#not to mention his comms and his teams general skill of communicating (one of the best honestly)

[nocturnebby]

im a joel s tier truther and i have all the evidence to back me up

[mactavishwritings]

An Old Siren Song

Simon "Ghost" Riley x Reader

Angst/Fluff

TW: Violence, Gunshot Wound, Blood, Death Mention, No Death though!

You're injuried on a mission early in you and ghost careers' and it affects him even 6 years later

word count: 1321

The wind bit your cheeks as you stood on the top of the roof, looking through a pair of night vision googles. You watched Sergeant Simon Riley, your closest friend, take down three guards before looking in your general direction.

"Looking super cool there, Ghosty." You smiled into your comm. You watched Simon shake his head before continuing on. The mission was simple; Simon and his ground team would take down any guards on the ground and second floors, while you rappelled down to a window to meet Ghost to be let in. You would then hack into the terrorist's computer to see where the next weapons trade would be.

You secured your rope around your waist before slowly making your way down the building as Simon entered the building. "Coming down now. Confirm when nearby Ghost." You whispered as you got closer to the meet point. You stayed close to the side to make sure your cover wasn't blown.

A familiar skull mask moved into the hall and took down the remaining guard. You smiled and moved onto the sides of the window, motioning to Simon to let you in. "Hurry the fuck up, I'm gonna freeze my tits off." He shook his head and laughed. He was about to say something when you felt something piece through your neck. You gasped loudly and fell forward towards the window, having lost your footing. The unseen guards below you shout something in an unknown language and Ghost quickly opened the window. He pulled you into the building.

"Sergeant? Ghost? RILEY? COPY?" You could hear your commanding Lieutenant shouting at Simon over his comms. You tried to speak, to ask Simon how it looked, but a fluid filled your throat. You desperately grabbed at his vest, trying to communicate with him the fear, panic, and pain you felt. Simon pressed down hard on your wound while his team surrounded the two of you, after killing the rest of the guards and gathering whatever information they could without your skills.

"Sir, it's Siren. She's been hit! Need med and evac now!" Simon sounded frantic. You knew it must've looked fucked if even Simon was panicking. He picked you up and started carrying you out of the building to the evac location. The fiery pain from the wound warmed whatever the snow froze. You looked up at Simon and tried to talked, but all that came out was raspy, gasps. He looked down and shook his head, "don't try. It'll fuck up whatever's left of your vocal cords."

The Helo touched down and a medic was quick to jump out. Simon placed you back down on your feet, but quickly supported you when your knees gave out. Your eyes rolled back and the medic gasped. "How much blood did she lose?" Simon looked at them and shook his head. "A lot. C'mon pretty girl, stay with us." The two helped you into the helo and it took off.

You were rushed off as soon as you touched down. Simon tried to keep up, but the guilt washed over him. If he had just let you in and not fucked around, you wouldn't be fighting a gunshot wound in surgery. After the mission, he had planned on getting asking you out for drinks and maybe a date, but that clearly wasn't going to happen now. He was the reason you'll never talk again. You were going to blame him.

6 years had passed and you had to relearn everything. The thing they don't tell you about vocal cord surgery is the physical therapy that follows. 4 years of it. You felt like a toddler and you certainly talked like one. That night was also the last tine you had heard or seen Simon. You had hoped he was waiting for you by your bedside, but the nurse told you he left. You were upset for a while, but you moved on. You had to and you didn't blame him at all. You knew it wasn't his fault. There was no way he would know.

After getting all the clearance from your doctors, you forced yourself back into your work and trained harder than ever before. Your efforts did not go unnoticed and soon you were recruited by the CIA. You quickly rose the ranks and became the CIA's best hacker.

"Siren, thank you for joining us. Let's go over the details." Kate Laswell, your chief, smiled at you and you returned it. You took the tablet in your hands and started scrolling over the details. "Hassan Zyani." You muttered.

"He's in Mexico?" You looked up at Laswell and she nodded. "We're going to be teaming up with a special task force this time. 141. They've been hot on Zyani's tail so teaming up is our best bet. This is Captain John Price. Price this is (Y/N) 'Siren' (L/N)."

You smiled at the man standing beside Laswell. You shook his hand and he looked you over. "Siren. Name's familiar. We met before?" You shook your head and noted the British accent. "No sir. Only met a couple Brits before." The three of you laughed and Price nodded. "Well, how about you meet the rest of my team and we finish this debrief?"

As the three of you walked through the halls, you adjusted the black turtle neck that covered the large scar on your throat. You had the turtle neck tucked into a pair of blue jeans and you had on a pair of brown heeled boots that clicked with each step. Your focus was on your tablet when your the conference room.

"Right lads! We got some CIA ladies so play nice!" Price said before you and Laswell entered the room. "This is Kate Laswell and Siren." As you stepped in, your eyes immediately fell onto a familiar skull mask.

Ghost felt his heart stop. You lived. Holy shit. You were the infamous CIA hacker. Of course you were. Ghost sat up and cleared his throat. You smiled softly at him. "Sim-"

"Ghost. Lieutenant Ghost."

"Right. My apologies Lieutenant." You laughed. Your eyes were soft, seeing your best friend for the first time in 6 years. Your eyes shifted to the other two boys.

"Well I need that story later. I'm Soap. Nice to meet ya." Soap stood and shook your hand. Gaz then introduced himself to you. You sat down with Laswell across from the 141 and Price went over the mission details.

"And this is were Siren comes in. She will hack into each lock and gate, gaining you all access to the cells." Laswell said casually.

Soap leaned forward and looked at you with wide eyes. "You can do that?!" You giggled and noddled, grabbing your tablet. You stood and walked over to the map of the abandoned prison.

