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#Why is drawing this man getting laser-blasted in the face so much fun
hallowraith · 2 years
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The internet seems to like this guy.
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harrysweasleys · 3 years
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HI SKANK I LOVE YOU! could we um pls get a um flustered!george blurb like allies to lovers? idk wHATEVER YOU WANT WKJSSK I LOVE YOU
@darthwheezely HI SKANK ok so im gonna do a very different kind of allies to lovers n please im sorry if you hate it but i decided to have fun with this 🥰 (also i am sorry that this is so late.... i am still working on my 3k event yikes)
warnings: mentions of guns (laser tag), language
——
Though the laser tag room was dark, you could easily spot the way you were supposed to go. Through the tunnels, sliding alongside the walls, ducking under blocks. It was a routine at this point.
Your teammate George was nowhere to be seen, which was odd considering it usually wasn’t difficult to spot his ginger hair. Especially in a room full of black lights and neon flashes. You needed his help, considering you could hear the distant voices of Charlie and Fred headed your way. There was no doubt they’d shoot you on the spot once they saw you. Now, if only your teammate was around to back you up, that would be wonderful.
“George!” you whisper-shouted, moving behind another box but keeping your eyes peeled around the room, every movement drawing your eyes in that direction. Luckily the movements were mostly lights and mirrors, but it didn’t help the adrenaline pumping through your veins whatsoever.
“What?”
You felt his body press up against you from the side out of nowhere, his gun poking you in the back as you moved closer to duck down. A sigh of relief escaped your lips and you ducked further down.
“Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” you turned to face him, eyebrows raised and a smirk playing on your lips. You noticed the way his eyes widened, shaking his head.
“Gun. Definitely gun,” he let out an awkward laugh, turning his gaze away from you and back towards the pretend battlefield. You heard Ginny’s distant shout of, “you prat!” indicating that she was now out of the game.
“You sure about that?” you scoffed, nudging your hip into his as you brought your gun up, ready to aim at the chest of whoever was about to walk into the room.
George’s body was warm next to yours, almost warm enough to distract you from the aim of the game. He elbowed you in the side, causing you to let out a squeak.
“Focus on the game, yeah?” You could see the tips of his ears under the light, accenting the pink dusting that brushed across his skin.
You let out a laugh and rolled your eyes, “C’mon, how much flirting do I have to do before you ask me out on a date, Weasley?”
You had been casually flirting with George for weeks now. Maybe even months. Point is, it has been a while. And no matter how many innuendos and compliments you threw his way, he never seemed to actually take the hint. He flirted back, of course he did, but only rarely did he show any indications that he actually had plans to make a move. It was driving you up the wall, to be perfectly honest. 
“Not the time,” he gave you a quick wink, sending your heart into a flutter, before turning back to his gun, his fingers gripping the trigger lightly and ready to blast one of his siblings. You gazed at his fingers, suddenly wishing that they could be tracing your body, moving across your hipbones, anything. 
Before you could respond, Fred made his way into the doorway, immediately finding himself with a blast straight to the chest. The echoing woosh sound indicated that he was now out of the game.
“Ha!” you shouted, standing up from behind the block, finger pointing at Fred, “Gotta be sneakier next time.”
Fred dropped his arms, “That’s unfair.”
You crossed your arms and turned to your partner, grinning. The two of you had managed to eliminate Percy, Ron, Bill, and now Fred.
“We make quite a team, George,” your hand raised, meeting his in a high-five. His hand lingered against yours for a second longer, fingers brushing against your palm as he pulled away. Shivers went down your spine at the subtle contact, making you forget that Fred was in the doorway for a second.
“That we do,” he grinned down at you, moving a tad closer. You could once again feel the heat from his body, sending your heart into a summersault. 
“You guys are gross,” Fred grimaced, sticking his middle finger in your direction before making his way out of the room. You chuckled awkwardly as he left, holding up one of your hands.
“I think we only have Charlie left,” you grinned, facing George with a raised eyebrow.
He nodded, pursing his lips, and once again putting his finger on the trigger. You turned away, trying your best to focus on the task at hand and not the hands of the man standing next to you. 
You made your way through the room quietly, completely unsure of where Charlie might be lurking. You had heard him and Fred laughing moments before Fred barged into the room and was shot by George, so Charlie shouldn’t be that far behind. This place wasn’t huge but there were quite a few hiding spots, which only added to Charlie’s advantage.
Footsteps behind you caught your attention, and you spun on the spot, gun ready. Charlie stood with a smirk, gun aimed at George. So you took the shot.
Charlie’s vest echoed with the whoosh sound, little lights flickering to indicate he was now out. You had gotten used to the sound by now, but it still sent a thrill down your spine as you watched his shoulders slouch.
“Oi, d’you have cat-like reflexes or something?” he scoffed, letting his arms fall to his sides in defeat. 
You let out a shout, “We won! Bloody hell, I would make quite the soldier.”
George put his arm around you, “You really wouldn’t but your enthusiasm is cute.”
“Meet you guys outside then,” Charlie narrowed his eyes at you, shaking his head while letting out a small chuckle, “Sore winners.”
You watched Charlie’s head of hair disappear through the door and you turned to George with a large smile, clapping your hands together and placing your gun on the ground.
He gave you a wide smile before bringing his gun up and aiming the tip to your chest.
“Georgie, we’re teammates. This defeats the purpose,” you furrowed your eyebrows, looking up at him with a confused expression. Why would he go around and shoot his teammate after you guys reigned victorious?
He didn’t answer, instead opting to pull the trigger. You felt your vest vibrate as the woosh sound engulfed you. Your heart sunk in your chest and your arms fell limp at your sides.
“Oh, you git—,”
He cut you off by pushing you up against the wall behind you, dropping his weapon and placing both hands on your hips. You could barely let out a squeak before his lips were against yours.
The kiss was fiery, hot, and way overdue. His lips were soft against yours, but the action itself was in no way gentle. His hands gripped you tightly as your hands slithered up into his hair, tugging at the strands and causing a small groan to leave his lips. Your mind was blank, but it was also screaming. 
Finally, your mind shouted as you pulled his head closer to yours, having a bit of trouble breathing but so lost in his touch that you could hardly be bothered.
However, George pulled his face away from yours, breathing heavily. His hands didn’t loosen their grip on your waist, not that you were complaining. You didn’t want him to move away any more, his body felt so right pressed up against yours. Sure, it would feel better without the bulky laser tag vests, but it felt nice nonetheless.
“I won in more ways than one,” he smirked, one of his hands sneaking under your shirt and rubbing small circles against your skin.
The door to the room swung open but George hardly moved away. You were a little embarrassed that someone was about to catch you two in a somewhat compromising position, but you were too thrilled to really care at the moment. 
Until Ginny’s voice reached your ears.
“We can see everything, you two!” 
Bloody fantastic.
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zosonils · 3 years
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Crossover you say 👀
OKAY SO. SONIC COLOURS/MEGA MAN CROSSOVER
i don't have much in mind story wise, but i'm thinking it takes place under the same conditions as worlds collide, which i insist on believing also happened nearly identically offscreen in the game timeline because nobody can tell me otherwise. fairly basic setup of eggman and wily teaming up to cause problems on purpose and sonic and rock working together to stop them, and now there's wisps in the mix >:O i'm sure i could think up a fun excuse plot for why sonic colours happens twice and also mega man is here now, but mostly this was just an excuse to put the special interest in the hyperfixation and come up with some fun weapons for rock based on my first and favourite sonic game
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each robot master is based on a wisp from either version of the original colours, which causes a little confusion given that you end up with two burst men and drill men but these ones have different EWN-XXX serial numbers and are entirely unrelated to their canon mega man counterparts. i haven't actually drawn the robot masters yet or thought up designs or personalities, just come up with their weapons and what stage they'd inhabit, but maybe i'll do that sometime. the robot masters are something like this
EWN-010 BURST MAN - weak to drill dash, gives bursting blaze, sweet mountain stage
EWN-011 ROCKET MAN - weak to cubic satellite, gives rocket jump, terminal velocity stage
EWN-012 DRILL MAN - weak to spike spin, gives drill dash, tropical resort stage
EWN-013 HOVER MAN - weak to rocket jump, gives hovering shockwave, starlight carnival stage
EWN-014 LASER MAN - weak to frenetic void, gives prism laser, aquarium park stage
EWN-015 CUBE MAN - weak to prism laser, gives cubic satellite, wii game land stage
EWN-016 VOID MAN - weak to bursting blaze, gives frenetic void, asteroid coaster stage
EWN-017 SPIKE MAN - weak to hovering shockwave, gives spike spin, planet wisp stage
i wrote up some really detailed information on how all the weapons work but i'll put that under a cut to prevent this post from getting too long! if you don't feel like reading massive paragraphs of game design ideas, here's the microsoft paint scribblings i did of all of them [sonic is there too]
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BURSTING BLAZE
a chargeable attack that blasts out a sphere of fire to deal damage. charging it longer sends the fire out further and increases its damage output, but costs more weapon energy. without any charging it's a pretty standard low-range attack, but at maximum charge it functions as a screen nuke on par with the likes of rain flush, tornado blow, or astro crush. if rock takes damage while charging bursting blaze, he'll automatically release it at whatever charge level it was at when he got hit. in addition to the obvious usefulness of a fucking screen nuke, a less- or uncharged bursting blaze can be a handy way to quickly get some personal space in a tight situation.
cost: 1 unit when uncharged, 7 when fully charged [28 uses uncharged or 4 fully charged from a full gauge]. has five in-between charge levels costing 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 units from least to most powerful.
i came up with this name first because i wanted it to have blaze in it because i fucking love blaze the cat.
ROCKET JUMP
an explosion that launches rock much higher than a normal jump would take him, about the height of one screen. in addition to the explosion at the bottom dealing damage, rock's body deals contact damage until his upward momentum stops, which tears through enemies with low health or a weakness to rocket jump but doesn't protect him against bulkier foes or stage hazards. while he can still move left or right while rocketing upwards, the only way for rock to stop moving upwards is to either naturally run out of momentum, hit a ceiling, or take damage.
some platforms can only be reached by using rocket jump.
cost: 3 units per use [10 uses from a full gauge]
obviously a joke based on the rocket jump technique in a lot of video games, lmao. rock blows himself up and ragdolls so hard he clips out of the interstellar amusement park and sonic watches as he falls past every kill plane and into infinity forever
DRILL DASH
a dash attack slightly faster than the slide going straight down, sideways, or diagonally down-left or down-right, similar to the pile driver but shorter and without upwards reach. has fairly low attack power, equivalent to two mega buster shots, but pushes surviving enemies back, allowing them to be hit again and again with a chain of drill dashes. underwater, it moves significantly faster and further, and can be fired up as well as down, unlocking eight-directional dashing.
if rock hits a solid wall he'll bounce off of it, but if he hits certain types of dirt-like walls he'll drill into them, which can uncover helpful items like health and weapon refills and occasionally 1-ups or e-tanks [probably in scripted locations].
cost: 2 units per use [14 uses from a full gauge]
i've never played mighty no. 9 but i've seen footage of like the dash thingy he can do? because it probably looks kinda like that.
HOVERING SHOCKWAVE
fires a shockwave that doesn't hurt any more than a standard mega buster shot [unless the enemy in question is weak to it], but stuns most enemies and has a fairly decent range. if you fire it in midair and then hold down the attack button, rock's falling speed will decrease dramatically, and he'll continue to float until either he hits the ground, the attack button is released, or he takes damage. hovering will cost additional energy, and if hovering shockwave is used in midair it can't be used again until rock hits the ground at least once.
cost: 1.5 units per use [19 uses from a full gauge], plus an extra 3 units per second of hovering, for a total of a little under 9 seconds of hovering taking the initial shot into account.
this one's pretty directly lifted from the hover wispon in sonic forces.
PRISM LASER
a laser projectile that either bounces off or goes through anything it hits a set number of times, maybe three to five. if it destroys an enemy its movement is unchanged; if it hits a wall or an enemy that doesn't immediately die to it then it bounces instead. can be fired in all eight directions, but once fired its trajectory is out of the player's hands. basically imagine gemini laser, then imagine it being obscenely better in every conceivable way. best used in enclosed rooms where it can bounce around a lot and doesn't have much opportunity to get lost offscreen.
some rooms have prisms in them like the ones in colours that automatically redirect prism laser, guiding them to destroy enemies blocking paths and the like.
cost: 6 units per use [5 uses from a full gauge]
cyan laser was my favourite colour power when i was a little baby because haha bright colour funny sound go wheeee. prism laser is probably overpowered because of this bias lmao.
CUBIC SATELLITE
summons four [?] orbiting cubes that shield rock from one hit each. they deal damage to enemies they touch unless said enemy is immune to the power. standard shield weapon, blue cube is a lame overly situational gimmick and i couldn't think of anything better. rock can still fire and charge his mega buster while shielded, but obviously can't use any special weapons. every time a cube is destroyed, the remaining ones spin faster, looking something like the tubinaut badnik from sonic mania. that's just a visual effect i don't know what else to write here it's a shield weapon.
cost: 3.5 units per use [8 units from a full gauge]
i think i'd like shield weapons more if i knew how to use the attacking ones to actually attack. i used leaf shield about 3 times in mega man 2 and every time i flung it in the wrong direction and got hit anyway.
FRENETIC VOID
sucks in any enemies that rock is facing for as long as the attack button is held down, drawing them to a point just in front of him. when released, the blasters on his arms [which in this form morph to look like the purple frenzy mouth] crunch down in front of him, dealing slightly more damage than a charged mega buster shot to anything that's been pulled in close enough and knocking back anything that isn't destroyed. rock can't move while using frenetic void, and if anything hits him while he's vaccuuming he drops the move without the finishing bite or knockback. this move can also draw in most types of bullets, which are absorbed and disappear if they reach the void, or continue in whatever direction they were pulled in if the move ends before they get there.
cost: 3 units per use [10 units from a full gauge]
i thought it'd be cool to combine purple frenzy and violet void somehow. i used void for the robot master name because i believe in sonic colours ds port supremacy, but the decision was ultimately pretty arbitrary.
SPIKE SPIN
what top spin wishes it was. a close-range attack where spikes emerge from rock's body as he does a speen, giving him a somewhat bigger hitbox. when he hits an enemy, he bounces off of it in a manner similar to the way sonic bounces off of everything he hits. the move lasts as long as the attack button is held down, draining weapon energy over time, and rock can still walk and jump while speening. some projectiles will bounce off of spike spin [generally small bullets like those from mets or sniper joes will bounce off while anything stronger will still hurt], and holding the move makes rock immune to spikes, allowing him to walk over them safely until his weapon energy depletes.
some items may be tucked away in places that are difficult or impossible to reach without walking over spikes, requiring the use of spike spin to reach them.
cost: 4 units per second, for a total of 7 seconds of spinning from a full gauge. the first unit is depleted the moment the button is pressed so the move can't be scummed into lasting longer.
honestly now that i'm thinking about this i might change spike spin to act a little more like how pink spike spindashes, but i was overcome by a desire for justice for top man.
i don't know how to end this post lmao but i've been thinking about this crossover for days on end. i know damn well it's a pipe dream but right now i'm in just the right mode of hyperfixation that if sega and capcom announced a sonic/mega man crossover in a video game that isn't smash lmao i would ASCEND
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badlydrawnmanic · 3 years
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you’ve all wanted it, and i’m not ready to go to sleep yet, so here’s the latest installment of the sonic underground rewatch!
episode 6 thoughts under the cut!
