#she would NOT be happy that this kid she taught the tech turn killed her favorite rancor

[magicandmundane]

*after Mon Mothma’s briefing*

Wedge: Hey, Luke! So where’ve you been?

Luke: Yeah, so I went back to Tatooine to break Han’s ass out of Jabba’s Palace. I had to fight a rancor first, though. Luckily, I killed it before—

Omega, on the other side of the room: YOU KILLED MOOCHI?!

[littlesoka7567]

Five + One Times Hunter Had a Migraine

Chapter Five: 5 - Omega

Summary: The batch has taught Omega how to help Hunter with his migraines. One day, he gets a headache bad enough that she gets to use this knowledge.

Notes: I really love kids, and I especially love Omega! She's so sweet and cute, and very fun to write. Hope you enjoy!

WC: 2258

Echo rolls his eyes, shaking his head fondly. “No, Wrecker, we do not need more explosives for this mission. It’s a stealth mission.”

Wrecker whines in his usual pouty way, crossing his arms. “I hate stealth missions!” he complains loudly. 

Hunter winces, rubbing at his forehead. He almost expects for Crosshair to hiss an annoyed Quiet, Wrecker! at the larger clone. But then he looks to his left and remembers. 

Crosshair tried to kill Hunter. He did shoot Wrecker. He wouldn’t playfully scold Wrecker for being too loud, not anymore. 

Tech clicks his tongue in annoyance, looking over his shoulder from the pilot's seat. “Feel free to stay behind then, Wrecker. Me and Echo are perfectly capable of handling this mission on our own.”  

Hunter shakes his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “Absolutely not. If I’m staying back, then you’re taking all three of you.”

“This mission should not be dangerous at all,” Tech argues, facing the stars again. “Theoretically, Echo could do this mission solo.” 

Echo sighs, looking back at his disguise. “I really hate playing a droid,” he mumbles to himself. 

“No way,” Hunter argues again, ignoring his pain. “If I’m not going, you’re taking every precaution.” It already took Tech three hours to convince Hunter to sit this one out, he wasn’t about to allow for any more risks. 

Wrecker groans. “But I won’t even be allowed in the building! I’ll have to wait in the ship as back up ‘cause Tech says I’m too big to be stealthy.”

“I did not say that,” Tech bristles. “I said you would not go unnoticed. I am normal looking enough to the average human, Echo can be disguised as a droid meant to accompany me. We will fade into the background. You, on the other hand, have never been a background type of person.”

“Take it as a compliment,” Hunter advises softly. He rubs his temples, sighing deeply. 

Omega places a worried hand on his elbow, looking up at him with big eyes.

Hunter forces a smile down at her, using his other hand to pat over hers. “I’m okay, kid. Just a headache.”

Omega beams up at him, easily believing him. She turns and walks towards Tech, standing beside him and looking over his shoulder at the control panels. 

Crosshair wouldn’t have believed him. Crosshair would have scowled at him and rolled his eyes. Maybe he would have even tried to convince Hunter to let him help. 

Tech turns to Omega with a rare smile, nodding at something she said. “Exactly. Here, I will allow you to do it. This one,” he says, pointing to the correct control. Omega squeals softly in excitement and pulls them out of hyperspace, before turning wide eyes to the planet which comes into focus. 

They’re a bit further away than Tech would have pulled them out of hyperspace, but Hunter is sure it’s only because he wanted to give Omega room to hesitate. He guides them towards the planet, before carefully landing in front of Cid’s bar. “Omega, do you remember my instructions?”

“What instructions?” Hunter asks, narrowing his eyes. He had been staring fondly for the past few minutes, always happy to simply watch her be. 

“I do!” Omega says happily, bouncing on her feet. 

“Good,” Tech says, and Wrecker laughs suspiciously. “Out, both of you. We should be back within two rotations.”

“One rotation!” Hunter argues, panic crawling into his chest. Omega pulls him to his feet, though, and Wrecker is gently nudging Hunter down the ramp. “Tech-”

“One rotation falls into the category of ‘within two rotations,’ Hunter,” Tech calls over his shoulder. 

The ramp closes back up, and the last thing Hunter sees is Wrecker’s mischievous smirk and a two finger salute.

Hunter groans, rubbing at his head. “I swear, if they get hurt because-”

Omega takes his free hand, and Hunter looks down at her. “Come on!” She says, starting to tug. “Let’s go upstairs.”

“Upstairs?” Hunter asks, but allows himself to be led. “Omega, what was Tech talking about?”

Omega giggles, and it forces a smile onto Hunter’s face. “I’ll show you,” she promises. 

Hunter sighs in annoyance, but follows Omega into the bar. Cid must be in her office, and the only other people in here are the two regulars that never seem to leave. Omega leads him to the stairs, looking over her shoulder and tugging harder. “Hurry, Hunter!” she calls, laughing again. 

Hunter rolls his eyes but the smile won’t leave his face. He follows her up the stairs and into the little bedroom Cid lets them use sometimes. His eyes do a quick sweep of the surroundings, and his brows knit together in confusion. “What did you want to show me, kid?” 

Omega giggles again, leading Hunter to the bed and pushing on his torso until he agrees to sit. “Close your eyes,” she whispers excitedly, still bouncing in place. 

Hunter shakes his head fondly, before humoring her. “Okay, my eyes are closed. Now what?”

The only response he gets is her high-pitched giggle, and it makes Hunter chuckle as well.

She flits around the room, opening drawers and closing them again after grabbing what she needs. “What do you have stashed here, huh? Mantell mix?” It doesn’t smell like mantell mix. 

“Noooo,” she sings, and giggles again. She finally walks over and climbs on the bed, facing Hunter’s back. “Trust me!”

“Always, kid,” he murmurs, and is surprised at how easily the words escaped him. He knows the words are true–even though he’s only known Omega for a few months, he trusts her completely. 

“Good! Keep ‘em closed,” she instructs, and Hunter chuckles deeply. He’s surprised when she removes his bandana, but doesn’t protest. “Are they still closed?”

“Yes,” he assures her, amusement in his voice. It’s almost easy to ignore the throbbing in his head when Omega is giggling behind him. 

Omega hops down off the bed, checking for herself. Then a soft toy is placed in his hands. “Hold Lula for me!” she instructs before walking towards the door. “Stay there, and keep your eyes closed!” she adds over her shoulder, then her footsteps disappear down the stairs. 

Hunter shakes his head, holding Lula in his lap. It’s been a long time since she helped him with one of his headaches. He has just enough time to start worrying about what the hell she’s going to do to him that requires his headband to be off, before she is carefully walking back in. She shuts the door behind her, and walks over so she’s face to face with him. 

“Okay,” she starts, her voice quivering with excitement. “Open!”

Hunter smiles and opens his eyes, before they go wide with surprise. “What’s that, kid?”

Omega giggles and carefully pushes the mug just slightly closer to Hunter, careful not to spill. “It’s tea! Echo found some at the market we went to last week and Tech says you like to drink it when your head hurts, so I saved it! And then Echo taught me how to boil water and not hurt myself and I practiced and…” she trails off, a soft blush tinting her cheeks pink.

Suddenly, he can guess what Tech’s instructions were. Hunter beams at her, carefully reaching out and taking it so Lula doesn’t fall. “That’s real sweet of you, Omega,” he praises, pulling the mug close and letting the steam wash over his face. “Oh, that smells really nice.”

“Yeah!” Omega says, bouncing in excitement again now that her hands are free. “Echo is a good picker.”

Hunter chuckles, but takes a quick sip to pacify her. “Mm, tastes good too,” he informs her. 

Omega smiles and looks up at him with big brown doe-eyes, before her eyes light up with a mischievous glint. “Okay, close your eyes again. But keep drinking your tea.”

Hunter laughs but listens, closing his eyes and taking another sip. Honestly, the steam is just as helpful as the tea itself.  

Omega climbs back on the bed beside him and shuffles a small bit closer, and her soft fingers reach around his forehead to work their way through his hair. She starts a soothing pattern where her fingers lightly dig into his scalp to get locks of his hair in between her fingers, and then drags them out and down until they fall from her grip. 

“Tech told you to do this too, huh?” He asks, voice soft and deep with fondness. 

Omega makes an affirmative sound, not slowing her hands. “The others taught me lots of ways to help you when your head hurts,” she softly informs him. “And then I came up with some of my own!”

Hunter sighs in relaxation, tilting his head back just a bit so she has easier access. “You don’t have to take care of me, kid.”

She’s smiling, Hunter can tell by her voice, lilted with amusement. “We take care of each other, that’s what Echo says.”

Hunter chuckles once. Echo would say that. “Well, it’s sweet of you Omega,” he allows.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, Hunter taking occasional sips of his tea, before Omega starts to shift restlessly. Her fingers slowly pull away from his hair, and Hunter starts to open his eyes and pull away. “Thanks, Om-“

“No!” She whispers, a hand on his shoulder. “Keep your eyes closed, I’m not done!”

Hunter smiles again, but obliges. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he says, amused. He takes another sip, before leaning over and puts the mug down on the side table. He closes his eyes again, before shifting Lula in his lap and situating once more. 

Omega huffs in indignation, but pats his head softly in approval once he’s back in position. There’s more shifting, and then a brush is gliding through his hair. 

Hunter gasps softly, almost melting into her as she kneels behind him. The soft bristles work their way through his hair carefully, and the motion is blissful. How had they never thought of using a brush before? It’s not entirely different, but the bristles add a new layer of sensation to it that makes it feel even better than fingers. 

Although, he does miss the warmth of her hand. But it makes the headache fade just that much more. And he doesn’t even have a towel on his eyes or anything. 

“Oh, that feels nice, kid,” he coos at her. “Your idea?”

“Mhm!” Omega says happily, moving the brush slightly faster through his hair. “I thought about how I always love it when you or Echo brush my hair, so maybe you would like it too.”

Hunter hums, finding himself astounded by the simple logic. Omega always amazes him, with her child's mind and sure thought process. Uncomplicated and innocent. He squeezes Lula to his stomach, reminded of the first time he was allowed to hold her. 

Omega starts humming a soft tune, something she heard playing from Echo’s radio-holo once. It’s an easy tune to follow, but the high-pitched notes are lovely in her soft voice. 

“That’s beautiful,” Hunter murmurs. He honestly feels like he could fall asleep like this. 

Omega stops her humming to giggle, before she continues her little song. 

Hunter almost forgets he even has a headache. It’s not until he jolts back to consciousness as his body recognized it was falling backwards into Omega that he realizes how well this is working. His grip on Lula had slackened, and he tightens it again. 

“Wow, kid, this is great. Almost knocked me right out. You’re magic,” he praises, voice deep and warm. 

Omega giggles again, leaning over his shoulder and knocking him forward just a bit with the force of it to look in his eyes and beam at him. “I was really hoping it would help! I did everything Tech told me to do. I was quiet and I made the room dark and I brushed your hair and I got the tow-“ she cuts herself off with a gasp and widens her eyes. “I forgot the towel,” she says, voice sad. 

Hunter grins, playfully flipping her over his shoulder so she lands on his lap. She squeals, and it barely even hurts his ears. “Head rush!” She complains with a laugh. She knocks Lula off his lap onto the bed side him, but neither of them pay attention to that. 

He tickles her sides and she giggles and squirms, until Hunter chuckles as well and lets her go. “I didn’t even need it, kid. That’s how magic you were.”

She looks over her shoulder and beams up at him, turning in his lap and hugging him. “I’m glad, Hunter.” 

Hunter laughs, letting her stand up so they’re eye to eye. “You don’t have to take care of me, but I’m really thankful, Omega. It was really nice of you.”

She smiles, the pride on her face evident. “You have to tell me the next time you have a headache, Hunter, so I can help again!”

Hunter smiles at her, eyes full of fondness. She’s only been with them for a short time, but he already can’t imagine life without her. Usually he prefers to just deal with his headaches alone, he never wants to bother his brothers. But for some reason, the pure joy on Omega’s face makes it feel like he’s doing more for her than she is for him. 

“I will, kid,” he promises. And even though he usually prefers to hide his pain from his family, he doesn’t think he would mind.

[lonely-lost-soul]

Royal

Request 1: techno x reader fluff? maybe something to do with a castle and warm summer days... I don’t have a full idea but as a vibe know?

Requested by: @theoneandonlyyeti

Simple and Sweet *MUAH* Hope you like it!

Scarred hands clasped onto delicate soft ones, a wedding ring shimmered in the sunlight of a wondrous garden. It was full of vegetation and trees that seemed to stretch far into the heavens, far beyond the castle’s outer walls. Your tea was steaming from where it sat in a porcelain cup, the white cup was decorated with blue flowers spanning the sides. Earl Grey with a hint of honey, your favorite. The hand across from you gave your own a tight squeeze, it snapped you out of your stupor and a smile made its way onto your lips. Your husband was the king of the Antarctic Empire, he had loyal knights and followers worldwide, and he was known for his brute strength and honesty. However, he loved you, treated you like you were some sort of Goddess, spoiling you rotten every moment he was able to. Right now you residing in a neighboring kingdom for the summer, Technoblade has promised you warm summer days filled with flowers and sunshine, and that’s what you were gifted for your anniversary.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” You spoke tenderly, the warm sun had stained your nose and cheeks a lovely red. Your dress was also a soft pink, the neckline was deep as it dipped past your collarbone. The dress was sleeveless and it seemed to be littered with gold speckles, that part was Technoblades doing. His ears twitched as he leaned back in his chair,

“Can I ask what about? Not having second thoughts are you?”

“About our vacation? Never.” You laughed resting your cheek on your fist, “I’ve forgotten how much I’ve missed the sunshine.” Technoblade let out a little grumble, his white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

“It’s certainly...hot.” You smiled over at him and snickered, his hair was tied back in a long braid a few stray pieces of hair framed his sculpted face. “I’m certainly missing the cold, and my weaponry.” You gave him a fond eye-roll in response of course he was missing his weapons the man truly didn’t know how to relax.

“Well you know I appreciate you going out of your way for little old me,” You said voice dripping his sarcasm as he sent you a look,

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He eyed you carefully as you stood up from the little table, your light pink dress trailing behind you as you walked into the garden. You turned around sending him a gentle smile his way, holding out your hand, Technoblade reached out and took your small hand within his own. “Seriously, you know it makes me happy to see you happy.” Technoblade brushed your hair behind your ear, and you kissed his wrist softly.

“I know my love,” You reached up to adjust the crown on top of his head, he smiled softly at you. “I’m just happy to spend the summer with you, with no fighting and no political nonsense. Just the sun on our face and flowers all around,” You giggled pulling him along the cobblestone pathway. He hummed fondly as you pulled him along, flower petals from the nearby trees spilling around the both of you. Technoblade pulled you flush and pressed a tender kiss to your lips,

“Ew gross!” A loud voice called from behind the both of you, Techno growled under his breath and you let out a small laugh. A small figure ran up to you and you scooped him up in your arms,

“Cringe. Don’t know why we had to bring him along,” Technoblade grumbled and you stomped on his foot,

“He’s your son.” You scolded covering Aether’s ears, “Of course we have to bring him along!” Technoblade clicked his tongue as you uncovered Aether’s ears, he huffed a little swatting your hands away from his head. He had pink hair just like his father, it was a curly mess that you desperately attempted to tame but to no avail. A soft speckle of freckles was across his nose and cheeks, and he had your striking (e/c) eyes. A flower crown was on his forehead, he also had two in his hands “How’s it going, my little Prince?”

“It’s so much fun here! I love hanging out with Uncle Tommy and Tubbo!” He gushed bouncing in your arms, “Tommy said he and Uncle Wilbur are going into the town soon to visit Miss Sally and Niki. Can I go with them, please?” He turned to look over at his father as he placed a hand on top of his head to ruffle his hair,

“Sure kid. Just don’t cause your uncles too much trouble alright? Unless it’s Tommy, you have explicit permission to fuck with him.”

“Techno.” You scolded harshly as Technoblade rolled his eyes, “That’s a bad word. Do I need to make a swear jar?”

“Mom no,” Aether whined falling against your shoulder, “Uncle Tommy curses all the time.”

“Uncle Tommy’s a little shit.”

“Seems like your mother needs a swear jar, heh kid?” He nudged Aether with his arm, Aether nodded a smile on his lips. You glared harshly at your husband who had a smirk on his lips.

“Agreed, come on mom. Fifty cents, pay up.”

“Trouble makers the both of you.” You teased kissing the top of Aether’s head, before putting him down on the ground. A smile spread across his lips as he wrapped his arms around Technoblade’s legs,

“Bye papa oh wait!” He held out his flower crowns one for each of you, you bent down and took them gracefully. You placed one on your head and one on your husband’s head as well, he scoffed lightly.

“Stay safe kid, remember what I taught you.”

“Go for the knees!”

“That’s my boy.” Technoblade gave him a stern thumbs up, he gave his father a similar gesture and ran back down the cobblestone pathway. You smiled fondly at the sight and Technoblade wrapped his arms around your waist. “God, I can’t believe kids making me soft, who am I?”

“My beautiful husband who loves his son that I carried for nine months.” You mused looking up at him to press a kiss to his chin. He hummed a smirk on his lips,

“Yeah, I am, and I do.”

“You ruined it, get off me.”

“Ah come on,” Technoblade groaned as you wiggled free from his grasp only to cross your arms in front of your chest, “My lovely queen, please.” You crossed your arms with a little huff of your own, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” You sighed with an eye roll “But you gotta lose that cocky attitude when number two comes along.”

“Yeah right, number two.” He chuckled interlocking your hand within his own, your eyebrow twitched as he pulled you along.

“What’s so funny about that?” You piped up as the both of you walked, your head held high. The flower crown on your head slipped a little as you adjusted it,

“I just don’t know if I can picture it, having two kids.”

“What about a little girl hm?” You tilted your head to the side as he followed alongside you like a puppy.

“A girl?”

You nodded watching two little birds fluttering along in a birdbath, you smiled softly, “Yeah a little girl. Maybe one with bubble gum pink hair and your cute little nose.” You poked his nose sweetly and he smiled softly, “maybe one with your fighting spirit. You could chase off any girls or guys she’s interested in.” He chuckled a little at that one, he would, he’d use his ax too.

“What if she had your hair and eyes though? A stunning little goddess just like her mother.” He mused brushing his fingers against your cheek, you giggled,

“You’ll have to swat the suitors away with a fly swatter.”

“Or an ax.”

“You can’t kill children Tech!”

“Eh says you.”

You shot him a look pressing a nervous touch to your stomach, Technoblade raised an eyebrow. He looked like he was connecting dots, “wait hold on a minute you’re not-” You flushed under his gaze and his jaw dropped, “HEH? You’re not serious! Are you serious? You’re- HEH? Baby!? DAD?! ME?!” He pointed to your stomach as to which you gave a nervous nod.

“It’s not for certain! But, I’ve been having the same symptoms I’ve had with Aether and-” He pressed a kiss to your lips hands hovering over your stomach.

“I’m two for two.”

“TECHNOBLADE! YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARD!” You hissed out hitting him on the top of his head, he let out a roaring laugh taking you in his arms and spinning you around.

“You know I love you, you and Aether and baby number two. I always will until the end of time. King or not, all of you will always come first.”

“Love you too, more than anything.” You responded pressing your forehead to his own, “My king.”

“My Queen.”

“Your dad’s going to pass out. Wilbur’s going to go completely pale and Tommy’s going to scream his head off.”

“You know my family well. I can’t wait.” A bright smile appearing across his face, you laughed fondly pulling him close his flower crown almost falling off his head.

“You just like chaos.”

“You know I do.” He cupped your cheek with his hand and pressed a tender kiss to his lips.

