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call-sign-shark · 1 year

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⚡ BY THE EYE OF THE STORM || INTRO⚡(repost)

Serie info HERE please read

Pairing: Hangman x Pilot!reader, Dagger Squad x Pilot!Reader (platonic)

Words: 2.2k

Summary: You are called back to Top Gun one year after your graduation for a deadly mission. Why? Because you were the top score of the school ever recorded for a long time. Nevertheless, that first day does not go very well. On top of understanding the danger of the mission and how risky it is, you already start a rivalry with one member of the Dagger Squad… Ltd Jake “Hangman” Seresin.

Warning: Military inaccuracies, conflictual relationship, mention of biological weapons, tensions between characters, reader meeting some members of the Dagger Squad for the first time <3 (that’s cute tho)

Tag list: @dempy @potato-girl99981 @callme-fox @djs8891

Notes:

Shark is reader’s best friend and OP’s OC.

Please don’t hesitate to reblog or like if you enjoyed it 🦈 (it brings me so much joy lmao)

Ask if you want to be added to the taglist

The Serie will be interactive: choose at the end of each chapter.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Biological weapons facilities.

Maverick’s sharp words fell upon them like a guillotine blade on a condemned man’s neck. You detailed the discomfited faces of your nearer colleagues with a discreet glance. Bob and Phoenix looked at each other, a glimmer of concern flickering in their eyes. Hangman, faithful to himself, rocked back and forth on his chair. His thin lips had stretched in a smirk no one managed to decipher. You could not tell if he had welcomed such information as a challenge or if it was his way of coping with the gravity of the situation. As for Rooster, he had leaned over his desk, his elbow pressing against the wooden surface. He started stroking his mustache with a thoughtful look gracing his tanned face.

“Fuck, that’s a big deal.” A feminine and always-playful voice croaked next to you and popped your thoughts bubble. Shark seemed excited.

“Yeah, I know.” That was all you managed to answer. All the other things you could have uttered remained trapped in your throat, tightened by anxiety. A small sigh escaped from your rosy lips. When Beau “Cyclone” Simpson called you and Shark back to Top Gun one year after your graduation, you knew it was not a good sign. As soon as you recognized the phone number on your smartphone’s screen, a chilling thrill went down your spine. It had been as if your deepest instinct whispered in your ear to ignore the call. However, you ended up shooing away that unpleasant feeling and here you were, sitting in the briefing room with your fellow pilots who had been chosen for such a suicidal mission. You exhaled slowly through your nose, attempting to keep the straightest face possible. Maverick had paused for one solid minute to let the Dagger Squad have the time they needed to assimilate the news. Then, he resumed his explanations.

“Our first role will be to locate the facilities.” His quiet voice captivated everyone’s attention in the room without even trying. You, and all the other pilots, were drinking his words, obliterating the external world despite the constant cacophony of engines roaring and soldiers screaming outside.

“That is to say, we will make as many air patrols as needed until we know exactly where are all the facilities and their warehouses.” Maverick wrote down the words AIR PATROLS in capital letters on the whiteboard he was standing next to. The black pen squeaked on the surface. “ I know, you probably think that those patrols are no big deals. That’s where you’re wrong. Reports said this rogue nation has air strike forces… Which means they have pilots ready to blow up your jets.” He wrote down the words ENNEMY JETS below his first scribble.

You blinked several times as you understand that you will all risk your life each time you will fly above suspicious zones. Not once, not twice, but as many times as it takes to locate the facilities. Usually, the first part of the plan was the easiest. If that was the most doable part, you were not eager to know the rest of it.

“And what happens next?” Payback’s voice echoed from the back of the room. He was sitting right behind Hangman, eyes staring at Maverick and fingers fidgeting his pen since the beginning of the briefing. “We bomb them?”

Maverick tilted his head to the side, one eyebrow raised and remained silent. He was waiting for Payback to understand by himself how absurd his question was. Yet, the revelation never seemed to come. You exhaled once again, a bit noisier this time, before raising your hand to talk.

“Blowing up facilities filled with biological weapons might not be the most… Efficient way to get rid of the problem.” You said calmly. Captain Mitchell nodded at your words and went on with the plan.

“As Storm just said, blowing up tanks of dangerous biological shit is everything except a good idea. We don’t want viruses or I don’t know what else to spread in nature and infect the population.”

You heard Shark snort, amused by your remark. You were about to smile at her when you caught another voice commenting on what you just said. “No shit Sherlock.” You turned your head, looking dagger at Jake, who stared back at you with a cocky grin. The hell was his problem, you thought. However, you ignored such a childish reaction to focus back on Maverick’s frame.

“Once we know their locations, we will help the Marines’ intervention. They will dismantle the facilities on the ground, while we will destroy their air force and keep them from escaping and using their biological weapons. Not one single of their aircraft must leave the perimeter.”

Silence fell a second time in the room.

“And do we know what kind of infectious agent they use?” This time that was Bob’s shy and slightly shaky voice that broke the silence.

“Cyclone’s highest bet is smallpox or anthrax. Mine’s mycotoxins, but the real answer to that question is that we don’t know for sure yet.”

While you kept your cool the whole briefing, you could not help but pinch the bridge of your nose and close your eyes for a few seconds. You felt a headache, which had been threatening you since this morning, start to hammer your skull. What happened next was kind of blurry for you. What you remembered was that Maverick explained what jets he thought would suit the best for the mission, and how your training will mainly focus on dogfights and on sharpening your maneuvers. That was only when you heard the sound of the Captain clapping his hands and telling you to leave the meeting room that your mind snapped back to reality. An unpleasant shiver ran down your spine before you got up from your chair and left the room.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

“Hey, Raingirl! Wait a minute!” You glanced behind you at the familiar voice. You could recognize that slightly raspy and psychotic tone among thousands of others. You stopped, waiting for Shark to catch up.

“Are ya’ in a hurry or what?” She cheered, wrapping one of her arms around your shoulders in a friendly embrace, before leaving the building with you.

“You seem rather excited for someone who has a high risk of dying during her next mission.” You answered, teasing.

“Aw ya know, I’m just trying to put the laughter in slaughter.”

As soon as you felt the warm sunrays caressing your skin, you shut your eyelids for a few seconds and paused the conversation. A faint smile adorned your rosy lips. After hours and hours of being locked up in a dull and far too climatized room, the feeling of the sun kissing your face was a real treat. You slowly opened your Y/EC eyes and looked at your best friend. Shark was a petite woman with icy blue eyes and light blonde hair that she would usually style in long dutch braids during her service. Outside, she would wear pigtails or let her wild mane down. The first time you heard about her was during your first week in Top Gun’s program. You wondered how the hell someone’s callsign could be “shark”. Yet, you understood as soon as your eyes fell on her: when she was smiling, her mouth would stretch and her lips would reveal two rows of perfectly aligned but sharp teeth. Due to a natural birth defect, all of her teeth, except her incisors, were shaped like fangs. On top of that, the woman had odd scars on each side of her neck, similar to gills slits. Despite that slightly creepy smile of hers, you both soon became inseparable to the point she became your wingman.

“You truly have zero self-preservation.” You concluded your sentence with a wink. “And you ain’t even funny, Fish head.”

Shark was about to say something but someone else’s voice resonated

“Don’t leave yet, I couldn’t wait to talk to both of you after Mav’s presentation.” A dark-haired woman with her hair combed in a neat ballet bun and brown cunning eyes walked towards you, followed by her RIO Bob. They stopped in front of you: “The name’s Phoenix and he, he’s Bob. I’m more than happy two see two other girls here. Welcome to the Dagger Squad.” She said, with a little but adorable smile on her face “I really look forwards to flying with you. I heard you were the best.”

“Nah, Storm’s the best. I’m second.” Shark answered, looking at you with pride.

You shook your head, chuckling. You never liked boasting about your results and your flying skills. All you did was work your ass off and always try to do your best. Yet, the truth was that you truly were a gifted pilot. You slipped one of the messy bangs of your Y/HC hair behind your ear.

“I appreciate your compliments about my abilities, I really do. But y’all are talented as fuck too. Pretty sure we’ll make a good team.” You offered your most charming smile you could to Phoenix and Bob.

Funnily enough, the man with big glasses remained silent for the whole conversation. Sometimes he would crack a tiny hesitant smirk before staring back at his feet. Even though this one did not belong to the talkative kind, he seemed genuinely nice.

“Didn’t know they would hire baby pilots for such an important mission.” The good mood you had managed to bring back shattered in million of pieces at those venomous words spat by Lieutenant Jake “Hangman” Seresin. The tall blonde pilot was leaning against the building, arms crossed on his muscular chest. His eyes, small green jewels shimmering with a mocking glow, looked hard at you. All of your body tensed as you sensed his arrogant attitude. You straightened up to your full height and stared back at him with a freezing gaze. Obviously, you knew who was that cocky soldier. Jake “Hangman” Seresin’s reputation was following him: he was one of the few pilots who had confirmed kills. Noticing the challenging look you had on your face, Jake closed his jaws in one quick gesture, biting the toothpick he had between his lips. Then, the man graciously moved his frame toward you until you were both facing each other.

“With all due respect, you are far too novice for this mission. I don’t know why Mav’ agreed to let you join us, but you don’t belong here.” He said, with a calm yet bossy tone.

“With all due respect, you can go fuck yourself.” You snapped, causing him to laugh.

“Yeah suck it. Who do you think you are uh?” Shark added.

“Playing the tough girls?”

“Seriously what the fuck Hangman, if they are here it’s for a good reason.” Phoenix interrupted. She was not bearing this kind of behavior. You simply made a slight head movement to the dark-haired woman to thank her. Then, you shift back your attention to Hangman, staring at him with intensity as if you were etching the slightest detail of his good-looking face in your mind.

“I am perfectly where I should be. If you think I don’t belong here, well that’s not my problem. If my presence bothers you, guess what? That’s not my problem. And if you want to sing the blues to Capt. Mitchell, that’s also not my problem. In the meantime, I’ll just take your aggressive attitude and your arrogance as a way of coping with your lack of confidence.”

Hangman clenched his jaw, vaguely discountenanced by your sharp tongue. Nevertheless, you did not manage to wipe his presumptuous smile off his face.

“Alright, baby bird, let’s see how long you last until I cut your wings… And before I cut your friend’s fins.” He hissed through his teeth.

“Storm. “

“Sorry?” He raised a brow.

“Call me baby bird one last time and I’ll punch your face. The name’s Storm.” You turned your back to him and grabbed Shark by the wrists before leaving.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

You walked on the beach, trying to cool down your nerves by taking big inhales of the sea air that was floating around the base. The salty scent was soothing and soon, you found yourself at peace again. You took a quick glance at Shark, who was looking at the dancing waves of the ocean with a contemplative look.

“Don’t worry Fish head. You know we belong here.” You said, with the more reassuring tone your could have. The bubbly blonde girl grinned at your words. You smiled back at her grin, rendered slightly disturbing because of her fangs - but you were used to it.

“I don’t. I trust Capt Mitchell. Quite the contrary, I am wondering how Hangman will react tomorrow.” Her fingers were playing with the tips of one of her braids.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when he’ll see that you are far better than him.”

You snorted, amused.

“For sure, I’ll show him.”

You said, feeling the storm brewing.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

READER CHOICE:

[go talk to HANGMAN] or [go to the Hard Deck]

82 notes · View notes

dragon-kazansky · 2 years

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I get a kick out of you

Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky x Reader

Platonic! Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell x Reader

[Masterlist]

[Previous Chapter] - [Next Chapter]

Warnings: This chapter changes points of view a bit. Between Mav and Rooster, Ice, and Reader. Prepare to read a lot of the mission dialogue.

30 years later and Maverick is back in Top Gun. This time to teach it. It’s his turn to deal with his past, but it’s going to be OK. You’re there to help him. Both of you have someone to look out for.

Admiral Tom Kazansky and yourself are still going strong. Married life is treating you well, but his health is taking a turn. Tom wants to do his best by Pete, but some things are out of his hands.

They both need you now more than ever.

Word count: 2.7k

Chapter Seventeen - Talk to me, Goose

♡♡♡

Maverick had kissed Penny at the end of the night and taken you back to his place. You waved to Penny as you left and told her to call you if she needed to. She just told you to look after him. You nodded.

You spent the night at Maverick’s place, sleeping on the sofa like he used to do when he stayed at yours. It was comforting.

Maverick woke early the next morning. They had to be on the boat in an hour. You woke up to see him off, which he was thankful for. You smiled softly and reminded what you said yesterday. Not goodbye. See you later.

He repeated it to you before he left.

When he was gone, you had texted Tom.

You: He’s gone.

But you knew it was too early for him to see it yet. You tried to get on with your day without worry, but it wasn’t going to be much use. You would worry until the moment you heard they were all safe and sound.

You made breakfast and tried to watch TV, but you couldn’t focus on it.

Your mind was busy thinking of your boys.

♡♡♡

Maverick looked out to sea.

They were way on their way now. Soon he would have to choose his team and go pull of a few crazy stunts to keep the world safe once again. He had a choice to make and all he could think about is the conversation you had with him in the bar.

You would never forgive him.

Your disappointment.

Bradley.

“Talk to me, Goose.”

He listens to the sound of the water. He feels the wind on his face an in his hair. He thinks of Goose. If only he was here.

“Captain Mitchell!”

Pete turns around to see Warlock behind him.

“You’re where you belong,” Warlock tells him.

You had said the same thing.

“Make us proud.”

Maverick turns back around when the platform lowers. It’s time. He steps on it and heads up to the deck.

♡♡♡

“It has been an honour flying with you.” Maverick tells them, looking over the pilots in the room.

This is the day they have all been training for.

“Each one of you represents the best of the best. This is a very specific mission. My choice is a reflection of that and nothing more.”

Cyclone turns to him. “Choose your two Foxtrot teams.”

“Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob.”

“And your wingman.”

The silence in the room is heavy. But Maverick knows who he wants up there with him. He can’t let you down. He can’t let him down.

“Rooster.”

Bradley lifts his head from its bowed down position and looks at Maverick.

“The rest of you will stand by on the carrier for any reserve role that’s required. Dismissed,” Warlock says.

Bradley feels stunned.

Hangman, a little disappointed.

Phoenix and Bob, nervous.

Fanboy and Payback, focused.

This was it.

♡♡♡

“Your target is a clear and present threat. A secret uranium enrichment site under rogue state control. It’s an underground bunker, tucked between these two mountains. Your route of ingress is heavily defended by surface-to-air missiles backed up by fifth-generation fighters.

Once your F-18 strike team crosses the border, Tomahawk missiles from the USS Leyte Gulf will launch a synchronized strike on the enemy airfield here. This will knock out their runway. But you’ll have to contend with any planes already in the air. The moment those Tomahawks hit; the enemy will know you’re coming.

You time to target will be two minutes and 30 seconds. Any longer than that, and you will be exposed to any aircraft the Tomahawks may have missed.”

Warlock gave the brief.

“This is what you’ve all been training for,” Cyclone says. “Come home safely.”

That’s what Maverick had trained them for.

♡♡♡

Rooster walks across the deck. Jets were being prepared for take-off. Soon, he would be up in the air with Maverick. There wasn’t enough time. Enough time be ready. Enough time to think. Enough time to mull over the fact Maverick had chosen him.

There wasn’t enough time to apologise to you.

Rooster comes face to face with Hangman who looks at him.

He half expects a comment about Maverick’s decision, instead he gets something else.

“You give ‘em hell!” Hangman shouts over the sound of a helicopter.

Hangman walks on.

Maverick is checking his jet when Rooster approaches him. Rooster calls out to get his attention and he turns around to give it.

“I... I just want to say-”

Bradley is interrupted by a loud radio.

There wasn’t even enough time to do this, it would seem. Everyone on the deck runs to their positions. It was time to prepare for take-off.

“We’ll talk when we get back,” Maverick told him.

Rooster nods.

Right. When they get back. They would both come back and have that talk.

Rooster turns to leave, but Maverick calls him by his name. He turns to look at Pete again.

“You got this.”

Bradley could almost hear you saying those words too. You believed in him, just like you did with his father. Maverick believes in him too.

What Bradley didn’t know was that Pete wasn’t actually expecting to come back. He would lay down his life for Bradley if it meant he got to come back home. You wouldn’t lose another Bradshaw. Just a Mitchell, if he could help it.

You’d be angry, but he’d do it.

♡♡♡

Canopies down, jets cleared. It was time to get in the sky.

“Dagger One, up and ready on Catapult One.” Maverick.

“Dagger Spare standing by.” Hangman.

“Dagger Four, up and ready.” Payback and Fanboy.

“Dagger Three, up and ready.” Phoenix and Bob.

“Dagger Two, up and ready.” Rooster.

“Send them.” Cyclone.

Jets fired up. Signals given. They take off, one by one. The Dagger Squad are airborne. No going back now.

♡♡♡

You sit by the window of Maverick’s housing. You’re metaphorically biting your nails with anxiety. If only you had a crystal ball that could see into the future and show you, they would come home safe and sound. Only then would you be able to rest easy.

It was because of this feeling that back in the day you walked out on Ice. He had been deployed, and when he came home you had gone. You couldn’t handle the fear and the waiting. The uncertainty of him coming home.

That was the worst mistake you had ever made. You had regretted it but hadn’t gone back. It was because of Top Gun that you got your second chance.

It would be because of Top Gun you lost Maverick and Rooster if anything happened. They were being asked to do the impossible. Well, it had been impossible. Maverick showed them it could be done, but there was no more training. They had to do it for real.

Your phone lights up. You look away from the window and at your phone.

♡♡♡

Tom was sitting in his office. His computer was off. He promised he wouldn’t secretly work behind your back. No, his office brought comfort to him. Here he was surrounded by his achievements. Proof of the things he had done in his career.

He was thinking about you.

Tom knew today was the day. Therefore, you’d be worrying. Probably alone because he wasn’t there with you. However, he could change that for you. One message to Penny and you have company, at least.

He had to message you too. He needed to know you were doing okay.

Tom: Talk to me, honey.

You took a moment to reply, but when you did, he smiles at his phone.

You: I need you.

His heart yearned to be there with you, but Penny was the next best option. You shouldn’t be alone when a mission like this is happening. You need your boys safe and sound.

Tom: I have sent backup.

He chuckles to himself. He can imagine the confusion on your face when you read that.

♡♡♡

You frown at your phone. What did that mean?

Before you can even type out your question, someone knocks on the door. You had been too busy on your phone to see anyone walk up to the house. However, when you go gaze outside, you recognise the car sitting out there.

You hurry to the door.

Opening it, you come face-to-face with Penny.

“Tom sent you, didn’t he?”

Penny smiles softly.

“I think we could use each other, to be honest,” she replies.

You smile and let her in.

As Penny head inside, you lift your phone and type a response to your husband.

You: Thank you.

You tuck your phone away and follow Penny into the living room, needing the distraction she’ll bring you.

It’s going to be a long day.

