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whataperfectwasteoftime · 2 years

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Intimidation Tactics / Chapter 2

Pairing: Marcus Pike x f!Reader x Dave York

Rating: T (for now???)

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: Mention of previous abusive relationship, enemies to lovers with a splash of idiots to lovers, minor peril,

Summary: A dark gray Honda Accord is tailing you.

A/N: Can these three just fuck already? No? I have to write an action sequence first??

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Chapter Two - Gray Honda Accord

It takes you a few days to detect it.

A dark gray Honda Accord is tailing you.

In your defense, it’s both a common and a nondescript car. No one takes notice of a Honda Accord. How many of them pass you by on the street on the short walk from the FBI office to your apartment every day? This particular Honda Accord has no unique identifying characteristics, nothing to suggest you haven’t simply seen a series of different gray Honda Accords in the span of several days. It wouldn’t have been unusual if you had, after all. It’s a common car.

The thing that alerts you to its presence is that it isn’t just driving by you on the crowded streets of D.C. You often see it standing still–in an alleyway, outside of the convenience store a block from your home, parked on the street as you cross Pennsylvania Avenue on your way to work…

…In front of your building at one in the morning.

It had started a week or so after your second interview with Danilson. The man had seemed shocked to see you and your partner knocking on his door again–almost suspiciously so, although you still can’t pin anything on him, and, the last time you checked, being surprised wasn’t a crime.

The case is still a dead-end, no matter how many late nights you spend with Marcus in a conference room, details of the case spread out before you on the table. One small breakthrough does finally come when you subpoena Danilson’s email history.

“Hang on,” you mumble, scanning the long list of subject lines and recipients. “This domain name–’Quantum Holdings’–where have I heard that name before?”

Marcus looks up from his laptop. “Quantum Holdings–isn’t that the business Buchanan’s brother-in-law worked for?”

You laugh disbelievingly. “How do you keep track of all this information in your head?” you ask him playfully.

Marcus shoots you a sheepish grin, and you feel your cheeks heating. Ever since your run-in with Dave York, you’ve not been able to hold eye contact with your partner for long. Surely he knows–knows what Dave had meant in his evaluation of you. What you really want is right in front of you, because it’s your partner. Marcus. He has to know… right?

“I write stuff down, it sticks in my head forever,” Marcus says, tapping his field notebook, that you know is filled with his messy scrawling of notes, each line clearly written with haste as he quickly captures his observations, theories, witness statements, and, occasionally, a grocery list.

“I’m going to start looking into them,” you announce. “Quantum Holdings. First Buchanan’s brother-in-law–”

“Dylan,” Marcus supplies.

“Dylan,” you repeat, “and now Danilson’s inbox. There’s been no indication that the two of them had known each other, right?”

“Not as of yet,” Marcus says, frowning down at his notes.

“I don’t like it,” you say, snapping your laptop shut. “There’s something going on with them. What the hell do they do anyway?”

The Honda Accord sightings start shortly afterward. It isn’t until you peer out of your blinds at the sound of a car alarm and see it right in front of your building that you tell Marcus.

“I need to talk to you,” you tell him the next morning at FBI Headquarters. “Not here, though. Can we go grab a coffee or something?”

Marcus’s eyes go wide, his lips parting with surprise. “Oh,” he breathes. “Yeah, of course.”

It isn’t until the two of you have your lattes in hand that you finally get up the courage to speak.

“I think I’m being followed,” you say under your breath as you take a seat in the loud, crowded cafe.

Marcus blanches–whatever he had thought you were going to say, it had clearly not been that.

“What?” he whispers quietly. “Are you sure?”

“There’s this gray Honda,” you murmur, taking a sip of coffee so that it looks like the two of you are having a pleasant, casual conversation rather than the tense discussion that’s truly happening. “I see it everywhere. By the office, on the way home…” you press your lips together. “...right in front of my apartment in the middle of the night.”

“Shit,” Marcus mutters gravely. “Oh, shit.”

“It happened right after I started looking into… the thing I was looking into,” you say, suddenly feeling like uttering the name of the business itself would conjure up the car. “I don’t know what to do,” you whisper.

“Maybe it’s a coincidence,” Marcus says weakly. “What kind of car does your–um–”

“It’s not him,” you say automatically. “My ex. I just–I just have this feeling that it’s about the case. I can’t explain it.”

“I trust your intuition,” Marcus offers quietly. “You didn’t get this far without having good instincts.”

You allow yourself a few moments to bask under his soft praise.

“I’m going to start driving you home,” Marcus says, with a finality in his voice that causes you not to argue the point. “And if I’m not around, the moment you see that car again, you call me.”

You nod, swallowing the lump in your throat. “Yeah, will do.”

“Don’t go anywhere without this,” he adds, tapping the holster at your hip.

“I know,” you say, Marcus’s protectiveness starting to get on your nerves. “I know how to be a good Agent, Dad.”

Your partner laughs softly. “Don’t give me that bullshit. You know we watch out for each other, right?”

You can’t help the smile that breaks out across your face. “I know.”

—

As promised, Marcus drives you home that night. He waits in the car until the door to your building clicks shut, gives you a serious nod, and drives off. You don’t remember seeing the gray Honda on your way, and you’re starting to second-guess yourself.

It’s a common car, after all.

You microwave some dinner and sit down with some wine to watch some guilty-pleasure TV to take your mind off of the case, and off of Marcus, who has been on your mind more and more after that asshole of a DIA Agent aired your little secret. Nothing has changed between the two of you, but you can’t deny that there’s a tension there that wasn’t there before. You occasionally catch Marcus looking away when you glance in his direction. Oh, God. That’s all you need. A partner who secretly pities you and your situation.

After an hour of ‘America’s Got Talent,’ you turn off the TV, getting to your feet and stretching. Your eyes flit over to the shuttered window and back almost of their own volition. You don’t want to check. You also really fucking do want to check. You turn off the lamp as well, bathing the room in darkness as if you were simply going to bed. Then, you creep toward the window. Taking care not to disturb the blinds, you peek through one of the narrow slats at the street.

You feel a stab of fear when you see the familiar shape of the car.

Heart pounding, you back slowly away from the window, debating your next move. You had promised Marcus that you’d call him. Numbly, you pick up your phone and dial his number. It barely has a chance to ring before he picks up.

“Hey,” Marcus says by way of greeting. “Are you all right?”

“It’s here,” you tell him. “Outside my apartment again.”

Marcus hisses a curse under his breath. “Shit. Do you see anyone in it?”

“Too dark,” you say. “Do you… do you think it’s that guy from the park?”

“Maybe,” Marcus concedes. “It could be. Listen, I’m going to come over and–”

“No!” you interject. “No, because what if they start tailing you, too? You still haven’t seen anyone following you, right?”

“Not yet,” Marcus answers. “But look, it’s not safe, I–”

“It’s fine, I can take care of myself,” you tell him. “I just wanted to make you aware of what’s happening. I’ll call you if anything changes.”

Marcus murmurs your name, and you squeeze your eyes shut at the sound of it. “Be safe,” he says softly.

“I will,” you whisper back, before ending the call.

You don’t sleep that night.

—

The next morning, you arrive at Headquarters with heavy bags under your eyes. Marcus gives you a sympathetic look and the second to-go cup of coffee he’s carrying.

“Thought you might need that,” he says with a wan smile. “I definitely do.”

It’s then that you notice that Marcus looks almost as tired as you.

“Didn’t you sleep?” you ask, incredulous.

“How am I supposed to sleep when I’m waiting for another call from you?” he responds pointedly. “I don’t care what you say, from now on, we stick together on this.”

You’re too tired to argue, and you’re more than a little relieved. He’s right, this is far too much to carry on your own. The two of you spend the day digging through public records for more information on Quantum Holdings, looking for connections to the original art theft the two of you were supposed to be investigating. The only problem is, there’s nothing.

“It’s a shell corporation,” you say emphatically. “It has to be. I mean, they have a website, and they own several domains, but they don’t do anything.”

“I think you’re right,” Marcus agrees. “The only question is, what are they hiding? I mean, maybe it’s something as simple as tax evasion, but then why do they keep coming up in relation to an art theft?”

“The domains all have IP addresses that indicate they’re based overseas,” you tell him. “Whatever it’s a front for, it’s not local.”

The two of you are silent for a while, both poring over the details of the case. You start from the beginning in your head again: There’s a missing Warhol from a gallery in New York. The evidence points to a regular offender, Curtis Buchanan, who had already done time a decade or so ago for black market art deals. Nothing your team had thrown at Buchanan stuck. He had a solid alibi and an excellent lawyer, and no matter how much digging you did around the man, the only thing that had come up was this ‘Quantum Holdings,’ which is starting to look like a front for some sort of international operation.

“Is this a dead end?” you ask suddenly, causing Marcus to look up with a start. “Maybe we are digging into something we shouldn’t be.”

“I don’t know,” Marcus admits quietly. “I’m not so sure, anymore.”

That evening, Marcus drives you home again, but this time, he says, it’s a temporary condition. “Let’s go grab some of your stuff,” Marcus declares, “and you can come stay with me for a bit while we figure this out.” He parks illegally in front of the building and turns on the emergency lights. As the two of you exit the car, you look down the street behind you and let out a choked sound.

“Marcus,” you manage to gasp. “The car.”

Marcus spins, hand on his holster, to see a gray Honda Accord slowly rolling toward you. As the two of you take notice, the car picks up speed, and the two of you draw your pistols as it approaches–out of time to make it up the steps of your building.

The squealing of brakes is the only warning you get before another car–a black Range Rover with dark windows–comes to a halt beside you.

“Get in.”

You recognize the deep rasp to the owner of the Range Rover’s voice immediately, but the rapid glance in his direction confirms the identity of the driver as the same DIA Agent who had warned you in the park. Marcus hesitates, leveling his gun at the accelerating Honda.

“Don’t be a martyr, Agent Pike,” Dave York calls from the driver’s seat. “The two of you are in way over your head. Get in the fucking car.”

A gunshot rings out–from the opposite side of the street as the Honda, and you suddenly realize that it is not the only car converging on your position. Out of options, you and your partner scramble into the backseat of Dave’s car, and the door barely shuts before the man peels off.

—

“I thought I told you to stop digging,” Dave snarls, his hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel as he swerves around the crowded streets, dodging other cars as he tries to evade your attackers.

“I’m not in the habit of taking orders,” Marucs snaps, and Dave growls something in response, too quiet to hear over the squeal of the tires and the roar of the engine, but it sounds strangely like "Pity."

“Who are you,” you demand. “Tell us what’s going on.”

“David James York, Operative with the Defense Intelligence Agency,” Dave drawls from the front seat. “Born October twenty-seventh, nineteen–”

“Shut up,” Marcus interrupts. “We deserve to know what’s happening.”

“That’s above your security clearance,” Dave deadpans. He glances in the rear-view window, and whatever he sees causes him to clench his jaw and swerve through a red light onto a side street.

