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gremlingottoosilly · 8 months

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Lovefool [dark!Konig x fem!Reader]

Konig gets to secure a little trophy from the battlefield. Hope you're in for a ride.

!TW! Kidnapping, Yandere themes, Dub-con, dark!Konig

Tags: Yandere, Dark Romance, colonel!Konig, dark!Konig, Size kink, Age gap(Konig in his thirties and Reader is in her twenties), Stockholm syndrome speedrun, Konig is a huge pervert, submissive Reader

You never knew who he was before he attacked.

Your teammates did – whisperers about KorTac getting on their tails, stories about their crazy psycho commander who could barely pass a word to his subordinates while smacking heads off trained men in full armor. Spooky tails for the recruits who refuse to train in their free time – something about “If you aren’t getting in shape by the end of the month, König is going to get you”.

You never knew who he was – you barely knew the organization you worked in.

Cyber security, lowly private military. They are hiring based on CV alone and didn’t ask for a fancy college and a few degrees in hacking that you could never get. They wanted experience, and you had at least a bit of it – you passed through basic training, never serving in the military before, but fine with promises of never actually going out in the field since you would be giving them intel and cyber support from the sidelines.

Well, they never told you that “the sidelines” would be 100 meters away from the actual battlefield.

You don’t even remember what the mission was about – something important, you guess, because they asked you to be here, on sight, computer in hand, and your comrades, with whom you barely talked outside of work, alongside you. Something about weapon smuggling, though you never actually understood if you were stopping it or doing it. Working in the middle of the European Union pays a lot, and it sort of counts as free travel – you’re somewhere in Germany, maybe on the border with Poland or Austria or Czech Republic. Nothing but fields of grass and occasional mountains. They gave you a riffle, a sidearm, and instructions to try not to get too wounded since they wouldn’t be dragging your body out of the field. S[read sheet with intel opened on your computer – you’re not their secretary, but at least they don’t want you to hack the Pentagon.

You heard screams from your tent: “KorTac”, “Compromised”

“König”

What was the weirdest thing – he was alone. A single man shouldn’t be able to take on a team of trained mercs, even as lowly as your company was. You all had weapons, armor, and means of at least taking him down as a group – and you were like a bunch of babies with toy guns on the playground when a pitbull came in.

Your leader fell first – you saw his head explode with a perfect shot right between his eyes. no one screamed sniper, but you still ducked under the field table, hoping that it would save you a few minutes of peace before you’d manage to delete all of the important files from your laptop. This was the protocol – if you are in the middle of dying, you need to first make sure that the enemy won’t get a hold of precious company correspondence and deeply personal photos of your cat.

You leaned forward to see what was happening on the field – you heard screams, you heard gunshots, you heard…

Laugh.

Deep, loud, the laugh that sounded both malicious and cheerful at the same time. It sounded like the man had a field day of breaking necks and stabbing his teammates. You've never seen so much blood on someone. You wish you never had.

Your teammates are falling like porcelain dolls when the elephant hits the kitchen, and you are trying your best to be a good little hacker and not let your company down before your inevitable demise. Turning on your laptop, waiting for whatever ancient version of Windows you had since the budget was mostly going into flashy guns and cool night vision headsets, you are getting ready to format all the disks when….

“The Windows update is in the process. Please, wait approximately 9 hours to complete”

Oh, hell no. You are not going to wait another 9 hours, you could barely survive for the next 9 minutes! Of course, naturally, obviously, you can just turn off the computer and get it off work because the files will get fried up and it won’t turn on again, ever. Which would still complete your goals, so…

— Come on, please…f-fuck, please, just let me…

“As a method of complete data loss prevention, Windows has disabled the ability to manually turn off your computer. Please, wait approximately 9 hours to complete”

— Found you, Maus.

Something – a hand, big, covered in the type of protection you never saw on your fellow soldiers – yanked your ankle, dragging you from under the table you were hiding under. The air stinks of blood and you involuntarily whimper, hands are going to grab the laptop. You need to smash it, destroy it, maybe just drop it hard enough on the floor, push it against the wall, and try your best to kick it enough to damage the disk and prevent KorTac from accessing the files.

The guy steps on your hand, taking the laptop away. You swear to god you hear a crack – you prayed that he would accidentally smash the laptop, but it was your hand under his boot.

— Hurts? Good.

You whimper as he carefully puts the laptop away, checking if it’s still working. He then returns to you – laying on the floor, fingers still shaking in pain, and attempts to grasp for the computer that was snatched away. There is nothing you can do – you have a gun, yes, and he has at least three guns and deadly man-bear hands, so even if you were fast enough to draw a gun before he would, he can just kick you like a puppy.

König – it’s him, it must be him, your teammates were screaming his callsign and talking about a devil who wears a sniper hood and has the height of a not very small tree – kicks you in the ribs, turning you from the side to your back, facing him. If you were stronger, you would do something cool – bite his ankles, for example. Or spit in his face as the last remaining tip of your dignity, before he would kill you or torture you or feast on your flesh.

— Verdammte Feiglinge, can’t even face your death like a man. Look at me, ja?

Crying isn’t a shameful thing to do. So, you cry. Soft little whimpers, sniffles, you are probably looking wet and disgusting, but you hurt, scared, and fucking tired and you want out of here, and you never actually wanted to be a soldier, and they all lied to you while promising to keep you out of the field, and this uniform is horrible, and you feel your tears soaking the half of bandana you were using as a face mask and…

He snatches the mask from your face. Look you in the eyes for long enough to make your whimpers even more audible. You can swear to god that his pupils were dilated. That his hands were shaking. You could see his eyes getting scrunched in that particular way that their owner is smiling – sincerely, openly, from the bottom of his heart.

— Please…p-please, be fast, I don’t know anything, I will…I won’t, I…

Rough, calloused hand goes to cup your face. The material of his glove is tough and soaked in blood as he smears it on your cheek, your fingers are going to wipe away the tears – you don’t understand what’s happening and you are even more scared, and your mouth is twitching in a terrified grimace. He pushes the tip of his finger into your mouth, making you suck on the blood and dirt of the fabric. You think you are going to throw up.

— Quiet.

You don’t understand why he didn’t kill you yet. He is touching your face, slowly, his one hand is enough to cover your entire head and you’re sure that if he’d want to just squish your brain like a rotten cabbage, he could just fine. He pushes his finger even deeper in your mouth and you lick it involuntarily because this is an intrusion and you have the brain of a two-year-old who sees the world through their ability to devour things, and his pupils dilate even more. He looks at your frown, your tears, and your lips wrapped around his finger.

He yanks you on your feet embarrassingly easy.

— You’re a hacker?

You blink a few times. Now, the protocol is that no, you can’t state who you are, If he knows that you are a hacker, he can take you away for interrogation, maybe torture you for passwords and the intel on your company, and being tortured isn’t something on your monthly calendar. Now, the protocol also states that you have to be able to die for your company, and…

He grabs your neck, lifting you – surprisingly gently, softly even, a hand supports your waist so you won’t be able to either kick him or get choked to death because of his grip.

— Answer me, Maus. I might have a reason to let you live.

You do want to live. Maybe not long, definitely not until you’re 100 years old with dozens of grandchildren, but being able to live past the next few hours and then days and then weeks does sound incredible.

— Y…yes. I’m a cyber security specialist.

He squeezes your neck more. Pushes you up, making you cough in your grip. You never experienced anything like this before – never had a guy strong enough to handle you like this. It would look cool from the side, probably – like something from a videogame. It would look hot in the porn, probably, if it was consensual and happening between two passionate lovers.

But you are his enemy, and he is yours – cold blue eyes peering right into yours. He is looking at you like a piece of meat, and not even in the lustful, hungry way. He looks like a butcher in front of a very good beef cut, thinking about where should he sink his knife to get the best steaks. A hunter standing over the wounded deer, thinking if he wants your head above his fireplace or taxidermy your whole body as a wicked trophy.

— Didn’t know they’d allowed someone so fucking small in the field.

You can swear to god that you saw him smile, under this hood. You can’t see his face, obviously, only the blood-soaked fabric and his eyes, but something still tells you that he is smiling. Enjoying your attempts to escape, maybe – you tried to kick him a few times, producing a deep, amused chuckle from his lips. He holds you so easily like you are nothing but a sweet little kitten. You might not be as big as him, but he still shouldn’t be able to lift a grown woman in full gear with just one hand. Right?

— I’m not…not s-small.

You don’t have much fight left in you. You are on the verge of just asking him to kill you, to be honest, your neck hurts and the pain spreading from your fingers pulsates and transforms. You hope they are not broken – even though you understand that your chances to live past these few minutes are very slim. Even your usual snark is lost, forbidden in the hands of a giant who likes to play with his food.

You do feel like a mouse – in a way that you would die under his boot very soon.

He – König, monster, colonel, fucking deadly mercenary – chuckles again. You can get used to this sound. Melodic almost, in a way that most alarms are melodic while telling you about inevitable catastrophe.

— Kleine verfickte Maus. Ich wette, dass du auch ganz eng bist.

He is laughing, again. Laughing and chuckling and you can’t take it anymore because he is so obviously stronger than you, it’s not fair. You want to put your foot on the ground and tap it like a spoiled brat, like a baby on the playground whining for their mom to take them home because other kids don’t want to play by their rules. The difference in skill is so obvious, that you aren’t even able to put on some sort of fight.

— Wh…I don’t speak German.

Your other hand – the one that didn’t get squished under his boot – goes to scratch his arm. Maybe put up enough struggle that he would accidentally let you fall right from his grasp. He doesn’t react and you feel hopeless. Weak, useless, you remember all the times you decided to miss training so you could just chill in the lounge with other rookies or do something on your computer.

— You will, Maus.

Then, there is only darkness.

***

You woke up…somewhere.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t the first time you woke up. You remember opening your eyes, feeling the vibrations under your cheek, hearing the noises of a car or other vehicle moving fast. Too fast for your already spinning head and stomach – you don’t remember if you were coughing or vomiting, but the movement wasn’t stopping to ever let you breathe. You were being transported somewhere, without a chance of knowing where you were heading. At least now, when you get to the final, as you think at least, destination, you’re clean.

As much as someone tied up to a chair somewhere that reminds you of a basement can be.

You’re stripped of your weapons obviously – not like you had a chance to use them anyway. Your hands are tied behind your back, your legs are bound to a chair, and your tragic lack of clothes is…more evident than you wanted it to be. At least you still have your underwear on – it still didn’t make the situation better. He saw you naked, completely, and he might do god knows what with you now.

Although you have some feelings about what he can do with a weak enemy hacker, half-naked and tied up in a secure place.

You would panic, but it requires energy. A resource that you don’t have right now.

— You woke up. Gut. Started to think I went too much again.

His accent is weird, you think. The thought only occurs to you now, when you can hear him more clearly while not being that afraid of getting out of this alive. His voice is weirdly calm for someone of his size – you want to think of gentle giants but this man is far from gentle and is almost too big to even be called a giant. A colossus, you want to say.

— Again?

Your voice is raspy, both from your sleep and from lack of water. When was the last time you drank anything? Probably more than a few hours – your throat is dry as sandpaper, and your head is dizzy from both your trauma – he either strangled you to unconsciousness or beat you hard enough – and the dehydration. You don’t want to spend another minute in this basement – you think this is a basement, at least, the high humidity on the walls and some garbage tossed to the corner is fairly evident. It’s large, too – you never saw anything like this. It might be a KorTac prison, but the remains of a bike and a few shelves of canned foods tossed to the other side of the room tell otherwise.

— We’re allowed to take trophies home. Sometimes I get…impatient.

You’re in his house? Does a monster like him even need a house?

“A trophy”

Funny how you don’t even feel that dehumanized. He didn’t kill you, you don’t feel the evidence of violation on your body – you are clean, neat even, your stomach and private parts aren’t hurting, and, as much as you hate to say this while tied up to a chair, you are as comfortable as a person in your position can be.

— What are you going to do with me?

You shake like a leaf. He finally steps closer to you, coming from the ladder – you can hear the lock and a heavy door being closed, setting your hopes of escape. Not like you could, in your position – the bruises already forming on your legs and hands, a numbed pain in your head and fingers. You feel shitty and comfortable at the same time, trying to tune off the discomfort and just concentrate on talking to him.

He didn’t kill you – this is good, you can work with this.

He left you alive – this is bad, he is going to torture you, he is going to do a million terrible things with you and you are not a part of a regular army, You didn’t get the torture resistance training. Maybe, if it was some of your friends, other girls in the group who got through military school and never missed gym to sit on their computers, they would have survived. You never felt so weak before – not even on the battlefield.

God, you’re scared.

— Your computer. My employer needs the info you had on it.

Oh.

It’s not personal, at least. He is here for the information, not to take advantage of your weak, fragile body. It made you almost feel at peace, almost made you forget about your lack of clothing and the damp basement you’re being put in.

— What sort of info do you need?

You slowly start to wiggle your hands in your binds – he used plastic locks, those stupid unremovable things that are slowly cutting the soft flesh of your wrists. You can’t untie them, but you can try at least tear them on the metal of your chair. You can try to, just to say that you did, and not feel bad about not resisting him at all.

— Your last mission. You were trying to smuggle weapons into the EU border.

— We were trying to stop the smuggling of weapons.

At least, you think you were – your head hurts, your memories are dizzy, and they never actually told you what kind of job you had. Come to think of it, actually, you never asked whether you were the good guys or the bad guys – it was always about money, paychecks, getting your job done and not dying from lack of nutrition because most tech-jokey jobs are already filled with uninspired chatbots and graduates from fancy colleges with a dick between their legs. Not reserved for tired women like you – so you turn to, ironically, paramilitary organizations. How the tables have turned.

— That’s not what our intel says, Maus. Do you want to lie to me?

You don’t. You just don’t know if you are telling the truth or lying because you are too fucking tired to even think straight.

He comes closer, and you whimper involuntarily. His breath hitches.

— Scheisse…they knew who to hire.

He grabs you by the neck again, and you can finally see him fully – towering over you, cold blue eyes staring right into you. You sob, not able to handle your emotions because, oh god, he is going to rape you, torture you, and then put a giant burning stick right in your ass because everyone knows that this is the best way to hack a computer – you just need to find the person who put the password in the first place.

— Can’t you just hack the computer yourself?

He chuckles – you’re getting tired of that sound. You hate that you found his voice attractive, you hate the fact he is keeping you down here. You want to destroy that part of your body that likes the attention – how his eyes are only kept on you. Never had a guy kidnapping you before, and you fight the feeling of disappointment that strikes you when you remember that he is here because he needs the intel. Not because he wants you.

— It wasn’t a…conventional operation. Can’t waste manpower on breaking the walls you installed.

His hand goes to cup your face again – you frown, breathing stops because he is so close and he takes off his gloves, allowing his rough, calloused fingers to linger on your cheeks. He squeezes your face in an almost adorable manner and steps back again. You lick your dry lips again, trying hard to keep at least one part of your body moisturized, and his breath hitches again.

He goes behind you, ruffles through shelves – you can hear something falling, his awkward grunt as he had to pick it up. He is more clumsy than you though – more nervous also, hands are jittering and fingers twitching every time you look at him. Adorable, really, how this huge mess of a man can look so innocent and almost nervous in front of you.

König returns after a minute or two, holding…a water bottle. Closed, lid still on, little plastic wrapping in place. You have half a mind about just drinking it, even though he doesn’t offer it to you. Not like you could open it yourself, with how your hands are still tied up behind your back.

— You don’t speak German.

It’s not a question – it’s a statement. you watch him opening the bottle with ease, large hands are working on something so fragile and delicate. You can’t remember the last time you had sex, not with how fast your head is spinning and memories still foggy, but you think it was a long time ago – because you feel your cheeks heated from the simple actions of his large fingers ripping through soft plastic.

God, you don’t really remember what was happening before you got here, not in detail, but you know that you needed to get laid like, a year ago.

— No.

— You will.

— Wh…what do you mean?

Is he going to make you install Duolingo? Is this what it all was about? Some elaborate prank, a marketing campaign, a tough lesson for silly girls who think that knowing just your native language is enough to live your life and…

— When you want something, Maus, you have to say “bitte”.

If you were a strong and cool soldier, you would use this moment to jump from your chair, using the weight of your body to fall on him and make him lose balance, and then spit in his face as your last remaining blast of human dignity.

But you aren’t a cool and strong soldier, and you really need to drink.

