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achillestiel · 3 years

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the parent trap only works if you’re identical | part three

Tag List: @littlerachelbee @imthedoctorlove @deancas-handprint @castiel-loves-dean @wanderermatthews @thelahatiel @priscillahc @mridzyp @multi-fandom-dark-lord @thefantasyfiend @harmonyhelms @imlivingliferightnow

Dean knew that one day his life would catch up with him and he’d have to explain everything to Claire but this definitely wasn’t how he had planned on doing it. He definitely didn’t expect to be driving to Washington DC with his son. His son. The truth was that he’d thought about Jack a lot over the years. Time and time again he had wanted to call Cas and get to know his child but they’d made an arrangement. Dean got Claire and Cas got Jack. No need to see each and drive each other crazy. Still, Dean had always wondered about his son and now here he was, sat in the impala and complaining loudly over Dean’s music.

“Ok, ok. Enough about the music.” Dean said when Jack’s complaining got to be too much. “We got a long drive ahead of us and I’m sure you have questions. Not gonna lie, I’ve got questions too.” Dean said. Jack let out a long sigh, clearly gearing himself up and Dean braced himself.

“Ok...um...how did you and dad meet?”

“Wow, straight out the gate.” Dean said. “Um, well your dad was studying Political Science and Economics at KU. With you guys being in DC now I’m guessing he got that government job he always wanted. Anyway, I was working at the garage owned by a family friend, guy called Bobby. He’s like an honorary grandpa to Claire. So, Cas’ car broke down so he brought it to the garage. I thought he was cute so gave him a really good discount, in return he asked me out for a drink. The rest is history.”

“Not really…” Jack said. “I’m still confused. What happened after that?”

“Well...we dated while your dad was finishing up at college. After that we went on a cruise ‘cause I’m not great with flying and your dad really wanted to go to London. Turns out I’m not good on boats either. I threw up a lot.”

“Is that when you and dad got tipsy and got married by the captain?”

“How did you know that?”

“Uncle Gabriel told me and made me promise to not tell dad. Apparently it’s why dad refuses to watch Titanic.” Jack said. “Dad? Dean...no, dad...can I ask you something?”

“Of course kid. This is Winchester Question Time after all.” Dean said.

“Are you mad me at and Claire for doing this? Why do we have to switch back so soon? Don’t...don’t you want to spend time with me?” Jack asked and damn if Dean’s heart didn’t break a tiny bit, ok a lot, then.

“Well damn Jack, of course I want to spend time with you buddy. Just ‘cause you’re not around doesn’t mean I don’t love you to the moon and back.It’s just, as much as I want you around, you belong to Cas. Kind of like how Claire belongs to me.” Dean explained.

“We’re kids, not pieces of furniture.”

“Yeah I know and I know this sucks but it’s the agreement that me and your dad came to. Neither of us wanted you and Claire to constantly be going back and forth between houses and you were both so little at the time.”

“Personally I think Claire and my idea to switch places was less idiotic.” Jack said. The kid may have had a point.

Before Dean could even reply his phone burst into life with a video call from Sam and Eileen. Dean stuck his phone into the holder and accepted the call. At once Sam and Eileen’s excited faces filled the screen.

“Hey, let me just pull over so I can talk.” Dean said.

“That’s fine, we just wanted to see Claire and say hi.” Sam said with a huge grin. “We can’t wait to see her!”

“Yeah...about that...we might have hit a slight speed bump.” Dean said as he pulled the impala over and glanced down at the screen. “Claire’s not here.” he said, signing for Eileen at the same time.

What? Where’s Claire? I thought you were picking her up today. Eileen signed.

“Oh I was but she had other ideas.” Dean said.

Where is she?

“Well she’s with her dad, just not the right one.” Dean said. Both Sam and Eileen looked confused for a moment before it seemed to dawn on them.

“She’s with Cas? How the hell did that happen?”

“Ask this genius right here.” Dean said, picking up the phone and spinning it around so Jack could wave at the screen. “Sammy, we got a Parent Trap situation going on.”

“Holy crap! Is that Jack? Wow kid, you grew up! Wait, don’t the twins have to be identical for the parent trap to work?”

“Don’t even get me started on that. I’ve already called both of them morons.”

“Hi Uncle Sam and Aunt Eileen!” Jack both said and signed.

“You know how to sign?” Dean asked him.

“Yeah, dad taught me.” Jack said before looking back at the screen. “Uncle Gabriel has told me so much about you two. It’s so cool to finally meet you!”

“You too kid, I haven’t seen you since you were a baby.” Sam said. “So you’re with Dean and Claire is with Cas...that’s interesting.”

“It’s not ‘interesting’ Sammy, it’s a pain in the ass.” Dean said bringing the phone back to him. “I’m now driving Jack back to DC so I can grab my moron daughter and ground her until she’s college age.”

And see Cas for the first time in over a decade. Are you nervous? Eileen asked.

Why would I be nervous? Dean shot back.

Obvious reasons. You and Cas came up with this cockamamie idea so you wouldn’t have to see each other. You only did that because you’d definitely launch yourself at Cas at the first opportunity.

Don’t start that again Eileen, you know why me and Cas didn’t work out and I really wish you and Sam wouldn’t gossip about it so much.

“We don’t gossip!” Sam said.

“You do and you know you do!” Dean shot back, completely unaware that Jack was texting someone at the same moment. A huge, shit eating grin plastered on his face.

In times of crisis, Gabriel Novak wasn’t normal who most people would have turned to but Cas was short on options. After driving Claire back to his house, Cas called Gabriel in a mild panic. Sadly, by the time Gabriel actually turned up, that mild panic had increased by a fair amount.

“And we’re hiding in your bedroom while the daughter you haven’t seen in over twelve years makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because…” Gabriel asked, surveying the sight in front of him. Namely Cas, clearly having a ‘moment’.

"Because Dean Winchester is currently driving to my house. I’m sorry Gabriel but I can’t handle this right now.” Cas said. “I haven’t seen him in over a decade and now he’s driving halfway across the country to swap our kids back!”

“Cas, I think you need to calm down or have a drink. Maybe a few drinks." Gabriel said as Cas shot him the crazy eyes. “Just a suggestion.”

“I don’t think I’m emotionally intelligent enough for this! The man drives me crazy! If he didn’t drive me that insane then I’d still be married to him!” Cas cried as he started to pull shirts out his drawer. “Do I look emotionally stable enough for this Gabriel? We decided upon this arrangement so we wouldn’t have to see each other again because if we did I’d do something stupid like throw myself at him because the man makes me crazy. Seriously Gabriel, have you ever seen me like this?”

“Well…”

“Actually don’t answer that.” Cas said, giving up on finding a shirt and opening up his walk-in closest. Maybe he could just hide in there and leave the whole thing to Gabriel. Then again Gabriel lacked the emotional maturity to handle something like this. Maybe he could leave the whole thing up to Claire.

“No. Castiel, get out the damn closet and see your ex-husband like a big boy.” Gabriel said because of course Gabriel knew exactly what Cas was thinking. It was at that point that Claire strolled into the room holding a sandwich, stopping when she saw Cas stood in his closet holding out two nearly identical sweaters.

"Um, Cas...Dad? Are you spiralling right now?"

"No, why? Does it look like I'm spiralling?" Cas asked, walking out towards Claire. Gabriel opened his mouth to speak. “Don’t answer that Gabriel.”

"Well, yeah. You look like Dad does whenever he gets drunk and hears Since I've Been Loving You then cries while watching cowboy movies thinking that I don't know what he's doing." Claire said bluntly.

"Huh, that was our wedding song." Cas said before walking back into his closet. "Wait." He said, sticking his head out the door. "Does your father do that a lot? Not that I care, it’s just...I’m-"

“Spiralling? Interested in what Dean Winchester has been up to for the past twelve years? Clearly not emotionally intelligent enough to handle all this right now so you’re hiding in a closet like a child?” Gabriel intoned.

"Yep, exactly like dad when he watches cowboy movies." Claire said to Gabriel. “He does it like once a month. It's cool though. I just bike over to Uncle Sam and Aunt Eileen's house. They have cable and Aunt Eileen is teaching me how to sign curse words." Claire said with a shrug. "Cas...dad...why are you spiralling?"

“He’s emotional unintelligent.” Gabriel said while Cas just stood there, still holding the damn sweaters.

“I don’t know what that means.” Claire replied. “Anyway, I just spoke to my dad and they’re stopping for coffee. He said they’ll be here in four hours or so.”

“There you go, you’ve got four whole hours to get a grip.” Gabriel said. “Hey Claire, you gonna eat the rest of that sandwich?”

“Knock yourself out.” Claire said handing over the rest of her sandwich.

“I like this kid, she’s cool. Huh, you make your PB&J sandwiches just like Jack." Gabriel said looking down at the sandwich. "Jelly between two layers of peanut butter..." He added looking over at Cas.

"Yeah, that's how dad always made them." Claire said.

“How bizarre.” Gabriel said wiggling his eyebrows.

“How bizarre.” Claire intoned. Gabriel laughed out loud and high fived her with his sandwich free hand.

“Claire...did your dad say anything else? Does he seem annoyed?” Cas asked before Gabriel could make a PB&J comment.

“Yeah but that’s just because Jack did the ‘puppy eyes’ thing and changed the station to the Billboard Hot 100. I don’t know how Jack does it but he’s gotta teach me that, I’ll get away with so much in the future.”

“Right...did he mention anything else?”

“He wants to know if Dean said anything about him.” Gabriel said, straight to the point like always.

“Oh! No, not really...he stammered out a load of nonsense like always then begged Jack to change the station because Justin Bieber started playing and Bieber creeps dad for reasons I don’t understand.” Claire said with a shrug. “Though Jack said that when he was talking to Uncle Sam and Aunt Eileen he mentioned that they gossip about the two of you all the time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, dad was signing it to Aunt Eileen. I didn’t know Jack knew sign language.”

“I taught him when he was little.” Cas said. Cas had learnt to sign when he’d met Eileen, it just felt natural to teach Jack.

“I mean, he’s right. Uncle Sam talks about you all the time when I’m there. Not so much in front of dad ‘cause he gets real weird about it.” Claire said. “Jack said something about dad not wanting to see you so he wouldn’t do something stupid. He’s probably right, dad does stupid things all the time.”

“Well well well, who does that sound like.” Gabriel said, shooting a very pointed look at Cas. “Claire, kiddo, why don’t we leave your dad to freak out in the closet and make him some calming tea? Or maybe grab a bottle of tequila?”

“Sure.” Claire said before turning back to Cas. “Dad, it’s gonna be fine. I think my dad is excited to see you. If that helps.” she said with a small smile. Cas smiled back because it didn’t matter how much Dean drove him crazy or how badly his was currently handling the situation. What mattered was that Cas was excited to see Dean too.

Now all he needed to do was pick out a sweater.

#deancas parent trap #deancas fic #destiel fic #ficlet #deancas #destiel #I did not expect this to blow up like this #if i have missed anyone off the tag list please send a message #or if you want to be included please let me know #wanderingcas #tagging you because part one blew up thanks to you #i should be working on other stuff #but here we are #also i literally just noticed typos #i can't fucking spell or proofread to save my goddamn life

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scarletwillowtree · 4 years

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The Soldier and The Artist ch 5 (soulmate AU)

Pairing: Bucky x artist!reader

Warning: Some swearing, OFC best friend being a southern windstorm with no filter (based on my actual best friend!)

Word Count: 2,046

Summary: In a world where your soulmates first words show up on your skin once you meet, it’s not entirely common to actually meet the one you’re destined to be with. Though you’ve always held out hope, you never believed you would meet them, especially after you got your words but haven’t seen the man since. Now, working closely with The Avengers for a project Tony Stark himself requested you for, you’re closer to your soulmate than you ever expected.

A/N: Here it is guys, gals, and nb pals! The final chapter in The Soldier and The Artist. The epilogue will be following hopefully tonight just so y’all don’t have to wait forever! Working full time, going to college, and being a single parent doesn’t leave mass amounts of time for hobbies, so I can’t promise any update schedule, but my Steve x goddess!reader will be starting later this week. Thank you all for coming with me on this journey, as this was my very first fic and I’m so happy with how it’s been received! No more delaying, the finale begins!

masterlist

Two days into your extended vacation time with the team and you had received yet another surprise. Much to your delight, this time it came in the form of your tiny tornado of a best friend deciding to visit you in New York. She had intended to fully surprise you by busting into your room, however FRIDAY had instead woken you up with an alert that someone rather feisty was in the lobby claiming to be your family.

Upon entering the lobby, you let out a soft laugh. Seeing your barely 5’2” best friend trying to intimidate one Happy Hogan was honestly a wonderful start to your day. After watching quietly from the elevator for another few moments, you finally stepped forward and cleared your throat. Hannah’s whole disposition changed, from looking ready to rip out Happy’s throat to sugar coated wide smiles in less than half a second.

“It’s okay Happy, unfortunately this ball of hate actually is basically my family.”

He gave a sigh before shaking his head as he walked off, and you could almost swear you heard him mutter something about not getting paid enough. You smiled wide as you and Hannah embraced, the small sense of homesickness that had begun creeping up on you the last few days quickly flowing away as you did so.

“What are you even doing here?”

Hannah’s smile turned mischievous grin as she grabbed her bag.

“Well, you remember how we had discussing opening a second location? With the very generous pay from this project and recent events, why not here? In New York I mean.”

You stare at Hannah for a moment, your jaw slack and eyes wide, before you begin floundering for your response.

“Well- I mean- I didn’t- I did say that, but I had been thinking a second place in DC! That- This is insane! Who would even run it?”

Hannah stared at you blankly as you two finally walked into the elevator that immediately began its ascent.

“You would, Y/N. Before you even start with all that typical ‘but my life is there not here’ bullshit, we both know the only things waiting for you back in DC are me and the studio. Opening a New York location would allow us to reach a larger clientele with it basically being a crossroads of the world with JFK here. Your future is here, whether you’re ready to admit it or not. I have bookings next week for us to begin looking at studios so you better grasp that fact fast!”

You smiled down at your friend, a warmth blossoming through your chest as her words really sunk in. You knew you didn’t want to leave, not with just having found Bucky, and the fact that even your closest friend could see that and was pushing you to be selfish for once made the choice easier to accept.

“You really should start breathing in the middle of your rants, someone your size could easily get oxygen deprivation at that rate.”

Hannah glared at you for a moment before the two of you burst into full on laughter.

This was about to get real fun.

***

After a quick stop in Tony’s lab for introductions and getting permission for Hannah to stay in the compound during her trip, the two of you found yourselves in a spare room in the same wing you had been staying in. The two of you were dancing around to the music you’d had FRIDAY play through the speakers, slowly unpacking Hannah’s bag, when a knock accompanied by two quiet laughs overlapping came from the doorway. You both turned, slowing to a stop mid dance, to see a pair of super soldiers standing there.

“Well you’re built like a brick shit house, ain’t ya?”

You felt your eyes widen at your friends lack of filter before you doubled over in laughter, barely registering Bucky’s own laugh mingling with yours. You definitely didn’t need to see Steve’s face to know he was already turning a violent shade of red as he attempted to string together a sentence in reply.

“Nice to meet you too? I think?”

You and Bucky finally managed to calm your laughter, taking deep breaths and still wearing a smile, you finally introduced the pair to the closest thing you had to family nowadays. After a brief conversation, the four of you all agreed to have a movie night with take out to celebrate her arrival.

As the group left the room, you felt a soft smile stretch your lips as you watched the three ahead of you. It was then that you made the decision to wait to tell Bucky you were staying until you were going to look at studios in the city. You’d have plenty of time together once you had fully moved, for now it didn’t seem like an issue that needed addressing.

***

As the night wore on, you and Bucky had begun making little faces at each other, noticing just how close your best friends were becoming. He nodded to the kitchen and you winked back with a minute nod of your head.

“I’m gonna grab some more popcorn and drinks for everyone, wanna help me Buck?”

You stood and moved toward the kitchen behind the sofas without even waiting for a response, dumping the kernels from the nearly empty popcorn bowl that had been in your lap into the trash. Bucky soon followed, moving to the fridge to grab several cans of soda, setting them on the counter next to the microwave just as you started the bag of popcorn you tossed in. You looked to Bucky to see a loving warmth coming from the depths of his steely blue eyes. As if pulled by a magnet, you stepped forward, feeling your arms wrap around his waist instinctively. His arms wound around you as you buried your face in his chest, before he began whispering to you.

“Seems like maybe we’re not the only pair that came from Stark’s idea. I never woulda thought Steve could handle a spitfire like her though.”

You giggled softly into the warmth of his chest before you both broke away, startled by the loud squeal coming from the theater area you had just left. Moving quickly, you both sprinted into the room to find Steve and Hannah staring at each other in awe, Steve’s forearm now in full view as one of the sleeves had been pushed up to reveal what was apparently the first words your friend had spoken to the soldier.

You heaved a sigh of relief, Bucky doing the same, before you leaned into his side. His arm automatically wrapped around you before he leaned down and whispered in your ear, asking if you wanted to give them some alone time together. With a quick nod, Bucky smiled and began guiding you from the room before calling out behind him.

“Have fun you crazy kids!”

You could hear Hannah and Steve laughing softly as Bucky continued to guide you down the hall and towards one of the elevators. While waiting for it to reach you, you separated from Bucky’s side and leaned against the wall next to it, smiling at the man in front of you. For the last few weeks, the tension between you had been building as you danced around sharing even your first kiss together. You were generally very patient, but even now your mind wandered away as you imagined feeling his lips pressing against yours.

“Whatcha looking at me like that for, doll?”

Bucky inched closer to you, placing his hands on your hips, firm enough that you felt secure, but gentle enough that if you moved he wouldn’t be trapping you where you stood. You leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek, just on the corner of his mouth.

“Just admiring the view, soldier.”

The playful smirk that took over Bucky’s face immediately had you understanding why he drew in all the ladies back in his day. Your heart fluttered and began pounding so loudly in your chest you were surprised he couldn’t hear it with how close he was. He leaned down, slowly inching toward your lips, giving you plenty of time to pull away if you wanted, before the loud ding of the elevator arriving caused him to pull away. He placed a gentle and lingering kiss to your forehead before taking your hand and pulling you into the elevator with him.

“So Barnes, where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere special doll. Do you trust me?”

You nodded without hesitation, giggling lightly when he covered your eyes before you heard the click of a button being pushed and the elevator began moving upwards.

“No peeking.”

***

Once the elevator had stopped, Bucky kept his hands firmly in place as he guided you out and down several hallways. After what felt like forever, you were hit with a wave of heat and the scents of fresh earth and foliage, and you could swear you heard running water faintly.

Bucky finally moved his hands and what surrounded you nearly took your breath away. You found yourself standing just inside what appeared to be a massive greenhouse, filled to the brim with various flowers, herbs, all manner of vegetables and even a few fruit trees lined the edges of the glass structure. There was indeed a natural style fountain hidden away in a corner, a small pond as the base.

Since the night had come on during the movies, when the two of you sat down on a bench near the pond you could see the glittering stars through the glass of the roof above you. A smile had found its way to your face and didn’t want to leave.

“It’s beautiful.” You whispered softly, trying not to disturb the peace.

“Yes, it is.”

Bucky’s hand found your chin, pulling your face to his as your cheeks flamed to life as you realized he’d been watching you instead of the stars. You couldn’t bring yourself to comment on how cheesy he was being as he leaned in, once again giving you plenty of time to pull away. You leaned forward instead, determined to finally closing the gap that had lingered between the two of you since he had returned from that mission weeks ago.

The feeling of his lips on yours set your skin alight, the soft skin of his lips molding perfectly to your own contrasting with the rough yet gentle scratching of his stubble against your face as the kiss quickly deepened. Now you could understand what people meant when they saw fireworks when kissing their soulmate, only it felt like they were going off in your very veins. You both buried yourself in the high intensity passion of the kiss, pouring all of your feelings into this one moment, until neither of you could breathe any longer. You separated but placed your foreheads together to remain close as you both gulped down the much needed air.

Once his breath had gotten closer to normal, Bucky only had one word for you. A single word that was both a question and a demand, a request from the lips of some desperately in love already.

“Stay.”

Your smile grew as you pulled back, staring into those ocean deep baby blues. You could see the sincerity of what he knew he was asking you to do. His eyes were filled with a little fear, but mostly hope. Hope and love. You kissed his nose before looking into his eyes again.

“I already planned to Bucky. Hannah is here to help with choosing where our New York studio will be. I just got you, I’m not going anywhere soldier.”

The hope in his eyes flared into a joyous flame that carried through him. A laugh of pure exhilaration burst out of him as he stood with his arms still around your waist, spinning you around as he whooped in joy. His laughter was infectious as you soon began to giggle as well.

“Oh doll, I can’t wait for our forever to begin!”

He pressed his lips to yours once more and you immediately melted into his embrace.

Forever has already started, as long as this artist has her soldier.

***

epilogue >

tag list: @aireka-frnc @katgirl05 @beep-beep-quarterfool @ladifreakingda @huffleasfluff @thequirkypeach @courtmr @doublephoeenix @38leticia @gennyld @londelle @loving-life-my-way @lostnnot2befound @catsandbooksinafarawayplace @just-a-little-bit-of-everything @aurorawitchcraft @buttercup337 @theseulehurricane @thejourneyneverendsx @tommyhoe @milady-mira @lyricalstella @cutiepiemimi13 @unknownuserhasjoined @rinthehufflepuff

strikethrough means the tag doesn’t work

#Bucky Barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky x soulmate!reader #bucky x soulmate #soulmate au avengers #soulmate au #soulmarks

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365days365movies · 3 years

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January 26, 2021: The Expendables (2010)

I don’t think you understood how big of a deal this was when it came out, OK? Sylvester Stallone. Dolph Lundgren. Jason Statham. Jet Li. Terry Crews. Randy Couture. Mickey Rooney. In ONE MOVIE? Some of the biggest action stars of all time, in one movie, kicking names and taking ass?

