#Mutual assured destruction (MAD)

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

The atomic bomb fueled the theory of Mutual assured destruction (MAD)

Castle Romeo nuclear test (yield 11 Mt) on Bikini Atoll. It was the first nuclear test conducted on a barge. The barge was located in the Castle Bravo crater.

#atomic bomb #Castle Romeo #Bikini Atoll #nuclear test #Mutual assured destruction (MAD) #MAD #photography #photo #weapons of mass destruction

[bumblingbabooshka]

Things that aren’t red flags but are flags nonetheless

#Chakotay & T'Pel: Why Are We Here....? Just To Suffer.....??? #My jaw DROPPED when Janeway called her dad 'daddy' in that episode ...ilaughedso hard.... #more power to ppl who call their dads daddy into adulthood - I'm a no dad haver so I cannot imagine #sorry Tuvok this drawing is really a prime example of 'buddy system responsible for additional death' #mutually assured destruction: If Janeway brings up that Tuvok calls his mom that he's gonna bring up that Janeway calls her dad that #Chakotay calls his parents 'mom & dad' while T'Pel calls her parents 'ma & pa' <- vulcan version of this #something I notice about watching voyager is everyone calls their parents 'mother & father' which is incorrect - sorry v_v #anyway this made me laugh todraw....hope you enjoy #bea art tag #Chakotay #T'Pel #Janeway #Tuvok #st voyager #st voyager art #DON'T @me if Janeways dad wasn't an admiral #Chakotay wants to make fun of them so fucking bad especially Janeway but he KNOWS she'll get mad HHEHEHE

[limeartichoke]

cutesy hannigram sketch 😽

#i love insane people being in love and insane #mutually assured destruction #mad #hannigram #hannibal #will graham #hannibal lecter #fanart #art #drawing #hannibal fanart #hannigram fanart

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Maybe it's just because I was born after the Cold War and never lived with it as a looming threat 24/7, but I am not and have never been afraid of nuclear war. For years, I've been told that North Korea is gonna start a nuclear war, or China is gonna start a nuclear war, or Iraq, or Iran, or Russia (especially Russia, especially in the last 7 months), but the idea has never scared me.

I guess that's due in part to the fact that it has always felt too abstract, too distant, like something that could only happen in movies, like robot uprisings or alien invasions, but it's also due to the fact that I have a layman's understanding of mutually assured destruction. Surely world leaders, even the most despotic, the most unhinged, the most triggerhappy, understand the concept much better than I do; warmongers like Reagan and Bush and Trump never launched a first strike, none of the Kims ever have, Putin never has, Xi Jinping and his predecessors never have, no British PMs, no Presidents of France, neither India, nor Pakistan, nor Israel, nobody except Harry Truman in 1945 when the total number of nuclear warheads in existence was two and he owned them both.

Even the craziest of the crazies have self preservation instincts! They want power and control, period, and being vaporized kinda sorta puts a damper on that whole idea. They're not suicidal. They don't want to die, and they probably don't want their families to die, but more importantly they don't want billions or trillions of dollars in infrastructure to be destroyed! They don't want to lose military bases and farms and oil fields and farms and dams and bridges and highways and farms and ports and manufacturing plants and FARMS FARMS FARMS, THE SOURCE OF THEIR FOOD IN A POST-WAR WORLD THAT WON'T BE EXPORTING ANYTHING TO THEM ANYTIME SOON! They want to have real power, not hypothetical power over a radioactive debris field while locked away in a bunker, and they certainly don't want there to be mutinies in what remains of the armed forces, because no matter how loyal the brainwashed conscripts are, the generals know which side their bread is buttered on and rhey aren't too keen on having half the country vaporized as part of their boss's dick measuring contest. Saner leaders have been assassinated and replaced for lesser crimes.

Cooler heads have always and will always prevail.

I'm not worried, not because I think world leaders give a shit about the lives of the masses, but because I know they give a shit about their own.

