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decolonize-the-left · 1 year

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I was wondering how accurate this was so I did some fun googling and yall.

So starting with the fact that police in the USA were formed when Dems had Congress and Senate and the same was true when the first organized police department was founded (in Boston, btw)....

1963. Dems had Senate and Congress.

While this allowed for huge strides in civil rights police brutality still continued to be largely unaddressed.

1966. Dems had Senate and Congress.

To point out further racial oppression James Meredith starts a 270 mile walk from Memphis, TN to Jackson, MI. He's shot by a sniper the second day which causes an influx in support from allies & prominent civil rights members (such as MLK) who fly out and walk in his stead.

Governor Johnson (d) of Mississippi, who ran on a segregationist platform but changed platforms when he saw that Black people were gaining more supporters, promises to protect marchers as they pass through his state. Police then tear gas them as they were setting up tents for the night in Canton, MI (pictured). 15k show up to Jackson. It's the biggest march in MI history and more successful than Meredith had planned.

No bills were introduced that year.

1956-1979 Dems had senate & Congress.

In 1961-69 they even had a governmental trifecta with Congress, Senate, and the presidency and again in 1977-79. The director of the FBI at the time was Republican J. Edgar Hoover. Head of Intelligence was Democrat William Sullivan. Attorney General & democrat Robert F. Kennedy authorized several programs for them such as wire-tapping MLK.

1968. Dems had Senate, Congress, and presidency.

President Lyndon Johnson (Democrat president while Dems had Congress & Senate) signs the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, birthing the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration & granting federal funds to local governments in order to obtain military resources to quell potential riots. A direct response to the protests and riots throughout the 50's & 60's. Protecting police from protesters.

Democrats do this instead of protecting the public from police and their prejudice.

1992. Dems have both Senate and Congress.

After the verdict of the 4 police who beat Rodney King on camera is announced & they are Not indicted the public starts rioting. The national guard, fire department, and several police departments are called in by then democratic mayor Tom Brady. After the riots a separate federal trial is held and finds 2 of the 4 officers guilty. All were fired from LAPD.

The Police Brutality Accountability Act of 1991 is introduced. Only introduced.

1994. House & Senate under dem control.

They pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act instead. It's drafted by democrat Joe Biden and sponsored by Texas Rep Brooks (D). It's an infamously harmful bill that results in the prejudiced mass incarceration of minorities, especially Black people. This bill funded police departments instead of holding them accountable aiding their further militarization as well.

2020. Dems have both Congress & Senate.

Which brings us to recent times. Where Democrats have again pretended to support and listen to the public demands to decrease/eliminate police brutality only to turn around and insist protests are the reason they keep funding the police instead of giving us rights.

"See? You're too dangerous to Not have a militarized police force."

As if we aren't protesting because the police are already too dangerous. Like that's not what started all this.

At this point a pattern like this can only be seen as intentional. A planned out excuse for funding police again and again and again instead of Stopping police brutality. Instead of enforcing or creating ACTUAL effective reform or regulations. They just keep throwing money at police departments and saying "hey here are billions of dollars that we want you to use to be less violent racists. It's also to help you be more safe when facing the people who are protesting your racist violence. Also we aren't gonna make sure you actually become less violent or less racist but we definitely hope you don't use this all this money to get worse."

Which has backfired across decades at this point. They keep doing investigations and making committees and for what?

We've done that. We know police are racist. We know they're violent. We know they're only spending enough to say they provide 6 months (if that) of sensitivity training and spending the bulk of that money on militarization gear. So what. We know that.

Now what.

What, after 100+ years could their excuse possibly be for STILL doing the same thing. For STILL not addressing it. For STILL not passing reform despite the MANY opportunities they've had? What could police departments Possibly be doing for them?? What excuse could be good enough?

I'm glad you asked.

There isn't one. There are answers of course. Greed, power, privilege, etc. The list goes on.

But are they good enough for you? They're not for me.

I have to beg on Tumblr just for my rent to get paid or for my kid to have dinner sometimes. The success of Democrats or my "country" doesn't mean shit to me, it does nothing for me. It only does things to me. Success enables police, it increases funding, it makes them More afraid of having their ideas of success taken from them, makes them more protective of their status quo. Their success hurts me. Fuck their success.

What matters is that time and time again Democrats have insisted they'd be there for minorities and then empowered the people oppressing, killing, and suppressing us and our rights.

What matters is that time and time again they've said they're powerless and their supporters insist they just don't have a majority to do anything with or that republicans keep blocking them or-

But passing bills to harm us? That's easy. And they don't Have to keep doing that. They just keep saying they do... To protect police. And they only keep "needing" more protection for police because they refuse to give us any. We continue to express our right to protest and they continue to try intimidating us out of it.

All the rights we have? They didn't give to us. Look at those posts. We fought for them while Democrats were in charge. They didn't give us those, they didn't stand with us. They still don't. They stand with the police as they always have.

August 2022.

For hundreds of years we've dealt with this. How much longer is it gonna be. How many more generations are going to have to put up with this government trying to insist that mediocrity is the best they can do indefinitely?

And if you still refuse to hold Democrats responsible, if you still find yourself compulsively trying to point out all the ways that Republicans are worse please know this: I know.

I know you're going to say "well Democrats are our best shot"

And to that I say if this is our best fucking shot....and they're *gestures vaguely at the post* like that.... Can we agree that it points to a much wider issue. If Democrats are our best shot and they're Only this effective and they're only making the most Minimal effort possible year after year. If we Know that their hands are tied by Republicans at best and at worst theyre fascists benefitting from the exploitation of BIPOC and other marginalized communities....

Can we admit that our systems are broken. That it goes further than Republicans or Democrats being bad. That it's Everything? That even if Democrats were actually perfect that everything would still be wrong and fucked up because the system itself holds them from making any effectual change?

That the checks and balances that the founding fathers put in place to make sure that our politicians are fair and just and give a shit about the people they serve aren't working.

Because if they were why would it take HUNDREDS of years for a community to get one thing. Just stop police brutality. That's all we asked. That's it. Stop hurting everyone who isn't a white cis man. Stop killing us in broad daylight for demanding you give us rights and respect the ones we Already have.

So why are we still starting 2023 with brutality making headlines?

If a government is effective and cares and listens and it's representives Truly represent it's constituents and fight for them and it's not just about profit or greed or winning elections or keeping minorities in line then why are we still here?

Why are we still asking for the same rights as our great-great-great-great grandparents?

If that progress? Is that success?

What the fuck are we doing. Like actually. How do we throw a wrench in this system. What will it take for Democrats and liberals and You to realize that all we are doing is driving the future into the hands of fascism.

What do we do? When do we finally do something?

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#idk what i thought i was gonna find but it wasn't a pattern of behavior stretching all the way back to the founding of police in the USA #democrats #liberals #progressives #protests #human rights #yeah this is about police brutality but also ableism and classism and poverty and everything else

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uss-edsall · 3 months

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I love ArmA III's campaign, because you are not special forces.

You aren't, even, technically an infantryman.

You are treated accordingly.

The result of it is a remarkable criticism in its own right of the worldwide fascination with Special Forces, and the morally grey-to-black work they swim in; viewed from the perspective of someone who isn't one of them.

Spoilers below.

ArmA III's campaign is very similar in premise to literally every previous entry. It goes back to its roots.

Preamble

In Operation Flashpoint, a rogue communist general destroys American force presence on an island, and you fight to liberate said island. In Armed Assault, the communist leader of the northern nation on an island attacks its neighbor just as American forces are withdrawing from the country. You play those American forces, fighting alongside the monarchist neighbor. In ArmA II, you play American marine special forces who perform pre-invasion operations in a Not-Eastern Europe Country, then support the marine invasion -- and then have to go to ground and fight alongside the rebels you were previously fighting when the US abruptly withdraws.

ArmA III starts out similar to Armed Assault. You are Corporal Kerry, an American logistics (truck) driver for Task Force Aegis, a multinational peacekeeping force formed by NATO, in the aftermath of a civil war in the Republic of Altis and Stratis. The campaign, set in 2035 (which was 23 years away at the game's release), is all centred around a time of a superpower being created through mass alliances.

The enemy is CSAT (Canton Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty), a superpower created through a mass alliance of nations like China and Iran. They are surging in power as American and NATO supremacy/hegemony declines.

The Republic of Altis and Stratis is the victim of Great Power Proxy Wars. In 2026, a dictator named Colonel Akhanteros seized power, sparking a civil war between the former regime's loyalists and the country's military, the Altis Armed Forces (AAF) under Akhanteros' command. From 2026-2030, the Altian Civil War devastated the nation, ending in Akhanteros' victory. TF Aegis has been in the nation ever since, trying to prevent civil war from breaking out again and largely opposing former-Loyalist fighters. TF Aegis is preparing to leave in 2035.

Just days before Task Force Aegis finishes its withdrawal and leaves for good, the AAF - previously denigrated and constantly insulted by the Aegis members who had been training them to take over once they left - suddenly attack, overwhelming the few remaining Aegis members, and devastates the NATO force. Why they did this is not made immediately clear.

You, Corporal Kerry, are one of the few survivors.

Chapter One

In the first 'chapter,' of the campaign, during the destruction of TF Aegis you make contact with a British special forces guy named Miller, leading something called the CTRG (Combat Technology Research Group). They openly admit to be Special Forces, claiming to be British special forces in particular and performing clandestine operations in the country. They seemingly chose to throw away their secrecy to save the few members of Aegis they could. Less than a handful of your allies remain, rescued from certain death and brought to the CTRG basecamp.

During this time, Kerry, Aegis, and the CTRG fight a war of resistance against the AAF, securing various objectives and attempting to strike back, certain that NATO will send a quick reaction force to retaliate and rescue you. In one notable mission, you provide support to the special forces as they try to take back a communications outpost to call for help from NATO. The CTRG abruptly declare that all the tech in there's useless, they're blowing the place up, and you withdraw.

During the chapter, the CTRG members, even their charismatic second-in-command James that's immediately likable, make it clear very quickly that they're not telling the peacekeeper survivors their real mission objectives, nor what exactly are they doing there. This makes your Aegis allies uneasy on their presence. You, Corporal Kerry, are left in the dark for a lot of things, but James makes you want to like him. The fact they're Special Forces make you want to trust them.

Corporal Kerry, who by then has already pulled off some frankly impossible tasks to ask of a logistics truck driver before these events, doesn't much like this:

Kerry: Respectfully, sir, when the hell are you going to tell us what's going on? Miller: Saying 'respectfully', Corporal, and proceeding to be disrespectful somewhat defeats the purpose, don't you think? ... Look, I can't say exactly what happened. What I can say is what's happening right now. We're headed to Altis. There's a local guerilla movement there - FIA - the same guys that got themselves killed for us back on Stratis. We'll make a quiet entrance and link up with them.

The first chapter ends with you trying to escape Altis to reach the island of Stratis. The AAF finds you all and proceed to obliterate you and your allies with extreme prejudice.

Chapter Two

The second chapter begins with you waking up from having been knocked unconscious, washing ashore next to the body of a CTRG member.

You are the only survivor of Task Force Aegis.

The CTRG makes contact with the loyalist resistance remnant -- and it is revealed that the CTRG have worked with the resistance before. During the civil war, the CTRG were secretly supporting the loyalists; the same insurgents the protagonist was fighting for the past couple years before the AAF turned on them. Captain Miller and Lieutenant James are surprised as hell that you, Kerry, are alive. Pleasantly surprised, though. They proceed to order you to do another impossible task.

