#if these look blurry it's because i have no scanner right now and have to take photos of everything with my phone

[shyangry]

Threw some colors on this

#winifred #geosmin #if these look blurry it's because i have no scanner right now and have to take photos of everything with my phone

[florafound]

WHAT’S IN A NAME? | Pt. 1

Warnings for Medical atmosphere, Psychological Torture, Child Abuse and Gaslighting

“The Tower? Kit, what was the Tower?”

She barely remembered it, a nightmare long past, but the word brought the taste of copper to her tongue, and she cowered before it like a frightened child. 

She woke up freezing, wearing nothing but a hospital robe that barely covered her knees. She was lying on the familiar post-operative gurney feeling as sluggish as she usually did after her surgeries. The scanner against her skin was just as cold, clutching to her temple and forehead like a head-sized wrench.

Every thirty-seven – she’d counted – seconds it beeped, a noise that gratingly echoed in her ears like a knife being stabbed into them. Too tight and too loud, the girl wanted nothing more than to rip the contraption from her head, but the operation had made her tired. She literally didn’t have the energy to move. Moving her hand – which she hadn’t noticed she’d been doing – took everything out of her.

The girl heard the sounds of pen scribbling on paper, the movement of a rolling chair across the floor. This wasn’t the first post-operative recovery she’d had. She knew right now they were watching her vitals, watching her brain waves, making sure everything in her brain hadn’t turned to complete mush.

It felt like it. Her brain felt like cotton and her vision blurred as she stared at her splayed fingers.

“Subject Zero? Is something wrong?”

Subject Zero…No that wasn’t right. No. Her name. Her name was something else. She had a name. A real name. Not just a title, not just what Oliver liked to call her. A real, true name.

The nightmares lately had been getting worse. Another name on her lips when she wakes. She was starting to get confused about a lot of things.

“My name…” she murmured.

“Subject Zero, look at me.”

A light flashed in her eyes checking her pupils. She assumed they worked properly by the way the doctor ‘hmmed’ above her.

“My name is Sophie,” she finally managed, “Sophie Poole.”

The doctor froze, lips pursed tight. “No, it’s not,” he said, in a way one chastises a child. “Subject Zero, can you sit up?”

“I…don’t think I can.”

She tried anyway, because the doctor would force her into the position whether she liked it or not. It was like moving through water or perhaps more like mud, sloshing around and struggling to move forward. But she made it into an upright position, though she swayed in place, nevertheless.

The girl looked around the room but everything was too blurry to make out.

“I don’t feel so good.”

“Post-op fuzziness – it will pass.”

She stared again at her fingers, counting them as if expecting one to be missing. Her name…Why did she keep coming back to that? The beeping behind her ear seemed to drown out any other thoughts, bringing her back around to the same thing. Who was she? Subject Zero? No? No!

“My name is Sophie,” she said again, firmer and this time she made eye contact with the doctor as she said it.

“You are not Sophie,” the doctor chided, peering over his glasses as if she was doing something wrong.

“I was….,” she trailed off, staring at her fingers again, mulling over the cotton that was her brain, “I am. I am Sophie.” She let the words fall from her lips softly as if it could call her old self back to her body, as if she’s been lost to the stars and nothing more.

“Subject Zero—”

“No—I don’t want to do this anymore.”

She knew she’d said something wrong the minute the doctor paused in his movements. “I’m tired,” she added, in some attempt to lighten the words coming next.

“Just a little more Subject—”

“I’m Sophie!” she protested loudly.

The beeping behind her ear was growing more incessant and Kit felt the need to raise her voice to be heard over it. “I’m Sophie!” she repeated, “Sophie. Sophie. Sophi—”

That was the last straw. The doctor slammed his clipboard down onto the counter making the young girl jump. She stumbled to the floor fueled by pure adrenaline and childish rage, but her muscles could barely hold her upright. Her eyes were wide with fear, breath coming quickly – wild like a cornered mouse as the doctor approached her.

The scanner was so loud now it was practically one singular stream of static.

“Sophie Poole was a disobedient little nuisance whose parents didn’t want her!” the doctor snapped, grabbing her by the arm, “Do you want to be disobedient? Do you want Dr. Kendrick to send you away where no one will ever want you again. He can you know.”

The girl snatched the scanner forcefully from her head with her free hand feeling it scrape some skin as it went. She ignored the pain, in simple euphoria from the relief of the lack of static. “You’re a liar! Dr. Kendrick would never—”

“He will if you don’t stop this nonsense, SUBJECT ZERO!”

Kit screamed at him as he clung to her by the arm, slamming her fists against his chest. The movements were too slow and sluggish to do any real harm, her body too exhausted. “Liar, liar, liar!”

She could not say when she actually collapsed to the floor or when she started convulsing and which one happened first. She probably fainted long before either started, the last of her energy seeping out of her with her short-lived spat at the doctor.

By the time the convulsions ended, she was trying to move again, babbling incoherently. The doctor had hit the red emergency button and a new wailing sound had begun. If she’d been more coherent, the girl would have covered her ears in annoyance. As it was, she curled her legs towards her stomach, moaning. Everything in her body felt wrong, it didn’t feel like it belonged to her, too far away.

The convulsions started again, conscious lost in a tirade of darkness.

As several agents flooded in the doctor directed them to get the girl off the floor and back onto the gurney as he readied what he needed for an IV. “After I get her stabilized, she needs to be put through conditioning again.”

One of the agents – newer to the crew and possibly on his last day – had his eyes glued on the seizing child, frozen, horror evident on his features. The Commander pretended he did not see, pretended everything was fine, pretend, all he had to do was pretend he was apathetic and all would be okay. For everyone.

“Conditioning? Sir, in her state?”

“This, Commander?” The doctor quirked his head towards the girl as her second set of seizures came to an end. “Is simply a child throwing a tantrum.”

The doctor gestured at the commander to hold her arm up for him. Preston hesitated before moving forward and doing as he was directed. Stay quiet, keep your mouth shut. That was the way things were done here. No one asked questions about the tiny girl seizing on the table. No one protested what they were doing. No one—

“Sir, please…Conditioning? After an operation?”

“Commander, need I remind you what happened the last time someone started asking too many questions?”

“No…sir.”

“Good. Anyway, she will be more moldable in this state anyway. Perhaps it will finally take. Perhaps she will finally learn what she is now.”

Kit was still now, breath coming in shallow gasps, face white as a sheet. She did not move as the doctor had placed the IV or when he hung the fluids above her. Her eyes were opening, blearily trying to take in everything around her. But it was far too bright and she shut them again. Shut it all out.

The last thing she heard were the doctor’s words, “Give her an hour for the fluids to get into her system then escort her to the Tower.”

She didn’t have the strength to panic or run. Only slip away yet again into darkness.

#☀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇꜱ ɪɴ ᴍy ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴄʀy ⇾ drabble. #my poor baby girl #wanted to rewrite an old drabble and it got almost completely redone #though some old sentences remained so it may seem familiar #i cut the drabble into two this time to make it easier to parse

[watchyourdigits]

Night Letter

Chapter 11 - Deleted Scene

Posting this for the AO3 peeps because some people might be interested in the extra stuff.

This was originally slapped between the last two scenes in the chapter (biometric scanner and teleportation scenes) before I cut it entirely for ~reasons~ (I remembered I hate dream sequences).

When they arrived back at the Prydwen, Frankie handed the piece off to someone else to finish the work on the teleporter overnight. He and Danse ate dinner in silence and then headed to their respective quarters with nothing more than a gruff exchange of 'goodnights'.

Danse managed to be lulled to sleep by the half bottle of whiskey Frankie hadn't found in his prior cleaning spree.

He dreamt of Cutler, of a simpler time back in Rivet City during his youth. His heart ached, everything seemingly tainted by a cloud of despair. The dream quickly transitioned itself into one of the root cellar back in Sanctuary.

Danse was alone, sitting on the dirty mattress with the photo album on his lap. He flipped through it aimlessly, but all the images were too blurry for him to make out. Frankie came down the ladder, quiet as a whisper, until he spoke.

"Look what the cat dragged in," he said playfully as he made his way to Danse's side, ruffling his dark hair, pale blue eyes trained on the Paladin.

Except he wasn't a Paladin at all. Stripped of their ranks, having shed the Brotherhood entirely like a creature molting to be born anew in fresh skin, they were simply Frankie and Danse.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Danse grinned up at him and patted the bed beside himself. Frankie sat, and rested his head on Danse's shoulder in a way that made everything in the world feel right. The photographs came into view then, Frankie's old life on full display.

"Hey," Frankie said softly. "Why don't we forget 'bout all that? It's in the past."

"You shouldn't forget where you came from," Danse said, frowning slightly.

"I won't. I'm just a helluva lot happier where I am now. So why bother with it?" Frankie replied.

He sat upright, unable to be still for too long even in Danse's unconsciousness, and reached out to brush his knuckles along Danse's jaw. Danse relaxed into his touch, humming softly, his eyes fluttering shut.

"Have I ever told you how cute you are when you're sleepy?" Frankie whispered. He was close enough now that Danse could feel his breath tickling his lips, warm and inviting.

"Not that I can recall... Perhaps you could refresh my memory," Danse replied, leaning in to close the space between them.

#fic: night letter

[ygg-yiggles]

Old Art: Inktober 2022, part 1

I have participated in Inktober since 2019, on Twitter up until now. To breathe some life into my blog here, I'll post my work from past years over the next few days, along with my thoughts and explanations where relevant, using the more long-form format of tumblr to its advantage. Please mind this small content warning before you continue reading: Some of what I drew for this quite odd and creepy, and in at least one case (day 14), arguably gory. Keep this in mind as you read and view the art.

Day 1: Gargoyle This one was fun. I did a poor job of making it actually look like it was perched on the wall and the wall itself was a pain, ultimately resulting in something kind of halfassed and iffy looking, but still, I had fun with it, and I think the gaping red maw looks pretty decent, all things considered. I used a grey ink--if I recall, it was Noodler's Lexington Gray--for this one, though only sparingly.

Day 2: Scurry Some of the anatomy is screwy here, in particular the catgirl's hands are all kinds of gnarly in ways I didn't intend. Ink is unforgiving. These aren't really meant to be any characters in particular, but I was probably influenced a little by Nazrin from Touhou Project and undeniably heavily inspired by Maekawa Miku from The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls. You might immediately notice two things about this image: firstly that it is clearly more true to the color of the paper and secondly that the left edge curves away, gets blurry, and has a bit of a shadow. Day 1's drawing was simply captured by my phone camera, but I used my scanner for this one. That took time to set up (I have a bad habit of putting things on top of the machine and I have to reposition the whole thing because the USB-B cable I have is too short), so I didn't always use it. There's another scanner now, though, which I can use much more easily.

Day 3: Bat GAHHH why did I go right back to the phone camera? Oh well. The anatomy here is really poor especially around the legs, but I tried to be a little more dynamic with the pose than I usually would be. Evidently, I didn't properly plan this from the beginning, since the torso is on a somewhat different perspective plane than it should be. Oh well, not everything works out as you'd want it.

Day 4: Scallop I love drawing spooky little creatures. Here, we see a sea scallop, but with spindly arms and legs. This is only slightly more monstrous than what live sea scallops actually look like. Did you know they have like 200 eyes, all lined up in a row along the edge of the "mouth"? Crazy. There's also a moray eel in entirely imaginary colors here. It seems about as freaked out by the scallop creature as is appropriate.

Day 5: Flame Dragon girl! I should really put this under the scanner someday. Overall I mostly like how this turned out, though I clearly had no clue what to do with the breasts. Probably should have grabbed some references.

Day 6: Bouquet This time, the gnarly fingers were absolutely intentional. Here we see an elder vampire or something, perhaps some other kind of aged fantasy man, enjoying several flowers. I think they were based upon a couple specific real flowers, but I can't quite recall exactly what they were.

Day 7: Trip This is one I'm really glad I went through the trouble to use the scanner for. There are certainly things that could have been improved, but overall, I'm still quite proud of this one. Two girls on a road trip in an Autobianchi Bianchina, stopped on the side of the road for... I dunno, looking at the scenery, I guess. I don't know if that car was ever sold in this color, but it's what color I'd want one in.

Day 8: Match Matching outfit elves. The anatomy and basic geometry of this one was completely unsalvageable by the time I realized what was going on. Alas, at least it was properly scanned.

Day 9: Nest Sometimes you go into a drawing with an image in your head that's too complex to hold for long and when you zoom in in your mind to look at the details, you lose it. Ultimately, though, when I look at it now, that worked out better than if I had faithfully rendered every piece of trash in the garbage heap that this giant, mechanical bird-thing has built. Seriously, this looks way better than I remember it looking. I also used the grey ink here again, I think to much better effect than with the gargoyle.

Day 10: Crabby Crabby child, crab hat, "Feelin' Crabulous!" shirts. Not much more to say other than wow that mom character looks weird. I think I did a pretty decent job of depicting a child in the middle of a tantrum over god-knows-what here.

Day 11: Eagle A man and his concerningly large eagle. If I recall, this was meant to depict a Haast's eagle, an extinct species from what is now New Zealand. Or at the very least it was mostly inspired by that. In other words, it's completely nonsensical for a man in a heavy coat, fur hat, and snow goggles to have one as his companion, but somehow it just felt right. I used a bunch of different colors of brown micron and even fountain pen ink for this, and I think the effect turned out well.

Day 12: Forget Creepy creatures what take your brain out and make you forget things. The head being comically outsized compared to the rest of the body was actually intentional here--I felt the strange proportions would further bring focus to the point of the action and also just make the whole scene feel even weirder.

Day 13: Kind More weirdo creatures. I thought it'd be fun to depict kindness between alien things rather than more easily relatable humans or animals. This color palette also happens to be enjoyable to me. This is another one featuring some fountain pen inks, but I can't recall what they were.

Day 14: Empty Yeah, this one is pretty gross and freaky. Sorry about that. But hey, that was the idea. Mission accomplished, right? If I remember correctly, this one included Diamine Oxblood ink, to get that fleshy cavern look.

Day 15: Armadillo Yep, it's Tarkus. As in, the album by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. I guess you could consider this a gijinka? The nameplate thing bearing the day number and prompt is based on the colors of the ground in the album art.

..And that's it for now. I'll do days 16-31 tomorrow or the next day, depending on how much I can think of to write about those. If you made it this far, thanks for reading and for looking at my art.

#drawing #traditional illustration #inktober

[mainsshoppe]

Photomyne vs photoscan

PHOTOMYNE VS PHOTOSCAN SOFTWARE

PHOTOMYNE VS PHOTOSCAN FREE

Thai app is only good if you want to save your old photos to upload to social media or your computer. I guess that's what happens when I tried a shortcut. They do not look good at all, in the real photos you can see detail, in the scanned version you lose detail and get that awkward grainy/blurry look. I work with photoshop and realized that this apps corrects the scanned photos by aggressively sharpening the image which resulted in grainy and in some cases pixelated images. Fathers Day is coming up, and its a common social media practice to post a super cute, vintage picture of you and your Dad or father figure together on. Learn the story behind Photomyne, read app reviews, and learn about our mission as a company. It wasn't until upload the images to a photo book creating website and started creating the album when I noticed all the photos are very grainy and blurry. The photo scanning app by Photomyne came to life out of a genuine passion for preserving personal history, old photos, and celebrating nostalgia. Which works best for you is dependent on how you’re archiving your digital photos right now. Photomyne’s more of a one-stop shop, whereas PhotoScan is just a scanning tool. You can create and edit albums, edit photo details with date and year data, and use a variety of filters.

PHOTOMYNE VS PHOTOSCAN FREE

Other interesting free alternatives to Photomyne are Google PhotoScan and Pic Scanner. In addition, the app synchronizes and backs up. Its main product is a feature-rich smartphone app for scanning old prints and turning them into digital files 3 which can then be shared, edited and annotated.

PHOTOMYNE VS PHOTOSCAN SOFTWARE

Save photos to your mobile device or computer Share your scanned photos. is an image scanning software development startup company, founded in February 2015 by four Israeli entrepreneurs 1 2. If that doesnt suit you, our users have ranked five alternatives to Photomyne and three of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Read The Guideline To Use Photo Scan App by Photomyne On Chromebook Laptops. On my phone the picture scanning deal became a breeze and I was amazed how great they look after automatically been fixed. Photomyne is a more feature-rich app though. The best free alternative to Photomyne is DeOldify, which is also Open Source. Repeat for each group of images you want in a separate folder. 5) Create and this group of selected photos is moved to this new sub-folder. My husband suggested I try one of those apps that will scan and enhance my photos so I stumbled upon this app, I even bought it because the video looked so awesome. 2) Right-Click on a Parent folder where you want to have all the 'suitably named' sub-folders. I have close to 500 old photos that I've been meaning to scan and put in a photo album for my mom for this Christmas.

#Photomyne vs photoscan

[littleredwing89]

AGENT OF CHAOS - PART THREE

AGENT OF CHAOS - PART THREE

Jason Todd x Reader

Summary: Everything flew by him in a blur as he sped through the streets of Gotham. His foot slammed down harder on the accelerator desperate to get there faster. Every second counted. He knew all too well what The Joker was like. The way his face slipped as you defied him, terrified Jason. He’d seen that look right before receiving a crowbar to the face.

Warnings – Language. Kidnapping. Stalking. Mild Violence. Angst. Hurt.

Word Count: 4,870

A/N: This is the final chapter everyone, sorry for the little delay, I was working on a few of the actions scenes to ensure they were good. I really hope you all like this xoxo

~~~

It had been almost a month. Every lead turned into a dead end. Nothing. Much like the Joker himself, no one knew a thing. The whole thing was tearing Jason apart. He’d barely slept. He’d maybe had 3 hours per night. If that, and he was convinced the only reason he got sleep was because Bruce had slipped him something in his coffee.

The fourth cassette tape came with a dead yellow rose and a rotten apple. He pushed play on the recorder and swallowed thickly as the grainy camera zoomed in on your face. You looked pale. Your cheeks looked hollow and your once colourful eyes looked gaunt. Haunted.

“Well Jason, I’m a man of my word...I’ve been looking after her so good”, Joker laughed hysterically and smoothed his hand down your cheek, smacking it lightly. The slap caused you to jolt in the chair. A sharp gasp flew out of your chapped lips.

Jason felt Bruce’s hand squeeze his shoulder reassuringly. The notion sent a brief wave of calm through Jason. Maybe this was how Bruce felt all those years ago...when he received similar tape of ..of himself. Jason turned back to the screen and focused his eyes. Searching for a clue. Anything. Something to bring you back to him.

“She’s been such a good little princess bird boy...she’s done everything I asked...and more”, Joker whistled happily as he tapped your nose with a wicked smile. Jason felt his heart stop and looked directly into your eyes through the screen. Good he wanted to hold you in his arms and never let you go. 

The tape skipped and replayed the same thing back, “...and more”. It skipped again, “...and more”. Jason growled and the tape paused before going completely black.

His fist smashed into the computer keyboard, pieces of black plastic scattering across the desk. Jason released a loud sobbing noise and sank to the cold stone floor of the bat cave. His eyes scrunched shut tightly, imagining you were in front of him. Giving him that silly smile you always did when you first woke up. It was one of his favourite smiles. You had hundreds of different types of smiles. The one you gave him when he hugged you randomly. The one you’d give him when he told you a stupid joke. The one you’d show him when you were both standing down one of the grocery aisles for no reason at all.

“Jason...son - we will find her - I promise you”, Bruce’s deep voice shattered Jason’s illusion of you in his mind.

“It’s been so long...what if-”, Jason ran a hand over his face. The stubble was longer, causing him to itch.

“Don’t”, Bruce warned, “don’t think like that. We will find her”.

~~~

The last cassette tape Jason received was covered in a dark, red sticky substance. Jason knew what it was but he didn’t know if it was yours. Before Jason could even think about playing it, Bruce had prized it from his fingers.

“Jason we need to analyse the blood, it might give us a clue”, his voice was stable and deep. He attempted to reassure Jason with a firm grip to the shoulder but it did nothing. Jason felt empty without you.

“We need to watch-”, Jason started but was interrupted by Bruce.

“No, I’ll watch it. You need to get some sleep, let me do this Jason. Please”, Bruce pleaded desperately, “You haven’t slept in over 48 hours”.

Jason laughed but it was hollow and sharp, “You really think I can sleep knowing she’s stuck with that fucking psycho?!”.

Bruce sighed and ran a hand over his face, “Jason I know you want to get Y/N back”, he placed the cassette onto a high tech scanning machine, it bleeped repeatedly as it scanned over the material, “But we all need to be working together and that means recharging our batteries”.

Jason scoffed and pushed past Bruce looking over the computer scanner typing something into the system, “So you’re telling me you went and had an eight hour sleep when Joker caught me?”.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, “Jason”.

“JUST STOP!!”, Jason's voice cracked as he shouted and for a moment, he sounded like the broken man in the abandoned shopping mall that long Halloween night many years ago.

“I-I need to do this Bruce. I-I have to, for Y/N”, his voice was scratchy and raw. 

Bruce simply nodded and turned around. He extracted the cassette from the blood stained cloth and pushed it into the player to the right. Bruce took a secondary glance to Jason, giving him one last option but Jason just stared at the screen, waiting to see what the tape would show.

The second the tape played, the batcave was filled with your screams. They sounded broken and dry. Jason’s heart shattered. The shards stabbing him painfully. As you came into view on the camera, your long h/c hair was matted and stuck to your face. Blood staining it a deep red.

The Joker came into the view of the camera and smiled wide, his teeth showing.

“Jason, I see why you’re so attached to this woman, she’s very fiery...her spirit is impenetrable”.

A flicker of evil flew through his eyes at that word and a sick smile slid onto his lips, “but that’s fine. I’m sure I can find more penetrable spots”.

You tug harshly at your binds as he turned and came closer to you, a small blade held in his gloves hand.

“Hold still princess or I might accidentally cut an important part of you...or slit something”.

The blade cut the straps of your top, and the material fluttered down uselessly to the floor, exposing your padded black bra. The Joker whistled appreciatively and winked back at the camera.

“I say Jason...maybe I’m missing out not having a significant other...especially when they’re as beautiful as this”.

Jason had edged so close to the screen Bruce had to pull him back. Tears were running hotly down his cheeks and he swore he tasted blood from biting down on his bottom lip.

Your voice echoed through the empty warehouse room and through the camera speakers, “GO FUCK YOURSELF”.

The Joker smirked down at you and the blade was pressed against the skin of your neck.

“You should watch your manners, princesses don’t speak like that”.

You gulped and looked into his soulless eyes and laughed. It almost sounded as maniacal as his.

“I’m not your fucking princess”.

You spat at his face. Your spit mingled with blood from the earlier smack around the face.

“He’ll come for me...I know he will. And when he does, it’ll be all over for you”.

Something snapped and you saw his eyes darken. His face twisted and the scowl was demonic.

“You filthy fucking bitch!”, he roared and dropped the knife to wipe his face.

Joker turned to the camera and glowered, “I hope you’re watching Jason whilst I teach this rotten little whore some manners!”.

The first blow caused you to cry out in agony. It was harsh and fast. The sound to Jason was ear splitting. The second hit was drawn out and heavy. Designed to bruise. The third was sharp and felt like hundreds of tiny needles piercing your skin. The Joker was laughing wildly all the way through it. Never ceasing his treatment. As he swung his arm back for the fourth hit, the camera jarred and caught a window. Streams of light shone through. Jason could just about make out a sign. It was blurry.

“REWIND AND PAUSE IT BRUCE! There!!!”, he called and waited for Bruce to zoom in.

“Can you clear up that image...that looks like a road sign...”.

Bruce skipped the tape back several seconds, muting the sounds on the screen. The sounds of you getting smacked in the face shaking him to his core. 

“THERE!!! LOOK!! Can you see?!”, Jason pressed his face as close as possible to the screen as Bruce paused it, the image flickered but the road sign was obvious. 