#nuclear war #propaganda #russia #ukraine #putin #the media #war #mutually assured destruction #MAD #political #politics #first strike #nothing is gonna happen

[tsui-no-sora]

Okay the only way I can see Wilbur's whole I will die thing working on Dream is that maybe Dream really can't revive him anymore just like that

The death book for sure has a lot of limitations so probably the revival book does as well and Dream doesn't want any of his family members to die forever

#dreblr #c!Dream #dsmp lore #MAD Duo #mutually assured destruction #obviously all only about the characters #beloved rambles

[coelakanths]

man i used to make ocs that were so monogamous and committed to each other with serious and loving relationships. now i make like ten characters and they all fuck and hate each other

#*wiping away tears* ive grown so much #ive got some characters and i can make every possible relationship between them work #like. eating angels for example. damien verne marcie and q #they could ALL date they have ALL fucked #damien and verne roommates to lovers… obsessed with each other’s company fun sleepovers etc #they’re the most wholesome LMAO #damien and marcie oh my god. barely knew each other then marcie beat the shit out of him then damien is her queer awakening like hello? #damien and q best friends to enemies to its complicated to mutually assured destruction to damien killing them in cold blood… #they’ve fucked. so much. my god #halfway thru an argument they just start slobbering over each other #marcie and verne… verne is just sexy and angel bait ok. marcie is so angry flustered. they’re so confused WHY am i in love with you etc #marcie and q is so fucked up they’d do anything for him anything they would kill and they have #and q just gives her NOTHING!!!! they’re so fucking delicious to me tbh #q and verne. verne is IN MAD GAY LOVE WITH Q. this is actual canon ok i wrote this in. it’s disgusting #most fucked up love square of all time my god #q dicit #they’re so fun. sorry #ocs

[garudabluffs]

those who can afford nuclear weapons CANNOT afford to turn Swords into ploughshares is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications.

A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear annihilation, nuclear armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout.

"The English word "holocaust", derived from the Greek term "holokaustos" meaning "completely burnt", refers to great destruction and loss of life, especially by fire.[7][8]

One early use of the word "holocaust" to describe an imagined nuclear destruction appears in Reginald Glossop's 1926 novel The Orphan of Space: "Moscow ... beneath them ... a crash like a crack of Doom! The echoes of this Holocaust rumbled and rolled ... a distinct smell of sulphur ... atomic destruction."[9] In the novel, an atomic weapon is planted in the office of the Soviet dictator, who, with German help and Chinese mercenaries, is preparing the takeover of Western Europe." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_holocaust

New START Treaty

Nuclear weapons: Disarmament is a thing of the past June 13, 2022

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute warns of a new worldwide nuclear arms race, with China rushing ahead. Activists in the anti-nuclear movement are becoming lonely figures.

"The "New Start" agreement — the "Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" — expires in 2026. Of what was once a comprehensive system of arms control treaties, "New Start" is the only remaining element. It limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons such as long-range missiles. "Given Russia's Ukraine war and the evolution of the Republican Party in the US, a successor agreement is unlikely," Kristensen believes."

READ MORE https://www.dw.com/en/nuclear-weapons-disarmament-is-a-thing-of-the-past/a-62092327

arms control dialogue VICIOUS CYCLE recycled DISARMAMENT?

"I will if you will."

<after you>

"you first"

< I dare you>

"I double-dare you"

<double-darers go first>

After a dare has been made the darer can then raise the stakes by double daring the daree, meaning that if the dare is carried out by the darer then the daree will also perform the task.

I DARE you to reduce your stockpile of nuclear weapons despite there being any number of bad actors who to their advantage...

"Mutual assured destruction, often abbreviated as MAD, it is part of the military strategy of deterrence."

"For instance, a 2012 study by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists found that just 100 nuclear detonations of the size that struck Hiroshima and Nagasaki would usher in a planetary nuclear winter, which would drop temperatures lower than they were in the Little Ice Age, Live Science previously reported.)"

"But the threat of nuclear annihilation remains real. The Federation of American Scientists, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by scientists and engineers who had worked on the Manhattan Project to develop the first nuclear bomb, reports that as of early 2022, about 12,700 nuclear warheads are possessed today by nine countries: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. Most of them are held by the United States and Russia, which have about 4,000 warheads each. And according to a 2018 scientific study in the journal Safety, that's enough to wipe out almost all of us."

READ MORE https://www.livescience.com/mutual-assured-destruction

#mutually assured destruction #MAD #nuke regulation

[thetismcave]

Figuring out the dream and Wilbur dynamic for my au is a joy because dw!Wilbur is positively feral but he looks downright responsible next to dream lmfao

Wilbur and dream, co-leading the resistance and constantly tossing the role of Designated Impulse Control between them like it’s a game of hot-potato: “never let them know your next move”

#dw au #don’t wait (the future’s for you) #dsmp #dsmp au #dsmp mad duo #mad duo #mutually assured destruction duo #wilbur: this person is giving us problems #dream: assassination #wilbur: 😟 uhh that can be plan b

[shelmerdines]

costar breaking some difficult home truths today.

