xnoxrequiem - Tumblr blog

[xnoxrequiem]

It's Fuck-all Friday, ask me literally anything you want.

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[xnoxrequiem]

Chen vs. Chen

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It had been a slow day for Ethan. Being locked up in a SHIELD facility tended to do that to people. Truly, he had no one to blame but them. Should have least let him go out for a slice of pizza and a mugging. It’s the least they could have done. Instead, he was stuck inside his glass box, working on his last rep of pullups to try and kill as much time as possible. He heard the whoosh of the doors to his cell block opening and dropped down, dusting his hands off on his slacks.

“You know,” he called out, not even bothering to see who came in. “I really should start charging for the show if you’re just gonna stand there and watch.”

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Ethan Chen had been on his best behavior. Well, not really. He supposed it was the best behavior he was capable of putting together while being completely bored out of his fucking mind. The positive side of it all was that he had annoyed every agent so much that they all tried to avoid him as much as humanly possible. The downside to that was he now had ran out of people to talk to. Really, the people here needed to have some thicker skin.

He had been in the middle of his daily workout routine when something strange started happening. He could swear that his implants were reacting to something. A painful squealing noise seemed to hang in his ears, getting bad enough that he tried pushing his hands over them to block out the sound. But it wasn’t external. No, something inside him was making that squealing. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried his best to push out the pain and the noise until suddenly it stopped. He opened his eyes. Everything around him looked the same. But his hearing felt...off. Fuzzy.

‘Can you hear me?’ A female voice, faint and yet still seeming like it was right next to him. He looked around. There was no female agent around. Just the guy in the security station. The voice repeated itself. ‘Can you hear me?’

“Am I supposed to say it out loud?” Ethan asked, feeling a little foolish. He watched the security guard lean forward and press the speaker button.

“Say what out loud, pal?” The man asked.

Irritated, Ethan shot him a daggered look. “That you suck, Todd.” The guard mumbled something in return before going back to his book. The voice didn’t respond. Alright, out loud wouldn’t work. He closed his eyes, focusing his attention on the tiny voice he had heard before thinking, ‘Yes.’

There was a long pause before the voice answered. ‘Excellent.’

With that, the piercing squeal returned louder than it had before, causing him to stumble back a few steps before it suddenly stopped again. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath, his hands on his knees and his lungs burned from exertion.

“Okay,” he whispered to himself. “Consider me intrigued.”

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It had started out as a typical Thursday. Agent Reeves took his post outside the prisoner’s cell, feet propped up on the security desk as he flipped through the day’s paper. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Same old news, same old annoying brat trying to get under his skin. He’d ignore the kid for a few hours until the prisoner gave up and went into his daily routine. He did the same thing every day: ramble, work out, throw a ball around, ramble some more, eat, then stare off into the distance like a weirdo. It was practically clockwork.

So when the prisoner stopped doing sit-ups, Agent Reeves took note. His eyes appeared to stay glued to the paper, but he’d steal a glance every now and then to look at the confused man standing up from the floor. The boy turned in place, his eyes darting around as if he was trying to find something when he stopped to look at the agent babysitting him.

“Do you...hear that?” Ethan Chen asked with genuine curiosity in his voice. Agent Reeves just grunted in response, getting ready to write down that the prisoner was complaining about noises when a sudden change happened. At first, Ethan just winced in mild pain. But soon, his hands began practically clawing at his ears as he screamed out in agony. Reeves got on his walkie, calling for a medic as he watched the vitals on his screen go haywire. 

He didn’t get the chance to finish his complete call though. His train of thought was completely derailed as he watched the man in front of him. He’d later swear that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, but in the moment, he could have sworn it looked like that human man was glitching out.

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The statement of being a fan of her work left an uneasy feeling in her stomach. It had been a long time since her ‘work’ had been admired and even then, it hadn’t felt like much. Even after all the good work she had tried to do, she was still standing here with a gun pointed at a probably innocent man. It was hard to feel proud in that moment.

“Okay, Sterling. I’ll make you a deal. Stop holding your hands up and I’ll remove the magazine from my gun.” She let her left hand slowly move up to mimic his hand being up. She knew it would put her at a disadvantage if she needed to fire quickly, but she was willing to at least try and believe he was telling the truth. “Information here usually comes one of two ways: you trade for it or you trick someone into telling you. I hope you’ve come up with a plan on how you’re going to go about getting it. Especially without any trouble.”

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Recognition? While she had no clue who the man in front of her was, if he knew her–and was dressed like that–it usually only meant one thing. A piece of her past that she was desperately trying to avoid facing.