• unrelated to the episode but there was some lego ninjago commercial that showed like. non-lego versions of the main characters and it looked nice. don’t know if it was for a show or the website idk i wasn’t paying attention • [GUITAR RIFF] SONIC- • i will literally never get tired of the opening theme and you can’t change my mind, i would die for a remaster of this. it doesn’t even have to be a cover. gimme a live performance and i will cry • “tangled webs”. spider concerns already • ooh, swatbot factory. interesting • manic just slid down a little rocky hill on his ass and that’s gotta hurt • sonia stop shining that laser pointer in manic’s eyes you’re gonna kill him • “switch six, switch six...” reminded me of the fun fact that your brain can only identify numbers up to a maximum of 4 or 5 at a glance, i forget which. but like... notice how if you only look at something very briefly you wouldn’t be able to immediately know “oh there’s 27 objects there” but you can very quickly identify 1-4 • sonia stop hitting manic with the drone what is wrong with you • some of these background characters are passable and some of them are hideous, there’s no in-between
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• oh it’s the lion boy!! his voice is weird but it’s him!! • god dingo’s face is all kinds of fucked up in this close up as he’s talking • why is robotnik’s cape flowing so far behind him when he’s walking at a somewhat slow pace • i find it funny when eggman’s henchmen mock him when he’s not around, but i didn’t expect sleet to do that • “intruder .8 kilograms? what?? • how does it weigh a drone that is hovering in mid-air • somehow dingo identifies the drone as being piloted by sonia despite it being a hunk of metal with cameras on it • dingo being or looking like in the case of my headcanon a grown man and slobbering over sonia is kinda freaky (it’s partially why i made the hc so it’s less yikes but it’s still uncomfortable and i’m definitely gonna tone it down because fuck) • sleet don’t hit him!! • sonia is clearly frustrated during her conversation with manic (he’s being reckless as fuck) but the animators decided to give her a dead eyed smile for the whole scene • i wonder how they made the mechanical sounds? like the electronic shweeshweeshwee of the robots walking or the whoosh of doors opening? foley stuff is fascinating to me and i wanna know if they had to do any weird shit
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• sleet is monologuing about how he hears the pitter patter of manic’s little feet and oh my god his eyes • how is dingo sneaking up behind manic he’s so fucking huge and noisy • sleet says “sylvia” before whacking the drone out of the air with what looks like an entire swatbot he just sort of picked up? i don’t get the reference and since when is he so strong • okay in the next shot it’s just an arm but still • “sometimes you just have to get their attention”? • cool transition between scenes with the camera glitching and shutting down from the perspective of the drone, that’s neat • dingo picks up sonia but wasn’t he just behind manic? once again the pacing is confusing me • “oh, ick” me too sonia • manic and sonia are tied up and were but in gigantic chairs and it looks so funny • “now, sarah” okay i get the “sylvia” thing now, sleet’s just forgetting sonia’s name somehow • sonia says “twit-face” and i feel like she could be more clever than that • “whatever, sophia” • “where’s sonic!?” [NYOOM] • sonic’s voice sounds... really weird, is that what jaleel white sounds like when he isn’t trying to sound all nasally and shit? also he burps and it’s gross • god the movement in this scene is very janky in general • sonia starts lecturing sonic but gets interrupted by a laser blast and manic pipes in like “can we talk about this later?” • sonia strong • is sonic just spilling lava everywhere??? • you’d think there’d be more sounds here • “am i good or what?” feels like it was pulled from satam? • “you’re insufferable” “thank you” • sonia’s voice is so shrill jesus christ • i feel like this is a pretty good confrontation of how sonic not working as a team with the other two can cause pretty significant problems • sonia i don’t think robotnik would throw you in prison, that’s what the roboticizer is for and i don’t think he’d keep y’all separate from that • cyrus does a weird double take and i think it’s an animation error • this cyrus kid is pretty sus- who is this hippie dude- • CYRUS SUS CYRUS SUS • there was deadass just a normal animal bird with some kind of accessory on its neck as a background character • damn it cyrus • SONG TIME??? • apparently no • once again manic and sonia are tied up which lasts 2 seconds • aosth slow-mo beam, purple flavor • what are these background characters they’re so ugly • OH NO I REMEMBER WHAT SANCTUARY IS NOW • children... i’d love to see the tiny babes but they’re undoubtedly ugly as fuck • ROBOTNIK WANTS TO MURDER CHILDREN • one of the kids looks like reptar • SONG TIME NOW • why is this so. idk, whimsical? idk how to describe this but i already don’t like it • they forgot to draw manic’s head quills in a shot • why is cyrus looking so pissed at these children • sounds like a weird off brand christmas song. don’t like it very much but i guess it isn’t bad. maybe a 2/10 • sdnjksg assaulting your siblings with a cloud of flour sounds fun if not wasteful but still, manic seems to be enjoying his little tech demo • sonia says “this place is gross” and manic goes “hey, you’re talking about my childhood home” and i think it’s a good thing that the show didn’t just forget where they all came from and how this can create very minor conflict between them? like manic and sonia seem to slight each other rather frequently when it comes to sonia’s attitude towards dirty places and manic finding it comfortable there due to familiarity even if it wasn’t all that good. i can relate to that • sonic walks off the right side of the screen after refusing some goggles then. pops up and puts on the shades again? i don’t get it • oh my god sonic knocks cyrus (and manic by extension) over and they literally just. rotate the asset in place and leave them planking. there wasn’t a water splash or change of pose or anything • how does sonic zoom past a swat bot looking directly at him without triggering any alarms? why didn’t it notice him • why are there so many regretful traitors on this show • how does sonic not notice the clearly a hologram man in front of him • god the animation in this episode in general is abyssmal • ah jeez manic and sonia have been captured again • “attention sonic hedgehog” • OH NO CYRUS’ DAD but the expression he made in response to seeing him roboticized killed it
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• i know he didn’t snort here but i can feel the little “snrk” sound here. it was at this moment he knew he fucked up • PULL THE LEVER, SLEET • that little drone thing is fucking insane, it melted the entire roboticizer?? • i much prefer when background characters resemble actual animals • aww hug • poor cyrus :( • GOD SONIC AND SONIA SIT DOWN TO COMFORT HIM BUT MANIC LAYS DOWN ALL DRAMATIC JUST SMILING, READ THE ROOM BUD-
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greaterawarness · 3 years
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"Our Chance" Brothers CH. 5
(The Domino Squad head out to do a job for a Mandalorian crime boss. They have no idea what waits for them. It most certainly wasn't four Jedi and three Mandalorian clan bosses. This might be their only chance to prove they have what it takes to join a clan.)
Fives fidgets while standing with his brothers waiting on the subway. His blaster felt heavy in its holster. He can’t help but look over his shoulder waiting for someone or something to attack him. Echo pats his shoulder helping him stare forward again.
“We’ll be fine, Fives.” Echo says softly. Fives could feel Echo’s own anxieties, but he was hiding it a lot better than he was. Fives swallows after taking a deep breath to try and calm down. They had no idea what was waiting for them at this address. Was it a trap? No. If the woman wanted them dead then she would have done it at the training ground. He thought of what would happen if they messed up. If they fail whatever test awaits them. What then? Would she just leave them alone? He didn’t know. When the subway doors open Fives, and his brothers step inside and take a seat.
It’s early morning on the weekend so not many people are on today. Fives spots a homeless clone bundled up in a corner trying to sleep. There were a few people trying to make it home from their drunken escapades. Fives stares down at his clasped hands and tapping foot.
“Hello again.” A deep familiar voice says pulling Fives out of his thoughts. He looks up to see the same Kel Dor that he met in the park staring down at him.
“Oh,” Fives says shocked. “Hello.”
“Do you mind if I sit with you? I do enjoy company on these early morning commutes.” He says. Fives shoves Echo and his brothers down so he can make room for the man. “I am Plo Koon by the way. I don’t believe I ever properly introduced myself last time.”
“I’m Fives. These are my brothers Echo, Droidbait, Cutup, and Hevy.” Fives says gesturing to his confused yet slightly intrigued brothers.
“A pleasure to meet your acquaintance.” Plo Koon says in his deep rich voice.
“Off to work, sir?” Echo asks. The man lifts a hand to his mask as if to stroke a beard.
“Yes, in a way.” He says. “What of you boys? Off to work or off to cause trouble?”
“Maybe a little of both honestly.” Fives rubs the back of his neck. Plo Koon chuckles while folding his hands in his lap. They spend the rest of the subway ride sharing small talk. Plo Koon’s presence calms Fives almost to a point where he was relaxed. When the subway comes to their stop, they all stand. Fives is surprised when Plo Koon gets off on their exit.
“Going the same way? My how strange the Force works.” The man says. Fives knits his brows together in thought.
“The Force, sir?” he says. He only chuckles with a slight shake of his head.
“It is nothing. Let us just enjoy this beautiful morning.” He walks on. Fives shares a shrug with his brothers. As much as Fives enjoyed the company of Plo Koon he was becoming uncomfortably aware that they seemed to be heading to the same place. The longer they walked together the more his anxiety resurfaced. Hevy pulls out the sheet of paper with the address on it. They were getting close. Plo Koon comes to a sudden stop. Fives opens his mouth to ask why when he feels an uneasiness wash over him.
“Get down!” Plo yells before an explosion blasts debris overhead. Fives and his brothers have no time to run for cover. They can only try and shield each other. When the dust around them starts to settle, Fives can make out an odd purring sound. He has to blink a few times before he believes what he’s seeing. Plo Koon stands in front of them holding a green lightsaber. He had cut a giant piece of the building that had fallen on them in half.
“You’re a Jedi.” Fives says almost breathlessly.
“I have reached the objective. I have no visuals on the suspects yet.” He says into a commlink on his wrist.
“Understood, heading to your location now.” A clone’s voice says back. Plo turns to Fives and his brothers.
“You boys need to leave this area, now!” he says with a wave of his hand. A blaster shot echoes through the buildings. Plo Koon manages to deflect the shot with his lightsaber. Out of the dust from the explosion a group of bounty hunters jumps out onto a passing speeder. Fives instinctively tries to follow it before running into something hard. He falls back rubbing his face before making out grey Mandalorian armor. The Mandalorian tilts his head before turning and firing a single shot hitting the speeder taking it down.
“Sir,” the Mandalorian says to Plo Koon. “Boost and Sinker are on their way.”
“Good, we need to apprehend these bounty hunters before…” Plo Koon is cut off by a gun ship lowering down between the buildings.
“Oh, no, no, no!” the Mandalorian yells when three Mandalorians in light orange armor jumps down. They fan out before a familiar one pauses at the sight of the grey Mandalorian.
“Not again!” the orange one says. Fives flinches when a man leaps from the gunship to land between to two Mandalorians. Fives’s jaw drops at the sight of the gorgeous man from his first day on Coruscant standing in front of him.
“Come now, I’m sure we can share.” He says before dropping his white cape and spinning a blue lightsaber. The orange and grey Mandalorian sigh before turning back to the bounty hunters. The bounty hunters open fire down the street. The two Jedi stand in the front to deflect the shots. The two Mandalorians take point with their men trying to make ground from their positions. Fives felt frozen. He wanted to move. He wanted to fight.
All thoughts stop when a missile shoots overhead landing near the bounty hunters stirring up a cloud of dust.
“A missile?” the attractive man says before frowning. “Anakin!”
“You guys again?” a voice says before the man that helped Fives find his way home and the same one passed out with Rex jumps over them landing in front of the blaster fire. “I thought we were the only ones on this job?”
“It seems there has been a miscommunication.” The attractive man says deflecting another shot.
“Or perhaps not.” Plo Koon says. The man, Anakin, waves his own blue lightsaber before another figure jumps into view.
“Ahsoka?” Fives says but no one can hear him. She swings two green lightsabers before aiding in deflecting blaster shots.
“Master Plo, Master Kenobi, always nice to see you!” she says with a grin. Movement behind Fives makes him move finally. He and his brothers move out of the way so Rex, Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase can charge up from behind. They take point next to the orange and grey Mandalorian.
“Again?” Rex asks.
“Again.” The two Mandalorians sigh.
“Well, this has been fun, but I actually plan on taking these bounty hunters in.” Anakin says before giving his two-finger salute and jumping into the air. Ahsoka leaps just as high into the air towards the bounty hunters.
“You heard ‘em boys!” Rex says as he takes off on his jetpack. The orange Mandalorian makes a tsk sound.
“I’m going to advance.” He says. The one Ahsoka called Master Kenobi gives a grin.
“Yes, let’s not leave all the fun to Anakin.” Kenobi says before they both charge into the dust.
“Boost, Sinker, move in!” the grey Mandalorian says as he and Plo Koon advance. Fives stands staring at the battle in front of them. He looks to his brothers.
“This is our chance!” he yells.
“Yeah, chance to die!” Cutup yells.
“We might not get another shot to prove that we can keep up with these guys!” he says gesturing to the battle. Hevy and Echo stand with determination on their face. And maybe a little fear. Cutup and Droidbait slowly get to their feet not looking as enthused but none of them were backing down now. They turn and charge into the chaos.
The dust was so bad they could barely make out anything. Every now and then they come across a Mandalorian fighting off a bounty hunter or a Jedi swinging their laser sword. Fives runs into someone nearly falling back again. Ahsoka gasps when she recognizes his face.
“Fives? What are you doing? Get out of here!” she yells before deflecting blaster fire and leaping towards the bounty hunter. Fives turns only to run into someone else. He shakes his head to see a Duros wearing a large hat staring at him. The man narrows his eyes before drawing a blaster. Fives moves his head just before the blaster bolt can shoot through his forehead. His ears ring from the blast. Before the Duros can run away Fives spots the bag in his arms. It’s full of credits. The man zips the bag shut before running into the dust.
“Hevy, Cutup!” Fives yells. His brothers spot him. He points in the direction of the Duros. “Go after that one!”
His brothers charge. Echo grabs his arm to help him forward. They draw their blasters while dodging the chaos around them. At least they try. Fives gets tackled by a bounty hunter. He fights him off before it gets pulled off and thrown into the ground. Rex aims his blaster down before looking at Fives.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he yells. Fives doesn’t wait to get lectured. He runs back into the dust. He can make out the Duros’ ridiculous hat in the dust and lunges forward. They tumble to the ground. His bag rolls across the ground. Droidbait runs by grabbing it.
“No!” the man yells before elbowing Fives in the face. They struggle against each other. the man lands a solid hit to Fives’s gut making him lose his hold. The man runs after Droidbait. Echo and Cutup run past Fives while Hevy helps him up.
“Gotta keep going.” Hevy says. Fives catches his breath and is able to run again. They exit the dust to see the man chasing Droidbait up a fire escape. Fives leaps up grabbing onto the bars jumping up the sides, to impatient to take the stairs. When they reach the top Droidbait is trapped on the roof.
“Why did you run up?” Cutup yells slightly out of breath.
“Shut up!” Droidbait yells. He turns facing the man. They stand on the roof unsure of what to do. The man hovers his hand over his blaster. Echo places a hand on Fives’s shoulder.
“You know what we have to do.” He says with his hand squeezing his shoulder. He watches the mans hand moving closer to his blaster.
“What are you talking about Echo?” Fives’s heart rings in his ear. Before they can react, the man draws his blaster. Everything started moving slower to Fives. He watches the man pulling his blaster up to fire at Droidbait while he and Echo reach out their hands.
“No!” he yells feeling something extend from his arm knocking the man forward. He tumbles across the roof letting Droidbait get away. Fives stands frozen not sure what just happened.
“What the hell was that?” a voice says behind him. He turns to see Anakin, Plo Koon, and Kenobi all staring in disbelief.
“Clone Jedi?” the man grunts from the roof floor. He pushes some buttons on his wrist before the rockets on his feet activate. He flies away but no one seems to care at the moment. Fives looks to Echo.
“What did we just do?” he asks. Echo and Fives both pant feeling drained. Hevy, Cutup, and Droidbait walk up to stand next to Five and Echo.
“Well, we got their attention.” Hevy mutters.
Fives doesn’t know how they got off the roof or when they were sat down as the Jedi spoke to the local police. Everything was muffled. He watched Rex and the two other Mandalorian leaders speaking to each other while glancing over at Fives and his brothers. Fives taps his foot nervously. When the three Jedi and the three Mandalorian leaders walk up to them Fives wants to throw up.
“That was quite a display you just put on.” The one called Kenobi says with a smirk.
“Yes, not every day we see Force sensitive clones.” Plo Koon says.
“More like never.” Anakin mutters while crossing his arms. Fives exchanges a look with his brothers.
“Are we… in trouble?” Droidbait asks cautiously. This makes the three Jedi laugh.
“On the contrary we are quite impressed with what you’ve shown us.” Kenobi goes on.
