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itsheibai · 4 years

Text

—byzantium: trial by fire

pairing: markren | rating: M | angst, spy au | wc: 6.2k

Part 0 | Part 1 | Part 2

summary: “Was this a test?” Renjun asked. Exhaustion capping his question with a hitched sigh. Mark leaned over their minute distance and used his thumbs to wipe the dust and grime off his cheeks. He did it very gently, and Renjun could only blink when thinking how just hours earlier, he had those same thumbs pressing down so precisely on his trachea. “It’s classified.”

warning(s): description of physical injuries, lethal use of firearms

Renjun considered himself as someone unbreakable.

He had his hand cut off. Clean off the bone.

He had life wires inserted into the gangrenous flesh, both as a form of torture and as part of his recovery process. Unsedated.

He had walked unflinchingly through a shower of bullets. Drown and be revived for hundreds of times.

Pain was just as constant of a presence in his life as the high ringing within his ears.

Unbreakable. He was unbreakable.

But that was only until he saw the way Mark looked at him from across the rickety walkway that was teetering dangerously to the side, its foundation creaking beneath its weight from an earlier blast of makeshift explosives.

Renjun had a gun trained on his head. An arm looped tightly around his neck. Those were standard procedures.

The way Mark looked at him, though, broke him.

“Drop your weapon.” Their target screamed, and Renjun flinched. Not because of how he yelled it right beside his ears, not even because of how he shoved the gun’s nuzzle harshly against his temple.

But because Mark didn’t oblige.

“Keep that up and your friend here dies.” The threat was real and Renjun knew it. He was desperate. A cornered animal lashing around in fear and frustration.

But Mark didn’t budge. He kept his gun trained at his head. Hands firm, eyes locked. Not missing even a single millimeter even if the ground he was standing on has begun to shudder dangerously under their combined weight.

Renjun stared back at him. Silently pleading at him to please, please, please.

Don’t do it.

Renjun tried to prevent what he could see, even from miles away, would happen next by struggling all that desperately against his captor’s arm, reminding him that he was still there, god dammit. Because this mission shouldn’t have ended this way. It shouldn’t. They’ve worked so hard together for this that if Mark were to blow it in a last second moment of impulsivity…

“I said, drop your fucking weapon!!”

Though, no matter how hard he tried, even if he grew desperate enough and broke the illusion of power by using his hand to try and prevent their target from moving the gun away from his head, when Mark was determined, he was determined.

And from the look on his eyes, Renjun knew. Because from the very first second that he made the mistake of trusting that Mark would be able to ignore his heart and execute the plan as they’ve laid it out for months prior, he knew.

He wanted their target dead.

So he was.

The very moment their target pulled his gun away from Renjun’s head, a bullet lodged between his eyes. Another bullet flew between his collarbones. Three more on his chest. And the last five, pooling in a morbidly perfect circle within his stomach.

The agency wanted him alive. The agency told them, numerous times, that they wanted him alive.

Mark just killed their only ticket home.

“Are you okay?!” The empty gun clattered against the ashen metal grate and was kicked off the platform when Mark ran towards him and worriedly checked on his crumpled form.

But then it was his turn to flinch when Renjun yanked Mark’s hands away from his shoulders and nearly made him join the gun on the ground, three stories below, when he suddenly jumped back to his feet and drove him against the railing. “How will you explain this to the committee?!”

Mark was only stunned for a split second before his determination came back to him in full force. “Fuck them.” He spat out.

“Stop,-”

He pushed Renjun away from him and began walking to the start of the platform, “they already have what they need. This is gross indulgence.”

“Mark,-!”

“I am not going to trade your life for a fucking token confirmation!” He turned around, and the way he looked at Renjun, the way his eyes were set ablaze in a rage more frightening than anything Renjun had seen before, broke the unbreakable. “You’re too good an agent to be thrown away just like that.”

“We are not heroes, Mark.” No longer able to contain his frustration, Renjun retaliated with a burst of anger of his own. “We can’t choose how we die!”

“So you would?” Mark asked, one foot already beginning to descend down the barren stairs. The way he looked at Renjun showed so much hurt and disappointment. “You would die for them?”

Renjun took a deep breath, feeling the fragments of his broken heart rattling within his rib cage. “If it is what’s needed of me,” he paused. Forcing himself to steel out his resolve as he’d begun to feel a quiver growing on his bottom lip when he saw how Mark’s gaze was gradually growing softer and softer. More and more pitying. Very alarming. “Yes.”

Rogue agents have a kill on sight order.

Defected agents have a kill on sight order.

So Mark, the genius that he was, immediately eliminated his biggest threat, an active field agent who he thought would’ve terminated him if given the chance, with a bullet in his stomach.

The force blew Renjun’s already tattered body backwards. All this time he was able to stand up only through the adrenaline coursing through his veins and the power of his will. So Mark’s measly bullet, from his emergency disposable Glock, who even on his worst day would’ve meant nothing more but a mere mosquito bite, managed to knock the wind completely out of his lungs.

Renjun fell onto the platform with no means of dampening the force. The back of his head slammed directly onto the metal grate, sending a sharp tang of iron up his sinuses and causing his vision to swim.

With his consciousness compromised, nothing was left to take the rein on his senses, and everything flooded onto him at once. Pain. Bones broken in two different places. Tinnitus ringing and drowning the industrial hum that was echoing through their surroundings. And his sight. Colours far too vivid and shapes melting, mixing in together like the palette of an artist at the end stage of their painting.

He saw the tip of Mark’s boots entering his periphery, and he flinched. Genuinely, this time, as Renjun could already taste the dirtied rubber sole rubbing against his teeth even before Mark went and gave his bloodied face a kick.

But it never came.

Instead, Mark’s face, swirly and off coloured, filled his vision.

He grabbed Renjun by his neck, and squeezed.

Renjun didn’t fight back. He couldn’t. Not because he was tired, or in too much pain, as there was no such thing. But because by that point, he was so completely, utterly broken.

I guess, he thought, right before the stars in his vision brightened and night fell, if I die, it has to be because of him.

Renjun gained his consciousness like how raindrops would collect into the rusted metal bucket that stood just beside the entrance of their safe house. Excruciatingly slow and somewhat annoying.

First he felt the damp earth, pressed against his cheek. Mark’d somehow towed him out of the dreary industrial complex and deep into a forest of unknown location. His surroundings were flooded by a blaring white light from a portable electric lantern. But past the one meter radius, it was pitch dark.

There was the strong smell of cut grass and pungent fungus, tickling his nostrils. Crickets, chirping, melding in so seamlessly with the ringing in his ears that it took him a while to notice the soft breaths of Mark, who was sitting against a fallen tree trunk right beside his prone form.

His tongue felt like they were made out of fifty layers of forty grit sandpaper, and it hurt for him to swallow his thick, blood coated saliva.

Renjun let out an involuntary cough and it caused Mark to whip his head in Renjun's direction.

“You’ll get us both killed.” He spat. Literally. What remained of his spittle and globs of blood shot out to the earth when he hacked out another round of coughs that rattled the gunshot wound on his stomach like a blood-filled flesh maraca.

His neck ached from the long period of it being bent in an awkward position, but still Renjun forced it to tilt so he could stare into Mark’s eyes, which were empty and uncaring, with his own. Which burned with what essentially was pure, undistilled, irritation.

At that, Mark only rolled his eyes. He rose from his resting spot and traversed the gap between them. Sitting back down in an angle that caused Renjun’s vision to be filled completely with his black combat pants. “Me. I’m the one who went rogue.” He said, hand first smacked right in the middle of his back so firmly it forced Renjun to hack out another painful cough, before it slowly made its way up his spine. Landing on the strip of exposed skin of his nape. Mark pressed down on the tender skin and it caused him to shudder. “You’re my hostage.”

Sane. Guiltless. Clean.

His blood, which previously was boiling hot, turned into ice.

It made too much sense. Every single one of it.

“Until they terminate me, I just want to,-“ Mark paused, retracting his hand away from Renjun’s neck and threw his head back so he could stare, wistfully, at the dark canopy of the forest. “I just want to be me.”

When Mark returned his attention to him, he looked so hopeful, so childlike, that it further broke what was not yet broken, and ground the ones already snapped into tiny, unrecognizable pieces. His desire to protect Mark. His resolve to delay the inevitable. His promise to quell the dangerous doubts swirling within Mark’s brain. All broken. All gone.

Renjun killed him with his inaction. And together with that, he killed himself.

He would not retract his earlier statement, no matter what. Renjun knew, by the end of the day, or the week, if they were lucky, they both would die. Even if Renjun was spared and was relocated to a new cell, what was the use?

The only person who knew his true existence sat in front of him.

If Mark dies, who was he?

As not even he knows who he was.

“You’re so fucking selfish, you know that?” Words, uncontrollable words that he knew he would regret saying the moment each letter was put in front of the last one, escaped from the gaps of his broken hope. “Go die for all I care. Just don’t drag me down with you.”

“They won’t kill you.“

“They’ll reset me.” He insisted, voice almost breaking from the sheer amount of frustration he felt. “What is that if not death in all aspects but physical?”

“But won’t it be… fun?” Mark’s voice dropped down into a low hush, and Renjun could feel the sensation of cold earth digging into the underside of his nails when he had to dig his fingers into the ground to prevent himself from emoting more than he was right then. Because he knew that the dam would break if he put any more strain to it. And the last thing Renjun wanted Mark to see coming from him at that moment was sympathy. “To be able to be free, even if just for a second?”

“I’d rather live.” Renjun then used the last of his strength to push himself up to his hands and knees. Groaning with every screech of his muscles and the pops of his joints. Mark attempted to help him at one point, but he was deterred with only one glare that encompassed the entirety of Renjun’s fury. “With or without you. I’d rather live.”

Mark scoffed at his determination, and something within him seemed to snap together with it. The innocence in his eyes, what previously looked genuine, now looked like a mockery of such a concept.

Dread rippled through his limbs when Renjun started to see more and more cracks grow on the reality, which was actually nothing more but a screen of illusion that Mark had erected between them.

Did he say something wrong? Did he do something wrong? Would Mark actually sell him out to trade for his safety?

Mark grinned, suddenly, after he saw the shift on Renjun’s expression. He grinned his usual grin and nudged his head to a vague point to the left of his head and Renjun felt an impulsive urge to slam his forehead against the fallen log for forgetting how much of a good con artist Mark was.

But noting that he was essentially backed up on an inescapable corner, Renjun didn’t have any other choice but to turn his head to look at what Mark was pointing at.

A cleaning squad? A hidden camera? The head of their agency tutting their tongue in disappointment?

None of that.

The far edge of Mark’s electric lantern caught the glint of something metallic.

A rusted metal bucket. And above it, a corrugated metal roof that, under even the finest misting of rain, would make a full ruckus of clanging and banging that Mark would not stop bitching about, but Renjun would secretly thank as it gave him an anchor point to ignore the chaos happening within his own ears.

As he slowly turned his head back, Renjun reached deep within himself and came out feeling the stitches that bound his fresh wound close. Tidy and even. A job only Mark was able to do. A job he could only do with the means provided to them by the agency inside their safe house.

His gaze came to where Mark was, and Renjun was greeted with a smile, so sweet, so satisfied which, off course he was. Mark was successful in manipulating Renjun to tell him his truth. Because yes, everyone has their desires. Their true motives in life. It was just that Renjun’s could only be pried out of him with the help of a bullet being dislodged into one’s stomach.

He didn’t know if he should be glad, that Mark wasn’t actually dumb enough to throw his life away just like that. Or if he actually should be mad, that Mark essentially betrayed him. Frayed their trust on each other just because he was told to do so by the agency.

“Was this a test?” He asked. Exhaustion capping his question with a hitched sigh.

Mark leaned over their minute distance and used his thumbs to wipe the dust and grime off his cheeks, together with a bead of tears Renjun never realised he’d shed. He did it very gently, and Renjun could only blink when thinking how just hours earlier, he had those same thumbs pressing down so precisely on his trachea.

“It’s classified.”

“Did I at least pass?”

Mark didn’t answer him. Instead, he chuckled and pulled Renjun close into a casual hug, before giving his cheek a playful kiss. Renjun would’ve normally swat him away in annoyance, especially after everything he’d done. But then, he let Mark linger longer than usual. Because Renjun could feel his mouth, moving surely on his grimy skin.

Thank god, thank god, thank god.

So he passed. They passed. And he could feel the fragments of his heart, slowly congealing itself back into something no longer fragmented. Deformed, yes. But more unbreakable than it was before.

“Do you think I’m weak, Huang?” Mark whispered, out of the blue. And to him, it sounded like an apology. The way he clutched to the shirt caking against Renjun’s back was bordering on something sacrilegious. Something, that if it were just that tiny bit more vulnerable, would’ve led to another test of a higher difficulty being sent to their mailbox come next morning.

Though Renjun knew, oddly, that they would’ve easily passed that one. And the next. And the next. And the next. And the next. Because he lied when he said he didn’t know if he was glad or mad at Mark for doing what he did. Renjun only needed a second to know that Mark would never betray him.

Everything he did was out of necessity. Everything he did. The little, subtle nudges. His perfect choice of words. The location on Renjun’s stomach that his bullet lodged into. All calculated, all monitored with the pair of his eagle eye.

So he gave in, ignoring the screams of alarm that blared so loudly in his ears, and returned Mark’s hug with one of his own.

“Yes.”

But so was he. So, it didn’t really matter, no?

Mark, even if Renjun insisted against it, helped him clean up the layers of grime, blood, and dirt he’d accumulated through the last 24 hours that they were awake. “Finishing a mission and going straight through to a test of loyalty!” He said, chipper and uncaring, as he sprayed a shivering Renjun with bucketfuls after bucketfuls of lukewarm water.

Renjun nearly told Mark to not bother with boiling any water for his bath. But then Mark only looked flatly at him, and said, “and to see you die from shock? No.”

It pulled the first genuine laughter from Renjun, which he quickly regretted, because it rattled the delicate stitches of his gunshot wound so harshly he had to press a hand over it to prevent any thread from snapping free.

“You’re tempting fate.” He mumbled through the clacking sound of his teeth bumping against each other.

“They don’t bug our bathroom.” Mark responded, as he was carefully combing through the cuts on Renjun’s arms with a flashlight and a pinset, to pick out forgotten debris of glass and fine shavings of wood.

“How do you know?”

Mark pulled one long shard of glass and it fell soundlessly on the spare towel spread on the earthen flooring of their makeshift bathroom, “for how nosy they are, I bet they don’t want to hear us pissing or shitting around the clock.”

Renjun laughed again at that. He really was starting to lose his grip on reality from how exhausted he was, huh? “Fair enough.”

Once he was happy with his work, Mark pulled Renjun into a bundle of towel, before draping a woolen blanket over his shoulders. All of them were warm to the touch, as clearly he’d had them toasting over the heater for the duration of his bath.

“Wait at the med bay,” Mark said as he swiftly took off his mud-caked top after shoving Renjun out of the bathroom. “I’ll give your arm a look.”

Ah, right. His left arm.

The non-stop barrage of twists, turns, and revelations made Renjun forget for a hot second that his ulna was broken on two different spots.

He stared at the skin of his lower arm with near disinterest. Bruised skin, broken capillaries and all. Dull pain pulsed in long intervals through his inflamed flesh.

Renjun could only maintain his patience for five cycles before he sighed and took the inflammation retardant shot from the medicine cabinet, absentmindedly pumping it to his forearm before he rummaged through the box of hardwares for a piece of wooden plank suitable enough to be turned into a makeshift splint.

Renjun was in the middle of tightening a knot with the help of his teeth when Mark rounded the corner. Half his face was covered by his hair and towel he was using to dry it but he could see, from the way his shoulders dropped, that Mark lost just a little bit more of his faith on Renjun who only responded to him with a casual shrug.

“Didn’t I tell you to wait.”

“You took too long,” he said, offering his arm to Mark who instantly took it into his care. “What did you do in there? A bubble bath?”

Mark chuckled at that, “I wish.” Mark, for all his fire and hot shot attitude at facing life, was a surprisingly gentle healer. His fingers barely registered on Renjun’s quickly numbing skin as he unravelled the haphazardly wounded gauze and readministered the splint with perfect accuracy. All the while being nicely mindful that it didn’t unecessarly add weight and pressure on Renjun’s mechanical hand.

The thing was so lifelike (as in, riddled to the brim with problems) that sometimes Renjun forgot how it was just an amalgamation of polymers and artificial neurons. A state of the art engineering marvel invested in him by their agency heads.

Mark also, unnecessarily, topped his care with the application of a topical ointment on Renjun’s neck. Focusing his fingers on the sore spot deep between the center nook that's started to bloom in a reddish bruise. Both of Mark’s hands circled at the base of his neck, his thumbs gliding easily with the help of the heated cream, so softly that he understood it served as a form of apology. And like earlier, Renjun did nothing else but comply. Though unlike earlier it was not based on despair, or defeat, but trust. Such undying trust that it would’ve been so easy for Mark to kill him, right then and there. But he didn’t. Even if Renjun’s easy hand, lazily hanging on the nook of his elbow, indicated that he wouldn’t mind if Mark really needed to do it. To save his identity, to save his career, to save himself. But of course, he didn’t.

“Done. Wait for me in the bedroom,” Mark capped Renjun’s treatment with a shove on his uninjured arm. But Renjun didn’t budge.

“Only when you tell me how you are planning to staple that wound on your back.” He said, cocking his chin. To Mark’s incredulous scoff, Renjun only responded with a genuine shrug, “I’m serious! This might come in handy in the future when you betray me for real and I have to dress my wound by myself.”

“God, alright.” Mark, defeated, tossed the medical grade staple gun at Renjun who easily caught it with his healthy hand. “Just make it tidy.”

“Enlighten me, sir. In what universe are untidy staples better than nothing at all?” Using his one hand, Renjun did his job with only one initial snippy comment. Mark also only scoffed once, only at his retort, and not a peep afterwards. Not when Renjun used the side of his hand against Mark’s shoulder blade to steady his fingers, not when he released the metal staple onto his irritated skin, binding the open wound shut.

Mark also didn’t make a sound, not even as a byproduct of his body moving involuntarily due to shock, when Renjun leaned in and gave the wound a fleeting kiss.

Though to be fair, what was a shock to the likes of them? An explosion could’ve rattled their lodging this very second and they would’ve responded with only a disinterested ‘huh?’

Renjun didn’t wait around to see if Mark were (or were not) ever going react to his stupid, impulsive action. He just walked to their shared sleeping area and carefully lowered himself to the hard mattress on the floor.

He lied there, on his side, facing the entrance as he battled on the idea of whether to ask Mark for another set of blanket, or to just tough it up like how he usually did.

Turns out, all his time contemplating was for naught.

Mark walked into the room already holding a bundle of extra blankets he must’ve nicked from their emergency cupboard.

He then laid a thin, scratchy cotton blanket over Renjun’s curled form after spending a good two minutes having a tug of war from trying to pull the damp towel away from his naked body.

“Let it be,” Renjun grumbled in annoyance.

Mark also grumbled, when he tried to disentangle the bulky fabric from Renjun’s limbs “You’ll catch a cold.”

“I’m already cold.”

“Well, you’ll only get colder with this around your neck, you dumb shit.” Mark said. Insult capping his sentence together with the laughter for when he managed to yank the towel cleanly away from Renjun. Mark then draped another cotton blanket over him, “your fault too that you didn’t bother to put on some clothes.”

“Too lazy.”

Mark’s laughter devolved into a chuckle as he himself grunted his way into his set of firm mattress and thin blanket, “that’ll kill you one day.”

“Me sleeping naked?”

“Your laziness.” Mark’s wound was on his right shoulder. But still, he ignored what must’ve been an annoying pulling sensation on his stapled skin so he could lie on his side that faced Renjun. But for what? He ended up doing nothing more but taking jabs at him. “It’ll be hilarious if we were to get ambushed and we have to run out right now.”

“I’ll have it neutralised in the time it takes for them to recover from seeing a naked penis.”

“Swinging around as you take aim.” Mark’s laugh sounded very childish, and Renjun bit down on the snarky comment that he planned to say. He wanted to let the air settle on a good note.

They fooled around the last night they spent in this safe house, and the proximity of their mattresses, which usually would’ve been pushed flush against the opposing walls but were now pressed against the others’, served as proof of their disobedience.

No distracting stimuli before any major mission, they said.

But how could they not? To touch a person who seemed to be a mere extension of oneself. Spiritually, physically. How could that be a distraction?

They knew, back then, that they were not going to be able to even acknowledge the other’s existence once their mission started. So they rationalised, just once. To sate my needs. And your cravings. Because we won’t be able to get any action after we step out from this place, Renjun remembered Mark’s joke when they were riding down the highs of the night.

“Only you won't, nerd.” Renjun replied, knowing that Mark was assigned the character of an ‘antisocial star scientist’ for their then upcoming mission. “As his PA I would definitely have lots of action.”

Mark’s grip around his wrist tensed for a split second before he let go and rolled to the far edge of his mattress with a tired scoff. “Rest, Huang.” He mumbled.

It was done so naturally that Renjun only realised the implication of his action at the moment when he met their target and felt eyes roaming around his body in a way that made his blood boil.

With rage.

But everything has come to an end. All was said, all was done, the bastard died loaded with hot lead and they’ve found themselves in a position that mirrored their last night together so much that, if it weren’t for his wounds, Renjun would’ve believed no time had passed since the last time he blinked six months ago to the day.

They stared, silently, into each other. Slowly shedding the layers of characters they put up for the infiltration with each exhale until they were left as they were in the eyes that held them.

He didn’t need to do much to touch Mark that night. Renjun’s wrist was still covered by his blanket when his fingers made contact against him, softly running across his forearm. The barely there movement of his fingers ghosting over his skin must’ve sent overwhelming tingles up his spine, as Mark could only close his eyes in the face of such a sensation.

“When do we have to pick up Chenle tomorrow?”

Mark’s peculiar choice of words caused Renjun to let out a thin laugh. “Around 2.”

“Good. We can sleep in.” He mumbled, before snuggling himself deeper into the thin pillow that cushioned his sagging cheeks.

They were tired. Exhausted beyond belief. And probably, most wisely, Renjun should’ve kept his desires, and in extension, his fingers, to himself. There’s always tomorrow, isn’t that how it goes?

But the warmth of Mark’s skin underneath the palm of his hand felt too good for Renjun to stop his dazed exploration on his upper arm. They trickled, slowly, down his sides. Past his shoulders that were damp from his wet hair, down to his chest. Renjun could feel how Mark’s heartbeat jolted awake the moment he ran his index finger past the opening of his clavicle.

But he didn’t move. Didn’t even say a word. Not until Renjun creeped up past the hem of his shirt and pressed his palm against his hips that Mark responded.

“You have to rest, Huang.” He said. And when that didn’t change the placement of Renjun’s hand, Mark was forced to open his eyes and looked at him with a pitiful attempt of a warning glare. “Please.”

It only led to Renjun clutching down onto him that much firmer.

“No.”

When Mark frowned, and put his hand on top of Renjun’s with the goal of pulling it away, he rose from his mattress and glided over, all three blankets and all, to hover on top of Mark like a ghostly apparition.

“Do you not want this?” He asked, running the back of his injured hand across Mark’s cheeks that were growing more and more flushed by the second. The way he responded to Renjun’s touch gave him all the answers he needed. Like a moth chasing the deathly lick of a fire. “Let’s just pretend that I can’t sleep and this is you helping me to.”

Under the drapery of Renjun’s mirriad of blankets, Mark gave his palm a lingering kiss. But when he aligned himself and re-emerged into the cool night air, where nothing of the likes should ever exist, Mark acted accordingly. His disapproving frown was cold and harsh. His words, calculated. “That goes against the directive.”

They’re watching us closer, he meant. And to that, Renjun tilted his head in defiance.

“You’re embarrassed now?” He said, snipping words that were successful in pulling an involuntary smile out of Mark’s sullen face.

He shrugged the mountain of blankets off his shoulders, letting it pool around his waist before settling in on a comfortable straddle across Mark’s torso. He quickly reached out for the bottle of lube that was there, still there from the last time they used it months and months ago, stuck at the crevice between their two mattresses, and with just one clicking sound of a plastic clasp unlatching, they both could no longer lie to themselves. They wanted it. And the quick work he made on his pants, and also on Renjun, how easily Mark made him collapse against him, with palms pressed hard and trembling at the sides of his face, acted as surefire proof.

“If they are seeing, let them,” Renjun whispered on the skin of Mark’s shoulder when he sensed a little hesitation in his movement, “let’s give them a good show.” He tilted his head, and caught Mark in his own dilemmatic rumination. His eyes were droopy with the peculiar mix of exhaustion and arousal, and it seemed that a little tipping point was all that he needed for the ‘fuck it’ potion to kick in. So Renjun began grinding on their point of bodily contact and Mark gave in with a kiss of his making. So deep and passionate, with his fingers gripping surely, hungrily around Renjun’s jaw, tipping it this way and that until he was happy with how much they were showing themselves to the surveillance camera watching steadily from the corner of the room.

Mark couldn’t have entered him in any better moment, the perfect spot on his upward journey that jolted him awake with a dose of pleasure so good it helped him find the hidden reservoir of energy to reciprocate his movement in their halfway point. But they were only able to go through a handful of cycles before they both groaned from how the movements were causing nagging strain on their freshly dressed wounds.

“Perhaps… this is not the best position for us right now.” Mark said, interspersed with a ringing of his pained laughter, and Renjun joined soon after.

“Should I go on my knees?” He asked. But Mark’s answer came with only a soft hand placed on his healthy shoulder, pushing at it gently until Renjun understood what Mark meant by his silent action.

So he rolled onto his back, and allowed Mark to lead the pace of their session, patiently accepting the care he was giving to each stroke, no matter how much he actually wanted to just grab him by his arms and demand him to fuck him senseless. Because Mark was doing what he’s always done everytime they do this, and Renjun didn’t have it in him the cruelty to disturb him. His ritual, where he would trace the wounds on Renjun’s body. This time lingering on those that were of his making. “I’m sorry,” Mark whispered, over and over, as he pressed his palm on the carefully stitched, bandaged, barely life threatening hole on Renjun’s abdomen. It was only then that Renjun realised how potent exhaustion was compared to any natural or artificial intoxicating substances, as Mark has never apologised to him, not even in text, not when he’s drunk, nor when he’s drugged out of his mind. Only then. Pushed beyond their personal limits of stamina that sent them both into a padded, floaty limbo where nothing seemed to matter and everything felt grand.

And it affected him too, Renjun figured out, when Mark angled his hips in this one particular way that would always make him feel things he never dared imagined, and he responded with an uncharacteristically desperate moan. His lips were pressed against the inner skin of Mark’s wrist, and in turn Renjun could feel his pulse racing up underneath the thin layers of scarred skin.

He’s never overtly shown his gratitude to how Mark was making him feel. No matter how good, he would try his best to be modest, at best, and emotionally shut down, at worst. But then, nothing mattered. Nothing did. There were only them in that chilly, blindly dark room. In the silent forest. In the entire world. Just them, and to that sentiment, Renjun reacted accordingly.

He hooked his legs around Mark’s back, and clawed his hands onto his arms. Hanging on with his dear life as Renjun, for the second time that night, divulged with Mark his deepest wish.

“Make me forget,” he whispered, eyes nothing more but two unfocused points that tried to seek confirmation on how his words affected Mark. Anger, he wished. Perhaps jealousy. Anything else but the slow pace that Mark was giving him. But although Renjun tasted bitterness in the way he kissed him shut, Mark didn’t change his approach. Only that sweet, unnecessarily careful way that he would only do when he’s feeling particularly cruel. And by that, it meant particularly loving.

Renjun hated it, of course. Hated it because he enjoyed it far too much. That it felt far too good. Far too satisfying. Though at that moment, he was far too exhausted to exercise his usual self-control in the face of Mark’s kindness. So Renjun took it in. Unabashedly, and reciprocated in light. With the sweet sounds and sweet callings of his name, the sweet kisses on his calloused fingers that would always leave Mark shuddering at its wake.

Regret could come later. Regret may come tomorrow morning, when they wake up with questionable things caking on Mark’s shirt, or Renjun’s hair stuck against the crinkled bedsheet. Their bodies would be aching and they would be exhausted, waking up 30 minutes too late to the reprimands of their handlers. Those things didn’t matter then, though.

Because then, they exist.

Euphoria led to bliss, led to their exhaustion returning in full force, led to them, lying side by side under Renjun’s three layers of blanket. Mark lent him his sleeping pants, and Renjun said his thanks by draping his healthy arm over his chest. Because he knew Mark likes it. He hated it. But for that one night, he relented.

Silence has spanned between them for a while that Renjun was surprised to find Mark still awake when he whispered a confession to the night. “I’m glad they allowed me to kill him.” His words caused the start of another episode of suffocation to simmer low at the base of Renjun’s lungs. “After everything he did to you…”

‘Stop.’ Under the blanket, Renjun used the last of his strength to tap his fingers weakly on Mark’s wrist, ‘they might hear you.’

“So?” Undeterred, he continued. “They saw us.”

Renjun found himself smiling in the dark. Touché. But he was adamant on his opinion. ‘That is different from this.’

Mark laughed at that, and gave his cheek a comforting caress, “the fact that they’ve tested us means they know.”

Did he say how his mended heart was more unbreakable than it was before? He lied. Renjun lied, or his heart betrayed him when it broke, again, so easily after he learned the extent of Mark stubbornness. Darkness pressed down on him, loomed over him, and Renjun was helpless in his confinement, pathetically unable to stop Mark from leaning over and capturing his lips into a kiss that he knew had sealed their fate. Whatever it might be.

“We are not weak,” Mark whispered, before he grew quiet once more. Either due to him giving up to sleep, or him, feigning that the former happened to him while he kept guard through the night. ‘They have nothing against us.’

They have you, Renjun thought. The last one before his brain switched off after overloading from the extreme strain he’d put it through. And so they have everything.

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fan-fantasies · 4 years

Text

Sneaky Bastard

Request: Can you do a (platonic) Negan imagine where the reader whose like 16-17, is living in the woods and often sneaks into the sanctuary to steal from the saviors. she usually has a mask or something to cover her face and one day the saviors catch her and find out she's a girl (they've been thinking it was a man) and Negan is impressed with her skills and she joins the saviors.

Warnings: Swearing

Pairing: Negan x Reader (platonic)

Masterlist

You watched the guard walk past you for the third time that evening. You knew his schedule well. After his third pass he would sneak off for a quickie with some woman you assumed. He’d usually be absent for about 20 minutes until he made his next round.

You saw him slink off into some shed and you took this as your opportunity to sneak in. You pulled back a hole in the fence and squeezed yourself through. You ran along the shadow of the setting sun, hidden by the arrival of dusk.

You entered the small garden they had growing and pulled some vegetables, shoving them into your backpack. You didn’t really care what you grabbed as long as it was something. After picking enough fruit and vegetables to last a few days you ran along a wall and peaked around the corner. You saw the guard that was watching the loading dock was fast asleep.

You quietly ran past him and into the loading dock to see what they had scavenged this week. You found some new clothes and other necessities. You never took more than you needed so when you were satisfied, you took your leave.

You sneaked back through the fence and saw the guard return as soon as you had turned around. You ran back into the woods, back to your hidden encampment. You had found a small cave behind a waterfall and it was perfectly hidden. You set up walker traps around the area so you would know when they were near.

You had been on your own for a few years now. Your mother died after sacrificing herself to save you and you promised yourself to never get close to someone again. The pain that you went through nearly killed you but you knew you had to be strong for her.

You settled into your cave that you had made cozy over the last few months. You began stealing from the compound almost as soon as you found it. You figured that you were just one person and that they wouldn’t miss what you took. You memorized the guard schedule and when they would bring in new hauls of stuff.

Almost a week had passed since your last food run and you were starting to run low. When you arrived at the fence you were disheartened to see a different guard was making the rounds. You cursed under your breath and wanted to turn back, but a rumble in your stomach told you that you needed food.

You decided that you’d just make a run for it when the guard rounded the corner and just take something quick from the garden. You’d have about five minutes until he came back around. You pulled your hood over your head and put your bandanna over your face.

When you saw the new guard round the corner, you opened the fence and booked it toward the garden. You grabbed a few peppers and a couple of tomatoes. Options were limited but you managed to take a few extra vegetables to hold out a bit longer. You looked toward the chicken coop that was about 50 feet away. You knew eggs would be good to get but you couldn’t risk it.

You ran back toward the fence and sat there waiting for the guard to return, making sure that he didn’t seem suspicious. You waited and waited but the man never returned. You figured that he might be like the other guard and sneak off somewhere while on his rounds.

You made your way back to your cave to fix something to eat. You were just finishing eating when you heard some cans rattling from one of the trip lines you had set for walkers. You rolled your eyes and grabbed your knife, leaving your cave to go dispose of the intruder.

When you found the trip line there wasn’t anything there. You thought it was strange but you chalked it up to an animal or the wind. You headed back into the cave but froze when you saw a tall man with his back to you just beyond the entrance. You tried to turn around slowly and run but you felt a gun at your back.

“You’re not going anywhere, you thieving piece of shit,” the man spat.

“Now now, Simon, there’s no need for cussing,” the tall man chuckled. He turned around and you were greeted with a pepper beard and piercing eyes. You had seen this man before briefly when you were scoping out the compound. He swung his barbed bat around aimlessly as he took in your makeshift home.

“It seems you’ve been taking what isn’t yours, son, and we don’t like that back at the sanctuary.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ll give what I took back and I’ll leave. You won’t have trouble from me again,” you mumbled. Negan’s eyes shot to yours in surprise.

“Simon, the hood,” he said. The man behind you yanked down your hood and they both seemed surprised. “You’re the one that’s been stealing from us?”

“Ryan said it was a man that he saw,” Simon said.

“No, it’s me. Unless someone else is stealing too but I’m the only one that I know of,” you admitted. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“Simon, you can put your gun down,” the man with the bat told him.

“But, Negan-”

“She’s just a kid, dammit. Put your gun down!” Negan snapped. The other man did as he said and you let out a breath that you didn’t know you were holding in. “What’s your name, honey?”

“(Y/N)...”

“How old are you, (Y/N)?” He asked. His eyes had softened and he seemed less angry than before.

“Seventeen or eighteen, I lose track of the months at this point,” you sighed. “I promise I didn’t mean any harm. I just took what I needed, never anything more.”

“You’re a sneaky bastard, I’ll give you that,” Negan chuckled. “How long have you been living out here?”

“At least six months now.”

“How about I make you a deal, (Y/N); you come work for me at the sanctuary and I won’t introduce you to Lucille here,” he said, nodding at his bat.

“Boss, she’s a thief. You’re just gonna invite her in so easily?” Simon asked.

“Are you questioning me, Simon? Maybe you’d like to get up close and personal with Lucille. She’s a kid and we are saviors after all. Now get to saving,” Negan growled. Simon nodded quickly and left the two of you alone. “Think that’s a good deal, kid?”

“How do I know I can trust you?” You asked. Negan rubbed his scruff and smiled.

“You don’t. But I don’t know that I can trust you either. You did steal from me. But I’m taking a chance on you, so why don’t you take a chance on me.” You thought for a moment and looked around at your measly survival in this cave. This man, while scary and unfamiliar, was offering you a new start and to make somewhat of a life for yourself. Maybe it was a better chance for survival.

“Alright, let me just grab my things and we’ll go,” you said. “What kind of work will I be doing anyway?”

“We’ll start with repairing that hole in the fence, we don’t want any pests getting in.” He winked. You smiled a genuine smile for the first time in months. “I think this is gonna be a start to something wonderful, my little protege.”

“I think so too,” you said with a smile.

