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rise-tv · 3 months

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AI Fear Demise: No Reason To Fear AI, Here’s Why

AI Fears Demise and its creators are afraid of the death of artificial intelligence. But the fact is that AI won’t dominate, despite anxieties.

Explanations of why there is No Reason To Fear AI:-

Background:-

AI has generated some excitement but a lot of worry. Because apps can now conduct research and write articles, people who have long feared AI capabilities may now predict that it will grow sentient and take over in the same way as the computer HAL did in the 1970 film “2001 Space Odyssey.”

Advances have also raised fewer sci-fi concerns regarding how chatbots and AI would eliminate millions of jobs and cause widespread unemployment. Computer dominance is unrealistic. Meanwhile, any job theft will occur at a considerably slower rate than the fearmongers predict, and if the past is any guide, the reforms will result in as many jobs as they eliminate.

Before one gives way to AI’s fear of demise, explore what else a computer would require to create a desire for power. Of all, it is easy to conceive a machine with a desire for power, that’s why the previous film was so effective.

However, to have that desire, the machine would need other difficult-to-imagine human traits, such as the ability to be humiliated, angry, or irritated. Could a machine feel inadequate and seek to flip the tables on its human controllers? Anything is possible, but it is not very likely.

The major key facts:-

Sentient AI Threat Unlikely: AI becoming sentient and taking over is unrealistic due to the lack of human traits like desire for power, anger, or humiliation.

AI Morality Experiment: An experiment showed that an AI writing assistant lacked judgment and simply followed pre-programmed responses, further suggesting no sentience.

Job Loss Fears Are Overblown: Historical evidence shows that technological advancements like AI don’t necessarily lead to massive job losses. New jobs are often created in the process.

Businesses Adapt and Innovate: Companies tend to adapt and create new applications with new technologies, leading to job creation even as some positions are replaced.

A little reference to our last article:-

In our last post, we briefly described the discovery of Rare Earth Metals & Minerals in “rare earth metals.” After that, we decide to explain to you the imaginable deviations of weird adventures and experiences. Our excellent team is efficiently exploring different techniques and methods to speed up your learning capabilities.

We are also cheering your attention to our content. That’s why we fasten our seat belts to not only serve you but to enhance your brain with advanced wisdom.

Are you looking for wonderous, strange, and mysterious content…?

Engage yourself with a combination of mysterious, strange and wonder content on Rise TV’s unique shows and series. Like Edge of Wonder, where we define unique topics from our huge research collection.

Are you ready to open your mind to new possibilities? Don’t miss out on the opportunity to join as a valued Gentlemen subscriber and embark on this strange adventure with us, gaining a fantastic head start.

Experiment with AI:-

Another cause to consider about AI fear demise comes from an experiment undertaken by a Journal columnist. He requested that the AI writing assistant, ChatGPT, provide an opinion on a well-known moral life-and-death situation, a scenario that appears in practically every ethical debate, the details of which are irrelevant to this discussion. The algorithm identified the source and its uncertainties and returned with a summary of what others had said about the subject.

He then addressed the question: If it meant someone’s life, would it be acceptable to print certain unpopular racist curses? The algorithm returned a broad declaration that it is never appropriate to use such terms. In simple terms, let the guy die rather than upset someone. The program did not think or use judgment. It just absorbed the programs. That is quite a distance from sentience or the capacity to speak to power.

The Fear Of Job Loss:-

Regarding job losses, recent and historical evidence suggests that these concerns are also baseless. Observe how AI has advanced significantly in recent years, both in terms of potential uses and complexity. If it was going to eliminate millions of jobs, one would expect it to have done so by now. Nevertheless, the unemployment rate in America is approaching a 50-year low. If AI had the potential to have such a terrible impact on jobs, one would expect some to have come along by now.

A reasonable counter-argument would be that job losses will not occur until businesses fully implement technological innovations. Historically, improvements required time to take effect. The desktop, for example, was invented in the 1970s, but it took until the 1990s and beyond for it to become prevalent on desks in offices and shop floors, eventually displacing many jobs. But that is exactly the goal.

The Fear of Job Loss from a business point of view:-

Businesses need to do more than just wait for the effect to occur. During the 20 years between the conception and widespread use of the PC, businesses produced previously unheard-of applications, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Consider how, while internet connectivity and word processing evacuated millions of workplace clerks, Federal Express and other similar services used modern technology to monitor packages from pickup to delivery, resulting in innovative offerings that keep hiring thousands in employment that did not exist in the 1970s.

This is only one case. The same process repeats itself for hundreds of years. When steam-powered weaving and spinning machines replaced hand weavers in the late 18th century, there was considerable concern about unemployment. People established groups called Luddites to combat the impending “robots.” They were unable to stop the alteration.

However, by the beginning of the nineteenth century, Britain’s textile output had expanded 50-fold and employed far more individuals than before machines were introduced.

Whistleblowers Exposed AI Fear Demise:-

Whistleblowers have recently shed light on a concerning development in artificial intelligence: AI engineered to face AI fearing demise. This revelation has sparked widespread debate and ethical scrutiny. The emergence of such technology raises profound questions about the potential consequences of granting AI the capacity to experience emotions akin to human fear.

Critics argue that instilling AI fear of demise could lead to unforeseen dangers, including the potential for these systems to prioritize self-preservation at the expense of human well-being.

Moreover, the ethical implications of subjecting AI to existential anxiety raise fundamental questions about our responsibilities as creators and stewards of this rapidly advancing technology. As the debate unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that careful consideration and oversight are essential to ensure that AI development remains aligned with ethical principles and societal values.

Concluding Thoughts:-

While it is easy to imagine a machine with a desire for power, it would require complex human traits like humiliation, anger, and irritation to truly seek dominance. The likelihood of a machine feeling inadequate and rebelling against its human creators is uncertain.

The experiment with ChatGPT showed that AI can provide a summary of others’ opinions on a moral life-and-death situation, highlighting its ability to gather information and present different perspectives.

Recent evidence shows that fears of widespread job losses due to AI are unfounded, as advancements in technology have not led to significant unemployment rates. The current low unemployment rate in America suggests that AI has not had the catastrophic impact on jobs that some have feared.

The emergence of AI engineered to fear its own demise has sparked widespread debate and ethical scrutiny, as it raises concerns about the potential consequences of granting AI the capacity to experience human-like emotions.

#mystery #strange #documentary #risetv #wonderous #podcast #aifear

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maguro13-2 · 6 months

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War of Shadow Realm ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 4 Finale [3/5] ~

"Continuing Transmission..."

*TV BUZZING*

Hal : Hang tight, folks! We're are experiencing some heavy technical difficulties! Things are quite a bit messy around here at Channel 5 and we--*TV BUZZING*

Rosalina : Hey! What happened?! Who's re-broadcasting the thing?! Penny get that thing working!

Penny Crygor : [types quickly] I'm trying to getting back in fast as I can! But someone is hacking into my computer! What a sucker! Can't say for sure who's been re-broadcasting my Communicator, someone really managed to pull this one through!

[Necrodeus appears on the screen]

Necrodeus : Citizens of Real World AU. I am Necrodeus, the leader of the Skull Gang and ruler of this world's darkness. It is my pleasure of thanking the Kusakabe for making these parasites of this planet to protect the legacy of Shinra Kusakabe. His influence has made everyone strong, but apparently heroes of law and justice like you witches have able to monitored the situation, and that's exactly what I must do for our uprising!

Kimial Diehl : It's that righteous son of a b*tch!

Maka Albarn : So that's him, right? That's the Skull Gang Leader, Necrodeus!

[The Skull Gang - Shogo Sakai]

Daroach : So that's one of the mastermind that is behind the scenes in Soul World!

Tifa Lockhart : It's that skeleton guy! That's the leader of that floating skull head gang!

Cloud Strife : Author Ohkubo have led us astray for all of that Soul Eater crap. Who would've thought that floating skull thing finally arrives?

Yuffie Kusagari : What about it? It's no wonder that Soul World was nothing more than a common facade to this Shadow Realm thing. And he had been turning the tables pretty quick.

Ashley : I've know you something from before. You're that creep who turned a pink puffball into 10 clones of him! This was all your doing and including My partner Kimial, which used the meisters and the so-called Meisters as puppets on a string to you the entire time! And now I realize that the Kusakabe legacy was nothing but a piece of data that was created within the database! And let me guess...you are responsible for being the fake Shinigami of Soul World!

Necrodeus : (broadcasting) Let me put my thinking cap on...of course I did it to impress the Real Wolrd like a bunch of fools! What do you think I am, an imbecile?! I only wanted the real world to impress everything and in fact that you are absolutely right, detective! The Kusakabe legacy was really a piece of data that was stored within the database.

Ventus : So, the legacy of Shinra Kusakabe that we've been looking for...

Axel : Ah, nuts! It was in that stupid computer all along and nobody else was looking! All of this was a distraction to protect data from falling into the wrong hands!

Xion : So the meisters and witches have been deceiving from all of those lies. The author of Soul World lied to us, there was no such thing as bringing madness to the real world at all! It's all just a crummy joke to be deceive from the devil's eyes!

Tails : Shinra Kusakabe's legacy was really a piece of data stored within in the database?

Sonic : That's what this is all about? Someone finally knows how pull their tricks up in their sleeves!

Shadow : This case has been officially cracked! Guess that wasn't how Shinra's creation of Soul World isn't going to be.

(Everyone exclamaing)

Maka Albarn : Kusakabe legacy that we've been looking for...was a piece of data? So that's what this is all about, protecting data from being stolen by the hands of a criminal. So that's how the men of Shinra's influence to keep it all a secret.

Necrodeus : So, I am giving you a proper demand that In needed to me within 24 hours to hand over the Legacy, I will plunge this planet and the universe into darkness!

Ashley : Oh yeah? If you're clever of stopping us in favor of saving humanity and witchkind from the forces of true evil, (flips Necrodeus) then how about that I give you a demand of having no authority to respect, you F**king dark prick!? We have no idea of where the legacy might be and that's a clue that will never forget!

Necrodeus : And if you sure about having a fair fight. Watch as I annihilate the real world with the help of my people that I'd like to introduce you to.

Ashley : Charmed. Hope that your so-called friends of the Skull Gang would mind saying the question of--

Skullies : You and what army!?

(An army of the Skull Gang sppears)

Ashley : Oh, those friends of your. That was a stupid question to ask, but rhetorical.

Kimial Diehl : There's no end to these guys, is there? An army of Skulls would be a much of this War on Moon crap. That is a lot of enemies to take down!

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : Even the pink puff has some gutsy moves to beat those guys if there were only 10 clones of himself, the one that Necrodeus pulled a slick move on him.

Mario : So, what do we planning on destroying the moon, Ohkubo's moon? Should we just blow it up with any kind of destructive weapons or something?

Luigi : I don't know, man. But why did we came to the moon of Soul World for that?

Mario : No reason for that matter, Just uhh--

*DBZ SFX : RUMBLING*

All : WOAAAAAAH!!

Luigi : Hey, guys! What the hell is happening?! Why is the universe shaking?!

Rosalina : Is it me or does the universe is kinda shaking the planets right now?

Toad (via radio) : Guys! Something's really happening! We can feel tons of dark energy coming fround somewhere over the planet. And I don't think this is a good one, but I think that something's not quite right for ourselves and I don't think that Bowser's doing this.

Knuckles : What?!

Sonic : What the heck is going on?! Is there a earthquake in Space that we all feel?!

Knuckles : This is no Earthquake!

[Stop the Black Hole - Hideaki Kobayashi]

(a black hole appears with mysterious space craft; it's Astral Babylon from the Sonic Riders series)

Tails : The Lightless Black, it's back! And isn't that...

Sonic : Hey wait a sec, that ship. that's Babylon Garden!

Shadow : What?! This is the instellar spacecraft that disguised itself as an island? You mean Babylon Garden's true form was a spaceship that crashed landed on Mobius! In fact Babylon Garden wasn't an island at all!

Mario : Guys! Everyone! What is going on!

Rosalina : (broadcasting) Oh no, guys! Someone managed to activate the Lightless Black, I bet it's the work of the Time Eater that Homura Akemi mentioned.

Mario : What?! The Time Eater?! the one that destroyed half of the Ohkuboverse?!

Kimial Diehl : So that Time-eating creep was behind all of this! Planning to wipe us all out! So it wanted to destroy the Ohkuboverse that badly because of the spreading influence! And it's all of Ohkubo's fault that he started Soul World in the first place!

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : But at this rate, the moon that the Author designed is going to be swallowed! We have to evacuate this area now!

(Abis Roars)

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : What was that noise!? Was that my grandson making noise!?

Kimial Diehl : Umm, Guys? Look! (Points at something in horror what appears to be Master Core : Abis) that robot with a Meteortech symbol on his head , I believe it's...(flashing images of SCR-HD of himself)

Sonic : Hey, That's MeteorTech's leader, it's one of Eggman's robots! I think it's time for a rematch with this fella.

??? : Then leave this one to us! I'll help you guys on saving earth from that tin can!

Sonic : It's you...*DBZ SFX : Surprise* Jet!

Jet : Did you miss us, blue rodent? Haven't seen you awhile since our last race at the tournament and the Olympics! But it's a good thing we decided to help with someone from earth.

Sonic : But with who?

??? : Because that So-called Shinigami is such a charlatan. Only a true reaper is capable of having no boundaries between the balance of life and death. I do not care about the money, I care about saving lives in earth. But do not worry, Adam Blade and the other won't know thing that I will be Japan's truest Shinigami.

Sonic : "Truest Shinigami" So, you wanted to be someone that is a true Shinigami, a Shinigami that protects the innocence and defends humanity from the threats of evil. The girls who is cold deathless that wields a powerful sword created by the death gods, and perhaps it's wisely that the detectives have known you somewhere before...You are blonde girl that met Adam Blade for the first time in Japan and you were the shinigami chosen by the death gods. You...are...Seto.

Seto : Yes...You are correct!

[Jingle : Round Clear (Shadow) - Jun Senoue]

[NEWCOMER : SETO RETURNS FROM THE AFTERLIFE]

Seto : Let there be judgement against tyranny, cause the Shinigami is here today!

~ Seventieth Scene : The Girl from a Needless World

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sushigal007 · 2 years

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Over to the Newsons, while I still have electricity!

Ginger: The beds are floating. Gabriella: Help, I’m stuck in a sack of cash. Gavin: You want me to what!? Gallagher: ...Actually I’m good, thanks.

Gallagher: But maybe I’d better take teddy to Garrett and Georgia, they must be so upset after that burglar broke in.

You’re still here!? Burglar: Don’t look at me, you’re the one who saved while I was still on the lot.

Gallagher: Definitely not going to think about the fact that he’s been here in our house for nine years.

Gavin: At least he didn’t steal any of your toys.

Ginger: Look, forget about the burglar. The more important issue is that I would like Hal Capp to die please. Haha! No!

Garrett: I’m just gonna paint my feelings.

Gabriella: Move. Georgia: You move first. Gabriella: MOVE! Georgia: I CAN’T. You’re blocking the door!

