#but the swords gathering around her remind me of microphones

[fairie-gothmother]

In The Shadow of Starlight, Part 1: The Fall

A convoy of technical vehicles sped through the desert towards a recently sighted pillar of fire. Octavia looked out the vehicle’s backseat window as they raced toward a rising plume of smoke in the distance. The sun hovered just above the horizon. Orange light cast long shadows that stretched over the dust dunes. Pandora was beautiful when everything on it wasn’t trying to kill you.

It had only been four days since the Calypso Twins had stolen the powers of the legendary Firehawk. Four days! And the Crimson Raiders were responding to distress calls nonstop. Octavia had barely kicked her feet up after returning from the last one before she received the message to rejoin the convoy. Reports poured in from all across the planet. With their limited manpower, it was a struggle to keep up. 

So much had changed recently between the warring factions. Octavia recapped the events in her head to keep things straight. 

The Calypso Twins were self-proclaimed gods leading a cult called the Children of the Vault. Tryeen Calypso- one of six powerfully magical beings called sirens- could leech the life force from any living thing, draining them until nothing remained but a hollow husk. She managed to absorb the powers belonging to the commander of the Crimson Raiders, another siren named Lilith, famously known as the Firehawk. 

Tyreen was having fun with her newly acquired powers by teleporting her brainwashed cultists around everywhere in a telltale pillar of fire, spreading their influence by broadcasting videos of their raids on the Echo net. 

Troy Calypso was the propaganda mastermind who operated mostly behind the scenes, editing videos of murderous raids and turning them into slapstick jokes, air horns and all. His weapon of choice was an enormous sword wielded in a cybernetic arm. Although he spent most of his time out of the spotlight, Troy proved to be equally as brutal as his sister.

In short, the Calypsos were powerful monsters with hordes of mindless followers at their disposal, hell-bent on becoming the brightest stars in the sky while watching the universe burn at their feet.

The Crimson Raiders were doing everything they could to keep that from happening. That included Octavia. She fidgeted with the long sleeves of her shirt. Her anxiety sat heavy in her stomach like a chunk of eridium. She held up her arm to check the device attached to her wrist for what must have been the twelfth time. Straps secure, poison darts loaded, compression mechanism functional, safety off. Oops. She flicked the safety switch on and pulled her sleeve back over it. The last thing she needed was to accidentally shoot a poison dart at anyone.

She always hated being asked to come along on these calls. She wasn’t much of a fighter. Ah, who was she kidding? She was damn near useless. Octavia set her medical bag onto her lap to remind herself why they needed her there. The Crimson Raiders fought the bad guys, and Octavia patched up the good guys. She didn’t claim to be a doctor, nor was she legally allowed to. She was an herbalist. Ever since Dr. Zed went missing, Octavia stepped in as the primary medic. What she wouldn’t give to be back in her greenhouse right now.

Lilith looked back from the driver’s seat. “I know that look. Are you psyching yourself out?”

“As always. Is it that obvious?” Octavia thought she was holding herself together better than last time. Of course, Lilith always picked up on little things like that. Not much gets past the commander of the Crimson Raiders. Maybe intuition comes with the job. 

Lilith smiled. “Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We’ll clean up this mess and be back up in Sanctuary in no time.” Her golden eyes glinted as she drove, fiery red hair slightly muted with dust that settled everywhere on this planet. It was still strange to see uniformly fair skin on her arm which was once wrapped in blue glowing siren marks. No one called Lilith the Firehawk anymore, avoiding what that implied. Even though she was no longer a siren, she continued to live up to her legendary status.

The technical’s radio crackled. “We’re almost there,” said a female voice. “Let’s stop here outside the entrance.”

There already? Octavia looked out the window at the camp before them. Its high scrap metal fence made it impossible to see inside. The Children of the Vault were probably tearing the place apart shouting the Twin Gods’ praises. 

Lilith picked up the radio’s microphone and responded, “Copy that, Maya.” The technical came to a stop. Lilith grabbed an SMG from the passenger’s seat. Turning once again to Octavia, she asked, “You ready?”

Octavia squeaked, “As ready as I’ll ever be.” She gulped in an attempt to force her heart down from her throat and opened the door.

Before them stood a rundown camp that looked abandoned. Smoke billowed from inside. It was relatively quiet. No bandits screaming, no gun fire, no explosions; just a distant metallic screech. Crimson Raider soldiers filed out of the technicals parked beside them. 

Lieutenant Cramer stood at the ready. He was an older man that exuded pure military discipline. If you got out of line, he was the one to whip you back into shape. And he enjoyed doing it. 

Maya’s electric blue hair and siren marks made her stand out like an orchid the desert. A hood was pulled over her head, coat flowing behind her in the breeze as she walked swiftly over to Lilith.

“Strange, it’s never this calm,” said Maya.

“Stay on your toes. By now, we should know better than to underestimate them,” Lilith warned. 

Once the whole group gathered around, Lilith gave everyone their instructions. “Maya, you and I will stay outside with teams Beta and Charley. Octavia, wait in the technical, and be on standby. Lieutenant Cramer, take team Alpha through the front gate. Stay alert and keep an eye out for survivors. I wanna see everyone back in Sanctuary at the end of the day. Let’s do this.” The soldiers spread out. Lilith gave a nod to Lieutenant Cramer. The battle scarred veteran nodded in acknowledgement. He began giving orders to his team and used hand gestures that Octavia wasn’t familiar with. 

Octavia climbed into the front seat of the technical as instructed. She took a deep breath steadying her nerves. She was definitely going to her greenhouse for some kragweed after this. The view from the windshield gave a better vantage point of the area. She gripped her dart gun concealed on her wrist, praying she wouldn’t have to use it. 

Team Alpha was about to make their move when Cramer held up his fist signaling to halt. The screeching sound had grown so loud it made Octavia want to grind her teeth together. Maya held her hand in front of her, fingertips sparking and siren marks flaring to life. All eyes and guns were on the entrance prepared to meet what was about to emerge. Showtime. The gates swung open.

The hunched figure of a man limped out dragging a heap of machinery behind him. Wires sparked from the twisted metal as it scraped along the ground. Upon first glance, it was easy to miss that the machinery was actually attached to the man; a cybernetic arm that threatened to tear itself from the shoulder. Blood stained the dirt behind him in a dotted trail as he hobbled forward. The screeching stopped when the figure paused and looked up. Oh, shit.

Lilith’s eyes widened in horror. “What the hell,” she whispered under her breath.

Troy Calypso.

The once mighty God King himself stood before them in a mangled mess. He’d been stripped of his ornate coat and oversized sword. His ribs slid feebly beneath tanned skin as his breath rattled inside his bare chest. The iconic side-swooped hairstyle had fallen; his black hair soaked in blood and stuck to the side of his face. One side of his modified jaw slacked as if hanging from a broken hinge.

Octavia had briefly seen Troy in the cult’s live streams. Countless people died at this man’s hands as he laughed and broadcast their deaths. That same man now stood in front of them broken and bleeding, and Octavia was paralyzed with shock.

She jumped as Lilith broke the silence. Lilith called out to him, “What happened?”

Troy lifted his gaze. His icy blue eyes scanned across the teams of Raiders, passing over Octavia making her blood run cold. After focusing on Lilith, he cocked his head to the side and started to laugh which quickly turned into a wet cough. He gasped for air, then spat onto the ground. Gold capped canines glinted through a bloody smirk. “What, this?” He glanced down to his mechanical arm as it popped sending a shower of sparks bursting from it. “Ah, y’know. Got denounced, excommunicated, and left for dead in the middle of nowhere. How was your day?”

Lilith was stunned. She seemed to be at a loss for words at his flippant response. The expression on her face was more confusion than fear. Octavia wished she could say to same for herself. 

Maya pressed further, “Excommunicated? Are you saying you got thrown out of the Children of the Vault?”

