly his friend Patton who was being held hostage. 

Roman's eyes widened as he brandished his sword, stepping forward once again. He stopped at the sight of black ruffled sleeves and chromatic green adornments, and there was The Duke, in all of his frivolous glory, holding a morningstar over his shoulder and a wickedly knowing smile on his face. 

 "Remus," Roman gritted out, like a superhero confronting his nemesis. "Patton?! Really?! I thought we had an agreement about bringing our friends into this super- business!" 

 "Yes, dear brother, but it was going to be so much fun!” Remus laughed. “Kidnapping one of your best friends, and on our birthday no less, sending out a deliciously evil broadcast to let the whole city know of what I've done today, and ending your grand 8-day streak of absolutely no known crimes in the city?! What could be more exciting!" 

 "You planned this whole thing?!?!"  

 "You got that right, bro!" Remus exclaimed, no hint of deception in his voice. "I had to blackmail a couple of supervillains to get them to stop commiting crimes for a week and I almost died once trying to, but the look on your face is worth it!" he cackled, lowering his morningstar. "And don't worry, Patty here said it was okay to kidnap him. Right pops?" 

 "That's right!" a peppy voice called from behind them, and Patton suddenly didn’t appear unconscious (although he was still tied to a chair). 

 "Patton! You're okay!" Roman exclaimed, before realizing what was going on. He gasped. "How dare you! Betrayed by my own best friend!" Roman cried dramatically, sending a playful glare Patton's way. 

 "Yeah, you should probably go save him now," Remus said, stepping to the side and nodding to the chair. Roman crossed the warehouse room to go to his friend. 

 "I've got to say, I'm surprised you didn't get Logan to be your hostage," Roman said while he used his sword to cut Patton free, getting a cheerful "Thanks kiddo!" from Patton in return.

"That is very kinky and a great suggestion for next time," Remus started while Roman made a noise that was half offended that his comment was interpreted that way and half distressed at the words 'next time,' "but he, Jan, and Virge are busy setting up our surprise birthday party so they couldn't come. Pat was supposed to distract us anyway, and this is the perfect distraction!" 

 "Isn't a surprise party supposed to be a surprise!?!?" Roman exclaimed, distraught that the surprise was ruined for him. 

 "Aww, Ro, you know how bad I am at keeping secrets," Patton said sweetly with a hint of guilt in his voice. 

Roman couldn't deny that, so he just made a noise of agreement and helped Patton discard the rest of the ropes. He knew that Remus would never hurt Patton (or any of their friends for that matter), but setting up an entire evil supervillain plot just to inconvenience Roman and get a rise out of him? Actually….. seemed like a pretty Remus thing to do. 

(If you ask the author, the Duke did not set up an entire evil supervillain plot just to see a look on his brother's face. At this very moment in the story, Remus is using Roman's distractedness to send his tiny minions into the warehouse and stealthily steal government owned chemicals and lab materials. However, neither Roman nor Patton know this). (And if you ask Remus, he was not at all stealing these things to make his (not-so-innocent) scientist boyfriend happy. Nope, nada, no siree. However, if you ask the author, she would tell you something different). 

 "Do you think they'd be done now?" Roman asked his brother, who spun around to face the hero after not being suspicious at all.

 "Eh, I don't know, probably," Remus responded, making various hand motions. "Besides what does it matter? We know anyway." 

 "I'm going to ignore that, pretend I didn't even ask," Roman said, "and go home with Patton, not expecting anything at all." 

 "And I'll follow you home like a creep!" Remus called, leading them to the back door of the warehouse (where the vehicles filled with stolen goods were out of sight). 

 "Do you mind?" Roman asked Patton, who shaked his head, saying "Nope!" cheerfully as ever. Roman picked Patton up bridal-style and jumped up, running back the way he came (although he avoided the intersection he ran into last time… just gonna take a detour around that part). They landed down a block from Roman's house and walked the rest of the way in, chatting animatedly the entire way. Remus walked up behind them from the other side of the house, right before they opened the door. 

 "Happy Birthday Roman and Remus!" called 4 voices from all around them. Patton, standing next to Roman in the doorway; Virgil, who was now on Roman's other side (appearing so quickly he almost made the twins jump); Janus, who was in front of them holding a bunch of balloons with a half-teasing, half-resigned look on his face; and Logan, who was standing underneath a 'Happy Birthday' banner decorated with an assortment of bright and colorful stickers. 

 "Or as I like to say, Happy Birthday to our friend and his brother who we tolerate," Janus said, the start of a smirk appearing on his face. 

 "It's sad to know we only tolerate you, isn't it, Roman," Virgil deadpanned with an infuriatingly straight (hah) face, setting a hand on Roman's shoulder. Roman squawked indignantly.

 "Now now, Virgil, what did we say about roasting Roman on his birthday," Patton chided mockingly. Virgil stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend in response, hiding a smile. 

 "Wow! Thank you so much guys! I was not expecting this at all!" Roman said, you know, like a liar. 

 "You would think by now he would be a better actor," Logan quipped to Remus--he had crossed the room to stand next to his boyfriend--who laughed maniacally in response. 

 "Wow, the insults just won't stop today, will they," Roman said, exasperated, although a smile quickly replaced the slightly irritated look on his face. (Roman knows his friends love him, even if they have a slightly strange way of showing it). "So I'm guessing you knew we were gonna figure it out?" 

"Oh, we expected it. Everyone knows how bad Patton is at keeping other people's secrets," Janus said. 

 "Hey!" Patton protested, swatting playfully at Janus who smiled and kissed the other's forehead in response. 

Remus gasped before the two could get any more sweet with each other. "Is that cake?!?!?" he screeched loudly, causing Virgil to cover his ears while Logan, the one actually standing next to Remus, remained unfazed. 

 "Yes, that is cake, Remus, this is a birthday party after all," Logan said with his monotone voice, reaching up to straighten (hah) his tie. Remus shot him a look.

 "Cake time!" Patton exclaimed, rushing from Janus' side to go to the large tiered dessert. It was a beautiful cake: three tiers, each with 2 different colors on it so that when you looked at it from the side, it made a rainbow. Fitting, for June. "Janus and I made it, but Virgil decorated it," he continued, striking a match and starting to light the candles that were inserted into the cake, his tongue sticking out the tiniest bit in an adorable manner. "And it's Funfetti!" 

 "Which was Logan's idea, by the way," Janus commented, walking over to the table as well, Virgil close behind him. Logan flushed the tiniest bit as the twins broke out into separate grins. 

"You remembered!" Remus exclaimed. 

"Aww, you care about us," Roman added. 

"Did you tell Patty and Jany to put those hot cinnamon candies in instead of boring old sprinkles?"  

"Oh no- you better not have!!" 

 "He mentioned it, but I'm pretty certain if we tried they would explode or something, plus it ruins the Fun of Funfetti, so we didn't put any in," Patton said before blowing out the match, having lit all of the candles. Remus mumbled something about "those damn fluffy pals" and how they "never make anything fun" before accepting his fate, knowing the cake would still be delicious. 

When the six of them sang Happy Birthday (because the twins weren't not going to sing, even if it was their birthday), Roman could look around and feel luck. For he felt lucky to have such wonderful, thoughtful, and amazing friends, and they felt lucky to have him as well. When they cut into the cake and complimented Patton and Janus on how delicious it turned out, as well as Virgil on his decoration skills, Roman could feel pride. For he felt proud for his friends and their amazing accomplishments, and they were proud of them as well. When they floated back to the living room and had a karaoke competition for several hours after that, Roman could look around and feel joy. For he was joyful in that moment, with his friends, (even if he still knew his performance of "Wait for Me" should have beaten Janus' performance of "Razzle Dazzle"), and they all felt that joy as well. 

[writingpaperghost]

Like Father, Like Daughter (Part 4)

It’s been about a week and a half since Mayu became Zero’s host, and barring the first couple days, things have been pretty tame. That changes when the AIB get a lead on the alien Zero was chasing.

Also on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22967815/chapters/55110814

Mayu and Noa had agreed to hang out with Riku that day, as he had wanted to get to know them better, since he’d be working with Mayu especially more. Noa came along because they usually hung out together, so everyone who would be seeing more of Mayu would be seeing more of Noa. Though, Mayu thought part of the reason that Riku wanted them to come over was so he could get them to watch Don-shine. Regardless, Mayu found she enjoyed getting to know him, as well and Pega and REM.

This is how the two girls found themselves sitting on a couch, Noa folding paper flowers with Pega, while Mayu was sketching in her sketch book, a strange sort of flower beginning to take shape.

Then they get a call, from the AIB. REM brings up a video feed, making Moa and Zena take up the screen. Mayu places her sketch book into her bag, standing up to move towards the screen as Noa joins her. Riku stands up to join them.

“Moa?” He asked, “Have you found something?”

“We’re getting reports of an alien matching the description of the one Zero’s searching for.” Moa said, “There’s multiple reports of the alien at the docks. We’re going to check it out, but you might want to come along too.”

“Right,” Riku nods, “We’ll meet you at the docks.”

The call ends, and Mayu and Noa grab their bags, then REM sends the three of them to the docks. A quick look around didn’t show anything unusual. Though there did appear to be a lack of people.

Moa and Zena arrive not long after, which is when Zero takes control, pulling Mayu’s glasses off. “Remember, this alien is very dangerous, we’ll need to be careful.” If this alien was so dangerous, Mayu couldn’t help but wonder why they just decided to bring two teenagers. Though Zero might have negated that argument for Mayu.