“The Jedi theatrics aside,” Rex butts in making Anakin raise an eyebrow and Kenobi snicker. “You five handled yourselves pretty well in battle.”
“I could use men like you in the 104th.” The Mandalorian with grey armor says. He reaches up to pull his helmet off. Fives could practically hear the air get knocked out of Cutup and Hevy when Wolffe smiles down at them.
“You’re… you’re…” Hevy starts with Cutup shaking his arm excitedly.
“Fans of mine are ya!” Wolffe says making the orange Mandalorian nudge him. he removes his helmet. It’s the same Cody from the video.
“I was thinking you boys would be better suited for the 212th.” He says making Rex frown at him.
“Hold on, now. We can’t just bombard the boys with offers. Let’s let them think on it.” Rex says making Cody and Wolffe roll their eyes.
“Yes, it appears you boys will have the pick of the litter if joining a Mandalorian clan is what you want?” Kenobi asks with an arch of a brow.
“It is!” Hevy says making Rex, Cody, and Wolffe grin at each other.
“But you two,” Anakin says turning his attention on Fives and Echo. “You two have a much bigger decision to make.”
“Sir?” Echo asks.
“I can sense that you are both strong in the Force. If you want, one of us could teach you the ways of the Jedi.” Plo Koon explains. Fives shakes his head not fully understanding.
“Jedi? How could we…?” he trails off.
“Well, variations of the Jedi. We ourselves can’t really call ourselves Jedi anymore either.” Kenobi adds.
“You boys should come by and check out each of our clans. Then make a decision. Nothing needs to be decided today.” Rex says before they can go on. Rex could probably see how overwhelmed they were. Taking the hint, the Jedi back off along with Wolffe and Cody. Rex writes down three addresses. One was familiar. It was to the bar he and his group hangout. “Come check us out when you’re ready.”
He turns back towards his men. Hevy holds the piece of paper in his hand like it was a thousand credits. While his brothers go off on excitement, Fives feels himself get to his feet to walk over to Ahsoka. When she sees him she gives his shoulder a playful shove.
“If you told me you were Force sensitive, I would have just taken you to Anakin right then and there!” she says crossing her arms. Fives rubs the back of his neck.
“Didn’t know I was. Don’t really know what that means really.” He confesses. She places a hand on his arm.
“Well, it looks like you’re going to get what you want. You and your brothers should have no problem joining a Mandalorian clan after today. Just,” she trails off. “Make sure you think about it. Not every clan is the same.”
She leaves him so she can rejoin Anakin and Rex. Fives places a hand where she had touched him.
They start home after Kix checks them over. Cutup and Hevy haven’t stopped talking about everything that happened the whole way home. When they reach their level Fives places a hand on Echo’s shoulder.
“How did you know that we were… you know?” He asks softly. Echo stares at the ground as they walk.
“Honestly, I thought you knew. I just thought you didn’t want to talk about it because you didn’t want to seem different.” He says while rubbing the back of his neck.
“Why would you think that?” he asks. Echo shrugs while hugging his arms to his stomach.
“I dunno, I just assumed that you wanted to act like it didn’t exist. So, I never said anything. I noticed when we were younger. We could predict things before they happened, and you even moved the cookie jar off the counter with your mind when we were nine. I seriously thought you knew.” He says. Fives shakes his head.
“Am I that oblivious?” he chuckles making Echo grin.
“Yes.” His brothers say ahead of them. Apparently, Echo wasn’t the only one who knew. Great.
“You do run into a lot of things.” He points out.
“People too.” Fives laughs. As they walk on, they come across Rafa’s laundromat. They see Rafa about to walk in.
“Oi! Rafa!” Cutup calls. Rafa winces before turning to face them. They freeze when they see her bruised scarred face. Her right arm is bandaged in a sling. “Rafa?”
“Just stay away from me!” she yells. She runs inside her shop before locking the door behind her. they stand in the street feeling the sudden weight of their actions. They asked a favor of a crime boss. A crime boss Mandalorian at that. Rafa got hurt because of them. They walk in silence at that. Each of their stomachs twisted into knots. When they reach their apartment, they notice Sbug is nowhere to be found. Usually, he’s passed out or watching something at this hour. They walk up the stairs pausing at their door. It’s unlocked. Hevy swallows before opening the door. The Mandalorian woman stands in her black armor leaning against the back wall.
“Congratulations,” She says. They stand in the doorway paralyzed. “I hear you boys were quite something. Got three Mandalorian bosses trying to scout you now.”
The boys force themselves inside so they can close the door. The woman steps forward with a laugh.
“You should have told me you two were Force sensitive. Wouldn’t have made you go through that training course.” She says tilting her head.
“What do you want?” Hevy asks flatly.
“Now? Nothing. But now that I know what you boys can do?” she walks forward to grab Hevy’s chin. “Now I have bigger plans for you. We’ll be in touch.”
They part so she can walk through. When the door closes behind her Fives feels like he might vomit. He looks at his brothers who all share his look of horror.
“What the fuck did we do?”
Read full story HERE on AO3.
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itzagothamcitysiren · 4 years
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Welcome to the Family
Happy Mother’s day to all the mothers and motherly figures out there! This story is kind of inspired by my relationship with my older sister, who was honestly more of a mother to me than our actual mom. She’s awesome and I wish I could see her today but quarantine sucks lol. 
Also, too me Logan Lerman is Tim. He’s just so awkward and cute and nerdy, and I think he’d be a great Tim. 
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Mother’s Day pt.1           
 “What the hell are you doing, Drake?” Damian’s snippy voice cut through the empty living room like a knife.
           The once comfortably silent room, now held an awkward and thick tension as Tim Drake popped his head up from his work, annoyed at being interrupted.  He looked back down at the paper and other supplies cluttered around the coffee table for a moment, not even embarrassed at being caught. It was a normal thing that he started doing shortly after moving into Wayne Manor all those years ago; Damian was still the one who was the odd one out.
           “Making Mother’s Day cards; what else does it look like?” Tim rolled his eyes, motioning his hand with a slight wave to the finished card at the edge of the table. That one was meant for his mother, he made sure to finish it first, wanting to drop it off at the post office tomorrow after school so it’d get to her in time.
           “Tt.” Damian shook his head, crossing his arms against his chest. He took a seat at the other end of the couch to look over the older boy’s work.
           Damian Wayne wasn’t the type for such sentiment. He scoffed at the idea of Mother’s Day. Could you just imagine him, an al Ghul, giving his mother a card? Though, he didn’t put it past someone as pathetic as Drake to be one to celebrate the commercial holiday. Even Grayson and his father celebrated, and their mothers were dead. They’d both journey to the cemetery and placed roses on their mother’s grave. But that made much more sense to Damian, than making a card, they were paying their respects, while Drake was just giving his mother a worthless piece of paper.
           “A simple piece of paper will really satisfy your mother? Tt.” Damian leaned back into the couch, arms still crossed but now lifting his leg to rest on his other thigh.
           “Yes. It. Will.” Tim gritted, not in the mood for Damian’s taunting and insults; he was actually in a genially good mood for once.
            He moved to open his mouth again, clenching the marker in his hand tightly; who did this kid think he was? He was glad the kid was over his phase of trying to actively kill him but he still found pleasure in making Tim’s life miserable. He tried closing his mouth, not wanting to get into it again but the third Robin still felt the need to defend himself against the spoiled blood son. He pushed the disappointed look Bruce would surely show him away after the old man would end of having to break up another fight between the two boys.
           “I’m not just giving her card; I’m also sending her a gift card to her favorite restaurant and another one for a trip to this day spa. It makes her happy and since I’m not around I want to make sure she knows I miss her. You know like normal mother and son stuff, not that you would know anything about that.”  
           Tim cursed to himself as soon as the bitter and smug words left his mouth. Shit.  He went too far; the dead silence that followed told him that much. He didn’t dare look up to see Damian’s face. He could practically feel the scowl, the deadly glare, beaming into the side of his head; it was like he was being blasted by Superman’s laser beams. Maybe that was being a little dramatic but Tim knew he shouldn’t have said that. He was better than stooping that low and saying something that brash. Even with the pair being fair from close, barely even being on speaking terms, Tim still knew how sensitive Damian was about his relationship with Talia.
           He was half expecting to feel a punch come down from him, or a shove, anything that would physically harm him in response but much to Tim’s surprise he was just met with Damian’s signature sound, ‘Tt’, and then him shifting in his place. Tim scratched the back of his neck, unsure why Damian reacted so calmly, not that his body and pride weren’t complaining. He mentally shrugged and went back to making his second card.
           The younger boy watched as Tim got back to work. He wanted to lash out at Drake’s dig at him and his mother’s relationship but Damian didn’t want to give Drake the satisfaction of knowing that he was insulted. He thought back to his father’s speech after their last fight about how they both needed to learn how to be the bigger person. Damian rolled his eyes at the memory and instead quirked an eyebrow up as he watched Tim begin to get back into making what appeared to be a second Mother’s Day card.
           “Correct me if I’m wrong but last time I checked you only had one mother, Drake.” Damian said, nodding towards the second card.
           “You would be correct.” Tim nodded, not looking up this time as he spoke. He reached for the blue Sharpie instead, filling in the bubble letters he wrote with it.
           “Then why are you making another card? Did you realize how stupid that other one is and are starting over?” Damian pressed, leaning back once again to get comfortable.
           Tim huffed, already over this conversation. It was times like this that he wished Dick and Halley still lived at home. Damian would be Dick’s shadow if he was here and not bugging him like this. With Halley, she’d swoop in the moment she felt a fight forming and would’ve gotten the demon spawn to shut up by now. But now that they were the only two left living at home Damian was all Tim’s problem. Maybe it was time to go back to the Titans?
           “No, my mother’s card is done. This is for someone else.” Tim said, using his minimum art skills to draw a decent flower next to the y in Day. He huffed again when Damian responded immediately asking who specifically it was for. Tim let the marker drop from his grasp, losing his nerve. Rubbing his head, he pushed the hair fallen in front of his face out of his face, letting out a deep breath. Why did he care what he was doing? Damian has shown more interest in his current activity than he’s shown in anything in Tim’s life since they met.  “It’s for Halley.”
           “Tt.” Damian rolled his eyes, smirking. “Halley isn’t your mother, Drake.”
           “No, but since I’ve moved here, she’s always been there when I need her and she’s done so much for me so this is my way of thanking her and showing that I love her.” Tim let himself get cocky again, snipping right back at Damian. He put emphasis in his speech, knowing that not only was it true but it would rub Damian the wrong way. “I do this for her every year and every year she gets all mushy and loves it.”
           Damian narrowed his eyes at the older boy. Was Drake questioning his relationship with his older sister? They may only be half siblings but that was more blood than she shared with anyone in the bat family. When the pair first found out they shared the same mother, Damian had been less then enthused about no longer being an only child and furious at his mother for failing to mention her having a child with Deathstroke. Halley had been just as shocked and angry, but at her father for never telling her. She wasn’t surprised but still angry. Though unlike him, she quickly rushed to try and get closer to the boy. Even though Damian wanted no part of it, Damian was clearly her favorite brother; right?
           Drake said this was a yearly thing but why has he never noticed before? He did know that they would occasionally spend what they grossly called Mandatory Sibling Bonding Day together, where’d they’d go out just the two of them, much to the annoyance of Damian. He didn’t understand why she wasted her time with Drake; what could they possible do for fun together? Granted, she did do the same with Grayson whenever they were around at the same time. The pair of them also being close, Grayson having been the one to help get her out of her old life with her father, Slade Wilson.
           Damian thought about how his sister had a close personal relationships with all the Robin’s and Batgirl’s, even the failure that Damian deemed as Stephanie Brown; Halley was close to them all, all but him. Though that wasn’t completely true, they did have somewhat of a bond. They both had what she phased as shitty-ass parents, her father being Deathstroke himself while his was the Dark Knight, and they shared the same mother, Talia al Ghul. They’d never known about the other until Damian was brought to live with his father by their mother and Halley had long been taken in by Dick and Bruce.
           He still remembered their first meeting, they hadn’t yet known about sharing the same mother but yet she was still eager to accept him. He of course didn’t share her gusto, especially after Slade revealed that Talia was her mother after he attacked the League of Assassin’s and killed his grandfather. Damian wasn’t keen on having an actual sibling, especially one with the blood of Deathstroke. But they also shared the same al Ghul blood and was quite the efficient fighter. But they were both incredibly set in their ways and persistent, as she was dead set on getting the younger boy to open up while he was dead set to prove that he was the most worthy al Ghul.
           It infuriated him enough that she said she didn’t care about being an al Ghul, having  no memories of being with the League of Assassin’s, as Slade and Talia agreed that she would go off to live with her father for her training. Damian said she was unworthy of the blood they shared and she didn’t deserve it. Though even now, he wouldn’t admit it but sometimes he swore he could still feel the pain from the beating she gave him when he tried to kill her in her sleep his first few months staying in the manor whenever he looked her way.
           That was something he admired about his sister, again not like he would ever admit it, but her persistence was something he looked up to and even came to appreciate. Even after trying to kill her, being cruel, and treating her like how she treats Drake, at first even worse, she never gave up on him; a feat that no one else could say they’ve come close too; perhaps Grayson, but there were times where even the star-child of Bruce Wayne’s collection of wayward children would walk away from Damian’s outbursts because he simply had enough of the all give an no take. But not Halley; she’d stay every single time and with that she’d even give him a smile at the end of it.
           She understood what it was like. Being raised by Slade Wilson was basically the same as being raised by Ra’s al Ghul. They never had a conversation about it, Damian always calling her a fool, she didn’t know what his childhood was like and then brushing her off. But who was Damian kidding? She made her first kill by age eight, so did Damian. She had expectations placed on her that no child should’ve been held up to, as did Damian. They shared bruises, scars and nightmares.
           Grayson had tried with him, after his father failed but Halley was the one who truly helped him adjust to this new life he found himself in without even knowing it. What Grayson and his father didn’t understand was that you just couldn’t stop being who you were raised to be in a second, it took time, and Halley had been through the same transition. Granted she was looking to escape the life she had with her father whereas Damian was forced to be with his by his mother, but there were just some habits that where hard to break.
           “You good there?” Drake’s voice cut Damian out of his thought process.
           Damian snapped out of it, narrowing his eyes down at the card, noting Tim had stopped working on it and was looking at Damian as if he was a frozen computer screen. Scoffing, standing up to his feet, he uncrossed his arms, pointing a finger at the card for his sister. Trying to hid the fact that Drake caught him in such a deep thought, he cleared his throat before sneering,  
           “Her favorite color is purple, not red.”
           Tim watched, mouth left agape as Damian made his way out of the room without another word. He took another look down at the card and grunted, reaching for a new piece of paper, getting ready to start all over again. What a kid, he thought as he got back to work.
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Text
N7 15 and 16 - Friends and Compassion
Summary: You know... it’s a good thing Alistair Shepard is a paragon, because he can be a creepy bastard when the lights are out. Unfortunately, the crew of the Normandy is about to figure that out the hard way... after all, on the field of war there’s no room for compassion.
(Close up mentions of people getting shot.)
---
The sound was getting closer. Damn it, they were boxed in and low on ammo. Talk about being between a rock and a hard place
“Scars, you see him?”
“No... it's clear for now. Scanner's not picking anything up.”
James and Garrus were barely breathing as they kept their weapons drawn in the tiny room. It was almost pitch black, and their feeble lights did little to dispel the darkness. Worst of all was the noise – the subtle, scratching, skittering of something drawing close.
A few more seconds, and he would be on top of them. Then what would they do? They only had a few shots left each...
Best to make them count.
“Keep your back to the wall...” Garrus had his finger on the trigger as he swept around. “He can't get both of u-”
And then he went down with a burst of red light straight to the face that caught James off guard with how sudden it had been The man dove, trying to fire off a shot, but soon there was a muzzle of a gun aimed straight at him as well. One blast, and it was all over. Then the skittering returned as the figure in black accessed a vent panel.
2 down...
---
“How did we get dragged into this?”
Who knows... but the scanner wasn't picking anything up.
