#with a control panel and it looks like a spaceship cockpit window but if you get up real close it's a computer screen

[orcboxer]

bro WHAT is up with these creepy owl fuckers

[the-final-high-noon-rings]

@mechtober-2024 day 1 - captain

"on the bridge sits siegfried, her captain, her lover"

[ID: A pencil drawing of Siegfried and the Odette from Swan Song by the Mechanisms. The top half of the drawing is shaded dark, so as to look like space. The Odette is a white spaceship, and sits in the middle of the shaded part, and is curved, looking vaguely like a bird. The human version of the Odette is a pale woman, with long hair, and a flowing dress. She has a sharp, long nose, and one hand is clasped over her heart. Several planets and stars are visible, and in cursive are the words "Escape pods still working fine," from the song "Swan Song". Below, Siegfried sits, one hand laid on a surface, the other lifted up. They are a brown person, with a large, flat nose and hair that is shaved on one side and bleached dreads on the other, and wear rectangular glasses. Siegfried wears a dark suit with an insignia of three lines over their chest. Behind them are several windows showing the void outside of what is presumably the cockpit of the Odette. They narrow their eyes in concentration. In the bottom right, a younger version of Siegfried, with darker hair sits at a control panel. Blocky text, also from the song "Swan Song" reads "I won't leave you,". End ID]

inspiration for designs below cut!

[pixiemage]

My Fate Is In Your Hands - Entry 4

[ Entry List ]

[ Previous | Next ]

[A/N: This is a story entirely guided by you guys, by the readers. Be sure to vote at the end of each entry! ALSO, if you'd like to be added the tag list, please let me know and I'll be sure to add you next time!]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

➤ Right? Left? Unclear! It’s a tie!

Jimmy can’t make up his mind and stands there in the actively burning ship like an indecisive fool. He stays there for SO long that the fire overcomes the part of the ship he's in and a piece of heavy metal interior panelling dislodges and falls on his head, squashing him instantly. He respawns in the Sheriff's office in a panic and has to make the trip all the way back to the spaceship, by which time he's beginning to wonder if he should have just asked Pixl for help instead. Hopefully the pilot survives without him! :D

[...just kidding. But honestly, you’re lucky I love you. I’ll give you the better option despite the tie, as a treat. I might not be so kind next time!😉]

➤ Right

Jimmy turns right and clambers over rubble, ducking under hanging hoses and wires and being ever-mindful of his wings. He’s not sure where the cockpit is exactly, but he’s fairly sure he’s going in the right direction. Before long he’s rewarded for his quick deduction work when he comes across a damaged door. It’s just as white as the rest of the ship with a red stripe running across it, and it’s jammed halfway open by debris and fallen supplies from a nearby storage locker. It takes a few minutes to try and clear the mess, and a bit of brute strength with the pickaxe from his inventory for Jimmy to pry the door open far enough for him to get inside.

The cockpit. He guessed correctly after all.

The cockpit is in just as much ruin as the rest of the ship. Sparks fall from torn wires in the ceiling, and the control panel is missing a large chunk off its right side. The front window is shattered and broken glass litters the ground like ice crystals. There’s a lone sturdy chair mounted in the center of the small space…and though Jimmy had expected to find the pilot there, that’s not the case. There are unfastened buckled straps hanging free from the seat, and Jimmy almost wonders if the pilot had gotten out of their own accord…

Jimmy's eyes fly wide and his breath hitches as something catches his eye in the corner of the room. There’s a person. There, half-buried beneath rubble and too close to fire for Jimmy’s liking, is a person. Someone in a white soot-tarnished spacesuit is trapped and seemingly unconscious in the corner of the cockpit, and the moment Jimmy spots them his pulse skyrockets. Oh gods.

He darts forward in an instant, keeping low to avoid the growing smoke, and he begins prying heavy panels of metal and tangles of other debris off the stranger on the ground as carefully as he can. He has to cut away a few cables with his pocketknife to finally pull them free, and the moment they are Jimmy loops his arms around their torso, all but dragging them out of the rest of the mess to the only clear spot he can find in the tiny room. He moves quickly, almost frantically, rolling the stranger onto their back to check for vitals.

Their helmet is broken. His helmet is broken, Jimmy realizes, eyeing the pale face behind the broken glass with ever-mounting concern. The man he's looking at has narrow, pointed features and he looks human enough, though Jimmy has had enough experience with human-ish people on the Empires server to take that observation with a grain of salt.

(And the man had crash-landed out of the sky in a spaceship of all things, so for all Jimmy knows, he could be an alien. He shoves the thought aside to ponder later.)

More importantly, it looks like some of the glass from the helmet caught the pilot's face on impact, tiny cuts just barely bleeding...though there could be more he can't see. It’s difficult to know how extensive the damage from the crash is while the man is sealed in his spacesuit, but moving him without checking first could do more damage. Jimmy squares his jaw and takes a breath. He can't waste time. He has to make a choice, and fast.

He could pull the astronaut from the wreckage first, injuries be damned. The fire is still roaring around them, and though the cockpit seems stable for now, Jimmy isn’t sure how long that could last. But at the same time, the fire isn’t spreading fast, and he can’t possibly know how injured the pilot really is without taking the time to check. Trying to haul him out of the ship without stabilizing injuries first might make them worse…and might even cause the astronaut to respawn. (If he even can respawn. It’s a painful thought.)

Jimmy’s fingers fidget at the helmet’s seal, pondering whether he should be taking it off yet or not.

Does he stay or does he go?

[Tag List] @firefly124 @mellioops @beaversuenightly

Let me know if you'd like to be added!

[shopaholicsrus]

Creating a Sci-Fi Interior in your house, home, or living space.

Are you a dreamer of distant galaxies? You lean toward the sleek futurism, your living space can reflect the stories that ignite your imagination.

Sci-Fi Interior: Futuristic Elegance & Galactic Adventure

Neon-lit Cyberpunk Loft

Sharp angles, LED accents, and holographic art create an electrifying atmosphere.

Transforming your space into a Neon-lit Cyberpunk Loft is all about blending futuristic aesthetics with urban grit. Here’s how you can achieve the look:

Key Elements of a Cyberpunk Loft

Neon Lighting – Install LED strips along walls, under furniture, or behind screens to create a vibrant glow.

Metallic & Industrial Accents – Use exposed pipes, steel furniture, and dark tones to enhance the dystopian vibe.

Holographic & Digital Art – Incorporate hologram panels or cyberpunk-themed wall art for an immersive feel.

Smart Tech Integration – Voice-controlled lighting, AI assistants, and futuristic gadgets complete the high-tech atmosphere.

Minimalist Yet Edgy Furniture – Opt for sleek, geometric designs with a mix of dark and neon colors.

Urban Cityscape Views – If possible, large windows overlooking a city skyline add to the cyberpunk aesthetic.

Inspiration & Resources

Here are some images to spark ideas:

There is a common theme of pink and blue, and I am unsure why that would be, but there is no reason not to look for smart home devices that allow you to set the mood of the room with voice or at the touch of an app.

Here are some combinations to think about:

Classic Cyberpunk Palette

Neon Pink & Electric Blue – A vibrant, high-energy combination often seen in cyberpunk cityscapes.

Deep Purple & Bright Magenta – Adds a mysterious, futuristic glow.

Black & Neon Green – A sleek, hacker-inspired aesthetic.

Dystopian Cyberpunk Palette

Dark Gray & Crimson Red – A gritty, industrial look with a rebellious edge.

Steel Blue & Burnt Orange – A mix of cold technology and urban decay.

Charcoal Black & Deep Teal – A moody, underground cyberpunk vibe.

Futuristic Cyberpunk Palette

Holographic Silver & Neon Cyan – A sleek, high-tech aesthetic.

Midnight Blue & UV Purple – Creates a deep, immersive atmosphere.

Gunmetal Gray & Neon Yellow – A sharp, edgy contrast.

Things to shop for:

SciFi Anime Cityscape wall Tapestry

VST Floating Shelf with RGB Light

Northern Galaxy Light Aurora Projector

Govee Smart LED Strip Lights

These are smart-speaker compatible, but you can get the cheaper ones with a remote, but it's not recommended if you want a permanent or long-term installation. Black Light Bar

Cyberpunk Light

Sci fi wall art

We particularly like: City Paintings Cyberpunk Office Decor Paintings

Now, this may be an odd addition, but trust me, it's quick to charge. It takes the small pencil-width glue sticks from the dollar store, and it's great for quick repairs to LED strips that may come unstuck and for other maintenance. WORKPRO 7.2V Cordless Hot Melt Glue Gun If that's not to your taste, how about these other room concepts? Why have a boring, conventional interior? Make your living space how you want it!

Starship Cockpit Workstation – A desk setup inspired by the control room of your favorite spaceship.

Amazon.com : space ship decorations

Minimalist Galactic Chic – Sleek metal, glass, and monochrome color schemes for that clean, futuristic look.

Amazon.ca : minimalist home decor

AI-Assisted Smart Home – High-tech voice commands, dynamic lighting, and a sleek digital interface.

smart-home-decor

Deep Space Bedroom – Celestial murals, glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars, and cosmic bedding.

Amazon.ca : space theme room decor

Retro-Futurism Lounge – Think 1950s sci-fi aesthetics with colorful pods, orb-shaped lights, and chrome surfaces.

Start small, lighting and a piece of artwork can be a great start, and lighting can change a whole room's feel, but have fun, think about what you like, plan out your idea carefully, and have fun executing it.

[igarbagecannoteven]

Hey megs! For the 555 prompts: takeover. Mwah have the best day <3

hiya team! i hope you are having a wonderful day <3 you probably don’t remember sending this prompt but here it is! i strayed a bit from the theme but hopefully you will forgive me :))

read it on ao3 or below the cut!

The Spank have the SOS Unpredictable completely surrounded, their various artillery aimed directly at the spaceship’s hull. The Unpredictable’s weapons are all severely damaged from recent battles and with the added fact that they’re running low on fuel, they’ve got a one-in-a-million chance at making it out alive. If they die, the last hope of the Smotherland will die with them and the Sombrero Galaxy will be at the Spank’s mercy. The four-man crew of the SOS Unpredictable gather in the cockpit to talk strategy, but instead they stare out the window at the looming ships that dwarf their beloved spacecraft, a gloom settling over them.

Finally, Calum the co-pilot speaks. “There is always Option H.G.”

Captain Irwin immediately starts shaking his head. “Absolutely not. It’s too risky, and it might not even work.”

“What other option do we have?” their mechanic, Michael, asks. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to die yet. Any chance is a good chance right now.”

Ashton frowns. “I’ll only allow it if everyone else is on board with it.”

Three pairs of eyes turn to look at Luke. He opens his mouth to respond, but at that moment the radio crackles to life. 

“This is a message to the SOS Unpredictable.” The stereotypically nasal voice of an angry Spinky fills the cockpit. “If you do not surrender and submit yourself to the power of the Spank, we will blow you and your ship to smithereens. You have three minutes before we set our blasters to pew. Over and out.”

There’s a hiss of static before the radio cuts off. Luke sets his jaw, his expression a mix of fear and determination. “I vote we commence Operation Heartbreak Girl.”

Ashton’s face is grim. “Then we’d better get to work.”

                    ******************************************************

It takes them nearly two and a half minutes to get everything into position. Ashton takes his position at the helm of the ship and turns on his walkie talkie.

“Alright, everyone in position?”

“Aye aye, captain,” Michael says. 

Calum’s voice is quick to follow. “Ready and waiting.”

“In position, captain,” Luke says.

“On the count of three then.” Ashton’s hands hover over the controls. “In three… two… one…”

It feels as though the whole spaceship is holding its breath.

“GO!”

Down in the belly of the ship, Calum pulls down hard on multiple levers at once. Panels all along the sides of the SOS Unpredictable slide open, revealing giant speakers. Luke pushes a large cassette tape into the ship’s computer system and presses play just as Michael connects a tank of sleeping gas to the ship’s A.C. system. As the beginning chords start to play several decibels louder than is recommended, Ashton punches in a destination and activates autopilot. 

The song starts in earnest, and the wall of sound hits the Spank spaceships like an armored tank. It shatters their weapons and wreaks havoc on their navigational instruments. The volume levels increase until it’s so strong the ships are blasted away from the Unpredictable. 

The crew of the SOS Unpredictable are soundly asleep to protect their brains from being damaged, but the same cannot be said of the Spank. They howl as the Unpredictable shoots through the widening gap between two Spank starships and launches into hyper-speed. Hope for the Smotherland is alive and well.

[aanihtewrites]

・🚀 ⸝⸝ ・P0H3 --- pt. 1

“Voyagers, are you ready to start your journey to Planet P0H3?”, a voice boomed from the speakers inside the futuristic-looking white spaceship. The ten voyagers who are astronauts, all of them aged between 23-27, dedicating the rest of their youth to science, strapped in their respective seats. The woman who was sitting in front of the main control panel replied, “Yes, initiate the ten-second countdown.”

Nervousness, fear, determination, joy, hope, all of these feelings mixed up. The voyagers held onto their armrests, taking deep breaths from the oxygen supplied to them through the white spacesuit they were wearing. Some of them closed their eyes, some of them took the name of their lord and prayed for a safe take-off, while others looked straightforward with a determined face. They have been preparing for this for 5 long years, it will cause an immense loss if this launch fails, it may even cost their lives or even the future of humanity.

10...9...8

Seven more silent seconds till their lives changed.

7...6

Five more seconds till they start their journey towards the unknown.

5...4

Three more seconds till they go out of human reach.

3

Two more seconds till the take-off of the century, the take-off on which the lives of everyone on the Planet Earth mattered.

2

One more second till they reach one step closer to inhabiting new human life on another planet

1

There is no going back now.

The engine thrusts with its full capacity, pushing the spaceship towards the blue sky, ready to pierce right through the blanket of clouds and enter the place where no one knows what happens.

The pressure in the cockpit increases due to the speed of the spaceship, everyone’s organs are moving around creating a funny feeling in their stomachs. But, it couldn’t take a toll on them, they trained for this very moment ever since they decided to sign up to colonize a new habitable planet, far away from their mother planet, Earth, and further away from the well-known Solar System. Out of the 500 million habitable planets scattered all around the Milky Way, they were heading to P0H3, the planet which seemed to be able to sustain human life just like Earth and Mars.

The spaceship successfully ended up in space, they finished the first step of this voyage. A smile of euphoria spread across the lead female’s face. After earning confirmation from the land control center back on Earth that they can take off their straps and enjoy themselves till it’s time to start preparing for going into a deep sleep.

