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arctimon · 3 years

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The Beta Team That Never Was - Fanfiction Corner (BH6 Edition)

So all of this Peni Parker comic talk actually got me thinking about the process of her being included in my fanfiction.

I wish I could tell you it was a long and arduous process, but...

OK, maybe some of it was hard. But when you have a virtually endless supply of Marvel characters that you can use for possible teammates for Big Hero 6, you have to go with your gut.

We all know that the team will be Robbie, Aspen, Peni, Doreen (eventually), and Kate. But there were six other candidates that could have been in the mix as well.

And five of them have their emblems here:

These were made before I actually knew how to make hero emblems properly.

Some of them you might recognize. Some you may not. But we’re going to go through them all, from left to right.

And to start...it’s really hard to draw tiny hearts.

1.) Riri Williams/Ironheart - Ironically enough, it was around the time that Hiro started chasing Sirque around the town in “Portal Enemy” that I started brainstorming her. A teenage genius, stuck as to what to make, sees “Captain Cutie” and the chase on the news and gets brainstorming.

Thus, the Power Armor is born.

And she gets so excited that she bolts off to San Fransokyo to show her idol what she’s created.

And then, as per the Big Hero 6 Fanfiction Clause states...shenanigans ensue.

It was an interesting possibility, but the thought of Ironheart was really late into me doing the backstories of the people that I had chosen, so she was pushed aside. I don’t personally see me revisiting her in the future, but who knows?

2.) Nadia Van Dyne/The Wasp - Back when Karmi had first been pulled out of SFIT, there was a young woman who wanted to recruit her into a special organization. It was one that brought together the greatest female minds in their fields, and Karmi was on said recruitment list.

The organization?

Genius In action Research Labs, or G.I.R.L. for short. And it was led by the Wasp’s daughter, Nadia Pym (later changed to Nadia Van Dyne).

Plot-wise, this was probably the person that I got the farthest with, since the story would’ve been more of a focus on Karmi than anyone else. Also, the idea of writing someone with Bipolar Disorder (which Nadia was confirmed to have in her latest solo run) was intriguing if nothing else.

Unfortunately, it sort of dried up from there. A lack of a central conflict, uncertainty as to how many of the other girls (Taina, Priya, Shay, and Ying) to have, and how to handle her actual powers stopped it cold.

But seriously, how do you write in the ability to shrink to microscopic size? That’s not really a thing, even in a world as futuristic as San Fransokyo.

3.) America Chavez/Ms. America - The mere idea of a Superman-esque Latina teenager was enticing, especially because America, in her relatively short comic history, was with the Ultimates and the West Coast Avengers (meaning there was a possible Kate/Hawkeye angle). Making start-shaped portals was the Silent Sparrow angle, and the all-around badass, headstrong attitude would be the counter to Honey Lemon’s more nurturing personality.

But being from an alternate universe (which has very recently been retconned in the comics in part because she will be appearing in the MCU and Doctor Strange 2), no real villain to play off of, and becoming possibly way too overpowered for the BH6 universe, she was scrapped.

It’s quite a shame. I really like her in the comics that she’s in. Perhaps there will be an opportunity for her somewhere down the line...

4.) Alison Blaire/Dazzler - A pop star with light-based powers?

Or better yet, a struggling artist with acoustikinesis?

Her power to convert sound into light was what originally drew me to her. Something that could be made into a technological ability, unique enough to put a (pardon the pun) spotlight on it.

An actual blonde instead of whatever HL’s hair color is.

Heck, she even has a half-sister named Lois that could have been the antagonist (death tough, destruction waves, and the like).

But she quickly got lost in the fold. Better ideas (like Kate and Doreen) got more of my brainstorming, and she was eventually given up on.

But funnily enough...

It’s almost like she’s already in the show.

(See, for the people who may be new, one of the many Marvel theories that I’ve touched upon is that High Voltage is actually this universe’s version of Dazzler. Juniper is Alison and Barb is...well...Barbara London, Alison’s mom).

Hey, @baymaksu totally agrees with me kinda sort of.

5.) Cindy Moon/Silk - I knew right from the get-go that I wanted a Spider-person on the beta team. I also knew that I didn’t want Peter.

No offense to Peter Parker. He’s fine. But there’s a billion other Spiders out there, and I wanted someone out of the normal vein of Peter, as well as even Miles and Gwen.

And in came Cindy.

Locked away in The Bunker because of her spider powers manifesting, she was eventually released by Peter and thus began her entrance into the main Marvel world.

Her “unique ability” is her improved Spider-Sense, which Peter has said is even better than his own. That, plus her other powers, brought her the closest out of anyone to being a member of the Big Hero 6 Beta Team.

As we all know, however, Peni ended up getting the spot over Cindy (for the family angle with Hiro and the giant robot that she pilots). On the other hand, Cindy would later make her debut in the stinger of the last chapter of Along Came The S.P.I.D.E.R., along with Miles, Anya, and Joey.

Unlike Riri, Nadia, America, and Alison, Cindy and the rest of Peni’s little Spider Society are going to be showing up in future stories. And if I can get everything in order, they will be starring in their own story set in the Big Hero 6 universe.

Finally, I have no emblem for them, but the honorable mention goes to...

6.) Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Yes, there was a point in time where I was seriously considering putting a nine-year-old super genius and a giant red T-rex into my stories.

Ignoring the giant...”red flag” here, the reason why Luna never made it is the same reason why I haven’t put Rishi in anything yet. It’s because I don’t really know what to do with supergeniuses that young. Hiro is at least a teenager and thus has teenager-y problems to fall back on (like puberty and Karmi and all that jazz), but a nine-year-old? That’s a little too extreme for me.

When I was nine, I was busy playing with sticks in my backyard with my brother, not solving unsolvable puzzles from Bruce Banner.

...All that, and the giant dinosaur.

But hey, at least Disney is jumping on the MG/DD train. That’s good to see.

Crossover potential, perhaps?

P.S. - As I was finishing putting this post together, it occurred to me that I may get this possible question in the comments, so I’m going to head it off at the pass.

“You know that all of your possible superheroes are girls, right?”

First of all...sexist.

Second of all...true.

That was about 90% on accident. The actual team (Robbie, Aspen, Peni, Doreen, and Kate) has only one guy on it (two if you count Eli, three if you count Tippy-Toe).

I don’t really have a good explanation for that. I like all superheroes, but I think that the girl and woman superheroes need some spotlight, you know? I could have pulled people like Namor or Miles or the male Hawkeye into the mix, but to be honest, I find the characters I chose more interesting than a lot of the guy characters I was contemplating.

Of course, nothing is stopping any of you from using those characters in your stories. Be my guest, not that you really need my permission or anything.

But you can’t take Aspen. Aspen is mine. (Spoiler: Aspen is not mine.)

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picturejasper20 · 3 years

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Debunking common misconceptions about the Ben 10 Reboot.

A mutual of mine asked me if could write a post debuking common critiques people have of the Ben 10 Reboot. Some of these critiques are based of misconceptions and misinformation about the show while others are more subjective, meaning there are a matter of personal opinions.

I’m going to divide this post in different sections. In each section i’m going to try debunking a misconception and explain why i think this isn’t correct. If anyone wants to give their opinion on the subject, feel free to reblog the post or leave a comment.

I’m going to add a ¨Read More¨ since it’s going to be a long post.

1) ¨The reboot only has fart jokes as humor¨

I’m not sure from where people got this idea that the only type of humor the Reboot has are toilet and fart jokes. Does it has some jokes that are based on this? Yes! But Reboot’s humor has more variety than that.

Many of the jokes come from the characters´ reactions to certain events, how silly some situations are and from the dialogue. For example: Episodes focused on Xingo as the antagonist have tons of slaptick and old cartoon humor.

Since the series doesn’t take itself too seriously, it uses this to its advantage to make fun of tropes, franchises and popular culture. It also has many references to current trends such as youtube and social media, things that the new generation is more familiar with.

If these jokes land or not is up to debate but to say the Reboot only has fart jokes is a bit of a stretch.

2) ¨The Reboot has no plot or worldbuliding¨

This is one of the weirdest arguments for me because if you watch the show you’ll know this isn’t the case. The show has a main arc as well as some subplots.

I think people get this idea due to how the show is mainly episodic in season 1 unlike the rest of the seasons. The thing is that even season 1 has continuity that is quite important if you want to understand the rest of the series. It introduces villains as well as secondary characters that become important in future episodes. It also has tons of character development for the main protagonists, so, skipping this season would mean missing out their character growth.

By the end of season 1, Ben gets a new Alien called Gax which is the same species as the original Vilgax. It turns out this alien was half of Vilgax’s original power and Vilgax was trying to get it back. The finale is has interesting surprises and plot twists that change the status quo of the series in some ways.

In season 2 is mainly about Vilgax teaming up with other villains to steal the Omnitrix from Ben. These episodes are quite entertaining and help to develop the main characters. What’s more is that Ben gets a new alien called Shock rock and isn’t able to transform into Upgrade, which becomes important in the season finale.

I could talk about Kevin’s character arc, Charmcaster, Glitch, the Forever Knight’s arc, Animo subplot and tons of other stuff. My point is that saying that ¨the Reboot has not plot¨ would be a huge misconception about the show. It would make more sense if someone complained about how its episodic structure hurts and distracts from the main story arc and it would have helped the series to not have so many episodes centered around the characters going on random adventures.

3) ¨Shock Rock is a cheap copy of Ghostfreak¨

When i first heard about this complain it suprised me a bit. Look, i get why a person could think that "Shock Rock is just Reboot's Ghostfreak" since they share similar stories.

However there are a few differences between the two:

Ghostfreak was possesed by an evil entity, Zs'Skayr, who later escaped from the Omnitrix and did terrible things. This was so horryfing for Ben that for a long time he didn't turn into ghostfreak out of fear of their conection with Zs'Skayr.

In the original series it wasn't really explained how Zs'Skayr got inside the Omnitrix and for how long he was concious about being trapped.

Shock Rock was introduced as a result of a terrible glitch caused by the Omnitrix being rebooted. They replaced Upgrade's DNA pod and allowed Ben to give the aliens stronger versions of themselves.

Shock Rock isn't completely evil and never really tries to escape from the Omnitrix. All that they did was to build that tower to send a signal to the Fulmini. Once the protagonists reboot the Omnitrix again, Ben was able to transform into Shock Rock without any problem.

Both aliens are a bit similar but on a deeper analysis they have different execution in their respective series.

4) "Glitch is a copy of Ship".

This is one i get why people complain about it. Glitch and Ship have many parallels in common. (Both being mechamorphs, they are both sidekicks)

The main difference is that Ship acts like a pet and is able to transform into many electronic devices. On the other hand, Glitch lives inside the kart and can't transform in the same way that Ship does. (However he can in the future, years after developing his powers).

Their backstories and origins differ. Ship was born from a mechamorph that needed help after he crashed his own ship. Glitch was the result of Ben using Upgrade to reboot the Omnitrix in the season 1 finale which forced Upgrade to fuse with Ben's DNA to survive.

Another point i want to add (based on speculation) is that Glitch resembling is Ship seems to be very intentional. I think the creators wanted to Ship to appear again in the Reboot. So they decided to create Glitch.

Keep in mind that the Reboot makes tons of references to the original series and its sequels. It wouldn't be suprising if Glitch is a reference to Ship.

5) "Max is not clever/ is dumb"

I don't really got the impression of reboot Max being "dumbed down". He is one of the characters that acts almost exactly as he does in the original series.

I think this complain come from Max being less serious in this series: He isn't so strict with the kids and gives them more freedom to do what they want. He is also more open minded and has less "black and white" mentality that he had in the original series.

He is still almost the same character, just more easy going and down to earth in comparison. He still acts as a guide for Ben and Gwen. He still has a few arguments with Ben for not listening to him in some episodes.

@theangrycomet made a post a few weeks back about Reboot Max. I think people should check their post because they explain many things that i mention here in more detail.

Here is a link to their post: X

6) "They cancelled Omniverse because of the reboot"

This one is a somewhat old argument. Again, i don't know where people got this idea that reboot was the main reason they cancelled Omniverse.

I have been trying to find an article that could explain the reason behind its cancellation. All i was able to find were fans talking about how it ended because of the low number of toys getting sold. Nothing about the reboot.

It could one of the things lead to Omniverse being cancelled but not the only main factor.

If anyone has more information about this feel free to leave a link in the comment section or by reblog.

7) "Ben is out of character in the reboot"

This something i don't really get at all. Reboot Ben behaves pretty much the same way he does in the OS. He is still cocky, stubborn, competitive, impacient and gets into a trouble.

Is it because he appears to be nicer in this series? If it is because of that then i personally like this change. I found Ben to be more likable in this version. As well as capable of regretting his actions and learning his lessons.

Reboot Ben is a complex character. It has so much development that i would find it difficult for me to sum it up in just one post.

I think fans get this impression since they are more used to Alien Force Ben than OS Ben. That's why they believe Reboot Ben is acting OOC when in reality is he isn't much different from the OS Ben.

If anyone has a better explanation, please leave it in the comments section/reblog.

-----

Okay, those are the most common misconceptions i found after talking with some mutuals. While a few things are a matter of doing fact checking, others are based on my perspective on the series.

Keep in mind that i don't think the Reboot is perfect by any means. It has its issues like slow pacing in the first season or characters that are annoying.

However, if someone wants to give a serious critique, they should try doing a bit of research and fact-check to see if their points are valid. Otherwise,they might look misinformed at best and making bad faith arguments at worse. That's all.

#ben 10 reboot #ben 10 2016 #ben 10 shock rock #ben 10 reboot vilgax #ben tennyson reboot #glitch ben 10

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riversofmars · 3 years

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Hope you enjoy the next lot of twists and turns coming up! :D

Charter 11: Past Prologue

Edinburgh, 2021

“I’m not sure we’re gonna find anything here…“ Ryan scanned the dressing room. It was a very neutral area. Barton was not the sort of person to make himself comfortable anywhere, particularly if it was just for the duration of a speech. “Not like he was here any length of time…“ Ryan’s eyes fell on the only item that wasn’t part of the furnishings. “Unless…“

“Forgot his jacket.“ Graham grinned and picked up the coat that had been flung over the side of an armchair. She reached into the pockets and quickly found what he was looking for: “Wallet.“ He announced, pleased with himself and opened it.

“Anything interesting?“ Ryan asked, looking over his grandfather’s shoulder, just as a business card fell out.

“Card…“ Graham picked it up and read: “Anastasis Project. Rings any bells?“ He turned it in his hand while Ryan gave a shrug. There was nothing else on the card apart from the name.

“Let’s meet up with the others.“ Ryan said, and they took the wallet and the coat with them.

“You didn’t follow him?“ Graham asked surprised when they found the rest of the team waiting outside.

“We’ve attached a transponder to his car but he didn’t exactly sound like he was going to see his contacts, quite the contrary, he’s going to be staying away and laying low.“ Jack explained.

“He’s certainly provided some kind of financial support, even if he’s not directly involved.“ Kate’s voice sounded in their ear-pieces.

“Let’s see where the money goes.“ Martha said and Ryan asked:

“Is there anything referring to an Anastasis Project in his portfolio?“ There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment. Meanwhile, they passed around the wallet and the business card.

“Not as such… but it seems like one of his research funds is supporting such a project.“ One of the Osgoods spoke at last. “Freelance. No direct ties.“

“Of course, so he can’t be made responsible for it.“ Gwen huffed, rolling her eyes.

“Do we have the address to an office or anything like that?“ Jack asked.

“There is a registered address, yes, probably fake though…“ Kate supplied, sounding doubtful.

“Still worth checking out.“ Ryan shrugged. It was better than returning to base with nothing. Whether they would have admitted it or not, being back in action made them realise how much they had missed it. Maybe they just weren’t made for the quiet life.

——

Demon’s Run, Main Hanger, 52nd century

“You lied to me.“ The Doctor growled at the Master. She took a couple of steps back, bringing some distance between herself and the two men. Her mind was reeling. She should have known better, she had been through it so many times. A little part of her had believed the Master would at least value the idea of a family enough to forgo a blatant lie. She had seen it when Missy had given her condolences upon learning of River’s death. The Master had always respected her relationship with River. It should have extended to their child. Or so she had hoped. Hope was so hard to resist. But in the end, the Master never failed to disappoint her.

“I did no such thing, I had no idea.“ The Master retorted and his voice was surprisingly calm and measured. He watched his doppelgänger, seemingly trying to figure out what was going on. They were identical, that was for sure but there was something unfamiliar about him too. His delight at the novelty of it had passed, now he required answers.

“Oh I see what’s happening, you're getting the wrong end of the stick here.“ The other Master grinned, clapping his hands joyfully. “See, I didn’t expect you to bring him.“ He carried on, gesturing to the Master. “I didn’t expect you, either, Doctor. Not this version of you. Last I saw you, you were so much younger… What happened to your little human friends? I really hope they died. Painfully. Not that he’s any better, mind, but I really hated those two… that mouthy med-tech and the do-gooder linguist… I should really have killed them when I had the chance…“ He carried on, and the Doctor couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. That part of her life had been lifetimes ago. Five lifetimes to be exact.

“What are you talking about?“ She asked, bewildered. She had met the Master so many times since then, when he had been posed as Harold Saxon, when he had been Missy…

“Oh, Doctor, do I have to spell it out for you? Is old age finally getting to you?“ He chuckled patronisingly, and the Doctor looked at the Master she had arrived with, wondering if he might have answers. He looked just as confused as she felt. “You don’t really think I’m the Master, do you? The Master!“ The other man cackled like it was the funniest thing he had heard all day.

“Then who are you?“ The Doctor pressed through gritted teeth. She hated feeling stupid.

“Your greatest enemy, of course.“ He took a dramatic bow which only served to infuriate the Master next to her more. His eyes flashed dangerously as recognition appeared to dawn on him.

“How did this happen?“ The Master took a threatening step towards the other man.

“What are you talking about?“ The Doctor frowned. Perhaps she had been wrong. There was something familiar about the other Master but the more she heard him speak, the less she believed her initial assessment. Something was very wrong here.

“I should have made sure you were dead last time around.“ The Master spat, baring his teeth at the other man whilst clearly contemplating how he would accomplish the feat again.

“Ah recognition at last. If that imbecile can figure it out, surely you can, Doctor. Has it really been so long for you that you don’t remember me anymore?“ The other Master smirked at the Doctor. “The fun we’ve had.“ He giggled, his voice changing slightly. “Gallifrey? The Crucible of Souls? Artron’s Tomb? You were there for that one, too.“ He winked at the Master.

“Spit it out already!“ The Doctor snapped as a terrible thought crossed her mind. It couldn’t be, could it?

