#will in a muzzle telling people to wear their mask or else
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My mom got me NBC Hannibal stickers for Christmas and these are my favorites of the pack.
These are the rest of the NBC Hannibal ones:
And then there were a few Silence of the Lambs and American Psycho stickers:
#gender envy#tag yourself#i am no longer mentally ill#will in a muzzle telling people to wear their mask or else#cartoon hannibal marked#those three are me#yeah#nbc hannibal#silence of the lambs#american psycho#stickers#hannigram
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Another Red - Bunny Nose
Danny resisted the urge to roll his eyes, even though it wouldn’t be seen behind his lenses. “You can stop lurking, I know you’re there.”
“I let you.”
“You were obvious,” Danny said.
“Let you,” Black Bat said again, her voice almost sing-song.
It would be a fair argument with anyone else, Danny figured. She was absolutely silent as she moved across the roof to sit next to him. If he was a normal person, he probably wouldn’t know that she was there.
But he wasn’t normal.
“I could tell anyways,” Danny said with a little shrug. He let himself rock slightly as Black Bat bumped their shoulders together. He gave a little snort but didn’t move away. “I can. You’ve got a… presence about you.”
“Rabbit special power?”
“I don’t know how that name stuck,” Danny grumbled instead of answering. How did he explain being dead? That was too weird to go into, even to someone dressed like a bat. “I don’t look much like a rabbit.”
“Idea. Idea for weeks,” Black Bat said, sounding almost smug. “But you always run.”
“Yeah.”
“Not tonight.”
Danny shrugged again, their shoulders brushing with the motion. “Yeah. I’m… I’m just tired of running. Tonight I just wanted to… to enjoy the night.”
That didn’t even began to explain it, but it was all the words that Danny had for the horrible bubble of feelings under his rib cage.
“I should go?” Black Bat offered.
Danny leaned a little of his weight against their touching shoulders. It felt so nice to just be like this next to someone again, it made Danny’s heart give a lurch. “Naw, you seem nice and calm. You can stay. Just us though?”
“Others are busy,” she promised, going as far to actually cross her heart.
Danny gave a little bark of laughter that was joined by Black Bat’s almost silent laugh. When their short burst of laughter faded, they were left with the sounds of Gotham at night: people on the street talking, the mechanical rumble of the tram, an echoing siren in the distance. It was hardly the sounds Danny had grown up with, but they were starting to be comforting. Maybe Gotham could be home some day too.
“Present time?” Black Bat asked after several minutes of quiet.
Danny turned enough to look at Black Bat in confusion. “Present…?”
“Yes, idea present,” she said as if that explained anything.
It didn’t.
“Okay…?”
“Eyes closed.”
That made Danny hesitate. That was a lot of trust. But he was already letting her close enough to touch him. He’d seen Black Bat in motion and knew that she could take him down in an instant if she wanted. Giving in, Danny sighed just to make a point of it but closed his eyes as told.
When something pressed on the muzzle of his mask he jerked back instinctively, earning a tut from Black Bat. He tried not to move anymore as the touch continued or when he felt nimble fingers in his hair. The longer it continued, the more the touch in his hair was actually soothing. He could almost relax like this. When was the last time that he had relaxed?
Danny swayed a little as the fingers pulled away and Black Bat steadied him by the shoulder for a moment before her touch left him completely.
“Eyes open.”
She had a tiny camera pointed at him when he did and snapped a photo. Danny was still blinking the flash away as she quickly turned the camera around it around to show him the view screen.
Perched in his hair, right in the middle, was a headband with two little black rabbit ears. On his mask, Black Bat had drawn with some sort of bright red paint pen. Five simple lines made up a stylized rabbit nose and mouth. Danny found himself laughing, bright and loud and true.
“No.”
“Adorable,” Black Bat insisted.
Danny tried to stifle his laughter. “I am not wearing bunny ears to fight crime!”
“You are not fighting crime!” Black Bat insisted with a jab at Danny’s shoulder. “You are rescue.”
“Sure.”
“Rescue only!”
Danny raised his hands. “I said sure!”
“Sarcastic sure,” Black Bat grumbled.
“Still a sure.”
She sigh with a despondent air and slumped against Danny again. Danny didn’t mind the grumbling, it was still just nice to be touched. It was still just nice to be noticed by people who didn’t just want him gone. He’d take a few sighs and the bizarre rabbit theming to keep this.
Wasn’t that a fucking weird thought? To maybe let the Bats close. To maybe let them really see him. To maybe let them care. Would they care, if he let them?
Danny didn’t know if he was brave enough to find out.
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AN: I needed something to write and @wolfjackle asked about the bunny face on this art. Cass decided to be responsible for that.
Stay strong darlings, strong and delightful.
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Weird Doctor
TWs: drugged character, restraints, muzzle. It's extra long, but I'm not sure where to cut it so I haven't. lemme know if i need to add any other TWs if theyre missing, please. Have fun <3
@cupcakes-and-pain @maracujatangerine
It feels like I’m floating in syrup, cuz everything is nice and quiet and slow, but it’s also too cold to go back to sleep. I wriggled around until realizing that I’m not on a bed and there is no blanket, sadly. I opened my eyes enough to figure out that the cement I’m laying on isn’t covered by anything. Why would I sleep on cement? It’s not warm or comfy at all, and I always trip over the cracks and skin my hands or knees, it's the worst. Wait, there’s a blanket, but it's on the other side of the room and I don’t wanna get up. I stared sadly at it for a bit, letting my brain melt away. Eventually I got too cold and tried to get up, but my arms shook and everything started spinning just a little bit so I laid back down. I huffed, and tried to remember what happened but I kept getting distracted by how cold it was. Why would anyone ever make it so cold? Why would you torture yourself like that? It has to be at least 71 degrees for me to feel comfortable and even then I hide under the blankets. It definitely isn’t that warm in here, and I wanna leave but the only way out is a weird door with a flap at the bottom.
Actually, the door looks like those ones in movies, yknow? The ones for cells to hold the prisoners, all steel and whatever metal doors are made of. It looks really heavy though, and the room is pretty dark. I can see alright, but there’s no light coming in anywhere. There’s also a ring in the center of the room, which is a trip hazard. You shouldn’t put things out in the middle of the room with no light source, someone’s gonna break the ankle tripping on it. I wouldn’t though, cuz I never trip ever and anyone who says I do is lying and should be banished from my kingdom. Wait, I don't have a kingdom. Do I? Oh well. It would be nice to have a kingdom, just relaxing all day getting to eat all the chocolates and not having to do anything. Maybe I should start my own kingdom, but people say it’s hard. All you gotta do is declare yourself king though, so I don’t understand what they think is hard about that. Maybe they can’t make themselves king? I could make all the people kings, but only if they promised to leave my kingdom alone and give me chocolates.
Suddenly, the door was shoved open, and I closed my eyes against the very bright light that came with it. That was scary, it dragged on the ground and made a really loud noise that hurt my ears. I opened my eyes to glare at it, so it wouldn’t do that again. Oh hey, when they get here? There was someone standing in the door, with a weird thing in their hands.
“Oh good, you’re awake. Let’s get this on you, I need to take you down to the medbay. You lost quite a bit of blood, and we need to fix that. Getting more is a pain, by the way, so if you lose any more I will drain you dry myself, understood?” They said, walking up to me with the weird thing.
I tried to say something but it hurt and I started coughing, which hurt more. I huffed, cuz I couldn't do anything else. The guy crouched down, setting the weird thing on the floor nearby. He unfolded the weird thing, which had other things inside. He grabbed what looked like one of those shock collars for dogs, but without the spikes on the inside. She- wait, is she a guy or a girl? I can’t tell. Oh well. They slid it under my neck before pulling it tight and clicking it together. Rude, I’m not a dog. I’m not even an animal, everyone can see that. Maybe they need glasses? The weird person was wearing a doctor trench coat, which is even weirder than a normal trench coat, actually. The weird doctor pulled another thing from the little pile that was already mostly gone, and it looked like an odd fabric mask.
He lifted my head up and placed the cold metal part under my chin, and pulling the top metal piece over the bridge of my nose. I tried to watch, but my eyes went cross eyed and made me dizzy, so I just stared at the weird doctor again. They tugged on it before clipping the two back straps together around the back of my head, and then making it really tight somehow. I winced and tried to move away but the weird doctor just yanked my head back and told me to stay still or else, so I stopped wiggling and glared at them. They started pulling on something on the side of the mask thingie, and then that side was really tight and I couldn't open my mouth at all. They started doing the same for the other side, and I tried to move again but it was hard and really slow, so the weird doctor just shoved me back onto the floor.
He yanked my hands behind my back and click-clacked super handcuffs onto my wrists, right over the cuts from before. I tried to pull on them, but it just made my wrists hurt really really bad so I just laid there while the weird doctor went out past the door. It was still cold, but now it was worse cuz i can’t move and everything hurts. Weird Doctor dragged in a moving bed, like the ones in hospitals for patients. Weird, a doctor would never let it get this cold. I’ve never seen a doctor before so I’m not sure. Or a hospital. Movies show them all the time, and they always seem really loud with everyone yelling and weird machines beeping or screaming. Maybe Weird Doctor is a worker for a quiet hospital? Quiet hospitals seem like they would be more secret-ier, so they have to be super secret and make sure nobody tells.
“Alright, runt. I’m going to lift you and if you kick me, I will break your ankle. Behave.”
That was the only warning I got before Weird Doctor lifted me up in the princess carry and set me down on the moving bed. I wanted to kick him but it felt like I was gonna throw up and I didn't wanna do that. I can’t even open my mouth at all, and I didn't wanna have to swallow puke. That’d be really gross and icky. I jerked when my wrists got crushed under me, and it felt like someone lit them on fire so I rolled onto my side. I took a deep breath, but it didn’t make me feel any better, and nothing made any more sense. Hopefully Weird Doctor could fix my wrists, and maybe give me some chocolate. I’m really hungry, but I can't ask for anything cuz my throat hurts, and the mask keeps my mouth clamped shut.
Weird doctor started pushing the moving bed out of the dark room, and out into the hallway. I didn’t look very different, but there are lights which is nice. No one will trip, cuz now they can see the ground. Unless they’re distracted, like the one time Detective walked into a door while reading a case paper. He dropped like he was shot too, which was funny cuz he cussed like a sailor, whatever that means. I heard Ms. Secretary say that to someone, but I'm not sure what it means. He did cuss a lot though, and he said I shouldn’t repeat any of it to anyone who looked like a reporter.
We passed by some other rooms, but they all had the same type of door, so I couldn’t see in. I heard something whimpering in one of them, maybe a dog? That makes me sad cuz doggies are really nice and fun to play with, they shouldn’t be hurt. Maybe if I ask really nicely, Weird Doctor will help them too? We passed more doors, and I could hear yelling from some of them, which was scary. I don’t like when people yell, cuz they get really loud and mean and scary. Weird Doctor just kept pushing the moving bed along, and the yelling went away. Weird Doctor is kinda nice, but I don’t like the super-cuffs cuz they hurt my wrists more, or the mask cuz i cant open my mouth at all, or it’ll pull on my nose and make that hurt too. Maybe if I was good, Weird Doctor would get rid of them? And, and maybe if i was really super good i’d get chocolates and something to drink. My throat felt really dry and scratchy, and that was worse than it hurting cuz I can’t scratch my throat.
Weird Doctor walked us around a corner, and suddenly there was an old elevator, like the ones in the scary movies. It looked a little different though, cuz there’s red blotches everywhere and I thought rust was orange. Maybe rust gets darker the longer it's there? The elevator jerked, and suddenly it felt like I was climbing but without actually doing anything. It was cool, but also made me feel sick again, so I ignored it and listened to the music that was playing from somewhere. IT was really nice and calming and made me feel sleepy again, but I don’t think Weird Doctor would like it if I fell asleep again. The elevator dinged, and Weird Doctor pushed the moving bed out of the doors. The walls were really bright, and they were white. I was right, this is a hospital! But it's a quiet hospital, cuz I don't hear anyone yelling, and nothing is beeping. It’s really nice. They pushed the moving bed really, really close to another bed, and lifted me onto that one instead. Why would they do that? The other bed was just fine. Probably a Quiet hospital thing. Weird Doctor undid the super-cuffs, but then they rolled me onto my back just to strap my wrists down to the bed. This is a little unnecessary, I couldn’t do anything before, so what’s the difference? They walked off, so I just laid on my back and rolled my head to watch them. Weird Doctor pulled out a tall, rolling thingie and hooked a red bag to it.
They dragged it over to me, and shoved a needle into my arm. I huffed at the prick, but then the tube it was connected to started to fill with the red stuff. It looked really super familiar but I can’t remember. It was definitely a hospital thing though, but usually the bags are clear. Maybe I get to have a special bag cuz I'm a special boy. I’m the specialiest of boys, so that makes sense. Weird Doctor kept walking around and grabbing things and setting them on the table right next to the bed. I didn’t see that, maybe it's to hold all the chocolates and medicine things Weird Doctor is setting down. They need to make sure to leave enough room for the chocolates, though, or else I’ll have to beat them up. Chocolates are the most important-y things ever.
I blinked slowly as Weird Doctor started filling needles with something, but it’s getting hard to stay awake cuz it's warm. The heat made me tired, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Hopefully Weird Doctor wouldn’t be mad at me, but they also never said anything about not falling asleep, I think. They’ve been nice so far though, cuz they haven’t yelled at me at all. Still don’t like the mask thing, so he’s not the nicest but he’s nice enough. I rolled my head over t o look at the ceiling. It was a pretty grey color, and I stared at it while falling asleep. Blue would be prettier though, I think.
#tw muzzle#tw restraints#tw drugged character#whump writing#whump#medical setting#Ghost is drugged out of his mind but he doesnt quite realize that#Hes just a little guy doing his best#but he isnt the brightest of boys and i love him for it#also hes only watched a total of 4 movies#the detective has never been able to get him to sit still long enough for any more#Ghostie needs to get out more but dont trust him by himself#he'll either never trust anyone or trust everyone. there is no in between#Ghost#Ghostie#Doctor Everly#also known as Weird Doctor
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4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 for the fanfic ask game!! Totally cool to pick and choose the ones you wanna answer lol
4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?
Ooof. I have plot bunnies that have been hopping around for like 20 years, I swear. But one that I actually started writing but just never did anything with was an ACD Canon Holmes/Watson story about Watson being blackmailed by Milverton. I think I wrote about 2k words of that before getting distracted by something else. That's also the answer to why I haven't written a lot of my bunnies, because I get distracted by other ideas.
5. have you ever made a playlist about something you were writing
No, I just put the same song on repeat and write to the beat. While I've been writing this week, I've been playing Belinda Carlisle's Heaven Is A Place On Earth.
7. tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote
Oh my god, it was this, from fucking 2008. I probably have followers younger than this fic. Zero plot. Just two characters fucking.
8. what’s your relationship with constructive criticism and feedback like? do you seek it out? how well do you take it?
If it's from my betas, I happily accept it. If it's some random person going 'Hey, I didn't like XYZ.' I ignore it. If it's someone going 'This sucks/I hate this/Fuck you.' I get really pissed off.
10. at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?
Titles either come to me immediately when I'm plotting out the story, or as soon as I'm done. There's very little in between. The one fic that gave me the worst time with regards to a title was probably Whisper. I am SO proud of this story, but the title almost did me in. I actually put off posting it for like three days because I didn't know what to call the damn thing, and that was linked to the fact that until the point of the climax I still didn't know what I was going to call the Big Bad since they don't actually appear until then.
On the other hand, the ColdFlash series I'm currently working on, I had the first story titled after about 1k words, and that made titling the rest of the series that I've plotted out easy, because they'll all be along the same punny theme.
11. what’s something neat you’ve learned while doing research for something you were writing? also, how much do you worry about doing research in general?
My research is usually divided into two groups: Fact checking with the canon source material, for things like 'Wait, what's the height difference between these characters again?' (Three inches) 'Did Jason wear the weird muzzle mask thing while this story was taking place?' (Yes.) 'What would Eddie order right now?' (Chicken dan dan noodles and a steak for Vee) OR excruciatingly exact technical details that almost no one ever pays much attention to but if I don't make sure I get it perfectly correct I will want to tear my hair out, like 'How long would it take for these characters to walk from point A to point B?' (Roughly 4.5 hours, weather permitting, and trust me I have tried to find details about the weather on specific Roman feast days in early Roman occupied south Britain. No such luck.) When I was writing Holmes pastiche, I did a lot of research on late Victorian post boy and bath house scandals.
The neatest thing I've learned recently was probably the different 'mancies. Like Necromancy, Tyromancy, and so on. All so I could make a gag about a cheese and onion tart. Which I'm pretty sure only I and maybe three other people thought was funny.
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Tohru Adachi is no stranger to hunger.
He has learned to hide himself behind a mask, to play pretend.
He has learned to hide his starvation, his urge to bite and tear. He has learned how to don a muzzle, to keep himself tame and docile.
Sometimes, though, the muzzle slips. Sometimes he sinks his teeth into gentle flesh and tears as hard as he can. Sometimes he relishes the feeling of blood on his maw, of meat stuck in his teeth. Sometimes he prides himself in the way they recoil from him, scared of being bitten again.
Other times, he doesn’t know why he bites. He doesn’t know why he growls and tears and attacks. He doesn’t like the feeling of blood dripping from his mouth, of lean flesh in his teeth.
There is one who willingly offers herself, who openly subjects herself to the rip of his teeth, to the pain.
She gives herself to him, lets him feast until he is no longer starving. She feeds him pieces of her own flesh and bone, lets him take the parts he wants.
She lets him. It doesn’t hurt her, he has come to realise. Her blood never runs dry, her flesh always returns.
He loves this woman. Obsessed with the way she beckons him like she knows he’s loyal to her. He adores the way she makes him heel, the way she alone has power over him and his bite. He does not take what she does not offer.
She kisses him and does not fear the teeth that are made to kill. She holds him and does not shy away from the claws that are made to tear.
She tells him of her love, makes promises he knows she will keep, because she has proven to him that she can. She has promised to love him, and love him she has.
She tells him she loves him.
He wears that love like a collar.
ok i am exploding currently THIS IS SO... AAAARGEURGHHAHDHHH chewing on this like a dog (haha) adachi being the hunger. the fact you described his facade as a muzzle and not a mask is just so..... like he's restraining himself and not just a blatant liar. he wants to keep himself from hurting people but his hunger is just too strong. the TASTES he gets just make him hunger more. and I am in LOVE with the fact that adachi releasing his hunger on izanami works both literally and figuratively. if he really did bite her she would heal since she's a goddess but figuratively it shows how she just lets him let it all out. she isnt phased by his true form she just loves him for it. they love each other so much that no matter what their true colors are they just let them let it out. this is literally perfect mav i dont know what else to say.
#you can tell im having a lot of thoughts when im not speaking in all caps#nero answers#shackle-foes#izanami#adanami
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[Long Description: A sketch page of Sohei, a velk pilot who’s mostly just a pile of bones taped together with bandages at this point. He is tall, lanky, and vaguely avian. His face is concealed by a full-face beaked mask, and he wears a wide-brimmed feathered hat and a longcoat over his bones. He stands at easily 7 feet and change, and is quite a bit taller than Sinuk, who’s already pretty tall for a human.
The spread in the right depicts him hitching a ride on the ur catharte, an enormous skeletal condor-slash-biomechanical-spaceship who is being violently contested by another, even fiercer-looking velk vessel.]
◆
Sohei’s my favorite character who I never draw because his design eats wrists for breakfast.
I’ve been thinking about ve velk lately. They’re the ones who “created” the ur catharte and the other velk god-ships, at least inasmuch as one can intentionally create a bunch of biomechanical gods. In ye olden days, velk arks were amalgamations of the bodies and souls of velk who died in space. For a people with an extremely comfortable relationship with death, it was a troubling fact of life that those who died in space could never materially decompose. Assimilating into the community’s god-ship would have been the next best thing, and it was a tremendous honor to be able to carry your loved ones and their descendants for all time.
Later on, velk god-ships were appropriated into machines of war by the Powers That Be. The arks are powerful and sapient, but they can have their will bent from outside or from within. You can tell a ship piloted in “the old way” from a war ship by its outfitting. In times of old, there was never any reason to muzzle them or use coercive piloting techniques; that would have been like… handcuffing your great grandma, or something. Unfortunately, centuries of abuse have driven even the most stouthearted and dependable vessels mad with grief. It’s a sad reality that most velk vessels are less like the god-ships of old, these days, and more like anguished ghosts that are compelled to violence by pain. An unmanned warship can be an extremely dangerous thing to encounter for any party. There’s just no reasoning with something so powerful and deeply wounded.
Sohei and his folks would have been exiles, rebels, and refugees fleeing all that. I think Sohei himself might have some experience with being a pawn in someone else’s game, I’m not sure. Either way, dissidents like him are an oddity in the wider weave of the velk. Not a lot of opportunities to escape, and even fewer people who remember how to pilot arks in the old way.
And even if you do get lucky… Odds are good you end up like him, sooner or later. Sohei and his folks went missing while being pursued by the Powers That Be. Something, uh, went wrong while he was black hole drifting, and now he’s a bunch of bones duct-taped together. Kinda like most of the velk vessels that ended up falling to earth.
Anyway. Sohei’s my old buddy and it’s fun to draw him again. I like ve velk as a mirror/contrast to humanity in Moribund, even if I will probably not do anything meaningful about that for the foreseeable future. Take this ambient industrial cathedral music from the Mechanicus OST that my brother showed me and that I can’t stop listening to now.
#does anyone on earth know about this? dont worry about it.#sohei tag#ur catharte tag#sinuk vauntariaq tag#war warn --#death warn --
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Okay, I know I just rbed a post and rambled in the tags about it, but let's talk about my
Ticci-Toby mouth guard HCs!
(disclaimer I have no idea what Kastoway said about it, but I also don't care, this is a Kastoway hostile zone)
Now, I don't know if it's INTENTIONAL or not, but it always reminded me of the mouth guard/muzzle Hannibal Lecter wears in Silence of the Lambs during the prison transfer.
Comparison is pretty striking, right?
So, the main concern I would have is breathability and the ability to talk. His mouth is COMPLETELY covered, as opposed to Hannibal there having a mouth window. If he has a stuffy nose, the boi is gonna suffocate. In addition, it'd have to be something hard, but lightweight. Unlike the Hannibal getup just keeping him from chomping people for a short transfer, it appears that Toby wears it CONSTANTLY, he can't get away with something as heavy or cumbersome as leather, but it has to be more durable than plastic.
And then it hit me: Fiberglass! I've worked with fiberglass for cosplays a few times, it's a more TECHNICAL skill that takes a bit of time to get right, but it's pretty cheap (the base core just requires enough cereal boxes or other thin cardboard to make the shape, and the resin isn't very expensive), less DIFFICULT and more just time consuming if you know what you're doing, and can lead to some pretty durable, hard pieces that are easy to paint and with just a little cloth or even a bit of foam, very comfortable to wear for extended periods of time! (my crowning achievement with it is a hard chest piece for a Mettaton cosplay!)
So, what I imagine is this:
I GENERALLY draw a more simplified version of it without the individual slats, but I DO feel like they're there. I feel like the smaller slats are more of an aesthetic choice than anything else? But there is a large window with just cloth and the slats to allow breathability like your average cloth mask.
As for WHY he wears it? I think it's a combination of being self conscious over his large mouth scar, an effort to correct harmful stimming, and aesthetic appeal.
Self conscious: I feel like he doesn't let people see his mouth scar often. Even if you stick with him having amnesia (not everyone does, which is valid), he's still got the trauma from being bullied. And if they teased him relentlessly over some tics, then him having a gash like that will turn his life into a NIGHTMARE--or at least, that's what his brain tells him. He probably wouldn't want to show his face to just anyone, he would prefer to know he can trust the person.
Correcting behavior: He lives as a proxy, and no matter how you hc that, he's likely out in the forest or other unsanitary places for extended periods of time. He also canonically chews on himself, that's a lot of what starts his story rolling. I personally hc it as a stim, but more akin to Self Injurious Behavior. It's something he uses when he's seeking more sensory input, control over the sensory input he's getting, a way to calm his racing thoughts, a way to communicate distress his conscious thoughts can't quite catch up with, or any combination of the above. However, when he's in the woods with all manner of germs, and also doing some dirty work (he's a proxy and a murderer, blood, hello), open wounds that he can't feel pain on and have to be cleaned, bandaged, and constantly monitored for infection aren't exactly helpful. Having a comfortable barrier over his mouth, as well as gloves on his hands, prevents him from successfully biting himself, at least anywhere but something inside his mouth. It's probably used in conjunction with other stim toys, and probably not uncommon to find he has some chewlery stuffed inside it
Aesthetic appeal: Dude, it just looks fucking rad. Do you SEE that thing? Boi probably SLAVED over making it, sanding it, giving it comfortable straps, painting it... It just looks REALLY cool
#takeover time#creepypasta#ticci toby#headcanons#headcanon#creepypasta headcanons#creepypasta headcanon#ticci toby headcanons
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Reverse Demon Slayer AU
a/n: a demon slayer au my friend and i were talking abt a bunch last week and i wanted to share it with you guys :))
like literally the au is just the demon slayers are the demons and the demons are the demon slayers it's prob been done before but still here it is besties (the hashiras turn into the 12 kizuki, the trainers are like the ex-kizuki members [like kyogai])
Genre/Warnings: Demon shit, body horror, just kinda creepy stuff cause the demons in Demon Slayer look busted most of the time, mentions of blood, gore, mentions of violence/death, religious stuff (gyomei)
~Giyuu Tomioka~
-Stays in the forest near a lake
-His voice echoes, kinda like how a siren's would. Since his voice is very calming and can go pretty far out, it lures a lot of people into his lake
-Blood Demon Art: Can create "reflections" of the demon slayers he's fighting out of the water in his lake. Every hit they land on Giyuu's version of them just goes straight through it since it's made of water but it's able to actually hurt the slayer (basically giyuu just makes little water minion to do his bidding)
-Would be very attached to the demon who turned him (which is Urokodaki) and would be absolutely livid if anyone managed to kill him
-After your encounter with an ex-kizuki member, you started hearing a strange voice echoing through the forest in front of you. Mistaking the man's calls as cries for help, you venture further into the forest not knowing you were walking into your death.