"There are 4 electronic locks here, here, here, and here. I can use satellite to locate and hack into the actual pin pad. From there, it's a basic hack." You shrugged. "I've hacked harder things...like Hassan's personal phone." You smiled sweetly and Price whipped around to look at you and then Laswell, who looked at him smugly.

"You have your muscle men. I have my Siren."

After the meeting, you collected your items before walking out of the conference room. You didn't get to far before you felt a hand grab your elbow. "(Y/N)." Ghost spoke softly.

You turned around and the smile came back onto your face. "Lieutenant. I'm proud of you! I know how much you wanted to rank up." You immediately said. Ghost's shoulder's dropped and his eyes softened.

"You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad? Simon...Don't tell me you haven't talked to me since then because you blamed yourself. There's no way you would've know!" You gasped out. His hand reached out and gently pulled down your turtle neck to reveal the scar. Your hand gently squeezed his wrist and you smiled. "I could've prevented it. I shouldn't have fucked around."

Ghost let his head drop to your shoulder and you caught him, wrapping your arms around him. You could feel the weight of the guilt and trauma he had been carrying around. You knew you couldn't lift it all, but you could support it so it wouldn't weigh him down so much.

[that-damn-girl]

(3) Bucky and The Bed

Completed

Chapter 2

Bucky and The Bed Masterlist

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x (cis)fem!reader

Words: 2800+

Summery: You and Bucky are stranded in the middle of a snowy nowhere when there is an 'electronic blackout' during your mission. With no back ups or any way to contact your team, you take refuge from the worsening weather in the only cabin you find  in miles. Not to mention, with no power, Bucky has become your personal heater and there's only one bed.

Chapter type: Lovesick Bucky, cuddling, mutual pinning.

Chapter warning: A bit paranoid reader.

A/N: Tbh, I am not proud of this chapter but I wanted to get done with this part. I am not really a tech person, nor can I form proper plots with tech stuff involved. Sorry in advance for the plot holes you find. Some inspiration is taken from movies Spy Kids 2 and Charlie's Angels. 

The hours of night soon gave way for morning to creep in. Beam by beam light poured in through the large sized windows, illuminating the room in a silver glow.

In a relaxed and peaceful moment, Bucky woke up to the sight of a goddess wrapped up in his arms. Your face was pressed against his chest, one hand gripping his sweater tightly in your fist and the other thrown loosely around his waist; legs intertwined with his in comfort.

With one arm around your back, Bucky could feel your chest rise and fall with every breath; feel every exhale of yours through the thin layers he had on.

Golden rays from the fireplace and the pale brightness from the windows in the absence of direct sunlight cast a beautiful glow on your face, a mixture of different shades dancing about. 

He could feel his heart swell with adoration just looking at you. Your lips, partly open, appeared more plump since a side of your face was cutely pressed against his body. With a slight pout and closed eyes, your face conveyed a look of pure innocence which Bucky knew he couldn't get out of his head anytime soon.

Your face was angled so that your lovely lips peered at him, seemingly begging to be sucked and licked and kissed and bitten with pure red passion. As if he hadn't wanted to do exactly that.

Closing his eyes, he gave himself a moment to calm down his racing heart. He loved the feel of you engulfed in his arms, filling a void he'd become familiar with since too long. Hard yet soft, pressed against him in the sweetest of manners  due to a girdle of trust and confidence which surrounded your friendship, keeping it tight.

Silencing his wants, he leaned down and kissed the top of your head hard and lovingly, as if convincing you that he would not act on his wanton desires and loose a friend he cherished immensely in greed for more.

You slowly stirred against him. He stilled, worried that he woke you up, but after giving out a breathy exhale you resumed your position, burying your face even further and an arm tightening around his waist. Your otherwise calm posture would have fooled him, but the secretive smile tugging at your lips gave you away. Bucky thought that his kiss wouldn't have been noticed, but the small peck to his chest, right above his heart by your lips proved him wrong.

Gracing your face with a smile which took his breath away every damn time, you said, "I could get used to this."

You had been in that state rocking between the dream world and the real word for quite some time. Loving every cursory second of it, you didn't want to wake up and get out of the cocoon of Bucky and the blankets. While you were savouring the moment, you felt softness touch your head, realising what Bucky had done. Your heart thumped hard. You couldn't have stopped from reciprocating the affection even if you wanted.

Bucky felt his heart swell once again, swearing it would fly out of his rib cage at any moment.

"Yeah?" Bucky asked tentatively. A smile formed at the corner of his lips.

"Mhmm," You started, cuddling closer to him, fastening your hold on him, "You're so warm."

"You're making me cold." You whipped your head at him, worrying you'd overstepped the borders. But one look at the mischievous look in his eyes and a sly smirk on his luscious lips told you otherwise.

"Hey," You lightly hit his arm, making him rumble with laughter.

You looked at his beautiful face, eyes crinkled and teeth bared in mirthful laughter. It was good to know that he felt light enough to crack jokes. God, you thought, if the cold wouldn't kill me, his smile definitely would.

"No, but seriously," you propped yourself up on one elbow, the other still over his waist, "Are you cold because of me?" You sounded as serious as you looked.

His general body temperature was higher than yours. After giving it a thought, it only made sense to you. You'd made him cold if he'd made you warm.

He scrunched his nose, baffled as to why you would think that, "What? No! Don't be silly."

"Okay then," You said, snuggling back with him, "Don't come complaining to me later."

Why would I? He thought. He'd promised himself that he'd run to the ends of the world if it meant keeping you warm and comfortable. With a dreamy smile on his lips, he said, "Wouldn't dream of it."

You closed your eyes, relaxing further into him, "Good, cause now you're officially my cuddle pillow."