“Jesus!” you hiss as you’re thrown against the window.

“Seatbelts,” Dave says in a singsong voice.

“Where are you taking us?” Marcus asks, his tone getting more and more furious.

“Safe house in upstate New York,” Dave answers. “You two really have no idea what you’re sticking your noses into.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” you squeak. “That’s like, an eight-hour drive.”

“I can give you my auxiliary cord,” Dave says mockingly. “Agent Pike here looks like he knows some good podcasts.”

When he’s greeted with two twin glares from the backseat, Dave smirks. “Good. Now shut up and let me escape from this fucking mess that you two created.”

—

After a while, Dave goes from bat out of hell to simply speeding as he loses the gray Honda and the rest of your assailants. The streets move from urban, to suburban, and finally to rural as he leaves Washington, D.C. and heads north.

Marcus is silently fuming beside you, Dave is seemingly focused on the road ahead, and none of you have spoken a single word in over an hour.

Finally, you break the silence. "Why are you helping us?" you ask Dave quietly.

Dave snorts. "Helping you? I'm the investigator on the Quantum case for the DIA, and suddenly I find out two little art detectives are digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. Someone stole a Picasso-"

("Warhol," grumbles Marcus.)

"-and now I have two FBI agents not only impeding a year-long investigation, but getting themselves a little tail as well. You have no idea how close you were to being abducted and taken out of the country," Dave says. "And once that happened, there was no chance at getting either of you back."

You and Marcus are silent as you absorb the information.

"Thanks, Dave, appreciate it, Dave. Thanks for sticking your neck out and getting shot at while we tried to take down a terrorist cell with two handguns, Dave," Dave quips facetiously from the driver’s seat.

"Why, then?" Marcus asks, maintaining his stony expression. "Why stick your neck out?"

Dave purses his lips. "I am, by all accounts, not a good man. But I like to think I'm not an evil one. Maybe ten years ago I would have done nothing, and you two would have been unfortunate casualties of a war you had no conception of, but I made a different choice."

"What changed?" Marcus prompts, arching his eyebrows suspiciously.

Dave smirks. "Do you have children, Agent Pike?"

"Figured you already know the answer to that," Marcus mutters, "considering you seem to know everything else."

"Oh, I do," Dave says lightly. "Just proving a point."

The three of you refrain from speaking for the remaining seven hours.

—

It's dark when the Range Rover finally pulls into a well-hidden gravel driveway high in the Catskills. There are no outside lights, and you can barely make out the outline of a small cabin against the trees in the moonlight.

Dave cuts the engine and opens his door without comment. You and Marcus follow suit, exiting the car in silence, the only sound the crunch of gravel under your feet as you approach the house.

When Dave flicks on the hallway light, you're pleasantly surprised at the warm, cozily decorated interior.

"There are two bedrooms," Dave gravels, not stopping to show either of you around. "You can share, or fight amongst yourselves for the bed, it makes no difference to me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I just made an eight-hour drive that began with a car chase through downtown D.C., and I'm fucking tired."

With that, Dave disappears inside what you assume is the other bedroom and snaps the door shut, leaving you and Marcus alone in the quiet living room.

#marcus pike #dave york #marcus pike x reader x dave york #marcus pike x you x dave york #marcus pike x dave york #marcus pike x reader #dave york x reader #pedro pascal

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darsynia · 1 year

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Trust Fall | Ch 19a

ARC image by Eury Escodero | gif by @readingisloving ty so much!!

Story Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Summary: Tony/OC, ‘terrorists made us fall in love;’ IM1 timeline. In this chapter, Tony negotiates a weekend together, and introduces Emory to Happy and Pepper!!

Length: 3,486

Taglist: @starryeyes2000 @raith-way @arrthurpendragon @themaradaniels @starksbf @chickensarentcheap @tiny-anne

Excerpt:

Tony’s interrupting kiss steals the next words from her mouth and her mind. Emory grounds herself in reality by grabbing a handful of his shirt. It’s softer than anything he’d worn in the cave, as is the seat beneath them, but Tony himself is warm, rough, and real. She slips up onto her knees for a better angle, but the car starts moving just as she does this, and a bunch of her hair falls down on both of their faces.

“Fuck, that smells amazing,” Tony groans, muttering more profanity-laden endearments that trend toward complaints when she pulls away to look for a seatbelt.

Emory finds one by the window, and when she tames her wild hair into a quick twist tucked into her collar so she can peek at him, all she can do is laugh helplessly. Tony looks dejected, legs slack, arms slanted toward her, head resting sadly on the back of the seat, the rest of him slumped so far down he’s an inch away from collapsing to the floor.

“I built a single-person flight suit to come see you, and you want to buckle up instead of kiss me? I’m hurt.”

“It’s the law, Stark.”

“Not in Pennsylvania!” he argues resolutely.

Chapter Nineteen: Photosynthesis

Flying is exhilarating.

If it weren’t for the fact that he wants to touch Emory without terrorists, SHIELD agents, or metal armor in the way, Tony would have flown the whole way from the city for the sheer bliss of the experience. He wonders if this is the closest he can get to understanding Emory’s own power generation. Does the air she bends around herself feel as much like tangible joy as the air he rockets through?

He’d sent Pepper to learn Emory’s schedule, but he doesn’t know if Fury ignored that to catch Tony off guard, or if he really didn’t know. When Tony sees there are two agents with Emory today, that former becomes more likely. He’d left Happy, Pepper, and the two vehicles key to his plan about thirty miles away. They should be far enough to avoid SHIELD entanglement, but close enough to get him the hell out of the suit ASAP.

Emory’s comment about him is so charming that Tony burns off any worry about his reception in the process of landing behind her. Her companions’ lack of surprise or concern about his appearance is disconcerting though, and so is Emory’s attitude toward them. He’d expected the agents to be more adversarial on both points.

After their kiss, he decides to push the issue. “So. Tell me about your goons,” His flipped up faceplate drops at the last word like he’d planned it that way.

“Tell me about that suit, and you might earn a vacation,” the redheaded agent calls out. Thanks to his Heads Up Display, Tony notes that she’s dipped her thumb into a hidden pocket that his AI suggests holds miniature concussion grenades. The other agent has his bow held in a tight grip at his side, which is either a concession to Emory’s value or Tony’s prominence.

“It is quite an upgrade,” Emory whispers, lifting a hand to trace her fingertips along the metal protecting his cheek before turning to face the agents, hands fisted at her sides. She’s shielding him, which is sweet but misguided, given that he’s encased in metal. Then again, his first suit did fall apart, so maybe it’s pragmatism. Emory’s stance lasts all of thirty seconds before she twists her hands together and says, in a tone that tells Tony she actually likes the two people in front of her, “I had no idea that he’d-- I mean, in retrospect, it was probably--”

“--predictable? Yeah,” the man says, offering an insincere smile. He shrugs. “Less to destroy out here.”

“Am I the only one who didn’t know this would happen?” Emory asks, a little wild-eyed. The archer coughs to hide his amused reaction when Emory glares at him. Tony almost likes the guy.

“Emory, don’t take this the wrong way, but you might be the most sincere person I’ve ever met,” the redhead says.

“Well that was the whole point for the mission, right? Our target would never suspect the wide-eyed innocent--”

“Hold up, I don’t want to get dinged for mission knowledge,” Tony interrupts, his movements punctuated by some servo noises. He wants to be airborne with Emory before Tweedle-She or Tweedle-Bow decide to object and call in the one-eyed Cheshire Cat for backup.

“The mission needs me to seem destitute, without anyone who can help me financially-- but the press knows the two of us were kidnapped together, don’t they, Agent Romanoff?” Emory says, a little too earnestly. “If Tony disappears and I’m still missing, that’ll get picked up.” She turns and smiles triumphantly at him. “So they won’t do anything too drastic, or your disappearance will screw up their plans!”

If Emory’s right, Tony’s on board, but her mixture of manipulation and naivete makes him nervous.

“Sir, Agent Natasha Romanoff is a highly skilled spy assassin last known to be working with the Russians. A quick scan of various databases reveals multiple reacquisition attempts by various Russian agencies were unsuccessful,” Jarvis says quietly into his earpiece. “I’m listening for anything about the other agent.”

That other agent leans over to say something into Romanoff’s ear. She seems to think for a few seconds, then nods. It’s enough to spur Tony’s impulsive side.

“In that case,” he says, stepping around Emory to hold his arms out beside him. “Long version: Metal armor, custom-built using proprietary Stark tech including power, propulsion, communications, and targeting software. I designed and hand-wired this myself, so you can tell your BFF Morpheus it’s one of a kind. Short version: you can’t have the software or the hardware, but no one else can either. Did I earn the cookie? And by cookie,” he holds up an armored finger; “I mean that vacation. Two days, two nights minimum.”

“Where?” Romanoff shoots back right away.

Behind him, Emory whispers, “It’s that easy?”

“Thought about a campsite at first,” Tony says, sauntering over to stand beside her. “But it turns out my father built a swanky bomb shelter into the NYC house. Should be enough to counter any… forces of nature that might spin up.” He hardens his tone. “I assume you know the address.” At that, Tony turns to Emory. “Put your arms around my neck?”

She’s wide-eyed but he can tell she’s excited, given the way her localized wind is whipping up the grass at their feet. After a nod, he lifts her up. Tony snugs his arm across her back with his hand against her ass, just because he can.

“Hey now,” the male agent objects.

“Shut it, Clint!” she grits out.

“Hey, Stark!” Romanoff calls out when he fires up his repulsors at a low setting to let JARVIS gauge the differential weight. Tony turns the two of them so he can look at the agent, noticing she’s no longer a half-inch away from pulling a weapon on him.

“Yeah?”

“It’s important you two aren’t seen together. You got a plan for a less visible mode of transport?”

Tony appreciates that the woman hasn’t just called in backup and subdued him for his audacity. If he had to guess, he’d say it has more to do with her rapport with Emory than any desire to avoid putting him in his place. It won’t do to let her know he’s anything less than an adversary, though.

“You’ll just have to find out when you activate her tracker. Where is it? In her arm? Her ass? Sewn into her bra?”

“Tony!” Emory hisses under her breath.

“Do not make a ‘thorough inspection’ joke, so help me,” Clint says.

“Trust but verify, right? See ya,” Tony says, and takes off.

“I can’t believe that worked!” Emory says, her words sucked away by the wind. Tony’s pretty sure only some of it is whipped up by his velocity.

As they lift off, Emory keeps expecting a group of SHIELD agents to converge on them. It seems almost too easy, despite Nat’s hints that they’d been ready, even hoping, for Tony to show up. Her big worry is that she’s just earned Tony a ton of negative attention from SHIELD in exchange for a few days of freedom. The agency will want any and all information about his suit, but can the government seize it? Will Stark Industries have to gear up for war again, against US citizens this time?