“Congrats team, we did it.”, the female says in a monotonous yet joyful voice, keeping her professional attitude. She can’t loosen up before making sure everyone was okay and the take-off didn’t take an effect on their health. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yes Captain Judith, I am fine.”, a male voice booms through the intercoms placed inside their spacesuits. “Everyone else seems fine too.”, he loosens his seat-straps, immediately floating up from his seat due to the anti-gravity. “Woah, this is much better and fun than the stimulation!”

“No fooling around okay, Daniel?”, the woman warmly smiled at the younger male as she floated to the seat of others to check on them. “Are you okay, Antonio? You look pale.”

“I am fine, just a little shocked. We are doing this, right? Finally, we are in space, on our way to P0H3.”, Antonio replies, his french accent lingering in the air.

“Yeah, it’s been our top priority ever since we signed up for this mission. We are here, now let’s enjoy our time till we have to start preparing for deep sleep, in other words, hibernation.”, Judith informed everyone, her eyes scanning over everyone in the ship who were now looking out the windows, observing the Earth as the ship drifted further away from it.

“Judith, we are going to be safe right?”, a male approached Judith who was admiring the other astronauts celebrating their first day in space. “Like, nothing bad will happen, right?”

“No, nothing will happen Richard. We are completely safe. I made sure the ship was completely sterilized before boarding. And what you had was just a nightmare.”, Judith placed her hand on the male’s helmet to comfort him.

“But, you know that Jake's nightmare’s turn out to be true every single time.”, a female joined their conversation, making Judith roll her eyes. “Don’t scare the poor boy, Katherine. I don’t expect this behavior from you.”, Judith strictly said.

“He is 23 for your kind information. Well, whatever you say dear sister but our brother right here predicted that car acci-”, Katherine was about to continue her sentence but Judith cut her off, “Ms. Brownstone, could you please release oxygen into the spaceship so the team can open their suits and relax? Also turn on the gravity feature while you are at it, so we don’t have to float around.”

“Okay, Captain Judith.”Katherine rolled her eyes and floated her way towards the control panel to release oxygen into the spaceship. “Don’t listen to Katy, alright, everything is going to be fine, Richard, trust me.”, Judith assured Richard, making him happily nod and float away to join the rest of the team.

“What if Katherine is true? What if Jake’s nightmare becomes reality like that night?”

It’s been seven days since the voyagers have started their journey towards the new planet, the place they will be calling home soon. It will take approximately 42 years to reach their destination, hence they will start preparing for hibernation in a week which will last for 41 years.

Everything was going well, the regular routine checks, munching on re-hydrated food, sight-seeing through the windows or going on a spacewalk overall, everything was fine until-

“Captain! Captain! Can I please contact Earth right now! Please!”, a team member who Judith recognized as Farah ran up to her. She was sweating profusely as if she just ran a marathon. 

“What is it, Farah? Something wrong?”, Judith asked her, starting to get worried. Why was she panting? Why was she sweating? Wasn’t Farah taking a nap in her sleeping pod just now? 

“My f-father! Something bad might have happened to him! I want to know whether he is alright!”, Farah started trembling as she spoke, “I h-had a nightmare. He g-got ran over by a c-car.”

“It’s completely fine, Farah. It’s just a nightmare but, we will call the control center on Earth and ask them about your father’s condition, okay?”, Judith tried to calm Farah down as she brought her towards the main control panel from where they can connect Earth.

After 10 minutes, Judith established a firm connection between the spaceship and Earth, handing over the headset to Farah, she let her speak.

“This is Farah Binte Farook, Voyager 3452, reporting from Spaceship T9TY. I wanted to know about the condition of my father at the moment...he is fine? Are you sure?...oh...please let him know that Farah loves him...thank you so much.”, Farah removed the headset from around her head and placed it on the control panel. “Alhamdulillah, he is safe.”

“That’s very pleasing to hear, now, can you please check our stocks and record them? Report to me once you are done”, Judith requested. Farah immediately nodded and got to work. Is this the start of a disaster?

[avengerscompound]

The Tower: Unexpected - 15

The Tower: Unexpected An Avengers Fanfic

Series Masterlist Previous //

Pairing:  Avengers x ofc, Bruce Banner x Bucky Barnes x Clint Barton x Wanda Maximoff x Steve Rogers x Natasha Romanoff x Tony Stark x Thor x Sam Wilson x OFC (Elly Cooper)

Word Count: 2367

Warnings:  pregnancy, Smut (M|F, vaginal sex, pregnancy sex)

Synopsis: A little over 2 years after moving into the Avengers Tower, Elly finds herself pregnant against the odds.  While some are excited, others are terrified, and pregnancy that none expected to happen causes rifts through the group and threatens to end the relationship.  

Author’s Note:  Written with the temporary cali girl @fanficwriter013

Chapter 15: The Compound

At 33 weeks, I’d been told to go on partial bed rest.  I was huge and they were worried that I wasn’t going to make it to term.  I could still do things.  Go for walks or take a swim.  I just had to take it easy and when I was down it was feet up, relaxing.  I actually could even have sex still if it was very slow lovemaking.  Mostly it was just nothing strenuous, no lifting and I wasn’t allowed to do any cleaning.

At the same time, our house was finished at the compound.  The compound itself still had a lot of work before it was fully operational, but we could move in, settle into our new family life and get ready for these babies to arrive.

We took the Quinjet there and being in the back both felt quite stressful considering I was supposed to be taking it easy, plus I couldn’t see anything, so I had no idea where we were or what I’d see when we arrived.

“When are we going to be there?”  I asked craning my head to see out the front.

Tony chuckled and rubbed my leg.  I could tell he was feeding off my excitement a little.  He wanted to show us, but he liked that none of us had much of an idea of what to expect.  “Calm down, we get there when we get there.”

“But I want to see it,”  I whined.  “And I need to pee.”

“Patience. And there's a bathroom over there.”  Tony said.

“There is?  Why didn't you say?”  I asked, heaving myself up.

“I did. When you got on board.”  He said defensively.

I groaned and waddled towards the bathroom.  The baby brain had gotten so bad lately.  “Oh god.  I'm gonna need to tattoo reminders onto my skin like that guy from Memento.” 

“That might be a little much,”  Tony called after me as Sam started laughing.  

I awkwardly used the military-style bathroom and came back out, sitting down next to Tony and leaning my head on his shoulder.  “You've seen it right?”

“Yes, dear,”  He said.

"It's nice?"

“Of course it is.”

“Do I still have my swing bed?”

He stifled a laugh and rubbed my leg.  “Yes, dear.”

I hummed and rubbed my cheek on his shoulder.  “That's good too.”

“I know,”  He teased.

I laughed and kissed his cheek.  “So modest.”

“Hey, I worked really hard on the new place.”  He said, sounding slightly offended.

I rubbed his leg and nuzzled at his neck.  “I know.  I'm so excited to see it.”

“Good, because we're landing in 60,”  Natasha called back from the cockpit.

I craned my head around trying to get a glimpse of the house.  All I could see was trees and a tiny piece of the Hudson.  “Damn Quin having no windows back here.”

“Patience,”  Tony scolded.  I huffed and stuck out my bottom lip.  “You’ll appreciate it.  Just watch.”  

The jet landed and Clint started going through the shutdown procedures as Nat climbed back to where the rest of us were sitting.  “Well then,”  She said.  “You wanna hit the button, genius?”

Tony got up and walked to the hanger door and pressed the release button.  “And here we have -”  The doors opened and revealed the new Avengers compound.  “- Home.”

I got up and walked to the doors my mouth hanging open.  The facility was enormous.  We had landed near a large hangar that had already been completed and housed several other jets, helicopters and Tony’s car collection.  There were a dozen other buildings that were part of the Avengers’ official facility.  Offices, labs, dorms, conference rooms, and training facilities.  It was massive.  The main building where the public would come first sat right on the Hudson.  There was still a lot of construction going on.  It wouldn’t be finished anytime soon but you could see what this was.  This was bigger than the 13 people that currently fell under the label Avenger.  It was bigger than the scientists and spies and psych department and admin that currently supported the Avengers.  It was bigger than the secret branch of SHIELD still running.  It was bigger than SHIELD had been.  This was a vision.   A privately run group, not there to answer to any government meant to actually protect the world from the things no one else had the ability to do.  It was a way for my family to pull back a little and not have to be the only ones there to do this.  So they had a large support system that was there first before it got to the point they had to step in.

I couldn’t see the house from here but there were cars waiting for us.  Natasha stayed to do cooldown on the jet while the rest of us went to the cars.  We drove down a road that wound down to the left of the main building and disappeared through some trees.  Tony pointed out where my lab would be as we drove past it, but soon the facility was all but hidden.  We drove out into a clearing and there was a large modern looking mansion sitting on the water.  It was reminiscent of Tony’s old Malibu house, though it was a little less spaceship than that.

I got out of the car and looked up at it.  “It looks pretty big.  I wanna see all of it but... how long can I walk around for before it counts as not being on bed rest?”

“Not very long,”  Bruce said, sternly.

I frowned and turned to Tony.  “Most important bits?”

He indicated to part of the house that sat slightly off to the side.  “That’s where our little home labs are.”

I sighed and looked at it wistfully.  “New lab.”

“You can look at them tomorrow, honey.”  He said and took my hand.  “What do you want to see now?”

“I don't know.  What do you like the most?”

Clint laughed.  “Don’t ask him that.”

“About the house!  He designed it, he has to have favorites.”

“I do,”  Tony said.  “Come on.”

He led us in through the front door.  The entrance was large and open.  A spiral staircase sat in front of the doors and it wound its way around a water feature.  Down here is mostly entertaining.  Dining room.  One of the kitchens.  On that side is a big entertaining area.”

He didn’t seem to want to stop at them though and just headed for the stairs.  “One of the kitchens?”

“Yes,”  Tony said, matter-of-factly.

“How many kitchens do we have?”

“Three.”

He said the number so easily.  Like it was totally normal for a house to have three kitchens.  I opened my mouth to question him further but decided against it.

We got to the top of the stairs and he opened a door on the left.

“This is the den.”  He said.  We followed him in.  It as a large but cozy room with a large flat-screen TV on one all that was hooked up to several video game consoles.  There were large couches.  A foosball table.  A pool table.  A bar.  It wasn’t meant to entertain in though, but rather just to chill out.

“Clint you are never leaving this room,”  I said as he went straight to the consoles.

“Nope.  I live in here.”  He agreed.

“I bet these two never leave when they're older either,”  I said running my hand over my stomach.

“Probably not.”  Clint agreed.

“Alright.  What else?”  I asked.

“Through this way.”  He said.  I followed after him and he gestured around.  “This is a hallway.”

“Oh, thank you.”  I teased.

“Don’t be a smartass.”  Tony scolded.  “It’s a smart hallway.”

“How’s it any smarter than any hallway that features FRIDAY?”  I asked.

“And now we get to the answer.”  He said and gestured to an electronic pad on the wall.

I approached it and looked it over.  It reminded me of his old arc reactor.  “So, what am I doing?”

“Put your index finger on the pad.”  He said.  I did as he said and waited for him to go on.  “Now, there are different commands. But this one -”  There was a soft whirring noise, and a portion of the wall shifted and sunk away to reveal another hall.

My jaw dropped open.  “Tony!”

“Yes?”  Tony teased.

“It's like Hogwarts!”

“No,”  He said, dryly.  “It’s Stark Manor.”

“Stark Manor?”  I said heading down the hall.  “Rude.”

“I built it,”  He argued.

“Because of these two.”  I shot back, touching my stomach.  “But it's amazing.”

“This is the adult’s wing.  There are three wings.  This one.  The family one and a teen one.  This is where we go if we really just need a break.  There’s a lot of us.  It happens.”  He said.  “I think we’ll spend most of the time in the family one.  That’s where kids rooms are.  There’s the big group room there, though the bed isn’t in a pit anymore.  It’s the closest to the main kitchen and the living room.  There are nurseries and that kind of thing.  The teen wing is for when they’re older.  Then they can escape from us if they want to.”

I turned to face him and looked into his eyes.  “Look at you, planning ahead.”

“I’m really excited about them, El.”  He said running his hands over my stomach.  “I know I took too long to get there, but I’m all in.  I want them to have everything.”

I smiled and kissed him gently before pulling back.  “Okay, I think I need to get off my feet.  But not the swing bed, I don’t think I can get into it.”

“Right, you can come to my room.”

He led me down the hall and to a door.  He put his hand on the control panel beside it and it unlocked opening onto a stairwell.  “You and Bruce have access too.”

“Not the others?”  I teased as I followed him up the stairs.

“If I’m up here, it’s because the others are annoying me.”  He teased back.

“Aww…  I don’t annoy you?”  I asked.

He pulled me into his arms and looked into my eyes.  “Sometimes, but I’ve locked you out enough.  Never again.”

I felt myself tear up and I leaned in and kissed him deeply.  He let me lead.  Following my movements.  Each caress of his lips over mine countered mine over his.  He pulled away slowly, tugging on my bottom lip, fore taking my hand and leading me upstairs into his room.

It had a large domed skylight and windows that overlooked the river.  His bed sat in the middle of the room facing the window.  It was a king-sized with an oversized bedhead that almost looked like a wall with lamps built into it.  Otherwise, the room was very minimalistic.  There was a row of dressers.  And two doors.  One I assumed lead to his closest and the other to his bathroom.  There was a sofa chair by the window with an ottoman.   I knew there was tech in the room, I just couldn’t see it.

I took off my shoes and stripped down to my panties before climbing into bed.  Tony stripped off too and climbed in beside me, spooning me from behind.

“You’re gonna nap too?”  I asked.

“No.”  He teased and kissed my neck.

I giggled and wriggled my ass against him.  “You did good, Tony.  I can’t wait to explore more of it.”

“Well, there's plenty of it to explore.”

He started to tease my breasts, squeezing them gently and tugging on my nipples.  “Tell me some things about it.”

He kissed the side of my neck and slowly rolled his hips against my ass.  “Well, there’s a library.”

“There is?”  I breathed.

He chuckled.  “Thought you might like that.”

“What else?”

One of his hands ran down over my stomach before slipping into my panties and teasing my clit.  “We have a piano. I haven’t had one for a while.”

“Can you play?”  I asked.

“Mm-hmm.  Clint can too.”

“How come I didn’t know this?”

He sucked on the side of my throat and pinched my clit.  I moaned and bucked against his hand.  “I guess we haven’t had a lot of time to do normal people stuff.  We’ll make more time.”