He barked out another laugh, "Cuddle pillow, huh?" He hugged you closer, "Well, cuddle pillow at your service, ma'am."

You both chuckled. He looked down at you, that post laugh smile still gracing your face. Smiling or not, he knew he could always look at you and never get enough of it, because he could never fucking get enough of you. He'd always admire those beautiful pair of eyes and those lips he couldn't stop daydreaming about-

"Hey, Bucky," You start , that smile having fallen off your face, "I've been thinking about that white thing..."

Huh?

It took Bucky a moment to understand that you had been talking about the split halves of the white octagonal box you two had found the previous day. So occupied with thoughts of you pressed against him, Bucky had forgotten that morning what had caused all of this in the first place. He felt dumb.

Clearing his throat he said, "What about it"? Pretending as if he'd been thinking about it too, because he couldn't let one of the few people whose opinions he did care about think he was dumb - especially not you.

"When it blew up, it somehow made all electronics in its range dysfunctional."

"Yeah."

"The range can't be infinite though." You paused, waiting for his confirmation; for an indication that you made sense.

"I guess."

"We already walked for like what...10 to 15 miles?"

"Kinda, yes."

You sat up, explaining animatedly with your hands, "So if we do venture out some more, maybe we can surpass the range. If we do, we could at least communicate through our comms."

Bucky sat up too, a puzzled expression in his face, "Yeah, we can try that."

"Yeah, we can!"

One look at your excited expression and he placed a hand on your shoulder. Shaking his head, Bucky said, "No, no, no, no. Not 'we'. It's gonna be just me."

"What?"

"You shouldn't go out there."

"Excuse me?!"

Bucky huffed, "Doll, we don't know what's the radius of the range. For all we know, it could be another 20 miles. You can't walk 20 miles in this weather. But I can."

You furrowed in your eyebrows. Truth be told, you knew without proper gear - which you didn't have at the moment - you wouldn't be able to survive in the bitter cold outside, let alone trek an unknown span. Bucky, on the other hand, had the serum which made him much more resistant to the cold - frankly anything else - than you. Damn it. You didn't want to admit defeat, but you had to.

Looking everywhere but at him, you tried to come up with a reason reasonable enough so that you could accompany him too. Finding none, you shrugged, "I mean - okay." Something clicked inside you all of a sudden and you grabbed his forearm, "But if you're going on your own, what if something happens to you? I wouldn't know it. I wouldn't be able to help you."

Unveiled worry reflected in your eyes. You chewed on your bottom lip. Bucky knew you cared about him, but looking at you being anxious just for him did things to his heart.

Looking deep into your eyes, he gave a shy smile, "No, doll, I'll be fine. You don't have to worry about me."

You knew Bucky facing any obstacles were highly unlikely. He'd was an ex-assassin - an expert one at that. He had amazing knife skills and was one of the greatest snipers the world had known. But he was also your friend, one you had feelings a little too deep for.

You shuffled closer to him and laid your head on his shoulder, saying in a voice softer than his heart had become, "I care about you, Bucky. I'll always worry about you."

His breath hitched. Strings tugged at his heart. Bucky didn't know why he was so surprised. He guessed it was because he wasn't used  to people outwardly showing concern for him. He didn't want to dwell on it though. Despite having known it already, it felt good hearing you voice it out loud.

He laid his head on top of your and started petting your hair. Hiding his smile, he said, "It's gonna be fine, doll. I'm gonna be fine."

As Bucky jogged through layers upon layers of snow, he could only see white sheets for as far as his vision allowed. The dark green, lushy, conical tress were the only living things by definition in sight - that too covered under silver thaw.

He could hear the crunch of ice crystals under his boots and the chilly hurried winds rush by his ear, biting mercilessly at his exposed cheeks and nose.

The air was crisp as he breathed; so sharp and freezing he felt his lungs were being punctured. Though he didn't have any trouble breathing, he didn't like the feeling one bit. He swore he could taste the difference in the air between there and New York.

The thickness of clouds prevented sunrays from falling on skin - or anywhere in sight. His surroundings were as gloomy as the sky above. The only thing which kept his heart light was the still lingering feel of your lips on his skin.

As Bucky prepared to leave, you couldn't help but fret over him. Double checking if he had his weapons on hand, though he doubted he need them, you said one could never be too cautious. You made sure he had his comm on and insisted he put on more layers than just one heavy jacket over a sweatshirt. He assured you that all the jogging that he'd do would make him warm enough to not need anymore layering.

In your anxiousness you expressed your concern over the littlest of details. In his opinion, they were unnecessary. He only needed to be careful about not losing his path and not push past his limit. He had to appreciate your presence of mind though, but that did not mean he could let you work yourself into a panic attack.

In your defence, you were worried!

How Bucky wished he could take a hold of you in a sudden moment and kiss you senseless to stop your rambling like he had seen in all those movies. He could almost picture it happening in front of him. Nevermind the fact that he knew while in the movies the couple would somehow confess their love for each other, in the reality version you would push him away and things would be awkward and your friendship would be strained. And he couldn't let that happen.

Only if he'd known how wrong he was.

Instead, Bucky chose to grab your shoulders in a sudden moment to stop your rambling, letting you calm down against him, "Doll, you worry too much."

You huffed, "Bucky..."

"I know, Y/N, but trust me, I am going to be safe. Everything's going to be alright." He assured you yet again.

When he was about to leave through the main door, you shouted, "Bucky!"

As soon as he turned around, he saw you running to him and hugging him tight, the sheer force of your body colliding into his throwing him off his feet for a second. He soon got a grip on himself and hugged you back.

You were aware you might have been over-reacting. You might have been paranoid too. But you the thought of Bucky out in the open all by himself, unsafe while you were not didn't sit well with you. He was a grown man and capable enough on his own, yet feelings or not, he was a very close friend.

