#this was just a quick lighting test to keep in practice for my comms but i rlly like how it came out rn so

[ikilledamanforthisurl]

Arti sketch from feburary + Arti sketch from likee right now

[tup-ika-5385]

Summary:

A Sequel to the fic "A Series of Hard Knocks," focusing on Tup and Dogma. Now six months after the trials of Umbara, Tup and Dogma are growing into themselves as well-established members of the 501st. Tup's been training more with Fives and Jesse, set on an ARC trooper promotion, and even Dogma has found a place in medical, where his intense focus and organization are both needed and appreciated. While helping Dogma study for his medic exams, discoveries are made, and help comes from unlikely sources as they unearth a foreboding plot.

Chapter 2 Summary:

Fives, Tup, and Dogma learn more about Tup's condition, and Hardcase makes a new friend.

Chapter 2: Just Sleep Deprivation

Racing down the empty Kaminoan hallway, Kix’s pounding footsteps echoed loudly on the duracrete floors.

He pushed himself faster as he remembered the barely hidden panic in Dogma’s comm.

“Kix, we need you in med-bay. I-It’s Tup.”

The few troopers he’d seen in the hallways knew better than to stop a medic on a tear towards medbay, and the front desk was unmanned when he got there, so it wasn’t long before he was entering the room in question. Opening the door, the first thing he spotted was Tup sitting on the exam table, hand in a plaster cast and tear tracks on his face. There were a few other weirdly-placed bandages visible under his off-duty reds, from what he could see, but the combination of covered injuries made no sense to his medic-trained mind.

“What happened?” He asked, moving closer to take a look at the casted arm. He didn’t know why they hadn’t just stuck it in a bone-knitter if a break was the issue.

Dogma answered first, and Kix was surprised to notice that Fives was present as well. “Tup was helping me study for my junior medic’s exam— he’s not injured, those were for practice. But I was doing the standard assessments, and Tup… he had some concerning results. I thought he was faking at first, for practice.” Dogma wrung his hands together anxiously even as he stood up straight to deliver his report. 

“Can I see?” Kix asked, and Dogma nodded, handing Kix the report before turning back towards Tup to give his hand a squeeze. Tup himself didn’t really respond, eyes worryingly unfocused, although he did lean on slightly to his brother’s touch.

Reading through the results, Kix was quick to agree that something was going on. Troopers didn’t just get… vision deficits and coordination issues without an explanation, and as he shone a penlight in Tup’s eyes to rule out a concussion, his worry increased. 

“Kix…?” Tup asked, wincing at the light, starting to come back to himself a little bit.

“I’m here, vod’ika. Just double-checking some things. How often have you been spacing out like that?” He asked, keeping his tone gentle. If not for these results, he would’ve chalked it up to the late hour, but now that he was looking for it, there were some small differences to Tup’s reaction times, even as he turned towards Kix to form a response.

“I dunno, maybe a couple times over the past few days. Haven’t noticed it myself that much, but I think it happened more when I was stressed.”

Kix nodded in understanding. He’d always worried about Tup’s headaches masking something more serious, given that most troopers didn’t even have headaches, and without Dogma’s exams, it would’ve been easy to miss this… whatever it was, especially because they were supposed to be redeployed in two days, right after Dogma finished his test. But he trusted Dogma’s assessment; something was definitely wrong here, and it worried him.

“Alright, Tup. After looking at the results, I agree with Dogma that something is probably going on, but we won’t know for sure until we take some scans. The Kaminoans like to do stress tests in these situations, but I’ve never been a fan of them personally, so we’ll be doing a more intense brain scan instead. There is a small risk of swelling and worsening of symptoms, but in most cases, it’s relatively minor.” 

Tup swallowed, looking nervous, but after an encouraging nod from Fives, he leaned into Dogma’s silent support and responded. “Okay… let’s do the scan.”

Kix gave him a comforting smile before moving to the control pad on the side of the room to set up the scanner. Inputting his authorization code, he frowned at the panel. “That’s odd. It’s saying that Level 5 atomic brain scans require authorization from either a Kaminoan or a natborn instructor. It’s been a while since I’ve used this type of scanner, I admit, but I don’t remember that being a requirement.”

Kix muttered a curse at the useless machine and Dogma shared a worried look with Tup. Given Dogma’s uncertain status after Krell’s death, they were both uncomfortably familiar with the consequences if the Kaminoans got word of Tup’s unexplained symptoms. 

Thankfully, the anxious silence didn’t last long as Fives stepped in, looking to Kix for permission before getting out a datapad and plugging into the system controls. He wasn’t a natural at programming it like Echo had been, but his hard-won computer skills came in handy more often than he’d like to admit, and it wasn’t long before he bypassed the login, stepping away to give Kix room to work. “All yours, vod.”

Kix smirked, glad that Fives’ ARC training was being used for good, rather than to escape medbay or turn off the bed-alarms like he’d done on one particularly memorable occasion. “And here I thought you ARC troopers were only good for your looks.” 

“What can I say? We’re the full package, vod.” Fives snarked back, moving out of the way for Kix to continue, now that he had access to the scanner. 

After another few seconds, Kix nodded. “Looks like we’re good to go. Are you ready, Tup?”

“Dogma should do it. It’s his practice case.” Tup mumbled, nodding as he laid down on the exam table, giving Dogma a faint smile. 

Kix gave Dogma a questioning look. “You feeling up for it, Dogma?”

Pushing down nervousness and dread, Dogma stepped forward to man the controls. “Yes sir… Fives, could you…?” Almost without needing to be asked, Fives took Dogma’s place keeping Tup company, only letting go of his hand when the scanner started to lower. 

The low vibrating of the scanner whirred unpleasantly as Dogma continued, slow and steady. Kix stood by to assist, just in case, but it wasn’t necessary. He grimaced as he heard a low groan from Tup, but before too long it was done, and the scanner was being removed so they could surround Tup once again. 

Once the scanner had been moved, Tup sat up unsteadily with a grimace. “Well, that didn’t exactly tickle. How long ‘till we see the results?”

“Not long,” Kix responded, waiting for the scans to upload, and finally they did, transmitting to Fives’ datapad so Tup could see them. Now, Tup had never seen a brainscan before, and neither had Fives, but the red circle on the scan didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

“What the kriff is that?!” Fives asked.

“I don’t know, why are you asking me?!” Tup cried, still a little shaken from the scan.

Looking between the screen and Kix, Dogma asked in a low tone, “Is that a tumor?” His stomach filled with dread and his heart dropped into his boots, but he knew what the answer would be.

Kix bit his lip, sending Tup a concerned look. “Whatever it is, it’s pressing up against Tup’s frontal lobe. The swelling is probably what’s been causing all your symptoms, Tup.” He didn’t want to cause a panic, but internally he agreed that it didn’t look good. 

“W-What should we do?” Tup asked, looking to his brothers as his anchor. Fives was quick to put a steadying hand on his shoulder, and Dogma didn’t protest when an outstretched hand pulled him closer. 

Kix opened his mouth to respond when all of a sudden, they heard the rattle of supply crates outside the room and a distinct increase in the amount of traffic in medbay. Glancing at his chrono with a curse, he realized it was nearly 0600, and that their unoccupied corner of medbay wasn’t going to stay that way for long.

“We should get out of here before someone comes looking.”

“B-But what about Tup?!” Fives cried in dismay. Dogma gritted his teeth, clenching his unoccupied fist as tightly as he could, but morbidly, he understood Kix’s reasoning.

“I don’t like it, but the thing in his head isn’t going anywhere, but if the Kaminoans get their hands on him… it won’t be good. We’re not going to leave it in there, but we need to strategize, come up with a plan.” Kix sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Looking up at his worried brothers, Tup gave them a half-smile, mustering up his usual charm to reassure them, despite the sharp pain in his head and the weird disconnect he’d felt since the scan. “I’ll be alright, Fives. Like Kix said, it’s been there for a while; what’s one more day?”

And as they snuck out of the medbay, making sure to wipe the main computer first, Tup pushed himself forward even as he started leaning more heavily on his brothers than he had been before. Probably just sleep deprivation.

________________________

Letting out a jaw-cracking yawn, Hardcase rubbed bleary eyes as he made his way towards his morning rehab session. It would be one of his last ones, at least with Patch, since the rehab medic was finally returning to the 104th after a six-month posting with the 501st after Umbara. 

He’d left Dogma and Kix with enough instruction to continue helping the other troopers with their exercises, and he said he’d always be open for a comm if they ever needed help. But Hardcase was finally starting to get used to riding the waves of his chronic pain, between keeping up with his stretches, meds, and recognizing when his Z-6 just wasn’t in the cards for the day. Even the worst of his hypertrophic scarring was doing a little better since they arrived on Kamino, where they’d managed to pester the Kaminoans into allowing laser surgery that would usually be considered cosmetic and unnecessary. 

Walking down the hallways, Hardcase focused his thoughts on the therapy session ahead. Patch had informed him that the group today would be pretty small, given that the rest of the 501st was halfway to Ringo Vinda, but there’d be another trooper there with pretty similar experiences to Hardcase, with an added dose of traumatic brain injury. 

Maybe they’d have some thoughts on weapon modifications; Hardcase himself had gotten pretty creative recently when it came to modifying his heavy gun, figuring out which components were necessary safety features, and which ones were more kilos than they were worth. The thought brought a grin to his face as he entered the room, surprised to find it mostly empty, save one. Patch must be running late.

Hardcase did a double-take when he glanced at the other trooper in the room, if he could even call them that. Even sitting down, the other trooper easily dwarfed the standard issue chair he’d taken residence in, and Hardcase paused for a beat as he saw the other’s facial scar. It was definitely smaller than his own, but he was surprised to see that their hypertrophic scarring was almost worse than his own. Usually, with access to bacta, most scars wouldn’t look that bad, even in the rehab stage, and while his own difficulties were explained by Krell, the traitorous shabuir who’d denied him basic medical care, timely medical intervention usually helped with the worst of it. 

He noticed the other trooper shrink into themselves a little bit and Hardcase sheepishly realized that he’d been staring. Not wanting to prolong the awkwardness, he approached the other trooper, sticking a hand out. 

“The name’s Hardcase! I’m a heavy gunner from the 501st. What’s your name, vod?” Even with the obvious physical differences, he’d recognize a brother anywhere.

“Uh, my name’s Wrecker– I-I’m from Clone Force 99.” Wrecker responded with a lopsided grin. He pushed down some frustration as his voice stuttered, like it had since his injury. Tech told him that it’d get better over time, and it already had, but he hated how it made him stick out even more than usual, and some of the less-considerate regs had taken to teasing him for it. 

Thankfully, this reg didn’t seem to be one of them, and as he turned around to pull up a chair, Wrecker caught a glimpse of a rather large scar on the back of Hardcase’s head and continuing under his blacks.

“Hey, we match!” He exclaimed before he could stop himself. ‘Pointing out other people’s scars is rude,’ Hunter’s voice repeated in his mind, and he grimaced. That was another thing he’d noticed since his injury. He hadn’t had much of a filter before the accident, but it seemed like every other conversation, he’d stumble across another line, earning his brothers’ ire, or worse, the Kaminoans.

Thankfully, this reg– Hardcase laughed with an easy smile before sitting down. “We do! Practically twins, if I do say so myself.” He said, flexing a predictably reg-sized bicep, earning a returning laugh from Wrecker. Unfortunately, this sparked a few more laughs than he’d been expecting, and the reg’s smile turned a little strained and confused by the time that Wrecker finally stopped, panting a little bit.

“S-Sorry. ‘S from my head injury. Once I start laughing, it’s hard to stop.” He explained, and the reg made a noise of understanding before nodding. “Makes sense; I think there’s a Commando in the 212th who’s got the same thing.”

“Really?! I-I’m a Commando too!” Wrecker grinned, realizing belatedly that he’d stated the obvious, given his nonstandard armor, but too excited to care. 

“Yeah; his name’s Gregor. Only met him a few times, but he seems like a solid vod, if a little chatty. Not that I can really complain though.” He grinned self-deprecatingly. “Kix, my batcher, always says that my mouth moves faster than my common sense, but that’s usually just because he hasn’t had his morning kaff yet.”

“Sounds like my Sarg, H-Hunter.” Wrecker offered.

“Heh, well Kix is a medic, which is twice as bad! My trainers always said there was a leak in my growth tube or something, which made me hyperactive, I guess, but I say it’s just my natural charm. Not my fault he can’t handle all this before 0900.” He smirked, leaning back in his chair, earning a returned smile from Wrecker, who was finally starting to relax in the other’s presence.

“Tech says I’ve got bad impulse control.” Wrecker said, earning an encouraging look from Hardcase.

“Yeah? We've probably got that in common, then.”

“Yeah. He says it’s part of m-my head injury, but he suspects it’s always been there, with my enhancements an’ all.” 

“Enhancements?” Hardcase asked, looking intrigued.

“Yeah! I’ve got extra strength, compared to most troopers. I-I can lift a gunship if I try.” He grinned proudly. 

“I’m a little jealous, vod.” Hardcase returned the grin. “I’ve been working on it in rehab, but on bad days, I can barely lift my Z-6.” He was only in his lower armor for rehab, so he didn’t hesitate to shrug off his shirt to show Wrecker his scar. 

Wrecker gave a noise of admiration as he saw the extent of his scarring, as well as the detailed tattoo-work of a Krayt dragon covering most of it. “I got this blowing up a Seppie supply ship! Still gives me trouble most days, but Patch, the rehab medic, he’s got all these ideas to help manage it, which is great. Speaking of which, where is he?”

Wrecker looked towards the door with a shrug just as Patch ran in, panting slightly. “Sorry I’m late, vode! Kix said he’d wake me, but I guess he forgo– Hardcase, where is your shirt?!” 

Patch asked, looking briefly scandalized, prompting an uncontrollable fit of laughter from both troopers. And as Wrecker wiped tears out of his eyes, he decided that maybe some regs weren't so bad.

[butwhyduh]

Dead Clown 🤡

Jason todd x reader

Warning: smut, murder but it’s okay.

Jason pulled his helmet off and ignored the rain that poured down his face. He had to see this without a filter. He even considered taking off the domino mask but he was out in the open. The pouring freezing rain had him shivering but Jason was unaware. He literally couldn’t believe the sight before him.

The joker was laying in his back, the pasty skin on his forehead was marred by 2 small holes. The back of his stupid green hair looked almost black when mixed with blood. Blood and water mixed in a pink puddle around his head. Jason forced himself to check for a pulse before hitting his comms.

“Bats, you need to get down here,” he said in a shocked voice. “The joker is dead.”

“..... are you okay,” Bruce said in a measured voice.

“I’m fine. He was dead when I got here,” Jason added knowing he was number one suspect.

“On the way.”

Batman and Red Robin showed up shortly with Robin not far behind. It didn’t take long for the detectives to believe Jason’s innocence. The evidence didn’t match him.

Jason sat on a piece of concrete near the scene as they worked. He had hoped to see this for years now. But it wasn’t the same. Maybe it was because Jason didn’t get his revenge or because it looked too neat. Two quick shots to the brain. Probably didn’t even see it coming before he was lights out.

Bruce walked over to him as the other two took photos and bagged evidence. A little blood here. Some fabric fibers there. No fingerprints because of the heavy rain but a bullet casing.

“Did you see who shot him?”

“No B. I literally got here and he was already out. He was supposed to have a drug drop but I guess that didn’t happen,” Jason said with a shrug.

“You were going to fight him alone,”Bruce said with a raised brow.

“No. Just reconnaissance. I would have called it in,” Jason defended himself. Bruce gave him a side look before moving on to the case.

“Commissioner Gordon is on the way,” Tim said. He held bags of evidence carefully in his lanky fingers. “We’re finish collecting-“

“Can we go home, father? It’s freezing cold,” Damian interrupted. Bruce sighed before looking at him.

“Red Robin was talking but yes, you both should back to the cave to process everything. Red Hood, you too. The commissioner knows you have a history with the joker so it’s best you leave too. I’ll take care of this,” Bruce said carefully. Any wrong word might set Jason off with his trauma over the death of his murderer.

“Uh yeah, sure man,” Jason said clearly distracted. He would usually argue with everything Bruce said and this made Bruce even more worried for the young man. He sent a quick message to Dick before the commission met got there.

——————————

“We’re running the tests right now and there really isn’t much else to do. Robin already went to bed. Go home Hood and get some sleep,” Tim said by the computers. Jason hadn’t bothered to get out of his suit or shower.

“How long? How long until you get results?”

“Oh, uhhh maybe 12 hours? A while. Sorry DNA testing isn’t like in the movies. The meta or clone tests are even longer. It probably won’t be until tomorrow night that we know anything,” Tim said turning in his chair. “Get some sleep.”

Jason considered giving him a nasty comment but held it. He certainly felt dead on his feet and had a nice warm woman waiting at home for him.

“Call when you know anything,” he said with a growl.

“Yeesh, yeah. I will,” Tim said backing away. “Say it. Don’t spray it,” he muttered as Jason walked away.

———————————

Jason trudged into the apartment leaving wet clothing in his wake until he stumbled to bed in nothing but his boxer briefs. You were going to be mad at him for the mess in the morning but that could wait. He looked at you asleep on the bed. You looked so sweet and innocent. Like an angel compared to his dirty hands that practically dripped blood every night.

He slid under the blanket and pressed close to your warm form. You gasped awake before relaxing when you realized it was just Jason. Did you not realize he could kill you 84 different ways in your sleep? It didn’t really matter as you snuggled your head into the crook of his neck and slid your legs to entangle with his. Jason’s arms automatically wrapped around you and rubbed your back until your breathing was even in sleep. He stared at the ceiling until the hint of dusk could be seen outside.

Jason woke with a gasp followed by a moan as he felt perfect wet heat encompass his dick. He looked down to see the blankets move rhythmically as you slid your mouth along his dick. He blinked himself more awake to truly enjoy it.

It wasn’t the first time you had woken him as such but it was certainly a rare occurrence. Reserved for birthdays and Christmas, he couldn’t imagine what he did to deserve such a wonderful wake up.

“Fuck! Princess,” he groaned as you swirled before taking him deep. You hummed questionably.

“What did I, mmmm, do to deserve such a fuck! Perfect mouth. Perfect wake up,” he said pushing covers down to show you between his legs. You looked up at him with big innocent eyes as you licked long hot strips up his cock. You took him deep in your mouth before sliding off with a pop.

“I can’t spoil you?” You purred and he twitched. How did he get so lucky? “Do you want to finish in my mouth or can I ride you first?” You asked and he god honest choked on his spit.

“Baby, *cough* whatever you want, what. Ever. you want,” he said and you grinned before climbing up his body to straddle him. His hands ran along the side of your body before gripping your hips. You sunk down on him with a little mewl.

“Fuck Princess, you’re so wet. Do you like... do you like sucking my cock?” He asked breathlessly.

“Of course, Jaybird. Sometimes I touch myself when I blow you, like today,” you admitted with a sweet little giggle. He almost came right them. How could you say the dirtiest things while being the sweetest person he’d ever known?

Jason reached his thumb down to rub your clit as you moved. You whined before nodding at him. Your mouth fell open and your hips sped up. He knew that you weren’t going to last long. You really did get hot and bothered blowing him. You made little whined and whimpers before moaning his name loudly as you came. Your body clenching on him was enough and he thrust up into you as he came as well. You bent down and kissed him deeply. Jason was panting by the time you pulled back.

“Loved that for sure, but what the hell was that, Princess,” Jason asked breathlessly as you climbed off and threw on some clothing. You chuckled a little before tossing him his boxers.

“Just wanted to wake you up this morning. Do you want some pancakes, Jay,” you asked. He sat up and pulled them on.

“You certainly did. And I never say no to food. Especially my favorite food,” Jason said with a grin. “Is it secretly my birthday? Am I dying and you’re prepping me beforehand?”

You laughed. “You already did that, baby.”

Jason gasped a little before laughing.

“I just wanted to treat you like you deserve. Pick a movie. There’s a new slasher out that you can tear apart,” you said walking in the kitchen and grinned at Jason’s heart eye look he gave you.

He looked through the movies without paying them much mind. He’d seen the joker dead the day before and now his girlfriend was spoiling him. He didn’t know what to think about. He’d think about the joker finally being dead. He couldn’t hurt Jason or those near him any more. You’d been kidnapped 6 months earlier and it had almost ripped Jason apart when he found you bloody and beaten. Luckily alive though.

Then he thought about how sweet you were. A perfect angel who had nothing to do with that life. You couldn’t kill someone if you tried. He just wanted to keep you in an innocent bubble, especially after being kidnapped.

“Jay? Jason?” You said near him and he jumped. He had been so lost in thought that he didn’t notice you coming over to him with a plate of food. Heart shaped pancakes covered in whipped cream stared up at him and Jason had a little grin on his face.

“Sorry, thanks. This looks good,” he said and you grinned before sitting with your own. Jason turned on a movie and sat next to you to eat.

Jason’s phone rang.

He gave you an apologetic look before answering.

“Yeah,” he answered before quickly standing up to talk in another room. Definitely bat business, it sounded like. He came back in a few minutes putting on his suit. He bent and shoved most of a pancake in his mouth. Jason pulled you to your feet and swirled you around before holding you by the waist. You giggled.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“I’ve got to work. But when I get back, I’m making up for this morning, okay? Breakfast was amazing,” he said before pulling you into a dizzying kiss. You nodded before he left.

——————————

Jason arrived at the cave and realized something was instantly wrong. Tim, Dick, Damian, Bruce, and even Alfred were waiting for him around the computers. He slowly walked up. They didn’t think he did it, did they? Jason looked around in case of a fight.

“I have some bad news,” Dick said. Jason just stared at him. Dick sighed. “We know who killed the joker. You won’t like it. You- you might want to sit down.”

Jason frowned at his tone. It was the tone you used when telling a kid their parents died. He looked at the computer to see surveillance footage of the roof where he found the joker. He clenched his fist as the mad man walked in the screen.

“You know, this is the worst meeting place in the world,” joker said with a laugh. Jason’s eyebrows rose. He hasn’t expected audio. “So what do you have that I might want on the birds?”

A female voice off camera could be heard saying, “peace of mind.”

“Doubt you could give me that Princess,” he said in a mocking tone. His posture was casual even though the lower half of a woman’s body had walked into the screen and she held a gun in hand pointed at him. She froze at his words.

Jason couldn’t look away if he wanted to.

“Yeah, I know,” joker said. “I forget faces. Too many changing and quite a few people are a little two faced,” he said with a laugh. “But I never forget a voice. You sounded so much more sweet when you were crying tied to a chair. And the way you sobbed when I brought out the crowbar.... music to my ears. I bet it just reminded you of a certain bird that just didn’t quite make it the first time.”

“Shut up. I- I don’t care,” she said. Jason’s heart was in his throat. He knew exactly who that was before Tim’s DNA tests were complete. She moved around a little nervously.

“Honey, Princess,” he said drawn out in a mock of Jason’s voice. “Unless you plan on using that gun, put it down and we can play a game. You like games? You play one with the red bat all the time. Does he know? Does he know that you’ve been hunting me for.... geez, since you were kidnapped I’d bet.”

“Now drop that gun and I show you what pain really feels like,” he growled and she shot him in the forehead before he moved. He made a disconnected sound before falling to his knee, perfect height to be seen in the camera. She shot him again between the eyes and he fell back silently. His body splashed on the rainy roof before blood began to pool behind his head. The woman looked for a second, her body language painfully stiff, before running out the way she came.

The cave was silent as Jason realized what he just saw. He blinked a few times before clearing his throat. Has she- did she-??

“I assume the DNA matches?” He asked and Tim nodded before sliding him a paper copy. 98% match. Only chance it wasn’t you was an evil twin or clone but no, he noticed the clothing and mannerisms. It was you.

“Are you going to bring her in?” Bruce asked quietly and Jason gaped.

“I sure as shit ain’t. She killed the man who kidnapped her and abused her. That sounds like self defense to me,” he defended. Dick looked at him in pity and Jason quickly looked away.

“It was premeditated, Jason,” Bruce reminded him.

“I know. I’ll take care of it. She’s not going to prison. I’ll talk to her,” he said. Bruce gave him a hard look. “You come near her- I swear to god, Bruce. I’ll shoot you myself.”

Jason got up to leave. Dick moved out of his way. He wasn’t getting in this.

“Jason,” Bruce said but Jason was already gone.

——————————

Jason was a pretty smart guy but he was completely shocked at this moment. What possessed you to kill the joker? To seek him out? A man that tried to kill you and you were willing to meet him alone? Not even Jason wanted to do that. And that morning you were treating Jason special. He thought for a second that you killed the joker for him. It chilled him to the bone but he put that thought out of his head. No, you had your own reasons to do it.

Jason walked in the apartment cautiously. Who knows how you would be acting, the perfect girlfriend or finally breaking down when you realized you killed a man. He found you in the bedroom asleep. You didn’t look like you had just killed someone and for a second Jason had doubt but the video and DNA didn’t lie.

He crawled in bed with you. You pulled him close and laid your head on his chest and Jason’s heart hurt. You looked fine but killing people left scars and your first time killing someone was not something you forget.

You woke with a gasp and cry hours later. You trembled and grasped at Jason tightly. He woke up confused before pulling you closer.

“Hey, Princess, I’m right here. You’re okay,” he said rubbing your back and holding you close. “What’s going on?”

“I see him. When I sleep. Every time,” you breathed almost in tears. Jason kissed your cheek and he felt wetness on your skin. You had been crying. He didn’t want to ask but now was as good a time as any.

“Princess, what did you do last night?” Jason asked so quietly. You looked up at him quickly and it confirmed everything he needed to know.

“Nothing. I was here. All night. Wh-why?” You asked, lying terribly. Jason sighed. He closed his eyes before willing himself to speak.

“You know I’m a detective. I can tell that you’re lying,” Jason started gently.

“What does that mean,” you said a little too quickly. Your breathing started to speed up again and Jason hated the look of fear on your face.

