#tony thinks magic is science with extra steps

[malpractisnt]

strange: I’ve got some ancient spells to learn today

tony: do any of them involve kissing me?

Strange: No

tony: sounds like a waste of time, honestly.

[hailing-stars]

@febuwhump day 16: broken bones

such a softie 

summary

“Told you it was disgusting,” says Tony, as Peter pulls the metal bar and flushes the toilet.

“Shut up,” says Peter. His voice was so weak and miserable, Tony felt a stab of guilt.

“Feeling better?” he asks. He reaches out, and covers his forehead with his hand. “You feel a little warm.”

“I’m fine,” says Peter. “Let’s go back and watch the film.”

“Kid,” says Tony. “You’re clearly sick. We’ll go home, and you can rest, and we’ll come back when you’re better. It isn’t like we have to see this one tonight.”

OR

Peter develops a sickness at the movies, and Tony attempts to make him feel better.

“Parker,” says Tony.

They’re standing outside of the movie theater, their planned meeting destination, and Tony doesn’t think he can make it through the double doors without asking about what’s hanging on the boy’s arm.

“Please explain that hideous purse.”

“Oh,” says Peter. He tugs on the strap. “It’s May’s movie purse.”

It’s said with a tone that implies Tony should’ve already known this information, and as if that one, short sentence is enough to properly explain why the hell Peter has it and why it’s so ugly.

“And you’ve brought it out into the light of day because…”

“Because,” stresses Peter, “it’s tradition. It might not be fashionable, but it’s absolutely the best purse to sneak snacks into the theater. It’s got so many pockets!”

“You brought that to carry snacks?” asks Tony, unimpressed. “You realize they have a concession stand, right?”

“You’re rich so you don’t understand,” Peter tells him. “You gotta sneak snacks from the dollar store, Mr. Stark, or you’ll pay seven dollars just for a coke.”

“Uh huh,” says Tony. He slings an arm around Peter, and together, they start towards the entrance. “And since, as you so wisely just pointed out, I’m a literal billionaire, you didn’t stop to think I’d buy the snacks?”

“It’s the principle. Five dollars for a box of Sour Patch Kids is robbery.”

Tony laughs as they step inside the building. They purchase their tickets, have them checked at the end of the roped line, and step into the open area. The (apparently) evil concession stand is in front of them. Tony starts in that direction when Peter grips his arm to stop him.

“It’s my money, Pete -”

“Wait,” says Peter. The boy closes his eyes, and Tony sighes. He recognizes that goofy expression. He knows he’s about to get some kind of melodramatic speech. “Do you smell that?”

Tony humors him, and inhales the aroma of buttery popcorn. “Yep. That’d be the popcorn you refuse to let me buy.”

“Not just popcorn,” says Peter. “It’s the movie magic smell.”

“Christ,” says Tony. “I wish May would’ve told me you transformed into a strange little gremlin once you walked through the theater doors.”

Tony continues towards the concession stand, where Peter manages to violate his principles and uses Tony’s credit card to buy a large popcorn, a large Cherry Coke, assorted candy boxes, a package of chocolate chip cookies and a soft pretzel with a cup of cheese sauce.

He proves his original point quite well, when, between the two of them, they order enough food to charge over a hundred dollars to his card.

They haul all the food to their seats, and Tony thinks maybe they should’ve paid for an extra seat just for all the kid’s snacks. It’s a ridiculously large amount of food. If it were anyone else but Peter, Tony would’ve doubted they’d eat it all.

Peter Parker is a garbage disposal that never gets full. He’s devoured the pretzel and starts tearing open the package of cookies before the previews even begin.

Out of the corner of Tony’s eye, he watches as the kid does the most reprehensible thing he’s ever seen. He dunks the chocolate chip cookie in the cheese sauce and eats it.

Tony releases a long sigh. “Kid, that is literally one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen you do. Please do not -”

“-You wanna try it, Mr. Stark?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Seems boring, but okay.”

“If I were boring,” says Tony, “I wouldn’t be chaperoning you to this R rated film.”

Peter rolls his eyes. “Like I don’t have a fake ID.”

“Excuse me what?”

“I said good,” says Peter. “Because I don’t have a fake ID, so thank you.”

“Uh huh,” says Tony, just as the lights begin to dim and the previews start to plan, temporarily saving Peter from an interrogation Tony schedules for later.

Parenting is rough, and teenagers are like a different species of human altogether. He’s dreading Morgan’s teenage years, but at least he’s got Peter to prepare him for it, to give him a trial run.

*

The previews end, and something’s glitching out the kid.

He’s gripping the armrests tight. He’s grimacing, and for a few seconds, Tony’s convinced Peter is holding his breath. He’s just about to ask him if he’s alright when Peter stands, and bolts, fleeing the auditorium with that ugly purse strapped on his shoulder.

Tony pauses, waits a few seconds, before deciding he’d better follow him and make sure everything’s okay.

He finds Peter in the bathroom, with his knees on the floor and his head over the toilet, puking his guts out.  

“Told you it was disgusting,” says Tony, as Peter pulls the metal bar and flushes the toilet.

“Shut up,” says Peter. His voice was so weak and miserable, Tony felt a stab of guilt.

“Feeling better?” he asks. He reaches out, and covers his forehead with his hand. “You feel a little warm.”

“I’m fine,” says Peter. “Let’s go back and watch the film.”

“Kid,” says Tony. “You’re clearly sick. We’ll go home, and you can rest, and we’ll come back when you’re better. It isn’t like we have to see this one tonight.”

“Maybe it is,” says Peter. He wobbles, and has to lean against the slimy, gross bathroom wall to steady himself. “This might be our last chance! There could be a pandemic that shuts down everything and threatens to topple the theater industry forever.”

“Pete that’s not going to happen, not even in our universe,” says Tony. “You watch too many science fiction films.” He pulls Peter away from the wall and leads him out of the bathroom. “Besides, we’ve got Bruce Banner. No pandemic would stand a chance, and it’s about time he start putting those seven PHDs to use.”

“Fine,” says Peter. “But we’re coming back to the theater as soon as I stop puking my guts out.”

“Deal.”

*

They spend the night in the bathroom.

Peter throws up so much Tony starts to worry, though there’s not much he can do except look on in pity and offer the occasional back rub of support.

After Peter finishes a brutal episode of puking, he flushes the toilet and wipes his face with a strip of toilet paper.

“I think I broke a rib that time,” he mutters.

“If you broke bones puking, that’d truly be a record, kid.”

“Might as well get something from this misery,” he tells him.

Peter looks at him with glossy eyes and a face pale with sickness and with sweat. He appears much younger right then, as if Tony’s peering into the past, and Peter’s pain hits him much harder in that moment.

Tony’s struck with this strange urge to make the whole world right just for him. He considers going backwards in time again, only this time just a few hours back, just to slap that damned cookie and cheese sauce from the kid’s hand.

“I’m sorry you got so sick, bud.”

“That’s okay,” says Peter. “I think I’m done puking… at least I hope. Just wanna lay down.”

“How about this,” says Tony. “We’ll get you in your bed, all nice and cozy, and I’ll bring you some Gatorade and some crackers, annnddd a trash can. Just in case.”

“Sounds good,” says Peter, and he tries to smile, but it gets twisted into a grimace.

Tony helps Peter to his bed, and tucks him in. He brings him the things he thinks will make him feel better, but somehow, it doesn’t seem like enough, and Tony’s still pondering a way to make things right for him, even after the boy���s eyes close and he drifts off to sleep.

Finally, he thinks of something that still isn’t enough, but will at least put a proper smile on the kid’s face.

*

Tony finishes setting up the screen along the wall opposite of the bed just as Peter nods awake. He sits up slowly, and rubs his eyes.

“Mr. Stark,” he says. “What’s that?”

“The theater,” says Tony. “I’ve brought it to your bedroom.”

Peter laughs. “You’re such a softie.”

“Shut your mouth or I won’t tell you the best part.”

It’s the first time in Peter’s life he manages to be quiet. Tony switches on the projector, and the opening credits play for the movie they had been trying to watch before the Cheese Cookie Illness had taken control of their evening.

“No way!!” says Peter.

“I know it isn’t the same -”

“-are you kidding?” asks Peter, his face lit with a grin. “This is so awesome!”

Tony’s chest flutters with something like pride. It’s a good, warming feeling, to see the strange gremlin Peter return, and maybe the best part, Tony doesn’t even need a time machine to achieve it.

[helpinghanikan]

Their blood-bag

Marvel (and Matt Murdock) x Reader

Sum:  Call it a disease, call it a curse or even call it a gift, in the end it's all the same. Vampirism has taken hold of your man, of your woman, and it’s time to deal with it. 

Steve Rogers:

It’s a secret that goes deeper than anything Hydra could have ever done. There’s a reason the serum could never be perfected again, as it wasn’t just science Erskine had dipped into. And his soul might be somewhere other than Heaven for the things he had done to perfect it.

The “special” food he always eats, the late-night missions and the artificial lighting used in any and all pictures. It all slaps you at once, in the middle of the night when the bed is cold again and you shouldn’t get out of bed. You still do, you walk the few steps in the apartment to a living room where the darkness holds it steady.

He’s there, but only as an outlined shape on the couch. There’s a square in his hands, a book that’s been randomly appearing throughout the apartment. In the darkness you see his eyes, the ones that should be blue. But now they’re wrong, just wrong enough that you stare for longer than you should have. Long enough for him to look up and to know what you do.

What was your plan after finding him in the dark? Confront him, ask him to change as if this was simply some sort of addiction he could overcome? None of that could happen.

Instead you stand in the doorway, staring. Steve sets his book to the side, closing it softly and saying your name just as gentle. You don’t know if he started to get to follow you, as you had already gotten back into bed. Closing your eyes and pretending that ignorance was still your entire world.

Tony Stark:

In the past ten to fifteen years Tony has seen more magic, unexplained occurrences and straight up weird shit then any normal human ever could. That being said, there was still a scientific explanation for everything. For almost everything.

When it doesn’t there was a problem. There was no medical reason for blood to sustain someone, or how rapidly his fingernails grew. Strange had agreed with him,

“Nope, there isn’t a medical reason for it.” He had said, dropping Tony’s hands after being forced to look at them. “It’s a magical reason, Stark. Dumbed down version; you’re a vampire. Think of it like an STD.”

If you had your own time machine you’d go back and stop Stephen from describing it like that. You can’t prove it, but this could be one of the reasons you haven’t been together recently. Not just in the terms of sex, but cuddling, hugging even a kiss on the cheek he’d give when he had to leave for something. All of that was gone; replaced with a dodging head and a smile that couldn’t come close.

Thor:

Since the infection Thor has taken trips to New Asgard once a month. Never outright telling anyone where he was going. He’s just not next to you one night and returns the following evening. It’s only through Brunnhilde that you even know where he is. Not that she is any better with texting or technology, at least she answers.

You offer for him to simply use you, save himself a trip and all that. But he’s bounced around the reason why for a while, until you make the only logical conclusion. “Are you saying that the Asgardians can handle you, while I can’t?”

“Yes,” He says, “But it’s not just you. Midgardians are naturally weaker in comparison.”

The microaggression aside your relationship had shifted slightly because of this. He would always say no to your request with little more explanation then he already has. Like he was speaking to a determined little kid who just didn’t understand that it wasn’t healthy to lick the swing-set seat.

This was another common factors about Midgardians; you were a determined people. Even when it wasn’t healthy. You continued to mention, to ask, to ask that he at least tries to save himself a trip.

The simple fact is you wouldn’t be able to handle his hunger. His strength was already almost too much in bed, how would you handle it when the safe word doesn’t work?

Bucky Barnes:

These are side-effects from the experimental serum. With the strength and speed came the hunger. Something added to the concoction to make his targets something he needs to obliterate, that it would feed him and keep him aligned no matter what.

Now, free from those monsters and masters, he still feels it poking at the back of his mind. Shaking his head to scramble the thoughts, but they form again and talk again and again.

That his target smiles at him almost every day, that you hold his hand and stay close and sleep beside him almost every night does not help. But he has control. He has enough control to allow you close. Enough to kiss you and drag his teeth along your neck without breaking the skin.

It’s easiest when he can’t see your face. When you’re just another bit of walking life he can fuck and touch and mean nothing. It’s seeing you; your face, your voice, your eyes that he feels the hunger. But not to simply obliterate, he wants a drink and he wants you forever.

Natasha Romanoff:

The change happened and life moved on.

“Nothing really changes because of this,” Natasha had said, focusing on the TV screen instead of you. “Missions are now at night and I never get a shake again, that’s all. Nothing I can’t handle.”

You really shouldn’t have brought it up. Not when it’s a chill night where no one is expected to call and all that matters was the next episode to watch. But you had to say something, asking how she’s doing. When you didn’t like the answer, a little more digging had to be done.

In the recent weeks the only time you’ve seen that blush in her cheeks was while she drank from her solid cup. It was bright orange with a black straw that hid it’s contents. A stark contrast from the see-through glass cups she used to drink her shakes through. That cup sat on the coffee table in front of you. Blending in with your own cup of the same make, but blue instead of orange.

Her bare legs across yours were smooth and soft as you gently caressed them. She faintly smelled like raspberries from the expensive body-wash (one of Nat’s few vices) you would borrow sometimes.

“Don’t lie to me,” You say, focused on the delicious legs that you squeezed. Either as a massage or as your personal stress ball.

She looks at you now. Although her eyes are the same color the difference was still there. Maybe a little more shine, or the pupils were naturally wider than a regular human, it’s hard to tell.

“It sucks, it really fucking sucks and there’s I or you can do.” She says, her hand on the back of your neck. “Nothing we can do; we just have to keep going. But it’s going to be okay, okay?”

You don’t agree, but you also don’t argue. It’s not going to be okay, these things will never be, but there’s no use in arguing. Anyone in your position would wish for something different. Anyone would wish for the hand on your neck, and the legs in your lap, to be at least a little warm.

T��challa:

His people had a special word for it, but you couldn’t really pronounce it. This word described it in both the realm of science and in legend. The Queen mother had explained it to you as a legend, a small curse that sometimes happens when the Heart-shaped herb is taken in. That he’ll be stronger than others before him, but it came at a price of being forever hungry and a creature of the night.

Shuri had explained it medically but gave nothing that the Queen Mother didn’t already say. That this hunger was just a side-effect of the herb. Panthers before him had the same problem, that they handled it through ‘volunteers’ and enemies alike.

This was your new responsibility. Now more then the partner to The panther, partner to the king. You were his volunteer that sat in a chair twice a day, your own little throne in the corner of Shuri’s lab. With a tube leading into your arm and a nice glass of orange juice on the other side.

T’challa has only seen you in the throne once. When he was meandering about his kingdom, just happening to stop by the lab when you were down there. His steps now quieter than the “sneak-ers” Shuri could have made. There wasn’t a chance that you’d notice he was in the same room, not until the glass was empty that you bothered looking up. Seeing T’challa but not having enough time to say anything before he was gone again.

Pietro Maximoff:

A thumping heart beats faster then a stationary one. Be it from fear, or excitement or an orgasm, that moment was the best to take a bite. This thought first came to Pietro’s mind when a particularly scary moment came during a movie. Although you wouldn’t admit to being scared, his light fingers on your pulse told another story.

By the time he got you back in the car your pulse had leveled out. Annoyance on both your parts at Pietro not being able to hide his disappointment.

It was only an hour or two later that he found your pulse racing again. When your back was pressed against his chest and a hand under your knee kept it raised. Toes in the air curling and flexing in a way that made language a very hard thing to comprehend.

Your pulse is lighting up from his hold under your knee. The physical equivalence of a heavenly aroma coming from a freshly baked pie.

Just like the cartoon characters he was compared to, he couldn’t resist. The bite on your shoulder was an extra piece of weight pressed on the already crushing sensation of your orgasm. Although you had barely noticed the bite Pietro had drank his fill from just a few minutes of your groans and moans.

Falling face first into sleep after words was a rarity for you. Waking up with drool on your pillow and chin, and a headache that could be compared to a hangover.

Guilt was evident on Pietro as he was quick to get you a water, some breakfast from wherever, anything, anything at all. What he was guilty about, you didn’t exactly know at that moment. Making a mental note to interrogate him later. For now you would just enjoy the pampering.

Peter Parker:

Something was up with Peter; he had expressed this to you a few times. Mentioned a few times to his friends and to Aunt May that he wasn’t feeling too hot.

And feeling hot he was not. The exact opposite of a fever was happening as you placed a hand to his forehead. Aunt May keeping him from school and you keeping him from anything else. To keep an eye on him Aunt May would bring him to some of her shifts at the hospital. Parking his butt in the On-call room and stopping in whenever she could.

Stopping by the hospital Aunt May caught you coming in. Arms carrying the homework he was missing and the books you were going to force him to read. She, as every time, thanked you for coming and spoke in an almost whisper.

“Thank you so much for coming again, I really appreciate this.” She says, looking around like a secret mission while digging through her pocket. Handing off a key to the apartment, newly minted. “Would you mind taking him home? I’m gonna be late and I think Julian is going to snitch if Peter’s here any longer.”

“Sure thing, Aunt May, I’ll take care of him.” You say, off to your mission.

The key to getting in at any hospital is to walk like you know where you’re going. Even if you don’t, and you’re in the wrong building, walk like you own the place, like you have something important to tell the president, like someone just back talked your woman-folk. This was the sure-fire way to not be stopped. Even when walking into a room specific for staff.

The few days before you would walk in to see brown hair keeping out from the side where Peter would be sitting. Almost catatonic staring at the TV or magazine that the room provided. This time there was someone different, accidentally walking around the couch to find a medical intern dozing off where your man should have been. Making eye-contact and quickly turning away was the entirety of that interaction.