For a moment Bucky thought you were on a mission to bruise his ribs when you said, "Just take care of yourself, Bucky." and put a soft lingering kiss to his cheeks.

Bucky could still feel softness of your lips on his skin. He didn't want to be out here in the cold when he could have been snuggling with you. But he had to.

He kept running for miles and miles and his body didn't even feel relatively tired. A little out of breath, yes, but not tired. He willed himself to not loose his patience and keep going on further when he heard some static in his ear. He stopped abruptly.

Pressing the communication device to his ear, he said, "Hello?" He only heard the constant buzz of static and nothing more.

Going forward a few steps, he repeated himself. A voice broke through the static, "Agent Y/N? Sergeant Barnes?" It seemed to be FRIDAY's.

Bucky couldn't believe it. Your idea had worked and he had surpassed the range!

Bucky called out with a relieved face, "Sergeant Barnes reporting. Does anybody copy?"

"Bucky!" A shriek tore out through his earpiece, disturbing his sensitive eardrums. Though extremely high pitched, he knew whose it was.

"Sam?" Bucky questioned.

"Man, what the fuck has been going on with you? You guys were supposed to report in eighteen hours earlier! I had been worried sick about you two!" Sam's clearly worried voice spoke.

"Sam, we're fine. Nobody hurt but there's a little problem." Bucky licked his bottom lip, contemplating how he'd tell him your 'little' situation.

"What problem?" Sam prompted.

Well, considering the fact that they had had fought an army of aliens, Bucky thought that this shouldn't be much surprising. Bucky told the Captain about the white octagonal box, what all had happened the previous day and the idea you put forward that morning.

Bucky heard no response. Worried he'd lost connection again, he asked, "Sam, you there?"

Sam was nothing if not flabbergasted. He didn't know how to respond to the situation. Hardly had he felt relieve over his friends beings safe when this came up. According to Bucky's calculations, that pesky little things had rendered any electronic useless within forty miles of its radius.

How the fuck was he going to get his friends out of there when he couldn't even get the quinjet near to them!

"FRIDAY," Sam started, unsure what commands to give, "Do you know what he's been talking about?"

"Sergeant Barnes seems to be talking about a transmooker." The AI replied in her nonchalant voice.

"A what?" Both Bucky and Sam shot up.

"A transmooker. It can disable networking systems and any electronic component within the range of its blast by slightly altering the magnetic field." FRIDAY informed.

"But I don't feel anything on my arm." Bucky said, now more confused than ever.

"It is not strong enough to restrict or guide your movement, Sergeant Barnes, but strong enough to hamper the electricity flow in the devices you have."

"Can you do something about it, FRIDAY? Like hack it or something?" Sam asked, overwhelmed beyond belief.

"I cannot override it, Captain. To do that, I'd have to track it first. It seems to have created a GPS blackhole. Though according to my calculations, with an error percentage of twenty percent, the effects must begin wearing down in a week or so. As soon as that happens, I can undo it's effects."

"A week?" Bucky asked, followed by a confirmation by the AI.

"Think you can hold out for a week?" Sam asked.

"We got the supplies, at least. So yeah." Bucky nodded, looking out into the distance. Details were worked upon, goodbyes were said.

A week, Bucky thought. He hadn't even spent a day with you without turning into a lovesick puppy, he wondered what the week ahead would do to him.

The divider is made by @writeyourmindaway​

Chapter 4

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Thank you for reading!

[enchantedlokii]

The New Generation

Chapter One

Rating: PG

Warnings: none

Characters: Peter Parker, Cassie Lang, Shuri, Lila Barton, Harley Keener, EDITH, Morgan Stark, FRIDAY, James Rhodes

Mentioned: Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, T’Challa, Wanda Maximoff, May Parker, Ben Parker, Pepper Potts

There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people. So when we need them, they could fight the battles that we never could. This idea was known as the Avengers Initiative; the brainchild of a man named Nick Fury. The Director of SHIELD.

The world saw the Avengers in action for the first time in 2012 when an alien army known as the Chitauri attacked New York City. It started with six heroes whose names will never be forgotten.

Steve Rogers. Captain America. The World War II super soldier had been frozen in a crashed plane for seventy years when he was found by a SHIELD team. He’s known best for his shield, and only a few know that he is one of the few that have been deemed worthy to wield Mjolnir.

Tony Stark. Iron Man. Born into a wealthy family and given ownership of a multi billion dollar company at a young age. For years he manufactured weapons before seeing the war zones in Afghanistan. Instead, he started making suits to help fight against those who wanted nothing but war.

Thor Odinson. God of Thunder. An Asgardian warrior with the power of lightning. His hammer, Mjolnir, is one of the most powerful weapons in all the nine realms. His new axe, Stormbreaker, is even more powerful. Making him stronger than before.

Bruce Banner. Hulk. He was changed on accident after exposure to gamma radiation. For years he was seen as a monster, but he was deemed a hero after being recruited to join the Avengers. Over time, he’s learned to control his strange power and can finally trust himself.

Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow. The Russian spy trained in a place known as the Red Room. She became their master assassin, earning her mantle and following their orders until she was rescued by a SHIELD agent who was sent to kill her but decided she should be given a chance.

Clint Barton. Hawkeye. He was the SHIELD agent who decided Natasha deserved a chance. Skilled with a bow and having perfect eyesight and aim, he never misses his target. He watches from the sky, keeping his teammates safe from the enemy.

Every kid wanted to be an Avenger when they grew up. It was the dream of so many to fight by their side and help protect the world. I got lucky enough to be one of the few who will ever have that dream come true.

“Cassie, where you at?” Peter called over his communicator. He was stuck to the side of the Empire State Building, watching as his friends fought with the army of drones. It was always drones.

