#the panel/ventilation thing and wires help it breathe | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

undertalethingems · 3 years

Text

Bark at the Moon Chapter 19: Darker Yet Darker

Or read on my Ao3>

Rating, Setting: Gen, Pre-canon

Chapter Warnings: None?

Chapter Summary: If Alphys is going to help the brothers overcome their inability to shift forms, she needs more information. Information that lies in the grim, long-abandoned sections of the lab she never knew about. The lab where the brothers were made.

Alphys breathed. In, and out. She meshed her fingers together, then snapped them outwards with a crackle. She picked up a hammer, a blowtorch, and lowered the welding visor over her eyes.

It was time to 'hack' into the abandoned labs.

Of all the floors listed on the elevator, all but two seemed to be operational--the entry floor, and the lowest, where she'd conducted her experiments. She'd wondered about the others, of course, but had never been able to verify that they existed. As far as she could tell, they'd been dummied out, so to speak--placeholders in the elevator's control panel that weren't actually connected to anything.

Thanks to a couple of skeletons, she knew that wasn't true. There were whole sections of her facility that had been sealed off, and who was she, as a scientist, if she didn't investigate? This was supposed to be her lab, what if there was important equipment to salvage? Not to mention the implications it might have for her friends. So she'd gathered her tools and her courage, turned off most of the elevator's safeties to keep its doors open, and began lowering it manually so there'd be no bypassing whatever floors lay between. Slowly sinking downwards, her heart leapt when a door finally rose into view in the dim light--but she quickly got to work.

The blowtorch hissed and sparked, and a clang announced it had done its work. Alphys shut it off and switched to the hammer, using it to knock the doors loose and slowly pry her way through. She could really use Undyne's muscles right now... Her strong, broad shoulders... those powerful biceps covered in glimmering scales... No! She could dream later. There were people counting on her. She wedged herself in the half-open door, braced herself against the other, and pushed with her leg. It grated open, and finally, she set foot on a floor it seemed no one had used for decades.

The landing was nondescript, lit by the weak emergency lighting she was familiar with. Even so, she exchanged the welding mask for a headlamp and flicked it on, illuminating the rest of the hall down to a doorway. She took a deep breath--and tried not to choke on the stale air. Even the ventilation system seemed to have been cut off here... She'd have to be careful. Gripping her hammer, she shuffled forward into the gloom.

A greyish-white mass erupted from the wall. Alphys shrieked, backpedaling so fast she tripped over her own tail. She landed on her back and rolled, scrambling on all fours for the elevator--and then she stopped. She recognized that electronic buzzing...

She turned, looking over her shoulder. "M-m... Memoryheads?"

The mass screeched, coalescing into a more familiar appearance, and Alphys turned over and sat as she tried to catch her breath. What were they doing here...?

"U-um, hi... you know you can leave the lab now, i-if you wanted," she said, slowly recovering from her nerves. "S-sorry I yelled, by the way, you just startled me. It's... k-kind of spooky down here, huh?"

The memoryheads buzzed like an old computer's disk drive.

"W-well, maybe not to you, ha ha... U-um... I sure hope you're the only thing lurking down here! I-I... I'm going to keep going now, okay?"

She got to her feet, brushed off her coat, and picked up her scattered tools before proceeding back down the hallway. She passed the memoryheads, and looked back to see they'd begun following her a few feet behind. What Undyne had shared about them popped into her head, and she had to wonder... Maybe they could help her.

"H-hey! So, I... I didn't make you, did I? You weren't part of my experiment."

A harsh grating sound emanated from the amalgamate. Oh, that's right--Alphys dug into her pocket for her phone. The speaker crackled with static, and she listened.

"NEGATIVE RESULT."

"O-Oh, that means, no, right?"

"That is correct."

"O-oh... Oh man... so my hypothesis... C... Can you... show me where you were made?"

"One moment, please."

The memoryheads phased through the floor.

"H-hey! I can't do that!" Alphys spluttered, then sighed. She should have known... the memoryheads were the more enigmatic of her charges... and they weren't even hers! What had she gotten into...?

"You may join us now," the phone suddenly crackled, and she jumped.

"Wh-where? What floor? What number?"

"666666666666666666666666666666666666--"

She shut the phone off, ending the harsh screech. Was there even a sixth floor? She turned back for the elevator once more--though she definitely wanted to check out all the abandoned labs had to offer, she had a priority. Back inside, she checked the panel--and there was indeed a sixth level. She'd head there, and could only hope the memoryheads actually had something for her.

A bang, clang, and scrape, and Alphys forced another set of doors open. The air here was even stuffier--a lingering chemical trace intermingled with decaying tile and carpet. She coughed, and hoped the air coming down the elevator shaft would be enough until she got the ventilation working. She'd take it slow until then.

"O-okay, I'm on the sixth floor, Memoryheads," she spoke into the phone, and static rose on the line.

"Come join the fun." "Come join the fun." "Come join the fun."

She sighed. They were helping, in their limited way. There was nothing for it but to venture into the dark, and see what she'd find. She shuffled forward, feet padding along warped linoleum--the first monster to tread these halls in years.

No.

Alphys' breath caught in her throat. There, in the dust--there were footprints. She swallowed hard, and followed them. The hall opened into a room, and she passed by rows of deteriorating machines. She could only guess at their purpose--all rotten rubber tubing, peeling paint, and oxidizing metal. Generators, perhaps. The footprints passed them by, and so did she. Another hall lead to another room, this one lined with all kinds of monitoring equipment, their paneling and readouts coated with years of dust and stained by a burst pipe. But nothing here seemed to have a means of storing information--there wasn't much to be gleaned here. So she continued on.

She finally came to a room that looked like a laboratory, with workbenches and cabinets on one side--and a pair of operating tables on the other. There was also some kind of device on the floor--it had been shattered by an incredible force. The footprints seemed to stop by it before moving on.

The next room made Alphys gasp--and not because the air was thin. It was U-shaped, and tall cisterns lined the walls, nearly reaching the vaulted ceiling. The memoryheads waited here.

"Th... This is...?"

"It's a real get together," the memoryheads stated, apparently confirming her unfinished thought.

Alphys hurried over to examine the nearest tank, pouring over its construction. The craftsmanship, the expert tooling! What she wouldn't give for a set of blueprints or schematics or--a chill suddenly ran down her spine. No. This wasn't anything to get excited about.

She looked back up at the cracked glass walls of the tank before her. This was where the brothers had been... made. They'd both come from one of these--not sparked from a parent's soul like any other monster. If Gaster had stopped there, he might have been alright, but then he'd...

She turned back to the memoryheads. "C-can you show me... Do you know where the brothers lived down here? Sans and Papyrus?"

"Invalid statement. Please try again."

"Oh, you don't know... O-okay, I can figure it out. Thank you for leading me here."

"Our pleasure."

She nodded to them, and headed back the way she'd come. It seemed the owner of the footprints had done the same--but then had seemed to stagger... and then the trail vanished...? Weird...

Wait. Alphys squinted, and found a clear print. She placed her own foot beside it to compare. It was just a little smaller, left by rounded footwear... These were Sans' footprints. She should have known...! She sighed. What had Sans been looking for down here...? In any case, his trail went cold. Alphys only had her own guidance to go on now.

There was another doorway opposite of the tank room, so she headed for it--and thanked her luck as rows of ancient computers greeted her. Finally! This was what she'd been hoping for. She headed for the nearest one, and booted it up--or, tried to. It briefly wheezed to life, only to die, and she swore under her breath as she dove under the desk to open it up. These were built into the floor?! Oh come on... Maybe she could remove the hard drives and take them back to her lab for analysis. She pried the side panel open and took a look--well, that was unusual.

And bad.

The main drives had melted together somehow, the plastic and metal a bubbled mess. She swore under her breath again, and reached in to see what her magic could tell her. The spark of magical electricity raced out, laying the computer's wiring bare in her mind's eye. It was the skill that had made her such a mechanical genius, and as she sensed the magic's ebb and flow, she sighed. She'd salvaged many a broken machine others had written off, but the chances of getting anything more than parts out of this were slim. She squeezed back out from under the desk, and surveyed the room. There were at least a dozen more... She had to hope she could get something out of those. She dusted herself off, moved to the next station, and got to work.

Three hours later, and Alphys had pulled as many drives from the remaining computers. She didn't have high hopes for these either, but they'd seemingly suffered the least damage from whatever event had fried an entire room of computers. She suspected the events leading to Gaster's disappearance might have been it... but that didn't help her now. She put the drives in her tool satchel, took one last look around the room, then headed back for the elevator.

The memoryheads burst from the floor again, and Alphys shrieked.

"G-guys! I know I sh-should be used to that by now, but please--"

The amalgamates buzzed, and she pulled out her phone to listen.

"Right this way."

"O-oh, you know of... more stuff?"

"CORRECT."

"Okay. Um, lead the way then."

Alphys shuffled after the memoryheads as they flit down the hall and into the elevator. She gave them a quizzical look--and jumped as the elevator started without any input--any visible input, at least. It rose to the next floor up, and Alphys dug for her tools, expecting another round of cutting her way in. But the doors dinged and opened smoothly onto a wide landing, and she watched the amalgamate glide out. But she shook her head and followed.

The hallway opened into a larger room, with windows along one side and a door to another hallway that continued on straight. Of chief interest to her was the large computer terminal set into the wall, but there was also a monitor near the windows, and she could just make out another placed in the hallway. If nothing else, this looked promising.

She padded over to the terminal, then blinked and turned back to the memoryheads. "Hey, u-um... thank you."

"DON'T MENTION IT." "You're welcome" "be seeing you."

They phased out, leaving Alphys alone in the abandoned lab once more. She took a deep breath, and turned back to the main terminal. This looked more advanced than the computers she'd already raided, and she hoped it had been better shielded from damage. She gathered her nerves, and turned it on. It flickered--and command-line text spurted across the screen. Alphys grinned, cracked her knuckles, and got to work. Alphys dug into the files, many of which, though corrupted, still held tantalizing fragments of data.

"O-okay, this said something about behavioral sources, and that other file mentioned cross-referencing a natural history encyclopedia with the behaviors observed in a study group... A study group of what though...?" Alphys muttered to herself as she wrote her own notes on what she'd pieced together. She'd copied down a few tables of measurements, and found parameters for the tubes she'd seen in the other rooms. But there was still more to comb through, and amid the gibberish of corrupted text more complete phrases stood out, forming a log of observations.

"...UBJECT REQUIRES FOOD. UNFORTUNATE. I WAS HOPING IT WOU..."

"...BEAM OUTPUT UNDER EXPECTED PERFORMANCE. SUBJECT CONTINUES TO EXHIB... URTHER TESTING REQUIRED..."

"...SUBJECT EXHIBITS UNUSUAL BEHAVIO... NGE OUTSIDE PREDICTED... NOT FOLLOWING MY INTENDED..."

"Y-yeah, of course they didn't, you jerk," Alphys muttered to herself as she continued to scroll through the files and copy whatever had survived. She already didn't like Gaster very much, but these files were doing nothing for his reputation. She found a proposed recipe for whatever he'd used to feed the brothers and grimaced. "Just plain food-grade magic and a few basic vitamins...? Really? That would have no flavor... No wonder Sans loves fast food and Papyrus can't cook... Oh, this log looks pretty complete! Let's see what it says..."

"I HAVE NOW CONFIRMED IT... BOTH SUBJECTS EXHIBIT TROUBLING ABILITY. PHENOTYPE EXPRESSION IS VARIABLE... SEEMINGLY AT WILL. MORE TESTING WILL BE NEEDED TO DETERMINE IF THIS COULD BE... PREVENTED IN SOME WAY. FOR NOW, UNDESIRABLE ATTRIBUTES WILL BE MITIGATED."

Alphys shuddered. "M-mitigated... I guess that's a nice way of saying he made them be what he wanted... ugh. Well... there's another entry, so..."

"PHENOTYPE ISSUES PERSIST. NO PROGRESS MADE ON SUPPRESSING THE ABILITY. IT APPEARS TO BE A FUNCTION OF THEIR... DESIGN FLAW."

Alphys stared at the words before her. "Design flaw... what does he... wait.... Does he mean their souls?!"

Disgusted, she pushed away from the terminal and paced. Suggesting a soul was a flaw... she couldn't understand it, couldn't comprehend the callousness this log boasted. She bristled, and static crackled across her scales--oh, the last time she'd been this angry it had been watching Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2! But as angry as she was, she needed to keep looking. She needed whatever information this place still held. She took a few more deep breaths, ran her hands over her face, and returned to the computer to keep digging.

As it so often did, the time flew as she worked. She only realized how long she'd spent browsing and recovering files when her stomach growled, signaling it was well into the night and she'd forgotten to eat. She sighed, and rubbed at weary eyes... She'd collected so much, but there was still more, dozens of files she hadn't gotten to. She'd have to come back and keep looking at this--at least she knew where it was now. And all she'd read was enough to start formulating a hypothesis.

She shut the computer down and gathered her things, then shuffled over to the windows to have a look before she headed up. She couldn't make out much in the dim light, but the room beyond seemed... huge. She looked around and... oh! There was a light switch here. She pressed it, and overhead lighting clicked on, revealing the room beyond. It was huge--perhaps twice the size of the main floor upstairs, if not bigger. The walls were stained--but had clearly once been a stark, sterile white. Was this where the brothers had been... tested?

Alphys pursed her lips, and backed away. The lights had also been turned on in the hallway, showing more rooms. She wasn't sure she wanted to, but... she was curious. She shuffled on, and came to the first door. It was reinforced, and she could only just see through the window if she stood on her toes. More stark walls, though the room was much smaller--then she realized it was subdivided, with a thick window and another reinforced door splitting the room...

A pit grew in her stomach. This... had to be...

She wouldn't have believed anyone could keep a fellow monster like this. But, considering what she'd just read she wasn't surprised Gaster had only provided the bare essential to the brothers. She glanced up at the monitor set into the wall nearby. If it was anything like the ones she'd used herself... She waved her hand in front of it.

"HOLDING ROOM 1. CONTENTS: UNOCCUPIED."

"A-ah..." she uttered, and shuffled to the next. It was identical to the first.

"HOLDING ROOM 2. CONTENTS: UNOCCUPIED."

She supposed it was better they were empty... but she wanted to see them all. The third room was slightly different--it was a bit larger, and had a raised shelf on one side. If she squinted, she could just make out what seemed to be a ragged scrap of fabric laid on top of it. Was that... supposed to be a bed? Maybe this was where the brothers really lived... At least it had more space than the holding rooms, but there was nothing to make it any more comfortable. It was just bare, featureless metal walls. She grimaced, and activated the nearby monitor.

"ENCLOSURE 1: SUBJECT 1. WARNING: DO NOT APPROACH. SUBJECT IS KNOWN TO BE DANGEROUS. DO NOT PERMIT INTERACTION WITH SUBJECT 2. EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION: FAILURE."

Alphys shuddered, then turned to the next room. It was similarly barren.

"ENCLOSURE 2: SUBJECT 2. WARNING: DO NOT APPROACH. SUBJECT IS KNOWN TO ESCAPE, MAY BE DANGEROUS. DO NOT PERMIT INTERACTION WITH SUBJECT 1. EXPERIMENT CONCLUSION: FAILURE."

Alphys clenched her fists. Her friends weren't failures... they were incredible for holding together for so long, getting through so much, and then doing nice things for her and trusting her to help them. They had survived all of--this. Her goal was clearer than ever--but she was too tired to work on it now. She turned her back on the abandoned lab and headed for the elevator.

Reaching the fresh air of the main floor was a relief. As tempted as she was to immediately plug the hard drives she'd collected into her computer and start recovering them, she opted to fix some instant noodles and catch up on the Undernet instead. It had been a long day... she'd get back to work tomorrow, after she'd had some time to recharge.

The drives she'd recovered from the lab were plugged into her main computer as she heated up breakfast, and she sipped at a mug of coffee as she poked at them virtually. If she could coax more information out of them, it'd bolster her suspicions. To say the code structure was archaic was... an understatement. But, it meant the password protection was easily bypassed with a few tricks--she was better at actual hacking than the 'hacking' she'd done to get into the abandoned lab floors, and in moments she'd begun browsing whatever files remained. There were plenty to choose from, many of which seemed to relate to details of the Core and other technological projects. But none seemed to relate to the brothers' origins, and after thoroughly checking the rest of the available files, she moved to the next drive.

It seemed these computers hadn't been used for anything relating to the brothers, however. Barring any damage or corruption, each drive contained essentially the same files. Alphys' best guess was that that room of computers had been used by everyone in the lab... and perhaps not everyone was allowed access to the files detailing Gaster's little project. She sighed, setting the old disks aside. She'd have to go back to that main computer after all, see what else she could get, and collect her own data to compare. And that would mean calling the brothers in for some tests.

"O-okay, just, hold still please!" Alphys said, trying to steady her own hands as Papyrus fidgeted.

"Are all of these really necessary?" he griped. "They're making me, itchy, I think."

"I n-need them so I can properly read your magic! Th-these sensors are the only way to tell what's going on with it, and they won't work if I don't get them placed just right," Alphys explained.

"think of it like one of your puzzles bro," Sans suggested helpfully from where he half-dozed nearby. "do it in the wrong order and ya gotta start over, right?"

Papyrus sighed. "I suppose. Very well!"

He finally sat perfectly still, allowing Alphys to place the rest of the sensors.

"Okay! There! That's it for that--now I need to make sure they work, and then we can get, um, some data. You guys ready?"

"Finally! We're doing real science!"

"instead of being the science done," Sans joked--was it a joke? Alphys hoped so as she flicked the electro-magical field reader on.

"Okay, just like we did for S-Sans, I'm going to need you to hold still and wait for a minute so we can get a baseline," she explained.

"Of course! I was paying attention!" Papyrus huffed. "I'm just excited! To think, after all this time, we might find out why... I'm tall, and Sans isn't!"

"well, that's one possibility," Sans said, and Alphys couldn't help but laugh.

"I sure hope we find out more than that. O-okay, just a little bit longer, and...!" She watched the timer count up to one minute, then cut the data collection off. "Okay, now, I'm going to start it again, but I'd like for you to cast a few attacks. I-it can be any pattern or bullet type, you just have to keep it up for thirty seconds!"

"A simple task for someone as great as me! I'm ready!"

"Target's over there--aaand go!"

Papyrus obliged, sending a flurry of bones at the dummy Undyne had loaned them for the day. He started with a basic array, then quickly built up to a complex pattern before finishing with a blast from his own jaws. Alphys gave him a smile as she cut the reading off.

"Okay, that was great! Sans, are you sure you can't give me at least a couple attacks to compare...?"

"Yeah, come on, Sans! Your patterns may not be as good as mine, but you don't want to mess up Alphys' data, do you? I know you can do it!" Papyrus encouraged, and his brother gave a drawn-out sigh as he got up and trudged over.

"alright, alright. i'll throw you a bone."

"Sans! You better throw more than one! You have to fill thirty seconds of data!"

"geez, don't remind me."

Alphys finished disconnecting the wires that had linked Papyrus to her machine, and reconnected the lines that were still attached to Sans from his first round of tests. "Okay, everything should be hooked back up. Are you ready?"

"as i'll ever be."

"And... go!"

Sans immediately opened with a pair of blasters before tearing into the dummy with a bone maze, then sent alternating blue and white bones at it before summoning another round of blasters. As she watched, Alphys wondered if they would have a training dummy to return to Undyne by the time this was through. She gave the signal for him to stop, and he flopped to the tile floor panting.

"Sans, you showoff! Alphys, I want to do mine again, I can do better than my troll of a brother," Papyrus said, indignant. Despite his breathlessness, Sans chuckled from the floor.

"U-uh, well, maybe later--I only needed to see you guys using your attacks, it didn't really matter how, um, flashy they were," she replied, holding up her hands. "That should be good enough for now. Th... There's one other thing I wish I could test, b-but, I think I can just use the old... the old data I was able to recover for that."

"I thought the point of this was to collect brand new, un-possibly-corrupted data?" Papyrus said, fiddling with one of the wires trailing from his skull.