Tali tapped her wrist as they walked along the corridor, her flashlight trained on the floor. Beside her, Kaidan was doing the same. Both their hearts were beating rapidly as they peered into the darkness. All they saw was the dim red glow of emergency lights, directing them to the exit.
So close...
A sudden blip on the radar caused the quarian to snap her weapon up. “Get ready, he's-”
A red dot appeared on her face mask, and then she went down without a sound. Kaidan wheeled around, raising his weapon. However, he was too slow. The figure was under his arms now, aiming the gun directly at his jaw.
They dropped him like a sack of potatoes. The last thing Kaidan saw was a side panel opening up and the figure skittering away, their gun still glowing red. Then there was nothing but the darkness that surrounded them.
4 down.
---
“This is fucking bullshit.”
“You can say that again.”
Liara and Jack were an unlikely pair, still not quite sure how they had been roped into this. For the most part, they had avoided the carnage. As they walked, in the distance they saw the harsh red of muzzle fire and the sound of it hitting its target. Then there was nothing but the darkness closing in on them.
“Where the fuck is he?” Jack glared over at her asari companion. “That damn scanner picking him up or what?”
Liara shook her head as she tapped at it, the soft blue illuminating the darkness around her fingers but not much else. “No... all it shows is that there's some bodies in the next room. We look to be the only ones left for now.”
The human scowled as she checked her weapon clip – she still had enough to blow a hole in something. “Damn it... who knew he was such a fucking psycho?”
Not them, which was why every soft sound drew their attention. When they rounded the corner, it was with precision. Luckily, there was nothing there but empty corridor. However, neither of them rested easy. They had seen what had become of their former teammates in the last room.
Shot in the face... what a way to go.
“Alright, which way we going next?” Jack kept her gun level in case of a forward attack. “The path branches off up ahead.”
Liara frowned as she prodded the screen. “Not sure... I'm not seeing anyone in either route. We went right last time...”
Then her voice fell as the soft sound of skittering drew both their attention. They glanced around, flashlights trying to find the sound. Then it fell silent. They could hear the beating of their hearts as they turned to face each other, knuckles white on their weapons.
“Aw, fuck... he's in the vents isn't he?”
Jack's obscenities was answered by a furious flurry of gunfire erupting from a panel that had slid open right next to her head. She dodged the first, but the second and third took her down. This left Liara alone, pinned against the wall. She raised her hands and tried to dodge, but the gun was all but pressed against her forehead.
She saw the blue of his eyes as he fired... then nothing as he fled back into the vents he had been using to hide.
6 down.
---
EDI was the last, split off from the rest early on. Unlike the others, she had no nerves to fray. Instead, there was the calm, cold certainty as she swept through the empty halls, gun cocked and ready for firing. With a machine's precision, she had only fired twice.
That left plenty of rounds for her opponent.
“I know you're close. The scanner may not pick up your body signals, but I can.”
She received no answer. The hallway was deadly quiet. She could hear distant gunfire – other teams were being dispatched. Numbers were dwindling fast. Maybe she was the only one left. Something about that made her grip her gun tighter as she crept around the corner.
Nothing but dim red lights and silence. Oh... and what looked like a bullet hole in the wall with a lot of red.
“He was here.”
A skittering in the distance drew her attention. EDI didn't run after the sound, though. Instead, she closed her eyes and tried to triangulate the source. It sounded hollow, echoed. Probably using a passageway she hadn't found.
But that made him the rat in the trap, and she held the bullets.
“There you are!” She fired at the wall, catching a panel as it opened. However, no groan escaped. Instead, the skittering continued. It was only then EDI realized she had walked into a dead end, probably led by her opponent stringing her along. For a machine... that was pretty embarrassing.
Almost as embarrassing as getting shot in the leg.
Her weight went out from under her as EDI fell, gun dropping from her hands. She tried to pick it up, but a shadowy hand scooped up her rifle and tossed it out of her reach. Then she saw the blue eyes and the barrel of a gun, pointed directly at her.
“You're right. Here I am.”
Then they fired two shots and disappeared into the wall before she could do anything about it. The last thing EDI saw before the darkness closed in was the wall panel closing behind them with a slight hiss. Then there was nothing.
7 down. One to go.
---
2 down, one to go.
Bo gripped the handle of her gun as she glanced around. Unlike the others, she was calm as she waited. By now, her opponent would have realized what was going on. They had probably long since realized she had left her area and gone on the move.
Her count wasn't nearly as high, but she hadn't been aiming for that.
“Come on, now. Let's finish this, just you and me.”
A soft hissing in the distance indicated a panel had opened. Bo kept her finger on the trigger as the figure in black made their entrance. Their gun was glowing, and so were their eyes as they smirked in the gloom.
“Always figured it be the two of us. How about we have a little fun? Whoever shoots first on three?”
Bo nodded as she raised her gun. “I'm counting. I saw what you did to Tali.”
“Fine by me. It was her fault for not looking.” Their gun raised too. “Alright then... count away. But if you try anything, you're dead.”
Red eyes met blue there in the gloom as the figures faced off. Bo's finger twitched on the trigger as she took aim the same time her opponent did. All that was left now was to start the countdown. Problem was, she could see their finger twitching just as much.
So, it was only naturally they both fired before she even got to one.
Suddenly, the lights were on. The previously dark room was now well illuminated and painted in garish colors. Normally, those would have showed up in the black light, but they had signed up for the special nighttime route. According to the brochure, it had been modified for maximum darkness to emulate an actual hunt.
In front of her, Alistair chuckled as he removed his headset. “So, did you win or did I?”
“Not sure, I think we hit each other at the same time.” Their scores were already showing – he led the whole room in points. “Damn, how many head shots did you pull off to get a score like that?”
The redhead all but beamed with pride as he took a picture with his omni-tool. “Well, let's see... I got Garrus, Tali, not sure if Kaidan counted...does it count if you press the gun to their forehead, or is that just regular close range?”
Bo snorted as they left the room, returning to the lobby. “Who the fuck did you do that to and why do I want to laugh my ass off at them?”
The answer came with a rather bemused looking Liara, waiting with the rest of the group outside. Once they had been dead, that's where they had been made to wait. In front of them played highlights from the last round and the myriad of ways in which they had been murdered.
“I still think it's cheating, Skipper.” Ashley almost sounded like she was pouting. “Nobody else could fit into the vents.”
Alistair beamed as he returned his gun to the clerk behind the desk. “Consider it my advantage. Besides, I didn't shoot you.”
“That was me. You walked right past where I was hiding. Think I got a head shot.”
The two Shepards exchanged high fives as the rest of the group groaned. Late night laser kill had been their idea as part of a fun way to destress during shore leave. Honestly, the whole concept was flawed – half of them actually had been shot before, some in the face. Doing it for fun just seemed weird, but it was rare for either Spectre to ever want something.
Now the crew of the Normandy understood why – they were fucking sharks.
“Commander kicked all your asses.” Joker had gotten a prime view of the carnage from his seat. He looked comfortably into his drink as he nodded to EDI affectionately. “I thought you had a chance though, he looked a little slow.”
The AI at least had the grace to seem embarrassed by being taken out by an organic. “I miscalculated his aim and the rate of fire.”
“Oh, that's because I stole a mod off Garrus' corpse that can turn your pistol into an assault rifle.” Alistair sounded rather proud of that. “It was sparkling when we got in, so I knew someone had to have it. Just needed to figure out which one.”
Ok, it was pretty clear they were never coming here with the Normandy's CO ever again. For such a calm guy, he played to fucking kill. Too bad he wasn't like that with an actual gun – they might actually outrun the Reapers.
Then again, with real bullet he was more into diplomacy. They could respect that.
The turian definitely looked embarrassed as his mandibles flapped. “Is that why you shot me in the face?”
“Head shots are worth more, babe.” Clearly not sorry, Alistair gestured in front of them as they left the arena. “Anyway, there's a really good pizza place around here. They have dextro too.”
Bo was next to him, clearly pleased as well. “It's a good thing Kelly keeps dragging us to this every time we're on the Citadel. Pretty sure Kaidan almost hit you.”
They argued about that as the rest of the Normandy realized just how badly they had been had by the Spectre and his uncle experience. Still, all things considered it wasn't a bad mood. You know, besides the image burnt into their minds of the commander skittering around in the vents, then popping out to shoot them in the face.
That wasn't going to cause any nightmares. Not at all.
“You know... I'm kinda glad that's not your normal  mode, loco. That bastard's kinda scary.”
And then Alistair grinned in a way that made the humans of the group consider if the bastard wasn't still there. “Hey, you know the rules. No mercy or compassion in laser kill. Now, what kind of pizza are we getting?”
“Don't forget the garlic knots, they're killer here.”
“I think I got a coupon for them for beating the daily head shot challenge in laser kill...”
And then the matter was dropped in favor of pizza and making fun of the ones who had died too quickly. By the end of the night, pulling an Alenko was going to become a thing. In a weird way, it had been relaxing.
But man, they were lucky the CO was a paragon of virtue. He could be a creepy little bastard when he wanted to be.
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ty-talks-comics · 4 years
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Best of Marvel: Week of January 22nd, 2020
Best of this Week: Amazing Spider-Man #38 (Legacy #839) - Nick Spencer, Iban Coello, Brian Reber and Joe Caramagna
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I can read the headline now: Spider-Man vs. Fake News.
At least that's what it seems like this next Spider-Man arc will be about as the titular hero has to deal with his "biggest supporter," J. Jonah Jameson, and his new job as a clickbait hound in the age of modern online journalism. Who knows what hijinks will ensue?
This issue exemplified the kind of humor that Nick Spencer excels at: the hilarity of hypocrisy when it comes to some of Spider-Man’s supporting cast. This was best shown in Spencer’s hilarious Superior Foes of Spider-Man (2013) as Boomerang did everything in his power to create a new Sinister Six while selling them out at every turn and not learning from his actions as everyone in his sphere suffered the consequences of his betrayals. Spencer channels that same energy as Jameson has to face the fruits of his journalistic practices in the form of Norah Winters and the new Threats and Menaces blog office.
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After Jonah launches into a (Boomer) rant about today's journalists, calling them soft, self-obsessed and lacking the edge that made him what he is, Norah tells her team to sound off about the stories they’re working on. Without missing a beat and with faces of malice, thanks to Coello, they tout their intentionally misleading headlines.
Norah explains that in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, they need to get those clicks by any means necessary and that Jameson was the inspiration for this because of his past headlines calling Spider-Man a menace usually without real evidence. She expects villains to repost it to their audiences and heroes to quote it with malice, giving them more clicks.
Everyone likes to take the piss of millennial journalists and can often come off as cringy, but somehow Spencer, Iban Coello and Brian Reber manage to really capture the essence of modern open architecture office spaces filled with young kids and their kooky hair colors. Coello draws a really good shot of this with the addition of a space for video games, two bright green vending machines and tables full of people either on desktops without dividing walls or on personal laptops. Of course, all of this comes after Jonah is nearly hit by a douchebag riding an electric scooter.
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Reber colors everything in contrast to Jameson who wears a professional brown suit. The office itself is brightly lit, all of the freelancers and employees are given brighter clothes with striking reds, pinks, blues and purples. Even the basic Threats and Menaces banner is a bright red, kinda signalling how bad this company might be. It’s really fun to see how out of his element Jonah is among these kids and how much more awful they are in comparison to him… aside from creating supervillains.
As all of this is going on, Spider-Man is robbing a bank. One can see how this might be a problem as Jonah is doing his best to defend Spider-Man to Winters who wants him to write a smearing headline about the crime. Coello and Reber introduce us to the act with an amazingly dynamic splash page of Spidey zipping into the sky carrying bags of cash. The webs are slung so hard that they blur, laser gun blasts almost fly off the pages with vibrant red and orange colors and Spider-Man’s posing makes him look like he’s avoiding danger with ease.
We get a sidestory with Silver Sable trying to regain her strength with the help of (former?) Spider-Man villain, Foreigner, as the two are now lovers. After helping her, Foreigner goes to a secret casino where the use of superpowers is encouraged and there’s betting on the battles between superheroes, villains and everything in between.
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Foreigner still maintains his supervillain connections, but he seems to be using it towards helping Sable. Minor supervillain and assassin, Chance, has set up the robbery and casino in order to place bets on Spidey's performance and potential property damage. Of course, he also rigs it so that surprise drones appear to make things harder. As things begin to get hectic, lo and behold we get the best shot in the entire book: J. Jonah Jameson riding in to save Spider-Man on an electric scooter.
Coello and Reber make Jonah look like an absolute mad lad as he rushes into danger without a second thought to save Spider-Man. Fiery explosions ring out behind him, his pose makes him look like he came straight out of a Tony Hawk game and Spider-Man is absolutely shocked at all of this. Legitimately, it’s a really badass panel and one that should go down as one of the best out of context shots in comic history. 
Spider-Man reacts as we would expect, chastising Jonah for putting himself in danger. Jonah retorts that he and Spider-Man were supposed to be a team after Jonah owned up to his some of his worst actions after a gang of supervillains confronted him and Spider-Man earlier in the series. Though he was supposed to keep it secret at the request of his sister, Teresa Parker, Spider-Man reveals to Jonah that the bank he robbed was a front for a criminal organization and that he needed to run because there were too many bad guys. As Jonah flees, he vows to Spider-Man that he’ll make his life easier one way or another.
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Soon after, we get an amazing double page spread of Spider-Man taking down these nameless villains as Chance counts down. He thwips, kicks and smashes these clowns over the head with his signature Spidey style before Chance announces that the house wins after Spider-Man takes them all down.
As far as art showcasing goes, Coello, Reber and Joe Caramagna smash it out of the park here. The panels flow as the action moves between Spider-an acrobatic antics and Chance’s excited facial expressions. Colors are rich and switch between explosive oranges to dynamic blue skies. The lettering is truly amazing as every sound effect is emphasized and given proper placement for effect.
Spider-Man wins, but soon gets a call from Teresa, asking him if he knows what Top Secret means. He questions what’s going on and then sees the headline from J. Jonah Jameson exposing the plot and why Spider-Man is a hero for it, accompanied by Jonah raising his arms into the air with childlike excitement. This is gonna be a wacky adventure.
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This book was a lot of fun and I’m glad Nick Spencer is writing it. He’s able to bring the funny and really works with his artists to give each issue and story its own identity. None of them feel exactly the same and that’s commendable. With much thanks to Chip Zdarsky, Nick Spencer continues to build on the relationships established in the Spectacular Spider-Man series with Jameson doing his best to repay Peter for all the times he’s called him a menace after revealing his identity to his former biggest antagonist. At the same time, it’s nice that Peter’s also keeping in contact with his sister Teresa, a character that absolutely has a lot more going on that people might expect.
Iban Coello is an amazing artist and makes every page look so dynamic and fun, combined with Brian Reber’s coloring, this is an awesome looking Spider-Man book. Joe Caramagna as always does a stellar job by placing each balloon so that the dialogue is easy to follow without cluttering up the pages, emphasizing words to give every character a unique voice and placing sound effects so that one can almost hear the pages as they turn. I enjoyed all of this immensely.
If there's any criticism I could level at this book, it would be the drawing out of the eventual conflict between Spider-Man and Kindred. I know Nick Spencer is playing the long game and he's very good at it, making me anticipate it with every issue the creepy villain appears in, but there has to be substantial storytelling in the mean time. Hunted was an amazing story from start to finish, but the 2099 crossover left a lot to be desired.
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In between, there hasn't been much to rave about. Even the Absolute Carnage crossover and the Sinister Syndicate storyline have been on the lower levels of Spencer's stories during his time on Spider-Man. Sure they were fun, but unlike the absolute hilarity that is the storyline with Boomerang, they feel a bit disjointed from the rest of the stellar story that Spencer is telling. I get a similar feeling from this issue despite how fun it was.
But don’t let my impatience stop you from buying this book!