“Yeah, well. Guess I overstepped my boundaries with the God Queen. She labeled me a heretic, and our followers turned on me. Not really much I could do to fight back. Must be nice,” Troy pointed to Maya with his remaining human arm covered in unmistakable red glowing marks, “to be a functional siren.”

No, it couldn’t be. Troy Calypso was a siren? Octavia was far from being an expert, but it was common knowledge that sirens were always female. This would make the first male siren known in history. Male sirens were unheard of, thought to be impossible. 

Maya lowered her voice to Lilith, speaking just loud enough for Octavia to overhear. “This doesn’t feel right. It could be a trap. What do we do?” They didn’t seem to be surprised at this revelation. Did they already know?

“I’m not sure. He’s in pretty bad shape. Do you think Tyreen would do this to her own brother to pull one over on us?” Lilith concluded. 

‘Pretty bad shape’ was a drastic understatement. No one would willingly do this to themselves, especially someone as egocentric as Troy. Something was definitely off here. He must have done something pretty bad to get disowned and banished by his twin sister. Octavia shuddered at the thought.

Octavia jumped from the vehicle. Lilith and Maya turned to her after hearing her feet hit the dirt. “If he doesn’t get medical attention soon, he’s going to die,” Octavia interjected. “The COV is unpredictable, but I don’t think they’d go so far as to beat one of their Gods within an inch of his life just to trick us.” After receiving questioning looks, she added, “Th-that’s just my opinion.” 

Lilith was quiet for a moment, deep in thought before reaching a decision. “Bring him in for questioning.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Maya’s voice echoed. After being shushed by Lilith, she continued in a strained whisper, “This guy is dangerous. There’s no way we can take him to Sanctuary. He could be lying.”

“Then we keep a close eye on him.” Lilith returned her attention to Troy. He hadn’t moved, standing in a growing pool of blood and oil. He simply waited for the Crimson Raiders to decide his fate as if he lacked the strength to do anything else. “Octavia, can you keep him from bleeding out?”

“Of course,” she responded. That was her job, and she was damn good at it. Although- “I don’t know much about cybernetics.”

“We should talk to Ellie. Luckily, she’s stationed at an outpost nearby. We’ll take Troy there until we can decide how to move forward,” said Lilith. “Hey, don’t look at me like that. We’ll figure it out.” 

Maya stopped glaring as if she didn’t realize she was doing it. “Sorry,” she said and directed the glare at Troy instead.

What the hell were they getting into?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, Tumblr! I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my new ‘In The Shadow Of Starlight’ series. Shout out to @border-spam for the Calypso Twins Prompts. ‘Heretic’ was such a huge inspiration that it influenced me to create an entire story of my own. (All the shorts can also be found on their AO3.) I will post a few more chapters regardless, but if enough of you like the series, I’ll keep it going.

Thanks for reading my garbage!  

#troy calypso #borderlands3 #redemption #fanfic #fanfiction #Troy #calypso #au #in the shadow of starlight

[lilacmoon83]

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 225: Foolish Games

"And Good Morning United Realms!" Le Fou said.

"For some, but once again, the United Realms had a bit of a snafu last night with a nice little blackout," Goldilocks replied.

"Oh now, Goldie...you know those pesky villains," Le Fou joked.

"Yep...those pesky villains that are always attacking us, because of everyone's favorite royals," she complained. Le Fou let out a fake laugh.

"Yeah...it's never a dull moment with those Charmings, for sure. But they saved the day again and all is well," he said.

"Until the next villain rampage. But until then, we'll head over to Scuttle for the weather. But don't forget to join us later today when we cover today's Royal Tribunal," she replied.

"That's right...we are having our first Royal Tribunal, as the Blue Fairy faces capital offenses. I'd say her goose is cooked for sure," he said.

"I don't know, Le Fou...if there's one thing that the famous Snow White and Prince Charming aren't known for...it's seeing that justice is actually served," Goldie said snidely. They continued to drone on, but David shut it off and put his arms around her from behind.

"Don't listen to that trash," he chided gently.

"She's not exactly wrong…" Snow mentioned.

"Yes, she is," he insisted.

"Charming...I have not been strong on justice. I have forgiven our enemies and let them come back to hurt us later," she said.

"You were merciful when it came to Regina...and we know now that was not a mistake," he reminded her.

"But she's the only one. We didn't go far enough with Jekyll and now he's back. You were right about not contacting him in the netherworld...and I insisted. Now he's back," she said.

"No...we got the reversal of the serum made, because of that and reunited with our darker halves. Besides, we don't know that Mephisto wouldn't have found him in the netherworld anyway," he replied.

"Maybe...but I let Blue run free and the moment she felt threatened by the truth coming out, an innocent fairy died for it," she said, as the guilt ate at her. He put his hands on her shoulders.

"That's not your fault…" he insisted.

"Even if it isn't...Drizella is free, Jekyll is free, and Mephisto, just to name a few," she said.

"And none of that is your fault either. Drizella and her mother would have never been released if we hadn't been gone during the time of their parole. And Mephisto...we will deal with him too. We didn't show his minions mercy and the only reason he survived is that he fled before we could destroy him too," he replied.

"You have nothing to prove to anyone, least of all those media talking heads. You are an amazing leader and very few question that," he assured her.

"Then you think we're doing the right thing here? I mean...if I was confident that she could never get out of prison, then I wouldn't consider the death penalty, but how many times have our enemies escaped whatever prison we have put them in?" she asked.

"We are most definitely doing the right thing. She is a danger to every realm and if I thought life in prison was without the possibility of escape for her, then I wouldn't consider capital punishment either. But with her...we just can't. She's too dangerous to be kept alive," David said. She nodded.

"Then we better get ready…" Snow said, as she started toward her closet, but not before he pulled her back and kissed her passionately. His kiss was soul searing and made her knees weak, as usual. When their lips parted, she gave him a dreamy smile.

"Never doubt how amazing you are," he said.

"With you...how can I? You make me feel like I'm the most beautiful woman in all the realms and that I can do anything," she replied. He smiled.

"That's because you are and you can, because you're an incredible person," he said, as she took his hand and they proceeded to get ready for royal duties that they were not looking forward to, but that were very necessary.

~*~

Rose was deeply involved in a book that morning when one of her handmaidens came into the library.

"My Queen...you have a visitor," she said, as she bowed curtly.

"Thank you Bianca," Rose said, as she put her book down and Eva entered the library.

"Oh Eva...it's good to see you," Rose said, as she stood up.

"It's good to see you too...and I have those test results. I didn't have many other patients today, so I thought I would come deliver the news in person," she replied.

"Well...don't keep me in suspense," Rose said. Eva beamed a bright smile.

"It's positive...you're pregnant. Almost nine weeks along, so I want to see you soon for an exam," she said excitedly, as Rose's smile soon matched hers and they shared a hug.

"Thank you...oh I cannot wait to tell Fandral," she gushed.

"Tell me what, my angel?" he asked, as he entered the library, having returned from his morning rounds with the Zorro. Eva smiled and hugged her quickly again.

"It's good to see you, Fandral. I'll give you both some time," Eva said, as she left. Fandra watched her go curiously, as he approached his wife.

"What…" he said, but she cut him off by kissing him passionately. He was momentarily surprised, but then melted into her kiss, as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Wow…" he said, as their lips parted briefly and then he initiated another kiss, which continued with him trailing kisses down her neck.

"I thought you wanted to know what I needed to tell you?" she asked, though she was quickly losing her own focus at his amorous ministrations.

"I do...but you're very distracting," he said in a husky tone.

"Now...tell me," he requested and she smiled.

"Eva came by with my test results...I didn't want to say anything until I was sure," she replied. His brow furrowed in concern.

"Test results? Are you ill, my love?" he asked, as trepidation crept into his voice.

"No...not all, actually. I'm...pregnant," she revealed and a smile eclipsed his face.

"You're sure?" he asked and she nodded. He picked her up and spun her around, before kissing her again.

"How far along?" he asked.

"Nine weeks…" she replied.

"Let's go tell the children," he suggested, as they shared another kiss and went to deliver the news.