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

Taglists:

Permanent for all: @lokilvrr @m-a-t-91 @blueeyedbesson

#Negan #negan x reader #negan platonic #negan fanfiction #jeffrey dean morgan #the walking dead #like #comment #reblog #follow #masterlist

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angelwars11 · 4 years

Text

PART 1

*finally gets my siblings up and we all sit down on the bed* Alright y'all, time to watch this shit. Let's get itttt!!

*new ominous pre-intro comes in* "A LUCASFILM LIMITED production. "

Me: Oh, we starting like this. Wtf!! Okay, dude, I have goosebumps. Holy shit. *Calming facade is down. Is totally unaware and unprepared for what's coming*

*fanfare jumpscare*

Me: *startles* *grabs my heart*

Heart monitor: *beep beep beep, beeeeeeeeeeep~*

Me: OH MY GOD!!! *cough violently like Grevious* Holy shit. The fanfare, holy shit. I'mma—*notices red logo* *starts to hyperventilate*

*Another very different and new red title* "Part 1. Olds Friends Not Forgotten. "

Me: *gasps sharply* THAT IS SO COOL!!! I'mma cryyy *sniffles*

Yularen: *comes in clutch with the narrator recap*

Me: Yoooo!! What's up my dude?!

*see Grevious* Damn, I mean, General Grevious lookin good though. You see that animation! DAMN! Best design ever!

Yularen: "Republic forces are pushed to the brink. In response to this overwhelming attack. The Jedi Council had dispatched it's Generals far from the Core Worlds. "

CALEB DUME aka. KANAN JARRUS!! Ahhh!! Look at my son!

*sees Plo Koon in his Delta 7 inteceptor* "Ummm, no, stop it. Stop. That looks familiar. *shakes head violently* No. Be quiet.

*sees Aayla and Bly* *inhales sharply* *chokes on saliva* "Aayla Secura is where? OH SHIT. Is that Felucia?! NO, FUCK. "

(The clone troopers look so fucking amazing. Their armor is heavily detailed with the amount of scratches and dents covering them. It makes their armor look rough. OMG! This is literally 'nose bleed heaven' I am in right now!!)

Me: *dances* They onn a bridgeee, they on a—HOLY SHIT!! That's a big ass cannon," *watches the cannon blast fire upwards* Ohhhhh~ That's, uh, not good! Oh shit!! AH! Cody DODGE NOW!!!

*stares at the tv* Holy. Sh—

*light saber unleashed*

Me: OOhhh!! Who the fu—ACK! Obi-Wan coming out of the CUT alllll BEAUTIFUL!!!

LOOK at the lightsaber light pouring through the dust cloud surrounding him🤩 *blood pours out of my nose* His magnificent graying beard, so beautiful. I LOVE how there's a limp piece of hair bouncing on the side of his head, it's so satisfying. And the way he slowly looks over his shoulder at Cody like: "Must protect my husband!" OMG, I love them so much, CodyWan forever!!! Bless Dave Filoni for giving us that scene because, it was beautiful😍 God, the animation. 😍I'mma—😵😳

Cody: "General?!"

Me: MmmmmHmmmm. *wiggles eyebrows*

Obi-Wan: "Cody, get down!"

Me: Protect Cody!! Holy fu—Cody, stop staring at Obi-Wan and take cover, yes I know he's hot as fuck, my sister thinks so too, so do I—That's NOT the point. Just GET your ASS DOWN!! You can stare at him all you want later.

Obi-Wan: "Anakin, where are you?"

Anakin: *jump scares* "I'm right here. "

Me: ⬇⬇

Me: I SWEARRRR. You are so lucky I don't have a gun because I would've BLASTED you to the other side of this GODDAMN BRIDGE. The fuck is wrong with you, you lucky mother fucker.

Anakin: "What are you doing down there. "

Me: 🤣🤡 Shut the fuck up!

Anakin: *dodges a fucking blaster beam* I'm dea—🤣 ANAKIN. You cray cray!

*all shots miss Anakin while he stands right there in plain sight on top of MOTHER FUCKING debris*

Me: Hehhehehheeee—OH my GoD!! Anakin!! Get DOWN FROM THEREeEe. They gonna shoot you, bro!

Obi-Wan: "What are you up to? Where is Captain Rex?"

Me: Yeah, what are you up to? *suspicious*

*Nobody stays seated while Anakin walks straight at the enemy. Managing not to get fucking smacked*

Me: "Y'all DUMB ASS droids can't SHOOT!! Ohhhhhh myyyy goddddd!!" 🤣🤣

Anakin: "I have come to surrender. Your forces fought valiantly. I must admit we are overmatched by your superior fire power. " Me: "Tell me y'all ain't gonna fall for this. If you beli—"

Me: *inhales sharply*

Dumb and Dumber: "Surrender. That's a relief. Notify the tactical droid. "

Me: ⬇⬇

*sighs heavily* They believed him. 💀

*scope shows up* The fuck?! Oh, is that Rexy Boi™ *gasps* R2!!!

Rex telling his squad they have to wait a little longer to hang upside down on the bridge. They all *groan* "Sir, yes, sir. "

ME: 😆 They want to fly so fucking badly!!

OoooWe!! They've got JET PACKS!!! Oooo, we bougie MOTHER FUCKAASSSSS!!! *dances to the epic music*

*nobody stays seated while the Clone Troopers kick ass*

Obi-Wan: "Bravo Anakin, you've done it again. "

Me: 🥺🥺

Anakin: "Oh, I can't take all the credit. You staying back really sold my surrender talk. " *Obi-Wan smiles*

Obi-Wan: "Always glad to help my friend. " *they smile at each other*

Also me: *cries internally* 😭😍

Anakin: "Skywalker here, what is it Admiral?" Me: *gasps* Admiral: "Sir. We received a transmission from someone using a subspace frequency. Fulcrum. "

Me: *stops breathing* FULCRUM. 💀 Ah—Ah—AhCHOO! *wheezes* Oooh, bless me.

*the transmitter room scene from the trailer* Me: *screeches* Anakin: "Alright, Admiral. What's so important you brought us all the... Way... Back...here." *sees Ahsoka*

(*PAUSE* I noticed that Rex is not here in this SCENE!! Woahhh~ Just wanted to point that out! Okay, sorry, *unpause*)

Ahsoka: *turns around* "Hello Master. It's been a while. " Me: 😍😍😍😍😍

Anakin: "Ah—Ahsoka. Wha— *scoffs*I don't believe it, " *voice goes two octaves higher* "How are you? Where are you?" *voice softens to be protective* "Are you okay?"

My heart: ⬇⬇

(SKIP)

*Mandalorian ship comes in* Me: *tears coming down my face*

Aaaahhhh!!! R2 D2 rolled up to Ahsoka to say hi!! OMG, cutie pie!!😍🥺 My heartttttt😭

Anakin tries to say Hi to Ahsoka but she's just like, "Can't do that right now. " Me: *snaps my own neck* Damn. Heyo!! He's literally hanging by a THREAD, a measly THREAD over the fucking pool called the DARK SIDE. And you treating him like that, focusing on the war and not a hug, mannn, Anakin is about to take a 'dippity dip' in this goddamn pool. Smh.

Bo-Katan: "He murdered their ruler. My sister. I thought she meant something to you. "

Me: *visibly sees Obi-Wan look sad* Satineeeee😭😭😭 No, Obi-Wan, it's okay!!

(SKIP)

*when the troopers pass by and salute to Ahsoka* Me: UwU

REX'S SMILE 👑 when she walks in😍 "Glad to have you back, Commander. " *smiles again* 👑 "Rex. Thank you. But you don't have to call me Commander anymore. " "Sure thing, Commander." *smiles AGAIN* 👑

Me: 😭😭 Rex, I SWEAR TO GOD, if you don't stop SMITING me with those SMILES BRO. Just chill. Please. Do it again and I'—

*alarm goes off* God fucking dammit. *sees the troopers scrambling in the background* HAHAHHAHHA😆😆🤣

*stops laughing* Who's in trouble? The Chancellor. Hahahaha, who's that? Ohhh, you mean Buttcheeksakin. Yeahhh~🤣 Nobody cares!!

Ahsoka: "I understand, that it's your usual playing politics. This is why the people have lost faith in the Jedi. I had too. Until I was reminded of what the order means to people who truly need us. "

Obi-Wan: "Right now people on Coruscant need us. "

Ahsoka: "No, the Chancellor needs you. "

Me: *nose bleed* "Damnnnn, say it again for the people in the back!!! Ughh, feisty Ahsoka is sexy. " 😍

REX GETTING WHAAA, PROMOTED?! I knew this day was coming for sooo long *sniffles* I'm so proud.

*music heightens it's pitch* HER LIGHTSABERS😭😭😭

Ahsokaaaa got her lightsabers BACK!! Looking snazzyyyy, looking beautiful, you look hot honey! And a BONUS, they are BLUE!! Hot DAMN!! 💙💙

Ahsoka: "Anakin... " *Anakin turns around* "Good luck. " *Anakin smiles with pride*

Me: *ugly sobs*

*Nobody stays seated while, 'Love pledge' plays in the background*

Me: *cries harder* WHYYYY😭😭😭

'Commander' REX. Whereeee areee youuu?! Ah, there you darling. Beautiful bby boyyyy, you deserve it!!! 😍😍😍

*spots someone behind Rex* Who Issss...?? Oh, JESSE!! Heyyy~ *waves* ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡ )

Rex: "Sorry, I didn't think to bring you a jetpack?" Ahsoka: "Don't need one. " *Nobody will ever fucking stay seated while Rex gives the mother of all amused smirks* 👑

(THIS beautiful smirk⬆ I know I WILL be watching 60 more times after I finish this goddamn episode 🥵)

PART 2 of my reaction coming soon!! (Nah, I'm serious, it'll be here. Just hold your horses!)

Link to part 2!! ⬇

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hongism · 5 years

Text

not your typical flower shop story

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Genre: Flower Shop Owner!Taehyung, College!Reader, College!Taehyung, Fluff, Slight Angst, eventual smut

Word Count: 7751

Rating: M

Warnings: mild language

Summary: You always goes to the cute boy next door’s flower shop across the street because hi yes he’s the cutest damn person you’ve ever seen, until one day a guy with tattoos and a severe obsession with the color black shows up in the shop asking for the ‘usual’ and you find out that your cute innocent little flower boy has a dirty little secret.

A/N (edit): okay lol i know i don’t need another series but i seriously can’t let this be a one-shot or a stand alone piece SO we’ve got a new series lads

⇐ previous | next ⇒

“The usual, Miss L/N?” You smile at the red tulips beneath your nose before shifting to direct your grin at the young man speaking to you. He wears his typical white apron, still stained brown from the dirt on the back counter, and that precious boxy smile he blesses you with every time you visit.

“Surprise me, Taehyung-ssi,” you respond. Taehyung laughs under his breath as he turns back to his counter. “Also, how many times do I have to tell you that you can call me Y/N?”

“Sorry, Y/N. It’s an unbreakable habit. I’m too used to calling all my other clients by their last names.” Taehyung begins to hum as he works, taking flowers from their holders in a seemingly random manner. “I guess I should be better at remembering to call you by your first name since you come so often.” You blink at Taehyung, eyes wide. Has he caught on? Does he know why I visit? He just keeps smiling and humming, trimming the ends of his freshly picked flowers.

You don’t think you can tolerate the embarrassment of him finding out why you come so frequently, and if he were to confront you about it, you don’t think you could have an excuse off the top of your head. Maybe say something stupid like oh I just love flowers so much, and not I come every week because it means I get to see your face and you’re simultaneously the cutest and hottest damn person I’ve ever seen so I’ll keep buying flowers from you if it means your shop stays open for me to see you more. Yea, that would not be the best thing to say, so you may have to start working harder at coming up with good excuses.

“I think violets would look pretty in your windowsill. Should I set aside a second bundle for you in addition to the bouquet?”

“U-Uh, pardon? My windowsill?”

“Yes, you kept the daffodils from last time there for a while. I think you forgot about them though, because last I saw, they looked a little dead.” Taehyung glances at you out of the corner of his eye. When he sees your expression, he seems to realize how strange his comments are. “Uh, n-not that I’m like stalking you or anything! I swear I’m not! That would be weird, and um…I just noticed that you—I—this is really awkward, isn’t it?”

“Slightly awkward, ultra creepy,” you laugh back, scratching at the back of your neck.

“Well, the thing is—I, uh, saw you putting the daffodils in the window sill. But I wasn’t watching or stalking you! It’s just because business was slow at the time, and I was looking around. I just happened to notice you...I mean, your apartment is just across the street, right?”

You nod slowly as Taehyung fights to make his case. “Yes, that makes sense, I guess.”

“Haha, please don’t stop coming because I seem creepy.” Taehyung stops trimming the flowers and turns to you. He stretches his arms in your direction, palms facing upwards as though pleading you to stay. A smile twitches at your lips. Dammit no, Y/N. Don’t think about how cute he is. He’s not cute. Or hot. He’s neither of those things. C’mon get a grip. You bite your bottom lip to keep the gesture from coming to life.

“You want me to keep coming?” You ask, and the smile breaks through. Taehyung stands straight again, laughing as he does.

“Well, yea! You’re my best customer after all.”

You’re glad Taehyung can’t hear your heart plummet at his small statement. It shouldn’t bother you — no, it doesn’t bother you. Not one bit. He doesn’t know you after all, and you don’t know him. It’s just an owner-client relationship based around your ridiculous reasons for spending hard-earned money on flowers you can’t even keep alive.

Taehyung turns back to his work table before your smile crumbles, and you go back to staring at the red tulips. He takes his time in trimming and selecting the flowers for your bouquet. Neither of you makes an effort to attempt conversation again. One minute, two minutes, then five pass you by like the breeze in the air.

“You’re quiet today,” Taehyung comments through the silence.

“I am?” Of course you are: you don’t really want to talk more after Taehyung’s shutdown that hurt for no reason. You aren’t going to admit it though, because that’s admitting defeat, and you hate that.

“You normally ask me about my day, how I’m doing, if the shop is doing well...all sorts of stuff.”

“Sorry, I’m just feeling quiet today.”

“I guess I’ll have to wait until next week when you come by for another bouquet then?” There’s a small lilt in Taehyung’s voice that sounds a bit like teasing. It bites at your skin, and you chew the inside of your cheek. A blush covers your cheeks now, embarrassment at your routine visits to the flower shop hitting, and you’re grateful Taehyung isn’t looking in your direction. When you fail to respond, Taehyung spins on his heel to look you in the eye. “Is everything okay? It’s not like you to be quiet.”

“How would you know what I’m like?” you ask out of the blue, unsure where the somewhat scathing question comes from yourself. Taehyung takes a step back at the question.

“A-Ah, you’re right. I don’t really know what you’re like. I’m sorry that I made an assumption. It’s just, well, you’ve been coming for quite a few weeks now. I figured — nevermind.” Taehyung drops his chin. The sight of his forlorn expression makes you equally as upset, and you rush to make up for your mean words.

“I’m teasing, Taehyung-ssi! Please don’t look so serious. I didn’t mean to offend you.” You hear his laugh before you see his rectangular smile.

“No worries, Y/N. It takes a lot more than that to offend me. You just caught me off guard. Reminded me of someone I know for a second.” Taehyung points at the wall of flowers to your left, a pink dahlia still in hand. “How do you feel about Peruvian Lilies? My most recent batch have been doing really well, and I think they’ll look nice with the other flowers.”

“I trust your choices! They are gorgeous, though.” You blink at the delicate flowers and their details, grinning as Taehyung analyzes the batch and selects a few for the bouquet. There’s a nagging sensation in the back of your head, reminding you how rude you were earlier.

“Aren’t they? I was surprised by how well they’ve been doing because the weather is so finicky nowadays. Either lots of sunshine or gloomy rainy days.”

“You grow most of them yourself, right? How do you find the time to do that? What about school?” You’ve been desperate to ask the question for at least three weeks now, so much so that you nearly came three times in one week just to ask Taehyung that.

“School? Oh, I’m in my last year. I have a few early classes, which is why I open the shop at 4:00,” he laughs. He must sense the next question on your lips, because he follows it up with, “I am studying business, but the corporate world isn’t really my pace so I decided to do this instead. Thought that it’d be nice to be my own boss and make my own business the way I wanted to rather than letting big headed corporate people do it for me. Make sense?”

“Absolutely, yea!” You respond with enthusiasm.

“What about you? I’m assuming you’re in school?” Your willingness to make conversation seems to please Taehyung, so you keep up with it despite the slight dejection lingering in your gut.

“Yes, I’m in my third year right now! Ready to be done, honestly. It would be nice if it were my last year too; you’re lucky to be so close to getting that degree and being done with it.”

“Hey, you’re almost there! What are you studying?”

“Linguistics with a minor in psychology!”

“Wow, that sounds so fancy. What exactly do you wanna do with that? It seems like you have something specific in mind.”

“I’m hoping to be a speech and language therapist. I’ve always wanted to do something that lets me help people, and languages are fascinating to me. I thought this was the best way to combine my passions.” Taehyung pauses his work with the flowers, shoulders slumping forward. You blink at his back, curious as to why his mood shifted all the sudden, and are about to question him when he speaks.

“Wow…that’s — uh, you’re a really good person. That’s amazing how you want to help people and do good things for others. I...I can’t imagine.” Taehyung fumbles over his words and clenches his fists around his apron, tugging the fabric into a tight grip. What does he mean by that?

“Oh, um…” you trail off. The sound of cars whizzing behind you distracts you from whatever you were going to say. Taehyung silently returns to your bouquet, and you notice how he picks up his pace with the work. A few minutes of quiet pass between the two of you.

“Here’s the bouquet and violets for your window.” Part of you feels responsible for the change in Taehyung’s mood, so you rack your brain for ideas on how to fix this issue. Taehyung passes the flowers your way as you rush to pull cash out of your wallet.

“H-How much for the violets?” You ask while you flip through the measly amount of bills in your hand.

“No extra charge.” Taehyung grins and stops you in your tracks, but it only serves to make you feel worse. You pass your wad of cash to Taehyung in exchange for the flowers, sliding a few extra bills his way and hoping that he won’t comment on the extra. “Wait, Y/N, this is—”

“Please, it’s a tip! Just consider it to be a tip, okay? For all the trouble I caused you today.” You scratch the back of your neck, and heat starts to rise to your ears.

“You didn’t cause me any trouble though,” Taehyung laughs. “How can you be so kindhearted?” He shakes his head, almost in disbelief, before waving his hand as though to dismiss the topic. “Anyways, I’ll see you next week then? Hopefully?”

“Yea! Yea, for sure. I’ll come again next week.” You clutch the flowers a bit closer to your chest. Taehyung smiles and turns to return to his counter at the back. You know you should leave now and not risk overstaying your welcome, but you can’t bring yourself to move quite yet. Even with the small tip you gave Taehyung (which technically isn’t even a tip because he gave you violets as well as the bouquet), you still feel bad about your earlier snippy attitude and rudeness. The anxiety bubbling in your stomach tells you that you may regret this decision later but… “Wait, Taehyung-ssi!”

“Yea, Y/N? Is there something else you needed?” He loops his thumbs through the string around his waist, head tilted to the side in question.

“What—um, are you busy tonight?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you have any plans tonight?” Your repeated question comes much fainter and weaker this time as your confidence ebbs away, and you debate turning to flee rather than staying to hear his answer.

“Hm, not that I can think of. Why?”

“Could I treat you to dinner or something then? I mean, I still feel bad for being so rude earlier…and the extra flowers. It’s the least I can do!” You think that you’re starting to sound a bit desperate, but you have no other ideas in mind.

“Y/N, you’re the one paying me every week for flowers. I should be treating you.”

“No, no, I insist! Please, if anything, just to have a change of scenery for a bit?” Taehyung brings a hand to his chin, tapping the skin there as he looks at the wall of flowers on his right. After a few tense seconds, he finally relents.

“Sure, Y/N. If it’ll make you feel better, then I’d be happy to go! Why don’t we meet here around seven o’clock? I close the shop at 6:30 today. How does that sound?” You beam back at him, nodding your agreement a few times. “Okay, sounds like a plan then. Now shoo before I give you more flowers and make you feel even worse!” Taehyung makes a few shooing motions with his hands, smile never leaving his lips, and you grin back as you relent and start to walk away from the shop.

The sidewalks and streets are bustling at this time; workers rushing to get home after their long days and students moving to wherever they please. You shuffle across the street alongside some other students, narrowly avoiding rushing cars. You hesitate outside the door to your apartment building, however, and take a moment to glance back over your shoulder in the direction of Taehyung’s small shop. He stands at the front, one hand clutching some of the pretty Peruvian Lilies he added to your bouquet, and uses his free hand to wave at people as they pass his stall. A laugh rushes through your body as you realize that you basically asked him out minutes ago and he agreed. The bitterness that once resided from his comment about you being only his customer is now replaced by the joy and excitement of spending one on one time with Taehyung.

You hurry up the stairs, the three flights feeling particularly long today as you’re eager to place the new violets in your windowsill.

“More flowers, Y/N?”

You roll your eyes before even turning to look at the owner of the voice. It’s your neighbor from across the hall: the young woman not much older than you who holds a steely gaze sixty percent of the time and the other forty percent consists of her bloodshot and hazy glances that can’t ever seem to focus on anything in particular. You don’t make a habit of talking to her, but she often finds you before you have a chance to escape. You plaster a fake grin across your lips and spin on your heel so she can see your expression.

“Good afternoon, Hifumi. Not looking so hot right now, are you? Have a rough night?”

“It was just fine actually. Thanks for asking, love. Extra flowers from your dearest flower boy, I see. Did you find the courage to tell him why you visit so often?” Hifumi brushes her dark hair over her shoulder before placing her hand on her hip and sending a sickly sweet smile your way.

“A gift for my windowsill since the last batch was dying,” you bite back, “and that’s none of your business.”

“Not the only thing dying, huh?”

The plastic containing your bouquet crinkles as you grip it tighter, Hifumi’s words digging their way until your skin, and you face the door to your apartment rather than giving Hifumi the pleasure of seeing your reaction.

“Right back at you, Hifumi. Right back at you,” you hiss the words through gritted teeth. You fumble with your keys a bit, unable to get away from your neighbor’s annoying presence as quickly as you would like.

“No need to be so harsh, Y/N. I offered to help you out with money. Gave you some options for work, even said I could whisper your name in a few people’s ears. You’re the one who said no. Just remember that when the money gets tighter and tighter. Maybe you’ll learn that wasting those bucks on stupid little flowers won’t do you any good.”

“Your suggestions were vile, Hifumi. I’d rather be a decent human being and earn money in a good way than resort to what you do night by night.” The lock springs open at last, and you swing your door open, more than ready to slam it in Hifumi’s face and end the conversation there. Before it can snap shut, a pale hand lands on the wood, and Hifumi’s face peeks through the crack.

“You call me vile now,” she says with an odd sense of serenity to her tone, “but you’ll find out soon enough that we can’t always do good things for the people we love. If it means saving someone, there is no line between good and evil. Keep that in mind, love.” Her lips quirk upwards in one corner. You can’t stand the sight of her taunting expression anymore and forcefully shut the door, snapping the locks as soon as it closes. You place the bouquet on the kitchen counter and huff. Your backpack slides off your shoulders, relieving your back of the weight and hitting the wood floor with a thud. You make your way to the bedroom with dragging feet. Tattered converse join your backpack on the floor as you kick them off.

“As if I don’t know that I'm wasting money,” you mutter to yourself as you cross the threshold into your bedroom. “Acting like she knows me, the smug bitch.” You tug the blinds over your small bedroom window up to reveal the dead daffodils in a foggy vase. Just under the withering and crumbling petals lies the sight of Taehyung’s shop and the boy in his apron, still chatting with people as they pass him by. You don’t bother changing the water in the vase. Instead, you toss the dead flowers into the waste bin near your desk and place the new violets in the dirty water without thought.

Moving and doing something productive would be a good idea.

But no, you don’t feel like indulging in that kind of life right now. It’s nicer to sit on the floor and stare out the window beside the vase, chin resting on the windowsill. Leaving the flowers on the kitchen counter probably wasn’t the best idea, but it’s not like it will make a difference in the long run. You slide your palm under your chin to offer a bit more comfort. At least you have something to look forward to tonight before the weekend strikes and your time becomes consumed by homework and responsibilities. The only good thing about this weekend is that your parents aren’t coming to town. Not that it wouldn’t be nice to see them, but their arrival is never under good terms and it always heralds the depressing reality that you so desperately try to avoid all the time.

This won’t do, you think and pull yourself to your feet rather than stay wallowing in the windowsill like a fool. Despite your claims about it not mattering, you spend twenty minutes placing the bouquet on the counter in a vase and arranging them as best you can. The dullness from talking with Hifumi is diminishing by now, and the previous excitement and anxiety of having dinner with Taehyung returns with full force. It’s not a date but… You can’t help but to start laughing to yourself as you think about it, tied between the embarrassment and excitement, and you tug your phone out of your back pocket to send a text with the news.

from y/n, 5:47 p.m. unread

- remember the cute boy from the flower shop i told you about?? i’m getting dinner with him tonight!!! i’ll let you know how it goes~

You hold the phone to your chest after sending the message.

“Okay, Y/N, try to get some work done before getting ready for dinner. Don’t think too much about it. This is chill. It’s chill. Chill.” You snatch your backpack off the floor and lug it to your room, tossing it onto your bed while you sit down at your desk. “Chill,” you repeat once more as you stare at the empty desk. Needless to say, you can’t focus much even after you set your psychology book down and try to read it, spending the next thirty minutes staring at the same paragraph while bobbing your leg up and down. Once you shut your book, determined to work on something else to occupy your time, you still sit and stare at the cover of the textbook blankly.

When you finally tug yourself back into reality, the clock reads 6:52, and you realize that you’ve almost run out of time to get ready.

“Shit!” You cuss, pushing your chair back and rushing to your closet. “It’s a chill thing, Y/N. Remember that. You don’t need to dress up or anything, just at least look presentable.” You frown at the selection of clothing before you, suddenly upset with your taste in fashion. Your palm connects with your forehead, and the sound of the slap echoes through the small closet. “Ah, I don’t have time to be worrying about this right now!”

Within the next five minutes, you are tugging knee high socks up your calves and hobbling to the kitchen while trying not to slip on the wood floor. You nearly stumble as you snatch your converse off the floor. When you slide them onto your feet and reach the door, you realize that you’ve left your phone on your bed. A loud groan of frustration escapes your lips. The rush back to your room seems to take forever, and when you finally lock your apartment door behind you, the clock reads 6:59.

"You're heading out late, aren't you?"

"Do you just wait out here to bother me?" Your question is accompanied by a frantic anger, and Hifumi laughs at your response.

“Calm down, Y/N. I’m heading out as well, although for different reasons no doubt.” You take in Hifumi’s outfit — if you can even call it that based upon the lack of material over her body — and bite the inside of your cheek. “Should I drop by and say hello to your flower boy as I go?”

“Please no.” You don’t mean to sound desperate, but you also didn’t mean to be late to meet with Taehyung. Hifumi cackles, tucking a sparkling clip into her dark hair.

“I’ll see you later, Y/N. My offer always stands, by the way. You just need to stop letting your ego get in the way of what really matters.” Her heels click against the floor as she walks away, heading for the elevator rather than the stairs. You should already be on your way down the stairs yourself, but the curiosity bubbling in your gut prevents you from moving an inch without asking the question at the forefront of your mind.

“And what would that be?”

Ding. The metal doors of the elevator slide open, and Hifumi steps inside. Her dress ruffles around her as she spins to face you, a coy smirk stained red by dark lipstick.

“I can’t answer that for you, love.” The smile stretches as the doors close over her face. You blink at the dull metal for a moment, then snap back to reality and start jogging down the stairs. Stupid Hifumi. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why did I even expect her to give me an answer?

The later time provides cold breezes, and that makes you realize that you forgot to grab a jacket on your way out in the rush to not be late. Jokes on you now, because you are both cold and late, leaving the apartment building with arms tucked under your armpits. Just across the street is Taehyung’s shop, one light keeping the stall alight. Taehyung isn’t the only person standing beneath the canopy, however, and you spot a shorter man across from him, back facing you. You hesitate by the road, an odd sense of foreboding striking before your foot touches the asphalt.

The man accompanying Taehyung is shrouded in black. Black hat, black leather jacket, black skinny jeans, black combat boots: he’s worse than you, and that’s saying something because you have way too many black articles of clothing in your closet. Taehyung doesn’t wear his trademark boxy grin either, which is another source of discomfort for you, but you don’t have time to dwell on it. Taehyung starts glancing around, and you can see his lips moving in haste even at this distance. His scanning gaze finds you across the street.

Eyes widen.

Mouth freezes halfway open.

You blink, and Taehyung is shooing his companion away while waving at you. You force a smile in return. Checking for traffic, you jog across the street to join Taehyung on his side of the pavement. Instead of making eye contact with him, however, your gaze finds the man alongside him. Now that you’re closer, you realize that he isn’t nearly as short as he seemed to be from a distance, Taehyung is just tall enough to make him seem short. He also has a black shirt under his leather jacket, adding the already existing obsession with the color. The low cut nature of the tee provides a clear view of his collarbone and a bit of the space below it, but you can’t see much skin behind the spread of black ink across his pale skin in a design you can’t wrap your head around with staring closer. You aren’t going to get any closer, or stare any longer, because tension spikes between the three of you now. Silence is present, Taehyung seems caught, and neither you nor the man across from you have anything to say.

“Y/N! This is a…friend of mine from school! Studies music and yea, uh. He was just leaving.” Taehyung laughs a few dry chuckles then send a pointed glare in his “friend’s” direction. You get the sense that there is more to the story than simply that, but you don’t want to press the topic too much because of how intimidating this guy is. “Leaving,” Taehyung repeats, pushing the man with his left hand. “I didn’t tell him that I was busy tonight, so he thought we were, uh, gonna — you know, hang out or something. Like friends do. Yea, uh, but I said I was busy. So he’s leaving. Now.” You drop your chin, the discomfort rising to new levels.

“Right. Leaving.” The man’s voice is low and raspy, far different from Taehyung’s low tone that is warm and inviting. No, this person’s voice holds a coldness to it that sends a chill down your spine. “The name’s Yoongi, by the way. In case we end up…running into each other again, Miss?” He seems to be asking for your name, but you don’t get the chance to respond. Taehyung steps in front of you instead, cutting off Yoongi’s line of sight to you, and motioning to the street. You glance in the direction his hand points, noticing a motorcycle parked next to the sidewalk that must belong to Yoongi.

“You won’t! I mean, you probably won’t run into each other any time soon ever again, don’t you think? That’d be weird. Say, I’ll see you in class, Yoongi! Or at the library tomorrow night with the other guys, okay?” You squint at Taehyung’s back. He said he’s a business major, didn’t he? And Yoongi studies music? Why would— Your train of thought is cut short when Taehyung snatches your wrist. “Are you ready to go, Y/N? I have the perfect place in mind for us to eat!” Taehyung seems a bit frazzled and frantic, as though he’s in a rush to get away from Yoongi now that you’re here.

“Oh, yea! I’m sorry for being late, by the way!” You let Taehyung tug you down the sidewalk and glance over your shoulder to where Yoongi is climbing onto his motorcycle.

“No worries! It’s not a problem at all. I had an unexpected visit from my friend there anyways, so it all worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

“Yea, your friend…” You look away from Yoongi when he looks up at you from the motorcycle. The trailing off of your words sends Taehyung into a panic.

“We don’t hang out much! I was surprised he came by, because we aren’t the closest of friends. You know? Well, no, you probably don’t — uh, I mean, we all have those friends, right?”

“Of course!” You’re quick to agree, eager to see that precious boxy smile find its way back to Taehyung’s lips in a genuine way rather than the forced manner it is in now. A sigh of relief passes through his lips. “So, where are we going?”

“I hope this isn’t too plain or boring, but there’s this amazing diner down the road that I go to every Friday night. I normally go alone but…you know, since we’re — well, I think we should go there.” You can’t contain the laugh that rips through your lungs, and soon enough Taehyung is laughing along with you. You vaguely conscious of his grip on your wrist that won’t go away, but honestly you have no complaints.

With the levity now hanging in the air between you, Taehyung seems much more at ease and comfortable. The two of you reach the diner within a few minutes, a quaint yet busy place that you recognize all too well.

The red door with the round window on it, white awnings hanging a bit lower than you remember but still bearing the dead leaves and twigs on top of them. You haven’t been here in a long time, before you moved into your apartment down the street and well before you started buying flowers from Taehyung’s small shop.

Taehyung is saying something, but you can’t hear him. It’s as though you are stuck underwater, drowning in an endless dark ocean, and you pull your phone out of your back pocket to open your messages again.

from y/n, 5:47 p.m. unread

Unread. It’s always unread. You sigh under your breath, making sure that Taehyung doesn’t hear the exasperated noise leave your lips.

“Now that wasn’t very fair, was it, Y/N? C’mon, you gotta play fair!”

“I am! I haven’t done anything unfair. You’re the one who is supposed to be good at games, aren’t you?”

The memory stings, cuts too deep, and you wish Taehyung had chosen any place other than this one.

“Now that wasn’t very fair, was it, kid? Why don’t you play fair with me?”

Pressure on your chest, the constriction of your throat, and at some point, you must forget to breathe because the world is starting to swirl around you.

“Y/N, it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

“Y/N!” Taehyung’s shout pulls you out of the water, and you gasp for air. You touch your chest with a shaky hand, fully expecting to find the clothes there soaked, but they’re dry. “Are you okay? Is something wrong? You look really pale. Are you cold? Here, let’s get inside so you can warm up.” Taehyung drags you along while you struggle to catch your breath and find a way to get a grip. “Hi guys!” Taehyung yells as you two step through the red door, and his greeting is returned by a few cheery shouts from the waiters behind the counter. “Is it better in here?”

“Huh?” You respond, eyes darting from the interior of the diner to Taehyung’s face where he bears furrowed brows.

“Is it warmer in here? Are you still cold?” There must be goosebumps across your skin, and that’s why he’s asking. At least, you boil down the reasoning to that.

“No, no, I’m fine,” you reassure, placing a hand on his arm. He grins back at you, seemingly convinced by the small white lie, and leads the way to a booth over in the corner. “Oh, uh, Taehyung?”

“Hmm?”

“Would it be alright if we sat closer to the door?” Taehyung squints, eyes flicking around the diner and from booth to booth.

“This booth back here isn’t next to a window, so the cold won’t hit through the glass. Is that alright?” You relent and press your lips into a thin smile, but when Taehyung sits on the side of the booth that faces the door, another surge of panic hits.

“Y/N, don’t turn around, okay? When I tell you to, slowly crawl under the table. Got it?”

You lower yourself onto the booth, barely placing weight on the cushion as you settle down.

“You seem a bit on edge,” Taehyung comments.

“What? No! I’m fine. Just exhausted from school today.” Taehyung nods along with the excuse, and you cheer to yourself for the successful diversion.

“Speaking of school, you mentioned you’re a third year, right? I’m assuming you go to the main university.” Taehyung drums his fingers against the table, nails creating a soothing rhythm that calms your heart rate a bit. You nod along with the rhythm and affirm Taehyung’s assumptions. He’s about to continue his train of thought when a waitress walks up to the booth.

“Hi, Taehyung! It’s strange seeing you with a friend, or…?” The older lady trails off, sending a wink your way. You flush immediately, certain that your cheeks are now ten shades redder than they were moments ago. Trying not to look at the man across the table, you bring a hand up and cover your face.

“No! Ah, no, no, no! Not — not, no, uh friends! That’s what we are. We’re friends.” The waitress laughs at Taehyung’s fumbled attempts to clarify the situation. “Ugh, you know what, can we just — let’s just forget this happened. Can I get my usual?”