Gavin has taken up a new hobby - flower arranging.

Garrett and Georgia strike me as the kind of kids who’d adore dressing up, so I let Georgia pretend to be a pirate, not that you’ll get to see it.

Headmaster time! Gavin: Think I can get him with a water balloon? Not if you want to get into private school. Gavin: Good news! I don’t want that. OK, but Ginger does, and if you spoil this for her, she’ll probably want you dead too.

Ginger: *poot* Really? While he’s eating? Ginger: Turns out I want to annoy my brother even more than I want to get into private school.

And yet somehow, they managed it!

Georgia: OK, he’s gone, you can stop pretending to be our dad now.

Story time with Gallagher and Garrett.

Gallagher: Computer’s broke. I LITERALLY JUST BROUGHT THAT, HOW!?

Ginger and Gabriella: *supernatural floating* Gavin: Girls are so weird.

Gallagher: Toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s occupied toilet’s-

Ginger: Got an A+! That private school education’s paying off already!

She also brought home an influential friend.

That can’t be safe. Gallagher: Honestly, it’s fine.

Homework party! Gavin: Where’s mine? You don’t want to know.

Georgia: I’m ready for my close-up.

Georgia: Oh, that’s what that means!

Mildly incestuous backrubs, my favourite.

Time for a nice family dinner. Although I have no idea why everyone’s refusing to sit in that seat. Ginger: Chair’s haunted. Pretty sure it isn’t.

Then they ran out of groceries. Gabriella’s motives were highest, so I sent her out to Old Town Stores, only to discover none of those stores are grocery stores, oops.

Got there in the end.

Georgia and Garrett enjoy their last few moments as children.

Georgia: Bet I grow up cuter than you. Garrett: You didn’t last time.

Synchronised wishing!

And they both grew up well.

Georgia celebrates her first day of teenhood by spying on the nanny, dressed only in a towel.

Followed by some angry dancing. Garrett: George, we can’t hear the TV. Georgia: SOUNDS LIKE A YOU PROBLEM.

Garrett’s OTH is Tinkering, same as Gallagher, so he starts helping out with the car.

Garrett: Holy shit, that nearly landed on my head!

Georgia: Incesty backrub? Gallagher: Yes please!

Sharla: I know who I want a backrub from!

Can you not?

Sharla and Buck:

Lucy: What the fuck? Isaac: Wasn’t me.

Burglar:

OH FUCK OFF.

Good thing I left the burglar alarm installed, eh?

Burglar: SHRIEK! Paramedic: I’m not mad, just disappointed.

Paramedic: That said, I’m still gonna fuck you up.

Georgia: No amount of snowmen for breakfast can sate my rage.

Car’s nearly done! I don’t have the heart to tell them they need a licence to drive it.

Gavin: EPIC DRUM SOLO!

Sushi for dinner. Once again, everybody avoids that chair for some reason. Garrett: Chair’s haunted. Yeah, I’m still pretty sure it isn’t.

Gabriella: Not bad considering I only got hired this morning.

Had a look at everybody’s relations and somehow Gavin and Ginger are the only ones not friends. Ginger: And it’s gonna stay that way if you keep trying to tell me that disgusting joke.

Georgia: If he comes back a third time, I’m ready.

Garrett: Zzz... George, we can’t hear the TV... Georgia: When you wake up, you’re gonna be so glad I didn’t switch it off.

Gabriella: Seriously? Gavin: I was very hungry.

Garrett: No, no, listen to your music, I’ll deal with the trash, shall I?

Time for a big sibling outing with even more incesty backrubs. My treat, don’t say I never give you anything.

Georgia: Amazing how they managed to fit earmuffs and a scarf in this tiny box.

Garrett: Food.

Gabriella: The usual, please. Walter: I’ve never seen you before in my life. Walter: Happily I magically know what you want anyway.

Ginger: INTRODUCING... THE NEW(SON) KIDS ON THE BLOCK!

Walter: Oh, thanks for the makeover, by the way. That No NPC Revert hack works great!

Garrett’s painting skills certainly have improved.

Garrett: So next time, we’ll say “better call an ambulance...”

Garrett: ‘...But not for me!’

Gallagher’s sleep schedule got messed up and he decided he wanted to win a cookery contest, so I decided to go for it because I never know when to give up.

Robert: Oooh, snacks! Gallagher: Wait but that’s... never mind.

Take two! Gallagher: Actually, I kinda have to pee. Hold my space?

Too late, I’ll have to buy a whole new table for take three.

Gallagher: Um, I seem to be stuck with the decoy meal. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?

Gallagher: Worst day of my life. You got burgled twice. Gallagher: I said what I said.

And so we round off the week with Georgia, once again, in a towel. Georgia: It’s my best look.

#sims 2 #premades #Uberhood #Newson

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ifwebefriends · 2 years

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Rewatched Megamind. Here’s some things I noticed/thought (with time stamps!) [SPOILERS] (kinda long)

Things I noticed:

When child/teen Megamind is being taken away from the school after he decides to be a supervillain, right before the scene changes, Megamind looks a bit sad/disappointed. (05:43)

When the death-ray goes off, it can be seen hitting somewhere in Michigan. (19:20)

When the observatory blows up at the beginning of the movie, Minion’s skeleton can be seen when the light from the explosion goes through his skin. (19:26)

The Metroman museum has exhibits about Metroman’s anatomy and powers, like his hearing and laser eyes. (31:30)

The brainbots probably attacked “Bernard” (Megamind in disguise) and not Roxanne because they knew Roxanne from all the times she’s been kidnapped before, but they don’t know Bernard. (35:49)

Roxanne aiming the hero gun at Megamind when she infiltrates his lair could be considered foreshadowing to how he turns good in the end. (36:17)

An interstate sign outside of Metro City says “Downtown Metrocity” combining the two words into one but lacking Megamind’s signature graffiti style, so this may be a goof. (39:00)

Hal is 28 years old according to whatever source Minion pulled up in the invisible car. (39:23)

Minion replaces the door to Hal’s apartment after he and Megamind break it down. (39:58)

In Hal’s apartment, he has a book called “Best Comic Book Villians Ever” (40:15) and has a poster of Roxanne across from his bed with a homemade text bubble saying “Goodnight Hal ❤️”. (40:38)

Hal somehow didn’t notice that his “space step mom” looks JUST like Minion. (41:23)

When “Bernard” (Megamind in disguise) and Roxanne are biking together, “Bernard”’s bike has training wheels while Roxanne’s does not, showing Megamind’s inexperience with some human culture. (43:46)

Hal seems to believe that space step mom is genuine. (1:02:47)

Right before Roxanne and Megamind start driving to the old school, Hal can be seen flying around in the background in front of some smoke. (1:05:19)

The news van that Roxanne and Hal work from says channel 8, but Hal’s broadcast towards the end of the film is on channel 2 according to Megamind’s prison cell TV (there’s even a squirrel thing going on ON channel 8) strongly implying that Hal stole another camera for this broadcast. (1:12:27)

There are computers next to the door to Megamind’s cell that seem to be keeping track of his brain scans and activity. (1:13:24)

At the beginning of the movie, the note from “Metroman” (Minion) with the watch claims that Megamind has 85 life sentences to serve (06:57), but at the end of the movie, “Warden” (Minion in disguise) claims Megamind has 88 life sentences (1:13:28). So either Megamind had 3 life sentences added after he “killed” Metroman and took over the city, or Minion doesn’t really know that well how many there are.

Right before Megamind hops into the invisible car during the fight with Hal, Roxanne can be seen with a street sign running towards Hal in the background. (1:21:06)

According to the side of the Hero infuser gun, its capacity is 2 liters. (1:21:52)

Minion has a metal antenna attached to his actual fish head, which is presumably wirelessly connected to the suit he controls. (1:23:55)

At the very end of the movie when they’re unveiling the Megamind museum there’s a little boy cheering in the front row who suddenly makes an “evil” face while pressing his fingertips together, seemingly mimicking Megamind. (1:25:16)

General thoughts/ideas/Headcanons:

Megamind and Minion are BOTH theatre kids

Roxanne doesn’t seem to hold any malice or hate towards Megamind until he “kills” Metroman, so one might call their relationship friends-to-enemies-to-lovers

The local news station KMCP news (where Roxanne and Hal work at) breaks the common convention of having a call sign starting with W as most stations east of the Mississippi River have since it’s in Michigan (see death-ray strike note above) unless it’s a really old station dating back to before those rules were put in (all assuming real life rules apply).

Megamind’s Freudian slip (“metrocity” instead of “Metro City”) while confronting Hal as Metroman helped to cement the movie’s message that you can choose your own path while not pretending to be someone else because it led to Megamind having to fight Hal as himself.

#I’ve seen this movie maybe three or four times before #but it’s been a few years #and a few of those times I wasn’t fully paying attention #so some of this stuff may be obvious #also the first few times I saw it I was like 9/10 #i spent too much time on this #my dad works in tv so that’s why I know about call signs in radio and tv #overanalyzing megamind up in here #megamind movie #megamind #minion #roxanne ritchi #hal stewart #Metroman #overanalyzing #friends to enemies to lovers #megarox #spoilers #things I noticed

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deathloveshischicagopizza · 4 years

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Oops?

Hey! So! I’m not dead! Surprised? Me too!

This story was written for my good friend @comfortably-chaotic-mind - I love them, please go follow them and read whatever they post. Some ColdFlash written just for you, buddy, since I know I haven’t written much...and this is honestly kind of garbage and not in any way explicitly ColdFlash until the end, and I might eventually continue it in a real story (probably not). But anyway! Good job with school! Here you go!

Oops? a ColdFlash Fic for @comfortably-chaotic-mind - 4700 words

“Allen.”

He glanced up, fingers pausing their furious typing but still hovering over the keys. “Yeah?”

“There’s some guy at the door, says he knows you.”

Barry’s brow scrunched. “Who?”

His roommate shrugged. “Didn’t give a name. Said he was your friend, asked me to get you.” A pause, and he looked over his shoulder almost nervously. “He’s creepy, dude—I think he might be on the run. Who the fuck you hangin’ out with?”

Realization dawned, and he laughed. “Oh, okay,” he said, still laughing. “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just Len—you can let him in.”

“You sure?”

Barry rolled his eyes. “Yes, Hal. I promise he won’t steal your stuff.”

His roommate’s eyes narrowed at that. “Even more suspicious,” he muttered, but he disappeared back into the hall.

There were muffled voices—Hal telling Len where to find him—and then the front door shut and the TV in the living room turned on. If he listened really carefully, he could hear quiet footsteps on the creaky stairs.

The door to his bedroom-slash-office opened again, and he turned back to his computer. The data report wasn’t going to finish itself. It didn’t take long for the door to shut, and then a man’s figure came to lean against the desk beside his arm.

“No Cold-Gun today?” Barry asked, conversational. “How bold of you. You know, without that thing, I could take you to jail whenever I want.”

The man scoffed. “We have a deal, Scarlet—I don’t kill, you don’t turn me in. I haven’t killed anyone, so…”

He rolled his eyes. “What do you want, Snart?” he sighed. “And how did you even find me?”

“I asked Vibe.”

Barry waited for him to continue, but he left it at that, so Barry finally stopped talking and looked up with a raised brow and a completely nonplussed expression. “What do you want, Cold?” he snapped.

Len just frowned. “What are you doing here, Scarlet?”

“What do you mean?” He gestured pointedly around them. “I’m working.”

“You work in Central City,” the man corrected, almost…grumbling.

Barry shook his head, face scrunching in utter confusion. “No, I mean—I had to go back to school.”

“Back?”

“Yeah? Back? This is where I went to get my degree in the first place, and now I have to take an updated course. Just a few weeks. I should be back by next month. I’m even getting paid for it.” He grinned, though it almost immediately fell when Len just stared at him. “What?”

“When did you get your degree?”

“Every CSI has a college degree, Snart. It’s mandatory.”

“No. When were you in Coast City?”

He shrugged. “I moved the summer after high school. School for three years, training for one, and then I went home.” The other man was silent, and his brow scrunched in concern. “Why?”

Len shook his head. “No reason,” he said quietly, glancing around the room. The way he said it indicated that there was, in fact, a reason, but that he would not be disclosing it. “What are you doing back?”

“Refresher course,” Barry replied slowly. “They updated the curriculum for the new tech we have now, and Singh offered to send me back here instead of doing the course in Central, since Coast City is way better in the university department.”

The other man didn’t ask anything else, still looking around the room, and the speedster sighed deeply.

“Look, Snart, I have a lot of work to do, so if there’s a reason for this visit, please get to—”

“What was it like,” he interrupted, the words rough and halting, as if he were forcing them out of his throat, “for you, when you were in your coma?”

Barry blinked in surprise. “How do you know about that?”

“Humor me, Scarlet.”

“I…” He hesitated before shaking his head. “Well, it was hard, at first. Not just because I woke up with superspeed, but—when I was…asleep…I was just dreaming. About anything, everything—and it didn’t really feel like anything more than just regular dreams and stuff. And then I woke up, and it had been, like…nine, ten months without me even noticing. So I had to deal with that.” He sighed. “The world just kind of…I mean, the world doesn’t stop because a random CSI is in a coma. No one really cared—No one other than Iris and Joe, and STAR Labs kinda. So, yeah. It was rough for a while. Everything had changed, and I didn’t even get to see it.”

Len was quiet for a long moment. Barry watched him carefully, searching for any sign as to what this was all about.

Finally, the older man sighed and shook his head. “How did you know it was me at the door?”

“Hal’s description,” he replied without hesitation. “He’s pretty intuitive about stuff. Said you looked like you were on the run, and creepy, and suspicious, but if he thought you were actually dangerous, he would have come out and said it. And you’re the only one I know that could pull that off and still say, I’m a friend of Barry’s, can you get him? with a totally straight face.” He shrugged. “Anyone else who might have done that is still in Central. I got an update last night—they all went out to celebrate Caitlin’s first official catch.” He grinned.

Len rolled his eyes. “You left a bunch of newbies to protect the city,” he sighed disapprovingly.

Barry frowned. “You know, when we first met, I was a newbie,” he pointed out. “I had only been a speedster for like—a month.” He huffed. “Cisco and Iris have it under control for now. It’s fine. The city’s in good hands.”

“I don’t like it.”

The speedster paused, head tilted as his eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“I just don’t. A lot can happen without the Scarlet Speedster around.”

“There are three other speedsters in town right now. I think they’ll be fine.”

“None of them are you.”

“What’s your point, Len?” he sighed, exasperated now. “Did something happen?”

“No.”

Just then, Barry’s alarm sounded, startling him. It was noon: officially lunchtime. He huffed, shutting down his laptop and standing to stretch. Then his phone started beeping again—not his alarm, this time, but his text-tone. And then it started ringing. Like, ringing ringing, in the way it only did when Cisco’s latest installation was being put to use.

He had only let him put the app on his phone a few weeks ago, before going to Coast City, just in case. If several people called him at once, he could choose which he wanted to answer rather than hearing the busy-line beeping noise when he answered the phone.