~Shinobu Kocho~
-Her eyes look just like a fly's, but instead of red they're purple
-Has pincers on the sides of her face
-Blood Demon Art: Can spit acid up to 5 feet (like an assassin bug) and if she manages to bite you, she can inject venom into your bloodstream with her freak ass bug tongue (like an ant)
~Sanemi Shinazugawa~
-The top half of his outfit would be tied around his waist (like how Susamaru had hers)
-The scars on his body would become mouths, and each mouth also has a voice so whenever Sanemi speaks it's like there are several voices speaking at the same time
-Blood Demon Art: Can literally take the their from a person's lungs and suffocate them. A demon slayer can't use their breathing technique if they can't breathe, right?
-Doesn't wash the blood off his clothes and he keeps the swords of the slayers he kills as trophies
~Tengen Uzui~
-Each dot on his face tattoo would become more eyes
-His three wives would change every so often because they're kidnapped female demon slayers
-Blood Demon Art: If he gets even the tiniest cut anywhere on his body, he'll be able to emit an incredibly high pitched sound to disorient his opponent
~Muichiro Tokito~
-Blood Demon Art: Creates a mist that, when inhaled, fogs the person's memory; making them forget what they were doing completely so he can easily attack them
-Honestly, he thinks killing the Hashiras Muzan sends after him is a chore, so he usually stays in the Infinite Fortress
-When he does go out though, he doesn't stay in one place for too long so he can avoid the demon slayers as much as possible. He doesn't want to waste energy on killing low level children
~Obanai Iguro~
-Pretty much a naga, the bottom half of his body is a serpent's tail
-Can unhinge his jaw to take some big ass fucking bites out of people
-His eyes can look in two different directions at the same time, making it hard for slayers to land a good hit on him
~Mitsuri Kanroji~
-Main territory is the red light district, she lures men into her little place and eats them
-Blood Demon Art: Similar to how Tamayo can force someone to tell the truth using her demon art, Mitsuri is able to attract people to her. No one wants to hurt the person they're attracted to, so it would make it easy for her to kill them.
-The prettiest demon Hashira by far, pretty much everyone else looks like some horrible grotesque creature
-She always tries to keep the clothes of the men she kills clean so she can give them to the girls in her house. Even if they are human, she still cares for them greatly
-Is the cleanest demon Hashira as well. She doesn't like making a mess of her room just to clean it up right after
-Mitsuri also likes to try different recipes with the men she eats. Having them raw just isn't as fun as cooking them herself
~Kyojuro Rengoku~
-Blood Demon Art: Similar to Esidisi from JJBA, he can make his blood boil. When the slayer manages to get a hit on him, his blood would splash on them and burn through anything it touched. The temperature of his blood is on par with lava
-Looks the most human out of pretty much all the demons, but something just seems very off about him
-When you're fighting him, he's stone faced until he gets bored of you. His smile just looks way too big for his face, and the amount of teeth in his mouth are far beyond what it should be
-Doesn't have eyelids so he literally never blinks
~Gyomei Himejima~
-Would be dressed as a traditional Buddhist priest/monk
-He kills demon slayers to "help them atone for their sins"
-Main method of killing would be using his rosary to choke them out, sometimes since he doesn't really know his own strength their heads pop off
-He cries blood instead of tears
-Blood Demon Art: Can make his blood as hard as diamond so the demon slayer would be unable to cut him on the first try, so he would be able to take advantage of their shock and kill them
~Tanjiro Kamado~
-Blood Demon Art: Just the same as Nezuko's, since they're siblings and all that
-He had come from a family of demon slayers, and after getting turned into one himself they all tried to kill him (except for Nezuko)
-Wears a muzzle only when Nezuko is around other demon slayers. They have to keep up a charade, but it's so hard to control himself sometimes and that's when the muzzle really helps
-His favorite part of the body is the heart. When he was human, everyone always saw him as kind and innocent but when he was turned he was seen as the complete opposite. He hopes that consuming the hearts of other people will return his old kind-hearted personality
~Nezuko Kamado~
-Nezuko followed in her parent's footsteps by joining the demon slayer corps, but instead of trying to find a cure for her brother she gets information and passes it to Tanjiro and the demon Hashiras.
-Nezuko ended up taking Tanjiro away from the bloody ruins of their home, and on their way down the mountain they ran into Giyuu who instructed them to go to Urokodaki so Tanjiro would be safe
-Has killed demon slayers who have seen her interacting with the demon Hashiras. She has to keep her record clean to climb the ranks and to help Tanjiro at the same time
~Zenitsu Agatsuma~
-Would lure people into a trap by guilt tripping them into being alone with him
-"Could you please help me? I lost my gramps, but I can't see him anywhere. Will you help me find him?" and then they'd get bodied
-Always avoids killing innocent people or new demon slayers. He feels so bad for taking their lives away from them, but sometimes he just can't help it
-He'll style the female demon slayers hair after he kills them so they can be just as pretty as they were in life when they get to Heaven
~Inosuke Hashibira~
-The boar mask would become his actual head
-Instead of duel wielding swords, they would be some big ass fangs that he swings around to impale demon slayers
-Inosuke fights dirty. He'll snap his jaws at you and laugh hysterically when he manages to take a chunk out of your arm
-Actively seeks out demon slayers to kill. He never kills regular people because they don't put up a good enough fight for him
-Eats every part of the body, including the bones
~Misc Characters~
-Kanae was a spider-esque demon and cocooned people in her webs to feed a young Shinobu and Kanao until she was killed
-Kanao was human-turned-demon by the sisters
-Urokodaki is an ex-kizuki member and all of his trainees are now the demons in the Final Selection
-the Fox Children, led by Urokodaki, are merciless to any wannabe slayer that comes into their forest looking to make it out alive. Most of the demon slayers that make it out are nearly dead or had ran straight through, not even trying to get a kill
-the Fox Children wear the masks because their faces are incredibly fox-like (think like, mid transition animorphs cover)
-Nobody knows what Urokodaki's face looks like, but based on his mask that's for the best
~General Stuff~
-In this au, the demons actually stick together and the demon slayers work alone which makes the Hashira Kizuki way fucking scarier than they already were
-And because these demons work together, they're all going to hold grudges against certain demon slayers
-When Kanae was killed, the demon Hashira went apeshit, especially Gyomei. Pairing his strength and horrible blinding rage at the fact his coven lost a very important member, every slayer he kills within the first year of Kanae's death die in horrible ways.
-Imagine following the directions your dove gave you to an old, overgrown sanctuary secluded in the mountains. The moonlight does little to illuminate your surroundings, but one thing you do see is the mangled body of your fellow demon slayer hanging from a tree. The only thing keeping them together is their spinal cord, and the impossibly large hand holding their head to a branch.
-The Hashiras are all extremely savage and violent, rarely ever sparing a human life. (sometimes Shinobu or Kanao might feel bad and spare a small child or elderly person, but other than that nobody is safe)
-Crows would service the demons, and doves would service the demon slayers. Everyone is always wary around crows because nobody knows whether that particular one belongs to a demon or not
#demon slayer#demon slayer headcanons#demon slayer au#demon slayer x reader#kny#kny headcanons#kny au#kny x reader#there are too many characters to tag them all#demon slayer hashiras#demon slayer main four#kny hashiras#kny main four#i might write for demon hashiras and demon main four who knows#i hope y'all liked these cause my friend and i had a lot of fun making this!!!
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class 1-A with reader who has to wear a muzzle
— class 1-A
a.n: this was requested by an anon!
reader is gender neutral
everyone was a little confused the first time they saw you
because why were you wearing a mask in school?
at least everyone assumed it was a mask
it’s (color of your choice) and covers your lower face, sitting tight against your skin and secured with a clasp at the back of your head
it takes them a while (and aizawa’s explanation) until they realize it’s a mutzle and not an actual mask
the material was too thick and firm either way
you always wear it....in class, during training, during sparring, in the dorms...
everyone gets used to it over time
they don’t know a lot about why you have to wear it, only that it has to do with your quirk
it’s to muffle your words if you were to say something because the effect of your voice was dangerous
bakugou probably made a insensitive joke that you were probably rabid at some point before they all got to know you better
they all wonder why you even need a muzzle
because if your quirk is really that dangerous couldn’t you just...not say anything?
but any noise coming from you, even a cough or a mere chuckle had the effect of it
so it was really just a safety precaution
you can’t really speak with the muzzle (after all that’s the purpose behind it)
so you mostly communicate using sign language
that or you write down what you want to say but that just gets exhausting with time
(and it’s really unpractical during training or actual missions)
iida and momo will ensure the whole class is learning sign language, iida is especilly insisting
“it will be a great opportunity to strengthen the class mentality and ensure y/n f/n feels comfortable in our class!”
all of them agree and put a lot of effort into learning sign language
some pick up on it really fast, like scarily fast
bakugou is surprisingly (or not) the most talented and everyone is pleasantly surprised when he makes such an effort
he say it’s important for hero work and that’s why but he secretly likes sign language
the only phrases mineta (so sorry to include this grape) knows are beyond inappropriate and he gets kicked in the face for it don’t worry
mina struggles the most but she’s trying to connect the hand signs to dancing and it works a lot better after that
kaminari surprises everyone with his skills since he learns almost as fast as bakugou
the whole class makes an effort and it makes you really happy
izuku, sweet izuku is pelting you with questions about your quirk as soon as he can communicate with you
(probably why he learned it so quickly, he just needs to know more about your quirk)
you and koda get along really well because he doesn’t talk a lot either and he is very kind and friendly towards you
even lets you pet his pets he is the cutest
you are only allowed to take down the muzzle to sleep, to eat and when you are alone in your room
mostly you leave it on out of habit, though
when you take it down to eat you usually distance yourself from others, just to be sure (you could sneeze or cough or laugh after all)
class 1-A is really sad about it because you’re the only one eating alone
kirishima has the idea to face time you (your voice isn’t as dangerous over recorded audio if you’re careful so you agree)
that is also the first time they see your whole face in all of its glory and mina and kaminari quickly tell you how pretty you are
kaminari doesn’t get over your beauty for a while
you and tokoyami get along because he related to having a dangerous quirk that could easily get out of hand
you are used to wearing a muzzle but some days you really hate it, especially when surrounded by people who are able to laugh and scream whenever they wanted to while you couldn’t
these days everyone in class 1-A makes sure you feel especilly comfortable around them
it’s usually either kirishima or tsuyu to notice (a lot of times it’s todoroki, too)
mina will braid your hair (or try to at least, she’s bery persistent) and kaminari and jirou will decorate your muzzle with stickers they brought
aoyama will be his sparkly self and recommends cheese to you (and smuggles some into your bag so you can eat it at lunch) and he’ll tell you how stylish your muzzle is decorated with stickers
since your voice is a huge part of your quirk you sometimes get to take it off during training
only if aizawa allows it though
but you have to train how to use your voice in a controlled environment
ochako and kirishima are the ones to hype you up the most when they finally see you in action
even todoroki gives you a small smile and tells you that you’ve got a very complex and valuable quirk for battle
being complimented by todoroki feels like you’ve won in the lottery because it’s so rare
deku, of course, is already muttering to himself and taking out his notebook
whenever someone makes fun of your for the muzzle (teenagers are cruel) you get instant backup
kirishima will be by your side, hand around your shoulder and look disapprovingly at your bullying telling them that their behaviour “not manly”
kaminari usually joins with a huge smile, telling them that you’re really cool and that makes them “really not cool”
ochako and todoroki will be outright protective
like ochako got that creepy smile she’ll sent your bullies way, threatening them with the sweeted voice
todoroki is very intimidating in himself so he just stands next to you and looks at them with a blank face, asking if there is a problem
bakugou, yes bakugou, is very protective but also very subtle about it
no one will know about it
but when he sees someone making fun of you he makes sure to threaten them when no one else is in the room and later acts like he has no idea why the bully won’t bother you anymore
you know though and you are very thankful
just class 1-A being all cuties to you basically
you are very haply you went to UA
Taglist: @crystal-lilac @duf3h6237 @hufflefluffslytherin @chucky-26o1 @crapimahuman
#bnha#mha#bnha headcanons#bnha hcs#mha headcanons#mha hcs#class 1a#class 1 a headcanons#class 1a hcs#bakugou hcs#bakugou headcanons#bakugou katsuki hcs#bakugou katsuki headcanons#mina headcanons#mina hcs#kaminari hcs#kaminari headcanons#deku headcanons#deku hcs#midoriya izuku hcs#midoriya izuku headcanons#kirishima eijiro hcs#kirishima eijiro headcanons#kirishima headcanon#kirishima hcs#kaminari denki hcs#kaminari denki#kirishima eijirou#midoriya izuku#bakugou katsuki
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i have a doubt.
i'm struggling with bpd too, and usually when i'm feeling, idk, normal? like when i'm feeling just alright i'm calm and composed. and when i get not normal i start getting extreme. i either get really chaotic or i just shut myself away from the world and just get eerily silent.
so i had an exam recently and well i tanked it. this has nothing to do with the question, i'm just providing some context.
so when i was returning home on the schoolbus, i got like really hyperactive? manic? idk.
the schoolbus was crowded with people and i couldn't move and i was already wearing a mask which feels more like i'm muzzled and then i sort of lost it? i think. in my opinion, i did.
i got very loud, though i had to be loud as i was wearing a mask, so let's just say i got louder than necessary. and i was talking about sex a lot, which is something i don't really care about, but i still try not to bring up sex around my more prudish friends. and i was also talking really quick. i might have overshared too, about some stuff that i don't remember. i usually don't tell people anything about what's going on in my life, so anything can feel like oversharing to me.
anyway so here's the question. was all this thanks to my bpd or was it something else? was this some other, lesser known symptom of bpd or was it something else entirely?
yours truly (do people say that?)
a really confused and uncertain follower in need of validation.
ok so first and foremost: I am not a professional, but I have been living with bpd at least since the beginning of puberty if not longer
This, to me, sounds like BPD mania (or hypomania), and it sounds like the trigger was tanking your exam.
From my experience if something really bad happens, or I'm experiencing a really low mood swing, my brain will counteract it by getting super hyperactive - or manic. It's like your brain sees that youre low and goes "oh no, i gotta send them happy juice" but since its a bpd brain it WAYYY overcompensates.
The best way i can describe it is like a baby version of a bipolar swing. If you're bipolar you'll experience at least two weeks of a depressive episode, and then to counteract it your brain will go into happy overdrive and you'll get manic for at least two weeks. bpd does this just super fucking rapidly. (again, disclaimer: this isnt 100% scientific but its a gist of the reality)
My best advice i can give is don't let it fall into the cycle of:
I am super fucking sad->send happy juice-> become manic -> overshare -> freak out that you were 'acting weird' -> self isolate -> being alone causes bpd sadness mood swing -> send happy juice -> reach out to friends bc your manic -> overshare -> etc etc etc
I hope this makes sense lmao and is helpful!
#bpd#borderline things#ask#vent#tw#borderline meme#bpd meme#actually borderline#actually bpd#borderline personality#borderline personality disorder#being borderline#quiet borderline
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Keter Duty
This is gonna stay as a oneshot for now, I think. I want to make it longer and eventually make a more official looking entry like something off the SCP Wiki, but here we go. Tagging @imagine-darksiders because this was their idea. I promise there’s some semblance of a plot I’m cooking up for this, but it’ll be posted up on Ao3 if I write more.
“Enter the chamber, D-091337.”
You hated that voice on the P.A system- cold, clinical, uncaring. Just another Tuesday for these people, for you it could be your last day alive, like so many forced into the dens of the monsters they kept here, and it felt like you’d been marched to the gallows. You sighed- could be worse, you supposed. You could have been forced into the femur breaker, waiting for the unimaginable pain that heralded your impending death. You could have been put on 173 duty, having to rely on two other strangers in order to survive cleaning the mess that thing in there- you’d done it before and you never wanted to do that again. You took a breath to choke back the fear, only to have it knocked out of you as the butt of a rifle struck you between the shoulders, forcing you to stumble through the door as it slid open.
“If you turn around, you will be shot,” Says the gruff voice behind you. “Get in there, now.”
You wanted to give the man a nasty look as the door closed behind you, if you weren’t expecting your painful, bloody death. Your eyes were closed, still cringing from the developing bruise in your back as you hissed through your teeth, though you forced yourself to look up, deciding you wanted to at least see what was going to kill you, only to find four pairs of eyes from four different, humanlike individuals looking back at you- four very tall individuals, three of them male, and one female. One of the males, who was pale as a corpse and wore a skull-like mask, had a shaggy, mangy looking crow on his shoulder, that stared at you curiously with its beady little eyes, almost like it was judging whether or not you were a threat, much like the other individuals were doing as they watched you straighten up and press yourself against the door.
“A human?” One of the males piped up, this one wearing a silver helmet that only showed two amber eyes that looked you up and down, from your orange jumpsuit to the white sneakers to the dark circles under your eyes. He glanced to the others in the room, the fluorescent light glinting off the silver plated armour he wore. “Didn’t they say they were gonna send someone to talk to us?” Amazingly, their English was perfect, and the others responded in similarly perfect English.
It was the skull-masked male who spoke next, his wiry frame hunched in the way he sat, his eyes like smouldering embers. “No weapons,” He observed with a voice like a rattling sigh, a last word on a dying breath, and he glanced briefly to the panel of one-way glass before he spoke again. “What is your name, Human?” He almost sounded as if he was bored. You had taken a breath to reply, when the voice of one of the scientists gave you a warning over the P.A system.
“D-091337, you are not authorised to speak.” You froze, pressing yourself further against the door. “You are unauthorised to interact beyond the instructions we give you.”
The female, her dark lips pulled in a scowl, glared at the one-way glass with eyes like glowing moonstones. Despite the feeling of danger emanating off of her, she was beautiful, her olive skin smooth and unblemished, hair the colour of wine floating freely behind her. “They can talk when they decide to talk to us themselves,” She growled, the armour she wore clanking together as she shifted in her place leaning against the wall by the third male, a man built like a mountain who wore a red cloak around his shoulders- you couldn’t see his face past the massive pauldron on his shoulder. “I think we’ll decide who’s ‘worthy’. Now, answer my brother’s question.”
Well. The scientists wouldn’t like that. At first, it was hard to speak. You tried to say the first syllable, but your voice won't come because of your shock at what happened. Their eyes were all on you now. Eventually, you managed to croak it out, audible enough for them to hear. "(Y/N)...it's (Y/N)."
The skull-masked male nodded slowly. “Why have they sent you, Y/N?”
"I don't know." Your voice still croaked with nervousness and trembled as badly as your knees were. You'd seen other D-Class like you getting thrown to these monsters, and though you knew that some of them weren't bad, you knew that Keter classification sign outside the cell meant bad news. "Maybe to see if you'll turn my brain into mush, or eat me alive."
They all blink at you, then look at the one-way glass, then to each other, almost as if asking the same question. Finally, the helmeted male looked back at you, his voice sounding slightly disturbed at the suggestion. “Why would we do that?” He asked. “We said we weren’t here to kill any humans.”
"It's what these people do," You tell him. "They feed regular folks like us to monsters for their 'experiments'. Just to see what happens."
The skull-masked male hummed thoughtfully, pressing a hand to the one-way glass and pushing slightly to test how solid it was- you took some pleasure in imagining the scientists and soldiers shitting themselves at the sight. “Do they really think this is going to hold us?” He wasn’t really asking you, but you answered anyway.
"They say that you guys are Keter class. I think that means they think you're here to kill people." Usually the scientists said these things, and you swallowed a nervous lump in your throat as you mustered up the courage to ask, "...If you're not here to hurt humans, what are you here for?"
The female gave a derisive snort, the helmeted male choosing to answer instead. "We're just here for the monsters. Tall dark and sulky over there--" He jerked his chin in the direction of the other male with the skull mask. "He told us not to hurt anyone when we turned up to get the job done." The remark was met with a glance from the masked male, but not much else. Not much of a talker, you noted as you looked between them all, shuffling your feet awkwardly- they didn't seem like they were as much of a threat as the red sign outside the cell had made them out to be, if what they said was true. Maybe...
"D-091337. You are to leave the cell immediately. We're going to get someone to interview the subjects."
You jumped as the voice came over the P.A system, followed by the sound of heavy boots behind the door. You figured that meant they'd throw you back in your own cell and send in one of the scientists, but the skull-masked male stepped around you first and pushed you back with a large hand that paled against the bright orange of your jumpsuit as the door opened, causing the crow to squawk and flutter away, landing on your shoulder. The female dragged you further back by your arm, looking like she was ready to rip apart the guards as they levelled their rifles, but the skull-masked male was very calm.
"There's no need for those." He set his hand on the muzzle of one of the rifles and gently lowered it. "We've already made it clear that we're not here for you or your Foundation."
The guard shook his rifle away from under his hand, then raised it again. "Standard procedure," He remarked gruffly, then looked to you. "If you don't get over here now, we will shoot you."
The female didn't seem to like that, putting you behind her and reaching for something on her hip. The other two males looked ready to fight as well, slowly rising to their feet. "We'd prefer there be minimal conflict," The skull-masked male explained slowly, looking directly at the guard who had spoken. "We were in the middle of a conversation. It would be rude to shoot our guest."
"Not like you'd get a shot in anyway," The helmeted male added, and you swore you could sense a smirk behind the metal. "Fury's good with that whip, and your run of the mill bullets don't exactly work on us." That made the guards wary, a few of them looking between themselves as if reevaluating the situation. "Also," The helmeted male pulled a pistol, seemingly from out of nowhere, and held it up for the guards to see. "I'm a much better shot." You turned your eyes away from the door to look at the pistol, ornately engraved with beautiful spiralling patterns along the barrel.
Tension hangs heavy in the air, so thick you swear that the cliché of being able to cut it with a knife might actually be able to be proven if you tried. Eventually, one of the guard turns his head, one hand to his ear, and it takes a long moment before he motions to his fellows to stand down. “They’re sending in a researcher. The D-Class can stay.”
The helmeted male chuckled as the guards filed out and the door shut again, and he holstered the pistol. “Wise choice.” His eyes glance back at you. “You good?”
“Yeah.” You glanced at the door, then at the helmeted male. “Thanks.”
“What did they mean, ‘D-Class’?” Asked the skull-masked male as he turned to look at you, the crow fluttering off your shoulder and back onto his.
“It’s what they call us.” You shrugged and gave him a lopsided smile. “D-Class, D-Boys, the Disposables. Some of us are criminals, some are just folks down on their luck who were promised a hefty paycheck if they survive the month.”
“Criminals?” The helmeted male cocked his head. “What’d you do?”
You held up your hands defensively. “Nothing! I needed money!”
The tall individuals all look between each other again, their faces sharing an equal measure of concern, and you wish you could say you hated it. You’d never really known the things they kept here to care about humans, so why did they, when they were the dangerous ones? It almost seemed like an insult.
Eventually, it was the skull-masked male who spoke. “And all you have to do is...survive?” He asked, looking down at you with a gaze that made it seem that he was thinking about something.
“Well...yeah. I don’t think they’ll let me remember what I saw, though...” You sighed. “They...have ways of making people forget. And maybe that’s good. There’s nothing but nightmares down here.”
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Nova Ch 12
AN: I’ve been waiting to write this chapter for so long! Can you believe it’s been a year since I started this story?
Ch 12: Mare
AO3 Link
Dear Mickey Mouse Calendar,
It’s May 2nd, and you know what that means! Well, besides bringing May flowers of course! The flowers are going to be so beautiful this year, I can tell! Especially once they bring the butterflies and the birds and the bees! Oh dear, do you think Brain knows about the factory in the sky that produces cute little mouse babies? I hope so.
Anyway, the beautiful, lovely, fantabulous Pharfignewton’s gonna be running in the Derby in just a little bit! She’s worked really really hard to get this far, and I’m super proud of her! She’s gonna be one step closer to the Triple Crown when she wins!
Anyway, I’m running out of room on this page, so I just wanted to say I love you, Figgy Pudding! May the best mare win!
Love,
Pinky
o-o-o-o-o
Pinky added a heart by his name with a sparkly pink gel pen and blew a kiss to the image of Mickey and Minnie driving a cute little car into the sunset. Then he recapped the pen, washed his hands of extra glitter, and returned to the TV, which had been tuned into the Kentucky Derby for the past two hours.