“Of course, of course. I won’t pester you two anymore about that, don’t worry. What can I get for you, dear?” The waitress redirects her attention to you.

“Um, let’s go for a surprise actually. I’ll get whatever he’s having too.”

“Coming right up! Drinks will be out in a few!”

“How do you know that my usual isn’t something disgusting like a bunless cheeseburger with extra mayo?” Taehyung asks once the waitress walks away from the booth. You laugh, settling into the booth a bit more.

“Hm, you don’t seem like the type?”

“Is that a question?”

“Well, I don’t know. From what I can tell, you don’t seem like a heathen who would do something so controversial. I think you’re a bit more traditional and classic.”

“Traditional and classic? Is that a way of calling me old?”

“No!” You can’t contain the smile on your lips any longer, surely looking like a grinning idiot at this point, but Taehyung beams back at you with such warmth in his eyes that you don’t care what you look like. “No, you aren’t old. Gosh, Taehyung. What kind of person do you think I am?”

“Someone too good for this world,” he responds without a beat of hesitation, smile faltering a bit as he speaks. “You…you are a person who has seen a lot of terrible and evil things, but you still see the good in the world nonetheless. You want to expect the best from people, and yet you’ve been disappointed so many times that you aren’t sure anymore. That’s why you’re studying linguistics and psychology. So that you can do something good in the future, something with an impact, something meaningful. You’re too good for this world, yea…no doubt about that.”

“Sorry, what?” Your hands are shaking in your lap. How could he…what? How did he figure all that out?

“I’m just assuming things!” Taehyung puts his hands up in defense, leaning against the back of the booth, and releases a huff that sounds like forced laughter. “I guess I said all that because I knew someone very similar. Projecting, that’s all. I’m projecting old thoughts and feelings. I should change the topic, yea? This is getting weird and creepy again. Have I always been so creepy?” Despite the nervousness swirling through your system, you revel in the levity Taehyung’s question brings.

“Yes,” you tease.

“What? I have not!”

“On occasion!”

“What does that mean?”

“Commenting on the flowers in my window qualifies as creepy!”

“Okay, but that was today. What about before today? I haven’t been creepy before now, right?”

“I’ll have to think about it, but I’m sure I can dig something up.”

“Oh, now you’re just playing games with me. That’s not fair, Y/N!”

“Now that wasn’t very fair, was it, Y/N? C’mon, you gotta play fair!”

You aren’t sure who you’re looking at anymore, who sits with you at this booth, what person laughs across the table — whether it be Taehyung, or some buried figment of your memory that digs its way out of the grave you stuck it in so that it can haunt you now — but it feels comfortable. Warms your body, makes you forget about the panic in your bones and the cold outside.

“I haven’t done anything unfair,” you counter. A grin plays at your lips as Taehyung tsks and shakes his head. The waitress returns to your table at that moment, interrupting the tension to deliver your food.

“Alright, you two. I’ve got two cheeseburgers with fries and two chocolate milkshakes. Enjoy, but not too much!” She scurries off before you or Taehyung can say anything about her cheeky comment.

“Traditional and classic enough for you?”

“I expected nothing less from a guy who sells flowers out of a small shop on the side of the road.”

“Wow, rude! I’m so offended, Y/N. My heart is hurt. I don’t know if I can recover after this. Maybe I’ll have to drop out of school and quit my business. This is too much.” Taehyung holds his hands over his heart, faking being struck by your words.

“Why did you set up the shop there anyways? It seems like a random spot, especially since there are lots of other places good for shops like yours.” You nibble on a fry after you ask the question, genuinely curious as to why Taehyung chose the spot he did. Not that you’re complaining because look where you are now haha.

“Oh, I live nearby so it seemed like the only logical option for me.” You tilt your head to the side. Are there other apartments nearby? I looked all over when I bought mine, but I don’t remember seeing any others.

“If you don’t mind me asking…where do you live?”

“Look who’s being creepy now,” Taehyung teases. He flicks the toothpick on top of his burger at you, and you shield yourself with a fry.

“At least I’m asking! You just started talking about where I live with no context.”

“Okay, okay. I relent. You may be right, but you’re gonna kill me when I tell you.”

“Why?”

“I live in the same building as you.”

“You—what?” You nearly choke on the fry now lodged in your throat as Taehyung reveals the bombshell information. He scratches the back of his neck.

“Honestly, I thought you would figure out sooner because we’ve nearly run into each other multiple times. Also, I spilled a bunch of dirt on the stairs once when trying to re-pot some plants, and I definitely heard you complaining about it a few minutes later.”

“Wait, that was you?”

“Yea, I’m sorry about that by the way. I tried to clean it up with a rag, but then I realized that dirt plus water equals mud. So yea, that’s why there’s a dry patch of mud on the stairs.”

“Wait, that’s on the third floor set of stairs…” You think aloud, trying to put two and two together. Oh god. “Do you live on the third floor?”

“Hi neighbor?”

“Neighbor?” You do a double take, and your elbow connects with the edge of the table a bit roughly because a searing pain shoots up your arm as it hits.

“Surprise?”

You doing your best to think about who lives on your floor, the people who live on your left and your right, but to be honest, you don’t run into many people at the building. The only person you’ve come into contact with is Hifumi, and it’s always been unwilling encounters. You have no clue who you live next to.

“Wait, please tell me you don’t live in the apartment to the left of mine.” You press your thumbs against your temples in attempts to alleviate the pressure building there. Taehyung’s sheepish smile gives you the answer you don’t want. “I’m so sorry.” How many times have you slammed your fist against the thin wall because there’s been an ungodly amount of noise at an ungodly hour in the night? Or loudly cussed him out because of said noise?

You really don’t want to think about the one time you brought a one night stand home just so that you could be as loud as possible to get revenge on your neighbor for the noise.

Yea, no.

That would be a nightmare.

“I mean, I should be the one apologizing because I make a lot of noise some nights.”

“It’s fine!”

“Your response to it tells me that it really isn’t, but—”

“No, ha, no, it’s okay!”

“Although, you’ve been loud too on a few occasions. There was one night where I almost went to knock on your door because—”

“God, please, Taehyung! Let’s not talk about that. That was…a low point in my life, okay?”

This is a nightmare.

“This is not how I imagined meeting my neighbor.” Taehyung laughs at the exasperated expression on your face.

“What were you expecting?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Something stupid like “oh hey neighbor, I ran out of sugar for the cookies I’m making, got any extra?”. I can’t believe this.”

“Is that how you invited that guy over?” He’s snickering behind his hand, trying not to show how amused by the situation he is, but you are melting under the embarrassment. “He seemed to have a lot of sugar to give.” You slump further down in the booth and squeeze your eyes shut.

“Please, Taehyung, can we please drop it? I was — it didn’t mean anything.” Behind you, the door dings, signaling either the entrance or exit of a customer. You keep your eyes shut for a few more moments as though it’ll make the embarrassing situation fade. When you open your eyes, Taehyung is no longer looking at you. He isn’t smiling or laughing either. No, he’s staring at something behind you, something off in the distance. Eyes wide, and in his dark brown irises you see a reflection that feels all too familiar.

“Y/N, don’t move. Listen carefully, okay?” His voice has dropped an octave, if that’s even possible, and you can barely hear him through the sound of your heart beating in your ears. “Don’t turn around. Don’t do anything unless I tell you to. I need you to trust me, okay? I am going to pass you my phone. The code is 4488. You are going to pull up the messages — try not to look at any of the conversations. Type in Yoongi’s name and send him this message: I’m working on homework at the diner, wanna come hang out. Okay? Tap your index finger against the table twice if you can do that for me.”

There are far too many thoughts running through your mind right now, and all of them relay memories that you never want to revisit. You can barely process Taehyung’s words. Nothing he’s saying is making much sense. People are yelling behind you, but their words bleed together into an incoherent mess. Still you manage to do as Taehyung says and tap your finger against the table twice. He slides his phone over to you and pushes his way out of the booth. You want to stop him, to grab his wrist and tell him to sit back down, because dammit. Dammit this can’t be happening now. Of all times, why now?

“W-Wait, Tae—”

“Trust me, Y/N. When you send the message, crawl under the table and keep your back against the wall as best you can. This will be over soon, I promise.”

“I-I can’t, I, Tae—” You can’t finish your train of thought, so you instead fumble with Taehyung’s phone. You can barely type the code in, and typing Yoongi’s name is another mess of its own, because you accidentally catch a glimpse of one of Taehyung’s messages.

They asked for 16 kilos to bank.

“Shit, shit, shit,” you cuss to yourself, feeling pinpricks in the corners of your eyes.

from taehyung, 8:02 p.m. unread

- i’m working on hw at the diner, wanna come hang out?

A tear hits your cheek as soon as you send the message. You don’t glance behind you to see what Taehyung is doing now, the yelling continues, and you slide under the table while cradling the phone to your chest. It buzzes, vibrating against your skin.

read

That’s all.

No response, just a small notification saying “read”.

You dig your own phone out of your pocket, hastily typing a message of your own and sending it without double checking. You wouldn’t be able to see the words anyways because of the blur of tears. The shouting is intensifying, growing louder and louder, and you can hear a series of clicks resounding alongside the yells. Another buzz, and you glance at Taehyung’s screen only to find it dark. No, the buzz came from your phone instead. You want to throw up. The fry still stuck in your throat is giving you lots of good reasons to force it to come up.

from y/n, 8:06 p.m. read

- i wish we’d never gone to the diner that night, i wish it never happened, i wish we never met so that i didn’t have to go through any of this. i wish you were here rn because it’s like a sick repeat of what happened that night and i’m so scared to lose another person the way i lost you. please please please don’t let this happen again. i can’t take it again

The fry does end up on the floor, along with the other contents of your stomach. It comes out with a quiet heave mixed with your silent sobs.

read

...

written by: jungtaeyoongles

a/n - WHOOPS that’s a cliffhanger so uhhhhhh new series i guess??? why do i do this to myself ;-;

consider sending me a ko-fi!!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

430 notes · View notes

honeymoonjin · 5 years

Text

high-rise - jungkook x reader

A/N: requested by a lovely anon: 4, 65, 78, Jungkook: “You’re so perfect. And I’m so fucking lucky.” Rooftop. Dancing. Please note; I made myself fall in love w Jungkook all over again so that’s just great. When you and Jungkook get stuck on a rooftop minutes before their concert is about to start, the two of you decide to make the most of it. 1.4k.

“Fuck, it’s locked!”

You swear this kind of thing didn’t happen in real life. Maybe if you saw this in a television show or a movie, you’d think it was cute, but you had places to be. “Dammit, Googie, I knew we shouldn’t have come up here! Oh, shit, Namjoon’s calling me.”

Jungkook frowns as you take the call, then checks his own pocket, where his phone has been silently going off with presumably countless missed calls. He mouths a sorry at you.

“…with him, yeah. He says sorry for not answering, he put it on silent again. I know. That’s the thing, we can’t get to the concert.” You cringe and pull the phone away as a voice, not even Namjoon’s, screeches a ‘what?’ through the phone. “Do you have me on speaker, Namu? Yeah, listen, Jungkook wanted to get a photo of the arena, so we came up to the rooftop of this random building, but the door locked behind us.”

Namjoon sighs as some of the younger members hoot loudly in the background. “Just say you guys are running late and get here. Honestly.”

“I’m not lying,” you insist, “here, I’ll send you a snap of the door to prove it.” You let the line hang quiet as you send him a photo, and you put the phone back up to your ear. Jungkook seems infuriatingly calm, unlike you. “So, I don’t know what we’re going to do. I tried knocking on the door, but no one’s in the building.”

“…fuck,” Namjoon mutters, “don’t tell me you idiots actually broke in to one of those skyscrapers down the road.”

Jungkook huffs and skips over to you, snatching the phone. “We didn’t break in, we… The door was open, okay? I wanted a good shot, I figured since it was still under construction, they probably didn’t have a security system installed. My bad.”

“Your bad?” his hyung spits out in a strangled voice. “Seriously, Jungkook, we’re on in ten. You told us half an hour ago that it was a bathroom break.”

You bite your lip anxiously, staring out across the gorgeous vista, where a massive open-air arena is teeming with masses of fans. It was a good shot. Jungkook pouts, sinking down onto the chilly concrete floor in defeat. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, Joonie. I just saw the crowds and wanted to surprise you all with a photo. It looks incredible, hyung; all those fans are here for us.”

“I know it’s exciting, but this is so-” Namjoon’s voice cuts off suddenly. The two of you wait as he converses with someone in the background, before the line crackles again. “Listen, guys, it’s too late for us to get you now. We’ll have to say you’re sick, or something, and try and send some people to get you out here for the second half. But don’t post that photo, okay? For all intents and purposes, you’re resting backstage right now.”

“Resting it is,” Jungkook chirps happily, and hands the mobile back to you.

Before you can speak, Namjoon is addressing you. “Why would you let him do this, Y/n? Jungkook, fine, but you? I expected better.”

You pick at your nails guiltily. “With all due respect, sir, he told me he left his keys up here and I didn’t want him roaming around a foreign city alone.”

Jungkook gives you a scathing look as you dob him in, but Namjoon just laughs tiredly. “Okay, okay, point taken. Hang tight, yeah? We’ve gotta go now.”

“Bye, Namu,” you reply, sighing and sitting on the cold concrete floor as he hangs up. “Great. Let’s hope we don’t freeze to death out here.”

Jungkook pushes you back gently with one foot to your shoulder, then straddles you, a knee on either side of your waist. “I know what we could do to keep warm,” he says suggestively.

“I’m not fucking you on a rooftop,” you deadpan.

“Come on, baby,” he begs, “we’re so high up, nobody could see us. And besides, don’t try and tell me the open air wouldn’t feel great on your-”

“Shut it,” you interrupt, “and let me up. I’m going to catch a cold if I lie down on this any longer.”

Your boyfriend looks a little put out, but lifts you up with ease, re-locating the two of you to a painter’s sheet that’s covering the far edge of the rooftop for some reason. Here, you’re right beside the edge, a stainless steel-and-glass barrier the only thing between you and certain death. Although, with Jungkook, you feel completely safe.

He does the gentlemanly thing, and instead cuddles you for warmth, you tucked in between his legs, resting back on his chest as he wrapped his arms around you. You hum happily and watch in fascination as the concert begins with a dazzling show of lights and thunderous applause.

You realize, as the first song begins to play, that you can hear the area surprisingly well from where you are. As much as you hated to admit it, Jungkook did choose a particularly excellent spot for a photo. You were close enough to the arena that, if you squinted, you could actually see small dots roaming the black stage, six of them in total. It made you a little sad that Jungkook was missing out on doing what he loved.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper into the open air, “I should’ve stopped you. Then you would’ve been there with them.”

“Don’t be. Yes, it was a dumb ide- No, actually it was a great idea, but poor execution.” You chuckle as he rests his chin on your Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, even though this particular predicament sucks absolute ass, there’s no place I’d rather be, because I’m here with you.”

You scoff to hide the fact that you’re blushing. “I don’t know; I think thousands of adoring fans are better than one measly girlfriend. Statistically, I don’t stand a chance.”

Jungkook’s arms tighten minutely around you. “Stop it. Yes, I love the fans, but they’ve got nothing on you. You’re so perfect. And I’m so fucking lucky.”

“Not as lucky as me,” you mumble, “none of those idiots down there get to cuddle with you on a below-zero rooftop.”

He laughs, turning his head to give you a soft kiss on your cheek. “That’s correct. So, why don’t we enjoy it?”

And enjoy it you do. Song after song play, with you feeling unbelievably blissful as Jungkook delicately sings his lines into your ear, occasionally harmonising with the other members. When song six arrives, however, Jungkook pushes you gently off of him.

“Come on,” he declares, standing up and holding a hand out to you, “let’s dance.”

You laugh incredulously as Jimin’s angelic voice rings through the night air. “What?”

“Let’s dance,” he repeats, “I wanna dance with you. It’s like, the most cliché thing in the world, so you know it has to be good.”

Reluctantly, you let him pull you up, and your hands automatically fall on his shoulders, linking your hands at the back as you sway back and forth. You look up into his eyes, feeling your breath leave you. He’s so beautiful that sometimes it hurts to look at, like the sun or a fireworks show. His eyes hold galaxies, and right now they’re staring right at you with the softest smile playing on his lips.

“I love you so much,” you mumble without even realizing you’re saying it.

The sound lingers in the air between you for less than a few seconds. “I love you more.”

You shrug, leaning further into him and resting your head on his chest. “I find that hard to believe.”

“That’s odd,” he comments teasingly, “you found it so easy to believe that I had somehow left my keys on the rooftop of a building under construction.”

“Hey!” You unlink your hands to smack him on the chest, then return stubbornly to your previous position. “I trusted you, Googie. You took advantage of my sweet innocence.”

“Me taking advantage of your sweet innocence would be me fucking you on the rooftop like I wanted to.”

You lean back, winking salaciously at him. “Well, there’s still time.”

He breaks into a toothy grin and laughs. “Fuck, you really are perfect.”

#jungkook x reader #jeongguk #jjk #bts fanfic #jungkook fluff

258 notes · View notes

afterspark-podcast · 4 years

Text

Let’s Play Transformers War for Cybertron, Chapter 2 Transcript

Episode

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Intro Music]

O: Hi guys! Welcome back to our Let's Play of War for Cybertron. We're gonna be doing Chapter 2 today, and playing as the Jets. I’m gonna take Starscream cuz he's got a sniper rifle. (This is literally the only reason.)

S: [snickers]

O: If you remember, last time, uh, Megatron went full crackhead on us and was trying to get Dark Energon to snort- I mean to take over Cybertron. And was basically arguing with a giant holographic [hologram] Starscream the entire time, and then at the end Starscream's like, [screechy voice] “Teach me how to control Dark Energon it'll work for you!” [normal voice] Um, so now we're being Megatron's bitch.

S: Pretty much.

O: Does that pretty much sum it up?

S: Yeah… yeah.

C: I mean, speak for yourself, uhhh…

O: [laughs]

C: Yes, master.

O: You’re just like, Skywarp- Skywarp, is nobody's bitch, thank you! [laugh] Um, Specs is gonna be doing Thundercracker and Chezni is gonna be doing Skywarp, sooo…

C: That sounds like a drug.

O: [laughs] Uh, yeah, so Chezni's gonna be doing the Bojack?

A: [laugh]

O: I can’t remember what the chapter’s called... we are in Chapter 2, Fuel of War. Uh, so, we ready to start then?

C: Oh yeah.

S: Sure.

[OS: Character selection screen. Characters are assigned as follows:

Chezni - Skywarp

Specspectacle - Thundercracker

Twilight-Owls - Starscream]

O: The cool thing about the jets is we can fly! This is the only good thing I have to say about this.

[OS: Owls selects “Start Game.”]

C: Now it really sounds like a drug.

O: [laughs] With Thundercracker, you too can fly!

C: [laughs]

[The game starts and the volume jumps for the players.]

O: [muted] Oh, dammit, I know it’s coming!

[A cinematic opens with a text crawl being narrated by Steve Blum.

Narrator: Anxious to prove themselves worthy of the Decepticon name, Starscream and his minions fly to Cybertron.

The screen flickers slightly.]

C: Woah.

[Narrator: There, they must reconnect the energon bridge that will enable Megatron to manufacture more Dark Energon and conquer the Autobots once and for all.]

O: Space crack. And conquer Optimus Prime once and for all- got it, got it, got it, I’m tracking.

[OS: The game swaps to gameplay and the volume spikes again.]

O: [muted] Noooo, dammit.

[(COM) Megatron: Your orders are clear Starscream! Infiltrate the Cybertron underground and reactivate the Energon Bridge. I want that power online!

OS: All three seekers fly down into an enclosed area, and shoot missiles at a giant fan to gain access to another underground area on Cybertron. The area they enter has various metal platforms rising out of what looks to be a sea of blue energon in the bottom of the area.

The screen reads, “New Objective: Find the Hidden Underground Entrance.”

Starscream: Megatron, Thundercracker has detected several Autobots up ahead. Jetfire must have warned Zeta Prime and moved to intercept us already!

(COM) Megatron: Enough of your whining! If the Autobots try to stop you, crush them! Report back to me when you have found the Bridge. Megatron out!]

S: Oh. Yay. I get to fly, don’t I?

[SS: Thundercracker rocks slightly back and forth in jet mode.]

O: Yup!

C: Yeahhhh.

O: Don’t- don’t uh, touch that blue stuff, you will explode if I remember properly?

[Starscream: That imbecile thinks I’m expendable. ME!? He’ll soon learn to never underestimate Starscream!

OS: Starscream looks down at the blue energon visible on the floor of the level, and then uses his thrusters to continue on ahead.]

S: Blue stuff, uhhh?

O: On the bottom there.

C: The ocean below us.

O: Maybe I’m wrong.

S: Ahh. Okie dokie.

C: Maybe- maybe she's wrong Thundercracker, go try it!

S: [laughs] No, thank you!

C: [high pitched voice] Come on Thundercracker!

[CS: Thundercracker and Skywarp are still back at the beginning of the level, flying around slowly trying to get their bearings.]

O: So- my damn headphones cut out again.

S: Ohh.

C: Are they not working?

O: I can hear you guys it's just it's really, really annoying cuz it's only in one ear.

C: Okay. Well, if we ever need to solve puzzles using stereo we'll let you know.

O: [laughs] Hey, I didn't say we needed it for recording, I said it's annoying. Now catch up with me, will you?

C: I don't know how to do this!

O: You’re just a jet!

[SS: Thundercracker continues moving slowly forward. Starscream turns around and comes towards the other players before using his thrusters to speed off again.]

S: How do you go fast?

O: Well, um-

C: If you hold right- right-click, you move super fast.

S: OH.

[SS: Starscream disappears off into the distance, Skywarp activates his thrusters and proceeds to fly around erratically, and Thundercracker follows shortly afterwards.]

C: Yeah, I know, I wish I would have known that when we were doing Escalation [game mode].

S: I’m good at-

O: [quietly] Oh, this is not the right way.

[OS: Starscream flies into a dead end and turns around to go back the direction he came.]

S: Where are we supposed to go?

O: Over here.

[OS: Starscream heads towards a doorway, transforming and landing on the platform. Some sort of round machine detaches itself from the wall up ahead.

Skywarp: What is THAT?

Thundercracker: An Autobot probe. We should avoid it to prevent detection.]

C: Can I shoot it?

[Starscream: Like that puny probe could stop me. Blast them and get on with it!

CS: Skywarp flies forward in jet mode and shoots the probe, destroying it.]

C: Ha! What do they mean, ‘avoid it’?

S: Ahh!

[CS: Thundercracker flies by, bouncing off the floor.]

C: You can just blow it up!

S: -up!

O: Sorry guys, once sec. [Owls makes another attempt to get her headphones working.]

C: Sure, let’s take a quick pause.

[SS: All the jets stop, and Thundercracker begins looking around at their surroundings.]

O: You like, cut in.

C: Let's have storytime! Thundercracker, tell Skywarp a story!

O & S: [laugh]

S: Life is short, and then you die!

C: Holy crap!

A: [laugh]

O: Okay-

C: But we're late millions of years old, built from naturally-occurring gears and levers!

O & S: [laugh]

O: And naturally-occurring thrusters, apparently. Anyway, let's go, I'm just gonna have to live with this. That’s annoying.

[SS: Everyone begins moving forward again.]

C: And naturally occur- occurring combustible fuel sources.

S: Ah!

[OS: Starscream flies ahead, and a drone begins draining his health with a blue beam. Shortly after, it is destroyed by Thundercracker.]

O: Thank you. Far more polite than Starscream would ever be, but that's fine.

[CS: Skywarp is being targeted by another drone.]

C: Ah! Ah! This one’s draining my brain!

O: Where are you?

[Thundercracker: I have never traveled this deeply into Cybertron’s interior before.

Skywarp: [groans] You are as boring as ever, Thundercracker.]

C: Half dead.

[SS: Thundercracker moves slowly ahead leaving the other two behind. The location marker for their next objective is ticking done off to the right of the screen.]

S: Oh, I think we’re supposed- I think we’re working on a timer?

O: Uh, I don’t think so.

[OS: Starscream takes out the last of the drones.]

S: Ohh~

O: That’s not a timer, that's how close we are to a thing.

S: Oh.

[OS: Starscream flies towards the opening the other two Seekers have disappeared through but transforms before he actually reaches the platform, falling down.]

O: Oh no! Okay, that was dumb.

[OS: Starscream lands on some convenient pipes and transforms back into jet mode.]

S: Shit, was I not supposed to do the thing I did?

O: I don't know, I'm not there yet!

[SS: Skywarp is standing on a platform off to the left shooting at some moving pods on the other side of the large room he and Thundercracker are in. The pods are being moved up a wall and into a large door that is opening and closing.]

C: Huh.

S: Or are we supposed to go in there?

C: I have no clue. Let's do it!

S: [laughs]

[CS: Skywarp jumps up and transforms, attempting to enter while the door is open, but is stopped by an invisible wall.

Skywarp: Hey! I don’t make a habit out of blowing you up!]

C: Oh nope, apparently that's bad.

[OS: Starscream flies upwards in a jerky motion.]

C: It really bothers me that there's not just like a, ‘fly up’ button.

Note: There is- we just didn’t realize it. It’s a bit more obvious in Fall of Cybertron, but it is the same button in both games.

O: Right? It's very annoying.

[OS: Starscream transforms and lands in a hallway, walking over to the nearby door panel and activating it.]

S: Yeah.

S: I'm just gonna be a plane.

A: [laughs]

[SS: The door opens, revealing an Autobot who fires on the party.

Autobot: Decepticons!

The Autobot runs off camera, leaving the Seekers in front of some sort of laser grid that is keeping them from advancing.

Starscream: What is this? Some kind of Autobot trap?

Thundercracker: It’s an enemy detection barrier.

Skywarp: So it’s a trap!]

O: [snorts]

[CS: Starscream moves back and forth in front of the barrier and Skywarp and Thundercracker fire on the edges of the barrier.]

O: [quietly] Alright… how do we get around this?

[Thundercracker: The power conduits along the floors should direct us to its power source.]

O: I got stuck here last time and then felt like a dummy.

[OS: Skywarp transforms and shoots a glowing spot on the wall the power conduit was leading to, deactivating the barrier.

Starscream: Stupid Autobots. To think their measly tricks could ever fool Starscream.]

S: Oh, how did you…?

O: He shot something.

C: I just shot- I just shot where the power conduit went.

O: Yeah.

S: Oh.

C: It was this big thing with all-

O: You know, the smart thing.

[SS: Skywarp walks over to the destroyed power conduit, and as he walks away Thundercracker shoots at it.]

C: [laughs]

[Thundercracker: The power core has to be somewhere in this room.]

C: Alright Starscream, what's our mission?

O: Ugh, to kill my headphones with a greasy spoon.

[OS: Starscream walks up to another barrier and uses the scope of his Null Ray to get a better view at the room on the other side.]

O: Uh… we need to kill the power conduit.

S: Oh-

C: Do more power conduit stuff-

[OS: Skywarp shoots at the doorframe in jet mode and Starscream walks away, seeing an open area off to the right that Thundercracker is floating in front of.]

S: Uh…

O: Or maybe we go over here? Can’t remember.

[OS: Starscream transforms and flies through a narrow hallway, over the same blue energon substance as before.]

C: I don’t know.

[OS: Starscream navigates the narrower hallway and lands on in front of another barrier on the platform at the end. He transforms and shoots the power conduit visible on the other side, deactivating the barrier.]

O: Aha!

[Starscream: Pathetic machinery.]

O: [snorts]

[SS: Thundercracker follows behind a running Starscream, while still in jet mode.]

O: [laughs] I'm sorry, I just love you guys following along as jets, it's hilarious.

S: [laughs]

[SS: The group exits the hallway into a small room with a health box and an ammo box off to the left.]

O: Uh, who needs health?

S: Uh, I need ammo?

O: Go ahead and take it.

C: I have two things of health.

S: Oh-

C: I’m gonna grab it.

S: Someone take health.

[CS: Thundercracker takes the ammo, and Skywarp grabs the ammo. They both move over to the ledge Starscream is standing on. Below, there is a group of 4 Autobots standing next to each other with their backs to the party, listening to a large Zeta Prime hologram in the middle of the room.

Zeta Prime: Autobots, this is Zeta Prime. Be on high alert! The Decepticons are planning to re-activate the Energon Bridge. This would grant them access to an unstable energy source powerful enough to jeopardize the entire planet. Any Decepticons activity must be reported immediately, and all Decepticons are to be shot on sight! Zeta Prime out!

OS: Starscream watches the Autobots through his scope until Zeta Prime finishes speaking and then he immediately destroys a few of them before backing away from the ledge to reload his gun.

Starscream: How boring! I’ve read more entertaining maintenance reports.

Autobot 1: Alert! Alert!

SS: Thundercracker is shot by the remaining Autobots.]

S: [distressed noises]

[Autobot 2: Focus your fire on that Decepticon!

Starscream: None can resist us!]

C: I guess there are missiles?

[SS: Skywarp and Thundercracker take out the last Autobot. Skywarp and Starscream begin flying around the room exploring and Skywarp shoots the remaining explosive canisters on the ground. The hallway leading out of the room is blocked by another barrier.

Skywarp: That was easy!

Thundercracker: The others will likely be tougher. I suggest we proceed with caution.]

O: Who was actually suggesting caution there?

[Skywarp: My neural circuitry is stinging. Getting past this thing is impossible!

Starscream: Keep looking you fool. The answer is here somewhere!]

O: [snorts]

[CS: Skywarp finds a door up near the top of the room that is being held shut by some clamps. He shoots the clamps and enters the room, where another power conduit is visible on the wall.]

C: So, I guess there’s a door up above? And I found a conduit.

[CS: Skywarp shoots the conduit and exits the way he came.]

O: Sweet.

S: And I just shot the door that the Autobots were in front of or something? Or someone just did? I don’t know.

[OS: Starscream and Thundercracker enter the hallway that was previously blocked.]

C: Well, it is polite to knock.

O: What? [laughs]

C: It's- she shot the door. So she was knocking. That's how Transformers knock, right? With their gun?

[OS: The party enters a room that is divided in half by a drop across the center of the room. On the other side of the crevice, several Autobots run into view.

Autobot: [shouting]

Skywarp: Rockets!

Starscream: Quickly, get to cover!]

O: I mean, that sounds right. I don't know why that wouldn't be right.

[OS: Starscream takes several shoots at the opposing Autobots using the Scatter Blaster (shotgun), which isn’t very effective at his current range.

Thundercracker: My scans indicate that door should lead us to the next canyon.]

O: Oh my god, why?

[SS: The group takes out most of the Autobots visible on the other ledge.

Starscream: They fall so easily!

SS: Everyone flies over the gap to reach the other side, where Skywarp and Thundercracker take down the remaining Autobot from the group prior.

Starscream: Let all that see Starscream tremble in fear!]

S: Mmm.

C: The best part about being a jet is infinite ammo.

S: Mmm.

O: I forgot about that, that is pretty nice, right?

C: [laughs]

S: What do you mean infinite- OH!

C & O: [laugh]

C: That was the best! [laughs]

[SS: The group takes out another group of Autobots around the corner. Thundercracker staying in jet mode to take advantage of the infinite ammo.]

S: That's nice. I appreciate that. Ohh~

C: Yeah, somehow I'm still getting hit though. I'm still down to half health.

[OS: The groups another corner to find a third group of Autobots. The group fires on them.

Autobot: Launching rockets!

Skywarp: I got another one!]

C: I think it's cuz the missiles come after you if you're in jet mode.

S: [distressed noises]

O: Down here? Or do we go the other way?

S: Um-

[OS: Starscream flies over to what looks like a hole in the floor and looks at it before turning around and spying some ammo.]

O: No, that’s not the right- BULLETS!

[OS: Starscream runs through the ammo, but doesn’t pick it up.]

O: Maybe? Why can't I pick it up!?!

C: They aren't flak bullets, are they?

[SS: Activates a console opening the nearby door.]

S: I just opened a door?

[SS: An Autobot charges forward from a small group, activating a glowy blue shield on their frame.

Autobot: DIE!]

S: Oh, whoops, sorry.

C: This is what happens when you don't knock! People get very angry.

[Autobot: Decepticons! Seal the door!

CS: The rest of the Autobots run out a doorway behind them and seal the door. The party takes out the lone Autobot.

Skywarp: Those punks locked us out!

Starscream: Stop whining and find another way in!]

C: So wait, what are we doing here, exactly?

O: Uh, we're trying to turn the space crack bridge back on.

[OS: Starscream walks over to an opening in the floor and jumps down.

Thundercracker: My scans show an energon deposit beneath us.]

C: The space crack bridge?

O: The space crack bridge.

[Starscream: Perfect! There may be a cave below!]

C: Okay. Because-

S: It's cave time! I don’t like caves.

[Skywarp: Where are we?

Starscream: We’re NOT where we NEED to be, Skywarp--so keep moving!

SS: Thundercracker and Skywarp follow Starscream down through the floor and into another underground room in their jet modes. The underground room is crisscrossed by pipes and flowing energon. The energeron is significantly closer to the party than in previous rooms because the ceilings are lower.

C: Because we need to get our new Lord and Savior, Megatron, his fix.

S: [laughs]

[Thundercracker: Crude energon is highly volatile, and flying this close to it is very dangerous. We should proceed with caution.

OS: Starscream transforms and the group flies forward]

O: No, no, no, no, no, not Lord and Savior, Starscream's new squeeze.

C: Right.

O: [laughs]

[Skywarp: Tighten your logic circuits, would you Thundercracker? It can’t be THAT bad.]

C: This is-

S: His new boy toy.

C: -just one big, complicated booty call for Starscream?

O & S: [laugh]

O: YUP! The last level was a drug run, this is a booty call!

A: [laughs]

[SS: The party reaches an area where they can go up. Starscream activates his thrusters and bumps into the ceiling before maneuvering his way out. Skywarp zips past flying erratically, as Thundercracker brings up the rear flying slowly.]

C: Oh my gosh, I’m flying drunk!

O: [laughs] So you’re Skywarp, got it.

C: It’s hard to fly when you move fast!

[CS: Skywarp continues to fly erratically.]

S: [laughs]

O: That’s why you do it in little bursts!

C: I'm sure there's an innuendo in there somewhere.

[CS: Starscream flies past, USING HIS THRUSTERS CORRECTLY.]

O: [screechy voice] “Some of us know how to use our thrusters, Skywarp!”

C: [laughs]

S: I-

O: Sound about right?

[OS: Thundercracker bumps into Starscream.]

C: I'm sorry, boss! [laughs] Oh no. Boss, Thundercracker is lost.

O: [laughs]

[SS: Thundercracker is flying in the middle of a room, turning around slowly. Skywarp zooms over.]

S: [laughs] Yes, I am where- shoot

C: Things got too steamy for ‘em.

[OS: Starscream is in a different location than the other two, shooting at a bunch of turrets and Autobots.]

S: Where are you- where the fuck are we supposed to be going?

C: Through the-

O: Uh, just through the cave, that’s all I got.

C: Through the waterfall.

S: Oh.

[SS: Thundercracker moves down lower and enters a cave behind the waterfall. Skywarp flies ahead of him.]

C: You, no, you wanna go down. There you go.

S: Yes, I- I did see that but it- when you guys are going- when I can see your names through the walls it's not very... cohesive for me, okay?

[OS: Starscream is continuing to shoot Autobots and turrets.]

C: Makes sense.

S: Sorry, I am NOT drunk flying.

[CS: Skywarp activates his thrusters and catches up with Starscream, turning to shoot at the remaining turrets.]

C: [laughs] Sure, sure.

[Skywarp: No hard feelings, right?

SS: Thundercracker catches up with the other two and joins in the fray.]

S: Ah, fuck.

[OS: With the Autobots vanquished, Starscream lands and transforms.]