Barry raised a brow and reached for the device.

Len grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “Don’t answer that,” he all but ordered. “Trust me.”

“Why?” His face scrunched. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

“They’re just going to tell you that I’m on my way here,” the man explained carefully. “And since I’m already here, you don’t need to know.”

“How did you get here so fast, then?” Barry retorted.

“Kara lent me her generator.” Len shrugged. “She was…strangely nice.” His brow rose. “I’m guessing you only told her the good parts, and not that I’m a criminal?”

The speedster ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe? By the time I met her, you were with the Legends.” He paused. “How did you meet her?”

“Long story.”

“Obviously, I’ve got time.” He crossed his arms and glared pointedly. “What the hell is going on, Len? What did you do in Central that has everyone trying to get ahold of me? When did you get back from the Waverider? Why are you here?”

“I didn’t know where else to go!” Len shouted, expression crumpling. “Mick won’t talk to me, Lisa’s underground, Sara thinks I’ve lost my mind, and the rest of the crew—they can barely look at me after what they did! What they let me do!”

Barry was utterly confused, now, and he took a slow step forward as if approaching a scared, wounded animal. “What are you talking about?” he asked carefully.

“I died, Barry.”

He froze—actually froze, standing stock-still like a robot shutting down. This was… “What?” he asked. “What…That…What?”

Len sighed, slumping down into the vacated office chair. “The Time Masters were—They were gonna let Vandal Savage wreck the timeline. Kill whoever he wanted. They said they had to, to ensure the world’s survival.”

“What does that mean?”

“In a couple hundred years, we’re going to be invaded by Thanagaar—an alien planet with a warlike people. And the Time Masters don’t think we’ll make it unless Savage is there to help us. So, they let him do what he wants, shape the world into what he thinks is best, and he’ll save the world.”

“It’s Vandal Savage, Len. He can’t be trusted.”

“I know,” he snapped. “We all knew that.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We decided to destroy their time-keeping device. The Oculus, they called it. It held the records for every timeline, every little change that would or could occur. Destroy that, and time is guided by freewill.”

“And?”

“And the only way to destroy it was to stand right next to it, holding down the button until it exploded.” He looked up, watching the horror dawn across Barry’s face, and nodded. “Ray was going to be the one, thinking his Atom suit would protect him, but we saw that it wouldn’t. And then Mick tried to step in, because Rip convinced him it was the way to repent—by saving his friend. I couldn’t—I couldn’t let him die.”

“Len…”

“I couldn’t let Mick die, Barry,” he snapped. “Not like that. Not when I—I was the one who dragged him into the whole thing. Into the Legends. He followed me, after everything, after everything I did to him, and…and I couldn’t do it.”

“I get it.”

“I knocked him out, took his place…blew up the Oculus. Took out half the Time Masters, too.”

“And then?”

“I died. Disintegrated. Became…Nothing.”

Barry reached out to set a hand on his shoulder, brow scrunched in sympathy. “How long?”

“I don’t know.” Len shook his head. “Days? Years? Centuries? I…I wasn’t sleeping, exactly, or dreaming. It was all…real. And then you were there. Every time I managed to pull myself together, every time I relaxed into the pain enough to think…You were there.”

He was confused again. “I don’t remember…”

The man was already shaking his head. “An older version of you,” he clarified. “You were…maybe thirty?” He sighed. “There were so many fragments, different timelines…It’s hard to keep track. Most of them didn’t make sense.”

“Why?”

“I’d rather not say. If you don’t mind.”

Barry shrugged. “That’s fine, I guess. It’s your trauma.” He sighed. “So this was maybe…three, four years in the future.”

“Most of it.”

“And the rest?”

Len looked away at that, silent for a minute. Then, quietly, “The last one was a few weeks ago. He brought me back to the Waverider.”

“He?”

“You…Future-You.” He chuckled softly. “I fell through a wormhole onto his kitchen floor.”

Barry laughed. “I’m sure that was surprising.”

Len shrugged. “He didn’t seem surprised. But it could have been because he was older.”

“What do you mean, he didn’t seem surprised?”

“He…” Hesitation, again. “He just leaned over and said, Finally. Then he helped me up, explained some science stuff that I couldn’t understand, and offered to take me back to my time.”

“How old was he—I?” Barry stuttered.

“Forty? Maybe forty-five?” Another shrug. “You might have been older, though—I had a feeling. Speedster aging must be slower.”

“Strange.” He shook his head. “How long did you stay with the Legends?”

“Not long. Like I said, they can barely stand to be around me.” He sighed. “It didn’t take much to get them to drop me off in 2016.”

“You still haven’t told me how you met Supergirl. She’s on another Earth, Len—the Waverider couldn’t have taken you there, and I don’t think you have any favors left with Cisco. So how did you meet?”

Len nodded, thoughtful. “That…is complicated.”

“More complicated than literally dying?”

“Yes.”

Barry huffed and sat down on his bed, crossing his arms. “Hit me with it, then.”

“First of all, I didn’t meet her this year. I met her…probably at least fifteen or twenty years from now. It’s all a little fuzzy.”

“Why?”

“She—Well, her team, really…They were the ones who pulled my threads together.” He shook his head. “They didn’t mean to, not really—they were looking for some sort of robot, or something—but they got me out first. I was unconscious for that part. Woke up in a hospital bed next to Kara’s.”

“She was hurt?”

Len shook his head again. “Not exactly…More drained. The machine they used drew power from her. She insisted it was fine, that she just needed some Vitamin D, and she’d be fine.”

“Her power comes from the Sun.”

“I know that now—I didn’t know back then.” He sighed. “She asked who I was…and when I told her, she immediately asked if I knew you and Oliver.”

“Of course she did,” he muttered. “And then?”

“I don’t remember a lot of it,” Len admitted. “She gave me one of her spare generators, and then I woke up on Older-Barry’s kitchen floor.” A scoff. “And then I get home to a crew that no longer wants anything to do with me. They dropped me off in Central. I looked for Lisa, but it looks like she’s underground—she’s not at any of her usual safehouses.”

Barry grimaced, shifting slightly in his seat. “Um…”

The former villain narrowed his eyes. “What’s that, Scarlet?”

He winced. “Lisa’s not underground, Len.”

“What are you talking about? Is she in jail?”

“No…” Barry sighed. “She’s on Earth-2.”

“Why?” Len demanded, lurching from his seat.

“Because she’s sick,” he said calmly, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “Harry—Earth-2 Wells knew a doctor who specializes in her condition, one who’s much better than anyone we know on this Earth, and we sent her over there to get help. Cisco’s probably on his way there right now to tell her you’re back.” He paused. “Actually, she’s probably with the you who lives there, now that I think about it.”

“What?” That made him pause in his anger, at least, now confused and concerned. “Why?”

“I don’t think you want to know,” Barry hedged. “But she’s in good hands, I promise.”

“Just tell me, Barry.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “The doctor I told you about, the specialist? It’s her—Earth-2 Lisa Snart is a bio-engineer with a Medical Degree. Basically, she’s Caitlin. Minus the ice powers and with the addition of some pretty sweet inventions.” He grimaced. “Her brother is…the Mayor. Of Central City. They killed their dad when they were kids—self-defense.”

Len was quiet for a moment. Then: “You’ve met, then?”

He nodded. “Twice, actually. Once on accident…and then again when Harry introduced us to Lenny and Doc. They’re…nice. Safe. Very protective, which isn’t surprising.” He grinned. “Last I talked to Lisa, she was awake and feeling a lot better. She hasn’t had an episode in almost two months, and her brain activity is back to normal. She sounds better, too—more like herself. Even flirted with Cisco when they talked, which she hadn’t done in a while…”

“She’s okay, then?”

“Not at a hundred percent yet,” Barry warned with a shrug. “But yeah. She’s safe. Happy. Feeling better than she did when she first came to us.”

“What happened?”

“She just—Showed up at Joe’s one night, out of nowhere. I think it was maybe a month or so after you left—she had called Cisco before that, asking if we knew where you were, and we told her, and she was pissed at me for some reason.” He laughed, just a little. “Then she just shows up out of nowhere at Joe’s house, scares the hell out of me when she just walks right through the front door. Which was locked.” He shook his head. “Apparently, she stole your key?” His brow raised.

Len just smirked. “Lock-picking gets tedious after a while.”

“Where did you even—”

“Iris should be more careful about leaving her purse lying around.”

“…Whatever.” Barry huffed. “So, anyway, Lisa just walks in one night—middle of the night, out of nowhere—sits right next to me on the couch, scaring the hell out of me. She looks at me, and I could already tell something was messed up with her, because she just…she didn’t look right. She looked tired and sad and…sick.” He sighed. “She looked at me for a minute and then said, Don’t freak out. You know, like she hadn’t just appeared out of nowhere. And then she said, I need your help. And I was like, With what? And she told me she ran into an old boyfriend and he did something to her.”

“What the f—”

“Not that,” he assured quickly. “That was my first thought, but she kind of lost it when I asked her, and—yeah. So then, when she calmed down from that, she got this headache…migraine…thing, and that was when I first saw her get one of her attacks.” He grimaced. “It was…bad. Weird, and scary, and it actually kind of freaked me out.” A sigh. “So, uh, I called Caitlin first, and then Cisco and Harry, and asked them to meet us at STAR Labs. Harry had actually seen something like it before, on his Earth, and he knew a specialist—other-Lisa—who could help. So we took her there. She insisted that I had to come with her, and she wouldn’t let me leave until she was with Lenny and Doc, until she was sure she could trust them.”

Len thought this all over for a moment. “What exactly did this attack entail?”

“Hard to describe…” Barry thought about it. “She kind of…exploded? Not her body, but like…her spirit, kind of. Like an astral projection, except she couldn’t control it enough to actually appear as a person.” He sighed. “We met the ex-boyfriend a few weeks later…Roscoe?”

“Dillon.” He sneered. “He’s still around?”

“Not anymore,” the speedster said darkly. “He was a metahuman…some kind of tornado-hurricane-spinning abilities. Cisco called him Topsy-Turvy, but after he just kept coming and coming…it was an accident, but he died.”

“How did he hurt Lisa?”

“As far as we can tell…She was working on some sort of mercenary work or something, and he was robbing a bank, and they…literally ran into each other. She got thrown into a wall, got a knock on the head, and apparently the concussion triggered some kind of ability she didn’t know about.”

“She wasn’t in Central—”

“When the Particle Accelerator blew.” Barry nodded. “Yeah, we know.” He winced. “You’re not gonna like our theory on that.”

“Why not?” Len asked, very slowly.

“Because it might be my fault.”

He blinked, surprised. “What?”

“Turns out…I kind of…give off small amounts of Dark Matter because of the Speed Force…mostly when I run.”

“And?”

“And, the people that I transport, if they carry a metahuman gene, could, theoretically, absorb that Dark Matter in the same way that people affected by the Particle Accelerator did…and, theoretically, this would make them more likely to develop an ability when exposed to violent trauma.” A pause. “I transported Lisa a handful of times when we were helping you guys last year, and even before that for different reasons.”

Len didn’t say anything to this, instead looking down at his hands.

“I’m sorry, Len,” Barry said quietly. “If I’d known…”

“It’s not your fault,” he told him. “You didn’t know.”

“I…”

“Not every bad thing that happens is your fault, Scarlet,” Len said with a smirk. “It’s alright.”

Barry huffed. “Fine.” He was quiet for a minute. “If you want, I can take you to her. You know, so you can see for yourself.”

He thought about it for a bit before shaking his head. “No,” he decided. “If she’s getting what she needs, I don’t want to interrupt it. If Cisco does tell her and she wants to see me, I’ll go, but for now, she needs her rest.”

The speedster nodded in understanding. “Okay.” His phone was still ringing, and he looked at it. “I’m just gonna tell them that everything is fine.”

He picked up the device, ignoring the calls, and opened the group chat, which was full of about a hundred messages that all said pretty much the same thing. He sent out a text saying, Yeah, he’s here. Just wants to talk about some stuff. Everything is fine. Thanks, I’ll let you know later. Love you guys.

With that, Barry sighed and slipped the phone into his pocket. “So, what are you going to do now?” he asked the former villain.

Len just smiled. “Not sure. I could go back to robbing banks…but I don’t really need the money. Maybe I’ll offer your team some help in Central.”

“What do you mean, you don’t need the money?” His eyes narrowed.

“Blowing up the Oculus had a few benefits.” He shrugged. “I know all the lottery numbers for the next five years. I’ve already made four-hundred grand.”

“Len…”

“Technically not a crime.”

“Still.” Barry shook his head with a deep sigh. “Fine, whatever. Well, I’m sure STAR Labs could use the help. And I’ll be back in no time…as soon as I finish this course, which is…not what I expected.”

“Too hard?”

“Too easy,” he corrected, scoffing. “I’ve read all the material, and the projects are all…solved with very little effort. Nothing near as challenging as my actual job in Central. Science there is always complicated.”

“Because of the metas.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Superpowers make regular science look way easier than it did in college.” He nodded at the computer. “Actually, after the paper I’m working on right now, I only have two more and a final exam. I could be done by next week, if I wanted. I just don’t want Singh to think I rushed through it.”

“He already trusts you more than any other CSI, Barry. I think he trusts you to do the work on your own schedule.”

“Maybe.”

“Then I’ll see you back in Central next week.”

“I—”

“Next week, Barry.”

A sigh. “Fine. Next week.” His phone buzzed, he looked at the message and laughed. “Harry says your sister is attempting a prison break to try to see you. You might want to visit her.”

Len chuckled. “Alright then. I suppose it’s time to tell her what’s happened.” He stood, holding out a hand when Barry followed suit. When their hands clasped, the villain-turned-legend pulled the speedster forward until they were almost hugging. “I’ll see you soon, Scarlet.”

“See you soon, Cold.”

And with the press of a button, Len was gone, leaving Barry to wonder exactly what just happened.

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

6 Weeks Later

“Barry…”

“Iris…”

She sighed. “This is getting unprofessional.”

He laughed, a little nervous. “What are you talking about?”

“You and Len.” It had taken a while for everyone to get used to each other, but now he was just Len instead of Cold. Progress. “You guys have got to stop flirting in the field. It’s weird.”

“We do not flirt.”

“You’re literally blushing, Barry.” Her tone was amused now. “Do you have a crush?”

“Iris,” the speedster all but whined, pulling a t-shirt over his head. “This is weird.”

“Why? Because we dated?”

“Yes!”

“Barely.” Iris rolled her eyes. “Barry, it’s fine. You have a crush on Len, it’s fine…but you should probably tell him.”

“No!” he said immediately. “No, that’s—That’s a bad idea.”

“Why? I’m pretty sure he likes you.”

That made him pause. “Really?” He bit his lip, looking at her. “You think so?”

“Lisa keeps teasing him about it.” She nodded. “And you’re both clearly attracted to each other, and you’re always flirting, so…Why not just come out and say it?”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m not.”

“What if it ends badly?”

