#maybe it can double as an ant farm now

[ink-ghoul]

What if I re-paint my own painting, but like, not pixel this time, it would be fun

#hermitcraft #grian #my art #get un-cube'd boy #once I solve my ant problem that decided to live in my draw tablet hi berry if youre reading this tag sorry for bringing it up again #maybe it can double as an ant farm now #/j

[redorich]

(Hermit Canyon AU)

Eventually, the Hermit seems to get attached to Puffy. It makes sense- it's been trading gifts with her for months now, and has even shown itself to her a few times, albeit while invisible.

The other SMPers don't think much of it at first. The more curious members ask Puffy questions about The Hermit sometimes, but she knows little, so they quickly give up. Occasionally someone will try to explore the ridiculously trapped town, but they give up once it's obvious they're not getting in.

The trades grow more and more valuable, and one day Puffy opens her barrel to find a beacon, and enough iron to fully power it. She's stunned, naturally. To think the Hermit is so capable it can kill a Wither just to give a beacon away- she can barely believe it.

(In actuality, they cheesed it on the Nether roof, but she doesn't know that)

She does try to hide it, but word gets around, and after another few failed raids on the town (and some rumours that the Hermit can teleport), things settle down again, as much as they can on the SMP.

Then someone steals Puffy's beacon. {You decide who, because I. don't actually watch DSMP, admittedly.}

Puffy, naturally, is devestated- she can't imagine the work the Hermit put into getting it for her in the first place (the most time-consuming thing was getting the Wither skulls, and it wasn't even that bad). But there's not really much she can do, so she carries on.

Except, the next day, the thief wakes up to find their house full of chickens, Puffy's beacon missing, and every single empty space in their chests filled with strategically renamed light grey stained glass panes.

They go outside to find the entire contents of a cave spider spawner on their front lawn. Alongside a ravager. With speed potions. Renamed Pamela's Revenge.

(Cue half the SMP trying to find out who Pamela is)

Puffy, meanwhile, wakes to find her beacon back in its rightful place, and a beautifully terraformed garden outside her house (Scar accidentally detonated a creeper and naturally had to fix the hole...and then went a little overboard. But it's fine.)

op i want you to know that i considered just posting your ask, because it’s already So Good and practically a fic on its own, but i really wanted even more content so i wrote it myself. ANYWAY here’s sapnap’s terrible horrible no good very bad day xD

It’s risky, doing anything on the wide open Nether roof where anyone can see. Hell, using a beacon at all is risky for the Hermits. Still, they’ve got all sorts of farms and copious amounts of materials at their fingertips. They’re past early game, stuck in mid-game while they wait for Etho to scope out more locations, while they build the second Upside Down (which Grian has named the Upside-ier Down), while they build their joint bases miles out from civilization. 

Having a beacon would make the process faster, they reason to themselves. They certainly aren’t risking being discovered just because they’re bored and getting a beacon is an excuse to do something. And hell, Tango made that giant, super-efficient wither skeleton skull farm right next to his double blaze spawner farm, so they might as well mass-produce Nether stars by killing multiple Withers. It’s not that difficult.

On another note, it’s after they gift Puffy one of their many beacons, in addition to a kit of iron blocks for powering the beacon that the Hermits realize that while their gifts are increasing in expense, Puffy’s are... not. So, if Puffy’s around average in the Dream SMP economy, they’ve figured out where most players meet their limit. She hasn’t stopped dropping by, though, which is nice. Her gifts become increasingly handmade, in lieu of upping the ante on material wealth. The Hermits suppose that hand-crafted items have a value that extends past money. Each and every one of them has something that she’s made for them, whether it be a shawl, a blanket, a set of earrings, a bracelet, or a pair of socks.

Apparently the beacon is more of a Big Deal than the Hermits thought. After all, the rainbow castle has several. However, the Hermits realize that they’ve been shortsighted. While it is true that the rainbow castle has several beacons, the castle is the only place that they’ve seen any beacons.

Sapnap steals the beacon. He doesn’t particularly need it, but he wants it, and stealing is fun. Maybe if he’s lucky, he’ll even start another minor war over it. He hasn’t fought Puffy very much. He wonders if she can put up a good fight.

Puffy’s-- not distraught, but she’s upset. That was a gift from the Hermit, a friend who she’s been pulling out of its shell. She doesn’t have much use for a beacon, but then again, neither does Sapnap; he’s just a dick. Just in case, Puffy leaves a note with the rest of the items she leaves in her barrel:

Dear Hermit,

I’m very sorry for losing the beacon you gave me. I made the mistake of keeping it in a normal chest instead of an Ender chest, so Sapnap stole it. I should have seen that coming. I’ll try to get it back, but if I don’t, please know that I didn’t throw it away.

Thank you,

Puffy.

Sapnap wakes up in the middle of a lake. His mattress is floating, and when he tries to paddle back to shore (once he’s done screaming), the mattress tips over and he receives an unpleasant fishy wakeup call. He trudges into his house for a shower, and finds that the showerhead, as well as all his faucets, have been stuffed with ramen noodle seasoning. 

He looks in his chests for a bucket of water. The first chest he checks is not only full of light gray glass, but also trapped. When he opens it, pufferfish fall out of the ceiling and bounce around. He dies to their poison twice before they finally die. The next chest he opens also has light gray glass, no water buckets, and a trap. This one, though, only releases a metric fuckton of chickens into his house. It’s fine. This is fine.

As he looks through his chests, he realizes something. They’ve got glass in them, sure, and they’ve been raided of water buckets, but... the beacon is gone. None of his other items, like enchanted netherite tools or literal diamond blocks, have been stolen. Just Puffy’s beacon.

Whoever pranked him missed a bucket, so he promptly dumps it over his head in an effort to smell less like pond scum and spicy chicken noodles. It takes the whole day to get his base back in order: he’s got to clean out all the faucets, empty all the glass from his chests, throw out all the dead pufferfish, and slaughter chickens by the dozens.

He can’t sleep. Are you fucking kidding. He can’t sleep. A soft hiss catches his attention, only audible now that the quiet of night has fallen. Is there somehow an unlit cave under his base?

Nope. As he steps outside onto his front lawn, he sees a daylight detector near the door that he missed when he came inside this morning. The daylight detector seems to have released approximately fifteen bajillion cave spiders onto his lawn, and they’re all angry, so he shuts the front door in their faces and goes back inside. That’s a problem for tomorrow’s him.

Horns spear the wall right next to where Sapnap was standing five seconds ago. He yelps. What the fuck is a ravager doing on his front porch? And why the FUCK does it have speed potion particles?!

<Sapnap was slain by Pamela’s Revenge>

<Sapnap was slain by Pamela’s Revenge>

<Sapnap hit the ground too hard whilst trying to escape Pamela’s Revenge>

<Sapnap was slain by Cave Spider>

<Sapnap was slain by Pamela’s Revenge>

<Georgenotfound> who is pamela’s revenge

<Sapnap> ;RVAER

<Sapnap> HELP

<Sapnap> RAVEAGER

<Sapnap was slain by Pamela’s Revenge>

<Georgenotfound> good night sapnap :)

<Sapnap> GEORGE OYU BITCH HLEP ME

<Sapnap was slain by Pamela’s Revenge>

<Georgenotfound> zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

-------

Puffy sees a whole lot of nonsense in the chat when she wakes up in the morning, and promptly decides to ignore it. She goes about her morning as usual, heading out to her front porch to sip a cup of coffee in peace. 

She... has a garden now. Hm. That wasn’t there before. And come to think of it, neither was the beacon she lost.

“Thanks, Hermit,” she says with a smile.

-------

Stress sips a cup of tea, having breakfast in Grian’s rustic sitting room with a few of her fellow Hermits.

“D’ya think we went overboard?” she says.

“...Nah,” Cub says.

#mcyt #hc x dsmp #hermit canyon au #captain puffy #goodtimeswithscar #ethoslab #grian #tango tek #sapnap #georgenotfound #stressmonster #stressmonster101 #cubfan135 me.cpp #rayveewrites

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (March 23/2021) - Ponk and the Keycards

Things start to go wrong when Ponk finds some of Sam’s Warden keycards lying around in a chest and decides to take one. Sam doesn’t take this lightly.

---

VOD LINKS:

Ponk

Foolish

HBomb94

Nihachu

Tommy

Ranboo

Captain Puffy

---

- Ponk goes over to Snowchester to take some lapis and visit Michael.

- He goes to the spider spawner to enchant and meets HBomb in a catmaid skin there.

- HBomb is planning on making a catmaid cafe.

- Ponk warns H that Niki is becoming a communist.

- He leads H down into the Egg Room, saying he can teach H to become a capitalist. 

- They then do a photoshoot. They go to the bench.

- H leaves and Ponk plans to build his likeness on the server. He finds Sam’s wool farm and is concerned. He visits Sam’s house and takes some supplies.

- Ponk walks back out, thinking there’s not much to take, and checks a double chest outside.

Inside are several books:

Quackity [by Quackity]

Quackity [by Quackity]

Quackity [by Quackity]

Questionare [by Dream]

WARDEN ACCESS [12 copies]

- Ponk takes one of the copies of WARDEN ACCESS.

- Back at the spider spawner, Ponk sees Sam log on. Ponk plays it cool.

- He goes to find Pogtopia and accidentally wanders into the gym

- He gets to Pogtopia and gets sand

- Ponk meets Sam at the Community House. H and Niki arrive and Sam gets autotuned.

- Sam logs off and Jack logs on. Ponk speaks with him about being part of a top secret mission

- Ponk shows Niki and HBomb the keycard and asks if they want to test it

- Sam logs on and Ponk immediately logs off

- Niki and H leave to discuss one on one, leaving Ponk to speak with Jack. He points out how Jack doesn’t like Tommy and wants to kill him.

- Niki tells Ponk they have only one minute until Sam kills them, and if they lose a life because of Ponk, they’ll come for him

- Ponk logs in and tries to run, but Sam kills him in a single shot. This death is declared canon.

---

CANON DEATH: PONK

Cause: Slain by the Warden

---

- Ponk respawns and hurries through the Nether to Sam’s base, but when he gets there Sam kills him instantly again. This one isn’t canon.

- Sam says the keycard was actually an old one. Ponk died for nothing.

- Ponk enters the Nether Hub again and meets Sam face to face.

Sam: You will die before me.

Sam: I can fight everyone who is online.

Sam: at the same time.

Sam: Stop this at once.

- Ponk asks Foolish to use his lightning powers to help get rid of Sam, but Foolish doesn’t. Meanwhile, HBomb is at the prison entrance.

- Ponk exits the Nether and runs back to the Prime Path. He tells them he feels weaker already. Sam follows him.

Sam: Everyone is about to die.

Sam: Everyone.

- Ponk tells Niki and H to press the button at the prison entrance on his mark. Sam kills him again and sends Ponk back to the Community House. He tells Niki and H to press the button, that it will send him there and then they will die.

- Foolish presses the button while Ponk races through the Nether again.

- Ponk makes it to Sam’s base. Sam tells Foolish he’s about to die, but Foolish says he is Sam.

- Ponk grabs the other eleven WARDEN ACCESS copies as Sam kills Foolish in one shot.

- Antfrost joins the game. Sam tells him it’s time to defend the prison, and that Ant is free to kill anyone near the prison.

- Ponk starts heading back to the Vault. He tells Niki and HBomb that Pandora’s Vault is a for-profit prison that must hold plenty of riches.

- Ponk makes it to the Vault. Sam tells him his items are forfeit, and if he does not give up the other keycards, Ponk is about to become a ghost.

- Ponk pearls away. He has an idea to head to Church Prime. They wouldn’t cross DreamXD.

- Ponk will carry this on tomorrow. It’s a cliffhanger for now, as he logs off in the Holy Land.

- HBomb and Niki continue to work on their cafe.

- Tommy, Ranboo, Tubbo and Techno briefly play on the server using proximity chat!

- Later, after checking up on Michael and the mansion, Ranboo spots Sam building something near the prison, wondering what it is

- Sam tells Ranboo about what happened earlier with Ponk. 

Sam: “He slept in this bed, so...I’m building Hell for him.”

- Tomorrow, Sam will find Ponk and murder him, and Ponk will respawn in the box Sam is building.

- Sam presses a button and shows Ranboo lava flowing into the cell.

Sam: “This will be his existence. He will burn to death until he gives them to me.”

- He’s making “the worst place one could ever respawn.”

Ranboo: “So you’re just gonna keep on burning him, over and over again?”

Sam: “Pretty much, until he pleads for me to stop and agrees to give me the books. And then if he doesn’t give me the books, I’ll just keep doing it.”

- Ranboo asks if this is the best way to go about it, if Sam can just make new keycards. Sam tells him there already are new keycards, Ponk stole old ones. There’s nothing Ponk can do with them, Sam doesn’t like the fact that he stole and was planning to infiltrate.

- Sam tells Ranboo not to tell Ponk.

Sam: “So I’m gonna build it in completely, so he won’t even know where he’s at. He’s just gonna know that he’s...he’s stuck with me. Forever. Until he gives me the keycards...This will be our existence until he gives them up.

Ranboo: “You’re very good at building...um...things that are meant for pain sometimes. That’s good, good for you.”

Sam: “I’ve had a lot of practice with the prison, you know?”

Ranboo: “Yeah, nice, you’re basically just making another prison. But like, smaller.”

Sam: “Yeah, much smaller scale though. I almost had to kill a lot of people today.”

- Sam asks if there are any other good things he could do to torture Ponk into giving him the books. Ranboo says no one likes poison.

Sam: “That’s true, I could just poison him...forever. And he could eat rotten flesh, maybe beat him to death with my hands...punch him to death...he’d probably give them up pretty quick if I was doing all that. I think this will do for now, though. We’ll see. If he’s hesitant, then I’ll uh...I’ll make it count for sure, don’t you worry.”

- After talking a bit about the mansion, Ranboo backs out slowly.

Ranboo: “Okay, have fun, have fun...doing that.”

Sam: “Oh, I will.”

- Ranboo leaves, telling chat he will not let Sam anywhere near his house ever. 

Ranboo: “Yeah, of course he’s gonna...y’know, torture someone. ‘Cause you know! The best trait in a prison warden is how much they’re willing to torture someone! That’s for sure!” 

(He presses the monkaS button)

- Ranboo returns to Snowchester. He’s very scared of Sam.

---

Upcoming Events:

- The Red Banquet

- Quackity’s business opening

- Quackity’s next lore stream

- Eret’s lore stream

- Tubbo’s lore stream

#dream smp #dream smp recaps

[bittydragon]

The Ant King

Note: Huge thanks to Bittydragon for inspiring me to write this. I’ll be honest, this is the first fic I've ever actually written, as well as the only piece of creative fiction I've written in like two years so… fingers crossed it goes well hahaha.

TW: tight spaces, darkness, uh,,, bugs i guess. Near death experience

  There are things you have to know about ants when you get an ant farm. Basic fundamentals. What to feed them, how to keep them alive, what type of ants you have, etcetera. Even if your intentions were… torturous. After all, you need to know what makes something tick in order to make it stop.

One of the more common facts about ants is that every colony has a queen. She orders her ants to keep her alive so she can make more ants. Simple biology, the continuation of a species. Every nest has a queen, or it dies.

Apparently, this colony didn’t get the memo.

These thoughts buzzed in grumpy circles around Wilbur's’ head as he followed his ant companion, Tommy, deeper into the ant-farm. They had been wandering these tunnels for what felt like days now, in the center of the farm so there were no glass barriers to show the outside world. They were deep too. Almost at the bottom of the compound. Wilbur was not one to show fear, but even he was beginning to get claustrophobic.

Tommy, who up until now had been jabbering like a toddler the whole trip through the ant-farm had also gone uncharacteristically silent. The whole trip Wilbur had wanted nothing more than a few seconds of quiet from him, but now he missed the carefree noise.

They were on their way to see the ant King. A type of ant that, as far as Wilbur knew, didn’t exist. So either they were on a wild goose chase, or Will was way out of his depth.

The further they went, the more he was convinced it was the latter.

“Tommy do you-” Wilbur paused, his echoing voice in the tunnel almost felt like a taboo. An affront to the maddening silence that stalked them. He lowered his voice.

“Do you think… Will I ever get back to normal? Will the ant king change me back?” He hated that little quiver in his voice. He hated the uncertainty. The waiting.

Tommy continued to march forward silently, pondering the question.

“I dunno big man, I think you’ve changed heaps since you got here.” He turned his head to flash Wilbur a grin “Then you’ll be out there and all nice n shit. It’ll be poggers.”

The tunnel was dark, but not dark enough to hide the flash of uncertainty in Tommy’s eyes.

Wilbur's heart sank. “Thanks mate.” He mumbled, and they trekked on, once more in silence.

  By the time they saw light, it felt like they had been walking for days. Wilbur was almost glad he was about to meet possibly one of the most powerful ants in this colony. They rounded one last bend, and they were there.

Before them stood a huge double door set in the wall. Two vines with some kind of glowing fruit framed the door, shedding light on the small space. In front of the door, leaning on a spear made from a twig was another ant with a pair of large white rimmed goggles. 

“Well… This is it I guess.” Wilbur muttered. He cleared his throat “Hey, um. I-i’m here to have an audience with the King? If that's alright.”

The guard ant didn’t respond, continuing to stare at them with no discernible expression.

“H-hello?” Wilbur glanced at Tommy, who shrugged.

“Excuse me? Anyone home?” Wilbur snapped his fingers in front of the ant's face.

He seemed to startle slightly, before slumping down a bit and letting out a loud snore.

“What the fuck” Tommy said.

Before anyone could do much of anything, one of the massive double doors creaked open and a voice came through.

“George, I swear if you fell asleep again, I'm going to rip off your antenna and use them as- oh.”

Another ant entered the room, this one also carried a twig-spear and had a strip of white cloth tied around his forehead.  As soon as his gaze landed on Wilbur, his expression soured.

If looks could kill… Wilbur thought nervously

“It’s you” The new ant spat “Took your sweet time getting here Soot. Earthquake slow you down? Didja get a taste of your own medicine from your big pals out there?”

Wilbur pursed his lips, and the ant snorted. “Yeah. Thought so.” He walked forward and gave George a hard shove, sending the other ant sprawling with a startled yelp.

“Sapnap what the hell?!” He snapped, before spotting Wilbur and Tommy. “Oh hey. That guy is here.”

“Yeah he’s here, idiot.” Sapnap smacked George over the head with his spear “And we would have known a lot sooner if you hadn't fallen asleep on duty again!”

“OW! Sapnap stop! Get off me!”

Wilbur cleared his throat, drawing their attention “Sorry to interrupt, but me and my friend have been walking for a long, long time, so could we please have an audience with the King?”

Subpoena glared “Yeah. He’s waiting for you. Against my advice, he wants to see you.”

Oh. That… didn’t sound great.

Wilbur tried not to think about the implications of that statement as he approached the double doors. Tommy moved to follow, but was stopped by the guards.

“Hey!” He groused “Let me through dickheads!”

“I'm afraid the King only wants an audience with the great and powerful Wilbur Soot” Sapnap said with a smirk.

“But I want to go too! Let me in! You stupid ugly bitch ill fight you! You may have a fancy stick but just wait until I pull out my knife-gun!”

“Tommy its fine.” Wilbur interrupted “I’ll be fine mate, promise. Just wait here. I wont leave without saying goodbye.”

The last thing he saw was Tommy’s antenna drooping sadly, before the doors swung closed behind him.

  If Wilbur thought the tunnel was dark before, that was nothing compared to the room he was in now. The darkness was so thick, so absolute, that it made no difference if his eyes were open or closed.

“Hello?” Wilbur called “Uh… your majesty? I was told that you wanted to see me.”

His voice echoed slightly in the huge space, but there was no reply.

Wait. What was that? Something rasped ever so slowly across the opposite wall. Something big. As it moved, the moss where it had been standing glowed a dull green.

