#Who could look this pretty lying around in radioactive dirt | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kaiparker-avengerssmut · 3 years

Text

Their Doll 2

Backing Up

B.Barnes x Reader, S.Rogers x Stark!Reader

series synopsis: y/n Stark, all records of her non existent, and yet Hydra still find her. When she is kidnapped by a certain super-soldier and no one believes her, she finds herself searching for unexpected familiarity in her not-so-distant past.

Series Warnings: smut, violence, torture, swearing

Chapter summery: just some backstory really

warnings: none

A/n: The timeline in this has been altered, as there I things I wanted to include but I also wanted this fic to follow the storyline/timeline of Winter Soldier and Civil war.So for purposes of this fanfic, Peter Parker was discovered by Tony at a much younger age - when he was bitten - and has been an intern with him since, almost like a protégée.(For the purposes of this story Peter was bitten much younger too - more like when he was 9 or ten rather than 14/15)

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

THEY nodded along to the music, head bopping side to side, up and down, along with the beat. Back in Black by AC/DC blared through the workshop, bouncing off the walls and rattling about the various parts left lying around - ready to be used at some point.

Y/n's head was bowed, eyes trained to her hands as she mindlessly picked at her nails, flicking a bit of dirt away and sparing a bored glance over to where her dad and Peter sat, laughs echoing from them in a sickening, unaware torment. Or maybe they were aware, and simple didn't care that y/n sat on her own with nothing to do, no one to talk to yet nowhere else to go every minute of every day.

The laughter haunted her, kept her awake at night. Y/n's soul was crushed over and over with every realisation that her own dad preferred his stupid protege - a boy just younger than her that happened to be bitten by a radioactive spider - to his own daughter, her.

It made her hate the boy, it really did. Y/n was constantly left out, never included in 'family' meals, never taught anything in the workshop and certainly never given any gifts unless it was Christmas or her birthday, but even then Peter's gifts would greatly outweigh her own in price, size and value.

It was infuriating, to say the least. At the age of 11, most girls are close with their fathers - spending quality time with them, going shopping or ice skating or going to the cinema. And if their dad was busy they'd have a mother who would coddle them and love them enough for both of them.

But that was the other thing that made y/n's life so much harder, and, her neglect acne so much more heartbreaking.

She was adopted.

Tony paid to have her, and yet he spent more time with some boy he'd know for barely a year. Y/n wasn't stupid though, she knew exactly why this was. Peter had superpowers, something to develop and be proud of, and she was plain old boring normal.

There was nothing special about her, to put it simply. She wasn't inhumanly strong, she couldn't shoot lasers out her eyes and nor could she climb walls and swing from building-to-building. And on top on this, she was neither insanely pretty like most of the girls she saw around her dad's house nor was she extremely intelligent like her father. It was crushing, really, to be so average in a house of the remarkable.

So when HYDRA took her, the whole bloody world was shocked.

And yet no one came looking for her. Since she had been taken, she had heard of zero attempts at rescuing her. You could say that this was the reason she barely put up a fight anymore, simply obeyed.

Her old life still played through the girl's mind, of course. How much her life had changed - and was it really much worse now?

No. That was unfair. Being neglected was no match for what HYDRA put her through. They had taken her from her own home when Tony and Peter were working on something, chained her wrists up in shackles and gagged her with a mostly old cloth found on the floor of their quinjet. Then they were off, taking her to some remote HYDRA base in a country she didn't recognise with people she didn't know.

The painful part was the testing, though. That was the tough part. It took them months to figure out what they were doing, and when the last doctor finally stepped in, they got it.

She was an attempt at another supersoldier, to put it simply.

But it wasn't simple, not at all. No, they had altered her in ways she realised not even they expected, being unfamiliar with the technology and all. So now here she was, yet another ruthless killing machine - programmed so dangerously even her voice could kill.

Literally.

The closet thing she could be described as is a siren. With her voice, she could bring down armies, but the second she lost that, she was simply the girl forgotten by Tony Stark. Her voice enchanted, at least that's what they told her. In reality, it was explosive.

Again, literally.

The pitches in her voice created some sort of deadly wave, so when it reached the ears of her victims it exploded their brain. Sometimes.

Other times, she could control it - a certain pitch had a certain outcome. So most of the time, her power became mind control, so the sound would infiltrated the minds of others and she could make them do as she pleased.

That's how she found herself where she currently was, eyes wide as they took in the best of a man that was staring back at her, mouth incarcerated by the band of metal that stretched over it and around the back of her head, the technology designed specially to keep her fro using her powers on the HYDRA agents and scientists.