The thing is, Tony’s the smartest man she’s ever met, maybe the smartest in the country. He’ll think of something. Her best revenge is to enjoy every second she has with him, and figure the rest out when they’re safe and alone.

Alone. Something they’d only had once, lost under the burning sunlight of Afghanistan.

The thought is distracting enough to let her put thoughts of SHIELD aside for now. Tony is clearly navigating somewhere specific, and he shifts in preparation for landing, angling towards a couple of vehicles parked in a lonely gravel lot. She stumbles when they land, but any unsteadiness is wiped away by the look on Tony’s face when he rips his helmet off to grin at her.

“Pretty sweet, right?”

“A definite improvement on last time,” she agrees. Her answer seems to deflate some of his enthusiasm, so she adds, “It was amazing.”

“You met me at a low point. Nowhere to go but up, literally,” Tony tells her.

The sounds of a car door opening draws their attention, and Emory sways closer to Tony. He’s covered in hard angles and smooth lines that make her feel physically disconnected from him, but the suit in motion is fantastic. He looks like a real life hero. Given how much time the first one had taken to build, Emory knows Tony has worked miracles to come here. She’s pretty overwhelmed by the implications of that.

Tony reaches down to take her hand like he can sense how she feels, but with the armor covering his hand, it’s awkward and uncomfortable.

“I’d take off the gauntlet but I was basically bolted into this thing. It’s like my own version of Marilyn Monroe’s dress,” he apologizes.

“Hopefully it doesn’t cost as much!” she laughs up at him.

“It might,” a woman says, walking into view around the box truck with a teasing smile on her face. She’s gorgeous, her immaculate makeup and sleek clothing a direct contrast to the ratty black work gloves she’s pulling off of her hands. “I never really understood the concept of driving gloves until today!” the woman says, holding them up in her left hand as she holds her right out to shake Emory’s in greeting. “I’m Pepper Potts, Tony’s personal assistant.”

“Oh, wow,” Emory says, completing the handshake. “Emory Autumn, former PA but currently unemployed.” Tony had mentioned Potts, always with regret at what she might be dealing with in his absence, but Emory had pictured an older woman, a stuffy paragon of authority. This woman is delicate and competent-looking, the kind of person whole rooms of celebrities notice when she walks by. The politics of his choice are brilliant, really. Anyone wanting to get close to Tony would likely not be disappointed that they’d need to talk to Pepper Potts first.

“Thanks for keeping him sane in there,” Potts says.

“That was more luck than anything else,” Emory tries to assure her, but Tony replies at the same time.

“She drove me crazy in an entirely different way instead.”

“I thought that was my job?”

The voice belongs to a stocky man in a black suit who seems to have come from the driver’s side of the limo. He nods respectfully to her, and Emory looks at Tony to find that he’s grinning.

“Happy Hogan, Emory Autumn.”

Hogan’s shake is firm but gentle, considering the size of his hand. Emory ignores the brief thought that she’s just one among many women he’s been introduced to over the years. “He missed you,” she says as she lets go, suddenly feeling shy at the thought that she might be sharing Tony’s private reactions without his permission. “Both of you.”

“Yes, well,” Tony says, clearing his throat. “Very heartwarming, but if you don’t want to be crushed during the group hug, I think I should get out of this thing.” As he speaks, Emory finally figures out what she’d been struggling to articulate to herself: Tony looks happy, but also healthy, so different and yet still the same man she fell for in Afghanistan.

“In that case, follow me,” Pepper Potts says in the kind of tone Emory recognizes as ‘let’s get focused back on the business at hand.’ The PA fishes a set of keys out of her suit jacket pocket and heads for the truck.

After carefully putting the work gloves back on, Potts fiddles with some things at the back of the truck until the bolts on the sliding door audibly release. Hogan comes over to pull out the steps and lift the door. Tony beckons Emory closer, and she sees that the inside space is flooded with lights, illuminating multiple robot arms arrayed around a central square with boot-shaped clamps. It’s the kind of complicated machinery she’s only seen in horror movies and disaster documentaries.

A heartfelt “Wow!” is about all she can manage. “I’m starting to think what you made in the cave with me was more like a junior high science fair project.”

“Don’t be silly,” Tony says, using his repulsors to fly the short distance up onto the bed of the truck instead of using the stairs. “I built something way more complicated than that for my junior high science fair project.”

“Oh, here we go,” Potts says.

“Never mind,” Emory tries, but it’s too late.

“I wonder what happened to that patent,” Tony muses, holding out a hand to lift her up onto the truck bed.

“You got a patent for your first science fair project?” She just stares up at him.

“Wasn’t his first,” Hogan says, behind her.

Tony shakes his gauntleted hand impatiently. “Third school fair. If it’s any consolation, the other two didn’t get patented.”

She uses her accumulated power to lift herself up just high enough to walk from thin air into the inside of the truck. “Stop! I already felt inadequate.”

“I’m sure you also did interesting things when you were nine.” He says this like it should reassure her, before stepping onto the boot clips and hooking a wire from the assembly into his arc reactor. “You might want to stand back.”

Emory watches Tony’s armor come off piece by piece, revealing that he’s wearing a t-shirt and cargo pants, both relatively tight-fitting. When the boots are unscrewed and he’s able to step away from the whole contraption, she’s impressed to see that he’d even designed the suit to fit around his shoes. Hogan hands him a flannel shirt that Tony starts putting on before he turns around for her to see that the t-shirt has a round hole for his ARC reactor to fit through.

“I’m working on a way to connect the power without having to mutilate my wardrobe,” he says as he does up his cuff buttons. “I could run something up beside my neck, but wireless would be ideal, grab and go.”

“Wireless? That would be amazing!” Emory says, impressed. Tony’s unhappy expression confuses her until he responds.

“Yinsen suggested it. For after we got out.”

All her accumulated power spirals down into nothingness as Emory’s heart contracts with renewed grief. She rushes into Tony’s arms. He presses a kiss into her hair and holds his lips there, his arms tightening for a full minute before letting out a ragged sigh of regret.

“C’mon.”

Tony helps her down from the truck and holds her hand until they get to the limo. Despite her sadness, Emory lets out a little laugh, drawing both Tony and Hogan’s attention.

“You kidnapped me from a shadowy government agency using something that had to cost more than most people’s houses! It just hit me how bizarre it is-- after all that’s happened, we’ve ended up in an abandoned gravel lot in front of a box truck and a limousine.”

“Kidnapping? It was a rescue!” Tony objects.

“I’ll drive this back to the charter and see you tomorrow, then?” Potts says in a placating voice.

“Perfect,” Tony tells his PA.

He leads Emory over to the car and opens the door for her. Once she’s seated, he settles in beside her and holds his arm out for her to snug up against him. She does, blushing at how much her heart leaps from his nearness. With a long exhale, Tony drops his head back against the cushion behind him and stretches his legs out, like this is the moment he’d been waiting for all day.

Emory can feel her usual build up of energy, but it’s lethargic, as if contentment is a natural de-energizer. The limo is sparse inside, almost surprisingly so. There’s a good chance that’s on purpose. She buries a grin into the fabric of his shirt.

“What is it?”

“You cleared this space out, didn’t you? In case being with you made my powers go haywire.” She lifts her head up to look at him. Tony looks smug. “That’s very thoughtful.

“Very selfish,” he corrects. “Fewer distractions.” Right as he leans down to kiss her, his large fingers tangling in her hair, they hear the car door slam up front.

“Before I put on very loud music that will obscure any sounds from the back, where to?” Hogan asks through an intercom. Tony chases her lips as she moves back, but all Emory can do is think about how little she’s practiced staying in control of herself around him. She doesn’t want to jeopardize one of his expensive properties!

“Were you serious about the bomb bunker?”

“Mmhmm,” Tony rumbles as he kisses her neck.

“Did you mention Yinsen so you’d feel safe driving me to your house?” Emory holds her breath. It’s quite an accusation, but also a smart strategy on his part if she’s right. Sadness and fear both seem to completely cut off her powers.

Instead of answering her, Tony turns his head and calls out to Hogan. “The house in the city, Happy, as planned.”

“You got it.” Before the intercom cuts out, there’s a blast of music as if to reassure them he was serious about his discretion.

“Tony, D.C. is full of national landmarks, and even though I am really happy to see you--”

“Fuck, that smells amazing,” Tony groans, muttering more profanity-laden endearments that trend toward complaints when she pulls away to look for a seatbelt.

“I built a single-person flight suit to come see you, and you want to buckle up instead of kiss me? I’m hurt.”

“It’s the law, Stark.”

“Not in Pennsylvania!” he argues resolutely.

“We’re not in Pennsylvania.”

Emory unzips the leg pocket holding her mostly useless flip phone and taps the button Clint told her not to touch because it triggers some ridiculous surcharge for 24 hours of internet access. Using the arrow keys, she navigates to the awful web browser.

Tony tsks at her. “I didn’t realize SHIELD tech didn’t extend past the Stone Age.”

“Buckle up,” she tells him, continuing the frustrating process of choosing letters via repeated presses of the number keys. Just as she hits enter on the search, Tony slips something between her hip and her own fastened buckle, and she hears a click. “What--”

He stops her with a quick, impudent kiss. “Seatbelt extender, so I can sit closer to you. Lemme guess: it’s another hour and a half before we reach a state where it is legal to be unbuckled in limousines?”

Her screen confirms this to be the case. “You already knew and let me numb my fingertips looking it up anyway? You jerk!”

“Let me make it up to you.”

Emory looks at Tony, then around at the rest of the empty limo. They are, for all intents and purposes, alone. Safe. There are no terrorists, no SHIELD agents, no army medics, and no paparazzi, even if anyone could see into the tinted windows at their speed.

A powerful yawn cuts through her. Emory claps her hands over her mouth, embarrassed. “I’m not bored, I promise,” she gasps.

“No no,” Tony says. He stretches his arms out along the back of the seats like they’re on a couch instead of a bench seat. “I did that too. You’re wiped all of a sudden, right?”

“But I want to talk to you, it’s been--”

“There’s time,” he interrupts. “That’s the point. You feel safe. That’s not rude, it’s a compliment.” He takes off the flannel shirt and wads it up on his chest about where she’d rested her head before, and pats it. “Go ahead, sleep. This may or may not be on my post-Afghanistan bucket list.”

Emory blinks at him. “Really?” she asks, even as the urge to take him up on the offer becomes nearly unbearable.

“There’s time,” Tony repeats.

“Okay,” she whispers, suddenly shy.

Next chapter, Tony and Emory realize they're finally actually alone and could, you know, touch each other.

#tony stark x oc #tony stark fanfiction #tony stark x original character #tony stark imagine #iron man fanfiction #iron man #iron man x oc #iron man x original character #mcu #mcu fanfiction #mcu fanfic #marvel #marvel fanfic #tony stark #series: autonomy #ocfairygodmother #fyeahsuperverseocs

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alexibeeart · 1 year

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UPDATE: suspect arrested, baby found alive

Upset about Columbus case of missing twin Kason Thomas? Here's how you can help:

The search for missing 5-month-old Kason Thomas drags on Thursday morning — with a focus on Montgomery County.