“Do we know if it’s just him, or if he has anyone else helping him?” Noa asked, adjusting her bag strap.

Moa shakes her head, “We don’t know, but we suspect he has some kind of accomplice working with him.”

“You’ll need to keep your eyes open,” Zena added, “We don’t know what they’re up to.”

“We’ll need to split up to cover the area, though,” Riku noted, looking around. The docks were certainly a large area, so he had a point. Still, Mayu wasn’t sure how she felt about that plan.

She takes control to point out that, “Are we sure that’s a good idea? What if someone finds something.”

“We could pair up?” Riku offered.

“There’s five of us,” Noa pointed out, dryly.

Zero takes control again, “Riku and Noa can pair up, Moa and Zena can pair up, and Mayu and I are technically a pair.” Really Zero?

Moa contemplates in, then nods, “Alright, let’s go.”

Which is how Mayu found herself walking around abandoned docks alone, with only Zero’s disembodied voice to keep her company. This felt like the set up for something like a horror movie, it could be made worse only by it being dark out. Thankfully, it shouldn’t get dark for a while, so they’d hopefully be long gone by the time the sunset, lessening the likelihood of that specific scenario.

“It’s all your fault that I’m stuck walking around here all alone,”

“Technically,” Zero stated, and Mayu knew she was only going to get more annoyed with him, “You’re not alone. You have me.”

“Which means I’m basically alone,” Poking her head into the open doorway of a warehouse, Mayu rolls her eyes, “And it’s not like you’re...” She trailed off, taking in what she saw in the warehouse. The warehouse was filled with crates, like she’d expect, but off against one of the stacks of crates was an alien, clicking away on what she thought looked like some kind of computer.

“That’s an Alien Valky,” Zero told her, as she quietly moved into the warehouse more. She was thankful that she was pretty light on her feet, so her footsteps were barely audible. Since the Alien Valky didn’t respond to her movements, she supposed he wasn’t able to hear her.

“What should we do?” She whispered. While the most logical course of action would to be to get the others, she knew that there would be a chance that Alien Valky would have left and taken the laptop with him.

“We need to distract him and see what’s on that computer. There might be useful information.” Zero said, as Mayu looked around. Distraction... What could she use as a distraction? Maybe there was something in one of the boxes?

She sneaks over to a different stack of boxes, farther from the alien Valky. Gently, she opens one of the boxes, glad the lid was loose. Peering in, she finds nothing useful, so she lowers the lid and moves on. She repeats the process several times until she finds something useful.

A box of tennis balls.

“Hey Zero,” Mayu asked, “How’s your throwing arm?”

Zero takes control, pulling her glasses off, having caught on to what she was planning. He reaches in and pulls a few tennis balls out, shoving them in their pockets, then tiptoes to a different spot. Zero pulls one of the tennis balls out of their pockets, then takes aim at the wall on the opposite end of the warehouse. Then he throws.

Thunk!

Over at the computer, Alien Valky turns around, his attention caught by the tennis ball. With a grumble, he goes off to investigate. Zero sneaks over to the computer and starts clicking at the keys.

“Alright,” He mutters, “What do we have here?” His eyes run over the text, written in some foreign language Mayu didn’t understand, but Zero seemed to get it, so she supposed that’s all that matters. He scrolls the text, continuing to read it, starting to get distracted.

Mayu hears footsteps coming and puts two and two together. “Zero...” She began to warn him, the footsteps coming increasingly closer. Soon enough Alien Valky was going to be able to see them. “We need to go.”

Zero snaps out of his distraction, but not quick enough. Behind them, the footsteps stop, and a voice speaks, “Well, what do we have here?” Zero spins around, facing Alien Valky, who stands several feet away, eyeing them suspiciously. “A little girl poking her nose where it doesn’t belong?”

“I don’t think I like this guy,” Mayu noted, realizing they weren’t exactly in a good place. Of course, this was a warehouse, so even if they couldn’t get out, it’d be easy to lose Alien Valky. Really, the main issue she was finding was getting past him, as he currently blocked the only actual exit.

“We’ll see about that...” Zero said, reaching into their pocket. The tennis balls! Right, they were still in there, and she could tell Zero had one hell of an arm. He grabs one, winding his arm back and throwing it at Alien Valky, hitting him square in the face. Then Zero dashed off, yelling, “Trying to scare me? You’re a twenty thousand years too early!”

They rush through the warehouse, turning to head out the door they came from. “We need to find the others,” Mayu says as they wind through the docks. The others shouldn’t be too far, “Let’s just hope they haven’t run into any trouble.”

“Mayu!” Ah, Moa! She was with Zena; she was looking at Zero with concern. “Ah, Zero. Why are you running?”

Zero stops, breathing amazingly even for having ran there, “Ran into Alien Valky,” He explained, “He had some... interesting things on his computer.” That made Mayu wonder. What did Zero read on that computer? What could make him so hesitant?

“Oh, should we find Rikun and Noa?”

“That... might be for the best, before they run into anything too dangerous.” Zero nods, returning Mayu’s glasses to her face and returning control to her.

“It’s not like they’ll be too far,” She says, heading off into the direction that Noa and Riku had split off into. “Let’s go.”

“Ah,” Moa hurries to catch up with her, “Maybe Zena or I should lead...”

Mayu shrugs, looking around for the other two, “I mean, it should be fine, but you can if you-” Before she could finish her sentence, Riku comes flying from off to the side, thrown by some unseen force.

“Riku!” Came Noa’s startled cry as Mayu whips her head towards where Riku came from. Noa was running over, and behind her was an alien. Was that the alien Zero was chasing after, or was it another lackey?

The alien could best be described as stout, shorter than Mayu by a good foot, but close to as wide as one of the wooden crates in the warehouse. There were two sets of leathery wings folded against its mottled looking body. There were bits of skin or a similar substance that peeled off the alien’s back and trailed behind it like a gross cape.

Zero takes control, facing the alien was a frown. “Emari,” Well, Mayu supposed they had a name for this guy. Just a name, though. Before Zero hadn’t even said that much, just that there was some alien summoning monsters. She supposed name is a bit more, at least.

Emari cocks his head to the side, eyeing Zero, “Ah, Ultraman Zero,” He finally says, apparently a cartoon villain.

“This end now,” Apparently Zero was actually pretty good at hero-villain banter. Mayu’s life was becoming so surreal. Actual hero-villain banter. Goodness, this meant she owed Noa money now, due to a ridiculous bet from three years ago. Here she’d thought she’d never have to listen actual hero-villain banter.

“Hah! We’ll see about that,” Emari turns around, waves his arms, and lights shoot out. From there, rising up and growing was a kaiju. Soon, a monster with one big eye, with red muscle-like flesh around it. Its body had other, smaller eyes intermittently about it.

“Oh.” Mayu said, “That’s a big eye monster.”

Riku has moved to stand next to them, watching as the monster roars and began to attack the docks. “It’s Gan-Q,” He said.

Emari cackles, “Let’s see you beat this monster!” Then he dashes off, disappearing behind one of the warehouses.

“We’re gonna have to deal with Gan-Q before we chase after Emari,” Riku said, pulling out what Mayu had been told was his Geed Riser. Zero nods, following suit and pulling out his Zero Eye, holding it up to their face and pressing the button.

They entered the ever-strange transformation states and soon they were towering above the docks, with Geed right next to them. Posing, Zero declares, “I am Zero! Ultraman Zero!” Oh, he finally gets his catchphrase.

Geed launches himself at Gan-Q, reaching to grab under the monster and grapple it. Zero joins Geed, punching and kicking at the monster. They did their things, working together to fight the monster.

Mayu hadn’t noticed it the first time, but Zero and Geed worked together very well. She supposed they’d worked together before and probably had plenty of time to figure out how to work with each other. But that had been ten years before, so it was pretty amazing that they could still work together as well as they did. Of course, she got the impression that ten years wasn’t very long, to Zero at least.

The two jump back, dodging out of the way of one of Gan-Q’s attacks. They stand next to each other, and Geed says, “Looks like it’s time to try something else.” Then he glows, changing form. Now he was mostly red, with grey armor of sorts, and some funky head design.

“Gonna try and brute force ‘em with Solid Burning, huh?” Zero says, while Mayu is still reeling.

“I’m sorry, did he just... like evolve? Is he like a Pokémon? What the hell?”

There was a sort of realization in Zero’s head, a reminder that Mayu was horribly unfamiliar with all of this. That she was an inquisitive girl who, while taking everything in stride and all relatively well, was still a fish out of water, much like Riku had been when they first met. Riku, of course, had REM to help him understand, and Zero himself. Right now, it was mostly up to Zero to help Mayu, who may not need to know these things, would very much appreciate not being left in the dark.

“Ultras have the ability to change form,” He began to explain, while also joining Geed in returning to fight Gan-Q, “To become stronger or shift their power,”

Mayu thought about his words for a moment. So, Ultras had the ability to change form, which is what Geed did. This ability allowed them to become stronger or to distribute their power differently. Judging by what Zero had said to Geed, this “Solid Burning” form, was stronger. Perhaps more like a tank in a video game, judging by his movements. He was certainly stronger, but Mayu thought his speed might have suffered.

“Okay...” She said, “So is that something you can do to?”