During this chapter it is revealed that CSAT is now backing the AAF. Moreover than that, CSAT has deployed troops to the island, not as peacekeepers but as reinforcements. The CTRG remains shady, and continues to leave Kerry in the dark. One mission begins with you supporting the CTRG and the guerillas in a convoy ambush, but abruptly, you end up in charge. The CTRG have some other pressing objective they won't tell you about, and they leave you behind.

You aren't special forces. They don't trust you.

Kerry: But - with respect - what about the convoy? Are we still on for that? James: You ask a lot of questions, Corporal. Don't worry. Miller will be in touch soon. You'll know what to do.

While Kerry's relationship with the guerillas starts out rocky, by the end of this chapter they trust him implicitly. He has fought beside them, bled beside them, they are brothers in arms.

At the end of the second chapter, you return to Altis, having wreaked havoc on Stratis and been reinforced by the guerillas. Causing great damage, it feels like you're making an effective push against AAF forces.

Then NATO arrives.

This should be happy, for NATO is finally here to save the day, except the first thing NATO does is open fire on the guerilla forces, killing Stavrou, the leader of the group. Kerry tries to call on the CTRG, begging for their help in stopping this - the CTRG do not respond. In the end, it's up to Kerry to make contact and stop the slaughter.

Except when you meet the NATO commander...

Kerry: What about Captain Miller, sir? He was supposed to establish [communications] with your main force. Crossroads: I'm sorry, who? Kerry: Captain Scott Miller. UKSF? Kinda ... talks like he's got a stick up his ass all the time? Crossroads: The British? The Brits are no longer operating in this area. To my knowledge, they've been out since May. And, regardless, we have no record of a Captain Scott Miller.

Chapter Three

The third chapter begins with Corporal Kerry disgraced.

Soldier 1: Yeah, that's him. The 'guerrilla' guy. Soldier 2: He's been hiding on Altis this whole time?

Kerry is all but accused directly of desertion. Some of the American soldiers even suspect Kerry was part of the massacre of TF Aegis. After all, he's alive and literally nobody else is - and he's claiming to have survived because of some special forces of a nation that hasn't had forces on the island in months.

However, all are needed to report for duty:

Armstrong: And - while we're on the subject, Corporal - were it up to me, you'd be stuck here spit-shining latrines until a court-martial deemed you fit for duty. Lucky for you, command doesn't feel likewise. But make no mistake, you fuck up just once - you endanger any of my men - and you're gone.

Not that 'all hands on deck' means you're facing great responsibility, not initially. You're guarding a slum. That is until CSAT attacks, and kills every member of the squad you were in while you were reporting incoming fast boats. You and the remnants of another unit are rescued by the guerrillas you'd previously fought beside. The guerrillas will only fight with you as their liaison, and so you're back in action. What follows is fairly typical war combat whatever as the American forces push back against the AAF and their CSAT support. As you secure an airport however, an earthquake shocks the island, albeit briefly. In the next following missions, earthquakes repeatedly shake the island.

After some more battles - during which you periodically fight with the guerrillas or other American troops - Kerry is informed that the investigation into his conduct in the "Stratis Incident" has finished. He is cleared of any wrongdoing.

The commander still cautions Kerry not to get involved with the "Brits and their black ops bullshit".

During the second to last mission of the third chapter, Kerry suddenly gets a transmission.

It's Lieutenant James, the second-in-command of the CTRG, and he's dying. He broadcasts his coordinates. You have two options.

Keep Kerry's nose out of the Brits and their black ops bullshit.

Respond and see ce quoi the fuck is up.

Endings

Option One

Kerry disregards the message and returns to NATO forces. Obviously you're not the only one who heard it. Your commander compliments you, and assured of your reliability, offers the opportunity to be a major component of the coming battle.

AAF forces are defeated. CSAT withdraws with little to zero fanfare. The AAF and Colonel Akhanteros give their formal surrender, ending the conflict.

Congratulations, Kerry.

This is the canonical route, as DLC and other scenarios depend on this to have gone this route.

Option Two

You've been advised by your new commander to keep your damn nose out of those Brits and their spec-ops bullshit, but, damnit -- the CTRG saved your life! James is your friend, he needs help, he's dying! Sure they're shady and Kerry was never trusted with any info on what they were doing - but…!

Kerry chooses to respond to the distress call. One last angry transmission from your commander ends when Kerry turns off his radio.

From this point on NATO forces will shoot you - you're considered renegade, a deserter.

Kerry finds James. James and his squad of CTRG troops were ambushed by CSAT special forces and destroyed. With his dying breath James requests you deliver a truck loaded with something called the Eastwind Device on it. You have to defeat the remaining CSAT troops, but once you get it, you deliver it to Captain Miller.

Kerry is at the end of his rope. He has come to dislike Miller greatly - but he has still done the bidding of the CTRG like a good puppy desperate for his master's affection.

The video below shows this cutscene in verbatim.

Nonetheless I will write it out, as it provides more context. Kerry drops off the Eastwind Device and approach Captain Miller. Kerry is beginning to connect the dots. This Eastwind Device is what this has all been about! The CTRG did not support the loyalists because their cause was one to believe in. They did not rescue TF Aegis out of the goodness of their hearts. In fact, it's likely the fact they're here at all is the entire reason why this war broke out, as the AAF invasion began within hours of the CTRG arrival.

They used you and your forces as disposable pawns, expending you in different actions to provide themselves opportunities to get at the Eastwind Device. The communications station? It was perfectly fine - the CTRG blew it up to delay NATO's counter-attack so the Eastwind Device remained where it was. Stavrou and the guerillas being blown up by NATO? CTRG passed on faulty information so they could tie up a loose end by getting him killed. NATO forces getting devastated in a major assault against what was supposed to be a lightly armed garrison, but turned out to be the single hardest strongpoint on the island? CTRG passed on faulty info so that CSAT wouldn't evacuate quite so fast.

Kerry's angry as hell, yelling at Miller. As this is happening, CSAT launches a massive assault against the island. Miller, saying "I like you," says that he has to go - but he promises he'll be back in an hour if you stay here.

As the credits begin rolling, over the radio you hear every single American unit you've fought with report that they are being overwhelmed, ending with your commander's broadcast before he too is killed.

CSAT, in trying to get their superweapon back, obliterates an American division. Ergo, in giving the CTRG the Eastwind Device, you just started World War Three.

There's a follow-on mission.

Whereas the previous mission ended in broad daylight, this one begins at 4 AM. CTRG didn't come back. All out war has broken loose and combat rages all over the island. Kerry desperately calls for Miller again. Like a good dog, he's been waiting for evac.

Miller: Kerry? Look, the situation has changed. It's too late. With what we're dealing with here, I simply can't take the risk. I can't return to the warzone. I'm sorry, you're on your own. Kerry: What?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Fuck you, Miller! I risked my ass, saved your life, all for what? A fucking suicide mission?! Miller! Respond! Just what the hell was this all about?! Falcon! Goddamnit, do you read me?! Son of a bitch!

They have abandoned you to die. Miller never intended to return at all.

You? Kerry? The lucky truck driver who always came back from impossible mission after impossible mission? A useful pawn. A gullible idiot. Miller has sabotaged you and yours, used you, TF Aegis, the FIA rebels, all as cannon fodder and distractions for his real objective. Every time you survived another impossible mission he goes, "huh, neat," and sends you out on a new one. Never once allowing you in to the privileged group of CTRG special forces because, even though you're pulling off heroic feats you aren't special forces. They never trusted you. They never were ever going to trust you.

You must find any way to get off the island, and in a remarkable show of giving the player free agency, you can have any escape route. Find a boat and escape on it. Literally just swim for twenty minutes straight. Steal a helicopter. Committing suicide is an option, even. You can also find a couple surviving guerillas and a scant few surviving NATO troops who can join you. Regardless, that's where the main campaign ends on this non-canon route.

Conclusion

The ArmA III campaign focuses on something very rare, both for 2013 when it came out and even still today:

The regular trooper, and what it means to be the outsider looking in on the Special Forces.

In the non-canon ending, the ruthless CTRG operators used Kerry until there was nothing left, and then dangled him out on a dying vine. You aren't SOF.

TF Aegis was a victim of the great power proxy war. Having learned that the CTRG team was after the Eastwind Device, CSAT forced Akhanteros to order the AAF to obliterate TF Aegis, hoping to catch Miller and his team with them. Their lifeline to call for help was destroyed by the CTRG team, to buy time to get at the eastwind device. In so doing they ensured the eventual total annihilation of the TF Aegis survivors.

The FIA rebels were victims of the great power proxy war. Their past connections from previous black-ops before the civil war ended were cruelly pulled to support CTRG in objectives that weren't related to their liberation. Then, when it was clear their existence would only help speed up the AAF destruction and accelerate when the Eastwind Device left the island, they got the rebel commanders killed in a friendly fire incident.

The American troops in the NATO counter-attack were victims of the great power proxy war. In order to get more time to get at the Eastwind Device, CTRG passed along faulty intel that got dozens of them killed in an assault against an AAF strongpoint. In the non-canon route, the entire division form the first casualties of World War Three.

Colonel Akhanteros and the AAF were victims of the great power proxy war no matter what. Forced to attack TF Aegis and invite the unholy wrath of a superpower alliance in return, it ends with their complete destruction and formal surrender. In the non-canon route, they are as good as defeated before CSAT utterly crushes the NATO attack, but it devastates the island in the process. In the canon route, they've been left to hang by CSAT, which withdraws once the Eastwind Device is secure. Even without all that, Altis and Stratis has been the testing ground for an earthquake creating superweapon, used as a pawn by CSAT on the global stage.

Everyone was disposable in the name of the great power proxy war.

You, Corporal Kerry, were disposable.

#ArmA III

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finfinfan1997 · 1 month

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James Canton's book "The Extreme Future" (2006) describes an incident where Fin Fin became "very hostile and aggressive" at E3.

#fin fin #finfin #fin fin on teo the magic planet #finfin on teo the magic planet #teo the other earth #teo the magic planet #fujitsu

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longitudinalwaveme · 7 months

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Flash Character Descriptions

Jason Peter "Jay" Garrick (Flash #1): Jay Garrick was a brilliant chemistry student at Midwestern University when he gained his super speed. During a laboratory experiment with hard water (later retconned to heavy water), he worked long into the night and then decided to take a smoke break. In the process of lighting up his cigarette, he knocked over the beakers of heavy water he had been experimenting on, and was overcome by the fumes. The next morning, his professor took him to the hospital, where he woke up several weeks later. Not only had he suffered no ill effects from the inhalation of the gas, he now also had super speed!

After using his speed to win a football game and impress his crush, Joan Williams, Jay went on to graduate from college and become a scientist and professor, while fellow-graduate Joan (also a science major) went to help her father, Major Arthur Williams, develop an "atomic bombardier".

After reading about the crime that was plaguing Keystone City, Jay decided to do something about it. He donned an outlandish outfit (complete with his father's old World War I helmet), and started using his super speed to fight crime. Not too long after, Joan, who had known about Jay's speed basically from the beginning, went to him to ask him for his help in rescuing her father from some evil scientists who had kidnapped him in the hopes of getting ahold of his atomic bombardier. Jay succeeded in rescuing him, and from that point on, Jay and Joan would work together to help the Flash protect Keystone City.