♡♡♡

“Enemy territory up ahead. Feet dry in 60 seconds. Comanche, Dagger One. Picture.”

“Comanche. Picture clean. Decision is yours.”

“Copy.”

Maverick looks back at Rooster’s jet. No going back. Just onward. Rooster can do it. Maverick knows he can.

“Dagger attack.”

The Tomahawks are airborne. They fly right over the Dagger squad.

Now it really is too late to go back.

“Daggers, assume attack formation.”

The jets line up perfectly.

“Dagger set. Proceeding to target. Two minutes and 30 seconds in three, two, one, mark.”

“Two mark.”

“Three mark.”

“Four mark.”

The time is set and counting down.

“Going in,” Maverick exhales.

Left. Right. Left. Right. So close to the ground, but under the radar. They pass the first SAM site.

“Looks like we’re clear on radar, Mav,” Phoenix says.

“Let’s not take it for granted,” Mav replies.

More SAMS up high.

“We got two minutes to target.”

“Copy. We’re a few seconds behind, Rooster. We got to move.”

30 seconds until those Tomahawks reach the enemy airstrip.

“Dagger, Comanche. We’re picking up two bandits. Single group, two contacts.”

They weren’t supposed to be there.

“Comanche, what’s their heading?” Phoenix asks.

“Bull’s-eye 090, 50, tacked southwest.”

“They’re headed away from us. They don’t know we’re here,” Rooster says.

“The second those Tomahawks hit the air base; those bandits are gonna move to defend the target. We have to get there before they do. Increase speed.” Maverick states.

Phoenix follows Mav right away, increasing her speed too.

Rooster looks up at the SAMS above. While Maverick and Phoenix carry on at a faster pace, Rooster does not. Meaning Payback can’t move faster. They’re behind schedule now.

The Tomahawks hit enemy base.

The bandits switch course to go and defend the target.

“Come on, Rooster. Bandits inbound. We got to make up time now. Let’s turn and burn.”

Meanwhile, Maverick and Phoeniz are way ahead. They fly through the pillars of a bridge with ease. They’re so close.

“Guys, we’re falling behind. We really gotta move.” Fanboy shouts.

“If we don’t increase our speed right now, those bandits are gonna be waiting for us when we reach the target.” Payback says.

Rooster breathes heavily.

“Talk to me, Dad,” he whispers.

“Come on, kid, you can do it.” Maverick mutters, hoping Rooster would pull through.

He can do it.

Maverick knew it.

You knew it.

His dad would have known it.

Rooster just has to believe it.

“Don’t think, just do.”

Rooster hears Maverick through the radio.

Bradley exhales deeply and narrows his eyes.

He can do it.

Rooster punches it and off his goes. Payback is in shock as he tries to keep up.

“Jesus, Rooster, not that fast!”

“That’s it, kid. That’s it,” Maverick says.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Rooster is flying!

“Damn, Rooster, take it easy!” Fanboy calls out.

Dagger two is re-engaging.

Hit your target and come home.

Thirty seconds to target.

“Bob, check your laser.”

“Air-to-ground check complete. Laser code verified, 1688. Laser is a go!”

Rooster and Payback fly through the bridge Maverick and Phoenix had gone through before. Fanboy freaks out in the back.

“Phoenix, stand by for pop up strike.”

“Dagger Three in position.”

“Popping in three, two, one.”

Both Maverick and Phoenix fly right up, narrowly missing the mountain side. Theu invert as they pass over the top and turn back up right as they decline down the other side.

“Get me eyes on that target, Bob.”

“Dagger Three. Stand by, Mav.” Bob says, through clenched teeth. He’s aiming.

“Come on, Bob, come on.”

“Stand by.”

The target locks beep.

“I’ve got it. Captured!”

“Target acquired. Bombs away.”

As soon as Maverick has fired, both jets pull up and make the steep incline over the next mountain. This one is the tough one.

“We have impact! Direct hit. Direct hit!” Bob confirms.

Miracle number one.

“Dagger Two, status.” Maverick calls.

“Almost there, Mav. Almost there.” Rooster replies.

Rooster and Payback have inverted over the first mountain wall. Making their way down to the target. Unfortunately, something is wrong with Fanboy’s laser.

“Deadeye. Deadeye. Deadeye.”

“Come on, guys, we’re running out of time. Get it online!”

They’re closing in on the target. Rooster needs that target confirmation for an accurate firing line.

Meanwhile, Phoenix, Bob, and Maverick are fighting to stay awake as they got further up the mountain side. They are approaching 10G.

“Get it online!” Payback calls.

“No time. I’m dropping in blind.” Rooster states.

“Rooster, I got this.” Fanboy yells out.

“No time. Pull up,” Rooster orders.

“Wait!”

“Bombs away! Bombs away!”

Rooster drops his bombs, and they fall into the hole Maverick’s bombs had made.

Now Rooster and Payback follow Maverick and Phoenix’s route up the mountain.

The bombs go off.

“Bull’s eye, bull’s-eye, bull’s-eye.” Comanche calls.

Miracle number two.

“Now they’re in coffin corner,” Cyclone says, as everyone around him celebrates.

They still have to get home.

♡♡♡

Penny hands you a coffee and sits down with you by the window. You’re looking out again, eyes focused on the streets. It’s rather quiet out there. It feels strange watching cars go by, or the odd person.

They have no idea that somewhere out there, right now, are naval officers on a job to protect them from enemy threat.

They have no idea that friends of yours are risking their lives for them.

“Hey,” Penny calls out to you. You turn to face her. “Don’t go down that road.”

“What road?” You ask.

“That road your mind is taking you to. I’m worried too, but we have to stay positive. You and I both know Mav.”

You smile.

“Yeah, we do. But even the best can lose sometimes.”

Penny places a hand on your arm and gives you a small squeeze. You turn your eyes back to the window and look up at the sky.

You have no idea that they have hit their target yet. You also have no idea about what’s about to happen with them. Though, you do know when it comes to dogfighting, they’re all skilled in the art.

“Talk to me, Goose,” you whisper. “Tell me your boy is safe.”

You close your eyes and rest your head against the window frame.

“Tell me Maverick is safe.”

♡♡♡

Maverick and Phoenix fly above the hard deck and the SAMS lock on. They are now open to attacks. It’s time to do that pilot shit.

Smoke in the air!

“Phoenix, break right.”

“Emergency jettison. Dagger Three defending.”

“Here comes another one!” Bob calls out.

“Dagger One defending.”

Rooster and Payback fly over the mountain top and above the hard deck. More SAMS lock on. Now they are also open to attack.

Smoke in the air! Smoke in the air!

“Break right, Payback! Break right.”

“Breaking right!”

“Oh my God, here they come!”

“SAM on your six, Rooster!”

“Deploying countermeasures.” Rooster hits a button.

Flares fly out.

“Negative contact.”

“Dagger One defending.” Maverick swerves and hits his own button.

“Talk to me, Bob.”

“Break right, Phoenix! Break right!”

“Mav! Nine o’clock! Nine o’clock!”

“Rooster, two more on your six.”

“Dagger Two defending.”

“Payback, SAM on your nose.”

“Dagger Four defending.”

“Rooster, tally, seven o’clock!”

“Talk to me, Bob!”

“On our six!”

“Dagger Two defending.”

“Phoenix, break right!”

“I see it!”

The sky is full of SAMS chasing jets. The radio is full of chatter. Jets fly across the sky, firing flares and watching out for each other. It’s chaos up in the sky.

“Dagger Two defending.”

Rooster hits his button, but nothing happens.

“Shit, I’m out of flares!”

“Rooster, evade, evade!” Maverick looks back.

“I can’t shake ‘em! They’re on me! They’re on me!”

Maverick does the only thing he can do in that moment. He breaks, pulls upward between Rooster and the missiles, and shoots his own flares, being hit in the process

His plane goes down.

♡♡♡

@callsignscupcake - @topgun-imagines - @sitkafay - @theghostofshadows - @shianshian4315 - @mischief-siriusly-managed - @sarahissilent - @mackycat11 - @alphabetsalad - @byebyebreezywrites - @nyx2021 - @alanadetigy - @luckyladycreator2 - @fxngsfxgxrty - @snubug - @almondtofu1 - @criminalmindsandmarvel - @cycbaby - @marchingicenotes7 - @mavericksicybabe - @some-lovely-day - @shakespear-picaso-lovechild - @poppet05 - @ducks118 - @callsignecho - @whovianayesha - @ts1mp0ne -

#iceman kazansky #tom iceman kazansky #iceman x reader #iceman #tom kazansky #tom kazansky imagine #platonic pete mitchell x reader #platonic maverick x reader #top gun: maverick #top gun #i get a kick out of you #head in the clouds

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synergysilhouette · 1 year

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Remaking X-Men: Evolution (Season 4)

(REUPLOAD)

Heads up! Since I want to get into the Dark Phoenix Saga and other arcs, some of the episodes may be drastically changed or removed, as well as brand new episodes! And at this point, I imagine it's more PG-13 (more heavy action/suggestive themes). Be sure to check out my posts for remaking seasons 1-3.

Sins of the Son--Honestly an underrated episode. Since the main story is character-sensitive, I'll keep the roster the same. Professor X notices that since their battle with Apocalypse, he's had a bad feeling that the bad times are only beginning. When he seeks out Destiny in a neutral location before going to Scotland, she warns him that he will lose a daughter and a son. When Lucas captures Jean, he mentally tortures her, breaking through some of the barriers in her mind. When Professor X accidentally helps Lucas to become the dominant personality, he attempts to attack the X-Men, only for Jean's power to erupt and protect them. While Lucas escapes, Jean is both frightened and exhilarated by the rush of power she experienced, proclaiming "I am Phoenix." She collapses in exhaustion, scaring Cyclops and horrifying Professor X, who has already lost his son. Meanwhile the B-story happens between Iceman and Nightcrawler, with Rogue, Gambit, and Havok trying to track them down.

2. No Good Deed--Wanda slowly regains more of her painful memories, as does Simon. Having heard about the accident Wanda caused and Simon's swaying allegiance, Mastermind decides to escape from Magneto's control. He barely escapes, as Daken has taken the place of Colossus on the team and was not intent on letting him leave. Mastermind decides to track down Wanda himself in order to turn her into a personal weapon in case Magneto tries to harm him, as well as gain protection and influence by getting a coveted spot in the Inferno Club (or Hellfire Club if we're PG-13). One night in New York, he feels a burst of energy and quickly deduces that it came from Jean Grey. When she returns to the X-Mansion, Mastermind takes the opportunity to manipulate her temporarily weak mind, essentially following the comic's version of her induction as the Black Queen. The X-Men, while trying to find Jean, are unable to fully search for her following the Brotherhood staging disasters in order to look heroic, taking advantage of the fact that Mystique and Destiny were on a mission looking to track down Mr. Sinister. After the Brotherhood is subdued, Professor X takes the time to explain to the Brotherhood and the X-Men that a few days before going to Scotland, Jean had accompanied Professor X, Beast, and Wolverine on a secret space mission to find Vulcan, who had fled to space in order to escape Sinister. While searching for him, Jean was exposed to a solar flare, unlocking a dangerous alter ego within her psyche known as Phoenix. While Psylocke and Professor X attempted to suppress the entity when they returned to the mansion, it was inevitable that it would break out once more, imbedding itself inside of Jean and taking advantage of her blossoming powers and lack of self-control. Thinking back to Legion and the events of "Power Surge," Professor X fears Destiny's prophecy will come true.

3. Inferno Academy--My first OG episode completely of my creation. It basically introduces Cypher, a mutant able to understand and translate any and every language in the universe. While Mastermind continues to seduce the Phoenix's psyche, Emma Frost discovers Douglas Ramsey and invites him to join Masachusetts prep, a school that she recently graduated from with a few mutant students. With her powers of telepathy, she could easily get him accepted into the school. In a shift from the comics, he accepts, though promises to keep in contact with Prodigy, a friend he made while in New York. However, he discovers Frost is an enemy to the X-Men and her intentions with Jean. However, he is afraid to leave, concerned that the Inferno Club will harm him. He makes friends with Shinobi Shaw, a young man with density control who invites him to befriend the other mutants at the school who formed a group founded by Emma known as the Hellions, who double as assistants to the members of the Inferno Club. Cypher reluctantly joins, hoping to gain information that will help the X-Men.

4. Target X--Very different from the original episode. In this, Daken has been masquerading as Wolverine and has been creating issues around the globe, killing humans and causing acts of terrorism. Wolverine is arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D., and X-23 decides to to break into a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in order to save him. However, Daken poses as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and seemingly kills Wolverine and injures Laura, though he feels sympathy for her being a clone. He causes the facility to self-destruct, but not before everyone could escape--including Laura and Wolverine. He's enraged, but Magneto informs him that now is not the time to take revenge, instead telling him to hunt down Mastermind. For the B-story, it's Gambit and Rogue who take to teaching the New Mutants rather than Jean and Cyclops.

5. Ghost of a Chance--Explores Cypher meeting other mutants at the academy known as the Infernals, who happen to serve as the assistants to the Inferno Club: Empath, Wither, Firestar, Penance, Elixir, and Warpath, as well as Shinobi. While on his own, Cypher dreams about Danielle Moonstar, who warns Cypher that even if he is compliant, the Inferno Club will manipulate and use him until he has nothing left. For several days, he continues to dream of her, eventually coming to the conclusion that she is not a personification of his worries, but is being held prisoner in the academy. With the help of Shinobi, he manages to get past the Hellions and the three escape. There is also a flashback explaining how Shinobi grew to hate his father Sebastian Shaw due to emotional and physical abuse. For the B-story, Nightcrawler, Storm, and Magik are trying to teach Rictor, Angel, Shadowcat, and Jubilee how to properly work together as a team.

6. Welcome to Prime Time-- Shinobi, Cypher, and Danielle (AKA Mirage) escape from Massachusetts Academy when Prodigy informs Cypher of an alien creature that had appeared and they were unable to communicate with it. The three part ways once they return to New York, with Danielle and Cypher going to the X-Mansion. However, before he reaches the mansion, Danielle, Rictor, Cannonball, Shadowcat, Jubilee, and Bezerker are transported into the Mojoverse. Taking advantage of their youthful desire for attention, he tasks them with defeating the "dangerous vigilantes" Longshot and Shatterstar. Their mission allows the father and son duo to reunite, and the New Mutants manage to drive Mojo back to his dimension. While angry, Mojo notes that the televised special was a ratings hit, and that there could possibly be another hit in the making: the Dark Phoenix. While offered a place with the X-Men, Shatterstar and Longshot decline, but are still allowed to stay. Shatterstar and Rictor's relationship begins here. While some of the team is away, Cypher helps the rest of the X-Men and the New Mutants mollify the alien creature, eventually becoming fast friends with "Warlock."

7. The Black Queen--Mastermind and Emma Frost finally finish brainwashing the Phoenix. "Jean" sends a distress signal to the X-Men, begging them to save her from the Inferno Club. When Mirage and Cypher inform the team that they learned the Inferno Club's intentions--to control the power of the Phoenix and achieve ultimate power--the X-Men (including Beast and Wolverine) rush to save her, telling the New Mutants to put the mansion on lockdown. However, Magik misses the conversation and Colossus goes in her place, hoping to make amends to the team as well as keep her out of danger. They find themselves quickly overwhelmed by the Inferno Club, with Mastermind engaging in a psychic duel against Cyclops. While he defeats Cyclops' psychic image, the result unleashes the Phoenix's true power, driving Mastermind insane and fully releasing Wanda and Simon from his grasp. The phoenix flees into space, coming into battle against Vulcan. The two are weakened, given her intergalactic trip and his abuse by Apocalypse, but the Phoenix strikes him down and sends him spiraling back to Earth. Left alone in space, the Phoenix questions if she is really Jean, recalling back to the incident where Jean became one with the Phoenix. In a fit of confusion and rage (not to mention hunger), she devours an uninhabited planet.

8. Brothers--Havok and Cyclops' attempt to reconcile with Vulcan. They (and Professor X), find him located on an island known as Krakoa. We see flashbacks of Vulcan's past, seeing how Sinister raised him and studied him, stunting his powers with his creation known as the Omega machine. While Vulcan's power greatly returned as a servant to Apocalypse, his defeat has him weakened, as does his battle against the phoenix. However, his brothers convince him to help them fight the Phoenix, though Cyclops emphasizes that he cannot kill Jean. Mr. Sinister discover their whereabouts, and after a brief battle, Vulcan promises to go back with Sinister so much more experiments could be conducted on him, but only if Sinister destroys his sample of Jean's DNA. Sinister declines, but Cyclops bargains for Vulcan's freedom (as it's revealed Sinister set an explosive in his bloodstream should he ever betray him), and in exchange, he offers to give Sinister a sample of his own DNA, which he learns Sinister has been lusting after. Mr. Sinister is about to contemplate it when Professor X relays a message to him with a third bargain involving the island of Krakoa. Sinister easily accepts the new deal. During the B-story, Daken finds and apprehend an insane Mastermind, with Magneto becoming intent on rehabilitating him when he realizes that Wanda may indeed remember everything, revealing that she can also warp reality. The episode ends when it's revealed that both Simon and Wanda are gone.

9. Final Say--Daken returns to Japan following his co-capture of Mastermind and learning of the Phoenix from Magneto, who in turn heard it from Professor X. He reports to Romulus, a mutant who has raised him following his mother's death. It's revealed he wants to kill Wolverine due to believing he is responsible for the death of his mother. When he learns that Wolverine and X-23 are in Japan, he sets out to kill them. During his hunt for them, he gets the help from a young woman named Domino in Tokyo, and they set out to defeat them. When they fight, Daken suspects Romulus of lying to him, and turns the tables on him. Against Wolverine's wishes, Daken kills Romulus, hoping to end the cycle of manipulation he has inflicted on Wolverine's bloodline, and promptly disappears. He leaves, renouncing his role as an Acolyte. Wolverine invites both Laura and Domino to join the X-Men, but both reject his offer. Laura wants to discover more of who she is on her own, while Domino (unbeknownst to anyone) has been secretly invited to join Magneto as one of his Acolytes. Back in New York, Rogue and Gambit go on a triple date with Storm and Nightcrawler and Shadowcat and Lance. They hope to catch some reprieve following the recent events, but Rogue is downcast. Having seen Jean and Scott as the perfect couple, she fears that if their relationship is meant for disaster, then hers isn't meant to last either. The episode ends with the couples growing closer, an implied message that they may not have many more times to go on dates before the end.