Bio-luminescence Wilbur reasoned. Trying to distract himself from the fear creeping up his spine. Touch activated, it seems.

He swallowed dryly “L-look, just tell me what you want. I’m not here to cause trouble”

The thing moved again, its raspy scuttle reverberated through the chamber.

“Wilbur Soot, not here to cause any trouble” A thoughtful voice hummed from the dark “Now that’s a first.”

The bio-luminescent moss was lighting up more of the room. If he squinted, Wilbur could make out a... leg. Probably.

Wilbur inches slowly to the side, the moss lighting up his own path. “Okay, I get it, I've done morally questionable things in the past, but I've learned a lot from my time here. I’m sorry.”

“For now” The voice replied. The thing was moving on the other side, matching him step for step. “What's to say you aren't faking remorse to get out of here? And maybe you really are sorry. How can I be sure you wont change your mind the second you're back to normal? It's too much of a risk.”

Wilbur continued to back away nervously “Your majesty-”

“Please, call me Dream. Everyone else does.”

“Right… Dream. I can say with 100% certainty that won't happen. I've seen people die in front of me. That’s enough to change anyone's stance on something.”

“And yet I'm still not convinced.” It was moving faster now, scuttling across the floor, walls and even across the ceiling. Wilbur's head spun with the motion. “And since we’re talking in hypotheticals, riddle me this: Whoever said I was going to let you out anyway? What if I just like to play with my food?”

Dream stopped suddenly, rearing over Wilbur, and with all of the lit up moss, he got his first proper look.

This ant was huge. Twice- no, at least three times the size of Wilbur himself. He looked a bit like a centaur, with a human torso connected to a pure white and thorax and abdomen.He also wore a strange white mask with a blank eyed smiley face drawn on.

Two huge claw arms- similar to those of a praying mantis- extended from Dreams waist and slammed into the dirt either side of Wilbur, startling him enough that he fell onto his ass. The king leaned forward with that lifeless grin, and Will closed his eyes, preparing for the end.

“But…” Dream said thoughtfully “A proper experiment should account and test for all variables, shouldn't it?”

“Y-yeah generally” Wilbur stuttered

“Oh good.” Dream hoisted him roughly to his feet. “I’m glad I asked you. After all, you know all about experiments, don’t you?”

Wilbur chose not to answer, glowering at Dream as the eyes on his mask briefly glowed a dull green.

A moment later, Sapnap and George marched in, dragging a cussing and struggling Tommy behind them.

“YOU STUPID MOTHEFUCKERS!!! Let me go or ill get married in rage!! Fuck you and-! Oh. wow that is a big fella.” Tommy stopped and stared in awe at Dream

“Sapnap, give Wilbur your spear.” Dream ordered.

A flicker of doubt crossed Sapnaps face but he obediently shoved the spear into Wilbur's hands.

“I’ll make you a deal, Wilbur Soot.” Dream purred, circling him. “I will let you go to your old life. You can do whatever you like; kill us, torment us, throw us away… it doesn't matter. All you have to do is kill one ant.” He gestured to Tommy.

“What?” Wilbur whispered.

“WHAT?!” Tommy roared “fuck you! I'm not your dumb-ass pawn, I'm going to kill you! Rrrrrrrrrrr!” he writhed, attempting to bite George who did a surprisingly good job of holding him still.

“Go on.” Dream cooed “It's just one insignificant ant standing between you and freedom. You've killed hundreds. What's one more?”

Spear in hand, Wilbur took a hesitant step forward.

Tommy's gaze snapped up “Wilby?” He asked, his struggling pausing for a moment.

Their eyes met, fear clashing with sorrow. Tommy seemed to see something in Wilbur's expression and hung his head in defeat. As if he had expected Wilbur to betray him.

Oh hell no. Fuck that. Wilbur angrily tossed the spear aside.

“No. I won't.”

“What?” Dream spat

Wilbur rounded on him “No! I won't kill him! Keep me here, kill me, hunt me for sport, whatever! Just leave him out of this! Tommy has been nothing but nice to me since I met him, even though it don't deserve it!” He rubbed his arm. “God knows I don't deserve it.”

“Hmm…” Dream hummed “Are you sure, even if it costs you your life?” One of Dream's massive claw arms grazed his side, a subtle threat.

Wilbur looked over at Tommy, who had a look of hope on his face.

“Yeah.” Will smiled, “I'm sure.”

I probably could have written more, but i wont. I hope you like this fic bitty! Thanks for reading :)

Edit: Fortune, this is amazing! Like, I hadn't really thought about this encounter in a lot of detail, but I honestly like this a lot! And Dream being a big boy since he's the king ant. Just yes. Thank you so much for this.

#submission #fan work #tiny!tommy #tiny!wilbur #tiny!dream #tiny!sapnap #tiny!george #giant!dream? #maybe? #mcyt gt #thank you again! #betmyfortune

[avatarofthebeholding]

Theories About the Ways Eric Delano Tried to Quit the Institute:

1. Blackmailing Jonah (James Wright)

2. Locking Jonah in artifact storage (“Mr. Wright, I refuse to let you out until you fire me”)

3. Just straight up laying across Jonah’s desk and refusing to move. Or in the doorway of his office. Basically trying to annoy Jonah into firing him. (Once he stood in the doorway of Jonah’s office and chanted “Fire me” for the whole day. Another time he glued down everything on Jonah’s desk.)

4. Changing his name (“My name isn’t the name on the employment contract anymore so it’s not legally binding to me anymore right?”)

5. Burning all the case files he was working on - if everything he’d been assigned to do was gone, maybe his tie to the Institute would be broken?

6. Destroying all of the security cameras.

7. Telling EVERYONE at the Institute, even outside of the Archives, about the Eye (and encouraging them all to quit). Even if they didn’t believe him, he made it a point to Never. Stop. Talking about it. If only so they ended up quitting because the weird archival assistant wouldn’t leave them alone. (Eric’s reasoning was that maybe if was Seen for what it was , and lost victims in the form of employees leaving, the Eye would let him go to prevent subsequent losses).

8. Covering up all of the windows in the Archives/at home so nobody could see out (or in) and then pulling a Natalie Ennis (unscrewing all the lightbulbs)

9. Writing a letter of resignation. It physically pained him. He did it anyway.

10. Breaking into Jonah’s office to find (and burn) his employment contract.

11. Somehow getting his hands on one of the closed-eye sigil People’s Church necklaces and wearing it every day (so it would hopefully protect him from the Eye’s sight)

12. When the necklace didn’t work, getting a closed-eye tattoo

13. When the tattoo didn’t work, trying to JOIN the People’s Church. They didn’t let him in.

14. Making a paper mache double and not showing up for a week (it ended up Stranger-aligned, and he got sick anyway)

15. Bringing a different one of Mary’s Leitners to work every day for a solid month or so, including but not limited to...

The one that drops animal bones

One that generates worms when you open it

One that shoots spiderwebs at whatever it’s aimed at when you open it

One that never stops playing circus music

16. Releasing a tarantula in the break room (“ok Web do your thing”). Emma found it and ended up keeping it as a pet.

17. Filling Jonah’s office with creepy dolls that may or may not have been Stranger aligned

18. Filling Jonah’s office with Stranger-aligned taxidermied animals from the Trophy Room. Which just succeeded in annoying Jonah and the animals.

19. Invoking the Spiral and just. Lying. At every possible opportunity.

20. Faking his own death...everyone was VERY surprised when he showed up at work a week later.

21. Bringing a HUGE Corruption-aligned ant farm into the Archives after everyone had gone home one night.

22. Filling the break room fridge with raw meat (Emma looked at the fridge, looked at Eric - who was absolutely SOAKED in blood - and went, “Still not fired?”)

23. Every time he was asked to lock up (Jonah really should’ve known better), and saw an avatar of one of the other Entities nearby, just casually announcing, “OH I’M JUST GONNA LEAVE. THE SPARE KEY TO THIS EYE STRONGHOLD. UNDER THIS MAT RIGHT HERE.”

24. Randomly mailing away statements (with the wrong return address on them).

25. Trying to bribe HR to terminate his employment contract

26. Hiring a lawyer to look through a blank copy of the archives employment contract and (hopefully) find some way he can get himself fired.

27. A lot of WEIRD conversations with union reps (“Look, I just want to get fired so I can spend time with my son.”). He’d get the response “I’d LOVE that kind of job security!” at least once during every. Single. One of those conversations.

28. Refusing to accept his paychecks

29. BURNING his paychecks

30. After a conversation with Adelard Dekker, he once tried to fill the archives with cement after hours.

31. After reading a statement about the Buried almost drowning someone, he turned on the sinks in all the bathrooms before he left one night to try and flood the Institute.

32. Shoveling dirt from the courtyard into a wheelbarrow and dumping it in Jonah’s office (“This is now the domain of the Buried. FIRE ME.”)

33. Bringing a clown into the Archives. Like, just a random clown. (“LOOK! I’m Stranger-aligned!” *hugs clown* “I am the Eye’s Arch-enemy!!!”)

34. Stealing all the keys to the Archives after locking up (again, Jonah should really know better) one night. Can’t be a job if no one can get into the building, right?

35. Using stencils and spray paint to cover the walls of the archives (and Jonah’s office) in fractals

36. Paying people to come in and give false statements

37. After finding Barnabas Bennett’s bones in Jonah’s office, he positioned them outside the door to the institute to scare off potential statement givers.

(Thank you to @demasc , @ofdreamsanddoodles , & @cuttlefishkitch for helping me brainstorm for this monster list!)

#tma #the magnus archives #top #long post #eric delano #adelard dekker #the magnus institute #jonah magnus #barnabas bennett #james wright #the eye #the beholding #the ceaseless watcher #it knows you #the dark #natalie ennis #the stranger #from the library of jurgen leitner #the web #the buried #emma tma #the spiral #esmentiras #it is not what it is #i do not know you #tma entities #the flesh

[ashintheairlikesnow]

i'm fucking losing it about that most recent post and i cannot get coherent words out about it because i get too excited about the possibilities and it is extremely hard to type while flapping but !!! oh my god!!!! oh my godd!!!!!!!!!

CW: Opening to what is definitely going to be a severe trauma response in the next piece, brief victim-blaming language

Jake watches the video, and Laken can't read his expression at all. It's grim, maybe - his jaw is set, and his blue eyes don't leave the laptop screen.

Youtube starts with a stupid fucking State Farm car insurance ad, and Jake is quiet and thoughtful before the ad even ends. He didn't argue with Laken, or suggest disbelief. He only texted come to the house and show me while C is at rehearsal, and Laken had hopped on two buses and walked half a mile, but here they are, now, only a little sweaty for their efforts.

Laken hunches over next to him, their hands over their mouth, thick wavy black hair falling over their eyes. They'd re-shaved the sides yesterday and the air moved over the shorn-short spaces as the fan turned overhead.

They don't speak. They just watch Jake watch Tristan Higgs dance. They watch Antoni, Chris's other brother, sit quietly on Jake's other side, his own dark eyes equally fixed on the screen. When the video ends, Jake hits the replay button and watches it again.

And again.

"This video is from eight years ago," He finally says. His voice is a deep rumble, barely a sound human ears can hear. “I mean, the dancing is from eight years ago.”

Laken swallows and nods. "Um, y-yeah. So he would be-"

"Fifteen," Jake finishes for them. "Give or take. If he's as old as I think he is. And this guy seems pretty fucking sure that Tristan Higgs is dead."

"Right." Laken swallows, uncomfortable. "So, Ben-... You remember Ben. He's, um. Been looking stuff up, and... He sent me some links to, like, old news articles, and... Um..."

"What is in the articles?" Where Jake's voice is rough-edged, struggling for control, Antoni's voice is soft, hazy with his accent, sliding over consonants and coasting the vowels. "What is he sending?"

"So, um, like... This double-... Uh, double-murder and stuff. These people that were killed and just, like, their kid survived, Tristan Higgs. Except then he disappears-... just drops off the face of the earth. But no obit or anything.”

Jake and Antoni look at each other, the men sharing an expression that communicates a wealth of information Laken isn't privy to. But the one thing they don't show is any surprise.

"-and... Ben's been messaging the guy that posted the video, and-... They're gonna meet, um, in a couple days. At, you know where La Mode is? The ice cream place where they filmed that bit in that old Vince Shield movie-"

"I know where La Mode is, yeah," Jake says, watching Laken carefully. He hasn't looked at them like this in a long time, since he first met them - calculating and slightly cold, considering the risk they pose to Chris and to everyone else in his house.

"I also am knowing that place," Antoni says with a nod, putting a hand on Jake's arm. Jake is tense - Laken didn't realize it until he suddenly relaxes, consciously, now. "Why is Ben wanting to talk to this man?"

"I, I don't know. He kind of, he's really intense about this stuff. You know, when he found out Chris was, um, was... a pet..." The word is ash on their tongue, gums up around their teeth, makes their stomach flip in disgust. "... He kind of lost his shit once we got Chris calm about it. I think he thought-... Uh, you know, people like Chris, they get targeted, and... so he's been thinking about that.”

“This isn’t his business, Laken,” Jake says, weary, closing his eyes.

“No, I know, but he's got a little brother who's the same age Chris was when-... this video must have been made. Who’s a lot like him. So I think he's... I don't know. Maybe thinking, you know, if it was his brother, he’d want someone to do all this... if-... if someone took his brother away."

"Yeah, I get it." Jake swallows, sitting up slowly, rubbing at his face. He's got a day-old stubble along his jaw, the kind that made Laken grin a little when they saw the rubbed-red, irritated jawline of the guy with black hair who answered the door, Chris's other brother kind of.

The one that Laken met the night Dylan told Ben and them where Chris really came from. Except... not this. Dylan hadn't known this.

"So, we need to get Chris ready-"

"Get me ready for, for, for what? Laken, why, why are you here?"

Laken closes their eyes and lets out a slow, soft sigh. Of course - the one night they needed Chris's rehearsal to run full-length is the one night he comes back early. They turn to look at Chris and give him a slight smile. "Hey, querido, we just, um-... So, there's..."

The video has still been playing in the background, forgotten, and the music kicks into the crescendo where the second gymnast steps up, catching Chris's attention. "What's, what's that? Is, is, is, is is is it-"

He goes silent as Tristan Higgs steps into place, shoots his bright smile towards Akio Nakamura, and does his first set of flips and spins.

The three of them watch Chris watching Tristan Higgs. They watch his backpack slide off his shoulder and thump to the ground. They watch his eyes - the perfect match to the eyes of the boy on the screen - follow Tristan and Akio dancing briefly back to back, his laughter as he drops his head onto Akio's shoulder.

Something in the line of his shoulders tightens. His skin is pale under the freckles, his hair suddenly seems too garishly bright against the rest of him. There are shadows under his eyes Laken has never seen before. He looks younger... and haunted.

They hold their breath until it ends, the two boys hugging and laughing, Tristan bouncing and rocking and flapping ecstatically when the routine went off without a hitch.

The video cycles to the next one, a different set of Nakamura's. Chris blinks and then looks at the three of them, eyes moving from one to the next. "Why... are you watching... that?"

His voice shifts, change, slips into a drip-drop of words, a slowly leaking faucet language that Laken barely understands when compared to his usual mile-a-minute. He stands perfectly still.

Once again, Jake and Antoni aren't surprised.

"Chrisha," Antoni says, gently. Jake's jaw works, maybe fighting for words that don't come. "That is you, we think. You were... are Tristan Higgs."

Chris's eyes move to Antoni. Then back to Jake. "No," He says, simply. "I'm... not."

"Chris?" Laken feels a wash of uncertainty. "Are you okay? We're pretty sure this is you."

Chris stares right through Laken, eyes empty, full of a kind of fog all their love can't break through. "No, I, I'm not. I'm... not him."

Jake is the one to push himself to his feet first, taking Chris gently by the arm to walk him back towards the doorway. "Chris-"

"I'm... not, not him," Chris says, looking up at Jake, up and up and up. "I'm... not, Jake."

Chris, Laken's sunshine boy, their love and light and life, is a dull bit of broken rock, sodden earth after too much rain, the sooty stumps of trees in an empty wildfire-wrecked field.

"I know it's hard," Jake says, folding Chris into his arms, and Laken watches with a twist of something that isn't quite jealousy, but isn't that far off. Chris will always turn to Jake, first. They can't compete with that - they don't want to, even, they just sort of wish they could. "I know, Chris. But Laken's right, this kid... I think that might really be you."

"No," Chris whispers, burying his head into Jake's chest. "No, no, no. I'm... not. I, I make myself, I made Chris, I don't want to, to, to to to-to be anyone else anymore..."

"You're still Chris," Jake murmurs, and holds him close. "You're still my brother. This just tells us maybe a little bit about what happened before I met you, that's all. That's it, Chris. Nothing has to change."

"Everything changed," Chris whispers, pulling slowly back. "Because I, I did it wrong. I, I, I moved, wasn't... I was, was supposed to hide... and, and be so quiet..." His hands move, one finger up to his lips, as though shushing himself. The empty look in his eyes is cracking open to a well of pain that Laken, for all the times they've held him after nightmares and all the meltdowns they've seen... They've never seen it quite like this. 

He pulls away from Jake, and slowly picks his backpack up from the floor.

"Chris?" Laken shifts forward, but the look on his face when he glances back at them makes them stop short. "Baby, I-"

"Go... home, Laken," Chris says, and turns away from them. "Tris, Tristan Higgs is, is, is, is dead. He, he, he... he he-... he, k-... killed people, and he’s, he’s, he’s dead.” 

He's gone, his feet heavy on the stairs, before Laken can say another word.

Jake and Antoni glance at each other - another immense conversation contained in a single shared look - and then Jake sighs. "Come in, Laken. I'll drive you back to campus. Ant, if you'll-"

"Watch the house and speak to Chrisha. Got it." Antoni gives Laken a soft, sympathetic smile. "These things are not easy," He says, softly. "You cannot pick yourself back up again, simple as that, start a story where you were left off. I will speak with him."

"But, I should-"

"You'll make it worse," Jake says, rough-edged again.

"Harder," Antoni gently corrects. "He will need us, who know what it is they do to our minds, tonight."

"Wh-what do they do?” Laken looks from one of the men to the other. “I, I know memory loss, I get that, and he was clearly-... hurt, so much, but-”

“They take a frightened man-... or, child,” Antoni says, voice gentle as always. “And they teach us that the person we were before was so terrible that the person we are now exists only to suffer.”

“But he’s just a kid, there, in that video,” Laken says, a token protest, voice weak. Antoni’s smile widens, slightly, in its sympathy for them. “There’s no kid on earth who could possibly deserve that. He doesn’t even remember what happened!”

“You do not have to remember a crime to be told you are responsible for it.”

“But-”

Antoni takes their hands in his, looking them right in the eyes. “When you are alone, and frightened, and desperate to survive... you will believe anything that gives you the slightest chance for a way out.”

Laken swallows, hard, thinking of Chris whispering after a nightmare one night, they made me a Romantic pet because I was a slut who wanted it all the time - their sunshine boy, who never ever does, effortlessly believing a lie, repeating back the names they called him, acting unbothered and like he barely noticed his own words.

Laken swallows back a flip of disgust at the idea of a teenager being taught to hate himself that way. 

“Wh-what happens if he remembers everything they made him forget?” Laken’s voice is a whisper.

“If we’re lucky,” Jake says gruffly, “He doesn’t remember it all at once. If we’re not-”

A wail shatters their conversation, a low keening cry from upstairs, muffled by distance and closed doors, a sound of wild screaming wordless grief. All three of them flinch as there’s a resounding crash and a slammed door.

“If we not, that happens,” Jake says, and he’s on his feet and up the stairs before Laken can remind him that he’d said he would take them home. They move to stand, but Antoni lays a hand on their arm.

“Jake, first,” He says softly. “It is easy to be overwhelmed, in these moments. Jake first, and then you.”

What they feel now is definitely a little bit jealousy.

And guilt.