ACE CHEMICALS.

Before Bruce could even react, Jason had launched himself across the cave, guns strapped to his thighs.

“Jason!”.

Jason ignored Bruce and grabbed his helmet, securing it into place whilst dropping extra magazine clips into his inner jacket pockets.

“Jason, we can’t just go in there all guns blazing. That’s what he’ll want! We have to think about this”, Bruce reasoned and moved into his path.

Huffing in annoyance, Jason’s modulator covered it easily, “I’m going to get her whether you come with me or not”.

Bruce looked stunned for a split second before softening his voice, “You’re letting your emotions get the better of you - they’re clouding your judgment Jason”.

He knew he was right, deep down. But the pressure. The torture you must have endured. Everything. It weighed down on Jason and began to suffocate him slowly. The more time he wasted, the worse it was going to be. He couldn’t do it.

“Let me get into my suit and we’ll tackle this together”.

Nodding briefly, Jason watched Bruce make his way across to the darkened corner of the cave where his suit was behind a glass panel. As Bruce pressed his palm into the wall, the biometric scanner bleeped. The case slid open slowly and Bruce began to take out the suit piece by piece. The batarangs refracted the light they caught from the computer screens.

Fuck. It was taking too long, these precious seconds. He could be half way there by now. His bike was too far away, in the garage at the front of the manor. He side eyed the batmobile and swallowed thickly.

“Fuck it”.

Taking the keys from the secret sliding panel on the desk, Jason leapt into the batmobile before starting the engine and speeding out of the cave. He swore he heard Bruce shouting, he was certain he heard several curse words too. Unlike Bruce. But it was taking too long. He couldn’t wait. He couldn’t leave you. You needed him. You couldn’t wait any longer.

~~~

Everything flew by him in a blur as he sped through the streets of Gotham. His foot slammed down harder on the accelerator desperate to get there faster. Every second counted. He knew all too well what The Joker was like. The way his face slipped as you defied him, terrified Jason. He’d seen that look right before receiving a crowbar to the face.

“Come on...come on!!”, Jason cursed to himself, hitting the steering wheel in fury. All the money Bruce had and it wouldn’t go any faster? He took a sharp turn heading towards the abandoned warehouse behind ACE Chemicals. He was so close. So much closer to reaching you. He’d deal with Bruce later. He couldn’t have waited any longer. Bruce would just have to get over him ‘borrowing’ the batmobile.

Swerving another corner and narrowly dodging the underpass columns, he pulled up in front of the derelict building. Almost all of the windows were smashed and hued green with mould. Maybe some of the toxins spewed from the factory had helped taint the glass further.

Grabbing both of his pistols, Jason left the car and headed towards the building fire escape. He could hear voices chattering.

“Joker said to keep an eye out for Batman”.

A goon; Jason noted peering around the brick wall spotting two of them. He noticed the metal railings above them creaking slightly in the strong winds.

“It’s been over a month now and there’s been no sign of any of the Bat freaks, it’s fine, let’s go grab a beer. He won’t even notice”, a second one encouraged the other smirking.

“You really want to cross him? He’s fucking nuts. I’m surprised the girl has even lasted this long with him, you know what he’s like”.

Jason’s fist tightened around one of his guns at the mention of you. It had to be you. Silently firing his grapple gun, he flew up the side of the building and made his way towards the goons.

“Trust me”, the first one spoke again, “He won’t even realise we’re gone, plus we might find some chicks to-”.

Perching on the railings above them, Jason leapt down cracking the base of his pistols onto one of their heads.

“Pleasure to meet you both”, Jason kicked out at the second goon hearing the sick crack of his ankle snapping.

Spinning on his heel, Jason grabbed the other goon and threw him face first into the brick wall knocking him unconscious immediately before turning back to the other man on the floor whimpering in pain.

“Where is she?”, Jason’s voice was strained even with the modulator protecting him.

The man refused to answer, dragging himself away from Jason with his hands, mud covering his palms.

Taking a large step, Jason reached the man on the floor and purposely stood onto his swollen ankle before aiming the cocked pistol towards his skull.

“I won’t ask again, where is she?”.

The screech from the man was deafening as Jason applied a hefty amount of pressure to his fractured bone.

“Basement!! She’s in the basement!! Please!!”, he begged as his eyes flickered nervously to the gun.

Jason rolled his shoulders before smashing the hilt of his pistol into his skull knocking him out cold. He turned back towards the fire escape and grappled back up to the roof. He’d have to make his way through the building to get to the basement. To you. And if he knew Joker, he wouldn’t have made it that easy. The two idiots on the front door were a sick joke. Tormenting Jason. Getting you back wouldn’t be an easy task.

~~~

Silently dropping through the window on top of the building, Jason landed onto one of the rusty steel girders. It was dark but his helmet adjusted the night vision so he could see clearly. Several goons patrolling an old foreman’s office in the centre. You had to be in there. He needed to take these idiots out quietly before getting to you.

Swinging across to the next rafter, Jason looked down at the first unsuspecting moron. With the stealth of a panther, he landed silently behind the goon before wrapping his arm around his meaty neck. He struggled against the iron grip of Jason’s forearm but the pressure only intensified the more he thrashed. Eventually the squirming stopped and the goon fell limp in his arms. Jason dragged him across to a darkened corner and dumped him behind some barrels.

As he grappled back up to roof beams, he looked down across at the two henchmen digging out a packet of cigarettes. The idiots had left their guns resting against the far wall. Jason had to chuckle to himself, Joker really was hiring morons. Weren’t these guys supposed to be protection? 

Jason creeped across the rafters towards the two men and grabbed both of his pistols. He had to be silent. He couldn’t alert Joker to his presence.

“This is my last smoke”, one complained bitterly as the cigarette perched between his thin lips.

“I’ll get the next packet, quit your whining”, the second growled and patted his jacket for a lighter, “Fuck, where did I put my lighter?”.

“You’re a fucking moron. You asked to come for a smoke and you don’t even have a light!!”.

Now was his chance. Jason landed between them both, his boots thudding as he hit the concrete floor, “You know, smoking is bad for your health”. Before either of the goons could react, Jason lifted his elbow into the larger man's throat before smashing his pistol into the other man's temple, causing him to drop onto his knees. He slipped his guns back into his holsters quickly before turning to the other goon. He dodged the larger man’s grapple before twisting with ease and kicking out his kneecap. The man gasped but the elbow to his throat had killed off his voice.

Jason threw a heavy right hook into the larger man's nose and watched the blood trickle down his face. This seemed to only infuriate him more and he launched himself towards Jason viciously. Gripping both of his arms, Jason flipped the man over his body and slammed him into the floor hard before hammering punch after punch to his face, knocking him unconscious.

He turned quickly to the other man who was scrambling on his knees for the gun resting against the far wall.

“Sorry bud, but that can’t happen”, Jason grunted and landed a heavy kick to the goons stomach. The man yelped but it was quickly cut off by Jason as he slammed his boot into his face. He dropped onto the floor instantly.

Jason panted heavily and looked around the room, his helmet advising him of one more goon loitering around the door of the office. Looking down at the floor he noticed the floor grates wrapped around the room and more importantly under the henchmen’s feet. Perfect.

He lifted one of the grate coverings quietly and slipped under the flooring. He crouched down and edged around the room. The last goon was much larger and bulkier, with a machine gun strapped around his wide chest.

This goon seemed smarter than the others. Looking around and even checking up in the rafters. He grunted and pressed a button on his jacket, “No boss, still no sign of them...nothing Sir”.

The voice that patched through sent a chill down Jason’s spine. It was a tone that would be forever cemented in his mind, a reminder of his own torment.

“If you get ANY inclination the bat or any of his costumed freaks are in the building, you tell me immediately”.

“Yes boss”.

The static of the radio crackled before cutting off completely. Jason cursed mentally. This had to be precise. Perfection. He had to disable the henchman’s radio unit. Padding over his jacket he searched for the disrupter shooter he had. It wasn’t there. Fuck. He’d fucked up in his rush and left it behind. Fuck. Bruce was right. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Then he heard it. A soft ping from above him. He knew that sound. Jason looked up from the grate and spotted Nightwing hidden in the shadows with his own disrupter. Pointed directly at the goon’s radio system.

“Thought you might need a hand”, Dick patched into Jason’s com line.

Jason growled under his breath, “Thanks”.

“Shall we take this moron out together?”.

“Yes”, Jason muttered before switching his com off and inched closer to the goon.

The second Nightwing flew down from the roof beams, Jason jumped out of the floor grate and kicked out the back of the goons knees. He cursed loudly before Nightwing’s foot landed in his face.

Jason swore he saw a tooth fly out of his mouth along with a glob of blood. He aimed several hard punches to the side of the henchman’s head whilst Nightwing disabled his gun and radio with a graceful poise.

“All this for the girl? She’s nothing but a shell”, the goon smirked across at Jason before choking at the next punch.

“Joker’s hollowed her out...she’s nothing”, he spat out.

His temper flared and his hand subconsciously reached for his pistol. Dick realised and before anything could happen, he landed an electrical ecrisma blow to the goons head, knocking him out cold. His body crashed onto the floor with a loud thump.

“Jason-”.

“Don’t”, Jason cut him off, “I’m fine”.

He took several steps towards the office door and swallowed thickly. You. You’d be in there. You’d told Joker with the last ounce of confidence left that he’d come for you. He’d never leave you. You were right. Jason would never have stopped looking. Ever.

His hand rested on the door handle, trembling only slightly. What if he was too late. What if this was just another trick?

Drawing his hand back almost as though the door had burnt him. He frowned. He couldn’t think like this. No. He had to be strong. Just like you had been in all those videos. You’d been fierce. Your spirit still pouring through to him.

Jason glared angrily at the door and took a step back before kicking it open furiously with his combat boot. The door flew open wildly and as the dust settled. He saw Joker stood in the middle of the room, a sick, satisfied smirk sat proudly on his demented face.

~~~

“Jason my boy! It’s a pleasure to see you again”, his chuckle was deep and sinister, “I see you're still hiding your face though...is that because of what I did?”. The Joker’s eyes danced with delirious joy at the memories.

“I’d have thought you’d have embraced all your scars by now Jason...”, The Joker edged forward leaving you tied up behind him.

Jason rounded The Joker, clicking a button to the side of his mask, revealing his face, his eyes hidden with the domino mask, “I’ve got nothing to hide from you, clown”.

Jason let his eyes run over you for a second. You were bruised and bloodied. Clothes torn and tattered from mistreatment. Your eyes. God. Your beautiful E/C eyes. Red raw from countless tears. Somehow you still managed to give him a smile from behind The Joker. His heart fluttered. God he’d missed your smile.

Tearing his eyes from you he looked back towards The Joker and held his pistols out at him, finger hovering over the trigger. Jason felt the burn mark on his cheek stinging all over again. Pain ever present.

“You don’t have the guts”, The Joker laughed again and walked forward pressing his forehead into the barrel of the gun.

“You wouldn’t dare pull that trigger. I’m your Ace card Jason. You can’t kill me. You want to but you can’t...something will always stop you”.

Jason felt his hand shaking slightly. Everything was throbbing in his mind.

“Even after everything I’ve done to your girl, you still can’t pull that trigger”, The Joker taunted further and grinned sadistically.

“If only you knew where I’d touched...what I’ve done...”, he pushed further into the cold metal of the gun and winked at Jason, “Go on, do it, I dare you...if you don’t- I’m just going to keep coming back and who knows what I’ll do to our little princess next-”.

BANG.

A gun shot blasted through the air. Smoke drifted slowly from the barrel, dancing into the darkness around them.

“JASON!”.

Nightwing had thrown one of his ecrisma sticks to Jason’s gun, knocking it off target. The bullet shattered the brickwork behind them, dust erupting.

Crashing down through one of the broken windows on top of the office roof, Nightwing flew towards The Joker tackling him down onto the damp, concrete floor before he could launch himself at Jason.

Still startled, Jason watched Dick wrestling with The Joker on the floor, punches flying back and forth.

Dick turned to Jason, “Y/N-Jason!! Go get Y/N!! I’ll handle this!”.

The Joker was shrieking with laughter underneath Dick, blood pouring down his lip and from his nose.

“Ahhhh another boy blunder!! I must be lucky!! Two for the price of one!”.

Dick threw another punch and reached for the second ecrisma stick on his back, “I can’t wait to cart you back to the Asylum. I hope you’re looking forward to your 5 star stay in a windowless cesspit!”.

Jason could hear Joker continually laughing at Dick, until the sharp sound of electrical buzzing cut him off with a loud scream.

He almost fell over his own feet as he raced towards you. Jason quickly untied your hands and the second they were free you flung them around his neck, sobbing into his neck. Your tears dropping onto his brown leather jacket.

“Oh baby”, Jason stroked your hair and held you tightly to him. He was worried he was crushing you but you seemed to be squeezing him back just as hard.

You didn’t stop sobbing. The overwhelming emotion of being wrapped in his safe, strong arms make your knees buckle. Jason caught you with ease and lifted you up, “It’s ok baby, I’ve got you. I’ve always got you”.

Jason was one step away from breaking down himself but he needed to be strong for you right now.

You pressed your skin against his, the scratch of his stubble a welcome sting against your cheek. His scent overwhelmed you. Leather. Gunpowder. Smoke. And something distinct you’d never been able to place.

“Jason”.

“Shhh, it’s ok - nothing is going to hurt you, I’m here now - I’m a bit late but I’m here”.

~~~

It had been one week since you’d been back home. Two weeks if you counted the first week you and Jason spent holed up in the manor. Bruce had insisted. You sat in the bathtub, knees pressed up against your bare chest. Silence. All you could hear was the faint crackle of the bubbles every now and again. The clinical white tiles of the bathroom made you feel a little cleaner.

However,  no matter how many baths you took, showers you stood in, you still couldn’t wipe the feel of the slick purple gloves off your skin. Your skin. Skin that was now marred with yellowish bruising. Almost faded physically but not mentally. Looking over the marks you felt yourself transported back into the desolate warehouse. The dank smell of stagnant water filling your nostrils. You choked and coughed loudly, suddenly feeling the oxygen clam up your throat. Drowning in the memories.

“Y/N??”.

Within a mere second Jason had flung open the bathroom door, red tinting his cheek and a little sweat on his forehead, “Sweetheart are you ok?”.

You noted how he chose to call you sweetheart now and not his usual princess. A stark reminder that this whole ordeal had affected him too, more than he’d admitted. You felt the guilt eat away at you. Shame burning at your feet.

“Y-yeah, I’m ok”, you mumbled quietly and swirled some of the water and bubbles around you, “I just accidentally swallowed some of the bath water, I’m sorry”.

Jason nodded although not quite believing you. He closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of the tub taking a deep breath, “It’s ok to not be ok sweetheart...I know it can be difficult to admit that...I know that more than most”, he wiped a stray bubble from the rim of the tub. He looked at you deeply before continuing, “I’ll be here for you...whenever and whatever you need”.

You sat silently in the water and he moved to get up. Maybe he thought it was best to leave you alone, let you uncover your own emotions. Process what had happened. You gripped his wrist and looked up into the crystal blue of his eyes, “Jason”.

“Yeah babe?”, he turned his wrist in your hand and linked his fingers with yours.

“I love you”.

He smiled and squeezed your hand before whispering back, “I love you too, more than you know”.

He looked over you and moved to sit back on the edge of the bath. His spare hand reached out and cupped your chin lovingly, stroking over your skin.

“We’ll work through this together Y/N, I promise”, Jason murmured and leaned forward kissing your forehead lightly, “I’ll do whatever you need me to do...anything at all”.

The words, the touches, the kiss. It made your heart flutter and you fell even more in love with him. Jason made the impossible possible and you had no idea how he managed it every day. You felt so lucky.

“I - I struggle some d-days”, you admitted and with those words you felt a little lighter, “sometimes all I want is for you to hold me and not let me go...Sometimes I-I f-feel like that for hours...”.

“Well then I’ll hold you for hours”, he said simply.

You scoffed lightly but before you could protest or think of arguing back he was stepping into the bath water fully clothed.

“Jay!! You’re going to flood the bathroom”, you gasped loudly, watching the water splash over the sides like dramatic tidal waves. Water dispersed all over the bathroom floor to make way for his broad frame, “What are you doing?!”.

Jason sunk down into the water behind you and wrapped his arms either side, pulling you back into his clothed chest. He rested his head on your shoulder, pressing a chaste kiss there, “Holding you for as long as you need me to”.

You felt yourself melt into his warm embrace. Tears made their way down your cheeks at his endearing show of love, “Jason”.

“Shhh, just let me hold you baby”, he cuddled you tighter into him, his fingers stroking your hips under the water, brushing away the bruises. Marking you with his own special touch.

Relaxing under his soft caresses, you hummed lightly and closed your eyes resting your head back against him. He smelt like leather and spice. You felt at home. He was home.

“Jay”.

“Mmm?”.

“Please call me princess”, you whispered quietly into the air, your eyes still closed.