The bathrooms was the next train of thought where Peter could have been. Your stride had slowed but stayed strong as you walked to the bathrooms. Knocking a few times on the boys before you peeked your head in, nothing.

The amount of time you spent wondering around the hospital was longer than anyone would have liked to admit. Your strides losing the momentum of an important person walking through their halls to a confused, lost, girl trying to find an invisible boy.

It’s only after passing a door in the deep reaches of the hospital that you stop for a second. Perhaps hanging out with Peter had gotten you some second-hand spidey-sense. Even if that wasn’t the case, opening the heavy door the same color of white as the walls was the key to your missing man.

He sits in the cold storage room with his legs open and empty bags around him. At one point the shelves were probably full with red bags hanging up, waiting to be put to use. Now the bottom two rows were practically empty as Peter bit into the top like an ice cream cone. Instead of white or chocolate smearing his face it was thin red color covering the lower half of his face.

Seeing you in the doorway, look of shock and horror on your face, he didn’t stop drinking. His eyes were wide and sad while staring up at you. Like a little kid that broke his arm and was standing at the kitchen door, waiting for Mom to notice and help. His eyes were starting to glisten, and tears were on the edge of his eyes, spilling over and cleaning streaks down his cheeks.

The pattern almost writing ‘help me’ on his cheeks.

Stephen Strange:

It wasn’t that he exactly lied, he just didn’t tell you what was going on. Brushing off all of your concerns as nothing more then a “little disease, nothing major” that you stupidly trusted. The man was so confident in his control of the situation that he would even ask you to grab him one of his “drinks” when you would grab yours from the fridge.

It’s only when he gets a little too cocky that you find out. An actual blood bag with a damn twisty straw coming out of it rested in his hand while working on a laptop.

“How long has this been going on?” You demand, as if his condition was the same to having an affair. “Stephen, how long?”

The worst part was how he didn’t seem to be ashamed about his secret. Only closing his laptop when you wouldn’t him brushing the issue off. Sitting with his hands in a steeple and looking at you while talking.

“It’s been three months, almost four.” He explains. “While scouting another realm a creature, something like a bat, latched onto me. I returned and the symptoms started a few days later.”

“The sore throat thing, that’s what it was? You fucked around with a multi-verse and got infected.” You say, making sure you were on the same page.

“Well, it was an actual sore throat.” He says.

“Stephen, stop.” You say, knowing that this wouldn’t be going anywhere. You would just become more upset while he wouldn’t understand what the problem was.

Matt Murdock:

Only once before could Matt remember not hearing anything. When the world was silent but the touch of everything was louder than a jet engine. That moment was created from pride and a specialized gunshot, and it was a moment in hell.

This one was created by ignoring a bite wound (a tetanus shot should have been good enough) and equally ignoring the changes in his body. By the time his heart slowed to nothing in the middle of the night it was too late. He was dead, but the hunger was alive.

It only became something more than an extreme annoyance when you had interfered. The knife you used cutting farther then you had meant to through the steak. Just deep enough to make you cry out. Dropping the knife and holding your hand. Sucking on the thick skin just below your thumb, turning away as if Matt could even see what was going on.

You could hear him get up from the couch, walking across the apartment to you.

“Cheap knife and cheaper steak, what’d did I expect.” You say, your wounded hand pulled away from your chest by Matt. “I doubt I’ll need stitches just a band-aid…What the actual fuck are you doing?”

His touch is as gentle as ever. Yet this did little to distract you from him lifting your hand to his mouth. Pressed so close under his nose that it smeared a bit of red on the underside of his nose.

“Mathew,” You say, concerned but not ripping your hand away yet.

It’s when his mouth opens, and he groans, that you try and pull away. His grip now stronger than vice could ever be. One hand holding your wrist, the other almost crushing your fingers. Keeping you from pulling away or escaping.

“Mathew, Matt stop!” Was the last thing he hears before going for a stronger source of the blood. Your smell of sweat and fear intoxicating as he bit into the crook of your arm.

Unlike last time the silence of the world wasn’t a terrifying thing that he screamed at. It wasn’t even something he noticed. All that mattered was the warmth and love and taste of everything on earth coming through his brain and right into his absolute core.

The neighbors have learned to stop caring about the noises that come from the Murdock apartment. With a blind man, brick walls and an almost constant stream of people coming in to yell at him the neighbors have learned to tune it out. A screaming woman from his apartment in the last months to years was also nothing new.

The only thing that could save you was the sating of his hunger. And that only happens after your legs have given out and voice is hoarse. Still muttering Matt’s name when he starts to hear once more.

Carol Danvers:

In all magic and the unexplained there is always a small amount of structure to be found. The specific set of rules that the creature or spell or whatever has to follow or be destroyed. One of these, pertaining to the vampire, was the sun.

A few minutes in the unforgiving rays and there shouldn’t be too much damage on the monsters. But a bite right to the hot, powerful source of the sun’s cousin? That’s a one-way trip to absolute obliteration.

Carol described the slight second of surprise the bastard had before exploding. She smiled and handed off your drink while trying to imitate the face it had made. Flopping back onto the couch next to you, mentioning that it had bitten her and then poof!

“You were bit by a vampire?” You ask, drink not yet touching your lips.

She nods, setting her bottle down with an almost aggressive click on the coffee table. Without her longer hair she couldn’t make a production of showing off her neck. Instead tilting her head to the side and pulling her shirt off of her shoulder. Showing two little dots of black on her neck. Gentle fingers touching the dots with a smile.

“I didn’t even notice until it exploded,” She says.

Leaning forward and then back you start to talk. “You were bit by a vampire, and you just came home like nothing? Babe, seriously?”

She looks at you for just a second before her face falls. “I didn’t get infected or anything…” But her eyes are looking else where for a second.

That was all you needed to know that she did not get tested or anything. Even with all the technology that could test anything. Shaking your head you stand up from the couch. Carol calling “Babe,” after you, not even considering what she could do differently.

[penpatronuswhump]

WHUMPTOBER 2020 

No. 5 

Fandom: Avengers

Whumpee: Steve Rogers

Title: The Modern Mengele

By: PenPatronus // PenPatronusAooO 

The HYDRA base they found was a rogue one – one SHIELD didn’t even know about – one that was only ever built and run by HYDRA agents. The Alaskan wilderness seemed like a likely location to hide Loki’s staff, so the Avengers set out for the base as soon as one of their sources discovered it. That source led them to a cargo train that left Fairbanks once a month with supplies for the base. The six Avengers snuck onto the rear of a train right before it left, and dashed into the nearest car, which turned out to be a refrigerated one full of frozen meat. The team lasted an hour sitting, individually, with their backs against the walls or barrels or wooden crates. And then Natasha crawled over to Clint’s arms and he wrapped them around her, warming her up with soft quick motions. And then Steve decided that he was cold enough to risk feeling foolish, and he joined their little hug. Eventually, all six Avengers ended up in a little dogpile, clinging to each other for warmth. Tony opened the Iron Man suit and programmed it to blast heat across all of them. There was a silent agreement that no one was to tell anyone about the team of superheroes hugging each other in a train…

 When the train came to a stop, they waited, weapons ready, at the door. They never got a chance to use those weapons, because canisters suddenly dropped down from a ceiling vent, and gas exploded so fast that not even the Iron Man suit had a chance to close its vents before Tony took an inhale. The six Avengers passed out instantly.

 Natasha woke up in the same place she fell asleep in. The train was moving again – rumbling along the tracks. She was chained tight to the steel wall underneath the refrigeration vents. Clint was on her right and Tony was on her left, both still unconscious. The Iron Man suit, Cap’s shield, and Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, sat quietly in the opposite corner. A man in a black, thick HYDRA uniform leaned past her and felt the pulse in Tony’s neck. Natasha tried to nab the man with the only weapon she had at the moment – her teeth – but the arm pulled back. She squinted through what remained of the haze and saw their source in SHIELD, the one who had told them about the rogue base in the first place.

 “Where’s the rest of my team, Doug?” Nat spat at her traitorous friend.

 Brown-haired, blue-eyed, vaguely resembling a Ken doll, Doug sat back down in his seat between two pairs of some of the biggest brutes of men Natasha had ever seen. “Don’t be mad,” he told her. “Let me explain.”

 “You were my date to Clint’s wedding,” Natasha whispered, incredulous. “How could you betray us like this?”

 “I didn’t betray you. I saved you!” Doug insisted. “My lieutenant wanted to kill you all, but I convinced him to let you, Stark, and Clint go. We’re on our way back to Fairbanks. But I can only let you go, Natasha, if you swear not to go after the others. If you do, they’ll kill them instantly. My lieutenant has big plans for Banner, Rogers, and Thor. You don’t interrupt him, and he doesn’t shoot them in the head.”

 “What does this lieutenant of yours want with them?”

 “It’s not actually him, it’s…” Doug apparently couldn’t bring himself to look his old friend in the eyes when he told her this part. “It’s Keane.”

 Nat’s jaw dropped. “Dr. Albert Keane? The Modern Mengele?”

 “That’s an unfair nickname. He’s not as bad as Josef Mengele.”

 “He does merciless medical experiments on innocent people! I can’t believe you’re on his side!”

 “Nat, I—” Doug got up and started to pace the car. “I told you. I told you I convinced them to let you go if they can keep the others. I did you a favor. Now, tell me you’re going to stand down. Swear it on your godchildren’s lives.”

 “You think I’m going to just sit here and let Keane put Thor’s head on Hulk’s body?” Natasha shook her head. “I never stop fighting for my team. You, of all people, should know that.”

 Suddenly, they all heard a thump on the roof above them. A laser cut through the center of the ceiling and started going in a circle. “You should know something, Doug,” Nat said over the roar. “I told you six of us were coming… I lied.”

 ----------

 Steve woke up to find himself strapped to a surgical table with his feet at Banner’s head and Thor’s feet at his head. The three beds formed a triangle under massively bright lights. In the center stood a balding man in a white coat who was staring, hypnotized almost, at whatever findings he was reading on a holographic screen. “Imagine it,” he said out loud, and Steve wondered if the man knew he was awake. “The strength of the Hulk, the God of Thunder, and Captain America all in one being… Magnificent.”

 “Why don’t people just ask for samples of our blood,” Cap wondered, sarcastically, startling the man, “instead of taking it from us by force?”

 The balding man stepped over a few cords and approached Steve’s bed. “Would you have given it to me?” the man asked. Steve didn’t need to answer that question. “I am glad you’re awake. The other two – we must leave them unconscious – they’re too dangerous. But science is extra fun when there’s an audience to witness it. You, Captain, will be the audience for this experiment.” The balding man tipped his head to the side. “Can you move?”

 Steve had already tried. “What did you do to me?”

 Keane, was the man’s name. It said “Dr. Keane” on his lab coat. “Drained your blood. Rude, I know, but I can’t have you making any trouble. If you weren’t a superhuman you’d be quite dead by now. Astounding that your body can operate at all with two pints of blood in it.” Keane walked past Banner to a metal table and took a scalpel off it. He was grinning when he returned to Steve, whose eyes followed the scalpel down to the skin of his arm. “Do you feel this?” Keane asked as he dragged the scalpel across Steve’s inner forearm.

 Steve watched the blood blossom. It hurt like hell, but he was determined not to show it. Keane read his eyes, though, and laughed when he saw the pain in them. “You have to have a bit of a sadistic side to be a surgeon,” he said. “I have to admit… Part of me like this part the best. The patient awake, squirming, helpless – gives me a bit of an adrenaline high, I think. Hmm, should we experiment with that?” Keane reached across Steve and dragged the scalpel down that arm, too. His smile widened. “Yes, that makes me feel good.”

 Steve wished he had the energy to headbutt the man right then and there. “Where’s the rest of my team?”

 Keane chuckled. “You’re worried about your friends while I’m doing this to you?” Keane used the scalpel to cut through Steve’s uniform, revealing his chest. With the precision of an artist, he cut a heart-shaped incision into Steve’s chest, just above his actual heart. “I like this part, too. The part where I get to decide what happens next. Should I put one of Dr. Banner’s ligaments into your arm to see if it makes you stronger? Should I slice off a bit of Thor’s brain to see the magic in it? Or should I just have fun playing with you?” Steve couldn’t hold in a yelp when the scalpel suddenly stabbed into his abdomen, right between his ribs, nicking his left lung.

 “Oh boy,” said a new voice, and both Steve and Keane looked up at the ceiling. “You should not have done that.” In a flash of falcon wings, Sam descended from the ceiling just as Iron Man kicked down the door and Nat and Clint dropped from the windows. The roof shook. A laser sliced through, and War Machine crashed down right on top of Keane’s computer. The doctor truly must have been addicted to the sensation of causing pain to someone because in that moment – his last – he chose to stab the scalpel one more time, this time into Steve’s heart, which he did a second before three bullets from three different directions intercepted him.

 Cap screamed. He used what little energy he had to rip the scalpel out of his chest, a moment before he remembered that you were supposed to leave the damn thing in. He knew he was in trouble when the blood seeped instead of spouted. There was so little of it left… And he was suddenly so very tired… And his heartbeat was going so. Very. Slow…

 Tony appeared above him, suit-less. He was saying something, repeating Steve’s name, probably something comforting or encouraging. Steve was glad to have a friend with him in that minute as the rest of the blood drained from him. Steve took one last deep breath and finally – finally – allowed his eyes to close.

 ---------

 Tony was there again – still? – when Steve opened his eyes. He was looking at Cap with the same expression, saying his name again, asking questions Steve didn’t understand. Then people Steve didn’t know escorted Tony aside and doctors in lab coats started prodding him. Briefly, Steve thought that Keane had him again – still? – and almost lashed out at the similar lab coats. But then he heard Tony’s voice, still nearby, just out of eyesight, and he knew he was all right.

 Time passed. He drifted. And then Tony was there again with a smile and an ice cube. Cap had never been so thirsty in his life. “You’re in the hospital.” This time Steve understood Tony. “You’re ok.”

 Steve nodded. “You’re ok?” he croaked.

 Tony nodded. “Everything’s ok.”

 The End

[tonystarkbingo]

TSB Week 2 Roundup!  Another HUGE list for you this week, AND at the end of the roundup, we have a list of our participants that earned their participation badges last week!

Go forth and give our creators some love!

Title: This king flies away from you Collaborator: used_songs Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3 - AU: Ancient Civilization Ship: Nefertiti/Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: The moment between collapsing and being rescued Word Count: 768

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Title: No One Else But You Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T1 - KINK Alpha/Beta/Omega society Ship: Stony Rating: Teen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: As far as they where concerned they were the bottom of society’s barrel.

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Title: "I am Iron Man” Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S3 - IMAGE: Iron Man Armour in workshop Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: He was made of Iron, forged in the fires of life.

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Title: the kiss of death (brings us life) Collaborator: MarvelousMenagerie (HiddenOne) Link: AO3 Square Filled: A4 - Maria Stark Ship: Bucky & Tony Rating: Teen Major Tags: temporary major character death, angst with a happy ending Summary: When Bucky is snapped in the wake of Thanos’ win, Death gives him two gifts. One gift is for himself, and the other he must give to Tony Stark. Death calls it balance. Word Count: 2790

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Title: Secrets We Keep in the Dark Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A3 - free space Ship: Stony Rating: Mature Major Tags: Sexual content, moodboard Summary: Steve and Tony decided earl on in their relationship to keep it all between them. No one else needed to know, no one else mattered. They didn’t need to worry about the press, public opinion or SI’s shareholders. All that mattered was them and the moments they stole together. It was all theirs, the secrets they keep in the dark.

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Title: Somehow we get around it Collaborator: feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Time Loops Ship: Edwin Jarvis & Tony Stark Rating: Gen Major Tags: implied/reference child abuse, angst with a happy ending Summary: Edwin Jarvis knows precisely how much hidden power can fit up the crisp cuff of a butler. It's, apparently, almost as much as can fit on an Infinity Gauntlet. Word Count: 1602

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Title: A Place of our Own Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R1 - handle with care Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: After everything they been through, Steve and Tony decide to start settling down. Their first step was to move into a house together, somewhere accessible but far enough away from people so they can have their peace. A large but cosy house. All it needs is a cat or a dog, possibly both… and maybe… a kid.

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Title: After the End Collaborator: 27dragons Link: AO3 Square Filled: A2 - AU: Good Omens Ship: WinterIron Rating: Teen Major Tags: Good Omens crossover, happy ending Summary: Tony and Bucky have both been on Earth for a little over two thousand years. They’ve been lovers for just a little less than that, hiding it from their superiors Above and Below. But now the Antichrist has been delivered and things are swiftly coming to an End. How can they say goodbye, knowing they’ll never meet again? Of course, things don’t always turn out the way they assume. God’s plan is ineffable, after all. Word Count: 1871

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Title: Like Gears Fitting Together Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T4 - AU: steampunk Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Stony Steampunk AU

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Title: Multiple Exposures Collaborator: dixiehellcat Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Tony Stark/Pepper Potts Ship: Pepperony Rating: Teen Major Tags: canon divergence, terminal illness Summary: After Tony tells Pepper about the palladium poisoning, she calls for help and gets more than she asked for. Word Count: 1927

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Title: A New Beginning Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R3 - holding hands Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: After the Avengers defeated Thanos and the stones were returned things quietened down. Steve and Tony where able to mend things between them and tern over a new leaf properly. Moving forward they developed an understanding of one another, and love budded between them.

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Title: Untitled Collaborator: Pyrone Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T4 - Ho Yinsen Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Since Afghanistan Tony’s Bots have been taking more and more of a life of their own. Tony just thinks it’s because he’s been spending more time with them. Pepper isn’t so sure about that. Nothing harmful has come from it at least. He is alive because of one of his bots after all.