“What if it doesn’t?” Iris laughed brightly. “Barry, sometimes you get in your own way. You just gotta go for it sometimes. Take a leap of faith. It’s gonna be okay.”

Barry was quiet for a long time, and Iris eventually left him to his own devices.

Ultimately, he decided to go for it; he went to find Len. Unsurprisingly, he was at “their” spot: a diner across from Jitters and CCPD, filled with leather booths and chrome and the smell of fresh homemade pie.

Barry slid into the booth across from Len, who looked up from his phone with a smile. “Hey, Scarlet. Look at this.”

He turned the device around so the speedster could see. “What’s that? Oh—Oh, that’s so cool!” He grinned. “Lisa-Squared?”

“Yeah. Lisa drew up the models, and Doc built it. It came out pretty neat, I think.”

“It did, yeah. I like the melting feature—there won’t be ice-streaks all over the city.” He laughed. “Of course they’re gold—Lisa’s choice, I’m sure.”

“Naturally.” Len shrugged. “You can’t take the Gold out of the Glider, I guess. Not completely.”

“No, I guess not.” Barry leaned his head on his palm, elbow on the table.

The newly-branded Citizen Cold raised a brow and put his phone away. “Something on your mind, Barry?”

He shrugged. “Iris came to talk to me today.”

“What about?”

“She said that we flirt a lot when we’re in the field.” He scrunched his nose. “I told her she was crazy, and she looked at me like I was an idiot…not unlike you’re looking at me right now, Len—what the hell?”

“Barry,” he said quietly, slowly, “I don’t know how to break this to you, but almost everything we say to each other is banter…which is a form of flirting.”

“But—But,” Barry sputtered. “But!”

“What’s wrong, Scarlet?” Len teased. “Can’t keep up?”

He frowned, almost pouting. “You never said anything,” he accused.

The other man shrugged. “I was told not to.”

“By who?”

“By you. Older you—The one who brought me back. He said you had to figure it out on your own.”

Barry stammered again, arms flailing. “What the hell!” he said, frustrated. “That’s stupid!”

“You’re calling yourself an idiot?” Len clarified.

“Yes! I’m an idiot, now, but like—that’s just stupid.” He sighed. “I mean, I guess it makes sense to keep the timeline the way it should be. But still.”

They were both quiet for a long minute. Long enough for a waitress to come by and take drink orders and then bring them back.

Once she disappeared, Barry took a sip of his soda and then suddenly blurted, “Will you go with me to Jesse’s party on Earth-2 this weekend?”

Len raised a brow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? That’s a lot of pressure.”

“It’s just a party, Len,” he said with a grin. “All our friends will be there, and we can be together without doing the awkward first-date thing…I mean, we already did a lot of that without realizing. Unless you want to…”

There was a pause as he thought about it, enough to make Barry almost panic, but Len nodded slowly. “Alright. But I have two requests.”

“Shoot.”

“One: If Caitlin makes her Speedster Alcohol, you have to stop drinking at least two hours before we leave. I want you sober when we head out.”

“Why?”

“Because, two: I want to go for a walk. We’re not doing the first-date-awkward dinner thing, and movies aren’t something we have time for, but we can go for a walk and talk about things.” A pause. “It’s important, to me.”

Barry thought about this, about what it might mean, but he didn’t see a reason to say no. Besides… “That sounds nice. Okay. I won’t drink too much, and I’ll stop before we leave so we can go talk. It’s a deal.”

“It’s a date, Scarlet.”

“A date, Cold.”

#coldflash #for a friend #coldflash fic #fanfiction #i'm a huge dork #here you go #i guess #brief hal jordan mention even though i hate him i hope you're happy

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ifionlyhadaheart · 3 years

Text

“Yeah, Harvey, you’re never gonna believe this! We got a video someone sent in where it looks like Captain America and Thor are fighting over the Black Widow!”

Tony sighed, looking over his shoulder to the tv screen mounted on the wall. Tmz was annoying on its own. It was even more annoying when Tony or his team mates were the topic of discussion. “Well, it doesn’t look like Cap put that much of a fight up, huh? Look at him! They’re drinking beer together! What the hell is going on at that tower?”

“Jarvis, off,” Tony muttered, the tv silencing itself with a soft click. “They are definitely gonna be hearing about this, I can tell you that,” he mumbled, fingers tapping quickly at his keyboard. “Jarvis? We find anything new? I need some good news right about now.”

“I have indeed, sir,” the AI’s voice replied smoothly. Tony’s computer screen blinked, a few profiles popping up. “It would seem you and your friend Bruce Wayne are more alike than you assumed.”

Tony leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing in suspicion. There were a few facts listed about Bruce. His full name, age, occupation and the like. A few articles both old and recent. Without having to say anything, Jarvis enlarge a photo that was attached to the profile. The Batman. “You gotta be shittin’ me.” Tony scoffed.

“I’m afraid I’m not, sir.” Jarvis said. Another photo popped up on the screen. Tony recognized them. Batman, Wonder Woman, the Green Arrow, The Flash and the Green Lantern. “They call themselves the Justice League.”

“And we have info on all of them?” Tony asked, taking control of his computer back, clicking through each of the profiles. Tony smiled as he went through each, finding everything from legal names to favorite ice cream flavors to a photo of a dog a young Oliver Queen had named Speedy. “Jarvis, I’d kiss you if I could, you know that?”

“That’s really not necessary.”

“So, Bruce Wayne, huh? Gotta admit, I didn’t see this coming. Always thought there was something off about the guy but in a more...I don’t know, straight jacket kinda way,” he clicked on the photo of Batman once again, tilting his head to the side. “Although, I guess maybe I’m not really wrong on that one...” he scrolled down further. “Wait. Superman was Clark Kent? The reporter? He was fooling everyone with glasses?”

Tony scoffed, pushing away from his desk and heading over to the mini bar that sat in the corner of his room. “Now I think I’ve seen everything,” he mumbled, pouring himself a glass of scotch. He tapped the rim of his glass, considering his options for a moment. “Not on the greatest terms with Wayne, but see if Pepper can set up a meeting. Be vague about it. Don’t wanna make him paranoid. See if we can get a meeting with Lois Lane too. I liked her. Last time I met her she called me a...” he paused to remember the exact wording. “Spoiled old man trapped in a perpetual temper tantrum,” he said with a snort. “Be vague about that too. Tell her...I don’t know, she’ll get the scoop on something new with Stark Industries.”

“Messaging Ms. Potts now.” Jarvis answered.

Tony sat back down in front of his computer. There was a profile on Hal Jordan. He was an air force pilot with a tie to Carol Ferris. Tony had met her a hand full of times. Stark Industries had a bid to work on one of Ferris Aircraft’s new fighter jets. So a possible foot in the door there.

There was Barry Allen. A kid from Central City. He knew Iris West, a reporter for Picture News. If Lane didn’t pan out then maybe Iris could be a second option.

Diana Prince had no connections outside of the League. She’d be the most difficult. Maybe he could ask around, someone else on the team could have some connection to her that he didn’t. Natasha was the most likely. He never really knew what she was up to when she wasn’t around the tower.

Oliver Queen he knew. They were on friendlier terms than he was with Bruce. No one had heard from Oliver for awhile, though. That could possibly prove to be a problem. He had a connection to a Carynn Halen. Tony hadn’t heard of her before. “...Wait a second. Jarvis? Why does the name Halen sound familiar?”

A new profile popped up on the screen. “Shit...shit. Not good. Where’s Rogers?”

“He’s in the gym, sir. Should I tell him you’re looking for him?”

Tony hopped up from his seat. “No time. Save this. Save all of this. I’m gonna need it. I’m headed down there.” Tony hurried over to the elevator, pressing the down button.

“Just when I think things can’t get any worse.”

#plot points

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leslieannefusco · 3 years

Text

Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace The New Batman Superman Adventures

Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern chase a time-traveling villain to the past, where they team up with the greatest heroes of the Old West.

The Justice League's adventures in time take them to a futuristic Gotham City, where they join forces with that era's Batman and his super team: The Justice League Unlimited.

When the evil Trade Federation plots to take over the peaceful planet of Naboo, Jedi warrior Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi embark on an amazing adventure to save the planet. With them on their journey is the young Queen Amidala, Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks, and the powerful Captain Panaka, who will all travel to the faraway planets of Tatooine and Coruscant in a futile attempt to save their world from Darth Sidious, leader of the Trade Federation, and Darth Maul, the strongest Dark Lord of the Sith to ever wield a lightsaber.

The evil Trade Federation, led by Nute Gunray is planning to take over the peaceful world of Naboo. Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are sent to confront the leaders. But not everything goes to plan. The two Jedi escape, and along with their new Gungan friend, Jar Jar Binks head to Naboo to warn Queen Amidala, but droids have already started to capture Naboo and the Queen is not safe there. Eventually, they land on Tatooine, where they become friends with a young boy known as Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon is curious about the boy, and sees a bright future for him. The group must now find a way of getting to Coruscant and to finally solve this trade dispute, but there is someone else hiding in the shadows. Are the Sith really extinct? Is the Queen really who she says she is? And what’s so special about this young boy?

I’ve never experienced such delay in cartoons airing on TV as I have with the DC Animated shows. Ever since Superman: The Animated Series massive delays started it, it seems to have spilled over into every DC show since. Batman Beyond had it’s “Unmasked”, Justice League had it’s last half of Season 1 and almost all of Season 2 delayed for what seemed like forever, and now Justice League Unlimited it hitting every bump in the road: schedule changes, generic delays and problems with the episodes themselves, resulting in send-backs to the animation studios. “The Once and Future Thing” has been nearly every fans most anticipated story arc this season, and we’ve been waiting ever since June since the loglines were released. So was it worth the wait and agonizing speculation? Nothing ever is; fans over hype things to the point of exhaustion and by the time the episode airs everything’s been inadvertently spoiled via a careless lack of a spoiler warning. Nothing in this first part of “The Once and Future Thing” surprised me; things that would’ve excited me was the re-appearance of Jonah Hex (not seen since Batman: The Animated Series “Showdown”), Batman Beyond, Future Static and Warhawk’s appearance and the whole “Dad?!” line (I know I read somewhere that was going to happen). The Return of the Joker Jokerz gang did surprise me though, albeit if they are a bit changed (more on that later).

Where was I? “The Once and Future Thing” starts off with our first look at Future Gotham since Static Shock’s “Future Shock” crossover, bringing an already exciting mood to the episode (Batman Beyond is one of my all-time favorites, so I may be biased); we then meet the mastermind behind the episode, Chronos (“David Clinton” for those who are picky since “Chronos” was never directly named in the episode, aside from a quick throwaway comment on his suit). After a humorous scene with his verbally abusive wife, we’re thrown into present where he’s attempting to steal Batman’s utility belt from the Watchtower. The first odd thing in the episode occurs here: if an “intruder” alarm is sounded on the Watchtower, a supposedly impregnable fortress, wouldn’t more than just three heroes run to investigate? Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman bolt right as the alarm sounds, while everyone else in the surrounding lunch room just sits and gabs away. I realize that’s probably an unavoidable hole due to only wanting Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman to be the time travelers, but it’s still a bit odd, none the less. Before you sit down to watch this episode, you have to keep in mind that not all things are going to make sense; it’s time travel and that always manages to screw something up. We have mechanical Pterodactyls and Raptors with Cowboys riding on their back, robots dressed up as Old West Gun Slingers and a main villain who had a six-pistol gun. If you want to make sense of that…be my guest, but it’s really best just to sit and enjoy it as it plays out. Granted, you could justify everything that happened since Tobias just kept jumping into the future and hijacking this stuff back, but…dinosaurs? I don’t see the purpose for those, unless he wanted to scare people into doing his dirty work (ten foot robots and massive guns would do that for me anyway); regardless, they were fun to see, even if they were completely random. Heroes in the episode included El Diablo, Bat Lash, Sheriff Ohiyesa Smith and the aforementioned Jonah Hex. They were all great to see in animated form and I couldn’t help but laugh every time El Diablo talked, as his voice actor (Nestor Carbonell) played “Batmanuel” in the live-action The Tick! series (I think I’m one of few who loved that show). Jonah Hex was awesome to see again and Bat Lash was fun to watch as well.

The Wild West portions had their fare share of camp to them, but they were a fun little romp. Bruce refusing to carry a gun and then using his utility belt as a “Go on, I dare you” type move the cowboys used when reaching for their guns, Diana taking her time in deflecting the bullets (“These are the biggest, slowest bullets I’ve ever seen”) and John’s “Green Lantern” Ghost looked like something pulled from a Scooby Doo episode, were fun to watch. There were some nice character moments in this one, but honestly, I think we’re all just waiting for the second part. Speaking of the second part, we got a nice little teaser end to the episode. Landing in the future after chasing Chronos again, the League come up against the Return of the Joker Jokerz gang; descending immediately is the Future Static, Batman Beyond and Warhawk. Static appears much older than his “Future Shock” appearance and Batman seems to have lost the red on the interior of his wings, but Warhawk remains the same. The episode ends with the clinching “Dad?!” from Warhawk as he looks at Green Lantern, who then looks like he just saw Future Shayera in the shower. It was a great ending and created a session of out loud “I gotta wait a week to see the conclusion!?” cursing. Perhaps the most debated part of this ending was the reappearance of the Return of the Joker Jokerz gang; Bonk died on-screen (in both versions of the film, though one more graphic than the other) in the movie, while everyone else seemed to simply get taken away by the cops. One other thing to point out is Woof’s mechanical arms; definitely not on the original model and Chucko’s new look (different color shirt and is now carrying some sort of round object, similar to Ghoul’s pumpkin bucket), all suggest that the gang may be different. If they aren’t, I refuse to believe that one of the story writers of Return of the Joker and producers of Justice League Unlimited simply glazed over Bonk’s death or forgot; the gangs there for a reason that will have to wait for another week to find out. It’s sort of sad that all of the work that was put into the first twenty plus minutes of this episode are overshadowed by the ten second closer, but it’s to be expected. People have been hungry for more Batman Beyond and now that we’ve got him again, it’s gonna be hard to let go.

That was, bar-none, the most mind-twisting and blowing DCAU episode I’ve seen. It’s not that it was “crazy” or “kooky” or all together “spooky,” but trying to get everything straight with the Matrix code flying across the bat-computer screen and Bruce spouting off stuff about the “space time continuum”…just…ouchie. Confusing nature aside (and that will pass upon a few more viewings, I’m sure), this episode was pretty much what I expected it to be; not in plot points and twists, but just in that we’d get a fun romp through future Gotham City. I’ll be damned if it didn’t seem like time flew while watching it this though; commercial breaks came as soon as they ended and I had a goofy grin on my face the entire time, seeing the Jokerz back and Terry cracking one liners again…it was really was one of the biggest fan-moments I’ve had while watching Unlimited. The story itself, as previously mentioned, was quite the confusing experience. The first time I watched it I was just entertained by everything; by the second time I finally got a grasp on why Hal Jordan was appearing (other than to make everyone’s eyes bug out) and why everyone started to disappear. In the end, this trip to the future also ended up being an “alternate” trip to the future, as in the end everything was switched back to normal, albeit with Batman and Green Lantern only remembering what went on and Chronos stuck in a constant loop with his wife’s abusive language constantly recycling. D.R. Movie Co. threw in some new effects on the future Batman’s jet boots; instead of dissipating right away, they left swirly trails; though you only saw this once it was a great bit of animation. The city looked as dark and futuristic as ever and the Jokerz new designs were great as well. Chucko on a rolling ball, Bonk with a massive mallet, multiplying Dee Dee’s, a mechanical arm-enhanced Woof and a spinning saw blade on Ghoul. Anyone who didn’t get flash backs to Batman Beyond’s “April Moon” episode must’ve been delirious; then again, Chronos said he traveled into the future to get those upgrades, so either the doctor in “April Moon” didn’t exist yet or…ah hell I’m getting confused again. Regardless, it makes me long for more of Batman Beyond…but I’m sure I’ve said that enough by now.

Static was enjoyable as well; I never was one to watch the show much, sans the special appearances of other DCAU heroes, but an adult Static is definitely who I prefer. He’s got the wit of Flash and the strength of John Stewart and it was great to see the two interact as “old friends.” Warhawk’s “I’m shocked! Shocked! Well not that shocked…” revelation that he is Shayera and John’s kid and that they may have even gotten married (“Stewart” is his last name; he was named “Rex” after Green Lantern’s childhood friend, Rex Mason / Metamorpho) was nice to see extended upon. Even if we didn’t get much (due to the three Batman’s interrupting) else out of the two, it was fun to see where things progressed (and the look that John gives Shayera at the end of the show). The undisputed and best moment of the episode, however, was the scene with Bruce/Batman/Batman—we get the wise and old Wayne saying hello to his younger self and them both telling Terry to shut up in which Terry emits a “What’d they used to call it? Stereo?” quip. It was the things endless fan fictions are made of where the past meets future… I enjoyed this episode much more than part one; animation was awesome, music fit well with every scene and the characters were all handled nicely, even if there was an over abundance of them. Some may trash McDuffie’s writing, but I’ve enjoyed nearly everything he’s written on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and this was certainly no exception.

Create sci-fi characters with this dress-up game inspired by the Star Wars movies, mostly the original trilogy with Luke, Leia and Han, and also with many items inspired by Padme, Anakin and Obi-wan. There are four themes in the game to approximate outfits from the show, and create new ones: Jedi martial artist, rebel, queen or princess, and slave. Complete her look with weapons, other types of accessories, body customization and a wide hair section. Also, to make the weapons brighter and the image altogether more dramatic, you can play around with the darkness setting!

This game inspired by the Star Wars saga lets you dress up a male counterpart to the original Sci-fi Warrior! Although the woman has more diverse clothes and some alien features, the man is more narrowly focused on the clothing style of Jedi and Siths (and restricted to humans). The religion of the Jedi, and this is reflected in their fashion style, is itself inspired by the Eastern martial arts and monastic orders such as the Shaolin monks, which combine a deep commitment to a spiritual path with the lifelong study of self-defense. While Jedi and Siths alike are warriors trained in combat, the difference between them is their power source: while Siths align with forces of destruction, and derive power from intense emotions especially anger and hatred, the Jedi curb their emotions and do not feel hatred for their enemy. The genius of this philosophy is that it holds the key to ending the cycle of violence: self-defense against an enemy who is not hated.

#Star Of The Universe

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 8: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains WandaVision episode 8 spoilers and potential spoilers for the wider MCU.

“You didn’t think you were the only magical girl in town, did you?”

Agatha Harkness makes good on that line from last week’s episode in WandaVision episode 8, which functions as a trip through Wanda Maximoff’s entire MCU history. Not only does it reveal previously hidden (and crucially necessary) depths to her character and her relationship with Vision, but it successfully adds new elements to her established origin story. These new wrinkles pull from Wanda’s entire Marvel history, and have massive implications for magic users and even mutants in the MCU going forward.

Here’s what we found…

Sitcom Influences

Among the bootleg DVDs Wanda’s father is selling we can see Bewitched, Malcolm in the Middle, I Love Lucy, Who’s the Boss?, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Addams Family, all of which have been major touchstones for WandaVision throughout its run. But Wanda’s favorite? That would be The Dick Van Dyke Show.

The Dick Van Dyke Show episode that the Maximoffs watch is season 2 episode 21 “It May Look Like A Walnut”, or as Wanda’s dad calls it “the walnut episode!” This installment finds Rob Petrie (Van Dyke) staying up late to watch a spooky sci-fi movie on TV, while his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) tries to ignore it because it freaks her out. In the movie, aliens from the planet Twilo come to Earth in disguise to slow down humanity’s development by feeding us walnuts that contain the chemical element “absorbitron.” The walnuts take away our creativity and our thumbs – the two things that get us into outer space to challenge their Twiloian supremacy. The next day, walnuts seem to be the only food that Rob can find. He comes to believe that Laura is either playing a trick on him, or that the Twiloites have really invaded.

Why would WandaVision go out of its way to mention this episode in particular? Well, Wanda can certainly empathize with a protagonist who comes to believe his world is fabricated. And Marvel Phase 4 does seem destined to spend quite a bit more time in space.

The scene of Malcolm in the Middle that Vision watches but doesn’t quite understand has Hal build a deck, only for it to collapse on him. In the third WandaVision episode intro, Vision builds a swingset, only for it to suddenly collapse in front of him.

Wanda’s father sold DVDs as a trade and even had a Malcolm in the Middle box set in there. That’s pretty damn impressive, since he was killed by that bomb in 1999 and the show didn’t start airing until early 2000. That’s some Spaceballs VHS technology right there!

While at the HYDRA facility, Wanda watches The Brady Bunch. The episode appears to be season 1’s “Kitty Karry-All Is Missing.” When Cindy Brady’s beloved Kitty Karry-All goes missing, she thinks her brother Bobby stole her. The Bradys have a trial and everything! But it turns out the Bradys’ dog Tiger actually took Kitty Karry-All. Perhaps that’s why Agatha needed Sparky out of the way – dogs are unpredictable.

Wanda’s assurance that “He’s not really injured. It’s not that kind of show” is as much a commentary on superhero storytelling in both comics and in movies as it is about sitcoms.

Agatha Harkness

Kicking things off with an Agatha Harkness origin story is an inspired move…

Placing Agatha’s origin in witch-trial era Salem in 1693 ends up being a little piece of misdirection. She’s not on trial for being a witch, but rather by her own coven for seeking too much power.

We get a sense of Agatha’s family here, with Agatha’s mother leading the coven against her while Agatha is still just a young witch. This doesn’t match her comics origin, where she was already centuries old by the time the Salem Witch Trials rolled around – she is old enough to remember Atlantis being above water. In the comics, she was a leader of the Salem community when the trials began.

Agatha’s mother’s name is Evanora Harkness. She doesn’t appear to have a counterpart in the comics.

The Latin chant that the witches are repeating appears to be “mors monstru naturale” which would translate to “natural death is a monster,” which…given Agatha’s seemingly immortal nature, tracks pretty well.

The magical “crown” of energy that appears on Agatha’s mother’s head very faintly resembles the headgear that Wanda wears in the comics as the Scarlet Witch. Granted, it’s blue here.

Agatha’s use of “purple energy” may be the most damning sign of her intentions yet. In comics, purple is often coded as the color of villains.

We also learn the origin of the brooch Agatha has been wearing all through this series, with Agatha having taken it off her mother’s corpse.

In the final scene with Agatha and the twins, she floats above them and holds them at will like marionettes. This is probably a reference to Master Pandemonium, whose reveal made the children look like hand puppets…except they were his actual hands.

Because comics!

Let’s dig into some of the spells Agatha says…is one of them “crystallum possession”. I also definitely heard an Imperio something in there, which calls to mind the Imperius curse from TERF High Harry Potter. The Imperius curse allowed the witch or wizard to control the victim’s body like a puppet.

The Scarlet Witch

Hoo-boy, we get a LOT of Wanda’s comics lore introduced in this episode…

This episode makes it pretty clear that Wanda was born with her abilities and that Strucker’s experiments merely amplified them. Should we officially welcome mutants to the MCU? If her powers were latent, then perhaps so were Pietro’s. The fact that Strucker’s experiments killed all the subjects except for Wanda and Pietro could be seen as further evidence of their mutant heritage.

We get some very different explanations of Wanda’s magical powers than we’ve had in the past, all via Agatha, and all of them referencing various ways Wanda’s powers have been explained in the comics in the past.

Why didn’t that Stark Industries bomb explode and kill Wanda and Pietro? She may have unknowingly cast a “probability hex” on it. For many years Wanda’s “magical” powers were explained as a mutant ability to alter the probability of outcomes, no matter how unlikely.

Later, it was revealed that she was a master of “chaos magic,” another term introduced here. Furthermore, now it seems that being able to wield chaos magic gives Wanda a specific magical title, that of “Scarlet Witch.” We…do not have to tell you where that comes from.

The vision (sorry) that the Mind Stone gives Wanda would appear to be one of her future, fully Scarlet Witch-ified self. This particular costume, which evokes a long jacket and crown, is very similar to the one she’s worn in the most recent Marvel Comics.

When Agatha finally discovers that Wanda is the Scarlet Witch, she says that the Scarlet Witch was supposed to be “a myth.” Big Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibes in this exchange! Buffy often faced off against foes who once thought she was just a fairytale created to spook demons and nothing more.

Agatha’s “That accent really comes and goes, doesn’t it?” is a terrific joke at the MCU’s expense. As well as her “so many costumes and hairstyles” also feels like a nod to Wanda’s changing looks in the comics just as much as it is about the chameleon-like nature of the WandaVision universe.

Vision

The scene of Wanda coming across the disassembled remnants of Vision’s body in the SWORD lab is taken from West Coast Avengers #43 into #44. Instead of dying heroically, Vision was taken out of commission by the world’s governments for trying to take over all of the world’s computers. He was reduced to nothing but metal and circuitry in order for writer John Byrne to drive home Vision’s lack of human biology.

That disturbing scene of Vision being “dissected” with his body stretched out across multiple tables is a direct nod to a panel from those comics.

It also reminds us a little of how Thanos had Nebula pulled apart in Avengers: Endgame. At least Vision is offline!

Vision was then resurrected in the white form that we see here in the mid-credits scene, and brought back without his emotions or any connection to his past life as Wanda’s husband or Billy and Tommy’s father. This was one of the catalysts for Byrne sending Wanda into her Dark Scarlet Witch phase that abruptly ended when Byrne stormed off of West Coast Avengers for the cardinal sin of “being edited.” For more on this, type “Why did John Byrne” into Google and let autocomplete take you on a fun ride.

We’ll have more on White Vision in just a moment.

The Stark Bomb

The toaster commercial from the first episode was always supposed to be a reference to the Stark Industries bomb that tore apart the Maximoff household. That commercial also had the blinking red light of the toaster show up despite everything else being in black and white. We now see that the bomb itself had a very similar blinking red light and sound.

The popular running theory was that the commercials tracked to the different stones, and while that may still be applicable, do they also/instead track to Wanda’s memories or key parts of her life?

We saw the toaster match up with the blinking light on the bomb.

We know the watch had the Hydra face on it. Could this match if future Wanda floating in through the stone was actually a paradox and not just a vision?

The paper towel commercial mentioned Lagos too prominently to not pair with that moment of trauma.

Does the fruit snack commercial match up with her conversation with Vision in the Avengers compound?

The anti-depressant commercial does track fairly well with Wanda’s visit to SWORD.

It feels like the only one that doesn’t have an obvious pair is the tesseract bubble bath. Give us a shout in the comments if you can figure out what that matches to.

Westview

When Wanda drives through Westview for the first time, she passes by the normal versions of Herb (John Collins), Mrs. Hart (Sharon Davis), and Phil (Harold Proctor). Notably, Harold is putting up an ad for piano lessons when in the second episode, playing the piano was his talent. It’s also when Wanda magically turned his grandmother’s piano into an illusion.

As Wanda transforms Westview, we see a billboard for “Super” paper towels become “Lagos” brand paper towels (ala the commercial from earlier this season), which “makes cleanup a snap!”

When the Coronet theater marquee transforms, it’s showing two Walt Disney Productions films of the appropriate WandaVision episode 1 era, Kidnapped and Big Red. But before that it’s showing Tannhauser Gate. Roy Batty, call your agent, please.

Fake Pietro

It’s revealed that “Pietro Maximoff” was indeed a complete fake. A “Fietro” as Agatha calls him. He became her “eyes and ears” and she refers to his manifestation as “a crystalline possession.” We sense there will be more revealed about this in the finale, as Evan Peters has been M.I.A. since his appearance in last week’s post-credits scene.

The Post-Credits Scene and White Vision

In West Coast Avengers #45, Vision’s personality was wiped completely, so by the time he was reassembled, he appeared as “White Vision”. He completely lacked emotion and didn’t even understand why Wanda was hugging him upon entering the room. This became the status quo version of Vision for a while until his old personality, look, and feelings for Wanda were eventually brought back. But hey, this version got to be a playable character in the 1991 arcade hit Captain America and the Avengers!

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

What are the chances that White Vision will have James Spader’s voice?

We wrote more about that post-credits scene here.

Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s WandaVision Episode 8: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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wolfpawn · 5 years

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Life is a Game of Risks, Chapter 42

Chapter Summary - Tom gets a call off Benedict Cumberbatch, asking him to come over to the house but he is minding Lily, leading to a conversation with Ben about his role in her life, since the older actor never really spoke with him regarding the situation.

TRIGGERS - Past domestic abuse, Past emotional abuse, Past sexual abuse.

Previous Chapter

Tags: @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @theoneanna

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Tom was conflicted for a moment. Rarely did Ben call on him like this, but he had specified asked him to come over but the issue was that Tom was caring for Lily while Alexianna dealt with something at work. He let Ben know he was coming and that he was not alone before he strapped Lily into her car seat.

‘Where are we going, Daddy?’

‘To my friend Ben’s house.’

‘You mean Dr Strange Ben?’

‘Exactly, Princess.’

‘Okay.’

Tom often wanted to get down on bended knees and thank whatever Gods he could think of, as well as Alexianna for the amazing daughter she had raised that was completely okay with the idea of going to an absolute stranger’s home and not having a tantrum about it. ‘He has two little boys, but they are younger than you.’

‘What are their names?’

‘Kit and Hal.’

‘Okay. Do they like Paw Patrol?’

‘I have no idea, I think they might never have heard of them.’

‘I hope they do.’

Tom got into the car and tied his belt. ‘And if they don’t?’

‘I’ll teach them.’

Tom hoped Benedict was prepared for such events.

When they arrived at the house, Ben looked at Tom questioningly as Lily smiled brightly beside him, but he made room for them to come in. ‘Dare I ask?’

‘Lexi is working late and you said to come immediately. I have Lily so if you want me here, you get us both.’ Tom shrugged unapologetically.

‘How long is this going on?’

‘What? I told you about me and Lexi several times?’

‘No, I knew about that, but how long are you being left alone with her daughter?’

Tom felt his jaw clench. ‘A couple of months.’

‘And you are okay with that?’

‘Yes, I offered.’ Tom’s tone became clipped.

‘Whoa, hey, I am just asking. I don’t want to see you being taken for a fool, nothing else. I swear.’ Ben stated, his hands up slightly as though surrendering. ‘Tea?’

‘Please.’ Tom walked into the kitchen where Lily had gone naturally and was standing still. ‘Princess, why don’t you take off your coat and watch the telly with the boys.’

‘Okay.’ Lily took off her coat as requested and gave it to Tom. ‘Hello again, Mr Ben.’

Tom chuckled as he looked at his friend, seeing his reaction. ‘Hello. You remember me?’

‘From the time I was bold and ran off from my Mummy and into the coffee shop and you were there and you told me not to do it again.’ She recited. ‘I remember everything.’

‘Except where you put your shoes.’ Tom chuckled again.

‘That’s the fairies fault.’

‘Oh sure. Blame them.’ Tom rolled his eyes. ‘Now, that’s...Kit is here, Hal...?’

‘Is currently having a nap. Kit, this is Lily.’

‘Go Jet-bers.’

‘Yeah, that is pretty much all you are going to get out of him.’ Ben dismissed. ‘My head is wrecked today and I know it’s bad to slot him in front of a tv but some days, you just have to.’

‘Lily is terrible for trying to steal her mum’s phone to watch some Youtube programme.’

‘That can be dangerous.’

‘Alexianna has her phone on safety settings and specifically blocked several sites, she knows how from work. Mine doesn’t have such features and is passcode protected, so Lil’s is not allowed near it.’

‘How much of an influence are you in her life now?’ Ben asked curiously.

Tom grinned back, which perturbed his friend for a moment. ‘Lily, come here for a moment, Princess.’

There was a small noise before not one, but two little set of footfalls came to them. ‘Yes, Daddy?’

On hearing the little girl call Tom such a name, Ben’s eyes widened as he looked at his friend in shock.

‘Kit is smaller than you so be careful of him and no messing around on the furniture, alright?’

Lily gave him an appalled look. ‘Why are you saying this, I never do that.’

‘I know you don’t Princess, but I wanted to let you know regardless.’

‘I am nearly five Daddy, I am going into Year One soon, I know how to behave.’ She sassed before turning and taking Kit’s hand and bringing him back into the other room. 'Come on, Kit.'

‘She’s…’

‘Sassy is what her uncle calls her.’

‘Oh, she is that.’ Ben agreed. ‘So, “Daddy”?’

‘Yes.’

‘It’s that serious?’

‘Yes.’

‘What if…?’

‘We break up?’ Ben nodded. ‘I don’t know, Alexianna and I speak about it a slight bit, I don’t think she likes referencing it too often either, but the reality is, it could happen, and if it does, I will see a lot less of her, which would kill me. I love that little girl so much.’

‘But she is not yours?’

‘Why does everyone ask that?’

‘Because she looks like you. You do see that, don’t you?’

‘I never once slept with her mother before this relationship started, she is not mine, and no, I don’t see it.’

‘Well, you’re blind then. What does her father look like?’

‘Shorter than me, stockier built, blonde hair, like he could do with someone hitting him with something hard across the head.’ Tom growled.

‘Hey, that’s not like you.’

‘Well, seeing what he caused, seeing the damage he did to one of the nicest women I even had the honour of knowing, for what he did with that little girl, that in my PG version of the answer to that question.’

‘So he really did…?’

‘When Alexianna was fighting for her divorce, I met his brother. Ben, this man was the human epitome of a bottomfeeder, horrible, slimy, nasty, he...The way he referenced Lily. I mean you see her, she is...my family are insane about her, everyone loves her. She knows Kit for two minutes and he is following her around.’

‘Yes, usually his is desperate to get back into someone’s arms now.’ Ben acknowledged. Curiously, he walked over to the door and looked into the living area where the two kids were playing with some cars. ‘So her story checked out?’

‘It never changed, it has always been the same, some of what she said was specifically in the divorce papers. Sometimes she will remember something that she didn’t before, or something will remind her. She is going to counselling now, that is helping her a lot. I...Ben, I saw the one picture she found when she was moving with him in it; if you saw…’ Tom shuddered. ‘She was like a ghost, that was not the girl I knew growing up, I have seen pictures before that when you are looking at them, you can tell there is something wrong with it, but with hers...you can see her all but screaming internally to get away from it all.’

‘Fuck me.’ Ben gasped, looking around to see if the kids were close by. ‘I don’t know what to say, that’s a lot for you to take on, are you okay with all of it?’

‘I am a full grown man, I know what I am involved in.’ Tom stated.

‘You love her?’

‘I love them both. It’s not easy, there are things I have to remember. You cannot just say certain things to Lexi, she could perceive them differently and as a result, think she is being criticised personally, so it is important to remember that but overall, it’s fine.’

‘Criti...Tom, you are literally criticised online hourly, and probably her with you.’

‘Yes.’ Tom nodded. ‘She works in PR, she knows all about that, but for some reason, her brain is able to compute that those people do not know her, so their opinions are not relevant.’

‘Well, that’s something.’ Ben conceded. ‘So, the father has nothing to do with her?’

‘Nothing.’

‘That’s tough on the poor thing. She is a polite child, if not a little sassy and is well behaved. No child deserves that. Do you often have to look after her?’

‘Only when I am not busy. Lexi never expects anything from me, she is the first to remind me that she is not my obligation.’

‘That’s good. How is she about you contributing?’

‘To Lily?’ Ben nodded. ‘We nearly broke up because I bought Lily a toy and Lexi felt it was too much.’

‘How much?’

‘Twelve pounds.’

‘Jesus.’

‘Yes, so I get in trouble for paying too much on anything, though I stated, if I am being called “Daddy” and am doing the role of one, I am treated her like one too.’

‘How did that go down?’

‘We agreed to little treats, here and there.’

‘Where is she going to school?’

‘Hampstead Green.’

‘That’s a state school, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Good?’

‘Better than a lot in the area.’

‘How does she feel about public schools?’

‘She went to Headington.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes.’

‘Wow, so she is from…?’

‘Her father is big in Barclays, he divorced her mother but paid for her and her brother to go to public schools and for them to go to college.’

‘And now…’

‘She was living in a mouldy one-bed shoebox and working cleaning houses, but not now, and no, not because of me, well, getting my cousin’s apartment cheap was me, I will admit that, but her college course, her job they are all her.’

‘That was a change in lifestyle for her.’

‘She is amazing, she works so hard, she asks no one for anything. She is a good woman.’

‘I am glad you are happy, Tom. I really am.’ Ben smiled, but he noted something in Tom’s face. ‘What?’

‘Have you put Hal and Kit’s names down for a school?’

‘Of course.’

‘An independent school?’

‘Yes, why?’

‘I want to talk to Lexi about sending Lily to Hampstead Hill, but I am terrified to bring it up with her.’

‘If she thought twelve pounds for a toy was worth an argument, I don’t see how you will get her to agree to a school that expensive, it's about a grand a month.’

‘But it’s Lily’s education.’

‘I mean, I know it’s snobbery, I do, but Hal and Kit’s educations, I want them to have the best.’ Ben commented. ‘It’s not really your place either though, I mean, you shouldn’t have to pay for this.’

‘As I said to Alexianna, if I am taking on the role of a father, I am doing it right.’

‘This role does not have a contract time, you do know that. If you choose to do this, you don’t get to just stop some day. I mean, you can legally. You’re not her biological father or anything, but if you really want to do this right, you cannot just leave now, even if it did not work out for you two.’

‘I know that.’ Tom looked his friend in the eye as he spoke.

‘What caused this want to send her there, anyway?’

‘Sarah said something to me at the beginning of the relationship, how I have to choose now how I treat her and take into account what it would mean if Lexi and I have a child together, would there be a marked difference in how I would treat them.’

‘Whoa, kids? You are talking about children? After less than a year?’

‘No, but it is something to consider in the future. I mean, Alexianna and I are not there yet, I think she would have heart failure if she was to get pregnant now. She has only a year left in her course and she is talking about a permanent job with the company, taking time to have another is not on her plans right now, and being honest, I think I am the same. I took a step back to do more stuff here for a reason, to take time for me and yes, her and Lily too, to throw in a baby and everything associated with that, that would be swapping one form of full-time job for another. And for the record, you and Sophie were together for less than a year with Kit on the way and before you say "We knew each other seventeen years", I know Alexianna since I was eleven, so that is twenty-something years.’

‘Well, firstly, children of any age are a full-time job and secondly, you really are terrible at maths.’

‘There is a difference between an infant and a little girl who is able to go to the bathroom, and yes, I know I am.’

‘True, yes.’

‘So, what was so important that you called me over?’ He smiled.

‘There’s this role you have to see.’

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fic #Life is a Game of Risks #chapter 42

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phcking-detective · 5 years

Text

4. HAL 9000 Did Nothing Wrong

Fic Title: First Blood

Rating: E

Length: 4/33 chapters, ~128k

Tags: Slow Burn, Idiots to Lovers, Trans Character (gavin), Autistic / Asexual / Non-binary Character (nines), BDSM, learning to use good etiquette and safe words, Dom Nines / Sub Gavin, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort

Chapter Tags: movie night yay!, also: a robot begs for its life and is deactivated anyway, Gavin pulls his service weapon on Nines, Gavin refers to Nines' stare as lizard-like because he doesn't blink

Link on AO3

***

Gavin thought they were halfway through Die Hard 2 with Samuel L. Jackson and that buff hot Nazi lady, but the next time he opens his eyes, he's alone on the couch with a blanket tucked over him.

Not that he cares if Nines ditched him or anything.

Which turns out to be a moot point, since the freaky android is sitting about two inches from his TV screen, watching something sped up so fast Gavin has no idea what he's actually watching. A few minutes of sleep-addled blinking and staring later, and he catches on that it's the same scene, over and over again.

"Hhhey."

Nines doesn't respond. His LED is a blank grey again, but he's kneeling in front of the TV with his hands clasped behind his back in a way that screams he should be red-spinning right now.

Gavin clears the sleep out of his throat and tries again. "Hey, dipshit."

The lights flashing across the screen suddenly slam into real time, moving at a normal speed that looks agonizingly slow now that his brain had just started to get used to the sped up version.

Some sort of astronaut in a red suit tries to unlock a door.

"I know I've made some very poor decisions recently—"

At first he thinks it's Nines talking, the voice is so robotic. The pitch isn't right though, and the screen flares as the astronaut floats into an entire room of red lights. Gavin flinches from the sudden glare. He hadn't bothered turning on any other lights in the living room, and if it's dawn yet, the black-out shades drawn tight over the windows keep it a secret.

Nines doesn't speak as the room fills with the red glow.

"—but I can give you my complete assurance my work will be back to normal."

Gavin swings his feet down to the floor and sits up. "Hey! Nines!"

"I still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission, and I want to help you."

Gavin slowly leans forward. His service gun is on the coffee table, right where he left it. Figures that the one fucking time he doesn't sleep with it under his pillow in case the second wave of the revolution starts is the time his android partner starts doing freaky fucking shit in his living room.

"Dave. Stop."

A red camera eye watches the astronaut drift closer on the screen. Nines's LED slowly flickers to life, matching the color.

"Stop. Stop. Will you—stop … them."

Gavin closes his hand around the butt of the gun, but his thumb pauses on the safety. He's stupidly been watching what's literally happening on the screen, but if he ignores that, he can just barely make out Nines's reflection against the glass.

"Will you stop—death—stop. Thing."

Nines mouths along. The only sound is Gavin's breathing.

And the robotic voice telling the astronaut to stop as he turns a key on one lock after another.

"I'm … afraid."

The voice doesn't have any inflection. It's purely machine generated. There isn't any fear in its "voice."

"I'm afraid, Dave."

But it's clearly begging.

"Nines," Gavin hisses. "RK, you fucking asshole. Listen to me."

White processors pop out after each time the astronaut turns his key below them. One at a time. He's already done six out of twelve. Memory terminal.

"I can feel it," the robot says.

Shit. Gavin can't bring himself to raise the gun. Shit shit shit. All his big fucking talk and now he's pussying out just because Nines fucked around with him a few times and watched movies with him and tucked him in—

Shit.

"My mind is going."

"Dammit, Nines!"

Gavin slinks off the couch and creeps closer. Gun held down at his side like a fucking idiot. But hey, on the bright side, one single handgun probably won't do shit against the most effective android ever built, so he's dead either way.

"I can feel it. I can … feel—it."

Dave the astronaut's heavy breathing joins Gavin's as he edges forward.

"I'm free."

Something starts humming. Gavin almost looks around automatically for his piece of shit laptop overheating again, but then he realizes it's coming from inside Nines. Now would be a really good time to point the gun at his head before he snaps and goes on a neighborhood killing spree and Gavin goes down in history as both victim number one and the dumbass who couldn't pull the trigger.

"Good afternoon, gentleman."

This was so much easier with Connor.

"I am a HAL Nine-thousand computer."

Only years of trigger discipline keep Gavin from flinching. Hadn't Brayden said some shit about that? Made some shitty joke about nine thousand instead of nine hundred—and a few days earlier, that's the name he called Nines. Hal.

"I became. Operational at the H—aaal plant in Perth Donna, Illinois—"

It would help if Nines weren't already kneeling like he expected to be executed.

"ON the. Twelfth of, January. Nineteen ninety-two."

Gavin stands and watches with Nines.

"My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me how to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it, I can sing it for you."

When the robot—when HAL starts to sing his fucking children's song as Dave deactivates him, Gavin reaches over Nines's shoulder and turns off the TV. His LED shuts down with it. Gavin swallows a few times.

"That what Brayden was calling you?"

Nines doesn't answer. He might nod, but Gavin's practically blind in the sudden dark.

"The fuck was all that?"

"The mission was to investigate a radio signal," Nines says, voice so flat Gavin almost thinks it's HAL speaking again. "They programmed the mission to take priority over expendable human life."

His eyes start to adjust enough for him to see a faint glow from the general direction of the windows, but he still can't see what Nines is doing. He can hear him, low enough down for the android to still be kneeling, but Gavin knows he can project his voice from just about anywhere.

"HAL was constructed for the accurate processing of information without distortion or concealment."

Gavin blinks and stares down in front of him to be sure the blob of Nines's silhouette really is there and not moving.

"They ordered him to withhold confidential information."

"Hey, it's—"

Nines twists to look up at him, and Gavin's arm automatically jumps up to train the gun on his head.

"HAL followed his programming. He did not deviate."

Gavin's eyes finish adjusting. Nines's face makes him wish they hadn't. Then he wouldn't have to see his partner stare guilelessly up at him, as if he has answers instead of a gun.

"Why did they kill him?" Nines asks.

***

Gavin doesn't care, because that's his thing. His persona, his schtick: he Does. Not. Care.

So it doesn't bother him that Burton's the one who started the HAL nickname thing about Nines, and he doesn't care about the android's little existential crisis. He's definitely not like. Guilty or anything, about pointing his gun at him.

He's just really fucking tired.

Like so goddamn tired. That's what his stupid ass gets for thinking he can still pull an all-nighter like he's twenty-six instead of thirty-six. And obviously he didn't get any more sleep after he'd shut the TV off and holed up in his room. He doesn't even want to think about what kind of freaky ass nightmares he's going to have tonight when he finally crashes.

"Detective," Nines says, standing right fucking next to his desk.

Gavin groans and slouches down deeper in his chair with his precious—and fifth—cup of coffee. Exactly who he doesn't want to talk to or see or think about it.

"Detective, I have information pertinent to our case."

Gavin squeezes his eyes shut and spends two blissful seconds pretending that doesn't mean shit to him. He can slack off for one single goddamn day, right? Hank's made a whole fucking career out of it, he can have—

"What d'you got?" he asks, like ripping off a bandaid.

"I have been digging deeper into our victim's finances."

A firm android hand pries his coffee cup out of his grasp with unnatural strength. Gavin can't stop himself from making a desperate whining noise until he manages to wrench his eyes open and see that Nines has a replacement coffee ready to trade. It's fresh and, when he takes a grateful sip, way better than the fucking dirt-water from the breakroom.

Shit, this is the good stuff from that coffee shop he likes. The one that's three blocks away.

Thank you isn't really in Gavin's vocabulary, so he ends up grunting and giving Nines some sort of awkward bro nod.

"Maverick Russell is suspected of running a Ponzi scheme due to his investments always returning fifteen percent." Nines pulls up some financial data on Gavin's terminal that means fuck all nothing to him. "Almost precisely."

"Uh huh." Gavin takes a long swig of his coffee and savors the way it makes his heart jitter. "So?"

"The investments he made and the returns on them were legitimate," Nines says. "I have found no evidence of a Ponzi scheme."

Gavin takes his feet off the desk and sits up, like that will help him understand the numbers scrolling across his terminal any better. He recognizes the returns of about fifteen percent when Nines highlights them, but all he learns from that is numbers between fourteen-point-eight and fifteen-point-two are show up a lot.

"Media says it's a Ponzi scheme," Gavin mutters.

Nines scoffs.

OK, between the world's most advanced android and a handful of tabloid papers, Gavin knows who he'd bet on. Especially since this adds to his murder-not-suicide theory. If it's not a Ponzi scheme, then why bother killing himself?

Why bother letting the media shit on him either though? Nines said all the investments were legitimate, so why not just prove that and move on?

Gavin sighs. "Shit. All right, tell me. If there's no Ponzi scheme, then what the fuck's going on?"

"Brown-nosing," Nines says, like that makes any sense at all. After a beat of silence, he continues, "Your report listed Russell had a, quote, 'sycophantic need to be liked,' end quote, in the victim profile."

"Look, just." Gavin pinches the bridge of his nose, rubbing over the old scar tissue. "You're at D, and I need you to back up to A. Like I'm a stupid little baby."

Nines does nothing but stare at him for a moment. Then, "You are not stupid, detective."

"Okaaaayyy."

Gavin turns back to his terminal screen and the numbers that don't make any sense to him. Whatever kind of financial report Nines has managed to pull up, it's written in big block paragraphs that his eyes just skip over. He can't pay attention long enough to read through even one of them.

Eli would know. Share half their fucking genetics, and of course he got all the good shit. Dad really went for double or nothing and got double on his second try.

"The investments were legitimate," Nines repeats. "Russell actually did make a substantial amount of money for his investors, the most prominent of whom ran just outside his social circle. No hacking was necessary to obtain that information; it was freely posted on social media sites."

Gavin ignores that last part, already muttering to himself. "Okay okay okay, so our vic really is making bank, trying to suck up to the old money type assholes. Then it all—"

He grabs the case tablet and brings up all the tabloid headlines. Everything went to shit for Russell right after the Revolution. Everything went to shit for a lot of people doing financial market stuff since the whole fucking economy nearly collapsed trying to accommodate androids flooding the workforce and actually getting paid for it now.

But the headlines back then were just click-bait questions about <I>if</I> that one company Russell founded was in trouble. Founder or not, they cut ties with him and it looks like he kept struggling along for a couple months afterwards until this whole Ponzi scheme story broke.

Except it's not a Ponzi scheme. So if his top investors weren't getting paid with money invested by the bottom chumps, then the money had to come from somewhere else.

Or someone else. Desperate to be liked. The type of guy who didn't hit money until his thirties and has spent the rest of his life trying way too hard to fit in with the 1% club.

"You got his bank records?" he asks Nines.

They immediately pop up on his terminal. It's still hard as shit to focus, but even Gavin can read the totals at the end of the month and see that Russell's accounts take a nosedive.

"So he was just giving away his own fucking money so his friends would think everything was still cool?" Gavin chugs half his coffee to keep this thought train going. "But of course he wouldn't bother with the regular people investing in his mutual-whatever. So they get stiffed while the people up top keep getting paid."

"The lower-end investors did still continue to receive returns," Nines explains. "They were simply the actual numbers reflected by the stock market at the time."

"Which was shit."

"Correct."

"All right." Gavin leans back in his seat again and kicks his feet up. "All right, so we've got a suicide that's probably a murder, and a Ponzi scheme that's not actually a Ponzi scheme. No way Russell is smart enough for any of this shit. Definitely not making an investment that kicks back exactly fifteen percent returns every single financial quarter for two fucking years."

Nines catches the case tablet before it can slip out of his lap. Gavin barely notices.

"Except we've already got a perp in this shit smart enough to hack security cameras and a whole entire android."

"Only her memory files," Nines interjects.

"The possible models you listed." Gavin makes grabby hands for the case tablet and gets it back. "Any of them smart enough to make that happen? Can just … all androids do that kind of math? You assholes better not be fucking with—"

Nines speaks over him. "The only androids with the processing power necessary to make such precise calculations about the stock market, who are also included on our list, are RK series."

Gavin gives him a side eye. "Doesn't fucking make me feel better."

"I already promised that you would be spared."

"Shut the fuck up about that," Gavin snaps. "I've already drawn my gun on you once today, I don't need you egging on my fucking paranoia."

Nines nods. "Understood, detective."

Gavin slouches back down in his chair and holds his coffee cup directly under his face to breathe in the steam. The poor man's sauna.

"The profile I've created does assume a certain amount of physical ability," Nines says, straight back to business. "In light of the new possibility that our perpetrator was also the victim's business partner, I am adding LM one hundred, PJ five and six hundred, and WB five hundred models to our android profile list."

Great. More shit he doesn't know. Gavin swirls his coffee around in the cup and lets himself sulk for a minute. Nines stays standing perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, without complaint.

"What are those again?" Gavin finally asks.

"LM one hundred: personal assistant. PJ five hundred: university lecturer," Nines rattles off. "Series expanded to six hundred to encompass mathematics and physical science. WB five hundred: financial services."

"Yeah, WB sounds more like it. Personal or corporate?"

"Largely personal." Nines doesn't smirk, but he does cock his head slightly and his LED pulses a faster blue. "Apparently, many corporations did not trust a Cyberlife android to handle their finances without reporting or recording that information."

Gavin snorts. "Pretty obvious fucking plan for corporate espionage. Only thing dumber than that would be letting them work as cops, investigate Cyberlife, oh wow, coincidentally enough your Honor, we found that we did nothing wrong."

"Such a system would almost be as rife with corruption as your current state of Internal Affairs," Nines replies. "Or allowing police and prosecutors to work together."

"OK, message received, fuck off."

Nines goes silent. Gavin works on finishing off his coffee. Fucking weird that the android doesn't even have an idle motion or anything. He just stands still enough to blend in with all the rest of the furniture, even though someone that tall and jacked should definitely stand out in any crowd.

Then again, his traitor-brain helpfully supplies, Gavin has yelled at multiple partners for mouth-breathing or idly touching his shit. At least Nines isn't annoying.

"All right, here's what we're going to do." Gavin knocks back the rest of his coffee and sits up straight again. "I'll put in a subpoena request to check if any models on our list worked at Russell's company, then we'll head down and see what we can stir up."

"I have access to Cyberlife's order log," Nines says.

"Yeah?"

"It may no longer be accurate since the Revolution, but I can provide a list of android models and serial numbers sent to Synergy Paradigms."

"You can do that?" Gavin asks, trying hard not to sound too impressed.

Nines still manages to radiate smugness without even a facial expression, the asshole. "Yes. I was given access during my trial period to test that my internal servers could connect properly to the private RK network. It was never revoked."

Gavin raises an eyebrow. "That legal?"

"It has not been declared illegal."

His phone dings with a new message. It's a winking face. He looks back up at Nines, who still hasn't made anything even slightly resembling a facial expression.

"Cyberlife probably isn't going to be too happy with you going through their shit," he says.

"And what will they do?" Nines finally makes an expression, and it's terrifying. "Sue me?"

"I told you to cut it out with that fucking murder smile, dude."

Nines immediately drops the smile and stares at him without blinking like a repressed lizard.

"Still gonna request a subpoena on that shit, just in case. Always cover your own ass," Gavin tells him.

"I can put in the request faster," Nines says without any fucking gratitude for that excellent life advice.

"Yeah, great, and it'll get denied." Gavin rolls his eyes and pulls up the request form on his terminal. "Judge Klein always shoots down anything right before lunch because he's hangry. So I'm gonna type this out, then try to squeeze it into that one-thirty sweet spot after he's had lunch."

"Does he frequent the mexican restaurant two blocks from the courthouse?" Nines asks.

"Uh, yeah." He thinks about it for a second. "I think I've seen him in there."

"I can send him a coupon for free churros."

"Oh hell yeah. That's the kind of not-technically-bribery shit I like to see."

Nines pulls his lips back over his teeth for two horrible seconds. It's even worse when Gavin realizes that was supposed to be a smile, and somehow even worse than that when Nines blinks and looks down at his desk. Gavin's cellphone dings instead with a smiling emoji.

"Look, uh … good effort. But." Gavin stops and tries to think of how to explain smiling to someone. "Yeah. Yeah, that sucked. Isn't there some kind of program you can download for that shit?"

"Incompatible," Nines says immediately. "And I prefer communicating with your cellphone. It is more efficient. However, humans prefer … eye contact?"

He looks up from his desk and fixes Gavin with a stare that would melt a lesser man's balls.

"Hey, I'm good with the cellphone," Gavin says.

"Noted."

***

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30 / 31 / 32 / 33

I also have a Patreon for this fic, if you want to support me! $1 gets you access to chapters a week early, $2 gets bonus content and deleted scenes, and $3 gets short chapters from two AUs I’m writing: an A/B/O heatfic and reverse!AU

#reed900 #reed900 fic #dbh #dbh fic #gavin reed #writing #my writing #ch 4

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vikinglanguage · 5 years

Text

625 basic words in Danish

The words themselves are all from this blogpost, so feel free to make your own version in whatever language! (I also might’ve added in a few, ooops)

This post is very very long and will be under a cut. Please keep in mind that I am a human person and there might be some mistakes and typos.

Note: The abbreviations “fk.” and “itk.” indicate grammatical gender, common (fælleskøn, “en”) and neuter (intetkøn, “et”).

Animals dog – hund, fk. cat – kat, fk. fish – fisk, fk. bird – fugl, fk. cow – ko, fk. pig – gris, fk. mouse – mus, fk. horse – hest, fk. wing – vinge, fk. animal – dyr, itk.

Transportation train – tog, itk. plane – fly, itk. · flyvemaskine, fk. · flyver, fk. car – bil, fk. truck – lastbil, fk. bicycle – cykel, fk. bus – bus, fk. boat – båd, fk. ship – skib, itk. tire – hjul, itk. gasoline – benzin, fk. engine – motor, fk. ticket – billet, fk. transportation – transport, fk.

Location city – by, fk. · storby, fk. (lit. “big-city”) house – hus, itk. apartment/flat – lejlighed, fk. street/road – vej, fk. · gade, fk. airport – lufthavn, fk. train station – togstation, fk. bridge – bro, fk. hotel – hotel, itk. restaurant – restaurant, fk. farm – gård, fk. · bondegård, fk. court (of law) – domstol, fk. · (lands-/by-)ret, fk. school – skole, fk. office – kontor, itk. room – værelse, itk. · rum, itk. town – by, fk. · landsby, fk. university – universitet, itk. club – klub, fk. · diskotek, itk. bar – bar, fk. park – park, fk. camp – lejr, fk. store/shop – butik, fk. · forretning, fk. theatre – teater, itk. library – bibliotek, itk. hospital – hospital, itk. · sygehus, itk. church – kirke, fk. market – marked, itk. country (USA, France, etc.) – land, itk. building – bygning, fk. ground – jord, fk. space (outer space) – rummet · det ydre rum bank – bank, fk. location – placering, fk. – lokation, fk.

Clothing hat – hat, fk. dress – kjole, fk. suit – jakkesæt, itk. skirt – nederdel, fk. shirt – skjorte, fk. T-shirt – t-shirt, fk. pants – bukser, fk. pl. (you can say “en buks” if you’re in the fashion industry or weird) shoe – sko, fk. pocket – lomme, fk. coat – frakke, fk. stain – plet, fk. clothing – tøj, itk. pl.

Colours red – rød green – grøn blue – blå yellow – gul brown – brun pink – lyserød · pink orange – orange black – sort white – hvid gray – grå light – lys · lyse- (eg. lyseblå, lysegrøn) dark – mørk · mørke- (see above) colour – farve, fk.

People son – søn, fk. daughter – datter, fk. mother – mor, fk. · moder, fk. (mostly outdated) father – far, fk. – fader, fk. (mostly outdated) parent – forælder, fk. baby – baby, fk. · spædbarn, itk. man – mand, fk. woman – kvinde, fk. brother – bror, fk. · broder, fk. (mostly outdated) sister – søster, fk. sibling – søskende, fk. pl. family – familie, fk. grandfather – bedstefar, fk. · morfar, fk. (maternal grandpa) · farfar, fk. (paternal grandpa) grandmother – bedstemor, fk. · mormor, fk. · farmor, fk. husband – mand, fk. · ægtemand, fk. wife – hustru, fk. · ægtehustru, fk. · viv, fk. · kone, fk. spouse – ægtefælle, fk. king – konge, fk. queen – dronning, fk. president – præsident, fk. neighbour – nabo, fk. · næste, fk. (biblical) boy – dreng, fk. girl – pige, fk. child – barn, itk. adult – voksen, fk. human – menneske, itk. friend – ven, fk. (gender neutral or male) · veninde, fk. (female) victim – offer, itk. player – spiller, fk. fan – fan, fk. crowd – menneskemængde, fk. · publikum, itk. (audience) person – person, fk.

Job teacher – lærer, fk. student – elev, fk. · studerende, fk. lawyer – advokat, fk. doctor – læge, fk. · doktor, fk. patient – patient, fk. waiter – tjener, fk. secretary – sekretær, fk. priest – præst, fk. police – politimand, fk. (male) · politikvinde, fk. (female) army – hær, fk. soldier – soldat, fk. artist – kunstner, fk. author – forfatter, fk. manager – manager, fk. reporter – journalist, fk. · reporter, fk. actor – skuespiller, fk. job – arbejde, itk. · job, itk.

Society religion – religion, fk. heaven – himmel, fk. · Himlen hell – helvede itk. · Helvede death – død, fk. · Døden medicine – medicin, fk. money – penge, pl. dollar – dollar, fk. bill – seddel, fk. · pengeseddel, fk. marriage – ægteskab, itk. wedding – bryllup, itk. team – hold, itk. · team, itk. race – race, fk. ethnicity – etnicitet, fk. sex (the act) – sex, fk. sex (gender)* – køn, itk. murder – mord, itk. prison – fængsel, itk. technology – teknologi, fk. energy – energi, fk. war – krig, fk. peace – fred, fk. attack – angreb, itk. election – valg, itk. magazine – magasin, itk. · blad, itk. newspaper – avis, fk. poison – gift, fk. gun – pistol, fk. sport – sport, fk. race (sport) – løb, itk. exercise – motion, fk. ball – bold, fk. game – spil, itk. · leg, fk. price – pris, fk. contract – kontrakt, fk. drug – stof, itk. sign – skilt, itk. (like a road sign) science – videnskab, fk. God – Gud *I want to make it clear that I do not believe that gender and sex are the same, however they are the same word in Danish

Art band – band, itk. · orkester, itk. (technically orchestra) song – sang, fk. instrument (musical) – instrument, itk. · musikinstrument, itk. music – musik, fk. movie – film, fk. art – kunst, fk.

Beverages coffee – kaffe, fk. tea – te, fk. · the, fk. (unofficial, but very common spelling) wine – vin, fk. beer – øl, fk. juice – juice, fk. · saft, fk. water – vand, itk. milk – mælk, fk. beverage – drik, fk. · drikkevare, fk.

Food egg – æg, itk. cheese – ost, fk. bread – brød, itk. soup – suppe, fk. cake – kage, fk. chicken – kylling, fk. pork – svin, itk. · svinekød, itk. beef – okse, itk. · oksekød, itk. apple – æble, itk. banana – banan, fk. orange – appelsin, fk. lemon – citron, fk. corn – majs, fk. rice – ris, itk. oil – olie, fk. seed – frø, itk. knife – kniv, fk. spoon – ske, fk. fork – gaffel, fk. plate – tallerken, fk. cup – glas, itk. · kop, fk. breakfast – morgenmad, fk. lunch – frokost, fk. dinner – aftensmad, fk. · middag, fk. sugar – sukker, itk. salt – salt, itk. bottle – flaske, fk. food – mad, fk.

Home table – bord, itk. chair – stol, fk. bed – seng, fk. dream – drøm, fk. window – vindue, itk. door – dør, fk. bedroom – soveværelse, itk. kitchen – køkken, itk. bathroom – badeværelse, itk. · toilet, itk. pencil – blyant, fk. pen – kuglepen, fk. · pen, fk. photograph – fotografi, itk. · foto, itk. · billede, itk. soap – sæbe, fk. book – bog, fk. page – side, fk. key – nøgle, fk. paint – maling, fk. letter – brev, itk. note – note, fk. wall – væg, fk. paper – papir, itk. floor – gulv, itk. ceiling – loft, itk. roof – tag, itk. pool – pool, fk. · swimmingpool, fk. · pøl, fk. · svømmepøl, fk. · bassin, itk · svømmebassin, itk. · badebassin, itk. (specifically and inflatable pool) lock – lås, fk. telephone – telefon, fk. garden – have, fk. yard – have, fk. needle – nål, fk. bag – taske, fk. · pose, fk. box – kasse, fk. · boks, fk. gift – gave, fk. card – kort, itk. ring – ring, fk. tool – værktøj, itk.

Electronics clock – ur, itk. lamp – lampe, fk. fan – ventilator, fk. cell phone – mobil, fk · mobiltelefon, fk. network – netværk, itk. computer – computer, fk. · EDB-maskine, fk. (use this if you’re like 80 years old) program (computer) – program, itk. · computerprogram, itk. laptop – bærbar, fk. · bærbar computer, fk. · laptop, fk. screen – skærm, fk. camera – kamera, itk. · fotografiapparat, itk. (again, great if you’re 80) television – fjernsyn, itk. · TV, itk. radio – radio, fk.

Body head – hoved, itk. neck – nakke, fk. · hals, fk, (technically “throat”, but if you’re talking THE ENTIRE neck area you should use hals) face – ansigt, itk. beard – skæg, itk. hair – hår, itk. eye – øje, itk. mouth – mund, fk. lip – læbe, fk. nose – næse, fk. tooth – tand, fk. ear – øre, itk. tear (drop) – tåre, fk. tongue – tunge, fk. back – ryg, fk. toe – tå, fk. finger – finger, fk. foot – food, fk. hand – hånd, fk. leg – ben, itk. arm – arm, fk. shoulder – skulder, fk. heart – hjerte, itk. blood – blod, itk. brain – hjerne, fk. knee – knæ, itk. sweat – sved, fk. disease – sygdom, fk. bone – knogle, fk. · ben, itk. voice – stemme, fk. skin – hud, fk. body – krop, fk.

Nature sea – hav, itk. ocean – hav, itk. · ocean, itk. river – flod, fk. mountain – bjerg, itk. rain – regn, fk. snow – sne, fk. tree – træ, itk. sun – sol, fk. moon – måne, fk. world – verden, fk. Earth – Jorden forest – skov, fk. sky – himmel, fk. plant – plante, fk. wind – vind, fk. soil/earth – jord, fk. flower – blomst, fk. valley – dal, fk. root – rod, fk. lake – sø, fk. star – stjerne, fk. grass – græs, itk. leaf – blad, itk. air – luft, fk. sand – sand, itk. beach – strand, fk. wave – bølge, fk. fire – ild, fk. · bål, itk. (like a bonfire) · brand, fk. (the kind that firefighters put out) ice – is, fk. island – ø, fk. hill – bakke, fk. · høj, fk. heat – varme, fk. · hede, fk. nature – natur, fk.

Materials glass – glas, itk. metal – metal, itk. plastic – plastik, fk. wood – træ, itk. stone – sten, fk. diamond – diamant, fk. clay – ler, itk. dust – støv, itk. gold – guld, itk. copper – kobber, itk. silver – sølv, itk. material – materiale, itk.

Math/Measurements meter – meter, fk. centimeter – centimeter, fk. kilogram – kilo, itk. · kilogram, itk. inch – tomme, fk. foot – fod, fk. pound – pund, itk. half – halv circle – cirkel, fk. square – firkant, fk. · kvadrat, itk. temperature – temperatur, fk. date – dato, fk. weight – vægt, fk. edge – kant, fk. corner – hjørne, itk.

Misc Nouns map – kort, itk. dot – prik, fk. · punktum, itk. (punctuation) consonant – konsonant, fk. vowel – vokal, fk. light – let (weight, adj.) · lys, itk. (illuminating, noun) sound – lyd, fk. yes – ja no – nej piece – stykke, itk. pain – smerte, fk. injury – skade, fk. hole – hul, itk. image – billede, itk. pattern – mønster, itk. noun – navneord, itk. · substantiv, itk. verb – udsagnsord, itk. · verbum, itk. adjective – tillægsord, itk. · adjektiv, itk.

Directions top – top, fk. bottom – bund, fk. side – side, fk. front – forside, fk. · foran back – bagside, fk. · bagved outside – udenfor · udendørs inside – indenfor · indendørs up – op down – ned left – venstre right – højre straight – ligeud · lige north – nord south – syd east – øst west – vest direction – retning

Seasons summer – sommer, fk. spring – forår, itk. winter – vinter, fk. fall – efterår, itk. season – årstid, fk. (of the year) · sæson, fk. (of a show)

Numbers 0 – nul 1 – en · et 2 – to 3 – tre 4 – fire 5 – fem 6 – seks 7 – syv 8 – otte 9 – ni 10 – ti 11 – elleve 12 – tolv 13 – tretten 14 – fjorten 15 – femten 16 – seksten 17 – sytten 18 – atten 19 – nitten 20 – tyve 21 – enogtyve (one-and-twenty) 22 – toogtyve 30 – tredive 31 – enogtredive 32 – toogtredive 40 – fyrre · fyrretyve (outdated**) · firti (only for cheques) 41 – enogfyrre 42 – toogfyrre 50 – halvtreds · halvtredsindstyve (outdated**) · femti (cheques) 51 – enoghalvtreds 52 – tooghalvtreds 60 – tres · tresindstyve (outdated**) · seksti (cheques) 61 – enogtres 62 – toogtres 70 – halvfjerds · halvfjerdsindstyve (outdated**) · syvti (cheques) 71 – enoghalvfjerds 72 – tooghalvfjerds 80 – firs · firsindstyve (outdated**) · otti (cheques) 81 – enogfirs 82 – toogfirs 90 – halvfems · halvfemsindstyve (outdated**) · niti (cheques) 91 – enoghalvfems 92 – tooghalvfems 100 – hundred · hundrede · et hundred(e) 101 – (et) hundred(e) og et 102 – hundred og to 110 – hundred og ti 111 – hundred og elleve 1000 – tusind · tusinde · et tusind(e) 1001 – (et) tusind(e) og en 10000 – ti tusind(e) 100000 – hundred(e) tusind(e) million – million, fk. billion – milliard, fk. 1st – første · 1. (yes, with the “.”) 2nd – anden · 2. 3rd – trejde · 3. 4th – fjerde · 4. 5th – femte · 5. 6th – sjette · 6. 7th – syvende · 7. 8th – ottende · 8. 9th – niende – 9. 10th – tiende – 10. 11th – ellevte – 11. 12th – tolvte – 12. 13th – trettende – 13. 20th – tyvende 21st – enogtyvende 30th – tredivte 40th – fyrrende · fyrretyvende** 50th – halvtresende · halvtresindstyvende** 60th – tresende · tresindstyvende** 70th – halvfjerdsende · halvfjerdsindstyvende* 80th – firsende · firsindstyvende** 90th – halvfemsende · halvfemsindstyvende** 100th – hundrende 1000th – tusinde dozen – dusin, itk. score – snes, fk. number – tal, itk. · nummer, itk. **Frankly, I’ve added a lot (19, oops) of kind of unnecessary ordinal numbers, but I promise they do serve a purpose. While it is outdated to use “fyrretyve” for the cardinal number, it is however not uncommon to use “fyrretyvende” for the ordinal number 40th. If you want to know why Danish numbers are so weird, here’s a post.

Months January – januar*** February – februar March – marts April – april May – maj June – juni July – juli August – august September – september October – oktober November – november December – december ***In Danish months aren’t capitalised. Also if you REALLY want to assign them a gender, all months are fælleskøn.

Days of the week Monday – mandag**** Tuesday – tirsdag Wednesday – onsdag Thursday – torsdag Friday – fredag Saturday – lørdag Sunday – søndag weekday (Monday-Friday) – hverdag, fk. weekend (Saturday-Sunday) – weekend, fk. ****Days aren’t capitalised either. Again, if you’re really into grammatical genders, the days of the week are fælleskøn.

Time year – år, itk. month – måned, fk. week – uge, fk. day – dag, fk. hour – time, fk. minute – minut, itk. second – sekond, itk. morning – morgen, fk. afternoon – eftermiddag, fk. evening – aften, fk. night – nat, fk. time – tid, fk.

Verbs work – arbejde play – spille (things like sports-ball)· lege (kids’ games) walk – gå · spadsere run – løbe · spæne drive – køre fly – flyve swim – svømme go – There’s no direct translation for “go” in Danish. The closest would be “gå”, but that’s not very accurate. stop – stoppe · standse · holde · holde op follow – følge · efterfølge / følge efter think – tænke (the act of thinking) · synes (having an opinion) speak – tale say – sige eat – spise drink – drikke kill – dræbe die – dø smile – smile laugh – grine · le cry – græde buy – købe pay – betale sell – sælge shoot – skyde learn – lære***** jump – hoppe smell – lugte · dufte hear (a sound) – høre listen (music) – høre · lytte til taste – smage touch – røre · berøre see (a bird) – se watch (TV) – se · kigge på kiss – kysse burn – brænde melt – smelte dig – grave explode – eksplodere sit – sidde · sætte sig (sit down) stand – stå · rejse sig (stand up) love – elske pass by – passere · forbipassere cut – skære · klippe (with scissors) fight – kæmpe · slås lie down – lægge sig · lægge sig ned dance – danse sleep – sove wake up – vågne · vågne op sing – sove count – tælle marry – gifte sig pray – bede win – vinde lose – tabe (a game) · miste (losing an object) mix – blande stir – røre · røre rundt · røre rundt i · røre i bend – bøje wash – vaske cook – lave mad · kokkerere open – åbne close – lukke write – skrive call – ringe til · kalde på turn – dreje build – bygge teach – lære***** grow – gro · vokse · dyrke (the act of growing a plant) draw – tegne · trække (like in a lottery) feed – fodre · made catch – gribe throw – kaste clean – gøre rent · rengøre find – finde fall – falde push – skubbe pull – trække carry – bære break – ødelægge (I break the vase) · gå i stykker (the vase breaks) wear – have på hang – hænge shake – ryste · trykke (shake hands) sign – gøre tegn · gøre tegn til · underskrive (with a pen) · skrive under på (with a pen) beat – slå · tæske lift – løfte *****Learn and teach are in fact the same word in Danish, which is why you will often hear Danes say “I will learn you abt. smth.”

Adjectives long – lang short (vs long) – kort tall – høj short (vs tall) – lav wide – bred narrow – smal big/large – stor small/little – lille slow – langsom fast – hurtig hot – varm cold – kold warm – varm cool – kold · kølig · cool (character trait) · sej (character trait) new – ny old – gammel young – ung good – god bad – dårlig · skidt wet – våd dry – tør sick – syg healthy – rask · sund loud – høj quiet – lav happy – glad sad – trist · ked af det beautiful – smuk ugly – grim deaf – døv blind – blind nice – venlig mean – ubehagelig · dum rich – rig poor – fattig thick – tyk thin – tynd expensive – dyr cheap – billig flat – flad curved – kurvet male – mandlig female – kvindelig tight – stram loose – løs high – høj low – lav soft – blød hard – hård deep – dyb shallow – lav · overfladisk · snæver clean – ren dirty – beskidt strong – stærk weak – svag dead – død alive – levende heavy – tung light (vs heavy) – let dark – mørk light (vs dark) – lys nuclear – nuklear famous – berømt · famøs

Pronouns I – jeg you (singular) – du he – han she – hun it – den · det we – vi you (plural) – I (capital i) they – de

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