#seriously there was a guy biking who decided to cross while i was actively turning

[navree]

i hate being the driver who complains about pedestrians and bikers so i try very hard not to be but some of the pedestrians and bikers i’ve been dealing with recently…….they’re testing me

[duskthevampqueen]

Spinning Panic

2k Celebration for the fan server!

Okay, for anyone who doesn't know the context of this fic, I wish you luck tryna figure it out. Because I will not be giving context. Just have fun with the chaos that is this fic. Oh, and the fact that I didn't edit or beta read LOL.

Word count: 1.5k

You thought you were prepped for this spin class. Apparently, you were not. 

Doing a spin class on its own was fine. Doing a spin class where you were surrounded with hot people that you had no clue how to interact with outside of the class? Not good. 

It didn’t start out bad. You were invited by the instructor, Lady, who was very sure you’d enjoy this class. The word class was also more of a loose term, since while she said she was instructing, it was also a socializing thing for this particular group. 

She would bother you constantly about how the spin class would be good for you to meet new people, and potentially new romance. Apparently most of the class was single, and in her words, “Need to seriously get into relationships. I'm tired of being the love life coach.” 

When you were thinking about who might be attending a spin class, you thought maybe an average group of people. Just getting their work out in and chatting together if they could. Maybe make a friend or two from those who had bicycles next to you. 

Oh boy, were you wrong. The entire class was immediately interested in Lady’s friend who would soon become their new friend. Which led to you discovering that they were all a friend group, and this was one of the activities they did together. No wonder that Lady called them odd names: they were all in a Discord server and refused to use actual names. 

The guy with some of the biggest muscles you had seen had taken the bicycle next to you in the first class. Quest, his username was. You had to admit, when he first sat down, it was intimidating. But you were quickly proven wrong, as he had one of the warmest smiles when asking for your name. 

He was kind and courteous to you, trying to help get you in the groove of the class. While he obviously did not need to, he kept the beginners-level speeds with you. He also was the one to invite you into the Discord, wanting to make sure you weren’t kept out of the loop or like an outsider. His entire presence was so welcoming. 

Quest was the one that made friends with you the soonest. He gave little bits of advice in between listening to Lady, and would occasionally check on you. He felt somewhat equal to a coach himself, making sure you drank water. 

The second person you made friends with was the guy that went with the user Nightowl. You decided immediately just to call him Owl, with how his head would turn this and that way to chat with everyone in the class. 

He seemed very bright and happy when the classes were in the afternoon. He was practically a walking corpse the few occasions the classes were in the morning instead. 

The reason he moved to the bike on the other side of you was funny to think back on. He had been arguing with one of the others, who had the odd nickname of Onion. Despite the names, they were both taking a conversation about fidget spinners far too seriously. On Owl’s side, fidget spinners should be taught about in a spin class. Onion called that outright dumb. 

Anyways, the argument got so out of hand that Lady had to move Owl next to you. She gave you a shrug when she did it, basically telling you to ignore the bickering. Which was hard to do at first, but then Owl turned his head your way and started asking questions. He seemed to brighten back up the more you talked, even if he occasionally mentioned being sour about the fidget spinner conversation. 

He seemed far more interested in learning about your hobbies than doing the actual spin class. He would lean forward on the bike, arms crossed on the handles as he kept his head your way. At some points, you found yourself reminding him that this was a class for them to work out in. Luckily, he understood, and continued to socialize with everyone instead of solely focusing on you. 

It was around that time that Quest decided to leave the other side of you, instead going to Two’s aid, like how he had been before. He continued to talk with you through the server, however, as did everyone. He would help June encourage Two the most in the class, taking turns being supportive. 

That's when you got who you least expected to join at your side: Xyx. The class-clown had mainly kept to the back of the class, making jokes between him and Salo. Salo only knew what half of the jokes meant, but would laugh anyways along with the younger man. So when he decided to take Quest’s old spot, you were in for a world of chaos. 

And you were absolutely right. He would lean over occasionally to whisper jokes to you, grinning wide when you would try your best to hold in your laughter. He would raise his hands in a surrender gesture whenever someone else would call him out for it, saying he was just being welcoming to the newbie. 

The most disruptive class was when he brought up how he was interested in fish. First, it was all sounding normal, talking about some beautiful fishes, or some interesting fish. You realized later it was him bringing you into a false sense of security, as he then started talking about anglerfish. He seemed to be unable to give up the fact that “a lamp that can swim is far too aggressive than it needs to be.” 

It was you that had to be moved bikes the next class, as while Lady encouraged some of the chaos, she did not trust Xyx’s chaos combined with your inability to laugh quietly. 

You decided a good bike to be at was the constantly-empty one next to Toast. While the person had a funny username in the server, you were glad to only call them Toast in person. They seemed a bit hesitant to welcome you to sit next to them, but accepted it anyway. 

At first, they were a bit quiet, mainly listening to the chatter and Lady. But then you brought up how you didn’t see them talk much on the server, and that seemed to set off their talkative side. 

He explained how he very much wanted to talk with everyone, but his keyboard broke recently and he was waiting for a new one. For the time being, he was stuck using the on-screen accessibility keyboard, which takes quite a while when you have to click every letter. He gave up after having to send five very slowly made messages and getting mocked for it by Xyx. 

You were glad you figured that out, as you feared that maybe they just didn’t like you entering the friend group. It made you relieved that everyone was accepting of you so far. 

Toast and you would end up having small chatter here and there, able to become friends quicker once he had a working keyboard. Made everything ten times faster and easier once he was able to use all the keys, instead of just the vowels. 

For a while there, it seemed Lady had created a… circulation for everyone. You had noticed after a few more switches that she was keeping you around the main four bachelors. You were half-tempted to call her out for her not-so-speedy version of speed dating, but enjoyed the changing conversations and interactions. So left it be. 

Until, of course, Lady canceled class at the last minute. Her excuse was that she forgot that it was a full moon, and had promised to one of her witch friends that she would help out with some things. You didn’t believe her until you saw her in another group chat, talking about such plans to help that exact witch friend. 

The only thing is that she had canceled at the moment where it was only you and the four main bachelors at the class studio. 

Oh god, Lady was making you choose who to hang out with, wasn’t she? 

… Well, while it wasn’t conventional, it sure was effective. Within ten minutes of chatting with the four, they each offered their own hang out ideas. 

Quest was offering to use it as a lighter work out day, where the two of you go on a walk together. 

Owl was offering to make it a ‘cheat day’, where the two of you could stuff your faces full of junk food. 

Xyx was offering to go on a ‘joy ride’ as he put it, reminding you that he had a motorcycle and extra helmet ready at any time. 

Toast seemed the most shy with their offer, to go to an arcade and play games, or if you wanted to come over so they could teach you about Final Fantasy. 

Lady, the genius of a woman, just perfectly set you up with four people.

[mayraki]

when firsts happened

read their story here

masterlist

>>> the troublemakers want to have their first date to finally take that next step, but they didn’t know they were going to have a plus one: trouble.

Having nothing to little time alone wasn’t what JJ and Max wanted when their first started dating. Between school, work, and Max’s parents moving back to Outer Banks they barely saw each other. And when they did, it was with the Pogues. So they didn’t had any alone time. It’s not like it could happen anything more than just kissing, since they both agreed to wait until they had their first date. But, JJ and Max were cursing the moment they decided that since the Monday of their fourth week of dating appeared and nothing had happened yet, and it look like nothing was going to change.

They both wanted it, of course, they wanted it even before they started being a thing. But they wanted to keep their word, they didn’t want to fuck things up, because they both knew that this was a good thing, their relationship, and since it looked like the universe wanted them to fuck things up, they were more careful about their love life than anything else. But, on a really hot day, JJ couldn’t seem to stop staring at Max and her body shining under the sun. So, he decided than he needed to change everything that was going on.

“Dude!” Max yelled getting JJ to look at her eyes breaking his trance. She was walking towards him with her board next to her body after doing a surfing session. Her body looked even more beautiful wet, her hair was messy and that black bikini Max always used for surfing were making JJ go crazy. “Are you getting on the water or not?” She asked. “Don’t lose those waves! Don’t waste this fifteen minutes that we have together, bro.”

“Yeah, totally!” JJ said nodding while tying to ignore all those wild thoughts his mind was having.

“Are you ok?” Max asked looking at JJ.

“Yeah. Sorry.” He quickly shook his head like trying to brush away his dirty thoughts. But it was impossible since Max sat down next to him, with their shoulders touching. “Fuck.” JJ said almost in a whisper with the thought that Max wasn’t going to hear him under the wind, but he was completely wrong.

Max quickly turned her head to him. “Fuck what?”

You. I want to fuck you. JJ thought, but he controlled himself. “Nothing.” He looked down looking for something to say, but when a strong wind made dry sand fly towards the two of them, Max quickly got up ignoring what JJ just said a couple of seconds ago.

“Shit!” Max complained looking at her wet body covered in sand. “This is going to hurt like a motherfucker.” JJ didn’t want to look up because he knew that the sun was shining on Max once again and having her entire body one step away from his face, was game over for him. But then Max spoke to him. “Hey, JJ, can you help me get this off with a towel. It’s going to take forever and I have to get home.”

JJ closed his eyes and then bit his lower lip, taking a big breath he grabbed the other towel and got up to help Max. He was about to do her arms, if he needed to help her and control himself at the same time, he thought that her arms were the safer option. But Max spoke again. “No, do my legs. I got my arms.” She shook her head without a clue of what was going through JJ’s mind. He cursed on the inside before, with closed eyes, kneeled down in front of Max. As soon as he opened his eyes he bit his lower lip. “C’mon, dude, what are you waiting for?” Max asked.

After taking a big breath, JJ made the grip on the towel more stronger and started to rub it against Max’s left leg.

Puppies. Cars. Food. Think of anything else, JJ. C’mon. “Not so hard, JJ, it hurts. Do it slowly.” Max said and that was it for JJ, that was game over. He bit his lower lip when the wild thought of being on top of Max appeared on his mind like a fast truck while she had her legs wide open letting him be between them.

Fast cars. My bike. Me surfing. Anything else JJ! “Ok, I can’t anymore.” JJ said getting up and dropping the towel to their side.

Max looked at him confused. “Alright, Jesus, I’ll clean myself up, drama queen.”

“No, no! That’s not what I mean.” JJ looked around to see if anyone was around to hear was he was about to say, and when he noticed nobody was, he went back at Max to grab her cheeks with one hand, and her waist with the other, to pull her closer. Max widen her eyes at the sudden action but then looked at JJ lips, since JJ was doing the same. “I can’t anymore.”

“Can’t do what anymore?”

“Pretend that I don’t want to take you home right now, lead you to my bedroom and keep you up all night.”

It took Max a second to process JJ’s words but her brain picked up her next words real quick after that. “Doing what?” She asked with a smirk.

Of course, Max couldn’t stop thinking about having JJ naked on her bed or his either. It was the first thing that crossed her mind when he took his shirt off to go to the water, his blonde hair against the sun and his big arms. She couldn’t stop staring at them, but she liked the idea of having JJ on the palm of her hand.

“Oh, the things that I have in mind.”

“JJ, we agreed-”

“We agreed to have our first date before we did anything, yes.” JJ completed her sentence. “Do, what do you say?”

“What do I say about what?” Max said innocently and JJ shook her head with a smirk on his face.

“You weren’t kidding when you said that teasing me was your favorite activity. C’mon, this Saturday, you and me, on our first official date.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“Is that a yes?”

“What about my family? you know I have to help my dad with moving, Saturday is the only day he can come here.”

“Yes, that’s true. But what about at night? You can always sneak out.” JJ said with a smile and pulled Max closer.

“Alright, you bad boy.” Max said jokingly. “I’ll wait for you, come pick me up this Saturday at 11 pm on my bedroom window. And don’t be late.”

“Yes, ma’am.” JJ nodded before giving her a kiss on the lips.

“Can you see something?”

“JJ, no, do you think I’m a super hero that can see in the dark?”

“You could be.”

“What?”

“If you wanted to, you could be a super hero.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then- you know what? Never mind, JJ. Hold my waist.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“JJ! My waist! Not my ass!”

“What?! I’m holding your waist!”

“No, you’re not! That’s very low to be my waist.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? JJ, what are you talking ab-?” Without being able to finish her question, JJ pushed Max into the water. “You fucker!” Max yelled once her head was out of the water. JJ couldn’t stop laughing while still standing on top of Max’s board. Without hesitating, Max grabbed the board and moved it backwards making JJ lose balance and fall into the water next to Max. “Dickhead.” She said when JJ swam to the surface.

“Yeah? Come here, princess.” JJ said with a smile lifting his arms to grab Max’s shoulders and pull her closer, but she was faster and grabbed her board to pull herself up to leave JJ behind. “What? Come back!”

“No! A little bit of exercise is going to be good for you!” Max said while swimming back to the shore.

“Come back and I’ll show you my favorite way of exercising!” JJ yelled but it was too late, Max was already touching sand.

“That was very funny.” JJ said once he was walking closer to Max who was siting on top of her board with a smile on her face.

“Thank you!” She pretended to not catch his sarcasm. He shook his head once he sat down and then quickly grabbed her cheeks to pull her closer to unite his lips with hers. “Oh, Maybank, you can’t take your hands off me.”

“Don’t act surprised.” JJ said still looking at her lips. “Well, this is it. Our first date.”

“Yeah.” Max said with a smirk.

“If you think abo-”

“JJ, the date is not over.”

“What?”

“I already know what you’re going to say.”

“Then say it genius, what am I going to say?”

“I’m not going to fall for that game again, Maybank.”

“What game, Belinsky?” JJ said with a smirk and then once again, pulled her face closer to give her another kiss. But this time, the kiss lasted longer, and it was faster than the one before. Max turned her body to face him and JJ took the opportunity to grab her waist with his other hand. Without thinking about it, Max moved her body to sit on his lap with her legs between his body. The kiss was getting faster while their bodies were getting hotter by the second. Her hands started to touch his body wanting to pull him even closer, she grabbed the side of his neck and then with her other touched his chest. They both wanted to feel the other at it’s fullest like there was no tomorrow. On that moment, for the both of them it felt like there was no one else in the world, it was just them and their desire for each other. But that didn’t last for long.

“Hey! You two!” They both heard a male voice coming from a couple of steps away from them. They quickly separated from each other at the surprise and when they both looked to the where the noise came from, they noticed Officer Johnson standing there flashing his flashlight towards them.

“I got you.” He said with a proud and evil smile on his face.

“Who would’ve thought you and me would end up handcuffed next to a police car on our first date?” JJ asked while looking at officer Johnson talking on the phone.

“To be fucking honest,” Max said softly “I’m not surprised.”

JJ looked at her and that’s when laughs started to come out of their mouths. “Seriously, are we cursed or something?” Max asked between laughs.

“I think so!”

“Oh, you two think this is funny?” Johnson said once he hanged the phone call.

“Kinda!” Max said still laughing.

“Well, stop it! You two are going to be in serious trouble because the Deputy gave me the order to take you guys each home.”

Max widen her eyes and her heart dropped to her stomach, but not because she had to deal with her parents, but because JJ was going home.

“Hey, there’s no need for that.” Max quickly said after watching how JJ looked down and bit the corner of his lower lip. “You can take us both to my house. My parents are here.”

Johnson shook his head. “I have my orders.”

“Ok, but JJ’s house is on the other side of the island, it’s going to take you a while if you have to take us both. My house is close, and you can tell my dad to take JJ to his house. I’m pretty sure he won’t mind.” Max noticed with the corner of her eye that JJ looked up at her, but she was still looking at Johnson. “Please, take him to my parents.”

It was the first time Johnson heard Max beg for something, so he looked at JJ. “What did you do to her?” JJ didn’t respond since Johnson walked to open the back door of his car. “Get in. Both of you.”

“Wait-“

“I am going to take you both to your house, but I will have to talk to your parents about tonight, Belinsky.”

Max quickly nodded. “That’s fine.” And just like that, the three of them started the way to the Belinsky‘ house.

The moment Officer Johnson knocked on the door and Ben Belinsky opened the door of his house, Max let out an innocent smile. “Heeeeeeey.” She said and Ben let out a loud sigh not surprised at all.

“Good night, Mr. Belinsky.” Officer Johnson said. “I’m sorry for the disturbance, but I’m here to communicate to you that I caught Ms. Belinsky and Mr. Maybank, having sexual relations on the beach-“

“WHAT?” Max and JJ both asked at the same time surprised at Johnson’s words.

“Having what?” Ben asked and Max noticed how he was trying to process everything. JJ immediately looked down when he felt his cheeks go red.

“Sexual relations.” Officer Johnson said once again, making Max want the Earth of eat her on that moment.

“We weren’t-!” Max said but Ben cut her off.

“Max, the Officer is talking.”

“Deputy Miller gave the direct order to take this kids home and-“

“I’ll take Maybank home, Officer. You don’t have to worry about that.” Ben said and then pointed at the inside of the house with his head, letting Max and JJ know to get in the house. “Thank you, for bringing them here.”

Ben slowly closed the door and then walked in front of Max and JJ, who were next to each other not knowing what to say.

“Who was that, Ben?” Max heard her mom getting closer to the living room and then saw how Gianna immediately knew what was going on when she saw her husband standing there looking down, JJ with his hands in his pockets and her daughter with an innocent smile. “Of course.”

“Is everything alright?” Now Cody and Fred walked into the living room with sleepy faces and their pijamas on.

“Great.” Max said sarcastically. “The whole family is here.”

“Max.” Gianna said and then got closer to Ben. “Ben, please, let me handle this.”

“What happened?” Cody asked confused.

“With my own daughter!” Ben finally snapped. “On the beach! Doing-! I can’t even say it!”

“Oh....” Fred said when he understood. “This is going to be fun.” He said crossing his arms with a smile on his face, enjoying the scene in front of him.

“Dad-” Max was trying to say, but Ben lifted his finger and quickly shook his head.

“Doing what?” Cody asked confused.

“Fred, Cody, to bed. Now.” Gianna said and Fred opened his mouth offended.

“C’mon! Max always watched when I got into trouble, it’s not f-!”

“Fred. Bed.” Gianna said even more firmly.

Letting out a big sigh, Fred let his arm go around Cody’s shoulder and then turned around, before Cody asked again: “Doing what, Fred?”

“I’ll explain when you’re a little bit more older, Cody.”

Ben was still looking down letting out big and annoyed breaths, Gianna was looking at Max and then at JJ repeatedly. “Max, JJ. What were you thinking?” She asked.

“They weren’t thinking!” Ben yelled and that made Gianna grabbed his arm to calm him down.

“Sweetie, c’mon, don’t act so innocent.” Gianna said and Ben looked at her surprised.

“What?”

Gianna let out a little laugh. “You know what I mean.”

“Ew.” Max shook her head trying to get rid of her mom’s words.

“Don’t ‘ew’ me, Max.” Gianna said. “You two have something to say for yourselves?”

“Yes! We weren’t-“ Max was about to say the truth, but when JJ took a step closer to her parents, she closed her mouth and looked at him surprised. “Dude, what are you doing?” She asked quickly worried of what her boyfriend was going to say.

But JJ ignored her and continued looking at her parents. “We weren’t having sex, Mr. And Mrs. Belinsky.” He said in a tone Max never heard before. He sounded like a mature and mannered boy. JJ didn’t know where his courage came from, but knowing it was the right thing to do made him say what he was about to say. “Even if you don’t believe us, it’s the truth. I will never do anything that could put her in danger, I love your daughter, very much. It took me a long time to be with her. And I will not ruin it.” Max widen her eyes surprised at his words. Did he just say that he loved her? They never said those words to each other. She knew all of those things, but actually hearing it from his mouth made it completely different than just knowing it. And that made her melt on the inside. “I’m not very good at expressing what I feel so I’m just going to say what comes to my mind. I respect her and her... body.” He said hoping her dad wouldn’t kill him, but Ben was carefully listening to his words. Even if that made him even more nervous, he was glad he didn’t had that killing glare anymore. “And if she doesn’t want to do anything, I won’t. I know she feels the same way. If we do do something, we’re going to be mature and be careful with... everything.”