~*~

Jekyll and Grimm watched the replay of the events that occurred the night before on a laptop.

"Well...considering our limited amount of ink, that went fairly well," Grimm said, as he watched Jekyll get stabbed by the Prince.

"Easy for you to say...you didn't have a sword passing through you," Jekyll snapped.

"Your mistake is thinking that, even with your powers, you can take on someone like the infamous Prince Charming," Elias pointed out. Jekyll slammed his fist on the table.

"I can take him on! I am more powerful...and I will burn him to ash!" Jekyll promised.

"He has love on his side...a love that none have been able to defeat, at least in the long run," Grimm warned.

"Then I will find a way…" Jekyll said with determination.

"We need more of their mixed blood to make the magical ink or nothing we want will be realized," Grimm replied.

"Then our goal right now is to find another way to obtain more blood, without their knowledge, of course," Jekyll said, as Drizella entered his lab and their eyes widened.

"What in the world…" Jekyll uttered.

"That woman is batshit," Grimm deadpanned. Drizella floated toward them, dressed in a wedding gown and her usual overdone makeup.

"I would ask if you have lost your mind, woman...but then we all know the answer to that," Jekyll said. She smirked.

"Oh no...because I will be marrying Charming and soon," she replied.

"And how do you plan to accomplish that? Nevermind that he's already married and is repulsed by you," Grimm said.

"He will be mine!" she snapped, as she looked at him on her phone and then stormed out.

"Wow...teaming up with her was a mistake. She's a loose canon," Grimm mentioned.

"Let her enact whatever lunacy she has planned. She will be a nice distraction for them while we work in the background. In the meantime, I hope you have been working on some better minions than last night's wraiths," Jekyll mentioned.

"With the limited ink I had...they were all I could come up with on the fly," Grimm said, with a glare.

"But since then...I think I've come up with a few inspired characters to bring to life when we have more blood ink," he added, as he showed the doctor some of his latest illustrations.

~*~

The atrium of their castle this morning was in full military fanfare, as soldiers from their army, as well as many of Fandral's men lined the atrium. Their closest friends and family were gathered as well. They weren't sure about allowing Summer and Bobby to attend, but they decided it would be okay since the actual execution would not be done publicly. Snow and David descended the stairs arm in arm, him in his formal red coat and her in a gold gown, complete with her tiara.

"Good afternoon, United Realms. Le Fou here, along with my co-star, Goldilocks," Le Fou said, as the camera started rolling for the reporters.

"As you can see, we're here at the castle of Queen Snow White and King David for the royal tribunal of the Blue Fairy. Queen Snow has promised to finally deliver justice, though I don't think anyone is holding their breath on that," Goldilocks said snidely. That was the moment that the camera mysteriously broke and the microphone in Goldie's hand sparked.

"Which one of you retch's did that?!" she accused, as the Charming children stood nearby, all with glares.

"That would be me…" Bobby confessed.

"Talking about our Mom like that is going to get that kind of response," Leo warned.

"Yeah...so see yourselves out or we'll help you with that too," Emma threatened, as the two reporters scurried out. They would surely do some sort of hit piece on their family later on their trashy show, but none of them could be bothered to care.

The castle doors swung open as they left and Blue was led in by Zorro and James, in cuffs, and she came to stand before the Throne. James joined Aphrodite, while Zorro stood to the side with the other Knights.

"Finally...justice," Rumple hissed. She heard him and they shared a glare.

"Reul Ghorm…" David stated sternly.

"You're charged with murder and crimes against the crown. How do you plead?" he asked. She gave him a smug glower.

"Not guilty...but that doesn't matter. I know my fate and my only regret is that I did not inflict more pain and succeed in destroying the bimbo Goddess," Blue said, as she glared at Aphrodite.

"And Rumpelstiltskin," she added.

"In fact...I am also sorry that I didn't manage to rip the two of you apart when I had the chance!" she hissed.

"I can't believe I ever trusted you," Snow said.

"Oh poor Princess...you were always an easy mark. Sweet, but so naïve and full of useless hope," Blue spat.

"And even now...you're questioning whether you should have my sentence carried out. You're wondering if I can be redeemed, but rest assured, I wouldn't hesitate to destroy you both given one last chance," she continued.

"Then you've sealed your fate," Snow said, as she swallowed thickly.

"Reul Ghorm...you are guilty of the crimes stated and will face the death penalty, via lethal injection to be carried out immediately," David ordered, as he motioned to his Knights. As they came forward though, her eyes flashed in one last ditch effort to escape. One of the Knights proceeded to unlock her cuffs, having been put momentarily under her control.

"She's free…" Rumple warned, as he hurled a fireball at her and she batted it away.

"Not today...Dark One," she hissed, as she used her wings to fly into the air.

"Don't let her escape!" Rumple called, as Leo shot a bolt of lightning at her, one that she avoided, as she did with the other blasts of magic hurled her way. But Rumple managed to hit her just right, obliterating her wings and she fell hard to the floor.

"She's too dangerous...even to just execute," Aphrodite said, as they watched the disgraced Blue Fairy get to her feet. She was stopped though when she was suddenly holding her head in pain. She managed to open her eyes and saw Bobby using his immense powers to cripple her and keep her from escaping.

"Then what do you suggest?" David asked.

"The Chalice...it absorbed the Olympian crystal. It can erase her from existence," Aphrodite replied.

"Do it," Rumple urged. Snow and David raised the Chalice between them and willed its power. Blue screamed, as she was hit with a blast of white light. The look on her stunned face was her final expression, as she evaporated into nothingness. They all breathed a sigh of relief. She was gone and they knew they would all be safer for it.

"Well...that went about like anything else around here," Regina deadpanned and they all managed to let out a slight chuckle as she was not wrong. They never had taken a life lightly, but Blue's elimination ensured that the people of the United Realms would be safe.

~*~

"Lucifer!" Drizella called, as she stormed into her mother's apartment. It was truly an utter disgrace that they had been reduced to living in the squalor of this paltry two bedroom apartment. And it was all thanks to Snow White. She had taken away all their money, forcibly donated it to some stupid charities, including her son's critter farm, and then turned the rest of their assets, including the Tremaine mansion to dust. And she had yet to pay for it, but that was about to change.

"Lucifer!" she shouted again, as her mother came out of the kitchen.

"Drizella...what are you bellowing about now?" she snapped and then caught sight of her daughter.

"Oh dear…" she uttered, seeing that she was dressed in a wedding gown.

"Isn't it beautiful, mother?" she asked, as she twirled in her dress.

"Of course dear...but what are you doing in a wedding dress?" Rodmilla questioned. Like a petulant child, she stamped her foot.

"It's my wedding day, mother! I am marrying my Prince Charming, of course!" she cried, as Lucifer arrived at the apartment.

"There you are, you little twit," she snapped.

"Oh crap…" the former cat groaned.

"You're coming with me to the diner. That new cook they have made a gorgeous cake for Snow White's idiot son and the ice queen and he's going to now make me one for my dream wedding to Prince Charming," she said.

"Drizella...he's already married to Snow White," Lucifer replied.

"No!" she hissed.

"That little bitch is just keeping him away from me! We belong together and he will see that in time!" she insisted.

"Drizella…" Rodmilla interjected.

"Later mother...we need to meet with the caterer," Drizella said, as she grabbed Lucifer by the arm and dragged him along.

~*~

Tears of happiness streamed down Snow's cheeks, as David held her in his arms. Since Joe and Frankie had come to them, they had promised them an opportunity to adopt a child. An opportunity that had been denied to them in Seattle due to some trouble Frankie had gotten into in his younger days. The curse had delayed this a bit, but today it was finally becoming official. A young woman just out of college had decided that she wasn't ready to have a baby and chose to put it up for adoption. The moment Snow heard about it, she helped them start the adoption process once the mother agreed.

And today, they had the pleasure of attending a small party at the diner to celebrate with them.