10. Homesick (Part 1)--The phoenix returns to Jean's childhood home, musing between her feelings for her loved ones and her destructive impulses. The X-Men, Vulcan, and the Brotherhood, along with Magneto's Acolytes appear in the area, but Professor X stresses the need to appeal to Jean's mind. Storm, Rogue, and Cyclops accompany him into her house, where they express their feelings for her. Hoping to help Jean, Rogue attempts to absorb some of her powers, only to be immensely overwhelmed. Seeing an opening against the Phoenix (who is fighting for control against Jean and is temporarily disoriented from Rogue's attack), Vulcan attacks her viciously, aided by Polaris and Scarlet Witch, who silently appears out of nowhere. The other mutants attempt to stop her, but only the three latter mutants appear to do her any damage, but the fight is easily hers. Scott once more appeals to Jean, as does Professor X, and they feel Jean trying to break through. The episode ends with Rogue attempting to attack The Phoenix, who only reabsorbs her power. However, she feels Rogue's pain and sorrow, allowing for Professor X to project himself and Cyclops into her mind.

11. Another Life (Part 2)--Begins with Shinobi Shaw seen standing over Sebastian's dead body, revealing that when Emma Frost created the Hellions, Selene offered them power and influence if they managed to overthrow the other members of the Inferno Club, to which Shinobi jumped at the opportunity for, using his power of density manipulation to give his father a coronary attack. His rival, Trevor Fitzroy, defeats Donald Pierce. They taunt each other and note that Selene may not be done with them, and that Emma Frost has escaped. Meanwhile, Professor X and Cyclops battle the Phoenix inside her mind while the Brotherhood try to quell an enraged Wanda, who has suddenly turned her rage onto Magneto. Polaris and Quicksilver attempt to appeal to her, only to turn her rage on them, blaming them for allowing Magneto to ruin her life. Scott breaks through to Jean, who asks the Professor to destroy her and the Phoenix before she hurts anyone else. Professor X reluctantly agrees, much to Scott's protest. After a tearful goodbye, Jean is destroyed while the Phoenix escapes out of Earth. Scott breaks down, blaming Professor X for not trying to find a way to save Jean. He also grieves for Vulcan, who was mortally wounded in the fight. The X-Men turn their attention to Wanda, and she flees.

12. Sibling Rivalry--The Brotherhood is demoralized following the battle against the Phoenix. This enrages Pietro, who desperately tries to mollify Magneto, who feels as though he's failed even worse than before. Pietro has flashbacks to his childhood, noting how even then his power wasn't seen as particularly useful by his father, and that Wanda and Polaris were his favorites. After discovering that Emma Frost is now working with Magneto in order to help restore Mastermind's sanity, Pietro tracks down his father's headquarters and begs Mastermind to make him into the perfect soldier and son so be can prove he's useful to Magneto. Wanda is silently watching, believing the process will disorient Quicksilver and weaken Mastermind. However, the extensive pain Mastermind tries to undo weakens him, overexerting his energy before fully healing, and he collapses before finishing the process. Quicksilver attempts to please Magneto, becoming more level-headed and confident. Magneto is furious at Mastermind being incapacitated, and realizing that his plans to brainwash Wanda are at the very least delayed, attacks Pietro, crippling him. Wanda, seeing how awful Magneto treats his own son, who only wanted to please him, suffers a mental breakdown. And she says "After all this, after EVERYTHING you put us through, you still put your agenda before us! You took everything from me, and now I'll take your dreams away from you. There will be NO. MORE. MUTANTS."

13. Perfect Day--Starts with the mutants playing a game of mutant ball and discussing the Brotherhood's disbandment. During the game, many of the mutants find their powers failing them, leaving Psylocke, Havok, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Cannonball, Multiple, and Angel as the only powered X-Men. Rogue also maintains powers, but not her own; at the moment of the depower-ing, Gambit delivers a kiss to her. While Gambit is depowered and Rogue loses her absorption abilities, she finds that she can still use Remy's powers (a nod to Ultimate X-Men). Several weeks later, many of the depowered mutants have adjusted to normal life, while several of them are having trouble getting used to not being mutants. At school, Graydon Creed and Principal Kelly are weary, but still consider this a blessing--though they still are unkind to many of the former mutants. Mystique, disguised as Risty, convinces Graydon that the depowered mutants are no threat to them, but she suspects something is very off. Simon Lasker (who still has his powers) arrives on the doorstep of the X-Mansion. While he appears under the precedence of asking Bobby out on a date (his brainwashing undone), he informs Professor X that he witnessed Wanda's powers cause the decrease in mutants, and that Magneto is nowhere to be found.

Hope you liked my original content! Took a little longer with a lot of back and forth editing. Lemme know what your favorite episode(s) is.

#xmen #x men #marvel #marvel comics #storm #nightcrawler #cyclops #jean grey #rogue #iceman #brotherhood #magik #prodigy #house of M #x men evolution #scarlet witch #no more mutants

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meganmackieauthor · 4 months

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I Can't Get the Vampire Rogue to Romance Me - Ch 3

Chapter 3

He was as gorgeous in real life (if this was real life) as he had been on the screen with short, white hair, an angular face, and a T-shaped body. There were plenty of scenes in the game that would show all of that off at dramatic movie-style angles.

Yet, if she was being honest with herself, it wasn’t his looks that attracted Evangeline to him. Of course, no one in her online friend group who also played the game believed her. The argument had always been that if he had been an ugly half-orc or something, he wouldn’t have been nearly as appealing to her.

The truth was, she had hated him the first time she played the game. It wasn’t until he started talking about things that were real that her insides began to quiver. Things she recognized and understood about being used and attacked and forgotten. About being broken.

Even now, as she gazed across the tavern room at him, leaning back in a chair with a goblet of wine in one hand, his other arm draped dramatically over the back of his seat, she saw the lie that his confident posture was.

“Excuse me? Are we doing this deal or not?” the impatient voice said before her. “Jurli, you said she was a professional.”

“I assure you, boss…”

It didn’t matter what the henchman was going to say. This was just the opening tutorial mission. In fact, every class had one in the same tavern. As she turned about to sweep her gaze over the room, she could see each station at the various tables or in alcoves, like it was some kind of high school lunchroom. Rangers were at the bar, wizards in a corner amidst a small forest of their staves, druids were back-to-back with witches underneath the boughs of an actual living tree incorporated into the wall of the tavern, and so on. It was all very organized.

Special Power: Meta Knowledge—activate.

And unnecessary. All of this was skippable in the game, but it wasn’t like she could just hit a command button to make it all go away. She was actually here. Actually, living it now.

And, if you succeeded in this tutorial mission, you get a very good piece of starting gear, she thought. A +1 dagger, which getting an enchanted item this early in the game had made so many things so much easier. And all of its specialization slots were still open, so she could add more magic to it later when that became possible.

“Alright, gentlemen and ladies,” Evangeline said, addressing the table as she pulled out the seat waiting there. “I don’t really want to spend a lot of time on this. You want the phoenix egg, and you are willing to pay well to get it. Along with everyone else in the room.”

“Are you sure we can trust her?” she said at the same time as the ‘boss’ character.

“Like I said she’s a professional,” she also said along with the recruiter.

Both people blinked at her when they did it.

She grinned mischievously. “Like I said boys and girls,” she said, leaning into the devil-may-care rogue character in the way she never would in real life. “I’ve heard and seen it all before. I’ll take your job.”

Somewhere a chime sounded, but Evangeline seemed to be the only one who could hear it.

“Excellent,” the boss said, leaning on the table with his hands folded. “This job will pay a thousand gold, half now and half upon delivery.”

Evangeline chuckled. She knew this part so well. “Right, and this is when I will say, ‘that’s not enough,’ and you will offer slightly more, then I’ll say no give me 2000, then you’ll say 150 and I’ll take it, so why don’t we just jump to the 150 reward and not waste both of our time. But if you give me a third of it now, and that special dagger I know you have, we’ll call it a deal.”

She sat there smugly, only to realize that everyone at the table stared at her in stony silence. They weren’t automatically going into the dialogue choices.

Did I break them by skipping ahead? she wondered. She met each of their eyes and realized that there was nothing about them that felt … artificial. These were living breathing people, and all her false bravado bled away.

Oh, crap. What did I do? she silently panicked.

Then the boss laughed.

Then the table laughed.

And Evangeline’s shoulders dropped with relief.

“You were right,” the boss said, slapping the recruiter saying words Evangeline definitely hadn’t heard before. “I like this one.” He reached into his belt and pulled out the dagger, a beautiful silver piece with a slight curve and a bronze-colored edge. The handle and pommel had swirly ruins that were supposed to be “elfish” in design.

The table oohed and aahed at it, clearly more for the boss’s benefit than because they were truly amazed or anything. There had been a lot of these creatures at her job sucking up to the supervisor, but she did not want to think about that whole situation right then.

Instead, she smiled with the group and leaned her elbow on the table like she knew this was what was going to happen. The boss slapped the knife on the table. “Then we have an accord, lady,” he said.

She took up the dagger. I’m going to need to get a sheath, she realized, only to discover that on her belt was a sheath she wasn’t entirely sure was there a moment ago. Still, when she slid her new knife into it, it fit perfectly. “And the gold?” she said.

The boss’s laughter dimmed to a chuckle that didn’t reach his eyes. He hadn’t liked being reminded. But every coin of that money would be useful in about five minutes.

And sure enough, just as he set the bag to clink on the table, the room exploded.

Get the latest chapters by signing up for my newsletter at meganmackieauthor.com

#baldur's gate 3 #litrpg #meganmackie

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shades-of-stony · 3 years

Text

Post CA:CW Fix It Stony Fanfics

Making Amends by TheseStoriesAreWrittenOnMyHeart

Summary: Everything about them happened in seconds. Their first meeting was quick, with Tony landing next to the Captain, each man giving a curt nod and name in greeting. Their argument on the hellicarrier took mere seconds to escalate. Until Steve was goading Tony into putting on the suit and going a few rounds and Tony not so subtly reminding Steve that he wasn’t afraid to hit an old man. It was only seconds of staring at Tony on that New York City Street, his arc reactor dark, no rise and fall of his chest, for Steve to know that inside the tin can, was a good man. Then Ultron happened, and it took seconds for their world to change, seconds for Steve to throw his shield at Tony and for the billionaire to send a repulsor blast back. They went from laughing and relaxing to standing on an edge thousands of feet above solid ground. And now…now everything’s changed. And all it took was a combination of seconds; of decisions made, actions performed and words spoken that they couldn’t get back. Just a few ticks of the clock for their world to shatter.

It’ll take more than that to make things right.

Note: This one deals with amending the accords. It is about how the avengers pick up after the civil war and how they learn to be friends again. It is an incredibly detailed and well written piece! Also, NO TEAM CAP OR TEAM IRON MAN BASHING. I was only supposed to re-read a few chapters to recall the story and give a few-word review but I ended up re-reading the whole goddamn thing. It’s a masterpiece.

maybe love is the reason why (we're seeing it eye to eye) by parkrstark

Summary: "I'm sorry. Repeat that again." Tony leaned forward in his seat from across the table. He even stuck a finger in his ear as if he was cleaning it out. "I don't think I heard you right."

Fury rolled his eyes-- or well, eye. "You and Rogers need to go undercover as a married couple in a community out on Long Island."

After Civil War, Tony and Steve are sent on an undercover mission as a couple to try and find Hydra informants. Somehow, they end up with Peter as their undercover son who decides to play matchmaker even if the two of them are doing their best to ignore their feelings after Siberia.

Note: My latest Fix It read! It just completed today. This fic is a phenomenal read, with its fake relationship, superfamily, undercover, and sexual tension elements! A definite 1000/10!

and this is the map of my heart by CydSA

Summary: The Avengers are splintered - spread out across the world.

There are many things to regret. The biggest one is what could have been.

Tony refuses to have any more regrets. Steve realizes that perhaps he made the wrong choice.

It starts from here....

Note: Here is some sweet, sweet, Civil War Fix It. It dwells deep into the Accords, how Tony fixes it, and the downfall of Ross.

floating point exception by ooka

There is something, he knows, to see a man as mortal. To see his fault lines and jagged edges instead of the smooth surface they present. Most people don’t like the illusion, whether it be good or not. They don’t want people like him to be human.

But that’s what he is, under the suit and the smile and the sunglasses. Under the bravo and the quick grins. He’s just a man, trying to hide his broken pieces, the dents in his heart, the washed out color of his soul. He’s just a man, trying to solve problems and make the world better. That’s why he’s Ironman, just a man in a suit. Nothing extra.

The place where the arc reactor used to rest in his chest aches so fiercely for a moment that Tony can’t breathe.

He takes in a few breaths and does what Tony does best - pushes it down and goes to work.

(Tony, after the Civil War. Post CA:CW)

Note: A 150k+ fanfic that is centered on Tony, his issues, and his struggles. PREPARE TO CRY.

Not Enough Scotch for this Matchmaking Scheme by desolateice:

Summary: After Civil War and a lot of healing the Avengers are fed up with the stubborn silence between Steve and Tony and try to take things in their own hands.

Note: A Fix It where the ‘kids’ play matchmaker to bring their fighting ‘parents’ back together!

Never Eye To Eye by vorkosigan for mrsgingles

Summary: After the Civli War, the Avengers were back together.

How is everything going, Tony? Pepper had asked in her email. It's fine (Tony had written back). I'm fighting with Steve all the time. Everything is going to hell. I'm okay (you know I'm always okay).

(Or: How Tony and Steve learned to be a bit gentler with each other)

Note: A 26k+ fic where Steve and Tony learned how to be friends again, and more. It deals with the struggles and frustrations they had just to salvage their friendship.

Fly One More Time (Alternately Titled--The Phoenix) by RavenLost2187

Summary: Steve couldn't see them before.

But then he woke up and there they were.

There's a small problem though.

One of his teammates doesn't have wings like he should.

And that's Tony Stark

Note: Some winged fics anyone? This has a bit of a Team as Family element and not to mention that glorious Civil War fix it theme!

What it’s worth by masterlokisev159

Summary: Tony's scent is off. Wanda realizes why.

Note: Here is a Hurt and Comfort fic for you with a dash ABO elements in it!

Sunrise Over the End of the World by Sapphic_Futurist

Summary: When Dr. Strange arrives at an Accords Committee Meeting and warns of the coming of an alien megalomaniac set on destroying the world, the Rogues are pardoned and Tony finds himself exactly where he never wanted to be. Back at the Compound with Steve, who still can't take a hint and won't leave him alone.

In which Tony is broken and Steve finds redemption.

Note: A Bad case of Tony acting like nothing happened and doing his goddamn best to avoid Steve. It’ll work all out in the end. Well, it will get worst first before that though..

We stand together (or not at all) by Jana_C

Summary: It’s so easy to hate this man, so painfully easy. He’s the embodiment of rich, white male privilege. He’s irritatingly arrogant, and he doesn’t always think before acting, and even when he does, he manages to twist his logic around and shape it into something that will always benefit him, and yet, here he is, building the guy who killed his parents an arm, without having been asked; working his way through diplomacy and politics, even though he hates it with every fiber of his being, just so he can correct the mistakes all of them made. She watches him go and sighs, small and tired, before texting a single line to Steve. Get ready to come home.

Note: Anyone up for some Tony Whump and Appreciation fanfic?

You Don’t Only Get One Shot by janonny

Summary: In which Tony voluntarily carries a tracker around, and learns how to talk to Steve all over again in-between and during kidnapping attempts.

“Leave you alone for two months, and you have an operation all set up to track wayward Hydra cells and rescue innocent billionaires,” Tony said, his tone skating the line of annoyance and admiration.

Note: a dose of Stalkerish!Steve (but not in an entirely creepy way because he just wants to keep Tony safe dammit).

You've Got A Sister Now by ZaraMelMercury

Summary: It's been a year since the events of the Avengers' Civil War. Tony Stark is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, while juggling his work, his remaining friendships, getting therapy sessions for Rhodey and dealing with government politics, as well as the Accords.

It is a bit rough, but he's got Pepper (always a steady rock by his side), Rhodey, Happy and the Kid- Peter Parker. Tony would never admit to it up front and center, but you could always catch a proud look on the man's face whenever the young Spiderling was mentioned!

Life seemed to be looking up...

Except for one, minor detail:

Steve Rogers.

The hope for one reconciliation, surprisingly, led to another!

A new bond that would form that Tony would ultimately always be thankful for.

"Oh, I wanna take it back!... " "No, no, no, you can't retract it!"

Who would've thought it?

Tony Stark has a sister looking out for him, after all.

Note: Here are some Tony and Nat friendship for you! This one isn’t exactly a solid fix it but one with a more of hopeful ending.

The Bro Code by Sullen

Summary: In a world where the Winter Soldier is found years earlier and is named Tony’s godfather, Zemo plays a different R-rated video and Siberia goes a little differently.Or –Steve breaks the bro code.

Note: This is just too cute and wholesome not to include.

WIP

Used to be Mine by Fangirlingmanaged

Tony can't even recognize himself nowadays.

Note: This one certainly deserves a place at the heavy angst category because that’s what it is. HEAVY ANGST AND HEARTBREAK.

#stony #stony fics #stony fanfic #steve and tony #stevetony #stevetony fanfic #stevetony fic rec #SUPERHUSBANDS #steve and tony fics #stony fic rec

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emachinescat · 3 years

Text

Poison + Mac + Paralysis

A MacGyver Fan-Fiction

by @emachinescat @whumptober2021 day 7 - My Spidey-Sense Is Tingling (helplessness, numbness)

Summary: When Mac is dosed with an experimental poison that slowly paralyzes him, he must rely increasingly on Jack to get him to exfil before it's too late.

Whumpee: Mac

Words: 3,640

Note: I am taking a lot of creative leeway with this poison. Though it is loosely based off of an existing toxin, I’m going to cling onto that moniker of “experimental” with my (or more accurately, Mac’s) dying breath. :) Also, this is NOT a death fic, despite appearances. It is also a two-parter (sorry!), to be continued on day 29 (again, sorry!). Enjoy!

TW: paralysis, deterioration of motor functions, suffocation

Jack Dalton studied his partner from across the small clearing, his eyes narrowed in suspicion as Mac slowly opened and closed his hands. Mac’s pupils were blown wider than the midday sun trickling down through the gaps in the leaves would warrant, and he watched his fingers curl and uncurl with an expression of uncomfortable fascination.

Jack’s feet hurt from running across the uneven, rocky terrain, but he heaved himself to his feet anyway and casually made his way over to his distracted partner. Mac actually jumped when Jack’s hand came down on his shoulder. His blue eyes did a poor job of hiding the anxiety behind them, which just made the alarm bells clang louder.

Lowering himself onto the dirt beside his friend, Jack asked with a calm he didn’t feel, “Mac? How’s it goin’, bud?”

Mac cleared his throat and stowed his hands in his lap, though Jack didn’t miss the way his eyes kept twitching down, or the way his fists continued to clench and unclench even as Mac strove to turn his attention to Jack. “Good. Hopefully once Riley gets us back online, we’ll be well on our way to exfil.”

“Uh-huh.”

Mac opened his mouth as if to say something, then shook his head and looked down again.

Real fear blossomed in Jack’s chest at Mac’s uncharacteristic behavior, and he decided that the subtle, friendly approach was out. “Okay, out with it, Mac,” he ordered abruptly, his Texas twang even more pronounced since he’d spent the last four days in the heart of the Southern US on a mission to take down an up and coming domestic terrorist group that had made their base in the heart of the Appalachians.