“I’m not mad. I won’t turn you in. Just tell me what happened,” he said softly, watching you intently. You wanted to shrink away a little.

“I can’t,” you whispered. Your eyes started to water and you blinked them away.

“Did you do it? Did you kill him? I can help you,” Jason said and you froze. “Talk to me.”

“I-I did,” you said looking at him in terror. Your eyes were red rimmed. “I did.”

“I’m sorry,” he said pulling you tight to his body. You broke down in little sobs and clung to him. “I’m so sorry that you thought you had to. I should have. I’m sorry.” He wrapped you up and made little shhh noises and you cried until you fell back asleep.

You woke up later with a pounding headache wrapped up tightly against Jason. He was on his phone but sat it down when he saw you were up.

“Hey,You don’t have to worry about it. I’ve taken care of everything,” he said ever so gently. You nodded.

“What does that mean?” You asked slowly.

“Red Hood took the wrap on it. No great loss with one less psycho in Gotham. Harley Quinn had an impromptu parade with hyenas and jugglers and everything. Nightwing made an appearance. Dick said Barbie slept through the night for the first time in months and she said she’d help you with anything you need,” Jason said trying to be positive. You gave him a dry smile.

“That’s nice. What about- what about Batman?” You asked.

“He’s Batman. But he’ll get over it. And the next time you kill a murderous clown, let me help. He could have killed you. And if anyone knows how to hide a body, it’s me,” Jason said giving you a squeezing hug. You smiled despite yourself.

“I’ll remember that. I’m a little sad I missed the hyena parade,” you admitted.

“Oh she’s having a parade every day this week. An anonymous donor gave her a ton of fireworks. Fairly certain it was Tim,” Jason said.

[xxwritemeastoryxx]

Unintended Target

Author: xxwritemeastoryxx

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader, Avengers x Reader

Request: Hellus can I have a Bucky Barnes angst where you're dating and like you get hurt really bad on a mission because you tried protecting him and he just cannot stop crying while you're being treated. Steve like literally has to hold him through it. Ending in fluff. Sorry for so many details ahahaha! -Anon

Word Count:

Warnings: Canon typical violence, mentions of blood, a bit of angst

Author’s Note: We've reached the ending of the first week of May Madness! And welcome to my first one shot for the MCU! But you know me. I do hope you guys enjoy

Feedback gives me life and motivation for future things. ♥

Y/N never believed that she’d ever be able to run as fast as she had. Her heart pounded in her chest as she raced against time to get across the property in time. The sound of her boots hitting the ground had been lost to the sounds of gunfire that surrounded her.

She and the rest of the Avengers were dealing with the remnants of a hydra base. What was supposed to be a quick in and out mission seemed to take a turn. There was more manpower than they expected and it was taking longer just to clear the property.

At some point during the fight, she’d lost her earpiece making it difficult to keep in contact with the others. The others knew she could handle herself, even though they were currently trying to find her among the mess that was being created. She had been expecting to meet at the rendezvous spot with a smirk on her face with all the files she needed in her hand.

At least that had been the plan. But after her eyes had scanned one of the files, she dropped the file and began running out of the building. Hydra had a new plan alright. And it was that plan alone that had caused fear to course through her, wanting-more like needing-to be on the opposite side of the property.

“Anyone have eyes on Y/N yet?” Bucky called out as he took down another member of Hydra.

Bucky hated that Y/N currently couldn’t be reached. While he had trained with her plenty of times and knew that she was able to take care of herself, he didn’t know where she was at. He didn’t know if she was injured or having any issues. His girlfriend could easily wipe the floor with him, but as close as they were, he was worried.

She’s not in the west wing anymore. Bucky heard Natasha’s voice over the comms. She left a nice trail in the process for us though.

Natasha was trying to make light of the situation. If she could get Bucky to bring down his worry in the slightest, she was going to attempt it. Together the two were practically unstoppable, separate them and make it so they can’t speak to each other and they’ve got an anxious super-soldier.

I’ve got eyes on her. Clint’s voice came over next. And unless there’s something I’m missing, Y/N is either running from something invisible or she’s trying to get somewhere.

Anything from the west wing she could have seen? Tony’s voice filled their ears.

Still looking. Nat responded.

“Where is she headed?” Bucky asked a moment later, the swift movement of his knife piercing the body of another person advancing on him. With him down, Bucky had cleared his section. His concern now focused on why Y/N had been running away or towards something.

I’ve lost sight of her. She was headed towards the east. More than likely heading your way.

The plans had been replaying in Y/N’s head from the moment she read them in the west wing. The words on the pages she had found made her heart race in a way that all the training she had been through never made it race. The fear had threatened to bring tears to her eyes. All she knew was that she had to get to Bucky.

She hadn’t stopped for a moment since she had begun running. Even when she was faced with those that tried to stop her, she simply pulled out her dagger, allowing it to make contact for a brief moment before she continued. The bodies she left behind weren’t on her mind for more than a second.

As she made it towards the end of the property, her eyes landed on Bucky. From the looks of things, he had finished clearing things out and was beginning to look for her. She knew he had to be seeing as she no longer had her earpiece. It was something he’d always do no matter what the mission was that they were on.

Y/N believed she had made it there on time. That if he was alone he’d be okay. If there were no signs of Hydra, Bucky would be safe. That getting him out of the area would ensure his safety. It was as she began slowing down did Bucky notice her.

He took off on a light jog to meet her halfway from that point. “What happened?” He asked, seeing the look on her face.

“We need to get out of here, now.” she said in between the breaths of air she was trying to get.

You should listen to her. Nat’s voice picked up in Bucky’s ear. This whole thing was a damn setup.

The moment the words registered in his ear, they both noticed the way a red dot appeared on Bucky’s chest. His first instinct would have been to grab the both of them and find cover. Before he could do anything, Y/N’s instinct kicked in and she pushed Bucky out of the way, just as the shot had been fired.

Both of them had fallen onto the ground but it was Y/N that cried out in pain. Her hands automatically tried to grab at her back to take in the injury she had gotten. To apply some kind of pressure to it or at the very least to see where it was.

Just as Bucky moved to look her over a jolt of electricity shot through her body. One that caused a loud piercing scream to pass her lips before she went silent. Bucky could only watch as her body convulsed from the electrical charge running through her body. The last thing Y/N heard and saw was Bucky reaching for her the moment the shocking stopped his voice calling out to her before she passed out.

The minutes after had gone in a blur to Bucky. The others all speaking at once trying to figure out their location. They all had heard her screams. May it have been through the comms or even the fact that they were close by and could hear it. The words mixed in with the emotions that were currently playing through him.

From the moment she passed out, Bucky had her in his arms. He hardly even remembered yelling at the others to shut up and just get to them. They needed to leave before Y/N bled out or even died there in his arms. He didn’t even want to begin to think about her dying there. Not when that shot wasn’t even meant for her.

He could barely remember how long it had taken him to get to the quinjet, let alone the ride back to the compound. The whole ride back, he never left her side. Even when Bruce helped to stop the bleeding for the trip back, he never once took his eyes off of her. Even after getting her to the Med Bay, he fought to be with her. But he couldn’t be.

There was a storm of emotions brewing within him as he watched from behind a glass window as the team Stark hired had begun working on pulling the bullet out of Y/N’s back. The wound was simple, but because of the electric charge that came from it, her skin looked fried around the wound.

Y/N wasn’t even supposed to be in there. She wasn’t supposed to be wounded and it was because of who he was made to be. That the very organization that he had once freed himself from was desperately trying to get him back. And in the process, the woman he loved was injured.

“She’ll get through this.” Steve said as he came to stand beside Bucky. Steve knew that Y/N had been shot at, broken, and bloodied with several of the missions that she had been through. The woman always seemed to pull through.

“That charge that went through her body, was meant for me.” Bucky said never taking his eyes off of Y/N. “My body would have taken that charge and it would have caused little damage. She’s not like us.”

“She may not be like us, but I’ve seen her take on world threats and she’s come out of them right by your side.” Steve needed Bucky to have some kind of hope.

Bucky’s forehead placed against the glass as he shook his head. “I can’t lose her Steve.”

Steve watched as tears slowly formed in Bucky’s eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger that had caused the tears. He brought his hand up and placed it on Bucky’s shoulder. It seemed that the simple action had caused Bucky to let the storm inside of him be released.

He placed his arm around Bucky, allowing his friend to lean on him while he broke down. Steve listened as Bucky mentioned time and time again about it should have been him. That he should have been the one on the table. But if it hadn’t been for Y/N, Bucky would have been taken away.

Steve stayed with Bucky for the time it took to get Y/N closed up and have tests done to make sure the surge of power that went through her hadn’t damaged any of her organs. The testing is what took the longest. The needing to ensure that Y/N would wake up was something that held the heaviest weight.

Y/N’s eyes slowly opened and she found herself in a bed in the Med Bay. A confused look played on her face for a moment before her brain registered the pain her body felt in that moment. She winced as she began to look around before a small smile pulled at her lips.

Bucky had been by her side, his head resting on the space beside her. She could tell he had been sleeping. She could see it in the steady rise and fall of his shoulders as she watched him. Bringing a shaky hand up, she ran it through his hair. The action itself was comforting to herself and if she was being honest, she was sure that it would bring some comfort to him as well.

Her touch had caused Bucky to lift his head quickly. “You’re awake.”

The slight nod of her head had caused her to wince. “How long was I out?” Her voice was rough as she spoke.

“Almost a week.” She could hear the relief in his voice at seeing her awake. He sat up and moved his chair closer before he reached for her hand. “Have I ever mentioned how crazy you are?”

That caused a slight smile to grow on her face, her fingers tightening around his own. “We both know I’m crazy enough to take bullets for the people I love.”

“Doesn’t mean you should.” He said with a slight nod of his head.

“I couldn’t let them take you. Not after everything we’ve done to make sure you got better.” She wasn’t going to let him ‘win’ this argument. “The moment I saw their plans, I didn’t care about anything else. I just knew I had to get to you.”

Bucky sighed as stood up and moved to sit on the bed next to her. His hand came up and ran along her cheek, before bringing his lips to hers for a brief kiss. “I was afraid that you weren’t going to wake up. They kept saying that you were okay, that it would be when you were ready that you would wake up. All I could think about was how there was a whole day where I thought I was going to lose you. And I hated that feeling.”

“If you’re trying to say I shouldn’t go on-” She tried saying before he cut her off.

“No, I would never say that. Not when you know how to take care of yourself. I was just thinking it would be a lot easier and probably safer for the both of us if we stick together as a team.” His words had caused her eyebrow to raise.

“You mean babysit me.” It caused them both to chuckle.

“Is it really babysitting if we enjoy working together?” He asked with a smile pulling at his lips.

She shook her head slightly. “Fine. But even I know it might be a while before I’m out in the field again.”

“About that,” He said as leaned into her a little more. “During your time away from the field, I was thinking about a vacation for the both of us. Lay low while the others cut all the loose ends to ensure there’s no one coming after us.”

“A recovery vacation, while laying low? I’m definitely listening.”

The two of them knew things would never be perfect out there. Not in their line of business. Not with their pasts or even who they’ve become. There would be times where they’d be placed in this same position. They'd be willing to keep the other one safe, no matter the cost.

All WorksTag (The tag to be notified for everything I write):

@xoxo-nikki-xoxo @mrs-jackson-kenner @mizzzpink

@amariaamaris

Excelsior Tag(All MCU fics):

@hey-there-angels @hellotvshowtrash @dpaccione@taylordrunkonwhiskey @old-enough-to-know-better73 @elijahs-wife @jesuswasnotawhiteman @kpopgirlbtssvt

Winter Soldier tag(For only and all things Bucky):

@fandom-princess-forevermore

[modx-reborn]

One word prompt: Webcams

Returning my C!Eret posts.

SMUT UNDERCUT! MINORS DNI!

You had many thanks to give a certain young goat hybrid for his little invention, especially seeing as Eret had to leave you, heading off to the far reaches for a few weeks to barter a trade deal or something along those lines. But with the little box you had attached to your com, you would still be able to see them, even if it was slightly grainy and dulled their features.

Getting it all set up was rather easy, plug this there and attach this piece here and now you're all set up, waiting for that ping from them that meant you would be able to try out the call feature. Eager to get to see them after the past week of just words scrolling across your screen in the morning and evening before bed.

Your screen lights up with their name and the small image of their crown that you had snagged before they left to assign to their contact, teasing them that it was more memorable than their face while dancing out of their reach when they tried to wrap you up in their arms to get you back for the comment.

That memory plays in your mind as you pick up, giddy as you call their name, cathing the soft look they cast at you when you do.

"Eret! Look see I told you it would work, now we can chat even if you are off across the server doing all your royal business!"

"I never doubted that it would honey, after all, you were so excited and we did test it before I left."

"I Knoooow, but you can never be sure..."

They hum in response, loosening their cloak and tossing it off out of the screen, rolling their shoulders and stretching their arms just out of the frame. Settling in on whatever they were stretched out on, white eyes more grey through the screen as they watched you excitedly go overall you had done while they were away, even stopping midway through your sentences as you remembered something scrambling off the bed and letting them listen to you as you shuffled in the background.

Coming back into frame dressed in a black dress that had arrived the day after Eret had left, no doubt that they had it commissioned for you, something to likely match one they had hidden away in their ever-expanding closet of beautiful gowns and suits. Sitting on the bed letting the slits expose your thighs and watching how their eyes refused to leave the path your hands had begun to take as you spoke about how well the gown fit.

"I knew it would look good on you my dear, it is a shame that I can't be there to peel you out of it though..."

Their words are quick to halt your rambling, leaving you to stumble slightly before you responded with a whined 'What?' sure you and the King of the SMP were close but you had not expected this when you had called them, the screen making them bold or mayhaps it was just seeing you in one of their gifts.

"You heard me, dear. After all this time you still can't see it, all these gifts and even the touches you know are not friendly and your still not getting it."

"Eret, I..."

"No, no little one I'm not done yet. You were so oblivious and here you are spread out on this little screen, dolled up in another one of my gifts, one I had hoped I would get to see in the flesh and finally get you to understand that you aren't just some friend of mine..."

There is a lot to digest as they continue to talk, listening to them make clear how they wanted you watching how their eyes were sharp like they were waiting for something, almost devouring you with their gaze. All you had exposed seemed like so much more now, the expanse of your thighs still filling their screen and the dip of the neckline showing off the bare length of your neck, the attention now making you squirm in a way that was new for when you spoke with Eret.

Sure you admired your friend, and sure there had been nights when you woke with their name on your lips and a flush high on your cheeks the following days whenever you laid eyes on them, so ignorant of how they looked at you always drapped in something of theirs or a gift from them.

But now it was all so clear and as your mind finally caught up with what you had been told there was no stopping the slight whine that you released, hoping that the mic on your com didn't pick it up only when the soft sound of Erets laugh fills your room you knew you were fucked.

"Figured it out now? Get why I love seeing you all dressed up in my gifts? How every time they get more and more revealing, and my hands would wander further and further across your skin? Well, have anything to say or are you just going to sit there all pretty and fucking silent?"

"I-I..."

Turning your head away from the still so consuming gaze of the king, your mind scrambles for something anything you could say in return, sure you liked them but how much did that go? Were the dreams and the intrusive thoughts you sometimes had enough to give in to this and give them a chance or was this a thing that would cost you your friendship should you say no? No, there was no way this would be something that could wreck how close you were to them, letting your mind simply follow what it thought best and looking back at the person sitting waiting on the other side of your screen.

"I understand... I-I think."

"You think? Well, then my dear let me show you just what you do to me, dressed up in my gifts, practically exposing yourself to me over these webcams. So sit still and Watch me."

It's easy to listen to what they had asked you when they let their voice dip low, even over the com speakers it sounds so nice, such a beguiling sound. Their camera frameshifting to show more of their body, their shirt parted and untucked from their pants, belt lose and left open as they tuck their thumbs into the hem, sliding the fitted material down to free their half-hard cock.

One hand pushing their shirt aside letting the frame be filled with their bare skin and wandering hands, only letting you watch and listen as they wrapped a hand around themself slowly moving back and forth, white eyes just barely visible in the top of the frame as they worked their cock. Their free hand pressed the hem of their pants, keeping them out of the way and letting you see everything that they were doing.

Ever thankful for your choice of living alone as your speakers began to fill the room with their sounds, deep groans and calls of your name a constant thing alongside the wet sound of Eret fucking their own hand, the whole thing almost like a fever dream. You watching them touch themselves as they watched you, your thighs shifting and twitching just within the frame, making them pant something that is lost to their comms mic.

It's something beyond magic to watch as their head falls out of frame, the length of their neck the only thing still visible as they speed up, bucking up into the twist of their wrist, their thumb swiping across the head of their dick smearing the pre that had beaded there down their length. It's eye-catching when their hand grips the base of their cock, letting the cam capture how it throbbed as they stopped touching themselves.

There is nothing you can think to say as they lift their head, checking to make sure you were still watching them as they returned to fucking their hand, not stopping this time as they finally began to work themselves to completion. Their eyes keeping you watching, hands gripping the edge of the gown they had given you, fingers twitching to do more than just bunch up the fabric covering you, but something about how they were looking at you through the screen was stopping you, keeping your hands still as they finally came.

What would be white strings dripping over their fingers as they slow their hand's movements, wringing out all the pleasure they can as they pant and call your name, their hand slick with their cum is something that would be haunting your dreams till their returned from this trip as would the sound of their voice, so deep and yet still breathy as it called your name.

The last words you hear before the call goes dead are something that you will have to remember, your comms battery going flat and plunging your screen into darkness, reflecting your deeply flushed face back at you, letting you watch your own chest rise and fall after having watched all that.

"Understand now sweet thing, I'll be seeing you soon. Oh and wear that dress for me, I would hate to leave you without your clothes when I take you back to the castle with me..."

[cake-writes]

Drift (Part One)

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Story Warnings: Age Gap (not huge because Reader’s in her early 20s but it’s very present), slight DD/lg undertones (no D/s dynamics), Borderline Personality Disorder (Reader), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Bucky), Fluff, Slow Burn, Violence, Angst, Eventual 18+

Exerpt: It does feel kind of nice, having him look after you like this – having a more experienced agent take care of you. If you weren’t so completely fucked up right now, you’d be mortified. It’s your first mission, for one, and for two, you barely know him. Hell, you still call him Mr. Barnes, but here he is, saying honey and sweetheart to make you feel a little better.

A/N: my hand slipped 💀

You’re fresh. Green. Not yet a ‘real’ woman, but no longer a girl; somewhere in that topsy-turvy place in between where you’re still unsure of yourself and your purpose in life. You haven’t yet had the success that comes along in your twenties because you’ve been too wrapped up in your studies, too wrapped up in academic achievements to focus on other things. 

And because of that, you haven’t been exposed to real failure. Not really. Not yet.

A new recruit, straight out of the Academy. Top marks in all of your classes. Excellent in theory, untested in practice. Training only. It makes sense that you’re a prime candidate to poach for the compound, but you’re still so young.

Too young. Innocent. Incorruptible.

At first, anyway. It doesn’t last long.

Your first mission breaks you in – shatters your wrist and your confidence when you get a taste of real failure. It’s nothing like a bad grade on a test, nothing like the embarrassment of getting too drunk in public, but tangible, acrid, dark. The taste burns acidic on your tongue, a bitter contrast to those sweet childhood dreams you’ve been chasing since you were a little girl. 

Cotton candy justice.

Now you’re in limbo, drifting away with the chilly spring breeze. The stars shine brightly overhead, and you stare up at them, dazed and confused and no longer sure of your place in the world.

There’s the Southern Cross. How pretty. How unfamiliar.

What country are you in again?

Bucky swears low and rough over comms, but you hear his voice sound from a few yards away, too. You don’t bother to turn your head because he’s already at your side, kneeling down beside you, snapping his fingers in front of your sight line. “Come on. Hey. Look at me.”

Unfocused. Unresponsive.

The moon’s full tonight and so, so bright. You just can’t look away.

“Shit,” he swears again, a little louder this time. “Agent down. Conscious but unresponsive.” A brief pause as he checks for a pulse on the dead body at your feet. “She already took out our target.”

“Looks like the new girl’s got some skills,” comes Sam’s wry joke crackling in your earpiece. “Headed your way with evac.”

You want to laugh, but all you can focus on is the coppery tang of blood in your nostrils. It’s not yours. You shot the target of this mission at point blank, but not before he snapped your wrist like a twig trying to wrestle your handgun from you. Not before two accidental discharges very nearly cut through your abdomen. Not before he slammed you to the ground – slammed the back of your head into the pavement.

The memory makes you shiver. Or maybe it’s the breeze.

Bucky’s hand comes to rest on the side of your face, then, to offer some semblance of warmth, and your eyelids flutter shut. He feels good. He feels warm.

“Hurry up,” Bucky orders, but he sounds a little more distant, now. “She’s in rough shape.”

Sam says something else on comms, and you don’t quite understand the words anymore. They sound blurry, almost like you’re underwater. 

You’re drifting along, drifting away—

Until Bucky jars you awake with a startling pat to your cheek.

“Hey.” Sharp words draw you back into the present, but they hold none of the bite he uses when addressing Sam. “I need you to stay awake for me.”

A groan bubbles forth from your lips when you somehow manage to pry your eyelids open again. It’s probably the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Your entire body is begging for you to sleep, to rest, to never wake up again.

“Oh, sweetheart, I know,” Bucky murmurs, voice soft with sympathy, smoothing his thumb over your cheekbone. “I know you’re tired. Does anything hurt?”

You mumble something indecipherable; it’s meant to be a ‘no,’ but that’s not how it comes out. Pupils dilate further over half-lidded eyes as you stare up into sudden blackness.

What happened to the stars? What happened to the moon?

With a grunt, you try to move— try to push yourself up in a panic.

Something’s wrong. What happened to the sky?

A whimper escapes your throat when you put pressure on your broken wrist, but Bucky’s quick to put a stop to any unnecessary movements. 

“You’re okay,” he soothes, easing you back down onto the ground and the cold, coarse gravel digs uncomfortably into your back. “You’re doing great. Just stay still, okay?”

“I can’t—” Things are starting to feel a little less blurry, now.  “The stars—”

A gasp for air. A stuttered breath. 

Panic.

“Breathe,” Bucky reminds you, but when your breathing only goes shallower, he adds gently, “Here. With me.”

His deep breath prompts your own, and after a couple of seconds, he exhales. You can’t help but follow suit, because his presence just commands you to listen. Gentle authority. Another breath and you follow along again, and again, until you’re not hyperventilating anymore. 

You don’t know how long it takes, but it’s like magic. 

Only when you’re sufficiently calmed down does he try for an answer. “What about the stars?”

You’d almost forgotten.

So you blink your eyes open again in search of the night sky, but everything’s still dark.

Panic starts to set in again, and in a fit of desperation, you reach your hand out for something, anything tangible to grasp onto. It’s the one with unshattered bones and unshattered hope, extending towards the sky like you can just turn the lights back on with a switch on the wall.

You can’t. It hurts.

Another breath. In. Out. 

It’s not so calming this time.

Bucky takes that same hand into his and brings it to his chest, where you can feel his steady heartbeat under your palm. It’s soothing. It’s grounding.

It’s not enough.

“I can’t see,” you finally manage in a delicate rasp. “I can’t see anything.”

Bucky’s grip tightens just slightly, and then he’s on comms again. “Damn it, Wilson, still waiting on that evac—”

“Am I— Am I dying?” you ask quietly, and you hear the sound of your own voice in your ear echo through Bucky’s open mic. You don’t sound like yourself at all, but fragile, scared, broken. Like a child. Like a little girl, and that’s exactly how you feel. A sob finally escapes. “I’m— I’m scared, Mr. Barnes—”

“You’re gonna be just fine,” he reassures you, gently, leaning forward to cup your cheek with his free hand. “You’ve got a concussion. Can you remember your training?”

Think back to the Academy. 

Thinking makes your head hurt, though, and you wince. 

Vision loss is a symptom. Memory loss. Drowsiness. Headache.

You let out another whimper, then, as the splitting pain finally makes an appearance; it spreads like wildfire from the back of your head through the rest of your skull, a searing headache that makes your wrist feel like nothing in comparison. Even the memory stings. 

Comms crackles to life again – Sam’s just a couple minutes out, now. “Keep her comfortable,” he instructs. No jokes this time.

As if you could be comfortable—

“Screw you,” you groan in agony, but Bucky’s words echo back: You’re gonna be just fine.

“Let me have a look, okay?”

Bucky’s voice is still so soothing, almost like a velvet blanket lulling you to sleep, and you can’t help but make a sound in the affirmative. He’ll take care of you. It hurts, but you’re not alone.

That’s when he releases you to gently palpate your scalp. It hurts to move, and your arm goes limp without his support; your fingers quickly ball in the fabric of his shirt to keep your hand where it belongs. And then they tighten further, when he locates the very obvious goose egg at the back of your skull.

“There it is,” he mutters, more to himself than to you, but he follows it with, “Don’t worry. We’ll get you out of here soon.”

“But it hurts—”

“I know.” He slowly starts to stroke your hair, meant to distract, to comfort, and it’s effective. “The adrenaline’s worn off, honey. It’s gonna hurt.”

It does feel nice, having him look after you like this – having a more experienced agent take care of you. If you weren’t so completely fucked up right now, you’d be mortified. It’s your first mission, for one, and for two, you barely know him. Hell, you still call him Mr. Barnes, and here he is, saying honey and sweetheart to make you feel a little better. 

You can’t deny that it’s working when you find yourself leaning into his touch.  It still hurts, but this is... tolerable. It might even be nice. 

Just a little.

“I bet you say that to all the girls,” you mumble.

He stills for a moment, but at your insistent tug on his shirt, he continues to stroke your hair – and you sigh.

“Oh... That feels nice.”

It’s a good distraction from the awful pain, too.