YOU HEARD ME GODDAMIT, IT’S THE EXPENDABLES!

I chose this movie because it contains multiple action stars, rather than just a single one. And since this month started off with Stallone, makes sense to finish with him! Plus, I can also get Statham, Lundgren, and Li in this month! Win-win-win! I’m pumped, no rigamarole needed, LET’S DO IT!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

It’s 2010, and our introductory villains of choice are Somali pirates! Yayyyyyyy. They’re holding hostage some shipmates, and haven’t received any money for them in a while. However, as they’re making a new demands video, they find themselves lit up by laser-sights.

These lasers are from guns pointed by a group of commandos, sent to deliver the money and rescue the hostages. When they demand more money, one of them fires a warning shot.

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

Well…after that, we get an INSANE action sequence, and some one-liners courtesy of the leader. At the end, one of the men, Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), is particularly unhinged. He was the one to fire the warning shot, and he’s about to hang a pirate, which is a little much for this team.

The leader, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) tells him off, and he’s taken down by Yin Yang (Jet Li), who...YIN YANG??? You CANNOT be serious! REALLY? WHO WROTE THIS???

Anyway, they fire Gunnar, and head home from the mission. Lee Christmas (Mickey Rourke) goes home, only to find that his girlfriend has left him for another, less secretive and murdery man. He catches up with Barney, who’s getting tattoo work done by an old friend, Tool (Mickey Rourke).

The next day, Barney accepts a mission from Mr. Church and Trench Mauser, played by...oh my God.

OH GOD, MY WORLD’S ON FIRE

Anyway, Bruce Willis hires Sylvester Stallone for a job which Arnold Schwarzenegger passes on. And I could use their character names, BUT I PHYSICALLY CANNOT TYPE THEM WHILE THEY’RE TOGETHER. THIS IS ALL I EVER WANTED.

Barney accepts the mission, and is confronted by Gunnar, who’s clearly on something. He wants in on the mission, but Barney can’t trust him any more. He leaves, but quite reluctantly.

The group gets together to discuss the mission. This includes Toll Road (Randy Couture) and...Hale Caesar (Terry Crews). Jesus.

The mission: overthrow General Garza (David Zayaz), corrupt dictator on the South American island of Vilena. They make their way to the islands, posing as ornithologists...and I can’t decide if I’m professionally offended by this or not. I’m, uh...I’m in that field. We’ll see how they handle that.

Lee and Barney go to meet a contact for more information, talking about women on the way. And who should walk in but Sandra (Giselle Itié), who I’m calling as an Inevitable Love Interest right now...although I’m not sure for whom. She describes how Americans came and supplied money to Garza, allowing him to ruin the island and take over.

This American is James Monroe (Eric Roberts), and his henchman...STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN (Stone Cold Steven Austin). Sure, I could call him Dan Paine…but, nah, he’s Stone Bold, baby!

As tensions run high between Munroe and Garza, due to a lack of profit on Garza’s end. Meanwhile, as Barney determines Sandra’s guilt, military men come in to take them all in. It’s revealed that Sandra is the General’s daughter, and the group gets into a fight. The men are, of course, defeated handily, and our three escape before Munroe and Garza get there.

However, Sandra refuses to leave as Lee brings her to the chopper. After taking out some guards, Barney joins him...by jumping into the plane from the dock. But they go back, and Statham fires on Garza’s men.. from the outside of the plane. AND THEN THEY SPRAY PLANE FUEL ON THEM AND SET IT ON FUCKING FIRE

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Is this...is this gonna be the whole movie? IS THIS GONNA BE THE WHOLE MOVIE

Anyway, they figure out that Sandra did this immediately, and unambiguously evil Munroe tells Garza to kill his daughter. He also brings in Gunnar, who OF COURSE betrays them. He’s brought in by Roberts, who BY THE WAY, is an ex-FBI agent.

Yup. Apparently, the US Government hired Mr. Church to hire the mercenaries to take care of Munroe, with the assumption that they would die in the process of the mission. So, in other words, they’re like a squad…

Upon learning all of this, the group returns home. Lee goes back to his ex, Lacy (Charisma Carpenter), who’s clearly in an abusive relationship with her current boyfriend. So, Lee does what he does, and BEATS THE EVER-LOVING SHIT OUT OF HIM AND HIS FRIENDS. Barney, meanwhile, goes to talk to Tool, where Mickey Rourke turns in some QUALITY ACTING, LEMME TELL YOU. He talks about a traumatic past mission, and you feel it, lemme tell you.

But back in Vilena, looks like they’re trying to get information out of Sandra via good old-fashioned water boarding! Yaaaaaaaay. It’s not particularly easy to watch. Luckily for her, Barney decides to go back for Sandra, out of guilt. Yang goes along with him this time. However, Gunnar’s been sent to kill them, and this results in a car-gun battle with Barney, Yang, Gunnar, and Monroe’s other men.

They end up in a warehouse, where they engage in a fist fight. As Gunnar’s about to kill Yang, Barney shoots him through the chest. With his last words, Gunnar tells him where to find Munroe. And despite Barney’s initial intent to go alone, the rest of the Expendables go along.

Meanwhile, in Vilena, Garza now turns against Munroe. Y’know, AFTER the whole water boarding torture thing, which seems a little too late for your daughter, buddy. The Expendables storm the castle, so to speak, and they take out all of the men while destroying the drugs in the building, and…

...I am so bored.

No, really, I mean it! I am INCREDIBLY bored by this movie. I don’t know HOW I could be bored at this movie...but I am! Seriously! I feel...wrong. Like, this should be an amazingly engaging movie, but it just...isn’t.

OK, what’s going on? Right, right, Barney decapitated a man with a single knife stroke, saved Sandra, and then they both got captured. Uh, the other Expendables save him, and Barney’s fighting Stone Cold Steve Austin. Which, again...should be exciting? But somehow, the impact just...isn’t there. Is it me? Is this my fault? Why isn’t this exciting to me?

Garza gives Munroe his money back, sick of the death and destruction, apparently. He almost kills Munroe, but his blade is stilled...by his daughter’s heart? He goes outside, and blames everything on the Americans, which is totally fair. Munroe shoots him dead, then escapes with Sandra, Austin, and the money. And then, they blow up the building.

...Which is somehow boring. What...what is happening to me? WHY AM I NOT ENJOYING THIS?

As the Expendables continue shooting and blowing up the place, I slip into a meditative trance. I think on the nature of the action genre, as Terry Crews destroys three sentry towers with a single big gun. And as I watch these men take out everybody without a SINGLE SCRATCH ON THEM EVER...It dawns on me.

There are absolutely no stakes in this movie. I’m not worried about the Expendables, they’re gonna be fine! And even then, I barely know them! Nothing revealed about their characters has gotten me to root for them or even really LIKE them that much. And even then, I still know that they’re going to succeed.

And as Stallone jump-punches Austin in the face, I continue my meditation. The special effects in this movie are noticeably subpar, as is the fight choreography. The face that these guys are basically supermen is boring. And this is coming from a guy whose favorite DC Comics hero IS SUPERMAN.

As Stone Cold Steve Austin burns to death, it isn’t even Stallone who delivers the final face punch. Instead, it’s Toll, WHOM I DO NOT REALLY KNOW. And as they take down a helicopter using nothing but a single gun and Terry Crews’ muscles, I feel NOTHING.

As Barney confronts Munroe, and Munroe shoots him, I zone out as Munroe monologues, and is summarily shot and stabbed. As expected. And as Barney and Lee trade some more quipped lines, a line of Monroe’s resonates with me. He said that both of them are dead inside, and that’s how this entire movie feels: soulless, without substance or true purpose. It just. Feels. Empty.

Am I numb to the violence? Is it just that it was too much at once? Is it this month, or just this movie? And as Barney and Lee take off into the sunrise and head to Tool’s to celebrate, I...genuinely don’t care. And I also know that I won’t remember ANYTHING in this movie. And then, AND THEN, JUST when I think I couldn’t care less, JUST when I think there were no stakes whatsoever…

GUNNAR’S ALIVE?!? YOU GODDAMN KIDDING ME???

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torturedwarrior · 4 years

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Albert Fish:

Who exactly is Albert Fish? What made him famous? How many victims did he murder? How did Albert Fish die? Albert Hamilton Fish (May 19, 1870 – January 16, 1936) was an American sado-masochistic serial killer and cannibal. He was also known as the Gray Man, the Werewolf of Wysteria and possibly the Brooklyn Vampire. AKA Albert Fish, Laura Fish, Nepe Fish, Birthday May 19, 1870, Birthplace Washington DC, District of Columbia, United States, Death January 16, 1936, Manner of Death Capital Punishment, Nationality United States Of America, Occupations Prostitute, Serial Killer, Great Person, Male Prostitution, Religion Rejecting The Blood. “Misery leads to crime. I saw so many boys whipped it ruined my mind.”— Albert Fish.

He was delighted that he had "kids in all nations," which places his number near 100, although the question of violence or cannibalization is not obvious, much less as to whether it was real or not. In at least five killings for his career he was a witness. Fisch agreed to three killings and confessed to at least two other individuals attacking investigators might track a suspected crime. He was tried and convicted and hanged by electric chair for abduction and the death of Grace Budd.

Albert Fish’s Early Life:

He was born to Randall Fish (1795-1875) as Hamilton Fish in Washington, D.C. He said he was named after a distant relative, Hamilton Fish. His grandfather was 43 years older than his brother. It had three live siblings: Walter, Joyce, and Edwin Fish. Fish was the youngest child and he was three. After a deceased brother he wanted to be called "Albert," and to avoid the moniker of "Ham and Eggs," provided him in an orphanage where he spent many years in the beginning. Mental illness was suffered by many of his family members and theological mania was felt. His father was a sailor on the river boat, but he was a producer of fertilizers by 1870. The first Fish died in the 1875 Washington, DC, of a heart attack at the Sixth Street Station of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He was hit and kicked regularly, and finally discovered that he was suffering from physical pain. Often the beatings brought him houses that the other children told him about.

His mother was able to look after him and have a government job by 1879. He had however been influenced by his different experiences before this. He began a gay relationship with a telegraph-boy in 1882, when he was 12. Fish also heard about drinking urine and coprophagies in young people. Fish liked to frequent public baths and watch kids get ready and he spent much of his weekends watching them. In 1890, Fish had come to New York City and said he had become a male harlot. He claimed he began raping young boys, even after his mother had negotiated a marriage, a crime that he proceeded to commit. He married his wife in 1898 with a junior aged nine years. The dad: Albert, Mary, Gertrude, Eugene, Charles, and Henry Fish. They had six babies. He was charged on the basis of misappropriation and sentenced to 1903 in Sing jail. He had sex with men frequently during his incarceration. “I have no particular desire to live. I have no particular desire to be killed. It is a matter of indifference to me. I do not think I am altogether right.”— Albert Fish

He served as a house painter in 1898 and said that he kept angry babies, boys mostly under the age of six. Further on, he recalled an instance where a male friend took him to a waxworks museum where Fish became intrigued by a penis bisection, and shortly afterwards he was paranoid regarding castration. Fish tried to castrate him after linking him during a friendship with a mentally disabled man. The guy became terrified and ran. Fish then increased his trips to brothels to taunt and abuse him more often. His wife left him in January 1917 for a handyman, John Straube, who rented the Fish home. Despite this rejection, Fish started hearing voices; for instance, once he was wrapped up in a tapestry and clarified why he followed John the Apostle's orders.

Early attacks and attempted abductions:

It was Fish which perpetrated his first assault in Wilmington, Delaware in 1910 on a child named Thomas Bedden. He eventually murdered a child mentally disabled in Arlington, Washington, D.C., in 1919. Many of his perpetrators would frequently be either mentally impaired or American as they would not be overlooked, he claimed. On 11 July 1924 Fish discovered Beatrice Kiel, eight years of age, playing alone on the Staten Island estate of her father. He gave her money in the neighboring fields to help him hunt the rhubarb. As her mother scared Fish away, she was about to leave the farm. Fish fled but then returned back to the barn of Kiels, where, before Hans Kiel found him, he wanted to sleep and told him to leave.

Previous incarceration:

Fish met "Estella Wilcox," and lived a week in Waterloo, New York, on February 6, 1930. He was held at Bellevue psychiatric hospital between 1930 and 1931 for evaluation, and he was released in May 1930 "because he sent an indecent letter to an African American woman who replied a maid's advertising."

Fish Targets the Handicapped:

Around 1919, Albert Fish started attacking young men who, because he thought that these individuals would be ignored, were intellectually or African American. Fish liked to bribe kids to help him trap other kids so that he could torture and kill them. The proof has been confirmed in any of these murders. Upon his final conviction, Albert Fish made a number of statements. Even if there was no proof, he listed Albert Fish's victims in hundreds. In 1924, Albert Fish developed total insanity. He actually believed, although he has been tested several times by psychologists, that God was ordering him to torture and kill them. In July of that year, Fish met teenage Beatrice Kiel on the estate of her father alone. Her mother heard Fish chuckle and scare him from protecting the 8-year-old girl's life. Fish went back to the farm in Kiel later that night and slept in the stable. Hans Kiel, young Beatrice's parent, spotted him and quickly pursued him. The next move of Albert Fish was targeted at a young boy Cyril Quinn he had annoyed. To draw them into his den, Fish gave the boys lunch. The boys wrested on Fish's pillow, while waiting for sandwiches. Fish's "death weapons" and hammer, handsaw and cleaver were overthrown by the mattress. The boys have run from the house in panic. Again, Fish missed his job of killing and eating a boy. It took Fish up a bit of his playing.

Albert Fish’s Victims:

Francis McDonnel- Francis, age 8, was murdered on July 14, 1924. He had been raped and strangled to death, Emma Richardson- Emma, age 5, was murdered on October 3, 1926, Billy Gaffney- Billy, age 4, was murdered on February 12, 1927. Fish confessed to torturing Billy by whipping him, cutting off his ears and nose and then gouging out his eyes. After Billy was murdered, Fish took home pieces of his body and ate them over the course of 4 days, Grace Budd- Grace, age 10, was murdered on June 3, 1928. Fish confessed to murdering her and then eating her whole body over the course of 9 days, Emil Aalling - Emil, age 4, was murdered on July 13, 1930, Robin Jane Liu- Robin, age 6, was murdered on may 2, 1931, Yetta Abramowitz- Yetta, age 12, was murdered in 1927. Fish was suspected to have murdered Yetta, Mary Ellen O’Connor- Mary, age 16, was murdered on February 15, 1932. Fish was suspected to have murdered Mary, Benjamin Collings- Benjamin, age 17, was murdered on December 15, 1932. Fish was suspected to have murdered Benjamin. “I always had a desire to inflict pain on others and to have others inflict pain on me. I always seemed to enjoy everything that hurt.”- Albert Fish, "What a thrill that will be if I have to die in the electric chair. It will be the supreme thrill. The only one I haven't tried."- Albert Fish.

Trial and Execution:

It is not shocking that Fish is regarded as "the worst child killer in criminal history." The Grace Budd assassination court lasted eleven days. Cod has been found guilty and finally electrically disabled. Fish was said to have helped the boy place electrodes on his leg. There have been reports that the needles implanted by Fish into its body have created a short electric circuit, so it requires twice the normal electricity strikes to complete the job. Since then, these arguments have been dismissed. His lawyer claimed after Fish was killed that he had no words from Fish, just handwritten documents. "Information will never be shown to anyone. The prosecutor refused to read them. It was I have ever seen the filthiest list of obscenities. Until the end of his life, Fish had been a vile human being.

Albert Fish will tend to be one of the greatest abusers of girls in America. Few serial killers, particularly against children, have accomplished the cruelty he is renowned for. It needs to be seen whether Albert Fish was a serial killer at the orphanage. One has to ask if someone so evil as Fish was raised as an assassin or could his conditions transform him into a bad person. Like most serial killers, it's become a little bit of nature and nourishment. While he claims to also have killed thousands of children,' one in every state,' he was only ever found to have killed three. The three killings were so horrific that they solidified Fish's place in history as the worst child killer in all of American history.

Work Cited:

"Best Albert Fish Quotes | Quote Catalog." Quote Catalog. Web. 11 Feb 2020. <http://quotecatalog.com/communicator/albert-fish/>.

Blanco, Juan Ignacio. "Albert Fish | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers." Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. Web. 11 Feb 2020. <http://murderpedia.org/male.F/f/fish-albert.htm>.

Phan, Daniel. " Everything You Need To Know About Albert Fish | Serial Killer Shop ." Limited Edition Horror & Serial Killer Shirts – Serial Killer Shop . 18 Mar 2019. Web. 11 Feb 2020. <http://serialkillershop.com/blogs/true-crime/albert-fish>.

Whitney , Heather. "Victims of Albert Fish | The Serial Killers Podcast." The Serial Killers Podcast - A Weekly Podcast on Serial Murder. 1 Jan 2010. Web. 11 Feb 2020. <http://serialkillers.briancombs.net/2962/victims-of-albert-fish/>.

#albert fish #serial killer #blogging #blog #writing #writeaway

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sirjustice275-blog · 4 years

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Clueful or less homey

with cardboards u place outer peel of pineapple or sugar cane in hay or sewer water and boom its formed and even placing cabbage 4 roads, buildings and bridges.

With airplane with thorn u can hurl with cut pieces of sweet potato or crushed juice of ripe yellow seldom apple seed.Yesus or with ododo vegetable seed.

Athens a city built on the hill can never be hidden at we to it at judgement day as we got dreger to dig from above, like they can sicnk many holles in houses using the same 4 magama to come out to kill people to harbor the truth above as it was hell along time when green man was still on earth, so we can use the 1 which can dig from outer crust to let the magma out to create avoid with the land that Athens is built. Sheep and goat parable, my voice another version to bring us home. When hurled in hell u burn 4 1 week b4 u transform into magma not as earlier perceived dude and destroyed completely better that dude than go and stand daily in heaven singing b4 being brought back to earth as incarnation. When the earth is over those taken to heaven will be brought back to earth to start again a new world of Adam and even and it will be that way and that way 4 eternity dude. Weed parable with Christ to cement the truth.

How to know a Nigerian, when close to ya, kinda, ya inner bones thins and fear engulf ya and most Hindu and Tz people got that gene esp ya leg bones.

When 1 is saddened by 1 death if u imagine and merge their faces in ya thinking, kinda, u see the above explained effect on him as his body to u in ya mind shappens as becomes straight and detective knows it that way, so don't point figures dude.

When 1 is to kill 1 or plan, to the 1 to be killed u see a black pool of blood, even when u had killed them, so do the same and get the 1 who killed ya loved 1, stop pointing figures and sometimes Visas are granted that way not by gossips and malicious plots on people to block their progress dude

Chewing bubble gum 10% of that stereo or computer r tv when cut photo of the machine or a small sample f spare parts placed into it gives one of the best quality of electric machine synonymous with Japanese or German equipments, try dude.

USA makes money out of visa fee and medical fee when still in ya parent nation and cold flue vaccination upon ya reach to the airport, also u countries charge the same to be per don't be gotten in complaints headed nowhere dude. And Connecting flights once u have reach the states to ya preferred city, those international flights having connecting flights pay the home owned once like delta and so forth so on as in the link below as well google international flight schedule like emirates or Qatar and see how they connect, 1 way usa get money

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_airlines_of_the_United_States

https://www.qatarairways.com/en-ke/homepage.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwNbEiKCn6gIVBcqyCh1-CANwEAAYASAAEgLcM_D_BwE&s_kwcid=AL!3739!3!340577866224!p!!g!!qatar%20airways&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIwNbEiKCn6gIVBcqyCh1-CANwEAAYASAAEgLcM_D_BwE:G:s

https://www.emirates.com/ke/english/destinations_offers/book-online/book-online.aspx

Netherland soil can be screwed up during snowy periods when dredger technology digging from below is used so as production be little and with any land that harbors much crops as per the enemy dude, so take heed bro.

Some people, most preferably Hindu blooded when u surpass their ways, kinda, from their hands u see them holding like a can pouring sand on the ground, to annihilate ya if u persist with that heart of not wanting them, so take heed dude of people most black in color meeting u and rude to ya like greeting ya every now and then. Wanna kill u as mostly they ambush that meeting in shopping places or at the corner as they know ya moves.

Knock and it shall be open unto u and seek and u shall find biblical phrase guided me to finish the world with Norway Gas how its made, send the same to Italy, serbia as well, pesa how its made to be eliminated, send t siberia, Rasingwa talk like insane, like fucking in ya talks and u shall make it if u did not know dude as many spend much of their time unearthing the truths of that verse yet it lies helplessly with kebi. Most stiff people on earth and don't want others to control them are of serbia blooded and detectives looks 4 that which draws them back

The data below gives ya annual USA tourists visitor as kenyan 1 as well in the links below, just with tourism alone without firming still usa GDP is like 100 times KENYAN economy unless the kenyan Govt market tourism to that level which is futile bro and Negros aint the eye 4 tourism as many thinks as legends in science monuments, top university and diverse physical features more than that of Kenya, So guys by bringing Mr Negro here wont decline usa tourism and increase your as u think stop bothering people with this and that, That Kenya is richer than usa which is myths.

https://www.google.com/search?q=international+tourism+to+usa+2019&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwib2rvr3KTqAhVFBGMBHUzMBAMQ1QIoAnoECAsQAw&biw=1280&bih=881

https://www.usa.gov/state-travel-and-tourism

https://247wallst.com/special-report/2019/07/24/countries-that-love-to-visit-america/

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-visited-states-in-the-us.html

https://www.bts.gov/content/top-10-countries-sending-tourists-united-states-2000-and-2014

With getting to the usa their is the visa fee and medication fee, inquire with embassy in ya local nation to calculate how much is made as state as Florida is heavily built on such that without these united states it cant survive with that large population number

The drone used to get to house window can harbor siren gas cylinder, where upon reaching the window they open it a little bit to let the gas in b4 it suffocate ya then like with Kobe they place u in a plane after ya death and cut ya head with portable chain saw to say that u were involved in a road carnage b4 they take ya cash.