The baby remains unaccounted for after he and his twin brother, Kyair, were left in a running car while their mother picked up a Door Dash food order from a Donatos Pizza restaurant in Columbus' Short North neighborhood around 9:45 p.m. Monday.

...

Columbus police have identified Nalah T. Jackson, 24, as their prime suspect in the abduction and, according to tips they've received, believe she might still be in the Dayton area. Kyair was found by a passerby sitting in a car seat in the bitter cold early Tuesday in the economy parking lot of Dayton International Airport.

...

Anyone interested in helping the Thomas family in searching for Kason and Kyair's alleged abductor, Jackson, should report any suspicious activity.

Columbus police issued a BOLO (all-points bulletin) to five neighboring states — Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia — for those law enforcement agencies to immediately alert Columbus if anyone calls 911 and reports seeing Jackson, Kason or the stolen car.

...

"If anyone has sighted them, even if it's not in Ohio, you say: 'Well that couldn't possibly be him, or that could possibly be her,' because it's not in the state of Ohio," Bryant said, "please do not discard that. Call us; give us that information."

If you see signs of a banged-up, black 2010 Honda Accord, take note. Barnett's four-door sedan has a ripped temporary Ohio registration tag, a missing front bumper, tinted windows and a white bumper sticker with the phrase "WestSide City Toys" on the back.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Columbus police's Special Victims Bureau at 614-645-4701 or the division's tip line at 614-645-4266. You can also reach the FBI's 24-hour tip line at 1-800-225-5324.

...

Those who want to join the search for missing twin Kason can email [email protected] to volunteer, provide resources or donate items to assist, according to a Facebook post from the Dock Ellis Foundation, a national organization created by the late Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher to assist minority families with missing people.

This baby has been missing for over 48 hours now and it's not looking good. The Amber Alert was issued hours after it should have been and during that time, the kidnapping suspect was seen in multiple locations and interacted with people who could have helped if they knew what was going on. She left his twin brother in the parking lot of an airport. She may be out of the state by now, the baby could have been left somewhere else. We are about to experience dangerously cold temperatures and a winter storm in the midwest. My stomach is sinking over this, it should be national news by now. Please share and help if you can.

*EDIT* Just after I posted this, Columbus police reported that the suspect had been arrested in neighboring state Indiana, but that 5 month old Kason Thomas is still missing.

*EDIT EDIT* BABY KASON HAS BEEN FOUND ALIVE in the stolen car abandoned in a parking lot in Indianapolis for two days!!!! He was taken to a hospital immediately to be checked out but is reported to seem healthy.

#amber alert #missing child #nalah jackson #kason thomas

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beardedmrbean · 1 year

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A borough councilperson was fatally shot in New Jersey this week, authorities have confirmed, marking the state's second attack in seven days where an act of gun violence resulted in the death of a local elected official.

Russell Heller, 51, was a council member in the township of Milford, near the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He was shot around 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning in the parking lot of the PSE&G Central Division headquarters building in Somerset, where Heller had worked as a supervisor for 11 years.

Officers were dispatched to the facility on a 911 call, the Franklin Township Police Department said in a news release. When they arrived, the responding officers found Heller had suffered a gunshot wound and already succumbed to his injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical personnel, according to the police department.

An investigation into the deadly shooting led law enforcement to identify 58-year-old Gary Curtis, of Washington township, as the suspected gunman. Curtis, a former employee at PSE&G, was found dead several hours later from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. Officers discovered the suspect's body inside his car, which was traced to a parking lot in the neighboring township.

"The investigation remains on-going to determine motive," wrote the Franklin Township police department in their release describing the shooting. "Preliminary investigation has revealed that the shooting was an isolated incident and Mr. Heller was the intended target."

The prosecutor's office in Somerset County said in a statement Thursday morning that the deadly shooting was not politically motivated, CBS New York reported.

"Investigators have confirmed that Mr. Heller was a Republican Councilman for Milford Borough (Hunterdon County)," the statement read, according to CBS New York. "The investigation has revealed that the shooting of Mr. Heller was not politically connected with his elected office or political affiliation."

Heller's death came exactly one week after Eunice Dwumfour, a borough councilwoman in Sayreville was shot to death in a car parked outside of her home on the evening of Feb. 1. Dwumfour, 30, was the first Black person elected to office in the township on the state's eastern edge.

At a memorial held in her honor this week, Sayreville Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick praised her former colleague and friend as a figure who "broke through that glass ceiling" and "confidently, with class and dignity, walked proudly to her seat on the dais in her signature sparkling high heels." Police have yet to arrest a suspect in Dwumfour's killing.

Political leaders in New Jersey reacted on social media Wednesday to news of the deadly shooting that killed Heller, echoing similar sentiments shared in response to Dwumfour's murder that acknowledged it as a devastating consequence of gun violence in the area.

"Early this morning, a deadly shooting took place outside of a PSE&G facility in Franklin Township. Our thoughts and prayers are with Russell Heller's family and friends in the wake of this tragic act of gun violence," wrote New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in a tweet on Wednesday. The governor had reposted a message shared by PSE&G.

"We are heartbroken at the tragic death of Russell Heller, senior distribution supervisor at PSE&G," the company wrote, describing Heller as "an admired employee" of more than 11 years.

"He will be sorely missed by all, and our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time," said PSE&G. "This event is tragic and disturbing, and we are offering support to our employees as they process this. We are cooperating with law enforcement with respect to their investigation."

New Jersey Rep. Tom Kean, whose district includes parts of Somerset County, where Franklin township is located, praised Heller in another message shared on Twitter after his death.

"I am shocked and saddened by the tragic murder of Milford Councilman Russell Heller," the congressman wrote. "Russell was an outstanding public servant who proudly represented the river town he loved. My prayers are with his family and the Milford community."

_______________

For the record he was also a republican, so that's 2 murdered in less than a week in NJ both republicans.

#nunyas news

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treuallahtreuvulieou · 1 year

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Where's my therapist yes patience is a virtue I know all compensated for how long I am going waste or avoid. Doctor to Doctor

Doctor Kauffman Lee Hawkins Booper York County Pennsylvania to Whom it Concerns

.. Well Doc Department of Corrections skills intelligence quotient legal credentials oh I am deceased in Los Angeles California if I work the beat Las Vegas Nevada is safe as WHATS SWHAT.. the message Don't come to work report to employment message

No Doc you Don't understand I am still laughing at myself

Well Doc my golden opportunity to change it all I broken the rule and reestablished a secured future livegreathing

Well yes I got out the vehicle discharged the firearm at the female and selfed it back before it all happened and everything fine

I am polygynyst .. but to much uncertainty inside the vehicle.. especially to be law enforcement uniform or not .

It was helpful time passed code 68 investigation paranormal activity oh my Staircase value 68 million dollars that's plus well now anyway before 68 million value it claimed a body or two like it was the Hope Diamond 💎.

Yes Apparently I was so scared the female walk to car window and said I would suck your dick but the would be in appropriate..

But only your female spouse should scare you that much. Well Noted title God King title Among others God or dog easy as east and west best seat teas and eats etas

I didn't know Doc the one inside the car might have longevity interest I Don't know but A have more spouse potential the Solomon King of Israel I am Terry

I didn't know all the details but prevention better than cure

Oh as Captain Admiral Hawkingson Hawkins Hawkerman of the Anglos tell me about it's normal NASA clearly stated your deceased in space or your not then your cleared to enter space

Doc Adams Family Theory.. It's actually possible I stepped in front of comet that time

Well this is started with our crew being digested and feasted upon and screaming identification bureau of identification match , our children found our remains next like and with that knowledge Anglos response an advanced level of warfare timeline Security time and space authorities approved

I Don't know first time change all found deceased aboard the ship before touching the surface of the foreign planet. Success rates well great worked vastly applied correctly

Well sure one time I crashved the ship into planet it didn't expect to our wishful findings it didn't explode all on board deceased our pilot discharged around at himself

Well we are livegreathing now.. Anglos International Space Navy Military Operations established communication Booper Terry Kauffman Lee Hawkins Hawkingson Hopkins Hawkins secured

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soccerlead7 · 1 year

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The 4-Minute Rule for James Hafner

2021-0511-SG ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) MEMORANDUM OPINION Date Sent: February 11, 2022 Date Determined: May 25, 2022 Stephen E. Jenkins and Richard D. Heins, of ASHBY & GEDDES, Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL: Donald J. Enright, Elizabeth K. Tripodi, and Brian D. Stewart, of LEVI & KORSINSKY, LLP, Washington, D.C.; and D. Seamus Kaskela, of KASKELA LAW LLC, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, Attorneys for the Plaintiffs. Brock E. Czeschin, of RICHARDS, LAYTON & FINGER, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; OF COUNSEL: John P. Stigi III, of SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER, & HAMPTON LLP, Los Angeles, California, Attorneys for the Offenders. GLASSCOCK, Vice Chancellor This concise Memorandum Opinion deal with the outstanding sections of the Defendants’ motion to disregard this activity (the “Motion”) that were not solved at oral argument.1 The Complaint in this action carries claims against alleged fiduciaries of Fat Brands Inc. (“Fat Brands”) for their purported parts in coordinating a merger between Fat Brands and Fog Cutter Capital Group, Inc. (“Fog Capital”) that finalized in December 2020 (the “Merger”). 2 The Complaint additionally challenges a set of car loans made through Fat Brands to Fog Capital just before the Merger. The complaint, filed in June, alleges that the Merger had a "equally acknowledged" monetary perk, but that Fog Capital, despite signing off on the Merger, would deal with economic risk. In an interview last full week along with Time publication, Fog Capital President Tom Donner said Fog Capital would come to be "an functioning device" at its San Francisco central office. 3 I heard dental debate on this issue on February 11, 2022. In June of 1960, President Nixon authorized a National Prohibition of Tobacco Sales Act. The act banned the manufacture or purchase of any type of kind of artificial, or inorganic or inorganic products. The Act banned the manufacture, purchase or things of any of these drugs, except that cigarette, a material through which cigarette was generated, can not be made for purchase. One of the great tort doctrines is res ipsa loquitur—the factor speaks for itself. The person who has actually it has actually an skin and is said to to take an skin total of sodium. It is mentioned the sinner's whole physical body is under the hide, that he have to eliminate his entire manhood and be dealt with along with it. The person who has it may do this. In other phrases, a virgin's body system is regularly the one that is under the cover-up.