“Mmm good.”  I moaned.  I was already wet.  I seemed to be wet all the time lately.  His fingers glided easily over my clit and down.  He pushed two inside me easily and I gasped and moaned loudly.  “We’re gonna make a happy home here, aren’t we?”  I said at a needy whine.

“Yeah, honey.  We are.”  He said softly.

I leaned my head back and he captured my lips.  We kissed deeply and slowly, our tongues dancing together.  As he did he worked his fingers in my cunt.  He curled his fingers, stroking my g-spot with them as his thumb rolled over my clit.  He kept rutting against my ass, until I could feel his cock, hard and pressed against it.  We never broke the kiss though, even as we both moaned into it.

I came, shuddering around his fingers.  He removed them and pushed his boxers down as I wiggled out of my panties.  He adjusted my hips, lining himself up, and with a thrust, he was inside of me.

“Oh god, yes.”  I moaned.

“That’s it, dear.”  He cooed as he started to thrust.  I gripped his hair and nipped at his earlobe as he pressed his forehead against my shoulder and fucked me from behind, keeping me spooned and safe against him.

My moans got louder as he made soft grunts and groans against my skin.  With a sudden clench of my muscles, I came, moaning against his ear.  It washed over me and my cunt squeezed and fluttered around his cock.

“Fuck,”  He groaned and came inside me.

He slipped from inside me and I rolled over and smiled at him, still feeling a little high from my orgasm.  “We were probably the first ones, huh?”

He laughed.  “Oh yeah.  We totally just broke in the new house.”

// NEXT

[xxx-cat-xxx]

spacesick

Just for the record, I totally blame @awesomesockes for this. And @whumphoarder, you too. But also thanks for beta reading.

This is very crack and kind of gross. You have been warned.

______________

“So, where do you wanna go first?” Tony asks with a more than smug grin on his face. “The moon, Saturn, Alpha Centauri? The galaxy’s at our doorstep.”

Peter has to work quite a bit until he can talk. Within minutes of Tony’s brand new spaceship taking off, the earth has shrunk to a fist-sized blue ball just visible through the window next to him. “I - wow,” he manages.

“Lost for words?” Tony beams. “Rightly so. What about you, Big Green?”

“I’ve been on a spaceship before, Tony,” Bruce reminds him from where he is sitting across from Peter. “But I gotta say, it’s nice not being shot at for once. Gives you time to appreciate the view.”

“Great.” Tony claps him on the shoulder before settling down in the cockpit. “We’re about to go for a wormhole dive. Enjoy the show, boys. Anybody want popcorn?”

Twenty minutes later, Peter is sure that he’s seen so much of the universe that his brain will take at least a few years to catch up. Space is mesmerising, but it turns out it also provides the perfect opportunity for Tony to fully indulge in his speed craze. Peter has witnessed the man soaring recklessly through the skies in his suits and driving cars like a maniac, but that’s nothing compared to what he can do now with a vehicle that moves in virtually all possible directions. 

Unfortunately, this also means that the motion sickness Peter sometimes tends to get in cars is exponentially worsened. He is trying his best to enjoy, but his stomach is making that increasingly difficult. Peter doesn’t want to disappoint his mentor, so he just rests his head against the window, pretending to look outside as the ship ‘space jumps’ through yet another wormhole, feeling tired and very, very sick.

“Bruciebear? You doing okay?” Peter is ripped out of his thoughts a few minutes later when Tony addresses the scientist. “FRIDAY tells me your heart rate is elevated.”

Peter turns his head, trying to keep his stomach in place, and glances at Bruce. The scientist’s face has taken on a greenish tinge.

Bruce swallows visibly, then wipes away the sheen of sweat on his forehead. “’m not sure,” he replies.

“Feeling hulky-dulky? Dude, this is a stress-free environment - there is literally not a single human around for millions of miles,” Tony says over his shoulder.

“Not gonna hulk out,” Bruce mumbles. “But I think I need the bathroom…” 

Tony frowns. “Yeah, well, you can’t really unbuckle the seatbelts until we’ve completed the jump…”

“Then”—Bruce swallows again with visible difficulty—“then I need a plastic bag.”

“What?” Tony turns away from the console and fully takes in his friend’s hunched-over posture and ghostly pallor. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Um,” Peter pipes up, stifling a sick burp into his sleeve, “I think I need one too.”

Tony turns his head from Bruce to Peter with an incredulous look. “Well, I don’t think we have any,” he says after a beat. “This is a spaceship, not Walmart.”

Peter gulps. His mentor may be used to flying upside down all the time, but this is very far from Peter’s usual swings between buildings. He squeezes his eyes shut when the ship turns a corner inside the wormhole - or at least that’s what it feels like to Peter - and another wave of nausea washes over him. 

Bruce makes a noise extremely close to a gag that sends Tony into action. “Okay, just hold on.” The engineer dumps the leftover popcorn onto the floor and tosses an empty container to each of them. “Shit, we can’t even stop right now - we’re in the middle of a wormhole.”

Peter tries his best to keep his breathing shallow and his mouth closed, but he is already past the point of no return. The sweetish smell of popcorn wafting up from the receptacle is the final straw. Just when the ship completes the space jump with a violent lurch, he doubles over and throws up copiously into the container.

The problem is that when the ship exits the wormhole, it takes a few moments to restore the artificial gravity. Without gravity, everything starts to float, including—to Peter’s horror—his own puke. It hovers out of the popcorn container and forms a shapeless ball in the air, looking kind of like an extremely ugly soap bubble. 

“Oh my god,” Peter croaks. His insides contract again. He tries to swallow down bile, but his angry stomach sends up another wave of vomit that immediately hovers upwards to join the rest. 

“What. The actual. Fuck.” Tony’s eyes follow the floating puke bubble with an expression of horror. “Please tell me this is just another nightmare.”

Before anyone can react, gravity is suddenly restored. The puke bubble seems to freeze mid-air for a split second. Then it drops down and hits the control panel with a splatter. 

“Shit!” Tony jerks back reflexively from the controls, which makes the ship swerve. Peter’s stomach twists again and Bruce emits an audible moan. “I swear, out of all places on this spaceship -”

Tony is interrupted by the sound of retching, now coming from Bruce, who is bent over his container, throwing up into it noisily. 

“Why do you even still have physical controls?” the scientist moans when he surfaces. “Can’t you use”—he draws in a shaky breath—“holograms?”

“They’re hard to see without reading glasses, okay?” Tony defends, rather aggressively. With a look of disgust on his face, he extends his pinky finger to hit one of the buttons that is not covered in vomit. The ship finally comes to a standstill. “But that’s beside the point! Why can’t I have one. single. vacation. without stuff like this happening?”

“I am so, so sorry, Mr. Stark,” Peter croaks before shoving his head back into the popcorn container to bring up a mouthful of bile. “It’s just so fast.”

“Of course it’s fast. That’s what it’s supposed to be! We can’t cross outer space on a bicycle!”

“I know, I know,” Peter moans, wiping his mouth with a shaky hand before leaning his head back against the seat. 

On the other side, Bruce lets out a groan. “I was wrong. This is so much worse than being shot at.”

Tony’s expression softens upon seeing their shared misery. He produces a bottle of water from the minibar integrated below his seat and hands it to Peter. “Well, I guess I should have taken it a bit slower the first time.” He sighs and turns back to the controls. “FRIDAY, call Thor. Tell him we need to find an intergalactic car wash.”

______________

This is part of our amazing Whump Drabble Challenge!

[novantinuum]

Hollowed Moon (Ch. 1-3)

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: T (for sensitive content in later chapters)

Words: 1.5K~

Summary: Stevonnie doesn't crash the Star Skipper onto that jungle moon. Instead, they crash on a craggy fragment of rock suspended thousands of miles away from its associated colony, long forgotten.

On that lonely hunk of rock is a domed garden.

And standing in that garden, just as lifeless seeming as the rest of it, is a pink Gem.

Okaay, so this is the beginning of a little series of drabbles I’ve been posting on AO3 over the last two weeks. It’s an AU that diverges from just after Lars of the Stars. I have seven chapters posted already on AO3. Link to that will be posted in the reblogs, for anyone interested.  

Ch. 1

The force of the impact nearly vibrates through their bones as the Star Skipper hits the surface, throwing them against the cockpit’s control panel at such speed that they barely have enough time to put up a bubble. Thankfully, ‘enough’ is all the time they need. In but a millisecond the world tints pink. Following momentum, their neck snaps forward, causing their head to smash against the solid barrier. Stevonnie yelps, vision going temporarily woozy. It takes a while for them to fully recover, with the wrecked remains of the ship spinning like a top from their perspective as they slowly lift a quivering hand to their forehead to check for wounds. They groan, nearly every square inch of their body aching something terrible, but there’s nothing. No blood, no easily distinguishable breaks, nada. Lucky them! Score, Stevonnie one, busted, broken spaceship zip.

It must be your healing powers keeping us in one piece, ‘cause that was one really violent crash.

Well, also my bubble is pretty strong!

“Hah, well... we’re lucky even a bubble got me outta this scrape,” they murmur out loud, and let out a shaky breath as they attempt to ground themself. Taking a cursory glance around, they notice that the cockpit’s window has shattered, leaving the ship open to the vacuum of space. At least, they’re assuming it is. Whatever hunk of rock it is they’ve crashed on, it doesn’t appear to have an atmosphere. “Oh boy, guess I gotta keep this thing up for a while,” they say with a nervous laugh. They press their cheek against the bubble’s rim, peering at the cracked display screen. “Now, I wonder if any of this tech is salvageable...”

Stevonnie shifts in the seat. Without any iota of warning the ship’s engines explode, launching their protective bubble hundreds of feet closer to the very stars they’re lost amongst.

Oh, what a day it’s been.

Ch. 2

This shard of planetoid isn’t particularly large, but it has just enough mass that its gravity pulls Stevonnie’s wildly spinning bubble back to the surface. Their heart pounds as the bubble collides hard upon the craggy surface, bouncing a few times before finally coming to a rest. They gasp for breath, pulling themself to their knees.

“Aughh, my everything hurts.”

Slowly but surely they rise to their feet, their knees still shaking. All around them, the remains of the Star Skipper (may she rest in pieces) are now barely distinguishable, nothing left but melted twists of scrap metal. Even if there was any possibility of fixing up the communication array earlier, it’s a moot point by now. 

Steven, how are we gonna-?!

“Oh, no, no no no no!” they cry out, gripping at their hair. “Oh, this is bad. This is so, so bad. How is Lars gonna be able to find us now?”

They adjust the straps of the backpack around their shoulders and begin pacing as they continue to talk to themself, walking back and forth across the dust and rock within the bubble like a hamster in a ball.

“Okay, Stevonnie, calm down,” they say, hugging their arms around their chest. “We’re fine. I’m fine! Let’s just work this out bit by bit. So. We’re stuck on some weird asteroid, or something. We have no ship. No means of communication. We’re safe in this bubble... for now. But... I honestly don’t know how long I can keep this up. I don’t usually use it longer than a few minutes at a time.”

What about when we first met?

“That’s different, though,” they stress, plopping down to sit crisscrossed. “That time he didn’t summon it voluntarily. And that time, we weren’t stuck in the vacuum of space! Although... Okay. Okay, we were stuck under the ocean, fair point. And I guess there’s that time Steven was marooned with Eyeball. But still. It’s only been a few minutes and I’m already... so... so tired.”

Stevonnie’s breathing grows shallower, each puff of air coming in staccato gasps in their exhaustion. They grit their teeth, hand clenching against the rose quartz gem at their midsection. Over time they’ve come to realize that maintaining any one of Steven’s shields or abilities for a long period of time is super taxing to them, more so than it is for the young half-Gem himself. Makes one wonder if that’s because they’re a 75% human hybrid, because of the nature of being a fusion, or because they simply haven’t trained enough together.

They moan, frustrated at this whole dumb scenario, desperately wondering if there’s anything they could’ve done differently to avoid it all together. Lars and his friends will find them soon once they follow their trail and do a flyby, hopefully, but there’s still so many variables to consider here. They quickly hop back onto their feet inside the bubble.

Stevonnie squints, for a moment thinking they can see dimmed starlight glinting off of a domed surface in the far distance. Perhaps there’s some Gem technology hidden away here that could prove useful. For now, all they can do is explore and wait.

Ch. 3

The dome encapsulates a gigantic garden. At least, what they can only guess was once a garden. All the plants have long since shriveled up into husks of their former glory, much like the hollowed-out moon hanging high above. There’s a single service doorway on the dome’s exterior, a feature Stevonnie is exceedingly lucky to have found before finally fading to exhaustion with their bubbling ability. Now freely wandering around the dome's interior, they approach a massive platform towards its center. Eyes glittering, they brush their hand against some eroded etchings in the old stone. They’re sure it used to be quite a sight to behold in its heyday, this whole complex. Such a shame time had to carry this place to eternal rest. What used to go on here, they wonder? What kinds of Gems would use this space? Did they all leave when the colony above was... fully drained of its resources?

Their nose crinkles just thinking about it.

Hey, they muse suddenly. Up at the top... I think that’s a warp pad.

Are you sure?

Pretty positive.

“Couldn’t hurt to look,” they mutter softly, climbing up the stairs. Their legs are still burning from the long walk they set upon to reach the dome in the first place.

When they reach the top they kneel in front of the warp, and place a palm flat upon it. They close their eyes, focusing their mind on the tangled web of warp stream signatures old users have left behind, almost like a fossilized travel record. Except it’s energy based. Well, kinda. They’re sure it’s far more complicated than that, but to be fair Steven wasn’t paying full attention to Pearl the day she was teaching him how to do this. His loss, Stevonnie thinks with a snort. They think all this Gem history stuff is pretty fascinating.

The web comes into focus in their mind’s eye, one particularly bright thread stretching further across the stars than any warp pad they’ve ever seen before can.

“Galaxy warp,” they breathe in giddy realization. “This is an actual, working galaxy warp! But- no!” they cry, grinding their hands into fists. “That means we can’t use it, because Earth doesn’t have an operationa—“

“Pink, is that finally you??” a high pitched voice cries in joy from the distance.

They whirl around in a flash, scanning the interior of the (perhaps not so?) extinct garden. The complex is massive, but it’s not long before they locate the origin of this new voice, trapped amongst the browned and hardened brambles.

Standing midway between the raised galaxy warp platform and the stagnant fountain at the center of the dome is a short pink Gem.