Now kinda, they are bored off negro people, so kinda, wants the white men t be here to eat their corpse or get to their nation and do the same hoping to be intuitive but have been told the being intuitive protocol yet refuse to hearken.

Imaginary bolt and nut, where if u relate ya self with every tribe of the world or another do to ya, if it fixes and ya head, kinda, middle, get inside they u cant marry from such but can live there, if hair grows to form sharp hairline it means are ya flesh and blood and u cant give in to prostitution with those women as the former and when you kinda, not form the hairline above but bald, it seems u became then they are hostile to ya and the 1st case is the method used to tell the race after contemplation and medication.

Get a glimpse of mexican made airplane

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmk0mexiconewsdam2uje.kinstacdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F01%2Fplane2-2.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fmexiconewsdaily.com%2Fnews%2Foaxaca-aerospaces-military-plane-is-first-to-be-designed-in-mexico%2F&tbnid=timpLQnWKMc_FM&vet=12ahUKEwjFkLb84KTqAhVFwYUKHZaYBw4QMygDegUIARCjAQ..i&docid=XY1-IGnZkkvZPM&w=850&h=585&q=images%20of%20airplane%20made%20in%20mexico&ved=2ahUKEwjFkLb84KTqAhVFwYUKHZaYBw4QMygDegUIARCjAQ

https://info.ivemsa.com/blog/spectrum-s-40-jet-made-in-mexico-first-aircraft-to-be-completely-manufactured-in-the-country

Nyathino reason mothiek yawa jokanyamaa!!!! Kose gin jomathe, utters kebinoel

Visiting friends shortly after taking ya dinner, super or break1st shows u cant make it all alone, be in solitary place and many sees u as getting to heaven which again many hates to want to stop ya and get this bro

Thorns like circulated on Christ head when placed in dough, sewer water, hay, chaff, cobs, cereals, plastic bottles and sewer water in sirage hurled or u spit saliva forms even big jumbo jet planes, yathces, bullets trains, military vehicles, rockets, saucer and many more machines as u try. Kebi was a thorn in the flesh

Cooker timer, rotating on a starter comp then step up transformer placed to step the power to be used in your house or business premise then like 12 DC gear motor timed with a timer to start again the timer when time elapse like 60 mins make such power production tool works minus a battery. U use a belt system to connect the 12 dc motor and the oven like manual timer that has a magnet that rotates inside the comp to produce power b4 step up is done

https://www.google.com/search?q=manual+oven+timer+images&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi2mqbM4qTqAhXa44UKHahdDUIQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=manual+oven+timer+images&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1DLFFiHHWDMIGgAcAB4AIABjAKIAbUMkgEDMi03mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ei=3q_4XrazEdrHlwSou7WQBA&bih=881&biw=1280#imgrc=mHBNqBe80AgTbM

https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=12+dc+geared+motor+images&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimlJfd4qTqAhVrxYUKHfBoAcwQsAR6BAgKEAE&biw=1280&bih=881

https://www.google.com/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=12+dc+timer+images&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjisujp4qTqAhUH3BoKHZJRDNMQsAR6BAgJEAE&biw=1280&bih=881

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/94716398386646757/

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drkoestersmithrpg · 5 years

Text

What To Expect When You’re Expecting (To Be Rawdogged by Tony Stark)

Chapter 1

It took a year to work up the nerve to proposition Tony.

Not to say that they CRUSH went on for a year – oh no – the crush had been MUCH longer than that – for FAR longer than Peter was even legal. But Peter was legal, now, and little did Iron Man know, Spiderman had spent the year <i>preparing</i> to for the moment he hit up Tony Stark.

He lay out all his plans carefully in his mind. He executed them with precision. He lost his V-card. He got laid. He got instructed, by instructors both erudite and dubious, in the oral arts.

But more than anything, he read a LOT of A03.

He read x y z just go on and on and on..

He did NOT head for the Tony Stark RP fic (although there was much – so, so much) but how could he NOT, in the middle of an epic [insert name here] ball massaging fic, peep into what A03 THOUGHT Tony Stark would be like in bed??

After all, that was ALL Peter Parker thought about.

He didn’t stay there long (after all MOST of A03 seemed to think Tony Stark liked Cap – in THAT way) because it all seemed so ridiculous. Even the occasional pieces that caught his eye that paired Tony with Spiderman (who, for reasons Peter never understood, EVERYONE believed was a stark-white blonde.)

But mostly, Peter went on A03 to ask questions.

Not on A03, of course, but on Tumblr, the A03 gossip site. All under the guise of being a writer, of course (his user name was notAblonde24) he asked questions.

He asked lots, and lots of questions.

“How should my character ask this other character he if likes him THAT way?” “What arguments could a younger character make if an older character argued age difference” and “How should my younger character indicate to his older lover that is he is not a virgin but STILL has a case of the nerves?”

But, more important, more than any other question: “What do guys say to each other? (In bed?)”

The answers ranged from the plausible to the patently ridiculous.

Did any of those A03 answers do him ANY good in the end? Peter would never tell – but after a year of entertaining answers (both the ones he read and the ones he heard in his head) he had probably used none of them.

He never verbally propositioned Tony. He just waited until they were alone (NOT easy, it took weeks) and waited until Tony dropped one of his inappropriate innuendos (that took less than a minute) and simply grabbed him by the face and kissed him.

(And used his superior strength to push Tony up against the way and have his way for a few minutes – if he was going to get rejected he was going to find out a few things for himself first. That possibility, the possibility of forcing himself on Tony, that idea he DID get from A03. VERY few of those fix remembered that Spiderman was naturally stronger than most of the Avengers- but those fics that did??? Oh my.)

But Tony didn’t reject him. Other than one snarky comment (“How long have you been saving that?” “Since the day you stopped calling me “Underoos”) Tony seemed enthusiastic, until, of course, they were interrupted.

But thanks to texting, crowds didn’t bother them. Even in a room full of X Y and Z Peter and Tony, via phone, made plans for their first assignation.

Peter honestly didn’t have any plans after that (Peter was honestly just hoping Tony would take him seriously enough for a hookup, he never dreamed Tony would take him seriously enough for anything else.)

And yet here they were.

Wherever “here” was.

This was the problem with Superheroes Dating, Peter found. In-between his insane college-AND-work schedule and Tony’s insane Tony-Is-Insane schedule, they had exactly two date nights a week, and only one of those was what Tony called “Ironclad” (meaning he would let NO Stark-related business intrude upon it, a promise which he, touchingly, kept.)

Even though those “date nights” consisted entirely of Netflix-And-Chill (which meant in between sex they would lounge on the couch, Peter doing homework on his laptop while Tony rubbed his feet and watched Netflix) they were times that Peter craved and treasured.

But crime, sadly, knew nothing about Datenight.

It was several months into the relationship, whatever it was, that Peter began to get frustrated.

The sex was epic, no doubt. (Peter even employed a few tidbits he picked up on A03 – after an intense online discussion with a popular A03 writer [and ACTUAL gay man, a decided minority] Peter had learned to describe the relaxing and tightening of specific muscles. With very little practice on Tony, Peter had learned to milk his cock. The look on Tony’s face, to say the least, was very rewarding. He also enjoyed the practice he read about involving looking over his shoulder and looking Tony in the eye. But as for the pillow talk he had so meticulously researched, he sued none of it. He could never work up the nerve.)

But after the sex the REGULAR talk was ONLY about homework or the lameness of whatever show was on Netflix.

And on their very few ventures outside Stark Tower the conversation was nill. Outside the safety of the Tower walls Tony was like a comedian on a stage – all jokes and lewd remarks. After months of dating, Peter was beginning to marvel out how very little talking they actually managed to do.

Not that Tony behaved that way in bed – Peter had nixed that on their very first night together. Now Tony was very quiet in bed – almost too quiet – except for compliments.

Peter was a little disappointed – he did want SOME talking in bed, maybe some of the lovely things he had read online.

But not tonight- tonight Peter was just royally pissed.

Datenight was absolutely shot – the Avengers were assembled in DC and taking on a villain who was threatening major buildings – and Peter was invited and missing it all because he was making up a chemistry final.

And why was he making up a chemistry final?? Because when he was supposed to be taking his chemistry final he had been chasing a local car thief around Brooklyn.

Now here he was, trudging back to his dorm room on datenight – ALONE - all because Tony insisted that “School comes first” because of a test he only missed because he was busy being the Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman.

“DAMN that Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, GODdamn that Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, goddamn that Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman to fucking hell,” Peter swore under his breath (see, he COULD curse. And if he COULD curse, then he COULD talk dirty. As long as there were never any other people around.)

Back in his dormroom was no better – his roommate was bitching about something entirely trivial while Peter swore inwardly over and over and over, watching the time pass on the clock and reviewing it all in his head – he COULD have been in DC by now if he had left THEN, but he WASN’T in DC and it was Too Late Now. He COULD have been getting GREAT After-The-Battle sex from Iron Man but NO he was stuck in his dormroom with his now-snoring roommate and he was horny and frustrated and PISSED.

Which is why he dove into his bottom bunk, pulled up the covers, opened up his laptop and dove into A03 for the first time in ages.

He went straight for the Tony Stark porn – why not??? X and Y and hell even twincest whatthehellever. He plunged into tags he did even know the meaning too – which is how he wound up in a unlikely-but-very-hot ABO fic (he never did figure out what an ABO was but he figured it was an AU of SOME sort.) He was three chapters into a carefully detailed threeway when Tony turned to Cap (who was a coffee shop owner of some sort?) and asked to be penetrated. “Please,” fic-Tony was panting. “I’ve wanted it for so long, but I didn’t know how to ask….”

“Oh please,” Peter moaned out loud. “As if Tony wouldn’t be willing to joke about…”

Peter shut the laptop with a snap, his eyes opened wide.

Then he sat up so hard he smashed his head against the top bunk (his snoring roommate never noticed.)

He poured himself out of his lower bunk and sat on the floor in complete darkness, dumbfounded. And when he caught his breath a flood of information filled his brain like a tsunami.

The dirty jokes – AH GOD the dirty jokes. Loud and often and embarrassing. Starting the day Peter had casually announced he had celebrated his birthday in Boys Town and had made a few new ‘friends’ at such-and-such a bar (part of his long, involved secret plan to let Tony know he was available.)

They were bad jokes, and they were politically incorrect jokes. And didn’t they – now that Peter thought about it – suggest something he hadn’t considered before?

“Maybe he needs a good ass-ramming from a twink,” Tony had joked about YET ANOTHER villain (Tony’s CONSTANT referral to defeating badguys as ass-rammings was getting old and tired and yet it continued through constant complaints.) “I don’t think you know what a twink is, Tony,” Peter had countered at the time, but now the statement just made his eyes wider.

And there had been MANY jokes to that effect – more than Peter could count (he had learned to ignore them.)

And then – ah god and then – the night of their first time (or was it the next?) that Tony had pushed him up against a counter and stroked his erection through his pants, panting in his ear, “And how many of those science nerds and techno geniuses have had the thrill of this parting their ass? I want names and places and positions.”

“You’re all talk, Stark,” was Peter’s counter. He was proud of it at time.

And then…..”QUIT riding my ass, Fury, that’s PETER’S job!” to a computer screen after it became common knowledge that they had hooked up. “Deranged fantasy, probably due multiple head injuries” was Peter’s parry.

(But that was them, wasn’t it? It was ALL banter and snark, all counter and parry. They had NEVER talked about what the other one wanted in bed, not once. Not beyond “are you ready” before and “Are you ok?” after.)

And then, OH GOD, and then…

That night, it had been THAT NIGHT that Tony had joked about their sex life in front of Fury that Peter confronted him.

“I’ve learned to ignore all the lewdness and the one-liners and single-entendres

Double-entendre

And stupidity – but that means I’m ignoring 75% of what comes out of your mouth Tony! Do you know how lonely that makes me??”

He regretted the words as soon as he had said them – their Netflix-and-Chill night was supposed to begin the moment the conference call with Fury had ended – and Peter had no reason to believe that an argument before hand would nix the whole evening.

He didn’t know if they would have sex after they argued – they had never argued before. Arguing involved communication, and communication was not something they did.

But Tony said nothing in reply, only stared at him intensely. “What do you want from me, kid?” he said finally, and he sounded as if the wind had been punched out of him.

“I just want a little honesty for goddsakes, I just want a little…”

But Tony was pealing off his vest and throwing it at Peter.

“I didn’t mean,” Peter started, but his voice died in his throat when Tony actually <i>took off his shirt<i>, which he NEVER did in a lit room, and threw THAT at Peter too.

Peter stood dumbfounded for a moment as Tony stood, barechested, in front of him, his chest heaving, his face confrontational. For a split second Peter took it all in – THE SCARS HERE – when Tony started undoing his belt and Peter was following suit.

They had taken each other in for a moment before coming together in the middle, Tony grabbing Peter’s face hard. He brought their forehead together and he said, oh god how had Peter forgotten it?

“I’m going to take you into that bedroom, and I am going to slick up that beautiful cock, and I am going to ask you to do obscene things to my body.”

Peter-in-the-dormroom groaned and sank his head down into his hands at just how ignorant Peter-In-Stark-Tower had been. (But he had been so PROUD of himself! He hadn’t countered, he hadn’t parried, he had simply forced Tony’s hands off his head, taken the man’s hand in his and, with what he hoped was his best pair of bedroom eyes, led the man boldly into the next room.

It was a good move. He was proud of that move. Dammit, why was it that everything he was proud of had been wrong?

“OhgodTonyI’msorry” Peter-in-the-dormroom was moaning into his hands now. Tony had promised to do anything in bed Peter asked (in a rare moment of communication with words – “I’ll do anything you want, anything baby, just ask,” he had whispered and Peter HAD asked. Without words. Peter was BAD at words in bed – but fortunately everything he wanted could be described with his hands and his body) and instead of reciprocating Peter had just been clueless. When Tony had asked…

Peter’s head snapped up.

Tony never asked.

“I am going to ask you to do obscene things to my body,” he had whispered…wait…had he said ‘asked’ or ‘demand?’ But it didn’t matter, because when they got to bed Tony hadn’t asked for anything.

It had been a beautiful night – Peter blushed to remember it – Tony had made him scream that night – but now Peter-in-the-dormroom could only remember the words that had been whispered before.

“Oh Tony, you didn’t ask, why didn’t you ask – wait a minute….”

-the text exchange!!! HE STILL HAS IT!!!

Laptop and blanket and all were unceremoniously dumped as Peter dove for his backpack to scramble for his phone. It was there, that text exchange (the truth is he saved ALL their exchanges.) It was right there. In black and white. Less than a month ago.

-Miss you

-When do I get to see you

-I’m going to break into your dorm room grease up Little-Peter and take your V-card

-I lost my V-card before I kissed you. You’ve got nothing Stark

-There are different kinds of V-cards, kid.

-Someday I’m going to get EVERY ONE of yours.

Peter put the phone down and stared, dumbfounded, at the clock. He watched it count the hours down until dawn. There would be no sleep tonight. There might be no more sleep forever.

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hufflepuff-ravenclaw-reviews · 5 years

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Supergirl Season 4 Review

I know that in the previous seasons, I've been doing what the different characters have been doing, but I think that maybe I'll just kind of gloss over the individual episodes and point out the important parts.

E01

J'onn has joined a support group for aliens, that focuses on things like helping them adjust to life on earth. A lot of them struggle with their physical differences from humans and often hide them with the cloaking device thing that Lena made in the previous season (originally for Brainy, but then she started mass-producing it for everybody). This leads to a lot of alien-based hate crimes... of which Kara is first to dismiss some of them, but it eventually get to the point where not even she can deny the fact.

This leads to two of this seasons big bads, Marcy and Otis, who are going around and terrorizing aliens. Not only that, but they appear to be at the forefront of a new “humans first” movement that's cropping up.

They try to attack the POTUS, who if you'll remember from previous seasons, is an alien. However, their attack wasn't so much to kill her, but rather, to expose her as an alien. Which they did.

And speaking of Brainy, he's obviously still sticking around as the “replacement goldfish” for Winn (we'll get back to that in a moment), but he's having a hard time adjusting to life in the 21st century. Mainly because he's used to being part of the League, but now he's under Alex's command, and she... doesn't like him running off and doing whatever he pleases, to the point where she “grounds” him. At one point, Brainy puts on some clothes like Winn used to wear (tight plaid button-downs and a cardigan), and he plays with a NERF gun, as a way for Alex to maybe see him more like Winn. However, both of them are quick to agree that Brainy needs to be Brainy, and leave the Winn stuff to Winn. So, you know... at least they didn't completely “replacement goldfish” Winn.

Meanwhile, we introduce a new character: Nia Nal. (My precious cinnamon roll.) She's a new reporter for CatCo, and James asks that Kara take Nia under her wing. And as Kara is quick to realize 1) Nia is basically a baby Kara and 2) Kara has turned into Cat Grant.

Oh, and James is in super awful legal trouble for his vigilante justice as Guardian. (Which, okay. So the pretty blonde alien gets to do it, but the second that the black human does kind of the same thing, suddenly, that's not okay?)

E02

Due to having been exposed, the alien POTUS steps down amidst growing tensions; Vice President Baker takes over. We will be seeing a LOT of him in the rest of the season.

And it's not just in the White House and in DC where tensions are rising... factions of “human first” movements are popping up all over the place, including in the DEO.

Meanwhile, while Brainy goes to get pizzas from a place he likes, his image inducer goes on the fritz... Thanks to Marcy and Otis hacking into L-Corp's servers (they went after client 001, which is Brainy, as I might have mentioned earlier). The pizza shop owner gets angry and upset upon finding out that “Barney” is an alien, and it's only thanks to Nia randomly showing up around the same time that the situation is diffused without... too much violence. Brainly obviously wants to thank Nia for her help, and she promises him that if they're meant to meet again, then they will. (HAHAHAHAHA OH MY SWEET SUMMER CHILDREN.) Brainy later expresses to Alex how the incident shook him so much that he gave Supergirl/Kara bad advice in the field; it's thrown him off his game.

Both of them are obviously shaken from the incident. Nia goes back to CatCo, where she tells James that he needs to make a public statement about what's going on. However, being not only a journalist, but also Guardian (and all of that legal trouble he's been in recently...), it's not exactly the best time to make splashy statements.

Marcy then attempts to steal sometime from L-Corp, which leads to her being captured. In the DEO, she then “seduces” a guard over to the “human” side, to fight for their growing army. When Otis is captured, the guard then helps both of them escape. Once they're free, the three of them set off a kryptonite bomb.

J'onn meanwhile goes to a rally of a group that will later be known as “Agents of Liberty”. (I hope that it goes without saying that J'onn is the only black person in the room. Most of them look like trailer trash. I think that we all know what this is a reference of...)

E03

There's a backdrop of this episode about Kara being treated for the kryptonite by the DEO, but it's not the central point of this episode. (Mainly because it would be largely showing Alex worrying over Kara while Brainy and Lena work on getting the air clean.)

Instead, this episode goes back two years ago, to this season's second-largest big bad: Ben Lockwood. Like a lot of villains, he didn't wake up on day and decide “I'm going to be evil and kill Supergirl!” Which is why we need to jump back 2 years earlier, to show the descent into Agent Liberty. His father used to run a steel mill, but it's been put out of business by some alien steel corporation. Lena Luther used to contract with Lockwood senior, but obviously, since the future is in this other kind of steel, she's moved on to that. Ben tries to get help for his father from Lena, but she's kind of like “sink or swim.” Which honestly should be everybody's opinion about this kind of stuff. Like if your company's going under, maybe you should take a good, hard look at why, rather than screaming about your product being outsourced from some other planet.

When the aliens from season 2 invaded, their house was destroyed thanks to some aliens falling through the ceiling in the middle of a fight. Very little was done to actually help the Lockwood family after that, which... okay, yeah. That would be the time to get fucking angry. Alien invaders destroyed my home and the government refuses to pony up even for the cost of repairs. (But then again: welcome to America.) After this, Ben tries to go to CatCo to say that they need to be reporting on things like this, but while James listens to what Ben has to say, he pretty much refuses Ben.

Angry at how unjust that life has been treating him, Ben then takes it out on some of his alien students at the university where he teaches history. Some of the alien students walk out, and somebody complained to the dean such that she fires him. He tries to argue “that's how history is!” But honestly, this is you just being a racist dickweed, professor. He then stalks one of his alien students to the local alien bar, and he shows his true colors when he accuses her of having reported him to the dean... even though she insists that she didn't say or do anything (other than to walk out from the class). Kara is there to diffuse the situation, and he accuses her of being an alien sympathizer.

Another alien attack then creates an accident at the old steel mill, and Lockwood senior is crushed to death under a steel beam. Which seems a fitting end for a man who thought that he'd go down screaming about steel... This sends Ben into an even worse fit of rage, and he starts to group up with some of the former employees from the steel mill to destroy the new alien steel mill.

He's passing out “humans first” brochures on a street corner when Marcy picks him up, and asks him to help with their cause. He then goes to the warehouse, where he puts on the “Agent Liberty” mask, which quickly becomes the symbol of the “humans first” movement. (Think of it like those V for Vendetta masks, if they had the motives of the KKK.)

E04

With the help of getting Kara under those special sunlamps straight away (Thanks J'onn!) and an anti-kryptonite suit Lena developed for Supergirl, Kara doesn't die. (Well, were you expecting the titular character to die?) However, she feels helpless knowing that she's benched until Lena and Brainy can come up with a way to clean the kyrptonite from the air.

Lena and Brainy work to do that, but it's difficult for Brainy to move past his fear of having almost lost Supergirl. Lena tells him that she compartmentalizes difficult emotions to get things like clearing the kryptonite from the air. She tells him to imagine putting the emotion into a tiny box, and then to lock that box away. Since Brainy is half computer, this is less of a metaphor and more of something that he can actually do.