“JJ, you’re kinda ruining it.” Max said quickly shaking her head. She was getting worried because of his last words, but surprisingly for her and JJ, Ben and Gianna both looked at each other and then at JJ, who went back to stand next to Max.

“You guys weren’t really..?” Ben asked and they both quickly shook their heads.

“We appreciate you telling us this, JJ.” Gianna said and Max noticed a little smile on her face. “We know you two are going to be mature with your sexual lives-“

“Gi, do you want me to die?” Ben asked but Gianna just rolled her eyes.

“We just want to know that you’re going to be safe.”

“Yes, mom.” Max nodded trying to not die of her uncomfortable self.

“Alright.” Ben nodded. “I’m going to take JJ home now.”

“There’s no need for that.” JJ said shaking his head.

“Nonsense, I’m not going to let a sixteen year old walk around at this hour. C’mon, JJ.” Ben grabbed the keys of the jeep and then opened the door of the house.

“The Chateau is fine.” JJ said, knowing that Ben wasn’t going to let him walk back.

Max widen her eyes and then looked at her mother, who was thinking the same thing. “Please, don’t kill the poor boy. For the sake of our daughter’s heart.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Dad!”

“I was kidding!” Ben lifted his hands into the air. Max locked eyes with JJ and gave him a smile while he winked at her, before walking out the door.

“I’m grounded, aren’t I?” Max asked still looking at the door.

“Yeah.” Gianna nodded before giving Max a little smile and going back to her room. “Good night, baby.”

“Good night, mom.” Max said while letting out a big sigh.

Max couldn’t close an eyes since the moment she layed down in bed. The thought of JJ and her dad alone in a car wasn’t calming for her, specially after a night like that. Half an hour later, she decided to grab her phone and text JJ.

MAX: are you alive?

JJ: no, I think your dad poisoned my water

MAX: too bad

Max let out a tiny smile knowing that JJ was safe at the Chateau, she blocked her phone but when it vibrated again, she read JJ’s message.

JJ: i can’t believe you would prefer your parents knowing we were having almost sex instead of me going home

MAX: dude, I wasn’t going to let you go home

Max closed her eyes and remember the words coming out of JJ’s mouth.

MAX: question

JJ: shoot

MAX: you knoooooow

you said you loved me

when you were talking with my parents

did you actually meant it? or did you said it to just ease the situation?

both are fine my guy

that was nasty

JJ: I meant it

The moment she read that her heart skipped a beat.

MAX: nice

JJ: this is the part you say it back

MAX: really?

JJ: yeah

MAX: I love

JJ: waiting...

MAX: food

JJ: nice

me too, dude

MAX: I love you

JJ: can’t believe we’re saying I love you for the first one over TEXT

MAX: dude, we’re max and jj, we don’t follow the rules

JJ: I mean, our first date, we spent it handcuffed and talking to your parents about sex

kinda normal for us if you ask me

MAX: yeah. knowing us, it could’ve been worst

JJ: way worst

hey

we had our first date

MAX: you fucking horny

JJ: can’t help it. I have you as my girlfriend, I’m horny all the time. Have you looked at yourself?

MAX: alright. I get it.

JJ: see?

MAX: tomorrow

JJ: tomorrow what?

MAX: tomorrow

JJ: TOMORROW WHAT?

MAX: TOMORROW

JJ: DUDE

MAX: tomorrow

JJ: you’re killing me here

MAX: tomorrow

JJ: you killed me

MAX: don’t die. otherwise you won’t see what I want you to see.

JJ: alright im alive again

tomorrow what?

MAX: you’re going to have to wait and see

JJ: see what?

MAX: tomorrow

JJ: MAX BELINSKY YOU TELL ME RIGHT NOW

MAX: goodnight JJ

JJ: WHAT

NO

YOU DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS

HELLO?

BELINSKY

OH GET READY

you’re dead tomorrow

and I don’t mean the one where you don’t live anymore

>>> trouble is around the corner, always.

I’m going to add the old taglist but I am going to add the new one in the next post. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE NEW ONE. IF YOU ONLY LIKE THE POST I WON’T ADD YOU.

taglist: @iamaunicorn4704 @onceinagenerationrage @lasnaro @k-k0129 @x-lulu @oopsiedoopsie23 @baby-pogue @roamingmarauder @ponyboys-sunsets @agirlwholovescoffee @thorsangel @royalmerchant @deviouscharitos @badbitsh13 @cilorawr @ilovejjmaybank @corebore123 @starksweasley @allycat449-blog @netflix-imagines @alwaysasadaesthetic @queenofthepouges @jjsmaybcnk @sexytholland @sadcupofcoffee @strawberrydonkey @allielozoya @jjandreidsgirl @sarcasticsagittarius1998 @nevvvv @drewswannabegirl @outerbanksbro @itsyagirljay @kay667 @casper17 @jarahisendgame @niya-savage @scooby6 @dustyjjumpwings @sweetlysilent @alternativehp @stilinskingongo @renatafairchild @stfukie @chasefreakinstokes @beloved-vinyl-addict (+)

[insideoutstory]

Inside Out → Chapter Eleven

summary: Christine just wants to put the past few days behind her. But what she learns from Eleven might make that impossible. word count: 4.4k warnings: N/A

[ masterlist ]   [ FF.net ]

Christine did not know how long it took her to compose herself. There was no clock in the bathroom. But her legs were sore and her nose was stuffy. She dragged herself to her feet, splashing water on her face and pulling up her hair. She checked her dim reflection in the mirror, making sure she was presentable. Then she opened the door, and immediately took a step back. 

Eleven was waiting in the hallway. She sat cross-legged opposite the door, and looked up shyly at her. 

“Hey,” Christine said, trying to seem casual. “Is everything okay?” 

El nodded. Her eyes drifted over Christine, checking her from top to bottom. “Okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m fine. I just needed to uh…” 

“I understand.” 

Christine looked down at Eleven’s earnest face. Impossibly, El smiled at her. It made it a little easier to pull herself together. 

“Thanks, El. Come on. I’ll get you a big T-shirt or something, and we can get some sleep.” 

“No,” said Eleven firmly. She got up from her seat. “Mike.” 

“Right,” Christine agreed. “Mike. Shit, you’re right. Come on.” 

Eleven followed her to the kitchen, where Christine grabbed the phone from the wall. She dialed the number and leaned against the counter, saying a silent prayer under her breath. It took a few rings. So many she was afraid she’d get voicemail. But at the last moment, someone picked up. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, Mrs. Wheeler. It’s Christine Walcott.” 

“Oh, um…hi, Christine. It’s not really a good time right now…” 

“I know. That’s actually why I’m calling. Did Mike make it home okay?” 

“Michael? Oh—yes, he’s…he’s here.” 

“Oh, thank God.” Christine nodded to Eleven, who similarly relaxed. “He ran off before I could stop him, and I had to take Lucas and Dustin home too…” 

“You were with the boys?” Mrs. Wheeler asked. “Christine, what happened? Where were you?” 

Christine relayed the same story she’d given Mrs. Henderson. The boys had been forlorn after AV club when Christine came to bike Dustin home. She’d agreed to take them on a joy ride of the neighborhood, only for them to run into the police cars and sirens. Before she could stop them, the boys were following the trail, and they’d ended up at the quarry with Will’s body. 

“How is he doing?” Christine asked as her tale came to an end. 

“He’s…” Mrs. Wheeler trailed off. Christine couldn’t blame her. “He’ll be okay. He just needs time.” 

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” 

“Are you alright? Nancy said you didn’t make it to school today. If you wanted to stay here, Christine, I wouldn’t mind…” 

“Oh, I’m fine, Mrs. Wheeler. I was just really sick this morning. But I’ve got Mrs. Henderson next door if I need anything. I have to check in with her in the morning, and I still have to call my dad.” 

“Alright. If you’re sure…oh. Hold on, Christine. Nancy wants to talk to you.” 

A bolt of fear shot through Christine’s chest, which made her feel very stupid considering her situation. 

“Oh no! I’ve actually got to go, Mrs. Wheeler. My dad, he…” 

“Christine?” 

She deflated pressing a hand to her forehead. “Yeah, uh…hey, Nancy.” 

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just checking on Mike.” 

“Mike?” Nancy lowered her voice, whispering into the phone. “You skipped school to hang out with my brother?” 

“No,” Christine snapped. “I went biking with the boys after school, and we stumbled onto a crime scene. Mike ran off, and I wanted to make sure he was safe. Sue me.” 

Eleven was still standing next to her, looking very alarmed by her tone. Christine waved away her concern, slumping against the wall. On the other end of the line, Nancy had softened. 

“Was it…Was it really Will?” 

“Yeah,” Christine sighed. “I mean, we didn’t get close, but…it looks like it.” 

“Shit. I mean, it’s already all over the news but…shit.” 

“Yeah. I know.” 

They sat in silence until Nancy sighed. 

“Christine, have you heard from Barb? At all?” 

“Uh, no.” She glanced at the clock, frowning. “She seriously hasn’t talked to you?” 

“No. And she didn’t come to school, and she didn’t come home… Chris, I—I think something might’ve happened…” 

Christine’s heart stopped. She glanced down to Eleven, still looking up at her with wide, probing eyes. A thousand thoughts shot through her head, all of which she shut down. She was not getting caught up in this again. Will had gotten lost and drowned. He hadn’t been eaten by some monster, or taken out by secret government spies. It was an accident. There was nothing going on. 

“No,” Christine said, shaking her head. “Come on, I mean…this is Barb, right? Did you call the hospital?” 

“I did,” Nancy insisted. “And I called her parents, and her parents called the cops…” 

“The cops? But…Nancy, I’m sure she’s…” 

“Gone. She’s…She’s just gone, Christine.” 

Christine’s mind was reeling. Not two days ago Mike had been telling her the same thing about Will. And now Will was… 

“Did they really call the cops?” she asked feebly. 

“Yeah. I gave a statement and everything. They’re gonna send deputies to school tomorrow to talk to everyone.” 

Christine cursed under her breath. This was bad. This was unimaginable. It was the last thing she needed right now. 

“Look,” Nancy said. “I know things have been really shitty. But I need you to come to school tomorrow. You’re the last person that saw her al…You’re the last person that saw her.” 

Her misstep sent a shiver down Christine’s spine. She leaned her head against the wall. 

“Yeah, no. I’ll be there.” 

“Thanks.” Nancy took a shuddering breath, and lowered her voice again. “You’re sure you don’t remember anything? From the party? Did she say something to you? Anything about where she was going?”

“No, nothing. After you…um…I was just really drunk, you know? So Barb set me up on the couch and I passed out.” 

“That’s it? You just…went to sleep, and left her alone?” 

Her tone was enough. The unsettling sorrow in Christine’s chest found a comfortable alternative by turning into anger. Her hand tightened on the handset. 

“I didn’t just go to sleep. I passed out because I was upset and I was drunk.” 

“Yeah, Christine. I was there. I know how drunk you were.” 

“What, so it’s my fault now?” 

“No. That’s not what I said.” 

“No, it’s just what you meant. You wanna talk about leaving people alone? How about the part where you went upstairs to change clothes and told Barb and me to get lost?” 

“This is not my fault,” she hissed. “I told you guys to go home. It’s not my fault you decided to have a breakdown on the couch. If you’d left together, none of this would have happened!” 

“A breakdown,” Christine echoed derisively. “Exactly. I had a completely spontaneous breakdown out of nowhere, which had absolutely nothing to do with you. And that makes it my fault. Well if it’s my fault, why didn’t you look for Barb in the morning, Nance? Cause I woke up in Steve Harrington’s house alone. Which means you woke up before that, saw me, and left me there. Where was Barb then, huh? Did you look? Or were you too wrapped up in yourself to care?” 

“Shut up, Christine.” 

“No, Nancy, you shut up. I will come to school and talk to the cops tomorrow. But I am not gonna talk to you.” 

She slammed the phone onto the hook so hard she swore the plastic nearly cracked. It made a loud ding, which startled Eleven at her side. Christine immediately felt awful. She’d been so wrapped up she forgot the girl was there. 

“Sorry,” she sighed. “I’m sorry, El.” 

“Not okay?” 

Christine laughed dryly. “Yeah. Not okay. But you don’t have to worry about it. That’s not your problem.” 

She herded Eleven down the hall, grabbing her suitable pajamas from the bedroom. El changed into cotton shorts and an oversized Elton John T-shirt, while Christine dragged the couch cushions into her bedroom. 

 It had been a while since she’d built a blanket fort. Thankfully, the basics were hard to forget. She stacked the cushions in the corner, wedging them between the end of her desk and her dresser. She used pushpins to secure the sheets into the wall, not caring about the holes it left in the fabric. Then she laid out some spare blankets and an assortment of pillows. By the end, she had a nice little canopy nest that she’d still be able to see from her bed. 

Eleven smiled when she saw it. That was enough to assuage Christine’s anger for the time being. 

“Alright. Get in there, kid. Is that big enough?” 

El crawled into the fort, assessing her surroundings before she nodded. 

“Good. You want any water? Snack? No? Okay. I’m just gonna change, and then it’s lights out.” 

Christine grabbed her own pajamas, stepping out to the bathroom to trade her sweats for shorts. She brushed her teeth, got her own glass of water, and was not surprised to find Eleven wide awake and waiting for her when she returned. 

“Lights on,” said Eleven, as Christine’s hand went for the light switch. “Please.” 

“Wow,” Christine said with a smile. “So they don’t teach you ‘brother,’ and they don’t teach you time, but they do teach you please and thank you. Alright. Lights on.” 

She double checked that her windows were locked and the curtains were shut tight. Then she crawled into bed. 

“I’ll be right up here if you need anything,” said Christine. “And if I’m asleep, you can just push me until I wake up. I won’t be mad, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“Good. So…Goodnight, El.” 

“Night.” 

Christine smiled at her, and then laid down on her back. Her body was absolutely exhausted. She’d spent last night on a couch in an alcohol and grief induced haze, only to bike home and sit on the floor for a few hours. More biking, the baffling realization that she was being pulled into some kind of kidnapping scheme, a very long day of babysitting, followed by more biking, more walking, and stumbling onto an active crime scene. Every muscle of her body ached. But her emotional nerves seemed too raw to sleep. 

She couldn’t erase the image of Will’s body from her mind. Then there was Nancy’s voice, telling her that Barb was gone, and that it was all her fault. Then Barb’s body would replace Will’s on the stretcher. Christine would squeeze her eyes shut, and press her head a little farther into the pillow. If her nightmares were this bad when she was awake, she couldn’t even consider being unconscious. 

But she wasn’t the only one evading sleep. 

“Who is Nancy?” 

Christine rolled onto her side, looking at the fort where El was peeking under the sheets. 

“Nancy is Mike’s older sister. When you have the same parents, remember? She’s my age.” 

“Friend?” 

“Ha. She’s supposed to be, yeah.” Her laughter didn’t make sense to Eleven, and Christine struggled to explain. “Nancy’s…done a lot of things friends shouldn’t do. So I’m mad at her.” 

“Lie?” El asked. 

“Yeah, for a start. Lie. Leave. Hurt. Blame.” 

“That’s not friend.” 

“You’d think, right?” Christine frowned at her dresser. “But I guess I’ve been a bad friend too. I’ve blamed her for stuff. I’ve avoided her and called her names. Honestly, I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong anymore. I’m just…mad…” 

Eleven nodded, though Christine wasn’t entirely sure it was possible to understand. She hardly understood herself these days. 

“Who is Barb?” 

God, just hearing her name made Christine want to cry now. 

“Barb’s my other friend,” she whispered. “She’s been between me and Nancy this week, trying to make us friends again. And she had to put up with a lot of really dumb stuff. But now…no one can find her.” 

“Gone?” 

“Yeah, for now.” 

“Like Will?” 

“God, I hope not.” 

Christine choked back a sob, and chanced a glance at the fort in the corner. El was frowning too, staring at the ground. She was guarded in so many ways, but Christine still felt like she could read every expression that flicked across her face. Sadness, pity, guilt… 

“Hey,” Christine said, propping her head up on her elbow. “This isn’t your fault, okay?” 

“Mike…” 

“I don’t care what Mike said. He was upset, and he was hurt. So he hurt you instead. You were just trying to help, and…they were just sad it didn’t work out.” 

Eleven looked at her from the floor, whispering imploringly, “Will.” 

“What about him?” 

“Will,” she repeated insistently. 

That was it. Christine wasn’t sure what she was trying to say. So she forced a small smile instead. 

“It’s okay, El. Look, I don’t know what you showed the boys that made them think you had superpowers, but there’s no way you could have known what happened to Will. It’s not your fault.” 

Eleven pouted, and hugged her legs closer to her chest. 

“Try not to worry about it for now, okay?” Christine offered. “Just get some rest, and we can talk about Will in the morning.” 

She rolled onto her other side, and squeezed her eyes shut. She would hold her breath until she passed out if she had to. She just wanted to stop thinking for a few minutes. 

At some point in the night, she must have drifted asleep. There were no dreams, no nightmares about Will or Barb or Nancy. But one moment she was thinking she would never be able to fall asleep again, and the next moment someone was pushing insistently on her shoulder. 

“Chrissy. Chrissy. Up. Chrissy! Up! Please!” 

Christine jolted awake, clutching at her chest. 

 “Wha? What’s—Eleven? Shit, what’s—what’s wrong? What’s happening?” 

“Chrissy, come!” 

Small hands grabbed at her arm, pulling her out of bed and toward the door. Panic seized her, and Christine stumbled to her feet, racing down the hallway and into the living room. She half expected to see soldiers in heavy stealth suits storming her living room, or the creature from The Thing hanging from the ceiling ready to eat them. Instead, the living room was empty—if not a little messier than it had been when she went to bed. 

There were papers all over the floor. Her first thought was that her homework had been blown all over the room, but—no. It wasn’t her assignments. It was Will’s missing poster, all of them, spread out over the floor so his face could stare up at her. 

“What the hell…?” 

Eleven did not stop. She pulled Christine into the living room, forcing her to sit on a clear bit of floor. Then she walked over to the stereo, flipped a few switches, and powered it to life. 

Loud static filled the room. Christine covered her ears, wincing as Eleven fiddled with the tuner controls. She wouldn’t have been surprised if the static woke up the neighbors. 

“El, stop,” she pleaded. “You have to turn it down. And that’s not how we play tapes. Remember, you have to press this, then…” 

She reached for the stereo, only for Eleven to push her arm away. “Wait.” 

“Wait for what? For my ears to bleed?” 

“Will.” 

“Will?” Christine sank back onto the floor. “El, we’ve been over this. Will is gone. There’s nothing you could have done. You have to stop this.” 

“No. Will.” 

Christine sighed, watching in despair as Eleven continued to obsess over the controls. She did not know how to get through to her. It was quite possible there was no way. She was so sure of herself now, determined not to change her mind. 

Whatever place Eleven was running from had clearly groomed her in a certain way. She knew how to behave and understand, but not how to communicate or navigate her surroundings. She’d been given no agency, and forced to accept whatever was presented to her as truth. Maybe that had something to do with the powers she thought she had. She had either been told she had these abilities, or convinced herself of it out of some psychological need for control. 

Christine had read in books that people with dementia often had delusions to make sense of their reality. You weren’t supposed to correct them, in case they became confused, or violent. Maybe brainwashing was the same way. She just had to play along. 

“What is it, El?” she asked softly. “What do you need to show me?” 