Chris’s screaming, his misery and pain, seems to go on forever, twist itself into the walls of the house and burrow in. Antoni leaves to comfort frightened people who stick their heads out of doors and ask what’s going on, people Laken doesn’t know and has never been introduced to. They look at Laken, consider them, and Antoni speaks to them with soft reassurance while Laken feels helpless, and hopeless, and pointless in this house full of hurting people, while their own hurting person finds comfort in his brother, not in them.

They turn back to look at Jake’s laptop, sitting alone and watching a group of gymnasts hugging after getting their scores, laughing.

The title dates it as a year after the dancing video.

By the time this one was filmed, Tristan Higgs was already gone.

---

Tagging: @burtlederp  , @finder-of-rings  , @endless-whump , @whumpfigure  , @slaintetowhump  , @astrobly  @newandfiguringitout  , @doveotions  , @pretty-face-breaker  , @boxboysandotherwhump  , @oops-its-whump  @moose-teeth  , @cubeswhump  , @cupcakes-and-pain  @whump-tr0pes  @whumpiary  @orchidscript

#chris the strawberry blond romantic #whump #memory loss #memory recovery #tw: trauma recovery #box boy #box boy universe #recovery whump #laken mamani: frankly i want to date them #tristan higgs #jake the shelter guy #antoni sings lullabies

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Scream Queens Ep 5 "Pumpkin Patch" (Note: Offensive content, use at own discretion)

The theme was "Let Them Eat Cake," so my dad bought me this foreclosed McMansion down the street, and, like, 500 of my closest friends came dressed in 18th century attire, and, oh, the pool was filled with this, like, caviar slurry. And then at midnight, we just burnt the house down. When the firefighters came, they were actually strippers, and they put out the fire with champagne.

So walk me through this, honey.

Well, as you can see, every pumpkin in the patch is artisanal.

Then we move past the ice sculptures of demonic peeing cherubs, and yes, they will all be peeing vodka and Red Bull.

I'm sorry. Corn maze?

It's just that doing an exact replica maze from The Shining would have taken us way over budget on man power alone.

I told you money was no object.

Well, apparently, one of them died or something.

Do you have any idea what's at stake here?

Okay, well, it's not my fault that some guy died in the '70s.

I am tired of your sad-sack, I'm-a-total-downer-all-the-time schtick.

I'm over it!

Oh, my God, why are you so depressed?

Why do I have to be the homely one?

Just a second, nutbag.

God, do I have to spell it out for you?

You're a weird, psycho lunatic who's gonna end up in an asylum somewhere, staring at a wall, trying to nurse a watering can.

That's it! I can't take this anymore!

That is such a Mary Todd Lincoln thing to say.

You scream "I'm done with you" kind of a lot, and yet you're still standing here.

I think you know you have a good thing going.

You get to bask in my starlight as I do all the work and you get to grumble behind my back about how disrespected you are.

There's the door.

There's the door, bitch!

You did not deserve to be spoken to like that. Ever.

That is bollocks!

Clearly this fake kidnapping is a play to get the sympathy vote. So Gone Girl.

This is the biggest candle night of the year!

I hate you right now!

Halloween is the greatest night of the year. Greatest night. Because on this night, even kind of shy, kind of homely girls dress up like total sluts. I mean, every costume is just a slutty version of something. Slutty teacher, slutty nurse, slutty nun. I saw a girl last year dressed as slutty al-Qaeda!

See, Halloween it's a night for dudes with killer bods to walk around with our shirts off. And it's totally appropriate, as long as we call ourselves gladiators, Chippendales.

I have no idea how you got into this college.

Look, we'll just hang out and play charades!

This cannot be happening!

Hey, what about Black Hairy Tongue Disease? I mean, does nobody here care about Black Hairy Tongue?

What about my pumpkin patch?

I blame you for this.

[NAME], nice boobs.

Join me in saying you are not afraid!

Just baking some cookies for the neighborhood trick-or-treaters.

Uh, they're toenail cookies.

Pink fur coats worn in all weather, my idea. Flapper dresses made out of feathers, also my idea. Oversized sunglasses worn everywhere, my idea, my idea, my idea!

So why are you baking toenail cookies and giving them to children?

Okay, whose side are you on?

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. I'm what you call

a "switch-hitter."

Wait, are you bisexual? Because that's what "switch-hitter" means.

Do you mean "double agent"?

What are you writing?

Do you know how big Halloween is in the candle community?

Is this an ant farm?

There's a mom ant, Deborah, who mostly just lies around and she has about 100 husband ants, who come around and give it to her good, which she really enjoys. And then there's about a million sterile daughter ants who feed her and are her slaves. So, an ideal family.

She'd win. And then I'd beg to be her second-in-command, while quietly pull the strings behind the scenes like Dick Cheney.

This plan involves a lot of circuitous logic.

Oh, my God! Those are, like, $100 each!

They're the highest quality candles that can be purchased retail.

What a brilliant and revolutionary idea.

Are you cheating?

This is a clear violation of the honor code.

You must be new here.

Who are you calling?

I'm gonna get you fired.

At least you wore something nice today.

Remember to smile for your mug shot.

I'm burping uncontrollably like Robert Durst.

They'll know I'm guilty!

I'm next in line and in charge here.

You can sum up my viewpoint on this with one word; indifference.

We are her only hope.

Sometimes, in order for a person to achieve their full potential, they have to do things on their own.

I am in charge here!

I love that you're a man.

This is the most sensual song ever written.

We need to do this right now!

I just saw her boobs.

Oh, a salad date is, it's like, it's more casual than dinner, but more formal than coffee.

Whose pants are these?

You know, you're a human being with feelings and needs, right?

Enough about me and my confusion and sad dead feeling inside.

It just really hurt my feelings.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure my so-called friends are the ones that turned me in so I'm just feeling, like, super alone right now.

Man, I am your biggest Instagram fan!

I just think you are a style genius.

I will never be able to repay you for the kindness you've shown me in here.

Besties for life, I say.

Your bail's been posted.

I knew you'd bail me out.

Can I just say what a relief it is to be able to share it with somebody and not feel judged?

You know, I mean, all my girlfriends are like, "That's immoral." "You should be ashamed of yourself!"

Ashamed? What the hell you got to be ashamed for?

You should be proud.

I could've lost my job.

I mean, it lasted, like, 45 seconds, and the whole time, it just felt like I was getting stabbed in the abdomen.

I tied him up and I kept my uniform on and proceeded

to read him his rights. My favorite being "You got the right to remain sexy."

Give me some!

You know he's sexy!

That was one of the best nights of my life.

Well, I've already contacted the police department, despite the fact that a person can't be considered "missing" until at least 72 hours has passed.

That's morbid.

I've already hired an investigator.

What, are you two a couple now?

What the hell are you doing?

You sold me down the river, bitch.

Wait, Gary Coleman's parents stole his kidneys?

I would never say that, because I'm pretty sure that never even happened.

Why does ratting me out sound like exactly something you would do?

You know, I've never thought of myself as a killer, but I am seriously considering ramming this pick into the back of your eye socket.

Maybe you'll get your head sawed off.

You have cameras in my room?

I have eyes everywhere, bitch.

The name of my future perfume is Revenge.

How is that something you just happen to know?

That is stupidest thing I've ever heard.

What's the password?

I just can't eat any more of these.

This ain't The Marriage Ref! This ain't Judge Joe Brown! We ain't on the Maury Show! We ain't standin' in line trying to get tickets to Dr. Phil! I am not Steve Harvey, people, and this ain't the Family Feud!

I'm tryin' to catch a killer.

Help me get the spy gear in the car!

How can you promise?

We're in a maze, you don't know where you're going!

I always knew it would come to this.

Why are we doing this right now?

I forgot the flashlights!

What am I supposed to do with this?

This is so creepy.

It smell like booty in here.

I'm getting a nervous feeling in my stomach.

I might start farting. If I cut some, you promise not to tell anyone?

Oh, my boob!

Stay where you are! I'll come and get you!

Ooh, this is nice.

It's really beautiful.

It looks like you just crossed some stuff out and wrote that in in marker.

Okay, can we talk about that for a second? Because it just happened a few hours ago, and I'm still really traumatized.

I need some cheering up right now.

Excuse me, darling, I'm exhausted.

Wait, we need to hear what happened to you.

Just wondering where you find a house with a pit. The market for them would be pretty limited.

Did you escape, or did you kill him?

I've always had a thing for bad boys.

That got way out of hand.

#rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #roleplay memes #roleplay meme #roleplay starters #scream queens

[statticscribbles]

Mercy Quest

Summary: Kurtz/Reader; When you’re freed from the Sisters you return to the only thing you know TW: Violence, threatening language, bodily harm

You’re hesitant when Betty appears dressed as the Gryphon Queen, the cloak and her headdress are wrong but you decide the chance at getting out is worth following a liar. When you step into the night, seeing her smiling at Ethel, you can feel rage bubbling under your skin; you tense, stepping forward; you’re not sure what attacking her would accomplish but you know it will feel good. You’re about to move forward when a figure catches your eye, he’s hovering behind their line of sight smirking as he puts a finger to his lips. You step back, anger draining enough for you to see him clearer, you watch as he holds up a copy of gryphon’s and gargoyles; you look to where Betty and Ethel are trying to round everyone up; and you follow the boy into the shadows.

“What were you doing in there?” He hums fingers playing with your hair, you look up half asleep already and you shrug. “My parents said I had behaviour problems; and the doctors said I didn’t have anything wrong with me except when I got too sad I hurt myself; so I wasn’t allowed to be alone.” “Okay, so I wont leave you alone.” He grins tilting your chin as he kisses you.

You wake crying, to feel his arms around you, hand over your mouth; you know you’re being too loud. You sniffle trying your best to quiet as he pulls you against his chest hand moving from your mouth into your hair as you sob into his shoulder. “Hush, it’s alright; it’s alright. Just a bad dream; just a bad dream.” He repeats automatically and you can feel him jump when you start talking. “He took you; you died. You’re mine, not supposed to be taken; mine.” You hiss nails digging into back and he smirks. “Easy there, the king has a plan for us remember, he wanted us to ascend together.” “No. I want to stay here with you. Just us.”  He hushes you with a kiss and you pull away frowning.

“Don’t you want me?” His finger’s trace the scars along your arms. “You’re not mine to want. You’ve spend so much time trapped there; it’s not fair for me to keep you here like a pet.” “I want to stay with you. Please; please let me stay.” “Would playing a game help?”You nod and he pulls out his rule book. “Now; you’re the druid correct?” You nod scooting forward and Kurtz pulls you into his lap as he reads to you.

You spend most nights like this, curled in his arms reading the manuals and devising quests for each other; he offers you an off board quest; something to soothe your ‘druid nature’ he explains. “De-fang the wolf cub?” He grins nodding and you find the boy running through the woods; you must look as dishevelled as he does because he grabs your hands and leads you in a doubled backed loop until he comes to the abandoned house. You know he doesn’t know its yours. “We should be safe here.” He mumbles and you nod following him confused why he’s so trusting. “What’re you doing out in this forest anyways.” “The uh, Sister’s of Quiet Mercy they-“

“Oh right that creepy prison mental hospital church place that got shut down; Jesus you really look the part either way. So you play G&G?” He grins and you nod. “I’m a level seven Thief.” His smile darkens and your eyes light up. “I’m a level seven druid!” “Oh we match level’s I should see if we match other things.” His hand moves up your thigh and before you can say anything Kurtz has pulled him back shoving him on the ground foot over his throat. “You ever touch her like that; well, actually we won’t need to worry about that.” He grins and nods, you grab the plier’s he’d given you and nervously walk over to them. “You’re a little big for a Wolf-cub but beggars can’t be choosers.” You kneel down and watch as he struggles. You run your hand through his hair. “Shh; it’s alright, just a few fangs is all; just a few fangs.” You cover his eyes as you force his mouth open; you hate how sad he looks.

He’ll save us won’t he?” You turn watching Kurtz as he paces in the living room of the abandoned house. “Hmm, well your name is on the sacrifice list; maybe we can take it off if we exchange it for someone else.” “I put it there.” You smile triumphantly nervous as Kurtz jerks forward pressing you against the wall. “You said you wouldn’t leave me! Being a sacrifice; that’s leaving!” He snaps pulling you forward into a kiss before shoving you down on the mattress. You don’t struggle as he crawls on top of you. “I thought I was the Game Master. You need to follow my rules do you understand?” You nod as he pulls back before nudging your foreheads together so you look him in the eyes; you can feel one of his hands pulling your arms up straining them as he pins them down. “You follow my rules. Understand.”

“Yes.” “You will not be a sacrifice. You will not die unless I kill you myself.” His hand tightens around your wrists and his free hand moves shoving the dress you’re wearing up around your waist. “Don’t you want to be good for your Game Master? Don’t you want to ascend?”

You don’t argue when Kurtz tells you he’s leaving the house and you have to stay there. You know what will happen if you leave; Betty and the others will find you and you won’t get to ascend or ever play G&G again. So you stay quiet and you stay hidden. When the Gargoyle King himself appears, his hands reaching out for you, you curl into his chest and he hums as he directs you where to go. It’s the middle of the night; the safest time to travel. You avert your eyes when he removes his mask. “Look at me Y/N.”

“Kurtz.” You breathe out in awe and he smirks. “Game Master is king; remember.” He winks and you nod following him from the house towards what looks to be a hunting lodge. If you want to be a sacrifice; one you shall be.” He grins. “Hush Y/N. Hush. This will only take a moment; stop squirming.” Penelope looks unconcerned from the chair she lounges in. “Oh come now, you wanted this; don’t lie and try to get out of it.” She rolls her eyes; you watch nervously as the Gargoyle King moves from in front of the fire; the iron rod in his hands glowing a blinding orange. You’re surprised you don’t scream; confused that there’s no smell of burning; it’s not till you wake up that you even realized you passed out from the pain.

“We have to finish the game.” You nod to the rest of the Gargoyles who look around at each other. “Listen; Y/N you know it’s a game right? That it-“ “It’s real!” They quiet nodding as they cast a look as Kurtz walks in glaring. “Kurtz; sir.” You snicker and Kurtz rolls his eyes hand drifting around your neck as he leans forward arms incircling you as you sit on the chair as the Gargoyle speaks, muffled under his mask. “Yes?” “The Jones’ their; quest, has been set up.” “We have all the pieces?” He looks up as one of the gargoyles shoves a woman forward. “Penny is it?”

“Listen you little piss ant-“ Kurtz smirks when you shove yourself up towards her teeth bared. “You’ll forgive our Druid; a little too much time in the forest communing with the animals messes you up; as you can see.” Kurtz hums and you return to his side watching the woman who looks pale. “She’s one of the kids from Mercy isn’t she.” “You heard about all of ‘em getting taken to that chop shop yeah?” Penny swallows. “Wild animals don’t belong on farms.” He laughs and you grin with him tracking Penny who seems annoyed. “Listen kid.” She approaches you later that night and you watch her for a moment. “What they got you on. Fizzle rocks? Jangle? G? Some unholy combination of the three?” You grin shaking your head. “There’s no fuckin’ way you’re sober.”

“Why you think I was in Mercy’s? It’s a hospital to you know.” You grin more and step forward she looks unimpressed. “You know you can’t hurt me; I’m useful and-“ “To the quest; you can be useful and be injured before they play.” You grin darting forward her hand clamps over your arm and you yelp. You grin when she’s slammed back Kurtz snarling corralling you back towards the bed you share. You reappear to Penny hours later you try not to laugh when she backs up looking behind you to try to spot Kurtz. “Mercy ain’t the only one’s that keep animals; Gargoyles like having pet snakes too.”

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[stattic-writes]

Mercy Quest

https://statticscribbles.tumblr.com/post/639099629845233664/masterlist

Support My Writing?

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[lovemesomerafael]

EL AMOR TODO LO PUEDE Chapter 21:  Playing Charades

GIF Source:  All-things-raul-esparza

Read Previous Chapters 1-20

If Mazie Anderson was having difficulty handling her emotions after being raped, she did a good job hiding it.  Nonetheless, she was entitled to the same support any victim received.  Which meant that, when she insisted on attending the arraignment of the man who’d attacked her, Laura went with her.  The arraignment docket dragged on and on, with little to break the monotony.  Eventually, however, the case was called and a junior A.D.A. Laura hadn’t met stood to request a very high bail.  Mazie looked the rapist full in the face and sat calmly as he was arraigned.  Bail was set at $100,000, which meant he couldn’t bond out for less than $10,000.  It was enough.  

Laura put Mazie in a cab and headed to work herself.  Since becoming a cop, she’d always hated court days because she felt like she was missing out on the action.  Today was no different.  

When she got to the station, Fin and Carisi had a goofy-looking guy in the box who appeared to be in his mid-thirties.  He was pale and sweating, but that seemed to be his normal state, because he wasn’t frightened.  He was mad. As Laura stepped up to the window into the interrogation room, she could hear him spewing venomous misogynistic slogans that sounded like they came straight off the internet.  Which they did.  “Involuntary Celibates,” or “Incels” as they liked to call themselves, had possibly been created by the internet.  They were guys who couldn’t figure out how to relate to women and had convinced one another that all women were part of a conspiracy to deny them attention, love, and especially sex.  They spent all their time on hate-filled websites with like-minded idiots, regurgitating the idea that women owed them all of those things, without them needing to be worthy of any of them.  They repeated it to each other until they believed it.  

Lieutenant Benson and A.D.A. Barba stood at the window, watching and listening.  Laura figured that, given their last conversation, it was the better part of valor not to stand next to Barba.  She took a place on the other side of Benson.  

“Incels.  I love these guys,” Laura said by way of greeting.

“You love these guys?” Benson asked, raising an eyebrow.

“They’re so easy to break. All you have to do is give them what they want, and they freak out.”

Barba kept his eyes on the interrogation as he muttered, “Define ‘give them what they want’.”

Amanda Rollins stepped up at that moment.  “Act interested.  They don’t know what to do with a girl who says yes, so they fall all over themselves and give you everything.”  

“Want us to give it a try?” Laura looked hopefully at Benson who, in turn, looked at Barba.

“We don’t really need to listen to any more of this crap, do we?”  She asked him.

“We’ve got plenty to show motive.  But we’re nowhere near a confession.  It couldn’t hurt.”

Olivia nodded. “OK.  You’re up.”

Laura turned to Amanda. “You or me?”

Rollins held up a fist. “Loser goes in.”

Laura put up her fist, they shook three times, and Laura threw paper.  Amanda threw scissors.

“Damn it,” Laura laughed, not really disappointed.  This could be fun.  “Help me get ready.”

When Parker and Rollins returned to the interrogation room door, Laura had removed almost all her makeup. She had on just enough mascara to highlight her large, brown eyes.  Instead of the chic suit she’d spent too much on, she wore a simple white sleeveless turtleneck, a skirt that came to mid-thigh and swung around her legs as she moved, and low heels.  Her hair was down, in a simple style with the front pulled to one side in a barrette, and she was wearing glasses.  The changes were subtle, but the effect was dramatic.  She looked vulnerable and insecure as she stood there clutching a clipboard to her chest.  Barba instantly wanted to protect her.

“OK,” Olivia smiled. “I’ll go pull Fin and Carisi out.”

“Don’t let ‘em clean off the table,” Rollins suggested.

“I know what you have in mind.  I’ve already briefed Fin.”

As Benson went into the interrogation room, Laura turned to Barba, addressing him directly for the first time since she’d gone to his office the night before.  Her eyes were full of mischief, something he suspected was not unusual with her.

“I could use your help.”

“What do you need?”

“Remember what we talked about yesterday?  Could you give me time to bond with him a little bit, and then come in and do your thing?”  

“Now you want me to talk down to you,” he said drily.

“Might as well use your powers for good.”  She smiled up at him.

Jesus y Santa Maria.  For a moment, he was dumbstruck as he felt the full impact of the impish, conspiratorial expression she beamed at him.  What would it be like to share plots and secrets with this woman?  Barba’s dislike of Peter Stone doubled in that moment.  