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Title: (The Upgrade) You're Missing Collaborator: wakandan_wardog Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Riri Williams Ship:  Harley & Peter & Riri, WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: past character death Summary: Riri Williams is having a bad day, and though her AI TONY can't fix it, he can call in reinforcements. Word Count: 1468

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Title: By His Side Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K3 - sick fic Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Tony catches a cold, but he insists that he is not sick. Steve is there to take care of him.

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Title: Stay hungry, kid Collaborator: feyrelay Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - Eating Disorders Ship: Obadiah Stane & Tony Rating: Mature Major Tags: MIT-era sexual harassment/assault (non-graphic), implied/reference alcoholism/alcohol abuse Summary: Tony is great at living hand-to-mouth, always working. Sometimes, he minds whose hand it is, though. Word Count: 552

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Title: For a Better World Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T5 - Bruce Banner Ship: Science Husbands Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Working together to solve to worlds problems, maybe they found more than just solutions and explanations. Maybe they found answers to the questions they were to afraid to ask for themselves.

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Title: Thicker than Water (Blood Brothers) Collaborator: RoseRose Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - Image prompt of Tony and Rhodey hugging in IM1 Ship: MIT Bros Rating: Teen Major Tags: poetry Summary: Rhodey's thoughts on Tony during IM1, while Tony is missing. A poem. Word Count: 321

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Title: I’d Give You The World Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S4 - AU: College Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: They worked together on an extra credit assignment and things evolved from there.

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Title: All I Needed Was The Last Thing I Wanted - Chapter 2 Collaborator: martianwahtney Link: AO3 Square Filled: K4 - fighting together Ship: Tony DiNozzo/Tony Stark Rating: Teen Major Tags: none Summary: tony squared dates, and paintball shenanigans Word Count: 1856

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Title: Take My Hand, Let Me Lead You Out Of Hiding Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: K4 - magic Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Tony was perfectly fine living in his castle… until Sir Rogers showed up.

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Title: Hold the Mint Collaborator: bennettmp339 Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - AU: Coffee Shop Ship: background Stucky Rating: Gen Major Tags: soulmate AU Summary: After the events of In Cups of Coffee, Tony Stark pays a visit to Wide Awake. Word Count: 752

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Title: Warm Comfort Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T3 - sharing a bed Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Tony welcomes Steve into his bed to keep the nightmares at bay.

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Title: Titanium, Claw & The Captain Collaborator: betheflame Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Kink: pornstar/rentboy/sex worker Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content Summary: Tony was expecting The Captain that night. When the stranger showed up with a friend, Tony simply hoped his jaw could keep up. Word Count: 1631

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Title: Love in the Night Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A1 - Vampires / Werewolves Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Their love was unconventional. A Vampire and a werewolf. Well, they both prided themselves for living outside of the box.

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Title: Brought Low Before His God Collaborator: buying_the_space_farm Link: AO3 Square Filled: R5 - Kink: Collars Ship: FrostIron Rating: Explicit Major Tags: explicit sexual content, BDSM Summary: Loki takes care of Tony in the best of ways. Word Count: 1791

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Title: A Hand Gladly Given Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R4 - Marriage of Convenience/Pretend Couple Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: moodboard Summary: Steve and Tony a kings of neighbouring kingdoms. They both have a problem that the other can help solve.

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Title: At the Bottom of the Bottle Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A4 - Alcoholism Ship: none Rating: Teen Major Tags: Alcoholism Summary: He knows he can’t forget, he hasn’t earned that mercy, but at least for a few hours he can switch it all off.

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Title: let the soft animal of your body love what it loves - Chapter 1 Collaborator: deathsweetqueen Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - old married couple Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Time Travel, Endgame Steve goes back in time to be with Post AOU Tony, Explicit Sexual Content, Dirty Talk, Past Domestic Violence, Post AOU AU, Breaking Up and Making Up, Marriage Counselling, Superfamily, Team Iron Man, but not Steve unfriendly, he's just a moron, a lot of fighting and arguments, Dubious Consent due to Identity Issues Summary: In 2023, Steve Rogers, after burning his husband's body, goes through the timelines to return each of the Infinity Stones. In 2015, Tony Stark’s husband returns to him and for the first time in years, he has hope for his marriage. Word Count: 4223

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Title: Not Who He Was Collaborator: darthbloodorange Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A2 - abducted Ship: none Rating: Teen Major Tags: Blood and Injury Summary: A terrorist group abducts Tony Stark as he leaves a stakeholder meeting. The group demands he produce weapons for them… they have somehow managed to get hold of some of the blueprints of his old designs. He refuses, he’s been through all this before and will not bend to their whims. He’d rather take what they could throw at him than make those weapons again, there is nothing they could do to him to make him reconsider that stance. He is not who he was, he’d rather be spitting blood. He tells them as much. He’ll survive. He always does.

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Title: Everyone Has Their Limits Collaborator: Tonks22 Link: AO3 Square Filled: Adopted - Kink: Sex in New Locations Ship: WinterIron Rating: Mature Major Tags: semi-public sex Summary: Tony likes to think his and Bucky’s sex life is a healthy one. Could they do with less exhibitionism? It depends on who you ask. (Steve and Natasha say yes, Thor and Clint would like to know if they can join, Bruce has just started walking into rooms with his eyes closed). Still, there are some things that took a long time to finally get done. Word Count: 1617

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Title: Your Toes and My Car Collaborator: ThoughtfulBreadPolice Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - interrupted by super villains Ship: WinterIron, ShieldWidow Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: none Summary: Tony's not a girl, but he's secure enough in his masculinity to go on a girl's day out with Natasha. It's just unfortunate that it got interrupted by super villain of the month.   Word Count: 546

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Title: where the heart is Collaborator: ohjustpeachy Link: AO3 Square Filled: K1 - first time Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: none Summary: Steve is bringing Tony home to meet his mom for spring break, and he's having a lot of feelings about it. Word Count: 816

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Title: when the night falls Collaborator: ohjustpeachy Link: AO3 Square Filled: T5 - Warm and Fuzzy Feelings Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: none Summary: Tony's away on a business trip and neither of them are coping. Word Count: 617

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Title: Sunflower Heart Collaborator: newnewyorker93 Link: Tumblr Square Filled: R1 - handle with care Ship: none Rating: Gen Major Tags: art Summary: drawing of a sunflower with the arc reactor as the center

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Title: Brooklyn Boy  Collaborator: bibliophile Link: AO3 Square Filled: T4 - Writing Format: Nonprose Ship: Stony Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: It’s just not fair that Steve is so perfect... How could Tony not love him? Word Count: N/A

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Title: Sh*t Happens  Collaborator: laufire Link: Tumblr Square Filled: A1 – image prompt “ Life Happens (tony and armor on the sofa in harley’s garage)“. Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: A Tony Stark in IM3 Playlist Word Count: N/A

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Title: Just Let Me Breathe Collaborator: sierranovembr Link: Tumblr Square Filled: S4 - Hanahaki Disease Ship: WinterIron Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Mood board for the Hanahaki fic “Just Let Me Breathe” by ali_aliska Word Count: N/A

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Title: Intent Collaborator: singingwithoutwords Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1: AU - Noir Detective Ship: IronWidow Rating: Mature Major Tags: None Summary: Natasha Romanov is what people politely call a private eye. She's not looking to make a name for herself, or even to make it particularly rich. She just wants to get through life with a bottle of the good vodka and all her limbs intact. Then Tony Stark wanders into her life, and she starts wanting so much more. If this case doesn't kill her, that man's ass will. Word Count: 1001

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Title: Misbehavior Collaborator: RoseRose Link: AO3 Square Filled: S3: Image Prompt - Life Happens Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Steve lectures Tony and JARVIS Word Count: 100

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Title: the thing with feathers Collaborator: Tonks22 Link: AO3 Square Filled: T1 - Super Soldier Serum Ship: Stuckony if you squint Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Bucky wants to do more than survive. Word Count: 100

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Title: Down Collaborator: thoughfulbreadpolice Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - Apology Ship: Stony Rating: Not Rated Major Tags: Depression Summary: Tony always told Steve to ‘Speak Steve. You have to talk to me you know? I'm not a mind reader I can’t predict what you're thinking or feeling about things you actually have to tell me.’. The thing was though that Steve didn’t know how. Everytime he opened his mouth nothing came out. Nothing worthwhile anyways, and Tony always looked so disappointed and sad, like Steve not talking about what’s going on was his fault in some way. Word Count: 787

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Title: Natasha Romanoff Collaborator: journeythroughtherain Link: Tumblr Square Filled: T3 - Natasha Romanoff Ship: None Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Natasha Romanoff polymer clay fridge magnet (along with some decorative fridge poetry magnets just for funsies). Word Count: N/A

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Title: The Sacrifice Play Collaborator: politzania Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Amnesia Ship: Pepperony Rating: Gen Major Tags: None Summary: Whatever it takes. That was what they had promised each other and Tony had meant it. Word Count: 982

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Title: let the soft animal of your body love what it loves - chapter 2 Collaborator: Simi Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - Fighting Together Ship: Stony Rating: E Major Tags: Dubious Consent Summary: In 2023, Steve Rogers, after burning his husband's body, goes through the timelines to return each of the Infinity Stones.In 2015, Tony Stark’s husband returns to him and for the first time in years, he has hope for his marriage. Word Count: 9074

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Title: Stuckony Winter Wonderland Fills - Chapter 1 Collaborator: hogwartstoalexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: R1 - Steve Rogers Ship: Stuckony Rating: E Major Tags: BDSM Summary: BDSM used as comfort. Word Count: 537

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Title: Stuckony Winter Wonderland Fills - Chapter 2 Collaborator: hogwartstoalexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: S2 - Dark Ship: Stuckony Rating: Gen Major Tags: Nightmares Summary: Tony has nightmares of Afghanistan, the boys are there to help him through it. Word Count: 663

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Title: Nice Day for a White Wedding - Chapter 1 Collaborator: ceealaina Link: AO3 Square Filled: S1 - Futurefic Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: After years living happily together, Tony has finally gotten up the courage to propose. The wedding is going to be perfect, and all his dreams are coming true. The only problem? Rhodey maybe wasn’t paying attention when he asked, and maybe doesn’t know what he agreed to. Word Count: 5455

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Title: Nice Day for a White Wedding - Chapter 2 Collaborator: ceealaina Link: AO3 Square Filled: K2 - Dares/Bets Ship: IronHusbands Rating: Teen Major Tags: None Summary: After years living happily together, Tony has finally gotten up the courage to propose. The wedding is going to be perfect, and all his dreams are coming true. The only problem? Rhodey maybe wasn’t paying attention when he asked, and maybe doesn’t know what he agreed to. Bonus chapter with all the Avengers betting on Tony and Rhodey’s wedding. Word Count: 515

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Title: The Sweet Smell of Coffee Collaborator: BeTheFlame Link: AO3 Square Filled: A3 - Free Space Ship: Stuckony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: A/B/O Summary: Omega Steve goes into heat at the grocery store and is rescued by Beta Bucky and brought back to Alpha Tony for the best heat of his life.  Word Count: 5073

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Title: The Three Rings Collaborator: HogwartsToAlexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Denial Ship: StarkerStrange Rating: E Major Tags: PWP, BDSM Summary: Peter's bored at work, and Tony's right here, looking up at him from his spot between his legs, on his knees under Peter's desk. What is Peter to do? Just leave him there? And if a surprise arrives once he succumbs to Tony's beautiful brown gaze, well, it just makes everything even better.  Word Count: 2179

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Title: Stuckony Winter Wonderland Fills - Chapter 3 Collaborator: HogwartsToAlexandria Link: AO3 Square Filled: R2 - Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier Ship: Stuckony Rating: E Major Tags: Edging, Teasing Summary: Bucky and Steve spend hours and hours edging Tony. So long, in fact, that they're all quite surprised when the first fireworks of the New Year start. Word Count: 827

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Title: let the soft animal of your body love what it loves - Chapter 3 Collaborator: deathsweetqueen Link: AO3 Square Filled: T2 - Day in the Life Ship: Stony Rating: Explicit Major Tags: Time Travel, Endgame Steve goes back in time to be with Post AOU Tony, Explicit Sexual Content, Dirty Talk, Past Domestic Violence, Post AOU AU, Breaking Up and Making Up, Marriage Counselling, Superfamily, Team Iron Man, but not Steve unfriendly, he's just a moron, a lot of fighting and arguments, Dubious Consent due to Identity Issues Summary: In 2023, Steve Rogers, after burning his husband's body, goes through the timelines to return each of the Infinity Stones. In 2015, Tony Stark’s husband returns to him and for the first time in years, he has hope for his marriage. Word Count: 13,873

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And the list of those that earned their Participation Badges during Week 1!

newnewyorker93 Tisfan PoliZ Chel rebelmeg Gavilan Rebel-author-chick hddnone ceealaina thewaythatwerust SierraNovembr Trashcanakin 27dragons RoseRose bennettmp339 Tonks ABrighterDarkness Pyrone Fey Dracusfyre

Well done and congratulations to you all!

[77marvelimagines]

Ursala’s Bet

Ursala’s Bet

Tony Stark X Reader

Prompt(s): For the Drabble thingy can I get #64 with Tony Stark please Note(s): #64- “Yell, scream, cry, please, just say something, anything.” I love taking seemingly angsty plots and making them cute! This got a lil carried away but that’s alright, I think, since Tony is so determined to beat Clint’s butt xD

Warning(s): Fluff, swearing.

Word Count: 1043.

“Yell, scream, cry, please, just say something, anything,” Tony begged, a hand draped over his brow. From his position laid over the couch, he looked like a maiden in distress. The pitched tone of voice only aided in (y/n)’s thought of so. “Please, dearest mine, let me hear your pretty voice! It’s been a week and I miss hearing the sound of your laugh. Say something, anything, or else I’ll die, sweetcheeks, I’m sure of it!”

Their only response was a raised eyebrow.

Tony’s expression collapsed back to annoyed defeat as he pressed his lips together tight. He groaned and smooshed his face into the back of the couch, which he promptly screamed into. There were most definitely more than a few curses thrown into there, both of the swear and magical type. Which was saying something, considering Tony’s intense dislike (“I don’t hate magic, it’s just unexplained science and Strange can kiss my ass!”) for the supernatural art.

(y/n) struggled to suppress their snickers at his almost adorable frustration. God, this was pretty fun, Clint was right. But then again, they were in this situation because they lost a bet with him anyway, so.

Tony shot upright and launched himself into his lover’s side. (y/n) muffled their laughs into his shoulder as he cried out, “Alright J, tell me where Ursula is! I’m gonna kick his skinny ass, both in and out of the armor! Let me at ‘im!”

“I’m afraid Agent Barton is somewhere within the ventilation system right now. Agent Romanoff predicted this outcome and has disabled my tracking of him in hopes that it would buy him time. Apologies, sir, as I cannot give a precise location.”

(y/n) barely hid giggles at Tony’s string of curses. Wow, he was angry. Even the smooches he placed to their crown was laced with fiery determination, or just extra aggravation, as he picked them up and started for the common floor.

“Don’t you worry Baby, I’ll stop by my workshop on the way and pick up my latest armor. Then we’ll tear this tower apart floor by floor until we find him and beat him! We’ll break that dumb bet, I promise!”

As if on cue, an alarm went off right before Tony could step into the waiting elevator. The inventor jumped in surprise and (y/n) let out a full-belly laugh as he dropped them. Their phone clattered a few feet away and proceeded to vibrate violently against the floor.

It’d been a full week, to a T, and finally they could talk.

“Wh- what time is it? Why in the world do you have an alarm set for 7:43pm?! That’s so obscure! And stop laughin- wait, you laughed!”

“Goddammit!”

“Barton?!” Tony’s head shot up towards the ceiling, where a vent laid about two inches in front of the elevator. “HEY! Get down here right now, asshat!”

“Fuck no!”

“Barton!”

(y/n) wheezed on the ground to the point of tears. They laughed until their ribs ached and their throat felt raw. They’d been waiting for this spectacle all week and it was finally happening.

Tony and Clint could barely argue for a minute more before Jarvis flushed the vent system. Clint screamed as a gust of air push him and he crashed through the grate. (y/n) screamed with laughter when he toppled over onto Tony, who’d taken to standing beneath the grate with a hands-on-hips scolding posture. Even piled on top of one another, the two of them wrestled and spat insults like a pair of territorial kittens.

At some point Clint tossed Tony far enough away to make an escape. Still seething, Tony got up and petulantly brushed himself off. Even serenaded by his lover’s laughter he managed to pout.

“H-hehe, wow, what a beatdown, I’m sure he’s really afraid.”

“You know what?” Tony huffed, “I can’t even be mad right now. Look at that, Ariel got her voice back and nobody got stabbed. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect ending.”

“Yeah you could; you’d totally rig the smoothie maker on Clint the next time he makes one and give him diarrhea.”

“You’re damn right I’m gonna; thank you for the suggestion. I can’t believe he made you mute for a whole week!”

(y/n) snickered as he pouted. Gathering their inventor in their arms, they made way to the couch and curled up with him again. “Well, I held up my end of the bet, so I don’t have to go toe-to-toe with Nat on leg day. She was really excited too; had a whole regimen made up and everything. It’s too bad I value feeling in my calves and thighs, otherwise I totally would have broken the bet for you.”

“Awwwe, how sweet, we can both be afraid of Nat’s workout regimen together! I’m glad you don’t have to do it though, Honeypie. Although, I totally would be down for giving you a massage in the case that you did have to endure such torture.”

“Oh?” (y/n) raised an eyebrow and nuzzled against his cheek. Tony’s goatee scratched at their cheek, but it was familiar, and they loved it. “Do you have anything to soothe me with after a whole week of being mute? My vocal cords are soooo sore from being used after a week! Woe is me!”