“Must not be hurting too bad anymore if you’re making jokes,” he comments after a beat, but he doesn’t stop again. Instead, the next little while passes in near-silence – a pained whine here, a comforting, “shh,” there, until your evac finally arrives.

“What the hell, man,” Sam says in annoyance as he straps you down to a board. “’Rough shape’ my ass. She looks like she got hit by a train.”

“I can still hear you,” you chide, “and I think I look pretty good.”

Another joke, because they both know you can’t see.

Sam snorts. “That’s a good sense of humour, new girl. Don’t lose it.”

The straps stop coming, then, and you tense up in alarm when you don’t know what’s happening – at least until Bucky speaks softly into your ear, “You’re gonna have to let me go now, sweetheart.”

It’s whisper-soft – secretive, almost – and you realize, then, that you’re still holding onto his shirt. You’re too young, too green, so much that you’re holding onto him like a lifeline. 

That’s when the mortification sets in.

Your grip immediately goes slack, and the heat rushing to your face spurs on an even worse headache as the two of them load you onto the Quinjet. The only thing that keeps you awake this time is the stupid banter between them – but knowing Bucky is there is what makes you feel like everything’s going to be alright.

Part Two

[alyss01]

|[Trending]|

[Corpse Husband x GN! reader]

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Genre: fluff (kinda)

Word count: 2.5 K

Requested: no (to request send me a submission, an ask or a message) REQUESTS ARE OPEN

Synopsis: You meet Corpse for the first time after being invited by Sean to a game of Among us. The two of you make quite a good pair in the game and as soon as you close the game and start messaging Corpse privately you check your twitter.

Warnings: violence in among us

A/n: I really didn't know what to write but this seemed like a lot of fun. It was kind of awkward writing it but I hope you don't notice that when reading. I hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

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You were leaning back in your desk chair, you had just finished editing a video to go up on YouTube when you were disturbed by a ping on your phone.

"Are you up for a game of Among us?" Sean was the culprit of your distraction during your well earned break. Not that you minded, the Irish man a great friend of you and a seemingly infinite source of entertainment.

"Idk, are there others I know there as well?" You asked, unsure of wanting to go through the draining process of meeting a bunch of new people and having to worry about first impressions and such.

"A couple. Toast, Sykunno and Felix. Does that sound good?" He responded, you thought for a second, it had been awhile since you streamed and it could definitely be fun.

"I'll be there in 10. Keep the spot open." You messaged back as you closed your phone, and started to set up everything you needed to start the stream.

In the meantime Sean informed the group they could play a quick game with nine people before their fill would arrive.

You kept the intro to your stream quick, posting a quick post on instagram to inform people you were going live.

When you joined the call they seemed to have just finished the game, "Lud, I can't believe you vented in front of me!" You could instantly hear the different voices of your friends fill your ears as they bickered over their last game.

Your little avatar joined the spaceship as the group quieted down. You greeted them cheerfully, "Hi guys!"

Sykunno was the first to greet you as well, he perked up at the sound of your voice, "oh hi Y/n!" You chuckled, "it's been awhile Sykunno."

"Don't steal my simp away like that Y/n." You laughed at Toast's hurtful voice as Sykunno hurried back to denying it. Being more than well aware of the joke it had become it was always fun to tease them about it.

"Sykunno won't know who to simp for now." Felix chuckled as everyone laughed, you were glad to have joined the game, it was already promising to be a fun set of games today.

When you glanced at your chat you could see an arrange of comments flash over the screen, some greeting you, others joking about the comic situation from before yet most kept saying 'wait for it'.

"Hey guys why is my chat being spammed with 'wait for it'? What are you planning behind my back." You were skeptical of the group, knowing full well what they had planned for new comers when they joined in the past. You wanted them to know you wouldn't fall for it but instead of anything you just received laughs in response.

You were confused as ever when Felix spoke up as first, "you don't think they're talking about Corpse, do you?"

This just made you more confused, "Corpse?"

"Wait don't tell me you've never played with Corpse before?" Jack nearly yelled out, and it reminded you why you standardly had him turned down in volume in discord. "Why haven't I forced you to play with him before?!" He continued as the look of confusion only grew on your face. Your chat was going insane as you looked on another screen where discord was displayed, indeed seeing that one of the names in the call was this so called 'Corpse'.

"So uhm, who is Corpse?" You asked somewhat awkwardly, and a deep voice greeted you back.

You were taken by surprise to say the least, Felix comically counting to three before your own voice seemed to return, "assuming that was real, that's one heck of a voice you got there dude." A smile on your face as you continued to look at the screen.

"Yea.. uh thanks?" You could hear the awkwardness in his voice, "I'm sorry, you must get that a lot." You apologized while chuckling as he agreed, "yea, you could say that."

With that settled the game of Among us started. You walked out of cafeteria, followed by Corpse and Sykunno as you did the med scan, Sykunno checking if it was real and doing his own scan after.

Corpse followed the two of you around to cameras where he vented when both you and Sykunno were watching the cameras. His kill in electrical was fast and flawless as he vented back, just in time to see you walk down from the cameras.

You had seen him, he knew that. Yet you didn't run to the button. A devilish smile on your face as you spoke to your chat, "now I'm interested in how his going to play this." Sykunno left cams, and the three of you split from each other to do tasks.

You met up with Corpse once more in admin, as you were scanning your card. The lights went out as you stood at the admin table beside him, who was still faking the task, although it didn't do anything to convince you after what you had seen earlier.

Although you had expected him to kill you right then and there, he didn't. He stayed beside you until the body was reported.

Three people had died so far.

Corpse stayed silent, only speaking when a question was asked. "I was the entire time beside Y/n, they can vouch for me."

You raised your eyebrows as you listened along. He was testing his boundaries. He was testing you.

"He was with me the entire time yes, so that should clear me." You spoke, muting yourself for a second as you talked to your chat, "I'll keep that information for later, he can't kill me now, cause I'm clearing him."

"It doesn't clear you, three people died." Rae spoke up for the first time that meeting, but Corpse was quick to defend you, "If we would've been imposters we would've just double killed twice."

You mouth opened although no words came out. Sykunno backed you up, saying that he cleared you with the med bay scan so both you and Corpse were safe.

"This is actually hilarious." You said as you laughed loudly when the meeting ended. In the end they had skipped because you were still with seven left.

As you walked around the map Corpse trailed you like a puppy, only disappearing once. When you found a body in comms later while walking by you reported it, "it's in comms."

Five people were left. They were one person away from winning.

It wasn't needed for you to reveal your information quite yet, Toast had big brained and figured out that Rae was one of the imposters. Seeing as his evidence seemed accurate enough you voted, and the game didn't end when she was thrown into the vast emptiness of space.

During the next round Corpse disappeared from your side once more, and you left your position. Instead of waiting for him you stood at the button and waited for a few seconds to be sure Corpse had killed before pressing the emergency button.

"Good button." Corpse started and Sykunno agreed. Three people were left.

You smiled as you shifted position, leaning your head on your hand as you watched the screen. "So this button has a reason. We need to vote."

Again both males agreed. "Sykunno remember how you cleared me at med bay the first round?"

"Yes.."

"So then it's Sykunno." Corpse concluded and your confusion was obvious on your camera as you were trying to understand what Corpse was doing.

"Well you didn't check me, so it can definitely be me." Sykunno agreed thoughtfully, and you shifted in your chair, smacking your hands on your desk "Wait what? Sykunno I know it's not you!"

"You were with Corpse the entire game though, and you never cleared me!" He argued back and you failed to see the logic in his words.

"Sykunno I literally saw Corpse vent!" You yelled out, locking your vote into corpse.

This new information seemed to take Sykunno by surprise as well, "wait what? You actually saw him vent? When?"

"First round at cams. I got off earlier than you and Corpse hopped out of the vent after killing someone in electrical, after all that's where the body was found. So after that he followed me around each round." You explained as Sykunno locked in his vote as well.

Corpse didn't say anything before locking in his own vote.

He got thrown out with three votes that round.

You were practically yelled at by both Felix and Jack after not having avenged them by outing Corpse that first round.

It was the second round when the fun really started to happen. Both you and Corpse managed to land imposter this time. You were glad you were muted when you saw the screen with the red letters painted above it, the loud laughing that escaped your throat would've been a dead give away.

You managed to kill two people during that round, both when lights were off. When you shot Sykunno in his head you whispered a silent apology as you self reported his body.

"Okay so who killed my simp?" You spoke as soon as you unmuted yourself in the meeting. Immediately Corpse and Sean went wild, "who killed my best bud?!" Sean immediately followed.

"I swear whoever killed Sykunno won't get away with this." Corpse followed up. Surprisingly enough this pulled any suspicion off the three of you. No one wanted to believe any of you three would actually murder Sykunno.

They shot out Rae for whatever reason that round, although you barely noticed in your laughing fit. You didn't stop laughing after Toast had quite literally said "Y/n, Sean and Corpse have to be clear, otherwise I would've heard Sykunno cry from his room because of the betrayal."

"I'm gonna stalk Y/n. Ain't no way both my best friends are getting murdered." The words that left Sean's mouth in the last seconds of the meeting made you stop laughing.

You followed Sean around, talking to your chat in the meantime, "okay so I'm switching tactics. I'm gonna marinate Sean now."

When the next body was reported you indeed had not left Sean's side. It made the group believe that one of the killers had indeed been thrown out and it also cleared your name.

Now both you and Corpse were cleared, as he had marinated someone the first round and now you also had someone to vouch for you.

"So we got one out just now, otherwise we there probably would've been more people dead." Toast started the meeting when Felix's body was found.

"Or one of the imposters is sitting it out." Hafu continued and immediately they started to debate. With six people left you were ready for a double kill to win.

"I can only vouch for Corpse for round one." Poki spoke up, immediately drawing sus to corpse. There wasn't anything you could do against it so you let it happen, and in the end he got voted out.

His ghost followed you as you walked around. You decided to speedrun the remaining round. You killed Poki first in med bay and vented into security as you walked towards electrical.

If you played this well enough you could put Sean in a 50/50.

Next on your list was either Toast or Hafu. You sliced Toast's neck in comms and when you went to check admin table you could see both Hafu and Sean together in navigation.

You waited for a bit longer before taking the long way through cafeteria, and when you arrived your kill cool down was ready.

You sliced through Hafu's avatar as the screen faded to black and displayed your victory.

The rounds that followed that one were on your end spent as cremated, although they were still a lot of fun. You stayed with Corpse for a large part of it, vouching for each other when you could. More than once that resulted in the both of you being thrown out.

When Corpse left the group you saw that it had been a couple of hours. It was starting to get late for you as well so you too decided to end there. You closed your stream with some last words and got up from your set up as you stretched.

You grabbed your phone as you opened discord, sending a quick message to Corpse, "it was great meeting you! You're one hell of an imposter by the way." You fell backwards on your bed.

Within a minute you got a reply, "likewise, we made a great team." You chuckled aloud. This wasn't what you had planned for the day but it was a lot of fun. You were glad you had joined the game.

"Will you be joining future games as well?" You messaged back, hoping for a positive answer.

"I hope so, it isn't up to me though." You couldn't see Corpses smile through the screen, neither could he see your broad smile as you typed a reply.

"Got it. Rest assured knowing I'll message you as soon as I get the opportunity for anyone to join! No matter what, I hope to see you more often in the lobby." You clicked send as you dropped your phone on the bed. You laughed as you pressed your face in one of your pillows, you could barely believe you just send that.

"Same." The beep from your phone had you grab it as you read his reply, the smile on your face growing brighter.

When you closed discord you could see the massive amount of notifications on twitter. You opened the app, seeing your account swamped with tweets over your stream and the hashtag '#CorpseandY/n' trending.

The tweets ranged from clips from your stream mashed with clips from Corpses stream, to just messages and drawings of scenes of the stream. You recognized your little avatar turning around when corpse vented right in front of you while Corpses avatar was littered with blood splatters in one of the mini comics.

You returned to your chat with him on discord, "have you checked twitter since the start of among us?"

"No, I've gotten a lot of notifications though."

"I recommend you check it." You laughed as Corpse went offline. A couple of minutes later he returned, "we're trending."

"Yup, we are."

[hellowkatey]

Febuwhump Day 14

Prompt: “I didn’t mean it”

Part 2 of Hell in Hoth

Read Part 1 here

Read on AO3

The Ground is My Halt

The Force feels wrong. Obi-Wan wrong. Without explaining himself, Anakin breaks out into a run and Rex reacts instantly. The mouth of the tunnel is just ahead, and as they run the figure of Obi-Wan comes into view. His saber is drawn, arms pulled back in the classic opening position of Ataru, which is the first clue that something is wrong.

The second is their old training bond tightening with such force it nearly makes Anakin trip over himself. Master? He says through the bond, and Anakin's chest tightens.

"Obi-Wan?" he yells, trying to get his attention, but his former master's eyes just widen, and his arms go limp. His lightsaber clatters to the ground, and Obi-Wan follows soon after, his lips moving but nothing that Anakin can make out. "Obi-Wan!"

He grabs Obi-Wan by the shoulders and turns him over so he's lying on his back. "I'm fine," Obi-Wan gasps, his pupils blown and glassy. "I'm okay."

Anakin looks up as Cody comes running. "What happened?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing!" Anakin gripes. Obi-Wan's chest is rising and falling shallowly, wheezing with every breath. "It sounds like his lung collapsed." Anakin slips his hand from behind Obi-Wan's back to get a better grip but the dark red that now stains his glove catches him off-guard.

"Turn him," Rex says, also seeing the blood. They carefully flip a half-unconscious Obi-Wan onto his side, and Anakin draws in a breath at the sight of a quickly spreading stain of blood soaking through his parka. He curses under his breath, grabbing his saber and cutting through the material of the coat. What it reveals makes a new rush of anger slip through.

Pieces of fabric-- pieces of his tunic, it appears, though they are bright red instead of beige now-- hang sloppily off a wound in the center of the right side of his back.

"Why didn't you know about this?" Anakin asks Cody, not bothering to filter his annoyance. It's not the commander he's mad at-- it's his dumbass master who definitely tried to hide this without telling his companion.

"I don't... I don't know, sir," Cody says, muted. Anakin immediately regrets his tone, but he has no time to deal with that. From the blue tinge of his lips, Obi-Wan may not have time.

"We need to get him back to the ship!" He grabs Rex's busted commlink and pulls his own off his wrist. It was also broken in their fall, but Anakin assumes there are enough parts between the four of them to do a quick fix. It takes him only a few minutes to rewire the comlink, using the intact speaker of his and the localizer of Rex's. He hands it back to Rex. "Call for evac."

__________

It doesn't take long for the med unit to reach them in the ice lab. Cody stands out of the way, watching a Kix and Helix carefully load General Kenobi onto a stretcher and strap an oxygen mask across his pale face. Skywalker is pacing, and Rex is running alongside Kix, probably explaining the situation.

That should be me giving the brief, Cody muses, following behind them. I was with him.

Skywalker's harsh tone hit Cody harder than he expected it to. Usually, he is immune to the curt words of the temperamental Jedi, but the intensity he looked at him is what seems to be weighing on him. The slanted stare that is usually directed at their enemies suddenly aimed at him.

He's scared, Cody reminds himself. It's quite obvious that the Jedi aren't always good at practicing what they preach, and the Hero-Without-Fear or whatever the holonet likes to call Skywalker have obviously never met the kid. When it comes to Kenobi or Tano, there is only fear. Understandably so. Even Cody was thrust into a panic when he saw his general crumble. He didn't know if there were enemies hiding somewhere and managed to snipe him, or if the lab had been rigged. But now, the wound was already scantily dressed, and now Cody just keeps racking his brain as to what could have happened.

Why didn't you know about this?

They were falling. The ship became unbalanced and they fell from what felt like one end to the other. Cody knows Kenobi managed to use the Force to cushion his fall, but maybe... maybe he didn't use it for himself?

It sounds preposterous, but a part of him isn't surprised. General Kenobi is well known for having more regard for others than himself. Even when it comes to the clones. No matter how dispensable they are by principle, he never cared. It's why he's so respected, so fiercely beheld by his men.

Cody wonders how they would react if he didn't come back. They're in the evac ship, crowded around the stretcher while Kix and Helix try their best to stuff sterile bandages into the wound. Skywalker stands in the corner, arms crossed and face hardened, but his eyes are unfocused. He is somewhere else entirely right now. Rex puts a hand on Cody's shoulder but says nothing. Cody prefers it that way. If General Kenobi doesn't come back, it would be his fault. He knows that.

Everything happens in a blur. They get back on the ship and General Kenobi is whisked away before the gunship even has a chance to fully land. The urgency of their actions doesn't escape Cody. He watches them solemnly as they disappear in the direction of the medbay.

Focus, he shakes away the thoughts of Kenobi on the operating table. The mission. The lab. A science lab in the middle of Hoth is not something they see every day, and he suspects it can't be for a good reason. The blood was proof enough of that.

Distracting himself will do him some good, The least he can do is his duty. He heads to the bridge to deliver the scan of the lab to report to the Jedi council.

"Commander," a voice rings out hesitantly. Cody stops and turns to see General Skywalker standing a few meters away. He salutes.

"General, what can I do for you?"

Skywalker walks up to him, his eyes seeming to attempt to gauge his emotions, but buckets don't show emotions and Cody is thankful for that.

"What did you find in that tunnel? What was all that?" His tone is more sedate now. More normal but still obviously filled with worry.

"A lab, I believe sir. I'm about to take our findings up for briefing if you would like to join me."

Skywalker nods, and they start walking to the bridge. Cody can feel the strange tension around them-- he doesn't have to be Force-sensitive to pick up on that fact. Maybe Skywalker is still cross with him. Blames him for what happened. Cody looks down at his comm, expecting a blinking light containing an update on Kenobi's condition. His commlink remains stagnant.

"I uh," the general says, quietly at first. "I'm sorry, Cody. I was worried about Obi-Wan and... I didn't mean it."

An apology is not what he expected. Cody looks at him, not exactly sure what to say here. "No apologies, sir, I should have been more vigilant."

Skywalker scoffs. "Now you sound like him. Really, though. It wasn't your fault. He's pulled that stunt on me more than once. I don't know where he got so good at hiding stuff like this."

"I hear it's the secret to becoming a master," Cody says without really thinking about who he is talking to. It's a joke he has with the med crew because of the Jedi's propensity for recklessness-- and now he's just said it to Skywalker. I've been spending too much time around General Kenobi... Cody stiffens, looking at the Jedi Knight expecting a new reason for anger, but instead, he's smiling.

"Didn't realize you had jokes, Commander," he laughs.

"Senses of humor are part of our programming, sir."

It's a pleasant diversion as they reach the bridge. The Jedi council is already on the holo, and Cody's moment of relief is renewed by the many pairs of eyes that now watch him and Skywalker carefully. Cody sets the holoscan into the projector and begins his impromptu presentation of their findings.

__________

When Obi-Wan awakes, there is a tube in his chest and a mask over his face. His body is sore and still feels like it's defrosting. He reaches up to take off the mask, but his goal is stopped by the hand of his former padawan obstructing his pathing.

"Not yet," he says, and Obi-Wan begrudgingly lets his hand fall back to his side. "You are on O2 therapy for another ten minutes."

"What happened?" he asks, his words muffled significantly by the oxygen mask but Anakin seems to pick it up well enough.

"Oh I don't know, why don't you tell me? And while we're at it, we can discuss your field-medic abilities because honestly, Obi-Wan, they're horrendous." Anakin sighs, his emotion deflating. "You had a puncture wound that shattered one of your ribs. It was fine until you irritated it and a piece of your rib punctured your lung and caused some internal bleeding."

"Oh," is all he can say in response. That all sounds about right.

"That's not all," Anakin says. "The lab. We tested the blood on the floor and..." he lets out a deep breath. "It had a midi-chlorian count, Master."

Now Obi-Wan is determined. He reaches up, ignoring Anakin's pleas to leave the mask alone. He needs him to hear this clearly. "We must find Jenna Zan Arbor."

Anakin winces at the name. Rightfully so, she captured and poisoned him with a horrible drug that basically entrapped him within his own mind.

"How do you know?"

He slips the mask down to his chin. There's no point now. "I don't know if it's her or a copycat, but she's done this before," he swallows hard. "On Qui-Gon. Bloodlet him so he would have to use the Force to preserve himself."

Anakin takes a deep, labored breath at that information, sitting back in the chair beside Obi-Wan's bed. His gaze is far away, no doubt in the remembrance of his experience under her spell. Zan Arbor tends to have that effect on them-- suddenly they are padawans once again, trying hard to defeat an enemy that is not so easily beat with the blade of a lightsaber. The worst part of the delusional scientist is that she is cunning. She escaped the prison Obi-Wan helped put her in and has proceeded to evade them ever since.

Obi-Wan puts the mask over his mouth and nose once again, taking a moment to replenish himself.

"So we find her?"

"Yes, I believe that is our next step."

Though neither of them says it, they both know the thoughts of the other: this is not going to be an easy reunion.

[fuckyeahscienceparty]

hey if ur taking requests for writing...., what abt angsty among us idea- reports a body and like.. engie attends and it turns out medic was killed? and then hes heartbroken and really sad and angry at spy for killing medic? obviously u dont have to do this but the among au had me thinking about a ton of angsty scenarios lol. have a good day!!

i'm always takin requests! it may take me a while to get there but i will try my damndest to get it done at some point!

i actually had part of this in my drafts when you originally sent this ask but it's been reason enough to finish it, i think. i hope you like it, even if it's a bit messy :>

-

Per Aspera Ad Astra

In which an imposter experiences the loss of someone he loved and wasn't supposed to.

-

As Dell heard the emergency meeting alarm blare over the intercom and red lights flashed overhead, he looked up from the mass of wires he'd agreed to rearrange for Medic, furrowing his brow.

Odd. Spy hadn't made it clear to him that he was going to attempt anything that day and he knew for a fact that he himself hadn't made any sabotages since last week.

Then again, he'd noticed that this crew in particular had no qualms against using the emergency meeting button for more trivial things. Someone probably just wanted to get everyone's attention to look at some weird space bug that hitchhiked from their last stop on Pollus a few weeks ago or something along those lines. Standard procedure at that point.

He packed up the wires he'd been holding back into their panel before making his way out of electrical and towards the cafeteria, readjusting his goggles over his eyes to make sure nobody would find him out.

When he'd arrived, he could practically physically feel the shift in attitude of the rest of the crew since that morning, mentally noting that Medic was currently the only one of them missing.

"Tex, there you are. You uh. Might want to sit down for this one, lad," Demo said gravely, all the other crewmates' mumbling amongst each other dying down instantly as Spy stood to the side of the table, having said nothing ever since he himeself had arrived.

"Uhm. Sure, ok. Shouldn't we wait for Doc first, though? If it's actually important he should probably be here," He said, a confused smile coming to his face. Demo physcially winced.

"See, that's the thing, it's. It's Doc, he's..." Demo trailed off, Sniper moving to put a hand on his shoulder.

"He's?..." Engie frowned, having to take a moment before he realized what he'd meant.

It took another moment for the dread to set in.

"No. No, that- that's impossible, I- I just saw him like 30 minutes ago. I agreed to do one of his tasks for him while he finished cleaning the medbay so we could finish up for the day," He stuttered, looking anxiously between all the other faces at the table. None of them could meet his gaze even through his goggles, Spy in particular insisting on staring out the large window that peered into the vastness of space around them instead.

...Spy.

Spy said he wouldn't touch him- said he'd let him find a way to deal with all of this effectively and without having to kill this particular crew. Especially Medic. He said- no, he promised he wouldn't.

Engie's anger soon started bubbling inside of him, tightly clenching his fists that he oh so desperately wanted to sucker punch a certain other imposter in the face with. But then came the second realization of what he'd done and he felt his arms go slack again.

Medic was dead.

"...Where is he?" He finally whispered out, somewhere between heartbroken and seething.

"Medbay. Demo, Sniper, and I called for the meeting as quick as we could and did not get the chance to move his. Corpse," Soldier said, standing up straight and visibly uneasy at the mentioning of Medic's dead body.

Engie slowly nodded.

"Ok. Did you fellas, uh. Did- did you contact Pollus yet?"

"Not yet. I was gonna after the meetin's over. 's gonna take us a while to get there tho, at least 2 weeks," Scout said.

"I see. Did you three uh. Did you see anything?" Engie asked Demo, Sniper, and Soldier, all of them shaking their heads.

"Pyro, Heavy, 'n Scout were on comms because they were finished with tasks already and all three of 'em say they didn't see anyone go into Medbay after you left."

"...what about you, Spy? Been awfully quiet the entire time. And you don't have an alibi," Scout squinted. Spy scoffed.

"I was also finished with tasks, I've been in my quarters for at least 2 hours. You can even roll back footage on the cameras."

Pyro pressed a button on their suit, the small speaker on their chest panel letting out a soft 'kshh'.

"...he does have a point. Cams don't lie."

"What if he used the vents, though?"

"You really think this pansy's gettin' in any vents?"

"...Aight, fair point."

"I do not think we have enough information to make decision," Heavy sighed, every looking to each other in a vague sense of agreement.

"Skip vote, then?"

"Yeah, I think that's for the best."

"Alright lads, be on alert, then. If you see anythin' suspicious, y' know where the button is," Demo sighed, patting the plastic cover that protected the emergency meeting button.

Everyone mumbled out affirmations before getting up to head out, Pyro staying behind to raise their hand.

"Ay, what is it, Py?"

Kshh. "...who's taking care of uh. Y'know. The body."

Engie squeezed his eyes shut briefly.

"I'll do it."

"Tex, no, we couldn't ask you t-"

"Demo, it's fine. I'm not a child, you don't need to baby me. I can deal with it."

"If you're so sure..."

"It's fine. Really. You go make sure everyone else is doin' ok, lord knows they'd need it," Engie smiled softly, giving Demo a pat on the arm.

Demo's eyes still showed worry but he nodded, reciprocating the gesture before hurrying into the direction of nav where everyone else went.