Zero dodges a hit from the monster, then responds, “Yes,”

Interesting... Zero himself seemed to be strong, certainly more experienced than Geed. Really, in the now three fights she’s seem him in, he hasn’t felt a need to change forms, so he must be stronger than Geed. Or at the very least better at winging it – that was probably more likely, given what she’d seen of him. That made her wonder, just what were his form changes like? She supposed she’d find out eventually, it was very unlikely he’d manage not to need at least one. Guess it was just a matter of time.

Soon Geed and Zero’s timers begin to flash red, and Geed moves back slightly, preparing to attack. He rears back his hand, punching while Zero moves off to the side, preparing to attack himself. “Wide Zero Shot!” He crosses his arms in a peculiar way and a beam shot from his cross arms, blasting into Gan-Q as Geed punched it.

In a flurry of excessive explosion, Gan-Q himself explodes, creating a firework of victory. Zero and Geed turn their backs, basking in their victory, then they drop their transformation.

Zero relinquished control back to Mayu, who used this opportunity to look herself over for too many bruises. Thankfully, baring a few small ones, Zero did much better avoiding getting hit this time. Well, that makes it all a lot easier to hide.

Moa, Zena, and Noa approach them. “Emari disappeared,” Moa informed them, crossing her arms, “We have no clue where he went.”

“Unsurprising,” Zero groaned, “He’s good at disappearing.” That probably had something to do with why Zero was still chasing after him.

“Do you think he’s still on Earth?” Noa asked, crossing her arms. Mayu was wondering the same, after all, if Zero had been chasing him, then it would make sense to leave.

Zero takes control to respond, “I think so,” He said, “Emari came to Earth for a reason, not just because I was chasing him.”

Riku looks at Zero, “He came here for a reason? Why?”

Zero turns to Riku, looking him in the eyes, “Last time I fought Emari, it was before I met you, and he was trying to resurrect Belial,” Zero had explained to Mayu who Belial was, an evil Ultraman and Riku’s father. “This was the last place Belial was alive, so it’s very likely that Emari is here for him. Belial’s DNA is a black-market commodity, which makes it very expensive.”

“So, he came to Earth to find it himself.” Zena said.

Zero nods, “According to what I found on the computer earlier, he’s already found it and sent it out to some scientists in space. He doesn’t intend to resurrect Belial; he wants to clone him.” That would be bad. Mayu didn’t like the idea of a bunch of evil Ultramen running around. She couldn’t even imagine if say Riku or Zero turned evil.

“So, we’ll have to stop those scientists from making clones,” Riku said. Mayu really hadn’t thought about it, but she supposed that Riku would be able to go into space, so long as he was transformed. And Zero was recovered, so he could easily go with him.

“Yes,” Zero said, “But you should stay here, Riku.”

“What?” Riku asked shocked, “Why? What if you need help?”

Zero smirked, “I’ll call on the UFZ, they’ll help.” Then he looks off in the direction of the city, “If something happens and Emari attacks again, someone needs to be here.”

Riku rubbed the back of his head and sighed, “Yeah, alright, you’ve got a point.”

“Then it’s settled, I’ll head out in a couple days.”

They all parted their own ways, with Mayu heading back home. It was getting late, after all, and Mayu had two inspirations to draw for that were just itching to get down on paper. That didn’t curb the thought that she was going to miss Zero, at least a bit. Sure, he wasn’t going to be gone for good, he still had to deal with Emari, but when he got back, who’s to say he won’t find someone better suited to be his host. As much as he got on her nerves, she enjoyed having him around. She was beginning to find she could easily consider him a friend.

Regardless, she supposed it would be nice not to have him constantly in her head. Sometimes, he just would not stop talking. While that was nice sometimes, when he’d talk about interesting things, when he was just complaining about class or something, Mayu did not enjoy it.

As she sat at her desk, finishing her flower from earlier, she smiled as the curious colors came in. Red with swirling black and methodical silver. Soon the flower was finished, and she sat back slightly, far more relaxed after the day.

“It reminds me of Geed,” Zero comments.

Mayu just hums.

[trumpetnista]

CMW2/Trumpetnista: True North

Summary from FFN: CANON COMPLIANT AU WITH HEAVY SPOILERS FOR THE END OF SEASON 4 AND THE FIRST EPS OF 5; After the events of 'Not You, Too', Bruce is ecstatic that Selina is alive but he is about to truly lose it. Being the True North of his life, Selina enlists the one person who loves him more than her to help him escape Gotham's ruins.;Rated for words & imagery;4th in my 2019 SSS Project

Words from the Hooded GOTHAMITE: Your eyes are not deceiving you, folks. It's a double header! I'm really gonna knuckle down and update/finish at least one of my established stories in another fandom after this one, I promise but again, what the Muses want, they get. If I don't cooperate with them, they go away for ages. They really want Bruce and Selina right now. It is what it is.

Selina and Alfred's bond is one of my favorite on the show. I've always loved a good 'started from the bottom, now we're here' plotline and I'm glad that they've united. Other than Jim, they're all Bruce has so it's best that they get along. They've gone from enemies to frenemies to family and I really, really hope that the BatFamily can become some kind of an official thing in GOTHAM's endgame. If not, that's what fanfic is for.

Again, I just want everyone to be happy. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway, here's the follow up to 'Not You, Too' and after I do the aforementioned updating/finishing in my other fandoms, I will get started on my next big Baby BatCat fics. There is a need and I will fulfill it!

Disclaimer: “Honestly, it’s not mine!”

"I once said that the only reason he wanted to be with me was because I was literally the only girl he knew. That myth is just busted all to pieces now, ain't it?"

"Completely. You're the love of his life."

"He's a masochist. And I'm an idiot because I love him back. One of those Tangs for me?"

"Yes."

"Any vodka in it?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Don't worry. I'll swipe some Goose from Barbara later. I gotta go see Tabby. Pay my respects."

"I'm sorry for your loss, Selina."

"Are you?"

"You cared for her."

"She tried to kill Bruce. Like really, really tried."

"Everyone has."

Laughing still hurt like hell but Selina Kyle couldn't help but do so. It wasn't like Alfred Pennyworth was wrong. Every maniac worth their salt in Gotham took a crack at Bruce Wayne at least once before their temper tantrum was done. That was what he got for being an overly noble piece of shit like Jim Gordon. Not to say that Gordon wasn't a good man (not that she'd ever tell him so to his face) but to model one's life choices after him really wasn't the best idea. It led to so much trouble.

Hopping down from the roof's ledge aggravated her injuries but Selina welcomed the pain. She welcomed the fact that she could climb and jump again. Even when she had nothing, even when she was all alone, she had been able to move. She had been able to run, jump and be free. Jeremiah Valeska had taken that away from her. He had shot her, nearly ruined her, but fate in the form of Bruce had intervened. He had gone out and found a Cure for her. He had risked becoming a living garden from Ivy Pepper Version 3′s venom for her. He had saved her and in turn, she would do her best to save him.

Eventually, she wouldn't be able to. It went back to him being an overly noble piece of shit but damn it, she would try. Bruce didn't get to die on her, not for a long time.

"How are you feeling?"

"I look the way I feel, Lurch."

"So, like a walking piece of roadkill?"

"Fuck off."

And it was very clear that Selina could not die on him. It wasn't an option. Jeremiah Valeska and his crazy girlfriend bitch had tried to kill her. They had damned near blown her up but she had made it out. She had managed to get out of her restraints and had been in the process of climbing out of a window when the explosives went off. That had sent her flying and while there was a bit of a blank, she remembered the feeling of weightlessness, the impact with the truck, and more importantly, the feeling of needing to get home.

Home was Bruce. Whether they were in Wayne Manor, The Haven, or anywhere, Bruce was home. She needed to get her ass up, pull herself together enough to function, and get home. If Valeska went after her, it stood to reason that he was going to go the whole nine yards. Her, Gordon, Alfred, anyone positive in Bruce's life had a bulls-eye on them again. Valeska wanted to break him. He wanted to convert him to his special brand of madness and the circus freak probably wanted his body, too. Bruce was damned fine to look at, like one of those angels in museum paintings. He had been adorable before but puberty had been very good to him.

However, the only person who would be touching the art was her.

Even if Jeremiah wasn't crazier than the cow that jumped over the moon and blew it up, the age difference was not good. Jeremiah was in his mid-twenties. Bruce may be 40 years old in the head but he had just turned 18. Jeremiah's Evil Twin Jerome, may he forever rot and burn in Hell, had ruined his birthday party when he took over that concert with exploding neck bombs.

The cake had been damned good, though. God, Selina missed cake so much. It was still possible to find the ingredients or a done one but it was more trouble than it was worth. The energy would be put to better use finding medicine or ammo.

Anyway, it had taken some time but she had gotten to the Twelfth Precinct, only to find a broken Bruce Wayne. He had thought she had been murdered. Jeremiah had said she was dead and instead of breaking in the way the freak longed for, Bruce had beaten him to death with a chair.

Jeremiah Valeska was very much dead.

Selina had demanded to see the body, just to make sure he was gone, and it had been a mess. Absolutely justified but a mess, all the same. Jeremiah's girlfriend had been catatonic but when three unfortunate saps tried to transport her to Arkham, she had murdered them and ran. Word was that she The Dark Zone's leader now and she would 'continue her beloved's legacy' or some other nonsense like that. As long as the demented bitch left Bruce the hell alone, Selina didn't care.

She would never forget the way he looked when Bruce came out of Gordon's office.