Tony snickered into their cheek. “Oh yeah, I’m sure I can think of something for that… Perhaps we should make our way to the penthouse, my poor darling?”

“Please, whisk me away and heal my wounds! Legolas has been awful to me all week! My knight, fix me up!”

“Oh, I can do better than fixing you up,” Tony tittered. (y/n) shrieked with peels of delighted laughter as he picked them up and ran for the elevator.

The next morning Clint had the worst smoothie in the history of smoothies and occupied the bathroom for a full hour. When he came out swearing up and down while as pale as a ghost, (y/n) and Tony lost it in the safety of his workshop. There was nothing sweeter than revenge and untampered, lovingly made smoothies. Oh, and being able to talk was pretty cool too, they guessed.

Tag List:

@princess76179 @kalechipps ​@a-confused-blogger @agent-valkyrie-romanoff  @starkslaufey @bad-black-angel @pieceofsupersoldiertrash  @chari-a @bluudhavens @wowitstonystark

[escapingreality1992]

Carving with a Sorcerer

Stephen Strange x OC

Stephen Strange comes over to carve pumpkins with Hailey and confesses that he has a crush on her.

Weather in New York provided the perfect atmosphere I wanted to carve pumpkins. I had bought one for each member of the team plus extra in case others wanted to join in on the fun. With it being overcast and little cooler, I decided to set up a station outside; I didn't want to create a mess inside the compound with all the pumpkin goo and seeds. As I started, I noticed several team members leaving.

"Hey, wait a minute. Where are y'all going?" I asked. Steve, Bucky, and Natasha while they approached the car port.

"Harvest festival in Brooklyn. We're going to spend the day there," Steve told me.

"That's today? I thought you may want to carve pumpkins with me,"

"Sorry Hails. We can do some carving tomorrow if you like," Bucky stated, pulling me into a hug before they went into the garage. Tony and Rhodey, joine by Bruce were the next to exit the front entrance.

"Don't tell me you're leaving too," I complained. It started to look like I was going to be carving pumpkins by my lonesome self. Tony gave me an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. Danvers invited us for drinks. Do you want to come with us?" he said.

"I want to carve pumpkins, so no. Thanks for the invite though," I replied. Wanda and Vision shortly followed them and I ran to block their path.

"No, no, no. Where are you two going?"

"Scotland. We're going to go sightseeing," Wanda replied, linking her arm through Vision's. I sighed and waved goodbye to my friends. Everyone left, leaving me alone to start my process of carving pumpkins. I carried all but one pumpkin inside, two at a time, and set them back on a less frequently used kitchen counter. Grabbing my newspapers I had purcahsed to spread out along the ground to catch the dropped messy bits, I returned outside and set them near my pumpkin. I made a few trips back and forth, grabbing supplies and placing them where I wanted my work space to be. On the third trip to grab the trash can and trash bags, I got a surprise visitor; Stephen Strange walked into the lounge by portal.

"Hey, what's up?" I greeted him.

"Good afternoon, Hailey. Where's Tony?" he responded.

"Out,"

"What about the others?"

"Also out," I replied, pushing back a piece of hair from my face. 'Oh' was all he said making me stop what I happened to be doing.

"Stephen? Is there something you wanted or needed? Is there trouble?" I asked him.

"No, there's no trouble. It's nothing all that important. I only wanted to see if anyone wanted to grab dinner," he told me.

"Sorry to disappoint you. It's only me tonight," I said, knowing he'd rather hang out with anyone other than me. Though Stephen and I were friends, we weren't exactly close enough to where he chose to hang out with me; or so I thought. I continued what I was doing, the plans to carve my pumpkin still intact.

"Where did they go?" he asked, stopping me in my tracks.

"Well, Steve, Bucky and Natasha went to a Harvest festival in Brooklyn. Tony, Rhodey and Bruce were meeting Carol for drinks. Wanda...and Vision were going to Scotland to go sightseeing but I have a feeling they're going to do more than explore the castles," I replied, picking up the heavy trash can to walk outside.

"They didn't invite you? Any of them? Let me take that. You look like you're struggling," he commented, taking the trash can from my hands.

"Thanks. Uh, Tony asked me if I wanted to come with him and Rhodey. I said no. I planned on carving pumpkins today. I thought they might join me but that's apparently not on their agenda for the day,"

Stephen followed me outside and set down the trash can near the newspapers. We went back inside and I grabbed the long, plastic, white table I pulled out earlier to carve the pumpkins on.

"I've got it. Do...would you like some company?" Stephen said, his fingers brushing across mine as he grabbed the handle on the side of the table.

"You want to carve a pumpkin?" he nodded and smiled, the lines around his eyes crinkling as he did so. "Okay, sure. I'll grab you a pumpkin and then we can set up the table and newspapers," I stated, walking to the counter with all of the other gourds. I chose a bigger one, similar to the one I picked for myself, and followed Stephen out the door. I placed his pumpkin next to mine and helped him set up the newspapers and the table. I took the lid off the trash can and taped two trash bags to the table in case we needed them. Next we placed more newspapers onto the table taping them in place, so they didn't fly away. We grabbed out gourds and sat them on the table.

I handed him one of the knives and we got to work cutting off the top and starting the process of digging inside of the pumpkin, dismantling the goop from their centers.

"Did you want to grab dinner after we finish this?" he asked, momentarily stunning me.

"You don't usually ask me to hang out with you," I answered, pulling out a huge chunk of pumpkin guts.

"I realize that. I've recently discovered you may be someone I could have fun with. The other reason I'm asking is because we don't know when the others will be back so we may want to eat something," he commented.

"We could order a pizza. This could take a while," I told him, scraping the walls to loosen up some of the tougher strands of seeds, sticking my hand back in to grab the section I separated.

"Sounds good. Why don't you ever me?"

"What?"

"Why do you never ask me to hang out with you? We may not exactly be close but you could always just ask," he responded, grunting as he ripped out a huge handful of seeds, disposing of them in the trash bag near him.

"I don't know. I've always assumed you're busy. And you're around Tony most of the time anyway. I feel like I can't discuss the subjects you guys talk about. You're both geniuses in fields I can't relate to," I told him. He laughed and removed the last of the seeds and pulled out a template from one of the books I picked out.

"True, but you're intelligent in you own way. Yes, you may not be able to converse in science, medicine, or technology. Maybe not in magic terms either, but you're a genius in being compassionate and kind. It's an ability I've always admired about you,"

"How can you be so nice to people you've never met? Accept anyone with open arms and an open mind? How is it you can calm a room simply by being in it? Do you even realize you're a great listener?" he stated. I had stopped my motions to stare at him while he spoke. I didn't know he ad even noticed me apart from missions or parties; even when the team participated in movie nights or simply hung out with each other.

"I'm not sure what you mean. It's not some superpower I have. It's simply who I am," I told him, almost speechless from his words.

"I watched you with Steve the other day. I don't know what you were talking about but when he first came in, appeared stressed. After a few minutes spent with you, I noticed tension releasing within him and he smiled for the first time that day. In ten minutes, he was relaxed, instantly calm,"

"You have an amazing ability to be able to put people at east like that. I'm sorry. Even talking to you now, it's easier to let it all out. You make me feel like I can open up more. Relax a little more," he continued. This time he really did make me speechless and I did the only thing I think of to do in that moment; carve my pumpkin.

"If I made you uncomfortable-,"

"You didn't. I just didn't expect...I hadn't realized you noticed anything about me. We're friends of course but I thought it meant you were content in only treating me as such," I cut him off, beginning to tape my own template - a cat carving - onto my pumpkin. Awkward silence settled in between the two of us and I pondered over his words, not paying attention to the small carving saw. My fingers moved erratically trying to get it done so I could call in a pizza.

"Be careful. Don't rush it," Stephen told me, glancing over for a moment. He pushed in his last section, completing his design. He had made a scary face on his pumpkin and I focused on my own telling him I would be careful not to cut myself. I got so focused in fact that I didn't notice him walking over to me. I jumped when I felt his breath against my neck, his fingers gliding over mine. I tried not to inhale his scent; musky with dark with hints of old parchment from books that he often studied. The smell of ink also caught my attention where he would run his fingers gently over those same pages. I failed to ignore the fresh mint on his breath, the warmth of his fingers from where they had been gripping his own tools. The hum of the magic coursing through his veins, vibrated into my body and I tried not to stiffen lest I make a mistake and cut off the cat's ear, or worse cut myself.

"Relax your grip a little here," he whispered in my ear. I shivered and shifted my stance to try and distract my thoughts of him near my body. My breath caught in my throat as one of his hands drifted over my arm to my shoulder, down my back and securing to my side. I let him guide my hand through the carving once more and push the sections out to show off the design.

"We should...uh...put candles in them. Set them out on the steps," I told him, clearing my throat, stepping away from him before I I let my desire for him take control.

"All right. Then we can order pizza," he stated. I nodded, turning on the small LED candles I brought outside. I placed one in mine, the other in his and we replaced the tops of the pumpkins before walking them over the front steps, both pumpkins flickering with a Halloween vibe. We went back inside to wash our hands and I called in a pizza before we cleaned up our mess outside. I was putting away the table when the pizza arrived, Stephen answering the door to pay for it. I peeked around the corner in a way so he wouldn't notice my eyes on his ass. I trailed them up to see the muscles ripple in his back through his shirt as he grabbed the two pizza boxes, averting my eyes when he turned to walk into the kitchen. We both grabbed a few slices and put them on a plate, setting them on the table in the lounge going back for our drinks.

"I have to confess something," Stephen stated in between bites of the pepperoni pizza.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I wanted to be alone with you tonight, so I asked everyone to clear out. I apologize it it seemed as if they didn't want to hang out with you," he replied.

"Why on Earth would you want to do that?"

"Because I like you. A lot. I thought that was obvious from the discussion earlier," he confessed. I blinked at him in surprise.

"You...like me? I have to tell you I didn't see that coming," I told him.

"Does that mean you're not interested in dating me?" he questioned, frowning.

"No, it doesn't mean that at all. Of course, I'd love to date you. Can I ask you one thing though?" I responded.

"Sure,"

"Kiss me?" He smiled, putting down his slice and wiping the sauce from his mouth.

"I'd be glad to," he stated, sliding closer to me. He slid one hand to the back of my head, the other wrapping around my waist. He leaned in and pressed his lips to mine, soft and filled with passion. I linked my hands around his neck, kissing him back. Our lips disconnected for a second before I pulled him in for more, pushing him flat on the couch, so I was lying on top of him, never breaking the kiss.

"Ahem. I guess you finally told her then, Strange?" someone called out, making us stop our kissing and sit up to see Tony, Bruce and Rhodey standing in the doorway.

"Yeah. She took it extremely well," Stephen commented, cheeks flushed deep red from our make-out session.

"I can see that," Tony noted.

"Right. So, Hailey, I'll call you later to set up a date. I should return to the Sanctum. It's getting a little late," Stephen said, kissing me for a final time when I nodded and then left via a portal.

"What? We carved pumpkins together," I said when all three of the men raised their eyebrows.

"That's not all you did. It's about time he told you he liked you. I couldn't tell you how many times he talked about you, how many times he asked if you were single. I thought he might have exploded when he thought you and Barnes were a thing. You remember that day, he got injured and you helped him upstairs and immediately removed his shirt? Yeah, he got a bit upset about that. He has got some crush on you," Tony commented. I smiled and cleaned up, putting the leftovers in the fridge. I said goodnight to them, going down the hall to my room; my lips still tingled from where Stephen had kissed me. It was definitely a great way to start our relationship.