“Will,” Eleven repeated, focusing on the radio. “Listen.” 

The static continued its assault on their ears. Christine waited a few seconds before jumping in. 

“Is…Is that…? I hear it. I hear him.” 

“No.” 

Eleven gave her a sour look. Evidently, she’d been caught playing pretend. Christine sagged, pushing stray hairs out of her face. 

“Look, El, I don’t know what you’re doing, okay? I don’t know what we’re doing here, and I don’t know what you expect to hear. What I do know is that Will is…” 

“Listen.” 

Christine bitterly closed her mouth. She would count to twenty, and then she was going to bed. This was ridiculous. She wasn’t prepared for this kind of babysitting. She didn’t get paid enough to deal with delusions. Hell, she didn’t get paid at all. All she wanted to do was go to sleep and… 

She heard it. 

“Wha…?” 

Eleven stopped moving the dial. She kept her hand on the stereo, her eyes squeezed shut. Like she was focusing super intensely. A thin trail of blood seeped from her nose. 

And there was the sound again. There was still a curtain of static, but underneath it all, Christine could hear something. Someone humming. She glanced at Eleven, just to be sure. It didn’t look like she was humming. Her throat was stock still. But before Christine could come up with another explanation, the sound changed. 

“So come on and let me know…should I stay or should I go?” 

That was definitely not Eleven. 

 Christine moved closer to the stereo, listening to the feeble voice. It definitely wasn’t a radio broadcast. She’d heard that song by The Clash, and it didn’t sound like that. It could have been radio interference, someone on a hamshack or supercomm nearby. But Christine had never experienced interference like this on the stereo. And there were only a handful of boys she knew who had supercomms. 

 “Is that…” she started, and this time she meant it. “Is that actually…?” 

“Will,” Eleven confirmed, with a small smile. 

“You mean, he’s…” 

Eleven nodded. 

“But…” Christine stared at the radio. “No. I mean, I saw his body. We all saw his body.” 

“Hiding,” Eleven corrected, shaking her head. 

“Hiding where, though? You brought us to his house today, and that’s not where he is. That’s exactly where everyone keeps looking for him.” 

“There,” she said, nodding. “But…no.” 

“There but no?” Christine repeated. “What does that mean?” 

Eleven frowned, clearly distressed that she could not find the words she wanted. The radio static flared, and Will’s voice vanished. 

“Woah, wait!” Christine leapt for the stereo, turning the dial back and forth. “Can we get it back? We need to—to record it or—or something!” 

Eleven pushed her hands out of the way, and started the process all over again. But Christine had just been struck with another idea. 

“Wait…could…could you find Barb like that?” 

She watched as Eleven considered the notion, then nodded feebly. “Try.” 

“Okay. Try is—that’s great. Hold on.” 

Christine jumped to her feet, racing down the hallway and back to her room. She scanned the corkboard over her desk. There were plenty of pictures of her, Nancy and Barb. They tried to take pictures with the whole group as often as they could. But Christine didn’t want to confuse Eleven by showing her Nancy too. She finally selected a picture of her and Barb from a recent sleepover. They were splayed out on the floor, heads next to each other as they lay in opposite directions. Christine had her tongue poking out, while Barb’s face was red from laughing so hard. Nancy had jumped up on the couch to take the picture. It was a good one. 

She careened back into the living room, passing the picture to Eleven with a trembling hand. 

“She’s the one on the right. With the red hair. Obviously, you know. The one that’s not me. Sorry, um…” 

But Eleven wasn’t listening to her rambling. She stared intently at the picture, as if she was memorizing every detail before closing her eyes. Then she brought her hand back up to the stereo, and spun the dial. 

Christine held her breath as she watched the needle move. Nothing was happening. That was bad, right? Had it taken this long to find Will? Was it because Eleven had found him already? She knew she was being impatient, but she was so nervous she could have hurled again. 

Time ticked by. The static grew to be a comfortable white noise, and Christine’s ears zeroed in on the clock instead. Each tick felt like a bang against a gong, echoing inside of her skull. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 

She counted as the seconds turned into minutes. It definitely hadn’t taken this long before. Weird sounds were beginning to come through the stereo, but none of them sounded like Barb. Cats and whimpers and strangled moans. Even the snippets of commercials there were passing sounded eerie in quick succession. 

The dial spun faster, and Christine watched as blood began to trickle out of Eleven’s other nostril. 

“El…?” 

The girl didn’t respond. She squeezed her eyes closed tighter, her hand steady on the radio. Christine was afraid to touch her in case—what? Would she lash out? Would it fry her brain? Would Christine get electrocuted or thrown across the room? 

Blood seeped from her ear, and Christine threw caution to the wind. 

“Eleven, stop!” 

She grabbed the hand that was on the stereo and broke the contact. Eleven’s eyes bugged open with a gasp, and she immediately sagged into Christine’s arms. She was pale, her skin slick with sweat, and Christine could have traced the purple veins in her forehead. 

“Shit. Shit! Shit, shit, shit…” 

She scooped Eleven up into her arms, rushing back into the bedroom. Carefully as she could, she laid her out on the bed. She was still breathing at least, though it wasn’t a huge comfort. What if Eleven had fried herself trying to contact Barb, just because Christine had asked—if she couldn’t do it again, or didn’t wake up at all? 

Christine pushed the thought aside and ran back to the kitchen. She began grabbing things at random. Paper towels, regular towels, glasses of water, soap, bread, for some reason. She piled it all back into her arms and sprinted back to her bedroom. 

It was a good thing Eleven was already blinking her eyes open. Otherwise Christine might’ve had a heart attack. 

“Hey, no,” she hushed urgently, as Eleven tried to sit up. “Lie down, it’s okay. I got you.” 

El didn’t put up much of a fight as Christine fussed over her. She cleaned the blood from her face, and then did another onceover for the sweat. Eleven’s eyes were only half open, but Christine could still feel herself being watched as she worked. She only let Eleven sit up long enough to take a couple sips of water. Then she lowered her back to the bed, and pulled the blanket up to her chin. 

“God, I’m so sorry,” Christine whispered, shaking her head. “I never would have asked if I knew it would take so much out of you. I don’t know what I was thinking.” 

“Sorry.” 

“No,” said Christine. “No, you don’t have to be sorry. You tried to find her and that’s—that’s way more than I should’ve asked. It’s…It’s more than I’ve done, anyway.” 

Christine bit her lip, smoothing the blanket unnecessarily. She’d been spread thin over the last few days, but she couldn’t help feeling like she was failing on all fronts. She was pushing Eleven after less than a day. She couldn’t even have a conversation with Nancy without screaming. She’d been so wrapped up in herself that she hadn’t even noticed Barb had vanished. The punches just kept coming. 

Something brushed her hand, and Christine snapped out of her reverie. Eleven’s hand was hovering over her own, like she was still debating if she wanted to take it. She pursed her lips tight when Christine looked at her, and let her hand fall the rest of the way. 

“Chrissy. I understand.” 

Christine took a shaky breath, grinning as she wiped her eyes. She’d had enough of crying over the last five days. It was a wonder her body still had tears to produce. 

“Just get some rest, El,” she offered softly. “I’ll talk to the boys in the morning and we’ll figure out what to do. We’ll find them.” 

Eleven nodded, her eyes already starting to droop. But she had one more question before she fell asleep. 

“Stay?” 

“Yeah,” Christine assured her, moving to lie down next to the bed. “It’s okay. I’m gonna stay.”

[metalotaku-da]

part 2 kinkance week 2 winners and losers

“Enemy combatants subdued and secured Pidgey give us the score!” Lance cheered excitedly after double checking the restraints on the two Galra soldiers now loaded into the secure back of the transport. And double checking their seatbelts with Hunk.

 “You really want to do that now?” Pidge sighed in exasperation.

 “Yes.” The response expected, but the source shocking several as all parties turned to look at Ryan Kinkade as he stood just a few feet away. In his casual arms crossed at the chest and emotionless facade to those who don't know him well. “Please.”

 Nadia gave her teammate a knowing smirk that he pointedly ignored. “Yeah let's just hear it so we can have to drive back to decide on payouts.” James added.

 “Alright.” Pidge said with a sigh and shoving her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “So overall, most hits is team Voltron. 21 to 19.” Lance jumped up with a fist thrust to the air and a loud cheer. Hunk giving him a high five after his hand came back down. Keith gave a smug smirk to James. But kept silent. “So we get to pick the co-group activity. And we already decided on your team has to join us for Monsters and Mana on Friday at noon till midnight.”

 “What when did we decide that?” Keith asked whipping around to face his own team with a look of betrayal. Keith saying with his raised hands and bunched shoulders he wanted something else. Probably more intense and grueling.

 “Pidge and I decided when you started and..” he pointed his thumb at Lance who looked absolutely giddy at the idea.

 “That's perfect you guys! Coran and Romelle are going to love teaching more people to play!” Lance exclaimed dancing in place.

 “See Lance agrees. Three to one. It's decided.” Pidge said clearly amused at undermining Keith.

 “Nice control of your team their Kogane.” James snarked. Drawing Keith's attention to him once more.

 “We aren't a dictatorship.” Keith responded cool.

 “What about individual performances?” James quick shifts too.

 “On that front for best maneuver, Keith won. That stunt with the building as ramp and drop off was insane.” Nadia.

 “What?!” James turns on his teammates. “Are you kidding me?!”

 “Eat it James.” Keith crows. “I'm the better pilot here. Just admit it.”

 “The window for error on his maneuver was .16 meters at his speed of 90 kilometers per hour at commission of stunt. And he performed it perfectly while also lining up his partners shot.” Ina chimes in with facts. Facts James cannot refute. He just grumbles at her.

 “And I think I'll take your suggestion to take the drive to figure out what you are going to do for me.” Keith taunts. Standing tall with a proud smirk arms crossed loosely in triumph.

 “Whatever. This time you won. But I'll get you next time.” James growled out.

 “So, what about little old Ryan and I huh?” Lance asked cheerily. “Who won?” He aimed his invisible rifle while speaking he next question. “Was it my shot as we made the drop? Perfect bullseye that one.” Lance turned his 100-watt smile on Hunk till he saw his friends sheepish head rub and strained smile. His arms falling with his grin.

 “Sorry buddy…” Hunk said with a reassuring clasp of his friend’s arm.

 “Yeah sorry Lance. We voted for Kinkade. With that double hit. When his shot knocked the sentries gun to shoot the other one and then he hit that sentry again to destroy it.” Pidge said with a shrug as she watched Lance's shoulders drop with his chin. She turned her eyes on Nadia the light reflecting off her glasses ominously. The group had actually been tied. But Nadia had begged the paladins to give the win to Ryan. Pidge made sure Nadia knew that she owed them one for Lance's now lower mood.

 “Oh right. That was a really good shot.” He said quietly before lifting his head and strolling forward to Ryan. A foot away he stuck out his hand to the taller man. “Good job Ryan. That was an impressive feet. Nice win.” Ryan easily took Lance's hand for a shake giving the paladin a barely there smile with just the twitch of the corners of his mouth.

 “You did great out there too.” Ryan consoled the paladin.

 Lance rubbed the back of his head. “Guess I gotta wait on what you'd have me do for your win.” he gave a half smile to the taller boy.

 “actually, I know what I want.” Ryan said clearly. “Griffin permission to return on the hover bike?” He asked his commander looking at him with nothing but his serious gaze.

 James took the key card and tossed it to Ryan. All of the boys staring at Ryan in confusion at the request. “Sure… guess I'll ride with the girls…”

 Ryan gave a short nod in thanks, before returning his gaze to a confused Lance looking between the two MFE pilots. “Ride back with me.” Ryan stated enjoying but not addressing the rising blush on the red paladin. Or his look of panic at first. “Please.”

 “He can't say no. It's a bet.” James said exasperated at his team mate for going easy on McClain.

 “Seriously?” Lance finally got out. “That's what you want for your win?”

 “Yes.” Ryan answered easily. The two focus on each other causing them to ignore Keith's silent seething. Pidge looking over the top of her glasses at Nadia unamused at the fact the girl had asked the favor to play match maker. Before turning to Hunk and jerking her head at Keith after making eye contact. Hunk moving into Keith's space to ask to ride back with him. Since his original passenger now had a new ride.

 “Uh, ok. Sure. That's. That's fine. Great even. Or cool. It's cool. I think.” Lance licked his lips to get some moisture back before clearing his throat. “I guess we should be going then. Lead the way big guy.” And Ryan did. Turning towards James hover bike Lance on his heels. Pausing only to send Hunk and Pidge one more panicked look before running to catch up and climb on behind him on the bike. Keith's eyes were locked on his teammates back the whole time. Even as Ryan rocked the hover bike just enough as he turned for Lance's hands to shoot up and grab the MFE pilot’s waist. The others don't hear what Ryan says but when he's facing forward again, Lance slides closer to get a better hold. Legs framing Kinkade’s thighs.

 “Alright. Now that that's over. Kinkade, McClain take point and scout ahead. No more than 5-mile lead. “Kogane you and Garrett take up the rear escort. And I guess the ladies and I take the middle in the transport. I'll…”

 “Driving!” Nadia. “Shot gun!” Pidge shouted in unison.

 James seethed for a few minutes before collecting himself and grumbling as he climbed into the back seat with Ina. “Let's just get back.”

 Hunk allowed Keith to squeeze tightly at his biceps and take a minute to collect himself also. “Hey man let's head back. We can have a Voltron dinner. Just Voltron tonight as a little celebration. For a job well done today.” Hunk patted him on the shoulder till he turned and followed his friend to the hover to take them back. Choosing not to answer Hunk.

[comebeonetwothree]

Blog #6: Coast to Coast

6/29/2021

The homeland of the rich, the famous, and the homeless junkies of Los Angeles, California will always have my heart.

With my first near death experience, I have come to see life in a new light… YOLO!

Remember that term? Yah, it was one of those fads that had meaning to it but no longer holds a place in fashion... thank god.

Everything on this coast is slow, even the way people talk is dragged out. No one J-walks here. They seriously wait for that little white man to pop up on the cross walks before walking, even if there is not a car in sight.

Yet everyone here has a serious addition to coffee.

Hangovers are even more dragged because everyone is so uber healthy here, they straight up do not have greasy food.

I made the mistake of ordering an egg and cheese, knowing it’ll only be a disappointment compared to a New York BEC. It was beyond disappointing, especially being hungover as fuck.

Everyone here is stoned all the time and have been for years. I truly believe the whole city moves so slow because everyone is high all the time.

No wonder they can survive with the shitty food- they are too high to realize.

They do have some fire weed here, so it makes sense, but damn… they are so slow and ditsy.

There is so much art here, from music, to painting, to theater, to creativity, everyone comes here with a dream. Some make their dreams come true, others end up addicted to crack, but everyone originally came here in hopes of making something of themselves.

That energy runs through the streets, it is so lively and so filled with hope. It is truly an inspiring place to live.

Who

Who have you become…

The people on the west coast are just genuinely nicer. We had a conversation that consisted of outrageous hand gestures with a random man in his car.

He had blocked an intersection accidently so I couldn’t make a left turn, where he then proceeded to see me raging about it and trying to mouth to us how sorry he was. We straight up had a conversation with this guy and were joking around while waiting for the light. We left mouthing, “We are from New Yorkk, move outta the way” as a joke, and he just understood and left us with a peace sign.

There is a surplus of homelessness here, and it is sad to see but also so interesting to watch them set up communities on the sides of highways and all along the beach.

There is never just one homeless dude posted up under a cardboard box. It’s always 15+ people posting up together in nice ass tents they probably stole or making cardboard houses with tarps for extra coverage.

They get super creative with their homelessness; it is fascinating to watch.

This one guy was zipping down the road in what looked like a decked-out bike, with high handlebars and a motor. He was moving with traffic and was looking cool while doing it.

As he got closer, we realized his get-up was made from an ironing board he bent into a seat, a plastic crate holding up the ironing board to a lime scooter he probably stole a month prior. Topping it off, he added tall handlebars for that 70s badass look. That man mastered one man’s trash, into another man’s treasure.

The saddest part is knowing majority of them came out here looking for their big break and got so hooked on drugs, they could never make it farther then that last $10 in their pocket for drugs.

On the other hand, some of these people have money to their names, but choose this lifestyle.

They really enjoy the life of nothing. This one woman was offered a job and a home, and she politely turned it down because this was her home. She loved the community around her and wouldn’t trade it for any material. What a way of life.

My family was so generous to let us three, stay with them here in Venice Beach. My Uncle Greg is my mom’s brother. He moved out here with his family to further his comedic career. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t see my cousins often.

My cousin Owen is a year younger than me and in the same grade as my brother. My other cousin Jojo is four years younger but grew up so fast. I always said the water in California was cracked out, because she always appeared older than my brother and I.

Since COVID I hadn’t been able to see them in two years, so I was so excited to hang out with them.

Jojo just graduated high school, so she is finally old enough to do drugs with!!

We also got to meet up with our friend Izzy from Oneonta. She is living out here for the summer with her sister. What a life.

Izzy is thriving here with her job at this night club and is living in her sister’s cute ass apartment in Echo Park. She has the total LA vibe and even knows all the local spots to hang. Shout out to you for sneaking us into a random hotel’s rooftop pool! Confidence never gets questioned.

We love meeting up with friends from school, it makes the trip feel more homie.

What

What’s hanging dude…

Joshua Tree National Park was something out of another planet. It seriously looked like Jurassic Park and a dinosaur should be appearing at any second.

It was very different from anything we had ever seen before, but it was still a desert and was hot as fuck.

We did some gorgeous hikes through all the massively large, rounded rocks that somehow were placed on top of each other ages ago.

The trees that are all around are Joshua Trees, also considered Trees of Life.

This means they produce a way of life for other creatures at all stages of its growing/dying process.

While in beginning stages of its life, Yucca moths use the trees pollen to lay their eggs in and produce pollen scatter, creating more trees. When the trees are gown, the caterpillars use the tree for habitats and provides food sourcing for a lot of other desert species. When the tree dies, the bark is used to create habitats for humans and used to wove baskets and other materials.

These trees look like a palm tree and a cactus went to TOWN together.

Los Angeles is the other city of dreams. It is not comparable to New York City besides the homelessness and the traffic.

The Ocean really makes the whole city’s surfer aesthetic. Everyone, even the rich and famous, dress like they are in last weeks outfit.

The style is so different from New York. People really don’t dress to impress but spend half their life savings on their wardrobe.

Visiting my family here has always been the ideal way to do this city, since they take us to all the local shops, and we do fun activities like surfing. It’s not just another tour bus showing us where Kurt Cobain shot up some heroin for the first time.

They also show us the best food joints. We got these sushi balls, and it was the greatest -post beach snack- imaginable. A little hit of the wax pen and a bite of this ball is comparable to an orgasm.

Where

Where are all the famous people…

Joshua Tree was so beautiful, it is a place I will be re-visiting, considering we were only there for one night.

Los Angeles is where I have always wanted to live, ever since a young girl. Whenever we would come out here to visit my uncle, he would take us to the coolest places, and we would meet the coolest people.

One year I was here on my birthday, and his buddy stopped over to say hi, when I came downstairs in was Zach Galifianakis chilling there with a $20 bill and my name on it as a birthday gift.

You could imagine my teenage self shitting a tiny bit in my pants as he handed me $20… However, in my head I was thinking, “I know you’re rich, give me more you cheap fuck.”

This year for graduation I only got a phone call from him… how rude.

My Uncle is a popular comedian, if you know him you know him, but if you don’t, he is very irrelevant to you.

When we arrived, he took us out to a show he was preforming at in West Hollywood, featuring other comedians you might know or might also be very irrelevant, including Bill Burr, Anthony Jeselnik, Pete Holmes and Beth Stelling.