#this is hysterically funny like. no word of a lie this is actually EXACTLY what happened #thoughts #to be clear i do actually kind of think mutually assured destruction is a bit romantic. call me toxic or whatever but im not even mad abt it

[nicklloydnow]

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” - H.P. Lovecraft, ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ (1928)

#lovecraft #hp lovecraft #oppenheimer #nolan #christopher nolan #science #madness #mutual assured destruction #a bomb #atomic bomb #nuclear weapons #russia ukraine war

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

please tell us more about your mad theory about the tories getting rid of Sunak?

So the Tories currently have two (2) major problems.

Problem the first: they are about to lose power as soon as the GE rolls around, which it must do by January 2025 at the absolute latest. And the country is baying for one sooner.

This is very much preoccupying their minds at the minute. The rich and powerful will never willingly let you vote away their wealth and power, and to put this into perspective, the Tory party has ruled this country either jointly or alone for over a decade at this point. One of David Cameron's strategies as leader was to focus on recruitment of young and exciting diverse Tories into the party, which is how we got such stellar entries as Liz Truss and Priti Patel and Suella Braverman. These are MPs, therefore, who have never known political life outside of being on the winning side. They are seeing the end of the gravy train in sight, and they are taking it as well as you'd expect.

This is why the infighting is so rife (partly; bear with). The main thing they care about right now is making the party electable again, and fast.

But...

Problem the second: like all good fascist dictators, when Boris Johnson came to power, he fired everyone who said anything bad about him for disloyalty, and promoted all his personal friends. This is how we got such stellar entries as Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees Mogg and Michael Fabricant. But THAT'S an issue because saying bad things about BJ is basically what intelligent people did, because the man was a useless blundering oaf who killed horrifying numbers of his own electorate via the world's second worst mismanagement of a global pandemic. So removing anyone who criticised him meant, in very real terms, removing the only Tories with half a brain who were even a fraction capable of doing joined up thinking required to run a country. Like, fuck every Tory with a cactus, obviously, but they did at least used to have competent, high calibre politicians, however evil and grotesque they were. David Cameron should die in a cesspit, but he was capable of remembering to put the bins out (before wage cutting the refuse collectors).

And therein lies the real problem: okay, BJ is gone, the party is in ruin, they're staring down the barrel of the most humiliating election defeat in history. They need someone competent that they all like who can take the reins and make people like them again.

But who's left?

There's no one. There's no one left. Not just because the remaining Tories are too low calibre to lead; they're too low calibre to even be able to pick someone without shrieking like cliquey little harridans on the playground about how the wrong in-group got in. Half of them are still BJ loyalists who hate anyone who criticise The Great Brexit Leader. The other half hate BJ for managing to make everyone hate the Tories so much that they're in this mess. Both halves are willing to sabotage the chosen leader of the other, locked in a battle of mutually assured destruction.

So how does Sunak fit into this?

He's unpopular in the party to a truly staggering degree, and not much better in the eyes of the public. He's tried to take a centrist stance on BJ, but that's actually just pissed off both sides. He did manage to stabilise the economy somewhat after the appalling mess Liz Truss threw it into, but he hasn't actually fixed it - we're still mid-cost of living crisis, we're still inexplicably not rich after Brexit like Boris prommied, inflation is still at an all time high as public services crash. The public hates him.

And he hasn't made the public stop hating the Tories. That petition calling for a GE is great, because it won't happen - BUT, it does force the issue to be debated in Parliament with opposition parties getting to stick the boot in, which means the humiliation continues. The Tories are starting to get desperate again.

And because this lot of Tories are, as mentioned, utterly terrible low-calibre political idiots, their response to this pressure has for the last four years been to oust the leader and get another.

And the first letters of no confidence have been sent into the 1922 Committee already. The devil moves fast, but knuckle dragging Tories with a fifth of a braincell each move faster.

And thanks to the absolute fucking state of them all... I cannot believe I'm saying these words, but genuinely the best person they have left who could possibly do the job is, of all fucking people, Michael Fucking Gove, and it won't even be him because he was mean to Boris once.

So yeah. I reckon Sunak may be out in six months. Fuck knows who we get instead. Probably Penny Mordaunt.