[lakinda5654]

~~~~A Girl and A God~~~~ Chapter 3- Breaking

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A Girl and A God is a RATED M Loki Fanfic with an original character, Alexa, who is taken in by Tony Stark after the revelation of abilities of her own. There’s sex, romance, heartbreak, action, fluff, angst, all that good stuff. Full description in blog, and a jump-to-chapter list if you just want the smut or the cuteness bits. Enjoy <3

Chapter Summary: Tony pulls the team together to try to get Alexa to talk, but she has lost hope...

Contains: depression, suicidal feelings, imprisonment

Word Count: 2,070

~Previous Chapter~~Next Chapter~

~Beginning of Story~

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The entire team sat at their long table in the Avengers tower. “Ok so the main point of dragging your asses up here this morning-” Tony said as he pressed a small remote. “Alexa Coston. According to witnesses that survived, the 20-year-old girl decided to explode. This obliterated her home and the other few within a couple miles. There was no evidence of a bomb and at the center of it, we found her passed out on the ground. If that wasn't already weird enough for you she was literally glowing silver along her arms. We drugged her to keep her asleep and brought her here to one of the max holding cells.”

Everyone looked at the pictures in the projection. Some with curiosity, and some with utter confusion. It showed a circumference of complete destruction of several miles of farmland  around the epicenter.

“How??” Thor bellowed. Loki rolled his eyes at his brother's dense question from across the table. His hands were still always cuffed behind his back, and Tony wasn’t sure if it would pay off to even have him there. But, he never knew when the bastard could be the key to solving strange problems like these.

“If we knew that we wouldn’t be here,” Tony replied after a pause of irritation.

“There was no bomb?” Bruce pushed. “How is she alive?”

“Not only is she alive but she doesn’t have a single scratch on her” Tony replied.

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

“Come on” Steve spoke up for the first time in the meeting. “You all are familiar with all this science and magic... stuff,” he stumbled on his words. “What is this? Is there anything even related to it? Anything similar to what anyone has experienced or seen?”

Nothing. Then Peter got brave and spoke up, excited to take part in the meeting. “Why don’t we just ask her?”

“It appears she is either mute,” Tony paused, and you could hear the aggravation in his voice. “Or she is the most stubborn little shit I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with.” Tony then spat out, “except that one.” Pointing at Loki, who proceeded to do a little bow with his head as if he were proud of his performance.

There was a pause.

“Have you gone in there to talk to her?” Asked Natasha. 

“No. She’s too dangerous, that could be what she’s waiting for. We don’t know her intentions.” Tony replied.

“Why is this even an issue?” Loki said, seeming uninterested and unimpressed with this specimen. “Why not wait her out? She’ll talk or die or go insane in there alone after a while. If she talks or not your threat is eliminated.”

“Because...” Tony seemed to be almost hissing in irritation. “The general public, as well as the Feds, are breathing down my neck for an answer for why there is a perfectly circular disaster zone in the middle of the god damn Oregon countryside. It was a miracle that we even have her at this point instead of them, we just happened to get there first.” That shut Loki up, though he still seemed bored by the meeting.

“Well we are not making any progress right now, just send someone in.” “No he’s right, it’s too dangerous.” “Well if she’s that powerful she could have escaped by now anyway!” The arguing ensued. Finally, they ended with the decision that someone would need to talk to her in the cell.  Nothing else was making progress.

Then the arguing only continued with deciding who. They were all pushing to volunteer themselves, as heroes do. Arguing over how expendable each of them was. They had been going for a couple minutes when Loki finally shouted.

“ENOUGH.” Loki stood and kicked the leg of the table, causing the entire group to go into attack positions facing him. He rolled his eyes at their reaction. “You are all so primitive and self-sacrificing you’ve forgotten I can send one of you without sending one of you. You mewling quims.” The group was still tense until Loki slowly returned to his chair. He was right though. He could send an illusion to speak to the girl and that way, no one would be in harm's way.

“If we send an illusion we can’t leave it under HIS control.” spat Clint. 

“Fine. I’ll project one of you. You can do whatever you wish that way. can we cease the pointless arguing now then so I can go back to my solitude away from this madness before the next week?” Loki said, looking to Tony. 

He nodded, “The projection is a good idea. Who should we send?” 

And of course, they again argued over who would be most likely to coax the girl to speak. They argued endlessly at times it seemed. In the end, they went with Steve upon realizing they could try others if he was unsuccessful. So Loki created the illusion- projecting Steve into the room from outside of it, displaying his every word and movement. The group watched the cell camera feed intently. Loki projected the Steve into the room as Peter opened and quickly shut the door behind it. 

As “Steve” entered the room, Alexa didn’t look up. The girl was curled up on her mattress, facing the wall, unmoving and uninterested. Steve started. “Hey”

Nothing.

“I’m Steve. How are you doing?”

She could have been a corpse if it weren’t the slight movements of her breathing, raising and lowering her rib cage under her loose cotton t-shirt.

Steve looked to the others, looking for guidance. Natasha motioned for him to keep talking.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Maybe if you were real”

The girl's melodic voice took them all by surprise with its presence. At least she’d spoken, but how did she know?

“If I was real?” Steve asked uncomfortably.

“Yes. If you weren’t a projection or hologram or whatever the fuck you are...” she raised her hand up above her head where they could see it so she could make air quotes, “Steve”

A long pause ensued with Steve looking to the others a bit panicked. Loki stopped the illusion.

“She never even looked at it. How did she know?” Bruce commented

“Even if she looked at it,” Loki spat, “she couldn’t have been able to tell by sight. My illusions have no flaws.” Loki was suddenly much more interested in this supposedly mortal girl who could see through his trickery.

Tony was quiet. “Someone needs to go in. She said she’d talk if he was real”

“She said “maybe” and it was sarcastic.” Loki spat. The room was quiet. Before anyone could volunteer themselves, Tony’s suit had surrounded his body and he entered the elevator.

“Watch and learn kids,” he said as the doors shut. Steve and Thor appeared as if they’d almost tried to stop him, but knew it was useless to try.

Tony slowly stepped into the room. His metallic suit made his footsteps loud, almost uncomfortably loud with how quiet and echoing the cell was. He let out a sigh.

“You must be Stark.”

“Yep, I’m real and I’m in here, in the flesh and metal. Now can you please tell us what happened?? Preferably now?”

Alexa was still in the same position.

“Please turn around” Tony pushed. “We need to figure this out. Was it an accident? Did someone hurt you?”

The girl was quiet. “You could never possibly understand”

She was talking. Yes. Finally.

“Of course not. You're a teenager, no one can understand you. That’s what you all think at this age but the reality is, we’ve all been there, and most of us get it kid. Try me.” Tony replied hopefully.

“No, you couldn’t. You are the most widely loved person in the entirety of New York,” she said. “I can feel you would never understand what it’s like to be an unlovable, mutated monster.” She was almost whispering, and Tony realized she might be holding back tears. 

He also noticed her skin. She was pale and shaky, likely from starving herself for the last two days. “Why are you that frail-looking? I mean I guess you’re small but two days shouldn’t do this much damage. You’ll think clearer on a full stomach.” He slid a tray of food towards her. “Eat something.” 

“I haven't eaten in 5 days, not 2.” 

“What- why?” 

She didn’t respond to him. Tony pressed. He tried to convince her to tell him more, but she was silent and unmoving once more. He left the cell.

At least that gave them something. She appeared to be slightly breaking from the solitude and self-imposed starvation. She also seemed to be remorseful- it was an accident. Or at least she regretted it if it wasn’t. 

They tried Thor. She once again knew who had entered without looking at them. “Oh wow, a king from another land.” She said with sarcasm in her voice. “My liege” and she gestures dramatically with her hand in the air above her still, unmoving body.

“How did you know that?” Thor asked.

“Why do you care?” She responded thickly.

Thor paused. “I’m not all perfect like Tony...” he said with the tone of a boy trying to convince his mother he deserved an extra cookie, only deep and bellowing. “I disobeyed my father and didn’t become king.”

She was quiet.

“And you’re loved,” she said.

Thor stopped trying to convince.

“Why are you doing this.” He asked, losing the pleading tone of voice.

“I want to die” she responded as if she had just said she had a cold. “I will starve eventually and die. That would be better anyway, then no one will ever have the power of this curse again.” She was stoic, and still unmoving. 

“You are worried you’ll be tested, becoming a weapon of some sort?” Thor asked hesitantly.

Abruptly, the door opened to have Tony join them, his sarcastic tone included. “Hey, kid have you heard of the Avengers?” he made his tone cheery as a salesman would, only dripping with sarcasm. “It’s this ragtag group of misfits that saved you from being eventually eaten by aliens a couple months back. And well, guess what. We didn’t experiment on them. They’re almost all freaks, and they are here. Alive, with families even. Happy.”

Alexa listened quietly, and it was then that Thor left and let Tony take over. 

He continued, changing his tone to more serious. “We have no intention of hurting you. We just want to help figure out how this happened, and help it not happen again. You’ll heal. You’ll have a life. You don’t need to be afraid like this.” 

Alexa stopped, thinking for a moment. Tony held his tongue for about ten seconds, and just before he was about to break the silence, she spoke. “I’m sorry. But that does not change the fact that I want to die. Experiments or not, I am a monster. An unlovable, disgusting mutant who killed my family and my home.” It was clear she was crying now. “Nothing fucking helps. They were right about me. I’m a monster and a danger to others. I’m a freak. I can see right through you and all your fucking intentions, all your fears, everything. There is no other one like me. I’m completely alone. And if I can’t talk to someone who might even have a vague capacity for understanding what I’ve been through, I don’t want to live anymore.”

There was a long pause. Tony heard the girls quiet sobs.

“Tony, you have billions of dollars and every resource at your disposal. If you can’t find one person like me that can help me and actually understand what I’m going through instead of pretending they do” she was loudly sobbing now.“Then I’d rather be dead than continue alone”

The group was quiet as they listened to her. Tony was quiet for a moment, then left.

 As he re-entered the meeting room, Loki ended the silence.“Well, she broke!” His voice was cheery and clashed with the somber energy of the room, earning confused glares from the team. “She’s clearly made up her mind.” He clapped his hands together as if they’d accomplished something. “May I return to my quarters now?”

[lovelykat001]

7 Minutes in Heaven- Bruce

A/N: I had to change one thing because it was so weird I couldn’t handle it lol. Another blast from the past!

Word count: 1,521

Warnings: Smut, cursing

Prequel

My hand dove into the bag. I let my fingers trace over the contents of the bag. I felt a folded up piece of paper. How much trouble could that get me into? Plus I was now extremely curious. I pulled the piece of paper out of the bag and looked up to Tony who had an amused grin on his face. I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion.

"Tony, what does this mean?"

He chuckled. "Open it up and see."

I carefully unfolded the piece of paper. When I saw what was on the inside both me and Tony could not restrain our laughter. It was a picture of Bill Nye.

"Well who and what is it?" Natasha asked.

"I assume it is Bruce and it is a picture of Bill Nye the science guy." I stated still trying to contain my giggles. Everyone started laughing and even Bruce was laughing with his head down to hide his growing red cheeks.

I figured Bruce had a crush on me from the way he acted when I was around. Bruce was already a shy guy but when I was around, he would start to stutter. He also became more clumsy. I thought it was absolutely adorable. I tried to drop hints for him that I felt the same way. For a smart guy, he didn't pick up on them. He must have been too shy. I guess it was up to me to make the first move.

"Tony. Can I just ask you a question?" I said dragging each word out of my mouth. Tony nodded and raised his eyebrows waiting for the question.

"Why the hell do you have a random ass picture of Bill Nye the science guy just lying around your house?" I ask provoking laughter from the group.

"That is a good question." Natasha says.

"Yes it is. And it is one I will not dignify with an answer." Tony stated. "Alright. Upsy daisey. Into the room you go." Tony ushers us into the room. Before I get inside, Tony pulls me into the hall to have a quick word with me. "Hey, Bruce is my friend and I feel the need to help him out. You know the way he feels about you, right?" I nodded. "Okay, well-"

I cut Tony off. "I feel the same way about him, Stark. Don't worry. As a matter of fact, I was hoping you could buy us some extra time. If you know what I mean." I lifted my eyebrows suggestively and smirked.

"Oh wow okay. Yeah take all the time you need. I'll just go ahead and find another room."

"Thanks. Thank God we both have some liquid courage in us." I say before going to stand in the doorway.

"Go get 'em tiger" Tony says as he slaps my ass and closes the door behind me.

Bruce is standing near the bed with his back facing it. I walk slightly closer to Bruce so he can hear me. "Hey, Bruce."

"Hey," he says while putting his head down to study his hands.

I start trying to think of how I want to approach this. I was feeling a little bold so that helps. But I want to find a clever way to make a move while still being bold. I don't just want to walk over there and kiss him. I might scare the poor guy. Then it dawned on me. I've got it!

Bruce was still studying his hands when I walked over to him. "Your hands must be pretty interesting if you're giving them that much attention." He looked up at my face but then quickly retreated back to his hands from embarrassment. I reached out my hand and placed it on his. I let my fingers trace the edges of his hands.

"From what I've seen, you're very skilled with your hands." I say as I untangle his hands from each other. I place them both on top of each other on my left hand while my right traces patterns on top of them. I stepped into him a little more. My right hand grabbed his left and I kept his other one where it was in my left. I brought his hands up closer to my mouth. "I bet they could really work magic," I said as I let my lips drag across his fingers. I now had his undivided attention. His eyes looked so intense. Then were concentrated on my every movement. Wondering what I would do next.

I let his hands fall onto my breasts and I heard him suck in a sharp breath. I got on my tip-toes and reached upward so my mouth was right by his ear. "Lets put those skills to good use." I whispered as seductively as possible. I put my hands over his and made him squeeze my breasts. I moaned into his ear. He grunted.

"Fuck."

He started squeezing my breasts on his own. I gave him a kiss behind his ear and started nibbling on his earlobe. The noises he was making were priceless. Soon I wanted more. I drew my head back away from the side of his face and pulled him to me. The kiss was soft but needy. His hands moved from my breasts to the side of my face. We continued kissing like this for another minute. Just basking in an entirely different intimacy.

Eventually, I couldn't help myself. I needed more. I broke the kiss and started kissing my way down his neck. He gave me little moans along the way. When I settled on his collar bone, I started to undo the buttons on his shirt and slip it off with ease. I let my hands roam his chest feeling the nice muscles. He wasn't ripped but he wasn't slacking either.

Bruce turned us around so I was the one with my back turned toward the bed. He let his fingers grab at the bottom of my shirt. He pressed a quick kiss to my forehead before pulling my shirt over my head. I then cupped his manhood in my hand. After that, my bra was history. He made me lie on the bed while he kissed my mounds.

I moaned "Bruce."

He moaned in response. He started sucking on my nipples and I brought my knee up a little to press into his hardening member. He grunted loudly. I went into my own little world of bliss. When I opened my eyes, I realized that at some point he had taken off both of our pants. That sneaky little devil.

"Oh my God, wait." He said. I looked up at him. "Tony is going to be in here soon."

"Don't worry. I took care of that. We've got this room to ourselves tonight."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you." He said through a cute smile and bent over to give me a quick kiss on the lips.

"Well I hope there are more reasons than that." I jokingly said as I let my hand run up his arm.

"Oh, don't worry. There are."

I quickly flipped him over so I was on top. I smiled down at him. His eyes widened in shock and arousal. "This would be one of the reasons." Bruce said and he started to chuckle.

I laughed along with him and leaned down to kiss him. I ground my hips into him and he moaned into my mouth. He reached down to toy with my clit. I couldn't help but to let out a high-pitch moan. At this point, I decided enough was enough. I hopped off of him and quickly discarded my panties and pulled off his boxers. I climbed back on top of him and aligned myself above his member. He sat up and placed his hands on my hips. He pulled me down onto him.

My mouth formed an "O" when he did this. Bruce pulled my head toward him and kissed me until I was ready to move.

"Are you okay, baby? I don't want to hurt you. We can stop if you want."

Instead of voicing my answer, I rolled my hips. This made his hips buck up. I started making circles. His hands found my breasts again and I didn't object. I changed the direction of my circles.

"You're killing me." Bruce said.

Soon I lost all form of technique and I wasn't even aware of what I was doing. I just knew that it felt amazing and we both were loving it. I brought myself up and down on him three more times before we found our release. We screamed each others names.

I stayed straddling him with him inside of me. We just looked into each others eyes and stole kisses from time to time.

"So in case you couldn't tell from that, I like you too." I said smiling into his lips.

"Good," He gave a tentative smile back. "Hey do we really have this room for the whole night?" I nodded yes. "Okay, good." A mischievous grin came onto his face.

Round two.

[sserpente]

In a heartbeat (Chapter 31)

A/N: ARE YOU GUYS READY FOR A NEW CHAPTER?!

Doctor Strange possessed an extraordinary sense of perception. With his enchanted red cloak, nearly no enemy was enabled to sneak up on him. It clung around him like a second pair of eyes, scanning the environment behind his back to protect him from evil.

It startled him all the more when suddenly, the cloak flattered wildly, excitedly like a dog that had been promised a fresh and juicy bone. Alarmed, he turned on his heel, facing an all too familiar man only few feet from where he was standing, burying his nose in a magic book in an attempt to stop Thanos’ schemes.

“Loki,” he began dismayed, slightly tilting his head to replace a half-hearted greeting. His fingers were ready to cast a spell and send him flying through dimensions again when he took a threatening step forward but then, much to his surprise, lifted both his hands in defeat.

“Listening to what I have to say might turn out to be in your own interest, sorcerer. And in that of the entire Midgardian population.” He spoke darkly, his voice oddly calm.

Strange hesitated. “I have seen you and Thor in a vision. You are dead.”

“As far as Thanos is concerned, I am.” Loki simply replied, shooting him a stern look in the process. Strange understood immediately. So he was the first one to learn that the God of Mischief was still alive and had fooled death once again.

He nodded slowly. “So what do you want here?” Loki clenched his fists, fighting the itching urge to conjure two shiny daggers to stab the would-be sorcerer. Thanos’ lackeys would be here any minute. He did not have any spare time.

“I demand to know the whereabouts of my people. The Valkyrie and the Cronan took the Arc and fled. I know they have contacted you. Finding out myself would take too much time and energy that I have not to waste.”

For a couple of nerve-wrecking seconds, Strange silenced. Staring Loki down in a scrutinising manner, attempting to read in his wicked blue eyes what side he was on. He decided quickly that he really did not know what had occurred after his fake death.

“I don’t know yet. Valkyrie never made it on the Arc. She stayed behind with (Y/N).”

Loki’s face fell. At the mention of your name he flinched, barely, shockwaves of fear and concern cursing through his entire body. If you had stayed in the village when Thanos attacked him… you had either witnessed his seemingly gruesome fate or gotten killed in the explosion. One possibility was more dreadful than the other, for both would have had you suffer unbearable pain he knew he was the reason for.