"Oh man...look at her. She's beautiful," Frankie said, with tears in his eyes, as he held their new daughter.

"How...how can we ever repay you?" Joe asked, as he was also in tears.

"Oh, be happy...that's all the thanks we need," Snow gushed, as David kissed her hair.

"Congratulations," he said with a beaming smile. The diner bell rang and some heads turned to see who was joining them, but none of them were prepared for the site before them.

"What the hell…" Emma uttered.

"Whoa...she's really lost it this time…" Leo said.

"That's saying something with her," Eva agreed.

"Oh my God...she's insane…" Summer said in disbelief.

"What the Fu…" Bobby cursed.

"Bobby!" Snow scolded, as her son dropped a cuss word that she did not want him using.

"There you are, Charming!" Drizella called, as she floated into the diner, dressed in a wedding gown, complete with gaudy costume jewelry and grossly overdone makeup.

"Oh my God...what a whack job," Regina said with a chuckle. The deranged woman reached for him, but Snow stood in the way and smacked her hand away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you crazy bitch?" Snow demanded to know.

"I am going to marry my Prince Charming! That's what I'm doing and I'm here to ask him to bake us a wedding cake!" Drizella responded, as she pointed at Frankie.

"Yeah...that's not happening," Frankie said.

"Why not?" Drizella asked, as she sounded wounded by his refusal.

"Because I'm already married to Snow, you lunatic!" David cried in exasperation. At that, Drizella burst into tears and fell to her knees, before crawling over to him and wrapping her arms around his legs.

"Why won't you love me!?" she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Because he's my husband and he's in love with me!" Snow exclaimed, as she pried the woman off her husband. By now, Drizella was in a fit of ugly crying and streaks of black mascara and green eyeshadow stained her face.

"You're always in the way! You are always keeping us apart!" she cried.

"No...she's not, because I love her and never you!" David said, as Xander and James stepped in to pull her away.

"Okay...time to go back to the asylum. Hopefully this time, they won't let you out," he said. She growled.

"This isn't over!" she promised, as she was dragged away.

"I will get out again and then you will be mine, Charming!" she promised, as she was forcibly removed.

"Holy crap on a cracker…" Emma deadpanned, releasing some of their tension. David sighed and Snow put her arms around his waist.

"Never a dull moment around here," Joe said and that dissolved the rest of the tension, as they all shared a chuckle.

"Okay...well, let's have that cake. And I promise it's not a crazy sham wedding cake that I'll never bake and a happy celebration cake," he said, as he handed his new daughter off to his husband and they went back to their celebration that had been so rudely interrupted.

~*~

"Thanks Scuttle...looks like we're going to enjoy some mild weather for November in Maine," Le Fou said, as the camera panned back to them.

"Yes...unfortunately, the only cold front seen today was our rebuke at the history making tribunal that took place at Queen Snow and King David's castle this afternoon," Goldie said bitterly.

"Yes...and according to other sources, the Blue Fairy didn't even make it to her own execution. In a final attempt to regain her freedom, she attacked and was destroyed by Snow and Charming's mystical chalice," Le Fou said.

"But don't worry, they'll be getting a bill from our studio for the camera and equipment their brat broke," she added. Le Fou chuckled nervously, as the broadcast ended and Goldilocks stormed away from the anchor desk and toward her dressing room.

"Ah Goldie...he's just a kid," Le Fou called.

"Oh, it's not just that! Half the United Realms thinks our show is a joke, thanks to the Charmings!" she seethed.

"Well...we do gossip about them a lot," he admitted.

"Oh, I'm done gossiping about them. It's time for the hit pieces and those two have plenty of dirt for material," she said, as she went to her dressing room, only to find a tall man waiting there.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked.

"The name is Grimm...and sounds like you'd like a little revenge on the Charmings," he replied.

"Well, not everyone fawns all over them and worships them," she said.

"Oh I know...they've made it impossible for my writing to garner any attention. All anyone wants to read is their grandson's version of the stories," he mentioned, which peaked her interest.

"You're a writer?" she asked curiously.

"Yes...and together, we can write one hell of a story that no one will be able to ignore. But I need help to make it happen," he replied. She thought for a moment.

"What do I need to do?" she asked and he smirked.

~*~

After the celebration at Granny's, David parted ways from Snow for a few hours to go to the station with Emma. As Supreme Sheriff, there was some paperwork he had to attend to, regarding their first tribunal. That left Snow to her own devices for a couple hours and he found her in their chambers, sitting on the sofa, with an album in her lap.

"Hey…" he said, as she smiled up at him and tugged him down by his collar so she could kiss him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, as he sat down beside her and she cuddled against him.

"Getting lost down memory lane…" she said, as she flipped through the album that detailed the lives of their babies. Snow had a ton of albums and this one appeared to be one made just after the twins had been born.

"I guess today made me nostalgic," she said.

"I know...sometimes I can't believe our oldest four are grown and Bobby's a teenager," he mentioned, as he kissed her hair.

"Mmm…I know. At least we have grandbabies and great grandbabies though. And I'm sure there will be more to come," she said. He smiled.

"There will...so I picked up a pint from Dopey at the ice cream store," he mentioned, as she saw the paper sack on the table.

"Ooohh…I love you," she gushed, as she got the ice cream out and they started eating out of it together.

"Cookie dough is the best…" she muttered, as they ate and made him chuckle.

"I figured we could use something to wind down since we're leaving for Sleepy Hollow in the morning," he said. She nodded.

"I'll be glad when this is over, but we're doing the right thing," she replied. He nodded and they enjoyed their ice cream together, before soon retiring for the evening. There was no doubt that tomorrow would be another big day.

~*~

As per usual, Rumple was up very early and after preparing coffee, he went into his potions lab to get ready for their trip. He had no idea what they were going to encounter in Sleepy Hollow, so he was packing with anticipation for anything. In respect to potions anyway. He soon heard soft footfalls on the stairs and saw Belle coming down with a book in hand. She had been scouring through all versions of Ichabod Crane's story, hunting for any clues as to how someone in his bloodline may have strayed.

"You're up early too," he mentioned.

"Well...you know how much I love reading," she replied, as she kissed him on the cheek.

"I think I found something," she mentioned.

"Do tell," he replied.

"It would seem that one of Elias Grimm's family members wrote his own version of Sleepy Hollow. Based on the publishing date, it was probably his grandfather," she said.

"Sleepy Hollow and the Sacrifice to Moloch?" he asked.

"I know...a ridiculous title, but it might explain this version of the Crane family," she replied.

"How so?" he asked.

"Well...in this version, Ichabod's wife, Katrina, was a witch that sacrificed their own son to the God, Moloch," she explained.

"Moloch...a God known to be associated with child sacrifice in exchange for power," he said. She nodded.

"With the sacrifice, the headless horseman returned and was cursed by the witch to return every ten years. If a child was not sacrificed to Moloch, before the horseman could find his head, then it would allow the spirit of Moloch to pass into this world, possess the horseman, and then the world would be at his mercy," she continued.

"Does it say what happened to this version of Ichabod Crane?" he asked.

"He pushed Katrina off a balcony in rage...and then escaped Sleepy Hollow. No one ever saw him again," Belle replied.

"Then is it possible that descendants of Crane decided to follow the path of the witch, rather than the hero's path of Ichabod Crane?" he asked. She nodded.

"I think that's exactly what happened, though we won't know for sure until we investigate for ourselves. But if this Crane thinks he can somehow control the horseman when he returns, then theoretically, he could pave the way for Moloch to return and decimate all of humanity," she replied.

"Child sacrifice...there is nothing darker than that," he said. She nodded.

"We are truly dealing with the worst evil imaginable," she replied.

"Then Snow and David were right...we must stop Crane. The loss of one child's life is too much," he said. She nodded in agreement and they continued to prepare for their trip. They would soon be meeting everyone at Granny's and fill them in on what they had discovered and just what they might be facing.