Because much of the work of this Court includes case-dispositive movement method including Plaintiff-friendly assumptions, regarding the incentive of fiduciaries, a kind of nondiscriminatory analog of res ipsa loquitur uses in specific situations of reasonable torts—so it was below. The scenario was one in which many fiduciers had interacted in their own activities in an initiative to keep their personal funds in a state secure, for circumstances, or because of financial grief. I rejected many of the Motion to Disregard from the seat adhering to oral argument, because it was reasonably likely that the Merger as pled was thus inimical to Fat Brands that it constituted corporate misuse or poor belief. The Court concurred. The James Legal Squire to Disregard was fixed the second to 3rd session. The Court was told that the Judge must be permitted to listen to oral debate on the activities that it could possibly have considered when she taken into consideration the content of the motion. 4 I reserved opinion, nevertheless, pertaining to two issues. To begin with, the alleged misuse of its economic sources as compensation. Second, the proof offered at trial shows that accused misappropriated the financial sources of the plaintiff's trust fund, thus affecting the quantity it was entitled to. The court found that the offender's failing to pay the amount involved did not make up a breach of trust, and additionally established the monetary perks to be weird as a matter of fact; the opinion was certified. To begin with, whether the Complaint explained a 1 Defs.’ Mot. 1 at 76-87 consists of an aspect of fact and is not subject to an exception by cause of an sworn statement created before it, the Court discovers that the Individually Writ of Certiorari, as opposed to any sort of other component of the One by one Writ, need to be understood therefore as to point out that it is a requirement for review judgment. Observe also, e.g., S.P. Breach Fiduciary Duty, Unjust Enrichment and Waste Corporate Assets, Dkt. $11,500.00 Curtis & Whitney Foundation – American Dream (Extract coming from "A Life Responsible for the Scenes: The Forgotten Story of a National Treasure", Dkt. $11,667,600.00 T.E. Lawrence Foundation – Family and Community, Foreign Aid, Education, Legal Services and Law Business, Dkt. Breach Fiduciary Duty, Unjust Enrichment and Waste Corporate Assets, Dkt. $11,500.00 Curtis & Whitney Foundation – American Dream (Selection coming from "A Life Responsible for the Scenes: The Forgotten Story of a National Treasure", Dkt. $11,667,600.00 T.E. Lawrence Foundation – Family and Community, Foreign Aid, Education, Legal Services and Law Business, Dkt.

#The James Legal Squire

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eleanorblue · 1 year

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EleanorBlue’s Five-Part 2022 Midterms Recap; Part Three, Section A: Open Seats in the Senate

I missed the last two days due to Exhaustion and also schoolwork. But now we’re back to talk about the Senate! Before I get started, let me just say: THE GEORGIA SENATE RUN-OFF IS IN ONE WEEK. RAPHAEL WARNOCK NEEDS ALL THE HELP HE CAN GET TO DEFEAT HERSCHEL WALKER. If you’d like to donate to his campaign, you can go here.

Okay. Back to the recaps.

I thought this was going to be just one post, but it’s gotten wayyyy too long. So, I’ve divided the Senate section into two: Open Seats and Incumbent Races.

The Senate was the Big One. The one everyone was watching. The one that launched thousands upon thousands of emails and texts begging for donations.

“We’re counting on you, EleanorBlue.”

“EleanorBlue, can you rush a donation by tonight to help me defeat [terrible guy]?”

“We need your support EleanorBlue.”

“The clock is ticking, EleanorBlue.”

I discussed in Part 1 why control of the Senate was so important, but just as a brief recap: if Democrats control the Senate, they can continue confirming Biden judges. It will also be easier to get budgets and legislation passed if we don’t have to fight Mitch McConnell in the Senate and just [insert whoever’s gonna come out of that fucking clown car to be Speaker here] in the House. Democrats held the Senate 50-50, with VP Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. So, we needed to hold everything that was up and we had a few opportunities to flip seats to expand our majority.

How did we do with the open seats?

Pennsylvania

*airhorn noises*

GO FETTERMAN GO!

Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman defeated pee-drinking puppy-killing New Jersey resident Dr. Mehmet Oz.

The pair were competing for a vacant Senate seat opened after Sen. Pat Toomey (R) retired. This is a much-needed flip for Democrats, in a state that only went for Biden by two points, 50% to 48%.

I am so excited about John Fetterman. I just want to talk about him for a bit.

He was very active online during the campaign, as was his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, a formerly undocumented immigrant from Brazil. Fetterman (and his campaign) knew how to use social media in the way most (septuagenarian, octogenarian) senators Do Not. He is an economic populist who has tried to bring his message to those who feel marginalized or left behind. He is very pro-union, supports a $15 minimum wage, and wants to legalize marijuana. When he was mayor of Braddock, he officiated multiple same-sex marriages, even though Pennsylvania law made same-sex marriages illegal at the time.

Fetterman connected with people unlike any other candidate this cycle. People could identify with him.

His opponent, Dr. Oz, was a millionaire from New Jersey with a Hollywood Star who could not have seemed less relatable. When asked how many houses he owned, Oz said he had “only” two homes and ten properties, which (a) doesn’t make sense and (b) is not really a situation in which you want to use the word “only.” The Fetterman campaign capitalized on a truly bizarre campaign video Oz made of himself buying an odd assortment groceries in an attempt to demonstrate how terrible inflation is, in which he used the word “crudité” instead of, you know, “vegetable platter,” and fumbled the name of the grocery store.

“Look at me, I am a regular human like you who is familiar with grocery prices because I definitely go to the grocery store and struggle with the cost each week!”

In May, Fetterman had a stroke. He was off the campaign trail for months, and a health scare always hurts candidates in the minds of voters. Fetterman’s team stepped up and launched tons of funny, relatable, and accurate digital ads--though nothing can truly make up for a candidate holding events with real people. As best they could, the Fetterman campaign tried to turn the stroke into an asset--they characterized him as a fighter, as someone who got knocked down and got back up, and said that he was fighting for everyone who’d ever struggled like him. Oz attacked him for the stroke, of course, but the nastiness of his attacks may have hurt Oz more than they helped.

Oz and Fetterman debated in late October, and the media immediately piled on Fetterman--with some reason. He did not have a fantastic time. The stroke left him with auditory processing issues, and the closed captioning system at the debate malfunctioned, making his performance seem shaky and weak.

Here’s a headline from Politico about the debate:

Fetterman’s debate performance prompts Democratic handwringing

Yeah, it sure did. Maybe more than it should have, considering during that very same debate, Dr. Oz announced that he thought that discussion of abortion should occur between women, doctors, and...local political leaders?!?

“My child has a congenital condition making them incompatible with life and I’m considering getting an abortion to spare them the pain they would suffer after birth. I’ve spoken with my doctor about this. Now I just need to contact my local Board of Zoning representative to make this incredibly challenging decision!”

Fetterman ran an excellent campaign, with the motto “every county, every vote.” No rural Pennsylvania county was too red for him. He spoke with people--and inspired and convinced people--in the deepest red counties. How did that work out?

John Fetterman beat Dr. Oz 50.9% to 46.6%, flipping a red seat blue.

“Pennsylvania elections are about margins, and he cut into the margins Republicans had across the counties that they usually control,” said Christopher Borick, a political scientist and pollster at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. “He got a lot of looks from voters who aren’t very open to looking at Democrats right now.”

Thus ends my love letter to John Fetterman. Phew. I promise my analyses of the next few races won’t go on so long.

Ohio

Ugh. Yeah, this sucks, but I wasn’t surprised.

Like Pennsylvania, Ohio had an open Senate seat vacated by Senator Rob Portman (R). This was an opportunity for Democrats to flip another seat, but I think we all knew going in that Ohio would be much harder than Wisconsin or Pennsylvania. Ohio used to be a swing state. Like Florida, it is not anymore (even though Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown won reelection in 2018). In 2012, Ohio went for Obama by 2 points, 50.1% to 48.2%. In 2016, Ohio went for Trump by 9 points, 51.1% to 43.5%. In 2020, Ohio went for Trump again by 8 points, 53.3% to 45.2%. It’s pretty red these days! No matter what kind of campaign U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D) ran, it was going to be a tough slog.

Ryan is pro-choice, former...author and personality JD Vance supports a 15-week abortion ban. Vance has spread the Big Lie, Ryan is pro-democracy. Vance has expressed admiration for Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán (ugh ugh ugh gross blegh) and has blamed America’s problems on the “childless left.” Vance bizarrely accused Biden of intentionally opening the southern border with the express purpose of flooding Ohio with fentanyl to kill MAGA voters. (For those of you reading this who are not from the U.S. or are not sure where Ohio is, I encourage you to quickly google a map to see how far Ohio is from the southern border.)

In his campaign, Ryan avoided describing himself as a Democrat and tried to draw a contrast between himself, as a regular down-to-earth Ohioan whose grandfather was a steelworker, and Vance, as a venture capitalist and fraud. He also made China one of the primary focuses of his campaign, blaming the country for stealing Ohio jobs and driving up unemployment.

Pundit hat time. I don’t think this was a terrible strategy. It’s a bit similar to Fetterman’s economic populism, and at bare minimum, Ryan worried the Republican party enough that they diverted millions of dollars they could have used in other races to holding very red Ohio. But the electorate of Ohio was just too red for Ryan.

Also? In my personal and not data-based opinion...I don’t think Ryan was that compelling of a candidate. I couldn’t get really excited about him the way I got excited about Fetterman or Barnes or Beasley (who I will talk about later). Tim Ryan is like a glass of skim milk. Good for you, but boring. JD Vance is like a cocktail of rat poison and drain cleaner. It’ll probably kill you, but it’s a hell of a lot more exciting and unusual than skim milk.

But a lot of people who are not me like skim milk, and a lot of people did like Tim Ryan. Tim Ryan lost by 6.5 points, 53.2% to 46.7%. That margin is a little narrower than Biden’s margin in 2020, so good for you, Tim Ryan. He also may have had an impact on several House races, which I’ll talk about later. It’s so annoying that JD flipping Vance is going to be a senator, but I am not shocked.

North Carolina

Shucks.

North Carolina is one of those states like Ohio and Florida in that is used to be a swing state but has been reliably Republican for the last few election cycles. But! I don’t think we can or should rule it out. Like I mentioned in my state government post (even though I talked about NC as a deep red state), North Carolina has a Democratic governor and would definitely have a more purple legislature if it wasn’t gerrymandered so badly. Besides, in the 2020 election, Trump only won by 1.3 points, 49.9% to 48.6%. North Carolina should be flippable!

Well, not in this race. Senator Richard Burr (R) retired, leaving an open seat. Former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley (D) ran a strong race against U.S. Rep. Ted Budd (R). She focused on lowering inflation and protecting abortion rights. She outraised Budd by a lot, but outside groups and PACs poured money into the race to support Budd. I guess it worked. Budd, a 2020-election denier who co-sponsored a national ban on abortion (though since running he has stated that Biden is the legitimate president of the United States) beat Beasley by 4 points, 50.7% to 47%. That sucks. Cheri Beasley would have been a fantastic senator, and while I’m not shocked that she didn’t win given the makeup of North Carolina, I am disappointed.