“Oh dear, you don’t have the same presence I used to have.“ The man’s voice changed and suddenly sounded an awful lot more familiar to the Doctor. “I’m frightfully hurt, old chum.“ His voice changed again, laughing and then he barked: “Can we just kill her already.“

“No.“ Colour drained from the Doctor’s face. They should be dead. She was sure of it.

“So what are you doing impersonating me?“ The Master cut in, having had enough of the exchange.

“Impersonating you? I think you’ll find I’ve had this face much longer than you! I wear it better too.“ The other man grinned. “Also, I don’t do impersonations anymore, not since… well, the Nine?“ He looked at the Doctor ravelling in the look of shock on her face. “Remember that, Doctor? I impersonated you and then you impersonated me, and that was just embarrassing.“ He laughed as the Doctor just shook her head incredulously.

“You’re lying. The Twelve died on Gallifrey.“ She was sure of it. The Twelve had died in an explosion, their body had never been recovered.

“Yes. I was there. I am the Thirteen.“ The Thirteen smirked, satisfied that finally, the penny seemed to have dropped.

“You can’t be, you are a future version of him.“ She pointed to the Master. Her experiences with the Eleven and the Twelve had been lifetimes ago. Thousands of years of her own life, before the Time War, there was no way he was here now. “I don’t know why I trusted you.“ She snapped at the Master next to her.

“Now that’s something you should never do.“ The Thirteen agreed, enjoying watching them bicker. They would be far easier to deal with if they weren’t working together.

“Just you wait till I get my hands on you.“ The Master snarled at the Thirteen. “Believe what you will, Doctor, but do you not think you might be getting a little distracted from why we’re really here?“ His dark eyes darted around the room. They weren’t alone anymore. Soldiers were lining at the edges of the room, slowly advancing towards them. It was a trap. “Even if that is a future version of me, which I can assure you, it’s not…“

“The very thought…“ The Thirteen chuckled.

“Do you not have something to ask of the nice man here?“ The Master urged and the Doctor overcame her disbelief at the situation she found herself in. The Master had a point. They were here for a very good reason. Regardless of whether this man was the Thirteen, the Master or Rassilon himself, her question remained the same.

“Where is my son?“ The Doctor fixed her eyes on the Thirteen, her voice turning low and threatening. Enough of the games.

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?“ The Thirteen feigned shock and grasped his chest. “Did you lose someone precious to you?“

“Whoever you are, you know something.“ The Doctor took a threatening step towards him.

“Well, he’s not here if that’s what you’re asking.“ The Thirteen gave a dismissive wave. “In fact, Doctor, I hadn’t really planned for this detour.“ He gestured around the room. “But it does get one thing out of the way…“

“What’s that?“ The Doctor shot back.

“You.“ the Thirteen grinned, and as if on cue the soldiers pointed their guns at her and the Master.

“Thanks for bringing her here, really, couldn’t have calculated it better myself.“ The Thirteen gave the Master a grin. “And just to be perfectly clear, Doctor, that we’re not the same person? I’ll have him killed, too.“ He glanced back to the Doctor who was looking around. The TARDIS was not far behind them. Was there time to turn and run? But if they ran, they wouldn’t find out what he knew.

“I will tear you limb from limb this time around.“ The Master’s eyes flashed dangerously as he recalled killing the Eleven. It was a bit of a blur, too many of his past selves had been present, but he recalled the deed well enough to be sure it happened. This time, he would make sure he couldn’t regenerate.

“What was it you said last time we met about compassion?“ The Thirteen looked to the Master. “I distinctly remember your lady version saying you weren’t without it… Well, I am. Which is why I will win and you will lose.“ He smirked.

“Still think that’s me?“ The Master looked to the Doctor who was at a loss for words.

“I…“

“Any clever ideas, Doctor?“ The Master stepped closer to the Doctor as the guards advanced further.

“The Doctor and the Master, sitting in a trap, K I L L I N G.“ The Thirteen sang. “No, doesn’t really work.“ He huffed. “Open fire on my mark.“ He called his men.

“OI!“ A female voice called out and suddenly an explosion rocked them, and the hangar filled with smoke.

——

Demon’s Run, Holding Cells, 52nd Century

“Here we go…“ River mumbled, connecting one last cable, as the force field turned off. “You'll be a good boy now, okay?“ She mumbled and pressed a kiss to her son’s head. This wasn’t exactly the right environment for a newborn but she didn’t have a choice.

There was an explosion somewhere, and alarms started wailing.

“Sounds like it’s the right time to get out of here.“ River soothed her son as he started crying because of the noise. She held him close as she walked down the corridor. She had to find a way off this space station. Her best bet would be the hangar bay.

“Professor Song!“ A voice called behind her suddenly and River whipped around as it was familiar and welcome.

“Madame Vastra!“ River exclaimed as she spotted the lizard woman who was just climbing out of a maintenance hatch.

“You’re… alive…“ Vastra marvelled at seeing her like this. Not just a consciousness trapped on a data stick but alive and whole and with her son in her arms. The relief and joy Vastra felt in that moment overshadowed all past anguish up until this point.

“Courtesy of my captors.“ River answered with a smirk as she stepped closer while Vastra helped another woman out of the tight hatch who River hadn’t met before. She could only presume she was a friend at the obvious relief on her face, too.

“Are you okay? Both of you?“ The girl asked, straightening herself up next to Vastra, and River nodded. Perhaps getting off this rock wouldn’t be so difficult after all, now that the cavalry had arrived.

“Professor, I’m so sorry, we tried…“ Vastra felt the overwhelming urge to make her apologies. She reached out and touched the little boy’s head, hoping to convey her deep regret for having failed to protect him.

“It’s okay, we’re okay, shall we chat later? And get out of here first?“ River gave her an encouraging smile. She didn’t blame her, how could she? Without knowing any details of what had happened, she knew that Vastra, Jenny and Strax would have done their utmost to keep her child safe. If they had failed to do so it could only have been through overwhelming odds. And now they had come to their rescue. They were the most loyal of friends. “I imagine we will have company soon. I may have tripped some alarms when I broke out of my cell.“ River pointed out the flashing lights and sirens while she tried to calm her son down.

“This way. We have a ship.“ Vastra nodded in agreement, and they rushed down the corridor. They had no time to lose.

“Now, now, Melody, can’t leave you alone for two minutes.“ They came to an abrupt halt as Madame Kovarian, backed by numerous soldiers, appeared at the top of the corridor they were heading towards.

“Yaz, take the long way around, take her to our ship!“ Vastra pulled her sword from its sheath and grabbed a blaster with the other. “Now!“

“But what about…“ Yaz started protesting.

“I will buy you some time, go!“ Vastra insisted, staring down the guards that were advancing towards them.

“Vastra!“ River grabbed her friend’s arm. They had to get out of here, they had to run, but they should be doing it together. She could risk her son getting injured. As much as River wanted to fight and finally, finally put an end to Madame Kovarian, her mother's instincts gripped her more tightly. She had to keep her son safe.

“It’s okay, you two go and don’t look back! I will find Jenny and Strax, we will make our own way. NOW GO!“ Vastra insisted with steely determination.

“I will find a way to come back for you!“ River promised hastily.

“GO!“ Vastra snapped and Yaz grabbed River’s arm. There was no arguing with Vastra.

“Thank you.“ River breathed and allowed herself to be pulled along.

——

London, 2021

“Dead end.“ Jack huffed, looking around. They found themselves in front of an empty plot with nothing but a post box in a dodgy area of town. They hadn’t all been able to go. Edinburgh to London was quite the track so they had decided to split up. Mickey, Martha and Gwen had returned to the Torchwood hub while Jack had taken Ryan and Graham for a ride with his vortex manipulator. Three was the limit, despite various modifications. “Thought it might happen. Nothing but a company shell…“ Jack carried on as they walked onto the abandoned plot. There was a bit of rubble and grass but nothing much. It was wedged between two warehouses.

“But then why have the card?“ Ryan mused, turning it in his hand.

“Why indeed.“ A voice sounded and suddenly the three men found themselves surrounded by four thugs that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

“What the…“ Jack reached for his gun but before he could do so, they each had one pointed at their heads.

“See, we might not be able to make you disappear easily but that doesn’t mean we make you disappear another way. You can be useful after all. We need some new subjects.“ One of the men grinned, and the Torchwood agents realised they had fallen into a trap.

——

Demon’s Run, Main Hanger, 52nd Century

It was utter chaos but the Doctor quickly figured out what was happening when he heard a familiar voice yelling:

“DIE ALIEN SCUM!“

“Strax?!“ The Doctor yelled through the smoke, ducking a laser blast, one of the few things visible in the smoke.

“Not to worry, Doctor, we’re here!“ Jenny called back and they found each other quickly, following the other’s voice.

“How did you get here?“ The Doctor asked surprised and delighted at once.

“Could ask you the same thing!“ Jenny retorted looking around not to get caught out. For the time being, Strax appeared to be doing an excellent job of dealing with the soldiers.

“We thought this might be where they’ve taken my son.“ The Doctor answered quickly.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but it’s definitely where they took your wife.“ Jenny replied quickly and pulled the Doctor behind a crate. She fired at two soldiers that emerged from the smoke dangerously close to them.

“My wife? River is here?!“ The Doctor exclaimed in disbelief. She was in shock, her words barely registered. How could River possibly be here?

“Her consciousness anyway. Some Timelord who calls himself the Thirteen stole it from the Library. We followed him here.“ Jenny carried on to explain.

“So it is him…“ The Doctor mumbled, trying to get things straight in her head.

“Told you, didn’t I, he’s not me!“ The Master found them behind the crate and took cover as well.

“Then why have you got the same face?“ The Doctor shot back angrily.

“I don’t know, Doctor, do I, do you think I’m thrilled he’s running around giving me a bad name?“ The Master bit back just as angrily.

“You do that all by yourself, usually.“ She snapped back.

“And you are…“ Jenny was at a loss for a moment.

“The Master.“ The Doctor answered before he could.

“Right… well, this Thirteen fellow…“ Jenny decided not to comment for the time being. There had to be a good reason for why the Master was here, seemingly with the Doctor.

“Looks exactly like him, you can’t miss him. And we have to find him, I want some answers! And River…“ The Doctor looked out from behind the crate, most of the hangar was still shrouded in smoke.

“We will find her. Vastra and Yaz are looking for her as well. We will get both of them back.“ Jenny explained hastily.

“Touching reunion and all but perhaps we might deal with the more pressing issue at hand? The bomb will go off at any moment.“ The Master announced and instructed: “Everybody get down.“

“What?“ The Doctor looked back at him incredulous. She straightened up a little to glance over the top of the crate but the Master pulled her down.

“Duck!“ He snapped, just as an explosion shook the hangar deck. He had clearly been busy in the moments before rejoining them.

“What the…“ The Doctor shoved him off and stood quickly, assessing the damage. “Why did you do that?“ She shook her head in disbelief at the destruction in front of her. Half the hangar had blown up, emergency force fields had jumped into place where the hull had ripped away.

“How about a ‘thank you Master’?“ The Master scrambled to his feet and brushed off his suit. “I just laid waste to your enemies. It was fun too.“ He grinned.

“Excellent maneuverer, Sir.“ Strax came up behind them, and Jenny let out a sigh of relief upon seeing him. He could very well have been caught up in the Master’s explosion.

“I’m glad someone appreciates it.“ The Master huffed.

“It wasn’t necessary!“ The Doctor snapped, scanning the room. Most of the enemy soldiers were dead, some of the wounded tried to pull themselves up but they seemed to have lost the appetite for fighting. The Doctor quickly realised why: they were leaderless. “Where is he? Where is the Thirteen?“ She looked around, panicked. They couldn’t have lost him.

“Oh I hope I incinerated him… stealing my face, how dare he…“ The Master mumbled and the Doctor turned on her heels.

“I need him for answers!“ She snapped.

“Perhaps I can oblige.“ A voice called from the other end of the hangar and as they all looked around, they recognised Vastra and with her, being shoved along, Madame Kovarian.

“Vastra!“ Jenny called in relief and rushed over to her wife.

“Madame Kovarian…“ The Doctor’s response was more measured as she narrowed her eyes.

“Oh don’t tell me, a new face.“ Kovarian gave the Doctor a once-over and groaned in annoyance. It was bad enough to have her men bested by a lizard woman, this was adding insult to injury. The Doctor came to meet them halfway as Jenny flung herself around her wife’s neck.

“I should have known you were involved.“ The Doctor clenched her jaw, trying her best not to let her feelings overwhelm her. Instead, she decided to focus on the important questions: “Where is River? Where are you keeping her consciousness?“

“She escaped in our shuttle.“ Vastra cut in, letting go of Jenny at last.

“What?“ The Doctor looked at her confused.

“They’re gone, they got away. And it’s not just her consciousness either, they brought her body back, too.“ Vastra explained more patiently. She smiled contently, River would be safe now.

“Really?“ The Doctor didn’t know what to say. A wide grin spread across her face. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. She tried not to let herself get swept away in the excitement, keep a level head until she had actually seen River and made sure that she was okay. But she trusted Vastra and she would never doubt her. River was alive. The reality of it still had to sink in.

“Yaz took her back to our shuttle while I was dealing with them.“ Vastra continued. “And your son, too, Doctor.“ She added more softly.

“He’s here, too?“ Tears of joy jumped to the Doctor’s eyes.

“Oh Doctor, you just keep falling for the same trick, don’t you.“ Kovarian cut in, a cruel smile creeping onto her features.

——

Dorium’s Shuttle, 52nd Century

River collapsed against the bulkhead, cradling her son to her chest. Her hearts were racing in her chest, she tried to catch her breath. They had done it.

“Dorium…“ She gasped a greeting but managed a small smile, despite her exhaustion.

“Nice to see you in one piece, Professor, and in the flesh too, pardon the pun.“ Dorium mirrored her fond expression. He had been sat waiting, unable to do anything to help and it was a relief to see they were being successful.

“We can’t stay, Dorium, Vastra said to go, they will find their own way later.“ Yaz explained as she joined them on the bridge. “We need to get the Professor and her child to safety.“

“Certainly.“ Dorium agreed. “Where to, Professor?“

“Luna University, all my things are there.“ River answered after brief consideration and Yaz nodded, working the controls with Dorium’s help. As soon as the air corridor had detached from Demon’s Run and wheeled in, they set off with a jerk, putting distance between the space station and themselves.

“Are you okay?“ Yaz asked, looking at River who had settled in a chair with her child.

“Getting there…“ River sighed. “I’m sorry, I barely caught your name?“

“Yasmin Khan, friends call me Yaz.“ Yaz answered with a smile, watching her rock her son.

“You’re a friend of the Doctor’s?“ River deduced and she nodded.

“And you’re her wife. And mother to her child.“ Yaz smiled.

“Her?“ River raised her eyebrows, surprised. “My, things have changed… how long have I been in that Library for?“ She shook her head to herself.

“Miss Khan, if you could be so kind and jump us into hyper speed, there is only so much a head can do.“ Dorium said. “I will be very glad if I never have to see Demon’s Run ever again.“

“Likewise.“ River chuckled and Yaz turned back to the controls:

“My pleasure.“

It happened as the stars blurred outside and River screamed. The connection severed. Her son disappeared from her arms, dissolving into a white substance, dripping onto the floor. A flesh avatar.

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jamielea81 · 4 years

Text

When We Were Young

Chapter 2

Description: Leaving the only home your daughter had ever known wasn’t part of the grand plan. But then again, sometimes taking chances can change your whole life. And you should know that, you’ve been doing that since the start.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Warnings: Angst. A curse word or two.

Word Count: 2,700

A/N: Thank you for the wonderful response to the first chapter! Hope you enjoy this added twist. As always, this is strictly for fun and I mean no harm. Please let me know your thoughts as I love to read them. Likes and reblogs give me life.

Catch up with Chapter One

“I’m your..” Chris shook his head and looked at the assistant in the room and then at the photographer. “Jodes, I need a minute.”

Chris didn’t wait for a response, instead he slid his arm from around Ellie’s waist to grab her hand, pulling her to the far end of the room.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Ellington. Ellie for short,” she said, playing with her hair. “Look, I don’t want anything. Just wanted to see you in person,” she said softly, her nerves coming back to her.

“Why do you think I’m your father? You have to understand, this isn’t the first time someone has said those same words to me.”

Ellie bit her lip and nodded. “NYC Cryobank and Family Planning.”

“Fuck,” Chris swore softly, ducking his head. “How old are you are you anyway?”

“Fifteen.”

“It’s not possible,” Chris said shaking his head. “I was eighteen when I donated.” He licked his lips and patted his pocket for his phone.

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t expire like milk,” she replied, Chris giving her a weak smile.

Ellie played with her fingers, not knowing what else to say. The whole speech she played over and over in her head was suddenly forgotten. Reaching into her jeans pocket, she pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper and stretched out her hand for him to take it.

“It’s my mom’s number. Figured it would be weird for you to call a minor.” Chris took it and shoved it into his back pocket. “Not that you have to call!” she added quickly. “I just wanted you to know that I exist. And we’re great. My mom and me, I mean. I’ve had a great life and wanted to see the person that made it possible for me to exist. Just don’t call tonight. She doesn’t know I’m here. If you decide to call, I mean.”

They looked at each other. Ellie trying to memorize his face. Chris trying to find himself in her eyes and smile.

“It was nice to meet you Ellie,” Chris said, a closed lip smile on his face, finality in his voice.

“Ye-yeah. You too,” she said, dropping her head and walking out the room. She wanted her mom and she wanted her now. This was a mistake and it was taking everything in her not to cry.

Ellie made it to the nearest restroom, walking past a line of girls that were washing their hands or fixing their makeup. She pushed into the stall at the end of the row, locked the door and sat down on the seat. She grabbed a large wad of toilet paper from the dispenser, flushed the toilet, and placed the paper over her mouth. The tears and her sobs started to flow. She hoped that both the sound of the toilet and the paper would muffle her cries.

It had been three hours since you received the call from the academy about your daughter missing class. Three long hours of not knowing where she was. Not knowing if she were safe. Gwen had done her best to calm you down as she usually did, but your mind was still reeling. The troubling thing is there is nothing you could do but wait.

The house was mostly unpacked except for your books that were going to be placed in the small bookcase in the living room and your office which you had not utilized in the nearly three weeks that you lived in Belmont. You couldn’t really call it an office per se, it was nook off the formal dining room that wouldn’t be used. Ellie and you were plate on your lap on the couch or out on the deck kind of people. You had a dining room table, but it was mostly a place for Ellie to spread out her school assignments and for the occasional crafting you did.