Jay Garrick was a very intelligent young man, and a competent scientist, but he was also very light-hearted and was a bit of a prankster (something which came through in his fights with various criminals). He used his speed very creatively, and he was also well-versed enough in science to know how to best apply his speed to a given situation. In this sense, he was something of a mix of the two Flashes who would succeed him. Jay was very close to his girlfriend Joan, and he kept no secrets from her. The two of them worked together in tandem as a crimefighting team, and, as noted above, Joan was in on Jay's identity as the Flash from the start. (Jay disguised his maskless face by vibrating his face so fast that his features couldn't be properly recognized.) Jay was good-natured and kind, as superheroes tend to be, and it wasn't long before he started teaming up with other superheroic types to achieve even more good than he could have on his own.

Jay was one of the founding members of the Justice Society of America, and he helped them defeat such menaces as Vandal Savage and the Injustice Society of the World. More importantly, however, he and the JSA also fought against the Axis forces throughout WWII, both in the field and on the home front. Jay was, and is, very devoted to the defense of freedom.

When he wasn't fighting Nazis with the JSA, Jay was gathering his own collection of costumed criminals. The most prominent of them all was the Thinker (Clifford DeVoe), a former district attorney who turned to a life of crime after he failed too many cases, and who used his incredible mental powers to mastermind crimes and fight the Flash, but Jay also fought the Fiddler (Isaac Bowin), a man whose Stradivarius violin could weaponize sound, the Ragdoll, a thief who was also an expert contortionist, the Thorn (Rose Canton), a supervillainess with a case of Hollywood Dissociative Identity Disorder and the ability to control plants, and the Shade (Richard Swift), whose single appearance in the Golden Age gave very few hints of the immortal, shadow-controlling gentleman adventurer he would become under the pen of James Robison.

Jay also became friends with a trio of Three Stooges rip-offs named Winky, Blinky, and Noddy. While they weren't terribly bright, they were devoted and loyal friend to Jay and Joan, and they did their best to help the Flash in his efforts to stop crime.

After the end of the war, the JSA went into semi-voluntary retirement after totally-not-HUAC-we-promise tried to force them to reveal their secret identities to the government, and Jay Garrick married his long-time girlfriend, Joan. Unfortunately for him, the Thinker, the Fiddler, and the Shade had one last plot in mind...one which trapped the entirety of Keystone City, including Jay and Joan, in frozen stasis for decades. (At least, that's the Post-Crisis explanation. Pre-Crisis, Jay Garrick lived on an alternate Earth from Barry Allen, and was spurred back into action on hearing that Shade, Fiddler, and Thinker had escaped from prison and gone on a crime spree.)

Jay came out of retirement on the day he met his successor, Barry Allen. Barry, who was a huge fan of Jay Garrick and collected the comics that had been written about Jay's adventures, either accidentally vibrated his way to Earth-Two or found Keystone City and freed Jay, and it, from the stasis in which they had been locked for so long. The two Flashes then teamed up to defeat the trio of villains who were causing trouble, and from that point on, Jay Garrick and Barry Allen were close friends and allies, with Jay serving as something of a mentor to the younger Flash. He helped to reform the Justice Society of America, and he threw himself back into superheroics (something his wife, Joan, supported completely).

Jay Garrick is now one of the elder statesmen of the DC Universe. He's humble, approachable, and very wise, but he still has a twinkle in his eyes and a spring in his step. Everyone in the superhero community likes and respects Jay, and even his villains have come to have a grudging admiration for their long-time foe. Jay is also the most polite man in the DC Universe, and he is well-known amongst the younger heroes for his insistence that everyone keep their language G-rated.

Jay is very protective of younger heroes, and has served as a mentor for dozens of them, including Barry, Wally, and Bart. Jay is close friends with the Green Lantern Alan Scott, and has been for decades upon decades. While Alan is rather more ambitious and driven than Jay, the two of them nevertheless work very well together.

Jay and Joan are still married, and they are as in love as they were on the day they were married. Their marriage is rock-solid, and they almost never keep secrets from one another. In fact, I think they have the healthiest relationship in all of comics, and other superheroes in-universe often cite them as the model they hope to follow for their own marriages. Both Jay and Joan currently teach science at local universities, and neither of them seems particularly interested in retiring. Which is impressive, since they both have to be like 110 years old by this point (a perennial problem for characters who have important backstory ties to WWII).

Jay is very, very competent in the use of his powers, and he is still very fast, but his advanced age has cut his speed to some degree, and it severely affects his stamina. He can't run for nearly as long as the younger Flashes can---but he can mostly make up for these delays through his extensive experience.

Joan Williamson-Garrick: Joan Williamson, like Jay Garrick, studied chemistry at Midwestern University. She was the daughter of Major Arthur Williams, whom she would work for as a scientist after her graduation. Although Joan was initially dismissive of Jay due to his lack of football skills, she quickly warmed up to him, and was in on the secret of his super speed, and his identity as the Flash, from the beginning. She was a very intelligent, competent, and resourceful ally in his fight against crime, and the two of them were devoted partners and friends for the entirety of his Golden Age career.

The two of them were married in Las Vegas, and, after Jay's retirement, lived a peaceful life together for many years (possibly being frozen in time for awhile at some point, depending on which origin you go by). Joan worked a science professor at a local university, much like Jay, and the two of them were mostly very happy together (in spite of the tragic death of their adopted son). When Barry Allen arrived on the scene, Jay came out of retirement with Joan's complete support. She and Jay would quickly befriend Barry and Iris, and they often helped to advise the younger couple.

Joan Garrick is a sweet, loving woman, and she is something of a grandmother the superhero community (and particularly the Flash family). She is an excellent cook and is especially good at making cookies, and she is great at giving advice to anyone who will ask her. She also has a good sense of humor, much like her husband, and seemingly endless patience (vital for anyone who frequently deals with young super-speedsters).

Joan is also very clever and brave in her own right. Much like her husband, she is a science professor, and in her younger years, she faced down numerous criminals alongside Jay. She is not by any means weak or a pushover, even if she has slowed down a bit because of her age. Joan is Jay's equal in every since of the word, and the two of them have a happy and healthy marriage.

Bartholomew (formerly Barrence) Henry "Barry" Allen (Flash #2): Barry Allen was born to Dr. Henry and Nora Allen in the small Midwestern town of Fallville (he also had a secret twin named Malcolm who was taken from his parents at birth and who would grow up to found the lineage that would eventually produce Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash, because comics). He grew up reading comic books about his hero, the Flash (Jay Garrick), and playacting as the Flash with his next-door neighbor and childhood sweetheart, Daphne Dean (who would grow up to become a famous movie star). After he graduated from Fallville High School, Barry went on to attend Sun City University, where he would earn a degree in forensic science.

Barry was hired as a police scientist by the Central City Police Department, and thus moved to Central City, where he met reporter Iris West (she worked for Picture News). Their first date was on the fourth of July, and Barry would eventually propose to her when both of them were riding a Ferris Wheel at a local fair.

Barry got his super speed when lighting crashed through the laboratory window at police headquarters, struck him and a nearby shelf of chemicals, and gave him a bath in some random chemical compounds. Showing some truly horrible lab safety skills, Barry brushed off both the lightning strike and the chemical bath and decided to just go home. After his attempt at hailing a taxi failed, he tried to chase after it---and discovered that he, like his idol, Jay Garrick, now possessed super speed.

After creating a costume, which he would store in a special compartment in his ring, Barry became the second Flash and started fighting crime, and it wasn't long before he started collecting a whole group of costumed criminals, from Captain Cold and Weather Wizard to Gorilla Grodd and Abra Kadabra. He also gained a sidekick in Iris' nephew Wally West when the same accident that had given him super speed repeated itself to give super speed to Wally.

Unfortunately, Barry had a bad habit of keeping secrets from people he cared about. He waited several months to tell Wally his true identity, and he didn't tell Iris that he was the Flash until a year after they married (consciously, anyway....Iris learned the truth on their wedding night when Barry talked in his sleep). He had no malicious intent in doing so, but it is something of a habit of his to keep his problems close to his chest and not talk about them to his loved ones, and sometimes this habit comes back to bite him.

Barry Allen is a very talented and effective police scientist. He's slow, careful, methodical, and patient, both as a scientist and as the Flash. His extensive knowledge of science allows him to use his speed in a variety of useful ways, and he is, of course, very fast. However, due to his scientific mindset, he struggles to use the Speed Force as freely as Jay and Wally, and he cannot access all of the abilities that they possess (such as the ability to create costumes out of the speed force or to lend and steal speed).

In his personal life, Barry is a loyal and devoted friend, but he has a small and rather eccentric social circle. Besides his vivacious wife Iris, to whom he is devoted, this social circle includes his parents, Daphne Dean, and Wally West, but it also includes the Elongated Man (Ralph Dibney) and his wife Sue Dibney, Iris' absent-minded adoptive father, Professor Ira West (a brilliant physicist), his twelve-year-old neighbor and fellow comic enthusiast Barney Sands, college student Stacy Conwell, Dexter Myles, the retired Shakespearean actor who runs the Flash Museum, Detective Frank Curtis, scientist Mack Nathan and his son Troy, Eric and Fran Russel, Iris' biological parents, who live in the 30th century (because comic books), and, perhaps most bizarrely of all, Dr. Albert Desmond, one of his supervillains who reformed and became his close friend, and Albert's wife Rita.

Barry is of course also a founding member of the Justice League of America, and he is friendly with most of his colleagues, but Hal Jordan (the Silver Age Green Lantern) is the only one of them who really seems to be his friend outside of work, and he does not get along at all with the Green Arrow (Oliver Queen).

Barry is a total dork. He has a crew cut and wears bow ties. He loves comic books (his collection is truly astounding to behold) and attends comic conventions regularly, and he is incredibly knowledgeable about the JSA. Furthermore, science, in addition to being his job, also seems to be one of his hobbies, and he really loves being able to teach science to kids ("Flash Fact!"). Barry is generally very good with children, and he was an excellent mentor and loving father figure to Wally West, who really needed a father figure growing up.

Barry is apparently a restless sleeper, as he both sleepwalks and talks in his sleep. (Weirdly, this is a trait he shares with his enemy The Top. Roscoe also talks in his sleep.) He is also afraid of roller coasters and likes to go to masquerade parties dressed as himself (that is, the Flash). He is a hard worker, but he is always, always, always late, something that occasionally draws ire from his superiors---particularly the punctuality-obsessed Darryl Frye---and sometimes draws ire from Iris as well.

Due to a long, convoluted series of events that I don't really feel like explaining right now, Barry and Iris have children in the 30th century---a pair of twins named Dawn and Don Allen. Dawn and Don are the superheroes called the Tornado Twins, and both of them end up being killed due to the machinations of the evil President Thawne (who is not the Reverse-Flash, or Barry's evil twin, but rather a descendant of them both). However, before they died, both of the twins married and produced children of their own. Dawn married a man named Jeven Ognats and had a daughter named Jenni, who would ultimately become the superhero XS and a member of the Legion of Superheroes. Don, meanwhile, married Meloni Thawne, the daughter of President Thawne (who was not evil, unlike most of the rest of her family), and had a son named Bart Allen, who would eventually be sent back to the present and become the superhero Impulse. I hate the Flash family tree so much (even though I like most of the characters involved)....