“Whatever you want...princess”.

~~~

Special Thanks: @offendedfishnoises​​ @internalsealpanic​​ @batarella​​ - thank you both for proof reading this and all the help you have given me - mwah mwah. xoxo

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~~~

#jason todd fanfiction #jason todd smut #jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #jason todd x you #jason todd x reader insert #jason todd x reader series #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #red hood smut #red hood x you #red hood fanfiction #arkham knight x reader #arkham knight x you #arkham knight x reader series #arkham knight imagine

[alecxaheart]

Someone's Someone | Bang Chan Oneshot (1)

✎ Genre : CEO AU, Soulmate AU, Fluff

✎ Pairings : Bang Chan X Reader

✎ Word Count : 3.5k words

✎ Synopsis : We all just wanna be someone's someone that we can't live without. At this time, Chan was looking for his. And unexpectedly, he was already tied down to someone.

✎ Warnings : Explicit Language

✎. . . I actually just played my songs on shuffle then Monsta X's Someone's Someone played so.. yeah, I'm inspired. Also, this is my first post in tumblr btw. :)

✎ Parts : 1 , 2

The relaxing sounds of nature enveloped him as a whole. His shoulders less tense and eyes closed as he sat on the cooled sand, facing the burning star and calm waters ahead. Seagulls could be heard in the distance as they caught themselves a dinner to eat. The refreshing cool wind hit his body, slightly making him shiver for a second. Waves, created by the sea and wind, kisses the shore repeatedly. For once, he was far away from worries, stress, fears and regrets. Just him, contented with the company of nature.

As he fluttered his eyes open, he was met with a stunning view of the sun meeting the ocean. The ocean reflecting the sun's visuals as well as the sky above it. Even though the reflection was blurry, it's still pleasing to the eye. Just perfectly imperfect.

However in his opinion, it wasn't stunning as it seems. This secret escapade paradise of his doesn't quite appeal to him yet. A missing piece that could be anywhere on this wide world. That thought kind of bothers him every time.

Sighing, he figured that it was time to go back. He slipped onto his slippers and headed out of his escapade paradise with a head hung low. Hopping on an enormous boulder that happened to break the wired fence and fixated there, having easier access to and from the place than climbing over the fence.

With a last glance towards his escapade, he knew he'll be coming back and that next time will be the scenery he's been looking for, hopefully.

Frustrated with the task at hand, Chan ran his fingers through his blonde locks as he leaned back on his chair and head facing upwards toward the ceiling. Taking a brief break from a whole 6 hours straight of writing and staring at the monitor. Followed by him grabbing his coffee and taking a sip, eyes boring on the monitor. He was just half finished with his paperworks at the time of nightfall, which made him more in distress and felt crammed.

His eyes then wandered around his office, landing onto the view of the opposite building of his company in the end. Where he could see the workers of the Marketing Department bidding their goodbyes to one another, closing the lights and exiting the room. Oh, how much he too wanted to leave and rest right at this moment. Although his belief of 'getting things done before going into slumber' is preventing him to do so (even though he already got a lot of things done). With a sigh, he faced back in front of his monitor and papers, determined to get everything done before tomorrow starts.

" Sunbae-nim, aren't you coming with us? We're having dinner at the Chicken & Barbecue restaurant just a block away from here. " Seungmin asked, grabbing his suitcase below his desk. You leaned back on your chair while stretching your cramping arms and a yawn escaping your mouth.

" As much as I want to, Seungmin, I can't, " You started, rubbing your temples to ease your aching head. " Because our new boss literally gave me 5 thick documents to finish before tomorrow morning without any mercy. And that's just bullshit. I don't even think I'm halfway through it! " Seungmin replied with a chuckle to your short rant, an amused expression written on his soft face. You were having another small mental breakdown as you stared at your unfinished pile of work, feeling your soul escape your body.

" I think you're overreacting. "

" Well, what if I am?! "

Laughing, Seungmin leans his side on your cubicle, looking over at your messy desk filled with sticky notes, papers and pens. " I don't think it's that much. You're lucky that your boss isn't here to hear any of your complaints, " He muttered as he took a peek at one of your documents. You scoffed, not my fault that I'm not as good as you.

" Hear what? "

Frantically, you immediately hide yourself behind your cubicle and pretend that you were focusing on your work. On the other hand, Seungmin casually brushed his navy blue coat with his palms and lifted himself off from the cubicle. Making it all seem like nothing happened.

" Oh, it's nothing, Ms. Ka- " Seungmin paused as he met the owner of the voice who wasn't the person they were expecting to be there. " M-Mr. Bang?! " He stuttered, eyes widened at the blonde headed CEO. Seeing in the corner of your eyes, Seungmin bowed ninety degrees at him as a sign of respect. Even with his heated glare on you, you continued your work like no CEO even entered. Thanks to your cute height, for sure you wouldn't be spotted.

" What are you doing here? Working hours are done. "

Seungmin stood straight and scratched the back of his head. Curiosity slowly arose in you as seconds passed - since you've never met a CEO called by your colleague as ' Mr. Bang ' - although as much as possible, you didn't let go out of hand and kept your focus on the documents silently. The least thing you wanted to happen to you right now is get caught by one of the company's CEO. " I was about to head out, Mr. Bang, " Finding an excuse, he pulled up his sleeve to check the time on his wristwatch. " Uhm.. Yeah, I'm late for dinner. Sorry, Mr. Bang, I have to leave right now. Have an great night! "

With a last bow to the CEO, Seungmin dashed his way out of the building, leaving you alone with your work. The blonde head noticed how the room was still lit up despite it being unoccupied, which he thought. Heading to the switches, everything around you darkened. The only source of light you had was the monitor, and Chan caught it in the corner of his eye.

" Is someone still there? " His voice, catching a bit of foreign accent with it, echoed in the hushed area.

Baffled as he approached that light with a few slow strides, you freaked out mentally. Swiftly but silently, you left your chair and hid yourself underneath the desk next to yours. As he neared your cubicle, you held your breath, slowly starting to feel lightheaded. You don't know what are the consequences if you get caught after working hours since you're still kind of new - got hired just 5 months ago. Dumb you overthink random shit first before even going to the thing called 'common sense' and the rules you heard just goes in one ear then out on the other.

The moment Chan was about to reach your cubicle and take a glance to his right, the sound of marimba playing a soft tune echoed in the room. Stopping in his tracks, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket and grabbed it, swiping to the right to answer the call. You let out a hushed yet shaky sigh of relief, your shoulders less tense than a while ago. In your mind played a chant, thanking whoever was your savior.

Chan narrowed his eyes at the back of your cubicle while his phone is still pressed against his ear, listening to the person on the other line's complaints. " I'm on my way. Don't do anything stupid, " Not too soon you hear heels clacking against the polished marble tiles, the noise fainting as he left the room.

It took you a good couple of seconds to get out of your hiding spot (since you had to catch your breath and calm your heart down from the thrill), slightly shaking your whole body first before heading back to your seat and continuing your pile of work. Mentally groaning at yourself.

Oh. My. Gosh. These. Eyebags.

Is the first thing you thought as you looked at yourself in the mirror. The cause of it appearing badly because you obviously lacked sleep. All due to the time allotted for slumber was consumed by finishing your 5 thick documents that will be passed this morning. You could've cared less if today wasn't a work day, which fortunately for you it was still work day and these damn documents aren't gonna pass themselves to your boss this instant.

Fumbling around in your bag, you found your makeup kit and started fixing yourself. A little bit of touch ups here and there, just a little to look like it's still more natural than a lot to look like a plastic doll barbie.

Once satisfied, you smiled sweetly at yourself just to start your day nicely and exit your household. While walking on your way to the train station, incoherent mumbling leaves your mouth. A train of thoughts clouding you about your worries if you've left something important behind. In all honesty despite of your current good looks, you look stupid or crazy for talking to yourself in public. Well, at least you aren't as worse as someone yelling nonsense.

" I have all my files, identification card, phone, wallet, pocket knife 'cause anything could happen, keys- " you paused as soon as you misplaced your shoes at the edge of the last stair, falling forward. Luckily for you, you caught yourself and regained your balance. Wide eyed, you saw a kid, a giddy smile plastered on his face as he saw your commotion with a lollipop in hand. You felt embarrassed but laughed it off anyway, a light tint of pink decorating your cheeks.

You rushed towards the gates as soon as you realized the time with the card in between your fingers. Three beeps emitted from the machine when the gates opened after you placed the card on the scanner. With a few more strides, you caught up to your train ride as it was about to leave. You sighed in relief and sat down on a vacant bench, head automatically leaning back on the window. Your eyes boring at the ceiling while taking steady breaths after your short marathon on the way.

On the other hand, across you sat Chan. His right leg crossed over the other while scrolling through his phone. He wore a button up shirt, the first two still unbuttoned revealing more of his chest. His navy blue tie hung loose around his neck while his coat is still folded around his arm. His slacks were the same color as his tie and coat and wore black pointed shoes to finish the statement of his overall clothing. Blonde hair locks were scattered around his face but still managed to look stunning and attractive.

You haven't noticed his presence, so did he to you, and the fact that you both don't know each others' appearance even though you go to the same company just adds to the reason for you two's ignorance to one another's existence.

You got yourself to go back to slumber comfortably in your current position although you know when you wake up, you'll be greeted by your neck aching. Hopefully you don't miss your stop while gaining more sleep. The train swaying you lightly from time to time that you found quite relaxing, like a cradle rocking back and forth lightly to put a baby to sleep.

A child was running around the train with a joyful smile, giggling. He only stopped in his tracks when he reached in between you and Chan. His eyes glowed like there were stars decorated around his chocolate brown pupil when he eyed you two. Looking around, he spotted a roll of red thread underneath your bench and grabbed it. He thought it was just right.

With you being the closest, he starts to tie the thread around your pinky finger. You were too tired to even feel his small cold fingers run around your fingers nor the string tighten around it. Once done, he smiled to himself, his dimples appearing on either side of his cheeks and eyes forming into small crescents.

He left your side and skipped over in front of Chan, who was now too deep in thought as he gazed outside the window and his phone tucked in his pocket. Holding the other end of the thread, he wrapped it around Chan's thumb. Chan's body shook in surprise as he felt cold fingers ghosting above his hand and averted his attention to the child. He saw him knotting the red string tightly, strange that he barely even feels the string tightened around his thumb. " What are you doing? " he questioned although the child only responded with a bright smile, followed by a giggle.

The child turned and ran away from him, more giggles leaving his lips. Chan stood up and tried to chase him. But stopped as soon as he saw the child in the distance, dissolving into little particles in thin air and completely vanished in his sight. In disbelief, he rubbed his eyes and looked for the child around his area. Thinking that he was out of his mind, he sighed in defeat. There's no way anyone could do that in reality. It's either I'm insane or living in a fantasy or a chosen one blessed to see ghosts. Maybe, all of the above.

Chan looked down on his thumb, following where the other end lead to. Then, he spotted your sleeping beauty state, the other end attached to your pinky finger. With the sun rising in the horizon, a ray of gold-like light shines through the window, casting a shadow on you. And he thought you looked mesmerizing like that, peaceful and lovely. At least he wasn't tied up with a bitch or a hag.

Your eyes slowly fluttered open as the sun shined upon you. Squinting at its brightness, you raised a hand above your eyes to see more, only finding a red string wrapped around your pinky finger. You examined it, wondering what prank is anyone even planning and why did it have to involve you out of all people. Before anything stupid could happen, you attempted to loose the knot, ignoring the curiosity for a while of where the other end was. Looping and tugging it, even tried to chomp on it with your teeth, but all attempts failed. Well, that's until you gave up, untying it was impossible, unbelievably there's a knot that couldn't be untied. Sounded like marriage when you think about it, but there's the annulment and divorce ruining the picture.

Tearing your gaze at the string, you caught a pair of bewitching dark brown eyes staring back at you. In that particular moment, everything just froze in place. Time has stopped just for the two of you, you thought.

You felt your heart melting, probably from the warmth emitting in your body or from the warmth his eyes give off as you saw little sparks decorating the pupil. Unfamiliar light feathers tickling the insides of your stomach is what you felt other than the heat and that thawing heart of yours. Your mind knew it well that you shouldn't feel this way towards someone who you just met but your body and heart reacted so differently. There's just something about him that made you feel so exposed and vulnerable in his eyes that you couldn't come up with a possible answer to your 'why's.

Both of you didn't notice how seconds turned into minutes, too lost into one another's orbs. That was until the train stopped, causing Chan to break the eye contact and lose his balance. Before his hands made contact on the metal floor, he took a step forward in order to regain his balance which he successfully did. A small chuckle left your lips, eyes turning into crescents as you saw the commotion. He narrowed his eyes at you as the train was back in motion.

Chan fixed his clothes first before asking, " Who are you? ". Grabbing the pole next to him to prevent him from falling again on the next stop.

" Shouldn't I be asking you that as well? " You replied with a gummy smile, which quickly faded when you remembered what's the problem.

" What is this on my finger and why is it connected to yours? What kind of trickery is anyone pulling? Why am I involved in this? " You kept firing questions at him while he stayed there unbothered. Unlike you who did some more attempts to remove the thread, silly you even tried aggressively shaking your hand in hopes of making it a little loose. But no prevail happened once again.

" Just get rid of it. I didn't want this too, you know. " Chan taps his foot impatiently as he eyed your useless attempts.

" I am trying! " You exaggerated. Deciding to bring out the best tool you have for the situation in hand, your hands fumbling in your bag. Once you felt the cool metal on your fingertips, you brought it out and flipped it open.

Chan's eyes widened at the sight of the pocket knife in your palms. " You carry that on a daily basis? Are you insane? "

You rolled your eyes in annoyance. " It's not insane when it's used for self-defense purposes. I'm too nice to be the murderer you're assuming, " You replied, head throbbing as things aren't going well with the charming blonde.

He responded just before the blade and thread were in contact, starting with a scoff. " Yeah sure, nice. Anyone can wear that façade anywhere. "

" You know what, " You started as you withdrew the pocket knife back and glared at him afterwards, pissed off. " You deal with this shit yourself, I'm done with my part and I could care less about this red thread anyway. You look like you don't need any of my help 'cause you look fancier than me and it seems like you're not taking any gratitude towards my kindness. Damn these crazy rich people. " You threw the tool towards his direction and looked away from him, arms crossed. Chan instinctively caught it without getting any cuts despite the fact it's closed, his eyes burning through your figure in fury.

" If I actually got wounded instead from your little stunt, I would've sued you this instant, " He growled, only to be ignored by you.

Irritated by your sudden change of attitude, Chan flipped it open and skillfully ran the blade through the string. Only for it to just fall through like the string never existed, ghost-like perhaps. " It's not cutting, what the hell, " Chan muttered under his breath as he tried a few more times again.

"It's just a string, how could a- " You spoke as you turned your head back to his direction, only to be cutted off as you witnessed the unusual. Mouth a little bit agape in disbelief. The thread didn't fall apart even while the blade was just sitting in between of it on air. Maybe that explains why you could barely even feel the thread wrapped securely around your finger. You could tell that this stunning blonde head was just as puzzled as you were.

" Sir, if you're having any problems that includes this woman, we can sort it out. Just withdraw the knife first please, " a man suddenly blurted out, his voice a little bit shaky. That's when you realized the commotion you both have caused, everyone around you two took steps back away. All had fear in their eyes.

" Wait, you don't see the thread we're trying to cut? " Chan questioned, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. At that, he was more misunderstood.

" There's no thread..? " With that, it got the two of us surprised. Is the crazy one here them, who couldn't see this string, or us, who could?

Chan tried to explain our situation thoroughly but when he was about to speak up, out of the blue, a voice spoke in the speakers. " Please mind the gap, " You immediately grabbed his arm, carried his belongings and dragged him out of the train. Leaving its passengers confused as they eyed us. They might be thinking that you two are idiots.

The doors just shut a second later when you two got out. You felt a bit suffocated for an unknown reason, your hand reaching for your chest where you could feel your heart beating. Panting, you shoved Chan's belongings into his chest. " Are you alright? " He asked as he tried to place a hand on your back, the least thing he could do to comfort you.

But his hand only stopped in mid-air when you took your last deep breath, replying. " Let's just part ways here, " Saying those words felt a bit disheartening at some point, yet you chose to disregard it.

You walked forwards, while Chan stayed in his position, wearing his coat and fixing his tie. Although, something stopped you. As in you couldn't go forwards as much as you force to. Well when you did force yourself, it only tugged Chan towards you. Turning around, he was already eyeing you. " What was that for?! "

Glaring at the thread, you thought out loud, " Is this string telling me, it can only stretch itself approximately at 7 meters?! "

Continue

#stray kids #skz chan #stray kids imagines #stray kids scenarios #bang chan #chan #stray kids bang chan #stray kids chan #stray kids oneshot #bang chan imagines #bang chan oneshot #stray kids oneshots #kpop oneshot #kpop imagines #kpop #skz #kpop scenarios #stray kids fluff #stray kids bang chan scenarios #skz fluff #fluff #ceo au #soulmate #soulmate au #straykidznet #sk-writersnet #alecxaheart

[themysteriousauthor18]

Android Alastor oneshot [Radiodust]

Saw this art of Angel making an Android Alastor. Thought it was a really cool idea and wanted to make a oneshot of it!

Artist of the AMAZING art above:

The darkness slowly faded away, and something not bright, but a little less dark took its place. 

It's vision focused, a blurry image focusing itself down to the finer details. A warmer color invaded his vision, one that his brain came to know as...pink. This 'pink' seemed to cover most of the interior of the room. 

And as a pair of eyes looked around, it took note of the tiles on the floor, the cooler temperature, and metallic walling. 

A basement.

It's mind concluded. 

A small room within a basement, an empty chair seat in front of them, and a desk noticeably messy to their left were what caught its attention. It was unable to turn its head very much, or even it's body. But from its angle, it could barely make out what appeared to be skeptics of a robot to the left wall, just over the desk.

I want to move.

It thought. Pulling against what felt to be restraints, but decided it was best not to. Lest they damage anything. 

It's prying came to a halt when it picked up the soft tapping of shoes against the flooring. In the dim lighting, they could see a shadow drawing closer to the entrance of the room archway. 

They only patiently waited, eyes focusing in on the outline of something coming to a pause in the doorway. 

No, someone. 

They corrected. 

A human, and one quite disheveled. Blonde hair hastily tied back into a pony-tail. A white labcoat lazily draped around their arms leaving the tank top exposed. Their legs dressed in pink and purple stockings for small black heeled boots to cover their feet. 

This human seemed rather distressed. For once they saw the pair of eyes looking at them, they suddenly dropped the mug in their hands causing the brownish liquid to pour out onto the floor. 

Hands flying up to cover their mouth and wide green eyes staring in shock, they took a step closer. "Oh my god.." They muttered. 

Its head tilted as it examined the human furthur, smiling. 

The blonde-haired human was practically jogging in their spot, grinning once they removed their hands. 

"Holy shit it worked! O-okay okay okay..." They calmed themselves quickly hopping back into their chair and looking up into those eyes. Their chair swayed with them as they moved, resting hands between their legs.

"System AI begin start-up." They said barely containing the excitement in their voice.

The being was confused as its vision was suddenly invaded by multiple warnings, notifications, and many other things of which they didn't understand. After a moment or two, they cleared away. Leaving it's vision clear once more. 

Looking back down at the human who was lightly bouncing in the chair, eyes sparkling with anticipation he waited for them to say something else. 

"Alright-do you know who I am?" They asked, expression falling a little as if nervous.

The being tilted their head, eyes tracing over the person's body. Focusing in on little details such as the adam's apple in their throat, hair color, skin color, voice, and many other details.

After a moment, the being spoke. "You are Anthony Giuliani. A 23-year-old male. You are 69% Italian and 40%-"

Before it could finish its sentence the man sprung off from his seat practically jumping for joy.

"Holy shit it works! YOU work!" 

"Your heart rate has increased by 20%." 

The blonde paused in his celebratory victory and looked to the being. A frown played on his lips as he scratched his head. 

"Your tawking like your a robot. Damn...I thought I made you deviant. Shit guess it's somethin' well have to work on." He shook his head moving over to the wall and pressing something.

With a faint beeping the being felt something distracted itself from its back. It stood a little more freely now, nothing, in particular, holding it in place anymore. 

Taking a step back, the Italian moved over to pick up the mug he'd originally dropped. Setting it on his desk he turned back to the being, coat lazily draping around his hips as he rested his hands there.

"Alright...first of all, call me Angel. Angel Dust. Got it?"

The being blinked a few times, a small red circle on its temple blinking with them. "Yes. Angel Dust." It repeated in a mono-toned voice. 

The man looked annoyed by the tone but said nothing. "Second, what do you want your name to be?" 

The being stared, confused. 

"That is not in my function." It simply stated.

Angel groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay look. YOU are an android. I made you, but you're to..." he paused trying to find the right words. "Robotic. I can't have a boyfriend whose all emotionless and robily." 

" 'Robily' is not a real word." 

The blonde scoffed. "Well, there's a start." He turned away, being mindful of the pool of coffee on the floor. "I'll be right back, take a look around. Just don't go too far." 

"Very well." It stated. 

Once the human left, the android quietly turned to look around the room, no longer restrained. 

Looking at it from this angle, the android realized it was not quite just a room but a lab more accurately put. Shelves of books and a few trophies lined some of the walls. While for the rest mainly consisted of boxes holding various android parts. 

A whiteboard lay on the main wall of the room, opposite to the wall the desk lay in front of. Equations and measurements were drawn all over the board. Some even rough illustrations of a model. 

It turned and walked over to the desk, having a clearer vision of the schematic hanging over the desk he could now see there was something written on it.

'Project AL4570R Aka the perfect boyfriend.'

It read.

  ...[.Decoding.]...

.....[.Result: Alastor ]....

...[Update: Name may be Alastor]...

...[Gender: Male?]...

It turned away, finding that its hands rested behind its back. A motion that felt comfortable for it. 

Stepping back over near the entrance, a standing mirror greeted it.

As it looked at the reflection, it's head tilted to the side at the image. Not a human greeted it, but rather a tall.....deer man? 

Simply put it was a deer man.

More intricately put, they looked to be human safe for the large pair of red eyes, and deer ears all to obviously attached to the tops of its head. Its hair was a crimson red, the tips being a dark black, it's skin some shade of brown almost greyish. 

With the monocle over one of its eyes, black gloves, and the black to red tailcoat, it both wore and made up its body, gave it a more refined appearance. The small bow tie on its neck seemed to somehow bring it all together. 

"I'm back." 

Its head turned immediately as a machine would to a sound as the human entered back. A mop in his hand. 

"Already like looking at yourself huh?" Angel joked, noticing the androids staring at the mirror. 

Not replying to the comment, the android turned as Angel mopped up the spilled coffee. 

"You had said 'boyfriend'. My knowledge tells me that is a term associated with men in a non-platonic relationship. So am I a male then." 

Pausing in the mopping, Angel leaned on its handle smiling to the android. "Well look at you gettin' all smart and shit. Let's see, do you know your name too?" 

The human continued to mop up the mess. 

"Alastor." The android stated.

Putting the mob aside, the mess is picked up, the human turned towards the android almost impressed. 

"Bingo. Now, I'm gonna need to run some tests. See how your internal hard drive is and make sure the pump is regulating that blue blood enough so you don't die on me. That be annoyin' to deal with." The blonde muttered to himself sidestepping the android.

Alastor watched curiously as the human shuffled through his papers on the desk. 

Those large red eyes scanned the room once again, landing on something they handed seen before. 

A small box sitting beside the desk some old song playing through it. With its interest peaked, Alastor moved over to the desk once more kneeling down because it was rather tall, and peered at the small box.

Angel paused and looked over to the android, smiling a little. "Do you like that?" 

The android poked at the box. "My scanners tell me this device is called a radio." 

An amused laugh came from the human as he sat down in his chair at the desk. Moved his hand over to switch the dial and by extension the channel. 

The android's ears moved back at the sudden noise. "Huh, that's fuckin' adorable," Angel muttered, fascinated. Turning his attention back to the radio, "yeah but I keep it in here sometimes just to listen to music." 

The android repeated the same motion, switching the dails. Its eyes growing in amazement. 

Angel laughed as the android continued to fiddle with it. 