~*~

"But...that piece was gold. I'm here observing this place first hand. You should be scrambling to publish this kind of dirt!" Nora exclaimed into her phone, as she sat at a corner table in the diner.

"It's juicy for sure, but Henry Nolan has already published the latest events. Yours is just a reiteration of his Uncle's wedding that reads like a hit piece. It's good enough for a gossip column, but that's not what we're looking for," the voice on the other end said.

"Why? Because I didn't worship the ground the Charmings walk on?" she hissed.

"Sorry...but they are the new heroes to most people. There are many out there that feel about them the way you do too, of course...but that material just isn't selling like the true love and heroics stuff," the person replied.

"Fine," Nora said in frustration, as she hung up the phone.

"Mind if I read your piece?" a blonde woman asked.

"Uh...you want to read my story?" Nora asked.

"Of course...I am a reporter too, after all," she replied, as she sat down.

"I'm Goldie...head co-anchor on Good Morning United Realms," she said.

"Oh yeah...now I recognize you," Nora replied, as the woman read her piece.

"It's good...it seems you're not enamored by the Charmings like most are. Much like me," she replied.

"You think they're ridiculous too?" Nora asked. The woman scoffed.

"I hate that family with a burning passion...and I'm working on something big to bring their image burning to the ground. Are you interested?" she asked.

"Yes…" Nora answered.

"Good...I'll meet you tonight in your room to discuss more," Goldie said, as she got up and left with a smirk on her face. This girl would make the perfect pawn for what she and Grimm had in store to craft the story of the century.

~*~

"You cannot do this!" Rodmilla screamed and Archie flinched.

"I'm sorry, Lady Tremaine, but your daughter is very disturbed," he said.

"It's not her fault! It's Snow White...she has driven my poor Drizella to madness!" Rodmilla claimed.

"No...it's her obsession that has driven her to this and she met all the requirements for a forced commitment," he replied.

"We are still evaluating her and once she is responding to medication, we can discuss the possibility of release. But she has a long road ahead," he said.

"This isn't over! I am going to get an attorney and force you to release her!" Rodmilla hissed, as she stormed out of the facility. As she arrived at her car around the corner, she found a man waiting for her.

"You…" she uttered.

"My, my...it would seem that my accomplice has been committed," Jekyll said.

"What do you care? You might have contributed to Drizella's relapse by exposing her to faulty magic," she accused.

"Perhaps...but you may be a far more useful ally to me than your unpredictable daughter," he said. Her gaze narrowed.

"You want to work with me?" she asked. He smirked.

"Think about it...we manage to tear Snow and Charming apart, then it will be your ultimate revenge. Your daughter can have the Prince, while I get Snow White," he offered. She thought for a moment.

"Tell me more...because many have tried to separate them and have failed," she said.

"Yes...but none have come as close as me. But this is not a discussion for her. Are you interested or not?" he asked.

"If it involves bringing pain to Snow White...then I am most certainly interested," she replied.

"Good...then drive us back to the harbor. This discussion should take place back at my laboratory on Pleasure Island," he said, as they got into her car and drove away.

~*~

They managed to locate a spot with little traffic outside the town and came through with a portal.

"I can't believe it...sacrificing your own child? How could someone do something so evil?" Snow asked, as she read the passages that Belle had found.

"I know...it is the most disturbing version of just about anything I've ever read," Belle agreed. Snow shook her head in dismay.

"Any child would be horrific...but your own? What kind of evil are we dealing with here?" she asked and though it was mostly rhetorical, Rumple answered her.

"The worst...possibly like nothing we have yet faced and that is saying something for us," he said.

"Agreed. If you can harm a child...then there's nothing this person won't do," David said.

"We better get some fancier clothes though. This looks like a Class A event," Natalie mentioned. Rumple waved his hand, thankful to still have magic since he was in the vicinity of the Chalice, and dressed himself in a tux, while Belle was now wearing a glittering gold dress, though more of a modernized version of her classic one, with butterfly sleeves, a straight collar, slim bodice and long skirt, with slits up the sides.

"Do I have to wear a tux too?" Bobby asked, as his mother used the chalice to put him in exactly that.

"Great…" he muttered.

"Why can't any of these events be at an amusement park or something?" he joked, making his father chuckle.

"Because villains are never known for being accommodating to the heroes," David joked back, as he looked at his wife, who was now wearing a sleeveless, satin white dress that had silver glittering outlining the straps and v neck collar that dipped low, much to his liking. The bodice hugged her curves and the satin skirt was full with a lacy glittering overlay.

"Wow…" he mentioned and she used their power to put him in a tux as well.

"Wow yourself," she said, as she turned to her sister-in-law.

"I prefer black," Natalie mentioned, as Snow used their power to give her a short, black satin party dress, which still worked since she was not showing yet.

"You have good taste," Natalie said.

"I'm not a dress kind of woman," Patricia warned, as she was the final person so Snow gave her a black pantsuit, with a sea green satin shirt inside the jacket.

"I think we're ready," Snow said, as she hooked her hand on David's elbow, while Belle hooked hers on Rumple's and they made their way into the sea of people that were entering the museum.

~*~

Elsa stood on the balcony, overlooking the Fjord of Arendelle from their chambers with a book in hand.

"Hey…" Leo said, as he came up behind her and put his arms around her, before kissing her cheek. She smiled and looked at him.

"Hi…" she said, as she flipped a page.

"What's this?" he asked.

"An Arendelle history book," she replied.

"Wow...is that your father when he was a kid?" Leo asked. She nodded.

"Yes...that is him when he was still Prince Agnarr and next to him is my grandfather, King Runeard. Father never talked about him much. He was lost on some sort of expedition," she replied.

"Hmm...that's sad. Was he looking for something?" he asked.

"I don't know...the history books just mention an expedition and father never elaborated much. I always wished that I could find out more," she replied.

"Maybe Rose can find a book that tells about it," he suggested.

"You're right...if the story exists, then it would be in her library," she realized.

"We can make a visit to her in the morning. For now...let's go to bed," he said. She smiled and closed the book, before following him inside.

~*~

Summer and JJ came out of the diner and strolled along toward the Inn.

"Thanks for hanging out again...and talking me down. I guess I'm more nervous than I thought about starting my new job," he mentioned. She smiled.

"You're going to be great…" Summer assured, as she followed him up to his door.

"So…I was wondering if you want to do this again?" he asked.

"You mean another date?" she asked excitedly and he smiled shyly.

"Yeah...another date, because I really like you," he admitted.

"I kind of guessed. I mean...not many guys would move to a crazy place like this, just out of curiosity," she teased and he chuckled.

"Guess I'm not very subtle," he said.

"It's okay...subtly is not the Charming way, so I appreciate when someone is up front," she replied. He chuckled.

"Duly noted," he said, as he slowly leaned in and her heart quickened, as he gently pressed his lips to hers. As their lips parted, they shared a smile and heard the room door next to JJ's open.

"Good...you're home. I need to read my story to you before I turn it into my new editor," Nora said.

"Your new editor?" Summer asked.

"That's right, sweet cheeks. JJ isn't the only one starting a new job tomorrow. You're looking at the newest field reporters for Good Morning United Realms," Nora replied.

"That show is nothing but gossip trash. All they do is write hit pieces about my family," Summer said. Nora rolled her eyes.

"Well...your family loves being the center of attention, so what are they supposed to do? Most of the chaos in this stupid place is caused by your parents," she argued.

"Shut up," Summer snapped.

"Ohhh…looks like you're just like your mother. You act all sweet and prissy on the surface, but the minute you're challenged even just a little, the claws come out," Nora goaded.

"Stop it, Nora," JJ protested.

"Sorry cuz, but your little girlfriend's family aren't really the heroes they are portrayed to be. I spent the whole day with my new boss learning everything there is to know about her parents and the chaos that surrounds them," Nora said.

"Your new boss?" Summer asked.

"Goldilocks...as ridiculous as it is," Nora replied.

"She hates my family...she's so jealous of my mother that it's not even funny. If you were a real reporter, then you'd want nothing to do with an activist hack like her," Summer shot back.