With your books all unpacked, the dining room table dusted, and the office looking it bit more like an office, you collapsed on your couch. Feet up, blouse off save for your cami, you were done with this day. Once she got home and knew she was safe, you were going to bed. You’d have to dream up a punishment. Ellie hardly got in to trouble. She occasionally mouthed off like teenagers did, but this was uncharted territory for you.

You heard the door open and you were immediately on your feet, rushing down the stairs to the entry way. Her face was puffy and red and you knew immediately something was wrong.

“Mama…” she started, having a hard time catching her breath. “I’m…so…sorry.”

You wrapped your arms around her as she started to sob on your chest. “Shhh. I got you,” you said softly.

When she started to settle down you urged her to follow you up the stairs. “Why don’t you take a hot bath and I’ll get your jammies ready and then we’ll talk?” Ellie nodded her head slowly. “You can use my tub. I’ve got the good bath stuff anyway,” you said, sending her a wink.

“Thank you,” she said with teary eyes. “I love you.”

“Love you too baby.”

Whatever happened was big and you hoped she would be honest with you.

A frozen pizza was currently baking in the oven. Tonight, was not the night for a home cooked meal as you were still too worked up as was Ellie. You had changed into pajamas as well despite it only being six in the evening.

Ellie was sitting on one end of the couch with her body turned to face you, her knees pressed against her chest. You sat on the other end facing her, one leg tucked under the other.

“I haven’t been truthful with you,” she started. “About a year ago, I found some information out.”

“What kind of information, Ellie?” This was sounding way too ominous for your liking.

“Christian. You remember Christian?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“From third and fourth grade soccer when you played on that co-ed team?”

She nodded her head. “Christian’s really good with a computer. I’m pretty sure he’ll be working for the FBI one day. He uh, he was able to do some digging for me.”

“What in the world would he need to dig up for you?”

“He was looking into the donation center you used. I asked him to try to find out information about the donor you picked.”

“Ellington Rae,” you breathed out.

“I’m sorry mom. I just really wanted to know.” Her eyes started to well up with tears again.

You nodded your head and gestured with your hand for her to continue.

“Well, he found your case number and was able to find the donor number. He eventually found the name assigned to the donor number.”

You let out a slow breath, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“I went to see him today. He lives here in Boston. At least he does most of the time.”

“Ellie!” you shouted. “That’s not only dangerous but an evasion of privacy. We don’t know this person. He could be a bad guy. He could have a family of his own now.”

She was full on crying again and your heart was stuck between being angry and wanting to soothe your child. Of course, you pulled her to you, wrapping her in a hug again.

She pulled back, letting her hands fall into your lap. You grabbed on to both of her with yours.

“Are you okay?” You shook your head. “Of course, you’re not.”

“There’s something else,” she said.

“Do I wanna know?”

She licked her lips. “He’s Chris Evans. The actor.”

Well, shit.

“I don’t even know what to say to that.”

“I just wanted to see him mom. Not on the movie screen or in pictures online. I just had to see his face in person. Just once. I wanted to see if he smiled like me. Or see if his eyebrows shoot up like mine do when I laugh.”

You nodded your head numbly. Even though you barely talked to your own father, you understood the need to know.

“That’s where I went today. There’s a comic convention downtown and he was appearing today. I bought a ticket to get my picture taken with him. He’s only there today, so that’s why I skipped school.”

You released her hands, standing to your feet, and started to pace. “Was this whole move a lie Ellie? Are we here so you could meet this man?”

She covered her face with her hands but didn’t answer.

“Did we only move to Boston so you could meet your biological father?” you asked sternly.

“S’not the only reason. I’m so sorry mom. I wanted us to move here for Harvard, but I could have found another engineering high school closer to home.”

You shook your head. It was your turn to cry. The two of you had a very honest relationship and made decisions together. The trust was broken and you weren’t sure if it could be repaired anytime soon.

The closeness you and Ellie shared is why she knew from the time she was eight years old that she didn’t have a dad like other kids did. You were open and honest with her about the decision you made at twenty one. The two of you have talked about it several times through the years.

When she was twelve, she questioned whether you had gotten pregnant to escape your parents. You explained to her that wasn’t the reason. You had wanted to be mom. Had known that’s what you wanted more than anything.

You weren’t in a serious relationship and didn’t want a random hook up to father your child. You had friends you could have asked, but thought that would complicate things as those friends settled down with spouses of their own. You had just graduated from college and were spending four additional months in New York before your lease ran out. Your parents had expected you to come home to Kentucky and you had planned on doing so. You had money, more than enough. Not only did your parents send you a more than generous allowance every month for four years, you also had a large sum of money your grandma Ellie had left you that became yours when you turned twenty one. Her only request was to do something for you with it.

Researching and planning was what you were good at. Apparently, those skills came in handy when finding a donation and family planning center. Two consultations and an appointment later, you had a positive pregnancy test sitting on your bathroom vanity. After two months, you called your mother to tell her. To say that conversation went poorly was an understatement. You were throwing your life away according to her. She didn’t know Ellie was the result of a sperm donor. To this day, only Ellie and couple of close friends knew. Your mother and father figured you had been with a deadbeat guy who chose not to stick around. You were essentially told not to come home.

New York City wasn’t a place you wanted to raise a child. You had loved the city all through college, but rent was expensive and buying would be out of the question. You wanted some place that had that small-town feel. Somewhere a little quieter. When your classmate Peter offered you a place to stay in his home-town of Wilmington, you took him up on the offer. Living with Peter and his brother Caleb was a bit of a change for you. You often found yourself cleaning up after the two of them. It didn’t last long as you found employment with an employer that wasn’t discouraged by your six-month pregnant belly. You found a two-bedroom apartment shortly after, decorating the nursery in neutral colors because you wanted to be surprised.

Ellington Rae Y/L/N was born in the early hours of April sixth. Named affectionately after your grandmother. Your favorite person in the world, second now that you had your little Ellie. She came out screaming and never stopped. She was a fussy baby and you found yourself in tears almost as much as she were. But she was your everything and still is. Your parents came to visit when she was three months old. They visited yearly, often bringing gifts that a child did not need nor want. When she turned five, they sent money once a year for her birthday. The money went into an account for Ellie’s schooling and when she expressed dreams of Harvard, you were glad you did.

When she was three years old, you moved out of that small two-bedroom apartment into your bungalow near the beach and that’s where the two of you stayed. Friends became family and you were both happy. But now everything seemed to be a mess.

“It’s going to take time, Ellie. My trust has been broken but I’m mostly hurt that you couldn’t come to me about this. We should have talked about this. We could have come up with a plan together.”

You sit back down on the couch and pull her back to you. She’s still your baby even though she’s as tall as you.

“You’re right and I’m sorry. It was a mistake,” she said, shaking her head. “I gave him your number. You know. In case he wanted to call. Wanted to know me.”

She sounds so damn broken and you’re feeling broken over it.

“Okay, baby. If he calls, we’ll take it one step at a time. But if he doesn’t, it’s his damn loss because you are the best thing I have ever known in this world and that will never change.”

Two weeks had passed and Chris hadn’t called. Ellie didn’t talk about it, but you knew it affected her. Being rejected by anyone hurt. You couldn’t blame Chris entirely though. Him choosing to donate all those years ago was his choice. It was supposed to be an anonymous one. Now he knew he brought a life into this world. Accepting that had to be hard for anyone. Accepting that and being a public person was probably harder.

Punishing Ellie was harder on your than it was on her. She’s the new kid in town and at that age where life long friendships are formed, you didn’t want to exclude her from hanging out with her friends. So, you limited it to only weekends. She had to check in with you on where she was or if she went to a different location than what was planned. She was also in charge of dishes and taking out the trash. Her biggest punishment of all was knowing you lost a lot of trust in her.

Your phone rang only to stop ringing after two rings. You were in the kitchen, putting away this week’s groceries so you hadn’t been able to reach it. Taking a quick glance, you didn’t recognize the number. Figuring they realized their mis-dial, you went back to deciding which meat to leave thawed in the refrigerator and which to freeze. Exciting times.

It started to ring again. You turned away from the freezer to stare at the device sitting on the kitchen island. That same number appeared on the display. As the second ring rang out, you dared it to continue a third time. It did. You grabbed it with one hand, clicking the accept button with your other.

“Hello,” you answered.

“H-hi. This is Chris. I uh. This is Chris Evans.”

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#Chris Evans #Chris Evans x reader #chris evans reader insert #When We Were Young #chris evans imagine #chris evans x you #chris evans x y/n #chris evans x single!mother reader #cevans #rpf

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agent-sato · 4 years

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3, 10, and 18 - submitted by @agent-jones

a very specific torchwood ask game (that i am answering very late)

3- favourite season and why?

season two, without a doubt. the writing is more coherent than season one. the team are all far more fleshed out as characters. there’s multiple ongoing arcs that are woven throughout. we get owen’s death arc, which is incredible, we see more janto as they come together into a real relationship. we get the team struggling without jack in the beginning, we have the backstories that fragments gives us. there’s a definite more found-family feel, a better understanding of each other, and a clearer view of torchwood as a whole. we know the team by now, instead of the weird off-and-on slow/disjointed development we get in s1. and we have guest appearances by martha fucking jones and john hart, so what’s not to love? also everyone is just…exceptionally pretty in season two, and my bi heart wants what it wants.

10- favourite ship outside the main three (not jack/ianto, tosh/owen, or gwen/rhys)?

oh i may get murdered for this, but i love gwen and owen together. i have to preface this with the disclaimer that yes, cheating is wrong, the arc went nowhere and rhys deserved so much better, and the retcon bit was shit writing and should not have happened. but outside of the circumstances of their cheating, i really ship them together. owen tempers gwen’s naiveté at the beginning, and she brings a new light to what is his usually pessimistic outlook. their joking and banter is so easy and fun, they’re clearly attracted to each other, and i love the way she goes to him. it’s more than sex, it’s a grounding force. she needs someone who understands, and he opens up and shows a softer side in order to help her through it. yes, it ended badly, and yes, it was wrong in that she was with rhys and they both knew it. but i think there was something very genuine there that, played out in other circumstances, could have been very good for them both.

and that scene in his flat at the end of countrycide was hot, you can’t deny that.

18- best platonic relationship?

i’d say it was obvious if i didn’t have two i absolutely adore. the first, clearly, being gwen and ianto. i love their friendship, i love their banter and jokes. i adore the scenes in adam and in kiss kiss, bang bang where they’re bantering and teasing and gossiping. i’ll never be over the moment in countrycide where she holds him in the cannibals’ den. the way she adjusts his tie constantly. the way she does that even after his death. her well-intentioned pushing him to answer about his sexuality and how he knows that snapping at her won’t put her off anything but bugging him in that moment. there’s a really fascinating character arc that happens from her completely ignoring him at the beginning (he was trying to fade into the background, so that was working for him) to the point that in her retcon-fueled panic note to herself she doesn’t even mention him, to the sudden reveal of his backstory and intentions in cyberwoman, to their growing camaraderie in the ongoing seasons. the way they banter in outbreak is a picture-perfect snapshot of their friendship and love and the way they tease each other. obviously i could talk about their friendship forever, but you know better than i do how much i adore them.

and then! and then. there’s jack and tosh. the man who swooped in at the worst moment of this terrified woman’s existence like a guardian angel, who really saw her and recognized her brilliance, who saved her from literally a lifetime of abuse and imprisonment. she’s the first to question him (how many times does he have to tell her “just do it!”), but the first to dive in headfirst to a situation she doesn’t know for him. she runs to him first when he resurrects at the end of end of days, the way she leaps into his arms and he simply holds her has a special place in my heart. she’s the first to forgive him in kkbb, and the way she questions his judgement calls in combat and argues with him in sleeper gives a really clear look into the way she trusts him enough to do that, especially when she’s regularly as non-confrontational as that.

and then obviously, the moment in exit wounds when he’s holding her as she dies, and she looks at him one last time like he put the stars in the sky.

also, an honorable mention for andy and owen, but tbh i can’t see that as strictly platonic.

#agentjones #ask game #( this got very long but i know you expected that so here we are )#torchwood #gwen cooper #owen harper #toshiko sato #jack harkness #submission

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getreadytosmash · 3 years

Text

Small smash headcanons I was thinking of and to put out my reboot designs

Skaar

Skaar took a more gladiator look from his time on Sakaar and no longer wears the loin cloth except for when he's on off days

His hair gets to around his upper back and often tends to be in buns and ponytails

Working on his reading and writing and gets help from Hulk and goes to the Xavier Institute for sessions with his mind control and memories

Got introduced to queer stuff by Rick and he was THRILLED to find out about this stuff and the footage of Skaar carefully picking out non binary, asexual and panromantic stuff was trending for a month

Yes I'm going into pridecanons a little more

Skaar's very happy with his own feelings of being nb. The rocks below him whisper about it always being fine and he doesn't need to care about what others say anyway. Not when they're too busy calling him a monster to care about his gender

Anyway. Skaar's sex neutral and I say this because its quite often the theory that all ace folks won't have kids blah blah but??? Some aces want sex to have kids and that's Skaar.

Ridiculously good sword fighter and often meets up with Nightcrawler and Shadowcat to have sword fights and compare tricks

Lots of whipping scars on his back and some around his mouth that hardly anyone knows are from

Has a matching scar with Red of a circle on the back of his neck as well as running lighting scars up his hands and feet with Rick, Red and Jen from where the Skrulls tried to harvest their gamma

Absolutely has the tattoo and has no clue about it

Occasionally has days where he can't remember the entire event and Skaar's become rather thankful that they can rely on Rick's cameras to guide him home if needed.

Adores the Savage Lands and is best friends with Kazaar and Zabu

Sometimes copies memes from Rick and it’s terrible

Likes having Jen help him with normal stuff, especially when she helps him learn stuff like reading and writing

Rick

Yeah, can’t feel anything and that causes a few secret depression episodes aha

Big on other sensory stuff now. Really likes to savour sights, sounds, taste and smells since he lacks a big ass part of it now. It really isn’t that uncommon for Rick to have a low of flowers within his bedroom and shit.

Has to file down his spikes since they keep growing and often Hulk does it for him while Rick falls asleep

Rick needs a lot more protein now and often eats eggs or fish and gets into big fights with Red over it daily

Uses a stylish for everything since his fingers don’t work on touchscreens anymore

Often wears sleeveless jackets with different pins. Owns four of them with three of them entirely dedicated to alien, mutant and bi rights

Well known Youtuber and I really need to get around to writing some videos he’s done god someone remind me to put out that shit

Hardcore gamer and still screams at Samuel to help make a dating sim come oN-

Can hold his breath for an hour and a half and didn’t realise until he fell asleep in the bath and got woken up by Hulk panicking and tossing him out of the water

Very intent on mutant rights and often helps out with teenage mutants and raising the social status of the school

Loves bi culture and is very defensive over aspects of his identity after years of feeling lost among the orphanages

Has gotten more comfortable with his gender since he’s been wearing kilts and skirts for almost two years now

Used to have scars across his hands and thighs from years of canings from the nuns but now has a large cracked scar across his chest after Abomination ripped his shell off

Red unintentionally fathers him and blames Hulk

Best pals with Jen and Betty and is the only one who gets to join them on Ladies Night with Lyra and Marlo

Stands on his tip toes when talking to Hulk often because he wants to be tall and it amuses Hulk to no end

Jen

Has a lot of different costumes she changes regularly and Rick always posts a vote on “What outfit has Jen got this week?”

Freckles and curly hair galore

Hulk paints her nails and she does the same for him and it isn’t long before Skaar joins in

Works in New York but stays at Vista Verde for her time off

Yes i do want a all female gamma mutate team and yes they are A-force

They consist of Jen, Betty, Lyra, Carmilla and Marlo but are sometimes joined by other female heroes

Wears sweatband wrists, left one is the bi flag and the right one is the trans flag

Was afraid about being open towards loving women for a few years since Jen knew her father didn’t do anything about Bruce’s abuse, what would happen to her if Brian found out she liked more than boys? Came out after hulking out and is happier than ever

The same goes for being trans since Jen’s form is based heavily on her mentality of her body. Gamma gave Jen the body she wanted and she was SO pleased with it

tbh I do imagine she was more comic/noodle armed at the start since Jen wanted to look rather feminine but over time she’s gotten more comfortable with her body and idea of who she wants to be and slowly she got beefier

Has two wardrobes at the base and makes Red help rearrange stuff for laughs

Pals with Samuel and often enjoys sitting around and dragging him out for shopping and starbucks while discussing cases

The one who appears in Rick’s youtube videos the most

Can never finish a book and feels deep seeded adhd guilt

Sings outloud to every thing she hears

Likes grape flavoured stuff and she is so thankful that she can’t die for that sin

BEST pals with Betty and Rick. Like. There’s a reason my “Betty is the OG Hulk and is a lil wlw with Jen” has happened honestly

Has vitiligo patches of grey around her arms that were left over from her more traumatic transformations

Watches Red bake if she’s having a panic attack and the videos don’t help

Red

Has a lot of scars over his body from where Ghost Rider’s chain dug into him and left him burnt. idk seems really fucking cool

Like Jen, has yellow patches along his spine and hands from where he was joined mentally with Zzzax

Still gets nightmares about said incident and is still scared for the day that a nightmare is actually happening

Started to bake because it helps from when he couldn’t control his heat powers or during ptsd attacks

Tends to get lost in work alongside Samuel, especially if they’re overly excited about a certain idea

Hulk fondly calls him a nerd for this exact reason and Red tackles him over it to this day

Tech reacts to him badly sometimes due to his possession issues and there’s been once or twice where he’s had some...odd experiences when it’s come to certain technology or alien tech

Stays the same mostly with his outfits but occasionally wears a leather jacket and fuck it takes his shirt off a lot he’s a dilf he can do that

The one who crouches for humans the most and it isn’t uncommon for him to do it purely to unsettle the humans. Ass

Uh. Likes women but??? Sometimes there’s an annoying guy and shit being able to be easily suplexed now means that anyone who can do it can kinda catch his eyes and he fucked a demon- uh. Red has a lot of thoughts now about dating and it’s nerve-wracking

Still does missions with his Thunderbolt team and still hangs out with Hell’s Circle team when he met others that had been dragged down to hell as well

Gets courted by vampires and hates the fact that the others laugh at it

Gets nightmares of crashing, of electric burning him away but doesn’t want to admit to the fact that he has some ptsd

Not really Red but fuck it Betty has her own team and I’m shifting the Gamma Corps for Betty so her team involves; Betty (Harpy), Marlo (Sirin), Clay (Hulkverine), Lyra (Athen), Carmilla (Scorpion) and Gwen (Daydream)

Right. Uh. So for those who don’t know who Daydream are, basically the writer at this time had been going through a bad divorce and he treated Betty like SHIT which involved breaking Bretty up before they could have a child, making Betty suffer a miscarriage, killing her and having the villain Nightmare raping her in her sleep and having Betty give birth to Daydream who appeared for one arc and was never seen again. So. I’m mad.

anyway fuck him but I did like Daydream so instead she was an experiment from gamma base as a unique weapon that got used to infiltrate the Agents sleep but was later on rescued along with the rest of the gamma experiments. Got adopted by Betty when she found out Gwen had her DNA and went “oh worm?” to getting a baby i have more thoughts about this but u know. carry on.