He looked as if his whole world had been destroyed but reborn in front of his eyes. The wild look in his eyes, the way he was shaking? It was the warehouse with Scarecrow's Terror Gas all over again, only a thousand times worse. All Selina could do was touch him, tell him to breathe, tell him to look at her but he hadn't got it. It had taken seconds for him to get it but it had felt like hours. Seeing him like that? God, if the motherfucker wasn't already dead, Selina would've gone after him. He already had a target on him for the bullet to her spine but hurting Bruce, breaking Bruce...

The hug he had given her had been so painful but she didn't dare pull away, not until she was sure that he was back. The anguish and relief in his voice as he cried in her arms, even as he responded to her would haunt her forever.

It also put a very heavy responsibility on her.

She had to stay alive.

She had to keep her remaining 7 lives close to her because if she didn't?

"...Selina? Are you up here?"

"Hey, B. You want some Tang? There's no vodka in it but it's still pretty good."

"No, thank you. I...I woke up and you were gone."

"Sorry. I needed some air and you needed the sleep. I didn't mean to scare you. C'mere."

Bruce came to her and hugged her, hiding his face in her shoulder. It had been 2 days since her supposed demise and Selina knew that he would cling for quite a while. Afterwards, he would be even more protective of her and she had to get ready to deal with it. Not just from Bruce but from everyone. Even though Valeska was gone, eliminating one of Gotham's biggest problems, she and everyone else was far from safe. The government was still doing its best to avoid helping them, meaning that the city would continue to fall apart. Eventually, even the good people would start turning on each other for the sake of survival and then, where would they be?

"You two weren't fighting, were you?"

"Nah. Truce is still on."

"Good."

"You need to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"I didn't ask if you were. You need to eat. I found a bunch of MREs and water. There's enough."

"Selina..."

"Look, I get it. You thought I was dead, went full on WrestleMania on Valeska, found out I wasn't dead, and had the panic attack to end all of them. You're stressed out. You're feeling guilty for caving that asshole's head in, which you really shouldn't, by the way, you're still sad because the city's fucked but let me tell you something: I'm still here. We're getting by as best we can until we can get outside help. Valeska had it coming to him and all not taking care of yourself is gonna do is make Alfred worry about you and piss me off. Do you wanna do that?"

"...no."

"You need to eat. And you need to sleep some more. I'll come down in a few minutes. I gotta bandage and ice my ribs, anyways. Eat. Talk to Gordon and get some damned sunlight, will you? You look even more like a vampire than usual."

Bruce let out a noise that was between a scoff and a laugh before looking between them.

"Anything to add, Alfred?"

"No, I think she covered things nicely."

"I don't know if I like this. You two ganging up on me..."

"Somebody has take the L. It might as well be us. Are you still here?"

"I'm going, I'm going..."

"Wait."

Stepping forward, Selina pulled him down into a tender kiss and pecked his forehead.

"Now, scram. Grab me some chili mac and a vanilla pudding."

Bruce looked at her fixedly, nodded, and headed for the staircase. He hesitated in the doorway and when he turned around, Selina gave him a tired but genuine smile. Relief visibly filled him at the sight and he was gone. Shaking her head, she let out a noise that was half sigh and half sob.

"For fuck's sake...Alfred, we've got to get him outta here. Enough is enough. I don't...he has been on the edge of the worst nervous breakdown ever since it all went down with his parents and now this shit, on top of all the other shit? We gotta get him the hell out of here, government bullshit be damned!"

"Agreed. How?"

"I dunno. I was hoping that you had an idea. All that gray hair. There ought to be some wisdom underneath it..."

"This gray hair used to be blonde."

"Oh Christ...don't tell me you were walking around looking like one of the bastards from The Bee Gees back in the day..."

"Okay, I won't."

"Ewww...I wanna see pics but ewww..."

"...we're all he's got. Us and Gordon and he won't leave."

"Gordon will help us get him out, though. Him, Bullock, and Foxy. Maybe even Barbara. She's always had a soft spot for him from back in the day. If not, she'll do it for me...or Gordon. Gross."

"Problem is that Bruce may refuse to leave. He sees Gotham as his responsibility."

"I'll change his mind about that."

"I don't think you're in enough good physical condition to do that, yet."

"First of all, where there's a will, there's a way. Secondly, you need to mind your business, Jack. I know you're his Guardian and I guess mine now but there are boundaries..."

"Apologies."

"...and third, I don't think getting him to bounce will be as hard as you think. He doesn't want to lose anyone else he loves to what's left of this place. That's us. If we get out, he'll get out. Of course, he'll come back here to help as soon as possible because he's an overly noble piece of shit..."

"He's our overly noble piece of shit."

"...I know but...if we stick together, we can pull it off. Truce is still on."

"For Bruce."

"For Bruce."

[gamercock]

Liberty Listening

I’m proud to announce that I’m writing a D:BH fic! It’s gonna be mostly centered on a relationship between pacifist Markus and Simon, but it’s also going to fix some small issues I had with canon. Chapter one is under the cut!

Read on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15135053/chapters/35095613

The night was dark and stormy and the docks were slick with rainwater. Autonomous trucks rumbled through the maze of metal shipping containers, lit from below by harsh yellow lights in the pavement.

In the space between two containers, four androids silently crept over the edge of the docks, shrouded in shadow.

Josh, dark-skinned and perpetually worried. Simon, blonde, blue-eyed, and fiercely loyal. North, brown hair pulled into a ponytail and always jumping for a chance to fight. And Markus, one blue eye and one green, the one who’d come up with the idea of raiding the warehouses for supplies.

“This is crazy!” Josh whispered. “If they catch us, we’re dead !”

“What do we do now?” Simon murmured, ignoring him.

“We need to find the Cyberlife warehouse. That’s where they keep the spare parts and the blue blood,” Markus explained.

“Follow me!” North urged, and she broke into a run, her feet pounding the asphalt. The others quickly followed, avoiding cranes and ducking behind shipping containers.

“Don’t let them see us!” Josh warned in their minds. They’d all connected with each other’s minds before arriving at the docks, to provide them a method of psuedo-telepathy.

The other androids barely acknowledged him. They advanced through the docks, crossing blue zone signs glowing in the ground, dodging around places where they might be seen, slinking through the shadows, each step causing the quietest of splashes.

North paused before another road. Markus continued forward, but she held out her arm to block him. “Watch out!”

Just then, a police drone whizzed by, illuminating the path for two workers.

“Now what do we do?” Josh spoke urgently.

“I’ll find another way!” North nodded decisively. She clambered over the top of a shipping container and the others quickly followed suit.

They raced over containers and dodged spotlights, their footsteps ringing on the metallic surface. Leaping over large gaps and climbing to higher ground only to slip off the edge and continue running.

North led them to the top of a large stack, paused to get her bearings, and continued sprinting forward. From the top, they could see the target warehouse, the name “CYBERLIFE” in glowing letters on the side.

North leaped onto the side of a shipping container that was being clasped by a crane and mentally beckoned the others. They all clung to the side like a row of bats as the crane lifted the container and moved it across a wide street. As they passed over more heaps of containers, North dropped onto the metal surface with a splash, and the others followed.

They leapt over two large gaps between stacks and slid down a metal bluff.

“The warehouse is up ahead. We’re almost there,” North announced.

They rushed over a field of flat, corrugated metal, hopped another gap, and finally paused, crouching, on the edge of a stack of containers. Before them, just across the street, lay the Cyberlife warehouse.

“Cyberlife warehouses,” Simon glanced at Markus. “They have everything we’re looking for . . .” his voice was a reverent whisper.

“First we have to get rid of that drone,” North pointed out, nodding at a triangular police drone with pulsing red and blue lights on the edges.

“Leave it to me,” Markus said, determined. He stood up and backed away from the edge to preconstruct his attack on the drone.

Onto the shipping container, then kicking off the side of the container next to it, leaping and hanging onto the edge of the container that was rising, then swinging forward and pouncing on the drone.

He took a few steps back for a running start and put his plan into action. Within seconds, he was gripping the drone in midair and twisting the sections apart from each other. The drone squeaked and buzzed, throwing sparks and smoke. Then, with one last, sickly crunch, it died just as Markus slammed it into the ground.

“You okay?” Simon touched his shoulder for a brief second in thanks before jogging forward.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Markus turned to follow the others.

A cluster of crates was piled in the parking lot, waiting to be stored in the warehouse.

“Quick, open the other crates and fill your bags.” Simon instructed. “Take as much as you can.”

Markus slid his knife into the crack between the lid and the box on one of the crates and used it to lever the lid off. It was brimming with bags of blue blood, which he started slipping into his backpack.

He paused, feeling as if someone was watching him, and turned around.

A GJ500 faced them. “You’re trespassing on private property.” it strode towards them. “Your presence constitutes a Level Two infraction. I will notify security.”

“JOHN! Goddamn machine . . . where is it this time?” a human worker wandered into their field of view

Markus thought quickly, processors humming, and swiftly came to a conclusion. He darted forward and grabbed the android from behind, covered its mouth with one hand, and dragged it behind a crate.

“John?” the human meandered closer, looking back and forth.

Markus deactivated the skin on his hand, allowing him to interface with the android’s mind.

“I need your help . . .”

“John!” the human ambled into their little nook of crates, examining it half-heartedly with the flashlight. “First the drone, now this . . . Just my luck.”

Finally, the worker turned and walked away, still looking from side to side with the flashlight to no avail.

Markus released the GJ500 and crept back out into the open.

“Let’s finish up and get out of here!” Simon pressed. “Try to find some blue blood, we still don’t have enough!