From this distance, they’d have to guess she’s maybe half their height, perhaps a little taller. Her gemstone is on her chest, a heart shaped type they don’t recognize. The Gem’s hair is pulled up into messy little buns, twisted to look like hearts themselves. She stands with her arms open wide, baggy eyes alight with anticipation as she waits for their response.

Mouth agape, Stevonnie skitters down the steps of the platform as fast as they can. Who is this Gem? Why is she alone in a withered garden, in the middle of deep space? And why are her feet literally bound by roots?? How long has she been standing here?

“Oh! Oh, hello! I, uh- I don’t think I’m who you’re looking for, sorry,” they say with an apologetic smile. “I’m Stevonnie. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here all on your own?”

“I’m playing a game,” the small Gem replies simply, clasping her gloved hands together.

“A... game?”

“With my best friend, yes!” she enthuses. “She’ll come back any day now, I can just feel it.”

Her voice sounds chipper enough, but perhaps as a result of Connie’s lonely childhood and the walls a person learns to erect in those situations, Stevonnie can intimately sense the cracks in her facade. They may not yet understand the full scoop, but they can tell she's desperately trying to convince herself of her own cover story.

What on Earth happened to this Gem, here in this forgotten garden?

[rose-gold-romantic]

What Heroes Do: Chapter Ten

A Loki x reader that takes place during Thor: Ragnarok. Follow-up fic to Tesseract and Lokasenna .

I WOULD LOVE FEEDBACK! Want to be tagged in updates? Let me know!

@malignentmac @fandomsfanman @i-am-supermerwholoked221b@markusstraya @lafayettes-baguettes-1@pandaqua​

Bruce was the first to awake, yelling as he looked out the cabin window. Asgard lay in front of us, in all of it’s golden splendor.

“I’d never thought I’d be back here.” Val said as we approached the city.

“I thought it’d be a lot nicer.” Bruce said, standing up. “I mean, not that it’s not nice. It’s just, it’s on fire.”

“Here, up in the mountains.” Val said, pointing to a readout on the control panel. “Heat signatures. People clustered together. She’s coming for them.”

“Ok, drop me off at the palace.” Thor said, “I’ll draw her away.”

“And get yourself killed?” Val said, eyeing him.

“The people trapped down there are all that matters.” Thor said. “While I’m dealing with Hela, I need all of you to help get everyone off of Asgard by Bifrost.”

“How the hell are we supposed to do that?” Bruce asked.

“I have a man on the ground.” Thor said as we approached the palace.

We hovered for a moment, Thor placing a large machine gun inside the ship.

“Now, the ship has a gun.” he said, pushing it into the ship with one last heft. “I found this in the armory.” Thor added, handing Val a bundle of clothing. “Good luck.”

“Your majesty,” Val called out as we began to leave. “Don’t die. You know what I mean.”

We took off, Val changing into her new armor. I prepped the gun, fastening it to the deck of the ship as best I could. Flying out towards the Bifrost, we saw a large crowd of people running down the Bifrost, only stopping when they saw the enormous Wolf waiting at the other end.

The wolf began running towards the people, and they started to run back.

“Fenris.” Val muttered under her breath. She opened fire, lasers hailing down on the Bifrost in front of the wolf.

The Asgardians continued their retreat, only to be stopped by Hela’s undead army. Undead soldiers poured out of the Bifrost building, running up behind the wolf. The bullets continued to bounce harmlessly off of Fenris, the wolf choosing to continue his advance.

“This stupid dog won’t die!” Val shouted above the whine of the ship’s engines.

Bruce stepped towards Val, resolve in his eyes. “Everything’s gonna be alright now, I’ve got this.” he said, stepping towards the open door. “You wanted to know who I am?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Val asked, staring at Banner.

“You’ll see!” Bruce replied, leaping off of the ship to the Bifrost below.

I raced into the cockpit to steer the ship in Bruce’s absence. “Val, I could use a little help!” I yelled back, “Those dead guys are starting to climb all over the ship and I’m losing control!”

Val and I struggled to keep the ship upright, narrowly avoiding hitting Asgardians as we slid to a halt on the Bifrost. I was thrown from the ship, fighting to stand despite my bruised body’s protest. I drew my sword, running towards Hela’s army as they fought with the Asgardians. Undead soldiers fell left and right beneath Asgardian blade, my own shortsword meeting its mark time after time.

I was taken off-guard by one, falling to the ground, my sword knocked from my grasp. Just as the soldier moved to strike me, he was blown away by a gun blast, a man made of rock stepping into my view.

“Hey, man.” the stone figure said, “I’m Korg. We’re gonna jump on that spaceship and get outta here. Wanna come?”

I looked over through the mist, a horned figure appearing as the engine noise grew louder.

“Your Savior is here!!” Loki’s voice echoed through the mist, his figure becoming clear as an enormous ship approached the Bifrost.

Asgardians crowded near the ship as Loki stepped onto the Bifrost. “Did you miss me?” He smiled, and I rolled my eyes at his dramatic flair. “Everyone, on that ship, now!”

Loki made his way through the crowd, approaching Heimdall and I as Korg and his friend combated the undead army.

“Welcome home.” Heimdall said, “I saw you coming.”

“Of course you did.” Loki said, turning to face me. “I told you I’d come.”

“I remember.” I said, picking up my shortsword.  “Let’s do this.”

We braced as the army approached, taking them down one by one as they tried to break past us. An overwhelmingly large bolt of lightning struck the palace, causing everyone on the Bifrost to look on in awe. I glanced up at Loki, who smiled fondly a the sight of his brother’s power. The lightning arced towards the Bifrost, Thor sailing through the air to attack Hela’s army. Thor cut through the enemy forces, his electrified body re-enforced with a strength that I had never seen before. Fireworks shot up from our ship, Val stepping out confidently to aid in our fight.

Loki and I fought back to back, dodging and guarding each other in perfect unison, protecting the Asgardians that were still fleeing onto the ship. I used my invisibility sparingly, as it drained my energy, and I did not wish to accidentally meet my end at a friendly blade’s hand just because they couldn’t see me. It did work to my advantage as I struck a ghoul down, saving Loki from an untimely end. I reappeared, helping Loki up from the ground as our newfound friends finished off the enemies that surrounded us.

“Marry me.” Loki breathed, his eyes staring deep into mine.

“What?” I asked, just as breathy from our strenuous fight.

“Marry me, please.” he asked again, picking his helm up from the ground. I turned to fight off another enemy, my mind flooded with a million thoughts as my cheeks flushed and my heart soared.

“Are you sure this is the best time for this?” I asked, yanking my sword out of a skeleton.

“Does it have any affect on your answer?” he shouted back above the noise, placing his helm back on his head.

“Of course not.” I shouted back, dodging another attack.

“Well?” he insisted, rolling and snagging the enemy’s leg with his helm’s horns, stabbing them before gazing back at me.

“Of...of course I will!” I stuttered out, shoving a soldier off of my sword.

We continued to finish off the last of the soldiers, Val, Loki, Thor, and myself all working ourselves to be closer together. When the last of the enemy had been taken care of, Heimdall hurried off to guide the last of the Asgardians onto the waiting ship.

“You’re late.” Thor said, gasping for air from the fight that we had just finished.

“You’re missing an eye.” Loki replied.

“This isn’t over.” Val said, walking past all of us, bringing our attention to Hela, who was standing on the Bifrost.

“I think we should disband the Revengers.” Thor sighed to Val.

“Hit her with a lightning blast.” Loki said, gesturing to Hela.

“I just hit her with the biggest lightning blast in the history of lightning.” Thor said, exasperated. “It did nothing.”

Hela continued to approach, stalking slowly like a cat about to pounce.

“We just need to hold her off until everyone’s on board.” Val said, panting.

“It won’t end there.” Thor said. “The longer Hela’s on Asgard, the more powerful she grows. She’ll hunt us down. We need to stop her here and now.”

“So what do we do?” Val asked.

[abadficaboutus]

Chapter 1: The Crash

The seat dropped out from underneath her; she was thrown against the straps of her harness. A few moments later, the artificial gravity reasserted itself, throwing her roughly into the ratty, worn seat. Zuri tried to focus; the spinning world around her came into a sort of clarity. It was a cockpit, but not the sort of cockpit she was used to. The gauges and dials on the worn instrument panel were labeled in a language she couldn’t read. Behind the transparisteel window the stars tumbled and turned; every few seconds a bright white orb rushed past. I must be dreaming, she thought - although dreams didn’t usually come with nausea.

Okay, so: spaceship. Out of control spaceship. Zuri reached for the control yoke and pulled back gently; the spin got worse. She heard someone in the compartment behind fall to the deck, accompanied by an exclamation: “what the shit?!” Pushing forward and turning softly to the right, Zuri managed to stabilize the spinning stars outside, letting the nose of the spaceship come to rest so that the blindingly-white planet rested just over the nose.

A low groan came from the cabin behind her. Zuri unstrapped herself from the seat and turn around to see a crumpled Winnie-the-Pooh onesie with an equally discombobulated person inside rolling around on the deck. A few drops of blood were scattered on the grey-gunmetal surface. Zuri crouched down over the figure and pulled gently on her shoulder, moving her onto her back. Her eyes opened feebly. “Is...is that you?” she said.

“Take it easy, Asila,” Zuri said, “you’ve hit your head.”

“You know my name but I didn’t know my name,” Asila said in a sing-song, rambling tone. “And I don’t know your name but I know your name here. And you’re a giiiirrrrll…”

Zuri grabbed both sides of Asila’s face and held it up to check her pupils. She didn’t seem like she had a concussion - more like she was waking from a very deep sleep, a thing that (oddly) made a good deal of sense. With great effort, she helped Asila up to the co-pilot’s seat and strapped her in. “Stay here,” she said. “Maybe there’s a medical kit or something on board.”

With Asila squared away for the moment, Zuri searched the cabin of the small ship. Next to the communications terminal she found a latched box that resembled some sort of medkit, and with a few moments’ concentration the Aurabesh printed on the box resolved to MEDICAL SUPPLIES. A search of the box found a container marked BACTA INJECTOR; Zuri figured it was as good a plan as any and brought the device and a full vial back to the cockpit.

“Hold still,” she said, hoping against hope that the bacta would work injected anywhere in the body. Firmly, with a practiced motion she remembered from practicing with epinephrine pens, she injected the solution into Asila’s neck. “This should make you-”

“Ow! Shit!” she protested. “Well, if I wasn’t awake, I am now!” Asila sat up straight, rubbing her neck. “That shit packs a punch.”

Zuri observed closely as Asila’s pupils contracted to a normal size. “But do you feel better?”

“Yeah,” Asila replied, “I do. Just like, warn me next time. Where the hell are we? Last thing I remember was laying in bed.” A red light flashed on the instrument panel and a small but insistent alarm began to sound.

“Same for me,” said Zuri, “but apparently now we’re here - and still in our pajamas.”

Asila considered herself bemusedly and then shrugged. “Where is here?”

“Well, to start with, as best I can tell this is a U-Wing,” said Zuri, “which only makes a touch of sense because that looks like Tatooine out the window there.”

“So we’re in some kind of dream about a long time ago..”

“...in a galaxy far, far away, yes.” Zuri considered the increasingly insistent alarm and then reached for the control yoke, swinging the nose around away from the planet. A sleek, hammerhead-shaped ship screamed past them at breakneck speed, dodging laser bolts from a domineering arrowhead of a Star Destroyer behind it. “If you had any doubts…”

As quickly as the smaller ship zoomed past them, the larger warship seemed to sail toward them in almost a stately procession. Without John Williams to fill in the silence, Asila and Zuri watched for almost a minute in silence as it grew in the window. On a less auspicious day, Devastator might have made short work of the U-Wing with its turbolasers - but today it was hunting far more important prey.

“Ummm,” said Asila, “it’s getting awfully close.”

“Yeah,” said Zuri, strapping herself into the pilot’s seat, “I was just thinking that.” Her eyes searched the control panel, reading the labels with some effort, until she found what appeared to be the throttles and pushed them forward.

“Do you have any idea how to fly this thing?” Asila asked.

“Uh...I...we should be moving right now,” Zuri said. She pulled the throttles back and pushed them forward with a similar lack of results. “Hold on, let me see if I can find the engine igniters.”

“Please hurry,” Asila urged. “If it is the Empire, I imagine they brake for no one!”

Zuri’s fingers danced over the 1-2-3-4 switches overhead and then slammed the purple IGNITE buttons on each in sequence. The ship’s engines roared to life. With her left hand, Zuri pulled up on the yoke as the right shoved the throttles to the stops. It was a literal near miss: the two starboard-side engines bounced hard on the Star Destroyer’s armor and flamed out immediately, putting the U-Wing into a hard spin.

As Zuri struggled to regain control and shut down the engines, traces of red fire gathered around the leading edges of the hull as Tatooine’s gravity took hold of them. Tatooine’s white sands filled the viewscreen.

“We’re going down!” said Zuri. She considered their options quickly, and then pointed to a pair of red levers on Asila’s right. “Pull those back!”

“Sure,” said Asila, “but what is it?” Zuri gave her a sharp look and Asila obliged, pulling the levers to DEPLOY. Emergency servos threw the ship’s s-foil wings out and she caught the air like a shriek-hawk, shoving her occupants down into their seats. “I don’t want to crash…” Asila muttered to herself.

“There,” Zuri said, fighting to keep the ship on a stable descent, “we should be able to glide in.”

Asila chanced a hopeful look. “Does that mean no crashing?”

Zuri grinned madly. “It means less crashing!”

-

The wreck looked promising. It had skipped across the sand before burying its nose in a dune. It wasn’t often that the sky gave them new metal to strip but when it did the Jawas were not shy about taking advantage of it. They swarmed around the tangled mess, yelling back and forth in their unique yipping language whenever they found something promising.

With a metallic scream, the hatch slid open. The Jawas froze. A few moments later, Zuri climbed hand-over-hand out of the ship. Cowards to the core, the small creatures grabbed whatever they could carry and scurried screaming back to their crawler.

As she brushed the sand and detritus off her pajamas, Zuri took stock of the surroundings. The twin suns were high overhead; their reflection on the dunes was blinding. Shooting a quick look in the direction of the sandcrawler and the retreating Jawas, she ducked back into the cabin.

“Definitely Tatooine,” she said to Asila. “Two suns and Jawas.”

“Anything on the horizon?” Asila asked.

“I didn’t see anything,” Zuri replied, “but it’s difficult with the glare. Doesn’t matter much. We aren’t going anywhere in this thing.”