"Maybe your more of a deviant than I thought." 

#Android Alastor AU #Radiodust #Angel Dust #Alastor #Oneshot #Hazbin hotel #dbh #Hazbin hotel AU #Fanart writing #Not my art

[bonny-kookoo]

Brave Girl (J.JK x Reader) ☁️💜🎀🔞

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x Reader (ft. Med student!Namjoon)

Genre: Angst, Fluff, Smut, Good Girl!AU

Warnings: Heavy angst, traffic accident, injury, hospital, Jungkook is panicking, MC gets hurt, Koo is just lost and hates hospitals :(, Namjoon being the hero he was born to be, fluffy and dramatic smut, overstimulation, mild DDLG themes, protected sex because we wrap it up in this household smh

Summary: you were supposed to be home at 6 to help Jungkook devour the feast that is the freshly baked pizza he’d made to welcome you back from your trip to your parents, yet when the clock strikes 9 you’re still not home. Just when Jungkook is about to call you since you didn’t react to his texts, he receives a call from you; and he swore his heart stopped beating. Loosing you had never been a thought in his head until now, but he might just gotten closer to this reality than he ever imagined being. And he hated it.

Good Girl || Sweet Girl || Smart Girl || Brave Girl || Pretty Girl

"Alright, do we have everything now?" Jungkook asked, helping you place your pastel pink travel bag into his car, careful not to scratch all of the sparkling and colorful stickers on it. They looked a bit worn already, but you always felt a bit upset if there was another scratch to a prized posession such as your sticker-collection- yet when Jungkook told you not to put any more on your bag, you began to pout as well. You asked with a simple nod, already excited to meet your parents again after a long time apart. Jungkook offered to drive you to the bus station, not being able to bring you there entirely because he, quote unquote, 'didn't feel ready yet'. Many would've felt offended by that, but you knew not to read too much into it when it came to him- there were a lot of things for him that were still new, and his love was strong enough for you not to question it. You were both growing comfortable at your own pace, and that was enough for now.

Your parents had understood as well, even though your father had been a little more skeptic than the rest of your family; but he'd always been a little overprotective, so it didn't surprise you at all. While you were driving home, knees against the seat in front of you, you rummaged through your small backpack, taking out a small pack of gummi bears Jungkook had packed inside. He'd been so careful with everything, insisting on buying you this specific backpack because 'it's so soft, you can use it as a pillow inside the bus so you sleep better'. Maybe you were slowly making him soft as well? You were glad however that he had packed your headache medication in as well, long rides sadly having this effect on you sometimes.

Ever since you were a kid, you've always felt safe within public transport. You've been taking the bus and train to school for years, never truly thinking about the danger it could hold. Even now, with the pouring rain outside, you felt calm. Something that would change soon.

For now however, you just noticed how the jacket of the young man next to you slowly slipped off of his lap. He was asleep, you at least thought so, but you couldn't help but reach for the jacket before it could truly fall down onto the slightly muddy floor, your own shoes slightly at fault since it was quite muddy outside before you came in and sat down. "Ah, thanks-" He suddenly said, making your eyes widen at noticing how he only head headphones in. Maybe he hadn't been asleep after all?

"No problem" You said, putting your feet underneath your butt after having taken off your shoes. Your boyfriends' advice had proven to be quite nice after all, putting on comfortable loungewear such as your soft sweatpants and a large white shirt of Jungkooks collection (he had packed it in actually) were slowly proving to be way better than your typical attire. The guy next to you- Namjoon you'd found out on your first ride, having been seated next to him as well- looked quite casual as well. Instead of his more formal clothing he'd worn the first time you had talked to him he had switched to simply jeans and a loose sweater, something that made him seem a lot younger. "Listening to a podcast again?" You casually asked him, and he smiled, taking out one of his headphones.

"No, just music this time. That whole trip kind of drained me if I'm being honest." He explained, crossing his legs before conversing further. "What about you? Had fun with your family?" He said, genuinely interested it seemed. It was rare to find someone as honest as him. At first, you had been a bit careful, knowing that men usually had intentions that differed from what they were actually saying, but Namjoon had been just as friendly as before when you had told him about Jungkook. He just said that he seemed like a nice guy, nothing more to it, and still talked to you just the same.

You nodded your head at his question. "I was kind of sad when I had to leave again, but I also can't wait to come back home!" Excitedly you wiggled around a little, before you found a good position in your seat that didn't make your legs sleep in from being bend so much Namjoon smiled at you.

"I bet. I can't wait to fall into my own bed again as well." He said, before the bus swayed a bit, making you hold onto your belongings to keep them from falling down. Namjoon leaned into the middle a bit, to look at the front window and the driver. "Jesus, he's been driving like this for a few minutes now." He mumbled, making you a bit nervous. He was a very observant person from what you'd gathered until now, your first interaction had been him asking you about your headache even though you were sure it hadn't been too noticable. He was a med student however, top of his class he'd told you, so he probably had a third eye for things like that. "Hopefully they'll change drivers soon. He seems tired." He said, and gave you a reassuring smile. "It's gonna be fine-" He said, before the bus swayed again, this time however, pushing you against the front seat from the force. Seconds later the direction changed drastically, windows shattered, and the only thing you felt when you were able to gather your thoughts again was how cold it was.

The wet ground was slowly seeping into your clothes, the weird feeling of muddy grass underneath your hands as you pulled yourself into a sitting position foreign. One of the first things you were noticing was the incredibly high pitched ringing in your ears, sounds muffled as if someone was holding their hands over them. Things were blurry, lights passing by, and something was moving in front of you. For some reason however, you were only having one thought. Jungkook. He'd know what to do. But where was your phone?

You slowly got up, yelping in pain when your knee gave out and made you fall back down again, scratching the palms of your hands open on some random branches and.. glass? Suddenly you remembered the bus, Namjoon talking to you, and then- it was as if someone skipped a video you haven't seen before, an entire fragment missing completely. You crawled out of the bushes and onto the pavement when you spotted your wet and dirty backpack, your things and several unknown items of other passengers scattered everywhere on the street. And there, just a small distance from you was you phone- the hello kitty charm ripped off and probably lost forever. The screen was an absolute mess, yet it was still working when you reached it, unlocking it with your passcode because your fingerprint scanner was a definite goner for sure. Your headache was killing you at this point, your nose running from the cold, and your mouth had a metallic and bitter taste. It started to ring. One time. Two times. A voice.

"Creepy, I was just about to text you princess. Are you close to the station yet?" He asked, you could hear the TV faintly in the background, then a little movement, his earring clattering against his plastic case he had around his phone, something that still didn't help him with his curse of breaking his screen in record time. "Hey, you there?" He said chuckling, when you eventually answered him. "Hm?" He said, suddenly furrowing his brows invisibly for you on the other side of town, ceasing his movements and instead getting up to grab the remote, silencing the TV. He could hear faint talking on your side, yet it didn't seem like casual chatter, but frantic.. almost as if someone was panicking in the background.

"I said uhm-" You started, swallowing the weird taste before looking around, noticing no movement, but someone began to shout a name, another one softly wheeping, noises increasing with every passing minute. You could faintly spot headlights behind the bus, someone driving past had noticed, and people suddenly stood at the sides. But your vision hadn't cleared yet, so maybe you just couldn't see. "I think- I think we had an accident 'Koo, I-" You said, suddenly chocking a little on the fluid in your throat, coughing to get things under control and your voice back. The mention of an accident, the way you spoke, and the cliche noise of you coughing made him get up immediately, frantically running to his jacket, reaching for his car keys. You always told him how funny it was to you how he always told everyone how organized he was, yet always loosing his car keys. Right now he wished you would make fun of him, he wished you would just say sike and reveal your joke, yet deep down he knew you would never joke about something like this.

“It’s okay baby, you’re gonna be okay, where are you?” He stresses, trying yet failing to keep his own demeanor calm over the phone. You answer him that you don’t know, and he just feels the confusion radiating off of you. Something was terribly wrong, he could feel it deep inside his veins by the way you seemed to be unable to catch an actual thought. “Are you hurt anywhere?” He asks, even though he fears the answer you might give him.

“I..don’t know? My head hurts.. I- Jungkook I think I’m bleeding, what do I do?” You stress, and feel your own panic rising in your throat, making your eyes water and nose burn. You wished you could just tell Jungkook where the hell you were but you didn’t know, streets completely strange to your eyes, shifting around like a fever dream, as if you’d never seen them before. “Kookie, ‘m scared.. I wanna sleep-“ you began to mumble, less and less conscious, your head beginning to rest on the cold ground, the bus now beginning to shift out of focus. There we’re a few people walking around and you wanted to wave, to tell them you’re here, but one of them who you recognized faintly as the guy who’d been sitting next to you during the ride noticed you anyways.

Jungkook started to panic on the other end of the line, desperately trying to pin your phones location. “No no no baby, you’re so brave, you’re such a brave girl, don’t sleep in on me right now okay?” He pleaded, growing more and more anxious the less you answered him. “Baby? Don’t stop talking to me now please.!” He said, trying to get an answer out of you. But the only thing he could hear was the soft white noise, no trace of your voice whatsoever. “Baby? Please-“ he said, eyes watering out of frustration as he noticed the sudden commotion outside, cars suddenly driving out of his nearest police station, sirens loud and clear. “Please, y/n, talk, say anything!” He begged, voice choked with unshed tears, throat closing up.

“Hello?” A stranger answered.

“Who are you? What happened to y/n? Is she okay? I-“ he tried to rush his questions as if that’d get him the answers faster.

“She’s- uh- I don’t know, the bus just suddenly lost control and she- I think she’s still breathing but uhm- look, we’re at, uh-“ Jungkook wasn’t listening after he’d gotten the information he so desperately craved. He knew where you were. He’d get to you. He needed to get to you. And for the first time ever, Jungkook actually started to pray.

He finally found his car keys, ripping the door open to close it with a loud bang behind him, TV running but long forgotten. His stubborn car door didn't open instantly, making him almost growl in anger at it, eyes watering again when he remembered how you always told him to just get it fixed instead of buying a new one. You always had this idea of things having a soul anyways, so you always told him he needed to be nice to his car, or it would be upset. Right now he was not fit to drive. He did it anyways.

He groaned at every red light, hating how he couldn't just run them over because your absolutely stupid voice kept ringing in his ear to drive safely, he hated it right now, so so much, he could've screamed at nothing right now at how enraged he was. Why didn't he just fucking jump over his own shadow and drive you to your parents? None of this would be a thing if he would just finally man up instead of cowering all the time, simply believing that his time with you was endless. He knew it wasn't. He knew one day you two would pass. But that was supposed to be when you both were old and wrinkly, when you both had kids and grandkids, when both of you had enough stupid and disgustingly sweet stories to be able to make them gag at how he would still call you his most beautiful girl. This wasn't happening. He was going to make sure of it.

He reached the destination a little too far away, cars already stopping traffic, people on the side, watching, and he felt agitated again. He decided to simply turn his steering wheel, half-hazardly parking his car almost in the bushes next to the road, before opening the door with his key and phone in hand, closing his car door way too harsh as he could hear something crack, but his legs were already making him run at the fastest pace he had ever before. His hair and clothes, the black zip hoodie he had thrown over his grey shirt were growing damp from the mild rain coming down, yet he didn't care. He had his hood up, before it slipped down, his hands pushing past people, the need to insult them for staring and taking pictures instead of actually helping strong inside his veins, yet he simply portrayed his distaste at his not so gentle shoving to get past them.

Somehow he had apparently arrived before police or the ambulance had, because there was no one there yet. "Y/N!" He yelled, his voice frantic and almost unrecognizable, even to his own ears. He could spot people laying around, some helping others, and some simply waiting for help as he searched for your figure among them. He saw some of your stuff, the travel bag you had, now wet and scratched, your backpack, thrown on the street and some small items he could recognize as yours such as the formerly white bunny jacket he had bought you before you went on this trip. "Y/N!" He yelled again, and got someones attention a bit off the side near the woodside next to the road. "Oh no-" He whispered under his breath when he could see the guy leaning a bit over you, your head on the ground below, soft socks a darker shade than usual from the moisture they had picked up by now. You were laying on your side, the young man pushing a flannel shirt against your hip. He ran straight towards you, reaching out to grab you, just to have the stranger grab his hands instead, pushing at his chest. "What the fuck-?!" He exclaimed, ready to burst.

"We don't know how serious her injuries are at the moment. If you move her you could make the damage worse." He said, serious. "It's better to leave her like this, and wait for the ambulance." He said, unable to make the younger ones angry and frustrated face calm down, but he listened anyways, knowing deep down that he was right. "Kim Namjoon by the way, Medical student- trust me, I know what I'm doing okay?" He refrained from telling the younger one that you would be okay, having sworn to himself when he started as a med student to never give out false hope. Jungkook nodded, tears finally falling as he swallowed hard, simply running his hand over your hair, trying to give you reassurance- or maybe he tried to reassure himself that you were still there. Maybe even both.

When the ambulance arrived, you slowly gained a little more consciousness again, hand grabbing at nothing. "..'Koo?" You said, unsure if he was really there or if the smell of his bodywash on the shirt you were making was playing tricks on you. He gasped, leaning down, his other hand running over your bare arm softly as to warm you up.

"I'm here, I'm here baby, you're okay." He said, this time saying these words to reassure himself purely. Namjoon noticed you shivering after Jungkook did, and he instantly took off his jacket, even though it was thin, simply to cover you up. Namjoon yelled for the ambulance to notice them, and both of the guys breathed a sigh of relief when they were running over towards you three.

However, now Jungkook had to face another fear, apart from still possibly loosing you. He hated hospitals. Not in the quirky kind of 'ugh I hate the smell of disinfectant' kind of way, the kind of 'I rather cast my broken wrist with duct tape and wooden icecream sticks just to not have to go near this place' kind of way. When he was asked if he would like to ride with you his terrified eyes looked at Namjoon, the answer he gave an unsure, yet clear nod. He had to be strong right now. You needed him right now, more than ever.

Inside the ambulance, he didn't let go of your hand. You had a hard time answering questions, so Jungkook had to step in now. He kept his eyes on your face, trying to blend out the equipment around you two to not get riled up. Someone had to be there a hundred percent. The nurse noticed pretty quickly, laying a hand on his shoulder to hopefully calm him down. "She's stable right now, okay? We'll wheel her in as soon as we reach the hospital, someone will ask you for her information since we couldn't find her ID or anything on the scene, alright?" He asked, and he nodded, clearing his throat before he resumed watching you breathe. He would've never guessed how happy he would feel just to see such a small thing from you.

A hot cup nudged his hands that were over his head, and he slowly looked up, surprised to see Taehyung of all people in front of him, his newly red hair in complete dissarray as well as his clothes. He looked like Jungkook felt if he was being honest. "Tae?" He asked, voice rough while taking the cup from his friend. His friend simply shrugged, before He sat down next to him, eyes red. "What-" He started, but Taehyung leaned back, speaking quitely, oddly calm, considering his usually loud personality.

"I-" He started, before he seemed to think a bit about how to phrase his next words. "Someone I know was on the same bus." He said. "I heard you talk to the nurse at the counter." He explained when Jungkooks brows furrowed in confusion. "They've managed to stabalize her, but she'll need surgery tonight." He said, and Jungkook wanted to ask who the person was- yet he refrained from doing so. Him and Taehyung were close, sure, but exactly that was what made him stay quiet about it. He knew when it was okay to ask, and when to just shut up. And right now, he simply nodded at him.

"So we're both gonna have a sleepover here?" He asked grimly, pathetically trying to lift the mood. Taehyung just nodded.

When you woke up, it wasn't like it was usually displayed in movies or cheesy novels. It wasn't a slow, gentle breeze from your window, or the way your boyfriend spoke next to you. No, it was actually absolutely silent, except the constant beeping next to you. You actually woke up way faster than you hoped for, your eyes opening like you've just got ripped out of a dream where you fall downstairs or something alike. You heard Jungkook groan sleepily, before he eventually moved his head a little, turning so you could see how exhausted he looked. His eyelashes looked damp, tiny hairs bound together into little groups as he sniffled, head on your hand, open palm holding his cheek as if he needed to feel you even in his dreams. The sight calmed you down.

The change of heartbeat and pulse made the machine next to you switch sounds, and soon you heard the door open, a friendly nurse walking in, smile on her face as her gaze found Jungkook still in the same position as hours before, unbeknownst to you. "How are you feeling, miss?" She softly said, quiet as to not wake the young man who had been switching between crying, watching, or sleeping next to you for the past days. You swallowed, mouth dry, and nodded towards the empty coffee cups next to you on the small bedside table. "I'll get you some water okay? Welcome back miss. I'll just check your vitals for a second." She said, and you nodded at that. Checking the machines and you, she walked out, leaving the door open so you could hear a bit of what was going on in the hallways. Footsteps and sometimes the tune of someones phone going off, random words you were too tired still to understand, and an elevator. Jungkook stirred next to you, opening his eyes after taking a deep breath, yawning before his eyes found yours.

It took him amusingly a couple of seconds before he shot up, immediately coughing from having inhaled his own saliva. You laughed at that, flinching a bit when it made your body ache, before taking him in. He looked horrible, hair a mess, eyes red and skin a bit pale, yet he smiled brighter than he did back when you bought him the new destiny 2 game for his playstation as a surprise. His eyes glistened, suddenly getting a sparkle to them before his lip started to quiver. He dropped his head on your shoulder, silently crying, but this time, he cried from relief. From happiness. From just how much he loved the world right now for giving him more time with you, for giving him a chance to be the embarrassing father and naggy grandpa he always wanted to be someday. Your arm bend and your hand ran through his hair, not minding the long unkempt locks one bit.

The nurse came back in, smiling brightly with a tall doctor in tow, who had a friendly face as well. "Good to have you back miss. How are we feeling?" He said, trying not to grin at Jungkook, who had yelled at the man several times when he'd tried to tell him to go home and rest. You were oblivious to this obviously. Jungkook raised his head a little, using his flannel sleeve to dry his tears, clearing his throat to at least try to look like he got his shit together.

"Uhm, I feel like I had to take my fitnessgram pacer test again, plus a bit more muscle pain in my hip?" You said, making the man chuckle.

"That's completely understandable considering you flew quite a distance miss. We were quite surprised that you were fine breathing on your own, considering everything. You're quite lucky; but we're gonna keep you under surveillance until friday. Your bodyguard can take you home after 12 whenever he likes." He said with a smirk in Jungkook's direction, the one spoken of growing a bit red on the tips of his ears. The doctor leaves after asking you general questions such as, if you knew the current year, your address, and your personal information such as your birthday.

The nurse left the cup of water and a straw on the small table. "I'll let you both catch up. Please make sure she drinks the whole cup, but only a couple of sips at a time alright?" She said to your boyfriend, who nodded, having calmed down a little by now. He moved, his hand a bit shaky as he ripped the top of the papercover of the straw off, before taking the plastic drinking help out of its minimalistic packaging. He put it inside the cup after bending it a bit, before he moved to you, helping you with outmost care to sit up a little. You winced a bit when you tried to move too fast, and Jungkooks face got a little more serious at this. You began to pout at him.

"What?" He said, voice still a bit rough from the lack of using- and the simultaneous shouting everytime he'd opened his mouth these days. He sighed. "Come on, you heard the nurse- you gotta drink." He said, but you stubbornly moved your head to the side, sideeying him. His brow raised in a questioning matter, before he noticed your posture. You had your arms in front of you in a hugging manner, and he suddenly realized how his behaviour must've looked for you. "I'm sorry princess I just.." He said, putting the cup down and running a hand through his hair. "I just.. I was so terrified when I saw you there-" He said, having to swallow hard again so he didn't end up crying again. God, what was it with him again? "Why didn't you call an ambulance? Why did you call me instead?" He asked, a bit of whine to it. You shrugged, deflating a bit in your position leaned up against the pillows.

"You were.. dunno, the first one I thought of." You explained. In Hindsight it had been a bit dumb, why did you call him as if he could magically appear in that second to make everything better, but somehow your brain made that story into a real possibility. "You always make everything better, and you know.. you always know what to do so.." You said, and Jungkook breathed out in a sight.

He leaned closer to you, tattooed hand brushing away some of your hair to place a kiss to your forehead. "Oh baby.." He simply said, resting his against your head for a second, before his thumb brushed over your cheek. "I'm driving you anywhere you need to be from now on." He said, and you nodded with a smile. "Alright. Now come on, drink something." he spoke before picking up the cup, helping you with the straw, taking it away from you after a couple of sips, making you whine. "I know doll, but we don't wanna overdo it alright?" He said. You looked at him with a smile, and he happily returned it.

"Jungkook I can do that-" You said, before he silenced you with a look.

"I'm sorry, as cute as you look walking around like a newborn babydeer, I really like to keep you from falling down again, thank you very much." He said, accusingly pointing to the small bandage on your knee from having stumbled on your way into the kitchen yesterday. Your visible wounds were healing well, but you still had a bit of nerve damage from your nasty fall, which made your legs feel like they're constantly in a state between sleeping in and waking up, minus the pins and needles. They moved, yeah, you could feel them, yes, but it felt like they were wrapped in plastic and someone messed with the controls. Jungkook found it a bit adorable, but he rather not have you give him a shock again from almost hitting the kitchen tiles. Slowly, he came back with a glass of water, making you smile and thank him. He'd currently taken time off from work, having explained to his boss that he had to nurse you for a bit until you could be home by yourself. His boss had been pretty understanding, agreeing to him taking his vacation earlier and with short notice.

One thing you noticed however, was how careful Jungkook was around you. Now, that itself wasn't a bad thing, since right now you're a bit more fragile then usually so, but he was careful in a different way. Ever since you both left the hospital on friday, he stopped giving you goodnight kisses. He rarely hugged you, only ever if you initiated it, and he refused to be close to you during the night, making up excuses like 'I'm scared I'll roll you over during the night babygirl.' That was utter bullshit, because he'd never been worried about that in the past. He's a heavy sleeper and barely moves when he sleeps, so why would it be an issue now?

That was when the goddamn thoughts came back to you. Maybe he realized how close he'd gotten to you and didn't want that anymore? Maybe he wanted to go back to his old way of living, without any strings attached to anyone?

That night, you decided to speak up. Jungkook and you were sitting on the bed, you criss crossed, and him with his back towards you, feet on the carpeted floor. "You can, uhm.. you know, drive me back to the hospital tomorrow so I can get checked back in." You quietly said. He instantly turned around, his phone no longer worth his attention as his brows furrowed.

"Why? Are you okay? Did the stitches open up again?" He said, a bit of panic making his words hurry on their way out of his mouth. You shook your head.

"No, but I don't wanna, you know. You don't like me saying I'm a burden so I won't say it, but yeah. I get it, you know? Its okay, really-" You said, head lowering until you stared your lap. You heard and felt him move, his hand softly on your back.

"What're you saying princess? Why the fuck would you think I don't want you anymore?" He knew your innuendos by now, and he didn't like that you implied a breakup in your sentence one bit. "Baby I'm gonna take care of you now and everyday you need me to, you know that." He said, confused.

You looked at his throat, unable to shift your gaze any higher up, in fear of what his eyes would tell you. "But, you know.. if we're good, why.. why 'm I not getting any kisses anymore? No hugs? No nothing? " You said, starting to pick at your fingers. Maybe you were just making it worse for him. Maybe he'd just tried to figure out how to tell you in a good way, and you just made it so much harder for him to do so. However, the hand on your back left, just so he could take your body into his arms. "I'ts okay, you know-" You started again, and he hushed you.

"None of that, please don't talk like that, please don't." He said, almost breathless as if he was scared to say the words out loud. "Getting told I could loose you for good was terrifying enough already, thank you very much." He said, a dry laugh escaping him, humor nowhere to be seen in it. Typically he would relish in the feeling of his broader and stronger frame compared to you, he would smile at the mere size difference of your hands or the way he could easily pick you up and carry you anywhere he wanted to. But right now it only reminded him how fragile you were, how careful he had to be not to hurt you. He felt helpless, and it was a feeling he decided he'd hate until he died. "I just- I'm scared I'll hurt you." He said, quietly, hoping that maybe you won't hear. But you did.