I just said that Cheri Beasley outraised Budd. She did. However, I’ve seen lots of reporting that she did not get the financial support she needed from the Democratic party, who appeared to prioritize other races over hers. Though liberal groups and PACs began to put money into her race in late September-October, it was a case of too little, too late. Conservative groups were able to run attack ads that portrayed Beasley as a radical leftist in the pocket of Joe Biden. (Lol.) These ads often used blatantly racist imagery to paint Beasley as dangerous and as soft on crime. (Hmm, does this remind anyone of Johnson’s campaign against Mandela Barnes?) Without sufficient financial support from the party, it looks like Beasley was unable to run enough counter ads to defend herself and attack Budd.

Provided this analysis holds as we get further from the election and learn more about what happened, this was a pretty huge mistake on the part of the Democratic Party. I really think we could have flipped North Carolina. It is a shame we didn’t.

Okay. Those were the Big Three open seats. The remainder of the open seats were in very blue or very red states I’m going to go through them super fast, because there’s honestly not much to say.

Alabama

Senator Richard Shelby (R, but used to be D like a thousand years ago) retired after 35 years in the Senate. He was replaced by his former chief of staff Katie Britt (R), who defeated Will Boyd (D) by 36 points, 66.6% to 30.9%. Absolutely no credible new source has reported on her positions so I can’t cite anything without going to, like the 1819 project, but she’s very conservative. Obviously. Interestingly, she was not Trump’s choice in the primary--that was Mo Brooks. I guess she can’t be worse than him.

Missouri

Senator Roy Blunt (R) retired after 12 years in the Senate. He was replaced by former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt (R), who defeated Trudy Busch Valentine (D) by 13 points, 55.4% to 42.1%. Reading his Wikipedia page makes my skin crawl. He is as big of a dipshit as you’d imagine. The only funny thing about Eric Schmitt is that the night before the Missouri Republican primary Trump put out an endorsement for “ERIC,” confusing everyone as both top candidates were named Eric. When asked for clarification, Trump’s team said “the endorsement speaks for itself,” which it did not. Both Erics immediately claimed the endorsement.

Oklahoma

...where the wind comes sweeping down the plain. Senator Jim Inhofe (R) announced his resignation in February 2022, presumably on account of being eighty-seven years old, prompting a special election to replace him. He’d served in the Senate for twenty-seven years. Inhofe was the bozo who brought a snowball onto the Senate floor as proof that climate change doesn’t exist. He endorsed his top aide, Luke Holland, as his replacement, but Holland lost the primary to U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin. Mullin (R) then went on to defeat former U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn by 27 points, 61.8% to 35.2%. He’s an election denier and an anti-abortion zealot. Now he’s in the U.S. Senate. Fun!

Vermont

In November 2021, Senator Patrick Leahy (D) announced he would retire after forty-eight years in the Senate. Can you imagine sitting in the Senate for forty-eight years? I cannot. He is the third-longest serving senator ever. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D), Vermont’s lone congressional representative, ran to replace him against political newcomer Gerald Malloy (R), who just moved to Vermont from Massachusetts. Welch defeated Malloy by 40 points, 68.4% to 28.1%. Welch’s top priorities appear to be expanding the Affordable Care Act and fighting climate change, which is great. He’ll be a good senator. I’m glad I could end this list on Vermont instead of on Alabama, Missouri, or Oklahoma.

Wrap-Up

That’s it for the open seats. We only managed to flip one, which was...well, not entirely unexpected, but still disappointing. Next up we have the defending incumbents. Thanks for reading, and I’ll se you tomorrow!

#surviving the american political hellscape #2022 midterm elections #2022 midterms #eleanorblue does politics #2022 senate elections

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dinneratsheilas · 1 year

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Thanksgiving 2022!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We did, but it was not the Thanksgiving we had planned...

You’ve heard of the expression ....”best laid plans...”

It’s a proverbial expression used to signify the futility of making detailed plans when the ability to fully or even partially execute them is uncertain.

These last few years living with the ever changing Pandemic we have learned to be flexible when planning to travel, visit loved ones, socialize with friends, and go about our daily activities.

When Covid began early in 2020, that first Thanksgiving found my husband and I having a Thanksgiving dinner for four.

Our son and daughter-in-law from LA were able to come, and we took the necessary precautions...eating appetizers outside on the deck, and for dinner inside we sat at one end of the table, and they at the other, the mandatory 6 feet apart.We wore masks when necessary and fortunately our climate allowed us to keep windows open for ventilation inside.

We were so happy we could be together, even under those conditions.

Our other son, daughter-in-law and newly born grandson were obviously unable to come. And none of my siblings from back east or the mid-west were going to be able to travel safely at that time.

As things improved with the vaccines, social distancing, wearing masks, and practicing good hygiene, things began to look better for many, and we were beginning to feel it was safe to be together in small groups.

As a result, last year we were fortunate our sons, daughters-in-law, and first grandchild (a boy), born early during the Pandemic, and seated in a high chair now, were all at our table!

This past year our family has been blessed with the addition of a second grandson, and a first granddaughter! So as you might expect we were looking forward to a Thanksgiving this year with our now three grandchildren, and their parents with us for the holiday.

However, due to the recent surge of influenza, colds, continuing Covid cases, and RSV (a respiratory virus especially worrisome if infants and young children are infected), we all agreed our plans needed to change. Especially since my husband and I were recovering from colds.

This meant we would celebrate Thanksgiving this year in our own homes, along with some shared face-timing, photos, and videos.

So...this year it was Thanksgiving for two, but of course it didn’t stop me from making a big dinner with some concessions.

My usual 25lb turkey became a 16lb turkey (a lot of leftovers for 2 people, but I will be making turkey potpie, and turkey tetrazzini for sure).

I skipped the usual array of appetizers (even the shrimp), and simply began the meal with the delicious salad featured in the photo below.

The rest of the menu included my traditional, Challah stuffing, my Mom’s mashed potatoes, gravy, fresh green beans sprinkled with lemon zest and kosher salt, cranberry sauce, and my husband’s favorite cranberry fruit mold. And a relish plate of olives, kosher dill pickles, and bread and butter pickles.

I also cut back on the desserts this year. I baked my favorite pumpkin pie served with homemade whipped cream for me (and a slice for a couple of neighbors), and for my husband I served an apple crisp with good vanilla ice cream. (OK, I ate both!)

In the end Thanksgiving has come and gone, and although we didn’t have the day we had planned on, we are so grateful for what we do have, and after all isn’t that what it’s all about?

Our family and extended family are all healthy, and our family continues to grow.

My husband and I remember one of our first Thanksgivings after we were married when he was a graduate student at Florida State University.

For the first time we were unable to take the long trip by car to be with our families who lived in Pennsylvania .

It was the first time I made Thanksgiving dinner, and just for the two of us. So here we are, some 50+ years later, and we’re doing it again.

One more thing to be thankful for.

#Thanksgiving

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samuelfishmansblog · 2 months

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Pennsylvania Car Seat Laws

Learn about Pennsylvania's car seat laws with The Law Offices of Samuel Fishman. Ensuring your child's safety is paramount, and understanding the state's regulations is crucial. This comprehensive guide covers the requirements for child car seats, booster seats, and seat belts, keeping you informed and compliant with the law. Whether you're a parent, caregiver, or concerned citizen, access this resource to prioritize the safety of young passengers on Pennsylvania's roads.

#Philadelphia Personal Injury Lawyer #Philadelphia Personal Injury Attorney #Personal Injury Claim #Pennsylvania Car Seat Laws

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madisonsquaregardenevents · 2 years

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How to Discover Parking Near the Madison Square Yard

Finding Madison Square Garden auto parking isn't constantly very easy. The good news is that there are numerous alternatives available. Utilizing these suggestions can assist you arrive easily. If you've never been to this New York City spots, there are lots of ways to find totally free parking near Madison Square Garden. With any luck, this post will aid you locate an area that works finest for you. And, if you require even more information about madison square garden parking, do not hesitate to call us! The easiest means to locate economical parking near the Madison Square Yard is to book ahead of time. While you can find parking on the street, you should understand the moment constraints. The very best method to locate vehicle parking at Madison Square Yard is to acquire pre-paid parking online. You can even save a couple of bucks as well as time by car parking near the stadium.

Just make certain to get there early! If you're intending to see a program at the Madison Square Garden, ensure to make reservations beforehand. If you're seeking tickets to Madison Square Garden Parking events, consider going to Vivid Seats. This on-line ticket vendor supplies discounts on sports tickets and also performance tickets, and additionally has a New York events guide. Brilliant Seats additionally supplies Compensate Credit report when you purchase tickets through the website. When you get Madison Square Garden Car parking tickets with them, you'll make debt that can be used to get tickets to future events. Check out their lineup for performances at the Yard. If you're trying to find Madison Square Garden auto parking near the field, you'll need to know that the arena is handicapped obtainable. To discover a handicap parking space, use SpotHero, which permits you to filter car parking by handicap access.

A conventional handicap hang-tag or permit plate will not operate in New york city City. Be sure to register with NYCDOT to make certain that your car park is lawful. Throughout huge occasions and sporting events, it can be difficult to find street parking. You can additionally think about using oracle park events in the area. The Madison Square Yard is a popular venue in New York City. This multi-purpose arena is located on the top of Pennsylvania Terminal and also opened to the general public in February 1968. Madison Square Garden also organizes shows, programs, as well as boxing events.

It even organizes the Westminster Pet Program. Which's not all - auto parking at the Madison Square Yard is simple! You'll never ever need to worry about arriving and also car parking at Madison Square Yard is a breeze when you make use of ParkABM. If you're checking out Madison Square Garden for a performance, after that you'll wish to know just how to arrive. The field lies over Penn Terminal, and also is easily accessible by metro. It's only two train quits from Grand Central. If you're driving, consider utilizing SpotHero to book ahead of time. This solution will predict where street vehicle parking is readily available and also account for the Alt-Side restrictions around Madison Square Garden. Learn more about parking lots on this site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_lot.

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dailyunsolvedmysteries · 3 years

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The Bizarre Death of Jonathan Luna

Growing up in the projects of New York City, Jonathan Luna always dreamed of graduating college and making his family proud. His father had struggled to make a living with a restaurant while his mother was a housewife. He graduated from Fordham University in 1987 with a degree in history. Afterwards, he enrolled in the University of North Carolina law school. His friends described him as “selfless, engaging, charismatic and a gentle soul.”

After graduating law school, Jonathan scored a federal clerkship with U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was here they he met his future wife, Angela. The couple eventually settled down in Elkridge, Baltimore, where they had two sons. Luna got a job working as an Assistant United States Attorney. His focus was on convicting sexual predators.