— B…bitte. What does this mean?

— Please.

He is almost whispering, the water bottle tanging in his hands in front of you. You take your time, considering the possibilities – you can play like a good little prisoner and allow him to take your pride and just toss it aside. You can play like an obedient hostage and ask him nicely, hoping that it would be enough.

You don’t know what to do – appearing too shy and soft can give him…ideas. And you don’t want this crazed giant who is keeping you bound in his basement to get ideas. You can…you probably can spend more time without water. Or food. Or shower and change of position.

You take your time answering, and his demeanor seems almost…anxious. His eyes are darting between the water bottle and your face, between his hands and your body – like he can barely keep a calm facade and not force you into doing something nasty. Like he is almost afraid that you are not going to cooperate and he would really have to hurt you in a meaningful way.

— Can I have water, bitte?

— Gutes Kätzchen. Drink, you’ll need it.

In the end, you broke down first. Not because you are this weak, but because being a brat won’t save you in a situation like this. You don’t want to die over something as trivial as your pride.

König seems…at ease. He takes off the bottle cap and brings water to your lips, allowing you to drink as much as you want. You lick the remaining drops from your lips and he puts a half-empty bottle aside.

— I won’t tell you the password.

You mumble under your breath, barely audible. He chuckles.

— I count on it, liebe.

#call of duty #cod x reader #cod x you #konig mw2 #cod #konig x reader #reader insert #yandere cod #yandere konig #yandere x reader #yandere male #yandere #yandere imagines

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nationwidechildrenshospital · 2 years

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“I wanted to work in cyber security because I really enjoy improving and increasing the security postures for companies, family and friends. My passion is to serve. If I can help in anyway, I will.”

Dale Price, Senior Cybersecurity Engineer, Information Services

#dale #price #cybersecurity #security #information services #IS #passion #recruiting #engineer #cyber

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hoshifighting · 5 months

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Code of temptation

Synopsis: When a series of cyber threats puts national security at risk, Y/N is assigned to lead the investigation. Her team is complemented by Vernon, a computer genius known for his dexterity in deciphering the most complex codes.

Words: +1k

Reader! SecretAgent x Vernon! Hacker

Warnings: Smut, oral (f. receiving), penetrative sex, exhibitionism, unprotected sex (wrap it up), dry humping, fingering, hair pulling, chocking, dirty talk and etc.

Your tight TechWear is starting to get uncomfortable, your fingers attached to the trigger, and your arms are already weak from holding the heavy gun, one wrong movement, everything is done. You wait for the sign from Mingyu, who is already in position to catch the target “1, 2, 3… Now!” he says in the little point of sound in your ear, and you do your shot.

The bullet hits the target directly in the head, and Mingyu runs in the middle of the basement to steal the small device that is the pivot of the mission you have been working on for the last few weeks. The both of you run to the back door, you enter the armored car that awaits you.

“Objective accomplished successfully, mission completed with distinction and mastery.” Your chief says on the other line. Body finally relaxing on the car seat, while you do a little weak punch on Mingyu’s hand.

[…]

“We did a great Job Mr. Lee, we trained for this, but it’s difficult ultimately, they are more attached to the systems day by day, so we need to take action, and ask for the Department Head to recruit a Technical Expert, so we can obtain coordinates during missions” you point your pencil on the map in front of you “Promise me that by the end of the month, we will have some ‘technology guru’ to help us, and I promise to complete another mission as always.” that said, you leave the meeting room slamming the door loudly.

[…]

You hold a cup of coffee while you try to decipher the nominal codes on the computer screen, you snort and immediately give up on understanding the logic of the system in front of you. The computer room doorbell rings, and you can see a young man with brown hair waiting for the door to be opened, showing his FBI badge. You put your fingerprint into the system, and the door is slowly opened, revealing the boy, holding the shoulder strap from his backpack, wearing a black uniform, just like yours.

“First off all, I am almost freaking the fuck out seeing all these algorithms with letters on the same screen” you point to the computer with raised eyebrows, and he closes the door behind him “and we should have met before the mission started, but since you're here now, we need to track them down as quickly as possible.” He agrees and sit on the chair in front of the desk.

“My name is Vernon by the way” the sarcasm is proliferated from his lips, while he maintains an extremely unbothered expression.

You snort incredulous at his audacity - even though the ironic tone in his voice may not have been intentional - you stop to look at him from top to bottom, analyzing his mannerisms until he actually starts doing something on the electronic device that hovers in front of him “very funny of you, but I would like more respect since I am leading this mission, and the hierarchy is very-“

“Oh come on don’t play like you’re 10 years older than me!” He says with the face still buried on the screen “and since you are leading the mission amidst so much cyber invasion, you should at least know how to clear your history, if I were your enemy, and found out that you listen to the same Backstreet Boys song for 9 hours straight, you would definitely no longer be my target, freaky ass girl”

The heels on your feet touches the cold ground towards him “This is an invasion of privacy!” You turn the chair, so now you make eye contact with him, pressing his shoulders on the chair.

“This is being on the verge of madness!” You let him go, sitting on the couch on the other corner of the room, drinking your coffee ashamed.

The clicks on the mouse and the sound of the keys were driving you crazy, until he lifted his back from the chair and widened his eyes towards the computer, you run to see the screen popping a map with a lot of red ropes interlinked “Fuck! they’re on the building!” You recognize the structure of the department you are hiding in, running to get your guns attached to your waist, while Vernon turns off the trackers “We need to run away right now, we don’t have time!” You hold his arm, and you run through the company halls, until you leave the building, running down the opposite street. You led the way, while Vernon, the shy hacker, tripped over his own legs. The sound of sirens echoed through the streets, mixing with the frenetic rhythm of your footsteps. The cobblestone streets made escape even more challenging.

"Y/N, I think they saw us!", Vernon exclaimed, breathing hard.

You threw a quick glance behind you, displaying a confident grin. "Don't worry, Vernon, I have a foolproof plan." you say with pure sarcasm, and with a quick gesture, you grabbed Vernon's hand and led you into a narrow alley. The space between the two of you is tiny, you can clearly feel Vernon's minty breath hitting your face, the space doesn't help either, as your breasts are pressed against Vernon's chest - he'd be lying if he said he wasn't starting to like it.

The tension in the air was palpable as your eyes met, breathing heavily, you shared a moment of complicity that transcended the imminent danger. You instinctively grabbed Vernon's forearm, running your fingers over the skin still warm from running his eyes revealed a mixture of surprise and expectation, an electrically charged silence filled the narrow alley as your proximity grew. You, who are normally focused and fearless, felt a unique vulnerability at that moment. Then, without words, but with a shared intensity, you leaned slightly towards Vernon. The world around him disappeared when his lips finally touched, an instant of defiant lust in the midst of chaos. The narrow alley became a stage for the beginning of an immense desire between the two of you.

His right hand goes to your neck, pulling your hair, and the other, grab the meat of your ass, you moan in his mouth - you had even forgotten that you had a small beef with him earlier -, your hand goes down until you can fill your hand with his hardened cock, making him stop the kiss to bite his lip “Turn around” he orders. You hardly turn because of the compact space, and now your ass was pressed against his dick, as he pulls your skirt up, massaging your clit over the thin fabric of your panties “More, we don’t have time!” You whisper, and he slaps your cunt “Stop being hasty! Where's your 'foolproof' plan uh?” a high pitched moan leave your mouth, your hands holding on the little bricks of the wall so your face doesn't lie on them.

Vernon pulls your panties to the side, entering his fingers in your cunt, you hump your ass against him, feeling he hiss in your ear, the wet noises from your pussy and the sound of your panting breaths fills the alley, you moan feeling him going faster with his fingers. He suddenly stops the movement, opening his jeans, so he can slide his cock through your folds. “You are so hot, but fuck, you are so annoying!” he pulls your hair, slowly moving his hips finally diving into your heat, your eyes roll at the back of your head, his mouth kissing your neck.

The space was small, but he was doing wonder with his hips, circling his hips so his tip brushes against your g spot, making your legs go numb, you're lucky that he held you tight with an arm around your hip “Such a whore… Tsk”

You can hear footsteps approaching you, while a light from a flashlight approaches, Vernon pulls you to hide deeper in the alley.

“I think I heard something coming from here!"

He covers your mouth with one hand as he bites your shoulder, furrowing his eyebrows, still pounding deep inside of you, feeling your juices run down your thighs.

“It must be all in your head, come on, they must have gone that way!”

Vernon pulls you to rest your back against his chest, chocking you, while his hips are working faster “Afraid of being caught hm? So nervous that got you clenching so hard around my cock.” Your mouth opens, as you feel your orgasm approaching, his dirty talk between his moans was driving you crazy, squeezing him, while he throw his head back. “Fuck, I’m cumming” his cock twitches inside of your pussy, shooting ropes of cum inside of you, moaning low in your ear.

You can feel his cum running down your legs, he starts to rub your clit again, so slow it almost burns, his scent invading your nostrils, making your mind go blank, your body begins to tense, and an intense climax makes your legs shake, as he laughs proudly in your ear “Hmm… Thats it! Good girl..” He turns you around, so now you're face to face with him again, his kisses going down your jaw, as he fix your skirt.

“The night isn't over yet, we still have targets to catch” he gets dressed again “but first, let me clean you up” he bends down, licking your thighs, until he reaches your pussy, holding your leg up on his shoulder, while you tremble sensitive. He stands up, wiping his mouth with his thumb. Vernon steals a kiss from you, before pulling you to run through the streets once again.

#seventeen smut #seventeen x reader #vernon smut #seventeen imagines #svt smut #hansol vernon chwe #chwe vernon #chwe hansol x reader #seventeen reactions #seventeen headcanons #vernon x reader #vernon #vernon angst #hoshifighting writes

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mezzy-1 · 7 months

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VALORANT UNIVERSITY HEADCANONS

@eviethelesbian once again thank you for the Headcanon List. Also shoutout to @darthladyofillusions because I included ur OC :)

Harbor is a history professor dating Astra, the archeology professor. Both of them met on a trip to a site in India

Both of them reached for the same the brush at one point and they laughed it off later

Both of them are excellent teachers in their own way. Varun has a habit of going on tangents about stories and is super nerdy about his subject. Efia’s classes are fun and her energy is infectious

Cypher has a family and does cyber security for the University. Nobody knows his actual name.

Nobody knows him that well but when he comes out of his office he’ll say hello to anyone nearby. He goes home quickly though and usually avoids working late.

Cypher’s office is full of pictures of his family, drawings from his daughter, screens, and the scent of imported Moroccan teas

He and his wife and kid see the students off when they graduate, and all of the students are amazed to realize that this guy has such a good family life. (They thought he was a no-life kinda guy)

Liam ‘Brimstone’ Byrne is the university’s Dean and basically runs everything as much as possible for the good of the students. Tariq and him are the brains and guiding hand of the university

He retired from the military after he was given an educator’s license and became a professor of tactics at a military academy. He then took his skills elsewhere and turned the college into what it is now

Liam keeps the students at the forefront of any policy changes and takes an interest in professors that are considered brilliant but difficult to work with. He’s an expert of recruitment and reining in the right people

Has snacks in his office for students but they can only get them if they complete a pull-up on an pull-up bar he has in his office. One arm only.

Sabine worked at R&D at a pesticide company but is the only Organic Chem teacher that the Valorant U could get. Somehow is a good professor despite hating students and no general teaching

She doesn’t really hate them but it isn’t a good idea to get on her bad side. It’s rumored she poisons the students she hates.

Stared daggers into the first person (Jamie), to make a Breaking Bad reference and since then nobody brings it up

Classes with her are pretty tense but if a student actually tries and gives their all, she’ll notice and be kinder to them. Especially students who study chemistry. Double for O-Chem.

Sabine’s style of teaching could use work, but when she tries to explain complex ideas she’s genuinely in her element. She once explained how tetrodotoxin and nerve ion channels worked to Zyanya’s little sister

Zyanya is a professor for sure, probably the best Spanish teacher ever. Beyond terrifying to new students

She will not let students forget proper accents and grammar, and god help the people that do. Somebody once forgot their homework and Zyanna was literally this close to killing them

Her Spanish is specifically Mexican, and that extends to the class through some of the words she teaches. Especially bits in culture and authenticity

Zyanya’s idea of testing people is borderline an interrogation. 10 minutes of extensive and stern conversations and multiple pages of writing. People say it feels like their souls have literally been drained

Students come out of the classes fluent or scarred for life

Ling is a professor of medicine and completed her PHD around the same time Viper completed hers. They were amazed to see each other teaching

She does Tai Chi for relaxation but did at one point learn Kung Fu while living abroad in a monastery for a couple of years. She once broke a board in front of her class just to prove it

Hosts meditation hours during finals week and her office hours are always super useful for all of the medical and nursing students. Calming as hell to anxious people

Tala got a scholarship via cross country and another from basketball, and wants to major in physical therapy. She also got a job doing late night shifts at the library as security.

Hazal is in a band called Nightmare. Her and several other introverts got together and started one. Only perform in the most obscure venue. She can play bass REALLY WELL

Tala found out and now shows up to every performance the band has. If it weren’t for the lights flashing red and blue, you could see Hazal blushing when she spots Tala in the crowd

That’s how she met Hazal. Tala was approached by her because Hazal wanted to study late and the two became acquainted

Both of them love the late nights that they share and Hazal is always at one of Tala’s games. Tala picks her out of the crowd every time, and at the end Hazal always kisses her

Mateo is a veterinary student and is everyone’s friend. Except Iselin because some of his patients got into her office once and trashed her latest project model

He keeps fish, dogs, lizards, cats, and nearly everything else. At one point he was in charge of a project that kept some monkeys around at one point

The animal counterparts are a chameleon (Dizzy), a Chinese High Banded Shark (Thrash), a bullfrog tadpole (Mosh), and an Axolotl named Wingman

He has a crochet version of his (radivore) crew, courtesy of Omen being bored one day

Mateo is a Gen Z kid, and his vocabulary beyond salvaging

Jamie is an English major, I mean, obviously

Everyone likes Jamie, he brings a certain energy to everything he does and it resonates well with people. His writing has a level of power and rhythm that makes it both easy to listen and layered

He is a songwriter, and poet, and even has a collection of published short stories. His mums are proud. His scripts are also incredible and his goal is to get his own musical to Broadway

When Jamie is in a play, it’s usually as the protagonist or the main antagonist. It is wonderful to see him on stage, especially because he’s trained as a Shakespearean actor

Tayane is THE art student and the reason most of the faculty drinks. And also the reason why most of the students drink too

Absolute ragers getting thrown anytime Tayane is involved. This woman does not stop until the sun is up

Her graffiti portraits are inspired, colorful, and almost always on government property or university property. Brim started commissioning her in order to stop her from painting everything

The commissioned murals are a lot better for her, and gave her legal access to make huge projects on some of the older buildings

One of the walls is a silhouette of a woman with big circular glasses, geometric pink and yellow patterns around her, and surrounded by flowers

Vincent Fabron is the art teacher and Viper HATES him. He’s also that one teacher an unreasonable amount of people of have a crush on

He was a tattoo artist while taking art lessons in France, then moved into high class art. His gallery pieces gained a lot of attention and he gained a lot of money from them.

Now he teaches art, and has done graphic design for many upscale companies. His own business card has won awards from design and art societies though

Omen is a guy in a scarf and hoodie that is somehow in everyone’s classes. He crochets in the back sometimes.

Texts notes at 4am to anyone who needs it and is incredibly nocturnal. He doesn’t need sleep he needs friends

Students never remembered or learned his name, so they just started calling him Omen after the laptop brand he uses

Erik ‘Breach’ Torsten is a coach they brought in and actually manages a paralympic team. May have criminal past according to some of the athletes he manages

He will scream at people in Swedish during games, practice, going over strategies, and if he sees them in public. Friendly but so loud

His prosthetic arms were a courtesy of the university’s science program. They were partially a gift and partially a test to see what they could do. Erik made sure that he could flip people off with the arms

Iselin the professor of Industrial Design, and she is the most stern professor ever. At times she works for a wilderness recreation company and does product design for them.

She is very organized, and her lecture presentations are always available, she lists the pages to read, dates for every assignment are posted a month in advance

Iselin’s a professional and rarely eases up, but the few times she’s been out with the other faculty she’s been surprisingly fun. Especially with Ling for some reason

Kirra is a Biology professor that has so many plants in her room. Has a parakeet, dog, and fish tank at home too. Does wildlife photography on the side.

