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#gonna rescan it when I get an opportunity
elvenbeard · 7 months
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AAHHH!!! I *finally* got to play a little more Phantom Liberty today öahjsdföasklfasfhdfs
First I wanted to riot slightly cause GoG didn't find my install anymore (but rescanning folders did the trick).
Man OH MAN. I'm really just rambling about how fucking cool this game is below the cut, but beware of spoilers!!
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"How the fuck do I keep ending up in these situations..."
I played all the way up to meeting Reed and agreeing to work with him back in the President's hideout. This was also the point up until I'd seen the gameplay at Phantom Liberty Tour back in August, but I also saw a loooot of new stuff o.o The demo back then started at entering the Stadium (when V walks through that area with cyberarms hanging from the ceiling) - stopped at meeting Myers in the crashed plane - continued at arriving at the hideout with her and then ended, as I said, with shaking hands with Reed.
SO. The whole "how do we get the president to the hideout" sequence was completely new to me AND MAAAN. That Chimera fight was so good like?? The whole setup and everything, I didn't expect such a big and epic boss fight so early on in the expansion at all, really sets the tone I guess xD First V gets his face bashed in by the President, then gets his ribs broken by this thing, things can only get better from here on. That whole section gave me such Bioshock vibes actually like... the Art Deco architecture the "amazing city that turned out so awful" vibes, it's impeccable, and I love it so so much. Really gotta take some time to properly explore everything (and now I gotta wait for Reed to call me back so, best opportunity).
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I saw that thing under the tarp and was like "oh yeah, later on in the story this is gonna come back to bite me in the ass" - only that in this case "later" was "five minutes later" not "10 story missions later" as I anticipated XD
Also, I gotta say, I really don't trust Myers or Songbird much at this point with their intentions. I mentioned this previously... how convenient for Songbird to know to contact V via the Relic, but how the hell did she know about it in the first place, that he had it, where he was at, etc.? And then, in the Space Force One Wreck there was the shard with the answer! They knew about the Konpeki heist and two involved mercs through an informant potentially working at Arasaka. Yet, when I then deliberately chose a dialogue later on where V was like "yeah, I got Arasaka's Relic stuck in my head" Myers was all "oh, what really! how peculiar!". And maybe she really didn't know and I'm reading too much into it, but I'm really not liking her vibes atm at all XD (as a character though she's so cool, not at all how I'd picture a typical NUSA president, and I get the impression she doesn't really like the role all that much - I wanna read up on her background lore as soon as I'm done playing XD). AND. The shard on the plane specifically mentions Johnny on the Relic AND I'M CALLING IT NOW like I called it before, I BET they're really after Johnny's engram to do some experimenting with it for some fucked up Militech scheme. And in return V gets to live or some crap. URGH. I hope I'm wrong but I said it before "Phantom Liberty" (if you read it as in "a ghost that was freed" or "no real freedom") screams to me that this all boils down to something happening to Johnny in a messed up way in the end in exchange for V's life. Analogue to the Devil ending, but instead of Arasaka you have Militech/NUSA (if I'm wrong, please don't spoiler it to me, and if I'm right or close, please don't spoiler it either XD I wanna see just how far off I am myself XDD)
Songbird being MIA is hmmm... Not quite suspicious, but I'm wondering if she is still alive or maybe also doomed to be a construct now, but I'm really not sure. It would be kinda disappointing, I'd like to meet her in person still and am excited to see what she is gaining in all of this. I like the tragic "gifted criminal kid turned government asset" trope a lot and I'm curious to see how her story develops.
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I'm also loving all the lifepath specific dialogues so much, I'm actually learning something new now and then about what Vince's Arasaka job was actually truly like at the core!
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Also Myers roasting him for not having had a high enough security clearance to know about Reed xDD So rude! But I'm so so so curious how Ex-Arasaka agent with occasional homesickness to the corporate world and FIA-Sleeper agent with a big Arasaka-grudge are gonna work together o.o
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I feel like, they're either really gonna see eye-to-eye very much or will continue to clash over and over and V is gonna come out as the loser at the end of this xD But currently, me as the player I'm trusting no one, and Vince as being caught up in all of this tries to play nice and be on everyone's good side but behind the scenes does not trust any of them one bit either xD It's really more a one hand washes the other kinda deal for him with no long-term obligations.