Hulk

So Tired. Part time team leader and Avengers and even has his many own adventures of trying to help so many people out

I imagine he has a lot of the same issues as Steven in suf where Hulk often stresses out more about not being able to help people since he worries about the worst case scenarios

Gets forced to take days off by each of the team and appreciates it but dear god if he doesn’t get anxiety about the whole situation every time

SomeTIMES he wears a blue shirt but only sometimes and that’s if he’s actually prepared for missions. Also has boots Red got him but Hulk keeps those clean and safe instead

Team dad for a reason. Fathers anything he can get his hands on and well known for it enough that Rick and Skaar get him something for fathers day every year and Jen gets him goofy ties because she KNOWS he doesn’t throw them out

Pretty relaxed about being pan and yes he makes jokes about being attracted to kitchenware he’s THAT terrible Rick wants to die and not come back pls

Buys a lot of pride stuff for the others. Skaar owns so many nb and ace colour chalks he needs help

Really wants to own a guinea pig but he’s worried about scaring it or not being around all that often to take care of it properly

Falls asleep through almost every movie that he usually starts one half of it one day and finishes it the next day

Meets up with Ben Grimm and Logan Howlett every Wednesday for a night out. Usually they do bowling, play cards or go out to eat. It’s isn’t uncommon for other heroes like Spidey or Gambit to join them occasionally

Has business lunches with Betty to discuss movements of gamma mutates that turns into a fun brawl because they’re immortal children

Keeps a whiteboard in his room so that he can have arguments with Joe and Bruce.

Samuel

Keeps his outfit relatively the same but adjusts it slightly so it isn’t the exact same outfit he wears back when he was evil

Tends to cover up more after he gains a power that lets him control people just by touch

Aware of this power and thus often awkwardly flitters when someone near him might be upset and keeps spare gloves or arm sleeves on hard just in case

Has the sharpest teeth of all the hulks and actually tends to file them down so he doesn’t need to “scare people off” when in reality he’s self conscious about his teeth and the fact that he keeps biting his tongue by accident

Buys and redesigns Icarus’s cage every other month to make it more elaborate, is currently fighting the constant urge to buy more rats for this reason

Demiboy! Fine with what he is, doesn’t give a shit. He rules hell and he’ll send you there if you argue with him so who the fuck cares if Samuel wears dresses and makeup?

Big stupid bi. Cannonly into women who are more powerful than him with examples being Rikki (Aka Brilliance, a female Leader) who kicked his ass and threw him across the room with her more advanced mind, Betty Ross...who can blame him, and lately is that one scientist in Hulkverine who Samuel literally fell for within one night sksksk

Big manipulator for people he cares about. Samuel has and will make elaborate plans to keep someone he cares about safe and is more than willing to kill anyone who has hurt his loved ones

Owns a large collection of nail polishes and tends to vary them when he’s bored and creates amazing art. Red watched Samuel once spend and hour re-creating all of Van Gogh’s paintings on his nails

Really good friends with Betty surprisingly, mostly because she can make jokes about being dead and he’ll just snort and go “same”

Has the second best sense of smell after Skaar as he can smell early signs of sickness as well as a wider range of emotions

Info dumps so much and has long winded theories about the oddest things that resonate really well on the Youtube channel

talks to his oversized rat so seriously

Suffers nightmares and currently runs the Down Below and is so tired

Has actually died from exhaustion twice already

Has large sockets in his back due to the fact that Samuel physically cannot hold the information he knows all the time and uses it to charge his phone

Still hangs out with villains like Loki and Mystique tho

#Headcanon #found in body lost in mind (Skaar)#movie star (Rick)#green goddess (Jen)#one man army (Red)#the loneliest there is (Hulk)#he swims in a sea of regret (Leader)#hate and love are both red (Betty)

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pomegranate-belle · 3 years

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I was rewatching the DD Netflix series and I noticed how Foggy drinks a LOT. Like more than anyone in their trio except for that time Karen finishes a whole bottle of wine after killing Wesley which, that’s fair. But it made me play with the possibility of Foggy being mildly alcoholic, though a functioning one. I mean, the series doesn’t address their financial situation a lot (which annoyed me honestly) but Karen explicitly mentions that they’re out of money in the first S2 episode. Foggy cheerfully waved it off but come on, he comes from at best a lower middle class family, dealing with some college debt and has had to be hospitalized twice. His expenses throughout the series would be much higher than Matt’s. It annoyed me that the show never mentioned how badly Matt bailing out on the firm and insisting on taking pro bono cases would effect Foggys finances which would make him leaving so much more justifiable. Even after Matt ‘dies’ we’re shown him at a bar drinking his sorrows away. So foggy being a mild alcoholic to keep up with the stress? Plausible right? It made me want a post S3 fic where Matt notices all of this for the first time and finally gets it. Also worried/guilty Matt is my kink. Don’t judge me! Any chance you would attempt oh great author! (Sincere Flattery should get me somewhere right?). Matt Overhearing Fog and Marci arguing over how Fog going back to Matt and the stress might make his alcoholic tendencies worse, is a good place to start

I think you’re very right about Foggy having an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. On a scale of characters that includes Jessica Jones, whose alcoholism is front and center in her show, Foggy might not seem that bad off, but the fact of the matter is we’ve seen in Daredevil that he habitually deals with his emotions by drinking. A good deal of his drinking appears to be social, even some cases where he gets really drunk — ex: the night he and Karen “drink the eel”, the “avocados at law” night in college — but that’s not the extent of it. He drinks very heavily at Elena’s death (likely due to guilt, since he was the one who encouraged her to keep fighting for her home), it’s implied that he drinks almost nightly after Matt’s “death” at the end of the Defenders, etc. In other words, Foggy drinks when he’s upset or stressed out — I imagine that means he probably drinks often while working at HCB, because although his financial situation improves there dramatically it seems to also be a stressful job. This isn’t unique to Netflix Foggy either. Earth-65’s DA Nelson (from the Spider-Gwen comics) is seen drinking in his office when he’s in a tough position.

Alcoholism is a serious issue that I think requires a lot of gravity and thoughtfulness to portray without falling into common and harmful stereotypes or misconceptions, so these kinds of issues being used as whump/hurt-comfort fodder personally makes me a little uneasy. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for Matt as a character to be worried about his best friend, or want to help him, or even to feel guilty about the way his actions might have exacerbated Foggy’s drinking... But this isn’t really Matt’s issue. It’s not something he can “fix” for Foggy — this is a problem that already existed, and that Foggy would need to be active in seeking professional assistance with. It would be good for him to have a support system in that endeavor, yes — I think his family and Karen and Marci and the Mahoneys would probably all be on board with that, in addition to Matt — but it’s something Foggy personally would have to decide he was ready for.

I also agree with you that the show doesn’t do a great job giving us an accurate picture of Team Avocado’s finances — my guess is, mainly because they didn’t want to have to deal with them in a plot-relevant way. Saying “oh the firm’s in the red” is a shortcut to making N&M the underdogs/“little guys” by default and contrasting them with people like Fisk or L&Z. But making that poverty a reality in a more than cursory way would mean drawing attention away from the crime-fighting plot and putting a lot of energy towards “realism” that the show wasn’t interested in expending. I have, however, read a fic or two where this is addressed with Foggy living at the office because he can’t afford an apartment.

I think a story exploring both of these things — especially the effect an alcohol addiction could potentially have on Foggy’s already limited finances — would be really interesting to see. But I don’t know that it’s the kind of story I’d feel confident writing, and I’m not comfortable with the idea of leveraging these issues mainly as plot points to make Matt feel guilty. Thank you, though!

#alcoholism mention #thanks for the ask!

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majingojira · 4 years

Text

Spider-Man Real-Time Aging Timeline

I’ve been asked to get on my crazy again with this, this time for Spider-Man. Well, here goes and boy, this is about to get WEIRD! A lot of this IS based on Spider-Man: Life Story, so if you are wondering about something, refer to that.

Because there’s a LOT of Spider-Man events out there, I couldn’t include them all without going totally nuts. If you have a question about them, ask! Though beware, “The writers made that up” is a possible explanation. 1946 - Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Jessica Drew, Luke Cage, “Flash” Thompson, and Gwen Stacy born. 1947 - Peter’s Parents die under somewhat mysterious circumstances. His Aunt May and Uncle Ben Parker take him in.

1950 - Julia Carpenter born. 1962 - Peter Parker, 16 years old, invents a quick-drying temporary adhesive with properties similar to spider silk as an entry in a science fair (with hopes of catching someone’s eye to sell the invention to in order to aid his aunt and uncle). Unfortunately, one of the other entries was a might volatile and explodes. Peter is caught in the blast radius and injured. Worse, while on the ground an escaped Tarantula bites his hand in its panic. Peter recovers, but the incident was quite traumatic, and he associated everything that followed with that spider.

When he recovers, he finds himself stronger, faster, and tougher than he was before, and more ‘aware’ of his surroundings. Worse, he was ‘seeing’ things before they happened. He doesn’t know what to do with these abilities at first but is inspired by seeing the masked wrestler El Santo perform on TV. He hits on the idea of fighting for money with a masked identity. It goes rather well, but we know how this song and dance goes by now.

After his, he invents gloves and boots to better help him climb across surfaces, as well as web-shooters for ranged entrapment. He soon figured out web-swinging from there. And thus, Spider-Man was born! But what did cause his powers to awaken? It goes back a few hundred years. One of the greatest swordsmen of all time was a man named Zatoichi. Upon learning of this man, one of the greatest criminal masterminds of all time (Fu Manchu) attempted to re-create this man’s skills. This eventually led to the creation of the Nanjin, a sect of Warrior Monks who ritually blinded themselves to “See With the Heart”. Over time, The Devil Doctor did his best to be eugenic about the subject, but random mutation is going to random. Peter Parker his the jackpot with his genes. Upon suffering a horrendous injury, an epigenetic response kicked in and he became as they were--more in fact with an enhanced musculature and reaction time on top of it. How strong is he? Well, starting out, he was a very athletic human, far more so for his size and weight. After fighting and working out for a few years, he could give some species of vampire a go without much problem. Especially with his “spider-sense”.

And yes, Daredevil is a trained Nanjin. Obviously.

Also, this year, Jessica Drew is the only survivor of a car crash into a chemical truck that kills her family. With no one to watch her, she is kidnapped and experimented on by HYDRA. 1962-1966 - Many of Spider-Man’s classic rogues appear in this timeframe. Notable oddities about them based on what people assume are as follows: Vulture’s ‘flight harness’ was based on the old Doc Savage designed Rocket Pack, most famously employed by the Rocketeer (Cliff Seacord) back in the Late 30s/Early 40s; Otto Octavius is a Cthulhu Cultist; The Sandman is a person who absorbed a juvenile Founder/Changeling and gained some semblance of their shapeshifting abilities; The Lizard is likely tied to the experiments which created the “Alligator Man” of Bayou Landing (The Alligator People); Electro is one of several known “Electrical Mutants” -- people who were born with an electro-kinetic ability.

1964 - Norman Osborn becomes the Green Goblin.

1965 - Peter Parker meets Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy.

1966 - Flash Thompson goes to Vietnam.

1969 - The death of George Stacy, Gwen Stacy’s Father.

1972 - Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 - Spider-Man and Shang-Chi team up against Shang’s Father, Fu Manchu.

Peter Parker marries Gwen Stacy. 1973 - Giant-Size Spide-Man #1 - Spider-Man tangles with (a) Dracula.

1974 - Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 - Spider-Man helps resolve a case started by Doc Savage in 1934.

Flash Thompson comes back from Vietnam with a wife, Sha-Shan Nguyen-Thompson, but without his legs.

Jessica Drew escapes Hydra’s indoctrination and tries to make headway as a hero on her own as “Spider-Woman”. It does not go well.

1975 - Marvel Team-Up #36-37 - Spider-Man meets Frankenstein’s Monster. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man - Spider-Man is tricked into fighting the legendary Superman by the machinations of Otto Octavius and Lex Luthor. They eventually team up and stop the malcontents. 1976 - Jessica Drew decides to re-invent herself as the heroine “Jewel” since her powers really have very little to do with Spiders. 1977 - Professor Miles Warren’s plan of making Gwen Stacy his own via “cloning” is exposed by the ‘new’ Green Goblin, Harry Osborn. Unfortunately, tat technology is over a decade away, and his “Clone” is more “Human Meat Puppet” and rather horrifying. In the conflagration/confrontation, he and Gwen Stacy are killed. Harry Osborn disappears for a time... Mary Jane Watson-Osborn and Peter Parker comfort each other over their mutual losses.

Jessica Drew finds herself under the thrall of a mind-mage known as “The Purple Man.” The thrall is eventually broken, but though she manages to recover, it leaves scars.

1978 - Marvel Team-Up #79 - Thanks to a mystical malady, Spider-Man battles Kulan Gath, and things could have ended up badly for him, if not for the revelation that Mary-Jane Watson was a descendant of Red Sonja of Hyrkania. Touching an artifact allowed the She-Devil to manifest in the present and aid Spider-Man in taking down her ancient foe.

Spider-Man first encounters the blind seer Madame Web.

Birth of Samuel Thompson to Flash and Sha-Shan Thompson.

Jessica Drew takes up two new identities, Knightress (for about 5 minutes) and Jessica Jones to distance herself from what happened.

1980 - Marvel Treasury Edition #28 - Spider-Man manages to accidentally thwart the plans of Doctor Doom, to turn the monster known as Parasite into a massive energy storage device after it drained the life force from the Hulk, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

Secret War - Spider-Man is one of the many people invited to this decade’s Mortal Kombat tournament. Unfortunately for Shao Khan, so is Superman (Clark Kent), and he utterly wrecks the event, making the whole thing a wash, forcing Shao Khan to wait another decade to continue his win streak. The monstrous being known as “Venom” follows Spider-Man from Outworld. One of the people taken in by this is a survivor of “The Shop”, Julia Carpenter. Taking a cue from Spider-Man, she dubs herself Spider-Woman (II).

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson marry.

Mattie Franklin born.

1981 - Marvel Team-Up #111-112 - Spider-Man has a time-traveling adventure featuring King Kull, battling against Valusian Serpent-Men. Marvel Team-Up Annual #5 - Spider-Man has more adventures with the Serpent-Men and their ancient enemies, Kull and Conan.

1982 - The monster “Venom” reveals himself. Its first host is Eddie Brock.

May “Mayday” Parker is born.

1983 - The Venom creature spawns, creating the horror known as Carnage. It goes on to spawn more Symbiotes. Jessica Jones has a child with Luke Cage (Daniel Cage) and later marries him. 1984 - Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds - Spider-Man and Batman (III) team-up.

Kraven’s Last Hunt occurs.

Cindy Moon, the grandaughter of Flash Thompson, born.

1985 - Batman/Spider-Man - Batman and Spider-Man team up once again.

1988 - Anya Corazon born.

1990 - Julia Carpenter retires as Spider-Woman, Madame Web begins recruiting her as a replacement for herself.

1991 - Richard Wentworth jr., the descendant of the pulp-era anti-hero known as The Spider takes to the streets, and takes umbrage with the ‘pretender’ that is Peter Parker. He and Peter clash several times over the next few years, and the comic industry uses the presence of a ‘second Spider” to inflate the “Clone Saga” to ridiculous levels.

Thanks to developments from InGen being stolen when the company was liquidated in 1990, Efforts to Clone Spider-Man go forward under multiple groups. The results are nicknamed “Kaine” but artificial again technology doesn’t exist, so it wouldn’t bear fruit for many years.

1993 - May Parker Sr. passes away.

1995 - Richard Wentworth jr. goes to more volatile places around the world to sate his bloodlust.

Miles Morales born.

1996 - Gwen Stacy (II), niece of Gwen Stacy (via Gabriel Stacy) is born.

Mattie Franklin, a half-demon with arachnid affinities decided to become “Spider-Woman”. Her desire to prove herself causes quite a few problems.

1998 - Mayday Parker has her first outing as Spider-Girl under her parent's noses. After a few of these outings, she catches Mattie Franklin’s attention, who challenges her to a “Title Fight.” Mattie loses and chooses to go by “The Scarlet Spider” for a time afterward.

Benjamin Parker is born to Peter and Mary Jane Parker.

Cindy Moon is identified by the Nanjin and is kidnapped for ‘training’ by them. She ends up with a similar condition to Peter Parker.

2000 - Peter Parker retires from being Spider-Man and working Biotech to become a teacher at his old High School. Mayday Parker takes over properly as Spider-Girl.

2003 - Anya Corazon is kidnapped by the tattered remains of the organization known as Shocker and partly transformed into a quasi-magical cyborg super-soldier by them. She is rescued before she could be brainwashed by Kamen Rider (Kamen Rider Spirits). She takes her new ‘gift’ and becomes known as “Arana”, though people often call her “The Other Spider-Girl” to both her and Mayday’s annoyance.

2004 - Mattie Franklin dies battling drug-runners.

2005 - Samuel Thompson becomes bonded to the “Venom” Symbiot (or a facsimile thereof) by the U.S. Government. Dubbed “Agent Venom” he works with them as he furthers his military career.

Julia Carpenter takes over formally as Madame Web on the original’s passing.

2009 - Miles Morales is bitten by a spider carrying an attempt to create a retroviral payload to make Nanjin Adepts. He nearly dies from the venom, but it works -- with an added perk or two.

2011 - Miles Morales becomes Spider-Man with Peter and May’s blessings.

Kaine Parker reveals his existence to Peter, but more out of obligation, as he’d rather be left alone. He is not, thanks to mystical shenanigans. Even moving to Huston doesn’t help in that regard. He dubs himself “The Scarlet Spider”.

2012 - Cindy Moon escapes the Nanjin order and goes to “Spider-Man” to help. Mayday Parker does her best to get her settled after over a decade in isolation.

2013 - The “Ghost Spider” appears, and is eventually revealed to be Gwen Stacy (II), niece and namesake of the Gwen Stacy Peter knew. She is ‘accepted’ by the family, but has been through quite a lot and is often chastised for making bad decisions.

2018 - Miles Morales has his mind swapped with that of the extremely aged Otto Octavius via a dark ritual.