Meanwhile, J'onn meets the fiancee of the leader of the alien support group, who went missing back in the first episode. His name is Manchester Black, he's insanely British (and proud), and kind of a bad ass, but probably in the worst way possible. Obviously he's there to find his missing fiancee, Fiona. Since J'onn has also been looking for her, they agree to team up.

They end up finding Fiona at a carnival, where she'd being forced to control some aliens to fight against the DEO/anybody who shows up. However, back when she was taken, she was stabbed, and I think that the only reason why they kept her alive was because they needed her. But now that she's been compromised... bye Fiona. Manchester is insanely crushed by her death, and we'll explore this in depth later.

James showed up to the fight as Guardian, but rather than to take what happened in context, the growing Agents of Liberty people instead spinned Guardian fighting aliens as the fact that he's a human sympathizer, and thus, an Agent of Liberty symbol and ally.

Meanwhile, the president wasn't exactly happy when Alex let Kara into the field (and by “let”, of course I mean that Kara did whatever she damned well pleased, because she's Supergirl), so he's put this other agent to oversee the DEO, Col. Hailey.

E05

The Agents of Liberty gave the former DEO agent this thing that lets him drain the powers from aliens to use for a short amount of time. As you might imagine, fighting him is not ideal for Kara, because he can just drain and eventually kill her.

Meanwhile, J'onn hooks Kara up with this alien healer, so she writes an article about him. However, the Agents of Liberty take this special stone of his that he uses to remain alive, and use it to super-power the DEO agent so that he'll retain the stolen powers for longer.

This leads to them cornering the DEO agent, and trapping him inside of a forcefield, but there's also a lot of civilians in the area. He's about to go “nuclear”, but Alex manages to talk him down, and says that he joined the DEO to make the world saver, and he's going to kill a lot of civilians-- human civilians-- because of his shitty actions.

While all of that is going on, Lena drags James to some... big muckety-muck event, where he runs into Ben Lockwood. In this episode, he's basically just some blowhard political asshole on youtube, so it's kind of questionable how he got into the event. But meeting Ben is important for later. James later calls Ben and asks him to “hook him up” to some of the other Agents of Liberty, not knowing at the moment that Ben IS Agent Liberty.

Following the healer's almost death, and Kara tracking down the man's estranged daughter, she learned that the daughter saw her father in a new light because of her article. Kara decides that she's going to start a series about average aliens, so that maybe everybody can begin to see them as just... people. Who like normal things, and have normal jobs, and who have normal lives. But who happen to be from some planet and can shoot fireballs or whatever.

E06

The Agents of Liberty drop a manifesto all over the city, but Agent Hailey refuses to use DEO funding in order to look into this further. I mean, they're only a growing terrorist organization, but sure. However, Alex tells Brainy to continue looking into it under the table. He tries to decode some of it, but the most threatening thing he can get out from it is... ham sandwich. Horrifying.

Meanwhile, Manchester has kidnapped one of the Agents of Liberty, and tortures some information out from him... because that's how he rolls. (There's this big, arching plot with him that he was a horrible person until he met Fiona. She made him want to change for the better, but after she died, he kind of snapped and went back to his old ways.)

And in comparison to how Manchester does thing, James instead goes to talk to somebody that Ben hooked him up with. Now, if you'll remember, Ben is The Agent Liberty, so he's in charge*, but he's putting on this face for the public (at first), that he's just some blow-hard who doesn't know anything. The guy James talks to has this dog that's trained to sniff out aliens, and then bark. (Although, what exactly does an alien smell like? They come from all over, so wouldn't each of their scents be completely and utterly different? It makes zero sense, but okay.)

And Lena and her assistant/secretary/whatever, Eve, are trying to cure... everything. With the haranel that she'd developed from the end of the previous season. They're running tests on these hearts, but nothing's being very productive as of yet. We'll get more into this later as the season goes on.

But first, it's Thanksgiving, so everybody gathers in Kara's apartment to celebrate. On top of Eliza coming down, and Alex and J'onn being there, James, Lena, Manchester, Brainy, and Nia are also there. Earlier, Nia had confessed to Kara that she had narcolepsy, which was why she kept falling asleep at her desk, but her doctor was in DC and she hadn't found a new one yet. However, when Eliza pressed about knowing a sleep doctor, Nia insisted that she had one, much to Kara's bafflement. And because it wouldn't be thanksgiving without an awful discussion of politics... guess what they all get into a fight about? Everything that's going on, plus Lena's idea that maybe we should give people powers. But not like... evil people. Just good people. (YO! NO POLITICS AT THANKSGIVING!!)

This is interrupted when it turns out that the alien residences were being marked for a later “raid” by the Agents of Liberty, so they all run around to try and stop all of this. Kara fights a lizard that can turn into a dragon, but it turns out to be some little girl's pet. Manchester ends up killing a bunch of them... because of course he did. Although James talks down his new “friend”, who then has James kidnapped. Oops.

*he's not actually in charge of shit, as the series went on, but more of that later

E07

James was kidnapped on orders of Agent Liberty. They plan on turning him into a symbol, even if he doesn't want that. And their plan is to have him blow up this symbol of alien freedoms on earth. There's this place called Shelley Island, that's kind of like Ellis Island, but for incoming aliens. They have power dampeners all around the island that... well, make your powers not work. And there's also a kind of “modern” take on the statue of liberty's outstretched arm holding the torch, which is what they intend for James to blow up. James's new friend from the previous episode tries to help him escape, but they're captured again.

Supergirl teams up with Manchester to help track down some of the Agents of Liberty. However, he plays his hand and all of this was a set-up to get her onto Shelley Island, where her powers wouldn't be as effective. They'd promised Manchester an audience with Agent Liberty.

But then it gets worse, because they keep Kara in the statue... that James is supposed to blow up. While she's trying to escape, James notices the lights in the statue, and attacks those forcing him to do the video recording. Ben had been planning to use the footage on his increasingly popular TV show, but he's pissed off when things go south for their side.

After leaving Shelley Island, Manchester is confronted by J'onn. Manchester puts this “emotion sharing” device onto him, which makes J'onn freak out. J'onn later goes to Kara, and they lament about how they wanted to see the good in Manchester, but there is little to be found.

Meanwhile while all of that is going on, Lena gets a test subject for her “cure everybody and maybe some people get superpowers”. At first, she's insanely reluctant to even begin doing this, and even when she does, she refuses to get to know the guy. Finally, little by little, she begins to open up to him, and he opens up to her. She tries to get him to leave, because she's too nice of a person, but he tells her why he wanted to do this: because he needed a new kidney. His brother offered to give him one, but his brother died on the table. He feels so awful, because he gets to live even though he's the one who should have died. This sparks Lena to give him the treatment. She later reports that he exhibited powers for three minutes before he died.

E08

Brainy knows that Nia is important and that her descendants will be important in the future. But obviously, he can't really tell Alex and Kara much about what she or her future off-spring will do without causing a rift in the space-time continuum. (Although, I think that the future he knows went flying out the window at the end of the last season? Which baffles me to no end.) Kara goes to her, and she explains that she doesn't have narcolepsy, but rather, some of the women from her planet have psychic dreams of the future, but they're often seeped in symbolism. (Yes Freud, that banana is a penis.) Brainy helps her tap into her powers, where she helps lead them to a crime.

Meanwhile, Manchester went to the Lockwood residence and ended up directly telling Mrs. Lockwood that her husband is Agent Liberty. They end up at this warehouse, exactly like Nia saw in her dream. And guess who also shows up? Supergirl, Brainy, and Nia. Nia turns out to be oddly useful in a fight, because she can foresee things happening, like a giant warehouse crane swinging, and she uses it to knock Manchester over.

As a result of this fight, both Manchester and Ben were arrested, but Ben was also outed as being Agent Liberty. As he's being taken to a squad car, he screams that the world knows who he is now, but who is Supergirl? This prompts President Baker to visit the DEO and demands that Supergirl tell them her identity. She not only refuses, but says that if they're going to be like this, then she will no longer work alongside the DEO. Oh bother.

E09

This episode was one part of the Arrow/Flash/Supergirl crossover. Didn't watch it.

E10

Kara gets called an attack of an unofficial military ship. She sees a “shimmer” of the usually invisible monster that kills all but one of the crew. The more and more that the DEO looks into the incident, the more shifty things start to become. Including Col. Hailey openly lying about everything. That is, until the truth comes out: years ago, a group in the government raised these aliens to turn them into super soldiers, but the aliens got out. And now, they're looking for payback, which involves them murdering everybody who was involved with the project. Including Hailey. What's worse is that Kara is the ONLY one who can see the aliens when they're invisible, thanks to her super-vision.

While all of that's going on, Hailey is on a mission to get to the bottom of Supergirl's secret identity. Because as if the entire thing wasn't shitty enough as it is. She interviews every DEO member, including Brainy and Alex. Everybody else simply lies to her, but Brainy is able to literally forget the data, and set it on a time to retrieve it later. Handy and also neat. However, one of the people who knows that Kara is Supergirl spills the beans to Hailey after questioning. Hailey confronts Kara right as soon as they manage to capture the last of the aliens. J'onn wipes her memory, but he can't wipe her determination to uncover Supergirl's identity. So, if he can't make Hailey forget about that, then the next best thing would be to wipe the memories of all who know. Including Alex. There's a long moment where Alex says “goodbye” to Supergirl before J'onn wipes her memory.

J'onn, meanwhile, feels like he's found his actual calling: becoming a PI. He's been helping a lot of people throughout this season, and setting up an official shop and getting his PI license seems like the next best step.

Also, there's a bit of Brainy/Nia (Brainia or Dreamerdox) in this episode. Brainy calls Nia and invites her to dinner in the most... Brainy way possible. He's kind of anxious, and hangs up without setting a time or place. Nia's clearly a little interested in him, and agrees to this, but is quickly disappointed when it turns out that Brainy only asked her in a... business context. He wants her to start fighting as a superhero, and gives her a book full of superhero costume ideas. He fails to understand why Nia's upset over the entire thing. Nia later starts to look through the book, but eventually chucks the entire thing into the bin.

E11

Throughout the season, there's been this Supergirl look-alike. We'll get more into her later. But following a training accident, she has her heart restarted, but the resulting blast creates this immense static charge that flows all the way to National City, where it gets into some pills that some dudes are selling from an RV to yuppie white school boys. (You know exactly what I'm talking about...) When ingested, they basically... make the user “hulk out” for a while, and they're filled with this immense rage.

Meanwhile, everybody's still dealing with the after-effects of having erased Alex's memory of Kara/Supergirl. For the others, it was probably??? A couple of years at most, and probably not even all that important. But since Alex is Kara's sister, this was erasing large chunks of not only her adult memory, but also her formative years as well. She forget things like Kara's favorite movie is Wizard of Oz, because Kara relates so much to Dorothy, being lost in a strange land, and no way home. But Alex feels like something is wrong, and asks J'onn to poke inside her head and make sure that nobody's been messing around in there. He hates lying to her, but Hailey finding out about Kara's identity would be worse.

While they're dealing with that, Kara volunteers to drive Nia to her hometown for some harvest festival thing. Nia explains that her hometown is a “safe haven for aliens and humans to co-mingle”. She explains on the way that her mom had a psychic dream of meeting her dad there, so she came to earth, settled, and had Nia and her sister, Maeve. On the way there, Nia has a dream where her mother dissolves into ash.

In the town, they discover pockets of Agents of Liberty, along with their alien-sniffing dogs. But Nia's family is happy to see her, and welcome Kara into their fold. Maeve won't stop talking about “when my powers come in”, and Nia just keeps feeling guiltier and guiltier over the entire thing.

After dinner, Nia is trying to talk to her mom about the powers, about how she can “get rid of it”, in the hopes that this is a thing that can be done. However, Isabel is bitten by a spider and almost instantly dies. During the impromptu memorial for her, more of those kids hopped up on Supergirl-lightning drugs show up and start causing havoc. Supergirl fights alongside Alex for the first time since her mind-wipe, and it does not go well at all.

After, Maeve confronts Nia about how she warned Maeve about the attack, and Nia admits that she has the dream powers. Maeve gets insanely upset over this, and says “you're not even a real woman”. (I think that the worse part about the fight with Maeve is that we never got any actual resolution to it by the end of the season. This episode was the first and last we see of Nia's family.) The dad gives Nia a box from Isabel. On the way back home, Kara tells Nia that she's Supergirl. Inside the box is a superhero costume Isabel foresaw “my daughter” wearing.

E12

Alex took the job as the DEO directly in the hopes that things would get more stable enough to the point where she could do two things: get a girlfriend and adopt a baby. She's done... exactly zero of those things, and she feels like she's constantly putting things on hold because of Kara or something always happening at the DEO. (And now that I think about it, this season was completely devoid of any romantic relationships for Kara.)

Brainy goes to Nia with the prediction that she's probably more likely to want to become a superhero after everything that had happened. However, Nia isn't exactly quite ready to pick up the proverbial cape so soon after her mother's death. She also invites him to her roommate, Yvette's valentine's day party.

At the party, Alex runs into some girl that she went on one date with, and then got too busy with her DEO work in order to call her back. It's... as awkward as you might expect, except that the girl is clearly interested in seeing Alex again.

After Nia gets back from dealing with the monster du jour (see below), she finds Yvette has taken a liking to Brainy, which makes him more uncomfortable than the thought of Nia liking him. He had attempted to give Nia chocolates, but Yvette ate all of them while they waited for Nia. (Rude!) She asks him to help her train.

And for the actual monster du jour, because we haven't had a whole lot of those this season... Some sort of symbiotic snake alien that implants itself into a cat burglar with a taste for fine jewelry. The snake eats the hearts of the victims, and the human host gets to make off with the jewels. It's a win-win. Kara tags along on the case with Alex under the guise of being a journalist on the scent of a good story, but Alex freaks out when the snake-thing attacks Kara and goes into OVERPROTECTIVE BIG SISTER MODE (who doesn't know that her sister is nearly invulnerable). They track the alien/human thing to this big party, where the Agents of Liberty show up and honestly just make things 10x worse than it needed to be... and when the DEO/Supergirl took down the bad guy... THEY TOOK ALL OF THE CREDIT. FOR SHOWING UP AND FUCKING EVERYTHING UP. JFC. But Nia showed up in the costume her mom made, and this is her debut as a hero.

James and Lena also break up. Which is a thing that carried over from the previous season. But they... did not exactly have a lot of chemistry. In fact, I'd say that James had more chemistry with literally everybody except for Lena. (He had more on-screen chemistry with Nia as a boss-new employee, JFC) And they'd been fighting the entire season... but the straw that broke this relationship was Hailey approaching Lena to enter into a contract that she'd make “super serum” for the government, which James thinks is morally repugnant. But their break up makes Lena accept the contract.

Meanwhile, Ben Lockwood gets out of jail on a legal loophole because the Patriot Act only protects “human life”. Ugh.

E13

Kara and Brainy take Nia to the Fortress of Solitude, where they start to train her. Brainy refuses to tell her anything about herself, stating that it'll mess with the space-time-continuum (even though, I might have mentioned it earlier, but they've probably already fucked it halfway to hell by stopping that plague in the last season, and Brainy's decision to stay as a direct result of having changed the timeline... But whatever.) However, she asks the floating robot thing for information on her species, in which she learns that she can astral project and use this kind of dream energy like a physical weapon, so she doesn't have to just rely on predictions. (Brainy isn't pleased with her going behind his back, but she's like “suck it.”)

Meanwhile, Manchester is broken out of jail by a friend of his nicknamed “Hat”, because he has a 5-th dimension hat that he uses to pull things out of. He can also sort of teleport. They break the lady from the previous episode out, Menagerie, and the three of them go around and terrorize the city.

Supergirl tries to tell Baker, but he begins to show more and more of his position as far as all of this goes... and he is not on Supergirl's side. This is made even worse when she has to knock a satellite out of orbit... one that he specifically told her not to fucking touch earlier. As a final “fuck you” to Supergirl, he makes Ben Lockwood director of alien affairs. Ugh.

Hat also steals Brainy's legion ring, which gives him super powers. He can still use his predictive analysis, so he's not hopeless, but he feels so lost without it.

E14

With Manchester, Hat, and one of those invisible aliens from earlier in the season on the loose, they're desperate to catch them, but they've seemingly vanished. Kara compares them to being like a second Agents of Liberty group. They end up at the Fortress of Solitude, where they only have access to because the plot dictates that they do. (The “key” is this like 1 billion pound hunk of metal, the likes of which only somebody with super-strength could handle.) There, they find info about the Kryptons, but also some of the fortress's secrets... But when the heroes are alerted about the break-in, Manchester runs into a room that contains a “sun eater” and seemingly dies. However, J'onn isn't convinced about this, because he feels like they have a connection, and he would know if Manchester was killed. (He's later proved right, and that Hat saved him.)

Meanwhile, Alex is asked to head up Ben Lockwood's security detail. She's obviously disgusted by the entire thing, and complains about it the entire time, but she does her job. He's moving to repeal the alien amnesty act, which a lot of people think is rather unconstitutional, but he's going to try, dammit. He makes some public speech about the entire thing, and invites everybody to a public rally the next day.

But, our alien friends aren't without their own plans. Brainy has been stirring the pot on his own, and has used his powers of technology to organize a peaceful alien march through the streets at the same time as Ben's rally, but he makes sure that none of this can be traced back to him. He tries to ask Kara and Nia to join him at the march... but not as Supergirl and Dreamer, but as aliens who live on earth peacefully. They at first refuse, thinking that they'll just be security, but Kara eventually understands where Brainy was coming from. She changes into her Krypton clothes, and stands at the front of the parade with Brainy and Nia as Kara Zor-El; it's an insanely powerful moment.

However, at the hall where Ben's rally was taking place... IT'S A TRAP. Agents of Liberty start attacking everybody, and then Manchester and Hat show up and it's just a clusterfuck. The entire time, James stands there and takes photos of the events, of which he obviously later publishes. Later, a lot people look at them and say that seeing humans helping injured aliens really changed their opinion about the entire thing.

At the very end of the episode, as James is leaving the office, he gets shot in the back.

E15

And now, we're finally getting into the real meat of this season: Lex Luthor. (And I'm still having a hard time getting over the fact that out of all of the actors in the world, they picked Jon Cryer to play him. Why.) Four years earlier, he did something to the sun to try and stop Superman, but it's what had him arrested in the first place (and put Lena down the path of being better than Lex.)

Somebody pushed the “call Superman” button on James's watch, and Kara found him before he could bleed out. At the hospital, things don't look good. His sister, Kelly, shows up, and Alex talks her into approving the untested super-serum that Lena's been working on in order to help cure him.

Lena, meanwhile, is beyond herself with grief... she still cares deeply about James, and will do anything to help save him, including pushing herself to perfect the serum so that she can save James. They end up dosing him with some of it. But she doesn't do it alone; she has the help of her brother. He's also sick with cancer, which is probably one of the only reasons why they would even let him from the prison at all... because he's seemingly too sick to move much without the help of something. But, as you might have figured out, Lex used Lena's research to cure himself, and he betrayed her in order to escape. Oh, and Lena's assistant, Eve? Totally been working for Lex this entire time. Because of course.

Also, while Brainy and Nia are waiting around the hospital, Nia goes to Brainy. He's upset about a lot of things... how he's stuck in the 21st century, his own troubled past (which is never really delved into this season, unfortunately), his missing ring, the Agents of Liberty, Manchester and Hat, and now James... but he's taking it out on a vending machine that won't give him his snack. But in the middle of his panic attack, Nia kisses him. He later tells her that they can never be together because she's too important in the 21st century, and he's supposed to be in the 31st century. Nia is understandably heartbroken over the entire thing... but not deterred too much. We'll get back to this later.

Meanwhile, J'onn managed to track down Manchester again after Manchester steals this Martian staff thing and defiles the grave of J'onn's father. So, J'onn goes to confront him, and ends up destroying Manchester in the process. Although to be fair, there wasn't exactly much of a person left after Fiona died.

E16

With the junk that Lex took in the previous episode, he goes up against Supergirl... and seemingly wins. After having been defeated, Kara goes to tell Alex and still hospital-ridden James about Lex's escape... and I hope that I don't have to tell you that this is probably the worst news ever.

Meanwhile, most of this episode is a flashback. At his trial, three years earlier, Lex tried to murder the judge and prosicuitors... which probably only just makes him look even guiltier, but hey, nothing quite like first degree murder to... eco-terrorism??? IDK what you would even call something like that. It was outside the courthouse where he first met Eve, a Lex Luthor fangirl who would do anything for him. He told her to go work for CatCo, and then she eventually suggested that she should become Lena's assistant. However, even in prison, Lex quickly had everything under control by bribing all of the officers and such, so he was literally free to come and go as he pleased.

Meanwhile, nine months from the present, a Supergirl clone shows up in the fictional country of Kaznia. (A Russia knock-off, I guess?) She was created when Kara came into contact with the Haranel from the end of the last season. The Kaznian government is friendly with Lex, so they call him up to come and help them. Which he does, by molding “Red Daughter” into a weapon to not only take down the actual Supergirl, but to help him rule the world. Most of the episode shows parallels between all of the other stuff that was happening and Red Daughter's reaction to what was going on.

Lex takes Red Daughter to the United States and puts her to work as a hotel bar waitress so that he can show her what kind of pigs that Americans are. He also makes her think that a child that she once saved and became friendly with was killed by American missiles so that she would do whatever he asked. She's completely and utterly brainwashed by him.

Oh, and in case you couldn't figure it out... but Lex willingly walked into a chamber knowing full-well that it would give him cancer. This was all a part of his long con.

E17

James is released from the hospital, having been magically cured by whatever was in what Lena gave him. However, he's already starting to display symptoms in the form of various powers. We'll get back to this in later episodes. Later, Kelly visits him at work, and can't help but notice that all of the screens are off behind him... because he's too afraid to have to even look at or think about Lex. She encourages him to go see a trauma therapist to work through everything that's ever happened to him (not just being shot, but just... in general, you know). He refuses.