"W-well, yeah, but... I can't ask you guys to do it, not when you guys have worked so hard to..." Alphys fidgeted. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything you don't want to, and I can't imagine you'd want to do, um, this potential round of testing... so, f-forget it! It's fine."

"you wanna know what our magic's doing when we slip," Sans surmised, pushing up into a sitting position. "isolating those patterns might tell us how to turn 'em off... that's what you're thinking, right?"

Alphys sighed. "Y-yeah... but... I know how hard it is for you guys to break out of it. And... I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. I... I saw where he kept you. I... I read at least... some of what he did to you... And I don't want this to be anything like what you went through down there."

The brothers exchanged looks. After a moment, Sans sighed. "we want to get this figured out as much as anyone. if that means... letting go... well, with any luck it'll be worth the trouble, right? plus, i'll have you guys to pull me out of it."

"Oh no you don't Sans, you are not sacrificing yourself! I mean, it's very selfless of you, but! You also have the worst time with it. So I volunteer!"

"no way papyrus, i'm not letting you do that to yourself. i'll feel better knowing you're looking out for me."

"And! You'll be looking out for me! It's fair either way!"

"no, you're not doing it. end of story bro."

"Guys," Alphys interrupted, "we don't have to do it! I shouldn't have even mentioned it, ugh."

Papyrus turned to her. "Doctor Alphys, if this is going to help us figure out how to never do this again, then I think we should. I... I want to know what he did to us."

Alphys looked at his earnest expression, and turned to Sans. "Is... Is that how you feel too?"

Sans closed his eyes and rubbed his face with a claw. "... yeah. everything we've tried... it hasn't worked. i have no idea how we figured it out as kids. so... anything that might help us get this over with... we gotta try all our options, right?"

"O-okay... If you guys are sure... then, I'll take care of my side of things. If you need a few days to decide who's going t-to... do the tests, or if we're doing them at all, that's fine. I can analyze what we collected today in the meantime."

"I think that may be best!" Papyrus replied, and Sans nodded. "You'll hear from us soon enough! You can count on it!"

"J-just, take care, okay?" Alphys said as she hurried to help remove the sensors from the brothers' skulls. "I d-don't want you guys to get hurt because of me..."

Papyrus turned to pat her head. "Don't worry about us, Doctor Alphys! We've gotten through far worse! And! This time! It's on our terms!"

She bid them farewell, hoping they hadn't all just made a terrible mistake... but she had to trust the brothers. They had gotten through worse, and come out on top every time. They were counting on her to do her job--so she ought to do it. She gathered up the lines from the EM reader, and wheeled it closer to the computer so she could input the data and begin her analysis. She'd compare the brothers' readouts to samples she'd taken of herself, some of the engineers from the Core, and her friends--all to see if anything differed between them. It was bound to be interesting.

The days passed, and even as she continued trawling through the data collected by a cruel man, she realized she was having fun doing science again. Watching the numbers come together, formulating a hypothesis, tweaking variables to monitor the effects... This was so much more up her alley, finding how all the pieces fit together. And as she collected more pieces, she was getting a clearer picture of just what state the brothers' souls were in, and what Gaster's experiment had been meant to achieve.

She just needed was one last piece to confirm her idea and start working on a solution. She could only hope she'd hear from the brothers soon...

Finally, Sans called her one afternoon, sounding especially weary. "heya alph."

"Oh! H-hi, Sans! What's up?"

"i, uh think we're ready."

"... I guess Papyrus won the argument, huh?"

Sans managed a laugh. "yeah. i couldn't stand up to his flawless logic... which was 'go into the woods for a few days to loosen up' before i could get around to it myself."

"Uh. Wow."

"yeah. he's always really on top of things."

"He's... okay, right?"

"oh yeah, my bro's fine. it's just... rough, seeing him like this, y'know?"

"I bet. A-anyway, I'm ready whenever you guys are."

"ok. we'll be right up."

"Okay! I'l be ready!"

Sans hung up, and she scrambled to actually be ready, because whenever Sans said he was about to be somewhere, he was almost always already there. She pulled the EM reader away from the wall, and gathered a bundle of sensors and draped them over the top just as there was a knock at the door. She squinted, because that was an automatic door...

"Come in!" she called, and the door slid open.

"you're supposed to say 'who's there'," Sans replied as he ambled in, Papyrus in tow. "alright, good luck getting him to hold still this time. don't think he's, uh, as far as he could be, but, should be enough for your tests."

Alphys looked from him to Papyrus, who was warily sniffing the floor. She could already tell in how he carried himself and studied the room that he really had fallen back on instincts. Which was what they needed for the test, but... like Sans had said. It was rough seeing him like this.

"O-okay. Papyrus?"

He perked up, and swung his head around, tilting it to one side.

"Um, hi. Can you come over here, please?"

He looked to Sans, who nodded before walking slowly over to the machine. Papyrus followed, and scrutinized the device thoroughly before sitting down and studying her patiently.

"Okay, now, I need you to hold still while I stick these on," she explained, feeling like she was repeating herself--but she wasn't sure Papyrus remembered the last time he'd been here. "Th-they might get a little itchy, but, I need you to let them stay on, okay?"

Papyrus made an uncertain warble as she approached, but Sans gave him a reassuring hoot and laid down. Alphys gave him a look.

"U-um... you're not... slipping too, are you?"

He gave her a weary shrug. "doing my best not to, but... we stick close, y'know?"

Alphys pursed her lips, but continued with her task. Papyrus was surprisingly patient despite his former concern, only fidgeting a little as she pasted the sensors onto his skull and sternum. He tried to scratch at them once--but Sans batted his hand down with a gruff rasp, and though Papyrus shot him an annoyed look, he settled down.

"Okay, they're all hooked up! I'm starting the test now--just, hang in there okay?"

Well before the minute was up, Papyrus got too fidgety again, and risked pulling away from the machine--but before Alphys could scold him, Sans started a game with him. He summoned a small bone just within the reach of Papyrus' neck, and Papyrus snapped at it--missing as Sans pulled it away at the last moment. Papyrus uttered a playful growl, his tail flicking before he lunged at the bone's new spot--and missed again. Sans evaded him a few more times before Papyrus caught the bone in his jaws and it fizzled out of existence. Sans summoned another bone, and the game began anew.

"Alright, that should be enough!" Alphys announced, and the two looked up--though Papyrus took the opportunity to catch the latest bone Sans had been taunting him with. "I think I can work with this--thank you so, so much you guys. I should have more info in a week or two... Are you really going to be okay?"

Sans shrugged. "we're going to undyne's after this, she'll get him to shape up. we'll see ya later, alph."

"O-oh, okay! Tell her I said hi," Alphys said, hoping she wasn't blushing as she peeled the last of the sensors off Papyrus. "With any luck, I'll be able to help you with a different kind of shape."

"heh, good one. ok bro, ready to see undyne?"

Papyrus warbled an affirmative, and with a click, and a blink, they were gone.

Alphys shook her head, and turned to begin analyzing her results. She still didn't get how Sans did that. Maybe there'd be something in the data.

There certainly was a lot of data to go through. Alphys had been building her hypothesis, but as she got deeper into the numbers, she realized there was more to it. She dug back into the abandoned lab's computers, hacked and reconfigured her way in, and scraped every last bit from the broken registries and hidden backups. She cheered when she found a nearly complete log charting the brothers' growth, only to feel sickened by Gaster's actions yet again as she read the suggestions on how to alter their physiology and diet to get better results--whatever that meant.

"Subject had human-derived willpower substance drawn today..." Alphys read, squinting. "Human derived... willpower substance? What does he mean by..."

A chill seized her. Surely it wasn't the same...? She scrambled back through the readouts she'd taken from the brothers, and cross referenced them. Oh. That would explain... why that part of the wavelengths had looked so odd. She sank back in her chair--it really was the same. Determination... Really, knowing the memoryheads hadn't been her doing, and the blueprints she'd found, she shouldn't be so surprised. Somehow, the brothers were stable--thank god. But, why...? Why add that to... a living weapon? Or a monster? She kept digging, trying to understand the man who'd created life just to use it as a tool.

But before she could make much progress or come to any conclusions, Undyne called her.

"Alphys, are you busy?" she said ugently, and Alphys dropped the stack of papers she'd collected.

"N-no, why?"

"It's Papyrus. We can't get him back."

Alphys froze, heart racing instantly. "...Wh-what? It wasn't too b-bad when he was here--what's going on?"

"It's," she started, frustration clear, "it's like he just keeps sliding, no matter what we do. Sans won't say anything but I can tell he's worried. We thought you might be able to tell us something..."

Alphys gave a shuddering breath. "I... It's too early, I haven't had a chance to analyze everything yet. I-I only have a guess as to why the brothers can change at all, not--not how to help them yet..."

Undyne grunted. "Okay, well, we'll help him as much as we can. Let us know as soon as you find something, okay? Please."

"I-I'm working as fast as I can. Just.. just tell them to hang in there, I should have something soon."

"Okay. Thank you, Alph."

She hung up, and Alphys was left staring ahead at her desk. It... was... probably okay? The brothers had been stuck in their feral states before, and both had snapped out of it eventually. It was the pattern--even if they stayed in the blaster form for a while, they'd get back to their true selves...

A pattern.

The idea seized her. Scrambling through the papers before her, she began compiling all the notes, charts, anything that was relevant. She hoped her hunch was wrong, dread coiled tight in her chest as she began running the numbers.

A week of nearly constant work later, and she had her results in hand.

Alphys stared at it, threw it aside to pace, then came back to it. This couldn't be right. But it explained... too much about the problems they'd had. She couldn't bear the thought of telling them... but she had to, didn't she? They deserved to know. But if she told them, wouldn't they hate her...? No, they might hate her more if she didn't say something, tell them that they...

She had to tell them.

"Th-thanks for coming," she uttered, trying not to let her voice shake as Undyne and the brothers entered her lab again. Papyrus balked at the doorway, and only scuttled in once Sans had plodded into the center of the room, proving it was safe. His gaze darted around his surroundings, and he chittered nervously. Alphys frowned. They really hadn't gotten him back, and today... she'd be telling them why.

"Uh, so, how's it going?" Undyne said, trying to lighten the mood with small talk as they gathered around a fold-out table. "You said you had something for us, right? Not gonna lie, I've been super excited for the results."

Alphys sighed, and Undyne's smile fell.

"Alph... what did you find?"

"I-I," she stammered, "I found... well... I found a lot. Not everything, but, enough to figure some things out. I was able to piece together what Gaster did to make the brothers the way they are, b-but... I also found something... that's... bad. And it has to do with why Papyrus isn't back to being himself... but I didn't find out any way to help you... I'm sorry."

"s'ok. you did your best," Sans said, his head laid on the table and eyes dim. What was happening now had clearly taken its toll.

Undyne grimaced. "Well, it's only been a little bit since you started working, right? Maybe you just haven't found the answer yet. But, I think you should tell us what you did find."

"Maybe," Alphys said, trying not to sound defeated. It was true she'd only had all the data for a little while, but... she wasn't sure it would matter. "I... I want to be more honest about my work, s-so... I'll tell you what I found, even though it's bad news... If... if you don't want to hear it, I don't blame you..."

Sans closed his eyes. "Papyrus... isn't going to understand it. So... you can say whatever."

"We're not gonna be mad or anything just because you did your job," Undyne reassured her. "Tell us what you found out."

Alphys grit her teeth, and turned to Sans. "S-so... I guess I'll start with why you guys are like this to begin with. The beginning's usually a good place to start, right? Ha ha... Anyway... I'll, um, try not to ramble but... I think the gist of it... is that, Gaster tried to make a living... bullet. You know how some monsters can cast attacks that, um, seem like their own entity, right? That sort of construct is uncommon, but not unheard of--but, they're not truly living things, they're attacks the same as any other. It seems like... Gaster wanted to take this idea further, and make attacks that could potentially think for themselves and last outside of battle a long time. All to hunt humans...

"He constructed some extremely advanced attacks--based on what I could find, he figured out their most intricate workings, even how to 'program' them with certain traits or behaviors--ones he learned hunting animals on the surface have. It looks like he spent years refining this technique. But... he still couldn't get them to last outside of battle like he wanted. The way he saw it... the next step was to add a little bit of soul energy. H-he, um, apparently didn't expect... that even a small amount would become a full soul. S-so... the soul formed inside this... programmed attack format.

"It was easiest for the magic to flow along these pre-constructed paths... but the soul... still contained the genetic format for a skeleton monster--a bipedal form with intelligence and skills beyond what Gaster had intended. So... without realizing it... he ended up with a sort of... hybrid, of his specialized attack, and a monster that, um... technically... was his... child."

"Gaster should count himself lucky he's erased, because if I got my hands on him..." Undyne growled, her fists clenched tightly, "he'd WISH he was."

"Y-yeah, seeing all this, I was furious too," Alphys breathed. "He... in what little I read, he just... talked like he was working with animals. M-maybe... he'd convinced himself that's all you were. B-but... so... that's... where your instincts, and ability to transform, come from. It was all him--he, unwittingly, gave your souls this ability by trying to fit them into another form."

"...huh," Sans uttered. "guess that does explain it... why we can do it, and why the instincts only come up when we're like this."

"So is there any way to like... turn it off?" Undyne said. "It's not really a part of them, so maybe--"

"I-it is, though" Alphys said, downcast. "It's as much a part of their soul as, I dunno, bone magic. A-and, turning it off, w-well... Gaster wanted to do the opposite, and take away their other form... He never actually succeeded, obviously, but... that... brings me to the bad news."

"Wh... What do you mean?"

Alphys heaved another sigh. "I didn't think anything of it at first. It just seemed like... like a coincidence, or maybe Gaster just wore you guys down over time, but... You've said it was easier to change back and forth when you were younger, right? And you just... did it less as time went on... B-but... well... with Papyrus being unable to get back from even a relatively mild slip with your guys' help... I got to thinking...

"Maybe... maybe there was actually a pattern to it. Th-that... as time has gone on... it really.... It really is getting harder for you guys to switch back and forth. Like... like the forms get more entrenched as time goes on, a-and, the longer you stay in them. S-so... I plotted all the times it mentioned you guys switching forms on a graph... a-and..."

She slid a pair of papers across the table for Sans and Undyne to study. Each was labeled with their names, and the points on the graphs plotted lines--but they looked more like waves, the crests and troughs of which increased in amplitude as time went on as their frequency decreased. A fainter line projected the waves' path into the future--and it went off the page.

"I-I... I think... W-well, the data suggests, that, if... if we can't get you guys changed back soon... you... you might... slip, and... not... not be able t-to break out of it... e-ever... ever again."

Sans' eyes blinked out. "... papyrus is going to be stuck like this forever?"

Alphys had never heard his voice break like that before. She could barely speak herself, but she couldn't leave things there. "I-I don't know, there's--there's still a chance we can bring him out of this. We just--we can't let it get too far, o-or... A-and I mean, I could be wrong! God, I hope I'm wrong... My d-data is probably pretty incomplete, I don't have much f-from, when you were younger or before all this... B-but, it's... It's a possibility, and, when you called and said you hadn't gotten him out of it, that's when I realized what might be going on, why you might not be able to change back like you did a long time ago... and, I... I'm so sorry..."

Undyne clenched her fists. "I... I really hate Gaster. ALL of this, ALL of your guys' suffering, is because of HIM, and hearing it might not be something you can escape? I WON'T accept that. Alphys, if I can help you, just tell me what to do--I'm NOT letting this guy take my friends away after he's already DEAD."

"we'll still be around," Sans uttered, voice subdued. "just won't be like we used to. i... i dunno what we'll do to live, but... h... hey, just... keep being nice to my bro, ok?"

"Sans, we're not giving up! I can't give up! I WON'T give up! I--" Undyne was interrupted as Papyrus, seeing her upset, had put his head against her arm and nuzzled it. She grimaced, and patted him with a hand as she continued. "I said it before, I'll say it as long as I need to. I won't rest until you guys are back the way you want to be. Alphys hasn't finished her research, so there might still be something we can do. For your brother's sake, don't you DARE slip, or give up, or let go. Okay?"

Sans looked up at her, beleaguered. "dunno... i was never good at fighting the inevitable..."

"Well it's not inevitable yet," Undyne stated firmly. "Alphys, if we get the bros changed back soon, what will happen?"

She thought. "I-it... it should mean it's their other forms--the regular skeleton monster form--that becomes dominant. A-at least, at least on this scale. I didn't plot ahead like... decades, s-so it's possible this doesn't show every outcome... B-but... the sooner we avert the current trend, the better..."

"so... how much time... before we're too far gone?" Sans murmured, and Alphys winced. Despite Undyne's words of encouragement, he was obviously doing pretty badly.

"I can't be sure--it, I think it depends on how much you keep exercising your mind, since that seems to be what's helped you break out of it. I'd... I'd keep trying with Papyrus too. I... I'm with Undyne on this one, I... I don't want to give up, even though it looks really bad... S-so, please... you can't give up, Sans. I know that's really hard for you, b-but... one of the other things I discovered, that I'm still researching is... that... You both have artificially elevated levels of Determination. I... I think that's something else he figured out--how to give Determination to monsters in a safe way. It might be another factor in why you haven't been able to change back, but... It might help keep you going, too."

Sans studied her for a while, then closed his eyes. "i dunno. all this... sounds like there was never anything we could do about it. the moment either of us changed this last time... our fate was sealed. i'm... i'm just so tired. all the work we've done to keep ourselves together... it didn't get us anywhere. i... i'll try to keep it together, for papyrus... i don't want to leave him hanging. but... it's been real hard. and if it's only going to get harder... i don't think i can keep it up for much longer."

Undyne reached over to pat his shoulder. "Look, we'll get through this. You just keep holding on to yourself, I'll help with Papyrus--done that before--and Alphys will keep looking for a solution. Monsters didn't get to where we are today by giving up, so you can't either."

"Yeah Sans, I promise I'll keep looking," Alphys stated--Undyne's will was bolstering her own. "Now that I have an idea of what's going on... maybe I can figure out how to undo it--not, not all the way. Like I said, this... this is a part of your soul. But... if we can figure out how you can change back, then, it should stay dormant for a long, long time. And, that's worth going after."

Sans opened his eyes, their lights returned as he studied them both, then looked to his brother, who had gotten bored and wandered off to bat a piece of crumpled paper across the floor. "i... to be honest? i dunno if i care how we end up. all i want is for papyrus to be happy. but... i guess... if i slip too, i dunno who's gonna take care of him. if i can't hold a job, we can't pay for a house, or good food, or... he couldn't do any of the stuff he really loves. i, uh, remember how it was when we lived in the forest, and... i don't want him living like that ever again. so... i guess i do have to keep it together, huh?"

Alphys smiled with relief. "Y-yeah, you do. I still have a lot of data to go through, s-so, nothing's decided yet, b-but... I figured you should know what might be happening, and... hopefully... do something about it. I know I'm going to try."

"Yeah, don't worry! We've got your backs, okay?" Undyne said, grinning widely. She wound up to slap him on the back, but he dodged out of the way.

"ok, don't make that literal," he said, sounding a little better as he squinted at her. "i, uh... won't make any promises. but... hey, maybe i should help with the research too. if there's anything good i inherited from gaster, it was his smarts. science stuff is still cool, despite him."

"I'm glad he didn't totally ruin it for you," Alphys replied, heart soaring as her own hopes returned. "I certainly could use the help, and it would help keep your mind sharp, s-so, if it's not too much for you... that might be good for both of us."

"heh... using gaster's own specialty against him? can't say i don't like the sound of that," Sans replied, something like spiteful glee shining in his eyes now. "yeah. count me in."

"Aw man, all of us working together!" Undyne cheered. "It'll be great!"

"Yeah... yeah, I think that'll be nice. I'm... I'm sorry I couldn't give you guys good news today, but... That's hardly the end of it," Alphys said. "We'll see where the data leads us, and go from there, and not give up until we're sure we've thought of everything. Until then... I'm not through with Gaster's work. He... he's dead... But I won't let him win!"