2019 - Miles Morales is freed of Otto’s domination of his mind. However, the Grand-Nephew of Otto Octavius (name currently unknown) begins causing him problems, dubbing himself the “Superior Spider-Man.”

#Spider-Man #Chronology #Timeline #Peter Parker #Mary Jane Watson #Crossover #Crossover Timeline #Miles Morales #Anya Corazon #Cindy Moon #Kaine Parker #Jessica Drew #Jessica Jones #Gwen Stacy #Ghost Spider #Julia Carpenter

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rwbyvein · 4 years

Text

Firen Lhain: Chapter 207: Varmint

JNPR walked with Red along the road.

"Soooo?.." Nora asked, "You don't always get into shootouts with bandits?"

"Nope." Red said, and spat on the ground.

"But, like..." Nora asked, "Bandits exist, right?"

"You know it." Red added.

"They're not a problem?" Pyrrha asked.

"Bandits are only a problem when they are. They come out of nowhere, grab what they want, and leave. Most people don't know what's happening until their loved ones are dead."

"They like... kill everyone?" Nora asked.

"Truth be told, they don't care if you live or die..." Red stated. "They just want your things; but for them, it's often easier if you're dead."

"Are all bandits so professional?" Ren queried.

"There's two kinds of bandits," Red replied, "the good... and the dead... The bad ones don't last very long."

"Okay... but?..." Nora asked, "you can still do tricks with your gun, right?"

Red quickly drew his revolver, pulled the hammer, and shot an apple off a tree, all in a split second. "Of course I can." Red replied, before quickly reholstering his pistol. "The thing about being a sheriff is that you don't know someone's going to try and kill you before they draw their weapon. Grimm are a bit more forward in that regard." The five walked up to a farmhouse. "This here is the house of the Marigold family. Somethin' happened last night, you're job is to figure out what. I'll be here to help you if you have any questions."

Red then walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened and an older women looked out at them. She then quickly opened the door. "Are these the children from Beacon?" she excitedly asked.

"Yep." Red replied.

"Well, hello dearies. I'm Gwen Marigold." she said, and tried her best to curtsey. She then stepped aside. "Come in! Come in!" JNPR walked inside, Jaune last, ducking under the entryway. Gwen gestured for Red to move in, and he did, pulling off his hat. "Can I get you dearies anything?" she asked, and NPR looked at Jaune.

"I don't see why not?" Jaune asked, and Gwen excitedly clapped her hands and rushed into the kitchen.

"That there was the wrong answer." Red stated and then sighed. "We're going to be here a while."

"Surely we can..." Ren tried ot say, but Red just slowly shook his head.

"And just which of you fancy huntsmen are going to hurt her feelin's?" JNPR looked between each other. "Now your job is even harder; you got to ask her questions while she's trying to shove you full of her delicious cuisine."

"Anything I need worry about?" Gwen asked as she walked out with a tray.

"Just telling them how delicious your cookin' is." Red replied.

* * *

JNPR walked into the back yard, slamming the door behind him. The four of them hunched over. Nora let out an incredible belch, followed by a trio of less impressive ones. "She is a good cook." Nora stated.

"I do not believe anyone is disputing that." Ren stated, and Red walked around the side of the house.

"And just what do you think yer doing? You locked me inside with her?! Now, let's hope you're not too well fed to do some investigatin'." He gestured to the far fence, and JNPR... waddled... towards it... In the base of the fence they saw a hole. "Alright, pop quiz, how big is the smallest known Grimm?"

"At the shoulders?," Pyrrha asked, "about a metre. Height, about half."

"So?," Red asked, "if the Grimm squatted down, could he get trhough here?"

"Indeed." Ren stated.

"Now, the big question: Did he?"

JNPR all looked between each other, NPR's eyes all eventually fixing on Jaune. Jaune accepted their choice, and looked at the fence, and then the ground. The fence was broken. By the fresh damage, it seemed recently. There were scratches on the ground with fresh soil Something definitely clawed it ways in, here, something at least as big as a wolf. Jaune looked at Pyrrha. "The smallest Grimm?" he asked.

"Locks." Pyrrha stated, "Like large coyotes."

Jaune then looked to Red, "Did anyone hear anything?"

Red lightly shook his head side-to-side, "A bit of scratching. Not much else. Most folk around here know well enough to not go lookin' for trouble."

"What damage was done?" Jaune asked.

"Killed the hound." Red stated.

Jaune looked at him as he thought it over, before looking around the yard. He focused on a chicken coop. Red's eyes grew wide and developed a wicked smile. "Was the dog eaten?" Jaune asked. Red gestured off to the side, and the four quickly walked over, spreading around the bloodied dog. Jaune grabbed a nearby stick and flipped the carcass over. There were obvious bite and claw marks, but not much flesh missing. The wounds were mostly defensive. The creature came here to kill the dog, and that seemed to be it. He looked back towards the breach, and there was no signs of dripping blood... or any other physical remnant of the creature.

"Why would the Grimm kill the dog... and leave?.." Ren asked.

"To make you angry." Red stated, "Most Grimm might not have much of a head on their shoulders, but anger... anger they understand. Anger makes you stupid, makes you easy prey. Lucky for us, folks around here know well enough to not give into it. Ever year we get a team to come visit our small li'l town."

"Quite a wise relationship." Ren stated.

"Sooooo?.." Nora asked, "are we going to... I don't know... hunt... the Grimm?.."

"Did you learn enough to think you can?" Red asked.

Once again JNPR looked between each other. Once again NPR ended up looking at Jaune. He breathed in deep. "I guess now's a good time to see how we are at tracking Grimm."

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said, as she lifted up her hand.

"Pyrrha?" Jaune asked.

"You could throw me into the air..." Pyrrha voiced.

Nora lifted up her hand and eagerly started shouting for attention. Jaune rolled his eyes, and drew his sword. He grabbed his scabbard and expanded it into a shield. He crouched and lifted it above his head. Pyrrha stepped onto the shield. Jaune used all of his strength and aura to launch Pyrrha into the air. He looked over to see Nora nearly crying.

"Leader?" she whined.

"If you go up, you won't come back down." Jaune stated. Pyrrha spiraled up before balancing herself as she looked around. "I want us all to know where we are going before you take off."

"He does have a point." Ren stated. "You do have a tendency to depart expediently."

Jaune held his shield above his head and lowered it as soon as Pyrrha's feet touched down, craddling the impact. Once she had been dampened enough she stepped down. "So?" Jaune asked.

"I do believe he is watching us." Pyrrha stated. Pyrrha then subtly turned her head to the side, Nora and Ren's heads following her gaze.

"Distance?" Jaune asked.

"About 250 metres," Pyrrha stated, "though I did not get a good sighting picture."

Jaune then held his shield up and looked at Nora. A ridiculously large grin appeared on her face. Jaune crouched down, holding the shield above his head. Nora stepped onboard and Jaune launched her as he had Pyrrha. Just after the peek, Nora opened her wings on the way down, letting the wind build up before gliding off into the distance. Jaune looked to Pyrrha and then over to a relief that had a view over the fence. Pyrrha stepped over, drawing Miló. As it moved into her hand it turned into a rifle, and she looked through the optical sight. Jaune looked between Pyrrha and where Nora was headed. He saw Pyrrha react, and looked to Ren. Ren ran towards Jaune. Jaune once again crouched down, shield above him, and once again launched a teammate into the air, this time on an arc towards where Nora was headed. He looked at Pyrrha who noticed this and looked back. She turned Miló into a short spear and ran off, circling around Jaune until she was aimed at the target, at which point she ran straight at him, being launched into the air once again. Jaune collapsed his shield, sheathed his sword, and ran to the fence, leaping over it, running off to where his team mates had gone. The obvious sound of Dust fire beckoning him. Soon after their was a large pink explosion.

Jaune thought to his earlier leap. About how he had used his aura to enhance his legs, along with something else he was uncertain about. He used this to enchance his strides to the point he was moving several yards with a single step. He quickly caught up to the group. The Locks had apparently lead them to a group of Beowulves. Certainly not what he was expecting. But that was the point of this, wasn't it?, to challenge their expectations? "Nora." Jaune said. She looked at him, and saw him once again crouching down with his shield over his head. She smilled brilliantly and ran towards him, once again being launched into the air. She rose above the canopy of trees. She used her wings to control her spin as she looked around, not seeing any more Grimm. She glided down, landing with tremendous force. She just shrugged at her leader. JNPR looked around at the dissolving bodies.

* * *

JNPR walked back, finding Red sitting on top of the fence. "So, y'all had a bit of fun."

"That's not why we're huntsmen." Jaune stated.

Red jumped down from the fence and stepped up to them. "So, now what?"

"Now what, what?" Nora asked.

"You killed the Grimm." Red stated, "You could claim your reward."

"Implying there is another course of action?" Ren asked.

Jaune stared at Red, and his team turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said, and everyone looked at her. "We could look around to see if we see any more signs?.."

"Hm." Ren affirmed, and Jaune nodded.

"Ask me a question," Red asked, "that I can answer."

"Have you seen any more?.." Jaune asked.

"Yes." Red said with glee as he cut him off. "Let's head on over."

#rwby #firen lhain #faunus au #pollinated knight ending

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 4 years

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Did MJ try to make Spidey retire?

Short answer: Never when she was in character and never unjustifiably!

The number of times I’ve heard people claim this is unbelievable. I’m going to settle this shit once and for all. Feel free to share this with anyone making these claims.

The simplest way to do this would be to run through things chronologically.

Unless anybody can bring up other examples, off the top of my head I can recall only three times before ‘One More Day’ where MJ floated the idea of Peter retiring.

The first time was in ASM #283. However the important context of this is that Peter himself has already resolved to quit as soon as he is done with his latest case involving his friend Flash Thompson.

However further important context is that Peter has resolved to retire even earlier in ASM #275 and in that issue it was MJ (after learning his origin story) who encouraged him to NOT quit.

An issue later she was back to being against his work as Spider-Man.

However, many issues around this era (which was before they got married!) depict MJ flip-flopping on her feelings and the reasons why boil down to her being concerned for Peter’s safety.

At which point why is MJ being out of order in desiring him to retire? She loves this man and doesn’t want him to be hurt but also understands why he does what he does and it’s that fundamental heroism that is a major reason for why she loves him. This is again summed up in Web of Spider-Man #6.

Next up we have an example of when MJ didn’t ask Peter to quit. But people always treat it as though she did so we’re going to address it anyway.

It stems from the clusterfuck that was ‘Maximum Carnage’.

Let’s give you that all-important context.

In Spider-Man Unlimited #1 Pete and MJ are attending Harry Osborn’s funeral. Harry died in chronologically the story right before ‘Maximum Carnage’ so this is a very fresh wound; he died merely days earlier.

Prior to his death, Harry had been waging months of psychological warfare on the Parkers and even tried to kill Peter. His attempt actually almost killed MJ and his own son Normie. During this whole time Harry’s wife (now widow) Liz Allan had been pushed to her wits end too.

As a result Mary Jane is reluctant to talk to Liz.

Also, for months now (starting with Carnage’s debut actually) MJ had taken up smoking to cope with the stress of their lives, chiefly her concern for Peter’s well-being. This topic and her behaviour at the funeral gets raised when they return home.

The talk zeroes in on the risks to Peter’s life and how he and MJ got lucky with Harry. MJ asks Peter to take a break for a week or two.

Not retire permanently.

Not take an indefinite hiatus.

Not even take a break for a month or definitely two weeks.

She literally asks for 7-14 Spider-Man free days so they can de-stress and catch their breaths in the wake of a serious crisis and loss.

Peter promises he will.

Unfortunately Carnage has just broken free of the authorities and formed a gang.

For the sake of argument let’s say MJ doesn’t know much about Carnage’s cronies. She just knows he has back up.

However, she absolutely knows about Carnage.

As his name implies, is an incredibly lethal foe. You know Venom, that guy who’s famous for being a bigger badder version of Spider-Man? Yeah Carnage is an even more powerful version of that guy. Spider-Man one-on-one is physically incapable to defeating him and had to team up with Venom to do it. Even then they actually weren’t strong enough to beat him physically because Carnage is stronger than the pair of them combined!

Making matters worse Carnage’s whole body is extremely durable to injury, with blunt force not being the most effective way of fighting him. His forte is being able to quickly generate a large arsenal of sharp edged weapons from his body; think the T-1000.

This skillset is appropriate given how Carnage prior to obtaining any of these super powers was already a highly violent and sadistic serial killer who killed purely for the pleasure of it. How violent and sadistic? 11 life sentences merely for hi known crimes. That’s how violent and sadistic. And again, this was when he was just a normal guy.

Oh, and on top of all that he doesn’t trigger Peter’s Spider Sense, making him immeasurably more vulnerable to an already overwhelming powerful foe.

He is possibly the single most physically dangerous Spider-Man villain of all!

This isn’t idle little trivia about the character by the way. It is key to his whole concept and was laid out explicitly in his original appearance. In fact, in that first appearance he was so powerful that Peter was helpless and forced to team up with Venom, who lived to kill him!

Even when backed up by Cloak and Dagger, Spider-Man’s ribs take a pounding from Carnage, Shriek and Doppelganger. It is in this injured state he returns home to a concerned and naturally upset Mary Jane.

She then begins an argument with Peter when he tells her he plans on going back out there.

Let’s sum up so far.

MJ has been stressed for months prior to this to the point where she’s started smoking.

Peter and her nearly died mere days ago because their friend went psycho.

Said friend died in front of them.

Their other friend, his wife (who MJ was naturally going to relate more to since they were both the wives of costumes folks) is now a grieving widow.

MJ’s husband promised her he’d take a break for a little while so they can recover a bit.

Her husband then almost immediately went back on that promise.

His risking his life again against a bad guy who’s all but guaranteed to kill him if he fights him alone.

Last time MJ’s husband beat this guy he did it with the help of a powerful nasty piece of work who wanted to kill him. Even then they only just won. That’s how dangerous Carnage is.

This time Peter is fighting him alone, whilst injured, and Carnage has two people backing him up.

So if it wasn’t a guarantee that Peter was dead meat before, now she might as well get ahead by planning the funeral.

THAT is the context behind MJ’s rage and desire for Peter to not be Spider-Man temporarily in this story.

However, noticeably by the end of the story she’s changed her mind!

We then jump forward to the ‘Clone Saga’, specifically a mini-series called Spider-Man: the Final Adventure.

The context behind this story was that Peter, upon believing he was a clone and that Ben Reilly was in truth the original Peter Parker, had decided to retire and support a pregnant Mary Jane.

To this end they had both left New York but due to a lab experiment involving Peter’s blood a serial killer had mutated into a spiderlike monster. With no other heroes around Peter suits up again as Spider-Man to the dismay of the heavily pregnant Mary Jane who wants him to NOT do that.

Is this MJ being not as understanding as she could be, maybe even selfish to some degree?

Sure.

Is it also Peter being in the wrong too?

Also yes, the story brilliantly points that out.

But more significantly prior to this story the Parkers had been through Hell.

In less than a year (in-universe):

Peter’s robot parents had turned up pretending to be the genuine articles

They’d betrayed Peter, breaking his heart

Their close friend Harry Osborn had gone mad

Harry and used his knowledge of Peter’s identity to torment the Parkers

Aunt May had gone into a coma

Peter had suffered a mental breakdown

Ben Reilly and other clones had shown up (including clones of Pter’s murdered lover Gwen Stacy)

Aunt May has passed away

Peter was framed for murder

MJ had been targeted for abduction more than once

They’d discovered MJ was pregnant and that the baby might have serious health issues due to Peter’s mutated DNA

Peter was revealed as a clone and had a second mental breakdown

During his mental distress Peter had accidentally smacked MJ across the room

The Jackal had nearly killed everyone on the planet

The Jackal mind controlled Peter into trying to murder MJ

MJ had nearly died due to complications with the pregnancy

That isn’t even everything but all that stuff had been happening across the previous three years of publication alone. And as I said in-universe it was less than a year.

So MJ and Peter had been through a LOT of horrible and stressful things that had put them both on the edge and sometimes over it. Most of that stuff was connected to Peter’s life as Spider-Man that MJ always had mixed feelings about at best. And now after Peter FINALLY retired and their lives were blissfully normal, allowing them to catch their breaths and do some much needed healing, Peter is coming out of retirement…When it isn’t 100% necessary for him to do so.

And all this is happening during MJ’s second or third trimester when she is very obviously heavily pregnant. This often can be a stressful time for pregnant people generally and of course sometimes mood swings occur due to hormones firing all over the place. And MJ is dealing with super powered spider hormones on top of all this. With a baby that is a total lottery because nobody on Earth has ever been pregnant with a half human/half spider powered baby before.

Given that she is dealing with ALL that is it really unreasonable for her to desire for Peter to simply continue to be retired.

She isn’t demanding he give up being a hero.

She is angry and demanding that Peter CONTINUE the choice he already made about giving up.

Which is not the same thing and she was okay with him going back into the hero game after he pregnancy concluded.

Finally we come to the Howard Macke/John Byrne run on Spider-Man where MJ again desired Peter’s retirement.

Here is the thing, MJ once again was desiring Peter STAY retired as opposed to demanding he outright quit.

Moreover the Mackie/Byrne era was a period where MJ, Peter and other characters were often written incredibly out of character practically systemically. For example Flash Thompson behind Peter’s back literally made fun of the fact that his girlfriend Gwen Stacy and his wife Mary Jane were dead (at the time MJ’s death was faked by a stalker).

Peter and MJ were actually written in this reductive way back during this run as part of an editorial policy to break up the marriage.

The thinking at the time was to make their relationship unlikable in order to make people glad for when they got rid of it via killing off Mary Jane and leaving Peter single.

So essentially not only was MJ and Peter out of character back during this era but they were literally being sabotaged so readers would hate them.

Between that and how OOC (out of character) the characterizations were back then this by rights should simply not count in any analysis of the characters.

Now, there have been instanced post-OMD of MJ clearly wanting, asking, demanding, etc. for Peter to quit.

But as with the Mackie/Byrne era (or Black Cat from 2009-2018) these are out of character and should not truly count.

So when written in character and when there are not extenuating circumstances (like pregnancies) involved, Mary Jane would actually not ask Peter to quit and never truly has.

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shirtlesssammy · 4 years

Text

6x01: Exile on Main St.

Then:

The Apocalypse that didn’t stick

Now:

One year later, Dean’s living his apple pie life.

We get a glimpse into that life: Cut with memories of Dean’s former life, we see Dean make breakfast for Ben, work construction, share brewskies with neighbors, show Ben the ropes of car maintenance, and check the perimeter of his home (because that’s what war veterans do when they have severe and unchecked PTSD.) He’s got a very soft life, but he still keeps a shotgun and holy water under his bed.