Kirra protested in college and was arrested once for sabotage. So she is totally chill with people missing class for stuff, and gives extra credit for students involved in causes

Goes on wilderness expeditions with some students for a class and memorized several survival books worth of information and knows every plant, animal, and fungus she comes across

Klara is an engineering major and Tayane just comes to those classes because she can. It usually results in the equipment being plastered in stickers and paint.

They met when Tayane decided to tag the garage that Klara was keeping her final project in. Both of them sort of caught feelings as soon as they saw each other

Klara fell so damn hard, and realized this while Tayane was doing a kegstand. Klara whispered ‘she’s perfect’ mindlessly and then realized Sunwoo was right next to her

Sunwoo finished what was in her cup, patted Klara on the back, and said ‘good luck’ before walking away and pretending she didn’t hear

Her final project has been her ‘Lockdown’ which is basically an EMP crossed with a massive DDOS hack. It went off once and downed the college’s internet for a week.

She’s going to switch it to something a little less destructive at this point, and Tayane is helping her brainstorm. Currently it’s a robot but she’s trying to figure out what to make it do

KAY/O is Tariq’s gamertag. The man is a CS:GO fiend and has crazy flashes due to muscle memory

Liam and him are MARRIED. I’m not budging on this one and you will find me dead in the ground before I let this go

Tariq’s good at a lot of random stuff and doesn’t help out too much at the college but is well-known as the ‘guy who Brim allows to help grill things’ because nobody else is allowed

Helps Liam plan out things for the students and assists in any sort of set up that he can do

Ryo is studying Japanese History and works as a mechanic at a chop shop. It is shady as hell over there but Yoru will hook people up if needed. They definitely steal parts though

He takes business classes and there’s a real chance he might double major. His business acumen and aggressive nature would make him the ultimate CEO

Sasha is the professor that most students simp for, and he teaches Russian Language classes. Throws things at students that don’t pay attention and rarely misses

He has an owl nesting outside of the window to his classroom, he named it Matrioshka after the nesting dolls. It had owlets so it seemed fitting.

His babushka lives out of the country but gets a continuous stream of gifts from him

Sasha is that one professor that has a weird story for everything in his room. The bow he has? killed a grizzly bear with it. Glass eye on display? It was a gift from a glassmaker that was caught with illegal firearms. Weird rock? It was at the sight of a historic battle and has a bootprint in it

Has SO MANY books from Russian writers he reads in his off time. Also does archery at a cabin he has in the woods.

Nobody could handle Novikov at the cabin, the sheer hotness of him splitting firewood, bow hunting, and chopping trees would send people into a simp coma

At the end of the year, he writes each student a short note in Russian telling them something worthwhile.

Sunwoo is an amazing sprinter and also amazing at darts. Loves adding photos to the corkboard she has in her dorm

She isn’t really sure what she wants to study at the moment or even if she wanted to go to college. Gotta love families pressuring college on their kids right?

It isn’t as depressing though, she shows real talent and enjoyment in studying Business but surprisingly is leaning towards learning Journalism as well

She writes stuff for the school paper, a blog, and even has a (somewhat inspired by people around her) science fiction story. She hasn’t thought of a name yet.

It’s about secret agents that fight against an alternate dimension that tries to steal a powerful crystal from them. It’s quite popular with the people who she let read it and people are constantly asking for updates

Sunwoo is trying, and hopefully she’ll manage to find somewhere she can feel comfortable

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kayra is studying botany, and started a garden in one of the common areas. At first it was small but cute, then after a few weeks the flowers and bushes spread outside of the garden and overtook the common area.

It's now her favorite place to get away from people because trellises were added in and nobody can see through the vines. There’s a chance she keeps patio furniture in the garden too

Has been living in an apartment with Hazal. Tala has been the only one in there and says its overrun with houseplants and hanging lamps.

(@darthladyofillusions I hope this is accurate to some extent)

84 notes · View notes

nikethestatue · 6 months

Text

A Match Baked in Heaven

Chapter 4 Here

Part V

My Girl

Nuala W. Raith.

27 years old. A cyber security senior analyst at the New Scotland Yard. Graduated from the London School of Economics. First job was with Accenture, but was quickly recruited by the government due to her phenomenal computer skills. Fairly successful modelling career in her teens and early twenties. Longest relationship was with a Canadian hockey player. Their engagement broke up when he was photographed with a scantily-clad stripper whose head was buried in his crotch.

Hobbies: gaming, football, rugby, cooking, live concerts

Competitive swimmer throughout her uni studies

Elain printed out the profile and placed the page in her bag. She slid her IPad into it as well and then went on to put on her coat.

She just received a message on her phone stating ‘come out, matchmaker!’ That was exactly what she expected from her wild and untamed client.

Piglet was freaking out at the door, snorting and grunting and giving a few pathetic little barks, while he clawed at the door, impatient to leave.

“Will you calm down?” Elain muttered, and opened the door for him and he sprinted out like his arse was on fire.

There was a Bentley idling at the curb and the moment Piglet rushed out, the car door opened and Azriel Night stepped out.

Elain Archeron paused in the doorway, watching her client and marvelling at his ungodly handsomeness. Unlike his usual uniform of jeans, boots and some kind of basic shirt, today, he was wearing a dark suit, which hugged his tall, slender, muscular form to ridiculous perfection. The white shirt that was open to the chest didn’t hurt either. The dark tattoos that snaked from under his shirt and spilled over his neck and his hands made him look dangerous and desirable. It was the dichotomy of his whole being in a handsome dark package–he was a combination of dangerous and damaged, aggressive and gentle, thoughtful and mannerless, inelegant and stylish.

Suddenly, he squatted right on the sidewalk, and opened his arms wide, while Piglet leapt at him, nuzzling at him wildly, and Azriel hugged him and stroked him.

“I missed you too, my little matey. How are you doing?”

Piglet stood on his one hind leg and placed his paws on Azriel’s shoulders, going in for a full body hug.

“How’s our girl? Is she wearing purple today, since you are rockin’ your purple tie?”

Azriel already knew the drill–outside, Piglet wore coats, ties or scarves. Today, he had on a Burberry jacket and a purple scarf that matched his coat. At home or inside, he wore his stylish bows.

At that moment, Elain stepped out of the house, and Azriel looked up and whistled loudly.

“No...she is wearing a trench coat…nice touch. I hope there is nothing underneath it…”

“Mr. Night!” Elain snapped at him, blushing profusely. “You are being scandalous and utterly inappropriate!”

He laughed, watching her, as he stroked Piglet’s back.

Elain seemed to look rather sensible, in her camel knee-length trench, a large leather tote over her shoulder, and sexy brown leather booties, but somehow, she made it all look incredibly elegant, and dare he say, sexy. Elain never went for ‘sexy’, but somehow, she made all her pristine, somewhat old-fashioned outfits look alluring. The fact that she was wearing subtle, nude fishnets didn’t hurt either. Azriel always found himself intrigued by what she was going to wear, and so far, he distinctly recalled each and every one of her ensembles. Now, he was actively pondering if the fishnets were stockings?

“She is mad at me already! I think it’s our record time,” he whisper-shouted to the dog. “Is it my fault,” he addressed her, “that trench coats look good on sexy women and make me wish that there was nothing beneath them. It’s every man’s fantasy, you know.”

“I am not here to fulfil your fantasy,” she cut him off. “I am simply wearing a coat.”

“Mmmm.”

He waited for her to come down the stairs and then extended his hand to her. She shook it reluctantly and he smiled brightly at her, his expression teasing.

“Did you watch the game?” he asked immediately.

“Hello to you too,” she said, while Azriel opened the car door for her and Pinky leapt in eagerly, ready for a new adventure.

“Well, hello then Ms. Archeron,” Azriel murmured, leaning so close to her that his nose almost skimmed her cheek. ”Allow me to help you inside.”

She frowned at him, as she slid inside the car, and Azriel followed her right after.

“Good afternoon, Miss,” the driver greeted her.

She greeted him back and then looked at Azriel, a bemused expression on her face.

“Where is Mr. Night? What did you do with him? And who are you?”

He laughed, throwing his head back and she looked at his thick throat, swallowing audibly.

“I mean, a car, you are being almost polite, dressed in a suit…that’s not the Mr. Night that I know. Usually he curses, argues and taunts me relentlessly.”

“Aw, Ms, Archeron,” he ran his index finger over her long lock. “Day is still young. There is time for all that.”

“Oh, phew,” she pretended to wipe her brow. “I was getting worried.”

“You shouldn’t. The arsehole is still here and happily present. So, back to my previous question?”

“Which is?”

“Are you wearing anything under the trench?” he teased and she seethed at him as usual, crossing her arms on her chest and glowering at him.

He raised his hands in mock surrender and said, “Okay, okay. I’ll behave. But…are you?” he whispered quickly.

“One more word, and I am leaving,” she warned.

“Dev, drive fast,” Azriel ordered and the driver smiled, as he sped down the road.

Meanwhile, Pinkly crawled over Elain and landed on Azriel’s lap, totally disregarding Elain’s displeased hiss. Azriel chuckled, while Pinky pressed his flat face against the window.

Elain reached into her bag and took out a pretty box with a scowl on her face. She pushed the box into Azriel’s lap without saying a word and then turned to the opposite window.

“What’s that?” he pondered.

“For you,” was all she answered.

Curious, very, very curious, he opened the box, while Pinky tore his attention away from the window and was now panting with anticipation.

“Is that for me?” Azriel gasped, but it was genuine surprise, and not mockery. Surprise and utter delight.

The box was filled with biscuits of all kinds. Homemade.

“I said it was for you,” she shrugged like she didn’t care.

“You baked? For me?” he whispered in disbelief.

“Well, not just for you,” she argued quickly. “We had Sunday lunch at my sister Feyre’s. She served some very dodgy salmon,”

“How dodgy?” he smirked.

“Dodgy enough that we mostly ate mash and these biscuits that I brought. I had baked entirely too many. So,”

“I am getting the overflow. Thanks, pretty matchmaker!” she elbowed her gently. “I can’t believe you thought of me and made me a box!”

“Well, these are lemon,” she began pointing at different varieties of biscuits in the box. “These are almond horns. Those are orange and hazelnut,”

“Oh my god,” he marvelled in appreciation.

“Chocolate and coffee nibs. And plain shortbread.”

He looked at her. Really looked at her. Her old-fashioned, picturesque beauty, the enormous eyes, the beautiful hair, and for once, he saw someone special. Someone who didn’t fit any moulds that he was familiar with, and once again, he was at a loss. He didn’t know what to make of her.

“Elain…” he said softly, and then immediately corrected himself, “Ms. Archeron. This might be the most thoughtful and kind thing anyone’s ever done for me. I thank you. Truly.”

“You are welcome. It’s not a big thing, but you seemed to enjoy them.”

“More than you think. You baked for me. Made something with your hands…That means a lot.”

“Well, enjoy it,” Elain said gently, while Pinky was growling with impatience.

“Can I give him one?”

“Just the plain shortbread,” Elain allowed, and Azriel fed one of the biscuits to the overexcited dog, who chomped on it noisily and messily. “He is perpetually hungry and if he could, he’d eat the whole box. He climbed onto the chair and then somehow got on top of the table and ate a whole bowl of raspberries. That was yesterday. A couple of days before, he somehow snuck into the open drawer of the refrigerator, stole a bag of sausages, ate them all, and promptly got diarrhoea…So there is that.”

Azriel was laughing silently, his whole body shaking.

“Oh no. Why did he get the shits?”

“Because he ate like 7 or 8 sausages. He is a smallish dog. It would be the equivalent of me eating maybe 15-20 sausages. I’d get diarrhoea too!”

“Valid. What else?”

“He ate three bananas, peel and all, again by way of stealing. Then, when I wasn’t looking, he grabbed half of my cheese and onion sandwich, and ate all of that too.”

“What about the dodgy salmon?”

“Even he wouldn’t eat that!” Elain laughed. “He did eat a good heap of mash and gravy, a bread roll with butter, then proceeded to steal my sister Nesta’s steamed tofu,”

“Jesus Christ,” Azriel gasped in horror.

“Immediately spat it out,”

“Not blaming him at all. I’d spit it out too!”

“And then went to my father and cried fake pug tears to him because he was so upset that he stole and ate the wrong thing. Of course my father then had to feed him cheese and ham. As compensation of some kind. Emotional distress I am assuming?”

“My god I love him!” Azriel groaned. “I might have to steal him from you.”

“Well, then you’ll die,” she warned placidly. Azriel was laughing loudly now, considering her nonchalant tone. When he finally came to, he prodded,

“So?”

“I watched the game,” she confirmed. “You did well–one goal and two assists.”

“What about Pink?”

“Piglet watched it too. Now I can show him reruns of football games–he seems to enjoy watching things run.”

“And I am a thing that runs?” Azriel chuckled.

“You certainly are. You have incredible stamina,”

His mouth quirked and he crooned, “You have no idea…”

Elain gawked at him, and then realised what she had said, and rolled her eyes.

“You do remember, Mr. Night that I am not the one who is auditioning to be your potential wife?” She reminded him primly. “I am not the match. I am the matchmaker.”

“How can I forget? Unless you finally change your mind and just go for it,” he proposed. “You already know what you’d be signing up for with me. I have a pretty good idea about you as well. I don’t know why you are fighting this so hard?”

“Yes. I wonder why indeed.”

They were driving through the city and Piglet was panting with enjoyment, looking out the window.

Azriel gently rubbed the dog’s furry neck, relaxed against the back seat, manspreading widely. Elain threw inquisitive glances when she thought he wasn’t watching, and they mostly landed below his waist. As was his usual manner, Azriel let her look as much as she wanted. The car was big enough–even with his height and spread, there was plenty of space. So it was her choice to look, and it would be rude of him not to let her.

“I don’t want you to get so close to him,” Elain said suddenly.

Azriel looked at her quizzically.

“Piglet,” she clarified. “He is getting attached to you. He waits for you at the door,”

At that Azriel smiled, but Elain continued,

“He thinks of you as a friend.”

“I am his friend,”

“But this is all temporary. You understand that, don’t you? Once you are matched with the right person, our relationship will end. And I don’t want Piglet to think that you’ll be around, coming to play with him or be present in his and my life,”

Azriel chewed the inside of his cheek for a long while, thinking about what she said.

“It doesn’t have to end,” he said at last.

Please don’t.

Don’t end it.

“You are a client, Mr. Night,” Elain added, “I can’t imagine you’d have time for me once you are getting to know your future wife and getting married.”

“That’s it then?”

“Couple of months, maybe three, at most,” she confirmed. “That’s how long most of my associations with my clients last. One lasted a year, but that’s highly unusual. Besides, you are under a time constraint. I imagine that by January, we will be done.”

“I am sorry, but I disagree, Ms. Archeron,” Azriel said firmly. “Perhaps this is how things have gone before, but I cannot accept it. Let’s come up with a new agreement then…a new plan,”

“What sort of plan?”

“Something that would allow us to keep in touch beyond this initial agreement,”

“Like what?”

He shrugged, scrubbing his hand over his chin.

“Teach me manners?” he proposed. “Proper manners. Like a gentleman.”

Elain laughed, “I am not a miracle worker, Mr. Night. I am not sure I have the capability to do something like that.”

“You aren’t giving yourself enough credit. But for now, why don’t we just leave things as status quo. Three-four months is a long time. Lots of things could happen in that timeframe. Meanwhile, I’d like to keep meeting with you and Pinky.”

“Yes, I suppose,” she agreed, somewhat reluctantly.

“Do you not like me, Ms. Archeron?” he queried, no hesitation in his question.

“No, I wouldn’t say that,” she admitted. “But you are an usual client for me, and I struggle with reigning you in,”

“Perhaps you shouldn't try? And just let things be as they are?” he suggested. “Maybe I am not meant to be reigned in?”

“It’s beginning to look like that,” Elain sighed. “Now, where are we going? Why couldn’t we meet at my office?”

“Where is your sense of adventure?” he smiled. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Hmmm…Very, very marginally.”

“Aw, you wound me, Ms. Archeron! But I will take you to a place you’ll undoubtedly enjoy.”

Elain looked outside the window and suddenly felt Azriel’s large, heavy palm cover her hand. He was silent, but he threaded their fingers together and held her hand firmly in his.