Kara also finds out that everybody but the DEO, aka probably the most capable team to handle Lex, is looking for Lex. But Hailey agrees with Supergirl that finding Lex is a priority right now, and agrees to handle things on her end while Alex goes with Supergirl to help with that. They track down some of Eve's last movements, and find out that she went to cure her cousin from cancer with Lena's serum... talk about doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. They go to Eve's lab at some university, where a man with half of his appendages replaced with robotic parts and a kryptonite heart attacks them. But this leads them to another huge clue: they found the gun that was used to shoot James in her office. Later, Lena manages to flip their mother by convincing her that Lex was planning to kill her, not rescue her from jail. Oops.

Then, while everybody's gathered in the Oval Office for the repeal of the alien amnesty act, Red Daughter, dressed as Supergirl, attacks. Where's Kara during all of this? Fighting off a krypton supersuit chucked at her by Eve. So now the entire world thinks that Supergirl's ebul. However, a lot of people who have worked alongside Kara/Supergirl figure that something's not quite right with this. But, the event does do some good, because it convinced James (who was in the Oval Office) that he really did need help when he froze during the attack; he goes to Kelly to get that recommendation.

Meanwhile, J'onn goes on a sort of vision quest. See, at the end of the last season, after his father passed away, he took a vow of peace, which he has since broken when he murdered Manchester. He feels like his powers are failing him through his inability to move past killing Manchester. His vision comes to him in the form of J'onn's father, however, like a lot of things of this type, this is a lot of self-reflecting and coming to realizations that were already known, just mostly unspoken. In the end, J'onn agrees (with himself), that he needs to be Martian Manhunter, not a man of peace, so he's going to take his father's staff back to the place where it was found centuries earlier on Mars, in the hopes that somebody else “acceptable” will come along to get it at a later time.

E18

As the end result of the attack at the end of the previous episode, people are afraid of Supergirl now. She complains about all of this to Lena and Alex (neither of whom know that she is Kara right now). In the end, Lena and Supergirl agree to go search Lex's cell at the prison. As they walk down to it, all of the male inmates start screaming at Kara about how she's where she belongs now. Kara tries to question the guy in the cell next to Lex's, but he refuses to talk to Supergirl. (And dear lord, can you imagine what kind of shit that these people got into to be in a cell block with Lex Luthor?)

Later, Otis shows up with a Kryptonite heart of his own, like the random dude from an episode or two earlier. Lena gives Kara a Kryptonite shield to go fight him. However, as she's running around, she realizes that she'd probably be better off in the middle of the riot with all of the inmates looking for Supergirl... as Kara, the reporter. The same inmate that Kara had previously tried to talk to is happy to see her, and gets excited, because he likes her articles (especially the spotlights on alien citizens).

While the prison riot's going on, Lena discovers a hidden chamber behind Lex's cell. There, they find evidence of the stuff that Lex has been up to, but only just puzzle pieces and no big picture just yet. Just then, Otis comes in, and Lex remotely detonates his Kryptonite heart, which kills him (temporarily). Kara flies Lena out of there before the bomb goes off. After, Kara realizes that going to the prison as Supergirl made things worse, so she decides that she needs to forget about Supergirl and focus on Kara. So she goes to the prison to do an interview with the prisoner that she'd talked to earlier... as Kara.

Meanwhile, Ben goes to the DEO to get all of their alien technology. However, even Hailey's like “Bitch, nobody fucking likes you, asshole.” and she insists that he comes back with a warrant or whatever.

This leads Alex to tell Brainy that the alien registry kept at the DEO isn't safe, so he breaks in with the intent to delete it. However, he's left with a dilemma over if he should or not... one which is a 50/50 chance. He goes to Nia to ask her to see into the future. She tricks him by playing the “if you react this badly towards the advice, then it's clear that you should do the other”, and tells him not to delete the data... which completely and utterly works. (Unlike Brainy, Nia sees things more from an emotional standpoint, so she's like “morally, we should delete it to keep people safe”.) However, Nia has a vision later of Ben storming into the DEO and arresting Brainy, which she warns him about. He said that he'd already deleted the data off of the DEO servers, but he says that he's keeping a copy on his own “hard drive”. (Must be handy to have a computer for a brain!)

Later, Alex meets with Kelly and Kelly offers Alex advice on how to get to Hailey so that Hailey won't call Supergirl for Ben. Kelly tells her own story of how she used her commanding officer's weakness against him in order to get him to do what Kelly wanted. Alex tries this to get Hailey onto her side, but it kind of backfires. However, when Ben comes for the info and for Supergirl, Hailey presses the signal watch twice, so she never shows up.

James also goes to his first therapy session, where the doctor teaches him a grounding technique for the next time he has a panic attack. However later, James and Kelly are starting to realize that the panic attacks seem to be half of the problem... and some of it has to do with the junk Lena gave him.

E19

With Supergirl lying low for a while until all of this is cleared up, Nia takes to the streets to help bring down some petty criminals and to stop the Agents of Liberty from further terrorizing aliens. However, Brainy is worried about her... which he tries to mask by stating that they're all at risk because they're aliens. But she quickly finds out that, no matter how many Agents of Liberty she takes down, no matter how many aliens she helps... nobody feels fully safe anymore.

This leads into Ben's son, George. He's been sort of shadowing his dad, and shadowing the other Agents of Liberty on his dad's orders throughout the entire season. And he's been kind of reluctant but just goes along with whatever his dad asks of him. But during a raid that Dreamer stopped, he discovers that one of his best friends was an alien, and I think that this was the kind of wake-up call that George needed to understand how messed-up that his dad's actions are.

Lena, Alex, Kelly and Brainy are trying to unwrap everything that's happening to James after he was dosed with Lena's power juice. They're trying to pull the juice from him, but not with a lot of success. While Lena works on the science side, Brainy goes into his mind in order to work on the psychological, since James's powers seemed to be linked to his panic attacks. In there, they uncover some deeply hidden truths about James... things he himself had been lying about the entire time. They all though that Lex was behind the panic attacks, but it goes deeper and a lot older than that: to the day of his father's funeral. Kelly herself has a lot of bad memories from the day... because not only was her dad dead, but her big brother didn't even come to the funeral. James said that he got locked into the bathroom of a restaurant across the street, but as the episode progresses, they uncover that bullies shoved James into a coffin in the basement of the mortuary, and locked him in there. (Why he'd lie about something like that is beyond me, but here we are.) In the end, they need to get Kelly into James's memory in order to help him out.

Meanwhile, Kara is working the journalist angle hard, trying to track down evidence and proof of what Lex has been up to. She ends up meeting with one of her alien co-worker's sister who works at the shell company controlled by Lex. She wants to help Kara expose all of this, but she's afraid for her own safety... even more so when they're almost discovered when they're snooping through the company's paper files.

Following this, as well as Nia's failure to make aliens feel safer, the two girls complain to one another about how they feel like they're not going anywhere. Kara has a brilliant idea that rather than doing a spotlight on literally all of the aliens on Earth, she just needs to interview one alien: Dreamer. With the help of their alien co-worker, they set up a live broadcast, and Kara interviews Nia as Dreamer. She talks about how she's just a regular person, how she was born on earth and her status as a half alien. Ben is furious about the entire thing. But when Brainy hears about how Nia loves “nerdy boys who think too much”, he suddenly realizes that he's in love with Nia, and asks Lena (who happened to be in the room with him when they were watching the broadcast), “how do you know when you're in love.” I LOVE THIS SHIP. But it inspires everybody else that they have to fight... including the co-worker's sister who wanted to be a whistle blower. She later gives Kara the info she'd been looking for.

Following the end of the broadcast, Ben and his Agents of Liberty show up at Cat Co. However, thanks to the fact that there's two super heroes, plus Brainy showing up (Alex couldn't go without being court martialed), they got this. James shows up at the last minute and does that awesome “stares down a gun before he literally bends it with super strength” and he's like “Get the fuck out of my building.”

Lena later goes to CatCo, where she and Kara look at Kara's “reporter wall”, where she'd taped up all of the clues and written stuff. Lena is able to decode one thing: Kaznia.

Finally, Ben comes home to find that his wife was murdered by the wife of an alien that he'd arrested. Which... ain't karma a bitch, Benny boy?

E20

Since the end of the previous season, Alex has been trying to adopt a baby. While she's going for a jog with Kelly one morning, she gets a call from the adoption agency that there's a teenage mother who's shortlisted Alex... and she's in labor. Alex and Kelly go to a hotel not too far from the hospital in the town where the teen mother is delivering as they wait for news. However, by the time that things are all said and done, the girl's parents convinced her not to give her baby up, which leads to an upset and disappointed Alex. Later, Kelly tells Alex that she was also once engaged to her CO, another woman. Not only were they in the military, where those relationships are a big no-no, but they were also lesbians, which is also still widely frowned upon. But then the CO died. Kelly goes on to talk about how things like your fiancee dying or leaving you is a deep wound, as is being rejected for an adoption. But you will survive, and you will get past this.

Brainy and Nia also help James train his powers.

Meanwhile, Lena and Kara take Lena's private jet to Kaznia. Kara kept trying to convince Lena that she should go alone, but Lena was insistant. As they fly in, some “mysterious” purple lightning hits the plane, and it's only because of Kara being there that they don't crash into a mountain. Oops. They find a base that looks like it was only recently evacuated, but also some stolen files from the DEO desert holding facility. And also Eve locked in a broom closet. They also uncover information about Red Daughter. As they look around, Eve acts... bizarre. And stupid. Like way stupider than normal. They quickly realize that she was given the super power serum that's been dosed up with the DNA of an alien so she can make endless copies of herself, but every copy makes her stupider and stupider. As they're running around, Kara comes across Red Daughter's cell, which kind of makes her look like a creepy stalker for Kara. Also, in case I never mentioned this, but Lex knows who Supergirl actually is, and in turn, he obviously told Red Daughter. So there's pictures of both Kara and Supergirl side by side. Kara ends up destroying the things in the room in order to hide her identity from Lena. After, as they're returning home, Kara is about to tell Lena that she's Supergirl, but then Lena kind of breaks down over everything that's happened. So many people have betrayed her, and Kara feels like now isn't a good time to drop this bombshell onto Lena.

She tells James about how she feels so sorry for Red Daughter, because it could have been her if she'd landed somewhere else. Then she takes the info she has on Lex to President Baker... only for him to laugh in her face and then somebody grabs her. Oh bother.

Back closer to home, Ben pushes his son further away by not even bothering to show up to his wife's funeral. He knows that James has powers, and that Lena was working on stuff. He breaks into her lab there and takes some of the unstable serum from before she'd perfected it to save James. Brainy tries to tell him that it's unstable and there's an insanely high risk of death if he takes it... but I think that it goes without saying at this point that you could tell Ben not to jump off the Empire State Building, and he'd do it anyway. Ben then goes out and tries to get the FBI to arrest both James and Dreamer, but Brainy reminds the other agents that they all swore an oath to protect people, not cause others greater harm. They take his side, but Ben then takes the serum and goes on a rampage. J'onn finally gets back from his trip to Mars just in time to stop him... for now.

Later, Ben goes to the church where the memorial for his wife had been, and George finally drops some truth bombs: on his quest for revenge against what originally started as a series of unlucky events, Ben is the reason why the wife is now dead. And then he walks out on Ben... because fuck his racist noise.

E21

When J'onn wiped Alex's memory, he had to go in and erase a lot of little things, like just... hanging out with her super-powered sister. This left a lot of memory gaps that needed to be filled in, which her mind did. As such, Kara wouldn't be able to re-reveal herself as Supergirl to Alex unless Alex figured it out on her own. To do so would basically break Alex too much. However, following the rejection of the adoption in the previous episode, Alex starts to, what Kelly says, dwell on her adoptive sister.

Meanwhile, Kara was kidnapped by some thugs of Lex's. She's like “UGH” and quickly takes them out, but as she goes to the door, there's Red Daughter with a hunk of Kryptonite. Red Daughter is supposed to kill her, but the problem is that the Kryptonite makes both of them sick... and Kara's had a couple of decades to get used to Kryptonite. Red Daughter's only been alive for a few months. Kara manages to jump out the window and escape. Later, Kara manages to locate Red Daughter's apartment in the city, and realizes that Red Daughter has become rather obsessed with Kara. Alex shows up, despite Supergirl having told her to remain at the DEO, and then gets a weird call from Eliza. Kara rushes to Eliza's house, only to find Red Daughter there. There's a fight, and Red Daughter has some of that mysterious purple lightning powers, which when it hits Kara, causes day to turn into night.

Supergirl ends up having her heart stopped by Red Daughter, and Alex drives up just as this happens. As she cries over Supergirl's prone body, she suddenly remembers everything. Then, the grass and plants around them randomly give up their sunlight in order to save Kara... Yeah. I'm just going with it at this point. So Kara's still alive, and now Alex remembers everything.

Lena gets a “truthseeker” alien to use her mother to help her create the cure for the super serum... and the threat of having been poisoned works wonders, too. And she really pulls through. Amazing what gets you results.

Meanwhile, all of the pieces are finally starting to fall together. Who's controlling literally everything bad this season? Lex. Lena and James go to talk to Ben about how he's been working with Lex. Ben is... in a bad way. He needs to keep taking the serum, or else it seems like he's starting down the path to an early grave. However, Lena is quick to find out that Ben had no idea... but they're pleased to realize that Ben wants answers about Lex's involvement as much as anybody else. Especially if he himself is the one being played behind the scenes, when he thought that he was the big man in charge around here. He goes to Otis, who was the one who suggested Ben to Lex back in the Red Daughter flashback episode, so he knows way more than anybody could have predicted. James gets into a fight with Ben, which ends up with James becoming unstable. Lena takes him back to her mom, but even though they have the reverse serum, but with the upcoming battle ahead of them, they give him more of the super serum to temporarily stabilize him.

J'onn, Nia, and Brainy go to track down where the Agents of Liberty/Lex have been taking all of the aliens that they're supposedly taking to detention facilities. When they get there, Nia proposes a “Wookie Gambit”, where J'onn shape-shifts into a guard and allows them to be safely captured. However, when J'onn goes off to find a better plan, Nia sees this little girl that she'd seen in a vision, and asks Brainy to shift into Ben (via his image inducer) so that she can be the captured one. But the play goes awry, and they both end up captured. (J'onn watching being like “THOSE FUCKWITS.”) Strapped to a chair, Brainy is tortured by Agents of Liberty until he snaps and some of his ancestral “coding” from his evil ancestors breaks free. He goes kind of berserk and takes out the men holding him, before meeting up with J'onn. He tells Nia in her cage that she needs to be taken to where ever they're transporting the aliens to, and then she can use her powers to communicate with them where they're being held. He also tells J'onn that him being there will double the plan's chances of success. He's acting cold and unemotional, but it's a stressful situation, so neither of them notice much.

And finally, Lex plays his hand: Kaznia started to attack the US with everything that they had (which wasn't much; they're a tiny country and seemingly very poor). And they had the “rogue” Supergirl with them... but then here comes Lex to save the day! Yay, he's a hero!! /UGH

E22

In case you'd been wondering what Lex has been doing with those aliens, and where he's been getting the powers that all of his goons (like Eve) were coming from... he's created a chamber that sucks??? Energy, I guess? From the alien, and puts it into whoever Lex wants.

Then, we show the actual Kaznian invasion, which we missed during the Kara/Red Daughter fight earlier. Lex showed up to save the day and look dapper... because priorities. The Kaznian officers were upset over the entire thing, as is Red Daughter. She finally starts to see Lex for everything that Kara had tried to tell her that he was: a monster who only looks out for number one (himself). So the fight between them was pretty real, but Lex had the upper hand because he knew exactly what he was going to do before it even got started, and came ready to take her on.

Meanwhile, J'onn and Nia are taken somewhere, where they're basically turned into slave labor. J'onn easily figures out that they're on Shelly island with the power dampeners, so they take out some of the guards and turn the things off. Nia then astralprojects to Brainy (in Lena's office, waiting Kara and Alex). They're all upset when Brainy tells them of the plan; he doesn't understand because he still has his ancestral coding turned on, and he doesn't understand things like empathy. He knows that Nia can't communicate while astralprojecting, so he breathes on the window to create some fog, and she scribbles most of “Shelly island” before time runs out on her end... but it's enough.

Meanwhile, Lena is invited to Le Luther Family Reunion at the Oval Office, because of course he's fucking taken everything over. Now that he's got what he wants, he doesn't need Puppet Baker in office anymore. However, not even Lilian is going to deal with Lex's bullshit at this point. However, with Brainy's help, Kara is able to recover the files that Baker had supposedly wiped from the CatCo servers, and she publishes the paper and exposes Lex for the lying liar who lies. Everybody reads it, and... honestly, that must be a lot of damning evidence in that article, because EVERYBODY instantly starts to believe it. (Either that, or people remember all of the other awful shit that Lex has done in the past, and they're like “yeah, him doing this sounds about right.”)

Kara, Alex, James, and Brainy go to Shelly Island, where they're greeted by Ben and his Agents of Liberty. Brainy goes inside to turn off the power-sucking coffins that are powering a super weapon pointed at that Krypton planet chunk that's floating out there (speaking of which, it's where Superman has been this entire season, in case you were wondering). This leaves the others free to stick the anti power serum into Ben... which he is in dire need of at this point. But Brainy can't turn the weapon off, and it's set to go off soon. But J'onn won't give up so easily, and tries to use his psychic powers to overload the machine. Nia starts to use her own powers as well... and it's when Brainy sees Nia in such immense danger and pain, that it snaps something inside of Brainy and he reverts back to normal. He screams at her that he loves her. But it did the trick, and the aliens are free... including Red Daughter.

Kara goes off to fight Lex, who came down to try and stop them. But he's already defeated one Supergirl, so he almost had the advantage over her... But he wasn't counting on Red Daughter's rage. She takes a blast meant for Kara, and dies as Kara cradles her. She tells Kara that Kara had been right the entire time, and to protect everybody. She then dissolves into purple mist and is reabsorbed into Kara's body. With these new weird powers, Kara is able to better go toe-to-toe with Lex... which she does until he flies off. She gives chase, but he'd rather fall to his death than to be helped by her. But when he lands, he vanishes, so... no good.

Lex reappears in one of his labs, but Lena easily finds him. She puts some bullets into him, because fuck you. Before he dies, he shows Lena a bunch of footage of Kara being Supergirl.

In the aftermath, Baker was arrested for all of this bullshit, and Hailey is the most superior person, so she's in charge for the time being. She also makes a very public apology (that Kara watches on TV at CatCo) to Supergirl for all of this bullshit.

Alex and Kelly finally hook up, although their first kiss is awkwardly interrupted by Brainy and Nia walking past on their own first date.

Later, Lena shows up at J'onn's place for game night. She's quiet, but she doesn't say anything about now knowing that Supergirl is her BFF Kara. Instead, she eagerly joins Kara's team for “switched up teams games”. However, Lena later destroys a picture frame of her and Kara, so she's clearly not as okay with it as originally thought.

Meanwhile, George Lockwood has swung radically in the opposite direction of his father, and wants to help aliens in need. Ben watches bitterly from prison.

And then, because we need some teasers for season 5... Eve is apparently being controlled by some mysterious forces that isn't Lex. It's honestly a bit weird, and I don't know what to make of it.

Finally, another Martian comes and vows revenge on J'onn. Some guy who was talking to this Martian goes to where Lex was murdered and I'm pretty sure that he brings Lex back from the dead.

#supergirl #The Ravenclaw mod

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warning-fandom-obsessed · 6 years

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Hacky-Sack.exe - Peter Parker x Stark!reader

A/N: In the fic that I wrote a while ago, mentioned that Peter “ knew better than to interrupt you when you were like this” when referring to the reader being really focussed on hacking into something. And I was trying to get inspiration to finally start writing again by reading some of my old fics when ye olde inspiration fairy came and slapped me in the face with this thing. So here is a little fic which can be read as a oneshot or as a prequel to ‘Plotting’.

Warnings: Language, light self-hatred, cybercrime, mild angst, tooth-rotting fluff.

Words: 1799

You were sitting at the desk in your room typing away on your computer, so engrossed in what you were doing that you didn’t notice him enter the room. He walked up behind you and looked at the crowded screen of your laptop, it was windows upon windows of code, moving at a blurry speed as you began typing even faster. You were hacking into something. He didn’t really think much of it until he saw three letters that changed everything. FBI. “What hell are you doing?” he practically yelled. You jumped at the sudden noise, causing you to press a wrong key and a bright, red ‘ACCESS DENIED’ flashed across the screen. You turned your head towards him slowly, he had never seen such fury in your eyes. “Peter. Benjamin. Parker,” you said through gritted teeth as you stood up and turned your entire body to him. “What were you doing?” he asked again, though more calmly this time, the tips of his ears slightly red from embarrassment at his outburst. You sighed, cracking the kinks out of your neck and looked at him coldly in the eyes, “For God’s sake, Peter. I was trying to clean up your mess!” he looked back at you, confused, “Or have you already forgotten about DC?” His bewildered look lessened slightly but was still present. “What do you mean ‘my mess’?” You placed your hands on your hips and sighed out of frustration more than anger, “Did you not think that government agencies would try to recreate your webbing? Or analyse your DNA? Or identify you by the blood that you leave behind? I’ve been the one hacking into every organisation, deleting files on you, finding locations of samples and breaking into them to get them back?” You had got so lost in your rant that you hadn’t noticed what you had said at the end until it was too late. His mouth hung open slightly. Had you not been in such deep shit, you probably would have made some snarky remark about catching flies at his rather comical expression, however, you stayed quiet, knowing that if you opened your mouth a tumble of words would inevitably come out which would result in you likely being in a worse place than you had been before. The silence seemed never-ending and you would have gone insane pretty soon, had FRIDAY not stepped in. “Miss Stark, the FBI is trying to trace your hacking, where would you like me to re-route the signal to?” You floundered for an answer, your mind too preoccupied with trying to explain yourself to Peter to think of a good enough answer. “Uh, I... uh...” you stuttered, rubbing your eyes in an exasperated manner until an answer popped into your head, “FRIDAY, re-route the signal to the laptop of one Flash Thompson,” Peter gave you a stern look, not the kind of reaction you had been hoping for from your peace offering. “Y/N, leave Flash alone. He may be a dick, but that doesn’t mean that he deserves to go to federal prison.” You hung your head. You knew he was right but that didn’t mean that you had to be happy about it. “FRIDAY, cancel that. Instead, re-route it to the Director of the FBI’s personal laptop using hacky_sack.exe.” You could feel your cheeks heating as you cringed lightly at the name you had given to the program around a year ago, silently cursing your past self for being so irritating. Your blush wasn’t helped by the fact that, not only had you been caught doing something that you definitely shouldn’t be doing but, you had caught by your crush of all things.