The was a big man, with bulging muscles and shaggy dark brown hair. His eyes were blue - a strange blue that seemed to change daily. A gritty stubble lined his jaw and framed his surprisingly pink lips. He was always clad in leather - apart from his right arm, with wasn't flesh. It was metal, with a red star adorning the side. She also knew his screams to be heart wrenching.

When not in use, her and the Winter soldier were kept in bulletproof glass cells. He was strapped down by vibranium restraints to a metal chair whilst y/n was kept mute by her vibranium band. The two had often sought comfort in the sight of each other - something familiar about seeing the same person every time they returned seemed to calm both of the assassins.

Whenever y/n was in her cell and the soldier was not there, she felt lonely and vulnerable. With his cerulean eyes watching over her she often felt safe, protected. After a full year being HYDRA's personal slave y/n still feared them - the idea that she was enhanced and they still pulled her strings a sickeningly terrifying thought. Especially for a 15 year old with barely a grip on the world.

She yearned to learn more about the Winter Soldier. Why he never seemed to age. Why he could completely change with the uttering of a few simple words. Why he had a metal arm. There were so many things she didn't know, and yet his mere presence was enough to calm the girl and bring her back down to earth, no matter how scared she was.

But one day, everything changed.

276 notes · View notes

chaniters · 5 years

Text

Detective Sidestep

While the rangers lick their wounds, Sidestep does his best to work the case, while dealing with his own issues.

This’s mostly experimental, first attempt at writing something like this. Hope it’s entertaining to read!

Enjoy. Also, Spoilers like usual!

_________________________________________________

CHARGE

“Hey, can we have some privacy?” Ortega asks, looking sweaty on the couch as Elyise kisses his fingers, sitting beside him. She smiles in turn, looking at you.

“Oh. Right right Right, of course. I was already leaving anyways. See you two later” you say picking up your backpack.

“Take care!” he says

“Leave some bad guys for me!” Elyise pleads.

“And don’t you worry, I’ll remind her to get to your patrol! You’ve got my word she’ll make on in time today ” you hear him as you walk the corridor while she laughs with that clear voice of hers.

You leave the gym heading out, before putting your mask on again before leaving their HQ.

It’s been the same for weeks. You help Ortega with his Physical Therapy, until Elyise comes in, and then you leave, put your mask on and start knocking criminals down until Elyise is free and you can both complete a joint patrol, going after the big fish of the week.

She makes daily a statement to the press about your stunts -and she’s generous, she praises you big-time- and it gets published everywhere thanks to Reaper’s contacts with the media. Meanwhile, you get to go back home unnoticed and watch it all on TV, with Pidgeon on your lap while having some cold dinner.

You make a really, really good team, and the powered criminals are going down like flies. She’s even better than Ortega at this hand’s down, and he’s saying he’ll ask her to join the rangers the moment he’s back on duty, his team’s already preparing the announcement.

They’ll be the new power couple in town once they’re together, that’s all the press says, that you are just covering for him, it’s always meant to be Elyise and him. Somehow a picture of them kissing got into the media and it’s made everyone insane. It certainly got you insane.

You’ve made a point to tell them how happy you are for them every time you can.

Happy.

It’s not the same.

It’s not the same and your knuckles end up in bowls of ice every night because you’re punching the criminals harder and harder with each passing day.

Happy.

You just need to keep on saying it until it becomes true.

____________________________________________________________

ELYISE

“So, how are you doing?” you ask as you duck behind the park bench to avoid the flying bladed drone disk aimed at your neck.

“Well I’m coping, you know” she answers while creating a barrier to stop a trio of incoming disks in the air. “And It sucks”

You stand outside your cover shooting at each of them in turn, causing small explosions and reducing them to pieces. Diskmaster turns tail and starts running at that. Coward.

“It can’t be easy,” you say as you reassume the chase.

“It isn’t... But I’m lucky... Reaper’s managing everything, and I’ve got Ricardo to keep me sane. I haven’t had that many boyfriends, least of all in hospital bed, you know?” she says running at your side, after the villain. “Glad you were there to save him”

“You pathetic heroes! You are nothing compared to my technological mastery! Prepare to be destroyed!!” Diskmaster says waving his hands and sending a swarm of sawed flying disks at the two of you.

You evade them all, finding a way trough, as Elyise simply pushes them away while still coming trough. Diskmaster stops as he notices you chased him all the way up to a dead-end and turns to you.

“Hahaha! Do you think you’ve got me, heroes? You’re WRONG! Prepare to see my ultimate weapon!”

“Of course I was going to save him! Who else could I make fun off If i hadn’t?” you grin. Also, remember the doctor says he’s going to be running around soon Elyise, so the two of you are going to be the next big hit”

“I know, I just wish I had been there…that night at the docks”

“HEY ARE YOU TWO IDIOTS EVEN PAYING ATTENTION?! I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU NOW!” Diskamter yells standing atop a giant disk with rotating blades.