Spy turned to leave but Engie stopped him, shifting his goggles back to his forehead.

"...Why did you do it?" He asked softly. He could've sworn that he saw the slightest break of stoicism on Spy's face but perhaps it was just the awful fluorescent lighting of the cafeteria playing tricks on him.

"You were taking too long. It was getting risky for us to be here. I thought it better to end it sooner rather than later," He said, any trace of emotion leaving as quickly as it came as he turned his head. Engie had no response.

"Remember what they did to us. To you. Just because one treated you kindly does not mean others will."

Silence.

"...Don't sabotage anything tonight. They'll get suspicious. Be prepared to leave this ship in a week's time, without the Medic they'll fall apart. Do I make myself clear?"

Still nothing. Spy frowned.

"I said, do I make myself clear, Dell?" He asked again, not even bothering to mask the threatening tone in his voice this time.

Engie squeezed his eyes shut again.

"...Yes. Yes, you do."

"Very well. I will see you in the morning," He said, moving so that Engie's hand no longer rested on his shoulder and starting to make his way to hallway that led to crew's personal quarters.

Spy paused to look back, a feeling that could almost be described as pity overcoming him. He sighed.

"...Get over it. You only knew him for less than 8 months, anyways," He said softly before leaving Engie alone, footsteps echoing against the metal floors of the ship.

When he felt he was ready, Engie made his way to the Medbay with full expectations of what he would find there.

He just. Didn't expect it to hurt so much.

Medic's body lay on the floor in between the scanner and the large computer it was attached to, his normally bright cyan suit soaked in red and a sizable gash made into his back. There was a broken test tube that had fallen out of his hand a little ways away and one of the lensed of his glasses had been cracked, most likely from the impact of falling onto the floor.

Engie took in a deep breath before carefully sitting him up against the nearest wall, preparing himself to find something to clean up the blood that hadn't managed to be absorbed into his space suit.

He wasn't used to Medic being so.. quiet. Lifeless, if you would. He couldn't remember a single time he'd felt a pain in his chest as intense as this.

It was then that his anger suddenly came back, barely being able to contain himself before he turned around and ended up making a decently large crack in the monitor.

He tried to control the emotions that came flooding after, tried to keep himself from feeling this way over this one human when he'd aided the destruction of countless others, but when he felt himself shaking, he fell to his knees, a sob escaping him.

He shouldn't have gotten attached. He shouldn't have, it wasn't like him- like an imposter to get attached, and yet here he was, crying on the Medbay floor as blood soaked into his already red suit and glass shards clinked against the desk as they fell off piece by piece.

Serves him right for believing in humans, he guesses. Serves him right for having the audacity to care.

...what a stupid decision, that was.

[saiilorstars]

It Had To Be You

Ch.18: Fallout // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

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Chapter Summary: Belén and Barry finally get to go on their first date together and from there on, they start to realize how much they actually need each other. It especially rings true when Barry makes a discovery about the night his mother died.

The night was young and Central City was busy as ever. Everyone was busy. In a local liquor store there was a young man aiming a gun at a poor girl behind a cash register.

"Give me the money and maybe you get to live!" the man ordered the sobbing girl who scrambled to get the money out of the register.

There was a strong force of wind that knocked open the door of the liquor store...and shattered one side of the glass display.

"Sorry about that!" A woman in a white and black one-suit quickly exclaimed. Her black heeled boots clinked against the floor as she walked up, her white cape doing a small 'whoosh' noise at the same time. "Please, ignore the cape - it wasn't my idea."

"Hey I thought it was a great idea!" Cisco was quick to defend himself over the comms. "The Incredibles didn't make sense on that matter, honestly."

Behind Nina Clarke's black mask, she rolled her eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" the thief in the store demanded.

"The Tempest," Nina still couldn't get over the name Cisco branded her with, but it kind of had a killer vibe to it. She thrust a hand forwards and with her great wind knocked the thief - along with the cashier girl - down.

"You weren't supposed to knock the girl down, Nina," came Cisco's light scold.

"Sorry!" Nina flew over the counter and picked up the girl. "But you're alright," she assured the blonde.

"Get the thief, Nina!" Cisco exclaimed.

"Oh, got it!" Nina smiled at the girl and rushed to collect the thief on the floor.

After dropping the thief at the CCPD, Nina continued to be on the look out for more attention-needng situations. Peace lasted for about five minutes before Cisco warned her there was an ongoing speed chase across from her location. With a great big sigh, she soared up into the sky and made to follow. With her extraordinary wind power, she was able to force the criminals' car to stop on a swerve. She was just handing over the criminals to the policemen when Cisco announced there was a suicidal situation not too far from her point.

"You're killing me!" Nina complained but once again stormed up into the sky. "I thought I was supposed to practice in the training area. I just think you're keeping me out there so you have something to do back at STAR. Labs."

Cisco took that with mild offense as he bit off a red liquorish. "Not true," he said calmly. He was alone in the lab but couldn't be more comfortable. Caitlin was having her own dinner with her new, not-dead fiance and probably catching up. Professor Stein had been taken home yesterday and so far, everything was well. No one questioned the explosion that happened two days ago on account of the army declaring it a 'nuclear test'. Although that only meant they would soon be coming to them to really investigate.

Nina rolled her eyes and without giving the jumper on a building's roof a warning she swooped down and grabbed him by the arms. She lowered him down until they were close to Eddie who had been in charge of the scene. "Please don't let him back up there," she told him.

"Who are you?" Eddie took possition of the jumper, eyeing Nina nonetheless.

"The Tempest. I'm just here to help," Nina smiled.

"Where's the Flash?"

"...busy."

Confused, Eddie then asked, "What about the Azalea?"

"Busy too."

"With what?"

Nina swayed her head. "With dates…" With that, she soared into the sky again.

~ 0 ~

"Okay-" Belén rushed into her room where Maritza and Axel were plopped on her bed, "-how's this one?" She stopped in front of her long mirror and patted down her dark scarlet, mid-length dress. She turned back and waited for her sister's opinion.

"It's too...plain…" Maritza concluded after a long sway of head.

Belén sighed, letting her hands drop. "Really?"

"Yes, I think you can make a better impression," Maritza smirked.

Blushing, Belén went back to her closet and started looking yet again for a new outfit.

~ 0 ~

Barry sped up and down the stairs with new outfits for Joe to see. Wearing a long white, button up shirt with a gray vest and dark jeans, he awaited for Joe's opinion. Joe read off a newspaper and gave a thumb's up after one glance, but he was clearly over the situation. Not even Iris put so much thought into clothes like this. Changing his mind again, Barry shook his head and went back to his room. By the time he came back for one more opinion Joe had switched to work.

Without even looking up, he dead seriously warned, "If you change one more time, I'm gonna shoot you."

With a big breath released, Barry sped back up the stairs to hopefully find the right clothes that wouldn't require a second opinion. When he finally returned - at a normal pace - downstairs, Iris was just coming in from a day at work. Soon as she saw him, her lips stretched out into one of her signature smirks.

"There he is..." she began.

"Please don't," he decided to beg even though it was futile.

"Now you treat her nice-" she came up to him and pretended to adjust his blazer, "-and try to keep your dorky jokes at a minimum, you're not that funny."

"Iris-" he rolled his eyes.

"And make sure, for the love of God, not to talk so much about science," she gripped his blazer's lapels, face scrunched, "It's not interesting."

With a smirk, Barry pried her fingers off him and responded with, "I'll have you know she likes when I talk about science."

Iris laughed as he went around her to the door.

~ 0 ~

Belén returned to her bedroom in a new outfit, already weary of so many she had gone through. However, the moment she walked in Maritza gasped and loudly.

"That one! Oh, that's pretty!"

Belén sprinted up to her mirror and studied herself. She patted down the shiny, silver skirt and tilted her head. "You think so?"

"Definitely," Maritza gave a thumbs up. "If you want a guy's opinion let's ask Axel." At the sound of his name, Axel looked up from the tablet Maritza had given him. "Axel what do you think of Auntie Belén's clothes?"

"Pretty!" He cheered. "Are you going to a party?"

"You look really good, Belén, honest," Maritza assured as Belén had turned back to her mirror and stared at herself unsure of her decision.

"You think?" Belén eyed herself up and down, trying to find even the most minuscule flaw before she had to leave. A black laced, long sleeved blouse was tucked under her shiny, fold-over, silver skirt.

"Oh yes," Maritza got up from the bed and walked up behind her younger sister. "But if I say we do something like this with your hair," she grabbed Belén's hair and moved it up into a high pony tail, leaving some strands to frame Belén's face. "Show a little more shoulder," she laughed at Belén's blush. Because Belén's black laced blouse was indeed an off-the-shoulder type but with her hair down, it wasn't really noticeable.

"Mar, it's just a date. I..." Belén saw her sister's smirk in the mirror and laughed. "Oh my God, it's just a date - nothing else is going to happen but a date!"

"Hey, I am not judging," Maritza let go of Belén's hair to raise her hands. "But, I mean, don't be scared to show off your best features."

"Do you know how many jokes there are about my legs?" Belén turned around and gestured to her legs. "Cisco can't get over them."

"Well...you do have nice legs..." Maritza said briefly.

"Yes, thank you," Belén turned back to her mirror. She shifted from one side to the other, and Maritza nearly lost it when Belén raised her hair into a pony-tail. "Shut up!"

Maritza just couldn't help herself.

"Auntie Belén, are you going to a party?" Axel looked up after his mother had returned to the bed.

"No, sweetheart, I'm...I'm just going to have dinner with Barry," Belén gave the boy a smile through the mirror as she picked up her hair. Maritza still giggled here and there.

"Why can't you have dinner here?" Axel asked. "We could watch a movie too! Oh! Can we watch Toy Story!?"

"Maybe another time, Axel," Maritza patted her son's shoulder. "Your auntie just wants to spend some time alone with Barry." Belén couldn't help her blush as she did her hair. She was going to spend some time alone with Barry. Sure she'd spent time with him but as friends and they were usually training. This would be so different. They were going to have dinner together, probably somewhere romantic. They were going to possibly hold hands...maybe kiss.

Belén's eyes widened at that idea. Kiss? Kiss. She might be kissing Barry tonight. That...that might be fun. Might? the voice in her head scoffed at her. It will be fun. A deep warmth filled Belén's cheeks the more she thought about it.

However, she was pulled out of those thoughts when the doorbell rang. Axel looked up from his tablet, excited suddenly. "Ding-dong!"

Maritza laughed as her sister scrambled to get her purse and small-heeled black shoes from under the bed. "Have a nice time!" Maritza was able to call out before Belén slammed the door of the room and ran to answer downstairs.

Taking a deep breath and collecting herself, Belén stepped outside to the front porch where Barry awaited her. He nervously stood there, in a white buttoned-up shirt and black tie, matching with a black blazer and dark pants.

"You're on time," Belén said to him, still mildly surprised.

"Yes I am," Barry proudly agreed. "I had a purpose this time!"

"Aw, and was I that purpose?"

"Yes!" Barry awkwardly fumbled with a single Azalea in his hand.

Belén gasped and reached for it. "Please tell me this was for me because it's really, really, cute!"

"Y-yes," Barry nodded, quickly allowing her to take it. "Is it dumb? I thought about getting a full bouquet, but then I thought that was weird-"

"They sell bouquets now?" Belén raised her eyebrows. "I grow mine in the backyard because it's so difficult to find them in the stores."

"You haven't seen them yet?"

"Seen…?"

"Flower stores are selling them for the Azalea now. Fresh every day!"

"No way! Seriously!?"

"Yeah, I can take you tomorrow if you'd like…?"

"Yes, please!" Belén neatly tucked the flower behind her ear and smiled. "Ta-da!"

"You look wonderful," Barry said, looking her over.

"Thanks, and you look handsome yourself," Belén said as she took his offered arm and began walking towards the sidewalk. She then clearly looked him over, admiring his casualness yet dressed-up appearance. "I don't think I've seen you all dressed up," she laughed.

"Christmas?" Barry tried to be casual and not act like he was beginning to match the color of his Flash suit.

"Right," Belén said thoughtfully. "It's kind of fuzzy to be honest, considering all that happened. Please tell me I didn't wear a Christmas sweater…"

"No, no, you looked hot," Barry said without thinking. He nearly had a heart attack and began stuttering for a plausible excuse. "I-I meant, you know...s-scientifically...speaking…"

It was a bit difficult trying to swallow down her laugh as she stopped walking to face him. "Scientifically speaking?"

"Ah...aha," Barry nodded. He looked at her knowing fully well he was now definitely matching the redness of his Flash suit.

Rather slyly, Belén stepped closer to him and looked up at him. "And what does 'scientifically speaking' mean exactly?"

"U-uh...well, you know, there's a basis in science for, um...for every emotion," Barry began, thinking of something smart to say, hopefully to impress her at the least, "Impression, and, um, and awe…and like…"

"But as a scientist, don't you guys like...not believe in anything that involves attraction?" Belén raised one eyebrow.

"Well, I-I…" Barry slowly answered. He was transfixed with her perfume scent he suddenly got a whiff due to their closeness. She smelled like sweet jasmine flowers.

"So then what happens when you actually like someone?" Belén asked, actually curious of the matter. "Is it just chemicals for you? How do you explain it?"

"It cannot be science," Barry released a breath after a moment. He upheld her look and realized how crazy beautiful her eyes were when they were filled with curiosity. "At all."

"Ooh, nice answer," Belén laughed but nonetheless blushed.

Barry smiled down at her and mumbled something about a place to eat - nothing Chinese of course.

~ 0 ~

"Oh, spicy!" Belén nearly dropped the portion of food she had eaten off her fork. But even as she chewed it was harder not to spit it all out.

From across the table, Barry tried not to laugh at her. "Bells, just spit it out." She shook her head. "Here-" he reached for a napkin and held it out for her.

Defeated, Belén took it and returned the mighty spicy chicken into it. "Well that's unlady-like," she said with heavy embarrassment. "I'm so sorry." Here they were in a lovely restaurant with good food and she begins to ruin it by spitting out food.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Barry assured her, amused as she took a long sip of her drink. "Not a fan of spicy food, then?"

"Mmm, not exactly," Belén said afterwards, the redness on her face fading as she calmed. "I can handle Azalea poison, apparently, but I lose it at spices."

"I didn't know that…"

"Now you do, I guess."

Barry agreed, and then suddenly realized, "I don't think we know much about each other, actually."

In the beginning it was easy to tell Belén thought he was crazy but the more she considered it the more she realized he was sort of right. "I guess we've been busy that...we never actually stopped to get to know each other. Although we do have lots of history now. Question for a question?"

"Ladies first," Barry motioned for her to go ahead.

"Okay, um..." Belén got to thinking for a second, "Have you traveled anywhere before?"

"Besides Star City?" Barry asked, already smiling of embarrassment because that was answer was going to be a big fat 'nowhere'. He was that lame. "And the occasional speed ins for food?"

"Yes," she chuckled. "I mean a proper vacation outside of your boundaries."

"Nowhere - I have never gone anywhere."

"Not even with your family?"

"No," Barry got to thinking about his time with his parents and couldn't remember a vacation outside of Central City. Joe had always been pretty busy after it was him living with Joe and Iris. "What about you? Traveled anywhere interesting?"

"Well, I have family in Italy - from my Dad's side - so I've been there a couple times."

"You've been to Italy?"

"Yeah..."

"Like...Italian Italy?"

Belén laughed. "I don't think there's any other Italian place, Barry."

Barry cleared his throat, embarrassed once more. "Right."

"What's your question?"

"I already asked you mine..."

"No, you just turned my question back to me. C'mon, ask me something," Belén reached for her drink and took a small sip from it.

"Will I ever be able to see those videos you promised of your aerial dancing days?"

"Um..."

"You have to answer," Barry warned once he saw her attempt to eat up some more to avoid answering. "You once said you would-"

"Well, that was before you asked me out!"

"What!? What's that gotta do now!?"

Belén put her fork down and playfully huffed. "You were a friend, I could mess around like I do with Cisco. Now...I'm a little more self-conscious. What if you think I'm bad but you don't want to say it?"

Barry leaned over the table, fairly amused. "I don't think so. I bet you were crazy talented at it. Won't you show me one little ten-second video?"

Belén shrugged slowly, "I...guess we can, sometime." Barry smirked and went back to eating. "My turn! Is it true you tried to take up boxing when you were little?"

Barry almost dropped his fork, making her giggle. "I'm gonna need you to stop talking about me with Iris."

"So it is true!"

"Joe was teaching us and-"

"-Iris kicked your ass-"

"Stop talking about me with her!"

Belén laughed. "How old were you?"

"I don't know, eleven? I don't know," the speedster gave a shrug of his shoulders, eyes looking down at his plate.

"I bet you were cute trying to hold up the gloves," she mimicked with balled fists, managing to elicit a little smile back. "I'm asking for pictures-"

"No you are not," Barry pointed his fork at her. She had to laugh again and it only faded when she got some looks from a nearby table. "My turn," Barry reminded, although slightly more serious now. "And you don't have to answer if you really don't want to, but..."

Belén's eyes slightly widened as she realized the topic of the conversation. "You want to know about my change…"

"Look, I know it's a delicate matter for you, but I want to be there for you and to do that I need to know about it. I promised you I wouldn't say anything and I've kept it."

"This isn't a matter of whether or not I trust you," Belén clarified, "It's just...it's embarrassing."

"But see that's what I disagree with most, Bells. You have these extraordinary powers and there's a side you don't want to use because it's not aesthetically pleasing to you?"

"It's hard, alright? There you go-" she gestured to him, "-clad in leather with a handsome face, being a hero. Now imagine me, going out there in a form that's all green and...scaly…"

"And being a hero," Barry finished for her. "Green or not, you are pretty, you are fantastic."

"That's very sweet for a first date," Belén smiled softly.

"This isn't because we're on a date. It's me, Barry, trying to make my friend, Belén, see how unfair she's being to herself," he didn't know if it was too early or awkward but he reached across the table and took her free hand. "Because I don't like it when you are upset."

The words left an odd feeling in Belén's stomach, but she knew it was a good one. He looked so sincere that all she wanted to do was get up and hug him. But, was that too forwards on the first date? She wasn't sure. She settled for words. "You are so sweet," she whispered. And at that moment she was so sure this is the place she wanted to be at, with Barry. Looking down a moment, she took an ounce of courage and began to speak slowly, quietly too. "It was...weird, at first. I mean, things were really weird for me in the beginning because I didn't have help. There were moments where I felt like I wasn't going to be able to hold in the change so I had to...run...make any excuse to be on my own."

"The change came with no pattern?" asked Barry, intending on being the utmost analytical in order to be able to help her.

"Well, I think it has to do with my emotions," Belén bit her lip. "I started noticing that whenever I felt unusually stressed my hand…" she started flexing her left hand like it was going to happen to her right then, "...it would start changing green. It was all sorts of emotions. Sometimes I was just stressed from classes, or from work. Other times one of my friends would piss me off. Then, there were other times where...I felt scared." She paused, looking distant in memories. "Usually I was scared. There were so many things changing and I couldn't understand anything."

"Why didn't you tell anyone at STAR Labs?" Barry had to ask again.

"Many reasons," Belén sheepishly smiled. "At first, things were focused on you, being in your coma. I didn't want to take away any time that could help you. Then, when things got a little...less stressed, I started to get to know them - Cisco, Cait, and Dr. Wells. I was embarrassed." She certainly wasn't going to include the fact going on a date with Cisco made it even more difficult to come clean about herself. That wasn't first date topics.

"And what about me? You didn't feel comfortable with me?" Barry tried his best not to look nor sound judgmental. He was determined to hear her out and provide comfort and hopefully solutions for her.

"Well…" Belén made a face that Barry just had to laugh at a little. "You were complex, alright?" She said and began to pick at her plate with her fork. "In the beginning you were just Iris' adoptive brother, a guy I happened to meet."

"And afterwards?" Now slightly more curious of the answer, Barry leaned on the table.

Belén smiled, her face warming as she explained. "You became a goddamn mess in my life."

"Oh-" Barry faked an offended face, "-thanks. That's just...great. Yeah."

Belén giggled and picked up her glass to take a drink. "Your fault for embedding yourself into my life. You decided to help me as the Flash, remember? You started this."

"Not true," Barry crossed his arms. "You started it when you helped Iris look after me in my coma."

"Well, you started it when you told Iris you'd help me with my article so ha! I win!" Belén exclaimed, and rather loudly that she got several looks from other tables. "Oops," she said after a moment, looking at her plate with a red face.

Barry leaned back on his chair and with a very wide smile stared at Belén, and a part of him struggled not to laugh. "So…" he began again, and still mildly embarrassed she looked up, "...what if, you let me help you now?"

"Barry, I don't want anyone to know," she said quietly.

"Between us," clarified Barry. "Just us. No one else."

That seem to make Belén relax a little, but, not entirely understanding, she questioned it. "How's that?"

"I think it would be good to see what sort of abilities this 'change' allows you to do. Maybe it could even help with the abilities you already have. And, Bells, it's always good to make sure your emotions don't run your powers. You run them, not the other way around."

"I don't know…"

Barry reached for one of her hands on the table and looked her in the eyes. "It's okay to be scared, but this time you wouldn't try to handle them alone. I will be there, and I will help you if you need it."

The weight of his words settled on her and the only thing she thought at the moment was of relief. She didn't even question it, she loved it. "O-okay…" she shakily nodded, "Small steps?"

"Absolutely," Barry nodded. "Trust me?"

A smile spread across Belén's lips as she considered those words. "Trust you, Barry Allen? Story of my life."

~ 0 ~

Strolling down the city park, Belén listened to Barry tell a fascinating (or at least that's what she made it look like) story about one of his failed science experiments from when he was in middle school. The truth was, she had never seen someone talk so passionately about a middle school science project like Barry was. It was endearing.

"And I actually thought making sun prints would be easier but I ended up using the wrong sort of paper - well, Joe got me the wrong ones." Barry rambled on and on, hands in his pockets. "See, cos you need a special kind of sheet so that the print can be made. Although, you do have to dunk the object you were using into water so you can…" He glanced at Belén who was looking up at him with a wide smile, and suddenly he flushed. Iris' words about not talking about science came back to him. "This is...not the sort of talk for a first date, huh?" A light chuckle escaped Belén's mouth as she looked away. "Yeah, total dork." Barry released a large sigh and a mild blush of red.

"No, it's adorable!" Belén laughed and, with his help, got up on the park's fountain. She slowly walked along the ledge while holding onto Barry's arm just in case she slipped.

"But it's boring, and boring is not what I'm aiming for tonight."

"Aw, don't get upset," Belén stopped walking and turned to face him. "It's adorable, okay? How have you not been snatched up already?" she chuckled while Barry awkwardly fumbled with his words. "I mean, you're incredibly intelligent, you're cute, you're so sweet. What's the problem?"

Barry rubbed the back of his head, feeling more embarrassed than earlier. "I...I don't know? It just hasn't happened yet."

"Really? So what about that Clara girl I heard about?" Belén crossed her arms, pretending to be serious.

"I hate Iris," Barry flatly said. He shook his head and shed a little bit of light for her to understand. "Sometimes, it's just been me not going for it. But...you know, for a lot of my childhood and teen years it's been difficult getting through when everyone recognizes you as the kid who's dad murdered your mom."

Belén's eyebrows rose in surprise, no longer playful of the subject. "Oh Barry, I'm so sorry. I...I didn't think…"

"It's fine, you wouldn't have thought about it, I get it." Barry quickly said, definitely not wanting this date to turn gloomy, and yet the more he spoke the harder it became to shrug it off. "It's not so much the issue right now, because it's been a long time since the case, but back then everyone knew who I was. No one except Iris would want to be around me."

"That must have been terrible…" Belén whispered. She noticed Barry purposely trying to avoid her gaze, despite being close. She wanted to make him feel better, but...what words of comfort could she say to someone who experienced all that he had? It was plain awful. Do what you do best, be weird. She put on a smile and spoke, "When I was little, I used to hide inside refrigerators as a game."

The reaction was almost instant. Belén laughed as Barry tried to process what he'd heard, his eyes widening then squinting with confusion was just too funny. "What!? You did what!?"

"I used to hide inside refrigerators when I played hide and seek with my brother," Belén repeated, her laughter turning into a series of giggles. "Rayan could never find me."

"Well - yeah, I would think he couldn't! Who hides inside fridges!?" Barry exclaimed.

Belén's hand shot high in the air. "Right here!"

"Belén - what?" Barry couldn't help laughing too. "You're...you're just..." Belén lowered her hand and cheerfully smiled. Barry stared at her, his own smile softening. He reached to touch her cheek and felt her warm blush under his fingers. His mind flashed back to the night they had returned from their unplanned karaoke night with Caitlin. Belén had looked just as pretty then as she did now...and he wanted to kiss her now just as much as he had before.

He leaned forwards only a bit, stopping to see how Belén reacted, maybe she would stop him? It appeared not. She seemed entranced; her eyes flickered between his eyes and lips. A good part of her was impatiently waiting for Barry to just kiss her already, but since he was slow - the irony - she did it herself.

She kissed him and felt that sense of desire finally quenched. Barry felt the same; he savored it. His fingers once again came to rest over her cheeks, stroking her skin in circles even when they broke apart. They shared one look and smiled at each other. At the same time, their eyes lowered once again to each other's lips and made it clear - without actually saying a word - it was not over. This time Barry kissed her first. Belén was all too happy for a second one and let Barry feel it when she smiled through their kiss. Barry wrapped his arms around Belén's waist and slowly pulled her off the fountain's ledge to hold her closer to him.

Belén was bright pink on the face when she pulled away, but no one could take her smile away. Barry cleared his throat, fumbling to come up with something good to say after that but as luck would have it...he had nothing but stutters.

"The girls missed their chance because now I'm snatching you up," Belén beat him to it again. She leaned on him, grinning from ear to ear. "Is that alright with you?"

The same grin covered Barry's face. "Definitely."