“What can I say? I’m full of surprises.” She kept her movements slow as she brought her finger away from the frame of the gun, a small sign of an unsteady truce. “You clearly know who I am. So do I get an alias to call you by? Or should I just call you ‘Suits?’“

“You wouldn’t be the first to call me Suits, honestly.” Sterling shrugged, thinking of Agent Winchester. If he lived through this trip he’d have to tell him he had competition. Or perhaps he would be elated the nickname was catching on. “But you can call be Sterling. Honestly a big fan of your work. Not so big a fan of this moment but…” He trailed off, making a face at the awkward situation but never lowering his hands despite Sharon removing her finger from the trigger. 

“I’m not here to rattle any cages. I’m just gathering intel on a former SHIELD agent. He may have fled here but this is certainly not the venue I’d like a face to face with him in. In and out. No trouble, if I can avoid it.” 

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Sharon’s not surprised by the reaction; this was Madripoor after all. There was no way of telling if the person next to you was going to turn a blind eye to your existence or shove a knife in your back the first chance they got. Being wary was the smartest thing you could do around here.

“So did I. And yet, here I am, walking with someone.” She watched the street ahead of them, figures shuffling and scattering into the night. “I’m a one woman guard. Besides, a girl getting attacked in this area would be bad for business. Call it a mutually beneficial concern.”

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@gatecoeur liked for a Sharon starter

“You really shouldn’t walk by yourself.” Sharon might have grown a little callous during her time in Madripoor, but she wasn’t about to let a woman walk their streets on her lonesome. “You never know who might be lurking in the shadows.”

Madripoor. Last time Arrie was in this hellhole, she had busted her knuckle open, fighting to get out before anyone could cash in on the very pretty bounty on her head… A bounty she had no fucking clue, whether it was still up for grabs or not. Hence why she was incredibly weary when Sharon approached her.

“Kind of hard to do, when I came here by myself,” Arrie retorted, looking the blonde up and down. “Didn’t know Madripoor had set up a neighbourhood watch, since the last time I visited.”

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“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

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“Yeah, thanks for the obvious. Next you’ll tell me Bucky has an unhealthy obsession with the past and Sam works out. You’re really on your way to becoming the next Sherlock Holmes.”

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@toseeanempirefall​ liked for a Sharon starter

“Explain something to me. Why is it every time you appear, I end up having to punch someone?”

“Perhaps you merely have taken up a passion of hitting people? Or you harbor issues pertaining to anger management, both of course seem logical.”  

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Recognition? While she had no clue who the man in front of her was, if he knew her--and was dressed like that--it usually only meant one thing. A piece of her past that she was desperately trying to avoid facing.

“What can I say? I’m full of surprises.” She kept her movements slow as she brought her finger away from the frame of the gun, a small sign of an unsteady truce. “You clearly know who I am. So do I get an alias to call you by? Or should I just call you ‘Suits?’“

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@agentsterling​ liked for a Sharon starter

If there was one thing Sharon could find in the middle of a crowd, it was a government agent. She had spent the majority of her life around them, and even though Madripoor held a number of suited men, she knew when one was just a little too clean cut for this place. She had to act fast.

“No offense,” she said as she stepped out into the street, gun trained on his shoulder as she kept a safe distance from the man. “But whatever you’re looking for here–it’s not worth it. Go back to where you came from.”

Barely an hour in Madripoor and already he had a gun trained on him. 

Was he just that lucky?

With the distance between them he felt safe performing subtle movements and turned to get a good look at who was threatening him. He was… honestly rather surprised.

“Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” She was sort of a legend, after all. There was no way he didn’t recognize her even if they had never actually met before. 

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@gatecoeur liked for a Sharon starter

“You really shouldn’t walk by yourself.” Sharon might have grown a little callous during her time in Madripoor, but she wasn’t about to let a woman walk their streets on her lonesome. “You never know who might be lurking in the shadows.”

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So I am a Dum Dum Dugan and thought I put my remaining starter/replies in the Queue and...I put them in the drafts. Because as previously stated, I am a dum dum.

Anyways, I’m going to post them now! Please know that if you want to drop or ignore them, I totally understand and I apologize for the delay!

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@agentsterling​ liked for a Sharon starter

If there was one thing Sharon could find in the middle of a crowd, it was a government agent. She had spent the majority of her life around them, and even though Madripoor held a number of suited men, she knew when one was just a little too clean cut for this place. She had to act fast.

“No offense,” she said as she stepped out into the street, gun trained on his shoulder as she kept a safe distance from the man. “But whatever you’re looking for here--it’s not worth it. Go back to where you came from.”

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@toseeanempirefall​ liked for a Sharon starter

“Explain something to me. Why is it every time you appear, I end up having to punch someone?”

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SHARON CARTER in THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (2021)