“You’re lucky I do too.” You purred sharing another kiss with your husband, flowers fluttered around both of your bodies. As the King and Queen of the Artic relished this rare peaceful summer day, at his family home.

~~~ Tag List: @theoneandonlyyeti, @iamsuchasimp @victory-is-here

@pastelmoonwitche @gnat1usaquar1us

[tojisveryown]

𝐌𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞

Ｒｅｑｕｅｓｔ: 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘠𝘶𝘫𝘪. 𝘈 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳?

Ｗａｒｎｉｎｇｓ: 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺, 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 20'𝘴

Ｗｏｒｄ ｃｏｕｎｔ: 1.9𝘬

Ｎｏｔｅｓ: 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘨𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘳

.  ღ  .

Itadori grew confused at the sudden knock on his door, it was way too late for it to be Nobara or Megumi. He turned on his side wrapping his blanket over him hoping the knocks would stop and whoever it was would just come back tomorrow. However the knocking didn’t stop which caused Itadori to groan as he got out of bed, putting a shirt on over his head he yawned as he came closer to the door 2:41am, Who the hell is at the door?

Itadori unlocked and opened his door, there stood his former sensei, Gojo Satoru next to him was a little girl around four years of age. 

“Yo Yuuji, how you been?” Gojo invited himself in dragging the little girl inside with him.

“Hey don’t just come in, it’s almost three am, and who is that?” Itadori eyed the little girl and he was reminded a lot of his ex-girlfriend, but not quite.

“Where’s your hospitality to your favorite sensei? I thought I taught you better.”

“Ha very funny, now what’s up why are you here?”

Gojo perked his lips together and leaned back on Itadori’s couch, he crossed his legs and observed his apartment, “Remember Y/N?”

Itadori’s memories of his ex flashed before his eyes, he remembered her alright. He remembered that he cheated on her and ever since he hasn’t really been dating. “Yeah what about her? She doing alright?” 

“I guess you could say that-” Gojo was cut off by the sudden ring of his phone “Mmh- oh? Okay, I’ll be there. Sorry Yuuji we’ll have to continue some other time, higher-ups need me.” Gojo gave the little girl seated next to him some candy and patted her head before he left, he gave Yuuji one final wave and hurried off to Jujutsu Tech. 

“Hey wait you forgot- you forgot your kid??” Itadori looked at the little girl and she was fast asleep on his sofa. “Cute.” 

.  ღ  .

The next day Itadori woke up and walked over to his kitchen. “Huh, that was a weird dream- holy shit!” surprised at the little girl who was sleeping on his couch, he took a few steps back causing his back to crash into the wall “Huh so it wasn’t a dream? Who even is that.” 

He shrugged and made his way to his kitchen making himself some breakfast. As he was eating he noticed a pair of eyes staring at him, “Hey, what do you want for breakfast?” 

The little girl rubbed her eyes and with a soft and small voice she said “Pancakes, please.” Itadori mentally clutched his heart and nodded his head, making his way to the counter, he began to create the pancake mixture, using the recipe him and his ex used to use. He began to let his mind wander to what Gojo was about to say. He brushed off the thought and poured the mixture onto the hot pan.

The little girl stood behind the doorframe leading into the kitchen with her head poking out, Itadori smiled and flipped the pancake. This could’ve been us, if only I didn’t fuck it up.

Itadori finished making the pancakes and plated them nicely on one of his cream white plates getting a fork and some syrup. He placed the plate on his counter and motioned the little girl to sit down at one of the chairs 

“Do you want anything to drink, orange juice? Apple juice? A smoothie?” 

The little girl looked up at Itadori after stuffing her face with the fluffy pancakes he had made, a small voice spoke “Water please.” 

“Are you sure?” The little girl nodded.

After breakfast Itadori noticed that the little girl had no change of clothes nor did she carry anything with her, she must be uncomfortable in the same clothes. “Hey, do you wanna go shopping?” the little girl looked over at him with a questioning look, “We can get ice cream if you’d like too um.. er.. what’s your name?” 

“Hana, can we get strawberry?” 

Itadori smiled and nodded, he lifted Hana up on his shoulders and together they entered the train station. 

Hana ended up falling asleep on Itadori’s shoulder, Itadori was in awe. He took a picture of them together while Hana was sleeping and sent it to Gojo, reminding him that he left a whole child in the hands of someone she doesn’t know. 

.  ღ  .

They entered the mall and as they were heading over to the ice cream stand Hana gripped onto Itadori’s hand, “Hey what’s wrong?” 

Her grip tightened and she let out the words “Don’t wanna get lost.” He smiled and lifted her up onto his shoulders. He was quickly growing fond of Hana, something about her just gave Itadori a sense of happiness, something he’s been longing for. 

“What can I get for you two today?” 

“Can I get one strawberry scoop and one vanilla?” 

“One strawberry and vanilla scoop coming right up, that’ll be 9.87 please.” 

Itadori pulled out his wallet and gave the cashier his card, and while opening his wallet Hana noticed a very old photo of her mom 

“Mama?” 

Itadori flinched and brought Hana down from his shoulders, “Hey you saw your mom? Do you know where she is?” 

Hana simply pointed at his wallet, for a second Itadori questioned it but he soon opened his wallet and showed her “Silly Hana there’s no one in here.” He let out a laugh and patted her head.

“Mama.” She said again pointing at the Photo of you that was neatly put in Itadori’s wallet. 

Itadori’s heart dropped. He thought back to the thing Gojo was saying about his ex and how he got cut off due to the higher ups, he quickly put his wallet away and lifted up Hana, carrying her in his arms along with their ice cream Itadori headed to Gojo’s apartment as fast as he could.

.  ღ  .

“Yuuji? I didn’t expect you here- oh hi Hana how are you?” Gojo leaned down to pick Hana up, he brought her inside of his apartment and changed the channel on his TV to something Hana would enjoy watching. 

“Sensei, who’s Hana’s mom?” Itadori asked with a shaky voice, he closed the door and headed towards where Gojo was seated. 

“Oh yeah about that, did you know that Y/N was pregnant when you two broke up?” 

Yuuji’s heart stopped. “She was what?” 

“Mm yeah that’s what Miwa told me.” 

“Miwa huh? Are they still friends?” Itadori rubbed his hands together, anxious of what Gojo’s intentions were bringing Hana over. 

“I guess you could say that,” Gojo lifted his sun glasses and placed them on the counter, “You do know that Hana’s your kid right?” 

“Well yeah I figured.” 

“Great! I’m gonna need you to fill out these papers.” Gojo handed Itadori a stack of papers and a pen that had Gojo’s face plastered all over it. 

“Papers? What for?” 

“Yuuji, Yuuji, Yuuji, how dense can you get? Papers so you’ll have legal documents to state that Hana is in your custody.” 

“Huh? But isn’t she in Y/N’s care?” 

Gojo bit his lip, he sighed. Putting both palms on his cheeked and elbows resting on the counter he started, “Yuuji,” Itadori replied with a hum, he furrowed his brows while he began filling the papers out, “You remember that Shibuya incident that happened about a three months ago?” 

“Oh yeah the one where over forty people died because of Sukuna right?” 

“Yeah... Y/N was one of those forty.” 

It fell silent, the faint noises coming from the TV was blurred out from Itadori’s hearing. Y/N.. died? 

“Sensei-”

“Look I know it’s a lot to take in, you did love her more than anything but you have to be strong Yuu, Hana lost her mom and all she has is you.” For once Gojo’s words were actually something Itadori could use for wisdom. 

“Does she even know I’m her dad? It’s been like five years since Y/N and I broke up.”

“Don’t know, but I’ll tell you this. When I heard news that Y/N was killed by one of Sukuna’s guys I was sent to look through her apartment for clues as to why they’d specifically get her and when I got there she at least had three pictures of the both of you framed.” 

The indistinct memories of the night you and Yuuji broke up filled his mind to the brim. 

.  ღ  .

You were shifting around. Making sure everything was perfect was such a hassle but you wanted tonight to be perfect. You longed for this day and you wished and hoped that you’d be able to start a family with the man of your dreams. 

You waited for Itadori to get home, you knew he would love the dress you wore tonight, a mid length white flowy dress that he picked out looked amazing on you. You did your hair as well. Awaiting for the homemade dinner along with news to deliver excited you. The look on his face as he realized he would be a father very soon was something you’d never forget.

After thirty minutes of waiting the door finally opened to reveal a slummed Yuuji.

“Hey what’s wrong? You look down, something on your mind?” 

“Y/N we need to talk.”

“Oh no that’s not good.” You let out a laugh to lighten the mood and what you received was nothing but silence. 

“Y/N I’m so sorry, I love you so so much. More than words could explain and I know I fucked up, I really do, please forgive me I promise it’ll never happen again.” He pulled you into a hug, and yet you were confused as to what he was babbling on about. 

“Yuuji? What’s this all about?”

 “I cheated.”

You took a step back at the sudden words that escaped your lovers mouth. You were in disbelief. Denial was the only thing you felt but then Yuuji kept talking. 

“I’m so sorry, I had to tell you. I couldn’t keep it in anymore, every time I look at you it haunts me.” He reached over to you and your body moved on it’s own, you took a step back causing Itadori’s face to drop. He knew he had lost you. 

In that moment you knew announcing your pregnancy to him would just crush him more, you sighed and pulled him into your embrace. 

“It’s okay Yuuji, I forgive you. Please don’t do it to your next girlfriend.” 

“Next? You don’t mean-”

“Yes. I do, I’m sorry Yuu. I love you but there’s no way I can trust you now.” 

He nodded, he knew trying wouldn’t get him anywhere once you made up your mind. He accepted the punishment given to him. He was the one at fault no matter how you looked at it.

The next morning you packed your things. You knew as well as he did that being in the same apartment would only hurt the both of you more. You decided to leave. You sought out a peaceful life with the baby growing inside you. 

“May we meet again in another life.” You gave Yuuji one last hug and a kiss on the cheek and within seconds you were gone from his vision.

.  ღ  .

Itadori had thought losing you was apart of the punishment he received from him cheating on you, he had never thought that the day your relationship with him ended would be the last day you’d ever see each other again. 

He believed you gave him another chance, that fate did as well. Hana coming into Itadori’s life a few years after you had left his was another way to atone for his sins. 

And if it was for you, Itadori would gladly take the opportunity. 

© 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐣𝐢𝐬𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐫 | 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 

[imabeautifulbutterfly]

The Reunion - Part 2

Summary: We meet up with our crew after they have left Barab and after Friday’s episode of the Bad Batch getting their chips removed. Hunter x Reader. Echo x Reader.

A/N: Italics - Past conversations

The quotes Crosshair says during his nightmares are directly from the Bad Batch episodes.  All rights for those quotes, belong directly to the geniuses working on the Bad Batch TV show at Disney.  

Warnings: Slight mention of a beating, nothing described.  Medical procedures.

If I miss a warning, just let me know.

Words: 4,608

AO3 Link

Drop some love, a comment or a reblog, it’s all appreciated.  If you want to be tagged, let me know.

Previous -> Masterlist -> Next

“We don’t usually work with regs”

“Grow up, Wrecker”

“If your plans are so good, why did Commander Cody have to call us in?”

“An order is an order”

“Since when?”

“Good soldiers follow orders”

“He had us disobeying orders”

“I never thought you disobeying orders was a problem”

“Disobeying orders again over a kid?”

“You’re becoming a liability”

“You disobeyed orders”

“I did what I thought was right”

“You should have killed that Jedi, you disobeyed orders.”

“You never could see the bigger picture.  Now surrender.”

“Best stand down sergeant, make it easier on yourself.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“Your move”

“Bad play, Hunter”

“You want to know why they put me in charge? It’s because I’m willing to do what needs to be done.”

“What seems to be the problem with CT-9904?” Lama Su asked Nala Se

The two Kaminoans looked on behind the one way mirror, “medic, what seems to be the problem with CT-9904?” asked Nala Se.

I looked towards the mirrored glass, “he’s having a nightmare”, I glanced from the mirror to Crosshair that laid on the med bed before me.  The Kaminoans wanted his inhibitor chip to be constantly activated and operating at peak efficiency; if they lost him, they would lose the backing of Admiral Tarkin, something they couldn’t have.  

How I wished Hunter was here?  How I wished I got to the ship in time?  I wished for a lot of things, mostly I wished that Crosshair’s chip hadn’t been activated, and that as the medic for Clone Force 99, I wasn’t the one in charge of keeping his chip activated.  Every time he laid down on that med bed, a little bit of me died.  I had to do this to my friend, my family, Hunter’s brother.  I tried at first to say that the chip was damaged, it wouldn’t activate, but they quickly dealt with my deception, in the form of a beating from two of the Clones who had taken me under their wing.  The beating from the two had knocked me out, when I came to Bad Batch was gone, Omega, my little helper, was gone, and Crosshair had tried to kill his own brothers.  

What’s worse is that Crosshair looked for every opportunity to wound me with his words, he wasn’t my Crosshair, he wasn’t the man I had grown to know and love as a brother.

‘Must be miserable to know you fell in love with a traitor.’

‘How does it feel knowing they left you?’

‘Only the Empire can provide what you need’

‘Join them and die’

“He seems to be having a particularly disturbing dream, he keeps thrashing” that voice, oh I hated that voice, it was responsible for the so called War Mantle project, Vice Admiral Rampart.  How I wish he could be the one on this bed before me, so I could make him suffer, the way he’s making Crosshair suffer.

“Indeed” oh there’s that other voice, Admiral Tarkin.  I loathed both men, and would be happy to see both die a very slow painful death.

“I do not believe we should continue for much longer, the procedure could cause irreparable damage”, I suggested.  I’m sorry Crosshair, I hope you can hear me.  I’m so sorry.  

“Very well” Admiral Tarkin’s voice filled the room, I could almost feel his breath on my skin.  It was revolting.  

“End the procedure, medic Kambe”

“Yes, Prime Minister”

I turned off the machine and watched as Crosshair's tortured face relaxed.  I moved beside him, and disconnected him from the machine, he was still unconscious, at this moment and I could pretend he was still my family, he was still the same Crosshair.  The one who taught me to shoot a target five klicks out.  The one who would tease Hunter and me, when we would go out on a date.  The one who said he always wanted a sister, and was happy I was his.  I discreetly held his hand, rubbing circles with my thumb on the back of his hand.  I’m sorry Crosshair.  I’m so sorry Cross.  

- - - - - - - -

“That medic seems very attached to CT-9904” Admiral Tarkin noticed

“Yes, she was the medic for Clone Force 99.  She got to know them very well and went on several missions with them.”

“Interesting.  She may prove useful.”

“How do you mean Admiral?” Asked Vice Admiral Rampart

“She may know something the clone doesn’t, or she could be used as bait, to bring in the others”

“Admiral, I must protest” Nala Se interjected, “she, unlike the clones, is not Empire property, she is hired by the Kaminoan facility, and works directly for us.”

“And yet, she gets paid via the Empire, does she not?  Or do you pay her directly, Prime Minister?”

“Uh … I would have to check our records, Admiral Tarkin”

“Don’t bother, I have checked already.  She gets paid by the Empire.  She used to receive funds from the Republic, and has subsequently received funds from the Empire, therefore she is a servant and employed by the Empire.  As such, we have the right to do as we wish with our workers.”

“Admiral, I would be more than happy to take over … keeping an eye on the medic” offered Vice Admiral Rampart.

“That is not necessary, it seems we have the best thing to keep an eye on her already” he motioned towards the unconscious clone.  

- - - - - - - - -

Although, I couldn’t hear what was being said behind the glass, I could sense eyes on me.  I grabbed a data pad and pretended to check Crosshair's vitals. If they were going to stay there watching me, then they wouldn’t get anything except a medic doing her job.   There had to be a way to get the chip out of his head, someway to go under the radar.  If Cross was back to normal then he and I would be able to get off of Kamino and find the boys.

I heard the door slide open behind me, “Medic Kambe”, I turned to face Nala Se, she was the only Kaminoan that I could somewhat tolerate, although in the end she was the biggest problem of all, as the Chief Medical Scientist, if it wasn’t for her, so many soldiers wouldn’t have been killed and treated less than they deserved.

“Yes, Nala Se?”

“You can move clone CT-9904 to the recovery room”

“Yes, Nala Se”

She stepped closer to me, it was odd and threw me off.  She disliked me more than anyone else, simply for making the clones feel like people and not property, it was one of the reasons I was assigned to an actual team, rather than the Kaminoan facility in general.  “You need to be careful,” she said in a lowered voice.

I kept busy preparing Cross for transport, “what do you mean?” I asked in a similar whisper, “they’re watching you, they want to use you to bring back Clone Force 99 and Omega.  We can’t have her land in the hands of the Empire.”

“I understand”

“Please be quick about transporting the clone, Admiral Tarkin wishes to see what effect the new enhancement has on CT-9904” she said in a louder voice.

“He has a name”

“He is a clone.  Clone CT-9904.”

“His name is Crosshair!”

“Medic Kambe! One more outburst and I’ll have you restricted to your quarters and brought up on charges of treason. Do you understand?”

“Yes”

“Good” without further word she stepped out of the room, maker I hated her.  I really did.

I looked at Cross one more time, he had a slight scarring from where the machine had performed it’s procedure. My only hope would be to perform surgery at night, or maybe if I was able to go on a mission with Cross again, distract him, get him isolated, and perform the surgery.   We both needed to get out of here, and soon.

- - - - - - -

“I don’t know if the plan will work” Fives offered

“Oh I’m sorry, do you have something better, vod?”

“Listen Phoenix Ghost, we are not judging you, it just seems risky” offered Hunter

“Well, what do you want to do?”  I asked, Rex had just left after we were able to get the chips out of the remaining Bad Batch, the idea was to take the med pod with us, or at the very least take it and hide it on a planet that we could bring Crosshair to.

“Why can’t we just use the method you did before, with the other clones?”

“That would require us going to a safe clone planet, the nearest one has over 500 of your brothers, inhabiting it.  I would gladly take you there, if the Empire thought you were dead.  However, as of right now, the risk is too great that someone would follow you, or someone spot your ship and decide to report you to the Empire simply for credits.  I’m sorry but I’m not putting your brothers at risk.  Either we find a way to bring Crosshair here, or find a way to bring the med pod to Crosshair.”

“Cyar’ika, it’s okay.  We trust you”

“Really, cause if you trusted me, you wouldn’t be questioning the plan right now”

“It’s just dangerous” Tech tried to reassure me.

I couldn’t help the glare that had appeared on my face, “seriously Tech? That’s your pathetic platitude, that it’s just dangerous.  Everything we’ve ever done, from the moment we either joined or were sold to the GAR has been a life filled with danger.  I personally have a scar on almost every quadrant of my body from one injury or another.”

They all looked to Echo, who simply nodded.  Oh that was it, “WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT HIM? DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I WOULD LIE ABOUT THAT?!!!”

“No, of course not” Hunter tried to calm me down, but the anger within was growing from their… I guess lack of trust.  

“Cyar’ika”

“Don’t Echo! Don’t Cyar’ika me!”

Echo let out a frustrated breath, being back with Echo was amazing, it’s like we hadn’t missed a beat, all those years being apart had evaporated within a matter of minutes.  

“Fine, ner riduur”

Ugh! Why did he have to tug that cord? All the anger I had a second ago washed away at remembering that we had indeed gotten married, I  dropped my shoulders and my head to my chest.  As soon as we were off Barab, we had found a place to lay low for a few weeks.  Echo didn’t want to waste anymore time and proposed, I didn’t want to waste any time either and said yes.  We both had wasted too many years apart, to waste another second not being with each other, was downright idiotic.

Fives had been his best man, Omega was my flower girl, Hunter walked me down the aisle, Tech officiated and Wrecker stood in as my man of honour.  Rex had come to wish us well, after the ceremony, he pulled me aside and gave me a big bear hug, “I’m happy for you ad’ika.  I wish you nothing but happiness.”

The words were there, but the warmth in the eyes weren’t, “I’m sorry Rex.  I’m sorry I couldn’t…”

He didn’t let me finish, “nothin’ to be sorry about, little one.  You followed your heart to the man you love.  It’s the heart I fell in love with, so how can I be upset about that” his warmth finally reached his eyes, we hugged one more time, “thank you, Rex.  I love you, vod”

“Love you too, vod’ika”

“Alright, let’s come up with another plan than” I offered calmer, I looked over at Echo, and smirked.

“How do you do that?” Whispered Wrecker

“It’s my gift” Echo chuckled, I simply shook my head, “what if we make a medical droid?” Asked Omega

“It is possible” Tech advised

“We are at the scrap yard so we could find the parts we need, it won’t be pretty, but it’ll get the job done” I added, Tech and I sat down to work out a plan and design for the medical droid.

“While we are doing this, maybe the five of you could try to find an actual droid, maybe if there is an actual medical droid, we won’t have to make one” suggested Tech.

“Fine, we know when we’re not wanted,” Fives teased.

“Hey Omega”, I called, she turned towards me, “good suggestion” I winked at her.  She ran over and hugged me, “thanks mo…I mean, thank you Phoenix Ghost”, I returned the hug and looked at Hunter, he had a smirk on his face, “hun, I think your dad’s waiting for you”.  Hunter shot me a look, I couldn’t help but smile back, at the end of the day we were all co-parenting, so what was one or two more parents, uncles, or aunts.  Whatever way she looked at us, we were family.

- - - - - - - - -

“How does it feel, vod?” Fives asked Echo

“How does what, feel?”

“Being married to the love of your life?” He elbowed Echo

Echo couldn’t help the blush that appeared on his face, “like I’m living a dream that I never want to wake up from”.

“Awww, that’s so sweet” shouted Wrecker

“Alright you guys focus, Omega and I will go done here" Hunter motioned to the corridor to his left, "Wrecker, go with Fives and Echo” as Hunter motioned to the corridor on his right.

“Copy that” Fives answered.

Hunter and Omega headed down what looked like a medical hallway, there were all kinds of beds, against the wall, “Hunter?”

“Yes, Omega”

“Are you married?”

“What?”

“Like Phoenix and Echo?”

Hunter didn’t answer for a minute, Omega could see something was bothering him, “I”m sorry, should I not have asked?”

“It’s okay, kid.  No, I’m not married.”

“But there was someone?”

“Yes”

“Medic Kambe?”

Hunter stopped and looked at Omega, “how do you know that?”

“I trained under her as a medical assistant, she always used to mention Clone Force 99”

“That’s how you learned all about us”

Omega nodded, “she treated me like I was …”

“Like you were a person”

Omega nodded, “that’s how she treated us too.”  Hunter continued examining the rooms, and realized more than likely his love had seen what was happening to Omega and how she was treated.  He could see his tiny love stepping up to protect Omega.  Knowing her, she probably even had to fight to be Omega’s trainer.

“Do you think we’ll see her again?”

“I don’t know, kid.  I hope so, I really do.”

“Why didn’t she come with us?”

Hunter let out a sigh, “I don’t know, but something must have happened, otherwise she would have been waiting for us in the hangar.”

“I hope if we do find her, you two get married”

“Really?”

“Yes, she makes you happy.  You clearly make her happy.  She always had a smile on her face when she spoke of you, she kept her biggest smile when she mentioned you specifically.”

Hunter smiled at that, hopefully soon enough, he’ll have his brother back, and his love in his arms.  

- - - - - - -

“Any luck?”

“There’s no such thing as luck” chuckled Fives

“What are you? Obi-wan?” I asked

“Hey how do you think I got so good with the ladies?  I learned from the best” he laughed.

“Fives, you were good with the ladies, because they took pity on you.  Not because you had any of the charm, Obi-wan had.”

“How do you know about Obi-wan’s charms?” Asked Echo.

“Hmm… what, my love?”

“We will discuss this later”

“Whatever you say, ner cyare”

“Oh don’t try and placate me with sweet sayings”

“As fun as it is to be in the middle of what’s probably your first argument” Tech interrupted, “did you find a medical droid?”

“I did!” Shouted Wrecker

“Good.  By the way", Tech directed towards Echo and I, "I would like to see how an argument between married couples proceeds, it would be interesting to learn and see first hand” inquired Tech.

“Yeah, not gonna happen” I said, “let’s get this droid adjusted. Faster we get this thing on the ship, the faster we get out of here, and the faster we can get to Crosshair.”

“I think I have an idea about how to get Crosshair out in the open,” Hunter offered.

“How?” Asked Wrecker

“I’ll tell you guys when we’re back on the ship”

- - - - - - - - - - -

“That’s a bold plan” Fives commented

“But it has the potential for working” I appeased

“How do we know we can trust her?” Tech questioned, “how do we know she didn’t wilfully not show up? Had a change of heart?”

“Come on Tech, you know her.  She loves us.” Hunter looked to the ground before continuing, “she loves me, she would never … She was detained.  I know it.  Something prevented her from meeting us in that hangar.”

“Okay, so you want to send a message that will undoubtedly put her in danger, either on the mission, or before the mission, and definitely after the mission.  Basically, you are okay painting a giant target on her back, Hunter?  Cause that’s what you’re doing by sending that message.”

“I know Phoenix, but it’s the only thing I can think of to do.”

“Then I’ll help to try and limit the damage.  First things first, we are going to need to split up, find a planet to draw their attention to, hopefully one that’s uninhabitable.”

“With lots of ground coverage” offered Wrecker

“No high ground” suggested Tech

“With lots of animals” said Fives, we all turned to look at him, “what? If he can get distracted that gives us an advantage, I’m not crazy”, we all nodded along.  “He does have a point” chimed in Echo.

“What about Felucia?” Hunter suggested

“It’s not inhabitable.  I actually think I have a place.” I offered

“Where?” They all asked at once.

“I can’t say.”

“Well if you can’t say, how can we use it then?” Fives asked

“Because I have to ask permission to go there, it could put someone in danger, and that could be worse then …”

“Then having the Empire after us right now?” Wrecker inquired.

“Yes, actually.  They’re very dear and special to me, I need to …sorry guys, I’m gonna have to take over the bunk for now.”

“Oh” said Echo

“Oh” I nodded.

“Oh what?” Hunter asked

“Ohhh!” Clued in Fives adding, “I thought he was dead.

“About as dead as you and I are”

“What are we talking about?” Wrecker asked Tech

“I don’t know” Tech answered shrugging his shoulders.

“Sorry guys, I can’t say more, or talk more about it.  Like I said, I need the bunk, no one come in until I emerge.  It could be several hours, I suggest we stay in hyperspace as much as possible.”

“What’s going on?” Omega asked as she stepped out of her room.

“Sorry guys, but we can’t talk about it” Fives answered, “just trust us, when we say she needs to do this, and you really can’t disturb her, she needs the quiet.”

- - - - - - - - -

It had been a while since I sat here meditating, trying to connect with my older teacher.  I had been a force-sensitive child, and was about to take the Jedi trials, to be ordained as a Jedi Knight, but the anger within me had proved to be too volatile, with the war in effect.  It was important to not let those who could be in situations where the constant fighting, the constant bloodshed and the insurmountable injustice would be present all the time.  It could lead one to use the force in an unnatural way, causing one to take actions into your own hands.

I closed my eyes, and focused on the force, being one with the force was always easy for me, which was why the Council was concerned when they felt my anger.

“Little one, hmmm? Yes, hmmm”

“Hello Master Yoda”

“Why reach out through the force did you, hmm? Alright are you, hmmm?”

“I seek advice, Master, the advice is not for me, I’m alright, but it is to save two innocents.”

“To save a clone called Crosshair you wish, and medic called Kambe.  Innocent, Kambe is.  However, shed innocent blood, Crosshair has.”

“It’s not his fault, Master, it’s his chip.  If we remove the chip, he’ll be back to his old self.”

“Possible, removing stone from a puddle is, damage the stone caused when thrown in is permanent.  Back, what makes you think the Crosshair you once knew would come, hmm? Hmmmm.”

“Because it happened to one of the clones I am travelling with.  His chip activated, and he tried to kill Omega, the little clone girl, once his chip was removed he went back to normal, although he remembered the incident.”

“Wrecker activated for, how long was, hmm?”

“Not long, maybe about 20 to 30 minutes.”

“Crosshair been activated, how long has, hmm?”

“Since the start of the Empire”

“Over time weeds grow over stone, in the puddle, that is.  When you pull out stone, pull out weeds too.  The damage caused, irreversible, could be.  Prepared to face that consequence are you, hmm? Hmmm?”

“At least he would be free.”

“Of clone life free from, hmm? No.  Free from the Empire, hmm? No.  His other self free from, hmm? Possibly.  Plague his mind constantly, the nightmares of what he has done will.  Carry, can you soothe the pain his soul will, hmm?  If this chip you free him from, have to help carry his burden, you will.  Ready for that are you, hmm?”

“Yes”

“Then I offer, what advice can hmm? Yes, hmmm”

“We need a planet that is shrouded in darkness, with no major high ground, lots of foliage and animals”

“You use Dagobah to draw him out want to, hmm?”

“With your permission, Master, yes.  But if you feel it is too big of a threat, maybe you can recommend another planet, one that can wreak havoc on a sniper.”

“My permission, you have.  I will give you coordinates that will put any in danger not, and your purposes that will serve.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Your anger and your fear I no longer sense.  Changed, what has, young one, hmm?”

“Ever since my ‘death’, I no longer lived for myself but for others.  With the help of others and my skills we were able to save 2500 soldiers.  Brave men, each one.”

“That is all not. Herh herh herh”.

“No, Master.  Ha, never could hide anything from you.  I married the love of my life, Echo”

“Happy for you little one I am.  Continue learning from the force.  Serve you in the future, it will.  To the dark side within you I no longer sense the temptation.  However, to say goodbye to the man you love, be prepared, when the time comes, or to the dark side again find yourself on the path.

“Yes, Master.  Thank you.”

“With you may the force be.  Hmmmm”

“And with you, Master.”

- - - - - - - - -

“How long does this usually take?” Hunter asked Echo

“Once it took her - - - what was it? Fives, 12 hours?”

“I thought it was longer, closer to 15 or 16”

“It depends”

“On what?” Asked Tech

“On how easily I can connect to the force”, I answered.  They all turned to see me emerge from the bunk room, “how long was I in there for?”

“About 8 hours,” Echo answered.

“Do we have a plan?”

“We do, Hunter” I smiled, not only did we have a plan, but I had the privilege to continue learning about the Force, who knows what will happen in the future, but as of right now I was very hopeful.

“So where are we going?” Asked Omega

“Dagobah, we’re going to Dagobah, but first I need to eat, secondly there are a few things we need to discuss and thirdly, only three or four of us should go, the others should keep Omega safe.”

“I feel like there’s going to be a whole Jedi sort feel to this story” Fives laughed

“Well not completely, but you’re not wrong either” I laughed along with him.

“Does that mean, you’re going to tell me how you know about Obi-wan’s charms?” Asked Echo

“You’re never going to leave that alone, are you?” Hunter and Tech got up and headed for the cockpit, Omega headed for her room, Fives and Wrecker headed for the bunk room, leaving Echo and I alone.

“Why won’t you just tell me?”

“Why do I need to tell you about something that is so trifling, and doesn’t matter in our current predicament?”

“Because I need to know”

“You don’t need to know, what you want to know is if I personally experienced his charms, isn’t that true?”

“I … how … that’s …” Echo rubbed the back of his neck after his failure to start his sentence, “that’s not what I want to know.”

“Then why do you keep asking that question”

“I just didn’t think that Jedis, you know”

I just looked at him, “Echo, I married you.  I was learning to become a Jedi, remember?”

“Yeah, but I just didn’t think you were with anyone before me, I thought we had that in common”, that’s what he wanted to know! Man, why was he beating around the bush?

“Echo, my love” I kneeled before, cradling his face with one hand, holding his right hand with my left, “I love you.  Obi-wan is just a horrible flirt.  I was never interested in him.  I wasn’t interested in anyone other than you.  You have been and always will be the love of my life.  No one can compare to you.  They can’t hold a candle to your bravery, your courage, your kindness, your sweetness, the way you care for me, the way you look after your brothers, the way you look after Omega.  You are the best man I have ever known.  No one will ever change my opinion about that.  I love you and only you, and I have never been with anyone other than you.”

Echo looked into my eyes, leaned forward and kissed me, with all the passion he could muster.  “I really wish we had our own room, and our own ship, right now.”

I laughed out loud, “well let’s get to a safe haven where we can pick up another ship, and you and I take an hour for ourselves.”

“I think maybe four hours is needed”

“Ha, if only we had that kind of time my love, an hour and a half?”

“Two”

“Done, but then we have to get this plan under way as soon as we land.”