Barry Allen died saving the Multiverse during Crisis on Infinite Earths, and was dead for over 20 years of real-world time, but he was brought back to life in 2008 during the Final Crisis Event, now with stupid retcons to his history that I like to pretend never happened. (His now famous origin wherein the Reverse Flash killed his mother and framed his father for the crime wasn't introduced until 2009. For comparison, Barry Allen debuted in 1956!) I'm not upset he's alive again, since I like Barry a lot, but him being back does kind of confuse a lot of the stuff regarding the future stuff with his kids and grandkids (since initially, Iris lived out several decades in the future after Barry died, raised her kids, saw her grandchildren be born, and then went back to the present with Bart to save him from his accelerated aging). And that was confusing enough as it was!

Iris West-Allen: Iris West was born in the 30th century to Eric and Fran Russel. Unfortunately, the Earth of the 30th century was on the brink of a nuclear war, so Eric and Fran, desperate to save their baby, sent her back in time to the 20th century, whereupon she was adopted by Professor Ira West and his wife, Nadine West.

Iris has three siblings: an older brother named Rudy (Wally's father), an older sister named Charlotte (who mothered Iris' niece Inez), and a younger brother named Daniel (who fathered Wallace West). Unfortunately, both of Iris' brothers would prove to be less than upstanding men, and so Iris had to provide a lot of support and love to her nephews, who weren't getting it from other sources.

Iris earned a degree in journalism from Columbia University, and, after touring the world with the money her father had earned from his many patents, she settled down in Central City and became a reporter for Picture News. Iris is a determined, clever journalist and is one of the most respected reported in Central City.

Her journalism job also introduced her to Barry Allen (they met at a crime scene), with whom she hit it off. The two quickly began dating and soon fell in love with one another (even if Iris was often frustrated by Barry's constant tardiness). When the Flash arrived on the scene, Iris dutifully reported on his activities, not knowing that her slow and lazy fiancé was also the Fastest Man Alive. W

When Rudy sent a ten-year-old Wally to live with Iris for the summer, Iris introduced him to Barry, who in turn "introduced" Wally to the Flash. Wally would become Kid Flash on that same vacation, but, sworn to secrecy by Barry, he didn't tell Iris.

Iris learned that Barry was the Flash on their wedding night (since Barry talked in his sleep), and she took the news surprisingly well, all things considered. Once she was in the know, she became a very capable confidant, and aided Barry in his career as the Flash.

Iris is fiery, passionate, and full of energy. She is driven and determined to achieve her goals, and she's almost totally fearless, but she can also be very loving, supportive, and caring to the people she's close with. Iris is very good with children, and she is a wonderful and supportive aunt to Wally, Wallace, and Inez (who's only had one appearance but is included for completion's sake). Iris is also much more of an extrovert than Barry is, and she spends a considerable amount of time dragging him out of his own head.

In addition to being an excellent journalist, Iris is also a talented cook and personally sponsors a number of charities throughout Central City (which benefit greatly from her Flash-y husband's fundraising abilities).

In spite of not having any superpowers, Iris is nevertheless surprisingly competent and daring in a fight, and has helped her husband take down criminals more than once in the past.

Unfortunately for Iris, she also has an obsessive stalker in the form of Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom the Reverse-Flash), who attempted to force her into marriage with him multiple times, and ultimately killed her by vibrating his hand into her brain after she rejected his latest proposal of marriage. Her life was ultimately saved thanks to her 30th-century adoptive parents, who managed to transfer her soul into a cloned body right before she died, but it would be years before she and Barry were reunited...only for Barry to die again not long afterwards.

Iris spent a few decades in the future, raising her children, Don and Dawn Allen, but ultimately returned to the present with her grandson Bart Allen to save him from the hyper-accelerated aging his super-speed had induced. In the present, she reunited with Wally, met his wife Linda, and eventually reunited with a resurrected Barry.

Aaaaand then Flashpoint happened and erased their marriage, and they basically had to go through their entire relationship again in the New 52 and Rebirth era. Boo! Boo I say! (Note that Daniel and Wallace West did not exist before Flashpoint. However, it's not too hard to fit them into the pre-Flashpoint timeline if you squint, and that's basically what I do in my headcanon.)

Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West (Flash #3): Wally West was born to Rudolph and Mary West in the very small town of Blue Valley, Nebraska. Unfortunately, neither of his parents were loving or supportive of him, and his father was outright physically abusive to young Wally (although he was unfortunately just clever enough to not leave any obvious bruises). Wally was therefore a rather lonely child, with his Aunt Iris and his Grandpa Ira serving as his main sources of love and support. He also befriended a young girl named Frances Kane, who also lived in Blue Valley and whose mother was about as much fun to be around as Wally's father.

When the Flash (Barry Allen) came onto the scene, Wally became the Flash's biggest fan. He was the president (and only member) of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club, and, as such, he was ecstatic when, during his tenth summer, his parents sent him to live with his Aunt Iris for awhile in Central City. He loved his Aunt Iris, and he loved the idea of getting to meet the Flash almost as much.

Iris promptly introduced her nephew to her boyfriend Barry Allen. Wally was not impressed by the dorky police scientist at first...but then Barry Allen told him he knew the Flash, and that he could introduce Wally to him, which he promptly did.

Wally inundated the Flash with questions, but before the Flash could answer any of them, lightning crashed through the window, striking both Wally and a shelf full of chemicals that Barry Allen kept in his apartment and spilling some of the chemicals onto Wally. (It was the Silver Age. Don't ask.) Wally immediately gained the same super-speed as the Flash, and the Flash promptly offered to make Wally his sidekick, Kid Flash. Wally eagerly agreed.

Wally worked alongside the Flash on big cases, but he also worked on his own as Kid Flash in Blue Valley quite often, keeping in touch with his mentor via mail. Barry, now confident that he had chosen the right sidekick, revealed his secret identity to Wally, and from that moment on, Barry became the father figure Wally had always wanted but never really had. Wally loved and idolized Barry, and the two of them became very close--especially after Barry married Iris and became Wally's uncle (and his parents went through a messy divorce).

As Kid Flash, Wally would eventually join up with Aqualad, Robin (Dick Grayson), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), and Speedy (Roy Harper) to form the Teen Titans, a group of young heroes whose roster would expand considerably over time and eventually come to include Frances Kane, who started demonstrating innate magnetic-controlling abilities in her teens. As part of the Teen Titans, Wally would gain many close friends and a considerable amount of superhero experience. He and Dick Grayson became especially close to one another, and Dick would ultimately be the best man at Wally's wedding.

When Wally turned 18, he enrolled in college, and planned to eventually retire from the superhero life altogether (due in part to the fact that his powers had started to go into flux and were threatening his health). However, events soon conspired to prevent him from graduating college or starting a "normal" life. When his Uncle Barry died saving the universe (and Wally's speed problems were conveniently cured), Wally felt that he had to step up to become the Flash in order to honor his uncle's legacy.

Unfortunately, Barry's death had left some huge shoes to fill, and with Iris off in the far future, Wally had no one to support him as he tried to live up to Barry's legacy. Suffering from depression and impostor syndrome, Wally psychosomatically limited his own speed to the speed of sound to ensure that he would never surpass Barry, dropped out of college, and, after breaking up with Frances Kane (who he had been dating), started a series of disastrous romantic relationships. Wally felt that he was unworthy to be the Flash, and in his desperation to prove himself, he came across as cocky and brash, even arrogant---and his low self-image was not helped by the fact that almost everyone around him kept reminding him of how he was disgracing his uncle's legacy. Nor was it helped by the fact that, when he won the lottery (just go with it), his mother moved in to mooch off of him, recklessly burn through all of his money, and criticize all of his choices. (Also, it turned out that his father was secretly part of an intergalactic cult, and that he had only had Wally because the cult had told him he was going to have a super-powerful son. Don't you just love comics?)

Things got even worse when an alien invasion (a different one from the one started by the cult Wally's dad was a part of) stole all of Wally's remaining finances and he briefly became homeless...but luckily, he ran into the Pied Piper, who helped him out and began what would become a very deep and long-lasting friendship. Wally's relationships with old and experienced jack-of-all-trades Mason Tollbridge, the human black hole named Chunk (whom Wally had saved from a life of crime), scientists Tina and Jerry McGee, Joan Garrick, the Elongated Man, and even Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and the Golden Glider eventually helped pull him out of the hole he had fallen into after his uncle's death, and he gradually became a more competent hero and a happier, more well-adjusted man.

Of course, no one was more important in facilitating Wally's growth from a cocky skirt-chaser with impostor syndrome to a truly confident, loyal husband was Linda Park. When Wally met her, she was a TV reporter in Keystone City, and the two of them butted heads at first, but, over time, they came to enjoy one another's company, started dating, fell in love, saved each other from countless disasters, and then got married. Linda helped Wally to grow up and overcome his insecurities, and Wally helped Linda to relax and have fun. The two of them work together very well and are utterly devoted to one another.

The two of them also have three children: twins Irey and Jai (who are somewhere between 8 and 10 years old due to some initial advanced speedster aging), and the newly-arrived infant Wade West. Wally is a devoted father and delights in being an embarrassingly goofy dad. He's also very close to his younger cousin Wallace West.

Wally is passionate, brave, loyal, and devoted to his friends and loved ones. He is generally friendly and good-natured, and is just as devoted to helping people as the other Flashes are. He's the best user of the Speed Force and is the Fastest Man Alive. He has an intuitive understanding of his speed and uses it to greater effect than basically any other speedster. However, he cannot vibrate through walls like Barry and Jay can (because the excess energy that he produces when he does so causes them to explode!)

Wally has a snarky, dry sense of humor and is very witty (being particularly prone to making sarcastic comments about supervillains). He's very impatient and can be prone to reckless actions, particularly when he gets angry. Wally also has a notable temper, though it seems to have gotten better as he's gotten older.

Although the comics have never outright said it, Wally seems to have ADHD, and is in fact a surprisingly accurate portrayal of the condition (in much the same way as his cousin Bart). That being said, I'm not sure Wally himself realizes he has ADHD, as he seems to blame most of the behavioral manifestations of ADHD on his super speed (and it's also a fair bet that his parents never had him tested for it as a child.)

In spite of his super speed, Wally is not a sports fan, and he especially hates watching baseball on TV. Conversely, he loves to eat. While he doesn't really need to eat to maintain his super speed in the way that he once did, he still has a super-speedy metabolism, and he uses it to eat lots and lots of hot dogs (apparently, they're weenie-licious), hamburgers, and sugared cereals.

Wally has had a number of jobs, including working as a car mechanic for the CCPD, but he is currently employed by Terrifitech as an engineer/mechanic, working for fellow superhero Mr. Terrific.

Linda Park-West: Linda Park is the daughter of John and Lisa Park. She is of Korean descent, and both she and Wally are very fond of Korean barbeque. Linda began her career as a TV reporter before switching to the press, and she has also published a few novels. She has also expressed an interest in pediatric medicine and has taken a few college courses for it.

At the start of her career, Linda was a serious, no-nonsense reporter. She was very good at her job, but she had few friends outside of her work, and she could be a bit uptight. When she first met Wally, they had a mutually adversarial relationship, but over time, they softened towards one another and developed a friendship that then became a romance. She helped Wally mature and grow up a bit, and he helped her loosen up and have fun. The two of them are great for one another, and, in spite of some rough patches, have a very healthy relationship.