It was a cool venue, and a fun time. My favorite part was being called out for attempted DUI’s in every state we have been in due to my funneling addiction, thanks Uncle Greg, that was supposed to be a secret.

After the show he dropped us off at this bar that his friends said was the “it” spot. When we walked in, the bar itself was perfect, expect it was populated by older rich men trying to find their next sugar baby.

We had some contenders, but they were asking for too much… No, I don’t want to go back to your house and sneak past your wife and kids as we dart to your hot tub.

When

When will we leave…

When we first got to LA we had full intensions of staying only four nights and getting out of my family’s hair, but then plans fell through.

Because I love it here so much, we decided to stay!!

Just kidding, I wish we could stay longer… One day I’ll move out here though.

COVID restrictions are back at it again, ruining our plans of going Yosemite. They are the only National Park that requires a whole ass separate pass just to enter the park, on top of the $30 day pass we already have.

The only reason our route was heading inland California was to see that park. So, we did a little digging and decided to just send it up all the way up the coast and do the legendary Pacific Coast Highway.

This is what we originally wanted to do before we found out about Yosemite. Guess we will have to come back to see the park, aw shucks!

Why

Why can’t I afford this…

California is fucking expensive; I can see why the population of homelessness is so high… Even gas is $1.00 more than it is back in New York.

And for Why? They are on a coast, it’s not like the desert where there is a gas station every 100 miles.

They know people here have the money, so they overprice literally everything. A fucking water bottle is $7.00. Sorry didn’t realize paying for survival would be this expensive.

The older man at the bar loved to throw the fact he had money around (as do most people with money around here). He kept saying he works on wall street, but wall street is literally a street in New York City.

He just wanted to flex he works in finances and has a hot tub, okay we get it you have a small dick.

How

How we almost died…

This is my favorite part of the last week, but also the most traumatizing.

So, have you ever heard of cowboy camping?

Well, neither had we until our friend that had just camped in Joshua Tree told us about it and how legendary it was in that specific spot.

Cowboy camping: you don’t pitch your tent, you just post up with your sleeping bags under the stars.

Since Joshua Tree is known for their stars, we thought fuck it, we are here for less than 12 hours, the weather is perfect let’s do it.

That night was a full moon, and it was a killer sunset (all pun intended). We cooked up a nice rice bowl for dinner and then laid in our sleeping bags watching the stars.

The moon was almost too bright, it was taking away from the illumination of the stars, but it was legendary because I’ve never seen such a big and bright moon before.

But you know what they say about the full moons, it brings out the crazies. And in our case, coyote crazies.

After drifting off to sleep under the peaceful star and moon lit sky, I was rudely woken up to really loud growling and whimpering.

It was not something that was off in the distance, it was right next to us… barebone in the wild.

I quickly and quietly turned over to grab my bear spray that I keep next to me when camping. I started thinking, “Alright this is the only thing keeping me from getting mauled by whatever the fuck is next to me.”

Not knowing what we were dealing with, I slowly popped my head up hoping the animal didn’t catch my movement… I saw about 5 feet in front of us was a pack of about 10 coyotes, running around chasing animals.

We happen to be the center of their circle and were surrounded by their pack. Thankfully their attention was diverted to our asshole neighbor’s whose food was left out. Thanks for that.

We just laid their paralyzed in fear of death. As we laid there, I saw two shooting stars and wished for life… Shoutout to those shooting stars.

We tried to stay as quiet as possible, so we didn’t become their next victim. Maya was not having it though and couldn’t stop shaking. There was a moment when her shaking was so loud, and I could see a coyote right next to us, so I had to hold her body so it would stop moving.

We laid there for about 20 minutes until the noises stopped… then we booked it for the car. We slept in the car until the sun rose.

As the sun was rising all the coyotes simultaneously howled for the rest of the pack to meet up and disappear before daylight. That was one of those, “holy shit that was the coolest most terrifying moments of my life”, moments.

We left the next morning as fast as possible, running on no sleep and fear… we headed for the city. I had never been more grateful to be in a city.

[oofurixmas]

In/Out Shuffle

To: Mec ( @dekuboya ) From: Jessie ( @shoopart ) for @oofurixmas 2017

Hey dude! I have for you, a shortish fic about Sakaeguchi, Oki, Mizutani and Izumi switching places in the defense lineup…disclaimer in that I don’t know that much about how baseball practices are run if at all, and I drew mainly from the sport i actually do. so. inaccuracies probably, but hopefully not too many? And hopefully I did your boys right!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! So sorry this has come in just under the wire!!

Rating: G Total Word Count: ~1500 No warnings apply except for a swear or two

[[READ MORE]]

It begins, like all bad ideas do, with Mizutani. And as with most things Mizutani does, it begins with him opening his big dumb mouth.

“So what’s being a baseman like?” he says, and Izumi squints at him. They’re all laid almost flat out on the floor, being handed water bottles and riceballs by a worried-looking Shino’oka. Momokan had been forced to cut practice short, because of the unseasonable heatwave; Izumi can barely feel his legs.

“It’s fun,” mutters Sakaeguchi. He’s put his back up against the wall, which was a smart move. Izumi wants to become one with the dirt.

“Well, yeah, it’s baseball.” Mizutani acknowledges. “But like - you guys don’t have to run, right?”

Sakaeguchi and Oki shoot him confused looks. Tajima, who would probably have jumped onto Mizutani’s sternum by now, is rolling around outside because he is a demon who actually likes how hot it is.

“Have you seen a single baseball game, Rice?” Izumi interjects. “They gotta chase people down. Plenty of running.”

“But that doesn’t happen often,” Mizutani presses. “And they don’t have to run far, just to the other base, usually.”

Oki looks visibly confused, now. “Are you…saying we don’t work hard?”

“NO! No, of course not,” Mizutani squawks, which honestly relieves Izumi, who was sure he’d have to muzzle him. “I mean like. ’Cause you guys have to throw so fast, I was trying to say, do you ever feel lopsided?”

Now they’re all looking at him like he’s grown a second head.

“I do,” Mizutani blithely rolls on, sticking his condensation-wet water bottle to his neck. “I mean, I gotta run so much in outfield, and then you guys know my at-bats are pretty weak, so my legs always feel dead, but my arms aren’t as much. Do you guys feel the opposite?”

Surprisingly, Sakaeguchi starts nodding. “I can see that. It’s just my shoulder, really.” He touches it lightly, as if dusting his sleeve. “I have to make a lot of quick throws.”

“Same here,” Oki says. “And when I subbed in for right field I noticed it was different.”

Izumi can conjure the post-game euphoric ache and, surprisingly, he can kind of agree; the problem is he’s usually swinging so hard at bat, and throwing so hard from center field, that it almost matches how sore his legs feel from sprinting. But it’s close enough to the truth.

He catches the gleam in Mizutani’s eye too late to stop him. “What if we switched?”

“What?” Izumi snorts. Sakaeguchi turns delicately green. Oki, too, looks apprehensive, even though he was fine as right fielder.

“I mean – not for an official game. I just want to see how the other half lives!” Mizutani whines. “You guys all did baseball before high school, right? I’ve never played it seriously before. What if I’m stuck on left field for the rest of my life?”

Izumi frowns. “Awful cocky to assume you’ll be a regular for life.”

“Izumi!” Mizutani reaches over and plants his water bottle right on Izumi’s cheek, and Izumi scuttles away not just because it’s gone almost warm from Mizutani’s body, but also because it’s got his sweat on it. He puts his back up against the wall like Sakaeguchi’s done, and instantly feels better.

“It sounds fun, though.” Oki fidgets, and blurts, “I’ve only played first baseman. Right fielding that one time was scary, but it was kinda fun.”

Mizutani grins at him and crows, “Oki and I are switching!” while Izumi and Sakaeguchi give each other a look.

“I’ll do it if you do it,” Izumi says.

“Do what?” asks Momokan, appearing suddenly, like a mirage come to life. The only thing she’d done to fight the heat was tie her hair up; maybe she and Tajima came from the same demon family.

It took a few seconds to repeat what they said, but Momokan got a glint in her eye. “We do need to get you all familiar with different positions,” she says, putting her hands together. “Might as well rip that bandaid off all at once.”

–

Izumi flinches when the ball comes flying at him at face level, catches, pivots, and hurls it at Mizutani, who almost doesn’t have time to turn pale before he’s fumbled the ball and it drops at his feet.

“This is horrible!” he shouts over his shoulder, where Sakaeguchi, Oki, Suyama and Tajima are running drills while Momokan hits balls out to them.

Sakaeguchi looks like he can barely breathe, but he manages to lift his head and shake his head vehemently. Izumi turns back around and snatches another ball out of the air before it takes his head off.

“HANAI.”

“Sorry!” Hanai looks stricken. “I thought you could see me wind up.”

“I mean, I could,” says Izumi, feeling a little on edge. A lot on edge. He’s used to Hanai’s throws having more of a delay, because they’re crossing a field, not barely thirty meters.

Abe calls from home, “Once more!” and Izumi wants to die a little bit, but he sends the ball home, and then receives the ball in a blistering crack as it hits his glove. Izumi’s definitely played baseman position before, but he’s starting to realize that the power a middle schooler has pales in comparison to high schoolers. Abe’s built like a brick shithouse. Hanai has an arm cast from whatever they cast baseball bats out of.

Mizutani seems to be doing a little better when he throws to him, and Coach is doing that half-smile she does when some plan of hers comes to fruition, and all Izumi can think – in between Abe barking out instructions, Mihashi turning and whipping the ball to practice defending bases, and Hanai throwing full fucking force, is that he’s never going to leave outfield again. Outfield is a dream. All he has to do is run.

When Coach calls an end to the practice and turns them loose to pick up all the balls before the light dies, Izumi falls into step with Oki. Oki’s breathing hard, but he doesn’t look unhappy.

“I like first base,” he says, and for once he doesn’t seem so nervous. “You guys can have the outfield.”

“Yes, please.” Sakaeguchi calls, from where he’s hobbling around. “Is this what you were talking about, Mizutani? I do sprints. I do lots of sprints. How are my legs like this.”

Mizutani just points to his shoulder and winces theatrically from the opposite side of the field. It’s supposed to be short work to grab all the baseballs and put all the equipment away, but somehow Izumi keeps lingering; he keeps asking Oki how he deals with all that pressure, and then Sakaeguchi is drawn into discussing how his glove is ridiculously shallow for outfield work. Mizutani joins in, obviously, when Sakaeguchi laments once again about how slow he is.

In short, Momokan has to actively wade in and give the team as a whole a firm, but gentle reminder that they need to clear out; and when Izumi looks around, he sees that the other guys are also drawn into small groups, discussing defensive merits.

“Truth be told, I’m glad you guys got to switch it up today.” Momokan says, patting Mizutani on the back. “Thanks to Mizutani, we can understand better what everyone’s doing in a game – and exactly what they do to achieve that.”

Mizutani colors when everyone shouts “Thanks, Mizutani,” mainly just to mess with him. But the color doesn’t really leave him, even when they all unlock their bikes, and finally Sakaeguchi elbows him and asks, jokingly, if he’s really so surprised.

“No, I, um,” Mizutani mumbles. “It started just cos I wanted, to. Talk to you guys.”

Oki and Sakaeguchi nearly stop in their tracks. Izumi can’t stop the snort in time, and Mizutani turns on him, mouth made up into a frown.

“Shut up, Izumi.”

“We see each other every day!” Izumi puffs, trying to keep his snorts from turning into full-force laughter. “You couldn’t think of something better than ‘hey, you guys like being basemen?’”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” Sakaeguchi says lightly, but he’s trying to mask his grin too. “We still don’t know much about each other, after all.”

Izumi blinks – he’s right. Izumi’d never thought about it before, but it was only four months into the year, and while he knew Sakaeguchi’s bunt like the back of his hand, and Oki’s surety on first base, and that Mizutani would and could dive for the stupidest reasons – he doesn’t know much about them outside of the team. Hell, the only reason he knows anything about Mizutani is that the dude doesn’t stop talking.

Oki manages a smile at that, and rubs the back of his head. “To be honest, I only know Shin-Nishihiro, and, I didn’t know how to start with everyone else…well. I’m glad you decided to talk to me. And Sakaeguchi.”

“We’re friends now.” Sakaeguchi says, patting him on the back. “We know what outfield’s like, and we’re never going back.”

“Hey.” Izumi points at Sakaeguchi. “Second base is stressful. At least in outfield I know where to throw.”

Mizutani has recovered a little and looks a little hopeful, a smile tugging at his mouth. From the corner of his eye, Izumi can see Oki’s smiling back at him, and turns to clamp his hand on the back of Mizutani’s neck.

“Next time,” Izumi says, “You wait til Momokan’s out of earshot.”

[fereality-indy]

Wrasslin Wendy chapter 3

Chapter 3 - What Am I Doing?

“And welcome back to hour two of the nation’s favorite Thursday night pastime GCW’s Melee. As we prepare for our next match, let me welcome some celebritie’s we have at ringside.” Maddog Blanchard said before the camera cut away from him and his announce partner Arnie Homes.

“We have platinum recording artist, Lil Big Dawg, who’s single ‘Wrexin’ is the there for this month’s Requiem pay per view in three weeks.” Maddog continued as the screen showed a short (five foot five inches), well dressed African American gentleman and what appeared to be his entourage. They all seem to be enjoying the show.

“And on the other side of the crowd, we have someone with a personal interest in the next match.” Arnie added as the screen cut to a nervous looking brunette in a blue flannel shirt, “It’s television personality and fiancé of our very own Gwendolyn Jack, Mason 'Dipper’ Pines from 'Dig Deeper With Dipper’ on our sister channel Used To Be About History Channel. And now back to the ring.”

Tthe ring announcer is standing in the ring as a heavy metal guitar riff cuts through the air, “The following is a non title match. Making their way to the ring. From the halls of House Maloy, accompanied by Gigi Maloy and her brother Anton. I present Sir Thomas Leon and Sir Miles Dracon. Together they are the Crusaders.”

The Crusaders were both at least six foot five inches and solidly built. If it weren’t for their different ethnicities people might have though they were brothers. They came to the ring wearing gray tabards with a red shield featuring a lion and a dragon. And with their chainmail inspired tights, they looked as if they could have come from a Renaissance fair.

Gigi and Anton on the other hand were in a purely modern look. The 'Privileged Princess of GCW’ was in a pair of sparkling tights and shirt emblazoned with her logo. Meanwhile Anton was in a pair of black trunks and a green sleeveless hoodie with a silver eye on the back of it.

“These two were already on a path of terror before the Princess recruited them into her Knights of the Squared Circle and her war with the Lumber Jacks.” Arnie called out from the announce table.

The Crusaders and Anton slide on into the ring, while Gigi saunters around the ringside. She stops in front of Dipper and gives him an appraising look. Leaning over the guard rail she ran a finger down his jaw line and shot him a wink as he jerked away.

“The Princess is playing with hot water here, that’s her rival’s fiancé she’s messing with there. She’s already tried to use the youngest Jack sibling, who’s not even in the industry, to get in Gwendolyn’s head earlier this year. She must love to play with fire.” Maddog added as he watched Gigi get into the ring and blew a kiss directed towards Dipper. “And remember this whole war was started because of her lust for the woman’s title and exacerbated by Anton’s infatuation with Gwendolyn.”

“And their opponents,” the ring announcer started before the loud buzz of a chainsaw blared through the arena, followed by the call of 'Timber’, and then steady melody on a steel guitar. “Hailing from the Woods of Oregon and accompanied by their big sister the GCW’s Woman’s champion Gwendolyn Jack, here are Bobby and Jimmy Jack. Together they are the Lumber Jacks.”

Dressed in a tied off, slevelesss, red flannel top, hiker style wrestling boots, loose jeans, and carrying her trademarked ax handle, Gwendolyn was being actively restrained by her brothers as they headed towards the ring. With the difference of their shirts being worn open and Bobby wearing an A-shirt under his, the brothers were dressed the same as their sister.

The brothers let her go once they got to ringside and she went over and hugged Dipper before she joined her brothers in the ring.

“It looks like we are in store for one major hullabaloo, Arnie.” Maddog said as he looked between the two teams.

“That we are Maddog. The Crusaders believe they should already have the belts after the last encounter between these two teams. Alright it looks like we’re gonna have Jimmy and Miles start it out for us.” Arnie said as Bobby and the Caucasian half of the Crusaders climbed out of the ring and into their respective corners.

Jimmy turned to look over at his siblings and Sir Dracon chose that time to attempt an attack. He charged towards Jimmy and was caught with a hiptoss. He was then hit with a clothesline as he got up. Jimmy went for a second clothesline but was caught and tossed With an overhead release belly to belly suplex. As Jimmy got up and went towards Sir Dracon, he was caught in a drop toe hold which Sir Dracon then floated over to capture Jimmy in a headlock.

“That was an amazing sequence of moves there folks. The action will continue after a word from our sponsors.” Arnie says as the screen cuts out.

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

“Man I’m so hungry I could eat a cow.” a teen says as he and his friends walk through some resturant doors.

“Then I know what you want,” the way too cheerful cashier says from behind the counter, “ You want the Hermanos Brothers’ Double Double Beef Burrito Meal. Two double beef burritos, nachos, and a drink for just six ninty-nine.”

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

“Welcome back. During our commercial break we saw Jimmy Jack mount a comeback only to be thrown to the outside by the fresh Sir Leon. Let’s join the action,” Maddog called as the scene resumed.

Bobby and Gwendolyn were on the ringside floor helping Jimmy regain his footing when they were hit by both members of the Crusaders as the dove over the ring ropes. The ref rolled outside to check on everyone as the Crusaders got to their feet. They threw the brothers into the ring as the red checked on Gwendolyn who appeared to have hit her head.

“The ref needs to get back in the Ring and do his job,” Maddog called as the Crusaders hit the Seige Machine on Jimmy Jack.

“It is his responsability to watch out for all of those involved in the match, not just the competitors Maddog.” Arnie said into his headset as he continued to call the match, “Gwendolyn could be seriously injured over there, wait a minute. What is that creep Anton up to?”

Anton had came up behind the ref and grabbed him by the collar and the back of his shirt. He then turned and threw him into the ring steps. Turning back he looked down on the unconscious Gwendolyn.

“He just took out the ref, what is going on here? Wendy need security, neither of her brothers are in any condition to help her.” Maddog called as he saw Bobby Jack receive a Siege Engine like his brother. Gigi was watching it all and directing the Crusaders to keep on the Jacks.

“My god, he just slung her over his shoulder. Where is he going to take her?” Arnie called as he watched Anton had pick up Gwendolyn as if he was going to powerslam her but started to walk towards the ramp to the back. “Wait a minute, what’s this?”

Dipper had jumped the guard rail and caught up with Anton, he pulled Gwendolyn off of his shoulder and sert her down. As Anton turned around Dipper hauled off and delivered three rapid fire European uppercuts. By then security had finally made their way out and began separating everyone. After Gigi and her Knights were taken to the back Dipper helped Gwendolyn to her feet and they were joined by her brothers. The fans cheered as they made their way to the back after the Lumber Jacks were announced the winners by disqualification.

“Well Maddog it looks like it was a good thing that Mr Pines was in attendance tonight, who knows what that psycho would have done if he hadn’t been.” Arnie said he looked at his partner.

“What are you talking about he had no business crossing the barricade. He could have just as easily injured himself or her even more. Noble intentions or not he has no training on how to deal with real monsters like Anton Maloy.” Maddog replied as he shuffled around some papers on their table.

“Well let’s just agree to disagree there Maddog.” Arnie said with a smile, “We’re heading to a commercial break folks but when we get back we’ll have some high flying light-heavyweight action as CD Spinna takes on 'True Country’ Kevin York.”