“I know”, I pressed my forehead against his, soaking in his scent; Master Yoda was right, I would have to prepare myself for the eventuality of losing him for real, one day.  When I had thought I had lost him the first time, it nearly destroyed me, and it was because I wasn’t able to have a future with him.  Wasn’t able to live freely with him.  Now, I could.  If I were to lose him tomorrow, I can be comforted in knowing that I had married, and had been able to love him without reservation.  I would have no regrets with how I loved him.

“I love you, Echo”

“I love you, Phoenix”

TAG LIST:

@lady-ren​

[tigerseye46]

Red Sand/Shark AU

So this is an au where Sha Wujing is the one who retired and Red is his successor.

I had a lot of amazing help from my anons and others for this au and I just want to thank them for that! You all made the au 100% more awesome! So here’s the au (re-uploaded cause it wouldn’t appear on my dash):

Sha Wujing: Sha Wujing takes Wukong’s place as the teacher and retired hero of this au and is the mentor of Red Son, albeit a reluctant mentor. Sha Wujing, unlike his canon counterpart, has not calmed down and is still rage-filled due to isolating himself for centuries. He has isolated himself due to Tripitaka’s death at the hands of a demon which he believes he, Bajie and Wukong could have prevented even though the other two were nowhere near at the time. He has a strained relationship with them because of this belief. Due to the monk’s death, he started picking fights in the mortal realm with any demon and sometimes human he could. The other three tried to stop him at multiple points but he wouldn’t listen and they had no choice but to give up. Eventually he came to the conclusion that this isn’t what Tripitaka would want and decided to pick one last fight to seal the Spider Queen before retiring.

He has rarely spoken to anyone else in centuries, he is extremely closed off to people. and has a lot of rage pent up. He lives on a mountain around the city that has a small house on his mountain and it has a river. He has the basics, oven, microwave, fridge, he also has a tv. Although he doesn’t use the television as much and considers it good background noise while he’s cooking or training. He absolutely despises it when any trace of his past adventures come onto the screen due to the events that have happened. He has a bunch of training equipment around that he uses to at least better manage his rage. He also builds inventions similar to his counterpart and it is something he and Red have in common. He does love tea and cats in this au but doesn’t own any cats in the beginning. He keeps a shrine of Tripitaka in his home and talks to it at certain points, he also has Tripitaka’s old staff.

Fun fact, he didn’t even want a successor and the only reason Red became his successor is because Guanyin appeared to him a couple years before the au and told him that trouble was brewing. She knows he gave up fighting so she proposes that he find a successor and she knows the perfect candidate, Red. After watching him for a bit, he agreed with her and waited for something to happen but wasn't exactly happy at the thought of having to train someone since it meant having prolonged social interaction, especially someone that almost killed his brother even if he isn’t Wukong’s biggest fan by that point. He is rather grumpy while training Red and they clash at certain points but they do have a respect for each other. He is more blunt and honest here.

Red: Red Son is the successor of Sha Wujing and formerly the disciple of Guanyin who after noticing how far he had come decided to let him go to the city to meet new people. He arrives at the city 2-5 years before the events of the au start and keeps a human form. While they still have somewhat of a temper, it is nowhere as bad as canon. They were initially confused by the city as due to being under Guanyin’s teaching, they weren’t as exposed to technology. It wasn’t until they met Mei who showed them the ropes that they finally got the hang of things. They build inventions like their counterpart but aren’t as skilled as canon Red since they’ve only been doing this for five years tops.

Mei actually gave her a place in the beginning since they didn’t have anywhere to go since they were still new. Red refused at first but gradually gave into Mei’s persistence. They were roommates for a while while the demon figured out where they could work. They noticed Mei’s struggle with her parents and encouraged her to be open about it, resulting in her becoming happier as a person and embracing her dragon heritage. Mei introduced them to Tang and got taken in by the human. Tang gave Red a place at his shop, although he works more at the cover business since he wants some sense of normalcy but he does do things like stock supplies for the magic side sometimes.

He hasn’t told anyone who his parents are nor has he found them again and prefers to keep a low profile. He also keeps the fact that he’s a demon a secret along with his fire powers. The fire powers only show up when he’s overcome with rage but since they aren’t as rage filled as their canon counterpart, that is rare. He isn’t exactly thrilled to be someone’s successor since it meant giving up his normal life but does it to further atone for his actions.

Mei/Long Xiaojiao: Xiaojiao remains here as the descendant of the Dragon of the West and is Red’s best friend. She found Red Son wandering the city one day and allowed him to stay with them until they found a place to work so Red has actually been inside her house before. Throughout his stay, she accidentally vented about her troubles with her parents which Red helped her with and because of that, she is less insecure about her place as descendant of the Dragon of the West. From that point forth, she was more open about her problems. She also obtained the dragon blade relatively early thanks to Red and her parents’ urging.

She, like Red, works for Tang but at his magic business and spends time being Tang’s assistant. Her job is to sometimes collect ingredients and deliver if the client asks. She is more reckless here due to having the dragon blade for years and because of the amount of demons she faced. She is slightly more protective here because of Red since she thinks he doesn’t know how to expertly fight as he hasn’t revealed who he is to her yet.

MK/Qi Xiaotian: Xiaotian is the biological son of Syntax and the only human of the Spider group. After the incident when he was around 12 that resulted in his dad becoming a spider, his life was completely changed and they were taken in by Huntsman and Goliath. Learning of their plan to free the Spider Queen, Syntax offered to help, knowing from Goliath that she would protect his son. They raised him where he turned into a mix of all of them. Since he is Syntax’s son, his father made sure he got the best education and taught him many things because of this, he knows a lot about tech and sometimes uses technology based insults like his dad, the other insults he uses are the more crass ones because of Huntsman. While he knows a lot about tech, he’s bad at practical applications and ends up setting things on fire.

They know how to hunt because of Huntsman and spar with him regularly in an effort to get strong to protect their family. Since they’re the only human, they feel the need to prove themself to the Spider Queen who doesn’t really give them a thought in the beginning as she’s more concerned with returning the spider demons to their former glory. The issue of him as the only human has caused somewhat of a disconnect between him and his father.

He is rather cocky and reckless here because of Huntsman and Syntax who both have massive egos, something that was passed down to him. Although deep down he is a sweetheart thanks to Goliath. He uses the tech insults to insult his rival, Red Son and makes fun of him on a daily basis which is great because Red only slightly knows what those mean. He is still an artist here and was encouraged by his father to pursue his passion, he is also still a slight Monkey King fan because of stories he heard when he was little. While he makes fun of Huntsman for wanting to date his dad, he does want to be able to call him his stepdad one day. He has a staff given to him by his dad when he was around 15 that contains some cool things.

Sun Wukong: takes Tang’s place kinda. Actor and scholar. Sun Wukong in this au is the owner of a theatre that for the most part does JTTW plays, he is also an actor and scholar. He spent about 300-400 years in retirement before finally deciding to enter the world again and do something. He has a rivalry with Macaque since both are scholars and always have academic arguments. He remains king of Flower Fruit Mountain but mainly lives in the city now. He maintains a human form to not attract attention from demons.

Before owning the theatre, he was a big name actor (well still is) that did mostly Monkey King related stuff to honor his past adventures and family. He even directed, starred and wrote stuff for his own movies and tv shows, something he does for the theatre now. He also produced some video games. He used to bring his monkeys on the set sometimes and does that now for his theatre, people have no idea where the monkeys come from. Some joke that he’s gotten really into his role and there are those that call him the “Monkey Actor.”

He carries a good amount of guilt over Tripitaka’s death especially after what Wujing said to him and believes he doesn’t really deserve to be called a hero. He also feels bad that he couldn’t help Wujing and that the incident resulted in the demon closing off. He hides all of this under a confident attitude. He hardly uses his staff anymore but still has it. He’s had off/on contact with Zhu Bajie over the years and misses him and the rest of his family deeply. When they meet up around the time the series starts, the pig informs him that he’s found Wujing but they don’t go talk to him since they know the other doesn’t want them around. Instead, the two hang out again with Wukong absolutely dreading the idea that they’ll lose contact again. Bajie actually introduces him to the kids he sometimes babysits and they eventually begin calling Wukong “yéyé.” He met Tang when he heard a rumor about his magic business and decided to check it out, he stuck around even after finding out the human was harmless because he met Red again, he hasn’t told Red or Tang who he is.

Tang: Tang is surprise, surprise, Tripitaka’s reincarnation. He does get dreams sometimes but he writes them off as fantasies. Compared to his counterpart, he is a lot tougher than his normal counterpart and actually fights. He runs two shops with one that is a secret magic shop (mostly temporary enhancements and minor spells), he’s proficient in both hand to hand combat and magic.

He is slightly more serious in this due to running a business now but not as serious as Pigsy would be. His nerdiness is toned down here but still present. In fact when Red is working, Tang likes to bring up different stories from the past despite the fact that Red knows them already. He gave Red the apartment above the shop and has no idea that the kid he adopted is actually a demon. He is rather annoyed and angry at the fact that Red was chosen by Sha Wujing to be his successor even though he is partially a fan of the demon and totally doesn’t have a celebrity crush on him. While he isn’t aware of everything Red has gone through, he is aware that the kid has had a rough life and wants to protect him.

Zhu Bajie/Pigsy: Zhu Bajie, after years of loneliness, came out of hiding and wandered the mortal world as he needed something to occupy his time. He’s had off/on contact with Wukong throughout the years. Eventually he settled into the city where he’s known as a beloved and involved member of a small part of it. He is seen as an ‘uncle/grandpa figure’ there and is sometimes asked to watch over the kids. The kids absolutely adore him and he in turn adores them. He takes them out a lot to places and spoils the heck out of them. He actually met Wukong again when he took the kids out to see the plays at Wukong’s theatre and enjoys taking them there because he gets to see the king, he’s become a huge fan. He memorized the surrounding mountain range there and partially chose the city as there is a path that leads to Wujing, he hasn’t told Wujing he’s tracked him down. He’s just kept tabs on him, mildly happy with that since he knows his brother doesn’t want to see him.

While he retains his snarkiness here, his temper isn’t as bad here due to not being business focused since he doesn’t own one. He retains his parental instincts here since he’s a grandpa now. He has grown a lot since the JTTW days and is proud of this fact. He is on the more reasonable side of things between Wujing who is unnecessarily angry and Wukong who believes he doesn’t have the right to be considered a hero.

Macaque: Macaque in this au is retired from fighting and does not have much of a grudge against Wukong as he does in canon. Although they do have a rivalry as fellow scholars and constantly complain about each other’s theses suck. They are usually one debate away from fighting each other in the parking lot of Wukong’s theatre.

Demon Bull King: Demon Bull King takes Macaque’s spot as the one who trains and plans to take Red’s powers. After their son became Guanyin’s disciple, the two were extremely worried about their child and held resentment for Sun Wukong and his gang that continued long after the gang defeated him. Princess Iron Fan and him had a falling out that resulted in them parting ways (although still married) but they still love each other very much. DBK heard rumors floating around about someone that had become Sha Wujing’s successor and that someone matched his son’s description. Angered over the fact that his son was forced to become someone’s successor, he found a spell that would take his powers. He crafted a plan to lure his son out to do so so his son could be relieved of that pressure along with protecting him and so he could use that power to take revenge on those around them.

Princess Iron Fan: Princess Iron Fan is the main villain of the Red Sand/Shark au. Due to the loss of her son and the fall out with her husband, Princess Iron Fan has become rather desperate to get her family back and she’ll do it by any means necessary. She has kept herself hidden for years, plotting ways to bring her family together. Once she found out that Red Son became Sha Wujing’s successor, it caused her to lash out as her son was within reach but forced to be what she considered a weapon, a pawn. She took advantage of the blood oath she made, promising the twins that if they joined her, she would make people cower before them. She used them to attack on New Years in the hopes of grabbing her son and taking over the world. While that might have failed, she has other tricks up her sleeve and will make Red join her, no matter what.

Spider Queen: Spider Queen once led a powerful army that threatened to disrupt the mortal realm. She was feared by mortals and respected and loved by her subjects. This ended when she faced Sha Wujing and was actually the last demon Sha Wujing fought before he retired. He decided to seal her, citing her as a danger. Due to her containment, the various spider clans started declining as their royal line had been deposed of. Things have become desperate and it is believed that the Spider Boys are part of the last generation before they are wiped out entirely, although there may be more out there. They have decided to free the Spider Queen as her era was the last time the spiders were prosperous and believe she is the key to saving their future.

Goliath (Strong Spider): Goliath remains a total sweetheart in this au and is one of the reasons Xiaotian contains sweet qualities. He is completely supportive and encouraging of Syntax and Huntsman’s feelings for each other and wishes they would just admit it. He bakes in his spare time and gets help from Xiaotian. He is also the other’s confidant and manages to keep secrets relatively well. He does suggest that they speak about these issues but doesn’t push them.

Huntsman: Huntsman is the same here but has a more fatherly side to him as he’s helped Syntax raise MK and has actually developed feelings for the nerd spider. He taught Xiaotian to be an excellent hunter and spars with him on a regular basis. He cheers the kid on during fights unless he has to do something like go save him for a reckless endeavor. He doesn’t admit how much the kid and the others mean to him often but will slip up and admit it. He and Syntax have snarky banter with each other and have a trusting relationship that neither acknowledges.

Syntax: Syntax is the biological and single father of Xiaotian. He was a relatively hardworking and great father that taught Xiaotian to make different things, gave him the best education he could and encouraged him in art endeavors. He was turned into a spider by a horrific lab accident when his son was around twelve. Resentment, horror and terror piled up in him because of that incident. He had absolutely no idea what to do, he was a human turned spider all because of what happened, there is a possibility that no one was going to treat him the same after this, people would assume he had malicious intent and might try to separate him from his son. After that, he spent a good portion trying to return himself back to normal but no matter what he did he could not. Afraid for the safety of him and his son, Syntax began to research the spiders, learning they were almost gone but there may be some out there. He took Xiaotian with him where they bumped into Huntsman and Goliath who were trying to find ways to bring the Spider Queen back. He joined them as Goliath had assured the queen would offer them protection. Along the way, he had come to see them less as allies and more as family, not that he would admit it. He began falling in love with Huntsman after getting to know him for years and seeing deeper sides of him. When Xiaotian was around 15, he crafted a sci fi tech staff for his son which contains some tricks and traps, including a GPS that can be used for when his son is in trouble.

Yin and Jin: Yin and Jin take Spider Queen’s place here. They trapped Red in the calabash just like they did with canon MK and after that incident, they continued popping up with a variety of plans, most that have failed. Red eventually stopped taking them seriously and treated them more as nuisances than real threats. In an effort to be taken more seriously they created a partnership between them and PIF. They shook with excitement at New Years when they began to topple people around them, this died down when the plan didn’t work but they continued to listen to PIF’s instructions, little do they know she’s just using them to get her son back.

White Bone Spirit and Mayor: These two are nowhere near as dangerous as they are in canon and actually replace Yin and Jin as the comic relief although the Mayor is still slightly creepy. WBS probably has a much older host or has shapeshifted to give herself a human form. She tries to get revenge for her defeat at the hands of Sun Wukong and since Red is the closest thing she messes with him instead. She believes she is a powerful antagonist but is more of the average shape-shifting demon and the Mayor serves as her minion. They come up with schemes similar to Yin and Jin but unlike Yin and Jin don’t ever come up with a way to be taken more seriously.

[dangerousconnoisseurdonut]

Underwater Gotham Kingdom Idea

Gotham is an underwater kingdom where dwell a number of different type of merpeople live and work. There are five types of merpeople; octopi, shark, whale, dolphin, and manta. The last two are of a more ruling class, while the former three are seen as less. Still, that doesn’t stop those like shark James Gordon from joining the royal guard, or Orca Alfred Pennyworth from being brought on as a companion for a young noble, manta Bruce Wayne. Martha Wayne was a dolphin and, due to an accident involving the stingers on his tail, Martha died giving birth to him. Thomas has always blamed himself as Bruce inherited his own manta tail instead of his beloved Martha’s dolphin tail. As such, Thomas threw himself into his work, neglecting Bruce.

After countless companions, Alfred Pennyworth is more than a match for rambunctious twelve-year-old Bruce Wayne, especially when Bruce gets a young guard as further protection. Jim and Alfred become fast friends with each other and Bruce, and the pair teach him a lot of different tricks when it comes to fighting. One day, Bruce is swimming around, when he notices a large group of octopi, sharks, and whales swimming together; a little unusual, and he’s curious enough to follow them. When he gets there, he finds a number of octopi, sharks, and whales all gathered together with shark Theo Galavan talking about over throwing their government! He’s about to swim away when he sees something that takes the wind out of his sails and he feels his heart break; Alfred and Jim are there, and they reveal themselves to be spies meant to learn the weaknesses of the palace.

Before Bruce can swim away, he’s caught by a shark named Zsasz who presents him to the group. Galavan is ready to kill Bruce, except that Bruce uses the venom in his tail to hurt Galavan enough to get away. He dodges all of the sharks, octopi, and whales who try to grab him, and uses many of the tricks he learned from Alfred and Jim to make it back to Gotham, but he just wasn’t fast enough and Galavan’s forces start their attack. Galavan finds Bruce and goes to kill him, but Thomas gets in the way, protecting his son. Between Thomas’ more mature venom and and Galavan’s sharp teeth, the two manage to kill each other. Bruce is pulled from the fray by Captain of the Guards, Nathaniel Barnes who takes Bruce to the throne room in one last effort to keep Gotham from falling into the Rebellions hands entirely. He charges shark soldier Harvey Bullock and dolphin sorcerer Lucius Fox with protecting Bruce as Bruce holds the crown jewel of Gotham; a beautiful star sapphire referred to as the Heart of Gotham. The three make their way out of the city and to the one place the Rebels can’t follow; the surface world..

As the three break through the surface, Lucius casts an ancient spell to give them human legs, but is reminded that none of them have ever swam with human legs and have trouble keeping afloat. Thankfully, a family are out on the water and see them, rescuing them. They are Jonathan and Martha Kent, with their twelve-year-old son, Clark, who takes an immediate liking to Bruce.

Five years pass, and Smallville High doesn’t know what to make of the ‘honourary cousins’, Clark Kent and Bruce Fox; on one hand, both boys are handsome jocks that are on the football team, on the other, both boys are huge dorks. Soon, however, they get something new to focus on as a number of new people have moved to Smallville; a new clothing store opened by a Jervis Tetch, whose fashion styles are geared more towards children, and Oswald Cobblepot, who makes very sharp suits for men and women.

Then, there are three new students attending Smallville High; the Valeska twins, Jerome and Jeremiah, and a student said to be a chem genius, Jonathan Crane. To top it off, they get three substitute teachers as well; Victor Fries takes over the science course, Ben Mackenzie takes over as coach for the football team, and Sean Pertwee takes over their history course. At one of the home games, Harvey, Martha, and Lucius are all cheering for their boys (Jonathan having died from cancer two years ago) when Harvey sees Coach Mackenzie, and recognizes his old partner, even through the illusion spell he and ‘Sean’ are wearing. He informs the coach he wants to talk to him later, at the bar he tends at. Saying that he thinks the two have a lot to talk about.

Ben/Jim: Hi Harvey; Oswald was a little surprised you recognized me through Ed’s glamour spell.

Harvey: Ed was always good with magic, almost as good as Lucius was before he gave it up for technology. But you should have remembered that I always had a knack for seeing through spells.

Jim: Yeah, I guess we forgot that. You look good though; the surface world actually agrees with you.

Harvey: It’s not too bad up here; at least up here I don’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back by my own species.

Jim: Harvey...

Harvey: Tell me, how many women and children died that day? I know old Thomas managed to take Galavan down with him; Bruce had nightmares for over a year thanks to him. Tell me, was Galavan supposed to kill him too, or were you going to do that? Nice and quick?

Jim, eyes flashing black and teeth sharpening: Alfred and I would never harm Bruce; you know we loved and doted on him! And Thomas wasn’t supposed to get hurt, but Galavan was insane and hated the Wayne’s.

Harvey: Unless you want people to notice something not right, I’d suggest you calm down. And yeah, I remember just how much you two loved that kid, and can’t help but notice you and the others came here just after the kid turned seventeen; courting age.

Jim: You know he belongs in Gotham.

Harvey: No, here’s what I know; Bruce had no friends and no family apart from Thomas in Gotham, here he has friends, and he and Clark are practically brothers. Lucius likes it up here too; says that human tech is a lot more fun to work with than magic. And finally, me and Martha are happy, we...

Jim: Martha?

Harvey:Clark’s mother? She and her husband Jonathan taught us all about the surface world after they rescued us that day. But Jonathan died two years ago from Cancer, and I looked after her; the two of us have been going steady for almost six months. And it’s because of that I’m willing to offer you, your fellow consorts, and the King of Gotham a deal; we give you the Heart of Gotham and you let the three of us remain here on the surface world.

Jim:...

[supernaturallyobsessedchic]

Imagine...Breaking Dean’s Nose

Brother!Dean x Sister!Reader; Brother!Sam x Sister!Reader

Warnings: Mild Angst, some fluff (I think), minor back story, first fic written since [spoilers] Dean’s Death in 15x20 (spn finale)[spoiler].

Summary: The siblings have a minor disagreement that leads to a fist fight. And ends with Dean getting a broken nose and a realization, he has to let her grow.

Mobile Masterlist

a/n: I write and edit all my works, hope you enjoy. This is my first time back writing Dean since the Finale.

~

Y/N sat in the back seat of the impala as they drove back to the bunker from the hospital. Sam driving his brother in the passenger seat, his nose swollen, a black eye swelling his eye.

The two siblings were at a disagreement.

Ever since she joined the brothers, it was after she lost her family. Nothing weird about their deaths. But state officials did DNA tests to find any family relatives. Turns out she’s related to Sam and Dean, as their half-sister.

The pair disagreed on something simple. Going out, but their sister was always careful. But since there was a project due soon and it was a group project. She had to sneak out, without Dean or Sam knowing. And came back to a pissed off Dean. Dean then got on her nerves, hovering over her, always concerned about her over the simplest of things. But she was still 13 years old.

Sam pulled into the garage, parking it and killing the engine, they weren’t as fast as Y/N to get out of the car. She had walked quickly to her room, locking her door.

The next morning, Y/N got up early to shower, and make Dean a big breakfast, Sam too for putting up with their crap. She may not have any idea how to cook, but to anyone’s famous last words before burning down a kitchen, how hard can it be?

She began making the pancake batter, cracking some eggs, adding some oil, and she began cooking them. Flipping them was a whole other story, some looked perfect circular, golden pancakes. But others would look over done or under done. The under done ones, she played the safe card and threw them away. Next were the eggs. She cracked some eggs in the skillet, flipping them once the whites were solid enough, making them over easy. Giving each brother 3 pancakes, 2 eggs over easy. Next was bacon for Dean. Dishing up their plates, giving Dean and Sam their morning coffee’s, and Sam some O.J, she put them on trays and sat them in their rooms just moments before their alarms went off.

Dean woke up to the smell of food in his room, Sam woke to his alarm with the combo of good smelling food. Both with notes from their sister. 

Sorry for being a pain. Was written for Sam.

And the other note, reading, Sorry for breaking your nose. For Dean.

She cleaned up the bunkers kitchen, cleaning the dishes, and then bolting to hide in her room for the rest of the day.

Dean knew she wasn’t backing down, not really. Not entirely.

Their argument, he knew he was stopping her from getting a homework assignment for school and getting it done. But he didn’t want her out where he couldn’t protect her.

“You can’t always protect her Dean.” Sam says. Knowing full well about their argument. Well, he practically, unwillingly, had front row seats to the screaming match and fist fight.

“Just watch me.” Dean challenged.

“Dean.” Sam says in a knowing tone. “She’s got a school project, due Monday, it's Saturday. And she’s going to fail it if you don’t let her go.” Sam explains.

“But what if something happens?” Dean asks. “Like, what if one of the kids is a shifter trying to get at us. Or a werewolf, or a vamp kid, or even--”

“Dean, just stop. We taught her everything she needs to know about hunting. And she knows what to do.” Sam says.

Dean just sat back in his chair, with folded arms, grumbling to himself. But after about five minutes of thinking. Sam’s right. Dean doesn’t want to get in the way of his sister's education. She’s 13, about to go into high school next year. Those next four years are going to be important to her. And she has shown she'll kick his ass if he gets in her way. 

He lets out a heavy sigh. “Fine.”

“Let me go talk to her.”

“Yeah, talk. No yelling. Okay Dean.”

Dean simply waves him off.

He walks to her room, farthest from either of them. And gives it a few knocks. But gets no response. He tries to open it, it’s unlocked. So there’s something. He pokes his head in her room.

She's on her bed, with her wireless headphones on, playing some loud rock music but one ear piece is off her ear and sitting behind it. Doing her homework on her laptop.

“Guys, I gotta go.” She says to the laptop.

“Okay, but thanks for your help on the project. We’ll let you know if we need more info.” Her classmate says from the laptop.

“And, Y/N, go easy. I live with my older brothers too. And he’s just trying to protect you. He’s doing the best he can.” said another one of her classmates. Seeing her nod at them.

“You can do it girl, see you in class on Monday." They said. She gives a small friendly wave, and ends their video call. Taking off her headphones, she gets off of the bed.

“I’m sorry, I really had to get my portion of the project done and to the rest of my team.” she said to Dean, casting her gaze down. Waiting for him to yell at her.

“It’s okay, that’s what I was coming in here to talk to you about.” He says.

She looks up at him, not saying a word.

“I can’t protect you from everything out there. Not even life or the supernatural itself. Deep down, I sure as hell don’t want you hunting.” He explains.

That’s why he doesn’t let me out on hunts. She thought.

“I want you to live the normal life. I want you to get an education, a job, a life you are happy with to call your own.” He continues.

“But what if you guys need help?” she asks.

“Cas can always lend a hand. Same for Jack. but you are off limits. You’re 13, you have a long life ahead of you. And I want you to live it.” he says.

She nods.

“Are you almost done?” he asks.

“Almost, I just have to write my research down so we’re ready to present it on Monday.”  

“Well, finish up. I say, you deserve some you time in the Dean Cave.” He says. She smiles, he never lets her do whatever she wants in the Dean Cave. She has the same gadget and tech know-how like Sam. And with her XBox One, she always wanted to play it on his big screen TV in the Dean Cave.

“Just, put everything back the way you found it. You know how I am with technology.” he says. Making her giggle.

“Sure Dean.”

“Oh, and Uh, thanks for breakfast. The eggs were a bit over hard, and the bacon wasn’t quite done. Maybe one of these days I’ll teach you how to cook.” Dean tells her.

“Okay.” she smiles.

She went back to writing her research essay and he went to his room to chill out. And once she was done she hooked up her console to his TV in the Dean Cave and binge played Fallout 4.

Sam was just happy there was some peace in the bunker, not just that day, but the days throughout.

~

Did you like it? How’d I do? Comment, Like, send an ask, feedback is fuel that keeps me going!

Dean Tags:

@luci-in-trenchcoats​, @supernatural-jackles​, @becs-bunker​, @winchesters-favorite-girl​, @mlovesstories​, @winchest09​

~

Copying and reposting someone else’s content is plagiarism and illegal. This work is property of supernaturallyobsessedchic. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. An electronic reference link to the original posted work may be provided for purposes of promotion or assistance of publication by the readers discretion, if proper credits are given to the author in the re-post. 11/28/2020

[olivarryprompts]

Fanfic Friday #7

Welcome to Fanfic Friday! Each Friday I will post a new fanfic here and on A03. Enjoy x

Read and save it on A03 here https://archiveofourown.org/works/32577124

{the anatomy of caring}

Ships: minor stevetony, focused on Tony & Peter

Warnings: none, it’s just fluff :)

Wc: 2355

It was obvious to anyone who knew the two well. It was Steve and Tony, Iron Man and the Captain. It simply made sense. If the logic wasn’t enough, the two looked at home with one and another. They slipped together like puzzle pieces. Tony always helped Steve through the confusion of a new world, and Steve always knew just how to help Tony deal with the anxiety of their reality. They were the perfect couple, and they both knew that.

Then, the spiderling came along. Tony saw a mirror image of himself in Spiderman. A young, ambitious boy who had the curse and gift of superhuman powers. He defied death each day he swung between buildings, and Tony couldn’t help but be enthralled. He couldn’t help but figure out who the kid was (It was pretty easy to figure out it was a kid, considering he only showed up outside of school hours). Steve, knowing his lover so well, knew instantly how protective Tony felt over the kid he’d merely stalked on the internet.

So when Tony explained the plan to show up at Peter’s with the “Stark Internship” it was no surprise to the captain. To the rest of the team, who’d all moved into the tower, it was a complete shock. The fact that Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, wanted to help this kid hone his powers and skills.

“You,” Bruce said, “Want to help this kid..what? Be a superhero?” “Well, someone’s gotta,” Tony explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Someone has to?” Nat questioned. “He can’t go around swinging off rooftops and beating up bad guys without any training. Or backup.” “Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t your idiot ass do that?” Sam questioned. “I was not a kid. And I had money, friends, people,” Tony wildly gesticulated. “I am beyond confused,” Nat laughed. “Same train as Romanoff,” Clint agreed. “Guys, this is not that hard. Come on. Let’s take this scenario. He ends up meeting some guys, and, instead of, say, winning, he loses. And either he dies, or gets badly injured. Who does he have? No one? He bleeds out. He’s a kid for fuck sake.” “Cap’s been awfully quiet,” Clint pointed out. “What? I knew this was coming days ago,” Steve explained with a smile, “I know my man. He wasn't just gonna let this kid get himself into trouble if he could do anything about it. Plus, Tony doesn’t keep tabs, he violently invades lives.” Tony shot him a look. “With love, invades with lots and lots of love,” he quickly fixes, flashing his million dollar smile at his boy. Tony just rolled his eyes and focused on addressing the group, “Look, I know it’s a lot, but I think it’s just what I have to do. And I own the tower, so, my choice,” he said with a hint of banter in his voice. Tony headed towards the elevator. “Where the hell are you going?” Sam asked. “The spiderling’s.”