 “Fin, Carisi, I need you to come with me.  We have a situation,” Benson ordered, keeping her hand on the doorknob as though in a hurry.”

“We need to finish in here,” Carisi complained, exchanging a surprised look with Fin.

“Parker can finish this,” Olivia said.

Fin’s face fell. “Parker.  Is gonna finish our interrogation.”

“Detective…” Olivia’s voice held a note of warning.

They shrugged and stood, moving toward the door.  Laura walked in past Olivia, clutching her clipboard and standing with her shoulders hunched, as though uncomfortable.  Carisi and Fin stood and moved toward the door.  Fin gestured toward the table, strewn with soda cans and crumpled papers.  

“You can get this stuff for us, right, Laura?”  He didn’t wait for an answer.

She stepped to the table as the door closed behind her.  

“I’m Laura Parker,” she said, holding out her hand to the suspect.  “I’m one of the detectives here.”

He awkwardly touched her hand, but barely grasped it.  She clasped his softly but definitely, holding it just long enough for him to register the feeling of her hand in his.  “Yeah, I’ll just call you Stacy,” he sneered.

Laura blinked at him as she took the chair closest to him.  “It’s… It’s Laura.”

He guffawed and rolled his eyes.  “Oh, brother.”

“You’re Brian Cudahay, I know.  Is it all right if I call you Brian?”

“Whatever.”  

She smiled as though he’d granted her a favor.

“Before we start, are you OK?  Do you need anything?”  Her demeanor was kind and interested.

“I could use a blow job,” he leered.  

She looked slightly uncomfortable and turned her eyes to the table.  “Maybe later,” she muttered shyly.  “Let’s do the paperwork first.”  

That threw him.  She was supposed to have turned red and bit his head off.  “Weren’t you supposed to clean this stuff up, detective?”  He tried again to insult her.

She stood and began placidly picking up the mess from the table, tossing it in the trash.  As intended, he watched her legs and backside as she moved around, deliberately giving him plenty of opportunity.  

“At some point those guys will figure out I can do more than clean up after them,” she remarked.  

Rafael, watching through the one-way glass, rolled his eyes.  This Cinderella act is never going to work.  But those legs might.

“So, Brian, another piece of crucial police work they let me do is fill out these forms.  Can I ask you some questions?”  

For the next twenty minutes, Laura wrote useless information on a form she’d quickly printed out before coming into the room.  It was actually used for new NYPD employees to sign up for health insurance, but it gave her the opportunity to be fascinated by every detail of Brian Cudahay’s personal information, and begin to draw him out.  Few people can resist talking about themselves to someone who appears to find them enthralling, and this guy was a frustrated virgin being played by a very experienced flirt who happened to be adorable.  

Barba could feel Cudahay thawing toward her, then beginning to melt.  Cudahay didn’t even notice when she completely abandoned the charade of filling out the forms.  Soon, he was telling her about his ant farm.  An ant farm, Laura thought.  If this guy wasn’t such a woman-hating piece of shit, he’d actually be kind of cute.  

Forty-five minutes in, Cudahay was on his fourth story in which he featured prominently in some heroic role, this time finding a way to repair the milkshake machine at the fast-food place where he worked.  Laura hung on every word.  Barba smirked as he watched, shaking his head.  Poor sucker never stood a chance.  I feel for ya’, buddy.  

“I think it’s showtime,” Olivia told him.  He straightened his jacket and moved to the door.  The rest of the team continued to watch Parker carefully weave her web around the clueless Incel.  

As Barba assertively threw the door open and strode into the room, Laura sucked in her breath and moved noticeably toward Cudahay.  She stammered a bit before standing up so quickly she knocked her pen to the floor. As Barba had expected, she leaned over from the waist to pick it up, giving Cudahay the opportunity to experience her swingy skirt up close as it slid up her thighs.  Por Dios, Barba thought.  She’s shameless.  

“Oh… Mr. Barba… Are you…?”

“I’ll take it from here, Miss Parker,” he said, spreading his leather-bound folder on the table and sitting across from Cudahay in a position that took up as much space as possible.  He didn’t look at her even when addressing her.  

She awkwardly sat down, muttering so quietly only Cudahay could hear, “It’s Detective Parker.”

Had the squad not known better, they would have joined Cudahay in believing that Barba was the biggest prick in the city and that Parker was terrified of him.  

“I’m A.D.A. Rafael Barba. I just need to ask you a couple of questions about your attacks on these women,” he arrogantly tossed a set of photographs across the table.  

“I didn’t attack anyone,” Cudahay began, puffing out his chest as he took in the new dynamics in the room.

“Normally, I’d be entranced, but I’m due in court.  So let’s skip the fairy tales, hmmm?”

“Hey, man-“

Laura put a hand on Cudahay’s arm and looked up at him through her eyelashes as though trying to warn him, or protect him, or something.  She was on his side.

“Mr. Barba, I-“

“Miss Parker, please. I don’t have time.”

“Sir, I’m, um… well into questioning the suspect.  You really don’t need to stay.”

Barba gave her a look that she never wanted to see for real.  Holy shit, but that man could scowl.  

“Are you suggesting that you can do my job better than I can?”

“Oh, no, Sir, it’s just that-“

“I’ll tell you what, dickwad,” Cudahay interjected, leaning across the table toward Barba.  “Get lost.  I don’t have to talk to you.  I’m only talking to her.”  

“Her.”  The single syllable dripped with condescension and appalled amusement, but it was the raised eyebrows coupled with the slightest upturn of his lips that had Laura biting her lip to keep from grinning.  He inspected Cudahay as he would something foul he’d just discovered stuck to the bottom of his shoe.  

Cudahay seemed to think he’d won a point.  He sat straighter in his chair and lifted his chin.  Laura mirrored his posture, moving yet closer to him.  It’s us against him, she silently signaled to her new protector, Brian.

Barba’s posture and expression as he pointedly closed his folder were half disappointment, half disbelief at the stupidity of some inferior people.  It was a masterful performance that Laura thought had probably been perfected over years of doing the same thing to signal that some plea deal was too idiotic to even consider.  

“Very well,” he said quietly and with careful enunciation.  “Miss Parker can take your statement.  I’m due in court.”  

Laura and Cudahay watched in silence as he swept from the room.  As soon as the door closed, Cudahay turned to Laura.  

“Are you OK?”  He was all solicitous concern.  

“I’m, um… I’m…” she faltered, her voice close to breaking.

Outside the room, the whole squad was chuckling.

“Are those actual tears?” Carisi asked with delight.  

Barba shook his head yet again.  “That woman is not to be trusted.”  

“Y’all are pathetic,” Rollins smiled.  

Laura knew she had him when Cudahay handed her a crumpled tissue from the pocket of his jeans.  She let him comfort her, clumsy and inept, while she leaned on his shoulder.  

“Thanks for being so understanding, Brian.  I appreciate you being on my side.  You must have a lot of girlfriends.”

“There it is,” Fin laughed outside the window.

“See, I woulda gone for the puppy dog eyes right there,” Rollins weighed in.  “She loses a couple of style points on that one.”

“I feel bad for the guy. I kinda wanna go in there and rescue him.”

“Carisi, you are too soft hearted for this job,” Amanda told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

 “Actually, Laura,” Cudahay said, trying to find the courage to put his arm around her, “I don’t have a girlfriend.  Women don’t really… like me.”

“I don’t believe that,” she responded coyly.  

“In fact, a couple of them have been real bi-  witches about it.”

With that, the story began to unfold.  For an hour, all Laura had to do was look at him with doe eyes and make sympathetic noises while Brian Cudahay confessed to four attacks on women: one more than the NYPD had even linked to him.  

The change in Cudahay when Fin came in to arrest him was blood-curdling.  That little bitch had just confirmed everything he and his Incel buddies believed about whores using sex to get whatever they wanted and denying him his rightful share.  The noxious, vindictive things he said to and about Parker were nothing new in that room, but Barba made a note to represent the People personally at Cudahay’s bail hearing.  Best if he didn’t have the opportunity to go looking for her for a while.

Laura wasn’t gloating when she came out of the interrogation room.  She was glad to have gotten the confessions.  Cudahay deserved to go to prison for what he’d done to those women.  But she wished this guy would have had the opportunity to go out and meet someone, rather than getting sucked into the self-fulfilling misery of the Incel websites.  He could’ve been OK.

Rafael could guess what she was thinking.  It was to her credit that she wasn’t taking a victory lap.  

“Hey, thanks,” she said to him.  “You were amazing.  Remind me not to get on your bad side.”

And then she grinned and held out a fist.  

Rafael Barba had never fist bumped in his life.  No one would ever have thought to suggest such a thing.  Rafael Barba did things like shake hands and clink crystal.  Yet here she was, grinning and waiting with her fist out.  Could she really have that mistaken an impression of him?  He didn’t think so.  He thought she probably had quite an accurate impression of him.  And she was laughing at him.  He should have hated it.

He grinned back and bumped her fist.

#law & order svu #law & order: special victims unit #rafael barba #raul esparza #olivia benson #amanda rollins #fin tutuola #sonny carisi

[thealexchen]

More Pajarita AU Stuff

OMF your response is great! Yeah, the branching of Andy either being in the Haven Point Compound with Daniel vs Andy Alone paths would be very different. Like, they have the potential to be completely different paths entirely. Okay maybe I enjoyed the diverging Telltale Batman S2 final eps a bit much lol.

Andy Alone Options: Either it’s framed as a penultimate tragedy (as it’s ep4) to LiS2, because there’s a possibility of Andy having wandered far off enough that there’s no way for Sean (or even Karen) to track her down, because Crows are pretty nomadic and cults are pretty stationary. It could either be her exiting the story for the season, and framed like the tragedy for Sean & Daniel that it is, also giving the player some tangible consequences (especially if the players have gotten attached to all these characters so far) or her making her way to meet with them separately. And it could affect the fifth episode, with them going off to search for Andy with Karen.

At worst, the pressure from the law enforcement (honestly fuck the law at this point, they suck) that they are forced to flee for Mexico instead, most likely without Andy. And boy would that hurt the feels.

And I’m just imagining a possible DLC ep midquel between whatever passes for S3 and S2 events… Or whatever the epilogue for S2. Where the players get to once again play as a superpowered kid, except much younger this time (Max was 18ish and Andy being like 7-8 or younger). Of story-focused survival and “talking” to the animals, and doing petty crimes to humans (i.e. stealing). Trying to get inside the head of a kid who understands/finds more comfort in the harsh (at least to humans) survival-focused nature of nonhumans animals rather than her own species while in a lonely survival setting (blend of both urban & wilderness) would be interesting.

How successful Andy herself is in these survival ventures, both in taking care of herself as well as her survival arrangement with the crows is up to the players. Andy is prompted by events to move with the crows again because there are park rangers who have been sniffing around due to reports of a “lost child” near the woods.

It could end one of 4 ways:

1:  Land of Wolves Requires Players paid practically zero attention & engagement to Andy, players need to fail at least half  or more of the Survival Crimes Andy engages in. - Players find Extremely difficult to locate Rumination spots that will let Andy think/remind herself enough about how she misses her Dad, Sean and Daniel and Lyla, and their lives Before. Regardless though, Andy has grown extremely independent, decides to make her way to Puerto Lobos by herself. 

2: Left Behind  Requires Players paid practically zero attention & engagement to Andy, also to succeed in almost all the Survival Crimes & Actions Andy engages in. Players mess up the Ruminations or don’t find them at all. - Andy has a small play section of packing up her stuff, and then goes it alone, walks off into her own new story when the Murder of Crows moves again, up to players if she changes her mind or not later, the vaguest ending. 

3: Meeting (You) Halfway Requires Players to have paid a lot of attention to and engaged with Andy a lot, take most of the Ruminations; the success rate of Andy’s survival crimes/actions don’t matter. - Let Andy ruminate on what she misses about Sean, Daniel and their Dad, and all the times Sean and Daniel have been there for her. In the end, Andy decides to make her way to Haven Point.

4: Law of the Jungle (AKA: the Worst Secret Ending) Requires Players to have Ignored Andy most of the time, fail all Andy’s Survival Crimes and actions, missed all the Ruminations spots, and it will activate a nonspecified timeskip where not even the crows will be with her anymore (it’s not explained). Andy is done with humans though, and refuses to head toward civilization, and moves further into the woods.

OOOOO

Andy at the Cult Options: Andy would find Haven Point stifling, and the abstract nature of the religious teachings to be a bit too weird for her liking (she likens God to that kid who likes burning ants with a magnifying glass or shaking the ant farm for the lulz, or like someone who promises food even when no food is there). So she’s just… Quiet, extremely quiet. Stays outside whenever she’s able, quietly listens to the wildlife, and feeds them when she can. Most of the adults find her creepy (typical of the religious neurotypical) because of things like her staring quietly & directly from a distance a lot, the “strange” body language, and not speaking much or acting very cute. The few times Andy speaks, she asks uncomfortable questions and voices uncomfortable (for everyone else) observations.

They tolerate her because of Lisbeth & Daniel, mostly. Not that Andy doesn’t literally go out of her own way to avoid people. Unsure if there’d be any sustained attempt by an adult to interact with her or not.

Andy talks to Sarah Lee a bit though, she knows Daniel thinks she’s cool.

Daniel is being further isolated by Lisbeth though, I’m unsure how Lisbeth acts around Andy tbh. Like, Andy doesn’t have guilt that Lisbeth can exploit, really the only thing keeping Andy here is Daniel. So Lisbeth could double down on Daniel while using them both to leverage each other, indirectly. I don’t think Lisbeth could overtly act against Andy with Daniel around though.

Unsure about how this would affect Daniel’s view of things, like, him trying to struggle with being the Only Big Brother to Andy now, plus his guilt feels, and the whole drinking the koolaid with Lisbeth thing.

Also yes, Andy would be convinced by Karen in the confrontation scene; weirdly enough, with Andy’s animal/nonhuman communication powers, they make her with a tendency to be like, a more outwardly weirder version of Karen in a way, interesting similarities, thoughts? 

And I just remembered that Sean has powers in this AU too, I have no real idea how to incorporate his future art vision into the story AU, I feel like it’d be pretty uncontrolled and changing a lot, sometimes even completely unrelated to him even.