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rpgmgames · 5 years
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May’s Featured Game: Cadeau
DEVELOPER(S): HALFWORLDstudios ENGINE: RPG Maker VX Ace GENRE: Horror, Fantasy, Puzzle WARNINGS: Blood, Mild Gore, Suicide Mentions, Death SUMMARY: Cadeau is an RPG Horror game about a lonely, yet stubborn, young woman named Charlotte-- who finds herself in a world unknown to man, wearing clothes that do not belong to her. Wonderful and tragic events are to follow suit, as all of her greatest wishes come true. However, as these things often go, her happiness does not come without consequence...
Play the beta here!
Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!
Introduce yourself! Macdev: Greetings and salutations. I'm Mac, writer, artist, and programmer for Cadeau, as well as the founder of Halfworld. I've loved Rpg games since I was about 10, and have been creating them since! Bruno: My name is Bruno and I'm the music composer. I got into game music approx 2 years ago and I've currently made music for a couple of games and other projects, and Cadeau was the first one of them. Aidan: I'm Aidan/kanteramcneil on Tumblr! I'm one of the voice actors, and I'm super excited to be able to follow Cadeau's progress! I've been in the RpgMaker community for a few years now and I adore being able to watch all the devs progress and grow Rindre: Hi I'm Rin! Currently, I'm on an indefinite hiatus, but Big Mac managed to catch me, chain me up to a chair, and make me say stuff about myself against my will. So... I make games, I guess. - Note from macdev: Erm, not true? These accusations are SLANDER and I will not stand for it. WariA: Hello! I’m WaraiA, one of the voice actors of Cadeau — A pleasure to meet you! I will be voicing the oh so mysterious ‘Your Admirer’, so please look forward to listening to my antics ☆〜(ゝ。∂) I am a Japanese/Chinese Australian born citizen, with a tendency to speak in an American accent. Any pronouns are fine for me My most notable role so far has been Harpae from Pocket Mirror, so some of you may be familiar with my voice already! Nothing much has changed — I enjoy cosplaying, role playing, drawing every once in a blue moon, Final Fantasy XIV, and most importantly, catboys (Nael, I’m coming for you, boy) As ‘Your Admirer’ is a rather elusive character, I cannot disclose much. But I do suggest always keeping one eye open throughout your journey
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What is your project about? What inspired you to create your game initially? *Macdev: Cadeau is a game about a troubled young woman named Charlotte Émile-- who is a "tomboyish" and bold individual who has been unfortunately presented loneliness by a series of disastrous events. After giving up on companionship, she miraculously receives an affectionate letter from a mysterious person aliased as her "Admirer". This "Admirer" character beckons poor Charlotte to visit them at a mysterious well in the woods, and to come armed with nothing but a strange golden coin. From there, madness ensues. Our protagonist must learn of her past and the events that lead to her misfortune, all while becoming entangled in a family drama rooted in witchcraft, raging years before her unexpected arrival. It is a story about self-love, friendship, acceptance, magic, and all that corny-ness. Sounds fun, right? My initial inspiration was The Witches House. The game was originally meant to be simple, and maybe an hour or 45 minutes long. A simple story, and a straightforward 2-ending path.... How have we managed to get here from that?
How long did you work on your project? *Macdev: Two years, I believe! Its anniversary is April 8th. In the beginning, it was very off and on-- because I was having a difficult time with school and-- as I mention-- organization. So not a whole lot of progress was made then. I'm proud to say I've been chugging quite a bit faster than my previous pace!
Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Macdev: My inspiration would probably lie in Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts, and Alice returns to madness. As for RPG games? The Witch's House, Havenfell, and Pocket Mirror. As well as many other beautiful artists and creators in the video game community. Overall, my biggest inspiration for this game has got to be the stop-motion movie: Coraline. I even reference the movie once or twice in Cadeau. The tone of Coraline, and the whimsical yet eerie people and creatures within it give me inspiration for this game. It was very much a favorite of mine when I was younger, and that still applies today!
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Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Macdev: The biggest problem I've run into has been a lack of structure. In the beginning, I hadn't even written out the story halfway. I was just pulling ideas from thin air, going back and forth, and deleting entire concepts-- only to bring them back and re-arrange them as I went. Characters weren't fully dished out; the game didn't even have an ending. This state of creating is fine, but not when you have other people expecting things from you. Thankfully, things are sailing much MUCH smoother than before.
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Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Macdev: It's absolutely taken a turn from what it was originally! As I say, it was meant to be an extremely short game in the beginning, and now obviously that’s not the case. The goal for Cadeau now is: around 2-3 hours long in playtime, and full of many diverse character types! As well as a storyline that extends far more than face value. Which is in high contrast to the basic, short, immemorable experience that it was going to be.
What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Macdev: I do have a wonderful, beautiful, talented team working with me on Cadeau. - A composer! (Bruno Buglisi), - As well as voice actors! (WariA as Allete, Aiden/kanteramcneil as The Botanist, and Rindre (who I have definitely not kidnapped...) as The Maiden) I met everyone in the team through volunteer posts-- and I had never done that before-- but it worked very surprisingly well! We worked very quickly together, and we had a very mutual understanding of what each other wanted. It feels good to know I have such talented people helping this game come to fruition. I owe a whole lot to them for helping the game become what it is now.
What was the best part of developing the game? Macdev: Being able to make the world in your head interactable, for sure. Since I was 8, maybe even younger, I have loved writing stories and making art. Webcomics were my main thing as a kid, so story-telling is something I’ve always loved. So, the fact that I can turn my ideas into something someone can experience and interact with is a wonderful feeling. There's nothing more fulfilling, honestly!
Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Macdev: Very often, actually! I try not to ride too close to the material I see in other games, but I do gain lots of inspiration from my fellow creators! One thing I am laser-focused on, though, is making Cadeau quite unique content-wise. I want it to have very interesting, uncommon puzzles and mechanics that you may not expect from this type of game-- or one of this engine. So far, I think I've achieved this-- so look out for that!
Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Macdev: My favorite character has got to be The Botanist. At the beginning of the game he has no dialogue, yet still presents such a strong personality. They are kind, thoughtful, and absolutely adorable. Look at that foofy hair! I'm a sucker for it. Their character arc is something I'm excited for. It's been a blast writing it so far-- and I won’t spoil anything-- but you guys will love him. I'm sure of it. Now if we're talking character design, Naël has got to be my favorite. He recently received a “tune-up,” as I would like to call it, and I think everything works together very cohesively in his design now. It's probably one of my favorites out of all of them, at this point.
Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Macdev: Thankfully, things worked out perfectly-- and the universe blessed me with a wonderful team in the end-- but it was very stressful once I realized I had asked for help way too early. I essentially made a single map, and a little character sheet-- then asked for a whole team to help me out. As I said, it luckily worked out in the end. Now we have so many amazing people helping us-- but we also lost a few in the madness-- and that's a mistake on my part, 100%. If you don't know what you want, it's hard to ask for help. It will lead to confusion, lots of back and forth, frustration, etc... Just wait until your way further in development. Trust me. I know it’s easy to jump the gun and shoot for the stars, but sometimes it won’t work out as well as it has for the Cadeau team!
Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Macdev: I won't say as of now! The idea of a sequel/prequel has floated around, but if it does come to fruition, it won't be until way after the release of Cadeau. We'll just have to see. (This isn’t to say I’m not hopeful!)
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With your current project, what do you look most forward to upon/after release? *Macdev: I have so many amazing project ideas lined up for after the release of Cadeau. I won’t spill too much, so they'll be more of a surprise-- but they range from classic, adventure-themed true RPG's-- to 3D teenage-thrillers. I'm honestly stoked, there's so much in store for Halfworld.
Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Macdev: I think my biggest fear is letting people down. Also, I worry about losing interest or having people form the idea that the game is never going to be completed. It’s just going to take some time, is all, and that’s okay!
Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Macdev: I already mentioned above not to jump the gun and ask for help too early, so some more advice I'll give: is to keep all your material, all your ideas, and all your concepts in one concise place. I would say do it digitally from the get-go, but if you would prefer to write it down physically that's fine! Just make sure it's only one or 2 notebooks, and not 13. The information for Cadeau is spread throughout my hideous mound of notebooks, as I get up during ungodly hours of the night to scrawl a sudden idea down. So, I'm currently in the process of moving them to one digital spot-- and while it's generally easy-- I would have been able to avoid it if I had just put everything in one spot in the beginning. Oh, and back up your progress regularly! I have separate backups of Cadeau from months in 2 different years, and in 4 different places. So, I take backups very seriously—and so should you!
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Question from last month's featured dev @atlasatrium: What's your favorite RPG Maker game and why? *Aidan: I love End roll, Ib, OFF, Prom Dreams, From Next Door, and Aria's Story! Bruno: Mm, definitely Long Gone Days (though it’s not being made on rpgmaker now) Midnight Train, Heartbeat and Glitched! WariA: I don't really have any :0 the devs I've worked with so far have all been really sweet (´꒳`);; Macdev: This is a tough question! I have a lot of favorites. Probably Stray Cat Crossing overall, but I also love Home and Starboy. Starboy brings a lot of memories, and Stray Cat Crossing was what inspired me to start making games! Oh, and Home is just very cute.
We mods would like to thank HALFWORLDstudios for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!
Remember to check out Cadeau if you haven’t already! See you next month! 
- Mods Gold & Platinum
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villainoussquip · 7 years
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Future Endeavours
(My very first Villainous fan fiction, based on @brokevillainous​‘s AU and interpretation of Dr Slug and White Hat. I own none of these characters or the world they live in, so IDK have fun <3 The story was named after their White Hat muse anyway so heck haha okay enough of me have fun don’t do drugs okay byeeeeeee)
White Hat had always been a fan of the daytime. Of course, who wouldn’t be? With the way people milled around, happily going about their day, and the fact that all the animals were awake and going around, buzzing from flower to flower, or flying across the sky.
That was why he was a bit surprised to find that he was awake at… Oh my. Three in the morning? Due to a ruckus being made down the hall and to the left. Also, the warmth of a familiar being was missing from his bed. He knew Slug was a night owl who thrived in the night whilst working on his inventions and such, but even then, three in the morning? Much too early for the doctor. Much too early indeed! How was he supposed to get back on a normal sleep schedule when all he did was work all of the time?!
With a bit of a frustrated grunt, which he immediately reprimanded himself for (why would he be angry at his lover? All he ever did was try to help!), before making his way down the hall and towards the lab where Dr Slug worked.
Ah, the doctor. He remembered how they met: a new inmate was being forced to do community service for his crimes against humanity, which… eh. He had shrugged at the time, thinking that this would be a one off thing. It happened frequently: criminals would be put into his care, work for a few months, before being released on probation. Then, they would go their separate ways, never to be seen again. Quite sad, if he were being honest with himself. Whether he’d like to admit it or not, he sometimes got quite… er, attached, to the men and women who would stay in his humble abode, only for them to cut off all communication with him once their community hours were over, sometimes without even saying goodbye.
Slug, though? He had been different. White Hat could tell almost as soon as the man was dropped off at his door, ankles and wrists shackled together, and a paper bag with goggles covering his face and eyes, respectively. An odd choice of clothing, to say the least, but he refrained from speaking up about it. To each their own, he supposed, as he stepped aside to allow Slug to explore the area he would soon be calling home, specifically the foyer, where there hung paintings and photographs of previous tenants, as he liked to call them, since ‘inmates’ or ‘prisoners’ were such disheartening words. Slug had stood there for a while, gawking at some of the photos on the fireplace, before his eyes widened at one in particular: A man… well, he would use the term man loosely. A demon? No, still not right. A monster, dressed in immaculate clothing, with a monocle on his right eye.
But the most noticeable feature? His tall, wide brimmed top hat, with a red decorative ribbon around the edge.
“You… You know Black Hat,” he had stuttered out in a questioning tone, pointing to the picture once the other had finished up whatever business he had been attending to with the prison guard. Mostly paperwork, really. Nothing too special. Just making sure that he, once again, agreed to do his utmost best to care for the man being left in his care. No lawbreaking, no this, no that, blah blah blah.
“Ah, I see you’ve found a picture of my brother,” he mused, moving gracefully across the vintage maple floorboards that made up the foyer’s, well, floor, and laying an arm across Slug’s shoulders with a soft smile, unlike the menacing snarl that was on Black Hat’s face which was surprisingly close to the camera with which the photo was taken. White Hat was in the background, holding his hands in surrender with an embarrassed grin on his face.
While White Hat couldn’t exactly see the facial expression the doctor was making, he was sure it was one of astonishment. With the way the white pupils of the darkened goggles flicked from the picture of a snarling, malevolent Black Hat, to a calm, if not kindhearted White Hat. Then, it dawned on the doctor that, same last name, same structures… Everything was there. He had just never connected the dots. He visibly face palmed, giving a muttered, “How did I not notice this before,” as White Hat laughed, not at him, but with him.
“Oh, it’s quite alright. A lot of people don’t quite get the similarities when they first meet us. We’re polar opposites in many more ways than just one,” he said, chuckling a little in amusement as the other connected the dots. “I’ve grown quite accustomed to the confusion.”
Slug looked at a loss for words, eyes wide and trying to make sense of the situation, before grimacing under his bag. “Would he be, perchance, hiring any scientists and engineers with doctorates in-” White Hat raised a hand, interrupting Slug mid-sentence. “I’m afraid I’ll have to cut you off before you’re able to finish that sentence, doctor,” he said, an apologetic tone to his voice now. “I cannot let you go searching for other employment offers until you’ve completed your service hours under my watch.”
At that, Doctor Slug had huffed, and left the room, White Hat trailing close behind the other man, and pointing out important rooms, such as the kitchen, bathrooms, closets, living quarters, and other such things. Of course, Slug being Slug as he was back then did not seem to care in the slightest as he led the other down the long, winding corridors of White Hat manor.
Those had been the days when Slug had refused to work, opting to raid the kitchen (both literally and metaphorically) and slept most of the day, only getting up to eat and use the restroom. It wasn’t until they had had a talk about the fact that the government was monitoring his behavior and would take all necessary actions to assure that Slug was, in fact, working, and wasn’t just using this as a ploy to get out of jail that he actually began working on the supplies and defenses for heroes worldwide, albeit begrudgingly of course.
He let out a little titter as he ventured further down the hallway, making the necessary left in order to find the lab, where lo and behold, there sat Slug, toying away at… What was that? White Hat couldn’t quite make it out, try as he might, but Slug was definitely working with some kind of wooden object. Strange to say the least, as Slug had always claimed that wood was never a good idea for anything, since it was broken quite easily, especially when damp.
As soon as White Hat attempted to make his way into the room, in order to see what the other was working on, Slug froze, an embarrassed blush seeping across his face as he threw the wooden carving he had been working on into a drawer in his desk. He wasn’t just about to let White Hat know about his new secret hobby, even if the other would be interested in seeing it. He had a reputation to uphold of being a master supervillain, and he wasn’t going to let that be ruined by- “Slug?”
White Hat’s voice cut through the dark, empty lab, Slug stiffening even more. Shit, had he been caught? He wasn’t worried about the punishment of not working on the project at hand, or the fact that he had left the bed at midnight and worked for three hours into the night… morning? Well, whatever. No, what he was worried about was the shame. The shame of being caught making-
“Slug, are you quite alright,” rang the voice of his lover, who approached him slowly before wrapping his arms around the other’s shoulders and nuzzling the human’s neck. “You seem… off. To say the least.”“I’m fine,” Slug muttered under his breath, covering a blueprint for some sort of invention. At that, White Hat cocked an eyebrow, confused. Slug was usually so proud of whatever he was making, whether it be something harmful that he hadn’t asked for, or mundane like he asked it to be. Even when he knew he would get in trouble, he’d still go out of his way to show White Hat whatever he was building at the time, like a child who wanted their drawings on the fridge. Of course, he had a different way of broaching the subject: usually at dinner, when they were eating, Slug would pipe in randomly with, “So, I’ve been working on something new.”
White Hat, being the curious eldritch he was, was always intrigued. “Go on,” he would muse, head in his hand with a curious glint in his eye.
White Hat would then listen patiently, eating whatever he had made that night, even though he did not require sustenance, as Slug explained whatever he had been making. Whether it be a death laser to blast away villains (“Slug, we are a heroic company. We cannot sell that to heroes. It would ruin our good name.”) or a defense mechanism that could protect a hero when they were in the middle of a heated battle, White Hat always sat there, watching the other get excited about something he was passionate about with a growing smile on his face.