#Undertalethingem writes #bark at the moon fic #gaster blaster au #sans (undertale)#papyrus (undertale)#alphys (undertale)#Undyne (undertale)#aaaah finally! sorry it took so long to get this out but it's done now ^^#let me know if i need to tag anything??? i don't think there's anything obvious but #this is an angsty story with bad things happening so =u=;

237 notes · View notes

theoneandonlyslick · 3 years

Note

Hi :) May I ask for a Dogma fic where him and the reader are dating and then the whole Umbara campaign happens and Dogma gets a court martial but the reader somehow figures out how to get him out and they live happily on a farm together? Sorry if this didn’t make any sense.

No it makes total sense! I love this idea Dogma doesn't get enough time in the show🤍

Going Home

A knock on your door woke you around 0400 in the morning, this wouldn't have been odd other than the fact that you had been off duty for hours (you were a mechanic for the 501st) and had specifically told the next shift crew not to bother you. You groaned and sat up cursing as you bumped your head on the shelf above your bunk, swinging your legs over the side you stood up and made your way over to the door ready to give the person who woke you a piece of your mind. The door opened and you opened your mouth to speak, but stopped. It was Dogma, one of the soldiers that was in the 501st, your boyfriend. He saw your disheveled state and a ghost of a smile appeared on his face.

" I'm sorry cyar'ika,I didn't mean to wake you" he said softly.

" It's ok, come in" Was your reply.

You moved away from the door so he could step inside, you both sat down on the small couch that you had in the room.

“ So what brings you here at four in the morning? “ you asked, a bit of sarcasm laced in your tone. The next thing he said surprised you.

“ We ship out in 2 hours...”

The 501st were supposed to be on leave for a few weeks and you were excited to get to spent some time with Dogma, but apparently plans had changed. He explained that they had been requested to help with the battle on Umbara alongside General Kenobi’s battalion the 212th.

“ How long until you get back?” you asked anticipating something reasonable considering they were supposed to have a 3 week leave in the upcoming days.

“ Rex doesnt know.” he replied. Dogmas comm went off but he hesitated to answer, which was very unlike him. He looked at you

“Well,” you said “Answer it”

He sighed and hit the button, then Rex’s voice rang out.

“ Times up Dogma, I need you back in the hangar.”

“ Yes sir” your boyfriend responded. He hit the button again and the call ended

“ Im sorry mesh’la, if i had known sooner i'd have told you” he said with a downcast face.

“Hey, its ok I understand, duty calls sweetheart” you answered cupping his face with your hands. both of you stood up and he wrapped you in a hug. Dogmas hugs were the best, they were warm and they made you feel safe, he pulled away and kissed your forehead gently.

“I'll miss you” he whispered into your hair

“ I know love, ill miss you to. Promise you will call when you can?” you asked

“ I promise” he said with one last peck to your lips.

“I'll see you when you get back” you called as he made his way to the door. He turned and blew you a kiss as the door shut. you flopped back down onto your bed sighing. Dating a clone was interesting to say the least, yet you wouldn't trade it for the world.

Weeks went by after that day, he commed you twice and then the messages dwindled to nothing. another week went by in silence, you were beyond worried. You had tried comming Rex, but with no avail, you also tried Anakin and he had picked up, but explained that he was called off of Umbara and replaced with a jedi named Krell. Confused you had bid him goodbye and hung up. Another two weeks went by and then a beacon of hope found its way to you. Anakin, who was the only one who knew of you relationship with Dogma, commed you one morning with intell that the 501st would be returning in the next couple of days, you asked him about your beloved clone, but that was all the info he had. So patiently you waited.

Finally on the third day you overheard a few troopers talking about them being back, soo straight to the hangar you went. when you made it to the 501st bay you found them unloading the ships, supplies, e-vac’s with wounded men, and artillery were all being taken off the ship. you scanned the crowd of almost identical faces, but Dogma wasn't there. Rex, who also knew of your relationship with Dogma, walked up to you.

“ Rex! have you seen-" you began, but he held up a hand causing you to stop

" Ah, y/n before you finish, there's something i need to tell you..."

Rex pulled you aside and explained what happened,

" He was sentenced to a court martial y/n, i'm so sorry."

You gaped at him in disbelief, your Dogma sentenced to a court trial for following orders!?! For doing what he was trained to do? That was absurd!

" Where are they keeping him?" You asked turning to head back to your quarters.

"The detention block... why?" Rex replied a bit suspicious.

"No reason" you said walking away.

Rex watched you walk away already knowing your plan, but hey, who was he to stop you.

You made your way through the corridors of the base heading towards your quarters. When you got inside you immediately locked the door and got to work, you pulled out a storage container from under your bunk and put the few belongings you had inside of it, then you started making a plan. You were a mechanic and an engineer, you knew this base like the back of your hands, you were going to break Dogma out and then run away with him. As cliche as it sounds it was the best you could come up with. You just so happened to own a bit of land on a planet that wasn't very civilized yet that you used when you were on leave. That's where you would go, no one would find you there. All you had to do was stage a jailbreak, and that's exactly what you did.

Later that evening you brought your belongings to the small stuttle you owned in one of the less used hangars, then from there you used the ventilation ducts to your advantage easily making your way down to the detention level without being discovered. Once above the central area you peered out through one of the vents, there were two clones on guard, as usual for this hour of the evening. The two shock troopers were just having a normal conversation, and you deemed them distracted enough for you to quietly drop down from the opening in the ceiling. You landed on your feet as quietly as possible and waited to see if the two guards had heard you. Their conversation paused for a moment but it picked back up a second afterwards. As slowly and quietly as possible you made your way around the corner and then sprinted down the hall. Checking cells as you went, you passed one that stood out to you. The ray shield was up, but at first glance no one was in the cell, which was odd. Then you took a double take and realized that there was indeed someone in the cell, curled up in the corner was a clone, not just any clone though. It was Dogma, he had his knees hugged to his chest, head resting on them and he was shaking. The sight broke your heart, you walked up to the control panel and took the front of the box off. The noise made Dogma look up, your eyes met as he walked over to where you were standing. You held a finger to your lips signaling to him to be quiet, you turned back to the panel knowing you would have to be fast. Once the wire was cut the alarms would sound and you would have company in less than 30 seconds. You glanced at Dogma and he nodded. You began sifting through the wires, yep just what you thought, the red one. They should really change the color you thought to yourself, you held your breath and cut the wire. The alarms immediately started blaring, but the ray shield went down. You grabbed his hand and ran, looking up and down the walls for a vent opening. A few yards down the corridor there was a vent big enough for both of you to fit through you dropped to your knees and took the grate off of the duct. You let Dogma in before you and crawled in behind him, you re attached the grate right as the boot falls of the troops searching for Dogma passed by. You both held your breath as the footsteps faded letting out a sigh when they were gone. You guided Dogma back to the hangar and bolted through the door, running straight into Rex...

" Rex! I can explain!" you began, pulling Dogma behind you,

" No need, I'll stall them " he replied starting to walk towards the hangar doors

"So you aren't going to stop us?" Dogma asked, baffled.

" No im not, now go quickly before they find out you're here!" Rex exclaimed turning his head to look back at you. You grabbed his arm before he could get to far

"Thank you " you breathed, he gave you a nod and with that you and Dogma sprinted for the ship. Powering it on and setting coordinance for the planet you spent your leaves on, once out of the atmosphere you set the hyperdrive and jumped to lightspeed.

Leaning back in your seat you let out a breath you didn't realize you were holding and looked over at Dogma. He was staring off into space no emotion present on his face. You moved to kneel in front if him and took his hands in yours, your eyes met, his were full of tears. He just about collapsed into you causing you to sit against the panel with him in between your legs. He buried his head in your neck and you could feel him start to cry silently. You whispered reasurances and promises into his hair, you knew that the trauma he had experienced would take a long while to heal, but for now you could promise him one thing

" Everything is going to be alright cyare, we're going home"

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

So. My first fic is done... I really hope you like it. Dogma may be a bit out of character so I'll apologize for that. Thank you so much for the ask and the support<3 Hope it is as requested and any feedback is welcome.

#clone wars #Dogma #star wars #dogma x reader #gender neutral reader

33 notes · View notes

zipstick-writes · 4 years

Text

Inktober 2020 Day 16 - Rocket

The crew of the brand-new Galactic Navy ship named the Skeld had just departed for a newly-discovered planet, Polus, that Earth scientists had determined would be able to support human life with minimal terraforming. Their mission was to join the established research centre and finish the job.

But for now, the crew, consisting of newly-trained Navy recruits Princey, Dad, Hot Topic, Logan, Trash Man, and Janusss, had to complete the in-flight maintenance to keep the ship in as perfect a condition as was possible while on board, as was made standard by the inter-planetary signing of the 3128-AD Quality Control Act.

Normally, this would be a relatively uncomplicated process. However, the crews of many other ships that had departed from the same Space-Dock had reported impostors murdering crewmates and interfering with vital functions of the ship, often resulting in total system faliures.

And thus, the crew of the Skeld were constantly on the lookout for any suspicious activity from their fellow Astronauts. This is their story.

Day 1

The six climbed down the ladder from the bunk-room above the cafeteria and checked the screen on the southern-facing wall to see which faults had been detected by the ship’s systems overnight. One by one they walked up and touched their tablets to the info-port on the side of the screen, logging their tasks to them.

“Looks like I’ve got to submit my bio-scan.” Logan said, reading from his tablet screen. “Would one of you please accompany me so that they can verify my innocence, should anything happen?”

“That’s quite suspicious of you, isn’t it, Logan?” Trash Man giggled. “Sounds just like what the impostor would say.”

Princey shook his head. “How do we know it’s not you, brother? Accusing another right off the bat like that-“

“Alright kiddos, that’s quite enough fighting.” Dad cut in, glancing at his tablet.

“I’m older than you, remember?” Princey interrupted again.

“Princey, will you shut up?” Sighed Hot Topic exasperatedly.

“I’ve got to scan myself in the Med Bay too,” Dad said through the mounting chaos. “I’ll come with ya, Lo.”

“Thank you. This will be adequate.”

Having downloaded the blaster records from the weapons room, Hot Topic was on his way to Administration to upload them to the International Space Agency database. He was at the door when he heard footsteps behind him in the cargo Storage. He turned around, seeing Trash Man standing in the door frame of the hallway.

“Hello, Hot Topic!” He greeted. Overly cheerful for there being a potential murderer on board, Hot Topic noted suspiciously.

“Trash man. Hi.” He responded, measuring his tone carefully so that his suspicion wasn’t noticeable. Hopefully. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, I just came to swipe my card. How about you? What are you up to?”

“I’m uploading the data from our weapons systems to HQ.” He said, narrowing his eyes at Trash Man behind his helmet. Despite not being able to see past his helmet, Trash Man seemed to catch onto Hot Topic’s suspicion and stopped talking, moving on to attempting to swipe his Crewmate ID card.

“Ugh, why is this damn thing so goddamn difficult?” He mumbled, swiping his card furiously back and forth in the machine.

“Trash Man! Stop, you’re gonna damage the reader.”

Trash man stopped swiping and looked up at Hot Topic.

“It’s really not that difficult,” Hot Topic said, and having completed the upload was now walking over to where Trash Man was holding his card defeatedly. “Here, give me that card. I’ll do mine, then I’ll do yours for you. Okay?”

“Thanks, Topicy!” Trash Man responded.

“And don’t call me Topicy.” He said. Hot Topic swiped his own card, pleased when the light blinked green the first time. He then swiped, or rather attempted to swipe, Trash Man’s card, but was surprised when the red light blinked and the machine buzzed.

“A bad swipe? That’s weird.”

He was about to try again, when the warning lights began flashing and the alarm beeped loudly and repeatedly. The automated computer-voice repeated the phrase, Oxygen Filter Damaged, followed by a countdown of 30 seconds.

Hot Topic jumped, haphazardly throwing the card back at Trash Man and seeing him move from where he was leaning casually against the wall.

He rushed towards the oxygen room, hands shaking slightly as he inputted the code. Janusss and Dad were standing behind him, having entered O2 after him.

He breathed a sigh of relief. “That was close.”

“It sure was, Kiddo,” Dad remarked, “I wonder what could’ve caused that?”

“The Impostor, of course. Why else would the system fail?” Janusss said sarcastically.

“Oh of course, I’m so sorry for being so ignorant, Lord Janusss.” Hot topic snarked back, bowing over-dramatically. He (figuratively) straightened up, and said, more seriously this time, “I’m heading over to the Cafeteria. Trash Man’s acting off. And his card wouldn’t read in Admin.”

“Trash Man’s always acting off.” Dad replied. He paused to think for a moment, “But I suppose it’s better safe than sorry. I’ll come with you.”

EMERGENCY MEETING

The three remaining crewmates arrived at the Cafeteria and seated themselves around the central table.

“What happened?” Princey asked.

“There’s something off about Trash Man.” Hot Topic explained. “He followed me into Admin saying he was there to swipe his card, but the reader wouldn’t take it. Not even when I did it for him. And the O2 sabotage happened while my back was turned. He could’ve done it.”

“Was there any noticeable change of behaviour that indicated he was being imitated?” Logan asked.

“Well no,” Hot Topic replied, “But I can’t help but feel like the sabotage was a distraction to draw people away if he was about to.. y’know, kill me.”

“I’m sure that’s just your anxiety clouding your judgement. I realise my brother can be a bit… How do I put this? Bizarre, but that’s no reason to accuse him of sabotage.”

“I’m with Princey.” Logan said, and Hot Topic was sure he could hear him say ‘for once’ under his breath. “We understand your concern, but it’s simply not enough evidence to eject him.”

“Skip?” Dad asked.

“Skip.” Princey and Janusss responded in sync.

No one was ejected. (Skipped)

1 Impostor Remains

The nighttime alarm sounded, indicating the end of the work day, and the crewmates returned to their bunks and settled down to sleep.

Day 2

The crewmates once again descended the ladder and downloaded their daily tasks, this time in silence. There was no conversation as the six walked in different directions towards their daily tasks.

Logan and Princey set off towards storage to refuel the engines, and Dad went with Hot Topic towards navigation to set a course. Trash Man went off towards electrical maintenance to repair corrosion to the wires.

Janusss made his way over to the reactor.

Once inside, he opened a wiring panel to the reactor’s left. He took out a pocket knife and snapped a couple of wires.

Just enough to cause some trouble, he thought. Checking there was no one around, and glancing at the nearby camera to make sure it was inactive, and opened the hatch leading to the ventilation system. He quietly climbed inside, shutting the hatch behind him.

He lifted up the vent and poked his head out, checking he was alone.

Coast’s clear.

He climbed out silently, right as Trash Man rounded the corner. He was about to climb back in, but it was too late. He’d been seen.

Trash Man made to turn around, but Janusss was faster. He lunged, pulling out his knife, and stabbed him in the back.

“One down, four to go.” He hissed.

He was about to return to the vent when it occurred to him. He could get away with this easily.

Janusss opened the panel for the lights and flicked the switches up, disabling the lights on the whole ship. Satisfied, he then went back in the vents and crawled swiftly to the reactor. He poked his head out. Nobody was there. He set off back to electrical, and after a few moments Logan was beside him, having come from the upper engine.

The others were crowded around the panel, and as soon as a light switch was flicked into place it was switched back again.

I could get another one here.

He pulled out his gun, and fired at random. Logan dropped to the floor, and before the others could react, he hid the pistol in his pocket again.

The others abruptly abandoned the lights and looked around frantically. Janus did the same.

Dad was the first to realise who’d been hit.

“Logan.” He cried. “They got Logan!”

Janusss feigned a look of shock before realising that he was wearing a helmet that rendered his face unreadable. Princey stepped back, turning towards where Janusss had killed Trash Man.

“Look.” He said. “Trash Man’s dead too.” He knelt down beside his brother. “I swear on my beautifully manicured sword I will have revenge-“

He was cut off by Dad, who told him they were going to the Cafeteria to have a discussion.

“Who did it?” Hot Topic asked.

“It wasn’t me,” Dad said. “I was clearing asteroids with Princey. He can vouch for me.” It’s true.”

“It’s true.” Princey said. “We were together the whole time.”

“Well, me and Logan were in the top engine before the lights cut.” Janusss explained. It was a half-truth; as he’d always say, the best lies contain half the truth. “I was refuelling it and Logan was realigning it.” He could almost hear Logan (and probably Trash Man as well) screaming at him from beyond the grave. But he knew the others bought it. They had seen him and Logan enter together, after all, and they nodded along to the deception.

A sudden voice jolted Janusss out of his thoughts. “What about you, kiddo?” Dad asked, and it was directed at Hot Topic. “You’re the only one who’s not spoken yet.”

Hot Topic was hunched over, seeming nervous despite the space suit hiding his face. “I was in the Med Bay, inspecting the samples.”

I can get one more, Janusss thought. I just need to twist this a bit.

“It may just be me thinking this,” He began, “But it does seem a little suspicious that you’re the only one of us without an alibi.”

Princey and Dad nodded in agreement. “Although I hate to admit it, Janusss is right. You’ve got no-one to verify what you were doing.” Princey said. “Sorry, Emo.” He added.

Hot Topic sighed. “Fine. Eject me. But one of you is lying, I just know it.”

Princey and Janusss held Hot Topic’s arms behind his back as they led him to the airlock, and he didn’t struggle. Dad pulled down the lever to open the door, and Janusss smiled to himself behind his visor.

Hot Topic was not The Impostor.

1 Impostor Remains.

Day 3

There was no conversation as the final 3 remaining loaded their tasks onto their tablets. They each went in a separate direction. Dad towards communications, Princey to the Med Bay, and Janusss into storage.

Dad was scared. There were only him and two others left. One of them was the impostor, and they’d only know for sure if they were caught. If they didn’t, they’d all end up dead.

Dad’s hands were shaking as he frantically tried to fix the wiring of the computer.

He heard footsteps behind him.

He turned.

Janusss was standing in the doorway.

Dad froze.

This is it.

Janusss walked towards him, and time seemed to slow.

A gunshot sounded throughout the ship. Everything went black.

DEFEAT

“Dammit!” Roman slammed his fists on the table. “How are you so good at this?” He asked, glaring at Janus. “This is the third game in a row you’ve won!”

“What can I say?” He said, smirking. “Deceit’s my thing. This game was made for me.”

Patton rolled his eyes, smilling good-naturedly. “Alright, settle down. Who’s up for a rematch?”

“Oh, you’re,” Logan said, pausing to hold up a vocab card, “’On’.”

“If Jan gets impostor again he’s gonna win!” Roman shouted.

“I’m just better than you.” Janus snarked. “You’ll just have to deal with it.”

Virgil smirked. “I can’t wait till I get impostor. Oh, I am so gonna get my revenge.”

“Hey, revenge is my thing!” Remus shouted. “Who knows, maybe I’ll get it first.” He said quietly, smiling maliciously at Janus.

Virgil started another round. “Let’s do this.”

#fanfiction #my fics #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #inktober #inktober 2020 #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #among us #among us au

36 notes · View notes

roostandroot · 3 years

Text

Top 3 Winter Care Tips for Your Backyard Chickens...

We all know that regardless of where we reside, winters can be a concerning time for backyard chicken owners. Less daylight means less eggs and the cold and snowy weather can make simple chores seem so much worse. Chickens are pretty hardy, but there are some things you can do to help them, and you, during the cold, dark winter months. To help, we’ve put together this helpful guide for how to care for your chickens during the winter.

1# Refrain from Supplemental Heat

Chickens do much better in cold temperatures than they do in high temperatures. After all, they are fluffy and downy, and they love to huddle close together on the roost bar at night. Their feathers are ideal for trapping warm air and their collective body heat keeps them sufficiently warm as is. Putting a heat source in your chicken coop may prove more dangerous than safe. Any straw/bedding placed inside the coop along with the unpredictable motions of chickens may be a recipe for disaster.

Please do not put sweaters on them either. They are built for their environment; sweaters are another human novelty that will do more harm than good.

2# Keep Your Coop Ventilated

Never seal off your coop during the winter. Chickens give off a lot of moisture with their breathing and their droppings. If you seal it off completely then it will cause problems with ammonia build up and moisture, causing respiratory problems in your chickens.You need ventilation always, winter and summer, in your coop to keep humidity down and prevent mold in any loose bedding.