The silence was deafening and seemed to last for eternity, when in reality it probably only lasted few moments, until finally, you burst. “Okay, I can't deal with this silence, say something!” For a second he remained quiet but, at long long last, he spoke. “Why would you do that for me?” Of all of the things you had thought that he might say, that wasn’t even on the list. In fact, his question and his quiet and timid manner threw you so much that you felt you had to sit down gingerly on the corner of your vast double-bed. “Because I need to. Otherwise, everyone will know that you are Spider-Man and I would hate it if you had to deal with that kind of crap.” You looked down at your hands as you spoke and only looked back up towards your companion when you felt the bed dip next to you as he sank down onto it. “Why do you feel like you need to protect me? I’m a big boy, I can protect myself,” he said slowly, as though he was carefully considering every single word. "Because I've been in the spotlight my entire life and I know how shitty it can be to have so many people want to know exactly what you're doing every minute of every day. I have to consider how every single one of my actions will impact my dad, the company, my future and I have had to do that since I knew what magazines were, that's no way to grow up. I can't force that crap on someone I care about. It's the same reason I don't act my crush; it just wouldn't be fair to the other person." You let out a deep breath as soon as you were done talking. That was the most you had ever opened up to anyone. Ever. No doubt Peter needed a moment to process everything that you had just thrown at him. "You know," he began, looking up to meet your eyes with a comforting smile on his face that made your stomach do a loop de loop, "If it really bothered you that much, you could have just asked your dad to take care of it, I'm sure he would." When you obviously couldn't find the right words to reply with, Peter continued, trying his damndest to ease the tension in the room. "So... you have a crush?" Instead of saying anything and possibly giving away that the subject of your crush was sitting directly opposite you, you just nodded, which seemed to sate him for a while. The two of you sank down onto your bed and stared at the constellation that your dad had had painted on the ceiling when you were five. After a few minutes of (this time) comfortable silence, Peter said, without turning away from the galaxy above him, "Do I know them?" you chuckled a bit. You should have known that he wouldn't let that go so quickly. "I should think so."

Peter's POV

"Is it Ned?" I said, trying to come up with a comprehensive list of every single person that I have ever met. "Nope," she replied and relief washed over me, only to be replaced by a new crop of fear and nerves and jealousy. "Michelle?"

"Nope,"

"I doubt it but, is it Flash?" It looked as though she almost snorted when I said that and, frankly, it was one of the most adorable things I have ever seen and I became determined to do it again, so I persisted. "I doubt it 'cause you did try to frame him for a cybercrime like ten minutes ago. But, then again, maybe I've just been flirting wrong!" She laughed slightly, still likely a little raw emotionally from her outpour earlier but it looked as though she was starting to feel a little more like herself. "Like you flirt at all." I pressed my hand to my chest in feigned hurt, "I am wounded by your words, Y/N Stark, I am wounded. Besides, I flirted with Liz!" I defended myself but, on second thought, what I did with Liz was less flirting and more stuttering, bumbling mess. She gave me her best bitchface at that, "Yeah, and that ended so well, didn't it?" I smiled at her relentless sarcasm, I have no idea why but having someone playfully insult you at least once per conversation is incredibly endearing. "Yeah, not so much. It wasn't a real relationship anyway so, I guess, it could have been worse."

"How about, next time, date someone who's dad doesn't fly for a living," she laughed dryly, staring straight up at the ceiling. "So, that just exudes the daughters of pilots and you." I thought that she more likely meant the latter of the two as a hint that she would never want to go out with me. That thought was shattered, however, by her next sentence which she mumbled only loud enough for my enhanced hearing to pick up on. “Like you’d ever want to date me.” I was so shocked that I didn’t realise what was coming out of my mouth until it was too late and I realised that I just shouted in her face that of course, I want to date her. In my state of extreme embarrassment, all I could manage to do was to get up from the bed and walk towards to door, having just ruined my relationship with one of my best friends.

Y/N's POV

Holy shit. He actually liked you. How the hell is someone supposed to react when they find out that their crush likes them back?! But, all too quickly, Peter was getting up from the bed and walking to the door, his cheeks ablaze. Clearly, he hadn't meant to say what he said and now, because you didn't react, he thinks he's screwed everything up. You barely thought about what you were doing and suddenly you were standing a foot in front of him, blocking the door. "Peter," you began firmly, "Did you mean what you said? About wanting to date me?" He nodded and refused to meet your eyes. To remedy this, you took a small step forward and picked his chin up gently to look at you, your face now mere inches away from his. A quick glance at his lips was all it took for him to get the message it seems as he leaned in cautiously and kissed you lightly. It was nothing scandalous or heated, just a chaste, little kiss, but it somehow managed to turn your stomach into butterflies all the same. When Peter pulled away all he said was, “Hacky-sack.exe? Really?” Laughing, you told him to shut up and pulled him in for another tummy-fluttering kiss.

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x stark!reader #peter parker x reader fluff #peter parker x reader angst #Avengers #The Avengers #avengers x reader #Spiderman: Homecoming #spider-man: homecoming #spider-man: homecoming spoilers

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 7 years

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In a recent ‘exchange’ I had with somebody they accused Spidey of being a an egotistical dick and an example of ‘toxic masculinity’ in the above interactions he had with the Avengers. I want to revisit this because I find that reading so utterly nonsensical.

Now look did Spider-Man have a temper here and resort to violence?

Sure.

But was it due to ‘toxic masculinity’?

Hardly. It comes down to several factors but the single biggest is recognizing that...this is a massive trope.

In the 1960s Marvel’s brand new set of superheroes were defined very much in contrast to their DC Comics counterparts. In the mind of the comic book reading zeitgeist, DC’s heroes were moral paragons who were perfectly chummy with one another. Why wouldn’t Superman and Batman like one another? They were both super heroic crusaders for justice after all.

Marvel wanted to subvert that trope and be more realistic. Their heroes would be flawed and imperfect and one way to exemplify that was that fairly often they bickered and didn’t get along. This is actually the very genesis of the entire ‘heroic misunderstanding’ trope that’s now a cliché.

Typically whenever a hero guest starred in someone else’s book they were the hostile jerk, though that wasn’t always the case. The Fantastic Four in Spider-Man comic books tended to be like this, whilst Spider-Man in FF or Strange Tales stories tended to be a jerk. It wasn’t even exclusive to guest stars, the Fantastic Four famously bickered amongst themselves.

Whilst Stan and other creators of the times probably went too far with it, that is the real reason this is happening in this issue so to extrapolate Spidey’s character as an arrogant, machismo jerk with serious issues is going way too far and ignoring historical context, suspension of disbelief, etc.

However even in-universe Spider-Man’s actions in this story really aren’t that unjustified.

His temper and his presumption that he’d have to fight somebody have a lot to do with his youthfulness (he is only 19 in this story) and his explicitly stated concern for Aunt May, which make his hot headedness forgivable. Even his presumption he’d have to fight somebody or that he might be being tested without realizing it has a lot more to do with youthful naiveté than anything to do with alleged arrogance or ’toxic masculinity’.

However...what are Hawkeye, Wasp and Thor’s excuses for being obviously hostile jerks given that they are fully grown adults?

Spider-Man sincerely asks who he has to fight because he thinks a test to join a fighting team would naturally involve that but Hawkeye an adult who knows the test will not involve that volunteers to trade punches with this stranger he wants to join their team.

WTF?

Meanwhile you’ve got Iron Man who for no reason says an obviously dickish thing by telling Spider-Man leave the room he entered less than five minutes ago and stop breathing down their necks. At the same time Janet Van Dyne insanely seems to hate Spider-Man entirely because he is name and costume associates him with spiders which she as someone associated with wasps therefore sees as her natural enemy. This is utterly bonkers at best, immature as Hell at worst.

And then there’s Thor. Thor who shows up out of the blue whilst Spidey is just minding his own business and doesn’t ask but literally commands Spider-Man give him his attention. And what does he want? He wants to outright summon Spider-Man to the Avengers, ordering him to report to their HQ. He even ends that statement with a ‘I Have Spoken’ line.

This is if not hostile then supremely arrogant of Thor and utterly demeaning towards Spider-Man. Most people with any self-respect would be irked by being spoken to this way.

But it gets worse.

Put aside how Thor insults him by calling him a ‘neophyte’ later in the story, but just in their initial exchange after showing up to Spidey being a bossy jerk he proceeds to reprimand Spider-Man because he isn’t basically grovelling and grateful as the ‘honour’ of joining this team he isn’t even sure he’s interested in. He even insults Spider-Man’s standing ‘as a man’. Important distinction to make, having pride, even having pride ‘as a man’ doesn’t inherently mean we’re dealing with issues of ‘toxic masculinity’. It just means Thor is insulting Peter as a person and questioning his sense of homour. Which is a dick move no matter what.

Moreover, remember this is the early days of the Marvel Universe. The Avengers don’t have quite the same reverence they have in modern Marvel or the MCU. At this point in time they are just another superhero team. A notable one, but not one veritably worshiped and universally adored. Though Thor does mention the Avengers record, specifically referring to them as a ‘fighting team’. Which is probably a huge thing that sticks in Spidey’s mind and informs his beliefs about the Avengers when he walks in to the team HQ later.

Basically Thor, as a representative of the Avengers came off as a rude, arrogant elitist jerk and then the other Avengers really didn’t do much to reform Spidey’s opinion of them.

He was as a person treated in an utterly insulting manner.

And the worst insult of all was...the test.

Let’s put aside how incompetent it makes the Avengers look to bark loudly about the honour bestowed upon Spider-Man that he is going to be tested for membership...and then not actually have a test prepared for him when he shows up. Let’s instead consider how goddam ridiculous the idea of having to test Spider-Man is.

I’m no Avengers expert but I think I know enough to say that...Thor is full of shit.

“Every candidate must submit to a trial! It is the way of the Avengers!”

...No...it really isn’t...

Lets say we agree that the founding members (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Wasp and Hank Pym) don’t need to be tested because they created the team to begin with. Every other member since them has NOT been tested for membership. Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were all either invited to join or just applied to do so getting accepted once other members backed them up.

The Avengers are making an exception for Spider-Man. He has to be tested to see if he’s Avengers material.

This then taps into my counterargument about Spider-Man being egotistical. The detractor was claiming Spidey is egotistical because he believes himself as good or better than guys like the Avengers.

Well really...that isn’t exactly unfounded.

Spider-Man is a powerful super powered person who’s taken on petty crooks, crime lords, a few Soviet operatives, general super villains, mad scientists and even held his own against a few other superheroes, often winning most of those encounters. Most of his battles and victories are matters of public record so the Avengers would know about them.

More poignantly Spidey has been doing this stuff with very little help, no tutelage at all and whilst also coping with a slander campaign by the media, mistrust and a lack of gratitude from the public, financial burdens, being ostracized at school, earning a scholarship, and supporting a sickly/elderly family member.

The guy is well within his rights to have a sense of pride and believe himself to be the measure of (or superior to) any of the Avengers who to his observation don’t have to deal with the crap he does, have gratitude and resources to help them with stuff and also have the benefit of backing each other up.

He has made it this long off his own back without any of that stuff...and he’s been doing it for longer than most of the Avengers too.

But maybe the most insulting part of being tested is the fact that despite his record of victories he has to be tested for admission to a team that Hawkeye and the Maximoff twins are a part of.

Let me remind you that Hawkeye is a former criminal who worked with a literal Soviet spy for awhile and the Maximoff twins were allied under an infamous mutant terrorist! And they were given membership without any kind of test!

And to make things really bad...Spidey SAVED the Avengers in one of their own stories! Captain America even acknowledges that fact!

And now these guys have pompously shown up and treated him like some kid who’s they’re charitably offering a piece of candy to if he shows them the proper reverence?

Is it really egotistical ‘toxic masculinity’ which would thereby drive him to react the way he does?

#Spider-Man #Avengers #Marvel #Marvel Comics #Peter Parker #Aunt May #May Parker #Quicksilver #Scarlet Witch #wanda maximoff #pietro maximoff #Magneto #Thor #Thor Odinson #Iron Man #Hawkeye #clint barton #tony stark

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powerdragonmoon · 7 years

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Buzzkill (Update)

Chapter 3: The Painted Burden

Me: ends chlonath week with a Buzzkill chapter >:Dc

Some moments of introspection and discovery for Le Paon during one of his first outings. A test of new powers soon becomes a test of will.

(ao3 link)

Le Paon flew across the city for what must have been the third time that week, remaining hidden in the darkness and shadows. New to this life of magic and superpowers, he wavered on each step, still unsure of how to move and unable to completely trust the powers of the Peacock Miraculous. Behind him, the wide tail of his suit flared, manipulating gravity and giving him a brief feeling of flight before he settled onto the next rooftop. His three-piece suit, while at first glance did not seem to be the most appropriate attire for such midnight ventures, was actually quite flexible to his needs. Its shades of deep purple, indigo, and pink clashed against his bright orange-red hair. But in the evening gloom, the sky empty of the moon, everything was muted and dimed, a faded dusky blue in the shadow that aided him in blending into his surroundings as he adjusted to these new powers.

He wavered, coming to a stop at the roof’s edge. Looking down at the streets beneath him, he tried to remind himself that everything was fine—that was a lie. If he, for whatever reason, unexpectedly fell, he knew he wouldn’t be harmed. That theory had been tested more than enough on his first outing as Le Paon. The power of the Miraculous would protect him. And even then, he was Le Paon, and he wouldn’t have to worry about it once he had mastered the power of flight. He would be fine.

At least that’s what he kept telling himself.

The burden of the Miraculous pinned to his cravat weighed heavily upon him. Ever since he had been in possession of the Peacock Miraculous, Nathanael had found that it also came with a strange and unfamiliar sensitivity to the emotions of those around him. Initially, it had been a subtle hum in the back of his mind throughout the day. Sometimes the noise would vanish completely and other times it would grind and pulse irritatingly. But mainly it flared when surrounded by large groups of people. Hawkmoth had explained to him it would continue to grow with each passing day. And even more so this ability increased tenfold while transformed.

He was just starting becoming accustomed to it, being able to decipher what those around him were feeling. What started off mostly as flashes and sounds, that usually left him with a headache, were now being translated into bursts of happiness, shocks of rage, and clouds of sadness.

And now, while he flew through the brisk night he felt it, a myriad of feelings echoing around each corner. The sticky miasma of emotions filled the air, haunting him.

All around him he was bombarded with foreign feelings that were not his own. A flash against his temple signalled someone’s nearby annoyance; a heavy cloud fogged his senses with sleepiness as citizens slept; and a pleasant hum echoed in the back of his throat—if he listened close enough would he be able to hear a song being sung into the night?

He carried on, leaving these thoughts behind him as he further explored the city from his new vantage point. The faster he moved, perhaps the less he would feel.

However that did not seem to be the case. As he ran, he indeed felt them, more and more insights overwhelming his senses. And just as suddenly they burst into flame. His stomach dropped as he stumbled backwards, steadying himself against a nearby wall. Impatience and anger suddenly pricked his skin, and a sluggish, tired, ooze sunk into him at varying intervals, signalling those who were overworked and those already asleep. A cold chill ran through him, and he tasted fear on random people passing by on the streets down below.

It left him feeling nauseous and with a shortness of breath that had nothing to do with his midnight run across the rooftops of Paris. He tried to move forward, to get himself away from the commotion engulfing him, but his body seemed to reject the idea. Instead he tripped. He fell.

Unable to catch himself, he slammed into the rooftop, landing on his hands and knees. He breathed heavily as he tried to remember Hawkmoth’s words, “Let these feeling pass through you.” The mantra wasn’t helpful; he could feel the emotions clashing along his skin, breaking him out into a cold sweat. Sadness and confusion overwhelmed him. Eyes watering, he felt everything too much. It was an itch that was driving him insane. And all of it seemed to come to rest in his throat, drowning him…

“D-detransform me!” he coughed out.

In a flash of blue his costume melted away, leaving Nathanael unmagical and ordinary. Almost immediately he could feel the air rushing back into his lungs. He heaved violently, his body desperate to breathe.

But it wasn’t so easy, detransformed he still felt the lingering claws of emotions stuck to his bones, clinging to him for purchase. Even worse, as he tried to focus, it became apparently clear that the thoughts of panic and anxiety had been his own. Now that his head was a less disturbed, he could recognize his own feelings more clearly. And he didn’t like it.

Beside him on the roof, a small creature collapsed by his hand. Her large pink eyes stared out blankly in front of her. She shuddered violently and wrapped her little body up with her tail, cloaking her as she shifted herself into a little ball of blue. The pink dot on her forehead shrunk until it was almost indiscernible. She lay there still, catatonic.

Her bright pink irises seemed dulled in the evening light, even though they contrasted greatly against the deep blue sclera of her eyes. When Nathanael had first seen her, he had thought she was some sort of demon, her neon eyes flashing at him in the darkness…

And now he saw the same pink-red tinge to his once turquoise blue eyes in every reflection when transformed as Le Paon. He hated it.

Nathanael watched her as he caught his breath. She looked shell-shocked. He blankly wondered if he should say something…had she too been affected? Beneath her tail, her limbs seemed to twitch uncontrollably, making Nathanael immediately feel guilty.

Just as he opened his mouth to apologize, the little creature’s eyes watered, glazing over her demonic eyes with a clear sheen. Her tears soon poured forth, streams of liquid that sparkled and evaporated into glittered mists.

Nathanael had seen her cry many times already, but he was still left in awe as he watched the shimmering twinkle of her tears. He moved, wanting to reach out and offer a hand to comfort her, but he stopped unsure of what to do.

“Are… are you all right?” he tried with a deep whisper that didn’t seem to grab her attention.

Her eyes continued to stare forward, the three little feathers on the back of her head swaying in the wind. In the dark evening her tears lit up the shadows. And the bright scintillation of her tears felt inconsistent to the dour mood surrounding them.

Nathanael tried focusing on her. He was still unsure of how, but he assumed he would be unable have some control, to see if he could get a read on what it was she was feeling.

There was nothing.

“I—I’m sorry,” he continued, clearing his throat.

Her eyes flickered up towards him. She blinked, sending another outpouring of tears down into the air, silver stars glinting and fading into the night, as she looked at him.

Frowning slightly, Nathanael huffed another deep breath, before continuing, “I think that’s the worst it’s ever been… Does it affect you too?”

A single, final tear fell from her eye; she continued staring at Nathanael with the same blank expression.

But Nathanael held her gaze, waiting patiently for a reply. In return, Duusu slowly seemed to respond, her head moved slowly in a weak nod. He could feel a sudden wave of sadness cresting out from her being and it left him feeling lonely and unwanted. The sheen in her eyes increased once more.

Tentatively, Nathanael reached out with his hand, bringing it close, but not quite touching her. Her eyes watched staring between his nearing hand and back to meet his eyes.

After what felt like a few long stretched minutes, she shifted.

Ever so slightly, she shuffled the last few millimeters towards Nathanael’s open palm. Shocked, he was overcome with nervousness, but deep down he felt warmth. It started in his palm and moving slowly up his arm to where it bloomed ever so slightly in his chest. Duusu, in return, closed her eyes, as she softly nuzzled his hand. The pink dot on her forehead grew in synchronicity to the pulsing in Nathanael’s chest, calming him as he sat up. He kept Duusu delicately in his hands and rested himself, seated with his back against the building.

He could feel Duusu dozing in his hand; her own hands began absently roaming through her tail feathers. A simple calm blanketed over them and Nathanael finally felt a bit more whole. He breathed in the night, a cool crisp breeze, and looked up towards the sky. He couldn’t help but notice the colours of the darkening twilight reflected the little creature in his hand. Deep blues, purples, and pinks hazed against the horizon. He tried to memorize his view, already sketching out and painting the colours into his mind.

Together they rested their minds, focusing on this new feeling of friendship? camaraderie? of something—perhaps a silent acceptance of their fate? Whatever it was, it was something that kept Nathanael warm despite the cold wind rustling through his hair and her feathers.

Thanks to everyone who waited so patiently for this chapter!! I know there’s 0 chlonath in it...so i’m going to try to remedy that with a continuation from yesterday’s piece!! ^^

Big hugs to everyone for sticking through chlonathweek with me!! ITS BEEN THE ABSOLUTE BEST!!! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

#update!!#buzzkill #miraculous ladybug #chlonathweek2k17 #chlonath au #le paon!nathanael #peacock!nathanael #this is more of a character piece #but i think its necessary for the next chapter #duusu #bee!chloe #nathanael kurtzberg #ml fanfic #my writing #powerdragonmoon #smol birb #day 7 - au #chapter 3 #the painted burden

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robininthelabyrinth · 7 years

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Fic: Trouble on the Way - Chapter 3/4 (Ao3 link) Fandom: The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (total AU) Pairing: Mick Rory/Leonard Snart Series: Sequel to Bad Moon Rising Warning: explicit adult content

Summary: It occurs to Len that maybe he’s been willfully ignoring reality when it came to Mick’s new condition. Oh, sure, he’d done the basic research, the public stuff, but he’d been so determined not to make Mick feel like any more of a freak than he already did that he’d perhaps skimped a little on some of the details that were turning out to be more relevant than he’d originally thought.

Time to fix that.