O: Oh, I desperately want ammo, I'm like completely out [of non-jet ammo]. [laughs] I can't shoot worth shit as a jet, apparently.

O: Also, I need health.

S: There's ammo here, and heals.

[OS: Starscream runs over to a health chest, destroying it and grabbing the health.]

O: Okay, where’s the am-

[OS: Starscream turns and sees the ammo box, running over and destroying it as well.]

O: Oh, there’s the ammo. Oh sweet god, I have sharp- uh, I have a sniper rifle shit again, okay.

[Starscream: We’re getting close! The next entrance is just on the far side of this canyon.

A cinematic starts, as the party enters a large empty area, and a large ship with a whole bunch of Autobots inside drops down from above.]

S: Oh, goody.

C: How does Starscream know that?

O: Scans. Bullshit. It's a very complicated booty call, honey.

S: I don't know, he worked here?

C: [laughs]

O: I don’t think he did…

C: It’s like his old office?

[The large ship generates some sort of barrier to keep the party from advancing, and then begins firing mortars from several large cannons on it’s topside.]

O: [laughs before continuing in a screechy voice] “This’ll show them for kicking me out! Sleeping with the boss, HA!”

C: “Should have installed a coffee machine!”

[OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator.

Thundercracker: The Autobot ship is generating an energy shield over the entrance!

Starscream: I can see that for myself, Thundercracker. Enough babbling--destroy it!

Thundercracker: Target the mortars first!

CS: Skywarp flies over to the drop ship and transforms, hitting the mortars with his physical attack before swapping to his guns.]

S: [sighs]

[Skywarp: This thing is as crazy as I am!]

O: [snorts]

[Starscream: Just blast it! It breaks, like everything else!

SS: Thundercracker is shooting at the mortars, swapping targets as they are destroyed.]

C: I think I did this in Super Star Wars once.

O: [laughs] I mean, probably?

[OS: Starscream is shooting at the mortars. Autobots are seen flying in close proximity in the background as well as the remaining mortar guns shooting rounds up into the air that disperse and rain down.]

C: What is shooting at us!?

O: Uh, probably the Autobots.

S: Yeah.

[SS: Thundercracker destroys another mortar.]

S: The ship?

O: I tried to take out the motors- the mortars I could see.

[Starscream: Excellent! Now, target the Aerialbots!

Skywarp: I’ll show them some REAL flying!

CS: Skywarp flies into a group of enemy Autobots, destroying a target, but his health dropping below 1 bar, before he flies out of range.]

S: Ah. Oh, sorry.

[OS: Starscream is destroying enemy Autobots, when the downed ally icon appears off to his right.]

C: Oh no, I'm down.

[Skywarp: Here comes another wave!

OS: Starscream transforms into bot mode and begins to fall before transforming back into vehicle mode.]

O: Oh shit! Why did I do that!?

S: Oh, hold on. Uh…

[SS: Thundercracker flies over to Skywarp and begins to revive him. Several Autobots are hovering around above Skywarp, and Thundercracker begins to take fire.]

S: I'm holding ‘E’ to revive!

C: Thank you. I'm very bad at staying alive in the air.

[OS: Skywarp is revived and the whole party resumes firing on the Autobots.]

S: So am I?

[OS: Starscream takes heavy damage.]

O: Oh my god!!!

[SS: Thundercracker goes down.]

S: Sorry, I'm out.

C: Alright, I'll come get you.

[CS: Skywarp flies towards Thundercracker but overshoots and has to stop and turn around.]

C: Oh no, there’s too many of them!

[CS: Skywarp is still trying to maneuver his way over to Thundercracker, but several Autobots are firing on him at the same time.]

C: There’s too many, I can’t revive you!

[CS: Another downed ally icon appears to Skywarp’s left.]

O: I’m dead too.

C: No, no, why!?

S: [snickers]

C: THERE’S TOO MANY!

[OS: The Mission Failed screen appears.]

O: Goodbye cruel world. [sighs]

S: Well, hopefully, it's not gonna toss us too far back from where we were?

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart from Last Checkpoint”.]

O: I think we spawn right before there, because I kept dying there, uh, on- when on my one player playthrough.

[OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Find the Hidden Underground Entrance.”

Starscream: We’re getting close! The next entrance is just on the far side of this canyon.

The same cinematic from before starts, with the drop ship dropping down into the canyon from above, generating the shield, attacking the party with mortar rounds, and releasing Aerialbots to attack the Seekers.]

C: This part is hard!

O: Yeah! I know, it sucks!

C: Like, there’s no negotiating.

O: And you have to be in the air, because like, landing on the plane does not- or wha- landing on the ship doesn't make things ton easier for ya.

C: I think we're gonna have to focus on taking out the little guys.

O: Well, we need to take out the cannons [mortars] too - otherwise you'll really get fucked over.

C: Is there a finite amount of guys though?

O: I think so? But I don't remember.

[OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator.]

C: Alright, well I guess we'll rush the cannons then.

[Thundercracker: The Autobot ship is generating an energy shield over the entrance!

Starscream: I can see that for myself, Thundercracker. Enough babbling--destroy it!

OS: The party moves forward and begins shooting at the mortars.]

O: Either that, or if you guys want to focus on the little ones I’ll focus on the cannons? Either works.

[Thundercracker: Target the mortars first!]

Skywarp: This thing is as crazy as I am!

C: Alright, I'm gonna swap over to just focusing on the little guys now.

[CS: Skywarp zips off towards the back of the ship.]

C: There they are, they're coming out of the back of the ship.

[Starscream: Excellent! Now, target the Aerialbots!

Skywarp: I’ll show them some REAL flying!]

Skywarp: Here comes another wave!

OS: Starscream continues shooting the mortars. A downed ally icon appears to his left.]

S: Ah, well, I’m out.

[OS: Starscream transforms into robot mode, dropping down before transforming back into vehicle mode and zipping towards Thundercracker.]

C: Oh crap.

S: Sorry.

C: I can't find you.

S: I am towards the rear of the ship.

[OS: Starscream overshoots Thundercracker and has to turn around, while taking heavy fire from the multiple Autobots hovering over Thundercracker.]

O: Oh dammit!

S: You’re out too?

O: No, not yet yet.

O: Ugh, I’m try-

C: I- there- there you are.

O: Now I am.

C: Nooo!

[CS: Skywarp is downed and the Mission Failed screen displays briefly, before loading at the checkpoint again.]

O: Try to stay more towards the middle, because it's really, really hard when like, everybody's spread out everywhere?

[CS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Find the Hidden Underground Entrance.”

Starscream: We’re getting close! The next entrance is just on the far side of this canyon.]

C: Um, they spawn in at the rear of the ship and they're sitting ducks while they run out. So I'm still going to stay in the rear.

O: That's fine.

[CS: The same cinematic from before starts, but is skipped. The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator.”]

O: Yes, can we-? There we go. [laughs] I was like, do we need to watch this again? The answer is no.

C: But it’s so pretty!

[Thundercracker: The Autobot ship is generating an energy shield over the entrance!

Starscream: I can see that for myself, Thundercracker. Enough babbling--destroy it!

Skywarp: Target the mortars first!

CS: The party flies in and all target the mortars, taking out three of them in rapid succession.

Skywarp: This thing is as crazy as I am!

Starscream: Just blast it! It breaks, like everything else!

OS: Starscream and Thundercracker continue to attack the mortars. Starscream is fired on by Aerialbots and his health drops to under 1 bar before he flies out of range.]

O: [quietly] Godammit.

[Starscream: Excellent! Now, target the Aerialbots!

CS: Skywarp is at the rear of the ship shooting Aerialbots as they run out of the ship, before they’re able to transform into vehicle mode.

Skywarp: I’ll show them some REAL flying!

OS: Starscream transforms and lands on the ship, taking out one of the Aerialbots with his Null Ray. He’s then fired on and transforms and flies off.

Thundercracker: Here comes another wave!]

O: Oh, dammit!

[Starscream: The blast doors are open! Quickly!]

S: Uh…

[SS: Thundercracker hovers around the front of the dropship looking around.]

S: So, I’m-

[Skywarp: Watch out for those rocket snipers!

SS: A downed ally icon appears in the distance.]

O: Dammit! Dammit! I’m down.

S: Oh shit.

C: Alright.

[Starscream: Enough of this nonsense! We'll bring this annoyance down from the INSIDE. Fly in and target its power core!

CS: Skywarp and Starscream take out an Aerialbot and Skywarp flies over to the downed Starscream.]

C: You can shoot while you’re down, so try and cover for me.

O: [quietly] If I can find them…

[CS: Starscream sort of scoots away from Thundercracker and Skywarp while firing on some of the Aerialbots still on the drop ship.]

C: Hey! No, don't move away from us!

[OS: Skywarp revives Starscream.]

C: There we go.

O: [screechy voice] I LIVE!

[OS: The down ally icon appears on the left side of the screen.]

S: I'm out. Shit.

[CS: Skywarp turns around and flies back over to where Starscream is reviving Thundercracker.

Starscream: None can resist us! For glory!]

C: [laughs] For glory!

O: For getting my ass kicked.

S: [laughs]

[CS: Skywarp flies over to the opened portion of the drop ship and continues shooting at the Autobots inside.]

O: Okay, there we go.

S: Thank you. Oh! Apparently I was not by the rear of the ship, I was by the front!

C: I think the ship just opened up.

O: Yeah.

[SS: Thundercracker enters the ship behind Skywarp as they both transform into robot mode. Thundercracker picks up some health while Skywarp fires on Autobots.]

C: Alright, there’s health on my right, or my left, rather.

O: There's some on each, I'm gonna take this one.

C: I have two bars so I'm probably good for now.

[Autobot: Close the blast doors, and seal the ship! We’ll trap them inside!]

Skywarp: Trap us?

Thundercracker: Orders, Starscream?

Starscream: Hahahaha! Those idiots locked in here with their power core! Plant a detpack on it!

OS: Starscream runs around shooting at Autobots before going down.]

O: Ugh! I'm down, help.

S: Oh shi- shoot.

[CS: Thundercracker is off to the side reviving Starscream. Skywarp chases down Autobots with a combination of gunfire and melee attacks, before going down as well.]

C: Ah, I'm down as well.

S: Uh, where are you? Oh.

O: ARGH!

S: How am I not-

[SS: Thundercracker walks over to Skywarp and begins to revive him. Another downed ally icon appears on the right hand side of the screen.]

O: I’m down again.

[SS: Thundercracker continues to try and revive Skywarp but also goes down when an Autobot walks up and shoots him at point blank range.]

S: Well damn it, so am I.

O: At least we start from here [after the ship has opened up].

S: Well, I mean we’re…

O: Oh fucking rockets!

S: Oh, the audio seems like it’s gone for me?

C: Oh, you lost audio?

S: I don’t know why, but I can’t hear the game anymore-

O: Did you accidentally turn it down?

S: -or you guys.

[Autobot: Close the blast doors, and seal the ship! We’ll trap them inside!]

C: We can’t get into the ship anymore!

S: All my stuff is...uh, muted? Why is my stuff muted?

[The video disappears and some white text is visible on a black background.]

Note (from sound editor, which is also Chezni):

Unfortunately at this point, we had a SNAFU with Specs' audio and had to restart the game.

Due to the restart, Specs' audio and footage became unusable due to a spike in her game volume that she corrects in about 16 minutes.

Don't worry! You can still see and hear her in Owls' and Chezni's footage until the correction, which will be used until then.

Sorry for the interruption!

[OS: The game loads back at the checkpoint before the battle with the drop ship started. The screen reads, “New Objective: Find the Hidden Underground Entrance.” On the lower left the text, “Chezni has joined the game,” and “Specspectacle has joined the game,” is visible.]

O: [singing] Dada dat dat dat dada da da.

S: If we don’t- mm.

C: Ah, hey, we’re back!

[Starscream: We’re getting close! The next entrance is just on the far side of this canyon.

The same cinematic from before starts, but is skipped. The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator.”]

C: Oh no! We gotta do this again.

S: Ah, pfft.

[Thundercracker: The Autobot ship is generating an energy shield over the entrance!

Starscream: I can see that for myself, Thundercracker. Enough babbling--destroy it!

Thundercracker: Target the mortars first!

OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator. The party flies forward and attacks the mortars.]

Skywarp: This thing is as crazy as I am!

Starscream: Just blast it! It breaks, like everything else!]

S: Oh.

[Starscream: Excellent! Now, target the Aerialbots!

Skywarp: I’ll show them some REAL flying!

CS: Skywarp continues to fly around and shoot the mortars before swapping to the Aerialbots. A downed ally icon appears on the lower left of the screen.]

S: Oh. Sorry, I’m out guys.

C: No worries. I’m always amazed at the fact that while you’re flying, at like, light speed the enemies still hit you.

[Skywarp: Here comes another wave!]

S: Uh…

C: I’m sorry, I can’t, there was too much fire power.

O: Oh!

[OS: Starscream flies over to Thundercracker but is taken out along with Skywarp and the Mission Failed screen appears.]

O: I’m dead too.

S: So am I.

O: Oh my god, I hate this checkpoint!

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart from Last Checkpoint”.]

O: I hate this level, I hate this-

C: Shake off the rust.

[The screen reads, “New Objective: Find the hidden underground entrance.”]

O: Uh, no, there is no rust! This part just sucks, it sucked it one player!

C: Shake off the rust!

[Starscream: We’re getting close! The next entrance is just on the far side of this canyon.]

O: OH MY GOD, you’re a jerk.

C: The space rust. What's the super rust called?

[OS: The same cinematic from before starts, but is skipped. The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator.”]

O: Cosmic rust, dear?

C: Yeah, shake off the cosmic rust!

O: [screechy voice] “Only if you're Megatron!”

[CS: The party flies forward and attacks the mortars.

Thundercracker: The Autobot ship is generating an energy shield over the entrance!

Starscream: I can see that for myself, Thundercracker. Enough babbling--destroy it!

Skywarp: Target the mortars first!]

C: Cosmic rust, it's coarse, and rough...

O: And gets everywhere.

C & O: [laugh]

[Skywarp: This thing is as crazy as I am!

Starscream: Just blast it! It breaks, like everything else!

CS: Skywarp swaps over to attacking the Aerialbots.]

O: Oh my god! Go away!

[Starscream: Excellent! Now, target the Aerialbots!

Skywarp: I’ll show them some REAL flying!]

C: Oh my gosh, I'm definitely gonna die here.

[OS: Starscream continues to shoot at Aerialbots.]

S: Oh, I'm out, sorry guys. I’m in the worst spot.

[OS: Starscream transforms into bot mode, dropping down and grabbing some energon before transforming back into vehicle mode and flying over to Thundercracker… who is awkwardly hanging in the air nose first into the drop ship. The area is slanted, so it’s more difficult to maneuver around, but Starscream manages to get underneath him and revives him, while taking fire from nearby Aerialbots.]

C: That is a pretty bad spot!

S: [laughs]

C: I don't think I can…

S: [continues laughing even harder]

C: Like, those guys are just right there.

S: Oh.

O: Oh my god!

[Thundercracker: More reinforcements?

OS: Starscream flies off to get out of firing range of the Aerialbots, but another downed ally icon appears behind him and he turns around midair.]

O: I can't get everyone!

S: [laughs]

C: Well, you've got 700 seconds for me.

[OS: Starscream flies over to Skywarp and revives him. Yet another downed ally icon appears to the left.]

O: Oh my god, GUYS!!

S: [continues to laugh harder]

[OS: Starscream zips over to Thundercracker and revives him, while already on low health and taking even more fire from Aerialbots.]

O: I need you to not! I’m gonna die!

[Starscream: The blast doors are open! Quickly!

Skywarp: Watch out for those rocket snipers!]

C: We did it! We did it!

[Starscream: Enough of this nonsense! We'll bring this annoyance down from the INSIDE. Fly in and target its power core!]

S: Mm-mm.

[CS: Skywarp flies into the drop ship, transforming into robot mode and shooting at the Autobots inside.]

C: Oh my goodness.

S: Shit, shit!

[Autobot: Close the blast doors, and seal the ship! We’ll trap them inside!]

O: I am inside, I cannot help.

S: Um.

[Skywarp: Trap us?

Thundercracker: Orders, Starscream?

CS: Thundercracker returns to jet mode.]

S: Shi- uh.

O: Where are you?

C: Where are you are you, Specs?

[CS: Skywarp turns around and sees that the door he and Starscream had entered through is no longer open.

Starscream: Hahahaha! Those idiots locked in here with their power core! Plant a detpack on it!]

S: [laughs]

O: If you're outside, we can't help, we’re stuck inside!

S: I’m outside!

C: Oh my god.

O: Of course you are!

S: [laughs] I’m sorry!

O: Oh well, at least we got the stupid door open, right?

C: That’s true.

S: Uh.

C: You're good- don't worry Skywarp- er, Thundercracker, you're completely safe out there!

O & S: [laugh]

C: No harm will come to you!

S: [laughs]

[CS: Starscream and Skywarp continue to maneuver around inside the ship taking out Autobots. Skywarp goes down, while at the same time another downed ally icon appears offscreen to his left.]

C: Oh gosh, I’m down.

S: So am I, sorry.

O: Oh my god.

S: [laughs]

[CS: Skywarp takes out an Autobot while downed, and Starscream runs over and begins to revive him.]

C: Please save your poor little jet.

S: [laughs]

[CS: Skywarp is revived, he then transforms and follows Starscream into another section of the ship.]

O: You're so tiny and adorable.

[CS: Skywarp fires on yet more Autobots.]

O: [laughs] Seriously, you’re like a little itty bitty little jet when I’m in uh, robot mode, it’s great.

S: I blew up.

[CS: Skywarp is in a fire fight with an Autobot when the screen suddenly goes dark and the Mission Failed screen appears.]

C: Wait, what!?!

O: Well, she was outside! She was outside and she was- and we couldn't get to her.

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart from Last Checkpoint”.]

S: [laughs]

Note: Apparently, there was lone Decepticon still outside that killed poor Thundercracker in cold blood, unfortunately, Specs footage was still unusable at this point, hence no visual.

[OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the shield generator.”]

S: Sorry.

[Starscream: The blast doors are open! Quickly!

Skywarp: Watch out for those rocket snipers!]

C: But how!? What hurt you?

White text is overlaid on top of the screen: *Specs makes weird noises because her ears are starting to hurt…*

[Starscream: Enough of this nonsense! We'll bring this annoyance down from the INSIDE. Fly in and target its power core!]]

S: Mm.

C: Alright I got-

S: I’m inside now!

C: Hooray!

[Autobot: Close the blast doors, and seal the ship! We’ll trap them inside!

OS: Starscream has entered the ship and transformed, taking out an Autobot with the Null Ray. A down ally icon appears to his left.]

S: But I’m also dead!

C: Uh, un-hooray.

[OS: Starscream makes his way over to Thundercracker.

Skywarp: Trap us?

Thundercracker: Orders, Starscream?

Starscream: Hahahaha! Those idiots locked in here with their power core! Plant a detpack on it!

CS: Skywarp walks over to the power core and plants an explosive on it.]

S: Ah shoot. Gosh darnit, who am I supposed to- gah! I don’t like you.

[Autobot Ship: Warning! Warning! Warning!

The dropship begins to come to pieces around the party.

The screen reads, “New Objective: Escape the Autobot Dropship.]

S: I’m down.

[CS: Skywarp walks over to the downed Thundercracker.]

C: I got ya.

[Starscream: Unbelievable! These Autobots are dumber than Skywarp!]

S: Thank you.

[Thundercracker: Perhaps, Starscream, but have you considered an escape route for US?]

S: Ah.

[Starscream: Try the upper deck! Hurry!

OS: Thundercracker is revived, and Starscream transforms into jet mode and flies up to the second level of the drop ship.]

S: Uh.

C: I think we need to- yeah, go up.

[OS: The doorway in front of the party is sealed.

Skywarp: They sealed it off!]

S: Yeah, yeah, I kind of figured.

[OS: The front part of the ship falls away, and the part transforms into jet mode to make their exit.

Starscream: Now’s our chance! Fly through the hole!]

O: [snorts]

C: No comment.

O: [laughs]

C: No comment.

[Skywarp: Dumber than Skywarp? I’ll show YOU dumb, Starscream!

Starscream: You always do.

The screen reads, “New Objective: Continue your search for the underground.”

OS: The party flies forward, transforming and landing on the platform the shield generator was blocking. Starscream runs forward and smashes an ammo chest before turning around and seeing some grenades in the corner.]

O: Okay, we've got ammo, grenades…

S: Uh…

O: Where's- where's- there's a Chezni.

[CS: Skywarp flies up and lands on the platform Starscream and Thundercracker are already on.]

O: You're always lagging behind Skywarp.

C: You know what?!

O: [laughs]

C: You know what?!

[CS: Skywarp starts running away from Starscream.]

C: ...I don’t know what.

[OS: Starscream chases after Skywarp.]

O: What are you- what are you gonna do? You gonna run away? We are the only two that will have you, and you know it!

C: [laughs]

O: Get back here Skywarp!

[CS: The party runs into a hallway, a shield chest is visible off to their right.]

O: [laughs] Does anyone need heal-

S: Uh, is that heals?

O: Yes.

S: Cuz I could use-

O: Go ahead.

C: It’s a shield not heals.

O: Well, it’ll still help.

S: Thank you.

O: I also thought it fully healed you, but perhaps I’m wrong.

[CS: A cinematic plays of the Seekers running into a room where a creepy looking Autobot is standing, before it jumps off the platform, disappearing in a flash of electricity.]

S: Oh!

O: What is that? Oh right, I remember this.

C: That's not a real transformer.

[Skywarp: Did you see that?

Thundercracker: You mean that creepy looking that that just jumped over the side?

Skywarp: Yah.

Thundercracker: Nope. I didn’t see anything.

Starscream: I should’ve left you two on the station.]

O: Uh, I’m gonna take this unless you guys want something- want it.

[OS: Starscream walks over to a Plasma Cannon (Charge) and swaps out his Scattershot for it.]

O: I dunno if I’ll like it, but we’ll see.

[Skywarp: Now this is some serious bang for our buck!]

S: Are we jumping?

C: What is- oh, nothing.

O: Yup.

[OS: Starscream walks over to the ledge and jumps down.]

C: We’re jets! Jets don't jump, St- Thundercracker, they fly!

O: They fall with style! [laughs]

[OS: Starscream walks into a dark room, and the screen shakes.]

S: Wahh!

C: With- yeah, we don’t fall, we fly with style!

[OS: Starscream and Thundercracker are looking around the room.

Skywarp: I think I saw something.

Thundercracker: You think you saw what?

Starscream: SILENCE! It could be an Autobot cloaker--keep your optics sharp!

CS: Skywarp walks over to an ammo chest before transforming and zipping over to a health chest and running into the energon inside..]

C: There's some ammo over here if anyone needs it.

O: There's a scatter blaster over here?

S: Uh…

C: I already have a scatter blaster. It's horrible.

[OS: Starscream and Thundercracker are attempting to target one of the cloakers as it becoming visible when charging it’s attack. Starscream tries to use the Plasma Cannon and charges it up, but the Cloaker disappears again.]

O: Where are they?

[OS: The Plasma Cannon goes off automatically, not hitting anything.]

O: Ugh.

S: Ohh~

[OS: A cloaker shoots Starscream from above.]

O: What the fuck!? Right…

S: There's-

[CS: Skywarp flies around the room in jet mode, finally seeing one of the cloakers charge up an attack and shoot.]

C: Oh, it's invisible!

S: Yes, it's invisible, man! Thank you.

C: You got to look for the shimmers.

O: Yeah, I need- oh, where was that other gun? I need it. [snorts] This is bad.

[CS: Skywarp continues flying around, targeting cloakers with his jet mode’s machine guns when he spots them. Starscream and Thundercracker are running around on the ground.]

S: Um.

[CS: Skywarp tries to shoot a cloaker but it runs away from him and disappears.]

C: Ah man, they're fast!

O: Ugh.

[OS: Starscream runs around the room trying to shoot things with the Scatter Blaster, with limited success.]

S: God, it’s a fast sucker!

O: It really is.

[OS: Starscream turns into vehicle mode briefly to destroy a cloaker with his machine guns before returning to bot mode.

Starscream: I’m ready to lead!

OS: A downed ally icon appears to the right.]

S: I'm out, sorry! God, there’s so many of them!

C: Yeah, there's like, a ton all of a sudden.

[OS: Skywarp attempts to revive Thundercracker but is unable because Thundercracker is in vehicle mode and awkwardly angled away from a platform behind him. Starscream transforms into jet mode and is able to begin reviving Thundercracker.]

O: I got her.

S: Thank you.

[OS: Skywarp runs out from underneath Thundercracker. The party continues fighting the cloaked Autobots.]

C: I can't move. I was like, stuck underneath her.

S: Mm.

C: When they- when they attack they charge up a ball of light.

O: Yeah, that's how I've been aiming at ‘em.

[OS: The party takes out the last of the cloakers.

Starscream: Hahaha! Feel the power of my wrath! Now, get the power back online so we can move on!]

S: Uh.

O: I didn't realize I could swap weapons [in vehicle mode]. I mean, I kind of figured it out earlier but thank god, I hate machine guns.

[Starscream: Get moving, Decepticons. We must be getting close.]

S: Is there like-

O: Any health or ammo left in here?

C: I didn’t see any.

[CS: Skywarp flies around the room a bit before zipping through a door into the next room over. The room is narrow with two openings to a larger area that is swarming with Autobots on a platform in the middle of the area. There is a gun on the ground in front of the party.

Thundercracker: There it is. The entrance to the underground.

Starscream: Another shield generator?! These Autobots are getting on my nerves.]

O: I don’t need- there we go.

S: There’s a Null Ray scope?

O: Oh, I already have one, I can’t pick up another one.

[The screen reads, “New Objective: Deactivate the forcefield.”

Starscream: Bring down those shields!]

C: Uh, I’ll take the Null Ray scope.

[CS: Skywarp walks over and picked up the Null Ray, dropping his Scatter Blaster.]

O: It a sniper rifle.

S: Oh. Um. Well, nuts, I’m out!

[OS: Starscream is sniping Autobots when the downed ally icon appears to his right.]

S: Sorry, I’m down.

C: It’s fine, uh, I’ll cover.

[OS: Starscream walks over to Thundercracker and revives him. Lines coming from the Autobots across the gap show that a large number of them are equipped with sniper rifles, explaining why Thundercracker died so quickly.]

S: Okay, mmm.

[OS: Starscream gets back behind cover and Thundercracker transforms and flies out of the small room the party is in, before being taken out almost immediately.]

S: Mmm, I'm out again.

[OS: Starscream transforms and flies over to Thundercracker to try and revive him.]

O: You need to not fly in here! [laughs]

[OS: Starscream also begins taking heavy fire from the enemy snipers.]

O: Dammit.

C: Shoot.

[OS: Starscream goes down and Thundercracker explodes.]

S: Sorry.

C: No, it's a fine.

[CS: The mission failed screen comes up briefly before restarting at the checkpoint in the room with the Null Ray. The screen reads, “New Objective: Deactivate the forcefield,” upon loading.

Thundercracker: There it is. The entrance to the underground.

C: Skywarp suddenly became Italian, “It's a fine!”

[Starscream: Another shield generator?! These Autobots are getting on my nerves. Bring down those shields!

CS: Skywarp transforms and enters the large room, flying around the edges, but inevitably takes heavy fire from the enemy snipers.]

S: Umm…oh, jesus- ugh.

[CS: Skywarp is down to 1 bar of health. The down ally icon appears in the distance.]

S: Shit. Well, I'm dead again.

[CS: Skywarp lands on a platform and transforms, heading towards a health chest.]

O: Chezni, do you have her?

C: Ah- I’m- um, no. [laughs]

[CS: Skywarp turns away from the chest and transforms, flying over to where Thundercracker is floating.]

O: Uhh…

S: Well, I’m-

C: I’ve got her now, but I’m probably gonna die.

[CS: Skywarp begins reviving Thundercracker but he quickly goes down too.]

C: Yeah, I died trying to do it.

[CS: Thundercracker explodes, and the “Mission Failed,” screen appears.]

S: Sorry.

C: Ah, that's alright. So that part is probably better if we all stay in that enclosed area.

S: Okay, and then just snipe?

O: YES.

C: Ah, more or less.

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart From Last Checkpoint.” The screen reads, “New Objective: Deactivate the forcefield,” upon loading.

Thundercracker: There it is. The entrance to the underground.

Starscream: Another shield generator?! These Autobots are getting on my nerves. Bring down those shields!

OS: Starscream snipes 4 Autobots before ducking behind cover to reload.

Starscream: Ahahaha! For glory!

CS: Skywarp snipes 3 Autobots before looking around at the lessened quantity of Autobots...]

C: I think we're good. Maybe.

[CS: ...And is then shot at by yet more Autobots.]

C: Ah, I spoke too soon!

[OS: Starscream takes out two targets but the next two are shot by Skywarp. He then tries to shoot another Autobot higher up on the middle area but misses, needing to reload again.]

O: [quietly] Come on.

S: Ohh~

C: Is that all of them?

O: Almost.

[OS: Starscream takes out the Autobot he previously missed.]

S: Mmm.

[CS: Skywarp transforms and flys over to the middle platform, taking out another Autobot.]

O: At the very least I think it’s most of them.

[OS: Starscream transforms in midair, and uses his energon mace on the enemy below as he’s falling, but doesn’t kill the Autobot. The Autobot backs up and begins firing on Starscream, dropping him to 1 bar of health]

O: Dammit!

[OS: Starscream attempts to shoot the Autobot with his Null Ray but misses. He then transforms into vehicle mode and takes him out with his machine gun.]

C: Ah, I’m down.

[OS: Starscream flies over to Skywarp, transforming and beginning to revive him.]

O: I am NOT gonna live through this.

S: Mmm.

[CS: Skywarp is revived and he hops back up.]

C: Thank you.

O: There you go.

S: Mmm.

O: Uhh, you okay?

Note: Keep in mind that Specs can barely hear us, or quite frankly herself, because her game volume is so loud at this point.

C: [Nasally voice] Starscream you're my hero.

[CS: Skywarp dodges fire from an enemy Autobot before running over and taking him out with his physical attack.]

O: [laughs] Now THAT seems like how they- the ways they would tease each other.

[CS: Skywarp uses one of his special moves that allows him to begin spinning the upper potion of his body around in a circle while holding his energon mace and takes out an Autobot.]

S: Mmm.

O: Specs, what’s wrong?

[OS: Starscream takes out an Autobot with the Null Ray, and when he exits the scope mode, Thundercracker is right next to him in vehicle mode.]

C: Yeah, I- where is Specs, actually?

O: She’s with me.

S: I'm right here.

C: Ohh, gosh darn-!

[OS: Starscream continues to snipe Autobots. Skywarp goes down in front of him.]

C: I’m down again.

S: Mmm.

[OS: Starscream runs over and revives Skywarp.]

S: Ahh.

[Skywarp: The battery casing is opening.]

S: Ahh, okay...

C: This is quite chaotic!

O: A little bit, yeah.

S: No duh!

[OS: Starscream is running low on Null Ray ammo, and not seeing any immediate Autobots runs out from underneath the platform he was under, getting fired on from above immediately.]

O: Oh come on!

C: Come on Decepticons!

[Thundercracker: The shield batteries are exposed. If we destroy them, we can lower the shield.

OS: Starscream is still under the platform, having swapped over to his Scatter Blaster and trying to take out some nearby Aerialbots (it’s not working terribly well).]

C: Are you... mice bots or are you car bots?!

[OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Destroy the armor plating.”]

S: We’re fighting planes!

O: Uh, we’re jets? [laughs] We’re fighting jets!

S: I'm out of- shit.

[CS: The party continues fighting the Aerialbots.]

S: Mmm. Mm. Mmm.

O: [laughs] I’m sorry! You're making very, very, many noises though.

[CS: The party takes out the remaining Autobots. Skywarp flies over to the platform the other two Seekers are on/nearby and heals himself with a nearby health chest.

Starscream: Look out for those sentries, you bumbling idiots!]

C: These are- these are Specs’ concentrating noises.

S: [laughs]

O: [laughs] Is that what we’re calling it?

C: These are Specs’ magic words, do not steal them!

O: [laughs]

[OS: The party is able to destroy the plating on the giant door that was blocked by the shield generator.]

S: I can’t hear you guys very well!

O: [laughs] These are Specs’ magic words, do not steal them!

[OS: The screen reads, “New Objective: Re-route power to the energon bridge.”

The large round door in front of the party opens up and bridge forms from the main platform over to the door. Starscream flies through the door, and the party enters was looks like a dilapidated tunnel with a bunch of piping and equipment scattered throughout.

Starscream: Move, Decepticons. Into the tunnels! We have a Bridge to activate!]

C: Well, whatever they were, seemed like it worked.

S: What? I can barely hear you guys.

C: Really?

Skywarp: This place gives me the creeps.

Starscream: These tunnels were decommissioned long ago. We’ll have to activate the power terminals to get the station back online.]

S: Yeah, the game is overpowering everything for me.

C: Did you- is it-

S: OHH! Because it [the volume] went up to like 50 and I didn't realize it.

C & O: [laugh]

O: All we-

C: That would explain SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!

S: [laughs]

O: We just kept hearing you make noises and I kept asking you what was wrong, and I wasn’t getting a response, and I was like, “Okay…”

A: [laugh]

C: Like, we kept- we kept commenting, we were being like, “Oh hey Specs, how are you?” Like- like no response.

S: [laughs]

[SS: The party moves forward, further into the tunnels.

Skywarp: Incoming! Take cover! Wait?! That’s not Autobot weaponry?!

Thundercracker: Interesting. I’ve never seen these life forms before.]

C: That’s hilarious.

S: [laughs harder]

[Starscream: Who cares--if they get in my way, BLAST THEM!]

S: But I got things done! It got- I was helpful, I was useful.

O: Yes! Yes!

C: True, you died fewer times than I did.

O: Chezni died twice.

C: That’s pretty awesome.

O: If anyone should be ashamed of themselves it should be Chezni.

C: Yup.

O: I don't know what blowing these up does?

[CS: Starscream shoots an object that explodes near Skywarp.]

S: Oh~

C: You're a Decepticon, you love blowing things up, right?

[CS: Some strange mechanical tentacle things pop out of the walls and fly towards the party, but Skywarp destroys them.]

O: [screechy voice] Excuse me, I'm Starscream, I don't waste my ammo on something so trivial.

C: You have people do that for you.

O: [screechy voice] Uh, yes, those people are you.

C: [laughs]

S: Like, I think my performance in the last round is not uh, like, par for the course, probably.

[Starscream: There, just as I told you! The Energon Bridge Terminal. Find a way inside and activate it!

OS: The party continues onwards, before arriving in a large room with a large oblong structure in the center.]

S: Egh!

[Skywarp: I thought this place was deserted!

OS: Thundercracker and Starscream fly to the right side of the structure and begin shooting at the nearby sentries. Multiple probes are also deployed and attack them both.]

C: Well, you thought wrong!

[Starscream: We must’ve tripped the station’s automated defenses. Open fire!]

S: Uh…

O: Uh, help!

[OS: Thundercracker goes down.]

S: Nuts, sorry, I’m dead.

[OS: Starscream goes down.]

O: Ah, crap! We're both dead, honey.

C: Yes, so am I.

[OS: The, “Mission Failed,” screen appears.]

O: We're all dead, honey. [laughs]

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart From Last Checkpoint.”]

C: I’m not sure what killed us?

O: Uh, I think it was things that came out of the middle there. That better be a damn checkpoint.

[OS: The party starts in the same room they previously died in. The screen reads, “New Objective: Re-route power to the energon bridge.”

Starscream: There, just as I told you! The Energon Bridge Terminal. Find a way inside and activate it!]