Wow this got long, lol.

~~~~~~

Don’t worry, I read it all, and WOW you have clearly put a lot of effort into this AU. I’ve loved seeing it evolve over the months and giving it a home right here on this little blog! Can you refresh me on what Rumination spots are though?

Also, is Lyla with them in this AU? I started plotting a “Lyla is with the brothers” AU in my head on the nights I couldn’t sleep about two weeks ago, and uh... let’s just say it got way more detailed than I anticipated.

Thank you again for your submission!

#markala5 #submission #lis2 spoilers #lis2 #lis #answered asks

[chaniters]

RETRIBUTION VS. LOS DIABLOS

Betraying everyone he ever knew, Cyrus visits Regina one last time, and then steals the rebel’s airship, as he sets up the final stage of his masterplan. Charge rushes in an attempt to stop him before the countdown ends. 

Warning, major character death!

(Post Retribution AU chapter 7)

_____________________________________________

You bark orders at the soldiers.

It's hard to tell if you're speaking or using telepathy. It all seems the same right now.

You have them take the Hourglass to Mortum's lab, and then you walk in there as well.

Mind-controlling him was never something you wanted to do before. It would kill his creativity.

But you don't care anymore. You just push him into setting up the device. You're not kind. You hurt him. A lot.

The intercom beeps. Cellex and Cestus want to see you.

You ignore them. You can't afford to have them see you in this condition.

The door into Regina's lab opens.

"I'm ready," you say. "I'm ready to go all the way"

"Well aren't you eager?" she says.

"I have very little time. Let's get started. Right now" You’ll need even more power for the final stage of your plan. She can grant you that. Also, it doesn’t bother you that this is the last painful experiment she’ll ever get the chance to do on anyone else.

She will have outlived her usefulness after this.  

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

Charge materializes once more. Confused. Exhausted.  Eden puts the teleporter gun back in his pocket.

He’s lying on the floor. And Eden is all over him… messing with his mods.

"What... is going on?" he struggles.

"No time to explain," Eden says. "I'm reactivating your mods, Mortum told me how. Behind you is an access point that will take you inside the airship. Go on, and hide until it's in the air. And then, you have to stop Retribution!"

"W... how?"

"I don't know, you're the hero. Figure something out. He's activating the Hourglass tech, and Mortum says that thing is unstable It will cause a paradox and destroy us all."

"What?"

"No time! GO NOW!"

He's not kidding. The whole place seems to start vibrating. Ortega and runs forward. He'll have to make sense of it all later.

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

"CYRUS! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Cellex is furious in the monitor. "TURN THE SHIP AROUND NOW!"

"I'm sorry Cellex," You say. "But I won't do that"

"You're heading into Los Diablos! WHY?"

"Because that's where I need to be. I have to go home"

"THIS IS YOUR FUCKING HOME! YOU STARTED THIS REBELLION FOR ALL OF US!"

"It worked quite fine for me up to now. I've got everything I need out of it" you smile drowsily. The meds are still in your system. As is Regina’s blood on your hands. It felt good. Choking her.  

"NO. RETURN RIGHT NOW!"

"I don't need you Cellex. I don't need any of you… There is nothing for me back there.”

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO CYBRA? WHY DID YOU KILL EVERYONE AT THE LABS?"

"I did nothing to Cybra... she wants to come along. She is the one who suffered the most after all. And those scientists really had it coming. Wasn't it what you wanted, Cellex?." you say. ARe you meaning everything you say ? It's hard to tell right now. Your mind isn't in the right place at this moment.

Cybra is running the ship by herself. She's the only one who could do it. She figured out your plan and wants to be part of it.

"Make some fucking sense for once! What do you think you'll achieve?"

"I'm going to use the Hourglass to make everything right"

"Fuck that piece of crap. We're going to follow you!"

"Try to chase me, and I'll fry you alive Cellex. I control the lasers after all." you laugh heartily. He looks so stupid right now.  

"You fucking double-crossing piece of ..."

"Tell Cestus I'm sorry? I know he didn't deserve this. So naive… Guess he never really knew me at all" you say with a sardonic grin. Cestus. Should you feel bad? It's hard to feel anything right now. You know you should feel sorry about this. But you don’t. None of them truly matters in the end.

Cellex keeps cursing at you.

You cut off the link. You're not a good team-player after all. Better break off and go solo.  

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

Helios seemed to materialize out of thin air atop the city skyline.

The cloaking device deactivated rapidly, the ship casting an ominous shadow.

People gazed upwards, as it passed above the buildings.

And then straight lines of turquoise light came down from it, in all directions, extending towards the buildings.

For a few seconds, nothing happens.

And then all hell broke loose.

Shockwaves and explosion as the buildings caught fire, a torrent of shattered glass falling onto the pedestrians below.

The ambulance sirens are silenced by the next salvo, as Helios begins setting the whole city ablaze.

..........................................................

"SHUT UP!" you yell as you stumble "KEEP FIRING! SHUT THEM ALL UP!"

You can't help it. Their thoughts are so fucking loud. And you need to be in the immediate vicinity for your plan to work.

Cybra remains hooked to the controller, activating the lasers again, and again, and again. The solar panels all over Helios turn towards the Sun, attempting to squeeze even more energy into the lasers.

Like ants burning under a looking glass.

Two of the main guns fire off onto a large tower, drawing an X on its center. It explodes violently, fire coming out, as it fragments and falls down in pieces, generating a gigantic dust ball.

The Hourglass armor is lying all over the floor of the bridge. You don't need it anymore.

Mortum's device is now in front of you, charging up.

Mortum himself is on the chair to your left, unconscious.

IT's only a matter of time before it activates.

You swipe sweat from your forehead.

The humans below and their panicked thoughts are everywhere. Finally, they start start fleeing.

You manage to recover some of your calm, as many voices go silent in the distance.

"Start a countdown" you order Cybra.

The screens are replaced with the actual time left for activation. 7 minutes.

Your radar shows up a massive number of jet fighters. The air force's arrival time ETA is about 15 minutes.

They'll be too late. Nothing will matter by the time they destroy Helios.

You won.

You're finally going to set things right.

You...

The bridge’s door explodes in electrical sparks, and flies over the room, bouncing and cracking one of the panels of the large glass viewing glass. You can feel the chilling wind outside coming trough.

A figure stands on the other side. Covered in electrical arches.

"Ricardo?" You smile. "I did not expect you here after your escape! Come in!" You invite him as if he were your dear friend once more.

He walks slowly towards you, glaring intensely.

"You must stop. Right now. Open communications and surrender"

"Surrender?" You ask amused "Why would I do that?"

"THe airforce is on its way. You're going to die, and so is everyone below this ship when it falls. This is pointless. Stop now" he says giving another step.

"You don't get it," You say amused "It doesn't matter! Nothing matters! I will set things right Ricardo. We'll get a second chance! Everyone will get a second chance. You'll be fine! I'm going to fix your entire life! You should be fucking thanking me!"

"You are insane!. Step away from the controls. Slowly."

"I can't do that! Not when I'm about to beat fate itself! This is how it's supposed to be. It's inevitable! I'm the one responsible for this, so I'll set it right!"

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?! STEP OFF THE CHAIR!"

"I forgot you're such an idiot! Let me rephrase... This is a FUCKING TIME MACHINE Ricardo. I'm going to go back. I'm going to fix it all!"

"WHAT?!!

"That's what I wanted the Hourglass for. IT never worked for anything else than stopping time, because you can't move matter through a time portal. But with Mortum's teleportation gun technology, I don't need to! I can turn into energy and go back on the other side once it opens! It's going to work!"

"You're fucking kidding"

"I'm not. We already tested it. He *you point at Mortum* installed his device on the Hourglass. But it's unstable. So he built a better one. It's amazing how fast he can work if forced to use two-thirds of his brain at once... he's having a short nap now I think I overloaded him...  It's about to activate, and then ALL will be restored. You needn't do anything, Ricardo. Just sit down, enjoy the fire, and let me go back, and put an end to it all"

And right then, the device comes life, shinning in bright purple light. Still, 5 minutes to go, but it's already forming a portal.

The distortion begins to open in front of you.

"CAN YOU SEE? IT'S WORKING!! This is so fucking exciting!!!" you say in amazement

"I can't let you do this. That thing's going to kill everyone. Eden told me how risky this tech is"

"Oh please! Since when are you concerned about risks?"

"I'm not going to let you do this," He says taking another step.

"You… “ your fist trembles in fury. “ You are PATHETIC Ricardo! You know this is what we need! THe whole world has FUCKED US. It’s time to get back at it!”

“THat’s not how I play”

“Oh. Well... I should have known. But it doesn’t matter. I'm not going to give you a choice"

"Stand down. You don't have your suit and you're in no condition to fight!"

"Maybe I'm not. But she is" You say letting out more laughter. For a brief moment, you realize your emotions are all over the place… before going back into the whirlwind of it all.

"Wh..." Charge can't finish the sentence, as Aegis sucker-punches him, her fist covered with green energy. The strike is enough to send him down.

"As you can see I'm not the only one who wants to change the past" you laugh.

You’ve never felt like this. You know Regina’s chemicals and Catastrofiends insanity are probably at work. But it’s a strange form of relief. You feel no more guilt. You are doing what you’re supposed to. Revealing your true nature.

"Why?" Ortega asks, spitting blood as he stands up.

"Those 8 years I spent at the farm? I want them back!" Aegis snarls. "And he'll deliver once that device activates! I'll be a fucking queen once more"

"He's not going to..." he blocks her fist, sending her flying onto a console with one fluid motion "... follow through. He'll betray you like everyone else!"

Aegis stands up quickly, removing a glass shard from her hand. "You keep saying that, but I trust him.  And I'm going to crush you, Charge. You're nothing to me"

"Do you really trust him? You are just another puppet!" He’s definitely right. You have been manipulating Aegis's brain pretty strongly as of late.

Her body blurs, and she connects a kick on Charge's torso, and energy blast detonating, sending him on his knees.

You giggle uncontrollably. You just can't help it.

"Stay down Ricardo! Let me take care of it all for you!" You ask of him.

"Listen to him!" She yells.

Only 2 minutes left...

And then you notice the static... the energy arcs.

Ricardo stands up again, engulfed in electrical energy.

Fuck...

"Oh that's a bad choice sugar-plum," Aegis says, preparing to activate her ultra-speed mods...

"Wait Aegis don’t ..." you try to warn her.

Too late.

Her fist fails to connect, as Charge has activated his mods own speed mods to full power.

He simple dodges to the left. You can see her energy shield coming up to protect her...

But it's too slow.

Charge explodes in an electrical nova, blasting her. You cover your eyes, to block the bright light.

She stumbles backward yelling in pain, her mods malfunctioning.

"Fuck... you... Charge" she says, falling down, a smoking mess.

And then he turns to you.

Charging. At full speed.

You close your eyes

You have to stop him right now.

Focus. Control. Brute strength. Subtle manipulation.

All of them go into one as you open your eyelids once more.

He is motionless, next to you.

You can feel the static of his mind. And using all of your power, you quiet it down. Make it into a serene ocean.

His fist is right next to your face...

But he can't move.

You've managed to breach his mind.

"H... how" he gasps. Even moving his lips is hard now.

"You know, you thought you couldn’t be affected by telepathy. That’s not true. I just wasn’t skilled enough. " you say smiling. Taunting him.

"Now your mind is as open to me, as anyone else's"

"Gg... that can't..."

You send a forceful wave of pressure into his mind as if to prove a point. He screams in pain... and then fall down.

The countdown ends, and the portal widens, large enough for you to pass.

"Goodbye Charge. You'll be thanking me very, very soon"

"And Cyrbra… I'll miss you, Sister" you say as you go past her. You push her mind, ordering her to keep fighting until the ship goes down. Better that than be captured. Teach those humans a lesson they won’t forget.

And then you activate the tech box and aim it at the portal.

Pain. Unbearable pain, as your own body is turned to energy... and fired as a beam from the box and into the distortion.

And then nothingness envelopes you.

...................................

Voices. An alert sound. Red lights.

"CHARGE! WAKE UP!"

Ortega opens his eyes. A black man is shaking his shoulders.

"STAND UP," he asks.

He slowly manages to do so. Is this becoming a habit?

"We have minutes! Listen to me!"

"He left... he..."

"You can still stop him! You must before he causes a paradox and destroys everything!"

"How.."

"The Hourglass! I made a test device in it. I told him it was unstable but it isn't. IF you use it, you can follow him!"

And then it makes sense. He starts bringing pieces of the armor, putting it on Ortega.

Red alert sounds fire off everywhere. Jets fighters approaching. The Regene Cybra is deploying counter-measures.

Are there.. tears on her eyes?

Shit.

The chest piece connects and lights up, and then Mortum slides the helm over Charge's head.

A hud controller comes over his sight. Temporal matrix... coordinates... dates. He understands none of it.

"What how do I turn this on?"

"You don't need to fidget with time variables since he used his own device. The portal's still open. You just need to activate the matter-energy conversion and fire up into the portal" He says instructing him on the proper commands.

"I didn't have time to add proper energy batteries.. but you won't have that problem. Just activate your own mods and fire Charge. That'll power up the device"

"But how do I..."

"No time! Activate now!" he says, aiming Charge towards the distortion. It seems to be loosing in size.

No other choice.

HIs mods light up, as he set off a discharge.

The hud comes really alive, a message saying it's charged and ready to fire.

"Let's do it"  

Pain. So much pain.

What a fucking day he’s having.

And then blackness and nothingness.

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

Mortum stares at the portal as Charge banishes. The alarms become more and more urgent.

Screens show a swarm of rockets being fired.

Cybra activates the point defenses...

But They simply can't Stop all the missiles

Several of them hit, and the Helios shakes violently as it's hull is ripped apart.

He tries to hold onto his chair, as the ship angles sharply towards the ground and begins losing altitude...

"You better fix this Charge" he smiles, as Helios makes an impact with a tall tower, and detonates.

______________________________

My Fanfiction: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero    DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

#fallen hero rebirth #Au Post-Retribution #Cyrus Basri #Ricardo Ortega #Major Character Death #fallen hero spoilers

[timelordvictoiouspartyof1]

Rules were made....Ch10

Summary: It’s been almost a year since you left Bucky for cheating on you. You missed him so much you convinced yourself you could just be friends with him. After having lunch with him in a local diner you made some rules and convinced him too that a friendship was possible.

Words: 6,100+

Warnings: Guns, death

Pairing: Mob!Bucky x Reader (who I call Maggie, Mags or Magdalene because I don’t like Y/N)

Ch1    Ch2    Ch3    Ch4    Ch5    Ch6    Ch7    Ch8    Ch9

Playlist Songs To Murder To:

Mr. Blue Sky by ELO

Never be the same by Camila Cabello

Human by Rag’n’Bone Man

You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oats

Ride by Twenty One Pilots

I love you always forever by Donna Lewis

Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm

Bucky jumped out of bed. He started pacing the room. “Who took her? Tell me everything you saw.”

The man’s voice on the other end of the line was broken, he sighed, “Not much. Three guys came up behind us. Two grabbed her and she started screaming then the other guy hit me over the head and I passed out. I just came to. What are we going to do?”

“We are not going to do anything. Go home Oliver. Go home and someone will call you when I fix this.” He could have said ‘and Maggie when call when she’s safe,’ or ‘I’ll let you know when everything’s okay’. But bile had risen in the back of his throat when he had heard Oliver’s voice and he could still taste it. He hung up the phone.

He stormed into the closet and started rummaging in one of the drawers for clothes. He should have asked Oliver how long ago you it was since you were taken but he was so angry and eager to get off the phone and get into motion. He grabbed what he wanted out the drawer and called Steve.

“Where are you?” He barked into the phone when Steve answered.

“Woah man! I’m pulling into your drive now. Settle do-.”

“They took her Steve. Someone took Mags and that pussy Oliver was too weak to stop them.” He hung up and started putting clothes on. Dressed in all black, tight long sleeve shirt and cargo pants. He walked through the bathroom into his office. He unlocked the door and pulled it open. Then walked over to the wall opposite the bathroom door and waved his hand over a particular part of nondescript paneling and it lit up. He pressed his hand to it the typed in an eight digit code when the numbers displayed themselves. The middle third of the wall pushed in and slide over revealing a display of weapons and other paraphernalia. The other three men walked in the room before the wall had finished its movements.

“Woah woah woah, what is this?” Scott whistled in awe. “I thought I was the tech guy.”

A smirk pulled across Bucky’s stern expression. “This pre-dates you by a couples years. I had this put in when the house was built.” He didn’t turn to face them, he just kept appraising the hardware. The two men stood behind him waiting, Sam was still in the hall talking to someone on the phone. “Steve, how drunk are you?”

“I’m not. Just water with a lime on the edge.”

“What!” Scott sounded shocked. “Man I was so impressed with how many you were slamming back.” He realized how loud he was actually speaking. “Okay, maybe I’m a little drunk.”

“Well, get over it. Did you figure out anything new?” All humor gone from his voice.

“No boss, sorry.” He replied somberly.

“It’s no problem. I think we have more than enough info to make this work.” He pulled four large guns off the rack and placed them on the desk. Handing a box of ammo to Steve. “Get to work. Who is Sam on the phone with?”

Steve took the box and walked over to the desk and started loading the guns. “Everyone. He was already calling Smoot’s guys, then Taylor’s men. Need to know where to meet.”

“That abandoned gas station a mile or so away from the ship yard. I think it’s on Birch St. As soon as anyone can get there.” Steve walked out the room, told Sam and returned to his task.

Bucky started organizing his thought out loud. “We have men, and guns, a place to meet. We need a plan. I wish we had a better way to communicate because we are going to need to split up when we get there. We can’t be calling each other.”

“I can help with that.” Scott piped up feeling useful again. Both men stopped what they were doing and turned to him. “In my room upstairs. I have, well made, a bunch of stuff like that, that maybe could help. I mean, I am the tech guy. But you gotta come up there, I can’t bring it all down.”

“Give us five minutes, we’re almost done here.” They made quick work to finish. As they did two other men walked in. “Excellent. Put all of this in the back of one of the black BMWs and pull all three of them around. Come on Scott, show us what you can do.”

All three men walked out of the room and Steve caught Sam’s attention to follow up stairs. When they walked in the room there was stuff everywhere. Open shipping boxes full of parts, tools scattered everywhere. The small trash can by the table in the back of the room was full and overflowing, a pile of trash surrounding it. It looked like every box he had opened exploded all over the room. The only cleared surface was the bed.

“You haven’t even been here a week, dude. How did this happen?” Steve chuckled.

“Back off. This is how I work. Don’t stunt my creativity. The stuffs over here.” He walked to the other side of the room and started pulling out small plastic boxes. He explained the ear buds and how they worked. Open channel for as many as he wanted but he had only made thirteen so far. He hung his head and spoke quietly. “I also made some small explosives.” He didn’t say another word waiting for their reaction.

Bucky’s rumbling laugh broke the silence. “I’m sorry, what? You were making explosives in my house? I don’t know that I’m completely ok with that. But it’s already done so show me what ya got.” They were small. It took two pieces to activate them. Carry them separately and when you’re ready, connect them and they detonate after thirty seconds.

“This is kind of awesome.” Bucky said impressed. “Well, you’ve got the job. But don’t double cross me, you will live long enough to regret it, I promise you.” He assured the man with a straight face. “Come on, lets suit up, we’ve wasted enough time.”

They all went back to Bucky’s office and pulled knives and other weapons off the rack. Steve and Sam started in, Scott hesitated. “We’re dangerous, not stupid. Come on, it’s part of the uniform, no exceptions. Take what you want”

Scott took a step back. “It’s not that. I’m not the dangerous type. I’m more of the guy in the chair type. I can help from here. Satellite feeds, updates. I can crack almost anything from here, alarms, scramble their radios. Let me be the chair guy. I can help more that way.”

Bucky put the last item he pulled back on the rack. “Okay, but when we leave I’m locking the house up tight. You can walk around as much as you want but don’t open any external doors or windows. I already told Hope to send everyone home. She insisted on staying, keep an eye on her. Anything, I mean anything looks weird, call this number, not the police. Come on guys.” He locked all his doors and set all the codes to lock everything in then they left.

You put up a fight. You were drunk but as soon as you felt a hand around your arm you spun fist clenched. Your purse hit the ground when the other man picked you up, spilling some of its contents. You screamed like a damn damsel, that’s the only thing you regret. Of course you knew how to fight. Bucky would never have kept you that close and not given you some guidance. You were just too petite to get enough force behind it. There were three guys. Two tried grabbing you but you turned and your fist connected to something that crunched.

“Bitch!” the man yelled blood already gushing out of his nose. The third guy, who was still towering over Oliver must have abandoned his intent and clocked him over the head leaving him unconscious on the pavement. The other guy was losing his grip on you struggling but the guy with the bloody nose came down hard slapping you on the face making you stagger.

“Back off. The boss said one piece. And he meant not a hair out of place. Get ahold of yourself. Make yourself useful and get her bag off the ground and open the trunk.” He did as he was told then walked over and opened the trunk. They unceremoniously threw you in, rolling you over they tired your hands behind your back then tied a gag around your mouth. You knew there was no reason to waste energy kicking the inside of the trunk, it would be insulated for this very purpose. You steadied your breathing and tried to count turns, to listen for anything that might clue Bucky in if you had the chance to speak with him.

Finally the car stopped and they opened the lid, picked you up and placing you on your feet. “Fix her dress, we don’t need him anymore pissed off then he will undoubtedly already be. Get her inside.”