#asks #politik

[galesautismdiagnosis]

Now I live for Kat…but wtf did I have to do with this 😭 wasn’t even laughing man

#litg / #litg spoilers #i mean my assumption is that Kat goes for mutually assured destruction when she’s mad #like if she’s going down you are definitely going down with her

[romanceyourdemons]

watching wargames (1983) is an interesting experience, because that generation, like mine, has grown up with the knowledge that the world as we know it can and very likely will simply end at some point in the relatively immediate future. total extinction, and we choose whether to throw the switch. but in the cold war it Was a literal switch, and the switch would stay unthrown so long as certain deeply visible and (theoretically) publicly accountable figures chose not to throw it. today, in the face of climate change, the switch is still in the hands of a very limited pool of individuals, but it is already thrown, and those individuals are not publicly accountable officially designated switch-throwers. the cold war’s clearly defined, concrete, relatively easily divertable end of the world was dispersed forever in the public consciousness in 1991. i can imagine that the people who grew up with that anxiety and experienced that relief would have a difficult time transitioning to the much more abstract status quo-based apocalypse my generation has grown up facing down

#it was dispersed IN THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS #mutually assured destruction is still a powerfully present geopolitical force today i am aware #but from what i can tell from contemporary literature the soviet-american global dichotomy was deeply entrenched in MAD #and. well. since 1991 that dichotomy is not really a functional dichotomy anymore is it #ryddles

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/bidens-proxy-war-in-ukraine/

Biden's Proxy War In Ukraine

A former NATO commander has advised the United States that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a signal that our country should gear up for war.  Naturally, someone my age who lived through World War II is likely to greet this statement with horror. Worse, the means of fighting a war have changed. Conventional weapons were devastating enough, but this is the nuclear age where conflict can lead to unthinkable consequences.    In 1945, the United States flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki with two atomic bombs. The destruction was frightening but the radioactive fallout that would sicken future generations of Japanese was more so. We had unleashed a genius from its bottle without the means to lure it back. The grim challenge was how to survive a similar attack in the future.  People built bunkers in their backyards that were stocked with necessary supplies, forgetting that the half-life of radiation could last not years or decades but centuries.   When Russia gained parity with America’s arsenal, the two countries negotiated to prevent another atomic war. The Mutual assurance destruction doctrine (MAD) posited that two sides, equally armed, would provide a deterrent against mutual destruction. Other nations had developed nuclear capabilities but not on a scale comparable to the U.S. and Russia so détente was possible. China’s decision to become a major nuclear power has changed the equation. Now there are three major players, all of them armed with a new generation of atomic weapons that make the world a more dangerous place. The assault on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took three days to accomplish because a plane could carry one bomb at a time. Today’s missiles carry multiple warheads capable of attacking multiple targets simultaneously. Says Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr. in his article “The New Nuclear Age,” that fact changes the calculation for détente. (Foreign Affairs, May/June 2022, pgs. 92-104.) In the past, two equally armed states could survive a stealth attack and still have bombs left to retaliate. The “no first strike advantage,” has been the basis of détente. But silos filled with multiple warheads make a preemptive strike more appealing.   If it chose, Russia could destroy New York, Washington D. C. San Francisco, and Los Angeles in a single day. With China in the picture, the danger of a preemptive strike increases.  The cost of protecting ourselves also grows. The United State must match not only Russia’s arsenal but China’s as well. As autocracies make decisions faster than democracies, the likelihood that a first strike will come from Russia or China exists. If our allies doubt the safety of our nuclear umbrella, they might choose to increase their stockpiles. Détente would become impossible and the chance of a first-strike event more likely. Because the current nuclear age bears little similarity to the past, Biden’s decision to send money and weapons to Ukraine serves our national interest as well as theirs. Weakening Putin’s ground game strengthens détente. Battering the Russian economy serves a similar purpose and gives us time to develop plans for dealing with China. Even Biden’s critics give him a thumbs up for his handling of this proxy war with Putin. If the war were his only challenge, it would be enough. But we remain a country politically divided and sickened by a continuing pandemic that brings inflation and other economic troubles in its wake. Money that would have gone to education, healthcare, and family programs has to stand in line until this war is over. Even so, the war must be fought and won.  Joe Biden has faced more challenges than most of his predecessors.  If he keeps the ship of state from sinking, history will honor him as one of our greatest presidents.  

#Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr. #Hiroshima and Nagasaki #Joe Biden #multiple warheads #Mutual assurance destruction doctrine (MAD) #nuclear détente #Urkaine #Vladimir Putin #war in Ukraine #World War II

[tsui-no-sora]

I wonder, if Wilbur believes the apology philosophy applies to everybody, or only to himself, that he's the only one wicked, and unlovable enough to need to either apologize, and make up for what he's done, to the important people of his life, or that it applies to everybody who's done something hurtful to others.