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

BACKSTAGE

As soon as they were clear of the curtain Wendy perked up and slid out of her brothers’ grip. She turned and kissed Dipper before saying, “You did great out there.”

“It was sorta like riding a bike, everything Wildbill taught me came flooding back as soon as I jumped that guard rail.” Dipper replied as he held his fiancé. He stepped back for a second and tried looking into her eyes as he asked, “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, I hit my head harder than that when we’re in bed.” She said with a smirk.

“TMI, sis.” Lucas said as he continued past them.

As she watched him blush, Angela 'Gigi Maloy’ Smith called out. “Looks like you got your self a keeper there girl.”

“Oh I know it. Looks, brains, and he can even cook too.” Wendy called back causing Dipper to go almost as red as her hair.

“Why did I ever agree to do this?” Dipper asked as they headed further into the backstage area.

“Well, you’re too much of a nice guy. After you found out from my brothers that your oh so successful and oh so public proposal had ruined a storyline that the writers had been working on, the sweetheart that you are, you had your producers call to find out if there was anything that you could do.” Wendy said as she messed up his hair, “They were going to turn you down till someone remembered that you trained with me and my brothers. So they proposed that you come and work a short program with me. And the best part is I’ll get to come work a couple of episodes of your show next season.”

“I know. It’s just after I decided to finish college, I never thought I’d get in the ring again.” Dipper said as he began to straighten out his hair she just messed up. With a smirk he continued “It will be nice to have you around a site or three.”

She leaned over and gave him a kiss before she added, “Maybe it’ll be like old times.”

“Come on lovebirds, they’re waiting on us in the trainer’s room for the challenge segment.” Angela called from down the hallway.

Standing up, Dipper took Wendy’s hand and said “Let’s go get this done.” __________________________________________

Chapter 3 is done. As those who saw my WendipWeek2017 know I’m currently having to do my writing on my phone as my laptop has gone kaput. So right now I’m only working on short stories and drabbles. I am also still working on the last prompt for Wendip Week to finish it up, my first draft ended up being more of a Mabcifica story and so I need to come up with a new plot. As with most of my stories I use my own names for Wendy’s brothers though for once I’m actually using Dipper’s cannon name.

Ring names of the Corduroy’s: Gwendolyn Jack - Wendy Corduroy Bobby Jack - Rudy Corduroy (eldest brother) Jimmy Jack - Lucas Corduroy (middle brother)

Also remember to check out my other Gravity Falls works: Gravity Heroes - A few months after the Mystery Twins head home from Gravity Falls Mabel gets a call from Soos telling her that Dipper was found turned to stone out in the woods. The problem is Dipper is standing right next to her. This leads them off to a new adventure. Gravity Heroes: Sidetracks, a series on one shots & drabbels that are stories that are in the Gravity Heroes-verse but aren’t necessarily required to read the main story-line. It’s essentially my take on the classic Marvel Comics Presents. Gravity Falls Valor Force Rangers, In summer of 2016 an ancient force has arrived in Gravity Falls intent on finding weakened layers of reality that are prevalent in the area and exploiting them. Realizing fear is one of the ways to find the weak points, he and his evil henchman have begun corrupting both creatures and objects in order to terrorizing the populace. Taking a cue from a friend he met while stuck on the other side of the portal, Ford recruits five 'teens with attitudes’ to combat this threat. The Curse, thanks to a misunderstanding Wendy is targeted by a fairy curse. This is a short story following what happens afterwords.

I also would feel honored if any of my works inspire any art. If the do I would love to see them. Thanks again to all who have read this far. I have received art now from Deviou5, Siryleleen, & Polydactyly Zodiac. I’m happy to see different interpretations of the characters from the GH AU. Let me know by PM if you do and I’ll send out a list of the full descriptions to you. The art is now up at fereality. deviantart. Com/ just remove the spaces.

Again I’d like to give a shout out to dusk4224, EZB, SuperGroverAway, ddp456, & A Pleasant Dream. It was their stories that made me want to get back into writing and to want to start with Gravity Falls. Please check out their stories if you haven’t already.

Please review. I’m always open to constructive and helpful criticism, though if you’re gonna troll please move on.

On to the reviews. Without further adieu:

Reader Guest (chapter 2): Thanks. Wendip is my main ships, so I work hard on making sure it feels right. Yep. That’s their stage names . I listed them up above for better reference.

Reader Guest (chapter 1): Thanks.Yeah, while he has a show unless you are into cryptology and pararcheology you may not know him by sight. The fans that were there just saw a geeky fan in flannel propose to a popular female wrestler. As we seen here it’s the eldest two brothers, the third stayed to work with their father.

Reader William Easley: Thanks. Are you sure you didn’t mean Too Sweet. ;-)

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: 2 Fast 2 Furious

Hi Everyone, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews Where We Continue Our Look At The Fast And Furious Films By Talking By Talking About The First Sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious...

Taking Place A Few Years After The Original, Former Cop Brian O'Connor (Played By The Late Paul Walker) Is Brought In By The Hard Assed FBI Agent From The Last Film, Wilkins To Help Take Down A Drug Lord Named Carter Verone (Played By Cole Hauser) But To Do This Brian Is Going To Need The Help Of An Old Childhood Friend (Played By Tyrese Gibson) A Sexy Undercover FBI Agent (Played By Eva Mendes) And A Smart Mechanic (Played By Rapper Ludacris) And His Part...Fu...Lo...(I Don't Know What She Is But She's Played By Devon Aoki) To Do It...

So, Let's Dive Into 2 Fast 2 Furious And See If Its As Good Or Bad As Everyone Says It Is...

Before We Start The Film I Think It's Best That I Quickly Go Over The Prelude Short That Was Released With A Special Edition Of The Original Movie And All Releases Of The Second Movie...

Taking Place After The First Movie, We See That Brian Is Officially On The Run After Letting Dom Escape In The Original Movie...

Going To State To State To Try To Dodge The Police, Brian Becomes A Street Racer Getting Money For Winning Wherever He Goes....

Sleeping At A Motel One Night, Brian Sees A Beautiful Girl At A Cafe But Unfortunately Cops Prevent Them From Meeting. Brian Runs Into Her 2 More Times When He's Checking Out Of His Hotel And When He's David Bannering It When Cops Find His Car...

Dropping Brian Off At A Car Dealership, He Gets A New Car, Placing The Right Components In It So He Can Continue Street Racing...

Continuing His Long Journey, Brian Meets 2 Men With Girls On Bikes But Despite Giving Them The...

Look, Brian Isn't Dumb Enough To Race Them So As They're Given Tickets By The Police As Brian Goes Right By Them Unnoticed...

While Continuing His Street Racing Career, Brian Arrives In Miami...

Where The Film Starts...

If You Want To See The Prelude For Yourself It's Right Here...

Now, On With The Film...

Starting In Miami, A Street Race Is Being Set Up By Tej (Played By Ludacris, Who Looked Better In The Sequels Than He Does Here, Seriously, Early 2000 Ludacris, 1970 Called And They Want The Afro Back) With 3 Racers Including Tej's...I Don't Know What She Is...Suki (Played By Devon Aoki)...

No, It's Not Sookie, It's Suki!

Now, As I Was Saying, With 3 Racers At The Starting Line Including Suki And 2 Other Guys Whose Names I Don't Know (So We'll Just Call Them Guy 1 And Guy 2), There Unfortunately Can't Be A Race But With Tej Offering To Bring In A Fourth Racer And Everybody Agreeing To Race Whomever Tej Chooses, He Makes A Phone Call And Guess Who Tej Chooses?...

Yep, It's Brian, However Before He Decides To Join He Wants To Raise The Stakes: $3,500 To Enter And The Winner Takes The Pot, So, With Each Contender Accepting, The Racers Go To Their Vehicles, And The Race Begins!

It's Hard To See Who's Where Throughout The First Half Of The Race But From What I Can Tell Brian Is In Second Place With Guy 1 In The Lead While Guy 2 Is Blocking Suki Who Is In 4th Place...

Brian Takes The Lead For A Second Only For Guy 1 To Take The Lead Again When He Activates His Nos...

Meanwhile, Guy 2 Gets Passed By Suki When She Makes A Wide Turn. Now, All Throughout The Evening, Tej Has Been Saying He Has A Surprise For Everyone Well, It Turns Out That Tej Has Hijacked The Bridge So That The Cars Will Jump When They Cross...

That's Just Awesome!

And So, As They Reach The Bridge, Brian Activates His Nos And Goes Right Over Guy 1...

Meanwhile, Suki Activates Her Nos To Jump The Bridge While Guy 2 Says "Screw This, I'm Not Ruining My Car"

With Brian The Winner, Guy 1 Crashes Into A Pepsi Billboard As Suki Comes In Second. Despite Talking With A Woman He Saw In The Crowd, Police Arrive On The Scene, Brian Manages To Get Away However A US Customs Agent Named Markham (Played By James Remar, An Actor Who's Known For His Role As Richard Wright On Sex And The City But Has Recently Appeared On The CW's Black Lightning As Peter Gambi) Uses An Electronic Weapon That Causes Brian's Car To Stop And Brian Is Arrested By Police...

Being Interrogated By Markham, He Is Soon Confronted By Bilkins Who...Wait A Minute We're Missing A Scene Here, Guys!

Well, We're Here, Now So, I Guess We'll Talk About This. Markham Tells Brian Everything About A Man Named Carter Verone (Played By Cole Hauser) While Saying That Despite The Cartels Being Successful Getting Drugs Into Miami, They've Had A Hard Time Getting The Cash Out. Surveilling Him For About A Year, They've Found Nothing To Put Verone And The Money Together...

They've Even Had An Undercover Agent Placed Inside Of Verone's House That Works Travel And Logistics For Him However Recently, Verone Has Placed Her In Charge Of Finding New Drivers. But Despite Brian Believing That She's Turned Into A Double Agent When Bilkins Say That He Can't Confirm Her Status, Markham Defends Her None The Less Saying That She's Been With Verone For About A Year To The Point That She Lives At A Compound With Him...

But Why Is Brian There You May Be Asking? Well, Turns Out They Need Good Drivers Put Verone And His Money Together So, Bilkins Makes Brian A Deal If He Plays Ball With Both U.S Customs And The FBI, He'll Be Granted Full Amnesty Of Everything He Did In LA...

Teaming Brian Up With A Fellow Agent Named Dunn, Brian Basically Thinks That Dunn's An Idiot When It Comes To Motors...

And That If He's Going To Do This He's Got To Pick The Driver, So, Asking Who He Would Choose, Brian Decides On An Old Friend Of His Named Roman Pierce (Played By Tyrese Gibson)

Visiting A Demolition Derby Where Pierce Works, He's Not Happy To See Brian, REALLY Not Happy To See Brian...

Eventually Placing Roman In A Choke Hold, He Asks Brian Why He's Here And Brian Tells Him That If He Helps Him They'll Take Off That Tracking Bracelet Of His And They'll Clean His Record...

Asking Bilkins If Brian's Deal Is Legit, He Tells Roman That It Is And Despite Acting Like He Won't Accept It, Brian Knows That Roman Will And He Does As They're Both Driven There, But Once There, Roman Is Having Second Thoughts As He Doesn't Trust Brian...

And With The Way Dom Reacted In The Last Movie When He Found Out That Brian Was A Cop, I'm Not Very Surprised...

Arguing With Roman About Blaming Him Ever Since He Got Caught. Brian Tells Roman To Chill Out, Stop Blaming Him And To Take Responsibility...

Entering A Wherehouse, They're Introduced To The Undercover Agent Who's Monica Fuentes (Played By Eva Mendes) And Is The Same Woman That Brian Talked To At Tej's Street Race...

Somewhere In Brian's Head He's Got To Be Thinking...

Telling Them That Verone Is Looking For Drivers And That She Arranged For Them To Join Up, She Even Hired Some Thugs To Make It Look Legit Which Leads Her To Show Them To Their Cars...

And I Can Tell You Right Now That, I Love Roman's Car...

The Purple With The Detail Is Stunning And The Tail Fin Gives It An Added Dash Of Flair To It

Taking Them To Verone's, Fuentes Rides With Brian In The Yellow While Roman, Of Course Takes The Stylin Purple...

While On The Road, Brian Talks With Fuentes About How Long She's Been Undercover But All She Tells Him Is To Keep His Eyes On The Road....

Uh, Hi, People Besides You Are In The Car, Brian I Suggest You Look At The Road Instead Of How Sexy Fuentes Eyes Are!, It's Like Phil Told Hercules!...

(Start At 2:35, End At 2:37)

But Turns Out It's All A Trick That Roman Taught Him Years Ago...

Arriving At Verone's, Brian And Roman Are 2 Of Many That Are Looking For This Job. Meeting With The Big Man After Getting Through His Guards Roberto And Enrique, Verone Tells That His Red Ferrari Was Confiscated Yesterday And Was Taken To An Impound Lot, It Has A Package In The Glove Box That Needs To Be Returned To Him And The First Team To Do That Will Work For Him And So, After Showing Their Licenses To Verone's Guards Its...

(Start At 0:00 End At 0:06)

Racing Off To The Impound Lot, Brian And Roman Are The First Ones There But When Going To Get The Packages But They're Unfortunately Confronted By Markham Who Lojacked Their Vehicles And Believes That Both Brian And Roman Are Trying To Run...

Shooting At Them Isn't Showing Them That You're Not Trying To Run, Roman...

Returning To Verone's, He Gives Verone The Package Where It's Revealed That This Whole Test Was Just To Get A Lousy Cigar!

And If This Is Biggest Punch In The Gut You've Gotten, Guess What He Owns The Impound Lot Too...

(Start Video At 0:25)

If You've Survived Your Mental Breakdown Of How Dumb Verone's Test Was, You'd Know That They Got Verone's Job, Turns Out He Needs Them To Carry Something From North Beach To The Keys, He Won't Tell Them What Just Get There , Don't Let Anybody Stop Them And When They Finish There'll Be $100,000 For Them

While Roman Tries To Negotiate $100,000 Per Person, Verone Invites Them To His Club Called The Pearl At Midnight To Get To Know Each Other A Little Better...

Going To Tej's Garage, Brian Asks A Friend Named Jimmy To Check Out Their Cars While Talk With The Who's Dealing With Jet Ski Racing....

Asking If Roman Can Use A Cot Of Tej's ,Tej Says It's Okay As Brian And Roman Go To Talk With Jimmy About Their Cars And They Didn't Just Lowjack Them They Lowjacked Them To The Max!

Asking Jimmy To Try His Hardest To Make Them Less Inconspicuous And What's Worse, Verone's Boys Are Following Them Which Calls For A Little Distraction...

Wow, That's Racist...

Going In Brian's Car, Roman Drives Off, Leaving Verone's Boys In The Dust...

Going To The Safehouse To Fill Bilkins In On What's Going On, They Find Markham With Him And He's Incredibly Pissed Off...

You Know, Roman Wouldn't Have Shot At You If You Didn't Lowjack Their Cars, Trust Is A 2 Way Street, Markham, Try It, It'll Do Wonders For You...

Anyway, Telling Them That They'll Be Making A Run For Verone, They Just Don't Know When Or Where, They Mention That Verone Bought A Window With The Local Cops, Dunn Offers To Ask Around But Bilkins It's A Bad Idea As They Don't Want To Blow The Operation Brian Also Says That Verone Will Be At The Drop Off. Bilkins Sees It As An Opportunity To Nab Him But Roman Says They Have One Probem And It's Fuentes...

Telling Them That Verone Is Banging Her, Markham Thinks It's Obsurd But Asks What Brian Thinks About Fuentes Being A Possible Double Agent As Brian Would Know Which Is Where Markham Spills The Beans To Roman On What Happened With Dom That Cost Brian His Badge...

Saying That They'll Keep An Eye On Fuentes, Brian And Roman Leave Which Is Where Roman Asks Brian About Dom, But He Doesn't Want Talk About It Which Is Fine But They Have Other Problems Besides Fuentes Being With Verone Including The Fact That Markham Tried To Blow Their Cover And That They Got 2 Wired Cars That Aren't Going To Helpful To Either Of Them, Realizing This Leads Brian To Say That They Need To Come Up With An Exit Strategy...

Knowing That In Order To Do This They're Going To Need 2 More Cars, They Team Up With Tej And Suki To Challenge 2 Muscle Car Drivers They Met When Trying Out For Verone To A Race, Winner Takes The Loser's Cars

With Roman Racing Against Fabio (Which Is What Roman Calls Him) Suki Waves The Flag As Fabio Takes The Lead, With Roman In Second, Turning Around, Fabio Is Still In The Lead, But Activating His Nos, Roman Catches Up Which Leads Fabio To Cheat By Knocking A Sign In Front Of Roman...

With Round 2 About To Begin, Elvis (Which Is What Roman Calls Guy 2) Takes Off When Fabio Crosses The Finish Line And Brian Starting After Roman Crosses, With Elvis Still In The Lead After Making The Turn Brian Decides To Pull A Move Of Desperation By Coming Straight At Elvis...

(Start At 0:28, End At 0:32)

Well, Look's Like He Just Took Your Balls, Pal...

With Elvis Restarting His Car And Brian Catching Up By Using Nos, Brian Manages To Win It By A Nose...

So, They Get The Cars And Fabio And Elvis Go Home With Nothing But Thank You For Playing...

Going To Verone's Club, The Pearl, It Is A Cesspool Of Activity. Running Into Fuentes, She Tells Them That They're Doing Something Right As Verone Never Socializes With The Help...

While Roman Uses The Bathroom, Brian Talks With Fuentes Who's Having A Problem With Roman's Attitude Brian Just Says He Doesn't Trust Cops Before Telling Her Their Backstory, Turns Out Brian Was Only A Cop 2 Months Before Roman Was Busted In A Garage Raid Over 8 Sets Of Wheels In His Possession All Of Them Stolen, Of Course, Brian Didn't Know That The Raid Was Going Down But It Didn't Matter Once He Became A Cop, Roman Saw Him As A Friend Who Became The Enemy..,

When Roman Returns, They Are Brought Before Verone Who Noticed Brian Talking With Fuentes...

Talking With Roman About Lighting His Guard's Car On Fire Near Tej's, Roman Tells Verone That He Has A Problem With Authority Figures To Which Verone Is Right There With Him...

Taking Them All Upstairs To Meet With Lt. Flass From Batman Begins (Actually His Name Is Detective Wentworth, But For The Sake Of My Knowledge Of Comic Book Movies, I'm Calling Him Lieutenant Flass) An Officer On Verone's Payroll Who He Asks About The Window But Flass Has Said That He Can't Do It Which Is Gonna Be Painful For Him...

Placing A Bucket With A Rat On Flass' Body, Verone Tells Him That When The Bucket Gets Hot Enough, The Rat Will Want Out And By Out, He Means Digging Through His Stomach!

I Think I'm Beginning To Miss Batman Going...

(Start At O:30, End At 0:33)

Asking Again For The 15 Minute Window, Flass Tells Him Again That He Can't Do It But Eventually He Gives Saying That He'll Do It...

Verone Warns Flass That If He Betrays Him, He'll Do The Same Thing He Did Here To His Entire Family And Kill Them All...

Wait A Minute! Did They Bleep Verone Out Here?

The Complete Line He Gives To Flass Is "I'll Burn Your F※※※※※※ Eyes Out" Which Could Be Understandable If The Movie Was Shown On Tv And The Network Decided To Bleep It Out That Would Fine But Why Was It Bleeped Out In The Final Cut? Were They Close To An R Rating To The Point That The Only Way The MPAA Would Let The Film Slip With PG-13 Rating Was If They Bleeped Out This One Word In This One Scene? If Anyone Knows Please I Would Really Love To Know Why This Scene Is The Way It Is In This Movie...