With our experience we have solved this problem with our above door ventilation design and Coro clear, UV Stabilized panel covers. These removable covers fit on the outside of your wired panels and help keep snow and cold rain out of your run to protect your flock from the elements. (Our Coro Clear Panels are custom fitted to Roost & Root Coops Only)

3# Switch Up Their Diet In The Winter

Chickens will usually eat more during the winter months to keep their bodies warm so you will want to have plenty of their regular food available to them.

Feeding your hens scratch grains before bedtime will fill them up and help increase body heat as more energy is required to digest this flock favorite treat.

Fresh greens are scarce in most parts of the world in the winter, therefore adding dried meal worms or black soldier fly larva are a great source of extra protein. Chickens typically molt in the Fall, but there may be instances in which they will molt late into winter as well. As your chickens molt, they’ll need additional protein to compensate the energy expended to regrow their feathers. A few flock favorite treats our birds love during molting season include canned fish (tuna in water, no more than 1x a week), yogurt, black oil sunflower seeds, and oatmeal.

That’s our top three winter tips for chickens. It’s important to remember that chickens are very hearty and well-equipped naturally when it comes to winter.

Keep in mind, they have survived through prehistoric times and evolution, and they did it without sweaters!

If you’re looking to buy a ready-made chicken coop, large chicken coop, Greenhouse,or raised garden beds, consider viewing our selection at roostandroot.com! To that end, you are free to drop any queries to us.

#chicken coop #coop #large chicken coop

2 notes · View notes

oceanera12 · 4 years

Text

Fives has the Force (AU edition)

“Ooooh... meteor shower.” - Hevy (Rookies)

Part 2: Rookies

The Rishi Outpost is… boring. Which is good for Fives. This is something everyone agrees on. Away from Jedi, away from the battles, away from other clones. Fives is hidden away, safe and sound. As such, no one complains, despite how boring and dull the routine becomes.

It also gives Fives time to read through and practice the notes General Shaak Ti left him.

Domino takes turns helping Fives with the exercises. Most of them involve just sitting on the ground and clearing his mind. But even if clones are trained to sit and wait (ambushes, scouting, etc.) just sitting on the ground, eyes closed, and focusing on breathing is so boring.

Of all the Dominos, Droidbait is the one most willing to sit and do nothing. Actually, he grows to enjoy the “meditation” things.

After a week on Rishi, Fives wakes up in a cold sweat, holding in screams and tears. He wakes up Echo in a panic and the next hour is Fives shakily explaining he saw Droidbait get shot, Cutup get eaten by a Rishi eel, and then the Rishi station blow up in a massive fireball with a bunch of droids and Hevy inside.

Echo’s pretty sure it was a nightmare at first. Obviously not fun to watch and concerning. Then Fives has it again a few nights later. And then again. And then he snaps out of one of his “meditation sessions” with it. And now Echo is researching Jedi abilities again and finds something called “Force visions” and he’s just “WELP. This might be a problem.”

Course they can’t tell their commanding officer about it because “clone’s don’t have the Force.”

Also, they don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or how to really prevent it. Or if they even can prevent it. But Force curse it all, they’re going to try and at least be prepared to fight or something!

So Domino is now doing a lot of target practice during their freetime, looking at battle tactics and strategies of invasions of the base, and familiarizing themselves with all weapons and ammunition on the base.

Cutup and Echo team up on researching the Rishi eel’s and also other giant animals looking for ways to kill them.

Hevy and Fives practice hand to hand almost constantly, getting tips from Sergeant O’Niner who has never seen shinies throw themselves into this much training on a station outpost.

Droidbait throws himself into medical procedures and practices. Some of them he learned on Kamino, but most of them new.

And unbeknown to all, Fives is trying to lift things with his head. Or at least nudge them. Tripping a droid or edging a grenade closer to it’s target seemed like a good idea. At first, he practiced alone, in his barracks, using a training ball clones used for hand-eye coordination practice. But when he started making progress, he tried tripping anyone who walked by him in the commander center. Sometimes, it worked. But mostly, it didn’t.

It was a month, maybe two later.

Meteor showers happen often on Rishi. About once a week. So Fives doesn’t know exactly why he was on edge. It didn’t help when the sentry didn’t respond to the Sergeant. Droidbait and Nub are ordered to find him.

Out of pure instinct, Fives grabs two blasters and tosses them to Droidbait and Nubs. Nubs looks confused but takes the blaster anyway. Droidbait is immediately on guard.

“DROIDS!”

Twelve Commando Droids vs seven clones (and pretty much zero battle experience on the latter’s account)

Nub goes down almost instantly. Droidbait was able to back up and get towards the command center before getting shot through his arm. He was grabbed by Sergeant O’Niner who threw him back into the room and to cover.

The rest of Domino is able to take out four of the Commando droids before the Sergeant goes down. With that, it’s just Domino. Cutup manages to close the main doors and hardwire it shut. Hevy and Echo carry Droidbait behind the control panel to better cover while Fives readies the emergency supplies the squad had hidden around the base (aka, the backpack of droid poppers and thermal detonators in the ventilation shaft, along with a Z-6 and sniper rifle)

Echo starts working on cutting the all clear signal just as the droids break through doors. Two Commando’s go down instantly from Hevy’s Z-6. The other six began to press in. One manages to get through but is heavily damaged and taken down quickly by Cutup and Droidbait, both covering Echo. The next follow suit. Two more are taken out by droid poppers and some well placed shots.

Three droids remain and Hevy’s gun overheats. Cutup and Fives take the fight to the droids, hand to hand. Droidbait takes a few pot shots here and there. Echo hurries to turn the all clear signal off.

Everything happens at once.

Droid #1 grabs Fives and throws him clear across the room with a very hard punch. Then the droid pins Cutup to the ground, his arm is snapped in two and then given a few broken ribs for good measure, before the droid reaches for his gun. Droid #2 yanks Echo away from the control panel and throws him across the room. Echo hits his head and falls unconscious. Then Droid #2 finds Droidbait, lifts him by the neck and begins to slowly choke him to death. Droid #3 shoots Hevy through his arm twice, then through the torso, sending the clone to his knees, then to the ground.

Pushing himself to his feet, Fives finds himself looking at a scene of certain death. He screams, “NO!” and reaches out his hands in desperation, like he can stop it. A shockwave spreads from Fives and it throws all the droids back (think Ezra in Rebels when Zeb is almost killed by Kallus).

Cutup manages to grab his gun in the confusion and shoot his would be killer. Droidbait ignores the pain in his injured arm, grabbing the commando’s head and ripping it from the body with full force (while screaming in pain). Fives is too shocked to recover from what just happened to help Hevy but Echo wakes up just in time to shoot the stupid thing.

No more droids left.

Echo heads to the medbay, leaving Fives to position the three injured Dominos and get Cutup to stay down. The two treat their brothers to the best of their knowledge (Droidbaits the best medic, but he isn’t exactly able to help other than give some friendly advice or things he’d read).

None of the Domino’s mentions Five’s Force push. Echo doesn’t even ask before he shoots the video surveillance module, effectively destroying all video evidence of the attack.

The radio was destroyed in the fire-fight and the “all-clear signal” button had also been destroyed, leaving it hard-wired at the moment.

Echo and Fives grab a blaster for each injured man, then take the Z-6, sniper rifle, and a few other goodies for themselves. Then they face the door and wait for whatever comes next.

With the radio down, no one receives the call from the inspection team.

When Commander Cody and Captain Rex find a dead deck officer, a few downed Commando droids, and a cut hole in the blast doors, they’re ready for anything. So it’s a bit of surprise to see five shinies (three of them lying on the hard ground, injured but alive, and two of them holding blasters ready).

General’s Skywalker and Kenobi is alerted immediately through the inspection ship’s radio and Rishi is secured in a matter of minutes.

Domino is taken aboard the Resolution, all five being placed in the medbay, despite some protests. Some bacta and rest for a few days fixes the crew right up, ready, and willing, to return to Rishi base.

Except for one problem:

Rex had asked Echo and Fives to explain what had happened on Rishi. Echo had done most of the talking (as Fives was a terrible liar) and even without the Force visions or powers, the tale had impressed the Captain.

He had told General Skywalker, who had also been impressed.

Which is how Domino squad finds they are now assigned to the 501st Legion.

Under a famous Jedi General

Around a lot more clones (which translates to eyes and ears)

And in more dangerous situations (in which Fives may or may not do something stupid, whether on accident or on purpose)

...

None of them can sleep that night.

((Random note that I noticed rewatching Rookies recently: Did anyone else notice when Nub and Droidbait went to look for the deck officer THEY DIDN’T TAKE A BLASTER? Seriously, they just walk down the stairs, come face to face with the Commando droids and yell “DROIDS!” as loud as they can and then they both get shot and die. I mean, I get nothing is supposed to happen on Rishi and they’re all relaxed but TAKE YOUR KRIFFING BLASTER, DANG IT. THEN YOU MIGHT HAVE LIVED LONGER.))

Part 3: https://oceanera12.tumblr.com/post/615352813810302976/fives-has-the-force-au-edition

96 notes · View notes

rixxy8173571m3w1p3 · 4 years

Text

The Truths Found On Petram Viridios IV (1/?)

What started out as an idea for a short one shot grew into a multichap that I'm almost done editing. I think 🤔 it'll be either 4 or 5 chapters long depending on how long each chapter will be after I'm done editing. Anyway, I hope you guys will enjoy.

In this fic you learn how easily things can change, but how it effects you isn't always a bad thing.

________________

Chapter 1: The Phenomenon

There was little difference to what was happening around you at the moment. There were no little green men, or yellow submarines, neither were there tangelos, or bags of golden rings, but there was a blue-haired man with plenty of dreams. Still, life was swell; summer was around the corner, and you were reading in the garage just to be near Zeta-7; he was working on his latest piece of tech, and you were distracted by his charming quirks and ticks. If you hadn't known any better, you'd say it was business as usual. Yet, it was because you had been acquainted with Rick that the previous blindspots of your world were made known to you; conscious of the rare events which were going to take place in another quadrant of space.

A phenomenon was going to occur; one which would not happen again for another 1000 years; the blooming of the Milleannos flower. Legends say that those who touch its pollen might live forever, and those who smell its perfume might be cured of all that ails them, but those claims were supposedly unsubstantiated. There was to be a gala to celebrate the occasion; all in attendance were respectable, distinguished guests and because of Rick, you were also invited, but there were rules; strict guidelines which were to be obeyed unless you wished to throw away your life. And although you weren't happy about them, you were willing to abide by them for Rick's sake. However, there were a few things you didn't understand. "Rick, why won't we be allowed to dance together?"

His hands paused their activity, and his body sagged a little; dreading the reminder not because he's informed you already, but because it pained him to remind himself that he couldn't spend a once in a lifetime occasion with you. "B-because according to the laws of Petram Viridios IV, you are assigned a um - a party companion which is determined according to the alignment of your spine, carbon dioxide levels, as well as daily water intake. And due to the variety of guests, everyone must stand at least six feet apart to avoid air poisoning. However, if given an a-air helmet in order to assist with breathing, then I believe that the last rule isn't as severe. It's - there is a-a lot to remember."

Currently, he was piecing together the circuits and connecting the wires which would power his reflective shield. It was going to be worn under his dress shirt and would be undetectable under their scanners; as a precaution of course. "Ricky, you know I barely drink water." You weren't a fan of water, but you enjoyed flavored beverages and if you did drink water, it was always carbonated first. "I mean, I can get past the distance thing, but what am I supposed to do if I'm assigned to someone I don't like, and have to spend hours being bored and jealous that you're next to gorgeous, realistic fembots from Westworld?"

Unlike you, Zeta-7 drank so much water, you wondered how he wasn't rushing to the bathroom every five minutes. The only other people who drank that much water were beauty gurus who wanted to keep their skin in tip-top shape; you could really try harder if you wanted to. Good naturedly, he answered. "Gosh, y-you don't have to worry about that. I know a fembot when I-I see one."

You raised a brow at this, but seeing as he meant it literally, you listened on. "No s-siree, I won't be assigned a party companion because I'm going t-t-to be assisting the king in protecting their sacred relic."

How Rick became designated to assist with such a task was beyond you, but there seemed to be a glimmer of slight pride in the fact that he'd be so lucky and privileged as to be near the legendary flower, as well as to the beings who revered it. He was determined to find out the truth behind its properties, and if his hypothesis proved true, then he had a plan. You enjoyed when he was diverted with schemes; not the kind which was evil in nature, but the ones which could end happily or inconclusively. Anyway, you two were discussing how to go about it all.

The discussion had gaps of pause where he'd need to concentrate on bits of wiring that needed to be soldered or bent. Without distraction, you were more aware that it was humid, especially with the garage door being fully open for proper ventilation; bits of your hair stuck to your face and to the back of your neck despite how you'd try to tie it. As annoying as it was, it did have its draw; every so often, you'd catch Rick staring and you'd feel a thrill for it could be a year or ten years, but his shy tendencies would never stop being endearing; why he felt the need to reign himself when you were cool with him checking you out was something you hoped he'd someday become more comfortable with, but for now you'd simply giggle and wink at him to let him know you knew. He did his best to focus on the task at hand, but it wasn't going as well as he had hoped for it happened more than once that you'd have to hand him a tool he was blindly reaching out for. "You wouldn't happen to know who my party companion is," you inquired, as you were tying your hair up for the umpteenth time. "do you? And if you do, can't you change them?"

Giving you that look which always preceded his speeches of why he couldn't do that random illegal thing, he explained with kindly patience. "I could change th-the records, and assign you to someone I know, but that wouldn't be legal."

"I know."

"However," he brightened as he paused his work to face you fully. "I do have a copy of the guest list. Give me a-a moment to pull it up on my computer. Hmm," he wondered more to himself then out loud. "that's odd."

"What is it?"

Drumming his fingertips on his workbench, he double-checked his calculations, then went over and wrote it all out on a chalkboard to be sure. Tapping the freshly used chalk tip to his chin in thought, leaving a little powder on his face, he nodded when it seemed satisfactory. "According to um - to my calculations, it's possible that it's either the Salamandrian chemist, V'gha Khadaka or the Chordatan Knight, Noathamas."

"Is there a correlation between the two?"

"Other than their similar water intake levels, they both enjoy their privacy. However, I'm a-a little stumped as to how it might be possible to be assigned to them both. None of your occupations are similar, neither is there a species similarity, but I'm sure I'll figure it out before the event."

Great, just great. That sort of information wasn't all that helpful, but you pressed a kiss to his cheek to ease the worry which he had been hiding. You wondered if it was too late to back out, but for the most part you were determined to be there for him, even if it meant odd company. "Alright. Um… is there something I should keep in mind before I go dress shopping?"

A quick glance at your current outfit made him smile. You were wearing an old band tee and jeans with so many patches, that they were more patch then jean. "I-I don't think so. Almost anything is fine. Though, y-you might want to avoid plant-based materials in favor of synthetics just in case."

"Okay, I think I can do that, but don't be surprised if I look like I just walked out of a 1980s prom. I'll have you know that being slightly flammable is a dream of mine."

He chuckled at that and patted your shoulder. "Hohoho, I'm sure it'll be fine. You - you always look pretty in whatever you wear."

"If you mean that I'll be so fine, that I'll light up the room with my razzle-dazzle, then you better watch out. You never know who'll be charmed without my knowing."

Now, there had been little to no weight to your phrasing just now, but he felt differently. Giving your shoulders a squeeze, there was a distant, far off look in his eyes that you could only recall from specific occasions. It was a mix of longing, sadness, and regret, but you couldn't pin it on what exactly. It was as though he were trying to convey by sight that there was something he ought to do, that he ought to say, but as quickly as it had appeared, it left and was replaced by acceptance. He pulled away and returned to his previous task while you used a spare computer to begin the search for the perfect dress. He said it'll be fine, and you certainly hoped so.

____________

Adjustments in gravity made you feel as though you could jump in and out of craters as though you were wearing moon shoes; that is until you stepped onto a ship or station, then you felt as though you had fifty pounds tied to each foot. You were grateful for the terrain stabilizers that Rick placed in your flats a few adventures ago, otherwise, you would've already been worn out.

You two arrived a few minutes apart by way of the designated ship which held a variety of guests. To explain, the ship itself was a marvel and a work of beauty as far as intergalactic travel was concerned; its mechanical parts were held together by a compound whose main ingredient was a type of scarlet amber. Piece by piece, it had been crafted by a mixture of living matter and tech so advanced, that it'd have taken 300 years of Earth-based studies to understand a fraction of how one of its panels could work; probably sooner for someone like Rick.

Your eyes trailed the conduits as you were led through hallways that seemed to spiral and spill into larger hallways with varying temperatures and design and you wondered how it was those conduits crossed over and branched off like veins, but you had no time to find out and didn't feel privileged enough to ask as you were led into a cabin. Multiple voices hushed, but resumed to their usual loudness once you had settled into what appeared to be a loveseat with the coloring and texture of a pumpkin; it was your assigned seating, but it was not as soft as you would have liked.

It wouldn't be till later that you'd find out that Rick had traveled in a cabin on level 4 while you had been on level 2. In your cabin was a being composed of pure energy, with a name not spelled in letters but in frequencies, who was one of the musicians. A few feet away, was V'gha Khaḍaka; he was tall, sure-looking, had smooth, striped skin which glistened, and a tail strong enough to break someone's spine in a blink; the good thing was that he hadn't been trained in combat, but was simply a scientist who enjoyed the pursuit of knowledge. And a few feet away from the Salamandrian chemist was the knight Noathamas; he stood at half your height, but his chest was puffed out in such a way that made him appear larger, while his round amber eyes and curly whiskers gave him a soft, cuddly appearance; you had been warned by Rick that his appearance did not reveal much about his character and to watch out for him.

It was uncommon but not unheard of to be assigned multiple party companies as you had been; you were matched up to both V'gha and Noathamas due to your odd chemical makeup. Who would've thought that drinking a La Croix before leaving home would confuse their scanners? Goodness, you were grateful that it was a quick trip, and when it was time to depart the ship, you were escorted by two guards before you were given a helmet; it was nearly invisible except for its indicator light which was shaped like a flower, and it blended in with your dress; a colorful sequin cocktail dress you found on eBay. Not far from you were both your companions, who gave off the impression that they were your entourage rather than dates for the night. You saw Rick from a distance, and you knew he was trying to play it cool, but his eyes were sparkling with affection, although he knew he was supposed to suppress it due to the strict traditions imposed by the royal family; he looked away as he was escorted by six guards, but part of you wished that he hadn't.

You took a deep breath to calm your giddiness; this wasn't the time to allow your emotions to carry you away and affect the mission which was to get through the evening. V'gha could pick up on your subtle changes in body language, and thanks to a universal translator in your helmet, you could understand him. "From what I understand," he commented with a surprisingly smooth, velvety voice. "he's the smartest man in the universe. Is that true?"

"Maybe," you replied nonchalantly, "but he's more than just a brain. I heard he's a great lover. Not really my type," you lied because Zeta-7 suggested that you keep the details of your relationship with him a secret; again for safety, but you thought boasting up his reputation wouldn't hurt. "though, to each his own."

"Do you know him personally?"

When questions like this were thrown at you, it made you wonder about the curious people who meant it to sound nice, but in actuality wanted to test the waters as to how much can they ask so soon. Glancing at your nails, you feigned disinterest. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give out that type of information."

"You two are the only humans here." he stated matter of factly. There were humanoid beings but he was right. "It doesn't take rocket science to figure that much out."

"How would you know," you retorted with an air of certainty. "you're not a rocket scientist."

"You're right, I'm not. However, I do dabble into it from time to time. I'm sure he does too. I can smell the exhaust from here."

Hmm, perhaps this event was going to be more interesting than you thought. You shared a look of understanding with the chemist, and thought that perhaps you wouldn't need to be so wary of him; his charisma gave him a charm you hadn't yet decided if it was welcomed or should be ignored; whether his earlier comment was out of egotism or curiosity. And before you could make a comeback, Noathamas commented. "Shall we find our assigned seating and continue from there?"

"Sounds fine. Why don't you two walk ahead," you suggested with a coolness you didn't know you had. "I'll be sure to follow."