Now, though? Now that they were engaged, it seemed that Slug was a bit more… how would one put it? Rather, how should one put it? Secretive, perhaps. He would sneak out in the middle of the night while White Hat was sleeping, work on something, and then be back in bed by the time he woke up. He could always tell when this happened: the human would smell of coffee and sleep deprivation. An interesting combo, to say the least. At first, White Hat had tried talking to him directly. However, tonight, it seemed that he had unknowingly stumbled upon Slug whilst he was still in the act of… doing whatever he did.
“What were you working on just now,” White Hat asked, interest piqued and evident in his voice.
“N-nothing,” Slug stuttered out, not unlike a certain other paper bagged scientist he knew. It was odd, though: Slug had never been one to stutter, or trip over words. He always spoke his mind, clean and clear. Even if it was something vulgar and rude, he’d still say it anyway. The doctor had no filter, so what made this time different?
Slowly, White Hat turned the other around to face him, though it was difficult since the doctor was so adamant on covering whatever blueprints he had with half of his body, throwing most of his weight on his desk. In the end, however, he managed, and without even glancing at the blueprints, he looked Slug in the eye, hands on either shoulder. “You know, if you need to tell me something, you can always do so. I won’t be angered, or offended, nor will I go out of the way to tell anyone of your secrets. What kind of hero would I be if I did such a thing?” With that, White Hat gave a small smirk, before leaning in to give the other another hug, along with a small peck on the cheek.
Slug stayed silent, pondering whether he should tell his boss about the secret project he’d been working on for months. Then, he let out a huff, closing his eyes and turning away from his boss.
At first, White Hat frowned, concern lacing his eyes. Slug, though reluctant, was never really one to turn down a hug. However, he soon saw why the other, his other, had turned away from him: he was going into one of his desk drawers, the same one from before, and pulling something out. White Hat stared at it for a few seconds, a bit puzzled by what he was looking at.
In Slug’s hands, there was a small, expertly crafted wooden unicorn, about the size of a toy made for a child. Looking at Slug for approval, he took the small wooden sculpture into his hands, and looked it over. “Oh, Slug. It’s amazing,” he fawned, the doctor looking away with his arms crossed, and a small smile on his face, though he would be loathe to admit such a thing. “I had no idea you knew how to sculpt wood!”
“I didn’t,” he murmured, turning away from the other. He had had his share of lovey doveyness today, and it was only three thirty in the morning. “That’s why I learned,” he continued, offhand as if it were just a normal, everyday thing to learn a completely new skill set and make something as beautiful as this.
White Hat gawked at the other man, who blushed and continued looking away from his lover, even if it was admittedly very cute when he was confused and didn’t know something. Especially when he was willing to learn. Just because he’d been on Earth for a long while didn’t mean he was too accustomed to such things, even though he should’ve been by now.
“But Slug, why would you go out of your way to create such a thing, to learn a new skill, for no reason,” he questioned, confusion still evident in his eye. “We have no use for such a thing, nor do heroes.” He winced when the other man tensed at the words he spoke, though. Apparently, he had said something that the other may have taken a little too literally, and he quickly went to work amending his statement. “What I mean to say is… why would you go out of your way to create something that I imagine you would see as having little to no worth in the long run?”
Slug stayed silent for a little bit, averting his gaze from his lover and sighing once more. “Well, if we’re to get married…
”“Uh-huh.”
“And you said you’ve always wanted some children…”
“Go on…”
“Well… They’ll need something to play with, right? I figured something handmade would benefit them much more than something store bought. More intellectually stimulating,” he quickly finished, rushing through his words as if he were embarrassed to even think them, let alone speak them aloud.
That gave White Hat pause, thinking of the implications of the words the other spoke. Wanted children… “Slug… Slug, are you saying…”
“Well, not yet. But one day,” Slug said, a soft, reluctant smile making its way across his face, evident through the paper bag he wore at all times.
With that, White Hat smiled a wide grin at the other, his other, his beautiful amazing intelligent other, before picking him up, much to the chagrin of the bagged scientist. “White Hat! White Hat, put me down this instant,” he yelled, trying to push himself out of the vice like grip that White Hat seemed to possess, whether knowingly or not.
“Oh Slug! This is amazing,” he said, smile not letting up and most likely ignoring the complaints of the other man “I am so happy that you would be willing to do such things for our future children, even before they’re born!”
Slug growled as he was twirled in the air like a child, though not in a malevolent way, finally stopping his resistance and letting the other carry him to bed, bridal style. “Speak a word of this to anyone ever, an-”
“I know, doctor. I will inevitably find myself at the other end of your plasma gun,” White Hat mused, seemingly unafraid and/or used to Slug’s threats by now, before letting the other go into his bed and snuggling beside him. “I know.”
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Anon
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Yes you may, hope you enjoy the matches!
 Your matches are… Keiji Akaashi and Hikaru Hitachiin!
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Authors notes: 🏐 = Keiji, 🌹 = Hikaru
🌹He loves them curves alright. Like, since he is a very touchy person, his hands kind of just gravitate towards your hips cause like… you’re so soft and he is thinking to himself like, oh my gosh what a soft cute lady I love her. Expect kisses to be placed where your hips are at cause thats his favorite place to kiss you on your body, he just loves the soft touch to his lips and he can not get enough of that.
🏐He is very impressed how you are the class monitor. But, he doesn’t get how you tend to be so lazy but yet still get perfect scores on test. Like… you are the strangest class monitor he has ever met. Don’t think of it as a bad thing or anything! Its strange cause like… he so much wishes he can be like that. Like he can skip practice for like a day or two and be totally ok. But no, if he skips a day, he would actually feel guilty about it, so he never skips practice (unless he has a very bad fever or an injury). In the meanwhile, he will scold you for not at least looking over the material for the next days test. You tell him not to worry about it cause you know you will be fine. But now he is just thinking to himself that, he doesn’t think a class monitor should act like this. But, who is he to judge? So, he mostly just leaves you alone and lets you do whatever you want, but he low-key cares a lot and just wants to help.
🌹He is actually very interested in the mystical and paranormal stuff (but he low-key likes it, cause he is afraid if he tells anyone about it they will deem him weird, so only you and his brother know about his fascination with the abnormal). So when you two found out you both like the mystical and abnormal phenomenas, many of your dates mostly consist of (well if its raining or snowing) cuddling each other under blankets, surrounded by various snacks, and watching videos about angels/devils and “the paranormal caught on camera” videos. But when you look up to see him, he is so mesmerized by the video. His eyes are practically glued to the screen, his mouth is open a little bit, plus he is drooling a bit. You giggle at him and wipe some of the drool off the corner of his mouth. He actually gets spooked and playfully punches your arm. He then wraps his arms around your shoulders and makes a pouty face, saying don’t scare him like that when he is watching something like that!!
🏐He can be kind of cold and harsh towards his teammates sometimes if they make him irritated and frustrated, its a natural human thing to do. And honestly, if you act cold towards him, he honestly wouldn’t mind. Cause he figures that you are going through a rough day and will not say anything to make it worse for you. Instead, he keeps his distance but will come to you if you need anything. But besides that, he loves how reliable you are, which means he can always count on you if he ever needs help with anything. And even if he doesn’t get some of your sense of humor or the jokes you make, he honestly just loves seeing you smile and close your eyes while you laugh at your own jokes you made, cause that makes his heart flutter a lot, and he can’t help but chuckle too.
🏐He absolutely admires your logic when it comes to respecting people, cause he is the exact same way. He likes that you are always calm and always have reasons as to why you are arguing with that person. To him you are honestly a blessing, cause some of his teammates would start arguing for no reason and he would get ticked off. But when he sees you arguing with a person and hears you calmly explain to them your reasons he can’t help but blush a little bit.
🌹He would never really thought you could be timid. You seem so confident and bright, he never would have thought about you being timid! But to be truthfully honest, he finds your timid side pretty cute, and will tease you about it by calling you out on it and giving you nicknames that is based around being timid and such. But what he didn’t expect that you would do anything to get revenge for your friends and family. Like, whoah that is super duper cool of you, he also dubs you as a badass because of that. And, because of his childish possession part of him, he will also do anything to take revenge for you, whether it be because someone told you something mean or even a family member scolded you, he will do anything to protect you and make sure that you are feeling happy.
🌹Oh man does this boy love hearing rants too. He especially loves hearing rants that are about gossip, cause he wants in on that. So if he is having a break in-between his host work, he will go into the empty room with you next to the host room, share an earbud with you, turn on youtube, and watch those rant vlogs from his phone. The host club could hear you guys laughing hysterically or raging with anger and they honestly find it pretty hilarious how you two can get so worked up over someone else’s problems.
🏐He actually low-key really likes them mystery/horror genre. Like, he thinks those two genres really fit well together and honestly appreciates the writing in those kinds of movies. So, when Halloween comes around, you two on that day would jus cuddle each other up and binge watch a whole bunch of mystery/horror movies. Even though he doesn’t get scared easily, but when you do get scared, he will hold you tight and pet your hair as telling you that its alright.
🏐He loves the winter (and not just because his birthday is in the winter)! He loves the cooler weather and thinks everything is so much prettier when snow is gently descending from the sky. Plus, since you love wearing big sized clothing, he offers up his clothes so you can wear them. And when you are walking around his home, in his white t-shirt and black shorts, he has to take a minute to look away to regain his composure cause he is blushing up a storm on his cheeks. But, when outside, you look so adorable in them oversized coats that fall to your knees and scarves that basically cover all of your face. Before going out into the snowy weather, he always adjusts your coat and scarf and hat to make sure they one, the coat doest drag behind you and you trip on it and two, so the hat doest cover your eyes and you loose your sight for a second or so.
🌹This kids playlists… its all over the darn place. Like, you would question to yourself how in the world did he find this kind of music? But then again you say you have horrible taste in music so its ok. So as pranks, you two would blast horrible music from playlists you two created together when the host club is in session and some certain hosts would get extremely pissed and chase you two down. But, if you two are just chilling, you guys would play the music in the background and try to dance to it together, with his hands on your hips and your arms around his neck, swinging each other from one place to another to the rhythm of the beat. Even if it may be hard to dance to the music since its, well, horrible, its ok, cause you two are having fun, and thats all that matters.
🌹He loves how you smell of milk and strawberries. He wants to know your secret why you smell so sweet and lovely. Is it the shampoo you using? Thats probably it. So then he steals it. Like literally, one day he would be at your house chilling with you, and he had to use the bathroom before he left. So after using the bathroom he put the shampoo underneath his shirt and walked out with it. The next day you noticed all the girls petting and smelling his hair, how it smelled like milk and strawberries. So he was the culprit all along. Oh jeez, he could have just asked you to borrow it instead of stealing it.
🏐He likes how you do not always follow the latest trends. Cause sometimes, the latest trends can look pretty foolish and stupid to him, and he is very glad that you do not easily get into them quickly. Cause some certain teammates would talk about these new trends and he would think to himself on how weird and foolish they are. He is so glad that you are not like that.
🌹He honestly loves your style?? Like, he loves the balance between masculinity and femininity when it comes to clothes, and you fit right into that. He likes how you would wear a basic t-shirt, pair of jeans, and a pair of sneakers. Like, thats it. No makeup, no jewelry, nothing extra. Just, simple. He honestly wishes he can dress up like that to go to school instead of wearing his uniform all the time. But, when you two go out, you two don’t dress extravagantly or anything, just simple t-shirts and jeans or sweatpants and converse or vans.
🏐He also loves to read when he isn’t practicing or doing schoolwork. And while reading, he would occasionally doodle whatever he is reading and draw it to life on paper. You find this very cute, so as dates, you two as a activity would: one would read, and the other would draw the scenes out. Then after reading a couple chapters you two would color the drawings one of you made and hang them on the wall to see your guys hard work. A simple and fun activity you two enjoy immensely.
🌹You like rings and wristbands? Good, cause thats what he is gonna buy you pretty much everyday. Well, for wristbands, if he’s one that reminds you of him, he will immediately buy it with no hesitation. As for rings, he only buys you one ring. And what is this one ring? Well, its a promise ring. So on this ring, it is gold, with tiny little orange and blue crystals dotting all over the ring. And on the top is a little chocolate-diamond. In the inside of the ring it is laser-written which says “to my beloved rose, I shall love you to the moon and back forever ~Hikaru Hitachiin”
🏐He claims he aint a nerd, but, he actually is. He a mystery/horror nerd ok he geeks out over detective novels and can’t wait to see the next psychological horror movie so he a nerd even though he denies it. As for anxiety, he doesn’t really get it much often, but when he notices you going through anxiety, he knows that it sometimes it helps people to trace over objects. So he would stick his hand out to you with his other hand on your back bringing you closer. You would then trace his palm while he traced circles on your back to help calm you down.
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Home Alone Demencia
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luvmesumbuckster · 7 years
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"Lucky Number Eight:" (Clint Barton, Bucky x OC) Chapter 2
Word Count : 2,705 - is that too long? should they be shorter? I don’t know!
**This chapter and the next chapter are going to be a bit violent - you’ve been warned!**
Chapter 3
The Wakandan Royal Air Force didn’t look like a typical American fleet of planes, filled with F-18s and C-130 carrier planes. They were all incredibly modern, streamlined, and built for stealth. It was shocking to Clint that such an advanced country had stayed out of the limelight for so many years, but over the last few months he was happy that they had. If Wakanda had more open relations with the large governments of the world, He, Wanda, Sam and Scott would have still been on the run from the world. That’s not to say that they were free citizens, but behind the borders of Wakanda, no government could touch them. As soon as they left Wakandan air space they were fair game for anyone who wanted to try, which was another reason that missions were more dangerous in the Post-Sokovia Accords world.
Despite the team falling apart over who signed and who didn’t, each member knew that they’d still protect the others. Clint knew about Cap’s letter to Tony and his offer to help, which is why Clint decided to stay around Wakanda. If there was something Tony needed Avenging help with, he knew it would have to be bad & he didn’t trust his teammates to include him if he went back to the farm house with his family. They’d leave him out, trying to protect the archer and his family, but getting left behind wasn’t an option. At least, by staying with Cap and company, he’d be included in any future global apocalyptic events and hopefully be given the chance to protect his family and friends again.
He strolled up to the open jet, stopping at an ammunition table and stocking up his person with arrows, grenades and guns. The scientists here had made great strides in various types of arrows - exploding, stunning, gas releasing, tracking. He could name almost any kind of arrow and they had a version of it, but way more streamlined than anything SHIELD had ever come up with.
“What’s up my bird brother!” Sam said, coming up behind Clint and starting to stock up his own suit. The Wakandans had added some fun bits to his wings, helping with their reflexes and dexterity. He spent days flying around the Royal Compound when he got them, diving and banking.
Clint shakes his head at the nickname, still high fiving the newer Avenger. “Come on, Sam…it’s not…”
“Birds of a feather, stick together” Sam continues, his smile bright and sunny.
He rakes his palm down his face at the eager man’s terrible joke, one Sam had already tried to make a thing on multiple occasions. “Where does your energy come from man?” he asks, rhetorically.
“Hah Hah!” Sam laughs loudly, drawing the attention of Cap and Wanda toward the munitions table. He grabs his last few supplies before walking toward the open jet.
They each take their seat, allowing the Wakandan pilot to start his preflight checks. On other missions, T'Challa had flown the plane himself, but since this was supposed to be an easy information extraction, they didn’t require the Prince’s assistance. Clint rested his against the back of his seat, letting his mind run over his technique for shooting, mentally preparing himself for sniper duty. Wanda was speaking quietly with Cap about Sgt. Barnes, telling him about what she’d seen this morning when she looked into the frozen Super Soldier’s mind. Sam had somehow managed to fall asleep within minutes of the plane taking off.
As they approached the end of the flight, the 4 Avengers got out of their seats to look at the large strategy table in loading bay. The digital display showed a real time layout of the building, marking all of the heat signatures within 100 yards. They were expecting a handful of guards inside of the building, but when the screen lit up it showed a different story. Clint’s eyebrows creased in worry, seeing a large number of signatures at the center of the building, with a handful of others fleeing the scene.