Linda is a very intelligent woman and has no shortage of bravery; she's helped Wally face down many criminal threats and is a formidable opponent in her own right. Her skills as an investigative journalist also frequently aid Wally in his battle against crime.

Linda is a loving and devoted mother to her three children, and she will do anything to keep them safe. Woe betide anyone who is foolish enough to mess with her children. While she is the more serious and responsible parent, she is obviously very fond of her children and enjoys spending time with them and her goof of a husband. She's also handles most of the family's finances (since Wally lacks the patience for that sort of thing). She's also very close to her parents, who visit the family regularly. Much like Wally, she is friends with the Pied Piper.

Linda is also a huge sports fan. She loves baseball and is just as big a fan of Keystone City's hockey team, the Combines, as Captain Cold.

Iris "Irey" and Jai West: Wally's twins, both of whom have super speed. Jai can use his super speed to temporarily give himself super strength, while Irey is particularly adept at phasing through walls. Both of them are sweet kids who love their parents and each other, but still they bicker and fight with one another. They are siblings, after all. Jai is more introverted than his sister and seems to prefer playing video games and writing in his journal to socializing. Irey is more outgoing and mischievous, and she has become close friends with Maxine Baker, the daughter of Animal Man (Buddy Baker), who goes to her school. Both children are eager to help their father fight bad guys, but for the most part, Wally and Linda try to keep their kids away from too much combat. The twins are also very fond of their Uncle Piper, their Grandpa Jay, their Grandma Joan, and their Uncle Barry.

Pied Piper (Hartley Rathaway): Hartley Rathaway was born to multi-millionaire publishing magnates Osgood and Rachel Rathaway. He was born deaf, and it took his neglectful parents nearly two years before they realized something was wrong. Once they finally caught on to their son's deafness, and determined to "fix" their heir, they spent millions of dollars to get Dr. William Magnus to implant Hartley with super-advanced hearing aids. The operation was a success, and Hartley was left with not only the ability to hear, but super-human hearing. Upon being able to hear, Hartley quickly became enamored with music, which became something of a solace for the lonely child.

Hartley's parents, though extremely wealthy and able to give him the best of everything money could buy, were also cold, controlling, and neglectful, and Hartley never felt accepted by them or their high-society friends. He seemed to have no friends, and every aspect of his life was controlled by his parents...except his hobby of tinkering with musical instruments.

When Hartley turned 18, his parents selected a prestigious university for him, enrolled him in courses, and, when Hartley, uninterested in the courses they had chosen for him, didn't perform to their expectations, bribed the college to give him high grades. Hartley, for his part, had invented a flute that could hypnotize anyone who listened to it, and began using it to try to take some control of his life.

After several months (maybe even a few years) of conflict with his parents, everything came to a head when Hartley told his parents that he was gay. This kicked off an enormous argument that ended up with Hartley being all but disowned by his family. No longer welcome at home, and having dropped out of college, Hartley decided to use his magical flute to become the Pied Piper. By becoming a costumed criminal and openly stealing from the rich, he would have his revenge on the parents he had never been good enough for...and he would finally have control over his own life.

Hartley's parents were, predictably enough, infuriated by his activity as the Pied Piper, and promptly bribed everyone from the Chief of the CCPD to the FBI to keep Hartley's identity a secret. He was even given a new name, Henry Darrow, to make sure nobody connected the polka-dot-wearing thief with the Rathaways.

The Pied Piper was one of the youngest of the costumed criminals to battle the Flash (Barry Allen), and perhaps it was because he needed a substitute family that he joined up with the Rogues (after briefly dating a wannabe supervillain named Earl Povich/Fury, who would, years later, come after a reformed Hartley). With his upper-class accent and education, he stood out from the rest of the group, and many of them weren't quite sure where to have him---especially once he told them he was gay. However, he did become close friends with another of the younger Rogues, the Trickster (James Jesse), and he always got along well with Heat Wave (Mick Rory), who was gentle and easy-going.

During his career as a criminal, Hartley kept very little of the money he stole. He gave some of the money to his parents, to pay them back for the money they had spent trying to mold him into something he could never be (and to remind them that he still existed and remembered them), and donated much of the rest to various charities (he fancied himself as a bit of a Robin Hood figure, and viewed it as a way to help make reparations for the wealth horded by his family)...but he could still be a very dangerous opponent for the Flash, especially when angered or cornered.

Shortly before Barry Allen's death, Hartley had a nervous breakdown. This, combined with his old foe's sacrifice to save the universe, prompted Hartley to realize that he was wasting his life as a criminal. He reformed and became an advocate for a variety of social causes, including providing aid to the homeless. He became friends with the new Flash, Wally West, and he even reconciled with his parents. Since then, he has helped the Flash save the Twin Cities many times, and also helps to keep the Flash informed as to what's going on the criminal underworld. He's also stayed friends with James Jesse, the Trickster, who himself decided to join the side of the angels (mostly) and who never fails to keep Hartley's life interesting.

Hartley Rathaway is the sort of person people reflexively underestimate. Slight of build and rather quiet of voice (you would be too if whispers sounded like shouting sometimes), he doesn't seem threatening---but if you threaten him or the people he cares about, he can be every bit as dangerous as the Flash (or the Rogues). His weaponized musical instruments allow him to not only hypnotize people but to weaponize sound in a variety of ways, and he is very skilled in using them in combat. He's also a very skilled inventor and is constantly updating his arsenal of pipes, and he knows a lot about sound. (He also sometimes serves as Wally's tech support.)

In addition to being very intelligent, Hartley is a loyal friend and a devoted champion of the poor and underprivileged. He is extremely passionate about his causes and works tirelessly to help others, sometimes to the point where he exhausts himself or forgets to eat. He wants to create a better world for everyone, and he is very compassionate, especially to children, such as his little sister, Geraldine Rathaway. He is also a beloved "uncle" to Jai and Irey West.

Hartley feels a fair deal of guilt about his criminal past, and for that reason works hard to make amends by aiding Wally in his role as the Flash. He spends a good deal of time and effort in helping other ex-convicts reintegrate into society, and also passionately helps Linda expose corruption in high places.

Hartley loves all kinds of music, more or less indiscriminately and equally. He sometimes plays in the Central City orchestra, and he is rarely found without his headphones on and his flute in hand. In addition to his love of music, Hartley is also a baseball fan, and enjoys watching games with fellow fan Linda.

Hartley loves rats and has several pet rats, including one named Moon.

Hartley has had a number of partners over the years. Aside from the aforementioned Earl Povich, he has dated Mike, a chef (probably) and James, who worked as an architect (not to be confused with James Jesse, the Trickster, whose real name is actually Giovanni Giuseppi). His most recent partner is, as you noted, David Singh, who works as a police officer. I don't really know a lot about David other than his occupation, since his relationship with Hartley was introduced in the New 52, and Hartley has had shockingly little panel time since then. Nor do I know how they met (I don't think the comics have ever really explained this, and inquiring minds would like to know, given one of them is a police officer and the other one used to be a supervillain). That being said, Singh does seem to serve as a moral compass for Hartley when he's tempted to revert back to his criminal ways.

Paul Gambi: Paul Gambi is a tailor of Italian descent, and he makes costumes for the Rogues as a sideline to his main business (since the Rogues pay very well for their costumes). He seems to be somewhere between 40 and 60 years old in most of his appearances, and I assume he's older than all of the Rogues.

Gambi has at least two brothers. One of them, whose name we don't know, is in prison, and he left behind a son, Tony, who Paul took in and raised. The other brother, Peter Gambi, is also a tailor, but he makes costumes for superheroes (notably, he made Black Lightning's costume).

Gambi is an expert tailor, and he designed all of the Rogues' outfits so that they would withstand the forces of the Rogues' weapons (e.g., Heat Wave's costume can resist ridiculous amounts of heat, Weather Wizard's costume can withstand high winds and rain, etc.) Although he has gone to prison for brief periods, for the most part he manages to stay under the radar and continue making costumes (it helps that he has a legitimate business as well).

Gambi is very fond of the Rogues, and they are equally fond of him, viewing him as a friend and an ally. Messing with Gambi is a great way to get all the Rogues to come after you. Gambi also seems to be a good uncle to his nephew Tony (whom the Rogues are also extremely fond of), and both uncle and nephew are as good as part of the group.

Fun Fact: Paul Gambi was named after a real-life Flash fan named Paul Gambaccini.

It's late now and I'm tired, so I will finish up the rest of the characters tomorrow.

#flash comics #flash rogues #pied piper #barry allen #wally west #jay garrick #iris allen #linda park #joan garrick #irey west #jai west #paul gambi #dc comics

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layce2015 · 8 months

Text

Supernatural (Dean Winchester x Female!Reader)

Fallen Idols

Masterlist pt 1

Masterlist pt 2

*(y/n)'s POV*

"So, what's with this job?" Sam asked Dean as we drive down the long empty road. "Dude suffers a head-on collision in a parked car? I'd say that's worth checking out." Dean said. "Yeah, definitely, uh, but, uh, we got bigger problems, don't you think?" I asked Dean, curiously. "I'm sure the apocalypse'll still be there when we get back." Dean said and I shake my head.

"Right, yeah, but I mean, if—if the Colt is really out there somewhere—" Sam said but Dean shakes his head. "Hey, we've been looking for three weeks, we got bupkis." Dean said. "Okay. But Dean...I mean, if we're gonna—ice the Devil—" Sam said, a bit cautious, but Dean yells. "This is what we're doing! Okay? End of discussion."

Sam looks away and sighs. "It's just that this is our first real case, back at it together. You know, I, I think we oughta ease into it, put the training wheels back on." Dean said. "So you think I need training wheels." Sam said, questioning. "No, 'we'. 'We' need training wheels, you, me and (y/n). As a team. Okay?" Dean said and Sam nods. "Okay." he said.

"Man, I really want this to be a fresh start, you know? For all of us." Dean said and we all look at each other before Sam nods again. "Okay." Sam said.

Canton, Ohio

The boys and I, wearing suits, show our FBI badges to the sheriff once we enter his office. "Agents Bonham, Page and Copeland." Dean said and the sheriff shakes our hands. "Rick Carnegie. Good to know ya. So you're here on account of Cal Hawkins' death?" he asked us. "That's right." Sam said.

"Well, 'fraid you came a long way for nothing. We already booked the guy that did it." Rick said and the boys and I frown at each other. "I'm sorry; who do you think did it?" I asked him.

Rick takes us to the interview room and has us watching a video. "Cal? Is something wrong?" a guy asked as he comes up to Cal, only to see his head smashed into the windshield. "Oh my God, Cal. Cal!" the guy shouts, frantically, and the video cuts to static. Rick shakes his head, then switches off the TV and drops the remote on the table and turns to us.

"Sicko taped his own handiwork." Rick tells us and we give him a look of confusion. "I don't follow." Sam said. "It was Jim Grossman that killed Cal." Rick said. "Wait, what?" Dean asked. "Well, he was the only one on the scene for miles." Rick said. "They were best friends." I pointed out.