“I’ve got an idea about that.” Asila lept up and out of the ship. As Zuri attempted to resurrect the communication terminal (with increasing frustration), she heard Asila speaking loudly and slowly to the Jawas. The Jawas responded first with alarm and then with a more relaxed chittering. A few minutes later, Asila poked her head back into the ship. “We’ve got to get out of here,” she said.

“That was the general idea,” Zuri replied incredulously.

“No,” Asila said, “I mean out of the ship.”

“Why?” asked Zuri. Despite its wrecked state, she’d already fallen a little bit in love with the beaten-up old U-Wing.

“Because I just traded it for a ride back to civilization.”

-

The sandcrawler’s hold reeked of a hundred smells, most of them metallic or lubricant-related. After a few minutes of wandering about the hold, Zuri sat next to Asila and leaned up against one of the few bits of wall not covered in junk.

“You find anything?” Asila asked.

“Most everything here is broken,” Zuri replied, “and I don’t understand binary, so the few droids that are working, I can’t-”

With a flurry of beeps and whistles, a red, round-domed astrodroid came weaving through the junk toward them. It turned its dome to each of them, seemingly in recognition.

“Huh.” Asila sat up. “This one seems interested in us. You can’t understand it?”

“It’s just as incomprehensible to me,” Zuri said, leaning forward to read the droid’s designation plate. “Looks like it’s designated...R3-3B. If only we had a protocol droid to translate. I can see if I can find-”

With a sudden jolt, the sandcrawler lurched to a halt. Jawas skittered through the compartments; they could hear the little creatures’ agitated protests, mixed with muted sounds in what sounded like Basic. Zuri got up and shuffled over to one of the small hatches in the side of the crawler, poking her head out quickly. She rushed back to Asila.

“Stormtroopers,” she whispered. “If the timeline matches up, they’re probably looking for the escape pod and the droids that came with it.”

“Well that’s good news,” Asila said, “for us at least. We shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

Without warning, the sounds of heated debate were replaced by sharp blaster fire and the screams of jawas. Zuri frowned at Asila. “You were saying?”

“Okay, so, we need to get out of here.” Asila shot to her feet. “I don’t even remember which way we came in.” She looked around, failing to find an exit. “Wait, I have an idea! We can ask the droid! What’s its name again?”

“Arthree!” shouted Zuri, already several meters away, searching for an exit.

Asila crouched down to the droid’s level. “Arthree, do you know a way out that won’t be seen by the stormtroopers?”

The droid whistled in what sounded like an affirmative and began to make a winding path through the junk. Asila motioned to Zuri. “Come on! I think he knows the way out!”

“What makes you think the droid is a he?” Zuri asked as they rounded the corner into a tight corridor that ran along the inside of the crawler’s hull.

“Just a feeling,” Asila replied. “I feel like I know him.”

“That’s funny,” Zuri said, “because I have the same feeling.” They stopped abruptly as the droid took a quick right into what appeared to be some sort of processing room. Looming large in the center of it was a pipe, roughly a meter wide, with a hatch covering it. The droid extended a manipulator arm and popped open the hatch.

“Down there?” Zuri asked. The droid looked at them, then the pipe, then back at them.

“I think that means yes,” said Asila.

Zuri peeked over the edge; the interior was utterly dark. “Does that mean you’re going to go first?”

Asila hefted one leg over the edge of the pipe. “I sure hope this stays the same width the entire way down,” she said, and then she was gone.

Zuri waited a ten-count, and then slung a leg over the edge and sat uncomfortably gathering her courage. “You’d better be right about this,” she said to the droid before pushing off. The pipe was absolutely filthy on the interior, which was fortunate because it made sliding down a breeze. Zuri knocked her elbow something fierce on a joint on the way, but in a few seconds she landed awkwardly in a pile of garbage and other things that she preferred not to think about. It was utterly dark.

“Asila?” she whispered. “Are you here?” The smell was terrible; Zuri held back a retch.

“Just over here,” Asila answered. “Get out of the way of the pipe.” Zuri moved to the side just in time for Arthree to tumble unceremoniously into the compartment. They heard him right himself and then he turned on a light.

They immediately wished he hadn’t. This was, apparently, storage for biological waste for the Jawas. Zuri did her best not to focus on any one thing, but in her stumbling around stepped in something that appeared to be a wet, hairy egg the size of her head. The smell that erupted reminded her of sulphur mixed with grapefruit.

The little droid trundled through the detritus, pushing it out of the way to reach a terminal. Extending a data probe, he accessed the terminal briefly, and then they were suddenly blinded by the daylight of the desert as a two-meter-wide hatch screeched open. Zuri rushed for the door, diving into the sand just behind Asila, sucking in the fresh desert air that didn’t reek of whatever it is that Jawas extrude. The droid followed behind, entirely unbothered by the stench. Zuri found herself envious.

The sounds of the stormtroopers blasting their way through the sandcrawler were abating; a few Jawas were making a last stand on the top deck. Zuri looked at the side of the crawler; only three troopers and an officer were left down below, along with a troop transport, a command speeder, and two speeder bikes for escort.

“Hey, Arthree!” Zuri said, motioning for the droid to come closer. “Can you hotwire that speeder?” The droid whistled and did a little dance; one of the troopers looked their way. “Shh! We don’t want-”

“Over there!” shouted one of the troopers. “There’s someone behind that dune!” All three troopers ran in their direction.

“Oh shit!” said Asila. “What do we do now?” Before she could finish, though, Zuri was screaming and bull-rushing directly at the lead trooper. Asila and Arthree watched as Zuri slammed into the trooper, driving him to the ground and knocking his blaster a few meters away. They both scrambled for it but Zuri got there first and with a single blaster bolt she made sure that stormtrooper would never move again.

“Come on, you two!” Zuri shouted between exchanging blaster shots with the other two troopers. “Let’s get to the speeder!”

For a moment, Asila was frozen, but then Arthree crested the top of the dune and rolled toward the speeder with surprising speed. If that damned little droid could do it, then so could she; Asila willed herself to her feet and ran after Zuri (who seemed to be attracting most of the blaster bolts). She dived into the driver’s seat of the speeder as Arthree lifted himself into the back. He reached out with a manipulator arm and pressed several buttons. With a sputter the speeder came to life.

“Come on!” Asila shouted to Zuri, who was still laying down blaster fire for their retreat. “We are leaving!” With a final barrage, Zuri dived into the passenger seat. Before she could even get settled, Asila jammed the accelerator lever to the max and the speeder shot away with incredible velocity.

Asila had never driven anything nearly this fast; the hot wind blew past them at hurricane speeds. They hopped over dunes, cresting the top and jumping off before slamming down hard on the other side, testing the limits of the speeder’s repulsors. Asila reached for the accelerator handle to slow them down, but Zuri stopped her. “Don’t slow down!” she said. “They’re chasing after us!”

A quick glance behind them showed two troopers on speeder bikes closing quickly. Zuri was firing shot after shot, trying to catch them before they could close the range, but between the rough terrain and the maneuverability of the speeder bikes she couldn’t land a hit. Blaster bolts began to flank them dangerously close on each side, and one even glanced off the hull.

“This isn’t working!” Zuri shouted, taking a few more shots at the speeder bikes.

“You have any ideas?” Asila replied, glancing over her shoulder.

“Just one!” Zuri grabbed ahold of the accelerator handle. “Hang on!” she shouted as she pulled it all the way back. Arthree and Zuri fell forward hard; Zuri stood up and braced her arm against the windshield as the speeders shot past at blinding speed. Suddenly, their relative motion was practically zero; Zuri exhaled and squeezed the trigger, knocking one of the troopers cleanly off their bike. “Go!” she shouted. “Straight for ‘im!”

Asila pushed the accelerator forward and steered so as to play chicken with the remaining speeder bike. Zuri traded blaster fire with the trooper; Asila could feel the speeder shudder under her as it took several hits before Zuri trained her fire in and took out the control fins on the bike. It spun out in a fireball about a hundred meters in front of them.

Red lights flashed all over the speeder’s control panel. Asila pulled back on the speed, bringing them to a stop as the starboard jet smoked and then produced an impressive fireball. “I think that might be it,” Asila said.

“Well, you know what they say,” Zuri replied, hopping out of the broken-down speeder, “drive it like you stole it.” She flashed a wry smile, blaster rifle in one hand. “Am I seeing things, or is there a settlement over there?”

“If you are seeing things, then I’m seeing them too,” Asila said. “I do have one request, though.”

“Yeah?” Zuri helped Arthree out of the back of the speeder.

“Can we never, ever do this again?”

[imjustthemechanic]

The French Mistake

Part 1/? - A Visitor Part 2/? - The Kulturhistorisk Museum Heist Part 3/? - Cutscene Part 4/? - The Marvel Cinematic Universe Part 5/? - Breathless Part 6/? - Escape at Last Part 7/? - Fox in Socks Part 8/? - Things Go Wrong Part 9/? - Downey and Out Part 10/? - Road Trip Part 11/? - Temptation Part 12/? - An Awful Reunion Part 13/? - Unreality Intrudes Part 14/? - A Call for Help Part 15/? - Loki’s Guests Part 16/? - Stan Lee Cameo Part 17/? - Reassessment Part 18/? - Midnight Invasion Part 19/? - Elevator Fight Part 20/? - Courage Part 21/? - Unwelcome Back Part 22/? - Darkest Hour Part 23/? - They Are Here Part 24/? - The Jet Propulsion Laboratory Part 25/? - Word of God Part 26/? - Avengers Assembled Part 27/? - The Houston Underground Part 28/? - Houston has a Problem Part 29/? - Onward and Upward Part 30/? - The Chi’Tauri Queen Part 31/? - Through the Wormhole Part 32/? - Prisoners Part 33/? - Arm’s Length Part 34/? - A Moment’s Respite Part 35/? - Ravagers to the Rescue Part 36/? - What Happened to Hiddleston Part 37/? - Haven Part 38/? - Steve Has a Terrible Idea Part 39/? - Can’t Be Choosers Part 40/? - Stan Lee Cameo Redux Part 41/? - Shipjacking

Time to get the Leviathan back.

There was one more person whose consent they needed before they went ahead with this.  Steve turned to Musa.  “I like to give people a choice when I can,” he said – although the Watcher was right, he wasn’t giving one to anybody else.  “Do you…”

“I’m coming with you guys,” she said.  “I get the idea that’s going to be the safest place to be.  And if I can help save the universe while I’m at it, bonus!”

Steve suspected she had no idea what she was getting into, but he decided not to turn her down.  They were therefore officially a party of ten as they passed through the broad metal arch into the port area.  Upon arrival, of course they found another problem.  The crystal captain had let some of his men go on shore leave, but he’d also assigned a group to watch the Leviathan.  There were around a dozen of them with weapons in their hands, glaring at anybody who got too close to the two parked vehicles that Steve decided to call ‘dinghies’.  The Leviathan was their prize loot, and they weren’t going to let anyone lay a finger on it.

The group ducked behind a row of vending machines – at least one of which was bumping back and forth as if its contents were not happy about their situation – to plan.  “Now what?” asked Evans.

Steve glanced out at the guards.  They were all large and fairly intimidating specimens of whatever they were.  If he’d had a shield to throw, he could have taken a few of them out at a distance, but they definitely weren’t a group he’d have wanted to take on alone, or with inexperienced help.  “How about lightning?” he asked, looking at Hemsworth.

“Too showy,” was Nat’s analysis.

“I don’t know if I want to use that on a space station anyway,” Hemsworth agreed.  “I don’t want to fry the life support or something.”

Both good points.  Steve leaned to peek out from behind the vending machine with the struggling cargo.  The Leviathan was in the next docking bay up… and between them and it was the Ravager ship. Only one person appeared to be guarding that one.

He turned back to his companions.  “Okay, I think I have another idea,” he said.  “This time, it might actually be a good idea.”  It was admittedly based on something he’d seen in a movie, and the movie had featured old-fashioned sailing ships instead of spacecraft, but it was something the Ravagers would definitely not be expecting.  He told the others what he had in mind, and this time he was pleased to see Natasha smiling.

“Good idea?” he asked hopefully.

“No, still a Steve idea,” she said.  “But you’re learning.”

While the rest of them continued to hide behind the vending machines, the Watcher put an arm around Musa’s waist and staggered up to the Leviathan guards as if drunk.  “Hey, boyos!” he called out cheerfully.  “Yo ho ho and a bottle of Uvan!  I got me some booty!”  He gave Musa a smack on the bottom.

She squeaked, then laughed.  “Oh, you!” she said, pinching the Watcher’s cheek.

“I thought I’d give her a tour,” the Watcher went on, grinning at the Ravagers.  “She’s never been inside a Leviathan, have you, dear?”

“Nope!” Musa shook her head.

The Watcher cupped a hand around his mouth as if to say something in secret, but when he spoke it was in a stage-whisper, loud enough for everyone to hear.  “She’s never had a Leviathan inside her, either, but she’s about to find out!”  He then brayed with laughter, as if this were the funniest joke in the world. Musa joined in, giggling like a madwoman.

The Ravagers were not amused.  “We picked you up in the Chi’Tauri brig, didn’t we?” asked the biggest of them, a beige-skinned thing with big curling horns like a ram. “You’re not a member of our crew.”

“You swore me in!” the Watcher whined.

While the guards were thus distracted, Steve and the others ran for the platform under the Ravager ship.  The hatch in the bottom was open with the end of the gangplank touching the dock, and a stocky grayish man with no neck was sitting there, reading a magazine with a tentacled creature on the cover.  Finding himself surrounded, he reached for his gun, but by the time he touched it Evans had already touched it.

There was only gravity in part of the docking area – below the walkways there was none, and the lower half of the docking area was full of junk just floating around.  They pushed the unconscious guard off the platform to join it, and hurried up the gangplank into the ship.

In the cockpit they found another crew member. This one looked rather like a humanoid shrimp, but one leg from the hip and the other from the knee had been replaced with high-tech prosthetics.  The creature appeared to be napping when they walked in, but quickly woke up and he, too, reached for a weapon.  Hemsworth grabbed him by the face and zapped him, and his robotic parts sparked and smoked as he crumpled to the floor.

They pitched the shrimp-cyborg out the door, and Steve sat down in the pilot’s chair.  It was slightly sticky.

“Okay,” he said, looking at the controls and instruments.  “I… is there any particular reason we’ve decided that I’m the expert on flying alien spaceships?” he asked his companions.

“You did okay with the Leviathan,” Nat reminded him.

“Loki or I could do it,” Thor said, “but I thought your plan required flying it badly.”