When you were sure that they were far enough, you took out your miniature glass terrarium necklace, which held a shrunken sunflower that had an iridescent shimmer on its petals; the one Rick had given you after a memorable date; it was made to remind you of how he saw you and you were very glad it had gone undetected under the scanners you passed through. And in your mind's eye you could still see the glimmer and shine of his electric blue eyes as he had taken in your appearance this afternoon before you two departed Earth; oh how he had wanted to kiss you and hug you but had refrained from doing so in order to double-check if he had all his supplies. His compliments had been many as he drove into the inky blackness of space, but when he parked at the station which was at the midway point, and you two lined up to board the ship which took you to this strange world, his face became neutral; his job made him good at that. You kissed your lovely necklace, replaced it so that it laid underneath your dress collar, and your heart called out to him in the void which was Petram Viridios IV; hoping you wouldn't have to go the through the evening without seeing your beloved again before you made yourself appear neutral and made sure to stay at least six feet apart from everyone in your midst.

Tbc

#doofus rick #doofus rick x reader #Rick Sanchez x reader #j19ζ7 #j19z7 #rick j19z7 #Rick Sanchez #rick and morty fanfic #rick and morty fanfiction #rnm fanfic #rnm #my fanfiction #My fanfic #My writing #My works #fanfiction #rnm fanfiction

36 notes · View notes

seafleece · 4 years

Text

“beau?”

the voice is staticky in her comms, and she can’t tell if it’s because the speakers are giving out— they’re shit speakers, the fact she’s had them this long is a stupid miracle, stupid on her part, miracle on theirs— or because she just got stabbed.

what’s funny is, she doesn’t think it was supposed to be a fatal blow.

a warning, for sure, but you’re always trained to aim for the head if you’re going for the kill, anywhere else if you’re trying to slow someone down.

that was the point.

(“beau,” dairon says, “i see you have put the cockpit in the stomach.”

“yup,” she says, proud, rocks back on her heels.

“why is that?”

“because no one’s expecting it. you know how standard empire training goes, no one’s expecting a mech to get decapitated and keep fighting.”

“you won’t have a proper vantage point. the head is the intuitive place to pilot from. you don’t move with your stomach first.”

“i’ll learn,” she says. “this is gonna be good, dairon, i know it. you said to show you something new. this is my new. it’ll be opaque, no one’s gonna know where i am.”

“we’ll make this for you, beau,” dairon says, softer. “but what if a stranger wants to pull their punch and you get hurt?”

why would someone who doesn’t know me pull a punch, she doesn’t say, because she knows it’ll make dairon’s eyebrows knit together, and they’ll look at her sadly and ask her something like why don’t you believe people don’t want to hurt you, beauregard?

and she won’t know how to answer, and she’ll say something like isn’t that war? expecting the worst from each other? and dairon will say we are not soldiers, conflicted, like they don’t quite believe it themselves.

they’ll stand there in the same uniform, looking at one another, and get nowhere at all.)

she can still see out the glass beyond the cracks spiderwebbing it— the breached hull light is blinking bright orange, but it’s almost lost now that just about every light is blinking, at different speeds and in different shades, like her cockpit is full of fireflies. the mech in front of her is paused, still in its launching pose, and she wonders if they’ve figured it out, that something’s wrong.

there’s a horrible grinding noise as they retract the trident and she watches, bleak and bleary, as the middlemost prong is pulled back out of her sternum and water starts to flood in from the three holes punched inward.

it’s quiet, for a long moment.

(she cuts the audio cord to her alarms by herself before she takes off that night from zadash.

it takes some work, finding the panel and playing which-wire-won’t-kill-me, but she does it.

“beauregard,” dairon will ask her later, “why is your fuel light silent?”

“oh,” she says, “yeah. i don’t like the noise. it’s bad enough something’s wrong, you know? everything getting loud all at once never helps me think.”

and again, dairon looks at her for a long moment. “maybe,” she says, “alarms can also be to tell other people that you need help.”)

there’s not much light down here, except for the occasional sweep of headlights. she’d peeled off from the fight to go after the mech that seemed to be fleeing, hadn’t told anyone, and knows they can’t see the infinitesimally faint glow of her lights, not when her mech matches the water, won’t see the crumpled form of expositor 008 until it’s too late, symmetrical upper and lower halves splayed where she’s fallen, stupid opaque stomach cockpit full of water and empty of life.

she knows the transmitter’s been pierced through, but she presses the comm button anyway, heart sinking under the ensuing crackle. she doesn’t have long, not long enough for whoever asked to find out where she went and get her out.

water’s climbing her ankles at this point and she fumbles for her belt release, trying not to hyperventilate. the lights start to blink out one by one as their circuits short, and once she’s free of the restraint she leans back in her seat, curls sideways around the wound staining the fabric, spilling dark blood into darker water down below.

jester’s a healer, but she doesn’t know if there’s a med bay in the world that can restart a heart like they’ll need to.

the mech that had tried to flee stays in front of her for too long, head tilted down in an awkward facsimile of remorse. then, its thrusters kick on and it launches itself backward, into the dark, and she is alone.

(she looks over the railing at where 008’s last few plates are being fitted. dairon stands next to her, smile curling traitorously at the corner of her mouth.

it’s strange to see something she’d made realized, strange to think that there are multiple pairs of hands at work, making something for her.

the cockpit is almost invisible, at the junction of all four limbs and painted over the same deep blue as the rest of the mech. it’s a bit bizarre to look at, four perfectly symmetrical limbs, hinged into pairs, with the decoy cockpit the only thing to distinguish the arm pair from the leg pair. the place they all connect is slightly larger than it should be, impossible to fully disguise— it looks like a spider, it looks like something slightly wrong and infinitely dangerous.

“you know, it’s funny,” dairon says. “it always feels like they look like us, you know?”

“yeah,” beau says, and looks to where expositor 007 is a little ways further down the hangar, sleek and four-limbed but stood rigid and hatched open for repairs. in the artificial lights of the station it looks frozen, a stealthy thing finally caught, but beau has seen it move, knows how each piston compresses when dairon lands so they can move silent and fierce. the day they are caught is the day they die, but there is so much that can be done to keep that day from coming.)

what a funny pair they must make, her and 008, crumpled together, slowly blinking out. it’s almost peaceful, watching the shadows shift beyond the cockpit. why indeed, she thinks, would a stranger pull a punch, and is sad she will never learn.

the water rises to her waist, cold and dark, and it’s when she has her eyes closed that everything is bathed in light.

—

the cockpit of the traveler comes close enough that the glass touches, like an indirect kiss, and hazily she can see jester’s panicked face.

she knows what is about to happen, can only watch as the hinge of the traveler’s cockpit pops and everything depressurizes and jester pushes at the glass.

for a single moment as it lifts, jester hovers in front of her in the water, body backlit by the traveler’s high beams, and her hair lifts around her like a dark cloud, like a halo in negative. beau has never believed in god, before, but if divinity exists, she thinks, this is the form it takes.

then, jester is kicking in shards of the cockpit until she has a big enough hole and can pull beau through. she slides her arms helplessly around jester’s waist and allows herself to be dragged.

jester pulls the cockpit closed with a heave and there’s a second as the traveler starts to whirr where beau looks at her, panicked, before the water is jettisoned out through the airlock hatches and the ventilation pumps in the air reserve.

they both take loud, gasping breaths, and now that she’s in air again beau can feel her eyes watering from the pain. she reaches for jester weakly, and jester slumps against her in the pilot seat and sobs.

(“i’m always watching,” she says, head tipped into beau’s collarbone. the air reserve is cold and filtered, and they’re both shaking from it— or, at least beau is, and she hazily remembers that jester doesn’t get cold. jester’s tears are warm on her skin where they fall. “i promise. i’ll always look for you.”

the fight must still be going on, but for them it has ended— she kisses jester in the faint glow of the traveler’s controls, quiet and cold and still, and thinks that maybe she is done being unseen, that maybe it has always been a choice made when the option to be seen was never given.

jester shifts them after a while so she’s in the seat and beau’s in her lap, and takes them back to the surface like that, the traveler carrying them all— himself, reserves depleted, beau and jester, pressed together wet and cold and loving in the pilot’s seat, and expositor 008 dragged like a doll, a beautiful and broken thing— back home.)

#my writing #critical role #this is like. a partizan au.#beaujester #beauregard lionett #jester lavorre #expositor dairon #injury mention #blood mention #ask to tag

52 notes · View notes

jessipalooza · 4 years

Text

False Alarm

It had been lights out for six hours and even the spacers that lingered in the cantina on the Feldspar, drinking and talking and gambling, had been in bed and were asleep. That was, until the alarm sounded. The dark rooms and halls of the once-crew decks flashed red with urgency. A siren blared through every speaker in tandem with the flashing. A feminine voice roared with direction: SECURITY SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN BREACHED. INTRUDER ALERT. ALL PERSONNEL, FOLLOW LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES. SECURITY SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN BREACHED. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. It was something meant to induce panic, a scream for those on duty to leap into action.

Instead, there was an irritable groan and a tired, familiar voice that growled with exhaustion through the intercom, “False alarm—” There was a pause and Lhaz spoke louder, competing with the alert itself. “—AGAIN. We’re already on it. Try—“

--PERSONNEL, FOLLOW LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES. SECURITY SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN—

“TRY TO GET BACK TO SLEEP. WE’LL SHUT IT OFF. AS USUAL.”

Es’merelda had already rolled out of bed. She yawned as she tugged a loose shirt over her head, pulled up the last pair of pants she had worn, and stepped into her boots. Clumsily, she tightened the boots around her calves as she walked forward. She was ready for the private message when it came in.

“Captain—“

Her hand slapped down on the comm button and she greeted Lhaz’s voice with another yawn. “I know, I’m goin’, I’m goin’.”

“This is the fourth time this month.”

She did not bother responding. She knew. The malfunctions were happening more and more often, and it was to be expected. She glanced over her shoulder, spied that Nayala had already left – no doubt for meditation – and slipped out the door. Her body screamed at her to go back to sleep, but she eased herself into a jog, knowing full well that the citizens were more than likely dealing with screaming children that were upset their dreams had been interrupted.

INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. SECURITY SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN BREACHED. INTRUDER ALERT.

“Echuta,” Es’merelda muttered under her breath. With each speaker she passed, her ears throbbed from the volume. It would be a good thing, knowing when there were actual intruders on the ship. After all, they would certainly all be woken up. But a false alarm was annoying.

At least the path was second nature to her by this point. The first time had been a nightmare. After realizing the alert was a false alarm and calming the panic, she had discovered that the primary console on the bridge wouldn’t shut the alert off. It had taken two hours – two hours of the alarm blaring – to solve the mystery. It would only shut down properly if wires in a panel down in the laundry of all places was tampered with.

ALL PERSONNEL, FOLLOW LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES. SECURITY SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN BREACHED. INTRUDER--

It was times like that, stuck in the lift as it crawled its way down through the depths of the ship to the laundry, that Es’merelda regretted her decision to steal the Feldspar not once, but twice. She took a deep breath and held it. She willed herself to wake up. She exhaled, and as she did so, the doors slid open.

She was greeted with the smell of bleach and at least found it within herself to be thankful that the burning scent helped with lessening her need to lay down in the cleaned sheets and go back to sleep. With another yawn, she stumbled through the tubs of detergent, through the massive bins of old Republic uniforms, sheets, and rugs. She made her way to the wall panel that had been left open from time and time again needing it. Reaching her hand bravely in to the mass of wires, she grabbed for a thin black one. She tugged the wire, pushed it closer to the connector, and—

INTRUDER ALERT. INTR--….

Silence.

Es’merelda sighed in relief. The quiet was deafening and she let it sink in. She leaned against the wall, pressing her forehead against the cool metal. It was a small comfort against the lingering throb from last night’s drink.

“Captain?” Lhaz’s voice rang out gently over the comm. “Alarm’s off. Need anything before I go back?”

Her hand slid to the comm button and pressed down. “No. Yer good, sugar. Thanks as always.”

There was a pause. She could head the white noise in the back. He had not left just yet, and soon enough his voice came through again. Tentative. Quiet. “What happens when it’s not a false alarm?”

She pursed her lips. In the private of the laundry, she did not have to feign the cool and calm ease. She did not have to smile and wink and tell him they would figure it out. They would handle it. In the private of the laundry, she was able to consider seriously what she had been for years. She did not want to admit what would happen, but she knew. People would not believe the alarm and it would be easy for someone to slip in. Or worse, they could be overrun. Gangs that they had all been on bad terms with. The Empire. The Republic.

“Captain?”

Es’merelda pressed down the comm button again. She smiled so that she would sound convincing. “We’ll deal with it. But it’s getting’ fixed, ain’t it? We got the people for the job, don’t we?”

“I suppose.”

“It’s getting’ fixed up. It’ll be fine.” She paused and smiled a bit more, clawing for any semblance of warmth and ease that she could get against her exhaustion. “Go back to sleep, sugar. Yer a veatiuena when yer tired.”

“Kark uba.”

She laughed, but the sound morphed into a yawn. “Yeah, kark uba to you too. G’night.”

“G’night, Captain.”

Silence fell across the laundry save for the ever-present hum of the engines and of the air pumping its way through the ventilators. She shuddered to think what would happen if the ship became so outdated that problems started with the filtration systems. Imaging that reality inspired her to rub gingerly at the back of her neck and her mind began to wander.

It was dangerous to poke around a sleeping beast, but with the idea that the shipyard may not be as solid as she had hoped….

“Been a while since I’ve done somethin’ reckless anyway,” she muttered to herself.

With a sniff and a yawn, she shoved her hand into her pocket. She felt her private comm, paused as she allowed herself a moment longer of thought, and then flipped it out.

One quick holotext was shot off and before she could think of the risk involved, she shoved the comm away. With any luck, she would get a response within a day or two.

With any more luck, she would not regret it.

----

@treyu for mention

#my writing #swtor #es'merelda

18 notes · View notes

chaospage · 3 years

Text

Mechanical Heart,

It had become a regular occurrence, sneaking his way into Shadow Headquarters. More importantly, into the workshop. The robot knew the ins and outs of the ventilation system, knew which route to take so he wouldn’t be seen, or trip off any alarms. Flaws in security that he had mentioned several times to the Chaos Agent, and yet they remained unfixed. But, Omega knew why. They both did. The robot was welcome there, so long as he didn’t cause problems. Wasn’t followed. Wasn’t seen.

The workshop was always impressive, which said a lot considering Omega, wasn’t so easily impressed. The robot scanned over each and every item as he slowly walked further into the workshop. Scanned each tool available. His inner screen doing a quick tab of research on things he didn’t immediately recognize. Saving the information for later, should he ever need it.

A sudden halt came to his steps, his head whipping around as he picked up someone on his sensors. His visuals falling onto the face of the Chaos Agent himself, who happened to be sitting near by working at a table. They both stared at one another, silent curiosity from one, and cautious uneasiness from the other. Only when the Chaos Agent looked away, going back to what ever he had been working on, did Omega move.

The robot looked around and slowly collected the tools he would need, while he checked his systems for what might be wrong this time. Not surprised that he was overheating again. A solid 95% to hot. Always burning from the inside out. However, he wasn’t worried. This sort of thing had been happening for years. As long as he kept it under 98%, even in combat, he had nothing to worry about.

Panels along the sides of his neck, and the sides of his torso opened up. Releasing a gush of built up steam, while hidden slits along the edges of his helmet pulled in the surrounding air. A sort of mechanical breathing, helping to cool himself down. Soon he was piling tools, containers of various liquid, and a few large battery packs onto a work table. Far from where the Chaos Agent was working. Part of him wanted to work as far away from the other, to hide himself as he worked. But, another part of him, found comfort in the presence of another. Not that he would ever admit it.

93%, that’s the only thing his panels and the workshop air had accomplished, in his attempt to cool himself down. Panels which closed, as his hands worked on daisy chaining the battery packs together with a pair of cables. While his hands worked, the armor of his chest shifted and began to slide open. Armor, that he had grafted and melded together with his original, more fragile body. Becoming more like a beetle, with a thick exoskeleton protecting his inner, more delicate workings.

When the armor of his chest opened up, a billowing of scalding, hot steam was immediately released. He was quick to inhale air again, tilting his head back to try to relax and cool himself down. He knew if he had a garden hose he could cool himself off much faster. Let cold water run over and soak along his mechanical workings, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to get such a thing in this place. Instead he just watched as the percentage of heat slowly lowered on his inner screen, while he opened up the two jugs of coolant that he had grabbed along side the other tools.

Inside his chest, a soft glow emitted from the lights of his mechanical heart. A gentle glow of orange that matched the lights of his armor. His heart looked very similar to a human’s, just made of bullet proof metal instead of flesh. Metal that was scalding hot to the touch. Four small slits along the bottom of his heart flexed open in a rhythmic fashion, as if it was beating like a normal one. Pumping out air, while the rest of his heart pumped out energy through his metal arteries and cables.

Cables that flowed out and into the other metal workings of his chest. Wires and cables that disappeared under the armor of his still sealed up torso. But, not every cable of his heart was in working condition. The right side of his heart was scorched black, the surrounding metal looked as if it had been eaten away by acid and corrosion. Corrosion, that had eaten into and caused two of the right cables of his heart to be fused together. One of them not even connected to his heart any more, but remaining due to the fact that it was still stuck to the other, that was connected and still working.

Fragile pieces damaged from a battle years and years ago, Omega forced to work around it and adapt his body, his upgrades, to deal with what was to damaged to be fixed. Or perhaps, it was the fear of making it worse and potentially destroying himself, that prevented him from tampering with it. What ever the cause, he knew what to do. A chore that needed to be done once every three weeks, lest he over heat and fry himself into nothing.

Careful fingers worked around his heart, slowly working cables aside to expose two, small metal handles that lay hidden underneath. Handles that were attached to a power panel that hooked up into the back of his heart. It was there that he hooked up the cables of the battery packs with his right hand, as the armor plates of his left forearm slid open and exposed a sort of control panel.

“Authorize temporary power source. Authorize shut off of main power, 30 minutes. Keep bluetooth connections. Keep ventilation source. Authorize manual insertion of coolant.”

Omega spoke to his internal computer, his voice changing pitch and becoming more robotic. Less clear. Acting as a verbal password for all his inner workings. A security system he built for himself. For every little thing. So no one, could ever do anything to his systems, without his say so.

There was a soft beep, a sound of confirmation to the orders given, and then the lights of his suit shut off. The soft humming of his inner workings went silent, like a switch flipped. His body going still, and then slowly, everything became powered up again. His power source now relying on the batteries. Anything else that wasn’t important was shut off. Focusing all power to his head, limbs and core systems. As well as anything else he gave permission to.

With things shut off, he was able to rapidly cool down, and even though movements were slow, he worked on setting up the jug of coolant like an IV drip. A needle was shoved into the closed lid which was connected to a long tube, that also had a syringe on the other end. The jug was then hung upside down onto a near by rack, while his other hand worked on slowly removing one of the cables to his heart. Delicate work, ignoring the slight pain that came with it. The pain of inserting the needle into the valve, so the liquid could start flowing throughout his system.

It would take two jugs within the span of 30 minutes, to refill his spent tanks and his back up tanks. Things that worked to keep him cool in battle, and the irony that his body could also run on solar energy. It was a long 30 minutes, but it was a moment of silence that he rather enjoyed. Occasionally glancing at the Chaos Agent, and not surprised to see that the other was also glancing in his direction now and then.

As his power came back on, everything fell back into place. Tubes were removed and cables put back where they belonged, while his body reached the lowest temperature percentage he could ever get. His internal heat only, and always ever reaching, 60%. Far to damaged to ever get it any lower. It having been years since he had ever seen 0%. Maybe, just maybe, one day that would change. But for now, he would manage and survive as he had always done.

#love omega #my grumpy robot boy #he’s a little broken but he’s perfect #snippet

1 note · View note

alchemine · 4 years

Note

👀Party animals for the fandom

I have SO much to choose from for this fandom, but here’s what at least one other person will know as ‘the building explosion fic.’ There’s a lot of it, which makes me worry for how long it would be if I ever actually finished it. 😲

They wedged themselves into the space under the desk, and Danny turned Jo’s face against his shoulder to shield her from the dust and falling debris, then hunched over her, head down, in an attempt to protect himself as well. The rumbling and shaking went on and on, until slowly it stopped with a few faraway booms and a final shower of tiles and insulation from the ceiling. The overhead light panel and Jo’s desk lamp both went dead, followed almost immediately by a bluish-white emergency light coming on over the door.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” Jo held onto him for a moment longer and then firmly pushed herself away, turning to cough into the crook of her elbow. “What about you?”