They were still conducting pre-race interviews with the owners, jockeys, and trainers. Though there were several saddled horses with colorful numbers in the background, none of them were Pharfignewton.
But they were still very beautiful horses, clopping around on the dirt-covered track as they flicked their ears and tails in anticipation of the race.
Several boxes of leftover pizza and paper plates were laid out in front of the television.. It was so nice of the scientists to throw a pizza party and let them have the leftovers! Pepperoni, mac and cheese, and pineapple pizza were all so delicious, and they tasted even better when all three were combined on a single slice!
Pinky popped a pineapple cube in his mouth, giggling as it stung his tongue. Then he turned to his hat, which laid a short distance away from the leftover pizza so it didn’t get soiled. Lovely, glittery red and purple roses decorated the outside of the hat, and every inch was decked with colorful feathers, encouraging messages, and Pharfignewton’s name so everybody for miles around could see he was rooting for his favorite horse.
Since the hat was too big and heavy for him to wear throughout the pre-race festivities, he decided to just put it on a few minutes before the race instead.
And it was so sweet of Gummy, Madame Daisy, Nicholas, and Mr. Button to support Pharfignewton! They were all gathered in front of the TV so they could watch the Derby too!
Pinky’s ear twitched at a gagging noise on his left, and he turned his head just in time to see Brain spit a chunk of pineapple onto a napkin.
“Of all things, why in Selene’s name would you ruin perfectly good cheese with battery acid?” Brain snapped. He immediately dunked his muzzle into a thimble of water.
“Batteries aren’t a pizza topping,” Pinky said. Did batteries look like pineapples on New Selene? “And pineapple pizza tastes delicious!”
Brain scowled as he shoved the paper plate with his barely touched pineapple pizza slice towards Pinky, then grabbed a new plate and loaded it with two slices of pepperoni.
“I’m outlawing that vile piece of filth you call food as soon as I rule the world,” Brain declared.
“You can’t do that!” Pinky cried. What was next? Declaring pumpkin spice illegal? He would never support such an awful law! “That’s...that’s just unconstitutional! A breach of power! I won’t stand for it, Brain!”
Then he realized he was standing up to grab the pineapple pizza slice, so he promptly sat down and chomped on pineapple, tomato sauce, and bread to prove his point.
Brain wrinkled his nose, but before he could reply, the TV panned to show a beautiful, gray-maned white horse prancing in circles around her jockey, nearly tying him up in her reins.
“That’s her! That’s Pharfignewton!” Pinky yelled, spewing tomato sauce from his mouth. “Hi, Fig! It’s me, Pinky!”
Pinky quickly set his pizza down and slipped the hat on, sitting underneath the brim while the rest of the hat was propped against the counter. He hoped Pharfignewton could see the messages he’d written.
“The cameras aren’t two-way, Pinky,” Brain said, but Pharfignewton whinnied happily, so Pinky knew she could hear him from thousands of miles away!
She wore a beautiful pink cloth over her back with the number fifteen emblazoned in white, with a brown saddle on top. She tossed her head back and whinnied, her reins quivering in the sunlight. Her jockey slipped a pink mask over her face, and when she turned to look at the camera, her gorgeous blue eyes stood out even more.
“You have quite the unusual horse here, Mr. Gardner,” the reporter said to Pharfignewton’s owner, who Pinky recognized by his bushy beard. “Not much of a looker, nor was she sired from any famous line of racehorses. And only one fellow’s bet on her at all.”
Pinky frowned. Not much of a looker? That reporter’s obviously never seen Pharfignewton with the wind flowing through her mane, or the joyful neighs whenever she galloped around a field, or how she practically glowed whenever she ran.
Mr. Gardner leveled a glare at the reporter, who withered from the intense look. “Pharfignewton may have a different build from her fellow racehorses, but she’s a hundred times more passionate about racing than anyone else. It’s true that neither of her parents have competed on the national level, but she’s inherited her mother’s spirit and her father’s diligence, a mixture of traits which will suit her well today.”
“Yes...I’m sure it will,” the reporter muttered. His eyes darted to a chestnut horse with a yellow cloth draped over his back. “Oh, would you look at the time? I don’t believe I’ve gotten a chance to talk with Mayoneighaise’s team yet!”
He scurried off, the cameraman trailing behind him.
A board flashed onscreen, showing the horses’ names and numbers before cutting to commercial.
“Mr. Legs? Friendly Neighborhood Racehorse? Is this entire competition just an excuse to saddle these poor creatures with horrific names?” Brain asked over the noise of a car commercial.
“You can’t saddle a name. You saddle horses, Brain,” Pinky said. Brain could be so confused sometimes.
“And they barely gave Pharfignewton the time of day,” Brain added. “But they dedicated a full fifteen minutes to Arabian Night’s training sessions.”
Pinky shrugged. “Well, Arabian Night worked really hard. He deserved that time. And so does Maximus and Maverick and Black Beauty and Rainbow Dash and-”
“It’s blatant favoritism,” Brain cut in.
The commercial break ended, and the broadcast showed a female reporter approaching an enormous, muscular black stallion with a comically small jockey leading him by the reins. He bore a royal purple cloak with number one written in a fancy golden script on his back. The horse was so dark that Pinky could barely see his eyes or mouth.
“And here we have the clear fan-favorite, Daddy’s Little Angel,” the reporter declared as she carefully approached the horse, who huffed when she got too close to his muzzle. She pulled back, keeping her microphone close to her body. “An excellent track record locally and regionally, highest odds tonight, and a descendant of the famous Triple Crown winner Secretariat. He sure has a lot going for him, don’t you think?”
Daddy’s Little Angel was stoic and handsome, and as his owner and trainer listed off his various accomplishments, Pinky crossed his fingers and toes for good luck. Pharfignewton had a whole lot of competition. Sure, she was the fastest racehorse around these parts, but in the Derby she was a small goldfish in a large aquarium full of other fish.
“Zort! Nope, can’t think like that!” Pinky said, thumping his head with his fist. He didn’t want to have doubts about her talent! She was the best, the swiftest, and the fastest at eating apples and hay! There’s no way she could lose!
“Quiet, Pinky. I’m trying to listen,” Brain said. His pink eyes gleamed with interest as a montage of Daddy’s Little Angel’s previous feats flashed across the screen. “I wouldn’t be opposed to owning a horse like that for ceremonial purposes.”
“Parading around on Pharfignewton sounds lovely,” Pinky sighed dreamily.
He imagined Pharfignewton in a beautiful golden outfit, bells on her reins, and prancing down the street to a cheering crowd while he rode on her back. And there were pretty parade floats and celebrities singing and giant balloons of all his favorite characters!
He was broken out of his fantasy by the sound of a fanfare.
“Attention, all riders and horses! Clear the track and proceed to your stalls! The race will commence shortly!” the announcer declared.
The camera lingered on Daddy’s Little Angel for just a little longer before panning out for a wide shot of the horses and jockeys making their way to the starting point, the trainers leading the horses by the reins and securing them in the stalls.
Fifteen horses dressed in colorful racing garb whinnied and bucked their hind legs in anticipation of the race. Daddy’s Little Angel was in the first stall, the one nearest to the fence. Next to him, a majestic, stout white horse named Maximus took the number two slot. Like Daddy’s Little Angel, he was poised, calm, and determined to win.
Most of the other horses were far more impatient though. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t quit stomping in her stall, and Maverick gave her a warning nip when her tail flicked him one too many times. She didn’t like that at all, and both jockeys fought to get their horses under control.
A cinnamon stallion named Spirit thrashed in his stall, nearly throwing his rider off multiple times while two other people tried to calm him down.
Then they finally showed Pharfignewton. She was in the stall closest to the stands, and while she was penned securely, the workers were all focused on the skittish racehorses.
Pharfignewton flashed a horsey smile to the audience, then lowered her head in anticipation for the race to begin.
Pinky’s fingers, toes, and tail were all crossed. She had to win! This was her dream ever since she was a little filly!
“And they’re off!” the announcer declared as the bell rang and the gates opened. All fifteen horses galloped out of the stalls, kicking up dirt as their hooves thundered against the ground. “Daddy’s Little Angel and Maximus off to an early lead! Horsin’ Around’s pulling ahead of Tricky Mickey and...oh! Spirit’s bucked his jockey! That’s gonna cost everyone behind ‘em some time!”
The names and number display at the bottom of the screen shifted around as horses pulled ahead or fell behind.
Pinky’s muscles tensed as Pharfignewton swerved to avoid a riderless Spirit, though Achilles’ Heel was unlucky enough to be caught on a back ankle by a flailing hoof. Pharfignewton fell behind Mr. Legs and Mayoneighase for a split second before increasing her speed and passing them as they reached the first turn.
Pharfignewton was truly in her element! Like a happy, gusty wind spirit!
“YOU CAN DO IT, FIG!” Pinky screamed at the top of his lungs, and there was an angry shushing noise, followed by a parmesan packet smacking the side of his head. “Thanks for the parmesan, Brain!”
“Onto the second turn!” the announcer continued. “Daddy’s Little Angel and Maximus neck and neck! Rainbow Dash and Arabian Night fighting for third a mere two lengths away! Maverick trying to squeeze in but there’s no room! Hold onto your fancy hats, folks, this is shaping up to be a wild race!”
Egad, he didn’t want to lose his fancy hat! Pinky clutched the edges with cheese-stained fingers.
“Daddy’s Little Angel and Maximus still leading the pack, but trailing them is Black Beauty and Grand Chawhee! Rainbow Dash and Arabian Night have fallen to fifth and sixth! Friendly Neighborhood Racehorse trying for a comeback while Maver-what’s this? Pharfignewton’s clawing her way up from tenth, ninth, eighth, seventh...now she’s passed Rainbow Dash! Ladies and gents, this could be the biggest recovery in the Derby’s history!”
Oh, if only he remembered where he’d placed his cotton ball pom-poms! They’d come in super handy right now!
Black Beauty and Grand Chawhee slowed down on the final turn, enabling Pharfignewton to easily overtake them for third place. Then she poured on the speed, closing in between Daddy’s Little Angel and Maximus.
“NARF! GO, PHARFIGNEWTON!” Pinky screeched, his hat tumbling off as he leapt to his feet. If he screamed loud enough, Pharfignewton could hear him all the way in Kentucky! And the power of friendship always worked for last-minute wins! His cartoons were never wrong!
“It’s a straight shot to the finish! Maximus falls back by half a length! Ladies and gents, could this be the greatest upset in horse racing history? It’s Pharfignewton! No, Daddy’s Little Angel pulls ahead! Now Pharfignewton! Daddy’s Little Angel!”
Brain was quiet, but from the twitch of his pointed ears and the way he leaned forward, Pinky knew he was just as invested in the race.
The camera centered on the finish line, but Pinky couldn’t tell who crossed first. Pharfignewton and Daddy’s Little Angel galloped offscreen just as the rest of the pack, led by Maximus, finished after them.
“WHAT’S THIS? PHARFIGNEWTON AND DADDY’S LITTLE ANGEL HAVE CROSSED THE FINISH LINE AT THE SAME TIME! TURNING THE FOOTAGE OVER FOR REVIEW SO WE CAN DECLARE THE WINNER!”
Pinky quickly found that crossing his toes while standing wasn’t the best idea. He fell flat on his face, but quickly pushed himself up on his elbows as the Derby logo flashed by and replayed the last few seconds of the race in slow motion.
Pharfignewton and Daddy’s Little Angel’s legs were just one giant blur next to the finish line, but the reel paused on a shot of Pharfignewton’s flaring nostril crossing the line before Daddy’s Little Angel’s front hooves touched it.
Pinky sucked in his breath.
“PHARFIGNEWTON HAS BEEN DECLARED THE WINNER! CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR VICTORY OVER THE 141ST KENTUCKY DERBY!”
“She did it! She did it! Lo hicimos, she did it!” Pinky jumped for joy, his heart soaring in excitement for Pharfignewton. She was three years old and she’d accomplished so much! He was super duper extra proud of her!
Brain rolled his eyes, but there was a tiny quirk at the corner of his mouth. “Yes, it seems all your supportive efforts have paid off.”
Pinky grinned and tore off a cardboard flap of the pizza box, dumped parmesan cheese all over it, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Nothing tasted better than a victory pizza box with parmesan!
“Want some?” Pinky offered a second flap to Brain. “It’s delicious!”
Brain made a gagging noise. “That can’t possibly be good for your digestive system, Pinky.”
Oh well. More for him then!
Pharfignewton’s back was draped with beautiful roses, her team of humans all rushing up and hugging her as journalists bombarded them all with questions and photographers snapped photo after photo of her horsey smile.
Daddy’s Little Angel trotted up to her with a flower crown in his mouth and dropped it onto her head, then drummed the ground steadily with a front hoof in his version of applause. All the other horses followed his lead. Even Spirit and Achilles’ Heel, who were being restrained by a team of trainers, gave their approval. Pharfignewton whinnied in delight, tossing back her head and showing off the beautiful crown.
She really was the best. Pinky clutched his chest, that warm gooshy feeling of love spreading throughout his body.
He couldn’t contain it much longer, and he picked up Brain to let it all out, and he danced around in joy with a squirming Brain in his arms.
“Pinky, I understand that this outcome is most favorable, but I demand that you cease this at once!” Brain complained.
But Pinky barely heard him. He was more interested in what Mr. Gardner had to say.
“Pharfignewton did an amazing job and we’re very proud of her,” Mr. Gardner said as he fed Pharfignewton an apple, which she gladly inhaled. “Running’s in her blood, and I’m sure she’s made her parents very proud in equine heaven. She’s definitely gonna take the Preakness and Belmont by storm.”
“You think she’s capable of gaining Triple Crown status?” the reporter asked.
Pharfignewton neighed loudly in her direction, messing up the reporter’s hair.
As the reporter struggled to fix it, Mr. Gardner smiled. “I think she made it clear that she takes what she wants.”
Two more races for the Triple Crown. Right.
Pinky stopped dancing, an odd but featherlight weight in his arms. In his excitement, he’d forgotten that Pharfignewton had to win the Preakness and Belmont for her dream to come true.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it. She was a swift runner and the best racehorse in the world. But she would be gone for several months. All the way on the other side of the country.
And he wanted her to achieve her dream so bad. To rank up there with the great racehorses of old.
“Pinky?” a voice choked.
He was accidentally squishing one of Brain’s antennae. Oops.
“Sorry, Brain,” Pinky quickly said, putting his friend down.
Instead of stepping away like Pinky expected, Brain remained where he was. Brain was too good at forming unreadable expressions. His pretty pink eyes seemed concerned though.
“This is a momentous occasion, isn’t it?” Brain asked. “Shouldn’t you be celebrating?”
Was that Selenian speak for happy?
Yeah, he was supposed to be happy. Pharfignewton won. He was really happy for her. He didn’t want Pharfignewton to think he was a bad friend because he was sad about not seeing her for a while.
“Of course I’m happy for her,” Pinky said. But it was flimsy even to his own mousey ears.
Brain didn’t seem convinced either. One hand awkwardly hovered in the space between them.
A little touch would be nice, and he held super still so Brain wouldn’t get spooked. But a tapping at the window broke Brain’s trance, and upon the sight of a hovering black camera with the Selenian logo on its side, he quickly pulled away.
“Correspondence from Snowball,” Brain said. His ears flattened briefly before returning to their normal position. Maybe he regretted breaking their closeness too. “I’m taking this.”
He wiped his fingers on a wet cloth before unlatching the window. The camera darted in once the window was open, its tripod claws dropping an unmarked envelope into Brain’s hands before flying off into the brilliant evening sky.
Well, it could’ve had pizza if it stayed just a little longer.
Pinky moved behind Brain as he tore open the envelope and unfolded the note inside, which was written in a neat script.
Pickup at seven pm tomorrow. Don’t be late.
-Snowball
“Well, it’s better than nothing,” Brain sighed. “I’ll make sure we have everything required for tomorrow night, Pinky.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. He only disappeared into a hidden drawer where all their belongings were stored.
The masquerade ball was important. He shouldn’t keep Brain from making sure they saved the invitation so they could get in.
And it would be nice to wear that beautiful dress Sharon picked out.
But there was an ache in his chest. One that gnawed at his heart, and he didn’t want that icky feeling gnawing at his heart. Pinky sat in front of the TV and focused on Pharfignewton’s happiness instead. He pushed away the pizza, the box tasting like cardboard on his tongue.
If she was happy, he was happy. And wasn’t that all he needed?
End AN: So as a little treat I snuck some fictional horse names in here. I mean, obviously you know Pharfignewton as Pinky’s equine girlfriend. Daddy’s Little Angel is the name of the horse Brain rode in the OG Animaniacs episode Jockey for Position.
Grand Chawhee’s name is a reference to All Dogs Go to Heaven. Tricky Mickey comes from the 1978 movie Casey’s Shadow, which I caught my family watching a few weeks ago and I just decided to borrow a name from the movie.
Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony, Maximus from Tangled, Black Beauty from the book of the same name, Spirit from the Dreamworks movie, and Achilles’ Heel is a reference to Phoebus’ horse in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Mr. Legs’ name provided by Boxy. Thank you, Boxy. Snuck in Pinky actually eating a pizza box for ya lol.
Final placements for the Derby are:
1. Pharfignewton
2. Daddy’s Little Angel
3. Maximus
4. Grand Chawhee
5. Black Beauty
6. Rainbow Dash
7. Arabian Night
8. Friendly Neighborhood Racehorse
9. Mr. Legs
10. Maverick
11. Horsin’ Around
12. Tricky Mickey
13. Mayoneighase
14. Achilles’ Heel (never finished)
15. Spirit (never finished)
Next chapter will finally have the Masquerade Ball and boy do I have plans. It’ll definitely be longer than this one. But this chapter at least wraps up the Derby subplot.
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The Bullet: A Sequel to The Commander - Part 7 *FINALE* (Jason Todd x Reader)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH THIS FUCKING FINALE I SWEAR. HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY BECAUSE THIS IS THE MOST ACTION PACKED FINALE I’VE EVER WRITTEN.
WORDS: 14349
WARNINGS: FIREARMS, VIOLENCE, DEATH
MASTERLIST
THE BULLET MASTERLIST
-----
Strapped onto the wheel chair like a rabid circus freak, Y/N knew exactly where she was headed. She just didn’t know what for.
With her neck being held back she could only look at the bulbs of white fluorescent light that continually passed by her and couldn’t do so much as look at the ground. Plenty of guards were around her as well. She didn’t bother struggling, nor did she speak. But there were even more armed guards lining up, going to wherever she was going as well. All the way up to a white room.
A mission. Her first mission with the squad. Just delightful.
“Deadshot?” the guard near the door asked. When the ones carrying her wheelchair gave him her files, she was let in.
She was the last one to arrive. Because everyone had their eyes on her the moment she graced them with her presence.
The first one that caught Y/N’s eye was, of course, Amanda Waller. With the room littered with her goons and guards, the woman stood at the very front, against a blank wall with her hands behind her back and her eyebrow quirked up right at Y/N. Y/N squinted her eyes back at her, some sort of a decline to her superiority, and Waller looked amused.
Then when the guards parted to make way for her, she was brought to the very center of the room, where there were five rather familiar faces giggling and snarling at the newest member of the squad. The one at the center, Rick Flag, ordered his men to place Y/N on the leftmost side.
Those faces, the ones she’s seen more often than she wished she had. Some already knew her. Some hated her. And some simply didn’t care.
Harley Quinn. Of course, out of everyone else in the room, was the only one bubbling with laughter and other nonsense spurting out of her mouth. She was waving her legs around the wheelchair like a little girl would on a swing. And she was staring at her, laughing. “WE GOT A NEW GIRL ON THE SQUAD!!!” she bellowed out. “WHAT?! DEADSHOT’S NEICE. THAT’S NEPOTISM RIGHT THERE.” Y/N ignored her.
The one beside her was someone she didn’t know personally, someone she’s never even met. They said this guy came from Australia and robbed almost every bank there was. Captain Boomerang. He, too, was strapped to a chair, though he wasn’t as loud as Harley. Y/N saw him eye her head to toe while he bit his lip, and she shot Boomerang a knife-like scowl before his eyes got too comfortable.
The next one. Killer Frost. A beautiful woman with ice-white skin and the hair of an arctic fox. She didn’t give Y/N so much as a glance. Most probably because they had her stored in a coffin-like chamber with only a glass window where her head could be seen. On the inside, she could see the glass covered in frost, and the chamber looked cold to touch. She was calm, reserved. And looked on at Waller’s direction.
The creature beside Frost was the one she really wouldn’t want to mess with the most. The largest in the room, with blue skin and a body ten times the mass of any human being possibly could be. He had the head of a shark, eyes red like her optics. He even had a fin sticking out his back. and he was muzzled and strapped standing upright with five more guards around him. Y/N could hear him growl, wordless, and when she caught his eye, he snarled at her.
Finally, El Diablo. The quietest out of the bunch. His wheelchair looked just like hers, except his hands were completely covered by iron cylinders, probably filled with ice cold water. The man was covered in tattoos, and he didn’t have a shirt on. His face looked like a skull’s, which made the way he looked at everyone else look more menacing than his supposed behaved demeanor.
These were the dangerous people she’s stuck with, most probably for the rest of her life if all else fails and she’ll never be able to get out. The people that Floyd had worked with. And they were a few of the most maniacal villains there were in the whole country. She wished she could tell herself she didn’t belong. But she actually did. In fact, she had no business going about pretending to be better than all these people. When it came to how much blood they’ve shed, she probably wasn’t too far off from Harley. Maybe even more.
Y/N was right where she truly belonged. Today, she is welcomed as the newest member of the Suicide Squad.
Waller stepped out to the front. “Y/N, your team. Let’s cut to the chase. We don’t have much time. Bring out the files.”
These files were then projected onto a holographic screen against the wall behind Waller. It was a photo of Scarecrow.
“Some of you probably have heard. Just yesterday, Dr. Jonathan Crane released his new toxin in the National Bank of Gotham.”
The screen started to show footage of what went on in the Bank.
“Our first mistake was thinking Scarecrow had launched the same kind of toxin as the last time, but as the surviving victims were brought out to the stations, they continued to showed the side effects of the toxin, including mania, hallucinations, homicidal tendencies, unnatural human strength, and even cannibalism. Even after being held for observations for more than twenty-four hours, they, unfortunately, could not be brought back.
“Which means that Crane had finally developed a fear toxin that causes permanent effects to anyone who does so much as inhale the gas…”
She heard guards shuffle and hold their guns tighter.
“I have a question!” Harley screamed, holding her hand up despite it being strapped to the chair.
“Flag. Muffle her.”
“Muffle me!? What do you-MMMMM!”
“As I was saying. The victims were forced to be euthanized when none of the doctors could bring them back. One hundred-twenty people died in the incident and the whole country is in a state of panic.”
“MMM MMM MMM?!” Harley asked.
“Yes. The whole country. Months ago, Dr. Crane had blackmailed the crime syndicate Carmine Falcone, who he instructed to forge buy outs of several other Gotham businessmen, stole almost all their money before hiring a certain hitman-“ she stared at Y/N. “-To assassinate them all one by one before his shortcomings are detected. That placed Falcone’s total net worth to be almost two hundred billion dollars. Or so we thought.
“After Falcone’s death, Crane had already taken all the money for himself and had used to build what might be the end to all of mankind. A new Cloudburst weapon. This time large enough to engulf the whole country in his new toxin, as well as a brand-new militia army of hundreds of men guarding his device. Mankind as we know it will be haunted with his obsession with fear and we will all be nothing but goddamn zombies.”
“MMMM!” Harley thrashed about in her chair, then she spat out her gag. “Yuck! That was disgusting! I was about to say that gag had a bug and it crawled down to my throat but it actually wasn’t that bad!”
“Harley!” Rick Flag screamed. Harley pouted and stuck out her tongue.
“And what is it you want us to do, Waller?” Boomerang asked with his heavy accent. “You want us to go there and possibly inhale this bloody toxin!?”
The screen turned to a helicopter’s sight. “Last night, we managed to tracked down a dome-shaped building in the deserted areas outside New Jersey with more than five hundred men guarding it inside and out. It is suspected that the weapon might be hidden somewhere in its center. Your job is to go there, eliminate Dr. Crane and his army, and destroy that weapon with whatever means necessary.
“And as for your concern, our teams have developed a mask for you all to wear. It has the filter to go against the toxin. We found it on one of the Arkham Knight Militia’s men and developed our own.”
Oh. Shit. That. She totally forgot. Man, how time flies.
“Let’s not waste anymore time. Flag. Take them to the airport and give them their gear.”
“Weeeeee!” Harley squealed as they started wheeling her out of the room.
Y/N had no idea where to start, if she even had a place to start.
Everything Waller mentioned, it could all be traced back to her. In so many ways. And she knew it. Everyone in the room probably knew it. It was only fair that she be involved in trying to correct it at all. She had no business complaining or thinking she should be somewhere else. This was Waller’s way, hell, this was the whole goddamn world’s way of handing to her what she truly deserved. And she was so tired of constantly being the cause of hurt and pain. So many mistakes, costing her everything she’s ever known to love. She really, truly belonged here. More than Harley. More than Killer Frost. More than anyone else in the squad.