Holding his face in your hands you were reminded again just how inexperienced he was in this entire thing as well. You always thought he could lead the way without problems, that he knew everything and could teach you what you wanted to know. Yet maybe you both could learn from one another, more so than just you from him. "You won't." You said, and you stubbornly kissed him as he tried to protest, pecking his lips with a newfound courage you didn't knew you had until then. He tried again, just to get another kiss. This went on for a bit, until he deepened the gesture a bit, hand finding its way into your hair, before he pulled away.

"Don't rile me up baby." He groaned, running a hand through his hair. He hated how much you could get under his skin right now, covering his lower half under the blanket you both shared almost shamefully. You kissed him again, making him laugh, finally this time for real. "Stop, I'm serious. You're still healing, or did you forget?" He said, and you whined.

"But you can be gentle! My stitches are coming out on Monday anyways, I'll be fine!" You said, and he had to chuckle at you, his mind being torn from side to side. He didn't know if he could, but the way you trusted him made him wan't to at least try. With a little hesitance he dived in again, making you smile against his lips.

He made you lie down again, slowly, crawling over your form, unhurried, as if you both got all the time of the world. And you had, he knew you had. When you whined, he simply grinned at you. "No no Baby, let's just be close, okay?" He said, voice low and soft, making you melt underneath him. For the first time ever, as cheesy as it sounden, it wasn't about reaching your highs anymore for him. He was a believer that good sex had to finish with as much pleasure as possible for him, yet that had entirely began to shift when he'd met you. Suddenly things weren't about him anymore, suddenly he started to become less and less self-centered; but this time nothing mattered at all. It wasn't about reaching your goal and claiming your prize in form of an orgasm, it wasn't about pure pleasure and satisfaction. No, this time it was about feeling as close to you as he could, he needed to feel every inch of you simply to reassure himself that you were still here, real, and with him.

He reached for the first drawer of the bedside table, your kisses on his chest and biceps making his heart race. Slipping the condom on with your help, not because he needed it but because you wanted to, he made himself at home inside you, mind slowing down with every move he made, his thoughts and body being reminded that you were okay, you were fine, you were still here with him, you didn't leave. Maybe he should be scared of how dependend he'd become on you, how you had sneaked your way past all his walls and made yourself at home inside his soul. Maybe he should be afraid or worried how he couldn't escape you anymore, how he couldn't take a fast exit out of the situation you both had made. But right now, none of that mattered.

Your mind was fuzzy, no thought able to be caught properly, and you let yourself slip even further, giving your entire being into his posession. This was just about being close, and you felt protected and safe with him, his pace slow and unhurried, gentle, and his hands reaching for yours, intertwining your fingers in a soft gesture. It showed just how much he was actually hurting, how much the entire situation had affected him; this was so unlike him that it made you feel proud of yourself to be able to witness it at all. He was laying himself bare in every way for you, and you didn't dare threw salt on his exposed flesh.

He didn't notice if he or you had come at all, continuing to move, yet never picking up his pace. When he watched your blissful face underneath him, his eyes stung again, tears knocking at the back of them, and he gently placed his head on your shoulder, kissing every part of your skin he could reach there, gasping and breathing hard. Never in his wildest dreams he would've thought that this would be the situation he would found pleasure in, yet it happened in that moment, and god, he felt like he couldn't stop. He felt like he could torture himself like this forever if it meant he could show you how utterly terrified he had been of loosing you, how terrified he still was deep down, and how terrified he would always be. He needed you like oxygen at this point, and it scared him shitless, yet even that was something he accepted with open arms and a smile in exchange for your affection. He was whipped for you, deep down bound to you by iron shackles, but he would never ask for a change whatsoever.

The night ended with both of you exhausted yet happy, tangled together under wrinkled sheets and a blanket thrown over your forms.

"I absolutely love you." You said, eyes wide and sparkling at the amount of junkfood your boyfriend carried inside the living room, coat still a bit wet from the rain outside. He brought a wave of cool and fresh air with him, making you shiver for a bit before your hand dived into the first paper bag, the crinkling sound ever so present. He laughed, throwing his coat over the side of the couch before he sat down next to you.

"You only love me for food, how tragic." He said, playfully sighing at it, watching you pout at him. "sorry baby, 'm joking." ruffling your hair he snatched a fry from the small bag you had in your hands, making you whine, but laugh at the same time.

Straightening your back you tried to look taller than him, making him chuckle. "I see this as a reward for not crying today!" You said proudly, and he smiled, nodding. You had gotten your final stitches removed, and even though it was still terrifying for both of you, Jungkook had finally faced his fear and came with you to your appointment, although he had still been heavily uncomfortable, rushing you both out as fast as possible. He was proud however, because even though you had every reason to, you didn't cry- simply squeezing his hand a bit, but nothing too much.

"I know, I know." He said, rummaging through the second large brown bag to fish himself a burger. "That's because you're the bravest girl ever-" He said, yelping when you snatched the food from him. "And also the most daring it seems, you gotta share baby!" He said playfully accusing, reaching for it just for you to hold it further away. "Good girls share, come on, I deserve a reward too you brat!" His hands reached for the item of his desire, making him raise his brows at you. Kissing your slightly greasy and salty lips, he laughed when you made a whiny sound at him. "Come on, this shit was expensive, let's eat."

"I've never seen you cry so much."

"Shut up."

"It was cute though-"

"Oh I'm about to be really fucking cute, get over here young lady!"

Taglist: @sweetenedcooky @ggukkieland @btsismybias22 @darkgvk @daddypkj @flowerprincess24 @crazylittlemay @zeharilisharaban

#bts #bts imagine #bts fic #bts smut #bts fanfic #jungkook #jungkook imagine #bts jungkook #jeon jungkook #bts reactions

[walter-boswell428]

Mission Recover

The Tower

“Alex?” Eliza Danvers asked, “Anything?”

“We are trying, mom, I swear we are trying?” Alex answered through gritted teeth.

“Alexandra Danvers,” Eliza said quietly, “I’m not upset with you, it’s the situation.”

“I know, mom,” Alex sighed, “we are all working on it.”

“I’m headed up to National City tomorrow, is there anything I can bring?” Eliza asked?

“No, but if I think of anything, I’ll let you know,” Alex relaxed, smiling. “Love you.”

“Love you too, honey,” Eliza smiled as well, “give Kelly a hug for me.”

Alex disconnected the call, placing her phone flat on the conference table and layed her head on the cool table top.

>>>

Forty-five minutes later she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and looked up into the weary eyes of Lena Luthor. “Kelly said your mom is coming tomorrow?”

“Yeah, she--she’s really worried, and I think she wants to help,” Alex explained, her voice hoarse and heavy with sleep.

“Does she have a place to stay?” Lena asked warmly, taking a seat in Kara’s chair, “I can put her up at my condo.”

Smiling, Alex patted Lena's hand, “she is going to stay at my place, I’m not using it right now.”

“You can’t keep sleeping here,” Lena pouted, “you need to get some real sleep.”

“I believe that would be the pot calling the kettle black, Ms. Luthor,” Kelly Olsen smiled tiredly as she entered the room. “You haven’t been home since you quit Luthor Corp.”

Alex blinked, surprised, “you quit?”

Lena hung her head, “I couldn’t work with him anymore, not after--not after what he did.” Her eyes lifted when she felt Alex squeeze her hand, “I couldn’t go home. Too many bad memories.”

Alex squeezed harder, “I understand. Hey, you want to--you want the key to Kara’s place?”

Lena’s eyes bulged, and she quickly shook her head, “no, no, no…” She turned and quickly walked away, heading towards her lab.

“She still blaming herself?” Alex asked as she looked to Kelly, her tone calm and relaxed. “She’s part of the team, none of us hold her responsible for what her brother did.”

“She’s--she’s complicated, Alex,” Kelly turned and looked at the door, a small frown forming on her face, “and she’s scared that she and Kara are going to be…”

“Broken? Again?” Alex spoke quietly as she laced her fingers into Kelly’s. “We really need to find Kara, before we all fall apart. Especially her girlfriend there.”

“Don’t say that out loud to her, she’s so brittle right now, it won’t take much for her to break, and Kara is her breaking point,” Kelly squeezed Alex’s fingers. “All her fears, hopes and dreams are about Kara.”

>>>

Lena’s Lab

Lena’s fingers flew over the keyboard, checking readings and double checking everything again. “Dammit, Kara!” she swore, “where are you?” Her fist slammed down on the panel.

“Lena?” Nia asked as she opened the door. “Are you okay?”

Lena took a deep breath, and rubbed her hands together before turning to face the young hero. “Sorry Nia, I’m frustrated.”

A nervous laugh escaped the younger woman’s lips, “that could be because you are taking all of this...” The Naltorian swept her arms around, “you are blaming yourself for everything.”

“Kara is lost, because I didn’t outsmart Lex! We are working alone because I am here and the other heroes don’t want to work with me!” Tears started to stream down Lena’s cheeks, “I have never been strong enough. I am here now, because I wasn’t strong enough to save her.”

“Lena, Kara doesn’t blame you. She never did,” Nia whispered.

Lena collapsed to her knees, ‘n-n-not Kara, I failed her, I-I-I failed my mother.” She raised her head and screamed.

Nia rushed to Lena, arms outstretched, wrapping them tightly around the woman, “I’m sorry, I am so sorry. Shhh, it’s okay.” Nia crouched down, taking Lena with her. Nia leaned against the desk, still holding on as Lena cried. In a soft whisper she started to sing, a Naltorian lullaby her mother had taught her.

The exhausted woman in her arms lowered herself slowly, sliding beside Nia and resting her head on her shoulder. “I’m so tired, so tired.”

Nia smiled, slowly weaving her power into the words as she sang. It had the desired effect, and Lena’s eyes slowly started to close, and her breathing eventually evened out. Within a few minutes, she stretched and slid her head down onto Nia’s crossed legs.

A few minutes later, Kelly and Alex entered the lab and found the two women sleeping on the floor.

“I know it looks uncomfortable, but maybe?” Kelly shrugged towards the two women.

Alex nodded, surrendering, and she and Kelly made their way over to the sleeping pair, joining them and dozing off quickly.

>>>

At Luthor Corp

Lex Luthor looked out over the city from his office, smiling as he looked into the sky. His computer beeped and he turned, talking to himself, “the Girl of Steel, waking up again.” He waved his hand and a hologram of the Phantom Zone appeared in space at eye level, a red dot marking the location of Kara Zor-El.

>>>

The Phantom Zone

Kara stirred slowly, moving stiffly as she stood up. She shivered as she approached the cave entrance pulling her cape around her shoulders. It was the first time she had slept without nightmares in several days, and she couldn’t help but think that it was because her father was not around at the moment.

She watched through the hazy, half-dark skies as a figure approached. It was Zor-El and she found herself disappointed that he had once again found his way back to her. She huffed out a deep sigh and turned back into the cave.

As she took a seat against the back wall, she wondered what her friends and family were up to at the moment. ‘How long have I been gone? Have they given up? Have they moved on? Has Lena?’

“I have returned, inah,” Zor-El’s hollow voice called out from the entrance of the cave.

Kara rolled over and rested her head on her arm, pulling the cape tighter around her as she ignored the call, and fell back to sleep.

>>>

The Tower

As blue eyes slid closed, green and brown burst open at the same moment. ��We need her DNA!” Lena and Alex yelled at the same time.

Kelly and Nia jumped as the two women screamed at each and stood up, running towards the bank of computers on the wall. Alex was pulling up the schematics for a scanner while Lena was entering in hypothetical information to start modeling the software. She slowed down for a moment then, staring at the screen, then turned to Alex, “where are we going to get Kara’s DNA?”

Alex turned to the whole group, a grin splitting her face, “mom.” Then she turned back to the computer and activated the program she was working on.

>>>

Alex’s Home

The next morning, Alex and Kelly met Eliza at the front door of the apartment. She peeked in and noticed a third person, and smiled brightly as she recognized the small blonde woman. After hugging Alex and Kelly, she stepped through the door and walked directly towards Cat Grant, “didn’t think I would be seeing you today.”

“Well I figured since my ‘source’ for all news involving Kara and Supergirl was going to be in National City, I should make an appearance, especially since no one in Kara’s group, other than you, Eliza, notified me that Kara would be working with me on a special story,” Cat smirked as she looked over Eliza’s shoulder at Alex and Kelly. “Now, would you two like to tell me about the secret you have been hiding all morning. I am assuming it has something to do with your mother’s arrival.”

Alex scanned Eliza’s neck, “mom, where is the necklace that Kara and I got you for mother’s day?”

Eliza looked at her daughter, confusion obvious on her face, and reached into the collar of her shirt, pulling the small gold chain and heart-shaped locket from her neck. “It’s right here, where I always wear it.” Alex’s hands came up, and she stopped as Eliza held up a single finger and unclasped the necklace with practiced ease and placed it in Alex's outstretched palm. “Want to tell me what this is all about?”

On the back, there were raised Kryptonian glyphs, and Alex smiled as she remembered Kara’s fingers fumbling with the gold as she shaped the locket with her hands. She found the small imperfection in the glyph and pressed lightly, causing the back of the heart to pop open with a resounding click. Her smile grew even larger when she saw the braid of hair, four each of hers and Kara’s hair, pulled from each other’s head just before Kara’s first Earth haircut. She reverently removed the hair and inspected the roots, noting that all four of the lighter colored hairs were all intact. “Yes, yes, yes!” she yelled as she slid the hairs back into the locket and yanked out her phone, dialing Lena. She only had to wait less than one ring, “we’ve got four complete hairs, will that work?”

The four women stared at the phone in shock at the sheer scream of joy from the other end.

>>>

Early the next morning, Lena looked at the screen, her vision blurry, and saw what she was looking for. Reaching out, she grasped Alex’s hand, “We did it! Oh my god, Alex! We--we found her!”

Bleary-eyed, Alex looked at the screen, and there they were, the lifesigns they were seeking, one Kryptonian signature. “You did it Lena, you found her, you found her,” Alex ran to the door, screaming into the hallway, “Lena did it, she found her, she found Kara!”

Rushing back into the lab, she grabbed Lena in a backbreaking hug, “you did it, we are going to get her back.”

Lena stiffened, “you are, you’re going to get her back, Alex.”

Alex stopped, and took a step back, taking Lena by the shoulders, “we--we are getting her back, Lena. All of us! Do you understand, ALL OF US!”

Alex watched as something dawned on Lena, she felt the younger woman relax, “We are, we are going to get her back, Alex. All of us--all of us together.”

“That’s the Lena Luthor I know, the woman I admire. The woman Kara lo--cares for,” Alex smiled. “We need to prepare, we need weapons, and a portal.”

“I believe I can help with the portal,” Brainy said as he entered the room, causing the two women to separate. “The top two floors of the tower are set up for interdimensional travel and flight,” Brainy smiled, “something J’onn failed to mention when we all decided to use this location as our headquarters.”

“Up until this point, we had no use for the technology, I apologize for keeping it a secret,” J’onn explained as he and Eliza joined them.

“You really found her, Alex? Lena?” Kelly called out as she and Nia ran into the room.

Alex reached over and grabbed Lena’s hand, “we did!”

Lena smiled, “yes we did.” She started to giggle, and it was suddenly contagious.

All the superfriends were laughing, when Cat Grant peeked in the door, shaking her head at the scene. “Can we go get her now?” the reporter asked, “Now?”

Nia froze for a moment, as blue mist swirled around her. She seemed to be staring into space, but quickly recovered, “we can’t go now, in the morning, we must go in the morning. And we have to be prepared for anything. Kara is in danger from two men, one from our dimension and one is a ghost.” The young hero shuddered, as her vision cleared.

“Alex, you and Lena, need to get some rest. Brainy you too. I’ll take care of the prep work, each of you make a list of what you need, and it will be ready.”

“I’m going too,” Eliza spoke up.

There was a resounding no from the room, except for Cat, who smirked, worried for the group of Superheroes who had just told Supergirl’s mother, no.

“Oh really, and you are all experts on Kryptonian physiology and the mental aspect of what, MY DAUGHTER, is going through?” Eliza snarled, “which one of you thinks you can stop me?”

“Mom? Be reasonable,” Alex swallowed, realizing her mistake as soon as the words left her mouth.

Eliza walked up to her daughter, “Alexandra Michelle Danvers?”

Alex felt the world slowdown as her mother grasped her wrist, spun Alex around and flipped her daughter onto her back. “Oof,” escaped from Alex’s lips and as she breathlessly rolled back to her stomach, taking Kelly’s hand and standing up as everyone applauded. “I--I guess you are--are going,” she grunted out.

“Yes, I guess she is,” Cat Grant laughed, “I on the other hand will stay behind and wait for this team to recover our girl.”

The team filed out, each heading to his or her own bedroom, still laughing as Alex limped down the hallway. Lena stopped, and headed back to the lab, stopping in front of Eliza, “I haven’t had time to--I didn’t set up--we don’t have sunlamps.”

“Lena,” Eliza said, “I created the sunlamps, I will make sure they are ready by morning, okay?”

Lena nodded, afraid to speak. She swallowed, and opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out. She closed her mouth and stared at the floor, and suddenly found herself gathered into Eliza’s arms. Soft sobbing sounds escaped Lena’s mouth, “it’s my fault, this is all my…”

“Shh, hush, Lena,” Eliza cooed, “it’s not your fault, sweetheart.” She pressed the woman into her chest, holding her gently and letting her cry. “She won’t blame you either, she believes in you Lena, she cares for you.”

“I don’t deserve her, or any of you,” Lena stuttered, settling into Eliza’s arms.

Eliza smiled, “you are absolutely just as hopeless as Kara. She loves you, Lena”

“Eliza?” Lena looked shocked.

“You are her sun, you are her everything Lena, remember that, because she is going to need us, all of us when she comes home,” Eliza said with a smile. “Go, get some sleep so we can go rescue your girl.”

>>>

The Tower

Lena stood outside the door guarding the top two floors of the tower, her hand hovering over the handle, self doubt crushing down on her shoulders. She didn’t hear the approaching steps as the rest of the Superfriends came up the hallway.

“Lena,” Alex smirked, “if you really want to go get Kara, you have to turn the handle.”

Alex watched a small smile find it’s way to Lena’s lips. Watched as Lena’s hand closed around the handle and turned, and listened as steely determination rang through Lena’s words, “let’s go.”

They all took their seats, each seemingly knowing where they should sit. At Lena’s station was a large button, obviously the one that would activate the transdimensional portal. J’onn and Eliza arrived a few minutes later taking their seats at the pilot’s station. Eliza looked over the controls, and pressed the launch button. “I wasn’t aware that you spoke Martian, Eliza?”

“I started practicing last night, I also speak French, German, Japanese and Kryptonese,” Eliza smiled. “Lena, would you be a dear, and activate the portal.”

Alex suddenly looked mortified, and Kelly felt her tense up, “what’s wrong, honey?”

“Mom speaks Kryptonese,” Alex said in a whisper, staring at the back of her mom’s head. “Kara and I used to talk to each other thinking that she and Jeremiah couldn’t understand.”

“Mother knows all, Alexandra,” Eliza said, peeking over her shoulder and winking.

Then the world broke, and the portal opened…

>>>

Luthor Corp

“Mr. Luthor,” the computer’s synthesized voice spoke through the speaker, “a portal has opened over National City. Based on your sister’s studies, the portal appears to be…”

“Shut up! Shut the hell up!” Lex growled. “Prepare my armor!”

Within minutes, Lex was suited up and launching himself towards the portal that Lena had created.

>>>

The Nightmares

Nia (A New Power Rises)

The bridge was dark, everyone was gone. Nia took a shaky breath, shivering in the cold blackness. She took another breath, then another. As her body relaxed, she tried to pull on her power. A blue glow started to emanate from her fingers, casting soft shadows throughout the dark bridge. One of the shadows came to life, walking towards her, wearing the face of her sister Maeve.

“You will fail, Nia Nal,” the shadow hissed, as it slid from shadow to shadow. “You carry the power of our mother with no knowledge of its use. You will fail your family…”

Nia tried to focus, to draw on more of her power, when out of the shadows walked Yvette's attacker, “keep trying Dreamer, you failed Yvette and it took everyone but you to find Supergirl,” the shadow’s words slid from it’s throat. “You fail, again and again…”

Nia started to raise her hands to her ears, when a final shadow appeared. “You aren’t worthy of the power Nia,” the words flowed from the mouth of the creature as its eyes opened and Nia realized she was seeing herself.

She dropped to her knees, a silent scream coming from her opened mouth. She pushed, her light slowly dimming, allowing the shadows closer and closer.

“Nia, Nia,” she heard a soft whisper in her ear, “you have always been a hero, it’s always been inside you…”. She heard the words in the voices of her family, and with each speaker her powers continued to grow, pushing against the shadows. Her eyes opened wide as Kara’s voice reached her ears, “you got this, little sister.”

With those words, a mighty roar spread through the darkness as a lioness made up of Nia’s light burst forward and destroyed the shadows.

Brainy (Form Own Destiny)

Sitting in his throne, Brainiac looked out over the destroyed planet that had once been Earth. With his enhanced powers, he could see the remains of the heroes of this petty planet, Guardian’s shield, Sentinel’s jacket, Martian Manhunter’s boots, Supergirl’s cape. Then he looked down into his hand, where he held Nia’s mask.

He sat staring at the mask for hours, running it between his fingers, relishing it weight, trying to remember the eyes that had been behind it.

“What have I become?” The words escaped his mouth in one breath.

“You have become that which you were always meant to be, offspring of Brainiac,” a shadow whispered, “you have become death, and the universe will be better for it.”

“This is not who I am?” Brainy panted, “I…”

“Ehehaha, you speak as if you can fight destiny,” the shadow laughed. “You started on this path as soon as you allied with the Earthling named Lex Luthor. He stained your soul, and now there is no turning back. You will kill them all.”

Brainy’s eyes got wide, tears started to fall, “no, I--I refuse to believe this fantasy.”

“You act as if you have a choice,” the voice whispered.

“All sentient creatures have a choice,” Brainy spoke with confidence, then felt an invisible hand take his own. “We make wrong choices. We use them to make us better, stronger…”

“IT IS YOUR DESTINY!” The voice screamed.

Gripping the hand tighter, Brainiac stood up, “logic does not dictate destiny. My friends…” the hand squeezed back, “my family forgave me, you are not by destiny.”

The lights came up, and Brainy found himself staring into the glowing eyes of Dreamer.

J’onn (Protect Your Family)

Green lidded eyes opened slowly. The Martian Manhunter shook his head, and looked around, trying to get his bearings. ‘DEO Headquarters?’ he thought to himself and attempted to move, but found himself unable to move.

Susan Vasquez and Alex walked into the room and the corner lit up showing Winn sitting at his computer. J’onn tried to speak, but no words would come. He couldn’t even move his head. Then from behind he heard booted feet approaching. He tried to turn, to fight whatever it was that had him trapped.

The first bullet struck Susan in the back of the head, the second hit Winn in the chest. The third and fourth hit Alex in the arm and then the leg, dropping her to the floor, screaming in pain and firing at her unseen enemies. The bullets passed right through him and J’onn realized it was him, he was the unseen killer.

Kara entered a moment later, shielding her sister with her body, as her heat vision fired through him over and over again.

A green round shot out, catching her in the chest, and J’onn started to breathe even harder, panic pushing him to move, but he couldn’t.

He blinked back angry tears, and felt himself starting to rise, to float away. He could see the enemy and it was Lex Luthor.

The balding man looked up at him and sneered, “running from another fight, J’onn.” Then he turned his attention back to Kara and Alex who looked up at him, fear in their eyes. Lex took a step forward, raising his arms, the noise of cycling rounds was deafening as he locked on J’onn’s earthbound daughters.

His scream gave the girls a moment but it wasn’t enough as Lex started to fire, his rounds getting closer and closer.

“It’s not real, it’s not real,” J’onn started to say to himself, “it’s not real,” He cringed in horror as the rounds got closer and closer. “IT’S NOT REAL!”

The lights came back…

Kelly (Guardian Shines)

The doors slid open and Kelly Olsen slipped in silently, moving from shadow to shadow watching and listening as an obviously controlled Lena and Eliza studied a caged phantom zone demon. As she slipped from one hiding spot, the creature spotted her and the woman froze in place.

“Kelly,” the creature hissed from the mouths of Eliza and Lena, “you should not have come here, Kelly Olsen.”

Kelly took a deep breath, getting her breathing under control, ‘this isn’t real, Nia warned us, Alex warned me, it’s all a nightmare.’

A familiar voice sounded in the woman’s ears, slurring slightly, like she had drunk one beer to many before bed time. Kelly turned towards the sound, her eyes opening wide with shock, as Alex approached, her eyes red, “Hello, Kelly.”

Stumbling back, Kelly stuttered, “what, Al--Alex?” She shifted away from the woman, holding her hands out to keep the thing that was her Alex at a distance. “Alex, this--this isn’t you, fight it, if anyone can, it’s you, honey.”

The creature began to hiss through Alex, Lena and Eliza’s mouths again, “why would we fight, we are stronger, physically and intellectually than you could ever hope to be.”

Kelly’s eyes closed tightly, ‘it’s not true, Alex would never say that.’ She opened her eyes back, and looked at the demon creature, “Alex, this isn’t something you would say. The Alex I know asked me to move in with her, she wears her fuzzy socks on a cold night in the winter. She shared her deepest secret with me and her deepest fears,” The Alex creature’s eyes flickered a moment and Kelly smiled softly, “remember the first time we met, at the hospital, how we butted heads? How we were so sure we were right and the other person was wrong? I knew then that I wanted a part of your life. All the ups and downs Alex, I can’t think of anyone else I would rather be with right now.”

Alex’s eyes closed, almost as if she was in pain, then they opened and Kelly smiled, relieved to see the brown eyes of her Alex. “Kelly, I--I didn’t mean any of that, I swear it wasn…”