You smelled water, looking around you assumed you were on some shipping port. A cool breeze blew sending chills up your whole body. You stood there, knees shaking, trying to steady yourself. Of course you were afraid, you knew this was about Bucky, which meant you knew Bucky would come for you. He would always come for you. A tight hand gripped your arm again and pushed you inside into a warehouse. The walked you through several hallways and down a flight of stairs. A strong hand forced you down into a chair. Two other men came over and tied you to the chair and removed your gag. You said nothing, just kept a resting bitch face and scanned the room. Bucky had taught you that too, what to look for, weaknesses, exits, neglected weapons. One of the men from earlier tossed your bag on the table a few feet away from you.

There were four men total, now that the coming and going had subsided. Two standing at the table, the other two a few feet from the door. None of them spoke to you or even looked at you, they were unimportant you decided. Just then the door opened and an older man dressed in a nice suit walked in followed by two other men. One very tall and muscular, the other average size, good looking. You recognized him, but from where.

The older man walked over to you and appraised you then turned to the smaller man accompanying him. “Is this her? Is this his girl, the woman that has all of Mr. Barnes’ attention?”

“Yes, sir.” He said confidently.

“Then why do they tell me he was nowhere around? Not only that, she was getting very friendly with another man. Someone no one has ever seen before. Not any of his known acquaintances.”

“This is her, no mistake.” He was looking nervous, creating distance from the older man at a slow rate.

You smirked, letting out the tiniest laugh, then let it fade from your lips, when you finally placed the man. “Yes, miss. Do you have something to add?” the older man was clearly irritated.

“It’s just funny. I mean, it’s not that I gave you a second thought after I got in my car and drove away from the running trails, but it did make me feel kind of pretty.” You said slowly, every word dripped in sarcasm. It was the man from the park, you thought he was hitting on you but he was just making sure you were the bait to get to Bucky. “I do have to add though, finding that out has so far been the most disappointing part of the evening so far.”

The irritation fell from his face, replaced with a sinister smile. “Good, good. That means we don’t have long. We just need a little information from you dearie. Then we will call your prince and let him know where he can come and retrieve you. So, the sooner you talk, the sooner all of this unpleasantness can be over.”

He started out very professional, asking you things about Bucky’s house and schedule. You didn’t say a word. You could see the impatience rising. He motioned at the larger man. He walked over and backhanded you, cutting your cheek open with his ring. You rocked your jaw back and forth a couple times. Your hands were tied behind the back of the chair and your ankles to the legs of the chair.

“Let’s start again,” The older man posed as the large man stepped to the other side of the room again. He asked the same questions over and over again, and again you didn’t answer. “My patience is thin. Go ahead Drax, get her feeling chatty.”

He stepped away and Drax moved closer. He grabbed a fist full of your hair and pulled your head back hard and punched you in the stomach. You groaned and tried to curl forward, his hand in your hair kept your body from moving. He jerked his hand away and punched you in the jaw.

Tears fell down your face and you spit blood on the floor. You wanted to lose it. To cry and curl up in the fetal position. It hurt so much, but you refused to give him the satisfaction. He stepped back from you.

“Anything to say yet?” he asked, sounding incredibly stupid. That was the only conscious thought running laps in your brain was how incredibly stupid this man probably was. The last thirty minutes had sobered you up pretty good but you were still tipsy. You giggled to yourself, thinking how grateful you were that you didn’t have to actually ever have a conversation with this man. “What’s so funny?” he asked angrily, thinking his assault had no effect on you.

You spit more blood on the floor again and full on laughed. “I was just thinking about how incredibly stupid you must be.” He tilted his head to the side like a dog, looking confused. “I mean in everyday life I’m sure you are, but you really must be. He’ll kill for this, you know. All of you.” you looked at the men scattered around the edges of the room. “YOU HEAR ME!” that caught their attention. “HE’S GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS! Every. Last. One. Of. You.”

In anger Drax rushed you with blade in hand and cut a ten inch gash horizontal across your rib cage. “Tell us what you know!” he barked. “You must know something. Tell us what you know!”

The cut burned like fire spreading across your torso. You gathered your remaining strength and pressed the pain back. You mind was racing. How long had you been gone? Was you phone in your purse? You never did turn off phone tracker, Bucky could find you if it was in there? If not did he know where they would take you? How long would it take him to get to you? Would you be able to hold out long enough? “Fine, I’ll tell you what I what I know. I’ll tell you all about the house.” You coughed and tasted bile and blood. “Water first.” That was good right, waste some time. It didn’t take long, someone carried a bottle of water in. He poured some in your mouth.

“Now talk!” The old man demanded from the back of the room, spit flying from his mouth.

You steadied yourself. You spoke slowly at first not knowing where you were going with the words, “His house is three stories. It’s a spacious eight bedroom, modern build. It has two master bedrooms, located on different floors, a sunroom, and three spacious living rooms. A full kitchen inside set off to the side and an outdoor kitchen as well. There is an in ground pool and hot tub with pool house. Overseeing a gorgeous, unobstructed, view off the back patio. It’s located in a gorgeous up and coming neighborhood on almost a full acre.” You said in your best game show voice. “The property was appraised at $1.1 mill, but sorry fellas, I don’t think he’s trying to sell right now.”

Drax growled and added a matching cut an inch below the first. You cried out in pain. “He won’t like you so much if you come back broken. You should talk soon or it will all have been in vain, my sweet girl. We will return you looking no better than a rag doll and he won’t want you then. That is if we don’t kill you.” He turned to the other men in the room. “What else do we have? Has anyone gone through her bag? Anything in there?”

One of the men turned and dumped the bag on the table. It was a clutch so it didn’t hold much. A lipstick, a few lose cigarettes, a lighter, some cash and your iPod. No phone, damn!

“I’ll take a smoke if you don’t mind.” The old man turned and looked at you.

“Fine.” He waved his in your direction. “She’s not getting out of this room with all of us here anyway.” One of the men walked over and put one in your mouth, he lit it then cut one hand free.

“If we’re gunna be here a while turn on some music.” You were in too much pain, any distraction had to help. The old man was huddled on the other side of the room with three others, not paying attention to you. You made eyes at the man who cut your hand free. “Come on. It’s won’t hurt anything.” He walked over and got the device off the table. “The code is 8888. Go to playlists, I know just what we need. Hit the playlist, Songs To Murder To.” He complied. The first song came on right as the powwow broke up. The Ipod got tossed back on the table still playing.

Drax approached you. “You are running out of time because he is running out of patience.” He motioned towards his father. You sat there silently smoking. You didn’t know what he thought that was going to pull from you. Silence fell the room except ELO on the player.

Finally the old man spoke, “What is this garbage playing, turn it off. Who put this on anyway? It’s no way to work.” Irritation consuming his.

“Leave it on, come on, I need to know.” You interjected.

“Need to know what?” the man barked at you again.

“Not really a need so much as a want. I want to know what Bucky will be listening to when he shows up to murder each and every one of you.” There was a distant sound of explosion. Relief flooded you. “See.” Drax lost control and made a third cut under the other two. You used your free hand to break his nose before he could do more damage. Fear flooded the old man’s face. He started barking orders, sent some of the men to go find the noise and the rest to stand guard outside the door. Then the two of you sat facing each other in silence as more noises erupted outside.

They drove off from the house in a hurry, not noticing Oliver parked down the street. He followed them as they pulled away. Bucky got out of the car at the abandoned gas station. There were already over thirty men gathered, leaning on cars, all armed heavily. He was impressed. This was the empire he had built but he had never put it to use like this. He walked over to one of the men, pulling out his pack of smokes and lit one up. He greeted as many as he thought necessary. They all knew him. Some had been part of his father’s crew, men he had known most of his life, he was careful in who he had kept. Most of them were handpicked by him or Steve, but ultimately he would assess them for himself before bringing them on.

Steve walked over to the back of one of the cars and unrolled the plans Scott had printed across the trunk. The other men took turns reviewing them as Steve spoke laying out the plans. The men were grouped off and started getting the rest of their things situated.

“This open field behind here leads right to the docks. There’s bolt cutter in my trunk. Grab them just in case.” One of the other men called to another. Bucky handed out com systems to the head of every family and gave instructions. After putting his own he reached into one of the pockets and put one of his wireless headphones into the other ear and prompted his iPod. He pulled a mask out from another pocket and secured it to his face, guarding him against any smoke or debris. When all of the men had stopped their movement and turned to face him he raised one hand and turned it in the air a few times and they started forward through the field.

There was a chain link fence surrounding the docks and he men made quick work of cutting out a hole large enough to slip in. Once Bucky made it through he reached in his pocket and pressed play. ELO sprang to life in his ear. Bucky chuckled to himself, you had a sick sense of humor. God, he was so in love with you. He steeled himself again, ready for the task at hand.  He adjusted the volume, needing a balance of music but also able to hear everything around him. When everyone was in they spilt up and departed in different directions. Sam led his team around the back of the building Bucky and Scott had decided was mostly where you were being kept. Bucky And Steve took three other men with them to the front. There was some chatter in the com between some of the other men and Scott giving directions, or a count of bodies outside the buildings. Right before they reached the door gun shots fired in the distance.

“We need to get this done fast now. Someone will know we’re here now. You got that Sam?” he called and Sam confirmed. One of the men pulled the door open on a silent count of three and Bucky stormed in first, sweeping his gun from side to side. They moved down the hallways quickly, then came to an opening in the back. Close behind him a shot went off. Steve was right behind his and clipped a guy as he was coming up a set of stairs. Bucky quickly turned to see the target as another man came up and Bucky pulled his own trigger dropping the second man. He and Steve looked at each other in gratitude.

“I’d put money that’s where they have her.” Steve motioned to the two men now bleeding on the stairs.

“No doubt. Let’s sweep this top area first. We don’t need anyone coming up behind us.” The five men spread out opening extra doors and closets. Bucky heard two shots behind him and sent Steve to follow up.

Sam’s voice came through the coms. “Shit!” Gun fire was heard outside the building. “We’re pinned down out here. Someone open the fucking door.”

“What side of the building are you on?” The concern in Steve’s voice was only noticeable to Bucky.

“Fuck man, I don’t know. I’ll send a signal.”

“I’m inside. I can’t see any signal.” Steve’s legs were carrying him swiftly about the perimeter of the room, not knowing what he was looking for. Then everyone heard it, an explosion. The door to Steve’s right rattled.

“Get back!” he yelled, and kicked the door open with more force than necessary. The other men ran in pulling the door behind them.

“Let’s get moving men, everyone will have heard that. Steve, with me down those steps. The rest of you spread out and don’t let anyone in behind us. The men moved into action. Steve followed Bucky down the stairs, stepping over the bodies. When they reached the bottom the hallway spilt. Bucky went right, Steve took left. Bucky kicked open a couple doors, not running into anyone. He was about to open the last door when he heard shots. He turned and ran towards the direction Steve had gone. He saw three bodies on the floor. Aiming his gun he turned just in time to see Steve get hit twice in the chest. He stumbled back, losing is balance, tripping over one of the bodies. As he went down another bullet connected.

Bucky’s jaw turned to stone, his eyes burning red and his chest tightened. he couldn’t breathe. Bile rose in the back of his throat as he choked back silent weeping. He tucked the gun to his chest with his flesh hand not trusting himself, his metal hand gripped into a fist. His body ached to scream out, to run over and check his wounds. He breathed out deeply and raised his gun again. He pressed himself to the wall and peeked around the corner counting men. Four. Find the pattern. He leaned away and closed his eyes briefly, calculating his next move. His eyes flashed open and he quickly jerked into the doorway, getting off all four shots before they had time to react, the room was clear. He stepped around Steve’s motionless body, as blood started pooling on the concrete floor.

“Sam……….Steve’s down.” He said solemnly into the com. “I don’t know how many men are still down here. I’m going to Maggie.” He didn’t wait for a reply just proceeded forward. Out of nowhere something struck him in the back of the head. He stumbled, then quickly dodged a fist coming at his face. Gun still in his flesh hand his metal fist connected. It was Drax and Bucky saw red. He was in a black-out rage. He threw his gun in the corner.

“You won’t live long enough to regret this, but I’m certain you father is on the other side of that door and he will.” Bucky struck again. As his fist connected to Drax’s face he felt the cold metal of a blade penetrate his side. He stepped back and Drax pulled the blade out as he went. A sick grin crossed Bucky’s face. Drax sent a right hook into his jaw.

“Your buddy over there don’t look so good. He came around that corner too quick and I got a couple clean shots on him. Too bad you weren’t there to protect him, just like the little misses in there. I messed her up too.” He stated proudly.

Bucky wiped the blood off his lip with his metal thumb and pulled the knife off his thigh with the other hand. “I changed my mind. You will feel the pain of my blade.”

Drax lunged forward and Bucky dropped his body into a knee. He sliced across the other man’s stomach. Turning as he stood up and stabbing him in the shoulder causing Drax to drop his knife. Bucky kicked it away quickly. He grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the ground, jamming his knife into his thigh. Drax screamed out in pain as he went down. When his cries fell silent Bucky heard you scream from the other side of the door. He quickly retracted his knife and stabbed the large man square in the chest. Grabbed his gun and kicked the door open.

He led with his gun into the room. His blood ran cold when he took in the scene of the room. You were tied to a chair, cut and bloody. The old man was standing behind you with a gun to your head. He ripped the mask off his face and gave you a smile, completely ignoring the other man. “Hey princess,” he spoke calmly, reaching up and pulling the ear bud out and tossing it on the floor. “Good song baby, I was just listening to the same thing.” You smiled despite yourself. He was so endearing, love dripping from every syllable, no harshness or cruelty. “I need you to do me a favor and stay calm, ok pretty girl?” Your body was tense but you remained perfectly still, you nodded your head.

“This is your last chance to walk out of here alive Banner?” He was like Jekyll and Hyde. A different man now stood before you. You had never seen this man before. You knew he had this side. All those nights he came home bloody. The countless times you bandaged knuckles busted open. The smell of gun powder on his hand as he caressed your face. But you had never in fact witnessed it, you tried not to let it terrify you.

There was a rattle of noise outside the door. Your face turned from calm to terror as another one of Banner’s men stepped in the door and got a single shot off, missing Bucky. Keeping his eyes in a dead lock on Banner he turned his gun and fired, hitting the man square in the forehead and the body dropped with a thud. “What’s it going to be?”

“I have the upper hand here.” Banner tried to find his leverage but fear drenched his words. “So, no. I think I’ll play the hand I have.”

You cried out quietly in pain. You had tried to hold it in but the bullet had pierced through your shoulder and warm blood was now flowing down your arm. The noise distracted the old man and Bucky used that split second to pull a knife and throw it. It sank into the other man’s neck and he dropped his arm. Bucky rushed forward and kicked him full force in the chest, causing him to stumble back and fall into the table. Just then Sam ran into the room with men following him.

“Get him tied up,” Bucky motioned to the body. “but keep him alive. He is going to suffer for this.” He dropped in front of you, brushing your hair off your face. He went to start untying you when he saw the blood on your arm. He’s motions became smoother, he stopped jerking the ropes so much. “Baby, I’m so sorry.” His eyes were wet, but he held his composer. When he was done cutting the ropes off you he put his hand out to help you up. “Someone get her stuff off the table.” He ordered.

You stumbled to get up. “James,” you said weakly, trying to hold back stairs. “I turned my ankle. I can’t walk.” It was almost a whisper. He reached down, putting an arm under your knees and picked you up.

He carried you out. You let out a gasp as he stepped around Steve, lying bloody on the floor. He moved up the stairs his nose buried in the hair whispering apologize and confessions of love the whole way. “God baby, I’m so sorry. Don’t look. You’re safe now and that’s all that matters. I’m going to take of you, of all of this.” He started swearing in Russian.

There was still gunfire going off in the back ground, it became louder when you got outside. You scanned the area, looking for a car or anything to get you away from here. That’s when you saw Oliver, leaning against his car. Bucky set you down, still supporting you. He leaned into your ear, “Go to him. Just go. I’m not done here.” He kissed your temple, his last goodbye. Your mind was so confused. You just wanted to get away. You took off half running half limping to your freedom. Oliver saw you and ran your direction. He put his arms around you and picked you up into a hug. The cuts on your torso burned. “God, baby. I was so worried. Come on, let’s go.” There was fear in his voice. When you reached the car he opened the door and tried to hurry you inside of it. He wanted to get away from this place as fast as he could. That’s when you heard yelling from behind you. You stopped one leg in the car. Oliver went to speak but you placed a hand on his mouth and shushed him.

You could barely make out what he was saying. “Banner is done! Whatever he was paying you, the money stops now. I will allow anyone who is here to hire to leave, but know you owe me a debt and I will come to claim it. If you leave now my men will let you go, you have three minutes to do so. To everyone else, everyone directly connected to this lunacy, stop now and we will delivery some amount of mercy!” All of the gun fire ceased.

“Maggie! Get in the car.” He demanded. You stepped out and limped to the back. You saw Bucky surrounded by several of his men. At some point he looked over and saw you were still there. A moment later he started towards you. You smiled and started towards him. Oliver tried to grab your arm but was too late and you pulled it free. When you reached him you tried to put both arms around him, but neither would raise. He stopped running a few feet from you when he saw your pain and slowly walked to close the distance.

Tears fell silently down your face. “Oh my god, Steve.” You started sobbing uncontrollably. “I’m so sorry. Oh god, we have to tell Nat. You shouldn’t be out here with me right now you should be with him.” You were frantic, he wrapped his arms around you lightly.

He shushed you, trying to calm you. “The guys have instructions, everything is under control. But, Maggie, I want you to know how sorry I am for all for this. I never thought it would be you in harm’s way.” He pulled back and pressed his forehead to yours. He was strategic where he placed his hands on you. Just above your hip on the side without the gashes he laid his hand and rubbed small circles with his thumb. “Let me get you bandaged up. Let me fix this and then you can go with him and you will never have to see me ever again.” His voice broke half way through.

“You’re such and idiot.” Bucky’s hands stopped moving. He was crushed. His body tensed, but he was ready for this. He stood there like a child waiting to be scolded. “It’s you. It’s always been you.” you reached your hands up as high as they would go and grabbed his collar pulling him into a kiss. As soon as he kissed back you cried out in pain and fell into him. The adrenaline was wearing off and the pain was overwhelming you. You closed your eyes and more tears fell. He caught you awkwardly, trying not to touch anything that might be hurt.

“SO THAT’S IT THEN?” Oliver yelled behind you. You turned to face him.

You tried to be nice. “I’m sorry. I didn-“

“Oh stop! This is unbelievable. We were good together. You don’t need this crap Mags. Just get in the car with me and I’ll take you to the hospital. You will never be safe with him. Never. Now come on and forget about him. Let’s go. What is it, him or me?” He held his hand out for you to take.

“Oliver.” You sighed. “It was always going to be him. I’m sorry.”

With that, Oliver took a swing at Bucky’s face. He wasn’t excepting it and stumbled trying to avoid it, losing his grip on you, and you fell to the ground. Bucky’s metal hand snapped up, gripped around Oliver’s neck. Pure terror flooded his face.

“STOP!!! James, stop!! Please don’t.” You begged. You reached up quickly and wrapped both hands around his flesh hand. He stopped his motion. “Take me home baby, just take me home and forget about him. He’s not worth it. I just want to go home.” You pleaded one last time.

Bucky released him, pushing him as he did. Bucky leaned down and picked you up again. You melted into him, laying your head on his shoulder. “The car is just across this field. Come on baby, I got you.” he purred.

“James,” you said weakly.

“Yes?” he replied, but you had already passed out.

Next Chapter

@chipilerendi​ @pastelxvirgo​ @fuckthatfeeling​ @dillpicklesunflowerseed​ @twintwin125​ @thatsokayleigh​ @vogueworthy-barnes​ @msesther19​ @imyessieakiyama​  @dazedbarnes​ @oh-sandyyy​​ @jimesu​ @jsmith509​​ @sebastianstanistheloveofmylife​ @vaperongal4life​@thatbitchcatherine​ @haleynepema​ @whyy-is-everything-so-heavy​@risingherorpg​ @justreadingfics​

#mob!bucky #buckybarnes #bucky x reader #james buchanan barnes #rulesweremade

[nerdspotco-blog]

Possible Avengers 4 Title and Leaks?!? (Possible Spoilers Ahead! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!)

Hey everyone!  So it’s been a crazy week for Marvel related content. We got a look at Tom Hollands new suit in the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home, both Luke Cage and Iron Fist have been canceled, and a whole lot of supposed leaks and rumors surrounding the Avengers 4 trailer leak, and title had also been spread around the internet. On a side note, please remember that these are just speculations, and rumors for now. please take everything with a grain of salt, and don’t shoot the messenger!  Lets get to it! To start it all off, the Russo Brothers have had a history of loving to troll fans. Their latest gag to fans however has been causing quite the stir among the fans and media of the MCU... 