“Right here!” Cassie grew larger, kicking one of the drones out of the air before waving at Peter. There was only a second before she shrunk down again, flying away to the next enemy.

That’s Cassie Lang. Stinger. Her father is Scott Lang, Ant-Man, as you can probably see from her Pym Technology. She was just a kid when her father gained the mantle, but says she knew immediately that she wanted to be like him when she was older. Now, she’s a valuable member of the Avengers.

“I’m going to have to add wings to this suit,” Shuri huffed as Peter swung down beside her, shooting a web at the drone she had pinned to the ground. He couldn’t see her face because of the Black Panther suit, but he guessed that she was slightly annoyed but also thinking about ways to make that idea a reality.

“Pretty sure cats don’t fly, Shuri,” Peter chuckled as she stood up, the claws on her hands retracting into the suit. “But I would happily help you make that happen.”

Queen Shuri. Black Panther. Sister of King T’Challa. Shuri was already a warrior as a princess, helping fight alongside the Dore Mijae and her brother when Wakanda was in danger. When her brother died, she took over his mantle, promising to make him proud.

“Hey, I want wings,” Lila protested. Peter actually had no idea where she was at the moment, but he would see an arrow flying through the air every now and then and knew she was fine. “Shouldn’t Hawkeye get to fly before Black Panther?”

That’s Lila Barton. Hawkeye. Daughter of Clint Barton. Clint was not happy when he learned that Lila wanted to join the Avengers, but he knew he couldn’t stop her. In a lot of ways, she was just like him. She was determined and stubborn, and this was something she had always wanted. Even before she picked up her first bow.

“How many drones ‘re left, Parker?” Harley called. Peter could hear the whirring of his repulsors through the comms. He was a bit farther away, chasing drones that had gotten past them.

Harley Keener. Iron Lad. An engineer from Tennessee. You can probably tell from his accent he comes from Nashville. He lives in New York now, but I doubt his twang will ever fade completely.

“Hey, EDITH,” Peter murmured, glancing at the screen on the inside of his mask. He could still see dozens of red dots on the map, signifying battle drones. He was silently grateful that he had his AI with him this time. And his teammates. “How many drones are left?”

“I’m seeing around fifty active drones,” EDITH replied. “Are you sure I don’t need to call in Ms. Maximoff for backup?”

“No, let Wanda have her vacation,” Peter told her, shooting a web at the nearest drone. “She deserves it.”

And that’s me. Peter Parker. Spider-Man. I was only fourteen when I was bitten by a radioactive spider that gave me these crazy powers. I kept it a secret for six months before I came home from school and found my Aunt May talking to Tony Stark in our living room.

Being an Avenger had been my dream for years. I remember watching them fight on TV as a kid, begging Aunt May and Uncle Ben for more and more toys and Avengers pajamas. I never imagined that I would have that I would not only meet my hero but be asked to fight alongside him.

Peter heard a repulsor blast and a nearby drone exploded. He looked up, planning to see Harley’s white-and-orange suit, but frowned when he saw the faceplate of a gold-and-red suit lift. “Hi, Peter!”

Morgan Stark. Fourteen year old daughter of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. My pseudo sister. She started working on that suit when she was eight. I helped her in secret, knowing that Pepper would kill me if she ever found out.

“Morgan! What are you doing here?” he asked, shooting a web at another drone and bringing it to the ground. He heard Morgan firing up a repulsor again and groaned with frustration. “Your Mom’s going to kill you. Go home. Now.”

“I know what you’re gonna say,” Morgan started.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Peter told her. He suddenly found himself trying to go back to a spaceship on its way to Titan and shook his head. Not now.

“I was gonna stay home—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Peter said sternly. He knew that the girl would just keep talking. She always did, especially when she was nervous. Usually he would just tease her for it but in the suit she already reminded him so much of her dad that it hurt.

“But FRIDAY said that you were fighting with the team and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. . .”

“And now I gotta hear it,” he sighed.

“And, I mean, you helped me make the suit.” Morgan looked at one of the gauntlets before shrugging. “So if anything, it’s your fault I’m here.”

Anyone would think we’re actually related. God, was I really this annoying? “What did you just say?” He asked, voice stern. He could imagine Morgan’s eyes widening behind the mask like his had.

“I take that back,” she said quickly. “But seriously. I’m here now, so just let me fight. Please, Petey. I want to fight.”

“No, Morgan. Go home,” Peter growled, turning as his Spider-Sense warned him of a drone coming towards them. He shot a web and threw it to the ground. “You’re fourteen. You can’t just come out here and fight. You’re not an Avenger.”

“You were only fourteen when Dad asked you to fight!” Morgan protested. “And you weren’t an Avenger either. So why is it any different for me?”

“Because I have powers to keep me safe and I had practice fighting everyday criminals before I fought anything like this,” Peter told her. “As amazing as these suits are, you can still get hurt in them. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen. I don’t want you to end up in the hospital or paralyzed because you’re so stubborn.”

Peter heard a repulsor firing up at the same time as his Spider-Sense went off. He looked over to see a drone coming at Morgan, then saw an orange beam blasting it away. The only problem? It didn’t come from Morgan’s suit. He winced and turned to the side. Sure enough, he saw a familiar silver suit. “You kids have some serious explaining to do.”

[exilesofembermark]

Game Dev Update | Time to Test.

Shall we play?

We’re about to embark on our first closed test of the Exiles combat system, starring... you! That’s right, we’re firing up Test Flight, and if you signed up for closed testing (or on the site, “Beta”), then you will have a chance to be among the first guinea pigs for Exiles. The first batch of players will be small-- probably around 50-- then we’ll gradually open it up to more as we see how stable we are and start eradicating bugs.