Kelly smirked, “you sound just like Kara when you ramble.” Then she pressed their lips together and pulled Alex into a tight hug.

“He’s coming back, Kelly, you need to listen to Nia, let her help, trust her,” Alex said as she pulled away. “Save us, Kells. Save us…” Her eyes closed again and when they opened Kelly was once again staring into the blood red orbs of the demon.

“Nia?” Kelly gasped, backing away slowly.

“You can do this, Alex knows it and so do I,” she heard Nia’s voice whisper in her ear. “Be the Guardian your brother could never really become. Be the hero we all know you are…”

As the voice faded, Kelly saw a blue mist swirl around her, felt armor start to form on her frame. Looking down, she found herself wrapped in blue and gold, a helmet formed around her head and she watched with a smile as a gold shield appeared on her left arm.

The creature picked that moment to attack. Kelly leaped back, pressed off the wall and jumped into the air, spinning as she lifted the shield's cutting edge level with the demon’s neck. She heard it scream, landed in a crouch and turned, watching with satisfaction as it dissolved into mist.

“Good job, Guardian,” Nia said as she took Kelly’s hand and the darkness faded…

Eliza (A Mother’s Love)

Eliza stepped into the clearing, listening as Alex begged Kara to come back, to not die. Her heart clenched and she stopped. The sunlight in the plants started to move towards her adopted daughter then stopped as Snowbird swooped down from the sky and attacked Alex, driving her oldest child to the ground. The woman stopped, hovering over her girls. A growl rose in Eliza’s throat as she gathered herself up and moved out of the shadows, “get away from my girls, you bitch.”

She stopped as the creature looked up at her, red eyes, dead and uncaring staring at her. “You are weak, Eliza Danvers, not even worth my time.”

Through gritted teeth, “try me, I’ve faced nightmares worse than anything you can conjure up. Bring it on!”

The creature tilted its head away, ignoring Eliza completely and lowered itself over Alex and Kara again.

Eliza swung a tree limb at the creature's head, “I said get away from my girls!”

The creature recoiled and lost the shape it was holding, transforming into a phantom zone ghost. Eliza growled again, swinging once again at the monster’s head. She grunted as it connected with something solid and the creature howled in pain.

“Still think I’m not worth your time?” Eliza threatened.

The girls stirred and Eliza turned her head. The creature picked that moment and attacked, but Eliza was prepared and waited, raising the stick like a spear, watching in satisfaction as it impaled itself and began to dissolve into mist.

“Never doubt a mother’s love,” Eliza snarled as the light returned…

Alex (A Sister’s Bond)

Alex slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Her breath caught in her throat, as one thought came to her, ‘Kara’s apartment!’ She watched her sister’s dark shape, shooting her heat vision at the rack of clothes in the corner of the bedroom. Rushing forward, she grabbed a fire extinguisher, pulled the pin and put out the fire. Kara turned her back and strutted towards the window. “Kara?”

“Don’t even Alex,” Kara didn’t turn around, she just continued to talk, “jealousy doesn’t look good on you.”

Alex shook her head. She’d been here before. She looked around the room, at Kara’s black uniform. ‘Astra’s dead, Kara’s--she’s been exposed to--to Red Kryptonite,’ Alex’s brown eyes opened. She was reliving one of the worst nights of her life.

Kara opened the window, “how does it feel, Alex? How does it feel to be less?”

“I failed you Kara, I should have been with you, I should have protected you…” Alex cried out, interrupted.

The Kara creature turned around, now longer wearing the black, now she was beaten and bruised, “you have always failed me.”

Alex’s breath caught, it was the night Reign had beaten her. The coma, Kara’s heart stopping. “I…”

The creature stopped again, and Kara was lying in a forest clearing dying as Alex struggled to remember, to save her.

“Kara…” Alex’s breath caught, she was losing it, losing control.

Kara was trapped in the fortress, the kryptonite leaching into her system. “You always arrive too late, Alexandra Danvers.”

Now Kara was against a white wall, as kryptonite slowly killed her. She was fading away, disappearing into the phantom zone.

“NO!” Alex screamed, “I haven’t failed her, not like this. Show me the times she didn’t get hurt, show me the times I held her hand and supported her. Show me the times she held my hand and supported me. WE ARE SISTERS, we fight, we hurt each other and then we get up, wipe our hands and face the world. I will save her, she will save me, and together, WE WILL KICK YOUR ASS!” Alex shook with tears, took a deep breath and stepped forward, “you will not stop us from getting her back, so GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

She fell to her knees as the darkness faded and Kelly wrapped her arms around her…

Lena (For Better or For Worse)

Lena could feel herself falling, plummeting through her own memories.

She was standing by the lake shore watching her mother’s hand sink beneath the surface.

She was standing in the hallway of a dark house, looking into the face of a woman who would never love her.

She sat alone in the cafeteria at the college, too young to understand why no one wanted to eat with her.

She was sitting alone in the courtroom, listening as Lex was sentenced.

She was always alone, until one bright light forced its way into her life.

“She’s Supergirl,” Lex said as she pulled the trigger.

Kara was standing before her then, her blue eyes hidden behind the red of the creature from the Phantom Zone, “she betrayed you, she doesn’t trust you, she is scared of you and you left her alone to suffer by your brother’s hand.”

Lena fell to her knees, a crushing sob rushing from her throat, “no.”

“It’s your fault Lena Luthor, all of it is your fault,” the creature said over and over again as it took the shape of all the Superfriends, Sam, Andrea, Lillian and Lex. Then it took Nia’s form and it’s red eyes shifted to purple.

“It wasn’t you Lena,” Nia spoke in a confident whisper, “she never doubted you, she never thought you failed her, she believes in you. We all do.”

Lena stood up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, “Kara?”

The creature screamed as it took the shape of Kara Zor-El. Blue eyes peeked out through the fingers on its face.

“Kara?” Lena’s voice cracked, “we are coming, we are coming to get you.”

“Lena? Lena, you found me?” Kara responded, her eyes brightening and her voice sounding strong.

“We will be there soon, darling. Just hold on a little longer. We are all coming for you,” Lena promised, her green eyes shining.

“Lex is here, Lena. Don’t trust my father,” Kara warned, her blue eyes slowly fading and returning to red. “Be safe Lena, be careful my Zhao.” And then she was gone.

“You failed her again, Lena Luthor,” the creature growled, and floated forward. “I will end you now,”

Lena stepped forward, “do your worst?” She held her hands out, palms facing the creature, but she wasn’t alone. Nia was standing beside her holding her outstretched left hand. She felt a grip in her right and Alex was standing there. Then Brainy, Kelly, J’onn and Eliza stepped forward.

The creature emitted a low growl and continued to move forward, expecting the Superfriends to retreat. When they failed to do so, it stopped and screamed. But the team held its ground, raising weapons and hands, all their considerable power came to bear as they fired away. Dreamer’s energy captured the monster, wrapping it in unbreakable bands of dream energy. The rest continued to flay the creature with whatever weapons they were carrying, watching as it dissolved into mist and disappeared.

>>>The Rescue

The phantom closed in on Kara, forcing the hero to duck and roll towards the other side of the cave. She stood quickly and bumped into Zor-El forcing both of them into the wall. The phantom turned, and was rushing towards them.

Kara pushed her father to the side, shoving him away, as the ghost slammed her into the stone wall, the force of the blow caused her head to crack against the solid surface, which brought stars to the Girl of Steel's eyes. She slid down the wall, the small cavern spinning under her feet. She felt the stone slice through her uniform, hissing as it ripped into her back.

The creature reared back, slicing its claws towards Kara’s face. She ducked, dropping to her side, but in doing so she caught her arm on a rough outcropping, tearing a huge gash in her arm, and leaving a huge smear of blood on the wall.

Lex Luthor stepped behind and grabbed her by the arms, wrenching them up behind her back. “I should have just killed you back in the fortress, but I guess this way, I get you and your friends.” He lifted Kara over his head and tossed her through the opening of the cave.

Kara landed on her back, the pain lancing throughout her body. She rolled over and tried to crawl away, rising to her hands and knees.

Lex, the phantom and her father closed in on her, moving purposely out of the entrance and spreading out.

Kara backed against a large outcropping, pushing herself to her feet. The phantom creature closed in and Kara locked eyes with it, daring it to enter her head. The creature froze, it had never had a willing victim. The pause would be it’s last thought.

Kara looked up as a strange shaped ship blasted through a tear in the void above. Her eyes followed a strange device that plummeted from the sky, landing about fifteen feet away. Lex and her father were so busy watching the ship, they failed to notice how close the device landed and were completely unprepared when it went off…

Pure sunlight washed over Kara and she smiled as she watched Alex and Lena drop from the ship followed by someone else. She felt her cuts start to heal and her muscles stopped aching for the first time in what seemed like forever. She stood tall as Alex dropped in a crouch at her side, the Hand of the Soldier shaping itself into a spear of some sort. Her smile grew even larger as Lena landed, wrapped in some sort of alien armor with her arm wrapped around, Eliza? Kara’s brow crinkled as she shook her head. “Eliza?” She asked, confused.

“I’ll explain later, Kar,” Alex said as she scanned her sister, noting the rips and tears in her uniform, and the blood stains.

The four women turned to face their enemies as Lex spoke, “how nice that you brought the whole family, little sister.”

Lena swallowed, speechless that Lex was actually here, her breathing sped up and her eyes were wide. “Shut up Lex, Lena’s with us, and there is nothing you can say that will ever change that,” Alex growled, as Kara stepped forward and took Lena’s fingers in her palm.

Lena stood up straighter, “Activate!”

Kara looked on impressed as Lena was wrapped in a blue suit of armor, stepping in front of Kara and Eliza.

Alex stepped up beside Lena and the fight was on.

>>>

Zor-El’s eyes became bright red orbs as he focused on Kara and Eliza, his feet lifting off the ground as he floated forward.

“Kara!” Alex yelled, “keep mom safe, Lena and I will handle Lex.”

Kara immediately stepped in front of Eliza, as Lena and Alex shot forward to take on Lex.

“How about we take care of each other, honey?” Eliza asked, as she pulled a collapsible staff from her belt, pressed the button and smiled wickedly as it extended.

Kara dropped into a crouch, her body preparing for the onslaught. “We can do this, he can shapeshift and get into your head.”

“They already tried. They’ve got no power left over us, and you just need to believe in yourself and your family, okay Kara?” Eliza responded, her eyes never leaving the creature, as she started to spin the staff in her hands.

On the other side of the field, Lex fired a rocket at Lena, and watched in anger as Alex brought up her arm, as the Hand formed a shield, deflecting the missile back at him. “Learned that one from my girlfriend, Lex,” as she rolled out of the way.

Lena rolled her eyes inside her helmet, allowing the computer to aim at the Phantom Zone projector on Lex’s back. As the tone sounded, she launched four shots, four different rockets that zoomed towards Lex at high speed. He ducked each one and rolled up to take a shot.

“Missed,” Lex laughed.

“Did she?” Alex said as she came up in front of him and sliced through his missile launcher, watching in satisfaction as it bounced away.

Lex looked confused, then shocked as all four rockets crashed into his back, detonating and tearing the projector to shreds, along with a portion of his armor.

Zor-El shot towards Eliza and was caught by surprise as Kara fired beam after beam of her heat vision at him, burning portions of his robes away. As the last shot struck him in the chest, he veered away from Eliza and focused his attention on Kara.

Kara shot forward to meet him, catching his clawed hands as he brought them down towards her face. “Never underestimate them,” she said as she held the claws back.

“Never underestimate?” the creature asked.

The staff, charged with Nia’s dream energy, came down on the monster’s head, slicing through it and turning it to ash.

“Never underestimate my family,” Kara smiled, then fell to her knees as her energy gave out. Eliza caught her and both women watched as Lex was surrounded by Alex and Lena.

Lex growled, swinging his fist, first at Alex and then at Lena. “I’m going to kill you all, do you understand, all of you.”

Lena placed a kick at the ankle of his suit, listening to the sound of crushed metal, as the boot shattered around Lex’s foot.

The Hand of the Shoulder continued to change in Alex’s skilled hand, removing power supplies with a knife’s edge and blasting away energy cores and other important components one after another.

Lex’s forward momentum stopped as his suit froze, and the maniac found himself trapped as Kara and Eliza joined his sister and Alex. He continued to spit insult after insult at each of the women, until Eliza took a deep breath and walked up to him, reared back and punched him in the nose.

Lex’s head lolled in his suit, his breathing sounding haggard through his broken nose.

An exhausted Kara looked up at the three women, “can--can we go home now?”

All three women smiled at the hero and shook their heads, leading her to the slowly descending ship.

>>>

Reunions

As the group entered the ship, they were approached by the rest of the team. Lena, still suffering from self doubt, broke off and headed towards her station. Eliza watched her go, her eyes full of concern.

Kara was barely holding herself up right, but at the sight of her friends, she opened her arms.

Brainy was the first to reach her, tears flowing freely down his cheeks as he wrapped his arms tightly around the Kryptonian. “I missed you, Kara.”

Smiling into his shoulder, Kara whispered, “Me too, Brainy.”

Kelly was next, gently pulling Kara forward, “I took care of her for you.”

“You took care of her for both of us, Kelly. Are you mad?” Kara asked softly.

“Mad about you being Supergirl? No. Mad that you got yourself into this, a little,” she smiled. They worked their way apart, “It’s good to have you back, Kara.” She leaned in and placed a light kiss on Kara’s forehead, “love you, Supergirl.”

J’onn came forward next, and everything he needed to say was conveyed in strong protective arms as they wrapped themselves around the woman he thought of as his own child. Tears fell from his eyes as he kissed the top of her head.

Nia stopped a step away, opening her mouth to speak, tears streaming down her cheeks. Kara stared back, smiling slightly, “come here, little sister.”

Nia crumbled into Kara’s arms, heaving sobs sounding from her throat, “it was you, you came to me.”

“You called, I came,” Kara said into the top of Nia’s head. Her lips brushed the other woman’s temple, “whenever you need me, I’ll be there for you.”

The hug could have lasted hours, when in reality it was just a few minutes. Then it was Eliza’s turn and tears flowed from both women. The older woman crushed the hero to her chest, pouring as much love into the hug as was possible in the moments they had.

Sniffling, Kara looked up into Eliza’s eyes and in that moment, she thanked Rao for the family she had found when she came to Earth.

Alex approached the two women next, wrapping her arms around them both, feeling her sister snuggle closer to her as Eliza pulled away, giving her daughters a moment of their own. The sister’s collapsed to their knees, refusing to let go of one another. Alex peppered Kara’s head with kisses, “she did it Kara. Lena found you. Everything you said about her was right.”

“I get to be right occasionally,” Kara smiled through her tears. “Thank you so much for not giving up on me, for coming after me, for being my big sister.”

“Always,” Alex smiled, her tears streaming down her cheeks as Kara gripped her harder.

>>>

And Then There Were Two

Kara stood up from her knees and made her way towards the striking brunette sitting at the control panel on the far side of the bridge. Unshed tears were filling Lena’s eyes as she focused on the blue eyes that were moving towards her.

Kara finally reached Lena, her breathing and heartbeat loud in her ears.

Lena stood, her hands folded in front of her, fingers twisting, her lower lip grasped tightly between her teeth.

“Hey you,” Kara whispered. “Thank you.”

Words spilled from Lena’s lips, “I’m so, so sorry. I should have known, I tried to find you, Lex is staying. I missed you so…”

Kara chuckled lightly, as tears ran down her cheeks, “Lena, I’m going to kiss you now, and if you will have me, I’m going to spend the rest of my life kissing you and saying thank you for saving me.”

Lena sucked in a breath, but once again words failed her and she simply nodded. Parched lips met hers and she snaked her arms around Kara’s neck, pulling her forward, and deepening the kiss. Kara smiled and sighed as Lena’s tongue flicked over her teeth and pushed its way deeper.

“I missed you, Kara,” Lena smiled as they broke apart.

“I missed you too, Zhao,” Kara said as she leaned in for a second kiss.

>>>

The Tower

The ship docked with the tower, and the crew disembarked, everyone heading towards the medical bay.

As Kara reached the doors, a huge grin came to her face when she noticed Cat and M’gann waiting for her to walk through...

#supercorp #kara x lena #karlena #karadanvers #lenaluthor #fanfiction #comment please #hope you like <3

[star-spangledstud]

MIND GAMES - TWO

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Steve suggests dinner with the team. You find out you hate lying. 

Warnings: angst, mentions of violence, anxiety 

Note: Wanna be tagged in future chapters? Shoot me a message :)

SERIES MASTERLIST.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER.

A hail of half-empty wine glasses, trail mix and playing cards fly around the room when the coffee table they were stood on is flipped upside down. Your back hits the carpet with a dull thud, followed soon after by the back of your head. You wince loudly, hand reaching immediately for the base of your skull to relieve the throbbing pain that will no doubt leave you with a menacing headache for days to come.

The men in black, whose faces are nothing but a swirl of flesh tones in your peripheral, grab you by each ankle while you try to recover from your fall. They shout in a foreign language as glass shatters somewhere in one of the other rooms. Then, the sound of open gunfire and the scent of smoke and gunpowder pervade the air. You’re screaming, kicking your feet and flailing your arms wildly while they drag you along the floor, but the sound of your voice is drowned out by the shouting and the guns.

Glass and trailmix accumulate in your hair when they drag you across the room, and small pieces cut the back of your arms and legs. You’re crying, you can tell because your cheeks are warm and wet, and the tears flowing from your eyes mix with the blood of your dead family as they run down the length of your face.

The good thing is you know you’re having a bad dream, but the problem is that you’ve seen this scene unfold so many times that you’re not sure whether the memory of what happened is real or not. 

You’ve seen the scene play out well over one hundred times in your sleep. Red liquid flies through the air in slow motion, your assailants shove their weapons in your face, you try to run away but feel nailed to the ground. You’ve experienced it so many times, and have attempted to change what happens in so many instances. Still, whatever you do, the ending is always the same.

The faces of the men responsible for the murder of your family are blurry, not because you hit your head so hard you can’t see straight, but because you don’t remember what they look like. Their features are warped beyond recognition, and no matter how hard you try to focus on the words spilling from their mouths, you can’t identify any of what they’re saying. It almost sounds like you’re underwater.

In the dream, you try to remember where you are, but your immediate surroundings change every time. Sometimes the coffee table is glass, sometimes it’s wood. The wallpaper shows a different pattern each time you look at it, and the dead bodies scattered all around the room have the same undefined features as your assailants. The only thing that remains the same is the feeling of absolute hopelessness and terror as they drag you away to an unmarked aeroplane that takes you somewhere in Eastern Europe. 

Poland, maybe. You can’t remember, even though you came to spend the next seven years of your life there.

Nearly every one of these dreams is the same. It’s just you, watching scenes of your life unfold through a thick curtain of smoke that hides the most distinct, essential details. A large, gaping black hole has been punched through the part of your brain responsible for the production of memories. No matter how hard you try to fill in the blank spaces, it proves to be absolutely impossible. 

Whatever HYDRA did to erase your memories, it worked.

It’s hard to think straight when you wake up in the middle of the night, images of the dream you just had still playing before your eyes. You hoped that getting further away from the people that created those dreadful memories would allow the pictures to go away. Yet, as you sit up straight in bed, chest heaving up and down in rapid motions, you know they followed you even here, like a thundercloud continuously looming over you.

As your first week in the compound comes to a close, you find yourself slowly getting settled into your new home. With Steve practically following you around every chance he gets, the two of you take the time exploring the entire building from top to bottom. He shows you the library, the garage, the gym and the lab, and promises to take you to the theatre the next time the team hosts a movie night. 

You don’t tell him you haven’t seen a single movie in years, but the words are on the tip of your tongue while he rattles on about 21st century flicks he was forced to watch and ended up really loving.

When the two of you walk along the corridors of the compound, it’s mostly him who talks while you do the listening. You don’t mind it. It gives you time to think. While he speaks, you find yourself trying to dissect the inside of his mind. Still, no matter how hard you listen, all that comes up is silence. It’s odd not to be distracted by a second voice in your head. You’re not used to the simplicity of not having to focus on what’s coming from the other person’s mouth instead of what’s coming from their thoughts.

Each day that passes, Steve introduces you to a new member of the team. The first person you come across is Sam Wilson, who you find running on the treadmill two days after your arrival. He immediately takes a liking to you, and you end up chatting for nearly an hour straight. His thoughts are almost deafening, but his sense of humour makes up for his internal volume.

By the time Saturday rolls around, you find yourself able to chat comfortably with everyone you’ve met so far. Even Tony Stark, who appears at first to be quite wary of your presence despite giving you a place to stay, engages in conversation with you over a cup of black coffee. It’s relatively easy to befriend people when you can see straight through them, especially when they aren’t aware of your abilities.

Still, it’s odd how easily all of them have accepted you into their little bubble.

“Are you okay?”

Unease blooms in the pit of your stomach when you realize you’ve been quiet for nearly fifteen minutes, and your palms instantly begin to sweat.

“Yeah,” you quickly conjure up a smile, “just thinking.”

“About what? If you don’t mind me asking,” Steve asks softly.

“I don’t know,” you tell him truthfully, “I feel like this is all very weird.”

Sam raises a brow, “What do you mean?”

“You guys don’t even really know me,” you remind him, “and you’re giving me shelter. I’m just having trouble wrapping my head around all of this.”

“We’ve read your file,” Steve bites his lower lip, “letting you in was a collective decision, made by all of us.”

Sam nods in agreement, arms crossed tight over his chest. 

Wondering what exactly is written in this so-called file, you chuckle dryly, “no offence guys, but I think that file might be missing a few important details.”

Steve blushes, “a lot of it was blacked out. Look, maybe we should all come together tonight, have dinner or something. You can tell us more about yourself if you want.”

“Yeah,” Sam exclaims, “good idea, cap.” 

Your heart picks up, pushing your pulse while you slowly nod your head, “sure.”

“Great,” Steve steps towards his own room and places his palm on the fingerprint scanner, “we’ll let everybody know.”

Sam turns around and heads for his own room. You quickly disappear into the safety of your bedroom and slam the door shut a little too hard in the process.

“Crap,” you mutter to yourself, “fuck!”

You are not looking forward to this.

“What do you mean, you’ve never heard of Asgard?!” 

Thor’s voice booms over the sound of clinking cutlery and laughter. You slowly lift your shoulders before taking a large sip of water, allowing the cold beverage to relieve the tension in the back of your throat. 

It’s hard to keep all the buzzing internal monologues in the back of your mind, and it takes a moment for you to center yourself before you can answer Thor’s burning question. 

“I’m sorry,” you say quickly, “I just never had a chance to read up on Norse mythology. Please forgive me. I’m sure it’s a beautiful place.” 

It is beautiful, Thor pouts, I miss it. 

“I’m sure you miss it very much,” you add quickly, to which he smiles sadly. 

“Don’t listen to him,” Tony smirks, “he has a big ego and a tiny brain.”

You nearly choke on your water when he winks in your direction. You roll your shoulders to rid yourself of the tension building in your muscles and prepare yourself for the direction the conversation is headed next. 

“So, Y/N,” Tony continues, “how do you know Fury?” 

Of course you knew he was going to ask this. He’s been thinking about it for the last fifteen minutes. Still, heat rises to your cheeks when you place your glass down, and you push a few stray strands of hair from your face and tuck them behind your ear. Your heart is pounding now, but in a room full of enhanced people, including some of the world’s best spies, you know better than to allow yourself to freak out.

Steve, who’s seated right next to you, shifts in his seat. The action, albeit hardly noticeable, startles you anyway, and your eyes fly in his direction out of reflex. You think he looks nice, dressed in a cream colored sweater with his hair swooped to one side, and in a fit of insanity, you’re tempted to compliment him and ignore Tony all together. 

“I don’t actually,” you say slowly, “My mom did, before she passed away. They knew each other before SHIELD was even a thing, when they were still young.” 

“So how’d you get his number?” Clint questions. 

“My mom gave it to me be before she died, told me to call it if I ever needed help.” 

“What’d you need help for?” he continues. 

“Clint, that’s enough-” Steve says before you can answer. 

“No, it’s okay,” you gently touch his arm, “my family got caught up with the wrong people a long time ago. Since the death of my mother tensions have only gotten worse. Fury offered me a place to stay while I wait for things to settle down.”

“What kind of people?” Natasha asks while she lays her fork down. 

“I think Fury can tell you more about that than I can,” you take a bite of your potatoes, “my mom did her best to shelter me.”

Your gaze flies back and forth between Natasha and Steve, and you begin to pray that she out of everyone at this table believes your story. You’re hyper aware of every move you make, and the tension in the air is almost too much for you to bear.

The crease between Steve’s brows and his hunched shoulders make you more uncomfortable. You read the room to make sure they believe you, before picking up your glass and taking another sip of water. Slowly, the conversation dies down, and you’re left with shallow breathing and red cheeks by the time Tony and Sam begin a discussion about a video game they were playing last night. 

“Are you okay?”

Steve’s voice is soft in your ear. The unmistakable hint of concern is evident in its tone when it breaks through your thoughts, and you quickly nod as to not alarm him any further.

When you walk back to your room later that evening,  you can’t ignore the painful twist in your stomach. Your hands are tightened into fists by the time you enter your dorm, and the need to swallow away the lump in your throat is nearly overbearing. You could never tell them you used to work for HYDRA, not in a million years. They would cast you out immediately, send your ass to the curb or lock you away in a federal prison for the rest of your life before they’d let you get away with it.