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I'm also LOVING Johnny in all of this so far like... Vince and he don't get along that well most of the time for a variety of reasons. And so far, even though I got the Sun ending as my canon (as of right now), I feel like Vince acted more out of desperation than real trust or anything in going down that path and not any other. So I think Phantom Liberty *might* be the storyline that has been missing for me personally so far to really legitimize to myself that Vince would trust Johnny enough to let him take over his body for that last mission or go on a suicide run through Arasaka Tower with him. They are really seeing eye to eye on a lot of the stuff that's going on, both paranoid and suspicious, both not liking to swear any oaths or work for the FIA or anything like that. Bonding over their shared dislike for all the secrecy and scheming xD
Speaking of timelines, I found an ingame date for the 16th of June about an meeting Myers was to attend and another meeting scheduled for June 18th - sounding like the 16th is already passed at this point and the plane crash probably happening on the 16th or 17th or something like this... which completely throws my previously established timeline overboard :D But also stretches the canonical timeline a bit, if my assumptions are right, which would be nice and a lot more realistic than "like, a month, for all of that to happen". (For reference, in my timeline for Vince without PL I put the last quest on June 9th).
But that's only speculation ofc!
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Then I also had my first vehicle gig for Muamar and omggg I loved this little convo with him so fucking much?? Like, this really built up his character so nicely, and the whole car stealing scheme would also be super down Vince's alley XD
And this exchange I LOVED sm:
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Vince, car nerd surpreme, offering to fix the Cap's car, and Muamar's response: certain things I don't do halfway -> my clothes, my cut, my cars. Vince 100% seconds that sentiment XDD Like, so far I have to admit Muamar never really grabbed me that much as a character and I felt like he and Vince probably didn't have much in common. I was wrong XD
I also wanted to pay Mr. Hands a visit in his funky pyramid, but he wouldn't let me in yet. I'm so looking foward to finally playing his gigs now :D And seeing what else Dogtown has to offer in terms of stories and side jobs :o
Others mentioned it already, but I'm loving this place's design so so much... it feels like a different city altogether, the style of the buildings and everything is so unique and it's such a biiiig sprawling place o.o
And a random little thing I noticed, there's a lot of little cinematic moments now (the contextual removal of the HUD for conversations for example is such a good new feature). And occasionally the camera will automatically pan to interesting events or V's optics zoom in automatically - it was a bit weird the first time it happened but I really like it in a way? I noticed it during the part of rescuing Myers where you had to sneak past the huge Barghest drone (also such a good good moment, I'm loving all the stealth, parkour, and whatnot, the level design is *so good* hhhhh).
And finally, when I decided "okay, I'm gonna go to bed now" and was just about to close the game... I got a text message from Kerry I didn't know yet :DDD
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(the fucking emojis with noses, Kerry pls, your age is really showing)
Like... I did not expect new texts from the LIs, and yeah, this got me really excited xD (and yeh I obviously had to read all the different outcomes and there *are* some differences depending on what you text back. I love it sm). AND. Then I called him. And there's new conversations about the events of PL too??? Hello?
Man I wish there was something like that for the other missions but obviously, with how late-game Kerry's romance is that sadly doesn't make much sense. So this is also something that made me tremendously happy (and also adds some new depth and bits and pieces to Kerry's character, which I'm always so here for XD). Exicted to see if there's more to talk about with him as the expansion progresses - I doubt it, but I'm ready to be surprised, maybe also by the other main NPCs that you're not in a relationship with.
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That one V will definitely bear in mind for whatever is to come. Hhhhh I'm so excited!!
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Winter morning
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wanderinginksplot · 3 years
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Nobody Listens to Kix
Previous | Next | Masterlist
Case 01338: Kix
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They always say that medics make the worst patients, and it was doubly true in Kix's case. If he wasn't working in the medbay, all medical care was left to the droids, and their programming left a lot to be desired. At least the men had Kix to treat them. Kix had no organic to treat him if he was the one sick.
At the moment, he was fairly certain he wasn't sick. Sure, his head ached so badly that his stomach threatened to rebel and it hurt to move any part of his body, but that could be explained by any number of ailments. Maybe it had always hurt to swallow, breathe, and blink, and he just hadn't noticed.
On the off chance that he wasn't as well as he thought, Kix had been working to stave off any illness floating around the Resolute. He took in extra liquids and got as much sleep as possible. Since he practically lived in the medbay, sleep was a challenge, but he was trying.
Kix pulled his head up from the surface of his desk, groaning as he did so. The shift in position made his head throb worse than before, but that wasn't why he was cursing. When had he fallen asleep? He was less than halfway through the ever-present stack of medical forms taking up half of his desk, and with no troopers in the medbay, he needed to do as much work as possible before the next crisis hit.
"That didn't sound very rested," a voice remarked from closer than Kix was comfortable with.
He turned quickly, took a moment to huff out a breath and clutch at his head, and stared into Rex's amused eyes. "Captain. When did you get here?"