The two of you turn to him.

“Is he annoying or what?” she asks

“I think he just makes a point of saying something generic every minute” you answer.

“I’M STANDING RIGHT HERE!”

“Believe me, we know,” you say.

“Your arrogance will be your downfall, fools!” He rushes forward with his disk at you, but Elyise has other plans, extending a hand to force the disk back, it’s blade burying into a building while Diskmaster bounces painfully against the bricks and goes down to the ground with a dry thud.

“This isn’t over! You haven’t seen the last of DISKMASTER...!” he says trying to eat up the embarrassment and calling his final disks to surround. But you easily evade them all, walk up to him and knocking him down on his arse with a simple fist to the face. Ouch, your knuckles are in hell.

Elyise comes up to you as the villain starts incorporating again...

“Sweet dreams Diskmaster” the two of you say punching him at the same time.

---------------Cooling down, a few minutes later----------------------

“What was he even trying to steal again? Was it the bank of the Jewelry store?”

“Beats me, I just heard him with over the megaphone with all those crazy disks saying he was going to take over the city and jumped him.”

“Same here,” she says

You take a sip of your soda, looking as he is taken away.

“Why weren’t you there?” you ask.

“Where?”

“You said you wished you were there when the Fiend attacked. You got the call as well, didn’t you?”

“I got it late. I got another call right then, emergency on the other side of town… It was pretty urgent.”

“Oh, I think I saw that. What was it?”

“Ahh… A suicide attempt. At the bridge. A passer-by saw it, and called me”

“Ahh. Those powers of yours must be good to have to stop those”

“They are, yes. Anyways, I should be off. Going to be meeting Ricardo at the infirmary”

“Oh, sure. Take care Elyise”

“You too, Step!” she says, as you share another fistbump.

You watch her as she leaves, the smile dying on your lips as you finish your soda and take your mask all the way down.

You did not expect her to be so bad at lying, nor that it would be so easy to steal her phone.

___________________________________________________________

ANATHEMA

“Why do you keep stealing stuff?” Annie asks as the doctor keeps trying to pull into his skin with a miniature drill.

“I’m gonna give it back”

“I know, but it’s still wrong. You should have just asked her”

“She’s the one who lied,” you say looking into his eyes.

“You’re the one reading her mind. And maybe she has a good reason” he answers, impervious as the doctor pulls a bigger drill and goes at it again, sparks coming out.

“I know there’s something wrong. I told you the Shark had dirt on her too”

“Just like he had dirt on Ortega and everyone else! Does that make him a bad person?”

“It’s not the same!” you protest as you keep fiddling with the phone.

“Seems the same to me.”

“I’m just looking after my friends”

“Is that what you’re doing? Maybe it’s something else, you know?” he says as the drill finally snaps. The doctor, groans, frustrated and takes another drill, more advanced, with a diamond tip. He activates it carefully and applies it to Anathema’s bare arm.

“Something else like what?” you ask lifting your gaze

“I think you’re jealous of her”

“Ahahahaaha… “ you say with your best false laughter “Jealous?! Why would I be jealous?r”

“You obviously are. And you should speak to Ricardo about it”

“Wh… what would I even tell him?”

“I’ve seen you two during training, I’m not an idiot”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean you should talk straight to Ortega, instead of making up dirt on his girlfriend!. Wait, that’s the wrong choice of words… You shouldn’t talk straight to him, you should talk ga...”

“I’m not making up dirt! This stuff is real!” you interrupt him before he can finish the sentence

“But you DO like Ortega?”

“I never said that!!!”

“Admit it!”

“AHA!” The doctor interrupts the tip of the drill wet with a few drops of blood. “IT WORKED!” he yells.

“We can hear that,” Anathema says frustrated by the distraction.

“Oh sorry” he says removing his earplugs. “Couldn’t hear myself.”

“It’s ok. What’s the veredict, doc?”

“Well, I think your powers are fully restored by now if the diamond drill’s the only that works. Getting a blood test is going to be hell again now that we’re back to single droplets, but we’ll manage, I’ll have results tomorrow.”

“Wait so when am I good to go?”

“I’d say you have the all-clear right now. Just uh… don’t mess up with that thing again”

“Any idea about how It nullified his powers?”

“Well, obviously the purple spit. There were traces of hero drugs in it”

“Hero drugs?” Annie asks

“What does it mean?” you follow up with your own question.

“I don’t know, and they don’t pay me to speculate. The stuff was decayed, so it didn’t activate normally, it just messed up your existing abilities, but it’s not permanent so that’s the good news.”