Because without her even knowing, she’d been involved in this mess before any of Scarecrow’s plans were even thought of. With the militia, the Cloudburst, Falcone’s assassinations. In so many ways, none of this would have happened if not for her.
But did she even have the time to blame herself? When it would barely do her any good?
As Y/N was taken to the plane, beside the other members of the squad, she focused on the buzzing and Boomerang’s rants and Harley’s cackles. She even caught the eye of King Shark and didn’t budge.
Because of course, in a way, she was to blame. She knew Crane had something planned when he almost had her killed that one, terrible night trying to lessen the odds of her ruining his plan once more. And another one of her stupid mistakes was to completely forget about it.
They arrived a few hours later. On the military base somewhere in the interstate, even more soldiers and guards waited for them in the barren grounds surrounded by their tents.
She was the farthest behind, the last one to be wheeled out of the plane. When Rick Flag met them at the center where suitcases and crates were being brought out. He waited until most of the squad members had settled.
“Everyone. Stand your ground. Unlock them and give them their gear. If you idiots do so much as look at me differently, I will detonate the bombs.”
“We know the drill, mate,” Boomerang spat at him.
“I know. I was talking to the new girl.”
Y/N’s wheelchair stopped. Then, they were all released from their straps, from their chairs. Harley hopped up and stretched out her arms, then took out her clothes from the crates and her enormous hammer. Boomerang fixed his coat, then he had a single boomerang from his case. He threw it in the air, and a few seconds later, it came flying back.
Killer Frost, with the air suddenly becoming a little chillier when the chamber opened, walked out and grabbed her icy-blue suit. She didn’t have any more weapons. El Diablo was slow to move, but when the chains were unlocked, he got a single hoodie jacket and hid himself from everyone else.
King Shark, on the other hand, put up most of a fight. Terrified soldiers had their shields up when they released him from his confines and he roared directly at Flag’s face. Flag didn’t budge.
Y/N stood up from her chair, stretched her neck, then cracked her knuckles.
As an entire arsenal of guns was brought to her, she stared vacantly at her red and gray suit and the white mask at the bottom of the crate.
That wasn’t her. It didn’t call out to her anymore the way it did just a few days ago. It was a layer of skin laid over her flesh that wasn’t hers at all. She wasn’t Deadshot anymore.
She can't wear this suit.
Y/N eyed another crate nearby. It must have belonged to the other gunmen in their army.
She can make something out of these.
Nobody batted an eye when she started scavenging for parts.
Black body armor, covering her chest, shoulders, and knees. Dark pants covered in straps and holsters on her hips and thighs. Boots that went up to her knees, covered with the pads. And underneath the armor was a dark blue body suit, making her look completely different from her uncle’s red one. Her wrist gun, spray painted blue. And lastly, a black hood with a mask that covered her nose and mouth.
Around her neck was a small silver chain with the diamond ring through its loop. Y/N longingly stared into its crystal, looking back at everything Jason had promised her. How she believed them even when they weren’t so possible. How much she missed him.
She stuffed it under her suit and placed the hood over her head.
Already, she’d shed off that foreign skin. This was her. This was Y/N.
When everyone was ready, Flag came up to the crowd.
“No longer Deadshot, are you?”
“No,” she said.
“Then what do we call you?”
She simpered.
“The Bullet.”
-----
This had to be all theatrics. Not to mention completely unnecessary. Jason got off his motorcycle and parked it right outside the gate.
Somehow, they kept it. Even the fence. And it still had ‘Wayne Manor’ on its wrought iron bars even when the field behind it had been completely emptied out. The ruins and everything left behind after the manor exploded had been cleared out and demolished. Still, they chose not to do anything with the land, even when millionaires fought over it and maybe a few intruders with metal detectors breaking in to look for the Batcave.
Dick told him to meet him and the rest of the family there. He had no idea where, but when he stepped into the gate, Dick was there leaning against the vine-covered fence behind it. Jason wasn’t so sure how to greet him. the last time they saw each other, they were at each other’s throats. Literally. Now at their mercy, he wasn’t so sure what was the quickest way to let his pride down without looking too much of a desperate asshole.
“Uhm. Hi,” Dick said.
“Hey.”
They stared at the grass.
“Are Babs and Tim coming?”
“Yeah. They just got out of their honeymoon.”
“Oh yeah. Congratulations to them.”
“You can tell Tim when we get to them.”
Of course. Tim. The replacement. He can totally congratulate him on his wedding without it sounding too awkward.
“We talk here?”
Dick wrinkled his forehead and laughed. “You thought we were gonna plan this whole thing out on an empty field?”
“This place sure looks like one.”
He threw his head back. “Come on. Follow me.”
Hands in his pockets, he trailed behind Dick. All the way over to the center of the field where there wasn’t so much as a porta potty for them to go into.
Then Dick pulled out his watch, which wasn’t a watch at all, and started to press onto its buttons.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jason sighed when the ground underneath them suddenly started to rumble.
“What? You thought the cave went out with the explosion, too? Bruce wouldn’t let it go to waste.”
Then the grass, which turned out to be fake, had split into a large, rectangular shaped ramp that slowly descended down onto the undergrounds for them to walk onto. When it stopped, Jason pressed on his nose. “I can't believe I didn’t know about this.”
“Come on.”
They started walking down. “Barbara’s the one in charge. She practically runs the place.”
“I can see that.”
When they reached below ground, the Batcave was exactly as they had left it. The last time he was here, he was with Y/N, the Commander. And although they’d changed its entryway, the Batmobile and the Batwing were still there, the computers were still up and running. How massive it was and how bats were still up on the rocky ceiling looking down on them with their beady little eyes. Jason and Dick walked down the driveway and he let his hand run onto the batmobile’s surface.
Barbara and Tim were at the computers. They turned to the two and the way they looked at Jason wasn’t something he particularly liked being stared at.
“Hey, Babs.”
Barbara was the first to smile at him. “Hi, Jason.”
Then when he looked at Tim, who didn’t share the same smile, he stopped himself from scratching an itch on his head.
“Hi… Tim…”
“Jason…” he coughed.
“Congratulations, by the way.”
“Thank you,” Babs said, then she reached out to Jason’s hand. He took it, for a while, then he pulled away.
“Sorry to hear about her,” Tim said.
“I know. But if you help me… and I thank you for helping me now… we can break her out.”
“Did you come up with a plan?” Dick asked him. Jason, arms crossed, turned over to the computer. Barbara had already gone ahead with looking up Scarecrow.
“If the squad is being sent out to deal with Crane, they might be going after that new weapon of his. We can go after them there and get her out before anyone sees.”
He stared at his hands. “I was hoping Babs could come up with some sort of devise that can disable the bomb in her neck.”
“Dick already told me. Don’t worry. I came up with something this morning.”
The three men followed behind her as she wheeled over to the table next to the keyboards.
“This,” she held out a device shaped like a thick pen. “If you can get her to settle down, you stick this thing to the back of her neck and it will send shocks right up to the nanite bomb. It should give it the voltage it needs to be disabled. It’s going to hurt. But it can save her.”
She was an angel. A literal angel. Just the thought of it gave him that little flutter of hope he definitely needed.
“Babs, I don’t know how to thank you…”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re here to help you.”
Two years ago, he had this woman kidnapped and sent to Crane, gave her the death scare of a lifetime and almost had Tim killed when Scarecrow had him captured.
It was too much. How none of their faces looked the least bit bothered. Dick held the pen and took off the needle cap, flinching, then he gave it to Jason.
Jason looked down on it, clearing his throat.
“I’m sorry…”
Dick, with his arms crossed, Tim leaning against the table, and Babs looking down at her hands, they all didn’t have much to say.
“I’m sorry for everything I did to you. All of you.”
“Jason…” Dick rubbed the back of his neck. “We used to be brothers-“
“No, I… I couldn’t. When this is over, I’ll be out of your way. And I owe you. All of you… But I shouldn’t stay…”
“You can. And you will. No matter how much you push yourself away… We’re here for you…”
Tim never looked up. But Jason knew, that if he were in his place right now, he’d be all over him with the ‘I told you so’s’ and the snide remarks. But the younger man was silent, didn’t even look at him the wrong way.
And that’s when he really felt like shit.
“We’re happy you came to us for help,” Babs said.
Jason hadn’t figured this part out when he reached for their help, but he knew something like this was about to happen. It was the entire reason why he didn’t want to. Because somehow, when it did, these guys won't hate him anymore, and he’ll end up hating himself instead.
Dick placed his hand on his shoulder. For a moment. Then when Jason’s body tensed, Dick pulled away.
“Now,” Babs went over to the computer. “Time to hack into the government.”
-----
The helicopter landed some distance away from the dome. The Bullet still had no idea why it was shaped that way. Just that it was new and humungous and completely littered with army men guarding every inch of it.
She, Harley, Boomerang, Killer Frost, King Shark, and El Diablo stepped out at the front lines, with Rick Flag right behind them, followed by their own army of men, though a number considerably less than what they were going up against. They had to be smart with this and break in.
They went into the forest, out on the fields. The dome was in a level ground lower than the lands around it, shaped in a circle, much like it was on a pit that was about two or three stories below ground. They crouched down on the bushes when they started reaching the edges of the pit and Flag looked out on his scopes.
“They’ve completely covered the perimeter.”
“Do we just attack?”
Flag put down his binoculars. “We are. To keep them distracted. When everyone’s backs are turned you six go in there and finish the job.”
“You say it like it’s so fucking easy,” Boomerang snarled. King Shark gritted his sharp teeth and growled staring at the armed men around the building.
A hand grenade. Right at one of the trees. It got their attention enough, especially when Flag started firing at the guards stationed just outside the entrance. Crowds of Scarecrow’s men, armed to the teeth, ran the outside grounds to go after Flag’s men. They drifted down the pit, outstretched their legs, and handled them at close range, while some stayed at the trees firing from afar.
The Squad, on the other hand, were all the way over to the other side. Almost all of them had ran off, except for two who stayed behind guarding the backside.
“Bullet,” Frost placed her frosted hand on her shoulder. It made her shiver. “You're up.”
The Bullet took out her sniper and shot down those two men almost at the same time. Then they slid down the side, King Shark rolling down with his immense weight. When another of Scarecrow’s men ran out the door, a boomerang landed on his head.
The door was locked. “I’ll take care of it,” Frost said. Boomerang scoffed, “Fucking metas.”
Holding out her hands, fumes of ice shot out from Frost’s palms and froze down the locks. King Shark kicked the iced hinges down, then the door fell to the ground.
“That was easy!” Harley skipped inside with her mallet over her shoulders. Diablo was still silent, still with his hands in his pockets.
“Don’t jinx it, Harls.”
It looked more like a warehouse by the entryway. And there was absolutely nothing inside save for a few cylinders and water tanks and a whole lot of pipes being guarded.
“We should probably sneak inside.”
“Sneak!?” Harley snorted at the Bullet. “Honey, we don’t do that here.”
King Shark growled at her, then he walked straight up to the center of the room.
“Intruder! Open fire!” the soldiers screamed.
“What is that thing!?”
“Just shoot!”
King Shark walked slowly towards those men, and the bullets just bounced off his incredibly thick skin. He held out his hand, stopped the bullets from reaching his face. Then when the soldiers had backed too much away and reached the wall, Shark grabbed them by the face and actually hurled them all the way across the room.
“Time to play!!!” Harley screamed, then she held out her mallet and started swinging it over at the guards.
Killer Frost had the ground frozen over, slipping the guards off balance, then shards of ice rose up from the ground to impale them. Boomerang had a more melee approach but had his trusty weapon to go around when he needed it.
The Bullet. The new, almighty Bullet. She pulled up her hood and mask and took out her AK.
She fired at the dozens of men going after her. Jumping on top of the cylinders, standing on the highest ground, she shot down anyone who came remotely close to her and had their bodies on the floor before they could even touch her feet. Over and over, she changed the magazines, took out more ammo. She let the gun take charge of her hands and head. A lot of the were swarming her, from different directions. Eventually too many of the soldiers were surrounding the pile of crates she stood on and the others started climbing up.
She couldn’t escape. Even if she were able to take them all down.
Until a raging fire shot out like a car-sized flame thrower and took out the guards that were climbing up. The water tank didn’t seem to have been damaged, but the men on it were burnt like a crisp, and they all started to run away. “Jump!” Diablo screamed.
She did, and she landed on the fire as well. She rolled on the floor to put it out before it got to her skin and Diablo helped her up. “Thank you.”
“Just go.”
She nodded, then with her pistol and wrist gun, went on to keep firing. Frost had a wall of the men being stuck to the block of ice, some completely frozen inside it, then King Shark let out an animalistic shriek before he punched the glass, destroying it into shards and impaling everyone inside.
Harley, on the other hand, just went on spinning around with her mallet, screaming, manically laughing. The bitch was insane.
“A little help here!” Boomerang called out. He was being held back by two men while another was punching at his chest. The Bullet pointed her wrist gun and fired at his attacker.
Even more men were coming. From the doors to the inside.
“We have to keep moving!” The Bullet cried out to them. To the door where the reinforcements kept coming from, she kept firing as she backed away. The whole squad moved, onwards towards the door. Then when they’d all reached it, Frost froze over the door with more than five layers of ice.
There were sounds of bashing and hitting against the icy door, but it should be enough to hold them back. Before them was a long, seemingly endless hallway. It should probably be leading them to the inside of the dome, where the weapon is.
“Ahhh. The Suicide Squad…”
“WOAH WOAH WOAH where the hell is that comin’ from!?” Harley screamed.
The intercoms. Scarecrow was watching them. The Bullet put on her optics, now shining blue light, and looked around.
A camera. Right at the corner. She shot it with her wrist gun.
“And you have the Commander with you.”
“FUCKING SHUT UP!” The Bullet shot another camera hidden away.
“The Commander, huh,” Killer Frost looking at her head to toe. “You work with him before?”
“Shut up.”
“OH MY MOLLY,” Harley placed her hands on her mouth. “YOU'RE the Commander of the freakin’ Arkham Knight!! I remember you!”
“We should go-“
“I have so many questions. Huge fan. HUGE fan. Ya know she’s drove the first Cloudburst?”
Boomerang crossed his arms. “And they sent her to help us? The fuckin’ nerve of this scumbag coming up here actin’ all hero.”
“You watch your mouth, kangaroo.”
Diablo snorted and chuckled. Boomerang held out his weapon. “You want a piece of this?”
“A kid’s toy?”
“Don’t you fuckin-“
King Shark roared at the two with his mouth wide open for a good ten seconds and deafened their ears. The Bullet wiped his spit off her face and scoffed.
Frost led the way, all the way down its halls. When they reached a large gate, she froze it over once more and Shark beat it down with his fists and his foot.
They didn’t know they’d reach the center of the large dome. They thought they had more rooms to cover.
With the building so big, they thought it would have taken so much more time to reach the core.
But already, they were met with a cylindrical glass tank that was almost as thick as an entire building in itself, and it lit up the room in a menacing red light, all around. It was swirling, even boiling inside. And it shot all the way up to the roof, three stories high.
It was the fucking toxin.
The squad backed away.
Dozens of men surrounded them, all around the dimly lit room. And it was larger than any of them could have expected. It was circular, and there was only a suspended walkway that went all around the sides. There was a runway to the center, where there were controls. A man stood by them. A man with a rag on his head.
All of them with their hands up.
Scarecrow’s voice was on the intercom, and it echoed all throughout the dome loud enough to rattle their eardrums.
“I assume this wasn’t what you’d expected?”
No. Not even a little. This wasn’t what they expected at all.
They didn’t expect to already reach the weapon.
Or rather. Stand on top of the weapon.
The weapon wasn’t a ray gun or a tank or even a satellite. It wasn’t something so small that it would have been easily taken down by a tank or even King Shark’s fist. Even when it was to engulf the whole of America in its toxin.
No. it was none of that.
The Bullet trailed her eyes down the numerous pipes going up and around the walls, through the floor and over to the room where they just came from, where even more of the toxin was stored in tanks and the pipes that went around it.
The Cloudburst wasn’t inside the dome.
The Cloudburst was the dome.
-----
It didn’t take too much time. It wasn’t the first time Barbara had to hack into the American Government. In fact, it was the easier to hack into than some people’s private accounts.
She went into Amanda Waller’s files.
“Here. Finally.”
Dick, Jason, and Tim stood behind her.
“It looks like they’ve already sent out the squad. Just a few hours ago.”
“Who are in the squad?”
The files on Task Force X. Babs took out the profiles on all their subjects.
Harley’s picture was first to come up. Her blonde hair and vicious eyes staring at the screen. “Harley Quinn, of course. We got Louise Lincoln, also known as Killer Frost.”
The boys watched on.
“El Diablo. Captain Boomerang. King Shark. Rick Flag’s being sent out there as well.”
Then she stopped scrolling when Y/N’s picture and profile came up.
Jason’s heart broke. It did every time he does so much as look at a photo of her. And with that one, a mug shot, the mug shot that was going around every news station in town, the brokenness in her face, the darkness in what used to be the brightness in her eyes, how much rage she had for everything around the world, he hitched his breath.
‘Y/FN Y/LN
Age: 23
Alias: The Bullet’
He smiled at her new name. A sad smile. The most painful kind.
He missed her so much.
Setting his head to the side so they couldn’t see the tear that had seeped out, Jason swallowed and shut his eyes.
“Jason…”
“I’m alright. Can you find out where they were headed?”
Babs smiled at him, then went back to her keyboard.
Zooming in on the helicopter footage on the dome, she traced its coordinates.
“Is that-“
“Scarecrow’s base? Most probably.”
“Jesus,” Jason sighed. “I used to work with that guy.”
“This is the weapon, alright. The sensors are through the roof. We should be heading out there.”
“Do we have a plan?”
“Not exactly. We’ll know when we get there,” Dick said.
“We have to hurry. Who knows when that mad man actually detonates his bomb?”
“How? It’s two hours away.”
“Man,” Dick pat his back. “You really have to get used to working with us now that we’ve got Bruce’s old toys.”
Of course.
What else could he have possibly thought? Get there on his bike?
The Batwing was staring right at their faces, almost taunting them with its silent growl. Dick, Tim, and Jason walked up to it side by side.
“You think he’ll be happy with that?” Jason said.
“Not at all. He even threatens to kill us if we get anywhere near the wheel-“
“Which is why I’m here to drive, Master Dick.”
No.
No.
It couldn’t be.
The sweet old butler, came up from behind the computers where there must have been a room for him to stay in, he held out a tray of four glasses of water for them to take. Setting it down on the table, he gave Jason the sincerest smile.
“I’ve missed you, dear boy.”
“Alfred.”
He wanted desperately to go up to him, give him the biggest bear hug until his bones crack, but Alfred held his hand up to him and just handed him his water.
“It’s better if we skip the ol’ reunion. We catch up after we’ve saved your girl.”
Everything was here. Everyone was here.
Clearly, it wasn’t the time to get emotional. And goddamn, he wasn’t the one to get emotional.
And all the more did they look like a family when the three boys suited up. Dick with his black and blue Nightwing suit and domino mask, Tim with his bo staff and red and yellow suit and cape. And Jason, with his hooded jacket and red visor.
Facing each other in a circle, Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood took in how they were all now in one team, possibly for the rest of their career. No longer will they fight. No longer will they run.
Oracle smiled at the three. “You all look great together when you're not at each other’s throats.”
“You sure you won't let me drive, Alfred?” Robin said to the butler.
“I had specific instructions from Master Bruce that if you were to inherit the cave, no one was to drive the Batwing but me. You have until I die, Master Dick.”
“Awe. Even in his death, Bruce still doesn’t trust us.”
Laughing as they went in, Alfred had the Batwing soaring into the sky. Silently.
They were going to save her. Them. His family. The one he’d left. The one he thought he hated. The one he almost got killed.
He couldn’t possibly have done anything to deserve this.
With his visor up, he went up to Dick.
“Dick…” he choked.
His older brother turned to him, smiling. He knew what Jason was thinking.
And he didn’t let him speak to make things unnecessarily dramatic. He knew he had his brother back. Dick pulled him into a hug. A sweet, sincere hug that tore out every part of him that wasn’t already consumed by that string of humanity he once had left inside him.
“Thank you,” Jason said to him. Dick patted his back.
“We missed you, Jaybird…”
Jason closed his eyes.
When they pulled away, with Tim watching, he never actually got the change to get to know him. But one of these days, he will. And he’ll be a brother to him, too.
Jason nodded at him, smiling. Tim nodded back.
He never, ever would have thought they’d accept him like this, to help him like this.
And if Bruce were here, he’d have no idea what to tell him. But Jason did forgive him. He forgave him before he even knew he did. Maybe, if Bruce were anything like Dick and Tim, he would have accepted Jason back into his house. He would have helped him, as well.
He let himself think that. For his own sake. For his own peace.
Not long after, they reached the site.
Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood stood at the Batwing’s exit doors.
-----
Harley must have had the worst of issues for her to be laughing this off, whistling as she marveled over the room. “I have to admit, Ragdoll, you cer’ainly out did yourself than the last time! I remember when all it took was Ivy’s tree to get rid of your toxin!”
Boomerang scoffed. “A tree?!”
“Gag her.”
“Awe, come on! What is it with you people and the gaggi- MMMMMM!”
Held back by a dozen of Scarecrow’s gunmen, with so many of their guns pointed right at their heads, they stood on their knees, hands tied to their backs. They watched Scarecrow walk over to them from his place near the glass. He chuckled, that low, dark, breathy, and utterly disgusting laugh when he went over the squad.
“MMM! MMM? Mmm…” Harley said to him when he passed by her. All he did was glare. When he passed by Frost, he eyed her body and how icy smoke was coming out of her pores.
“Ya know, this ain’t personal. I’d totally be into this. But we got an explosive stuck to me spine here, mate, and I really just don’t want to die,” Boomerang said. Scarecrow ignored him and walked over to Diablo.
She looked over. Diablo had melted away the ropes on his wrists and no one even noticed. He stood still, watching Scarecrow, then the rag-headed man went over to the next one.
The Bullet. The only one who actually hated this man to the bloody core.
Scarecrow looked amused at the darkness of her glower. He leaned over, pulled down her hood and mask with his disgusting fingers before she flinched away.
“Lovely to see you once more, Commander.”
“Don’t fucking call me that.”
“I thought I left you for dead. Turns out you survived your own bullets. Perhaps you're not as good as you thought you are-“
“Go to hell-“
“This is hell, Commander. At least, it will be.” When he stood back, he eyed the creature next to her.
“An animal? They brought an animal to the squad?” Scarecrow laughed.
King Shark roared. The loudest, more nightmarish roar. Then he charged after him with his large mouth littered with almost three rows of teeth on each side. The guards pulled him back, shot a taser to his arm, but it didn’t do much damage.
Scarecrow backed off and immediately he was guarded by his men.
“Kill him.”
“No!” Killer Frost screamed, but even she was held back by three guards.
And it was the most cruel thing they’ve ever seen. The Bullet watched on, as her fellow squad member was shot with three tranquilizer darts. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
Then Scarecrow’s men took out a grenade.
Shit.
They stuffed it into King Shark’s mouth.
And the squad looked away when it detonated not even two seconds later.
His head was blown off. Much like it would have been if Flag had done it himself.
Five of them left.
Against an army of hundreds.
“Now. You all get to watch as the entire country slowly descends into their deepest, darkest nightmares…”
Scarecrow went over to the center, over to the controls where she saw a bright, beeping light coming from one of the screens. She didn’t have so much as an idea about how this was going to blow. Will the building be going along with it? Is everyone going to live through it?
She should know. She was the one who detonated the first Cloudburst.
They were two hours away from the city. And the government already had most of the people in the area evacuate to shelters underground. They didn’t have much else to hide.
The guards around them had masks as well. They were going to sit it through, fight even with the gas all around them.
She had no idea what was going to happen. But all she could do was sit and watch.
Scarecrow pressed the final button, and on the screen, it showed a minute’s countdown
The Bullet closed her eyes.
There was a heat coming to her wrists. Out of view from the guards. A little flame, floating about. It melted away the chains that were around their hands, and suddenly, she could move them around. She looked over at Diablo and thanked him with a nod. Harley and Boomerang were free as well. Frost, on the other hand, rejected that fire and instead froze over the chains herself. They could charge.
But the guards were too many. She couldn’t just attack.
Time was running out. There was nothing they could do.
But they can shield themselves. At the last second when the guards couldn’t react.
“This is… the Cloudburst!!!”
Three.
Two.
One.
BOOM!!!
“EVERYBODY, GET YOUR FUCKING MASKS!” Boomerang screamed. The five of them grabbed their filter masks from their suits and held it against their mouths. Everything was shaking, an explosion large enough to almost take down its walls, then the glass started to break. The gas was leaking on the inside.
Scarecrow didn’t move. He just stood there, amused, all the while his guards started to panic, panting and coughing and tearing the masks off their faces like it only hurt their skin. She ran out of the way before a guard fell to her body, clutching his throat, before he started screaming the ghostliest noises a human could possibly make.
Then their skins. No longer did they look remotely human. They looked like they were burnt out. Their whole body turning into scabs and burnt flesh. The toxin was eating them from the inside. And their eyes. She’s never seen the look on someone’s face like that when they were looking straight at their deepest, darkest fears. Not even when she’d imagine it.