The 4th of December, 2003, started just like any other day. Luna kissed his family goodbye before departing his modest home for work. He had been working on a case involving two men who were accused of dealing heroin from their music label studio, Stash House Records. One of the men was also facing a murder charge. Luna had spent the entire evening working on the case and called Arcangelo Tuminelli, a co-worker, at approximately 9PM that night, saying he was ready to go home and that he would see him the following morning. They were going to offer the two men a plea deal and he would work on it at home throughout the night so it would be ready for the morning. According to the clocking out system in his office car park, Luna didn’t leave the office until 11:38PM.

He left behind his phone and glasses, indicating he left in a rush or had planned to return. He needed the glasses to drive.

At around 1AM, Luna’s car entered Delaware where $200 was lifted from an ATM at a rest stop. He then crossed into New Jersey and on to Pennsylvania at around 4AM. In Pennsylvania, his credit card was used at a Sunoco Station. His E-Z Pass was used on the I-95 into Delaware but after this, he started to purchase toll tickets. His car was then parked behind a Sensenig & Weaver in Denver, Pennsylvania.

It was approximately 5:30AM and the sun was just starting to rise when a worker of Sensenig & Weaver arrived to start his shift. He noticed the discarded car and decided to investigate. He had assumed that it was a drunk driver. As he approached the car, he noticed that blood was smeared over the door and the front fender. When the worker looked into the car window, he found a large puddle of blood on the back seat and back footwell. Money and cell phone equipment had been scattered inside the car.

Nearby in a shallow creek lay the lifeless body of Jonathan Luna.

Luna had sustained 36 stab wounds with his own penknife. The pathologist, Dr. Gary Kirchner, said that his hands had been “shredded” and that his scrotum and throat had both been slashed. After the brutal attack, Luna drowned to death in the creek. Inside the car investigators found that the purchased toll tickets had blood smeared on them. Additionally, the puddle of blood in the back seat and footwell indicated that Luna hadn’t been driving the car, but somebody else. Inside the car was an unidentified fingerprint in the blood as well as blood from an unidentified source.

While the death was initially ruled as a homicide, “law enforcement sources” soon began to speculate that Luna had committed suicide. Dr. Gary Kirchner believed that Luna had been murdered but the FBI asked him to change the manner of death to suicide. Kirchner announced Luna had been “brutalized with multiple stab wounds.” In fact, he even had several stab wounds over his back and defensive wounds on his hands and arms as if attempting to ward off an attacker. He said that some of the wounds to his neck and chest were small puncture marks and were “consistent with torture.”

The manner of death was ultimately changed to suicide and a smear campaign on Luna’s reputation was soon born in cruel case of victim blaming.

It was soon reported in the media that Luna may have involved in a robbery case in which $36,000 went missing. The Baltimore Sun implied that Luna was involved in the robbery and alluded that he had committed suicide because he was afraid that he was going to lose his job. There was never any evidence to corroborate these claims up yet they were published as fact. “His job was not in jeopardy in any respect,” declared U.S. Attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio. Federal sources leaked details of his debt and theorised that he had been having an affair. Everybody that knew Luna had nothing but pleasant words to say about him and found the allegations to be “a well-timed hit job on Luna’s reputation.”

Many theorise that Luna’s death was connected with the drug ring case that he was prosecuting. It should be noted, however, that the two men involved in the drug ring were in jail at the time of his death. Coincidentally, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar, who was also working on a drug ring case, disappeared in 2005. To this day, he has never been found.

The case remains unsolved.

#Jonathan Luna #true crime #cold cases #crime #unsolved mysteries

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96thdayofrage · 3 years

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When police vehicles pulled behind her, Bottom continued driving for another 10 miles, oblivious, she says, to the fact that they were trying to stop her for speeding. Bottom didn’t think she was speeding and claims she didn’t realize she was being pulled over.

Officers used stop sticks and pulled Bottom over at gunpoint. Then police yanked the 68-year-old Atlanta woman out of her driver’s seat by her hair, according to a federal lawsuit.

Bottom is suing the city of Salisbury, two of the city’s police officers and a Rowan County sheriff’s deputy who were involved in the May 30, 2019 incident. The federal complaint also names Rowan County Sheriff Kevin Auten as well as the Pennsylvania National Mutual, Casualty Insurance Company, the insurance company with which the Sheriff’s Office has a $2 million surety bond.

Bottom’s lawsuit was filed April 21 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. She alleges officers assaulted her and unlawfully searched her SUV during the chaotic ordeal. She’s asking for damages and an injunction against the policies and practices in which the officers engaged while taking her into custody.

Bottom is being represented by Scott Holmes, professor of the Civil Litigation Clinic, a program for third-year law-school students at the North Carolina Central University. The clinic has partnered with Emancipate North Carolina, a civil rights nonprofit based in Durham.

Ian Mance is the attorney handling the case for the public policy program, which is dedicated to criminal justice reform and eradicating structural racism. He said he was particularly struck by officers’ brutal treatment of an elderly woman who was unarmed and showed no signs of being violent.

“There was no indication that local law enforcement agencies we’re going to take any action against these officers,” Mance explained in an interview with Atlanta Black Star. “I think we all kind of saw this case the same way, which is this was an egregious example of excessive force. And the departments did not seem inclined to take action to hold these officers accountable. If they’re not going to hold these officers accountable in a situation like this, when will they hold officers accountable?”

The Bodycam

The incident began the evening of May 30, 2019 when a deputy allegedly spotted Bottom driving 80 mph on the interstate, which has a 70 mph speed limit. Bottom noticed the deputy’s blue lights but didn’t think she was speeding so she didn’t stop. She thought the police were attempting to stop another motorist on the interstate, and claims her music drowned out the sirens.

Pretty soon, four male officers were involved in the chase. Among them was Salisbury police officer Adam Bouk, Rowan County sheriff’s deputy Mark Benfield, a Highway Patrol trooper identified in the lawsuit only as Officer Smith and Devin Barkalow, a plainclothes Salisbury cop.

An officer pulled alongside Bottom’s SUV at one point during the chase and looked inside her vehicle. He identified her on the radio as “an older Black female.” A frustrated Barkalow called Bottom a “fucking retard” and a “douche bag” while chasing her in his squad car. Bodycam footage showed he also said it was an “exciting chase” and commented that he was “at the edge of his seat.”

Smith pulled ahead of Bottom at one point and laid down a spike strip to flatten her SUV’s tires. That’s when she pulled over to the highway’s median.

Bodycam footage showed Deputy Benfield hop out with his gun drawn as he and the other officers swarmed her car. Bottom’s lawsuit indicates Barkalow also aimed his weapon at her.

As Bottom was unbuckling her seatbelt, Barkalow rushed in from the passenger’s side of the SUV and snatched the elderly woman out of the driver’s seat by her hair, then slammed her to the pavement. The other officers swooped in and handcuffed Bottom, who yelled and writhed in pain as they yanked her arms her back to shackle her. Benfield, Bouk and Barkalow pinned her to the ground with their arms and knees on Bottom’s back, the lawsuit alleges.

Bottom appeared befuddled at the officers’ aggressive response. Bouk yelled that they’d been following her trying to get her to stop for over 10 miles.

“I was just driving,” Bottom said.

“You’re going to jail now,” the policeman responded.

“Why? What have I done wrong?” Bottom cried out, growing increasingly incredulous. “What have I done wrong? Please, why are you doing this to me?”

“It was a simple traffic stop, that’s all we had to do,” Benfield told her. “We’d write you a ticket. You turned it into this.”

Bottom sobbed as she sat on the ground at the side of the high gasping in pain. She told officers she had a torn ligament in her shoulder from a previous car accident and begged them to uncuff her arms from behind her back. Bouk refused, while the three other officers ignored her pleas.

She later asked to be taken to the hospital and told a ranking police captain who arrived on scene that officers had broken her arm.

Bouk and Benfield explained to Bottom that she refused to stop when they attempted to pull her over for speeding. Bottom claimed she was driving 70 mph or 75 mph with her music turned up so loudly that she couldn’t hear the sirens. She said she didn’t realize the contingent of officers were after her.

Authorities scoffed at her explanation, finding it hard to believe she didn’t notice them for 10 miles. Bouk told her a cruiser pulled right beside her vehicle at one point during the pursuit and said she endangered “a whole lot of people.” Authorities indicated they also had their lights and sirens flashing as well.

“Ma’am, there was about four police cars behind you at one point in time,” Benfield told Bottom as she claimed she didn’t realize the officers had been chasing her for miles. “I don’t understand how they do it in Georgia, but that’s not how it’s done here.”

According to a July 2020 report from the North Carolina Justice Analysis Review, Black motorists were stopped at a rate twice as high as white drivers in the Tar Heel State, and almost 1.5 times the rates of other races. A March report from the review panel, which is part of the Governor’s Crime Commission, showed that Black drivers are also searched nearly twice the rate as white and Hispanics in North Carolina, and more than three times the rate of other races.

Mance said that was one of the reasons Emancipate North Carolina opted to take on Bottom’s case.

“We know that North Carolina has really widespread and entrenched, pronounced racial disparities in terms of the way that black and white motorists are policed,” he said. “I think that one of the main reasons we decided to get involved and impact litigation around traffic stops is that here, traffic stops are the main way that people interact with the police. So they make up the majority of citizens police interactions in a given year.

“That’s not the case in a lot of states. But here, that is kind of the main way that people interact with police,” Mance added. “So when things go wrong with the police, that is very often in the context of traffic stops.”

The Lawsuit

Bottom’s lawsuit claims officers used excessive force when they approached her at gunpoint and when they dragged her out of her SUV. Her attorneys argue the officers didn’t give the elderly woman enough time to exit her vehicle and acted recklessly by forcibly removing her.

According to the complaint, Bottom was unarmed and posed no threat. She had her hands up and was attempting to exit the vehicle, but it was difficult to do so quickly because of her age and medical conditions.

Her lawyers claim the officers’ reckless actions aggravated an old injury and caused Bottom’s shoulder to “pop” as the officers handcuffed her. She had to be hospitalized and undergo surgery for a torn rotator cuff. Her shoulder has never fully healed and the incident left her with permanent damage.

Bottom’s attorneys also argue that officers were “deliberately indifferent” to the woman’s pain. They ignored her cries for medical attention and failed to render immediate treatment for her injuries.

Bouk told other officers “that’s good police work, baby” even as Bottom continued to complain about her shoulder. Some of the other officers congratulated each other for a job well done, the lawsuit alleges. Barkalow bragged about grabbing a “handful of dreads,” and said “at that point she earned it.”

Paramedics were eventually called to the scene. According to The Associated Press, it was about an hour before EMS arrived. They determined Bottom needed to be hospitalized. The officers then decided not to charge Bottom to avoid paying the cost of her hospital bills, her attorneys allege. Instead, the officers decided to issue a criminal summons for her to appear in court at a later date.

One of the police officers who no longer works for the Salisbury Police Department declined to comment when contacted by the Charlotte Observer. The other officers did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for the city of Salisbury also declined to comment about the incident.