Tony left before he could hear any of the exasperated responses. It was a fair drive down to Queen’s where the boy lived. He parked outside the small building, and he then climbed the seven flights of stairs to the apartment. He knocked on the door and greeted, “Hello, I’m Tony, Tony Stark.” He smiled his media smile, extending a hand towards May. “I-I know. Mr. Stark, hello, w-what are you doing here?” “Well, your nephew Peter applied for the Steptember Grant, and well, he got it,” Tony said, thrusting all the enthusiasm he could muster. He maintained his fabricated nonchalant, disregarding manner in most places. “Wow this is, this is incredible! Peter will be home any minute now. Come in, come in. Can I get you a drink?”

He was back at the tower, recapping his meeting with Peter to Cap. “-can you believe no one knows? Well, now it's knew. No one knew this kid was swinging around. And he got these powers with no one to help him through it, and god, it must have been awful. But, he’s good, Cap, he’s so good. He feels the need to help people, beyond just guilt. He’s, he’s-” “Tones,” Steve said, kissing his cheek, “Take a deep breath.” To be fair to the man, he hadn’t slept for at least 36 hours. With all that coffee in his system he had the right to be a bit uncomposed. The two were sitting at the breakfast bar, well Tony was sitting and Steve was behind it, cooking some eggs for the younger man. “I’m just glad I found him before he killed himself trying to save the world.” “Me too. How long has it been since you’ve slept?” “J?” “Sir, it has been 36 hours.“ “Tonyyyy,” Steve said, clearly disappointed. “Steveeee.” “I’m forcing you to bed.” “I have work to do. Plus it’s only eight o’clock.” “Eat then sleep, honey,” Steve said in that voice that you just didn’t ignore.

C2

At first the “Stark Internship” started as Tony upgrading Peter’s suit, monitoring his patrols, and teaching how to fight. Well, Natasha taught him how to fight. After she offered, Tony was in no place to deny. It was overwhelming to Peter. He was being taught about tech with Tony Stark and being taught how to fight from the black widow.

For the first couple weeks, he was a nervous wreck in the tower. He’d hardly speak to anyone and only do and touch what he was told to. He’d change, head straight to the gym, and then Natasha would train him. At first, the training was silent, other than Nat’s coaching. Then, slowly, the two began talking. It started with Nat asking how he first got his power, then it moved to her first missions, and then suddenly Nat knew a lot about Peter. And Peter was one of the few people in the world who knew a lot about Natasha. “-so what, you fought alien robots sent by Thor’s brother?” “Yeah, that's about right. I had to get up to one of the buildings, so, with Cap’s shield as my trampoline, I launched myself onto one of their flying machines. Pretty fun time up there.” “Holy shit, that’s incredible. How’d you stop them?” Peter knew how the battle had gone down, afterall he’d been in New York during the attack, but it was something else hearing it from an actual Avenger. “Well, it was quite complicated. The scientist-” Nat reminded him to keep his wrist straight. He made the fix, and went back to punching the bag. She launched back into the tale,”The scientist, remember him, who Loki’d controlled woke up mid battle. He’d installed a death switch for the portal, but to access it we needed the scepter. But, the thing is, the government basically sent a nuke toward New York in an effort to contain the aliens, so Tony grabbed the nuke and aimed from inside of the portal and threw it at their main spacecraft. This turned off all of the alien tech. He was a he-” “Hey Kid, Nat. Please don’t tell me you're telling the New York story,” Tony said from the entrance. “Hi Mr. Stark.” Nat rolled her eyes, “I am telling the New York story. You were a he-” “Don’t say it. You almost done?” “I’ll call it. Good job today kid.” “Thanks.”

Similar to the gym, he’d become far more comfortable around Tony and in his lab. At first he’d sit silently, doing his work. Then he got used to Tony’s eccentric tendencies, he memorized the layout and where everything was, and he’d also been unofficially given a workspace. It became easier and easier to feel comfortable. The late night coffee and deep chats were simply a bonus. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, it felt like he had a father figure. It was nice.

One day, Tony was vibin’ to ACDC and chatting with Steve whilst working on Mock 50 of his new suit design when Peter showed up. Steve being in the lab was something Peter had also become accustomed to. “Jarvis, please get some good music on in here. Queen perhaps?” Peter requested. He did it to annoy Mr. Stark, and it did just that. “Hey kid,” Cap said. “Don’t “hey kid” him,” Mr. Stark said, faking anger, “Did you just insult my music? How dare you? I am revoking all Jarvis privileges.” Peter laughed alongside Cap. “Sir, you can’t do that. I quite like the kid, and the innovations he is creating require my attention.” “Why did I program you to have a goddamn personality?” Tony said, focusing back to his work, “And Jarvis, put the quality music back now.” “Anway, how was school?” Steve asked. “Good, yeah. The same really. We had another one of your “fitness” videos for class today. Real good,” Peter joked. “Oh god, please don’t tell me they really use those.” “They really use those,” Peter smiled, “I’m going for a shower. See you in a flash.” “Wrong superhero, kid,” Mr. Stark called. “Idiot,” Peter heard Cap mutter into the top of Mr. Stark’s head.

Upon returning, he noticed the absence of the team leader. “Where did Cap go?” “Actual work or something stupid like that.” Peter just smiled as he settled down at his workstation. He wanted to try out some new formulas for his web fluid. He’d had an idea in spanish class, and scribbled it down in his notebook. He fished for it in his backpack.

It was so easy. Too easy. And so so comfortable.

C3

“Come on, I’ve got something to show you.”

Peter had just finished sparring with Nat, and Tony, unusually, came up to the gym to “collect” him. He hadn’t done that for months. Mainly because Peter stopped coming straight down to Tony’s lab. Instead, he went to the kitchen and, mainly because Steve forced him, ate some food. He usually ended up in a random chat with Sam or Bucky. Occasionally he would catch Banner, and he’d end up in a different laboratory. He was always happy to learn about what the incredible doctor was up to. Sometimes, he was even able to provide a suggestion or two. Bruce always looked impressed by the boy. It made Peter smile.

Then he would actually make his way down to the lab, but not before trying to find Hawkeye. He'd wanted to learn some tricks with the bow and arrow. Somehow, Clint would be dragged into teaching Peter how to fire a bow once a week. At least. Clint pretended he minded through teasing and jokes, but realistically he loved hearing about the kid’s week. He’d always been good with kids. It became a running joke that Clint would let Peter know about all the tech upgrades he wanted, and then Peter’d report them to Tony. Most of the time Tony replied with something snarky like, “Tell the idiot he shouldn’t have picked a dumbass weapon like a bow and arrow,” or “do it yourself if you care that much.”

The Avengers Tower had become home just as much as his apartment in Queens was, and it was clear that Tony knew that. Hence the, “Come on, I’ve got something to show you.” He took the little Avenger to the elevator, hitting floor 80. He was a little confused given that floors 75-90 were all bedroom floors for the avengers or just spare bedrooms. “Mr. Stark-” “You’ll see, kid.” In reality, Tony was nervous. He and Steve decided a while back that Peter deserved his own space in the tower, but he had been scared that Peter wouldn’t like it. That he picked the wrong colours, or mattress, or well, anything.

The doors opened and there were two doors facing one another. Tony opened one of them with a key he pulled out of his black suit. The door opened and he was met by a beautiful and modern room. It had a huge bed and tv. There was a desk equipped with the latest stark Holographic technology. In the corner was a suit, specifically a spider suit. That is when it clicked. “Mr. Stark, is, is this all mine?” “Yeah kid, sorry if you don’t like anything. Cap and I did the best we could knowing what you like. And ye-” Peter cut him off with a hug, “thank you.” “Anything for you, kid. Just say the word. Want a tour?” Peter eagerly nodded. “Alright so that’s the bed, obviously. No more sleeping in the guest rooms or that couch in the worksho-” “You sleep ther-” “Don’t say that I sleep there, I am no role model for sleep schedules.” Peter just smiled. “This is a little workshop area I mocked up. You can’t really tinker up here, but do all the designing you want,” he pulled up the most recent project Peter was working on, “Then, just through there is the bathroom, a little lounge area over there and yeah, that’s all. Oh, there’s two mini fridges by the lounge area.” Just as Tony finished his explanation, Steve showed up. “Tones, you showed it to him without me,” Cap complained. “Sorry, babes, you took too long.” he turned around and placed a little kiss on his lips. “It’s fine. How do you like it Pete?” “It’s, it’s-” Peter couldn’t think of any words to describe how incredible it was to have a room at the Avengers Tower, but more importantly how incredible it was to have so many people looking out for him. Before he had just one, Aunt May. She is amazing, but he’d always longed for just a little more. Then, with the Avengers, he’d been given a lot more. They became his family. And now his home. “Thank you,” was all Peter could muster before falling onto the floor.

The two of them, now in each other's arms, just looked down fondly at the boy. “We did good,” Cap whispered. “We did good,” Tony agreed. They did good with more than just the room.

[iam93percentstardust]

2020 Fic Recs Part 1

Hello everyone! If you saw @ad1thi‘s recent fic rec post going around, you know she got the idea from me. I had the idea a few months ago of doing a roundup of my favorite fics from 2020 at the end of the year because, let’s be honest with ourselves, I read a lot over the last twelve months, partially because this year, I really started settling into my own in fandom but mostly because this year was an absolute shitshow and I needed a distraction from everything going on outside my tiny apartment. I know it’s been a hard year for everyone and while there’s hope that next year might be a little better, there’s no guarantee so here are some of the fics that helped me get through this year. I hope you all like them as well.

Fics are organized by month and range over a variety of fandoms and ships. Since some of these are multi-chapters, I’ve organized them according to what date the last chapter posted. This got a little long so I’ve broken this up into 4 parts to be reblogged over the next two weeks.

January

Hope for the Holidays by @aurumacadicus (Winteriron)

Tony never expected to share Christmas with the man who killed his parents, but he's here now, so they should make the best of it.

Woodash and iron and leather by LokelaniRose (Geraskier)

Jaskier is the only person Geralt's ever been around who doesn't smell of fear

Happiness: A Song in Three Parts by @newtypeshadow (Stuckony)

Tony's just a kid when he first hears the music. He's human, no one knows werewolves exist yet, and there's no sexy beefcake couple Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes coming out as werewolves and giving interviews to the press to explain the melody Tony heard sporadically during childhood is what werewolves—and the human mates of werewolves—hear when their soulmate is within a few miles of them.

By the time he finds out what the music means, he hasn't heard a note in years.

And when he finally hears it again, he's busy running for his life.

Heart in Hand by janonny (Stevetony)

Steve had been thinking — that was all he was doing, thinking, not moping, as Bucky described it — about the best way to make his feelings clear to Tony. He wanted it to be perfect. He needed it to be the best demonstration of sincere interest that Tony had ever received.

Bucky called it procrastinating, but Steve called it strategizing.

And this Courting Ceremony? It was perfect.

Now he just needed to figure out what to get Tony as a Courting gift. And what to wear. And what to say. And what to do.

-

Or the story where Tony, an Omega, holds a much belated Courting Ceremony. Steve joins up and loses his mind a little.

something i can treasure by theredtailedhawkwithjewelsforeyes (Geraskier)

Jaskier would not call himself a thief. But, well- he is elbow-deep in someone’s saddlebags, pulling up handfuls of pretty little bottles. They’re all filled up with jewel-bright potions, corked delicately, and they almost seem to hum in his hands.

Then, suddenly-

There’s the sharp point of a sword at his neck.

Lock & Key by sablier_bloque (Geraskier)

“Geralt, it’s not what it looks like.”

“Really?” he asked. He clenched his jaw before offering a sharp, mirthless smile. “Because it looks like you got caught fucking the mayor’s wife, and now I’m not getting paid!”

“Well,” he laughed nervously, looking anywhere but up. “When you put it that way.”

In which Jaskier suggests a chastity device to prove himself a worthy travel companion, and of course, gives Geralt the key.

February

A hard curl of satisfaction by LokelaniRose (Geraskier & Yenalt in V-shaped polyamory)

Geralt was taught that a witcher is only good for one thing

Half Agony, Half Hope by @no-gorms (Stevetony)

Following the Battle of New York, the Avengers Initiative kicks into high gear under the leadership of Steve Rogers, i.e. Captain America. Tony didn’t mean to become part of this initiative, but it makes sense to sign on due to his experience with SHIELD and Rhodey’s War Machine suits.

The upside: Tony’s tech can be used in a widespread and meaningful way to help protect people. The downside: the last time Tony saw Steve, he’d rejected Steve’s proposal of marriage and broke his heart, leading to almost ten years of the two having no contact whatsoever. Until now.

when the bones are good by SummerFrost (Geraskier)

Julian is six when he realizes that he's got an astounding capacity for being an annoying bastard. He's seventeen when he finally decides to lean in.

Where There’s a Witcher by ghostinthelibrary (Geraskier)

Jaskier is a twentysomething recently unemployed journalist and amateur musician looking for his big break. So when he’s saved from the jaws of a wyvern by the infamous Butcher of Blaviken, Geralt of Rivia, he comes up with a brilliant idea: he’ll follow the Witcher around and sing about their exploits. He’ll gain fame and fortune and Geralt will get a much needed image rehab. Everyone wins.

Unless Jaskier goes and falls in love like an idiot.

my body bruises at your touch by brawlite (Geraskier)

To lure a monster out, Geralt ties Jaskier up, making him look like easy prey. Surprisingly, Jaskier finds himself enjoying his time as bait a bit more than expected.

Do it Again by thisgirlsays22 (Geraskier)

By the twentieth time Geralt has gone through the loop, he decides to just throw himself off the cliff’s edge after Borch.

He wakes up to his twenty-first attempt.

“Fuck.”

The Song of the White Wolf by sospes (Geraskier)

“It’s a wolf, not a dog,” Geralt says flatly.

“It’s hurt.”

“It’s a wolf.”

“I’m helping it,” Ciri says, ignoring him, and turns back to the wolf.

But when is a wolf not a wolf? When it's everyone's favourite humble bard, of course!

March

Even Steel Blades Need Fire by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels (Geraskier)

Jaskier's given a lot to Geralt over the years, but there's one tiny, insignificant, minor molehill of a thing he's kept back from him.

Namely that Jaskier isn't human.

Mission Accomplished by @riotwritesthings (Winteriron)

Tony has had a terrible, rotten, no good day. Fortunately, he knows exactly what he needs to feel better.

With a Conquering Air by inexplicifics (Geraskier)

From the kinkmeme: AU Warlord!Geralt receives Tribute!Jaskier as a sacrifice to appease him in every way possible. Jaskier has no choice on the matter and he’s fully aware of the awful rumours that have spread about Geralt and his ruthless conquests. (But we all know those aren’t legit.) A classic angst with a happy ending please! A dash of smut to heal those scars and a sprinkle of new found love!

Jaskier arrives at Kaer Morhen knowing his family gave him up without a second thought, and absolutely sure that the dreaded Warlord of the North will value him even less than his own blood did. But the White Wolf and his pack are not what Jaskier expected...and if he's unreasonably lucky, Kaer Morhen might become far more of a home than Lettenhove ever was.

play out a spell in your sequence of chords (to inspire and sharpen our rusted swords) by AceSailorKoshkaRayn

Geralt cocked his head to the side curiously to regard the chittering fox caught in the hunter's trap. The beast had deep chestnut fur and eerily bright blue eyes. He knelt, and the creature hissed at him, baring his teeth in fear.

"I mean you no harm," he rumbled, hands palm-up. His swords were at his campsite, regardless. He reached forward slowly, and the fox didn't move, though it's teeth remained bared. It was a simple matter to pry open the trap, and the fox leapt away, chattering its teeth at him. Their eyes met for a long moment, amber to fantastical blue, and the fox dashed off.

Sighing faintly, hands resting on his knees, Geralt bowed his head tiredly. He rolled his neck to crack it, and rose to his feet to shuffle his way back to his camp.

Set out neatly next to his bedroll were three cleanly gutted rabbits, and Geralt paused in surprise. Roach whinnied softly, and stamped a hoof. A crown of golden wheat rested primly between her ears.

Ah. Fae, then. Services paid for services rendered. Hopefully the fae would consider them even, now, but something in him doubted it.

[watchtower-feed]

Death Do We Part (Part 13)

SSA Spin-off ✧ Jason Todd ✧ Physical Link  ✧ 1 ✧ 2 ✧ 3 ✧ 4 ✧ 5 ✧ 6 ✧ 7 ✧ 8 ✧ 9 ✧ 10 ✧ 11 ✧ 12 ✧ 13 ✧ 14 ✧ 15 ✧ Words: 4,300+

     Jason kisses you again, holding on to your face, and then grudgingly lets you go. He lies on the couch with his hand draped over his eyes as you gather your clothes and get dressed. You kneel beside his head and say his name.

     “I can’t, Y/N-- If I see you, I won’t have it in me to let you walk out of here.”

     So you kiss his cheeks with quivering lips and your tears warm his skin before you leave the Todds’ old apartment.

     Jason’s whole body flinches at the sound of the door closing. He lets his own tears mix with the ones you left. Then he harshly rubs them away as he sits up to face the sun that’s slowly peeking over the cityscape from his window.

     He takes in three deep breaths before he finally gets up and puts on his clothes, leaving the stench of Gotham on his skin along with the scent of you. It’s armor he tells himself. With you on his side he knows he can’t fail.

     He takes out his phone and dials. He puts it on speaker and places it on the counter to pack his gear. The moment the ringing stops, he speaks first, “I want everybody in the bunker. Now.”

     There’s a slight groan and hint of annoyance from the other side, “You can’t be--”

     “Don’t make me wait.”

     Jason hangs up. When its lights turn off, he can see his reflection on the black screen of his phone. His white bangs are hanging down, half covering his glowing green eyes. He touches the skin under them and wonders if you noticed. Did it scare you? As he looks into his mutated eyes watching himself, he snarls.

     “Focus!”

     There’s far too much at stake tonight to be daydreaming now. The sooner he finishes this mission, the sooner you can leave this town. Jason takes one last look at his phone before he leaves their old apartment.

     He’s the first one at the bunker in the Arkham district and proceeds to check on the armory in the backroom. He puts on his domino mask and then his helmet. Then breathes in to give his mind and body time to adjust to his other role, his other identity.

     When he gets back to the main room, there’s a couple of thugs spread out on the floor and some of the big players sitting at the big table in the middle.

     “What’s the big idea calling us in so early in the morning? Most of us work nights you know!” Penguin’s nasally voice is already giving Jason a headache.

     I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here!

     Jason clams his mouth shut inside his helmet and walks up to the table.

     “Are you listening to me-- or is that blasted thing on mute--”

     He slams his hands on the table and waits for the echo to stop, making sure all eyes are on him. “We’re doing it tonight.”

     He watches as the big crime lords of Gotham widen their eyes and turn to each other like shoolchildren.

     “Tonight? Are you fucking kidding me?” Black Mask is standing now and circling the table to act like a menace but always making sure there’s somebody else between him and the Red Hood.

     “Are your men not ready?” Jason asks.

     Black Masks flinches and the sides of his nose twitch. “Of-of course they are--”

     “Good. Because we’re taking out Batman and the Joker tonight. If you’re not ready then you’re out of the deal.”

     The deal. The deal Jason’s been waving around at the noses of these dredges of Gotham City. One night. One final night to get both Batman and the Joker out of their lives.

     It’s not surprising a lot of them want to get rid of the Joker. The maniac’s a loose canon that’s not fit for any alliance and if you tick him off, you won’t know what to expect.

     “Have you figured out how to get the lunatic out of the asylum?” Dent speaks up from the wall he’s been leaning against. “The new vault is Wayne tech but they outsourced it from an anonymous--”

     “Oh, I never said anything about me breaking him out.” Jason cuts him off because he already knows this. He doesn’t like it when people repeat shit he already knows. It was never like this when he worked with Batman. “Don’t you worry your pretty faces over it. I’ve already got the perfect girl doing the dirty work for me.”

     “Right,” Penguin snorts, “Because you don’t actually do any work--”

     “When do we get to kill the Bat?” Bane’s menacing voice vibrates within the room, even terrifying Jason behind his mask.

     “Now that’s what I like to hear,” he yells out almost shakily, but your scent on him is trapped inside his helmet and it’s helping him keep calm, keep up appearances. “You, Killer Croc, and Clayface will come with me to the bridge.”

     “How do you know he’ll show?” Bane interrupts and Jason wants to show them a smile that says ‘leave it to me’. Instead he keeps quiet with his eyes on Bane who only narrows his eyes with scrutiny.

     “Right. Right. Of course,” Black Mask groans as he walks around more freely. “You’ve got another slutty little streetrat doing the work--”

     There’s a loud bang. Everyone in the room watches as Black Mask falls to the floor with a smoking hole in his head. Jason is heaving heavy breaths under his helmet and his eyes are wide and trained on the dead man who just said shit about you, while his hand is holding the gun.

     Once his composure is under control, he turns to Dent, talking to him with the gun slanted to the side. “Congratulations. His men are now yours.”

     Dent stares at the crazy bastard in front of him before he grins.

     As soon as the meeting is over, Jason is the first one to leave. He heads off to a small diner in the central business district, one of those small eateries at the heart of the city that are slowly dying.

     Happy to have the helmet off of him, he eats his food quietly while staring at his arm that’s propped up on the table. His last words looking back at him. “What did she do-- tattoo it on her skin?” he teases as he pokes it with a fork, smiling at the thought of you reading it over and over again.

     Someone slips into his booth. It’s enough to alarm Jason because he should’ve noticed anyone walking toward him. When he looks up, he finds his replacement in front of him.

     “Dick rewrites it every day with industrial-strength markers.”

     Jason’s other hand reaches for another weapon concealed in his jacket. Tim sits upright in front of him with both of his hands under the table. Jason only guesses he’s pointing something at him, too. They stare at each other for a while before Tim finally speaks up.

     “Fuck you.”

     The corner of Jason’s lips twitch. He almost wants to laugh. Heck, he does laugh. “Fucking rude--”

     “You slept with Y/N and then you sent her back to Bruce to ask him to let you kill the Joker.”

     Jason’s eyes widen. What were you thinking? Jason knew you were going to tell Bruce his plan that’s why they had to do it tonight. But he never asked you to stand up for him. He doesn’t want you to be involved in this. Why would you go and do that?

     Tim clenches his teeth as Jason continues to stare dumbly at him. “What kind of sick joke are you playing at? She’s in love you with you and you’re--”

     “Hey.” Jason’s voice is low and he’s staring into Tim’s eyes, blue like his, almost like his used to be. Did you gaze into them before you kissed him? Did they remind you of him? “You should learn to mind your own fucking business, kid.”

     “You--”

     “Thanks though.”

     Tim eyes Jason curiously, wondering what he means. Then he feels it, the kick of a tranquilizer rapidly invading the nerves of his body. Before his head hits the table, Jason is already by his side and placing his head on his shoulder.

     “You should’ve waited for the party but I guess you just saved me a lot of time.” Jason nods his head to the waitress walking by. Then he takes out his phone and calls Penguin.

     “What is it now, Hood?”

     “You should be happy to know that I just did some dirty work ahead of schedule.” Jason relishes the angry snort Penguin gives him before he continues. “So I’ll be helping you with the bombs later this afternoon.”

     There’s a long silence on the line before Penguin finally replies, nervous. “Are you sure this will work?”

     “Trust me. After tonight, when those bombs go off, you’ll be the only kingpin left in this city. No more Falcone or Dent.”

     After Jason hangs up, he pays the bill for his food and drapes his jacket over Tim, making sure his face is hidden as he hauls his body over to Arkham district.

     Finally, night came. Tim is tied up. The bombs are in place. The Joker is being broken out. And Batman is driving over the bridge. Jason is fighting every urge to tap his foot on the ground, or clench his fist, or rub his arm where his last words are written.

     All day he’s had to fight the urge to write to you, something you haven’t done in almost a year. But the fact that you haven’t written anything to him made it easier. You understand that everything is going down tonight and you’re giving him space.

     Now all he has to do is focus. Everything will go according to plan. It’s time for the theatrics, just like Batman taught him.

     “Sorry, Batman! This part of the city’s closed for the day! Public execution and all!” Jason is surrounded by cheering thugs finally rejoicing at the thought of a Bat and Joker-free city. Everything will be theirs for the taking.

     Jason watches his temporary alliance follow through with the plan. He whistles as Bane lands on the bridge. “You sure know how to make an entrance.”

     “Time for your exit, boy,” Killer Croc hisses as he passes by Jason.

     Jason sees no point in talking back. He presses the button for the EMP and waits for the lights of the batmobile to go out. Then he nods to Croc and Clayface and disappears into the crowd. Once out of the frontline’s range, he uses his grappling gun to reach higher ground.

     “Still bait. Need to make sure they see me.”

     Jason hides among the shadows to watch Bruce and Dick work. Bane’s the first one to go down. “Taking down the biggest threat first. Efficient and predictable, Bruce.”

     “Hoody! You double crossing son of a bitch!” One of the most annoying voices Jason has ever heard screeches into the comm in his ear. But it’s not really Harley he hates, it’s the other guy that always comes with her presence.

     “What? Code didn’t work?”

     “Oh it worked alright, you smarty shit helmet. I finally got mista J out of that stinkin place but guess who was waiting for us, huh? Guess!”

     “You don’t know, do you?”

     “You--” 

     Jason hangs up on Harley because he knows. He asked his friends from Eth Alth'eban for a couple of last favors until they can finally call it even. “Good. The appetizer’s already at the club-- Oh! Time to go.”

     Nightwing had spotted him and now Batman is in pursuit. Jason leaps from one rooftop to another, making sure Batman can still see him as he turns at each corner.

     Clayface and Croc never were much of a threat in an open space, away from their element. Dick could handle them with his eyes closed. But Jason busted some of his ribs so dealing with those two should keep him occupied all night.

     The sound of Bruce’s grappling gun hisses in the air and Jason waits for it to wrap around his legs. Before it tauts, Jason turns mid-air and cuts the line before he free falls to the road. He lands on his feet and rolls over to lessen the impact. He whispers a small apology to you in case your body couldn’t handle it.

     Bruce watches Jason run through the streets and follows from above. Jason can see his swift shadow casted by the foggy moonlight. He suddenly can’t help the stupid grin growing on his face. “Feels like old times, old man!”

     When Bruce sees another bridge, he already knows which building the Red Hood is headed for. Batman perches a block away and tries to contact Nightwing.

     “Status report.”

     Dick nervously laughs. Bruce can hear the exhaustion in his voice. “Seriously dandy. Croc and Clayface almost can’t keep up.”

     Bruce can’t see it but you can. Dick is barely standing on his own two legs, busted knees, exhaustion, and you know he’s emotionally overwhelmed. You’ve monitored enough of their videos to know that Dick isn’t at his best. You suddenly can’t help intervening. 

     “Bruce, turn back. You have to help Dick.”

     “I’m fine,” Dick interjects. “Just get Jason.”

     “Jason’s not the one in trouble right now, Dick--”

     “Y/N.” Dick’s voice has suddenly gotten sharp. “Batman needs to make it this time.”

     Your eyes widen as you watch Dick throw himself back into the fight. He’s exhausted but his opponents are in worse shape. Finally resigned, Alfred wraps his arms around your shoulder, bracing yourselves for what’s next.

     As soon as Jason walks into Black Mask’s new club, he’s met with absolutely no one. He quickly prioritizes before he panics and checks the two large boxes on the dance floor.

     A phone starts ringing loudly inside the deserted club, distracting him from the cape that flies in from the overhead window. Jason answers it and he hears Penguin’s unmistakeable nasally voice.

     “Hello, Hood.”

     Jason grits his teeth. Something isn’t right. “Where are you and Dent?” 

     “Sorry, Hood,” he snorts and chuckles. “We knew something was up. Found the bombs you snuck into my place. So you’re on your own.” He can hear boisterous laughter in the background and loud music. They’re celebrating prematurely at Penguin’s club. “But hey, if you manage to take the Joker and Batman to hell with you, good for us!”

     The dial tone fills up the empty club and it feels like it’s getting louder inside Jason’s head. He yells in frustration and throws the phone against the wall.

     “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

     Jason is bent over, hands on his knees and hyperventilating. The helmet is suddenly suffocating. He takes it off and throws it across the dance floor. Batman stops it with his foot, making Jason look up and glare at him.

     “Looks like you’ve run out of criminals to do the dirty work for you.” Batman’s voice brings Jason’s focus back to his own breathing. Things are not going according to plan but just the thought of putting this off for another day, makes his hands tremble. He wants to leave. He wants to run to you and leave this godforsaken city.

      Bruce looks at his son with nothing but worry. He extends a hand to him. “Jason, it’s time to stop.”

     Jason winces. He takes in one loud inhale and then lets it out in the form of boooming laughter. “Oh, but it’s just begun, and we’re so close to the climax already.”

     Like a child lashing out when everything has gone wrong, Jason runs and jumps at Bruce, a fist aimed at the side of his father’s head. It’s sloppy. Easy enough for Bruce to block and secure Jason in front of him.

     “Let’s go home,” he urges.

     Bruce watches the trembling scowl on Jason’s face. Jason kicks off of Bruce’s chest. When he lands on his feet, he runs at him again to kick his side.

     Bruce catches his leg and firmly holds it against his body using both of his hands. He glares at him, “Jason, stop!”

     Jason snarls and punches the side of Bruce’s face. Then another one against the tip of his nose. Bruce immediately lets go of him, holding his nose while ringing permeated in his eardrums.

     When he brings his hands down, there’s blood. “Jason, I don’t want to hurt you.”

     “That’s too bad, pops.”

     You have been too mesmerized by the one-sided battle between Bruce and Jason, that you forgot to watch Nightwing’s feed. When Alfred and your face are kissed by a bright glow coming from the other side of the screen, your eyes widen and your lips tremble.

     “B-Bruce!” your voice echoes in his earpiece and he can already hear the panic. “The br-bridge! Dick was on the bridge and it just blew up!”

     Jason notices the slight change in Bruce’s demeanor. He watches cautiously when his father clenches his fist and looks at Jason with a snarl. He starts walking toward Jason, letting him hear his every word.

     “Forgive me, Y/N.” 

     And you brace yourself for the onslaught of pain that’s sure to come. You close your eyes and bury your head in Alfred’s embrace. He holds you tightly, both of you dreading and waiting. But the pain never comes.

     You open your eyes and turn back to the monitor. Bruce is standing still in front of Jason with a fist just inches away from his son’s face. Jason’s eyes slowly open.

     “I can’t,” Bruce confesses in a trembling voice. 

     Jason frowns as he watches the resignation on his father’s face. But it’s quickly replaced by a scowl as he remembers, remembers why they’re here. “I should be so flattered,” his voice hits Bruce like a blow to the chest. “Too bad you extend this same mercy to your enemies.”

     Jason walks away from Bruce to stop in front of one of the boxes. He kicks it in and then he drags out a tied up orange clown into the middle of the club.

     “To scumbags like him!”

     The Joker shakes his head, trying to get rid of the sudden disorientation. He had been hearing their family drama from within the crate. But when his eyes settle on the black cowl and pointy ears, he grins and rises to his feet. He takes a quick look at Jason and recognizes him immediately.

     “Oh! Is this my welcome back party? I’m underdressed.” The Joker looks down at his clothes from Arkham and winces. “Orange really isn’t my color. Blegh!”

     His care-free attitude is only making Jason angrier. Everything has gone wrong. He has thrown himself against Bruce and almost got you hurt. And now, now the clown is treating all of this like a fucking party.

     Jason kicks the Joker onto the floor and keeps his foot on his back. He keeps his head down as he snarls at the maniac beneath him.