S: Sentries.

[OS: The party moves towards the door in the right side of the oblong object, shooting at the probes and sentries.

Skywarp: I thought this place was deserted!

Starscream: We must’ve tripped the station’s automated defenses. Open fire!]

S: It’s sentry time!

[SS: Thundercracker destroys several sentry guns.]

S: Oh, there’s... thingies.

[Skywarp: More cloakers? These guys creep me out!]

O: What the fuck is shooting at me?

[Thundercracker: What’s the matter, Skywarp--afraid?]

C: They're- they're like inside this big room.

[Skywarp: At least I’m not ugly.

Thundercracker: Ugly? You and I look the SAME!]

S: I’m dead.

[SS: Thundercracker is killed by the last remaining sentry gun.]

O: I’ll try to get over there, I need to kill that thing first though.

S: Mmm.

[CS: Skywarp is inside the oblong structure exploring it, swapping back and forth between his robot and his vehicle modes.

Skywarp: Okay, let’s take off!]

S: Ah.

[CS: Skywarp is still flying around by himself in the structure. He destroys two probes that move in front of him.]

S: Thank you- WAAAA! Screw you!

O: Crap!

S: Oh shoot, are you behind me?

O: Yes I'm trying to- there, I killed it.

S: Oh, thank you.

C: Did anyone’s screen go dark, or is that just me?

[OS: Thundercracker and Starscream have finally entered the structure as well. Overall, it is darker inside but everything’s still visible.]

O: It is a lot darker, yes.

C: Okay.

S: Yeah, it is.

C: I was a little confused.

O: Oh my god, I would kill for some damn health.

S: Same.

C: Last-

S: I mean, there's guns.

C: There's a plasma cannon.

[OS: The group walks over to some guns on the floor. Starscream is at one bar of health.

Starscream: I still require medical attention!]

O: I did not like the plasma cannon at all.

C: Specs, you want it?

[SS: Starscream and Skywarp are running around in their bot modes, but Thundercracker is still in his vehicle mode. He approaches the Plasma Cannon, but the prompt to pick it up doesn’t appear.]

S: Uh, mm, I can’t interact with it.

C: [laughs] You’re just scooting around as a jet.

S: [laughs]

C: You need to stop being a jet. Stop being a jet, right now! [laughs]

S: I’m out of ammo. Alright, okay, fine, I can pick that up.

[SS: Thundercracker transforms into bot mode and picks up the Plasma Cannon.]

C: Alright.

O: Okay…

S: Where are we supposed to go?

O: We should go down here, maybe?

[OS: Starscream is walking around when an energy blast charges in midair and is shot at him.]

O: Oh cripes, there are more of those invisible guys.

S: Oh.

C: Ah, so that’s what it is.

S: Where are you guys?

O: Ugh!

C: I’m on the bottom floor.

O: I am too, and I do not have a lot of health... so, help?

S: Ah.

C: I’m trying!

[CS: Skywarp chases around a clocker trying to shoot it before finally taking it out with a physical attack.]

S: I didn't realize there was a bottom floor, uh.

[CS: The party is near each other, all shooting at cloakers.]

S: Sorry, I am utilizing the spray-and-pray method of..

C: Hey, with infinite bullets you’re totally allowed to do that.

O: You can pray and spray as much as you want.

[SS: Thundercracker is assisting the rest of the party while in vehicle mode and spamming his machine guns. He shoots something in the distance, causing an explosion.]

O: That was an explosion.

C: I think we got ‘em.

[SS: Starscream walks over to a console and activates it. The lights come on and prompt to look at the ‘Ambush’ appears on the screen.]

O: We got ambushed?

[Thundercracker: Detecting Autobot energy signatures!]

O: [groans]

C: Nice to have lights again.

[Starscream: More fools rush to their death. Destroy them!]

O: I can only destroy them when I have ammo, dipshit!

C: The melee button is a wonderful thing.

[Megatron (COM): Starscream, report!

Starscream: Megatron! We are encountering significant Autobot resistance but…

SS: Thundercracker shoots a barrel of explosives and takes damage, he then shoots the other closer barrel and dies.]

S: I'm down.

[Megatron (COM): I will not suffer excuses. Do not fail me!]

S: I am also not entirely sure how, unless I was too close to the explosion?

[CS: Skywarp engages some Autobots in combat but takes damage and goes down.]

C: I am also down.

[CS: Skywarp begins to slowly move through a nearby doorway. In the distance Starscream can be seen reviving Thundercracker.

Skywarp: You really told him, Starscream.

Starscream: Silence! Soon the Decepticons will be mine to control and Megatron will serve me!]

C: I'm trying to scoot to safety.

[OS: Starscream transforms and flies over to Skywarp. He begins to revive him.]

O: [laughs] Scoot to safety?

C: [laughs]

O: You're so cute, and yet you keep dying.

S: We all need the heals.

C: I don't know who's killing- ow! What the-?

[SS: Thundercracker continues to shoot at Autobots while in vehicle mode. A downed ally icon appears to Thundercracker’s right.]

O: Just gonna start singing, ‘You're Welcome,’ from Moana, in- here in a minute I swear to god.

[SS: The downed ally icon disappears.]

C: I don't remember the lyrics.

O: [singing] You’re welcome! [laughs]

C: Yeah, that’s the only part I can remember.

C: Oh by the way I’m down again, no wait…

O: I remember it being the Rock and being awesome.

[CS: The party is running/flying around continuing to take out Autobots.]

C: I’m not down, I thought I was.

S: No you’re not.

O: [laughs] “No you’re not.”

S: [laughs]

C: You almost sounded like- angry like, how dare you tell me you were dead!?!

S: [laughs]

[CS: Skywarp uses his spinning ability in and empty room, steadily heading towards where Starscream and Thundercracker are.]

O: Thundercracker got hopeful, you can’t do that to him!

S: [continues laughing]

C: Oh, wait, I can turn invisible, right?

[CS: Skywarp uses his other ability and turns invisible.]

O: Yeah.

S: Yes?

C: Oh my goodness! I should have been using this.

S: Well, yeah.

[OS: The party has moved up to the upper floor and are fighting more Autobots.]

S: [sighs]

O: Are you gonna-

[Skywarp: Watch where you point that thing!]

O: [snorts]

[SS: Thundercracker and Skywarp take out the last Autobot, and the objective icon appears above a nearby console.

S: Okay, we gotta do a thing with this, so…

[SS: Starscream walks over to the panel, activating it. A shield blocking a large tunnel in front of the party drops. The party runs/flies on ahead.

Starscream: My wounds remain unrepaired!]

O: Seriously, is there health anywhere? Because I think we all need health.

C: I haven’t seen any.

S: Yeah.

[Thundercracker: The station is only showing power levels at 50%. There must be another terminal deeper underground.

OS: The tunnel is full of robotic arms and big lasers that appears to be running automatically.]

S: Ack!

O: Oh, christ…

S: Um.

[CS: Skywarp pulls ahead of Starscream, and another tentacled thing flies into the tunnel before being taken out by Skywarp and Starscream.]

C: Oh, there's more sentries.

[Thundercracker: I’m reading Autobot energy signatures up ahead.]

S: Yes, you guys are rather in front of me.

[CS: Thundercracker comes to a bend in the tunnel, where he finds a lone Autobot standing on a raised platform.]

C: Ah, there’s missiles!

[CS: Skywarp takes out the Autobot.

Skywarp: I do enjoy sniping!

Starscream: Afraid to take them head on, Skywarp?]

S: Uh, I don't know where you guys are. I think I’m lost.

C: It’s- it’s a-

[SS: Thundercracker flies down the tunnel arriving at the end and turning to his left, when he sees Starscream and Skywarp shooting at Autobots.]

S: Oh.

[SS: Skywarp turns around.]

C: You’re right behind us.

S: Okay.

[Skywarp: I’m the fastest thing on two wings!

SS: Thundercracker takes heavy damage from the enemy snipers.]

S: Aw, nuts.

[OS: Starscream is standing on a platform shooting at the Autobots on the far side of the room with a Thermal Rocket Launcher.]

O: Somebody said I needed a rocket launcher, and I got one.

S: Oh!

[OS: Starscream transforms and flies over to another platform inside the large room where the Autobots have been attacking them from. Thundercracker hovers over an energon cube.]

O: You should grab that.

[OS: Thundercracker grabs the health and flies off while Starscream ducks behind cover to avoid enemy fire.]

S: Thank you, health is helpful.

[Starscream: The destruction can begin!]

S: Oh.

[CS: An invisible Skywarp comes up behind an Autobot hiding behind a shield and hits him multiple times with his physical move, taking him down.]

S: Ahhhh! I don’t like this!

C: [laughs]

S: [laughs] But when do I like-

[SS: Thundercracker flies forward towards the remaining Autobots on the far side of the room, but is downed at a nearby Autobot.]

C: You sounded like Monsters Inc.

S: [laughs]

C: [singing] Take that thing back where it came from-

C & O: [singing] Or so help me!

C: [singing] So help me!

S: S- s- sorry-

O: AMMO! Sweet fucking god, ammo!

S: Sor- sorry, I’m dead.

C: I'm gonna try to get to you, I don't know if I can with all that firing going on.

[OS: Starscream takes out two of the nearby Aerialbots in rapid succession with his Null Ray.]

C: I could turn invisible and resurrect you, and they don't shoot me!

[OS: The downed ally icon disappears and Thundercracker and Skywarp fly on ahead, Starscream transforming into jet mode to follow them.]

S: Nice! That is-

O: Well, I did kill them too, but sure.

C: No, but I mean they don't shoot at me while I'm going in for the rescue.

S: Well, yeah.

C: Sorry, this is rev- this is a revelation for me!

O: There’s ammo back there, by the way, if anybody needed it.

[OS: Thundercracker flies over to the platform indicated by Starscream and retrieves ammo.]

C: I don’t need it.

O: It’s over here.

C: I've been punching things to death.

S: [laughs]

O: Good to know.

C: It's an effective-

[OS: Starscream flies straight ahead through a waterfall, arriving in a small cubby with an Autobot symbol flanked by two shield chests.]

C: Oh! There's an Autobot symbol and two shields back here!

[OS: Starscream runs forward, using a physical attack on the Autobot symbol before taking one of the shields for himself.]

O: I’ll take that, and THAT!

C: There was an Autobot symbol, and there was two shields!

S: [laughs]

C: Now there’s one shield.

O: But- but ah, Specs, you can have the other shield.

C: Yeah.

S: Okay, I’m just not entirely sure where you guys are?

[SS: Thundercracker is slowly flying towards a door the objective icon is indicating.]

O: I have my sniper rifle-!

C: Behind the-

O: Behind the waterfall.

S: Um.

O: I have my sniper rifle back, I’m so happy!

[SS: Thundercracker lands in front the door where a console is sitting.]

S: Oh, I found a thing to interact with, do you want me to interact with it?

C: Wait- wait- wait- wait, if you're not gonna take the shield I will. Alright, interact-

S: Well-

C: Interact away!

[SS: Thundercracker looks to his left, and runs over and picks up some nearby health.]

S: Well, actually I'm gonna- there's health, do you guys need health?

C: No, cuz I got a shield.

[Thundercracker: That’s much better.]

S: Okay, there’s also ammo, and then interaction time. I think I'm opening a door.

[SS: Thundercracker runs back to the console activating it. The door opens on another large room, where an Autobot is standing directly in front of Thundercracker with his back to him.]

S: Oh shit.

[Autobot: Alert! Alert!]

S: Ohhh!

[CS: Skywarp turns invisible and him and Thundercracker rush into the room and begin engaging with Autobots.]

O: Shit, where- what happened?

S: It opened-

O: I like, teleported or something.

S: Sorry.

C: Yeah, you were too far behind.

[CS: Skywarp walks up behind an Autobot while invisible and takes him down with his Energon mace.]

S: Alright, shoot, what is… there- there is a point here somewhere, but I'm not sure what it is?

C: It is to murder all of the Autobots scum.

[OS: While Thundercracker and Skywarp continue to run around the room, Starscream stays behind cover, sniping various Autobots, including the ones at the two turrets.]

C: Look what you've done to me, Specs and Owls.

S: [laughs]

O: What?

C: Turned me into a Decepticon!

[OS: Starscream takes several shoots at an Autobot chasing Thundercracker but misses.]

O: Yeah, you're playing with me. I don't know what you expected here, sweetie.

[SS: Thundercracker continues to fight with the Autobot chasing him, dropping below one bar health. Starscream runs over and shoots him before running back to cover.]

S: Oh sorry, I think I am... oh no, I'm not dead. I am just... damaged? Ohh~

[SS: Thundercracker sees one of the explosive items and walks backwards trying to shoot it, but doesn’t realize he’s using one of the healing guns so it does nothing.]

C: You know, the phrase, “What's your damage?” takes on a whole new meaning-

[SS: A downed ally icon appears, and Starscream flies through the nearby door in jet mode.]

C: Oh, I'm down.

S: I don’t know what this thing does…?

C: Uh, game’s gonna get it ended-

O: Um, where are you?

C: I went into some weird room, and the door closed behind me.

[CS: Skywarp is down, and the timer continues to tick down...]

S: [laughs]

[OS: The Mission Failed screen appears.]

O: [groans]

S: Well, I’m dead. Chezni, was dead-

O: No, that was Chezni, that was all Chezni’s fault.

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart from Last Checkpoint.”]

C: Yeah.

O: I was still alive!

[OS: The party restarts right outside the closed door Thundercracker had previously opened, the screen reads, “New Objective: Re-route power to the energon bridge.” Starscream walks forward and activates the console, opening the door.]

C: I didn’t know the door was gonna close behind me!

Note: There was no door, he just got lost lol ~O

C: I was just flying around minding my own business.

[Autobot: Watch out! Decepticons!

OS: Starscream walks over to his right and picks up some ammo. A Neutron Assault Rifle is right next to it.]

O: Oh guns! Hello ammo.

C: There's some health here.

[OS: Starscream runs back over to the door and takes cover, aiming at the Autobots inside the room.]

O: I'm actually good.

[SS: Thundercracker runs forward trying to attack an Autobot. The Autobot is destroyed by Starscream but Thundercracker hits an explosive barrel with his physical attack and goes down.]

O: Headshot, motherfucker, headshot.

S: I'm dead.

C: There's a turret up here!

[OS: Starscream takes out two Autobots near the fallen Thundercracker, then transforms and flies over, transforming back to revive him.]

S: Ohh~

[OS: Thundercracker is revived.]

S: Thank you.

O: You're welcome!

[OS: Starscream transforms back into vehicle mode and flies back to the boxes he’s been taking cover behind.]

S: Oh~

C: I'm definitely taking this turret with me.

[CS: Skywarp rips off a turret, jumps down from the platform he’s on and immediately shoots the two Autobots he’s landed in front of.]

S: Oh~

[SS: Thundercracker is in jet mode, shooting at some Autobots with sheilds at close range, but is shot and goes down.]

S: Oh. I'm dead. I found... a thing, that I guess is a- one of the things we're supposed to interact with but I'm also dead, and yeah, Autobots.

O: If I can find you.

[SS: Thundercracker blows up.]

S: Nope, I blew up. That was me.

[OS: The Mission Failed screen appears and Owls selects, “Restart from Last Checkpoint.”]

O: [sighs] Everybody just wants to blow up today and obviously I'm not cool because I don't understand why people find it fun.

[OS: The party spawns back in the same room as before. The screen reads, “New Objective: Re-route power to the energon bridge.” Starscream walks over to the console and opens the door.]

S: I did not want to blow up!

[Autobot: Alert! Alert!

CS/OS/SS: The party runs in and begins to fight with the various Autobots. Starscream remains behind cover sniping, while Skywarp and Thundercracker get more up close and personal with the enemy.]

S: Oh, it's a plasma cannon. Oh, I'm out.

[CS: Skywarp is fighting with two Autobots with shields. A downed ally icon appears to his right, before Skywarp goes down as well. Skywarp begins to slowly float towards an opening to get back into the main room where the other Seekers are.]

C: Shoot, so am I.

[OS: Starscream is in the middle reviving Thundercracker.]

O: You two are killing me.

S: Sorry!

[OS: Starscream transforms and flies up to Skywarp to begin reviving him.]

S: Ah, nuts to you Autobot.

C: I'm trying to fly down.

[OS: Starscream’s thinking “Help me, don’t help me!” as Skywarp flies past him while he’s trying to revive him. But Skywarp is successfully revived.]

O: You’re lucky I still have a shield left.

C: [laughs]

O: Are you alive?

C: Yep.

[CS: Skywarp continues to fight Autobots.]

O: Okay! Everybody's still alive!

[SS: Thundercracker is fighting two shield Autobots and goes down.]

S: Sorry, I'm dead.

C & S: [laugh]

O: You’ve gotta be kidding me!

[CS: The Mission Failed screen appears and Owls selects, “Restart from Last Checkpoint.”]

C: Ah, so… I need to stop dying

O: I'm doing nothing wrong, got it?

[CS: The party starts at the checkpoint.]

C: [laughs]

O: I'm doing nothing wrong, that's what I thought! Also, I'm taking this fucking ammo, okay?

[CS: Starscream runs past Skywarp and picks up some ammo.]

C: Okay!

[CS: Starscream opens the door.

Autobot: Alert! Alert!]

O: [laughs] We're just gonna call this in the chapter were Specs did nothing wrong. Not a single thing! [Nothing like saying the wrong name for MYSELF, I meant Owls here ~O]

[CS: Skywarp immediately shoots the Autobot on the other side of the door before he can even turn around.]

C & S: [laugh]

[OS: Starscream shoots at an Autobot at one of the turrets, missing the first shot but getting him on the second.]

O: Oh my god, I'm hitting you, fucker!

[OS: Starscream continues to shoot at Autobots with his Null Ray from behind cover.]

S: Oh.

[CS: Skywarp rips off one of the turrets.

Skywarp: If Skywarp wants it, Skywarp takes it!

CS: He destroys multiple Autobots using the turret.]

C: Oh my goodness, are we alive?

[OS: Starscream continues to shoot at Autobots, heading into some of the narrower hallways connected to the main room they’ve been fighting in, following Thundercracker.]

S: Yes... somewhat, sort of.

O: Do you need that health?

[SS: Thundercracker walks past an energon cube.]

S: I've got three bars.

O: Take it because I still have a shield.

S: Um.

[CS: Skywarp is fighting several Autobots with shields, taking damage from various grenades that are being lobbed around the room. He runs over to take out one of the Autobots with his physical attack, but goes down after killing them.]

C: Oh, ah, man I fell. I'm on the left top room.

[SS: Starscream runs past Thundercracker and over to Skywarp and revives him. Thundercracker walks over to a console.]

S: Oh. It looks like, uh, do you want me to interact with this thing?

O: Uh, just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything in here, then yes.

C: I want this turret first.

O: Okay, let him take the turret. Skywarp wants a souvenir turret!

[SS: Skywarp runs over to a turret and rips it off, while the other two Seekers stay near the console.]

S: [laughs]

O: That’s what I’m calling it, okay.

C: All right, this is my new toy.

O: Okay, now that everybody's happy-

[CS: Thundercracker activates the console, opening the door right in front of them. Skywarp runs over and the party begins to shoot at the Autobots on the other side of the door. Thundercracker is using a gun that shoots blue energy out of it, and it doesn’t seem to be affecting the enemies.]

S: Ahh! Hi, Autobots!

C: [laughs] I don’t know why, but the way you said that was funny.

[Starscream: Nothing will stop me! Blast those locks!

OS: The party continues shooting Autobots, as well as some locks on a door to the left.]

O: Did you pick up a healing gun!?!

C: What?

S: Me? No?

O: I saw it healing things! I don’t know where it was coming from, maybe it was an Autobot…

S: Uh, it's some sort of plasma thing?

O: Huh.

[SS: Thundercracker walks up to a closed door, it starts to open and he backs up.]

S: Uhhh!

[SS: The door opens, revealing no Autobots inside.]

S: Ohh!~

O: Health, thank you.

[SS: Thundercracker shoots the blue ray again and Skywarp walks up beside him..]

C: Actually, yeah, Specs has some kind of weird... I don't know what it is?

S: I don’t know, it’s a plasma gun, I don’t know.

O: Can you show-

[SS: Thundercracker swaps his gun from an Energon Repair Ray to a Plasma Cannon.]

S: Well, that’s a plasma-

O: Yeah, that one.

[SS: Thundercracker swaps back to the Energon Repair Ray, and backs away from Starscream and Skywarp.]

S: Oh, I've got an Energon Repair Ray, oh.

O: Yeah! You’ve got a healing gun.

S: Okay, you’re- Owls you’re fully healed. Lemme-

[SS: Starscream backs away from where Skywarp is standing.]

O: I’m fully healed.

S: When the hell did I get that?

O: I don't know.

[SS: Thundercracker heals Skywarp not quite to full health before swapping to his Plasma Cannon, which has no ammo left.

Skywarp: Now we’re talking!]

S: Sorry, but I'm all out of ammo, so I need to be a plane.

[SS: Thundercracker transforms into vehicle mode.]

C: [laughs]

[Starscream: All right… this station seems to funnel power directly to the Energon Bridge.

Thundercracker: Those are the Energon Bridge’s power control panels.

SS: The door closes in front of Thundercracker, locking him out of the room Starscream and Skywarp have walked into.]

S: Oh, um, I'm sorry, I'm on the wrong side of the door.

C: It’ll probably-

O: Hopefully, you’ll teleport?

C: -yeah.

[OS: An in-game cinematic starts, with the three Seekers walking around a large room full of various boxes, equipment, and tubes. A door opens in front of Starscream, revealing a console, in front of some pod-like machine things behind glass.

Skywarp: Wow, Starscream--that WAS impressive.

Starscream: Silence, fool! We need to supply these side terminals with their energon power cells.]

S: Oh yeah, good.

[OS: Starscream activates the console, but nothing moves. Two red targets appear on either side of the glass panel.

Thundercracker: Looks like the Autobots have locked these power cells down.

Starscream: Quickly--destroy the locks!]

S: Uh..

C: Destroy the locks? Alright.

[CS: The party shoots at the locks, destroying them.]

C: Welp, we destroyed the locks! Now what, fearless leader?

O: [screechy voice] Oh, don't ‘fearless leader’ me!

[CS: An in-game cinematic starts, and the three pod things behind glass move downwards, under the floor before getting destroyed.

Skywarp: What happened now!

Starscream: The Autobots have booby trapped this room. Fools!

Skywarp: Wait--are you calling US fools, or the Autobots fools?]

O: [laughs]

[Skywarp: Because--I’m not getting the sense that you respect me!]

C & O: [laugh]

[Starscream: Silence! Fool!

Skywarp: That’s EXACTLY what I’m talking about!]

O: [snorts and then laughs] I mean...

C: “Starscream! I’m getting the distinct impression you don't respect me!”

[Starscream: This is almost too easy. Quickly, find the other power terminals.

SS: Thundercracker flies around the outskirts of the room, but doesn’t see anything unusual.]

S: [laughs] Okay-

O: [screechy voice] Respect? What is that? Some sort of Earth TERM?

C: ...Yes.

S: Umm, I'm not entirely sure what I should be doing?

C: Nah, I’m pretty lost too.

O: Uh, there's probably a power cell that we need to destroy- er, I destroyed one of them.

[Skywarp: Now we’re talkin’!]

O: Maybe? ...Maybe not. Maybe they just want to fuck with us.

[OS: Starscream is flying around near the floor, attempting to follow a glowing red conduit.]

O: Is that-

C: Oh, there's- no, we’ve got to follow the conduit.

S: Oh, the-

C: So follow the red glowy thing that's running along the floor.

S: Okay.

C: And then it goes up?

O: Cuz like, I killed one of them…

[CS: Skywarp continues to fly around the room.]

O: Hmm, no.

[CS: Skywarp follows a conduit that loops behind some of the boxes and other piping and finds one of the power cells.]

C: Oh, it's up here, hang on.

[CS: Skywarp destroys the power cell.

Starscream: Excellent, now keep looking--there should be just one more.

SS: Thundercracker shoots the last power cell.

Thundercracker: Energy barriers are 100% offline.

Starscream: Perfect! Now--get these power cells into position!]

C: Wait a minute! Can something not be a hundred percent offline? I mean, it’s- it's either on or off, you can't be in the middle.

O: [screechy voice] Shut up Skywarp!

C: [laughs]

O: [laughs] I'm sorry I can't resist.

C: Oh, I love it.

S: Alright, er-

O: Cool, where do we go now, dum-dums?

[OS: Starscream is walking around on the bottom of the room looking around for another console or something to activate.]

C: Right- right!?

O: [screechy voice] Fools! Which way do we go!?

C: I don’t know what to do!

[OS: Starscream transforms and begins to slowly fly around the room looking for what they’re supposed to activate.

Thundercracker: The side terminals are showing power levels at maximum.]

S: I don’t know. I mean, this looks like a door but...

[Starscream: Hahahaha! We are but one click away from activating the full power of the Energon bridge!]

O: Cool. How?

[OS: Starscream transforms, landing next to the now visible console, activating it.]

O: There we go, this one. [mutters something unintelligible]

[CS: The equipment in the room lights up, and begins transmitting energy.]

C: WOAH! What the- ?

[Starscream: I did it! Look at all that power flowing! Onward, Decepticons!]

S: To where?

O: Space crack. We have sup- supplied or booty call with space crack.

S: [laughs] Ah. Okay, yes, out the door.

[CS: Activating the console has opened a door to a tunnel leading downwards. The party enters.

Thundercracker: I am detecting an unknown energy signature nearby. Off the scale…

Starscream: Then we are close - the Energon Bridge must be nearby.

OS: The party arrives in a large circular room. A machine stands in the center, with flooring that is a mixture of metal frames and glass radiating from the center. Above the machine there appears to be another glass platform of some kind going around the edge of the room.

Starscream: The device must be inside that machine. Plant a Dark Energon Det-Pack on its power cable to activate it.

Thundercracker: My scans indicate that--]

S: Uh…

[Starscream: I’ve had enough of your readings! Use Dark Energon and corrupt the machine!

OS: Starscream flies forward and transforms, landing in front of the device indicated by the UI, and plants a detpack on it.]

C: [laughs] Your READINGS!

S: Uh, I got locked out again.

[OS: The detpack explodes, and, “New Objective: Destroy the Energon Bridge Guardian,” pops up.

An in-game cinematic starts, the machine activates, with the upper portion lifting up and firing its guns at the party.

Skywarp: Whoa… what’s happening?!]

S: Okay, yay, it teleported me.

[Thundercracker: Precisely what I was afraid of. Cybertron is trying to purge itself of contamination.]

C: Wait. We're on Cybertron?

O: Yeah.

S: I guess.

[Skywarp: What contamination?

Starscream: He means US, you idiot!

OS: The Seekers all dodge a blast from device’s guns. The camera focuses on Starscream as he flips into the air, transforming into jet mode.]

C: [laughs]

[Starscream: Quit blabbing and destroy this nuisance!]

S: Mm.

[SS: The upper portion of the device begins to rotate as it continues shooting. Thundercracker hovers, shooting the machine.]

S: Alright, by- ? Okay? What am I supposed to be shooting?

[CS: Skywarp is shooting at the devices guns.]

C: Uh, if your reticle turns red it means you're hitting something. I think it's the big- the big red circles is what you want to be aiming for on the machine, but not-

S: Um.

C: Oddly enough, not the big one in the center.

[CS: The device stops shooting and drops its guns, but other portions of the machine open up and begin generating wide pink laser beams that begin rotating. There is an upper beam and lower beam, they are currently rotating in opposite directions to each other.

Thundercracker: Evade those beams!

Skywarp: Move! Move! Move!]

S: Oh.

C: I know that doesn't make a lot of sense but…

S: Sorry, I'm not entirely sure…?

[OS: Starscream and Thundercracker are flying around trying to avoid the beams.]

C: Well, right now we just need to be dodging the beam.

S: I'm... doing very badly at that!

C: Now shoot the small red circles.

[OS: The machine stops and the center opens up revealing a power core.]

O: Oh, no, shoot the Power Core!

[Starscream: The machine is vulnerable! Focus your fire on the core!]

C: Yeah, now we need to shoot the power core.

S: Oh.

[OS: The party shoots the power core, and then the machine closes up, raising it’s guns and beginning to shoot again.]

S: Well, nuts.

C: Now go back to shooting the red- the red lights on the guns.

[CS: Skywarp circles around the machine, shooting at the guns.

Skywarp: Are we even hurting this thing?

Starscream: Not with your pathetic aim! Focus fire on those guns!]

S: Oh sorry, I’m dead.

C: Uh, where are ya?

[CS: A downed ally icon appears on the other side of the room. Skywarp begins flying around the machine to get to the other side.]

O: I see ya.

[CS: Another downed ally icon appears next to the first.]

O: I am also dead.

C: No!

O: Help?

C: I'm coming!

[CS: Skywarp zips towards Starscream and Thundercracker but overshoots.]

C: Shoot.

[CS: Thundercracker explodes as Skywarp turns around.]

S: Sorry, I'm dead. Possibly we're all dead?

[SS: The game over screen displays.]

C: Well the show can't carry on without Skywarp!

S: [laughs]

[SS: The party spawns in the boss room. “New Objective: Activate the Energon Bridge,” appears in the right hand corner.]

O: You mean Thunderacker!

C: Or Thundercracker, which one are you?

S: [laughs]

[Thundercracker: My scans indicate that--

Starscream: I’ve had enough of your readings! Use Dark Energon and corrupt the machine!]

C: Jet A and Jet B.

O: I'm gonna make you build one of my model kits so that you'll remember which one- like, which one we're talking about.

[OS: New Objective, “Destroy the energon bridge guardian,” displays in the bottom right corner of the screen.]

C: They're both the same!

[OS: The same cinematic of the device activating from before plays.

Skywarp: Whoa… what’s happening?!]

O: [gruff voice] You're ugly! [normal voice] WE LOOK THE SAME! [laughs]

[Thundercracker: Precisely what I was afraid of. Cybertron is trying to purge itself of contamination.]

C: And then there's red whiny jet, but at least I remember him.

S: [laughs]

[Skywarp: What contamination?

Starscream: He means US, you idiot!]

O: [screechy voice] Excuse me! I'm white, and red, and blue. If you're going to insult me, at least have the decency to do it right.

[Starscream: Quit blabbing and destroy this nuisance!]

S: Mm.

C: Yeah, I'll let Megatron take care of that.

O: Shut up. [laughs]

C: [laughs]

[CS/OS: The party targets the device’s guns, until it drops it’s guns and activates it’s beams.

Thundercracker: Evade those beams!

Skywarp: Move! Move! Move!

SS: Thundercracker gets hit by one of the beams, taking away an significant portion of his health. He attempts to fly higher, to where the upper glass platform is clearly visible, but is stopped by an invisible barrier.]

S: Uh, shit.

[SS: The machine stops and the center opens up revealing a power core. The party shoots at it.

Starscream: The machine is vulnerable! Focus your fire on the core!]

S: Why would they design it like that?

C: [laughs]

O: It has to cool off, I don't know.

[OS: The machine closes up, raising it’s guns and beginning to shoot again. The party targets the guns.

Skywarp: Are we even hurting this thing?

Starscream: Not with your pathetic aim! Focus fire on those guns!]

C: [laughs] That’s a perfectly valid question!

S: It's a shitty ass design!

C: It would be like if you created a giant weapon, but like, every two minutes it had to open up and expose its weakness.

S: [laughs]

[Skywarp: Ha! He’s not so tough!

SS: The device stops and drops it’s guns, preparing to generating the beams.]

O: What? That's like, what video games do, isn't it?

C: Yeah, yeah, video games.

[SS: Thundercracker banks to the right to get away from the part of the machine that will generate the beams.]

S: Oh shit, woop.

O: Uh, you okay?

S: Yeah. Okay, it’s just now it's time to fly.

[Megatron (COM): Starscream! What is taking so long!

Starscream: Just a slight delay…

SS: The spinning beams start up again. Thundercracker again tries to pull upwards but is still blocked by the invisible wall. He is hit by a beam, but not destroyed.]

C: Oh no, I got cut in half.

S: Same…

[SS: The game over screen displays.]

A: [laugh]

O: Woooow.

A: [continue to laugh]

O: I just-

C: That’s unfortunate.

[SS: The party spawns in the boss room. “New Objective: Activate the Energon Bridge,” appears in the right hand corner.]

O: You’re, like, required, when you edit this, honey, to like, go back and forth between me being a badass... and you two.

C & S: [laugh]

[Thundercracker: My scans indicate that--

Starscream: I’ve had enough of your readings! Use Dark Energon and corrupt the machine!]

S: Look-

O: I mean that is the most loving way possible.

S: Look, I've been useful, sometimes!

O: [laughs]

[SS: The same cinematic of the device activating from before plays.

Skywarp: Whoa… what’s happening?!]

C: “I’ve been useful!”

O: [laughs]

C: “...sometimes!”

[Thundercracker: Precisely what I was afraid of. Cybertron is trying to purge itself of contamination.]

O & S: [laugh]

O: I’m just saying, it’s very funny when it’s like, um-

[Skywarp: What contamination?

Starscream: He means US, you idiot! Quit blabbing and destroy this nuisance!

CS: The party fires on the guns.]

O: Oh, I got cut in half and here I am flying like a badass, and I’m like, “Cut in half!?”

[SS: The device drops it’s guns and activates it’s beams.]

S: Ugh..

[Thundercracker: Evade those beams!

Skywarp: Move! Move! Move!]

S: Oh, shit. Shit.

[SS: Thundercracker is flying around trying to avoid the beams, but nicks them several times before running into the center of the machine, which apparently is an insta-death.]

S: I hate... these pink things!

[SS: The game over screen displays.]

A: [laugh]

[Starscream: The device must be inside that machine. Plant a Dark Energon Det-Pack on its power cable to activate it.

SS: The party spawns in the boss room. “New Objective, activate the energon bridge,” displays in the right hand corner for disappearing.]

O: Death! Pink horrible death!

S: [laughs]

[Thundercracker: My scans indicate that--

Starscream: I’ve had enough of your readings! Use Dark Energon and corrupt the machine!

OS: Starscream flies forward, transforming and planting the detpak.]

C: Your ‘readings!’

O: [screechy voice] Your ‘readings’!

[OS: The same cinematic of the device activating from before plays. New Objective, “Destroy the energon bridge guardian,” displays in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Skywarp: Whoa… what’s happening?!

Thundercracker: Precisely what I was afraid of. Cybertron is trying to purge itself of contamination.

Skywarp: What contamination?

Starscream: He means US, you idiot! Quit blabbing and destroy this nuisance!]

S: I got to be Sky- Thundercracker... the scientist. For some reason.

[OS: The party target the guns.]

O: I mean, honestly, I think- I think I love it? Skywarp’s [Thundercracker’s] the one that's like, “Oh my god, I fucking told you so, asshole!”

S: [laughs]

[SS: Thundercracker has destroyed the front portion of the guns directly in front of him, beams are no longer shooting from that part.]

S: Ohh~ That was… helpful.

[CS: The guns drop.]

C: Okay, so I would recommend if you have trouble avoiding the blades-

[CS: Skywarp attempts to fly up to the secondary glass platform, but is also blocked by an invisible wall. The machine activates the laserbeams.]

S: Yeah.

C: Oh, they won't let you. They don't let you fly up!

[CS: The party dodges the laserbeams.]

S: Yes, I'm trying to fly up!

C: That's ridiculous!

O: Just fly in the same direction as one of them. Whether it’s the top or the bottom.

[CS: The game over screen displays.]

S: I know. I had tried that and they kept catching up to me.

O: You've got to speed up.

C: Oh yeah-

S: I’m using the thrusters!

C: You are?