She turned her head and breathed, ‘Mr. Night’.

He looked straight at her, his face emotionless as usual, but said just as softly ‘Ms. Archeron’. He almost dared her to say something, or tug her hand away from his, but he wouldn’t allow it, and just kept her in place. To her credit, she didn’t attempt to either.

Piglet turned his head and looked at them, assessing the hand-holding. Then, bouncing with a surplus of excitement, he jumped on Azriel, bucking and shimmying wildly, before rolling onto Elain’s lap, waiting for a belly scratch, and then slithering back on Azriel.

“See, he is on our side,” Azriel chuckled, scratching the supple rolls of fat on the pug. “He is team Elriel.”

“Team what?”

“Elriel,”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“El–for Elain, and Riel for Azriel. Duh? Do I have to teach you everything?!”

“Where do you even come up with this nonsense?” she looked at him, perplexed.

“Elriel is not nonsense, Ms. Archeron. It’s our ship name. Pinky is the first shipper.”

“My god. You’ve read too many romance novels, Mr. Night.”

“Yeah, well, it gets boring on the road,” he shrugged. “So I read.”

“Romance novels?”

“Fantasy. Dark romance. Romantasy. Whatever.”

“Romantasy?”

“Are you judging me?”

“No, no. Not at all,” she shook her head, stifling a laugh.

They crossed the river, and Elain looked around, trying to figure out where they were going.

At last, she exclaimed, “Borough Market?”

“Nope,” he popped his lips.

“Where then?!” she whined.

“Patience.”

“I want the apple crisp!” she begged.

“You always seem to want some kind of apple crisp,” he teased.

“It’s my favourite. This one has bruleed custard on top. It’s so goooddd,” she moaned.

“Maybe next time,” he promised, smiling to himself.

The appreciation that he had for Elain’s unabashed love for food and eating was hard to describe. All the other women he ever went out with insisted on salads, pretended like they weren’t hungry, opted for tofu and seaweed, and in general, avoided eating as much as possible. Elain was about tea, and custard, and cake, and hearty stews.

“We are here,” he said at last. The car parked and he went to open the door. Pinky hopped out first, and then Elain climbed out and threw her head back.

“We are going to the Shard?” she asked.

“We are!” He curled his arm offering it to her and she took it.

Elain seemed surprised, but she followed him nevertheless, while Pinky stepped in front of them with his usual self importance, like he knew where he was going. Azriel could only dream of having this dog’s confidence!

The three of them took the lift up to Shangri-La hotel and were immediately greeted by an obsequious female hostess, who looked at Azriel like he was a dick-on-a-stick.

“Mr. Night, please follow me,” she flitted about, swaying her hips, as she paid no attention to Elain, and ushered them to a table in front of the windows, which overlooked the stunning vistas of London. It felt as if they sat right on top of Tower Bridge. Piglet plastered his face against the window, snorting with amazement. Whatever he was seeing, he was very impressed.

“He is a support animal. We have all the documentation,” Azriel told the hostess, but she waved her hand at him.

“Of course, Mr. Night. That wouldn’t be a problem.”

“He is very well-behaved,” Azriel assured her, while observing Elain’s pinched little face. She wasn’t liking what was happening here.

Finally, the woman left, and Elain muttered, “Why even ask me for help? You have a ready-to-go wife right here. Wives on tap, I am sure.”

Azriel laughed at her.

“If I didn’t know you better, I would’ve thought that you were jealous, Ms. Archeron.”

“Jealous? Hardly,” she scoffed.

“Phew, I was beginning to worry that you were developing feelings for me and my company,” he snickered. “Allow me,” he offered to take her trench–something the hostess should’ve done, but apparently, she was too star struck.

Elain unbelted and shrugged the coat off and Azriel looked her over with interest that he wasn’t even trying to hide.

“Blimey,” he exhaled.

Elain wore a form-fitting nude jumper and a knee-length skirt with brown and purple abstract pattern. Frankly, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the round pair of glorious tits that the jumper did all kinds of favours for. He even liked the one strand of fat pearls around her neck.

“None. Don’t worry. But,” she looked around, “this is nice. Thank you, Mr. Night. I appreciate the thought. Imagine–I’ve never been here before. It’s been on the list of places to go, but we never could make it. So, thank you! I’ve just checked an item off my bucket list.”

“The pleasure is mine, Ms. Archeron,” he included his head. “Care to share what else is on your bucket list?”

“No,” she told him immediately, as she pulled out her IPad from her bag. “We are here to talk about you.”

He held the chair for her and she sat down.

“And here I thought that this Pink Afternoon Tea will thaw you a bit! Champagne at least?”

“I’ll have a glass,” she agreed graciously.

“You are not pregnant or anything like that, right?” he goaded her.

She rolled her eyes and told him, “Not that I am not aware of.”

“So. There is someone in your life to get pregnant by?” he pressed.

“I’ll be asking you a series of questions,” Elain said, ignoring him and his probing. “Please answer truthfully. I am building your profile. There are no right or wrong answers.”

“May I tell you something meanwhile?”

“Sure.”

“You look sexy as fuck, matchmaker. It’s dangerous.”

She sucked in her breath and nervously picked at her pearls.

“Mr. Night…”

“Ms. Archeron. I see what I see.”

At that moment, their champagne was delivered, followed by waiters with the tea service. Elain exhaled a relieved breath.

It looked spectacular–Reuben sandwiches, Truffle Egg and Cress, Smoked Salmon, Coronation Chicken–all done in various shades of pink. There were chicken liver parfaits, and tiny burgers. Pink scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. And a variety of little architecturally-impressive pastries–a layer cake with pistachios and cherries, raspberry plum cake, something called shang mont rose, and the Pink Sphere.

The Pink Afternoon Tea at the Shard (Shangri-La Hotel, London)

They even brought a bowl of water and a bowl of whipped cream for Piglet.

“It’s beautiful. Almost too beautiful to eat,” Elain commented, inspecting all the offering.

“Almost,” Azriel raised his champagne flute. “But not quite. To us, Ms. Archeron. To our tenuous friendship. Maybe it will grow into something more.”

Elain glanced at him and whispered, “maybe,” before sipping her champagne.

“I won’t be able to train properly after all this,” Azriel commented, as he bit into one of the sandwiches, “but you only live once, yeah?”

“Your first concert?” Elain asked, looking down at her IPad.

Piglet already polished all the cream off, and was now snoring softly under the table.

Azriel thought for a second, and said,

“Eminem. I was fourteen. Cass and I snuck out and slept outside all night, but we got in. It was incredible.”

She smiled and whispered, “that must have been amazing…”

“It really was.”

“Favourite movie?”

“Fight Club.”

“Favourite singer or band?”

“Led Zeppelin.”

“I could’ve guessed. You seem like the type.”

“Oh, and what type is that?”

“Old-fashioned, but rebellious.”

“What about you? Tay Tay? Adele?”

Elain wrinkled her nose.

“If we are talking singers, then it’s Amy Winehouse,” she said. “Band–it’s always the Rolling Stones.”

“Ahhh…well, that’s to be expected.”

“Why?”

“You like the classics.”

“Look at us, figuring each other out.” Her tone was vaguely sarcastic. Then she asked the next question, “First celebrity crush?”

Azriel took a while to think about that one, sipping his tea, and finishing up his little burger.

“Brad Pitt.”

“Oh?” Elain smiled. “Really?”

“He is a beautiful man. What can I say? In ‘Troy’ I think.”

“First thing you do when you wake up?”

“Think about football,” he told her instantly. “I am dedicated to my game, my team, my city. I work hard for what I do.”

“What was your dream job when you were young?”

“I didn’t think I’d have one at all,” he told her honestly. Elain didn’t know how to follow up on that statement. “Thought I’d be in a gang, or something. Maybe in prison. Maybe dead,”

“That’s…very grim,” she frowned.

“That’s the reality of those lads who I grew up with. My reality. I just happen to run well with a ball.”

“How do you think others view you?”

“They either like me or hate me. I am good looking, so some respond to that. Others cannot abide my character. I don’t care, to be honest. I only care about the opinions of very few people.”

“Who?” she asked quickly, though he suspected that it wasn’t part of the questionnaire.

“Cassian, I suppose. Rhys. My team. Coach. You.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Elain hid her face behind her cup, aimlessly picking at her sandwich, but Azriel watched her closely.

“You can’t ask questions like these and not expect uncomfortable answers,” he reminded her simply.

“Why me though?”

“For a posh, prissy bird, you are surprisingly accepting. I suppose I appreciate that, so I don’t want you to think of me…badly.”

“I don’t, you know.”

“I do. And that’s what’s so surprising. You are a nice sort of person.”

Elain adjusted her hair, trying to make herself comfortable, and asked,

“What do you not tolerate?”

“Disloyalty. Random cruelty.”

Her eyes fell on his scarred hands, while he spread some jam on his scone and popped it in his mouth. Despite the scars, his hands were attractive. Big and strong and sure.

“Where do you want to live?”

“London. It’s home. It understands me.”

“Biggest fear?”

He didn’t say anything for a while.

“I’ll tell you,” he drummed his fingers on the table, “but we say it together. You say yours, and I’ll say mine.”

“Mr. Night,” she began, but he interrupted her.

“No, Ms. Archeron. This is the way we do it. If you don’t like it, move on to the next questions.”

Elain sighed and murmured ‘fine’.

“On three then…One, two, three.”

Loneliness.

Both of them blurted the same word at the same time.

Loneliness.

Elain stared at him. A little shocked. Azriel only chuckled.

“Well then…”

He smiled again.

“I might need more Champagne.”

“I'll ask lighter questions,” she promised quickly, not commenting on their shared fear.

“Please do, before I get black out drunk at Afternoon Tea at the Shard. Do they have whiskey here?”

“Mr. Night, you aren’t drinking whiskey!”

“Not yet. But I might soon. Are you eating your burger?”

“No. You can have it.”

She typed something in her notebook and he meanwhile ate her mini burger in two bites.

“Do you wear pyjamas to bed?” came the next question, and Azriel huffed at it.

“No. I sleep completely naked.”

She cleared her throat and went on,

“Boxers or briefs?”

Azriel grinned and leaned back in his chair, as was his manner when he got comfortable and amused.

“Well, well…Boxer briefs, Ms. Archeron,” he answered with a wink. “I normally like everything to be tucked in there, and not flop in the wind.”

Elain snorted a laugh.

“You see,” he continued. “The Lord hath endowed me well in that region. There is much to hold in place. It’s like wrestling a python into my poor drawers every morning…”

“Oh, how tragic. It must be very difficult for you,” she mocked.

But Azriel didn’t miss the lovely blush that spread on her cheeks.

“It is a struggle, but one that I accepted humbly. Wouldn’t be surprised if they could see it all the way in America. Makes our American cousins all kinds of edgy seeing a British cock in all its glory.”

“Oh my god,”

Leaning towards her, he whispered conspiratorially, “don’t tell Cassian. He gets a bit…competitive.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Elain promised.

“Hardly a secret. Anything else you’d like to know, matchmaker? Or see?”

“The most significant of your tattoos?” she hopped over his proposition just like that.

He rubbed his chest, and said, “A Churchill quote: It is the time to dare and endure.”

“Is that something that helps you?”

“Something to keep me grounded when things get tough. I also have this one,” he pointed to his forearm. “Arsenal crest. And a Union Jack on my shoulder.”

The next question was Azriel’s favourite. Elain asked,

“Maradona or Pele?”

“Diego Armando Maradona,” he said at once.

“Do you believe in god?”

“No.”

“Can you change a tyre?”

“Yes.”

“The first thing you look at in a woman?”

“Her gaze. Her look.”

“Have you ever been in love?” she asked quickly, without raising her eyes from the tablet.

“No. Never. Have you?” he asked quickly.

“This isn’t about me,”

“Answer the question,” he ordered.

“No, Mr. Night. I have not been in love. Do you want to marry?”

“Seems like I have to.”

“If you didn’t need to.”

“Marriage changes little, but if the woman wants it, then yes, I would marry.”

“And children? Would you like to have children?”

“Yes. Four.”

She glanced at him and repeated, “Four?”

“Yes. Four.”

“What do you know how to cook?”

“Steak. Only the best eggs you’ve ever eaten. Really good lamb stew. A bacon sandwich. You won’t go hungry with me, pretty matchmaker. Don’t worry.”

“Is this another proposal?”

“Always!” he grinned at her. “Now that you know everything about me, am I making a more appealing candidate?”

“I am sure that you are, for others. I am not looking for a husband, Mr. Night,” she reminded him dryly.

“Why hasn’t the ginger bloke closed the deal?” Azriel started on the pastries, popping one of them in his mouth whole. That solicited a frown from Elain, but he only smiled at her. “What’s he waiting for?”

“Why do you think it’s the man, and not me?”

“You are a fucking matchmaker, princess. Of course you wanna get married. Come on now,” he bubbled his lips. “It’s like saying I am a footballer, but I don’t want to win the Ballon D’Or. Of course I do. Probably no chance of it, but nevertheless, the dream is there.”

“Maybe, hypothetically, I want to get married. But it’s nothing and to no one specific,” she finally relented.

“Well, that’s a start,” he smiled. “Anything else? What do you want to know? My favourite colour? It’s cobalt blue, by the way. Funny how you wore a skirt in that colour the first time we met. You think it’s a sign?” he winked at her.

“No. I do not.”

“You are so hard to impress,” he complained jokingly. “Tough little cookie. But I’ll break that hard exterior and will get to the soft, gooey inside, the delicious centre.”

“Mr. Night, please remember that ours is a professional relationship. You aren’t breaking me in or whatever it is you just said. It definitely sounded wholly inappropriate.

“I, however, must ask you more personal questions…Which, honestly, I am dreading,” she added sombrely.

Azriel stretched his very long legs under the table and crossed them at the ankles, before lacing his fingers on his stomach and smiling like an asshole at her.

“Come on then, pretty matchmaker. Bring it on! I won’t put the moves on you–unless you want me to–and I will behave,”

“Why am I doubting everything you just said?” she whispered with a heavy sight.

“Oh, don’t. Come on, ask away!”

“I preferred you when you were reluctant and a moody arsehole, like you were at our first meeting.”

“Oh, I am still that. Don’t worry. But I am making an effort here and want to make your life a bit easier.”

“How are you in bed, Mr. Night?” she blurted out. “Any specific preferences that a prospective match should know about? Dominant? Submissive? Rough? BDSM? Any fetishes? Any musts? Any hard limits? And how do you feel about fidelity?”

“Well, fuck me that’s a lot of questions! I think I will have that whiskey after all.”

They waited for his whiskey to be delivered and Azriel took a sip, smacking his lips with appreciation.

“You are a bad influence, Ms. Archeron,” he told her. “You make me want to live.”

She looked at him and his declaration with surprise.

“And you don’t live otherwise?”

“I dunno. With you, things seem…easier. Lighter? Like I don't have to worry about my form constantly, or think about the game, or training, or restrict myself. It’s nice, you know. It feels like there is more to the world, and to my life than what I am used to. I can have a drink, and have some pastries, and wear a suit…Not just trainers that sponsor me, or salads and leafy greens and lean protein.”

Elain smiled, “You sound like my sister Nesta. She is a dancer. She is very careful about what she eats,”

“Hence the tofu that makes Pinky sick.”

“Indeed.”

He resumed his position, with his hands on his stomach and then said,

“I am rough. As a lover.”

Elain stopped typing in her IPad and stared at him, clearly not expecting this nugget of info to drop on her lap.

“Rough?” she repeated at last. “As in…violent?”

He chuckled.

“Nah, I ain’t violent, pretty girl.”

“Mr. Night,” she snapped.

“Sorry, sorry. Ms. Archeron–where I come from, fucking is quick, hard, rough and unromantic. There ain’t no flickering candles, soft music, gauzy curtains,”

“I am impressed and a bit alarmed that you just used the word ‘gauzy’,” Elain commented.

“All, I’ve been hitting the dictionary every night. Picking up fancy words to impress you with!”

“You should be impressing your future matches,” she reminded him with a meaningful look, and he nodded in acquiescence.

“Yeah, I remember. The matches.”

“So, you are rough,” Elain repeated.

“Listen–on and off for a few years, I didn’t even have a place to sleep when I was a teen. Three months with one family, six weeks with another, four days with another…Stretches of time in between where Cass and me had to fend for ourselves. But you know…needs must and all. My dick was a teenage dick regardless of what my family situation was, so I had to get it where I could.”