You didn’t think lying to people you hardly know could hurt this much. 

NEXT CHAPTER.

Taglist:

@foxyjwls007​ @littlegasps​ @hurricane-abigail​ @idk123906​

#Steve Rogers #marvel masterlist #steve rogers fic #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers x reader #captain america #captain america fic #captain america imagine #captain america imagines #cap #Marvel writing #marvel fic #marvel #chris evans imagine #chris evans x reader #chris evans #jammywrites

[wtnrscap]

Cursed Words- Benign

Pairings- Bucky Barnes x Reader, Natasha Romanoff x Bruce Banner, mentions of past Natasha Romanoff x Clint Barton.

Summary- An attack, a rescue, a recovery... a plan. It’s time to active Project Cursed.

Warnings- (18+) Mentions of blood, death, injury detail, PTSD, panic and anxiety attacks. Swearing, fluff. Dirty talk, dirty fantasies. Eventual smut.

A/N- I think I’m getting back into a flow after college and writer’s block. Again, I apologise for letting the block get kinda out of hand. I’d resigned myself to reblogging other people’s work and writing one crappy line a day. Decided I have to get myself in order. Sorry if mess up the language parts in this and as for the brainwashing explanation, this what I think happened, although I know it’s not.

Also, I’m kinda sad. This series is starting to wind down and don’t wanna say goodbye to this blushy/cocky Bucky I’ve created. Ah well, all good things must come to an end. Taglist is open. Requests are open. Prompts list here.

Ne govori - Don’t talk (Russian)

Cursed Words Masterlist

“Bucky...? Just put her down... No one has to get hurt...” Steve whispers, taking a slow step towards the edge of the compound roof. A very pale Sam follows and you gasp for air, your feet dangling as Bucky’s grip tightens on your throat.

Steve turns his head back to Sam, “You might wanna get in the air. It’s looking likely she’s gonna drop, and if you could catch her...”

“On it,” Sam jumps up and swoops like his namesake, getting an eagle-eye view of you hanging by your throat, Bucky holding you, Steve advancing towards Bucky and the rest of Avengers minus Tony and Thor watching at the bottom of the compound. He supposes they hope to break your fall as well.

“Y/N, are you okay?” asks Steve carefully, trying not to alarm Bucky. You let out a strangled noise, “Yep. Just dandy. Can’t breathe but I’ll be fine.”

“Can you wriggle free? Sam will catch you, I promise...”

“He has by the neck with his metal arm!” you snap, “I suppose the positive is, he hasn’t killed me yet...” you try to hit Bucky with your hands. He growls and his grip gets impossibly tighter, “Ne govori!”

How are you not dead yet?

“What did he say?” gasps Steve and you force a snort, “How the fuck would I know? I don’t speak fucking Russian! Don’t happen to have a plan do you?”

“Working on it...” mutters Steve raising his shield. Bucky moves his head closer to yours, “NE GOVORI!”

“Steve, I think I have a plan... Tell Sam when he gets the signal, he needs to catch me...”

“Is it a stupid plan?”

You nod your head and swing forward, trying to create enough momentum to reach Bucky’s face. He holds you fast, and for a brief minute, you don’t think you’ll reach him. Then, you swing your right arm up into a hook punch, your fist crashing into the side of Bucky’s face. Being a supersoldier, Bucky can take a punch to the face, but you have the element of surprise, a feat which works to your advantage. Bucky’s hand leaves your throat and you plummet to the ground, the sound of rushing air filling your ears. You can vaguely hear Sam screaming, “I THOUGHT YOU SAID SHE’D GIVE ME A SIGNAL!”

Fingers brush against fingers before a hand clasps around yours and a cracking sound snaps through the air. Sam yells and loses his grip and you hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

-

Disconnected voices warble through your ears. Dull pain shoots across your body in spasms and the sound of someone screaming cuts through your head.

Why won’t they shut up?

It takes you a minute to realise. It’s you. You’re the one screaming.

-

“She’s waking up!”

“Stand back! Let her breathe!”

“I think some of us should leave... Sam, leave!”

“Why do I have to go?”

“Because you didn’t catch me...” you grumble weakly, opening your eyes to too bright light and several blurry figures. The light dims slightly and Steve comes into vision with a small smile, “Is that better? I can dim it more if you want?”

“That’s good, thanks...” you groan and shift, trying to sit up. A hand grabs your arm, “Here, let me.”

In a more upright position, you can see everyone. Nat stands by the door, her head resting on Bruce’s shoulder, Sam and Steve are by the window and Tony sits next to you, having been the one to help you up. Sam steps forward arms outraised, “In my defence, when Bucky let you go, he didn’t just drop you, he kinda threw you. When I caught you, the downward force was too much which is why I dropped you and why I now have this”.

Sam waves his right arm in the air which is covered in a cast. That explains the cracking noise when he grabbed on to you. You sigh, “What is it?”

“Broken wrist. I’m not implying your heavy or some shit, just--”

“I advise you to shut up now”.

The whole room chuckles and you turn to Steve, “Is he okay? What happened?”

“I’m not sure this is a conversation we should have now...”

“I wanna know. Tell me”.

Steve sighs and takes a seat at the end of your bed, “When Bucky dropped you, he turned on me. We fought and I ended up smacking him around the head with the shield. Hard. He woke up about 3 hours ago and has been trying to convince Tony to let him go back into cryo”.

“I’ve told him to wait for you. It’s pissing him off, but I refuse to let him go back in without talking to you first,” Tony reaches for your hand and you grasp it, “Thanks, Tony. That means a lot--”

Your voice cuts out and Steve nods his head quickly, “Oh, and you’re not supposed to do much talking. Bucky damaged your vocal cords.”

“So I came out fairly unharmed?” you croak. Bruce shakes his head, “The anaesthetic will wear off in about an hour. That’s why you can’t feel any other injuries”.

“What?”

“The final injury count stands like this. Damaged vocal cords, reduced talking. Severe bruising around the neck, don’t move your head too much. Several broken fingers on both hands, reduced activates involving your hands, internal bleeding, don’t move about fast and... a broken leg, no walking for 6-12 weeks,” Bruce finishes with a wince when he sees the fury in your face. There’s a pause and then you begin to laugh. Everyone stares at you like you’re crazy. Eventually, you manage to choke out some words, “That’s damn good anaesthetic!”

Bruce flushes, “Similar to the one they use for me. You were kinda screaming a lot.”

You look around the room and a small smile spreads across your face, “Well, we have no time to waste. We have a lot to do and--“

Steve cuts you off, “You have to recover!”

“And I will recover, but I need to talk to Bucky, obviously, and I need to talk Tony. Both in private. Can you give us a minute?”

The room grumbles as people start to leave. You tap Tony’s shoulder, “Grab me a glass of water and a whiteboard?”

-

“Alright, what do you wanna talk to me about?” Tony asks, handing you the water and the whiteboard. You take a sip, soothing the pain temporarily, “We need rush Project Cursed.”

Tony’s face twists, “Oh no. No, no, no. Project Cursed is far from being ready. We can’t rush it.”

“Before Friday, I spoke to Princess Shuri. She thinks it’s ready, and she’s the best.”

“I’m offended.”

“Tony, the only reason we haven’t started Project Cursed is that I wanted it to be as painless as possible for Bucky. That isn’t going to happen. The more time we waste, the stronger the soldier gets. One of these days, he’ll take over completely. We have to move it forward.”

“But Bucky will never agree to it. And we have to take brain scans. That’ll take weeks in itself.”

“It would’ve only taken weeks because we wanted a full scan. We’ll have to a skimmed scan.”

“But we could miss something important!”

“That’s a risk we have to take Tony!” you begin to cough and Tony jumps up, handing you the glass of water. As you drink, Tony sighs, “Alright, alright. I’ll get the scanner set up with Bruce and you can talk to Bucky. We’ll do some scans and talk to him about the project. How does that sound?”

You manage a weak thumbs up and Tony smiles, dropping a light kiss to your forehead, “You’ve got a good heart Y/N. Don’t talk too much”.

-

Bucky sits as far away from you as physically possible. He doesn’t look at you, opting to stare at the wall instead. You’d tried to talk to him when he walked in, but he’d just ignored you, so now you’d been sitting in silence for 5 minutes. You sigh in annoyance, “Bucky, we’re talking abou--”

A cough overwhelms you and you blindly reach the glass of water. The glass is inches from your fingertips and you curse Tony for putting it too far away. Panic sets in as your throat is ripped to pieces when a hand rests on your back, helping you to sit forward and take a drink. You gulp down the water, ignoring the slight burn.

Bucky puts the glass back and wipes a strand of hair out of your face, “You okay, doll?”

“Oh, are you talking to me now?”

“I’m not about to let you die!”

You glare at him and Bucky shrinks under your gaze. Almost immediately, he jumps up, leaving your side but you grasp his wrist, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I... I can’t be around you right now...” he whispers. You shake your head and pat the space beside you, “Bucky... Last night was my fault. Clearly, I said a word, one of those horrible words. I wanted to talk to you about a plan to fix all that.”

“I’m not sure it can be fixed... I almost killed you...”

“Bucky, when I took these,” you pull the dog tags out from under your hospital gown, “I knew what was I was signing up for. I have seen you at your worst and I know, the best is yet to come. I want to get these words out your head, but you have to trust me and work with me. Please... I’m begging you...”

Bucky looks into your wet eyes and sighs, sitting next to you, “Fine. Tell me about your plan.”

-

Tony hands you another scan, and you trace your finger across the sheet. It alarms you, what you see. You always knew that Bucky’s brain wasn’t going to be the same as everyone else’s, but this... this was worrying. You glance up at Tony carefully, “I’m assuming you noticed this straight away.”

“I’m not a doctor... But Bruce pointed it out to me... Then Helen looked it over and we ended up sending it to Shuri. We’ve all come to the same conclusion.”

You pinch the bridge of your nose and glare at Tony, “Do you understand now? Why we can’t wait?”

“Yes... I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“Realistically we need more scans. Scans for when he’s sleeping, but the physical evidence will have to do...”

“Care to let us in on the secret?” Steve’s voice cuts through yours, interrupting your harried whispers with Tony. You nod your head and Tony moves to stand by the window as you lift a scan and point at it, “This is the area of the brain where the words are stored. At night, Bucky is at his weakest, that’s why he has so many nightmares. If we took sleeping scans, we’d probably see increased hyperactivity here.”

“So why are you so worried about his scans for when he’s awake?”

“Be quiet and you might find out!” you snap, “During the day, this area of the brain is usually dormant. But from these scans, we can see that it’s not as benign as we thought. There is increased hyperactivity during the day and-- Bucky are you okay?”

Bucky nods his head, clenching hard, “Just having an internal battle with the devil. Continue, by all means.”

“Right... uh... There is increased hyperactivity during the day which means that the soldier is taking over more frequently. Um...On Friday, when Bucky was with me, he was relaxed and enamoured, meaning he was at his weakest and the soldier was able to take over easily. As time goes on, it’s becoming less about the words, although they are still the core problem”.

“So what do you suggest?” asks Steve, biting his lip. You look at Tony and he stands, “Project Cursed...”

“Which is?”

“A Hydra-inspired Avengers-modified treatment.”

“Hydra-inspired? What the hell?”

“Hydra wiped Bucky’s mind. They used electrolysis, right? Electric shocks through the brain, so he would associate each word with pain, and make it easier for them to control him. He would hear a word and know he had to do what they said if he didn’t... pain. As the years went by, his body went into auto-drive, hear the words, do as they say, disobey and expect pain. Like training a dog to know when it hears the bell, food is coming, except a lot more brutal,” you explain, “We want to do a similar thing. Small electric shocks through the brain, someone says the words and associates them with something nice. He’ll be able to learn not to expect pain from hearing the words.”

“And what about the soldier?” asks Bucky, his face pale. You smile, “The electric shocks will be fed directly into the storage area of your brain, hitting the soldier. As you get better, the soldier should begin to disappear and, when the treatment is finished, he should be gone completely. We’ve had the green light from Shuri so I’m confident this could work. Although it won’t happen overnight. It’s going to take weeks, months, maybe even years. I can’t pretend it won’t be painful for you either. But it’s the best plan we’ve got.”

Bucky and Steve glance at each other, their eyes betraying a whole conversation that you can’t hear. Then, Steve snaps, “No. Absolutely not. This isn’t treatment, Bucky, this is torture!”

“I’ve had 70 years of it, pal, what’s a few more? And this should help me, in the long run”.

“In the long run! Bucky... I can’t tell you what to do--”

“You certainly try...”

“But if you do this... I can’t be a part... I can’t help you...”

“Steve... you want these words gone from my head as much as me. I’m going to need your help and support...”

Steve looks scared and your heart reaches out to him. He just wants his pal to be free, with no more pain, and this... this could set him back months, mentally. Eventually, he sighs, “I wanna sleep on it. And I think you should too.”

Bucky shakes his head, reaching for your hand and pressing a light kiss to your knuckles, “I don’t need to. As long as Y/N can be there, with me, helping me, then I don’t need to. I have more of reason than ever to get these words out of my head.”

Steve doesn’t respond. His eyes glaze over where Bucky’s hand meets yours and the slightly visible chain underneath your hospital gown, and he knows. Bucky’s made his choice, and there’s no moving him. He sweeps out of the room, closely followed by an apologetic Tony. You turn to him, “Do you mean it?”

“What?”

“That I’m a reason for you wanting to get rid of these words?”

Bucky smiles and presses a kiss to your lips, “I gave you those dog tags in the name of love. You are my biggest and best reason. You are my hope.”

Taglist:

@indecisivedolly

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x reader #marvel #avengers #avengers x reader #marvel fic #marvel imagine #avengers x y/n #avengers x you #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes story #bucky barnes x you #sebastian stan #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes smut #bucky barns x y/n #bucky fanfiction #marvel fanfic series #marvel fanfiction #sebastian stan imagine #sebastian stan x y/n #sebastian stan x you

[monst]

Imposter: Medbay

Part 3: Medbay

An interactive bnha among us au:

Word count: 2,780

Warnings: This series contains descriptions of murder and dismemberment, Deception and morally questionable actions, Angst and betrayal. 

Tw: Death, No voting today but next update be prepared to eject someone... 

Masterlist -> Here

Taglist: @redbeanteax​ @tspice283​ @kurinhimenezu​  @simpforeveryone @ queenlibra134 @thewheezingwyvern​

      Your ass was beginning to numb, the firm material of the cot had long since become uncomfortable but there was not much else you could do but sit and observe. Amajiki was standing over various vials of russet liquid. At first you had been intrigued with the whirring of the machine watching as it prepped the blood to be analyzed, you sponged every word the doctor said finding all the little tidbits of information fascinating. 

Three hours later...well they weren’t as fascinating anymore. The mess of wires and scanners job was to speed up the process yet there had been no results and you for the umpteeth time a sigh slipped past your lips and fog happily clouded your visor. From your spot you heard the dark haired man chuckle at your expense. 

“It’ll only be a couple more hours (Name).” He informed. 

“Yay more waiting.” You deadpanned. “I dunno how you do it Tama.” 

A shrug lifted his shoulders and he carefully pulled up a vial with a pair of tongs. “I do it because I like it.” He mused as if it were obvious. “It’s akin to if I asked you why you like lasers.”

“It’s totally not the same thing.” You laughed. Amajiki was easy going if not a bit jittery, the last few hours with him taught you that although he was a bit shy he wasn’t a pushover. The proof of that lied in the empty cups of coffee you had been instructed to get him. 

“That’s...Odd.” You heard him murmur. 

“Hmm? What is?” Your legs pricked at standing up so quickly, a dull hum of electricity making them tingle and pulse. Your legs wobbled a bit as blood flowed back into them and as soon as you were able to you were quickly peering over his shoulder to see the ‘oddity’. 

“....It’s a vial of blood.” You sighed not seeing anything remotely different. 

“I thought I explained it to you?” He sighed. “When a Sticur hijacks a body it breaks it down, depending on the blood type and antigens present the deconstruction can either be quick or slow, or in the case of your blood not at all.” He relayed, holding up the sample of your blood. 

“Huh… Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” You asked. 

“I’d wager it’s more of a bad thing.” He concluded. “Sure your body won’t break down but that just means the parasite has a sturdy and durable host. That and it makes it practically impossible for me to tell if your it’s current host.” 

“...So that’s why you tested my sample first?” You snorted. 

“Well if we’re going to be together for a while I need to make sure it’s not you, not that you’d give off any signs like hair whitening and the reddening of your scalera. Hmm there might be another way to tell…”

“And that way is?” You pressed, eager to show you weren’t ‘infected’ so to speak. 

You could see his eyes furrow beneath his visor, a bubbling red staining his cheeks. He turned around and opened a top cabinet and pulled out a plastic cup. 

“Ughh you’ve got to be kidding me!?” You groaned. He gave you a timid smile. “Wait I can’t leave you alone.”

“Don’t worry I’ll be fine.” He reassured, you were still hesitant but he  quickly showed you that the taser in Bakugou’s possession wasn’t the only weapon aboard. And as you walked to the cafeteria to get to the bathroom you wondered if anyone else knew that the doctor had a couple scalpels on hand…

Once in the cafeteria you beelined it towards the restroom, you hastily locked the door then began to remove the bulky suit. You had no issues with said unisex bathroom. It was a large space with a couple of stalls, sectioned off to the left were the showers. As almost everything on the vessel, it was in pristine condition but right now the clear reflective metal of the floor sent shivers down your spine. The silence in the large room was deafening and you quickly did your business, you sprang to wash your hands and shimmied the black suit on in record time. 

You nearly jumped out of your skin when the vent pumping air into the space came to life, the rushing wind sound filled the room with an ominous pressure that had you sprinting out of there and rushing towards the medbay. You had just entered the hall, your eyes catching the sight of the soft blue glow of the room, just as you were about to a approach-

-Shlap-

You almost lost your footing as you reared back, the metallic door nearly swiping your face clean off. You exclaimed loudly, shock paralyzing your bones for a moment until panic began to seep into your pores. You came down on the door, your gloved fists hammering the metal. 

“Tamaki!” You called. Your mind raced, all manner of horrid happenings flashing across your brain. You had caught a glimpse of Tamaki’s back, he seemed to have been none the wiser when the door shut. And to you that could only mean one thing. 

“Fuck!” You swore, you struggled to pry the heavy doors open but only succeeded in bending your nails beneath your gloves. To make matters worse you couldn’t hear anything. The only sounds that accompanied your relentless assault on the door was the typical hum of Oxygen being pumped through filters. Dread encompassed your trembling bones, you weren’t sure if the silence of the room was more terrifying than if you would have been able to hear. 

Your cheeks were wet with tears when the door finally opened. Without a second thought you raced inside all thoughts of self-preservation abandoned as you took in the sight of the medbay. Your jaw slackened at the sight. The room was a disaster, test tubes were shattered onto the ground, their continents painting the wall like splatter art. The machine running the test was in terrible shape, a mess of stringed wires laid out of an open flap, it sickenly reminded you of intestines. 

Your eyes searched the room frantically, until you finally saw a body. You rushed over to the purple suit and hauled off the heavy slab of mattress that laid upon him. You let out a long chorus of nos as you tried to check for any signs of life. To your immense relief you couldn’t spot any lacerations. You quickly deduced that he must have lost consciousness and you hauled him over to another cot a million questions on your mind. You didn’t see anyone else in the room and you could feel the rush of adrenaline in your blood at the implication. 

You rushed towards the drawer Tamaki had shown you before you left but the scalpels were missing. With nothing to defend yourself with you proceeded to bind the doctor with makeshift binds. You had finished the last knot and almost as if on cue he began to stir. He groaned, and you could only guess at how he was feeling. He removed his helmet and sat up with a wince. He tried to move his hand to the back of his head when he noticed that his wrists were bound. 

“I don’t blame you.” He sighed. “It looks really suspicious from your end but I promise it wasn’t me.”

“...Then what...Happened?” 

“I don’t even know.” He breathed. “One moment I’m picking up Shinsou’s vial and the next the door slammed shut. Before I could even react someone pushed me and tossed one of these at me.” He recounted, fingers tapping the mattress. 

“I hit my head on the floor and everything spun for a minute. I saw a figure but everything was blurry...they were going to kill me but the door opened..The vent!” He shouted suddenly. His indigo eyes burned into your as he motioned towards the vent. “I’m positive that’s how they got away.”

“..But those vents are tiny, it’d be hard for a grown person to fit in there comfortably let alone one wearing this.” You reasoned, pinching the fabric of your suit. 

“It’s probably messing with its host’s skeletal structure.” Tamaki mused. “This could really help us figure out who it is.”

He motioned for you to undo his bindings and you decided to take that gamble and trust him. “The equipment’s wrecked.” He huffed. 

“So how are we going to figure it out if it’s broken?” You asked. 

“Two ways, the easy and dangerous way is to look for common signs, odd skeletal protrusions and unnatural movement included since they literally slid through a vent.”

“And the other?” You pressed. 

“The hard and fast way, we fix the machine and get more samples.” He summarized. “Luckily we have the necessary items to fix it in the storage area, we’ll grab the items and then come back. Hopefully by the time we come back the others will be taking a break in the cafeteria. We’ll tell them about the venting and grab more samples but for now.” He stood up with a wobbly and motioned you over. You didn’t hesitate in grabbing the heavy table, helping him slide it a top the vent. 

.

.

.

.

You both decided to walk through the cafeteira and head straight down as opposed to going the long way. To your annoyance the storage room was dimly lit. 

“You’d think that the Captain would have all the lights on at full power.” You huffed. 

“If he did that than other areas that are more important would get less energy.” Tamaki answered as he continued to souffle through boxes. 

“But still we're kinda in a situation where maybe having everything bright will help us see better….Oh I think I found it!” You chimed pointing at a thick box that laid underneath various others. 

“...Yeah that’s it alright.” The both of you set to work on freeing the box like a game of mahjong. 

“Careful.” He grunted, as he helped you lift a heavy box. 

“Hey guys what’s up?!” The box tumbled to the ground, it’s continents shattering when it kissed the floor. “Were those the backup light-bulbs?”

Your heart did a somersault when you heard a voice other than Tamaki’s, Mirio’s sudden presence spooked you, his lime green suit was hidden by tendrils of dark shadows. The glare of the low light reflected off his visor not allowing either of you to see his face. All in all he looked rather ominous and the fact that Tamaki bumped into the box behind him was proof enough that you weren’t the only one to think so. The both of you stared up at Mirio from your spot on the ground, ever so slightly you would inch back scared by his silence. 

As far as you have come to notice silence never came alone. “Ha!” He laughed, not knowing how hard that sound made you tense. “You guys should see the look on your faces.” He chuckled.  “Relax I’m not possessed by some demon alien from hell.” He continued raising his hands to show he meant no harm. 

Tamaki relaxed first, his brows furrowing, annoyed at the heart stopping scare. He made it a point to tell the gleeful blonde that his scare wasn’t appreciated. 

“Yeah now’s not the time to be playing like that.” You huffed allowing your heart rate to sink to normal. “And why are you here alone? Weren’t you paired with Bakugou?” You asked looking around for the other blonde security guard. 

“Oh yeah, I left him in the security room.” He shrugged. “We saw you guys heading down here from admin, there aren’t any cameras in here so Bakugou asked me to come down here to make sure you guys were safe.”

“But why didn’t the both of you come?” Tamaki asked. 

“Well you know how Bakugou is, He said there was something odd going on with someone, apparently they moved from room to room oddly, almost appearing out of nowhere, personally I think he’s getting paranoid so I left him checking that, that and he’s got the taser and his fists.” Mirio chuckled. 

“You know I’ve been meaning to ask about that.” You hummed. “Why is it that Bakugou has the taser and not you? Aren’t you in a higher position?” You asked. 

“Well yes I am... but he wanted it more than me, and as the bigger person I let him have it.” Mirio winked. You snorted but Mirio continued, “But in all honesty, Bakugou is someone I trust with my life so there was no reason as to why I wouldn’t have relented, he’s a hot head but he’s incredibly loyal- 

“Togata.” Tamaki interrupted, you both turned to him as he had gasped out his friends name, his face was sheet white, his pupils shrunken down to pen points. 

“You okay you don’t loo-

“I-Is there a vent in the security room?” He whispered. 

“Vent? Yeah I think there’s one. Why?”

You felt your pulse slow, time seeming to freeze as the weight of what Tamaki was implying hit you. Your head turned so quickly towards the dark-haired man that you heard the sharp pop of your neck. “Y-You mean? Oh god..”

“Hey what’s up with you two?” The both of you didn’t give Mirio another thought as you got to your feet and began to sprint down the hall. The buffy blonde quickly pursued. He shouted at Tamaki demanding why the both of you were acting so cryptic. 

“Vents! The parasite is using the vents to get around!?” Tamaki yelled back. 

“Shit.” Mirio cursed, his legs propelling him ahead of both of you, the lot of you rushed past the lower engine room and quickly turned the corner to see what you feared. 

Shindo was pounding on the metal of the door, He jumped in shock when he saw the three of you. “I don’t know what the hell is going on?!” He shouted “I was in the reactor room with Deku when he suddenly walked out, I didn’t think anything of it till I heard him scream, When I ran out to see this door was closed.” He rushed through his words panic lacing his tone. 

“Do you think he closed it?” He added.

“No, it was the imposter.” Tamaki hissed. “He can somehow close the doors.”

“Shindo do something!?” You shouted, tugging at his pink suit. Mirio was crashing against the door to no avail but you knew Shinso could open it. “Hack into the mainframe and unlock it.” 

“Oh fuck yes! Your right!” He pulled out a device from his suit and connected it to the pad on the door. “C’mon work.” He hissed. You looked down to what he was doing then up towards the door. 

“It’ll be okay. They’ll be okay. Bakugou is one hell of a fighter and Deku is nothing to sneeze at.” mirio tried to reassure. But his pacing let you know that he was worried. Your heart thumped loudly with every second that passed, the door was still locked and Shindo seemed to be sweating, tapping on the device harshly as it refused to cooperate. 