A/N: Will only make sense if you’ve read the first one in the series, as it follows straight on it, but I think the first one is one of my best standalones, so I’m making this a sequel instead

An executive decision was made that (in the spirit of the first one) this series is going to be like a minimum of 70% kinky smut, because we can always use more of that in this fandom, so, uh, mind the full set of warnings on Ao3.

———————————————————————————–

Len’s slow to wake, for once.

He feels good – everything feels good – like the best sort of wet dream, hot and tight and perfect, the feeling of a warm, broad hand on his cock, not urgent but pleasant, a slow build, it slipping away to be replaced by the feeling of something filling him up when he’s lying languid and sleepy and –

Wait.

Len blinks awake.

That isn’t a dream.

“Mick,” he groans, and Mick laughs behind him as he rocks against Len’s ass, his hand low and his fingers sliding inside of Len, crooking a little, his other hand easily hoisting Len’s leg up so that Mick can play with Len’s ass with ease, both of them on their sides.

“Wondering how long it’d take you to notice,” Mick says, voice thick with amusement.

Len just grunts. “We fucked all last night,” he points out, because it’s true. After that first time, getting knotted for the first time, when they’d finally pulled apart – don’t ask Len how long that took, he was high on endorphins and his internal clock decided to fuck off for once in his life – Mick had taken his time, running his mouth all over Len’s body, learning every inch of him with tongue and fingers until Len could be coaxed back into hardness, till Mick could take him into his mouth and get him coming again.

Even now, Len’s not sure he can get it up; Mick’s hand is in him and it feels great, but he’s only half-hard. He’s relaxed, more than anything else, his body soft and open. It's nice.

“Tonight’s the moon,” Mick says, as if that explains everything.

And, hell, it probably did.

“You’re gonna kill me,” Len predicts.

Mick laughs.

“Death by orgasm,” Len says, mock-gloomily. “Not exactly what I expected my obituary would say, but hey, what a way to go –”

“You don’t even need to do anything,” Mick tells him, amused. “Just lie there.”

“I’m gonna be sore,” Len whines, but he doesn’t really mean it.

Also, fuck Mick. Leonard Snart does not just lie there.

Though he's still a bit sleepy, and Mick is doing all the work…

The heavy lifting, so to speak.

Len sniggers.

“I don’t want to know what stupid pun you’ve just thought of,” Mick says, long-suffering.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Len says, and rocks back against Mick.

“I just like feeling you,” Mick murmurs. “You’re still wet and everything – still dripping – god, you’re perfect –”

Okay, so maybe Len can handle one more round. He's such a giver.

Now that Len’s awake, Mick pulls his fingers out and wraps them around Len’s hips, sliding his cock between Len’s legs, not inside, just rutting against him and groaning as Len squeezes his legs together. Mick doesn’t take all that long to finish, which makes Len wonder a bit at how long Mick had been at him before he’d woken all the way up – what a lovely thought, Mick playing with him as Len sleeps trustingly beside him – he really will have to return the favor one of these days. Mick all at his mercy, fast asleep - yes, please.

The feeling of Mick twitching between his legs as he comes is pretty nice, too.

Mick takes a few minutes to enjoy the afterglow, then he rolls out of bed, tucking Len back into the bed and looking down at him with an expression on his face that Len can best describe as ‘satisfied’.

“You’d better be going to get me breakfast,” Len says in his best, mildest ‘disagree-and-I-will-kill-you’ tone.

“Breakfast and a backrub,” Mick confirms. “Possibly followed by a bath.”

“Acceptable,” Len says. “Extra points for alliteration.”

Mick rolls his eyes at him and turns to off to the kitchen, while Len snuggles back into the pillows.

A quick glance out the window shows that it’s already past midday. A bit late for breakfast, but then again, they did stay up late last night.

Mick brings plates with bagels, one piled high with an omelet and the other smeared with cream cheese, and Len ravenously falls upon his own.

He needs the energy, especially since he can see that Mick’s already hard again which – seriously?

Mick shrugs, unashamed, when Len points it out.

“Death by sex,” Len tells him. “It’s a real thing. Look it up.”

Mick’s smile – well, the only word for it is ‘wolfish.’

Len can’t help but reach out to grab Mick by the suspenders he wore to reel him in for a kiss. And then –

Oh, what the hell.

One blowjob later, even Mick looks sated, his eyes heavily lidded. Len smirks and makes to get up, only for a hand to snake around his waist and pull him back down.

“I think a midday nap is called for.”

“We literally just –”

“Shut up. Nap.”

Len snickers, but permits himself to be drawn back down for a nap.

Mick falls asleep quickly – the moon revving him up and drawing him down both, no doubt – but Len only dozes, plans for possible heists drifting through his mind and mixing with equally vivid plans for possible future assignations until he wakes abruptly in the middle of considering what the best way to pick a lock on a Gardall TL 15 commercial safe while avoiding anyone seeing that he’s being fucked by an amorous and slightly feral Mick.

He blinks.

Scratch that one off the plans list.

Or possibly put it on the list. Whatever.

Why’d he wake up?

The soft sound echoes again.

It sounds like – a knock on the door?

Who the hell is knocking on this door? They specifically picked the house on Sullivan Street because the whole damn area got abandoned this time of year.

Len wiggles out of Mick’s grasp and heads to the door, grabbing a pair of pants off the floor and throwing on one of Mick’s shirts – it hangs too large on him, but whatever – and one of his jackets.

He also grabs his cold gun from where they’d stashed the guns for easy access, plus an extra gun of the more regular variety, which he shoves into his pocket after checking the safety.

Holding the cold gun behind his back and standing off to the side in case someone was going to fire through the door, he cracks the door open.

There’s a gangly man there. He’s got blond, short hair, a vaguely facile-looking face, and he’s wearing a terrible pair of beige pants and a horrifically pastel blue polo shirt. Moderately expensive clothing, but not excessively so; he’s not Family, and judging by the expression on his face, he’s not a killer of any variety, either. Not unless he’s the best faker Len’s ever seen.

Possible, but unlikely.

If anything, he looks – excited, Len would say. His face is flushed and his eyes are slightly dilated, like drugs or arousal.

“Can I help you?” Len asks, not opening the door any further.

“Oh! Yes,” the man says, pulling at his collar a little bet. “I – I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me – my name is Dan – might I come inside?”

Hah. Like there’s any chance of that happening.

“No,” Len says, rolling his eyes and putting the cold gun down. This is not a cold gun sort of situation. This is an annoying neighbor sort of situation. “Go away.”

“It’ll only take a minute – just a minute of your time –”

Right, then.

Guess they’ll have to do this the hard way.

Len flings open the door and grabs the man by the collar, stepping out and swinging him against the wall of the house before putting the regular gun he's holding right to the guy's temple. “Let me be perfectly clear,” Len says pleasantly. Normally he’d pull the guy inside for a bit of privacy, but for some reason he’s not inclined to do that, so this’ll have to be quick. This isn’t really that gun-friendly a neighborhood. “You are going to leave. You are going to leave now, and you’re going to go very far away, and you’re not going to come back. This is my home, at least for the moment, and I will not hesitate to defend it. Do you understand me?”

The man’s eyes have gone wide and he’s panting a little, though less in fear and more like he’s trying to – is he trying to sniff Len?

“Am I being clear?” Len tries again.

“You know,” the man says, and his eyes are kinda dazed like he’s turned on or something, “you’re really quite exceptional –”

“Right,” Len says. Guy’s clearly some sort of insane pervert. “I’m going to kill you and stuff you in the backyard with the begonias.”

“I’ll go!” the man squeaks, clearly snapping out of his daze when he realizes that Len means it.

Len considers the pros and cons of just killing the guy.

“Fine,” he says grudgingly. “But only because gunshots are loud and I’m taking care of Mick today, so I don’t want to disturb him. But if I hear any indication that you’ve called the cops on us –”

“No! Definitely not!”

“And you’re going to go away now?”

“Y-yes?”

“Make that more definite.” Len grinds the muzzle of the gun into the side of the man’s head.

“Yes! Definitely yes!”

“Good. Now get moving.”

“Yes,” the man says. “You go – take care of your wolf. While being scary.”

Len rolls his eyes and watches the man scramble away, climbing into a car haphazardly parked in front of the house and burning rubber on his way out.

It’s not until he goes back inside when he realizes –

Len never said that Mick was a wolf.

Then how did the guy know?

Len scowls. He’ll have to look up the guy when the moon is over – what did he say his name was? Dan something?

Wait. Hotline Dan?

Surely not…

“Lenny?” Mick says, poking his head out from the upstairs. He sounds sleepy, but slightly anxious.

“On my way back up,” Len says, putting the guns back in their place and double-checking the safety on each one.

He puts the question of the strange man aside as well. Mick needs him.

When he gets back upstairs, Mick is a few inches taller than he ought to be, and significantly hairier, which isn’t unusual on full moon days. He’s still looking calm, which is a definite improvement over previous months.

Maybe Len should suggest watching one of those Discovery Planet documentaries that Mick’s developed a fondness for.

Mick loops an arm around Len and nuzzles his neck. “I’ve run a bath for us,” he rumbles.

Or they could do that. That is also an option.

Mick always swore by the bathtub in this house, though Len’s never tried it out before. Len’s more of a shower sort of guy. He’s not really comfortable with the idea of bathing – he��s never entirely understood what it is you’re supposed to do, sitting in a pool of water for however long once you’re done with the soap and the shampoo and shit, though Mick’s always been as happy as freaking otter, spending literally hours in there.

It wasn’t until a few months ago that Len’d started taking baths again. Len had been complaining of soreness and stiffness after getting caught in a particularly nasty bout of bad weather, that Mick had more or less picked him up and thrown Len fully clothed into a steaming hot bath, then perched on a stool and glared every time Len had tried to get up until Len had given in and started detailing his plans for their next heist from the bath.

He’d had to admit, he did feel better when he got up. So he allowed Mick to run him baths every once in a while, as long as Mick agreed to sit by the door and talk to him. It was pleasant enough.

But the idea of bathing with Mick, when Mick has that manic expression in his eyes where he’s looking at Len like he’s as precious as the flame that comes from his favorite lighter…

Yeah. That sounds good.

Honestly, Len sometimes can’t believe this is his life.

On the other hand, hell yes this is his life.

“Lead on, Macduff,” he drawls, and follows Mick up the stairs.

“Pretty sure that ain’t how it goes.”

“Pretty sure it is.”

“It’s ‘lay on’.”

“…shit, it is, ain’t it.” Len eyes Mick as he follows him into the bathroom where, in fact, there is a bath so steaming hot that Len’s going to have to wait a minute or two before getting in. “You know you’re too tall again, right?”

“I’m stretching my bones a bit.”

“That can’t be how it works.”

Mick shrugs. “Damned if I know,” he says, which makes Len feel better about his relative state of ignorance. Stupid hotline. “Just, moon stuff. More feral, more territorial –”

“Hornier,” Len says dryly, because Mick’s started nuzzling him again. He’s got the feeling Mick’s concern with this particular bath was less cleanliness or even Len’s abused joints than an excuse to get Len naked again, which Len minds not at all. “You know, if you’re feeling all territorial, I’m surprised you let me go answer the door.”

Mick grins. “I was jerking off.”

“Seriously? Again? Already?”

“You went to answer the door wearing my shirt, smelling of me, with my come drying between your thighs,” Mick rumbles. “It was real inspirational.”

Len shakes his head in amusement. Territoriality and exhibitionism; he should've guessed. “Speaking of which,” he says, stepping out of his pants, so that all he’s wearing is Mick’s shirt, which Mick seems to appreciate if the gleam in his eyes is anything to go by, “let’s get clean, shall we?”

Then he yelps, because Mick just picks him up without any more of a warning. Len automatically wraps his legs around Mick’s body and his arms around Mick’s shoulders, and Mick laughs and kisses him.

Len kisses back.

“I’ll show you clean,” Mick says, which doesn’t even makes sense – wait.

“Don’t you dare drop me in that boiling vat until I give the word!”

“It’s not that hot.”

“Says the arsonist pyromaniac werewolf.”

Mick sniggers. “You need it to be warm enough or it won’t help your joints,” he says reasonably.

“Fine,” Len grumbles. “But I could’ve just gotten in myself. Is there any reason to pick me up while you do it?”

“Because it gets you all hot and bothered?”

Damn Len’s (relative) nakedness.

“…I see you’ve noticed that.”

“I’m a werewolf, boss,” Mick says, lowering Len gently into to the steaming water, which is in fact not as hot as it seems from the outside. “I notice every time. I can smell it.”

“So back before, I should’ve taken my jerking off outside the house, that what I’m hearing?” Len asks, peeling off his now-wet shirt and tossing it aside before relaxing back on the bath with a sigh. This bathtub’s huge. You could throw a birthday party in this bathtub and have space to invite some buddies you don’t know all that well.

Mick strips off and climbs in, grunting approvingly as he sinks into the hot tub. They end up pressed side-by-side in the tub, which is in fact not as large as Len thought when it was just him, but whatever; not like Len objects.

“Nah,” he says. “Smelled nice.”

Len arches an eyebrow at Mick.

“Not in a creepy stalking way! Just, y’know. Smelled liked home.” Mick shrugs and loops an arm around Len. “I remember the first time, just after I shifted all the way for the first time – I was in that vault, with the bars and shit, and I woke up angry as anything –”

“I remember,” Len says. He remembers it all too clearly – the stifling pressure of the night, the taste of vomit fouling his mouth ever since that first, horrific transformation, bones breaking and shifting and all that, but he’d refused to leave Mick’s side even as Mick howled and threw himself at the bars. Thank god they’d held.

“Took me a while to calm back down, that first time,” Mick says, lolling his head back and letting his eyes drift shut. “I was all confused – all the new senses, the moon, the hunger, wanting to chase – but you were there the whole time. I remembered you.”

Len nods. He hadn’t been entirely sure, that first month, bringing Mick meat, setting up a television for him, keeping watch to make sure no one attacked, but after that first transformation, things had been better. Oh, Mick’s temper had been even more fiery than normal, but it could be managed – food, shows, beer, the usual. Sometimes he needed the cage, but usually he could restrain himself.

“You fell asleep,” Mick remembers. “I’d kept you running around half the night, and for most of the days leading up to it, what with my temper and all, but at one point you just – tipped over. Fast asleep.”

“Yeah?” Len says, slightly annoyed at himself.

“I hated those bars so much,” Mick says. “More then than any other time. I wanted to be by your side, even then. You smelled right. Everything about you smelled like home. Like a good fire, making everything in my head just go quiet and happy. Should’ve known all the way back then that you were it for me.”

Len snorts. “Of course you should have," he says. "The fact that you even considered going elsewhere for your pack, Mick...I mean, honestly. What were you even thinking?”

Mick laughs and turns to him, his hands starting to wander, and he’s hard again.

“What the fuck, werewolf anatomy?” Len wonders aloud. “You lot try to get in all your screwing once a month, that how werewolves work?”

“It’s springtime,” Mick laughs, low and dark and purposeful. “Mating season.”

Len lets himself get pulled into position, Mick rearranging his limbs just the way he likes, face to face and rubbing up hot against each other. “Mating season, huh?” he asks, amused. “So I ain’t looking at not walking every month?”

“As lovely an image as that is, I need you strong and healthy so you can run my pack,” Mick says, grinding up against Len as Len languidly rubs back against him. “So no. But now – well. You know why there used to be mating seasons, for werewolves?”

“No, why?”

Mick leans forward and mouths at the marks he’d left on Len’s neck. “Used to be, werewolves would be real protective of their mates, since their mates were the only way they could start a new pack. Break away. But a mate’s important, y’see. A wolf’s only half the pack. So there’d be competition, you know. For the good ones. The strong ones. The ones that could make your pack something to be respected.”

Len nods, moving a little faster. Mick’s gotten off at least three times today, and Len’s got some catching up to do.

Mick’s hand slipping down to play with Len’s ass again helps, too. God, Len won’t need much prepping, between the water and the rest, but he gropes around to find that Mick’s already considerately set up some lube right on the edge of the tub.

Len knew this was a pre-planned seduction. Mick putting into action those planning skills that he always pretends he doesn’t have.

Len approves.

“You’d want to show off your mate, prove to everyone that you’ve got yourself the best one out there,” Mick says, and his voice is so deep it shakes Len’s bones. “But you’d want to keep them to yourself, too, so they’d be safe. That’s where it started. You get the moon to take ‘em, show them you can treat them right, lay out your claim. Feed ‘em. Care for ‘em.”

“Fuck them?” Len suggests. It’s not a subtle hint. The story’s interesting enough, and pretty sexy if only because Mick’s talking about it like it’s the best thing since accelerant, but, well. Len’s here for a reason, and it isn’t to get clean.

Mick’s smile has a few too many teeth. He’s strong enough to pick Len up and slide him into position, taking Len’s weight as much as the water is, and lets Len slowly slide down onto his cock.

Oh yeah. That’s what Len’s talking about.

“The rest of the month,” Mick continues “You show ‘em off, fight other wolves for them. Show how good you are. Show that you’re worthy of them.”

“Yeah,” Len gasps, as Mick bottoms out. He’s so goddamn big like this. Len’s glad this isn’t a monthly event, because god, everyone’s going to know he’s been had the way he’s going to be walking.

“Moon’s different, though,” Mick says. “See, that’s when the competition really heats up. Everyone wants the best mate, and everyone’s blood gets pumping, especially during the mating seasons. You get into a fight during the moon, someone’s gonna die – and then they’ll take your mate, too, and that just drove you nuts even thinking about it. Thought of someone else touching them. Thought of someone else having them.”

“No one else is gonna have me,” Len says, starting to move even as Mick rolls his hips in just the right way.

“Used to be during the moon, a wolf would take his mate somewhere private,” Mick says, and something in his voice makes Len go quiet and listen again. “Somewhere safe, somewhere that could be defended, and then they’d take them, take them again and again and again, till they were dripping with come, till it took, till they were filled up, swollen and heavy with a child – marked up for good –” One of Mick’s hands steal up to press against the flat planes of Len’s stomach. “– see, other wolves would try to come and get in the way, all of them jealous and desperate, and the wolf would fight them for the pleasure of their mate, fighting and fucking – not letting anyone take them – making their claim – till there wasn’t anyone else –”

“You like that, huh?” Len says, leaning forward for a kiss. “You wanna claim me, Mick? Wanna knot me, tie me to you so you’re sure no one else can get me?”

“Yes,” Mick growls.

“Good,” Len says. “‘cause I’m game if you are.”

“I wanted to knot you the first time I saw you, lying asleep right outside my cell,” Mick growls, and his hands are hard and hot on Len’s hips, his back. “Fast asleep, with a monster three feet away from you, ‘cause you trusted me, even then. Wanted to break out right then and fuck you into that goddamn concrete. Never thought you’d let me.”

“I’m letting you now,” Len says. “I told you. I’m your partner. It’s my job to take care of you. You want me, you have me. You want a girl –”

“I don’t want a girl,” Mick growls. “I want you. I’ve always wanted you.”

Len licks his lips. He’s not sure when they went dry. He’s wanted Mick for so long it was just a fact of life; he’d just put it out of his head, the thought that Mick might ever want him back, because Len never got what he really wanted. And yet - there it is. “Yeah?” he says. “You want me, then? Fill me up? Gonna make me love it?”

“I’m gonna fuck you,” Mick growls and he’s moving just the way Len needs him too, fucking up in earnest now. “Gonna breed you up, gonna make it take; I don’t care if it’s the first moon. Gonna have you again and again and again, and you’re gonna love every damn minute of it. We go out tomorrow, every single supernatural in the whole damn city’s gonna know who you belong to.”

“Yeah –”

“You’re gonna smell like me, just me, inside and out. There won’t be one part of you I won’t touch, not one bit. You’re going to be limping to your little meeting with the Flash, and he’s going to know, too. He’s going to go all red, cheeks turning to match the color of that stupid suit, ‘cause he knows you let me have you –”

“Fuck, yes –”

“He’s gonna slink off home, fast as he can, blink of an eye,” Mick growls in Len’s ear. “Rip open that suit of his, jerk himself off, lightning-quick, just thinking about you and me – thinking about what we got up to – knowing that you’re mine, mine alone, and he can’t have you – none of them can – because you’re all for me –”

Len keens a little.

“Best thing I ever stole,” Mick says, and his eyes are gold, and Len knows he’s close. Knows that soon enough – fuck, it’s even better with the anticipation. This time Len knows it’s going to happen, knows Mick’s going to grow large inside of him, swell up until they’re tied together, pinning Len in place to make sure he can’t go anywhere. Hot and hard inside of him, spurting inside of him, bursts of wet heat that will come trickling down his thighs later, painting them till Len looks exactly as ravaged, as taken, as fucked as Mick could possibly want. “Best thing I took away from the world was you, Lenny. They’ll all want you, because you’re perfect, you’re strong, your will is so strong, Len, you’re the baddest sonofabitch out there, and no one will ever cross you – and you’re mine, you chose me, when you could’ve had anyone –”

“Don’t want anyone else,” Len says, and fuck, it’s been true for years, years that he’s been jerking off to thoughts of Mick and then finding someone else to have fun with, but always coming back to Mick’s side. Mick’s his partner; has been ever since they were kids, and no one – no one – has ever challenged that. Not his boys, not his girls; his favorite prostitutes and the marks he picked up at bars. Len’s never wanted anyone like he wanted Mick. “Fuck, you’re gonna do it, gonna stretch me open out on that knot of yours; ruin me for anyone else – I know you are – I want it –”

“You’re so goddamn needy,” Mick says, and Len feels it starting, feels Mick swelling up. Fuck, he feels it. The edge of anticipation is speeding up into a full adrenaline rush, and it’s heady. Like the best heist in the world. “Begging me for it already – you’re gonna be a handful, and there’s only me to put you in your place –”

“Yeah, my place,” Len pants. “Yeah, you do that - put me in my place, my proper place, right where I belong –" He pauses for a heartbeat. "- running your pack.”

Len's still the boss, after all.