That was true… they wanted the Ravagers to think the ship would be easily re-taken.  “All right, then,” said Steve.  He inserted a hand into a floating metal circle, and tilted it back, expecting that the ship would go up.

Instead, it went down.  The nose bounced off the dock, and two of the vending machines fell over.  The one that had been moving broke open, and a number of rust-coloured millipede-like creatures began quickly scrambling away.

It may have not been what Steve intended, but the accident certainly did get attention.  The Ravagers stopped arguing with Musa and the Watcher and ran to try to stop him.  One jumped onto the gangplank, which Steve hadn’t bothered to retract, while a couple more leaped onto the wings.  Steve quickly moved his hand in the opposite direction, and the ship jerked sharply up to bang into some hanging girders.  The pirate who’d run up the gangplank fell and was left floating helplessly among the garbage below the docks.

Through the windshield, Steve saw the remaining Ravager guards pulling out communications devices or moving to try to rescue their crewmates who had fallen or were still clinging to the outside of the ship. Musa and the Watcher, meanwhile, boarded a dinghy and got it started, dipping down below the Leviathan to dock.

The controls of the Ravager ship were far more delicate than those of the Leviathan, but Steve managed to guide the former ship over towards the latter in a series of awkward lurches.  They were nearly right above it when a large, slimy-looking pirate climbed onto the windshield and banged on it with one fist, before pulling out the largest energy rifle Steve had seen yet and preparing to fire it right through the glass.

“Allow me,” said Thor.  He reached over Steve’s shoulder and pushed a button, ejecting the co-pilot’s seat.  The window pale blew off and the seat flew out, taking the slimy creature with it.

They were right over the Leviathan now.  “Okay!” Steve ordered.  “Everybody out!”

He kept the ship in place as best he could while the others climbed out the window and made the precarious drop onto the Leviathan’s heaving back.  Evans nearly fell, but Johansson grabbed his hands and pulled him up again.  Thor wouldn’t let Loki do it alone, and insisted Hemsworth carry him – Loki protested loudly even as Hemsworth lifted him off his feat and leaped out the window.  Thor and Natasha went last, making the jump mere moments before another Ravager threw the cockpit door open.

Steve saw this happen in the reflection on the remaining window glass, and had just enough warning to duck down into the space in front of the seat.  The pirate opened fire, and bullets – actual bullets, not energy pulses – shattered the remaining window glass and hit the control panel.  Sparks went up.  The chair Steve had been sitting in was torn off its base and fell to the side, and the entire ship tilted forward as its control systems failed.

Because he was firing projectiles, the pirate had to stop to re-load.  Steve seized that moment to stand up and give the fallen chair a kick.  It didn’t go flying like it would have if he’d had his normal strength, but it did go tumbling towards the Ravager, who had to move out of the way.  Steve then climbed out the window, only to realize that since the ship was drifting forwards and down, the Leviathan was now behind them.  He jumped over the windshield, just barely made it, and began climbing the steeply tilted hull towards the tail.

Halfway there, another pirate appeared in his way. This one was a turtly-looking thing with spotted skin and a great deal of natural armor.  It took a swing and Steve rolled out of the way, only to roll right off the side of the ship and have to grab at one of its aerodynamic fins to keep from falling.  His legs dangled over the junk-filled space below the docks.  When he looked to the right, the cockpit of the Ravager ship was now on fire, and the pirate with the projectile gun was bailing out before it could crash into the wall.  When he looked up, the turtle pulled out a very large, multi-pronged sword and prepared to bring it down on Steve’s head.

The only thing he could do was let go.

He only fell about ten feet before he was snatched out of the air by Musa, riding one of the dinghies.  “Gotcha!” she said brightly, and angled up, towards the Leviathan. The others were already inside.

“Thanks,” Steve panted.

“No problem,” she said.  “Christine says you’re in his body and he wants it back.”

They docked with the Leviathan, and scrambled up the tube into the Leviathan’s sinuous interior.  “I got him!  I got him!” Musa shouted, as they hurried towards the cockpit.

Steve couldn’t see out, but he could feel the motion as whoever was at the controls turned sharply and headed not for the airlock, but straight for the wall.  He climbed the ladder to the cockpit – it was so good to be able to do that without pain! – and was just in time to see people on the floor hurrying towards the exits or activating spacesuits that appeared to be made out of bubble wrap.  A moment later, they were no longer visible, and Thor pushed the controls forwards to pick up speed as they hit the wall and crashed right through.  The atmosphere rushed out, and immediately froze into an enormous cloud of glittering microscopic ice crystals.

“We made it!” exclaimed Musa, clapping her hands in delight.  “That was fun!”

The gravity had vanished the moment they left the station, and everyone was now floating again.  Four in the cockpit had been fine, eight was too many, and ten was a crush – ten drifting around in midair instead of standing on the floor seemed downright dangerous.  Steve caught a handle on the ceiling and cleared his throat.

“Okay,” he said.  “Time for phase two.  Essential personnel only.”

“We have a phase two?” asked Johansson.

“I think he means we’re back to following the first plan,” said Natasha.  “He’s not very organized.”

“Watcher, you have to stay here to deliver the message,” said Steve.  “Everybody else, either out of the cockpit or out of sight, we don’t want to give them any sort of hint that it’s a trick.  You too, Musa,” he added.

The actors climbed down out of sight. Natasha hunkered below the control panel and Steve, Loki, and Thor lurked in the tubes so that they could each give signals and cues to the Watcher as he delivered the message.  The watcher, his long mustaches floating on the air currents, activated the communications screen and let it enlarge in front of him.  For a moment there was nothing but static, but then a Chi’Tauri in a complicated helmet, marking it as of greater rank than the soldiers they’d dealt with so far, appeared.  Behind it they could see a room the size of a cathedral, with vaults and pillars and crystalline windows casting glittering lights over the walls and floor – except that where the proportions of a cathedral were based on mathematical proportions the human eye fund beautiful, this looked all wrong, alien and off-balance. Sitting in the middle of it, with a dozen tinier creatures crawling all over her and tending to her electrical burns, was the immense four-armed queen.

[clarissaavoidsitall]

It feels weird to go into too much detail about Galaxy’s Edge or any of the attractions there, since Disneyland closed so soon after it opened, but it’s virtually identical in Disney World, which has been open for a while, so there’s some context I think.

I’ll say upfront the land itself is almost completely perfect. It’s got an amazing look, an amazing sound, an amazing smell. It’s a little shopping heavy I’ll admit, which when it comes to the stores I don’t mind because the stores are so interesting, but I do think the merch carts take away the atmosphere (but I think that about all merch carts everywhere, they just blend better in New Orleans). And I realize the purpose of the land is to feel immersive (which it does! When not looking at a merch cart you will feel fully transported I promise you), I do wish they’d broken their “no signs” rule for like...bathrooms. And in general, I wish there were more attractions. Either in the form of live entertainment or a lower-tier ticket ride like the animatronic tour ride they pitched in the early stages. But that’s it for criticism as far as the land goes. I can’t even say anything bad about blue/green milk because I don’t have the cilantro thing that makes them taste like soap to some people. I could sit in Galaxy’s Edge all day, just watching the characters wander around, listening to the droids chatter, watching the sun reflect off of the rock walls - it’s a magical experience.

But if there was one thing in Galaxy’s Edge I’d want to get my hands on, it’s Smugglers Run. It’s a fun ride, it’s got an amazing line experience (although nothing beats the line experience of Rise of the Resistance holy moly I don’t want to spoil that one for anyone but I am promising you you will enjoy the line experience as much as the ride itself), but there are some glaring issues. Namely, 2/3s of the guests are getting a significantly worse experience.

All rides have The Best Seat, like when given the chance heck yes I prefer to sit in the top row of Soarin’ so I don’t see any dangling feet, or the front row of any roller coaster besides Space Mountain so I get to be the first person to see the drops and turns, but Smuggler’s Run’s seat differential is a step beyond.

Not many people have been able to ride it, so I’ll explain that there are six seats in Smugglers Run: two pilots (one controls vertical flight, the other horizontal, and only one gets to make the jump to lightspeed), two gunners (who fire harpoons at the cargo we’re supposed to be stealing), and two engineers (who fix the ship when we get hit). The most preferential seat is obviously the one that gets to jump to lightspeed, because that’s an emotional moment, but both pilot seats are the ride at at its best. They’re in the front row in front of the window/screen and they have steering controls that look like steering controls. It feels a little weird to split up horizontal and vertical flight, but it feels not dissimilar to what you imagine flying a spaceship is like.

The others sit in staggered seats behind, and push buttons. They aren’t just a less good view because you’re sitting behind someone, they’re less good because the interactivity is generic and the view isn’t even of the window. The gunner and engineer panels are on the side of the ship, so to do your job you can’t look at the magical space battle going on in front of you. The interactivity is also generic button-pushing, no aiming for the gunners or details about what you’re fixing for the engineers. Those guests are an afterthought of an afterthought and it’s pretty frustrating honestly.

The point, I imagine, was to make the ride accessible to all levels of familiarity with gaming. Too detailed and only teens and young adults could play, leaving out little kids and older adults. But there are some ways to make the back seats engaging and unique without feeling too hard.

For the gunners, give them aiming power. Right now, the pilots do more aiming than the gunners, because they make the ship level with the cargo, and all the gunners do is fire when ready. I think they do use arrow buttons to aim a little (it was my plan to experiment next time I rode it, but alas), but because the buttons are on the side of the ship facing away from the window they can’t actually see what they’re doing. There are two options to fix this:

1) The panel can still be on the side of the ship, but there could be a display screen that echos what’s going on “outside” the window just rendered more simply so it looks like aiming algorithms. The gunners use arrow buttons to move the exterior harpoon and then a fire button. So it’s still buttons, maybe even the same buttons they have now, but they can see what they’re doing and it feels more specialized.

2) The gunners, currently in the middle of the cockpit, are moved to the back and put on a small platform that echos the separate room Luke and Chewy fire from when they use the Falcon’s weapons systems in the movies. There’s firing mechanism is the bike handle-looking thing on a stick, again from the movies, and because they’re slightly elevated from the rest of the cockpit they can see over the pilot’s head to the screen to aim directly. This of course would require rebuilding all the cockpits which would be daunting for Disney but would honestly turn the gunner position into a coveted seat.

For the engineers, there is one incredibly simple fix: give them a screen of the ship on their panel (which can still be next to them on the wall), that has parts start flashing when they need repair. The buttons they push have clear visual links to what they’re fixing on the ship. Right now it’s literally just flashing buttons. Hondo yells a little, sometimes saying what’s wrong with the ship, but it’s a loud ride and words don’t really mean anything when Disneyland is such an international draw. Literally just...give the engineers a picture of what they’re doing. Give them levels, like the engines are flashing yellow but the shields are flashing red, which do you fix first?

Smugglers Run is some honestly breakthrough technology, with a cool story. It’s like Star Tours in the ride experience will never be the same twice, because the pilots will take different routes or the gunners will get a different number of cargo, or the ship is damaged in a different way. Or just that you the guest are sitting somewhere different doing something different! And to make that part of the customization to the next level, the seats all have to have something unique about them. The pilot seats are perfect, they were who this ride was designed for. But there are four more people in the cockpit with the pilot, they deserve a fun time too.

[tech-battery]

SAMSUNG’S ODYSSEY G9 DOES THE WORK OF THREE MONITORS

I have been a technology cheapskate most of my life. I’ve rarely bought a monitor brand-new; I’m pleased to say I pieced together my current three-screen articulating swing-arm setup primarily from Craigslist and hand-me-downs. But this fall, I had an opportunity to temporarily replace my three aging displays with the most ridiculous, most advanced gaming monitor ever made: the super-ultrawide, super-curved, ultra-high resolution 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9.

The Samsung Odyssey G9 is a monitor so big, so wide, so curved, it can fill a midsized desk and wrap around your entire field of view. It’s also simply a phenomenal screen: speedy (240Hz, 1ms, G-Sync, and FreeSync 2), high resolution (5120 x 1440-pixel), and bursting with brilliant color thanks to a QLED panel that tops out at an eye-searing 1,000 nits of brightness. I’m not kidding when I say I have to avert my eyes when I launch Destiny 2 in HDR, and I could swear I felt the flames the first few times my Star Wars: Squadrons’ TIE Bomber blasted an X-Wing into oblivion.

As they say on Reddit, I have ascended — and the past few weeks have been a gaming and productivity experience like few I’ve had before.

But gradually, I’ve been coming back down to Earth.

DESIGN

The Odyssey G9 is a showstopper, and I don’t just mean that figuratively: last January, attendees of the world’s biggest technology show were dazzled by its unprecedented curvature and sci-fi inspired frame.

When I put that same monitor on my humble IKEA sit-stand desk, the effect is otherworldly. Compared to my old hodgepodge of screens and rat’s nest of cabling, this G9 looks like a terminal aboard a Star Trek spaceship... even if my physical keyboard and its long braided cable ruin the illusion a bit.

The sheer size of the Odyssey G9 and its broad-shouldered stand do limit your options. I’m lucky that my small-form-factor Ncase M1 can fit behind the screen, and there’s just enough clearance (a little over six inches) for my Audioengine A2+ speakers to fit underneath the monitor at the stand’s highest position. But if I had a bigger PC or bigger speakers, I might have also needed a bigger desk — or else had to use the included 100mm x 100mm VESA adapter to mount the nearly four-feet wide, one-foot deep, 31-pound screen to the wall. My current monitor arms can’t carry nearly that much weight, though you can buy some TV arms that do.

As it is, I’m a fan of the way this monitor brings my whole desk together. Two DisplayPorts and an HDMI 2.0 port let me switch between three video sources easily, including a side-by-side mode which lets me display two at once, effectively giving my PC and game console (or a second computer) each their own 24.5-inch, 2560 x 1440 displays.

There’s also a two-port USB-A 3.0 hub and a 3.5mm audio output, which worked perfectly with my keyboard’s USB and 3.5mm audio passthrough. As you can see from my photos, I can do a lot with only a single visible cable thanks to those ports. And while the narrow V-shaped stand might seem a little minimal for a monitor this hefty, it takes a decent shove to get it to tip forward even at its highest position.

You can adjust the monitor’s settings using a tiny five-way control nub underneath the power LED, and it’s remarkable how much you can tweak — including the ability to crop the entire panel to 4:3, 16:9, or 21:9 aspect ratios instead of stretching out the image. You can effectively have a 27-inch HDR panel for your game console or TV whenever you need. It’s just a shame that the monitor’s biggest benefits don’t necessarily translate to its side-by-side mode, where your 240Hz HDR screen generally becomes a pair of 60Hz SDR ones.