“I’m all right. What the hell was that?”

“Some sort of explosion,” Jo said. “I saw flames reflected in the window. They’re gone now, but they were there.”

“Do you think it was…”

Jo shook her head. “I don’t know. We’ve got to get out of here and find out.”

She crawled out from underneath the desk, and Danny followed her. The office was more in disarray than damaged; there were books scattered everywhere, pictures had fallen from the walls, and the window glass had a long crack running from midpoint to upper right corner, but the walls were still standing and the gaps where the ceiling tiles had fallen looked stable enough. Danny felt cautiously of the door, remembering Scott’s warnings about fires, and then opened it onto a similar scene in the outer office, where his filing cabinet had tipped over and spewed a snowstorm of paper across the floor.

“It’s so quiet,” Jo said. Her face was sickly pale and strained in the emergency light.

“Why aren’t we hearing people out in the corridor?”

Danny looked at his watch. “It’s after eleven, there probably aren’t many people left. Do you want to wait here for someone to come instead? There’ll be emergency crews on their way.”

“No, I want to go. We can always come back if we need to.”

“All right. I’ll get my laptop—“

“Leave it,” Jo said. “It’ll only get in the way. I don’t think anyone’s out to steal your research notes at the moment.”

They went out into the corridor, full of smashed tiles and fallen oil paintings, and along to the lifts, which they found stopped and empty, one at floor level and one below it, with its doors half-open. Inside the lower car, just visible through the gap between the floor and the top of the doors, was a single high-heeled shoe, which made Danny look nervously at Jo.

“It’s not that,” she said before he could ask the question. “Look, even in this light you can see it’s clean in there—no blood or blast marks or anything. Whoever it belongs to lost it, that’s all, trying to get out in a hurry.”

“Okay,” Danny said, “but we’re not getting in.”

“Obviously not,” Jo said, and then paused. “Do you smell that?”

He sniffed the air and caught a distinct whiff of something hot and chemical, like melting plastic or smouldering insulation. “Yeah. I think you’re right and we need to go now. Stairs?”

“Stairs.” She coughed again, not even trying to stifle it this time. “I’m all right. It’s only the dust. Come on.”

The stairwell was just around the corner from the lifts, and when they got there, they found its door twisted and hanging askew from the upper hinge. Danny nudged it farther open and looked in.

“Oh shit.”

“What?”

“The stairs are gone.”

“Let me see.”

Jo pushed in next to him, and they both stared down at a tangled mess of splintered wood and concrete rubble, with a cloud of unidentified particulate matter slowly settling around it. The emergency light just inside the stairwell door was still burning, but with a sputtering flicker that didn’t bode well for its future. The light at the next landing was shattered and useless. A black, jagged hole led from the remains of the landing into an echoing abyss.

Danny looked over at Jo, who had the lapel of her blazer pulled across her mouth and nose as an impromptu dust mask. “Now what?”

“Dial 999,” she said, muffled. “They’ll be on their way, if they’re not here already, but we can at least let them know where to look for us.”

He fumbled his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. “No service. Can you?”

“No service on mine either. Let’s try a landline.”

They backtracked along the corridor to their office suite, the smell of overheated chemicals getting stronger as they went, and Danny checked the phone on his desk and then the one on Jo’s, finding both of them silent and dead. As he set down the second receiver, they heard a faint wail of sirens outside, almost too distant to be audible. At the same moment, a delicate wisp of smoke curled out through the nearest metal grille, and Jo started to cough again, in ugly, racking paroxysms that came from somewhere deep in her chest.

“You still okay?”

“Yes,” Jo said between coughs. Her eyes were streaming with involuntary tears, and Danny could feel his own lungs starting to burn with whatever toxic mixture of substances was being drawn through the building’s passive ventilation system. “But not for much longer. It’s worse here. We’ve got to go back to the stairs to wait.”

The corridor was hazy, but not smoky yet, and they were able to return to the smashed stairwell door easily enough. Danny looked at it; looked at Jo, whose breathing was still harsh and irregular from her last coughing spasm; and pushed his way inside.

“Christ, Danny, what are you doing?” Jo grabbed his upper arm with an iron grip. “It’s not even a little bit safe in there.”

“I just want to look. I’ll be careful.”

He advanced cautiously onto the landing, testing his weight against its strength with every step, as Jo watched him from the open doorway. The vertical column of the stairwell rose above his head, black as a chimney, and he thought about how many times he’d run up and down it during the day, when the building was bustling and humming and alive with busy people, all worrying over their next meeting or the project they’d just been handed. Now it felt like a graveyard, which made him wonder, with a shudder, if there were any bodies lying limp and broken on the floors above or below. Surely there weren’t, though. He and Jo had stayed late, and even they had been about to call it a night and head home.

“That’s enough, Danny.” Jo was trying for the voice of command she used when she wanted instant compliance from him, but in the dark it just sounded shaky and scared. “Come back before you fall and break your neck.”

“I’m all right.” He frowned at the wreck of the stairs heading up to the next level, and then inched forward and inspected the hole. “Jo, the steps underneath us? The ones that lead down from four to three? I think they’re still there.”

“So? Even if they are, there’s no way to reach them.”

“There might be. Let me see your phone; it’s got a brighter light than mine has.”

He reached back without looking, and Jo pressed her iPhone into his hand, her fingers icy cold against his. “Thanks.”

“Can you see anything?”

Danny strained his eyes, staring down into the depths of the hole. “Yeah. The first two or three steps are blocked, but the ones below those look fine. Can you find something I can toss in to check?”

Jo ventured a bit farther onto the landing and dug around in the rubble, then handed him a chunk of wood that looked as if it had once been part of a handrail. He dropped it into the hole, and they both listened as it clattered its way down the next flight of stairs.

“Seems all right.” He looked at Jo, who was white-faced, but determined, then looked back into the hole and swallowed hard. “Okay, we can do this. I’ll go first and then you come down after. It’s not that far.”

“How do you know the stairs are still strong enough to support us? We both weigh more than a piece of scrap wood.”

“They’ll have to be,” Danny said. “My chest’s starting to hurt and so is my head. I don’t know what’s burning, but it can’t be good for us. Here–” He gave her phone back to her. “Give me some light so I can see where I’m going.”

He held onto the rim of the hole, digging his fingers into soft plaster and insulation and wires, and slowly lowered himself until he could drop to the first undamaged step. It was farther than he’d thought, looking at it from up high, and he lost his balance as he landed and fell hard on one knee, with a crunch that felt like bare bone on concrete and sent a red-hot flare of pain all the way up to his hip. He didn’t want to yell and upset Jo, but he couldn’t stop a groan that he hoped she wouldn’t hear from escaping through his clenched teeth.

“It’s all right,” he called up when he thought he could keep his voice even. “Hang on the way I did and lower yourself down as far as you can, and I’ll help with the last part.”

“I don’t like heights,” Jo said faintly from above. She edged just close enough to the hole for him to see the top half of her face, with dark, liquid eyes and a smudge of something black across her forehead. “I get dizzy.”

Danny thought back to a flight he’d taken with her to Canada, when she’d refused to let him open the window shade as they were passing over Greenland. “Okay, I get that, Jo, but I don’t think you’ve got a choice. The air’s lots better down here, for one thing. And I can’t come back up again, so you’ve got to join me unless you want to leave me on my own. You don’t want to do that, do you?”

“Of course not, but if I fall–”

“I’d throw myself off the top of the building before I’d let you fall.” Somewhere high over their heads, there was a creak and then an echoing crash, as if some precariously attached bit of masonry had just let go. His knee stopped stinging and started to throb as if it was thinking about swelling up. “Please come down. I swear I’ll catch you.”

“All right.”

He heard rustling sounds, and then Jo sat down and wriggled forward until her legs were dangling through the hole. She turned herself around, gripped its rim in the same place where he’d held on, and stopped for a moment, head bowed.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I thought I needed to cough again. Are you ready?”

“Ready,” Danny said, and she slid over the edge. Her skirt caught on it and pulled all the way up to the tops of her thighs, which under other circumstances might have embarrassed him, but he was so focused on the task at hand he barely noticed. Once she’d begun, she came slithering down fast, and he caught her around the middle and lowered her to the step beside him.

“See? Easy peasy.”

#asks #party animals #jo porter #danny foster

19 notes · View notes

b-rainlet · 5 years

Text

Totally Crazy AU Idea feat. Time Travel Shenanigans

TUA AU where they prevent the apocalypse by tinkering around in the past and then come back to the Future

BUT of course it’s not that easy because they come back to the Future….changed

Last time Five time travelled and ended up in his 13 year old body with a 58 year old consciousness

This time around it’s worse

Everyone - except Diego - has just gone completely wild. Different ages everywhere.

And not only are they stuck being a younger/older version of themselves, their minds actually adapted to that change

Highlights include (going from oldest to youngest):

A 70? 80? Old Five, who spends most of his time sitting in a chair by the window and sleeping

The only person who could potentially know how to fix this mess fucking. sleeping. the whole day

Diego tries to talk to him in the rare moments when Five’s awake but there’s nothing even remotely useful coming out of his mouth

“Five, I need you to help me change you back to your old bodies.” - “Is there going to be cake? I like cake. My wife used to back a delicious cherry pie...I wonder where she is…..” - “Five you’ve never been married.” - “You remind me of my youngest son….He is an architect. He never visits, that ungrateful idiot. But you’ll visit me, right?” - “....Sure I’ll visit you.”

It’s a fucking nightmare and that’s not even counting the awful times Diego had to give Five a bath

(He tried to ignore that but at some point the smell just got bad. Diego hopes that as soon as Five changes back he’s gonna be on his knees, praising Diego’s kindness)

(He also hopes they never ever talk about this)

Sometimes Five will get up and walk around the house looking for Delores and Diego actually found him napping on the floor in the attic

Most of the time he sleeps though and Diego is quite grateful for that because he’s actually the least of his problems

There’s also 17 year old Vanya being in her rebellious phase, going out to party and cracking the music just that teeny bit higher when Diego tells her it’s too loud

“Is that a hickey?! Who did this?” - “I dunno.” - “You don’t remember???” - “There were multiple people.” - “Multiple People?!”

The cliche “You’re not my real Dad!” but it’s mostly “As your big brother…” - “You’re not my brother! We’re just adopted siblings!”

Vanya - as the only one old enough to have any kind of responsibility in this situation - just not giving a fuck about the age problem

“We need to come up with a plan!” - “I don’t give a fu-” - “Language! Think of the fucking children!”

Also emo Vanya and Diego tries to explain how all of this happened and that he believes that maybe the commission knows how to help

“Wait I destroyed the world?” “...Yes.” - “Good.”

He doesn’t elaborate how she destroyed the world though but with the current rage she’s constantly carrying around with her…..she really doesn’t need to use her powers

Also: Diego still having to do his whole vigilante gig and Vanya not really feeling the whole Babysitting thing

“That’s your baby brother!” - “I didn’t choose to have one though.” “I fucking didn’t choose this either Vanya, are you fucking kidding me-”

Catch Vanya coming down to - slightly burned - breakfast in black eyeliner and leather pants, wearing Reggie’s monocle even though she can’t see shit with it

“Aren’t you supposed to practise the violin?” - “Aren’t you supposed to grow up and get an actual job?”

Diego doing some good old depression drinking when it’s all getting too much and Vanya just swooping in to drink with him

“This is all getting wayyy over my head, I have no idea what to do.” - “Uh-huh.” - “That’s why you need to help a bit more…-wait, are you drinking Vodka? You’re underage!” - “Don’t derail the conversation now, big bro. We were just making progress!”

There’s at least one instance where Diego says. “Young Lady!” in a really stern voice and then immediately has Reginald’s face flashing in front of his eyes and a impromptu crisis about becoming like him

13 year old Luther who is obsessed with becoming a vet and starts a secret animal shelter in the house that’s not at all secret

“Luther, why’s your jacket moving?” - “I...don’t know?”

“Luther, did your backpack just bark?” - “Nooooo, I-uh, I sneezed.”

(He’s a really bad liar)

Diego frequently stumbles over animals just, fucking, laying in the middle of the hallway

He once nearly stepped on a tortoise

He did step on a caterpillar

Luther’s still looking for it

One time, Luther managed to smuggle a pinguin into the academy

A real life pinguin

Out of the zoo

(Diego is convinced Vanya helped Luther just to fuck with him)

He’s also obsessed with space and convinced that he’s gonna develop the ability to fly next to his super strength

They’ve been in the ER for several hours because Klaus convinced Luther that maybe he could trigger his ‘second super power’ by jumping of the shed

(It didn’t work)

“Who on earth would jump down the shed without at least something soft to land on? Have you ever heard of safety regulations?” - “I had a parachute in case things went wrong!” - “You had an umbrella. It had holes.”

Luther slips up once and calls Diego ‘Dad’ and then panics so hard he forgets to breathe

He nearly faints and Vanya laughing at the whole situation really doesn’t make things better

“You do realize that I am not your Father, right? I’m your big brother.” - “Yeah, of course, sure, youß My Dad? Ridiculous, I’m gonna head to my room now, bye Dad-Diego! Diego! Not Dad!”

At least Luther is kinda a normal kid, not at all like Klaus

10 year old Klaus who still can see ghosts and is fucking terrified of them

They’re everywhere

And Diego honestly has no idea what to do with him or how to help

Klaus is afraid that the ghosts will hurt him when he doesn’t watch them constantly, so he tries not to sleep

By 6 pm, Klaus has already downed three coffees and several cheap energy drinks

Diego tried to limit his supply by taking away his stash under the bed but that only made Klaus more creative with his hiding spots

They’re behind the bookshelf in the living room, in the dusty cookie jar in the kitchen, under a loose floor panel under the table, under Diego’s bed, hidden in the ventilation system…..

Soon as Diego finds one spot, Klaus has another one at the ready

“Maybe they won’t spook you anymore if you just..stand up to them.” - “How?” - “Just, you know, scream at them. Go all out, scream ‘Go away’ at the top of your lungs, show them you’re the one in charge.”

But Klaus is too shy for that

He has braces and due to that, he has a slight lisp

He doesn’t really like talking

He does like making trouble with his brother though when the ghosts aren’t as close

They once stuck a magnet to Klaus braces and then couldn’t get it off again

Diego’s second visit in the ER

Klaus managed to somehow rip out part of it and the wires got stuck in his cheek and slashed it open

Third Visit

There was also that brief stint where Vanya pierced Klaus’ ear. Herself. Because Diego really is the only responsible person around here

Fourth Visit

‘That’s a lot of work!’ you say? Apparently the universe thinks it’s not enough because there are still the two youngest left! Please someone save Diego from this suffering, he never wanted to be a single Dad

There is sweet and cute 5 year old Allison…..

…..who is a brat when she doesn’t get her way

“I want ice cream.” - “All shops are closed now, you should’ve said something sooner.” - “I want ice cream!” - “Well you’re not getting any. And that’s ‘please’ and ‘I would like some ice cream’ not ‘I want ice cream’.” - “I. Want. ICE CREAM.”

Cue a screaming fit, complete with throwing herself down and banging her little fists against the floor

And occasionally looking up to see whether Diego is still watching all the hard work Allison is putting into this. He gets why she’s an actress now

(He may have ended up buying her some goddamn ice cream at the overpriced petrol station one town over. She nibbled at it and the gave it back to him because she ‘wasn’t hungry’)

Diego’s gonna fucking lose it if he has to do this any longer

But she can also be really sweet, playing calmy with her dolls or drawing him pictures

“Look!” - “Oh wow! You drew a….an elephant! Beautiful!” - “That’s not an elephant silly, that’s you!” - “Oh. Of course. How could I not see that?”

He may have cried a little when she gave him a picture of their family, sorted from oldest to youngest, all of them holding hands

”Why am I wearing a cape?” - “Because you’re our hero.”

It’s a good thing that Allison never uses her powers in arguments - the only thing Diego is glad Reginald drilled into her at a young age already - but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t use it at all

She uses it, alright

“Allison, for the love of god, stop constantly changing your hair colour. I like your hair just as it is.”

“Allison! Stop making the cat fly! And Luther, stop letting stray cats inside the house!”

“Allison! Stop turning your Oatmeal into chocolate! No, you can’t turn Klaus’ Oatmeal into chocolate either! Don’t turn anyone’s Oatmeal into chocolate!”

“Allison, stop turning yourself invisible when you’re playing tag. You know it freaks Luther out and you don’t wanna make him cry again, do you?”

But the greatest challenge of them all may be Ben

(It’s definitely Ben)

See, taking care of a Baby is already hard enough when it’s just a Baby, but a Baby with literal tentacles coming out of their body?

Ben is a quiet kid, let him sleep and - much like Five - he’ll spend his days like that

When he’s awake, play a bit with him, talk to him not at all in baby voices, Diego would never do that, no matter what Vanya claims to have seen

Try not to worry too much about the Tentacles that are constantly out (Is that normal? Were they constantly out the first time Ben had been a Baby? Should Diego like, try to stuff them back in? Would that be a good idea? Probably not)

Ben has killed people with them for fuck’s sake, but they mostly seem interested in wrapping themselves around Diego’s hand and holding on while Ben sucks on his pacifier

(The wiggly boys are kinda cute, in a weird, disturbing way)

Well, as long as they don’t-

“Luther! Get the cat before the tentacles get her! And stop letting stray cats in!”

There are only two rules concerning Ben and his...Bentacles:

Don’t scare or startle him

Diego found this out the hard way when he played peek-a-boo with Ben and was rewarded by having ink splashed into his face

Smelly Ink

Glowing Smelly Ink

Green Glowing Smelly Ink

(He spent two hours in the bathroom. In the meantime, Klaus nearly set the Kitchen on Fire and Vanya sneaked out despite being grounded to dramatically drive away with her girlfriend of the week)

So, don’t startle Ben if you don’t wanna be covered in gross stuff, noted

All is well

Then, Ben gets a cold

Which means he is more whiny than usual and barely sleeps, keeping Diego up all night

But cool, Diego could live with that

If it wouldn’t mean that Ben sneezes

A lot

And the Bentacles sneeze too

The walls of Ben’s room are soaking in ink, it’s dripping from the fucking ceiling and Diego can’t even leave because he’s afraid Ben’s gonna think he left him at the worst time of his life, but he also can’t take Ben into another room because he’d only ruin that one too…..

And Diego spending so much time with Baby Ben is making Allison jealous and Vanya hates being forced to stay around and watch over her little siblings because Diego has his hands full with the Bentacles and it only makes both of them more moody and snappy towards each other…….

It’s a long week for everyone involved

Rule Number Two, maybe the most important one:

Never. Ever. Take his Blankie

And he means never

(Thank fuck that he had pushed Allison out of the way, he still has a massive bruise on his shoulder from being thrown against the cupboard)

Basically, give me this family drama movie about Diego somehow becoming a single Dad to super children

With guest appearances such as:

Eudora, who is actually never physically there

But Diego phones her all the time because he’s freaking out

She categorically refuses to go play happy family with him, there’s no way she’s gonna get involved with that….mess

“Dora, could you come over to-” - “No.”

“Patch, there’s an emergency I need to-” - “No.”

“Could you maybe watch over Ben? Just for an hour?” - “I don’t know how to handle kids. I’m an only child.” - “I met your two brothers??”

Diego phones her and gets send to voice message and it’s just Eudora saying “Whatever it is Diego, the answer is no.”

Diego also keeps calling her to ask her really ridiculous questions about children

“Hypothetically….a kid wouldn’t actually die from swallowing a bunch of buttons, right?” - “A bunch? How does that kinda accident happen?” - “....Maybe it wasn’t an accident…..”

“Do you think it’s okay to curse in front of Babies? They don’t actually understand you, right?” - “Diego, I swear to God, it’s three am. I will kick your ass.”