"Most violent crimes are committed by someone close to the victim." Rick said. "And how exactly did Jim slam Cal into a windshield with all the force of an eighty-mile-per-hour crash?" Dean asked him and Rick blinks. "Drugs, maybe?" he suggests, weakly, and Dean raises his eyebrows.

"Look, you know this ain't brain surgery! Whatever it looks like, that's what it usually is. It's simple." Rick said. "Simple. Right." I said, a bit of sarcasm in my voice, then I glance over at the boys. "Right. Um, if you don't mind, we'd like to speak to Jim Grossman anyway." Sam asked.

Later, Jim sits at a table, across from Sam, as Dean and I stand behind Sam. "I was in the house when it happened, I didn't even see it." Jim explains. "For argument's sake, say we believe you." Dean said. "Why would you? The cops didn't." Jim grumbles. "Well we're not your typical cops." I said. "Please, just tell us what you saw." Sam pleads and Jim sighs before he speaks again.

"It's not what I saw, it's what I heard. Tires squealing, glass breaking." he said and he sighs again. "It was the car that did it." he said and I raise my eyebrows. "The car?" Sam asked, confused "I mean, I heard about the curse, but, I just thought it was a load of crap." Jim said.

"Curse, what do you—what do you mean, curse?" Dean asked. "The car. Little Bastard." Jim said and my jaw drops. "Li—Little Bastard? As in the Little Bastard?" I asked, astonished. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, uh, what's Little Bastard?" Sam asked as he turns to us. "It's James Dean's car. It's the one he was killed in." Dean said.

"Yeah, that's the one. Cal had been looking for it for years. I mean, hell, we both had. But he found it first." Jim said and Dean leans closer to Sam. "Oh, we are definitely checking this out." he whispers.

Dean walks around and inspects Little Bastard with awe, careful not to touch, and honestly I was admiring the car as well. The windshield was bloodstained and had a piece missing where Cal's head was. "So, what, this is, like, Christine?" Sam asked and Dean and I shake our heads.

"Christine is fiction. This—This is real." Dean said. "Okay. Enlighten me." Sam said and I roll my eyes. "Well after James Dean died, his mechanic bought the wreckage, and he fixed it up. And it repaid him by...Falling on him." I explained. "And Tony McHenry was killed when it locked up on the racetrack. I mean, death follows this car around like exhaust. Nobody touches it and comes away in one piece." Dean added and Sam hums at this.

"Then, in nineteen-seventy, it vanished off the back of a truck. Nobody's ever seen it since." I said and Sam nods as Dean continues to look at the car. "I'm telling you, guys, if this—if this car is Little Bastard, I will bet you dollars to donuts it's what killed the guy." Dean said.

"So how do we find out?" Sam asked. "Cal matched the VIN number, but the only real way to know is the engine number." Dean replied and Sam nods. "I'm guessing the engine number—?" Sam asked, trailing the on the question. "On the engine. Yeah." I said then we take our jackets off and the boys had their sleeves rolled, all of us staring at Little Bastard with trepidation.

"You want me or (y/n) to do it?" Sam asked Dean. "No..No, no, I've—I've got it." Dean said then he starts to address Little Bastard. "Okay, baby. I'm not gonna hurt you, so...don't hurt me." he said and he lies down on a roller board with a pencil in his mouth, then rolls himself under the car.

He was under there for a bit and I could've sworn i heard the car shudder. Sam then kneels down to look at Dean. "Need a flashlight?" Sam asked him. "No. Don't...do anything, just go away." I hear Dean say, which he sounded a bit startled.

"You—uh, okay." Sam asked. "Don't speak. All right? In fact, don't even look at her, she might not like it." Dean said and Sam stands back up. He looks over at me and huffs out a breath while I shrug.

Then Dean slides out from under the car, exhaling deeply, then stands up quickly. He composes himself, then hands Sam the number. "Find out who owned it. Not just the last owner, you gotta take it all the way back to nineteen-fifty-five." Dean tells him. "That's a lot of research." Sam said to him. "Well, (y/n) can help you." Dean said and he walks away.

It took us a few hours, but Sam and I were able to track down the history of the car. Dean hadn't returned so I called him. "Hey, sweetheart." Dean answered. "Hey. Took us a while, but we traced all the car's previous owners." I said then I put him on speaker so Sam could hear.

"Any of 'em die bloody?" Dean asked. "Nope. In fact—" I said but then I heard the sound of someone playing pool. "Dean, are you in a bar?" I asked him. "No, I—I'm—I'm in a restaurant." Dean said then I hear a female voice say. "Here's your beer."

"Thanks." Dean said and Sam and I share a look, which made Sam smile a bit. "That happens to have a bar." Dean adds. "We've been working our asses off here." Sam said. "Hey, world's smallest violin, pal, I spent the afternoon up Christine's skirt. I needed a drink." Dean said. "Actually, you didn't." I said.

"Meaning?" Dean asked. "The car's first owner was a cardiologist in Philadelphia; drove it 'til he died in nineteen-seventy-two." Sam said. "So you're saying?" Dean asked. "That Porsche is not, nor has it ever been, James Dean's car. It's a fake Little Bastard." I said.

"Well then what was it that killed the guy?" Dean asked. "Good question." Sam said as I scratch my head.

The next day, the boys and I enter the home of a Mr Hill as we heard he was murdered. We entered the office area to see Rick and a forensic squad inside and Rick was giving orders. "I want you to use a, a fine-tooth comb. The evidence is here, we just gotta find it." Rick ordered.

"Heard you got another weird one." Dean said and Rick turns to us. "Uh, well, it's a—it's a little strange on the surface, I admit, but, uh...you know, once you—you look at the facts..." he stammers. "William Hill died from a gunshot wound to the head. No gun, no gunpowder, no bullet." Sam said as Rick looks at us, worried.

"Nope. Nothing strange about that." I said, shrugging, with sarcasm. "Well there's gotta be a reasonable explanation. There always is." Rick said. "Well what's your reasonable explanation?" Dean asked him. Rick looks around cautiously for a moment and whispers. "Professional killer."

"Come again?" Sam asked. "Well, CIA, NSA, one o' them trained assassins, like in Michael Clayton." Rick said and the boys and I gape at him. "Right." Dean said then he looks over at me and Sam. "You're welcome to look around, but—but these guys don't leave fingerprints." Rick tells us.

"Mind if we talk with the witness?" Sam asked him. "Be my guest. She's not making any sense! And she's not making any sense in Spanish either." Rick said and I nod, slowly. "Right." I said.

We walk out and see Consuela sitting on a wooden bench, wrapped in a blanket, talking to an officer and sobbing. "No puedo vivir aquí. Necesito mi familia. Me voy ahora. Me voy a la casa. No—me voy a la casa en El Salvador ahora." she cries to the officer as we walk up to her.

"Consuela Alvarez?" Dean asked. "Yes?" she asked as she raises her head to us. "FBI." Dean said as we show her our badges then the officers leave. "Now, uh, you said you saw something in the professor's house. Right? Something in the window?" Dean asked her.

"Estaba sacando la basura. Imiré por la ventana y vi al hombre que mató al Señor Hill!" She explains and Sam kneels in front of her. "Uh, Señora Alvarez. Cálmese, por favor. Uh—" Sam said the he looks at us, thinking. "Uh, díganos lo que vio?" He asked and Dean and I grin. "Nice." said Dean. "Freshman Spanish." Sam said, shrugging, then he turns back to Consuela.

"Era alto. Muy alto. Y llevaba el abrigo negro largo y tenía bigotes." She said and Sam glances between me, Dean and Consuela as he translates. "Okay, uh, a tall man, very tall. With a long black coat and a—" he said then he gestures at his chin. "A beard?" he asked and Consuela nods. "Beard." he said.

"Y un sombrero." Consuela adds. "Dude was wearing a sombrero?" Dean asked. "Uh, a hat, not a—a—" Sam said as he gestures near his head. "No, no, no, un sombrero alto." she said. "A tall hat?" Sam asked. "Oh, like a top hat." I said and Consuela nods. "Un sombrero alto." She said and she gestures above her head. "Muy alto!" she said.

"What, you mean like a—like a stovepipe hat." Dean said as he imitates her gesture. "Sí." she said. "Oh yeah, like Abraham Lincoln." I said and Sam shrugs while Consuela starts sobbing again. "Sí. El Presidente Lincoln." she said and the boys and I trade confused looks.

"Abraham Lincoln kill Mister Hill!" she cries and Dean hums. "S-so I go home now?" she asked us. "Uh, sí. Gracias." Sam said. "Gracias." Dean and I said and Sam turns and frowns at us as Consuela walks away.

The three of us sit at the table of our motel room, Sam on his laptop and Dean on a new laptop while I was flipping through John's journal. "Whoa." Dean said and Sam and I turn to him. "What?" we asked as Dean does something on his laptop then he picks it up and turns it around for me and Sam to see. "It's a freeze-frame from Jim Grossman's video." he said and Sam and I look at it and we see a chrome car wheel were a figure of a person in a red jacket was reflected off of it

"Am I crazy, or does that look like James Dean?" Dean asked. "Well, you're crazy, regardless, but yeah that looks like James Dean." I said and Dean glares at me and I give him a smile. "I love you." I said and he shakes his head. "Yeah, yeah..." he grumbles as he sets the laptop back in front of himself.

"So we got Abraham Lincoln, and James Dean?" Dean asked and Sam frowns. "Famous ghosts?" Dean asked. "Maybe." Sam said. "Well that's just silly." I said. "No, actually, uh, there is a ton of lore on famous ghosts. More than the, you know, not-famous kinds. I'm actually surprised we haven't run into one before." Sam said.

"Yeah, but now we got two of 'em? Two extremely pissed-off ghosts?" I said. "Who are apparently ganking their fans." Sam said. "What do you mean?" Dean asked as Sam reads off the webpage on his laptop "Professor Hill was a Civil War nut. He dug Lincoln." Sam said. "And Cal must've been a James Dean freak. He spent seventeen years of his life tracking down the guy's car." Dean said and Sam raises his eyebrows, knowingly.

"So you're saying we've got two super-famous, super-pissed-off ghosts killing their...super-fans?" I asked and Sam shrugs. "That's what it looks like." Sam said. "Well, that is muchos loco." Dean grumbles and Sam grins. "Muy." Sam said and Dean and I look up. "Not muchos." Sam corrects Dean.

"Yeah, well, the big question is, what the hell are they doing here?" I asked. "Yeah. Ghosts usually haunt the places they live. I mean, I, I get Abraham Lincoln at the White House—" Sam said. "And James Dean at a race track, but...what the hell are they doing in Canton?" Dean asked and I shrug.

Later, Sam was working on his laptop while I brought a couple cans of soda for me and Dean and we were drinking from it when Sam stops typing and frowns. "You gotta be kidding me." Sam said. "What?" Dean and I asked and we walk over and read the screen. "Oh God." I muttered. "You gotta be kidding me." Dean said.

Sometime later, Dean, Sam and I walk through the wax museum, checking out the figures. Sam and I walk past John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, then I stop at Abraham Lincoln. Dean frowns at Gandhi. "Dude, he's short." Dean said as he gestures at Gandhi.

"Hey. Gandhi was a great man." Sam said. "Yeah, for a Smurf." Dean snarks just as the owner comes down the stairs at a half-jog, slightly out of breath. He is wearing a leather jacket.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, this is our busiest time of the year." he said and Dean looks around at the empty rooms. "This is busy?" he asked. "Well, not right now, but it's early." the owner said. "It's four-thirty." Dean points out and the owner ignores him.