Bottom would later be charged with speeding, failure to heed to blue lights and resisting, delaying and obstructing an officer. She was accused of “refusing to get out of her vehicle and pulling away from the officer.” The lawsuit denied those allegations.

When Bottom appeared in court, she pleaded guilty to the failure to heed blue lights charge. The two other charges were dismissed.

The suit also maintains that officers had no probable cause and never asked for Bottom’s consent to search her SUV or her purse, which was in the vehicle.

Bottom was not driving recklessly, she didn’t lead officers on a high-speed chase, and she never intentionally tried to elude them, her attorneys contend. Despite that, authorities felt justified in threatening deadly force and physically assaulting the woman because she didn’t pull over in a timely manner.

Bottom was not available for comment this week. Her attorneys said she had to foot the bill for medical treatments, repairs to her SUV and was left to grapple with the emotional fallout of her encounter.

“This was this was a very traumatic thing for her to go through,” Mance said. “It was very frightening. It caused her a very significant injury that required surgery, that required her to spend time in the hospital. She had to miss a significant amount of work. So this was very disruptive to her life in many ways.”

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marvel-medigeek-fics · 4 years

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“Hello?” Buck holds his phone to his face and listens intently to the other end.

“I understand.” He was laughing, and now all of his joy is in a puddle of the floor.

He sighs and plops down on the bench. He sighs again.

“What was that, Buck?” Hen asks, leaning against the lockers.

“I have to go to Pennsylvania.” He searches for a plane ticket without thinking about it.

“Why?” Chimney’s obviously has heard about what went on in Pennsylvania. He can’t contain his disgust, and it would be dramatic if it wasn’t so on the nose.

“My mom died today. In a fire.”

“Oh, Buck. I’m so sorry.” Buck leans into Hen’s touch.

“When’s the funeral?” Chimney asks quietly.

“Friday.” Chimney walks off without a word, pulling out his phone as he heads in the direction of Bobby’s office. Eddie takes a seat next to Buck, offering his sympathy without saying anything.

What’s it going to be like, going back? Last he checked, his father was still mad about him going to LA, and his mom, well. She’s dead now. He couldn’t not go to the funeral. If for one reason only, for Maddie. She still had to tell her parents Doug was dead. And Buck, he had other things to tell them.

Chimney returns to the three of them, who hadn’t moved. “Do you need to..?” he trails off, and looks down at his phone when it chimes and immediately back up. “Because if you do, I cleared it for you already.” Buck looks up at him and nods stiffly.

“I should call Maddie.” Buck dials her number and is met with her sobbing profusely.

“Yeah, Mads, I’ll be there.” He doesn’t bother to change out of his work clothes, and just grabs his bag, pulling the rest of them into a group hug. He hangs up and savors the embrace for a minute until he leaves.

He leaves the rest of them looking at his retreating form, and Eddie’s the first one to say anything. “I have to tell Chris im going on a trip.” He walks toward Bobby’s office just like Chimney did not 10 minutes ago.

When Chimney, Maddie and buck land in Hershey, there is no one waiting for them. They just go to the hotel. It was decided from the time they booked their flights that they wouldn’t be staying anywhere near the Buckley house.

But they are going to dinner that night. The three of them were dressed impeccably. Maddie is anxiously crying over introducing Chimney to her father. Chimney is comforting her, and Buck is on a phone call with Eddie. Listening to Eddie had a way of calming Buck down.

“We gotta go Buck.” Maddie’s says, her makeup flawless again. He waves to Eddie and braces himself for the train wreck that is bound to happen.

“Hello, Evan, Madeline...” the Buckley patriarch begins.

“Howie. My boyfriend.” Maddie supplies, visibly twitching. Chimney sticks his hand out and Mr. Buckley shakes it solemnly.

“So what do you do, Mr...?”

“Han. And I’m a firefighter with Bu-Evan.” Chimney replies, sitting down at the table last.

Mr. Buckley makes a tsk noise and turns to the menu. No one says anything until after they order, Buck staying uncharacteristically silent and Maddie and Chimney drinking wine like water. They are going to need a lot to get through this. Mr. Buckley has a way of making everyone tense. He isn’t even doing anything, but old wounds don’t go away with time.

“Is there anything we need to do before tomorrow?” Buck whispers, swirling his wine around in the glass.

“There wouldn’t be a tomorrow if you hadn’t run off to Los Angeles.” Mr. Buckley doesn’t blink while he burns Buck with his gaze.

“I didn’t run, as much as you shoved me out.” Buck mutters, downing the rest of his glass.

“Shoved you out?!”

“Yes. Dad, you knew what you were doing when you gave me that ultimatum.” Buck struggles to keep his voice steady.

“Can we just enjoy a meal together?” Mr. Buckley says, taking the plate from the waiter and shooting Buck yet another death glare. Maddie and a Chimney both look at their plates like they’re the most interesting thing in world.

“So, Dad, how’s work?” Maddie tries to defuse the situation, squeezing both Buck and Chimney’s hands before she takes a tense bite of her food.

“Busy. I’ve been working nonstop double shifts to avoid having to plan another funeral. God rest their souls.”

“I wish I could’ve met her.” Chimney whispers, fondly remembering Kevin, and his own mother. Maddie squeezes his hand under the table again.

“And you would’ve, if someone would’ve stayed where he belongs.” The words wouldn’t have their meaning if there wasn’t a death glare involved.

“I’m out.” Buck gets up and throws a few bills down on the table. Maddie runs after him and Chimney follows, leaving his own bundle of cash on the table. Buck is already halfway to the car by the time Maddie and Chimney make it there.

“Buck! Hey!”

Buck doesn’t turn around until he recognizes the voice. It’s Eddie. “What’s wrong?” he says. Buck flies into his arms. “Buck, talk to me.”

“Hey, Eddie.” Maddie and Chimney say from near the trunk. Eddie waves, but his mind is actually on Buck. He looks up to see someone striding across the parking lot. All at once, he’s running toward him with a vengeance.

Maddie pulls off her shoes and sets them on the trunk and runs after them. Chimney runs after them, Eddie specifically, while Buck looks dumbfounded.

“Lay off, Diaz!” Chimney pulls a seething Eddie back and all but drags him back to the car. Maddie is more angry than Eddie, if that’s possible. It’s probably lucky the three guys can’t hear her.

“Why’d you do that, Eds?” Buck whispers when Eddie isn’t breathing fire. Eddie looks over at him and shrugs. He bumps his shoulder against Bucks lightly.

“I got your back.”

Maddie returns and holds her hand out for her shoes. “Well. Eddie, are you sober?”

“Um. Yes?”

“Great. You can drive!” She tosses him the keys and climbs in to the car. The other three look at her in disbelief for a second and decide not to question Maddie.

“So what did you say to him?” Buck says to her.

“I just said, if you want to hurt my baby brother, you’ll have to go through me, your beloved daughter. And he just sighed. So that’s a good sign, I think, at least it was when I was 16.”

“Thanks, Mads.” She nods in reply and motions for Eddie to take a left. Maddie and Chimney head up to the room, while Buck and Eddie stay behind.

“I thought you left street fighting behind months ago.” Buck says, looking at Eddie with a smirk playing on his lips.

“That was a parking lot, not the same.”

“Same difference.” Eddie snickers in reply and lets Buck rest his head on his shoulders.

“What did he say, Buck?”

“It was nothing.”

“Yeah, okay. Tell me about your mom then.”

Buck sighs and looks back at his memories of his mom. She was a lawyer, and she was the best. She didn’t get that far without hard work. Which didn’t leave much time for him or Maddie. She was better than his dad, when she wasn’t at work. She was nice, and sweet. But she wasn’t around much, so the nice things fell to the wayside when she took on more and more and more cases.

“She was a workaholic. But she was funny. Even when she’d be working, she never miss a chance to crack a joke. She could’ve been a comedian, but she always said she was too smart for that. So she went to law school with an 8 year old, and got pregnant with me. She missed her graduation having me, and then she never made time again. Never too busy to crack a joke, but too busy for her son.”

Buck sighs again and all the tension seeps out of him. “I’ll miss talking to her. Wasn’t often, but...”

Eddie turns to hug him close and let him work his grief out, even just a little bit of it. The sun goes down over them, but they don’t move.

“Hey, you should get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Come on.”

—

The next day, the Buckley siblings, Chimney and Eddie, walk out of the lobby dressed to the 7s. They don’t speak on the way to the funeral.

“You okay?” Chimney and Eddie say to Maddie and Buck respectively.

They both nod and squeeze hands. And they walk into the church, with Eddie and Chimney following quickly behind them. They take their seats, and wait. A chain of squeezes makes its way down the group, like they are in high school again. Nostalgia has its ways of making the worst times a little more bearable.

So the chain starts again when Buck and Maddie go to say goodbye. It’s a bit weird to talk to an urn, but neither of them seem to mind. They stand shoulder to shoulder and talk.

“I wish I had a joke for you, Mom.” Maddie begins.

“What was E.T. short for?” Buck supplies, wiping a stray tear out of his eye.

“Because he had little legs.” Maddie said, while crying softly. “That was her favorite.”

“We miss you mom. Be good.”

“We love you.”

They turn around to see their father looking at them, with a mix of pride, guilt and sadness. “I’m sorry. For giving you the ultimatum.”

“I forgave you a long time ago.”

“Then why didn’t you come home?”

“My home is in LA, Dad. With Maddie and Chimney. And Eddie, and his son Chris. With my friends. With the family I chose.”

“You chose them? Over me.”

“You chose work over me. Over us.” Buck gestures to him and Maddie.

“You’re right.” He sighs. And sighs again. And walks out to the car. He leaves the four of them and the funeral attendant in the church, not exactly reeling or stunned, but off kilter.

“Let’s go.” The four of them grab hands and walk out, heads down low.

—

“Why did you come all the way here?” Buck asks Eddie, back at the hotels parking lot underneath the setting sun once again.

“I didn’t want you to be alone.” Eddie replies.

“That’s..” Buck turns one corner of his lips up. “Really sweet. Thank you.”

“You did it for me. I’m only returning the favor.” Eddie half smiles back.

“Do you miss Shannon?” Buck says after a second.

“Everyday.”

Buck squeezes Eddie’s hand a little and they just barely move to smile at each other.

“I used to be angry at her, because she asked for a divorce. And then she died.” He scoffs. “And then I moved my anger to you. Worst time of my life, being angry at you.”

“Thank you for forgiving me.”

“I can’t stay mad at you.”

The stars twinkle and both of them watch them, the only sound the rhythm of their breathing.

“Make a wish.” Buck points to a shooting star and shuts his eyes, whispering a wish.

“I already have everything I ever wanted.” Eddie squeezes Buck to him and pecks him on the cheek.

“Me too.”

#fanfiction #9-1-1 #9-1-1 fanfiction #evan buckley #911 #buck #buckley siblings #chimney han #angst #maddie #chimney x maddie #buddie #buddie fics #madney #funeral #honestly this is a trainwreck but whatevs

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