Elain listened without commenting, her face expressionless. Azriel wasn’t sure if she was shocked, or repulsed, or judging him. That damn poker face of hers was on point.

“And where could I get it? Against the wall near the chippy, or on a park bench, or in a stairwell. That doesn’t bode well for lengthy sessions of tender lovemaking.

“So I go in pretty rough. I’ll make you come–a lady, I’ll make a lady come–but if she is looking for prim and proper that ain’t me.”

He scrubbed his hand over his face.

“I ain’t mean, Ms. Archeron. I am an athlete–I am controlled and powerful. Before I took up football, I used to box. There wasn’t much else to do where we lived, and because Cass and I were so big, we joined the local church’s boxing club. It taught me how to control my strength, my physicality, and my size. There ain’t ever been a need to be physically rough with the girl. Why? What’s she gonna do against me, you know?”

“Anything else?”

“All that other stuff you’d mentioned–BDSM, dom and sub–I don’t have any interest in that. I don’t particularly like inflicting pain, especially not on women. But if you’d like me to spank you or tie you up, I’ll tie you up. Whatever you fancy, Ms. Archeron.”

Elain blushed violently and adorably, as she scrambled to pretend to type something.

“So you do like to be spanked?” he grinned at her. He knew that she was fake typing right now.

She squirmed in her chair, and woke up Piglet, when she poked him with her foot. He snorted his disappointment and then emerged from under the table and immediately looked at Azriel with a pleading gaze.

“I saved you a sandwich,” Azriel chuckled, tearing a piece of the sandwich and feeding it to the pug. “Coronation chicken, no less.”

Piglet began chomping on the sandwich with delight, finding a kindred spirit in Azriel.

“I am still waiting for an answer, Ms. Archeron,” Azriel teased. “Spanking? Tying up? Are you a dom? Or do you like to submit? And before you tell me that this is not about you, I’d still like to know.”

“Well, this is not about me,” she hissed.

Azriel cocked his head to the side and looked at her with a humoured look in his eyes, asking,

“Are you a virgin?”

“For god’s sake, Mr. Night! Why are you asking me this?!” she demanded, scandalised.

“No shame in that,” he said lightly. “If you are, I mean. I am not judging.”

“Well, I am not, Mr. Night. I am a grown woman. And not a virgin. Are you the one who is going to be asking questions now?!”

“Yes, now I am kind of into it. What’s your favourite colour?”

“Pink!” she snapped.

“How about favourite food?”

“Sushi!”

“Cold raw fish–yum. But like I said before, no judgement.”

“Feels like judgement,”

“What else can I ask?”

“Nothing!”

“Do you find me handsome?”

“No!” she cried out.

“No? But I am a handsome footballer, what’s wrong with me?”

“Your gigantic ego.”

“Ego just corresponds to other parts of my anatomy,” he shrugged innocently.

“Oh lord. We are quite finished here, Mr. Night. I think we should get the bill.”

“I think I’d like another whiskey,” he argued.

“Well, you’ll be drinking it alone.”

“Naw…Pink is staying here with me. I am feeding him sandwiches and you know he ain’t going anywhere. Sit that pretty plump arse of yours down, Ms. Archeron. We’ll go soon enough.”

She pouted, but her traitorous dog was only proving Azriel correct, as he slurped his water and chewed on the sandwich that Azriel kept feeding him.

“My arse isn’t plump,” she muttered.

He glanced at her and smiled, “I’ll be the judge of that,” he decided. “Hope the ginger bloke appreciates your arse and worships it the way it deserves to be worshipped. It’s a hella nice coupla buns. Sorry and all…but I noticed,”

“No. More. Whiskey.” Elain ordered, wiping her brow. She was going to lose 10 kilos by the time all of this was going to be over. This man needed to be in some special institution.

“I know what kind of a wife I want!” he suddenly declared, rubbing his hands excitedly.

“Oh you do, do you? Please tell. I am…well, scared, but also intrigued.”

“I want the kind of girl who kisses me at red lights.”

“That’s actually…kind of romantic,” Elain agreed, surprised. He made no sense this man, but he definitely kept her on her toes.

“Yeah, kind of like she can’t even wait to give me a hot and sloppy one. So she waits until we are at a red light and goes for it.”

Meanwhile, Piglet finished his sandwich and ambled towards the massive wall of windows, looking out with great interest. Because he was wearing his Burberry jacket, and now stood in front of a window overlooking the Gherkin, the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, charmed tourists and other guests began pointing at him and oohing and ahhing with delight, completely awed by the stylish pug.

“They gonna start taking photos of him.” Azriel whispered to Elain, and she smiled, nodding, while she quickly snapped a pic of her own.

“Going on his Insta?” he joked, while the waiter brought another whiskey. Azriel figured that he might not be leaving here any time soon. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in god knows how long.

“Obviously!” she tapped something quickly on her phone and in the next minute, showed it to him.

It was an amazing photo, considering that she barely even moved to take it–but Piglet looked like he was floating above the city, his expression pensive, his jacket on point, every landmark below him captured with crisp precision.

Enjoying London Town #puginthesky #whenpugsfly #puglyfe

“How do you even come up with these so quickly?” he shook his head, but then quickly requested, “send it to me. I want to have it. Also, it’s a gorgeous pic!”

“Thank you.”

Elain reached for her bag and then withdrew a folder, which she lay on the table, between the two of them.

“What’s that?”

“Mr. Night, I wanted to mention this before we go further.”

“Sounds ominous,” he huffed.

“Are you currently…sexually active?”

He cocked his brow at her and chuckled, “what a question, Ms. Archeron! Why? Are you interested?”

She ignored the suggestive quip and said, “It’s just that it would be preferential if you maintain a certain amount of abstinence while being matched. You can certainly decide to engage in sexual relations with the match when the two if you are ready, but I would ask you to treat it as you would a normal relationship…”

“I’ve never been in a relationship,” he sipped his whiskey. “So I am no expert. But I think I can manage it.”

“You truly haven’t been in a relationship?”

“No. Not really.”

“And yet you can abstain?” she confirmed.

“Matchmaker,” he sighed, “I am almost 30, I have some self-control. It’s been a while since I’ve lost control over pussy,”

“Mr. Night!”

“Sorry, sexual relations. Listen, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my youth. Nothing too terrible, but I should’ve done better. Now I am the Captain, and the younger lads look up at me. I want to do right by them, make sure that their careers don’t blow up, that they are careful with their money and the women that they are with. With us–you can get one injury, and it could be career ending. Everything you’ve been counting on, planning on, expecting, working for a decade towards–poof, gone! All because someone made a bad tackle, or you ran wrong, or a ligament snapped. And you are left with nothing, all the contracts and games and endorsements are gone just like that,” he snapped his fingers. “Everyone thinks they’ll be a Ronaldo, or a Messi, or a Zidane, but that’s untrue for most players.

“So now, I feel a sense of responsibility. Look at me–I am an old fucker,” he laughed. “But it’s true. So yeah, I can abstain. When we travel, I don’t party all that much. After dinner, I usually go back to the hotel and play Candy Crush. Or read dark romances.”

At that, Elain giggled, “you do not read dark romances!” she argued.

“Yeah I fuckin’ do!” he insisted.

“Such a liar!”

“Telling you,”

“Okay, so what are you reading currently?”

“Shantel Tessier’s ‘Carnage’,” he reported immediately.

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s super smutty,” was the verdict.

“You do not read Shantel Tessier!” Elain gawked at him adorably, completely taken aback.

“You’d be incorrect. Listen, I had an injury a couple of years ago and was in rehab for two months. I was bored out of my mind. The nurse who was taking care of me got me hooked up on dark romances. I fuckin’ love that shite!” he admitted excitedly. “You ladies write some bloody crazy shit. Never read anything like that written by a man!”

Azriel glanced in Pinky’s direction and smiled widely. The pug was legitimately posing for photos and creating a mini stampede around him. He was even giving over the shoulder looks, not to mention all sorts of side and front poses, knowing exactly what needed to be done to gain the most reaction.

“Hey mate, you can photograph him, but don’t touch him,” Azriel said protectively, when some guy wanted to pick the dog up. “He doesn’t like anyone but me and my girl touching him. He bites.”

Maybe the truth was stretched a bit, but whatever. It worked, because the bloke stepped back cautiously and didn’t attempt to touch the dog anymore.

‘I am not your girl,” Elain said quietly, crimping the napkin on her lap.

“No. But you could be. Nothing’s stopping you,” he said simply.

With that, Elain pushed the folder towards him and explained,

“Your first match”.

#elriel #elriel fanfic #my writing #elain archeron #azriel #azriel and elain #elain #pro elriel #elain x azriel #A Match Baked In Heaven #new chapter #Acotar Fanfiction #Elriel fanfiction #elriel fic #acotar

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moog-rt · 1 year

Text

ᴄʏʙᴇʀʙᴜʟʟʏ [ʀɪꜱᴇ!ᴅᴏɴɴɪᴇ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ]

PART ONE

Links to parts: one two three four five

Summary:

Fate brought you and that purple-clad turtle together in the form of endless battles of code.You were a purple dragon recruit, and he was your target. He plays your games as you tease him with the slim possibility of victory.

You may just let him win if you are feeling particularly merciful.

Notes:

enemies to lovers (I think?); slow burn; takes place after the movie; reader is a villain

If you’d prefer to read it on Ao3, here’s the link:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/43043685/chapters/108159981#workskin

Otherwise, enjoy!

♡ ♡ ♡

“God, dammit!” Donatello threw himself back into his pimped-out desk chair, hands dragging themselves down his face as he groaned. “How could this happen?” His human friend beside him perked up at his frustrated tone.

“Uh, everything good, D?” April asked, grateful to have a reason to turn her attention away from her biology assignment. You know…that assignment that Donnie was supposed to be helping her with before he got sucked into his computer.

“No, everything is not good. In fact, everything is quite bad!” he began to raise his voice. “It seems that one of our old purple dragon friends decided to hack into my system to get access to some of my blueprints…” Queue an eye twitch of rage. “And they very much succeeded…” He began muttering and laughing to himself. It had all happened almost in an instant. One second, all of his servers were fine, untouched and secure. The next, some black hat hacker had busted right through his firewalls without any warning at all, and just like that, his blueprints were gone…

“Well? What are we waiting for then? Let’s go kick their sorry asses!” April hyped, throwing a fist in the air with a determined grin. Donnie met her enthusiasm, jumping up on his chair and pumping his tech-bo above his head with a maniacal smile.

“Yes! We shall show them what is to come when you attempt to hack Sir Othello Von Ryan!” He began laughing madly, leaping from his chair to start gathering his equipment. Time for things to get physical. April began packing her bag as quickly as she could manage. However, she was stopped in her tracks as she heard her phone go off from a text message, quickly picking it up to check who it was.

“Ah… actually, Donnie, I’m gonna have to put a raincheck on that. One of my classmates wants to meet up to work on that bio assignment I was telling you about.” She threw her backpack over her shoulder and waltzed out, leaving the poor turtle dumbstruck.

“Huh, but what about the—huh?”

♡ ♡ ♡

God, you were good.

You couldn’t stop the wide grin from spreading across your face. Who could blame you though? You had just broken through the firewall of one of the strongest security systems you’ve had the pleasure of coming in contact with, and boy was it fun. You got to play around with some algorithms you hadn’t had the chance to use yet, and they worked like a charm. On top of that, you were now in possession of some pretty cool blueprints for a variety of tech, from drones, to multitools, to sentient AI…

They were incredible designs.

The person you hacked must be some crazy genius. Their cyber security as solid as they come, and to have the ability to design such complex technology, considering all the knowledge of physics, engineering, and everything in between that was needed to create them… Incredible. Simply incredible.

You picked up your phone, ignoring all the notifications you had received and sending the blueprints over to Kendra. She got back to you almost immediately, sending praise for your quick and efficient work. Your heart swelled with pride. Of course, you already knew that you were fairly skilled when it came to coding and whatnot, but to have someone like Kendra acknowledging your good work felt nice… especially since it was your first assignment as a purple dragon.

Flopping down on your bed with a happy sigh, you decided it was probably best to get started on some of your homework. You scrolled through your contacts to find your lab partner’s name, shooting her a text to see if she’d be down to work on one of your assignments together. She gave you a warning when you were first assigned to each other that her area of expertise lay outside the realms of STEM, to which you offered to help her out to the best of your abilities. You weren’t the biggest bio nerd around, but it was an interesting subject, and you knew enough to be a good tutor to your upperclassman.

She, too, responded with lightning speed, eager to meet up and work together. The two of you agreed to meet at her place, and she promptly sent you her address. It wasn’t too far by transit, so you got your things together before starting your trek over. You let her know when you arrived so she could meet you to let you in. When she greeted you at the entrance to her building, you noticed she was breathing a bit heavily, and there was just a touch of sweat above her eyebrow.

“You good? You seem a bit out of breath, girly,” you said, giving her a gentle nudge with your elbow. She let out a breathy laugh in response.

“Oh, I am fine. Don’t you worry. I just got a little caught up in something, so I had to run a bit to beat you here,” she smiled, waving you off.

“Huh? You should have told me! I would have been totally fine coming later—”

“Nah, girl, seriously, I think you actually saved me from getting caught up in some nonsense tonight,” she chuckled, and unlocked the door to her apartment, allowing you in first.

Her place looked incredibly cozy. It wasn’t too spacious nor too cramped. Décor was strewn about tastefully, and there were fairy lights draped around the perimeter of her living room, creating a welcoming ambiance.

“April, this is such a nice setup,” you beamed.

“Why thank you very much!” She put her hands on her hips with a smile in return. “Now set your stuff down and get comfy. You want something to drink?”

“Water is good. Thank you!” You plopped down on April’s couch, pulling your laptop out of your bag to take a look at the assignment. She soon joined you after handing you the water, and the two of you began working through the problems. Luckily, most of the problems were addressing fairly basic vocabulary and cellular functions, which you could get through easily enough. April got stumped just a couple of times, but you were happy to explain anything she was having trouble understanding.

You eventually found yourselves working on the final question of the problem set. This one proved to be a bit more of a doozy. It was asking about the lipid bilayer that forms the cell wall, but it was more of a problem-solving question rather than just a test of basic knowledge. It even challenged you quite a bit, leaving you stumped for a minute or so. When you finally came to a conclusion, April had come to her own, as well. You both blurted out your solutions at the same time. They were very much not the same.

“Uh… April, I still don’t see how you got that answer…” You scratched behind your ear as you stared at the page of scribbles your classmate had created in an attempt to show you her thought process.

“It’s because the lipids have more kinks in them that the bilayer is more fluid as a whole—” you began to explain, however, she interjected again to argue for her own point. Your little debate went on for several more minutes. Papers filled with diagrams and chicken scratch began covering April’s once tidy floor.

“Okay, you know what?” The spunky girl whirled around to reach for her phone which was about 5 feet away from her. She stretched out way more than you would have thought possible, grabbed the phone, and sprang back into her previous sitting position. “Imma just call my nerd friend real quick.” She smiled at you with gritted teeth, eyes not leaving your form as she aggressively typed on her phone.

It didn’t even ring for a single round before her friend picked up. She immediately put the guy on speaker, not giving him a chance to even get a simple “hello” in as she was already explaining the whole situation at an inhuman speed. There was a moment of silence on the other end, and you both waited, biting at your nails in anticipation.

“So—uh… Yeah, no. Your friend’s answer is pretty much perfect,” the guy stated.

“Ha-HA!” Immediately, you threw your fist into the air in celebration of your academic victory. April slumped with her arms crossed and bottom lip jutted out just slightly.

“This ain’t fair,” she pouted. You giggled leaning over to her phone.

“Thank you, April’s friend,” you sang. Again, it was silent until you heard the quiet sound of his throat being cleared.

“Ah—uh… Yeah, it was—” The poor guy had to take another break to clear his throat before proceeding to speak with a bit more confidence. “It was totally no probles. Sciency stuff is kind of my thing, so if you ever need a tutor—”

“Okay. Donnie? I’m gonna have to stop you right there before you embarrass yourself,” April cut in. She put him off of speaker, but you could still vaguely make out some hollering from his end. “Buh-bye now!”

“He seems like a funny dude,” you chuckled. “Maybe next time we should invite him to the study group. He seems to know his shit.” The other girl sweat-dropped at this and began playing with her fingers.