You finding out about his coup to fake his death yet again had never been part of the plan. He would have sought you after all the threats Thanos had caused had been eliminated, reunited with you and gifted you that happy ending he had always promised you in your sleep.

“She is alive.” Strange finally added, watching curiously how he breathed out audibly.

“And where is she now?”

“With Thor, somewhere in space, I’ve been trying to track them.” With his brother, she was at least somewhat safe. He knew that if something happened to her, Thor knew to expect a blood bath. Never before had he held anything so dear in his life, not even when Frigga was still alive.

“What about Banner?” He choked out.

“He is downstairs with Tony Stark. He will not be happy to see you.”

Loki snorted. “That feeling is mutual. No. Thanos believes I am dead and so does everyone else and I would appreciate if it remained this way until Thor kills him.”

“Thor? You think Thor will kill him?” Strange interrupted. Suspicion and distrust crawled up his spine, his body language betrayed him.

“My brother is a lot more powerful than you give him credit for.” And he was in a rage. Because of Heimdall—and because of him. He silently cursed himself. Of course his oaf of a brother would not take the hints and comprehend the hints he had provided him with.

“And what about (Y/N)?”

In an instant, Loki’s arrogant and superior gaze faltered again, his composed expression replaced by sudden sadness.

“Tell her nothing. Not yet. She will put herself in danger if she learns I am still alive and try everything in her power to go looking for me. She is stubborn.”

“You love her.” Strange stated simply.

The God of Mischief gritted his teeth. Yes. Yes, he did, with all his heart. It had been terrible to leave her behind like this but what business was that of his? “Now, are you going to help me or not?”

The sorcerer tilted his head. “Alright…” he started slowly. “Let us hear your plan.”

“The Tesseract is an undying energy source, nothing has changed about that. You tell Stark that if he clones the electromagnetic particles inside the stone, he can, with a little help of the princess of Wakanda, manifest them to a consistent object.”

He hated this kind of science talk. The words lay heavy on his tongue, yet fortunately, they were not his own. They were Stark’s. It was complicated.

“Let him know his Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing system and a man the size of an ant provided him with the information. He will understand, in time.”

The sorcerer frowned. “That is all?”

“This is vital knowledge he must receive immediately.” Loki hissed. “In the meantime, I shall be going to Jötunheim.”

“Hiding in a different realm will not stop Thanos from finding you if he succeeds.”

The God of Mischief rolled his eyes. “I have much more meaningful business on Jötunheim. Thor will need all the help he can get. I am the Frost Giants’ rightful king and I shall return with an army.”

Strange had to admit, Loki’s idea was promising—and pretty much their only hope. “And how exactly do you intend to do that? My portals cannot send you to a different realm.”

The God of Mischief smirked. “With this.” The sorcerer gasped the moment the brightly, blue shining Tesseract appeared in his palm.

“You had it all along.”

Loki nodded triumphantly.

“If you have the real stone… then what does Thanos have?”

“That, sorcerer, is a question you should probably ask your new friends. Tell no one I am alive.” And with that, he dissolved, a green shimmer of light announcing his magical departure only seconds before Ebony Maw arrived on Earth to demand the remaining Infinity Stones.

Travelling by Tesseract wasn’t exactly the most pleasant way to move between worlds. It was draining and exhausting, costing Loki a lot of energy he desperately needed to reunite with his brother and much more importantly, to get you to safety as fast as possible.

He could not make any mistakes—not that he ever had, of course, still, he needed to be extra careful about his word choice today. Especially in a place like this.

To say he had missed the planet he had been born on would be an atrocious lie. He knew now how was resistant to the cold, the ice and the snow around him barely affected his Jötun body. The frost-bitten air wrapped around his limbs as he strolled towards the ice palace Laufey had resided in, dark boots trampling through the ankle-high snow on the frozen ground.

His breath was visible before his eyes, white clouds evaporating with every step that he took closer to the species his adoptive father had taught him to fear.

“You…” A deep voice growled. Loki turned, already expecting to see one of the Frost Giants materialise sharp icicles that would pierce through his armour like steel.

“I must admit, I anticipated a little more joy upon my return.” He began with an arrogant smirk.

“What do you want?”

They had no desire to kill him—not just yet. No one travelled to Jötunheim just to ride a sleigh or make snow angels on the cold ground. There was always a purpose; and ever since their kingdom had fallen, they were desperate for every visitor who promised them a new reign and the revival of their bleak realm.

It was risky. If they took the lead or gained the upper hand, Midgard would be all but lost.

“I come with an offer you will not be able to dismiss.” He began confidently.

“Go on…” More Frost Giants appeared from behind icy walls, weapons at the ready.

“Our universe like we know it is in danger. Thanos, the last survivor of Titan, is attempting to accomplish what no one has ever accomplished before him. By wielding the Infinity Gauntlet and collecting all six Infinity Stones, he can wipe out half of the universe… including your race.”

“What business is that of ours?”

“I believe you did not listen,” Loki growled darkly. “If Thanos succeeds, half of you will be dead. Do you truly think you could deal with another loss? This place is already a pathetic excuse for a realm. You have no purpose, you have no king and you have no power. I intend to give you all of it.”

“A king?” The Frost Giants stepped closer. Anger was radiating off of them as they circled Loki. He looked small compared to them, despite his wit and obvious superiority. “What makes you think we would want an Asgardian to rule over Jötunheim?”

“Laufey had a son, did he not?” He began quietly. The Frost Giants had never known it was him who had killed his predecessor, his birth father. After Laufey’s defeat on Asgard, they had fallen, powerless without a skilled ruler and helpless without the casket.

He did not have it. It had been destroyed during Ragnarok, however, all of this was information he would wickedly withhold from them.

Swallowing thickly, Loki took a deep breath and embraced the cold around him like an old friend. It clung to his limbs like liquid metal, turning his skin blue and his eyes red. The Frost Giants took a step back, both shocked and flabbergasted at what they saw.

“I was taken from Odin the very same night your weapon was stolen from you. He raised me as his own, preparing me to one day claim the throne of Asgard. It was too late for Laufey when I found out about my true heritage, my destiny.” He lied, looking the Frost Giant he was speaking to dead in the eye. “I, Loki Laufeyson, God of Mischief and Lies, am your rightful king… and I will lead you in a glorious battle.”

A/N: You didn’t think I would actually kill him, right?! COME ON.

[tisfan]

A Foot in the Door

Title: A Foot in the Door Link: AO3 Square Filled: K5 - <image: Awesome facial hair bros> Ship: Stephen/Tony Rating: teen Major Tags: magic and science, awesome facial hair bros, first date, pre-slash Summary: Stephen wants Tony to build a magic missile… Tony wants to get a foot in the door for dating.

Word Count: 1,695 Created for @tonystarkbingo

"You want me to build a magic missile, what?" Tony didn’t bother to look up at the holocall. He was, actually, grateful that Strange had made a call, even if he didn’t have one of the projection phones so all there was in the image was a static picture of Strange, selected from one of the many that Tony had taken. The fact that Strange was eating a hot dog and Tony had caught him mid bite had nothing to do with the picture chosen.

That was his story, and Tony was sticking to it.

"No, I want you to build a technical delivery system for magic." All hail the pedantic. Honestly, if Tony could get past the whole magic thing, Stephen Strange was pretty interesting. And he made a great straight man for Tony’s jokes, because Tony was almost positive the man did not understand humor at all.

"Magic Missile, that's what I said. It’s magic, and it’s in a missile casing, and you want me to build it,” Tony said. “I’m failing to see what’s wrong with my name.”

“There’s a failure to explode that I think would be a key component to missiles, but if you want to have your name on a dud rocket, I suppose that’s up to you,” Stephen said.

“My tech rarely fails completely,” Tony pointed out. “Sometimes it gets a bit big for its britches and tries to destroy the world, but it doesn’t… fail.”

“Exactly why I need you for the job,” Stephen said.

“Oh, that wasn’t condescending at all,” Tony remarked. “So, what can I do for you, and how exactly--”

Tony stopped talking, because Stephen took a few steps through a portal right in Tony’s workshop, touching down lightly on the floor, his overly dramatic and loyal piece of outerwear flaring.

Show off.

“--do you think you could, you know, knock or something, before you do that?”

“I called you,” Stephen said. “Was there something else I was required to do?”

“So, magic missile,” Tony prompted.

“I wish you wouldn’t call it that,” Stephen said. “That’s not what I have in mind, at all.”

“So, what are we not blowing up, then?”

Stephen gestured, something mystical and weird, that would look a lot less cool if it wasn’t attached to some special effects. Honestly, if Tony could ignore the brilliant blue runes that snapped to attention and the circles of power that sprung up around Stephen’s wrists, it mostly just looked like Stephen was playing one of those kid games, like Mary Mack.

Miss Mary Mack, all dressed in black…

“This is Nico Minoru,” Stephen said, and he caused a wavering image to spring up, a teenage girl with a very emo vibe to her. Gothy witch chick. Black lipstick, crazy hair, dressed all in black and purple. Carrying a glowing rod. “She’s had some difficulty with her magic, recently, and as the Sorcerer Supreme, it’s kinda my job to make sure that people don’t… well, fuck up reality too much.”

“I can see that as being bad for business,” Tony remarked.

“Indeed,” Stephen said. “In a recent… encounter, Miss Minoru might have accidentally set up a chain reaction that will, given time, unwind our entire reality. Naturally, I thought you might want to help me stop it.”

“You’re surprisingly calm.”

“Gibbering in a panic doesn’t really get the problem solved,” Stephen said. “Besides, it’s contained, at the moment.”

“It’s the conditionals that worry me.”

“Right.” The image between Stephen’s fingers shifted. “This is the anomaly. A little rift of nothingness that, left unchecked, will consume the entire universe. This dimension.”

Looking at it was… hard. There was a glowing purple dome somewhere in--

“Is that Central Park?”

“Yes,” Stephen said. “I managed to pin the nothingness down, and I’m holding it inside a stasis shield. Immense amounts of mystical energy are flowing through me, into the shield. When I die, and I will die, eventually, my heart won’t be able to withstand it for too long, the shield will be entirely consumed, and then the nothingness will go on to consume the park, the island of Manhattan, the planet. Within a week, it will grow to consume the solar system. And, the bigger it gets, the faster it will consume. Consider it… a magical black hole, converting everything in our reality into… well, a negative mystical force.”

“Aside from the whole I don’t want anything to happen to the planet because I keep my stuff here,” Tony said, and he found that Stephen’s calm was infectious, and that was good, because Tony’s heart was pounding in his chest, “what else does this cosmic vacuum cleaner do?”

“I assume it’s powering some other dimension; something through the rift is drawing up the energy and using it. Right now, the tear is only the size of, perhaps the spread of my fingers.” Stephen’s hands were shaking, but his fingers looked pretty damn long, actually.

“So, the thingie on the other side could, theoretically, stop drawing power?”

“Maybe, but my experiences with interdimensional thingies says they usually don’t. And if it did, it might decide to come over here and have a look see,” Stephen continued. “Which, also, generally not good. It might be that dimension’s version of a fox, but--”

“We’re probably this dimension’s version of chickens, got it.” Tony scratched at his chin. “So, now that I have the doom and gloom part, what can me and my mere technical wonders do for you?”

“I have two shields in place right now,” Stephen said. “One is a mere physical block, to keep out the curious and the stupid. The other cannot be penetrated by magical means, but it is accessible to more conventional modes of transport.”

“A missile?”

“A missile.”

“And so, what are we putting in this missile?”

“That’s the fun part,” Stephen told him. “I’m going to load your missile with a particularly clever little spell that will close the tear from the other side. A magical spell cannot penetrate my second shield, and I can’t take it down without allowing our thingie access from his side. It might use the opportunity to get a foot in the door.”

“Thingie is my technical term, you can’t borrow it,” Tony grouched.

“So, I load an inert magical spell into your missile,” Stephen continued, the side of his mouth twitching up, “and I lower the physical shield. You fire the missile right through the tear, my spell goes off when it hits the other side, seals the tear.”

“Awesome facial hair bros for the win,” Tony said, holding up a hand for Stephen to high five.

“Not even a little bit,” Stephen said. He did not give Tony a high five, which Tony thought was decidedly unfair.

“Oh, come on, you can do it,” Tony said. He didn’t put his hand down, just waited with a bright smile and gleeful anticipation. Stephen would give in. He’d be a grump about it, but he would do it, eventually.

“I hate you,” Stephen said, sighing. He slapped Tony’s hand.

“Yes!” Tony smirked. “All right, how much time do we have?”

“Less than you want, more than you need,” Stephen said.

“Sounds like my kind of deadline,” Tony said. “You can, like, run along for a bit, I’ll contact you when I’m ready for your payload.”

“So, what happens when this goes off?” Tony said. He adjusted the launch angle again, peering through the purple haze of shielding. There was, of course, a huge crowd of idiots gathered around the shield, gawking, because people were stupid.

“Hopefully nothing spectacular,” Stephen said. He wasn’t adjusting anything, although his Cloak was rippling dramatically. “Fire the missile, the tear closes, we kiss, we schmooze, we go home happy.”

Tony blinked. “Are you asking me on a date, Doctor Strange?”

“What? No,” Stephen said. “Absolutely not.”

“I dunno, it kinda sounded like you were… or at least, looking for some extra curricular activities.”

“Fire the missile successfully, and maybe -- maybe -- we can go out for a coffee.”

“Score!”

“Back away from the purple magic dome, people,” someone yelled. It sounded like Fury. Probably smart; other Avengers would probably get more attention and push toward the rift, not less. Fury, on the other hand, was scary as hell to most people.

“The crowd is dispersing,” Stephen reported. “I’ll give you a sixty second countdown, lower the shield, and you’ll have ten seconds to lock on and fire before I have to put it back up to contain any backlash.”

“You didn’t mention backlash,” Tony muttered. “But ten seconds is more than enough. Ready when you are, Doctor.”

Stephen started the countdown, a fancy fiery display of magical pyrotechnics that Tony thought were highly unnecessary. “You can’t just count down like a normal person?” He put on his HUD goggles to ready the missile.

The countdown ended. The shield dropped.

Tony fired.

The missile went right where it was supposed to go and vanished in three seconds.

In six seconds, something shot out, green and terrible, aimed straight for Tony.

Stephen crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. The Cloak swirled around them as Stephen’s magical shield snapped back into place.

“Well,” Tony said, looking up at Stephen, who was laying across him. “That was exciting. Ten seconds was seven seconds too many?”

“They were waiting for us,” Stephen said.

“Well, I’m glad you have a quick reaction time, Doctor, or I might be a little crispy.”

“I had to,” Stephen said, “we’re awesome facial hair bros, after all.”

“Well, it would have been worth it,” Tony mused. “Now… about that kiss?”

“I didn’t say anything about a kiss,” Stephen protested. “I said a date.”

“I distinctly heard kiss in there somewhere,” Tony pointed out.

“I hate you, so much,” Stephen sighed. He got to his feet and offered Tony a hand up.

“I’m told that’s normal, for dating me,” Tony said, grinning.

“One date is not dating.”

“You keep protesting,” Tony said, “but when you needed to make some magic, you came to me.”

“One date. We’ll see what happens from there.”

“All I need is a foot in the door.” 

[agent-ches]

THOR : RAGNAROK THOUGHTS (SPOILER ALERT)

literally the visuals of the damn film were great, A+++

- first of all THANK YOU TAIKA FOR DIRECTING THIS BEAUTY 

- he literally added all of his little touches from Rachel House as Topaz from The Hunt for the Wilderpeople (there was an easter egg in the first trailer with reference to the movie through graffiti of the Skux Life) to Luke Hemsworth and Matt Damon impersonating Thor and Loki on stage

- THOR TALKING TO A DAMN SKELETON 

- you’re probably wondering how i ended up like this cliche

- THANKS FOR BRINGING IN MY MAN KARL URBAN TO PLAY SKURGE who has a pretty decent character arc from replacing Heimdall to collecting knick knacks from the nine realms (machine guns named ‘Des’ and ‘Troy’, together they’re ‘Destroy’) and trying to impress ladies to temporarily becoming Hela’s Executioner although he hasn’t the heart to kill his own people to trying to be a stowaway (some would call this cowardly but wait) to deciding to fight for Asgard and giving his life as a result, he got his recognition 

- Thor’s hammer antics, putting it in the dragon’s mouth and setting it on Loki’s chest like, “Stay!” and “OW OW OW” yeah that hammer is a real gem, pity Hela had to destroy it, makes sense that she would be able to do so since she wielded it before Thor was ever born when she and Odin had their fun rampaging the realms

- HELA IS THOR’S (and technically Loki’s) OLDER SISTER????????????? WHAT THE HELL????

- Loki as Odin was bloody hilarious, going “Oh shit” the moment his brother shows up (plus the giant statue of himself in gold, really??? a bit much???)

- LOKI LEAVING ODIN IN AN ELDERLY HOME HAH (the damn thing was being demolished like HELLO) 

- Loki having to outdo Thor in some way aka FULL BLACK SUIT, SHIRT AND TIE FROM HEAD TO TOE while Thor is literally in jeans and a jacket (his face when Thor was asked for a selfie though, like how is that ever possible) 

- THANKS FOR BRINGING IN BENEDICT TOO LIKE I NEEDED ME SOME STEPHEN STRANGE BEING SUPER EXTRA AND TELEPORTING(???) EVERYWHERE MAKING THOR WHOOZY (honestly i laughed so hard when Loki said he’d been falling for thirty minutes since Strange opened a portal for him to fall into and then reopned it much later, loved it) 

- Thor disguising his hammer as a damn umbrella and it completely wrecking the New York Sanctum as it flies to him 

- Sentimental bros when Odin passed on IN FRIGGING NORWAY

- The clouds and thunder mirroring Thor’s grief and anger and the sparks crackling like the perfect foreshadowing 

- Thor being a dramatic dork with the most unnecessary costume change of the century, a lightning strike *rolls eyes to the moon and back* 

- CATE BLANCETT IS SO HOT HOLY SHIT 

- HER HAIR TURNS INTO HER HEADDRESS????? WHAAAAA?????

- HELA WHY YOU KILL MY WARRIORS THREE SOBS 

- heimdall the fugitive, cue the mission impossible theme song (completely necessary i assure you) 

- the amount of humour littered throughout the film is ridiculously fantastic so much so that i can’t possibly go through all of it but kudos to Drunk!Valkyrie, that is a mood i can totally agree with

- Loki and Thor arguing like a bunch of children good lord (CAN I JUST, THE GRANDMASTER SUBTLY FLIRTING WITH LOKI AND THOR JUST LOOKING COMPLETELY CONFUSED LIKE ????? GOLD!!!)

- SPARKLESSSSS

- “What’s the word we use for her that start’s with B?” “Trash.” 

- Valkyrie sassing her way through the film, everywhere from speaking to Thor to Topaz and Loki like, what a boss

- Thor getting his hair cut by Stan Lee with a robotic arm (he’s so damn attached to his hair like woah)

- TAIKA VOICING KORG LIKE WHAT A PRECIOUS BEAN THAT GIANT STONE MONSTER IS I LOVE HIM ( he’s so precious “I tried to start a revolution but couldn’t print enough pamplets” + “We’re going to get out of here on that ship, want to join us?” + “I accidentally stepped on [Meek] on the Bridge and I felt so bad, I’ve been carrying him around all day” + Meek wakes up, “HEY EVERYONE MEEK’S ALIVE”) also the subtle explicit jokes did not go unnoticed ahem ahem -.-

- Loki’s projections being a recurring theme throughout the whole movie from the start where he visit’s Thor in the contender’s holding area, “to try and help him” and Thor keeps throwing stuff through him because his brother won’t even try to come and meet him face to face (Korg attacking supposed ‘ghost’ was also adorable), to when Loki is chained up in Valkyrie’s room and Thor throws something at him (it hits him in the head) to check if he’s really present, to when they try to escape and Thor figures out the trick because Loki’s inherent selfishness tips him off, and finally the ending when Lokis shows up after throwing Surtur’s crown into the fire, Thor not even daring to believe his brother is there in the room, “I would hug you if you were here,” and he tosses something at supposed projection only to have Loki catch it, “I’m here”, that was a tender scene between the brothers and I love Taika all the more for executing it as such (he could easily have had Tom miss the object and allowed it to hit him but he kept the moment an intimate one, bless him for that) 