     “I don’t know what clouded your judgment worse…” His foot presses harder on the clown’s back before he looks at Bruce, glaring. “Your guilt or antiquated sense of morality.” 

     You watch with your hand over your mouth. Jason’s breathing has been labored this whole time and you don’t know if it’s because of all the running or the emotional toll of it all.

    Jason looks at Bruce and he sounds broken, “I forgive you for not saving me--”

    The Joker scoffs and nonchalantly interrupts Jason, “He couldn’t have saved you, boy. The timer was a dud. The warehouse was only rigged to explode once Batman stepped onto the property.”

    Batman’s eyes widen with guilt but Jason already knew that. He knew that Bruce had come for him with 10 seconds to spare on the timer. More than enough time to get him and his mother out of there safely. To save you, too.

    The Joker’s eyes widen with glee as he watches the taut lines on Batman’s exposed jaw. “You didn’t know, Batsy? My my!”

    Jason almost feels sorry for Bruce as he desperately looks at his son’s eyes and then to his hands, thinking he was the one who had killed him. Jason puts more pressure on the Joker’s back and shouts, “Do you see?”

     Jason takes off his mask to stare Bruce in the face, to look him in the eye when he finally asks the one question that has been eating at him alive. “So why! Why on god’s earth is this psychotic filth still alive?”

     Jason’s outrage and their father-son confrontation is only making the Joker laugh in amusement, splintering his lips against the hardwood. “Gotta give the boy points! He came all the way back from the dead--” 

      Jason harshly turns him over and slaps a gag into his mouth, pushing it down and ties it until the Joker is choking.

      More aggravated now, he’s heaving in breaths like he’s running out of air. Jason turns back to Bruce, gritting his teeth. “Ignoring what he’s done in the past. Blindly stupidly disregarding the entire graveyards he’s filled. The thousands who have suffered. The friends he’s crippled--!”

     Jason watches as Bruce’s jaw clenches. They never talked about that. After that night, even when Barbara was released from the hospital, the family completely turned their backs on her, willing that the incidents never happened.

     The memory only makes Jason’s blood boil and his heart clench in his chest. It’s so strong that you can feel it.

     “I thought… I thought I’d be the last person you’ll ever let him hurt. If it had been you that he beat to a bloody pulp. If he had taken you from this world--” Jason pauses, surprised at the tear falling from his eye. He knows it’s not his but this has never happened before. You’ve never shared tears before.

     Jason clenches his fist and yells at Bruce again, “I would have done nothing but search the planet for this pathetic pile of evil death-worshipping garbage and sent him off to hell!”

     Bruce’s head is spinning. He sees the man he despises the most in this world and the boy he’s failed, both in life and in death.

     “Jason... All I’ve ever wanted to do is kill him. A day doesn’t go by when I don’t think about subjecting him to every horrendous torture he’s dealt out to others. And then… end him.”

     Bruce’s confession doesn’t appease anything in Jason. It only confuses him more.

     “So why--”

     “But if I do that…” Bruce gently interjects, “If I allow myself to go down into that place… I’ll never come back.” He takes a few steps forward and extends his hand to Jason with his palm facing up. “You’ll never come back, son.”

     Jason stares at the hand extended to him before he finally snarls at his father. “Why?” he sounds like a child, broken and betrayed, “I’m not talking about killing Penguin or Scarecrow or Dent. I’m talking about him. Just him and doing it because… because he took me away from you.”

     Bruce watches as Jason harshly wipes away the tears that keep coming. Jason doesn’t get mad at you. He doesn’t blame you. If he wanted to, he would let out everything as well. He almost wishes he could when Bruce finally answers him.

     “I can’t, Jason. I’m sorry.”

     You feel Jason’s nails dig into his palms. You watch as he narrows his eyes at Bruce and points the gun at the Joker.

     “Well you won’t have a choice.”

     Jason shoots the Joker in the head. The sound echoes in the silent club while Bruce stands still as the Joker’s body goes limp on the floor.

     You watch as the mad clown who terrorized your dreams for over a year lies on the ground, unmoving and staining the floor with his blood. Dead. But you don’t feel a single drop of satisfaction from it as you follow the trail of smoke coming out of Jason’s gun.

    “You don’t understand, Bruce,” he finally says. “I don’t think you’ll ever understand until someone spells it out plain and simple for you.”

     Bruce takes a step forward with his hands up but Jason’s points the gun at him next. “You can’t protect us-- much like you can’t protect this city from every disgusting dredge that lurks at its every corner. Ra’s and your failure taught me one thing true about this world: it’s better to grab evil by the tendrils and burn it before it settles its roots.”

     It feels like a hammering is slamming down on Jason’s chest. The exhaustion. The emotions. Finally everything is so close to its breaking point. You can feel it.

     “This is what all this has been about, Bruce. This scum,” he kicks the Joker’s body, making it skid away, leaving a trail of his blood. Then he points the gun at Bruce and places his free hand on his chest. “You. Me. And him!”

     Jason kicks open the other box in the club and harshly rips out a struggling Robin. Tim is tightly gagged and his eyes are wide open.

     “Tim!”

     You don’t know who shouted. You or Bruce. You watch as he struggles against Jason’s grip. He tightens his hold on Tim and presses him against one side of his body to prop him up for Bruce to see him in full view.

      “Now is the time you decide.” 

      Jason throws the gun to Bruce, the one he used on the Joker. “If you won’t, I’ll kill him. If you want to stop me, you’re going to have to kill me.”

     Bruce stares at Tim’s wide eyes and then at the gun in his hands. Tim is fiercely struggling against the Red Hood’s hold. The Red Hood. Jason. He looks at his once dead son and sees unfamiliar green eyes looking back at him. His answer comes softly with regret.

     “You know I won’t--”

     This only makes Jason angrier. He takes out another gun and points it at Tim’s temple, startling all of you.

     “It’s him or me--”

     “Stop!” You shout from the safehouse, suddenly standing and urgently looking for anything to write with, not wanting to watch anymore. But you can still hear him.

     “You have to decide--”

     Your soulmate.

     “Think about Y/N!” Bruce shouts, making you stop and stare at your hands, a pen hovering over Jason’s last words.

     Jason’s grip falters. Of course, he’s thinking of you. Every single minute of every single day, all he’s done is think of you. All of the things he’s done is for you. You and him. That’s why he has to do this.

     His voice comes out like a low growl. “Decide now... Do it.”

     Bruce is shaking his head and holding the gun with both of his hands, shaking. Jason glares at him and pushes the barrel of the gun harder against Tim’s temple.

     “Him or me! Decide!”

✧ 1 ✧ 2 ✧ 3 ✧ 4 ✧ 5 ✧ 6 ✧ 7 ✧ 8 ✧ 9 ✧ 10 ✧ 11 ✧ 12 ✧ 13 ✧ 14 ✧ 15 ✧

✧ Watchtower Masterlist ✧

[afandomroom]

Character File: Sage Brooks

Note- This is the updated version of Sage’s initial “Fact File”

Warning- Brief mentions of parent death, death, abandonment, and bullying. Nothing descriptive or angsty, this isn’t a story just a fact file, but I’m adding warnings anyway. Also uh…I know parts of her story might not be...totally believable or even sorta stretched? But trust me when I say this is much better than her original story.

Also also, it's very very long. So..be prepared. Wish there was a way to sum this all up.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Full Name- Sage Celia Brooks Birthday- August 15th, 2002/1999 Age: Canon: 18 - 21 Future: 26 - 29 Hometown- Eyton, Northern Ninjago 

(Blood) Family- Aster Brooks (father; deceased), Lily Brooks (mother; deceased)

(Found) Family- Asher Woodman (older brother figure), Marion Nettle (younger brother figure)

(Future) Family- Willow Woodman (Niece), Cedar Woodman (Niece), Katlyn Woodman (Sister in law)

Hair- Black, falls to the center of her back, usually pulled into a braid of some form. Eyes- Silver Height- 5”3’ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sage grew up in a small Northern village by the name of Eyton, a traditional, old fashioned place, where the main income was fish and river crustaceans/mussels. 

Sage’s parents moved to Eyton a year before Sage was born, taking an old, partially abandoned house as their own and fixing it to their liking. Aster took a job on the fishing boats, and hunted in the nearby forests both to bring meat home and bring in extra cash. Lily opened a baking business, and sold flowers during festivals. 

While there wasn’t any proof of the matter, people of Eyton whispered about how Aster looked suspiciously similar to a man who’d accompanied a gang that’d caused some trouble a few years prior, until a warrior had chased them off. 

Again, without proof they couldn’t hold a trial or even attempt to kick him and his slowly growing family out, but that didn’t stop the villagers from turning up their noses and even encouraging their kids to stay away from Sage and her parents. 

Despite her social isolation, Sage was a very sweet child, who always tried to be nice to her classmates despite feeling that they hated her. She wasn’t blind to the way adults acted whenever she walked through town with her father.

When she was seven years old, one of the town’s fishermen was found dead on shore, an arrow sticking out from his skull. Aster was the only notable archer in town, and it was noted that he’d had an argument with the man a few nights prior. Given his possible prior gang affiliations, he was placed under house arrest until a proper trial could be put together. 

The trial would be put off when an illness, deadly to adults (when left untreated) but nonlethal for children under seventeen, swept through the village. Lily caught said illness, and despite Aster’s attempts to take care of her, refusal from the village to treat her and inevitably Aster himself led to both of their deaths. 

After burying both her parents within the same week, Sage was kicked from the village after a mostly unanimous decision. 

For two years Sage wandered about alone, until she came to a village with a stone wolf statue in the center. 

On her third day there, she was cornered by a group of town kids, who taunted her and pushed her around until another street kid, a boy with white hair and blue eyes, stepped in and fought of the bullies. 

He only spent a few seconds checking to make sure Sage was ok, before turning to walk off by himself, determined to remain alone. 

Within that same week, a skeleton horde attacked the village. Sage was quick to find an elevated porch to hide under, hoping she could wait out the raid. 

This was when she spotted the white haired boy running, assumedly from the skeletons. Thinking quickly, she grabbed him and dragged him under the porch before he could be spotted. 

After what felt like hours of awkward silence between them, the boy introduced himself as Asher and the two ended up spending the night under the porch. They decided to stick together afterwards, Asher stating that they’d be partners, looking out for each other to survive. 

Sage would grow to care very much for Asher (platonically and soon in a familial way), and while Asher felt the same, he struggled to come to terms with caring for someone other than himself for a long time. 

When Sage was eleven, Asher managed to…find a job. A thief named Ronin offered to hire them for help on a job. Despite Sage feeling the job betrayed her morals, she didn’t was Asher to do the job alone, and so, she agreed to join. 

And this was the beginning of Sage’s long life of crime. As they got older, their names were spread around more and more, and soon a steady enough flow of money began to come in. 

As time went on, certain events started to change Sage’s overall demeanor and personality. At the beginning of her teenage years, anxiety and general depression ran rampant. By sixteen, an apathy started to overtake her. She started losing touch with the caring, over all happy girl she’d once been. 

During the SOG takeover, Sage became a target for UV’s wanted list after shooting some of the gang members. (Reason has yet to be determined). She caught the attention of Mr.E while running over the rooftops, and miraculously escaped with few injuries.

Sometime, early on in the takeover itself, Sage was traveling across the rooftops when she found a boy cornered by SOG members. She didn’t hesitate to shoot the gang members in the head with her bow, only realizing later that there may have been a more merciful way to deal with them. 

After learning that the boy didn’t have a place to go, she brought him with her to the apartment she shared with Asher at the time. He would introduce himself as Marion. 

Something about the rescue inspired her, and from there she would do her best to save other targets of the SOG for the remainder of the takeover. 

This was the start of a change in Sage, one that would reconnect her with herself. She started caring more, smiling again, thinking of different ways out of situations than just...shooting first. She felt severe guilt, but she also felt a form of freedom. She realigned her morals. 

Sage would do her best in the years that followed to provide Marion with a better life than her own, and would become a main supporter in his journey to master his element and become one of Ninjago’s protectors. 

Three years later, Sage ended hiding a young man with a green streak of hair from a team of muggers. Deciding to take a risk, she invited the strange man to their home. She wouldn’t let him know that she recognized him as the Morro until a week or so later. 

While Morro never joined in the thieving business, he did freelance with lifting and loading jobs to pull his weight. He’d also become Marion’s mentor later on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the future- Eventually, Sage would leave the crime life. The guilt of her actions and belief that her parents would be sorely disappointed in the way she’d led her life drove her to quit. 

She would never turn herself in, instead running a branch tea shop with a close friend, volunteering and donating when and where she can as an attempt to give back. 

She’d continue to be a supportive and loving figure in her brothers’ lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season by Season:

- Season 1- Sage meets Asher Sage and Asher were in a village that was attacked by the Skeleton Horde She was in Jamanakai with Asher when Lloyd first attempted to raid the place for candy. She was going to offer to help him snag some candy, but got scared off when the ninja arrived. 

- Season 2- Sage and Asher continue their partnership, their loyalty and trust has grown quite a bit.

- Season 3- Sage and Asher begin their lives in crime.

One of the jobs Ronin hired them for was keeping an eye out while he grabbed Zane.

- Season 4- They were in one of the villages attacked by Chen’s cultists. 

- Season 5- Asher and Sage officially refer to each other as siblings.

They were in Styx when the ninja attempted to steal from Ronin. Sage saw them leaping across the roofs.

- Season 6- With the ninja’s rise in fame, stealing becomes both harder and easier. On one hand, they’re too busy to come after them. On the other, cops were alerting the Ninja to every crime. Sage and Asher end up laying low.

- Season 7- When Borg disappears, Sage and Asher are given the job of stealing his tech.

- Season 8- Sage and Asher are offered a job by Harumi, but they ultimately turn it down. 

- Season 9 – Sage is wanted by the SOG, saves Marion, and begins fighting against the SOG. 

- Season 10- Sage, Asher, and Marion hide in an underground bunker during the oni attack. This is when they meet Jerome Rune and Calvin Rune. 

Season 11- Sage, Asher, and Marion were not in the city during Aspheera’s attack. Rather, they were trying to remove Marion’s vengestone cuffs. They spent the rest of the season try to help Marion with his abilities. 

- Season 12- The minute Sage hears about the video game linked disappearances, she drags the boys away from the city and to a rural village. Girl isn’t taking any chances. 

Later that year, Sage meets Morro

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Facts: - Her father taught her the archery basics; she chose to learn how to shoot and uses a bow as her primary weapon because of her father’s prowess with the weapon. - She taught Marion and Asher’s daughters how to use a bow. - Has callused fingers from archery. - Can throw knives like a boss. - She does know a few things about fighting, but it’s not her strong suit and she prefers long range and dodging to melee and hand to hand combat. - Her favorite tea is Passion flower, and her favorite food is puffy pot stickers(or just pot stickers in general) - She has a kill count of 27, and is very closed off when asked about it. - She can pick locks relatively well, including handcuff locks and jail cell locks. - Like Asher, she is notorious for breaking out of holding cells and police custody. - Every year since she was 14, she visits Eyton to update her parents on her life and apologize for the life she is living. - Learned to drive a car and ride a motorcycle at 15. A fellow thief for hire taught Asher and Sage. - Built/repurposed her motorcycle, Asher’s motorcycle, and their pickup by herself. - Her motorcycle is her baby and if you break it she will break you. - Impulse drives her motorcycle when incredibly stressed. - Taught herself mechanics and medical stuff - Got all of her education from libraries, everything she knows about math, history, etc. is self taught - She was 17 when she got her first tattoos. - In total she has four tattoos. A raven carrying a hyacinth on her back, vines around her right arm, an ace flag yin yang on her left, and Edelweiss around a knife in a currently undetermined location. - Each tattoo has some varying form of significance. - She picked up roof running to help with jobs, it became a hobby later on - Tried to teach herself guitar, but they moved around too much for her to focus on it. - Family is everything to her. - A sign that you have her full trust you is that she becomes willing to be more...physical around you. Nudging your arm, playful punches and shoves, hugs, hair ruffling. She also won’t freeze or tense up if you grab her suddenly. -Basically she becomes notably less awkward and anxious, and wary around you. - She is fiercely loyal, and will stay by your side even if it means she might die. - Very tired and frequently has nightmares. Anxiety and guilt also prevents sleep. - Has to have a knife on her person at all times in order to feel safe; even in her own home and while she sleeps. - Crystal necklace is from a friend, a reminder that she isn’t alone and that she has people there for her. - Various scars, each with their own story. - Most people don’t assume Sage is a criminal when they first meet her.

[ohwereusingourmadeupnames]

Dizzy On the Comedown

Pairing: Peter Parker/Tony Stark Rating: Explicit Warnings: blood, mild violence Summary: 

What if Tony Stark didn't become Iron Man in the bowels of the desert? Instead, the hero is created in the comfort of Tony's own home.

A presentation at NYU has Tony critically injured. Peter Parker, NYC's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, with the help of Jarvis, saves him. The two foster an easy partnership to give birth to the Iron Man suit and take on SI's biggest threat - Obadiah Stane.

Read it here on AO3

“Tony! We’re going to be late again, and Pepper is going to have my ass.”

The sound of Happy Hogan’s voice radiated around the house, all of the glass walls seemingly absorbing the noise, making it echo. Tony shook his head and kept his hands tight around the controller in his hands – he’d been on the cusp of a breakthrough for the past half an hour. His hands were too big to reconstruct the piece himself, so he’d been working with Dum-E’s interactive setting, the robot’s abilities were few and far between, despite being almost twenty years old. He finally got one of the clasps around the lug nut, a triumphant smile on his face when all of the sudden, the door to his lab was slammed open. His thumb moved a miniscule amount and dropped the piece –concentration completely shot now that he’d have to fuck around with it for another half an hour to get back to where he’d been. Brown eyes were angry when they looked up, Happy’s shit eating grin making him fume even more. “I was so fucking close, Hap! What the fuck are we late for, anyway? I thought I didn’t have anything until the NYU speech,” Tony spoke while he walked around the tech in front of him, eyes critical.

“This is the NYU speech, sir,” Happy responded calmly, that grin still settled firmly across his lips. Tony remembered when Happy would stutter around him, the bigger man nervous to be working with him, nervous to be placed in such a high-powered job only a few weeks of being a part of the Stark Industries team. When he stepped in front of an errant punch aimed for one Tony Stark – the promotion shouldn’t have been surprising. That was years ago, though – Happy grew out of the nervousness and could handle Tony better than anyone else. Well, aside from Pepper, but was a force of nature on her own.

“Is that right? Must mean it’s Wednesday.” Tony shook his head, his eyes roaming back to the piece of tech in front of him. He’d been trying to successfully update the innerworkings of this weapon line since Monday morning. All of his work seemed to be for nothing – there’d been very little progress made. He quickly wiped his hands on one of the grease towels lying about, his head in a billion different directions. Now that his focus was shifting, Tony tried to recall what he’d been told to talk about in front of all of NYU’s engineering students – his latest weapon off the table since it wasn’t even close to being finished. Turning to Happy, Tony motioned over his shoulder. “You ready to go? I have this thing, right?” He chuckled at the head shake he got back from Happy, the man striding forward until he could reach out, his thumb brushing against the middle of Tony’s forehead. “Take a shower, hot shot. You’ve got grease all over your face.” He pulled his hand away to show the black fluid on his finger. “I’m leaving your ass in ten, Stark.”

With a one fingered gesture over his shoulder, Tony took off up the stairs and down the hall. He’d make Happy wait 11 minutes just to see what the other man would do. Stripping off his clothes, Tony made quick work of the shower, his own personally made soap doing wonders for the grease stains all over his face, hands, and arms. It’d probably been longer than 24 hours since the last time he’d taken a shower – the water felt almost too good running down the lengths of his skin. A part of him wanted to wrap a hand around himself and stroke off to let off a little steam – but the thought of Happy Hogan banging on his door effectively reduced anything that was trying to rise – and the shower was over. A quick perusal of his wardrobe had Tony settling on a jet-black Armani suit with Stark Industry cuff links to finish off the look. To the media, he was rich kid Tony Stark – they expected him to look good.

12 minutes later found Tony slipping into the front seat of his Audi – Happy rolling his eyes at him, the man tapping on his watch. “Pepper is going to kill me, Tony. Me!” Tony shrugged his shoulders and pulled the door closed before Happy could think to do it. “That’s what you get for dating the mastermind behind us all.” He started the car up and sped away then, his hand waving facetiously out the window. Even with this head start, he knew the man would more than likely catch up to him. Happy was a New York native and could remember road maps and short cuts the same way Tony could piece together an entire engine in his head without looking at a singular blueprint or plan once. This cat and mouse game he liked to play with all the people around him gave him joy, no matter how big of an ass it made him seem like.

Like he figured, Tony pulled in right around the same time as Happy – the man’s grin apparent for a moment before he got himself together and got out of the car to meet Tony around the front of his own vehicle. “Almost got you there, Hap,” Tony said, a friendly punch reaching the bigger man’s shoulder. “Almost. It’ll happen for you one day, boss.” Tony clapped his hands and grinned – today was going to be a good day if the banter was starting off this good. He still hadn’t thought much about what he’d say to the group of impressionable young people – Pepper more than likely already wrote a riveting speech, anyway. It never made sense, coming to things like this – he didn’t have a normal college experience. Tony flew through all of the courses at MIT. For the most part, he probably could have taught them himself. Whatever came out of his mouth today – it wouldn’t be relevant for any of these kids. There weren’t many intellectuals that could keep up with him, and if they could, they weren’t standing out in the crowd looking up at him.

Walking carelessly into the building, Tony noticed a huge collection of people gathered together at the front – a whole mass of humans were holding up signs and yelling, though he couldn’t hear what they were saying. It was normal for protestors to show up wherever he was. Being a figurehead in the weapons industry didn’t do him any favors with the people that were dead set against what his company did. They didn’t usually show up to little things like a college campus speech, though – but he knew things were escalating. Things at home and things in places that most people didn’t even know existed. He stood in the hallway for a few minutes and watched – his eyes took in all the people, all the signs slandering his name – his entire life’s work.

They always said publicity was good for business – even if it was the shitty kind.

Happy’s hand wrapping around his shoulder pulled him back, the massive crowd a little hypnotizing after staring at it for so long. “This way, boss. Nothing to see over there.” Tony snorted out a laugh, his body moving out of the captivity of the bigger man’s arm effortlessly. Their steps were the only thing he could hear until they got to the entrance to one of the bigger auditoriums on campus – the doors were open, and the entire room was packed. Between the media and all of the engineering department board members, Tony was surprised there was room for students – all the young faces in the crowd intriguing him. He stood outside the door for another couple of minutes, his eyes roving over the crowd to get a bearing on the amount of people he’d have to win over. The sound of Pepper’s voice introducing him echoed in his ears and when she said his name, he stepped out and walked between the rows of chairs. Tony Stark always made an entrance and today wasn’t any different.

The claps around him were overwhelming for a moment, the sound of it the same as the thumping beat of his heart in his ears – his body’s fight or flight reflex working overtime to decide the next course of action. By the time he made it to the steps that lead to the stage, Tony was in his element – the lock on his control finally done up and clicked closed – the key stuffed into the depths of his pocket where it couldn’t be reached until much, much later. “The great Pepper Potts, everyone,” Tony said into the microphone, his hands clapping as he turned to look at her. She flashed a smile, the woman always prepared for the click of cameras that went off whenever Tony was around. He could see irritation in her eyes, though – his tardiness something she’d never been able to tame, something that always pissed her off whenever it happened – and with Tony Stark, that was always.

Squaring back up to the podium, Tony took a brief glance at the notes waiting there for him. Arc reactor technology? Stark Industries hadn’t thought about that piece of tech since they incorporated it into the building’s energy system – the move done strictly to appease the city. Of all the things they could have asked him to talk about. He shrugged his shoulders and took in a deep breath – his brain already going through what he knew about the damn thing, bringing all the important points to the front where he’d be able to access them. “Arc reactor tech – “ his words were interrupted by a loud bang, the entire building shaking. Tony took a step back from the podium, the man trying to get his balance – brown eyes everywhere, seeking out the exits, looking for Happy and Pep. There wasn’t any time, though – the next bang went off and this time, pieces of the building were staring to fall. Taking a step, Tony was surprised by the next loud noise, this one was directly in the room – all the glass was blown out of the room’s windows, the big white pillars that were so beautifully added to the architecture tumbling to the ground.

He took another couple of steps, the dust from the building collapsing made it very hard to see. The whole situation didn’t make any sense until he was in a clear spot of the room, no dust or rubble there yet – when he looked down, he saw the Stark Industries logo on the explosive that hadn’t detonated yet. His first thought was to run towards it – disable the fucking thing before it could take another piece of the building. Then, his next thought was ‘oh fuck’ – the weapon went off before he could make a decision or move his body any further. When he hit the deck, he felt a searing pain in his chest, a fire consuming him in a way he’d never felt before. He reached down to check, wondering what in the fuck was happening – and the sight of blood staining his fingers had him screaming, the panic only adding to the searing pain.

Before losing consciousness completely, Tony noticed a few figures starting to crowd around him. The blur in his vision made it hard to see clearly, it looked like five of them in one second and the next, there were ten – each person two headed, their words sounding more like echoes than actual consonants and vowels. Blinking, Tony tried to fight the blackness – his sense of self-preservation kicking in, the man not wanting to be a part of anything the quickly multiplying group of people wanted from him. His chest was on fire – the overwhelming way he felt like being consumed by searing heat far more distracting than the men surrounding him, no matter how scared he felt.

Then, a swirl of blue and red flashed in his vision – a spider emblem was the last thing he saw before blackness overtook him.

----

Peter couldn’t believe how many people were standing at the door waiting to get into Rosenthal Pavilion. Earlier in the week when he’d seen the advertisements for Tony Stark’s speech on arc reactor technology, Peter inwardly freaked out. Ever since researching that specific piece of tech for his senior research project, he’d been a little bit obsessed with it. Not just the tech, of course. The now 21-year-old could remember a day when the mere mention of Tony Stark could get him off. Being a nerdy kid with a head full of ideas and thoughts no one else really understood, a person like Tony Stark was like a mecca. The man was not only gorgeous as fucking sin, he was smart – he developed a weapon monopoly in the few years of having complete control over Stark Industries. That didn’t come from being the only person making weapons, either. Tony Stark was the best in the business – his mind unparalleled. For Peter, the thought of someone bringing themselves success with just their brain was a great selling point.

Of course, all of his thoughts of personal inadequacies were long before being bitten by a radioactive spider. The things that little mishap brought Peter relinquished any negative thoughts he ever allowed himself about his abilities. Now, they were something he could use for good. He could keep people in his hometown safe – even if that meant soaring around the city in a silly onesie with a big spider emblem on his chest. Over the past few years of his servitude, the public took to calling him Spider-Man – the name had a good ring to it, so he never fought against it. The YouTube videos he saw on the internet were always flattering and didn’t come close to fucking with his secret identity. For the most part, saving the day by night and acing college during the day was working out pretty well.

Now, he could honestly say his biggest interest in Tony Stark came from all of the amazing technology he continued to develop – and all of his previous pieces, too. The arc reactor had so much potential. If they could neutralize the toxic effect of palladium, there’d be so many uses – so many things that could instantly be possible. It didn’t matter how long he needed to stand in line, Peter wanted to hear more about the technology, more from the very person whose brilliant mind created the original design. Peter stood in the massive clump of people for a few more minutes – then suddenly realized the crowd he was in hadn’t gathered to gain entrance into the auditorium.

The fourth set of people tipped him off, the entire group looking towards where he stood with a mixture of fear and disdain. Taking a couple steps back, the anti-SI posters were everywhere – the entire crowd was waving something with derogatory terms or threats. The people looked mad, too. Almost like the ravenous hyenas surrounding Simba in the elephant graveyard. Sucking in a breath, Peter forced his feet to move, the suddenness of his senses being overwhelmed almost knocking him to his knees. He managed to get away from the crowd without freaking out – his spidey senses were tingling all over the place, the feeling now familiar as an ache in his joints – today, his knee specifically.

On alert now, Peter entered the building, his eyes scanning everywhere he could without standing out. The ache in his knee throbbed the closer he got to the doors of the auditorium. The entire thing was surrounded by glass windows making the space look bigger – the wanted aesthetic was obviously achieved, though Peter doubted the effectiveness of its acoustics as a lecture hall. He took an open seat towards the back of the room and continued to scan the place. There was something coming, something he could feel in the deep part of his bones – if only he knew how, or when, or where it’d be coming from. A few minutes passed without Peter noticing much of anything, the room was starting to fill up and the ease of staring was no longer there.

Glancing at his watch, Peter grimaced a bit – the talk was supposed to start any minute now, the tension of the crowd was starting to feel palpable. People were looking over their shoulders to catch a glimpse of the door – the rumored about theatrics of one Tony Stark obviously yearned for by the crowd. Or maybe they were just irritated and tired of waiting – Peter couldn’t decide which side of the line he fell on, either. As the minutes passed, the ache in his knee started to travel down into his ankle – the throb distracting and hard to deal with. His skin started to prickle, too – his entire body alert, waiting, waiting – waiting for what, he still wasn’t sure.

When the man of the hour finally strolled in, Peter couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face – even if the man made people wait for more than ten minutes, he was still damn fine and smoother than butter. The suit he wore looked amazing, the black of the fabric making the pale skin on his face and hands stand out. The perfectly manicured facial hair would’ve made Peter laugh if it didn’t look as good as it did. Evidently, the 18-year-old in Peter still wasn’t over the way Tony Stark could work a crowd, or the look on his face when met with applause. So, maybe the crush hadn’t faded so much as evolved – grown with him as he matured and figured out his way in life, his likes and dislikes. He felt glad for once he’d listened to his instincts – the mere vision of him was worth it.