Fans have been thinking about the tweet and claiming that the title itself could possibly be in the picture. the next picture, which is a little more recent is just more proof of the Russo Brother’s love of trolling fans. 

Now i’m thinking this could be a light from the Avengers 4 set, but people have also been freaking out over this picture. In my honest opinion, I don’t think that this is going to be much to freak out about.  Here’s where everything starts to get really interesting. Fans like myself are still on the edge of our seats for the reveal of the long awaited title, but it seems like the latest rumor that seems to be sticking is that the title of the fourth Avengers movie will be Avengers: Annihilation. The title like it’s predecessors come from another Marvel Comics event, Annihilation. 

I’m honestly thinking at this point that the title will be released maybe a week or so before the trailer. For example, Marvel Studios decided to have some fun and put out a teaser video of both fan reactions, and clips of previous entries into the MCU. At the end of the video, announcing the first trailer to Avengers: Infinity War debuting the very next day. 

(Check out the video below to see what i’m talking about.) 

I honestly think the title reveal will come in the form of a video like this, and at the end, much like this video, we will get a confirmation of when the trailer will be released.  Now this past week, the internet has also been freaking out with trailer descriptions that were leaked to Reddit. The description itself was said to be going like this...  “The trailer starts off showing the damaged Infinity Gauntlet in a field on the farm planet. As the camera focuses in on the Gauntlet, we hear Tony’s voice: “We were destined to lose.” Epic music score starts. The Quinjet is shown landing in a Wakandan wasteland as we hear Steve Rogers say: “We have come so far.” Tony and Nebula step off the jet as the remaining Avengers approach. Steve has a look of relief and says: “Tony”. Tony, seemingly defeated, shakes his head and gives a friendly smirk back to Cap. Marvel Studios Logo appears."We get a glimpse of the Battle of New York from 2012 Avengers. Loki is shown looking shocked and baffled as he is on top of the Stark tower. There is a flash of a blue light as the camera pans back. (Cuts to black) Next we see the Wakandan throne with M’Baku at the helm. He’s surrounded by his new kingsguard. (A mix of the hill tribe and Dora Milaje). Shuri and Banner are seen working on a new project in the lab. Black Widow, in full gear, is in Hawkeye’s family home from Age of Ultron. Basically everything is thrown all over the place and broken. Nat is studying some type of map with multiple photos and locations on it. A quick shot of Thanos is shown with a long sword, walking down an alleyway in New York City. The next shot is a dark hooded figure with glowing eyes, aiming a bow and arrow before shooting towards the camera.  (1-2 visuals of the Quantum Realm) Scott Lang (no suit) is shown running through a park dodging explosions. (Shot of Space) Thor and Valkyrie are aboard a Kree ship. Thor says: “If the stories are true, you’re our universe’s last hope. If such a thing even exists anymore”. The next shot is an older, determined Tony Stark walking through the new SHIELD HQ (Avengers Facility in upstate New York). He’s in full SHIELD attire and carrying an orange briefcase. Banner (wearing spandex) is seen running from something, looking terrified. The next shot is Ant-Man appearing out of a flash of light and landing in a desolate place. We see it from his point of view from inside his helmet. He looks left to right and to his left again and says: “What in the-“."(Camera focuses on Vormir and its stars) Next, a shot of Rocket and Nebula modifying some new weapons in the lab. Rocket says “When can we try this bad boy out?” They both smile at eachother and fist-bump. We get our first glimpse of Iron Man in his red and gold nanotech armor. Hulk falls from the sky and lands in front of him. Thanos, in full armor, smiles. Hulk smiles back. The next shot is in Japan. War Machine, Nat, and Steve (in their full Avengers gear) are surrounded by The Yakuza. Hawkeye (Ronin) walks through everybody from behind them and approaches the Avengers. There’s an intense exchange of looks between Clint and Natasha. (Next shot is at the Sanctum) Wong is communicating with Dr. Strange’s soul via portal. (Cuts to black) Grey haired Tony Stark and Ant-Man are in a post-apocalyptic NYC. The screen flashes back and forth multiple times through multiple scenes. We see Captain Marvel floating with her fists on fire and her eyes lit up. Thanos in the soul stone with young Gamora screaming at him, Loki and Thor fighting off Chitauri together and Tony handing Steve a brand new shield in the Wakandan throne room. (Cuts back to Tony and Scott) Tony opens the orange briefcase as Scott hands him an illuminated bracelet. Tony asks: “How?… Is this even possible?” Iron Man and Ant-Man are shown travelling through the Quantum Realm. Tony and Scott are back in the battle of New York from 2012. The final shot before the title reveal is an Infinity Stone disappearing from Thanos’ damaged gauntlet. He abruptly gets up and puts on his armor. His face goes from extremely infuriated to a menacing smile."Title reveal: Avengers: Annihilation"Stinger: The Hulk is training at the new SHIELD facility with Black Widow and Steve. Steve notices that Hulk has been training non-stop as of late, so he asks why. Hulk responds in Banner’s normal voice with: “My rematch is coming real soon, I can feel it!”"  Like I said at the beginning of the article, take all of this with a grain of salt. The only problem I have with this description is this, WHERE IN THE HELL WOULD TONY AND NEBULA GET A GOD DAMN QUINJET?! I personally think it would make more sense for them to use the Milano that is still on Titan. (But that of course is just my opinion.  And lastly, another trailer description has been leaked to Reddit by a user by the name of  vfxgurudontmind who has claimed to have predicted the reveal of Spider-Man in the second Captain America: Civil War trailer. Here’s what the user had to say... “Sup, you guys dont know me. However few years ago I was the one who posted here on a throw away saying Spider-Man appears in the Civil War Trailer #2 (I told people to remember the word “underoos”But here's some info: Final Trailer is about 2ish minutes. But it starts with the 10th year logo, which zooms into the screen in logo fashion but it flashes all colors of the stones as it does. Thanos’ voice: “My Destiny is not yet fulfilled...” A shot of a battered Tony, looks as though he’s still on Titan, confused. “Greater threats arise to undo the balance I lost everything to achieve... and I.... will not... be undone” Shot of Banner and Cap with Vision on a table fades in and out... Shot of Quills ship lifting off. Fades. Tony: “Fury was right.” He’s talking to someone out of view in some type of normal house. This MIGHT be Aunt May, he’s glossy eyed, and the dialogue is spoken over the prior screen, not actually what’s he’s saying. “He was right since day 1...” black screen Tony: scene of him in some sort of garage looking place. In front of 3 different suits, they seem pretty normal? None are the one that was leaked, he has the housing unit in his hands. “I’ll do whatever it takes so that never happens again...” black screen Tony in SHIELD gear. He’s walking towards the camera with soldiers behind him. Shot of Antman standing in the Quantum Realm. Cuts to him surrounded by 3 tardigrades. He’s running, then stops at a green portal type thing. Fades to a shot of Scott in street clothes. Gray shirt jeans and a jean jacket.Scott: “ I think... I might have a way to help.” Not sure who he’s speaking to. Or if this is even the real dialogue lol. Doesn’t look like it matches.Shot of an empty throne in Wakanda, various shots of Shuri, M’Baku, and Okoye. Black screen“This was NOT our fight...” Shuri or Okoye couldn’t tell. Screen still black. Shot of Cap standing arms crossed with Rhodey, Rocket and Thor, in a room that looks like it’s still Wakanda.Cap: “We need to make this right...”Banner: “Cap we don’t even know where to start... Thanos is gone. He won.” Thor: “Well... then we had better get to work”Shot panning down slowly of the pager Fury had in someone’s hands. I’m almost 100% certain it’s in Tony’s hands. A shot of Rhodey suiting up very briefly, from the knees up to the crotch area lol, it’s not nanotech, but looks more or less exactly how Starlords mask materializes with a Thor voiceover: “Are you ready for this?”Rocket: “Well... if I’m not...” pause. Black Fades in to Rocket, music silences: “What more could I lose?” Bifrost shot w/ Thor, War machine, and Rocket. Various shots. Gauntlet, still damaged, being reached for, shot of Nebula (looks like the same place Tony was earlier) , and then shot of Banner. Black screen. Thor: “We need an army to stand against Thanos...” shot of Thanos putting on armor. “Yours is the only one formidable enough to give us a chance...” shot of Thanos wielding a big double edge sword. “So I ask of you...” Various shots of Black Widow, brief shot of Tony’s suit, Caps new chest piece (chainmail!!!) and banner putting on a purple skintight suit and a button up over it In front of a mirror. Fades to Thor, “Will you help us?” More various shots, including a broken gauntlet on the ground as someone (clearly Thanos) is walking away... same aesthetic and scenery as the one when it’s being reached for. (I think he throws it on the ground??) “It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Earth...” Music is getting louder as it crescendos to a shot of Captain Marvels chest panning up to her face. The scenery behind her almost looks like Xandar. Because it can’t be Earth (that would make no sense) but it’s blue skies and clouds outside a window... Captain Marvel: “Let’s go” Shot of her flying towards something angrily, she cocks back a punch, eyes glowing, flames surround her. She punches, then [Title Card] as Avengers theme plays.However it doesn’t actually have anything, it’s just a blank screen with the music.. Post theme cutaway stinger, Rocket is in a rolling chair looking at a few computer screens, has on this cool ass white bodysuit. Rhodey: “I’ve seen a lot of crazy things, but a talking Raccoon? (rocket looks up at him from chair) Definitely tops them all...” Rocket, going from Rhodey back to the computer screens sarcastically: “boy if I had a unit* every time I heard that one” cuts to a shot of Thor smiling with an off queue “Ha Ha Ha”. Trailer ends... This is actually a rough cut. There’s a lot of black screens in the midst of all these lasting 1-2 seconds. This trailer is still slated to debut on Nov. 21,28, or December 12th on Good Morning America. I'm not sure of the scheduling situation. Also, official extended trailer #2 for Captain Marvel will arrive right around Christmas.” I know that it’s a little much to take in. but do keep in mind, this is only a theory/speculation post.  With all this in mind, I do believe the trailer is close behind. With Avengers 4 being about 6 or 7 months away, it will make sense to have Marvel start marketing for the movie. Much like they are doing now for Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.   My advice, keep your eye’s peeled! I can almost guarantee we are all in for a surprise soon. Thanks for stopping by! 

#mcu #marvel cinematic universe #avengers 4 #avengers annihilation #marvel #spider man far from home #captian marvel #captain america civil war #russo brothers

[raychulemma]

50 Completely Random Questions People Rarely Ask Tag:

1. What’s your favorite candle scent? Red Apple Wreath - Yankee Candle. It's perfectly Autumnal and always goes on half price sale after Christmas. I have far too many versions of it

2. What female celebrity do you wish you were related to? Probably Maya Rudolph because she's a shameless weirdo like me

3. What male celebrity do you wish was your brother? Probably Peter Kay. I feel like he would be easy to open up to. And he would make awkward family events so much more bearable

4. What’s your favorite thing about marriage? (And if you’re not married, what’s your favorite thing about being single?) Security. Safety. I didn't expect it to feel any different because we had been living together for a while but something about the actual marriage made me feel protected and comfortable. Also because its a same-sex marriage it's a lot nicer to say my wife than my fiancée, because i would wonder if they assume my fiancée is male

5. What’s one thing you own that you should probably get rid of, but just can’t? Books that I'm not going to re-read but have memories linked to buying/receiving/reading them.

6. Can you do a split? not a chance

7. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike? Seven. i learnt at the end of my road because it's a dead end. and i got a green bike for my birthday with a seat for my teddy

8. How many oceans have you swam in? just the Atlantic ocean 🌊

9. How many countries have you been to? 6. France, Spain, Germany, USA (Florida), Wales, Scotland.

10. Is anyone in your family in the army? No, my Grandad was, and some of my Great Uncles but no one during my lifetime

11. What was your favorite TV show when you were a child? Superted, Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Story of Tracy Beaker, Dick n Dom in da Bungalow, Jungle Run

12. What did you dress up as on Halloween when you were eight? A classy binbag witch

13. Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series? I got into the Harry Potter books in 1998 and am still in love with the series. I went to the midnight release for the last book. I watched all of the films in the opening week and vividly remember that the cinema i saw the first film at in 2001 had a Harry Potter themed sweet shop. I have jewellery, clothing, books, dvds, wands, other collectibles. I read the books with my mum when i was younger and watched all of the films in the cinema with her. she had her own HP merch. My wife also loves Harry Potter. We have been to see Cursed Child twice and have been to the Studio Tour 3 (or 4?) times. We had a Harry Potter themed wedding which was absolutely perfect. Hunger Games was something i avoided reading until the first film was coming out, and then absolutely loved the first 2 books (3rd one got too political for me) and the films are still some of my favourites for costume and set design. I read the twilight books after my best friend recommended them to me. We all actually read them as part of our sisterhood club. I went to blackpool to watch the first film in the cinema with my best friend. I watched the last one at midnight with my wife and one of the girls from the sisterhood who is one of the biggest twilight fans i know still. she has behind the scenes books and dvds and has re read the books that much that the spines are just gone. my mum was also a big twilight fan and would watch them any time they were on tv. i watched a few at the cinema with her, always her choice. she hadnt seen hunger games at the time of them being released but we did watch them all with her a few years ago

14. Would you rather have an American accent or a British accent? i film YouTube videos and always think my accent would be more interesting if it was American

15. Have you ever taken karate lessons? no, my 2 brothers and sister did when i was 5 or 6. i didnt like being touched so never did it

16. Do you know who Kermit the frog is? yup

17. What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to? im going to guess Gullivers world Warrington because its the closest one to where i live

18. What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in? French because I love disneyland paris. or japanese because i would love to visit tokyo but its way out of my comfort zone

19. Do you spell the color as grey or gray? grey. e for england, a for america

20. Do you know triplets? yes, 2 girls and a boy but i only met the girls

21. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook? Titanic. my mum was a massive fan. She watched it 3 times in the cinema when it first came out. we watched it with her when it was released in imax on an anniversary. she had behind the scenes books, a few versions of the vhs and dvds, playing cards. her love for it made me love it

22. Have you ever had Indian food? no im a very fussy eater and have never tried indian or Chinese

23. What’s the name of your favorite restaurant? Of all time? Tough choice but im going with pizza hut. Cheesy bites base with double mushroom. Never craved something more

24. Have you ever been to Olive Garden? they dont have it in England so no but i would probably like it

25. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender? i have no idea, maybe jason after my dad?

26. If you have a nickname, what is it? rach, chicken, chickadee

27. Who’s your favorite person in the world? i want to say scruff but shes technically not a person. kirsty is my best friend and i would pick her every time

28. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the suburbs? where i live is in between. drive one way and its city, the other way is farms. so living in one ot those farmhouses not far from city life would be the dream. i would have chickens, sheep and cats.

29. Can you whistle? yep but my cats hate the noise

30. Do you sleep with a nightlight? i can see the hallway light from where our bed is so i dont generally need a nightlight but we do have cute ones. i have 3 HP ones on my bedside table

31. Do you eat breakfast every morning? yea as long as i have time

32. How many times have you been to the hospital? ive only ever been to a&e. once for palpitations, a few times for mental health and once for an x ray on my hand. ive been to walk in centres for urine/kidney infections and for fractured fingers. oh i did go to hospital to see a neurologist to be diagnosed with essential tremor

33. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo? yes i love it. my brother and sister both bought me the dvd for christmas the year it came out so i had 2 copies for a while. i also had the game for pc and ps2. and i had a game on my phone and ipad where you could build up the seabed and gain fish. the film is just so nice and calming to watch. the scenery, the sound effects, the movements are all just gently flowing. and somehow you get attached to these characters and root for them whether youre a fan of tropical fish or not.

34. Where do you buy your jeans? primark, next, sainsburys, asda

35. What’s the last compliment you got? kirsty said my eyelashes look like im wearing mascara when im not

36. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning? yea and they're weird as fuck. the latest one was about the bath being clogged with poo

37. Favorite beverage that isn’t water? Tea ☕

38. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own? a disgusting amount. maybe 20. maybe more

39. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real? about 8 which I think wasnt too young or too old. my brother told me which I was glad about because i was prone to being bullied at school and would have hated to be told by nasty kids

40. What is one food that you used to hate but now you love? cheesy garlic bread WTF

41. What is a weird lie you’ve told? i told kirsty once that i had pood the bed and asked her to help me clean it.

42. Heels or flats? flats always. specifically trainers. i think dresses look so much cuter with trainers. same with suits

43. Do you have any weird phobias? no just common ones. moths, spiders, flying insects, beetles, heights, being completely isolated, finding a dead person

44. What is a phrase or word you always say? i cant actually think of a current phrase i say but i do get stuck on phrases

45. What is a song that you bast or belt out when you are alone? part of your world, let it go, bridge over troubled water, over the rainbow. any that i try to actually hit the notes on

46. What is one of your biggest pet peeves? nails. nails tapping, and the sound of cutting or biting nails. or people that stop in the middle of an aisle or walkway when you're trying to get past

47. Do you sleep with your closet door open or closed? they dont even have doors on yet so open

48. Would you rather be attacked by a big bear or a swarm of bees? bear. the noise of bees terrifies me. i had a flying ant in my hair on flying ant day but i didnt know. i heard it buzz and cried

49. Do you have any weird things you do? i cant have 2 cream biscuits together (custard cream and jam n cream). i sometimes say hi to my teddies so they know i havent forgot about them. i buy hatchimals when theyre on sale even though i havent previously collected them cos im an impulsive pos. (honestly collecting animal jam figures and my little ponies were the best though)

50. What movie could you watch over and over again and still love? any of the harry potter films, titanic, sisterhood of the travelling pants, Princess diaries 1 and 2, enchanted, princess and the frog, raise your voice, catch me if you can, chalet girl, the shining, slumdog millionaire

[real-life-pine-tree]

Rehabilitation: A New Flower Blooms (7/?)

Side effects may include a loss of self-identity and individuality, frequent nightmares, questioning your own existence, severe mental trauma, constant panic attacks, spontaneous crying at random moments, and a strong desire to stay with loved ones at all cost. Co-written with @violetganache42​​​​. Takes place between Chapters 6 and 7 of Arc-V Aftermath.

While that was going on, loud dragon roars could be heard from the Obelisk Blue dorm at Duel Academy. Why was that? Because Yuri set up his alarm clock so he would wake up to the sound of Starving Venom's roars every morning.

The cabbage-haired counterpart politely turned off his alarm and stretched. "Good morning Dennis," he said after yawning.

"Good morning Yu-" Dennis started to say, then he looked at his roommate and smirked.

"What are you so happy about?" Yuri asked.

"It's your hair," Dennis answered. "It looks a lot like Yuya's hair."

"Don't be ridiculous," Yuri said as he got up and walked over to the dorm bathroom. "My hair looks nothing like-"

He cut his sentence short when he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. His dual-colored purple and pink hair stuck out in downward-pointing spikes all around his head with the exception of two short spikes pointing upwards. His bed head did look awfully similar to his Pendulum counterpart's hairstyle.

Dennis let out a small laugh. "Very funny, McField," Yuri dryly said as he left the bathroom.

"But it kind of is," Dennis pointed out as he also got out of bed to get dressed. "You're the complete opposite of Yuya, yet your messy hair looks just like his."

Yuri walked over to a potted plant near a windowsill. "Just be glad you're one of my closest allies," he said, opening a nearby ant farm and using tweezers to take out a few ants and put them on a Petri dish.

"Otherwise you would have carded me at this point?" Dennis jokingly asked, recalling one of their usual jokes.

"Don't be absurd," Yuri said. He proceeded to use the tweezers to place the ants in the mouths of his Venus flytrap (which he nicknamed 'Goddess'). "After everything we went through, that joke of ours is no longer funny."

Dennis wasn't sure what Yuri meant by that; was it because carding people is now considered illegal and Leo had his students stop using that tactic altogether? Either that or Yuri's revival in Yuya's body had him have a change of heart and doesn't want to anyone to mention carding at all. Or maybe…was it because he saw his best friend card himself?

Dennis was silent for a few minutes as Yuri watered his plant. "Is it because-"

"Dennis McField, I swear, don't you ever pull a stunt like that again," Yuri interrupted, his voice cracking in sorrow. "When I found out what you did, I was so upset. It was against Leo's orders to show no weakness, but I didn't care." He started shaking as he placed his watering can next to Goddess. "Yet that sign of weakness is what caused Zarc to fully corrupt me."

Dennis felt a pit of sadness in his heart. "You really see me as a friend?" he asked.

"I wasn't sure at first," Yuri admitted, walking over to the dorm's closet and taking out his uniform. "But after I got my body back, I realized something."

"What's that?" Dennis asked.

"You're more than a friend," the Predaplant user confessed, looking at his roommate. "If I wasn't attracted to girls, I would have asked you out on a date by now."

Dennis let out a small chuckle. "Funny," he said. "That's exactly how I feel about you."

Yuri's eyes grew wide as tears slightly started to form. Dennis actually looks up to him as more than a friend? Well, he and Celina rarely saw each other since Leo kept them separated, leading to the Obelisk Dueltainer to fill in the gap; as a result, they have been inseparable ever since.

"You...really feel that way about me?" Yuri asked.

"Of course," Dennis answered, having finished putting on his uniform. "Ever since Leo put us in the same Obelisk Force branch, there was something about you that drew me towards you. Maybe it was your dueling style or even your personality, but I certainly felt a connection between us. That was why I wanted to be your second-in-command when you were promoted. Because while you never saw me as a friend at first, I could tell that you deeply care about me."