"About ten minutes ago. I watched you fall asleep on your forms."
"Did you need something, sir?" Kix asked, wincing. Why were the medbay lights so bright? "Is everything all right?"
"Actually, no," Rex told him. "I have a sick trooper who won't accept medical treatment."
"I'll set him straight," Kix promised grimly. "Who is it?"
"You, obviously," Rex said, the amusement on his face now tinged with concern. "Kix, you're dead on your feet."
"I'm fine, sir."
"Then you won't mind if we power up one of the medical droids to double-check that?"
Kix grimaced. "You want to use one of those shu-shuk machines? They have a success rate of-"
"-55%" Rex finished with him. "I know, Kix, you've told us all. But you're the only medic we've got, and you're clearly not going to treat yourself. The medical droids are the only option. Consider it an order."
"Sorry, sir," Kix reminded. "I have authority on all matters of health. Yours, the men's, and mine. I outrank you in this."
"In this," Rex echoed, frowning forebodingly. "Fifteen push-ups, soldier. That's an order that has nothing to do with medicine."
"Captain-"
"I'm serious, Kix. Fifteen push-ups and I'll drop the medical droid stuff."
"Get ready to lose, Captain," Kix said with a grin. Rex returned the expression, but there was worry on his face.
Five down. This is gonna be so easy…
Eight in and I feel fine. I knew I wasn't sick.
Okay, Kix. You need to spend a little more time in the gym. You shouldn't be this winded after eleven push-ups.
...Why is my face so cold?
"Welcome back," Rex said blandly as Kix tried to raise himself from where he had collapsed on the floor. His arms wouldn't support the weight and he rolled onto his back instead.
"How many did I get to?"
"Thirteen," Rex told him. "Not bad. I thought you would pass out by six or seven."
"I didn't pass out," Kix argued.
"Of course not. I know how much you love lying down with your face pressed against the medbay floor," Rex agreed dryly. "I took the opportunity to power up a med droid. Pick a bed."
Kix glared, but Rex unsympathetically propelled him toward a bed as soon as he was standing. Before he could voice any further complaints, Kix found himself on a bed being scanned by a med droid.
"CT-6116 is showing symptoms of an acute infection in both the sinuses and the upper respiratory tract. This has resulted in secondary symptoms as headache, difficulty breathing, dehydration, fatigue, dizziness, and muscle aches."
Kix glared at the medical droid, mostly to avoid the way Captain Rex was glaring at him. "So, with the typical droid success rate, we can safely rule out those two diagnoses."
"Karking hell, Kix!" Rex hissed in irritation. He took the scanner from the droid and rescanned Kix, passing over his body about four times too many. When he was finally done, he glanced at the screen. "Sinus infection and upper respiratory tract infection. Treat him."
The last bit was directed at the droid, who rummaged around in the med cabinet. Kix gritted his teeth as its rough-jointed metal hands knocked around, systematically destroying all of the organization he had managed in that small space.
"Why did you wait this long, Kix?" Rex asked sharply. "You're a medic. Surely, you've known for a while that you needed treatment."
"If a medic is currently undergoing treatment, he cannot continue to treat others," Kix explained reluctantly. "The risks of accidental malpractice are too high with the side effects of many medications."
Rex stared at him, dark brows furrowed. "The side effects are too much of a risk, but operating with a temperature that is well over standard isn't considered dangerous?"
"It is… or it probably should be," Kix admitted. "But it isn't written that way in the regs, so it isn't an explicit requirement."
Rex frowned even harder. "So… it's a loophole."
"Yes, exactly."
With a sigh, Rex scrubbed his hand over his close-cropped blond hair and collapsed onto Kix's well-worn chair, obviously pulled over from behind the medic's desk. "Do you realize the consequences of the choices you're making?"
Acutely uncomfortable with the knowledge that he had experienced this conversation from the other side far too many times to count - including with the captain himself - Kix shrugged. His answer didn't seem to be enough for the captain, who sat watching him for the (frankly ridiculous) length of time it took for the med droid to give him a dose of antibiotics and a cup of water.
"I know it may come as a surprise to you, but I do monitor the medbay logs," Rex finally said when the droid puttered off to fetch an antibiotic spray for Kix to inhale. "Do you know how much time you spend here?"
"I'm here every day, sir," Kix answered honestly, giving into the realization that Rex wasn't going to let it go.
"Yes, for three-quarters of the day. That gives you a collective five or six hours to shower, eat, and sleep. Judging from those push-ups, you don't spend any of that time training." Kix felt his face flush before he could stop it, but Rex wasn't done. "To put it another way, you've logged almost six-hundred hours in the medbay over the last standard month. That's a little over twenty-three full days out of thirty."