And So, With The 15 Minute Window Confirmed, Verone Tells The Boys To Be At Versailles Cafe, 6:00 Am, The Day After Tomorrow, Ready To Drive. Leaving With Fuentes, Verone Kisses Her And Says That If She Ever Touches Another Man, He'll Kill Her...

Returning To Tej's Garage, Brian And Roman Argue About Fuentes' Alligences As They Watch Tej, Suki And Jimmy Play Cards...

The Next Morning, Sneaking Out Of Verone's Compound, Fuentes Sits On Brian's Bed When He Wakes Up To Tell Him That Verone Plans On Killing Him And Roman When They Finish His Job. Roman Enters Telling Brian That Verone's Boys Are Here Possibly Looking For Monica So Roman Decides To Distract Them While Monica Gets Away...

When Brian Gets Out, They Search His Boat To Find Nothing But That Doesn't Stop Roman From Starting A Fight...

When Verone Stops The Fight, He Says That He's Glad Everyone's Getting Along Because His Boys, Enrique And Roberto Are Going To Join Them Tomorrow, Just As Insurance...

Seeing Fuentes At His Compound, Verone Asks Her Where She's Been With Her Telling Him That She Went To Breakfast With Some Friends...

And He Backs Off..

Returning To Talk With Bilkins And...

(Laughing)

I'm Sorry, But That Outfit On Bilkins Makes Him Look Like Magnum, T.C., And Higgins Combined Together To Form One Guy...

Anyway, They Tell Markham And Billkins About The Cop That Verone Threatened Into Giving Him A 15 Minute Window And That Verone Is Driving To An Airstrip Where He'll Fly Off. Brian Also Tells Them That Monica Warned Them That Verone Plans On Killing Them Once He Has The Cash...

Not Being What Bilkins Signed Up For He Wants To Call This Off, But Markham Says That If Anyone Is Calling It Off, It's Him...

Markham Tells Brian And Roman To Do What They Were Brought In For Or They'll Go To Jail, Plain And Simple. So, With Chances Of Survival Being Very Slim, They Decide To Come Up With Their Own Plan To The Point That They Even Get Tej Involved As He Shows Them Hangars At An Airport...

I Think This Calls For A Montage!

With Things All Set, Roman And Brian Go To The Pier For To Talk. There They Talk About Why Roman Is So Interested In Food (Apparently It Has To Do With A High Metabolism) And Brian Tells Roman That If He Could Have Done Something To Get Him Out Of Jail He Would've But Roman Tells Brian That It's Not His Fault And That It's All His Plain And Simple...

The Next Morning, Verone And Fuentes Head Down To The Airstrip, Flass Keeps The Cops Distracted And Brian And Roman Are Led By Enrique And Roberto To A Trailer Park Where The Money Is However It Turns Out That Flass Has His Men In The Exact Same Area, Uh Oh...

Yep, Flass Decided To Double Cross Verone And Send The Cops After Brian, Roman And Verone's Boys..

Well. I Guess He Can Kiss His Family Goodbye Maybe Instead Of Rats Verone Will Use Scarecrow's Fear Gas On Them..

Hearing The Cops, They Pack Up But Before They Go, Roman Plays A Game Called Bowling For Cop Cars...

Strike!

Still Being Chased By Cops, They Head South Down I-95, But The Police Use The Same Weapon That Markham Used Earlier To Get Brian Which Forces Brian To Climb Out The Window To Get It Off...

Succeeding, Brian Throws It At A Police Car Which Causes A Crash Of Police Cars...

With The Police Still Following Them, They Head To The Airport Where They Enter Some Hangars...

But When They Come Out...

The Police Cars Get Hit By Some Trucks So That A Cadre Of Cars Can Come Racing Out Of The Hangars...

And It's Not Just 10 Or 20 Cars, I'm Talking Billions Of Cars!

You're Damn Right To Say That, Lady...

Eventually Finding Brian And Roman's Car, They're Unfortunately Cornered By The Cops Who Discover That Brian And Roman Aren't In Their Cars!

Turns Out Tej And Suki Pulled A Fast One On The Officers And Decided To Take Brian And Roman's Cars While Brian, Roman And Verone's Men Took 2 Different Cars That Managed To Get Away From The Officers...

And It's Here We Say Goodbye To Tej And Suki Though We Do See Tej Again In Future Sequels Along With Both Brian And Roman Suki Never Appears Again And To Her I Will Say The Same Thing I Said To Leon In The Last Movie, We Hardly Knew Ye, Though Unlike Leon I Do Hope We See Her Again In A Sequel In The Future, I Mean If Fuentes Can Appear In A Cameo I'm Sure They Can Get Her To Appear Either In A Cameo Or As A Member Of Dom's Family...

Anyway, Since They're Safe, Brian And Roman Realize There's Only One Thing Left To Do And That's To Say Goodbye To Enrique And Roberto With Their New Ejector Seats!

However Before Brian Can Eject Either Enrique Or Roberto (I Don't Know Which Is Which) The Guy Is Like Get Off At Tarpon Point But Brian Knows That There's No Airstrip At Tarpon Point The Guy Is Like Who Said Anything About An Airstrip...

Okay, Let Me Back Up A Little Here...

While Everything Was Going Down With Brian And Roman, Markham Was At The Airstrip To Get Verone However, When Him And SWAT Covered Verone's Vehicle They Discovered That Verone And Fuentes Weren't There...

Yep, The Location Was A Decoy!

Calling Roman, Brian Tells Him Everything As He Arrives At The Rendezvous With Jimmy...

Arriving At A Dock Brian Sees Verone With Fuentes As They Get The Money Out Of Brian's Car With Brian Telling Verone That The Rest Of His Cash Is On It's Way In Another Car Asking About The Agents At The Airstrip, Brian Denies Everything But Verone Says He Only Told One Person About The Airstrip And That's Monica...

Getting Monica On The Boat, Verone Tells His Henchman To Hide The Car And Kill Brian But When They Hide The Car, Brian Hits The Ejector Switch (Which Doesn't Work, Good Job, Tej) But Luckily Roman Shows Up Which Gives Brian Time To Fight The Guy...

Managing To Subdue The Henchmen , Brian And Roman See That Verone Is On The Move So, Getting In Brian's Car They Follow Him Only To Do A Dukes Of Hazzard Right Into His Boat...

With Brian Shooting Verone In The Shoulder, Fuentes Grabs Verone's Shotgun, One Way Or Another They Got Him...

Telling Them About 3 Bags Of Cash, Markham Promises Them That Their Records Are Clean Which Makes Roman Pop Out 3 More Bags...

Watching Verone Get Healed By Paramedics, Bilkins Tells Them That Suki And Tej Have Been Released From Hold Up And There's A Sedan Ready To Go. And I Would Say That This Is The Last Time We See Monica Fuentes But As I Said When I Was Talking About Suki We See Her Again At The End Of Fast Five So, I'm Not Going To Say Goodbye To Her But I Will Do This...

Walking Off With Roman, They Talk About Opening A Garage In Miami But How Are They Going To Do It Well...

(Laughing)

And That's 2 Fast 2 Furious And It's Not Bad Or At Least Not As Bad Some People Thought When It First Came Out...

When This First Came Out People Didn't Like This Movie They Thought It Wasn't The Same Without Vin Diesel And Director Rob Cohen (Who Instead Of Doing The Sequel They Decided To Make Their Own Film, XXX) To Which When This Film Didn't Do Good, They Brought Diesel Back For A Cameo In The Third Film, Tokyo Drift Which We'll Briefly Talk About Next Week But My Opinions On This Film Are That, I Think The Story Is Good, The Characters Are Interesting, The Cars For What We See Are Well Designed However, The Villain Can Be A Little Dumb At Times But Still I Say See It...

Until Next Time, This Is Duke, Signing Off...

[thepensiverambler]

Monday are day of rest 2.0 (Sort of)

I rose once more to the sticky heat of my tent, the first bead of sweat already on my brow. I opened the flaps of the tent and like a blind mole tried to worm myself out to the breeze. It was a still morning so I resolved that I'd have to get up and out of the sweatbox. This was when I first felt the pangs of the stiffness from mixing concrete for the past 6 days. I rose and stretched a little, walked over to the kitchen. I then did something I'd not done before, I turned on my mobile data for 5 seconds, just enough time for whatsapp messages to come through to me but nothing else. 20 messages from 5 different chats. The first that came to my attention were the 13 from Beth. It wasn't good news. For people that don't know, i met Beth in Calais but a week or so before we met she went on a date with a Canadian fella him and they kept in touch. From what Beth told me about the lad he was a total dreamboat, charming, handsome and caring. She flew out to Canada to go travelling around Canada in his van. Wildly romantic and beautiful as the idea seemed not all went as planned. The first few days were great I'm told, I recieved whatsapp messages saying how nice a time she was having. Fantastic, I thought she took the risk and it paid off. Then things took a turn for the worse, the fella told Beth that he feared she was falling in love with him and that he didn't want to hurt her. The next day he abandoned her in a parking lot then 15 minutes later drove back, picked her up and acted as though nothing had happened. Having received these messages I dashed to my tent to pick up the essentials (wallet and suncream) and as though I were in a Hugh Grant film I grabbed a ridiculous looking bike completely unsuitable for the terrain (a pink number with no suspension that was too large for my stubby legs) and I set off down a bumpy dirt track. Feeling extremely unsafe I peddled the 3 km to Cesme, got to the cafe so I could use the WiFi and call Beth. In a flashback to 2 weeks prior, the cafe was locked so I just sat outside with weaker wifi but wifi nonetheless. I checked my phone and saw that Beth had texted 10 minutes earlier to say she was going to sleep. I hadn't thought about the time difference. Bugger. I sat there on my phone replying to other people's messages and reading the news. Resting and wasting my already low charge on my phone before heading back to the village, 20 minutes or so later Beth replied saying she couldn't sleep. Turn up for the books I thought to myself, I would have felt almost as silly as Beth if I'd cycled down for nothing. We texted for a short while and insulted the Canadian fella who apparently wasn't quite over his ex. Beth was undoubtedly naive to fly to Canada to see go on holiday with a man she had met once in her life. There's a fine line between bravery and stupidity and i think one can only really be judged by the outcome. I spent the weeks preceding it her trip teasing her that he might be a serial killer. Fortunately not a serial killer just weak pillock that thought it might be better to leave a girl in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere whilst she was in a foreign country than tell her his feelings. We’ve all been in those awkward situations where you've got to tell someone something they don't want to hear. I'm very guilty at avoiding awkward topics for as long as possible. Some people (reality TV stars) relish the prospect of confrontation but the Canadian fella and I are alike in the fact we avoid it at pretty much all costs. That being said I would like to think that I might draw the line at allowing a girl to fly across the Atlantic for me. We established that perhaps in future you should know a guy a little more than a day before flying halfway across the world to meet him we began to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation. That was until the Samsung sign came up on my phone indicating that would be where our conversation would end. Phone dead I straddled my majestic pink bike a cycled bravely through the most confusing traffic light roundabout I've ever come across. I got back to The Village my baby blue shirt closer to navy under the armpits and the back. I had breakfast and explained where I'd been and why to everyone at the village. We did a little work measuring out where to put the next structure we were to start on, the volunteer house. I'm very keen to start this because I'm confident that once it's built I can take up permanent residence in it, closing down the sweat box tent. We discussed a large problem we've been discussing for almost a week now without finding a resolution. The dilemma we have is complex and, as is the way with many complex problems there is no obvious perfect solution. We need to build a stone wall to complete the children's room in the education centre. This would be fine were there not an 8 foot hole where the corner for the wall should go. ‘Why is there a hole?’ I here you ask. The plan for the education centre wasn't entirely clear or certain at the time so Imece adopted James Bond’s policy of shoot first, only it was digging not shooting. In fact a body might be a lot simpler a problem to rectify than this whacking great hole in the way. The hole will be used as a tank less septic tank. The waste water from the toilets and the kitchen will go into it and apparently it won't need to be emptied for 6 months to a year. Not a chance. Problem 1. We don't feel confident building a structure to support a stone wall over a great big hole Problem 2. It's going to smell horrendous and it is in the centre of activity. Ali promises that if we cover it well enough it's not going to smell. I don't believe it. It just so happens that we have a drainage expert volunteering with us this week and she says it can't be done. I'm a proponent of the plan of digging a new hole and filling the current one in with the soil we gain from that. All of this costs money that we don't have. A problem without an easy solution. After going back and forth about this issue we had lunch having made no progress. We did decide however to go to a nearby beach in the afternoon which had been used regularly by refugees attempting to swim to chios (5.5 km away). It wasn't quite what I was expecting but there were many dinghies washed up on the rocks. It was strange to think, whilst looking out across a beautiful coastline to Chios that people had died attempting to make the crossing. We cleaned up the beach. Cleaning beaches is a topic I have mixed feelings for. I feel that in order to cause any real difference the magnitude of people taking part must be incredibly large and people must take littering more seriously to prevent the issue occurring again. This being said I do believe that a bin liner full less of rubbish on the beach is a good thing and that if I am to expect others to do it I must first do it myself. We spent hours cutting dinghies away from the rocks and as we were losing the light and feeling rather tired we walked back in towards Cesme. I sat in the cafe writing this and will now head for a beer on my day off. If you're to take two things from this post take these two, don't litter on beaches and employ a Trumpian extreme vetting policy before buying your ticket to Canada.

[seven-for-president]

RFA (+V and Saeran) reacting to MC who gets hit by a biker

_Yoosung_

° is in the middle of playing LOLOL when he gets the call from the Hospital

° “Are you Kim Yoosung? Your girlfriend just got hit by a biker and we´d like you to come by and pi- Mr. Kim are you still there?”

° immediatly runs to the hospital you´re at

° nope, doesn´t giva a f*ck about traffic and stuff

° almost gets run over by a car himself （｀〇Д〇）

° Y u not careful??! (╬ Ò ‸ Ó)

° arrives while panting like he´s about to die

° they almost take him to the emergency Department （＊〇□〇）……！

° “MC where are you ??”

°  hyperventilates because you´re nowhere to be found ( ≧Д≦)

° when you finally come out of a room he cries tears of joy

° “Yoosung what´s wrong you look like you´re going to collapse!”

° he then realices you´re totally fine and almost not hurt at all (＾▽＾)

° just a few scraches here and there

° “They, they told me you got hit by a biker. I tought you´ll die!!”

° “Babe chill I´m fine” (￣▽￣)ノ

° when you tell him what happend he gets reaaalyyy pale (like a ghost)

° starts crying again xD

° you two go home together

° CUDDLE-TIME!!!!

° for the next few weeks he accompanies you wherever you go

° so sweeet (♥ω♥*)

° from now on he´ll be your Guardian angel (´∀｀)♡

_Jaeee_

° she´s at work no suprise there

° the hospital calls her 3 times

° but they can´t reach her ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

° so who cares you just go home alone and wait there

° when she checks her mailbox........

° super worried and ditches work to come to you

° now you know you mean very much to her o(≧∇≦o)

° freaks out when she finds out you left the hospital on your own

° calls imediately to confirm if you´re alright

° “Why didn´t you wait for me MC?”

° “Because it would have taken houres for you to pick up your phone.”

° Ouch MC that hurt !

° “...”

° “I´ll be home in 10″

° when she arrives she apologizes like a MILLION  times

° you did too because it wasn´t very nice of you t say that

° after that incident she gets a Special emergency phone for those times you really need her

° now you can reach her 25/8

° Jumin wants her to get a phone just for him to call her

° NO, JUMIN! NO!!

° but seriously she´s glad you´re okay and nothing Major happend ( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/

° she Cooks your favourit meal for you so that you stop beingangry at her

° you weren´t serious with being angry, but whatever

° until you´ve completly recoverd : MOMMY-JAEHEE-MODE ACTIVATED

° let´s just say she´s back into work mode soon enough

_Zen_

° it´s bee a really long time since one of his old biker friends gave him a call

° he wanted to intruduce you to them because you were quite interested in bikes and stuff

° “Hey what´s up? I wanted to call you because my girlfriend said she is-”

° “Zen we´re sorry we hit your gorlfrind with the bikes !”

° “You did what??!”

° the first thing he thinks of is to punh them

° then it hit him like that bike hit you

° (sorry that one was bad XD)

° “How is she? Did you bring her to a Hospital? have you called the ambulance?!”

° “Zen chill I´m alright”

° thanks god his princess was fine !!!1

° “Where are you I´ll come and kill those guys!”

° Zen, pls

° “I´m at the park...But Zen Keep calm i´ll be home in 15 minutes” (・_・ヾ

° but he had no time to Keep calm !!!

° hung up and ran to the park (not that the bus would have bee faster, ..... just saying )

° so you facepalmed and waited there or him

° good thing the company wasn´t that bad though

° when he arrived you just sat there and chatted with his new archenimies

° Zen pls Keep it down  

° “Prepare to die ypu stupid morons!”

° “No, Zen please it was my fault!”

° the Moment you cling onto him, tight, he hugs you and Looks how bad your injurnies are

° not that worse but still a reason for him to punish a certain biker gang

° without another word he carries you princess-style (how else ?) and takes you home

° “bye bye guys !!” “Bye MC!”

° at that night you got a lecture about being careful in the traffic and so on and so on....

° but it Ends by you pushing him down and kiss him so he just stops nagging

° it worked ೕ(･ㅂ･ )

_Jumin_

° Oh, Boy he´s at a very boring important meeting when he gets the call by Driver Kim

° “Sir, your wife got slightly hit by a Biker. I´m taking her to the next hospital.”

° SHE.GOT.WHAT?

° needless to say they adjourned the Meeting

° is very anxious the whole ar ride

° yells at the traffic light to turn green sooner

° it didn´t work

° of course the next Hospital happend to be the best in the whole City -.-

° you just get out of the room they examined you in

° “Jumin, didn´t you have a Meeting?”

° MC, pls

° “of course I got here as soon as I heard what happend!”

° he is at the ege of a breakdown and you´re just.... chill?

°  so you explain everything to him and that you only got a tiny scratch here and there

° he´s still not sure about you being totally fine

° what if you  hurt your head from falling down?

° what if you got an infection because dirt got in your wounds?

° to your luck the doctor was there to tell him that ther´s no need for him to worry

° not like you told him that from the start (￣ω￣)

° so when you´re finally home he´ll do everything to make you forget your horrible accident

° is still worried and now one of the Bodyguards is at your side

° NONSTOP

° it´s annoying but when you two cuddle together with Elisabeth you´re more than happy to bear it for him

_Saeyoung/Seven_

° one of his Hobbys include hacking into the cameras on the street so he can always watch you

° some might call i Stalking but he calls it showing affection

° so he sees it live on Screen how you got hit by that stupid biker

° but you look alright so he spends his time findingthat peron through his license plate

° of course being the hacker god he is it only took him 1.57 minutes

° by the time you arrive home he already got his first aid kid ready as well as a hot cocoa for you (♥ω♥*)

° Is super caring at first but soon he´ll be wearing one of his cosplay

° why, Seven , why ?

° “Seven please stop wearing that it hurts when I laugh!”

° “But aren´t I the cutest Nurse EVAAA?”

° He is

° a few days after that you found a letter in the mail

° it was from the biker, he apologized for hitting you

° “Saeyoung did you threaten People again?”

° “What if?”

° “Then I must admit that you´re the best boyfriend ever”

° who wouldn´t want someone who commits a crime for you?

° the definition of romantic

° you decide to thank him properly and prepare all of his favourite Food (with the help of Saeran)

° then you have the best dinner ever and he even gets to cuddle with you afterwards (｡♥‿♥｡)

° this got you like 100000000000 affection Points and a very fun night ;)

_V_

° one day you came home and he just felt something was off

° womens Intuition? screw that here Comes V!

° “Has anything happen to you, my dear?”

° you sigh

° why does he always knows this stuff

° V´s superpowers confirmed?