The thought went right out the window no less than a minute later. The first boom came from the front of the building – Peter’s body turning towards it on instinct. He watched the front of the room become no more, than a second later turned to watch the left side of the space start to smoke. Reacting quickly, Peter jumped out of his seat and started to usher people out of the row. Smoke was starting to collect in the room making it hard to see – luckily, his eyes were much better than others. He got as many people out as he could before running into the smoke – his hands making fast work of his t-shirt and jeans, the instinct to wear the suit earlier something he felt glad for now. Slamming the mask over his face, Peter secured the web shooters to his wrist and shot the fluid towards the ceiling. He used his momentum to swing over to the stage, his eyes trained on Tony Stark.

Peter could barely make him out, his eyes finally finding him a couple feet down the first row. He watched as the man made his way towards the exit disoriented and when he stopped, Peter wanted to shout. He moved to stick a web on the beam right by Tony’s head, but didn’t get that far. A blinking red light and the slight hissing sound caught his attention. It seemed that Tony saw the explosive right around the same time. A sound left his throat when the explosive detonated, Peter helplessly watching from his spot at the back of the room as the great Tony Stark flew back, raised a hand in front of his face, and let out a gruff noise. The man was on the ground the next time Peter could see through the lingering blast of smoke. Surprisingly, there were several people starting to surround them, each one wearing a gas mask – their faces completely hidden. Whatever the fuck was going on, Peter knew he needed to get Tony Stark out of there – right that second.

He couldn’t say what compelled him to swing down and grab the man. The blast put him down on the ground, Peter figured if he didn’t get him out of there – Tony would either die on the carpet bleeding out or in the hands of people that did not mean him any good. Gathering him in his arms took a bit of coordination and when he moved him even slightly, Peter could hear moans escaping the unconscious man. For the first time, Peter did not stay behind to fight. The massive amount of smoke in the building made it hard to see and the blood he could feel staining the arm of his suit was starting to become a little concerning. Without another thought, Peter got them both out of the building and away from the commotion.

The weight of swinging with someone else in his arms took a second to get used to. In all the time having the powers, he’d never had to carry another person or accommodate any other weight other than his own. The web fluid design was created with his mass in mind – the chemical formula perfect down to the very gram. By the time he got them to the Stark residence, Peter was beyond tired and completely out of his web fluid – he needed twice the amount to get them both through the swing. Why he thought listening to the mumbled ‘no hospitals’ he heard when he started to talk the unconscious Tony Stark through getting to the hospital was a good idea went way beyond him. Landing by front of the door, he lightly placed Tony on the ground – the man’s shirt completely covered in blood now, his face the palest shade of white he’d ever seen on a person. Peter’s blood covered hand tried the door – but it wouldn’t budge.

Turning back towards the unconscious man, Peter started to panic – he could hear the erratic thump-thump of his heartbeat and immediately felt distracted. He kneeled down and ran a hand over Tony’s pale face – the lack of life there so terribly discerning. “Get him down to the lab, sir. His vitals seem to be rapidly declining,” Peter heard, his head snapping up in the direction of the voice. “What the fuck?” he questioned, his tone scared, filled with doubt and excitement. “I’m Jarvis, sir. I’ve done a scan on Mr. Stark and he needs to be moved. Immediately. I’ll get the door, please get him down to the lab.” As the last words were sounding, Peter watched the door open, the glass moving until there was enough room for the both of them to fit through the frame.

Shaking his head, Peter collected the man in his arms and carried him in. “Where’s the lab, Jarvis? Where do I go?” Peter asked, his eyes roaming all over the place. “Down the stairs. There’s a table in the middle of the lab – place him there.” The younger man could do nothing but listen to whatever thing was helping him and moved further into the house. Down the stairs, Peter could see the coolest lab he’d ever laid eyes on. The space was huge, easily taking up a good majority of Tony’s place. The walls were solid glass and he could already see the start of a few projects scattered at the different workstations. The table became apparent when he got further into the lab. He gently set Tony down on it – his eyes once again roaming all over the place, trying to take in as much as he could and orient himself.

“There is shrapnel all throughout the chest cavity. That will need to be removed.” Peter heard Jarvis again, his ears prickling at the thought of what had been said. “Removed? How do I do that? I’m not a surgeon – I barely remember to wash my hands after I pee!” Peter exclaimed, his hands clenching and unclenching down by his sides. All of the sudden, a screen at the nearest workstation lit up – “simply touch the design to make it multi-dimensional.” Jarvis spoke like he knew what the hell that meant, but he wandered over regardless – his heart beating hard against his chest. Many different things were coursing through his brain, and the thought of fucking with Tony Stark’s tech was one of the last things on that list. He did what he was told, though – his eyes widening when he was able to pull up the instructions for opening the chest cavity and cleaning out wounds. He glanced over them a few times – then set to work.

What the fuck did he know about any of this?

By the time Peter resurfaced, he’d been inside Tony’s chest cavity – and his vitals seemed to finally be settling down. Getting Tony set up on a drip was the easiest part of the whole ordeal. He’d then followed along as Jarvis led him through the process – but there were still pieces floating around the heart and those needed to be taken care of. “Jarvis, what now? Do you have the schematics for how to make an electromagnet that will keep the shrapnel from getting into his heart?” Peter asked the question jokingly, his tone severe – his entire life turned on its side at this point. When the AI answered him, Peter almost chocked – his dry throat suddenly feeling constricting. “The arc reactor technology would suffice. I’ll pull them up now.”

Stepping into Rosenthal Pavilion earlier that day, Peter never imagined this would be its ending. He’d been hands deep inside a man he’d never met and reproduced said man’s technology in his very own lab – all to save his life. He needed Tony stabilized first – so he went through the steps of making the base of the electromagnet and hooked it up the charges of the car battery he yanked out of the roadster Tony was obviously working on remodeling. Then Jarvis led him through the steps of creating the arc reactor – the voice guiding him around the lab, giving him access to files and opening cabinets. After 12 hours, Peter was both surprised that was he still moving and that no one thought to look or follow him to Stark’s place of residence. He wondered, not for the first time, who the group was trying to get to Tony before he swooped in. What did they want if they weren’t willing to follow the target they were supposed to collect – but would bomb the building he was in just to get to him?

Peter didn’t have any time to celebrate his successful creation of the arc reactor. Putting the finishing pieces together, he felt himself smiling – after all of his obsessing, he held a working arc reactor in his hands. The palladium in the core would be toxic and it would need to be changed – but it would serve the purpose of saving Tony’s life, maybe extending it indefinitely if he could find a way to not be poisoned by the toxic chemical powering the thing. A brain like Tony Stark could figure out an alternative, though – especially if his life depended on it. Disconnecting the battery, Peter made quick work of getting the arc reactor into Tony’s chest – his fingers shaking the entire time, the immensity of the situation tangible in the room.

A huge feeling of relief washed over him when Tony’s stats started to even out – the man was looking much less pale, much less on the verge of death. Peter felt himself slide down the glass wall closest to him. What the actual fuck, he thought – his hands were shaking and if he let himself think too hard on it, he’d probably scream. A part of him wondered what a hospital would have done – if they would have even been able to save him in the same way Peter did. He wanted to think making a huge hole in the man’s chest was the best practice of saving him – but another, bigger part thought that maybe he should’ve let the doctors handle it. His frame of mind was not sound and the argument with himself seemed pointless. At least the guy was alive – at least he could carry on another day without being in the hands of people that obviously didn’t have any issues with chaos. Sucking in a breath, Peter let his head rest against the glass – what in the actual fuck?

----

The first thing that hit Tony coming to was the pain. His entire chest felt like it’d been pitted, dug into, and reorganized. The overwhelming cotton mouth hit him next – his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth and when he managed to detach it, it stuck to his bottom teeth instead. He would never claim the whimper that left his mouth, the pathetic nature of it hitting his ears and radiating within. Upon further exploration, Tony found himself to be weaker than he could ever remember feeling – all of his limbs felt like sandbags, weighed down by a loss of blood. All of the essential electrolytes in his system were sorely lacking. Rolling ever so slightly, Tony let out a huge gasp of air, the pain he felt upon first awakening doubling in magnitude. “What the fuck?” he heard himself saying, his hand moving until he could feel around on his chest – the last thing he remembered was the blood, all of that fucking blood.

His fingers coming into contact with something solid and seemingly connected to him was not what Tony was expecting. This time, the scream didn’t sound real – his brain was disconnected to everything but the solid mass dead center in his chest. He scrabbled at it, weak digits climbing over the – what the fuck – metal? Panic flashed across the front of his brain, the feeling prickly and gross, overwhelming in all the worst ways. Tony sucked in a breath, his already achy chest starting to feel like it was closing in on him. Foreign fingers gripping his wrist made him shout again, his eyes huge when he turned to see the same blue and red he remembered from earlier. The colors flashed right before his eyes and then he couldn’t remember anything – nothing but pain and blackness. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Tony heard the masked figure say, the hand on his wrist steady and firm, poised to take further measures if needed. “What – what did you do to me?” Tony asked, his throat so dry, the voice coming from his throat almost unrecognizable. “I saved your life. That arc reactor tech is amazing, Mr. Stark. And Jarvis is the coolest thing I’ve ever interacted with.” Tony looked at the masked face hopelessly – “What? The arc reactor? What in the fuck happened?” Tony was delirious, he knew it, how else could this be happening? Maybe he died when that blast hit him, maybe this was what his fucked-up version of hell looked like.

“Mr. Stark. Sir. You were giving a speech at NYU. The building was blown up. You were hit. There was so much shrapnel and well – Jarvis and I did the best that we could. You told me no hospitals and there were people gathering around you – people that didn’t look like they were going to be asking for an autograph anytime soon.” Spider-Man said, Tony recognizing the symbol on the person’s chest now that he felt a little more with it. There were so many things going on, so many things to process all at once – but the thought of anyone other than himself putting together that arc reactor made his head spin. He could even come to terms with people trying to kidnap him. That didn’t seem like that far-fetched of an idea. “Jarvis? What’s up, buddy?” The man spider in front of him mentioned Jarvis, how the hell did that happen? “Mr. Stark – our masked friend saved your life. I guided him through the arc reactor schematics – the Spider-Man is very proficient.” Jarvis responded promptly – his matter of fact way of things for once making Tony’s head spin further. “Who are you?” Tony tried again, his brain in overload.

The masked man said nothing and made his way across the lab. Before leaving, Tony saw him turn around – the ill-fitting mask moving slightly. “I’m Spider-Man, Mr. Stark. Glad you’re not dead.” Then, he was gone. Tony kept himself completely still, his body aching, the IV in his arm doing nothing for the dehydrated feeling. He needed to look over the schematics Jarvis gave to his mysterious savior and make sure he wasn’t going to die in the near future. Then – well, then he needed to catch a spider.

----

Tony didn’t get around to anything for a while. Fatigue pulled him under a couple times over the next 15 hours, his body obviously needing to heal before he would be able to do anything. When he asked Jarvis about Happy and Pepper, the AI dutifully reported that both were fine, though completely incapacitated in their own hospital rooms. No other human person on the planet would be looking for him, so he relaxed into the table and let whatever the masked crusader put in the bag do its work. The fact that some of the things he could see scattered all over the place existed in his lab was surprising. He couldn’t remember the last time he stocked the place himself and wondered who had the mind to put emergency medical supplies in there. Whoever it was needed a raise and maybe a medal for great forethought. The fact that a bottle of water was within his reach when Tony felt well enough to roll around and fend for himself was another happy surprise. He felt a bit more human when the crusty feeling finally left his mouth.

A quick scan of the lab showed that hours of work had been done. There were tools all over the place – a hectic collaboration of a few things that didn’t even make sense together. Tony noticed the distinct lack of blood, though – and felt himself thanking the masked man for the first time since coming to who knows how long ago. The stranger even left the holoscreen on, the old schematics of the arc reactor floating there innocently – like they were just blueprints waiting to be worked on, not life-saving parts and pieces. Just by looking at them, he could see the person made a few notes, the unfamiliar scrawl catching his eye immediately. Whoever the person was, they were both smart and seemingly just as out of their head as Tony was. He needed to know who this person was. If they were able to read his schematics and make improvements to them – they must be smart, as smart if not smarter than Tony himself.

“Jarvis, run a scan – what kind of damage am I looking at?” Tony finally felt energized enough to tackle some of this. With Jarvis’s help, he could probably have a few leads on the man spider and a better look at what actually went into his body. “You lost a lot of blood, sir. We were unable to organize a blood transfusion in such a short time. Your electrolyte levels are startling and there is slight swelling around the wound. The Spider-Man did a good job, sir. He was a very apt pair of hands.” If Jarvis had the ability to feel, Tony figured he would’ve heard pride in the AI’s voice. He shook his head, the motion making his muscles ache – reminding him he needed to eat, or drink, or more than likely just sleep on something that wasn’t a metal table. “Wil you cross reference all of the Spider-Man footage and try to pinpoint a location? I believe in you, Jarvis. Find me Spider-Man,” Tony said after a while, his body once again feeling drained, though he knew he needed to get somewhere that wasn’t his lab. A shower would be nice, but he figured that could probably wait.

Tony used the last of his energy to get up the stairs and onto the stupidly uncomfortable couch in his living room. What in the world possessed him to purchase such a piece of shit? Probably the price tag. He never assumed he’d be in the position he was in now, either. Vitally wounded and completely wrecked – too tired to do much other than make sure his chest rose and fell. Sleep claimed him for a while, his dreams feverish – so full of snippets of things he couldn’t remember, of darkness and pressure – always pressure. The next time he came around, the sun was down, and it was completely dark in the house. “Jarvis, hit the lights, will you?” Tony grumbled, his hand moving to hold the muscles in his stomach – every single shift like trying to straighten a rusty nail, agonizing and overtaxing. Little by little, the lights came up, the place just a bit brighter – bright enough to see a blanket had been placed across his shoulders and another water bottle was placed near him. This time, a Chewy bar was there, too.

“Who’d you let in, buddy?” Tony asked, his body allowing him just enough energy usage to grab the water from the table – his mouth parched again, his lips not used to being so puffy and dry. “The Spider-Man came by, sir. He made sure you weren’t feverish and left you sustenance. He also did not reveal his identity when I asked – he seemed adamant about keeping it to himself.” Tony let the words register, a part of him a little freaked out. The masked man had done enough to win over his AI – Jarvis was the closest thing Tony had to family. That meant he had access to Tony, access that if given to the wrong person could be a real issue – the kind that could put his life in even more danger than it already was. On the other hand, if he’d won over Jarvis – he had to be good. Tony was too smart to program code that would stab him in the back. At least, he sincerely hoped so.

“What did you find then, Jarvis? There has to be some cross referencing – something,” Tony muttered, his low energy making it hard to keep his thoughts straight. “There seems to be a stem of activity that seems to source just off of 52nd Street in Queens, New York. There’s a particular bodega on that corner that has the loyal protection of Spider-Man.” The flat screen on the wall suddenly lit up with footage, the same corner in every single video. He couldn’t remember the last time he thought about Queens, let alone tried to go there – so he didn’t recognize the place. That was easily remedied, though – a little nighttime recognizance never hurt anyone. “Send the address to my phone. I’m going to do a little digging of my own.”

Tony ignored the AI’s next words, “But sir, you are still critically injured – perhaps resting another day would be beneficial.” He shook his head, the man completely committed to finding out about his savior, even if that meant following the illusive Spider-Man. Throwing back the entirety of the water, Tony managed to get himself up off the couch – the Chewy bar stuck fast between his lips. He still ached – there wasn’t any denying that. His entire trunk felt like it’d been split in half – but at the same time, he felt… okay. There was a huge part of him that felt a little weary about getting comfortable with this okay feeling, but at the moment – it certainly beat the alternative. Slowly waddling into his bedroom, Tony got himself to the en suite where he proceeded to splash some water on his face and brush his teeth – now that he didn’t feel like death, he wanted to freshen up. He didn’t know much about how the arc reactor would react with water, so he bypassed a shower – the water on his face just enough, anyway. At least now he felt a little better.

He stared down at his chest when he managed to get his shirt off. The glow of the reactor was the first thing to catch his eye. At least he’d never have to worry about getting dressed in the dark again. It cast light out a couple feet in front of him, like a beacon or something. The skin around it was very red, so red in fact that it he wasn’t surprised by the amount of pain he was. There were several patches of white gauze taped to his chest – some of them stained with remnants of blood – the fact that he was still healing very evident, very much there. Slamming his eyes shut for a second, Tony let a swell of nausea pass over him. How the fuck had so much changed in such a short period of time? And now that it had – what was he going to do? There was someone after him, the very someone that decided to blow up the building he was in… with his very explosives. No matter what – he needed to track down Spider-Man, find out who the masked stranger was, and enlist him. Whatever they were facing, Tony figured having an ally that was smart – so fucking smart – wasn’t the worst deal.

Changing into clean clothes took a bit longer than he imagined it would, but finally – Tony was dressed in black sweatpants and a hoodie, a hat slung low over his eyes. The Audi was somewhere in the rubble of the NYU building he’d been in and his Roadster was picked apart – Tony had a strange feeling that the battery powered the electromagnet inside him for a short period of time, but he tried not think too hard about that. Happy would shit himself if he saw Tony slipping behind the wheel of the Durango. It was low key, though, and would fit in better than anything else in his garage. He’d make it up to Happy later if anything happened to the car.

This was simply an information gathering exercise, anyway. Tony lacked the ability to run anyone down, even if he wanted to. He felt a little fuzzy getting behind the wheel, his limbs so stupidly heavy. He had Jarvis direct him to the address through his phone, the drive surprisingly easy for having to cross the bridge. By the time he pulled up, it was much later in the evening – no hints of bright sky or light anywhere in sight. Tony’s body reluctantly let him slide down in his seat slightly – his muscles protesting every second he was in that position. He sat back and watched, hoping for once that his lucky would actually win out.

----

Peter watched an SUV pull up outside of Del Mar’s bodega and frowned. He managed to keep most of the trouble away from Del Mar’s place. His soft spot for the man and all the faith he had in Peter growing up made sure everyone knew Spider-Man protected the place. From his vantage point on the roof of the building across the street, he couldn’t see much other than the one person driving the car. Stepping down the stairs on the side of the building as quietly as he could, Peter got a closer look at the driver of the car and almost let go of the ladder. He recovered quickly, his quick reflexes keeping him just barely upright. It was silly, thinking he’d be able to hide from Tony Stark. From here he could see how pale the man was – the extra energy it took to get behind the wheel and drive all the way out here was way more than the man could afford so shortly after a huge trauma. Shaking his head, Peter made a split-second decision.

When he stopped in earlier that day to check in on Mr. Stark, he almost stopped short when Jarvis asked him who he was. The AI went on to say Tony requested he gather information on Spider-Man and wanted to see if he would simply tell instead. He snorted, entertained by the blunt lack of humanity that question portrayed. He’d been successfully hiding his identity for three years now – what would it even be like to have someone else know who he was, what he did on a nightly basis, how stressful it could be? “You’ll have to try and find out yourself, Jarvis. If Tony is as smart as he makes himself out to be, it won’t be too hard.” Peter hated having to play coy – but he wasn’t sure yet. He didn’t know how much he wanted to trust the man.

That seemed silly after how intimate he was with the man’s insides, after how much care he took to make sure Tony Stark got to see the world another day. He was used to being in it by himself, though. For three years it was him and him alone – stopping thieves and pick pockets, keeping the young kids and women safe. For the most part, he did okay on his own. Maybe having someone on his side wouldn’t be the worst thing, though – maybe having the smartest man in the world on his team could be of some benefit.

He made sure to leave water and something light for the man to eat when he came to again – his study of the body telling him the fact that he didn’t get blood during the entire ordeal probably wasn’t the best for his health. He’d need to replenish, and fluids would help with that. Peter honestly didn’t think he’d see any sign of Tony Stark for at least one more day – he hoped, at least. Yet, when he recognized the manicured goatee, he wasn’t all that surprised, either. From the very brief encounter he had with the man, it was easy to see how much conviction he did everything with – if he had enough strength, Peter knew Tony would have chased him out of the lab, still demanding to know who he was. Internal decision made, Pete climbed down the stairs he’d been perched on and made his way over to the car. Reaching out, he tapped on the passenger side window – the move obviously surprising the fuck out of the man in the car. He watched with a smile as Tony startled and grabbed his chest, the injury still so obviously tender. Peter laughed when recognition washed over Stark’s face, his hands moving to press the lock button to open the door for his friend, Spider-Man.

Climbing into the car, Peter settled into the seat, a heavy sigh leaving his lips. Not for the first time that evening, he was glad to have his face covered – at least for now. Something told him he would have a hard steeling his expression around Tony. The man seemed like the type who could pull just about anything he wanted from a person. “Please, Mr. Stark. Start the car and drive somewhere other than Del Mar’s – people would recognize my face around here,” Peter said, the words sounding final to his ears. He felt the mood in the car shift and heard an audible sigh leave Tony’s lips. “You got it. We can go back to my place – Jarvis is a good watch dog,” Tony replied, the man sluggishly moving to get the car started and back on the road. They didn’t talk on the drive over – Peter watched Tony fiddle his fingers on the steering wheel and readjust his position in the seat a few times, but the man never once tried to engage him in conversation. The great Tony Stark speechless, who would have thought?

They pulled into the now recognizable garage just off the lab in no time at all. Peter watched Tony relax back into the seat and take a heavy breath. Too much activity, he thought – this stubborn man bound to hurt himself if someone didn’t step in. Peter took the matter into his own hands and got out of the car, his feet carrying him into the lab. He already felt at home there and could easily visualize where all the tools came from. His work from a few nights ago was still scattered around, Tony obviously still not up for much. He sat confidently in one of the spinney chairs from a workspace, straddling the back with a leg on either side. Peter waited for Tony to join him before tugging off his mask, the lights in the lab a little bright for a second before he got adjusted to them. “I’m Peter Parker.”

Peter was surprised by himself, when he got out of the car, he didn’t have a plan of attack. He meant to tell Tony who he was, he just didn’t think he’d just – blurt it out like that. Now that it was out in the open, though – it felt kind of nice. Tony didn’t miss a beat, either – he simply closed the distance between them and held out a hand – “It’s nice to meet you, Peter Parker. I’m Tony Stark. Thank you for saving my life.” His hand was warm when Peter caught it in his own. That was surprising considering how pale Tony still looked, but maybe the guy was naturally warm – the handsome human practically radiating a certain kind of heat. “You invented it and had all the supplies. I just put the thing together,” Peter answered, his hands coming up in mock surrender. He watched Tony grab a matching spinney chair and sit down heavily – a look of relief flashing across his face. “The fact that you even knew anything about that is amazing. Is that why you were at my speech that day? Big fan of the arc reactor?”

“I am, actually. I did some pretty extensive research on it in high school, and I’ve used every opportunity since then to look into it more and more. You hit a gold mine with it, sir. What’s in your chest – it’ll power you for a long time. Well, when you figure out what you’re going to do about the palladium.” Pete shrugged, his lips twitching when he saw Tony chuckle and try to hide it behind a well-timed nose wipe. “You were looking at this shit in high school? No wonder. What’s a genius like you doing at NYU? I bet MIT would have taken you in a minute.” Tony tilted his head curiously at him, eyes alight for the first time all evening. “I got in – they just didn’t give me enough money to make it worth going. I got a full ride to NYU. You can’t beat free school, Mr. Stark.” Peter shrugged, and he was being 100% truthful, too. In a few short months, he’d have a bachelor’s degree and be one step closer to getting his dream job – though, he might be closer now than he’d ever been before.

“You saved my life, Pete. You can cut the Mr. Stark shit. Tony’s good.” He wanted to laugh; he could feel the bubble of it slowly making its way up. A part of him liked the way it made Tony’s jaw clench when he said it – like it hurt, how nice it felt to hear that. “You got it, Tony.” Peter replied instead. He’d keep that other knowledge in his pocket for a rainy day. He got the feeling this wouldn’t be the only time he’d be here, sitting in the lab with Tony Stark sitting across from him. And he was proven right not a minute later. “I could use someone like you. Around here, I mean. I checked out a few of the adjustments you made and there are so many things we could do with the energy from this thing. I want to make a suit – find a way to make it interactive with Jarvis and powered by the arc reactor. I bet we could find a way to make it stable – really harness the energy. What do you say? I’ll make you a suit, too. Upgrade you a little bit, Spidey-Boy.”

Pete’s mouth felt dry for a second, all of the ideas and request in those brief statements rattling around, each one trying to settle in and get comfortable. He would absolutely like access to this lab, there was no doubting that. The thought of a new suit wasn’t that horrible, either. The googles he’d washed out to obscure his senses a bit were starting to scratch – the lens getting harder and harder to see out of every day. And it only made sense – to help Tony create something he could use to protect himself. There were obviously people after him – people that weren’t opposed to causing chaos. One of the things that always intrigued him about the arc reactor was all the possibilities that could come from it and the idea of exploring them – he honestly couldn’t say he wanted to miss out on that, either. Rolling his shoulders, he nodded – making sure to catch Tony’s eye. “Alright, I’m in. Especially if you’re going to make me a suit. I could use something a little better than the pool goggles,” Peter replied after a while, a smile on his face mirrored in the quirk of Tony’s lips across from him.

“I’m looking forward to working with you, Spider-Man,” Tony said excitedly, his arm wrapping around Peter in a weak side armed hug.

----

And man was he. Tony couldn’t remember having more fun in the lab than he did with Peter. As the days passed, Tony got stronger and stronger – the man actually eating at regular intervals and getting sleep. His body screamed for rest and he knew the only way to be on top of his game was to give into it. The days were spent between the comfort of his bed and the ease of the lab. They put together a much more stable arc reactor and replaced the initial prototype. They kept Peter’s original work on the lab table between them, each referencing it whenever they discussed a new adjustment or a replacement to one of the existing pieces. When they came to a consensus, the unit they installed in Tony’s chest was high functioning and could power the suit they were aiming to create.

Pepper and Happy were released from the hospital about two weeks after the initial incident and insisted on knowing everything that happened – the glow in Tony’s chest hard to miss. He explained everything to them, he left out Peter being Spider-Man and little details like that, but they both seemed satisfied by the end of his explanation. The official press statement said that Tony was recovering and would not be conducting any duties for Stark Industries at the moment, which gave him plenty of time to work with Peter to get the suit up and running. The people around him took to Peter with the same ease that he did and instantly welcomed him as Tony’s assistant and personal savior. He felt his cheeks burn a little at that thought – he hadn’t been able to look at the man without a little bit of a hero complex since he saw the face behind the mask. Of course, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man would be an adorable young man with chestnut eyes and curls. Any time they got close to examine a part of the plan or look at how the lug nuts were lining up – Tony felt himself catching his breath, the closeness between them holding so much unspoken within it. For whatever reason, Tony was more than sure that Peter wanted him just as much as Tony did.

One night in particular stuck out in Tony’s mind – his brain forever stuck on the look in Peter’s eyes, of the taste of his lips. They made a breakthrough on the thrust boosters in the foot portion of the suit. They were both delirious from a lack of sleep and when Tony managed to hover in the air and not eat shit for the first time all night – they were wrapping their arms around each other. Tony sucked in a breath when Peter tucked his head into the gap between his shoulder and neck. In all the time they’d been spending together, they’d never been that close before. He took in another long deep breath – trying to remember the scent of Pure Sport Old Spice and something citrusy. When they let go, Tony fumbled the control and let the right side shut off first, that entire side of his body falling and hitting the ground hard. He luckily got the other boot off before it could carry him one legged around the room. Letting out a groan, he turned onto his back – the air in his lungs caught between the crush of his sternum and the laugh bubbling up into his chest.

Tony saw the worried look on Peter’s face when the guy ran over to him, those long fingers wrapping around his arm – the pads digging in ever so slightly. “You alright, Tony? That was wicked. I can’t believe that worked – we’ll have to work on the bilateral coordination, though. Can’t have you eating shit every time we need to land into action,” Peter mumbled, his fingers absentmindedly running over his exposed shoulder – the touch nice, the feel of Peter’s fingers a lot bit distracting. “I think I just need a couple more runs with it and I’ll have it down. It takes a bit of thought coordination, that’s all.” Tony sat up a little while he spoke, the other man not moving away from him, instead, it felt like Peter was trying to get closer.