"When I'm not here, sir… men die. Brothers." Kix's voice cracked a little at the admission, but he kept his gaze firmly fixed on Rex, refusing to look away. Caring for his brothers was not a weakness and he wasn't ashamed of it.
The harsh expression on Rex's face softened into something like understanding, but his famously steely resolve didn't fade. "I'm tired, Kix. I'm so tired of watching my men - my brothers - die. I'll be damned if I watch you work yourself to death trying to keep others alive. You have to take care of yourself so that you can keep everyone else safe as long as possible."
He sat back in the chair, running a hand over his jaw as he thought. "Your medic's proficiencies can be pulled. You know as well as I do that the regs say I'm supposed to pull them for the first infraction. I don't want to do that, but I will if I don't see you taking better care of yourself. I won't have another one of these conversations, Kix. Is that understood?"
"Understood, sir," Kix agreed quickly, heart in his throat. So much of his identity was tied up in being a medic… he wasn't sure what he would do if his status was pulled from him.
Rex nodded at that and moved to leave the medbay, but Kix had one more thing to say: "I'm sorry, Captain."
"You will be," Rex said solemnly, the effect made more chilling by the bright smile that flashed across his face in the next moment. "I'm not going to stop any of the men from coming to visit you. That's the worst punishment I can think of."
Kix laughed uncertainly at the threat, but didn't understand it until an hour or so later, when the medbay doors opened to admit a mass of grinning troopers.
"Hey, Kix!" Hardcase greeted, far too loudly.
Commander Tano's grin was nothing short of evil. "We heard you weren't feeling well."
"Not only that," Jesse added with a smirk. "We heard you didn't accept treatment until you collapsed in front of Captain Rex!"
Tup schooled his face into a mock-serious expression. "It's dangerous to take risks with your health like that."
Kix took a deep breath and let it out slowly, staring at the medbay ceiling and cursing Rex internally. The captain was a cruel, cruel man…
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A/N - Kix truly is the worst possible patient, but he needed a bit of his own medicine (ba-dum tss)! Sorry for the bit of Rex angst here, but in my mind, this is toward the end of the war, and everyone is getting mentally and emotionally tired. They made a point of mentioning it in the last season of the Clone Wars: sometimes, it's hard to be the one who survives. Also, on a lighter note, how long do you think Rex was working on that medical outranking work-around? My guess is since the time Kix made him stay in the medbay overnight!
Thank you for reading! I would be honored if you would consider reblogging so that my work can spread. There are only a few chapters left in this story, but it’s not too late! To those who have liked or reblogged my work in the past:
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Okay, thank you, byeeeee!
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lenalee-academy · 4 years
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Shadow of Despair
Fandom: Avengers  
Count: 3471 
Warnings: Graphic Whump / ANGST 
Rating: M (for whump and language)
Summary:  What if despair had a name and liked to eat your nightmares for breakfast? The Avengers are out on a routine mission when despair comes calling, and it sets its sight on our favorite genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. As the team rallies to rescue their friend, they are brought face to face with the fact that they don’t really know Tony at all. 
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PROLOGUE
"There's a new world comin', and it's just around the bend. There's a new world comin', this one's comin' to an end."    - Cass Elliot
Iilk was hungry.
As one of the lesser Rake he didn't often have the opportunity for a meal.
Scraps.
That's what was left for him by the time the others cleared out. That's why he was lurking in the shadows, watching the Elders split dimensions. It had taken him quite a while to learn that the key was timing. While the Elders did the work of opening dimensions he bided his time and energy. If he was fast enough there was a chance he could pass through the opening before the others could swarm it.
He'd probably only get a few good tastes before he was pulled away by a stronger, more aged Rake, but that was okay. Even just a few sips of the good stuff would be able to keep Iilk energized enough to vie for a decent place in line instead of dead last.
As the rift grew longer he focused his attention on the tear, counting down the seconds until it showed the smallest opening, and then he dashed through the hole that was too small for the strongest Rake to fit in, but just wide enough for the starved Iilk to slip through.
His success was short lived as he careened through a time lord who looked surprised and rather angry before doing something that began to reverse the rift Iilk had come through, much to the surprised and angry cries of his people on the other side.
"Wong." The time lord hissed, his focus unable to split between the rogue Rake and closing the rift.
"Got it." This Wong stated, hands moving ominacly. But Iilk didn't wait to find out what that meant for him. He hurled himself in the direction of away, hearing the startled yell of the gatekeepers behind him and refusing to look back and see how close they were to catching up to him.