"I am a real reporter, you prissy bitch," Nora hissed.

"Enough!" JJ snapped. Nora smirked.

"The true Evil Queen: Snow White and her endless body count. By Nora Bradley," Nora read from her tablet and Summer launched at her, but he held her back.

"Delete the story, Nora," he insisted.

"Not a chance in hell," she replied.

"No one has destroyed more lives than the subject of this expose. She has left a trail of bodies in her wake for years and yet wears the crown of Queen. Many of you may think I am talking about Queen Regina, but not in the slightest. I am talking about Snow White herself, who chose to preserve the pureness of her heart over saving her own mother at the tender age of ten and her body count only builds from there," Nora read and then gasped, as Summer slapped her.

"You know nothing about my mother!" she hissed.

"I know enough. She's the reason your precious nana lost her first true love. The reason everyone is here in the first place, ripped away from their homeland and loved ones," Nora replied.

"That was all fixed when the curse broke!" Summer claimed.

"And there has been nothing but chaos since, because of your parent's precious true love. And their insanity has spilled into my world one too many times. People need to know the truth. Your Nana was right long ago when she said Snow White was the true monster," Nora said. Summer tried to launch herself at her again, but JJ held her back.

"And just today...another life was ruined when Drizella Tremaine was hauled off to the rubber room," Nora said.

"That woman is insane! That's not my mother's fault!" Summer replied. Nora shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. But your mother is the reason for her torment and probably the reason she will never get better," she replied.

"Okay...let me walk you home. There's no reasoning with her," JJ suggested. Summer glared at the other woman, but then allowed him to lead her out. Nora smirked and went back into her room, finding Goldilocks standing there with a drink in hand.

"You did well...better than expected. That was very entertaining," Goldilocks said, as she sipped at her martini.

"It was a lot of fun, actually. Seeing Miss Innocence get so bothered by someone attacking her parents was definitely a great show," Nora agreed.

"So why do you hate Snow White so much?" she asked curiously.

"My mother was once her nanny...she probably doesn't even remember. But then she was fired after the little princess told her mother that mine was mean to her," Goldie replied.

"Was she?" Nora asked.

"Of course...my mother was mean to me, but her little tattling ways led to my mother losing her job and us becoming homeless," Goldie replied.

"Is that why you tried to sleep in a bear's house?" Nora asked in amusement.

"That's just the stupid nursery rhyme. We slept where we could and got kicked out of a lot of places, while Princess Snow slept in her four poster bed," Goldie replied.

"And even when she lost her home, she didn't fall to the things I had to do to survive. Instead, she became a hero. An outlaw, but a hero and the people's Princess, nonetheless," Goldie said.

"I had to do things for food that no person should have to do and even when I did pick myself up out of the gutter, I married a man that could care less about me. Meanwhile, Show White got everything. Prince Charming, true love, beautiful children, and the perfect life," she complained.

"I get a stupid, drunk, cheating husband, while she gets a man that treats her like she's the only woman in existence. Like the Queen she is," she continued.

"She definitely has more good fortune than most," Nora agreed.

"So...what's the next step?" she asked. Goldie smirked.

"A few hit pieces on her is nothing. Sure...it will get the husband and kids riled up, but the true way to go after Snow White is go after her precious babies," she replied.

"How do we do that? Even with her parents out of town, she has her Nana that would literally kill for her," Nora said.

"True...but I think I know exactly what we need to do," Goldie replied mysteriously, as she finished her drink.

"Are you in?" she asked. Nora nodded.

"I'm in," she agreed.

~*~

An hour later

The quietness in the late hours in Storybrooke were suddenly shattered, as a deafening scream broke the silence. Glass shattered, as a woman went crashing through a window from the upstairs floor of the Inn and landed on the cold concrete below. Blood leaked from the woman's broken body, as Nora struggled to breathe and her life slipped away...

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #Charming family #OC Charmings #AU #original season 9 storyline #The United Realms #Fandral the Dashing #Rose Red #Dashing Rose #Rumbelle #Regina Mills #romance #adventure #family #drama #Finding You Always #the epic continues

[drshaffopolis]

More Gallagher than Milgrim

“Okay, ready?”

“Ready.”

“Let’s sweep the garage.”

“Just a crawler over here, nothing I can’t handle,” Jason kept his fireteam updated as he gunned down a small robot, “I see three heading your way, Admiral. Look like maybe brutes … can’t make them out from here.”

“I’ve got your back,” Carrie decloaked, taking down one of them by surprise with a shimmering energy sword, “Uh, bad move!” She jumped back, just out of the reach of the two creatures angrily swiping their claws in her direction.

“Show off,” she said, as two perfectly aimed sniper rifle shots pierced their skulls.

“Nice work, Admiral.” Jason’s voice again, “Hey, check it out, there’s a car over here.”

“I call gunner seat!” Andrew opened the car door, as it was rocked by two explosions, “Shit! I didn’t realize there were traps in this game mode! Shit! I’m a dead. What a freaking noob move.”

In the upper-right corner of Jason’s screen, the name RearAdmiralPoopants2029 turned from blue to red.

“Any other vehicles in the garage?” Carrie asked.

“I don’t see any. We’ll just have to see how far we can get on foot without our sniper.”

“Right, opening the door… Oh, great, a big empty fucking field. That’s perfect!”

“Think you have enough cloak to make it to that clump of trees?”

“I can try. I say we both run for it; you’re not gonna do much good back there with just an assault rifle.”

One-third of the way across the field, an opposing team’s vehicle drove toward them, spraying fire from its mounted machine gun. Jason had nowhere to hide.

Carrie’s cloak gave out before she made it to the cover of the trees; she listened to the other team’s taunts as they ran her over.

*   *   *   *   *

“Well, that was embarrassing.” Andrew said at the between-rounds loading screen.

“Yeah… what are we going to do next time? Does anyone have a bomb defusal skill?” Jason asked.

“No, sorry.”

“No. Is Scout online? He always equips something like that,” Carrie was asking rhetorically, of course – she could see as well as anyone that he wasn’t.

“Probably doing his biology project that’s not due until next week,” said Andrew, “we go to school together IRL and he’s, like, a total goody two-shoes.”

“Ugh god, don’t remind me how much of an old lady I am,” said Carrie, the 53-year-old sales executive, who couldn’t decide whether winning or losing was more embarrassing, but was having fun, anyway.

"Well, I have one multi-tool. But it looked like there were two bombs,” said Jason.

Andrew suggested, “I can take out one with a grenade—”

Carrie interrupted him, “Sure, yeah, let’s just blow up the car. Fuck that car, we don’t need it, anyway.”

“No, no, the model TX just has a cargo compartment up front, so setting off that mine would barely affect it. The explosion will probably trigger the other mine, but if we time it perfectly, you can probably get in there with the multi-tool and disable the second one.”

“How does he know that? How do you know that? I’m picturing, like, fake car schematics on posters on your wall. You’d better be an automotive engineer when you grow up.” One never quite knew which side of the line between sarcasm and earnestness Carrie was on.

“He’s not even old enough to have a job, he has time for this stuff,” Jason was a college student, home for winter break. “You and me have more important things to learn.”

“You’re probably a really annoying intern. I take my coffee with two sugars. Write that down.”

“Looks like the rest of the teams finished the round,” Andrew read out loud, “49th out of 50. Yeah! We weren’t dead last. Suck it, SquadDoobieDoodz!”

“Whoo!”

*   *   *   *   *

The second round went more smoothly – the team’s plan to disable the bombs worked, they drove their slightly damaged car out of the garage and scored 7 kills before getting knocked out.

“24th out of 50, not too bad!” Jason exclaimed.

“Okay, kids, I do have work tomorrow, so I’ll be signing off on that wining note.”

“Good night, Carrie.”

“Peace.”

“Hey, looks like Scout’s online. Hopefully he’ll join the party.”

“Yeah, we’ll kick ass with him in here. I’ll ping him and tell him to play his infiltrator.”