Grace, who is somehow conveniently malfunctioning right when Diego would need her the most and who just….forgot how to take care of children

And how to not endanger them

Diego catched her giving Klaus tips on how to properly light things up (“Because you wanna make a big fire, honey, don’t you?”)

She basically does what the kids ask her to without any kind of regulation

They had cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner for one week straight before Diego forbid her to cook and took over that task himself

(Now, stuff may be slightly burned but at least healthy)

She helped Luther when he hid from Diego because he refused to take a bath, lying to Diego’s face - to his face - that she had no idea where Luther could be

She actually disfigures her arm so the Bentacles can play with it (!)

She gave Allison scissors because she wanted to cut her hair (!!!)

And she uses swear words in the weirdest situations because someone - Diego suspects Luther or Klaus but it’s actually Vanya - keeps teaching them to her

“Mom, have you seen Allison?” - “I have no idea where that hoe is, Asshole.”

“Diego, sweetheart, would you hand me the fucking bowl?” - “The what?”

She also does breakdance with Klaus to pretty inappropriate music

“My neck, my back, lick my-” - “JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD HAS COME”

She also keeps malfunctioning further because she doesn’t seem to get the concept of liquids being bad for robots

(She plays tea party with Allison a lot. Pogo has to try and fix her after every time)

Speaking of Pogo

He’s not around a lot because he spends all his time going through Reginald’s documents to either find a way to fix Grace or find some clues about Time Travel Shenanigans

(Klaus also cries every time he sees her and Allison refuses to talk to him, so it’s better if he’s not around that much)

He spends a lot of time with Vanya though under the guise of helping him with his research

(She really just likes jamming out in the same room as him because he doesn’t mind how loud her music is and he doesn’t annoy her as much as the others)

When the appropriate amount of time has passed for all the weirdest scenarios to play out and them to grow closer as a family in-between visits to the ER and mental breakdowns on Diego’s part and just general chaos all around, with some super elements thrown in

Diego has a lead about how all of this is actually the commissions fault

(Because of course it is)

So I am begging you to imagine Diego, storming into the commission headquarters, in full on Vigilante Mode, with the appropriate amount of Leather on his body and a broody look on his face

Basically ready to kick some ass

With Baby Ben strapped to his chest, in one of those Baby Carriers

Babbling and giggling, clutching his Blankie while Diego takes out all his knives

And he fights the bad guys in badass showdowns but still manages to cover Ben’s ears when they throw insults at him because “There’s a kid present! Show some class!” - “Sorry.”

Also one of them (maybe the big bad?) dares to take away Ben’s Blankie (because of course) and Ben handing his ass to him without as much as blinking

Proud big bro baby talking Ben like “Who’s my little Tentacle Boy? You are! I’m so proud of my murderous baby bro, yes I am!”

While all of that goes down, the others are told to wait in the car

Well, Vanya, Luther and Allison are supposed to wait in the car

Klaus got the huge responsibility of staying home and watching over Five because he’s in no state to be near any dangerous situations, not with his lack of sleep and his jumpiness

(Vanya, Luther and Allison were also supposed to stay at home, but both Luther and Allison refused to let Diego go alone - full on flinging themselves around his legs - and Vanya was already sitting in the car when the other three got there, not even saying anything)

But Diego is stubborn so he doesn’t let them go in with him (he has this whole speech about how Ben needs to be there because it’s the only place where Diego can properly protect him... but Diego is just really soft for Ben and doesn’t want to possibly lose sight of him)

Ben may possibly be Diego’s fave but don’t tell the others

Anyway, Vanya, Luther and Allison don’t make it more than three minutes before leaving the car

If asked, accusations would go wild, everyone blaming someone else, but fact is, Luther got out of the car first

(He saw a kitty)

Allison then got out of the car because Luthe got out and what he can do, she can do double

(Also...Kitty)

Vanya is the teenager stereotype who doesn’t even notice that they go because she’s listening to music on her walkman like an emo and trying to scope out the place as best as she can from her position

And then turns back to the others after a while

“Do you think everything’s alright back t-SHIT!”

So, they end up going to a whole other section of the evil headquarters and kick ass there

First Luther and Allison kick ass together, deciding to go find Diego if they’re already out of the car anyway

Followed by Vanya, who still believes she’s powerless and takes out guards sneaky style, hitting them over the head with a desk lamp or whatever else she can find

UNTIL

Luther and Allison are cornered by the bad guys and they don’t care whether they hurt children or not and it seems like L and A have lost

The guards are closing in and Luther positions himself in front of his sister to at least try and protect her while Allison hides behind him and both of them are crying…..

They close their eyes…..

And then there’s a loud clash and screaming and the sound of bodies hitting the floor and when they look up again there’s Vanya standing in the middle of the room, eyes white, guards laying dead to her feet

She doesn’t stay WV though, she comes back to herself to rush over to her siblings and check whether they are okay

Cue a short cuddle pile

“You have powers! Awesome!” - “Yeah, I….I guess so.”

Somehow, they reunite with Diego and manage to threaten the Handler enough she rights time, making them grown ups again and promising Five and Klaus are adults again too and that Grace should be functioning now

(Let’s just pretend she can do that and we can trust her for the sake of this AU. The important part is the whole de-aging anyway)

So, they come back home, slightly bruised but mostly okay and Vanya and Diego definitely have a heart to heart in the car about her powers while Allison, Luther and Ben are asleep in the backseat (a leftover gift from being children in stress situations)

“Thanks Diego. For all that you did.” - “I was a terrible surrogate Dad though.” - “You were a thousand times better than our real Father.”

Bonus: They come back home and just find Klaus and Five sleeping on the floor, looking like they’ve been through the apocalypse all over

Because watching over Five was supposed to be easy and even boring

But with Five sleeping - as usual - and Grace shutdown for the night already (and Pogo locked in his studies to figure out a solution) there’s nothing standing between Klaus and the ghosts

So Klaus mixes himself a drink containing three different Energy Drinks and a bunch of sugar

And sets it on the table to down it as soon as he’s peed

He comes back, prepared to drink that stuff and not think to hard about the taste

But the Glass is empty

And Five’s gone

Five + accidentally drinking something strong enough to kill someone? A disaster

He’s on the loose

And he somehow thinks someone has abducted Delores?

Wtf?

Klaus has to spend the rest of his night chasing Five, who keeps glitching around the house like a maniac, yelling and rambling and…..fighting the air? With a sword?

Where the F did he get a sword???

And it’s impossible to get Five to sit down - or at least get off the table

orthechandelierhowdidhegetonthechandelier

He’s so high on sugar he is vibrating

(Klaus is fearing for his life)

And then there’s also the fucking ghosts, who keep lurking in the shadows and reaching out for him, moaning and cursing his name…..

But Klaus doesn’t have time for this right now and he is fed up of having his life controlled by a bunch of dead people

He wants to be able to sleep again

He wants his life again

So he thinks of Diego, of his advice, and he takes a deep breath and just screams at them

“GO AWAY!!”

And it actually works

The ghosts recoil, shocked when Klaus doesn’t cower before them like usual

And they disappear

Just….disappear in a dust of smoke

And then he’s an adult again

And Five - who took the time to strip to his boxers and use lipstick like war paint - is too

Klaus rides out Five’s sugar high as best as he can, sighing in relief when he finally falls asleep, crashing down on top of him and taking a nap with him right there, on the living room floor

Where the others find them

That’s all I got tbh, but it’s already a lot askjkaj

Bls Hollywood, make it happen

#tua #five hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #diego hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #luther hargreeves #ben hargreeves #allison hargreeves #grace hargreeves #pogo

253 notes · View notes

badolmen · 5 years

Text

@billy-hoepe in this house we disregard canon characters’ deaths and substitute wholesome fanfiction for depressing canon.

Miles looked down on the Morphogenic Engine room, the life support pods like a marble collection. Some where cracked, others streaked with blood, or entirely dyed red. One was illuminated, the Engine’s screen flickering with indecipherable black and white images that reflected on the glass prison of William “Billy” Hope.

He looked around the room, the quiet and stillness no reassurance of safety, but he sat in an office chair, catching his breath and catching up with his still reeling thoughts. There was silence, except for the hum of electricity and the omnipresent static that had invaded the journalist’s thoughts. But there was no immediate danger. Walker had gotten his due, at the hands of the very thing Wernicke had asked, maybe even begged, Miles to kill.

And nothing about it felt right.

Thumbing through his notes, camcorder resting precariously on the many buttons and levers of the control panel, the more he thought about it, the less sense it made to kill Billy. He was young, he had only been admitted to Mount Massive four years ago, and none of the files Miles had found said why he had been admitted. From the notes, he seemed normal, if a little childish, compared to the other patients.

No one could leave while Billy lived. Or that’s what Wernicke had said. It sparked some familiar itch of curiosity in Miles, the same feeling of anticipation and vengeful spite to understand and share that understanding at the expense of the corrupt. Was the Walrider limited to Mount Massive Asylum? By what? The chamber doors did not block the exit, as far as Miles had seen before the apparition stopped him.

It seemed more likely that the Walrider could only travel a fixed distance from its host. Down here, it was stronger, more corporeal than the flickers he had seen in the upper levels. Down here it could pick up Chris Walker and throw him around like a rag doll before stuffing his corpse into a ventilation shaft.

Why had the Walrider done that? Why would it save Miles if, as Wernicke said with such confidence, it only planned on slaughtering him? It could just enjoy the thrill of the hunt, but then why had it not attacked Miles since he attempted to leave? How much control did Billy have over the specter, and how much control did it have over him?

In his racing mind, thoughts blurred by pain and logic viewed through static, Miles decided that the Walrider wanted something. It wanted freedom. Would it continue its slaughter? Or was it satisfied with the blood of those who had brought it here, who had tortured its hosts?

And why would Wernicke ask Miles, a shell shocked, blood soaked stranger with a camcorder, to kill the host of something that bordered between a deity and a demon? Why the fuck should he trust a man who was supposed to be dead? Who had helped orchestrate the monstrosity of Mount Massive? He glanced at the security cameras in the corners of the control room, beady black lenses glaring down with impatience. Could Wernicke see him?

So many questions. So few answers.

Miles rubbed his face, aware of the blood streaking across his cheeks from the stubs of his fingers. Maybe there was some untainted medical supplies down here.

A tap on the glass.

He couldn’t help but flinch, the muscle memory of shrinking from every unexpected sound already too deep in his bones. His eyes slowly lifted from the notes, past the softly glowing buttons and switches of the terminal to the window that separated the control room from the engine room.

The swarm of darkness hovered, its form constantly twitching and shifting, vaguely resembling a human. It somehow looked more human than many of the Variants Miles had seen in the last few hours. The Walrider had no eyes, but Miles could feel its gaze on his face; it was patient, watching, waiting.

Miles hadn’t spoken in hours. Adrenaline, the acrid smell of death that filled every breath, and pure fear had kept him silent, words a waste on the pure insanity of this building of horrors. Even Wernicke wasn’t given a word of confirmation, Miles too panicked and confused to form coherent sentences, let alone responses to the sheer, terrible absurdity he had been immersed in.

The words were slow, slurred by exhaustion and rough from screaming.

“What do you want?” It wasn’t a charged statement, full of hate or fear. It was empty. Beaten and apathetic, lacking any venom or sarcasm. He hardly expected an answer, the swirling, living shadow barely reacting to the sound. Which made its whispery, static filled voice all the more startling.

“Wir wollen nach Hause gehen.” The words were coming from everywhere and nowhere. They vibrated in Miles’ bones and echoed in the back of his mind, the syllables punctuated with the shrillness of auditory feedback from a poor microphone speaker setup. The ringing in his ears stopped, and the journalist looked back to the Walrider.

“Ich niecht sprekt Deutch,” Miles managed, butchering the foreign language. He had spent a few week’s in Germany, years ago on some story far less blood-soaked as the Murkoff corporation. He hadn’t been very fluent in the language then, but he at least recognized the language, and what seemed to be the word “house,” whatever that meant in the context of an abomination of Nazi science and spiritualism.

The Walrider almost seemed to blink, the nanites that made its corporeal form flickering briefly where Miles supposed eyelids could be. The shadow dissipated from sight, Miles watching the grey and black dust disintegrate into thin air.

The loud smack against the glass nearly gave him a heart attack, though he wasn’t really sure what he expected from the being that had slaughtered so many already. Miles didn’t question where it got the blood. He grimaced at the blood spatter, too desensitized to worse to be wholly disgusted when the Walrider began to trace shapes onto the glass.

A circle with lines inside it. The circle broken into two, jagged pieces. A sloppy rendition of the exit sign.

“I gotta get Billy out of his pod or whatever to leave this hellhole?” The Walrider nodded. They were communicating. Specifically, Miles was communicating with some sort of interdimensional spirit demon thing that required a physical host traumatized enough and in the right way to produce nanite robotics using their cells. He put his notebook away, and picked up his camcorder, the apparition swaying slightly.

“Okay, okay, fuck, okay, so,” Miles took a breath. He hadn’t spoken on camera in hours. He hadn’t had much he could say without sounding crazy himself. But the thing in front of him was on camera. And was waiting. “This, uh, Walrider wants me to break its host, Billy, out of his pod down there, and I think my only other option is to kill the host, or whatever the hell that Nazi fuck was talking about,”

Miles approached the entrance to the Morphogenic Engine room. The second he opened the barrier the Walrider could tear him to pieces. It could rip him apart from the inside. It waited by the stairs, shifting form like thousands of flies.

“I think I’m going with the former, so if I die doing this shit, know that I’ve had a very long, fucked up night, and just want to go home, I don’t want anybody else to get hurt,” Miles breathed a shaky sigh, his hands aching. Killing Trager was satisfying, but Miles was a reporter. Not a murderer.

No matter how much relief washed over him when Chris Walker was shredded through a ventilation grate, no matter the panic and chaos that killed Trager, Miles wasn’t a fighter. Billy was one of the few people in this damned shitshow that hadn’t actively attempted to mutilate, murder, or do worse to Miles. Was it sane to trust the demigod like being that had started this nightmare of slaughter and lunacy? He would find out.

The door slid open, the gush of sterile air cold and dry. The Walrider did not attack him. Miles descending the stairs, camera on and breathing unsteady as he approached the dreaded Morphogenic Engine, the engineering abomination that created this mess.

And Billy Hope, the only living human being besides Miles, eyes vacant at the flickering screen.

Miles didn’t know what half the tubes and wires fed, read, or carried. They were life support, monitoring equipment, and presumably linked to the massive machine that hummed above. The Walrider kept a few paces away, watching Miles with an almost cautionary gaze.

“So, I don’t suppose you know how to get him out without killing him, huh?” Miles asked aloud. The Walrider gave a growl of static. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you would have done it on your own if you could, no need keeping me around otherwise. Right. So, where the fuck should I start?”

He was very much aware that the Walrider wouldn’t respond, at least not in an intelligible manner that Miles could understand. Talking, even to himself, after so long of keeping silent was refreshing. It helped him feel less terrified of the swarm of nanites hovering over his shoulder.

He looked over the terminal, alight with finger scanners and electricity. The machine had hundreds, thousands of buttons and lights. Touching any of them could kill Billy or provoke the Walrider.

“Y’know for being the thing that wants me to get you outta here, you aren’t being any help,” Miles muttered, pointing the camcorder to the swarm. It hissed softly. “Then show me what the fuck you want me to do ya creepy fuck,” It mimed an action. “Oh fuck no, you’ll just shred me if he dies, or whatever,” The Walrider mimed the action again. “I don’t have a choice, do I?” The Walrider growled. Miles did not have a choice.

“Playing fucking charades with a shadow demon, this is just how my night is going,” Miles sighed, setting down his camcorder on the machine’s terminal, facing the pod. He needed something heavy. A fire extinguisher would do. He wrenched it from the back wall, muffling a whimper of pain as his fingers curled around the cold metal.

“By the way, Walrider, demon, thing, uh, do you plan on killing more people once we get outta this hellhole? Cause if that’s your plan I don’t think I should be doing this, in good conscience and all,”

It hissed at him, ever shifting face baring black fangs.

“Y’know what? I’ll take that as a no. You seem to be the most reasonable, sentient being in this fucked up hell hole. Does that sound like a plan? I get you and Billy out of this place, you don’t cause Armageddon or whatever the fuck it is you would do to society. Deal?”

A growl.

“Glad we’re on the same page,” Miles said, setting down the fire extinguisher as he sized up the pod. He doubted he could shatter it without hurting the occupant, but it was what the Walrider wanted. “Just so we’re clear, uh,” Miles looked to the Walrider, who hovered expectantly over the pod. “If I fuck this up, could you, like, not kill me? Or at least kill me quick. Whichever is easier,”

Static hummed in the back of his mind, pressure building in his ears as it reached a high pitch. He picked up the fire extinguisher, trying to find the best way to hold it with his mangled hands.

“Here goes nothing.”

The glass shattered more easily than he had expected, buckling under the first blow from the fire extinguisher. The liquid inside was sticky and cold, a strong saline smell that brought back memories of his research into Cargill’s human rights abuses in their Peruvian salt mines immediately filling the air.

Billy was still inside the pod, wires and tubes now pulling against his weight and drawing blood. His eyes were still fixated on the screen, dull and passive. An alarm was blaring, softened by distance and the walls that separated Miles from the main hallways. The Walrider was screaming, its form swirling and shifting. Billy was dying.

“Fuck, I’m working on it, fuck, just, just give me a second,” Miles muttered, stepping through the glass on the floor to reach inside the pod, icy liquid squelching uncomfortably beneath his shoes. It was better than blood. A lot about the very heart of Mount Massive was better than the gore and insanity above. “Let’s get you down buddy,”

The restraints were tight, leaving behind imprints on the smaller man’s wrists. Released from the manacles, Billy slumped forward, atrophied muscles in his arms unused to being free from their position wrenched behind his back. The wires and tubes attached to his back and chest were taught, blood streaking down his emaciated ribs and bony spine. Above the Walrider flickered from side to side, shrieking unintelligibly.

He couldn’t imagine how long it took the Murkoff staff to shove these tubes down Billy’s throat, put needles at every joint and wind electrodes around his limbs. Miles grimaced as he quickly removed the tubing and wires that seemed to be imbedded and wound around every inch of Billy’s body, electrodes and needles dangling from their threads inside the empty pod as he pried them from freezing flesh.

He was cold and heavy, skin dull like wax as Miles lifted Billy over the broken glass to set him down on the floor. Billy wasn’t breathing. His pulse was absent from thin, blood soaked wrists. How long had it been since he had drawn breath on his own? Could he breathe on his own?

Miles started compressions, the Walrider’s static screams growing angrier and more panicked. It hurt, his bloodied hands needled with pain at every compression. Two breaths. More compressions. He needed to breathe, but Billy stayed still and silent. Two more breaths. Miles was slowing down, losing the rhythm as panic began to set in his bones. The shadow above was in agony, writhing and hissing. The Walrider charged forward, teeth bared and snarling.

Then Billy coughed. And breathed.

His eyes were bright, dark pupils the size of saucers and iris a mere ribbon of pale blue. Billy gasped for air, throat ragged, and breaths choked.

“There – there you go, breathe, Billy, just breathe,” Miles managed through his own gasping breaths of receding panic. The Walrider was gone. For now. Billy twitched and groaned, nothing more than a whimper of fear and pain escaping his blue lips as he shivered, trying to curl away from Miles, who had retrieved his camera from the Engine’s bright control panels.

“No, no, hey – hey, it’s okay, I’m not,” Miles swallowed the lump in his throat, his blood stained, mauled hands reaching out in a gesture of comfort that suddenly seemed less than friendly. He curled his hands away, pulling them closer to his chest. “My name is Miles. You’re Billy, right? I’m here to get us out, okay? I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

Billy stopped inching away, arms and legs shaking from strain, cold, and fear, but his eyes held a gleam of something that might have been hope, and relief.

“Okay, here, you’re freezing,” Miles too off his jacket, wrapping it around Billy’s shaking shoulders. “That better?” The jacket was warm, heavy with the scent of blood and sweat. Billy nodded. “Can you get up? On your own?” Billy could barely sit up on his own, head lolling weakly side to side. “Okay, is it alright, alright if I help you up?” He nodded.