Slipping into shadows and spreading himself thin enough to dematerialize, he evaded them all, quickly navigating the in-between. Ahead was a doorway with another rift leading to a dim and desolate place. Iilk slipped silently through, using the cover of darkness to slink across the barren wasteland.
And even through his dire predicament of being chased by a time lord and the fear of being caught, there was also a growing wonder, and even joy, at the realization that he now had an entire world, a veritable banquet of uncontested entrees at his fingertips.
And Iilk was hungry.
Tony Stark was starving.
He supposed working four days straight in the workshop would do that. His stomach growled again, echoing loudly within his suit.
"Anything Stark?" came the Captain's inquiry like clockwork.
"Beta quadrant clear." he said, doing one last scan, verifying that his report was still correct. "Moving on to Charlie."
"Roger that."
He'd only been 'retired' for a few months and already he had missed this. The feeling of teamwork and purpose as they all worked towards a specific goal. Sure, technically he was still inactive and not authorized or even encouraged to do anything but the aerial scans they needed but still, it was nice.
"Hey guys, whaddya say we stop for a little curry after this?" he asked, circling back around the city towards the point of origin, where the disturbance was first logged on SHIELD's radar. "I'm feeling a bit peckish."
"Stark." The Captain warned.
"What? You don't like Indian?"
"I could go for some naan bread," Bruce chimed in from the research truck where he was currently collecting data on the anomaly and using Stark's scans to better pinpoint the current location of the disturbance. Whatever this thing was, it was proving evasive to say the least. "I know this great little spot in Kolkata."
"It's on." Tony agreed. "Gotta branch out sometime, Cap. You'll love it. Comes with a kick."
"Guys," came the Captain's voice, strained with annoyance. It only made Tony smile. Sometimes America's greatest hero was too easy.
"Mmmm," Stark hummed. "Just the thought of butter chicken is making my mouth water. Nat, Clint?"
"Gonna have to pass on this one Stark." Clint chimed in. "Last time I had curry I shit fire for a week."
Tony's mirth rang through the comms and was documented by the blip in altitude as he dropped a few inches.
"Guys can we focus please," came the clipped tones of the Captain. "Natasha, what have you learned from the village. Any more victims?"
"Negative. The three victims didn't have much in common. None of the individuals who've been affected have gotten worse in the last 24 hours, however there is one common denominator. All of the victims have been experiencing night and day terrors."
"Terrors? What, like nightmares?" Clint asked.
"That mean anything to you, Banner?" The Captain redirected.
"No, not yet, but I'll plug the data into the search matrix, see if I can find a pattern. If you could find out when and where the terrors started it would be helpful."
"On it."
The comms fell silent again as Tony began sweeping the next quadrant. His mind forgot his hunger as it strayed back to his current obsession, Peter Parker's suit. Originally there'd only been a few dozen web-shooting options that he'd planned to integrate into a suit for the spider kid he'd met a few weeks ago. It wasn't his fault that several hundred more options had come to him since then. He'd meant to at least cut them down, but then he wanted this suit to be the safest thing the kid ever wore, and everytime he eliminated one he would suddenly think of a scenario where only that option would save the kid's life.
In the end he ended up incorporating all of them, which meant the original tech intended for the suit was insufficient. The sheer amount of options required the processing ability of higher level thinking. And so Tony had spent the last four days creating another AI. The kid would need assistance growing into the suit. Some tutorials perhaps. Maybe just a couple of training wheels to get him started.
"FRIDAY, remind me to set up a training wheels protocol for the Spiderling." he instructed, eyes still scanning the incoming stream of data. Something was off in the topography he hadn't caught before.
"You got it, boss."
"And while you're at it enable the GPR will ya?"
"On it."
"Thanks darlin."
Tony pulled to a stop as he read the data, turning to rescan the area around him. His lips spread into a smirk as the anomaly he'd sensed blipped across his screen.
"Gotcha," he murmured. After pinpointing the most probable point of origin, he began to head towards it.
"Stark. You want to tell me why you're breaking formation?" The Captain asked.
"You bet your patriotic socks I do," he said happily. "Looks like our mystery guest might be utilizing the formidable facility underneath the city. Sending you the specs now, Brucey."
He landed on the outskirts of the city, his metal suit standing firm on the hard sand. Precision lasers cut a perfect circle through the dirt, and he smiled when the sands began pouring down before the large chuck in the middle fell through a hole with a loud thump a moment later.
"Knock, knock."
"Stark! Hold position. Wait for backup." Captain America ordered.
Tony thought about listening. He really did.
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