This mission involved some truly nasty stuff – including bioweapons and chemical warfare. This band of rogue scientists-turned-domestic terrorists – they called themselves Curis, which was, according to Mac, a rough Latin translation of healthcare – had been growing steadily in numbers and power over the past few months.

Matty’s intel, Riley's hacking skills, and some good old fashioned teamwork had eventually led them to the terrorist organization’s home base – an abandoned mental hospital in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where poverty and corruption often turned a blind eye to crime. The Appalachians were the oldest in the U.S. and though they weren’t the most imposing any longer, they were rugged and pocked with sheer drops and steep inclines and populated with black bears, cougars, and a handful of venomous snakes. And enough superstition still lingered in those mountains that tales of Bigfoot and other urban legends and eldritch horrors kept most of the population well away from remote, unmapped insane asylums entombed within the craggy rocks, gaping caves, and thickly growing trees of the ancient mountain range.

Their mission was simple: Get into their base and steal the plans for their newest bioweapon, as well as any information they could snag on the organization itself. These mad scientists were a truly paranoid bunch and didn’t keep digital records of their research, clients, or future plans, so there had been no way to hack the information. Riley had still made herself invaluable from the Phoenix when it came to navigating the winding corridors of the mental facility, though.

Jack had wanted to go ahead and take the whole operation down while they were there, but Matty had ordered that under no uncertain terms were they to take this organization on by themselves. This mission was mostly reconnaissance, as most of the intel Matty had been able to procure had been … extracted from a tight-lipped lower-level member they’d lucked upon last week. Until they knew the scope of this organization and exactly how they operated, this was a grab-n-go mission only (Jack’s words, not Matty’s).

And so they’d grabbed. They’d tried to go, but one of the guards hadn’t had his radio on, and since the radio waves were how Riles had been keeping track of and helping them avoid their enemies, Mac and Jack had been caught by surprise. Still, after a few exchanged punches and some hardcore sprinting, the pair had made it back to a nearby clearing without serious injury. Jack had some bruised ribs and Mac had been knocked into an industrial shelving unit filled with beakers and jars and vials and had a sore back and a shallow cut on his arm to show for it, but otherwise, they’d made it out with their prize only a tiny bit worse for the wear.

Or so Jack had thought.

He knew Mac well enough to realize that his partner was hiding something from them, something that had him worried. Mac worried was scary enough – this was the man with the plan, the dude who exuded a natural confidence 24/7 because he was smart and resourceful enough to get himself out of pretty much any predicament. The few times Jack had seen Mac truly worried he could count on one hand, and each time had involved the direst of circumstances. And if Mac felt the need to hide whatever was scaring him, that just meant things were even worse than Jack had realized.

“C’mon, hoss,” Jack urged when Mac didn’t immediately respond. “How bad is it? What are you hiding?”

Mac’s face flushed red, and he crossed his arms over his chest. Finally, his fingers were still, but it was an unnatural stillness – Mac was always moving, always fidgeting, always working on something. To see Mac’s hands hanging almost limp from his wrists carved a great pit in his stomach, a pit that was promptly overflowed with panic as Mac finally, eyes bright with fear, answered honestly.

“I think… I think it’s bad.” His voice was barely even a whisper. “Really bad.” He turned his neck and Jack’s blood froze. There, sticking out of Mac’s neck, was a small dart, probably from a blow gun.

Jack swallowed hard, almost choking on the lump in his throat as he plucked the dart from Mac's neck and carefully pocketed it. “Okay,” he said softly, determined to keep his voice low, even, and calm. If Mac were already on the verge of panic, then Jack’s own fear would only send him spiraling. For Mac’s sake, he had to keep a level head, figure out how to fix whatever the hell was wrong with Mac, and get to exfil before night fell. “Okay,” he said again, then took a deep breath and let it out through his teeth. “What’s going on, Mac? What’s wrong with your hands?”

“It must have happened sometime during the fight or as we were running away. I didn’t even realize I’d been hit until we made it to safety, and by that time, my hands…” He trailed off. “Jack… That bioweapon they were working on, I don’t think it was only in the planning stages like we thought.”

Jack felt bile rising in his throat. All he knew about the poison was that it was an experimental paralytic. Even though he now knew with certainty the answer to his question, he couldn’t stop from asking it again, perhaps in the vain hope that it wasn’t what he thought. “Mac. What is wrong with your hands?”

Mac’s voice broke and his face was tight with fear as he answered: “I can’t feel them, Jack.” A deep, shuddering breath. “I can’t move them at all.”

***

Less than half an hour later, Mac stumbled after Jack, his arms hanging limply at his sides. He’d lost full control over them far quicker than he’d anticipated. When he’d realized that he’d been exposed to the not-quite-as-hypothetical-as-they’d-hoped paralytic agent, he’d expected it to act similarly to the poison this new toxin was being developed from, which offered a slow and horrific death via paralysis.

“So tell me,” Jack called back as he struggled through the choking sea of undergrowth, brambles, and what looked like a healthy amount of poison ivy (Mac was very thankful for their thick, protective boots). “What exactly is runnin’ through your veins right now?”

The Tennessee air was thick, muggy, and humid, and Mac felt like he was swimming rather than walking through it. Sweat poured down his face in thin rivulets that felt almost like tears. They tickled, or maybe that was just the mosquitos. Mac wanted more than anything to scrub his hand across his face, but no matter how urgently he willed his arm to move, nothing happened. His stomach twisted in a stark terror he had never felt before, and the icy claws of panic tore at his chest like a caged monster trying to escape.

He knew that Jack was just trying to make sure he knew what they were dealing with. He also knew that the Phoenix had already called in one of the leading toxicologists in the country, and that this specialist and his friends were listening in over the comms, silently analyzing everything he said, doing everything possible to prepare for Mac’s return. The more information they had, the better chance they would have of reversing the effects. Of saving his life.

Mac swallowed heavily, forcing any lingering anxiety out of his voice. He knew Jack was barely hanging on at this point, and if he showed weakness, revealed to his partner how scared he really was, then that would heighten Jack’s own worry. The guy was already under enough stress as it was. He adopted what Jack affectionately (or irritably, depending on the circumstance) coined his “Einstein voice.” This was a tone and cadence he’d learned growing up with an emotionally distant and highly logical father. He liked Riley’s term for it, Macsplaining, only slightly better.

“I didn’t get a chance to read through all the research notes,” he panted, and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. “But from what I did see, this experimental toxin is based upon curare poison.”

“Who-rah-ray?” Mac’s lips curved into a slight smile as Bozer’s voice crackled over the comms. Of course Boze was still there, listening, waiting, there. He had always been there for Mac.

“Curare,” Mac repeated. “It’s derived from resources natural to the Amazon. A powerful paralytic. It’s how many native tribes hunt for game – and a variation of the formula is used in war as well.”

“So, these scientists just took this curare poison and, what, modified it?”

“I’m not entirely sure, Riles,” Mac huffed. His foot caught on a tree root and he pitched forward into Jack’s back, his arms swinging uselessly at his sides.

“Whoa, partner,” Jack said gently, and his dark eyes were glittering when he turned to steady his friend. “Maybe we should take a quick breather.”

Mac shook his head almost frantically. Though this variation was taking longer to incapacitate than curare itself, he could already feel the tingling in his feet. He needed to press forward for as long as he could. If he was right about the poison’s properties, he’d be unable to walk on his own soon. Unable to move at all a bit after that. When his vocal cords seized up, he’d be unable to talk.

Instead, he insisted, “No, I’m fine. Let’s keep going.” He plowed ahead, pushing past Jack in his haste to do something other than sit around and wait for his body to betray him. Addressing his friends back at the Phoenix, he explained, “All I know is that they used curare as the baseline for their experiments. I’m guessing they wanted to refine it, make it more potent, or at least easier to mass produce and distribute over large populations in a less concentrated form.”

“So what happens now?” Bozer’s voice was subdued, anxious, though Mac could tell he was trying not to show it. “I mean, if the poison keeps doing its thing?”

If this new toxin behaved similarly to curare, his lungs would freeze and he would suffocate, betrayed by his own body. A shudder passed through him. No need to bring that up to his friends yet. Maybe this poison had been adapted to incapacitate without causing death. Considering the people who had developed it, that scenario was very unlikely, but Mac found himself unable to voice the grimmest of possibilities aloud. Mac forced his teeth to unclench, the roaring panic having locked his jaw in place and hedged, “Based upon how quickly the paralytic is taking effect, I could be completely paralyzed in a couple of hours.” Given Jack’s face at this sugar-coated answer, Mac was glad he’d left the worst part out for now.

With any luck, they’d make it to exfil and be on their way to a hospital before Mac’s body began its final betrayal.

***

They were forced to take a break fifteen minutes later when Mac’s legs finally stopped working. Jack caught him right before he could crash onto the mossy ground and carefully propped him against the smooth trunk of a great birch tree. Mac allowed his head to flop back against the papery bark in exhaustion as Jack carefully arranged his legs in front of him. The numbness in his body had taken residence in his soul, and Mac watched the proceedings with a detached interest.

At least he wasn’t in pain, he thought. In fact, he felt nothing at all as Jack gently jostled the limbs. His partner could have slammed his feet into the ground and Mac wouldn’t have noticed unless he had watched Jack do it. Of course, with the lack of pain came the lack of control over his extremities and the increasingly real knowledge that this paralytic was working far too quickly for his liking and that he would soon be struggling to breathe, and that his death would not be anywhere as painless as his arms and legs were now.

Jack finished with Mac’s legs and stooped over his bag, pulling out a canteen of water. “Hey, Mac,” he said quietly, like he was addressing a spooked horse. “How about we get some water in ya?”

Mac shook his head and panic lanced through the blissful nothing he’d been feeling as the familiar tingle that foretold paralysis flared through his neck muscles at the movement. He hadn’t even realized his stomach had turned into the North Sea, with great waves of sickness swirling around, until he said it. Logically, he knew he needed to stay hydrated, especially since his ability to swallow could soon be taken away from him, but the thought of drinking or eating anything summoned bile to his throat.

Before Jack could argue, Matty’s voice sizzled over the comms. She, Bozer, or Riley had been busy planning Mac’s extraction and treatment with Dr. Bonner, the toxicologist, but someone had been checking in about every ten minutes. “How’s our boy doing, Jack?”

Mac watched languidly as Jack valiantly strove to keep his face arranged into a facade of calm and failed to keep his voice steady, “He’s, uh, hangin’ in there, boss.”

Matty’s voice was firm but kind as she scolded, “I appreciate your attempt at levity, Jack, but Dr. Bonner needs a real answer. Mac?”

Mac cleared his throat and somehow managed to find his voice. “I… uh, the toxin is progressing slower than curare, but I’m beginning to suspect that’s what Curis was working toward. It’s very possible they are trying to drag out the paralysis to build fear. Maybe as a torture technique.” Certainly effective in that regard, he thought darkly.

“That’s all well and good, Mac, but she didn’t ask about the poison,” Jack reminded Mac gently, squatting down in front of his younger friend so that they were eye level. “How are you?”

“I have lost complete control over the skeletal muscles in my arms and legs,” Mac answered brusquely. “My neck is starting to weaken as well.”

“What about your chest?” With all of her hardness and training, Matty couldn’t quite keep the anxiety out of her voice. Of course Matty knew about the final stages of the poison. The toxicologist would have informed her of what to expect.

Jack, however, had heard no such thing. “Chest? Matty, what are you talking about? Mac didn’t mention anything about chest paralysis.” Jack’s voice was now tinged with panic he could no longer hide.

Mac sighed. “I didn’t want to worry you–” At Jack’s incredulous look, he added, “–more than you already were, but… If this poison behaves like curare, then the final stage is paralysis of the lungs.”

“And what does that mean, exactly?” Mac knew that Jack understood exactly what it meant, but he was clinging desperately onto any hope that he might be wrong, much like Mac himself had done earlier.

Matty, never one to hold her punches, answered, her tone clipped and scared: “It means that you need to get back on the move, Dalton. If Mac’s lungs seize up before you he can get medical help, then he will suffocate.”

“Shit,” Jack swore loudly, his dark eyes glittering as he regarded Mac, limp against the tree.

“Shit,” Matty agreed, and Mac couldn’t help but chuckle at her assessment. She pressed on: “Okay, so as you know, we’ve rerouted exfil to the smallest nearby clearing that can fit the chopper. It’s going to be a squeeze and we wouldn’t normally risk it, but we need Blondie in a hospital, stat. Still, you’ve still got about five miles to go, and it’s not exactly the easiest terrain, so let’s hustle.” Jack nodded even though he knew Matty couldn’t see him, and he grunted as he rose to his full height. He still held the canteen loosely in one hand and was about to pack it again when Matty added, “Oh, and Jack – the doctor says to get as much water into his system as you can – and Blondie, don’t you dare fight him on this. It’s only a matter of time before your throat muscles stop working, and we’re not fighting this hard to save you from this toxin just to lose you to dehydration.”

Although the mere thought of the water made Mac’s stomach clench, he tried to nod, found he couldn’t, and swallowed heavily, grateful that he could still do that, at least. “Yes, ma’am.”

Jack’s hand carefully cupped the back of his head and tilted it back, though Mac felt neither his touch nor the motion. He managed to get a few good gulps of water in him before he felt his throat muscles weaken, a strangled gurgling sound the only indication that he was choking. Jack pulled the canteen away and leaned back, guilt festering in his eyes, but he didn’t apologize. Mac knew it was because he couldn’t find the words to say, and honestly, Mac was glad.

It’s not like he would be able to respond now, anyway.

Jack lifted Mac from the ground and held him like a bride – a floppy, ragdoll of a bride – as they made their careful way toward exfil and prayed they wouldn’t be too late.

***

It was nearing dusk when they made it to the clearing, the helicopter pressed in on all sides by trees. The mosquitos had called their friends with the promise of a great meal, and Jack and Mac were covered in itchy bites that only Jack could feel.

Mac was completely limp in his arms, his body dead weight, head lolling back against the crook of Jack’s arm, face lax and pale. He hadn’t spoken for a couple of hours at least, unable to form words or use his vocal cords, but his eyes remained open. His chest still rose and fell somehow, and despite the cocktail of fear and acceptance swirling in Mac’s glassy eyes, his breathing was slow and steady, almost calm. Jack suspected that Curis had somehow managed to manipulate the poison to attack certain parts of the body first for optimal torture. He didn’t have any clue how anyone could do that, or if it were even possible, but the systematic way that Mac’s motor functions had deteriorated, leaving at last only his lungs and eyes with full range of motion, was too cruel to not be deliberate torture, he was sure of it.

It had been hours since Mac lost the ability to move the muscles in his face, but the toxin hadn’t seemed to progress any further and Jack was beginning to hope that maybe this modified version of the curare poison was only meant to incapacitate and not actually kill. It was as he laid Mac down on the waiting stretcher that he saw the slightest of shifts in Mac’s eyes, the anxiety turning to panic, and his eyes traveled down to see that Mac’s chest was jerking, spasming, as his kid desperately fought the paralysis that was now creeping into his lungs.

Jack forced himself to step back as the field medics that accompanied every exfil – sorely undertrained for something like this but welcome all the same – swarmed the stretcher. Jack’s mind was spinning, his whole body screamed at him to do something, to help, to save Mac, but there was nothing he could do, Mac was suffocating, God, please, no, he was dying, and there was nothing Jack could do.

Jack’s eyes found Mac’s face once more and his heart skipped a beat as he saw his kid was still alert, still fighting. His filmy blue eyes were fixed stolidly on Jack, and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

“I’m here, kid,” Jack called out, his voice lost in the urgent voices of the men and women trying to save Mac’s life. “I’m here.”

Mac blinked, slowly, with difficulty, and then his eyes went wide, rolling back into his head. Wet eyelashes fluttered closed, and Jack watched, helpless, paralyzed as his entire world collapsed around him.

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

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what do you think would happen in a role swap where wei wuxian is the one with an arranged marriage, yanli becomes sect leader, and jiang cheng runs away with the remnants of the wen clan?

“It’s impossible,” Wen Qing said, her voice flat and eyes icy. “Literally impossible. It would kill you both.”

“But –”

“If you don’t care about your own life, at least care about his,” she said, and Wei Wuxian fell silent; she’d hit him right where it hurt the most, and he turned and stormed away.

Wen Qing waited, watching as Wen Ning ran after him, distressed by his distress, and when he was finally out of earshot, she said, “You may regret that, one day.”

Behind her there was a rusty bark of laughter, if that horrible twisted sound, low and grating and rasping at the throat until it bled, could be called a laugh.

“I won’t,” Jiang Cheng said. She’d removed the needles that kept him asleep the day before, though he’d played limp any time Wei Wuxian had come around, and Wei Wuxian had been so excited by his idea that he hadn’t noticed. “Thank you for lying to him.”

“My family killed yours,” she said with a sigh. “The least I can do is save one.”

“If you regret it so much, you can abandon your office and surrender yourself,” Jiang Cheng said, and turned away from her. He hadn’t forgiven her, that much was obvious. “You lead a Supervisory Office. That isn’t a neutral position.”

“I have to keep my brother, and the others, safe,” she said. “You understand that.”

“I understand it. I just think you’re wrong.”

“How am I wrong? Your Jiang sect is gone,” she said, twisting the knife cruelly. “Wen Ruohan has over half the cultivation world under his grip – how are the rest of you going to overcome that?”

“I didn’t say we would win,” Jiang Cheng said. “I said you were wrong.”

Wen Qing opened her mouth and found she had nothing to say. That wasn’t a condition that came naturally to her, so she scowled and changed the subject. “What are you going to do next?”

“Rebuild the Jiang sect.”

“The Jiang sect? But – how…?”

He turned back to look at her. “My golden core is gone, and I’m a good-for-nothing,” he said flatly. “That much is true. But you forget – I still have a sister.”

Jiang Yanli wasn’t a fighter; this much was true. She wept bitter tears when Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian finally found their way to her side, horrified by what Jiang Cheng had suffered, what had happened to him. But fighter or no fighter, she knew her duty.

The Jiang Sect had its first mistress. She could not lead them in war – Wei Wuxian did that – but she tended their wounds and sat in all the strategy meetings, giving her thoughts and making the final decision with her brothers’ advice; those who became sect disciples did not feel that their gentle lady, who they came to worship as Guanyin reborn in human form, was anything less than the rest.

“We need more help,” Jiang Cheng, who had become one of his sister’s advisors and learned through painful experience how to ignore (but never not notice) all of the pitying stares that came his way, said. “We’re not doing as much in the war as the other Sects – if we don’t establish a strong alliance with one of them, and soon, we will very soon lose the right to call ourselves a Great Sect.”

“A marriage,” Jiang Yanli said, understanding at once. “But I can’t…”

She was Sect Leader, now. She could not marry the heir of another sect – she would only be able to accept a man who married in, who would agree that his children be named Jiang.

The Jiang sect had to come first.