He does seem to consider Philza a really wise man as a general, so maybe.

Because, something that really gets to me, about the idea of Wilbur thinking that he owes Dream an apology, and by consequent, that Dream could owe a lot of the same people he does, an apology.

Is that; As we saw with Tubbo's apology, he doesn't seem to feel like he can just say his apology, and be done with it. He seems to believe he needs to make an act, or some sort of amend, that can show his sentiments directly to the person he's apologizing to, and make some sort of wrap in their relationship, with it.

If he were to apologize to Dream, what would he have them do in the very off-case that Dream decides to accept his apology, and play along with his act.

Remember all the TNT that Ranboo supposedly placed under Las Nevadas, he seems to agree that he did a damage to Dream and his lands throughout creating a country, that winded up creating other countries, and a lot of division between all members.

Maybe, helping Dream get rid of the only country that's currently actually doing something, therefore creating more division, would help him feel like he's correcting some of his past mistakes.

Obviously Dream loves to play it way too strong to really accept anybody at all, apologizing to him, but maybe the more literal use of the apology, to get rid of a country or obtain something, would appeal to him.

And if Wilbur applies this line of thought to other people too, I wonder what actions he would consider Dream has to take to apologize to those he hurt.

#dreblr #c!dream sympathetic #c!dream #c!Wilbur #dsmp meta #meta? maybe #I still dont know how to tag these posts about me rambling #MAD Duo #mutually assured destruction #Beloved rambles

[arealphrooblem]

Mutually Assured Destruction

Snyopsis: Villain x Civilian. Civilian can sense other people's powers through auras but hides this ability. They are terrified of the most boring person at their office job, who hides the most powerful aura Civilian has ever felt.

Being the first person out the door undoubtedly did Civilian no favors to their work reputation. 

Anytime someone joked about it, often with an edge, Civilian would make excuses:  their dog needed let out (they didn’t have a dog),  they had to get to the bank before it closed (they use their banking app 90 percent of the time), they liked having a work/life balance (that one’s true). 

The real reason, of course, was to avoid any encounters with them.  Their newest colleague -- Jonathan Anderson. A bland, forgetful name for a bland, forgetful person. He arrived two months ago in her data entry division, dressed everyday in the same unremarkable navy suit with a grey tie, gave generic responses to small talk at lunch. 

And he scared the shit out of them. 

Luckily for Civilian, their paths didn’t cross that often and when they would, Civilian had found ways to neatly side step them -- emails instead of face to face conversations, calling in favors, and once, even taking a sick day to avoid a meeting. 

It worked great -- until it didn’t. 

The elevator descended at an agonizing snail’s pace. Civilian stood in the back, gripping the railing behind them with a sweaty hand and tried to breathe slowly and evenly. 

 The only other person in the elevator with them -- and the only other person in the building -- was Jonathan Anderson. Because of course he would be working late the one time Civilian had a deadline change and a mad scramble to get everything read by tomorrow. 

He stood in front of the buttons, his back to them, plain brown leather briefcase dangling from his hand. To everyone else, he looked harmless. But the sheer power of his aura radiated like the sun. It made Civilian light-headed being in such close contact with it. 

Thirty more seconds, they thought to themselves. That’s all this elevator ride would last. After that Civilian could scurry off to the parking garage and screech out of here. 

29 . . . 28 . . . 27 . . .26 . . . 

The elevator came to a sudden, sickening halt and Civilian’s heart with it. They waited for the emergency alarm to blare, but the elevator stayed eerily silent. 

“Is there . . is there something wrong?” Their voice came out shaky and hoarse. They cleared their throat. 

For a moment Jonathan didn’t respond. Instead he turned around to lean casually against the wall and survey them, his face as bland and unreadable as always. 

“That’s a question I think I should be asking,” he said, adjusting his glasses. 

Instantly their hackles rose.  It took considerable effort to keep the panic from their face, to force their shoulders to relax, to look confused and concerned. 

“What do you mean?”

“You’re afraid of me.”

The truth struck true, lodging itself between their ribs. Civilian swallowed, suddenly dry mouthed, and tried to find the air again. 

“You’ve trapped me in an elevator and you’re bigger than me,” they pointed out. 

“That is rather nerve-wracking, I’ll admit. It’s almost believable. But this started a long time ago, didn’t it?”