“Yeah, maybe just over the phone… He’s kinda got this thing…” she trailed off, seemingly trying to think of the right word to use.

“This thing…?” you echoed, urging her to continue explaining. You didn’t actually mind, but now you were curious.

“He’s—uh…”

You waited.

“He’s just really shy!” You stared at her and allowed your head to tip to the side. She was giving you a wide toothy smile, not meeting your eyes as beads of sweat ran down her face. She was clearly desperate for you to be appeased by that excuse. Lucky for her, you were a merciful god and accepted her explanation. Besides, if you really wanted to know, you could easily find out.

Now that you finished your bio assignment, the two of you decided to spend a while longer working on other assignments. April had turned on some chill lyric-less music and brought over a good variety of snacks. You guys worked for a while until there was nothing major left to do, and you lost yourselves in simple chit-chat. It was now fairly late, however, so you decided to finally part ways until your next shared lecture.

Your journey back home was just a bit chillier, but still rather quick. You tapped into your building, jotting in the passcodes where they were needed, and made your way to your bedroom swiftly. Throwing yourself onto your desk chair, you spun around twice before stopping in front of your PC. A nice big warning message that your servers were now under attack greeted you. Your heart skipped a beat, and a wide grin was forcing its way onto your face once again.

Your dear friend was deciding to fight back.

♡ ♡ ♡

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arisunakayama · 2 years

Text

Pandora’s Box

Agency Founder!Reader Meeting the Main Three + 2BDamned

May be a little long, sorry there’s a lot for reader considering they are in the place of my OC. So instead if your name being “Pandora” you’ll have it as your Alias while keeping (Y/n) as well. Reader will have gender neutral pronouns, but still will be fem presenting.

Before meeting the main four along with building your own agency you used to work at the AAHW as a drill instructor. And a really good and brutal one at that.

This was also before the AAHW had even decided to clone soldats. Every month you’d rotate about a platoon worth of newer grunts that had been cloned, and turn them into the Soldats you see in the MadCom series or Project Nexus.

Those who failed the requirements of becoming a soldat would either become the regular agents, or if they failed really bad, they’d become a janitor or whatever the agency does with them. You honestly couldn’t care less about them. In this world, it’s either you kill someone, or you end up being a bandit’s next meal.

You had a knack for drilling them deep into the ground with learning the basics of shooting, handling, cleaning, disassemble and reassemble their weapons along with moving tactically and reading each other efficiently. After that, you’d move onto the next rotation. Repeating the same thing over and over again. Until you quit that was.

The reason why you quit was because of the really horrid pay the agency would give you for producing high functioning and dangerous soldats. That and the sexual harassment you’d constantly face. Unlucky for them, you’d make an example out of them. Though it seems that some of the grunts in that god awful agency wouldn’t learn.

So as a big fuck you, you left the AAHW and created a new one with the soldats you knew thought about going AWOL. You were just that push. Of course you’d have them dress differently, they were their own people now that they were gone from the place they were created from. Still it you could tell that the GO4s had a harder time adjusting considering they would just stare at you and wait for your orders of a new job that was given to you. But hey, they made great mercenaries for your company anyways. So why not put it to use?

Though this one grunt, Charlie is what they called themselves, seemed to have a knack a cyber security and attacks. So you ended up making them your agency’s CyberSecurity and Hacker. You two ended up bonding pretty well actually

Though your company ended growing more than you expected with people who were out on the streets struggling willing to do anything. Plus they heard that your agency pays well too along with housing and feeding them. They heard about the job openings of your newly formed agency and took the risk. Now you and the GO4s act as Drill Instuctors for the new recruits who come in before sending them off to their first job. Of course there’d be some that don’t make it back, but that was also why you sent them in teams.

There’d be times you’d take in the bigger fish yourself considering your skill was much more honed than the others. You didn’t want to put your own lower enlisted mercs through that anyways. Though you’d take in the ones who you knew were able to handle it.

There was a time out of pure boredom you decided to open up a nightclub, called “Eden’s Gate” to your surprise it ended up doing well. But that’s for something later.

Your agency ended up growing bigger than you expected to where your agency, which was now called Pandora’s Box, ended up having to expand to different parts of the city. Of course you had the trusted GO4s run those parts of the agency. Though for extra precautions, you had Charlie keep an eye on them.

You sat in your office, filling out paperwork for one of the mercenaries who had finished their job and was now having some time to recover considering how wounded they were coming back. As an extra, you ended up paying them a little more along with covering their medical expenses. You sighed, leaning back into your chair before hearing the familiar tune that would play whenever Charlie would call you. It cane from your earpiece.

They explain to you that someone was here to see you. Of course, you were confused. You hadn’t schedule a meeting with someone. Grabbing your gun that rested on top of your desk and putting it into the holster that was on your hip, you go down to the lobby of you HQ only to be faced with the one and only 2BDamned

{2BDAMNED}

2BDamned would probably be the one who would’ve caught wind of you first before the other three. He had heard of the AAHW soldats were becoming more sloppy than the usual trouble they used to be. Though he just chalked it up to all that cloning the AAHW would do. Deimos had mentioned about the cloning process not being perfect so there’d be things the next gen wouldn’t have that the previous one did. But right now he was focused on another thing.

He had heard of a new agency coming up and thriving really well. A little too well to where they had to expand to different parts of the Nexus city. Apparently, its name was Pandora’s Box. But that wasn’t what caught his interest, if anything it was that your agency was rapidly growing that was what caught his interest.

He would to attempt pull up information on your agency, let along you, only to find out that your information was heavily secured. Of course, he’d have Deimos decrypt it. Though Deimos was pretty damn frustrated with how complicated the encryption was, he was able get it through in the end.

His interest in you would peak even high after reading what information he had gotten on you. Apparently you had used to work at the AAHW as a Drill Instructor for the Soldats. And a pretty harsh one too at that. He watched the videos that were put up from the security cams from the AAHW, watching you smother a soldat’s face into the ground with your boot after he had said something snarky about you. Like you said, you’d make an example out of him.

Other videos would include your marksmanship and how agile you were. It almost rivaled to Hank’s. Though your strength on the other hand, Hank easily outshines you on that. But you had your technique to make up for that, seeing as you had brought a G0L3M onto their knees. 2B would also read the reports of several soldats going AWOL as soon as you left. Ones that were on the watchlist of the AAHW. Apparently they had all left with you. And considering that you left, he had found the reason to why the quality in the soldats in the AAHW had declined.

He made it his priority to seek you out, it’d probably be best their best interest to have someone like you to become an ally to the Anti-AAHW. Let alone help snuff out the AAHW. He told the main three that he would be out in a couple of days. Sanford was the only one to have questioned him, only to be told that it would be something that would help them out in the long run.

Now this is where you are standing right in front of him, arms crossed as you look at him with your guard up. Of course the other mercenaries were out in the lobby, watching you two making sure nothing ends up going haywire while doing what they were doing before 2B had entered into the HQ building.

“I assume you must be who they, Pandora?” His red goggles shining in the light as his voice was lightly muffled from his mask. 2B looks up from his holopad and straight into yours.

“Your assumptions would be correct, Mr. 2BDamned… May I ask, of all other people, why you are here?” You let out long exhale through your nostril. It was obvious you were careful around this man, considering he was also working with that Hank guy and his friends. Or could you even call them that?

“I’d like to talk to you about a possible partnership with the Anti-AAHW” That was what had peaked your interest along with the others who were inside the room at the time. You raise your eyebrow, the corner of your lips cocked upwards giving 2B a crooked smile.

“I’m listening…”

From there the two of you would talk about your agencies’ partnership, what the two of you would be giving to each other and what you’d be receiving back.

2BDamned thought of you as someone who was serious and cooperative. Let alone professional enough to where he finds you pleasant to work with and be around. Unlike the other three. Aside from Sanford, but even he sometimes had his moments.

2B would give you a couple of jobs, ones where you knew that you only had to do it. He’d pay of course, let alone exchange enough info with you for you to carry out and complete it. Anything to get whatever he needed you to do. He also made sure to guarantee that he would have tour back as long as you have theirs.

In exchange, you carried out the job and shipped weapon crates to them, provided extra mercenaries and had Charlie given them back info on whatever place they needed to be scouted.

2BDamned did think about when the other three may have to meet you soon. And honestly, he wondered how fast you and the others would clear. Though considering Hank doesn’t like to work with people, it may take a minute… At least for him anyways. Too bad, he needed to suck it up anyways.

{HANK J. WIMBLETON}

Hank had met you when 2B had set him up with a partner, despite him knowing how he hates working with people. Let alone random strangers. He tolerated the other two, but still prefers going on solos. He didn’t really talk to you, only staring at you through his red goggles before giving an irritated grunt.

2BDamned scolded him for it, saying how rude for him to act the way he was. But he didn’t care. Especially after he knows he could complete a whole raid on the AAHW himself. Still 2B didn’t let up and forces him to go on a raid with you.

The ride there was silent between the two of you, the only time the two of you had talk was when the two of you had spoke about what this raid was even for. Well more of you than him. Apparently it was for intel, why couldn’t 2B just send Deimos with him instead of this random grunt? You say nothing as it didn’t pertain to the job prior. Other than that, you both said nothing to each other.

When you two get to the agency building you were assigned to, you could imagine Hank’s relief when you said the two of you will split for this. And that he was going to be the main focus of all the chaos that would be ensured in the building. Meaning he will be the one providing a good distraction for you.

Good, he preferred having more things to slaughter anyways. Plus he didn’t have to deal with you if you had gotten shot. Not like he would’ve left you for dead anyways if you ever did.

When the two of you split, Hank had wasted no time kicking up the genocide that happens every time he raids an AAHW building. How the rush of adrenaline and bloodlust ran through his veins as he would pop one of the agent’s head open, scattering blood and brain matter all over the floor and his fellow co-workers before going to the next one.

He didn’t know how long it was, all he knew was that he had gone through multiple rooms already. But what caught him off guard the most was when he had entered a room and saw the same carnage he had brought to those behind him. Except this time he wasn’t the one who had done this.

Not only that, Hank notices the clean cuts to the neck of the agents and soldats that were lying in their own pool of blood, both red and yellow creating that muddy looking orange. Hell even the shots they had taken were straight to the dome.

Then he remembered you were still on this mission with him.

He wasn’t going to lie, he was honestly impressed to find someone who can deal this much damage and was efficient enough to know what they were doing with a blade.

That was until he had walked into the room where you were located in. That being the east wing of the building where you had pinged him.

When he reaches to your location, you walk through the door from the room you had pinged him from. You were unscathed other than the yellow and crimson blood that coated your hands. You only gave Hank a side glance before brushing past him.

He looks inside the room. It was nothing but broken bodies everywhere. Tables broken with soldats who lay on top of it, unmoving. Gunshot holes littering the entire room. Hell he had seen an agent who was impaled through the bottom of his chin from the broken glass of the window, the faint gurgling noises coming from him before silence.

You called out to Hank, ushering him to hurry up so the two of you can finally go home. He only stares at the room before looking back at you. You raise an eyebrow before clicking your tongue against the roof of your mouth as you grew more and more impatient with him.

When Hank had gotten back from the raid 2B had sent him, he had gone to his office and mentioned something about you.

“What of them? They got what I needed you two to get me. Leave them be, Hank.” 2BDamned didn’t even bother looking up from his laptop.

He asks 2B where he’s found them only to be met with a sigh.

That was when 2B had explained to Hank who the reader was to the agency and why they were working with them. But all in all, Hank still didn’t care. He was intrigued, yes. But this also meant he had to tolerate another person when working with them.

{DEIMOS & SANFORD}

Deimos and Sanford would probably be next to meet you, but at the HQ of your agency. Something about grabbing a hard drive that contained intel from the previous raid that you had gone to with Hank.

If anything Doc would be the one to send them if he was too busy to even come visit you due to other affairs that needed to be taken care of.

The two of them would probably be skeptical around you, especially Sanford considering he was the more cautious one out of the two. If anything it was what probably kept him and Deimos alive. Though he would have to trust you just enough if Doc was willing to put this much effort in creating an alliance with you and your agency.

Deimos on the other hand would be more intrigued with you, asking probing questions while trying to get more information out of you. He also seemed to like seeing what made you tick. Not only that, he never got to see what was inside whatever contents Doc wanted him to decrypt. Surely you had something to do with it.

Though the two would probably warm up to you after a while of coming back and forth to pick up intel and weaponry shipments that were to be made to 2BDamned as per deal for the Anti-AAHW. They’d still warm up to you faster than Hank would considering he still doesn’t trust you nor does he like going on clear out raids with someone.

Deimos would still keep trying to poke and prod at getting more information.

There was a time he tried to hack into your system only to be met with an error along with the message “Nice try loser :)”

His pride was definitely hurt along with stringing out a few curse words

Sanford found it hilarious, especially when he had told you right in front of him.

You flash both of them a smile before giving them a shrug and a wink.

“I just have a really good security system.”

Deimos would curse under his breath as Sanford chuckled before patting his back.

“If you guys are actually serious about knowing where I came from, just ask nicely instead of asking invasive ones. Let alone try to hack in my shit…”

Deimos took no hesitation on asking where you came from. Let alone what you did before you ended up becoming a founder for your agency.

“I used to work as a Drill Instructor for the AAHW. Left cause the pay was utter dog shit.” You shrugged.

“Wait wait wait, you worked as a Drill Instructor for the AAHW? How the fuck did I not see you during my time there?!”

“Wait, you were the reason why the Soldats were a pain in the ass before they starting getting sloppy? Holy fuckin shit.”

Least to say the two of them were baffled to find out you of all people were one who trained the Soldats to be inconveniences before the sudden drop in discipline.

#madness combat #madcom x reader #madness combat x reader #deimos x reader #deimos x sanford #deimos x sanford x reader #hank j wimbleton x reader #2bdamned x reader

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mariacallous · 8 days

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As the presidential election approaches, and conspiracies about the integrity of the electoral system ramp up, election deniers and conspiracists have coalesced around a narrative they plan to push ahead of November: Blame the immigrants.

And not only that, election deniers are now advocating for a far-right sheriff’s group called the Constitutional Sheriffs to recruit an army of like-minded citizens to patrol polling stations and stop the “expected flood” of “illegal” immigrant voters.

Constitutional Sheriffs are a group of elected sheriffs around the country who believe that they hold the ultimate power in their county, and are not answerable to any federal or state authority. They also believe that all of their power stems directly from the constitution.

And the issue of immigration is currently igniting them.

“[Immigrants] have already disrupted the election because they are getting registered to vote,” Richard Mack, a former sheriff who is the founder of the far–right Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA), tells WIRED. “That is election fraud; these people are not qualified to vote. They are going to vote for whoever got them here and gave them a bunch of free stuff to get here, and of course that’s the Democrat Party, who are complicit in all of this.”

Mack spoke at the CSPOA conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, where over 100 attendees listened to speaker after speaker on stage push the debunked claim that immigrants voting for President Joe Biden posed the greatest threat to the integrity of the presidential election.

Bob Songer from Klickitat County in Washington state, another Constitutional Sheriff who also spoke at the event, told the audience that he already had a “posse” of 150 deputized citizens. He also shared a guide with other sheriffs on how to build their own “posse,” including a 32-page guide on policies and procedures, reviewed by WIRED.

Speakers at the conference included a number of other Constitutional Sheriffs, people jailed for taking part in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, right-wing media figures, alternative health practitioners pushing debunked treatments like med-beds, entrepreneurs working along the US-Mexico border, and GOP candidates running for office in November. In the wake of 2020, bogus claims that the elections were stolen focused on ballot stuffing, mail-in ballots, and election machine malfunctions; but in 2024 and at the CSPOA conference on Wednesday, the focus for most of these speakers was on the border.

Leading the charge was Michael Flynn, former president Donald Trump’s disgraced former national security adviser, who has been one of the loudest promoters of election conspiracies since 2020, when many GOP leaders began pushing the myth that Trump actually won the election. In Flynn’s speech, he warned the audience about an “invasion” and claimed without proof that the number of “illegal” immigrants in the US today was the same as the entire population of 36 US states.

Patrick Byrne, former Overstock CEO and a major promoter and funder of the election denial movement, said that Constitutional Sheriffs would need to play a vital role in fighting the influx of “15 million military-age men.” He also claimed that a “well regulated militia is not a dirty phrase,” and urged sheriffs in attendance to “build some kind of surge capacity through auxiliary forces, or alliances with the militias.” (Byrne did not say which militias he was referring to.)