He’s out having a beer with his neighbor, and his neighbor wants all the details of his life before suburbia. Dean gives a cover story of “Pest control.”

The waitress gives Dean her number (and who can blame a girl for trying?), but Dean’s taken and he tears the number up. Later, when leaving the bar, Dean hears a scream in the distance. With a flashlight in hand, he goes to investigate.

It’s pigeons! No, wait, there are claw marks and blood on the wall.

Later, he’s scanning the police dispatches and on the phone with the cops. Lisa walks in and Dean covers by saying he’s setting up a poker game. At 11:30pm.

Dean checks the perimeter before going to bed.

While driving the next day, he sees claw marks on a telephone pole. He pulls over and finds shredded sheets in someone’s backyard. He heads for the garden shed, gun drawn. It also has claw marks, and something is inside.

It’s Dean’s #1 Nemesis, a Yorkie!

The dog takes off, and Dean’s neighbor sees Dean with a gun. His cover this time: “Possums kill.” Good one, Dean! Dean then sees sulfur on the shed floor.

He rushes home to load up on supplies. Lisa walks into the garage, and Dean acts like he’s just grabbing a hammer. She asks about the dog, and then asks if he’s hunting something. He admits to his OCD about this situation, asks her to go to the movies with Ben, and he’ll do one final check in the area. He’s definitely downplaying what he thinks is happening.

After Lisa leaves, he starts looking through his dad’s journal, but stops when the lights start to flicker and he hears a noise. He turns to see Azazel right beside him. Azazel mocks Dean and tells him that God brought Cas back, why not him? “Add a little spice to all that sugar.” Wow, never paid attention to that line before. Dean shoots him but it does nothing. Azazel puts Dean in a choke hold. “You can’t outrun your past,” he tells Dean. And just before he passes out, Sam (!) comes behind Azazel and stabs him with a syringe of something.

Dean comes to in a derelict building and Sam, or something looking like Sam is with him.

Sam tells Dean that he was poisoned and what he’s been seeing isn’t real. He’s real though. Of course! He goes through the silver/holy water/salt routine and passes with flying colors.

Dean hugs his brother. He doesn’t quite believe it though. Sam has no clue how he’s back. “Was it God, or Cas?” Dean wonders. Yes.

Cas isn’t answering Sam’s prayers.

Sam then admits to being back about a year. EEESH. Something seems off about our Moose. Ahem. He tells Dean that he deserves a regular life (YOU BOTH DO.) and that he’s been hunting this whole time with --family. Dean meets Gwen, Parker Lewis Christian, and Mark...Campbell. They’re all distant cousins of Mary’s. And then the real surprise walks in: Samual Campbell, Mary’s long dead father.

Every now and again, I have to stop and take a moment to think about the fact that Walter Skinner is Sam and Dean’s grandfather and my little fandom mind just explodes. It’s like that time that Sam Beckett dated Murphy Brown. I swear.

Dean needs a moment too, because multiple unexplained resurrections in one day is A LOT.

Dean is 100% freaked out by all the revelations. Sam adds one more to the pile. A few days prior, he was attacked by a djinn and they think the same djinn is after Dean. Oh, and djinn totally blend into all of humankind now - visible markings are now optional. Samuel happens to know a cure for djinn poison. “Stick around and I’ll show you tricks your daddy never dreamed of!” Samuel promises chirpily. Aaaaand suddenly I gain a greater understanding of the kind of bullshit posturing Mary put up with from the men in her life. Dean realizes that djinn gunning for him means that Lisa and Ben are also in the crosshairs. He and Sam race back to Lisa’s house.

Outside the house, Campbell cousin #??? sits dead in his car. The door to the house stands open and nobody answers Dean’s calls. Dean’s busy ascending to the ninth plane of freaked out when Lisa returns. Dean gives her a MEGA hug and then orders everyone to pack their bags for a little trip. Lisa is shocked to see Not-At-All-Dead Sam. Welcome to the supernatural, Lisa!

Bobby answers his door with a soft “damn it” because he knows that Dean’s presence means things have gone cockeyed.

Bobby shoos them upstairs where they have “plenty of Reader’s Digests” on hand to entertain them. JUST LIKE THAT I am transported to my grandma’s farmhouse and the stacks of Reader’s Digests we’d go through during our visits. Thanks for being so goddamn old, Bobby!

Bobby and Sam greet each other casually and Dean realizes that those two yahoos have been keeping the truth of Sam’s resurrection from him for...A YEAR. A yeAr.

Bobby explains that he was thrilled that Dean escaped the life and tried to do whatever he could to let Dean keep that. (Crying noise crying noise) Dean reveals that his apple pie life was anything but...he drank too much, had nightmares, and researched lore like crazy to find a way to spring Sam from the cage.

Lisa heads downstairs and Dean tells her he’s headed back to the house with Sam to hunt the djinn that attacked him. He apologizes to Lisa for bringing monsters back into her life. “You can’t outrun your past,” he says and she immediately sees through the lines.

“You’re saying goodbye,” Lisa surmises.

Readers of this blog know that I am TEAM LISA, which means that I love her very much and wish her every happiness in life. She stands up for what she wants. “You're always so amazing with Ben. You know what I wanted more than anything was a guy that Ben could look up to...like a dad. So, you're saying it's all bad, Dean? 'Cause it was the best year of my life.” Oof.

Sam and Dean return to Campbell headquarters and the Campbells are just a tiny sea of smug assholes. They needle Dean about his time away from hunting. Dean takes this needling EXTREMELY WELL, and offers himself up as bait for the hunt.

At Lisa’s house, the Campbells scoff and smirk at their various belongings. A magazine! A framed photograph! What frivolity! Such decadence! Sam discovers golf clubs though, and even I have to take a moment to drink in the image of Dean on a golf course.

Samuel approaches Dean (who is very much on guard at this point) and tells him that Dean reminds him of Mary. She wanted a normal life too. Excuse me while I cry in your FACES. Samuel also drops that the supernatural world has been going bonkers lately. It’s keeping hunters busier than ever. If Dean joined the hunt again he could really make a difference.

Dean heads outside for a status check with Campbell cousin #?!? and learns that there are three djinn lurking in the distance. They won’t approach until Sam and Dean are alone, so Dean orders the Campbells to clear out.

Sam uses the wait to ask Dean how he’s doing.

Dean’s NOT GREAT but he still asks Sam how Hell was and if he wants to talk. Great idea! Keep the conversation light and nontraumatic for both of you! Sam pushes away those concerns - he’s FINE. Just then, Dean happens to glance out the window and sees djinn attacking his neighbors. Dean rushes the antidote over to Sid and his wife, but two djinn grab ahold of him, smash the antidote, and start to poison him. Dean falls to their thrall.

Sam beats the stuffing out of another djinn with a golf club only to find himself confronted with the other two who’d attacked Dean.

Meanwhile, Dean’s busy trying to sort out reality from djinn-soaked fiction. He sees the djinn confronting Sam in the house next door and outside he spots Lisa and Ben. Azazel suddenly appears to spice up the pot.

Dean “wakes up” in Ben’s room. Lisa gets drawn to the ceiling to suffer Azazel’s favorite kill while Ben drinks his blood. The room explodes in fire.

Dean continues to do VERY POORLY while Sam works to fight off the last two djinn. Samuel arrives and kills a djinn. He shoos Sam off to help Dean and he and another Campbell capture (but don’t kill) the last djinn. We’ll see her again near the end of the season!

Later, Dean tells Sam that he’s going to head back to collect Lisa and Ben. Sam’s doubtful about this plan. He tells Dean that he’ll put them in danger if he stays with them. Besides, Sam wants Dean hunting by his side again. Dean “cares” about helping the victims and Sam “wouldn’t even think to try.” This makes ZERO sense to Dean, but Sam insists that it’s true. Dean shakes it off and hands Sam the keys to the Impala. “She should be hunting. Take her.” Sam turns it down. OUCH.

Sam heads out to hunt with his band of merry Campbells, and Dean is FINE with it.

I’m Still Hallucinating These Quotes:

Did you almost shoot a Yorkie?

Careful's my middle name

If you're here, something's wrong

You can't outrun your past

The guy that basically just saved the world shows up at your door? You expect him to have a couple of issues

Want to read more? Check out our Recap Archive!

#spn recap #spn rewatch #spn 6x01 #exile on main st.#dean winchester #sam winchester #bobby singer #lisa brayden #Ben Braeden #samuel campbell #supernatural season 6

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panharmonium · 4 years

Note

Hey! Loving the Merlin takes on ur blog, and I wanted to ask—what are your opinions on Morgana? Haven’t seen a lot of talk abt her. I loved her, esp in season 1, which is also my fav season cuz after that I feel like things started to make less and less sense, lmao. I understand her descent into villainy (mostly, but why does she start to hate Gwen so quickly? feel like that could’ve been handled better) but I would’ve loved to see some solidarity between her and merlin!!!!!

hi there! :D

so, i LOVE morgana. most of what i’ve said about her has been in the tags of gifsets that are now scattered haphazardly around my blog; i don’t think there are larger pieces yet besides my finale round-up (urgh lol), and most of that is just a function of time - i can’t possibly write expansive tracts of meta about every single merlin thing i love, because i love the whole show; i’d never leave my computer again. i generally sit down to write long essays about whatever grabs my mind at a particular moment, even though there are a bazillion other things out there i love just as much. XD

but with morgana, i also feel like part of the reason i haven’t written much about her is because up until three and a half weeks ago (....oh my god, was it THREE AND A HALF WEEKs??? IT FEELS LIKE A YEAR) i hadn’t even finished the series yet, and the whole time i was watching this show i was sort of...waiting to see whether they would finally tie her arc together. i didn’t feel like i could say too much about what was happening with her, because my evaluation of her arc was going to depend on where the writers finally chose to take it and whether they brought it to the place i thought it needed to go.

and...they didn’t, obviously, which is what i sort of suspected would happen, though i was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt all the way up until the end, because i don’t believe they ever wrote themselves into a corner with her. there were things they could have handled with more depth, definitely, but i do not believe that they ever dug themselves into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

i. what happened to you, morgana

essentially my opinion (just mine; nobody else is obligated to share it) of morgana is this: that the series ended before her arc was over.

to me, season 5 was the nadir in our characters’ journeys. they had reached their lowest point, their...“darkest hour,” to quote the show itself. and in many familiar storytelling formats (the ones that have the most in common with bbc merlin, at least), we take our characters to a moment where they hit rock bottom, where everything is going wrong and things seem hopeless, and then we light a spark under their butts that starts the process where they fight their way out of it. the nadir isn’t the endpoint of the curve; it’s the point where characters start climbing their long, slow way out of the pit. it’s what they have to overcome in order to earn their eventual triumphant ending.

to me, season 5 was that nadir, for morgana and everyone else. i never would have imagined season 5 to be the final season of the show, if i hadn’t known it was beforehand. i would have read season 5 as the show’s ‘empire strikes back’ moment. the episode that ends with our team losing, but with a whole other episode remaining where they can fight to Make It Right.

i view merlin bbc as tantamount to a cancelled tv show, to be honest. i know that’s not necessarily what happened (though it does feel pretty weird that they officially announced S5 would be the final season only four weeks before the finale was about to air?? very bizarre), but regardless of the actual behind-the-scenes-whatever, the fact of the matter is that for me, the series doesn’t end. it stops. and those two things are not the same.

this is particularly relevant to morgana because, as you said, there are aspects of her character arc that weren’t handled as deftly as they could have been, but if the show had brought morgana’s arc to the place where it felt like they were going in 5.09, they could have rescued so much of what came before.

to get into more detail -

i think the biggest issue with morgana’s arc for me isn’t so much what she does, it’s what we’re not shown as she does it.

i fully believe that morgana would eventually start working to ensure uther’s downfall. (obviously. she’s been presented as the voice of moral authority on this show since episode one, and there’s no reason to believe that she wouldn’t ultimately start rebelling against the king’s oppressive policies.) i believe that she would reject arthur, eventually. and i believe that she would reject gwen, too. but i don’t believe the show illustrates enough how painful this would be for her, or how conflicted it would make her feel.

and again, as i said, there are my own personal opinions, couched in...some personal experience with certain kinds of family conflict - but i do understand where morgana’s bitterness toward arthur and gwen comes from. arthur, for all that he’s “a better man than [his] father,” never fully breaks with uther the way morgana does. he has his own little rebellions, yes, but ultimately he always falls in line. he tolerates his father’s actions even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with them, and he continues to support uther even after uther is revealed to have lied about being morgana’s illegitimate father. and because of this tacit acceptance of uther’s poor behavior, arthur reaps benefits and privileges galore. morgana is cast out with nothing, whereas arthur, who didn’t even take a stand for justice, wants for nothing. arthur is sitting pretty on the throne of camelot because he continued to bestow his honor and respect upon a man who deserved neither of those things, because he chose the villain of the series over his sister, even knowing what uther did to her. and that’s gutting, for her. he betrayed her.

(and there are things to be said on arthur’s end of this, too, of course - morgana doesn’t ever confide in him; she doesn’t come to him for help or give him a chance to even be informed about what happened to her before she jumps into invading camelot and dethroning uther - so for arthur, her sudden turnaround comes as a total shock, and HE feels betrayed, like he has no choice but to fight her - i mean, it’s just a big mess.)

but i understand why she hates him. he continues to stand with a man who did demonstrable evil, despite the harm that was specifically done to morgana herself. and by shutting up and letting atrocities be committed in front of him, arthur escapes the harm that morgana suffers for speaking up. i understand why morgana is so bitter about it.

and gwen is a very similar situation - from morgana’s point of view, gwen is playing the arthur to arthur’s uther. gwen sides with arthur over morgana, despite knowing full well that arthur’s policies harm people with magic. gwen abandons morgana for her love interest, and for morgana that’s just like - “why would you do that? i was your friend before he ever cared about you, i loved you before he ever did - don’t you see the evil he’s perpetuating? don’t you care what he does to people like me?”

that’s why morgana tells merlin, “don’t think i don’t understand loyalty just because i’ve got no one left to be loyal to.” she feels like everybody who supposedly cared for her ultimately dumped her because her situation interfered with their comfortable, morally uncomplicated lives. they weren’t willing to acknowledge what was done to her, and they stuck by the man responsible for it, and it seems incomprehensible to her, that they would make that choice, when his misdeeds are known and out in the open. i can’t blame her for wanting to raze the city to the ground.

HOWEVER.

while i believe that all these things are completely plausible, i don’t believe that the series shows us appropriately how these things would be tearing morgana apart inside, underneath the rage and the armored front of ‘you brought this on yourself, so burn in hell, i don’t care.’

there are moments where the show gets it right. when morgana wakes up after uther dies and says that she felt his pain - it’s not presented as gloating; she’s - almost confused. uncertain. like she doesn’t know what she feels. when she confronts arthur at the end of season 4 (i thought we were friends/as did i) there’s real pain under the surface there. when they confront each other at the beginning of season 5, too (what happened to you, morgana/i grew up) - you can feel the undercurrent of something deeper there, too. and that moment with mordred in 5.09, when he appeals to her humanity (i hope one day you will find the love and compassion which used to fill your heart) - that is an amazing scene. the show absolutely nails that moment. morgana hesitates. you can see the grief and the - the conflict written all over her face. it’s perfect. it’s exactly the turn i would have expected morgana’s arc to be taking, at that time in the series.

but then the show just stopped. and without taking morgana’s arc further - without following it through all the way to its conclusion - there’s never any resolution to all the ways the show dropped the ball earlier. all the moments where morgana appears to be just...evil-smirking her way through her revenge, the way she suddenly seems to have no feelings for gwen whatsoever, the utterly lost opportunity that was the “enchanted gwen” arc (which could have been such a powerful exploration of their broken relationship) - all those could have eventually made sense and fit into a narrative where morgana’s conflicted feelings finally begin to escape the stranglehold in which she has them choked, where we start to see the pain of these destroyed relationships rising to the surface.

i can understand how morgana would just - shut off her feelings about these people. she had to close her heart to them - the alternative would have been too painful. but underneath - we know it wouldn’t be that easy. we know it eats at her. and it’s just - so incredibly frustrating that the series was starting to go there - the moment with mordred in 5.09 feels like the beginning of morgana’s big crisis of faith - and then the show just Stops.

so the thing about morgana for me is that, like you said, the show does drop the ball on illustrating her quick descent into evil-villain territory, and they especially drop the ball on her break with gwen, but all of it could have been salvaged, if they had committed to following her arc all the way through to its conclusion. instead they chose to kill her (and everybody else, lol) just as her deep-rooted internal conflicts were finally starting to rise to the surface.

ii. we can find another way/there is no other way (aka the merlin problem)

i’ll say right up front that anything i say here is, as always, just my personal interpretation of things. this is not necessarily the One True Way this show is meant to be understood; it’s just my own preferred read.

i have definitely seen some things in my brief foray into internet fandom that are sort of...piling on merlin for abandoning morgana or “gaslighting” her, most of which seem to be centered around the beginning of episode 2.03, which is weird to me, because the whole point of that episode is that merlin does help morgana, in the end - he’s the one who doesn’t gaslight her. he defies gaius and takes her to the druids, specifically so they can tell her yes, she does have magic. he tries to distract the attacking knights in order to enable morgana to escape with the druids permanently, like she wants. and when the attempt fails, and they’re brought back to camelot, he comes to morgana’s chambers specifically to check on her and to assure her that he won’t reveal her secret to anyone, and she’s grateful for this - she thanks him, she’s appreciative of everything he did for her, she feels comforted to know the truth and to know that someone else knows it, too. this episode ends with their relationship at a high point - it’s overwhelmingly positive, and it doesn’t take a nosedive until 1.12, when morgana gets in way over her head and merlin thinks she’s trying to murder them all. (and even in that episode, it’s worth it to note, merlin is still covering for her magic in front of arthur, giving her chances.)

(and obviously also, of course, the end of that particular situation gets Real Bad Real Fast, which could be a whole post in and of itself, so let’s stay focused on the earlier eps, for now.)

the criticism of merlin in those earlier episodes seems to stem solely from the fact that he doesn’t out himself to morgana, which i can understand - i mean, i like the idea of a ‘merlin+morgana secret magic squad’ AU as much as anyone - but i’ll be honest and say that nowadays, i’m not quite as willing to condemn him for it as i might have been on my first viewing.

i’m not willing to condemn him for it at all, actually.