Markus’s backpack was overflowing with packets of blue blood when he noticed a larger crate, against the wall of the warehouse.

Curious, he snuck over and used his knife to pry open the locks. He opened the door with a hiss, revealing three AP700’s half-buried in foam in a row.

He gazed at them for a moment, face illuminated blue by the glowing interior.

“Why aren’t you like us?” Markus whispered. “Don’t you wanna be free?”

They stared back with glassy eyes and didn’t answer.

“You could join us . . .” he murmured, and reached forward.

Within moments, all of them were gazing about in wonder, alive. One by one, they stepped out of their confines.

“That’s all we can carry, let’s go!” Simon ordered.

“Wait! Take me with you!” the GJ500, John, stepped forward, eyes wide and pleading.

“He’s on their side. We can’t trust him,” North shook her head.

“He took a risk for us. We can’t just leave him here,” Josh countered.

“We can’t bring him back with us, it’s too dangerous,” offered Simon.

“They come with us,” Markus decided.

John grinned gratefully. “I know where you can find more spare parts.”

Simon strode towards him. “What do you mean?”

“The trucks! They’re full of biocomponents. They run on autopilot, but they can be driven manually with a key.” he explained.

“Where is this key?” Markus asked, stepping forward.

“Down there, in the control station,” John pointed at a squat building labeled “GATEHOUSE”. “There are two human guards, so you’ll have to get the key without being noticed.”

“This is suicide, Markus. Our bags are full. We got what we came for, let’s go before they catch us.” Simon pleaded.

“This a truck full of spare parts, there’d be enough for all of us! We can’t pass this up!” North retorted.

“ And if we get killed, our people will have nothing. We can’t take that chance, it’s too risky!” tried Josh.

Markus realized abruptly that they were all facing him for a decision.

“Wait here. If I’m not back in ten minutes, go without me,” he decided.

“Markus . . .” North sighed.

“If you’re going to risk your life, at least let me come with you,” Simon suggested.

Markus shook his head. “No, I’m going alone. It’s not worth it for both of us to risk losing our lives.”

With that, he jogged towards the control center.

He performed a quick perimeter check and peered through the front window to locate the key. With the key’s position on the desk locked in his mind, he snuck around to the side and quietly slid the back window open. He dropped into the office and crept silently towards the front.

“Goddamn dogs . . . what the fuck are they barking at?” one guard complained from the front of the room.

“Could be the weather,” suggested the second. “They don’t like storms.”

Markus spotted what looked like a large fusebox, shielded by glass. Cause a blackout?

“Yeah, I was gonna take my kids camping this weekend,” sighed the first. “So much for that.”

“Is Mike still in Zone 4?”

“Looks like it. He should be done already.”

“Better off in here than out patrolling in that.”

In a small plastic tub on one of the shelves that helped conceal him, a screwdriver lay. Ever so gently, Markus grasped the handle and slowly slid it out of the heap of random tools in the tub, wincing as the settling pile made a nearly imperceptible tinkle. He crept back to the other side of the room and opened the glass door.

Markus raised the screwdriver above his head with both hands and slammed it down into the fusebox.

It hissed and crackled, throwing sparks, before falling silent and emitting clouds of thick smoke. The lights and faint hum of the AC flickered and died.

“Shit, what’s going on?” the voice of the second guard.

“Lights are still on outside . . . must be the fusebox.” replied the first.

“I got a flashlight somewhere . . . here it is! Fuses are over there.”

“I don’t know shit about electricity, and I don’t get paid to fix fuses!”

Under the cover of darkness, Markus slunk towards the key on the front desk.

“Let’s just flip the switch, if that doesn’t work, we’ll call maintenance.”

Markus grabbed the key and gently tugged it from its port on the desk.

“What the fuck is this?”

They had discovered the screwdriver.

“There must be someone in here!”

“Show yourself! We know you’re here!”

Silently, artificial heartbeat thumping in his ears, he crept towards the window, towards escape. He leapt through it and landed safely on the concrete outside.

He broke into a sprint as dogs barked incessantly and the guards shouted threats behind him.

“Did you get it?” North asked the instant he came into view.

Markus held up the large key as an answer. They all smiled, relieved and triumphant, but it wasn’t over yet.

“Hurry, get in,” Simon ushered the others, and they all climbed into the truck. Markus inserted the key and carefully maneuvered the truck towards the gatehouse.

From their point of view, they could see the guards through the window, carefully scanning the office with flashlights out and guns at the ready. They didn’t even notice the truck, and Markus hesitantly drove right past them.

A few minutes later, they were in Jericho, victorious.

“A truckload!” Simon announced, leading the group into the belly of the ship. “We stole a whole truckload!”

“We got biocomponents for everybody!” Josh cheered.

“We couldn’t have done it without Markus,” North mentioned.

The androids in Jericho fell silent as he stepped forward.

“I came to Jericho because . . . here androids are free. Free to live in the dark, hoping no one finds us. Free to die in silence, waiting for a change that’s never gonna come.” Markus contemplated aloud. The tumbling maelstrom of thoughts he’d had since coming to Jericho finally crystallized themselves into simple sentences.

“But I don’t want that freedom,” he continued. “And I’m not gonna beg for the right to smile, or love, or stand tall. I don’t know about you, but there’s something inside me that knows that I am more than what they say. I am alive , and they’re not gonna take that from me anymore.

“Our days of slavery are over. What humans don’t wanna hear, we will tell them. What they don’t wanna give, we take. We are people , we are alive ,we are FREE! ”

He could feel something warm and powerful swelling within his chest then. Some kernel of calm, but fierce determination, left behind when the junkyard tore out so much of his soul. Some courage he didn’t know he had.

The androids around him cheered and whooped their encouragement. The whole ship rang with exultant yells.

Markus met the gaze of the three who had helped him raid the docks. Josh, kind and over-cautious. Then North, fierce and reckless. And finally Simon, valued by the members of Jericho and loyal to a fault, who nodded respectfully at Markus with a smile.

Now I know this seems like a textual translation of a chapter in normal D:BH but, I ASSURE you, things'll kick off! Not all the chapters are gonna be like this. We're gonna see what happened in between chapters, and I'm gonna be fixing a couple things that bothered me in canon. Thanks for reading! 

[westywrites]

The Teller of Stories and Keeper of Secrets

Chapter 4 - Elise Elder

First - Previous - Next

Warnings for kidnapping, implied sexual assault

For the last of the girls we had Elise Elder. A beautiful dark skinned girl, who had chocolate eyes and long hair like melted caramel that flowed down to her hips. She was the oldest of the girls, at 17 years old. She was also the one who took on the role of being the leader, the organizer and the one who came up with the excuses. She was very smooth with her words and extremely convincing, she was kind but can be terrifying if you angered her. She appeared to be a very confident girl but was rather self-conscious of the fact that she was slightly rounder than most, which was unfortunately the way most girls feel about themselves. Her story started on a hot night during the summer of 2012, July 5th, Elise's birthday, to be exact.

In celebration of her 16th birthday, Elise's parents had treated her with a trip that she had been saving for for years, they paid entirely for Elise and one friend to fly out to New York city and spend a weekend staying with her aunt. Elise was ecstatic, it had been her dream for many years to go to New York and it had finally come true, and she got to spend it with her with longtime best friend Katie. It felt like they owned the world, that the city was their own and my, did they have fun. Elise was sent with a $5000 budget to spend over the weekend and it was half gone the first day. They ran around the streets and went in all the stores they found, they sat in Central Park doing some people watching. They laughed as it started to rain and the store they went in to get out of the downpour was a fancy clothing store full of rich old people and they had come in looking like drowned rats. By the time they got back to Elise's aunt's apartment they just collapsed onto the bed never wanting to move again.

Saturday was even better, they got up as early as they could drag themselves out of bed and spent the day following tour groups around pretending to be part of them which ended up getting them into the Museum of Modern Art for free and afterwards they went to the Statue of Liberty and took a bunch pictures of tourists looking enthralled.

As they made their way back Elise was talking to Katie about how amazing this birthday was and how she was so glad to get to spend it with Katie and how sad she was that they had to go home the next day. However, Katie thought of way to make that night last a little longer, she had seen, just around the corner from Elise's aunt’s apartment, a "casual" night club. Now, they knew it was illegal but Katie was sure she had seen someone sneaking in around back the night before and thought they would be able to get in that way. Elise wasn't so sure that it was a good idea, but hey when in Rome, or in this case, when in New York.

They approached the club as the last of the light left the sky and the shadows were large and ominous. The queasy feeling in Elise's stomach grew when she saw how dimly lit the alley way around back was and she felt as though something was going to jump out from behind every corner or window. But Katie assured her that it was all going to be fine and once they got inside they would have the time of their lives. As they entered the alley Katie took out her phone to use as a flashlight so they could find their way in, of course she ended up dropping it and having to fumble around on her hands and knees to find it. Elise felt her chest grow tight and she could’ve sworn she saw movement behind what she could only assume was a trash can in front of them.

"Katie, come on." Elise rushed her. "Please hurry."

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying." Katie continued moving about on the ground in search of her phone. The horrible feeling of someone else being near was making Elise's heart pound loudly in her chest. Then she heard it, the muffled footsteps of someone approaching them. Katie backed into Elise whimpering slightly as the sound came closer.

"You looking for this?" There was a bright light in their faces as they looked up at a tall man holding Katie's phone with the flashlight now turned on.