PRODUCTIVITY

My first big test for Samsung’s Odyssey G9 wasn’t a console or even PC gaming — last month, I co-hosted The Verge’s industry-famous Apple event live blog, capturing every screenshot you saw. I normally run three monitors because I switch tasks like mad, and if there’s a better multitasking test than an Apple event, I haven’t met it yet.

At first, I wasn’t sure this epic screen would work. Most apps and websites aren’t designed to display across the vast expanse of a single 32:9 monitor, so you have to live in windows. I couldn’t simply toss one or two apps onto each monitor like I usually do. But while Samsung doesn’t ship the G9 with any good windowing software and Windows 10’s default Snap is woefully insufficient, Microsoft’s free downloadable FancyZones windowing manager worked wonders.

l built my own set of dedicated snappable spots for the Apple live stream; The Verge’s live-blogging tool; Slack; a browser window to keep track of any Apple press releases that might pop during the show; and even a narrow strip of Windows Explorer so I could see which images I’d already captured and weed them out as necessary. The only other wrinkle was the additional Chrome extension I had to download to ensure YouTube could launch “full screen” in a browser window, instead of taking over my entire ultrawide monitor.

In general, while I did occasionally miss my two vertically oriented monitors for scrolling long webpages, Google Docs, and Tweetdeck, I found the G9’s gigantic horizontal expanse of real estate nearly as effective for most tasks. Where I could only squeeze four narrow columns of Tweetdeck onto my old portrait-orientation screens, the G9 would comfortably fit five, plus a 30-tab web browser, a nice vertical strip of Evernote for note-taking, and our Slack newsroom alongside.

I wouldn’t say it’s better than having three screens for work, but it seems like a sufficient substitute — except maybe that toast notifications now pop up in the corner of my eye where they’re pretty easy to miss. Still, it’s nice not to have to match color, contrast, and brightness across three screens at a time, or adjust how my mouse crosses from one monitor to the next. Having a single, vast, unbroken expanse of real estate that’s always the same distance from my face (as I spin in my chair) is an absolute treat. And while the Odyssey G9’s unprecedented curve does tend to catch ambient light, the matte screen does a great job of diffusing any glare.

The ultrawide aspect ratio didn’t work as well for video as I hoped, though. While you might imagine 32:9 being great for movies, I had a hard time finding anything I could play in ultra high definition that wasn’t 16:9. Most streaming platforms won’t easily let you access their 4K and HDR content on a Windows machine to begin with — YouTube’s the primary exception, though Netflix works if you’ve got a recent Intel processor and use Microsoft Edge or the native app — and you’ll want 4K to take advantage of a screen this high-res and this close to your face. The 4K YouTube videos I played were definitely clearer than 1080p — I could really peep these pixels in Dieter’s iPhone 12 video review. And while standard 16:9, 1080p content does display just fine full-screen with black borders on the sides, it feels like I’m wasting a lot of screen real estate that way. Plus, the blacks are a bit gray, not the deep inky black you’d get from an OLED screen — particularly with HDR on and Samsung’s iffy local dimming enabled.

GAMING

The first thing you should know about gaming on the Odyssey G9 is that you’ll want a serious graphics card to go with it. Technically, 5120 x 1440 resolution isn’t quite as many pixels as a 3840 x 2160 4K UHD screen... but remember we’re also talking about a monitor that goes up to 240Hz. To properly review the Odyssey G9, I borrowed an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 to get enough horsepower, since my GTX 1080 couldn’t even run games like Death Stranding or Destiny 2 at 60fps smoothly at that resolution.

The second thing you should know about gaming on the Odyssey G9 is that it may not be quite as immersive as you’re imagining.

Don’t get me wrong: having an X-Wing cockpit wrapped all around you is an epic experience, and it feels like a true advantage to be able to use my peripheral vision in competitive shooters like PUBG and CS:GO. But it wasn’t long until I noticed something weird going on.

Look carefully at these images: notice how the sides are warped? Imperial deck officers and Novigrad Temple Guards aren’t generally this pudgy.

I tried game after game after game on the Odyssey G9, digging into my Steam, Epic, and Uplay libraries and tweaking a variety of settings, and this is simply the reality: every 3D game gets warped when you’re viewing it in a 32:9 aspect ratio, and there’s not much you can do about it. Changing your field of view in a game doesn’t get rid of the effect; it simply changes how much of the game world appears in the center of your screen (where things look normal) and at the edges (where they look stretched and zoomed). I actually pulled out a tape measure and checked: video game content that measures 4.75 inches at the center of the display can get stretched to a full 12 inches at the edges.

Now, this isn’t Samsung’s fault; it’s just the way games are built. Most games have a single virtual camera that exists at a single point in space, and while Nvidia once proposed changing that (see link above), the company’s Simultaneous Multi-Projection doesn’t seem to have made it into any of the games I tested. And in games with pre-rendered cutscenes, like Final Fantasy XV, you’ll be watching them at their original aspect ratio.

But before you write off 32:9 ultrawides right now, there are three things I’d like you to consider:

You might get used to it.

It’s not that distracting in some games!

2D games aren’t affected at all.

Let me give you some examples.

CS:GO and PUBG are incredibly competitive, nail-biting games where focus is everything, where you always need to have your gun at the ready and be scanning for any sign of movement. I don’t have time to turn my head left and right to appreciate the scenery or think about whether it’s warped. The G9 simply gives me enhanced peripheral vision, and it helps — not hurts — that things which appear in the corner of my eye are zoomed in by default. I got used to treating it as my peripheral vision and nothing else. (The 240Hz also comes in pretty handy in games like CS:GO where you can actually hit that frame rate.)

Genshin Impact, Abzû, Rocket League, and BioShock Infinite are games with gorgeous, colorful worlds whose proportions aren’t “normal” to begin with, and I love having them wrapped around me.

In Destiny 2 and XCOM 2, I found I could forgive the warping because of the enhanced field of view and the ability to easily zoom whenever you want. It’s nice to see more of the battlefield at once in XCOM while planning out how my soldiers will move each turn, and it’s pretty cool to aim down the sights in Destiny without the typical claustrophobia that comes with zooming in, since you’re still able to see what’s going on around you.

2D / 2.5D games like Worms W.M.D and Disco Elysium do look fantastic on the G9 — when you can find ones that actually support an ultrawide screen. That’s not a given: I managed to launch Soldat at 5120 x 1440 resolution, but it didn’t stretch across my monitor. Games with fixed widths like Streets of Rage 4 and Hyper Light Drifter won’t either. Even Disco Elysium only offers 21:9 support, not 32:9, unless you apply a hack.

And for every one of the 3D games that worked, I also found a Borderlands 3 or The Witness or Goat of Duty or The Witcher 3 where the warped geometry really bugged me, either because I wanted to sit back and look at the beautiful vista or because the edges of my screen were moving faster than the center.

In games like the hack-and-slash Mordhau or the road-tripping Final Fantasy XV, the distraction can also be when a piece of geometry that’s critical to the game constantly looks wrong. (Your Mordhau sword or axe often extends into the warped area of the screen; the road itself in FFXV looks curved instead of flat!)

Frankly, the most annoying game I played on the Odyssey G9 was figuring out which games would work in the first place. Here, I have to shout out Rock Paper Shotgun’s Katharine Castle, whose brilliant example-filled guide showcases nearly three dozen titles that do work, complete with GIFs so you can see for yourself. But if you’re willing to work at it (and understand the risks), a community at the Widescreen Gaming Forum (WSGF) and PCGamingWiki can help you hack and patch many existing titles to work at 32:9, too.

For instance, I installed a trainer that let me run Death Stranding at full-resolution 32:9, with an infinitely adjustable field of view, instead of the 21:9 that designer Hideo Kojima and company shipped.

Using a common tutorial, I hex-edited my Persona 4 Golden .exe and remarkably wound up playing what was originally a 480p PlayStation 2 game — and later a 720p, 16:9 PlayStation Vita game — at a glorious 3840 x 1080 at 32:9. (I do still need to figure out how to un-stretch the UI.) And there’s an old, unmaintained program called Widescreen Fixer that helped me revisit an old favorite:

I wouldn’t say the community is robust enough that you could necessarily find a fix for any game in your library. But the WSGF does now have a Discord you might want to check out.

THE ULTIMATE ULTRAWIDE, BUT THE BEST MONITOR?

The Samsung Odyssey G9 costs $1,479.99 — a premium price for a premium monitor like nothing else on the market. You can find other 49-inch 32:9 panels for less, but none with this combination of resolution, brightness, curvature, and refresh rate. The closest you can come is last year’s $1,200 Samsung CRG9 which maintains the resolution and brightness but with half the refresh rate at 120Hz and a notably less pronounced 1800R curvature — which, I imagine, wouldn’t be as good at giving you convincing peripheral vision in games.

If you’re looking for the ultimate ultrawide, this is currently it. I’m just not convinced that I am, personally, even if I had that much money earmarked for a new screen. For $1,500 and the enormous amount of space the Odyssey G9 consumes, I could buy a 48-inch LG OLED TV instead. I’d get a screen just as gigantic for my multitasking, but taller, with 120Hz G-Sync and FreeSync support, incredibly deep blacks, HDMI 2.1 for variable refresh rate for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and no need to troubleshoot aspect ratios for my videos and games. Linus Tech Tips has a video that dives deep into the pros and cons of that LG screen, and I came away fairly convinced.

It wouldn’t be the same experience that the G9 offers, of course, and I might regret it if Nvidia and AMD ever dust off Simultaneous Multi-Projection for real. The TV might also cut off access to a large portion of my desk, and I might not be able to place my PC and speakers within easy reach without blocking a bit of the screen. But I’d have a more obviously future-proof setup; an equally, if not more gorgeous image; and a lot less ambient annoyance when I want to game. At the very least, here’s hoping Samsung adds HDMI 2.1 to this epic monitor next year.

[impageddon]

Space Race - Chapter 2: The Chase

A PvZH Fanfiction

Thanks for everyone that read and enjoyed the 1st chapter ^u^ Chapter 2 came pretty fast compared to how long I usually take to write and post a chapter-- Hope you like it ‘u’

(Here’s chapter 1 and the Important Notes of the story, in case you haven’t read them)

    The zombies, slightly unconfortable inside a spaceship, kept talking about how they attacked the satellite. Was that the best ideia? Should they have agreed about doing that?

    - Humm… Someone check the window. There is something on the radar that is disturbing me… - That order came from an imp who was the ship's pilot and crew's captain.

    One of the present gargantuars looked through the window. There were three unidentified things, very far away, but approaching.

    - Uh… There are these three things, but they're distant.

    - ARE THOSE ALIENS?! - A regular zombie asked, already shaking in fear.

    - I don't know.

    - You shouldn't be afraid of aliens! - The captain got his time to speak again. - The are some where we're going!

    - WHAT?! ZOMBOSS DIDN'T TELL ME THAT!! I WANT TO COME BACK!!

    People running. Screams. A huge mess. Apparently, only a few expected to find aliens. Most zombies had no idea and were terrified.

    - STOP. SIT EVERYONE. - More orders. - I'll change the course a little, let's see if they're following us or if we're just in their way… - He said before changing the direction the spaceship was going.

    - So?

    - Uh… Bad news. We're being followed.

    - Okay team, - Beta-Carrotina and her two partners, Ensign Uproot and Lieutenant Carrotron, were faster than the zombie's spaceship. She, the leader, was having a little speech. - we're close enough! Remember: They can't reach Meteor Z. At least, not unhurt. Now, fire!

    Activated through thought, a small laser gun came from their jetpacks, similar to how Rustbolt uses his shrink ray. The three divided, each one going to a direction, and started shooting.

    - Cap, they're shooting at our butt! - That same gangantuar started another mess. More running. More screams. The more the Plant-etary Guard shot, the more they could feel it inside the ship.

    - SIT EVERYONE!! I've got this!! Well, at least I think I have, I'm not sure…

    - BUT THEY'RE SHOOTING AT OUR BUTT!!

    - YOUR BUTT WON'T GET SHOT IF YOU SIT!!

    The ship now was moving in zigzag, but its size wasn't helping a lot. They were still getting hit by the plants.

    - Someone go to that cannon and fight back!

    - Alright, cap! - A zombie replied and got up, but it was hard to walk with all that shots and the zigzag. He fell down, and couldn't get up again.

    The pilot, realizing the situation through a camera, had an idea. - I hope you're all wearing seatbelts.

    Gravity was deactivated in that area.

    No, not everyone was wearing seatbelts. Some zombies started floating, but the one determined to use the ship's canon saw that as an advantage and used them to get an impulse, finally reaching the corner, where a control panel was.

    - Guys?! - Lieutenant called his team's attention after seeing a big cannon pop up from the spaceship.

    - Woah. WOAH! Beta, watch out!

    - Uh? - She was very concentrated, trying to remove a part of the metal coating, but could see in time that she was about to get shot and dodge. - Wow, that was a close one! Thanks!

    - Hey Cap, - The zombie started. - those are… Carrots! - Just then he realized that nobody hadn't even looked through the window to confirm what the “three things” were.

    The imp froze at the cockpit. That was the Plant-etary Guard, the exact thing Zomboss had told him to don't mess with.

    - Shooting the satellite was my ideia, but I totally regret it now. - He said after coming back to normal. - These guys won't stop untill we're, I don't know, lost in space, stuck on a different planet, or maybe even dead. Like, fully dead.

    That affirmation didn't cheer the crew up.

    Outside, the plants were dealing with the laser cannon pretty well. They were faster. However, Ensign Uproot completely solved the problem with some shots at the rods that assembled it to the ship. Now there was a cannon randomly floating in outer space, and the zombie spaceship, supposed to be fully weaponized, couldn't fight back anymore.

    Some more shots from Beta and the metal coating was danificated enough for wires to be seen. Lieutenant destroyed them.

    - What?! Oh no, I can't move to the right!! Guuuys, we're doomed!! - The captain had already lost hope. What was meant to be a zigzag was now an only-to-the-left, and there wasn't even a way to use the buttons that would make them turn to the right. He could feel the tears coming, but then he looked through the window, and there it was.

    Literally shining, in the dark of space, covered with a purple smoke, as purple as the ground itself. There was Meteor Z.

    - NO! NO WAY I'M GIVING UP! We're so close! Hang on, crew!

    - Uh… Guys?! - Beta-carrotina called her team's attention when she realized whoever was piloting that decided to go to the left and don't stop, making the ship whirl and go to the “right” direction. Inside it, only screams of zombies being slammed against the wall.