We’ll be inviting people from our dedicated Exiles Discord community as well as some from the lists first. Then we’ll expand to some of the rest of the list randomly in batches. We won’t get to everyone in this little test. That said, if you haven’t signed up anywhere, go here and get on the list!

WHAT WE’RE TESTING

This is not a Beta. It’s a closed pre-alpha test of the Combat System and Arena Tiers (plus some power curve balance). 

It’s important to note that we won’t be testing the whole game. We’re just testing combat and the new Arena Tiers mechanics to get them feeling right and get feedback. 

The rest of the game is in various states of development and isn’t intended for testing-- BUT-- feel free to plunge the depths of FPO (for placement only) and buggy unfinish, but beware-- things won’t be as they seem and most of it will only sort of work. This is particularly true of PVE-- when you hit the World Map and start to click around, there will be some Quests-- there will be some fights, there will be what seems to be progression. But don’t get too excited about it, and don’t report bugs-- we decided to leave that stuff open so that you can at least take a look at where we’re going. As you know, we’ve been open about the state of things, so when you click anything other than your Character and Arena, you take your functionality lives into your own hands. 

Here’s the link to the test welcome forum post. 

So... what are Arena Tiers?

ARENA TIERS

The Arena Tier system is new to Exiles and the focal point of this test. When players participate in an Arena battle they are eligible to earn Renown. Renown represents a player’s skill. Players can gain or lose Renown either by winning or losing battles. Earning Renown unlocks new Arena Tiers which reward the player with new abilities to use, more powerful equipment, increased drop rates, a new environment to fight in, and eventually new monsters to fight in another system we’ll cover later called Monster Dive.  

In this build you are able to:

Gain Renown (30) from your victories and lose Renown (-26) should you suffer a defeat.

Increasing your Renown will progress you to higher Arena Tiers:

Arena Tier - Training Grounds - 1st try

Arena 1 - Wildewoods - 60+

Arena 2 - Askala - 150+

Arena 3 - Vanisir - 300+

Arena 4 - Siege - 600+

Arena 5 - Bog - 1,000+

Arena 6 - Cave - 1,400+

Arena 7 - Ruins - 1,800+

Arena 8 - Addrighar - 2,200+

Champions Arena - 2,600+

View your current Renown total. Indicated by the number to the right of the flag icon in the Arena Lobby:

Poor “MageGod” has zilch for Renown, but will be gaining it quickly.

Click an Ability slot, then “Equip” to replace your Abilities with others.

As you go up in Arena Tiers, new Abilities become available.

REFERENCE RESOURCES FOR COMBAT

The tutorial system at this point is pretty bare bones, and the wiki (many thanks to SecretOwl and the gang for starting one) is early, so we’ve put together a few one-sheeter reference guides for combat. I’ll post them both as images here, but grab the PDFs here if you want to have clear readable copies.The first is a legend for Battle. It outlines the various parts of the UI and some of the feedback that will pop in as you battle:

A key concept in the above is that of Generate/Consume. We’re experimenting with ways to get that across (currently it’s via circle or upside-down triangle, respectively). Will be interested in opinions on this...

The second is more of a definition list for rules. The various Abilities in the game will display and execute a number of effects that you’ll want to keep track of, so until the game itself teaches these concepts, here’s a handy reference guide:

WHAT ELSE TO CHECK OUT

As I mentioned, the only sanctioned areas of the game are Character and Arena. You enter the rest at your own risk. However, if I was going to recommend a stroll through anything else to see where we’re headed, it would be the following:

The Map - we’ve shared lots about this feature, and it is the gateway to PVE. The current state of PVE is that you can do some things, but there will be lots of bugs and you’ll get stuck. And it won’t make perfect sense narratively, so go easy. But the map is cool and its functionality is something we want to dive into. 

The Forge - it doesn’t work, so don’t click around too much. Don’t try to salvage yet -- this is a known issue and we are deploying a fix on it as we speak. You’ll be able to see the intent, but not to do what you will definitely want to do... yet. 

House (it says “Guild” in the nav) - this is a mockup, so you can choose a House and fool around with the concepts, but it’s not actually live. 

CHAT!

Yes, good Exiles, there is chat in the app, so bang on that feature if you’re in the closed test. It is basic functionality at this point (don’t expect DMs or history), and the Discord Channel is probably still the best bet for player-to-player comms, but click that little icon in the bottom left of the home screen and voila!

FIND FRIENDS & RIVALS TO FIGHT

If you’re in the test and not in the Discord Channel, let’s change that. If you are in the channel, then you’re all good for communicating with potential opponents (and you’ll need this type of communication to find people ready to fight, given the small-audience nature of this test). 

If you don’t find a live opponent when you hit “Battle” in the Arena hub, you’ll still find player characters to fight, but AI will be your foe. If you’re wanting to direct-challenge someone, you’ll want to use the Search function (the magnifying glass), and you’ll be able to find specific names or find foes by Arena Tier or Class. 

Anyone online will show up on the results list as green, while offline people will show up as red. You can still click the reds to “Spar” them (fight the player character as an AI). 

MOAR VFX

This update has focused on the test that we’re starting up, but, as always, we have a few visuals to share, some new some updated for the modern exile...

First, it’s the Mage class with a hot seat that this Ember Elf is not going to appreciate (and I cut out his reaction so you can see it yourself in the test if you venture into the very early PVE experiences...)

ROGUE VFX

Hey, Dwarf Brute, GET SOME...

WARRIOR VFX

And a Quake Stomp wouldn’t be very quaky without some earthquake VFX busting this Ember Beast down to size. 