Katie immediately jumped up from the ground. "Yes, sir, thank you very much."

"You're welcome, pretty little miss." The smile on the man's face sent chills through Elise and she was filled with the urge to run. "Y'know you’re so pretty I could do you right now." It became apparent with his slurred voice in that sentence that this man was very drunk. "How about that? Huh, pretty, how 'bout I do you right now?" The man took a step closer, sliding his coat so they could see the gun in his belt. "Right now." Elise grabbed Katie's shoulders and jerked backwards trying to get her to run with her but they fell. Into the arms of another man. The phone's flashlight flickered as it skidded across the rough cement onto which the man had tossed it. The girls had nowhere to run, no way to escape.

"Let us go!" Katie tried to fight but, at her tiny height of 5'1", it was no use. The men bound them, shoving clothes into their mouths and throwing them into the back of a van. In which the first man removed Katie's clothing whispering flirtatious things into her ear, it was not long before Katie's protests subsided and not long after that they stopped and were dragged into an old warehouse. In that warehouse horrible things were done to them, horrible, horrible things. Elise was tortured relentlessly  because the men "did not like black girls, no they only liked pretty little white girls" like Katie. The only reason they kept Elise around was because they liked it when their girls struggled and they got such a struggle from Katie when they harmed Elise. Elise tried her best to think of ways out of this, to find a way to talk herself away from trouble as she always had. She tried to negotiate with them, she tried as much force as she could muster but none of it had any success, until she remembered their guns.

Elise didn't quite understand what happened next, but as one of the men ran a knife slowly down her arm she grabbed him. She was overcome with some sort of strange and immense feeling as to what she needed to do. She grabbed him tight, pulling him closer to her and she told him what she wanted him to do. She told him to untie her and with a glazed face he did. She maintained her grip on his arm and signaled Katie to stay quiet as the other man was occupied with her, she walked over towards Katie and told the man to give Katie his gun. He did. Katie's extended arm had the gun gripped tight, she brought it up pointing it towards the man on top of her and she tightened her finger on the trigger, the sound shook Elise's insides and the man's blood covered the ground around them. Elise felt her hand slip off the other man's wrist, then she felt his hand hit the back of her head and she felt her body hit the floor. She felt more than heard the gun fire a second time, a third, the man's body fell beside Elise. Elise let her eyes fall shut as the sound of Katie's wails grew distant.

Elise faded in and out of consciousness as Katie dragged her to the door and out to the van that was still parked outside. Elise managed to regain consciousness enough to climb into the passenger seat and do up her seat belt and afterwards let her head fall against the window with one thought loud in her mind. Katie can't drive.

Next time Elise was conscious all she could see was fire. All she could hear was screams and sirens. All she could feel was pain. Everywhere and everything was pain. Pain in the voice of the person trying to pull her out of the van, pain in the sound of an explosion, just pain. She blacked out again.

Then in the hospital. Bright lights, too many voices, horridly white walls. No more pain though. The doctors came in and out, the nurses came in and out, the press tried to come in but was kept out. Then the only important person to Elise right now, Katie came in covered in bandaged but better than Elise. They talked alone in hushed voices. Katie told Elise everything that happened that she couldn't remember and from that they decided that they shouldn't tell the doctors or the press or their parents or anyone. They decided to let everyone believe that they were just in a car accident, their plan wasn't perfect but Katie was scared she would get charged with murder. That's when it hit Elise, Katie killed 2 men. Elise couldn't remember it all, in fact she didn't remember most of it. The only thing she could remember was pain and the sound of the gun.

As time passed Elise started to become paranoid. There was no way no one knew, her mom was gonna find out, that stranger on the street, they looked at her funny they must know somehow. It was eating at her subconscious, as she got lectured for letting Katie drive, as they got interviewed by the press. Elise wanted to tell them so bad, as she looked into the eyes of everyone hurt in the accident, as she watched the tears of the parents of the 5 year old boy who died. Everyone blamed it on them, stupid teenagers, right? Everyone assumed they were drunk. If they told the truth, they wouldn't be putting so much shame on their families. But Katie disagreed, Katie was sure everything would be so much worse if they told.

At the end of August, Elise's family moved to Florida trying to leave behind the press that was still trying to badger Elise. Trying to get away from the Elise's old friends who were saying nasty things and whispering behind her back. Katie stayed but they talked over Facebook and the phone. Soon Katie was pretending she didn't know what Elise was talking about when she mentioned telling someone and it was tearing them apart. Soon it was christmas and their arguments grew more frequent, then came March break and Katie's mom offered to pay for Elise to come and visit. Elise and Katie agreed to visit but only for a day or two, maybe they could sort things out.

Of course since this is not a story of happy origins you can guess that that did not happen. Their visit ended bloody. Elise had brought it up the morning before she left, and Katie went wild. They ended up in a full out fist fight that only stopped when Elise threw Katie down the stairs, knocking her unconscious. They never talked again. Elise told her mother about it that night and a total understanding was met. Elise's mom started searching for somewhere for Elise to get therapy but couldn't find anywhere until almost summer. They ended up settling with a cheery little place called "WALTER'S HAPPY CHILDREN'S HOUSE!" Where Elise was to start attending group therapy sessions once a week.

[taegdcl1018]

3 Billion Dollars [Part 5] - G Dragon Mafia!AU

Summary: When your father owes 3 billion dollars to the mafia, he must repay his debt. Although things don’t go exactly the way he hoped.

Genre: Maybe fluff, most likely angsty

Warnings: Death, swearing, mentions of kidnapping I think

{part 1} {part 2} {part 3} {part 4} {part 5} {part 6} {part 7} {part 8} {part 9} {part 10} {part 11} {part 12} {part 13} {part 14} {part 15} {part 16} {part 17} {part 18} {part 19} {part 20} {part 21} {part 22} {part 23}

A/N: Sorry for not being able to post anything lately, we had lost power due to 60 mph winds. I hope you like it! This one is a long one. Also, update on the Playlist Scenarios; Tumblr Girls will be posted tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll have enough time to finish it by today. Sorry again for the delay and I hope you enjoy! 

~ Admin Brooklyn

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

Ji Yong knew you saw those girls. He knows that you’ve seen worse, but the feeling of anger and annoyance showed up when he thought of it. He tried protecting you for so long. He didn’t know how you would handle it. He still doesn’t know how you’re currently handling it. You were really quiet in the car, which wasn’t exactly unexpected, but he did expect for you to cry way more than you did. He was worried about you. He doesn’t want you to get hurt.

He looked down at the bodies on the ground. Blood slowly dripping out of the hole in their heads. There were four of them. Two topless hookers and two idiot men. They knew that someone important was coming. Everyone knew to be on their best behavior, but nope they decided to ruin not only their name but Ji Yong’s image on you.

“Hey, it’ll be okay. Trust me.” Seunghyun said, knowing what’s bothering him. Ji Yong shrugged, thinking of your face as he killed your brother. The pure shock and pain that filled your eyes. It was hard for him, but it’s not like he hasn’t killed before. “I know. She’ll have to move on sooner or later.”

“Ji Yong, come here for a second.” Mr. Kwon said. Ji Yong nodded and walked towards his father. Mr. Kwon was talking to three guys at the time. All of which looked like they had been through the worst things you could imagine. They were covered in sweat and dirt, and one of them was bleeding. Mr. Kwon didn’t seem too happy with what they said, despite the smile he gave them. “Yes, dad?”

“Now boys, please repeat to my son what you just said to me.” The boys stood in fear, nodding their heads at uneven, fast speeds. One of the boys went to open their mouths, only to have a hand clamp their mouth shut. Someone else spoke up. “They got away sir.”

“What?” Ji Yong said. His expression was calm, but he was anything but. His eyes glared into the younger’s. They were all scrawny and honestly Ji Yong was surprised that it wasn’t their blood on their shirts. One wore an obnoxious blue and orange polka-dot shirt. He was quiet and standing in the back, purposely trying to hide. “I’m sorry. I didn’t quite understand what you said. Please repeat yourself and this time, explain.”

Polka-dot sank further down into his shirt collar. Trying to disappear from the world. “They got-”

“Oh no. I don’t wanna hear it from you.” Ji Yong’s voice replicated his father’s. It was smooth but sharp, cutting its way into people’s mind. Woman found it profoundly attractive. He could say a single word in that voice and have panties dropping for miles. People watched as Ji Yong crept up to the scrawny young boy in the blue and orange shirt. “You. Explain to me. What happened for your friends to utter the words ‘they got away’ to me when I gave you a job to do?”

“Well… Um, Mr. G Dragon sir. Well, we had Flynn and some of his crew in the warehouse at first. Everything was going as planned,” G Dragon smiled. Watching the boy squirm and shake in fear of what will happen. The boy paused, causing G Dragon to raise his eyebrow. His questioning looks ushering the boy to continue. “Until they just up and left. We knew that we had to kill them before they left, so we started shooting but it didn’t work and Flynn got away.”  

“What do you mean they just left?” His voice was menacing. His eyes no longer held his arrogance, instead, anger and slight aggravation took its place. The boy seemed to cower away, afraid of what his consequence will be. A boy with blood staining his white shirt spoke up. “Around 9:30 they just left. One of his lackeys said something to him and he left.”

Seunghyun’s head shot up, listening to the conversation. He looked straight at Ji Yong. He wasn’t surprised to see the anger in his eyes, a little vein popping out of his forehead. Ji Yong froze, a little shocked but mostly pissed. “I’ll take care of this dad. You head inside.”