~ 0 ~

The next day, Belén reported for work in her most cheery mood ever. She walked over to her desk and put down her purse. Just as she was about to start on her work, she Noah and Mason stopped by. "I'd say good morning but I think it's about to change," she said directly towards Mason. "Morning, Noah," she purposely greeted the younger colleague with a smile.

"Don't be mad," Noah chuckled, coming closer to her. "But Mason had a really good idea for a next story."

Belén once again suspiciously looked at Mason. "You're not our mentor."

"It's an interesting one you definitely want to look into," Mason said, quite sure of himself as he put down a blueprint on her desk.

Belén's eyes flickered between the blueprint and Mason. "Um, why is there a blueprint of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator on my desk?"

"To help the story," Mason said like it were obvious and that she should have seen it before.

"Do you actually know anything about physics?"

"Not a thing. Might as well be in Dothraki."

"So then what the he'll are you doing?" Belén dreaded to ask the two men.

"Belén, he's just doing his job," Noah replied. "Maybe there's a little more we don't know about yet."

"I can guarantee you we do," she picked up the plans and rolled it up as if it were a scroll then held it for Mason to take it back.

"What's your reasoning?" Mason challenged.

Belén knew it was best if he didn't know about her good knowledge of STAR Labs or she would never get rid of him. "Dr. Wells said he was warned of disasters. The story finished there and then."

"Yeah. Why do you think he did that?"

"Because he's a good person?"

"Is he?"

"I happened to know of a person - specifically Iris' - friend that was saved because of this lab. So, excuse me, but we're done here." With her hands, Belén shooed him away. Afterwards, she sharply looked to Noah. "That is the last time I want to hear about this."

Noah smiled a fake smile and left. But as he turned away he showed his true feelings- anger. He, like Mason, knew there was something very differently going on in that building. It was why he offered himself for the story, despite having a different mentor. Perhaps if Belén realized how twisted STAR Labs was she would learn where her true place was.

"Hey," Iris greeted Belén just as she plopped down on her desk chair. She cast a suspicious look at Mason with his rolled up blueprints. "What was that about?"

Belén shook her head and hands to signal she didn't even want to go into that subject again. "Useless stuff. I'm sorry that guy is your mentor."

"He's not that bad," Iris shrugged, by now used to Mason's behavior.

"Oh no, he's bad," Belén shook her head again then leaned back on the chair. "My first day he said to me, and I quote, 'You are a talentless twat'."

"More or less what he said to me," Iris mused, taking a seat on the edge of Belén's desk. "I guess that's just his way of greeting newbies."

"I could have done without that type of greeting," Belén shook her head but then took a moment to remember she was not going to let anyone, including Mason, bring her down. Things were just too good right now.

Iris couldn't read minds, but with the big grin on Belén's face, she could almost pass as one. "Soo...I fell asleep before Barry came home..." Belén cleared her throat and tried to focus on turning on her computer. "What happened?" Iris didn't hesitate to sit herself on Belén's desk and wait for the story to be told. "Was it fun? Did he talk a lot about science because I told him not to-"

"He-" Belén cut her off with a small chuckle, "-talked about science-"

"Oh, Barry-" Iris gave a shake of her head.

"-and he was lovely," Belén finished, once again returning to her ever-lasting smiles. "He was so lovely, I...I really did have a good time with him."

"I can tell," Iris waved a finger at Belén's face, making the ombre-haired woman laugh. "In all seriousness it does make me happy to know it worked out. It just had to."

"Well, thanks to you and Caitlin - little matchmakers," Belén pretended to huff with annoyance.

"Yeah, you'll thank us on your wedding day, you'll see!" and Iris laughed to the point of almost falling off Belén's desk after seeing Belén go incredibly red on the face.

"Go to work, Iris!"

When Iris finally left her, Belén intended on working and working. There were plenty of articles to write based on the latest meta attacks. It was exceptionally a busy day since the Tempest had made her debut. Nina was on almost every blog - including Iris' - on the internet. So far, the people were fascinated with a flying metahuman helping keep the city safe. It was definitely a treat getting to write about such a close friend that Belén never noticed the time flying by. It was Barry who managed to pull her out of her working mode.

"Barry, hi!" Belén got up from her desk just as the speedster came up to her. At first she wondered how to greet him - a hug? A kiss? Oh my God she was just making this more difficult. Why was it difficult? She didn't remember being like this with her previous boyfriends. Well none of them were like Barry, she thought and decided she was right.

"I wanted to see if you could come with me to Professor Stein's," Barry said, and with the unusual dispirited aura around Belén assumed something new had happened and that it was no good.

"So, you wanna tell me what's going on?" Belén asked as soon as they were walking in the streets.

Barry sighed and began to retell the story. This wasn't the type of conversation he wanted to have with her, especially the first one after their date. Sometimes, he didn't like this metahuman, weird life he had. "Joe reopened the investigation for my mom's murder and somehow he and Cisco got a...a machine-"

"You're dumbing it down for me," Belén flatly said, sarcastically smiling at him. "Thanks," she laughed afterwards and gestured for Barry to continue.

"Uh, well, basically, through holograms, they discovered that, somehow, I was there that night - this me," he gestured to himself.

Belén made a face, and a thoroughly confused one as she processed what that meant. "But...but if...if you were there…" she pointed at Barry, "...does that mean you...time traveled?"

Barry awkwardly shrugged because even he didn't know it at the moment. "I...don't...really know…"

"That would be so cool, though - you time travelling," she couldn't help feel so excited at the idea. "Do you realize how amazing that would be? You get to time travel, Barry!"

"Yeah, well, if I did, then I failed to save my mom," Barry couldn't help himself from saying the only thing that ran through his mind ever since he found out from Joe.

At that moment, Belén's excitement vanished, her smile fading when she realized how Barry must have felt when he learned about it. "Oh my God," she stopped and turned to him. "I'm so sorry, that's why you're upset. Because you think this is what happened?"

"It's why I wanted to see Professor Stein. He wrote a paper on it, and...who knows, maybe he has some answers," Barry shrugged, although his casualness didn't go by so well.

"Okay," Belén nodded, "But you don't have to pretend to be so quiet about it. You're upset, you have a right to be. Don't downplay it."

"Thanks Bells," Barry lightly smiled at her.

"Uh, just one more question," she raised a finger, making him smile wider, "Why exactly did you come for me? I mean, I think out of everyone I am the least qualified person you want to bring to a renowned professor's home. You should've asked Dr. Wells, honestly."

"I wanted you to be with me," Barry went straight for the truth. He was mildly pleased to see the surprise reaction on her face. "I just...I need you, Bells. And I know we've only had one date but I think I've always needed you around me when things got tough. You talk to me when I need it, make me feel better, so...would you come with me, please?"

Belén grabbed his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Whisk me away, my singing scientist."

Barry found it possible to laugh for a moment. This was exactly what he was talking about - she had the perfect ability to make him feel good.

He took them off the streets and had them in front of the Steins' residence. The two headed up the front porch and knocked on the front door. They were greeted by Clarissa Stein, and a slightly surprised one too.

"Mrs. Stein, I'm sorry to bother you here, but is Professor Stein here right now?" Barry asked in his utmost polite tone.

Clarissa crossed her arms, momentarily showing determinism. "Well, after a year apart, I'm not letting him out of my sight." But then, she stepped slightly closer to the two and quietly asked. "STAR Labs did quite a few tests on Martin, didn't they... and they said he was fine?"

"You don't sound very convinced," Belén said afterwards. "Is something not right?"

"He just seems a little different, is all…"

"Well, just to forewarn you, anyone affected by the Particle Accelerator isn't going to be the same person they were before." Belén tried to be a little comforting yet still being factual. She believed she had some experience in that department as did Barry...Nina...

But still, Clarissa did not seem convinced. "He's been asking for pizza. Martin despises pizza. I doubt the accelerator changes childhood likes."

Just then, Professor Stein came up behind Clarrisa, looking excited. "Is that the delivery man?" It was actually rather amusing (at least for Belén) to see his face fall in such hopelessness when he saw them two. "Oh, Mr. Allen. I suppose it's too much to hope you moonlight as a pizza boy. I am famished."

Although taken aback by the request, Barry agreed and zoomed away. Belén decided to introduce herself (again) and reached a hand out to Stein. "I'm Bel-" she flinched when Barry returned, his force of wind throwing some of her hair back on her face. With a little sarcastic glare on him, she pushed her hair back. "I'm Belén. I work with them at STAR Labs."

"I remember, yes," Stein shook her hand and then took the pizza box from Barry.

"Although really when I say I work with them I really just mean I stand behind them and see what they're doing," Belén added as they were led inside.

Stein was already midway opening the pizza box when he responded. "What can I do for you both?"

Barry, still uncomfortable, stuttered as he spoke up. "I... I needed to talk to you about a paper that you wrote 25 years ago for the Oxford University Press."

Stein intended on cutting a slice of pizza there and then. "I've written many papers for that publication. Could you be more specific about the subject matter?"

As he picked up the slice, Barry took an involuntary pause. He felt a little nudge on his side and looked down to see Belén nodding him to go on, encouraging him. He was incredibly happy to have brought her with him.

"Time travel," he finally answered, looking directly at Stein who has frozen just inches from biting his pizza slice.

~ 0 ~

In Stein's office, Stein had begun to explain the subject- apparently one of his favorites - to the two metas. As he uncovered one (of the dozen more) boards revealing many mathematical equations, he explained, "These are just a few of the random thoughts I've had on the subject."

Belén stood across the two men tilting her head at yet another uncovered board filled with mathematics. "A few?" She scoffed lightly. "This is...like my worst nightmare all put into one room. Algebra and Calculus…" she pretended to shiver.

It was Stein's turn to scoff. "Algebra and Calculus? My dear, this is much more complex than-"

Barry purposely cleared his throat loudly to interrupt. He made a cutting motion across his neck followed by a low mumble of 'Let her be'. Belén glanced their way completely unaware.

"What was that?"

Stein discreetly looked at Barry who was still silently asking not to correct the woman. He supposed it was some odd way to keep her content and give him points? Young people were completely unorthodox nowadays. Still, who was he to ruin it for them?

"Nothing," he smiled at the woman who disregarded it and went back to looking at other boards. He did, however, acknowledge Barry's grateful look with a nod and went right ahead to reasoning. "See, I believe that spacetime is a free-flowing highway that intersects the physical world. We live in... in the moments between the on and off ramps. Theoretically, to travel through time, one merely needs to find a way onto the highway."

"Okay, so... so you're saying that this is actually possible to... to travel into the future?" Barry was all for the impossible but shouldn't there be a limit somewhere?

"Undoubtedly."

Well, apparently not.

"What about the past?" he asked, moving to sit on the edge of the desk behind him.

"Yes. My own personal choice would be the Chicago World's Fair, 1893," Stein admitted. "I... I think Nicola Tesla and I would have some wonderful arguments. What about you? Would you be interested in taking a trip into history?"

Belén surprised them both when she quickly responded with, "Paris 1827 - Marie Taglioni débuts in the ballet La Sylphide." She sheepishly smiled after getting confused looks from them. "I like dance." She noticed Barry trying to uphold a little smile but it was evident that Stein's declarations were not easing his mind. "Say it, Barry. It's why we came."

Confused, Stein looked at the man in question who was, indeed, struggling to speak up. "Professor, I think...I think that I already have." Stein's eyes widened but let Barry continued. "Professor, um... 15 years ago, my mom was murdered and we recently discovered some evidence that... I was there that night, and not just as a kid, but as an adult."

"That must be a side effect of your incredible speed," Stein began to rationalize, even pacing a bit. "In some... future date, you actually move so fast that the resulting kinetic energy buildup smashes a hole in the space-time continuum!" By the time he finished he was beaming with excitement. Belén too seemed happy but when he saw Barry's grim face he stopped. "You seem disappointed by the prospect."

"I mean, if I do somehow make it back there to that night, then…" Barry paused, looking even worse, "...it means that I didn't save her. My destiny is to fail."

Neither person in the room with him had anything to say for a moment. Then, Belén cleared her throat and asked for a minute alone with Barry. Once Stein graciously agreed and walked out, she walked up to Barry.

"Okay, look-"

But Barry was done thinking of any other thoughts. "Amazing, I play out to be a hero but I can't save my own mother."

"You don't know what happened-"

"-No I do know! I failed!" he accidentally snapped at her, causing her to mildly flinch of surprise. He sighed and stood away from the desk, speaking much gentler this time. "I'm sorry."

Belén didn't look remotely upset as she put her hand on his arm. "What I meant to say was that...you don't know what happened from your future adult point of view. I mean, you say that one moment you were in your living room but then the next you were suddenly on a random street. Well, after that it was only you and the Reverse Flash in the room…" she paused, quietly adding, "And your mother. Only they know what truly happened. You can't say you failed when you don't know what happened right?"

Barry looked at her a long moment, thinking of every word she said. Her eyes pleaded him to at least consider her point. He had to admit that perhaps there was a certain amount of truth in them. No one had been in that room after he, as a child, had been taken away. Now, even if it was true, why in the hell would he let his mother be killed? Why couldn't he save her? Was it because he wasn't fast enough? Not clever enough?

Somewhere outside the room glass shattered. The two metahumans sprung in alarm and rushed out the room to see what had caused the sound. They found Stein using the kitchen counter for support while Clarissa worriedly tried helping.

"Martin? What's wrong?"

Stein shook his head, a hand going over his chest. "I don't know, I... I feel terrified. My... my heart is racing. I think... I think Ronald is in trouble."

"How could you know that?" Belén inquired, rather confused.

Stein discarded the question and urgently told them. "Jitters. He needs help. Go!"

Belén looked up to Barry. "You should go, I won't get there in time." Agreeing, Barry left them to go seek Ronnie.

As the Flash, he found Ronnie just where Stein had said - Jitters. Ronnie was outnumbered by General Eiling and his men. It was very easy using speed to knock Eiling's men out. However, as soon he moved to Eiling he was surprise-attacked with a small black device thrown into the air that turned into dozens of sharp metal pins. Before Barry knew it, they had gone directly towards him and knocked him down by diving into his suit and skin.

Eiling smugly looked at Barry on the ground as he writhed in pain. "Stings, doesn't it? Had that one developed especially for you. Micro fragments attracted to kinetic energy. Firestorm was tonight's main objective, but getting you... that's just gravy."

Suddenly, a white van frantically drove towards them from the other side of the alley and with the distraction Ronnie punched Eiling across the face. The van swerved and Caitlin opened up the doors.

"Get in!"

Ronnie helped Barry get up, although still being covered in pins, and quickly got into the van.

~ 0 ~

Barry thought about every moment of physical pain he ever felt and decided that this precise one was definitely one of the worst. Caitlin had to remove each fragment one by one, by just plucking it from his skin.

From across Wells overlooked the procedure along with Ronnie. "You need to hurry, Barry's wounds are starting to heal with the fragments still under his skin."

Cisco, standing on the other side of the bed holding a metal bowl for Caitlin to dump in the fragments, flinched each time Caitlin pulled one fragment from Barry's skin. "This is just like that time I stepped on a sea urchin. Only much worse "

"Just don't pee on me," Barry tried to be humorous despite barely being able to talk from his pain.

"Uh, you know that's a myth, right?"

Barry yelped as Caitlin took one pin from his neck. Caitlin apologetically looked at him before shaking her head and filling up with guilt. "I'm so stupid. Jason Rush, the grad student who was helping Professor Stein with his Firestorm research, he said that the army took all of Professor Stein's material when he disappeared. I should have known it was General Eiling."

"Not your fault," Wells said and glanced at Ronnie. "He still thinks you hold the keys to the ultimate human weapon... both of you."

"Okay, let's just finish this," Barry tried to gesture with a hand but that proved to be impossible when it was still covered in pins. "I gotta get to Stein's house. Eiling's gonna be after him too and Bells is still there."

"Stein's fine," Ronnie calmly said.

Cisco looked at him oddly. "How do you know?"

"He's right there," Ronnie gestured to Stein who stood beside Belén by the cortex entrance.

"I didn't think it was prudent for him to stay alone right now," Belén briefly explained before rushing over to Barry and the others. "What in the hell happened to you!?" her hands moved back and forth as she decided what way to help.

"Eiling is back," Cisco was the one to answer, relieving Barry the requirement of talking with the most of the pins still stuck on him.

At this Belén shot up a look to Wells. "What does he want now?"

"Firestorm," Ronnie replied while looking at Stein. "And we doubt he's going to stop."

"We have to run some tests on you both again," Caitlin warned them. "And fast."

"Then do it right now, I can do this," Belén said to her and gestured to be handed the basic tweezers. "I don't think I need to be a doctor for this, right?"

Caitlin agreed and handed the tool over. She ushered Ronnie and Stein for one of the exam rooms with the aid of Cisco. Wells soon followed to oversee that it went correctly. Belén set to work on the shards and cursed under her breath thinking that she wouldn't be heard.

"Why the hell are you laughing? Does this look like something you should be laughing at?" She sent Barry a sarcastic glare for his small chortles.

"I didn't know...you cursed," he managed to say without many paused.

"Well stick around and you'll learn more," she crookedly smiled back and promptly pulled out one particular pin near his collarbone that made him yelp. "Sorry!" She paused her work and glanced to see if anyone was still around, thinking perhaps she wasn't adequate for the job after all.

"It's fine," Barry assured her, able to see her mild fear in her eyes. "My fast healing is proving to be a nuisance for once."

"There has got to be an easier way to do this…" she bit her lip and suddenly looked at her free hand.

"What?" Barry saw the thinking wheels in her head.

"Well...I do create multiple...vines…" she was mumbling, her voice coming in and out. "...maybe...work…"

"Bells? These things hurt-" Barry called her again, "- a lot."

"Sorry," she sheepishly looked at him. "I was just thinking that maybe instead of pulling these things off one by one I could use my vines to grab each one and pull them off at the same time. Though, maybe it could hurt more than now."

"Nothing hurts more than now. Do it," he said, nodding for her to go on.

Belén still didn't look completely sure of her own idea. "Barry, I'm telling you it might hurt a lot."

"For a moment. But right now my skin is healing and it's taking these things with it. Just do it Bells."

Belén murmured a soft 'Okay' and put down the tweezer. She hovered her hands over his chest and created the vines that branched into many more which then curled around the fragments. Barry intently watched her scrunch her face as she prepared to pull them off.

"I'm so sorry," she said in advance. She used her force and yanked all fragments from his body.

Indeed Barry did scream at the top of his lungs from the unbearable pain. Belén dropped the pins on the floor and gasped in horror thinking it had been too much. Cisco came running back to see what happened and Belén weakly explained, while Barry panted from the pain, what she did.

"Sick," Cisco concluded with a very impressed smile.

Belén was debating whether or not to touch Barry but she still looked for any outstanding physical injury. "Barry, I told you it would hurt more. Next time I'll just stay where I belong behind the computer chairs where I can hurt no one-"

"It's okay," Barry grasped her wrist that neared him. "It's fading…" he made up. She looked incredibly alarmed like it was her fault.

"That's gonna sting later dude," Cisco remarked. "Like...everywhere…"

"Go away Cisco," Barry ordered sharply. Cisco raised his hands and turned for the exam room where the others were.

"I'm so sorry, he's so right," Belén was still rambling an apology to him. "I should've just stuck with what the actual Doctor was doing."

"Belén it's really okay," Barry finally had the energy to chuckle. He dragged his hand from her wrist to her hand and lowered it to it over his heart. "It's beating isn't it?"

"Yes, but that's not what I meant and you-" she sighed and forgone it. She pulled her hand from his and put both her hands on either side of his face, leaning closer. "You quit giving me heart attacks. Just because yours beats faster now doesn't mean mine can too. That's not fair!"

Barry tried not to look as smug as he really felt, but he failed miserably at it. "I guess you really do care about me, huh?"

Unamused, Belén just looked at him. "If you weren't cute I'd smack you for that. But, yes, I do."

"You wanna know something?"

"What?"

"My heart's beating faster now," Barry said with the widest of smiles.

Belén laughed, shaking her head. "You're so cheesy - that was lame."

"But it was the truth!" Barry exclaimed, feigning offense. "You don't appreciate my honesty?"

Belén looked at him a moment and rolled her eyes, unable to contain another laugh. "Oh alright."

She helped him up afterwards, still highly sorry for giving him sore pains from her gimmick. They met with the others to discuss what was really going on with Ronnie and Stein. Unfortunately, it appeared the two were still perfectly in sync with each other and with Eiling still out there, they would not be taking any chances. They split the two up to keep them safe.

The next day, Caitlin and Ronnie were to stay with Barry and Joe while Stein remained at S.T.A.R Labs. Belén reported to work like nothing, but discreetly kept an eye out for anything related to the Jitters attack. The last thing they needed was more exposure. However, people were more clever this time and approached a different cub reporter for the story.

Iris was walked by with a folder in hand when Mason scurried on after her. "Oh, hey... hey. You said you knew some of the leftover scientists at the STAR Labs. What about a Caitlin Snow, M.D." He pulled up a black and white security picture of Caitlin having dinner with Ronnie at Jitters. "You know her?"

Iris raised an eyebrow, completely startled."Yeah, I know her, why?"

"There was an incident at a local coffee shop. She was there."

"So?" Iris looked at the picture much closely and realized the place. "That's Jitters. I used to work there."

"Look, I tried being nice with your little colleague over there-" Mason jerked a thumb in the direction of Belén's desk where the latter currently worked on, "-and she flat out turned me down."

"Well," Iris took the picture from him, studying it a little closer, "it would have to do with you intending on writing a hater story on her friends."

"Well her friends are in a weird situation. Get this: Witnesses swear they saw soldiers shooting the place up, so I contacted the Army's media relations division and asked, "Are soldiers permitted to operate like that on U.S. soil?" You know what they told me? Hooah?"

Iris had recognized Caitlin's 'Cousin Sam' in the picture. She had met them this morning when they came over to her dad's. "That's weird, Caitlin didn't mention anything the last time I saw her."

Mason raised an eyebrow, almost delighted to hear that Iris also knew the STAR Labs "Really? When and where was that?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this," Iris decided to keep the picture in her folder and promptly walked away. She had eyes trained on Belén next and that was who she walked for. She wondered if Belén knew anything about this, although given her new closeness with Barry she doubted Barry would be stupid enough not to tell her.

She casually stopped by Belén's desk and greeted her with a simple 'Hey'. Belén looked up from her computer and smiled.

"Hey Iris," she said back, lowering a pen.

Be casual, Iris told herself before speaking again. "Sooo, I just met Caitlin's cousin Sam today. They're staying with my dad's."

"Oh...right," Belén nodded slowly, hoping to God Iris wouldn't question a lot on it. "Cait's apartment was, um…"

"Flooded?"

"Yes! Yes, it's flooded. They told me this morning and I thought Barry was nice enough to bring them with him."

"And...that's the only reason…?"

Confused, Belén tilted her head. "What else is there?"

"No, nothing," Iris immediately backed off. She picked up her folder off the desk and smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Mhm," Belén watched her go off, still not quite understanding what had just happened.

Iris concluded that there was something going on and she was purposely not being told anything of it.

~ 0 ~

Later that day, the team had received a terrible call in from Wells telling them Eiling had forcibly came for Stein. Wells had sold the story that Stein was taken by force from the military. They dropped what they were doing and rushed to STAR Labs.

"He didn't hurt you?" Barry asked after a thorough check of the vicinity.

Wells merely shook his head, gesturing to his clean appearance. "Barry, I told you... only my pride is hurt. Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to take on armed soldiers."

"Where do you think Eiling took Professor Stein?"

"I imagine some off-the-books military research facility."

"We have to get him back," Caitlin urgently pushed for ideas .

"Easy... Eiling has already demonstrated he has the weaponry to disable The Flash, or worse."

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing," Belén crossed her arms.

"How do we find him?" Ronnie asked and immediately gave everyone the idea. Once eyes landed on him, he stiffened. "What?"

He was soon strapped back to the brain wave detection machines to hopefully catch something of Stein. Caitlin, who was in lead conducting the exams, stepped back with a somewhat relieved look.

"No abnormal brain activity. All vitals steady."

"You really think Ronnie can somehow feel where they're keeping Stein?" Barry was looking in doubt at Ronnie.

"Ronnie got dizzy when the soldiers grabbed Stein," reminded Cisco, "and Stein developed Ronnie's obsession with pizza "

"I don't feel anything right now," Ronnie frowned. Whatever this is, it doesn't have an on and off switch."

"It's possible it's just some kind of residual connection," suggested Wells, "A temporary link to your time together."

"Wait," Rinnie suddenly froze, "I feel something. I'm... I'm cold." Two minutes later he screamed in what sounded like horrible pain, only there wasn't anything hurting him per say.

"What's going on!?" Belén asked, terrified of the sight. Caitlin and Cisco were trying to hold Ronnie to his chair but it was like the two didn't exist for Ronnie at the moment.

"Nothing's happening to him," Wells explained quick. "It's happening to Stein, and Ronnie is feeling his pain. I was wrong. The connection's not temporary. It's only getting stronger "

"Water. Water!" Ronnie frantically called out.

Cisco reached for the glass on the table beside Ronnie but after picking it up Ronnie snatched it, smashed it against the table, and took a shard of glass. As he tried to cut himself with it, Caitlin shrieked and tried stopping him.

"Ronnie, no!"

"Wait, Cait, wait!" Barry suddenly exclaimed.

"He's cutting himself!"

"I know. Let him." Barry said, and warned himself quite an indignant look back.

She looked back and saw Ronnie was beginning to write something on his arm. The word 'where' was written in blood on the arm after a minute, and thus Stein, wherever it was he was, would bear the same word across his flesh as well. Caitlin fought the monumental urge to smack Ronnie for what he did, understanding it had been for a good cause.

"Anything?" Cisco asked after a long moment.

"Nothing. Nothing, just...just cold. Like a metal surface." Ronnie paused and focused as best he could. "Pressure on and on and off. Tap, tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap."

"What the-" Belén was midway when Cisco answered her.