(and again - as i said, these are my own opinions! everybody else is welcome to have different opinions! we all engage with media differently, and there isn’t a right or wrong way to approach this situation, just whichever way feels best to you.)

so, for me, i’m not interested anymore in telling merlin that he should have revealed himself to anyone, at that point in the story. it would be different if he had been like - continuing to tell morgana ‘oh, no, you don’t have magic, don’t be crazy,’ or if he had been pretending to hate magic like everyone else so he could blend in, but he doesn’t do that, at the end of the episode. he sends her to the druids. he chases after her when he realizes she's in danger. he openly acknowledges her magic, he supports her in having it, he makes sure she knows she has nothing to fear from him. by the end of 2.03, he’s gone to great lengths to help her; he’s already made certain that she knows he’s on her side and that she can trust him. she clearly knows that he accepts her and that he supports her - those are his responsibilities to her as a fellow human and as a friend, and those are exactly the responsibilities he makes sure to fulfill. she knows her secret is safe with him.

now - whether or not merlin feels safe enough to out himself, after making sure morgana knows he accepts and supports her, is his own business.

i think there are a number of reasons why it wouldn’t be fair for me to criticize merlin for continuing to conceal his secret, the first of which is something i already mentioned in another piece - that a marginalized person’s first responsibility is to their own safety, when forced into hiding under oppressive social conditions. merlin isn’t obligated to reveal himself for anybody. he’s not obligated to put himself in danger out of some kind of...responsibility to the community. (not at this point, anyway. it gets more complicated later, as merlin becomes more powerful, which i also address in that other piece, but that’s all in the future for him and not relevant at this moment.)

i think it would be easy for me to forget that merlin isn’t safe, in the early seasons. we’re so used to thinking of merlin as ‘the greatest sorcerer to ever walk the earth,’ because that’s what we keep being told he’s going to become, but again, that’s all so far in the future for him. merlin in the early seasons can do some things with his abilities, but not consistently, and not to the level where we can reasonably expect him to resist the entirety of camelot’s army, if they were to come for him. merlin is in real danger, and he’s not evil for being unwilling to share a secret about himself that would ensure his death, if it somehow got back to the wrong people.

second - i don’t think it would be fair for me to discount merlin’s personal history, either. merlin’s life didn’t start in camelot, and he hasn’t even been in camelot for all that long, comparatively, by the time we get to S2. season one takes place over a few months, starting in either spring or summer and ending in the fall (after the referenced harvest in 1.10/1.11, but before winter sets in). the weather is nice by time season 2 starts, so we can probably assume that S2 takes place once winter has passed (although, it’s technically possible that S2 takes place over the same autumn as S1, I guess...but it’s not made clear to us, timeline-wise.) either way, we just really have to remember that merlin’s stay in camelot by the time we reach 2.03 is still this blip compared to the rest of his life.

it would be very easy for me to say that merlin should have told morgana, that there’s no way she would ever have given him up - and i probably would have said that very thing, after the first time i watched the show - but like - nowadays, i really think i have to step back from that certainty and be a little more gentle. we say we “know” that morgana wouldn’t have willingly betrayed merlin’s secret at that point, and sure, i agree, that’s probably true - but does merlin know that?

of course not!

i think he hopes that. i think he would dearly like to believe that. i also think merlin grew up in a situation where he couldn’t fully trust even the people he’d known all his life, with two (vital!!!) exceptions, and he has been in camelot with a bunch of brand-new people for less than a year, and he can’t be certain of them, however much he wants to be. (and that’s not even considering the possibility of accidental betrayals, or coerced ones - remember, the witchfinder shows up in S2 also, as just one example.)

remember that exchange merlin has with freya, later this season?

“you can’t always trust people.”

“i know. that’s why i left home.”

merlin is not used to showing himself to people. he has been taught all his life to NEVER, EVER show himself to anybody. everyone in camelot who finds out about his magic finds out either by accident (like gaius or lancelot), or necessity (like freya and gilli - though gilli is interesting, because i think merlin’s decisions there are motivated precisely by the choices he didn’t make with morgana - which i’ll go into more later).

in twenty-odd years, merlin has only ever told one person about his magic. and even that generous assumption requires a little bit of inferencing for us to determine, though i think it’s likely enough, if not confirmable.

(i am, in case it’s unclear, referencing 1.10, when merlin is explaining to will why hunith sent him away to camelot: “when she found out you knew - she was so angry.” that, to me, has always been a signifier that merlin told will about his magic, as opposed to will finding out by coincidence. i know there are a lot of headcanons floating around out there about various...accidental situations that may have occurred which forced merlin to reveal his magic in front of will, and those are all obviously totally fun to play with, but after hearing this particular line - i never understood that to be the case, to be honest. we’ve seen hunith enough to have a pretty solid understanding of her character. she and merlin are always easy and gentle together, she’s so kind and calm and thoughtful - i can’t imagine that she wouldn’t have understood, if there had been some kind of accident that forced merlin’s hand. she’d be just as afraid for his future safety, of course, and she would have wished he’d told her right away, but she wouldn’t have been “so angry.”

...she might, however, have been “so angry” if she’d found out that merlin had specifically undermined every sacrifice she’d ever made to keep him safe/ignored every single one of her warnings/rejected every cautious thing she’d been telling him for his entire life and TOLD somebody about his magic when it wasn’t remotely necessary. that’s the only scenario i can imagine that would prompt merlin to say “she was SO angry” in that half-awed, half-intimidated tone, with that little headshake, like it was such a singular event, like it’s still formidable for him to remember.)

so anyway, that said - it’s too easy for me to say ‘he should have told morgana/gwaine/gwen etc; they would never have turned on him,’ as if it would have been such a simple thing for him to do, as if there were no dangers associated with their knowledge even if they would never have willingly given him up, as if he was refusing to do it because he didn’t want to, or because his fears were overblown, or because he was foolish for thinking they would ever hate him for his gifts. i think that really minimizes the reality of his struggle, and the danger of his situation. without the pressure of some crisis to force his hand, merlin has only ever willingly revealed himself to one person. that person is dead. that person died specifically ensuring that merlin could stay safe and hidden from the rest of the world, morgana included - merlin’s continued secrecy is a gift that was bought at an impossibly high price, and it’s not simple for him to contemplate squandering it, especially with no guarantee that things will turn out okay.

because there IS no guarantee that things will turn out okay! a lot of the “merlin should have told morgana” online talk centers around the idea that knowing about merlin’s magic would have kept morgana from feeling alone/betrayed, thus preventing her from turning to the “evil” methods she uses later, but again, i don’t think we actually know that at all. solidarity between merlin and morgana would have been a nice thing, definitely; i’d like to see that too, but i don’t think the fact that she and merlin are both magic-users would have guaranteed harmony between them. merlin and gilli are both magic-users, too, and merlin expects this to be enough to convince gilli to “see the light,” but the fact of the matter is that merlin and gilli just have very different ideas about what it means to do the right thing. merlin thinks it means biding his time and waiting for change to come from the top (because he’s been TOLD by greater powers that this is the right course of action, of course; let’s note again that merlin’s situation is extremely complicated) whereas gilli thinks that doing things merlin’s way makes merlin complicit with an unjust regime. gilli says ‘i shouldn’t haven’t to wait for someone else to give me my rights. i’m going to take them myself.’

the fact that merlin and gilli share a bond as magic-users doesn’t protect them from an ideological divide that puts them on different sides of the same struggle. i’m not sure that merlin and morgana wouldn’t have still ended up in the same situation, eventually, if merlin had chosen to out himself to her - but doing so would certainly have made him a thousand times more vulnerable to attack.

third - it’s also important to remember that if we’re going to hold merlin to this rigid ‘he should have told morgana everything/confided in her/trusted her at the expense of possibly his own life despite the fact that she exists at the completely opposite end of a rigid social hierarchy as him and he’s known her for less than a year’ then maybe we ought to raise the bar for morgana, as well. morgana is very clearly shown to trust and appreciate merlin at the end of 2.03, but by 2.11, when alvarr and mordred show up and convince her to steal the crystal of neahtid, she doesn’t hesitate or come to merlin at all, despite the fact that we never see him do anything to lose her trust between then and now. she never asks him for help, even when she’s uncertain about alvarr’s methods, and that leaves merlin in the dark, only privy to confusing images of her sneaking around and acting suspicious. and even with that, merlin doesn’t condemn her for what she does, the same way he doesn’t blame her when she tries to kill uther in 1.12 - he helps arthur retrieve the crystal, but he doesn’t give morgana up. and he doesn’t hold any kind of grudge, either - in the next episode, merlin doesn’t even suspect her, at first - he thinks it must be her magic protecting her; he doesn’t even consider the idea that she has anything to do with the illness, not until kilgharrah tells him.

and even after that, he STILL covers for her in front of arthur, and he gives her a chance to come clean to him - but she doesn’t take it.

i’m not condemning her for that - i get why she would be afraid to admit to such a big mess - she was in way over her head and didn’t know what to do. but if we’re going to cut morgana this much slack and accept her fears as a valid enough reason to block a potential moment of connection, then we have to accept that merlin’s fears were valid, too - morgana’s descent into “villainy” was not something we can pin solely on merlin’s already overburdened shoulders. the end of season 2 was not some kind of one-way failure.

in summary: merlin and morgana were trapped in an impossible situation. they were both victims of the same oppressive regime, and both of them had very real, very dangerous obstacles to letting themselves trust in and reach out to others, and i think pitting them against each other while forgetting who the real villain was is unfair to them both.

also, a brief postscript: circling back to the first section of this piece, where i talked about how season 5 just stopped before anyone’s arc was finished - merlin and morgana could have had so much more, if we’d gotten another season. their relationship is really in the pits, by season 5, but there is this deleted scene where arthur is reflecting on what happened to morgana and blaming himself, and merlin says arthur shouldn’t take the blame, that “there were others better placed to help morgana” (implicating, of course, himself) and that was SUCH a jumping off point for their story to have continued. merlin wanted to do better by her. he blamed himself for what happened to her. and morgana, for her part, was starting to question herself, as we saw during her confrontation with mordred in 5.09.

there were places for this relationship to go. it wasn’t a lost cause. but the writers decided that it made more sense to just...eliminate everybody at the exact moment when things were poised to possibly change.

the story wasn’t over at the end of season 5. but the show was, and i am always going to regret those many lost opportunities.

#the once and future slowburn #meta #replies #long post

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riversofmars · 3 years

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Oops forgot to post this on here last night when I updated lol. Hope you’re all happy with my choice of villain. And for those who don't know the Eleven/the Thirteen yet, you'll get to know them alongside the Paternoster gang as they're totally clueless themselves lol. So real hope you enjoy this next chapter, let's see where everyone is off to!

Chapter 8: Where We Started

Glasgow, 2021

Jack returned in no time at all, at least from the perspective of the team at Torchwood Two.

“You better be grateful, this took me all night and I’m starving!“ Jack announced after materialising in the centre of the room. He was crouching in between two dead bodies, holding on to a wrist each to pull them with him through the time vortex.

“Food is still warm.“ Mickey retorted and gave Jack a hand lifting the two men onto gurneys.

“What’s so significant about them?“ Ryan asked, stepping closer. There was no obvious cause of death. Both men were young, 20s, 30s maybe and looked healthy. There was no blood, no bullet holes…

“How did they die?“ Graham asked, noticing the same thing. “Who killed them?“

“We’re not quite sure on the who yet.“ One of the Osgoods answered, steppinganswered stepping up to the body on her right. She pulled a scanner from her lab coat pocket and ran it over the dead man’s chest.

“And not sure about theon the killing either.“ The other Osgood agreed as she stepped up to the other corps, mirroring her twin’s actions with a scanner of her own.

“Well, they are dead…“ Ryan couldn’t help but point out but by now he knew better than to judge a book by its cover.

“Yes, but we’re not entirely sure they meant to kill them…“ The second Osgood replied, frowning a little at the readings she was getting.

“What do you mean by that?“ Graham asked, looking around for answers. None of the others appeared surprised so he could only presume these were not the first two cases.

“These are not murders as such, we believe these are experiments gone wrong.“ Kate revealed and Ryan and Graham exchanged concerned glances.

“We’re just not sure to what end.“ Martha came to stand next to them.

“We’re not the first to notice.“ Kate carried on. It was time they filled them in properly. She had been worried about revealing too much back in Sheffield but they could talk freely now. “When dead bodies turn up, the police do tend to get involved.“

“That’s when people started disappearing from time, being erased.“ Jack concluded.

“For examining these murders?“ Ryan frowned, deeply concerned now.

“This is why we’re doing our best to keep off the radar.“ Gwen explained as they all gathered around now. “Someone is trying to cover this up and they’re using very advanced technology to do it. You can’t just erase people from time.“

“So far, whoever is behind this has not noticed our investigation.“ Kate stated, which wasn’t to say that they wouldn’t be found out eventually.

“Or at least they have not found a way to erase us yet.“ Jack interjected, more grimly.

“Like I said previously, people who have had dealings with the Doctor, particularly those who have travelled with them, seem to be less affected.“ Kate continued to explain and one of the Osgoods added:

“By travelling in time, you become a temporal anomaly, a complex space time event. Much harder to erase than someone who has only existed in one time period.“

“I guess that makes sense…“ It didn’t make an awful lot of sense to Ryan but he chose to just accept it.

“Either way, we have to tread carefully. Someone is using humanity as guinea pigs.“ Kate crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“And we need to find out why.“ Jack nodded. “Now that we have two bodies, we might be able to do just that. And once we know what they want, we will stop them.“ His voice was full of determination.

“I will need a while to analyse.“ The Osgoods gave apologetic smiles, indicating they would like to be left in peace to do their work now.

“You best get some rest. We will have a lot of work to do soon.“ Kate smiled at Ryan and Graham who could hardly refuse the request. It had been a very long night already.

——

In orbit around the Library, 52nd Century

Paternoster Gang

“So this Thirteen person, is it possible they’re the one that took the child as well?“ Yaz asked, leaning onto the control desk as they digested the news. “They are a Time Lord, we found Time Lord technology at your house.“

“It would be an extraordinary coincidence if it wasn’t.“ Vastra agreed, she was pacing the room. Even though they had no idea what their motivations were, they had to assume the same person was behind both kidnappings. She knew nothing of the dealings either the Doctor or Professor Song had had with this particular Time Lord but she decided it didn't matter for the time being. What mattered was that they found River and her son. With any luck they were being taken to the same place. They could ask questions later.

“We need to find a way of following them.“ Jenny concluded, watching her wife pace. As much as they had hoped for a conversation with the Professor, for a chance to make their apologies and to promise to make amends, at least they had a trail to follow now.

“Did our sensors pick anything up on our approach? Any other ships in the vicinity? Someone heading away from the Library?“ Vastra asked, looking to Strax who started working the controls with military efficiency.

“We were too far out at the time. Nothing on long range sensors.“ Strax growled seemingly displeased with the efficiency of the scanners. “This wouldn’t have happened on a Sontaran warliner.“ He huffed.

“What about the Library? Do they not have any sensors or CCTV or something?“ Yaz asked as she thought back to her police training. If someone was kidnapped, looking for CCTV footage in the area would be the first step, surely.

“Excellent idea, Ms. Kahn!“ Vastra gave her a kind smile. “Mr. Maldovar, any suggestions as to how we might establish a more permanent link to the Library?“

“It’s a closed system, trying to keep out intruders, probably a defence mechanism…“ Dorium mused, putting his feelers out. What he lacked in physical mobility, he was making up for with technological know how.

“If not a video link, at least some means of data exchange?“ She gave him a kind smile. “I have every confidence in your abilities.“

“She means: see if you can hack the system.“ Jenny chuckled, recalling Dorium’s rather impressive work at Demon’s Run. It seemed as though all their expertise would be called upon at one point or another.

“I don’t suppose CAL would mind once she realises what you’re trying to do.“ Vastra carried on. “Perhaps if you started with a reassuring message for her. Would you maybe be able to get information about ships that approached or departed?“

“I shall certainly try.“ Dorium agreed, his tone gracious, but he hardly had to try at all. “Never mind, she’s ahead of us, she’s sending something across.“ Dorium looked up to the screen. “I believe we can extrapolate the course from this.“ A diagram appeared on screen, green dots outlining a route away from the planet.

“Bringing us around now.“ Strax announced as the computer worked out the course. “We shall hunt them down and shoot them out of the sky!“

“Not with Professor Song on board, we won’t.“ Vastra pointed out and Strax huffed displeased.

“Ready to jump into hyper speed.“ He grumbled in response.

“Hang on, CAL is sending some more data across.“ Dorium announced. “Just wait till… There we are, all done.“ He nodded and nearly fell out of his box doing so.

“What is it?“ Vastra asked as the ship jumped into faster-than-light travel and the stars blurred outside. They left the Library behind.

“A file with everything the Library had to offer on the Thirteen and their previous incarnations, I’m sure that will make for exciting reading…“ Dorium almost sounded surprised.

“Clever girl!“ Jenny grinned.

“Perhaps we can learn who we are dealing with.“ Yaz felt a little better that they were all in the same boat. She wasn’t behind this time, they all had to start from scratch.

“Best to know your enemy.“ Strax grinned. “Give us the intel, head.“

——

The TARDIS

“Sorry, Doctor but I can’t take credit for that.“ The Master laughed at the look of surprise and disappointment on her face. She had hoped to get answers but there were none to be had.

“And you never will.“ It was a split second decision on the Doctor’s part as she pulled a gun from under the console.

She had always pretended she didn’t know where River had hidden her guns around the TARDIS but of course she did. She wasn’t quite sure why she had never stopped her doing it. Perhaps because she knew eventually, they would come in handy. River had borrowed the TARDIS plenty of times and if she ever got herself in a scrape, she didn’t want to leave her wife defenceless. While the TARDIS had redecorated since River had last been here, she had kept her guns where they belonged.

“Well, well, well Doctor.“ The Master smirked as she pointed the gun at him.

“Get out.“ She said.The weapon felt heavy and uncomfortable in her hand but that didn’t stop her. She couldn’t take the risk of the Master getting off Gallifrey. She had no way of knowing for sure whether he would be responsible for her son’s abduction in the future but she couldn’t take the risk. If it was the case, she would stop it here. She gestured to the door. “Now.“

“You’re not leaving me here.“ The Master laughed, shaking his head, he didn’t seem to be taking her seriously.

“Yes I am. You are not getting off this rock. You will never get the opportunity to hurt my family, ever.“ The Doctor retorted, her voice low and threatening.

“You won’t shoot me.“ The Master shrugged, taking a step closer, daring her to do just that.

“Yes I will.“ The Doctor snapped, taking proper aim.

“No you won’t. You didn’t last time and you won’t now, you’re weak.“ The spat, enjoying seeing her struggle with herself. Her kindness and reluctance to use force had always been her greatest weakness. “You think you can protect them when you can’t even find out who’s behind it all? You’re pathetic. Probably best if you don’t find your child, you’d be such a disappointment to them.“

A shot rang out and the Master staggered back. The Doctor was shocked herself but she tried her best to cover that moment of disbelief. She tightened the grip on the gun just in time for the Master to look up again.