Boone Cutler, who has written a number of books with Flynn about “fifth-generational warfare”—military actions like social engineering, misinformation, and cyber attacks—described immigrants as “weaponized diaspora communities” who are being brought into the country to commit “terrorism.” Cutler announced, without providing any details, that he would be providing “irregular warfare training” to CSPOA officers ahead of the election.

John Ferguson, who owns an aerospace company that he claims tracks activity along the border, boosted the dangerous and untrue myth that immigrants are crossing the border with military training and could pose a serious threat to the US. “The problem is that a lot of these people, there's times where over 90 percent of the people that are being apprehended are all fighting-aged males, Chinese, Central and South Americans,” he said. “I have been south of the border doing missions in Mexico, and I have flown my unmanned aircraft over the training camps where they're training.”

The claim that “military-aged men” are being systematically brought across the border into the US is a conspiracy that has been around for some time and is increasingly gaining traction in mainstream GOP circles.

And though they appear to have reached a new pitch, these claims about immigrants voting have been around for years. Trump has been promoting bogus claims about “illegal” immigrants voting since 2016, when he said the reason he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton was due, in part, to many immigrants voting fraudulently.Trump repeated the claim in 2020 to explain the reason he lost to Biden in key swing states like Arizona—a claim he referred to in his speech ahead of the January 6 riot.

Trump hasn’t stopped: “Biden’s conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America,” Trump said last month during a speech in North Carolina. “Biden and his accomplices want to collapse the American system, nullify the will of the actual American voters, and establish a new base of power that gives them control for generations.”

There is no evidence to back up any of these claims, however, and research from the Brennan Center for Justice and other organizations has shown that the number of noncitizens voting in US elections is statistically insignificant. In one study from the Brennan Center on the 2016 election, researchers found that non-citizens were suspected (not even confirmed) to have voted in just 0.0001 percent of the 23.5 million votes cast.

Still, these assertions have continued to gain traction as tensions at the US-Mexico border escalate. Republicans have also continued espousing the belief that the US population is being systematically replaced by minorities, a conspiracy known as the great replacement. Despite the theory being widely debunked, the conspiracy has taken hold in MAGA and increasingly mainstream right-wing circles, with speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently announcing a bill to prevent noncitizens from voting in elections—even though that is not an issue.

Earlier this month, the far-right X account known as EndWokeness posted misleading statistics about a supposed dramatic rise in the numbers of migrant voters registering in the US to vote without IDs to its 2 million followers. The stats were quickly debunked by election officials, but the post, which is still on the site without a Community Note, has been viewed over 65 million times. Elon Musk, X’s CEO, shared the post with the comment: “Extremely concerning.”

At the CSPOA conference, Wayne Allen Root, a right-wing radio host who promoted the false conspiracy about former president Barack Obama’s birth certificate, repeated Trump’s claims about immigrant voters.

“The [2020] election was stolen in the six battleground states that would have given Trump a landslide win, instead of a landslide electoral loss,” Root said, without providing any evidence to back it up. “Those six states were decided by the votes of illegal aliens who came in through our open borders. That's who's voting. That's our elections.”

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employvision · 1 year

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The Benefits Of Candidate Relationship Management In Talent Acquisition

Candidate relationship management is an important part of IT talent acquisition. It is a process that aims to keep the candidates engaged with the company and increase their chances of conversion.

#it recruiters #cyber security recruitment #it recruitment agency #it recruiting firms #top recruitment agencies in usa #digital transformation consultant #strategy and transformation consulting #it talent acquisition #talent search service in usa #it consulting companies #cloud consulting companies #cloud and infrastructure recruitment firms

0 notes

aedonisa · 1 month

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hi! this is kiki ( 21+, she/he, kst ) bringing SEO KITAE and leaving him at your doorstep to take in. he is aegis' online surveillance and target location specialist: aurora, / codenamed adonis.

please like this post if you're interested in getting a plot and / or thread going, and i'll dive into your ims as soon as i can !! discord is optional, and can be given upon request.

﹢⠀⠀dossier. / history. / brief outline below.

⠀Ⅰ.⠀⠀silent, mysterious, peculiar. thought to be cold and distant. uninterested in small talk. dozes off a lot. smooth—talker.

⠀Ⅱ.⠀⠀adept in combat, spending half his time in the training grounds if not the sleeping quarters or tech division. the type to get straight to the point rather than beat around the bush, never leaving a single detail out.

⠀Ⅲ.⠀⠀the creation of two worlds that are completely on opposite spectrums, kitae is as touch—starved as he is love—starved. this causes him to be rather cold—blooded, and cruel towards those who show warmth and affection; often rejecting them. sadist.

⠀Ⅳ.⠀⠀noted to wield an ability of being able to see through people and their intentions with ease, as well as uncover the most secretive of people or details. targets may think they're good at hide and seek, but adonis is better.

⠀Ⅴ.⠀⠀attended seoul university, graduating with a bachelor degree in cyber security and data science before being recruited by aegis at age 21. currently 25.

﹢⠀⠀wanted plots. / connections.

﹒⠀⠀sparring / training partners !!

﹒⠀⠀an agent who has not gotten along with kitae since he joined. the tension just increases with each time kitae ignores your muse and your muse makes a habit out of disturbing his rest time as payback.

﹒⠀⠀they've probably met somewhere before he joined aegis. nice encounter? mean encounter? whatever it was, he doesn't remember a part of it while your muse remembers it more than they'd like.

﹒⠀⠀the first, and last person to have gotten on kitae's good side. a friend, almost but not quite yet. and surprise, he can say more than five words! he's taken a liking towards your muse for whatever reason, but god knows he will never admit that.

these are a heavy work in progress, but i'm always open to brainstorming and discussing other dynamics, ideas, plots. ꨄ

#⠀⁽⠀intro.⠀⁾⠀#throws him at everyone

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in---absentia · 1 year

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Video Girl | 5 | Erwin Smith

Summary: Despite your best efforts, a year after getting your Masters you are still struggling to get hired within your dream industry. But bills don’t pay themselves and groceries don’t magically show up on your door step, so you turn to the internet for your main source of income.

Erwin, a Director at a cyber security company constantly stressed and hitting a point of loneliness he hadn’t previously thought possible turns to the internet to fill that void and finds comfort in the most unexpected place.

Author’s Note: Lol I’m back. I had to finish this and post it to once again get to the fun stuff, but I hope you enjoy this bit! Look forward to more of the Commander and Metis in 2023!!

Words: 3.1k

Tag: Modern AU. Office AU. Cis-Fem Reader. Tall-Coded Reader. Athletic-Coded Reader. Sex Work. MDNI. 18+ Only

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Keith Shadis was a man of grand importance.

After years of diligent work he had been promoted to the role of Vice President of one of the most core divisions at Survey Corp. During his tenure he was responsible for recruiting people he believed to be “special” like him and lead them to prosperity along with implementing tried and true processes and systems that allowed the company to steadily grow.

Survey Corps would have been nothing without him.

He was also the only one who felt that way nowadays.

For most others he was a man who had gained his role by proximity rather than skill, another cog in the machine who had been there long enough that there was nowhere else to go but up despite others around being better for the role. His hires hadn’t all been scouted by him personally, all joining the company for their mission and what the work was rather than being able to work for him and the previously mentioned processes he had put in place were now outdated and actively putting the company at a disadvantage for their lack of innovation.

No one voiced this to him though, these thoughts remained whispers in the break rooms and in group texts outside of office hours.

The only person who ever seemed to push back against Keith was Erwin, the classically perfect hire he brought on years ago when he was just a senior manager who immediately had gone and challenged the status quo. While Keith was content in his ways, satisfied with the steady gains quarter over quarter, Erwin wanted to implement all new strategies and when given the task of going out and “testing” his ideas and theories he always rose to the occasion. It was frustrating to see that any task thrown his way was conquered so thoroughly, Keith was a man who believed that he was the best while Erwin just simply proved that he was time and time again.

Even with their very different opinions on how to run the organization there was a great deal of respect between the two. Erwin wasn’t a man to jump into anything without putting a large amount of thought into it and so he knew the ideas he came to him with were never half baked, all angles reviewed and ready to be challenged.

So when Erwin had come to him and asked him for his explicit permission to hire an actual criminal he was stunned.

“You have to be joking,” he had stated as he grabbed at the resume that Erwin had pushed across the desk to him scanning it as he barely listened to Erwin launch into one of his well prepared speeches. “Shush,” he said as he waved a hand and grabbed the print outs that he had also stacked up on the desk, flipping through various different papers the candidate had written along with a few articles about the case from different news sources.

Erwin sat there deathly silent, posture strict and gaze unwavering as he watched Keith review the documentation. After a few moments he tried testing the waters again.

“She isn’t a convicted criminal, all charges were dropped against her. If it were not for that you wouldn’t bat a single eye at me approving this hire.”

“Erwin, she wasn’t arrested for something like a public disturbance, she hacked into a major corporation and successfully stole PII.”

“She wasn’t aware of it,” Erwin contested, holding strong against one of Keith’s well known glares. “She was just in college when it happened and from the information Hange was able to find online about the trial she was fully cooperative like she stated.”

“So she blindly goes along with whatever is put in front of her?”

“That’s unfair, she truly believed that everything she was doing was legal as all activities before had been.”

Keith wasn’t convinced, no way in hell. He had spent most of his career creating a culture of exceptionalism- those in his organization were truly unique and special and Erwin just coming in with this suggestion threatened to ruin it all. Standing up from his desk Keith turned away from him and looked out the window, nothing but a simple “This conversation is done” falling from his lips to signal that he would not discuss it further.

Erwin remained firmly in his seat though.

“It’s not.”

“Are you going against me? Your superior?”

“If you do not allow me to hire her you are making a grave mistake. Hange finds that her experiences across the board will assist in their work, Levi has stated that he sees a fair amount of potential if given the right tools, and I know that Survey Corps will flourish with her on our team.”

Erwin was now standing up and moving towards Keith, the two of them staring intensely at the other waiting for one to break and give in.

Keith was the one to lose.

“Fine! Hire her, but don’t come begging me to open up a new job posting when she proves to be a poor choice!” He said as he waved Erwin away, moving back to his desk and dropping the papers in the waste bin next to him.

Erwin simply broke out into an easy smile and nodded at him, “I won’t be coming to you, she is the right fit. But thank you, Keith.”

When you had received an email from Petra that night offering you the job you dropped the glass you had in your hand and stood there frozen as it shattered on the ground around you. All of your hard work, all of your drive and determination had not been for nothing. The world felt like it had come to a complete standstill as you stood there, wide mouthed and stunned.

You would prove yourself worthy of the position, you would do everything in your power to ensure that you were the perfect hire and that no one ever doubted Hange and, most importantly, Erwin for choosing you.

You repeated that mantra over and over in your head as you responded as professionally as you could that you would be more than happy to accept.

A month and a half later you were doing a damn good job of keeping that promise.

Three weeks into the job, you were past the mandatory orientations and tech set ups and icebreakers in team meetings and were starting to be brought up to speed on the upcoming work for the fiscal year. Hange had a laundry list of things they wanted to explore: machine learning, penetration testing, in-house hackers turned consultants, big data, the list went on and on meaning you never had a dull moment in the office.

The work was exciting and new and invigorating but you were still just getting brought up to speed and hadn’t been assigned to anything formally yet. From what others had told you you were backfilling for a man named Moblit who had been Hange’s right hand man but had left unexpectedly several months back and you knew that you had a huge pair of shoes to fit to eventually get on the level of the man other’s called the only one able to keep Hange in check.

Seated at your desk and reading through a case study that Levi had sent you, you were unaware of the stares coming your way from across the room.

Hange, for all their posturing about being single minded with no regard for others, was actually incredibly perceptive. They had to be for this job, it was imperative to the success of their work that they be able to look at things both at the most detailed view and one from forty thousand feet above. They also had to be as a manager, there was no way for them to be a successful one if they didn’t keep a pulse on the team at all times and know what was going on with who. It might take them a few days to get to that point, but they usually always came to a solid conclusion.

So when Erwin started asking about how the new hire had been doing they immediately took notice.

It wasn’t unusual for him to do so, he was always working to make sure his team was filled with the brightest minds and the most dedicated of persons. He was swift in his judgement, quick to determine if a person had long term potential or if they were to be one of his infamous “less than a year fires”, but he usually did so from a distance.

And he never made a point of coming around them as often as he was doing.

His office was his sanctuary, it helped him keep a professional distance and allow people to work without the pressure of him loitering nearby. Hange was used to having to knock on the door for an impromptu chat or more likely having to go through the man’s outrageously packed calendar trying to find a fifteen minute slot for a talk, but for the past three weeks he had stopped by their desk now six times, always with one question on his lips after getting through the usual pleasantries.

“So, how is she doing this week?”

“Erwin, I’m busy, you can ask her herself,” Hange whispered back, glancing over to make sure that you couldn’t hear what they were discussing.

Erwin’s eyes quickly flashed that way before snapping back to Hange’s, another thing that threw them off. He usually would stare long and hard at someone, his gaze never wavering as he took them in.

That was the second strike.

“She needs to ramp up, and having me interject would only throw her off her rhythm,” he insisted and that was the third and final strike for Hange who quickly glanced at the time on their desktop and sighed deeply before standing up and throwing their arms up in the air. Most of their team was used to this and continued working completely unfazed by the action, but they saw your head turn their way, still unused to the random actions of your coworker.

“Team lunch!” They declared before pointing at Erwin, “And the big boss will be joining us!”

Erwin looked up at them with wide eyes and it took all it could for Hange to not stick their tongue out at him so they threw him a smirk instead.

“Hange, I can’t,” he whispered but Hange was already grabbing their wallet and walking towards the cluster of desks where the rest of the team sat.

“Too bad, you can’t back out now or people will gossip about it and we can’t have that,” they thew back before shrugging their shoulders. “I’ll buy your lunch in return.”

Erwin’s eyes glanced towards you and he saw you shifting through your backpack before you pulled out a lunchbox and he quirked his brow. With a decent cafeteria in their building it was honestly a little odd to see someone bring their food but he shrugged it off and stood up, trailing behind Hange.

“I’m going to heat this up but I’ll meet you downstairs, if I get there early enough I’ll grab a table,” you politely offered and your teammates thanked you before heading towards the elevator.

Cramming in to the elevator Erwin caught one last look at you as you walked towards the break room and Hange spoke up from seemingly nowhere.

“She always brings her own lunch. Something about trying to eat healthy or something,” they said as the door shut closed, leaving him to ponder if the meals were really that unhealthy at the office.

After grabbing their meals they made their way over to the tables and Erwin glanced around before his eyes landed on you. You smiled and rose a hand, the others noticing and walking your way. Nudging him in the side, Hange directed Erwin to take the seat across from you and so he did, not before throwing a quick admonishing glance their way.

This was when Hange stuck their tongue out in a taunting manner, sitting down at the opposite end of the table and turning to Ilse before launching into some story about an old research project.

Erwin looked back to you and gave a small smile as he arranged his tray and placed a napkin on his lap, glancing at your meal before launching into conversation.

“You bring in your own meals often?”

You looked back down at your homemade noodle soup that you prepped, nodding as you fiddled with the chopsticks in your hands, “Oh, yes, most days! I tend to meal prep, cheaper, know what I’m eating, all that.” You trailed off at the end, trying to hide how uneasy you were with this line of questioning.

He didn’t have to know that 95% of the reason was to save money.

“That’s really admirable, I know that if the cafeteria wasn’t here I’d be going out nearly every day for lunch. Not really great at meal prepping for one,” he laughed as he cut into his chicken and took a bite, causing you to smile.

All your brain picked up was that he was single, or at least didn’t have a live-in partner, but you carried on easily. “I totally get it, making the same meal for a week straight can be so annoying especially when some days you just want to eat anything but the food you have. But I try to power through it, or do something to switch it up, like different seasonings and what not.”

Erwin glanced over to Hange, a barely noticeable smug look on his face as if to say “Hah, look at me, holding a conversation,” but the grimace that Hange was giving him in return screamed “I orchestrated this so you could talk about her lunch?”

They were right, he’d have to pivot.

“So,” he said, straightening his posture, “How have the past few weeks been?”