"So, what can I do for you?" he asked. "Uh, well, we are writing a piece for Travel Magazine." Sam said. "Yeah, on how, uh, totally non-sucky wax museums are." Dean adds and I roll my eyes. "That's fantastic. A little press, just what we need." the owner said. "Great. Well we're interested in a few of your exhibits, specifically Abraham Lincoln and, uh, James Dean." I said. "Two of our most popular displays." the owner said.

"Oh yeah? So they bring in a lot of visitors?" Sam asked. "Yeah, we have our regulars." the owner replied. "I don't suppose that, uh, William Hill and Cal Hawkins were regulars, were they?" Dean. Asked and the owner nods. "As a matter of fact, they were. Yeah, I heard what happened to them. It's tragic, just tragic. Oh—you—that's not gonna be in the article, is it?" he asked us.

"No. No, no. 'Course not." Sam assures the owner. "You know, I gotta tell you, that—that Lincoln is so lifelike, I mean, you—I mean, you can just imagine him moving around. You ever see anything like that?" Dean asked and the owner frowns. "Uh...no." he said. "No?" Dean asked.

"Well, um, is there anything you could think of that would make your museum...unusual? You know, for the article?" I asked him. "Well, I'll say. There isn't another place like us, not anywhere." the owner replied. "How so?" Dean asked.

"Well, for one, that's Honest Abe's real hat." the owner said as he points to Lincoln. "It is?" I asked. "Almost like his remains." Dean mutters and looks pointedly at me and Sam. The owner frowns. "Uh...I guess?" he said and Dean grins.

"You wouldn't happen to have any of James Dean's personal effects, would you?" I asked the owner. "Ooh, yeah. Got his keychain. We got a bunch of stuff, uh, Gandhi's bifocals, FDR's iron lung. This." he said and he indicates the leather jacket he's wearing.

"And who did that belong to?" Sam asked him. "The Fonz. Seasons two through four!" he said and he does a double thumbs-up, grinning. "That is pretty cool. You're lucky an old friend of mine isn't here with us. She'd be trying to buy that jacket off of you. Hugh Fonzie fan, she is." I said and the owner smiles.

"This? This is nothing. I've been working on a new collection of figures. Stuff that'll really wow the kids." He said. "The kids?" Dean asked. "Yeah, Gen Y." the owner said and Dean nods. "Computer games, cell phones, sexting." The owner said and I raise my eyebrows.

"They're just fads. I'm gonna make wax museums hip again." He said and he grins and gives his double thumbs-up again. Dean chuckles and Sam and I return the thumbs-up.

Sam opens the trunk of the Impala, and we take out a couple of shotguns and load them with shells of rock salt, then put the loaded shotgun back in and Sam closes the lid. We go back into our room and see Dean talking on his cell phone, facing away from the door.

"Yeah, Abraham Lincoln and James Dean, can you believe that? ...Why so kill-crazy? Ah, maybe the apocalypse has got 'em all hot and bothered. Yeah, well, we all know whose fault that is. ...Well I'm sorry, but it's true." Dean said and I sigh as Sam frowns then pushes the door shut, causing Dean to spin around.

"I'll call you later. Bye." he said into the phone and hangs up and turns to us. "What's going on?" I asked him, folding my arms. "Did you two get the trunk packed up?" he asked. "Yeah, trunk's packed. Who was on the phone?" Sam asked. "Bobby." Dean said. "And?" I asked and Dean shakes his head.

"Nothing." Dean said and I roll my eyes and glare at him. "So we're just gonna pretend I didn't hear what I just heard?" Sam asked and Dean shrugs. "Pretend or don't pretend. Whatever floats your boat." Dean said. "This was supposed to be a fresh start, Dean." Sam said as Dean picks up his jacket.

"Well, this is about as fresh as it gets. Now are we going or not?" Dean said and I look over at Dean as he walks pass me. "Dean..." I said, warningly. He stares at me then goes to the door, opens it and leaves. Sam and I watch him go and Sam sighs.

"I'm sorry, Sam." I said. "No, it's fine..." he mutters and I place a hand on his shoulder. "All I can say is...just give him time...I know it sucks but...that's all I can say..." I said and I go to the door and open it, Sam follows close behind me as we leave.

We walk through the museum, past Gandhi. Dean approaches Lincoln and takes off his hat as Sam fetches a metal trash can and I look around the room. I turn around to find Dean wearing Lincoln's hat. "Check it out." he said then he lowers his voice, imitating Lincoln. "Four score and seven years ago, I had a funny hat." he said

"Dean." Sam said, exasperated, as he turns to him and I shake my head. Sam sighs and puts the trash can down, holding his hand out for the hat. "We can't have any fun with this?" Dean asked and he takes the hat off and tosses it into the trash can.

"Let's just torch the objects, torch the ghosts, get outta here. Okay?" I said and Dean nods. "I'll go grab East of Eden's keychain." he said and he walks into the next room. Sam and I scan the room. I look at Lincoln, then narrow my eyes and lean in closer. Then the double doors Dean went through slam shut, making me and Sam spin around.

"Dean?" Sam and I call out as we go over to the doors, shotgun in hand. "Dean?" we call out again as we try the door handles but the doors won't budge. Then I notice our breathes condensing in front of us and we spin around, shotgun held at the ready.

Sam and I look from Lincoln to Gandhi and back again as we creep forward slowly. Sam and I hear a creak to our left and we turn. The shotguns flies out of our hands. Defenseless, we stand still for a second then I see Gandhi leaping onto Sam's back.

"Sam!" I shouted as Gandhi wraps his arms around Sam's neck but Sam slams him into the wall and Gandhi falls off. "Go grab his glasses!" Sam shouts to me as Gandhi gets up and they circle around each other while I run to Gandhi's wax figure.

I grab the glasses as Gandhi starts to strangle Sam and I run to the trash bin. At that moment, Dean bursts through the double doors. "Dean!" Sam said as I throw the glasses into the trash bin with the other items. "Is that Gandhi?" Dean asked. "Yeah!" Sam said. "Dude, he's squirrelly." Dean said as I squirt lighter fluid on them and finally light them on fire with a match. Gandhi disappears, and Sam gasps for air.

I run over to Sam and kneel down next to him, to check him over. "You okay?" I asked and he nods. "You couldn't have been a fan of someone cool?" Dean asked and Sam and I stare at him. "Really? Gandhi?" Dean asked and I shake my head.

Dean grabs his shirts out of a drawer and shoves them in his bag after we made our way back to the motel. "Ready to blow this joint?" Dean asked us as I pack up my stuff. Sam comes out of the bathroom, zipping up his toiletries bag. "Guys, didn't it strike you as strange the way Gandhi just...vanished?" Sam asked.

"Strange how?" Dean asked. "No screaming, no big flame-out, I mean, that isn't the way ghosts usually go." Sam said and I think this over. He's actually right, it was different. "Still, (y/n) torched, he vanished." Dean said. "Yeah, but I—" Sam sighs. "Also, I feel like he was...trying to take a bite out of me."

"A bite?" I asked, confused. "Yeah, like he was hungry. But the thing is, Gandhi—or, the real Gandhi—he was a—" Sam stops and looks a bit embarrassed. "A what?" Dean and I asked and Sam hesitates. "Spit it out." Dean said, annoyed. "He was a fruitarian." Sam said and we stare at him then Dean laughs.

"Let me get this straight. Your, uh, ultimate hero was not only a short man in diapers, but he was also a fruitarian?" Dean asked. "That's not the point." Sam said, exasperated. "That is good. That is—even for you, that is good." Dean said. "Look, I'm just saying, I'm not so sure this thing is over." Sam said and Dean spreads his arms. "It was a ghost. It was a weirdly super-charged fruitarian ghost, but it was still a ghost. Now let's go." Dean said as he picks up his bag.

"So first you drag me into town, and now you're dragging me back out." Sam said, annoyed. "You ain't steering this boat. Let's go, chop chop." Dean said and he walks towards the door. "You know, this isn't gonna work." Sam said and Dean stops and turns.

"What isn't?" Dean asked. "Us. You, me, (y/n), together, I—I thought it could, but it can't." Sam said and I frown at Sam. "You're the one that wanted back in, chief." Dean said. "And you're the one who called me back in." Sam argued. "I still think we got some trust building to do." said Dean and Sam sighs.

"How long am I gonna be on double-secret probation?" Sam asked and Dean shrugs. "Till I say so." Dean said and I scoff. "Dean..." I said, exasperated, then Sam speaks up again. "Look. I know what I did. What I've done. And I am trying to climb out of that hole, I am, but you're not making it any easier." he tells Dean.

"So what am I supposed to do, just let you off the hook?" Dean asked. "No. You can think whatever you want. I deserve it, and worse. Hell, you'll never punish me as much as I'm punishing myself, but the point is, if we're gonna be a team, you and I—it has to be a two-way street." Sam explains.

"So we just go back to the way we were before?" Dean asked, suspiciously. "No, because we were never that way before. Before didn't work." Sam said and Dean and I frown. "How do you think we got here?" Sam asked and Dean narrows his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. "Dean, one of the reasons I went off with Ruby...was to get away from you." Sam said and this caught me off guard. "What?" Dean said, just as shocked. "It made me feel strong. Like I wasn't your kid brother." Sam said.

"Are you saying this is my fault?" Dean asked. "No, it's my fault. All I'm saying is that, if we're gonna do this, we have to do it different, we can't just fall into the same rut." Sam said and Dean shakes his head. "What do you want me to do?" Dean asked. "You're gonna have to let me grow up, for starters." Sam said as Dean's cellphone rings.

He stares at Sam, then puts his bag down and answers it. "Yeah?" he answered and he looks to Sam then away again. Sam and I share a look and I give him a look of pity and said, quietly. "I'm so sorry." Sam shakes his head. "It's ok. Don't be." He said while Dean continued to talk on the phone.

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." He said then he hangs up. "I guess you were right about this not being over." Dean said as he looks at Sam.

The boys and I, in suits, make our way back to the sheriff's office and see Rick sitting at his desk. "Sheriff Carnegie?" Sam said and he looks up at us. "Sheriff, what happened?" Dean asked and Rick looked stunned.

"I, uh, uh..." he stammers as he shrugs and shakes his head. "I don't know!" he said and he leads us to the interview room where two young women are sitting at the table, crying. We walk in. "Excuse us, girls. Hi, we're with the FBI." I said as we walk in. "Can you tell us what happened?" Sam asked them.

"It was horrible!" One girl said. "Way horrible." the other girl said. "What was horrible?" I asked them. "I thought she'd be nice!" the first girl said as her friend looks at her. "I still can't believe it." she said, distressed.

"Believe what?" Dean asked them. "She took Danielle!" the second girl exclaims. "Who?" Dean asked and the girls look at each other. "It's okay, you're safe, just, tell us. Who took your friend?" Sam asked. "It was...Paris Hilton." The first girl said and the boys and I share a confused look.

"Sorry?" I asked them as I turn to them. "She looked really good, though." the second girl said. "Skinny!" the first girl adds. "Skinny and fast." said the second girl. "What—wait—huh?" Dean asked, completely confused.