“That thing vomited that liquid at him from its mouth. You mean it had hero drugs inside?”

“I assume that’d be the case Sidestep,” he says looking at you. In any case, I’m out”

Annie looks at you as he leaves.

“So it actually spits drugs? What’s next? Maybe it’s radioactive too?”

“Could very well be for all we know. It does bring an explanation of why it chased all those dealers.”

“You mean it’s eating the drugs?”

“Well, they came out of its mouth, right? And he said decayed, I bet gastric acid could decay them pretty well”

“Yuck. Anyways, If I’m clear, I’m totally out of here. Can you pass me my pants and leave the stolen phone alone?”

“LOOK! I was right!” you say holding the phone to his face

“I fail to see how that gets me my pants,” he says annoyed before looking at Elyise’s phone. “And what’s that supposed to be?” he asks looking at the calls log

“It’s the call she got while at the Awards ceremony. Guess whose number is that called her?”

“I don’t know, maybe an obsessed hero who’s trying to steal her man for himself?”

“NO you… !” you say making your hands into fists “Look at the stupid number! The person who called her was…”

_______________________________________________

“The Loanshark?!” The warden asks.

“Yep. We came to visit” you say as you step inside, followed by Annie.

“This area is restricted” he objects

“I’ve got clearance,” Anathema says flashing a card.

“Oh.. uh... In that case… alright. Just wait here, I’ll get someone to escort you two to the medical ward”

“Will do!” you say

“Thanks!”

You sit up to wait, as Anathema takes the seat next to yours.

“Oh shit!” Annie says looking through his backpack. “I forgot my tablets. I should be taking one about now… shit!“

“I know,” you say, taking them out of your pocket and offering them to him.

“Whaat? How do you even have those?”

“I realized you forgot them”

“Oooh… because of the whole…” he does a wide circular motion with his palm at your forehead. “Mind thing?”

“Nope. You just told me you needed to bring them, and I saw you didn’t pick them up from the table.”

“Ah. Well, now I feel dumb. Anyways, thanks! ”

“No problem,” you say “I do hear your thoughts, though, and I know how important Testosterone is”

“You do?”

“Well, some of it. Always wondered though.”

“Wondered what?”

“How did it feel? To change like that?”

“Oh,” he smiles “ Well it wasn’t easy at first but… It made me feel whole. Like I was becoming more of myself”

“A man?”

“Real. Alive. Human” he says with conviction.

“Oh,” you say falling silent.

“Used to be depressed all the time. But thanks to these… I can be my true self.”

And let me tell you, that helps a lot. Thanks for bringing them!”

“I told you, it’s no problem” you smile to him.

“Also, I really need them because I can’t do pellets, patches or injections, you know? Because my skin is..”

“Indestructible, yeah. I suggest you take them now, they’re not going to let us bring drugs into jail”

You can’t help but wonder if maybe there are some more tablets somewhere in the world that could make you feel like a real living human too.

Maybe the rangers are what does it for you?

___________________________________________________________

LEWIE

“Enough games! Tell me why you called Elyise!” Anathema says slamming the table. His bad cop could use some improvement, really.

“Did I really call her? I call lots of people!”

You send a couple of words directly into Annie’s mind. The two of you’ve been practicing this trick for a while now Ask again.

“We know you called her! We have phone records, you idiot fish!”

“Wow that’s racist, you know? Still, why don’t you ask your hero friend instead, if you have the records?”

You turn off the recorder as you interject “Hey Dipshit, we already know you threatened her. We just need to know what did you tell her exactly!” Bad-cop/Psychic-cop always works.

“Wh…”

“And I want to know what THIS is,” you say showing him the Data Rod you stole from him.

Annie looks at it surprised but quickly plays along.

“Ooooohhh so it was you! You stole it from my safe and then you couldn’t open it, is that it?” he grins showing all his pointy teeth. “Well isn’t that funny… I thought she was the one who did it” Of course he’s talking now that you’re not recording.

“Enough nonsense. Tell me what’s inside”

“I can’t. I mean I don’t know what’s in there, and I can’t open it. All I know is it’s bad, really bad for her and could put an end to her career. She’s not what she pretends to be, you know?”

You sigh looking at Annie

“You mean you don’t know what’s inside, and you can’t open it, but you still kept it in your safe? Do you even know who can open it?” he asks

Lewie just grins, saying nothing. Of course, he won’t admit Hollow Ground exists, but the answer is very clear in his mind.

“Alright, alright. You said Elyise’s not what she seems. What do you mean by that? Or are you not going to answer that one either?”

“You know, I think I will, just because it’ll be funny to see you all tear each other apart, I mean since you almost get me killed.”