“C’mon can’t you make it open?” Tamaki mumbled. “Weren’t you bragging about being great at this.” 

“S-shut up, I’m under a lot of pressure right now and something is jammin- ah I got it!” You all breathed a sigh of relief as the door parted. You wished the door had remained shut. And you wished you could unsee what you saw. And you wished you could unhear Deku’s anguished screams as he held Bakugou’s unmoving body close..

#bnha among us #bnha among us au #Mirio Togata #Tamaki Amajiki #izuku midoriya #shindo yo #bnha x reader #tw: death

[tiptapricot]

I wrote a fic based on the wonderful @aloofwindbag ‘s Batgirl!Tim AU for their bday and the first two chapters are up! I’ll be finishing it in the next 1-2 weeks depending, so I hope y’all like it :-D

***

The report was on the news that morning. After the weather, and something about a new bowling alley opening on the East side, the anchor moved on to a breaking news segment. Tim wasn’t totally paying attention, the TV was turned down to background noise while he ate breakfast, something to fill the space while his parents were away. Nonetheless, his ears perked up at a familiar name.

“Barbara Gordon, the police commissioner’s daughter, was shot in her apartment last night.”

He froze, a spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth. He strained his ears to make out the rest of the report. This couldn’t… he couldn’t have heard that right.

The anchor continued, explaining what had been released to the public (barely anything), and finished with, “We’ll be following this story as it develops, so stay tuned,” before the feed switched to a commercial. Tim was already at the door, a daypack slung over his shoulder and a note to the sitter taped to the fridge.

Continue reading on ao3 or under the cut!

***

As it turned out, Barbara wasn’t as easy to find as Tim had expected. It was largely because none of the hospitals would let him past the help desk without a guardian present, but there was also a frustrating lack of news updates. He was carrying out an investigation practically blind, and it was frustrating.

The sitter caught up to him when he stopped to buy a bag of chips a few blocks from Gotham General. She manhandled him into her car, bordering on frantic as she scolded him for going out without supervision. Tim tuned out most of it for the drive home, rolling his eyes as she brought up ‘safety concerns’ again. He’d heard the same speech a thousand times.

“’M sorry,” he mumbled as they pulled into the driveway. He wasn’t, not really. The apology was more of a courtesy and to stop the woman from prying than anything else. He was plenty capable of taking care of himself without some nutty college student looking over his shoulder.

The sitter let out a long sigh and gave him a strained smile. “Just don’t do it again, Mr. Drake.” She said. Tim nodded and got out of the backseat without another word.

They spent the rest of the day inside. The sitter ordered food and put on a movie like she always did, but Tim wasn’t interested. He couldn’t stop thinking about Barbara.

She had to be fine, right? She was Batgirl, she was super strong and cool and awesome and she’d been hurt plenty of times, but she’d always come back sooner or later. Maybe Tim just had to be patient. He could wait. He could.

He spent the night lying awake with a police scanner propped up next to his pillow, listening intently for any reports of a girl in a cape.

There were none.

***

A week passed and Batgirl still wasn’t back on the streets, then two, then three. Even after Barbara was released from the hospital (discreetly, with almost no news coverage) there was nothing. At the month and a half mark, Tim had had enough. He was going to get to the bottom of this, and he was going to do it now.

His parents had gone on another spur of the moment business trip and they’d hired a different sitter than usual. She didn’t know Tim like the last one had, didn’t guard his door or lock his windows. She just tucked him in, turned out the lights, and half an hour later Tim heard her car pull out of the driveway. No one to catch him leaving, it was the perfect time to sneak out.

He gathered a few things first. His camera, a notepad and pencil, a bottle of water, a thick hoodie, and a wad of cash from the drawer in his mom’s room. He wasn’t supposed to know the stash was there, but it wasn’t exactly hidden either.

Barbara lived over in Old Gotham, in the clocktower near Wayne Enterprises. It was on the opposite side of town from Tim’s house, but if he rode his bike a few miles down the road and across the bridge he could catch a cab and take that the rest of the way. If the driver let him on, that was. Most Gotham cabbies didn’t care how old he was, as long as he paid them, but there were always those odd few that would mistake him for a runaway and try to take him to social services. As if. He was only two months shy of eight and a half now, not some baby. If he ever wanted to run away he’d be much more discreet about it.

It was a cool evening when he stepped outside, the streets and concrete damp with rain and the swelling clouds overhead promising more. Tim coasted down the driveway on his bike, water pattering against his sneakers, and out the gate to the main road. He stayed on the hard shoulder, flicking his handlebar light on when the first few cars came into view.

It wasn’t the first time he’d made the trip to Gotham. He’d been sneaking out a few times every week to go bat-watching ever since he was old enough to work a camera.

He’d never told his parents that though, and he didn’t know if he ever would.

There was a box of faded Polaroids and undeveloped film stuffed under his bed, full of blurry photos of capes and masks streaking across rooftops. Some of them were clearer, shots he’d gotten by climbing up fire escapes or ducking behind dumpsters to observe a fight, but each one was special to him.

The bats had shaped his childhood. They were guardians and mysteries wrapped in Kevlar suits, something he could look forward to when the house was boring and empty. He’d been following them for years, it was how he’d worked out their identities, and it was precisely why the mystery surrounding Barbara worried him so much.

It started raining as Tim turned onto the bridge, a drizzle that quickly turned into a downpour. He shivered and flipped his hood up, leaning closer to the handlebars.

About a year ago, Robin had gone missing too. A week or so after the disappearance, the news had reported that Jason—Robin—had been in a nasty car crash. Nothing else, no specifics, just that he was in critical condition at one of Gotham’s hospitals. He was eventually released, but Robin hadn’t appeared again for almost seven months after the fact.

The whole situation was eerily similar to the current one. That should’ve made Tim feel better, in theory, since Robin had come back in the end, but it didn’t. Something felt off this time, but he couldn’t place what. Maybe it was because Barbara had been released much sooner than Jason, yet still wasn’t back on the streets, or maybe because he was just paranoid this time around, he didn’t know. Either way, whenever he thought about it he felt… weird.

He couldn’t quite explain the feeling, a worry that twisted in his gut and made him feel queasy and sad. Batgirl was his hero, or one of them at least. She was gorgeous and powerful and awesome and he looked up to her. He didn’t know what he’d do if she never turned up again.

He had to get to the bottom of what was going on. If not him, then who?

Tim rode off the bridge and onto a sidewalk, weaving around a few pedestrians before swerving into an alley. He got off, unclipped his helmet, and shoved his bike in the small gap between one of the dumpsters and the wall. It was the best hiding spot he’d been able to find over the years, and it had only taken three stolen bikes to find.

He managed to flag down a cab after only a few minutes, smiling to himself when the driver grunted nothing more than a brief “Where to?” as he slid into the backseat.

“Gotham Clocktower please,” he replied.

“‘Aight kid.” The driver mumbled.

Tim stared out the window as they drove, watching raindrops slip down the glass. Gotham was kind of pretty at night, when the buildings blended with the sky and didn’t feel as huge and ominous. Sometimes, if he could make them out, he would read the words on the street signs under his breath. He wasn’t doing that now, of course, this driver didn’t seem like the type to appreciate that. Instead, he scanned the rooftops, hoping to catch a flash of cape or boots between the gargoyles. He knew he probably wouldn’t, the Bats were rarely ever out this early, but it was worth a shot.

When they pulled up to the clocktower it was pouring even harder. Tim handed a wad of cash to the driver and thanked him before getting out, groaning as he stepped right into a deep puddle. He sighed and tugged at the straps of his backpack. The sooner he could get inside, the better.

Tim looked up at the clock face towering above him. He was nervous, but excited too. He was finally going to get his answers, and get to talk to one of the Bats for the first time. He could do this. He could do this. Squaring his shoulders, Tim walked towards the entrance with determination, and stepped through the double doors.

Ch. 2

#hbd toothens #please check out their art!! #it is of the highest quality #tim drake #barbara gordon #batgirl #dc #dc comics #batfam #batfamily #fanfic #fic #my fic #my-fic

[jasmine2042003]

Beware the Spirits of the Vengeful ~ Teen Wolf x Reader

So, depending on whether or not people like this I might turn this into a series, there will be character death, but I am hoping this will turn into more of a romance story because that is what I am used to writing. Multiple endings with each character and maybe a few other endings, I hope you enjoy!

_______________________

3rd Person pov

Blue and red flashed through the trees and bushes, onto the faces of terrified witnesses and onto the stern face of Sheriff Stilinski as he walked through the cemetery, a long, tired sigh escaping his body. His fellow colleagues were spread about the tombstones questioning the witnesses. He looked over at the now demolished mausoleum, apparently it just happened, video footage showed nothing, nobody near it, it just spontaneously collapsed.

The Sheriff walked over to question the last witness, someone he had questioned recently for something else, “We meet again mister Lahey!” He exclaimed, shaking the teen by the hand and nodding at the boy’s father. “What can you tell me about what happened tonight?” He asked, gesturing towards the pile of rubble in the corner of the cemetery.

The boy blew a sigh out through his lips, looking nervously between the Sheriff, the mausoleum and his father, “Well, I was doing my rounds, cleaning things up, trimming bushes and stuff, and I heard this noise, like laughter.” The boy suddenly paled and focused on the trees behind the mausoleum, where his alpha stood glowering at all the attention. “It was chilling, terrifying. Like, it was echoing off of walls that weren’t there anymore. The next thing I knew, the tomb crashed down and I had to get away from it before I was trapped.” He told the Sheriff, his voice shaking.

The boy’s father rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “Look are we done here, it’s late and Isaac has practice early tomorrow.” He said, clearly unhappy that there was yet another disturbance in his cemetery. The Sheriff sighed and waved them off, watching with a stern glare as the boy was dragged away from the crime scene by his father.

Walking towards the (l/n) family mausoleum, forensics had just finished their first sweep of the rubble, making sure that the only bodies in there, were those that were in coffins. “Anything?” He asked, looking towards a few other officers. One of the forensics walked towards him with a grave face.

“Well, we found something rather odd, we found DNA of someone outside of the coffins, now it could just be people who had visited the mausoleum, but we won’t be sure for a while.” They said, walking away.

Once again, the Sheriff sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, walking back over to his car, to find a blue Jeep also in the parking lot. “Stiles, what are you doing here?” Sheriff Stilinski asked his son, exasperated.

Stiles jumped out of his Jeep and ran towards his father, looking around him to the crime scene, “Well, I heard what had happened and I wanted to-” The boy was cut off by his father grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him back to his car.

“You cannot keep showing up to my crime scenes! Go home, Stiles.” He said, pushing the teen towards his Jeep and getting into his own car. Alone with his thoughts, the man began running through the events of the night. Why just that mausoleum? Why specifically the (l/n) mausoleum?

Time Skip~

Stiles ran through the halls of Beacon Hills High School, apologising as he ran into other students until he finally ran into the right student. “Scott! Scott, you’re not gonna believe this! Oh dude, this is insane-” Stiles’ hyperactive tangent was interrupted by his friend.

“Stiles, dude, breathe. What’s going on?” Scott asked, looking through his locker for books on his next class. Stiles hopped from foot to foot, excited to tell his friend about the research he had done.

Stiles huffed before continuing, “Okay, so about a week ago, I was listening to dad’s police scanner and apparently something happened at the cemetery. The (l/n) family mausoleum was destroyed!” Stile’s rushed through his words, desperately trying to get to the best part. “The best thing is, the camera footage of the place showed nobody but Isaac in the area and he didn’t do anything!” Scott looked at his friend confused.

“Wait, Isaac? Derek’s new beta Isaac?” He asked in a hushed whisper. Stiles merely responded with a look of disbelief.

“That’s what you took from that!?” He yelled, looking around at people’s staring before lowering his voice, “Nothing happened to the mausoleum, it just imploded!” He whisper-shouted. Scott looked at Stiles confused.

“Well, do you know what happened? How did a small building just destroy itself?” Stiles was once again hopping up and down with excitement.

“That’s the biggest thing! The forensics who were on the scene found DNA from the rubble but it was outside the coffins, like someone had been there that wasn’t dead!” Stiles looked ready to burst. “The forensics called my dad and I ‘overheard’ what had happened,” He said, using air quotes. “Apparently, the DNA belonged to a little girl that went missing nearly ten years ago, (y/n) (l/n).”

Scott looked at his friend with interest, “Well, what happened to her? I don’t remember a (y/n) (l/n) around here.” Scott racked his memory to try and remember a girl around his age that went missing. He could vaguely remember the town going crazy for a while over a child reported missing. He remembered a curfew being set for teenagers and younger kids, he also remembered his mom acting crazy, not letting him leave the house alone, not even going into the backyard.

Stiles looked down, “Nobody knows what happened to her, they never found any evidence until now, the case was closed and then reopened. Dad’s really uptight about it, apparently some of his worst days were trying to work that case only to hit a dead end. But, do you remember that creepy old dude, (father’s/name) (l/n)?” He asked, Scott nodded at his friend, everyone knew that guy, after his wife died he went a bit... weird.

“Well, if you didn’t get it from the last name, he was (y/n)’s dad, when his daughter went missing, he started acting really weird, especially around the police. Since the case has been reopened, they brought everything back from the archives and the number one suspect - her dad.” Stiles finished his tangent, looking both excited and freaked out by the story he told. 

Scott looked at Stiles, panicked, “So, you’re saying there is a chance that this guy killed his own daughter?” He whispered, still thinking the story through and its connection to him. Why was Stiles telling him all of this? 

Stiles continued his tale, “Yeah but that’s not the only thing, apparently Isaac heard laughing, echoed, creepy laughing before the mausoleum crumbled. I managed to sneak a peek at the footage and found this.” He finished, pulling out his phone with a picture of blurry camera footage. There, in the trees behind the rubble, there was something (s/t) in the shadows, it almost looked like there was a face peeking through the bushes. 

Scott looked shocked for a second, “What is that?” He asked, looking at the picture, “Is that real? That’s a face!” He continued, whispering. Stiles nodded sporadically, getting pumped again. The bell for their next class of the day rang through the halls, the boys beginning to move towards their classroom.

Stiles once again, began speaking, “Yeah, it is a face! But, it disappeared like two seconds later after staring at Isaac. I wanted to tell you because it seems very-”

“Supernatural.” Scott finished quietly, as they entered their classroom. Stiles nodded. “Okay, well we have enough to deal with because of Derek and Isaac anyways,” Scott said, watching as Isaac entered the room and smirked, “We’ll meet up after practice and talk then, see if Derek knows about any of this.” He said, stopping as their teacher walked into the room. 

“Settle down everyone,” They began loudly, “We have a new student starting today, come on in dear.” Everyone turned towards the door to see the new student. A young girl walked into the room, she had (h/l) (h/c) hair, glassy (e/c) eyes and (s/t) skin. One single thought ran through the minds of every student in the room, some with jealousy and others with deep interest, ‘She’s gorgeous’. 

The girl smiled shyly at everyone before stating quietly, “Hi, I’m (y/n) (l/n), it’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Scott’s eyes widened, looking over at Stiles, hoping to see a similar reaction, but the boy was sat gawking at the girl and her beauty.

“Dude, did you hear that?” Scott whispered, catching Stiles’ attention. Stiles was jolted out of his daydreaming.

“What- what’s up?” He asked, looking swiftly between Scott and the girl, who was now making her way to the back of the class, sitting in the empty seat next to Isaac, who smiled at her, trying to charm her, before turning to the glaring males of the class and changing to a smug smirk. 

“Did you really not hear her? She said her name was (y/n) (l/n), the girl who you said went missing ten years ago!” Stiles suddenly turned to focus all his attention on Scott.

“What? Seriously? I didn’t hear that, she said something like (name that sounds like yours) or- actually, I don’t think she said anything,” Stiles muttered, trailing off. He couldn’t think of her name. Almost as if she hadn’t told them it at all. 

Scott looked over at the girl, smiling and talking to Isaac. “I’m sure it’s nothing, maybe I was just focused on that, thought I heard her say it but she said something else. You, on the other hand, were too busy gawking at her to hear her name.” He said, looking over at Stiles, only to see his attention back on the new girl. Scott slapped his friend gently on the back of the head, snapping him out of his trance.

“Anyway,” He continued, “We’ll do some research into the missing girl, see if they look alike, then we really need to talk to Derek and Isaac.” Stiles paled at the thought of having to talk to Derek, but was excited to see where it went with his research of the new girl.

(y/n) pov

Walking into the classroom, I hid behind a shy sweet persona, that would make this easier. I knew I had the looks down, us supernaturals were unnaturally good-looking, but I could sense there were supernaturals in this room. I looked out into the room of students with a shy smile, “Hi, I’m (y/n) (l/n), it’s a pleasure to meet you all.” I doubt anyone knew my story, or even that I had gone missing at all, I used my real name but masked it with a small glamour. Unless they were supernaturals, they would hear some random name that kept changing.

I looked into the wave of students and saw two in particular that caught my interest, one was a boy with an impish grin, dark blonde curls and deep blue eyes, the other boy had dark, curly hair, dark brown eyes and looked shocked, before he began whispering with a pale boy behind him. I walked through the desks until I found the empty chair next to the blonde boy, “Hi.” I whispered, looking down at my books. I’ll admit, this wasn’t the plan but I found him very attractive.

He smiled a charming smile at me and whispered back, “Hi, I’m Isaac Lahey,” He told me. ‘Oh,’ I thought to myself, ‘The boy from cemetery.’ He reached out a hand, I assume to shake my own, only to hold it in both of his. Wow, he is very out there, but still I could feel heat rushing to my cheeks. I could feel supernatural energy flooding through the boy’s warm hand into my own, he might be useful.

“It’s nice to meet you Isaac,” I told him with a bright smile, “Look, I’m starting the year pretty late, would you mind maybe, helping me catch up?” I asked quietly. I don’t think I was acting shy anymore, this boy was bringing out a different side of me. Isaac smiled widely at me, I could feel my knees weaken.

“Sure, I’d love to! How about we start after school today?” He asked, I nodded and smiled back at him. I had never had an education, let alone one in high school so this should be interesting...

Now all I needed was to find that Alpha...

_________________________

I hope you guys enjoyed this, let me know somehow if you want more of this, I really enjoyed writing this!

#Teen Wolf #x reader #teen wolf x reader #Derek Hale #Scott McCall #Stiles Stilinski #Isaac Lahey #derek hale x reader #scott mccall x reader #stiles stilinski x reader #isaac lahey x reader #romance #love #cute #series #fanfiction #arae/arai #greek mythology #crossover

[mappinglasirena]

Sickbay Deep Dive Pt. 2

After we explored the general layout of sickbay in part one of this Deep Dive, it is now time to have a look at all of the stuff filling this part of the ship. While it might not seem all that much at first, there is actually a lot to see and talk about, and as I was working on this post, it got a little out of hand. So, in order not to crash tumblr with too many pictures, I have decided to split this Deep Dive into three parts, instead of two.

Today, I am going to take you on a little tour of all the furniture in La Sirena’s sickbay.

Before we begin, a quick note on Part 1: The first part of this discussion focused on the size and general floor plan of sickbay. Since then, as you might have read, we got a bit of a look behind the scenes which included a set layout presumably created by the production crew. It mostly confirmed my suspicions so far, but I’ll have to adjust some of my assumptions regarding the size of sickbay, at least a little. Once I’ve had time to play around with that a bit, I’ll post an update to part 1.

2) Furnishing Sickbay

One of the things I love about La Sirena is how modular everything on board seems to be. From the transporter control stand that is never in the same place twice, to the number of chairs on the bridge that adapt to the ship’s current occupancy level, to the fluctuation in the various cargo containers all around the two decks, anything that isn’t bolted to the floor will get moved around at some point. This is particularly true for sickbay, where everything but the counter and lamps gets shuffled around near-constantly. Which makes sense, since every piece of furniture except for the table is actually on caster wheels - and I’m not excluding the possibility the table has wheels hidden in its base as well. So, let’s go down the list of furniture and see what we can find out about each piece

The Biobed

Probably of central importance for a functioning sickbay is a good biobed. The one on La Sirena is usually placed in the alcove at the back of the room, but it can be freely moved around as needs require

Note that in episode 5, when Bruce Maddox is being treated, the bed is facing the back of the alcove, whereas in episode 7 and 8, it’s facing towards the front of the room. After the crash on Coppelis, the table is pushed back close to the door, and the biobed is placed in the middle of the round part of the room, directly under the overhead windows.

Like practically everything on La Sirena, the biobed has holographic controls. It includes a scanner (can be seen running over Maddox when he wakes up in sickbay) as well as many life-sustaining functions.

A read-out of the patient’s vital signs and sensor data can be projected onto the wall of the alcove, though we only see this when Maddox is being treated in episode 5.

We only get one shot of the bed without an occupant, namely when Sirena comes back to life after crashing on Coppelius. You can see some of the mechanics that very likely serve to adjust the angle of various parts of the cot, like the footrest, back, and headrest, which is articulated and seems to be adjustable independent of the rest of the back.

In this still, you can also see that the biobed, just like everything else, appears to be on wheels.

Table & Seating

The second most prominent piece of furniture is the round table that’s usually at the centre of the circular lab area.

Not much to say here. It looks to be maybe 1.5m in diameter with a single round foot at the centre. The surface is smooth enough to be reflective and there’s a metal band running around the circumference.

Around the table are four white chairs (on wheels) that have a very ergonomic saddle-like shape.

We don’t actually ever see anyone sitting on them, because people tend to prefer the stools, of which there are four spread around the room (the second pic is from when one of them ends up in the mess hall after the Coppelius crash). They’re on wheels as well and have a bit of lumbar support.

Storage

All of the storage in sickbay seems to consist of chests of drawers on caster wheels. I have no idea if there is an English term for these, please help me out in replies if you have any insight, but I’m talking about what in Germany would be called a Rollcontainer. Basically this thing:

Now if you’re wondering why I have chosen this particular example (which, in case you couldn’t tell from the website design and name, is an IKEA product), let me give you a quick hint:

Somebody has been at a flat-pack furniture store of interstellar renown!

Actually, as has been pointed out by a lot of people, there are IKEA products spread throughout Picard, especially lamps (which have been found on Coppelius, on Freecloud, and even on a Romulan-infested former Borg Cube). As far as I can tell, though, the grey drawers are the only IKEA products in sickbay.

Because everything in sickbay moves around constantly, it’s a little difficult to know for sure how many of these chests there are, but my best guess at the moment is twelve.

As you can tell from the pictures above, the chests were upgraded with light fixtures, added inside the upper rim, and they’re topped with white covers. I think you get a glimpse of the light strips when the top falls off one of the chests in the Coppelius crash:

(Top view of one of the chests. I’m assuming those are rows of LED’s that are turned off in this particular example. NB: The fact that it doesn’t look rectangular is because this image is cropped from the very edge of a frame with a ton of lens distortion. You can tell it’s straight in the original image)

There are blue and black mats on some of the chests, as you can see in these two images:

There are two other types of chests of drawers that, as far as I can tell, were sourced somewhere other than IKEA. They’re both white; one of them is very similar to the grey ones except with a rail around it...

... and the other one has two drawers on an articulated foot (on wheels).

There are two of each of these. We only get a very blurry glimpses of them all together, but the count after the Coppelius crash confirms that it’s two each.

Counter Furnishings

There are two more bits of set design that I would class as furniture, rather than general... stuff, so I’m quickly going to list them here.

There are very small glass shelves over the counter, fastened to the diagonal support beams at the front and back of the room.

And then there are four metal desk lamps on each side of the counter, to make absolutely sure every inch of the workbench can be lit properly. They each have a handle at the front of the cylindrical heads, so they are easier to move

(It’s a little difficult to see in this picture, but the top of the lamp at the very left of the frame, just above the shelves, has the handle prominently visible, and you can also see it on the second lamp from the right.)

And that concludes the furniture section of this Deep Dive.

Next time on “very infrequent but very long posts about our favourite Kaplan F17 Speed Freighter with you host, Lili”: A collection of mostly mysterious stuff scattered across every surface of sickbay, and an exploration of continuity errors, my own personal fan theories, and other miscellanea.

#star trek picard #la sirena #emil (emh) #deep dive #lower deck #sickbay #ikea #long post #i'm gonna have to go through these one day and redo the tagging #but for now i'm just gonna revel in the fact i get to post this #and i managed to procrastinate talking about all of the STUFF which is the main reason this has taken so long #too much stuff #(but who are we kidding - any day where i get to stare at sickbay pictures is a good day)