No.
He couldn’t possibly-
No.
These men. These trained soldiers promised with almost million dollars each.
Scarecrow didn’t hire them here to defend the Cloudburst.
They were here to serve as victims for his horrible toxin that turned them into vicious, mindless zombies. And they looked exactly like they would have in their visions of fear, the ones you’d merely hallucinate with his old toxin. This time, they weren’t hallucinations. The nightmarish creatures of the dark, Scarecrow had turned the people’s fears into something real.
The squad, with their masks on, held tightly onto their weapons, watching the horror in front of them unfold.
One of the creatures ran after Harley, so she swung at it with her mallet, crushing his body against the wall. It didn’t even look like it had human bones that cracked when it was hit.
No. No. No.
Everyone started firing at the creatures coming after them. At their heads, at their animalistic mouths. Frost on one side, freezing the incoming animals into an ice block, and on the other, El Diablo, firing at them with an enormous raging fire. They had to get out of here. There was no possible way they could win this here. Not with the Cloudburst looking like it was about to break.
The Bullet fired at everything she could see. With her AK on one hand and her pistol on the other. But the seemingly endless array of lifeless minions came crawling and pouncing right at her. One of them scratched her arm. She hoped this fucking toxin didn’t work through cross contamination.
Scarecrow, he was still at the center, watching it all unfold.
Scarecrow.
Scarecrow.
Fucking Scarecrow.
The Bullet screamed out, even with her mask, then opened fire as she made her way into the center walkway. She ran to him and pushed everything out of her way, blowing their brains out, jumping onto the railing and running on top of it. She took out a grenade and threw it at a crowd.
Jonathan Crane caught her eye. And with the deathly look on her face, he lost his amusement.
Then the coward started to back away.
She growled and tore through everything, running after Crane. He didn’t have much else to go.
So in a split second, she fired at his leg. The Bullet could have easily fired at his head.
But she wanted him to die from a bullet right between his eyes, that were to look right into hers in the last few moments of his life.
Scarecrow was on the ground, crawling. The Bullet walked right up to him and grabbed him by the collar. Then she aggressively slammed him against the glass where his horrible red toxin was leaking out.
“You killed my son…”
“You did that yourself-“
“No,” she tightened her hand around his neck. “No, I didn’t.”
A pistol. Right against his head. She ends this now. His story ends now. His reign on earth. His madness. His nightmare.
She couldn’t hear the bullet fire out of her hand.
But she did feel the blood spatter when it entered Jonathan Crane’s skull. She heard the crack, and the impact against the glass. She saw the look on his eyes, staring right into her. Taunting her. Waiting for her to pull the trigger until it stayed that way until the worms eat up his body.
The Bullet threw the body on the floor.
She was never, ever going to kill another human being again. She made that promise. To Jason and his family.
But if she were to kill just one last time…
She wanted to make it count.
-----
“Holy…”
“Shit…”
“We were too late.”
“Or the squad failed…”
“No,” Red Hood choked. “No, they can't be dead.”
“They might still be alive. Get your masks on. Come on.”
They put on their masks, Red Hood’s under his visor. As they ran towards the enormous mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke that was spewing violently out of the dome. The ground was quaking enough to feel like it would eventually erupt. And if they were to stay, it might actually split open. They ran towards the center.
And before they could go down the pit. They saw them. Right when they stepped into the are completely engulfed in the horrible red toxin.
They saw the creatures.
In army uniforms of what used to be humans, the creatures were screaming, running and clawing their way around the grass and bushes like they were rabid wolves under a full moon. The bodies, or what used to be bodies, looked like undead carcasses that were walking on their hands and feet. When they caught sight of the three, they started going after them.
Someone grabbed Nightwing’s shoulder.
Rick fucking Flag. He had a mask on.
“You kids better stay away. This is our mission.”
“You really want your boss’s goddamn pride to get in the way of actually saving the world? We’re here to help!”
Flag fired at one of the monsters coming right for them.
“Scarecrow’s baited his own men and turned them into these fucking shitbags.”
“Then let us help,” Robin said. Red Hood, on the other hand, was already shooting at the creatures with his two pistols.
“Red Hood!”
“Oh, don’t give me that! These guys aren’t human!” He fired at one almost flying for his visor. “They never will be again even if we destroy this thing! So get your asses here and KILL THESE GUYS!”
Rick Flag had went on to shoot them with his AK. Nightwing and Robin stared at each other, holding onto their escrima sticks and bo staff.
Flag, despite his guns, didn’t see one of the zombie-like monsters that had grabbed him from behind. It started tearing at its face, claws sharper than a cat’s. Robin and Nightwing went over to get it off him, but it was too late.
Rick Flag’s mask had fallen off.
He stared at the two, with his eyes glowing red and bloodshot from how he was desperately trying to hold his breath. He started clutching at his throat, and his mouth looked like it was about to blow up.
Flag couldn’t handle it. He gasped for air.
Then he turned into one of them. Right in front of their eyes. Nightwing gripped on his escrima sticks.
Then he slammed it against Flag’s head, destroying what was left of his skull. The guilt started to eat him away, but Red Hood was right. He wasn’t human anymore.
“Come on,” Robin said.
Then they attacked everything that came their way. They had to go into the dome. Find the Squad. Hope for the best. But the creatures were running out of the doors like they were in need of air. Hundreds of them in a stampede going out into the field. The trees had cleared, blown off from the explosion. Everything was barren and had fallen under a thick red cloud of his fucking toxin.
Red Hood managed to run all the way to the center. He shot one that had wrestled Nightwing to the ground before he slid down the pit, hands and legs outstretched, and even then, he continued to fire. He reloaded his guns and started firing at the ones going out of the dome.
----
They couldn’t possibly take them all.
So as the Squad rushed down the hallways, out into the first level where it had gone complete barren and destroyed, El Diablo continued to shoot his flames from his hands at all the incoming creatures.
Finally, they reached the door and they all raced outside.
Frost barred the door with her ice, as much as she could, and the monsters were pounding themselves against it with their own bodies and heads. The Bullet, facing behind them, fired at the incoming creatures that must have been the reinforcements waiting to be called. Fuck, there were a lot of them.
Killer Frost couldn’t handle it and the creatures had broken her wall of ice. Unnatural strength. One of the side effects of the toxin. Harley screamed her battle cry and started swinging her mallet around. El Diablo with his flames. And Captain Boomerang with, well, his boomerang.
The Bullet, with her machine gun, fired at ten of the creatures in under a second. She flew in the air. She dodged their incoming attacks. She fired directly at their heads and took out more of them than anyone else with a gun. She fired relentlessly until their heads were blown off, their bodies exploding onto the floor.
She climbed on top of a nearby truck, dropped her carbine, then used her wrist gun and pistol to fire at everything that moved.
“WOOHOO! GO NEW GIRL!” Harley screamed. The Bullet smiled, then went on with her alternating shots until she’d taken down dozens of them.
Everything that moved. Everything that moved. Everything that-
A red hood. Red visor. Gray jacket. And a red bat symbol on his chest.
Oh God.
The asshole.
“Jason!!!”
Red Hood turned around.
A wave that had crashed on the shore, violent and forceful, a wave that tore through everything in its way. Every tree. Every bush. Every doubting thought. The Bullet jumped off the truck, ignored the sting up her knees. She ran to him. She ran to him so fast that two of the monsters smashed into each other when they were going after her. Red Hood recognized her and dropped everything he had on him and sprinted to her way.
The wave was there. A crashing, powerful wave. When they landed in each other’s arms so painfully tight she could have almost fallen over if she hadn’t already clung to him with all her might. All that was left of it.
Yes.
Yes…
Everything lit up. Everything was here again. He was everything. He will always be everything.
It was a miracle they lived through it. Red Hood, with his arms shaking as much as the ground was, buried himself into her and didn’t let go until they heard the world calling out to them, demanding that they give them their attention back. But even then, they held on. Not when they thought it could have been the last. Not after they’ve just been apart. Jason pulled away, raised his visor so she could look into his eyes. He wore a filter mask underneath. And if he could see her smile right then, she was sure he was grinning his face off as well. She could tell with the way his beautiful eyes crinkled up.
“I fucking love the suit-“
Then she held out her arm and shot one of the monsters coming for them.
“We should move.”
“Yeah.”
Side by side, having each other’s backs. She knew something felt wrong fighting with the squad. No, she didn’t belong there. She never fought as well as she possibly could when she was with her partner. Now the Bullet and Red Hood, they fired and shot at everything that came their way.
“Throw me!” She screamed at Red Hood. She run up to him, and he grabbed her legs. Red Hood flung her up at the air and she fired relentlessly at twenty creatures hidden behind the truck. She got to the ground.
Then the fucking Batwing flew in and started firing.
“Woah!” The Bullet yelled.
“How cool is our butler!?”
The monsters started running towards the Batwing, and their attentions were slowly taken away from Red Hood and Bullet. Alfred had them covered.
“We have to get that bomb off you.”
“Where’s Flag? He’ll blow up the bomb if he sees me-“
“He’s dead. He can't blow it up. But we still need to get that off of you before Waller does it herself-”
The Cloudburst dome exploded once again, this time a thicker cloud of smoke blew out of it like a bomb. They held onto the ground, eyes shut. Red Hood grabbed onto her and she swore by her life that she was never going to let go.
When it subsided, they stood back up. “Come on.”
The Bullet stared at him dumbfounded, then the Red Hood grabbed her wrist, pulled her to the back where they could find Nightwing.
“Dick!!!”
Nightwing saw them, slammed his sticks into the creature’s guts, then ran towards them.
“I found a chair at the back. She needs to sit down.”
They moved fast. Waller will find out Flag is dead and detonate all their bombs before they’ll have a chance at escaping.
So they put her into a chair, and she gripped onto the arm rests. The Bullet watched Red Hood give Nightwing a pen-shaped device that had a needle on its end. She swallowed. “Hey, hey…” Red Hood leaned in and held her face. “You're gonna be okay… Scream if you have to… It won't take too long.”
She wished she could see his face. It was the only way she could ever be comforted. But his touch was enough. She held his hand, squeezed it, then Nightwing held her neck.
“Ready.”
Alfred kept firing at all the creatures coming after them. They had a few good minutes.
Y/N screamed out into the air as the needle went into the back of her neck and electrified that one spot by her spine. She gripped onto the wood. She forced her eyes shut. She never felt so much pain from being tased down but with it came the relief feeling that bomb actually stop beeping in the inside of her flesh. The shocks were excruciatingly painful, and it made every agonizing second pass by as long as a minute would have taken. Red Hood turned his head away before the look on her face broke his heart even more.
But the moment it stopped, with her body up in light smokes, she felt everything inside her calm.
It was gone. The bomb was gone. She could actually feel it. Red Hood grabbed her and pulled her to a hug immediately.
“You're safe now…”
“I love you.”
“I love you…”
Robin suddenly jumped at them and took out three incoming creatures with his staff. “Come on guys, Alfred can't handle all this by himself!”
Nightwing. Robin. Red Hood. Bullet.
Like they were all made to fight by each other’s side.
Nightwing smashed his weapons against a monster’s head, threw its body up in the air with his knee, then the Bullet fired at it with her wrist gun all the way down to the ground. He helped her up, gain higher ground, then she fought at Nightwing’s side when he took out the ones coming for her back. Robin, with his bo staff, slammed one right at the gut and let it fly through the air until Red Hood slammed its torso with his elbow, before shooting it in the head.
Red Hood shot three with his pistols, but one of them grabbed him by the head. And man, was it inhumanely strong. Nightwing slammed his stick right through its skull, just inches away from Red Hood’s head. Red Hood elbowed it away, then shot it. The Bullet kept covering them, now with her machine gun. She fired at one going after Robin, at another that had Nightwing in a headlock, and another two that were about to surround Red Hood.
So many were coming to surround her. And as the boys fought them off, she fired at them relentlessly with her gun. She jumped to the ground and fired at them with her wrist gun.
The Batwing was above them, swerving around as it took out everything that stood their way.
The Bullet looked back out at the pit, where the squad was. “We have to help them!” she said.
“What?!” Red Hood screamed. “Are you insane?”
“They just want to live! We all want this nightmare to end! You can go back to being enemies after we’ve saved the world!”
The world. Of course. By now the gas should have dispersed out of the state. They had to move.
The Bullet shot off a creature coming for Harley. And another coming for Boomerang. The man was barely holding up. El Diablo, now a raging monster completely made of fire, tore through everything in its way and burnt down all the monsters to a bloody crisp. Frost was still holding up, doing whatever she could with her ice. And the look on her face when Nightwing came along and hit one of them in the head before it could grab her, she couldn’t describe it.
And it was that way for hours on end. The creatures kept on coming. The fires started raging. The Batwing had landed on the ground but kept its bullets spewing out of its guns in a frenzied attack against the hundreds that were still around them.
But somehow, the dome acted as some sort of beacon. Because there were more incoming. From far away. She had no idea if they were still Scarecrow’s men or if they were people from the countryside that weren’t so lucky…
As far as everybody knew, they were dead.
And they were all going after the dome like flies surrounding a light.
Frost had them in a block of ice, then Diablo fried them up like fish. Harley kept with her hammer and almost hit Nightwing in the head. “Harley!”
“Sorry, handsome! Kinda got used to aiming for your pretty head!”
Jason, standing with his back right up against the Y/N’s side. They shot at the creatures with their guns not knowing if their ammo was going to take it.
“Y/N! You think we’re gonna make this!?”
She shot down a foot, an arm, then eventually a head. Y/N screamed. “It’s not looking good but I sure fucking hope so!”
Red Hood grabbed her shoulder and turned her around, firing at one she didn’t see. Y/N got a circular lid off one of the manholes and flung it into three bodies.
“Y/N! MARRY ME!!!”
She could have been grabbed by the head if she didn’t hear it coming from behind. She held out her wrist gun and fired directly behind her.
“I THINK I’VE ALREADY ANSWERED THAT QUESTION!!!”
Y/N used Jason’s body to haul herself up, swinging her leg in a circle around her before she shot all of them on the ground. Jason grabbed a creature’s head with his bare hands and squished it into its bloody bits.
“NO. I MEAN MARRY ME. RIGHT NOW!!!!”
“WHAT?!”
Almost losing her arm, she slammed her fist against its head, throwing it to the grass and slamming her boot onto its face. Jason kept firing with his two guns, faster than he ever could have fired.
“IF WE’RE GONNA DIE, WE’RE DYING TOGETHER!!”
“WHAT?!?!”
Jason grabbed her arms, flung her around him so she could repeatedly kick them down before they got anywhere near them. She fired her wrist gun and cursed when she almost missed. He started handling them by hand, punching, swerving, kicking them down with his awfully strong thighs.
“YOU EVER SEEN PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN!?” He smashed drove his gun into a skull and kicked him off. “THE THIRD ONE???”
“JASON, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!!??”
Y/N pressed her back against Jason, and they didn’t stop firing.
“THEY GOT MARRIED IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT. IT WAS FUCKING EPIC.”
“WE’RE GOING TO FUCKING DIE-“
“EXACTLY MY POINT. I WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS WITH YOU AS MY WIFE. DEAD OR ALIVE. I DON’T WANNA WASTE ANYMORE TIME.”
She leapt up in a backflip over Jason and they switched places.
“THIS NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF WALLER COULDN’T LEGALLY FORCE ME TO TESTIFY AGAINST YOU. I’M NOT ABOUT TO LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN. IF ANYONE WANTS TO KEEP US APART, THEY’LL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE FUCKING LAW!”
“JASON, YOU'RE INSANE!!!”
Five down in a single shot. Y/N kicked them down, grabbed her grappling gun, then shot it at a crate to haul it over to the monsters incoming. Jason went through the whole row of creatures climbing down the pit, and when he had the slightest window, he raised his visor.
“IS THAT A YES?!”
Y/N faced him. and Jason faced her.
It wasn’t even a fucking question. The beautiful asshole.
“YES!”
As they kept firing, Jason pressed on his communicator. “ALFRED!!!”
He tossed Y/N a communicator so they’d both be able to hear him. The butler was still in the batwing, needless to say still firing at all the monsters that have made a mountain coming after it hovering in the air.
“Yes, sir?”
“YOU STILL AN ORDAINED MINISTER?!”
He could hear Alfred sound confused.
“I do believe that is a lifelong thing-“
“MARRY US. RIGHT NOW!!!”
Alfred took out a bazooka gun on the Batwing, a new one no doubt. He didn’t remember Bruce having that when he was still alive, then stook out a crowd of twenty coming after him.
“I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the moment, Master Jason.”
“THEN MAKE IT QUICK. PLEASE, MARRY US!”
“TIM, YOU HEARING THIS?” Dick cried out into the comms. Everyone could hear it.
“I KNOW. IT’S FUCKING ROMANTIC.”
Alfred kept his calm. Then they heard a sigh.
“Alright. Do try not to get yourselves killed, Master Jason.”
“CAN DO!”
Y/N grabbed Jason’s arm, held onto him as tightly as she could, then they turned to meet each other’s eyes. Not after shooting a zombie coming for his back.
“Dearly beloved we are gathered here today…” Alfred fired another bazooka at the crowd. “To join this man, and this woman, in holy matrimony.”
Her wrist gun on a frenzy, she shot at the surrounding monsters and helped Jason kick one down with his knee. They stuck to each other’s backs, firing with their pistols.
“Jason Todd, Red Hood, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
Jason’s pistol ran out of ammo, so Y/N threw him a magazine.
“I DO!!!”
She grabbed him, hurled him to the side so they’d switch places, then she started firing at a gun powder barrel she found and it immediately exploded.
“Y/FN Y/LN, Deadsh-“
“THE BULLET! I’M THE BULLET!”
Jason smiled at her with his eyes.
“Ah yes, I do apologize. Y/FN Y/LN, the Bullet, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
Alfred fired at the creatures coming up to her just as she spoke. “I DO!”
Endless bullets, flying out of their hands, they fired at everything that came their way, protecting each other, shielding each other from harm’s way.
Alfred cleared his throat.
“Then with the power vested in me by the city of Gotham, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
“DICK, COVER US!”
“I GOT YOU!” Dick screamed.
“You may now kiss the bride…”
Before they’d die. Before it all ends.
They only had a minute before their lungs would give out.
So they ran into each other’s arms, taking off their masks and held their breaths to the best capacity.
Jason grabbed Y/N’s face, pulling her to his lips. Then an explosion happened in the far-off distance that blew off almost everything around them in the air. All except them.
They were one. They were together. Forever. She was his. And he was hers. For as long as they both shall live.
“IS THIS A FUCKIN’ WEDDING?!” Boomerang screamed.
Harley smashed her hammer. “I LOVE WEDDINGS!!!”
Jason leaned down and kissed her despite his chest starting to twist. She grabbed the back of his neck, pushed him back as well. Never has a kiss been more powerful, more meaningful. As far as they knew, they were alone. They were themselves. They were together. And nothing, not even the world, was ever going to pull them apart ever again.
From their first kiss in the meeting room, to the one at the Batcave, to the kiss in her quarters that one rainy night, to the kiss they shared up on that bridge. Everything had boiled down to now. Finally. Finally.
They were fucking married.
They pulled away, stared at each other, and finally they could see the largest smiles on their faces. The places the masks back on and gasped to breathe.
“Shall we?”
“We shall…”
Not a lot more to cover. The fucking monsters were finally starting to run out. And they moved in a dance only they knew. On each other’s side. Never leaving.
They shot, kicked, slammed, tore through the lifeless bodies coming after them and she cried out as another bomb exploded that she threw from her hand. She fought with her fucking husband and man, did it sound like the most beautiful thing in the world.
Nightwing and Robin came up to them.
“CONGRATULATIONS!!!” they both screamed.
“THANK YOU!”
Then Y/N handed them both guns and they started firing at the creatures.
It worked so well.
Finally.
Twenty left. Then there were fifteen. Then another ten died.
Finally.
Gone. All of the monsters. Wiped out.
The Squad was intact. Thankfully, they smiled at the Bullet and they all gathered to the center.
“I can't believe this,” Nightwing said. “But thank you for having our backs.”
“Don’t get used to it, pretty boy, when we wake up tomorrow mornin’ I’m back to slicing your head off with a-“
“Okay,” Red Hood stopped them. “Now we have to figure out a way to stop this.” He pointed up at the beacon.
“Hood,” the Bullet gulped.
“Yes, wife?”
A few of them groaned at that. Red Hood ignored them.
But the Bullet, Y/N, she didn’t look to happy.
She was staring right up at the top of the pit, shivering.
Everyone looked back to what she was looking at.
No.
No…
It wasn’t possible.
Hundreds more. Hundreds of the creatures. From all over the city. Ones with long, blonde hair. Ones that were as tiny as a small child.
It had reached civilization.
No. they couldn’t possibly handle all of them.
Robin looked at Nightwing, whose look on his eyes definitely lost that glimmering enthusiasm that sparked the hope they needed to go on.
And Red Hood.
Well, he made the right choice marrying her.
Jason held Y/N’s hand, and she took it so tightly between her fingers.
The look on their eyes, watching each other, memorizing the looks on their eyes before they go on to their inevitable deaths.
They couldn’t even see each other’s faces.
Harley slumped to the ground. “Well, this is it, ladies and gents.”
Frost screamed in frustration, releasing a large block of ice and slamming it onto the pit.
The monsters had surrounded them now. All in a complete circle. Trapping them.
And they took their time watching them squirm like worms in a tank full of fish.
This is how they die.
Y/N tightened her grip on Jason’s hand when one of the monsters roared and they all started crawling down to the dome.
“T-Tim?”
Their communicators. It sounded like Barbara.
“Yeah?”
“I hope you weren’t saving that favor for anything special,” Oracle said.
“Favor?”
“You know. That favor with Bruce’s friends…”
“What do you mea-“
Like a lightning bolt striking a tree, their eyes shot up at the brightest flash of light.
A golden, glimmering lasso, coming down from something they hadn’t seen flying in the air. The lasso grabbed onto five of the incoming beings and hauled them up.
Y/N’s never seen her up close.
But goddamn, she was nothing like the pictures.
Wonder Woman slammed against the ground on her knee and her balled up fist, letting the soil ripple at her impact. She didn’t have on a mask, but it barely wrinkled her nose. Her striking beauty was made even more obvious when she smirked up at the four, standing up, then took out her shield and sword from her back. She winked at them.
The four were too dumbfounded to move. As victims exhausted or as fanboys and fangirls watching it all unfold right in front of their eyes. Boom tubes coming from different parts in the air, and out of those circles came the heroes they’ve looked up to their whole lives.
Superman tore through a whole row of that were crawling after them with his powerful laser vision, flying through the sky faster than any of Y/N’s bullets could speed through. He grabbed one by the head, flew up to the sky, then threw it against the ground so hard that dozens of others blew up along with it.
Green Lantern made his own machine gun with his ring. He fired at everything that came close to the dome.
The Flash couldn’t even be seen. All they could see was a buzzing red light, powering all around them in circles and taking down everything that was in his path.
Green Arrow started raining down more than five arrows at a time. Ones from above. Ones from the ground. Black Canary ran up from behind them and let out that famous ear-piercing scream that took out everything that was in front of her. Even the grass.
Aquaman came up with his trident, and with Mera following behind, she let a stream of water pierce through the air like shards and a fucking shark was in it eating the heads of everything the water passed through.
Hawkgirl held her mace up in front of her and let her wings force her through the hundreds in the crowd, smashing their brains out with a single hit.
Shazam slammed on the ground, with sparks coming out of his body, then he screamed at the sky and let the biggest lightning bolt they’ve ever seen clear out a whole patch of the land the beings were standing on.
Martian Manhunter transformed into his true alien form then grabbed the monsters with his bare hands, threw them out of the way, and stomped on them with his feet. Or what looked like feet.
Cyborg. Supergirl. Zatanna. Doctor Fate. Huntress. Hawkman. Vixen. The Atom.
They were all here.
They were all going to live.
The fucking Justice League had come to save them.
Never have they seen them all in action. To them, it might have just been another day. But to them? To Batman’s wards. It was everything they ever wished to become.
It was the best, most beautiful thing they could possibly see their whole lives.
Bruce. How much he would have loved this.
Then the ground started to shake once again. The Cloudburst. It let out another load of the toxin.
They had to destroy it now.
Alfred hovered the Batwing above them and opened up the entry way. He waved his hands for them to come in. Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Bullet ran into the Batwing and took their masks off.
“We can't just run off.”
“We have to go help them.”
“Actually,” Alfred said. “I’ve taken instruction from Ms. Prince.”
“She wanted us to leave?”
“No.” Alfred lead them to the windows and the looked out.
Superman, Green Lantern, Cyborg, and Supergirl were all facing the top of the dome, firing their lasers at the concentrated spot at the center. The heart of the Cloudburst. The whole building had gone up in flames, but it continued to fire up in the toxin.
“The Batwing has one more rocket bomb in its ammunition. When the League has the Cloudburst’s core exposed, we only have one shot at firing right at its center, destroying the Cloudburst for good.”
“I’ll do it,” Dick said.
“No I will!” Tim cried.
“Who said it was your turn!?”
“Who said it was yours?!”
“This isn’t a fucking argument, this is the world’s fate in our hands!”
“Exactly, which means I get to fire the Batwing.”