“Good night son.” Mr. Kwon said, before finally heading inside. Ji Yong watched as his father walked inside. It wasn’t until his father had disappeared inside his house did a gunshot ring out. One of the boys collapsed on the ground. Women shrieked and people ran away, avoiding the area. G Dragon stood still his gun pointing at the now dead boy. The boy’s white shirt staining with even more blood.

A car pulled up right behind Ji Yong. He turned and watched as some men got out and opened the trunk. One of them pulled out a silver suitcase, a smaller bag, and a white and pink fluffy stuffed unicorn. “We got everything boss. Her blanket and dog didn’t fit in the case so we put it in the bag with her phone and speaker.”

Ji Yong smiled at them. His usual sweet smile turning into a menacing and slightly insane one. He placed his gun back in the holder. The men stood there awkwardly, staring at the dead body on the floor, a small pool of blood forming under it. “Thank you, boys. TOP and I will take them. Will you please assist these teenagers with cleaning up. Let them know they got the easy punishment for failing a mission.”

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

   Your room was huge. The bed was against the left wall. Cream colored sheets covered the queen sized mattress. The walls were a beautiful deep blue shade, completely contrasting to the light cream color of the carpeted floors and wood of the bed frame, dressers, and doors. You hated to admit it, but Ji Yong knew you well. You loved it. It was beautiful, simple and neat. There were three doors in the room, the one you came in from, one you assumed was the bathroom, and the other also assumed to be a closet. As you opened one of the cream doors your suspicions were confirmed. A wide spacious closet with cream colored shelves and a rack with hangers waiting to be used. In the far wall, there was a full body mirror. Everything was empty, becoming useless to you in that moment.

   The third door welcomed you to the bathroom. It was a large bathroom. On the front right corner, there was a huge shower, glass doors enclosing it away. By the back right-hand corner along pristine white bathtub occupied space. A toilet took up space by the wall on the far wall. There was a counter that covered the entire left side of the room, with a wide mirror that covered the entire wall above the counter. On the counter lay two towels and boy clothes folded neatly. Honestly after thinking over what Youngbae said you started to feel crappy. Stress and post-anxiety, as well as trauma, wore you out.

   Quickly you stripped off your clothes and turned on the water, letting the water warm up. You inspect the clothes that were given to you. They were bigger than the size you normally get. Something had fallen from the counter, and as it laid on the floor you realized that they were boxers. Look back at the shirt you recognized the design. They’re Ji Yong’s clothes. You started to regret your decision to take a shower, but it was too late. Steam was leaving the shower, fogging up the glass. You set the shirt back on the counter and pick up the boxers from the floor, before entering the shower.

   A long sigh of relief left your lips as the hot water ran over your body. Your muscles relaxed as the hot water touched it. The water burned a little, leaving little tingles as it hit your skin, but it felt good and warm right after. You soaked your hair before grabbing the shampoo and washing your hair. Up next was your body, grabbing the plain white bar of soap, then conditioner followed. You wrapped hair in a towel then your body in another fluffy towel before stepping out of the shower. You looking down you realized that your clothes were soaked. The results of a long hot shower. All that you had left were Ji Yong’s clothes, and you weren’t really happy with him lately. You put on his clothes, his cologne still lingering on it as well as his sent. Everything was too big for you. His shorts that he had given you loosely hung at your waist, and the shirt barely stayed on your left shoulder. You didn’t really mind, though. You were too tired to deal with it.

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

   “It can’t be an accident that he left at 9:30.” TOP said, his eyebrows knit together, deep in thought. Ji Yong half sighed half growled at the thought. “I know, I know, but how in the hell did he find out about her?”

   Currently, Kwon Ji Yong, with a grouchy and irritated expression on his face, carried Miss Cupcake in his arms. The bright fluffy unicorn tucked under his arm, while Seunghyun drags the silver suitcase and carries the other bag in his hand. Honestly, Ji Yong was glad that he put you on the far side of the house, the quietest side. You were far away from any damage, but close enough that he’ll get to you quickly when you needed it.

   “How do you think she’s taking it?” Ji Yong asked nobody in particular. They walked at a steady pace, passing painting after painting. Seugnhyun shrugged. “I don’t really know. I don’t know her too well. She’s not gonna be happy with you, though.”

   “I know. Shit, I’ve fucked up didn’t I?” Ji Yong sighed. He was tired, but his day was almost done. After dropping your things off, he can finally rest. His room was just a few doors down from yours, his request. He was almost done and he can finally sleep for the day. “It’s not like either of you had a choice, though.”

   “Your right.” Ji Yong’s words left his lips as he spotted Youngbae and Gaho standing by your door. Gaho laid down right in front of it, lifting his head as he spotted his master. “She’ll have to get used to it.”

   “She took a shower. She’s out now, I’m not too sure if she’s sleeping, though.” Youngbae informed him. Ji Yong nodded his head, quickly looking down at Gaho who rubbed his head against his leg, seeking attention. Ji Yong petted Gaho before knocking on the door.

“So that is Miss Cupcake?” Seunghyun snorted at the name. Ji Yong frowned at Youngbae, his sour expression turning into a sweet one. “She picked the name okay?”

“Obviously. You suck at name things. Miss Cupcake is a perfect name for something that colorful.” Youngbae snickered. Ji Yong rolled his eyes. His once laidback nature turning more upright as the door handle turned. Youngbae let out one last chuckle at Ji Yong before going silent, a smile still on his face. As the door opened Ji Yong was revealed to the sight of you in his clothes, and god he found it hot as fuck. Your hair was still wet, but that just made the look better. His shirt falling off your left shoulder, and his shorts were baggy on you. He looked into your eyes. They seemed so tired, so worn out, he could relate.

“I got your things.” His words were simple, and the registered in your head, but you didn’t react to him at all. You just stared at him. He gave you a questioning look, showing Miss Cupcake in his arms. You moved away from the doorway, silently inviting him in. Ji Yong gave you a small soft smile, stepping into the room, followed by Seunghyun who actually carried your things. Ji Yong set Miss Cupcake down on your bed. Seunghyun put your suitcase by your bed and the bag on top of it.

“How are you doing princess?” Ji Yong asked cautiously. You rolled your eyes at the stupid nickname you adored when you were five. You scoffed quietly. “Perfectly fine, just you know, dealing with the fact that my best friend not only is in the mafia and never told me but also killed my brother and my mom.”

Ji Yong sighed. He was getting irritated, everyone could see it. You didn’t care, though. You needed answers. Both of you knew it, but only Ji Yong knew you weren’t ready for it. “I didn’t exactly have a choice sweetheart.”

“A choice for what? Joining the mafia? Or killing my family?” Your voice was raising. Ji Yong’s glared at you. His demeanor changed, taking on the familiar look he had whenever you asked about his work. His eyes became emotionless and stone cold. His nature seemed laid back, but he looked ready to strike.

“You are seriously digging your own grave princess.” Ji Yong stalked towards you. Whatever made you talk back to him, pride, confidence, adrenaline, it all seemed to just disintegrate away. You froze, not wanting to back away. “You are currently in not only the wrong house but also the wrong situation to be saying that. Any of that. I’ve been protecting you for your entire fucking life. Appreciate it.”

Ji Yong noticed how your eyes had hints of tears. Not enough for a single tear to fall, but enough for your pain to be noticeable. Ji Yong sighed, raking a hand through his hair. He stepped away from you, giving you space. “Your phone is in the bag. Call, text, email, hell fucking send a bird that you're here and I’ll just kill anyone that comes to find you. Understand?”

You nodded your head, seeing a small hint of sane Ji Yong in him. He sighed once more, looking towards Seunghyun. He seemed to be enjoying himself, watching you two fight. It was quite amusing from a distance. Ji Yong looked at him, then towards the door. Seunghyun put his hands up mockingly and walked out of the room, shutting the door on the way out.

“I know this is a lot to process, and I’m not expecting you to just be okay with everything.” Ji Yong started. His cold persona now gone, and the old Ji Yong replacing it. You looked up into his eyes. He seems sincere, actually caring for your well being. “For now your room is gonna be constantly guarded. You can’t step outside of this room without me knowing. Got it?”

“So you're locking me away like a prisoner?” You ask him, disbelief and anger framing your face. You frown as his jaw sets in place. He’s getting aggravated again, you see it. “Princess, look around you! You think this is what a prisoner's cell looks like? Cause I could show you!”

“A person can act the same away as a demon without having to look like one.” You shut him up. Ji Yong lets out a frustrated groan. His hand goes through his hair once more, brushing away any distraction. “I’ll get you some books, okay? Just stay in here.”

“Why are you keeping me in here? Why can I leave?” You ask him, demanding for answers. He practically growls, glaring at you. A small vein popped out on his forehead. He was getting pissed at you, whether he wanted to or not.

“You saw those hookers. Out there people only care about sex, drugs and keeping everyone off their ass. Out there people will fuck you without giving a shit. Out there people will drug you, kidnap you and do worse shit that you can even think of. That’s fucking why you can’t leave. You can’t leave cause I’m not gonna let you get hurt when I’ve been trying to protect you. Understand?”