“You fucking ingrate, we almost all die saving your shark ass!”

“Yeah well you didn’t do a very good job!” he says opening his shirt to reveal the scars and heavy bandaging over his chest wound.

“Still beats croaking you asshole,” you say

“Spit it out already, we don’t have all day” Annie adds.

“Alright. It’s pretty simple really. Elyise, or Riley, she needed help, you know? It’s not easy to escape Mother Superior’s deranged cult of freaky-misfits. So she sought someone powerful to help her. Hmm.. someone who could whisk her away just like that…” he snaps his fingers

“And that wouldn’t be Hollow Ground, right?”

Lewie ignores him and goes on “Powerful people don’t give favors freely. She was asked to perform several tasks, of which I only know about the first ones, which she did excellently. But the last one? That one was very big and difficult, and I was never told what It was, only that it all got recorded there he points at your data rod trough the glass. “So she paid her dues and received the aid she needed to break free of her evil mother. It fell upon me to keep that as insurance since. She even tipped me off when you guys raided my office, she was great.

She didn’t want you finding that little thing in my safe” he smiles “Everyone was happy with the arrangement. Is that a good enough answer, Sidestep?”

“She didn’t tip you off!” Annie protests.

“Believe what you will, It’s not my job to open your eyes kid”.

“Still doesn’t answer why you called her”

“That’s even easier. I just wanted her to stop”

“Stop what?”

“Stop killing us, obviously”

“She wasn’t killing your peple. That was Catastrofiend”

“Have you seen that thing? You both know it’s not a vigilante trying to save the city from drugs. Someone’s guiding it to each location, and I know it was her. She’s a big hero now, and I blackmailed her. She got mad and wanted to erase her criminal past with us so she made some sort of deal with that devil.”

“I suppose you have evidence about this?” you ask, arms crossed.

“Well maybe that the monster appeared just a few months after Riley went batshit and decided she was entering the hero business and calling herself Elyise? And that It showed up at every single location she knew about? Or what about this, when I called her the night of the awards to discuss some sort of truce, she told me to go fuck myself, then hung up, and Catastrofiend was at my door not 20 minutes afterward. Twenty fucking minutes and everyone was dead. How’s that for evidence, you morons?”

_________________________________________________________

You go silent on the trip back, holding on to Annie as he directs the motorcycle. Just two masked heroes moving through traffic. Regular stuff.

“You actually believed him?”

“I didn’t notice him lying”

“All he does is lie”

“Yeah, that’s true. It’s hard to tell in a mind like that… but I don’t think he wanted to lie.”

“So… what… Do you think Ortega’s girlfriend send that monster to hurt us all? That’s nuts”

“Someone did send it”

“Where would she even get in contact with something like that?” he asks looking back after stopping next to a traffic light.

“I’ve been thinking about where it came from for a while… I think I have a good theory”

“Of course you do” he groans.

“And… I’d need your help to investigate it”

He nods slowly.

______________________________________________

STEEL

You finally make it back to the desk at the empty office, putting the box on the table.

Just when you think you’ve got everything, you realize you’re missing a piece. Backtracking to the kitchen takes a moment before you return with a slice of the latest “Get well soon” cake you smuggled into their fridge, taking a sip and then a few bites. You’ve been getting these cakes for them and no one’s complained so far, even if you’re the one eating the most out of them. They know you can’t think well without enough sugar.

Ok, time to work.

You open the box, studying its contents. Since the incident and with Ortega’s word you’ve got more or less free reign over the HQ, and thus you did the logical thing and stole everything you needed.

Office supplies galore, glue, pins, red string, and copies of the case’s pictures, paper, scissors, and colored markers. Everything you need to make one of those investigation display boards that Ortega loves so much. But where to start? It’s not as easy as it looks.

You take a large picture of the Catastrofiend taken by Steel’s optical scanner and pin it atop the board. Then you start writing questions, answers, pinning more photographs, then attaching them with the red string… It quickly starts taking shape

“That’s a reasonable assumption,” a familiar voice says from above. You look up, but there’s no one there… just a loudspeaker.

“Steel” you sigh “Are you spying on me?” you say holding off pinning Elyise’s picture.

“Just keeping a record of your thefts”

“It’s just office materials and I’m inside the premises! Plus I’m working the case!” you protest.

“You also took all the ash-trays.” the loudspeaker says drily.

“Prove it!”

A screen on the wall turns on a moment after showing you take one of them and put it in your bag.

“Well ok, maybe I did, but I’ve got reasons!”

“You don’t even smoke” he accuses.

“Well, maybe I have expenses, you know? And perhaps official Ranger ash-trays with your logo on it sell extremely well.”