- the classic “HE’S A FRIEND FROM WORK” and Loki’s face when he saw the Hulk, “I NEED TO GET OFF THIS PLANET” *flashbacks to PUNY GOD* 

- Thor’s lightning being triggered by Odin and the Hulk’s punches though, the lightning is so flipping amazing and it’s honestly really cool to watch?????

- Bruce was the Hulk for TWO YEARS????? and Nat is the one to trigger the switch back (also his and Thor’s little frienship squabble was pretty cute, not to mention the Quinjet recognising Thor as POINTBREAK BAHAHAHA)

- Bruce in Tony’s clothes (can i get a little SCIENCE BROS up in here) 

- Valkyrie and Bruce being so damn oblivious 

- “Loki turned into a snake and I liked snakes and then he changed back into himself and stabbed me with a knife WHEN WE WERE EIGHT” and Loki still has the guts to smile, devious little bastard

- “Let’s do ‘GET HELP’!” “No, that’s embarrasing” proceed to Thor literally TOSSING Loki at the guards

- “It’s a leisure ship, the Grandmaster uses it for his orgys” oh lord bless me 

- I don’t have much to say about Heimdall or Hela to be very honest, because we were only briefly introduced to Hela and Heimdall was barely touched on except as a fugitive getting the Asgardians to evacuate. Hela was mostly just stipulated as the villain and sister goddess, though her ability to produce swords continuously is fantastic and nicely presented 

- Valkyrie’s past was cleverly dealt with instead of having a cheesy heart to heart, with Loki showcasing his magic abilities to pluck the memory from her mind and see for himself what really happened that turned her into a drunken scavenger 

- Thor wanting to be a Valkyrie growing up then realising they were all women

- Bruce has 7 PhDs, good to know (none of them are for flying alien spacecraft though, also good to know) 

- LOKI IS ACTUALLY RELATIVELY GOOD IN THIS ONE (although he does halt by the Tesseract and we all can guess that he takes it since he has it in Infinity War) 

- Taika handled the missing Gauntlet fantastically with Hela tipping the relic over in Odin’s vault, calling it a fake, which alludes to the real one being missing, really nice segway right there (she also hovers by the Tesseract and recognises it’s power)

- Thor losing an eye, Loki thinking his new eye patch suits him and Hela saying he looks like their ‘dad’ 

- VENTRESS AKA THE REALLY CUTE AND SCARY GIANT WOLF THAT HELA CALLS HER PET IS SO COOL but also undead so yeah ....

- Asgard is a people (and Thor being their king, decides to take them to earth...) 

- Ragnarok having a completely different meaning by the end of the film 

- “Let me rephrase, how do you think the people will react to you bringing ME back?” “They wouldn’t be very pleased.” and cue what supposedly looks like a giant ass ship from Thanos 

- second post credits scene was mostly for the laughs 

- NO SOUL STONE IN THIS ONE FOLKS 

- things were just a tad rushed in this one but the graphics and fight sequences were gracefully done and i’m satisfied

[karingudino]

Miami Developer Tony Cho Has A Grand Vision To Build Sustainably And Deliver Huge Returns

Tony Cho has been on the forefront of improvement within the Miami neighborhoods of Wynwood, the place his Metro 1 is a number one industrial dealer, and Little Haiti, the place he’s growing the campuslike Magic City Innovation District with companions together with Cirque du Soleil founder Man Laliberte. Whereas different builders have a tendency to construct no matter delivers the perfect monetary return on a specific website, Cho mentioned, his staff takes a extra holistic strategy.

“We need to do what’s finest for the atmosphere, what’s finest for the group, what’s finest for our buyers and for the challenge,” mentioned Cho, who grew up on an ashram and owns a religious retreat known as ChoZen on the Florida coast.

To that finish, he has developed a Future of Cities platform — half suppose tank, half actual property improvement agency and half enterprise ecosystem. Introduced earlier this 12 months, it goals to take good concepts and nice expertise, add funding and put the concepts into follow via what he calls “regenerative placemaking.” Cho says he thinks he can pull this off and nonetheless get whopping returns for buyers.

Courtesy of Tony Cho

Tony Cho has turn into one of many main actual property figures in Miami.

Cho is not pondering small. He intends to scale environmental, social and governance finest practices around the globe and has employed employees and arrange advisory boards to pursue the aim.

“It is nearly bringing collectively private and non-private pursuits and making it work for all of humanity,” Cho mentioned. “That is actually what the aim is.”

The suppose tank arm of Way forward for Cities serves as a analysis hub and holds “thought management” occasions about all the things from meals forests to supplies science to rewilding initiatives. To date, his staff has collaborated with the Chopra Basis of writer Deepak Chopra, the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise International CoCreation Lab and the Buckminster Fuller Institute. At some point, it may doubtlessly be spun off as its personal basis or nonprofit. 

The Way forward for Cities actual property improvement arm raises capital and identifies and executes initiatives. Cho has already seeded a possibility zone fund. One website in Florida has already been bought, and Cho’s staff is exploring potentialities for sustainable or regenerative initiatives there. Over the following few years, a spotlight will likely be on high-growth secondary and tertiary markets in Solar Belt states like Florida, Georgia, Texas, the Carolinas and Tennessee.

Every challenge is ready up with its personal special-purpose car, however Cho can be speaking to massive establishments about programmatic three way partnership financing. He’s in search of buyers who can put in $250K or extra.

“Our return threshold is larger than many normal funds can be, so we’re forecasting low-to-mid-20s IRR on our initiatives,” Cho mentioned. “We can’t do them if we will’t get a really excessive yield, and I feel we’ll do a lot better than that. My monitor report has been north of 40% IRR during the last 10 years.”

As for the enterprise capital arm of his platform, it may put money into good metropolis expertise, proptech, well being tech and clear applied sciences.

“We’ve made our first enterprise funding in a mobility firm, which we’ll be asserting hopefully right here within the subsequent couple of weeks,” mentioned Cho, who’s in search of to lift about $25M in a funding spherical.

“That is the thesis: Put money into the businesses that we really feel are aligned with our values, which are disrupting the house within the constructed atmosphere and fixing issues. It is an entire ecosystem that works collectively,” Cho mentioned.

As for concrete steps to tug off his grand imaginative and prescient, Cho mentioned public-private partnerships may higher incentivize sustainable improvement — all the things from reasonably priced housing to city permaculture — in order that builders of such initiatives make extra revenue than those that create sprawl or construct luxurious.

There must be extra regulation, too, Cho mentioned.

“You should not have the ability to simply develop one thing if it’ll harm the atmosphere or harm society or create extra gentrification,” he mentioned.

In Miami, dwelling costs are so out of attain that “I am unable to even discover housing for my executives who make six figures,” he mentioned.

A champion of sustainable improvement, Cho mentioned he will get concerned politically, however solely to the extent that he reaches out to politicians and educates them, somewhat than campaigning or making political donations.

Growing sustainably will obtain larger returns for buyers as a result of it’s extra future-proof and supported by the group, Cho mentioned. For instance, Cho mentioned, when builders have been remodeling Wynwood from an industrial warehouse district to a classy arts vacation spot within the early 2000s, he was vocal about advocating for small unbiased companies and helped forestall a Walmart from opening in close by Midtown.

“Small companies are the lifeblood of the group,” Cho mentioned. “That is the key sauce. That is why Wynwood is value 5 occasions greater than different locations, as a result of you’ve [independent restaurants rather than] a strip mall that had a Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts.”

Cho mentioned he thinks he may affect a billion individuals together with his plan.

“We now have the options,” he mentioned. 

Source link

source https://fikiss.net/miami-developer-tony-cho-has-a-grand-vision-to-build-sustainably-and-deliver-huge-returns/ Miami Developer Tony Cho Has A Grand Vision To Build Sustainably And Deliver Huge Returns published first on https://fikiss.net/ from Karin Gudino https://karingudino.blogspot.com/2021/06/miami-developer-tony-cho-has-grand.html

[dontcallmecarrie]

More stress in my life = more crack for you all. 

I haven’t even reached Tony’s part of the timeline in LTTR/OTNC, or even touched the Civil War arc of TWiFFON yet here you go, mini-crossover snippets of my two biggest AUs thus far that I’m now considering expanding later. 

Warnings: everything Welcome to Night Vale-related, because LTTR/OtNC!Tony’s got it in his blood. Only referenced, though, nothing graphic. 

This is in the grey area between ‘just messing around’ and ‘can be considered canon’ because this is set at the ending of TWiFFON, and as of right now OTNC is nothing more than a fic idea that I’ve only started to expand a little, set in the same universe as Live Through The Rain, wherein Maria Stark née Carbonell was born and raised in Night Vale.

Just random scenes in my head that I couldn’t get rid of, here.

Under the cut, because RIP mobile users otherwise.

Tony straightened up, and dusted himself off. He...probably shouldn't have been messing with dark matter like that when Clint was around, in retrospect, oops—wait.

No, wait.

The universe wasn’t—oh shit. 

The universe didn’t— it wasn’t singing to him like usual, it was in a minor key instead of a major, uh-oh JARVIS would rip a hole in whatever reality to drag him back and Pepper was going to kill him.

Umm. 

Umm. Okay. Where was he, exactly? He needed to get home, where the hell was he and how’d he even gotten wherever he was in the first pla—ah. 

Cue robots, of course. Okay, Tony could work with that. They felt almost familiar, but far emptier than what he was used to, but he could work with it. If they were friendly, great. If not, he had his bloodstones and gear on him, and knew enough combat invocations to at least make a dent. 

“I take it you’re the welcoming committee here?” He asked dryly to one, and started walking before they said a word.

“Greetings. I take it you are aware of your displacement? Come with us, please, we can help get you back.”

Ah, they were friendly and polite. Great, his laser knife-fighting skills were rusty anyway.

“This is Tuesday to you guys, isn't it? Random strangers accidentally falling through the fabric of reality?”

Great! Hopefully nobody’d be looking at him weird here, if this kind of thing was normal. It’d be a nice change of pace, for once.

...he took that back, this place was just as weak as his own dimension. Dammit.

“So, you’re saying you’re used to evil clones and that’s why you jumped out the window of a several-hundred-foot building.” His double said, a hand on his watch and an incredulous look on his face. Besides him, a young man in a red-and-blue suit stood, mask in hand and watching the two of them like a tennis match, and some dude with a cape was in the corner and managing to both keep a wary eye on things but also very clearly trying not to smile and failing badly.

“Yeah, I mean, I took Bio 351 in college. Got excellent marks on the final. Besides, it’s not like you have room to talk, Mr. I Took Over The Planet.”

“You...okay. What exactly do you need, to get back home? Because this is weird even by my new standards and I hadn’t thought it was possible, and stop laughing and help me out here, Strange, dammit.”

“Oh, shouldn't be too hard, my main worry is JARVIS tearing apart reality looking for me. Always annoying, that.”

“And for the record, I didn’t mean to take over, it sort of...just happened. Wait, what do you mean JARVIS can warp reality? He’s an AI, isn’t he?”

“Well, duh. But computer science is an arcane field. Coding’s right up there with dark magic.”

His alternate looked like he’d been smacked by a fish, and leaned back. “Science? Arcane? You— okay, no, I don’t even, Strange get over here I think this is more your field than mine.”

and, later on, 

[with some potential spoilers for what’s going to happen in OTNC when things get a bit more serious]:

“So, why the robot army. I mean, no complaints here, but personally I’d been looking more into other fields.” Tony started. Because sure, the Iron Legion looked pretty shiny, but it was also pretty hard to follow, especially given the looks this universe’s Avengers gave his double the moment he brought up said robot army.

“Did you guys not get invaded? The name Thanos ring any bells?” Hope—as she’d introduced herself as— asked carefully, trying to feign being casual but Tony didn’t miss the way the others had stilled...great. 

It’d better just be a dimensional thing and not a Night Vale thing because that’d be just the goddamn cherry on top, seriously.

“I mean, we had New York just a few months ago, but that was more annoying than—” He cut off when the room all but exploded, and maybe he was using his power for evil but Tony couldn’t help but keep an extra sharp ear out for anything he could use amidst the muttering.

“We should tell him—”

“No, but his dimension’s—”

“Should you—”

“I mean—”

Tony tried to get their attention, but it’s not until he brought out the big guns and said something in Triple Spanish that the room remembered he was part of the conversation too.

Of course, he also got weird looks, because he still weirded anyone who wasn’t Happy or Pepper or Rhodey out, whenever he messed with intonations.

“What the hell was that?” Hope demanded, a hand sitting on her...was that a taser?

“Triple Spanish. For when I need to get the room’s attention. Tell me what, by the way?”

...apparently the room agreed on letting him know what his dimension might be in for. Good.

“Just curious—didn’t you go through a portal, during New York? Because that was...a pretty big moment, for me.”

“Well, yeah, but it wasn’t like I saw the Void or anything. The warhead made a very nice boom, but overall it was just deep space, nothing special.”

“Nothing specia—” his alternate managed to choke out, all-but-glaring at him. Rhodey’s less-chill clone was about as stunned, too.

“I mean, I’d been warned all my life about looking into the Void, how it can drive some into madness and everything, think I caught a glimpse of it during the one astronomy class I snuck into, way back when. But what I saw wasn’t it.”

His double just stared.

and even more ridiculousness, because why not. Taking quite a few liberties with stuff from WtNV, here:

“So, New York differences notwithstanding, that probably means you’re probably going to need to deal with Thanos. Big, purple megalomaniac, wants to kill everything he encounters.”

That got Tony’s attention.

He straightened up, and noticed the glances that were being thrown his way.

“He’s a tyrannical despot? Wants to bathe in the blood of his enemies or whatever? Has a huge never-ending army?” He asked, not even bothering to hide the edge in his voice now. Oh crap oh crap oh crap—

“Yes,” Rhodey’s alternate said. 

Well, fuck. Tony leaned back, and hoped nobody noticed the tremor in his hands, or the way the shadows by the table were suddenly a lot more jittery than they had any right to be.

“So you’re saying I’ve going to need to gear up for the Blood-Space War. Damn.”

Okay, he could do this. Tony took a deep breath, let it out, and ran a hand through his hair. Just keep everything under control, this was fine—

“What do you mean ‘blood-space war?’” A very pale version of himself asked, echoed by the entire room in varying tones. 

Oops. 

“In my dimension, mom’s from Night Vale. I take it she’s not, here?” Tony looked at his hopefully-not-evil clone for confirmation. When he shook his head, it wasn’t a surprise. [Well, that explained some things.]

“I’m Night Vale, too. It’s a long story, but the short version is it’s a small town with some apparently unusual quirks. Me, I don’t see what the big deal is about time travel requiring a license, but whatever. The Blood-Space War will happen at an unspecified point in time, when reality and unreality are at a nexus, neverwhere and yet eternal.”

Tony paused to take a drink, noticed everyone’s looks, and continued.

“Some of Night Vale’s people’ve enlisted. They get sent out, across time and space. Plus there’s the Society for A Blood-Space War, who sends time-traveling assassins to prevent despots from ever starting their reigns of terror.”

“You what now?”

“Ġ̫͙͋͑͗r͔̣̩̞͉̪̖ͬ̈́̋̆̎̓̐̀͑a̝̗͉͕͈ͯͨ̎ͧ͛ͭͨn̜̼͙̣̈́̓̋ͭ͗̃d͚̰̤̀p̮̮̖̝̖͍ͦ̎a̳̯̲͍͈͊̂ͥͥͦ̂͗ sent letters home like clockwork.”

Tony had not meant to make them flinch like that. Right, English only when it came to outsiders, oops. [But talking about his grandfather just felt weird without the proper intonation!]

“Grandpa enlisted when mom was...seven, I think. He sends letters like clockwork, last I heard he was slated to command a battalion... But yeah. Blood-Space War. I’ve been trying to lay the groundwork to protect our guys for a while now, guess I’ll need to step up my game. Thanks for the heads up, though.”

These people’s expressions were about on par with his own team’s, when they first found out about Night Vale. [People never change, do they?] 

Finally, this Strange guy broke the silence. “Let’s...focus on getting you home, shall we? And hopefully the rest of us’ll be able to wrap our heads around...this.”

If Tony wasn’t so resigned to it, he’d pity them. As it was, this was old hat and the sooner he got home, the better. At least there everyone he cared about was more or less used to his quirks, even if Steve still sometimes made a face whenever he drank his smoothies. Odds were JARVIS was busy on his own end, anyway, and Tony needed to start planning for this latest development too.

Clearly, he’d need to find Night Vale sooner rather than later...hmm.

There’s more to it that that, of course, but these snippets were the ones that really wanted out.

Because, just imagine it: OTNC!Tony, aka NightVale!Tony, just crash-landing TWiFFON and breaking everyone’s brains. 

[potter-imagines]

Stolen Clothes - Peter Parker

Prompt: Reader is afraid of thunder/lightning and there is a freak thunderstorm, and her best friend, Peter Parker, has to comfort her.

Words: 2,499

Warnings: None- fluff mainly.

Bolts of bright light cracked across the dark sky. The constant breakouts of lightning flashes through your thick curtains. Booming of ground shaking thunder shook your dead apartment unevenly. 

You were curled up in your bed eye glued on the TV screen out of fear. The storm knocked out the satellite being the reason you were staring at a frozen screen for the last half an hour. You hid your body from the horrid weather under a mound of warm blankets fresh out of the dryer.

Fuzzy socks covered your feet and a steaming cup of hot chocolate rested untouched on your nightstand. Paralyzed with fear you didn’t dare move a muscle. Even though you hated thunder storms you couldn’t bring yourself to look away from the rain pounding against your window. It was like the scene of a car crash, the best thing was to avoid the mess but it was almost impossible to think about anything else.

A loud crash hit your window earning a screeching yelp from yourself. The stray branch from a tree outside blew in the wind knocking the glass continuously. You parents fell asleep in pure bliss to the tempest leaving you to wallow in your lonesome. 

All possible lights in your quaint bedroom flipped on the second the first droplet of water came. It was childish really, you thought. You were sixteen, had a near perfect GPA, already had pending scholarships, and had Spider-Man sleeping a floor above you, but the gale blowing on the other end of your safe home controlled your emotions to a queue. Besides, it wasn’t like your high grades and the fact that your best friend was a superhero would do anything to put a halt to Mother Nature’s path of destruction. 

An echoing ping and the glowing light of your phone screen shot a jolt up your spine. Reaching over, your thumb pressed into the home button to find the one and only Peter Parker had texted you.

Faintly smiling you swiftly unlocked your phone and slowly read his message, a new sense of security sneaking over.

Hey Y/n! Are you home? Heard the storm and wanted to make sure you’re alright. x 

A dreamy sigh absentmindedly sounded as you reread Peter’s message for the tenth time. Digging further into your display of protection you typed up a quick response and sent it.

Yes I am, and no worries I’m alright. Thanks for checking on me!

So it might have been a tinsey lie... or a huge one. Peter Parker was your best friend. Over your years of loyal friendship you and Peter remained attached at the hip. When you began going through some, uh, changes you started to notice more about your close friend.

Like the way he got this adorable smile on his face when he was talking about Science. And his soft whiskey dipped hair and pool of brown orbs. Or how he freaked out over Tony Stark’s latest inventions. Also how he subconsciously put your needs before his in every situation. Walking home from school in the cold, Peter would peel his heavy sweatshirt off his body and tug it over yours, leaving him in a short sleeve t-shirt and ignoring your protest. If your indecisive self turned against the quick minded decision of ordering a hamburger instead of chicken nuggets at a restaurant, Peter would slid over and share his meal with you no matter how hungry he was. 