"Morse code. I got this!" he dashed for another table where a clipboard laid.

"Same thing again," Ronnie said. "Tap, tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap."

Cisco, after writing down, looked up. "27. What does it mean?"

"Army bases…" Barry said at once, "they sometimes go by numbers, like Area 51."

Cisco nodded and ran to get the information through a computer. "Facility 27, about 300 miles away," he said as he typed. "It was shut down in 1961."

"Then that has to be where Professor Stein is," Belén beamed.

"Bet you that's where they're keeping aliens too," Cisco pointed at her.

"If they're good ones I'll set them free," she chuckled. She suddenly stopped and called out, "And you're not gonna leave without me this time, Barry Allen." The metahuman in question stopped midway towards the doors. He turned around, mouth opened to make his case when she interrupted. "Last time you left, you came back with pins stuck on you! I'm coming with you!"

"And so am I," Ronnie hopped off his chair and came up beside Belén.

"Outnumbered," Belén smirked.

Caitlin nowhere near agreed and grabbed Ronnie from behind. "No, you're not. You can't."

Ronnie pried her hand from his arm and sighed. "I'm connected to Stein. I have to go."

"But did you ever stop to think why your connection to him is growing stronger by the minute? Maybe you're being drawn back together. Maybe your proximity will cause you to re-merge into one."

Ronnie did consider that but something more important overrode it. "And what happens to me if he gets killed? Cait, Barry was right. The world is different now. Look, I... I thought we could get away, start a new life, a normal life, together. But there is no normal life for us. You will always risk your life to try and help people, and I will always be the guy that runs into that pipeline for you."

Wells called for them and held out a familiar little device. "The quantum splicer. It was used to separate you once. Maybe it could be of use to keep you you."

Ronnie graciously took it and followed Belén and Barry out of the room. In a dark night, the three set out to the proposed building of Area 27. It was barely lit but still enough to see several people roaming just outside it.

"Oh. This place definitely doesn't look too shady," Barry remarked sourly.

"Sorry, should we request a building with better quality to break into?" Belén sarcastically asked, crossing her arms as she tried peering closer.

"Stein's inside," Ronnie seemed focused. "I can feel our connection growing stronger, like he's pulling me."

Wells spoke through the comms. "It's as I feared... the Firestorm matrix is building toward a proximity reemergence. Like all matter, it yearns to be whole. If you do merge... we might not be able to separate you again."

The three shares a troubling look with each other. Ronnie once again stiffened as he felt another surge of emotions that didn't belong to him. "Eiling has a gun to Stein's head. He's about to pull the trigger."

Barry didn't waste a moment more and sped inside the building to retrieve Stein. Just mere seconds before Eiling pulled the gun, Barry pulled Stein off the metal chair and brought him back outside.

"Ho! Whoa... I never thought I'd be happy to see you," Stein said to Ronnie once the motion had stopped.

"Yeah, likewise. Let's get out of here," Ronnie turned to begin leaving when they heard a jeep pulling up from the other side of the gate.

"Get them away!" Barry ordered Belén who didn't argue back. She ushered Stein and Ronnie farther down the road.

Barry meant to distract the soldiers or hopefully take them all down but they surprised him with a bazooka-looking weapon. It blasted him with some sort of silver chemical that looked like dry ice billowing smoke.

"Barry, I'm picking up some serious pH numbers on your suit," Cisco called from the comm.

Barry twisted and turned but the chemical stung him everywhere. "They hit me with some kind of chemical!"

"It's a weaponized phosphorous!"

"Water or foam won't extinguish it," Wells explained but added, "But you can't burn in a vacuum, so you need to create one. Run, Barry. Run!"

With no other choices, Barry did as told and sped off the side of the road and ran in a circle. Meanwhile, Belén had taken Ronnie and Stein just down the road to hide behind some bushes.

"You should keep hidden," Belén told them both, but neither man thought it right for her to go in alone.

"There's too many out there," Ronnie said, getting a glimpse of one of the nearing jeeps.

"I just wish I could find Eiling first," Belén scowled. "If we get him, the others are bound to fall too. Just stay here." Her vines wrapped around her body until she disappeared.

She surprised one of the jeeps by reforming on the open driver's side. Before they reacted, she opened her mouth and released a decent amount of Azalea poison, enough to knock them out for a while. She let go quick and sprinted into a stop on the road, quite impressed with herself that she managed to pull that one off. It always appeared like something only a television show could pull off.

Then she heard more nearing jeeps.

She whirled around and saw three more of them coming down her way. Ignoring her fear, she disbanded and charged for them.

Ronnie was able to see her from the hiding spot, but was also able to see more coming from the opposite direction. "We need to merge again," he told Stein.

"Ronnie, no!" Caitlin quickly voiced her opposition from the comm.

"Cait, we're dead if we don't," Ronnie urgently explained as he saw the jeeps getting closer.

"Listen to me," Wells took over the comm. "The last time you two combined, you both fought it. This time, don't. Accept the change, accept the balance. Accept each other."

Stein looked resigned to their last option and openly said, "Once more unto the breach, dear friend."

Ronnie nodded, and as he pulled out the splicer he spoke to Caitlin once more. "Cait... whatever happens, just remember I'll always love you."

He placed the splicer on his chest and once it activated, he held a hand for Stein. Stein took Ronnie's hand and immediately merged into Firestorm.

"Can you hear me, Ronald?" Ronnie heard Stein from within the mind.

"Professor?" Ronnie began stepping into the roadside. He saw Belén had stopped two of the jeeps on her way but was still working on the last with more of her pink poison.

"It appears we merged properly on this attempt. Wells was right about balance and accepting. Behind you!"

Ronnie turned around and faced the other jeeps coming. He blasted them with fire, causing several to explode.

"Ronald, there's more of them," Stein warned again as a last jeep emerged from the fire.

He blasted it again with fire and saw success. However, Eiling had managed to escape from the other side and was coming for them.

"Eiling, this ends now," declared Ronnie, ready to attack again if needed.

"Yes, it does... For both of you," Eiling pulled out a glowing blue device and three it into the air. The moment it did it blasted Ronnie onto the ground. "An ion grenade. Just bombarded your cellular structure with enough ions to destabilize your matrix." He started getting out a gun from his side pocket. "Mr. Raymond, Professor Stein, you're both fine Americans. Your country thanks you for your sacrifice."

But before he clicked the trigger, Belén reappeared in front of him, wasting no time in punching him across the face. The moment he hit the ground, she covered him in vines. "Try getting out of that one," she smirked.

A second later Barry came in, most of his suit charred and dried from the chemical drying up after his long run. "I was gonna do that!"

"Beat you to it," she winked. She then turned around and bent down in front of Ronnie. "Are you, um, two, okay?"

"Yeah," Ronnie answered and got up with her help.

Belén then glanced back at Barry and chuckled. "Cisco is so gonna kill you this time," she warned, gesturing to his tarnished suit.

Barry had nothing to say on that subject because he was pretty sure that was right. "Home?" he asked them instead.

"Oh yeah," Belén nodded.

Ronnie agreed and, using his flames, flew high into the sky to get a head start. The remaining metahumans looked up, still heavily in awe.

"You want a lift?" Barry then asked Belén.

"No, not like that," Belén shook her head and gestured to his suit's condition. "You're all...eugh…"

Somewhere in there they heard someone snicker from the comm.

Barry feigned offense and tilted his head. "I'm giving you a lift."

"No…"

"I'm doing it," Barry warned, making a step towards.

"No!"

Barry made a threatening advance on her, smirking as she panicked and jumped back .

"Nooo!" she drew out in pleading manner.

Laughing, Barry told her he was only joking, something she didn't quite buy. She cautiously left on her own terms and prayed to God he was telling the truth. She was a clean freak, and at the moment he was not clean!

~ 0 ~

"I can't believe you ruined my suit again," Cisco was shooting Barry death glares from across the room as the former studied the practically destroyed suit.

"I said I was sorry," Barry frowned. "And it's not like I wanted to be shot at with phosphorus. Now please can we just - Caitlin, I told you it was really nothing," he stopped and glanced at the biochemist standing on the side of the bed he sat on, trying to get a better look at a big, purple burn on his side near his stomach.

"You said you were shot with phosphorus," she gave him a pointed look.

"It looks worse than it is," he promised and pushed down his shirt.

At that moment, Belén walked in with Ronnie and Professor Stein, now separated, and immediately Caitlin forgot about Barry's condition. She rushed across the room to encase Ronnie in a big hug.

"It looks like they can separate and join at will now," Belén announced cheerfully as she made way for the other two in the room, "At least that's what Dr. Wells was able to dumb down for me." Without such warning, she smacked Barry on the back of the head.

"OW!"

Stein winced, Cisco burst out laughing from his spot and Belén crossed her arms in front of the injured metahuman. "I don't like it when people try to dirty me," she pointed at him.

"I deserve that," Barry said in a resigned sigh as he rubbed his head. "Hug?"

"You don't get hugs," Belén declared and looked away.

"Cold," Cisco flashed them a smirk.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Iris fervently went through her old blog about metahumans. After having an odd conversation with Caitlin over her 'Cousin' she decided to see for herself whether Caitlin was telling the truth.

Because Iris swore she had seen that cousin somewhere once.

And then she saw it. The Burning Man. Iris leaned closer to the computer screen, eyes squinted as she studied the blurry picture of what people had claimed was a burning man spotted on the street.

With one glance at Belén, who didn't notice as she worked on her own assignment across the room, Iris began printing the picture.

Mason flinched at the slap of paper Iris did on his desk. He barely glanced at the photograph before asking, sarcastically, "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "It means that I'm gonna help you figure out what's going on at STAR Labs. I think our Burning Man used to work there." She said, 100% sure of her supposition, and because she was sure, the pain hurt as well.

Because if this was true, then it would mean that Caitlin knew, and if Caitlin knew, then Barry and Belén knew as well...and they didn't tell her.

~ 0 ~

"Ooooh, is that ice cream?" Belén was delighted to see Barry standing on her porch with a box of strawberry ice cream in his hand.

Chuckling, Barry nodded and gestured her to take it. "And sprinkles," he jiggled the jar of sprinkles in his other hand. "I thought it could serve as a peace offering."

"So you're telling me if I pretend to be mad at you I'll get ice cream in the end?" Belén pretended to be dead serious at the moment.

"Uh…" Barry actually took a moment to think about the answer, which made Belén laugh and pull him inside.

"You should know I don't like sprinkles though," she informed him as she led them into the living room.

"Sprinkles? Really!?"

Belén nodded her head and disappeared into the kitchen for some glasses. "I'm weird okay!"

"Well you're definitely different," Barry admitted, though smiled. "You're the first person I know of who hid inside refrigerators when they were a kid."

Belén returned holding two glasses with spoons inside. "I'm completely unique. So I guess Professor Stein and Ronnie left the city already?"

"Yeah, I told them your regards though."

"Oh thank you!" she called. "I wanted to come in but Linda had this article she wanted me to look over and I couldn't tell her no. Still, I do hope they find the help they need. I think they could become a really good partner. Like Nina!"

"I think they would get along," Barry laughed at the thought and sat down beside her on the couch.

"Listen, I was thinking about something," she set the glasses on the table next to the ice cream, "And, please don't think I was being nosy, but I think I have an idea."

"Let me hear it," Barry motioned, keenly listening.

Belén bit her lip, shifting to face him. She pulled her legs to sit cross-legged and took a deep breath in before starting. "You know how when the teacher gives you back a test you thought you did really good on but you end up getting a lot of questions wrong?" She looked at Barry for his reaction but he started making a face that spelled to her 'no'. She sarcastically groaned. "Oh, that's right, I forgot I was talking to the genius Barry Allen."

"I liked studying!" the metahuman in question said defensively.

"Mhm, nerd," Belén mumbled under her breath before continuing with her main point. "Anyways, some people - like me - did get a lot of questions wrong. My teacher would mark them up and then as a class we'd go over them so we knew how to get them right on the next test, like a study guide. So I was thinking...what if it's the same thing with you and this time travelling thing?"

"I'm...not following," Barry felt sorry to say after a minute.

"You said that there was this machine of Cisco's that showed you like...holograms of the night when your mom was...murdered. What if that's your study guide? It's all the wrong questions marked for you."

Barry got to thinking of her idea and quickly realized that it made sense. If he used those holograms to see what exactly he did wrong that night, he would know what not to do when it came time for him to travel back. "Bells...that's genius!" he exclaimed, making her beam excitedly. "I didn't think of it before! I was too focused on the fact that I got it wrong, I - how did you come up with this?"

"I got bored," she admitted innocently, making a face.

Barry felt like teasing again and leaned forwards. "And you started thinking of me?"

Belén immediately blushed. "Shut up."

Barry laughed for a minute then sobered up to thank her again. He reached to touch her face and smiled at her. "You know, it goes without saying but...I really like being able to do this."

"I like it too," Belén whispered. "But you know what I like just a bit more?"

"What?"

"Ice cream without sprinkles," Belén laughed at his reaction and set out to serve full glasses of strawberry ice cream for them.

[geronimo-11]

writing prompt for characters/otp of your choice! - “it’s been a tough few days. how are you holding up?”

Thanks so much!! I decided to do this one for my Marvel OC Sophie.

Featuring: OTP pre!relationship Rhys/Sophie and BroTP Steve and Sophie

TW: blood mention; mentions of depression; gun violence

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

Their mission had been set up to fail from the start.

Someone had managed to tip off the Hydra base they were set to infiltrate that SHIELD was on the way, and as a result Hydra agents had been ready for them the moment they arrived.

Considering this was Sophie’s first official mission, to say she was feeling overwhelmed would have been a massive understatement. Normally she would be behind a desk at HQ, assisting from a distance. But they needed someone hands on this time, as much as it worried her and seemed to annoy Rhys.

They were already in the base’s lab when everything started to fall apart. Rhys had tried to comfort her, reminding her to practice her breathing, when Clint came over their comm link saying he could use some backup. Sophie could see the conflict in Rhys’ eyes as he looked from her to the door. 

She nodded and urged him on. Before he left Rhys made sure she had her gun ready should she need it, and told her to shoot anyone who came through the door that she didn’t know. Sophie felt the familiar warmth of his reassurance slip away the further he got from her, and unease settled in the pit of her stomach. Quickly she shook her head and focused on the computer in front of her determinedly. She had a job to do, and she had to do it fast.

It didn’t take long after Rhys left for someone to find her.

Not even five minutes after he’d raced off, a man in black kevlar came into the room from a hidden door in the far corner, striding purposefully towards a computer near the main entrance. The same computer Sophie was tapping away on. She felt her heart lodge in her throat as he stilled at the sight of her. They stood frozen for a moment, trying to read each other's movements, and then suddenly his hand reached for his gun. Sophie just barely raised her own before he could move any closer.

The second her gun was in the air, however, she froze. Her finger was hovering over the trigger, but she couldn’t take the initiative to curl it that much more. In her panic from the man’s sudden appearance she had let her guard down, her mental walls had crumbled and now what felt like every emotion within ten miles of the base was hitting her at once -- adrenaline, excitement, fear, pain, death. The emotions of everyone on the base were crashing over her like a tidal wave and suddenly she couldn’t breathe. It was all too much and she couldn’t breathe.

Pull the trigger.

She was running out of time. She knew it, but she couldn’t move. The stranger -- her enemy, she reminded herself -- was looking her in the eye and she couldn’t bring herself to move. He would have put her down without a second thought, so why couldn’t she do the same? She imagined the light leaving his light blue eyes, his face permanently frozen in surprise as she squeezed the trigger and took him down, and she felt bile rise in the back of her throat.

Pull it! 

Everything was moving in slow motion now, and she watched as the man in front of her realized with a morbid grin that she had gotten cold feet and raised his own gun level with her head.

Pull!

There was a blunt pain in her right side as she was tackled to the floor, followed by the loud, echoing bang of two gunshots. When Sophie looked up the man who had been pointing his gun at her was dead, and Rhys was sprawled on top of her. 

But he wasn’t moving either.

The rest of the mission was a blur. She remembers there was too much blood, and at some point she was screaming Rhys’ name, and then hands were on her shoulders as Rhys was carried away and onto a waiting helicopter... and then nothing. 

The pain and worry and fear she had felt overwhelmed her and she collapsed into the arms of whoever had been holding her back. She’s still not sure if they were her own emotions or if they belonged to Rhys himself.

Fury benched her after that. He told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to go on another mission until she completed a series of different psych evals, on top of more physical and situational training exercises. Which was fair, and more than necessary.

Rhys went into surgery as soon as they landed, and the doctors removed a bullet from his gut. He stayed in the hospital for a couple of days, but he seemed to get progressively worse even though the bullet was gone. The doctor’s ran more tests and Sophie nearly collapsed when she heard the news.

Poison.

The doctors had never seen anything like it. The bullets each had a hollow nose with a small glass compartment that, when shattered on impact, released small amounts of deadly fluid into the body. The only thing that Sophie could keep thinking about was that that bullet had been meant for her. Rhys was in the hospital, he was in pain and possibly dying, and it was all her fault. None of this would have happened if she’d dropped the Hydra agent like she was supposed to.

He got better, after a couple more days of treatment. Sophie stayed with him every day until he started to stay conscious more and more, and then she just… couldn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eye. Not yet, anyway.

So instead she started going to the gym and took out her feelings on the punching bag like she always did. She let her pent up stress and frustration flow from her fist to the leather and compact sand in front of her. And if a few tears escaped here and there, well, luckily there was no one around to notice. After a few hours she headed to the corner and sat on a bench, drinking from her water bottle before she started another round. She was still feeling antsy.

That’s where Steve found her. He walked in wearing blue jeans and a light blue button-down and looking more out of place than he usually did. He paused briefly when he saw her sitting on the bench and made his way over to her with a small smile. 

“Hey,” he greeted her softly. She nodded at him, and when he sat beside her Sophie pressed her palms together to hide the fact that her hands were shaking.

“Hey. You’re a little overdressed don’t you think?” she joked, looking down at the shiny brown shoes he had on his feet. A man out of time… She thought wryly to herself.

He chuckled and tapped the point of his brown shoe to her sneaker. “I was looking for you, actually.”

Oh. She was afraid of that. 

Sophie doesn’t say anything, and even though she’s pretty sure she knows the reason she has to ask. “Why?”

Steve just shrugged.

“It’s been a tough few days. How are you holding up?” He doesn’t look at her when he asks, and Sophie’s grateful. She’s sure he didn’t miss how red and puffy her eyes were when he walked in, but she appreciates that he’s not going to call her out on it. Instead he’s looking out toward the row of punching bags, probably wishing he had worn something more gym-appropriate. It’d be good for both of them to get a workout when this conversation was done. Sophie’s surprised he hasn’t sought her out sooner, but he has been busy lately.

“I’m fine.” Her response is a reflex, something she’s been saying to everyone over the past couple of days. She knew her therapist would be disappointed in her -- they’d been making progress in regards to her not keeping her own emotions bottled up. But she thinks that maybe she’ll get a pass, just this once, considering that she’s never been shot at and had someone she cared about nearly die as a direct result of her inaction before.

Out of the corner of her eye she can see Steve nod, but he doesn’t say anything. Just hums and leans the back of his head against the wall. Sophie sniffed and the longer they sat in silence the more her eyes started to burn with a fresh wave of tears that she struggled to fight back.

“Rhys was asking about you,” Steve told her gently. He’d been quiet for so long that the sound of his voice made her jump, and her stomach clenched at the mention of Rhys’ name. She felt sick all over again, just like she did at the Hydra base a couple of days ago.

“Oh?” Her throat felt dry and her voice cracked as she spoke, but it’s the only response she could manage as she tried to keep down the package of peanut butter crackers she’d found in her bag for lunch.

“Yeah. He said you haven’t been by in a while.” He looked at her then, pointedly, from the corner of his eye. “He’s worried about you.”

Sophie couldn’t help the scoff that escaped her and she bit the inside of her cheek as soon as it pushed past her lips. She shook her head and tightened her ponytail.

“He would get shot and poisoned and then be worried about the one who did it to him,” she commented dryly. 

Steve turned fully towards her, his eyebrows drawn together in concern.

“Soph,” he started, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. He kept going anyway. “You’ve got to stop beating yourself up. It’s-”

“If you say it’s not my fault, I don’t care if you’re a physically enhanced super-soldier or not, I will punch you.”

Steve paused and sighed. He placed a hand on her shoulder and waited until she looked up at him.

“It’s going to be okay,” he finished. “He’s going to be okay.”

The sincerity in his eyes, willing her to believe him, brought a fresh wave of tears flowing down her cheeks full force. Her body wracked with sobs and Steve wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her to his chest. Sophie kept repeating his words in her head: He’s going to be okay. He’s going to be okay.

No thanks to you.

“I let him down-” Sophie hiccuped, but Steve was quick to interject.

“No, you didn’t.”

“I thought I lost him-”

“But you didn’t. He’s fine, Soph. He’s doing just fine.”

Steve ran a hand over her hair as Sophie tried to catch her breath. Comfort washed over her, warm and sturdy, and she let the feeling of him keep her grounded, refusing to let her mind stray down darker paths. When she’d settled down enough Steve kept one arm around her shoulders and leaned back to look at her.

“He does want to see you, though. I think you owe him that much,” he added when she looked reluctantly down at the floor. 

“Rhys cares about you, Soph. A lot.” He gave her a knowing look and her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink on par with the bright pink scrunchie in her hair. “You can’t avoid him forever. Just talk to him. Let him tell you how he feels himself.”

After another moment of silence Sophie nodded and swiped a hand along her cheeks to dry her remaining tears.

“Okay.”

Steve gave her shoulder a light pat and stood from the bench. He turned to her and jerked his head towards the door.

“I can give you a ride there, if you want.”

Sophie offered him a hesitant smile. “...on the bike?”

Steve laughed and nodded, holding up the keys to his motorcycle. 

“On the bike.”

Sophie grabbed her jacket and bag and stood to follow him towards the door. Steve watched her with a smile, relief flooding his chest that he knew she could probably feel if the sheepish smile she gave him was anything to go by. He had been worried about her, when Rhys first got injured and she’d fallen apart in his arms. He was afraid this series of events would send her on a downward spiral again.

Maybe she would have, had Rhys not made it. She may have sat with her thoughts and fallen off the path she’d worked so hard to stay on. But he was glad to see that she was still willing to try. 

She deserved happiness, he firmly believed that, and if she and Rhys would ever get their shit together, maybe they could find it.

[millie1536]

Izzy Has A Shitty Immune System

The time Izzy ended up hospital with the flu

Also the song Anne sings to Izzy is called Mademoiselle Noir and it’s really good 

TW;Illness, Hospitals, Panic attacks, Mentions of child abuse

Izzy pressed the heel of her palm into the side of her head as she tried to focus on her homework. She had tried to make herself comfortable in the armchair in Anne, Aragon, and Anna’s dressing room. The show had started not long ago and Izzy would occasionally glance up at the screen in the corner of the room to see what they were up to.

The homework wasn’t difficult. All she had to do was read a poem and answer a few short answer questions. It was the kind of thing she and Cathy did for fun. Izzy liked to analyse things, she tended to overthink most things anyway and that was all analyse was really, overthinking. So why was she finding this so difficult. After another 20 minutes or so she gave up, after all she had the whole weekend to work on it and if she was still struggling she would just ask Cathy to help her with it.

Putting her schoolbooks aside she curled up under the big blanket they kept over the back of the chair, though she threw it off not long after as it was too warm. She was tired, and although the idea of falling asleep alone terrified her, she found she couldn’t stay awake.

When the show finished and Anne, Aragon and Anna returned to the dressing room they found Izzy asleep in the armchair.

“Let her sleep,” Anne told the others, “I’ll wake her up when we’re ready to go home.” Aragon and Anna agreed and the three began to take off their make up in silence, the dressing room had never been so quiet. it was about an hour later that Anne attempted to wake Izzy.

“Come on, kid. Time to go home.” Anne gave Izzy’s shoulder a gentle squeeze but Izzy shook her off.

“My head hurts.” She whined, not opening her eyes. Anne sighed, she could tell Izzy wasn’t feeling well.

“Would you like me to carry you?” Anna asked, the girl. Izzy gave a small nod before reaching for Cleves, her eyes still shut. She fell asleep in the car on the way home and Anna, not wanting to wake her again, carried her upstairs. It was Kitty who got her changed into her pyjamas, Izzy hadn’t let anyone else see her scars and they didn’t want to risk losing her trust.

Izzy slept fitfully that night. She kicked the blankets off only to start shivering.

“She’s got a fever.” Anne whispered to Kathrine; her hand pressed gently to the girl’s forehead.

“I’ll get Jane.” Kitty jumped out of bed and Anne could hear her running down the hall to Jane’s room. Jane was the most knowledgeable of the group when it came to illness, Anne wondered if it was due to the fact that poor hygiene had played a part in her death.

The others must have heard Kitty running through the house because it wasn’t just Jane who returned.

“She’s been coughing a bit lately.” Aragon said, watching as Jane took the still sleeping girl’s temperature.

“I thought it was just a cold.” Cathy added from where she sat at the foot of the bed.

“Well, she’s definitely got a fever.” Jane sighed as she read the thermometer.

“I’ll book an appointment with the GP.” Cleves volunteered but Jane shook her head.

“It’s two in the morning, Anna. They don’t open till 8, I think we should take her to the hospital. Just to be safe.” Jane was known to get anxious when someone she cared about was ill.

“I’ll wake her up.” Kitty said.

“Shouldn’t we let her sleep?” Aragon asked.

“In theory, yes. But if she wakes up somewhere unfamiliar we’re risking a panic attack, and that on top of whatever she’s got could be dangerous.” Kitty informed them; she was after all the expert when it came to panic attacks. The others agreed to leave the room while she woke Izzy up.

A few minutes later Kitty emerged from the room carrying a semi-conscious Izzy.

The drive to the hospital was quick, Jane had given Anna the keys and told her to go wild. It would have been even faster had Anne been driving but no one was that desperate to crash.