He straightened and took a step towards them. And another. All while speaking in that affable, level tone, as if commenting on the weather.  

 “Since my first day here. Don’t think I’ve forgotten how you never shook my hand that day. Or that I don’t notice all the little tricks you pull to avoid me. Yet we’ve never had a negative encounter. You’ve never given me the opportunity to create a bad impression. It’s rather baffling, don’t you think?”

He stopped a safe distance away but close enough to prevent any attempt to escape. Despite being only a couple inches taller than Civilian, they loomed in the small space. 

“So tell me -- how do you know?”

“Know what?” 

It was their only defense, this wide eyed denial.  To pretend they were discomfited by a bizarre encounter with their coworker, rather than straddling the edge of a panic attack while stuck in an elevator with a man who could kill them with a snap of his fingers probably. 

He snorted. “You gave up the ability to be coy when you stepped into this elevator. Please don’t make me ask you again.”

Though he made no threatening movements, the swell of his power spoke for him, the pressure of it nearly suffocating. 

“I can feel it,” Civilian whispers shakily. “Your power. Anyone’s power. They have an -- an aura about them and I can feel how strong it is.”

“So you can tell, instantly, who is and isn’t a powered individual?” he clarified, his focus sharpening like the sun through a magnifying glass. 

They only managed a nod, their throat tight. 

“Fascinating.” 

The hint of awe in his voice would have been flattering if Civilian hadn’t spent so much effort to avoid this kind of attention. 

“And which organization is benefiting from this power? Who is keeping tabs on me?”

“No one,” Civilian said hurriedly. “I haven’t told anyone.”

A wicked smirk spread like slow poison across his face, transforming a visage that no one looked twice at into something terrifying. 

“Do you think I’m as stupid as I pretend to be for work? There is no possibility that any organization would allow someone like you to walk untethered. Now, answer the question before I show you exactly why my aura frightens you so much.”

His hand hovered just over their heart, the beat of which a cacophony in their ears. Nothing happened -- yet. But the anticipation of it, coupled with the fact that Civilian still had no idea what such power was, made their whole body start to tremble. 

“They don’t know about me,” they said, throat tight. “No one knows about me. I’ve kept it a secret my whole life.”

Jonathan still surveyed them with suspicion. “Why? I imagine you would be an extremely valuable asset to them. And those tend to be very well compensated. You expect me to believe you’d rather be a data clerk for a bank?”

A flash of rage breaks through the fog of terror. “My father was an extremely valuable asset. It didn’t stop him from dying an excruciating and unnecessary death. I’m not following in his footsteps.”

For a moment he looked taken aback at this confession before his eyes narrowed in what almost seemed like approval. It emboldened Civilian. 

“Look, I don’t know what you’re doing here and I don’t want to know. If I tell anyone about you, it will blow my secret too. So just . . . let me stay out of your way?” They swallowed, tongue darting out to moisten cracked lips. “Please?”

For several agonizing seconds he just looked at them, his face blank as printer paper. Civilian tried to meet his eyes, to look trustworthy, but the weight of his flat, calculating stare was too much. Instead, their gaze fell onto his hand, still hovering over their heart, ready to crush them or incinerate them or dissolve them or whatever ungodly thing he could do. 

And then his hand slowly slipped down further between them and flipped up, palm open. 

“What take out do you enjoy?” he asked. 

“ . . .what?”

“It’s a bit late for a restaurant, but I know several takeout places still open this time of night. Do you have a preference?”

It was Civilian’s turn to stare at Jonathan with their brow furrowed. 

“You -- you don’t need to buy me dinner,” they stammered. 

“Of course I do. It’s customary for a date, yes?”

“For a what?” Civilian choked. 

That wicked smirk appeared again, giving life to the void of his neutral expression. 

“You know what they say. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

“I -- I’m not your enemy!”

“And you will never have the opportunity to be one. I’m ensuring it. And since you refuse to acknowledge my presence here at work,  there is only one other recourse. Now choose or I shall choose for you.”

A date. Dinner. With him. Someone with the strongest aura Civilian had ever encountered. Someone who was definitely planning something illegal. 

“I like tacos,” they said faintly. 

With a wave of his hand, the elevator shuddered back to life and continued it’s gentle decent to the ground floor. 

“Then we shall get tacos,” said Jonathan, taking their hand.

Part Two

#my writing #not a prompt #enemies to lovers #villain x civilian #civilian x villain #hero x villain #heroxvillain