“So it’s our fault that you’re a dirty thief!?” the loudspeaker says

“Of course it! If you hadn’t all declared yourselves against the tobacco industry these things wouldn’t be even remotely as rare” you say holding one from your backpack. “I mean you shouldn’t have them in the first place, only Hood used them really. Don’t you see? I’m really doing you a favor!”

Your attempt is rewarded with silence.

“OK I’LL GIVE THEM BACK!” you say opening your pack and letting a pile of them over the table. Happy now?”

More silence. You let a few minutes pass, watching your own board critically.

“Could you come in here?” you ask

“What?”

“If you’re watching me make the board, you could come here to help?”

“... I think I can help just fine from here”

“Come on, I can’t talk to a loudspeaker all day, it’s stupid!”

You hear a groan, and then the peculiar loud steps approaching you.

“Fine. I’m here” he says coming trough.”

“They fixed your hands!” you say surprised.

“Barely,” he says, immediately hiding them behind his back.

“Uh… something wrong with them?”

These are supposed to be better.. But they don’t work at all.”

“How so?”

“I can’t really control the pressure. Can’t even take a glass without breaking it, it’s like the first time I got modded all over again, I’ve already gone through this” he sounds clearly frustrated as he explains.

“Want me to calibrate them?”

“No”

“Why not? It shouldn’t be hard”

“Not going to happen!”

“I know how those things work… and I can sense how it responds on your end because…”

“Because you’re a telepath” he finishes for you.

You nod lightly. He hates that word for some reason.

“You’re not authorized to modify my mods,” he says defensively

“Not unless you authorize me. You know I can get it right.”

The internal conflict in his mind is so entertaining to overhear that you have to make a conscious effort not to smile.

“I could get it working in minutes and you know it!”

That does it.

“Fine. But if you somehow make it worse…”

“Great! Now I need tools…”

“Let’s go to the lab… just this once” he says guiding you.

“I love that place!”

“Tell me, was this an excuse to steal more of our stuff from the beginning?”

“I don’t steal, I just borrow for a really long time” you smile following him.

____________Some extensive calibrations later______________________

“Now how’s that?” you ask as you unplug your phone’s cable from the input entry.

He slowly opens his hands, carefully taking the one deck of cards in each, and then starts shuffling them. There’s a hint of a smile in his expression, something that you haven’t seen before, he’s really pleased with the results.

“They never worked so well before” he seems actually … excited? But as his gaze fixes on you, the smile dies as quickly as it got there.

“Thank you” he lets out in a neutral tone “This was actually really helpful”

It’s so annoying not knowing what the heck is his problem with you. You’re pretty sure you didn’t do anything to upset him, and still, it’s always like this. He won’t let himself like you, no matter how hard you try, it’s as simple as that. Whatever may be it’s your fault for trying.

But perhaps that’s why you wanted his input.

“So what did you want my help with?”

“I just need your view on something”

“Fine.”

“Let’s say you’re part of a military unit, right?”

“Sounds familiar”

“Yeah. So, you’re doing missions one after the other… and then they start to go wrong… and you get intel that you’re being sabotaged”

“There’s a traitor, you mean?” he says looking dead straight into your eyes.

“Something like that”

“Anything you want to get off your chest?”

“No! I just want your opinion… What would you do?”

“Do I know who the traitor is?”

“You think you have a good case against them, but you can’t be certain. And if you’re wrong it could destroy your team. And on top of that, you’re not sure if your own feelings are getting in the way.”

He gives you a really long stare, and you can hear him reciting a poem over at the back of his mind as if he was trying to block you from mind reading on purpose. Did you do something to freak him out? What the heck is this guy’s problem?

It takes several minutes before he realizes you’re still awaiting an answer.

“I… I would gather all the evidence I could. And then… confront them directly, trough the proper channels”

“Oh” you let out.

“Not the answer you expected?” he narrows his gaze.

“I… don’t know what answer I expected really. Thanks” you say standing and walking to the door with your pack.

“You’re forgetting your board,” he says, his thoughts confused. “I don’t think I need it anymore,” you say closing the door behind you. You’re confused too. Why did you even ask him for advice in the first place? Oh. Because deep down you respect him, that’s why.

That was not the answer you expected at all. At the farm, the answer would have been to report the traitor in secret to the team leader, and then take out the threat by surprise before it could fester. Maybe there’s more to Steel than you thought.

__________________________________________________

“You hear me? Reception is bad here”

“I do! Did you get to the spot?”

“Standing on it,” Annie says. “Not much left honestly”

“That’s as expected… did you find anything?”

“I… I think you better see it,” he says trying to send you some pictures. They take a while to load.