It was quite the sight when six women rushed into A&E, still in their night clothes, with one of them carrying a small girl. Luckily it was a quiet night and it wasn’t long before Izzy was taken to a bed.

“I’m sorry but we only allow two adults to go with the child.” Cathy rolled her eyes at the nurse. It wasn’t his fault but she needed someone to be annoyed at.

“Anne and Kitty should go.” Anna practically pushed the two of them towards the nurse who led them towards Izzy’s room.

“That is so stupid.” Cathy said once the nurse was out of ear shot. She slumped back down into one of the hard plastic seats.

“It’s probably because most kids don’t have six mums.” Aragon sighed, taking the seat beside her goddaughter.

“I’ll have you know that Izzy has three mums, two incredibly cool aunts and the best big sister any kid could wish for.” Anna joked, doing her best to lighten the mood. In reality she was just as worried as the others.

 “I mean, she was coughing and her nose has been a bit runny but we thought she just had a cold or something.” Anne frantically answered the doctor’s questions.

“Look, you’re probably right, but we want to run a few tests just to be safe.” The doctor did her best to reassure Anne, she was used to dealing with concerned parents, but there was obviously more to this than just that.

“Kitty? Annie?” Izzy’s voice was hoarse and she tried to sit up, looking around for her family.

“Shh, I’m right here sweetheart, Annie’s just talking to the doctor alright?” Kitty held Izzy’s hand in hers, her thumb rubbing circles over Izzy’s knuckles. Anne smiled warmly at Izzy before turning back to the woman before her.

“Doctor?” Izzy asked, only just managing to get the word out before succumbing to a coughing fit.

“Yeah, we’re at the hospital. You’re not well but me and Annie are going to stay here until you’re better, alright? We’re not going to leave you alone.” This seemed to calm Izzy a bit and she settled back down on the pillows.

“It hurts.” She whined as she tried to get comfortable.

“What does?” Kitty reached over to brush some hair out of Izzy’s eyes.

“Everything.”

 “The flu?” Jane asked, she could feel the worry building in her chest.

“Yeah.”

“But that means she can come home right? If it’s just the flu?” Cathy asked hopefully.

“They want to keep her in for observation. Apparently she got a weakened immune system and the virus is pretty bad, they don’t want to take any chances.” The group stood in silence for a little while.

“You two staying here?” Aragon asked eventually, Anne nodded.

“Kitty doesn’t want to leave her here alone and quite frankly neither do I.” The others agreed with the decision and reluctantly returned home.

 It took them a while but eventually Anne and Kitty managed to get Izzy to sleep. They were grateful that she hadn’t been hooked up to any machine just yet as that would have made it much harder for them to get into the bed on either side of her. She woke up a few hours later with tears running down her cheeks.

“Shh, hey what’s wrong?” Anne asked, wiping away the tears with her thumb.

“It hurts.” Izzy curled up closer to Anne. Her head resting on Anne’s chest.

“You’ll be alright.”

An hour or so after that the doctor from the previous night returned, this time with some medication. Izzy’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the pills and Anne could feel her shaking.

“No, please. I’m sorry.” Izzy’s breathing grew rapid and shallow, “I’m sorry.” She repeated, the terror in her voice was unmistakable.

“Could you give us a minute?” Kitty asked the doctor who nodded and left the room quickly, “Hey, what’s happening?” Izzy just shook her head.

“Izzy, can you tell us what’s going on? We just want to help you.” Anne tried.

“I’m sorry.” Izzy shut her eyes tight, digging her palms into them, “Please, I’m sorry.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong.” Anne wasn’t sure if Izzy could hear her at this point. Anne really hoped that her next move would work, “A man came across this old tower one day, it was straight like from a book he once read,” She sang softly, “He lifted his head up and saw this young lady and here’s what the lady said,

‘Moi je m’eappelle mademoiselle Noir,

Et comme vous pouvez le voir,

Je ne souris, ni ri, ni vis,

Et c’est tout ce qu’elle a dit’” Kitty watched as Izzy seemingly relaxed, nuzzling closer to Anne as she sung. Kitty didn’t quite understand why Izzy loved this song so much, something about it gave her the creeps. Perhaps it was the woman dying in a tower while a group of people watched, but that didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that Izzy associated the song with safety and comfort.

“Are you alright?” Anne asked gently once the song came to an end, Izzy just shrugged. “Do you know what upset you?” Izzy nodded but made no indication that she was going to answer.

“Izzy, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but we need to know what happened so that we can find a way to fix it.” Kitty tried and for a minute she thought Izzy wasn’t going to respond.

“Mannox.” Kitty wasn’t exactly surprised that he had something to do with this but it didn’t make her feel any less sick, “He used to… before I went to bed… so I wouldn’t wake up… h-he…” Izzy shook her head, more silent tears making her way down her face.

“The pills.” Kitty said when she realised what Izzy had been referring to, the girl nodded, tightening her hold on Anne.

“Sweetheart, these aren’t those kind of pills, alright? They’re going to help you get better so you can come home.” Anne rubbed her nose against the top of Izzy’s head.

“I-I can’t.”

“How about I go make sure that none of them will make you sleepy, is that alright?” Kitty suggested. Izzy wanted to say no. She wanted to tell Kitty that the very idea of swallowing the pills made her light-headed, but instead she agreed. She agreed to take the pills if they wouldn’t make her drowsy.

 It was a few days before Izzy was discharged and even then she was sent home with a number of pill bottles. She wanted to hide them somewhere, to throw them away, but she knew that this was going to be one of the few things Anne wasn’t going to let her get out of. For the most part the queens were very gentle with Izzy, Anne, Kitty and Cathy in particular, but when it came to things like medicine she knew they would stand firm. She knew they would never do anything to hurt her but whenever she found herself alone she could still hear Mannox’s voice whispering in her ear.

[storyknitter]

“To you, Master Jedi.”

Hey, so remember when I wrote this angsty mini-fic and then @commanderlurker asked if Sanna ever found Theron’s drunken “I miss you, but you’re dead” message? (The answer’s “yes,” by the way. She totally did.)

21 ATC

Soft footfalls approached the War Table, where Theron studied the data retrieved from the Star Fortress formerly above Belsavis. A small smirk crept onto his face, recognizing Vassanna before she even spoke. “Hey,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. “What's up, beautiful?”

The endearment was still a bit clunky on his tongue, but her reaction was worth any awkwardness he might have felt: A flush crept into her cheeks and she caught her bottom lip between her teeth, a smile twitching at the corner of her lips.

“This hasn’t worked since they rescued me, and Lana said you might be able to help. Apparently,” she said, an impish grin lighting up her face, “I'm not the only one who reacted poorly to carbonite.”

His heart stopped at the reminder of how he'd almost lost her a second time, before he'd even had a chance to see her, hold her, kiss her again. He shoved the memory of those dark days aside and did his best to focus on Sanna: she was holding out a small, banged-up holocomm, an expectant look on her face, that smile of hers doing things to his lungs.

Dammit, he couldn't breathe when she did that.

“I’m not sure exactly how much can be retrieved or salvaged,” she said, “but I had some old messages saved that I’d really like to keep. If it’s possible, of course.”

Theron smirked and raised an eyebrow as he took the comm, trying to recover his balance. “What?” he asked, feigning disbelief as his fingers brushed hers. “A sentimental Jedi? Not possible,” he said, shaking his head.

Hurt ghosted over her features and Vassanna slipped on her Jedi mask. “Nevermind, it’s fine.” She reached for the comm, but he tightened his grip.

“I never said I wouldn’t do it,” he said, holding the comm above his head. “I was just giving you a hard time.”

She eyed him warily and he immediately regretted his retort – this must be more important to her than he’d thought.

“I’ll understand if it can’t be done. I won't hold you responsible if it never turns on again.”

“I’ll do my best, Vassanna. I promise.” And he meant it, even if he had to stay up all night to make it happen.

Sanna thanked him with a smile so bright it took his breath away again.

–––

That evening, Theron sat at the new desk in the Commander's quarters, pieces of holocomm and wires littering the space, and stretched the kinks out of his neck. He'd found the problem – a broken connection or four – and had finally managed the repair after cannibalizing parts from his spare datapad. The comm itself wasn't fit for daily use, especially with the days that Sanna always seemed to have, but as long as she didn't toss it around, message playback was possible.

Well, theoretically. He hadn't tested it out, but found himself hesitant to invade her privacy by going through messages deemed important enough to save during her years as a Jedi. Justifying the need to snoop (he had to be sure it worked properly after all), he chose a file at random, pressed play, and found himself face to face with an older Mirialan male covered in tattoos, his features pulled into a smile.

There was something familiar about his eyes...

"Happy birthday, Sanna," the man said in Mirialan. Theron's implants translated for him and he froze, curiosity warring with his conscience – he'd started calling her 'Sanna' after a few weeks on Odessen and hadn't ever heard anyone else use it as a nickname.

“I don't know where you are or what you're up to,” the man continued, "but I wish you many happy returns. I do hope you're enjoying this beautiful day with your crewmates. Here, the sun is shining, the winds are singing softly, and we're having your mother's sweetcakes in your honor tonight. But don't worry, Star-Blossom: I'll be sure to sneak one into the freezer for you. Though you know they only last for so long, so hurry home. We miss you, daughter, and–"

Theron turned off the message abruptly and glanced at the file's date. After a bit of mental math and cross-referencing her history, he realized this message was from when she was... off the grid. Vitiate's thrall, his mind supplied helpfully, his stomach twisting as he remembered her quiet, shame-filled confession just before she'd gone off to Wild Space.

Missed birthday greetings from the family she loved, while she was going through one of the worst times of her life – no wonder she had wanted to save some of these messages.

“How goes the surgery, doctor?” Sanna's voice came from the door and Theron startled, so lost in his own thoughts that he had missed her arrival. “Were you able to save the patient?”

The hope on her features did something funny to his stomach – he wanted to give her the galaxy on a string, to make her smile, to never disappoint her. What the hells was wrong with him? Focus Shan, he thought, irritated.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did, actually,” he said, trying to play it cool. “I wouldn't recommend taking it on any more missions, though – it's too fragile. I think leaving it on the desk is best.”

Vassanna gave him that damned smile again and before he could blink, she was in his arms, squeezing him close, her face buried in his chest.

“Thank you, Theron.” She glanced up, blinking away wetness at the corner of her eyes. “So much. I–”

Unwilling to see her cry, he kissed her, his hand curling behind her neck to hold her close. She tasted like caf and something sweet – juna berries, maybe – and the smell of her shampoo wafted past him. When he pulled away, he nuzzled her nose and excused himself, fabricating a meeting to give her some time alone with her precious memories.

He'd gotten as far as the War Room when something prodded at the back of his mind – he was forgetting something, something important. Then it came to him: the remnants of his extra datapad. He'd left a mess of connectors, processor parts, and wiring all over her desk, but he didn't think Sanna would mind too much. Just to be safe, he sent a quick message letting her know he'd tidy up the desk when she was done.

–––

After an hour or so, Theron arrived back at the Commander's rooms (which were also his, at this point, though it still seemed a bit odd), dinner for them both in hand. He knew she hadn't eaten dinner yet and was willing to wager good credits that she'd skipped lunch, too.

Knocking with the toe of his boot, the door slid open on its track and he saw Sanna sitting at the desk, entranced by a recording, her arm slowly drifting back to her side after opening the door for him with the Force. She met his gaze over her shoulder and stood up, her features unreadable – some combination of shock, regret, and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Had she been crying? As she crossed the room, he saw a blue-tinged image of himself projected above the desk, a half-empty whiskey glass raised in salute and grief plainly etched on the hologram's features.

Shit.

Shit shit shit. He'd completely forgotten about that comm message. How drunk had he been that night?

Theron had no time to feel embarrassment or to worry about what she thought: Sanna took his face in her hands and pulled him to her, capturing his lips with a kiss – hard, demanding, desperate – as though trying to make up for lost time. Their sandwiches fell forgotten to the floor as he slid his fingers into her hair, loosely pulled back in a braid, and returned the kiss.

Breathless moments later, she leaned back, meeting his gaze. “I’m sorry,” she gasped out, eyes shining with emotion. “I’m so sorry. I should have been more careful. I promised you I would and then–”

Shaking his head, Theron gently rested a thumb on her lips. “Stop. It's...” It wasn't okay, but it wasn't completely her fault. And to be fair, he knew – he had known in his heart before she even left for Wild Space, before Ziost and Yavin – that she would have done everything she could to protect people, including sacrificing herself.

His stomach twisted, aching, and his head swam as though it were five years ago and Rineth Nabeshin had just shared Sanna’s parting words to him. Hells, he couldn't do this. The air in the room disappeared and he was drowning.

Five years. Five years. How had he made it so long? And how had he let himself get so wrapped up in one person, to begin with? And a Jedi, no less. An attachment-avoiding, logic-driven, practical, and self-fucking-sacrificing Jedi.

Well, maybe that description wasn't entirely accurate: she had been close with her family (before being trapped in carbonite, at least), saved old messages, and cared for people – cared for him.

A thought struck him, one that had crossed his mind any number of times since he’d met Master Vassanna Nabeshin – Hero of Tython and Upright Paragon of the Jedi Order – all those years ago:

“I’m so screwed,” he murmured as he pulled Sanna close. She was soft and sweet when he kissed her and, gods help him, this felt so damned right. She might be an optimistic, overly forgiving, stupidly self-sacrificial Jedi, but she was his optimistic, overly forgiving, and stupidly self-sacrificial Jedi, dammit.

And he didn’t plan on letting her go any time soon.

[cdelphiki]

Flying through the sky was one of Damian’s favorite things.  It’s something he picked up from Grayson, he supposed, during their time as Batman and Robin.  The man’s love for flying was infectious, and once Damian had felt the rush from jumping off a building without firing his grapple first, he was hooked.  

Even more thrilling was flying through the sky on his own, without Batman breathing down his back.  Damian enjoyed patrolling with his father.  He did, but the man was overbearing and controlling.  Sometimes it was liberating to be trusted to patrol alone.  

Well, okay.  So maybe he wasn’t exactly trusted to patrol alone, but Father hadn’t hacked into his comm to demand he return to the cave yet, so Damian was taking that as permission to continue ahead.  

Besides, Father allowed the others to patrol alone, so why should he be any different?

Right.  Because Father was convinced that Damian would kill people if left unsupervised.

It didn’t matter that Damian swore not to kill.  That he was trying hard.  That he had reigned in his temper.  It didn’t mean anything that he’d not even used excessive force once in months.  All that mattered was that Damian had killed in the past, and Batman could never trust him because of it.

Damian huffed.  Father was impossible.  

He sat down on the edge of the building he had been about to leap off and gazed out over the city.

It was a fairly quiet night, considering the good weather.  Usually beautiful nights had far more crime than the awful, muggy or rainy nights, but Damian wasn’t complaining.  He could actually see the stars tonight, barely through the light pollution, so any chance to sit on a roof and admire the beauty of Gotham at night was one he’d enjoy.  

Of course, though, life decided to mess it all up.  

A terrified shriek drew Damian’s attention to two alleys over.  On instinct, he was on his feet and leaping to the next roof before he’d even registered what he heard.  Within a minute, Damian was landing in the alley next to a woman, who was pressed up against the wall, screaming down at a man lying on the ground.  

And for a second, the scene made no sense.  

The woman was screaming something incoherent and the man was motionless.  Then Damian saw the blood starting the pool.  

Keeping his eye on the hysterical woman as best he could, Damian knelt beside the man and began hunting for the wound.

“Oracle,” he said, tapping his comm and opening a line for the first time that night, “I need an ambulance to the 5400 block of pine.”

“Copy that, Robin,” the woman’s computerized voice sounded in his ear, “And just so you know, Batman is not happy with you.”  

“Tt,” Damian huffed as he began rolling the man to his back, “My father’s happiness is of no-”

“Robin?”

“Shit,” Damian breathed, taking in the large, deep stab wound in the man’s neck, “Carotid Artery has been severed.”  

How did this even happen?  Had the woman stabbed him?  Had he stabbed himself?  Where was the knife?

Damian thought all this as he quickly put his hands against the man’s neck, attempting to stifle the blood flow.  He only have a few minutes, at best.  

There was so much blood.  

His hands shook.  There was so much blood.  Blood everywhere.  It was hot and sticky and everywhere.

In his hair.

On his clothes.

Under his fingernails.

Damian would never be clean again.  

“How did this happen?” Robin demanded, pushing down the discomfort having blood on his hands caused.  His hands were the only thing between this man and death.  

“He- He,” The woman choked, “Oh god!”

Robin growled, putting more pressure on the wound.  His normally green gloves were coated in red, now.  Only small flecks of green still visible.  

His knife slid effortlessly into the servant.  It was likely painless, due to how sharp the blade was.  Well.  Nearly painless.  But even that was too merciful for a man who had dishonored and betrayed the Al Ghul’s.  

Damian had been pitted against this man to test his skills and to execute him for his crimes.  He had nearly lost by all appearances, when his sword fell to the ground, but of course Damian had no fewer than a dozen knives on his person.  

Honestly. He could kill this man with his bare hands.  

“What. Happened,” Damian growled, turning his gaze to the woman, who was now sitting on the ground, whimpering.  

“I don’t know,” she cried, “he just, just did that. I- I don’t even know him.”  

“Robin,” Oracle sounded in his ear, “Medical is four minutes out.”  

He won’t make it.  He’s going to-

The servant looked down at him with a mixture of fear and amusement.  

“Tt,” Damian had said, “I shall take great pleasure in eviscerating you.”

“You are but an infant.  This entire cult is insane, worshipping a three-year-old such as yourself.”  

“I am four,” Damian had corrected, “and you shall perish for your words.”  

The pulse under Damian’s hands was getting weaker.  Slower.  It had been approximately three minutes since his artery was severed.  Chances of survival were next to zero, at this point, and yet, Damian couldn’t remove his hands.  

He’d promised Father.

Promised Grayson.  Promised everyone he’d be a hero.  And heroes saved people.  

Someone was chattering in his ear, but Damian couldn’t focus.  All he wanted to hear were the sirens, but they were still too far in the distance.  

Damian had hesitated.  

The servant was not an expert swordsman.  

He knew enough to defend himself, but he was not an expert like Damian.  He was not an assassin.  

There had been an opening.  The perfect opportunity to thrust his sword right through the man’s heart while his sword was off to the side, carelessly swung too far to defend himself.  

Damian had hesitated.  

And for that he paid dearly.  

The woman was crying again.  

Robin just wanted her to shut up.  She wasn’t the one holding the man’s neck together.  The one kneeling in the thick pool of blood.

It was self defense.  When the servant took advantage of his hesitation.  His weakness.  He knocked Damian’s sword out of his hands.

He had no choice but to pull the knife and lunge forward.  

Swords were a honorable weapon, sword fighting a beautiful art, but they sucked for close combat.  If Damian could stay within an arms reach, the servant would have a difficult time doing damage.  

The servant would have to resort to hacking at Damian, and such moves would be easy to counter.  

Sirens faded into the soundscape, offering a brief glimmer of hope for Damian.  Maybe they’d make it in time.

If only the knife had gone in a few inches to the left, the man would have been fine.  Still in desperate need of medical attention, but not bleeding out this quickly.  

Damian’s knife slid effortlessly into his servant’s neck.

He had learned the anatomy of a human body six months prior.  He knew exactly where to place his knife.  Exactly which spots to target to ensure a quick and simple death.  

Severing the carotid artery was a piece of cake.  

The servant fell to the ground, dragging Damian with him, as he had been on the servant’s back as a means of defense in such close range.  

Someone was talking to Robin.  They were in his face.

He- He should answer.  Say something.  

Gloved hands gripped his shoulders and gently pulled him back, the hard pressure he’d been applying ceased as he was lifted up to his feet.  

Damian looked down at his hands.  There was so much blood.

There was so much blood.  Blood everywhere.

It was sticky.  It was hot.  It wasn’t his.

His hands shook as he stared at the red substance that coated every inch of his hands.  

How had so much gotten on him?

Damian wanted to be sick.  

“I-” Robin said, looking up to meet Batman’s cold gaze.  

Then Damian stiffened, realizing how all this looked to Batman’s perspective.

He came on scene to find his ‘murder baby,’ as Todd so rudely referred to him, lying over the corpse of a man killed by a blade, covered in the man’s blood.

Covered just like when he’d actually-

Damian held back his tears until he was in the bathroom alone.  

When he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, blood smeared across his face.  

All Damian could see in the mirror was the blood of the man he’d killed.  

The man he’d murdered.  

Then Damian was sick.  

“Robin,” Batman growled, a tinge of worry in his voice, “get in the Batmobile.”  

It took an hour to scrub away all the blood.  

An hour and Damian had scrubbed his own skin raw.  And yet, he still wasn’t clean.  

He could still feel the hot sticky mess, still taste the blood in his mouth, smell the vile in his nose.  

Damian was a murderer.  

A monster.

He would never be clean again.

Next thing Damian knew, a cold glass of water was being pressed into his hands.  His now bare hands.  

Cold condensation dripped down his hands as Damian blinked the sluggish haze from his vision.  He was sitting in the cave, on the medical cot, the top half of his uniform missing from his body.  

Finding the straw with his mouth, Damian took a long, slow sip of the cool refreshing water.  It rinsed down the dry raspy feeling from his throat he hadn’t noticed before and helped clear the fog from his brain.  

“Go take a shower,” Father said, not even looking over at Damian from where he was sitting at the Batcomputer.  Pennyworth had given him the water, he now realized.    

“Father, I didn’t-” Damian tried, just to be interrupted.

“Shower. Then we’ll talk.”  

Damian spent an hour in the shower.  Pennyworth had done a decent job removing all trace of blood from his body, but Damian still enjoyed having the cold water wash over his body.  It helped relax him.  Allowed him to think and forget all at the same time.  

It bought him time.  

When he finally emerged from the showers, dressed in the fresh pajamas Pennyworth had prepared, Father was no where to be found.  Wandering around the Manor, Damian found him standing in his Father’s study, looking out over the gardens.  

“Father,” Damian said curtly as he entered the room.  He had practiced his defense half a dozen times.  He was ready to out argue Father, if necessary, to prove his innocence.  

“Come here, son,” he said tiredly, motioning with his hand for Damian to join him by the window.  

Damian obeyed wordlessly, yet cautiously.  Never before had Father started a lecture about morals with beckoning Damian to stand next to him and calling him ‘son.’  Perhaps this was Father’s way of softening the blow.  

Was… was father sending him back?  Kicking him out?  Had Damian just ‘crossed the line,’ in Father’s eyes?  

When Damian stopped at his fathers side, he looked out over the Manor grounds and saw what his Father had been observing.

Thousands of lightning bugs flitted across the grounds and into the woods, their asynchronous lights creating a show for anyone up at this hour.

“When I was a child,” Father began, placing a hand on Damian’s shoulder, “my father and I would catch fireflies in a jar and then tell stories by their light for hours.”

Damian scrunched his eyebrows as he continued to observe the gardens.

“Those carefree moments are something I cherish,” he continued, “There’s something relaxing about thinking back to happy childhood memories, something humanizing about remembering better times.”  

Damian turned his head to look up at his father, his confusion freely displayed on his face.  “Father, what does-”

Father squeezed his shoulder, gently, to hush him, then carried on, “I’ve failed to provide you with memories like that, Damian.”

“I’ve only been living here for two years,” Damian tried.

Father shook his head and knelt down before Damian, turning the boy so they were facing each other fully.  “Son,” he said, placing both hands on his shoulders, “I am sorry for what you had to see tonight.  For what you had to experience.  I wish we could save everyone, but we can’t.  I’m proud of you for trying.”  

Damian shook his head, willing the tears he felt stinging to be released to stay in their ducts.  He was not a child.  He would not cry over something as trivial as this.  

“You did well, Robin.  You should be proud, too.”  

“No,” Damian whispered, quickly losing the fight with his tears, “You don’t understand.”  

Bruce frowned and brushed away the nonexistent dust from Damian’s shoulder.  “What don’t I understand?”

“I-” Damian rasped, looking down at his hands. “I’ve killed people.  Exactly like that.  With- With these-”

Damian yelped when he felt himself be yanked suddenly into a bone crushing hug, then lost the battle entirely as sobs wracked his body.  “I thought,” he hiccuped into his father’s chest, “Maybe if I could save people, if I was Robin, it’d go away.  But- but my hands.  And-”

“Shh,” Father soothed, rubbing at Damian’s back as he rocked his son slightly, “Hush, son.”

“How can you be proud of me when I’m a murderer?” Damian asked, his throat thick as he struggled to swallow the hot, thick saliva crying had created.  “I’m a monster,” he whispered.  

“You,” Bruce said forcefully, halting his rocking to squeeze Damian into a tighter hug, “are my son.  I will always be proud of my son.”

Damian shook his head again. “I don’t deserve-”

Father cut him off with a sharp, “Damian Thomas Wayne, you deserve so much more than what I have to give you.  Anything you did with the league, and as a result of their brainwashing, is on the conscious of Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul.  Not yours.  Do you hear me?”

“But,” Damian said, pulling away from his father’s grasp, “I’ve done so much.”  Damian held his hands back out and looked down at them.  He could still see the blood.  The blood of every victim of his.  Of every death he was responsible for.  All 42 of them.  43, now.  

“Damian,” he said again, gently, taking Damian’s hands in his own, “You are such a good person, so kind and gentle.  I don’t believe for a second you are responsible for what you were forced to do while with the League.  I only hope you can come to the same realization one day.”  

Father pulled Damian’s hands up to his face and kissed each one softly before letting go and standing to his feet.  

He turned to face the gardens once more, and Damian stayed still, staring down at his hands.

They felt a bit cleaner, now.  

Link to ao3: https://archiveofourown. org/works/16128005

[melmac78]

A short TAG story: The Bagel Incident.