Technically speaking with Peter acting as the gentleman he was, you were bound to fall for him. Logically everything he did worked some sort of magic on you and you were far past under his spell. This didn’t mean Peter was playing tricks and fooling with your heart. Actually, despite all his brain Peter Parker was the definition of oblivious. 

If someone would write it out in the sky for Peter that you were head over heels in love with the boy, he would take it as funny shapes in the clouds, then continue on as if nothing happen.

At the sound of a knock crashing against your bedroom window, a fierce jolt shook your bones. You cradled under your sheet fearful of the outside force. The ongoing pounding echoed in your dark room. It wasn’t until you heard faint shouting laced between the thumping that you poked out from under your covers.

A shadow illuminated from beyond the window. It shook in the thunderous rain and tapped it’s knuckle on the glass, a worrisome look painting their features. You hopped out of bed and jogged to the wooden window frame and pulled it open.

Leaning out of your comforting atmosphere a spray of ice cold water splashed your skin. You clamped your hand down on the shoulder of the boyish figure and yanked them through the opening. 

The wet man stumbled into your room, tripping over your school bag. Luckily for him, the man threw his arms out and caught onto the corner of your desk, steadying himself. 

“Peter! What’re you doing here?” Your eyebrows shot in the air taking in the image in front of you. Peter Parker was shaking from his head to toes. Droplets on water splashed against your floorboards creating stray puddles on the wood. Your mom was sure to have your head on a platter if the rain remained on the ground come morning. 

Peter smiled brightly and maneuvered around your shocked frame. He stopped by your dresser, his hand falling on the knob of the wardrobe and turned to look at you over his shoulder for your approval. Peaking at him curiously you gave a short nod while he spoke up.

“I’m checking on my best friend to make sure she’s alright and protect her from this nasty storm. Hey you don’t happen to still have any extra shirts of mine do you? I know I left a pair of sweatpants around here somewhere.” Peter rummaged around your neatly folded clothes in desperate need for warmth. An immediate blush bloomed blood red on your drained cheeks. Your hand crept down to cover the Midtown High logo on the navy blue sweatpants you wore or rather the sweatpants that belonged to Peter.

Gasping softly, you fidgeted in your skin finding the hem of your t-shirt which also coincidentally was that of Peter Parker’s. Your eyes bugged out wide in embarrassment. 

“Do you know where-” Shifting back to your presence, Peter’s warm eye pooled over you. A slow elevator scan passed through you as Peter took you in. His face twisted from confusion, to comprehension, to amusement, then to something else- something you couldn’t quite read. A cloud hazed his judgement, something unreadable and complex. Then after an awkward passing a boyish grin appeared. 

His blushing cheeks were noticeable no matter the distance. You watched the churring red blotch on his smooth skin. This caused you to sink deeper into the kaleidoscope of quilts and tie blankets as you tucked away on the bed. 

Peter shuffled over to the opposite end of the bed and lifted the edge on the blanket up. You scurried to the edge of the mattress striving to dispose of the comforting cotton that embraced your frame. Sadly Peter was one step ahead of you as he recklessly flung your source of coverage onto the floor. You watched as the numerous blankets crumbled onto the floor in a heaping pile and with all your strength, pulled them back on your mattress. 

“Peter Parker!” You scolded. He simply ignored you as he crossed his toned arms across his chest. The weight of his body shifted to the balls of his heels while he examined the sight with amusement. 

“Is that my shirt?” The tone was light as if he was more so poking fun at you. Not that it helped ease your nerves. Right as you opened your mouth to shoot a response back Peter added on, “And my sweatpants?” 

You had no shield of protection to hide beneath expect his taunting stare. You desired nothing more than to whip up a quick and painful comeback but nothing flared. Being caught red handed was a sour spot to be in. 

“Well if you’re going to leave clothes in my room you shouldn’t expect anything less.” The reply came off far more cheekily than you expect. Peter seemed taken aback in a positive form. His faint chestnut brows skyrocketed at the remark. The brainiac was lost for context and captured still. 

City life swallowed the emptiness of the room snaking into the bare slots and corners that remained lifeless. Angry commuters heading home after staying hours later than hoped rushed home to their families. Annoying teenagers caused a ruckus of careless commotion as the passed by below. All the life of Queens acted as a conversation filler and you prayed Peter would accept that as the end of discussion and move forward. Not that you were ever that luck.

“I guess that means I’ll be sure to leave more clothes around. You look uh, y’know... you look really good in them.” Your eyes bugged out in shock. Had you heard him right? Did he really mean that? 

You watched in suspicion as he rolled onto the mattress and occupied the empty space. His posture was upright almost like he just realized what he said. You pushed yourself up to your elbows and gave him major side eye.

“I looked good?” You awaited his laughter and teasing timbre but nothing came. Not even a crack of a grin, nor a banter of sorts. His eyes remained interested in the pouring rain and cackling thunder outside. Peter prayed to whatever god in reach that you would drop his remark and play it off. 

“No, no, I mean you look beautiful- hot even.” His cheeks caught fire and regret bursted like a balloon. Peter stumbled up from his spot on your bed and leaned back on his knees. He shook his hands as if wiping the comment away. “That’s such a terrible thing to say, you’re not hot. Shit, I mean you are but you’re not. Like you’re not only hot but gorgeous. I don’t want to call you hot because you’re so much more than that and using ‘hot’ to describe you makes it sound wrong. I find you to be hands down the most beautiful girl in the world and if you like being called hot, which you are-” Feeling sorry for his embarrassed state you put a heavy end to it. You placed a chaste peck to the corner of his lips, just barely passing for a kiss. Falling back into your display of pillows you refused to look at him. You weren’t one for being forward and change was good. 

The terror and fright that you found in the storm was no longer. All you experienced was the joy in newfound delights and taking chances. Your thoughts were disturbed as Peter broke the silence. 

“Wow.” He mumbled dreamily. You took a second to gaze at him making your heart grow wings. Peter was a sight you loved taking in. He was the most handsome guy you had yet to meet and all you wanted was for him to be yours. Having him as your best friend was one thing and you never took for granted the bond you shared. Another part of you wanted more. You wished for him to be the one you confined in at all times. The one to make your tears stop short, your heart melt, your laughter grow, and your smile to radiate. 

Taking the situation as your own you patted the area to your right and shrugged, 

“So are gonna come lay with me or just stand there with your mouth open?” 

Peter sprinted to the bed just as a blinding bolt struck hard. You let out a loud gasp and shook slightly. The teens face twisted in surprise as he read into you. 

“You sure you’re not scared?” He questioned plopping down at your side. 

“Of course I am, but I feel a little better now.” You lied halfly. Truthfully you did feel better in his presence but trepidation was still living. 

“Why is that?” An adorable feature graced his face making you escalate into the hole you were already plummeting down. You forced in a shaky breath in cuddling into the flower petal smoothness of his t shirt. The material was nearly impossible to resist despite the dampness from the weather and you indulged in the temptation. 

Peter’s heart leaped from his chest to the dryness of his throat. His palms suddenly precipitated like Niagra Falls on a warm summer day. Immobile in place he found himself lost for action. His brain was screaming at him to make a move but his heart was longing to stay put and enjoy the moment, it was bound to end eventually so he wanted to bask in it. Before he could work up the piling courage to do something you beat around the bush. 

“It just so happens I know Spider-man and he promised to protect me from the storm tonight. I’m all set.” You admitted sheepishly. Craning your neck up you moved to peek out the window but it just so happen Peter had a destination of his own. Right when you reached up, he went down and as if the world was tuned up to super speed, his lips found yours. It started as an accidental skim- your skin brush by in a small passing. Though both of you back tracked and met in the middle.

His thumb escaped the blanket and rested on your chin pulling you close to him mouth. He kissed you passionately and effortlessly as if it was a daily procedure. You moved your lips in a pattern- like a dance that was practiced routinely despite it being an entirely new mechanism. 

Your lips detached for a quick recovery, a much needed one. Peter’s forehead found it’s home against your own as you both locked gaze. It didn’t take long for a playful smile to occur. A chuckle vibrated through Peter’s chest making you join in. No words needed to be exchanged- both of you knew what it meant and you found yourself happier than you even knew possible. 

“Stay the night?” You asked wearily. It wouldn’t be the first time he spent the night but you feared he might turn it down due to the silent confession just made. Relief filled your bones as he grinned like a child and nodded his head. 

“I wouldn’t plan on anything else.”  

The storm died down no longer than an hour later but neither of you addressed it. You found peace in his arms and the last thing Peter wanted was to leave you alone. So instead, you both held each other tight and slept the night away- you thanked yourself for the stolen clothes and knew there would be more in the future. 

- Daizy 

[konnl]

Edward Willett expands the Worldshaper universe with his new novel, Master of The World

For September’s guest author we have Edward Willett, who is a writer and performer from Regina, Saskatchewan. He has authored more than 50 books of various types. He is well known for writing in the science fiction and fantasy genres. Some of his work has been published by DAW Books in New York, such as the novels Lost in Translationand 2009 Aurora Award-winning novel Marseguro. He has also been published with Bundoran Press. Let’s welcome him to the blog.

Hi Edward Willett, thank you for joining us. Can you introduce yourself to the readers?

Hi, readers! As the introduction says, I’m a multiply published author—I’ve actually lost count of exactly how many books I’ve had published. They run the gamut from non-fiction (local history, science books, biographies, and computer books) to my first love, science fiction and fantasy. There’s even one book of poetry! I’ve written for children, young adults, and adults.

I started my career as a newspaper reporter at the weekly Weyburn (Saskatchewan) Review. (Weyburn was the town where I grew up.) At the ripe old age of 24r, I became news editor there. Then, in my late 20s, I became communications officer for the then-fledgling Saskatchewan Science Centre, which is what brought me from Weyburn to Regina, where I’ve lived ever since. After five years at the science centre, I quit my job and became a fulltime freelance writer, which I’ve now been for 26 years.

In addition to writing (and some editing), I’ve done quite a bit of acting and singing, both professionally and just for fun. I’m married to a telecommunications engineer and have one daughter, who is currently enrolled at the University of Toronto. Oh, and we have a black Siberian cat, Shadowpaw—can’t forget him, since I used his name on my own little publishing company, Shadowpaw Press.

Tell us about your latest release, Master of The World.

Master of the World is the second book in the Worldshapers series, published by DAW Books, which began with Worldshaper last year. In Worldshaper, the main character, Shawna Keys, has a pleasant, low-key life: she’s just opened a pottery studio in a small city in Montana, she has a great boyfriend, she has a wonderful best friend. But then everything changes in an instant. Black-clad gunmen storm the coffee shop where she’s having lunch with her friend. Her friend is killed. She’s about to be killed. She refuses to believe it’s happening…and just like that, it isn’t. It hasn’t. The gunmen are gone. The coffeeshop is undamaged…but her friend, Aesha, isn’t there, and no one remembers that she ever existed.

A mysterious stranger, Karl Yatsar, shows up and explains to Shawna that her world, which she thought was the only world, is in fact a Shaped world—and that she Shaped it exactly the way she wanted it when she was thrust into it ten years before. Not only that, it’s only one of a plentitude of Shaped worlds in a vast extra-dimensional Labyrinth. And now, she’s about to lose control of it. The Adversary, the leader of the gunmen, who touched her forehead before threatening to kill her, has stolen her knowledge of the world and is already turning it against her. They have to flee her world entirely…not just to save her life, but because Karl believes she is a powerful enough Shaper—even though, much to his shock and bewilderment, she didn’t remember being one—to travel through all the worlds of the Labyrinth, gathering the knowledge of each, and taking it to the mysterious Ygrair, the one who gave all the Shapers, who originally came from the First World—our world—their own worlds to Shape. Ygrair has been wounded and weakened, and needs someone to bring her the knowledge of as many worlds as possible so that she can save the Labyrinth and all its myriad worlds from the depredations of The Adversary, who wants to enslave and then destroy them all.

In Worldshaper, Shawna and Karl embark on a hazardous cross-country journey, trying to stay one step ahead of The Adversary, to find the only place where a Portal can be opened into the next world, where Shawna can begin the quest she’s been saddled with

 In Master of the World, Shawna finds herself in that next world over, but without her guide and mentor—Karl was left behind. In her first two hours, she’s rescued from a disintegrating island by an improbable flying machine she recognizes from Jules Verne’s Robur the Conqueror, then seized from it by raiders flying tiny personal helicopters, and finally taken to a submarine that bears a strong resemblance to Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. Oh, and accused of being both a spy and a witch.

Shawna expects—hopes!—Karl Yatsar will eventually follow her into this new steampunk realm, but exactly where and when he’ll show up, she hasn’t a clue.

In the meantime, she has to navigate a world where two factions fanatically devoted to their respective leaders are locked in perpetual combat, figure out who the Shaper of the world is, find him or her, and obtain the secret knowledge of this world’s Shaping. Then she has to somehow reconnect with Karl Yatsar, and escape to the next Shaped world in the Labyrinth…through a Portal she has no idea how to open.

Master of The World is part of the Worldshaper storyline, how many novels do you estimate to have in the series?

The series is open-ended: the concept allows me to tell any kind of story in any kind of world. Potentially, it could have any number of novels (although I know how it ends, there’s no rush getting there). I’m currently writing Book 3, which takes place in a world with werewolves and vampires!

You’ve done a lot of writing, as mentioned on your website, over 50 books. When and what did you first start writing about?

I’ve always been drawn to science fiction and fantasy. I have two older brothers, both of whom read it, so the books were around the house. My very first complete short story, written when I was eleven, was called “Kastra Glazz: Hypership Test Pilot.” My mother typed it up for me and I showed it to my Grade 7 English teacher, Tony Tunbridge, who did me the honor of taking it seriously and providing some actual criticism—criticism which, rather than prompting me to give up, instead prompted me to try to make the next thing I wrote better. (I dedicated my recent stand-alone science-fiction novel The Cityborn to Tony by way of thanking him.) I went on to write three science fiction and fantasy novels in high school, so my course was set early on.

Edward, you are a performer too. Care to elaborate more about this aspect of your life?

I’ve always sung—my father was a choral director—and I got the acting bug at age 11 when I played Petruchio in a one-act adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. I carried on acting and singing, whenever I got the chance. In Weyburn, while I was at the newspaper, I was a founding member of Crocus 80 Theatre, a new community-theatre group, and had leading roles in many plays, and also directed twice. When I moved to Regina, I immediately gravitated to Regina Lyric Light Opera (now Regina Lyric Musical Theatre), a community theatre group that did musicals (it was in a production of The Music Man that I first met my future wife.) I did a lot of shows with Lyric, Regina Little Theatre, and Regina Summer Stage.

When I went full-time freelance, in addition to writing, for three years I performed with a professional opera company, Prairie Opera, which did six-week tours of Saskatchewan schools, typically two shows a day. That made a nice addition to my fledgling freelance income. A few years later I was hired by Regina’s professional theatre company, Globe Theatre, for a production of On Golden Pond (I played the boyfriend from California). As a result of that, I became a member of Canadian Actors’ Equity. I’ve continued to perform every chance I get, both professionally and (more often) just for fun. I’ve been in dozens of plays, musicals, and operas. I’ve also sung with many choirs, including the Canadian Chamber Choir, an auditioned group made up of singers from across the country.

I’ve combined my writing and performing sides a few times in shows I’ve written and directed. Two I’ve done for Regina Lyric Musical Theatre had fantastical elements. In 2013 I wrote and directed As Time Goes By: A Love Story with Music and Ghosts, which did indeed have ghosts in it, and this past year I wrote and directed The Music Shoppe, which might not sound fantastical, but in fact took place in a mystical music store with an ageless proprietor and a mysterious mechanical pianist with magical abilities. Both were hits with audiences.

What was your most challenging novel to write to date?

Worldshaper was challenging because it’s designed to set up an open-ended series. My editor at DAW Books, Hugo Award-winner Sheila E. Gilbert, and I spent a lot of time trying to make sure that everything that was needed to enable the series to work going forward was built into the first book. It was also a bit challenging to write because it’s an interesting mix of first-person (the main character, Shawna Keys) and third-person (her guide and mentor, Karl Yatsar, and her enemy, The Adversary) viewpoints.

Now that Master of the World is released, do you have other novels in the works?

In addition to Book 3 of the Worldshapers series, I’ve got a middle-grade fantasy, Fire Boy, in circulation to publishers; I’m finishing the editing of a young adult science fiction novel, Star Song, which I’ll be bringing out myself through Shadowpaw Press; and I’ll be writing another young-adult story, a dark fantasy called Changers (involving shapeshifters) for ChiZine Publications. I have some other books I want to bring out through Shadowpaw in the not-too-distant future, novels I’ve never found a home for that I think deserve a chance to see the light of day, but I have to fit those in around other work so they won’t be for a while yet.

And I have ideas for many more…

Is your writing and performance inspiration intertwined or are these parts of your life entirely separate?

It’s all one thing. I find there’s a great overlap between being and actor and director and being an author. Actors pretend to be other people; writers do the same. Directors move actors around on stage and guide them in their interactions with each other in order to best tell the story being presented. So do writers. I’ve always felt, when I’m acting, even though I’m bringing some other author’s characters to life, that I’m using many of the same mental muscles as I do when I’m trying to make my own characters live and breathe on the page.

Also, in Worldshapers, I’m able to make lots of musical -theatre jokes, so there’s that.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share with the readers and aspiring writers?

I urge both readers and aspiring writers to check out my podcast, The Worldshapers. It features hour-long conversations with some of the biggest names in science fiction and fantasy writing, with a focus on their creative process, from the generation of ideas to the planning process, the writing process, and the editing process. I also ask them about their philosophy of writing: why they do it, why they think anyone does it, and what impact they hope it has on readers. The interviews are all fascinating and offer great insights into the writing process. You can find it www.theworldshapers.com.

I particularly like the episode where E.C. Blake (the pseudonym under which I wrote a fantasy trilogy called The Masks of Aygrima) interviews me…

Thank you Edward Willett for joining us!

You can find Edward through the following links below.

Website: edwardwillett.com

Amazon: amazon.com/Edward-Willett/e/B001IR1LL6/

Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/22635.Edward_Willett