NOW.. DON’T FORGET TO REMEMBER…

The test is on-- check the forums and Discord for bugs and feedback, and if you’re not in yet (but want to be), send TheWizard a PM in the forums, and we’ll see what we can do (no promises).

And if you haven’t already, follow along with Exiles development on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And if you haven’t, I’ll find you. And SMITE you.

CONNECT WITH OTHER EXILES

If you want to hear about the game, ask questions or connect with others who are helping the development team think about features, design and narrative, hop into the Discord Channel for live chat and say hi– it’s a friendly crew with plenty of daily/weekly/sometimes-planned shenanigans.

[martechadvisor-blog]

Brad Gillespie on Important Marketing Skills

Watch Brad discuss his soapbox approach to titles and roles, why it's important to align with various functions for meeting business objectives and the fact that there is no one best path to becoming a CMO

Ginger Conlon:

Hello and welcome to MarTech Advisor’s executive interview series. I'm Ginger Conlon, a Contributing Editor with MarTech Advisor and joining us today is Brad Gillespie who is CMO of Octiv. Welcome Brad.

Brad Gillespie:          

Hi Ginger, thanks for having me.

Ginger Conlon:

So glad you're here with us today. We are going to talk about the skills that marketers need to succeed today. Before we jump into that I would love to hear a little bit about your career journey to becoming CMO of Octiv.

Brad Gillespie:

Sure, I’d be happy to tell you. So, I've been in Octiv now for just about seven months having come from SiriusDecisions where I ran marketing and events for the four years prior to that, and then prior to Sirius I was a client of SiriusDecisions at my two organizations prior to joining, so, that takes us back to about 2008 is really when I had my first pure marketing role and prior to that I was an entrepreneur, I had the opportunity to co-found two companies and as an entrepreneur and co-founder everybody's in marketing and everybody's in sales, so, I'd had, I think, plenty of real world experience just in the evangelism of the companies that I helped co-found. Prior to that I had kind of a variety of roles in my background, I've been a quota caring salesperson, I’ve run channels and alliances and I got my start in human resources in the Healthcare industry. So, like all marketers, we all start human resources, not really. I've had kind of a circuitous path to becoming a marketing person but I think those experiences in different functions, in HR and in Sales and in Biz Dev and in Channels I think has really helped inform and shape the way I think about the role of marketing and the impact that it can have.

Q- Ginger Conlon:

Oh absolutely, it's a great bed of experience to bring to the chief marketing position. So, with that in mind, what do you consider to be the top trait and/or skill a marketing leader specifically needs today?

A- Brad Gillespie:    

Yeah. I have a bit of a soap box type approach to titles and roles and what a CMO is and what a CMO is not and it’s really the O in CMO that matters and for me, what that means is, if you're Chief Marketing Officer that should mean that you have a seat at the executive leadership table and you are treated as kind of a real important part of the overall leadership and direction of an organization, equivalent, at peer level with your colleagues from Sales and Finance and Legal and Human Resources. So, that for me is really kind of the top requirement, you have to be able to understand the business as a whole, marketing’s impact is always going to be dependent on our ability to create alignment with sales and product and think of the three legged stool of the revenue generation engine.

So, the marketing leader has to be seen as a credible contributor to the overall objectives of the business, alignment with sales and product and execution is important but we also have to be aligned with finance, we have to be aligned with our CEO, we have to think as the business thinks and understand our role in executing the growth plan. So, I think that's the top requirement today for

anybody that really aspires to be a CMO is you have to have an understanding of the business and understanding your role and your opportunity to impact the business, and then understand how you’re going to need to align with your peers on the leadership team to execute on that mission

Q- Ginger Conlon:

So, if you're moving up the ladder in marketing, where your goal is to become the CMO and maybe you don't have as much experience in some of these other sides of the business, what should you be looking to do to get that experience? Should you be maybe taking other roles or getting your MBA, what's your advice?

A- Brad Gillespie:    

It's a great question. I think there's probably no one best path to CMO. I have seen good CMOs come from sales, I've seen good CMOs come from product, I've seen good CMOs come from communications and brand, you can arrive there any number of paths. I think

today what's different is the acumen that a CMO needs to have with data and the whole idea of how is marketing going to be held accountable and have the data evidence to support that

and that approach does require some skills that any CMO needs, and some of those paths that I mentioned lend themselves to helping us build those skills and some don't.

So, if you come up through brand or comms and you haven't had the exposure to data and operations and analysis, that's a gap that you’ll need to fill. If you come up through product and you really understand that side of the business, you may be lacking some of the brand and comms side which is so critical today to understand how to empathize with the buyer and communicate to a human the right way. So, I think it's understanding one, what you're good at and what you're passionate about and starting there, wherever that is and if the objective is to rise up to also understand what you need to fill, and I think

you need to look at all of those sides of what we do in marketing today, from the softer side, the art of marketing and brand and communications, to the science side around data and operations and just understand that you're going to need a good mix of all of that eventually

Q- Ginger Conlon:

Absolutely. So, speaking of the data side, let's talk a little bit now about marketing teams and you've got all this data, there's all this new technology out there, it’s changing the marketing landscape and that means that to some extent marketers rules need to change and evolve. So, where are you seeing the greatest need for new skills and what are those skills?

A- Brad Gillespie:    

Yeah, great question.

I think there's two core areas that stand to have a big impact on a marketing organization today, one is in that area of data

Our starting point as marketers today with tools and systems and data has never been better and so there is an expectation from our bosses, from our CEOs that marketing should have not only better accountability but quicker impact because the starting point is just so much better, whereas it used to take perhaps a year to implement a stack and get the data house in order and get processes in place to get the data flowing and start to see things, that time frame now is condensed and what used to take a year can now take six months or less.