“Leave it to Carrie to play an infiltrator without any ranks in explosives,” they chuckled.

“Um, guys?”

“Carrie, sticking around for another game after all?”

“Well… I can’t sign off.”

“Neither can I, that what I try to tell my parents every night.”

“No, I mean, I… Can’t. Sign. Off.”

“Just plug your headset into the charger, it’ll be fine. You’re worse than my grandma.”

“No, I really can’t!”

“It’ll boot you for inactivity. You don’t care about your stats, anyway, stop being such a drama queen.”

“I mean, I can’t take my headset off.” Carrie sounded seriously distressed.

“What, how can you not take your headset off? Like, you’re trapped in the game?”

“Stop being so gullible, Andrew,” Jason said, “She’s messing with us.”

“No, I’m really not, I swear. I think I might be having … I don’t know, a stroke? I can’t move my arms. If I give you my address, can you call the police?”

“Okay, but if I call the police and it’s a prank, it’s gonna be a prank on yourself.” Jason started to sound more serious, “I’ll get a pen.”

“Hurry, please… I’m having some trouble remembering my address… it must be aphasia or something…”

“I hope you’re okay. I’ll send a card to the hospital,” added Andrew.

“What the fuck! Oh my god. Oh my god. I can’t take off my headset, either.”

“Now you’re both definitely pranking me. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“No, Andrew, try to take yours off.”

“I’m not going to fall for it,” he lied. Then a few seconds later, “… oh my god, I can’t either!”

“How is this possible?” Jason asked.

“It really shouldn’t be,” Carrie was trying calm herself down, “these things tie into your senses of sight and hearing, but they can’t control your motor cortex. The FDA inspects these; there’s no way.”

“Well, maybe it’s an illusion of some sort… MOM! MOM!” Jason was yelling through his microphone, “Don’t worry, they’ll hear me.”

A few tense moments passed.

“MOM! I’m serious; come help me! I’m stuck! I need help! DAD!”

Another tense minute.

“Okay, okay, nobody panic. Even if we can’t talk out load, or whatever, someone is going to stumble onto one of us pretty soon. Either Andrew’s mom is going to call him for bed, or something. We’ll all be fine, and someone at OctopusGames is going to go to jail.”

Jason didn’t like the idea of sitting around. “If we’re going to be trapped in here for another hour or two, maybe we should explore. Try to figure out what’s going on? If they’re doing some illegal experiment, we’re better off knowing what it is, right?”

*   *   *   *   *

The team walked cautiously out of the garage. The saw a grenade explosion halfway across the field, and an opposing player spinning around and firing wildly into the air. He started walking toward them, fired a few more shots into the air, and continued walking in their direction.

“Looks like we’re not the only ones. He wants to talk.” Jason also fired wildly into the air, displaying their new ad-hoc signal for non-aggression.

BOOM! The player who had been walking toward them was gone in a blast from a tank that just rolled over a hill.

“Back to the garage!” Andrew yelled, “Looks like not everyone got the memo!”

They ran inside and sealed the door.

“This is ridiculous, there’s no way they can actually hurt us,” Carrie said, “for all we know, getting killed is our ticket out.”

“Maybe, but if you’re wrong, how hard would it suck if we had to stare at a loading screen in silence all night until Andrew’s mom comes to take him to school?”

After a few more minutes, they all heard an announcement, as if over a loudspeaker, “All players, please congregate in the valley for further instructions. Do not fire on each other unless ordered. Failure to comply will result in ejection from the game.”

“Do we listen?” asked Andrew.

“I don’t think we have a choice,” said Jason.

“We might at least get some answers,” agreed Carrie.

*   *   *   *   *

Players from dozens of teams were gathered in the valley. The valley was ringed by tanks, and hovering helicopters. In the center, a ring of soldiers surrounded a tank. These new characters were wearing military police uniforms, in stark contrast to the colorful anime sci-fi outfits that the players were wearing. The military police had firepower at their disposal on an order of magnitude greater than that of all the players combined.

The one standing on top of the tank was speaking through a bullhorn, “We’ve brought you all here for a little experiment. You’ll be participating in a series of drills, and will be released in 6 hours, when we’re all finished.”

Whispers and mumbles cascaded through the crowd. A shot rang out, hit the speaker in the head. The game character slumped over, dead. The helicopters fired a salvo, obliterating the shooter, his teammates, and a few other players unfortunate enough to be standing nearby.

Another MP climbed onto the tank and calmly continued, “Fighting against us is futile. We’re the moderators. If you break the rules, you’ll be killed.”

“You’d better have a good lawyer!” Shouted Carrie.  “I refuse to participate!”

“When the time comes, we shall see. For now, I want you all to stay in this valley, except for you, you, you, and you.” MPs ushered four players from different teams into a prison bus.

*   *   *   *   *

Over the next few hours, players were ushered out, onto the bus, a few at a time. Everyone was talking amongst themselves.

“Where are they going?”

“So far, no one has come back.”

“What’s happening to them.”

“Maybe that’s the experiment. To see how long we put up with it.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t fight them.”

“What if getting killed is the ticket out? And we’re all afraid for nothing. I mean, it’s game. We’re wearing $500 headsets.”

“What if the bus is the ticket out? I mean, like, if someone figures out how to unplug, instead of the game character disappearing like normal, they just program it to hop on a bus.”

“If someone figured out how to unplug, wouldn’t they just disappear?”

“I mean, that’s what usually happens, but it wouldn’t be that big of a modification to have your avatar stay even if you unplugged, just like an NPC.”

“And then they’d program it to get onto the bus?”

“Maybe.”

Similar conversations were happening all throughout the valley.

Jason, Andrew, and Carrie stuck together. “We need a plan,” Carrie said, “but we also need to be careful; if they’re experimenting on us, there’s no way they can’t hear what we’re saying.”

Someone behind them coughed. They turned to see the floating text above his head, it read ScoutRegiment4lyfe, the fourth member of their squad.

“Scout! You signed on just as this weirdness was starting. Did you hear about it? Was it on Twitter? Did you come to get us out?” Jason was excited.

Scout didn’t say anything, but instead of motioned into the distance. Of course! The clubhouse; why didn’t we think of that before! The four of them split up; they had the first step of a plan.

*   *   *   *   *

Jason sensed his opportunity when another bus departed – the guards were distracted and not looking at him. Sure, they probably had some centralized tracking that told them where everyone went, but a handful of players among hundreds could sneak off without anyone noticing, so long as no one was looking directly at them when they did it, right?

Jason made his way out of the valley into a forest. The trees grew denser, as he approached the edge of the world. He stepped between the trees, until he found himself unable to continue moving. Here, even where there were gaps between the trees, an invisible wall blocked him. He turned “north” and kept moving, until he reached a small hut with no doors or windows.

Jason faced away from the hut, and did a spinning backflip onto the roof. Thud! He never got that right on the first try. Again… thud!

On the third try, instead of hitting the roof, he went straight through as if it weren’t there. The walls of the hut were only partially visible from the inside. One wall had a giant black triangle with pulsating edges. Another was see-through from this side. Players were clearly not meant to be in this part of the level. It was a design flaw; almost every map in every game had something like it if you looked hard enough. More importantly, the game’s built-in tracking and logging functions didn’t work, here. Unscrupulous players would often come in here to activate cheat programs; it was the one place they wouldn’t get caught and banned. Carrie, Andrew, and Scout were already there, along with two players they didn’t recognize – their gamer tags read JoeyBiddleRocks! and CowboysFan45252.

“Okay, I think that’s everyone we were expecting from our team,” said Scout, “Now, as for the plan to get out of here…”

“We know a glitch that’ll crash the game,” said CowboysFan, “sometimes we do it to troll if we’re losing.”

“Ass-hats.” Carrie hated playing against people like him, but that seemed unimportant, now. “Whatever, I guess you’re just kids.”

“Actually, I’m a corporate lawyer by day, believe it or not.” That was JoeyBiddle.