“Something is wrong, Cap…” he murmurs, taking in scene before them.
The pilot alerted them that they are hovering over the drop zone and Clint watched Wanda’s eyes close in concentration. “They are shutting down the base…there’s an emergency alert…Containment Breach…” she says, opening her eyes and looking at the 3 men across from her.
“How much information did T'Challa have on this building?” Sam asks gruffly, looking at the digital read out. “Are we walking into more Winter Soldiers down there, cause -I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t feel like fighting Winter Soldiers today…I just got these wings” he grumbles, looking down at his new pack.
“The intel said it was storage facility, cold storage for files and documents in climate controlled rooms…” Cap recites, having memorized the brief. “There must be something they missed…”
Clin looks at the building again, his eyes looking at his safe perch across the way, understanding that with these new developments he was going to have to go into the fray with his teammates. “Well, we better get down there before they destroy the evidence….” he says, attaching a hook to his belt and dropping down the open door of the jet.
He takes a deep calming breath as he descends from the plane, feeling the cool night air of Russia biting at his cheeks. He lands easily on the room in a crouch, using his bow to take out 3 guards on the roof silently, their bodies barely making noise as they crumble. “Roof is clear” he says into his comms, looking for the rooftop entrypoint he saw on the read out.
As he approaches the door, he hears Cap and Wanda land silently on the roof behind him, the quiet whirring of Sam’s wings meaning he had glided down as well. The small team begins clearing the levels of the building, meeting little resistance on the top floors. Cap and Wanda hang back on the second level, going through a few rooms that held file boxes and cabinets. Wanda was working on copying all of the hard drives onto a special-made Wakandan Drive that had enough space for all the encrypted material.
Sam and Clint continued down into the center of the building, into the basement where many of the heat signatures had been congregated. Clint paused outside of a heavy, iron blast door, peeking into the small window but seeing nothing. “D'Basa…” he says into his comm, waiting for the pilot to respond.
“Go for D'Basa…”
“I need an up-to-date heat map of the building…” Clint says, looking at his wrist where the image should appear.
“Coming to you, Hawkeye” D'Basa says, transmitting the updated imagery to his team.
A digital building appears, Sam and Clint both looking at it. They stare for a second, trying to take in what they are seeing. “There’s only 4…maybe 5 heat signatures left in building, Cap,” he reports into his comm.
Cap crackles back immediately, “Go again, Hawkeye? Did you say there’s no one left but us?”
Sam answers instead of Clint , “We’re looking at the map, Cap - there are faint signatures left behind the blast door, but so far it looks like it’s just us.”
“Copy that, still check it out. I don’t want to leave anything to chance,” Cap instructs.
Clint takes 3 charges from his belt, stepping up to the heavy iron door with laser precision. He places the 3 pods along the exposed hinges, walking back down the hall and around the corner. Sam follows, extending his wings as the 3 charges explode, the door falling to the cement floor with a loung thunk.
The two men approach the opening cautiously, Sam with his guns raised and Clint staring down the shaft of an arrow at the ready. They step over some rubble, taking in the scene of the room before them.
Along the wall, there are 10 cryo pods, very similar to the ones in Siberia. They only knew what they looked like from the files that were collected after the disaster of the Accords. Sam took the right flank, walking closer to the pods. As he went, he had to step over 6 Hydra guards, all bleeding out on the floor. He looks up at the pod closest to him, noting the small hole in the glass where cool gas was billowing out like steam. He brushed his hand over the glass, feeling the frost slide away, causing him to gasp and step back, almost tripping over another guard.
“Sam?! You okay?!” Clint shouts, turning to face his partner who just crashed into the console at the center of the room. He looked like he’d been burned by what he saw in the pod. Clint started to round the curve of the room, noticing that the pod closest to him was open. “Sam - what’s going on?”
“It’s kids, man…” Sam says over his comms, stepping back up toward the pod. Inside, he can see the serene face of what looks like a boy in his late teens. If it weren’t for the ugly red hole between his eyes, Sam would have thought he was sleeping. The Falcon shivered, moving to the pod next to it, wiping away the frost of the glass. In the next one, a girl with a similar bullet wound in her forehead. He clicked his teeth, “Looks like Hydra was getting creative with their experiments. They eliminated all of the ones down here” he says sadly, looking over at Clint.
Instead of focusing on his partner, Clint’s eyes are fixated on the open pod in front of him. “Looks like one got out….” he alerts, his hackles rising as he moves his bow back into position. He scans the room looking for anything out of place. He clocks about 15 bodies strewn about the lab, all men in Hydra uniforms or lab coats. He sees Sam starting to patrol back through the lab, minding his footsteps through the bodies.
“Copy - we’re on our way” Cap’s voice crackles into their ear pieces again.
Clint steps over another lab coat, turning to check behind a desk at the far side of the room, a desk that had a large swipe of blood leading around it. He stands on the side, taking a deep breath to brace himself as he turns the corner of the desk pointing his bow. He freezes…
“Clint…Clint, you okay?” he can hear Sam asking him, but his eyes are focused as his bow lowers and he puts the arrow back into his quiver. He hears Sam come up next to him, looking down at the figure huddled behind the desk.
They are both looking at a young woman, no older than 20 laying against the wall. Her fit body is shivering, her chest rising and falling erratically. She’s caucasian from what they can tell, though most of her is covered in blood. Clint kneels down, feeling her neck gently to make sure she’s got a pulse. He can feel the steady beats, but gets worried when he takes in a particularly deep gash on her forehead.
“Jeeze, Sam -she’s freezing…” he says, reaching down to tug the girl out of her confined hiding space. He reaches for a rough wool blanket on a shelf nearby, wrapping it around her shoulders as her head lolls to the side, resting on Clint’s shoulder. His eyes look down her body, taking in the rest of her appearance. She’s wearing a black sports bra and small black shorts, the uniform matching the trainees in their pods. She’s so covered in blood that he has trouble figuring out what is hers and what isn’t.
Sam kneels behind him, as Clint palpates the young woman as best he can. The Falcon lowered his weapons when he saw Cap and Wanda stumble into the room, both taken aback by the bloody scene they find. Sam walks up to Cap, giving him a brief report from what he can tell. “It looks like they tried to eliminate them,” he states, “Best we can guess is, somehow, one got out.”
Wanda rushes through the massacre, sliding down next to Clint, helping him apply pressure to a bullet wound in her thigh. “This girl did all this?” she asks no one in particular, her hand brushing the light brown hair from the girl’s forehead.
“Cap, she’s losing a lot of blood” Clint says, his voice tight with worry. “I can’t tell underneath it all where it’s coming from….we have to get her back to the jet.”
“No - we don’t have to get her back to the jet. Come on, Man - that kid is a baby Hydra Operative who took out 15 guards on her own…” Sam starts, having flashbacks to when Bucky had been under Hydra’s control and had torn his wings and thrown him off of a helicarrier in D.C.
“She could have been Bucky” Cap tells him and Sam immediately shuts up, seeing the error of his ways. The kid could be a lethal assassin, but until they could talk to her, they had no idea if she was with Hydra of her own free will or if she’d been taken. Sam had the good conscious to look ashamed for a moment, watching Cap stalk over to his teammates huddled around the girl.
He goes down onto one knee, harnessing his shield on his back as he scoops up the young woman. She barely feels like she weighs 100 lbs as he carries her out of the room and away from the bloodshed. He can feel what Clint meant, her blood seeping into his suit from somewhere on her person. Wanda quickly downloaded the files from the open pod and the control console at the center of the room before she left Clint and Sam to place various charges throughout the room.
Clint didn’t leave before he placed his hand on each of the closed pods, saying a silent prayer for the young lives thrown away by Hydra. They may have been made to do terrible things, but no one deserved to die in their sleep. He looked back at the room once more before disappearing up the stairs behind his comrades. They loaded into the jet silently, Wanda depositing their intelligence findings before moving to help with the girl.
D'Basa set the plane on a course for home and they were off. They were easily 10 miles away before they heard radio chatter of a warehouse fire in the storage district of St. Petersburg. Clint knelt next to the bench they laid the girl on, watching Cap wrap her thigh in a tight bandage.
“Sit her up, Clint” he orders.
Clint lifts her torso up, his hands coming away bright red, his eyes focusing on her back, “Damnit Cap, her back is a mess….” he curses.
Steve looks at her back, seeing a series of deep cuts across her shoulders and sides, “Language, Clint….” he scolds before taking gauze from Wanda and pressing it against the wounds. “That’s the best we can do for now…we have to hope she makes it back to Wakanda…”
Clint sits down next to her on the floor, “I’ve got her Cap” he says, letting the Star Spangled man know he can go sit for the duration of the flight. He takes an extra alcohol wipe, choosing to start brushing the blood away from her skin. He thinks for a moment, What if this was Lila? He flinches at the thought, feeling Wanda’s red magic pushing at his mind. He looks over at her, her eyes filled with worry.
“Don’t think like that…” she tells him, “That would never happen.”
He gives her a terse smile as he focuses on the girl again. He lifts her right wrist to wipe at her bruised and bloody knuckles, reading a hospital style bracelet wrapped there. He recognizes a few of the Cyrillic letters, unable to get much past the Russian word for the number 8.
“Vosem…” he whispers, remembering the word from Natasha’s early days with SHIELD. She had tried to teach him Russian, but he found the language harsh in his mouth. “We’ve got ya now Kid…”
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princiepuppy · 7 years
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Important things I’ve learned from this book: (Warning, major spoilers for the book!)
*Tom is a prince, his fathers name is Lucifer Lucitor
*Janna dated a skeleton and wants to marry Marco after he gets a divorce
*Toffees hand can be seen on page 13
*Marcos initials are mud since his middle name is ubaldo, which he dislikes
*Marco can’t draw
*Glossaryck may have 3 sisters and a brother named Tableauncontenta, indexica, chapterra, and footnotryck but Star says it’s probably untrue (but I hope it is)
*Sensei’s name is Brantley
*Alfonzo and Ferguson beg Star to turn them back into a centaur since they liked being close
*Centaurs sometimes like to be greet by being pet on the nose, but most prefer hand shakes
*Jeremy is afraid of his own shadow
*The plains of time animals are all pet-store pets
*All the squares at the amethyst arcade share one mind
*Marcos wallet is officially gone since Preston stole it
*Pony Heads are Mewni creatures and live in a sky castle called the Cloud Kingdom of Pony Heads (they have indoor plumbing)
*Mewni doesn’t have indoor plumbing
*The underworld, Toms home, is also in Mewni
*other kingdoms in Mewni are called the Pigeon Kingdom, Johansen Kingdom, Lucitor Kingdom, and the Waterfolk Kingdom
*Ludos family castle was called the Castle Avarius
*The Butterfly’s and Lucitors have a pretty good relationship, so Tom and Star dating was probably set up
*Tom will be a king one day
*King ponyhead makes it rain on River until he let’s them have their way
*Dolphins are rude and bossy, it’s illegal to to ignore a request from a dolphin of Delphinidae
*Marcos almost died a lot of places. Twice.
*The book allows you to draw a dimension and I have no clue what to do
*VIP stands for very important pony
*Oh gosh I get to also make dimensional scissors I don’t like this power ✂
*Heckapoo is the only being in the multiverse with the power to make dimensional scissors
*Marco thinks the portrait is still the one who spoke to him during the blood moon ball
*Stars pillow absorbs tears
*Star calls her swords “stabbies”
*Marco worries that Star will drown because she falls asleep in the bathtub
*STAR HAS FLUSHED THE LASER PUPPIES DOWN THE TOILET (and glossaryck)
*All of Marcos exchange students are named: Daniella, Pippo, Akil, Klaus, and Gustav
*Marco only saw Klaus the day he moved in and the day he left
*Star uses the phrase “For baby dolphin giggles sake”
*originally settlers tried to find the moon but stayed at echo creek instead
*Echo creek academy basment is full of mammoth bones
*Blake Lemons borrowed Stars scissors and something bad happened
*https://mobile.twitter.com/oskarkhestra Oskar has a song here
*Pony head thinks Toffee is hot
*Toffee has wanted posters made by the high commission
*Toffee is referred to as “Toffee of Septarsis
*Avarius and Septarsis have a treaty that Toffee violated
*There’s something called the Mewman/Monster Accord
*Miss Heinous is wanted
*Pony head also thinks Rasticore is hot (she has a thing for lizards apparently)
*It’s possible Rasticore and Toffee are related since they’re both from Septarsis
*I have the power to decide whether characters are good or evil in this book
*Marco assumes the baby tadpole egg whites make fun of him
*Quest buy gift card is female
*Ponyhead doesn’t like dogs
*Marco called Star a weapon
*Marco uses Buff Frogs skeleton as an example of pressure points
*Star tore up the mewpendance day book to put it in this book, assuming that was “scape booking”
*In mewni the queens are way more in charge than the kings
*Star makes a flowchart to show what would happen if she became queen tomorrow
*Moon writes Star letters so she knows she loves her
*Moon practically says “Friendship is magic”
*The grandma rooms official name is the Tapestry Room
*Soupina the strange was a queen who used her powers to make soup
*Festivia the fun kept mewni happy when a war was happening (note: she has red diamonds on her cheeks)
* Skywynne, Queen of hours, she added a lot of spells about time and was very respected (Note: She has white hourglasses on her cheeks)
*a spell and a wandshot are different, wandshots are like wild cards, it’s unknown what you’ll get
*FAQ in the book is alive
*Star doesn’t know who in her family made the warnicorn stampede spell
*Stars allergic to her force of nature spells
*Mega explosive crystal laser can explode planets but star just uses it as a cat laser
*apparently monster arm is an edible spell
*Marcos been poisoned by poison crystal cupcake kiss (aka cupcake blast)
*Star wrote down some spells and crossed them out since she isn’t supposed to talk about them, these are the whispering spell and the all seeing eye
*The spell book has an introduction that teaches you how to make a Burger as your first spell
*you look at a picture of yourself looking at a picture of yourself
*There is only one Glossaryck
*Dirhhennia the Heaped has a chapter of nothing but drawings of balls
*Dirhhennia was superseded by her younger sist r Crescenta the Eager (she’s the first and only princess to ever be) since she was seen unfit for the duties of a queen
*Queen Skywynne made the warnicorn stampede
*Warnicorn is a classic transformation spell
*Skywynne had a role in the high commission *There’s a high commission call list
* Glossyrck created the beings of the High Commission, so he’s pretty much their father (?!) OH GOSH LEKMET AND RHOMBULUS ARE SIBLINGS WHY DO THESE THINGS HAPPEN TO MY SHIPS
*Magical Scissors are actually shears
*Lekmet Glossyrck, and Ominitraxis Prime are the original members of the high commission
*Glossyrck doesnt know when he made Ominitraxis since he’s been around for so long
*Rhombulus’s hands are alligators not snakes
*Glossyrck put in an add for buff frog to be hired
*in stars family, a man cannot become royal by birth, he has to marry a queen or another member of the royal court
*Star has a vacation cabin in a volcano
*Angie wrote the poem “Our lives were so small and puny fill this angel arrived from Mewni. Star is like a zany daughter who sometimes fills our home with water.”