O: Okay, if you stay more near the middle you have to travel less distance.

[CS: The party spawns in the boss room. “New Objective, activate the energon bridge,” displays in the right hand corner for disappearing.]

C: Yeah.

O: Don't go all the way out.

[Thundercracker: My scans indicate that--

Starscream: I’ve had enough of your readings! Use Dark Energon and corrupt the machine!

CS: Skywarp flies up to the glass platform that’s inaccessible during the fight.]

C: But yeah, look! I'm totally up here! You can fly up here before the boss battle starts, but then when it starts it won't let you fly out, that's ridiculous.

[CS: Skywarp flies over to the device in the center of the room and lands on top of it.]

C: Look, I'm on its head!

[CS: New Objective, “Destroy the energon bridge guardian,” displays in the bottom right corner of the screen. The same cinematic of the device activating from before plays.

Skywarp: Whoa… what’s happening?!

S: [laughs]

C: I was!

[Thundercracker: Precisely what I was afraid of. Cybertron is trying to purge itself of contamination.

Skywarp: What contamination?

Starscream: He means US, you idiot!]

S: I saw that.

C: And then it's like, oh no, you're fighting it you can't do the smart thing and you know fly away!

O: Even though we're fucking jets.

C: Right!

[Starscream: Quit blabbing and destroy this nuisance!

SS: The party targets the guns.]

S: [sighs]

[SS: The device drops it’s guns, and begins generating the laserbeams.

Thundercracker: Evade those beams!

Skywarp: Move! Move! Move!

SS: Thundercracker hangs close to the middle, but accidentally touches the center of he device, dying instantly. The game over screen displays.]

S: Okay, I don't know what the hell killed me, but I died.

C: We're gonna have to figure this out.

S: I guess I was too close to it? I touched it, I didn't touch the pink stuff.

[OS: Owls selects, “Continue from Last Checkpoint.”]

O: Yeah, don’t touch it. Don’t touch it.

[Starscream: The device must be inside that machine. Plant a Dark Energon Det-Pack on its power cable to activate it.

OS: The party spawns in the boss room. “New Objective, activate the energon bridge,” displays in the right hand corner for disappearing. Starscream flies forward and transforms, dropping to the platform below, and planting a detpack on it.]

C: So how much health do you have coming into this fight?

S: Full hel- full health.

C: Okay

[Thundercracker: My scans indicate that--

Starscream: I’ve had enough of your readings! Use Dark Energon and corrupt the machine!]

C: When- when we activate- when it activates the blades one of us needs to find Specs and guide her.

S: [laughs]

[OS: New Objective, “Destroy the energon bridge guardian,” displays in the bottom right corner of the screen. The same cinematic of the device activating from before plays.

Skywarp: Whoa… what’s happening?!

O: Or- just maybe follow Chezni, and see if that helps?

S: Uhh… I’ll try.

[Thundercracker: Precisely what I was afraid of. Cybertron is trying to purge itself of contamination.

Skywarp: What contamination?

Starscream: He means US, you idiot! Quit blabbing and destroy this nuisance!

CS: The party targets the guns.]

C: All right, I'll try and keep an eye on you.

[CS: Skywarp looks to his left and sees Thundercracker off in the distance.]

C: All right, there you are.

[CS: The machine drops its guns and Skywarp flies over next to Thundercracker.]

C: All right, Specs, come down here!

S: I'm following you.

C: All right. Now we're just gonna fly in this direction.

[SS: Skywarp takes off as the beams start, Thundercracker stalls and gets hit by one of them before angling himself upwards and hitting one of the upper beams.]

S: Well, shit.

[SS: Thundercracker drops to the lower level and begins flying in the same direction as the pink laserbeam.]

S: Yes I'm flying in the direction of the pink…

[SS: The beams deactivate.]

S: [quietly] Shit, god.

C: That worked!

S: Thank you. Ugh.

[SS: Thundercracker flies over to a glass cage thing with multiple energon cubes visible inside. He destroys the cage and picks up some health.]

S: Oh, there's health.

[Starscream: The machine is vulnerable! Focus your fire on the core!]

O: By all means take it.

C: Yeah, I don't need it.

[OS: Starscream and Skywarp take aim at the device’s power core. Once the health drops a bit, the machine closes back up and raises its guns. The party targets the guns.

Skywarp: Are we even hurting this thing?

Starscream: Not with your pathetic aim! Focus fire on those guns!]

S: Hmmm.

[Skywarp: Ha! He’s not so tough!

S: Ugh.

[OS: The machine drops it’s guns and activates it’s laserbeams. The party flies around to avoid them.

Megatron (COM): Starscream! What is taking so long!]

O: [snorts]

[Starscream: Just a slight delay...]

O: [laughs]

[Megatron (COM): I’m beginning to question your ability to deliver, Starscream. Do not disappoint me!]

S: The booty call.

O: The booty call is being a jerk! [laughs]

C: “Just freshening up, boss!”

[OS: The machine drops the laserbeams and exposes its power core and the party shoots it.]

O: [laughs, before continuing on in a screechy voice] I'm TRYING to not be cut in two right now!

C: Okay, one more round! One more round, right!?

[CS: The machine closes off the core.]

O: I do not have a ton of health left right now.

S: Um.

[Skywarp: What is it doing NOW?

Starscream: Who cares? Just be ready for it!

CS: Lava is visible rising through the glass floor portions of the room. Everything takes on an orangey-red glow.]

O: Oh dear.

[Thundercracker: Evasive maneuvers!]

S: Uh, shit. I don’t know what’s happening.

[SS: The glass floor panels begin to explode.]

C: Lava. Lava is happening.

S: Oh, goody.

[SS: The entire floor is covered with lava, except for a slightly raised ring around the base of the device.]

C: And missiles.

[SS: Fireballs come up out of the lava and target the party.]

S: Whilst I fly randomly, because I don't know what the hell I'm…

O: I mean, look, that's pretty much what we're doing.

C: Yeah, to be honest, I think that's to your benefit.

S: [laughs]

[OS: The machine generates the laserbeams again, but this time, both the upper and lower portions are stacked on top of each other and there’s easy way to move past them.]

S: Ah!

C: You’re kidding me.

S: Crap.

O: No, no-

[OS: Starscream hovers in place and is downed by fireballs.]

O: Oh damn it!

C: Are you down?

O: Uh, I’m down, I'm down.

C: All right, I…

[OS: The laserbeams begin moving and hit Starscream, cutting him in half. The game over screen displays.]

O: And then I got cut in half. Cool beans.

C: [laughs]

S: Okay.

O: I hope there was a checkpoint in the middle!

[SS: The party spawns in at the point of the fight where the lava starts to rise through the floor.]

C: [sarcastically] “I did nothing wrong!”

O: Uh-huh, up until that point I had not!

[SS: Thundercracker points towards the glass cages filled with energon.]

S: So- so- so you see the things that are down at the bottom? Those all have health in them.

[Skywarp: What is it doing NOW?

Starscream: Who cares? Just be ready for it!

Thundercracker: Evasive maneuvers!]

S: Those cages, with cubes.

C: Gotcha.

S: There's cages with cubes!

[SS: The lava begins rising.]

C & S: [laugh]

[CS: Skywarp stops flying and turns towards the cages.]

C: Oh, those things! I see, she's right there totally health in them. That’s a lot of health!

[CS: The glass floor panels begin to explode.]

O: I plan on- yeah.

[OS: The party flies around, trying to avoid the fireballs.]

S: I don't know what I'm supposed to do right now?

C: Just fly away.

S: [laugh]

C: We're waiting for the machine to open up.

C: Essentially we're just dodging the fireball missiles. Cuz, you know, Cybertron decided (logically speaking) the best way to purge viruses from its core-

[SS: The machine generates the double laserbeams, Thundercracker flies right though the center and takes damage but doesn’t immediately die. But then he accidently transforms and falls into the lava.]

S: Goddammit! [laughs]

C: -was to have fireball missiles!

[SS: The Mission Failed screen appears.]

S: I- I’m sorry. [laughs] That was me.

[SS: The party spawns at the battle midpoint.]

O: Hey, at least- at least we have a checkpoint, okay. At least we have a checkpoint.

[CS: Skywarp shoots some of the energon cages and picks up some health.

Skywarp: Now I’m all shiny again!]

C: [laughs] I’m all shiny again.

[Skywarp: What is it doing NOW?

Starscream: Who cares? Just be ready for it!

CS: The lava rises and the glass panels begin to break.

Thundercracker: Evasive maneuvers!

CS/OS/SS: The party flies around the machine, avoiding fireballs.]

C: Evasive maneuvers, otherwise known as flying around in a circle.

S: [laughs]

C: These are top-tier strategies right here.

S: Yeah, just fly randomly and- [laughs]

C: [laughs]

O: Pray.

C: It’s genius!

S: [laughs]

C: Wait, who are we praying to?

O: [attempting to imitate Skywarp] “Hey, boss! I’m a genius!”

[OS: The laserbeams activate.]

C: Uh, isn’t- who is it, Drift? Is Drift a god?

S: No…

O: No, Primus- Rung is, dear.

C: Rung, yeah.

[OS: The laserbeams begin to rotate.

Megatron (COM): Starscream! What is taking so long!

Starscream: Just a slight delay…

OS: Thundercracker is visible in the distance running into one of the laserbeams and getting cut in half.]

S: Oh, shit. Shit, AHHH!

[OS: The game over screen displays.]

S: I got cut in half.

O: [laughs] I saw that.

A: [laugh]

[OS: Owls selects, “Restart From Last Checkpoint,” and the party spawns at the previous checkpoint.]

C: Okay, so Specs, I'm sure you know this but just to go over it strategically.

S: [laughs]

[Skywarp: What is it doing NOW?

Starscream: Who cares? Just be ready for it!

CS: The lava rises and the explosions start happening. The party flies around avoiding fireballs.

Thundercracker: Evasive maneuvers!]

C: You're doing great dodging the fireballs, but eventually when those blades come out they start very slowly. You need to-

S: [still laughing] I knoooow!

C: Okay.

O: “I knoooow!”

C & S: [laughs]

O: What I’m getting from this is that Thundercracker is like, the worst flyer out of these three?

C: [laughs]

S: [laughs] Thundercracker is a scientist!

O: [laughs] So is Starscream, supposedly! Apparently, his flight is affected by how much he wants a booty call.

O & S: [laugh]

C: I mean-

S: Granted, you know, probably part of my issue is that my mouse is, you know, a rollerball one.

[SS: The laserbeams come up just as Thundercracker is flying, and he manages to fly through the middle, only taking minor damage. He stops once on the other side of the beam.]

C: Oh right, she's playing with that crazy rollerball- rollerball mouse. That would be pretty hard.

[SS: The dual laserbeams begin moving.

Megatron (COM): Starscream! What is taking so long!

Starscream: Just a slight delay...]

C: All right, now they're gonna start moving you need to slowly-

S: Yes! I am- I am zooming! [laughs]

O: I think you mean, “NYRMING”.

[Megatron (COM): I’m beginning to question your ability to deliver, Starscream. Do not disappoint me!

O: Oh shit!

[OS: The laserbeams stop, and Starscream goes through the middle of them.]

S: Oh shit! I can’t turn around!

[OS: The laserbeams begin moving in the opposite direction from before. Starscream turns around but off in the distance Thundercracker goes through them.]

S: Oh, it didn’t kill me. Shit!

[CS: Skywarp is attempting to get health from one of the energon cages but one of the laserbeams hits him and kills him.]

C: Are you kidding me?

[CS: The game over screen displays.]

O: ARGH! Which of us died!?

C: That was me.

O: Oh my god it was you!

C: Yup.

O: I blame you!

[CS: The party restarts at the checkpoint.]

O: I went through the middle of them and didn't die, earlier!

C: Yup.

O: I was so proud of myself and this is what I have to deal with!

C: [sighs] I am so sorry.

[Skywarp: What is it doing NOW?

Starscream: Who cares? Just be ready for it!]

S: And be aware that there is, in fact, Energon, or heal.

[OS: The lava begins to rise and blow up the glass panels below. The party flies around avoiding fireballs.

Thundercracker: Evasive maneuvers!]

C: Yeah, no, that’s actually what got me killed.

O: That doesn’t help when you just get cut in half.

C: Um, I went in for the Energon and then, uh...

S: Then you died.

C: Yep.

S: [laughs] That happened to me. That was like, not the most recent death but…

O: I did not need to get hit by the fireballs, thank you!

S: Good-bye, fireballs! [laughs]

C: [laughs]

S: [laughs] Sorry, for some reason I always find it really amusing when- when I die.

[SS: The laserbeams come up and Thundercracker isn’t able to stop in time and goes through them and then turns around and goes through them again, dropping his health below one bar.]

S: Ahhh! Shhhit.

[SS: The laserbeams start moving as Thundercracker shoots one of the cages and grabs some energon.

Megatron (COM): Starscream! What is taking so long!]

C: Okay, so they're gonna go clockwise and then when they turn off they go counterclockwise.

[SS: One of the laserbeams hits Thundercracker, but then stop. Thundercracker turns around and starts heading the other direction.

Starscream: Just a slight delay...]

Megatron (COM): I’m beginning to question your ability to deliver, Starscream. Do not disappoint me!]

S: Oh, okay, that happened.

C: Now turn around and go the other way.

[CS: The laserbeams begin moving in the opposite direction.]

C: And I don't know what they're gonna do after this you're on your own.

S: I’m gonna follow- ah!

[CS: Thundercracker runs into Skywarp. The two turn around and begin to head the other direction.]

C: This isn’t bumper jets!

[OS: The beams split up again, with the top and bottom moving in different directions. The two halves line up when they stop, Starscream tries to bank but accidentally transforms instead, falling into the lava.]

O: Oh shit- ARGHHH!

[OS: The game over screen displays.]

O: Dammit.

C: WELL-

O: Wait-

[OS: Owls selects Load from last checkpoint.]

C: Look who died!

O: Shut up.

S: [laughs]

O: Just shut up.

[OS: The party restarts at the checkpoint.]

C: Ahh, this is fun, isn’t this fun?

O: Shut up.

C: It is fun, I’m gla- I’m glad to be a part of this!

O: Shut up! [laughs]

[OS: New Objective, “Destroy the energon bridge guardian,” displays in the bottom right corner of the screen.

Skywarp: What is it doing NOW?

Starscream: Who cares? Just be ready for it!]

S: I’m-

C: [laughs]

S: Pre-destroying shit now.

[Thundercracker: Evasive maneuvers!

SS: The lava rises and begins to destroy the glass panels. The party flies around, avoiding fireballs.]

C: You gotta admit though, if these three guys were just normal scientists who decided to wake up one day and do all this, that's pretty badass.

S: Decide to just be evil.

O: Oh no!

[OS: Starscream is flying around near the lava with very little health. He shoots an energon cage and picks up some health.]

C: No, well, that and fly down here and do all this crazy stuff.

S: Yeah.

[OS: The dual laserbeams appear.]

S: Oh! Shhhit.

C: Oh crap!

C: I flew right into those blades.

S: Uh, shit.

[Megatron (COM): Starscream! What is taking so long!

S: Okie dokie.

[OS: The beams begin moving.

Starscream: Just a slight delay...]

O: [snorts]

Megatron (COM): I’m beginning to question your ability to deliver, Starscream. Do not disappoint me!

OS: The blades reverse direction.]

O: [snorts] I'm sorry, I don't know why I find that funny, but I do. [laughs]

S: Egh!

[SS: The top and bottom blades begin moving in opposite directions.]

S: It's like, I must now move!

[SS: Thundercracker boosts forward as the blades stop, narrowly missing them.]

S: But not too fast! Shit!

[SS: The blades disappear and the machine exposes it’s core.]

C: We did it! We did it! Shoot that core!

[Starscream: The machine is vulnerable! Focus your fire on the core!

OS: The core is destroyed.]

O: Oh thank freakin’ god!

S: Phew. Fuck!

[OS: The machine folds in on itself and a black claw like mechanical things come out of the middle, seemingly infecting the lava with dark energon. One of the arms goes up through the ceiling creating a hole.

Skywarp: Wait! Something’s happening!

Starscream: YES! It’s crumbling before the MIGHT of STARSCREAM!]

O: Is that what we're calling this?

[Starscream: To the surface, Decepticons!

OS: New Objective, “Escape to the surface,” displays in the bottom right corner of the screen.]

S: Uh, I guess we're supposed to go up there?

[OS: Starscream enters the tunnel from the created hole. Dark energon appears to be causing black spikey structures to grow up through the tunnel as the party flies upwards.]

S: Uh, okay.

[Skywarp: The machine is out of control!

Thundercracker: It must be a side effect of the Dark Energon!]

C: Great shot kid, that was one in a million.

O: [snorts]

C: [laughs]

C: I can’t remember any of the other lines.

[OS: The party continues to fly upwards.]

S: Sorry, I only- I only sorta know where I’m-

O: Where you’re going?

C: Just fly up. It's the Death Star, we're getting out of this thing.

[OS: An in-game cinematic plays, as the 3 Seekers exit to the surface of Cybertron, the black growths continue to grow into a platform below. A large machine on 4 spider like legs begins to move.

Skywarp: We’ve done it! The Energon Bridge is activating!]

S: It’s elephant toothpaste.

C: What!?

S: [laughs]

[Note: If you are as confused as we were this is elephant toothpaste. ~O]

[OS: The Seekers transform, landing on a nearby platform.

Thundercracker: Incredible. The Energon Bridge is active once more.]

C: That's a bridge!? That looks like a giant spider!

S: Kind of.

[Starscream: Quiet! You’re ruining my moment of Glory! Soon, my Orbital Station will be at full power!]

O: [screechy voice] Shut up twos! A ten is talking! [laughs]

C: [laughs]

[Megatron: YOUR orbital station, Starscream? Surely you mean MINE.

O: [snorts]

[Megatron: I see you have finally succeeded in the simple task I gave you. Perhaps you’re not as worthless as I thought. Report back to base--at once!

OS: The spider device activates, bringing energon up from below and sending it upwards towards the orbital station. The three Seekers take to the air flying back to base.]

O: [volume has been reduced] Oww!

[A cinematic plays - the beam of energon bounces around between what appears to be multiple satellites before reaching the orbital station from the first chapter. Soundwave gestures to the now online machinery.

Soundwave: All systems online. Dark Energon manufacturing at optimal efficiency.]

S: Okay, so is that the end of that map?

O: I think so, but…

[Megatron walks up beside Soundwave.

Megatron: Now I can introduce Dark Energon into the planet’s core...and as it spreads throughout Cybertron, my power shall travel with it!

Soundwave: Entrance to the planet core is heavily shielded behind the Omega Gate.

Megatron: I will acquire the key. We launch a full scale assault of Iacon IMMEDIATELY. And wipe Zeta Prime and his pathetic Autobots off the face of the planet.

Megatron takes a holographic Cybertron in his hands and then crushes it.

The chapter ends, bringing everyone back to the main menu.]

C: I don't want to be a jet anymore!

O: Well, you don't have to be that's the only chapter with jets in it.

[Note: Except the Autobot chapter later, whoops. ~O]

C: Okay, good, I like my feet on the ground.

O: Um, I-I think probably after this you'll be Soundwave.

C: Wait, I'll be Soundwave and not you?

O: Uh, no, because uh, Soundwave’s the healer. Do you want me healing? The answer is no. I want my fusion cannon. [laughs]

C: Oh, right, right, right.

O: [laughs] I want my fusion cannon, hello! Which is funny, because I actually prefer Soundwave in this game. Like, character wise, to Megatron.

C: I make a good healer. [indignantly] I'm a- I'm a good healer!

O: [snorts] I didn't say you weren't, I said I was a bad one! [laughs] So, to summarize thus far: We've had a crack addict take over a space station to get to space crack. We have had the crack addict’s new booty er, you know, boyfriend uh, arm candy? I don’t know. Uh, going into the planet’s core for a booty call in order to get that space crack running through the entire planet. Does that sum it up? [laughs]

[Note: The Seekers were underground but not truly in Cybetron’s core. ~O]

C: I believe it does.

S: Scientist wants to impress his new booty call, so off he went with his two most dearly detested buddies. Or something.

O: Apparently? Co-workers, that were apparently down for this? I don't know.

A: [laugh]

C: They’re his literal- eh, hold on- wa- wa- wait, no. They’re his wing-men? Aha!

O: ARGH! I’m gonna go in the bedroom and throw something at you!

C: [laughs]

O: Okay, well, um, I think that rather nicely summarizes it. Uh, next time we’ll do chapter 3: Iacon Destroyed. Till next time, I'm Owls.

S: I'm Specs.

C: I'm Chezni.

O: And thanks for watching, bye!

S: Bye!

#transcript #wfc #war for cybertron #wfc episode 2 #transformers wfc #video games #let's play

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fireinmywoods · 5 years

Note

I have no clue if you're the right person to ask this, but I've been wondering for a while now whether drilling through the center of a planet would really make it implode the way Vulcan did.

I may not be the right person to ask this - dammit, Anon, I’m a public health professional, not a geologist/astrophysicist! - but I am completely delighted that you did ask. Let’s give this a shot.

Theoretically, I don’t see why it would - though drilling to a planetary core is currently so far out of our reach that it’s hard to say for sure what effects a successful such process might have. To put this in perspective, the very deepest anyone has ever been able to drill into Earth is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, for which it took some very smart and determined people 20 years to make it a measly 12.26 km (7.62 miles) down, or about 0.02% of the way to the core. They only made it a third of the way through just that part of the crust! And the hole was only 9 inches wide at the bottom! Did I mention this took 20 years???

The problem is that the Earth is just too damn hot. Humanity can and does throw our best minds and most cutting-edge equipment into getting just a little farther down - but with every exhausting, hard-won inch, the pressure and temperature increase exponentially. And the hotter things are, the more liquid they are, which means that even if we can somehow keep our tools from melting, we have a hell of a time keeping a hole open long enough to drill on a little farther. Imagine trying to drill a tunnel down through a piping-hot pot of soup. Also, the pot is 4,000 miles deep. Good luck to you.

So I don’t know when we’ll be able to drill down even just into the upper mantle, or if it’s something we can physically achieve. The core itself? Forget it. At the risk of sounding like one of those old-timey skeptics famous for being hilariously wrong about what the future holds - The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty! This “telephone” has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication! - I truly can’t imagine the technique or technology required to accomplish such a thing. Maybe we’ll pull it off someday! Fuck if I know how!

ANYWAY. Back to Star Trek, that bastion of evidence-based scientific practice.

All of the above is sort of a moot point, because the destruction of Vulcan wasn’t said to be caused by the drilling itself. The purpose of the drilling was to provide a path for that tiny bit of “red matter” to get to the planet’s core and then cause the implosion by creating a singularity.

I...I still have questions.

What is red matter’s deal? Once a little drop is separated from the Big Ball of Oh Shit and the safety of the containment field, why doesn’t it just start consuming everything around it? This gets hand-waved in the novelization, as apparently red matter’s ~destructive properties~ are “magnified by intense heat and pressurization” - but as we just discussed, things get pretty damn hot and pressurized just a few miles beneath the surface of a terrestrial planet, so how could that little blob of red matter have traveled safely allllll the way down the drilled hole into the core before it suddenly decided to start doing its thing? And once it does start doing its thing, why would it stop once it consumes Vulcan’s surface? Singularities are not known for their precision and respect for boundaries. How does this crap work????

#lukewarm take: star trek writers make wacky decisions for the sake of advancing the plot.#i also don't understand how most of starfleet's medical technology works #because if we knew how it worked we'd already have it #this presents me with quite a challenge when i'm trying to imagine what medicine will look like two centuries from now #i mean #two centuries BEFORE now doctors flat-out refused to consider the possibility #that washing your hands in between wiping your ass and delivering a baby might have an impact on birth outcomes and maternal mortality #so my gut tells me that me and my colleagues are probably real fuckin' wrong about SOMETHING #we just don't know what yet #what's our version of miasma theory i wonder?#the common wisdom that is so incredibly off the mark that we're gonna get read to filth by future generations for ever entertaining it #dear 23rd century smart people: WE'RE SORRY. WE'RE DOING OUR BEST.#anyway ty anon for the ask! it was hilariously out of left field and i loved giving you this rambling barely-coherent answer!#ask #anon #star trek #aos

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tumblingxelian · 6 years

Text

Chance Encounters

Summary: On a cold winter night, a young Emerald Sustrai chooses a mysterious mark and the ripples that follow could change the world. (Oneshot)

Emerald hated the winter.

Whatever measly advantage the chaos of rain might give to a pickpocket was undercut by everything else. Be it how much more closed off people were in winter with too many layers and pockets to easily pick. Or worse, the howling winds and freezing snow that always killed off so many of those without the luxury of somewhere to hide.

Emerald repressed a familiar churning in her gut. Images flashing of those she'd found over the years with frozen skin, bodies tough like rock with empty, glassy eyes.

Winter was always a nightmare, but that just meant she had to work harder if she wanted to see the next summer.

'Not that, that’s easy with everyone cowering inside,' she seethed, looking at the nearly empty streets of Mistral.

Snow once white was now crushed and dirtied by hundreds of stamping feet that had long since fled back in doors. The clouds hung high above just waiting to dispense another wave of chilly death. But at least for now all she needed to contend with was the harsh winds that made her shiver.

Emerald hugged her thin brown jacket to her chest as she trailed behind one of the few people still out on Mistral's streets.

'Well, one of the only people not armed,' Emerald thought, reflecting on the muggers and enforcers that scuttled about all across the place. She'd not try her luck against them, Emerald liked having all her limbs attached.

Her target was tall and fairly broad she thought, wearing a black hooded coat that went down to their knees with a red in-layer, white pants and black flats. None of it looked fancy or glamorous enough for them to be of note, let alone dangerous, so Emerald pushed forward, slowly gaining on the walker.

With teeth grit and brief spell of dizziness she cast her mind out and saw the world from two side. She nearly wobbled over as the two disjointed visions clashed but she clenched her fists, grounded herself and pushed on. Control regained she smirked, 'They're using a Scroll, good, easy money,' she thought.

Had she used this chance to see what her mark was looking at on the phone, Emerald may have changed her mind about this mark, but she had not and so she did not.

It took another two minutes of slowly gaining on them before Emerald was near her goal. She could feel the coat flaps brush against her legs as she reached into the thickest pocket and-

Her marks vision spun.

Emerald's mind whirled.

She tried to throw herself back only to find her wrists snatched up by a rough hand. Her gaze shot up to her captors eyes and she saw a flattened set of tiger ears.

'Dammit, no wonder she heard me!'

Emerald opened her mouth to-

“Pickpockets rely on subtly,” Her captor said coolly, “Make a scene to get away and if anyone even notices, you will be remembered.”

Mouth snapping shut, Emerald's free hand shot towards the pistol on her back.

Only to freeze as her captor used her free hand to pull something from her coat and... Drape it around her neck.

Warm, soft cotton pressed against her shaking skin as the lavender scarf was fastened into place in one swift motion too fast for Emerald to see.

“What?” she snapped, only to find the coat draped over her shoulders as well, casting off the chill that left her body covered in goosebumps.

“If you're to be out cutting purses all night at least this way you can be warmer.” Their voice was firm, with an almost refined air of confidence and power. Yet there was an undercurrent of rough sharpness Emerald couldn't identify.

Finally able to see her captor's form Emerald inwardly cursed. Those intricate tiger stripe tattoos, the hip pouches, close fitting armor, tough leathers and lean muscles, she'd picked a huntress!?

She started to tug herself away and the Faunus slowly let her go.

“I don't want your help,” Emerald snapped, even as she dipped deeper into the jacket, feeling its base scraping on the ground.

The Faunus shrugged, “Then don't take it, but if you are hungry I know a noodle place near here. You can watch them prepare your meal if it puts your mind at ease.”

Emerald bristled and took another step back.

The Faunus's posture remained loose and calm, sharp features relaxed and almost distant but with a faint sadness to them.

“I've no interest in coercing you into some sordid arrangement with myself or anyone else,” they said bluntly. “Follow me if you wish, I'll comp you a meal. If not, there is two hundred Lien in the right breast pocket, use it however you wish, child.”

With that, they turned and in a few quick, strong strides vanished into an alleyway.

Emerald stood for a moment, torn, then a cold wind blew, making her hug the heavy jacket to herself as her stomach rumbled.

Pulling the jacket up so it no longer dragged on the ground she raced after the Faunus.

Following the towering Faunus through a string of half familiar alleyways, Emerald was putting together she had perhaps not targeted a Huntress. Or if they had been they weren't a Huntress anymore. 'Normal gangs never let Faunus gather up much power, they're more useful for shakedowns and drugs than as gunners but...'

Emerald's train of thought was lost as wondrous aromas filled her senses. Beef, chicken scalding hot oils and fried vegetables, the clatter of kitchenware ringing in h er mind making her aching tummy rumble. Emerald couldn't stop herself from licking her lips.

Still though, she watched cautiously as the Faunus tapped on the back entrance to the noodle house.

“This store is protected,” answered a soft voice.

“I know sir, but I've a little one with me who could use a warm meal,” the Faunus answered.

The was a sharp gasp on the other side and with a heavy thunk a latch was undone and the door opened. Revealing an old Faunus with dark black hair and spikes lining much of their body like a porcupine.

The chefs smile seemed wide and hearty, “Of course, please both of you come in. Sorry I wasn't expecting any more visitors like yourself tonight.

“Entirely my fault," Emerald's escort answered, before gesturing her towards the door, “Coming in? You can eat out here if you feel safer.”

Shaking her head, and pulling the scarf up to hide much of her face, hoping they wouldn't notice her humanity with the Faunu's coat covering her scent, Emerald slipped into the kitchen.

There was a smattering of jolly cheered and greeting ringing out from the kitchen and the counter-top, bring a smile to her escorts face. However nothing broke them from their path as they guided Emerald to a corner packed with half empty boxes. Dropping from her aching legs Emerald sighed as she pressed herself up against the wall her escort leaned against.

“Allergies, preferences?” the chef asked.

Emerald shook her head.

“Something nutritious, it's been a rough winter,” her escort added.

The chef nodded and began dicing up a mix of vegetables and some mince Emerald didn't recognize. “Hard time of year to be out in the cold,” the chef added, sending her a tired smile.

Emerald nodded but kept her head low, only murmuring a thank you when passed a steam bowl of broth and a pair of chopsticks.

Her eyes widened, her mouth watered and without a second thought she pulled down the scarf and hunched over the meal. Shoveling noodles into her mouth, barely careful enough not to rush herself into being sick.

She half listened to the conversations taking place, just in case they were exchanging prices on her, but nothing of the sort came.

Instead she overheard chatter about people's rent, animated discussions about the recent Vytal Tournament. Along with complaints about Menagerie not receiving an invitation. Along with veiled references to Mistral's ever present gang population that all business owners needed be wary of.

As Emerald sculled her third glass of water, she heard her escort asking the chef about the bill.

“No, no, please I'm happy to help and you've done more than enough for me already,” he assured.

“I do not act for favors, Russ. Please take fair compensation for your work. If nothing else you can buy something nice for Lavender, the school year is starting up, isn't it?” the Faunus answered, her previously rough tone softened and faintly warm.

Grinning ruefully, Russ took the Lien. “Well you are right there, though she's more interesting in joining," he waved his hand vaguely.

Her escort chuckled, “So spirited, I admire that, of course, if we're lucky in a few years she'd need not consider it.”

“That is the dream,” Russ answered, before glancing to Emerald, “And please feel free to come back any time,” he added with a bow to them both.

Emerald's escort bowed back and Emerald hastened to mimic the gesture murmuring a quiet thanks as she followed the tiger Faunus back into the alleyway.

She had no idea what to do with herself, people had taken pity once or twice before but it always amounted to nothing more than a meal or a night on a couch, if she was lucky. She had no reason to expect any more from this one than any other, when the Faunus looked over her shoulder and spoke.

“What will you do with yourself now?” she asked plainly.

Emerald shrugged, “Is it your concern?”

The Faunus chuckled, “Not if you don't want it to be.”

Huffing, she said, “Look, thanks, but I'm not signing on with some cartel or syndicate, so-”

She laughed, deep and rough before adding, “I'm no gangster child.” With a flashy turn she rapped her knuckles against a trio of claw marks on the back of the restaurants wall.

Emerald's eyes snapped open as the pieces fell into place. 'Of course, the only group of Faunus with enough money and power to throw down with gangs is the White Fang!?'

Jaw cracking in her cheeks as she tried to make it work, Emerald sputtered, “You... You're,” She motioned to the claw marks on the bricks, “one of them. Why would you help me?”

the Faunus's smirk ebbed as she returned to her seemingly default stern state and answered. “My organization fights for justice and equality in a world that hates and exploits us. That does not however leave me bereft of empathy for others who fall through cracks in the same system that stamps upon my people's backs.”

She held out a striped hand to Emerald and continued, “You should never have been left to your own devices but you were. What I offer you is simple, a new chance at life, training, lodging and food. If you do not want this, then I will accept it. Someone with your Semblance and weapons could likely qualify for a combat school-”

Emerald wanted to spit at the thought.

“But I imagine you know what those are like,” she added at her souring expression. With a loose shrug, Sienna said, “I'll not rob your choice from you,” a card slipped into her hand with a number written on it. “I merely ask that you think it over, ch-”

Emerald reached out and clasped Sienna's hand and said, “My name is Emerald, Emerald Sustrai.”

The Faunus grinned as they shook and said, “I am Sienna Khan, High Leader of the White Fang.”

Notes:

So I hope that was an enjoyable read, if so please feel free to lime, comment or reblog :D

This idea may be part of a wider concept involving a collaborator Yang and some other stuff but for the moment its stand alone.

Minor world building notes, gangs are more interested in exploiting than recruiting Faunus and are largely human run.

Sienna Khan’s White Fang provides protection to Faunus businesses suffering shake downs and threats from gangs and police.

I left Emerald’s age pretty vague, but she’s anywhere between 13 and 16.

One thing I tried to emphasize here was that Emerald is used to being let down by people or having them try to take advantage of or hurt her. And what’s more, that Sienna can see this and understands it, hence why she tried so hard to avoid pressuring Emerald or making her go anywhere.

#RWBY #Fanfic #oneshot #Emerald Sustrai #Sienna Khan

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fakevixxthings · 6 years

Note

3 + 58 + Hyukbin pls!

3. Welcome back. Now fucking help me.

58. If I die, I’m going to haunt you.

I honestly hope you aren’t too disappointed with this

“LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” Jaehwan yelled from the other end of the house, where his and Wonshik’s team had laid their camp. Pillows were stolen to build forts and lots were drawn to decide teams for this momentous occassion. A competition for honour. A battle to the death. It was war.

Hyuk and Hongbin sat in the safety of their fort that was a second away from collapsing, their nerf guns at the ready.

Hongbin checked Hyuk’s gun and noticed something crucial missing, before using his own to shoot a plastic pellet right in the back of the younger’s head. Hyuk reached up to rub the injured spot instinctively, turning to face the older with an offended expression. He glared at him and was about to say something when Hongbin interrupted him.

“You idiot. You didn’t put your bullets in the damn gun. It’s empty. What are you going to shoot with now?” Hongbin spat out in a rush, visibly exasperated.

Hyuk didn’t have any time to reply when they heard a soft tap right outside their fort. They stuck their heads out to see both Jaehwan and Wonshik with pillows as shields, a few metres away, raising their nerf guns to fire at them. Hongbin barely managed to grab the bullet that hit their fort before hiding behind the safety of the pillows as a plastic bullet whizzed past where his head used to be. He loaded the lonely bullet into Hyuk’s gun just as the younger fell backwards, a blue pellet wedged in his hair. Hongbin took that one for Hyuk’s gun as well.