“Well, who exactly has the best aim in this fucking ship-“
Every pair of eyes stopped wandering around. Then they turned to the woman they called the Bullet.
No.
Fucking no.
“I can't-“
“Y/N-“
“Jason, I can't do this-“
“You can.”
“I don’t trust myself-“
“You never miss-“
“Jason.”
She grabbed his hands that were holding her face, finally she could look up at his eyes and see his lips in a smile.
“The last time I handled a tank, it was the Cloudburst… and I missed.”
“It doesn’t matter. That wasn’t your fault. You have no idea how sorry I am for being upset at that, but I know you can do this. Besides, this isn’t a tank. This is the fucking Batwing.”
“Jay…”
“Please. You're the only one who can do this.”
“I’ve never handled anything like this before.”
“You. Can. Do this.”
Looking up at Jason’s eyes, she saw just how much hope he had for her. Then he leaned in and kissed her.
“Man, is he dramatic today,” Tim said.
“Shut up, they just got married.”
When Jason pulled away, the heaviness in Y/N’s chest had slowly started to fade.
Yeah. He was right.
Her husband was right.
She does have the best aim in the room.
Alfred gestured for her to take the seat at the cockpit. And with Jason holding her hand, leading her to the front, she slowly took the front seat.
Everything was at her control. It didn’t look too intimidating. She pressed onto the buttons and breathed in. Really breathed in.
Breathe. Breathe.
Jason stood back, but not without squeezing her shoulder.
Breathe.
She opened her eyes.
Flying the Batwing over to the top of the dome, right alongside Superman and Supergirl with their lasers still pointing at the center. It won't be long now.
Everything looked brighter. Everything felt hotter. The center of the Cloudburst, at the dome that was once its protective shield.
Irony. She always thought it was what’s going to get her.
Driving the Cloudburst, using it to take down the Batmobile.
Now she was driving the Batwing to take down the Cloudburst.
Yes. Irony certainly did come out to bite her.
But it was in the fucking best way possible.
Doctor Fate and Zatanna had joined in and fired their magical beams at the same spot at the center. Slowly, after each second that passed, she could see its shield slowly start to fade away. A ball around the glass tank of the toxin collapsed. And finally, it was seconds away from its very heart exposed.
Breathe.
The Bullet turned on her optics.
Further. Closer. Brighter.
NOW.
The rocket shot through the Batwing’s bazooka and it came flying out into the air. She waited for that half a millisecond watching it fall to the very spot she aimed at.
Everyone flew out of the sky before it landed on the Cloudburst.
Then the entire dome exploded like a massive nuclear bomb tearing out into the sky with its violently flying debris. The Justice League and the Suicide Squad had cleared out, and with the explosion it took away all the remaining nightmare creatures, dissolving them into the air as nothing but ash.
Everything was loud. Everything was bright. They shielded their eyes away before it blinded them and hid as the dome continued to explode.
They were so high up in the air that they could see the stars up in space despite it already the morning.
And as the bombing sounds had faded…
So did the toxin.
The once red cloud that had covered the sky had dwindled away to its natural white. Everything fell down in beautiful pink ashes. The same ones from when Ivy destroyed the first Cloudburst. They looked up at the sky, and with tears down their faces, everyone leapt in joy and cheered when everything looked as peaceful as it once was.
On the ground where the dome used to be, a crater of soil was left behind. No more creatures. No more darkness. No more Scarecrow.
Everyone took off their domino masks and visors. Dick took Tim and they screamed in happiness, jumped in the air, hugged each other until it hurt like girls at a sleepover. They took Alfred in as well and gave him the biggest bear hug there was.
“DID YOU FUCKING SEE THAT, BABE!?” Tim said into his comms.
Babs was just as ecstatic as they were. “I’M SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU!!”
“WE FUCKING SAVED THE WORLD!!!” Dick leapt for joy.
“I THOUGHT WE WERE GONNA DIE OUT THERE.”
“I KNOW. THEN FUCKING WONDER WOMAN CAME IN AND DESTROYED EVERYTHING I MEAN HOW CAN ANYONE GET AS AWESOME AS THAT?!”
“YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE,” Tim screamed. “IT’S LIKE YOU SAW HER AT FUCKING COMIC CON.”
“ALFRED.” They pulled him in. “TELL ME. DID BRUCE EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT IN HIS LIFE?!”
“Well, other than the ten times he’s defeated Darkseid over at outer space, no I don’t think he has.”
“ WE STILL WIN. WE FUCKING DID IT!!!”
“JASON, DID YOU SEE IT WHEN GREEN LANTER- Jason?!”
They looked around. Jason hadn’t joined them in their little celebration.
Jason and Y/N were over at the back, kissing for what seemed to have been the last ten minutes and completely ignoring everything that went on around them. She was holding his face, and he was hugging her waist. Didn’t even stop when Tim cleared his throat.
Dick, on the other hand, had went up to one of the compartments and had grabbed a bottle of champagne they had stored there for purposes like this.
“Can't believe we almost forgot. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEWLYWEDS !!!”
Everyone in the Batwing clapped for joy and the couple finally stopped kissing, turning their heads over to smile at them.
“THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!”
“CHAMPAGNE FOR EVERYONE.”
Jason thumbed her cheek. “You alright with our reception being held in the Batwing?”
Y/N shrugged. “I mean, I wanted to book a caterer, but-“
Jason pulled her face again and kissed her with their hearts light and their spirits so high up in the sky.
A future. She could see it. It was all flashing in front of her eyes now.
Finally, something good had happened out of the series of darkness.
They drank, cheered, partied in the Batwing while it went in a really slow autopilot on its way back to the cave. They hung out like any group of friends would have. Like any family would have.
Jason held her hand the whole time. And Y/N held it even tighter.
This was the end. And it was beautiful, peaceful, promising.
And above all else, it was fucking epic.
-----
EPILOGUE
As if the world hadn’t already stopped surprising them, they continued to go through that very same day bringing them almost to the brink of a heart attack.
When the grounds to the Batcave descended, when the Batwing parked itself in its spot, when its entryway folded down for them all to walk down to, everyone was still in their high, laughing, skipping when they walked down the ramp and out into the walkway.
“Babs!”
Barbara wheeled right towards them and Tim held her in his arms, pulling her up to his level so he could carry her. They all cheered.
“I can't believe you thought of calling the League!”
Babs laughed. “Obviously, you needed help.”
Everyone started talking at the same time, each of them telling Babs one side of the story and how it happened. Explaining in detail how Wonder Woman did this and how Aquaman did that. Even Y/N was so excited she couldn’t stop talking about how Green Arrow’s aim was something she’d admired for so long. A bubble of noise, happy noise. Kids being together.
Like no time even passed. They continued on and on about everything that happened.
Then Jason looked behind at the computers. He stopped talking. His smile faded away. His heart stopped. His whole body stopped.
Everyone saw the look on his face and turned to look at what he was seeing.
At first, he looked just about as regular as any tall man.
And if you hadn’t been expecting it, like practically everyone in the room didn’t, no one would believe it at first glance.
Black shirt. Basic jeans. A jacket over his shoulders. Hair so long it had gone down to his neck pushed back.
But it was him. So undeniably him.
“Oh my god…” Babs whispered.
Bruce Wayne smiled at all their faces. Jaws on the ground. Eyes so incredibly wideset. He didn’t look the least bit bothered.
He walked on over closer to them, hands in his pockets. He stood a few yards away so as to not startle them.
His children.
“Dick…” he greeted.
The eldest choked on his breath. “Bruce…”
Bruce looked over at the girl with fiery red hair.
“Barbara…”
“Oh. My. God.”
Bruce grinned, then he looked over at the man beside her.
“Tim…”
“You're alive…” Tim breathed.
Then when Bruce met Jason’s eyes, everyone parted to give him his way. Bruce started walking towards him, and Jason swallowed on his tongue.
He hadn’t prepared for this.
Not by a long shot.
He thought he was never, ever going to see him again.
He never thought he’d have the chance to make things right.
And now, he did.
Bruce stood in front of Jason.
“Welcome back…” Bruce said. “My son…”
Jason pulled him into a hug, much to Bruce’s surprise. Much to everyone’s surprise.
But he wanted to skip all the thinking and the doubts and the holding back to everything he’s ever wanted to say to him.
Jason forgave him. Already after two years. And it meant so much that Bruce had forgiven him too.
Bruce hugged him back.
Bruce never hugs anyone back.
But he patted Jason’s shoulder and held him as tightly as any father could possibly hold his son. Jason was crying. Hell, everyone in the room was crying. Even Alfred was shedding a tear. Everyone watched on as they fell into each other’s embrace longer than they’ve had with anyone else.
Eventually, Bruce had to pull away.
“I’m so sorry…” Jason cried.
Bruce held his shoulders.
“Jason…” he said. “You have no idea how proud I am of you…”
Jason realized he’s never heard those words before.
He hugged him again, just because he couldn’t hold it back anymore. Y/N dried her tears with her shirt and met Jason’s eyes from over Bruce’s shoulder.
“Bruce…” Jason pulled away. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Y/N stood straight up. She dusted off her suit. She straightened her neck.
“This is Y/N,” Jason said with his hand on her back. She stretched out her hand, and Bruce took it.
“I’ve heard of you. Your girlfriend-“
“Wife.”
Her smile was so beautiful when he said it.
“My wife.”
Bruce shot up his eyebrows. “I see. Well, it would have been better if we had a talk-“
“Don’t. Do that.”
“I’m kidding,” Bruce laughed.
Y/N cleared her throat. “Such a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“Y/N… I know who you are and who you were…”
“Bruce…”
He nodded at Dick.
“You were the Commander of the militia army. You were Deadshot. You took over your uncle’s old jobs.”
“Bruce, you don’t have to-“
He didn’t even look at Jason’s direction.
“And you drove the Batwing today…”
Y/N was scared shitless shivering on her own two feet. It wasn’t because she was talking to Batman, someone she almost had killed. It was because she was talking to her freaking father in law.
Jason swallowed.
“And I also happen to know… that you worked with my sons like a perfectly trained team and singlehandedly saved thousands of lives…”
Everyone’s eyes lit up. Especially hers.
“What do we call you now?”
“The Bullet,” she swallowed. “I’m the Bullet.”
“Well, Y/N,” he smiled. “The Bullet.”
Then he stretched out his hand.
“Welcome to the family.”
-----
MASTERLIST
THE BULLET MASTERLIST
-----
TAGLIST
@everyartistwas-firstanamateur
@sarcasmismyfirstlove
@damned-queen-of-gotham
@idkmanicantenglish
@wunderstell
@birdy-bat-writes
@get-loki
@everyday-imfangirling
@comic-nerd-dc
@multifandoms916
@icequeen208
@offendedfishnoises
@egdolan
@xemiefx
@arkhamtoddler
@elsenthal
@mythicbitchx
@supremehaunter
@lucy-roo
@roseangel013bf
@loxbbg
@reclusive-chicken-nugget
@l-inkage
@http-cherries
@shadowsndaisies
@river9noble
@zphilophobiaz
@annoylinglyaries
@knightfall05x
@flowersgirl02
@hyp-oh-critical
@satan-s-ass
#Jason todd#jason todd x reader#jason todd reader insert#arkham knight#arkham knight x reader#arkhamverse#suicide squad#floyd lawton#deadshot#the bullet#the bullet series#batarella
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The Mask (13th Doctor X Reader X 8th Doctor)
Requested: by me because I’m in love with these dorks
Summary: It’s your turn to choose the adventure and, without another idea, you choose a masquerade ball. When you find yourself separated from the Doctor, you run into a mysterious and charismatic man who goes by the same name as your traveling partner...
A/N: I am so so sorry that I haven’t written in forever! I am in my first semester at college doing 16 credit hours and for great chunk of the semester I’ve also been working full time. I’m not, now, so I have a little bit more time, but I’m trying to finish this semester out strong. I hope that you enjoy this fic!
Words: 2.5k
Warnings: None that I can think of, it’s a ‘jealousy’ type fic if that is something you want to avoid!
“Good?” You whispered. The Doctor nodded, letting her hands fall from the sides of your face. The mask, which you had picked out from the TARDIS’ infinite dressing room, now rested neatly against your face, adding a bit of flair to the rest of your elaborate outfit. It was your turn to pick out where and when you went in the space-time machine. Having run out of ideas, your mind flashed back to the most recent movie you’d seen and in the end you proposed attending a masquerade ball. Purely for the aesthetics, you told yourself, although there was certainly some unconscious desires at play-
“How’s mine?” Your favorite time lord asked, having finished slipping on her mask. You gasped; clearly she’d had it for a long time. This was made evident by the gold intricately placed in complex circles against a black frame, the texture of which was dulled and beginning to fray from use and age. It fit nicely with her old fashioned suit, which was fashioned out of the same dark material, fitting her body awkwardly. Clearly she’d borrowed it from a past self. Her eyes, visible under the mask, seemed to have aged centuries from the second the mask had come into contact with her face to match it.
“It looks great” You said, certifying the outfits status. The Doctor grinned and held out a hand for you. You accepted it, enjoying the way her fingers curled around yours, transferring her warmth through your body. Her excitement, too, must’ve passed through your skin-level bond, because you could feel your heart racing as she led you out the doors towards the ball.
Within an instant, you were transported from the TARDIS’ interior dimension into a world filled with glitter and gold. It came in second place compared to the air of the room itself, which was occupied by the vibrations of the most glorious music you’d ever heard. People were everywhere, occupying every inch of the dance floor and beyond, blurring into a sea of movement. The Doctor squeezed your hand, and you threw yourself into the waves.
After about a half hour, you were about done with the dancing mess. At least for a time. Your clothes were beginning to stick to your body, your body's natural cooling function turning into a frustrating adhesive. Not to mention your feet were starting to ache, begging you to take it easy for a time. The Doctor, being an immortal ball of energy, was still enthusiastically throwing herself around the dance floor, forgoing any rhythm that she might’ve been recommended to meet. You flashed her a smile before turning to the snack table, fancying a drink. Reaching for the punch bowl, your movements were interrupted by the startling cough that started next to you.
You took a step back, concerned building for the man who was leaned against the wall, doubled over.
“Are you alright?” you asked, trying to remember everything you knew about preventing choking. Just as your hands moved towards the man, however, he straightened up with ease, all tension gone from his face. The only sign that anything was amiss were his eyebrows, which started to furrow.
“There was alcohol in my drink.” He said, as if offended. You chuckled.
“Laying off, Hm?” Still, you avoided the punch bowl that he was glancing warily at and stepped in front of the next one.
“Don’t drink from that one either,” He recommended.
“... Why not?” You asked, confused and slightly irritated.
“Not enough sugar. No fun.”
You laughed. “Not enough sugar? What kind of a picker eater- drinker, I should say, are you?”
“I’m not picky,” The man whined. His eyes drifted from yours to the accessory surrounding them. “Where did you get that mask?”
From the softness of his words you instinctively raised your hand, fingertips brushing against the piece. “A… friend got it for me. Do you like it?”
“It looks familiar” He said, with a curious gaze.
“Does that mean you like it?” You whispered again. With his face so close, inspecting your mask, you needn’t speak too loudly. Face heating up, you cleared your throat. “Where’s yours?”
“My what?”
“Your mask. It is a masquerade ball” He paused and blinked, as if just remembering where he was. Then his face lit up, his body jumping quickly as his hands flew to his pockets. The mask he produced from them seemed to be of a standard shape and size; it was the design that caught you off guard. Golden circles covered the black frame, which was neither dulled or frayed but a healthy, vibrant shade. It was the same mask that the Doctor wore in the next room.
“Do you like it?” He asked coyly. Before he could cover up his features with the mask, you put a hand on his wrist, eyes scanning over his face. There wasn’t a lot of similarity, but you knew that regeneration was a lottery. Having met up with the Doctor’s 10th incarnation far too many times to count, you were well acquainted with the Doctor and their species’ habit for changing their face. He glanced over to your hand on his wrist and swiftly removed your iron grip. In an even quicker moment, he pulled your mask from where it rested and replaced it with his own.
Before you could process the change, your stolen mask was on his face.
“There! Since you liked mine so much. Now it’s yours.”
You tried to speak, but could only manage a sputter for several seconds until the shock released its hand from your vocal cords and you gasped: “Doctor?”
That threw him off guard. He slipped the mask upwards so it rested against his curls, eyes narrowing. “How do you know that name?” He murmured.
“So you are the Doctor.” You said incredulously. “I’ve no idea which one but-”
“How do you know that I’m the Doctor?” He replied, tone turning sour with seriousness. Then he backed off a little. “Have we met before? You must understand, I have a habit of, well, forgetting myself. And everything else.”
“I travel with you!” You clarified, starting to get excited at the prospect of meeting a new (or, to put it chronologically, old, depending on where he was in the Doctor's life) incarnation of the Doctor. Realizing that your words might’ve been a mistake, you covered your mouth with a small squeak. From behind your hand, you worriedly asked: “Was I not supposed to tell you that?”
The new Doctor laughed. “I’m sure it’s no trouble. Luckily for you, I also happen to have the habit of running into my past and future selves, friends included!” The joy lacing his words put you at ease and you lowered your hand from it’s muzzle position only to have it captured by him immediately.
“Come,” He said, tugging you along as more people began to arrive at the snack table. “I want to meet you, properly!”
When the new Doctor mentioned that he wanted to meet you properly, you had no idea that dancing was his intention. But, soon enough, you found yourself ensconced in the commotion once again. Completely oblivious to the organized dance that was sweeping through the room, The new Doctor raised your entwined hands in the formation of a waltz, his other hand resting in a respectful position on the middle of your back. It’s warmth, so similar to your own Doctors, seeped through the fabric and created goosebumps along your arms.
“So, which one are you?” You asked, voice rising above the violins and cellos.
“Incarnations, you mean? I’m currently in my 8th body. I assume you travel with my 9th?”
“13th, actually,”
The 8th Doctor paused, looking confused for a moment. His lapse in movement caused him to bump into another partygoer, which jostled him back into the dance. “Ah, wearing a bit thin, then…”
“How do you mean?” You asked, concerned at his comment.
“Not to worry,” He said with an enormous smile. “How about you? Where are you from?”
“Earth”
“When?”
“2020”
The 8th Doctor cringed. “I really must come up with better questions”
“I’ve got one,” Said a new but familiar voice. The Doctor, your Doctor, stood only a fraction of an inch away, hands on her hips. ‘8′ gave her a once over, then looked at you and acknowledged the recognition in your eyes.
“Ah, you must be my future self!” He said excitedly. “Wonderful”
“Yes, it is,” your Doctor said hurriedly. “We really should get going, shouldn’t we Y/N?”
“But we’re dancing,” you protested.
“Yes, they want to dance,” the other Doctor reinforced. “Surely there’s no… problem?” You frowned at the inclination in his voice, and so did your Doctor.
“Then they can dance. With me?” your Doctor asked. It sounded authoritative, but the lift of her tone at the end left a hint of worry behind.
“Well, sure-” Before you could finish your sentence, your hand left the 8th Doctors and landed on the shoulder of your Doctor, who began to spin you around the room and away from her past self.
“Where’d your mask go?” She asked, hands gripping your waist tightly.
“He swapped ours,” You replied, trying to keep your voice steady as your Doctor dipped you. The world stopped in that moment, the Doctor’s eyes moving over the gold design. You imagined it would be necessary to breathe soon, but you didn’t want to disrupt the air between the two of you. To keep you steady, the Doctor's hands moved to your upper back, making you shudder.
“Well, jokes on him,” She whispered, as if proving herself in some momentous feat. “Now we match”
When you were raised back into a standing position you found yourself wobbling a bit, still dizzy from the seconds you’d spent near horizontal, only able to focus on your Doctor's voice and presence. Thankfully, there was another presence there to keep you steady.
“You don’t mind if I borrow them for a moment, surely?” the Doctors 8th incarnation asked, arm slipping around your waist.
“I don’t mind,” You squeaked. As you were turned away, you got the feeling that your Doctor did mind. The song ended and another one began, sweeping you off your feet. Or perhaps that was the 8th Doctor himself, who was moving the two of you throughout the room; an impressive feat given your close proximity to the other occupants- and each other.
“I do mind, actually,” your Doctor said grumpily a few moments later, easily and swifting transitioning you from his arms back to hers. Her old incarnation looked stunned for a moment before you lost sight of him. Everything was beginning to blur together, and soon it was hard to tell whose arms you were actually in at any given moment.
“Getting a little bit territorial in your old age, are you?” The 8th Doctor snipped over your shoulder. You resisted the urge to add fuel to the fire growing between them, trying to keep your mind on the music and the dance. However, your mind was distracted and your feet refused to move as they should.
“Old age? You mean more mature, wise-”
“No, I mean territorial” Your Doctor shook her head, trying to guide the two of you away from her past self, only to find that the way was blocked by too many people.
“Or maybe I just remember your plate being a little full” She challenged. “How’s Grace? Charley? Fi-”
“Okay, enough!” You yelped, not exactly anxious to hear all the names involved in the Doctor’s romantic history. Slightly out of breath, and incredibly dizzy, you glanced around for an uninhabited corner of the room that you could take advantage of. You didn’t find one, but you did see, out of the corner of your eye, a man dumping something into the punch bowl that you had been standing at previously.
“See?” You heaved, trying to catch your breath and end their ego contest. “Weird, suspicious stuff. Adventure, right? Go fetch!”
Both of them looked at you with wide eyes. Luckily, you didn’t have to suppress laughter, as your lack of air intake was doing that for you well enough. They looked at each other next.
“This isn’t over,” your Doctor grumbled, as she started moving towards the suspicious activity. As the back of her and the other doctors' suits entered your vision, you thanked the Universe for a break. It wasn’t too welcoming, and you found that each Doctor took one of your hands into theirs and began to lead you along.
__________________________________
It was another 3 hours of challenging quips and hand holding before you finally managed to get the break you so desperately craved, leaning against the TARDIS’ exterior as the two Doctors spoke of the past, the future and the present. It was nice to see them finally getting along. The adventure had brought the two of them together quite nicely, reminding them that they were one and the same despite the bodies and years separating them. Their conversation wrapped up smoothly, with smiles. Then, it was your turn to say goodbye.
“I can’t hang on to the mask, I don’t think” You said sadly, slipping his mask from your face. “I think that if I did, it wouldn’t be in the wardrobe for my Doctor to find. It could conjure up another one, though… maybe?”
“Your Doctor,” The 8th Doctor murmured with a smile. “I like that sentiment.”
Your cheeks grew warmer as you placed the mask into his palm, gently closing his fingers around it. He had taken your mask off of his face, but didn’t hand it over.
“You don’t mind if I keep this one, do you? I’ll put in a good word with the TARDIS to bring it back to you.”
Not entirely grasping the time travel and not bothering to, you nodded, knowing that somehow it would all work out. You glanced over his shoulder to see your Doctor, watching the two of you not with a look of apprehension, but with comforted observation. The 8th Doctor matched your gaze, chuckling to himself.
“I suppose I best return to my own travels and time. But, Y/N, make no mistake. I’m very much looking forward to our future.” At the end of his sentence, with his words still echoing through the air, he raised your entwined hands and pressed a delicate kiss to the back of yours, with a squeeze as a promise for another time- One that was steps away.
Clutching your hand to your chest, you watched him disappear into his TARDIS, which began to dematerialize moments later. There was a small ache, but it was soon remedied by your Doctor approaching, with a distant look in her eyes. Clearly, the memories and experiences of another lifetime were beginning to resurface.
“Do I get one from you, too?” You asked to cheer her up. She raised a brow and you held out your other hand, the one untouched. Your Doctor slowly bowed her head to place her lips against it, humming softly. After she was done, she turned it over to place another kiss on the inside of your wrist, against the place where your heart beat in a rapid succession.
“Still trying to one-up him?” You whispered, voice slightly wavering. Your Doctor smiled, unlocking the TARDIS.
“Something tells me I don’t need to. Our future, remember?” Your future, together. Seeing the universe, together. You followed her into the time machine, heart full and eager for more.
#8th doctor x reader#13th doctor x reader#13th doctor imagine#8th doctor imagine#doctor who imagine#the doctor x reader
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The Life of Rebecca Barnes
Sorry if the dates are wrong, I tried my best to do the math.
The Howling Commandos had finally tracked down the only living family of James Barnes. James never talked about his personal life before the war to any of the Commandos and he really only talked to Steve. And since the Barnes' family is very closed off, it was hard to find James's family to offer condolences. He had died a while ago in the Swiss Alps, the army was going to send a letter but the Commandos thought it would be better to say it in person.When they came to the small apartment in NYC and knocked on the door they were not expecting a young girl with three other kids clinging onto her. The girl had frizzy, curly, hip-length dark brown hair. The Commandos knew this was the right house because the girl had the same smile as James.
"Hello, what can I do for you?" she asked. Dum Dum spoke next, "Is it okay if we come inside we worked with James." The girl nodded and ushered them inside. "Rikki, who are these people," asked a little girl with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. "Well, Lizzy these are some of Jamie's friends." Rikki picked up Lizzy and put her on her hip. "Is Stevie coming?" The Commandos felt guilty at the question Lizzy asked, Steve died the day previous."Anyway, what brings you to my apartment?" asked Rikki. "Well we are looking for a Rebecca is she home?" said Gabe Jones. "Oh, that's me, Rikki's a nickname my stupid brother gave me when we were kids." The Commandos now felt even more saddened by the news they were about to give the Barnes family. "Could we talk in private," one of the Commandos asked Rebecca.