“Even worse.”

“Anyway, look, the way it works is this. If you hit a friendly tank with enough explosives to flip it over, while the tank is firing its main gun, it crashes the game.”

“So, that means we need to capture one of those tanks, and then we’re going to need like … 5 rocket launchers?” Jason asked.

“Two will do it if you put five or six mines under it.” Rocket launchers appeared, instantly, in JoeyBiddle’s and CowboysFan’s hands. “Here, trade weapons.” Andrew dropped his sniper rifle on the floor and grabbed the rocket launcher from CowboysFan. Another appeared to replace it a second later.

“Pretty handy cheat.” They all equipped themselves with rockets and mines.

“Now we just need the tank,” Scout sounded optimistic, “Carrie, you maxed out your stealth ranks as usual, right?”

“Of course, but… are we sure this is going to work? I mean, is crashing the game going to get us out of here?”

“Well we have to try something, are there other ideas?” asked Jason.

“Civil disobedience,” suggested Carrie.

“What’s that?” asked Andrew.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s that’? How do they not teach you that in school? The civil rights movement? Come on. Like, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks and all! Ring a bell?”

“I have this feeling I really should know who they are.”

“Joey? Didn’t you just say you were a grown up? And a lawyer? Tell me you’re joking!”

“No... No, I’m not… This is really weird… could they be blocking out our thoughts or parts of our memories, too?”

“That’s insane!”

“All of this is insane! Look, we have to move!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll use my cloak to get into the tank and execute the driver. Let’s try this.”

*   *   *   *   *

They filtered back into the valley one at a time, so as not to get caught. There were still hundreds of players milling around, talking amongst themselves. There were a few dozen corpses, as well, as if another firefight had broken out. Hopefully someone else hadn’t tried their plan. If the moderators were prepared for it, it’d never work.

Carrie hid behind another player and engaged her cloak. She stepped out. No one seemed to react. So far, so good. She stepped slowly toward the tank. (cloak at 85%) She very carefully tiptoed through the ring of guards. (cloak at 30%) She quietly climbed on top of the tank, and slipped through the hatch just as her cloak gave out. The driver was facing the controls, and didn’t see her. For a moment, she could see her own avatar put its hand over his mouth as the game transitioned into its “assassination” animation.

Now, I just need another minute for my cloak to recharge; I can get out and under the tank to drop these mines and hop back in. This is the easy part, thought Carrie to herself.

At that moment, she heard a clank behind her. Someone had tossed a stun grenade into the tank’s hatch. The gig was up.

For the next 30 seconds, all she could see was her health indicator and heads-up display. Her ammunition bar went to zero – someone had taken her weapons. When her avatar’s vision returned, she was on the bus, along with the rest of their band of conspirators, with several MPs.

“I’m sorry, guys, I let you down.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said Jason. “That stun grenade came from another player. They had the same plan as we did, and didn’t realize you were in there. It was just bad timing.”

“Quiet! We’re taking you to a detention facility.” Yelled one of the MPs, “You’re going to be disciplined.”

Carrie didn’t acknowledge the MP, and kept talking to her comrades, “A detention facility? On a bus? In a game world? When will any of this start making sense?”

“I said quiet!” The guard hit her avatar with the butt of his rifle, and Carrie cried out in pain. It sounded real.

“I will not be silent. I refuse to comply!” He struck her again.

“La la la. I’m still talking. La la la.”

“Another word, and we shoot you,” two of the MPs aimed their weapons at her head.

“Whatever, enough of this bullshit. Kill me! I’ll stare at a loading screen for a few hours. My body is probably lying in a hospital bed by now. And I’ll see you on a real prison bus.”

Pop! Pop! Pop! Carrie’s avatar stopped moving. For a what seemed like nearly an hour, no one said anything.

Finally, once the guards turned their focus toward looking out the windows, Scout whispered, “She’s not really dead, right? She can’t be. I mean, her real dead body, on her couch in her house? Or in a hospital? That’s murder.”

Jason answered, “My new theory is that this is all an illusion. It feels like hours, but it’s really only been a few seconds, like a dream. They can’t make us feel pain and we’re not actually paralyzed.”

“Her screams sounded awful real.”

“So do our guns, and they’re not. I mean, for all we know that wasn’t even her voice. You can pipe any sound through a video game.”

“Maybe we should all get ourselves killed.”

“Maybe.”

For the moment, however, no one was willing to risk it.

*   *   *   *   *

“Jason! Dinner’s almost ready!”

Jason stood up from his desk, closed the lid on his laptop, and walked down the stairs. He could smell the tomato sauce and meatballs. His parents always cooked his favorite comfort foods when he was home for the holidays.

“Playing that new game again?” his dad looked up from the newspaper to ask.

“Actually, I was reading about it. Sort of. It was a story about AI research.”

“AI research,” his mom said, “You work hard enough between your classes and internship that you need to just relax this week.”

“It was really interesting, though. Octopus is partnering a company called with DaveyAI—”

“Hah! I met their founder a few years ago at a conference!” His dad put down the paper, “What a quack! He’s one of those ‘singularity’ nut-jobs, thinks he’s going to live forever in a computer, like a god. You know, five years ago, this guy bought a bunch of warehouse drones and had them act out the Milgrim experiments?”

His mom chimed in, “Are you talking about BattleBotGhazi?”

“Yeah, that’s the one, he had these things ‘torturing’ each other, and talked big philosophy, ‘oh the ethical ramifications of the drone inflicting pain on each other because they were ordered to.’ He got some bad press and relished it. For a minute, he got to be the guy who was starting the conversation: Is it time for us to start treating robots as living things? To empathize with them? Do they have rights?”

“So, what happened?”

“Well, it all lasted about a week, before we collectively realized how absurd the situation was. I mean, here’s a bunch of inanimate objects, that are programmed to roll up and down aisles until they find a certain barcode, and literally nothing else, and he’s trying to get a reaction from all of us by having them smash each other to bits?”

His mom laughed, “A video went around where the drones had these big comical-looking mallets attached to them; the whole thing was more Gallagher than Milgram.

“Tell us, what’s he up to this time?”

“He said in the interview that they were going to use players’ in-game data from Octopus’s shooters to make simulated versions of our personalities, then put those simulations into various scenarios in the game to see how they respond. I don’t know how I feel about my data being used to create a copy of my personality; a computer program running around thinking it was me.”

“Hmmm… Let’s take checkers, for example. I could write a program that recorded you for a bunch of games, analyzed your play style, and emulated you.”

“Yeah, that’d be pretty easy.”

“And if mom played that checkers program, she wouldn’t be able to tell that she wasn’t actually playing her son. My checkers-bot would be indistinguishable from the real you.”

His mom pointed out, “But that’s not a real Turing Test. Sure, the checkers program would play checkers just like you, but it’s still just a few hundred lines of code. It wouldn’t, quote unquote, ‘think it was you,’ it wouldn’t ‘think’ anything at all.”

“Right, it’d fool you perfectly into thinking it was me, but only up until you tried to do anything besides play it in checkers. Then it would obviously not be me.”

“Now, using data from a shooter, a much more complex program that took a big team years to develop would be more impressive… especially if they fed in information from your headset chats.”

“I get it, though. You’re saying it wouldn’t be fundamentally different from the checkers program.”

“Exactly. A really good program might even be able to simulate your voice, chat about game tactics, but it wouldn’t be you.”

“It wouldn’t know anything about you that you didn’t talk about in the game. It wouldn’t have the same skills you do in the real world, it wouldn’t know what you learned in class last week, it wouldn’t even know what you had for breakfast unless you talked about it while playing the game.”

“Yeah, it’s still kind of creepy, though.”

“Well, it’s a privacy issue if, nothing else. You sign one of those EULAs, you don’t expect them to use your game activity for something like this. They should have to ask permission.”

His mom turned off the stove. “Let’s eat!”

#sci-fi & fantasy #scifi #ai #fiction #video games #singularity #short story