Miles wrapped an arm around Billy, the smaller man’s cold arm slung over his neck. He was heavy. Stiff. His skin seemed almost ashen in the cold light, steps shaking and feet unsure as they made their way to the stairs.

“Take it easy, the exit’s just down this way,” Miles said as they limped down the hall, slowly going over palettes and containers that blocked the path. Even with Miles’ jacket, Billy shivered incessantly, cold fingers gripping the reporter’s shoulder for stability. A few more paces and they would be at the exit.

The doors opened, Miles bracing at the sight of the heavily armed men surrounding Wernicke’s withered, sickly frame. He could feel Billy shake even more violently, from fear rather than the cold in his bones. His eyes were wide with panic, darting over the masks and guns to the old man’s skeletal face and angry eyes.

“You are a fool, I had hoped you would have had the sense to kill this monster, not release it,” Wernicke’s voice slurred, Billy nervously glancing from Miles’ aggrieved expression to the doctor. There was the click of a gun safety.

Billy didn’t know when Miles had pushed him to the side, behind a stack of containers. The first thing he knew that it hurt. His bones hurt. His joints hurt. His head hurt. The second thing he knew was that Miles was hurt, the gunshot a distant echo in his scattered mind. Red was on the floor, a growing puddle. He smelled copper and gunpowder.

The image of Miles, gripping his shoulder, camera still clutched in one hand, glaring up at the men in the doorway, was the last thing Billy Hope remembered before unconsciousness ate away at his vision like rust. The last thing he heard was the rattle of gunfire, and screams.

#outlast #outlast whistleblower #outlast fanfiction #miles upshur #billy hope #the walrider #ra speaks #my writing #guess who now just HAS to write the next few chapters ;)))#it me.

34 notes · View notes

bbwoulfc · 5 years

Text

Don’t Have Fun Without The Ladies

A/N: Spy AU - ith life and relationship shenanigans. Luka is 23, Adrien is 22, Marinette and Kagami are 21.

Ao3

Chapter 1

“Noir? Can you hear me?”

He unclipped the briefcase and grabbed some cables as he heard a chuckle through the earpiece.

“Loud and clear, Viper. Plus, how many times do I have to tell you, you can call me Chat?”

Viper rolled his eyes. He was crouched along the roof, hidden within a corner of the house looking at the small briefcase opened with a display of four blank camera views. While messing with the panel on the wall hooked to the security system, Viper worked the cables and glanced back and forth to the screens waiting to get a connection as he waited to get a glimpse of Chat Noir. Even after two years, one year as a mentor and one year having him part of his team, he swore that man aimed to cause as much mischief for him as possible, testing his patience. He was definitely worthy of the black cat name.

“I’m aware I can call you Chat, however, as we are currently in the middle of a mission I feel safer calling you by Noir.” Fiddling with the wires, he finds a promising wire and clips a cable clamp on. Looking at the small screen, Viper smiles with triumph as four screens of different camera views of the inside pop up.

“Perfect. I’ve gained access to the security cameras. I’ll be able to guide you through. Where’s your location?” Viper asked through the speaker.

“I’m currently in the west wing hallway.” Replied Chat.

Typing a few buttons, Viper pulled up the west wing hallway only to jump when a close-up view of Chat popped up on the screen. The dark haired man gripped his chest as he exhaled. Chat moved back until more of him came to view and smiled his cheeky smile and waved.

“Can you see me?” Asked Chat.

“Yes, I can see you. Can’t you be serious right now? I want to get this done and back home before Kagami realizes that you and I took a last minute mission without her and Mari.”

“Don’t remind me. If Mari finds out I left her behind you can be sure it’s not just your ass on the line.”

Both men shuttered at the thought of their girlfriends finding out they went on a mission without them. The four of them were one of the top teams for France’s spy groups, but there was one thing that made their group stand out most. And it was an important rule that many in the agency tried to keep hold. The rule of note pissing off agent Ladybug and Dragon.

Now the agency knew that agent Viper and Chat Noir were capable and skilled. However, after a few certain previous missions with just Viper and Chat Noir, the two have literally enforced accompanied their partners to prevent such incidents again.

And if there was anything that the agency had come to learn, it was that you never piss off the Lady and Dragon.

Watching Chat head towards the end of the hallway, Viper watched closely as Chat picked the lock of the door.

Successfully opening it after a few seconds, Chat sent a thumbs up towards the security camera, and Viper switched over to the next room.

Seeing the entire room, both men saw a safe door located in the back of the room.

“Hold back, Noir. Can you see any alarm panel in the room? I doubt one of the Akuma's would leave blueprints unsecured.”

“Good call. Let me check.”

Looking around the room, Chat didn’t find any form of security. Clicking his earpiece, “I don’t see anything. Not even any devices that could be motion sensors.”

“Hmm, maybe they honestly thought no one would find them.” Viper took a second to think, but the evidence of no added security to the blueprints they were sent to retrieve made him feel uneasy. And typically his feelings were accurate. “Damn. Something just doesn’t feel right. I think you should get out and we’ll return later.”

“But, Viper, we’re almost done. We can retrieve them now. You’re good with navigating through security feeds and hacking. You were the only one with enough patience to learn and understand from Max. We can do it.”

Chat could hear Viper groan and self-debating. He hated putting his previous mentor through difficulty but they never turned away from accomplishing a mission. And he was sure Viper was aware of that and currently struggling with.

“Fine. But let’s be quick. I’m getting uneasy.”

Typing through the keyboard, both men heard a beep coming through their earpiece. They concluded that it must be someone from the agency contacting them about their status. As Luka finished glancing through the feed of the house, he sent the code to Chat Noir to allow him to open the safe.

Watching as Chat entered the code and opened the door, Viper clicked the incoming call and for the both of them to hear.

“Viper, here.”

“Hello, Luka, the faithful, loyal, and song of my heart. Where are you?”

Viper froze, eyes wide as he heard his girlfriend on the other line. He watched as Chat froze through the camera hearing her voice too.

“K-Kagami. Baby, my love. W-what do you mean where I am?” He responded back, trying his best to hold back the fear, but knowing well he’s failing.

“You know exactly what I mean. Where are you? You’re not home.”

Sweat dripped down his forehead as Viper attempted to lie in hopes he could convince Kagami and get her off the line as quick as possible without her finding out about their mission.

“You’re correct, I’m not home. I-I must have forgotten to write you a note but I left to the store to pick up some groceries. I noticed we were running low so I figured I’d run down and pick them up. Though it’s crowded today so I probably won’t be back for another hour or so.”

Viper watched as Chat quietly moved his hands through the safe to grab the blueprints. They wanted to ensure any lack of evidence of them being there.

“Is that so?” They both heard Kagami’s voice speak through the earpiece.

“Yep!” Viper responded a little too loudly. “And you wouldn’t believe who I ran into while I’m here. Would you believe that I ran into Adrien of all people?”

“We live across the street from him and Marinette. Though I guess it’s not that hard to believe.”

“Great! That’s great to hear. Apparently, he said he needed to pick up groceries too. Why don’t you say hi to him?”

Viper watched as Chat spun around, blueprints in hand, and glared at the camera. He could make out Chat mouthing ‘Don’t you dare!’

“I have you on speaker. Say hi, Adrien.”

He could see Chat’s glare deepen through the security camera as Chat started making his way back towards Viper.

“Hey, Kagami! Can you believe I ran into Luka? What a punny coincidence.”

“Don’t even start, Adrien.”

“My a-paw-logies.”

They could hear Kagami groan through the line. Hearing her take a deep breath, “I swear to God you both better not be getting into to trouble or so help me and Mari.”

“Ah, you both worry too much,” Chat responded. “But do tell my bugaboo that I’m doing fine.”

“Why don’t you tell her yourself.”

“Hello, Chaton.” Came the sweet voice but the frustration he was sure was hidden behind. Both men gulped with the added person joining the conversation. “I hear you’re at the store. Quite a surprise since you act like a lost kitten when shopping.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have my pal, Luka with me.” They both were getting nervous and beginning to believe that they hadn’t convinced their girlfriends.

“Well then, since you’re at the store, do be a good kitten and bring me back some fancy chocolate home.”

“Anything for you, princess.”

“And, Luka?” This time Kagami spoke, gaining Viper’s attention.

“Yes, love?”

“Be a good boy and bring some fancy chocolate home too.”

“Of course, baby.”

As Viper and Chat Noir felt like they were home free, the sound of alarms began to blare from the first level of the mansion. Both agents’ eyes widen with fear as they were sure their girlfriends could hear it on the other side.

“What’s that alarm?” Both girls asked. Yep, of course, they would.

“Oh shit, would you look at that?” Came Viper’s voice, trying to be as calm as he could be, “It looks like some customer tripped the emergency exit. I think it’s best that Adrien and I let you go and we’ll see you soon. Love you, baby.”

“Love you, bugaboo.” Followed Chat’s voice.

Hanging up on the girls, Viper helped Chat through a large ventilation system that led him up to the roof where he stood hidden.

Once Chat stood next to Viper, he tore his mask off and looked at him with a glare. “Why the hell would you drag me into the conversation?!”

Viper looked at Chat and took off his mask too, giving his partner a smirk, “Cause if my ass is going down, then I’m dragging your ass down with me.”

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #adrien agreste #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #kagami tsurugi #spy au #adrinette #adrienette #lukagami

161 notes · View notes

muses-darling · 5 years

Text

A Seduction of the Darkside - A Star Wars AU - CH.5 Falling & Rising

Lifting his head the Emperor spoke suddenly, “Do you feel it? Your Jedi has found our guest. They must not be allowed to escape. Kill them if you must do not fail me Lord Ignis, or it will be you who takes their place.”

Ignis glared at the ground not raising his head, “It will be done.” Ignis stood up. “I have never failed.” He looked to to two of the Inquisitors laying on the ground. Impressive little shit. Ignis searched out through the force finding them and smiling. “Come out, come out little Jedi, I’m not done playing with you yet.” He started in the direction. “Or your snakey little friend.”

________________________________________________________________

“I thought you said that you’ve been here before?” KIt threw a panel of metal over the hole that they had cut into the side of the trash compactor. Tentacles of the dianoga trying to lash at them through the gaps.

“Well sometimes things change in a millennium. I think the bigger question is what are you doing here?” Crowley asked slicing the tentacles away from them.

“I was captured, You?”

Crowley sighed. “Same trying to save you.”

“Master Aziraphale was asking about lunch with you. Did you ever make that?”

“Do we really have the time for this conversation?” Crowley asked shaking his head as he spoke. “But yes and together we saw what happened to Alderaan and I came to rescue you.”

“Well in that case you’re doing great. You found me, now we just need to get off this bloody planet.” Kit snarked.

“Oi!” Crowley snapped. “Keep up that tone I might just leave you to be Lord Ignis’ toy.”

Kit made a face at him as they raced along the corridors. “I think we should be quiet I sense more ahead of us.”

“Agreed.” Crowley said before placing a hand on Kit’s chest stopping him. “This door.” He pointed. “It was this one not the last one, one door off.”

“We were almost Dianoga food!” Kit whisper shouted.

Crowley shrugged then tried a few codes, “Ugh I swear I need to stop being the one to install panels or be allowed to work on any electronics I swear, they just always get so dodgy!” He used the force to pull off the panel his fingers going to the wires. His body jerked as he touched a wire. “Yeow! That was exciting!” He stuck out a tongue yellow eyes moving behind dark glasses. The door slid open revealing a side door into the Hanger bay.

Kit tapped Crowley’s shoulder, “Crowely we have company.”

There standing in a row were Sith troops guns aimed at the two Jedi.

“Yeah well I can see that,” Crowley pulled out his lightsaber, “Only question is are you going to help me do something about it?” The blade that extended out was of a pure white like his “Angel’s” hair.

Kit turned on the two lightsabers but froze as Ignis came stepping forward. Steps behind him told him reinforcements were arriving.

Crowley hissed. “Ignis, buddy you remember me? I mean how could you ever forget?”

“About how you left? Or was it how you left? How’s Aziraphale?” Igins asked. “About to be a Widower soon?”

Crowley glared at him, “Kit you take the-”

Kit was already slicing the ventilation behind them obscuring the vision of the reinforcements as he turned and ran at Ignis.

Ignis let him run to him almost at him then sidestepped letting Kit rush passed him before looking back to Crowley with an eyeroll. “Kit I’d like to avoid killing you most of all.”

Kit skidded to a stop realizing the troopers had moved back forming a ring around the three of them.

“But if you leave me no choice I will.” Ignis ignited his blades.

“Oh you can try but even I know you aren’t much of a match for he and I put together.” Crowley told Ignis.

Ignis smiled and spoke calmly. “Oh we will see.”

The three clashed, a whirl wind of blades, flashes of Red, green and white lighting up the armor of the soldiers standing around them. Arcing, slicing, leaping, and thrusting. It was clear that all three were well versed in their forms as they moved along. Kit’s blades caught Ignis’ left blade causing it to fall from Ignis’ hand. The blade extinguished, Kit kicked it away slicing it in half.

“That was not very nice, after all we shared,” Ignis smiled. “Also not very smart of you.” Ignis reached out with the force.

Kit felt his breathing lessened then stopped, Kit reached up with a hand pushing at Ignis to no avail as his vision became spotted.

“I told you I’d like to avoid killing you most of all.” Ignis gritted out.

Crowley brought down a heavy blow on Ignis’ right breaking his concentration.

Ignis turned as Kit dropped to his knees. “Do you mind?” He asked before slicing at Crowley who dodged.

Kit felt the world going black around him and heard the footsteps of approaching troopers.

Ignis looked to Kit making sure the Jedi was breathing.

Crowley looked at Kit then at Ignis, “You wanted to kill me remember?” He held out his arms. “Then go for it?”

Ignis wasted no time stabbing him through the abdomen. “Good bye traitor.”

Crowley smiled. “Yes I think that is a very good sentiment.” He reached up with the force and sent Kit’s unconscious form flying onto a ship. Then closed his eyes and disappeared.

Ignis watched Crowley fade something wasn’t right before he turned and there boarding a ship and waving in the captain seat was Crowley.

“See you sucker!” Crowley pressed a button and the ships systems told the front guns to shoot at Hades who caught the bolts in front of himself the force becoming visible.

Crowley sent the ship backwards crashing through the bay flames nearly engulfing the ship. “Well that was a rush, and in time for tea with Aziraphale.” He smiled as they entered hyperspace.

________________________________________________________________

Senses rung as Ignis stood up pulling off the fire covered outer robe and letting it drop. Sith Troopers pointed their guns at Ignis, who could easily have taken them all out and another squadron. He smiled in the direction of Kit’s departure. “See you pretty boy.” A terrible grin came to his face as they forced him into the cuffs. “Tighter, please.” This earned a butting of the back of the head from a trooper’s gun. “Oooh, harder.” He grinned then headbutted the one in front of him.

Dragged before the Emperor, Ignis grinned up at him. “Aww if you were really serious about not letting them escape you wouldn’t have me here.”

The Emperor sat clearly unamused. “Your short time with that Jedi has done little in your favor.”

“Oh on the contrary, it gave me insight.” Ignis watched the Emperor stand nearing him.

“Insight?” The Emperor neared him raising his hands as the energy of force lightning crackled around him.

“Oh yes,” Ignis watched him unfazed by the display of the Emperor’s might.

“And what might that be?” The Emperor asked sending a forceful wave through Ignis sending him back.

Ignis landed hard his body jerking but his smile still there. “I don’t know if I should tell you.”

“Do tell me,” The Emperor said standing over him lightning crackling over his fingers before lashing at Ignis.

“That you are weak,” Ignis slid his leg swiping at the Emperor’s knocking the older man over. Ignis rolled forward on top driving both his fists down on the Emperor’s face. A terrible cracking sound as the cuffs fell away. Tossing the key away he summoned his lightsaber turning it on, “Your reign has ended.”

________________________________________________________________

Upon occasion the Jedi Master Aziraphale could be called upon to leave the temple, this was one of those occasions. In all the fighting going on books and other sources of data were liable for destruction. Moving along the Jedi knight moved softly through the crowds of people the sands shifting under foot as he turned nearly bumping into someone, “Goodness me! Sorry.”

The grunt from the creature causing the bangs of his hair to fluff.

Pursing his lips Aziraphale moved away from the creature continuing onward till he reached the Cantina. Sitting down at the table he spoke, “Honestly the places you have me meet you at Crowley.”

“Are less conspicuous,” Crowley said. “Kit’s recovering with the ship while we refuel. Did you get what you were after?”

“Why yes!” The Jedi Master perked up reaching into his bag and pulling out a paper book. “Agnaaz Siruf’s Art of War. In remarkable condition I might add and in paper. Do you even realize how impossibly rare that is? They just gave it away, can you believe that just giving this away?”

“You used the force didn’t you?”

“I would never,” Aziraphale said pouting. “In fact I am shocked, shocked you would even imply such a thing!” He added.

Crowley looked to him. “And how well is that working out for you?” Crowley asked noticing the shift in the crowd at the bar.

“Quite well thank y-”

Crowley placed a hand over Aziraphale’s mouth pulling up the other’s hood then his own.

“You STOLE MY BOOK!” A rather angry looking Sullustan came through the bar guards behind him.

“I did no such thing,” Aziraphale said. “You threw it away!”

“You stole it!” The Sullustan glared at him.

Crowley sighed downed his drink before grabbing Aziraphale and the book. “Come on Angel! We’re leaving.”

“But Crowley!” Aziraphale said looking up at him.

“No but’s,” Crowley urged Aziraphale out the door. “We need to go.” Crowley broke into a run.

Aziraphale followed after as the guards of the city began pursuit.

Using the force to bring a signal tower down behind them as they boarded the ship. “Well that’s a cantina we can never go back to again, not that it was worth going back to.”

Aziraphale nodded as he sat down then he moved to stand as his face was over come with shock. “OH THE BOOK! I FORGOT TO GRAB THE-”

Crowley held it up with one hand before the other Jedi. “There you are, don’t ever say I don’t do anything for you.”

Azirphale felt his heart swell with gladness as he took the book gingerly, “Oh thank y-WATCH OUT FOR THOSE PIT CREWS!”

“They know the risks of their livelihood!” Crowley smiled bringing the ship out of the port and into the atmosphere entering Hyperspace set for Coruscant.

“Well you should be more careful they might have families.”

“They are droids,” Crowley looked to Aziraphale, “They have no one.”

Aziraphale sighed then looked down at the book, “Thank you again that was very nice of you.”

Crowley made a face and stood up pulling out a bottle of Nabooian Vintage. “What do you say we celebrate and you tell me just how you got that book from that Sullustan? What do you say Angel?”

“I think that would be a wonderful way to spend our time dear,” Aziraphale summoned two glasses for them to use with the force.

________________________________________________________________

The Throneroom burned various bodies scattered as Hades and the Emperor fought blood, burns, and lacerations.

The Emperor was surprisingly agile for his age and had apparently been keeping his power dormant. Flashes of lightsaber on lightsaber, crackles of the Force energizing into lightning, maddened laughter tainted with the darkside filled the air. The wise stood on the sidelines and waited for the outcome.

Ignis threw a blast of lightning at the Emperor who blocked with his own. It seemed that no matter what he did the Emperor found a way to match him. Ignis dropped to his knees.

Emperor Moloch neared him and imposing figure even this battered and bruised. “Like many others before you that have tried and failed, you underestimated me. And for the last time, Ignis. You will always kneel, it is who you are, what you are, a servant, of me, and the Darkside.” He neared Ignis smiling down at him. “You will fall, just like your precious Persephone did.”

That woke something up in him as Force lightning crackled and fizzled around Darth Ignis.

“You can’t even gain power from her memory? No wonder you are weak,” The Emperor shot him with lighting.

Ignis absorbed it until the air around him began crackling, “NEVER MENTION HER NAME AGAIN!” Lightning forcefully shot out of him and into the Emperor frying the older man till nothing but ash remained as Ignis stood breathing heavily. No one would ever know how close he had gotten to being defeated, right up until the end there. He turned upon the rows of Sith Lords now kneeling to him proclaiming him Emperor.

#Ch.5 A Seduction of the Darkside #SeaCoastCity SWAU #SW:ASD

1 note · View note