Whatever dreams she had once had about Jin Zixuan were gone now, burned to ashes in a way that not even a broken engagement could.

“Not you,” Jiang Cheng said. “Wei Wuxian.”

Wei Wuxian looked up sharply. “You want to marry me off?” he asked. “Are you serious?”

Jiang Cheng laughed harshly. It still didn’t sound like a laugh, not even after all these months. “What,” he said mockingly, his bitter voice eerily reminiscent of his mother’s at her most furious. “You expect a cultivator to marry me?”

Wei Wuxian fell silent. It was not that cultivators didn’t marry regular people – it happened quite often. But an arranged marriage, for the purposes of building an alliance?

Even if no children could be expected from the match – it would have to be a cutsleeve marriage, given the lack of daughters among the Four Great Sect, but such things were not uncommon if the real purpose was a political alliance – the minimum requirement for making such an offer was a cultivation base sufficient for dual cultivation. Anything less would be an insult – the same as sentencing the cultivator to a dead end.

The same dead end that Jiang Cheng faced every day.

“Who were you thinking?” Wei Wuxian finally asked. “If you even dare suggest the peacock –”

“Lan Wangji.”

“What?! But he hates me!”

“He’s the best available option,” Jiang Cheng said. “He’s strict in terms of etiquette; regardless of his feelings, he won’t mistreat you. Jin Zixuan is obviously out – even if you didn’t hate him, his parents would never agree to a match with no chance of legitimate descendants, and we’d never accept one of Jin Guangshan’s bastards; it would leave us with no face at all.”

“What about Nie Huaisang?”

“No influence,” Jiang Cheng said simply, and Wei Wuxian grimaced, conceding the point. Even if Nie Mingjue could be coaxed into an agreement, no one in the cultivation world would ever think that the wife of his little brother had any impact on his decisions, and that would defeat the whole purpose of this endeavor. Nie Mingjue was too straightforward, too rigid – marrying Nie Huaisang would be as good as throwing Wei Wuxian’s life away for no purpose.

And that left – Lan Wangji.

“Well, whatever he thinks of me, I always rather liked him,” Wei Wuxian said, not looking at Jiang Cheng – the memories of the accusations tossed around after the Xuanwu’s cave, why did you have to stand up for him, still lingered in his ear. “Gloomy and humorless as he may be. Do you think he’ll agree?”

“I’ll take one of the guards to go find out,” Jiang Cheng said. He ignored their involuntary wince at the reminder that he couldn’t go himself – weak, helpless, vulnerable, not to mention unable to fly on a sword by himself – and took his leave.

He came back with an agreement, and just like that Wei Wuxian found himself engaged.

It didn’t change anything, though the Jiang Sect partnered more and more often with the Lan sect on missions – Wei Wuxian found that he enjoyed fighting back to back with Lan Wangji, and enjoyed teasing him even more – and the war dragged on for a long time, the tides turning against Wen Ruohan only very slowly, battle by battle, inch by hard-won inch.

But in the end, they won.

They won, and stood together at Phoenix Mountain to celebrate their victory.

Wei Wuxian allowed himself to breath a sigh of relief, and shared smiles with Jiang Yanli. Jiang Cheng didn’t smile, he didn’t do that anymore, his brow always creased in anger, but he nodded and allowed Wei Wuxian to wrap an arm around both their shoulders.

The three of them together – broken, damaged, but together.

If Wei Wuxian had known that that would be the last time they’d stand together, the three of them together the way they’d promised they would be, he would have cherished it more.

But who would have thought that within three days of Phoenix Mountain, Jiang Cheng – ordinary Jiang Cheng, with no golden core, with nothing but angry determination – would accuse the Jin Sect of horrific abuses, and then, when he got no satisfactory answer, kidnap an entire set of war prisoners from the Wen sect out from right under the Jin Sect’s nose?

Everyone demanded to know where he’d taken them, and didn’t believe them when they said they didn’t know.

Lan Wangji didn’t even ask, merely leaned his shoulder against Wei Wuxian’s, and Wei Wuxian’s heart softened, thankful.

He’d be less thankful when he found out that Lan Wangji had helped Jiang Cheng do what he did and then refused to share where he’d gone, citing a solemn oath that he’d taken, but at that moment he found himself thinking – at least I have you.

They had some fights when the truth came out – Lan Wangji confessed – but it ended up being something he could forgive, especially when it turned out that Wen Qing had been the one to ask, and Wen Ning very nearly killed by the indifferent guards; it had been the right thing to do.

Jiang Cheng hadn’t even known what the Wens had done for him. He’d only known what it felt like to have nothing, to suffer endlessly, and he’d done the right thing.

Just as it was the right thing for Jiang Yanli to break ties with her brother, to cast him out of the sect that he had once been the heir of, her eyes full of tears even as she did it; anything else would have opened her sect up to reprisals it couldn’t afford, weakened as it was. Until Wei Wuxian’s marriage was finalized, they lacked the strength to defend him.

Unsurprisingly, their very next move was to set the date for the wedding.

Wei Wuxian spent the entire two months leading up to it biting his fingers until blood flowed, hoping against hope, and his faith was rewarded when Jiang Cheng, abhorred by the entire cultivation world, ignored all common sense to come to visit him the day before the ceremony.

“You make a terrible bride,” Jiang Cheng said, voice gruff, and Wei Wuxian forgot himself and tried to tackle him the way he used to; it was only Lan Wangji catching him and holding him back that reminded him that he couldn’t do that anymore, that Jiang Cheng wasn’t a cultivator, that his body had grown weak for lack of spiritual energy. “Really, look at you – who told you red was your color?”

“Red has always been my color,” Wei Wuxian shot back, grinning. “It’s not my fault it clashes with purple.”

He didn’t comment on Jiang Cheng’s clothing, the dull colors of a rogue cultivator.

“I’m glad you came,” he said instead. “I came up with something for you.”

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be bringing gifts,” Jiang Cheng grumbled. “And now you’re going to blow them all out of the water by comparison, since it’s not like we have any money…what is it?”

Wei Wuxian handed him the book he’d written.

“Cultivation of resentful energy?” Jiang Cheng read, and scowled at him. “Did Hanguang-jun tell you were I’m living?”

“He said it had the worst feng shui he’d ever seen, but nothing more than that,” Wei Wuxian said, a little annoyed but not very: he’d gotten Lan Wangji to promise that he would tell him once they were wed, since spouses shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. He’d gotten Lan Wangji to promise quite a lot of things, actually; it turned out the man actually liked him, and not just a little – who knew when that had happened? Luckily for them both, Wei Wuxian liked him back just as much. “It’s as orthodox as Lan Wangji and I could get it, given that it’s intrinsically, well, not. Every possible precaution against it turning into – uh –”

“Demonic cultivation.”

“…yes. That. Any type of cultivation that uses resentful energy damages the temperament, body and heart, but there are more orthodox ways to go about it that minimize the impact. We borrowed quite a bit from the Nie sect, prepare yourself, but anyway, you’re already so pissy, who would even notice if you got angry more often?”

The Nie clan’s cultivation gave them immense power but short lives – but not as short as a regular person who didn’t cultivate at all.

“Get lost!”

“It’s worth a try, okay?”

Jiang Cheng didn’t look convinced, so Wei Wuxian pulled out his trump card. “If it works, you could use Zidian again.”

Years later, Wei Wuxian would wonder about what he unleashed into the world that day, but right then there was nothing more than the longing in Jiang Cheng’s eyes, the first spark of purple lightning in years, and the first smile Wei Wuxian had seen on Jiang Cheng’s face since even longer.

No matter how it turned out – it was all worth it.

#mdzs #jiang cheng #wen qing #wei wuxian #jiang yanli #lan wangji #my fic #my fics #this is more of a how did it happen #but it was a lot of fun to write #I really like seeing how far I can bend canon without breaking it entirely #wangxian #Anonymous

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holdmecloser-gandydancer · 3 years

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read here or on ao3!

Being a Regulator was one of the worst jobs Killian had ever decided to take. Don’t get her wrong, she knew that the purpose she served was great; she totally believed in doing everything in her power to keep the world safe, but it was so incredibly lonely. A good portion of Killian’s job description involved being prepared to kill any of her colleagues at a given moment. Didn’t exactly make for the most fun office relationships.

It was scary to think that at any moment, anyone in the Bureau could make a break against their procedures and require - well – regulation. When the Director had first approached about employment, Killian didn’t think much about it.

Okay, so my duties would be to stop people who use these things that you’re looking for?

In very simple terms, yes.

Great. When do I start?

Are you certain, Killian? This is going to be a highly dangerous job.

Listen, Madam Director, it beats the current gig I got so I’m in.

As the Bureau grew and turned into something much grander and more professional, Killian began to excel. She proved herself time and time again to be the most competent Regulator that the Bureau had. But it was that fact that she grappled with most.

Killian tried to keep a neutral face when she entered the Director’s office. She was being sent down planetside, though the details of the mission hadn’t yet been revealed to her.

“Killian, thank you for coming so quickly. As you know, your services are needed,” The Director’s face looked troubled and far away. “It’s Brian.” Killian let out a sharp, exasperated laugh.

“No way, Brian? Magic Brian? Director, surely there’s some kind of mistake! He wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Killian thought of the highly complimentary, dramatic drow she’d met her first day on the base. They had both been in the first crop of employees and they had become fast friends. Everyone had taken to calling him Magic Brian because he was simply too bombastic to have such a plain name. And he was one of the most accomplished arcanists any of the Bureau employees had seen.

“Killian, I wish that were the case. Unfortunately, during his reconnaissance mission to locate the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet, he began to turn his back on the Bureau. Rather than seeking the Gauntlet for the good of the organization, we have it on good authority that he has started to seek it out for personal gain. In fact, we believe that he has,” the Director paused for a moment, considering her words carefully. “We believe he has hostages of sorts. It’s vital that you get down there, deal with him, and if you can, retrieve the Gauntlet.” Killian’s stomach fell. Regulating was one thing. That was her job, one she was very good at. But the idea of having to actually handle one of the relics herself? It scared her more than she cared to say.

“And I’m going alone?”

“Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be another option. Leeman is in the midst of preparing for a reclaiming mission himself and I don’t feel comfortable sending another Seeker down because I do fear that would put you in a hard position. Furthermore, I don’t believe the other Regulators are capable yet, frankly.” Killian’s thoughts rushed to Carey Fangbattle and to Boyland. Her regulator team. She was the unofficial captain, she supposed. She’d been at the Bureau for a few months longer than the two of them. And she also understood the Director’s unspoken addendum. She didn’t want to send more Regulators than necessary in case Killian herself had to be dealt with. Killian clenched her jaw, hoping no hesitation showed on her face.

“I’ll go get suited up and meet you and Avi at the hangar.”

“Actually, it’s just going to be Avi. He’s now going to be the sole one in charge of the Bureau’s transportation needs. The Millers have been working on adjustments to our system that make it easier to be manned by a single operator.”

“Oh shit, good for him.”

“Yes, he’s proven himself to be quite competent.” Lucretia reached into her desk and retrieved parchment and an inkwell. Killian turned to leave the Director’s office. “Oh, and Killian?”

“Yes, Madam Director?” the Director pressed her lips into a tight line.

“Don’t disclose the details of this to anyone yet. I know this is likely going to hit everyone hard and I frankly don’t want you to have to deal with that. I’ll figure out how to break the news.” Killian nodded and exited the office.

Late in the night she returned from the ruins of Phandalin, Killian found herself in the voidfish’s chambers. There had been a miraculous amount of excitement at the fact that a relic had been recovered and that the Bureau’s Reclaimer team had grown by three. Killian had done her best to slip away, sight unseen after she debriefed with the Director. She didn’t exactly feel like celebrating.

Instead, she felt like sitting on the ground in front of the voidfish’s tank, basking in its gentle light. She knew that Brian's Rites of Remembrance had been hastily done since the Director informed the Bureau of his treason. Traitors don’t get honor. But they do get grief, Killian thought to herself. She knew that Brian was too far gone by the time she reached him. She knew that he’d been ready to kill her with no second thought. She knew that he’d betrayed the Bureau and that betrayals wouldn’t stand in the organization. But all those facts didn’t keep her heart from twinging at the thought of Brian’s life just being wiped from memory.

“How’re you holding up?” Killian turned and saw Johann stride out from the shadows of the large room. She sighed and shrugged. Johann gazed at the voidfish for a moment before sitting on the ground beside her. They sat in silence for a while until a squeak by the doorway caused them both to turn around. Avi gave a meek wave before entering the room.

“Hey Avi,” Killian murmured quietly. He said nothing as he sat on Killian’s other side. The trio’s gazed up at the voidfish.

“Killian,” Avi began suddenly, “How was he?”

“He wasn’t himself. Not at all. I don’t know if that made it easier or harder, to be honest. I'm just glad that it wasn’t me who did him in.”

“Right, it was one of the new guys?” Johann turned to look at Killian for a moment. She nodded.

“Yeah, that new wizard, Taako, I think. I just still can’t believe he’s gone.” Killian didn’t tell anyone about the fact that she didn’t land a single hit on Magic Brian or his stupid fucking spider. She went running as soon as she could.

Avi tilted his head back and frowned. “Shit. His fiancé.” The trio grimaced. They all had lovely and ornate invitations in their own dormitories to Brian’s wedding. But at least the voidfish was supposed to handle all the messy things for the non-inoculated.

“I'm gonna miss that son of a bitch.” Johann mused quietly.

“Me too.” A gravitas-filled voice made the trio turn. The Director stood in the doorway, flanked by Carey and Boyland. They approached, staying mostly silent. Carey squeezed Killian’s shoulder and the six of them stayed in the voidfish’s chambers for some time.

Killian really did her best to keep from getting close to her coworkers, especially after what she was forced to do in Wave Echo Cave. It was terrifying to think that someday someone could be her coworker and then her assignment the very next day. Annoyingly, though, Carey Fangbattle seemed determined to break through Killian’s walls. She had done her best to get Killian to open up about her past, her fears, and everything in-between. Killian did her best to keep the dragonborn woman at arm’s length but the rogue was persistent.

“So, what was your deal before the Bureau?” she had asked one day while the pair was sparring. Boyland was home visiting family.

“Uh, you know, typical stuff. Pretty small family, we’re from a town outside of Neverwinter. They’re mostly all fighters so I took up that mantle. It was a pretty basic choice. What about you?”

“Heh, less basic than that. Small family too, just my parents, my brother, and me. He became a bard and I became a rogue. Our parents hate both these paths for both of us,” Carey chuckled after dodging a particularly swift sideswipe from Killian. “But you can’t ever seem to please barbarians, you know?” Killian laughed stepped out of the way of a deft roll Carey did. They continued sparring and joking for hours.

Killian found herself back in the voidfish’s chambers after she heard about Leeman Kessler and again after she heard about Captain Captain Bane. She hadn’t been particularly close to either of them be she saw that both these losses hurt Avi and Lucretia, respectively. Both times, she found herself surrounded by the five others who’d come together after the death of Magic Brian. They never coordinated it or spoke about it but something about basking in the company of each other in the glow of the voidfish gave them all a comfort none of them would admit to needing. At one point, Carey began to slip in beside Killian, forcing Avi to scoot to the orc’s other side. The rest of them changed position pretty frequently, depending on when they arrived. The Director eventually began siting on the floor with the five of them. When they were all in their unofficial ceremony for Captain Captain Bane, everyone had the courtesy to ignore the few tears shed by the Director.

Killian began to grow closer to Carey which scared the orc. It wasn’t that she didn’t love all the joy that the rogue brought her. That wasn’t it at all. But she couldn’t help but think about the fact that part of both their job descriptions involved being prepared to destroy their colleagues at any given moment. It wasn’t that Killian didn’t want to grow closer to Carey. If she was being honest, she’d love nothing more. She was just terrified.

Five of them gathered after Killian and Carey returned from the Miller’s lab. Boyland’s Rites ceremony wouldn’t be performed for some time. None of them were prepared to write out every detail of the man who’d brightened their days countless times.

They’d all already gathered after learning of the passing of Maureen Miller, but this time was different.

Maureen Miller and Lucas Miller would not receive Rites, though that didn’t stop the group from mourning them. Killian and Carey had quietly agreed to keep up the charade Magnus had set up in the lab. They both intended on interrogating him about it, but this was not the place to unwind it.

Truthfully, all of them were openly crying. Their tears were mostly quiet but they traced bright, shiny paths down their faces in the glow of the tank.

“Fucking Boyland. Him and his fucking cigars,” Carey said, leaning against Killian. She said nothing, instead choosing to wrap a protective arm around the dragonborn woman.

“I just can’t stop thinking about all his kids,” Avi’s face was unusually solemn. He retrieved his flask from his pocket and took a swig from it before passing it to Johann.

“Well, I mean, I understand that he was using a relic but,” Johann took a swig and passed the flask to Killian “Lucas was just a kid. I can’t believe that the Miller line is just… gone.”

Killian drank from the flask and passed it to Carey. “I can’t believe all the sketchy shit he was doing in that lab.” Carey gulped down some Brandywine and tentatively passed the flask to the Director.

“Grief is one hell of a drug,” the Director said hollowly, draining the remainder of the flask. “He was destroyed by the loss of his mother. Losing a loved one makes you do terrible things, especially if you think you could get them back.” She slid the flask back to Avi. The four others in the chamber glanced at the Director but said nothing. She was a woman who seemed to be haunted by griefs none of them could ever imagine.

Killian let her guard down at last. She let Carey inside her walls and was truthfully never happier. There was still an ever-present stripe of fear in Killian’s heart but somehow, when Carey was in her arms, it didn’t matter so much. Killian decided to appreciate and love Carey while she was alive rather than wait until she was despairing in front of a cryptic fish with an assortment of her closest friends and confidants.

After the day of Story and Song, after the Hunger had been defeated, after the base had been cleaned up, after a world of revelations had come to light, Killian and Carey found themselves in the voidfish’s chambers. Well, what used to be the voidfish’s chambers. Fisher was no longer there, the tank was shattered, and there was a noticeable absence in the room. They still sat in the spots they’d become so used to sitting in, though the room was far darker than it used to be. They both had their head in their hands when they heard familiar footsteps pad into the room. Avi practically collapsed next to Killian. She wrapped an arm around her friend and pulled him in close. None of them could speak. What could you say?

“I can’t believe it. In his last fucking act he just –“ Avi broke his sentence off and shook his head. He reached into his pocket and fished out his flask, dented but still functional. He held it up in a toasting motion and took a deep drink. Killian grabbed it from him and followed suit before passing it to Carey. Like a ghost, the Director, Lucretia, the woman they all suddenly knew in ways they never expected, appeared at Carey’s side. She wordlessly and unceremoniously sat down, taking the flask.

“How are you all doing?” she asked after a sip of Brandywine.

“Uh, not fucking great.” Avi reached out for the flask with one hand, scrubbing tears away with the other.