“Pete, I uh – “ Tony started to talk, his cheeks red from what was bubbling up in his mouth, the words on the very tip of his tongue. It seemed as if he and Peter were on the same page, though – the other man’s finger pressing against his lips effectively silencing him. “Me too. Can I kiss you?” The question rang in Tony’s ears, the simplicity of it making him stomach clench – Peter was the cutest person on this fucking planet. Brilliant and handy, but so goddamn adorable. Tony felt himself nodding, his entire head leaning into the littlest of touches still there against his lip. He felt his eyes slide shut when Peter leaned forward and closed the distance – their lips sealing together perfectly, like they’d done this a million times before.

With Peter, Tony kind of felt that way about everything – like he’d known the person behind the mask forever. His hand shot up to tangle into Peter’s hair, the locks at the back of his head thick – easy to get his fingers lost in. The curls had been driving him crazy for the past couple of weeks. He noticed it for the first time when Peter walked in with a hat on. There were people starting to notice Tony’s whereabouts again and Peter coming and going was bound to be in the papers some time or another. He wanted to keep his identity on the down low as much as possible, though – so he’d taken to wearing what he called a dad hat, the plainness of it making the other’s hair stand out even more. The fact that it felt like silk under his fingertips only fueled the fire he’d been stoking for weeks now.

The need for oxygen forced them apart – Tony’s brain running haywire, trying to focus on the man in front of him, but his lips were tinging – so many things were happening at once. Peter’s fingers under his chin brought his head up until they were looking into each other’s eyes. “You’ve been driving me crazy for weeks, Stark. You ready to give in, or are we going to keep doing this mutual pining thing? Unresolved sexual tension is no bueno,” Peter’s words were laced with a wide smile, each one ringing in Tony’s ear – the man struggling to remember how the syllables sound there, how he felt when they sunk into his skin and took hold. “Did you just proposition me, Peter Parker?” Tony asked with a laugh, his hand reaching out to palm Peter’s cheek. “You could’ve fucked me weeks ago – why did you wait to be so brash?”

Tony watched Peter get up and then took the hand extended to him. He looped both hands around the slim waist in front of him, his fingers pressing ever so slightly on Peter’s lower back to fill in the space between them. “Just shut up and let’s go to bed, huh?” Peter whispered, his lips just inches away from Tony’s. He filled the gap between them, silently answering Peter’s plea with the press of their lips together. Instead of trying to fumble their way up the stairs and then down the hall, Tony forced himself to pull away completely – his hand grabbing for Peter’s to lead him into the bedroom. The second the door was closed, Peter was on him – the chance to break away from each other was gone, the two of them committing to this by walking through the door together – Tony was a goner, and this was the easiest decision he’d made in years.

They ended up in a tangled heap on the bed, both men shirtless, Tony writhing eagerly under the weight of Peter’s body. Peter’s fingertips were tracing over every inch of Tony’s skin, the feeling pulling moans he’d never heard come out of his mouth before. The touch was exploratory – like Peter was attempting to map all the pieces of him. When those fingers settled on the arc reactor, Tony glanced up – his eyes hazy, but able to see the reverie in Peter’s. He didn’t say anything, he simply ran his fingers over the edge – the glow of it reflecting in those big, beautiful brown eyes. Tony gathered Peter up for a kiss after that, his hands demanding in the way they tugged – the press of their lips just on the border of desperate. He let a hand get tangled in the length of Peter’s hair while the other slipped between them to tug on the close of tight jeans.

It took them another few minutes to break away from the kiss to get the rest of the way naked. Tony was content to let his fingers explore and dip under the parts of Peter’s pants that were loose enough to wiggle passed. They found a pretty easy rhythm and thrust against each other – the slight friction just enough to edge off the desperation. Peter eventually tore himself away, Tony’s eyes peeled in excitement watching the man’s chest heave. Those hands Tony let himself become familiar with during their time in the lab went to undo his pants first. He lifted his hips and let Peter pull boxer-briefs and jeans down all at once, Tony suddenly naked and the most vulnerable he’d been in a long time. His face and neck filled with color, the rest of the blood in his system battling between heading towards his dick or his brain – the quick rush of it to the pit of his stomach saying his dick won fair and square. Sucking in a harsh breath in an attempt to calm down, Tony felt it punched from his lungs a second later – Peter was off the bed just long enough to strip off his remaining clothing and rejoin him naked as the day he was born.

Tony’s eager fingers fumbled over all the skin they could – Peter’s flawless muscle definition creating divots in his path. A low moan slipped from his throat when he felt the ripple of abs under his fingers. He spent a couple extra moments paying homage to the muscle bellies he could feel, each twitching under the attention of his finger. Reaching his final destination, Tony cupped Peter’s cock in his hand. The man was well defined in all aspects, his penis long and thick, the best kind of weight in his hand. Tony didn’t spend much time exploring, the pants against his lips and cheek were too much – eager fingers wrapped around Pete’s length and found a steady rhythm. Watching Pete thrust into the tight fist of his hand was easily one of the hottest things he’d experienced to date – though he wouldn’t have the picture of Peter bending him in half until a little while later.

The teasing continued, Tony’s palm glanced the head of Peter’s cock and he felt the slick moisture there – a steady trail of precum leaked deliciously from it. “I can’t wait to know what it feels like to have this in me,” Tony mumbled, his lips breaking from Peter’s to say the words. The huff he got in response made his skin tingle. Peter pulled away and looked at him hungrily. They shared a silent conversation and then Tony was pointing over his head. “There’s lube in the drawer,” Tony said, his voice laced with a pant. His entire body felt flush and on edge. Every limb pulsed with energy and ached to be wrapped around Peter – he wanted to swallow him up and keep him, Tony already knowing they were the best when together.

It turned out Peter wasn’t much of a tease when his own arousal started to become too much. His prep of Tony wasn’t rushed, though he didn’t spend too much time trying to finesse it, either. The first finger had them moaning together – Tony enjoying the feeling of fullness, Peter totally undone by the warmth around him. One turned to two and on a particularly good turn of his wrist, Peter pressed against Tony’s prostate and had him groaning out. A couple more passes across that sensitive area had Tony grabbing the back of Peter’s head and pressing their lips together in a heated kiss, “If you don’t fuck me right now, I’ll finish without you,” Tony’s words blistering hot against Peter’s lips. Tony knew Peter was a smart man and was further proven so when he pulled his fingers out and used the leftover lube to coat his cock. He watched a flush spread over Peter’s chest as one stroke to spread the lube became too many. Teeth cut into that plump lower lip, probably hard enough to draw blood.

One of the things Tony liked the most about Peter thrusting home was the strength of it. The subtle reminders of the superhuman strength the other man possessed were always enough to set his skin ablaze. In all the time experimenting and putting their suits together, Tony appreciated the instances he got to see Peter’s skill the most. The fight between them was always pretty fair, regardless of the fact that Peter fought with his fists, speed, and cleverly crafted web fluid and Tony flew around and had weapons at his disposal. There were so many things Tony liked about Peter, but the raw strength ranked high on the list. He forced himself to relax, Peter’s gentle but firm thrust helping in all the right ways. The feeling of the other settling and their bodies being joined together almost had Tony coming – but he held off. The look of pure hunger and desperate lust in Peter’s eyes made him too excited to see what was to come.

Peter stayed upright and held Tony’s thighs in his hands while he thrust – the visual of it just as tantalizing as the press of a perfect cock first inside him and then against that place that made him see stars. Tony absentmindedly let his fingers run down the washboard of Peter’s abs – the thrusts of his hips making the muscle tighten and clench. The fingers holding his thighs were going to leave marks, their grip rough – keeping him steady to be the perfect target for the thrusts that increased in intensity with every passing second. Peter looked like a vision with sweat dripping down his brow and the side of his cheek – the hair falling into his eyes heavy with it. The next time they did this, Tony wanted to spend time documenting all the tiny details – the man thrusting into him genuinely too good looking for his own good. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to in that moment – his entire body felt like it was floating and each press against his prostate brought him closer and closer to the edge.

The peak of their coupling snuck up on both men – Tony’s toes curling with the pleasure of it, Peter’s eyes closing and thrusts speeding up until they were frenzied, each one more out of sync than the last. Coming untouched was a marvel idea for Tony – when he felt the splash of his release hit his stomach, he gasped in surprise, the force of his orgasm dragging Peter’s name from his lips in a breathy scream. He desperately tried to find purchase on the sweat soaked skin surrounding him – if not, he just might float away. Peter came not even a minute later, his upper body coming down to press hard into Tony’s chest – the man biting a solid chunk of the trap on his right side. “Fuck, Tony,” Peter gasped against his skin, the words almost as hot as the splash of cum Tony could feel deep within him. Pleasure personified.

It was easy to fall into the mattress together after that. Tony laid flat against it and wrapped Peter up tightly against his side, the younger man’s head pillowed on his chest. They laid there swirling into and out of consciousness for what seemed like a while. Tony thoroughly enjoying the floaty feeling of his limbs and the contrasting solid weight against his chest. His fingers made paths across Peter’s back and shoulders – there and back, the smooth skin divine to the touch.

----  

The glow of being together lasted a whole fourteen days. They worked diligently to work out the last few kinks and bugs to complete the suit. The test flight Tony flew went amazingly well – he tested the length of the arc reactor and luckily had a partner out there with him ready to catch him when he came plummeting back down to the earth – the armor frozen from its ride through the different parts of the atmosphere. Peter touched him down on the edge of the cliff closest to Tony’s place and ripped off his mask. “That was fucking amazing! You disappeared from sight and then came plummeting out of the clouds. Coolest shit ever, Tony,” Peter said through his excitement, a huge smile on his face. It was a joyous occasion – the suit was well built and could fly (Tony could fucking fly!) There was no telling how well it’d do in a fight but Tony trusted Jarvis’s skill and his own mechanical expertise. Between him and Peter, every part of the suit had been checked, rechecked, and then crafted with the utmost precision.

Confrontation came in the form of a threat – Tony’s opposition finally showing his ugly face. He’d been waiting for Peter to show up for the last ten minutes. The kid was pretty good about being timely and seemed to like to be with Tony for the most part, anyway. It wasn’t like him to not show up. The doorbell ringing had Tony looking around him in panic – for the first time, a thought that something bad might have gotten ahold of Peter entering his mind. “Jarvis, is there anyone actually at the door?” Tony asked, his hands clenching into fists. “It does not appear so, sir. There seems to be something sitting in front of it, though – a letter, or small envelope, maybe.” Another shot of panic ran through him – there were no planned Stark Industries deliveries and any mail for the house was put in the neighborhood box half a mile away. Gritting his teeth, he went to the front door to open it and found a white letter envelope with his name on the back.

When he got it open, Tony felt his mouth dry – the message could only be from one person.

“You took the company, what I cared about the most, from me. I’ll take what you care about the most from you now.”

The message was attached to a picture of Peter walking into his apartment complex – the photographer capturing his facial features perfectly. Only one person on the planet thought Tony took the company from him – Obadiah Stane. He’d been a big part of his father’s team when the man was younger and stood in as head of the company until Tony came of age. The empire was his to inherit and when he turned 21, he took what was rightfully his. Trying to keep the peace with Obadiah didn’t work out and they quickly parted. For the most part, Tony didn’t hear a peep from the man. Of course, he knew the corporate big wig went right to Stark Industries’ main competition at Ozcorp, but there hadn’t been much of a fallout. It all made sense, though. The fact that the building was blown up with his own explosives, that he’d been given all of this time after the attack. Obie was bidding his time – waiting to see what Tony’s next move was.

The only advantage they had in the situation was the fact that Peter was Spider-Man and his identity outside of the mask was completely separate. “Jarvis, will you call Peter, please?” Tony said absentmindedly. The call connected after two rings – “Tony – are you okay?” Peter’s voice sounded worried, the pitch a bit higher than usual. “I didn’t come that way because I felt people following me. I got caught up talking to a professor and didn’t get up to the roof like I normally do. I had to walk home and had a tail on me the second I left campus,” Peter continued, the strain in his voice making Tony’s stomach clench. What if Peter wasn’t who he was? He would’ve been in a terrible amount of danger. Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus on the call. “I’m fine and I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried when you didn’t show up. I got a threatening note and figured you stayed put for a reason. Do you think they’re still watching you, or could you get here?”

When they hung up, Tony paced anxiously back and forth, the picture of Peter clenched tightly in his hand. Now he knew who he was dealing with, Tony needed to give the man another opportunity to come at him – the perfect misdirection for a planned attack from him and Peter – Iron Man and Spider-Man. Tony still smiled every time they called the suit Iron Man – Peter’s creative naming something that made the suit truly special. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard Jarvis open the door of the garage – Peter’s upgraded suit a thing of grace and excellence when Pete bound into the shop wearing it. “Damn, we did good work on that thing. How are the new web shooters?” Tony asked, his brain momentarily distracted from the daunting task at hand. “Amazing. I haven’t swung so seamlessly the entire time I’ve been doing this shit,” Peter responded honestly, his mask coming off despite the rest of the suit staying on.

In the end, they decided to bait the next attack by having a press conference at Stark Industries. The piece of tech that helped attach the suit to Tony and the arc reactor could be moved into the lab there – and when Tony made his entrance, it would be as Iron Man and not Tony Stark. He figured Obie wouldn’t strike with the same weapon twice, so they prepared for everything that could possibly be thrown their way. Peter would be watching from above the commotion, checking to make sure explosives were not the name of this game. Wouldn’t it be something – having Stark Industries blown up by a Stark Industries weapon? It took a little bit of convincing to get Pepper and Happy on board – but the plan quickly came to a head and all of the pieces were on the board and ready to move.

The night before the press conference was scheduled to take place, Tony and Peter were pressed together in the lab, the two of them going over last minute plans, making sure that Jarvis was compatible with both their suits and prepared for each and every one of their battle plans. The AI reminded them the lateness of the hour not long later and Tony reluctantly pulled Peter up the stairs into his bedroom. He didn’t want to think about what not winning would mean, all of their plans were sound and for the most part – Tony felt confident. Yet, he couldn’t fight with the part of him that just wanted to pull Peter close to him and keep him there. No words were shared while they showered together. Each took turns washing the other, Tony content to be able to smell himself all over Peter’s skin when they eventually tumbled onto the bed together and settled under the sheets. Though the man was much stronger than Tony, he fit perfectly in the embrace of his arms, his thin frame heavily muscled, but so easy to tuck into all the right curves and nooks of Tony’s frame.

He pressed a handful of kisses against Pete’s neck and used the hand tossed over the man’s side to pull him close. “I love you, Pete. Tomorrow is about keeping us both safe. So don’t do anything stupid, okay?” Tony whispered. The low tone of his voice didn’t damper the magnitude of his words and the room stayed quiet for a second. He counted Peter’s breaths, each inhale and exhale until he felt the rumble of words from deep in his chest. “I love you too, Tony. I won’t if you promise the same. I think we both know we’ll do whatever we need to to keep the other safe. Let’s just kick ass and get this over with.” Pete didn’t say anything else after that, he simply pulled Tony’s arm closer and relaxed into the mattress. Tony sat in the silence for a few minutes longer, his eyes burning from sleepiness and anxiety – though he felt himself easily lulled into oblivion by the steady rise and fall of Peter’s breath.

They stayed tangled up like that for the rest of the night.

----

The idea of going up against the power of another arc reactor never crossed either of their minds. When Peter first saw the shine of it in Obadiah’s suit – he just about shit himself. The kidnapping attempt didn’t have anything to do with Tony – not really, anyway. The notes for Tony’s speech were the last thing on anyone’s mind and couldn’t have possibly been the main target. In the end – it all made sense. Obadiah was the one to convince Tony’s father that the arc reactor technology wasn’t worth pursuing and he was now trying to take the man’s legacy down with it. What a cosmic joke. Peter bid his time, the suit they’d created standing up to the other tech well. Peter was the surprise at the end and showing himself too soon would ruin whatever edge they had on the man.

Peter watched with pride while Tony flew around Obie – the grey suit a second-rate attempt at the glory of the red and gold flying through the sky. Peter made a joke about Tony’s ass a couple seconds before they started matching colors to the armor. Jarvis simply stated how nice the red blush looked on Tony’s skin and suddenly – the originally gold colored suit became gold and red. It was fitting and made the genius in the sky look badass and stunning all at once. Tony’s maneuvers were well timed and obviously trained – the light suit perfect for the type of attack Tony seemed to like. Where Obie’s suit lacked in finesse, it made up for it in fire power. Peter stopped himself a couple times when Tony took big hits from the rockets souring out of Obie’s suit – but he always got up and managed to get the upper hand.

The need to step in came when the damn right boot took a hit and started to splutter. They were high in the sky and a fall from there would be a disaster for Tony. Shooting a web to one of the higher beams on the Stark Industries building, Peter went soaring into the air, his eyes sharply focused on the right side of Tony’s suit. Thankfully, it started to work full thrust again, but he’d been seen by Obie. The next thing he knew, there was a huge rocket coming his direction. A quick jump had him out of the way of the sleuthing weapon – though, the clunky silver suit was moving in on him quickly. He swung a couple of times – the space to roam limited where he landed. It looked like he was getting closed in on and then a shot from Tony’s thrusters hit Obie’s shoulder and his attention was on the other man once again.

Peter watched with wide eyes as Tony flew up into the sky – that first flight test coming back to the forefront of his mind. What a clever fucking human, Peter thought, his eyes flashing with his next step. Carefully watching above him, Peter spotted Tony’s suit falling first and then a second later, the big silver suit. He swung until he was in a good spot to get Tony out of the sky enough to have the suit kick start again. The force of catching Tony from that distance made him let out a grunt – a huge bruise that wouldn’t go away in just a couple hours would probably mare his skin later. It was worth it, though. The second he felt Tony’s suit come to life again, Peter was moving – several of his webs getting shot out in quick succession until the silver suit was wrapped up. A final few had him immobile against the wall of Stark’s building. He kept hitting the collection of web fluid with more and more – making sure the bonds were secure. Satisfied, he looked over his shoulder and nodded. Tony floated effortlessly in front of the suit held captive and at their mercy under tons of Peter’s creation. He said nothing as Tony’s glove settled around the silver suit’s arc reactor unit and tugged – the unit powering down the second the energy source was removed.

The most satisfaction from that evening came when Peter watched the bald man getting packed into the police car. He was shouting over his shoulder, yielding threats – but they were unheard. The media would portray him as a mad man, the wild look in his eyes perfect for whatever bad guy campaign they wanted to run with. A bruised-up Tony settled up to Pete’s side, the man slumping against him – into his arms for all the world to see. They stayed geared up in their suits until the media circus of a huge public fight became too much. Making sure Obie was secure, Jarvis let them into the side of the building where Tony could get unassembled and changed. They appeared distraught by the doors a few minutes later, the only other ones wise to the situation sequestered away, probably dealing with the media. The first click of the camera pointed in their direction caught a snap of Tony pressing a kiss to the side of Peter’s head, the two men in an obviously close position. If Tony was going to announce to the world that Peter was his, well – he couldn’t think of a better way of going about it.

They made the headlines for the next week – the genuine look of affection and concern on Tony’s face with Peter in his arms the talk of the media nation.

Peter kept a piece of the very first write up on his person at all times, Tony’s statement one of his favorites.

[We got to talk to Tony Stark about Stark Industries and the young man that he was pictured with after an attack on the building from Obadiah Stane – the company’s ex-CEO. When asked how the young man tamed the wild Tony Stark, the billionaire got a little misty eyed. “Peter saved my life. In the most obvious way – “ The interviewer noted here that Tony tapped his chest, right over the arc reactor. “and in a lot of other ways, too. He’s focus, intelligence, patience, and strength wrapped up together in a beautiful package. The perfect partner. He’s the direction I’ve always needed.”]

After Obie, Peter got to finish college in peace and join Tony in all ways. He secured a job with Stark Industries as Tony’s equal and they expanded the house on the cliff to include a bigger lab and training area for Iron Man and Spider-Man to train inconspicuously. With things more settled, Peter’s favorite moments can be shared patrols and the ease in which they work together.

Perfect partners, indeed.

[takadasaiko]

Love Me Twice: Chapter Thirteen

FFN II AO3

Summary:

Ressler has to admit to losing Liz's husband, Red provides a new detail for their case, and the Keens find a way to reconnect.

Chapter Thirteen

It had taken Ressler longer than it should have to realize that Tom wasn't stopping, and by the time he had taken off after him he had too much of a head start. He'd vanished down an alleyway like he'd never been there at all, leaving the ginger agent to stare at the shadows that stretched out from the garbage bins and the walls of the warehouses on either side.

He was gone. He'd lost Tom.

They looked for a while before they were forced to admit that they'd lost the trail and that it would only get colder the longer they tried to catch a glimpse of the trained covert operative that, apparently, didn't want to be found. Ressler tried calling Liz on their drive to the Post Office, but she sounded like she was battling a very cranky Agnes over something that had to do with mismatched shoes if he understood the part of the conversation that wasn't directed at him, which was most of it. She apologized and told him she'd be in soon, never giving him a chance to tell her why he'd called in the first place before she hung up.

"She'll understand," Aram tried as he flipped through to the next traffic cam that he probably shouldn't have access to, but desperate times and all that. Not that they hadn't stretched things before.

Ressler shot him a look. "It's Liz. And Tom."

The tech expert loosed an unsteady breath. "What's going to happen if…"

"If we don't find him?" Ressler looked at him for a long moment, struggling for the answer. Really, there was only one. "That's not an option."

The doors to the lift sounded across the Post Office, signalling a new arrival, and Ressler grimaced. Time to face the music.

Liz was talking as she entered. "Agnes has gotten into this thing where she wants to mismatch shoes. They're not even shoes that make sense. One tennis shoe and one of her rain boots this morning. I don't know what that kid is thinking," she laughed and stopped where Ressler and Aram were standing next to Aram's work station, the video feeds up. "You guys are in early. Where's Tom?"

Ressler drew in a breath that he didn't feel like steadied him nearly as much as it should. "We don't know."

That stopped Liz, her smile instantly dissipating. "What do you mean?"

Aram made a nervous sound behind him, but Ressler was the one to answer. "His handler called to set a meet."

"And he went? You let him go? Ressler-"

"We backed him up!" Aram interjected, pulling her attention around to him. Ressler saw him take a hesitant step back at the look he received.

"What did you not understand about this woman being good at what she does? She single-handedly took down all of Tolliver's people from the building next to the one we were in through the window. He shouldn't have been -"

"He was fine, Liz," Ressler snapped. "This wasn't our first sting. Any of us."

"Then where the hell is he?"

Ressler took half a beat, desperate to pull his own temper into check. He knew she wasn't happy, he knew that she was scared, but she knew him. She should know that he wasn't going to put the man she loved in harm's way without backup. Finally, he met her gaze and chose each word he spoke with care. "Tremblay said something. Before you ask, I don't know what. Either she or Tom cut the feed."

"The feed. You wired him up?"

"It was a watch…." Aram tried and Ressler looked back at him. He really was not helping.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I did."

That was the wrong thing to say, apparently. He watched the rage build and the fear in her eyes sharpened like daggers in his direction. "You should have called back!" she shouted, taking an aggressive step towards him. "Now he's gone and I…" She loosed a frustrated sound, balling her fists and pressing pressing the heels of her hands against her temples. "You've called him?"

"Aram tried tracing his phone first off," Ressler said, his voice a little softer this time. "Liz…. he was freaked out. He'd been dreaming earlier, he's dealing with screwed up memories that someone might have done to him…. He'll be back."

"You don't know that."

"No," he huffed, "but I bet you do."

She sniffed hard. "I have to find him. Call me if there's a break in the case."

"Yeah." He watched as she walked out, her rage following her.

"She'll fund him, right?" Aram asked softly.

"For her sake I hope so."

---------

She shouldn't have yelled at Ressler, she knew. He'd had her back all through this and before in ways that she often felt like she didn't deserve, but the terror had swept through her with more force than Liz had been prepared for. In that moment, hearing that Tom had run, she had lost her chance. She had been certain of it. There would be no other chance. There would only be knowing what she'd lost and never getting it back. It was a stretch, she knew somewhere under the panic. He'd walked when she'd found him with Tolliver just a handful of days before and had come back on his own, but fear didn't always need logic to back it. Sometimes there was just fear and it swallowed her up and dragged her under.

Liz's mind raced a million miles a minute as she fumbled with her car keys and sped right back out of the Post Office parking structure, unsure of where she was going. Where should she look? Everything that meant something to him in this town was part of what he'd forgotten.

Her phone rang, echoing over the bluetooth that had automatically connected and she risked a look to see Nick's Pizza flash across the screen as the incoming call. She nearly declined it, but there was a chance he had heard about Tolliver's demise. If so, and if she didn't answer, he'd send the cavalry after her. That was the last thing she needed right then.

She clicked the accept button. "Yeah?"

"Elizabeth! I hope I didn't wake you," came the chipper, familiar voice from the other end of the line. Well, if he knew Tolliver was dead, he wasn't going to lead with that.

And she sure as hell wasn't going to volunteer the information. "Yeah, hitting the ground running on this Collector case. Killing him made piecing everything else together a lot harder," she said pointedly.

Reddington let loose a long suffering sigh that Liz felt much more entitled to than he should. "I'm calling with an olive branch."

"Oh, what kind?" she asked as she took a turn down a street, still unsure exactly where she was driving to.

"The kind that comes with a name in the ledger that I recognized. She was part of the East German faction of the Cabal when it was active. It appears she endeared herself to her Western counterpart in some way, shape, or form. Not surprising, really."

"You going to tell me the name or do I have to guess?"

"Do you get enough sleep? They say seven to nine hours is ideal, but I've found -"

"The name, Reddington," Liz snapped. She was starting to recognize her surroundings and she hoped to anything or anyone that might be listening that maybe she was right.

"Emilia Schmitz."

Liz snorted. "See? You can be direct. I have to go." She didn't let him argue as she ended the call, pulling into the sparsely occupied parking lot. This park tended to see more stay-at-home moms with their kids, so with the exception of a couple of joggers that were taking advantage of the space it was empty.

Joggers and a lone figure hunched over and sitting on a picnic table near the swings. Her panicked brain might not have been able to come up with where he might go, but at least her subconscious had been able to cut through it. Apparently his had too.

Liz stepped out of her vehicle and started towards the figure. The early morning light highlighted the smoke curling up from the nearly-finished cigarette hanging from his fingers and he was turned so that he couldn't see her, his gaze watching the urban park.

"You used to bring Agnes here."

She didn't miss the small jump at her voice and he turned, blinking owlishly at her, and then his muscles seemed to relax. "Did I?"

"Yeah. It was the closest one to the apartment. You swore she loved it."

"She had to be little."

"She was."

"Then she didn't love it."

Liz felt her lips tug just a little at the corners. "You thought she did." She motioned at the table he was perched on and he nodded, scooting over to give her room to take a seat next to him.

He flicked the butt of his cigarette out and the embers sparked off of the concrete. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you."

"Why?"

The question was sharp and Liz found the answer lost somewhere deep in her throat, unable to make its way from her lips before he huffed in irritation.

"I'm not him."

"Who?"

"Your Tom."

"Why do you say that?"

He rolled his eyes a little at the soft question and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Because she was right. I'm an operative. I play parts. Whatever you thought you saw, whatever I thought I was…. It was all fake. It's always fake."

"That's not true," Liz managed and reached out, her fingers ghost against his, but he snapped his hand away.

"It is. You have no idea what I've done these last couple years. Who I've been. I've used people, I've killed. I did whatever I needed to do to get the job done. Never mattered. Never worried about it. Whatever I was for you was what you wanted, not who I am." He grimaced a little, his eyes focused on his boots. "When I didn't remember you, I was just an operative. Nothing else."

He hadn't left his seat on the table, even if he'd pulled away from her, but she could see how every muscle was taught with stress. His hand that she'd tried to take was flexing open and closed in an old sign of agitation and Liz drew in a deep breath, snapping out so that he didn't have time to pull away. She laced her fingers through his and closed around them tightly. "Look at me." She waited until he did and he looked so lost in that moment. She tightened her hold and reached up to cup his chin. "Experiences make us who we are. You've lost the memory of those experiences, not what they've done. You're you. Yeah, you're an operative. A damn good one that can make anyone think he's anybody, but under all that you're still you." She held his gaze, his own words echoing in her mind and she let them fall from her lips. "I don't care what you've done, I know who you are."

"What if you're wrong?" he whispered, his voice desperate and more than a little broken.

"I'm not. I promise you I'm not. You just have to trust me."

He stared at her, tears starting to form, and he leaned almost like he was going to kiss her, but he rested his forehead against hers instead. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," she breathed, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.

"Did you shoot me?"

A surprised laugh escaped her and she risked a look at him. "Oh. You're serious?"

"Yeah."

There was something strange in his tone, like he was testing something between them. The truth. He was looking for the truth. She offered a look that was more grimace than smile. "I did, but to be fair, you had that same gun at my head before I got away from you."

Tom quirked an eyebrow, looking impressed, though if it was over the honest answer or the fact that she'd managed to snag the gun from him back then, she couldn't be sure. He pushed a breath out through his nose. "We had a weird marriage, didn't we?"

"It took us a while, but we got to a really good place."

He sniffed hard and leaned back in. Her arms immediately went around him and she felt him melt into it. "I trust you. You're the only one that I trust," she heard him say.

Liz held onto him for a long moment before risking a kiss to the side of his head. "Hey, let's go home."