"Uh, um...where did they go?" Sam asked them and the first girl shakes her head. "We don't know." the first girl said. "They just vanished." the second girl said. "Would you excuse us for just a minute?" Dean said to them and we walk back to the doorway and speak just above a whisper.

"Paris Hilton's not dead as far as we know, right?" Dean asked. "Pretty sure, no." Sam said. "Which means it's not a—" Dean said and I finish his sentence. "Ghost. No." I said.

"So, what? Paris Hilton is a homicidal maniac—" Dean asked. "Or we missed something." Sam said and I sigh. "What do you wanna do?" I asked them.

Now in blue scrubs, I was looking through Cal's file and read through the notes. I frown when I find something pretty odd. Minutes later, I pull out Cal's body from the freezer and use a scalpel to cut open Cal's chest, then push my gloved hand inside. There is a squelch and I close my eyes and breath out. "That's right." I groan, frowning.

I pull my hand out, fingers covered in blood, and hold up two small round things. "What the hell?" I muttered, confused.

Back in my suit, I come out of the building to meet up with the boys, shaking my head and sigh. "I can't believe I missed it." I said as they stand up and walk with me back to the Impala. "Missed what?" Dean asked me. "Went back over the other two vics. There was blood loss. Major." I explained. "Oh, well, being a gory smear will do that to you." Dean said, sarcastically. "No, I—I mean more blood loss than a—a car crash or a head wound should cause, almost like it—" I said. "Something's feeding." Sam said and I nod and point. "Exactly." I said.

"Awesome." Dean mutters. "And then—" i said as I take out a plastic bag. "There were these." I said and the boys look at the bag, which contains these two round seeds. Dean picks up the corner to inspect them closer, Sam leans in to inspect as well.

"What are those, seeds?" Sam asked me. "Yeah. They were in both vics' bellies." I said and Dean takes his hand off the bag quickly. "I hope you washed your hands." Dean said and I give him a seriously? look. Then I raise my hand and wipe my fingers across his face and he recoils at this. "Agh, damn it, (y/n)." Dean said and I laugh at him as Sam takes the bag to look at the seeds.

"They're unlike any seed I've ever seen before, Dean." Sam said as he looks at the bag. "Wow, just when I thought you couldn't get any geekier." Dean said then he pats Sam on the shoulder and gets into the Impala.

Back at the motel, Sam is on his laptop again, the seeds out of their bag and sitting on the table next to him. Dean and I were sitting on the bed using our own laptops. "Yahtzee." Sam said and we look over at him. "What?" Dean and I asked.

"The seeds aren't from around here. In fact, they're not from any tree or plant in the country." Sam said. "Where are they from?" Dean asked. "Eastern Europe. From a forest in the Balkans, which is not even there anymore. It was chopped down, like, thirty years ago." Sam explained.

"So?" Dean and I said. "So, local legend has it that the forest was guarded by a pagan god whose name was Leshi. Um, a mischievous god, could take on infinite forms—" Sam said. "And let me guess. He liked to munch on his fans." I said and Sam chuckles. "Yep. Could be appeased only with the blood from his worshippers. It would drain 'em, then stuff their stomachs with the seeds." he said and we get up and go over to Sam.

"So how's he doing it? What, he touches James Dean's keychain and then morphs into James Dean?" Dean asked. "Hm. It's as good a guess as any." Sam said. "Yeah, well, whatever. How do we kill him?" I asked. "Says here to chop off his head with an iron axe." Sam said and Dean nods. "All right. Let's go gank ourselves a Paris Hilton." I said

That night, we enter the museum, Dean carrying an axe and Sam and I with flashlights. We walk past the now hatless Abraham Lincoln wax model then we split up and search separate rooms. I come across a door with signs on it reading "Sorry for the inconvenience, CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS" and "DANGER DO NOT ENTER".

I whistle and Dean and Sam meet up with me. We break the latch and open the door, pushing through a plastic sheet to find a room decorated like a clearing in the woods, with a path leading up the middle to a white house with a wax figure of a man in a suit standing on the front porch.

I notice a young woman, who must be Danielle, standing next to a tree and tied by her wrists to it. "Hey." I said as I run over and check her pulse. "She alive?" Dean asked me. "Yeah. Barely." I said then the axe flies out of Dean's hand and embeds itself in a tree on the other side of the path.

Dean spins around to find Paris Hilton; this must be the Leshi. She grins and punches Dean multiple times in the face, sending him to the ground, then she punches Sam, knocking him down. She flips her hair as I lunge at her, but she shoves me and sends me flying across the room. I collide with the front wall of the house and fall to the ground, unconscious.

*3rd Person POV*

Dean shakes his head and looks up to see the Leshi standing over him. "Awesome." she said and she raises her stiletto-clad foot and stomps on Dean's face.

Later, the Lezhi sits on a tree stump near the house with another tree stump serving as a table next to her. Laid on it are various knives; she picks one up and begins filing her nails, causing small sparks. Dean, (y/n) and Sam are tied to three trees side-by-side, in the same fashion as Danielle. They wake up one after the other and struggle for a second before they realize where they are.

"Oh. I'm so glad you're awake for this. This is gonna be huge." Leshi said as the trio look at each other. "Super. Yeah, I wouldn't wanna miss it." Dean said, sarcastically, as he pulls at his ropes discreetly. "I mean, I've been stuffing myself with fast food lately. So it's nice to do the ritual right. Prepare a nice, slow meal for a change." Leshi said.

"Just like the good old days, huh?" Sam asked and Leshi chuckles. "You have no idea. People adored me. They used to throw themselves at me, with smiles on their faces." she said. "Yeah, I guess these days nobody gives a flying crap about some backwoods forest god, huh?" (y/n) sneers and Leshi stops filing her nails with a threatening glare.

"No. Not since they cut down my forest and built a Yugo plant." she growls. "March of progress, sister." Dean said and Leshi files her nails a few more times. "For years now, I've been wandering. Hungry. Scared. Scrounging for scraps. So not sexy." she said as Dean makes a face.

"But then, the best thing ever happened." Leshi said then she puts the knife down. "Someone tripped the apocalypse. And I thought, what the hell, I'm tired of watching what I eat. I wanna pig out. So I found this little place. It's awesome. Adoring fans stroll right in the door." she said. "Yeah. But they're not your fans." Sam said.

"So? They worship Lincoln, Gandhi, Hilton...whatever. I'll take what I can get." Leshi said, shrugging. "You know, I gotta tell you, you are not the first god we've met, but you are...the nuttiest." (y/n) said and Leshi scoffs. "No, you, you people, you're the crazy ones. You used to worship gods. But this?" she said as she indicates her Paris Hilton disguise.

"This is what passes for idolatry? Celebrities? What have they got besides small dogs and spray tans?" she asked and Sam frowns while Dean and (y/n) raise their eyebrows, nodding. "You people used to have old-time religion. Now you have Us Weekly." Leshi said. "I don't know, I'm more of a Penthouse Forum man myself." Dean said as he winks then clicks his tongue at Leshi.

She gets up and stalks over to him. "Maybe, but...there's still a lot of yummy meat on those bones, boy." she said. "Well I hate to break it to you, sister, but, uh...you can't eat me. See, I'm not a Paris Hilton BFF. I've never even seen House of Wax." Dean said and Sam looks at Dean, frowning.

cNo. But I can totally read your mind, Dean. I know who your hero is. Your daddy. Am I right?" Leshi asked and Dean doesn't reply. She smirks and walks over to the tree with the axe embedded in it.

When her back is turned, Dean and (y/n) pull at their ropes. "And this belonged to him. Didn't it? Poor little Dean. All you ever wanted was to be loved by your idol. One distant father figure, coming right up." Leshi said and she goes to touch the axe when Dean finally pulls his wrist free of the ropes. He sprints across the clearing and tackles the Leshi to the floor.

Sam pulls desperately at his ropes as the Leshi manages to kneel on top of Dean and punches him repeatedly in the face. (y/n) pulls free then tackles the Leshi and the two fight. Sam finally pulls free and dashes over the clearing. Dean gets up and throws the Leshi off of (y/n) as Sam pulls the axe from the tree.

Dean and (y/n) move away as Sam brings the axe down five times on the Leshi's neck. Her head rolls free of her body and Sam pants in exertion, his face covered in blood. Dean goes over to (y/n) and helps her up on her feet. As she gets on her feet, she starts to laugh at him and he holds up a finger while Sam grins.

"Not a word." Dean warns her. "Dude. You just got whaled on by Paris Hilton!" Sam said and Dean turns to him. "Shut up." he growls and (y/n) warps her arms around his middle. "Aww, my poor, big, strong man, getting beating up by a petite reality star." She said, in a mocking tone. Dean growls under his breath while Sam and (y/n) laughs.

*(y/n)'s POV*

The next morning, the boys and I, carrying our bags, walk to the Impala while Dean is talking on his cell phone. "Uh-huh. All right. Thank you." Dean said and he hangs up. "Sheriff Carnegie. Danielle's gonna be all right. She's sworn off The Simple Life, but other than that—" Dean said. "Glad she's okay." Sam said and I nod. "Me too." I said.

"It gets better. Sheriff's putting out an APB on Paris Hilton." Dean chuckles. "That oughta be good." I giggle as Dean takes out his keys and opens the trunk of the Impala and we put our bags inside. Then Dean turns to Sam.

"Hey, listen, I was thinking about what you said yesterday. About me keeping too tight of a leash on you." He said and Sam looks at him. "Hell, maybe you're right. I mean, look, I'm not exactly Mister Innocent in this whole mess either, you know. I did break the first seal." Dean said. "You didn't know." Sam said, trying to assure him. "Yeah, well, neither did you." Dean said and Sam looks down.

"I'm not saying demon blood was a great way to go, but, you did kill Lilith." Dean said to him. "And start the apocalypse." Sam said. "Which neither of us saw coming, I mean, who'd have thought killing Lilith would've been a bad thing?" I asked and the boys shrug as if to say good point.

"Point is, I was so worried about watching your every move that I didn't see what it was actually doing to you." Dean said as he looks over at Sam. "So, for that I'm sorry." he said and Sam nods. "Thanks." he said and Dean closes the trunk and takes the keys.

"So where do we go from here?" I asked them. "They way I see it, we got one shot at surviving this." Sam said. "What's that?" Dean asked. "Maybe I am on deck for the devil, maybe same with you and Michael, maybe same with (y/n) and Ariel, maybe there's no changing that." Sam said. "Well that's encouraging." Dean said. "But, we can stop wringing our hands over it. We gotta just grab onto whatever's in front of us, kick its ass, and go down fighting." Sam said and Dean considers this, then nods.

"I can get on board with that." he said and I nod. "Same here." I said and Sam nods. "Okay. But we're gonna have to do it on the same level." Sam said and Dean grins slightly. "You got it." he said and Sam nods again.

"I say we get the hell outta here." I said and Sam smiles. "Hell yeah." Sam said and we turn to go to their respective sides of the car, but Dean stops and looks down at the keys.

"Hey." Dean calls out and Sam turns around, then Dean holds out the keys. "You wanna drive?" he asked and Sam looks down at the keys. "You sure?" Sam asked him. "Yeah, I could, uh...I could use a nap." Dean said and Sam smiles a little and Dean hands him the keys.

Sam smiles and we get into the Impala and head out.

@rach5ive @kitsun369 @itzabbyxx @cevans-winchester @ellie-andthemachine

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