Rikki led them into a separate room so that they could talk privately. "So why are you at my house?" asked Rikki. The Commandos knew that they should rip the bandaid off but it's still difficult to take off the bandaid. "Rikki that's a funny nickname," said Jim trying to start a conversation. "Yeah, I would always try to annoy my brother by calling him Jamie because he didn't like to be called, and I quote, "A name meant for a girl" so I always called him Jamie. He then started to call me Rikki since it sounds like a boy's name. And it just kind of stuck.""Ms. Barnes we have some unfortunate news to tell you," said Jack. Rebecca stiffened, "Is Jamie okay?" All of the Commandos looked down and Rebecca gasped. "He died in action, we were ambushing a train in the swiss alps and your brother fell off the side. He died fighting, I'm sorry for your loss," said Gabe. "Why isn't Steve here telling me this then?" questioned Rebecca. "Steve died crashing a plane into the ice in order to save millions," explained Dum Dum. They tried to say nice things to her like, "It's okay." "They died for a greater cause" but with every word Rebecca got angrier. Rebecca stood up and wiped off her tears, " No it's not okay my brothers died! For you people, and then you start saying meaningless words to me about it. Get out, get out of my house goddamn it!" The Commandos left silently not wanting to upset Rebecca further.
Rebecca went to her siblings, "I have some bad news, Stevie and Jamie died in the war." Lizzy and Martha went quiet and Linda, who was only a baby, started to cry. Rebecca wanted to cry too, but she had to stay strong like Jamie always did.Once the kids went to bed Rebecca dropped on the floor and started crying. "We can't even bury a body," she said over and over again. Jamie was always so full of life it's hard to imagine him dead. Deep down inside Rebecca believed that he was not dead, they had always had a twin-like bond, even though there was a 3 year age difference, meaning that they always knew what the other thought and the other well-being. Rebecca Barnes hated the people responsible for her brother's death and Rebecca needed to bring them to justice.
One Year Later
Rebecca wanted to do something worthwhile and she thought joining the S.S.R. was the only way to do so. Rebecca had good grades and experience with things the S.S.R did. She had taken criminology and forensic science in school and had just finished her combat training.When she was in the office and the man put down her file her looked up at her and said, "Why should we hire you?" he asks. Rebecca thinks about it and says, " I want to make the world a safer place and-" The man cuts her off, "No, no, no, I mean why would we hire you a woman. We already have Margret." Rebecca stands up and slaps her hands on the table, "Listen here you short sexist piece of sh*t, if a man came in here with the file I have I know for a fact you would hire him. Also, it is my human right to be able to work if I want to, I'm leaving so give me a letter when you make up your mind."
As she stormed out she was cut off by Margret Carter, "I agree with what you said about the chief being a short sexist," she didn't finish her sentence being a proper lady. Rebecca however was not, "Piece of sh*t." Peggy nodded. "I know a great Diner around here would you like to go once my shift is over?" Rebecca didn't have many friends this would be good for her. "Sure I would love to."
When they went to the diner Peggy led them to a booth and she sat down. "So what's your name?" asked Peggy. Rebecca hadn't even realized that they didn't know each other's names. "Rebecca Barnes," she said simply. Peggy froze at the surname remembering someone who was lost in the war. "Peggy Carter," Peggy said thinking that Barnes was a very popular surname it could be a whole other family.
"Do you have any siblings?" Peggy asked. "I have three younger sisters, Elizabeth, Lidia, and Margret. And I ha- had one brother, James," answered Rebecca. Peggy was now sure that this is the sister of James Buchanan Barnes. "What about you do you have any siblings?" asked Rebecca in return. "Yes I also had an older brother," replied Peggy. "I'm sorry for your loss," replied Rebecca. "It's okay, it was a long time ago." Rebecca was very easy to talk to, and she wasn't like the people Peggy was usually drawn to. She was far from a proper lady, she sat like someone who was not taught proper edict, and she was wearing pants. Not pants made for women but pants that probably belonged to a man at some point. "Your pants where did you get them?" Peggy asked. "They're hand-me-downs, from my brother. Money was never tight at my house but it just made me feel more normal, you know wearing hand-me-downs like most other younger siblings. Anyway enough about me, what's your deal?"
"I have worked in the SSR for a long time and I didn't get many jobs or respect until the war when I helped with Project Rebirth. After the war, well I turned into the secretary. I want to show people that I can do just as much as a man can and that I didn't just become an Agent because there weren't enough men to do the job. Why are you here?" Rebecca knew her answer, " You might not like it or agree with it but, I want to take down the people that hurt me and so many families. I don't want anyone else's brother to die because of a war. And the only way to do that is to rid the world of insane people who want to take over the world." Peggy nodded, "Well seeing as we will be the only women in the department I look forward o filing papers with you and hopefully putting "villains" in jail." Rebecca smiled and took a sip of her water, this felt like a good thing.
2 years later
It was Rebecca's first mission, there was no one left to do it. She had to take down some drug dealers. When she got to the location something was wrong the drug dealers were there all right but there were other people there. They had the HYDRA symbol on their jackets. Oh, how stupid had we been to think that if we killed the leader that they would die she thought. She had to move closer to get a better look.
She went up in the vents in order to hear and see everything clearly. Unfortunately, the vents were not very strong and she fell from them. The drug dealers left and the HYDRA soldiers pinned her to the ground. "Let's see who you are," the soldier said as he reached for the dog tags she wore. "These say, James Barnes, you can't be him. You must be his sister but which one? Are you Martha, Lidia, or maybe Elizabeth? Wait you are in your twenty's oh yes you must be Rebecca. Your brother's favorite."
"What are you going to do to me now that I know you still exist?" she asked. "Nothing, we know that you will be too scared to tell. Now run along and don't come back. She ran back not wanting to die. But she will tell people about Hydra.
Once she was out of earshot the soldier said, "Send the Winter Soldier after her. We can't have her knowing about us, or him."
---------------------------------------------------------------------Rebecca was on a date with her boyfriend of one year, William Proctor. They had stayed at Rebecca's house since they were an interracial couple so no one would serve them at restaurants. "So how was work today?" asked William. "It was good," lied Rebecca. She still hadn't told him about her real job he thought she was working at a DMV. "You're lying, you always take a sip of your wine and look left when you lie," said William. If he wasn't catching her lie Rebecca would have thought that it was very sweet that he notices the small things about her. "It wasn't the best but, I did get to try something different. William, I don't work at the DMV, I'm working at the S.S-" at that moment a metal hand went through the wall.
It was a man dressed in what seemed to be kevlar, he had a district metal arm, and was wearing a mask. Or a muzzle, part of Rebecca thought. "Is this someone from work?" asked William sarcastically. "Yeah, I was trying to track down some drug dealers, ran into HYDRA. I guess they sent their puppet after me," she replied. The man didn't like her comment very much because he started to attack her. Rebecca blocked most of his punches until his knife cut into her right shoulder, he then pulled it down to her wrist causing a massive cut along her arm. "Rebecca are you okay?" asked William from where he was standing in the kitchen. "Yeah just throw me a wrench or a knife!" yelled Rebecca. She had an idea, it might not be great and was based on a very flimsy theory but she wanted to try nonetheless. Once, William passed her a long kitchen knife she tried to shove it into one of the slots on the metal arm. She was successful she then twisted them with great struggle though since the man was trying to kill her. William came from behind and put two more objects in the man's metal arm. By this time Rebecca had already done quite a bit of damage. Knowing that he would lose the man left. Rebecca then collapsed in William's arms.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------"So how did you really cut the entirety of your right arm?" asked Peggy. "What do you mean? I was in a car crash and I cut myself on the window," answered Rebecca. "That's absolute rubbish, you're a great driver. Also, you're a terrible liar," Peggy told her. Rebecca sighed, "A man broke into my house, probably working for the people I "met" a few days back, he cut my arm." Peggy nodded, "What did he look like maybe I know about him." Rebecca thought back to the most distinct thing about him, "He a metal arm for his left arm." Peggy's eyes widened, "People have been talking about him, civilians I mean, a man with a metal left arm comes up at least once with every political murder after the war. People started to call him the Winter Soldier, the S. S. R. has been looking into him for a while now, but nothing comes up, he's like a ghost." Rebecca smirked, "Well then it must be a miracle that I'm still alive."
2 years later
This was Rebecca's first mission since she found out she was pregnant. She and William had decided that William would stop working, he didn't like his job much anyway. Rebecca almost got fired because the S. S. R. didn't want to pay for her maternity leave. She told her boss that she wouldn't take the leave, her husband (they aren't technically married but they have known each other for three years) would be home taking care of the child. She still went on missions since she only had a small baby bump. Nothing dangerous though, just a stakeout with Peggy and Howard. She told them about HYDRA well, she told Peggy and Howard overheard. She and Howard didn't get along, he was egotistical and cocky, two traits Rebecca hated. Howard had an equal despise for her, she was too reckless, something that wasn't always a good thing.
HYDRA was loading a truck nothing too interesting until the Winter Soldier came out to help them. He doesn't have his mask on but he was far away so no point in trying to figure out who he is, thought Rebecca. "Hey he kind of looks like Barnes," pointed out Howard. "I'm right here Stark, " growled Rebecca. "No, I mean your brother," explained Howard. Peggy leaned forward and squinted her eyes, "I mean from a distance." Rebecca laughed, "Why would Jamie be working for HYDRA? Also, my brother is incredibly vain, there is no way he'd let his hair get like that!" Peggy nodded then looked at Howard, "She has a point." Howard thought for a minute, "Maybe they put his brain in a blender?" Rebecca looked sick, "Please stop." Howard did, there were only a few things Howard was afraid of, and one of them was an angry Barnes.
3 years later
Rebecca had just had her second child, Myla, and she was already worrying. Her son, James, was a tiny terror she hoped that he didn't rub off on Myla. James had skin a little darker than Rebecca's, he had Williams nose and eyes, everything else about his completion looked closer to Rebecca. Kyla had very dark skin, she also had curly brown hair like her mother, she had her grandfather's eyes, and had Rebecca's jawline. Rebecca felt bad that none of them would ever meet their Aunts and Uncles since both Rebecca and William's family did not agree with the pairing. Rebecca felt especially bad that the one Uncle who would love to meet the kids couldn't be there. She and William had bought a small three bedrooms one bathroom house, because of the new family edition. All in all, Rebecca couldn't wait for the adventures to come with her family.
12 Years Later
Peggy had brought Rebecca to a diner to talk. "I and Stark have started something, called S.H.I.E.L.D. it's basically the S. S. R. but private would you like to join us. Rebecca nodded furiously, "Of course, I've been meaning to get out of the S. S. R. and I'm sure anything you're founding has to be worth it." Peggy laughed, "So what do you say we go and hand in our letters of resignation." Rebecca got up from the table excited to have a new beginning.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------"Seriously though Stark, why haven't you found someone yet. You're almost 43, times running out," said Peggy. "Look not all of us want to get married and have kids super young like Ms. I'm Fine over there," retorted Howard. "What do you mean young? I was 29 when I had James, and 32 when I had Mayla," said Rebecca. "The point still stands and I'm in a relationship now and it's going great," states Howard. "What's her name?" asked Peggy. "Maria, speak of the devil, I have a date with her. Nice talking to you ladies." Rebecca scoffed, "Let's hope this one isn't insane."
5 Years Later
"Top of the class aye?" asked Rebecca. Mayla blushed, "Yeah which means that I can choose any job I desire." Rebecca smiled, "What do you want to do then?" Mayla looked down, "Well I already applied for a job at S.H.I.E.L.D. and they hired me so I guess that." Rebecca was a little confused as to why her daughter would go behind her back on this one. "I just didn't want people thinking I got the job because of Aunt Peggy. I'll be working in the science division so I don't want people thinking I'm just dumb and spoiled." Rebecca laughed, "No one will think that you graduated top of your class from college when you're 19."
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That same year Anthony Stark was born, Howard was nervous. He was worried that Tony would turn out like him, Peggy worried the same thing. Rebecca tried to tell Howard that Maria was a good lady, she probably toned down the Stark genes in that kid.
21 Years Later
William had come to pick Rebecca up from work. That was when something strange happened William noticed something Peggy didn't. "Hey why have these guys neer finished their mission?" asked William. Howard went to get their files, "Maybe they forgot to check in?" Rebecca shook her head, "But all of them admit to not completing the mission. And they have outrageous reasons as to why. Who believed these guys?" Peggy went to the back of the file room and took out a few more, "They were all signed by these men, we don't have any records on them until the year 1965." William spoke up, "Maybe they are in on something together, like a rival agency type deal." Howard scoffed, "There is no way SHIELD could be infiltrated." Rebecca hit him upide the head, "Your arogence will be the end of you, Stark." Peggy shruged, "We'll look into it in the morning. Howard your son is home you should be spending time with him. Rebecca if I am not mistaken you have your grandchildren Kimberly and Scott waiting for you to teach them how to properly use a gun." They all left but none of them knew that this was the last time Howard, Peggy, and Rebecca would be in the same room together.
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They were all invited to the funeral, even if Rebecca wasn't that close to Howard. Peggy and Rebecca sat next to Tony the whole time knowing that he needed someone to be there with him. Peggy and Rebecca were like his Aunts, they were usually at the Stark estate. Rebecca and Howard would be bickering most of the time but Rebecca was still present at the house often when Tony was a child. Everyone was telling Tony about how his father was a great man and how they were sorry that he lost his dad. However Peggy and Rebecca tod him that Howard wasn't perfect and that they were sorry he had to lose his parents but they never tried to tell him what to feel or how to think about it.
18 Years Later
Rebecca had grown old and now had great-grandchildren, but she still worked at SHIELD. She didn't work in the field anymore though, she was a therapist of sorts. One day they sat her down with a young lady with bright red hair and told Rebecca to make the girl safe to be around. They were then left alone to talk and to help this girl through whatever was going on with her."My name is Rebecca Barnes Proctor, and you are?""Natasha Romanoff.""What would you like me to call you?""...Natasha.""Well then Natasha let's get started. Why are you here?""I worked for the KGB a kind man named Clint Barton dragged me here and they told me to sit through this until I was stable enough to go into the field.""I used to be a SHIELD Agent you know, I was here when this place was first built. Now I work here, helping people like you.""...Who is that a picture of on your desk?""That was my brother, he died in the war.""I'm sorry.""It's okay he's been gone for a long time. Anyway why would people think you aren't stable?""I was a Russian Spy, they just want to make sure I'm on their side.""Do you promise not to betray us?""I wouldn't dream of it. I can't go to a prison cell, again.""Great then I will tell themyou are stable as long as you come help me watch over my great grandchildren every Thursday.""I will Mrs. Proctor.""Oh please, call me Rebecca.""Thanks Rebecca."
1 Year Later
"You seem quiet today Natasha is something wrong?""It's nothing I just got out of the Hospital that's all.""What were you there for?""A man with a metal arm shot someone through me.""So I see you've met the Winter Soldier.""The Winter who?"The Winter Soldier, he's an assassin.""Why haven't I heard of him?""He's like a ghost no one can track him and every file we have of himis erased gone. You see this scar he gave me it."Natasha looked at the scar, "Looks like it hurt." Rebecca sighed, "It did for a long time, but what's done is done. Be careful Natasha." Natasha smiled, "I always am."8 Years Later"Rebecca!" called Natasha, "I brought some company for you!" Rebecca smiled, "I'm in the kitchen." She was trying to complete the crossword when she saw Natasha. "Hello, dear I'mso glad you found time to visit me." Natasha looked at the other visitors, "Guys this is Rebecca, she's a few years younger than Steve. And Rebecca this is Sam-" Rebecca inturpterd her, "Stevie! Why haven't you visited me since you came back from the ice?" Steve looked dumbstruck, "I thought you would be dead or you wouldn't remember me." Rebecca wacked him upside the head, "That was easier to do when you where shorter but this will have to do. How dare you think me dead! And I'm not that old, this brain's still ticking!"
Bucky was behind the wall he didn't really know who this lady was and he wasn't sure she would be happy to have a murderer in her house. He noticed something on her left arm then, a scar going down it. Bucky remembered that, he did it to the young women who was trying to have dinner with her boyfriend, then he tried to kill her. Bucky stepped out of the shadows to say he was sorry for hurting her all those years ago when the women hugged him. She started saying, "Jamie, I knew you were alive! Everyone said that you were dead but I knew deep down that you were alive!" Natasha smiled, that was the first time Bucky had ever seen her smile. "As I was about to say, this is Rebecca Barnes Proctor," said Natasha. When the name was said Bucky started to remember her, he would call her Rikki. Bucky hugged her back, "Long time no see Rikki." Rebecca looked at Bucky's arm, "I know what you did and I forgive you."
1 Year Later
Rebecca died peacefully in her sleep a few months after seeing Bucky again. Evryone said that since she saw him her heart had been ready to go, knowing that he was alive. Others said that she missed her friends and loved ones. Whichever you choose to belive just remember that Rebecca Barnes lived an amazing life.
#rebecca barnes#the howling commandos#peggy carter#howard stark#tony stark#steve rogers#james buchanan barnes#natasha romanoff#the winter solider#time skip#marvel#mcu fic#mcu
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When Ashes Fall
Pairing: Reaper/female Reader
Summary: You are a combat medic working for Overwatch, when a mission goes south and you cross paths with Talon mercenary Reaper. But will he kill you on the spot or is there more to this encounter?
Rating: 18+
Tags/Warnings: rape/non-con, violence, blood, emotional manipulation, blackmail, kidnapping
Word count: 52,215 (in 5 parts)
A/N: the warnings are clear on this one. Yes, there is going to be rape/non-con, and it’s going to get explicit. I strongly advise anyone who is not into that kind of story to turn back around, because this is going to get pretty heavy and will finally be the non-con story with Reaper that I had always wanted to write.
Part 1 / 5 (part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)
***
Smoke. Dark and all encompassing, it irritated your lungs and sent you into a coughing fit while your drooping eyes were searching for...something.
What had happened? You tried to move your body but you couldn’t even feel it.
The last thing you remembered was an explosion, when you and your small Overwatch team had been scouting the area for the missing civilians, but just as you had turned to Caleb behind you to let him know that his latest joke had been even worse than the ones before, were the two of you knocked back from an explosion too close in order to get to cover in time and both of you had flown into the warehouse’s walls.
Blinking through the black smoke, you again tried to lift your right arm to wipe at your watering eyes, but when it still wouldn’t move, you let your head roll to the side to see that a long piece of jagged metal was protruding from your shoulder.
Oh.
Oh shit.
The panic at the realization of being impaled by something momentarily cleared your head enough for you to move your left arm and shakily touch the blood covered object. Why you did that you didn’t quite know yourself, maybe out of morbid curiosity or in hope of it being an illusion or a nightmare. Maybe to pull it out. But the slippery metal’s cold surface at your fingertips sent a jolt down your arm, making you inhale sharply, sending more of the smoke into your lungs, which resulted in even more coughing.
Gradually, you could feel a dull throbbing pain emitting from your right side, spreading to your arm and lungs. Apparently, what adrenaline had been coursing through your bloodstream was finally wearing off and you would be left to feel all of the abuse your body had suffered.
Shit, if you weren’t able to remove the metal from your shoulder you were surely going to bleed to death, the nanites inside your blood would not be able to heal you around that thing. And that was when you noticed that your amplifying glove had been torn to pieces, only a few shreds were still clinging to your hand. Quickly, your left-hand fingers clumsily searched your right ear for the comm device, but that must have fallen off when you had hit the wall.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Somebody would have been nearby, though? As you drew in more smoke instead of air into your lungs in preparation to call for help, you instantly regretted your decision as your wild coughing rattled your body against the metal inside your shoulder and you gritted your teeth against the pain.
Well, this wasn’t going to work either, you realized, and laid back against the debris behind you that was strewn everywhere about, pinned in place like a bug by a needle in a showcase. In the distance you could see the flickering of flames, even through the thick smoke around. Your breaths came shorter now, the pain in your shoulder was threatening to make you black out again, and you were certain you were going to die should you fall unconscious. If you didn’t bleed out, the smoke would surely suffocate you, and you weren’t keen on dying just yet. You still had to tell Caleb to shut the hell up.
Caleb. Where was he? Frantically, you looked around, but the smoke was making it almost impossible to see anything further away than a two meter radius. You hadn’t heard him either, fear gripped your heart as you imagined his lifeless body lying somewhere nearby, maybe equally impaled on a piece of the warehouse.
Closing your eyes in trepidation, you wondered what had even happened, had someone planted a bomb on your team? After the recall, Overwatch’s reputation hadn’t been the best. Most people could still remember its downfall and weren’t all too happy to see the organization being active again. You couldn’t blame them. Between the destruction of the Swiss headquarters and the revelation of Overwatch’s black ops division’s machinations, you had been reluctant to be recruited into the newly formed international team of operatives. You had been invited by one Dr. Angela Ziegler to join her in her work for the team after you had been her student for two years at her Swiss medical center. So you had accepted in hopes of keeping up your training under her.
And now here you were, broken and battered after a routine retrieval mission, with the intention to heal and not even able to help yourself. Groaning in frustration, you again gripped the metal with your left hand and tried to pull, but the thing didn’t even budge a millimeter and your strength was waning the longer you lay there. It was most definitely embedded inside something even bigger and heavier behind you, so you would have to get up in order to get rid of it and there was no way you would be able to do that in your current condition. With a shaky breath, you let your arm drop back to the dusty floor as you felt your heartbeat slowing down with the blood loss.
So that was it. Not even your fear was able to keep you conscious for much longer and your eyes closed on their own accord.
Behind your lids the darkness was sporadically interrupted by flickering firelight in the distance, creating dancing spots and the illusion of a human figure closing in.
Then between the blood rushing in your ears and the tinnitus from the explosion, you heard them: faint footsteps growing ever louder. They sounded heavy and foreboding, if such a thing was even possible. With the last of your strength, you cracked your eyes open to find that figure approaching you through the smoke, but aside from it being huge and oddly shaped, you couldn’t make out anything else. The thick smoke was still impairing your vision.
Soon the footsteps stopped and you struggled to raise your eyes at a skeletal white mask surrounded by a black hood and even more black smoke.
How odd. You must have gotten delirious with blood loss already, you mused. Because what stood in front of you resembled nothing you’d ever seen before. Or maybe you had died already, and the angel of death was here to accompany you to the realm beyond.
A weak smile flitted across your lips at your own weird thoughts.
Your eyes had drifted closed again, but reopened when you felt something cold and hard press against your forehead. The muzzle of a shotgun touched your skin, and if you were surprised then only at the choice of weapon. Death had come for you and there was no running away at this point.
You held your breath in anticipation, certain you’d soil your pants any second now and not even letting you leave this life in dignity.
The pressure of the gun increased, pushing your head back a fraction until you almost lay flat against the ruined crates and pieces of metal behind you, even shifting the piece inside your shoulder. A gasp escaped you at the pain and your eyes shot open to stare death in the face.
The figure loomed overhead, half leaning over you with his shotgun still in place, silently contemplating you.
“Any last words, mariquita?” His deep voice dripped with venom and scorn, distorted and rumbling as it was, sending a shiver through you, and you were certain it wasn’t because of the ringing in your ears either.
Breathing labored and short, you fought to keep your eyes on the figure, which grew increasingly difficult as your head had begun to spin and sent the world around you spiralling.
“Are—” You were interrupted by more coughing. Once you regained your voice, you swallowed around your dry throat and tried again. “Are you the angel of death?”
There, you were definitely delirious.
But...you had to know, even if it might have sounded silly. Nothing else had come to your mind just then. Your voice was rough and small, but you knew he must have heard regardless because he cocked his head slightly, as if he hadn’t expected the question, adjusting his grip on the shotgun. The small movement drew your eyes towards his fist and you saw that he had claws wrapped around the gun’s handle. Maybe not an angel after all.
Seconds ticked by before the figure finally moved again, he kneeled down before you, his gun had moved underneath your chin and was used to tilt your head up. With his free hand he reached for his face. His clawed fingers gripped the bottom of the mask and smoothly pulled it away, releasing a different kind of smoke from behind it.
Your eyes widened at his gesture, wildly darting between the bone in his hand and the black mass underneath that hood. He loomed even closer now, so you were able to see faint red orbs glimmering inside the swirly black mist that was his face. There was nothing else to see, only a black void with two burning embers for eyes, stealing the very last of your breath.
After staring at him for what felt like decades, his voice washed over you once more.
“Does this look like an angel to you?” He almost sounded amused, if the gravel of his voice could even deliver emotion.
Well, not like a textbook angel. But how were you supposed to know? The only thing you did know was that this... person was anything but a normal human being and that was reason alone to be wary.
You shrugged with your good shoulder. “Demon then,” You offered weakly and blinked through the fog in your brain, not entirely sure why you were having a conversation about religious entities with him in the first place. Probably to distract him and prolong your life.
The creature chuckled mirthlessly as he put the mask back in place, its empty eye-sockets staring at you lifelessly again. The shotgun at your chin forced your head to stay in its position and was starting to dig into your skin painfully, there was no strength left in you to keep it upright on your own.