-----------

Jacob felt raw. Exposed. The only thing he felt like was anchoring him was Liz's hand in his as she guided him through the parking lot, to the elevator, and up to the apartment that supposedly they had once shared. Agnes was at school and she could get some work done from there, she explained as she unlocked the door. He looked like he could use a few hours' sleep.

He found himself staring at her as she moved through the apartment, Tremblay's words echoing in his mind.

You didn't have to remember her for me to know that you'd be drawn to her.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, her voice cutting through and pulling him back around.

He opened his mouth, but felt the words die in his throat almost immediately. He had never been particularly talented at sorting through and expressing his own feelings, and right then it was like he was drowning in them. Everyone knew more than he did about his own life. Gina and Tremblay had exploited that, but then there was Elizabeth Keen. Between the life she lived every day, the work she so clearly threw herself into, and what must have been a shock of her own in seeing a man she thought was dead show back up, she had been the only steady point in his chaos. An anchor to keep him from being washed away by it all. She wasn't always calm, but she was gentle and, as far as he could tell, she was honest with him. Hell, if the tables had been turned he wouldn't have admitted to shooting her.

"Tom?" she called out and he blinked hard.

He sucked in an unsteady breath. "Thank you."

"For what?"

He swallowed hard, refusing to let the words get stuck this time. "Being honest with me. Being…." He ran his hand through his hair nervously. "I shouldn't have ghosted on you like that."

Jacob risked a look up and found Liz watching him. She looked as uncertain as he felt. "You fought for me. Again and again, sometimes when I told you not to and definitely when I felt like I didn't deserve it. I'm going to do the same for you, because I'm not willing to lose you again." She leaned forward and he could feel her breath she was so close. "I'm with you on this. You and me. I love you."

There was a long, tense moment. He should pull back, he knew, but he was drawn to her in every way. There was no denying that.

He wasn't sure which of them broke the moment, but all at once they came crashing together. Liz reached a hand up to the back of his neck and he leaned in as she pulled him closer, both willingly deepening the kiss and neither seeming to have the willpower or desire to hit pause on this.

Jacob wrapped his arms around her waist and she shifted to hold on as if she knew he was going to lift her up off the ground. She laughed against him as he carried her further into the apartment and set her down only long enough for her to pull him after her as they toppled onto the couch, her hands tugging clothes away as his kisses moved down her jawline.

"I've missed you," she managed as she shifted to catch him in another kiss.

"I've missed you too."

The words tumbled out without permission and Jacob stopped, pulling back like he'd been struck. Liz stared at him. "What?"

"How can I miss you if I don't remember you?" he managed, hating how small his own voice sounded.

"Because you know me," she whispered and her smile pushed back the fear. She shifted, sliding out from under him, but she caught his hand as she did. She held it, those beautiful blue eyes holding him hostage, and he knew in that moment that he would have done anything for her, even if he couldn't articulate why.

"C'mon," she called softly and pulled him up. The kisses were softer this time, although still a little desperate, as she led him back to the bedroom.

---------

For the first time in what felt like forever, Jacob's dreams were peaceful. He still didn't hold onto much more than a ghost of a memory as he surfaced, but he could almost feel the weight of a hand in his and the warmth of her lips pressed against his. It felt like home.

Jacob woke up slowly in a bed that he only vaguely recognized as the one that Liz had pulled him into some hours before. The sheets were tangled around his long legs and the pillow was a whole lot softer than he was used to. It made him want to roll over and go back to sleep. He was warm and comfortable and safe.

That didn't mean that he could sleep the whole day away, and if the soft tapping of nails in a keyboard were anything to go by Liz certainly wasn't.

He turned to find the woman in question sitting on the bed next to him - considerably more dressed than she had been when he'd fallen asleep - with her laptop propped up on her lap and focused on what she was working on. She was dressed in a pair of sleeping shorts and a green t-shirt with an apple on the front that was a little big on her. Her dark hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and he found himself reaching forward to touch her, hoping against hope it wouldn't break a dream wide open and erase her face from his memory all over again.

She startled a little at the touch against her leg, but a smile pulled into place. "Hey."

"Hey," he greeted back, his voice raspy from sleep. "Whatcha working on?"

"The case. Reddington gave me a name and I'm running down what I can from here."

"You could have gone in. I wouldn't have gone anywhere."

Her expression tightened just a little and he wondered if she believed him. After a moment she reached over to run a hand through his dark hair and he found himself leaning into the touch. "You slept a good chunk of the day."

"Best sleep I've had in… long as I can remember," he admitted softly. He rolled up to sitting, stretching out stiff muscles and twisting around until his back popped. "When's this kid coming home? I should probably —"

"No, she's staying over at her friend's tonight."

"So we have some time?"

Liz's lips curled up at the corners and she closed her laptop, setting it aside. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she turned back, leaning over him. The kiss was long and filled him with more warmth than he could recall ever feeling, the sensation flooding through him so that he found himself reaching up, fingers ghosting along her face and pulling her gently closer to him.

"I have good news," she murmured after a long moment, finally barely breaking the kiss to speak.

She pulled back and Jacob found himself following her a little, but finally eased back down to the pillow behind him. "Yeah?"

"Dr Orchard called while you were sleeping."

"The memories doctor?"

"Yeah. She's been locked up with another patient, but she wants to meet with you. She thinks she might be able to help."

Jacob straightened at that. "I could get my memories back?"

"Maybe," she said, her tone careful. "If that's what you want."

"More than anything," he answered with a grin and shifted to sitting so he could pull her into another kiss.

He could feel her smile against his lips, her fingers wrapping around the back of his neck and the opposite hand traveling down his ribs, ghosting across the scars there and stopping. She pulled back and held his gaze, fingers lingering there. "Tell me about it."

"About what?"

"Waking up, St Regis, the last two and a half years… everything."

He grimaced. "You don't wanna know."

"It's not your fault. You know that, right? Whoever did this to you, whoever took your memories, it's them. It's on them."

She sounded like she believed it, and Jacob might have even told her exactly what she wanted to know if the sound of the front door's lock sliding out of place hadn't reverberated through the apartment, setting both Keens on edge as the door opened outside of the bedroom.

---------

TBC

Notes: Look at these two cuties starting to figure things out (only to have an uninvited someone walk into their home). Anyone have a guess as to who it is?

Next Time: Liz and Tom uncover something about Brigitte Tremblay and Red has a surprising visitor.

[veryrealimagination]

Whumptober 2020 - Days 4 and 5

No 4. RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Caged | Buried Alive | Collapsed Building

&

No 5. WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?

On the Run | Failed Escape | Rescue

Fandom: Psych/MacGyver 2016 (Trust me, this wouldn't have been let out of my head if I could have avoided it.)

“Sandbox.”

The man in question raised his head from the computer he was watching over. The program that was copying relevant files from the company server was running. No one had stopped by the server room in eleven minutes since he managed to get in. Their person that sneaked into the guard position was halfway through a tour of the floor they were on. “Mastermind,” he said, taking a look outside.

“We’ve got a problem,” she said, voice tight.

Psych interrupted, “The guards don’t know anything. Everything’s good on this end.”

“Yeah, but one of their plans just got triggered.”

“Which one?”

“R and B.”

Psych smirked at the unintended joke. “I wouldn’t mind a change in music.”

“Hilarious, Psych,” Sandbox muttered.

“Keeping the mood up.”

“As much as I, quote unquote, love R and B, it’s the raze and burn they kept peppering into their ideas. They aren’t going with clean slate. Too risky.”

Sandbox double checked the computer. Nothing had interrupted it. The program was getting closer to completion. “Clean slate’s too risky?”

“The human factor. Someone could talk. Raze and burn is going to take out anyone connected to their project along with the computer work.”

Psych nodded to the guy at the computer monitors. New guy, it’s his first week. Out of sight, he took notice on how there were fewer guards than he remembered a few days ago. And how most were newer. “‘Mind, how was raze and burn going to work? Hit men coming in or accidents on their way home from work?”

There was tapping on the computer. “Shit.”

“Language.”

“English.”

“‘Mind, that joke got old the second time.”

She bypassed, “Raze and burn’s going to destroy the entire company. They have a layout on how to kill everyone. From the CEO to the maintenance guy and anyone on site when they perform this.”

Sandbox asked, “When’s this happening?”

“Today.”

Psych stopped in his walk. “What?”

“I think when we started copying the files, it alerted them to our presence. They’ve got a clean team heading to the building now. And something’s in the building. They already have it rigged.” She paused, and they heard her breathing on the other side to control a slight attack. “Sandbox, where’s the computer at?”

He turned back to the program. Downloading was complete, but it was running a virus scan. “I’m good on my end. Packing up and heading down.”

She nodded, knowing what he was going to do. “Psych, cover a fire alarm and pull the lever. Let’s see if we can’t evacuate and cause some chaos to keep them from killing on sight.”

The other man grabbed a plastic trash bag and found the closest fire alarm. Pulling, he saw the plastic be hit with blue dye. No alarms went off. “Mind, something’s going wrong.”

She didn’t answer, as the young woman in question was checking the alarm, which also should have sent a signal to the fire department. “Bad news, they disconnected the building. Pulling the alarm shut all outside system warnings off,” she said, switching gears. “Psych, go manual. Start warning people.”

“What do I use?”

“Go with the truth. Domestic terrorist about to descend on the building. Get them out and into the businesses around the area. One building goes down, horrible tragedy. Ten businesses get attacked, something’s suspicious and it brings attention.” Her fingers flew across the keyboard to get into a different document. “Sandbox, let me know when you’ve passed on the pack.”

Psych went back to the guy at the monitor. “Hey, I think we have a problem,” he said, “I saw someone unidentified going down one of the stairwells. He was talking to someone on the phone.”

The man looked up. “What about?”

“Making everyone here pay. Said it was going to be bigger…”

“Bigger than the Bath School Massacre.”

He didn’t go with that. No one remembered that and she needed to stop trying to make history lessons on the go. “Bigger than the recent shootings. More explosive.”

The newbie’s eyes widen. “Oh, not good. We need to evacuate everyone.”

Psych nodded, “Yeah, and the fire alarm has been disabled. I already tried that to get people out.” He held up the trash bag that he used to pull it and showed off the ink that covered it.

The guy had the whole shocked face going. “I better call the other floors. Will you start getting everyone off this floor and move to the other ones?”

Being on the top floor sucked for getting to the servers, but it made up in getting out easier. Now he had a legit excuse to get to the ground floor. “No problem.” He hurried out and started running around. “Mastermind, update?”

She was tapping on the other side for a moment. “The security on the other floors is also unusually light. The calls just getting through and they’re working on getting people up and out to the surrounding businesses. Sandbox is done. He dropped off the pack and is heading to the basement.”

Psych stopped in the middle of the floor he was vacating. “Wait, why is he going to the basement?”

“Because I’m a former EOD tech and I still know how to disable a bomb, Psych.” The man himself interrupted. “Mind’s directing me to the support columns that they’ll target to bring the place down. Get to her, grab the pack, and get to the Point.”

‘Are you kidding me?’ he mouthed before double timing himself on getting people out. Most were already up and heading out with company laptops and other items that normally they would leave behind. They were taking this seriously.

The place was cleared out as soon as he got to the ground floor. Or the regular people that would heed the warnings were getting out. The last people there were the security guards who were triple checking for stragglers and the supposed terrorist before leaving as well. One had gone down and was unlocking doors.

Psych found Mastermind in the small office that had been empty for months. The secondary pack was at her feet. “The team’s almost here,” she reported.

“Good, that’s means we’re leaving, right?”

“Not yet,” Sandbox stopped, “’Mind, who’s left in the building?”

She switched back over to the cameras. “Just us and a guard waiting at the main entrance.”

“Police here?”

“Not yet,” Psych said, “And if my lovely wife told me anything-“

“Taught.”

“No, told. If there’s a terrorist and a bomb threat, they’re sending out the big guns. We should expect SWAT and-“

“An bomb disposal unit. Yeah, Psych. I figured. Same field, remember?”

Mastermind interrupted them. “Great, except the cleaning team got here first.”

Psych looked over her shoulder. “They’re scanning the crowds, but they’re not attempting anything.”

“Yeah, but only because cops are right behind them. SWAT’s on the scene, Sandbox.”

“Bomb crew?”

“No, but the cops that are following behind just rushed the crew in.”

“Get yourselves out.” Psych shook his head and barricaded the door to their room, a cheap desk shoved under along with anything else he could reach. “You’re not leaving, are you?”

“Nope,” the other man proudly said, going to the other side and checking windows. They both jumped when something pounded on the door. After two minutes, the attempts to get in stopped.

Mastermind warily looked before switching to a camera feed. “Don’t look so happy, Psych, they're not giving up. Two are still out there.” She followed the other ones on the floor. One was in the lead, guiding them straight to a basement door. “Sandbox, they're coming down. How many devices?”

“I’ve seen two, but a place this size would need about four to six.”

“What a coincidence, there’s about four to six guys in the building. We’ve got two, and, I think three went down the stairs.” She switched the camera feeds to try and track the enemy. After about thirty seconds, her feeds started developing static. “Ummm.”

Psych was over her shoulder in a second. “Hey, Sandbox, someone’s messing with the cameras,” he said. After a minute, it cleared up, but ‘Mind was going through code to see what was happening.

“Do you think they belong to one of the companies?”

She continued tapping, trying to keep everything on track. “Doesn’t look like it, but they may have brought in a new player.”

For three minutes, they held a tense version of cat and mouse. The guys outside of the door hadn’t moved. Psych was watching in case they came through the window. Mastermind was waiting for someone to start attacking on the computer, but nothing was happening. Sandbox had managed to avoid the three people that was hunting him down.

In the middle of a defusal, someone managed to get the jump on him. Sandbox had to divert attention from it to take down the man. However, the bomb activated, giving them thirty seconds. Mastermind noticed. They didn’t. “Sandbox, get out, it’s a lost cause. Out, now!” she ordered, “Psych, grab the bag and get out the window. You know who to contact.” She quick slept her laptop and packed it up, gathering two other cords to throw over her shoulder and follow out the door.

The two on the outside had run off after being warned about a bomb going off. Unknown to them, the other triggers had been activated, set to go off at the same time as the partially de-armed one. Psych barely got out from the radius before the building let off a giant blast from its base. “Mastermind? Sandbox?” he hissed into the mic, “Guys!” Someone grabbed his shoulder and swung him around.

-

Sandbox woke quick. He was grateful to have thrown himself to protect his head. However, it didn’t save his lower half. A beam laid across his lower leg and he could feel something jammed into his back. He hoped that it wasn’t dangerous enough to need a hospital. They couldn’t enter one at the moment.

One of the guys that had been hunting him laid nearby. The beam nearby and a dented skull said that that guy wasn’t getting back up. He felt a little sorry for the guy, but not enough to feel horrible about it. He didn’t hear anything nearby, and he regulated the other two into a non-important status. The blast likely blocked them in other rooms, unless they had been killed as well. ‘Or if they ran out of the building.’

His two partners, he assumed got out. They had the evidence about what the company had been doing. Both knew where to go. He told him about his friends. They had the connections and the ability to do something if they couldn’t. However, Mastermind was determined to stay until he was done, and Psych would have stayed to help and protect her.

‘Mind was the one that warned me. She probably got caught up in the blast.’ That thought was enough to get him to start trying to move. Shifting around, the item in his back cause a spike of pain, and then he felt something coming out. “Fuck,” he moaned, double checking and groaning when he saw blood on his fingers. Someone groaned to the left of him. He swung his head around to look but couldn’t immediately see anything. “Fuck.”

-

Mastermind touched the side of her head, a trail of blood coming down. Pain that had been in the background radiated for a moment before fading to a thump. She glared at the drywall that had a bit of her blood on it. The floor she was on had multiple walls break down, including one that caught her off guard as she tried to make it to a secondary exit. The bag on her back saved her from a large piece of metal from impaling her. The metal got its revenge on the laptop instead. It didn’t stop a piece of drywall from ripping her arm open or another piece from slamming into her ribs.

“Okay, check yourself before moving again,” she muttered to herself. Her arm hurt. It was deep. It needed stitches and a booster shot. Prodding her lower chest resulted in sharp pain. Nothing was shifting, however. “Owww! Okay. Ribs, maybe. Umm.” What was the indications of internal bleeding? Bloating? Maybe? How was she supposed to check that?

A sound from the end of the hall snapped her neck to the right, making her wince at the new pain. Two people in black were coming forward. She couldn’t tell if they were from the company, but they may have been waiting outside out of the camera view. Guns weren’t out, but she was reading orders about capture and contain again.

“One of three found,” one of them reported.

“Shit.”

-

Psych was hustled over to a decidedly not SWAT vehicle. He was about to stave off help when the one that approached him tugged on the bag. “Ah, no, sorry, this bag stays with me,” he said, holding onto it with a fist.

“Shawn Spencer, husband of Julie Spencer, Chief Detective in Sacramento, you two just had a child,” the woman standing near the bumper listed. “You’ve been on the run with one of my operatives and another person. You’re coded Psych due to the former business you had in Santa Barbara.”

A woman in the cab mentioned ‘off-handedly,’ “Sandbox is a friend of ours.”

Sandbox. Okay. He was going to call them, but they came to them. Awesome. The guy that was trying to get the bag was allowed to take it so the woman in the cab could start working on it. “Sandbox was down in the basement, trying to disable the bombs set at certain pillars.”

“The third person, Mastermind?”

“Inside, ground floor. We were near an empty office by the back entrance.” The woman outside nodded to four people. They rushed in, weapons at the ready. Two found a staircase almost uninhibited from debris and went down. The other two started a sweep of the ground floor.

The ground floor was littered with walls and broken decorations. There were parts of the floor that were starting to sink into the basement, making it harder to get through. Weapons drawn, they were prepared to stop anyone in their way.

The area near the offices were splattered with office furniture and other small items. They didn’t hear anything, and there weren’t traces of anyone managing to get themselves up and out. About to report in negative, they heard someone shout in pain. Moving as quickly as safely possible, they turned the corner and saw nothing. Scanning, they saw blood on a wall and checked around.

A gunshot answered their heads showing. The two of them shot back, trying to hit the two men dragging the woman out a standing exit. One got hit in the arm, but they ducked out of sight before they could continue.

“Ma’am, exit on the east side. They have the girl,” one reported.

“Go after them.” She pointed to a spare agent to try and surround the small group. Psych waited anxiously for good news. Mastermind wasn’t law enforcement. He wasn’t either, but his experiences prepared him better than the young woman that was plucked from her boring existence. He and Sandbox silently figured that out within the first week of their captivity. They kept each other sane.

Good news turned to bad when one man came back with a cheap backpack that had a pole sticking through it. One drop of blood came off the end and splattered on the ground. “Fuck,” Psych hissed.

“The other two went down to help dig out MacGyver, ma’am,” he reported.

She nodded at the news. “Mr. Spencer, if you will get in the back with my agents, your wife and friend are waiting at our headquarters.” He frowned before clambering inside.

-

Sandbox woke up with a familiar ceiling above his head, but he didn’t remember what Phoenix mission he was on that got him injured. Until he remembered Masterminds voice, worry painted on her words, Psychs exactly the same. The ceiling caving above him and the dead hired hand that he saw later on. How am I back at Phoenix?

“You scared me, kid,” a voice interrupted. Confused, he turned to see Jack leaning up against the wall, where he could keep an eye on him and someone else. He turned to see Psych conked out in the only seat. “Maddie called me three days after you disappeared, when they realized it wasn’t normal.”

“When did you get here?” he asked, barely able to get the words out. Never mind why or how, the fact that Jack was here at all was a welcomed sight.

“Five days ago,” he said. “Been trying to figure out what the hell the three of you were doing. Psychie over there.” He waved to Shawn. “Told me about World War Three and some of the smartest people being forced to cause the damn thing. That you stopped them and were getting everything you could to bring these guys down.” He smiled, ruffling the younger man’s hair as he knew only he could get away with.

He groaned at the motion, hand slow to come up and stop him. “And what about Mastermind? Is she working with Riley?” He didn’t like the worry on his face. “Where’s Mastermind, Jack?” His mind jumped quickly to the worst possible conclusion.

“Alive, but we’re trying to find her,” he stopped, “The guys they sent recaptured her. The laptop was secured and Riley’s working on that.” The hand didn’t go on his head again, but on his uninjured shoulder. “It ain’t your fault, Mac.”

“Just bad luck,” he muttered, remembering one of Mind’s favorite sayings.

[kaibacorpbros]

I Just Wanted to Say Hello

Seto checked his watch. He always took note of the time whenever he was dimension sliding. Time was finicky across dimensions of course. But it was still helpful to keep track a little bit at least. He hadn’t been here too long, be he could already tell he was fatigued from the last Slide. It had been a greater leap then he had done in a while. Both the dimension system and himself needed to recharge.

So he stepped into a cafe to kill some time. Get a coffee, maybe even something to eat to recharge before he attempted another Slide, even if he really didn’t feel like it. Pulling up the dimension map he’d been marking all his travels with he idly set a new entry while he waited for his food close by the door. A brief glance around the city and it was easy to tell that this world was placed in the past by quite a few years. If a version of himself existed in this world, he would at least be very young.

What would you like to name this dimension, sir? Lalna, his A.I. spoke softly through the duel gazer.

The bell to the shop interrupted his discreet fidgeting with the markings with settings and details on the map.

“Excuse me,” a lady’s voice huffed.

Seto’s head snapped up, the holograms disappearing. An all too familiar seemingly immortally young face and short black hair greeted him. The face of someone he admired like no one else, one he only now saw in his hallucinations and nightmares.

Mom.

“Deactivate,” he rasped in a low voice. The light of the duel gazer died, and Lalna’s voice faded away.

“Hey, I don’t have all day. Lunch breaks aren’t forever– but you’re one of those actor-types or stage performers, aren’t you?” she said, noting his eccentric state of dress. “I doubt you have that problem.”

She didn’t recognize him. That narrowed down the possibilities slightly…

“O-Of course. I apologize.”

His hands were twitching as he hastily stepped out of the way. All these years and her stern voice still made him feel like he was caught stealing sweets from the kitchen cabinet.

This was unreal. She was right there. Right there. He could reach out and touch her. Hug her. And she didn’t even know who he was.

Either this was a dimension he didn’t exist in, or he had simply not been born yet or was too young to bear any resemblance to him now.

He re-approached her after both their orders had been filled. “About earlier, sorry for the holdup."

She stared up at him from her seat like his face had just turned blue.

"Don't...mention it? At least you didn't get an attitude like most you fancy kid types do."

Ah. Right. He was definitely in the demographic his mother used to get annoyed with all the time back then. Young guys that used to push everyone else around as they saw fit.

Shit. He needed to find a way to stay. To talk to her. Any normal person would have walked away long before this. He had to make something up, and quickly.

"I-- you look familiar. I think I may know your husband,” he noted the ring on her finger. “Not exactly well, per se. I'm a scientist as well, just uh, computer engineering."

She raised an eyebrow at him. Scrutinizing his story most likely. Of all the times, this was one where he actually wished his mom wasn't so damn smart! Although, Seto supposed it did make sense. She probably just saw him as some weird guy who had too much money to invest in what should definitely not be tech of this time. He powers both the duel gazer and disk down and slips them into his coat pocket, taking the seat across from her.

"Ah, some prototypes they've been having me test."

"Huh. Some kind of fancy new mobile phone?"

Right. Bluetooth wasn't even near to being around yet. Seto latched onto that idea and mentally apologized to the real inventor, whoever they were. 

“Yes. We hope to create a completely hands-free phone one day.”

Looking like her interest was slightly piqued, his mother took a bite of her sandwich. 

“Well, likely won’t see that in my lifetime, but boy would that be nice.”

After a pause, Seto realized she was fishing for a name. “Isono.” It was the first thing that popped into his head. “Nice to meet you.”

“Shigaraki. Chihiro Sigaraki. So what’s a group developing a new fancy mobile phone doing with biologists?”

Mentally he kicked himself. He should have come up with something better than that! 

“Ah, well that’s not the only thing we do of course. It’s a fairly new branch honestly, we make lab equipment and such, that’s how I met your husband. It was a brief conversation, but he nearly talked my ear off about his work.”

At the mention of her spouse, the air around his mom changed significantly.

“Oh, that’s him alright. Heh, let me guess did he go on and on about salamander poisons and regeneration?”

A bittersweet smile tugged at his lips.

“Hm. Indeed he did. The one that makes you go blind for about three minutes if it squirts you in the eye?”

“Hahaha, and those idiots time how long effect lasts instead of-- I don’t know, seeking medical help. I know it’s just a little amphibian, but come on. There’s plenty of tiny frogs that can kill you too.”

Seto laughs, the purest one he’s had in a long, long time.

“Exactly! But he’s happy I suppose, so as long as he’s careful I guess.”

“Well, it looks like you absorbed some of what he said. I’ll have to let him know, I’m sure he’d get a kick out of his ramblings actually being memorable to someone. I’m surprised he didn’t mention you. You aren’t exactly ordinary-looking. You always wear that outrageous coat?”

Seto deflated real quick at that, he almost would have fidgeted in his seat if he hadn’t been taught better. 

“Ah. Erm. Not always. Just for experiments. Lots of pockets. And uh... my brother designed it.”

Your son.

That made Chihiro pause. Seto guessed she could tell by the way he said it that meant something to him. 

“Oh, I see. Well, tell your brother he’s got quite the... imaginative mind,” she said with a small laugh.

A small burst of pride for Mokuba flared in him.

“Thank you. That will mean a lot to him. Truly.” 

More than she could ever know. 

“So, compter engineering. That’s quite an up and coming field, I’ve heard. How did someone so young as yourself get involved in it?”

Seto really ought to have thought out his cover story better. He made a mental note to properly write one out for any future Dimension travels. 

“Er. My true passion is game design. Though my... mentor kind of directed me through engineering and such first and it branched out from there, but it wasn’t exactly, what he had intended.”

Not by a long shot.

“Oh, like those video games? I can’t say I know much about them-- but I do quite like chess and some gambling card games.”

I know, you taught me chess, was what he wanted to say.

“Those too, actually. I do hope to create some fun video games, especially action ones, but I really have an affinity for those trading card games as well, so I plan to do something with those someday as well. Something to bring them to life, you know?”

Perhaps it was because she saw him as another young kid compared to her, wide-eyed with curiosity and awe for the future, but she laughed, though Seto could tell there was no ill-will intended. 

“I’m at a loss of how all that stuff works, a bit past my time I’m afraid to say, despite my face looking like a highschooler,” she said with poorly masked irritation.

She tucked her bangs to the side as she finished the last of her meal. 

“But all of that sounds very interesting. If it ends up happening I look forward to it. I think you may have something there, Isono.”

Of course he did. And it worked. It earned him billions and brought the company out of the red after the majority of their shareholders bailed when he took over. Placing them back farther up the corporate ladder then they had ever been, soon after everyone was scrambling for a piece.

Yet her simple praise, her belief-- 

He certainly wished he could have heard those words when he was still in an uphill battle trying to get the company off the ground. The simple words filled his essence with something long lost, now so foreign, something that he wanted to hold onto forever.

He’d been silent for far too long.

“T-Thank you very much, honestly. I... haven’t had anyone say that actually.” 

Which was true. No one had supported it like that when Solid Vision was in development. 

Only Mokuba. 

“Of course, I--”

Her words were interrupted by the beeping of her watch. An alarm. Chihiro muttered a swear under her breath, and Seto could very accurately say that was the only time he’d ever heard her utter such a thing.

“Sorry--I’ve lost track of time, I need to get back to work, can’t give my stuck up boss another mark against me.” 

She stood and grabbed her bookbag and headed for the door. Seto nearly knocked over his own chair to follow her out.

The bell rang again as the door closed behind him.

“One of those huh? Keep your head up, things will change. Slowly, but I promise you, they will.” 

It was a stupid and weird thing for him to say, Seto knew. But given how much his mother always raged about it, he felt like he needed to say it, even if she didn’t believe him.

She gave him an odd look. 

“Wishful thinking you got there, but I certainly hope so. I’ll fight the good fight regardless.”

There were so many things he wanted to say, so many things Seto simply couldn’t. If he explained it all she would understand she would--

Stop.

“Maybe we’ll see each other around sometime? I can have Tatsuya invite you over next time he sees you.”

A silent breath left him as he tried to pin down words, but eventually, his expression fell back into neutrality.

“He- uh, probably won’t. I er, don’t really get assigned there normally. I was filling in for someone who was sick.”

A questioning frown appeared on her face, but Seto could tell she was more preoccupied with worrying about making it back in time.

“But... but maybe we’ll meet again.” Seto extends a hand.

His mother takes it, and he holds on longer then he should. Bringing up his other hand to hold hers, he’s surprised when she doesn’t whack him upside the head for that. 

Perhaps it’s something in his eyes.

“It’s been an honor meeting you.” 

Truly meeting you. 

He regrets pushing so many memories to the back of his head to collect dust and slowly wither away. Yet in that exact moment, he is also reminded of why he did that. They’re on borrowed time.

Bewilderment crosses his mother’s face, and he can see the gears turning-- perhaps somehow she did know the person in front of her? But that was impossible.

“Thanks? Heheh.” 

There’s an awkward laugh. She doesn't think him a creep, but she knows something isn’t right, but she can’t put her finger on it.

“In that case, Tatsuya and I will keep a lookout for you in Domino. It’s been very nice to meet you too.”

She pulls away and disappears down the stairs of the closest subway entrance.

Seto should forget about this dimension. Forget he was ever here. Bury it all again. The past is dead.

But it isn’t the past here. This was his parents’ present. And perhaps there was still time before this world’s Seto existed if there would be one. And if there wasn’t... there couldn't be any true harm, could there?

He needed to stop thinking like that. Forget about this place. Forget again. Forget. Forget. Forget.

He powers up the dimension system again.

Lalna continues where it left off. What would you like to name this dimension sir?

“Greed.”