“Yeah, Madam Director, it’s been a bit of a day,” Carey said hoarsely before burying her face into Killian’s side.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Well, how are you doing, Lucretia?” Killian asked after a moment of silence. Lucretia barked out a humorless laugh.

“Shitty.”

Carey and Killian’s wedding was a beautiful affair, but it wasn’t without its more somber moments. The two women had an entire row of empty chairs reserved at the ceremony. They said nothing about their purpose but it didn’t take much energy to determine their purpose.

At one point in the evening, the pair found themselves sitting with Avi and Lucretia.

“And here’s the beautiful couple!” Avi said brightly, wrapping the brides in a tight hug.

“The ceremony was beautiful,” Lucretia delivered a hug to the couple once they detangled from Avi.

“It really was, huh?” Carey squeezed Killian’s hand. Killian’s smile was tinged with sadness.

“Hey um. Thank you both for being here. There’s already too many people missing and I don’t know how it would have been without you both.”

“Killian, I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.” Lucretia reached a hand out and squeezed the orc’s arm. Avi looked around and snagged four glasses of champagne off a waiter’s tray. After passing glasses to the three women around him, Avi raised his glass in a toast.

“To Johann and Boyland.”

Carey raised her glass. “To Noelle and Captain Captain Bane.”

Lucretia followed suit. “To Maureen Miller and Magic Brian.”

Killian raised her glass. “Fuck it, to Fisher and Junior.” The four laughed gently before toasting.

Killian was never more grateful for her friends than she was in that moment. So much had been lost in the pursuit of balance, but she was grateful that their memories would remain with her. And she was never so glad to have been finished with a job.

#taz balance #taz #the adventure zone #tazb #killian #carey fangbattle #lucretia #avi #johann #taz fic #my writing #team sweet flips

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cathrrrine · 3 years

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RUN | Pietro x Reader

Originally from my Wattpad

CHAPTER 17 - SPEED DIAL

———

"I'm about to do something really stupid." Steve put his hands on his hips and stared at the entrance before him, as if he was still contemplating whether or not it was worth it.

"What is it?" Pietro followed the Captain's gaze, both of them eyeing the doorway. It took him a while to figure it out, but once he connected Steve's nervous stance to his reason to standing in front of the room where Y/N was being held, he felt stupid for not knowing immediately. "Oh. That's very stupid."

"I know."

"You're really going in there?"

"Seems like it."

Pietro wondered if he should explain his own situation with Y/N to Steve, but decided against it. There was enough drama going on for the man, especially when the possible key to unlocking his best friend's whereabouts were just a few feet away. Steve could live without knowing Pietro's dilemma.

"Good luck then." He gave the Captain a brief nod, smirking a little when Steve did nothing in response. Pietro watched as he entered the passcode for the door to open, backing away as Steve began to enter.

———

Just as I thought I would be alone again — and this time more willingly — someone else stepped inside. The familiar muscular figure strode across the room, his boots clacking on the floor as if to announce his arrival.

I sighed and stayed laying down on the bed, not bothering to sit up and give him any sort of greeting. First the speedster, now him? What was he going to do, tell me the values of a great American?

"Jokes on you, I'm not even American." I mumbled to myself in response to my mental rambling.

"Huh?"

I groaned, putting an arm over my eyes to block the light. "What are you doing here, Captain?"

He cleared his throat. I could hear him shifting from one foot to the other in discomfort. Was he...nervous? That was definitely intriguing. What the hell is wrong with these Avengers? They were more complicated than I thought they would be.

"I came here to ask you for something."

I put down the arm I had over my eyes and shifted my weight onto my elbows, propping myself up so I could get a better look at my uninvited visitor. "Another deal?"

"Something like that." His lips stretched out into a thin line, his arms raising from his sides so he could cross them in front of his chest. "It's an offer. If you want it, take it. If you don't-"

"You'll kill me."

The Captain's eyebrows met together furiously, "That wasn't what I was going to say. If you don't want to take my offer, then it's up to Fury to decide what to do with you."

"So...no difference, then. He'll kill me."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to." I shrugged. I swung my legs over the bed and stood up so I was exactly across him. "So, what's this life-changing opportunity you've got in store?"

His shoulders immediately sagged, telling me how much he dreaded what he was going to say. I stood in anticipation, slowly taking small steps forward.

"You knew him." Steve blinked. "You knew Bucky."

"Who?"

"James." He sighed again, like the weight of the world was sitting on his windpipe. "Or...the Winter Sold-"

"Stop right there." I put a hand up, my palm facing the son of a bitch. "If I hear that name one more time, I'll rip your organs out through your mouth and shove them back in through your ass."

I hated how he said his name, his actual name, with such fondness and nonchalance like he was anything more than a torture machine who made my life a living hell. Steve tilted his head, stretching his neck. I could see the muscles of his jaw flexing even from where I was standing. It was almost impossible how his teeth were still intact to this day, with all that tension in his jaw and the stress-grinding.

"I just need you to help me track him down."

I couldn't help but chuckle. Hell, laugh even. That finally broke the dam that I tried to hold up and all hell was breaking loose right this moment. Steve Rogers, everybody! The world's greatest comedian! Round of applause!

"Track him down? You think I have his phone number on speed dial? What do you want me to do? Call him up and say, 'Hey, bestie! What's up? Wanna go shopping for knives? Maybe kill some people on the way? Oh, how about we get some ice cream and reminisce the time when you tried to kill me but I ran away and I've been running ever since? Good times!' HA!"

"I'm not asking you to make friendship bracelets, I'm just asking for information that only you could possibly know."

"Are you crazy, Rogers?" I yelled so loudly that my breath fogged up the glass I was basically pressed up upon. "You'll never track him down. He's under Hydra's thumb 24/7. Even if we do manage to get to him, what do you think will happen? You're the face of the enemy. He'll kill you on the spot. He's not your best friend anymore, Rogers. He's a weapon bound to blow up in your face."

"Wait, what?" He uncrossed his arms and replaced them on his hips. He pointed to me, "Why do you think Hydra's still watching him?"

"I said don't make me say his name again-"

"No, no- you think he's-" he cut off abruptly. "You don't know, do you?"

The hand he had been using to point at me moved towards his face to stroke his chin. "The Winter Soldier escaped Hydra not too long ago, when S.H.I.E.L.D was compromised."

What? I felt my body go numb. It was like the world was caving in on me, trying to crush my body with it's cruel, cruel walls. How did I not know that? "What? No. You're lying."

He shook his head, "That's why I want you to help me track him down. I can't leave him alone out there."

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. Hearing Steve talk about him like he was referring to a friend, humanising him...felt so wrong and disgusting that it left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to throw up.

"No."

I walked away from the front of the cell and turned my back to him, wanting nothing more to do with the conversation. Everything I thought was true turned out to be a rotting corpse of a lie. There was nothing else to revive, not even the remains of hell that I blew away a lifetime ago. There was no phoenix that would suddenly rise. Just cold, painful and numbing reality, hitting me in the face.

I should be glad, right? The knowledge that he was no longer who he used to be should be enough to send me dancing for joy and painting the town or whatever it is that happy, liberated people do. But instead I was scared. He was out there, blending in with civilians as if he wasn't a total monster. I was confused too—the sole reason I'd handed myself over to S.H.I.E.L.D was because I was running from him.

Then, the gears of my brain suddenly hit the brakes.

"You're lying." I said, with my back still turned to the glass. "He's not out there. He's still with them. I heard him, the day Hydra raided this place!"

"I thought you might bring that up. I'm not lying, Y/N."

Something told me I should turn around, and so I did. He was taking something out of his pocket. A small, metallic black, oval device that resembled an earpiece, with a wire attached to it. At the end of the wire was a tiny cube. "We found this on one of the Hydra agents' bodies, it was attached to his ear and his neck. We examined it immediately."

He held the thing up for me to see, the cube dangling from the wire. "Advanced technology."

He didn't need to say the words. I already knew what was coming.

"A voice modifier."

I chewed the inside of my cheek to keep myself from doing something stupid–the range was vast–and took a deep breath. Today was a day of revelations, it seemed. This cell is a feelings brothel.

"They knew, didn't they?" I scoffed, smirking despite my own conscience. "They wanted me to be scared."

Steve shoved the horror device back into his pocket, nodding once and staying silent, a gesture for me to continue. I dared myself to meet his eyes.

"This doesn't change anything." I heard myself saying. "I'm not helping you find him either way."

He sighed, shaking his head as if in disbelief. "I thought you might say that."

I didn't know what to say. But then suddenly, I heard the sound of a click and felt a sudden rush of air behind me. I whipped my head around to see the door hanging slightly ajar.

"Advanced technology."

Life was getting stranger by the second for me. I was just starting to figure out all the ways I could escape seamlessly, but then he stopped me.

"I'm not done yet." What now? "You can get out of here, on one condition. You help me find him. Then you're free to go wherever you want to go after."

Deals after deals after deals. My life was a joke. Everything I do involves a gamble.

"That's it?"

"Listen here, Y/N." The Captain's voice dropped an octave, a threat waiting to ignite. "I'm doing this on my own accord. If you help me, I'll be more than glad to return the favour, but only if you swear not to show up on anyone's radar for at least a year or they'll find you. Do this and you can forget about everything. I'm offering you a clean slate."

It was the negotiation of the century. But I sensed there was more. "And?"

"And, if you so much as step a foot out of line, I won't be the law abiding Captain you know me to be, kid."

I smirked. "Huh. I like you more like this, Cap. Suits you."

"So, what's it gonna be?"

I let the thought of it marinate for a while, weighing all the pros and cons. Pros? I get to get out of here and forget about ever 'pledging my loyalty' to this freak show. Cons? I had to actively and consciously search for the man whom I'd been running from forever.

"Deal. But I have one condition."

He raised an eyebrow lazily, as if surprised but also not at the same time. I was becoming way too predictable for these people. "What would that be?"

I couldn't go alone, not with just the walking flag, and I still had some unanswered questions to deal with. Plus, truth be told, I had a feeling he was the only person I could truly trust, especially on a rogue mission.

"Pietro has to come along."

#run pietro x reader #pietro maximoff x y/n #pietro maximoff x reader #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #pietro maximoff #marvel #mcu imagine #mcu x reader #marvel imagines #marvel x reader

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orangedodge · 3 years

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@dannybagpipesarecalling replied to your text post:

I didn't realize those were Destiny's diaries either. If you would be so kind, can you explain how Emma knows? Unfortunately I haven't read enough comics to know this backstory.

I am glad you asked about this, because it gives me an excuse to post about it while hopefully not sounding like a conspiracy blog. I've been slightly obsessed with this idea since Emma first turned up in House of X, so I'm rather excited that “maybe Destiny's Diaries still exist” isn't just my weird crack canon any longer.

Emma was, in short, the last person who can be established to have control over the whereabouts of the diaries. And as one of the top five telepaths in the world, who has expressly defended that secret from the likes of Exodus and Mr. Sinister, she is capable of preventing Professor X from just taking the information from her. So barring new retcons, if Moira has the diaries now, they had to have been obtained directly from Emma.

That's not enough to say that she turned them over to Moira specifically. She could have given them to Charles or Er—okay, no, she wouldn't give them to Charles. There could be a circumstance where she'd trust them to Erik though. But in that contingency, I think there's enough context to support Emma knowing why they'd want them and for who. To be clear though, I would be less confident about making that assertion if Emma hadn't just opened the “Dr. Moira MacTaggert Memorial Public Hospital” expressly to freak out Charles and Erik, and if HoxPox hadn't already linked them by showing Moira to be worried about what Emma was up to.

(This got kind of long so I thought it'd be helpful to say the important part up front before spiraling down the continuity rabbit hole)

The origins and resulting chain of custody for Destiny's Diaries are as follows: One January, decades ago, Destiny began recording visions of the future in a series of diaries. Filling one book per month, she continued writing for thirteen months. This process was described as auto-writing, and Destiny herself did not have a complete memory of what she had written, nor did she understand the meaning of much of what she wrote.

Nonetheless, the July diary contained a recording of the events leading up to the defeat of Apocalypse, and another diary contained information on the life of Hope Summers, so they've been very relevant to the events of the modern era. It's not explicit yet that Krakoa's founding is also in the diaries, but because we know Destiny had at least one separate vision of Krakoa, and because Moira is interested in reading them, it seems fairly likely that whatever Moira, Charles, and Erik have been doing behind the scenes is also in there.

In the decades since Destiny authored them, most of these diaries were lost, except for five that Mystique kept hold of, and a sixth that Irene hid away herself. After Mystique killed 'Moira,' she sent her five diaries to Professor X, hoping that the temptation of using them would consume his life and lead him toward a ruinous fate. Destiny meanwhile had entrusted the sixth diary to Shadowcat (who Destiny met in 1936, while she was time traveling and having an affair with Moira's grandfather don't worry about it), who eventually became so freaked out by something she read in it that she vanished on a mission, let her friends believe her dead for weeks, and had herself deleted from Cerebro, while leaving the diary to Rogue for safekeeping while she was away.

(That last chain of events isn't incredibly important, I just think it becomes kind of lol in light of current canon)

Rogue went on to take that diary and the research that had been done on it to Storm. Storm and Rogue then formed a splinter team of X-Men, to journey the world searching for the lost diaries, believing Professor X could not be trusted. Along the way a seventh book turned up with a treasure hunter named Vargas (don't worry about him), and an eighth was found by Gateway and given to Rogue in a dream. Eventually Storm tried to get Phoenix to collect Professor X's diaries for her, but they discovered that they had already been stolen (Shadowcat did it).

The rest of the diary hunt isn't really important, just that Kitty eventually ended up retrieving the full set, before she rejoined the X-Men, which only happened after Xavier had left Scott and Emma to run the school. This timeline is important for establishing that Xavier has never possessed the full set of diaries himself, and was not involved in collecting the lost books at any point, nor was he present at the time the diaries were brought to the school and fell under Emma's protection. This rules out the possibility that the set of diaries we've previously seen were somehow forged by Xavier.

Xavier would not return to the school until after losing his mutant powers, whereupon he departed for space on an adventure to another galaxy. He was unavailable, therefore, to have undertaken any telepathic shenanigans, so what happens next actually happened, and is not a psychic illusion. While Xavier was gone, Mr. Sinister recruited Exodus and Mystique, and began a campaign of hunting down precognitive psychics, time travelers, and any other sources of information on the future. Scott, Emma, and Kitty meanwhile predicted that they were going to be next, and came up with a bananas plan to keep the books safe.

X-Men volume 2 no. 203 by Mike Carey (Writer), Humberto Ramos (Penciler), Carlos Cuevas (Inker), Studio F’s Edgar Delgado (Colorist), Virtual Calligraphy’s Cory Petit (Letterer), Will Panzo (Assistant Editor), Nick Lowe (Editor), Joe Quesada (Editor in Chief), Dan Buckley (Publisher)

First they hid the diaries somewhere in parts unknown. Emma then altered the minds of “all of us” (everyone who lived at the mansion at that time) to perceive a bunch of decoy books as the real thing. She then erased Kitty's memory, and her own, so that no telepath would be able to extract the information by force, before they gave each other a series of post-hypnotic triggers so they could restore one another's memories if they ever needed the books again. When eventually Exodus attacked the school looking for the books, they restored their memories, and decided to send another team to the hidden location where they'd buried a mystery box. Emma gave this location to Sam and Bobby, who dug up the box, which was never opened, and which was destroyed by Gambit during a firefight with Sinister's forces before anyone could confirm its contents.

This was intended by author Mike Carey to be the end of Destiny's Diaries, a dropped plot from a previous creative run, that was vaguely useful at building up to the Messiah Complex crossover, but was a lot more trouble than it was worth to an author who was writing about the X-Men trying to avert a bad future. But there's a lot of room in the story he wrote for the diaries to have survived after all.

I think it's actually really suspicious that the box was accessible to Bobby and Sam at all. Why not drop it under a mountain? Why not bury it under the ocean? Why not keep it phased in a tree? And it's a big red box with a big red 'X' on it. I know the X-Men love their branding and all, but that's going pretty far.

No one actually opens the box before Gambit blows it up either. It could have contained more decoys, or nothing at all.

And when talking among themselves, Emma and Kitty never actually say that they're sending the X-Men to retrieve the diaries. They say that they know where the diaries are, and then send the X-Men to a place where they've buried something. The intent of the author is clear, but there's room in the dialogue for a later writer to decide that this just was another plan to keep the books hidden.

So for the entire period of time between assembling the complete collection of thirteen diaries, and their seeming destruction, they are never unaccounted for. Only Emma and Kitty knew the full extent of what they did to hide them, and where they were hidden. If fakes were destroyed instead of the real thing, no one would have known.

We could just be in retcon territory, but I don't think so, because it's fine on its own without any direct changes to canon. And really, faking the destruction of the books to cover up their real location makes a lot more sense than believing Emma Frost actually sent Sam to retrieve the incredibly suspicious looking red box that contained the most important object in the world, while half the super villains on the planet were chasing him.

Believing the diaries weren't really destroyed just requires the reader to accept that Emma would lie to the other X-Men, and keep lying to them for years, and that she'd be willing to put Sam and Bobby's lives at risk to protect that lie. Which she was already doing in that story anyway. She was already lying to everyone when she changed everyone's memories. And she—and Scott and Kitty—was already fine with risking everyone's lives when setting up a decoy trap in a school. So that's why I think this works better as a continuation of the existing, known, story of the diaries, and not a direct retcon to what happened.

In conclusion I think Emma knows about Moira because Moira got the diaries from somewhere, and Emma is the person she could have gotten them from. Nothing proves a direct hand-off in, like, a formal standard of proof or anything, but Emma having access to the diaries for so long, and having been wrapped up in this whole weird plot thread—which involves Moira and most of the Quiet Council—is enough to imply the connection in a story sense.

(ETA - For completion’s sake, there is also a weird story I didn’t go into called Chaos War that was published in 2011 where Moira is resurrected and finds a book in the ruins of the Xavier School that may or may not be one of the diaries, and touching it causes her soul to merge with Destiny’s, who then possesses her and guides her through a quest to destroy an evil god. This was an odd story to place in continuity at the time, and has only gotten stranger, given 1. that couldn’t be the real Moira, 2. Destiny is not merged with her soul. If this is in continuity (it’s been suggested that Moira’s golem was the character in this event), and all of the characters are who they say they are, and if the book in question was actually one of the thirteen diaries (and not some other book that Irene also wrote), then it requires Emma to have deliberately left one of the thirteen books behind for “Moira” to find, which if anything only adds to the likelihood that she knows what’s up)

#x-men #comics #marvel #wednesday spoilers #long post

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nade2308 · 3 years

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First Lines of Last 20....

Guidelines: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all.) Choose your favorite opening line, tag some friends!

Tagged by @impossiblepluto. Thanks friend!

(And just as always, I deviate from the mold and I give you more than just the first lines and/or my favorite lines 😈)

1. You don't know you are beautiful

Jack was so pissed. He was thrumming with nervous energy and was itching for a fight. Especially with that good for nothing, piece of shit, pretentious and pompous guy they were sent to retrieve because he had valuable intel the Phoenix stumbled upon by chance.