The first ones open, showing the familiar landscape. Sunken town. Anathema’s standing over the ruins of Mother Superior’s lab.

“At first I thought there was nothing but... But then…”

A new picture shows some ruble he’s removing by hand… and underneath… a perfect round hole dug trough the collapsed ground and debris

He sends another picture, displaying what appears to be a broken down drone. A drilling drone. It has the familiar logo on it

“That’s … That’s Reaper’s company!”

“And we both know of someone who has access to his technology”

“Elyise”. You complete the sentence.

“Yeap. I’m on my way back. Guess you were right about her after all Steps. She came back for her mother after all. We’ve got to warn Charge right away.”

He hangs up, leaving you to ponder on what this all means. You have all the evidence gathered together as Steel suggested. Only one question left.

Are you right about her?

__________________________________________________________________

My fanfics: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

#fallen hero: rebirth #fallen hero fanfic #Anathema #Steel #Ortega #Elyise #Investigation #Big chunk of text #SPOILERS!!!!

35 notes · View notes

skarmorydraws · 7 years

Photo

@tyrantisterror ATOM Create-A-Kaiju Contest Entry #1: Julkath

Date Discovered: December 25th, 1954

Place of Origin: The Glacier Oasis

Notable Stomping Grounds: The Glacier Oasis, The Siberian Monster Zone

Height: 90 feet

Length: 175 feet

Biology:

Julkath is a gigantic carnivoran, very closely related to all modern cats both wild and domesticated, although some aspects of his anatomy differ from any known modern feline. He has a barrel chest and stocky, muscular limbs rather like a bear, and flexible shoulders and hips, opposable thumbs, and dexterous paws that are disturbingly similar to those of primates. Though Julkath is by no means swift, he makes up for it by being both immensely strong and surprisingly acrobatic. His tail is thicker and more muscular than most cats, allowing it to be used as a prop so he can rear up on his hind legs for prolonged periods; the stability he gains from this tripodal stance, combined with his immense upper body strength, makes him excellent at grappling. Julkath is a much more active combatant than his bulk suggests, however, able to leap and clamber about, using the terrain to his advantage and pouncing from unexpected angles. His fighting moves are actually surprisingly similar to human wrestlers, save for the inclusion of razor-sharp retractable claws and enlarged, uniquely serrated canines. If feeling especially pressured, however, he can also unleash a deafening roar that can rupture eardrums at close range.

Julkath's evolutionary origin is not certain, for although his aforementioned relationship to modern felids certainly can’t be denied, the unusual aspects of his anatomy may be a hint that his ancestors diverged from the lineage millions of years ago. Scientists suspect that he may have evolved from a supposed race of Ice Age feline predators that were likely unusually intelligent and deft of paw even among their own kin, to the point that they would've evolved sapience had it not been for their sudden and mysterious extinction.

His territory is centered around what was once one of the few human settlements in what would become the Siberian Monster Zone, which happened to be close enough to the one nuclear test that the Russians attempted upon the kaiju that inhabited the area and also within proximity of the Yamaneon-rich Glacier Oasis. Despite being heavily fortified against most kaiju attacks, it was unfortunately susceptible to radioactive fallout from the blast and was quickly abandoned after the incident. In the years to follow the town was overtaken by plant life that absorbed the radiation; the animals that also colonized the region were thusly mutated upon consuming the irradiated vegetation, and to this day, the deer, pigs, and goats that live in the area grow much larger than anywhere else on Earth. Julkath himself probably moved in after escaping the Glacier Oasis in the aftermath of the nuclear blast, as the appeal of so many delicious meatbags was probably too tempting to ignore for anything big and strong enough to hunt them. It’s surprising that a super-large predator didn’t appear in the area sooner, as any wolves, bears, and wildcats in the area would certainly have mutated upon exploiting the irradiated herds currently living there; as it is, Julkath is likely the only creature capable of preying on the mutant plant-eaters he lords over, and may thus be the one thing capable of keeping their populations in check.

Julkath sports the standard kaiju set:

Super strength

An enhanced healing factor

Immunity to radiation

Booming Roar

Personality:

Most individuals, be it people or monsters, would be forgiven for believing Julkath to be a horrifying monstrosity, and with his unnatural anatomy and hulking ferocity he certainly looks the part. In truth, the great werecat is more antisocial and jealously protective than outright savage. He is almost defined by his obsessive vigilance over his territory, and utterly refuses to leave the area unless a global threat forces him into action - anything that spells doom for the whole planet certainly spells doom for his turf and food supply as well, after all. His stubborn insistence on remaining where he is makes him far less of a threat to civilization than any giant werecat has any right to be, and his solitary nature makes him much less likely to cooperate with others than most kaiju would appreciate. He’s an curmudgeonly, surly old geezer, and he apparently prefers to keep it that way.