° “Nothing I just bumped into someone and fell.”

° well, that was not completly a lie

° “Oh, really? in Who?

° “A biker”

° SHOCK

° “MC why didn´t you tell me??”

° he´s really hurt know... great MC

° “I just didn´t want you to worry “

° you go and hug him so he stops being worried/ mad

° “The next time this happens just call me and I´ll be right there to help you”

° “I´ll always be there to protect ou MC”

° you promise and the next time you go out alone you feel as if there´s a presence around you just to protect you （*´▽｀*）

_Saeran_

° you just went out a Little to get icecream for him and a Crêpe for you

° unfortunately you focused more on your Food than on the traffic

° don´t do that MC, always be careful around cars and bikes!

°  so you cross the street and on your last steps on the road you got slightly hit by this biker

° “No, my Crêpe !” ( ≧Д≦)

° you know if you get hit in the traffic always worry about your Food first XD

° but Saeran is there and picks you up

° “MC how can you worry about Food in a Situation like this?”

° “ But I´m fine and it was so delicious”

° you sprained your ankle so he carried you back with a piggy-back ride

° only after you got something new to eat of course

° when you arrive home he tries to wrap up your foot in a Bandage... and Fails miserably

° nevertheless ist really cute of him to do that

° so you two just call it a day and settle down to watch a film

° turns out you´remore exhausted than you thought you are and poof you fall asleep with your head on his lap

° so Saeran got something out of this after all ( ° ʖ °)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it (*^▽^*)

send me your requests, if you have some and if you like you can leave a comment or a like which would make me a very happy person （‐＾▽＾‐）

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Zwift Run: a cure for the dreaded ills of the treadmills

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/zwift-run-a-cure-for-the-dreaded-ills-of-the-treadmills/

Zwift Run: a cure for the dreaded ills of the treadmills

Dear god, I hate treadmills. The thud, thud, thud of my feet over the dull whining of the machine dragging time down to one-hundredth of its usual speed.

But I’m currently injured with an inflamed Achilles, and while I’m allowed to run, it’s only light stuff… so the treadmill is where I need to go. So new tech from Zwift, something that can transport me to a virtual world while I pound the rubber, is more than intriguing.

You might have heard about Zwift for cycling – if not, it allows riders to use their bike on a static turbo trainer in their living room to pedal against real people in digital worlds. 

It’s become incredibly popular as a way to stay trained up without having to head out into the elements, and it is incredibly impressive, even for a novice cyclist like me.

Now that system is being offered as a running app, currently in a beta (and free) mode as Zwift gets it ready for the mainstream. 

So given some top athletes really advocate running on a treadmill as a successful way to train – and I’m still hoping to attack the London Marathon next month – I decided to give this a bash.

The set up

Running with the large display is easy

If you’ve not signed in with Zwift before, you’ll need to set up your account and create an avatar. Make it a good one, as you’ll be staring at, well, its pixel-filled butt for a good while on your run.

You’re also encouraged to put your current 5K, 10K, half marathon or other times in here, to educate the system on your pace and offer tailored workouts to match your ability.

There are two different ways to use Zwift Run- you can either connect a treadmill to an Apple TV (we used the TechnoGym MyRun, which is a really nifty, pared-back running machine that can connect via Bluetooth to the Apple unit) or sync a sensor on your shoe with an iPad or phone.

If you go for the latter, you’ll need a treadmill with a ledge for your iPad to sit on, and calibrate the sensor on your shoe by running at a steady speed for 60 seconds. 

Once you’ve chosen your method of running, there are a load of options to get you running. You can choose a target distance, time or calorie burn… the latter is nicest as it gives me a timely reminder that some running will not only get me fitter, but permits me to indulge in some tasty treats after.

Let’s go

Choosing a goal is simple, although the interface can be a touch fiddly.

I started off using the larger Apple TV screen, something large and in my eyeline to stop my gaze from wandering while running.

I was suspicious from the start – because running on a treadmill and cycling on a turbo trainer are very different things. Where the latter is active, meaning any effort you crank in is instantly shown on the screen, the former you’ll need to manually boost the speed of the treadmill.

That’s a disconnect from the virtual world – if you’re cycling and suddenly get an adrenaline boost, you can just go for it… with running it’s a little more delayed, and ruins the buzz a bit.

But I instantly enjoyed running with Zwift more than staring at a hotel gym wall. Jogging in the virtual worlds – of which there are a few to choose from, including Watopia and its volcanoes or the city of London – gives you a visual aspect of being able to see a road in front of you, taking your mind away from the monotony of the effort.

In these digital playgrounds there are too many cyclists at this point and not enough runners. Zwift tells me this is because it doesn’t want a lonely running experience – as the service is in beta, there aren’t a lot of runners populating it, so it’s making sure the experience is more vibrant by filling it with bikes.

After a few minutes of just jogging and getting acclimatised, I decided it’s time for a workout – this exercise mode is one of the best parts of Zwift cycling, creating different speed intervals to attack.

While there aren’t as many workouts for the runner, the fact they’re based on your own pace means you’ll always be pushing at just the right amount.

I’ll tell you what… it’s weird to watch yourself run, even if it is a digital avatar. The workouts are excellent in terms of taking the effort of deciding how hard to go away from me, but I wish I didn’t have to keep an eye out for increases in speed… if only the treadmill could do it for me, but apparently that’s not possible just yet.

That said, I enjoyed the run far more than on any other treadmill workout I’ve done. There’s so much more to look at, whether it’s my speed, other runners who might be around or just watching as a coloured gate comes into view, telling me the next stage of the workout is on its way.

I hit the stop button and strapped a Stryd Live footpod to my shoe to try the same thing with the iPad. I expect this is the method most people will use, as it’s unlikely you’ll have the right treadmill and Apple TV around, and the distances and speed it was showing was incredibly accurate compared to what the treadmill readout was saying.

My main takeaway was that it still sucked having to manually choose my own speeds, but if you’re used to running on treadmills it won’t feel that alien. It’s just nowhere near the same as running outside.

Socially awkward

Seriously, there was a man I was running with. Just now. Where’s he gone? Dammit, I’m shattered.

While the improvement in your motivation to workout on a treadmill is good, and the founding reason that Zwift cycling took off in the first place, there’s a bigger challenge Zwift needs to solve with its running platform.

It’s the social element – whether that’s joining a run at a pre-arranged time with pals across the world, one of the runs organised by pace from Zwift (with four pace levels at distances ranging from 5K to half marathon) or just seeing others around you when jogging alone in a basement.

And right now, the social side is very much in its infancy (hence the app being in beta). It’s fun being able to chuck out a verbal high five or give someone some banter about how you’re going to beat them, but I didn’t actually see anyone I could do that with in my test.

We tried to just join someone already running, but by the time I’d entered the world and got the treadmill up to speed, the guy we wanted to run with had disappeared into the distance. It ended up with me sprinting after a virtual stranger… and he seem to just vanish into the ether. That felt a bit, erm, weird.

Perhaps trying one of the group runs would be better – but unless you have a treadmill at home, that’s going to be hard to sync up right now, as there aren’t loads on offer. With cycling, the social side simply grew out of the app’s popularity, and Zwift has to do all it can to make this a ‘must-use’ platform for runners and see the social element grow from that.

The barriers

Lying about how fast you can go is only going to make things worse…

While I enjoyed my workout through the virtual streets of London, there are still some limitations that stop me from feeling like I’d rather pull out my iPad and get on a treadmill over spending some time outside.

The key thing is that disconnect between my legs and the screen. For cycling, some turbo trainers can alter the resistance depending on virtual hills, making it easier or harder to ride, but treadmills can’t do the same.

It would be amazing if the machine could physically raise or lower depending on the hills on screen, or speed up and slow down depending on what the workout required of you. 

Zwift says this isn’t possible due to health and safety, as sending the treadmill spinning up too fast suddenly could cause people to stumble and fall off.

And then there’s that issue that plagues all social runners: wanting to run with people of a different fitness level. 

One of the great things about the organised rides on Zwift is that they’ll automatically match effort. With a turbo trainer, many can work out your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), a levelling metric that shows how hard you’re working and not how fast you’re going, and keeps all the riders together as long as they’re all working as hard as each other. 

There’s no way to easily do the same for runners… so it’s just a case of hoping you’re with the right pace group and running as hard as you need to.

Again, Zwift says this is something that’s been looked at but it’s not incorporated the power meter that some footpods can bring to running for some reason. This is all the more odd given Zwift is already working with Stryd who make just such a device, but that will possibly happen in the future.

To the future

The Stryde Live footpod costs $99 (around £75, AU$130) but a MilestonePod is just $30/£30 (around AU$55) and apparently offers decent accuracy.

Speaking about what’s happening next, there’s a lot more to come from this system, as you’d expect given it’s still in a developments stage.

More treadmills need to be supported to work with Apple TV, and thankfully that’s happening. There are a plethora of Bluetooth-enabled running machines on the way, and Zwift is working hard to make them app-compatible so you can get more out of your indoor jogging.

One of the things that would get me on this system multiple times a week is races – instead of group runs where you stay together, the goal being to run faster than all of those around you. Making myself want to be sick on a treadmill would be much easier if I was trying to beat a random man from Japan at half past four on an idle Wednesday. 

Zwift says this is something that is being considered at the moment, and I’m crossing all my fingers this happens.

But if I’m really getting into a fantasy wishlist here, the real magical thing would be if I could wear a pair of augmented reality glasses at the same time as running on a treadmill. 

Being able to turn my head as I ran and see the virtual world move with my gaze, feel the wind from a fan dynamically altering the breeze… that would be so close to the real thing that it would really encourage many people who just don’t want to go outside to get running.

That’s a long way off and there’s no way this would ever work with a clunky VR headset on your head… but perhaps if Apple’s AR glasses take off, this could be a real possibility.

But the main thing Zwift Run needs is momentum – more people need to be using this platform, to hear about it, to want to actively seek out a treadmill and fire up their iPad and enter the virtual world, and only making this system as seamless as possible is going to achieve that.

Here’s the key thing for me though: straight after my workout, I now feel a lot more excited about running on a treadmill, the mix of tech and a distraction just what I’m looking for when I’m forced to run indoors.

If you’re injured, or prefer not to exercise outside for personal reasons, Zwift Run is a magical way to enjoy running in a new way.

Seeing your metrics displayed on the screen, instantly uploaded to Strava and full of interaction with other people, is a lovely thing that shows the unifying power of technology.

Zwift Run can’t hold a candle to the beauty of running outdoors, and the very fact you need Wi-Fi to make it work properly (or a 4G connection) is also going to be limiting to some.

But my main takeaway was a positive one – this new platform may not be the future of running, with us all jogging about in a digital utopia, but it’s a massive step forward in taking away one of the more dreary aspects of training.

[lampyridae92]

Silver and Black-Chapter 16

All the citizens had either been evacuated or were hiding in the bomb cellars, leaving the streets empty.

 Well, almost empty.

 The black cape with the spiked collar was slightly dancing in the wind while the man wearing it searched the streets with his scarily green eyes.

 How many times had he been down here to fight a villain? These buildings had been smashed to pieces hundreds of times, only to be rebuilt in a more modern style. But the fountain had been allowed to stand. It had been crushed three times, but always rebuilt to look exactly the same as it had before. To Megamind’s joy. After all; this was where Roxanne had first hugged him. As him, that was. Not hidden under a hologram of some other person.

 He wondered... If it wasn’t for a chubby guy with an afro, would he even be here? He wouldn’t have won Roxanne. Or maybe he would have done? But still, thinking back on it, this was the place where his life had changed.

A glance down at his watch made him frown. “It’s three minutes past.”

 “Maybe they’re not coming?” Minion mused, lightening a tiny spark in his master. But it remained just that; tiny.

 Before being put fully down.

 “Waiting for us, Megamind?”

 The sudden arrival startled the two, and they quickly turned to face the three villains.

They were all silver now; the hair, the pupil-less eyes, even the suits seemed to absorb the change, turning it from black to metal. They were all floating well 10 feet above the ground; Julian in the front with his siblings as guards behind him.

 “We expected you two minutes and 54 seconds ago,” Megamind said, studying his gloves where his nails would be.

 “Always keep them waiting,” Julian explained, searching the area. “No family members? I half expected at least to see your wife.”

 The mention of Roxanne made the green eyes narrow and the next thing he said came as a snarl. “Can we get on with this? The sooner I have you locked up in jail, the sooner I can go home!”

 “Of course!” Slowly levitating closer to the hero, Julian bent forward so that he could stare down at the one on the ground. “The sooner you’re dead, the sooner we can continue with our plans. And I promise you; that’s how things are going to go today. With you as a blue and black bloody body on the pavement. Or strapped down in my sister’s lab; one or the other. We haven’t quite decided yet.”

 “You stay the hell away from my husband!”

 A door suddenly opened in mid air, close to the parked hoverbike. Out of it came Roxanne, glaring at the silver man. She quickly walked up to Megamind, standing next to him with her back straight.

 “Roxanne!” Megamind did a face palm; there was no other way to express just how bad he thought this turn of events was. Why was it that people never listened to him? “Minion, take Roxanne and drive her back to the Lair!”

 “Sir!”

 “Now, Minion!”

 “No, no, no.” The grin on Julian’s face was priceless. “We don’t mind a bit. Feel free to stay, ma’am.”

  Megamind was just about to growl something about that hidden threat, when someone beat him to it.

 “You can just try to harm my mother!”

 And to the scene came Sophia and Lila, landing their flying boards and jumping off them in order to walk up to the others and glare up at the villain.

 Getting seriously frustrated, Megamind waved his arms above his head. “How many times do I have to say it? Fighting crime is not a family activity!”

 “We still don’t mind, Megamind,” was Julian’s assurance, earning a glare from Megamind again.

 “Would you mind to postpone this an hour or so? I have to force my family home and tie them up.” That last thing was added with a growl towards both wife and daughter.

 “I’m sorry, but no can do. You see-” The villain crossed his arms and smirked. “First; no one likes a loose thread. Included myself. Second; I think it would be good for my brother to see all of you go down!”

 This made the youngest of the silver humans float a bit back; his eyes wider. Until now he’d tried hard to keep in place and stick to his role in the background, though seeing Sophia and Lila arrive had been like getting a baseball bat smashed into the back of his head. Yet, he stayed in position; watching everything from his place as a sideline villain.

 “And third; my sister would really like to have you freaks tied up and dissected.”

 A chill went down all five’s back by the thought of scalpels and needles. Especially for Megamind it was that a touchy subject; something he’d secretly feared ever since he was a child. To be locked up in a sterile white room and have samples taken from him.

 “And fourth; we would all like to bring our young experiment home for further studies.” Slightly turning towards the little brother, Julian whispered. “Right, bro?”

 But Jonathan didn’t look at his brother. Instead he took the chance now that everyone’s eyes were on him, to float forward, staring straight into the now amber eyes. “Lila, I’m so sorry! I never meant for you to get dragged into this!”

 Opening her mouth to say something, Lila was interrupted by Julian.

 “I’m sorry for this, Megamind.”  He laid a hand on Jonathan’s chest, pushing the boy behind him. “We’ve had a few family issues the past couple of days. I promise you that we’ve taken care of it and Jonathan is back on track! Isn’t that so, Jonah?”

 The silver eyes fell to his feet as the memory of sitting in the darkness of the wine cellar flashed through his mind. But he couldn’t utter a word.

 With his brows locked together, Megamind watched the short conversation between the two, reading between the lines. This wasn’t right. Something was very wrong in this family.

 “We all have issues some times, but I’d prefer not to have my family hurt.” Turning his back to the trio, he instead glared at Roxanne and Sophia. “You two are taking the hover bike and Lila and getting back to the Lair this instant! And I will have Minion force you if I have to!”

 “Please, Roxanne,” Minion begged. “Don’t have me leave Sir here! Do as he says.”

 There were times Roxanne almost cursed Minion for being so gentle. By asking nicely, he could so easily make her agree to so much or to see things from a new angle. She knew Megamind was right; if she didn’t take the girls with her and go voluntarily, Minion would make sure they got home. And then Megamind would be left alone on the battle field.

 But she didn’t get a chance to reach a decision before it was taken for her.

 “As I said,” growled Julian, “I won’t allow any loose threads after this.” With a snap of his fingers, he gave Jennifer her cue and she flew down and picked up Sophia.

 “Hey!” the girl whined and tried to wriggle loose from the metallic arms; but Jennifer only held harder around her and carried her 50 feet or so up in the air.

 The oh so charming smile was back on Julian’s face. “No one is leaving this place without my permission.”

 “Dad!”

 Megamind watched his daughter in horror, knowing that a fall from that height down on the pavement would not end well. The nails of his wife were digging into his upper arm, dragging him out of a frozen condition he hadn’t noticed he was in.

 “Let her down, Argent. My daughter has absolutely nothing to do with this.”

 But the smile on Julian’s face didn’t wither. “As you please, Megamind.”

 Without even blinking, Jennifer opened her arms, letting Sophia slide out of them, too scared to even make a sound.

 The people on the ground rushed to reach her, Minion with his arms out and ready to catch her. But they were just too far from the girl to reach her in time, even if the extension of the robotic hands had been strong enough to do more than slowing down the fall. It was just too late!

 Or...

 “No!”

 At the sight of his sister dropping his friend, Jonathan had taken action and managed to catch the falling Sophia at no more than 15 feet. The catch knocked the breath out of him, but he didn’t lose her. Instead he nervously glanced into her now wide eyed green eyes.

 “I really am sorry!” he whispered.

 “Jonathan?”

 Carefully he placed her in Minion’s arms, and she was soon covered by her scared parents who wanted to do a full check to see if she was hurt.

 Now that he was only floating just above the ground, he turned to Lila, the apology painted all over his face.

 “Please don’t hate me.”

 With a smile, she assured him. “No one hates you, Jonathan.”

 If it weren’t for the fact that he was already fully transformed, he was sure he would have been blushing bright silver again; but the warm feeling spreading through him was quickly put an end to.

 “What the hell, Jonah?” The smile had been ripped off Julian’s face, leaving only a furious and confused grimace.

 Hands up and slowly rising again to get closer to his brother, Jonathan said; “We can’t do this, Julian.”

 “What exactly is it we can’t do?”

 “We can’t kill anyone! We can’t slaughter people for our own gain!”

 But Julian didn’t care. “Where the hell is this crap coming from?”

 A part of his silver heart got a sudden ache of hurt. His older brother did have the flaw of hearing and seeing only what he wanted to hear and see. If he’d paid more attention, this wouldn’t have been such a surprising turn of events.

 “It’s been there all along. Julian, what we’re doing is wrong!”

 “What are you doing, Jonah?”

 A short moment of silent filled the air. Jonathan’s eyes moved to the sister’s. She hadn’t done anything but watch during the scene, but he knew her well enough to know that there actually were emotions under the mask she always carried.

 His voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, but it was only really meant for her, when he spoke. “I’m picking a team.”

 There was a twitch in her lower lip, but that was all he got. Yet it was such a strong expression for her that she might as well have screamed at him.

 Julian took care of that. “What?”

 “I’m picking a team. I’ll rather do what is right!”

 “You’re choosing a group of freaks over your own blood?”

 “They’re not freaks!” Jonathan cried. “We are! We’re the freaks here! We’re the monsters! I’m a monster!”

 All the said ‘freaks’ on the ground stared at the scene that took place in front of them. Megamind leaned towards Roxanne, whispering from the corner of his mouth. “Roxanne, I think our family is less complicated than this one.” She only nodded in agreement.

 Shaking his head in disbelief, Julian closed his eyes so that we wouldn’t have to look at his brother. “Our father gave us these powers so that we could have a better life. He loved us and wanted us to be superior over the rest of the world.”