The incessant shooting stopped, and Hongbin tossed the gun with the measly two bullets towards Hyuk, nodding at him as he got ready to attack the enemies who were discussing their battle plan. Or they could be making out. Behind the pillows that hid their faces, Hongbin couldn’t really tell. He was about to charge when Hyuk stopped him.

“Hold on a second. I have to pee.”

“What?! In the middle of a battle?” Hongbin began to protest, pulling Hyuk back into the fort as the younger tried to escape but soon giving up at the threat of Hyuk having to go right where he was standing. At their pillow fort. Gross. That would’ve been horrible because first, the smell would not be pleasing. Second, their camp had been built from Hakyeon and Taekwoon’s pillows and God knows what the two would do to him if he let that happen. Not that he thought Hyuk would actually do it, hopefully. But they’d probably murder him on the spot.

He let Sanghyuk go, but not without warning. “If I die, I’m going to come back to haunt you, so you better be back quick. That also doesn’t give you a free pass to die either or I’ll really kill you for leaving me here alone against that screeching maniac and his sidekick.”

“Alright. I’ll take my time then” Hyuk retorted with a smirk before dodging the flying orange projectiles coming at him and running towards the toilet that was thankfully, close to where their station was. Hongbin could spare one bullet, he thought, as he shot one right at Hyuk.

It missed.

“You’re alone now! Surrender and admit defeat!” Wonshik announced from where he was standing.

“Also we found your pile of extra bullets and we took them” Jaehwan added, laughing at the misfortune Hongbin’s now one man team.

Dammit. Now they had extra ammunition.

Hongbin heard more weak taps as the duo shot at his fort. The tiny plastic pieces were no match for the pillows he’d set up, so it didn’t worry him at first, but that wouldn’t stop them from just completely forgoing the guns and destroying his fort with their good old hands and feet.

He heard a few shouts of “Ow!” and “Don’t shoot there, idiots!” as Hyuk came stumbling back into their barely standing fort with some bullets in hand and a huge grin on his face.

“Welcome back. Now fucking help me.” Hongbin demanded, as he began haphazardly helping Hyuk cram the new ammunition into his gun, reaching out of the fort for a second to gather all the wasted bullets that were uselessly shot at the pillow walls that covered him. Idiots. Now he had more things to shoot with.

Hyuk was barely finished loading his gun when Hongbin bulldozed through their ugly fort, grabbing a pillow with one hand. Hyuk sat where he was, stunned, until he regained his senses and decided to follow the older in his rampage. He shot furiously at Jaehwan and Wonshik until he saw Hongbin ditch his gun out of the corner of his eye.

“Hongbin, what the-“ Hyuk stopped in his tracks as Hongbin raised the pillow above his head, screaming like a banshee as he raced towards towards the enemies, looking like he was ready to pummel through them like he did to their crappy fort. Hyuk gave up shooting to double over in laughter instead as he saw the expressions of pure terror on the faces of the older two as they started to back away from the madman rushing toward them. Their measly bullets were useless now.

Jaehwan screeched as he and Wonshik crashed onto the floor from the force of Hongbin the Lunatic colliding against them. Hyuk could’ve sworn he almost went deaf at the sound. He finally managed to control his laughter as he scooted over to the trio lying in a heap on the floor, Hongbin trying to beat the life out of the Jaehwan and Wonshik with the soft pillow.

“I! Win! Peasants!” Hongbin shouted with each hit he brought down on the two in front of him. “On my own! I renounce Hyuk from my team! You all owe me ice cream!” He breathed out as he stopped assaulting the other two on the floor. Their faces were flushed and they were panting, but it was exhilarating.

It was Hyuk’s turn to aim a bullet at Hongbin’s head.

“Ow.”

“You can’t just do that, idiot. First of all, you cheated. And secondly, I’m part of your team so I win and I deserve ice cream too.” Before Hongbin could protest, Hyuk tossed his gun away and slumped onto the pile on the floor, earning a few grunts and complaints.

Hyuk shifted so he lay on Hongbin’s stomach, feeling its rise and fall as the older tried to catch his breath and calm down from the rush of adrenaline. Hyuk smiled up at him as he smiled back.

“Shut up, idiot.”

All four men lying on the floor stopped moving as they heard the door of their house open. Taekwoon’s head popped in before he froze at the entrance, eyeing the mess the house was in. Hakyeon stood behind him, oblivious to the scattered bullets and pillows as he complained about Taekwoon not moving, pushing him away from the door so he could enter.

Hongbin knew from the moment Hakyeon set his eyes on the disaster of a living room that they were in for it.

“Oh fuck.”

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isthemedia · 6 years

Text

Ao3 Link

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

A hero would make sure the kids stay safe. That's what Eraser thought at least.

All the while Hizashi finds something that lets him have a more, personal, peek into what to QAP was about. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 7

"Yaoyorozu-san, are you going to be alright?" Midoriya asked, still a bit shaken up from the sudden encounter, but felt himself smile when she nodded.

"There aren’t as many people out but there are still some," Todoroki pointed out.

"So we’ll still need to be cautious, and try to not draw any attention to ourselves," the creation user added.

"So your friend was taken?" Eraser asked.

Midoriya nodded. "H-he was...I...we need save him."

"It's what a hero would do?" He asked; that was the reason for it right? Heroes save people after all.

The boy looked up to him. "It's what a friend would do."

He blinked. Well then...maybe these kids might be able to answer him somethings after all.

"We need to get back on track," Kirishima insisted.

"What should we do?" Yaoyorozu asked.

Midoriya glanced over. "Let’s try and see if we can head around to the back. This is all we got. We need to look into it further," he looked up to Eraser. "I-if you want we can part ways--"

"You've gotten me curious..." he began. "I want to see how this plays out now"

Midoriya didn't feel like he should argue, so he just nodded. "This way." He urged as he leaded them across the way, and through a narrow opening. It was too small to be an alleyway, but too large to be a simple oversight.

"It’s...so narrow. I’m afraid I’m going to get stuck."

"You're fine. Anything smaller than 24 cm is when you should start to be concerned," he knew that all too well. He’d find any possible nook and cranny to squeeze through in hopes of escaping Iwasaki Medical.

She looked back to the eraser user. To anyone else, the reply might have sounded creepily intimidating, but to her it was a comfort. She yelped as she ran into Kirishima, as the boys suddenly stopped in front of them.

"Ah, we should be able to see inside at that height," the green haired boy said as he pointed to a ledge.

Eraser glanced up. Seemed logical. He could even jump up there if need be.

"Will we be able to see anything in this darkness?"

"Todoroki-san I can make a night vision scope--"

"Wait Yaoyorozu," the redhead cut her off. "I...I actually brought one with me."

Seemed like they had an idea what to expect from the start. Should he be concerned or impressed? He really couldn’t tell.

"Alright," Todoroki began. "Midoriya and Kirishima look through it. Iida and I will carry you on our shoulders."

"...could you still make them?" Eraser asked. "I can jump up there myself and look in."

"Ah…" she hesitated. "Todoroki-san?"

The boy looked over and nodded."We'll need as many eyes in to see what might be inside."

She nodded. Eraser didn't want to show his awe at her ability. It was highly impressive. She had a lot of potential in her future.

The boys struggled to climb onto one another.

"Ah, h-here," she handed the night vision scopes to him.

"Thank you," he gave a slight bow as he took them, and leapt up, landing and balanced himself on the ledge.

"Whoa....so manly," the redhead whispered.

"Kirishima, what’s inside?" the Tenya asked.

"Oh um..."

"It's fairly dirty...mostly dust," Eraser stated.

"Whoa yeah, he's right. It's like way dirty," the redhead agreed. "I really don’t see anythin--" The the redhead froze and jerked back, almost losing his balance.

Eraser's hand shot out to balance him. What did he see?

"In the back--Mi-Midoriya, look in the back," the redhead urged as he handed the other boy the scope. Hands shaking as he did.

He let the boy go once he figured he was balanced well enough and took a look. His eyes widened as he felt a phantom pain throb in his elbow.

"N-no way...are those….Nomus?!"

His throat was dry, and he felt tired. Hizashi sighed as he leaned back against the door. Fuuuuuck he was such an idiot. This was bad...he could only hope that Eraser would return, and hoped he’d realize something was amiss.

His head thumped back against the door as he closed his eyes. Dammit.What was he going to do? The door wouldn’t budge.

There was no signal in this damn place either. And it didn’t help his was at a measly 12%.

Growling some he pushed himself up to his feet. There had to be something he could do! He just couldn’t sit here! Maybe there was some escape route. If this WAS Eraser’s room, he was sure the guy must’ve made some kind of attempt on escaping.

He made his way around the small room...cell? Yeah this felt way more like a cell. Hands tracing along the uneven wall. Something gave way under his hand.

Aha!

However it was a short lived victory, it was such a small space. He shifted and moved the loose piece of the wall to see a small dug out section. It was covered in dust much like the rest of the room.

Silently he prayed there were no cobwebs as he reached in. He felt something inside...a book?

Carefully he pulled it out. A little journal. He blew away the dust. It was simple, and the cover was aged as were the pages. There was a bit of an odor, but it wasn’t unbearable. Opening it carefully. The writing was messy...almost childish.

His eyes scanned the page.

I just wanted to be a hero.

I know I can be strong.

But my Quirk isn’t good enough.

IT’S NOT FAIR!

I tried so hard! But I still failed.

They told me I could be a hero here.

I don’t need that dumb school.

I’m going to be a hero here!

Hizashi blinked as he reread the little entry again. No way. Was this...was this-- “Eraser’s?”

He found himself settling down on the floor as he read on. All thoughts of trying to find a way being pushed aside.

Eraser knew they should probably be moving. Getting as far away from here as possible. Those things...those things! This could get messy and dangerous very fast.

There was a sound from behind them.

They all looked to see something lift a car up, high above the rooftops, before coming down just as fast with such force.

He crouched low as covered his face from the gust of wind that was kicked up from the stomp swept through the little passageway; blowing away part of the kids’ disguises.

Mt. Lady? He glanced back over and the building was now in ruins. He hopped down back by the kids, and kept low.

“No way, the heroes were moving way before we were," Tenya observed. He watched as a wave of ease washed over the kids. Even he felt it. “We should fall back as well, let the heroes take it from here.”

“I agree with Iida-san,” the creation user said. “And if All Might is there, then there’s even more reason to rest easy.”

He sighed. Even though his plans for the night was placed on hold, he did have to admit, that it was almost worth it.

He...almost felt a bit, heroic? Making sure these kids kept safe and--

The sound of footsteps broke his thoughts...

And a voice. A voice that sent a chill up his spine. The kids also seemed to be frozen in fear, as the power that voice carried.

He didn’t dare to chance a glance over the wall that was hiding them.

Fear.

Fear was what made a villain a villain.

That was the only thing that he could think of at the moment. His stomach felt like it was twisting in knots. He only felt this one before.

He clenched his eyes shut, trying to forget the memory that wanted to rise up. H-he couldn't have that happen. Not now. Not Now!

Then there was a sudden of splashing of water; if had him jump and same with the kids.

“Dammit,” a voice coughed. “What the hell?!”

‘Kaachan!’ Midoriya thought frantically. They had to get Kaachan. They had to get him. He was right there. He-he was in reach again!

They had to save hi--

“Ah, so you came after all.”

Eraser felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Di-did he know they were there? Could he sense them?

That feeling of helplessness was starting to fill him.

“I’ll have you return everything! All For One!” the hero declared.

“Will you kill me again, All Might?” the other taunted.

All Might? What was he--

“Iida-kun. Everyone!”

That tone of voice. He looked to the boy. Was he really going to try and fight?

“You can’t Midoriya-kun!”

If the boy did...it could ruin any hope he had for a future. He opened his mouth to agree with the other boy.

“No I...there’s a way! A way that won’t involve us fighting that will let us leave this place, but still save Kacchan.”

He sounded so sure. So positive. "What is it?" The eraser user just couldn't help it. He had to know what the boy was thinking.

#erasermic #maizawa #villain!Aizawa #aizawa shouta #eraserhead #villain!eraserhead #hizashi yamada #present mic #What do I Dream to be?

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scriveyner · 7 years

Text

shining like the stars, p99

“So,” Hunk said, his face coming up on the screen to Lance’s left. “Who wants to say it? I don’t want to be the one who says it, I always say it and then you all make fun of me.”

Read on AO3 or continue after the jump:

“Hunk,” Shiro said firmly through the comm. Lance smirked a little, because it was the slightly-exasperated tone of voice that he knew all too well and for once it wasn’t directed at him. “No one needs to say anything.”

“Really? Because I’m really feeling it.”

“Hunk, buddy,” Lance said. “It’s fine. Things are cool.” He leaned forward in his chair, hands resting on the controls of the Blue Lion, and things felt … normal. So normal … well, as normal as things could be when you were flying a giant, frighteningly sentient ancient alien weapon through relatively uncharted waters in the hopes of luring out the Galra cruiser that had jumped into system six hours ago and had yet to engage. It was refreshing to be back in action, just him and Blue - okay, and everyone else, too.

“Still no transmissions from the cruiser?” Shiro asked, and Allura’s voice came through the comm.

“Nothing. They’re sitting just beyond the planetisimal cloud.” Allura sounded just barely worried. They had lain in wait for two days, not moving from the system of their initial wormhole jump based on Shiro’s gut feeling that they were being followed. It did seem strange that the Galra hadn’t pursued them immediately, but they had wormholed out of the system, and apparently caused a great deal of damage to the cruisers, and the frigate’s core engine block. “I can barely get a reading on the ship at all.”

“And this isn’t worrying anyone else?” Hunk said. “Because I’ve got a bad feeling, man…”

Pidge, Lance and Matt managed to make a chorus of groans that liberally drowned out the rest of whatever Hunk was saying. “Don’t say that,” Matt’s voice was slightly broken up, coming from the Castleship, while Pidge said at the same time; “Hunk, if you fucking jinxed us…”

Shiro let the banter go on for a few moments longer, clearly working something out or just speaking on a private comm channel to Keith, who had been uncharacteristically silent. Not that he dug into Hunk as much as Lance and Pidge did, but he usually offered some input, even if it was just a grunt of disgust. Lance flipped over his system to Blue’s private comm channel and drew up alongside the Red Lion, who he was flying in loose formation with anyway. “You okay, bud? You’re awfully quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” Keith said. His reply was curt and to the point, which wasn’t entirely out of line for him when they were flying into a potential threat. After a moment though, there was a sigh through the open line and Keith’s voice sounded more open. “Thanks for checking on me, Lance.”

“No problemo, my man,” Lance flipped back to the main comm line in time to hear Shiro say, with intense exasperation, “Matt.”

“What?” Matt sounded like he was playing intentionally innocent.

Dammit, sounded like he missed something potentially hilarious. Lance made a mental note to ask Matt later what he had said, as Coran spoke up. “It appears that the Galra cruiser has warped out of system.”

There was a brief moment of stunned, surprised silence, and then Hunk said with total and legitimate enthusiasm, “yay!”

“Okay…” Keith said. “That’s really weird. Why would they hang out at the edge of the system, not engage, and then bolt?”

“They probably got a read on their sensors for all five Lions,” Pidge said. “Maybe they left some snooping satellites or something, we should totally make a pass through the planetisimals just to be on the safe side.” Pidge sounded far too enthused about flying through what amounted to a larger, slower asteroid field so she definitely had some form of ulterior motive. Lance wasn’t going to lose sleep over what that could be, though, because there was honestly no telling.

“I’ll go with Pidge,” Keith said. “Our Lions are the fastest, we can do a quick pass and scan for anomalies and see if the Galra cruiser left us any presents behind.”

Shiro radioed his assent, and Lance watched as the Red and Green Lions, the arms of Voltron, shot across space and were nothing but mere dots on his screen in a heartbeat. The Lions could move stunningly fast, and they would be to the edge of the star system in minutes. Lance glanced at his sensors and realized that Hunk was already flying back toward the Castleship. “And where are you going?”

“Uh…” Hunk didn’t bother popping on visual this time. “Well, if the cruiser’s gone there’s no need to form Voltron, right? No need for all of us to just, um, hang around and burn fuel.”

“Yeah, uh-huh,” Lance said, leaning forward in his seat and grinning. The Yellow Lion hung in space unmoving, waiting for pronouncement at being caught shirking. “And I bet this has absolutely nothing to do with your hot Altean girlfriend waiting for you, right?”

“Lance!” Hunk’s voice gained an octave. “She is not my girlfriend!”

“Oh, I’m not?” Illianya’s voice came through the comm, sounding amused, and Lance saw the Yellow Lion roll completely over, as if dead. They were still on the public comm channel, Lance hadn’t bothered to switch over to private. Oh well, if his buddy wanted to air his private laundry all over the open channels, who was he to stop him, after all?

“Can we not use the public channel for this?” Keith asked, and Pidge snickered. Shiro just sighed.

“It’s okay,” Lance said. “I think Hunk has died of embarrassment anyway.” He flew Blue around Yellow once, in a loop. Yellow was still belly-up, although that was relative, in space.

“Enough,” Shiro said, and Lance obediently resumed formation with the Black Lion. After a minute or so to recover, Hunk joined them. “Pidge, Keith,” Shiro said. “See anything?”

“Just … planetisimals,” Pidge said, sounding disappointed for some reason. “No calling cards. Do you really think that they popped into system, saw all of the Lions, and noped out? I can’t tell if that’s awesome or disappointing.”

“I think it’s awesome,” Hunk said. “Let’s let our reputation do more of the heavy lifting. Save our backs. Voltron’s back. Whatever.”

“I don’t trust it,” Allura mused.

“Think it’s a trap?” Shiro said. “We could always follow the exit vector.”

“That is definitely a trap,” Keith said, and Lance agreed although he was quite sure that they could handle anything the Galra decided to throw at them … together, at least. Keith sounded profoundly disappointed in Shiro, though. “They’re probably waiting one system over with particle canons and tractor beams to disable us and capture Voltron.”

“That seems a bit on the nose, don’t you think?” Lance said.

“The Galra don’t have to do clever, they just flatten down any resistance with the full force of their army’s resources,” Matt said. “They’ve been ruling for literally thousands of years with minimal resistance, if brute force doesn’t solve the issue some of those cruiser commanders are out of their depths.”

“Hm,” Shiro said, clearly considering it. “Princess?”

“No,” Allura said. “I don’t feel the need to risk Voltron for just one measly Galra cruiser. Everyone, return to the ship. We’ll wormhole from here - if they tracked us this far, we’ll see if they track us any farther.”

“Copy that,” Lance said, twitching Blue back around toward the Castleship. He heard the others acknowledge as well; and, not surprisingly, the Yellow Lion beat them all back to the ship despite having the slowest overall speed. Lance made another mental note, this time to definitely give Hunk a hard time about that, as he brought Blue home.

They wormholed four times before Coran put a stop to it, citing both wear and tear on the teludav and, more importantly, on Allura. “We’re halfway across the galaxy from Eaphus,” Coran said busily, his hands on Allura’s shoulders to steer her off the bridge. “There is no need for you to wear yourself to the point of exhaustion!”

“So, now what?” Lance asked, slumped back in his flight couch and arms crossed. “We’ve done four jumps, there’s no way that they’re still tracking us through that, especially since that second one was so…” he gestured his hand in the air for illustrative purposes.

“Haphazard?” Pidge suggested.

“Aren’t there like, navigation charts that are supposed to be consulted before she does that? What if she dumps us out into the center of a star or something?”

Keith sat forward in his seat, leaned slightly to the left. Shiro hadn’t gotten up from his seat yet either, and still had several of the holographic displays open in front of him. “So what is the plan?” he asked, primarily directing the question at Shiro.

“I vote nachos,” Lance said, ticking off the options on his fingers. “Then, popcorn… and finally, movie night. In that order, or course.”

“I don’t know if I can make goo popcorn,” Hunk mused, doing a mental inventory of the Castleship’s larders.

“Please don’t use goo as a modifier for real food,” Matt said.

“Popgoo?” Hunk suggested.

“Okay, no, that’s worse,” Matt said, as Pidge cackled from her seat. “That’s much, much worse.” He had moved to Coran’s station when the elder Altean had escorted Allura off the bridge; and while he hadn’t actually touched any of the controls he was snooping all over them very thoroughly.

Keith got up and actually walked to Shiro’s seat, since his voice had been absent the entire conversation. He was staring intently at his screen, which was scrolling Altean characters very quickly; and it had opened a condensed star map of the local systems in a separate window. “What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

Shiro glanced to him. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said, tapping his fingers against his arm in a certain pattern that Keith remembered all too well. Shiro’s most notable tell. One of these days he’d have to let Lance in on that particular tick, but … not today. Keith put his hand on Shiro’s shoulder and leaned forward, smiling thinly.

“You can’t fool me,” he said, his voice low, and Shiro sighed in a slightly melodramatic fashion, and then squinted at Keith suspiciously.

“The half-breed thing doesn’t lend itself to telepathy or anything, right? You’d tell me if you could read minds.”

Keith cocked an eyebrow at him instead of answering, and Shiro shifted in his seat, unfolding his arms and pointing to the star chart. “This system,” he said, and when his finger brushed the system in question it lit bright on Shiro’s screen, showing the size of it. Keith frowned at the display, the system was labeled “Darpen” and nothing else.

“What about it?” he said, as Shiro folded his arms again, a look of concentration on his face.

“It’s familiar,” he said, and the irritation was clear in his voice that he couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out why.

“Hey,” Pidge said, from Shiro’s other side. They both glanced to her. “Lance has convinced Hunk to make space nachos. Unless you need us?”

Shiro shook his head. “We’re clear for now, and Matt-” Matt froze, halfway up the bridge, “has so generously offered to take bridge duty while Coran is assisting Allura.” Matt’s shoulders slumped comically, although he shuffled back toward Coran’s workstation without a word of complaint.

“I’ll bring you some nachos later,” Pidge said, with a wave to her brother before bouncing off. Shiro sighed and sat forward, dismissing the holographic displays but not rising from his seat immediately. He looked to Keith, and Keith returned his gaze, level and unaffected.

“I think I’m going to stay here for a little while longer,” Shiro said, and stood. He headed for the control station where Allura usually stood; which would allow him to use the larger star maps. “Figure out our next course of action.” He placed his right hand absently on the console, remembered what he was doing, and switched to his left hand.

“I’ll help,” Keith said, moving to stand at the edge of the holographic field as Shiro brought it up. Matt turned around, leaning back against Coran’s station, and watched them. Keith’s attention was on Shiro though, whose face had settled into a perplexed expression. “Unless you want to do this alone, although I really don’t know why you’d want to.”

Shiro gave a dismissive little shake of the head. “No, that’s fine,” he said. Another moment’s frustration and then he turned, looking down at Matt. “Does the Darpen system mean anything to you?” he asked, and Matt shook his head negatively.

“Never heard of it,” he said. He inclined his head toward the star-map, which highlighted both their present location and the system in question. “It’s only two systems over, right? Want to check it out?”

Shiro glanced over to Keith and Keith didn’t know what he was looking for, so he nodded his head. They weren’t being pursued - as far as they could tell, at least - and they were just going to drift until the new course of action had been plotted. Shiro nodded his head in response to Keith, then looked to Matt. “Yes,” he said. “Set a course for Darpen. Let’s see what we can see.”

Turned out, the Darpen system seemed like a whole lot of nothing. A dying star that hadn’t yet collapsed sat in the center of a system with few orbital bodies. “All scans report nothing of import,” Matt said. Keith had returned to his flight couch, looking at his own diagnostic displays. Shiro still had that unsettled look on his face, like he was waiting for a jump scare that would never arrive. “No habitable planets here.”

“No signs of life at all?” Keith said.

“No atmosphere detected on any of the rocks,” Matt said. He’d angled the Castleship to do a wide pass of the star, not wanting to get close enough to fight with the expanding gravity well. Something beeped, and Matt made an interesting noise. “I stand corrected.”

Keith sat up straighter, as Matt tossed some information up on the viewscreen. It was a planet … once. More than half the sphere was missing, and there was a planet-sized debris field spanning out from the remaining chunk. “What is that?” Keith said, as Matt threw more images up on the screen, one after another. At the farthest edges of the debris field there were ships. Not easily identifiable as Galra, though; they lacked the sleek lines and particular coloration that the flagships of the Galra Empire wore. No, these were junk ships, trader vessels, the remains of military ships whose rebellions were long since quashed. All scuttled in the graveyard of a planet. “What is this place?” Keith said, his voice a little strangled.

“Incoming transmission,” Matt reported.

“Incoming-?” Shiro said, and then looked to the main screen, where Matt had already thrown the relevant information. “The ship scan didn’t pick up any live vessels, right?”

“Incoming vessel,” the voice was rough, and set the little hairs on the back of Keith’s neck aloft. “Identiy yourself or be destroyed.”

Shiro’s voice was firm and commanding, the voice of a leader. “This is Takashi Shirogane, a Paladin of Voltron. We mean you and your people no harm. Are you in need of assistance?”

There was a long pause and Keith kept his attention on the ship’s sensors, listening for the whistle of a target lock. He’d raised the particle barried the moment they had been hailed as a precaution, but he could deploy his drone to help deflect incoming fire away from the shielding system if it came to that. Then, the audio window displayed on the viewscreen slid apart, opening to a video screen displaying a squat gray alien with three eyes and a shaggy brown beard shot through with silver. The alien was leaned in too close to the camera, distorting it slightly, but clearly trying to peer down its length to the other side. “Shiro?” the alien said, and Shiro’s expression was baffled.

“Yes?” he responded, his commanding voice slipping more back into his regular tone with confusion. “I mean, that’s me. I’m Shiro.”

Two heads popped behind the first alien; different aliens, Keith hoped, but sometimes it was hard to tell. There was a general background noise now, and one of the two additional heads said, slightly awed, “he came back!”

Shiro’s attention was wholly on the viewscreen, so Matt and Keith exchanged puzzled expressions. “I’m sorry, do you … know me?” Shiro said, his arms folded and brow furrowed.

“We weren’t expecting you to come back, we must celebrate this momentous occasion,” the alien said, and there was joy in its voice. “And with Voltron, nonetheless! Fantastic!” It leaned in even closer to the camera, obscuring the aliens behind it. “We have cleared an approach vector, avoid the Graveyard if you can.” With that, the transmission abruptly ended.

“We’re getting approach coordinates,” Matt said, staring down at the workstation. “It’s, uh…” he looked up at the viewscreen again. This time the image flickered, to beyond the debris field where one of the two oblong satellite moons sat in crooked orbit with the dead planet. Between the moon and the planet there were the familiar magenta-violet running lights of a Galra cruiser. “That.”

Keith was on his feet in an instant. “That is a Galra cruiser,” he said, as if that little fact had escaped the everyone else on the bridge.

“And it’s where the message definitely originated from.” Matt glanced to Shiro. “You got something you want to tell us, Shiro?”

Shiro shook his head, truly perplexed. “I have no idea what’s going on.”

“That,” Rian said, leaning against the wall behind the long, curved couch in the ready room, “is a fucking stupid plan.”

“Okay,” Lance called. “Who taught him how to use fuck?” Pidge raised her hand and Matt smacked it, so she grudgingly lowered her hand.

“I agree with Rian,” Allura said, and Rian looked smug. “But I also do not see any alternative.” She was seated on the couch, at the far end and holding a tablet, frowning at the readout. “It’s not transmitting any Galra code?”

“None,” Matt said. “It’s not transmitting anything at all. No active energy signatures, no IF/F beacons, nothing. The only active comm blasts were our direct communication with it and the coordinates to safely navigate the Graveyard to the moon’s location.” He rubbed his arm with one hand, thinking out loud. “The engines don’t appear to be active at all, and if you look at the live shots only half the running lights are on. I think the ship’s dead in the water… so to speak.”

“Only running life support systems, then?” Illianya asked.

“Despite the threats to fire on us. That would be my guess.”

“And none of them seemed to be Galra,” Keith pointed out. “Outwardly, at least.”

“Remember that talk we had about traps?” Hunk said. “This feels, I don’t know, like a trap.”

“If we worry about every little thing being a trap we’ll just get paranoid,” Lance said. He leaned his elbow on the back of the couch and propped his head against his hand, raising his other arm. “I’m in, by the way. Not that anything good ever happens on a Galra ship.”

“You’re not in,” Keith said. “I’m going with Shiro, you can stay here with the ship.”

Storm clouds gathered on Lance’s face, and he sat forward. “Shiro,” he protested, and Shiro, standing at the open end of the long couch put his hands on his hips and sighed.

“I don’t like this plan any more than the rest of you,” he said. “But I don’t think Keith is enough on his own - that’s not a reflection on you, Keith, but I don’t know what it is we’re walking into.” Lance pumped his arm in victory and hissed a small yes through his teeth. “We’ll all go in one Lion, though. I don’t want to leave multiple Lions unattended.”

“Where do you want us then, Shiro?” Hunk asked.

“Ready to scramble,” Shiro said. He glanced at Lance and Keith. “Suit up. We’re going to see what this is all about.”

There might have been a small disagreement about whose Lion to take in the locker room that Shiro pointedly ignored because it was resolved with a game of rock-paper-scissors and he liked to pretend that his teammates had more mature ways to come to a decision. Keith won (“how are you so good at that game? I had to teach it to you!”) and the Red Lion left the Castle of Lions in the usual fashion

It was unnerving flying up on a Galra cruiser that was half-operational, even more so than the one they had found previously scuttled. Shiro kept expecting all the lights to flare up as it powered on and grabbed them in a tractor beam with no way to get free; but instead the Red Lion flew alongside the ship until they located the open loading bay door and landed with little fanfare.

There was no atmosphere in the loading bay. When they stepped off the ramp from the Red Lion, Shiro glanced around the nearly empty hangar. “Lance,” he said, “stay with Red.”

“...what?” Lance’s mouth fell open. “You brought me along to babysit the Lion?”

Keith held his fist to his face as if he were using a cough to smother a smile, which was real effective in a full helmet.

“If we need to make a quick escape, I would want my best set of eyes waiting to pick off any pursuit,” Shiro said.

Lance’s mouth closed and he straightened, chin tucked down and arms folded. He was clearly still upset, but that had slightly mollified him. “I’m running my playlist through Red’s speakers,” he announced, turning on the ball of his foot and marching right back up the loading ramp.

“Good luck with that,” Keith called after him, knowing full well that Red would spit Lance out as soon as they’d left the hangar.

There had been no one waiting in the hangar bay to greet them. There were still some Galra starfighters scattered about, but they looked different than the ones Shiro had grown familiar with. There weren’t nearly as many of the craft loaded up to launch, and several were lying on the hangar floor, cracked open and cannibalized for parts. Keith said nothing as they passed the wreckage, and it was a long walk to the end of the bay where they found the airlock and cycled through it.

Keith left his helmet on, although the bottom portion opened up once the suit diagnostics confirmed a breathable atmosphere in the ship. Shiro took his helmet off altogether, holding it in his left hand. “You okay?” Keith asked, and Shiro knew that was going to be a common theme on this mission.

Was he okay? That was a loaded question with a loaded answer, so instead Shiro simply nodded and they set off down the corridor. They had barely gotten to the T-junction when they both heard the clatter of many sets of feet and Shiro clenched his right hand, feeling the servos begin to heat. Keith had his bayard out, but untransformed.

Abruptly, eight or nine different aliens in a mixture of ragged clothing and Galran armor ran straight across their path, down the other hallway. Shiro and Keith held their positions for a moment, confused, before they moved quickly to the end of the hallway and looked down the path that the aliens had gone. The cluster had turned about and was heading right back for them so Shiro took a step back as the aliens slowed and finally stopped before them.

Not one of these aliens were taller than Shiro, or Keith for that matter. He recognized the species of two of them, one of the many-armed centipedal aliens and a shark-like alien who had fins that framed its ace. The rest were completely foreign to him, but that was all right because they clearly recognized him.

“The Champion,” a spindly alien that looked like its skin was made from tree bark said, in a distinctly feminine voice.

Ah. Things were starting to make a little bit more sense.

Keith hadn’t put down his bayard yet, but that didn’t surprise Shiro. He held his hand out still holding the helmet, in a stand-down gesture, and after a moment Keith relaxed his posture and dropped his weapon to his side. “You know me?” Shiro said, and the aliens chorused an affirmative. “What is this place?”

“It is the Graveyard,” the first one who had spoken said, raising its hand. It wore the helm and helmet of the Galra armor, but underneath that were the achingly familiar rags that all prisoners of the Empire wore. They gestured. “Come, Jan is impatient to see you, so that the ceremony can begin!”

The moment that Lance sat down in the pilot’s chair all of Red’s screens went dark. “Oh, come on,” Lance complained. “I’m not trying to fly you, honest. Don’t go blind out of spite.” He held up the orange rectangle that was his phone, he’d discovered that it fit well in one of his Paladin armor’s compartments. “I just want to listen to some tunes, you’re a good kitty, you like music, right?”

The viewscreens didn’t even so much as flicker. Lance sighed and slumped in the chair. “You’re so dramatic,” he complained. “Keith isn’t this dramatic.” He stood up and shuffled behind the pilot’s seat. The viewscreens turned back on and Lance stuck his tongue out at them. As much as he wanted to just sit there and observe, it did him no good if Red was going to be a horse’s ass about it and shut off all the surveillance without notice or cause. Instead of exiting the Lion down the ramp, Lance popped the exit on the head and climbed out that way, seating himself comfortably on the head of the Red Lion and giving himself a nice view of the entire abandoned hangar bay.

There was very little to look at, and Lance got bored of this very quickly. He put his hands on his ankles and leaned forward, squinting at the far end of the hangar bay. The comm traffic from Shiro and Keith was minimal at best; Shiro had clearly taken his helmet off and Keith had switched his off, the fucker. So Lance couldn’t eavesdrop on what was going on, he would just have to wait here until someone opened an active line to alert him that trouble was headed his way.

It was nice that Keith seemed to be very much himself again, he had been surprised how much he missed it. Lance tilted his head and without thinking about it laid his hand on the side of his neck, over the now-faded bruise where Keith had bit him. He’d bit hard, too, but the wound was all but healed, the flesh mended while he was in the cryo replenisher. Shiro’s claim mark had almost immediately scarred over, but Keith’s, the open wound, was nearly gone. Omegas can’t claim a partner.

He rubbed his neck again and then put his hand down. Sitting up here perched on the head of a Lion reminded him a little of an ocean of stars, and why he was making that connection he didn’t have any idea. “Wonder if I can connect with Blue,” Lance mused aloud, in part so that Red could hear him because without Keith to needle he could at least annoy his Lion by proxy. “I mean, she came running when I was in distress in the memory core, and we are like super in tune.”

“Lance, are you talking to yourself?” Keith’s voice came through the communicator, and Lance jumped despite himself.

“No,” he said. “I’m talking to Red. It’s a very private conversation, I’ll have you know.” He stuck both his legs out straight and folded his arms. “We’re going to be best buddies by the time you get back here.”

“Yeah, right,” Keith sounded slightly stressed, but more amused than Lance expected. “We’re gonna need backup, do you have a lock on my position in the ship?”

Lance touched his forearm plate, and it brought up a display that, after a brief moment of questionable interference, scanned the ship and determined the location of the nearest sets of Paladin armor. It painted a pair of dots on a level not terribly far from Lance, although the display jumped a few times. “Trouble?” Lance asked, standing up and realizing that Red had closed the top hatch of the Lion behind him.

“Not exactly. You’ll understand when you get here, though.” There was a pause, and a clunk, and some chattering voices distant in the background of the feed. “Please hurry.”

The hallways of the Galra ship started out very normal, but the farther that Lance got from the hangar, the more that changed. At first it was small patches of green and pale blue on the dark obsidian walls; Lance assumed it was paint until deeper into the ship where the green and blue had organically spread and … blossomed, in places; producing tiny violet and emerald-colored buds. Vines began appearing underfoot, which Lance only took notice of when he nearly wiped out. Keith had said it wasn’t trouble, but Lance had his bayard out and in blaster form just to be on the safe side.