Yuri smiled softly. "Thank you, Dennis," he said. "I'm glad someone still cares about me."

"What about Sora?" Dennis asked.

Yuri headed back to the bathroom and picked up a dark green comb that was soaked in a cup of water. "He is a recent friend," he explained, using the damp comb to comb his hair into place. "I have known you for a good number of years."

He never forgot the day he met his first ever friend at Duel Academy. Throughout his childhood, he grew up without any friends because of his skills. He was incredibly talented and enjoyed defeating his opponents, making him virtually unbeatable; however, all the students feared him to the point where they stepped aside where they saw him walking by. Due to his rather impressive strength, no one dared to approach him, leaving him without any friends. He didn't mind though…at least, from the outside. Deep inside, he really wanted company and share his strength with someone in duels, but with everyone not even going near him, it only made his insecurities and nervousness worse. In fact, the only one that accompanied him was his own shadow.

So when Yuri met Leo, things changed. He finally had someone he could look up to. And a few weeks later, he was placed in Obelisk Force, where the biggest change of his life occurred.

"Yuri, this is Obelisk Force Branch 3A-2," Leo informed. "From now on, these soldiers are your comrades."

To Yuri's surprise, a boy his age with curly red hair rushed over to him. "Nice to meet you, Yuri," he happily said, shaking his hand. "My name is Dennis McField. Let's be partners from now on."

"P-Partners?" Yuri asked, surprised by Dennis' boldness.

"Yeah," Dennis said. "The Professor has talked about how strong you are, so I want to be seen as your equal."

Yuri couldn't find the right words to describe how he felt, but his face said it all, from his eyebrows raised up in surprise by what he heard to his slightly ajar mouth. Dennis was the second student who wasn't afraid of him and truly accepted him at Duel Academy; Celina did get to meet him a while ago, but Leo keeping the two generally distant prevented her from expressing her opinions on his strength face to face. In other words, Yuri's first encounter with his new partner made him finally feel welcomed at this school.

Yuri smiled softly at Dennis. "Thank you," he said, knowing this was the beginning of a wonderful partnership.

Back in the present day, Yuri had just finished combing his hair into place, looking exactly like his usual hairstyle than Yuya's, and was about to get dressed into his usual uniform. "I never forgot that day," he said as he took off his sleepwear shirt and tossed it into a nearby hamper.

"Neither did I," Dennis agreed, spraying some cologne on his wrists. "And we have been inseparable ever since."

"By the way, I noticed Goddess has sprouted some new bulbs," Yuri said, changing topics. "Have you been taking care of her in my absence?"

"Of course," Dennis answered. "I even looked over the care guide you wrote for her so I never forgot any important steps."

"I see," Yuri said. "So did anything important happen while I was away?"

"Not much," Dennis replied. "Another student gala is coming up. Sora already asked out that Blair girl from Slifer Red, and I already agreed for us to go on a double date with the Tyler sisters."

"The Tyler sisters?" Yuri repeated.

"Is there something wrong with them?" Dennis asked.

"There is," Yuri admitted, having finished putting on his uniform and giving his hair one last check. "I was hoping to ask Miss Celina out."

Celina? Why her? Isn't he aware that they have a rivalry with each other ever since Zuzu was revived? So naturally, the Performage user had to ask.

"Why Celina?" Dennis asked. "Aren't you two rivals?"

"Of course we are," Yuri answered. "Need I remind you that Duel Academy galas have sparring duels as a side activity?"

"Oh right," Dennis said. "We haven't had a gala in such a long time that I forgot about that part."

Duel Academy galas are similar to regular galas, but they have their own alterations. Every year, the students dress up formally in dresses and suits, regardless of what their rankings were; Slifer Red, Ra Yellow, and Obelisk Blue students were required to wear regal clothing whenever they attend this annual event. In the ballroom, a long, fancy table is set up not too far from the entrance and a variety of exquisite foods and drinks are aligned on it for the attendees to sample or have. One of the corners of the room has an orchestra playing music in front of a dance floor for any couples to waltz to the rhythm. What makes Duel Academy galas different than most galas is everyone who took part in them were permitted to duel in the gymnasium.

"Precisely," Yuri said. He left the bathroom as he spoke. "And I wish to duel Miss Celina during the next gala."

"Are you sure?" Dennis asked. "I-"

"Of course I'm sure, my dearest friend," Yuri said. "And since we are now both in proper attire for today, shall we start things off at the survival arena for morning practice?"

"Actually, Leo dismantled it," Dennis explained.

Yuri was surprised to hear that. "What about the dueling obstacle course?"

"It was also dismantled," Dennis repeated.

Yuri was silent for a few seconds. "...Then the underwater breathing dorm-"

"Also dismantled," Dennis explained. "And before you say anything else, I'm afraid to report that ever since Zuzu was revived, Leo got rid of all of the training areas."

Yuri shot his eyes wide open and had his mouth opened a little and his bushy eyebrows curved in a similar manner to what he did when he thought Yugo was making fun of him on what happened to Zuzu back in the Synchro Dimension. This time, however, he was more heartbroken by what he heard. With all training areas dismantled, what will the students do instead of train?

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Yuri asked.

"Leo is trying to make Duel Academy more like a normal boarding school," Dennis explained. "So in place of the training areas, he established extracurricular activities and clubs. I, myself, joined the drama club."

"But... But I spent my whole life training to be a soldier," Yuri said. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Join the gardening club?" Dennis suggested.

That intrigued Yuri's interests. "Gardening club?" he repeated.

"Yeah," Dennis answered. "You can even show off Goddess."

A small grin appeared on Yuri's face. "Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to show off her new bulbs..." he decided.

Taking the garden pot that had Goddess in it off the windowsill, Yuri and Dennis left their dorm room and exited through the male Obelisk Blue dormitory doors. Having a variety of clubs being hosted in the rooms that once had training areas admittedly seemed like a good idea; after spending over a decade being trained to carry out the Arc Project and Revival Zero, it felt nice to have the students finally express their different interests. It would also give them opportunities to meet the other students and make new friends. In Yuri's case, joining the gardening club would be a perfect chance to show off his pet Venus flytrap to a certain someone, especially since the plant's bulbs have appeared.

Inside the Academy, Dennis led the way because he knew which room the gardening club was being held. As Yuri followed him down the halls, a familiar figure was pacing herself in the opposite direction of where they were heading. He recognized the indigo hair and orange handkerchief anywhere: it was Celina and she was back at Duel Academy! It was quite surprising to see her here of all places.

"Miss Celina!" Yuri exclaimed, sounding a little too happy. "What brings you here?"

"Don't get too comfortable," Celina said, holding some papers. "I'm not staying here for long."

"What?" Yuri asked. "Why-"

"I tried to tell you about this," Dennis interrupted. "Look at what she's holding."

Yuri looked at the papers. "Transfer files?"

"Yep," Celina said. "Starting today, I'm transferring to Paradise Prep."

Just like that, Yuri felt his heart shatter, but it was more like it broke in half. Celina transferring to Paradise Prep? Why would she do that? He had plans to go out with her to the upcoming gala and now they're being thrown right out the window. Deep inside where his shattered heart was, he could feel a burning sensation within him starting to surface, almost as if he needed to be with her. No, it felt more like he has to be with her. Noticing how heartbroken his friend was, Dennis took Goddess as a way to make sure the former doesn't accidentally drop her out of his hands.

"But Miss Celina, you cannot leave!" Yuri begged, sounding a bit frantic. "I was hoping you would attend the next gala with me!"

"Look, as much as I would like to improve Duel Academy, I need to take a break from this school," Celina explained. "I want to have a normal education-"

"BUT YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!" Yuri yelled out, his eyes glowing purple much like when he Awakened.

The sudden outburst shocked Celina and Dennis, nearly dropping her transfer files and gripping the pot tighter respectively. Was this another side effect of Yuri retaining his original body again?

Fortunately a single glance at his plant made Yuri snap out of it, causing his eyes to stop glowing. "Dennis, be careful," he said. "Goddess doesn't like it when someone grips her pot too tightly."

"Sorry Yuri," Dennis said. "You kind of...went dragon."

"Did I?" Yuri asked.

"Look, I have no idea what's going on," Celina said. "But if you really want me to attend the school gala, I'll go."

Yuri let out a delighted chuckle. "Why, thank you," he said. "I promise it will be an evening you will never forget."

Shortly after that ordeal, the Obelisk duo arrived at the gardening club, which used to be a room where stealth training was held. They remembered how there were special computers on the upper floor that were implemented with Solid Vision with mass, creating simulated scenarios of different difficulty levels to help the students practice what they know about stealth. Now everything has been reconstructed to make it look more like a shrine room with two tables set up parallel from each other with flower arranged on them and the right side of the room having a scroll hanged up, which contained a picture of a small bird sitting on a tree branch.

In front of the young teenage boys was a girl around the same age as them, sitting on her knees and trimming a small flower tree. She has long, straight, black hair tied into a short ponytail with a purple ribbon and icy blue eyes which appeared to be glazed. She wears a transparent light blue veil on top of her head, a pair of antennae that resembled flower pistils located in between her front bangs and above her short, thick yet feminine, black eyebrows, and a burgundy kimono with a pink and light yellow floral pattern on the sleeves and bottom along with a cream sash with a scarlet ribbon tied on it, white socks, and a pair of tan flat sandals.

The girl's name was Lotus Hanazoe who specializes in ikebana, a Japanese art of flower arrangement. She was originally from the XYZ Dimension, but after the Interdimensional War had ended, she began attending Duel Academy; it marked a huge milestone in the school's history since it primarily consists of people from the Fusion Dimension, but seeing an XYZ resident taking part in the school after the events of what happened felt like a subtle sign of forgiveness to Leo. Of course, Duel Academy has a policy that students transferring from their old schools must start out in Slifer Red, so she was no exception.

"And it seems we have visitors joining us today," Lotus said, speaking to the attending students. "If I'm not mistaken, you're Dennis McField and Yuri from the now-disbanded Obelisk Force."

"Correct," Yuri said. "And allow me to introduce you to my plant." He held up Goddess. "Behold, the world's most perfect Venus flytrap!"

The students were a bit surprised. "A Venus...flytrap?" Lotus repeated. "That seems a bit...off."

"Oh, you have nothing to fear," Yuri proudly said. "Ever since the Professor gave me Goddess as a gift, I have made sure she was properly taken care of. She has a strict diet of ants and water once every two weeks with the occasional fly as a treat on special days. And look, she has sprouted new bulbs!"

The students weren't sure how to react to this; even after the War had ended and Zarc split back into his reincarnations again, they never forgot that he was the same kid who was so powerful at Duel Monsters that he made himself infamously feared around the Academy. He's a nearly invincible Duelist with very few friends and the students still couldn't believe that he ended up having a higher status than Obelisk Force because of it.

Yuri quickly noticed the students' feared expressions. "I see..." he said, sounding a bit heartbroken. "I can tell when I'm not needed." He headed for the door. "I shall leave you to your club-"

"Hold on," Lotus said. "Am I detecting genuine guilt in your voice?"

Yuri didn't respond. "I can tell that you feel genuinely upset for what happened to everyone in the four dimensions," Lotus continued. "And while your plant doesn't appear to fit in among the greenery that the other students have, I suppose we could give you and your Venus flytrap a chance."

"Really?" Yuri asked.

"Lotus, are you sure?" a Ra Yellow girl asked.

"Of course, I'm sure," Lotus answered. "Yuri of the former Obelisk Force rank, while I heard about your vicious dueling methods, I also heard about how much you care for plants."

"Well I do," Yuri said, proudly showing off Goddess once more. "Goddess is my pride and joy. I even created a small contraption to help feed her once every two weeks when I'm absent."

"I see," Lotus said, showing interest. "Do tell."

As Yuri explained everything about Goddess, Dennis notified him that he'll be heading over to the drama club in the meantime. So with his friend busy with his club, Yuri was enjoying the atmosphere of the gardening club. But a few minutes later, he recognized a familiar face.

"Missy?" Yuri asked. "Is that you?"

A red-haired girl wearing an Obelisk Blue uniform smiled and saluted Yuri. "Nice to see you again, head commander," she said.

"You two know each other?" Lotus asked.

"Of course," Missy answered. "We were in the same Obelisk Force branch."

Yuri definitely remembered meeting Missy Kochou shortly after he met Dennis. She had always treated him with respect during their training and throughout the War, so seeing her again was a pleasant surprise; he was also amazed that she still respects him even after Obelisk Force disbanded.

"We bonded over sparring sessions," Yuri said. "The Professor always paired us up due to similar dueling levels."

"I see," Lotus said. "Then how about showing us a little sparring session?"

"I don't know," Missy said. "Yuri has probably gone soft because of that Yuya kid."

"I beg your pardon?" Yuri asked, sounding mock-offended.

"You heard me," Missy replied, holding up her Duel Disk. "So are you still the same powerhouse I always knew, or did spending a good number of weeks with that flashy tomato showman make you vulnerable?"

Yuri chuckled. "If it's a show you want, then it's a show you shall have!"

A few minutes later, the entire gardening club sat in the schoolyard to watch Missy and Yuri duel each other. The two activated their Duel Disks, added five cards to their hands, and shouted, "Let's duel!" If Yuri remembered correctly, Missy's strategy revolves around summoning her Insect Princess and using the Field Spell card Insect Garden to control the opponent's weaker Insect-Type monsters and forcing them to attack with the Equip Spell Insect Pheromone. He may have the advantage because his Predaplant archetype consists of Plant-Type monsters.

"Ladies first," Yuri said.

"Oh, you're too kind," Missy said with a smirk. "But you'll see that I have changed my strategy since we last met." She drew a card. "I play the Spell card Insect Barrier! Then I'll set a monster on the field, followed by a face-down card. Your turn."

"Very well," Yuri said as he drew a card. "I'll start things off with the lovely Predaplant Spinodionaea!"

Missy let out a laugh. "That's the best you can do?" she asked. "That measly weed is only useful when I have a face up monster."

"Oh, I'm not done," Yuri continued. "I activate the Continuous Spell Predaponics, allowing me to special summon Moray Nepenthes."

Missy wasn't scared at all. "Well it's too bad they can't attack," she said.

"Whatever do you mean?" Yuri asked.

"Because of my face down: the Trap card DNA Surgery!" Missy answered.

"What?!" Yuri exclaimed.

"It's simple," Missy said. "As long as this card is on my field, your precious plants are forced to transform into insects."

There goes his advantage; Yuri never expected Missy to play DNA Surgery because he was hoping her strategy would be ineffective. Now, it was him that needs to figure out how to get out of this situation as he witnessed Spinodionaea and Moray Nepenthes transform into Insect-Types while retaining their plant-like features. Not even Starving Venom could attack.

"You... You tricked me!" Yuri exclaimed, horrified to see his plants stripped of their 'beauty'.

"Of course I did," Missy said as she drew a card. "So with my field being completely untouchable, I'll flip summon Parasite Paracide and leave you with a little parting gift in your deck."

"Parting gift?" Yuri repeated. "What are you-"

Before he could finish, Parasite Paracide materialized onto the duel field and dashed right towards his deck, landing face up on top of it and causing it to shuffle afterwards. This was the first part of its effect because if he draws this card, it is automatically special summoned onto his side of the field in face-up defense mode and is inflicted 1000 damage. To make matters worse, all monsters the opponent controls become Insect-Type. It's no wonder why it was called Parasite Paracide: it was capable of finding a host to live on and spread its disease to the host's monsters, resulting in them becoming Insect-Types themselves.

"But that's not all," Missy continued. "Next I summon Pinch Hopper. And since it's an Insect monster, I can play the Spell card Worm Bait to get more bugs. But they aren't worried. As long as my Insect Barrier is active, they won't have to worry about getting destroyed."

Yuri was in a huge pickle now. Missy had Pinch Hopper and two Insect Tokens on the field, which can't be destroyed thanks to Insect Barrier. He always knew she was a strong student with her Insect deck, but he didn’t expect something like this to happen to him. Staring at the Insect-Type Spiniodaea and Moray Nepenthes, he wondered if his counter strategy would still work. His eyes shifted towards his deck and grew a bit concerned about the risk of drawing Parasite Paracide and losing 1000 LP…until he realized his counter strategy could still be used thanks to a new card he recently got.

Taking a deep breath, Yuri drew a card from his deck...and smirked. "What got you so happy?" Missy asked.

"Oh, nothing," Yuri casually answered. "I'll just summon Predaplant Squid Drosera in defense mode, switch my other two Predaplants to defense mode as well, and set a card face down before concluding my turn."

Missy just stood there confused on what Yuri even did. Why spend a turn switching his monsters to defense position and playing a face-down? Wasn’t he aware that part of her strategy involves her having his monsters being forced to attack? It didn’t matter to her anyways.

"No matter," Missy said as she drew a card. "With my monsters left intact, I'll use Polymerization to fuse Pinch Hopper with the second Parasite Paracide in my hand. Come on out, Insect Princess!"

Originially just a regular effect monster, Leo upgraded her to a Fusion monster to further help Missy’s status as a Fusion user, but her stats still remained the same: Level 6, WIND Attribute, Insect-Type, 1900 ATK, and 1200 DEF. Even her effects hasn’t changed; all Insect-Type monsters are switched to attack position when she’s face up on the field and she increases her ATK by 500 whenever she destroys an Insect-Type monster in battle.

"So now that my lovely Insect Princess has arrived, all of your Predaplants are forced to switch to attack mode," Missy said. "And I think I'll start my assault with the weakest one. Insect Princess, attack Squid Drosera!"

Unfortunately for her, Yuri smirked right as she initiated her Battle Phase because he knew she would pull something like that. "Why, thank you," Yuri said.

"For what?" Missy asked.

"Because now that Squid Drosera is heading for the Graveyard, each of your special summoned monsters receive Predator Counters latched onto them," Yuri answered. "And there's not a thing you can do to stop my lovely plant's ability!"

"I'm not scared," Missy said as three Predator Counters materialized onto the field and clamped to Insect Princess and the two Worm Tokens. "You can't still attack."

"Oh really?" Yuri asked. He drew a card, resulting in a wicked grin appearing on his face. "Well I beg to differ because I activate the Trap card Dragon Tribe!"

"What?!" Missy asked.

"Yes, that's right," Yuri said. "My time with Yuya never made me weak. It only made me stronger. And on the turn that I activate Dragon Tribe, all of my monsters become Dragon-Type until the end of my turn, so now your Insect Barrier is ineffective!"

Missy was left flabbergasted as Dragon Tribe transformed the Insect-Type Predaplants into Dragon-Type monsters while still having their plant-like features from before. Yuri had a satisfied look on his face as he saw his precious Predaplants undergo such a magnificent transformation.

"It's not the same as their original beauty, but I suppose it will do," Yuri said. "But I'm not done. With the power of Polymerization, I fuse Spiniodaea and Nepenthes in order to bring out the most toxic monster ever seen!" His wicked grin widened as his eyes became more dragon-like. "You'll never look at greenery the same way again! I Fusion Summon the vicious, voracious, and venomous Starving Venom Fusion Dragon!"

The dragon's head stretched out and opened up the mouth, revealing thin traces of saliva in between his upper and lower jaws. His tail extended in place as an “eyelid” shot open to reveal a dark yellow-green orb covered in what also looked like saliva. He raised his entire body up with glowing toxic green eyes before letting out his signature roar, resulting in his orb-esque scales on his body and joints of his claws to glow red and yellow. He then locked himself into attack position upon completing Yuri’s Fusion Summon.

Missy stood there completely shocked by what had just happened. Floating in front of her and the insect monsters was none other than Yuri’s powerful ace monster that secured him a huge number of victories with his duels throughout his entire life.

"But wait, there's more," Yuri continued. "By sending my second Squid Drosera from my hand to the Graveyard, my treasured dragon has to attack every monster that has a Predator Counter."

Missy realized what that meant. "All of my monsters have Predator Counters..." she stated.

"Precisely," Yuri said. "But don't act too upset. You should be honored. Starving Venom hasn't had a delicious meal in weeks, so he feels rather peckish."

"So your dueling style hasn't changed at all," Missy said.

"Indeed," Yuri said. "Now Starving Venom Fusion Dragon, it's feeding time! Finish this duel once and for all!"

Starving Venom’s wings opened up to reveal four saliva-covered mouths, in which two of them stretched out to consume and destroy the two Worm Tokens, dealing a total of 5600 damage. It was followed with Starving Venom extending out his wings, shooting out purple and magenta lightning bolts and an aquamarine blast at Insect Princess, resulting in an additional 900 damage. With a total of 6500 damage, Missy’s Life Points depleted down to 0, securing Yuri a win for the first time since his loss to Yuya.

"I do believe that is a victory for myself," Yuri said, giving Missy a two-fingered pointing gesture. He stopped upon realizing what he was doing, wondering why he would do such a gesture.

Missy approached Yuri. "Not bad, high commander," she said. "You're still as vicious as the day we met."

Lotus, along with the rest of the gardening club, was shocked. "Wow..." she said. "That was...incredible."

"We have to let him join," Missy told Lotus. "Sure Yuri has rather violent dueling methods, but he has a huge soft spot for plants."

"Well alright," Lotus said. "Yuri of Obelisk Force, welcome to Duel Academy's gardening club."

Yuri widened his eyes and raised his short, bushy eyebrows right as Lotus finished her statement because he was wondering to himself if he heard what he thought he heard her say. Fortunately, that quickly turned into proud acceptance as he thanked her for letting him join. To him, his life-long desire of other students accepting him into the Academy and making him feel welcome was finally starting to come true.

#Arc V Aftermath #yugioh arc v #Yuri (arc v) #Dennis MacField #Rehabilitation