“Does it matter when I’m about to take your life?” Came the dark question from above and you frowned at the wording, how did one take someone else’s life? Your lightheadedness made it very hard to concentrate at the moment, so when you wanted to speak again it came out slurred.
“Guess it doesn’t…” You trailed off and wondered why the creature even indulged you with all this small talk.
The movement of him tightening the grip on his weapon to aim upwards at your brain sent a shiver through you, certain that this was your final moment. With it, you felt a rush of adrenaline hit you. Reflexively and in a last ditch effort you actually managed to raise both your arms, ignoring the exploding pain in your shoulder and gripped the gun to move it away from your head. Unfortunately, you might as well had tried to move a brick wall for all the good it did you, a faint cry of pain and frustration escaped you at the realization that you could literally do nothing. Still, your hands kept their feeble grip at the shotgun, your right one already slipping with the blood on it.
The cloaked figure didn’t even seem phased by this act of resistance, he merely knelt in his spot, his strong arm unmoving at your pathetic attempt at throwing him off. Then again, how were you supposed to tell what he felt at all with that mask to hide his features from view.
Whimpering, you wanted to hate yourself for even trying, and probably amusing the asshole, but deep down you were a fighter and hadn’t you suffered the blood loss and probably a concussion, you would have fought him tooth and nail instead of laying there to take his death blow like a rabbit with its foot caught in a snare.
Your whole body shook as your muscles tried to keep up their position, but it became harder second after second, reminding you that it much preferred to black out any time now. But you couldn’t let that happen.
With an annoyed grunt, the figure removed your hands off of his gun, but then stilled as he held your right wrist tightly, observing your ruined amplifying glove underneath the blood coating your entire arm.
Suddenly his head snapped back to look at you and you felt the hair at the back of your neck stand on end.
“You are a healer,” He stated matter-of-factly before dropping your hand like a hot potato. You could have sworn there was a hint of disappointment in his statement, but you had no time to dwell on it before your head dropped when he removed his gun from underneath your chin.
Then the world spun around you wildly again as you were being lifted off the ground none too gently, the giant metallic piece of debris slid out of your wound with a sickening sound and made you see stars before you finally blacked out with the pain of the forceful extraction.
White, blinding light shone overhead as you slowly blinked your eyes open. You turned your head away from the garish, headache-inducing annoyance to get a bearing of your surroundings. Everything was just so bright. The walls, the floor, not even your hand could shield you from it as it came upward to protect your eyes.
Finally, you were able to make out details about the room you were in. Aside from the spare decor and white paint job, you could see a heart monitor standing next to you, the fine blue line dutifully displaying a heart rate. Movement caught your eye and you saw a small drone hovering above your body, apparently scanning your vitals. So, a hospital then?
That’s when your memories came rushing back; the mission in the warehouse, the explosion and the “angel of death” about to off you. Your pulse quickened as you looked down on your body, the piece of metal was gone, thankfully, the wound covered with a patch that should not have fit had you not healed as quickly as you knew you would after it had been removed, allowing the nanites to finally do their work to patch you up.
Still, the wound must have been massive and the size of the patch suggested it was at most a few inches long. That meant you had been out of it for at least a day or two. That was pretty normal, given the circumstances.
With a sigh you lay back down, left arm covering your face while you let the relief of being alive and well wash over you. That whole ordeal had been pretty nightmarish.
“Finally awake, I see,” A smooth feminine voice sounded from your left and in the haste to remove your arm, you almost knocked the small monitoring drone to the floor.
A tall, red headed woman approached your bed, her features pointed and regal, the white lab coat she was wearing indicated that she was a part of the hospital’s medical staff. Without waiting for a reply she went on.
“How are you feeling?” She didn’t even look at you as she grabbed a holopad from the bedside table, her long fingers tapping away at it. After the disuse of your vocal chords, you had to clear your throat before answering.
“I, um...I’m feeling okay I guess?” You waited a beat. “Where am I?”
Finally, her gaze turned to yours and you could see that one eye had a different color to the other.
“The nanite technology inside your blood made sure you’d survive,” She ignored your question, then grasped the holopad in both hands as she stood beside you. “I must say, it looks eerily familiar to me,” She pressed a button on the pad and the small drone hovered over to settle in her outstretched palm. It was turned off and put aside carefully.
“It seems Dr. Ziegler has finally managed to reach her goal of incorporating our technology into someone’s body,” The woman said with a sharp smile.
Their technology? You hadn’t been aware that Dr. Ziegler had worked on the nanites with somebody else outside of Overwatch or her Swiss based medical facility. And had this woman been there, you would have known of her, or at least her name.
“Excuse me,” You tried a tentative smile. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite catch your name.” There was no name tag on her coat, only a small logo which you swore you had seen before but somehow couldn’t make the connection to just yet. Stupid concussion making your sight blurry and your memory fuzzy.
“Dr. O’Deorain,” She said curtly and already turned away again to the other side of the room where more equipment was stored.
O’Deorain...as much as you tried to find a connection to something, the name didn’t ring any bells. But apparently she was a doctor, so maybe she had worked with Dr. Ziegler together after all.
“Do you know Dr. Ziegler?”
From where you lay you could see a rueful smile flitting briefly over her thin lips.
“I knew her, yes. We worked together for a short period of time.”
Interesting.
“But we soon discovered that besides our common goal in advancing human genetics, I was the one who was willing to go beyond the...pesky ethical ramifications our project was bringing up.”
That sounded concerning.
“I knew she was going to keep her work up on it though, just as I have,” She concluded and brought with her a small object to your bedside. It was a small test-tube filled with blood. It was probably safe to assume that it was yours.
“You must be one of her test subjects then,” She said offhandedly, swirling the blood inside the small container. Frowning, you adjusted your position on the bed.
“I am her student, actually,” You corrected her, which earned you a raised eyebrow. You were starting to dislike this woman. “I was gifted the nanites as part of my education. And I was trained to use them on and off the battlefield.”
This seemed to pique her interest, a small hum was your answer as she seemed to be deep in thought at your statement.
“Explain how you use them,” Her voice had taken on a breathy quality and it made you a little uncomfortable, though you weren’t sure why. Her sudden focus and undivided attention were unsettling in their intensity.
A sudden need to look away overcame you, but the strange urge to prove yourself kept your gaze locked with hers.
“The nanites can heal me, obviously. But I usually wear a glove with amplifying abilities, it enables me to focus the healing through my blood into my skin and then into a beam which I can direct towards others as well,” You explained, showing your right hand in lieu of the glove. All the while the doctor was watching with rapt attention.
“I see,” She mumbled, her index finger tapped her bottom lip pensively. “So does that mean you can still heal others through touch without that glove?”
You hesitated.
“Yes.”
Somehow you got the distinct feeling that you were telling her too much. So far, you hadn’t been given any real information about your condition or your whereabouts. Weren’t those the kind of things you would normally be told immediately after waking? The fact that the doctor had ignored your previous inquiry was alarming, to say the least. Nervously, you wondered if you should try and ask again, even though you guessed there wouldn’t be an answer.
“Where am I?” You managed to ask in a steady voice as you searched Dr. O’Deorain’s gaze once more. She had moved further away from you, her white lab coat billowed behind her lithe frame as she came to a stop to gently put the blood filled test-tube inside an apparatus. With the push of a button the machine began to hum quietly. Once she was done, she finally addressed you.
“This is part of my laboratory. I’d appreciate it if you refrained from touching anything. Somebody will come to escort you shortly,” Was all she offered before briskly turning around and leaving the room.
What a shit explanation was that? Her laboratory? You shivered. The things you had learned about her in the few sentences you two had exchanged were enough to make you uneasy. Whoever considered ethics to be pesky was to be feared.
Immediately, you decided that you had to leave this place, wherever it was.
You waited a few heartbeats after the doctor had left you in the laboratory and got up from the hospital bed. You were filled with dread and unease; something was definitely wrong here and you didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out what it was. So you crept to the exit cautiously and passed the machine Dr. O’Deorain had put on, its low hum getting louder the closer you got. As you lay your hand on the door handle, your heart contracted with fear of it being locked, but you were able to open it. Relief washed over you. Maybe you were fretting for nothing?
A light breeze coming through the crack reminded you that you wore a flimsy hospital gown instead of your regular clothes and you were momentarily unsure if you could proceed like that. At least it was closed front and back, so it wasn’t revealing much. Still, it would have been wise to find real clothing sooner rather than later.
You peeked outside into a narrow corridor, only partially lit so the very end was cast in shadow. There was nowhere else to go though, so you stepped outside carefully. Creeping along the wall, you neared the end of the dark corridor which turned into a left turn, and you stopped to check what was beyond it.
It was a gorgeous lounge, dim lights along the walls gave off a chill-out vibe, their orange glow illuminated several loveseats grouped together in a corner and a comfortable looking chaise-longue in dark purple tones topped off with polished wood. Your bare foot landed on the plush carpet, your toes wiggled in the tuft experimentally.
Whatever you had expected to see, it wasn’t this. What kind of lab had such exquisite waiting rooms? Or whatever this was.
It was definitely not a hospital, that much was clear.
Off to the side was a set of big double doors, made from mahogany by the looks of it. You certainly didn’t want to find out what was behind those, but luckily there was an elevator to your far right, the colors were held in similar tones to the rest of the room, but the buttons gave away that it was indeed an elevator.
Quickly, you pressed the up button, because so far you hadn’t seen any windows whatsoever, and that could only mean you were below ground.
A pleasant confirmation tone chimed quietly, and you had to look around once more to make sure no one was coming. Hopefully, there would be no one in the elevator either. Maybe you should hide behind one of the loveseats just in case?
But before you could make a move, the door to the elevator slid open noiselessly, startling you with the bright light coming from inside. Well, if anyone had actually been in there, they would have seen you by now.
Thankfully though it was empty and you stepped inside quickly, looking for another set of buttons only to find—nothing.
Staring at the metal and glass walls, you felt a slight panic rising. Why were there no buttons? Was it maybe voice controlled? You opened your mouth to demand to be taken to ground level, but already the doors were closing and you felt it moving upwards.
Well, this was where you wanted to go anyway, so that was good, right? Your hands shook slightly with worry, you hoped to just get out of here and back to Overwatch base.
You turned around and looked at yourself in the floor length mirror. Hair unkempt, pallid complexion and an ugly hospital gown completed your asylum inmate look, etching that frown on your face even deeper. You could have gone without knowing what you looked like right now. Smoothing your hair down a little with your shaky hands, you pulled at the skin of your face, wondering if you had been actually out for longer than you had originally thought. It was a possibility that only fed your unease.
Suddenly, the elevator came to a stop, the pleasant confirmation sound ringing in your ears ominously. This was it, wherever this elevator had taken you, there was no escape now. Heartbeat in your throat, hands tingly, you flattened yourself against the wall and cast fearful eyes at the exit.
The door slid open once more, and a man stood before you.
Instead of running or attacking him, you just stood there, paralyzed. The man was slowly looking up from a holopad in his hands, his expression mildly surprised when he finally saw you. He took in your disheveled appearance and then your hospital gown.
“What are you—?”
But before he could finish his sentence, you sprinted forward and past him, knocking him to the side before he could even react.
“Hey!” He shouted after you, but you were not going to stop, your bare feet slapped against the ground loudly as you made a mad dash for the nearest door. You could hear the man behind you, trying to catch up and your fight or flight kicked in, keeping you on your feet until you reached the next door after turning left in a long hallway with white marble flooring.
With burning lungs and muscles, you made it to the door, almost knocking into it, only to realize that there was no handle to it, you searched the wood with your hands for any hints of a button or scanner, but there was nothing. Pushing didn’t yield any results either.
“Shit,” You cursed and turned around to go and find another door nearby, but already the man who had followed you rounded the corner and jogged up to you, clearly out of breath. Pressing your back against the door behind you, you watched in trepidation as he came closer, annoyance clearly written all over his face.
“For fucks sake,” He cursed, still trying to catch his breath. When he had finally reached you, he scowled. “Couldn’t you have waited for me to get you? Why all the fucking running?”
“Who are you and what is this place?” You were done being left in the dark, you were due some answers.
“What?” It was like he only now actually took a good look at you, his posture finally changed from hunched over to upright. “Shit, you’re not even supposed to be here,” He huffed in annoyance and cast a nervous glance around. “Come on, I’m already behind schedule,” He gestured for you to follow him, but you stood firm, your back still pressed against the wooden door behind you.
“No way, just answer my questions already,” Your voice was firm and you wouldn’t budge before he told you.
The man closed his eyes as if to keep himself from lashing out, the holopad was still in his right hand and when he looked at you again, you could see him clenching his jaw.
“Just come along and you will get your damn answers.”
“No.”
“Goddamn—” He raised his hands above his head in exasperation, then muttered something to himself while he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Alright, missy. You asked for it,” He said, and started advancing towards you. Immediately, you took on a fighting stance with your back against the door, let him come at you, he would pick up his teeth off the shiny marble floor by the end of it.
When he was in hitting distance, you ducked and swung for his abdomen, only to lose your balance as the door behind you suddenly swung inwards and you fell backwards on your ass into another room.
Ouch, that hurt. You rubbed your left hip and looked upward to see somebody’s legs. Then they bent forward and you could see their face. It was a tall, dark skinned man with broad shoulders and a scowl on his face. His sheer intensity had you paralyzed once again.
Wordlessly, his gaze lifted from you to your attacker, who stared back at him in horror.
“Sir, I can explain—”
“We will talk later, Warren,” His low voice carried a not so hidden promise of unpleasant things to come for Warren, the latter nodded jerkily and closed the door behind him, trapping you inside.
You were still lying on the floor at the man’s feet, but you tried to find purchase with your good arm to try and turn around. As you struggled to get back onto your feet, you watched the man warily, he made no move to help or give you space, and as you finally managed to stand upright, he was still in front of you. Right between you and the solid wood door. From where you had lain he had looked imposing and tall, and even standing you had to tilt your head backwards to look him in the eyes. He was handsome with a strong jaw, a wide nose and dark intelligent eyes, and he was pinning you in place with just his gaze. Those eyes roamed over you from head to toe, lingering just a little longer on your right arm.
Self-consciously, you gripped your hurt arm with your left hand and averted your gaze. While he was dressed casually, but still impeccably, you only wore this potato sack of a gown, with nothing underneath and you felt your cheeks grow hot.
Silence stretched between you, and you wondered what to do.
“In a hurry?” He asked out of the blue, rolling the “r” in an accent, drawing your eyes back to his face.
“I, uh...nobody will tell me where I am,” You finally found your voice, even if it sounded smaller than usual.
The man made a non-committal sound and cocked his head.
“That must be troubling for you,” He observed and you weren’t sure if his tone was condescending or not.
“Yeah. So...where am I?” Goddamnit, somebody just tell you already. With a small smirk, the man turned away from you and you were ready to finally lose your shit for not getting an answer again. But then you saw that he had simply moved out of the way so you could see the big logo on the opposite wall. It was a stylized “T”, just like the one on Dr. O’Deorain’s lab coat.
And that’s when you remembered. Goosebumps rose on your flesh at the realization that these people were Talon.
“Ah,” The man’s smirk widened. “I see you recognize it now.” He said and walked over to a large table where he pulled out a fancy chair and beckoned for you to sit. Stricken with fear of being in some kind of Talon base, you wondered if it was possible to refuse. But so far, the man had been polite and maybe if you got through this you would be allowed to leave? Wishful thinking was all you had left right now. Taking a deep breath, you moved forward tentatively and took the offered seat. The man lingered behind you for just a second, making your skin prickle with the faint smell of his cologne, but then he moved away to sit in a chair across from you, putting distance between you again.
Then he gave you the silent treatment once more, your nerves felt raw with anxiety and you were uncertain about what to do. Looking at the man was difficult, he exuded such an intense aura it was hard to directly look him in the eyes but also impossible to avert your gaze. Instead, you decided to fix a point behind his shoulder so you wouldn’t miss anything he was doing.
“How terribly rude of me to leave you in the dark for so long,” He offered with a grin that revealed pearly white teeth. “I am Akande Ogundimu.” Although he made it sound formal, his introduction didn’t include a handshake. You idly wondered if it was for the best, seeing as his hands were bigger than your head and one was gleaming in a metallic way that suggested it was a cybernetic one. The image of him simply grabbing you and flinging you around like a ragdoll came unbidden, and so you shifted in your seat uncomfortably.
“Maybe you have heard of me by my title: the Successor.”
You had heard that title before.
“Doomfist,” You said automatically, his head inclined in confirmation and something akin to pride.
Well, shit. Not only were you in this Talon base, you were sitting directly in front of one of its leaders. A man with such delusions of grandeur surely thought a small fry such as yourself should be honored to meet him in person. Maybe it would be best to play along with whatever this was.
You told him your name in turn, and with a deep breath you asked the biggest question inside you.
“Why am I here?” But really, the question should have been “Why am I still alive?”
“We saved you,” He simply said, his eyes slightly squinting at you while he brushed his palm over the dark wooden table absentmindedly. Your eyes were drawn to the movement, it was his metal hand and you swallowed. Obviously, that was enough of an explanation to him, because he was looking at you expectantly.
“Was it you who detonated that bomb?”
It was a bold question, but you got the feeling that Ogundimu was a proud man, and he would gladly take claim for his actions. And just as you expected, his face lit up again, not needing to confirm or deny what you asked.
“What happened to my team?”
“You were the only one we were able to retrieve.”
Your heart sank at his words. Were they dead, or had they been able to get out before Talon had swept in to finish the job?
“Why did you attack us?”
And with that Ogundimu’s mouth twisted in a frown.
“Not everything is about Overwatch,” He rumbled.
“Then you were after the civilians,” Your voice rose in accusation, unbelieving how someone could want these people dead.
“Oh, I see,” He smiled again, patronizingly. “This is how Overwatch operates. By leaving its agents oblivious to certain facts.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Those ‘civilians’ were former Talon agents,” Ogundimu revealed and suddenly you felt like a fool. Why hadn’t Winston told you about the real reason you were retrieving those people? You and your team could be trusted, it was vital information after all.
Could it be he was lying? Somehow you doubted that.
“We couldn’t let them go and join the very organization that is trying to destroy us.” No, of course not. From his point of view, it sounded reasonable. “You were simply in the way, I’m afraid. Although it was a little like two birds with one stone.”
Anger rose inside of you. Although you weren’t sure that your team was dead, you were enraged at his careless remark, like any of you were expendable in this greater scheme of his.
You remembered lying on the dusty concrete floor of the destroyed warehouse, the giant piece of metal in your shoulder and you absentmindedly touched your healing wound while your eyes burned at the memory of the sheer fear and hopelessness you had felt. The uncertainty of your team’s fate.
“So...you saved me,” You uttered under your breath, not trusting the knot in your throat to let you speak normally. “After trying to kill me.” Raising your eyes to stare at him, you swallowed any fear you felt. “Why?”
Ogundimu regarded you cooly, his cybernetic fingers traced small patterns on the table.
“Those agents who tried to leave us, they were part of the medical staff. I believe you already met Dr. O’Deorain.” His eyes shifted to the hospital gown you were wearing, like he knew it belonged to the doctor. You couldn’t help but feel his eyes on you physically, even though it was silly, but you still crossed your arms in front of your chest—out of defiance of course.
“I have.”
“Good. She agreed to take you in as a new student and helper in the lab.”
You gaped at the man in utter shock.
“What?” This couldn’t be happening. Your worst fear was coming true, Talon had kidnapped you to work for them. And there was no way for you to refuse if you wanted to keep breathing.
“Of course you’re not going to work for free. You will be given quarters, food and clothing, as well as a monthly salary.” Suddenly he was all businessman. “What do you say?”
You wanted to scream at him to shove his ‘job’ up his ass, but thought better of it.
“I’ll never work for a terrorist organization,” You ground out instead, watching the corners of his mouth curl slightly.
“Funny. I was under the impression you were already working for one.”
You flinched.
Was he referring to Overwatch? Did he really call them terrorists?
“Overwatch is fighting terrorists.” Nobody could tell you otherwise, you knew this to be the truth.
“Hm, maybe you’d like to ask someone intimately acquainted with Overwatch’s affairs then.” There was a pleased smugness on his face, as he gracefully rose and moved to a big window on the other side of the room. Your eyes followed him, his steps were long and deliberate, but quiet. Like those of a dancer, or a fighter.
“Like who?” There was no one outside of Overwatch with that kind of information. Everyone involved from the old days was either part of the team again, or dead. He couldn’t be talking about Blackwatch either, it was publically known what the black ops division had been doing, and while it had been dubious things, it was wrong to call it terrorism. Those days were over, anyways.
You watched as he half turned to you, still facing the window that overlooked a cityscape you didn’t recognize.
“A ghost,” He said, his eyes lit up from the light streaming in.
You blinked, but said nothing.
“Sometimes, the people we believe to be dead simply want that,” He said as he finally turned away from the window, instead moving towards you. “To be assumed dead, to be free, or to be somebody else.” As he was closing in, he moved beyond where you sat and came to stand right behind you. You became acutely aware of his presence and your hands clutched the material of the hospital gown as you felt him shift. Next, his voice came directly from your right side into your ear, making you move away a little. “I believe you know him as the Angel of Death.”
And even before it clicked for you, Ogundimu moved away to laugh heartily. Irritated, you turned around and watched him hold his belly as he moved over to a counter to pour himself a drink.
“He calls himself a lot of things,” He said after recovering a little from his laughing fit. “But certainly not an angel.” Then he drank the contents in one go, making you wonder what kind of person could jug a tall glass of liquor. Terrorist maniacs probably. Or maybe it was just water, who knew.
So the encounter with the masked man had not been a figment of your imagination after all.
You shivered at the memory. This was getting worse by the minute.
“I don’t care what he has to say. I’m not going to work for you,” You ground out, not liking the way Ogundimu was laughing at you. That immediately sobered him up, putting down his glass he filled it again. Then, when it was full once more, he walked over to you and set it down in front of you.
“I’m afraid I have to insist,” He murmured and looked at you expectantly.
You ignored the glass, instead raised a challenging look at him.
“No.”
He sighed.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
You felt your heart in your throat while your mind provided a lot of images for the things he could do to make you accept. Or to dispose of you. Whichever he deemed the best course of action, you guessed.
“I have to confess that I wasn’t entirely honest with you before.” Nothing in his demeanor had changed, which was somehow even more alarming than if he had screamed and attacked you. Again he moved away, this time to a big holo screen projector on the wall, a small display popped up when he was near and his fingers deftly tapped at the bright interface. The holo screen lit up and right then you could see a man whom you instantly knew to be Caleb, from an above angle, most likely from a security camera feed. He was sitting hunched in a corner of a nondescript room, a small cot next to him. It looked like he was in a cell. Which was probably exactly where he was.
Fuck.
They had Caleb.
You closed your eyes in exasperation, how were you to refuse him now? They would surely do unspeakable things to your teammate if you remained uncooperative. These fucking bastards.
But amidst your horror of knowing that Caleb was kept in this cell, you were relieved that he was not dead after all.
“I see,” You said quietly, Ogundimu regarded you with a grave expression while you tried to find the words. “Should have known you’d fight dirty.”
The man smiled. “You don’t want to actually see me fight dirty.”
You just stared at the screen, a hollow pit inside your stomach.
“So if I don’t help you, he will suffer,” You said and finally tore your eyes away from your captured teammate to look at Ogundimu again. “How do I know you won’t do it anyway?”
Dark eyes squinted at you, then he moved right in front of you in two strides.
“I give you my word.”
You wanted to scoff. To laugh him in the face for that blatant lie. To tell him that you had no use for obvious empty promises. But all you could do was to look in his eyes to try and gauge his sincerity, letting long seconds tick by.
Really though, this wasn’t even a real choice. Believe him or not, you had to accept for Caleb’s sake, no matter if Ogundimu was telling you the truth about their treatment of your teammate.
Ex-teammate.
You sighed. Then you looked away and gave a curt nod.
“Excellent,” The man said and extended his cybernetic hand toward you. You couldn’t help but eye it suspiciously, but you clenched your jaw and shook it, once. The metal of it was cold and unyielding, but he didn’t grip you particularly hard. When you wanted to remove your hand again though, he suddenly pulled you out of the chair and toward him. You stumbled, but he caught you with his flesh hand on your hip to steady you.
He was so close you could feel his body warmth through your thin cotton gown, his grip on you firm but gentle. Then he spoke again with a half-smile, almost too close for comfort.
“I am looking forward to working with you.”
You shivered violently, but before you could pull away he was already releasing you again, and you took an automatic step backwards.
“For now, please refrain from wandering the facilities on your own. Warren was tasked to keep an eye on you, but he is obviously not fit for the job. So I’ll have to assign somebody new.”
You didn’t like where this was going.
“I do think I have the right candidate, though.” Again he tapped on a holo display at the wall, a small chuckle shaking his frame. “She will be thrilled.” This last sentence dripped with sarcasm, but you were too preoccupied with the realization that Talon practically owned your ass now, to care.
“She will tell you all you need to know.” He gave you one last long look. “Welcome to Talon.”
You felt sick to your stomach, no words found their way to you, and you opted to stay silent in the face of despair. Instead, you kept that frown on your face to speak for itself.
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