(Ok, this is a short story based on a comment I made regarding John, bagels and EOS. Dedicated to @lenle-g and “John”... from @starman-john-tracy for putting up with quirky questions. 😊)

8888888

EOS loved her time with John, including the occasional battle of wits and jokes.

Sure, she couldn’t be as varied as Gordon, but her jokes on the poor Astronaut, and occasionally Alan when he subbed for John, always brought a bit of humor to her processors.

Until one fateful day things went wrong and she had to get help.

“Thunderbird Five calling Tracy Island,” she said that early fall morning.

Hearing nothing more than a snore from Gordon, lying on the couch from an earlier rescue, she turned on the emergency alarm.

Gordon jolted out of his sleep, falling off the couch. “John, what’s the situation,” he said, half asleep.

The other brothers rushed in as EOS continued. “Gordon, this is EOS... John is the one in need of assistance,” said the AI.

“Why isn’t he speaking,” said Scott, suspicious.

“He has lost consciousness,” she said.

That made them pale. Gordon, going into paramedic mode, continued. “What are his vitals EOS?” he said. “How long has he been unconscious?”

“Vitals are stable, and he’s been unresponsive for about a minute,” said EOS. “I am lowering down the elevator.”

Scott frowned. “FAB. Gordon, you take the elevator and keep me posted,” he ordered. “Alan, you, Virgil and I will take Three to Thunderbird Five to help.”

Gordon nodded and went to his aquarium launching bay, which if he didn’t lean on the slide to Four, would stop at Five’s elevator pad.

He was quickly suited up, and ran to the space elevator. For once EOS, understanding Gordon’s paramedic training, let him in, and reeled it up.

She was careful to not pull the elevator up too fast, not wanting to risk Gordon passing out from the G-forces.

That didn’t mean however it wasn’t fast enough the aquanaut didn’t start to feel the beginnings of potential G-LOC. He wouldn’t admit it to his brothers, but Gordon was thankful for that slightly embarrassing High-G training session in IR’s early days.

The trip went as smoothly as possible, and after the airlock circulated, Gordon stepped inside Thunderbird Five. “Which way EOS?” He queried as he floated through the airlock tunnel.

“Habitat ring, the kitchen” she replied, using arrows to direct him to the injured man.

Gordon made quick work of the path to arrive at the scene.

What he saw made him pause in relief... and humor.

He lifted his wrist comm to his mouth. “Gordon to Thunderbird Three. I’m inside Five and have found John,” he said, kneeling by the astronaut.

“How is he?” asked Scott.

Gordon checked John’s vitals and assessed his injuries. “Conscious, but groggy,” replied the astronaut, who then seeing John’s growing awareness of what exactly happened, chuckled.

The eldest brother glowered. “This is not a time to laugh,” he chided his younger brother.

Gordon, realizing Scott could only hear him sobered up briefly. “Sorry Scott... it’s only because he’s all right... and how I found him,” he apologized and before Scott could ask, Gordon turned on the imaging feature in his watch.

He saw the other three look at the scene, and realized why the blonde-haired brother’s merriment.

Alan cackled.

Virgil chortled.

Scott, admittedly fighting a chuckle bubbling in his own stomach, cleared his throat. “Well... this one’s going to take some explaining,” he admitted.

88888

”I am so embarrassed,” muttered a fully conscious John as he lay on his cot on Five.

He was surrounded by his brothers, who were thankful all John suffered was a headache and two bruises - head and ego.

John was happy too, but not why he was hurt in the first place.

“It could be worse John,” said Alan, sympathetically.

The astronaut quirked an eyebrow and snorted. “What could be worse than being rendered unconscious by a bunch of bagels?” he said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Or the fact your prankster brother finds you waking up in a pile of them?”

Alan started to speak, but thought better of it. Besides, they agreed there’d be no mention of the soup globules incident ... experiment on Five.

A soft chirp interrupted their thoughts. “Yes EOS,” moaned John.

The AI’s lights lit in rose to show embarrassment. “I am sorry John. It was a practical joke,” she said. “I have pelted you with bagels for years. I do not know what happened.”

Virgil gave a half grin. “Velocity, and a lucky hit,” he said. Hearing a confused noise from both of Five’s occupants, he continued. “I checked your food dispenser. It’s dispensing food faster than normal.”

EOS adjusted her lens, annoyed. “It is working within parameters,” she said.

The mechanic gave a tiny shake of his head. “Mostly, but the error is within the parameters,” he said. “Plus, given how close John said his head was to the dispenser, when you ‘threw’ them, it hit him with just enough force to knock him out.”

The AI processed the data, and if she were human, she’d sunk through the floor. “I am truly sorry John... and to you Scott, Alan and Gordon for overly worrying you,” she said, contrite. “How is your head John?”

“Fine, just sore. Virgil said no concussion,” said John.

EOS already knew John would recover from her error, but was happy to hear it from him.

She then continued. “I will no longer throw bagels at you. I do not want my fun to injure you again,” EOS said, and seeing John’s nod, continued. “If you will excuse me, I will continue monitoring calls.”

The AI departed, leaving the five in the room.

Alan was the first to speak. “I can’t believe a good fight would be so dangerous,” he said, putting a hand on John’s shoulder. “Are you OK?”

The older astronaut nodded. “FAB,” he said.

“At least she won’t throw them anymore,” said Gordon.

Virgil chuckled. “Maybe, but just to be on the safe side, I’ll make the adjustment to reduce their velocity,” he said, and headed to the offending dispenser.

John frowned, making Scott worry. “It isn’t that we don’t trust her... but there is always the chance she forgets,” said Scott.

Though the astronaut knew Scott was always cautious of the AI, if only because of the first time they met, he nodded. “I know... that’s why a backup plan,” he said, smiling.

88888

About a week later, John was back on Thunderbird Five, whistling a happy tune.

“You are in a happy mode today John,” said EOS as the man collected a bagel from the dispenser.

“FAB,” he said, taking a bite of the warm cinnamon bagel. “And I’m about to make you happy.”

Before EOS could inquire about the comment, John produced what appeared to be a dozen bakery items.

“I do not see how food will make me happy. I cannot eat.”

John chuckled. “You can’t eat these,” he said, heading to the dispenser. “They’re made of soft foam.”

This only confused the AI more. “John, humans also are not built to process foam products,” she said.

“I know EOS: these are for throwing,” he said, inserting the faux food in the dispenser. “If you ever want to bean me with a bagel, swap these for the real ones.”

“John... I am afraid I would hurt you again,” she said.

“Trust me, you’ll be fine. Brains had MAX throw them at Gordon to test them,” John chuckled. “Thought it’d be fun to re-create the Five Food Fight for me. Terrible performance, but he was fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Trust me. Throw one at me, just not at my head... or below the waist.”

EOS pondered the request, but then complied.

Seeing the foam bagel hit John in the chest, but he not stumble or wince in pain, her lights turned white in joy. “You are well John,” she said.

“Yes I am. Just remember you have these and you’ll be OK,” he said, and turned to a door. “I will be working on a lab project.”

“FAB,” she said, and he started toward the door. “Oh and John?”

“Yes?” He started, only to get hit in the nose with the foam bagel.

“Thank you... for these and forgiving me.”

The red-haired man smiled. “Anytime... just no more food fight today OK?”

The AI merely giggled - if only to make John wonder the rest of the day.

Afterall, sometimes the best prank is one that is not played.

[whitewolfbumble]

The Fallout - Part Seven (Bucky x Reader)

Summary: You had been a ghost for years, taking down the bad guys from the shadows that had once enslaved you. That is until the Avengers finally caught up with you and yet again your life changed. But your past won’t stay dead and everything starts to shift when a familiar face joins the ranks: Bucky Barnes. He may not remember you, but you certainly remember him.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Slow burn, language, claustrophobic-ness, 

Word Count: About 5k

A/N: And down we go! Some more bits of You/Bucky origin info here. Please let me know what you think lovelies!!

MY MASTERLIST // THE FALLOUT MASTERLIST // PART SIX

The tunnel was intensely musty, completely pitch black, and uneven in all respects. And running top speed through it was a fucking challenge here. You might not be as “super” of a super soldier as the two men you were running towards, but after your years with Hydra you doubted you would pass a drug test.

But you still weren’t a bat. And navigating this blind was disorientating. You did have a small disk-shaped light strapped to your shoulder to somewhat guide you, but with your speed and the sweat in your eyes, it was not enough to spare you a lot of cuts and bruises. Coupled with the fact that you were going so fast and jostling so much, you basically saw what was in front of you only as you were running passed it.

Dodging under a low beam, you raced forward, eyes only half on the terrain and mostly on spotting any traps laid out for you. This one went right to the base so it would be stupid not to set something.

Unless they wanted you there.

You grunted, bring your knees up swiftly towards your chest for a moment as you jumped, trying not to fall as the floor suddenly dropped down a couple feet. You landed- not gracefully by any stretch- without breaking anything though, so win.

Suddenly you skidded roughly to a stop, one leg low in front of you and one bent, hands on the ground bracing yourself. Up ahead there was light. You checked your tracker and saw you were almost there, just another small stretch after a sharp turn. That was what you were seeing ahead of you now.

Okay, get your head in the game here.

Far too slowly for your liking, you walked forward, eyes darting over every inch of the murky, dusty space. It gave you time to calm your panting breath down somewhat.

As you reached the sharp turn you crouched low and looked cautiously around the corner, just the slimmest sliver of your profile visible around the corner. If anyone was there, they would be expecting someone to appear at a normal height, not so far down. It would give them pause before shooting.

But the space was empty. Just another dirty, dusty hallway. So you kept walking, small machine gun out and ready to fire.

You walked like this for some time, heading deeper and deeper until you were at the end of the tunnel and at the base proper. Stopping by the large metal door leading to an empty foyer type room, you pulled up the schematics you had of this base before putting a hand up to the door.

Patchy at best, it looked like you were on the top of two levels, the bottom being much larger than the top. You took in a steady breath, gun ready with your finger just a hair above the trigger. You slowly opened the door and began your mission.

Steve and Bucky had probably made quick work of this floor, set up and looking like an abandoned office out of the eighties. Nothing was out of place in the oddly empty space: no bullet holes or shells from Bucky’s gun, no slashes in the wall from Steve’s shield. And no bodies or blood. Just dingy floor tiles, off-white peeling walls, and the distinct smell of stale neglect.

Your search of this floor was thorough and as quick as you could make it. No traps to your knowledge, and if you had to escape the same way you came in, you knew the best route to do it fast.

A grimy stairwell with railing and steps slick with moisture lead you down to the next level. This one was quite different. The upper level would have been just mundane offices at some point, but the level below was where the experiments happened.

This base had been used largely for imprisonment and human experimentation. You had been here before and from what you remembered, it wasn’t pretty. You didn’t dwell on that much. It wouldn’t help here, as you only had one memory of one room.

Barred cells lined some hallways, others were lined with thick metal doors, their white-painted exteriors a wet and dingy grey-brown with rusted reddy-brown walls that matched the dried old blood on the tables and chairs within. Age had rotted this place, long forgotten and out of use.

The more hallways you slunk down silently, peering into cells with a laser focus, the more you felt your anxiety creeping up on you. And for you on a mission? That was not typical.

This isn’t right.

You couldn’t place what was out of place in all of this. So you kept moving, as silent as the still air around you.

Eventually after some minutes moving through this base like a ghost, you got to the last room in the whole base. It was the furnace room, a large and a complicated mess of pipes and big towering tanks. Again, nothing there. Just that terrifying sound that silence had when it closed in on you.

You had stopped in your tracks by the far wall behind one of those metal tanks to try and collect your thoughts.

This isn’t right.

Okay, no signs anywhere that Steve and Bucky had even entered this base. You knew they had though, as they had said as much before the comms went out. Everyone got into their respective base.

So what the hell? Had they left after their comms went out? But that didn’t sit right with you. They would’ve signaled somehow, figuring you would dig your way through to the base in a heartbeat after not hearing from them.

This isn’t right.

You had no facts, no visuals, no way of figuring out what happened. All you had was a feeling.

So since that was all you had, that was what you focused on.

Yes, this was a creeping fucking place and the silence was all but comforting, but you had been through dank dangerous places before. It was second nature to you and you knew that you shouldn’t be feeling this way. You had too much practice in these kinds of places.

THIS ISN’T RIGHT.

So what’s wrong with it? The emptiness? The cells? The tables with dead blood crusted onto the straps that once held those poor souls down?…

“Shit,” your voice echoed suddenly and loudly in the dank, dark room. "Fuck!"

No, no, no, no, no, no!

You ran top speed, not caring to be quiet or careful anymore, traps or lurking enemies be damned. You took off as fast as your legs could take back towards a hallway lined with those big metal doors. The ones where countless people were held and tortured, like you had been at one time.

You looked in the first cell, then the second, then again down the whole hallway. Running through to the next section, you did the same, quickly taking in the haunted rooms.

And every room you looked in confirmed what was wrong.

Every room may have had a different setup, layout, door, or purpose, but every room in the whole complex was painted the same colour. A red rusty brown.

You swallowed hard and worked to pull up that single memory you had of Vier Gliedmaßen. You had actually dreamt of it not that long ago, that nightmare being the worst of them.

It was the one that featured Bucky, standing in front of you in a concrete-lined cell, with a small barred door the only way out. On the other side of that door were eyes watching, notes scribbled on their notepads as you screamed for help. Not for them to help you exactly, but for Bucky too. Though he never did.

He was hurting you, holding you there while you screamed to be let go, to go back home. But you also didn’t want to leave the cell. You didn’t want to face them again. Impossibly they were far worse than Bucky was.

You didn’t know his real name then, just called him Soldier like they did. Calling Bucky the fake name he had given you always made him hurt you more. You figured he probably killed the man whose name he stole.

You eventually made a name for all of them, the soldiers that came to hurt you again and again. But it wasn’t them- the soldiers- that did it; it was Hydra. They were the ones you hated. They were the ones who did this. And you would rather stay in that cell with the soldiers than face the horrors that they did to you in the name of experimentation. Or the horrors that they made you inflict on others.

The cell they held you in was wet, dank, and concrete. It was painted green, making your bruised, bloodied, and beaten skin look sickly, and Bucky look like some monster, with shadows dancing terrifyingly across his face.

But not a rusted red-brown.

Your memories, however compartmentalized to stay sane, were intact.

They rarely wiped your mind, needing your…creativity in the field, along with the ominous threats and repercussions over the years to have the needed weight. They just pumped you full of something to set you loose, or keep you docile, or keep you in agony and begging them for some relief before it started all over again. Day after day. Decade after decade.

You remembered them calling this place “Vier Gliedmaßen”, the name sticking to your mind as you heard it a few times through the years, conjuring up visions of that cell and that terror. You remembered the overwhelming dirt smell. The dank water pooling on the floor under your bare feet. There was no light beyond the artificial light that patchily lit everything.

You knew the base must be underground, so naturally it had to be this one. Right?

You mentally ran through the other bases and their descriptions from the team. The mountainside base was huge and airy, big enough to easily fit the Hulk, with every room broad, no cells at all, just large rooms of weapons and air support vehicles.

The tech base was one floor, no lower level at all, made of glass and steel. It was half underground but half above. The whole base, start to finish had windows on the upper half of the rooms. They could have updated it? But unlikely. Tech development was never held in the same spot as experimentation as they were resolute to keep it under strict lock and key. You had never been in a tech base while under Hydra’s influence. They wouldn’t have had you or anyone like you near a base like that.

The last base was the one you had been to with Steve and Bucky originally, and nothing there rung a bell at all. It was all above ground, besides the power generator in the basement.

Unless that wasn’t the last base.

Again, you took off running.

“To anyone who can hear, there is another undiscovered base," you said, stomach dropping more with every step. "Repeat, there is another base we didn’t know about.”

You took the stairs three at a time, running up to the top floor as soon as possible. You needed to figure this out fast.

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

“Bucky, Steve… I’ll find you," you practically shouted into the comm. "I will fucking find you. And good luck to anyone listening in that gets in my fucking way!”

If Hydra had captured them and were listening in, they would know you were on your way now.

Good.

You wanted them to know you were coming. You would kill the lot of them before they realized, and you wanted them to know it was you that sliced them open. And if they so much as touched Steve or Bucky it would be so much worse.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y., ” you snapped, barely registering the blur of the base as you ran through it. "Tell me you’re still here,

A little light lit up on the wristband. “Here for you, Y/N.”

“Tell me you know where the team is.”

“No, Y/N.”

“Fine,” you breathed heavy, running down to a corridor that held the most exits into the tunnels. “Tell me you at least can still see their vitals."

Your small screen lit up, but the blinking green lights were gone, just grey blinking circles where they had once been. “I can’t seem to find them, Y/N. They’ve vanished.”

“Even Tony?”

“I can’t connect with him.”

“Okay, shit,” you said, boots screeching loudly to a halt as you reached your destination. “The maps of the tunnels, I still have them?”

A map of the tunnels appeared on your wristband. “If there was a base, somewhere in a similar size to the four different Vier Gliedmaßen, where are possibilities within the tunnels?”

“There are four hundred and sixty-four possibilities.”

You took a furious breath in through your nose before strapping your gun back to your thigh holster in favour of unsheathing a knife from the back of your belt. You began turning it and playing with it absently, focusing your frantic energy as best you could.

“Okay, next question, what tunnel leads down the farthest into the ground, that has a dead end?”

“There is one," Finally some decent news. "And an entrance to it is down this hallway, third door to your left, and is the second exit on your left.”

You bolted immediately, kicking in the door, a terribly loud clang echoing everywhere.

“Chances that something base sized could be under it?”

“It’s definitely possible, Y/N.” But not guaranteed.

You reached the door, adrenalin begging you to keep up the pace but you stopped for a moment. Pulling up the map, it did not look like a fun ride. Some sections were almost a straight drop down and incredibly narrow.

“Y/N, I will lose contact with you partially down the tunnel. It’s too deep for me to reach you.”

“Understood,” you said tersely. Fuck Tony and his tech right now. Your heart briefly constricted as you made a promise that you, he, and everyone else on the Team would live for you to tell him that in person.

Then down into the black again you went, praying your hunch was right.

_______

Three kilometres in you hit a first narrow patch. The tunnel had been on a steady decline but it suddenly angled down, the walls getting incredibly close together. It was completely black besides the little shoulder light that bumped and moved with you, causing your focus to be hard to keep. The air itself was dead, stale and it felt like you were breathing in not oxygen but exclusively dust and dirt. Your lungs felt heavy with the weight of it, making this all the more unbearably stifling.

Squeezing through and letting gravity do its part, you let your body fall through, only slight bracing yourself with your hands and feet against the walls. Rock and more dust flew at you, entering your airways and pelleting your face. You wanted speed over safety here though so you kept it up.

Depending on who specifically had taken Steve and Bucky, Hydra could do a lot of damage in the time since you heard from them. The cuts and scraps that riddled you would be nothing compared to that, so you refused to stop.

You hit bottom only making it a few more feet on the rocky ground before you reached another steep decline. This was far more narrow.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y.?”

No response.

You would have to be the sole judge on if you fit through. But honestly, this was the only option. In your mind, despite the incredibly huge possibility this was wrong, to you this was somehow the only way to save them.

Tony had mapped out tunnel after tunnel, but this one wasn’t on the radar. It led nowhere, and they were only looking for exits or tunnels leading to the bases at the time.

In the black, you mentally braced yourself for this.

It would not do much with the tunnel walls so close to your body to get claustrophobic now. You didn’t think of the unknown shrinking space below you or the untold tons of dirt and rock above your head.

Far deeper than six feet under, you thought before shutting that down and focusing.

You got into the best position you could to try and see down through the narrow passageway angling down below you. It looks like it was narrowest at the opening, only a few metres until it opened up, if only slightly.

This better be fucking stable enough.

You shimmied yourself into the opening and began your descent further into the darkness. Struggle was an understatement. You felt the walls pushing your breath back into your mouth, feeling the unrelenting pressure of the dirt covering you on every single inch of skin. You could only move your hands and feet, while your legs and torso were pressed flush against the wall, like toothpaste in the tube.

As your hips hit hard against the narrow passage, you tried to force yourself through with your severely limited movement.

With your fucking weapons strapped to your legs and body, this was not going to work. You contorted yourself to try and get a hand down to your hips. Your fingers fumbled in the darkness for a minute before you heard a small click. Your weapons belt that hung loosely around your hips was free.

But the guns at your thighs were in the way and would have to go too.

I better get these back.

You forced your hand painfully down your body, fingers only barely able to touch the clip of your gun holster. You tried and tried to force it down further but it wouldn’t budge.

This wasn’t going to be the end. You were going to do this, find them, and get out a different way. You only had to get through this tunnel.

After minutes your nail hit the clip in the right spot, loosening the holster immediately. After moving your hand over to the other thigh, you managed to get the other one undone in half the time. It hung in place, but loose. With the guns on your side able to move, you have the space to squirm your hips through. As you shimmied further, rocks and roots cutting into your sides, your now loose weapons and straps moved up as you moved down. They clung around your neck and chest as you moved, unable to get past your shoulders.

Feeling with your feet braced on the wall on the way down, you felt the cavern open up, the walls widening, leaving you dangling above an unknown length of space.

Your breathing was contracted by heat and dirt and effort, and you tried to think it through. If there was a large opening or cavern below you, it wouldn’t be that big. You hadn’t seen anything on the map. So again you continued, jaw set painfully hard in determination.

The sound of crumbling dirt and stone was your first clue that this was going to happen fast.

Suddenly the feeling of being constricted finally ended, and immediately relief turned into overwhelming nausea as your body in a split second was falling fast through a wider tunnel.

Quickly you picked up speed, body slamming and bumping and scraping against the sides like this was one big slip-and-slide tube.

As you slid down feet first, you were tossed and slammed against the sides of this slide. Your light was like a strobe light in the dark, being turned on and off, illuminating the sudden curving jutting walls that you couldn’t avoid. The sudden flashes were disorienting and adding to the chaos until the edge of a rock hit your shoulder, liquid warmth erupting as the light broke against your shoulder and neck. In the darkness you tumbled further, not praying you would survive, but praying that this wasn’t the only way out once you hit bottom.

You held your hands and feet out against the wall, trying to brace yourself, groaning with the effort. You had on your fingerless gloves but that was not enough for the sharp stones to shred your fingers on the way down. At some point, the momentum threw you against a dirt barrier before tumbling further.

What felt like years later you finally hit the bottom, skidding to a stop with a hard, dazing knock to your head against the rough, flat ground.

Blinking silent and slow you looked around, trying to take in your surroundings and instinctively scoping for enemies. You tried to get your breathing under control but from either the effort or pain of almost free-falling, it was hard. You stayed low, breathing hard, hand reaching to the gun at your side that was no longer there with bloodied fingers.

Shit.

You were now in a perpendicular large tunnel declining slightly down towards a dimly glowing light source. This hallway was rounded and completely made of dirt and support beams, with tiny lights periodically placed on the walls. Compared to where you just were, this was deliciously open.

So first things first, that was your way out. Secondly, you had literally no weapons on you anymore. Between unhinging some and fall on the way down, they were gone with no sign of them anywhere.

You had the option to either turn left, up the tunnel to what you figured was an exit out, where you could catch your breath, find your team members, or stock up on weapons. Or you could turn right, down deeper into the supposed base where you had assumed Bucky and Steve were, weaponless and bleeding.

If you left now, you were sure there would be no time. You weren’t sure if it was already too late now. The tunnel could go on for kilometres for all you knew. Nothing about this had any degree of certainty to it at all.

So you chose to save your friends.

Quietly you set off down the side of the tunnel wall, weaponless and alone.

_______

This was it. The smell, the look, the feeling… It hadn’t changed in all these years. Wet, green, and dirty concrete lined everything. Large dark metal doors lead the way to room after room, dingy and empty.

You swallowed down where this mentally took you. The past was coming flooding back in the worst way. You had gone in “mission-mode” after leaving the jet, focusing on your actions and not everything that this was bringing back. You tried to keep that focus.

Until you found it.

Silently you peered out around a corner as you silently exhaled. Six Hydra agents, clad in black, standing still and quiet against the wall in the shadows.

You quelled the flash of panic as you realized what this really was. What this really meant.

You were here, in a Hydra base, who knows how far underground, no backup, no one knowing where you were, and no weapons besides your bloody hands to speak of.

All you knew was that they had designed this plan all for you.

This was all to get you here. They wanted you back, and it was like you were running into their fucking arms.

You could wait alone and tied up for thirteen men to kill you in the comfort of the Tower, sure. But walking back into Hydra’s doors was not what you wanted. You hadn’t fully considered what this meant until now.

If they caught you, they would never let you go.

You would be their plaything for the rest of your unending life: frozen until they needed you, drugged until you complied, tortured until you broke. At the end, you had come up with a way to block them for triggering you, but they could wipe you and start again, couldn’t they? Start all over from scratch?

You would be exactly what you were all over again, what they made you. The Siren. The unhinged torturer for Hydra, insane and unstoppable. You would do again everything you had done- torture, kill, drive people mad, ruin countless innocent lives and whole governments.

I’d be their Siren again, you thought with eyes wide and holding your breath.

And there would be nothing that you could do to stop it if they caught you.

You pressed your back flush against the wall as hard as you could, trying to ground yourself in what this actually was about.

This wasn’t about you.

Because if you didn’t keep going, it wouldn’t be you but Bucky falling back in their hands. It wouldn't be you turning into the Siren but Bucky turning into the Winter Soldier instead.

You would’ve failed him. Like you had all of those years. You remembered the question he kept asking you when you first met and how you had failed him then too.

So the choice was run back to Hydra or sacrifice Bucky to them.

Immediately the hair on the back of your neck rose, a shudder running through you. That would never happen while you still had breath to fight. You would never let them take him back.

On that courage of that thought you stood, silently stepping around the corner towards those men.

________

PART EIGHT

________

If you liked this part please let me know somehow! A like or reblog or recommending it or a message! I’d love to know that you’re out there reading this! Thanks loves!

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