2. Catch you when you fall

Scott was always ready to push himself further, just that one step towards the tipping point. He thought if he went harder, and longer, that it will yield better results, but it wasn't always the case. That frustrated him even more and then he was angry at himself for doing that to himself and his friends. And to his dad. His dad who bent himself forwards and backwards to make sure Scott had everything he needed and more.

3. Coming home to you

You know that feeling when you want something so bad, but you have to wait for it? Yeah, Mac was feeling like that now. He was this close to losing it after the op ended. He couldn't wait to get back to Jack. Well, get back to Jack and get laid in the process.

4. "There's still time to change the road you're on"

Jack was in Texas for the birthday of his nephew and it just happened that his nephew was best friends with the kid of one of Jack's old flames. Well, more like a summer relationship, but seventeen year old Jack thought she was it. They had a thing that was actually cute and sweet. He took her out on dates at the local pizza place, and she took him to community events.

5. 98.Separated

Alina Chernyshevsky was a Russian scientist working at a lab in LA, on a scholarship who was kidnapped by a rogue crime group almost a week ago. The Phoenix was tasked with recovering her and capturing any of the members of the group they could find. It turned out that the son of a banker, the daughter of a businessman and the brother and sister, the kids of one of the most powerful Romanian crime groups had one thing in common. They wanted to get out from under the shadow that their parents put them in. So they formed their own union, and thanks to the ties Andrei Bogdan, their leader, had from his father's world, they quickly made their way up in the underground dark world. Climbing up the ladders, they did the odd jobs here and there, hits on important people for hire, and it was based on their combined knowledge of the finances, the system and the law, that they stayed undetected and under the radar for so long. Until Alina discovered some sample or another in the lab that was brought for testing and she made herself a target and was kidnapped in broad daylight.

6. Dye Hard

It wasn't like it was something he was dying to try. He was just looking at pictures of people with wonderfully done hair. Which happened to also be dyed in all the colors of the rainbow and more. It was just research. For an experiment. He was sure he was going to be told off again for experimenting so he kept it just to himself.

7. Sweet child o' mine

Riley woke up to the persistent ringing of her phone. She was having a very nice dream, drinking mai-tai's, at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and now she was brought back to reality by the shrill tone of her phone.

8. Mac and Jack + softness

They had experienced bad missions before. It wasn't that uncommon, since almost every mission they worked on turned bad real fast. But there were some missions that took bad to the next level.

9. Jack + migraine + birthday

Mac was shivering even with the blanket wrapped around him. They were on their exfil flight, and the heat was on for his sake, but Mac's worry wasn't for himself, but for Jack. Jack, who was squinting at the bright sky and had his head tilted in an awkward angle because apparently he was hurting. And Mac had a pretty good idea what was the cause.

10. 9.Helpless

The drive back to Mac's place was a blur. Jack focused on the road and tried not to think of what they were told or the treatment that might have reversed all of their hard work on making Mac's hands heal and be okay.

11. 72.Painless

When Mac first noticed the car that was tailing him, he was several blocks away from Jack's place. They were supposed to have a movie night with the team, Jack already texted him to tell Mac that Riley was there with him.

12. 26.Flinch

Mac jerked away from the hand that was shaking his shoulder and immediately backed up to the corner of the bed. Someone was talking in a low voice, but Mac was still a bit disoriented and couldn't place the voice. Or the words.

13. 12.Confusion & 26. flinch

When Mac woke up, he could tell that something was different. There wasn't a creepy stare to watch over him, nor the blinking dot on the camera in the corner.

14. 5.Bruised

Jack let his kid take his fill by looking him up and down. Jack knew that he looked a little bit worse for wear, but that was normal in their line of work. This time however, it was from something else. And judging by the way Mac was eyeing him, he didn't manage to hide it well.

15. 56. Begging

Mac wanted to scream. It was hurting him to just breathe, but the pain was unbearable. He didn't know if the lash that caught his side, or the one that split the skin above the small of his back, hurt more.

16. Jack Sr. + Wrist Cuff

It takes all his willpower not to go back to the room he just vacated. He promised Riley and Mac that he'll take a break. It was nonnegotiable. Mac went so far as to tell him to go and take a good sleep. That Mac wasn't going to vanish again. He promised.

17. Fire Pit + Nightmares

Mac didn't know what woke him up. He's sure it was something and not a sound he made up in his dream. Mac turned around in bed and for a moment he was a bit disoriented. He blinked a few times and then looked at the digital watch on his nightstand. It was a little after 2am.

18. "Whenever your world starts crashing down, that's when you'll find me"

"Hours later (Jack's not sure about the time, he left his watch at home) the party is dying down. He is watching the night lights twinkling in the distance, mixed with lights from building windows, and homes and offices. LA is alive as always, traffic present even in this late hour. Everyone knows that NYC is the city that never sleeps, but Jack wants to argue how LA doesn't fall far behind the Big Apple. Especially since Jack has watched this city in all the times of day and night and can attest to that."

19. Si te doy mi corazón, lo tratarás con ternura

1. Tickling

Mac was studying for an exam and Jack was bored. It was one of those days. Really, there was a lot to be done in the house, and Jack barely had a time for himself and Mac these days, but on a rare night where he had absolutely nothing of importance to do… and Jack was bored.

20. The Center of Their World

Mac was writhing in Jack's lap, and Jack moaned at the drag of Mac's cock against his hip as Jack had Mac's ass spread and a finger inside him already. He instinctively backed up against the headboard of their ridiculously big bed, and threw his head out because the contact between him and Mac was explosive in the least.

Tagging: @sabbystarlight @82tweeder @dixons-mama @improvidus @panchostokes @erinsworld @nativestarwrites @kerkerian @starryhc @thesammykinz @dont-stop-believin-in-klaine @demonicsoulmates @rai-knightshade @telltaleclerk and whoever sees this and wants to do it, consider yourself tagged.

#tumblr games #first lines tag game

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just-a-fangirl13 · 4 years

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MacGyver s5 theories..Time jump? MacRiley? Trust issues and more

OKAY! So we finally got our first (3) SNEAK-PEEKS at 5x01 and I have soo many thoughts.

Here are the links incase you missed it: https://just-a-fangirl13.tumblr.com/post/636474561109639168/the-new-sneak-peeks-for-macgyver-5-01-are-out

Firstly let’s talk about the elephant in the room...The TIME JUMP....?

MacGyver writers really like their time jumps. From season 3 to season 4 we lost about 18 months, and in that span of time the Phoenix shut down, Mac and Desi dated, lived together, had a pet? and a “nuclear breakup” and then proceeded to live their lives, Riley also started seeing someone then moved in and had been living with him (Aubrey) for about 6 months and of course Bozer directed his own movie. So clearly a lot happened.

This 10 month jump might not be as eventful (or can it be?!) since it seems that the writers have included the pandemic into the storyline. Now if the characters were quarantined like we were I have tons of questions..

IS THE PANDEMIC OVER IN THEIR WORLD? WAS IT A DIFFERENT KIND OF PANDEMIC OR COVID? WHAT ARE THE REPERCUSSIONS?

DID THEY STILL GO ON MISSIONS? or were they literally just doing nothing like the rest of us? *I wonder if Mac burnt down the house....hehhehe*

DID RILEY MOVE OUT? or was she stuck quarantining with Mac and Desi?

DID MAC AND DESI BREAK UP? I cannot imagine them quarantining together for 10 months and maintaining their sanity. 10 months is a long time for MacDesi and if they survived it... It is possible them breaking up this second time around (for MacRiley to happen) just got a whole lot more complicated.

So there are 2 possibilities because we know Mac and Riley have to happen at some point RIGHT?!! *I WILL LOSE IT IF THEY DONT*

1. Mac and Desi broke up a few months in and this press release photo has more going on then meets the eye. At face value it seems like Mac and Desi might still be dating but I doubt that very much. Why? ill talk about that in a minute. Also if they broke up a few months (into the 10) that would leave sufficient time for Mac to get his head back in the game and if he and Riley happened then she wouldn't look like a rebound. (OH GOD PLEASE BE THIS!!)

2. Mac and Desi haven't broken up but knowing their track record they haven't exactly had a smooth 10 months. Now this would mean that when they do break up eventually, (there is a certain chance they may not at all and MacDesi might be endgame...NOOO) we will actually see it happen but I dont know why the writers would want to risk pulling the show down by anchoring Mac and Desi in this chaotic relationship not a lot of us are even fans of and slowing down the whole timeline of things. This is the theory I am not a big fan of but I guess we will know in the next 48 hours.

Okay now that we have the relationships out of the way lets talk about the plot.

We know Codex isn't done yet. LeLand is still out there and they seem to be the main focus this season. Again we dont know much about this and only time will tell.

The team does seem to be back and going on their usual missions but you have to remember there are around 4-6 episode from the original season 4 that never aired (due to covid). Plus the show runner changed so it will now be an alternation between the old s4 episodes that are definitely more Codex focused and the usual missions that might somehow tie into the big picture (even if they dont im not complaining!) This will give them time to develop the other plot lines and hopefully give us some happy moments too! (can we not kill anymore of Mac’s blood relatives? oh wait THEY ARE ALL ALREADY DEAD!!)

Another HUGE THING that I am very happy that the writers decided to tackle in terms of inter personal drama is trust issues.

As we all know when Mac kinda-sort-of went rogue towards the end of season 4, Riley was the only one who had complete faith in him while Matty and Bozer knew there was clearly more going on....BUT Russ and Desi didn't stop for even a second to consider that Mac might be doing the right thing.

Now you have to know this. Russ and Desi are not only new to the team but the world is very black and white for them. (Desi more than Russ actually) While Russ did some very gray area things he always thinks like a soldier just like Desi. For them people are mostly good or bad. You cant do (kinda) bad things for good reasons.

As we saw in the sneak peek where Russ doubts Mac and Mac gives Russ a piece of his mind about not trusting him, there is definitely a lot of conflict going on. (I expect Mac to have the same issue with Desi because if I remember clearly unlike Russ, Desi never apologised to Mac about holding him at gunpoint. How pronounced that issue is and if Mac and Desi break up because of it..only time will tell.)

I have to say though Mac telling Russ off was pretty amazing. It seems like he’s finally talking his mind and not taking shit from people. I cant wait to see more of sassy Mac!!! (wonder what brought that out...hmmmmmmmhmmm)

The events of season 4 are definitely going to influence a lot of what happens in season 5 and I cant wait!! Less than 48 hours to go!!!!!!

P.S. One more quick thing. Everyone has been saying that since MacGyver now has a LA unit Jack might be back since George Eads wanted to be closer to LA but all the shooting for MacGyver happened in Atlanta so that problem might have been resolved (I dont know how likely or unlikely that is its just something that came to my attention).

Also our favourite psychopath aka Murdoc could show up in S5 too since David Dastmalchian the actor who portrays Murdoc is also in LA right now (or at least he was till the 29th of Nov) along with Meredith Eaton for whom travelling to Atlanta is dangerous because she has several health issues. (I am happy they haven't written her out completely just because of COVID) We shall just have to wait and watch!

#macgyver #cbs #cbs macgyver #angus macgyver #riley davis #macriley #macdesi #desi nguyen #wilt bozer #russ taylor #matildawebber #lucas till #tristan mays #macgyver fandom #one day to goo #macisback #macisthebest #macgyverstills #macgyverseason5

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imshatteredbutnotbroken · 3 years

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The wonderful world of Desiree Nguyen: A character analysis

This is a season three, episode 14-18 character analysis of everyone’s favourite MacGyver protector, Desiree “Desi” Nguyen. (Or, A.K.A, my attempt at sounding much more intelligent than I am.) If people want to read more, I’ll cover the rest of the seasons.

Now, I won’t always sound unbiased in my feelings towards Desiree, but I am going to really try my best to be. And, like I said, I am attempting to sound much more intelligent than I am, so if I miss anything or sound incredibly stupid, feel free to correct me.

There are spoilers, so if you haven’t seen season three, I recommend skipping this analysis.

It’s important to note that this is not a commentary on Levy Tran herself, and that it’s only about her character (EXTREME EMPHASIS ON CHARACTER).

There is also a Tl;dr at the end of each episode summary starting from episode 15.

Let’s begin.

Desiree (hereby known as Desi) was first mentioned by (actual) fan favourite, Jack Dalton, in season 3 episode 14, Father+ Bride + Betrayal. He first mentioned her in a conversation with Mac during the wedding:

Jack: “Matty let me handpick my replacement to watch your back. I think you’re really gonna like her. Or, kill her. One of the two.”

Mac: “That’s oddly specific. Should I be worried?”

Jack: “No, man. You’ll meet her soon enough. And, trust me, there’s nobody I’d trust more than this woman to watch your back. She is really good. Well, other than me, obviously.”

Now, there’s not much to go on, but we do get some hints. She’s tough, she’s a badass, and Jack likes and trusts her. So, Desi’s initial set up isn’t so bad. We love Jack, and if Desi comes at Jack’s recommendation, we know she can be trusted to watch everyone’s backs. Like I said, we’re off to a good start.

It’s also important to note: Jack specifically says “there’s nobody I’d trust more than this woman to watch your back.” Does this really happen only a season later? Honestly? It’s debatable. But, we’ll get there when we get there.

Season three, episode 15: K9 + Smugglers + New Recruit

Desi is initially introduced — through Mac — as advertised: a tough badass who will take her job as the team’s protector seriously. While she admits to Mac that she will hate her job as their bodyguard, she is doing it because she owes Jack. What she owes him exactly, we’re still not sure. It could be anything from repaying Jack for a chocolate bar to repaying a debt to him after Jack saved someone’s life. Who the hell knows?

In the war room, at her second meeting with Mac, Riley, Bozer, Leanna (remember her?! Why couldn’t you leave well enough alone, T.V. show?!), and Matty, Desi reemphasizes that their safety is her top priority. Like I said, Desi (in her initial intro) is a tough badass who takes her job seriously.

On the mission, Cody, (our story of the week’s gun sniffing dog) immediately finds two guns on Desi’s person. She really is like Jack in that respect! But, we soon find out she doesn’t like them (she’s really not like Jack that way!), telling Mac she only carries it because she has to, will only pull a gun when necessary, and that she’d “rather put bad guys in an interrogation room than the morgue.” Another special exception that allows her to pull a gun is against “anyone who hurts animals.”

While Mac and Riley notice Desi isn’t the warmest, Riley acknowledges that Desi is well-accomplished. She was one of the first women to graduate from Ranger school, was part of a special ops team made up of SAS, Delta, and the CIA, and, apparently, “has more awards than Michael Phelps.” So, Desi is no slouch. She also impresses everyone even more when she parkours up several shipping containers to get a better view for the op they’re on. Desi proves herself again during a fight scene by single-handedly taking out several guys with guns (and gets shot in the process, her bulletproof vest stopping every bullet). Let’s add bravery to the list of qualities Desi has shown in just over 10 minutes.

Later, she talks to Riley, who emphasizes their group’s need for Desi to be reliable (and this is interesting because Desi’s reliability is questioned in episode 21 this season). Riley found out Desi went AWOL while she was in Afghanistan, and Riley wants to know why. As Desi explains, one of the Afghani civilians she was working with was kidnapped, and she went to find him. Which Desi successfully did. As she tells the story, Desi becomes emotional, showing that she does have a heart and a vulnerable side, and you can tell she is speaking sincerely. Desi is also adamant that she would to do it again. This is an interesting contrast to her behaviour during the Codex storyline, but we’ll get there.

Desi doesn’t much like Mac’s fly by the seat of his pants behaviour because she was trained to always have plan and she can’t work spontaneously. We also learn Desi is knowledgeable about some sort of technology having to with RFID chips that I can’t personally understand, and that she went to the University of Michigan.

At the end of the episode, Desi makes an appearance at Mac’s house, saying Jack made her promise to go. She leaves as quickly as came though, not wanting to get too close to everyone…in case she has to bury them. Which, I understand, but morbid, jeez. It’s also kind of odd when you think about it because Desi is the group’s protector and is responsible for their safety. But, on the other hand, she can’t fix every situation, and there may be a time when one of them gets killed on a mission. So, while I understand Desi’s hesitation, I am not entirely a fan of it. And, this behaviour is even odder considering Desi goes on to date Mac at the end of the season. I guess Mac really did break down her walls (and that’s something I didn’t notice until writing this).

Overall, we’ve learned a lot about Desi. She’s tough, yet cold, smart, athletic, reliable (supposedly), likes a plan, and hates guns and animal abusers. Seeing her introduced this way (and introduced well) is interesting because I know future storylines and have seen how much Desi has changed as a character. She was always somewhat cold, but she initially had an adamance, confidence, and determination to do what is right. Knowing how the Codex storyline in particular goes down, the way Desi changes is interesting, to say the least.

Tl;dr: As Desi is introduced, the audience learns that she takes her job as the team’s bodyguard seriously, and owes Jack for some (still unknown) reason, and that’s really why Desi is there. We also learn she hates guns and animal abusers, is brave, athletic, reliable (supposedly), and well-accomplished. She also doesn’t want to get too close to the rest of the team in case she has to bury them, so she leaves the Phoenix’s group hangout session as quickly as she joined.

Season three, episode 16: Lidar + Rogues + Duty

At the beginning of this episode, Desi is ‘familiarizing’ herself with the lab and ‘helping’ Bozer with Sparky (really, she’s flipping through a magazine and complaining about the music Bozer is playing while he works). She says she’s lending moral support, though, so, whatever works, I guess. Anyway, Bozer asks for her help with running diagnostic tests on Sparky, and Desi agrees. But, her help is a riddle that sends the robot on an endless loop for the rest of the episode. I do like her shit disturber behaviour, though, so I’ll give Desi that.

For the main operation, Desi and Mac are on a recovery mission in Azerbaijan to bring back one of Mac’s friend’s bodies. His friend, Robert Reese, was on a covert flying mission when his plane crashed, and Mac and Desi are the only ones who can get the body.

While looking for the wreckage, Desi notices that Mac is distracted. She asks him what’s going on, and he explains why he’s distracted. And, knowing that Mac feels responsible for what happened to Reese, Desi asks Mac to tell her about his friend. After Mac does, she gets angry with him and tells Mac to compartmentalize, seemingly a turn around from being caring like she was in the previous episode. But, I understand where she’s coming from because Desi and Mac have to stay focused, or else, like she says, “Matty will be sending a team to recover us.” Fair, because if Mac lets his emotions get the best of him — while he and Desi are in a country they’re not supposed to be in — he could get into a situation he can’t get out of.

Later, we learn that Desi speaks Turkish (what can’t this girl do?!) as some of the Azerbaijani military arrive at the wreckage site. After escaping and driving away, Desi notices a parachute in the trees, indicating it’s possible Reese isn’t dead. Mac is hopeful that his friend is alive, while Desi is more logical, saying, “there are a lot of reasons why the Azerbaijani military would grab a dead U.S. pilot.” They spot footprints of U.S. Army issued boots, so their mission goes from recovery to search and rescue.