*Unlike the Butterflys, the crown in the Ponyhead kingdom is passed down from king to prince, but king and queen ponyhead had 13 daughters instead
*Princess Pony heads name is Lilacia
*All of Ponyhead siblings are (in order of birth): Azniss, Angel, Khrysthalle, Jan Jan, Pamanda, the twins Shonda and Shinda, Hornanne was born without a horn, Teta, Chezna, Whistine, and baby Pranciss (Ponyheads favorite)
*Chezna filed off her horn and got a horse body implant
*Second borns in the ponyhead family become cheif of the ponyhead army
*Fifth borns become party ambassadors
*Teta has never been seen but has never missed a day of school
*Pranciss is freaking adorable
*Toffees hand print can be seen on page 134 and pony head comments on it
*Marco has a ride called “The marco” were you stand in a baby pool wearing a red hoodie and get water poured over your head
*in Mewni they have their own version of Shakespeare called Shastaspearan with plays called “Momeo and Ruliet in the forest of certain death” “Julio Cesario goes to the underworld” “A late winters nap in the cloud kingdom” And “Hammyletto visits earth”
*Skullnicks first name is Margret
*She was banned from darts because she’s a troll and was accused of cheating
*The monster she dated is named Emmitt
*Emmitt closed the door on skullnicks face
*Jannas skeleton boyfriend has black hair
*His name is Bernando
*Janna doesn’t think Marcos ready to date someone as fierce as her
*Janna will never date Bernando again but she doesn’t say why, but they got along really well
*Marco wanted Star to interview him and Jackie even if it isn’t interdimensional dating
*Star begins to get jealous as she asks the questions to Jackie that Marco prepared
*Jackie always knew Marco liked her
*there’s a lot of steps to perfect the Nod
*Marco said “Purrfect”
*Ponyhead, Star, and Marco play “Date, Marry, or make disappear”, In Mewni it’s called Court, Betroth, or Sell.
*Marco says dating Tom would be weird
*Marco thinks dating Skullnick would be intense and doesn’t want to
*Ponyhead agrees to marrying toffee in the game
*Marco would rather date Ponyhead than make her disappear instead of Janna
*Marco calls Oskars car his “natural habitat”
*When asked to choose between girlfriend or music, oskar chooses his ferret
*During Marco asking Oskar questions, Tom appears to answer them
*Tom put a curse on Marco to know when he mentions Star
*Tom says “Gene, the pleasure is all mine, I have heard very good things about you from my minions” and shakes the tiny ferrets hands
*Tom and Marco argue like children about Marco telling on Tom to Star
*Tom states that if he was Bromancing Marco, Marco would know it
*Star says Marco and Toms shared love of Love Sentence is Bromance at it’s weirdest
*Marco says all the things his body may or may not do are strictly private
*The monster arm would have killed Marco if Star hadn’t helped
*Same with the beard, all because Star didn’t fully read the page
*Book teachers how to make Marcos super awesome nachos
*Stars Cactus headband can store water
*Stars Rhinoceros horn shoes have bubble gum treads that stick to the ground
*Stars dark blue dress is called the Edgar dress because of the tiny bear on front named Edgar
*the Edgar dress can stow a sword
*Stars blue leggings with fuzzy boots ate made from Manticore skin, but the manticore isn’t hurt in the process
*They saved star from death during her mewberty transformation
*Stars spider necklace is a real spider
*Marco says a man wearing a suit (his gi) in other dimensions is more likely to attract woman (I’m going to assume he means Toffee here)
*Ponyheads attract mates by admitting stars from their necks, they also work like attacks
*Using magic on your face hurts
*The mask Marco wore to the blood moon ball is his fathers
*Unicon tears mixed with burnt wood make mud
*Star has a unicorn headdress
*Marcos hoods are called Slouch a hood and are made by Jacket Phat
*Heinous isn’t part of the Butterfly family
*the spinning hourglass emblem means boredom, and I’m unsure if this has anything to do with Skywynne, but hers are hourglasses because of time or something
*Stars hearts have a mind of their own and change depending on her mood
*An answer to a thing I’ve always been curious about: Stars wand tastes like Carmel and that’s why she chews on it
*Star and Marcos words fuse colors when talking on the page about wands, I feel like this had something to do with their souls being intertwined
*All wands are different, but Stars drinks mystic sapphire crystals
*Ponyhead has the final sentence in the book
*Star and Marco are writing letters to each other ever since Star left to Mewni for a conference (I think that’s where Star went after Starcrushed, but I’m not sure)
*Marco is really bored ever since Star left and warns her to stay out of the forest of certain death
*on the “last” page of the book Marco gave instructions on how to cope with a sad ending even if the ending wasn’t sad during this book, but the letters are what actually made it sad
*Stars dad had a razor Crane
Leave comments on what you have found or think about this information, I really enjoyed reading this and am off to draw my own dimensional scissors!
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totesmccoats · 6 years
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The Batman Who Laughs #1
This issue is easily a contender for most disturbing Batman story, so, congrats to the team on their accomplishment!
The Batman Who Laughs, the Dark Knight who leads the other Nightmare Batmans (Batmen?) finally tells a completely bandaged-up hostage who he is and how he came to be. Like the others, he was a Batman pushed too far, this time, pushed into finally killing the Joker after the latter’s most horrifying plan yet. But Joker had one last punchline to deliver – his death would release the most potent version of Joker Venom yet, but only enough to infect someone next to him at the time of death, in this case – Batman. And has Batman suffers the mind-warping effects of Jokerization, he becomes the most dangerous man in the dark multiverse, combining Bruce Wayne’s perfectly honed mental and physical abilities with Joker’s conniving creativity and complete disregard of ethics.
It’s difficult to say what the most disturbing image in this book is: Batman turning against his own family; what he does to the Justice League; or Superman in particular; or Superman’s family…
While Tynion deserves tons of credit for writing a story where Batman becomes the Joker that doesn’t feel like bad grimdark fanfic; it’s Rossmo and Plascencia art that really make this book a showstopper. Rossmo and Plascencia already proved their in illustrating the grotesque during Night of the Monster Men; but take their pop-art, almost silk-screen aesthetic to new heights in this book. Their art is distinctly cartoonish and exaggerated, which keeps it from being traumatizing, but it also amplifies the expressions of pain and sadism on the characters faces.
So far, not much about Metal has been comforting or reassuring, but this issue takes the story to the darkest places yet.
  Batman #35
Catwoman and Talia begin their duel to the death. As their swords clash, Talia argues that Catwoman does not deserve Batman, citing the years of dying and resurrection she suffered only to be be rejected by the detective. Selina ripostes curiously, by saying that Batman isn’t the closest thing either of them have to an equal in love or ability, but that he’s incurably broken, and she loves him anyway.
Meanwhile, Dick and Damian sit outside the entrance to Talia’s domain, with Damian wondering why Batman proposed to Catwoman in the first place, and then why he decided to keep it a secret.
So closes this chapter of King’s experiment of Batman as relationship genre. I’d consider it a success. King’s novel addition here is that instead of other arcs that explore Batman through his own thoughts or actions; this one has those closest to him discuss what Batman is to them. Talia sees him as the closest thing she has to an equal on the planet. Catwoman sees him as a broken man who will never find her more important than a vow he made as a child. And Dick sees him as someone who is selfless to the point where he feels so uncomfortable asking others for happiness that he hides it from his own sons. It’s a story about Batman provided through others rather than himself, explaining why he’s the sun of this particular universe.
  Superman #35
Superman and Lex escape from the religious fanatics that now want to put Superman on Darkseid’s throne, and kill Lex for his heresy, only to be ambushed and taken prisoner by Kalibak. Kalibak’s plan to succeed his father involves shooting the chaos cannon into the core of the planet – for some reason – and he plans to dispose of his new prisoners by throwing them into the fiery core as the cannon strikes.
But, before he can put his nonsensical plan into motion, he’s interrupted by Granny Goodness and her Furies – now including Lois. The two factions go to war with each-other, and Superman and Lois reunite in the chaos. But, amidst the fight, the cannon fires into the core, venting it completely and turning Apokolips dark.
Meanwhile Jon gets lost on Apokolips, stumbling upon a group of raiders desperate enough to start eating their own war-hounds. He steps in, scrambling the raiders and freeing the dogs, earning their loyalty.
This arc still hasn’t won me over. I don’t understand anything Kalibak was doing through the issue despite him being the biggest threat, which is a big deal. But at least lots of stuff happened? Supes and Lex use evasive maneuvers, Kalibak’s army fought the Furies, Jon rescues a punch of dogs. I still don’t really care, but at least it’s loud and colorful. Not the greatest praise, I know, but this isn’t the greatest story.
  Wonder Woman/Conan #3
Some years after their first meeting; Conan and Yanna meet again as teenagers, where after picking up their flirtation, Yanna kisses Conan, and then tells him that she’s running away from her tribe, and warns him not to follow. For the first time in his life, Conan feels heartbreak.
But he has other things to worry about at the moment, like just having jumped into shark infested water to escape the slavers who now want to kill him and Wonder Woman. The two manage to pull themselves onto some driftwood, Titanic-style, only there’s room for both; but still find themselves stranded in the middle of the sea. And, with nowhere to go, the two finally begin to open up to each-other, with Conan telling Diana of his memories of Yanna.
But just as Wonder Woman brings up the topic of how, even on a small piece of driftwood, Conan has managed to not make physical contact; the two set upon by the Crow Sisters, who transport them to their hell-dimension, and tell them that they brought them together to settle a bet of which was the greater warrior. They demand another fight to the death between Conan and Wonder Woman; which they again defy by instead slaughtering one of the sisters. The remaining one promises that she shall kill the city of Shana for their defiance, and transports the two back to their driftwood.
And before the two make it to shore, where they will go their separate ways; Conan tells Diana the rest of his story: how, when Yanna fled, he chased, and the two decided to run away together.
This is the best issue of this series so far, Simone finally finding the sweet-spot between Conan and Wonder Woman’s characters and narrative trappings. While still decidedly a Conan story, Dinan finally feels like Wonder Woman instead of the relative non-character she was in previous issues. It helps that we’re also past the growing pains of this story, it seems, with Conan and Diana finally working together against a common foe. Lopresti still draws Wonder Woman a little too cheesecake for my liking, but admittedly, it does work for a Conan book.
  The Wild Storm #9
As promised, Jacob gives Spica full access to his secret lab, filled with alien tech including a giant mech and a toy-looking laser gun. Action then shifts to IO, where Jackie King learns about last issue’s espionage, but still not who’s behind it. She then asks the Director, Miles, if he knows anything about a Project Thunderbook, which Miles reveals was a secret project led by the Director before him, John Lynch, that even he knows nothing about.
In New York, John (Lynch? Doesn’t look like Lynch), another ages old alien in disguise, remembers his time in feudal Japan, completely ruining the days of people transporting a piece of alien tech before being interrupted by another of his species who used to be his superior. In another building, Lucy Blaze accepts a mission from Skywatch to spy on IO and confirm the theft of their tech.
This issue is strangely paced, dominated by John’s flashback of wordlessly slaughtering the people transporting the tech he wanted, despite that scene not really pushing the story forward. The sequence is incredible, with Davis-Hunt able to translate the language of samurai/ninja movies into sequential comic art as though film stayed still or comics moved, bringing over the slicing with delayed results, buckets of ketchup-red blood, and extraordinary feats of gymnastics. What little dialogue there is in this scene is even rendered as though they were subtitles in a movie – a nice touch. But the rest of the issue feels like bureaucracy, with bosses giving orders, and employees asking for the resources they need to get those jobs done. We open and close on Spica in the lab, but don’t get to see her actually work on anything; that’s being teased for the future.
  Amazing Spider-Man #791
After a night of crime-fighting with Bobbi, Peter starts his new job as the Bugle’s science editor. Bobbi’s glad that Peter seems to be putting his life back together, doubly so that he has a job that forces him to be Peter instead of Spider-Man for a while. But, while Robbie is happy to have Peter back at the Bugle, his new employees – particularly reporter Rubylyn Bato – aren’t thrilled to suddenly have a new boss who seemingly only got the job because of his friendship with the EiC.
And Robbie’s not the only helpful connection Peter has with work. Bobbi’s just started her new job at Humanitech, and offers Peter’s team an exclusive interview with her boss, Xander Zynn, and a guided tour of their lab. But, the tour ends early when Peter discovers that Humanitech’s new invention – AI powered androids – may not be entirely artificially intelligent. So, of course Pete and Bobbi gotta return to the lab after dark and in costume to properly follow up.
Seems like Slott has finished pulling Pete through the ringer – for now – giving him time to start off on the right foot – mostly – at his new job, and also have some fun being Spidey. This lightness makes this issue a really fun read, as you can really get behind Peter’s enthusiasm for the life he’s pulling back together for himself. It’s good to see my boy happy instead of stressed and depressed. Hopefully we can get a few more issues of this before this arc’s title goes into full blast.
  Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #297
In a review of an earlier issue of this comic, I suggested that tense action may not be Zdarsky’s strong suit, but after this issue, I may have to reconsider that opinion.
This is an issue-long cat and mouse game between Peter and the SWAT team that ambushes him at home, looking to arrest him and Spider-Man. They have a way to disable his Spider-sense, which means Pete’s actually gotta pay attention and strategize as he tries to evade the cops without outing himself as Spidey.
The ur-reference for this issue is the SWAT sequence from Batman: Year One, and it’s cinematic adaption from Batman Begins; and while they do share a bit of DNA, Zdarsky and Kubert providing their own Spidey twists on it. Instead of bats filling up a stairwell to provide cover, Pete throws down two web cartridges to act as a sticky grenade, for instance.
And even if Kubert’s linework in this issue looks a little lazy – maybe evoking present day Miller a little too much? – his layouts give the book incredible pacing, including one page where Peter crashes through multiple floors to get to his building’s basement.
The issue’s ending can’t help but make everything preceding it feel like a waste of time; but at least it’s a ton of fun to read in the moment. And, we do get a great bit of pay-off for last issue’s big reveal.
  Spider-Men II #4
Wilson comforts Miles at the funeral of his wife, Barbara, telling him about the multiverse, and that somewhere, there are other Barbaras still happily together with other Miles. Despite coming from the Kingpin, and it involving comic book science, it’s actually quite a moving idea; that no matter what happens, there’s a version of you and the people you love who are happy, and knowing that should be enough.
In the present, Miles – Spider-Man Miles – and his friends discuss the giant robot head that crashed into the school off-panel, and Barbara thanks Miles for pushing her to safety. She asks to know what he is, mutant, inhuman, or otherwise; and he promises to tell her, once he thinks of how. After Spider-man’ing off, Miles stumbles upon the Taskmaster killing some dudes and hopping on a helicopter. Miles latches onto the chopper, and calls Peter to meet him wherever he lands.
The Spider-Men meet on top of an airplane hanger, where Miles suspects Taskmaster plans to meet with other Miles. He’s not wrong, but also, this was a trap. The hanger explodes, knocking out the Spider-Men so that other Miles can finally rid himself of his curious doppleganger. But his real goal was to get proof from Taskmaster of an alternate dimension, with an alternate Barbara.
The issue starts off strong, with Wilson and Miles, but doesn’t manage to carry that level of quality throughout. Once the Spider-Men show up, the issue becomes mired in Bendis’ circuitous dialogue about power and responsibility that reads as a less successful retread of the conversation Peter and Miles had in Bendis’ Marvel Generations issue.
At least it’s pretty to look at. Pichelli has an incredible talent for drawing subtle body-language and quirks; and I can even get over her preference for tiny eyes on the Spider-Man masks.
  Hawkeye #12
Following a lead on the person who provided clones to Madame Masque, Katie runs into Wolverine – Laura Kinney – and Wolverine’s younger clone, Gabby, as they track down the same dude, also for clone crimes. After a fight at a villain bar where the dude isn’t, the three go back to Kate’s office to change, and also introduce their pet wolverine, Jonathan, to Lucky.
Then they go to clone guy’s place, get knocked out, and have to fight through all of this guy’s clones. This issue isn’t the most dramatic, but it’s hard to set up a problem that two Wolverines and better-Hawkeye couldn’t easily solve that wouldn’t somehow also involve a city exploding.
So, while this issue isn’t the most thrilling, it’s still hecka fun. A superhero girl’s night out where the stakes aren’t incredibly personal for the first time in a long time for Kate, and where she has backup who she doesn’t have to protect.
  The Wicked + The Divine #33
Well, this issue is basically all spoilers that completely change everything going on in WicDiv, so…that makes it difficult to talk about.
But yeah, this issue’s a game-changer. Lots of revelations. Many holy shit! moments. Really feels like we’re entering the final stretch here. And possibly the best norse-mythology sight-gag in comics.
Honestly, you should already be reading this book, so I shouldn’t have to review it. It’s good. You should already know this. Hit me up on twitter so we can gush about it together.
Comic Reviews 11/15/17 The Batman Who Laughs #1 This issue is easily a contender for most disturbing Batman story, so, congrats to the team on their accomplishment!
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