So, to do that we need skill sets that are different, we need hands on operators of systems that have good experience setting up and growing with and configuring the core tools that we need, we need folks that understand the data at a level to understand the gaps and getting started with data but, as well as, how to interpret what we're seeing. The whole idea of being more agile in marketing is really about, we have daily access to data today that we can start to form opinions around on what's working and what's not working and what to change based on that. So, those are just some skills that on the marketing team we need today and they range from those kind of hands on systems operators to folks that understand data, thus the rise of the data scientist and the importance of getting analytics on your team. So, that's one side.

I think the other side is kind of at the opposite end of the art and science spectrum and it's what I would put in a category of product marketing skill set.

The product marketer today in my opinion stands to have a huge impact

if you're in an early stage company where you may not have achieved product market fit, you're in a continual mode of experimentation to understand what messages are working and the product marketing function, in my opinion, should be the content engine as well as the glue that connects marketing to product, it's also the glue that connects marketing to sales. The content that we need to really enable sales ultimately should be coming from the product marketing organization.

So, that is, I think, a mission critical capability that every marketing organization needs to fill and even in mature organizations that capability is just essential to enabling marketing to do a better job and enabling sales to be more effective through better messaging, better tools, better positioning, better market understanding, all of those things that we get from product marketing.

Q- Ginger Conlon:

That's great. So, let’s talk about when you hire, along with the marketing scientist and the data analysts and the product marketing folks, within that are there any specific skills or traits, attitudes that you look for when you hire someone for your team?

Brad Gillespie:          

Yeah, sure, and I think it's situational. So, for example, I'm in an early stage company now, so, my opportunity is different than it was when I was at SiriusDecisions and it was different when I was running marketing for Rolta which is half a billion dollar company globally, so, we have to start there to say, what is your opportunity and what are your limitations and then what's important.

I’ll tell the startups first, where,

I think, what's valuable to an early stage marketing organization is the ability to do many things. We all have to write, we all have to communicate, we all need to be digital

and so I value things that can get some of that experience a lot of different ways, the younger that are more digitally native have a much better starting point for their digital skills and their ability to do things with social media and on digital channels.

So, we can take someone that may have come from a variety of backgrounds and we have a better starting point for a lot of the things we need to do, they're typically good at writing and they're typically very proficient at digital tools. So, we can take someone and teach them marketing automation really quickly, which is what we're doing right now with one of our recent hires. We have a recent hire that came from the event management space and restaurant and catering, she had no real marketing experience but she knew events, but she's a digital native, we are now teaching her marketing automation, we're teaching her how we are listening and how that's informing our paid media and we're able to teach some of these younger workers a lot of new skills because they are digitally native and I think that lets us think about where we source talent from much more differently.

The requisites are always the same, are you positive, are you a hard worker, do you follow up and follow through, those are always going to be the same I think, or should be, we don’t always get that right but I think in an early stage company we have more opportunities today to source talent that doesn't have a pure marketing background. I would urge any marketing leader that's in a younger company to break that mold of thinking that you have to find someone that’s done a marketing job for two years, you really don't today, if you can find a young, talented, positive person, in a matter of weeks you can teach them the tools they need and they're all very hungry to be a part of this industry in this economy.

Q- Ginger Conlon:

So, as you said, different situations require different set of skills, and the same goes for different activities, so, you may need someone who is an email marketer or you may need someone who is awesome at SEO, but is there, along with some of the things that you said about being a hard worker and getting things done, is there any other skill that applies in marketing no matter what the role might be?

Brad Gillespie:          

Yeah. I think a good one, kind of goes back to the point, I was making about alignment.

Anybody who joins the marketing team I think has to adopt the mission and understand the mission that marketing and sales are aligned and we're all trying to meet the revenue number together, so, teamwork and relationship skills

The best I've seen this done is where marketing can sit with sales and where marketing can sit with the BDR inside team, sit together and be together and work together and function together and marketing needs to empathize with our peers in sales and communicate consistently that we have the same mission, we're on the same team.

So, the relationship skills and the communication skills that I think are essential

to creating that type of alignment are really important.

Sales needs to look at folks on the marketing team and see in them and understand in them that they understand the mission and that they are part of trying to solve a problem together. So, there are the technical skills that anybody can learn, anybody can be taught, and then there are some personality traits, are you a team mate, are you a team player, can you get on board and understand the mission and work as part of a team, I think those are critical today.

Q- Ginger Conlon:

Absolutely. So, we've talked a lot about what you need today versus before, so, you need a lot more data skills for example and you need to be digitally savvy. Is there a marketing skill or trait that as a marketer has always been important and no matter how much crazy change goes on will always continue to be important in marketing?

A- Brad Gillespie:    

Yeah. I like what my friend, Ann Handley, would say is, everybody writes.

I think at the end of the day marketers are communicators and storytellers and we all need to be able to create and share our story today and our story tomorrow and imagine new stories

We have to be communicators at heart, that at the end of the day is what we're trying to do. So, yeah, there are going to be some exceptions to that when we get into a core ops, analyst side of marketing but we want those folks to appreciate the art of marketing, we want them to understand that it's all working together. So,

I would say communications at the core and writing at the skill

We ask this question on a small team like we have today, we ask everybody to write at one point or another, and I am writing more today than I have in the last 10 years and it’s kind of fun to go back to my very early first experiences with marketing stuff and writing. But I think that's probably a good one, there's probably others but that's what comes to mind for me.

Ginger Conlon:

Excellent, love that. So, Brad, thank you so much for joining us today.

Brad Gillespie:          

My pleasure.

Ginger Conlon:

I want to thank everyone who's on video with us. Also, Brad and I had a great conversation about sales and marketing productivity, specifically with document flows, and I hope you'll join us on that video as well and thanks for being here today.

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor