#war hardens her and she becomes a bit of a badass herself

[freudensteins-monster]

Full Metal Bitch

Whilst not directly inspired by it, if you’re interested in reading an Avengers x Edge of Tomorrow fic (set in the Avengers universe, featuring Mimics and time loops, starring Steve and featuring multiple ships) then I recommend When You Wake by sevenfoxes. It’s pretty devastating at times but I couldn’t put it down. I read it ages ago and this idea just popped into my head out of nowhere this morning [edit. the morning I started writing this… back in November], something about Barnes being a ‘full metal badass’ and then *click*

My fic has Avengers/MCU characters in an EoT-type universe, except I gave them Chitauri  to fight instead of Mimics  (no alphas, omegas, or time loops here) to go for a whole alternative version of the Battle of New York. And I gave them a pretty stupid weakness because I couldn’t help but put in a reference to Darcy and her taser.

Title from the nickname of Emily Blunt’s character in “Edge of Tomorrow”. Check out this link to see her / to get a mental picture of the exo-suits.

Darcy would be straight up lying if she said that the recruiting posters hadn’t influenced her decision to sign up with S.H.I.E.L.D., but she was far from the only one. She had yet to meet a single new recruit who didn’t say “I wanna be like the Avengers.”

The leader of the Avengers was Captain Steve Rogers. He started out as an actual poster boy, and with his all-American good looks and genial personality (even when battling hordes of Chitauri) he’d had been dubbed ‘Captain America’ by the world’s media. He was just some ridiculously handsome artist the PR department had discovered trying to sign up with S.H.I.E.L.D. after the Invasion. They convinced him he’d be doing more good helping to boost recruiting numbers, and if he did he’d be given his own squad to lead if he did his part, and he believed them, for a time. But as the war dragged on, and too many recruits came home in body bags, Rogers decided to put his up-til-then ornamental Captain’s rank to good use and snuck onto a transport to kick ass alongside his fellow soldiers. Rumour had it he had been forbidden from damaging that pretty face of his and when Rogers made it back from his first battle he had told the PR department where to stick their latest recruitment campaign. The powers that be weren’t going to let it go, and were ready to court martial Rogers for his insolence, until the story of the corporate pretty boy turned war hero started making news. He used the publicity to finally gain command over his own unit and hadn’t stopped flashing those pearly whites since.

His first official recruit had been the Iron Patriot, the most advanced exo-suit around (the damn thing flew!) originally piloted by a decorated army colonel, James Rhodes. He got the choicest tech because of his friendship with the creator of the exo-suits, Tony Stark, and he used the famed exo-suit on dozens of missions until a severe injury forced him to retire from the field. The PR guys wanted to keep the symbol alive so Colonel Rhodes selected the most promising candidate, Sam Wilson, a paratrooper who went by the call sign ‘Falcon,’ to take up the mantle.

The Black Widow and Hawkeye had managed to keep out of the public eye, even if soldiers had been telling stories about their amazing exploits around the barracks since the war started, until they took out a whole squadron of Chitauri in front of some quivering mess of a war correspondent.

The Black Widow had apparently gotten her moniker well before she even set foot on a battlefield - the Russian recruit utterly destroyed every sparring partner she ever stepped in the ring with – but the way she effortlessly dropped from a transport ship on a wire like a spider cemented it. Her suit was terrifyingly minimalist (the harness painted blood red) and lacking in protection, which allowed for smoother, faster movement. Watching her slaughter alien hordes was akin to watching a prima ballerina on centre stage.

Hawkeye, a rambling former carnie from Iowa, disliked guns and had jerry-rigged his exo-suit to shoot more vicious projectiles instead, and never missed a shot. When news of Hawkeye’s customisation reached Tony Stark he had been appalled at the craftsmanship but intrigued by the idea and had soon designed a new suit to accommodate the marksman’s more paleolithic interests.

The last member of the Avengers was Darcy’s favourite; Sergeant James Barnes. He was just a soldier drafted into doing his duty, but he was Steve Rogers’ best friend and one of the main reasons the poster boy had been so desperate to join the fray. They made an impressive pair, their fighting styles well synchronised after a lifetime together, until the Sergeant lost an arm during a skirmish somewhere in Europe. After an injury like that most soldiers would have accepted their pensions and retired, far away from the battlefield. But not Sergeant Barnes. He had Tony Stark design him a metal arm and then rebuild his exo-suit to accommodate it. If that wasn’t the hottest thing ever, Darcy didn’t know what was.

So, yes, it was because of her ridiculous crush on the legendary Sergeant Barnes that Darcy had enlisted and tried to be the best soldier she could be. She wanted to impress him and had imagined a thousand scenarios wherein the Sergeant saw her kicking ass and became instantly enamoured with her. It was stupid – she knew it was stupid – but she couldn’t help herself; she wanted him to notice her.

She’d once had the privilege of watching the Avengers walk out to their transport ship together – she swore everything moved in slow-motion - and her best friend had to hold her back lest she lick the shiny appendage attached to the dark and broody Sergeant Barnes. But it was the death of this same best friend that made Darcy finally see the war for the brutal battle for survival that it was, rather than a ‘bloody eye candy parade’ as she’d often joked.

They’d met in basic training and everyone in their squad agreed that Jane Foster was too smart to be crawling around in the mud with the rest of them. They made her their squad’s medic and tried to keep her out of the fighting as much as possible, but Jane was nothing if not determined, even if she freely admitted she’d rather be studying the alien invaders than killing them.

She’d thrown herself in harm’s way to protect their newest recruit, a barely legal kid named Peter without sense enough to take cover. Darcy hadn’t noticed until it was too late. She’d been too busy trying to catch a glimpse of the Avengers in action a few blocks over and would never forgive herself for letting her best friend die alone.

** *** **

Darcy woke with a start, the image of Jane’s blood as it left her body filling her dreams. She threw off her itchy standard-issue blanket, laced up her standard-issue boots, and wandered around the base until she found herself nearing the Avengers’ personal – and off limits – training area. It was barely 2am but there were noises coming from inside drawing her in. There, twisted into some ridiculous yoga pose in the middle of a room, surrounded by metal claws programmed to dart around violently to mimic Chitauri movements, was the Black Widow. Darcy watched on silently until the Avenger pressed a button on a remote strapped to her wrist to stop the training claws. She effortlessly unfurled from her complicated pose and levelled a cold stare at the interloper.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded in her lightly accented English.

“Would you spar with me?” Darcy looked as surprised as the Black Widow to hear the request. “I mean, I’m not really good, pretty terrible actually, but I want to get better.”

The Black Widow took in Darcy’s haunted expression and nodded just once, beckoning the green soldier closer. Darcy was on her back in three seconds flat, but she got back up and did it again, and came back every night for more punishment. By the end of the month it took the Black Widow a full ten seconds to get her opponent on her back.

** *** **

Darcy stepped into her exo-suit and went through the standard system checks, ignoring the furtive glances sent her way. It was going to be her sixth battle without Jane by her side, and each time it just got harder and harder to get strapped in as her squad was filled with new faces to replace her ever-growing list of dead friends.

Word of her midnight sparring sessions with the Black Widow had spread like wildfire through the base and her fellow cannon fodder now regarded her with a mix of respect and fear, so much so that they made her the unofficial leader of their squadron. Officially the title went to a Swede by the name of Thor, as he was the only one in their squad to serve before the war (and looked like the Scandinavian god of lumberjacks to boot), but he had been quietly nursing a crush on Jane since their first meeting and her death had hit him particularly hard.  

“A-Squad! The transport ship leaves in five minutes and you better be on it, or so help me you’ll all be on latrine duty for the rest of your lives.”

Darcy bit back a growl as an obnoxious Major by the name of Sitwell, who had never suffered more than a papercut in the name of his country, strode into their barracks demanding they march themselves to their deaths in an orderly fashion. Darcy stepped down off her prep station, the threatening whir of her exo-suit doing the talking for her.

“Lock and load,” Sitwell bellowed, breaking eye contact with Darcy first and hustling out of the room to go bother another squad.

“You heard the douche canoe,” Darcy called out with more confidence than she felt. “Lock and load!”

** *** **

They were dropped in the middle of a battlefield and Darcy got to work, her exo-suit spewing forth a hail of bullets as she pressed forward, trying to find some cover for her squad. They were doing well, all things considered, and had taken the high ground as they continued to push the Chitauri back, when Darcy did a quick head count and realised Thor was unaccounted for. She spied him half a city block away doing battle against a horde by himself. She ordered her squad to hold their positions and raced to Thor’s aid, cursing his stupid and inappropriately timed berserker rage. Darcy screamed out as Thor took a hit and the last standing Chitauri went in for the kill. Darcy riddled it with bullets but the damn thing kept coming back for more. In an act of desperation she reached down for a mostly empty exo-suit, hurling the sparking and bloodied tangled mess of metal at the alien. She continued shooting at the shrieking creature as she raced to Thor’s side, unable to process what she was seeing until well after the battle. In the moment she had been more concerned with dragging Thor back to their squad by his beard than checking out the fried corpse of one Chitauri.

** *** **

The Black Widow (“Call me Natasha”) was waiting for Darcy in her usual sparring room. As the minutes and yoga poses ticked by the Avenger started to worry that her new acquaintance wasn’t coming back, but then she heard the tell-tale shuffle of Darcy’s boots on the concrete flooring and let go of the breath she’d been holding. Darcy stood in the doorway, lost in thought.

“What is it, sestra?”

“You know Tony Stark, right?”

** *** **

Darcy strode through the weapons warehouse, forcibly ignoring the sight of mechanics hosing down bloodied exo-suits and welding the brokens pieces back together. She followed Natasha’s instructions and took a poorly marked freight elevator to a basement level.

The sounds of utter chaos coming from behind the bunker door would have scared off a less battle weary soldier, but if Darcy could face down swarms of Chitauri she could damn well talk to one eccentric scientist. She pushed opened the door and was felled first by a wall of sound (“Shoot to Thrill” – AC/DC) and then by a cloud of smoke.

“Did something explode?” Darcy coughed as she stepped inside the junkyard masquerading as a well-funded workshop.

A shock of black hair popped up like a meerkat from behind a huge exo-suit prototype, startling Darcy. She took in his hair, his singed clothes, and the fact that he was still carrying around a fire extinguisher, and declared the mystery solved.

“Dr Stark?” she called, trying in vain to be heard over the music. Oblivious to her presence he pulled down his industrial safety goggles and disappeared into the cavity of the suspended exo-suit. Darcy moved to where he had been standing and wondered how she was going to get his attention without scaring the life out of him. The music suddenly dropped in volume but before Darcy could say anything a hand shot out from within the mass of metal.

“Wrench – quarter inch. Now,” he added when the required tool didn’t appear instantaneously.

Darcy scrambled, located the required wrench, and passed it too him.

“Mallet.”

Darcy passed that over too, wincing as he put it to work.

“Donut.”

“There’s no donuts,” Darcy replied, looking around the lab frantically.

The inventor froze at the unfamiliar voice and backed out of the suit. He pulled his goggles off, leaving rings of soot around his eyes, and stared curiously at Darcy.

“You’re not Pepper.”

“Pepper quit last week, Tony.”

Stark turned to the new voice, a man with glasses, fluffy hair, and pristine white lab coat who greeted Darcy with a nervous smile as he stepped into the workshop.

“Huh… She’ll be back,” Stark shrugged. “Hey! Dum-E! No!” he shouted at a mechanical arm in the corner of the lab. “What did I tell you about playing with fire?” he grumbled, wrenching a blowtorch out of its grip. “Fire bad. You keep malfunctioning and I’m going to turn you into an exo-suit, I swear to God. Do you want that?” The machine whirled sarcastically, if such a thing was possible, and waved its arm in a way that suggested being an exo-suit was probably more desirable than the abuse Stark inflicted upon it daily. “Yeah, yeah, keep whining. And stay away from fire,” he ordered.

“Tony,” the scientist sighed, directing Tony’s attention back to Darcy.

“Oh, right. And you are?” he asked before promptly turning his attention to something more interesting.

“This is Private First Class Lewis. Romanoff sent her. Apparently she has a theory about the Chitauri.”

“Oh, a theory,” Stark cooed. “Banner and I love a good theory. Hit me.”

“I…” Darcy stammered, completely flabbergasted by the inventor. Chitauri were definitely easier. Right… Chitauri. “I got into a firefight with a particularly stubborn Chitauri yesterday. Bullets weren’t stopping it, and it was about to kill a friend of mine, so I picked up a short-circuiting exo-suit …”

“Hey! My suits do not short-circuit, alright? They are works of technological genius. And what do you mean you ‘picked up’ an exo-suit? What kind of idiot would disengage his suit in the middle of a warzone?”

“He didn’t disengage it exactly,” Darcy replied, biting back a sigh. “He was still inside it but missing most of his extremities. And his middle. The cause of which probably also caused the exo-suit to short-circuit.”

“…Continue,” Stark nodded, appearing as sheepish as a narcissist such as himself was capable of.

“Anyway, I threw the exo-suit at the Chitauri and it just sort of… freaked out,” Darcy said for lack of a better word. “Then the exo-suit started sparking even more – I might have helped it along by emptying the rest of my clip into it – and I think… I think it got electrocuted.”

The two men shared a look.

“Are you sure?” Banner asked over the rims of his glasses.

“Well, by the time it stopped twitching it looked like a piece of burnt calamari, and smelt half as appetising, so I’m pretty sure.”

“You didn’t happen to bring us back a sample of this burnt calamari, did you?”

“Sorry, I was busy making sure my squad got back in once piece.”

“Right, right… warzone…” Tony mused as his mind wandered.

“I know it’s not concrete evidence, and I don’t expect you act on half-assed intel, but I was wondering… I was hoping you might be able to make me something to test my theory.”

“Like?” Tony prodded.

“Some sort of flash grenade?” Darcy shrugged. “Or maybe, like, a military grade taser? Honestly, I don’t know. You’re supposed to be the genius. Do you have any ideas?”

“Of course. I’ve got a million of ‘em. I can even spare you a few,” Stark teased.

“Okay, then. My squad’s got to have boots on the ground at 0600 Thursday. Do you think you could put together something for me to test out by then?”

“Absolutely,” the inventor replied distractedly, already pulling up a holoscreen to start on a new blueprint.

“I’m in Building 12, across the compound.”

“Uhuh…”

Darcy rolled her eyes and turned to the more responsible looking scientist who gave her a sympathetic smile.

“Private First Class Lewis. Building 12. 0600 Thursday.”

“Thanks,” she muttered as the music returned to ear-splitting levels.  

She left the lab, leaving the two geniuses to argue over the specs, passing a familiar face as she stepped into the elevator. She tried not to react as her arm brushed against his metal one. She had more important things to do, like get her ass handed to her by Natasha.

** *** **

Sergeant Barnes meandered down to Stark’s lab to get his arm checked out, accidently brushing said appendage against a stony-faced female recruit when he stepped out of the elevator. He turned to watch her leave, almost stumbling into the lab.

“Who was that?” he asked in the silence that fell between two songs.

“Who was who?” Stark asked obliviously.

Barnes turned to Banner as he pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

“That was Private First Class Lewis. A friend of Romanoff’s.”

“Romanoff has friends?”

** *** **

Darcy paced in front of her exo-suit, watching the minutes tick by. It would take her ten minutes at least to get suited up so if Stark, or the more reliable Banner, didn’t show up soon she was going to have to suited up in her old gear. A wave of hushed voices rolled through the building and Darcy stopped panicking.

“Private First Class Lewis!” Tony Stark called, strutting in like a damn peacock, revelling in the attention his appearance garnered. Behind him Dr Banner and a few mechanics were pushing two new exo-suit stations towards them. “I come bearing gifts,” he smirked.

Darcy walked over and examined the first exo-suit and couldn’t help feeling a little bit disappointed. It looked pretty much like her current one, at least like her exo-suit did when it first came off the production line.

“What changes did you make?” Darcy enquired, trying to keep from sounding unimpressed.

“Hop in, I’ll give you a tour.” Darcy did as requested, ignoring the dozens of eyes watching the scene unfold. “Okay, it’s pretty much your standard Mach 5 exo-suit,” he explained, strapping Darcy in and taking over her wrist mounted control panel. “But I shed some unnecessary weight and powered it with arc reactor tech, so no more lugging around extra battery packs. Now to your toys. For every standard weapon you’ve got an electrified version. Ten Nebula grenades, patent pending. They’ll light up everything in a five yard radius. And ten clips of Nebula bullets, patent also pending. Do not waste those by firing on automatic. Shoot one, give it a second for the charge to detonate, shoot another if you need to. Got it?”

“Got it,” Darcy nodded, testing the movement of her new suit. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” the inventor replied dismissively. “Now, where’s your Norse god?”

“Huh?” Darcy blinked.

“Sergeant Odinson!” Tony called out, reeling back when Thor stepped out of the line-up. “Sheesh, Romanoff wasn’t kidding. You’re a friggin’ giant. How do you even fit into the Mach 5?”

“With difficulty,” Thor replied, glancing at Darcy for answers.

“Well, you don’t have to worry about squeezing into that exo-suit anymore. I got you a new one. Step on in. Pretty much standard, but obviously it should fit you better,” Tony rambled as Thor tested the suit out, smiling to himself when he discovered he didn’t have to hunch over quite so much. “You’ve got your standard weapon on the left arm but on the right,” Tony drawled, pressing a few buttons and revelling in the surprised gasps from his captive audience as the enlarged right fist of the exo-suit shot out and landed with a loud thunk five feet in front of them. He pressed a few more buttons and the fist, connected to the suit by a several chains and wires, retracted quickly.

“Oh, I like this,” Thor beamed, raising his hammer shaped fist up to inspect it.

“You can also use it to electrocute the bastards. Hit your target then press this button right here to light ‘em up. But, and I can’t stress this enough, make sure you’re gripping these handles when you do. They act like grounding wires and stop the exo-suit from roasting you like a turkey. Got it?”

“I understand. Thank you, Dr Stark.”

“No big deal. A little spider said you were having some anger management issues. This should help you work through them.”

“Thank you,” Darcy repeated.

“Uhuh, just bring them back in once piece – I’m gonna want to retrieve all their hard drive data.”

“Sure thing, Stark.”

“And now that I’ve made my monthly public appearance, I’m going back to my lab to work on the Hulk.”

“The Hulk?” Darcy enquired, her mind flicking back to the oversized exo-suit the genius had been working on when she met him.

“Tony, the PR guys said you can’t call it that,” Bruce sighed wearily.

“It’s my baby, I can call it whatever I want,” he argued as they wandered back to the weapons warehouse.

The mechanics left but the silence remained as they were replaced by the Avengers themselves, all geared up and ready to go.

“Alright, A-hole-Squad!” Hawkeye shouted out, making Darcy roll her eyes. If she ever got her hands on Quill, the leader of L(oser)-Squad and coiner of her squad’s irritating moniker, he was going to end up in the infirmary. “You’re riding out with us today. Lock and load, we leave in five. Last one on does my laundry for a month.”

Darcy didn’t bother waiting for the Avenger to be out of earshot before she addressed her squad.

“You heard the douche canoe. Lock and load!” She ignored Hawkeye’s amused expression and fell in step with Natasha. “Not that I’m complaining, but what’s with the royal treatment?”

“We’re friends. The others seemed to think it was appropriate.”

“We’re friends?”

“Everyone says so.”

“So it must be true,” Darcy finished for her, flashing her a smile. “Stark pimp your ride too?” she asked, eyeing the new additions to the arms of the other woman’s exo-suit that seemed to glow blue at full charge.

Natasha pressed a button on her control panel and two short metal prongs appeared at the end of her fists, sparks flying between the two points.

“Stark dubbed them ‘Widow’s Bites.’ Patent pending,” she smirked.

Darcy just shook her head, “I’ll never understand why you’d wanna get up close and personal with these bastards.”

“What can I say?” Natasha purred as they got locked into the transport. “I’m a hugger.”

** *** **

The transport ships had barely crossed the Hudson before the proximity alerts went off and the bravado her squad had shown in the Avengers’ company started to falter.

“A-Squad!” Darcy shouted over the alarms. “You land clean, you stay together, and you work your way downtown. We’re gonna push those extra-terrestrial fuckers into the Bay, do you hear me?!”

“Sir! Yes, sir!” her squad shouted back.

** *** **

Sergeant Barnes couldn’t take his eyes off the avenging angel across the row, even as the bottom dropped out of the transport ship, wind and the sounds of battle whipping around them.

“What are you smiling about, jerk?” Rogers asked, shouting to be heard, glancing knowingly at Natasha’s friend.

“It’s just good to be home, punk,” Barnes shouted back, grinning from ear to ear. “Hey!” he pointed down at the familiar cityscape passing them by. “You always said you couldn’t wait to get back and for a run around the park,” he laughed.

“Yeah,” Rogers grumbled as the call to drop sounded. “This is exactly what I meant,” he said, pressing the release switch.

** *** **

The battle was already well underway when A-Squad landed. Darcy raised an arm to lay down some cover fire when bullets began to rain down from above. She risked a glance up to see Natasha swinging from her wire in a wide arc, not disconnecting until the immediate perimeter around her team was clear.

She landed gracefully next to Barton, smiling as she began emptying a clip into the next wave of Chitauri.

“Why do you gotta make us all look bad, Tasha?” Barton whined, before shooting a projectile behind him, smirking as it exploded on impact, taking five of the initial targets buddies with him.

“Avengers! Assemble!” their captain shouted over the noise of the battlefield. “Falcon! Clear a path to down towards Columbus Circle. Hawkeye, take to the rooftops and keep an eye on the park. Xavier and Lensher’s teams should be clearing it and I wanna know if any survivors come our way. We don’t want any surprises. The rest of you, follow me!” he called back, more to A-Squad than Natasha or Barnes. He pressed a few buttons on his wrist display and metal plates shifted on the left arm of his exo-suit to form a shield. He marched forward, protecting his now iconic American flag helmet from damage with his left arm and taking out Chitauri with his right. Barnes watched his back and Natasha kept an eye on both of them. Overhead Falcon made runs up and down the street, firing down on the Chitauri, never giving them a chance to regroup. They continued downtown for several minutes without too much trouble but then Falcon’s panicked voice came in over their comms.

“We’ve got skiffs incoming!”

“Shit,” Barnes spat, his eyes shifting to the skies.

“They are on my ass! I could really use a little help here!”

“Yeah, yeah… I got you covered,” Barton drawled, aiming his arm in Falcon’s direction. A projectile shot out of his customised barrel, right between Falcon’s wings, taking out the skiff behind him in a fiery explosion.

Free of his tail, Falcon landed in from of his team, his metal wings folding back.

“I’m a sitting duck up there, and I can’t get high enough to get the drop on them,” he advised as he caught his breath.

“You just need some back up,” Natasha smirked, eying an incoming skiff. “Cap?”

Rogers looked between Natasha and the skiff and sighed. “You sure about this?”

“It’ll be fun,” she assured him, getting a run up as Rogers planted his feet and held his shielded arm out. The rest of the Avengers covered them as Natasha used Rogers’ shield to launch herself at the skiff as it passed over them, swinging herself up and taking out the pilot with her Widow’s Bites.

“Remind me to thank Stark,” she said to no one in particular as she got a handle on the alien craft and turned it around. “Falcon, you coming or what?”

“How the hell do you make this look so easy?” Falcon grumbled as he took to the skies again, flying under Natasha like a Remora fish. Together, with Barton watching their six, they kept the skiffs occupied and away from the ground troops.

The Avengers were a finely tuned machine and any soldier would have felt honoured to watch them work, but Darcy had more pressing matters to worry about, namely not letting her squad get killed.

Upon landing and taking up the rear behind the Avengers her squad was joined by L-Squad. For all Quill annoyed the shit out of her, he was a decent soldier and cared about his squad as much as she cared about hers. Thor and Drax from L-Squad teamed up, going at groups of Chitauri like a goddamn battering ram. Crude but effective. Parker had miraculously survived their last few battles, and though he had become a better soldier since Jane’s sacrifice Darcy kept him close. He’d been making eyes as L-Squad’s Private Watson and Darcy wasn’t about to let Parker run off and make the ultimate sacrifice for some girl he’d never spoken too.

A pack of Chitauri were fleeing the park and making right for her squad so Darcy took the opportunity to test out one of Stark’s grenades. She lobbed the blue-glowing cylinder towards them and waited. Time slowed. Darcy could swear she could hear the soft tick-tick-tick of the timer over the battle. She watched anxiously as the Chitauri made to scatter, but then they were enveloped in blinding flash of blue light.

“That was amazing!” a dozen voices chimed as their eyes adjusted and the first thing they saw was the charred remains of the Chitauri.

“Use them sparingly!” Darcy shouted as she passed all of her remaining grenades but one off to the nearest soldiers.

A guy from L-Squad that Darcy only knew as Rocket (named for the homemade rocket launcher he took into every battle) made grabby hands for the last available one, a manic grin spreading across his face as he discovered it fit snuggly in the tube of his DIY weapon.

“Oh… Yeah…” he growled excitedly, running down the street and climbing up the customised exo-suit of L-Squad’s tallest recruit (a guy from parts unknown whose grasp of English was extremely limited). Rocket hauled his rocket launcher onto his shoulder, barking at his teammate to hold still as he took aim at group of Chitauri that were charging towards them from Columbus Avenue, cackling wildly as they writhed in the blue light.

Darcy ordered Parker and Maximoff, a new guy from Europe (his twin sister worked out of Medical and the kid did everything he could to avoid meeting her there), to her side, covering her as she tested out the Nebula bullets. It was a hell of a lot harder for her, shooting one bullet at a time. She had to make each shot count, had to hit her target, and accuracy wasn’t something her superiors worried about when their regular weapons can unload 625 rounds/min. And whist they were just as effective as the grenades it was frustrating and slow going using the bullets, so Darcy decided to take up the rear, picking off stragglers, trusting Thor and Quill to keep leading their teams forward.

And just when everything seemed to be going so well it all went to shit. A skiff got past Natasha and Falcon and distracted the ground troops from the horde spilling out of the park on their left. Rocket stole a Nebula grenade from one of his own squad and fired it towards the park. It took out a handful of them but the rest kept coming. Darcy switched back to regular bullets and practically cut them in half. Rocket loaded his bazooka with its standard projectiles but just as he was ready to fire his human tower took a bullet to the knee and they both fell backwards. Rocket’s finger hit the trigger as he hit the ground, sending the projectile straight into a burnout car on Darcy’s right.

Before she could even think to move someone was screaming her name, a blur of black and shining metal racing towards her. He made to tackle her to the ground but the ensuing blast sent the car sailing towards them, knocking the pair of them into the park. Voices called out them, Darcy could hear them as the ringing in her head subsided, but they were all too busy not dying to come to their aid. She staggered to her feet and almost fell on her ass again when she saw that her wannabe saviour was none other than Sergeant Barnes. As he came to and struggled to get to his feet Darcy moved to cover him as several Chitauri that had escaped X and M-Squad’s near surgical purge of the park made their way towards them.

“Shit,” she hissed, thumping one metal encased arm on the other, trying in vain to unjam her weapon. “Get up, Barnes!” she shouted. “My weapon’s jammed! Get up!” she ordered, practically dragging him to his feet by the scruff of his exo-suit.

She practically pointed him in the direction of the oncoming Chitauri and screamed at him to shoot until the fog in his head cleared and he was able to fight under his own power again.

“Quit yelling at me, Lewis. You ain’t my CO,” he growled as he mowed down the first wave.

Darcy’s retorted died on her tongue as the familiar, skin-crawlingly creepy sound of the Chitauri screeching was heard behind her.

“Shit! Barnes, we’ve got company,” she all but wailed, failing to keep her rising panic in check.

Barnes glanced over Darcy’s shoulder, swearing under his breath and he relieved her of a couple of clips, reloading before dragging her away.

“Come on, we gotta catch up with the rest of our squad. Barton!” he called, tapping on his ear. “Barton! Get your ass back here and watch our six. We’re coming in hot. ‘m fine, Steve. I’m fine,” he repeated aggressively. “You’re about two blocks ahead of us. We should be caught up in ten, if Barton can keep these assholes off our backs.” He jabbed at his ear, silencing his worried team leader, before turning back to Darcy. “Come on, we gotta get moving. It’s getting too hot, we’ve got meet up with everyone at the extraction point.”

Darcy stuck to Barnes’ back whilst he took out any threats from the park side, Barton and Falcon had them covered from the street side. Their squad was in sight and the incoming transport ships could be heard overhead when Darcy saw her life flash before her eyes. A lone Chitauri, injured and feral with rage, dropped out of tree right on top of her. She screamed and batted at it with her weaponless arms, and then it was gone, ripped off her exo-suit by Sergeant Barnes. He tried to throw it into the park but it latched on to his own exo-suit and tried to pry Barnes out of it. With the added weight riding him like a damn bronco he stumbled, falling into a pool of water caused by last week’s grenades and last night’s rain. He caught hold of the Chitauri, his metal hand wrapped around its throat, and threw it as far away as he could manage.

Darcy watched as it flailed in the knee-deep water before righting itself. Her hand straying to her last Nebula grenade as it made to charge at Barnes who was struggling to walk out of the muddy swamp. She raced forward into the water, transferring her all available power to her to arm joints before reaching for Barnes’s metal arm, throwing him over her shoulder like a rag doll before tossing the grenade at the advancing Chitauri. Darcy tried to get to get clear of the water and out of the blast radius before the grenade went off… she didn’t make it.

** *** **

It was dark. Darcy’s chest hurt. Then she felt lips on hers and air being pushed into her lungs and she came back to life with a cough.

She woke up in the mud, feeling naked and vulnerable without her exo-suit, with Sergeant Barnes leaning over her almost crying with relief.

“Thank Christ…” he murmured, pressing a hasty kiss on her forehead. “Almost lost you for a second there, doll.”

“Who you calling ‘doll’? You’re the pretty one,” she mumbled hazily.

“Is that so?” he chuckled, helping her to her feet. She made for her exo-suit, which looked like it had been pried apart by a metal arm, only for Barnes to stop her. “Your suit’s shot to shit, Lewis,” Barnes advised her, trying to pull her back towards the street. “Come on, we gotta get you back to the transport ship.”

“Can’t leave my suit,” she argued. “Stark’ll kill me if I don’t bring back his data.”

Barnes sighed and moved past her, ignoring Darcy’s protests as he ripped off the control panel with his metal hand.

“Here,” he said, pushing it into her arms. “You’ve got Stark’s data. Now let’s get you to safety.”

“Alright, Mr Bossy,” Darcy grumbled, following Barnes back to the transport ship as their teams cleared the area of the alien scourge.

** *** **

The war ended overnight, not with a bang, but with a tired sigh. One minute the Chitauri were attacking, the next they were retreating as fast as they could as one by one, literally dropping dead like someone had cut their strings. Nobody could say for sure what happened, none of the soldiers believed the nonsense the media was spouting, but they didn’t take their sudden good fortune for granted, burning all but a few corpses which were sent to Banner’s lab for dissection.

Stark regarded the remnants of Darcy’s exo-suit like it was a drool covered tennis ball his pet dog had laid at his feet.

“So, good news – my Nebula grenades work. Bad news – the war’s over.”

“I’m sure the world’s governments will be back at each others’ throats in no time, Tony,” Bruce offered helpfully.

“You’re right. There’ll always be a new war,” Tony sighed.

“But?”

“But they’re gonna want to take the exo-suits and give them to soldiers, who are going to fight other soldiers. I designed them to fight alien invaders, not to put kids in body bags,” he grumbled, slumping onto a stool.

“What are you thinking, Tony?” Bruce asked warily. It didn’t do to let Tony’s ideas wander around unsupervised.

“I was thinking of maybe channelling my energies into less violent areas. I was thinking about my arc reactor tech, and Sergeant Barnes’ arm,” he admitted.

“Clean energy and prosthetics?” Bruce clarified.

“I realise there’s miles between the two, but just think; I’d be helping build a better world, not just blowing up the old one,” he said, punctuating his sentence by hefting a screwdriver at the now defunct Hulk exo-suit. “You should come with me,” he blurted, avoiding Banner’s eyes. “If high tech, neural interfacing prosthetics doesn’t get your motor running, my tower’s got like, ten R and D floors. I’m sure I can find a place for you.”

“That sounds amazing, Tony,” Bruce beamed. “And you should give Dr Helen Cho out of Seoul a call. She was doing amazing things with cell regeneration before the war.”

“Will do, but first,” he said, pulling up a holoscreen. “I’ve got to delete all my files from multiple government servers, and then I’ve got to call Pepper. You might not want to be here for the treason… or the tearful begging.”

“I’ll go get us some coffee,” Bruce laughed.

** *** **

Darcy, fresh from the showers, was tidying up her bunk when a hush fell over the room.

“Holy shit! It’s the Full Metal Badass!” Private Wilson, the unluckiest/luckiest recruit ever (the guy had more holes in him than a block of Swiss cheese), shrieked excitedly.

“Can it, Wade,” Darcy ordered, throwing one of his obnoxious stuffed animals across the room to distract him. “Sergeant Barnes. What can I do for you?”

“Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and that Medical gave you the all clear. And you know, war’s over. You could call me James,” he said, offering her a nervous smile.

“Oooh, James!”

Sergeant Barnes whipped around to glare at Captain Rogers and Senior Airman Wilson, who were batting their eyelashes and making kissey faces at each other.

“Quit it, assholes,” Sergeant Barnes hissed, turning a bright shade of red.

“Aw, come on Barnes. Don’t be like that,” the less crazy Wilson objected.

“We’re just teasin’, Buck,” Rogers continued to tease. “Lord knows you would have done worse to me if I’d been mooning over a girl the way you have.”

“I wasn’t mooning,” Barnes griped quietly, the blush in his cheeks deepening as Darcy watched on with amusement.

“’Buck’?” she asked with a quirk of her brow.

Barnes threw his head back and sighed as Rogers and Wilson laughed at his expense some more.

“Bucky,” he admitted with a huff. “Childhood nickname that the punk delights in sharin’ with everyone.”

“Cute,” Darcy replied doing her utmost not to contribute to the laughter.

“Well, if you like nickname you should get to know the rest of me,” Barnes smirked, watching carefully to gauge Darcy’s reaction. “Over drinks?”

Rogers howled with laughter, drowning out any response Darcy may have had. “Bucky, that was godawful. I can’t believe I ever thought you were smooth with women!”

Barnes turned to rip Roger’s throat out but Darcy’s hand on his arm stopped him.

“I, um, I could really use a drink actually.”

“Yeah?” Barnes beamed back.

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded before turning her attention to her squad who had been watching the entire exchange with interest. “A-Squad! Get dressed, double time. First round’s on Captain America!” she announced, smirking as her squadron cheered.

“What?!” Rogers squawked indignantly, moving to punch Wilson as he doubled over with laughter.

“You know,” Wilson chuckled, wiping away a tear. “I thought I was going to have to worry about the poor girl that fell for your so-called charms, but that girl is going to run circles around the both of you,” he laughed, slapping Rogers on the shoulder as he led the expedition to the nearest bar.

“You know, I could write you up for this Private Lewis,” Rogers grumbled as he counted heads and tried calculate the damage they’d do to this wallet.

“Whatever,” Darcy snorted. “I’m out of here tomorrow. I’m going back to college, getting my last six damn credits, and finally graduating. And then it will be Lieutenant Lewis, thank you very much.”

“Lieutenant Lewis?” Barnes smirked at the alliteration. “I like it. I think I’m gonna call you LuLu.”

“You most certainly are not!”

“Are too!” he teased.

“Fine. Then I’m calling you ‘Bucky’, since you like it so much.”

“Bucky and Lulu…” he mused, offering Darcy his flesh arm. “Sounds like a couple of cartoon characters.”

“Children’s cartoon characters,” Darcy snorted.

“Nah, they’d be badass superheros. Cutesy names to contradict their grim exteriors, tragic backstories, and their kickass skill sets.”

“Oh yeah? What would our superpowers be?” Darcy asked as he led her out of the barracks, paying no attention to the squadron trailing behind them.

“Well, I’d have my amazing strength - and my incredible good looks,” he smirked as Darcy snorted. “And you… you’d put men under your spell,” he said, gazing at her adoringly until she began to blush. “And then light the bastards up with your lightning powers,” he chuckled.

“Nice,” Darcy grinned. “Maybe we should retire from the military and go to Hollywood with our great idea.”

“Nah, you gotta build the groundwork with a comic book first. Stevie here was an artist before he joined up. He can draw the pictures for us.”

“I’m already buying half the barracks a drink, jerk,” Steve shouted over his shoulder. “I’m not doing another goddamn thing to help you get laid.”

“Oh please, Rogers. Like he needs the help,” Darcy shot back, pulling her favourite Avenger in for a kiss.

[kiara-carrera]

EVENS FOR SOLARA

this got super long, so it’s under the cut but pls enjoy my tiny space child

basics

2. what does their name mean? why were they named that? solara means “of the sun.” when i first named her, i actually got it off one of those dtar wars themed name generators, so i didn’t know it was, like, a legit name. but now i think it’s cute because she was born on tatooine which is known for it’s binary suns and her parents fell in love under those suns.

4. how old are they? she’s 17 during a new hope, born roughly two years after the events of the prequel trilogy.

6. what’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? do they believe that holds any significance? okay so since she doesn’t have a birthday (because idk how that shit correlates to sw), i consulted with joey on astrology and she came to the conclusion that solara fits as a gemini for her sun sign. if astrology was a thing in sw, she’d probably believe in it tbh, she gives astrology girl vibes.

8. what “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? if none, what weapon do they favor? she’s technically a jedi. after the events of the original triology, her and luke make it their mission to bring back the jedi order, with the caveat that solara wants to be better and not make the mistakes the original council made. she favors her lightsaber. her first saber was her mother’s that obi-wan gifts her with during anh. somewhere after esb (either when luke gets his green saber or at least somewhere in the timeline before the sequels) she gets a set of two sabers (she uses one regular saber and then a shoto, much like ahsoka tano does). all of her sabers, both her mothers and her own are blue.

appearance

2. do they have a face claim? poppy drayton!

4. how do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression? she gives off a very happy go lucky vibe, especially in the first film. during anh, she’s very naive and ready to throw herself into the action. she hardens a little after anh, so in esb she’s a little bit wiser and more cautious, which increases through the series. either way, her default expression is either a smile or rolling eyes.

personality

2. which one of the 16 personality types do they fit into? i’m not great with these, but i feel like she has qualities of either (i/e)nfp!

4. what are they bad at? she has a problem sometimes with admitting when she’s wrong about something or when she can’t handle things alone. she loves proving herself capable but sometimes it takes a toll on her but she’ll rarely admit when she needs help.

6. do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses? there’s definitely some trauma from watching her dad be killed in front of her, which only gets worse when she finds out that anakin is vader because she knows that obi-wan loved anakin, like that was his best friend and closest ally before he went to the dark side so she is not a fan of the betrayal.

8. what are their manners like? any habits? her manners are a bit all over the place depending on the situation. she knows how to control herself, be patient, polite, and have composure because discipline was involved in her force teachings, but she can tend to become impatient and snarky. for habits, she fiddles with her fingers a lot and can definitely be found meditating at least once a day.

background

2. what’s their family like? growing up, her family was simply her dad. her mother died during childbirth, so obi-wan raised solara himself and was also her pseudo jedi master once he realized her abilities with the force. after his death, her family is a found family of luke, leia, han, chewie, and the droids.

4. how do they fit into their “story”? she’s the force sensitive jedi in training daughter of obi-wan kenobi and a good portion of her story is to parallel the skywalker/kenobi relationship (in the sense of close companions, bes friends, battle partners and how it would be if there was no fall to the sith) and take it a step deeper.

6. how do they eventually die? as of right now, in the sequel trilogy solara is the only one from the original triology human quartet left alive. so for her, death i’m not entirely sure when it happens but it won’t be because of war and bloodshed.

relationships

2. what’s their friend group like? what role do they play in it? her friend group is highkey chaotic. lots of sarcasm and loving insults being thrown around. she definitely fills the role of the baby of the group and han treats her like a chaotic little gremlin child (aka the sister he never asked for).

4. who do they look up to? who do they trust? before he passed, she looked up to her father a lot. for 17 years, he was basically all she had. from the stories she’s been told, she also looks up to her mother and ahsoka tano (who she’s only heard of through spare stories her father’s mentioned - she thinks the girl is a total badass). as for trust, she really goes to trust luke. a core thing about solara’s journey is that it parallels the original skywalker/kenobi bond (with romance added obviously and without the betrayal), so it fun to see how much her and luke come to trust each other. she also puts a lot of trust in han, leia, and chewie.

6. do they have any pets? she does not have any pets. in esb, there’s a droid she sorta befriends but that doesn’t really count as a pet but like,,,a friend that beeps at you.

fun facts

2. do they play any instruments? sports? she doesn’t play any instruments. does lightsaber dueling count as sports haha

4. do they collect anything? i feel like she’d want to keep little souvenirs of all the places she’s been to, considering for 17 years her world was just the barren sands of tatooine because her dad was lowkey a hermit even with her being around (although, i guess that’s a bit subject to change with the obi-wan show but as of rn i probably won’t include that canon if it messes up my canon).

6. which emoji would they use the most? either 🥺 or 😋

8. what’s their favorite expletive? star wars language wise, probably kriffing (which i think is the equivalent of like fuck, idk), but honestly she deserves to say fuck like she’s on the chart of “let these characters say fuck”

10. what songs remind you of them? i see fire by ed sheeran always reminds me of her story. also sun by sleeping at last.

12. what stereotypical high school clique would they fit into? whatever the clique is that has the nice kids, maybe a little bit of a jock thing going on but also not really?

14. do they believe in aliens? ghosts? reincarnation or something else? aliens, yes because she lives in space. ghosts, also yes because of the force. reincarnation probably not but she does believe in becoming one with the force when you die.

16. which deadly sin do they most correspond to? which heavenly virtue? pride and kindness (also, because i know there’s sorta a concept of an “eighth” sin/virtue aka despair and hope, she’d also fit into a hope category if you subscribe to that idea!)

[everydreamtilldawn]

Endgame Thoughts *Spoilers obviously and a whole lot of venting*

OK Endgame, here we go! The absolute disrespect to the audience, the actors, the characters, and all the other creators who put so much work and care into building characters and stories for the other movies and shows which led up Infinity War and Endgame. The Russos are so far up their own asses with how good they think they are. I'm so done with their pure spoiler free excuses. Not letting actors know what scenes they're in, who they're with - wasting oscar winning actors on their own bloated egos insisting adults can't be trusted not to cause a PR scandal over their fanfic. Those assholes put themselves into the canon as "the first canon gay character". Oh, Mr. Unnamed Guy 32 is the first gay character out of all these hundreds of people on screen? Oh Mr. Russo well we all better get on our knees and kiss your gay dick in thanks then you ass faced worthless shit for brain. What a fucking insult. Who has the actual nerve? Who actually has an ego so big they don't actually see the lgbt community and their issues as something to take seriously within their narrative - its like their heads have been under a rock the past few years thinking of only their wonderful, unbeatable movie that they have no idea gay people are main characters now and have their own movies elsewhere in the world. We're not nameless, background characters you dicks. The fact that 10 years led up to this is like spitting in the face of your audience and telling them exactly how little you actually care about them except for their money. Every bit of Endgame highlighted and emphasized the flaws that was the monstrosity that was Infinity War. Starting there - I will never get over the fact that the end battle of Endgame so clearly shows how awful the previous movie was. I think I've told you all the problems I have with IW before but to emphasize again - the "we don't trade lives" concept is still something I'm furious over. The fact that grand old captain america wasn't willing to kill Vision for the UNIVERSE but was ok with a few hundred Wakandan's dying for Vision to maybe live? Bullshit. AND that final battle? WTF so we're supposed to believe that in the... five?... ten minutes? after being snapped back to life all those people got off their asses? I can't even. They expect us to believe that when you put all those geniuses, warriors, battle proven tacticions, strategists and spies in a room that they still make all those obvious mistakes when they know the UNIVERSE is at stake? Where was that army of sorcerers in battle one? Why did Wong or whatever his name is really HAVE to protect that one sanctum even knowing the fate of the UNIVERSE was at stake? They had hours to plan. HOURS. If not days?!?!?!?!?! They went to different countries, they had time to sit and plan. They had time to call in the world's resources to prepare, to gather armies. Instead they fought with Wakanda and a handful of superheroes - why??? They literally knew the stakes, the only reason they didn't have the huge army battle scene in Infinity War is because Marvel wanted another movie. They wanted to make billions on Endgame cause they knew audiences would come back if they shock value killed half the universe and then brought them back for battle two but uhhhhhhh.... On your left was a great badass scene and all. But they had max like ten minutes to gather forces who legit just came back to life. Who sent out that distress call btw? Why did all these people NOW have a plan of attack and were gathered in preparation to fight?

Was it badass? Was the shot of Captain America alone against an entire army not iconic? OF COURSE. I loved that scene. I loved the women gathering around Peter and racing to fight against the army as one. It was legendary. There were some really funny, badass, and wonderful moments. But it was a bad story. It was bad writing. Working my way down from character murders that least upset me to most. Black Widow. She finally came to life in this movie. She was a leader, she had emotions, she was more than a catsuit, a sexy smile and a witty comment. I adored her. I despise her death. I hated that in the end she was still another pretty face lying sexily at the bottom of a pit for the life and will of a man. I’m half okay with her death, because it was almost justified. In this story where she was finally a fully-fledged and fleshed out person – she had wants and goals and those centered around protecting her family. The character she was in this movie didn’t even begin to exist until Endgame and it’s a tragedy that she was murdered before she even reached her full potential. But she did want to sacrifice herself so the universe could live again. She wanted Clint to go back to his family. She wanted to give her life for the only thing she loved. BUT Clint was the true perfect mirror for this narrative. Thanos sacrificing Gamora will never be okay. Gamora said it herself – that wasn’t love. That was glorifying abuse. Thanos never should have been given the soul stone under the ridiculous and unclear rules of the soul stone. Honestly, I’d believe Red Skull is just fucking with everybody at this point with how ridiculous those rules are. No way is what Thanos did love. I will come back to the Russos glorifying and being okay with child abusers when I get to Tony and his father. Clint would have been the mirror to Thanos in that moment. Instead of a father killing his daughter, it would have been a father dying for his daughter. His relationship to his daughter is even highlighted at the start of the movie and in his time travel moment. Clint hated who he’d become, he was ready and willing to sacrifice himself for his family and at that point he deserved it. As shown later with Tony – the theme of fathers sacrificing themselves is a relevant theme. So why Natasha in that moment. Why not the father? Why not the narrative mirror? Why the only woman on the team, the one who has grown to be a real person in the narrative and one who is now LITERALLY IMPORTANT TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE WHOLE WORLD AND THE UNIVERSE? She became the leader of the Avengers and expanded their reach across galaxies by communicating and coordinating with Rocket, Nebula, and Carol. She had a world to rebuild by coming home. It’s not like they’re going to give Clint his own redemption movie where he makes up for his half assed arc to becoming his Ronin character arc. I’m half okay with it, but I also think it was the completely wrong choice of which character to sacrifice.

THOR. The insult to Taika Waititi. The insult to Thor, Thor: the Dark World, and Thor: Ragnarok. The insult to Thor the character. Hell, the reversal on Thor -2.0 from Infinity War. Years of movies, years of work building this character. Them saying that not only does Thor, who finally learned to be the God of Thunder without his hammer, who took up Odin’s role and finally accepted his place as King, needed to be.... fixed?!?!?! They gave him back his eye for starters which reverses the whole meaning of him losing it in the first place. Of assuming the role of Odin, of King, of being Thor. Then they give him the axe and then the HAMMER. Thor moved on. Thor accepted himself. Thor in Ragnarok is proven to be stronger without the hammer than he was with it. Giving him the axe, making him obsessed with getting his hammer back, reverses three movie of character development. AND THEN. Making him FAT. Making him STUPID. Making him threaten children, abandon his people, abandon his duty, fall into a depression completely unlike his character who is a hardened warrior with deep emotional depth and understanding – a fucking soft hearted genius in his own right who was able to easily give forgiveness to Gamora and understanding that being the daughter of an abusive monster isn’t her fault. They have the audacity to spend a whole movie making fat jokes about him and decide to reverse him back ten year’s worth of character development. Oh hardy har, we’re such good writers. We understand posttraumatic stress and the mindset of heroes – look he’s drinking beer, and an alcoholic, and eat a salad you fat fucks. WTF. It wasn’t funny. It was mean. It was unnecessary. It was out of character like the Russos came up with it high on crack and refused to let it go. Thank god Chris H is a good enough actor not to show how insulting it must have been to have his character be paraded around in bad cgi and treated like he’s an idiot. Did the Russos not watch the other movies in the canon? Did they not care that Thor had become this deeply complex character who loved his people, would do anything for them, was ready to be King and lead – NO I guess they just don’t care. Like everyone who sat on their asses during the battle in Wakanda. It would have been amazing for Thor to have gone back in time to see his mother as the true and worthy King at last, if his final arc had been around idk his apprehension at how to lead his people after failing them, after them dying down to a few hundred. Having everything he could have been overshadowed by the Russos need for a running joke the entire movie is so very insulting. It shows just how little they think of the audience’s intelligence.

CAPTAIN AMERICA. The insult to women’s agency. I truly at this point think the Russos are lying fucks who have no respect for women. They’re sexists assholes. The insult to the entire team of Agent Carter. The insult to Peggy fucking Carter, the most badass woman who built herself up, who built Shield, who moved on, who had a life, a husband, children, who died in peace and was put to rest. Nope. Forget about everything she did. The Russos plot line is more important. Steve Rogers started out the movie saying how important it was to move on, and what does he do? Not move on. Lets highlight the insult that throwing in “the first gay character” is when facing the cowardice of switching Steve Rogers from being so obsessed with protecting Bucky Barnes that he threw away the shield, became a fugitive, and left the family and team he’d built in the future to chase after Peggy Carter who he HAD MOVED ON FROM. He kissed that one random blonde girl he had no chemistry with. He said goodbye and buried Peggy. Peggy had a life, she was happy. Did she miss Steve? Was she sad he “died”? Yeah. But now she doesn’t get a choice between the future she could have had and the one where Steve buts in and I guess Bruce didn’t have a discussion with Steve about splitting the path of time into multiple realities cause the Russos decided to fuck their own established logic and leave Steve in a new version of the past – where almost all the infinity stones are returned in their non-original forms, loki is fucking off with the tesseract and Thanos/his entire army/and Gamora are all in the wrong time never to forge the original war in the first place? They didn’t put a single scene between Steve and Bucky reconciling the past few years, Bucky’s dusting or the fact Steve was gonna go and never come back after ALL THAT. After Winter Soldier and Civil War, Steve said fuck Bucky, fuck the avengers, fuck this future that doesn’t have Iron Man, I want to go dance with a woman who HAD A LIFE WITHOUT YOU YOU ASSHOLE. I was touched by the old man Steve returning to give Sam the shield. I thought it was wonderful, I cried a little. But what about Peggy? What about the timeline? What about the rules????? Fuck it, there’s a gay character now and Thor is fat, the rules don’t matter anymore I guess.

Tony Stark.... deserved better. He is the true, real hero. The only hero. I don’t care about anyone else. Excluding his own 3 movies and Homecoming, Tony’s character was done so wrong in the Avengers movies by the writers, the audience and the other characters. So many people wrote him off as the person he pretended to be instead of the person he was. They saw selfishness and ego instead of the amount of sacrifice, the effort he gave into making the world a better place. He was such a good person. He grew so much. He gave his life for a world that never loved him, but that he never stopped loving. Natasha and Tony were the only people with something left to lose, but they were the ones who sacrificed themselves for a cold, uncaring universe and they deserved better. Tony finally had everything he never thought he would deserve – a wife, a daughter, a peaceful life at rest. All his wars were finished. He had everything to lose and he went into the endgame with the one condition that he would not give up what he had gained. And still they killed him. It was the only acceptable death for a hero like Tony Stark, but that doesn’t mean he deserved it. That doesn’t mean his daughter grows up without her father. That doesn’t mean its okay for that abusive, negligent asshole that was Howard Stark to get a last hoorah and be “redeemed” by a final conversation with his son. No. Tony had multiple arc, multiple points in his life where he had to rise above Howard and all that Howard stood for, all the ways Howard had hurt him and held him back. He was better than his father – going to be a better father than his father. Thanos and Howard will never, ever be men who should be looked upon as having loved their children enough for them to die in exchange for the greater good. It was so very satisfying for Tony to finally have it out at Steve for everything and I wish that scene had been longer. Tony deserved to live.

Final points. The timeline stuff, again, was bs. They insisted on not messing it up and still they messed up everything. The greater implications of all that is... astoundingly idiotic. Along with, why not just have Tony’s life ending snap send Thanos right back to the past along with the infinity stones to their rightful places and memories erased? If the infinity stones can do anything, such as kill half the universe, why not correct the flaws of the plot? I thought it was stupid that the only reason the time heist failed was because Nebula didn’t think about mind melding with her past self. The fact that’s even a thing... that happened. Really. The whole movie shouldn’t have existed let alone be three hours. They set such a great tone with the opening scene. It was tragic and heart wrenching and then seeing Natasha finally realized and the world broken. I can forgive dues-rat-machina bring Scott back cause I love Scott, but the time heist threw out all the tension. I didn’t feel the stakes, I felt like they stepped sideways into a whole different genre. That middle plot didn’t feel like a movie worth ending an era on. It felt cheesy and underdeveloped. Again – they had forever to plan. There was no time limit pushing them to go to the past immediately. They could have taken the time to think this out, cover every possible option – and they did. They’re shown doing that. So how, for the second time in these two movies, do these brilliant geniuses, tacticians and strategists believably fail to predict the outcome. And uhhhhhh did snapping all those people back account for the post snap casualties? Cause we saw helicopters flying into buildings, cars crashing, we were told that wars broke out and people went kinda crazy as they had a right to. The snap resulted in post snap causalities by the billions across the universe – had to have. So did all those people come back? What happens to the people who moved on and now have a 5 years younger mother/father/sister/brother/friend/loved one/wife/husband/etc to deal with who just blinked and suddenly half the people they care about are now five years older and the whole world is different? The sheer amount of housing and food crises that are about to begin post “snap 2: the snappening” are insane. And I get that its no fun to think about that in the fun of a big super hero battle and all that. But next movie will probably have zero mention of all that as shown by Peter’s entire class just moseying along on a European vacation in the next Spiderman. So Peter’s entire class got snapped, came back, and went on with their lives? The rest of the world’s infrastructure repaired itself in the time frame of Peter still being in High School? Yeah, right. But still – the fact that there’s an hour and a half of the movie that pauses all the tension and drama to be a comedy is just... whatever fine. It was funny. It was kinda cool, but it didn’t belong and it wasn’t necessary. Ok, I think I’m done.

[shestranged]

Bellatrix Hecate Lestrange // the devil shudders as she rises ( she’s taking aim for his throne )

She grew up wanting to break things —- toys and hearts and bones and people. Her father indulged her, quietly forming her into the woman that she is today, a weapon, a beast. Someone who finds peace in the destruction, in the chaos, in the violence. People say that she came out a little wrong - something unhinged about her persona already as a child. Those jet black eyes, waiting to devour you. Sharp teeth pulling into a Cheshire cat grin before she could even speak. As she grew older, she became more adept at hiding her… faults, slowly learning how to suppress her anger, her hatred. Instead growing colder, burning less hot ( a ticking time bomb in the making ). But then she met him. And at his side, she became so much worse. As his right hand, she tapped into unimaginable powers, but it all came at an equally unimaginable price. With him, she became less human, more vile. At his side, all she wanted to see was the streets run red with blood.

what up i’m liz, i’m twenty one and i’m here to bring u my favorite villain and chaotic badass, bellatrix lestrange !! this will be a bit long probably bc i could talk about her 5ever. most important parts to read probably are #hogwarts years, #after hogwarts and #personality stuff !!

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name: bellatrix hecate lestrange occupation: senior obliviator former house: slytherin date of birth: december 23. age: 32

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS:

Let’s set the scene --- it’s a cold December night, right before Christmas, and the Black mansion is shaken by blood curdling screams. It’s the kind that leaves you breathless, shivers running down your spine, leaving you with the sense that something is very, very wrong. Which, Druella Black fears that it very well might be ---- because her (expected) son is four weeks early. 

The birth process is excruciatingly long and difficult for poor, poor Druella, but when the clock strikes eleven on the night before Christmas, a girl comes crashing into the world. She’s not what they expect, nor what they want, and she never cries --- instead, she just watches them with those big black eyes that always seem to be appraising something.

-

Though Bellatrix’s birth was mostly an unwelcome surprise ( she came too early, and it was no secret that her parents had hoped for a boy ), she was also the first child to carry on the Black legacy, which was an honor. A necessity.

As a baby, she was small and meager. Nurses whispered about the Black baby that could barely muster a scream, that seemed so frail. Like she might break at any second. But that memory would soon fade and be replaced by a much more unpleasant one - because Bellatrix’s bones hardened, her skin thickened, her eyes grew meaner. Within a few years, any trace of that soft baby was gone, and instead, a cruel toddler took her place.

As a child, Bella was vicious. Biting, clawing, screaming and cursing were things she picked up fast, and she’d terrorize the other kids at the playground ( with an almost scary aim for her muggle born / half blood peers ). 

Once she reached the age of seven, she calmed down a bit, and instead started following her father around ( and was lovingly referred to as his ‘little shadow’ ). Eager to prove herself, she learned everything that a son of Cygnus would have learnt. She was determined to show her father that being a girl would not stop her from becoming worthy of the Black throne, to carry his name with pride. Over the years of her childhood and adolescence, Bellatrix forged herself into the golden girl, a respectable heir in the making. Desperate to wear the crown.

Under her father’s influence, uncontrollable rage was switched in for an eerie quietness, anger instead boiling right below the surface, just waiting to be unleashed. She was so eager to please, to sculpt herself into whatever he wanted, so she suppressed her emotions the best she could, even though it never felt natural. And so, the nurses whispered again, but this time, it was about her sweet, sweet smile, matched with those mean, mean eyes. ‘Doesn’t it look distorted? Like that damn Cheshire cat. Something’s not right about that girl, I’m telling you. She came out wrong’.

Behind closed doors, Cygnus also encouraged Bella’s darker side. Introduced her to the dark arts and the chaos that she would later come to love so desperately.

Most of her childhood was characterized by harsh words, strict rules and high expectations. Her family’s reputation weighed heavy on her shoulders, constantly pressuring her to excel. Luckily, she shared her parents’ ambition and values, and had no problems conforming to their rule. Which also meant that she could get away with much else. As long as she remained the golden girl, Bellatrix could run wild and free.

HOGWARTS YEARS:

Bellatrix had been duly prepped before arriving at Hogwarts. She was the first of their children to walk the halls, so it was important to both Druella and Cygnus that Bellatrix knew how to behave. Who to fraternize with. Who to avoid. Who was worthy of her time. Her parents had also made sure that she already had the appropriate friends — and play dates with other pureblood kids were a common occurrence when Bellatrix was younger.

At school, Bellatrix was popular ---- the resident cool girl. The type of girl that hardly ever objects to anything, because she is always down to have a good time. The type of girl that loves Quidditch, dirty jokes and cheap beer. The type of girl that hides her true colors, at least for a while. Until she explodes.

So Bella kept out of trouble, for the most part. There were a couple.... incidents, with muggleborns. One or two may have been turned into rats and toads ( under the guise of it being a joke --- can’t you take a joke, come on now? ). More serious things have been strictly forgotten by everyone involved. Powerful parents will do the trick. Mostly though, Bellatrix kept to her fellow Slytherins... biding her time. Waiting to strike.

She played for the Slytherin Quidditch team, as a beater, and was eventually made captain ( nothing less for a child of Cygnus, she must excel ). During her time on the team, she was notorious for her cruel playing style, her foul tricks, the constant smirk on her lips as other players fell to the ground. 

And during her sixth year, she was eventually recruited into the Death Eaters. And with them, she found a second home, quickly rising through the ranks. 

AFTER HOGWARTS:

After graduating from Hogwarts, Bellatrix took a year off from her studies. The official reason was that she needed to “find herself”. Whatever the fuck that meant. Obviously, it was a lie to hide what she was really up to. In reality, Bellatrix was at Voldemort’s side, learning leglilimency and occlumency, all the while developing her dark magic and her shitty personality.

Quickly became Voldemort’s personal attack dog, always willing to do his bidding, no questions asked.

At the age of nineteen, Bellatrix found work as an obliviator. Though the choice had ultimately been hers to make, the dark lord was always whispering in her ear, encouraging her to infiltrate the ministry. The goal was to have sleeper agents of death eaters in every department once it was time to go to war. It also helped that becoming an oblivator just made sense — fucking with the minds of muggles could already be counted as a hobby (albeit a twisted one), and she had always been good at taking things that didn’t belong to her… Memories would be no different.

Will occasionally throw pureblood galas, but isn’t too invested in them. They’re just for show, and she couldn’t care less.

Among the Death Eaters, Bellatrix is in the inner circle. She considers herself the dark lord’s right hand, and prides herself on being his most loyal servant.

Bellatrix also has a pet snake, lovingly named Medusa. 

Today, Bellatrix works as a senior obliviator at the ministry of magic. She handles a lot of paper work, but is also out in the field a lot.

PERSONALITY:

First of all - Bellatrix is a fucking shit show and we all know this.

She is like night and day ----- and her temper switches incredibly quickly, which makes her unpredictable, a little scary. She can go from the girl her family forced her to be - the Socialite, the Sophisticated Woman, the Cool Girl, to something far more sinister in the matter of minutes.

When she’s at her worst, Bellatrix is cruel, sadistic, self righteous, impulsive, angry as hell, deranged, unstable, manipulative, a little bit unhinged, ruthless, playful, childish and absolutely lethal. It’s always brewing right below, so close to the surface, just waiting to come out.

But she’s also calculating, clever, quick on her feet, intensely passionate, fiercely loyal (until she’s... not), adaptable, intuitive and assertive. 

Bella often contradicts herself — she has grown up believing that it’s best to be cold and devoid of emotions (#thanks dad), but she’s a highly emotional person by nature. She tries to suppress that as best as she can, but she usually boils over pretty fast. Other emotions are usually translated into anger as well, so that’s fun. I think the best way to describe her is that she’s just fire, always burning hot or cold.

Voldemort’s influence on her is also really important!! His influence poisons her mind, her soul, her heart. The darkness that was already there is amplified, becomes a thousand times worse. Though already a skilled witch, he introduced her to magic she could only have dreamed of --- and that power became corruptive, addictive. For power, Bella would gladly pay the steep price of sacrificing her soul, her humanity.

Bellatrix really does think that she is in the right. 

Also probably thinks that she’s better than everyone else at all times. There’s definitively an air of arrogance surrounding her.

Mrs Lestrange thinks that she’s invincible, and likes walking a little too close to the cliff’s edge ( playing with fire ). Will occasionally drop hints that she COULD be a death eater, but never goes too far with it. And if someone suggests that she is one, she acts like that’s absolutely outrageous. How dare you imply that I am affiliated with anything... !

Okay so, I am convinced that Bellatrix doesn’t reach peak evil + instability until after Voldemort’s fall and Azkaban, so I’m really trying to tone her down a bit and give the influence of her upbringing ( + her nature ) a bigger role in the person that she becomes. Hence why she is a little better at hiding her true colors, a little more refined. : ~ ) Though, she’s still the hammer ( doesn’t have the most finesse, mostly just likes getting things done, her technique isn’t exactly intricate, but ALWAYS effective ).

Even if most people probably don’t know that she’s a death eater ( though some probably suspect lbr ), she has a very intimidating presence. That’s her brand. And she still has that Weird Aura about her, like there is something that isn’t quite right, so that could also weird people out.

STYLE / FASHION / APPEARANCE:

Bellatrix has jet black eyes and the hair to match. It falls in soft curls over her shoulders, down her back. 

Usually wears dark red lipstick.

She hides her dark mark with a concealment spell while out in public.

Dresses mostly in black. Has to wear clothes that can fit into the muggle world while at work ( since she is often out in the field, interacting with muggles ). While there, she wears a well worn leather jacket ( with shoulder pads, in true 70s style ), and wide, black pants.

Files her nails into long claws, and paints them black.

Is tall. Likes towering over people.

AESTHETICS / VIBES:

black dresses, whispered hexes, broken champagne glasses, the calm before the storm, bullets caught between teeth, a constant paradox, skin stained black and blue, a devilish grin, ‘is that wine or blood on your carpet?’, snakes wrapped around wrists, mean eyes, always running hot and cold, a cheshire cat’s smile, soft laughter as the light leaves your eyes, divine violence, a taste of the approaching revolution / the new world order, quiet desperation, family heirlooms, unwavering loyalty, sudden fits of rage, emerald lockets, double lives, ‘would you still like me with my hands around your neck?’, no conscience, silent promises, taunting you with her very last breath, the hardest of hearts, dried blood on expensive clothes and a quiet conviction that this will all make sense in the end.

CHARACTER INFLUENCES:

amy dunne ( gone girl )

katherine pierce ( tvd )

jamie moriarty ( elementary )

glory / glorificus ( btvs )

villanelle ( killing eve )

jennifer blake ( teen wolf )

klaus mikaelson ( tvd )

kilgrave ( jessica jones )

lilith ( supernatural )

drusilla ( btvs ) 

cersei lannister ( got )

helena ( orphan black )

faith lehane ( btvs )

mazikeen ( lucifer )

FAVORITE CHARACTER TROPES:

SLASHER SMILE - a smile in anticipation of pain or death // a cheshire cat grin.

THE DRAGON - a monster the hero has to get past to get at the big bad. the top enforcer.

TORTURE TECHNICIAN -  takes the heroes and turn them into screaming, shinned shambles.

LADY MACBETH - frequently more crazy than her husband, quite the sociopath, in the business of turning men towards evil.

EVIL WEARS BLACK - duh.

DISSONANT SERENITY - someone smiling gently in the middle of death and carnage, seeming almost enlightened as they slit throats left and right.

THE BERSERKER - throws herself into battle with such reckless abandon, that it seems like she wants to die. never, ever retreats.

THE BARONESS - a female baddie with a chilly disposition and more than a touch of the dominatrix about her.

WICKED CULTURED - evil is intellectual // basically an evil aristocrat.

THE CHESSMASTER - thinking three moves ahead at all times. manipulating, planning, plotting.

DADDY’S LITTLE VILLAIN - shares dark father’s ambitions and cruelty.

BERSERK BUTTON - always ready to fucking snap.

SOFT SPOKEN SADIST - occasionally. a monster who might describe just how horribly she’s going to mangle you, while speaking in a voice that’s anything but monstrous.

DARK ACTION GIRL - likes beating the hero to a bloody pulp. good at it too.

AMBITION IS EVIL - has grand plans. ends justify the means, always.

[ebhenah]

Anchor

Fictober 18 Day 8

Prompt: "I know you do."

Original Fiction (a continuation of my Fictober Day 7 story: Uncharted)

Rating: T Mentions of war, death, family separation, LGBTQ2SIA+ relationships

She kept the jacket, and when it stopped smelling like home, she traded it for another. She relished the scent of her father's best friend and how closely it was tied to memories of her childhood. She couldn't wear it anywhere public, because it was a UNIFORM jacket for a military organization that she wasn't a member of- in any timeline. She wasn't a soldier. Chains of command irritated her. She didn't thrive in such a structured environment. She wasn't made to conform. Honestly, she'd never really understood how her parents could cope with it- especially the humans that had contributed half of her genetic make-up and raised her. They were both strong-willed, headstrong, and kind of reckless. The aliens that made up the other half of her background- they made a bit more sense for a military career. One was the consummate soldier, and the other… imperious was probably the best description. Regardless, she was NOT cut out for a military life. Too much of a wild card. Not that she had a hard time with being part of a team- she actually thrived in a team setting as long as everyone had equal say. It was when she was expected to blindly obey that problems started to crop up.

So, she had kept the jacket. She wore it in the privacy of her own quarters, on the ship full of aliens her family had liberated before their planet had been wiped out. The ship that had been home to her boisterous siblings and exasperated parents and their closest friends and teammates for years. The quarters she had shared with her wife for far too short a time. It felt odd to have such a large chunk of the ship to herself, but she was not ready to allow strangers into her space just yet… and the younger versions of the people she considered family were all happily and appropriately housed on the other ship.

They were still watching out for her though, which felt a little odd, since she was older than most of them now. They were still the same people, just… a little less wise, a little less cynical, a little less war-worn. It did her heart good to see them so… unburdened. To know that THESE versions of the people closest to her might never have to harden and age the way that the people she'd grown up with had. It did something good to her soul to be able to watch the younger versions of her fathers fall in love and forge a life for themselves. Everything might be completely different, but that love gave her a bit of an anchor in this uncharted territory.

Slowly but surely, her living quarters were starting to become a favorite spot to hang out when they were off duty. She taught one of her dads her favorite lullaby from when she was little and helped the other perfect his kimchi recipe. She discovered her hangar was slowly filling up with junked engines and spare parts and tools enough to keep her in projects for weeks and the guy who'd taught her how to hold a wrench and bought her her first set of protective goggles blushed when she mentioned it. When she went to train or work-out, as often as not she'd find one of her childhood mentors ready to spar or spot her.

Bit by bit, they were showing her that she wasn't alone. Proving that family was made of stronger stuff than time. They'd seen her with her brother and her dads- before the three of them had safely returned to her original timeline and she'd gotten stranded here. They'd worked together to create a new future for their people… and in doing so, they'd accepted her as one of them. As lonely as she was; as homesick as she felt; there was no way any of them were going to let her feel ALONE. The whole world might feel like a weird, faulty copy of her own childhood- but she was not isolated in it by any stretch of the imagination.

Still, the best moments were often the ones she shared with the only one of the inner circle that she HADN'T grown up with. Someone who hadn't survived in her own timeline. Someone she'd saved, only to have him save her right back. There was a kind of freedom in that. There was no weight of memory. No lingering ghost of what had been to be. Just him. Just her. Just two of them trying to find their footing in a world that wasn't really designed to contain either of them. Living ghosts, he called them. It had led to nicknames. She was Spook. He was Wraith. No one but each other ever heard those names. They'd never even had to discuss it- they both just knew they weren't meant for any other ears.

So, when she heard footsteps behind her during one of her many bouts of insomnia, she expected it to be Wraith. It wasn't. It was the younger of her two fathers. The one she'd grown up being told she was a mini-version of. The one that shared the personality traits she was finding it hardest to access in this new life.

"Can't sleep?" he asked, dropping to the floor beside her. They were in one of her favorite spots, the scaffolding that scaled the far wall of the big communal hanger, overlooking her work space.

"I don't know what you are talking about," she answered, peeking out from the folds of the ridiculously too huge borrowed jacket. "I'm out like a light, safely tucked into my bed, dreaming of sugarplum fairies and strippers."

He snorted, "you got me- I actually thought for like, a split second there that you wouldn't find a way to make that weird."

"You don't like dreaming about strippers?" she asked, "I find that very hard to believe. Strippers are awesome dream fodder."

"Why do you do that?" he asked.

"You know why," she answered, "you do it, too."

"You don't have to do it with me," he said gently, "since I know why you are doing it in the first place. Seems like a waste of effort."

She shrugged, her ear twitching in agitation and flattening against her skull, "I don't even think about it anymore. It just happens."

"I was talking to my mother today," he said, apparently choosing to change the subject rather than push. "She wants to meet you."

"Nope," she answered, shaking her head. "That's not going to happen. I can't. I can't see them, so young… and start all over with them, too."

"They're your family," he pointed out.

"No. They are YOUR family. I'm not even going to be BORN in this timeline."

"You don't know that."

"I kind of do, though," she sighed, "I know how I came to be, and those reasons won't exist here. You guys will find a surrogate, or adopt, IF you choose to have kids- and I am fine with that. Really. I am. My family doesn't need to be your future. You have more options than my dads did. That's a good thing. You won't have to resort to the alien science experiments that made me and my siblings."

"Don't talk about yourself like that," he scolded, "you aren't some kind of…"

"Monster? Lab specimen? Freak?" she shook her head, "I know all that. Doesn't change HOW I came to be."

"I would be so proud to get to raise you," he said softly. "I realized today when I was talking to my mother that none of us have really said that to you. I know that you know your parents are proud of you. You've told me about how happy your childhood was, how loved you were. I saw for myself how close your family is… but you keep talking about how we aren't locked into doing things the way you remember them happening. That your past doesn't have to be our future. I don't think you realize…"

"I don't realize, what?" she asked, turning to face him, her eyes tracing over features that she grew up turning to, the furrowed brow she saw in her own reflection more and more lately.

"That getting to have you as a kid- it's something I look forward to. I hope that that is something that DOESN'T change."

Her eyes welled with tears, "thank-you. That's very sweet. It means a lot to me."

"Do you remember what you said to me the first day we met?" he asked, "when you told me you had younger siblings?"

"Some kind of cocky joke, I'm sure," she laughed, "but I don't remember exactly what."

"You said 'look at me, I'm awesome. Of course you had to go for the sequel. Who wouldn't want more of me in their life?' You were joking, but it's true. You are awesome. That was the moment I decided to follow your advice and tell him how I felt. Because as scary as the whole 'this is your future spouse' thing was- and it's pretty terrifying, let me tell ya. That's a ton of pressure! As scary as it was, I didn't want to risk missing out on these awesome kids I was hearing about. This strong, sassy, beautiful, matchmaking, badass who built a ship from scratch and named it after a lesbian sex joke, and who took the time to help heal an injury no one else even noticed, and who saw danger as an adventure, but treated everyone around her with compassion and who was the first person to crack a joke and break the tension was MY kid? That floored me… and, like you said, your brother was kind of cool, too."

The tears spilled over and she gave him a watery smile, "really?"

"Yes, really… I want you to know how lucky and honored I would be to get to have the family he did. To have you and your siblings to raise and love. We interact like friends, mostly- because we are pretty much the same age-"

"I am four years older than you," she pointed out, "you aren't even at your full height yet."

"Like I said- PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AGE," he insisted, "but you are still my daughter, and I never forget that. I love you… and today I realized I'd never said that to you. I love you and I am proud of you. I'm really glad I got to meet you. I see me in you- but… like, a BETTER version of me."

"There's no such thing," she squeaked, trying to keep from crying at all the sweet things he was saying. She just knew her face was blue from blushing and her markings were cherry red from all the conflicting emotions. "There's no such thing as a better version of you. You are the best person in the universe. I've always said that, and I stand by it. The very best person in the universe."

He pulled her into a hug, arms tight around her and hands rubbing her back. "You're not the smartest kid, because I am sooo not the best person in the universe," he teased, "but you are awesome."

"You smell like him," she whimpered, dissolving into tears finally, "and I love you- I do. I love all of you. I just… I miss him so much. I miss them all so much."

"I know you do," he soothed, "of course you do. Go ahead and cry. I got you. That's what dads do for their little girls."

[ramajmedia]

10 Movies To Watch If You Liked The Halloween Reboot | ScreenRant

A few years ago if you had asked anyone about Halloween they probably would have said it was a classic but worn out horror movie franchise that wasn't particularly relevant to the horror scene today. But that was before the Halloween reboot came out. The Halloween reboot followed the story of now-grandma Laurie Strode and her endless battle against the terrifying Michael Myers, and if it's box office success is anything to go by then it single handedly rescued this flailing franchise.

RELATED: 10 Horror Movies To Watch If You Like Saw

The Halloween reboot definitely has it's roots in the original Halloween but also feels like a somewhat different animal than the many Halloween sequels. This is a Halloween for a new era, and it's a movie that is earning the entire franchise a legion of new fans. So if you can count yourself as a new (or maybe an old!) Halloween fan, then here's ten movies you need to add to your watch list.

10 Halloween: H20

Halloween is such a popular horror movie franchise that if someone wanted to recommend movies to watch if they liked the Halloween reboot then they could probably make up a list entirely consisting of Halloween sequels. However, some entries into the Halloween franchise are more relevant to the reboot than others. This latest installment saw Laurie Strode demolish Michael Myers, and Halloween: H20 has a pretty similar overall story and theme. In this iteration Laurie Strode is protecting her son instead of her daughter, but seeing Jamie Lee Curtis back in action once again makes H20 worth the watch on it's own.

9 Carrie

If anyone is a fan of Halloween then it's likely because they either love Laurie Strode or they love Michael Myers, so why not watch a movie where you kind of get a two for one deal? In Brian de Palma's film adaptation of the Stephen King novel Carrie, Sissy Spacek plays the titular character of Carrie White. Carrie is a generally sweet outcast who is abused by her ultra-religious mother (played masterfully by Piper Laurie), and she discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Carrie ultimately winds up becoming the villain of the piece, but if you like scary girls then Carrie is must see TV.

8 Scream

Film making can be a somewhat cannibalistic industry, most filmmakers love to draw inspiration from other materials and reinterpret it in their own special way. Horror tends to be an especially self referencing genre, and there is no film that is more intentionally, gleefully referential than Scream.

RELATED: 10 Pre-Star Wars Sci-Fi Movies That Are Still Worth Watching

Writer Kevin Williamson clearly adores classic horror movies like Halloween, because Scream draws from all of those classics and puts a fun and modern twist on it. And if the references to horror classics weren't obvious enough, the characters of Scream actually watch Halloween in one scene and Randy, the self appointed horror movie expert, explains all of the rules of horror movies as they watch along.

7 The Silence Of The Lambs

The dynamic of the innocent young woman versus the terrifying male villain is a dynamic that has played out in horror films an incalculable number of times, but one particularly impressive interpretation of that is The Silence of the Lambs. The Silence of the Lambs is such a good film that many people wouldn't even think of it as a traditional horror film, but any movie with a lead character colloquially known as "Hannibal the cannibal" clearly belongs on the horror movie shelf. Hannibal is the real star of this film, but FBI ingenue Clarice Starling makes for a very formidable opponent.

6 Alien

When it comes to horror and thriller films, the fear of the unknown expresses itself in a lot of different ways. Often times it's in a literal manifestation of the unknown or unknowable, and in the instance of Halloween it's a silent, blank faced man who's single-minded goal is carnage.

RELATED: 10 Great Movies To Watch After Binging Stranger Things

But in Ridley Scott's Alien it takes the form of a literal alien life form that destroys all of the humans in it's wake. And much like in Halloween, one shockingly tough lady is what ultimately comes between this unknown force and the destruction of all of the other people this being wants to harm.

5 Ginger Snaps

Women in danger is one of the most popular recurring themes in horror films, and horror film creators always manage to find different ways to put a new spin on that theme. With the Halloween reboot, it's obvious that Laurie Strode has transformed herself from a scared girl into a warrior. And in the movie Ginger Snaps, a teenage girl finds herself transformed from the innocent girl into the actual monster. Ginger Snaps is a werewolf movie that is clearly meant as an allegory for the scarier aspects of the teenage girl experience, and it's a brilliant movie for anyone who is a fan of the Halloween reboot.

4 The Descent

The entirety of the Halloween franchise has ostensibly been about Michael Myers, but the best bits of the Halloween series have always been about Laurie Strode. Laurie Strode transformed from the classic last girl standing into a formidable warrior woman. And if anyone enjoyed a movie about a formidable warrior woman, then why not multiply the amount of badass chicks to make a movie even better? The Descent is a terrifying movie about a group of besties who go spelunking and run into some seriously dangerous and scary monsters in the cave they're exploring. It's a horror movie, so obviously not everyone survives, but that makes the adventure all the more thrilling.

3 You're Next

The Halloween reboot centers around Laurie Strode, her estranged daughter, and her granddaughter, but is it possible that Laurie had another estranged daughter that she just forgot to mention in this movie? Because if she does, then that girl is named Erin and she's the protagonist in the movie You're Next.

RELATED: 10 Cerebral Action Movies To Watch If You Like The Matrix

You're Next is a movie about a home invasion where one of those home's residents was raised by survivalists and happens to be exceptionally capable of handling a gang of masked murderers. And even if Erin's last name isn't Strode, she would undoubtedly fit right into the Halloween reboot family.

2 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Halloween film franchise is one of the most beloved, well known, and successful horror franchises in movie history. But if you're looking for a movie that feels like what Halloween would be if it happened in real life, then The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one you need to add to your watch list, pronto. Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one horror movie that even the most hardened watchers will feel unsettled by, and the ultra-realistic feel of the film is what has made it into the enduring classic that it has become in the intervening years since it's original release.

1 Halloween

This seems like a given, but if you're a huge fan of the Halloween reboot then there is no better place to start than with the OG. Any horror fan worth their salt has probably already seen Halloween before, but the reboot was a smashing success and it's a near guarantee that at least a few people who saw the new Halloween didn't catch the original. It's a horror classic for a reason, and after seeing the ultra badass Jamie Lee Curtis kick Michael's ass for good in the reboot it's fascinating and thrilling to go back and see the scared teenage version of Laurie Strode.

NEXT: 10 B-Rate Horror Movies From The 80s Everyone Needs To Watch

source https://screenrant.com/movies-watch-liked-halloween-reboot/

[heiwanoryu-archive]

RULES:  List five tropes applicable to your character, then tag others to do the same.(Tropes Wiki)  REPOST! DO NOT REBLOG.

Tagged by: No one; a friend linked it to me. Tagging:  YOU.

Badass Bookworm: The Avatar isn't on Robin's level of intelligence or tactical ingenuity, but they do read in their spare time, and while naïve, are far from stupid. By the end of each game, the Avatar will have bested in combat great generals, dangerous criminals, royalty, hulking monsters, shape shifters, reanimated soldiers, seasoned veterans, and depending on the route Garon's dragon form ("Birthright"), a slime monster, an empowered Takumi ("Conquest") and finally their true father, a dragon-god-king ("Revelation").

Badass Princess: The Female Avatar, as she's a part of the Nohrian royalty (and even though she was adopted from Hoshido, she was of royalty there too) and is far from helpless. Also, her initial class is called Nohr Princess.

Blade on a Stick: While the Avatar can't use lances by default without re-classing, it's revealed in the female Avatar's support with Shiro that she's skilled enough with a lance to give him a run for his money. Considering everything the Avatar knows about fighting comes from Xander, a Paladin, it's not surprising.

Blithe Spirit: The Avatar doesn't particularly care if others perceive them as weird when they help out—and thanks to their optimism and social ignorance, they often do come across as such. It's especially notable in Revelation, where they shock everyone by choosing neither side to make their own.

Bond Villain Stupidity: Invoked late in Conquest when they have Ryoma at their mercy. The Avatar tells Garon they should spare him to extend his suffering, although the real reason is because they actually don't want to kill him.

Character Development: All routes give the Avatar different development due to the circumstances in question. To wit:

In Birthright, they grow more and more furious over the atrocities committed by Nohr, but at the same time, becomes all the more resolute in their idealistic beliefs. By the end of the route, they still remain firmly believing in their idealism, but they're much stronger mentally from where they started.

In Conquest, they join Nohr with the noble - if somewhat naive - intention of changing Nohr from within, believing that the war can end quickly if they change Garon for the better. Sadly, it doesn't work out, and the Avatar soon realizes that the only way to save the continent from ruination while changing Nohr from the inside would be to go along with the plan to invade Hoshido. By the time the route reaches its climax, they go from a Wide-Eyed Idealist into somebody who reluctantly cast aside their own ideals in order to change the world for the better. It's to the point that when confronted by a possessed Takumi, the Avatar doesn't even bother to justify their actions and instead accepts Takumi's rage without a second thought.

In Revelation, they get a mix of their Birthright and Conquest development. They are no longer naïve to the happenings of the world and become confident in themselves, but are still kindhearted and optimistic to a fault.

Cultured Badass: The male Avatar isn't just a skilled warrior. He can play the piano, likes poetry, is well-versed in philosophy, and is even said to learn how to sing if he marries Azura. [ I apply this trope to the Female Avatar as well ]

Deadpan Snarker:  The Avatar dishes out their fair share of snark throughout the story.

Azura: Avatar! We have trouble! Nohrian forces are approaching! Avatar: Seriously? We haven't even been here five minutes...

Girly Bruiser: The Female Avatar comes across as this. She's as battle-hardened as her male counterpart, but her female-specific support with characters like Caeldori show that she enjoys girly things like romance novels.

Good Is Not Dumb: As nice and naïve as they are, the Avatar is not stupid. They clearly don't buy Garon's claims that he wasn't trying to kill them with the exploding sword on Conquest, and on Birthright they'll actually list the event as one of the reasons for their defection. In Revelation, they aren't fooled by Anthony's deception, pretend to go along with it and effectively out-gambit him, and later correctly deduce Scarlet's killer based off something only they would know.

Good Is Not Soft: They're no pushover, either. Before the route split, they stand their ground against Garon and, with their dragon powers, intimidate Hans into talking about his assassination attempt, and afterwards they prove they're willing to resort to threats if it can get the job done — even on the lighter route, Birthright.

Hurting Hero: During Conquest, the Avatar's supports with Azura reveal them to be this. To elaborate, they have recurring nightmares over the Hoshidans that have died as a result of their choice, and is having a crisis of morality over just how far the ends justify the means, even believing that they're going to Hell for what they've done. This doesn't stop them from pressing on, however.

Informed Deformity: If Peri is in the Hot Springs with a Female Avatar, she will comment that the latter's body is covered in scars - enough to make her giddy - though this isn't reflected by her character model. Of course, it's possible that they've just faded too much to see outside of very close inspection.

Innocently Insensitive: The Avatar was raised away from the world, and while kind-hearted, occasionally makes a comment or question that seems normal to them, but insults the other person.

Lethal Chef: Per the series' tradition with its Player Characters, the Avatar can't cook at all. They manage to burn tea in their supports with Jakob, and are implied to produce food that tastes like steel (they were taught to cook by Gunter, who can't cook either). This trait is a bit inconsistent with the female Avatar, who reveals herself to be a fairly skilled baker in her Support conversations with Dwyer.

Living Emotional Crutch: It's strongly implied that they are this for several characters.

Nice Guy:

Caeldori: You always put the needs of others before your own. Even when dangerous, you choose mercy, compassion, and kindness over all else.

No Social Skills: The Avatar is a fairly forward individual who sees nothing wrong with behavior others would label "unconventional", such as shouting in a public area. This can be chalked up to their reclusive childhood not giving them the chance to develop normal social skills. Despite this, they still manage to get along with people well enough.

Oblivious to Love: The male Avatar has around half a dozen ladies that can potentially be crushing on him, but he never notices until they flat-out tell him. Camilla and Rhajat drop some very obvious hints about being into him, Hinoka and Felicia have liked him for some time, and Sakura and Azura are implied to fall for him after meeting him for the first time. His failure to notice is Justified given his isolated upbringing and lack of real social interaction.  [ I apply this trope to the Female Avatar as well ]

The Pollyanna: Rain or shine, the Avatar is a perpetual optimist and is rarely in a bad mood. This trait endures throughout Birthright and Revelation (though in the latter, it gets somewhat tempered, due to the dire situation at hand since Anankos was seeking to destroy humanity), but gets utterly crushed in Conquest.

Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Azura's Blue. The Avatar isn't exactly hot-headed, but they do tend to make decisions based off their hearts instead of their heads, as well as being openly emotive.

Royalty Superpower: As a descendant of the First Dragons, and in fact the direct child of Anankos, they are able to use Dragon Vein, which will be inherited by any child they become a parent of.

Shared Family Quirks: Orochi states in her support with Ryoma that Mikoto was very fond of sweets just like the Avatar. The Avatar also inherits Anankos's apologetic attitude. Several characters such as Fuga note how the Avatar has the same personalty as their adopted father Sumeragi.

She-Fu: This normally-female trope actually applies to both genders. The Avatar might be the most acrobatic lord in the series; their fighting style incorporates many flips, graceful spins, jumping sword strikes, and rolls.

Skilled, but Naïve: The Avatar is well-known to be naïve despite their skill, as Rinkah and several others refer to them as "that sheltered Nohrian prince(ss)".

Spock Speak: The Female Avatar speaks formally at all times.

Strategy Versus Tactics: Unlike Robin, the Avatar is good with the latter but not the former. While their charisma makes them an excellent leader in skirmishes and the Male Avatar's support with Shiro show he's good at discerning an immediate opponent's strengths and weaknesses, both genders lack the vision to handle large-scale battles. Their supports with Leo in particular showcases this difference, with the Avatar being upset at their inability to command large forces and Leo upset as his inability to command small ones.

Survivor's Guilt: Never outright stated, but it's implied they suffer from this, due to Sumeragi and Mikoto dying to protect them. Their supports with characters like Kaze and Yukimura have them apologizing for surviving Garon's ambush when Sumeragi did not—something they had no control over—they often express doubt over their own worthiness, and they downright panic if they're ever forced to leave allies behind. Depending on the route, they may have to watch even more of their loved ones sacrifice themselves for them, and express a great deal of anguish over that as well.

Sweet Tooth: Several of their supports include them handing candy to the other person, implying they love sweets and keep some on them at all times. Jakob also mentions making some for them in his supports with Effie.

Trying Not to Cry: In late Conquest, when Ryoma kills himself in front of them, they hit a point where they need to walk away and verbally remind themselves that crying now would ruin their facade as Garon's obedient, cold hearted child. It doesn't work, and they shed several chapters' worth of Tears of Remorse.

Unstoppable Rage:It doesn't happen often, but when the Avatar gets pissed, they get pissed. Their mindless, grief-driven rampage in Chapter 5 is perhaps the best example of this, followed up by their Paralogue with their child Kana after seeing them attacked.

In Conquest, when Iago tells the Avatar about all the things he has done under the king's orders to ruin their life in their pre-fight conversation in Ch 26, the Avatar straight up says they will kill him.

Warrior Therapist: The Avatar is always willing to lend an ear to the troubles of their comrades, and will do whatever they can to help.

Weak, but Skilled: While the Avatar is no slouch in battle, and is arguably one of the best fighters in the army, they are far from the strongest, finding themselves bested by more powerful opponents like King Garon, Xander on Birthright or Anankos in Revelation in straight-up single combat. Rather, their greatest strengths are their intelligence and analytical ability; their charisma; their determination; the Yato; and their bonds with the many people that are or grow loyal to them, especially the royal siblings. Their fighting style seems to reflect this trope as well—lots of flips, spins and twists that lack power, but are very fast and hard to dodge.

Wide-Eyed Idealist: The Avatar has a rather hopeful, idealistic view of the world. Depending on what route is chosen, it may or may not be broken by what happens next.

Xander: Mark my words, Avatar... One day an act of kindness may be the death of you. Avatar: Perhaps, but if I'm kind, I will die without regrets.