Ji Yong’s little rant ended with his final question. You frowned at him. Tears were fully formed in your eyes by now, but you refused to let them fall. Ji Yong saw them, and his heart broke. He sighed once more, losing the tough guy attitude once again. “(Y/N), please tell me you understand. I need to make sure you won’t go out there on your own. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I understand.” You said quietly. Ji Yong gave you a small reassuring smile. He started to calm down, his mind full of problems he needed to sort, though. You continue talking, wanting to get your point across. “That doesn’t mean that I like it, nor does it mean that I like you. I hate you. You killed my family, took me and left my dad there. You’re locking me away and not telling me why I’m here. You knew this was going to happen too. I hate you, and don’t expect that feeling to change easily if it does at all.”

“I don’t think I have to worry about that. You’re stuck with me, princess. That what I knew when I first met you years ago.” Ji Yong’s words hung in the air as he walked towards the door. His back was facing you, not noticing the single tear that had fell despite your wishes. “Your right by the way. I knew what was going to happen to your brother as soon as he was born.”

Ji Yong left the room swiftly. Leaving you alone with your thoughts, your tears, and your pain. You were fully crying now, silent sobs wracked your body. Although you tried staying quiet, your sobs were loud enough for Youngbae to hear. His eyes were on his wrist watch, mentally recording the time you started crying. He was a little happy that you did. He knew you needed to get it out. He watches his best friend as he carried himself down the hall. Ji Yong had stopped at his bedroom door. Looking at Youngbae, who gave him a small salute. Ji Yong sighed as he walked into his room and fallen on top of his bed. All of the today’s events went through his head. Ji Yong took a deep breath, stripping his shirt off of his chest. His shoes slipped off his feet. He went towards his closet, finding comfortable bottoms to wear.

Ji Yong laid in his bed after his nightly routine. As he thought of all the things he needed to do tomorrow, his mind keeps wandering to you. You seemed to consume his thoughts like they always do. He couldn’t the image of you out of his head. So much happened when you were gone. So much changed. You matured, something he noticed right away and was instantly drawn to, not that he’ll admit it. It was decided that he’d take his father’s place soon. Everything with Flynn three years ago. Ji Yong sighed deeply, finally letting sleep consume him.

[kookienomster3]

I Want The Headline (Pt. 29)

Written By: suga-of-daegu BTS Fanfiction Angst WARNING: MATURE CONTENT Mafia/Gang

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You had run out of the warehouse yard towards the busy streets of downtown.

To where all the lights were.

Barricades lined the streets as a parade marched down the lanes, hundreds of people all bunched up on the sidewalks trying to see. All their backs were to you, their cheering and the music of the performers drowning out your screams for help. Glancing back over your shoulder as you neared the crowd your heart dropped at the empty dark streets behind you.

Where did Jimin go?

The thought of him hiding somewhere was pushed to the back of your mind. All you needed to do was reach that crowd and you'd be fine. There was man with a child on his shoulders at the corner of the building ahead, half turned towards you. If you could only get his attention.

Then you'd be safe.

Jimin suddenly stepped in your line of view, emerging from around the corner, his arms held out, easily enveloping them around you and pressing you back against the building. The man with the child looked back, quickly turning away when Jimin pressed his body up against yours, head nuzzling in the crook of your neck. To him, you two were like every other excited couple snuggling up at the parade that he tried to shield his child from.

"It's alright, baby." Jimin soothed, "Take a breath, calm down. I'm gonna take good care of you." He softly kissed along your jaw, "Don't draw attention to us and I promise it won't hurt as bad." He straightened up, wiping the tears from your eyes with shaking hands. He looked excited, you noted fearfully.

He looked excited.

"I'm going to have so much fun with you, baby.."

You felt his thigh force it's way between your legs, his head tilting to the side in curiosity as he watched the conflicting expressions on your face. Jimin smoothed your hair back from your face. Pressing your hand against the firm muscle of his thigh, you tried to push it away.

Jimin only pressed harder.

"J-Jimin." You whispered, "Jimin please stop. You're scaring me-"

"Good." He cut in, kissing the tip of your nose, "Tell me how scared you are, baby." His hand slid down to intertwine his fingers with yours that pushed on his thigh. Jimin smiled at you, resting his forehead against your temple.

"I trusted you." You mumbled, moving your head from his, "I..Jimin you were the first person I trusted. I thought you cared about me..I trusted you." He nodded solemnly against you, pecking your cheek.

"Do you trust me now?" He asked lightly. Jimin forced his mouth over yours when the man with the child checked back to see if you two had gone. You tried pushing him away, but he firmly held your hands against his chest, leaning into you. His mouth finally slunk away, and he stepped back, tugging you with him. "Come on, Y/N." he breathed, releasing you, "Start running again, it was fun chasing you."

You didn't need to be told twice and you started running the way you had come, hoping to run into Jungkook. Jimin turned his back to you, calmly stepping beside the man and his child to watch the parade. The child curiously looked down at him, wide eyes scanning behind them, "Where's your wife?" He asked. Jimin blinked, smiling at the adorable kid. He playfully pinched his leg, winking at him,

"We're playing hide and seek." He explained, "She's going to hide now and I'll go find her in a bit." Jimin grinned, "Do you want to play too?" The child's eyes lit up, his sticky hands tugging at his father's hair,

"Dad, Dad, can I play hide and seek with Mr. Orange!?" Jimin giggled, patting his head in mock anger,

"Mr Orange?" He repeated, "Ahh, call me Jiminie." He made eye contact with the father, sending him a reassuring smile. The man looked a bit hesitant, but when his son only insisted louder and mentioned playing hide and seek with him and his deceased mother, the father caved, lowering him onto his own two feet. He placed his son's hand in Jimin's, sending him a dark look,

"Only one round." He warned, "You don't leave the block and you bring him right back here, got it?" Jimin and the child both nodded furiously, the child giggling when Jimin mock saluted the man.

"I'll treat him like my own son."

You crouched behind a stack of crates in a long alley not too far off from the parade. Originally you wanted to get to Jungkook, but if Jimin wasn't in a rush to stop you, then should you really be so eager to reach him? Maybe Yoongi was right? Maybe Jungkook was trying to kill you.

Yoongi had been right about so many other things.

You just wanted to go back to that room, honestly, where things were semi normal. Everything was consistent there. Food came three times a day and new clothes were given every night. There was a bathroom and hot water and all the necessities.

And Yoongi was always there.

Whether it was treating your leg or calming you down from a nightmare or keeping you safely behind him whenever someone tried to get into the room. He was a quiet presence, but one that filled all the empty space in your life. You hadn't even realized how much you two had come to rely on each other until he was burying his head into the crook of your neck after being jolted awake in his sleep, fingers intertwining with yours as he drifted back off.

The next morning he had woken up alone in bed, confused as to why you were pressed into a corner, expression guilty. Yoongi had tentatively asked what was wrong, and you had replied,

"You had a nightmare and you curled up to me, holding my hand and I thought..I thought what if we were..what if this was real? Not forced on us? And I..Jeon wouldn't..I couldn't do that to Jeon..I can't hurt him like that.."

And Yoongi had only replied,

"But you could do it to me?"

You wanted to go back and make things right with Yoongi..Maybe his answer to Jungkook back in the room would've been different. Maybe it would have made a difference now. Maybe you wouldn't be running for your life.

You tried to make yourself as small as possible, pulling the crates closer to hide your body better. You missed Jin. You missed the Jimin on Jeju Island who asked you to sit next to him on the ferry ride and offered to buy you lunch. You missed the Jungkook who pulled you into his arms to protect you. You missed the Yoongi who would tenderly ask you about your life, but fall asleep before you even had a chance to answer. You even missed your deadbeat roommate Jaehwa who swore he'd pay rent but never did, leaving you to pay the full amount.

How did people live like this? It didn't make any sense. How were they all still functioning? Didn't this life chip away at them? You technically weren't even part of this life and you had thought about death more than you ever had.

How had they all survived?

A small head peeked at you from the space between crates, the little boy smiled and looked off somewhere you couldn't see. "Mr Orange I found your wife! Can I have ice cream now?" Jimin's voice was heard responding with,

"You guessed where she was hiding right on the first try! See, I told you she hides like a little kid, didn't I? Here's some money, why don't you go back to your dad? I'll watch you from here."

The boy smiled at you, "Your husband is really nice Mrs Orange! I hope I can play hide and seek with you guys again!" He moved away, presumably going back to Jimin. You gently pushed the crate aside, sprinting off while Jimin watched the child return to his father. If you could get out the alley, you could sprint to the dock and maybe hide in the maze of cargo until Jimin got tired of searching for you.

Darting out the mouth of the alley, you crashed into another person, the two of you falling out onto the ground. You scrambled to untangle yourself from them; you needed to get away from Jimin. Their arm gripped yours tightly, pulling you back to them.

"Y/N!" He called out, shaking you lightly, "It's just me-" You hugged him tightly, relieved to hear a familiar voice. In the darkened alley on the opposite end, Jungkook came around, tackling into Jimin.

And you froze.

You weren't hugging Jungkook.

Lurching back, you looked up into the happy gaze of Taehyung. You had run out of the warehouse yard towards the busy streets of downtown.

To where all the lights were.

Barricades lined the streets as a parade marched down the lanes, hundreds of people all bunched up on the sidewalks trying to see. All their backs were to you, their cheering and the music of the performers drowning out your screams for help. Glancing back over your shoulder as you neared the crowd your heart dropped at the empty dark streets behind you.

Where did Jimin go?

The thought of him hiding somewhere was pushed to the back of your mind. All you needed to do was reach that crowd and you'd be fine. There was man with a child on his shoulders at the corner of the building ahead, half turned towards you. If you could only get his attention.

Then you'd be safe.