One of Mick’s hands clenches on Len’s hip, the other one shoots out to curl on the edge of the tub, and he howls, a full-fledged fucking wolf howl – Len’s a little deaf now, he thinks – and he’s coming, the knot swelling up all the way, yes, and fuck, that’s good. That’s so good.

“You’re gonna come on my knot,” Mick says, and his eyes are glazed over, his hips working mindlessly as he comes again and again. “Yeah, you are – gonna love it – knotted you like the bitch you are, needy little slut, but just for me, all for me –”

“Fuck,” Len says, and scrambles to wrap his hand around himself. He needs to come now.

“Look at you,” Mick says and he pulls his hand free of the (now somewhat dented) tub and presses it against Len’s belly. “Look at you. I can see it now, how you’ll look – you’ll be all mine, swollen and glowing and perfect, and I’ll go mad with wanting you –”

It’s too good. The pressure of Mick’s knot against Len is just perfect, and his cock is twitching inside of him, and it’s better than any sex toy Len’s ever had, it’s so hot and hard and Len loves it, loves the rush of endorphins that are spiraling through his system, the rush that comes from Mick’s knot, the one that keeps the pleasure going on and on and on. It’s too good.

Len cries out something when he comes. He’s not sure what. Maybe Mick’s name.

Mick curls up around him, murmuring soft things in his ear, nonsensical things – things about how good he’ll look, big and heavy and safe, how Mick will feed him and care for him, how Mick will kill his rivals and throw their bodies at Len’s feet – his hands caressing Len and helping him come down from his high, kneading Len’s muscles and working the last bits of tension out of them, Mick’s body rocking against him, Mick’s breath hot on his face.

By the time Len’s fallen back into his body, he’s so relaxed he’s seriously considering going to sleep again.

Possibly here in this tub.

“Moving would be awkward,” he says, laying his head on Mick’s shoulder.

“I’ll get you to bed,” Mick promises. “You just crash.”

Len murmurs agreement. He doesn’t sleep immediately, not quite, just dozes, letting the water and Mick’s strong hands and deep voice lull him into a languid dream.

He’s vaguely aware of Mick pulling him off, cleaning him up – a warm towel drying him off, head, body, between his legs – and he even manages to walk most of the way to his bed on his own two feet.

He doesn’t bother covering himself with the blankets when he crawls into the bed, just falling straight into a heavy, satisfied sleep.

Len wakes up a few hours later feeling hot and a little smothered.

He blinks up at the ceiling. It’s dark in the room, dark outside – he can see the faint light from the window; the shades having been pulled open to let what light from the moon stream in that it can.

The full moon.

Len looks down at his – blanket.

Mick’s in full shift, monstrously large, larger than his human body could ever reach, his bones broken and reformed, layer upon layer of muscle writ on an inhuman scale; the familiar rough skin, toughed with burn scars, replaced by a thick layer of fur. Mick’s a rather handsome beast, if Len has any view on the subject: the fur on his shoulders and arms and back is a speckled, reddish hue, echoing the burns that cover his human body, and the rest is a dark brown, healthy and hale. Nothing like the grey wolf that had attacked them, its mangy slate-colored fur shedding off, yellowed teeth pulled back, drool oozing out of the corners of his jaws, foaming at the mouth with rage and bloodlust.

Mick is also a goddamn furnace right now.

Len tries to dislodge him.

Fucking heavy, too.

Mick just murmurs something in his sleep and curls up closer. He’s – it’s actually kinda cute, now that Len takes a minute to look at him, asleep in the moonlight like it isn’t the full moon. He must have tired himself out earlier.

Probably intentionally. Mick’s considerate like that. People all too often assume that because he’s tough, because he’s violent, because he’s not the best with words, that Mick doesn’t think at all, but it’s not true. Mick’s an enforcer, yes, but he's the best type; the type you give a mission to and they compete it in the best possible way, no matter how vaguely worded the objective is, because they know what you want to achieve and they want to achieve it, too, in your name and for your benefit.

On the full moon, the transformation is inevitable, unlike all the other days. Mick probably hoped that he could wear them both out so that Len would sleep straight through it and have a whole month to acclimate himself to the idea that his decision to offer to help his partner out through a tough spot has resulted in a full-blown sexual relationship with a werewolf.

If that’s the case, which Len suspects it is, then Mick’s being silly. Len’s got no problem with the idea.

This pile of fur and fire is all Len’s.

But he’s still going to have to goddamn move before Len dies of heatstroke.

(Len compromises by wiggling around until Mick’s wrapped around his back and throwing a book through the window so it’ll be open for a breeze. He’ll fix the damage tomorrow.)

#dccoldwave #mick rory #leonard snart #my fic #werewolves #bad moon rising

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totesmccoats · 7 years

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9/20/17

Batman: the Red Death The first of the Dark Knights rises! In Earth -52, Batman hunts the Flash for his speed force. With the Bat-Family dead, Bruce wants to steal Barry’s powers so that he can protect the entire world, much less Gotham. After a long and, for Barry, torturous chase, Bruce succeeds in merging himself with the Speed Force, becoming Batman the Red Death. Shortly thereafter, he is approached by the Batman Who Laughs, who tells him that his world is destined to die, but he knows of one destined to live – they just have to take it.

Metal continues to be, well, metal as hell. Let’s start with the Red Death’s awesome name and better costume. He looks insane! And instead of lightning, he leaves a trail of bats as he runs like some kind of super-fast Dracula! Dude! This is extremely my shit! The first half of the issue is the stronger one, really setting up how scary the Dark Knights are even before their new powers. Earth -52 Batman is just as intelligent and prepared, but completely ruthless. The second half is weaker because, one: it feels like a retread of the first, and two: the Red Death railroads the Flash. No build-up, no tension, just a straight curb-stomping. At least it looks dope as hell.

Batman #31 KITE. MAN. HELL. YEAH. Kite Man gives Batman and the Riddler the location of Joker’s final remaining safehouse, but it’s on top of a tower filled with traps. Only way in is through the windows, and only way to get Riddler’s army through 73rd floor windows is with…kites. That’s it. That’s the issue. Kite Man’s coup de grace. Riddler also manages to give an actually rattled Joker a beat-down, but Kite Man finally gets his win. And in the next issue, Batman does the unspeakable.

Superman #31 Another Lois issue! On assignment by the Daily Planet to interview a cartel boss, Lois goes to Bolivia only to find that Deathstroke had gotten to him and his crew first. Inspired, Lois decides to instead track down and interview the most dangerous killer in the world, and, being Lois Lane, succeeds, but also attracts the attention of another group of killers. Give. Lois. Lane. Her. Own. Book! Seriously. These issues where we follow Lois on her investigations are some of the best in the series, and offer a perspective that no other superhero book really does. If this were just a Superman story, it would involve Clark flying around the world to stop Deathstroke from killing people; but Lois goes to watch him, to interview him, even. Almost every other protagonist in a superhero book does things to change the world in some way – usually by saving it; but Lois’ actions are motivated by observation, not participation. She usually does end up being a part of every story she covers, but her goal is always to let things play out around her rather than intervene herself. And while I think James Bonny understands and nails this perspective, if Lois should get her own series, I wish it would be written by someone with a journalism background whom could also capture journalistic language as opposed to the novelistic style writers usually make Lois write in.

Green Arrow #31 With Hal unconscious and floating in space, it’s up to Green Arrow alone to take down the Ninth Circle’s satellite and also the goon in the mech-suit protecting it. Not the easiest task when you also consider Ollie can’t breathe in space. Luckily, he’s recently made some friends who might be able to help. Like last issue, the finale drops the political overtones from earlier in the arc for pure explosive action, but is still satisfying as a conclusion to Ollie’s personal arc of rebuilding bridges with DC’s other heroes. Ollie still has to take down the satellite on his own, but at least now he has friends to help clean up the mess he makes in doing so. And this change really does show an evolution from the fallout of the last arc with the destruction of Seattle, where it all fell on top of Ollie and his small team, with no-one coming in to help. Meanwhile, Black Canary also completes her arc, taking out the underground men with a triumphant catharsis over her own abusive upbringing, helping others so they don’t suffer as she had. All and all, and ending that reestablishes hope for Green Arrow’s corner of the universe, even as he heads straight into Metal and it’s dark universe.

The Wild Storm #7 We’ve got an info-dump! IO’s Jacklyn King, their chief of analysis checks in at work and assigns her team to look into the Angela situation before Skywatch finds out about the stolen technology and sparks a war between the two most powerful agencies on and off Earth. Meanwhile, John Colt needs a quick rescue from an IO blacksite he broke into before he gets found out and killed, which would prevent him from giving the HALO team the aforementioned info-dump about what IO knows about Jacob Marlowe and machine telepathy. As Cole says in the issue, it’s a lot to take in. Thankfully, Ellis still writes some of the most electric dialogue in comics, and still manages to squeeze in a propulsive fight scene right before the info-dump to give us something to wind-down from. But even then, it’s one of those “here’s what we know they know we know they know” info-dumps – one of the worst kinds – and after reading it three times I’m still not sure if I’ve taken away everything I was supposed to from it.

Wonder Woman/Conan #1 As a child accompanying his father to council, Conan was awe-struck by a black-haired girl named Yanna. Years later, after becoming the Barbarian, Conan happens upon a gladiator match between three men and one black-haired woman who manages to beat them. She demands her freedom, but cannot overpower all of her slaver’s warriors and is taken back in chains. Conan, once again awe struck, goes to rescue her. So far, this is unfolding as a Conan story with Wonder Woman in it. While Conan is full Conan here, WW is amnesiac, forgetting everything including her name, remembering only that she has powers, and once had a golden lasso. And, for some reason, she also fashions a passable enough facsimile of her costume out of rags and mud. We get plenty of Conan being Conan in this issue, fighting bandits, looking for gold and wenches, and sneaking into places; I just wish we got more Wonder Woman. Hopefully next issue.

Generations: The Marvels Under (pre-Secret Empire #10) mysterious circumstances, Kamala Khan is sent back in time to when her hero, Carol Danvers, was still Ms. Marvel; and working on a failing women’s magazine spun out of the Daily Bugle. Kamala accidentally becomes an intern at the paper, and has to help Carol save the magazine, and the world, from an alien invasion. As she’s tended to do with crossover stories, Wilson seamlessly blends what could’ve been an interruption into a natural extension of her main Ms. Marvel story, turning this one shot into another part of Kamala’s growth from being Carol’s acolyte to a Ms. Marvel entirely her own. Working closer with Carol than she really has before allows Kamala to really nail what their differences in personality and heroic philosophy are, and how she can be true to who she is while still being the Ms. Marvel the world needs her to be. And Wilson also makes this arc into Kamala’s strategy for saving the magazine, by having her explain to Carol the sort of balance between fun and function that modern women want from their reading material. Villanelli and Herring’s art is a perfect match for the alternate history setting of this story too. My impression was that the issue looks almost like a 70’s manga, with Villanelli’s manga-inspired character designs and style and Herring’s coloring giving the book an aged patina. The whole aesthetic really gives the impression of something foreign but familiar that I really enjoyed, and also fit Kamala’s experience in the issue.

Spider-Men II #3 The origins of Miles Morales 616. Miles had taken a fall for the Rigoletto crime family, finding himself in Rikers; and Wilson Fisk gets himself thrown in to tell him he’ll be out sooner than expected. Morales helps defend Fisk while their both in their, starting a friendship that takes them to the top of the family. Honestly, not a great origin? Having our earliest introduction to this new minority character finding him already arrested for gang activity is pretty problematic, even considering he’s supposed to be a bad guy. But even besides that, it’s just an origin that we’ve seen before way too many times. And like in most things, Wilson Fisk completely steals the spotlight. And while there are are definite similarities in flirting style during a scene where Miles meets his future wife, this issue doesn’t do much to make the two Miles’ feel like doppelgangers, which was kind of supposed to be the conceit of the story. Really, more than anything, after reading this I want more young-Kingpin, and could care less about Miles-in-name-only.

Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #4 Spidey, Teresa, and Torch manage to survive the Tinkerer’s assault in Kingpin’s penthouse, but find out they’ve been fighting a decoy the entire time. And they come home to more bad news: that JJJ is running with the Spider-Man aiding a traitor to SHIELD story he was leaked, meaning that Spidey and Teresa are also now on the lam! Luckily, there’s one place Peter can think of that nobody would think to look for them, but asking to crash on someone’s couch is a big ask before even a second date! This is probably the loosest issue of Spectacular so far, having enough slack for Spidey to do a tight-five of stand-up while on the run, but I honestly like it. Compared to where Amazing is right now, I enjoy having a Spider-Man series that is more loose and silly, even a little chill despite itself. Spidey’s stand-up sticks out from the issue like a sore thumb, but it’s fun page; and I really wouldn’t mind if the entire series continues the trend and leaves slack in the story for silly side stuff life it in the future.

Snotgirl #7 Lottie takes Caroline to Haters’ Brunch in an attempt to integrate her new friend with her old ones, but it doesn’t go that well. But later that night, Caroline’s brother Virgil convinces Lottie to invite her to a comic con party with the other girls, take her out of the city for a while on a road trip. Meanwhile, a slightly amnesiac Charlene wakes up from her coma to a waiting Sunny, and, under the advice of a mysterious stranger, begins to retrace her steps from New Years. What makes this such an interesting series is that, for all the exquisite detail the book gives us into each of these character’s inner lives and monologues, they never seem to be the details we need to solve the series’ main mysteries – mostly surrounding Caroline and now her brother. Instead, the issue is more concerned about Lottie’s continued attempts to impress Caroline by hiding how much she enjoys things like waiting in lines to get into fancy restaurants, and comic-con. But of course, it turns out that Caroline actually wants to go to the party after all, despite it being nerdy. Plus, showing us Lottie’s self-conscious side does do a great deal humanize her, keeping us on the love-hate relationship rollercoaster this book’s set up between us and the protagonist. It’s super interesting how the book divides our attention, really – because it wants us to care about Lottie, and gives us so much of her that we’re kind of forced to despite how terrible of a person she may be, but never lets us forget about this big mystery that Lottie barely even knows is something to be solved. It’s a really fun push-and-pull to play with/against, especially as you never know what the stakes of any given issue is gonna be.

Bitch Planet: Triple Feature #4 Another successful book of short stories from the Bitch Planet universe. Deschamps, Lee, and Olea’s “Life of a Sportsman” shows us a corner of the world we haven’t gotten to before, revealing the hyper toxic-masculinity of sports in this world, following the career of a megaton player who gets off better than OJ and Brock Turner combined. Sara Woolley’s “Bodymod” shows us the extremes that plastic surgery went to in Bitch Planet, making women into literal angels and mermaids who live in constant pain for their beauty. And Ayala and Gifford’s “To Be Free…” is a heist, where a ballerina is recruited to steal something of incredible value from a history museum in order to help the resistance. Unlike last issue, none of these stories feel like they’re repeating themselves or stepping on each-other’s toes. This issue also has some of the most distinctive art of these collections yet, further expanding the universe.

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9/27/17

Marvel Legacy #1 One million years ago, Odin and Agimotto joined ancient versions of the Pheonix, Starbrand, Iron Fist, Ghost Rider, and Black Panther to lock a Celestial deep under the Earth. Today’s versions of those heroes begin having dreams of those events, not understanding what they mean in the context of a world removed from its status quo. Welcome to Marvel Rebirth, essentially. Secret Empire really messed things up for the Marvel Universe, and it’ll take another universe threatening cataclysm to shake things back into shape. Not gonna lie, the Avengers One Million BCE is badass, if archeologically bonkers, and I’m excited to see more of them. And I’m also all about the return of Marvel’s first family. And also Space Wakanda. But overall, this felt a lot like Rebirth #1 without the soul. Just a bunch of hints to future stories.

Generations: Spider-Man Bendis does what he does best and writes an issue where two people just sit and talk to each-other. Miles Morales wakes up in the past, at Empire College, where he runs into a young Peter Parker, who is about to have one of the worst nights of his life. But instead of seeing that story (again), we see what happens when Miles talking to an exhausted Peter after the action, and learn what it means to live as Spider-Man, and the person under the mask. When forced to tell a story in one issue, Bendis really can do wonders, even in his normally dialogue heavy style. At its core, this issue is one Spider-Man revealing to another that being Spider-Man is never easy, it’s always sacrifice, and it’s always personal. And that’s exactly the sort of thing the first needs to talk about to learn when he’s won, and the second needs to hear to learn that he’s doing a good job.

Black Panther #18 The Midnight Angels go on a mission to retrieve Asira as T’Challa and Shuri investigate a village whose people were stripped completely to the bone. Shuri recognizes this from a Wakandan legend involving the Originators, but further investigation points towards a different origin. A lighter issue than most of Black Panther, consisting almost entirely of two action scenes with a last act reveal. Really not much to review in this one; it’s mainly a set-up for a big Legacy rematch.

Wonder Woman #31 Well, it’s not a great sign when the first issue of your Wonder Woman run barely has Wonder Woman in it. Instead, most of this issue concerns a fight between Hercules and Darkseid’s daughter, Grail. Wonder Woman’s only job in the issue is to find out who won. Like, the set-up is interesting enough, but I pick up this series to read about Wonder Woman, not Young Darkseid.

The Flash #31 Flash tries to evacuate the city before Bloodwork can hurt anyone, but with his powers still causing destruction everywhere he goes, realizes he has to stop this problem at the source. But hearing Bloodwork’s motivation helps Barry realize that his negative powers may be feeding on the same impulses, and realizing that can help the hero and villain alike. The end of this arc masterfully threads the needle from moody black-suit hero to reformed opportunistic hero, without letting Barry off the hook for being a jerk to his friends and family. Barry understands why his negativity has been ruling him, and promises to take steps to fix that, the first one being accepting responsibility for his actions. This ain’t a clean-slate for better-Barry. It’s self improvement, and it’s work. And its great that Williamson isn’t ending this arc with everything hunky-dory. It ends with Barry on the first step to healing, himself and those he’s hurt.

Batgirl #15 Dick and Barbara try to get some info on the Red Queen out of Mad Hatter, but he’s not talking much while in critical condition, and the hospital might not be the safest place for them at the moment, anyway. And in the past, Robin and Batgirl go undercover at a high school party to investigate where the drugs are coming from, but only find a strange song. And Barbara begins work on Ainsley’s project, which involves nano-bots with an intriguing glitch. I’m still charmed by this book strictly on the basis of DickBabs. It’s like, the one ship in fiction I’m actually invested in, and this story is handling it so well! Honestly, all I’m asking for are more Robin and Batgirl adventures, cute awkward flirting and all!

Nightwing: The New Order #2 Finally, a superhero about fascism I can get behind! Ok, “finally” is a bit much considering that this is basically an X-Men mutant registration story with DC characters; but what makes it work, unlike, say, Secret Empire, is that it addresses fascism’s marriage with bigotry. This issue flat-out says that this started because people were afraid of their neighbors, of the “others” that creeped in until it seemed like they suddenly overwhelmed the “normals.” And it shows that Nightwing, in a state of panic, gave into the fear and slippery-sloped the world into fascism. The details are unrealistic, of course, but the broad strokes ring true. The story does have one of the big issues that most X-Men stories like this also share, which is that unlike skin-color or religion, a superpower could actually pose a bodily threat to other people, and like weapons, should have public oversight…but that’s one of those dissonant you’ve just kinda gotta accept as part of the genre. Also, Bat-MVP Alfred-fucking-Pennyworth, refusing to stand down to fascism, bringing a bat to a gunfight, and showing Dick how it’s done. Next issue hopefully begins the Nightwing apology/ass-kicking tour.

Saga #47 We catch up with The Will, whom has been kidnapped by the vengeful widow of one of the many many many people he’s killed, who is using a magic VCR to playback his memories to find someone close to him that she can kill, and make him watch. Sadly, for both of them really, she’s having more trouble finding someone close to The Will still alive. It has been a minute since Saga featured the universe’s most unfortunate bounty-hunter, but this issue more than makes up for it. Through the magic VCR we witness the childhood incident that turned him into a freelancer, and an early mission with The Stalk, before his kidnapper discovers a memory she can do something with. The developing rapport between the Will and his kidnapper is also golden. She’s trying way too hard to play the supervillain, prancing around and taunting, to break the Will, but he’s already too broken to care, and has nothing left to lose anyway. I really can’t wait to see how she eventually becomes his new sidekick or partner and the sorts of hijinks they’ll get into.

Crosswind #4 After a pleasurable, but confusing, night out with Cason’s fiance, June finally decides to try and call the man whose body she’s inhabiting by calling herself. Fortunately, Cason – in June’s body – picks up, and the two have a conversation about being each-other. And June needs the advice, as Case’s life is about to get very very dangerous. It’s really an accomplishment that this issue can have a body swap conversation – in a silent medium, remember – with characters that are rarely using their own names, and still have it be completely legible. Case and June just have such distinctive “voices” in syntax and diction and style, that they’re clear even coming out of the other’s mouth. Just from a writing perspective, that’s super impressive on Simone’s part. But it’s also the rare body-swap conversation where the characters aren’t complaining to the other about how hard their lives are, the opposite in fact. Each compliments the other for the good in each-other’s lives. Cason compliments June on her son and gentleness, while June tells Case how impressed she is by the respect everyone shows him. But they also tell the other to be careful and not mess their lives up before they can swap back. And the issue rounds off with each actually making steps to work on maintaining the other’s appearances, with June hiring some people to watch her back; while Case goes to a neighbor’s house to find out how to be more ladylike. The conflict in this book isn’t with each-other at all, it’s already present in their own lives, and the other just has to deal with a completely foreign situation. Also, Simone gets in a couple of good boner jokes! Always a plus. Lastly, Staggs is doing so much with these characters’ body language. Posture, reactions, how they hold phones or go to sleep tells us so much about every character completely wordlessly, and in the sort of fine detail that’s not easy to come by in most comics. This is a wonder on every level.

Comic Reviews for 9/20/17 and 9/27/17 9/20/17 Batman: the Red Death The first of the Dark Knights rises! In Earth -52, Batman hunts the Flash for his speed force.

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