 “Yeah, sure! He loved me just enough to have me pinned to the floor as he forced a needle into me! He loved us just enough to take an overdose and leave us to ourselves!”

 “He was a great man!”

 “He was completely crazy!”

 Julian opened his eyes, frozen by the rejection his younger brother had just given their father. “Jonah?”

 Jonathan felt like he’d just screamed enough for the rest of his life. His shoulders slumped down and he sadly looked his brother straight into his eyes. “Dad couldn’t save Mum from dying. And that killed him months before the overdose did. Julian, our father was completely crazy. He thought what he was doing was right, but he didn’t want to stay behind to make sure it was. Mum’s dead and so is Dad. There’s nothing reasonable in continuing his work. You have to realize that.”

 “No.”

 “Julian, we can just run away. We could go to Europe; maybe we still have some family somewhere in France.”

 “No.”

 “Julian?”

 “No!”

 With a snarl and a glowing glare, Julian pointed at his younger brother. “You’re either with us or against us! You’re either in this family or not!”

 “I...” Of course he should have known Julian would turn his back at him if he chose to do what was right. Jonathan had decided on a team, but saying it out loud felt so hard when he knew it would be only hurt following it. “I... I pick them. I won’t be in on this anymore.”

 Julian then straightened his back and stared at his brother as he gave the verdict. “Then you’re no longer our brother.”

 If it weren’t for the fact that he was fully silver, Jonathan’s eyes would have been a tad shiny now. But he still felt the rejection hit him like a rock.

 “Brother...”

 “I said no!”

 If the rejection had hit him like a rock, then the stroke from the back of Julian’s hands hitting his face was like a mountain. The shock of being hit sent Jonathan out of his metal condition and back into human, causing him to fall ten feet down to the asphalt.

 “Jonathan!” Sophia and Lila whined and ran over to the boy lying on the ground.

 “Are you OK?” Lila asked with a hand on his back to help him sit up.

 “Fine,” he lied, stunned that someone actually cared about that. Secretly he held to his side, over his ribs.

 Up above, Julian called to his sister. “Let’s get this over with!”

 She nodded and they flew away, disappearing in the distance.

 “Was that it?” Megamind was seriously confused. “A family fight and then fly away? That’s it?”

 “No,” Jonathan quickly said, getting to his feet. “They’re flying away to gain speed! We have to hide somewhere!”

 Roxanne searched the street for somewhere to take cover. “What do you suggest?”

 “Anywhere where they can’t see us. They’ll be back in a few seconds!”

 “Everyone get into the car!” Megamind decided and began searching the air close to the parked hoverbike looking for the handle. The others followed his example, and finally it was Lila who bumped into the hard, invisible car. “Here!” she called, opened the door and climbed into the backseat.

 When the doors were shut, Jonathan turned in the overcrowded backseat to look out the back window. “Drive!”

 “What? Why?” was the fish’s reply.

 In the next moment it was answered as a building four blocks down fell to the ground, crushing at least two other buildings in the fall.

 “Driving it is!”

 Jonathan kept on the lookout as Minion drove full speed through the city. With no cars to avoid, it was a rather simple task. At least for the first twenty seconds.

 A loud crash was followed by another building falling. Because of the height, it was a rather slow fall, but Minion still had to steer the car in a 90 degree turn as the way was blocked. In that speed it caused the three teens and the reporter in the back seat to be crushed against each other.

 “What’s the worst they’re capable of?” Megamind asked from the safety of the front seat.

 Freeing himself from tangled legs and arms, Jonathan said “What’s the worst you can imagine?”

 “A total destruction of the city.”

 “Then they are capable of it!”

 Roxanne grabbed the front seats to lean forwards. “What about the citizens?”

 “The cellars are designed to withstand more or less anything,” Megamind assured. “Falling buildings included!”

 In the adrenaline kick of the situation, Lila’s hair was back on fire. She cried out and began hitting it, trying to stop it from burning.

 “Sophia! Do your thing!” commanded Megamind, and his daughter took her friends hands in her own.

 “OK, calm down. Breathe.”

 Jonathan looked over Sophia’s shoulder to observe the girl’s attempt to stop the fire. As Lila exhaled deeply and her hair once again was curly and in a sick colour of orangy blonde, he stared impressed at her.

 “You’ve already got it under control?”

 “Somewhat, yes,” Lila replied. If it wasn’t for the adrenalin of this whole situation, she would have blushed.

 “Really?” He couldn’t help but to grin. “It took me seven months before being able to stop myself from changing! I still have accidents!”

 “Like now?” Sophia asked with a raised brow. The boy next to her was actually flickering between metal and human; probably caused by the adrenaline.

 “Like now.”

 For a few seconds the three smiled at each other. There were no more secrets between them.

 And then they all ended up in a pile of limbs again when a new building began falling right next to them, and Minion had to make a sharp u-turn to avoid the falling pieces.

 But the manoeuvre caused Megamind to slide in his seat despised to his attempt to hold on. Accidentally he touched the button with ‘Stealth Mode’ and pushed the handle, turning the car visible.

 For a second everyone in the car sat (or in the backseat; lay) frozen, before they panicked.

 “Turn it on! Turn it on!”

 Megamind sat up in order to do as told; but it was already too late. In the next minute the front of the car was completely crushed when a non-visible silver villain flew straight through it. The car lost contact with the ground, and spun through the air. Every single person inside the car screamed and Lila’s whole body stood in flames. Thankfully a silver Jonathan surrounding her, so no one got burned.

 The car was thrown against the road, slid over 200 yards, before making contact with a brick wall.

 A moment of silence was followed while people tried to regain conscience.

 Megamind was the first to get his mind around. He’d ended up in Minion’s lap, and looked up at the fish inside the sphere.

 “Minion, are you OK?”

 Minion blinked and hissed. He’d been thrown into the glass, and his body wasn’t made for such hard impact. Still there were only minor injuries. At least, so he thought until he tried to move his left fin.

 “It’s broken,” he whimpered.

 “At least it’s not worse.”

 Megamind managed to get on his knees to look into the backseat.

 “Full report!”

 Sophia, who’d ended up on the floor, got into a sitting position. “I’ve hit my head,” she whispered, holding said head in her hands. “And my neck is sore.”

 “We’ll have a look at it later. Roxanne?”

 No answer.

 “Roxanne?”

 The woman lay still against the door, her head resting against the window. Suddenly feeling the panic, Megamind crawled over the seat and into the back. His fingers instantly went to her pulse while feeling his own act up.

 Silence.

 Then a beat.

 A relieved sigh escaped his lips. Thank god. “Roxanne. Wake up. Can you hear me?”

 He laid his hands on her shoulders to shake her; the touch instantly brought her back with a whimper and then a cry. Scared over the fact that he ‘d hurt her, he backed off.

 “Roxanne, where does it hurt?”

 “M... my arm.”

 As tenderly as he could, he checked her arm, making her whimper. During the years, they’d all gotten used to injuries, so there wasn’t more complain than necessary “It’s broken,” Megamind declared. “The doctors are going to have a lot to do when this is over. Lila, how are you?”

 Lila and Jonathan had moved to give Megamind space to check Roxanne’s condition, and neither seemed seriously hurt.

 “I’m OK. Only bruises, I think.”

 Nodding to himself, he once again decided that seat belts really should be placed in the car. Thankfully the G-force had prevented them from being thrown too much around and the 200 yards slide had slowed the car down enough for the impact with the wall to be minor.

 “Good. Jonathan?”

 The boy completely froze, staring shocked at him. “W... What?”

 “Are you hurt?”

 The question slowly sunk in. Someone had actually asked if he was hurt? That was twice in one day! For a kid who actually had hit his head against the interior of his brother’s car without anyone caring, this was a very new experience.

 “I... I’m fine,” he lied, even though his side was hurting more than ever.

 “We’ll have to get out of the car and find somewhere to take cover!” Megamind decided.

 Minion got out of the car with a bit of effort; the right side of it was bulked and the door sat hard. It had been badly ruined during the slide. The left side was still crushed against the wall. To open the door to the backseat, he actually had to fully rip it off! It was barely attached, anyway.

 The passengers crawled out of the bulky car, Roxanne last and supported by Megamind.

 Lila frowned and stood all still. “Do you two hear that sound?”

 Everyone went silent and listened. There was a sound in the air; just like if you spun something attached to a tread very fast.

 “It’s Julian and Jennifer flying!” Jonathan said. “We have to get out of the open!”

 He grabbed Lila’s hand to drag her with him, but stopped when a new crash was followed by another swaying building.

 “Run!” was Sophia’s suggestion, one that was instantly followed. The group ran. Jonathan let go of Lila’s hand, gave the ground a kick and got up in the air, before heading down again. With a startled cry Lila was picked up and flown down the street in such a speed that she could only compare it to a roller-coaster-ride. The stop was also very sudden, making her stomach protest a bit. She was gently placed between some bins in an alley, and opened her mouth to say something; but the boy was already gone. The next minute he was back again, this time with a startled Sophia.

 The two girls stared at each other, not sure how to react to the rescue.

 “This... This is the weirdest three days I’ve ever had!” Lila stated. It was underlined by her hair catching fire again.

 It only took a couple of seconds for the rest of the group to join them in the alley, breathing hard from running and Roxanne whimpering over her broken arm.

 Megamind went straight to business, staring Jonathan straight in the eyes. “Do you have a weakness? As metal, are you magnetic or something?”

 “No, not magnetic.”

 “What kind of metal are we talking about?”

 “Something new, something unknown. Jennifer’s done a lot of tests. But if it helps; we’re not any stronger than we are in human form!”

 Listening carefully, Megamind tapped a finger against his chin. “You’re not?”

 “No. But we are a lot harder! The only reason we can burst through vaults and houses is because of our speed. We can fly faster than a jet! And we won’t get hurt because we’re so hard. Only diamond can give us minor scratches. But we’re not any stronger.”

 Nodding, the hero understood. “Super speed, not super strength! So, if we can trap them-”

 “They won’t have enough room to gain speed!” Sophia finished. The two geniuses grinned.

 “Sir, in that case I think I have an idea!”  Telling everyone his idea, Minion stretched his master’s grin out wider.

 “Minion, you fantastic fish, you!”

 -

 They had to make the villains stand still.

 And there were only two people they’d have second thoughts about destroying them the second they saw them; Jonathan and Lila. Jonathan would not get seriously hurt anyway, and Lila was an important experiment on the loose.

 They were slowly walking down the street, listening for changes in the constant sound the two flying villains made. Every now and then there was a crash somewhere in the city when another building fell down. He wondered how many of those were intended and how many were accidents. In such a speed it was sometimes difficult not to hit random objects. It took a great deal of concentration and well practiced reflexes to fly so fast.

 Fast enough to crush a person into tiny pieces of flesh.

 “I don’t like this.”

 “It’ll be fine,” Lila assured him, but she too was so nervous she couldn’t stop her hair from burning. With a sideways glance up at him, she thought out loud; “You do know they’ll go to prison now, right?”

 His eyes shifted and he blinked quickly several times, not once looking at her. “Yeah. I know.” What would happen to him after this? Juvenile? Was it right of him to do this? Shouldn’t blood be thicker than water? But Julian wouldn’t listen. He’d rather go to jail than give up. What about Jennifer? What-

 A hand entangled with his, and instantly his thoughts stopped. Looking down at her, he suddenly remembered why he was doing this.

 Because what they were doing was wrong. Because killing and robbing for your own gain was a crime. Because changing the DNA of a whole city, not bothering how many died in pain during it, was inhumane.

 And therefore he had to do this.

 “We’ll figure it out,” she said, making him relax. Jonathan nodded and went back to his mission.

 With closed eyes he stopped in the middle of the street, shutting down all other senses besides his hearing.

 They were in the other end of the city to the right, behind them. Both going clockwise. A change in the sound; one of them had spotted the two in the street. He or she would come from the front at the end of the street in order to see exactly who they were.

 Jonathan let go of Lila’s hand and prepared himself before kicking off the ground and fly up into the air.

 The sound of metal against metal rang through his ears before the sensation of flying through several walls of bricks and concrete. It was unpleasant, like falling through a thin layer of ice on a lake, but it didn’t hurt. Then his body slid over the asphalt, making a firework of sparks.

That hurt, because he’d been startled by the impact with the ground and turned human again right before he and the other stopped. With a groan he went back into metal and the now torn up suit went from its natural black colour to silver.

 The whole thing hadn’t taken more than two seconds, and he looked up to see whom he had crashed with.

 Julian snarled and they stared at each other for a split second, both knowing that Lila was still standing in the middle of the street on the other side of the building they’d flown through.

In the exact second they kicked off the ground, heading for the girl. Julian, with much more strength than the 15 year old boy, kicked harder, but Jonathan was thinner and built up the speed quicker. They flew through the hole they’d made straight through the brick building, Julian ready to grab the girl on the other side. The distance was way too short to gain full speed, but Lila was still mostly a blur of orange flames.

 In the corner of his eye, Jonathan could see Julian stretch out his arms to reach for his runaway experiment, the move just enough to create air resistant that made his speed fall slightly.

 And just enough for Jonathan to get in front of him making the two brothers crash again and fall to the ground, Julian turning from metal to flesh. He quickly changed back, calling out; “Jen!”

 Even though she’d been in full speed and busy making buildings fall, Jennifer had probably passed once, and now stopped in the air above them.

 “Take the girl,” Julian ordered.

 But just as Jennifer headed down to do just that, Lila was swept up from the ground by someone else.

 From a metallic blue flying board, Sophia grinned back at the villains and Lila, safely standing in front of her, stuck her tongue out.

 The two rounded a corner and giggled at each other.

 “Well, that was easy!” Lila said.

 Sophia looked over her shoulder; checking that no one was following them. “Teamwork always makes things easier!”

 -

 The two silver villains blinked in shock as the board with the two girls disappeared behind a corner. Then Julian cried out and hit a fist into the asphalt. “Crap!”

 Glaring at the left behind younger brother, Julian pointed a finger at him. “You! Why do you always keep getting in the way?”

 He took a few steps forward, rising his hand at Jonathan.

 But before he reached him, Jennifer had landed in between them, her palms showing.

 “Julian,” she warned, making him stop.

 The confusion was a thick layer over his face. “Jen?” Then he frowned. “Sis, move!”

 “No.”

 For a moment they stared at each other, before something else caught their interest with a “Hey!”

 Minion had stepped out from the alley he’d been hiding in further down the street, smiling and waving.

 The two villains glanced at each other, and then stared at Minion. They were still on the same mission.

 “Seems like you’re going to have someone to play with, Jen. I’ll get him for you.” Julian once again kicked off, heading for the alien.

 And so did Jonathan.

 “Now!” someone called from his hideout. On the cue two Brainbots appeared, dropping a copper ball over the woman before she had the time to react.

 For the third time metal hit metal as Jonathan stopped his brother before he reached Minion. And once again they fell to the ground. But this time Jonathan kicked off again, leaving Julian alone on the asphalt. The man, shaking in anger and frustration, got up on his feet, staring at Jonathan. Before he got the chance to say or do whatever he was planning to, Megamind again called “Now!” and a second copper ball was dropped and locked itself around the villain.

 Julian cried out in fury and began hitting he sides of the ball. But it didn’t help; on the outside they could only hear his fists hit the metal, and not even a bulk was made.

 Coming out from their alley, Roxanne and Megamind let out a couple of relieved sighs. The woman had gotten a temporarily sling to keep her arm in.

 Megamind raised his watch to his mouth. “Sophia, it’s OK. You and Lila can come back now.” Then he flashed the approaching fish a smile. “I’d completely forgotten about those spare traps. I should listen to you more often!”

 Roxanne chuckled. “Did it take you seventeen years to come to that conclusion?”

 But Minion was rather happy about himself, smiling over the recognition. “Thank you, Sir.”

 All three looked up when Sophia and Lila came around the corner on their board, landing in front of them and jumping off.

 “We should ground you for not listening to us and staying in the Lair,” Roxanne said, even though she didn’t mean it.

 Tipping a finger against her nose, Megamind pointed out, “Then we’d have to ground you too! As I said; fighting crime is not a family activity!”

 “But it often ends up like one,” Sophia said as both her parents and the fish pulled her into a family hug.

 Lila watched the sight with a smile, but it quickly dropped when she moved her eyes to the boy standing alone by the second copper trap.

 Julian was not pleased. From inside the trap he was hitting on the walls and crying at the brother outside of it.

 “Jonathan! Jonah, goddammit! Get me out of here! Jonathan! You’ll end up in the cellar, do you hear?”

 Slowly Jonathan was backing away, his arms around his now human frame. Julian kept yelling and hitting on the walls, and all he really wanted was to shrink and become as tiny as he felt like. Maybe he’d turn invisible and be carried far, far away with the wind.

 He hadn’t noticed how far from Julian he’d walked before another voice said his name. “Jonathan?”

 Turning, he found himself by the first trap and back with Jennifer.

 “Jennifer? Jennifer, I’m sorry. But...” In the lack of anything to say he sighed and placed his forehead against the metal. “I’m sorry, sister.” A lonely tear ran down his cheek and ended up on the asphalt.

 There was a long moment of silence before Jennifer spoke. “You’re still my brother.”

 What had she just said?

 “W... what?”

 “You’re still my brother, Jonathan.”

 His eyes fist widened, then closed hard. Biting his lip, he only let out a low whimper and placed his hands against the cold copper. For some reason he could imagine her doing the same from the inside. Maybe she did? After all, they were family.

 “Th... thank you, Jennifer.”

 From a distance, the sirens of police cars sounded, called for by Megamind, reminding him about what he’d just done to those he loved.

 But he still stood by it.

 “I’m sorry. But I couldn’t let you do it.”

 “I understand.”

 Her voice sounded changed just then; softer and more real. With a sad smile he recognised the sound of it. When Jennifer added her rare emotions to it, she sounded just like their mother.

 “We’ll figure something out,” she assured.

 The cars stopped and Jonathan heard the officers get out of them. Glancing over, he saw that one of them, a short, dark skinned woman he was sure he’d seen somewhere, walked over to Megamind, who pointed at him and said something.

 “They’ll want to talk to me.”

 “Go.”

 For a second he stood still, resting his body against the trap, before walking towards the police officer.

 It was time to come clear about everything.

 -

 “What’s going to happen to him?” Megamind nodded towards the boy who was currently being checked by a doctor. The ‘I’m fine’ Jonathan had given him was not all true. He had a broken rib and the sliding over the ground when he’d stopped Julian had given him some rather ugly scratches in addition to the half healed one on his forehead.

 Officer Malone shrugged. “I don’t know yet. But I hardly believe he’ll get juvenile. After what he told me, this wasn’t his idea. The boy seems to be as much as victim in this as anyone. And honestly, I think he’s holding back a bit of information about how he has been treated. He’s got an ugly old bruise under those red locks. I don’t think Julian Argent was suited for taking care of him. After all, he was only eighteen when their father died. That’s an early age to suddenly become head of a family.”

 “Yes, it is. And not any family either. So what do you think will happen?”

 The woman sighed. “As I said; I don’t know. But I do suspect he’ll end up in the system. Foster home perhaps? If we can find a family suited to take care of a boy with such powers, that is.” She glanced up at Megamind. “As you know, growing up being different isn’t always easy. You might grow into something you’re not suited to. Maybe he’ll be sent to a orphanage or boarding school.”

 With sad, green eyes, Megamind watched the boy sitting down by a wall, his head rested against his knees and his hands on his head. A boy with more problems than necessary. Someone else seemed to notice; Sophia and Lila had come and sat down on either side of him for support and comfort.

 Everyone should have a family.

 Everyone...

 A memory flashed through his mind; something Roxanne had said the other day.

 “Officer Malone,” he said with a hopeful smile, “I’ve got an idea.”