Finally, when the corridor started to look less like a military hallway and more like Alice’s most radical entrance to Wonderland, two small aliens clad in rather creative clothing ran up to him. One was carrying a staff nearly as tall as Lance, it had to be three times the alien’s height; and the other was simply waving its short, stubby arms. “Uh,” Lance said, drawing up short and pointing the muzzle of his blaster at the ceiling.

“Paladin!” the one waving its arms said; it kinda reminded Lance a little of the Arusians but it lacked horns on its head. “I require your aid!”

“Um,” Lance looked up and down the hallway, and then down at the map hovering just slightly over his arm. He wasn’t far from the others. “What sort of aid?”

It waves its arms again in what on Earth would be described as a ‘pick me up’ gesture. Lance held his bayard down by his thigh, the armor automatically stored the weapon digitally when he did that. Then, with no regard to cultural differences or diplomacy, he picked the tiny alien up.

Its eyes went wide and Lance had the momentary worry of, oh shit what have I done when it wiggled out of his hands and somehow flipped itself, managing to climb onto Lance’s shoulders and set its hands atop the helmet on Lance’s head. “Grizalt!” the alien announced, and slapped Lance’s helmet twice.

“Hey, what-” Lance yelped, and the other alien pounded the butt of its weapon against the floor. “Grizalt!”

The alien who had hitched a ride on Lance promptly vaulted to the floor and took off down the hallway, chanting the same word rapidly. The second alien clumsily bowed to Lance and almost whacked him with their oversized stick, and then followed their companion down the hall.

“What the hell?” Lance said, completely baffled, as he turned a corner and found what used to be blast doors that were propped permanently open by a lavender-hued trunk. Lance sighed and proceeded to climb over the thick alien wood, and to his surprise that put him on a platform in a very large, open space.

It might have once been a training deck or a cafeteria, or even some kind of great hall where a lot of people were meant to gather together. However the high ceiling was completely obliterated. As Lance craned his head back, he could see that several floors above had been removed, all to make way for the growth of a large tree. It was a lighter color lavender than the trunk he’d just clambered over, and its branches had grown into the broken chunks of the old ceiling.

There was a carpet of planet life thick enough that the original floor was no longer visible; and aliens of all shapes and sizes flitted about. It looked like a gathering spot and as Lance scanned the levels he could see what must be living quarters constructed around the rims of the broken floors, the farther up it went there were ramshackle bridges and wires run across and between the levels.

“Lance!” Keith yelled, and Lance turned to see Keith one level higher than him, waving a hand over his head to catch Lance’s attention. Several o what must be thick vines or even possibly roots ran up to the second level and Lance picked his way higher, finding Keith standing at the edge with his hands on his hips and looking faintly amused.

“What the fuck is this?” Lance said, awed.

“A bunch of prisoners took over a ship,” Keith said. “And prospered, apparently.” He glanced down, looking at the bottom level where there were quite a few aliens at work, clustered around near the base of the tree.

“Where’s Shiro?” Lance asked, and Keith tilted his head, clearly trying not to look as amused as he was. Lance looked back over in the direction that Keith was indicating with his head to see Shiro practically swarmed with tiny aliens identical to the ones he’d had an encounter with in the hall and looking utterly harassed.

Lance turned his head back quickly and smothered his laugh with his hand. “He’s popular,” Lance managed after a moment. Keith nodded his head sagely, and Shiro apparently spotted Lance, because he extracted one arm to wave it above his head like a drowning man.

“Lance, help,” Shiro called plaintively. Lance looked at Keith, who shrugged.

“Seems kinda cruel to leave him like that,” Lance said. “Keith, I’m surprised at you.”

Keith cocked an eyebrow at Lance, missing the ironic sarcasm by a mile. Lance rolled his eyes and marched over to Shiro, which caused several of the small aliens to scatter and at least one to leap from a slightly higher elevation and land on Lance’s shoulders. “Yeah yeah,” Lance said. “Grizalt, I know.”

Abruptly, all the tiny aliens ceased swarming on Shiro, freezing in place. Lance stopped too. “Uh-oh,” he said just before the aliens all yelled “grizalt!” and swarmed him.

Shiro still looked harassed, but now he wasn’t covered in small aliens. Keith started laughing now, as Lance tried to claw his way upright. He pointed at Keith and tried grizalt on him but it didn’t seem to work that way. “That’s what you get for repeating things kids say to you,” Keith said, and Lance wasn’t entirely sure if that was aimed at him or Shiro. Probably both.

Suddenly, there was a loud cracking noise and the small aliens scattered. Lance finally flailed himself into an upright, if seated, position. “Can someone tell me what just happened?” he asked, but then realized what looked like the boss or an elder or something was coming down a staircase made from plant matter stretched along the wall behind Shiro. Shiro stood up, and Keith offered his arm to Lance, helping pull him to his feet.

The squat alien shuffled slowly until he stopped in front of Shiro with a frown, holding a long piece of metal that must have come from one of the support struts. It had been worn smooth and there were berries and flowers tied in a cluster at one end. When they blinked, all three eyes blinked out of sync. “It is you,” the alien said, and shook their staff. “Our Champion has returned to us, at last!”

They hadn’t noticed the hush that had fallen over the present aliens until their leader spoke, and when he shook his staff everyone cheered. Lance and Keith both looked out behind them, to see aliens of every size and shape clambering up to be on the same level that they were. There had to be at least two hundred of them.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro said stiffly. “I really don’t remember …. I’ve been here, before?”

The alien paused, and then pointed to themself. “You do not remember me, Jan?” Shiro shook his head in the negative, and the alien’s expression seemed to grow darker. “You do not remember leading us?”

Keith’s eyebrow raised as Shiro shook his head again, sharper this time. “I’m sorry, no I don’t. I…” he gestured helplessly, and then looked back at Keith and Lance. Then he touched the side of his head. “My memories are all mixed up,” he said. “I’m missing a lot of them. The Galra…”

When he spoke the word Galra, a hissing sound rose among the crowd, and Jan waved his staff again. “Say no more,” he said magnanimously. “You and your friends are quite welcome here. Come, come, we have much to discuss.”

Pidge wandered onto the bridge, eating a plate of crispy, semi-translucent chips that Hunk had fried up. She wasn’t entirely sure how he was making food translucent and her desire to know the exact chemicals that the alien ingredients contained was at war with her ability to sleep peacefully at night, so the best distraction for that was other projects. She’d been looking for Matt and finally found him sitting at the Green Lion’s workstation on the bridge.

“What are you doing,” Pidge asked, holding a translucent chip between her brother’s gaze and the holographic display.

Matt blinked a few times, refocused on the item and took the chip, popping it into his mouth without even verifying that it was actually food going down his gullet. “Decrypting the information Keith sent back from the Red Lion,” he said. “The Galra ship’s not broadcasting credentials, of course, but it uploaded details when the Red Lion landed in its hangar bay. So I’m taking a look to see what we’re dealing with.”

“And?” Pidge asked, leaning over his shoulder and squinting at the display.

“I just got the IF/F and I’ve pinged it through the database of known Galra craft. It’s a prison ship that was decommissioned and scuttled.” He gestured at the display. “About five years ago, relatively speaking.”

“Weird that they scuttled it, instead of strip-mining the useful bits,” Pidge ate a handful of chips and crunched intentionally loud by Matt’s ear.

“They’re not desperate for resources,” Matt said, and pushed Pidge’s head away. “There really isn’t anything else useful in it, and when Keith radioed things seemed … all right. They’re not in danger, at least.”

“But,” Pidge prompted.

“But,” Matt said with a sigh. “Their leader knew Shiro.”

“Yeah, we heard,” Pidge said, as if the entire crew hadn’t been present for the briefing. She crunched for a moment more. “Wait. If the ship’s been there for five years, how does a presumably-shipwrecked crew of prisoners even know who Shiro is?”

Mattt nodded his head. “The time’s relative, though … worm-holing around could be messing with my calculations.”

“It’s still fishy,” Pidge said. She leaned forward and touched the call button on the console. “Hey, Allura? You might want to get up here, Matt’s found something you should see…”

Jan had an entire level to himself; the opening in the floor here was much smaller and only the very top bits of the canopy poked through. Along the edges of the hole in the floor, a fair bit of patchwork electronics were slaved into the main circuitry of the ship, and several of the consoles in the wall had been cleared of growth and were lit active, providing a dull magenta illumination or the room. “How are you keeping a tree alive in a spaceship?” Lance wondered, but his question was ignored by the alien.

“I admit, I am a bit disappointed that you don’t remember me,” the alien said, his voice gruff and distant. He stamped his staff against the floor in displeasure. “Damn those Galra beasts.”

“You said I helped you,” Shiro said slowly, looking around the room. It had clearly once been a high-ranking Galra soldier’s quarters, but aside from the inset consoles the remainder of the room’s fixtures had been completely cannibalized. “Helped you, how?”

“We escaped the prison ship together,” Jan said as he sat himself against a low table, holding his staff in both hands. “You helped a great deal of the prisoners get free, and instead of fleeing the ship into deep space and what was certain death, we took the ship for ourselves.” Jan looked quite pleased at this, but Shiro’s expression was mostly unreadable. Lance had slipped around the tree and was poking around the other side of the room, being nosy, but Keith stayed by Shiro’s side. “Sadly, the last act of some desperate engineers scuttled the ship’s system after our warp jump and destroyed the long-range communications array, leaving us to drift aimlessly until we were caught by the planet’s gravity well and pulled into orbit.”

“So you’ve been here, in orbit with this dead planet?” Keith said. “For how long, that tree is massive!”

“That it is,” Jan said, sounding slightly proud. “It is a kapili tree, and it provides us all the sustenance we require for such a small price.”

“And you say I helped with all this?” Shiro asked, quietly.

“Yes indeed,” Jan nodded firmly. “You took the last working shuttle on board, in the hopes of getting out of the system and finding us aid; and that you would return as quickly as you could!” He looked Shiro up and down, and there was something about the way he was looking at Shiro that left Keith feeling vaguely unsettled. Like he was a piece of meat. Jan smiled, but it was a thin, pained smile. “At last you have returned, but now … now I think it is better that we stay.”

“You’d rather stay on a dead ship?” Keith was incredulous to this idea. “Why? We can figure out how to get the warp drive running again, and get you out of the system in no time. Don’t you have families you wish to get back to?”

Keith’s thought was interrupted by the clatter of Lance stumbling over something in the background. Keith half-turned his head, irritated, while Lance hustled back over to them, looking as unsettled as Keith felt. “Lance.”

“It suits us here,” Jan said, unmoved by Keith’s words. “But,” he turned his attention back to Shiro, “it is good to see that you survived, Shiro. It warms my heart so. Perhaps you and your friends shall stay with us for the final grizalt?”

Shiro’s stoic expression twitched, just slightly; he’d clearly had all of grizalt that he could stomach. “It would be our honor,” he said. “But, Keith is right. I doubt our ship is large enough to accommodate everyone here, but we might be able to get this ship running again, at least enough to get you out of system. Are you certain you want to stay?”

Lance touched Keith’s arm and he looked over to Lance, still slightly irritated. However, Lance’s face was unusually serious. He shook his head negatively, and Keith lifted an eyebrow. “Hey, Shiro,” Keith said idly. “If we’re going to stay for this thing, I’m going to head back to Red to shoot off a message to the ship, let the others know we might be a little longer than originally planned.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary at all,” Jan said, in a tone that was beginning to make Keith twitch. “Grizalt does not … take very long.”

The strange pause was not lost on Keith, but Lance waved his hand in the air. “Nah, it’s fine,” Lance said. “We just gotta update them, last thing you want is some very angry Lions coming to check on their missing Paladins, blowing holes through walls and whatnot.”

That put the elder alien at an impasse, and with a frown he nodded his head. “Agreed,” he said, shortly. “We will wait for your return to begin the ceremony.”

Keith started down the stairs made of plant matter, but Lance lingered in place, staring at Shiro with a strange expression until Keith grabbed Lance by his shoulder and yanked him after.

“All right,” Keith said, once they were in the halls headed back toward the hangar bay and away from the aliens that inhabited the converted Galra cruiser. “What has gotten into you?”

“We have to get Shiro off this ship,” Lance said, and stopped walking. It took Keith two strides to realize Lance wasn’t keeping up with him, and he whirled on his heel and backtracked. “Right now.” Lance had half-turned like he was contemplating going back right now but he stopped himself and folded his arms instead.

“What? Why?” Keith asked, and put his hand on Lance’s arm to draw his attention back to Keith. “Lance, what are you talking about?”

“Everything about this place is wrong,” Lance said. “Wrong with a capital W Wrong.” He shivered. “We should ask that creepy alien what happened to the rest of the original crew, Keith. I bet he won’t have a good answer.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Keith said.

“A ship this size? Yeah, there are the drone soldiers for combat but,” Lance was thinking out loud and only half-paying attention to Keith. “What about the rest of the crew? The engineers, the personnel. Where did they go?”

“Lance,” Keith folded his own arms, aping Lance’s posture without thinking about it. “You’re reading too much into it. It’s weird, yeah, but these guys have been scraping out survival against the odds in a half-dead starship.”

“There were pelts, and bones stacked in piles on the other side of his room,” Lance said quietly. “With armor.”

Keith stared at Lance, and Lance shuddered again. “Am I seriously the only one getting like a, Wicker man vibe from all this? You don’t know Earth movies,” Lance continued that thought without stopping. “Have you ever watched a scary movie in your life?”

Very drolly, Keith said, “my life is a scary movie.”

“...that’s fair,” Lance didn’t unfold his arms; if anything it seemed like he kept trying to curl in on himself tighter. “Let’s just get Shiro out of here before this grizalt-whatever is going to happen because and I hate to be so cliche but my Bad Feeling About This has reached critical mass.”

Keith studied Lance’s face for a long moment, and then he nodded his head once. “All right,” he said. “I’ll trust your gut on this, Lance.” He started to open the comm channel but hesitated, and they both knew that Shiro was carrying his helmet and not wearing it. Keith and Lance exchanged a look and Keith said, “I’ll head back and think of some excuse to get Shiro out of there.”

“Yeah, and what am I supposed to do, stand around and look pretty?” Lance looked somewhat peeved. “It seemed weird that Jan didn’t want us to go back to Red, maybe you should check and make sure no one’s tried to fuck with her and I’ll grab Shiro and we can book it.”

Keith scowled and opened his mouth to fight Lance on this, then paused. “Red wouldn’t let you near her without me,” he said, and Lance grumbled a “no shit,” to his complete lack of surprise. “All right. Keep your comm open, it’s bad enough we can’t communicate with Shiro, if I lose track of you I’m sending Red through the side of the ship looking for you two.”

“My hero,” Lance said, dripping in sarcasm but Keith put his hand on Lance’s shoulder and they looked at each other, then tilted their helmets together so they clunked together softly. “Yeah, okay,” Lance said softly, and then they parted; Lance’s bayard appearing in his hand as he set off down the corridor at a brisk pace without looking back.

Keith watched him go, and when he hit the T-junction Keith turned and headed for the hangar.

When Lance got back to the main part of the ship he found Shiro now on the lower level and patiently entertaining the same herd of small aliens who seemed to think yelling ‘grizalt’ and tackling people was a game. Lance wasn’t quite certain that they were actually children, now, despite their diminutive size; but Shiro was playing with them nonetheless. He looked up when Lance approached and his expression seemed a little strange to Lance. “Where’s Keith?”

“With Red,” Lance said. He looked around for Jan, but while there were a plethora of milling aliens busily at work their leader was not obviously present. Lance kept his tone low anyway. “We need to leave, Shiro. Now.”

Shiro stared at him for a long moment, lips pursed. Then he shook his head. “That would be rude,” he said, flatly. “We’re not in any danger here, Lance. These are … my friends, I guess.”

“And I’m your mate,” Lance said. “Something’s not right, here.”

Shiro put his hand up, palm out, toward Lance. “That’s an order,” he said firmly. Lance’s shoulders stiffened and his bro furrowed, because Shiro’s voice carried with it a casual authority that prickled at his skin and he recognized the way the command sat with him; Shiro was the head and leader of Voltron, yes, but there was something dismissive of Lance there in the mix as well. Instead of being compelled by the order, though, it just made Lance angry.

He didn’t have a moment to express that anger, though, as the small aliens clustered around Shiro scattered quickly when the ambient lighting in the air changed. “Grizalt!” one of them yelled as they abandoned Shiro and hurried toward the base of the large tree that framed the entire space. Shiro stood and gave Lance a Look which, hoo boy they were going to have a Talk about later, and then followed the aliens.

Shiro stopped dead in his tracks, not far from where the floor dipped down, caved in under the weight of it all. There were thick lavender roots here, crawling up from the floor below, and many of the aliens used these roots to climb down beyond the lip of the collapsed floor. When Lance caught up to him, he saw exactly why Shiro had stopped in place, and without conscious thought Lance’s bayard manifested in his hands, already in rifle form. Shiro said quietly, “god dammit.”

There was a makeshift altar between two of the largest roots, with all sorts of indentations cast into the metal surface that lead right back to the kapili tree. Lance lifted his left arm slightly, the butt of his rifle cradled against his elbow. “Well, that looks a little too Temple of Doom for my tastes,” he said. “I suppose now’s not the best time to tell you that Jan had an extensive pelt-and-bone collection just, chilling in his room.”

The smaller aliens had all trickled through the crowd toward the front, already chanting the only word that they seemed to know. Two guards had entered at the far end of the room, dressed ridiculously in remnants of Galra armor that was far too big for them - however the weapons they had trained on the two prisoners between them were very real. The two prisoners were chained together, clad only in the traditional prisoner attire of the Galra Empire and wearing bags over their head. Lance’s attention went to them immediately, he flipped his blaster rifle up to his shoulder and used the scope to magnify his sight, but Shiro put his hand on Lance’s shoulder, causing him to drop position.

“To honor our friends,” Jan’s voice cut over the low chant of grizalt, and Lance and Shiro both looked to the altar. Jan had appeared there in a change of clothes, now wearing a dark hooded cloak paired with his staff. He gestured the staff toward Shiro. “And to honor our Champion!”

The aliens cheered. Shiro took a step forward, to the very edge of the lip before the indented floor sank toward the roots of the tree. “Whatever this is,” Shiro called, “you don’t need to perform it, on our behalf.”

“The tree needs its nutrients!” one of the aliens shouted from the crowd, and several more took up the chant. “The tree, the tree-!”

“We honor you with the last of our sacrifices,” Jan said. “We have waited long for your return.” One of the two prisoners was jabbed forward, the chain between them longer than Lance had realized.

“Shiro?” Lance said, rifle on his shoulder.

“What’s going on?” Keith’s voice buzzed in his ear. Shiro still hadn’t put his helmet on, but it was in both hands, now.

“I’ll explain later, you might want to prep Red for a quick exit,” Lance said, as Jan gestured at the crowd, hyping them up with the hypnotic waving of his staff.

“Yeah, no shit,” Keith said. “We’re ready to go. What’s happening there?”

“Jan,” Shiro’s voice cut through the noise. “Stop this. This isn’t necessary. Let these people go, and we’ll talk-” as he was speaking Jan reached up and grabbed the hood on the first prisoner’s head, yanking it off. A mottled purple and black head was revealed, with familiar glowing golden eyes. A Galra prisoner. Shiro’s voice didn’t even hesitate. “Jan.”

“These are the last of our oppressors!” Jan called back, the Galra’s hood held bunched in one fist. Their head was mostly titled forward, they didn’t lift it - and Lance realized how gaunt the frames of the two prisoners were and how tired this one looked. Lance shifted slightly, his finger on the trigger and waiting on Shiro’s orders when the alien moved forward quickly, grabbing the Galra by the back of its head and in one motion, slit its neck.

Lance didn’t hesitate, he immediately sprayed a blast of plasma energy down toward Jan and the guards holding the second prisoner. He wasn’t shooting to kill, not yet, but it was enough to cause the crowd to lose its mind. Shiro didn’t say anything but leaped down into the pit, slamming his helmet on his head with his left hand, his right already glowing violet with kinetic energy.

The mass of aliens didn’t think to actually charge either Lance or Shiro - these were civilians, albeit greatly warped ones - and their first and only priority was to save their own skins. Lance didn’t even have to move, being naturally taller than most of the stampeding aliens - and he only shifted his position slightly as he laid down a pattern of cover fire for Shiro. He didn’t want to kill any of the aliens, not yet … he was more concerned with getting out of here, but Shiro had other ideas, apparently.

Shiro wasn’t charging the altar, which surprised Lance. He instead went straight for the guards with the other prisoner, although there was only one guard left standing by now. Shiro ripped the chain off the prisoner and pulled the hood from his head and this Galra recoiled, clearly anticipating being killed as well. Shiro didn’t pay him any mind once he was freed and then finally turned toward the altar. Jan stood atop it, one clawed, grayish foot on the back of the dead Galra. He held out his knife, pointing it at Shiro. “I should have known,” he said. “You are not our Champion.”

Shiro stood his ground, staring up at the alien who had called him a friend. “You said these two were the last of your sacrifices?”

“No Champion would free the enemy!” Jan’s voice had gone high-pitched as he screamed. “Kill them, kill them! The kapili tree demands blood!”

“I’ve got a clean shot,” Lance said calmly.

“What are you waiting for?” Keith asked, but Lance stayed silent, his cross hairs on the alien and waiting for Shiro’s go-ahead.

“No,” Shiro said, and Lance wasn’t certain if he was the one being addressed, or Jan. “Not like this, Jan.”

The Galra, taller than Lance but not by much, scrambled weakly up over the lip of the floor near where Lance stood. It was easy to see him as the aliens all parted around him like water around oil. Some were beginning to accumulate crude weapons and, well, Lance was in no mood to get beaten to death by tiny cannibals. The Galra looked back at the altar and let out a choked noise; and then fell to his hands and knees, pressing his forehead to the floor. The aliens immediately advanced on him and Lance fired a few shots into the air, well above their heads. It was enough to scatter them and allow Lance to get close.

He wasn’t mistaking it from the distance, the Galra was skin and bone; his fur mottled dark blue and violet with a crest of hair? Fur? Whatever it was, it started above his brow and continued down his back, vanishing under the collar of the rags he wore like a mane. He didn’t lift his head when Lance stopped beside him, and his tail brushed the floor, unmoving.

Shiro followed the Galra up over the lip, and there was a splash of discolored dark matter washed over the front of his armor. Lance didn’t even bat an eye. “He’s too weak to walk, we can’t leave him here,” Lance said, and without a word Shiro crouched down and hoisted the Galra over his shoulders like he weighed nothing at all.

Lance would be more impressed by that display of strength if they weren’t surrounded on all sides by a growing hostile crowd. An alien from behind them screamed, higher-pitched than any human voice, and Shiro said matter of factly, “time to go.”

“Yup,” Lance said, and started firing into the crowd.

“This is a problem,” Lance said, as Shiro unslung the Galra from his shoulder. They’d made it to the airlock, but there was no atmosphere between the airlock and the Red Lion … and their new friend wasn’t exactly in a vacuum-friendly outfit.

“Go,” the Galra croaked, his voice nothing but air and gravel. “I will only hold you back. You have at least allowed me to meet my end honorably.”

“None of that now,” Lance chided, while Shiro frowned at the airlock, and then looked up and down the hall. Lance had blown one of the blast doors at the T-junction, which kept the pursuing aliens at bay for the time being, but who knew how long that would hold.

“What’s the hold up?” Keith said, and Shiro looked back to the airlock.

“We have a prisoner who doesn’t have a jump suit,” Lance said. “No way to get him to you.”

“He’ll be hitting up the cryo replenisher when we get back to the Castleship, right? Just slap a helmet on him, I’ll get Red right next to the airlock.” They both felt the ship shake as the Red Lion moved about the hangar bay, and Lance and Shiro exchanged glances.

“Why do I feel like this is a terrible idea?” Shiro said.

“Do you have any better ones?” Lance asked, tucking his fingers under his helmet to pull it off. Shiro held out his hand and slid his own helmet off. “Shiro,” Lance said, concerned, as Shiro placed the helmet on the Galra’s head as carefully as he could, minding the large ears. “You sure?”

“You’ll be quick,” Shiro said, tapping the helmet and watching it seal around the Galra’s face. He smiled at Lance. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you before.”

Lance’s own helmet hadn’t sealed yet, which allowed him to give Shiro a brief kiss. They smiled at each other, then Keith was in Lance’s ear. “Okay, if you follow the path of air that gets expelled from the airlock’s cycle, you should make it straight to Red’s mouth.”

“C’mon,” Lance said, getting the Galra’s arm over his shoulder. “You got a name? We’re getting you out of here.”

“Verus,” the Galra said, voice muffled by the helmet. He wasn’t on comm, since the helmet wasn’t connected to Shiro’s Paladin armor currently.

“Okay, Verus,” Lance said as the airlock closed behind them. “This is gonna suck, a lot, but we’re gonna make it work. I need you to stay with me as long as you can.”

The airlock’s cycle was quick, and sure enough when the doors opened all the remaining atmosphere in the airlock whooshed into the vacuum. Lance was as ready as he could be and as soon as the doors opened he was half-sprinting, half-dragging the Galra prisoner with him. Red was right there, just as Keith had said and Verus stiffened and tried to pull away but Lance had a good grip on him.

There was still gravity to contend with, and while Lance’s jet pack was enough to get him going easily both him and Verus changed his calculations a bit and they collided inside the Red Lion’s mouth, slamming into one side as Keith had the Lion close its jaws, sealing them in and restoring atmosphere.

Lance half-carried, half-dragged Verus into the cockpit proper. “Don’t freak,” he told Keith, who hadn’t turned around. Lance touched along the jaw of the now-unconscious Verus, found the seal of Shiro’s helmet, and removed it. That was the point where Keith glanced back at the, and did what would have been a hilarious double-take in other circumstances.

“That’s a…” he started to say.

“Yup.”

“Do I even-?”

“Nope.”

Keith shook his head. “Go get Shiro,” he said, “and we can get out of here.”

“Already on it,” Lance said, and the doors to Red’s cockpit closed behind him.

It was much easier getting down than it was getting up; but the entire hangar bay shook again. Lance stumbled as his boots hit the floor and then bounced right off; the artificial gravity had been disabled. Shit. “Lance, go,” Keith yelled in his ear and Lance was moving, the thrusters on his jet pack taking him right to the airlock and jumping inside it so it could cycle immediately. It was a quick cycle, the Galra were nothing if efficient, and Shiro was waiting right there for him, floating just outside the airlock and none the worse for wear. Lance tossed him his helmet, and the entire area shook again, just as the power went out.

“Fuck,” Lance said, as the interior lights on their helmets lit up and made a dark corridor slightly lighter.

“Stand back,” Keith said. “I’ll use Red to get through the walls.” As he spoke, they both heard the chatter of the small aliens, but when Lance scanned down the hallway he didn’t see them, floating in the darkness. Okay, that was unnerving as hell.

“Negative that, Keith,” Shiro said. “There are people on this side without jump suits. We’ll head toward the next airlock.”

“You do realize that you’re protecting the same people who are actively trying to kill us, right?” Lance said, his bayard in hand. Shiro gave him a Look, and Lance shrugged. “Just saying.”

The problem was, there was no next airlock. They were able to divert down another corridor, Shiro using his Galra hand to override what operating systems the ship had and close blast doors behind them, but that was taking them away from the hangar. “There’s got to be another way off this ship,” Lance said in frustration, one hand on the wall to keep from floating into it as Shiro shut another door behind him. “Why can’t we use your hand to cycle the airlock?”

“No point of contact within the airlock to keep it running,” Shiro said. “Although I could cycle you through, somehow I don’t think you’d be too keen on that plan.”

“Damn straight,” Lance huffed. “I’m not leaving you alone here. We’re not, right Keith?”

“Shiro, you okay?” Keith asked, and Lance looked at Shiro as they flew down the corridor. Maneuvering the thrusters on the jet packs wasn’t very difficult, but even then Lance could sense he was lagging a bit. “Your suit’s biometrics are reading low.”

“Just tired,” Shiro said, his voice clipped.

This part of the ship was completely dark, no emergency running lights at all and no additional power sources, so it was literally taking Shiro’s arm to power the blast doors open and closed again. No wonder he sounded so tired, draining his prosthetic arm’s energy had to be sapping his own reserves, and Lance had a disquieting flashback to a different escape. “Where are we headed?” Lance said.

“The escape pods,” Shiro said. “We’re headed to the escape pods, Keith, do you copy that?”

“I copy,” Keith’s voice was thick with static. “What do you want me to do?”

“Stand by,” Shiro said. “When we eject, you’ll need to be on it right away.”

“That is, presuming there are any escape pods left,” Lance muttered.

“There won’t be,” Shiro said. “We’ll just use the airlock to eject ourselves into space. Keith will pick us up.”

“Great plan,” Lance said. “Excellent plan. We’re going to die.”

Though Shiro’s voice was still tired, there was a smile in it. “How many times has Keith done something similar, and he’s still with us.”

“That is not a metric I want to be measured against,” Lance said. “Keith is like, a space-cat ninja.”

He heard Keith make a funny, static-filled sound through the comm. “Yeah yeah, yak it up, Captain Fuzzypants.” Keith’s reply was too cut through with static to be distinguishable. Lance tapped the side of his helmet a few times. “Uh,” he said, as if Shiro wasn’t on the same comm channel. “What’s causing the interference?”

“If I had to guess,” Shiro said, “it would be the tree.”

“So how is Keith going to know where to find us?”

“We just have to trust him,” Shiro said, and continued on.

“Great,” Lance muttered quietly. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

There was nothing at all on the comm from Lance or Shiro.

Keith flew Red the breadth of the hangar, trying to pick up some scraps of audio, but nothing came through the system, not even static. Frustrated, he flew out the bay door and looped the Galra vessel - there were far less running lights on it now, primarily located in the main body of the ship where the tree was. He wasn’t exactly sure where the escape pods were on this particular ship, and when he pulled a ship schematic from the Red Lion’s memory banks it showed twelve different escape pod locations. Keith rubbed his face with one hand, and tried the sensors instead.

There was a weak cough from behind him, and Keith glanced over his shoulder to see that his newest passenger had rolled onto his back. This was a full-blooded Galra, though on the smaller end of the scale. He looked like he hadn’t eaten in weeks, emaciated as he was, and the dark blue fur that trailed from between his ears and down his back was lank and limp.

Lance had dragged a Galra onto his Lion, and Keith really didn’t know what the fuck he was supposed to do with that. But, that was for later, once he’d retrieved Lance and Shiro and they figured out what the heck to do next. This whole thing had gone belly-up on them, and Keith hovered his hand over the open comm switch to the Castleship. If he switched bands, he might miss Lance or Shiro’s transmission.

“... should have died,” the Galra behind him croaked, and based on that voice alone it sounded like he had.

“Well, you didn’t,” Keith said, all business. After a brief query he pulled up Red’s sensors and started scanning the ship. Maybe if they couldn’t talk, he could at least find his friends that way. After a few frustrating minutes finally a pair of colored dots appeared on the map; black and blue. Keith let out a relieved noise and angled Red away from the ship, looping around to one of the dark sides and hanging out there, watching the dots as they slowly progressed toward what must be an escape pod bay. He glanced back over his shoulder at the Galra when he realized no other noise had come his way, and the Galra was lying motionless on his back. “You’re not dead yet, right?”

There was no response from his passenger, and Keith frowned, glancing back and forth from the display to his unconscious cargo. “Look, Lance and Shiro will both be pissed if they stuck their necks out for you and you expired in my cockpit so can you at least hang on until we’ve gotten you into a replenisher?”

The Galra opened its eyes and breathed out a rattling breath. “You stink of half-breed,” he said, and Keith rolled his eyes.

“I am sure glad we didn’t meet you a month ago,” he muttered, and turned his attention back to piloting.

They made it to an escape pod bay fortunately without any further complication. It was eerily dark as they floated along the corridor, one hand on the corridor wall to keep their bearings, the only light reflected from their Paladin armor. Shiro was flagging fast, having to use his arm as a sole power source for so long seemed to have drained nearly all of his energy, and Lance kept one hand on his shoulder, letting him lead but also there to keep him on the right path.

Once they had crossed over into the part of the ship that had been mostly destroyed by the initial uprising, they had found no more closed doors. They’d also found a couple of bodies - Lance was not ashamed of how quickly he had shot two before he realized that they weren’t under attack.

The escape pods were, as guessed, all jettisoned. Lance put one hand on the airlock that once led to an escape pod; now it just led into a dark, empty tunnel. “We’re really doing this, huh?” Lance asked, hoping that he’d get some response from Keith now that they’d traversed the ship and were hopefully out of range of the fucking kapili tree, but no luck there.

“Unless you’ve made your peace with being eaten by aliens,” Shiro said, and Lance shuddered.

“Well,” he said after a moment, tapping the chin of his helmet thoughtfully as Shiro tried to figure out how to force the sealed airlock open. “Keith counts, right?”

“I walked right into that one,” Shiro muttered as his hand lit violet again, although the light was very dim compared to what Lance was used to. “We’re not talking about Keith eating your ass, okay? We’re just not.” He placed his hand on the control and then tilted back a little - without the gravity, he wasn’t going to hit the floor but Lance pushed off and caught him anyway, before he floated back too far.

“Man, Shiro, don’t do this,” Lance said, and took his hand, placing it on the controls and holding it there. “I know this is taking a lot out of you, but we’re almost there. You get us out of here and I’ll eat your ass, promise.”

Shiro pushed forward as his arm lit brighter for a moment, and the airlock slid open. There was no burst of pressurized atmosphere venting, and Lance had a bad feeling that there was a closed bay door at the end of the long, dark tunnel - but he had a blaster rifle and they would burn that bridge when they got to it. “Gonna hold you to that,” Shiro muttered, but managed somehow not to pass out. Shiro hooked his arm over Lance’s shoulders and Lance navigated them into the long, dark tunnel that led to the launch point of the escape pod.

As he’d suspected, the tunnel ended in a heavy, shielded door. Lance propped one foot against the wall and Shiro the other wall, bracing him so that when he fired his weapon the rebound wouldn’t send them both halfway back the way they’d come. The plasma beams were dazzlingly bright, and it took three sprays of blaster fire before the door popped, and thank goodness when it breached it got sucked out into space first because Lance wagered that going through a hole the size of a few blaster shots wouldn’t be particularly fun.

The venting atmosphere sent Lance and Shiro tumbling out, spinning in different directions with no regard for where they were headed. Lance flailed, spinning head over heels as he tried to engage the thrusters on his jetpack to level off and get a lock on which direction Shiro went, all the while yelling into his comm at the same time. “KEITH!”

There was a split-second of silence; just Lance and the uncaring vastness of space. He saw out of the corner of his eye the shape of a Lion and he turned quickly, tracking its movement. His first thought was Blue; connecting to her and he remembered how she came to rescue him on Eaphus without him even realizing it; but the flash of a figure flying toward him, toward them wasn’t Blue, and it wasn’t Red….

It was the Black Lion.

“Shiro!” Lance yelled through his comm and this time saw the distant teal of a jet pack engaged; he knew that had to be Shiro moving toward the Black Lion. Keith still hadn’t responded so Lance followed Shiro and a few seconds later the Red Lion looped the Galra cruiser and Keith’s voice exploded over Lance’s ears.

“What the fuck,” Keith bellowed, and Lance laughed, giddy with relief as he caught up to Shiro. Shiro reached out to him, gripped him tight by his forearm, and maneuvered them both into the open mouth of the imposing Black Lion.

#voltron #slts #shklance #omegaverse #just a warning y'all might want to set some time aside #this chapter is a little bit on the length side

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