However, observations from a safe distance may hint towards the possibility that his annoyance at basically everything may be a front to a certain extent. Despite being a well-armed colossus of fur, flesh, teeth, and claws, Julkath is still a cat at the end of the day, and far from being the majestic, rampaging terror presented by the media, he prefers to spend most of his free time doing cat things and nothing else. Eighteen hours of sleep, an hour or two of catching a couple of thirty-foot goats or boars, the remaining four or five hours playing with said goats or boars before devouring them, rinse and repeat. If anything, Julkath appears to be the kaiju equivalent of an aloof shepherd, content to keep an eye out on his livestock and simply watch the world go by. Monsters who think they can exploit this would be wise to have second thoughts, however; despite his habit of lazing around all day, it seems that Julkath is in fact keenly aware of the fragile ecological balance between him and his livestock, and that any disruption to it could lead to either the whole area being devastated by overgrazing or the werecat himself starving to death. As such, he will not hesitate to point out that anything that dares to plunder his territory does so at their own peril - more than one bloodthirsty or otherwise malicious kaiju has attempted to slaughter the oversized herd animals for ill-gotten sustenance, only for the furious feline to piledrive them into the dirt before ripping their throats out with his fearsome saber teeth.

First entry, yay! I’m aware that this is somewhat of a derivative entry, but I tried to make it stand out on its own. I hope I succeeded!

Julkath is based on Kal/Slashkal/Kalmorg, TT’s sabertooth monster who got cut from the current draft of ATOM because of difficulties trying to fit him in. I was sad to see Kal excluded from the main plotline, but with the contest allowing for redesigns of scrapped monsters to fit the 50′s/60′s kaiju aesthetic I figured I could jump on the challenge of making him work with the theme of the story. His design takes from the most current iteration of Kal, which basically composites his basis and look with the build of the mammoth kaiju that also got scrapped, for what I’m guessing are similar reasons. It’s a bulky, burly build that I liked a lot and suited the ambush predator nature of sabertooths in general. I always thought Kal looked rather plain even by the standards of ATOM, so I mixed in some lynx and snow leopard to give him a proper “snow cat” look. To make him look less boring I also decided to include aspects of one of Morg’s earlier drafts, wherein he could stand up and use his forepaws like hands. The overall look ended up becoming some kind of werebeast, and I don’t know if it fits as well with the 50′s theme as some of the other ATOM kaiju entries I’ve seen, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least partly influenced by the 1942 horror film, Cat People. (Speaking of, the date when Julkath was first sighted is also the date when the original Cat People was released, though the year is the same as when Mastemuth and Glypton also first appeared. ;D) While I’m still not sure if his design exactly works with the 50′s/60′s sci-fi theme, his backstory certainly does - the fate of his territory is a dual homage to both the abandoned Chernobyl disaster site being overtaken by nature and populated by animals that would be hunted elsewhere, and the concept art for Ray Harryhausen’s proposed adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth, which sadly never saw the light of day.

Personality-wise, I basically combined aspects of Grumpy Cat (the internet depiction, not Tardar Sauce herself), the tusk cats from Star Wars, and actual cat behavior. Kal was defined entirely by his rivalry with Morg before both got cut, but I always thought that was kinda boring because if two characters exist only to fight each other, that leaves very little room for interactions with anyone else in the story. Julkath doesn’t have a specific arch-nemesis to be defined by, so he’s more akin to that irritable old recluse from too many family media works to count who yells at kids to GIT OFF MAH GODDAMN LAWN.

While his bio doesn’t give it away completely, my imagining for this guy was that as with several other animal groups such as lizards/snakes, fish, long-necked sea tyrants, and insects, Julkath’s ancestors would also have given rise to the magical felines that would have no doubt appeared in the fantasy era of TT’s alternate universe (if TT allows for that sort of thing). Cat monsters are a thing in nearly every continent, and I think it would only make sense to lump all of them into a single family! (I don’t know if this includes manticores and sphinxes too, but that’s for TT to decide.) His name is a portmanteau of two of these kitties in particular: Jólaköttur, the Icelandic Yule Cat, and the source of inspiration for that white spot on his chest, the Nordic Cat Sith.

I don’t know if suitimation or stop-motion would be good ways to bring this guy to life in a hypothetical 50′s film setting, but I can see either of them working pretty well - maybe even dressing up an actual cat and back-projecting it to look big like in The Killer Shrews, if you want to be especially silly.

#Skarmory's art #kaiju #cats #Atomic Time of Monsters #tyrantisterror #and yes he totally does the catloaf thing :3

18 notes · View notes