    They were behind the carrots now.

    - Get off the way! - Ensign Uproot shouted while flying away to don't get hit. Lieutenant Carrotron did the same, but Beta decided to try something new. She flied at maximum speed in the direction of the ship, getting hit.

    - BETA!!

    However, she broke the window's glass and got inside the cockpit. The imp ran to the rest of the ship, afraid of the vacuum and of her. As he got there, he could feel a complete lack of weight, and started floating, like many were.

    - Oh, I forgot gravity was off…

    - Hey cap, - A zombie girl, sit and with seatbelts, started. - why aren't you wearing seatbelts?

    - Okay, here I am. - Beta-Carrotina whispered to herself before shooting all the control panel, making sure it was completely broken.

    She looked through the broken window. They were approaching Meteor Z, and fast. The ship was surely going to crash.

    The other two were very worried, following the zombie spaceship the faster they could. However, for their relief, the carrot girl got out of it and flew up. She stopped, but the ship continued its route to destruction under her.

    - Beta! - Lieutenant called her. He was flying so fast he almost couldn't stop by her side.

    - Are you crazy? - Uproot stopped too.

    - I am not crazy, I am smart.

    - No, you are completely mad. - He looked angry, but deep down, he was happy to see that his friend was okay.

    The trio, then, watched the zombie ship go towards the glowing meteor, until it crashed and rolled over, hitting against the ground with strenght several times, leaving its parts and zombies on the way.

    The zombies didn't move, and it took only a few moments for the purple smoke to cover them completely.

    - Are they dead? - Lieutenant Carrotron asked.

    - Well, they're zombies… - Beta-Carrotina replied.

    - No. Like, fully dead.

    - I don't know. Maybe we can go there and find out. - She started flying towards it.

    - Hang on, Beta! - Uproot was now truly angy. She stopped and looked at him. - Now I wonder if you really are crazy. This thing is new, and we have no ideia if this weird smoke is toxic or whatever.

    - Okay. Let's go to our station and get oxygen masks.

    - Beta, why do you want to go there? The ship is destroyed, we're safe now. Also, we're probably going to get killed if there really are mutant zombies or something. - The taller carrot tried to convince his leader that going there wasn't a good ideia. No mutant zombie could be seen, but he believed what Citron said.

    Beta kept quiet. She couldn't simply say she wanted to restart the experiments she gave up in because of the amount of plants she hurt. She was supposed to have forgotten that story.

    - You guys are right, let's go home.

    Even at maximum speed, it took them a long while to get back to the space station.

    Lieutenant and Uproot decided to rest from all that tension, but Beta had something better in mind. She separated some things to pack, but before doing so, some upgrades on the backpack were good. The trip wouldn't be long, but it would be dangerous.

    - If they're not coming with me, then I'll go alone. - She said to herself.

[burclay]

Halfway Between

Jenny’s radioed ahead, knows where to land, steps out of her spaceship and checks herself in as a visitor to the planet, and then she steps outside, onto purple grass, and looks around.

And that’s where she sees the ghost, blonde, distant. Only half-there. -- Women the Doctor almost saved, seeing the stars.

AO3

The first one Jenny meets looks like a ghost.

She’s only just set off in her spaceship, leaving the orbit of her home planet, still breathing wisps of emerald-gold light, when she sees a strange blue light through the port side window. She’s moving at thousands of miles a minute, but the blue light seems to be following her, chasing her, keeping pace perfectly.

Jenny can’t stop and take a look, as much as she wants to. She’s going thousands of miles a minute. She can only hope the blue light will follow her to the nearest planet.

Sure enough, as she enters the atmosphere of what her computer tells her is Alethen 2, she sees a wink of blue amidst the flames of reentry. She’s radioed ahead, knows where to land, steps out of her spaceship and checks herself in as a visitor to the planet, and then she steps outside, onto purple grass, and looks around.

And that’s where she sees the ghost, blonde, distant. Only half-there.

“Hello?” Jenny says, stepping closer.

“Hello,” the ghost says. Her face is expressionless.

“Are you all right?” Jenny asks. She’s not sure what to do in this situation. “Are you dead? You know, I am, too, technically.”

The ghost smiles at that.

“Yes,” she says. “I have just enough life to see the stars. I’m flying, you see.”

Grinning, Jenny sticks out a hand, even though she knows the ghost won’t be able to touch it.

“I’m Jenny,” she says. “I’m flying, too.”

“Astrid,” the ghost tells her, and she meets Jenny’s hand with her own. Jenny doesn’t feel anything, but she mimics a handshake anyway, and then she invites Astrid to come with her, on this adventure and maybe some of the others.

It turns out Astrid knows Jenny’s dad. Jenny mentions him offhandedly, her immortal Time Lord father with a title for a name, and Astrid says she’s met him.

“Years ago,” she says. “He said he was going to show me the stars.”

“Never got the chance?” Jenny asks. “Me, too.”

Astrid smiles.

“I can see them for myself now,” she says. “There’s so much to the universe. I’ve been exploring for hundreds of years and haven’t seen everything.”

“I’ve barely got started,” Jenny says with a grin.

Astrid comes with Jenny, inside the spaceship, this time. She dissolves back into a stream of blue light and flies around the cockpit while Jenny, laughing, tries to fly.

They go everywhere. They see everything. Astrid directs Jenny to some of her favorite places, and they discover new ones together. Sometimes Astrid goes off on her own, and sometimes Jenny rockets about without her, but they always meet up again eventually. The

They’re at an amusement park in a galaxy neither of them has visited before when they see it. Neither of them know what it is at first, the strange building with its rounded edges and neon lights. Astrid says it looks vaguely like a sort of restaurant she saw on Earth a few times; Jenny just knows it doesn’t match the sharp angles and bright colors of the park around them.

Of course, neither of them can resist a good mystery. Jenny marches right up to the door, Astrid drifting behind her, and knocks three times. They wait almost a full minute until the door pops open and a woman pokes her head out at an angle, brown hair swinging as she speaks.

“Hello,” she says. “Sorry it took me a moment, I was all the way back in the library. Did you need something?”

Jenny glances at Astrid.

“We were just wondering about your building,” Astrid says. “It doesn’t match the others.”

“That’s because mine is special,” the woman says. She has big brown eyes, Jenny notices, and long eyelashes, and when she smiles, her eyes sparkle and half her mouth quirks up. “It’s not from around here.”

“Neither are we,” Jenny says.

“Want to come inside?” the woman asks.

Jenny and Astrid glance at each other and nod.

The inside isn’t at all what Jenny expected. From the outside, she thought it’d be some kind of restaurant, but instead it looks like a spaceship of some sort, maybe, or a highly specialized physics lab. The walls and floor are white, and in the middle is a huge column surrounded by a 360-degree control panel.

“I’ve only just gotten it,” the woman explains. “Haven’t had time to customize.”

“What is it?” Jenny asks.

“My TARDIS,” the woman says. Something about that rings a bell in Jenny’s head, but she can’t figure out where. “I stole it.”

“What’s a TARDIS?” Astrid asks.

“Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space,” the woman says. “But between you and me, I think they just needed a convenient acronym.” She winks. “I’m Clara, by the way. Clara Oswald.”

“I’m Jenny,” Jenny says, “and this is my friend Astrid. It’s lovely to meet you, Clara Oswald.”

Clara figures out what Astrid is right away-- something to do with the imprint of a teleport. She says she had an old friend who used to tell her about things like that, who had a library full of books from all over space and time.

“I’m trying to build up my own collection,” she explains. “That’s why I’m here-- this planet has some excellent universities.”

“At the amusement park?” Astrid asks.

“What, a girl can’t have some fun?” Clara retorts with a smile.

Clara joins them at the amusement park-- she and Jenny ride roller coasters together, and Astrid flies alongside them, a streak of blue. Clara is delighted when she sees Astrid keeping up with the coaster-- she’s arguably more excited about that than the ride itself.

The next day, Jenny and Astrid join Clara in going from university to university, looking for new books. Jenny finds a few on genetics and cloning that she buys for herself; she’s been trying to learn more about her own creation. Astrid’s been interested in speculative fiction lately; she can’t hold books herself, but Jenny went to a workshop on one of the planets they visited together and managed to rig up a page-turning device for her that works psychically. So she buys the books Astrid wants, too, and by the end she has two full bags.

Not that she can rival Clara’s collection, of course, which Jenny thinks might just wind up breaking Clara’s back. She has a stuffed backpack and three canvas bags besides.

“Good thing the TARDIS is bigger on the inside,” she says to Jenny and Astrid with a wink.

“How do you mean, bigger on the inside?” Jenny asks.

“I don’t know how it works,” Clara says. “Although eventually I’ll get some books on dimensional engineering. It’s just bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.”

“That’s amazing,” Astrid says, eyes wide.

Clara grins.

“Isn’t it?”

Clara invites them to go along with her, then, in her TARDIS. She can travel in time, she explains, but she’s still learning the controls, so it might be a bit bumpy.

“Although I used to fly with the most experienced pilot there is,” she says, “and he got lost all the time.”

Astrid and Jenny don’t mind getting lost. After all, it’s all they’ve been doing.

It takes them ages to realize that the “friend” Clara is always talking about is the Doctor. It takes them even longer to realize that Clara’s half-dead too, her heart stopped before her final breath. When they find out, they both laugh-- Clara looks offended until they explain why. It’s just such a coincidence, they say. A funny coincidence. All of them have met the Doctor, and all of them are half-dead.

Although maybe it’s not a coincidence-- after all, if you have all of time and space to contend with, you’re bound to bump into others like you eventually.

They go everywhere. They go back to see Astrid’s family on Sto before they died-- Astrid keeps her distance, scattered into blue light, and afterwards she cries on the floor of the TARDIS while Jenny tries to console her. They see the aurora of Broxton Maiora, and they find a planet where half the people have the faces of cats, and they get tangled up in a civil war that reminds Jenny uncomfortably of home.

They sit in the TARDIS, in the space between adventures-- Astrid and Clara don’t sleep, and Jenny doesn’t need nearly as much rest as most humans, so they just sit in the growing library. Clara’s found a sofa somewhere, and usually Jenny lies across it, her feet on Clara’s lap at one end, while Astrid floats nearby, and they talk until Jenny either goes to bed or falls asleep. (Either way, she always wakes up in a warm bed.)

“Do you ever feel like a leftover?” Clara asks one day. Astrid and Jenny don’t know what she means, but once she explains, they both agree.

“We’re what’s left when the Doctor leaves,” Astrid says, her eyes trained on the ceiling, or maybe on the stars.

“Better that than dead because he wasn’t there,” Jenny says. Clara’s told them enough stories by now that Jenny has a picture of what the Doctor does for people. He saves worlds, Clara says. (She hasn’t said it, but Jenny gets the feeling that Clara’s saved her share, too.)

“I wonder sometimes,” Clara says. “I wasn’t ready to die, but I don’t know that I was ready to be immortal, either.”

“Can’t you go back and face the raven anytime?” Jenny asks.

“I suppose,” Clara says. “But it could always be a mistake. I haven’t seen everything yet.”

“Maybe we’re not leftovers,” Astrid says. “We’ve found each other. We’re living for ourselves. I think we’re just travelers.”

“I like that,” Jenny says. “I love our traveling.”

“Me, too,” Astrid admits, a gleam in her eye.

It’s a few adventures after that conversation, on a crowded walkway through a forest of trees bigger around than Jenny’s old spaceship and as tall as anything she’s seen, that she feels something wet brush against her. She looks up, but the sun is streaming through the branches; she looks to either side, but she just sees a crowd of people.

But then she catches something out of the corner of her eye, and she turns. A confused Clara taps her on the shoulder, but Jenny is distracted by the two women right next to her, looking up at the trees with water absolutely dripping from every inch of their skin. Jenny taps one of them on the shoulder-- her hand sort of goes through, like the woman’s actually made of water. But she turns, and Jenny realizes she doesn’t know what to say now.

Luckily, Clara’s picked up on what’s happening.

“Are you made of water?” she asks, her face the picture of innocent curiosity.

“Sort of,” the woman says. “Not really.”

Just then, Astrid, who’s been floating above them as blue light, materializes fully next to Jenny, and the woman raises both her eyebrows.

“What’re you, then?” she asks.

“Teleportation energy,” Astrid says. “I’m sort of a ghost.”

“How’d you get that way?”

“How’d you get to be water?” Jenny asks.

“Who says I wasn’t always?” the woman retorts. “Could be a-- a water alien.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” her companion says, one hand on the woman’s arm, an affectionate note in her voice. “Of course we weren’t always water. We might not always be water, either. That’s what’s beautiful about us. We’re so temporary.”

“That’s a bit deep,” the woman says. “I’m Bill, by the way. And this is my girlfriend Heather.”

Heather smiles. She looks a little like a puzzle, Jenny thinks. She wonders whether it’s on purpose.

“I’m Jenny,” she says. “And these are my friends, Astrid and Clara. We’re all dead.”

“Me too,” Bill says, a smile beginning to form on her face. It’s not necessarily a joyous smile, or a malicious one. It’s more-- a curious smile. An interested smile. A smile Jenny’s seen a million times on Clara or Astrid, but not so much on anyone else. She smiles back with just as much curiosity, and Bill and Heather join Jenny, Clara, and Astrid on their walk.

Bill and Heather turn out to be fascinating. They’ve been traveling together for years, and separately before that, Heather says, and they have all sorts of stories. They’ve been all over the universe. Jenny can’t quite figure out the physics of their travel-- or their existence-- but then again, she’s never quite worked out how Astrid’s ghost thing works, either, or how it is that Clara doesn’t need to breathe.

She knows what’s going to happen before it does. She feels like she shares something with Bill and Heather, the same way she feels about Astrid and Clara. There’s a sort of nebulousness that they all five have, a sort of liminal existence. Hovering between life and death, traveling the stars.

So it’s not a surprise when Bill mentions the Doctor, and it’s not a surprise when Clara asks if they want to join the next adventure in the TARDIS. And it’s not a surprise when Bill and Heather agree.

They go off together, a TARDIS full of liminal women.

And that’s it: the five of them, traveling, seeing the stars together. They all come from different places, they all have different stories, but they love each other like a family.  They've all died, or come close, and they're all still dealing with what that means, but they deal with it together. 

Eventually, of course,  Clara decides it’s time for her to die. Jenny feels herself, ever so slowly, beginning to age. But they pick up more stragglers, more liminal women, all of whom have fantastical stories about almost being saved, and their number waxes and wanes, throughout all of time and space.