“Wow…“ He grinned, in a maniacal sort of way and pressed his hand to his arm. She had only grazed his shoulder. She was a terrible shot that lacked the strength of her convictions. Or at least she thought she did. Part of her couldn’t believe she had shot him at all and the other part couldn’t believe she had missed.

“The next one will be lethal.“ She threatened, squaring her jaw. She pointed to the door, hoping he would leave already and not put it to the test. In a way, leaving him on Gallifrey was just as bad as shooting him. Both were a death sentence, one just felt a lot easier than the other. Either way, she had to protect her family and if she was strong now, perhaps things would find a way of resolving themselves.

“No, it won’t.“ The Master laughed and before she could follow through on her threat, he darted forward. The Doctor felt the ground move under her feet but not because he knocked her over. He hadn’t gone for her, he had lunged for the controls.

“What have you done?“ The Doctor shouted and crashed against one of the crystalline arms in the control room. The gun was knocked from her hand and skidded off somewhere. The TARDIS was spinning, somersaulting, they were launching into the vortex.

“What have you done? You tried to kill me!“ The Master shot back and was knocked to the ground as well. The TARDIS was out of control.

“Oh because you’ve always been so restrained?!“ The Doctor snapped over the racket of them catapulting through the vortex, hitting energy fields, chronon clouds and any other kind of obstacle the vortex had to offer.

The Doctor pulled herself along the floor, towards the control panel. She had to stabilise them. Just for the moment, the Master was not her primary concern. She managed to grab hope of the console and pulled herself up, hitting the blue stabiliser button. The TARDIS stopped shaking, steadying itself and the Doctor let go a sigh of relief. She got to her feet properly and turned back to the Master who was clambering to his feet as well.

“That was really stupid and incredibly dangerous, we could have been torn apart.“ The Doctor snapped.

“I couldn’t let you leave me there. Better to be killed than return to that isolation.“ The Master huffed, slightly calmer than before. “Do you know what it was like, Doctor? Just you with your own thoughts? Not a living, breathing thing in sight?“ His tone was surprisingly genuine and there was a bitter edge to it.

“You’re not the only one who’s had a tough few decades.“ She retorted but was in no mood to fill him in on her prison sentence so she changed the subject quickly: “Can’t have been all that lonely, you told someone about the timeless child.“

“For the last time, Doctor, I didn’t tell anyone!“ He groaned in annoyance, tossing his arms in the air. He hissed as the movement sent a jolt of pain through his injured arm. “I killed everyone that could possibly have known.“

“Then it was you that told Dorium!“ The Doctor snapped.

“I already told you, I didn’t! When would I have done that?!“ The Master yelled.

“What then? Someone else just found out about the Timeless Child and happened to have taken an interest in my child?!“ The Doctor was trying to wrap her head around it. She only trusted the Master as far as she could throw them but she was beginning to doubt her previous assessment.

“Why would you think those two things are connected?“ The Master shook his head at her shortsightedness.

“What do you mean? Of course they’re connected!“ The Doctor shot back angrily.

“Because you have the word child in both sentences?“ He laughed, gesturing question marks into the air. “Come on, anyone could have taken your child with no other motive other than to get to you. And there are a lot of people who would love a way to get to you, not just me.“

“What do you mean by that?“ The Doctor frowned, taken aback. This was not something she had considered before.

“You have a lot of enemies, Doctor, have you never noticed? None as brilliant as me, obviously, but they’re out there.“ The Master chuckled, giving her a patronising look.

“Is that a hypothetical or do you actually know something?“ The Doctor pressed on. There had to be more there than he was letting on.

The Master shrugged.

“Because if you don’t and you claim to have nothing to do with it, I might as well take you back to Gallifrey.“ She stepped up to the console, intent on changing the course.

“Don’t.“ The Master grabbed her arm and pulled her away. “You know I have nothing to do with this and I don’t know where your child is.“

“You’re gonna have to give me more than that.“ The Doctor shook him off. “You know something… what did you do?“

“Alright… I may be guilty of a teensy little fibette…“ The Master smirked, clearly enjoying this. “Perhaps someone did hear about the timeless child… so maybe it is connected to the kidnapping of your child after all… though, I wonder how they would have found out about your son…“ He mused but was interrupted when the Doctor grabbed him by the collar of his coat.

“What did you do?“ She growled, fresh anger shooting through her.

“I just wanted to play… create a little chaos…“ The Master grinned.

“What did you do?“ She repeated pulling him closer.

“Every species has their black sheep don’t they… apart from you and me of course…“ He smirked.

“You didn’t…“ The Doctor’s eyes widened as she sensed where he was going with this. So close to him, she could almost see his memory of it in her own mind.

“What do you think would happen if you free all of Gallifrey’s bad boys and girls in one go? I couldn’t create all that destruction just by myself, could I.“ The expression in his eyes was nothing short of madness.

“And you think someone fled the planet before you destroyed everything?“ The Doctor carried on and he shrugged:

“Who knows, I didn’t keep count.“

——

Space, 52nd Century

“It’s not much… bits and pieces of his misadventures… this bit is interesting, it’s a footnote from the Book of the Revenants, you know the Doctor has her own volume.“ Dorium flicked through the data in his mind, keeping quiet for a moment as he focused.

“Yeah she’s mentioned that…“ Yaz couldn’t help but smile at the fond memory. What a carefree adventure that had been in comparison to what was happening now. She wondered how the Doctor was doing. She had no idea River had been taken as well… Perhaps they should try to contact her…

“As if their head wasn’t big enough…“ Vastra sighed. “What does it say?“

“It’s a brief description of their personalities, stops at twelve, sadly.“ Dorium revealed and he started to recite: “Originally a member of the High Council on Gallifrey, the One fell from grace and became one of Gallifrey’s most notorious criminals. Suffering from regenerative dissonance, the personalities of their regenerations remain within their consciousness. Following incarnations are known and distinguishable. The One: the archivist, often pedantic and knowledgeable on many Gallifreyan secrets.“

“So he could have known about the Timeless Child?“ Jenny jumped in, listening closely and her wife nodded in agreement. They had yet to find out what exactly that phrase was meant to mean. The Doctor hadn’t filled them in but somehow, that secret from Time Lord lore seemed to be at the centre of everything.

“Indeed…“ Vastra mumbled. “What else does it say?“

“Brief descriptions of the others, make them more distinguishable I suppose…“ Dorium continued: “The Two: The charmer, a charismatic liar and manipulator; and the Three: The Juvenile, childish and self-centred, prone to tantrums and violence.“

“Not unlike the Master then, makes sense you would confuse them.“ Yaz wondered if the Doctor just attracted a certain kind of mad man to face off against. Despite the seriousness of the situation, it was an amusing thought.

“The Four: The intellectual, a sophisticated and arrogant game-player. The Five: The joker, a funny, wise-cracking and confident trickster. The Six: The psychopath, extremely violent and unstable.“ Dorium carried on as the others listened intently.

“A man after my own heart.“ Strax grinned.

“The Seven: The scientist, clever and calculated with vast scientific knowledge.“ Dorium chose to ignore Strax’s comment and skipped to the next one.

“It sounds like he would have quite the arsenal of abilities at his disposal.“ Vastra mused, trying her best to commit the different personalities to her memory. There was no way of knowing if and when it would become useful. If their hunt was successful, they would soon find themselves face to face with this mysterious Time Lord.

“The Eight: The good man, who unlike his other selves strove to do good.“ Dorium raised his eyebrows, surprised. He checked the data entry twice, just to be sure.

“Interesting…“ Vastra pursed her lips and Jenny added:

“People don’t have to be just good or just bad, there are two sides to everyone…“

“I’m beginning to see that…“ Yaz admitted, thinking back to the Doctor and the way she had been acting in Dorium’s bar. Her anger and fear had brought out the worst sides of her. She could only hope she was doing okay where she was now.

“The Nine: The kleptomaniac, driven by greed and prone to theft.“ Dorium continued reciting: “The Ten: The hypnotist, confident and able psychic.“

“Another useful ability…“ Vastra commented.

“The Eleven: The schemer, clever, patient and determined.“

“None of them particularly sound like a breeze to deal with…“ Jenny sighed.

“The Twelve: The matriarch, first female and last known regeneration. They are presumed dead.“ Dorium concluded at last.

“Imagine what that’s like, having all those personalities inside you.“ Yaz shook her head to herself. Anyone might go mad under those circumstances.

“I shall be glad to put them out of their misery.“ Strax announced, checking through his blaster rifle.

——

Unknown

“Wakey-wakey…“

River’s head was spinning. She was disoriented. The flood of sensation that came over her was painful in its intensity. She had a splitting headache. Her chest burned with every breath and she coughed. Light was blinding her, her eyes were refusing to adjust just yet. Her muscles were stiff and her joints ached, as if she was awakening from a long sleep.

That was when she realised she had corporal shape. She had a body. She tried to move but found her muscles wouldn’t cooperate, not just yet anyway. She was still getting used to breathing again.

“What…“ She tried to speak but she couldn’t produce sound yet. She felt utterly helpless but she was alive.

“There we are, slowly coming to.“ The voice seemed very distant and her ears were only just getting used to processing sound again.

“A Time Lord’s body is a miracle. Even one that has spent all their regenerations.“ There was another voice but she couldn’t place it either. Her mind was still trying to catch up to where she was, how she had got here, what had happened last. The Library… had it all been a bad dream?

“She’s not a Time Lord.“ The first voice grew sharper and was beginning to sound more familiar as her senses began to normalise.

“Close enough.“ The second sounded female.

“What’s taking so long?“ There was the first voice again but changed. “Patience, Three.“ River knew that she knew this person but her brain wasn’t at full capacity yet. She blinked against the light. If only she could make something out. She was slowly adjusting. “You did a good job keeping her body intact.“

“The machine will restore her, it might take a while but she will be herself soon enough.“ River knew she had heard the female voice before, too.

“I hope so, I do like them with a bit of bite.“ The Thirteen. The memories were coming back to River now. She had been in the Library and someone had hacked into the system. He must have taken her, brought her elsewhere, returned her to a body. How had he done it?

“No.“ River whispered, her voice horse as her vocal chords hadn’t been used in a long time. It was like she had to learn how to use her body all over again. That was when she realised how she knew the second voice, a voice that still haunted her nightmares.

“Hello Melody.“ Madame Kovarian smirked, leaning over and into her field of vision.

“What are you…“ River tried to reach and push her away, she managed to raise her hands but collided with a glass case. She pressed her hands against it, she was in a glass tube of some kind. Or was it a coffin? She looked at her hands, pressed against the glass, finding her skin red and raw from the electrocution she had suffered while connecting herself to the Library core. She should have been dead. She had been dead. They had brought her body back to life and it was painful.

“Easy now, Melody, dear. A few days and your body will be good as new.“ Kovarian smirked. “Lucky really we got there in time but you were right, Time Lords take forever to properly die…“

“What are you planning on doing with me?“ River managed to turn her head and spotted the Thirteen standing behind Kovarian, watching with a content smirk on his face.

“All in good time, Professor, get your strength back now. It’s no fun beating you when you’re already down.“

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traincat · 5 years

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not to be dumb on main, but I’ve only rly seen the mcu and not read many comics and I was wondering if you could tell me the reasons you ship spideytorch? Esp bc it’s spideytorch week

I can do that, especially in light of it being Spideytorch week. (I can even tie it into the first two days of @spideytorchweek‘s themes because I’m brilliant like that.) If you’re coming from a mostly MCU background, what you need to know about Spider-Man comics is that, by in large, they’re a very different animal, especially in terms of Peter’s personality and supporting cast. Unlike in the MCU, he doesn’t have a best friend in high school – there is a Ned Leeds in comics, but he’s a reporter for the Bugle who functions as Peter’s rival for the affections of his first girlfriend, Bugle secretary Betty Brant, and Peter wouldn’t meet Harry Osborn or become friends with Flash Thompson until he entered college. If Peter does have a male friend he’s close to during this point, for the relative value of “friend”, it’s Johnny Storm.

Peter and Johnny first meet in the very first issue of Amazing Spider-Man. This is partially because the Fantastic Four’s brief appearance in the issue were used promote this new superhero book. One thing you have to understand at this point is that the Fantastic Four were wildly popular at their debut, and featuring them in the first solo Spider-Man story was a surefire way to get people to pick up the book. What this ending up cementing was a long and storied in-universe connection between Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. Peter’s served as an Avenger in 616, but he’s family to the Fantastic Four.

Not that Peter and Johnny got along at first.

(Amazing Spider-Man #1)

(Amazing Spider-Man #8)

(Strange Tales Annual #2) There was some pretty extreme pigtail pulling going on at first from Peter towards Johnny.

This is one of the premier friendships – developing at this point as it is – in Marvel comics. It basically predates all of the other big ones: Captain America and Iron Man, Luke Cage and Danny Rand, any other big Spider-Man friendship. This came first. There’s a lot of reasons for that – team ups between the Human Torch, who at this point was big enough to have his own run on Strange Tales in addition to the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man, an instant hit with fans, was good for the sales on both books, and the relationship made sense and was organic because both characters were teenagers who were the same age, who had gained powers in fantastic accidents, and who both had personalities suited to a banter-filled rapport filled with fun bickering.

In spite or maybe because of that early bickering, though, it quickly becomes apparent that Johnny really respects and admires Spider-Man:

(Amazing Spider-Man #18)

Peter Parker, on the other hand, who Johnny’s at the time girlfriend Dorrie Evans thinks is just so polite and gentlemanly? Peter Parker, Johnny doesn’t like so much at this point.

(Amazing Spider-Man #21) And here we have the beginning of our identity porn, practically a staple when it comes to superhero ships. This kind of dynamic between Johnny and Spider-Man/Peter Parker would continue up until Peter revealed his identity to Johnny in the middle of a crisis, having to silently trust him to understand:

(Spider-Man/Human Torch #5)

So you’ve got this amazingly long history, and from the beginning the shippy tropes are piling on – Johnny saying he could understand if his girlfriend fell for Spider-Man, Peter and Johnny having their own special meeting place, and then there’s the fact that Johnny gets kidnapped to use as bait for Spider-Man:

(Amazing Spider-Man #19)

Fast forward a bit. After the death of Gwen Stacy, who Peter was very much in love with and who he was seriously talking about marriage with, Peter unsurprisingly falls into a dark mood. One of the bright spots for him? Building the Spider-Mobile, which he’d been hired by an automotive company to drive, with Johnny:

(ASM #130)

In an updated version of this story in Spider-Man/Human Torch #3 (they even had their own team up comic!), Peter speaks to Gwen’s ghost-slash-memory, and says that when he’s with Johnny he feels like he’s “her” Peter again, the best version of himself:

“And for the first time in a long time, it doesn’t feel like I’m putting on act, or going through the motions. Suddenly, I’m Spidey again. No, I’m Peter again. Your Peter.” Considering Peter was head over heels in love with Gwen and planned to spend the rest of his life with her, that’s one hell of a romantic statement.

Couple this with the fact that, in and out of the mask, Johnny’s consistently one of the best people at calming Peter down and making him take a step back. That might not sound too impressive if you’re not familiar with comics Peter, but in comics, when he’s angry and upset, he has a tendency to verbally lash out at people he loves and isolate himself. It’s generally not a good idea to get in the middle of one of his fights, either – think like inserting yourself into the fight when your dog’s trying to fight another dog. Your dog might love you, but there’s still a very good chance you’re gonna get bit. Johnny’s success record here is unmatched.

(ASM #591)

(Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #5)

Then there’s the fact that Peter clearly feels protective of Johnny. (Though, to be fair, 616 Peter feels very protective about everyone he loves.) When Johnny lost his powers and was on a self-destructive bender, Peter teamed up with Johnny’s other best friend, Wyatt Wingfoot, to snap him out of it:

(Fantastic Four v5 #12) Look at that hand on Johnny’s stomach, steadying him on the building’s ledge. Also look how pretty Johnny is – the real question is, why isn’t he shipped more?

Peter also spent served as Johnny’s personal taxi afterwards:

(Fantastic Four #642)

When the Red Skull recently possessed Johnny and failed to make Johnny hurt his teammates, he taunted Peter by threatening to kill Johnny in front of him, a threat to which Peter violently reacted:

(Uncanny Avengers #20)

So there you have your hurt/comfort, the second trope at play here. (Also, Johnny is a champion damsel of the Marvel universe. I once tried to average out how much he faints and came out with something like 1 out of every 3 issues in the early Fantastic Four days. If you like your hurt/comfort, Johnny Storm is right here, collapsing all the time and getting kidnapped by giant gorillas at least three, one time of which – Amazing Spider-Man Annual #4 – Peter has to save him.)

There’s a million other factors that play into “reasons why I ship them” here – they canonically consider themselves family. They have an established tradition to meet up every Christmas morning at the Statue of Liberty. When Johnny died (he got better) he left a video will instructing that his place on the team be left to Peter and saying that “we all love you”:

(ASM #657)

They lived together when Johnny was recovered alive for a short period of time, during which Johnny cooked Peter breakfast in nothing but his underwear and a saucy apron, yes, really:

(FF #17 – there are word bubbles here in the finished issue, but they just distract from the rest of this, honestly.) And when Johnny’s family disappeared and Peter found himself unexpectedly a millionaire (long story), he bought the Baxter Building to keep it safe for Johnny. They’ve mentioned having movie nights in canon. Whether or not anyone ships them, it’s hard to deny in canon that they love each other, and that they have a bond forged over decades and decades worth of canon. They’re incredibly close, to the point where, when Peter’s identity was wiped from the minds of just about everyone on the planet, Johnny was one of the few people (along with Felicia Hardy, Peter’s ex-girlfriend) who knew that he used to know who Spider-Man was, and the loss of that knowledge hurt him deeply. They’ve fought together, they’ve saved each other lives, they’ve celebrated holidays together, and they’ve propped each other when the other needed it. It’s a ship with so much history it’s honestly hard to sum them up quickly or efficiently – honestly, they have more history and more reasons to ship them than, I would say, at least 80% of other popular ships and I mean ships in general, not just Marvel ships. It’s pretty amazing to have a relationship in canon that has endured the test of so many years and still remained incredibly relevant to each character. If you’re interested in checking out some more comics featuring them, I have a big long in depth reclist here!

Also, Johnny once slept naked in Peter’s bed:

(Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man #1)

Just platonic best friend things. You’re welcome.

#peter parker #johnny storm #marvel comics #spideytorch #losers who deserve each other #traincat talks comics #long post/

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