You brightened up at that and he thanked Hange internally for the less than subtle push. You slowly released the tension in your shoulders and smiled as you began to talk about all you had been doing, giving him one of the most cheerful progress reports he had heard in awhile.

It was refreshing, and he wanted to transition to things outside of work, wanted to ask you what your plans for the upcoming weekend were but another team member broke in and started to tell him about their week without being directly asked.

Erwin had turned to them a little stunned, but politely nodded at Armin and asked him to repeat what he had said as the younger blonde launched into an update. In that moment he hated being the boss, wished that people weren’t always clamoring for his attention and recognition and simply wanted to keep talking to you. Glancing back to you briefly, he imagined for a second that your expression had turned bemused as your gaze glanced just as quickly to and away from him.

He quickly scolded himself for such wishful thinking.

Hours later you stepped off of the bus and into your building, making your way to the mail room and laughing to yourself for maybe the hundredth time about Armin jumping in at lunch. You weren’t going to lie, when Erwin had sat down across from you your heart had nearly jumped out of your chest. You had thought it strange when Hange had called for a team lunch that afternoon but upon seeing him you tossed aside any uncertainty about the idea.

It made you feel special, having him sit across from you and ask you about how your onboarding had been going, Ymir knew you could use the confidence boost. But of course the others on the team would be just as excited to talk to him as you were and of course Armin, who meant nothing at all, was the one to jump in and try to get some one on one time with him as well.

He just had to be so damn blatant with it.

Laughing once more, you scanned through your mail before your eyes landed on a single solid envelope with an all too familiar logo in the corner with the return address and you froze, immediately tossing back the random coupons and junk mail back in the box. Ripping it open, your jaw tightened as you read through the letter, eyes hardening as you flipped to the piece of paper behind it and let out a long, exhausted inhale.

Another day, another invoice, but this time there was a new, not-so-subtle note from your lawyer that you should potentially look into getting a financial planner to help make sure that you were on track to maybe eventually one day pay off your debts. He was a hard ass, and not the most tact or empathetic with his messaging, but you knew he came from a well researched and thought out point of view.

Maybe once your stocks from Survey Corp vested over two years you would look into that. Now you couldn’t even think of taking on such an expense with everything going on along with the threat of your rent potentially increasing in a couple of months.

Entering your apartment you tossed the bill onto your ever growing “bill” pile and immediately started working on your nightly transformation into Metis. The pile loomed in the corner of your mind and the numbers for the upcoming payment you owed started to tally up and before you knew it you were a panicked mess, absolutely crippled by the daunting figure.

Even with the job you still needed to come across a large sum of cash, quick.

An idea popped into your mind right before you went live, and the smile was evident in your voice as you started off the show.

“Hi everyone, before we get started tonight, I want to let you know about a special limited-time offer for a series of private shows. Pricing can be found on the link I just dropped in the chat, but if you have any interest please send me a DM as quick as a you can. I’m sure you all know that my one on one shows are rare and go really quick.”

Beast immediately sent a DM, one followed from Tatakae quickly, but the smile grew on your face when you saw an inquiry come in from your newest customer.

You definitely would make sure that one of those places went to the Commander, that was certain.

#erwin smith x reader #erwin smith x you #erwin x reader #erwin x you #attack on titan au #attack on titan fanfiction #mdni #minors do not interact

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gremlingottoosilly · 1 month

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Omg omg your spitfire!reader is SAWR good😮‍💨

Need to see her wrecked because she thought insulting her horndog of a colonel while he's groping her was a good idea ,but hearing you call him a pervert while you're struggling in his hold just made him even more feral

It's like when you're trying to run from a dog but the dog thinks it's a game 😭

He had never felt so hot as when this pretty civilian expert was calling him a pervert while he literally had his hands down her panties. Konig knows you literally have no choice here - you can cry to HR, but no one would stop an important mission because pretty little cyber security/translator/psychologist girl is loved by her colonel. if anything, they would congratulate you on getting it on with the team - Konig is such a hard man to work with, after all, you should be proud for taking down his walls! You take down his walls, one by one - just as he explores your walls with his tongue. You pull him by his stupid mask, you kick him on his back when he drills his tongue deeper and deeper, burying his fingers into your thighs - but for fucks sake, it's like prying a cat from a very juicy peace of meat. You hate him, you hate him, you want to tell it to everyone who is willing to listen - your colonel is an asshole that hides behind his quiet persona and uses it to rile you up even more. Konig is so good at acting innocent, you can't even fight him without alerting any other recruit. You shouldn't have any connections with the colonel, but no one questions his interest - the mission is important and you're one of its parts, so it's only natural the commander spends a lot of time in your office, right? Other recruits know about your disdain, but you should be smart enough to hide it from the colonel himself...except that he literally relishes in your hatred. It's a sport for him, to make you cum on his fingers, to make you soft and pliable in his hands. Kiss you ever so softly, hold you gently, like a precious treasure, as you yell at him and tell him to go away and die on a mission. You can kick him as many times as possible, he would just add a few more spanks to your butt for the next time he decides to be less merciful with his little spitfire.

#cod #konig x reader #konig #yandere konig #cod x reader #yandere cod

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247callcenterservice · 2 months

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In the United States, call center companies play a pivotal role in providing customer support, sales assistance, technical troubleshooting, and various other services for businesses across a multitude of industries. These companies employ thousands of individuals nationwide and operate through various models, including in-house, outsourced, and virtual call centers. Let's delve into the landscape of call center companies in the USA.

1. Overview of the Call Center Industry:

The call center industry in the USA has witnessed significant growth over the years, driven by the increasing demand for cost-effective customer service solutions and the globalization of businesses. Today, call centers cater to diverse sectors such as telecommunications, banking and finance, healthcare, retail, technology, and e-commerce.

2. Major Players:

Several major call center companies dominate the industry, including:

Teleperformance: One of the largest call center companies globally, Teleperformance operates numerous centers across the USA, offering multilingual customer support, technical assistance, and sales services.

Concentrix: Concentrix is another key player, known for its innovative customer engagement solutions. It provides a wide range of services, including customer care, technical support, and digital marketing services.

Alorica: Alorica specializes in customer experience outsourcing solutions, serving clients in various industries. It offers services such as customer support, sales, and back-office support.

Sitel Group: Sitel Group is renowned for its customer experience management solutions. With a global presence, Sitel operates call centers in multiple locations across the USA, providing tailored customer support services.

TTEC: Formerly known as TeleTech, TTEC offers customer experience solutions, digital services, and technology-enabled customer care. It focuses on delivering personalized customer interactions through its contact centers.

3. Industry Trends:

The call center industry is continually evolving, driven by technological advancements and changing consumer preferences. Some notable trends include:

Digital Transformation: Call centers are increasingly integrating digital channels such as chat, email, and social media to enhance customer engagement and support omnichannel experiences.

AI and Automation: Automation technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbots, are being adopted to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and provide faster resolutions to customer queries.

Remote Workforce: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards remote work in the call center industry. Many companies have embraced remote workforce models, allowing agents to work from home while maintaining productivity and efficiency.

Data Analytics: Call centers are leveraging data analytics tools to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends. This data-driven approach enables them to personalize interactions and optimize service delivery.

4. Challenges and Opportunities:

Despite its growth, the call center industry faces several challenges, including:

Staffing Issues: Recruiting and retaining skilled agents remains a challenge for many call center companies, particularly amid competition for talent and high turnover rates.

Security Concerns: With the increasing prevalence of cyber threats, call centers must prioritize data security and compliance to protect sensitive customer information.

However, the industry also presents numerous opportunities for growth and innovation:

Expansion of Services: Call center companies can diversify their service offerings to meet the evolving needs of clients, such as expanding into digital customer engagement, analytics, and consulting services.

Focus on Customer Experience: By prioritizing customer experience and investing in training and technology, call centers can differentiate themselves and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Globalization: With advancements in technology and communication infrastructure, call center companies can explore opportunities for global expansion and tap into new markets.

5. Future Outlook:

Looking ahead, the call center industry is poised for further growth and transformation. As businesses increasingly prioritize customer-centric strategies, call center companies will play a crucial role in delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving business success.

In conclusion, call center companies in the USA form a vital component of the customer service ecosystem, serving a wide range of industries and helping businesses enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. With ongoing technological innovations and evolving customer expectations, the industry is poised for continued growth and innovation in the years to come.

#call center companies

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angelasscribbles · 2 years

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Royal Retribution Chapter 3: Retreat

Series: Royal Retribution

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Liam x Riley x Drake (as a throuple)

Rating: R for general reasons

Warnings: mature themes

Word Count: 1,688

A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this one. I have started, and finished, two whole series in the last few months. I have chapters for five other series in process, but for some reason, I sat down at my laptop and this is what came out. For those of you who even remember this series, here you go!

My other stuff: Master List.

“Where the hell is she?” I raged as Drake tried to calm me down.

“Hold on, I’ll talk to the clerk.”

I watched him as I paced around the waiting area that had been cleared by my guards. Alec and three other guards had followed behind us to the airport. It had taken them longer to get there, but once they did, the room had been cleared quickly. I could tell by the stormy expression on Alec’s face that he wanted to scold me about leaving without him, but he could tell by the expression on mine that it would be a bad idea.

Drake came back glowering, “They have no idea what-“ He cut off as his phone rang. Pulling it out, he answered it with a curt, “What?”

He listened for a moment then looked up at me, gloating and my heart leapt, “What is it? Where is she?”

“On her way to Ramsford.” He answered.

“How?” I asked in astonishment, the Beaumont’s had also been detained.

He held a finger up, finished his conversation then pocketed his phone with a grin, “Marco.”

“What?”

“Marco saw the commotion, saw you and I both trying to get to her. So he pulled four of his guys and they beat Bastien’s guys to the airport. He countermanded Bas’s orders telling them that he had instructions directly from the new king to take her into custody and detain her elsewhere.”

“And they bought that?”

Drake gave me an expansive shrug, “Even though he’s in a different unit, he was the highest ranking guard on the scene, so they really had no choice. He wasn’t sure the palace was safe, so he took her to Ramsford. He sent the other four guys home, so he’s the only one that knows where she is.”

I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, brimming with glee, “Bas is going to be so pissed!”

“Yep!” Drake affirmed, “now let’s go get our girl!”

“Marco is getting a raise, a promotion, or maybe both!” I told him as we made our way back to the car.

“Yeah but….Li, we have to be very careful right now. You are technically king now, but we still don’t know whose loyalty we can trust. Not after tonight.”

He was right. I stopped walking and scanned the men behind me. I motioned for Alec, “Send the other guy’s home.”

“But sir-“

“Do it, Alec. You can ride in the car with me and Drake, but I only trust you. Do you understand?”

He pressed his lips together and gave me a steely look, then he blew out a breath and nodded, “Yeah, I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.”

Drake and I climbed into the back of the gleaming black Devore GT, one of four I’d been talked into purchasing when Logan became my primary driver. He wasn’t wrong, the thing could outrun even the Venom GT intercepts used by, and modified for, the Cordonian State Police to patrol the motorways. My Devores were customized with full roll cages and bulletproof glass. Just in case.

As we drove, Alec and Drake strategized, “We’re going to need a couple of rank and file enlisted men that we can trust to keep their ear to the ground and see who’s siding with who. We need to know who we can and can’t trust, so we can clean house.” Drake was saying.

I pulled out my phone and put in a call to Lt. Everly, the head jailor. After giving him strict instructions to release the Beaumont’s, I called Lt. Jason Toussaint, the head of cyber security, someone I trusted implicitly because Drake did. He’d hand picked him and recruited him from the Cordonian Royal Air Force, they had served together before Drake transferred to the Royal Guard. I gave him several orders, then I placed my next call to Hana.

I desperately wanted to call Riley, but Drake informed me that Marco had made her give her phone up at the airport. We couldn’t be sure it wasn’t being traced or bugged.

“Hana, I can’t say much because I have no idea who’s listening.” I told her, “But everything is ok. I’ll explain it all when I get back. Meanwhile, you should have your things moved to my room and have anything of Riley’s that was left behind moved to Drake’s. You’ll be hearing from Lt. Jason Toussaint; he’ll bring you a new phone and the personal guard I’ve picked for you. Accept both the phone and the guard only from him, understand?”

“Yes, I understand.” She answered, “Take your time, I’m good here.”

“You’re a good friend, Hana.” I told her.

“You guys make it easy.” She said, “See you when you get home, goodbye.”

The ride to Ramsford was excruciating even though Logan broke every speed limit getting there.

I didn’t bother to knock, I barged right in like I owned the place. It’s not like Bert or Max were home yet anyway. “Riley!” I called out as I entered the foyer.

“Liam!” She hit my chest and was in my arms before I could draw in my next breath. “I knew you’d come for me!”

“I will always come for you.” I told her as I held her tight against me, the stress and anxiety in my center finally starting to uncoil as I buried my head in her hair and drew in her familiar, and comforting, scent.

“Goddamn it, Brooks, you scared the shit out of us!” Drake bellowed as he pushed his way past Alec to get in the door behind me.

“Drake!” She released me and flew into his arms.

He hugged her back about as tightly as I had, closing his eyes as he murmured, “Kardia mou.” Before dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

“So, first things first.” I told her, “I had to get engaged to Hana.”

“You….what?”

“Come, sit, let me explain.” I lead her into the formal sitting room so we could get comfortable. “Alec, make sure there are no staff around to overhear us.”

“On it, boss.” He said as he disappeared down the hallway.

I turned to the other guard, “Marco, I hope you didn’t unpack her luggage. If you did, put it back in your SUV.”

“Yes, sir, Your Majesty.” Marco gave me a grin and a salute on his way out.

Riley looked at me in surprise, “But I thought I was staying here until-“

“Absolutely not! This is the first place my father will look for you!”

“Your father? Your father is behind this?” Her face lost all its color.

“Yes, love, but don’t worry, we have a plan.” I assured her.

Drake closed the door, so it was just the three of us in the sitting room. I explained everything. Some of it even Drake hadn’t heard yet, there hadn’t been time.

When I was done, they both stared at me in horror. “Your father had your mother killed?” Riley was aghast and more than a little afraid.

“Jesus!” Drake drew a hand through his hair, “I knew he was a sadistic bastard but that….fuck, Li, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s ok-“

“It’s not!” Riley said as she moved to embrace me.

“The fuck it is!” Drake said at the same time, pulling me into an embrace from the other side.

I almost drew away, there wasn’t time for this. I had to get her somewhere safe. But the feeling of relief and comfort I felt there, wedged between the two of them, the love I could feel coming off them both in waves, overwhelmed me. I didn’t deserve it, there was nothing I’d ever done to possibly deserve either one of them, yet there they were, loving me. I couldn’t help it. I broke down a little. I cried softly into Drake’s chest while Riley pressed her body against my back.

“Sorry.” I mumbled when I finally got myself together, turning toward Riley.

“Don’t be sorry.” She told me softly as she ran a hand along my face.

“Never be sorry for having a heart, Li.” Drake echoed her sentiments as he rubbed a hand across my back.

“Riley, I have to ask…” I drew in a deep breath, not wanting to ask, but knowing I had to, “Are you sure you want to be with me? I know you love me, but this is more baggage than you signed up for. More than anyone should have to endure. If you want out, I won’t blame you, I won’t hold it against you. I can have the royal jet ready within the-“

“Liam.”

“What?”

“Shut. Up.” She grasped my face in both her hands and pulled me into a kiss. A long, lingering, passionate kiss. “I love you. I’m all in. No matter what.”

“But you will be in danger until we can-“

“I’m not going to lie and say I’m not afraid, but he only wants to stop you from marrying me, right? I mean, if he wanted me dead, he could have just killed me instead of going to the trouble to frame me, right?”

“She has a point, Li.” Drake agreed. “As long as you keep up the ruse of being engaged to Hana, Riley should be safe.”

I nodded as I wiped my face across my sleeve, “Right. But still, we need to take precautions and be proactive. He also wanted her out of the country, and we forestalled that. He doesn’t like being thwarted.”

“Agreed. That’s why we’re moving her.”

Riley looked back and forth between us, “So where-“

There was a knock on the door, Marco stuck his head in, “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the Beaumont’s are on their way home and Bas has sent guards with them to look for Lady Riley here.”

I jumped to my feet and pulled her up with me, “Just get in the car, I’ll explain on the way.”

As we rushed her out to the car, I muttered to Drake through gritted teeth, “Bas is so fucking fired!”

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