Mac and Desi are led to a small town after hearing about sightings of an injured man wearing a flight suit. There, they figure out which building Reese is hiding in. Mac and Desi find him alive but with a broken clavicle. And, while Mac provides Reese with first aid, Desi becomes all business. But, in her defence, they’re in danger, so it’s not weird Desi reacts this way.

After escaping and another mission change (this time to stopping rogue CIA agents and recovering chemical weapons), Mac improvises a plan that goes awry and has Desi and Reese held at gunpoint by the agents. Desi has to stall while Mac tries to save them and, as she talks, she uses the info Mac told her about Reese, proving Desi listened to Mac. So, while we thought Desi was being callous, she actually showed that she sincerely cared about what Mac had to say.

Later, Desi meets with Bozer to make up for sending Sparky into an endless loop. Maybe she truly feels bad, or maybe she’s doing it selfishly because she’s new. Either way, it’s hard to tell because we’re not in Desi’s head. But, I’ll give it to her because I really think Desi knows she messed up and she wants to fix it. She tells Bozer the answer to the riddle and Sparky is able to break the loop.

We are still learning about Desi, but we get so much info in the small details. My favourite part about her this episode was her shit disturbing. We also learn she speaks Turkish, prefers to be all business when she’s on a mission, and pays attention to what’s going on around her. Desi is actually quite deep in this season, and she shows that she cares about people and robots alike.

Tl;dr: At the beginning of the episode, Desi is ‘helping’ Bozer while he works on Sparky the robot. She sends Sparky on an endless loop after telling him a riddle he can’t figure out, annoying Bozer.

Desi and Mac have the main operation, which was initially a body recovery mission for one of Mac’s friends, Robert Reese. She gets Mac to open up about Reese, and then immediately tells him to compartmentalize so they can get through the mission alive.

They find Reese alive, and their mission changes to stopping rogue CIA agents and recovering chemical weapons. At the chemical weapons site, Desi and Reese are held up at gunpoint by the agents, and Desi is forced to stall while Mac saves them. She uses the story Mac told her about Reese earlier in the episode, proving she paid attention to what Mac said.

At the end of the episode, Desi goes to Bozer to help fix Sparky. She tells him the answer to the riddle, getting Sparky out of his loop, and showing Desi cares about those around her.

Season three, episode 17: Seeds + Permafrost + Feather

This episode opens with Mac and Desi in bed together. But, it’s not what you think. It’s for a mission and part of Mac’s plan to escape from the people chasing them. Desi is annoyed by the plan (because she had to get undressed) and she argues with Mac. He tries to convince her it was their best option — until the bad guys return and hold Desi and Mac up at gunpoint. I can see why she would be annoyed with Mac, but is fighting during a mission necessary? Somehow, they escape, and we can move on.

Mac, Riley, and Desi have to travel to the international seed vault in Greenland because an employee is missing. Since Mac’s dad, James (also known as Oversight), was involved in the vault’s development and planning, he’s the person to call when something goes wrong. But, James has other business, so the mission falls to Mac, Riley, and Desi.

In the vault, thanks to a comment Desi made about the employee disappearing into the mountain (causing Mac to do his Mac thing), the trio discovers an access tunnel someone dug to get into the (extremely secure) vault. And, whoever dug that tunnel killed Karl, the missing employee, in the process. There is also a possibility of seeds being stolen.

So, Mac, Riley, and Desi use Karl’s cell phone, which he had on him, to figure out the path he took and identify which seeds may have been stolen. Mac and Desi, who plays the murderer, recreate the fight, and they’re having a ball doing it. They fight, and Desi gives Mac all she’s got. She’s not subtle or gentle, but she gets the job done. Soon, they figure out which box (one of North Korea’s) the thief rifled through, and which seeds were taken (a rare form of a pea plant).

Desi explores the access tunnel and finds a room that is scattered in schematics, seed reports, and drilling equipment. From there, Mac figures out that the pea seeds are an ingredient in making a toxin, and that the seeds can be weaponized and used to create as much of the toxin as desired. Riley discovers their thief has been making monthly payments to a flower shop in Brussels, so a plane ride it is for Mac, Riley, and Desi.

On the plane, Mac calls Bozer so Mac can find out what’s going on with James. But, after hanging up, Mac slams his phone down and Desi comments on his annoyance and asks Mac about it. He says it’s the mission, but Desi isn’t buying it. When Riley mentions it’s about Mac’s dad, Desi says that Oversight seemed distracted. And, while she admits it’s not her business to know what’s going with Mac’s dad, Desi tells Mac it is his business.

The three of them go on a chase that takes them from a cemetery in Brussels to a park in the Czech Republic. The man they are running after, named Jules, wants revenge on a crime boss named Passer for killing Jules’ wife and child after Jules testified in court. At the park, Riley and Desi fight Passer’s men while Mac starts to talk Jules (who is holding Passer up at gunpoint) down. Eventually, Jules relents, and he is arrested. Mac, Riley, and Desi recover the stolen seeds and avoid an international incident with North Korea.

Desi has more of a background role in this episode because the episode focuses on Mac and his dad. But, her fighting skills, knowledge (she helped explain the seed vault to Riley and the audience), and empathy shine through. This is particularly true when she encourages Mac to figure out what is going on with his dad. This side of Desi is nice to see because while she’s tough, she is sincere in her efforts to help others.

Tl;dr: Desi is in the background this episode, but, she displays her intelligence, empathy, and fighting skills. She also encourages Mac to figure out what is going on with his dad, saying that it’s not her business to know what is going on with her boss, but it is Mac’s.

Season three, episode 18: Murdoc + Helman + Hit

This episode opens with Nicolas Helman’s return. And he gets to work immediately by murdering an FBI interrogator in a karaoke bar. How this happened, Mac, Riley, Matty, Bozer, and Oversight aren’t sure because the last time they saw him, Helman was dead — or, so they thought — because Matty had his coffin exhumed and it was empty. Since the Phoenix is responsible for Helman, they have to figure out his next move so they can capture him.

Mac, Bozer, and Desi are with Oversight this episode. Their mission? To speak with our favourite psychopath Murdoc who is still at the Phoenix Black Site. Desi gets the Helman story explained to her, but it doesn’t seem like she entirely believes how serious dealing with Murdoc is because she asks Mac, “What kind of monster are you keeping down here? Indominus Rex? King Kong? That kid from The Omen? These questions also reveal another detail about Desi that could easily be overlooked: She likes horror and monster movies. Anyway, upon meeting Murdoc, Desi seems to get it because she has a face similar to McKayla Maroney’s unimpressed face plastered on (and, really, who can blame her?). But, Mac, Bozer, Desi, and Oversight need Murdoc’s help, so they press on.

There’s a quick scene with Bozer and Desi observing Mac and Oversight questioning Murdoc. Desi acknowledges they weren’t kidding about Murdoc and notes that James is just as much of an enigma because he’s still exerting himself, despite the toll doing so takes. Bozer thinks Desi is talking about the effects having cancer has on Oversight himself, but Desi immediately corrects Bozer and says “I meant on Mac.” So, again, there’s that compassion for others Desi has displayed since her introduction.

After getting more information from Murdoc about Helman’s possible whereabouts (because Helman has killed again), Mac, Desi, and Oversight jump into action to find Helman. They, and a Phoenix tac team, storm an apartment building with Desi leading the way with a gun. They leave Bozer behind with Murdoc (which, rude). Anyway, the team starts going up to the apartment, but before they can really make their way, James starts having trouble physically. Mac, worried about his father, tells him he doesn’t need to go upstairs, but Oversight insists. Desi encourages Mac to be open and honest with his dad, but Mac says Oversight is fine. Desi tells Mac not saying anything to his father shouldn’t be an emotional decision because lives hang in the balance. She also says she’s worried about Mac, and tells him to not get distracted. This attitude harkens back to episode 16 when Desi was worried about Mac’s emotions getting in the way of their mission. So, I understand where she’s coming from and why she’s concerned.

Skipping ahead, Mac, Desi, and James go on a road trip because Riley and Matty discovered Helman had the transportation route for an FBI transport truck moving someone who is supposed to testify in a trial against his former employees. While waiting for the FBI truck, they see another (unknown) vehicle approaching. Concerned it may be Helman and that it could have explosives in it, Mac, Desi, and Oversight have to stop the vehicle. James tries to take matters into his own hands by borrowing a tac team member’s rife, but he’s having trouble steadying himself, and Desi notices. Oversight is eventually able to get his bearings and shoots out the van’s tires. While they stop the vehicle, it turns out to be a distraction so Helman could get into the Phoenix Black Site. Desi figures out that the FBI murders and attack on the transport truck were all a ruse so Helman could kill Murdoc.

Later, they realize Murdoc’s entire plan was a jailbreak so Mac and Oversight go on a car chase to capture Murdoc while Desi flies in a helicopter overhead (side note, I’m not really sure why Desi is there because it doesn’t seem like she needs to be. She doesn’t do anything in this scene other than fly overhead and worry about Mac). James and Mac do their thing and figure out a way to stop Murdoc’s truck. But, with Desi’s words in the back of his mind (probably), Mac tells his dad he shouldn’t be the one to stop the truck. Oversight agrees, and Mac does his thing. You can see as he tries to overtake the truck, everyone (including Desi) is concerned. Eventually succeeding in stopping and capturing Murdoc, there’s a shot shown of Desi’s relief.

At the end of the episode, Desi says she suggested security upgrades for the black site so no one can escape or attack the site again. This reflects her security knowledge because the Phoenix trusted her enough to give her the task. Again, Desi isn’t so useless and demonstrates her intelligence.

Throughout the episode, Desi shows she cares about other people, especially since she’s worried about the effect Oversight’s need to keep going has on Mac. She also encourages Mac to be honest with his father. And this is a thread that is shown throughout these episodes. Which leads to the following questions: What happened to that particular characteristic? Where did Desi’s empathy and compassion go?

Tl;dr: Desi’s character development takes somewhat of a backseat this episode because it mostly focuses on Mac and Oversight (again). Still, throughout their mission, Desi encourages Mac to be open and honest with his father and tell Oversight his concerns. This, again, demonstrates her empathy and her concerns for others. Mac is eventually able (probably with Desi’s words in the back of his mind) to be honest with Oversight and take over in order to do the physical labour required on the mission.

Lastly, Desi suggests security upgrades for the Phoenix Black Site that held Murdoc so that no one can break in or out again. This demonstrates her intelligence, and leads to the following question: What happened to her intelligence and compassion and empathy for others?

We learn so much about Desi in just four episodes. From her bravery and boldness, to enjoyment of monster and horror movies, she isn’t so one-note. The biggest thread is her compassion and concern for others. She wants to help people and ensure they’re safe, and Desi is adamant and determined about it. She continually displays this characteristic, especially when it comes to Mac and ensuring his feelings don’t get the best of him while they’re on a mission.

During season three, Desi is written well! She’s introduced to us based on the trust a fan favourite has with the audience and she never deviates from that. She also displays many characteristics that actually make her interesting. She’s smart, athletic, brave, and bold. So, I have to ask (again): WHAT HAPPENED?! Where did go so wrong and why?

If you want more of my character analysis, let me know! I procrastinated way too long on this, so if it seems like episode 18 is disjointed from the rest, I apologize. I had fun with this, and I feel like I like and understand Desi a little more (at least for season three).

#Macgyver #Desi Nguyen #Desiree Nguyen #Character analysis #I got really bored. Can you tell?

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blause · 4 years

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Why Azula Doesn’t Deserve a Redemption Arc

With the Avatar Renaissance, I've seen quite a few people say that Azula deserved a redemption arc. I disagreed, despite her being my 3rd favorite character, and wrote a whole essay about it!

This is strictly about Azula in the show, not the comics!

Avatar: The Last Airbender is not only praised for being one of the greatest children’s cartoons created, but also creating one of the greatest character redemption arcs possibly in animated history.

Prince Zuko started as a bitter child, wanting only to restore his honor and be seen by his father as a valuable member not only to the Fire Nation but to Lord Ozai’s family. He spent years putting his heart and soul into a mission that was meant as a joke to keep him away, but when Prince Zuko actually finds the Avatar, Aang, it’s the first time he has had hope in a long time. That hope, though, was a flame tended by hatred, anger, and fear that he let get the best of him for two seasons of Avatar. And while there are moments in the show where he shows vulnerability and his true colors (see: “Zuko Alone”), his traumatic past overshadows any positive step he could truly take even if he had the best intentions.

It is in the third season where Zuko truly shines, standing up to his father and his sister, an abusive family where he hardly ever feels like he belongs, and joining the Avatar and his friends who he had betrayed so many times to finally do what was right and aligned with his morals instead of his father’s. It is with the love he had gotten from his Uncle Iroh from the beginning, and the compassion of his newfound friends, that he fights his own family for the sake of saving the world only to take his place as crowned king of the Fire Nation.

The reason I go into brief detail of Zuko’s character arc is to explain how fleshed out it makes his character. The questioning of himself, his morals and his motives truly make Zuko human. It makes him relatable, as nearly all true heroes in media try to be. There is an argument to be made that, despite his trauma and his warranted anger, he is not a three dimensional character in the first season of Avatar, but instead an angry child that wants his way no matter what his true motives are. Making Zuko end up on the “good” side was his fleshing out, and making him come full circle made genuine sense for the show.

So if Prince Zuko was able to get a redemption arc, doesn’t that mean his sister Azula, who also went through an immense amount of trauma, would be able to get one too and have it be just as great or make just as much sense?

No. I genuinely believe that giving Azula a redemption arc would not make sense for her character or the show.

Azula, Zuko’s younger sister and only daughter to Firelord Ozai, is seen as, what I believe to be, the secondary villain in Avatar. She was born with a natural talent for firebending, picking it up more easily and far younger than her brother Zuko did. Her personality type was nasty; she was a cunning, manipulative bully with relentless determination that reflected poorly on everyone around her. She commanded the attention of anyone in her presence, took what she thought was rightfully hers, and would not stop until she was the best -- the best being Ozai’s true approval.

In her introductory scene at the end of season 1, Azula does not even speak but it is not hard to see her emotions come through on her face. Beyond the “evil smirk” commonly associated with “bad” or “evil” characters, there is the radiating pleasure of being donned a serious task by her father. By the time you were to finish Avatar, it is clear to see in this 3 second introduction of Azula as a character that she is willing to do anything her father asks of her, thus turning into anything she would do to gain the respect and honor that Zuko also seeks out. It can be argued that, despite Azula receiving praise from her father both in her past and in the show, she never receives the honor that Zuko does.

In season 2, Azula is already cruel to those working for the Royal Family. This is to be expected, as she is only a 14 year old girl with the whole world wrapped around her talented finger, but the confidence and power in her tone as she commandeers a ship cannot be ignored. To have that ability and that intimidation at such a young age shows the complex that Azula develops with each success and conquer, only to end up being her downfall. When she reunites with her childhood “friends”, Ty Lee and Mai, it is through manipulation and fear that she gets them once again on her side (although with Mai and the way she hardly shows her true emotions, it is not as clear). It takes only minutes for Azula to get those on her side, showing the signs of a leader but also of an overlord.

While Azula’s bending powers are far beyond her years, it can be argued that her verbal powers are even stronger. Her confidence, persuasion tactics, and mastery of manipulation can sway anyone from vulnerable children (Zuko when she tried to bring him home as prisoner to her father as a traitor alongside her uncle), to an entire kingdom (not only the Earth Kingdom, but also the Dai Lee that held a leader confident in his abilities to lead the rogue society). As a counter, though, Azula’s verbal skills also lack when seen in season 3 as she tries to play the role of a “normal firebender citizen”.

She is shown at a firebender party having no social skills whatsoever, trying to find others ulterior motives, and overall struggling to fit in. While her traumatic past absolutely had a huge impact on her social skills, on top of being part of a royal family (Zuko shared similar struggles when going to offer to teach Aang firebending), it is interesting to see her confidence falter. In this episode is when we see Azula most vulnerable not only with those her age that she cannot immediately control, but also when she reflects on her mother and being called a “monster”. Those feelings of abandonment after Ursa left the Fire Nation only pushed her beyond her own limits to do anything in her power to keep Ozai’s love no matter how twisted it was

One of the biggest reasons I think that Azula did not deserve a redemption arc is because, much like Zuko, she chose her own path in the very end. If Zuko did not choose to seek out Aang and his friends in season 3, there would be no arc whatsoever. Obviously the writers chose this for him, and I see exactly why they did it. They showed Zuko’s wavering beliefs clearly over the years, despite his anger and his fear of not only change but forever losing his father regardless of how severed their connection had been for years on end. Azula, on the other hand, never showed anything but loyalty to her father and their shared beliefs and cause. There were countless openings for Azula to show some sort of questioning of herself and her beliefs, with the loss of Ty Lee and Mai, her father’s decision to make her the next ruler over the Fire Nation despite his plans as the Phoenix King, and the Agni Kai against Zuko and Katara, but she never did.

The closest she ever got was when her mental state and mental health began to collapse on her coronation day, and even that cannot be justified as questioning herself.

It’s heartbreaking to see the fall of Azula, the pressure put on her practically since birth finally crashing down around her. All the times that she had been called “crazy” by Zuko, Iroh, and others that she saw as disposable pawns finally “coming true”. It is when she begins to lose herself, not question herself, that she becomes such a big threat. While before she was cold and so tightly wound up in her ways, seeing the unraveling of trauma and how it can affect a teen girl whose true motivation was love and acceptance was powerful. The scene of Azula hallucinating her mother in the mirror was the acknowledgement of a lost past, a hopelessness that she could never forgive, and resulted in Azula’s genuine intentions to kill Zuko and Katara once confronted. And instead of stepping down, having enough awareness to see herself in such a deteriorating state, she challenges her brother to an Agni Kai.

Azula is truly gone the moment she steps off the throne. And even after she is defeated, instead of accepting the consequences of her actions or what led her to that point, she breaks down instead, forever sealing the potential of any character arc.

TLDR; So why do I believe that Azula doesn’t deserve a redemption arc?

1) She showed no desire to be redeemed.

2) Azula was already so fleshed out that it would not make sense to redeem her. Her anger, trauma, and actions take her down a road she cannot return from.

3) The fact that Zuko got such a terrific character redemption arc cannot be ignored in the sake of arguing whether Azula deserves one. If every character were to be redeemed, there would be no power behind the redemption. Giving both siblings a redemption arc, despite their (partially) shared traumas, would lessen the importance/meaning of the other’s.

4) Despite my personal belief that Azula is not evil, she is not good either. I believe that giving her a redemption arc would be a cheap shot at wiping clean or attempting to validate all of her past actions in at least some aspect. It would be a disservice to her as a character and invalidate her motivations and what she did to get to every peak she hit in the show.

#avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #azula #zuko #ozai #aang #ty lee #mai #character study #mine

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